I!
iiiti
liiili i
ESSAY
UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
LONDON :
Printed by GEORGE BARCLAY, Castle Street, Leicester Square.
JESSAY
UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE
BY
BAPTIST WRIOTHESLEY NOEL, M.A.
5V afyotTry. Eph. \\. la.
SECOND EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS.
LONDON:
JAMES NISBET AND CO. 21 BERNERS STREET.
1849.
PREFACE.
As in the following work I have frankly
attacked the Union between the Church and
State, I feel constrained to bear my humble
testimony to the piety and worth of many
who uphold it. I have stated without re-
serve the influence of the system upon pre-
lates ; but how many instances occur in
which men raised to the most ensnaring ho-
nours have successfully resisted their tempta-
tions! Of those prelates with who'm I have
the honour to be acquainted, some I admire
for their simplicity, benevolence, and libe-
rality, and others still more for eminent
piety. Most wisely in many instances, and
most conscientiously I doubt not in all, have
VI PREFACE.
the present Government administered their
ecclesiastical patronage.
Still more anxious am I to do justice to
my beloved and honoured brethren, the
evangelical ministers of the Establishment.
Having acted with them for many years, I
can speak of their principles with confidence.
Numbers of them, whose names I should
rejoice to mention here with honour, are as
sincere in adhering to the Establishment as
I am in quitting it. Of many of them I
am convinced that they surpass me in de-
votedness to Christ. Worthy successors of
Romaine and John Venn, of Newton, Cecil,
and Thomas Scott, of Robinson and of Si-
meon, and, remaining conscientiously in the
Establishment, they will, as I hope, have the
respect and affection of all good men. May
they enjoy increasing comfort and usefulness
to the end of their ministry! While I con-
demn a State prelacy, I honour each pious
prelate ; while I mourn the relations of godly
pastors to the State, I no less rejoice in their
PREFACE. Vll
godliness. The reasons for separation ap-
pear to me clear ; but I do not expect others
to think as I do. In claiming my own li-
berty of judgment, I learn to respect theirs.
To remain in the Establishment with my
views would be criminal; with theirs it is a
duty.
If by any of my expressions I have un-
necessarily wounded the feelings of any
Christian brother, I ask him to forgive me.
If I have unconsciously fallen into any exag-
geration, I deeply deplore it. Throughout
the work I have made a clear distinction
between evangelical and unevangelical cler-
gymen; between those who preach the Gos-
pel and those who do not preach it. No
spurious liberality, no fear of censure, should
obliterate the distinction; yet many, doubt-
less, who are not ranked among the evan-
gelical party, who do not support their insti-
tutions, and who do not usually act with
them, may be converted and faithful ministers
of Christ.
Vlll PREFACE.
Lastly, I must express my regret that I
have not done more for the welfare of a
friendly, considerate, and willing Church, to
which I have been for twenty-two years a
pastor, and with whom I hoped to have
spent the remainder of my days. Sterner
duties which the study of the word of God
has forced upon my attention have to be ful-
filled. But I cannot quit them without ear-
nest prayer that my successor may receive
much grace to build them up in piety, nor
without my grateful thanks for their abundant
and unvarying kindness.
HORNSEY,
Dec. 14, 1848.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
The Lawfulness of the Union between Church and State must
be determined by reference to the Word of God . 1
Definition of the terms, Church, State, and Union . 6
PART I.
PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION BETWEEN THE CHURCH ANP
THE STATE.
CHAPTER I.
General Considerations which condemn the Union.
SECT. I. The Union condemned by the Constitution of
the State 13
SECT. II. The Union condemned by the Parental Rela-
tion ...... 27
SECT. III. The Union condemned by History . . 32
X CONTENTS.
SECT. IV. The Union condemned by the Mosaic Law 89
SECT. V. The Union condemned by the Prophecies of the
Old Testament . ... 99
SECT. VI. The Union condemned by the New Testa-
ment 110
CHAPTER II.
Principles of the Union between the Church and State in
England condemned by the Word of God.
SECT. I. Maintenance of Christian Pastors by the
State 152
SECT. II. The Supremacy of the State . . . 167
SECT. III. Patronage 202
SECT. IV. Coercion 229
Conclusion of the First Part . . 238
PART II.
THE EFFECTS OF THE UNION.
CHAPTER I.
Effects of the Union upon Persons.
SECT. I. Influence of the Union upon Bishops . . 245
SECT. II. Influence of the Union upon Pastors . 261
SECT. III. Influence of the Union upon Curates . 296
CONTENTS. XI
SECT. IV. Influence of the Union upon Members of An-
glican Churches .... 304
SECT. V. Influence of the Union upon Dissenters . 314
CHAPTER II.
Influence of the Union upon Things.
SECT. I. Influence of the Union upon the Number of
Ministers ..... 326
SECT. II. Influence of the Union upon the Distribution of
Ministers . . . 338
SECT. III. Influence of the Union upon the Maintenance of
Ministers ..... 376
SECT. IV. Influence of the Union upon the Doctrine taught
in the Anglican Churches . . . 400
SECT. V. Influence of the Union upon the Discipline of
the Anglican Churches . . .437
SECT. VI. Influence of the Union upon the Evangelization
of the Country .... 506
SECT. VII. Influence of the Union upon the Union of
Christians . . . . .515
SECT. VIII. Influence of the Union upon the Reformation
of the Churches .... 525
SECT. IX. Influence of the Union upon the Progress of
Religion in the Country . . . 536
SECT. X. Influence of the Union upon the Government 552
SECT. XI. Influence of the Union upon other National
Establishments throughout the World . 566
Xll CONTENTS.
PART III.
MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN THE
COUNTRY.
SECT. I. Means of Revival in the Churches . . 576
SECT. II. Means for the Extension of Religion throughout
the Country . . . . . 592
CONCLUSION ........ 600
INTRODUCTION.
IN his great mercy to our fallen race, God has
given us a complete revelation of his will. By the
voice of Christ, and by evangelists and apostles, as
well as by ancient prophets, he has made known to
us all our duty to him and to each other. In the
examination, therefore, of every question of right and
wrong, our first step towards a just conclusion must
be to learn what he has said. When the three
apostles were enshrined with our Lord in glory on the
mount of transfiguration, they heard from the depth
of the oppressive splendour these words, " This is
my beloved Son; hear him." On every subject we
must hear him first, be guided by his judgments,
and obey his decisions. To neglect to hear him is
to expose ourselves to a reckoning from which the
boldest may well shrink. For when the Almighty
promised to raise up Christ as a prophet to his
church, he added, " Wliosoever shall not hearken to my
words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require
B
2 INTRODUCTION.
it of Mm.'" To hear his commands and to disobey
them is as fatal as to refuse to hear them, rendering
vain every profession of discipleship, and subverting
every hope of final happiness; for Christ has said,
" Every one that keareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand ; and the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house; and it fell ; and great was
the fall of it." 2 Those only can be blessed who tremble
at the word of God. 3 Those only love Christ who
keep his commands. 4 It is in vain to say to him,
Lord, Lord, unless we do his will ; 5 and while a
wilful ignorance of his will is fatal, 6 to disobey it
when known is still more criminal. 7
These statements must of course apply to the
union of Christian churches with the governments
of nations. The independence of the churches on
the one hand, or their association with governments
on the other, must exercise so important an influence
upon the progress of religion both within the
churches, and around them, that we might expect
to find some directions in this matter afforded by
scripture ; and if there be such, we must be guided
wholly by them. No consideration of what is sup-
posed to be natural, no precedent, ancient or modern,
1 Deut. xviii. 18, 19. 2 Matt. vii. 26. 3 Isaiah, Ixvi. 2.
4 John, xiv. 21. 5 Luke, vi. 46. 6 John, xvii. 3; iii. 19, 20.
i Luke, xii. 47, 48.
THE WORD OF GOD OUR GUIDE.
no views of expediency, no allegations of general
custom, no appeal to the law of the land, must
be heard. If Christ has spoken, this must deter-
mine the judgment of every one of his sincere
disciples. Each writer upon the Union between
Church and State has more or less explicitly owned
this. Some avow it with greater frankness than
others, render it more prominent in their reasonings,
argue it with greater zeal, and recur to it more
frequently; but all admit it. Hooker, who made
but little use of this rule, distinctly recognised it,
thus : " Better it were to be superstitious than pro-
fane to take from thence (the scriptures) our
direction even in all things, great and small, than to
wade through matters of principal weight and mo-
ment without ever caring what the law of God hath
either for or against our designs Did they
(the heathen) make so much account of the voice of
their gods, which in truth were no gods, and shall
we neglect the precious benefit of conference with
those oracles of the true and living God ? . . . . Use
we the precious gifts of God unto his glory and
honour that gave them, seeking by all means to
know what the will of our God is; what righteous
before him ; in his sight what holy, perfect, and
good ; that we may truly and faithfully do it." l
Mr. Gladstone has thus stated it : "I submit that
1 Hooker's " Polity," book i.
4 INTRODUCTION.
the most authentic, the most conclusive, the most
philosophical, and, in the absence of literal and un-
disputed precept from scripture, also the most direct,
method of handling this important investigation, is
that which examines the moral character and capa-
cities of nations and of rulers, and thus founds the
whole idea of their duty upon that will which gave
them existence." 1 According to these words, the will
of God is the ultimate law which is to guide us, and
the precepts of scripture are the clearest interpreta-
tion of his will. Mr. M'Neile, in his " Lectures on
the Church of England," is more earnest and abund-
ant in his testimony to the same principle, as may
be judged from the following extracts : " For the
fundamental principles of our ecclesiastical instrumen-
tality, we claim the direct authority of the word of
God." 2 " We have been taunted with our unwilling-
ness to bring the matter to the direct light of revealed
truth, and challenged .... to come to the law and
to the testimony. We accept the challenge, and cor-
dially rejoice in the assurance that, after all, nothing
has the same extensive and permanent effect upon
the British public as an honest appeal to the word
of our God." " That connexion with the Christian
church, which we have shown from the nature of
things to be the ruler's safety, we proceed now to
show from the word of God to be the ruler's duty." *
1 The State in its Relations with the Church, chap. ii.
2 Lectures, p. 2. 3 P. 7. 4 P. 148.
THE WORD OF GOD OUR GUIDE. 5
" There is no prevention of confusion in the outset,
but by a mutual adherence to the supreme stand-
ard, the revealed will of God; and THERE is NO
RECOVERY FROM CONFUSION INCURRED BUT BY A
VIGOROUS AND DETERMINED RECURRENCE (AT ANY
PRESENT RISK) TO THAT STANDARD." 1 M. de R,OUge-
mont, in his work entitled " The Individualists,"
repeatedly enforces the same principle. His great
charge against M. Vinet, and those who agree with
him in proposing the separation of the Church and
the State, is, " That they are establishing a new
dogma without the bible, and contrary to it :" 2
" That in questions essentially religious they do not
rest upon the bible, but on human reasonings:" 3
" That M. Vinet's book offers a new theory of the
church, without furnishing scriptural proofs for its
support." * And, lastly, M. Grandpierre agrees with
M. Rougemont in claiming that the whole doctrine
of the separation of the Church and State should
be based upon the scripture. " Before expounding
a theory with which, according to our author (Vinet),
Christianity is so intimately connected, he should at
the outset have asked himself, What does the word
of God teach us on this subject ?" 5
Of course, whatever is scriptural must also be
expedient, since nothing can be gained by departing
from the rule which God has given to us; but the
1 Lectures, p. 153. 2 P. 7. 3 P. 11. 4 P. 128.
s Reflexions, &c. par J. H. Grandpierre, p. 58.
6 INTRODUCTION.
expediency of the rule is not the foundation of its
authority. If God has manifested his will on the
subject of the Union of the churches of Christ with
the governments under which they live, Christians
are to obey it because it is his will. If any human
authorities command us to do what he forbids, we
can only answer in the words of the apostle,
" Wliether it be right in the sight of God to hearken
unto you more than unto God, judge ye?-. . . . We ought
to obey God rather than men." z No authority must
interfere with his.
Before I proceed to examine how far the Union
of the Church with the State is agreeable to the will
of God, it is necessary to consider what is meant by a
church, what is meant by a State, and what is meant
by their union.
I. The word " church " is commonly used in the
following senses :
1. The place where a Christian congregation as-
sembles, a building used for public worship ; e. g.
" the parish church."
2. Something indefinite, as when an expression
being quoted from the prayer-book, it is said to be
what the church teaches.
3. The clergy paid by the State : e.g. when a
young man joins the national clergy in England or
Scotland, he is said to "go into the church."
4. All persons baptised by the national clergy,
1 Acts, iv. 19. 2 Verse 29.
MEANING OF THE WORD " CHURCH." 7
and connected with their ministry : e. g. " the Church
of England," "the Church of Scotland."
5. All the congregations throughout the world
acknowledging a particular ecclesiastical discipline;
e. g. " the Roman Catholic Church," " the Greek
Church," " the Armenian Church," " the Presbyterian
Church."
6. All persons throughout the world baptised in the
name of Christ : e. g. " the Visible Church Catholic."
All these six meanings of the word are contrary
to the original meaning, and are wholly unscriptural.
It is not once used in scripture in any of these senses.
Besides these, it has three other meanings.
1. It was originally used to express an assembly
of the citizens in the Greek republics. When the
legislative assembly was summoned by the town-crier,
it was called an g#>iWa, a church. 1 In this sense
the word is frequently used by Thucydides, Xenophon,
Demosthenes, and other writers. 2 And in this sense
it is used in the 19th chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles. A crowd having assembled in the theatre
at Ephesus to maintain their idolatry against the
doctrine of St. Paul, it is said by the historian that
" the zzxteiffiK, or cJmrck, was confused ;" 3 upon which
the town-clerk urged them to restore order, declaring
that every matter might be determined in a lawful
1 See Liddell's " Lexicon."
1 See Stephen's " Thesaurus," Liddell's " Lexicon," Smith's " Diction-
ary of Greek and Roman Antiquities," and Potter's " Antiquities."
3 Acts, xix. 32.
8 INTRODUCTION.
iot, or church ; l with which words he dismissed
that riotous ixxfaifftu, or church. 8
2. It being the word commonly used to express
an assembly of citizens, it was thence adopted by
the apostles to express an assembly of Christians ;
the Christian sense of the word growing naturally out
of its civil sense. Each Christian congregation is,
therefore, in the New Testament called an ex%.Xq<riu,
an assembly, a church. The congregation of poor
persons at Philippi was called the church, or as-
sembly, of that place. 3 The poor congregation at
Thessalonica was so termed. 4 A small congregation
which met in Cenchraea, the port of Corinth, was
called the church, or assembly, of Cenchraea. 5 A
small assembly which met beneath the roof of Pris-
cilla and Aqm'la in or near Rome, was called the
church in their house. 6 Philemon had a church in
his house ; 7 and when Paul spoke of the Christian
congregations scattered over a country, he always
termed them the churches, or assemblies, of that ter-
ritory. Thus we read of the churches of Judea, the
churches of Galatia, and the churches of Macedonia ; 8
but never of the church of Judea, the church of
Galatia, the church of Macedonia : because the Christ-
ians of a single town formed one assembly, but the
Christians of a country many assemblies.
1 Acts, xix. 39. 2 Verse 41. 3 Phil. iv. 15. 4 1 Thess. i. 1.
* Rom. xvi. 1. 6 Rom. xvi. 5. 7 Philemon, 2.
8 Gal. i. 22 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 11 ; Gal. i. 2 ; 2 Cor. viii. 1. See, also, Acts,
ix. 31 ; xv. 41 ; xvi. 5 ; Rom. xvi. 4, 16 ; 1 Cor. vii. 17 ; xvi. 19 ; Rev. i.
4, 11, &c. &c.
MEANING OF THE WORD " CHURCH." 9
3. Many words have in common life a literal and
a figurative meaning, or, I should rather say, a cor-
poreal and a spiritual signification; and may mean
either something visible and tangible, or something
invisible, which is analogous. The hand means often
power, the head intellect, the heart affection ; force
may mean mechanical or moral force ; an uneasy
sensation of body or of mind may be termed pain ;
the word gloom may describe a state of the atmo-
sphere or the condition of events ; the mind may be
agitated as well as the sea ; and there may be the
light of reason as well as the light of the sun. This
customary extension of words from the corporeal to
the spiritual has been applied to the word " church,"
so that, from meaning a local and visible assembly of
persons gathered into one spot, it came to mean the
whole company of believers in Christ gathered into
one community, by receiving the same truths; 1 and
so become one city, one temple, one body, one flock,
one tree, one household, one family, though corpo-
really scattered over the whole earth. 8 In the fol-
lowing essay, therefore, I shah 1 , for the sake of clear-
ness, adhere exclusively to the scriptural senses of the
word " church." By this word I do not mean the
building, nor the clergy, nor the adherents to the
national Establishment, nor the aggregate of the con-
1 Matt. xvi. 18 ; Eph. i. 22 ; iii. 10, 21 ; v. 23-32 ; Heb. xii. 23.
2 See Gal. iv. 26 ; Heb. xii. 22 ; Eph. ii. 21 ; 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13 ; John, x.
16 ; xv. 5 ; Heb. iii. 6 ; Eph. iii. 15.
10 INTRODUCTION.
gregations adhering to any particular ecclesiastical
discipline, nor the whole number of the baptised
throughout the world ; but either a congregation of
professed disciples of Jesus Christ in any place, or,
secondly, the whole company of his true disciples
throughout the world. When I, therefore, have to
speak of the great ecclesiastical confederations now
existing in the world, I shall, to avoid confusion in
the argument, adhere to the scriptural phraseology.
I shall speak of the Roman Catholic churches and
the Greek churches, of the Scotch Establishment, of
the English Establishment, or of the churches within
these Establishments ; not of the Church of Rome,
the Greek Church, the Church of Scotland, or the
Church of England. And the reader will under-
stand, therefore, that the question which I have to
investigate is, Whether it is the will of Christ that
the Christian congregation, or church, and, conse-
quently, the Christian churches within the Establish-
ment, should be united with the State, or not ?
II. By the word " State" I mean the governing
power in the nation, including the legislative and the
executive powers. In our own country the executive
power is lodged with the Crown and the ministers ;
the legislative power belongs to four bodies, to the
Crown, the House of Lords, the House of Commons,
and, indirectly, to the Constituency. The question,
therefore, which I have to investigate is, Whether it
be according to the will of Christ that the Christian
MEANING OF THE WORD " STATE." 11
church, or congregation, should in this country be
united with the Government, both legislative and
executive, or not?
III. The Union between the Church and the State
of which I have to speak is not the relation of each
member of the church as a citizen to the Govern-
ment under which he lives ; not his subjection in
common with all his fellow-citizens to the laws and
to the sovereign ; but it is the definite Union be-
tween the church and the Government, which arises
from a national payment of the pastor, and the con-
sequent superintendence of him and of the Church
by the State.
I have, then, to inquire, in the following pages,
Whether it is the will of Christ, as deducible from
the word of God, that the Christian congregations
of this country should receive the salaries of their
pastors from the State, and be consequently placed
under its superintendence?
PART I.
ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION BETWEEN THE
CHURCH AND THE STATE.
IN the existing Union between the Establishment
and the State in this country there are certain leading
features which determine its special character. The
State maintains the clergy of the Establishment, as-
sumes in return a certain amount of control over
them, confers on certain patrons the right of pre-
senting them to livings, exalts them above the minis-
ters of other sects, and compels the payment of the
rent-charges and rates by which they are maintained.
All these facts condemn the Union, because they in-
volve a disregard of various Christian principles. But,
antecedently to that condemnation of the Union which
results from the examination of its special character,
there is another condemnation of it derived from
general considerations, which must be first noticed.
13
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS WHICH CONDEMN THE
UNION.
IN this, as in every other question of religious
duty, we must ultimately be guided by the word of
God : but as some advocates of the Union, who could
find no scriptural authority for it, have pronounced
it to be reasonable, natural, and wise, reasonable
because the State is competent to protect and super-
intend the church, natural because the relation of
the State to the people is analogous to the parental
relation, and wise because confirmed by general expe-
rience, I will show, before I examine the condem-
nation pronounced upon it by the word of God, that
it is condemned by the constitution of the State, by
the parental relation, and by the practice of man-
kind; to all of which they so confidently appeal in
its behalf.
SECTION I. The Union between the Church and the
State is condemned by the Constitution of the
State.
The duties of the State episcopate are to deter-
mine in the last resort the creed, the canons, the
discipline, and the ministers of the Establishment.
14 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The Establishment can neither amend one of the
articles of its creed if erroneous, nor add to their
number if the creed be defective, without the assent
of the State. Without the concurrence of the State
it cannot meet nor enact a canon, when met, nor
execute a canon when enacted. It cannot execute
discipline upon offending clergymen, or others, ex-
cept in courts of which the State appoints the judge,
and from which the State receives appeals. And,
lastly, the State both nominates its prelates and de-
termines by law the mode in which all its pastors
shall be appointed. Now, the State is unfitted by its
composition to execute this episcopate.
For these ecclesiastical functions the members of
the State ought to be pious and united. They ought
to be pious, because none but pious men are likely
to study the Scriptures with sufficient care to know
what doctrine it teaches or what discipline it enjoins.
An error, for instance, which is maintained by many
ministers of the Establishment, and for the support
of which they refer to the prayer-book, is the notion
that infants are regenerated by baptism. This error,
which ought to be distinctly repudiated by the Esta-
blishment, cannot be expunged from its formularies
except with the concurrence of Parliament ; and unless
the members of Parliament are generally religious
men, they are not likely to investigate the subject
with sufficient care, to know what the doctrine of
scripture is on the subject of regeneration. Some of
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 15
the canons of the Establishment breathe the bigotry
of the sixteenth century. These ought at once to be
erased from our ecclesiastical statute-book. But the
Establishment cannot erase them without the aid of
the House of Commons; and in order to judge of
their unscriptural spirit, the members of that House
ought to be well acquainted with the scriptures.
The members of the State ought likewise to be
united in ecclesiastical questions ; because any judg-
ment pronounced by a majority in Parliament against
a minority within the Legislature, strengthened by,
perhaps, a majority of the people, must always be
without moral weight, and lead to schism. Besides,
when parties are nearly balanced, a few members of
the most irreligious character may ultimately deter-
mine the most important ecclesiastical questions
which Parliament is called to discuss.
Now the members of Parliament cannot be ex-
pected to be generally either pious or united : few
of the great and wealthy have ever been distinguished
by earnestness in spiritual religion. "It is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" 1 And from
the first, God has hid the truths of the Gospel from
the wise and prudent which he has revealed to
babes. 2 The three things which introduce men into
the Legislature are rank, wealth, and superior capacity.
The House of Lords is composed, without reference
1 Matt. xix. 24. 3 Matt. xi. 25.
16 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
to character, of those who inherit rank and wealth.
The descendants of able statesmen, of brave generals,
of clever lawyers, or of successful money-makers ;
they are hereditary legislators, whatever may be their
contempt for the Gospel or their disregard of morals.
To the House of Commons many obtain admission
by the influence of property, and many are chosen
because of their capacity to maintain the political
views of their constituents. The electors represent
the mass of the nation. They may be honest or
dishonest, upright or corrupted, free or servile,
enlightened or prejudiced, but they cannot be, in
general, godly ; and they are, of course, likely to
choose as their representatives men who are like
themselves. A few religious men may be chosen ;
the majority must be irreligious. It cannot be other-
wise. Is the world spiritual or unspiritual, regene-
rate or unregenerate ? If unspiritual and unrege-
nerate, why should they choose spiritual men to
represent them in Parliament? 1 I will add that it
1 Since these lines were written, The Times has made the following
remarks upon the defeat of my excellent, honest, and upright friend, Sir
Culling Eardley, in the contest for the West Riding :
" Sir Culling Eardley chose to contest the Riding on religious grounds.
Whether a pious footman advertises for a place, or a pious candidate for a
seat, the public is equally disposed to suspect something wrong. It is con-
cluded that the man has no other recommendations to offer, and that he is
palming himself upon the conscientious in the hope that some poor soul may
think to win heaven by putting up with a very bad servant. But of all sub-
jects in the world, religion fares the worst in the polling-booth. . . . Expe-
rience, therefore, has taught us to regard the pious candidate as a contemptible
impostor ; and a wide induction has confirmed that belief. Papist or Puritan,
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 17
ought not to be otherwise. If we are to be well
governed, the House of Commons should gather
to itself the greatest capacities in the kingdom. A
religious man without talent is no more fitted to
be a senator than a religious man without muscle
is fitted to be a blacksmith; and electors should
no more choose a Christian without sound political
knowledge to direct the nation, than a Government
should choose a Christian without knowledge of
navigation or of gunnery to command a man-of-war.
Religious men, though more upright than others,
Jesuit or Jumper, it is all the same. On the political arena religious pre-
tenders have generally turned out to be charlatans." The Times, Dec. 18.
The majority of the electors would, doubtless, agree with the leading
journal of Europe.
The following notices of the House of Commons, in the " Life of Mr. Wil-
berforce," by his sons, illustrate the foregoing statements.
When a French invasion was expected in 1803, a bill was brought in to
regulate the drilling of volunteers on Sundays, upon which Mr. Wilberforce
made the following remarks: "We got the bill mended, though not cured,
about Sunday exercising. How different the House of Commons from the
kingdom ! No one seemed to care about it there except the Thorntons, &c.
Well may we call down God's vengeance. Pitt spoke of it as not contrary
to English church principles." (Life, vol. iii. p. 110.) " In the Sunday
drilling, the House of Commons is against us." (P. 266.) In 1809, his
diary contained the following remarks : " Wardle's motion on the Duke of
York sad work. No apparent sense in the House of the guilt of adultery,
only of the political offence." He added, in a letter to Mr. Hey, " What a
scene are we exhibiting to the world ! It was no more than was to be foreseen
by any one who was ever so little acquainted with the House of Commons.
We are alive to the political offence, but to the moral crime we seem utterly
insensible ; and the reception which every double entendre meets in the House
must injure our character greatly with all religious minds." (Pp. 401, 402.)
In 1813, Mr. Wilberforce laboured to introduce a clause into the East
India Company's charter, by which Christian missionaries should be author-
ised to preach the Gospel in India. " The temper," say his biographers, " of
the House of Commons could not be mistaken ; and it was only by bringing
forcibly to bear upon it the religious feeling of the country, that he could
hope to carry through this most important measure." " The truth is," he tells
18 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
are not exempt from human infirmities, and may
have false views in politics, with small capacity ; and
if the nation were in the hands of such men, however
excellent, their blunders would expose the Legislature
to contempt and the country to danger. 1 Our rulers
ought to be men of ability, and if they have sound
morals this is all which can be generally asked. Mr.
Gladstone, when endeavouring to prove the com-
petency of the State " to choose the national religion,"
" to choose in matter of religion better than the
average of the people will do it for themselves,"
only claims for its members superior intelligence and
good morals. " Governments ought to be, and it
Mr. Hey, " and a dreadful truth it is, that the opinions of nine-tenths, or at
least of a vast majority of the House of Commons, would be against any mo-
tion which the friends of religion might make ; but I trust it is very different
in the body of our people." (Life, vol. iv. p. 102.) " Mr. Stephen, I, and
others, loudly exclaimed against the proposed system of barring out all moral
and religious light from the East Indies." (P. 105.) " Government is well
disposed to us, but it is highly probable that they may be overborne by the
sense of Parliament, especially by that of the House of Commons. ... I
should not much wonder if ... all security for preventing the door from
being barred against the admission of religious and moral light, should be
altogether abandoned." (P. 109.) " The House of Commons in general is
disposed against us." (P. 112.)
1 The Record, on the occasion of Sir C. Eardley's defeat, writes as
follows :
" Whatever errors Sir Culling has fallen into, religiously and practically,
and we think them neither few nor small, no man ventures to question his
integrity and truth. . . . But while we thus speak of the insults offered to
Sir Culling Eardley by The Times, we sincerely congratulate our readers on
his exclusion from the representation of the West Riding. . . . His notion
that it is not the duty of Christian rulers to support the Christian faith, his
intention to proceed immediately against church-rates, &c. &c., point him out
as an unsafe member of Parliament." The Record, Dec. 18.
So far I fully agree with The Record, that piety alone will not constitute
a good member of Parliament.
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 19
will hardly be disputed that, from the necessities of
their position, they actually are, higher in the
scale of intelligence than the fluctuating elements of
average opinion." a " Next, if we regard the ethical
character or personal morality of rulers, by which I
mean their principles of Christian, and in a minor
sense of human, virtue, / do not know that it can be
fairly taken as inferior to that which, upon the whole,
characterises the mass." ~ " A State cannot select its
members from the mass, nor can if make character a
condition of power." 3 Able men, though without
religious character, must necessarily make their way
into it ; and Mr. Roebuck might with justice declare,
in his place in Parliament, " We, sir, are, or ought to
be, the elite of the people of England for mind ;" *
but neither he, nor any other member of the House
of Commons, can contend that they are the elite of
the people of England for piety. Where, then, has
Mr. Gladstone learned that superior intelligence and
average morality qualify the members of the Legis-
lature to guide and to superintend the churches of
Christ, to determine, for Christian congregations and
for Christian pastors, what doctrine is true, what
morality is scriptural, and what discipline is according
to the will of Christ? The House of Commons is
composed of the eldest sons of peers, of baronets and
squires, of naval captains and of colonels in the army,
1 The State in its Relations, &c. vol. i. p. 288. * P. 290.
3 P. 96. P. 286.
20 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
of lawyers, of aldermen, of bankers, of merchants and
manufacturers, of stockbrokers and railroad directors ;
and what is there in their education and pursuits to
qualify them to be rulers of the churches of Christ,
to sit in judgment upon creeds and canons, or to
determine for all the Christians of the land the elec-
tion of their pastors and the administration of church
discipline ? When our Lord preached in person, his
doctrines and his morality were hid from the wise
and prudent. 1 In St. Paul's day the same doctrines
and morals seemed foolishness to the most enlightened
Greeks. 2 And if the members of the Legislature have
the highest attributes which Mr. Gladstone ventures
to assign to them superior intelligence and average
morality, with nothing more they are much more
likely to despise the Gospel than to honour it, to
trample on its precepts than to uphold them; and
are utterly disqualified to exercise an ultimate control
over the churches of Christ. Statesmanship no more
qualifies to direct the affairs of a church, than piety
qualifies to direct the affairs of a nation. Let each
keep to its own sphere of action.
But the unfitness of the State to exercise this
general episcopate does not depend merely on the
irreligion of many of its members, the discrepancy of
their opinions is not less fatal to their competency.
" There may be a state of things," says Mr. Glad-
stone, " in which religious communions are so equally
1 Matt. xi. 25. 2 1 Cor. i. 23.
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 21
divided, or so variously subdivided, that the Govern-
ment is itself similarly chequered in its religious com-
plexion, and thus internally incapacitated by utter
disunion from acting in matters of religion." 1 This
is our state. If a petition is presented by an arch-
bishop that the Establishment may have some ecclesi-
astical government, or if a proposition is made by a
noble lord to bring the rubric into more harmony
with existing custom, by whom are these points to be
decided ? First, in future days it may be by a sove-
reign who may be exactly the reverse of our gracious
Queen, and may be the antitype of Henry VIII. or of
Charles II. Secondly, by the Lords, who may be Angli-
cans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Socinians, or men
of pleasure without thought of any religion. Thirdly,
by members of the House of Commons. These may
be men of high principle or of no principle ; Roman
Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, Deists, Socinians, Sweden-
borgians, or Quakers ; they may be religious or pro-
fane, young men of gaiety and fashion or old men of
inveterate immorality ; they may be wealthy or steeped
in debt ; absolutists sighing for the resurrection of
Laud and Strafford, or democrats, who in their
dreams see bright visions of republicanism ; they may
be sportsmen, who are ever foremost at the death of
the fox, or keener civic hunters after gold ; they may
be lovers of pleasure, whose employments are seldom
more serious than the opera, and who enter the House
1 The State in its Relations, &c. vol. i. p. 304.
22 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
of Commons for amusement, or lovers of party, whose
highest ambition may be to keep one minister in, or
to turn another out. By these chambers the churches
of Christ in this country consent that their creed
and their laws, their discipline and the choice of
their pastors, shall be ultimately decided. In what
respect would two other chambers, the first composed
of four hundred bankers, and the second of six hun-
dred railroad directors, be less fitted to superintend
those churches? To leave the creeds and the dis-
cipline of the churches in such hands is to check the
progress of religion and to make Parliament ridi-
culous.
What good can the Legislature intend to effect by
maintaining this State government of the churches ?
Does the House of Commons mean to promote
spiritual religion by it ? Alas ! the majority of its
members are probably ignorant of spiritual religion,
and perhaps ridicule both the men who uphold it and
the institutions by which it is promulgated. Would
the majority of these ecclesiastical rulers present their
livings to evangelical men ? Do they attend evan-
gelical preaching ? Are they subscribers to evan-
gelical societies, to the Bible Society, the Church
Missionary Society, the Tract Society, or the London
City Mission ? In what way do they individually
promote spiritual religion ? Do they, then, intend to
uphold by the Union the morality of the Gospel ? Its
precepts condemn all quarrelling, urging a man when
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 23
struck on one cheek to present the other, and enjoin-
ing, on pain of the highest penalties, the forgiveness
of offenders. They declare that drunkards and forni-
cators shall not enter heaven. They frown on pride
and exalt humility; and not only do they discoun-
tenance debt, but command the rich, as stewards of
God, to give liberally to the poor. How many of the
two Houses assent to these rules of life ? How many
exhibit a practical subjection to their authority ? The
morals of the Gospel, no less than its doctrines, have
ever been folly to the world. Is it this " folly" which
the majority of both Houses uphold ?
But if the Legislature does not intend to pro-
mulgate evangelical doctrine, or to enforce Christian
morality by its maintenance of the Union, they must
have some other ends in view ; and it becomes Christ-
ians to consider seriously what they are. Let them,
however, be what they will, the composition of the
State is such as to make its exercise of ecclesiastical
authority at once a crime and an absurdity.
It is vain to argue that Governments ought, by all
means in their power, to advance the cause of Christ.
This may be very true, and yet their episcopate re-
main unscriptural, absurd, and mischievous. It is the
duty of each member of Parliament, of each peer, of
each minister of the Crown, and of the sovereign,
to be a consistent Christian. Each ruler of the
country is bound to acknowledge his guilt and ruin as
a sinner who could only be saved by redemption
24 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
through the blood of the Son of God, to trust wholly
in the merit and mediation of Christ for pardon, for
holiness, and for heaven. Rank, wealth, and power,
only increase the obligation upon any one to obey the
will of God declared in the bible, to set a Christian
example, to be a member of a Christian church, to
govern his family by Christian rules, to train up his
children in the fear of God, to discountenance vice, to
discourage dissipating and mischievous amusements,
to promote Christian missions among the heathen, to
aid the diffusion of evangelical instruction at home
by liberal contributions, and in all other ways to
honour religion.
Each member of Parliament is no less bound to
make the law of God the exclusive rule of his public
conduct. Each public measure should be considered
with reference to the divine will ; each vote should be
given in the fear of God ; and every legislator is called
to avow that he is governed in all things by the
authority of Christ. Whoever neglects these duties
is misusing the gifts of God, and must give account
to his Maker for that misuse.
The same principles should obviously govern the
united action of all the members of the State. They
must legislate and govern in the fear of God, accord-
ing to scripture, for the glory of God and the good of
the nation. Hence their laws must be neither anti-
Christian nor immoral, neither unjust nor oppressive :
they ought to discourage all profanity and ungod-
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 25
liness among themselves; they should afford to all
the agents of Government, to soldiers, sailors, and
policemen, opportunities and means of religious im-
provement; they should abolish all class legislation,
create no unjust monopolies, protect the weak from
oppression, ameliorate by all means in their power the
condition of the poor, remove all artificial checks upon
industry, make all the subjects equal in the eye of the
law, admit as many as possible to all the privileges of
the constitution, and generally make the happiness of
all the object of their constant efforts. They are fur-
ther called to protect Christians in their worship, to
allow no public hindrance to the preaching of the
Gospel, to secure the safety of Christian missionaries
throughout the empire, to elevate the condition of the
aborigines of our colonies, to be upright and fair in
their diplomacy, to condemn and to abstain from war,
and to aid rather than hinder the prosperity of other
nations. Finally, while discharging these Christian
duties, they no less owe it to their Lord and Redeemer
to leave his churches free from ah 1 secular control, to
intrude no ministers upon them, to impose no tax
on the reluctant for the purposes of religion, and to
use no coercion whatever of their subjects in any
religious matters.
Thus if the State were wholly Christian, it ought
to abolish its Union with the churches. But is it
Christian ? How many members of Parliament pro-
fess to trust wholly in Christ for their salvation from
26 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
hell, and, therefore, make his word their exclusive rule
of conduct ? If the majority are without this faith,
they are unchristian and ungodly ; and the Union
between the Church and State is the Union between
the churches of Christ and a body of unconverted
men it is the Union of the church with the world ;
and since all who are not with Christ are against
him, it is the union of his friends with his enemies.
The effect of the Union does not depend upon what
the State ought to be, but upon what it is ; and to
advocate the Union because the State is bound to be
evangelical, is the same thing as to say that a thief
should be made the trustee of a property because
he is bound to be honest ; or that the Lord's Supper
should be administered to a drunken profligate be-
cause he is bound to be virtuous and sober. The
advocates of the Union constantly argue not from
what the State is, but from what it ought to be ; and
infer most erroneously the effect of the Union of the
churches with the actual State from what they sup-
pose would be the effect of their Union with the
Utopian State. The actual State is irreligious, and
the churches are bound to dissolve their Union with it.
THE PARENTAL RELATION OF THE STATE. 27
SECTION II. Tfie Union is condemned by the Parental
Relation.
Mr. Gladstone, as well as other advocates of the
Union, has much insisted on the analogy between the
nation and the family, between the functions of the
State and those of the parent. 1 Hence, he adds, " I
argue that the State when rightly constituted is emi-
nently competent, by intrinsic as well as extrinsic
attributes, to lead and to solicit the mind of the
people, to exercise the function, modified indeed, but
yet real, of an instructor, and even of a parent." 2
Bishop Wilson adds, " Though an Establishment is
not essential to Christianity itself, it is essential to
every Christian Government which desires to discharge
its highest obligations towards the people committed
to its care. A connexion between Christianity and
the rulers of a Christian country is imperiously re-
quired to fulfil the duty of the PARENT OF THE STATE
to his vast family." 3 The doctrine grounded on
this analogy is that, as a parent must provide Christ-
ian instruction for his family, so the State must
provide Christian instruction for the nation. Both the
analogy and the doctrine founded upon it are false.
The State being composed of Queen, Lords, and
Commons, among which three estates the House of
1 The State in its Relations, &c. vol. i. pp. 72-76, 85. z Ib. p. 282.
3 Bishop of Calcutta's " Farewell Charge," p. 24.
28 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Commons has now so much influence that its decided
and permanent judgment determines ultimately every
public question, we must consider that House as
being especially the depository of the State's parental
authority. But if the House of Commons is the
parent of the nation, the difference between the father
of the nation and the father of the family is so con-
siderable as to make their respective duties exceed-
ingly distinct.
1. Children being placed under the authority of
their parents through their weakness and ignorance,
without any choice of their own, the control of them
by their father is natural and unavoidable; but the
House of Commons is chosen by the electors of the
empire, and is, therefore, an elective father, an
adopted parent, raised to that dignity by his adopt-
ing children, to whom alone he owes his position and
his power.
2. The father of the family has a permanent, and,
within certain limits, an irresponsible control, so that
he can determine the education of his children from
infancy to manhood. But the national father is
elected by his children, on certain terms and for
certain ends, can claim no more power than they
are pleased to concede, is responsible to them for the
execution of his office, is forced by them to resign it
at the end of seven years, because they are afraid
that he would assume too much authority; and all
his decisions may be revoked by the next elected
THE PARENTAL RELATION OF THE STATE. 29
national father, whose views may be totally opposed
to his own.
Since, then, the circumstances of the parent are
so different from those of the State, it is obviously
unsafe to argue from the duties of the one to the
functions of the other ; but just so far as there is
an analogy between them, that analogy condemns
the control of the Church by the State as absurd :
for when the children of any family grow up to
manhood, they are invariably emancipated from pa-
rental control in matters of religion. What parent
would think of dictating to his son at the age of
thirty, the creed which he should profess, or the
minister whom he should attend? What son at
that age would submit to such dictation? At that
epoch the authority of the father in religious matters
has expired, since every man is responsible to God
for his religious conduct, and can permit no one
to interpose between his Maker and him. The son
is then become religiously independent ; and all at-
tempts to impose on him a creed or a religious
teacher would be usurpation. The obligation of the
parent to teach the children arising solely from their
need of divine truth, from their incapacity to judge
for themselves, the reason of this dictation ceases as
soon as their faculties are mature, and from that time
it would be criminal in them to permit its exercise.
Not less imbecile and culpable is it in a nation to
allow the State to dictate its creed : for the nation is
30 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
full-grown. There have been times when a Govern-
ment might with some plausibility assume towards a
nation the tone of a parent to a child : but why should
this nation be treated as a child now ? Myriads of
men in this country can think for themselves on re-
ligion as well as the 658 members of the House of
Commons can think for them. In every free nation
the press and the platform are co-ordinate powers with
the Legislature itself: and in this country every day
makes it more manifest, that the members of the
House of Commons are not pedagogues, but repre-
sentatives of men, among whom are many who are as
able as themselves to investigate every question both
of politics and morals : and if the nation is composed
of men, Parliament should cease to treat them as
children. Indeed, in no other question are they
treated as children. The State does not determine
for us our lawyer, physician, or tradesman ; why
should it appoint our pastor? Why select for its
dictation precisely the matter in which it is the least
competent to dictate, and in which its blunders are
the most injurious? When the parent chooses the
pastor for his children, he chooses also their physician
and their tradesman ; if the State will play the parent
with men, let it nominate our physicians and our
tradesmen no less than our ministers. Either treat
us wholly as children, or wholly as men.
When a parent relinquishes all control over the
religion of his children because they have attained to
THE PARENTAL RELATION OF THE STATE. 31
manhood, he may yet be wiser than they, and is cer-
tainly more experienced. But what religious wisdom
and experience has this elected national father who
retains the control over the churches of Christ ? Here,
in truth, the analogy between the relation of the State
to the churches and the relation of the parent to his
children is wholly reversed. In the churches of
Christ is collected all the religious wisdom of the
country : in the House of Commons there is little re-
ligious wisdom. If in political knowledge Parliament
may resemble the parent and the nation be like the
child, in spiritual knowledge Parliament is like the
child while the churches have the wisdom of the
parent : and to intrust Parliament with the creed,
laws, and discipline of the churches, is to intrust the
control of the parent to the child.
But this is not the whole of the absurdity involved
in the State episcopate. As no one can teach what
he does not know, or will inculcate what he does not
believe, an ungodly father cannot educate his children
in religion. On the contrary, some ungodly parents
have been known so systematically to vitiate the minds
of their children, that the Court of Chancery has on
this ground taken from them the custody of their own
sons. The State is under the same incapacity. If the
House of Commons be the national father, it is a father
so irreligious, that the children should be withdrawn
from his control. Six hundred members of Parliament,
with no more religion than six hundred men taken at
32 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
hazard from any city or town of Great Britain, whose
theological opinions, including Romanism, High-
Churchism, Socinianism, and a thousand other varie-
ties, make up a perfect chaos of irreconcilable contra-
dictions, are not entitled to control the creed and
discipline of 12,000 Christian churches.
To complete this view of the absurdity of the
Union, we must add that, while the father of a family
controls the education of his children because he pays
for it, the members of the two Houses of Parliament,
instead of paying themselves for the spiritual in-
struction of the nation, force the nation to pay for it,
distraining on the property of all who refuse to pay :
just as if an ignorant and ungodly parent should force
his children, when grown up to manhood, to receive a
bad tutor from him, and should beat and fine them
if they would not build a lecture-room, and pay the
tutor's salary themselves.
It is astonishing that Mr. Gladstone and Bishop
Wilson can build so lofty a fabric on a foundation so
rotten !
SECTION III. The Union condemned by History.
No truth is more prominent in the New Testa-
ment than that we are saved by faith in our Re-
deemer. 1 But faith, according to the doctrine of the
1 John, i. 12; iii. 14-16, 36; Mark, xvi. 15, 16; Acts, xiii. 39; xvi.
31; Rom. iii. 19-28 ; Gal. ii. 15, 16 ; iii. 9, 26 ; Eph.ii. 8, &c. &c. &c.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 33
same book, is not genuine, unless it leads to an open
confession of Christ in the world; 1 and, therefore,
Christ required from all his disciples that they should
openly confess him by baptism ; which, becoming the
test of a true faith, was therefore connected with the
remission of sins. 2 Thus, as the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world to bear witness to the truth,
though it cost him his life, 3 so his disciples must bear
witness to it.
Since his doctrine has been preached men can
no longer receive the creed of their fathers or of
their country without investigation ; but each one
is bound to search after truth, to receive it, to main-
tain it, and to promulgate it in the world, in oppo-
sition to all error, however venerable or popular.
Our Lord predicted that this novel exercise of con-
science in matters of religion, this independent in-
quiry and resolute profession, would disturb society
every where to its very foundations. " Think not that
I am come to send peace on earth : I came not to
send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man
at variance against his father, and the daughter
against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law : and a mans foes shall be they of
his own household* . . . And ye shall be hated of all
nations for my name's sake." 5
1 Matt. x. 32, 33 ; Rom. x. 10.
2 Mark, xvi. 16 ; Acts, ii. 37; viii. 37; xxii. 16 ; 1 Pet. iii. 21.
3 John, xviii. 37. " Matt. x. 34-36. * Matt. xxiv. 9.
D
34 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The Christian principle of individual inquiry, be-
lief, and profession, was exactly the opposite of the
pagan principle of unexamining conformity. The
Gospel made conscience every thing, declaring, "Let
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. . . What-
soever is not of faith is sin." ] Heathenism made it
nothing. According to the Gospel, every one was
bound to reject the religion of his country if false
according to heathenism, every one was to conform
to the religion of his country in all things. Christ-
ianity invited men to form a voluntary society, upon
conviction as men ; heathenism herded them, by
law, as animals, within the enclosure of a national
ritual.
The Greek legislators, wishing to secure for the
republic the greatest military force by means of the
most complete social unity, forbade dissent from the
popular superstition. A man who disbelieved the
power of fictitious and corrupt deities was thought
to be a bad citizen, and was as such condemned.
Draco punished dissent with death ; Plato would have
it denounced to the magistrates as a crime ; Aristotle
allowed but one established worship ; and Socrates
was sentenced to death as a nonconformist. In the
Greek republics the Union between the State and the
religion was so complete that the rights of conscience
were wholly disregarded. Men did not inquire what
was true, but what was politic. The republic must
1 Rom. xiv. 5, 23.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 35
be a great unity for attack or defence, and the reli-
gious independence which would break that unity
must be exterminated. 1
Heathen princes had yet more powerful motives
than republican magistrates to unite themselves
strictly with the priesthood. Despotic rulers have
ever sought to extort from their subjects all possible
advantages for themselves, and for this end to retain
them in the most complete servitude. They have
chiefly depended on their armies ; but the fears and
the hopes excited by superstition have been too ob-
vious a support not to be largely employed. Well-
paid soldiers have been their first instrument of
power ; their second has been a well-paid priesthood.
Priests have lent to despots, in aid of their selfish
designs, the portents and the predictions of super-
stition ; and despots have, in return, invested the
superstition with splendour, and punished noncon-
formity with death. Heathenism presented no ob-
stacle to this Union. The superstition being a cor-
rupt invention offered nothing which was disagreeable
to corrupt rulers ; and the vices of rulers were not
uncongenial to an equally corrupt priesthood. Nebu-
chadnezzar exalted himself when he compelled his
subjects of every creed to bow down to his golden
idol; Belshazzar, amidst his revels, felt no objection
to "praise the gods of gold and silver;" and it
seemed to Darius excellent policy to establish a royal
1 See " Christianisme et Paganisme," by Count de Gasparin, chap. i.
36 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
statute that no prayers should be offered to any god
but himself for thirty days. 1 The infamous Tarquin
could, without any inconvenient restraint upon his
passions, build temples to Jupiter ; Caligula and Nero
felt no remorse at their wickedness excited by the
fulfilment of their functions of supreme pontiffs ; and,
on the other hand, the Brahmins of India found
nothing in their Vedas and Purannas which made
them blush at the vices and the tyranny of the rajahs
by whom they were enriched. By the aid of the
superstition the despot fortified his tyranny, and by
the aid of the despotism the priest gave currency to
his falsehoods. Thus the Union of the State and the
priesthood was an alliance of force and fraud. Neither
party was strong enough to rule alone. But when
the priest preached for the despot, and the despot
governed for the priest, both the more easily kept
their feet upon the necks of the people ; and made the
universal degradation subservient to their greatness.
When the churches began to be corrupted by the
increasing wealth of their ministers, this pagan Union
of the State with the priesthood was extended to
them ; and emperors with the Christian name sought
the aid of a corrupt Christian priesthood, as heathen
emperors had sought the aid of augurs and of heathen
priests. Constantine, who first openly protected the
Christian churches, can scarcely be supposed to have
done so from religious feeling. The progress of
1 Daniel, iii. v. vi.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 37
Christianity had been very considerable. If, before this
reign, the Christians did not amount to more than one-
twentieth part of the population, as asserted by Gib-
bon, 1 still this number of avowed Christians, at a time
when the profession of faith in Christ exposed them
to martyrdom, indicates that a much larger number
were secretly convinced of its truth. Licinius, the
rival of Constantino, conld not, by his heathen zeal,
raise any popular enthusiasm in his support ; and if
we had no other proof of the numerical extension of
professed believers, we may infer it with certainty
from the recorded habits of the clergy. " During the
third century," says Mosheim, " the bishops assumed
in many places a princely authority; they appro-
priated to their evangelical function the splendid
ensigns of imperial majesty. A throne surrounded
with ministers exalted above his equals the servant
of the meek and humble Jesus ; and sumptuous
garments dazzled the eyes and the minds of the
multitude into an ignorant veneration for their arro-
gated authority. The example of the bishops was
ambitiously imitated by the presbyters, who, neglect-
ing the sacred duties of their station, advanced them-
selves to the indolence and delicacy of an effeminate
and luxurious life. The deacons beholding the pres-
byters deserting thus their functions boldly usurped
their rights ; and the effects of a corrupt ambition
were spread through every rank of the sacred order." 2
1 Chap. xv. 2 Mosheim, cent. iii. part ii. chap. 2, sect. 4.
38 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The splendour and ambition of the clergy manifest
clearly that the Christians were become a powerful
body, whom Constantine would desire to attach to
his cause, and their number renders it very probable
that policy was the earliest ground of his Christian
profession. " His conduct to the Christians was
strictly in accordance with his interests ; and it is
very probable that the protection with which he dis-
tinguished them may, in the first instance, have
originated in his policy." 1 But if it began in policy,
political considerations would still more powerfully
urge him to continue it. He had learned, no doubt,
from the disturbances continually excited by Licinius,
that neither himself nor the empire could enjoy a fixed
state of tranquillity as long as the ancient superstitions
subsisted ; and, therefore, from this period, he openly
opposed the sacred rights of paganism as a religion de-
trimental to the interests of the State. 2 On the other
hand, it is too plain that he was an irreligious man.
It was in the year 313 that he published the edict of
Milan, by which he proclaimed universal toleration,
and secured to the Christians their civil and religious
rights. 3 But, in the year 325, he ordered his rival,
Licinius, to be strangled ; 4 and the same year in
which he convened the Council of Nice was polluted
by the execution, or rather murder, of his eldest son. 5
1 Waddington, " History of the Church," p. 79.
2 Mosheim, cent. iv. part i. chap. 1, sect. 10.
3 Waddington, p. 77. 4 Mosheim, ut supra.
* Gibbon, chap. xx.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 39
" It is not disputed that his career was marked
by the usual excesses of intemperate and worldly
ambition : and the general propriety of his moral con-
duct cannot with any justice be maintained." 1 After
his conversion to Christianity he still continued, as
supreme pontiff, to be the head of the religion of
heathen Rome, and thus continued to be invested
with more absolute authority over the religion he had
deserted than over that which he professed. 2 But, as
he had been the head of the heathen priesthood, it
seemed to him right that he should make himself
equally the head of the Christian priesthood. He,
therefore, assumed a supreme jurisdiction over the
clergy. 3
One of the earliest objects of his policy was to
diminish the independence of the Church. For which
purpose he received it into strict alliance with the
State ; and combined in his own person the highest
ecclesiastical with the highest civil authority. 4 The
entire control of the external administration of the
Church he assumed to himself. He regulated every
thing respecting its outward discipline ; the final de-
cision of religious controversies was subjected to the
discretion of judges appointed by him ; and no general
council could be called except by his authority. 5
Though he permitted the Church to remain a body-
1 Waddingtoii, pp. 77, 78. ' J Gibbon, chap. xxi.
3 Gibbon, chap. xx. 4 Waddington, p. 81.
5 Waddington, p. 83.
40 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
politic distinct from that of the State, yet he assumed
to himself the supreme power over this sacred body,
and the right of modelling and of governing it in
such a manner as should be most conducive to the
public good. 1 Thus he exercised at once a supre-
macy over the heathen and the Christian priesthoods.
He was the chief pontiff of heathenism, and the chief
bishop of the Christian church. And this State
episcopate he exercised many years before he was
baptised, and long before he was a member of the
church he was its summus episcopus, and only a few
days before his death received from Eusebius, bishop
of Nicomedia, the ceremony of baptism. 2
The consequence of this Union between an irreli-
gious prince and the clergy, who were already much
corrupted, was lamentable. At the conclusion of this
century there remained no more than a mere shadow
of the ancient government of the church. Many of
the privileges which had formerly belonged to the
presbyters and people were usurped by the bishops ;
and many of the rights which had been formerly vested
in the Universal Church were transferred to the empe-
rors and to subordinate magistrates. 3 The additions
made by the emperors and others to the wealth,
honours, and advantages of the clergy, were followed
with a proportionable augmentation of vices and
luxury, particularly amongst those of that sacred order
1 Mosheiin, cent. iv. part ii. chap. 2, sect. 1.
* Ibid. chap. 1, sect. 8. 3 Ibid. chap. 2, sect. 1.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 41
who lived in great and opulent cities. The bishops,
on the one hand, contended with each other in the
most scandalous manner concerning the extent of their
respective jurisdiction ; while, on the other, they
trampled upon the rights of the people, violated the
privileges of the inferior ministers, and emulated, in
their conduct and in their manner of living, the arro-
gance, voluptuousness, and luxury of magistrates and
princes. This pernicious example was soon followed
by the several ecclesiastical orders. The presbyters,
in many places, assumed an equality with the bishops
in point of rank and authority. We find also many
complaints made of the vanity and effeminacy of the
deacons. 1 An enormous train of superstitions were
gradually substituted for genuine piety. Frequent
pilgrimages were undertaken to Palestine and to the
tombs of martyrs. Absurd notions and idle ceremonies
multiplied every day ; dust and earth brought from
Palestine were sold and bought every where at enor-
mous prices, as the most powerful remedies against
the violence of wicked spirits. Pagan processions
were adopted into Christian worship, and the virtues
which had formerly been ascribed by the heathen to
their temples, their lustrations, and the statues of their
gods, were now attributed by the baptised to their
churches, their holy water, and the images of saints. 2
Rumours were spread abroad of prodigies and mira-
cles ; robbers were converted into martyrs : many of
1 Mosheim, cent. iv. part ii. chap. 2, sect. 8. 2 Ibid. chap. 3, sect. 2.
42 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
the monks dealt in fictitious relics, and ludicrous
combats with evil spirits were exhibited. " A whole
volume would be requisite to contain an enumeration
of the various frauds which artful knaves practised
with success to delude the ignorant, when true religion
was almost superseded by horrid superstition." 1 The
number of immoral and unworthy persons bearing
the Christian name began so to increase that exam-
ples of real piety became extremely rare. When the
terrors of persecution were dispelled, when the
churches enjoyed the sweets of prosperity, when
most of the bishops exhibited to their flocks the con-
tagious examples of arrogance, luxury, effeminacy,
hatred, and strife, with other vices too numerous to
mention, when the inferior clergy fell into sloth and
vain wranglings, and when multitudes were drawn
into the profession of Christianity, not by the power
of argument, but by the prospect of gain and the fear
of punishment,' then it was, indeed, no wonder that
the churches were contaminated with shoals of profli-
gates, and that the virtuous few were overwhelmed
with the numbers of the wicked and licentious. 2 The
age was sinking daily from one degree of corruption
to another ; and the churches were thus prepared for
that fatal heresy which at one time seemed to threaten
the extermination of evangelical doctrine throughout
Christendom.
After the death of Coustantine, his son Constan-
1 Mosheim, cent. iv. part ii. chap. 3, sect. 3. * Ibid. sect. 17.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 43
tius succeeded to the government of the Eastern pro-
vinces, and eventually became the sovereign of the
whole empire. And as he, his empress, and his whole
court, were Arians, he forthwith used all his influence,
as the head of the church, to exterminate, as far as
possible, evangelical doctrine ; l and the whole world
groaned and wondered, says St. Jerome, to find itself
Arian. 2 The tyranny of Theodosius restored the
orthodoxy of the churches, but could not revive their
piety ; 3 and from that time, in union with the State,
they continued to be so corrupt, that at length the
profligacy, covetousness, fraud, and arrogance of the
clergy generally, from the pope to the obscurest monk,
so revolted the conscience and the common sense of
Europe, that in the sixteenth century it burst from
this oppressive and degrading yoke.
The nature of the relation between the potentate
and the priest during this period was frequently il-
lustrated by incidents like the following. Pepin, who
was mayor of the palace to Childeric III. king of
France, having formed the design of dethroning his
sovereign, assembled the states of the realm, A.D.
751, to whom he proposed that violent measure.
They voted that the bishop of Rome must be con-
sulted : ambassadors were, therefore, sent by Pepin to
demand from Pope Zachary, " Whether the divine law
did not allow a warlike people to dethrone a cowardly
1 Mosheim, cent. iv. part ii. chap. 5, sect. 14.
3 Waddington, p. 98. 3 Ibid. p. 99.
44 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
and indolent monarch and to substitute in his place
one more worthy to rule?" Zachary's answer was
favourable ; Childeric was deposed, and Pepin as-
cended his throne. Pope Stephen II. confirmed the
decision of Zachary, and wanting the aid of Pepin
against the Lombards paid him a visit A.D. 754,
when he released him from his oath of allegiance to
Childeric, anointed him, and crowned him. l
But it would have been happy had the Union
between the secular and the ecclesiastical powers
been productive only of such occasional specimens of
villany on either side ; but alas ! for many centuries
before the Reformation, it universally and constantly
checked the promulgation of the Gospel. Had there
been no such Union in the nations of Europe, then
in each kingdom peaceable subjects would have been
protected in life and property, whatever their creed
might have been ; disturbers of the peace would have
been repressed ; pious and enlightened men might
have preached Christ to their contemporaries without
molestation; and evangelical churches, formed through
their ministry, might have prevented the spiritual
slavery, superstition, and demoralisation, into which
the churches so generally sank. But through the
Union, each student of the bible, with any energy
of character, was speedily arrested by the anathemas
of the priesthood ; and the State was ever ready to
give those anathemas effect. It was the church which
1 Mosheim, cent. viii. part ii. chap. 2, sect. 7.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 45
condemned Lord Cobham in England, John Huss in
Bohemia, and Savonarola at Florence ; but it was the
State which consumed each of them in the flames.
Had there been no Union, Cobham would still have
led on the Lollards to new successes; Huss would
have still lived to confirm his disciples in the faith ;
and Savonarola might have reformed Italy. Devout
and resolute men might have defied the malice of the
priests, if the State had not placed the dungeon and
the thumb-screw, the rack and the stake, at their
disposal. The Union, therefore, is responsible for
the religious ignorance and the general degradation
of manners which disgraced the fourteenth and the
fifteenth centuries.
When the reformers of the sixteenth century-
struggled for the doctrines of the Gospel with the
hierarchy and the priesthood, the Union was still
their greatest enemy. Unchecked by the Govern-
ments of Europe, the Reformation would have been
nearly universal. In Scotland the reform conquered
the Government ; but in England the Union muti-
lated the reform ; and in France, in parts of Ger-
many, in Spain, and in Italy, overcame and crushed
it. The Union alone gave teeth and claws to the
two Inquisitions of Spain and Italy ; and without its
aid the powerful confraternity of Loyola would have
been baffled. As the Union had previously corrupted
the churches, so at the Reformation it prevented their
restoration to purity of discipline and to spiritual life.
46 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Since that day superstition has maintained its
hateful ascendancy in Europe through the Union
alone ; and were it removed, France, Roman Catho-
lic Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, might be
pervaded in every direction by zealous evangelists.
On the other hand, it has not been less disastrous
in Protestant countries. The reformers, who had a
gigantic foe to grapple with, were too happy to se-
cure the aid of their rulers, by investing them with
almost all the prerogatives of which they despoiled
the pope. Misled by the evangelical zeal of some
leading statesmen, they vainly hoped that Protestant
Governments would, in successive generations, heart-
ily promote the progress of the Gospel, and con-
sented to a Union which has been productive of
endless mischief. Ever since the Union of the
Church of England with its imperious and profligate
head, Henry VIII., who burned alike the friends of
the pope and the followers of Zuingle, because he
would not endure that men should have any other
religious opinions than his own, the State in Eng-
land, with scarcely the exception of one brief inter-
val, has been steadily opposed to evangelical religion.
Queen Mary, though a bigoted Catholic, continued
to be the legal head of the Church of England, and
availed herself of the supremacy with which she was
invested by the Union to crush the English Reform-
ation.
Her death afforded no unmixed benefit to the
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 47
y 1 d&&**>
Protestant cause, as the reader may judge by the
following extracts from Hallam's " Constitutional
History."
The two statutes enacted in the first year of
Elizabeth, commonly called the Acts of Supremacy
and Uniformity, are the main links of the Anglican
Church with the temporal constitution, and establish
the subordination and dependency of the former ; the
first abrogating all jurisdiction and legislative power of
ecclesiastical rulers, except under authority of the
Crown ; and the second prohibiting all changes of rites
and discipline without the approbation of Parliament.
It was the constant policy of this queen to maintain
her prerogative. 1 Elizabeth, though resolute against
submitting to the papal supremacy, was not so averse
to ah 1 the tenets abjured by Protestants. She re-
proved a divine who preached against the real pre-
sence, and is even said to have used prayers to the
Virgin ; but her great struggle with the reformers
was about images, and particularly the crucifix, which
she retained with lighted tapers before it in her
chapel. 2
To the marriage of the clergy she retained so
great an aversion, that she would never consent to
repeal the statute of her sister's reign against it. 3
Except Archbishop Parker, and Cox, bishop of Ely,
all the most eminent churchmen, such as Jewel,
Grindal, Sandys, Nowell, were in favour of leaving
1 Vol. i. p. 231. 2 P. 234. 3 P. 236.
48 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
off the surplice and what were called the popish
ceremonies. The queen alone was the cause of re-
taining those observances. 1 On refusing to wear the
customary habits, Sampson, dean of Christ Chnrch,
was deprived of his deanery. 2 Parker obtained from
the queen a proclamation peremptorily requiring con-
formity in the use of the clerical vestments and other
matters of discipline. The London ministers, sum-
moned before himself and their bishop, Grindal; were
called upon for a promise to comply with the legal
ceremonies, which thirty-seven out of ninety-eight
refused to make. They were, in consequence, sus-
pended from their ministry. But these, unfortu-
nately, as was the case in ah" this reign, were the
most conspicuous both for their general character
and for their talent in preaching. 3 The Puritan
clergy, after being excluded from their benefices,
might still claim from a just Government a peaceful
toleration of their particular worship. This it was
vain to expect from the queen's arbitrary spirit, the
imperious humours of Parker, and that total disre-
gard of the rights of conscience which was common
to all parties in the sixteenth century. The first
instance of actual punishment inflicted on Protestant
dissenters was in June 1567, when a company of
more than one hundred were seized during their
religious exercises at Plummers' Hall, and fourteen
or fifteen of them were sent to prison. 4 The far
1 Vol. i. p. 238. 2 P. 244. 3 P. 245. 4 P. 247.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 49
greater part of the benefices of the church were
supplied by conformists of very doubtful sincerity,
who would resume their mass-books with more
alacrity than they had cast them aside. 1
Burnet says, on the authority of the visitors'
reports, that out of 9400 beneficed clergymen, not
more than about two hundred refused to conform ;
and he proceeds, " If a prince of another religion had
succeeded, they had probably turned about again as
nimbly as they had done before in Queen Mary's
days." A great part of the clergy in the first part
of this reign are said to have been sunk in super-
stition and looseness of living. 2 Such a deficiency
of Protestant clergy had been experienced at the
queen's accession, that for several years it was a
common practice to appoint laymen, usually me-
chanics, to read the service in vacant churches. 3
Yet the archbishop continued to harass the Puritan
ministers, suppressing their books, silencing them in
churches, persecuting them in private meetings.
Plain citizens, for listening to their sermons, were
dragged before the high commission and imprisoned
upon any refusal to conform. 4
The clergy in several dioceses set up, with en-
couragement from their superiors, a certain religious
exercise called prophesyings. They met at appointed
times to expound and discuss together particular texts
of scripture, under the presidency of a moderator ap-
1 Vol. i. p. 248. z Ibid. note. 3 P. 249. 4 P. 262.
E
50 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
pointed by the bishop. The queen entirely disliked
them, and directed Parker to put them down. Pro-
phesyings were now put down. 1
Grindal, who succeeded Parker, wished to revive
them. The queen, however, insisted both that the
prophesyings should be discontinued and that fewer
licenses for preaching should be granted. Grindal
refusing to comply with this injunction, was seques-
tered from the exercise of his jurisdiction for about
five years ; and the queen, by circular letters to the
bishops, commanded them to put an end to the pro-
phesyings, which were never afterwards renewed. 2
As soon as Whitgift succeeded to the primacy, he
promulgated articles for the observance of discipline ;
one of which prohibited all preaching, reading, or
catechising in private houses, whereto any not of the
same family should resort. But that which excited
the loudest complaints was the subscription to three
points the queen's supremacy, the lawfulness of the
common prayer, and the truth of the whole thirty-
nine articles, exacted from every minister of the
church. 3 The kingdom resounded with the clamour
of those who were suspended or deprived of their
benefices, and of their numerous abettors. But,
secure of the queen's support, Whitgift relented not
a jot of his resolution. 4
In 1583, the High Commission Court was erected,
consisting of forty -four commissioners, of whom twelve
1 Vol. i. pp. 266, 267. z Pp. 267, 268. * P. 269. 4 Pp. 269-271.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 51
were bishops, several were privy-councillors, and the
rest clergymen or civilians. Power was given to any
three commissioners, of whom one must be a bishop,
to punish all persons absent from church, to visit
and reform heresies and schisms according to law,
to deprive all beneficed persons holding any doctrine
contrary to the thirty-nine articles, &c. &c. Master
of such tremendous machinery, the archbishop pro-
ceeded to tender the oath ex officio to such of the
*//
clergy as were surmised to harbour a spirit of puri-
tanical disaffection. This procedure consisted in a
series of interrogations, so comprehensive as to em-
brace the whole scope of clerical uniformity, yet .so
precise and minute as to leave no room for evasion,
to which the suspected party was bound to answer
upon oath. 1 Pamphlets, chiefly anonymous, were
rapidly circulated throughout the kingdom, inveigh-
ing against the prelacy. Of these libels, the most
famous went under the name of Martin Mar-prelate. 2
Strong suspicions having fallen on Penry, a young
Welshman, he was tried for another pamphlet con-
taining some sharp reflections on the queen herself,
and was executed. 3 Udal, a Puritan minister, fell
into the grasp of the same statute for an alleged libel
on the bishops. His trial, like most other political
trials of the age, disgraces the name of English jus-
tice. It consisted mainly in a pitiful attempt by the
court to entrap him into a confession that the im-
1 Pp. 271-273. 2 P. 277. 3 P. 278.
52 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
puted libel was of his writing, as to which their
proof was deficient. He avoided the snare, but was
convicted, and died of the effects of confinement. 1
Cartwright, with several of his sect, were sum-
moned before the ecclesiastical commission, where,
refusing to inculpate themselves by taking the oath
ex officio, they were committed to the Fleet. 2 Morice,
attorney of the court of wards, having attacked the
legality of this oath ex officio in the House of Com-
mons, and brought in a bill to take it away, the
queen put a stop to the proceeding ; and Morice lay
some time in prison for his boldness. 3 In 1593,
the court procured an act which sentenced to impri-
sonment any person above the age of sixteen who
should forbear for the space of a month to repair to
some church, until he should make such open decla-
ration of conformity as the act appoints. Those who
refused to submit to these conditions were to abjure
the realm ; and if they should return without the
queen's license, to suffer death as felons. 4 Multitudes
fled to Holland from the rigour of the bishops in
enforcing this statute. 5 Yet, after forty years of con-
stantly aggravated molestation of the nonconforming
clergy, their numbers were become greater, their
popularity more deeply rooted, their enmity to the
established order more irreconcilable. 6
On the other hand, the prelates of the English
1 P. 279. 2 P. 280. 3 P. 287.
4 P. 289. 5 P. 290. 8 P. 306.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 53
Church, while they inflicted so many severities on
others, had not always cause to exult in their own
condition. Cecil surrounded his mansion-house at
Burleigh with estates once belonging to the see of
Peterborough. Hatton built his house in Holborn
on the bishop of Ely's garden ; and Cox, on making
resistance to this spoliation, received the following
letter from the queen: "Proud prelate, you know
what you were before I made you what you are. If
you do not immediately comply with my request, by
God I will unfrock you ! ELIZABETH." After his
death she kept the see vacant eighteen years. 1 She
suspended Fletcher, bishop of London, of her own
authority, only for marrying " a fine lady and a
widow;" and Aylmer having preached too vehe-
mently against female vanity in dress, which came
home to the queen's conscience, she told her ladies
that if the bishop held more discourse on such mat-
ters she would fit him for heaven, but he should walk
thither without a staff, and leave his mantle behind
him. And in her speech to Parliament, on closing
the session of 1584, when many complaints against
the rulers of the church had rung in her ears, she
told the bishops that if they did not amend what was
wrong, she meant to depose them. 2
This sketch is sufficient to show that throughout
this reign the bishops and clergy were kept by the
Union in a state of servile subjection to the Crown ;
1 P. 304. P. 305.
54 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
that the most pious persons in the nation were ex-
posed by it to severe persecution, and that it steadily
repressed evangelical religion.
The accession of James I. to the supremacy, in
virtue of the Union, brought no advantage to evan-
gelical religion. On his way to London, the Puritan
clergy presented to him a petition signed by 825
ministers from twenty-five counties, praying for the
removal of certain abuses from the church. 1 The
Puritans seem to have flattered themselves that he
would favour their sect, on the credit of some strong
assertions he had occasionally made of his adherence
to the Scotch kirk. James, however, was all his life
rather a bold liar than a good dissembler. 2 He
showed no disposition to treat these petitioners with
favour. His measures towards the nonconformist
party had evidently been resolved upon before he
summoned a few of their divines to the famous con-
ference at Hampton Court. In the accounts that we
read of this meeting we are alternately struck with
wonder at the indecent and partial behaviour of the
king, and at the abject baseness of the bishops, mixed,
according to the custom of servile natures, with inso-
lence towards their opponents. 3 While Dr. Reynolds
was speaking, the king broke out into a flame,
" They were aiming," he said, " at a Scots presby-
tery, which agrees with monarchy as well as God
and the devil. Then Jack, and Tom, and Will, and
1 Hallam, i. p. 403. 2 P. 404. 3 Ibid.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 55
Dick, shall meet, and at their pleasures censure both
me and my council; therefore, pray stay one seven
years before you demand that of me, and if then you
find me pursy and fat, and my windpipe stuffed, I
will, perhaps, hearken to you, for let that government
be up, and I am sure I shall be kept in breath ;
but till you find I grow lazy, pray let that alone.
Well, Doctor, have you any thing else to offer?"
" No more, if it please your majesty." " If this be
all your party have to say, I will make them conform,
or I will hurry them out of this land, or else worse." 1
Bishop Bancroft fell on his knees and said, " I protest
my heart melteth for joy that Almighty God of his
singular mercy has given us such a king as since
Christ's time has not been." " Never," said Chan-
cellor Egerton, " have I seen the king and the priest
so fully united in one person." 2 When the king said
he approved of the wisdom of the law in making the
oath ex officio, the archbishop was so transported as to
cry out, " Undoubtedly your majesty speaks by the
special assistance of God's Spirit." 3 Mr. Chadderton
fell on his knees and humbly prayed that the surplice
and cross might not be urged on some godly minis-
ters in Lancashire ; but the king replied with a stern
countenance, " I will have none of this arguing, there-
fore let them conform, and that quickly too, or they
shall hear of it." 4 The king soon afterwards put
' Neal's " History of the Puritans," part ii. chap. i. 3 Ibid. p. 17.
3 Ibid. p. 18. Ibid.
56 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
forth a proclamation requiring all ecclesiastical and
civil officers to do their duty by enforcing conformity. 1
He had already strictly enjoined the bishops to pro-
ceed against all the clergy who did not observe the
prescribed order, a command which Bancroft, who
about this time followed Whitgift in the primacy, did
not wait to have repeated. 2 But the most enormous
outrage on the civil rights of these men was the com-
mitment to prison of ten among those who had pre-
sented the millenary petition ; the judges having
declared in the Star-chamber that it was an offence
fineable at discretion, and very near to treason and
felony. 3 The doctrine of the king's absolute power
beyond the law had become current with all who
sought his favour, and especially with the high-church
party. 4 The real aim of the clergy in thus enor-
mously enhancing the pretensions of the Crown was
to gain its sanction and support for their own.
Schemes of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, hardly less ex-
tensive than had w T armed the imagination of Becket,
now floated before the eyes of Bancroft. 5 Dr. Cowell,
in a law-dictionary dedicated to Bancroft, said, under
the title king, " He is above the law by his absolute
power, and though for the better and equal course
in making laws he do admit the three estates into
council, yet this, in divers learned men's opinion, is
not of constraint, but by his own benignity, or by
1 Hallam, vol. ii. p. 405. 2 Ibid. p. 405. 3 Ibid. p. 406.
* Ibid. p. 438. * Ibid- p. 440.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 57
reason of the promise made upon oath at the time
of his coronation. And though at his coronation he
took an oath not to alter the laws of the land, yet,
this oath notwithstanding, he may alter or suspend
any particular law that seemeth hurtful to the public
estate." 1 Such monstrous positions from the mouth
of a man of learning, who was surmised to have been
instigated, as well as patronised, by the archbishop,
and of whose book the king was reported to have
spoken in terms of eulogy, gave very just scandal to
the House of Commons. 2
Archbishop Bancroft now revived the persecution
of the Puritans by enforcing the strict observance of
the festivals of the church, reviving the use of copes,
surplices, caps, hoods, &c. By these methods of se-
verity above three hundred Puritan ministers were
silenced or deprived ; some of whom were excom-
municated and cast into prison, others were forced to
leave the country. 3 As another mode of insulting and
harassing the evangelical clergy, the king published
a declaration to be read in churches permitting all
lawful recreations on Sunday after divine service, such
as dancing, archery, May-games, morrice-dances, and
other usual sports. 4 But this declaration was not en-
forced till the following reign. The court of James I.
was incomparably the most disgraceful scene of pro-
fligacy which this country has ever witnessed, equal
1 Hallam, vol. ii. p. 442. a Ibid. p. 443.
3 Neal, part ii. pp. 35, 40. 4 Hallam, vol. i. p. 545.
58 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
to that of Charles II. in the laxity of female virtue,
and without any sort of parallel in some other re-
spects. Gross drunkenness is imputed to some of
the ladies who acted in the court pageants. 1 Ac-
cording to the " Pictorial History of England," King
James had as little real religion of any kind as Eli-
zabeth herself. In the notion of both the one and
the other the Church was an engine of State, and
nothing else ; and in this feeling both were naturally
much more inclined towards popery than puritanism. 2
By degrees he gave himself up to all kinds of licen-
tiousness. His language was obscene, he was a pro-
fane swearer, and would often be drunk. He broke
through all the laws of the land, and was as absolute
a tyrant as his want of courage would admit : and
was, in the opinion of Bishop Burnet, " the scorn of
his age, a mere pedant, without judgment, courage,
or steadiness, his reign being a continued course of
mean practices." 3 To such hands did the Union
commit the government of the churches of Christ in
this country.
It was very unfortunate for Charles I., the next
head of the church, that the chosen friend and com-
panion of his youth was one of the most profligate
men of his day. The following is the account given
of his friendship by Brodie. James I., from his
immoderate attachment to field-sports, spent much
1 Hallam, vol. i. p. 452, note.
2 Pictorial History of England, vol. iii. p. 458. s Neal, part ii. p. 129.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 59
of his time at Newmarket. There he went to the
theatre to see a farce called " Ignoramus," in ridicule
of the common law, for which he embraced every
opportunity of expressing contempt, because it limited
his prerogative; it being part of his doctrine that
" the king is to settle the law of God, and his judges
to interpret the law of the king." At the theatre
he saw young George Villiers, who immediately be-
coming his favourite, was, in a short time, created a
baron, a viscount, an earl, a marquis, lord high ad-
miral of England, lord warden of the cinque ports, and
master of the horse ; and disposed of ah 1 the offices
of the kingdom without a rival. 1 It is humiliating
to think that this minion's heels were tracked with
spaniel-like observance by the chief of the church
and of the nobility, who were content to be called his
creatures, professing an attachment bordering on
adoration. 2 It is impossible to read Heylin's " Life
of Laud" and Laud's Diary, &c. &c., without in-
superable loathing. 3 As neither talents nor virtue
had raised Villiers, so he had little of either, though
more of the first than the last ; and as his heart was
daily corrupted, so was his judgment perverted by his
situation. 4 To such a height of presumption was
this minion grown, that he not only used language
to Charles now only to be found in the lowest class
of the community, but was once very near striking
1 Brodie, " History of the British Empire," vol. ii. pp. 12-19.
2 Ibid. p. 19. 3 Ibid. p. 20. 4 Ibid. p. 20.
60 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
him. 1 Yet, to the general astonishment, he no sooner
stooped to court his highness, than he acquired over
him the most uncontrolled ascendancy. 2 Such a
friendship could not be favourable to the morals of
Charles, and he is described by Milton to have been
at this period of his life flagitiis omnibus coopertum,
loaded with every vice. 3 This was a bad preparation
for the supreme government of the churches of Christ
in this country.
The next step in his history was his union with
Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII., then king of
France, to whom he was married by proxy before his
father was buried. She arrived at Dover June 13,
1625, and brought with her a long train of priests,
for whose devotion a chapel was fitted up in the
king's house at St. James's. 4 The queen, by degrees,
obtained a plenitude of power over the king. His
majesty held her in perfect adoration, and would do
nothing without her. 5 The king's match with this
lady was a greater judgment to the nation than the
plague, which then raged in the land : for, consi-
dering the malignity of the popish religion, the in-
fluence of the queen over her husband, and the share
she must needs have in the education of her children,
it was easy to foresee it might prove very fatal to
our English prince and people, and lay in a venge-
1 Brodie, " History of the British Empire," vol. ii. p. 21. 8 Ibid. p. 22.
3 Ibid. p. 45, note, where proofs of this fact are adduced.
4 Neal, ii. p. 133. * Clarendon.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 61
ance to future generations. 1 Thus the education of
Charles for the government of the churches of Christ,
which was begun by a profligate favourite, was con-
tinued by a Roman Catholic wife.
The clergy whom Charles most trusted were little
likely to counteract these influences. The bishops
were many of them gross sycophants of Buckingham.
Mede says, " I am sorry to hear they (the bishops)
are so habituated to flattery that they seem not to
know of any other duty that belongs to them." 8
Two sermons, by Sibthorp and Main waring, excited
particular attention. These men, eager for prefer-
ment, which they knew the readiest method to attain,
taught that the king might take the subjects' money
at his pleasure, and that no one might refuse his
demand on penalty of damnation. " Parliaments,"
said Mainwaring, "were not ordained to contribute
any right to the king, but for the more equal im-
posing and more easy exacting of that which unto
kings doth appertain by natural and original law and
justice as their proper inheritance annexed to their
imperial crowns from their birth." For refusing to
license Sibthorp's sermon, Archbishop Abbot was
suspended from the exercise of his jurisdiction by
the king, who gave Sibthorp some preferment; and
Mainwaring, who was impeached by the House of
Commons, and condemned to pay a fine of 1000/.,
and to be suspended for three years from his ministry,
1 Bishop Kennet. 2 Hallam, vol. i. p. 570, note.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
was almost immediately pardoned by the king, and
afterwards made a bishop. 1
But the person who proved in a far more eminent
degree than any other individual the evil genius of
this unhappy sovereign was Laud. His talents seem
to have been hardly above mediocrity. There cannot
be a more contemptible work than his Diary. But
having courted the favour of Buckingham, he rose to
the see of Canterbury on Abbot's death in 1631. 2 He
had placed before his eyes the aggrandisement first of
the church, and next of the royal prerogative, as his
end and aim in every action. " Though not destitute
of religion," says Hallarn, " it was so subordinate to
worldly interest, and so blended with pride, that he
became an intolerant persecutor of the Puritan clergy ;
and being subject, as his friends call it, to some
infirmities of temper, that is, choleric, vindictive,
harsh, and even cruel, to a great degree, he not only
took a prominent share in the severities of the Star-
chamber, but, as his correspondence shows, perpetu-
ally lamented that he was restrained from going
further lengths." 3 Even at college he was suspected
of popery ; to such height did he carry the preten-
sions of the clergy, with all the tenets of the Romish
religion, except the mere supremacy of the pope.
The use of images, the tutelar protection of saints and
angels, the invocation of saints, the adoration of the
altar, the real presence, auricular confession, and
1 Hallam, vol. i. pp. 569, 570. 8 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 53. 3 Ibid. p. 53.
THE UNION CONDEMNED' BY HISTORY. 63
absolution, were amongst his favourite principles. 1
In 1605 he filled the office of chaplain to the earl of
Devonshire, who had induced Lady Rich to desert
her husband and children. In these circumstances
Laud was base enough to sanction the adultery by
performing for them the marriage ceremony. 2 Placed
at the head of the ecclesiastical and civil government,
he betrayed all the insolence of a little mind intoxi-
cated with undeserved prosperity. He assumed the
state of a prince, and by the ridiculous haughtiness of
his manners disgusted men of rank and influence. 3
He aggravated the invidiousness of his situation, and
gave an astonishing proof of his influence by placing
Juxon, bishop of London, a creature of his own, in
the greatest of all posts, that of lord high-treasurer. 3
Church affairs were an early subject of consi-
deration in Charles's cabinet. Bishop Laud, who in
the late king's time had delivered to the duke a little
book about doctrinal puritanism, now also gave him a
schedule containing the names of ecclesiastics under
the letters and P ; standing for orthodox, P for
puritan, in order that it might be shown to the king,
and preferment, of course, confined to the former.
Under the Puritan party were comprehended in the
court register all who refused to subscribe to every
doctrinal innovation of the king and the bishops ;
together with those that were known merely as de-
1 Brodic, vol. ii. p. 238. a Ibid. p. 240.
3 Ibid. p. 247. 4 Hallam, vol. ii. p. 55.
64 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
fenders of the political rights of the people. 1 But the
Puritans were doomed throughout this reign to much
worse evils than the loss of preferment. Leighton, a
Scotch divine, having published an angry libel against
the hierarchy, was sentenced to be publicly whipped
at Westminster and set in the pillory, to have one
side of his nose slit, one ear cut off, and one side of
his cheek branded with a hot iron ; to have the whole
of this repeated the next week at Cheapside, and to
suffer perpetual imprisonment in the Fleet. Lilburne,
for dispersing pamphlets against the bishops, was
whipped from the Fleet prison to Westminster, then
set in the pillory, and treated afterwards with great
cruelty. Prynne, a lawyer of uncommon erudition,
and a zealous Puritan, had printed a bulky volume
called " Histriomastix," full of invectives against the
theatre. This was construed to be seditious, and the
Star-chamber adjudged him to stand twice in the
pillory, to be branded in the forehead, to lose both
his ears, to pay a fine of 5000/., and to suffer per-
petual imprisonment. The dogged Puritan employed
the leisure of a gaol in writing a fresh libel against
the hierarchy. For this, with two other delinquents
of the same class, Burton, a divine, and Bast wick, a
physician, he stood again at the bar of that terrible
tribunal. Prynne lost the remainder of his ears in
the pillory; and the punishment was inflicted on
them all with extreme and designed cruelty ; which
1 Hallatn, vol. ii. p. 50.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 65
they endured, as martyrs always endure suffering, so
heroically as to excite a deep impression of sympathy
and resentment in the assembled multitude. They
were sentenced to perpetual confinement in distant
prisons. 1 Besides reviving the prosecutions for non-
conformity in their utmost strictness, wherein many
of the other bishops vied with their primate, he most
injudiciously not to say wickedly endeavoured, by
innovations of his own and by exciting alarms in the
susceptible consciences of pious men, to raise up new
victims whom he might oppress. Those who made
any difficulties about his novel ceremonies, or who
preached on the Calvinistic side, were harassed by the
High Commission Court as if they had been actual
schismatics. The most obnoxious of these prosecu-
tions were for refusing to read what was called the
"Book of Sports," a proclamation that a great variety
of pastimes might be used on Sundays after evening
service. 2 The precise clergy refused, in general, to
comply with the requisition, and were suspended or
deprived in consequence. Thirty of them were ex-
communicated in the diocese of Norwich. 3 The re-
solution so evidently taken by the court to admit of
no half conformity, especially after Laud had obtained
an unlimited sway over the king's mind, convinced
the Puritans that England could no longer afford
them an asylum. Multitudes now emigrated to
America. At length men of a higher rank than the
1 Hallam, vol. ii. pp. 50-52. 2 Ibid. p. 76. ' Ibid. p. 77.
F
66 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
first colonists, now become hopeless alike of the civil
and religious liberties of England, men of capacious
and commanding minds, formed to be the legislators
and generals of an infant republic, the wise and
cautious Lord Say, the brave, open, and enthusiastic
Lord Brooke, Sir Arthur Haslerig, Hampden, ashamed
of a country for whose rights he had fought alone,
Cromwell, panting with energies that he could neither
control nor explain, and whose unconquerable fire was
still wrapped in smoke to every eye but that of his
kinsman Hampden, were preparing to embark for
America, when Laud, for his own and his master's
curse, procured an order of council to stop their
departure. 1 The Church now made rapid progress
towards Romanism. Pictures were set up or re-
paired ; the communion-table took the name and
position of an altar ; it was sometimes made of stone ;
obeisances were made to it ; the ortteifix was some-
times placed upon it; the dress of the officiating
priests became more gaudy ; churches were conse-
crated with strange and mystical pageantry. The
doctrine of a real presence, distinguishable only by
vagueness of definition from that of the Church of
Rome, was generally held. Montague, bishop of
Chichester, went a considerable length towards ad-
mitting the invocation of saints ; prayers for the dead
were vindicated by many; in fact, there was hardly
any distinctive opinion of the Church of Rome which
1 Hallam, vol. ii. pp. 79, 80.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 67
had not its abettors among the bishops, or those who
wrote under their patronage ; 1 and we now know that
the views of a party in the English Church went
almost to an entire dereliction of the Protestant
doctrine. 2
Thus the Union during the first three reigns after
the Reformation led to the systematic persecution of
the most zealous servants of Christ in the country,
and conducted the churches within the Establishment
under the regal episcopate far back into the slough
of false doctrine, superstition, bigotry, and spiritual
torpor, from which the reformers had nobly struggled
to extricate them.
Of the two sovereigns who, (after Charles I., suc-
cessively exercised the regal episcopate conferred on
them by the Union, I need say very little. The cha-
racter of the first and the religious opinions of the
second made it certain that they must employ what-
ever influence they derived from the Union against
vital religion. The Union had perceptibly corrupted
the Presbyterian and Independent churches during the
reign of the Protector ; but at his death its influence
upon the churches became much more disastrous.
The new Government assumed power only to perse-
cute evangelical religion. "Then came those days,
never to be recalled without a blush, the days of
servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love,
of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, the paradise of
1 Hallam, vol. ii. pp. 85-87. * Ibid. p. 91.
68 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
cold hearts and narrow minds, the golden age of the
coward, the bigot, and the slave. The king cringed
to his rival that he might trample on his people ; sunk
into a viceroy of Prance, and pocketed, with com-
placent infamy, her degrading insults and her more
degrading gold. The caresses of harlots and the jests
of buffoons regulated the measures of a Government
which had just ability enough to deceive, and just
religion enough to persecute. The principles of
liberty were the scoff of every grinning courtier,
and the anathema inaranatha of every fawning dean.
In every high place worship was paid to Charles and
James, Belial and Moloch; and England propitiated
those obscene and cruel idols with the blood of her
best and bravest children. Crime succeeded to crime,
and disgrace to disgrace, till the race accursed of God
and man was a second time driven forth to wander on
the face of the earth, and to be a bye-word and a
shaking of the head to the nations." 1
The results of the Union between revengeful eccle-
siastics and a profligate prince during the reign of
Charles II. are such as cannot be learned without in-
dignation. In England, nearly two thousand of the
best ministers in the country were driven from their
parishes, and then pursued with merciless severity if
they dared to exercise their ministry elsewhere.
Peaceable and devoted men like Alleine and Plavel
filled the prisons. Men like Baxter, who were quali-
1 Edinburgh Review, No. Ixxxiv. p. 337.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 69
fied by their wisdom and piety to instruct distant
generations, were insulted and harassed by profligates
like Judge Jeffreys, who were the personification of
every vice. In England, Archbishop Sheldon tore
nearly two thousand godly ministers from their con-
gregations, to be hunted by Jeffreys and other hostile
magistrates like wild beasts. In Scotland, Archbishop
Sharp effected the expulsion of four hundred of the
best ministers from their parishes ; and then Lauder-
dale, with his infamous agents, Turner, Dalziel, and
Bannatyne, pursued them with so much cruelty, that
the country rose in arms against the Government, and
the archbishop was murdered by men whom his
oppressions had goaded to madness. 1 While the king
was sanctioning all this profligacy by his example,
and this persecution of godliness by his authority, the
churches of Christ united with the State still allowed
him the right to superintend their doctrine and their
discipline, and continued to style him in their prayers
" our religious and gracious king !"
The next head which the churches received from
the Union was a keen Roman Catholic, one whose
efforts both in the Legislature and in the administra-
tion were directed towards the re-establishment of
Romanism on the ruins of the Protestant faith.
Thus, with the exception of Edward VI., who died
when still a boy, all the sovereigns whom the Union
placed over the churches, from Henry VIII. to
1 Hetherington's " History of the Church of Scotland," pp. 371-456.
70 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
James II., during a space of 140 years, employed
their terrible supremacy to extinguish vital religion.
After the Revolution, there continued to be a
steady declension of the nation in vital godliness.
The Union seemed to have stricken religion to death.
" The low Arminianism and intolerant bigotry of Laud
paved the way for a change which was not a little
aided by the unbounded licentiousness and profligacy
which overspread the kingdom after the restoration.
From that time, the idea commonly entertained in
England of a perfect sermon was that of a discourse
upon some moral topic, clear, correct, and argu-
mentative, in the delivery of which the preacher must
be free from all suspicion of being moved himself, or
of intending to produce emotions in his hearers. This
singular model of pulpit eloquence was carried to the
utmost perfection ; so that while the bar, the parlia-
ment, and the theatre, frequently agitated and in-
flamed their respective auditories, the church was the
only place where the most feverish sensibility was sure
of being laid to rest. This inimitable apathy in the
mode of imparting religious instruction, combined
with the utter neglect of whatever is most touching or
alarming in the discoveries of the Gospel, produced
their natural effect of extinguishing devotion in the
Established Church, and of leaving it to be possessed
by the dissenters. From these causes the people gra-
dually became alienated from the articles of the
church, eternal concerns dropped out of the mind,
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 71
and what remained of religion was confined to an
attention to a few forms and ceremonies. Such points
as the corruption of human nature, the necessity of the
new birth, and justification by faith, were either aban-
doned to oblivion, or held up to ridicule and con-
tempt. The consequence was that the creed esta-
blished by law had no sort of influence in forming the
sentiments of the people ; the pulpit completely van-
quished the desk ; piety and puritanism were con-
founded in one common reproach; an almost pagan
darkness in the concerns of salvation prevailed, and
the English became the most irreligious people upon
earth."
" Such was the situation of things when Whitfield
and Wesley made their appearance, who, whatever
failings the severest criticism can discover in their
character, will be hailed by posterity as the second
reformers of England." 1
Roused by the zeal of the methodists, many of the
clergy of the Establishment became earnest, evan-
gelical men, upon whom depended, under God, the
task of recalling that immense association of churches
to spiritual life. To promote that spiritual life is the
avowed object of the Union. If the Union has any
value, it ought to be seen in its facilitating the
ministry of devoted pastors. But from the days
of Wesley to the present time, its influence has been
decidedly to discountenance their efforts. We may
1 Hall's Works, vol. iv. pp. 84-86.
72 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
judge of that influence by the sentiments of the great
ministers of the Crown, who nominate our bishops,
and preside over our ecclesiastical legislation. Few
ministers of the Crown have had better opportunities
of knowing spiritual religion than Mr. Pitt, who was
the friend of Wilberforce ; and few have been pos-
sessed of equal ability to turn those opportunities to
account. When Mr. Wilberforce became, by the grace
of God, a real Christian, Mr. Pitt " thought that he
was out of spirits, that company and conversation
would be the best way of dissipating his impressions ;"
and in two hours' conversation with him on the sub-
ject, he tried to " reason him out of his convictions,"
and thus gave Mr. Wilberforce occasion to remark,
" The fact is, he was so absorbed in politics that he
had never given himself time for due reflection on
religion." 1 But though he was too busy to be reli-
gious, too much engrossed with the interests of time
to prepare for eternity, too anxious about what was
comparatively trivial to think of the one thing needful,
too much absorbed in the service of an earthly sove-
reign to serve his Creator and Redeemer, he was not
too busy to contract rooted prejudices against the
only men within the Establishment who were zea-
lously preaching Christ, and promoting evangelical
religion. When Mr. Pitt, by the advice of Bishop
Prettyman, was about to support in Parliament a bill
which would materially have restricted the freedom of
1 Life of Wilberforce, vol. i. pp. 93, 94.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 73
dissenters, and, in the opinion of Mr. Wilberforce,
would have thrown some of their most distinguished
ministers into prison, Mr. Wilberforce sought an op-
portunity of discussing the matter with the premier,
and has thus recorded the result. " We spent some
hours together at a tete-a-tete supper, and I confess I
never till then knew how deep a prejudice his mind
had conceived against the class of clergy to whom he
knew me to be attached. It was in vain that I men-
tioned to him Mr. Robinson of Leicester, Mr. Rich-
ardson of York, Mr. Milner of Hull, Mr. Atkinson of
Leeds, and others of similar principles ; his language
was such as to imply that he thought ill of their moral
character." 1 Mr. Pitt's prejudices, however, against
evangelical religion did not destroy his zeal for the
Establishment ; and as became the patron of the
Union, he decidedly advocated the maintenance of
orthodoxy by persecution. A petition, praying for a
repeal of the penal statutes against those who denied
the doctrine of the Trinity, having been presented to
the House of Commons, and supported by Mr. Fox,
/4k
who contended justly, that all restraint, and all inter-
ference with respect to religious opinions, however
opposite those opinions might be to the established
religion of the country, or however dangerous they
might be thought to the public tranquillity, were
unjust and indefensible, Mr. Pitt replied, that were
these statutes to be repealed, it might be inferred that
1 Life of Wilberforce, vol. ii. p. 364.
74 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
the House was indifferent to the Established Church,
for whose protection they were originally enacted, and
upon whose enemies they still operated as some re-
straint. The repeal of these statutes might be con-
sidered by the public as the first step towards a
gradual removal of all those barriers which our an-
cestors had erected for the safety of our civil and
ecclesiastical constitution. The motion was rejected
by a majority of 142 to 63. 1
Here our review of the experience of mankind
respecting the Union shall cease; its influence on
Catholic kingdoms, its connexion with the recent dis-
memberment of the Church of Scotland, its support
to rationalism and superstition in France and else-
where, together with its working at present in this
country, may be better considered in the second part
of this work, which is dedicated to the examination
of its effects. Even the slight foregoing sketch is
sufficient to convince unprejudiced persons that the
Union has been in many countries, and through many
ages, the alliance of fraud and force to degrade the
nations ; the compact of the priest and the poten-
tate to crush the rights of conscience ; the combi-
nation of regal and prelatic tyranny to repress true
religion.
The effects of the Union have been so palpably
and universally bad, as to render positive evidence on
the side of freedom unnecessary; still, as there are
1 Life of Pitt, by Bishop Tomline, vol. ii. pp. 451-454.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 75
some persons to whom unknown possibilities of evil
seem worse than any amount of existing evil, and
who think that the Union could not have been so
general unless there had been a real necessity for its
existence, let us briefly notice the experience of some
free churches.
The churches of the first three centuries were
free. Unsalaried by the State, they could determine
their creed, organise their discipline, and choose their
pastors, according to their pleasure; each church,
supporting its ministers, was entirely independent of
external control. And in this state of poverty and
freedom they so proclaimed the truth, and so recom-
mended it by their lives, that their numbers and
influence continued to increase, till the Emperor Con-
st antine found it expedient for the establishment of
his throne to profess himself a Christian.
During the ages of defection from truth and duty,
which followed the Union between the Church and
State, effected by that monarch, one community alone,
which has preserved the appropriate motto, " Lux in
tenebris" held forth the word of life to the population
round it. In the valleys which lie between Mont
Cenis and Mont Viso, in the south-eastern declivities
of the Cottian Alps, a few Christians refusing to wear
the yoke of the Church of Rome, were also happily
saved from Union with the State. The churches
formed by these peasants of the Alps were almost the
only ones which in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
76 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
turies retained sound doctrine, simplicity of worship,
and spiritual life. And to this day, notwithstanding
the periods of declension to which every church, alas !
is prone under every system, they remain the only
evangelical churches in Italy.
While they were preserving the doctrine of the
Gospel in Italy, another free church rose on the
eastern frontier of Saxony. At the close of the seven-
teenth century, when the Christians of Austrian
Silesia were cruelly harassed by the Church in Union
with the State, a few of the persecuted peasants
sought refuge in Saxony under the protection of Count
Zinzendorf. June 17, 1722, they cut down the first
tree in a forest on the road between Zittau and
Lobau, where they raised the first wood house of the
village of Herrnhutt. 1 Eighteen other emigrants soon
joined them ; 2 and for ten years these emigrations for
liberty of conscience continued, till some hundreds
of these poor and persecuted followers of Christ had
built for themselves the village of Herrnhutt. 3 In
1731, when their numbers amounted only to six
hundred, they were visited by Anthony, a negro, who
described to them the melancholy state of his fellow-
slaves in the West Indies. 4 Moved by that recital,
two of the brethren offered to go as missionaries to
1 Bost, " Hist, de 1'Eglise des Freres," &c., vol. i. pp. 256-265.
8 Ibid. p. 322. 3 Ibid. p. 354.
4 Bost, " Hist, de 1'Eglise des Freres," &c., vol. ii. pp. 134-137.
Holmes's " Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren,"
Introduction, p. 3.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 77
the island of St. Thomas; and the church having
approved of their design, they left Herrnhutt August
21, 1732; and, October 8, they embarked at Copen-
hagen for that island. 1 The zeal which was thus ex-
cited in the church continued to increase, and within
ten years did those poor exiles send missionaries to
St. Thomas, to St. Croix, to Greenland, to Surinam, to
Berbice, to several Indian tribes in North America, to
the Negroes in South Carolina, to Lapland, to Tartary,
to Algiers, to Guinea, to the Cape of Good Hope, and
to Ceylon. 2 Since that time their missionary efforts
have so increased, that at this moment their 282
missionaries have 64,268 Negroes, North American
Indians, Greenlanders, Esquimaux, and Hottentots,
under regular Christian instruction, of whom 20,033
are communicants under strict discipline. 3 As the
number of the United Brethren does not much exceed
10,000, the number of their converts compared with
their own number is so large, that if all the established
churches in union with the European States had
laboured with an assiduity and success equal to theirs,
nearly the whole heathen world would at this moment
be under regular Christian education.
Great as are the services which have been rendered
to the cause of the Redeemer by that simple and fer-
1 Bost, " Hist, de TEglise des Freres," &c., vol. ii. p. 146.
8 Holmes's " Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren,"
Introduction, p. 3.
3 Twenty- ninth Report of the London Association in Aid of the Moravian
Missions, Appendix A.
78 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
vent community, they have in one respect, at least,
been surpassed by the free Protestant churches of
France. I do not reckon it as the higher glory of
these churches that they could count among their
members Sully, Coligni, and Andelot, D'Aubigne and
Duplessis Mornay, a band of companions more distin-
guished for virtue and for valour than any equal num-
ber of contemporary soldiers and statesmen in any
period of French history ; I will not dwell on the piety
and talent of their ministers, Du Moulin, Du Bosc,
Morus, Daille, Drelincourt, Claude, Jurieu, Saurin,
Abbadie, &c. &c., whose writings have enriched our
Protestant literature ; but I allude to their sufferings
for the sake of Christ.
The following are some among the numerous
edicts by which Louis XIV., the licentious slave of a
Jesuit confessor and abandoned mistresses, sought, as
the head of the Union between Church and State, to
exterminate the Protestantism of his kingdom. In
1669, his subjects were forbidden to quit the kingdom
on pain of confiscation of goods, &c. &c. In 1680,
Protestant children of seven years old were allowed,
on abjuring their religion against the wishes of their
parents, to leave them, and to demand from them a
legal maintenance. In 1683, the reformed worship
was forbidden in all the episcopal cities of the empire,
and all books against the Roman Catholic religion
were likewise prohibited. At length, October 1685,
appeared the Edict of Revocation, by which Protestant
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 79
temples were demolished, Protestant worship was for-
bidden, Protestant ministers were banished the king-
dom ; no other Protestant might leave the kingdom on
pain of condemnation to the galleys ; the children of
Protestants were to be brought up as Catholics ; and
the goods of those who did not conform within four
months were confiscated. 1 Next year was added a
decree, addressed to the king's attorneys (procureurs
royaux), to seize Protestant children above five
years of age, and to place them under the care of
Catholics. May 1686, the king decreed that every
Protestant minister apprehended in France should
be executed; those who assisted a minister should
be sent to the galleys, or imprisoned for life; 5500
livres were to be given to each informer; and all
persons detected and taken in the act of assembling
for Protestant worship were to suffer death. 2 Multi-
tudes of Protestants conformed to the established
religion ; many more contrived to leave the king-
dom; and at length the worn-out debauchee coined
a medal to celebrate his triumph as head of
Church and State over " the extinct heresy." 3 But
the same year in which the edict of Nantes was
thus savagely revoked, the churches of the desert
began to assemble in the mountains of Languedoc.
The same month in which the temple at Charenton
was demolished, the religious assemblies of the
1 Histoire des Eglises du Desert, par Charles Coquerel, vol. i. pp. 41-55.
2 Ibid. pp. 56, 57. 3 Ibid, p 31.
80 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Cevenols met under the vault of heaven; and the
same year in which Louis the debauchee expired,
glorying in his abolition of the Protestant worship,
did a noble peasant youth collect a few preachers
in the caverns of the Cevennes, and there under-
take, in the name of God, the revival of the crushed
and bleeding churches of France. 1 Anthony Court,
born at Villeneuve-de-Berg, in the Vivarais, in 1696,
was only seventeen years old when he began to
preach to his fellow Protestants in their nocturnal
meetings. To intrepid courage and consummate
prudence he added surprising bodily strength, which
enabled him to support the greatest fatigue ; and
he devoted all his powers of mind and body to
serve the Redeemer with an integrity which nothing
could tempt, and a faith which no difficulties could
overcome. 2 Persecution had driven the mountaineers
to rebellion, and in the war of the Cevennes religion
had too much degenerated into fanaticism. Pro-
phets took the place of preachers, and discipline
was necessarily lost. Their valour was incredible,
their perseverance heroic, but their vengeance was
often": bloody ; they became lawless warriors rather
than meek disciples of Christ ; and the reformed
churches of France seemed near extinction. August
21st, 1715, Anthony assembled a few of his brethren
for consultation, elders were appointed, rules were
1 Histoire des Eglises du Desert, par Charles Coquerel, vol. i. pp. 60,
2 Ibid. p. 21.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 81
laid clown for the admission of candidates to the
pastoral office, a strict discipline was established, and
the churches soon began to recover order and force. 1
Year by year they augmented the number of their
members ; the synod grew in number, and the assem-
blies became more numerous. 2 Though their minis-
ters were unlettered, fervency and strong sense sup-
plied the lack of learning. Though their religious
books had been seized, they knew the psalms by
heart, and had thoroughly studied the bible. 3 Their
meetings took place by night, in caverns, in woods,
on the wide heath, or under the shelter of rocks, far
from any human dwelling. To attend them exposed
the hearer to the galleys, and the preacher to death.
Fanatic priests and fierce magistrates, with a brutal
soldiery under their command, employed a thousand
stratagems to surprise them ; and the police of perse-
cution was spread like a network over the whole
country. 4 Generally their precautions enabled them
to elude the vigilance of their oppressors ; the place of
meeting was announced to the brethren by faithful
men, who visited them in their dwellings, and brave
and prudent guides escorted the pastor to the spot by
night along concealed paths. The brethren in the
country communicated with the brethren in the towns.
Every night on these occasions the pastor changed his
lodging; and his brethren counted it an honour to
' Coquerel, pp. 32, 28, 105. 2 Ibid. pp. 101-105.
3 Ibid. p. 111. Ibid. pp. 19, 113.
S3 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
welcome him at the risk of their own lives. When
they were assembled, scouts on the neighbouring
heights warned them of the approach of the enemy,
and thus often they escaped discovery. But if perse-
cution raged too severely, the meetings were discon-
tinued, and the churches seemed to have vanished,
while every family, by reading of the scriptures and
by domestic worship, cherished its faith and piety for
a happier day. Thus their constancy triumphed over
the savage efforts of the Church and State during half
a century to destroy their property, their religion, and
their existence. 1
Under the regency of Philip, duke of Orleans,
the persecutions were relaxed ; but no sooner did
Louis XV. attain his majority, than he thundered
forth a decree against the Protestants, which equalled
in fierceness those of Louis XIV., and surpassed them
in barbarous ingenuity. 2 Notwithstanding, however,
the rigour of the Government, the churches still grew
in numbers and in courage. Pastors who loved the
Redeemer, because he had been loved by them,
braved the fear of death, that they might preach
salvation by his blood. Court preached through the
churches of Languedoc ; Chapel sought out the scat-
tered Protestants of Poitou and Saintonge ; and
Roger executed the same dangerous office in Dau-
phhu'. In some places the congregation amounted
to three thousand persons ; peasants, bourgeois, and
1 Cockerel, pp. 112, 113. 2 Ibid. pp. 151, 157.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 88
even nobles, standing side by side. Numbers watched
with eagerness the day of the pastor's arrival ; for
they felt a hunger and thirst for the word of God.
The bold were warned to be prudent ; the timid were
animated to make a frank profession of their faith;
they read the scriptures, they prayed and they re-
ceived the Supper of the Lord together. Sometimes
the moon shone out on the silent numbers who were
listening to the pastor's words, and sometimes the
tempest mingled its blasts and its torrents with their
enthusiastic hymns. 1 But the pastors were too few;
and since Court could not find pastors he must make
them. Of all the exiled ministers none would return
to that scene of danger ; but pious youths, who felt
themselves ready for martyrdom (se sentaient la voca-
tion pour le martyr e\ were taken from the plough
and from the workshop; and as they could not be
educated in France, they were sent to a new school
of theology opened for them by Court at Lausanne,"
whence they returned to labour and martyrdom.
The 30th of November, 1728, Alexander Roussel was
martyred at Montpellier. The 22d of January, Ste-
phen Arnaud Avas executed at Alais. 3 April 22,
1732, Montpellier was again disgraced by the mar-
tyrdom of Durand, a pastor of the Cevennes. 4 1745
and 1746, numbers were condemned to the galleys,
banished, whipped, fined, and degraded/' March 2d,
1 Coquercl, p. 239. 2 Ibid. pp. 191-197. 3 Ibid. pp. 315, 325.
4 Ibid. pp. 325, 326. * Ibid. pp. 331-334.
84 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
1745, Louis Rang was condemned at Grenoble and
hung at Die, where he maintained his courage and
cheerfulness to the end. Nothing terrified by this
event, Alexander, his brother, continued still to preach
through Dauphine, though he was condemned to
death, and a price was set upon his head. 1 When
Louis Rang was arrested at Livron, the venerable
pastor, Roger, wrote to strengthen his faith, and often
exclaimed, " Poor child, IIOAV I wish I was in your
place!" Although he also was pursued by his
enemies, he would not suspend his labours. The
assemblies were as frequent and as well attended as
before ; and when he was seized in a wood near Crest,
and was asked by the officer who he was, he replied,
" I am he whom you have been seeking these thirty-
nine years ; it was time that you should find me."
His firmness before his judges was unshaken. In
the prison he exhorted his fellow-prisoners to con-
stancy ; and when, May 22d, 1745, the executioners
came to conduct him to martyrdom, he exclaimed,
" Happy moment, which I have so often desired !
Rejoice, O my soul, it is the day when thou must
enter into the joy of thy Lord." 2 About the same
time the prisons of Alais, Uzes, St. Hippolitc, Nismes,
Montpellier, and other towns, were filled with those
who were suffering for the sake of Christ : and ruinous
fines were exacted from Protestants throughout the
south. 3 In the same year Matthew Majal, a young
1 Coquerel, pp. 334-336. 2 Ibid. pp. 345, 34C. 3 Ibid. p. 348.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. b5
minister, only twenty-six years old, was seized in the
village of Muzel, and carried first to Vernoux, and
then to Montpellier. When interrogated, his judges
were astonished and melted at the dignity, sense, and
piety manifested by one so young. At the place of
execution, where an immense crowd was assembled,
February 2d, 1740, two Jesuits harassed him with
their importunate bigotry, drums drowned his voice
when he sought to address the people ; but the beauty
of his youthful countenance, the manifest fervency of
his prayers, his calmness, constancy, and gentleness,
brought tears to every eye. The Protestants blessed
God for the grace which was given to him, and the
Catholics envied them the glory of his martyrdom. 1
August 1st, Elias Vivien, a preacher in Saintonge, was
condemned and executed at Rochelle." January 30th,
1752, Francois Benezet, who, like Majal, was only
twenty-six years of age, was seized near Vigan, and
being conducted to Montpellier, was there condemned
for having preached in Languedoc. March 27th, he
was led to execution ; and though the drums drowned
his voice, yet the spectators could hear him singing
the 51st Psalni amidst the roar, and could see that
his countenance maintained its unalterable serenity to
the end. 3
The dissolute court, amidst excesses and abuses of
every kind, received with delight the news of this
1 Coquerel, pp. 377-386. z Ibiil. p. 419.
3 Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 50, 51;
86 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
judicial murder. 1 1754, Stephen Teissier Lafagc, a
young minister, was hung at Montpellier, and died
with so much constancy and peace that the soldiers
round the scaffold could not restrain their tears. 1
Lastly, February 19th, 176.2, Francois Rochette, a
young minister of Upper Languedoc, and three
noble brothers, Grenier de Commel, Grenier de
Saradou, and the youthful Grenier de Lourmadc,
were executed together, with an intrepidity which
astonished the assembled crowd. 3 During these
years many of the Protestants suffered greatly. Be-
tween 1744 and 1752, eighty gentlemen received
different punishments, six hundred Protestants were
imprisoned, and eight hundred endured other punish-
ments in the south alone.* Congregations were dis-
persed by soldiers; dragoons were quartered on the
Protestant inhabitants ; and children were dragged
by force to the Catholic churches to be baptised.
Multitudes conformed, multitudes fled the country,
whole villages Avere depopulated, and many took
refuge in caverns and in forests. While Voltaire was
writing against them at Paris, the Duke of Richelieu,
his infidel and profligate friend, was hunting them
with his dragoons in Languedoc. The court, the
bishops, and the infidels, were all leagued against
them, and were triumphing in their atrocious success.
Meanwhile Paul Rabaut, the intrepid pastor of
1 Coquerel, vol. ii. p. 51. 2 Ibid. p. I/O.
3 Ibid. pp. 290, 291. * Ibid. vol. i. p. 431 *
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY HISTORY. 87
Names, and other pastors, continued their adven-
turous ministry, The congregations still assembled ;
their organisation was improved; as many as two
thousand gathered in the desert to hear the word of
God. And on one occasion, at the ordination of
three pastors, 8th of May, 1756, no less than ten
thousand assembled at the foot of a mountain in
Languedoc. 1 In the end their constancy prevailed.
All moderate persons began to be disgusted with
these persecutions. The clergy, partly through their
immorality, and partly through the prevalence of the
infidel philosophy, having fallen into general con-
tempt, numbers of the Protestants, under the tolerant
ministry of Turgot and of Malesherbes, though they
had concealed their principles in the time of danger,
now professed them openly in various parts of the
kingdom; and obtained, January 1788, an edict of
toleration from Louis XVI. 2 At length, unhappily
for them, Napoleon took their pastors into the pay of
the State, and the Reformed Church became one of
the established churches of the empire.
In vain, then, do Mr. Burke and Mr. Gladstone
appeal on behalf of the principle of Establishments
to the general practice of mankind. That general
practice, pagan and papal but not Christian, has
ever been employed to sustain tyranny and priest-
craft, to crush liberty and to repress truth ; and
can ill be pleaded on behalf of a principle which
1 Coquerel, vol. ii. p. 238. 8 Ibid. p. 552.
88 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
it illustrates only to brand it with eternal infamy.
Throughout the preceding sketch of church history
we see the State churches, like the imperial harlot
in the 17th chapter of the Apocalypse, committing
fornication with the kings of the earth, by disloyally
transferring to them Christ's right of governing his
churches, receiving from them their golden hire in
return ; and the free churches, like the woman in
the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse, persecuted by
the dragon, and driven into the desert. We see the
State churches, like the harlot, clothed with purple,
and adorned with gems, Rev. xvii. 4 ; and the free
churches, like the woman clothed with the sun,
radiant with the glory of divine grace, Rev. xii. 1.
We see the State churches, like the harlot who was
seated on the symbolic beast, sustained by super-
stitious and ungodly majorities, Rev. xvii. 3 ; and
the free churches, like the sun-bright woman, who
was solitary in the wilderness, long deserted and
proscribed by them, Rev. xii. 6. We see the State
churches, like the harlot, persecuting the saints of
God, Rev. xvii. G ; and the free churches, like the
sun-bright woman, sustained by God under persecu-
tion, Rev. xii. 6. We see the State churches, like
the harlot, exulting in their numerous adherents,
power, and wealth, and exclaiming, " I sit a queen,
and shall see no sorrow," Rev. xviii. 7 ; arid the free
churches, at length helped by the earth, because
at length the world began to favour entire liberty
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY THE MOSAIC LAW. 89
of conscience, and to respect justice between man and
man, Rev. xii. 10. In the State churches we see too
much approximation to the great apostasy; and in
the free churches no less conformity to the predicted
condition of the church of Christ.
All history proclaims that the Union, tried through
long centuries of misrule, and found every where to
be only Bent for evil, should at length give place to
Christ s" own law of spiritual liberty, through which
alone his churches can accomplish their beneficial
mission, to bring the nations of the earth into the
service of the Redeemer, and to make all intellects
and all hearts tributary to his glory.
SECTION IV. The Union condemned by Ihe Mosaic
Law.
Advocates of the Union between Church and State
often appeal on its behalf to the law and practice of
the Old Testament. By an express provision of the
Mosaic code, a tithe of the land's produce was set
apart for the maintenance of the priests and Levites.
From which they argue thus: If the payment of
tithes was then made obligatory by law, it may be
made obligatory by law still ; what was then morally
right cannot now be morally wrong; and therefore
a national provision for the ministers of religion has
1)0 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
the direct sanction of God. " Ma e scnza dubbiu
molto periculoso il governarse con gli eseinpi, si non
concorrono non solo in generale, ma in tutti i par-
ticolari le medesime rajione." This observation of
Guicciardini applies exactly to this alleged Jewish
precedent, which, instead of justifying the English
Union between the Church and State, most unequi-
vocally condemns it.
As the Mosaic law is expressly abrogated, its
institutions were clearly judged by their divine author
to be unfitted for the more spiritual and more uni-
versal religion of Christ. 1 And to imprison Christian
doctrine within Jewish ordinances, would be to put
new wine into old bottles, which was what our Lord
declared he did not intend to do. 2 If, therefore, there
had been a Union between the Church and the State
enacted by the Mosaic law, I should see in it no
proof that such Union was allowed by the law of
Christ. But there was, in fact, no such Union
between the priesthood and the Government j and,
on the contrary, the enactments of the Jewish hnv
were such as distinctly to condemn the Union which
now exists in this country.
1 . In England the ministers of the Establishment
are maintained by taxes, imposed by the State, in
the form of rent-charges ; and ecclesiastical buildings
are maintained by another tax, under the form of
church-rates : these taxes being imposed not by the
1 Heb. viii. 7-13; ix. 9, 10. * M&tt. ix. 17.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY THE MOSAIC LAW. 1)1
authority of God, but by the authority of the State.
In Israel tithes were imposed, not by the authority of
the State, but by the command of God, there being
no royal tax whatever for the support of religion ;
and the temple and all the synagogues in the land
were built and repaired by voluntary contributions. 1
2. In England the State, in consequence of its
maintenance of the ministers and the buildings of
the Establishment, assumes a control over it, allows
or forbids its synods, ratifies or rejects its canons,
and passes what ecclesiastical laws it pleases for the
regulation of the churches. In Israel the State could
issue no ecclesiastical enactment whatever. The prince
was governed by the following law : " It shall be,
when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that
he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out
of tit at which is before the priests and the Lcvitcs ;
and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein
all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear
Hie Lord his God, to kcej) all the words of this laio
and these statutes to do them"* One of these statutes,
to which he was bound to pay obedience, was as
follows : " Ye shall not add unto the word which I
command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it,
that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your
God as I command you!''' So that he was expressly
1 2 Sam. viii. 11; 1 Kings, vii. 51; 2 Kings, xii. 4, 8, 9; xx. 4-7 J
1 Chron. xxii. 5-11 ; xxix. 6 ; 2 Chron. xxiv. 4.
2 Deut. xvii. 18, 19. 3 DeUt. iv. 1, 2.
92 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
forbidden to introduce the slightest change, or to
make the least addition to the precepts of the divine
law. There is accordingly no trace of any ecclesias-
tical statute passed by any one of the Jewish kings.
The chief magistrate did not possess the right of
exercising the least control over the creed, worship,
or church discipline of the nation. He might make
what civil and fiscal regulations he pleased, but must
not, in any respect, interfere with the worship of God.
In religion they were to obey God alone. The only
apparent exception to this general fact, in reality,
confirms it. For David, indeed, determined the form
of the temple which was to be built at Zion; 3 but
this he did as a prophet, not as a king, under the
influence of divine inspiration, not by royal preroga-
tive. 2 No human authority had any right to interfere
with the creed, worship, or discipline of the Jewish
congregation ; but in England the State has formed
a large body of ecclesiastical laws, by which the
churches are governed. Each session adds some
new enactment to the portentous mass ; and to a
great extent church duties are regulated by the
statute-book.
3. During the Mosaic economy, God himself ap-
pointed the high-priest, the priests, and the inferior
ministers of religion. And the priests being thus
made wholly independent of the king and the govern-
ment, no change in the government made any change
1 1 Chron. xxviii. 11. 8 1 Chroiu xxviii. 11-19.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY THE MOSAIC LAW. 93
of the priesthood. Thus, when Rehoboam succeeded
Solomon, he could not raise one favourite to the
priesthood, nor displace one of the priests appointed
by God ; the succession of the ministers, as well as
their duties, was appointed by God, and the sovereign
could not interfere ; but in England the State has
the nomination of the prelates, these have the right
of ordaining the clergy, and from among these, lay
patrons, determined by a money qualification alone,
are empowered by the State to select the pastors of
the churches ; so that the pastors of the churches are
mainly determined by the State.
In Israel the incomes of the priests were settled
without the authority of the State ; in England their
incomes are furnished by the authority of the State
alone.
In Israel the priests were determined by God ;
in England the prelates are nominated by the State.
In Israel kings and nobles could raise no unfit
person to the ministry ; in England patrons can
practically secure their livings to any of their nomi-
nees who have fair capacity and good morals.
In Israel no congregation Jiad a pastor imposed
on them by the State ; in England nearly all the
churches have pastors so imposed upon them.
Since, therefore, during the Mosaic economy God
so guarded the priesthood that no one could enter
it except by his express appointment, and the State
had no power whatever in the matter, he has thereby
94 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
condemned the Union through which the State, with-
out his authority, assumes the appointment of the
ministers of a much more spiritual religion.
4. By the Mosaic law all the Jewish citizens were
religiously equal. The State created no rivalry by
exalting one sect above another, so that when the
great festivals gathered together the devout worship-
pers of God from every place, they met as a holy
brotherhood, without any of the sources of jealousy
arising from civil distinctions established by law.
But in the English Union, one among several sects,
equally evangelical, is placed by the State above all
the rest, whereby jealousy and division are excited
in the Christian family. The Mosaic system treated
all the worshippers of God as on perfect equality :
the Anglican system unjustly exalts one sect, and
depresses all the rest. In Scotland the Presbyterian
is exalted, the Episcopalian is depressed ; in England
the Episcopalian is exalted, the Presbyterian de-
pressed. In both parts of the kingdom, therefore,
the system is so opposite to the Mosaic, that if the
latter was agreeable to his will, the former must be
opposed to it.
5. The Mosaic law allowed of no compulsory
payments for the support of religion. As God com-
manded his people to love him with all their heart,
so he commanded them to pay a tithe of the land
to the Levites. 1 But as the magistrates could not
1 Numb, xxviii. 21 ; Lev. xxvii. 30.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY THE MOSAIC LAW. 95
compel the Israelite to obey the first of these com-
mands, so he could not compel obedience to the
second. In both cases the conscience of the wor-
shipper was the only allowed compulsion ; no legal
process was appointed for the recovery of the tithes
by the priests ; no magistrate was empowered to
collect them ; and as the Almighty forbade that any
additions should be made to the Mosaic law, 1 no
law to enforce their payment could be passed after-
wards. Accordingly their payment throughout the
Jewish history was voluntary. In the reformation
effected by Nehemiah, B.C. 444, the chiefs and the
people entered into a solemn covenant to pay their
tithes,- which would have been unnecessary if the
Levites could have extorted payment by distraint or
otherwise. Notwithstanding that covenant the tithes
were not paid ; for about ten years after this time
the prophet Malachi was directed to address the
people thus: "Will a mem rob God? yet ye have
robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee ?
In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse,
for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Brim/
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be
meat in my house. " 3 When Nehemiah revisited Jeru-
salem the tithe was still unpaid. 4 These are facts
which prove that the Levites had no legal redress if
their tithes were withheld. In the time of our Lord's
ministry there was still the same liberty, otherwise the
1 Deut. iv. 1,2. 2 Neh. x. 29-37. 3 Mai. iii. 8-10. < Neh. xiii. 10.
96 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Pharisee could not have said, with boastful self-
complacency, " I give tithes of all that I possess ;" nor
could our Lord have adduced the payment of the tithe
of mint, anise, and cummin, as a proof of the hypocrisy
of the Pharisees. 1 " The payment and appreciation of
the tithe Moses left to the consciences of the people,
without subjecting them to judicial or sacerdotal
visitations ;" c and no Jewish king could make the
slightest alteration in this arrangement. God loves a
cheerful giver, 3 and would no more allow the State to
enforce payments in support of religion than he would
allow it to compel men to profess to love him. All
duty to him was to be free from human dictation.
The support of religion would be degraded if it ceased
to be spontaneous : spontaneous zeal paid tithe ; spon-
taneous contributions first built and then repaired
both the tabernacle and the temple ; and if the sove-
reigns of Juclea contributed to these works, it was
from their private property, and not from any public
fund raised by the taxation of their subjects. By thus
securing in the Mosaic economy that all such pay-
ments should be free, not even allowing the priests to
obtain their tithes by any legal process, God has con-
demned all compulsory payments for the support of
religion. But with us the State, having granted to
the clergy their rent-charges and their church-rates,
enforces the payment of them ; and if any reluctant
1 Luke, xviii. 12, 13 ; Matt, xxiii. 23.
* Home's " Introduction," part iii. chap. 3, sect. G. 3 2 Cor. ix. 7.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY THE MOSAIC LAW. 97
nonconformist refuses payment, it is extorted by dis-
traint. Our system, therefore, rests upon the com-
pulsory payments which God has by the Mosaic law
condemned.
6. In all their great features, the Mosaic and the
Anglican systems for the maintenance of religion are
directly opposed ; and as the one has the sanction of
the Almighty, the other must be contrary to his will.
The Mosaic separation of the Church and State con-
demns our Union of the two, whatever the character
of the State may be. Our system would remain un-
scriptural and mischievous if administered by kings
like David and by statesmen like Daniel ; but it be-
comes more glaringly opposed to the practice of the
Old Testament when we consider that it is adminis-
tered by a State which is irreligious. What part did
ungodly kings take, by divine appointment, in the
religious affairs of the Jews ? In what degree were
Saul and Manasseh commissioned to superintend the
creed, the worship, or the discipline of the church of
God in their kingdom? They had nothing to do
with it. Had there been a Union like ours, it would
have subsisted through each successive reign, what-
ever might be the character of the sovereign : the
church would have been as much united to Saul as to
David, to Rehoboam as to Solomon, to Manasseh as to
Hezekiah ; but it was not in the least united to either
of these three ungodly princes. They had no episco-
pate to discharge, no right to interfere ; the system
H
98 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
was complete without their aid, and went on as if they
had not been in existence. According, therefore, to
the precedents of the Old Testament, whatever in-
fluence might be allowed to a pious State, an irreligious
State ought to have none ; but our State, in its most
powerful member representing an irreligious majority,
must generally be irreligious ; and as the Mosaic
system excluded the irreligious king from all control
over the priesthood, so the English system ought to
exclude an irreligious House of Commons from all
control over the ministers of the churches. If Avhcn
the people were ignorant and barbarous, God would
not permit irreligious kings to exercise any control
over the religion of the country, much less does he
permit an irreligious State to control the churches
of instructed and enlightened Christians. If in the
mere carnal dispensation he appointed a system where
every detail was regulated by himself, and the ex-
penditure was sustained spontaneously by the people,
much more in this dispensation of the Spirit fiiazoviu
7ov Tlnvparoc) must he require that the churches
(&%%,'W(jtKf ruv uyiuv) follow exclusively the directions
of his word, and spontaneously provide for the main-
tenance of his worship. To infer that because there
was one tithe system in Judea there may be lawfully
an opposite tithe system in England, is to be wilfully
deceived. As long as it remains on record that
irreligious Jewish kings were not permitted by the
Mosaic law to tax their subjects for the payment of
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY PROPHECY. 99
the priests, or to raise to the priesthood others than
those who were appointed by God, or to make ecclesi-
astical laws, or to prohibit the priests from assembling
to consider how they might effect a reformation of
their church when corrupt, or to nominate State-paid
pastors for the congregations of their towns and
villages, or to exalt one class of Jewish worshippers
by depressing all the rest, or to compel by force their
subjects to pay for the support of an ecclesiastical
machinery of their own invention, so long the Mosaic
law must condemn all these practices, which are in-
volved in the Anglican Union of the Church with
the State.
SECTION V. The Union condemned by the Prophecies
of the Old Testament.
The ultimate condition of the church of Christ on
earth will, according to the predictions of the Old
Testament, be extremely glorious. Immediately after
the fall our Creator declared to the tempter that the
Saviour to come should bruise (or crush) his head. 1
This earliest prophecy was illustrated and amplified
by subsequent predictions in the following terms :
" The Sceptre shall not depart from Jndali till Shiloh
(the peaceable) come\ and UNTO HIM shall the gather-
ing of the peoples (n^ss) be. . . .Ask of me, and I shall
1 Gen. iii. 15:
100 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
give tliee the heathen (o^ia, nations) for thine inherit-
ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy pos-
session. . . .All the ends of the world shall remember
and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before tliee. . . . All kings shall
fall down before him : all nations shall serve him. 1 . . . I
saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son
of man came ivith the clouds of heaven, and came to the
Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should
serve him. 2 . . . Of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end." 3
The universal dominion of Christ predicted in
these passages involves the universal extension and
prosperity of the church ; and these are likewise pre-
dicted in the following terms : " It shall come to pass
in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established on the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall
flow unto it* . . . Arise, shine, for thy light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. . . . And
the Gentiles (Dlia, nations) shall come to thy light, and
kings to the brightness of thy rising. . . . For the
nation and the kingdom that ivitt not serve thee shall
perish" fi
According to these prophecies all nations must
1 Gen. xlix. 10; Psalm ii. 8 ; xxii. 27 ; Ixxii. 11. 2 Dan. vii. 13, 14.
3 Isa. is. 7. 4 Isa.il. 2. 5 Isa. Ix. 1, 3, 12.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY PROPHECY. 101
flow to Zion, and serve it. At the same time it was
declared that multitudes within the Jewish nation
would reject Christ. 1 These would be given up to
hardness of heart, 2 and suffer just punishment. 3 The
promises were not made to them, but to the pious
part of the nation. 4 These became Christians, 5 and
are the true Israel, 6 who, with Gentile Christians
united to them, are the one holy nation, the Zion
of God. 7 To this spiritual Zion the promises of the
Old Testament relating to the Gospel era are made.
The following prophecy in Isaiah liv. places this truth
in a clear light : " Sing, barren, thou that didst
not bear ; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou
that didst not travail with child: for more are the
children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtain of thy habita-
tions : spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen
tJiy stakes ; for thou shalt break forth on the right
hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited"*
This prediction is explained by the Apostle Paul in
the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians,
thus : " Tell me, ye that desire to be under the laic,
1 Isa. liii. 1-4 ; John, xii. 37. 8 Isa. vi. 9-12 ; John, xii. 39.
3 Gal. iv. 21-30 ; 1 Thess. ii. 14-16.
4 Isa. vi. 13; Joel, ii. 32 ; Rom. ix. 6-8, 22-24 ; xi. 1-10.
5 Acts, ii. 41-47 ; iv. 4 ; v. 14 ; vi. 7 ; xxi. 20. 8 Rom. ix. 8.
7 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; Gal. iii. 7, 29 ; iv. 25-31 ; Rom. ix. 8 ; Heb. xii. 22, 23.
8 Isa. liv. 1-3.
102 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
do ye not hear the law ? For it is written, that Abra-
ham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other
by a free-woman. But he who icas of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free-woman was
by promise. Which tilings are an allegory : for these
are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai,
which gender etli to bondage, which is Agar. For this
Agar is Mount Sinai, in Arabia, and answereth to
Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her
children. BUT JERUSALEM WHICH is ABOVE is FREE,
WHICH IS THE MOTHER OF US ALL. FOR IT IS
WRITTEN, REJOICE, THOU BARREN THAT BE A REST
NOT; BREAK FORTH AND CRY, THOU THAT TRAVAIL-
EST NOT : FOR THE DESOLATE HATH MANY MORE
CHILDREN THAN SHE WHICH HATH AN HUSBAND.
Now ^ve ) brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of
promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even
so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture?
Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of
the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the
free-woman. So then, brethren, we arc not children
of the bondwoman, but of the free." Here are two
communities; the one is represented as a married
wife, the second as a wife who has been put away
and is desolate. By the first is intended the Jewish
nation, long enjoying the privileges of God's chosen
people ; by the second is intended the spiritual Israel,
the church of God withift that nation. The first was
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY PROPHECY. 103
typified by Hagar, the bondwoman married to Abra-
ham ; the second by Sarah, who was so long childless
and desolate. The first Avas the Jewish nation in
bondage under the law, which God intended to cast
out, as Hagar was dismissed by Abraham; the second
was the church of Christ, which, like Sarah, was free ;
and the children of which, by the accession of Gentile
converts, were to become more numerous than the
Jewish nation had ever been. The unconverted Jews,
like Ishmael, are in bondage, and cast out of the
favour of God ; while all believers, Jews and Gentiles,
are, like Isaac, the children of promise and the heirs
of the promised blessings. It follows from this apo-
stolic exposition of the prophecy, that the community
addressed in Isaiah liv. is the spiritual Jerusalem or
Zion, the church of Christ. A comparison of Isaiah liv.
with Isaiah Ix. shows clearly that the same commu-
nity is addressed in both predictions ; and, therefore,
Isaiah Ix. is also addressed to the church of Christ,
under the name of Zion ; and to this church are all
the promises made in the closing chapters of the pro-
phet Isaiah.
To this spiritual Zion, the church of Christ, was
this promise given : " All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord'' 1 Upon which passage our Lord made
the following comment : " It is written in the prophets,
And they shall ^ ( M taught, of God. EVERY MAN,
THEREFORE, THAT HATH HEARD AND HATH LEARNED
1 Isa. liv. 13.
104 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
OF THE FATHER, COMETH UNTO ME." 1 Now, since all
who have received the Scriptures certainly do not
come to Christ, this divine teaching must be the
teaching of the Spirit, which both enlightens the un-
derstanding and converts the heart. No one who
is destitute of this teaching is a citizen of Zion, a
member of the church of Christ. As, then, the church
is holy, every one of its members being taught of
God, so the weapons of its warfare are to be spiritual,
not carnal, spiritual and not carnal means are to
accomplish its ultimate and most decisive triumphs.
" Thus speaJceth the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold
the man whose name is The Branch ; and he shall grow
up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the
Lord." 2 The church is God's building, 3 in which
every stone is a living stone, 4 of which every part is
the holy dwelling-place of the Spirit; 5 of which no
man forms a part who does not hold fast his bold
confession of Christ, and his joyful confidence in him
to the end. 6 This temple is to be completed by
Christ, by his Spirit, and by such means as he alone
originates. Unless, therefore, the means employed
by the Union for the promotion of the welfare of
the church are such as have his authority (which
they are not), they are contrary to his will as de-
clared by this prediction.
Of this church there are, further, three things
1 John, vi. 45. 2 Zech. vi. 12, 13. 3 1 Cor. iii. 9.
4 1 Pet. ii. 5. * Eph. ii. 18-22. 6 Heb. iii. G.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY PROPHECY. 105
declared by the prophets which condemn the Union
as now existing in our country.
1. Let us recall a part of the prophetic vision
which was presented to Nebuchadnezzar, and which is
thus described by Daniel : " Thou sawest till that a
stone was cut out WITHOUT HANDS, which smote the
image upon Ids feet that were of iron and clay, and
brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the
brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together,
and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-
floors ; and the wind carried them away, that noplace
was found for them : and THE STONE THAT SMOTE THE
IMAGE BECAME A GREAT MOUNTAIN, AND FILLED THE
WHOLE EARTH." 1
The four metals composing the image being de-
clared to be four great successive kingdoms, the pro-
phet Daniel thus expounded the symbolic fact that
the stone struck and destroyed the image : " In the
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom which shall never be destroyed : and the king-
dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever."* The church of Christ was, according
to this prediction, formed in the apostolic age by the
power of God alone ; it did strike the Roman empire,
when in its degenerate days it was formed of Romans
and barbarians intermingled; it has completely sub-
verted those four pagan empires ; and it is now grow-
1 Dan. ii. 34, 35. 2 Dan. ii. 44.
106 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
ing into that vast and wide-spread community which
is ultimately to fill the world.
2. To this church has God thus promised the per-
petual aid of his Spirit : " My Spirit ikat is upon thee,
and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not
depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of ilnj
need, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the
Lord, from henceforth and for ever. 1 . . . And it shall
come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit
upon all flesh" 2
3. God has given to this church these further pro-
mises : " It shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the Lord's house (Mount Zion, the church
of Christ, Gal. iv. 26; Heb. xii. 22) shall be esta-
blished in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
ABOVE the hills ; AND ALL NATIONS SHALL FLOW UNTO
IT. And many people (nations, E^S) shall go and say,
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob ; and lie ivill leach us
of his ivays, and we will walk in his paths ; for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. 5 . . . Behold, thou shalt call a nation that
thou knowest not, and nations that kneiv not thee shall
run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the
Holy One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee. . . For
ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth toith peace ;
1 Isa. lix. 21.
2 Joel, ii. 28-32, with Acts, ii. 14-20 ; and Rom. x. 12-15.
3 Isa. ii. 2, 3.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY PROPHECY. 107
the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
into singing, and all the trees of the feld shall clap
their hands. 1 . . . Arise, shine: for thy light is come, and
the glory of tie Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people : but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his
glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and Icings to the brightness of thy
rising. . . For the nation and kingdom that will not serve
thee shall perish ; yea, those nations shall be utterly
wasted* . . . And the kingdom and dominion, and the
greatness of the kingdom under the ivhole heaven, shall be
given to the people of the saints of the Most High,
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all do-
minions shall serve and obey him ;* . . . and kings shall
be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-
mothers : THEY SHALL BOW DOWN TO THEE WITH THEIR
FACE TOWARD THE EARTH, AND LICK UP THE DUST OF
THY FEET." 4
These predictions cannot receive their full accom-
plishment till the Churches be separated from the
States throughout the world. According to prophecy,
the church which was originally cut out from the un-
godly mass of the world by divine power without the
aid of Governments, is to GROW into a great mountain
and fill the whole earth. It is not to be piled up by
human Governments, but to grow through divine
1 Isa. lv. 5, 12. * Isa. 1x. 1-3, 12.
3 Dan. vii. 27. 4 Isa. xlix. 23.
108 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
power. It grows through grace. (Acts, ii. 47 ; Eph,
ii. 21 ; iv. 15, 16.)
According to prophecy, the church is to look for
the effusion of the Spirit upon all flesh as the great
cause of its ultimate triumph : whatever, therefore, in
the churches tends to grieve and to quench the Spirit,
whatever makes the churches worldly, whatever
leads them to lean upon the arm of flesh rather than
of God, tends to prevent the accomplishment of its
promised triumphs. But the Union does all these
things, as I shall hereafter show.
According to prophecy, all nations are to flow to
the church of Christ through its spiritual glory and
its preaching of the Gospel. But the Union corrupts
it, and impedes the preaching of the Gospel, and
therefore the Union is preventing its extension and
triumph.
According to prophecy, kings and their queens,
becoming pious, are to promote the progress of reli-
gion, as David and Hezekiah, by their personal ser-
vices. Kings are to be "nursing-fathers" to the
church in the same way that their queens are " nurs-
ing-mothers." But as their queens, having no political
authority, can aid the cause of Christ by their personal
services alone, so kings are not to aid the church by
legislation, but by their personal piety. But by the
Union irreligious Governments force their reluctant
subjects to support good and bad ministers indis-
criminately.
THE UNION CONDEMNED BY PROPHECY. 109
According to prophecy, pious kings and tlieir
queens are to be as fathers and mothers to the whole
church of Christ within their dominions ; but by the
Union the sovereign is made to rend the church,
exalting one part to an unbrotherly superiority, and
unjustly depressing and harassing the other.
According to prophecy, pious kings and queens,
as simple members of the church of Christ, are to serve
it ; they are to " bow down toward the church with
their face toward the earth," an expression which
shows that they will claim no spiritual jurisdiction
whatever within it, but will serve it as simple mem-
bers. But by the Union an irreligious Government
binds the churches hand and foot, rules over them
with a rod of iron, will allow no self-government, no
reformation, no independent discipline, and is their
absolute, irresponsible lord.
Thus the prophecies of the Old Testament con-
demn the Union, no less than the history of Christian
churches condemns it. These show it to be unscrip-
tural, as that manifests its inexpediency ; and both
concur in making many earnest and enlightened men
wish ardently for its dissolution.
110 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
SECTION VI. The Union condemned by the New
Testament.
We have seen that the Union is condemned both
by the Mosaic law and by the prophecies of the Old
Testament; but its most direct and severe condem-
nation is to be found in the NeAV. Here its more cau-
tious advocates are content to stand on the defensive :
and maintaining that the New Testament is silent
on the subject, expend their efforts in the attempt to
evade the force of the condemnatory passages. Bolder
champions have, however, declared its authority to be
in their favour, and find passages in which they think
that a national Establishment is clearly justified. One
of these is the following parable in the thirteenth
chapter of St. Matthew : "The kingdom of heaven is
like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and ga-
thered of every kind ; which, tvhen it was full, they drew
to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into ves-
sels, but cast the bad away." This parable seems to a
zealous writer to indicate " a visible society including
multitudes who are not spiritual," a baptised nation
a national Establishment. 1 His statement is not very
distinct, but by the net he seems to understand a
national church in which bad and good are to remain
quietly together, as the bad fish and the good in the
net. But if this be his meaning, his exposition makes
1 Lectures on the Church of England, lecture iv. p. 165*
UNION CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. Ill
the parable contradict several plain commands, which
urge the churches to excommunicate offending mem-
bers, and to maintain communion with those alone
who are living consistently with their profession. 1
As the idea that the parable before us allows a
church to retain in its communion the bad and good,
the vicious and the virtuous, the profane and the
pious, the schismatical and the peaceable, is at vari-
ance with these commands, so it is also inconsistent
with the design of the parable itself.
If the parable meant that a national Establishment
should gather into its fold the good and the evil, that
a whole nation should be caught in the ecclesiastical
net, then it could have no fulfilment for the first three
centuries; and its language would have been not "the
kingdom of heaven is like," but " the kingdom of
heaven WILL BE like," for it certainly was not formed
of national Establishments then : but the net means
not the church but the doctrine of the Gospel.
"The net is the Gospel. The fishers are the apostles.
Evangelical preaching brings all to Christ. The
Gospel collects men of every sort." 2 "It is neither
the church visible nor invisible, [but] the doctrine of
the apostles, made by Christ fishers of men, which is
here compared to a net." 3 When our Lord said to
1 Matt, xviii. 13-17 ; Rom. xvi. 17 ; 1 Cor. v. 11, 13 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14, 17 }
Gal. v. 12 ; IThess. iii. G, 14 ; Titus, iii. 10 ; Rev. ii. 14, 15.
2 ii Verriculum evangelium est . . . Piscatores apostoli sunt . . . Evan-
gelica prsedicatio oinnes ad Christum adducit . . . Evangelium colligit omnis
generis homines." BULLINGER ad loc. 3 Whitby.
112 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
his apostles, "I will make you fishers of men," 1 he
clearly meant that their net should be the preaching
of the Gospel. When St. Paul wrote to the Corinth-
ians, "I caught you with guile," 2 his net was the
doctrine of the Gospel, his conduct was the manage-
ment of the net. Hence this parable receives its
accomplishment whenever any Christian whatever so
speaks of Christ as to draw some to receive it sin-
cerely, and some to be convinced of its truth while
they yet remain unconverted.
If any one imagine that the net might mean the
church, because the kingdom of heaven is said to be
like the net, and they suppose the kingdom of heaven
to mean the church, let him apply this reasoning to
other parables. In verse 24 we read, " The kingdom
of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good
seed," therefore the church is this sower; but, on the
contrary, " He that soweth the good seed is the Son
of man." 3 In verse 44 we read, "The kingdom of
heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field," &c., and
in verse 45, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchantman seeking goodly pearls," &c. So that
the church is both the treasure and the purchaser,
which is absurd. The expression, therefore, does not
mean that the church is like the net, but that in the
establishment of the kingdom, or reign, of Christ in
the world, the preaching of Christ is like this net.
And this being the case, it follows, first, that the
1 Matt, iv* 19. 2 2 Cor. xii. 1C. 3 See verse 37.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 113
parable does not justify the neglect of discipline in
any church, or the admission into the church of any
one known to be ungodly, for the design of the fisher-
man is to catch the good fish and not the bad ; and
as soon as the bad fish are discovered, upon the net
being drawn to the shore, they are cast away. So
that the parable rather speaks of those professed
Christians who are not known to be wicked than of
those who are openly so. And, secondly, the parable
cannot justify the Anglican system, in which the
infants of the nation are indiscriminately brought
into the church by baptism, because it refers to the
effect of the doctrine of Christ upon the minds of
men, and not the effect of a sacrament upon infancy.
So far from justifying, in this parable, the indiscrimi-
nate fellowship of the godly and the profane in a
national Establishment, our Lord simply teaches that
many would profess to receive the Gospel who were
not converted and sanctified by it ; and that these
will be separated from believers at the judgment-day,
though unavoidably associated with them now.
Another argument for an Establishment has been
derived from the parable of the tares and the wheat,
in the following words : " An attempt originating
often in the most pious and devoted intentions, a
zeal for God, but not according to enlarged know-
ledge, to supersede this prerogative of the returning
Saviour, and to separate now a visible company of
worshippers which shall also be a pure company ; in
114 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
oilier words, an attempt before the harvest to remove
the tares, in defiance of the significant prohibition,
LEST YE ROOT UP ALSO THE WHEAT WITH THEM, is the
root of all sectarianism." 1 The substance of this
argument is, that while sectarians, i. e. dissenters,
endeavour by church discipline to preserve the purity
of their churches in opposition to our Lord's will,
the Establishment permitting the ungodly to remain
quietly within its communion, acts according to his
admonition, "Let both grow together till the har-
vest." Hence the Establishment is more scriptural
and more agreeable to the will of Christ than a dis-
senting congregation. Let me here introduce the
parable which has been thus interpreted : " The king-
dom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good
seed in his field: but while men slept his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
But ichen the blade was sprung up, and brought forth
fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of
the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not
thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath
it tares? He said unto them, An .enemy hath done
this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that
we go and gather them up ? But he said, Nay ; lest
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat
with them. Let both grow together until the harvest."
Of this parable our Lord has given us his own expla-
nation : " He that soweth the good seed is the Son of
1 Lectures on the Church, p. 26.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 115
man ; the field is the world ; the good seed are the
children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children
of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed them is the
devil ; the harvest is the end of the world," ' &c.
Our Lord's explanation enables us to derive some
certain instruction from this parable with respect to
the discipline of the churches, as well as with respect
to the final separation of the ungodly from among
believers. The field in the parable is the world, ver.
38 ; the good seed are the children of the kingdom,
ver. 38, i. e. the kingdom of Christ, ver. 41. His
kingdom is composed exclusively of true believers :
Matt. v. 3; vii. 21; xi. 2; xvi. 19; xix. 14, 23;
xxi. 31; Luke, xvii. 21; Rom. xiv. 17; 1 Cor. iv.
20 ; Eph. v. 5 ; Col. i. 13 ; iv. 11 ; and the word is
not used in scripture to express either the world, or
the aggregate of the churches, but real believers.
The good seed, then, are the subjects of Christ's
kingdom. The tares, or zizania, are the children of
Satan, ver. 38, i. e. ungodly persons, 1 John, iii. 9,
10. The good seed, or believers, are sown in the
world by Christ, ver. 37, because all Christians are
born of the Spirit, created in Christ Jesus to good
works, John, iii. 5 ; Eph. ii. 10. The tares, or zizania,
are sown amongst Christians, not by Christ but by
Satan, i. e. he induces hypocrites to make false pro-
fession of religion, instead of turning heartily to God,
ver. 25, 39. He sows these among the Christians, by
1 Matt. xiii. 24, 37.
116 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
securing their admission into the churches, ver. 25.
He does this while men sleep. When Christians
become negligent, false doctrines preached, discipline
relaxed, and profession made easy, then hypocrites
form the churches, ver. 25. When Christians awake
and see how much false profession abounds, then they
wish to separate the spiritual from all the rest, and
would cast hypocrites out of the church, ver. 28.
But our Lord condemns the attempt on the ground
that it would lead to the ejection of real Christians
as well as hypocrites, ver. 29. This has since often
happened, in fact ; Roman churches, on pretence of
rooting out heretics, have murdered Christians without
number. They were excommunicated by priests, and
then outlawed and murdered by magistrates. The
good seed were torn up, the zizania were left to spread
over the field. The English Establishment has fol-
lowed the example of the Catholics. By its canons
it excommunicated nonconformists ; and, when ex-
communicated, they were liable to be imprisoned by
force of the writ de excommunicato capiendo, till they
submitted. Ungodly conformists were left to triumph ;
but the most pious persons of the country were ex-
pelled and harassed. Our Lord, foreboding therefore
such an attempt, has said, " Let both grow together
until the harvest." Openly wicked persons should be
separated from each church, Matt, xviii. 1 7 ; Rom. xvi.
17 ; 1 Cor. v. 11, 13 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14, 17 ; 2 Thess. iii.
6, 14. These are not the zizania resembling the
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 117
wheat ; but thorns and thistles about which there can
be no mistake, and which Christ has expressly com-
manded to be separated from communion with his
people : others are to be left to God.
According to this parable it cannot be our Lord's
will that the children of " the wicked one" should
systematically be admitted into the churches, for the
following reasons : 1. He represented himself as sow-
ing in his field nothing but good seed. He, then,
has placed in the churches none but the children of
the kingdom, true believers ; and it can be no more
according to his will that ungodly persons should
be admitted into his churches, than it could be the
will of the sower that weeds should be sown with
his wheat. 2. As it was the enemy of the pro-
prietor who sowed the darnel, or zizania, so it has
been the devil, the enemy of Christ, who has intro-
duced ungodly persons into the churches ; and those
who introduce them are doing the work of Satan, and,
like him, are enemies of Christ. 3. As the zizania
were sown during the night while men slept, so
ungodly persons are introduced into the churches in
consequence of the lethargy and declension of minis-
ters and people, through which false doctrines are
taught, and discipline is relaxed. 4. As the servants
could not have connived at the sowing of the zizania
because they were surprised to see them springing up,
so faithful servants of Christ cannot knowingly intro-
duce ungodly persons into the churches.
118 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The parable does not sanction the neglect of the
exercise of discipline upon open offenders: 1. Be-
cause the zizania, which closely resembled the wheat,
represent those who, although unconverted, make
such a profession of religion that it is difficult to dis-
tinguish them from Christians; 2. Because the reason
why these are not to be ejected from the churches
is lest real Christians should be thus ejected, ver. 29.
These reasons do not apply to the excommunication
of open offenders. How could it injure the church at
Jerusalem to excommunicate Ananias and Sapphira?
Or how could the church in Samaria suffer by eject-
ing Simon Magus ? Or why should not the churches
of Galatia cut off the false teachers who were subvert-
ing their faith ? Or the church at Pergamos exclude
the Nicolaitanes ? l
But if the parable does not teach that ungodly
persons are to be admitted to church fellowship, or
that open offenders are to remain in the possession
of that privilege, what does it teach? 1. It shows
that while Christ ordained that his churches should
be pure, Satan, by means of Establishments, among
other methods, fills the churches with ungodly per-
sons ; and that those who support them in this work
are herein acting as the servants of Satan and the
enemies of Christ. 2. It manifests that when uncon-
verted persons, who make a decent profession of reli-
gion, are introduced into churches, they must not be
1 See Acts, v. 4 ; viii. 18-23 ; Gal. v. 12 ; Rev. ii. 15, 10.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 119
ejected, lest Christians should be ejected instead of
the unconverted. Events have fully illustrated the
danger which our Lord here specified. Against his
direction, churches in conjunction with States have
undertaken to excommunicate many who were sup-
posed to be zizania ; but the result has been, both in
England and on the Continent, that the weeds have
nourished, and the wheat has been rooted up; the
children of the wicked one have been enthroned in
power, and the disciples of Christ have been sen-
tenced by them to the rack and to the fire, to prison
and to exile.
Distinctly, then, does the parable condemn the
Establishment in this country ; First, Because it ad-
mits all sorts of persons into its bosom ; secondly, be-
cause while pretending to tear up the weeds, it has
rooted out the wheat ; while professing to expel
heresy and schism, it has driven from its communion
many of the most eminent servants of Christ. Alas !
at this moment the Establishment continues to offend
against our Lord's admonition in this parable ; and
while it retains in communion with it persons who
are openly wicked, it excludes from its communion
many who are devoted and enlightened Christians.
The following is the language of its canons now
in force, and by which all its clergy are bound :
" Whosoever shall impeach any part of the queen's
regal supremacy," " Whosoever shall affirm that the
form of God's worship, contained in the book of
120 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
common prayer, containeth any thing in it that is
repugnant to the Scriptures," "Whosoever shall affirm
that any of the nine-and-thirty articles are in any part
erroneous," " Whosoever shall affirm that such minis-
ters as refuse to subscribe to the form and manner
of God's worship in the Church of England, and
their adherents, may truly take to them the name
of another church," " Let him be excommunicated,
and not restored but by the archbishop, after his
repentance, and public revocation of such his wicked
errors." 1 Our Lord commands, that the openly
wicked should be excommunicated, and the Estab-
lishment leaves them to nestle quietly in its bosom.
But while he commands that all who with good
morals make a profession of faith in him. should
remain unmolested, the Establishment excommuni-
cates many real Christians, who are pious dissen-
ters ; and till lately, the State, for its sake, inflicted
on them many temporal penalties and disabilities.
Of those passages in the Epistles on which the ad-
vocates of Establishments rely, it is scarcely necessary
to say a word ; to cite them is to prove their irrele-
vance : they are these : " Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. For there is no power but of God :
the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of
God ; and they that resist shall receive unto themselves
damnation .... Wherefore ye must needs be subject,
1 Canons, 2, 4, 5, 10.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 121
not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. . . . !
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the
Lord's sake ; whether it be to the Icing as supreme, or
unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that
do well.''"' Upon these two passages one author re-
marks : " The right interpretation of this language in
its practical interpretation, direct and implied, points
out the political position, that is, the position relatively
with the civil ruler which it is the will of God should be
occupied by his church; and therefore involves the ques-
tion of what is commonly called ' the Union between
Church and State.' " 3 These passages, on the contrary,
have not the remotest connexion with the question of
the Union. They were directions given to the Christ-
ian subjects of a wicked heathen prince to obey their
magistrates, because government is a divine appoint-
ment by which, generally, the honest, industrious, and
peaceable, are protected against lawless violence. For
three hundred years these commands were obeyed by
Christians when the Union of the churches with an
idolatrous and persecuting State was impossible, and
of course they may be obeyed equally by Christians
for three thousand years to come, when all Union
between Churches and States has been abandoned as
criminal and mischievous. Why should not the Dis-
senters in this country and the Christians in the United
States, who condemn the Union, be as well able to
1 Rom. xiii. 1-5. 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. 3 Lecturer on the Church, p. 117.
122 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
obey these precepts as the Christians of the first three
centuries, to whom the Union was never offered ? In
truth, the passages have no relation whatever to a
Union ; they oblige us to obey the laws when those
laws require of us nothing forbidden by God ; to pay
the taxes imposed upon us, to maintain order, to pro-
mote loyalty, to respect those in power, and nothing
more. So that they can be obeyed as completely by
the member of a free church as by the member of
an Establishment.
We have not done with these two passages yet :
for although the duties which they prescribe to the
subject can be fulfilled without the Union, they
impose, according to Mr. Gladstone, upon the rulers
the duty of establishing tlie Union. " Finally," he
says, " to determine how this question is resolved
for us as Christians. What says the divine word ?
That the ruler ' bcareth the sword for the punishment of
evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.' 1
I do not cite this passage, as in former times it has
been employed, in order to demonstrate that rulers
have duties directly religious, but I contend that
it describes them as appointed to maintain a moral
law according to all their means and opportunities." 2
First, a fragment of St. Paul's statement is blended
with a fragment from St. Peter ; these two fragments
from different authors are termed one " passage."
This " passage," so manufactured, declares that rulers
1 Rom. xiii. 4 ; 1 Pet. iii. 14. a The State, &c vol. i. p. 152.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 123
punish thieves and murderers, while they approve of
the honest, sober, and virtuous. And from this Mr.
Gladstone infers that they are bound to uphold morality
by all means, and consequently, by an Establishment.
The cause of the Union must be desperate, if able men
can find no better scriptural evidence to support it !
I have, finally, to examine a prediction in the
Apocalypse which has been, also, supposed to sup-
port the Union, and which is contained in the follow-
ing words : " And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars And she brought forth a man child, who
was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her
child was caught up unto God and to his throne
And there was war in heaven ; Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and
his angels .... And the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him. . . . And
when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth,
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the
man child ; and to the woman were given two wings
of a great eagle, that she might jly into the wilderness,
into her place .... And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might
cause her to be carried away of the flood. AND THE
EARTH HELPED THE WOMAN, and the earth opened
124 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the
dragon cast out of his mouth." 1 To this the excellent
and able author of the " Lectures on the Establish-
ment of National Churches," has alluded in the fol-
lowing terms : " Constantine may have seen, that by
the establishment of a universal Christian education
he best consulted, both for the economic well-being
of his people, and for the prosperous administration
of his own civil and political affairs. If we cannot
speak to the sincerity of his principle as a man, we
may, at least, speak to the soundness of his policy as
a monarch, and although this vindication leaves the
blemish of ungodliness and of political hypocrisy on
the memory of Constantine, it lays no blemish on the
compliance of the other party in this great transaction ;
We mean of the church, in having complied with the
overtures which he made to them. We read of the
earth helping the woman, but we nowhere read that it is
the duty of the woman to refuse this help.'"' This
argument is transparently fallacious. If " the earth "
means the European population generally, and " the
woman" represents the church of Christ, it shows
that the church may receive help from the people in
any country, but the nature of the help is left unde-
termined. It may be the duty of the nations to help
the church in one way, but unlawful to seek to help
it in another. It may be right for them to protect
1 Rev.xii. 1, 5, 7, 9, 13-16.
* Lectures on Establishments, pp. 110, 111.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 125
it from violence by just laws, free institutions, and an
effective police, while it is wrong to fetter it by a
legislative Union ; as it may be right to help a friend
in distress by honest means, and wrong to employ on
his behalf either fraud or falsehood. Indeed, the idea
of the patronage of Government is altogether foreign
to the imagery, which is here employed. The church
in the prophecy is flying into the wilderness, how can
it, then, be a national Establishment ? And since the
earth, i. e. the people, help the church, what can be
symbolised by the flood threatening to destroy it but
some persecution of the Governments? So that the
prophecy, so understood, predicts not that the churches
should be established, but that free churches, when
persecuted by Government, should be aided by the
people.
According to Mr. Elliott, the woman means the
true chosen church of the 144,000, or the first-born
whose names are written in heaven : l one ever faithful
in heart, and in all essential doctrine. The child born
was the Emperor Constantine ; 2 the dragon is Satan ;
and his persecution of the woman was the Arian per-
secution of true Christians under the Emperor Con-
stantius and his successor Valens ; i. e. the persecution
of the Puritans by the Establishment. 3 By the woman's
flight into the wilderness is meant, " the insulation
of the true church from the rest of the world ; invisi-
1 Horse Apocalypticse, by Rev. E. Elliott, 2d edit. vol. iii. pp. 7, .
2 Pp. 19,20. 3 Pp. 31,32.
126 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
bility in respect of its public worship, and destitution
of all means of spiritual sustenance." * " Christ's
spiritual church, the blessed company of all faithful
people, began, soon after the establishment of Chris-
tianity in the Roman empire, and through the half
century following, to flee towards the wilderness ; in
other words, to vanish rapidly in its distinctive features
from the public view." 2 By the flood which issued
from the dragon's mouth is intended the invasion of
the empire by the Visigoths, Goths, and Vandals. 3
And the help of the woman by the earth is the assist-
ance then given to the true church by the Roman
population. " Superstitious and earthly though the
Roman population had become, yet thus far they did
service to Christ's church in her present exigency. In
those continuous and bloody wars, of which the Western
world had been the theatre, the barbarous invading
population was so thinned, so absorbed, as it were,
into the land they had invaded, that it needed their
incorporation as one people with the conquered to
make up the necessary constituency of the kingdoms.
And in this incorporation not only was much of their
original institutions, customs, and languages, absorbed,
but their religion altogether. The successive tribes,
whether of Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Heruli, Huns, Van-
dals, or Burgundians, abandoned their paganism for
Christianity." 4
1 Horse Apocalypticse, vol. iii. p. 34. 2 Pp. 34, 35.
3 Pp. 47-49. * Pp. 51.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 127
According to Professor Stuart, the woman is the
church; her son is the Messiah; the dragon is Satan;
the persecution, in verse 13, is that persecution of
Christians which followed the first preaching of the
Gospel ; the flight into the wilderness, verse 14, is
the retirement of the early Christians from persecu-
tion into the most remote places ; the flood cast after her
in her flight, verse 15, is the increased persecution of
Christians by the Jews ; and " the civil and military
power of the Romans bearing down with great force
upon the Jews at this period, and obliging them to
seek their own personal safety instead of pursuing
schemes of vengeance upon Christians, is symbolised
here by the earth's helping the woman." 1
These expositions are sufficient to manifest how
futile the attempt must be to deduce from this pre-
diction any argument in favour of the Union between
Church and State. If the former exposition be
adopted, the earth helped the woman, or the people
helped the church, when the Roman population,
which had previously, by its Arianism, driven the
church into the wilderness, now changed the pa-
ganism of the Goths and Vandals into its own spuri-
ous Christianity. If the latter be preferred, the earth
helped the woman, or the people helped the church,
when the Roman armies, overrunning Judea and lay-
ing siege to Jerusalem, suspended the violence of
its Jewish persecutors. In the one case the Jewish
Church was persecuting the Christians, in the other
1 Stuart's " Commentary on the Apocalypse," ad loc.
128 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
the established Arian Churches were driving them
into obscurity ; in neither case were they basking in
the favour of any kingly government, and, therefore,
neither exposition affords the slightest support to the
Union between the British Churches and the State.
If the foregoing passages of scripture from both
Testaments were rightly expounded in favour of the
Union, they impose on each Government an obligation
once and under any circumstances to erect an Es-
tablishment or to resign their functions to other
hands. But even the most devoted adherents of the
principle shrink from this conclusion. Mr. Gladstone
avows that the duty of a State in this matter is de-
termined by its circumstances. " The obligations of
the State to religion must, of course, be limited by
the subsisting constitution of a country." 1 If, there-
fore, the constitution forbids an Establishment, as in
ihe United States, the duty of the State to institute
it ceases. But, since the law of man cannot super-
sede the law of God, if the existing constitution of a
country can supersede the duty to institute an Esta-
blishment, there can be no divine command to in-
stitute it; and, according to Mr. Gladstone's most
just conclusion, all the texts cited to prove such com-
mand must be falsely applied. If there be a divine
injunction by which States are required to establish
Christian churches, this duty can be contingent upon
no circumstances : it is as much a duty to establish
churches in Canada as in Great Britain, and in India
1 The State, &c. vol. i. p. 300.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 129
as in Canada. Mr. Gladstone's good sense has shown
him that this is impossible. " The principle upon
which alone/' he says, " as I apprehend, our colonies,
speaking generally, can be governed, is that of pre-
serving the good-will of their inhabitants. The
highest function of the State, with regard to them,
seems to be this : to arbitrate among the different
elements of which their societies are composed, and
gently to endeavour to give a moral predominance to
the nobler over the meaner of those elements;" 1 a
maxim which is altogether at variance with the idea
of an obligation laid on rulers by the word of God to
establish religion.
On the other hand, the intimations in the New
Testament, that God requires the separation of the
Christian churches from the State are unequivocal.
Let us first examine our Lord's statement to
Pilate of the nature of Ins kingdom, contained in the
two narratives of Luke and John. " The whole mul-
titude of them arose and led him to Pilate. And
they bet/an to accuse him, saying, We found this
fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give
tribute to Ccesar, saying that he himself is Christ a
king. And Pilate ashed him, saying, Art thou the
king of the Jews? And he answered him and said,
T/iou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief priests
and to the people, I find no fault in this man''" Our
Lord was charged with claiming to be king of the
1 The State, &c. vol. ii. p. 313. 2 Luke, xxiii. 1-4.
K
130 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Jews, and therefore, as king, claiming tribute from
them, and forbidding that the Jews should pay tribute
to the Roman emperor, Tiberius. Pilate, therefore,
as governor, asked him whether the accusation was
true, that he did claim to be king of the Jews. Jesus
acknowledged its truth, and yet so explained the
character of his claim, that Pilate saw it to be com-
patible with the reign of the emperor, and declared,
in consequence, that he found him guilty of no crime
against the Roman law. By this account of St. Luke
it is plain, first, that Jesus did claim to be king of
the Jews, according to the charge brought against
him by his enemies ; but, secondly, that it was such
a dominion as was compatible with the dominion of
the emperor. Now a secular dominion would not
have been compatible with it. The dominion of the
emperor, obtained by conquest, and consolidated by
imperial laws, was supported by taxation, and rested
ultimately upon force. If Jesus had claimed to be
king of the Jews in the same sense in which Tiberius
was their king, then his laws must be substituted
for those of Rome, his right to tax the nation for
the expenditure of his Government must destroy the
emperor's right, and that right must be enforced by
his army. In this case Pilate must necessarily have
pronounced him to be the enemy of Caesar; and when,
instead, the governor declared that he found in him
no fault at all, it is clear, that in the opinion of the
governor he claimed no right of enacting a new code
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 131
of civil and of criminal law ; he did not mean to
maintain his government by taxation ; nor would he
collect a revenue by force.
The narrative of St. John places these facts in a
still clearer light : " Then Pilate entered into the judg-
ment-hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him,
Art thou the king of the Jews ? Jesus answered him,
Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it
thee of me ? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew ? Thine
own nation and the chief -priests have delivered thee
unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus ansiccred, My
kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of
this icorld, then would my servants fght, that I should
not be delivered to the Jews : but now is my kingdom
not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art
thou a king then ? Jesus answered, TJtou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I lorn, and for this
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness
unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth
my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth ? And
when he had said this, he went out ac/ain unto the Jews,
and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all!' 1
Jesus was charged with claiming to be king. Pilate,
therefore, having asked whether he was the king of
the Jews, Jesus, before answering that question, de-
manded whether he had asked this from anv thing
v O
which he had himself observed, apparently intending
to direct the attention of Pilate and of others to the
1 John, xviii. 33-38.
132 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
fact, that the malice of the priests, and not any
public misconduct of his, had occasioned his arrest.
Pilate, answering that he was no Jew, but that the
priests had brought him before that tribunal, asked
him what his offence was ? Jesus now replied to the
original question, whether he was the king of the
Jews, thus : "My kingdom is not of this ivorld : if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants
fffht, that I should not be delivered to the Jews ;
but now is my kingdom not from hence." The object
of his answer was, to clear himself of the charge
of rebellion. Now this might be done in either of
three ways. He might have denied his claim to
be king, and then the whole accusation would fall;
or, asserting his divine supremacy, he might have
declared that he was the spiritual and the secular
king of the Jews, to whom the emperor was bound to
submit, in which case Pilate must either have become
his disciple, or he must have declared him guilty of
rebellion ; or, thirdly, he might have maintained that
he was king of the Jews, and yet admit the imperial
authority of Tiberius, by explaining that his kingdom
was spiritual, not secular : that between the spiritual
dominion and the secular there was so complete a
separation that the one could not interfere with the
other ; and that, in consequence, he could be no rival
of the emperor. And this was, in fact, the substance
of his answer: "My kingdom is not of this world:
if my kingdom icere of this world, then icould my ser-
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 133
vants fght, that I should not be delivered to the Jews :
but noio is my kingdom not from hence." It is clear
that Pilate was permitted by our Lord so to under-
stand it ; because, when Pilate further asked, whether,
then, he claimed to be a king, he answered, " Thou
sayest (right) that I am a king." While he stood
there, charged with rebellion, because he declared
himself to be king of the Jews, he freely admitted
that he did advance that claim, and yet Pilate pro-
nounced him to be wholly innocent, which he could
not have done except on the understanding that his
dominion was exclusively spiritual. The accusation
by the priests was " We found this fellow perverting
the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Casar,
saying that he himself is Christ a king." 1 The answer
of Jesus is, " My kingdom is not of this world ; I
claim no tribute, and I forbid no tribute to Csesar."
Their charge was, " He stirreth up the people, teaching
throughout all Jewry."' His answer was, " My king-
dom is not of this world. I raise no armies to main-
tain my rights." Their allegation was, " Whosoever
makcth himself a king speakcth against Casar."'' His
answer was, " My kingdom is not of this world, and
therefore I can be no enemy to the reign of Caesar."
If the kingdom of Christ were to be maintained by
taxation and by force, like all secular powers, then his
throne must subvert that of Ca3sar; and, therefore,
when he satisfied Pilate that he was no enemy of
1 Luke, xxiii. 2. - Luke, xxiii. 5. 3 John, six. 12.
134 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Caesar, by asserting that his kingdom was not of this
world, it is plain that it should not be maintained by
taxation and by force. '.Further, Pilate understood
our Lord to mean that his kingdom would never
be so maintained ; for if our Lord had said, My king-
dom is not now of this world, not now maintained by
taxation and by force, Pilate would at once have seen
that it might shortly be strong enough to become a
secular kingdom, maintained by force. And as it
would then subvert the throne of Caesar, he would
have felt bound to condemn our Lord. To defend
himself from the charge of rivalry to the Roman
emperor, it was necessary to inform Pilate that his
dominion would be so entirely spiritual that it never
could interfere with the rights of the emperor. And
of this he did convince Pilate by saying, " My king-
dom is not of this world." This was therefore the
legitimate meaning of his words ; and IN THEM HE
HAS SOLEMNLY TAUGHT US, THAT HIS DOMINION IS
ENTIRELY AND FOR EVER DISTINCT FROM SECULAR
DOMINION ; THAT HE RULES OVER MEN*S HEARTS AND
CONSCIENCES ; THAT HE WILL EVER ESTABLISH AND
MAINTAIN HIS RULE WITHOUT THE AID OF THE TAX-
GATHERER AND THE SOLDIER ; THAT HE EMPLOYS NO
COERCION, AND WILL NEVER RESORT TO MILITARY
FORCE.
But the Union in England, being intended to
advance his dominion by maintaining his ministers,
seeks that end by the taxation of the realm for the
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 135
support of his ministers, and then employs force to
sustain that taxation. Christ declared to Pilate that
his dominion should never be maintained by taxation
and by force; and the churches of England declare
that it shall be so maintained. He pronounced his
kingdom to be purely spiritual ; they declare that it
shall be spiritual and secular : and their decision is in
flagrant opposition to his will.
Another important passage in which the complete
separation of the spiritual administration of the
churches from the secular administration of the Go-
vernment is enjoined by our Lord is the following :
" Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they
might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out
unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying,
Master, ice know that thou art true, and teachest the
way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any
man, for thou regardest not the person of men; tell
w, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to
(jive tribute to Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived
their wickedness, and said, Wliy tempt ye me, ye
hypocrites? Show me the tribute-money. And they
brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them,
Whose is this image and superscription ? They say
unto him, Casars. TJien saith he unto them, Render,
therefore, unto Casar the things which are Ccesars;
AND UNTO GOD THE THINGS THAT ARE Goo's." 1
Pompey having about 100 years before this time
1 Matt. xxii. 15-21.
136 GENERAL -CONSIDERATIONS.
subjugated Judea to the Romans, it became a Roman
province. 1 In these circumstances, the Pharisees
maintained that it was unlawful to pay tribute to the
emperor, because God had declared that they must not
choose a foreigner to be their king ; they were the
special people of God, and he alone was their king/ J
When formerly the king of Syria had brought them
under his yoke, their fathers had, with the blessing
of God, thrown the yoke off. 3 Frequently, too, under
judges raised up and inspired by God, they had vindi-
cated their liberties against the tyranny of the sur-
rounding nations : God had enabled them to burst
from their servitude in Egypt; and Hezekiah, with
Ms almighty aid, had successfully rebelled against the
king of Assyria. 4 Under instructions like these the
people became very impatient of the tribute imposed
upon them, and nearly the whole nation was ready to
revolt. 5 The Herodians, that is, the adherents of
Herod, maintained, on the contrary, that it was law-
ful to pay tribute, their patron being supported by
the Romans. These two parties were much opposed
to one another; but a common hatred having now
united them against Jesus, some of each party came
together to him pretending to be religious persons
(Luke, xx. 20), who had the highest respect for
his wisdom and probity, to ask him to determine
1 Jos. Ant. xiv. 4, 4.
2 Deut. xvii. 14, 15 ; Exod. xxiii. 32 ; Deut. vii. 2.
3 1 Mac. ii. 24, 68 ; iii. 59, &c. 4 2 Kings, xviii. 17.
8 Jos. Ant. xviii. pp. 1-6 ; B,ii. 17, 8 ; ii. 16, 4 ; B. v. 9, 3 ; B. iii. 8, 4.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 137
for them this much-agitated question, whether they
ought to pay or not (v. 22, and Mark, xii. 14, 15)
the tribute or poll-tax, which was payable by every
person whose name was taken in the census. If he
declared the payment to be lawful, they would make
him odious to the people, who detested it ; if he de-
clared it to be unlawful, they would charge him
with sedition, as they afterwards did. 1 And this
was their chief design.- Jesus asked to see the
vopitrpa rov xqvffou, the coin in which the poll-tax was
paid ; upon which they brought to him the Roman
penny, which bore upon it the head of the emperor,
with this inscription, Kataap Aw/over lovfiouctf iccX^^ag
Caesar Augustas, such a year after the taking of
Judea. 3 The current coin of the country being thus
Roman, proved that they were under subjection to
the Roman emperor, Tiberius. And having obliged
them to notice this fact, our Lord replied to their
question, "Render, therefore, unto Casar the tilings
which are Cesar's ; AND UNTO GOD THE THINGS
THAT ARE GOD'S." Civil Government, which was
necessary to prevent universal anarchy and crime,
must be upheld by taxation. It was equitable that
in return for its advantages they should pay for its
support. To be loyal subjects to a prince who had
conquered them was a very different thing from
choosing a foreigner for their king. God had com-
manded their fathers to serve their conqueror, the
1 Luke, xxiii. 2. 2 Luke, xx. 20. 3 Hammond, ad loc.
138 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
king of Babylon, 1 and they were ordered to seek
the peace of his kingdom. 2 To pay tribute and to
render obedience in all secular matters to Caesar was
only to render to the sovereign his due, and instead
of interfering with their duty to God, was part of that
duty. Nor were they responsible for the use which
Caesar might make of any part of that tribute. Order
must be maintained by law ; law must be admi-
nistered by civil officers, and supported, if necessary,
by the military force, for which a revenue was re-
quisite. And if the emperor were to employ any
surplus in the erection of heathen temples, in contri-
buting to licentious theatres, or in enriching worthless
favourites, they were not implicated in this irreligious
or profligate expenditure. But the claims of the em-
peror must not interfere with superior claims. If they
were to render to Caesar the things of Caesar, they
must also render to God the things of God. The
things of Caesar were tribute and obedience to the
law ; the things of God were faith, worship, and obe-
dience. When Caesar claimed the payment of the
tribute, he claimed what was his due ; but should he
claim dominion over conscience, affect to control their
creed, or interfere to regulate their worship, then he
usurped the rights of God, and must be resisted.
When Antiochus Epiphanes ordered their fathers to
discontinue their sacrifices, to profane their sabbaths,
to deliver up their bibles, and to set up idols in their
1 Jer. xxvii. 12-17. 2 Jer. xxix. 7.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 139
country, their fathers justly refused obedience. 1 In
the same spirit the three Hebrew youths, though faith-
ful subjects to Nebuchadnezzar, refused to bow down
to his golden image ; and Daniel, though blameless in
his office as the prime-minister of Darius, openly
defied the decree which forbade the subjects of that
prince for thirty days to pray to God. In paying
tribute they would render to Caesar the things of
Caesar, and in an unreserved obedience to the laws of
God, both moral and ceremonial, they would render
to God the things of God.
Our Lord thus established a plain rule of action.
In all secular things which do not interfere with the
law of God the sovereign is to be obeyed ; but if the
sovereign assumes the rights which belong exclusively
to God, he must be therein disobeved and resisted.
j
By this answer our Lord baffled his enemies.
They could not accuse him to the people, because he
maintained that the whole law of God must be obeyed
against all contrary commands ; and they could not
denounce him to the Romans, because he taught that
all the rights of Caesar were to be conscientiously
upheld. By this answer he condemned the Pharisees,
who refused to Csesar the things of Caesar; and the
Herodians, who neglected to pay to God the things
of God. When the Pharisees claimed entire obedience
to the law of God, he assented to their doctrine, but
condemned them for being seditious ; when the Hero-
1 1 Mac. i. 41, 64.
I
140 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
dians claimed submission to the sovereign, he likewise
assented to that opinion, but condemned them for
allowing violation of the commands of God. All that
was right in each opinion he established ; all that was
wrong he repudiated. In these few words he escaped
their snare, condemned their errors, and established
a maxim of universal application.
Let us consider what use the early churches would
make of this direction. If the Jews were to render to
Caesar the things of Csesar, so were the Christians ; if
the former were to render to God the things of God,
so were the latter. They would, therefore, study to be
quiet and orderly subjects ; but, just as the Jews, they
would allow no emperor to exercise any control over
their faith, their worship, or their discipline. Had
Nero or Caligula attempted to nominate their pastors,
direct their places and hours of worship, or regulate
the admission of candidates to baptism and the Lord's
supper, they would have repelled a dictation which
would have been incompatible with the rights of the
Almighty, and would have declared that they must
render to God the things of God. Since they were
bound to obey God in all things, there was the
strongest reasons why the emperor should exercise no
control over them in matters of religion. Being a
heathen, he could not know the will of God ; and as
his commands in spiritual matters would constantly
oppose the commands of God, his exercise of any
spiritual superintendence over the churches would
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 141
bring them either into perpetual collision with his
authority, or into corrupt acquiescence in his caprice.
The only way to avoid both these evils was to esta-
blish a complete separation between the temporal and
the spiritual ; and, while respecting the supreme
authority of Caesar in all secular matters, to allow
him no authority whatever in spiritual matters.
These reasons apply in all their force to an irre-
ligious State bearing the Christian name. No State,
however pious, has received any authority from God
to superintend his churches ; and the churches cannot
therefore communicate that authority in any case
without rendering to C3sar the things of God : but
an irreligious State must be still more unlit to exercise
it. If, also, an irreligious State has any control over
the churches in spiritual things, it is so likely to enact
what is contrary to the law of Christ, that the churches
would be in danger either of frequent collision with it,
or of criminal acquiescence in laws contrary to flic
law of Christ ; on which account the churches are
bound to avoid the Union with such a State. But
the State in England is irreligious ; and so long as the
House of Commons represents, as it ought to do, the
community, and the community is not generally reli-
gious, it must continue to be so. Consequently the
Union between the English Churches and the State is
as much prohibited by this passage as the Union was
prohibited by it between the churches within the
Roman empire and the Emperor Nero. The House
142 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
of Commons, the most powerful member of the State,
being composed of men of every character and opinion
in religious matters, is unfitted to control the creed,
worship, or discipline of the churches ; and by nothing
but a criminal indolence on the part of the churches,
and by a cautious abstinence from legislation on the
part of the State, the State declaring to the churches
you shall reform nothing, and the churches replying
to the State, " We consent to do nothing if you will
do nothing likewise," are those collisions avoided,
in which the churches would be forced to recognise
that, under the Union, they render to Caesar more
than the things of Csesar, and do not render to God
the things of God.
Whether if the State were wholly composed of reli-
gious men, it could usefully superintend the churches
is a question merely speculative, because, upon the
representative system, which is the best, and secures
the greatest, virtue in Governments, no such State can
exist until the constituency, that is, the mass of the
people, become religious ; and then the alleged reasons
for the Union would vanish. Moreover, should it be
conceded that such a pious State might exercise con-
trol over the churches, this could not establish the
innocence of a permanent Union ; because evangelical
religion cannot be transmitted from one party in
power to another, from one House of Commons to
another ; so that if the Union should be formed under
a pious State, it would speedily connect the churches
CONDEMNED BY- THE NEW TESTAMENT. 143
with an ungodly State. If a Union of the church in
Israel with Solomon had been tolerable, it would have
been intolerable when Solomon's place was occupied
by Rehoboam. If Hezekiah could usefully have su-
perintended that church, Manasseh could not have
done so. And as similar changes in the character of
successive rulers must continually occur, the only safe
arrangement must be the entire separation of the
spiritual administration from the secular.
As this passage proves that it would have been
unwise and culpable in the early churches to grant to
Nero or Caligula a control over their doctrine, worship,
and discipline, because these princes were irreligious,
it equally proves it to be unwise to allow any such
control over the churches within this country to the
House of Commons, because it likewise is irreligious.
Since Caesar was prohibited by this passage from exer-
cising control over the churches, the House of Com-
mons must be equally prohibited. If Caesar might
not nominate the bishops of Philippi, nor exercise a
veto upon any article of the creed of the church at
Corinth, nor determine who should be admitted to the
Lord's table at Ephesus, because obedience to him in
these things would hinder these churches from ren-
dering to God the things which are God's, so neither
ought the Legislature or Government in this kingdom
to nominate prelates or pastors, forbid a revision of
the creed of the churches, determine to whom bap-
144 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
tisni and the Lord's supper shall be given, lest the
churches should obey the State in violation of some
divine law, and should thus fail to render unto God
the things which are God's. The reason why Nero
might not exercise any control over the churches was,
that they might be at liberty to render to God the
things which are God's ; and the same reason binds
the churches now to allow no spiritual control over
them to the Legislature. Since the law of God re-
quires that the churches have godly pastors, that no
one be baptised without a credible profession of re-
pentance and faith, that the Gospel be preached to
every creature, that all Christians should act as
brethren, and that Christ should be supreme in his
own house, if the State ordain that parishes should
receive ungodly pastors, prohibit Christ's ministers
from preaching the Gospel in parishes wherein the
ministers are ungodly, compel by legal penalties pa-
rochial ministers to admit improper persons to the
sacraments, and demand for the Crown a supremacy
which is inconsistent with the supremacy of Christ,
then the churches must render to God the things
which are God's, and refuse obedience to the State.
To avoid which collision, the churches should be sepa-
rate from the State ; and, while paying to it all secular
obedience, should be free to accomplish, without its
control, the whole law of Christ.
In the third chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 145
Christians are said to be Christ's house, or household,
over which he rules ; l over which, therefore, no
stranger can be admitted to rule without his authority;
but by the Union the State is admitted to that rule
without his authority, and the churches in permitting
it overthrow the rights of Christ over his own house.
In many passages Christ is spoken of as the king
of his church, 2 and Christians are his subjects, over
whom no others have any more right to exercise spi-
ritual dominion than a foreign prince has right to give
laws to us in England. And when Parliament gives
laws to the Christian churches in England, it as much
disregards the sovereignty of Christ as a French or
German king, who should assume to legislate for Kent
or Sussex, would disregard the sovereignty of her
Majesty, the queen of this empire. But by the Union
Parliament does legislate for the churches, and thus
invades the sovereign rights of Christ.
The church of Christ is represented in Scripture
as his bride; 3 over which he therefore has exclusive
right to rule : and when any church therefore allows
itself to be governed by any power which is separate
from Christ, it is an adulterous infidelity to him, like
1 Heb. iii. 5, 6; x. 21 ; Matt. x. 25; xxv. 14, 19, 30 ; Rom. vii. 6; 1 Cor.
vii. 22 ; Gal. vi. 10 ; Eph. ii. 19 ; vi. 6 ; Col. iii. 24 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; 1 Pet.
iv. 17.
2 Matt. iii. 2 ; iv. 17; ix. 35 ; xiii. 38 ; xvi. 28 ; Luke, xix. 12 ; John, xviii.
36, 37 ; 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25 ; Col. i. 13 ; Heb. i. 8 ; Psalm ii. 6 ; ex. 1, 2 ; Isa.
ix. 7; Dan. vii. 13, 14 ; Zech. vi. 13 ; ix.9, 10.
s John, iii. 29 ; Rev. xxi. 9 ; xxii. 17; Eph. v. 25-27; Rom. vii. 4; 2 Cor.
xi. 2.
146 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
that of which a wife would be guilty towards her hus-
band who should place herself under the control of
another man. But by the Union the State, without
Christ's authority, does thus rule over the churches of
the Establishment ; and those churches, in consenting
to it, are guilty of adulterous infidelity to Christ, as
in other ways the Church of Rome has been. 1
Christians being the children of God, the body of
Christ, the temple of the Holy Ghost, 2 are chosen out
of the world by Christ, 3 are not of the world, 4 and are
called to be distinct from the world. 5 The friendship
of the world being enmity to God, fi Christians must
not love the world; 7 they must not be conformed to
it ; 8 but must separate from it in all but the necessary
business of life. For thus has Christ ordered by
his apostle, " Be ye not equally yoked with unbe-
lievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness icith
unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light with
darkness ? Wherefore come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord," &c. 9 -And these
commands were so far obeyed by the first Christians,
that the churches were composed of " saints and
faithful brethren," 10 who were epistles of Christ, 11 and
shone as lights in the world. 12 If, therefore, any
1 Rev. xvii. 1-5.
2 John, i. 12, 13; Gal. iii. 26 ; iv. 5 ; 1 Cor. xii. 12, 27; Eph. iv. 12;
v. 30 ; 1 Cor. iii. 16 ; vi. 19 ; Eph. ii. 21.
3 John, XT. 19. 4 John, xvii. 14. * 1 John, iii. 1; v. 19.
6 James, iv. 4. " 1 John, ii. 15. 8 ~ Rom. xii. 2.
5 2 Cor. vi. 14-18. "> 1 Cor. i. 2 ; Eph. i. 1; Phil. i. 1; 1 Thess. i. 6.
11 2 Cor. iii. 3. u Phil. ii. 15.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 147
churches, instead of being composed of " saints and
faithful brethren " separate from the world, admit all
the world freely into fellowship with them, they have
forsaken their calling, and have disregarded Christ's
orders. But by the Union there is in this country a
complete confusion of the church and the world. Be-
lievers and unbelievers are not only associated in the
business of life, but in the functions of church mem-
bers without the smallest discrimination.
Our Lord has distinctly declared in his word who
ought to become pastors of churches. They are
directly appointed by him, 1 and none are so appointed
but those who are blameless, lovers of good men,
sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful
word. c Unconverted ministers, unsound in doctrine
and unholy in life, are, on the contrary, termed by
the Holy Ghost "wolves " and " ministers of Satan." 3
Christians are commanded to guard against them. 4
They must not listen to them, 5 nor in any way assist
them in their false teaching. 6 And as the churches
are bound not to receive such as pastors, but to see
that their ministers are faithful men, in order to fulfil
these duties, the first churches chose their own
ministers. 7 When, therefore, any churches allow un-
converted and unsound men to become their pastors,
they are disregarding all these divine directions. But,
1 Acts, xx. 28 ; Eph. iv. 11, 12. * Tit. i. 5-9 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1-7.
3 Acts, xx. 29 ; 2 Cor. xi. 15. Matt. vii. 15, 16.
* John, x. 4, 5. 2 John, 10, 11.
7 Acts, i. 15, 23, 26 ; vi. 1-6.
148 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
by the Union, the churches do receive such pastors,
and must ; for the State will ever maintain the rights
of patrons : and so long as ungodly men can secure
ordination, which they do, and ever will, in an Esta-
blishment, so long ungodly patrons can force ungodly
pastors upon all the churches who criminally remain
under the bondage of the Union.
By the law of Christ Christians ought to maintain
their pastors. 1 When, therefore, churches compel
ministers to seek a salary from the world, and when
they devolve upon others the burden of maintaining
their pastors, they are neglecting their duty. But
under the Union the churches leave strangers to sup-
port their ministers, paying little or nothing them-
selves spontaneously towards their maintenance.
As under the Mosaic law all the payments for
the support of religion were spontaneous, so at present
God requires the same. The divine rule is, "Every
man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let
him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for GOD
LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER."- And all persecution
is at variance with the spirit of the Gospel. But the
Union is entirely built on coercion. If the rent-
charges, which are substituted for tithes, or the
church-rates, are refused, they are seized by distraint ;
enemies or friends being alike compelled to pay them,
however reluctant they may be.
1 Gal. vi. 6 ; 1 Cor. ix. 14 ; 1 Tim. T. 17, 18, &c.
8 1 Cor. ix. 7.
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 149
It is the declared will of Christ that offending
members should be put out of the churches by the
churches in conjunction with their ministers. 1 What
congregation within the Establishment obeys his will ?
The State will not allow them.
According to the declarations of Christ and his
apostles all Christians are brethren, bound to love
one another, and to treat one another with kindness. 2
But the Union exalts one class of Christians and
depresses all the rest ; excludes faithful ministers
of Christ from the pulpits of the Establishment if
they are nonconformists ; shuts out pious men if they
are not Episcopalians from the universities ; forces
many against their conscience to support a system
which they condemn ; and thus creates a permanent
schism among the churches of Christ.
Lastly, Christ has commanded his followers to
preach the Gospel to all men. 3 Those churches,
therefore, sin who assent to any law by which they
are hindered from obeying this command. But the
Union does hinder them. For while there are hun-
dreds, and, I fear, thousands, of parishes in this
country where the Gospel is never preached, no mi-
nister of the Establishment may preach the Gospel in
one of them without the consent of the incumbent.
1 Matt, xviii. 17; Rom. xvi. 17; 1 Cor. v. 11; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14.
3 Matt, xxiii. 8 ; Gal. i. 2 ; Col. i. 2 ; John, xiii. 34, 35 ; Rom. xiv. 1 ;
xv. 7; 1 John, iii. 14 ; Matt. xxv. 34-40.
3 Mark, xvi. 15 ; Acts, iv. 19, 20 ; v. 29, 42 ; viii. 1-4.
150 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The apostles would not have agreed so to abandon
the towns and villages of Judea.
It may here occur to some readers, that as few
of these passages directly and explicitly forbid the
Union between Churches and States, the duty of
separation being matter of inference merely, can
neither be so plain nor so important as its advocates
allege. But will this opinion endure examination?
Are there not many pious adherents of Establish-
ments who hold the divine institution of episcopacy,
who believe that they are bound to consecrate the
Lord's day, that Christians ought to assemble peri-
odically for public worship, that infants ought to
be baptised, that the Lord's supper is of perpetual
obligation, that slavery and war are anti-Christian,
&e. &c. ? Not one of these doctrines has so much
scriptural evidence in its support as this of the sepa-
ration of the Church from the State. In the scrip-
tures there are principles of action established which
apply to innumerable cases where they occur ; and
the principles which ought to compel the churches
to separate from the State are abundantly stated in
the New Testament. But generally those evils alone
were directly prohibited which were then in exist-
ence; and the danger of the Union of the Church
and State was then at the distance of two centuries
and a half. Doubtless God has seen it to be better
CONDEMNED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT. 151
for Christians that there should be no more direct
command on this and on some other important
points. One reason we can easily perceive. Very
plain commands would have superseded the necessity
of inquiring into principles, whereas now the sepa-
ration, whenever it shall occur, will be the result of
a more complete understanding of the nature of a
Christian church, and of a more childlike disposition
to obey every intimation of the will of God.
152
CHAPTER II.
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION BETWEEN THE CHURCH
AND STATE IN ENGLAND CONDEMNED BY THE WORD
OF GOD.
PROM those general considerations, which manifest
that the Union of Churches with States is contrary
to the design of our Lord, and unsuitable from the
character of a Christian church, let us proceed to
consider how far some of the particular principles
of the Union in England are consistent with the
declarations of the will of God which we find in the
New Testament. The principles which will come
under our review are the maintenance of Christian
pastors by the State, the supremacy of the State,
patronage, [and the support of the Establishment by
coercion.
SECTION I. On the Maintenance of Christian Pastors
by the State.
Whatever private gifts of tithes or lands have
been made to the clergy of this country, their pos-
session of tithes throughout England and Wales must
be traced to law. " About the year 794, Offa, king
of Mercia, made a law, by which he gave unto the
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 153
church the tithes of all his kingdom." * " This law
of Ofia was that which first gave the church a civil
right in them in this land, by way of property and
inheritance, and enabled the clergy to gather and
receive them as their legal due by coercion of the
civil power." 2 This right of the clergy to tithe,
which was created by law, has been since confirmed
by the same authority. By 32 Henry VIII. cap. 7,
"All persons of this realm . . . shall fully pay all
tithes according to the lawful customs of the parishes
whence such tithes become due." 3 By 2 and 3 Ed.
VI. cap. 13, " All persons shall pay all manner of
parochial tithes as of right or custom ought to have
been paid." 4 Further, the right of the clergy to a
great proportion of the tithes paid in modem times
has been created by statute since the Reformation ;
for by 2 and 3 Ed. VI. cap. 13, " All such barren
heath or waste ground which before this time hath
lain barren, and paid no tithes by reason of the same
barrenness, and now be, or hereafter shall be, im-
proved and converted into arable ground or meadow,
shall, after the end of seven years next after such
improvement, pay tithe for corn and hay growing on
the same." 5 Thus the tithe, which is the chief main-
tenance of the pastors within the Establishment, has
been given to them by the State, and a large part has
been given since the Reformation.
1 Burn's " Ecclesiastical Law," 9th edit. vol. iii. p. 679.
9 P. 680. 3 P. 743. 4 P. 745. 5 P. 685.
154 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
The temporalities of the bishops have been no less
the State's gift. A bishop's temporalities are all such
things as bishops have by livery from the king, as
castles, manors, lands, &C. 1 Of this there is a double
proof; first, the bishop is obliged to do homage for
them to the Crown; and secondly, during the vacancy
of each see, the temporalities go to the Crown as the
existing possessor. "When a bishop is invested and
consecrated, the bishop being introduced to the king's
presence, shall do his homage for his temporalities or
barony ;" 2 and, " Upon the falling of a void bishopric,
not the new bishop, but the king by his prerogative,
hath the temporalities thereof, from the time that the
same became void, to the time that the new bishop
shall receive them from the king." 3
All this church property having thus been be-
stowed by the State upon the bishops and clergy, the
State has determined upon what terms it shall be
held, and by the Act of Uniformity transferred the
whole from the Roman Catholic to the Protestant
clergy. By that act, 1 Elizabeth, "Every parson,
vicar, or other minister, was required to use the book
of common prayer in the public services of the
church, and no other rite, ceremony, order, or form.
Every clergyman violating this law was, for the first
offence, to forfeit a year's stipend and be imprisoned
six months ; and for the second offence, to be impri-
soned a year, and be deprived of all his spiritual pro-
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 226. * Ibid. p. 211. 3 Ibid. p. 226.
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 155
motions, and the patron might present to his living
as if he were dead." This of course ejected the sin-
cere Catholics, placing Protestant ministers in their
room ; and by this act the Protestant pastors of Eng--
land hold the State ecclesiastical property at this day,
instead of the Roman Catholic priests who before
possessed it. Up to the Reformation it was a gift
of the State to the Roman Catholic Establishment.
After the Reformation it was a gift of the State to
the Protestant Establishment, which holds it to this
day on the terms which the State has imposed.
By 6 and 7 William IV., the temporalities of the
bishops were redistributed, and their incomes to a
certain extent equalised. 1 And by 6 and 7 William
IV., 7 William IV., 1 Victoria, cap. 69, 1 and 2 Vic-
toria, cap. 64, and 2 and 3 Victoria, cap. 32, a corn-
rent, payable in money and PERMANENT IN QUANTITY,
though fluctuating in value, was substituted through-
out England and Wales for tithes." By these acts
the Legislature has exercised the right of redistri-
buting and of restricting the growth of clturcli pro-
perty at its pleasure ; since the effect of a fixed corn-
rent is to exempt from tithes all lands which are
henceforth brought into cultivation, to restrain the
clergyman from taking advantage of any improve-
ments in cultivation, and immensely to diminish the
marketable value of each living. By 2 and 3 Ed.
VI., cap. 13, the tithe-owner may sue for tithe in
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 195. 2 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 698.
156 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
the ecclesiastical court; 1 and by 6 and 7 William
IV., cap. 71, when the rent-charge is in arrear for
twenty-one days after the yearly days of payment,
the person entitled thereto may distrain. 2
From these various acts it appears,
1. That the right of the clergy to tithes was ori-
ginally founded not on private gifts but on public
enactments.
2. That the church property of the bishops is a
gift from the Crown.
3. That the church property of this part of the
kingdom was transferred by act of Parliament from
Catholic priests to Protestant pastors.
4. That the State is the proprietor of this church
property, which it grants, resumes, distributes, in-
creases, or diminishes, as it thinks fit.
5. That all persons holding titheable property
must contribute to the maintenance of the clercrv,
C2/ *
whether they approve of the contribution or not, since
the clergy may enforce the payment of their dues by
process of law.
Upon a consideration of this method of maintain-
ing the pastors of churches we come to two questions :
1. Is it agreeable to scripture? 2. Does it work
well? The second question will be more conve-
niently examined in another part of this work ; let
us now consider what directions the churches have
1 Burn, vol. iii. p. 750. 2 Ibid. p. 733.
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 157
received in the New Testament respecting the main-
tenance of their pastors.
The practice of the apostles, as well as their lan-
guage, has proved that it was Christ's will that the
best qualified members of churches should be con-
secrated to the ministry. Paul and Barnabas were
solemnly set apart to their apostolic mission by the
presbyters at Antioch. 1 Presbyters were appointed
by the apostles and their companions, by the election
of the churches, in all the churches which they
founded. 2 There were presbyters in the church of
Ephesus, 3 in the church at Philippi, 4 in the Jewish
churches, 5 and in the churches which were addressed
by St. Peter. 6 And pastors and evangelists are thus
spoken of as a permanent ordinance of Christ :
" When he ascended up on high, he led captivity cap-
tive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And he gave some
apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ : 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 measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ." 1 Hence minute directions are
given in the Epistles to Timothy and to Titus re-
specting the class of persons who alone should be
1 Acts, xiii. 1. 2 Acts, xiv. 23 ; Tit. i. 5. 3 Acts, xx. 17.
* Phil. i. 1. s Heb. xiii. 7, 17. 6 1 Pet. T. 1-4.
> Eph. iv. 8-13.
158 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
appointed to this ministry. 1 Although the ministers
thus appointed may labour for their maintenance
when circumstances require it, as Paul did in various
places, 2 yet it is generally their duty to leave secular
employments, that they may devote themselves wholly
to the ministry; 3 and on this 'account they ought to
be maintained. Excluded from all lucrative employ-
ments which they might have pursued, and conse-
crating their time and faculties to the service of the
churches, they ought to be maintained by them.
Our Lord's will has been distinctly declared in this
matter by the following statement of St. Paul: "Do
ye not know that they which minister about holy things
live of the things of the temple ? and they ivhich wait
at the altar are jpartakers with the altar? Even so
hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the
Gospel should live of the Gospel."* With this ex-
press enactment they may be satisfied; since he has
promised to those who seek first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, that all necessary tem-
poral supplies shall be added to them. 5 And having
declared that he will be with them as the preachers
of his Gospel to the end of time, he cannot let them
want. 6 His own faithful care is the provision for his
ministers ; we may say of them much more than of
1 1 Tim. iii. ; Tit. i.
2 Acts, xviii. 3 ; xx. 34, 35 ; 1 Cor. ix. 12-15 ; 1 Thess. ii. 9.
3 Acts, vi. 2-4 ; 1 Tim. ii. 4 ; iv. 15. 4 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14.
* Matt. vi. 25-33. Matt, xxviii. 20.
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 159
the Levites, " The Lord God is their inheritance." 1
Christ, who has appointed that they shall be main-
tained, will secure their maintenance.
But the mode of their support was not left unde-
cided. Our Lord has shown, by the parable of the
sheep and goats, how highly he esteems kindness
which is done to his followers for his sake. 2 All
Christians being members of one body are required
to sympathise with each member in distress. 3 Even
foreign brethren in distress are to be the objects of
systematic liberality. 4 Those churches in the apo-
stolic era were praised who gave largely to relieve
the wants of foreign Christians ; 5 and the Corinthians
were exhorted to imitate the good example. 6 These
general principles would go far to secure a provision
for ministers from the justice and generosity, the
faith and the love, of pious churches. But in ad-
dition to these the churches have received special
injunctions respecting the support of their ministers.
" Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges ?
who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit
thereof? and who feedeth the flock, and eateth not of
the milk of the flock ? .... It is written in the law
of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox
that treadeth out the corn If we have sown
unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if
1 Josh. xiii. 33. 2 Matt. xxv. 34-40.
3 1 Cor. xii. 12, 26, 27. ' * 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2.
5 2 Cor. viii. 1-6. 6 2 Cor. viii. 7, 13, 14 ; ix. 6, 7.
160 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
we shall reap your carnal things?" If ministers
labour for the churches, the churches should maintain
them. As the soldier who fights for his country is
provided for, as the shepherd receives wages for the
care of the flock, as the ox who threshed out the
corn was allowed to eat it, and as the priests were
maintained for their attendance at the temple, so it
is the will of Christ that pastors should be main-
tained by the churches. Indeed, this is matter of
common gratitude, since temporal support is afforded
in return for spiritual benefits ; and of common jus-
tice, because " the workman is worthy of his meat."^
In the 6th chapter of the Epistle to the Galatian
churches, the will of Christ is again thus expressed :
" Let him that is taught in the word communicate to
him that teacheth in all good things."^ To the Thes-
salonians was this exhortation given, " We beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labour among
you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish
you ; and to esteem them very highly in love for
their works sake."* And Timothy, who was left at
Ephesus to organise the church there, received from
Paul the following directions with respect to the
pastors : " Let the elders who rule well be counted
worthy of double honour, especially they toho labour
in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith t
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
1 1 Cor. ix. 7, 9, 11. 2 Matt. x. 10.
3 Gal. ri. 6. 1 Thess. v. 12, 13.
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 161
corn; and, The labourer is worthy of his reward" 1
All these injunctions commit the honourable support
of their pastors to the justice and generosity, to the
faith and the love, of the churches : and as Christ's
authority can never be disregarded by his disciples,
they are a surer and more permanent support
than any which can be secured to them by legal
enactments.
Less distinctly and repeatedly, but still with suf-
ficient clearness, has our Lord intimated his will that
evangelists also should be maintained by Christians.
When St. Paul left Philippi, that he might preach
the Gospel to the heathens throughout Macedonia
and Greece, the church at Philippi sent him. the
supplies which he needed, and were declared by him
to "have done well."' When they further sent him
relief to Rome, he declared that it was " a sacrifice
acceptable, well-pleasing to God." : And St. John
thus commended the liberality of Gains towards
certain Christian missionaries : " Beloved, thou doest
faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and
to strangers ; which have borne icitness of thy charity
before the church : whom, if thou bring forward on
their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:
because that for his names sake they went forth
taking nothing of the Gentiles. We, therefore, ought to
receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the
truth"*
1 1 Tim. v. 18. 2 Phil. iv. 14, 16. 3 Phil. iv. 18. 4 3 John, 5, 8.
M
162 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
By the former series of passages the churches are
commanded to support their pastors ; by this they
are urged to maintain home and foreign missions till
the Gospel is "preached to every creature."
The obedience to these injunctions manifested by
the more exemplary of the apostolic churches well
illustrates the amount of the provision thus made
by our Lord for his ministers. As we have already
noticed, the poor and persecuted church at Philippi
not only gave beyond their means to supply the wants
of their poorer brethren in Judea, but also sent aid
to Paul when he was preaching to the heathen. 1 And
the church at Jerusalem aiforded an instance of self-
denying charity, which I suppose to be wholly without
parallel ; for, when the bigotry of the Jews necessa-
rily reduced many of them to want, the rest threw
all their property into a common fund, by which the
wants of all were supplied. 2
Thus, by the liberality of the churches, and the
self-denial of the ministers, it is evident that pastors
were provided for all the churches at a time when
few rich persons ventured to profess faith in Christ.
Ephesus had its presbyters ; Philippi, its bishops and
deacons ; all the churches of Asia Minor and Crete
had their ministers ; the Hebrews had theirs ; and
there is no reason to think that any churches were
without them. 3
1 2 Cor. viii. 1-5 ; Phil. iv. 16-18. 2 Acts, ii. 47 ; iv. 34.
3 Acts, xx. 17; Phil. i. 1; Acts, xiv. 23; Tit. i. 5; Heb. xiii. 7, 17;
1 Pet. v. 1-4 ; James, v. 14.
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 163
Upon a review of these passages it appears,
1. That it is the will of Christ that there should
be pastors for the churches, and evangelists to preach
the Gospel to the whole world.
2. That Christ has commanded each church to
maintain its pastor when possible.
3. That if a church be too poor other churches
ought to aid.
4. That the churches should likewise support
evangelists who preach to the heathen.
5. That Christ has committed to his universal
church the duty of supporting his ministers through-
out the world.
6. That if in any case a pastor or evangelist
cannot obtain adequate support from his Christian
brethren, that he may labour in any secular calling
for his own maintenance.
It is obvious that there is a marked contrast
between the system which Christ has ordained for
the maintenance of his ministers, and that which has
been preferred by the Anglican Churches under the
Union.
According to the law of Christ, the pastor is to
be maintained by the zeal of the church ; according
to the Union, he is maintained by act of Parliament.
According to the law of Christ, he should be
maintained by the believers ; according to the Union,
he is maintained by persons of every class, including
Roman Catholics, Unitarians, infidels, and profligates.
164 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
According to the law of Christ, he should be
maintained by those who contribute of their own
property ; according to the Union, the State has voted
away the property of others to maintain him.
According to the law of Christ, all the offerings
made for his support should be free; by the Union r
they are paid under the terror of distraint.
The moral influences of these two systems for the
support of the ministers of Christ are very opposite.
The system appointed by Christ is the most just r
because, according to it, those only pay for instruc-
tion who receive it ; while, according to the Anglican
system, all must pay whether they receive it or not.
The system appointed by Christ calls Christians
to pay, who pay freely, because they have a debt
to discharge, both to Christ and to their pastors ;
whereas the Anglican system forces many to pay who
would refuse it if they could.
The system appointed by Christ exercises the faith
and love of believers, who thus make a grateful offer-
ing to him; but the Anglican system extorts from
unbelievers, by fear of the law, a tax which is reluc-
tantly paid to the State.
The system appointed by Christ is much more
for the comfort of a pious minister, because he can
receive with thankfulness and joy what his brethren
contribute with liberality and affection, in duty to-
Christ and in justice to him ; while under the Angli-
can system he must extort his income, by force of
MAINTENANCE OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS. 165
law, from those who, possibly, curse both him and
his religion while they pay it.
The system appointed by Christ tends to attract
both ministers and people to each other, since under
it ministers, receiving their support from the affection
of their flocks, feel grateful for it, and the people find
that to do a kindness is as much a source of affection
as to receive it ; but the Anglican system alienates
both parties, the paster having to complain of arrears
and of evasions of payment, while the flock are tempted
to think their shepherd selfish and severe.
The system of Christ demanding the support of
the pastors from those only who appreciate the value
of the truth and contribute freely, attracts ungodly
persons to hear the Gospel without money and with-
out price; but the Anglican system, which taxes them
for what they disbelieve or despise, shuts their ears
jigainst the truth.
The system of Christ manifests to the world the
power of religion, which they can in some degree
measure by the sacrifices which Christians freely make
for its support ; while the Anglican system makes the
world believe that Christians are as selfish and as
covetous as they are themselves, and would not sup-
port their pastors unless they were forced to do so.
Lastly, according to the system appointed by
Christ, the best ministers are generally the best sup-
ported, because Christians can appreciate grace as well
as gifts in their pastors ; but under the Anglican sys-
166 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
tern, the richest livings go to those who are related
to patrons; and thus the worst ministers are fre-
quently the best paid, and the churches are beset
with those who have sought the ministry only for
its emoluments.
If these observations are correct, Christians who
allow their pastors to be paid by the State disregard
the will of Christ ; impeach his wisdom ; neglect their
duty ; injure their Christian characters ; manifest a
worldly selfishness by seeking to escape from a just
remuneration for services received; beg alms for
Christ's officers from Christ's enemies ; excite preju-
dice against the Gospel in the minds of irreligious
tithe-payers; impair the use of the ministry; place
the ministers of Christ under the pay and influence of
ungodly persons ; and proclaim to the world that the
disciples of Christ cannot maintain his worship and
publish his truth unless worldly men and unbelievers
of every class will help them. It deserves, therefore,
the most serious consideration of Christian ministers
and of Christian churches, whether they should not
at once abandon a system so dishonourable to the
Gospel and return to that which rests on the autho-
rity of Christ.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 167
SECTION II. The Supremacy of the State.
One consequence arising from the provision which
is made by the State for Christian pastors, is that
it claims and exercises the right of superintendence
over the churches. This right is asserted in the fol-
lowing statutes, which are still in force :
By 26 Hen. VIII. cap. 1, " The king, his heirs,
&c., shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only
supreme head on earth of the Church of England, . . .
and shall have power, from time to time, to visit,
repress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all
such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts, and
enormities, . . . which by any manner of spiritual
authority or jurisdiction may be lawfully reformed"
&C. 1
By 37 Hen. VIII. cap. 17, it is enacted, " Your
majesty is, and hath always justly been, the supreme
head on earth of the Church of England, and hath full
power and authority to correct, punish, and repress
all manner of heresies, errors, vices, sins, abuses,
idolatries, hypocrisies, and superstitions, sprung and
growing within the same ; and to exercise all other \
manner of jurisdiction, commonly called ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, . . . archbishops, bishops, archdeacons,
AND OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL PERSONS, HAVE NO MAN-
NER OF JURISDICTION ECCLESIASTICAL, BUT BY AND
1 Burn's " Eccl. Law," vol. iii. p. 657.
168 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
PROM YOUR ROYAL MAJESTY. . . . Forasmuch as your
majesty is the only undoubted and supreme head of
the Church of England, to whom, by the holy scrip-
tures, all authority and power is wholly given to hear
and determine all manner of causes ecclesiastical, and
to correct vice and sin whatsoever ; and to all such
persons as your majesty shall appoint thereunto, . . .
may it be ordained and enacted, by authority of this
present Parliament, that ah 1 and singular persons, as
well lay as married, being doctors of civil law, . . .
who shall be appointed to the office of chancellor,
vicar-general, commissary, official, scribe, or register,
may lawfully execute and exercise all manner of juris-
diction commonly called ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and
all censures and coercions appertaining to the same." 1
By 1 Ed. VI. cap. 1.2, " If any person shall, by
open preaching, express words or sayings, affirm
. . . that the king is not or ought not to be the
supreme head on earth of the Church of England
. . . immediately under God, he, his aiders, com-
forters, abettors, and counsellors, shall for the first
offence forfeit his goods, and be imprisoned during
the king's pleasure ; for the second offence shall forfeit
his goods, and the profits of his lands and spiritual
promotions during his life, and also be imprisoned
during his life ; and for the third offence shall be
guilty of high treason." 2 By 1 Mary, sess. i. cap. 1,
the penalty of treason was repealed.
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 43. 2 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 658.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 169
By 1 Eliz. cap. i. s. 17, "All such jurisdictions,
privileges, superiorities, pre-eminences, spiritual and
ecclesiastical, as by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power
or authority have heretofore been or may lawfully be
exercised and used for the visitation of the ecclesi-
astical state and persons, and for the reformation,
order, and correction of sin, and of all manner of
heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts, and
enormities, shall for ever be united and annexed to the
imperial crown of this realm." 1
By canon 1, the Church in synod, A.D. 1G03,
ordained that " all ecclesiastical persons shall faith-
fully keep and observe ... all and singular the laws
and statutes made for restoring to the Crown of this
kingdom the ancient jurisdiction over the State ecclesi-
astical."
By canon 2, "Whosoever shall hereafter affirm
that the king's majesty hath not the same authority
in causes ecclesiastical that the godly kings had
among the Jews and Christian emperors of the primi-
tive church, or impeach any part of his royal supremacy,
in the said causes restored to the Crown and by the
laics of this realm therein established, let him be ex-
coin municated ipso facto . ' '
By canon 36, " No person shall hereafter be re-
ceived into the ministry . . . except he shall first
subscribe to these three articles following, 1. That
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 304.
170 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
the king's majesty, under God, is the only supreme
governor of this realm ... as well in all spiritual or
ecclesiastical things as temporal," &c.
These statutes plainly declare, 1 . That the Crown
has all such spiritual and ecclesiastical jurisdiction as
has ever been exercised by any spiritual power and
authority, whether pope, synod, prelate, or church.
2. That the Crown may therefore exercise all church
discipline for the correction of heresy, schism, and sin
of every kind.
3. That bishops and pastors have no manner of
spiritual jurisdiction within the churches but from the
Crown.
4. That the Crown may delegate its spiritual
authority to ecclesiastical lawyers, who may ex-
ercise all church discipline within the churches in its
name.
And by the canons above mentioned, all ministers
of the Church of England must acknowledge this su-
premacy of the Crown in spiritual things, must faith-
fully keep and observe these statutes, by which it has
been declared and confirmed, and must not impeach
any part of it on pain of excommunication.
On Thursday, Feb. 27, 1845, when Lord Fortes-
cue presented petitions to the House of Lords for a
revision of the rubric, the bishop of Exeter said,
" Our ancestors, my lords, were much too wise, much
too virtuous, and much too faithful, to think of trans-
ferring a spiritual supremacy to any monarch who might
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 171
govern these realms." To which Lord Brougham
replied, " I differ from him (the bishop) in one point :
I hold the power of Parliament to be paramount in
every matter : that over every thing in the country,
spiritual or temporal, the jurisdiction of Parliament
extends." 1 The following extract from Hooker shows
that he agreed with Lord Brougham : " If the action
which we have to perform be conversant about matters
of mere religion, the power of performing it is thus
spiritual ; and if that power be such as hath not any
to overrule it, we term it dominion or power supreme,
so far as the bounds thereof extend. When, there-
fore, Christian kings are said to have spiritual do-
minion, or supreme power, in ecclesiastical affairs and
causes, the meaning is, that within their own precincts
and territories they have an authority and power to
command even in matters of Christian relic/ion; and
that there is no higher or greater that can in those
cases over-command them when they are placed to
reign as kings." 2 Since, then, the Crown has, ac-
cording to statute, " all spiritual jurisdiction which
can be exercised by any spiritual power," it has,
according to Hooker, all the jurisdiction in spiritual
things, in " matters of mere religion," which has
ever been exercised by a bishop, a synod, or a
church.
But it is to be observed, that Lord Brougham
claimed for Parliament what the bishop denied to the
1 The Times, Feb. 28, 1845. * Hooker's " Polity," book viii.
172 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
Crown, his reason being, that the spiritual power of
the Crown is derived from Parliament ; and in this, too,
he was correct. The 2G Hen. VIII. cap. 1, declares,
" the king shall have power from time to time to visit,"
&c. The statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 1, enacts that spiritual
jurisdiction " shall for ever be united and annexed to
the imperial Crown of this realm." But in thus
making the sovereign head of the church, Parliament
has not abdicated its own supremacy, for while the
sovereign administers the ecclesiastical laws as he does
the civil, Parliament has of late years allowed no other
legislation for the church than its own. Various acts
show how much the Crown derives its authority from
Parliament. The canons of the church have no force
till they have the king's assent; but this is by 25
Hen. VIII. cap. 19, and not by any underived autho-
rity in the Crown. 1
Any doctors of law appointed by the Crown may
exercise all manner of spiritual jurisdiction ; but the
Crown derives this right from the statute of 37
Hen. VIII. cap. 17.
There are various cases in which the ecclesiastical
court is now forbidden to pronounce excommunication,
though it recently could do so. As this innovation
could not be accomplished by authority of the Crown,
it was effected by 53 Geo. III. cap. 127. When the
act, 59 Geo. III., was passed to assign districts to
chapels-of-ease, the following expression was inserted
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 21.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 173
with respect to certain commissioners appointed by
the Crown : "It shall be lawful for the commissioners
to assign a district," proving that without such act
the royal commissioners could not have assigned it.
Precisely similar language was employed in subse-
quent acts relating to similar matters. 1 The appeal
which formerly lay from the court of Arches to the
court of Delegates, has been transferred to the judicial
committee of the privy council. This was effected,
not by the prerogative of the Crown, but by two
statutes, 2 and 3 Will. IV. cap. 72, and 3 and 4 Will.
IV. cap. 41. Which fact is the more to be observed,
because the transfer of the authority from the one
court to the other was intended not to effect any
ecclesiastical object which was before illegal, but
simply to accomplish certain legal objects in a less
objectionable manner. And so late as in the present
reign, the bishop, with three assessors, is empowered
not by the Crown, but by the church-discipline act,
3 and 4 Viet., to pronounce sentence on various
ecclesiastical offences. These acts abundantly prove,
that the supremacy of the State is lodged derivatively
and partially in the Crown, but is underived and
plenary in the Parliament, justifying Lord Brougham's
expression, that "over every thing in the countiy,
spiritual or temporal, the jurisdiction of Parliament
extends." With him Hooker holds the Legislature
to be the source of the king's supremacy. " Who
1 Burn, vol. i. pp. 306, 30G d .
174 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
doubteth but that the king who receiveth it must hold
it of and under the law, according to the axiom, Hex non
debet csse sub homine, sed sub Deo ET LEGE P" 1 " The
best-established dominion is where the law doth most
rule the king ; the true effect whereof is found parti-
cularly as well in ecclesiastical as civil affairs." 2 " The
king is Major singulis, universis minor."* " The axioms
of our regal government are these, Lex facit regem :
Rex jiihil potest nisi quod jure potest."*
The actual state, then, of the churches of Christ
within the Establishment is, that the Crown can exer-
cise a spiritual supremacy over them in all ecclesias-
tical cases, and that the Legislature has a higher and
more absolute power still over them.
Bishop Warburton's account of this Union is as
follows : " The church resigns up her independency,
and makes the magistrate her supreme head, without,
whose approbation and allowance she can administer,
transact, or decree nothing. Eor the State, by this
alliance, having undertaken the protection of the
Church, and protection not being to be afforded to any
community without power over it in the community
protecting, it follows that the civil magistrate must be
supreme. Protection is a kind of guardianship ; and
guardianship, in its very nature, implies superiority
and rule. 5 ... No other jurisdiction is given to the
civil magistrate by this supremacy than the church,
1 Hooker, book viii. * Ibid. 3 Ibid. * Ibid.
5 Warburton's " Alliance," book ii. c. 3.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 175
as a mere political body, exercised before the con-
vention." 1
This supremacy is admitted by Hooker to be
wholly a matter of law. " As for supreme power in
ecclesiastical affairs the word of God doth nowhere
appoint that all kings should have it, neither that any
should not have it ; for which cause it seemeth to
stand altogether \)j human right that unto Christian
kings there is such dominion given." 2
But this supremacy of the State, without divine
authority, is incompatible with the rights of Christ.
The scripture declares that Christ is the king of
his church, 3 and therefore to allow the State to rule
over it without his authority, is as much treasonable
as it would be in Ireland or in Canada to elect a
foreigner for its ruler without reference to the will of
our sovereign.
Christ is the head and master of his church, as
a man is head and master of his own household. 4
And when any churches without authority from him
allow spiritual dominion over them to a stranger,
they are revolting against his authority, as much as
servants would be who in their master's absence
should invite another to assume the direction of his
house.
1 Warburton's " Alliance," book ii. c. 3. 2 Hooker, book viii.
3 Psalm xi. 6 ; Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; Dan. vii. 14 ; Zech. ix. 9 ; John, xviii.
37, 39 ; xix. 19 ; Col. i. 13 ; 2 Cor. x. 5, &c. &c.
4 Heb. iii. 5, 6 ; Gal. vi. 10 ; Matt. x. 25 ; xxv. 14-30 ; Roin. vii. 6 ;
xiv. 9 ; 1 Cor. vii. 22 ; Eph. ii. 19 ; vi. 6 ; Col. iii. 24, &c.
176 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
Christ has condescended to represent the church
in scripture as his bride, and himself as the husband
of the church. 1 And because the Church of Rome
has given to others the honour due to him, it is
termed in the word of God a harlot, and every church
in communion with that corrupt church is termed a
harlot too." Whenever, therefore, any church allows
one who is without Christ's authority to rule over it,
it is acting as a wife who should allow a stranger to
rule over her in her husband's absence. That church
would be guilty of adultery as the Church of Rome
has been.
And, again, the church is termed in scripture the
body, of which Christ is the head : 3 and a church
which therefore makes the magistrate its head, becomes
a body with two heads, a deformity a monster.
But all this is what the Church of England
has done. In allowing to the State this spiritual
dominion over it, it has become treasonable, insub-
ordinate, adulterous, and unnatural ; it is a com-
munity with two spiritual kings, a- household with
two separate masters, a wife with two husbands, a
body with two heads.
It is of no avail for an advocate of the Union to
allege that the king is only head of the church under
Christ. Where is Christ's appointment? Did our
1 Eph. v. 22, 23, 25 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; John, iii. 29 ; Rom. vii. 4 ; Rev,
xix. 7 ; xxi. 9.
s Rev. xvii. 1, 2, 5. 3 Col. i. 18 ; Eph. i. 23.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 177
Lord appoint the profligate Charles II., or the
Romanist James II., to be his vicegerent ? If not,
the established churches had no more right to make
either of those persons their head without the consent
of Christ, than a convention of Irishmen might make
the pope their supreme ruler under the Queen.
Nor is it of any avail to allege that the Establish-
ment has taken care to reserve the rights of Christ,
-and allows not the State to enact any thing against
his law. Were this as true as it is false, the infi-
delity of the Establishment would remain apparent.
Even if none of the laws of Christ were violated by
the enactment of the State, each minister who allows
the supremacy of the State in return for State pay
acts like an ambassador, who, residing at a foreign
court, accepts a pension from the foreign Govern-
ment, and allows it to direct all his movements
provided it enjoins nothing contrary to the express
instructions of his own sovereign. Such an ambas-
sador would be ignominiously dismissed by any prince
in Europe. What account will the ambassadors of
Christ have to give to him for consenting to be pen-
sioners of the State ?
But further ; it is a mere imagination that the
State can exercise spiritual jurisdiction without vio-
lating any of the laws of Christ, as a glance at its
enactments may show.
The supremacy of the State determines the settle-
ment of pastors within the Establishment, its doctrine
N
178 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
and worship, its discipline and government ; and in
each of these points the Union violates the law of
Christ.
1. Few things can exercise a more powerful in-
fluence on the spiritual J character of the Establish-
ment than the number and the character of its
bishops. But it has no right or power to determine
either. The Establishment cannot determine their
number, the extent of their jurisdiction, or the
number of churches placed under their control. Al-
though this is a matter purely spiritual, it can be
determined by Parliament alone. The 6th and 7tli
Will. IV. cap. 77, has created two new bishoprics,
and has remodelled the state of the old dioceses,
with a view to a more equal distribution of episcopal
duties. Parliament alone can determine how many
successors of apostles there shall be, to distribute,
as some suppose, spiritual gifts to the churches.
The character of the bishops is still more im-
portant to the Establishment than their numbers.
The bishop has immense authority in his diocese. As
no one may preach within it without his license, and
he can grant or refuse his license, continue or with-
draw it at his pleasure, curates are entirely under his
power. Over incumbents, too, he exercises a vast
influence, not only by force of law, but partly from
the large patronage placed at his disposal, and partly
from the wide-spread notion that his mandates ought
to be obeyed in all things not positively sinful. For
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 179
some centuries the diocesans were elected by the
ministers and people ; but in England the churches
have left this important duty, which is exclusively
spiritual, and which vitally affects the progress of
religion in the country, to be fulfilled, for good or for
evil, by the State. In Ireland the bishoprics are do-
native by letters patent ; the patronage of the Welsh
bishoprics is annexed to the Crown. In England, by
25 Hen. VIII. cap. 20, the king grants a license to
the dean and chapter a very unfit body to elect,
but at the same time nominates the person to be
elected ; and if the dean and chapter do not proceed
to elect that person within twenty days, each offender
incurs a pramunire. The punishment by the writ of
prtemunire* is, "That from the conviction the de-
fendant shall be out of the king's protection ; his
lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forfeited to
the king ; and that his body shall remain in prison at
the king's pleasure." 2 The consecration of a prelate
is supposed by many to constitute him ,a successor
of the apostles, with exclusive authority to ordain
pastors for the churches, and with the power of com-
municating spiritual gifts. The persons to receive
this awful authority are exclusively selected by the
ministers of the Crown, by prime-ministers and chan-
cellors. Chancellors and premiers determine alone
the line along which the apostolic influence is to de-
scend from generation to generation, and the sources
1 Burn, vol. i. pp. 202, 203. 2 Encyc. Brit. art. " Prsemunire."
180 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
from which ordination, grace, and pastoral authority,
are to be transmitted to the churches.
The relation between the pastor and the church
is much more close than that between the prelate
and his clergy; and it being of great consequence
to the welfare of the church that the numbers under
the care of one pastor should not be beyond his
superintendence, the churches should have the un-
restricted right of securing to themselves as many
pastors as they may require. But the State alone
determines for the Establishment the number of
pastors as well as the number of bishops. Great
civic parishes grow up to be each a city, the Union
gives the monopoly of instruction to the incumbent.
Huge masses remain unvisited and untaught, but the
untaught thousands have no right of choosing for
themselves pastors whom they may trust. Church-
building acts of Parliament alone could tardily and
imperfectly untie their hands. Although the office
of a pastor is purely spiritual, the inhabitants of St.
George's, Westminster, Marylebone, St. Pancras, St.
Luke's, Shoreditch, and other vast populations, can-
not, without authority of Parliament, provide for their
spiritual wants, nor multiply their pastors without
leave from the State.
The State, likewise, has settled for all the churches
of the Establishment who shall be their pastors. The
choice of right men is of the utmost importance to
their welfare. It is their sacred and inalienable duty
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 181
to choose right men. The primitive church at Jeru-
salem chose even an apostle. 1 Ministers, too, were
chosen by the whole church. 2 For some centuries all
the Christian churches chose their own pastors ; 3 to
this day in Scotland the people must give " a call "
before the pastor can be settled over them ; and nearly
half the ministers of the Scotch Establishment lately
separated themselves from the State because the State
would not permit them to give their churches the right
of a veto in the appointment of their pastors. But
the churches in England united with the State have
no voice in the selection of their pastors. Although,
by Christ's law, none but faithful men are to be made
pastors, and the churches are forbidden to receive any
others, yet they allow any man to be forced upon
them whom the State pronounces to be respectable.
The patron alone presents any one whom he pleases
out of the sixteen thousand clergy of Great Britain,
though notoriously frivolous or unevangelical, though
suspected even of immorality ; and the bishop can
institute no other to be the pastor. If the bishop
refuses to admit the patron's presentee within twenty-
eight days, " the patron is entitled to call upon the
ordinary to institute his clerk, and to enforce that
right by quare impedit, unless the bishop specially
states in his plea some reasonable cause wherefore the
clerk presented is not fit." 4 The only "reasonable
1 Acts, i. 2 Acts, vi ; xiv. 23, Greek.
a See next Section. 4 Burn, i. 156, cf.
182 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
cause" is legal proof of incapacity, heresy, or immo-
rality. Want of spirituality, indolence, ill-temper,
semi-papal attachment to ceremonies, the preaching
of baptismal regeneration, the denial of the doctrine
of justification by grace through faith, and an unde-
vout life proving an unconverted heart, are not in the
eye of the law reasonable causes. And thus, contrary
to the law of Christ, to apostolic precedent, to the
practice of the first three centuries of the Christian
era, and to common sense, the churches, for the sake
of the State-pay, allow ungodly pastors to be forced
upon them by ungodly patrons through the fiat of
the State.
Thus the Union has given the State power to
determine the number of prelates and pastors, and
likewise to select the men ; and the churches, for the
sake of their endowments, have abandoned their
solemn duty to admit to be their pastors none but
godly men who possess the qualifications for that
office pointed out in the word of God.
2. The State pronounces on the doctrine to be
taught in the Establishment.
Individual Christians, and therefore churches, are
called to maintain all the truth, to stand fast in the
faith, to contend for the faith, and to grow in know-
ledge. 1 Each church ought to be " the pillar and
ground of the truth." 2 Pastors and people together
1 1 Cor. xvi. 13 ; Jude, 3 ; 2 Pet. iii. 18.
2 1 Tim. iii. 15.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 183
are " to hold forth the word of life ; 5)1 and " together
to strive for the faith of the Gospel." 2 But the Esta-
blishment is forbidden by the State to correct any
error, or to make any advance in spiritual knowledge :
and so it becomes the pillar and ground of error as
well as truth, and holds forth not only the word of
life, but doctrines contrary to that word. Two or
three illustrations must here suffice. The baptismal
services and the catechism contain the doctrine that
infants are regenerated by the rite of baptism, a
dogma which, as being contrary to scripture and to
fact, the churches ought to repudiate. The twenty-
sixth article declares of "evil" ministers who "have
chief authority in the ministration of the word and
sacraments." "Forasmuch as they do not the same
in their OAvn name, but in Clirist's, and do minister
by his commission and authority, we may use their
ministry both in hearing the word of God and in
the receiving of the sacraments." This is directly
contrary to scripture, which forbids such men to be
made pastors, 3 declares that Christ knows them not, 4
requires that they be excommunicated, 5 and forbids
Christians to listen to them. 6 The Establishment
ought to correct this error. In the service for order-
ing the priests, the bishop, placing his hands on the
head of the kneeling candidate, is ordered by the
1 Phil. ii. 16. 2 Phil. i. 27.
3 1 Tim. iii. 1-7 ; Tit. i. 5-9. 4 Matt. vii. 22, 23.
* Gal. v. 12. c Matt viie 15 . John> x . 5 . 2 John, 10, 11.
184 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
State, through its act of uniformity, to say, " Receive
the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest in
the church of God, now committed unto thee by the
imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost for-
give, they arc forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost
retain, they are retained." The thirty-sixth article de-
clares : " The book of ordering of priests doth contain.,
&c. . . . Neither hath it any thing that of itself is
superstitious and ungodly." This is surely erroneous,
and the error ought to be corrected.
But the State will allow no correction of these
and similar errors in the prayer-book. The royal
declaration prefixed to the articles is as follows :
" The articles of the Church of England do contain
the true doctrine of the Church of England, agreeable
to God's word, ' which we do therefore ratify and
confirm, requiring all our loving subjects to con-
tinue in the uniform profession thereof, and prohi-
biting the least difference from the said articles."
By the thirty-sixth canon every preacher of the Es-
tablishment must declare, "That the book of com-
mon prayer and of ordering of bishops, priests, and
deacons, containeth in it nothing contrary to tJic word
of God" The fourth canon runs thus, " Whosoever
shall hereafter affirm that the form of God's worship
. . . contained in the book of common prayer . . . con-
taineth any thing in it that is repugnant to the scrip-
tures, let him be excommunicated ipso facto." The
fifth canon adds, "Whosoever shall hereafter affirm
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 185
that any of the nine-and-thirty articles . . . are in any
part . . . erroneous ... let him be excommunicated."
These canons, though not binding on the laity, have
the force of law to the clergy ; and thus the State
compels all the clergy to pronounce those and other
errors to be truths. And by 13 Elizabeth, cap. 12,
s. 2, " If any person ecclesiastical, or which shall have
ecclesiastical living, shall advisedly maintain or affirm
any doctrine directly contrary or repugnant to any of
the said articles, and being convened before a bishop
of the diocese or ordinary, shall persist therein and
not revoke his error, &c. ... he shall be deprived
of his ecclesiastical promotions." 1 Thus the State
has effectually prevented clergymen from attempting
the correction of any errors in the doctrines of the
Establishment; and to perpetuate these errors, no
assembly of the Establishment is permitted to meet,
which could revise the articles, correct the liturgy, or
attempt any fuller profession of evangelical doctrine.
3. The supremacy of the State comes into colli-
sion with the authority of Christ respecting the wor-
ship of God.
By the law of Christ Christians are to avoid
those who cause divisions, Rom. xvi. 17, and there-
fore ought not to listen to any bigoted preacher who
excludes pious dissenters from the church of Christ,
falsely terming them schismatics, however peaceable
they may be. By the same law all ministers who do
1 Burn. vol. i. p. 105.
186 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
not preach the Gospel, but preach the doctrine of
justification by faith and works, ought to be excluded
from the church, Gal. i. 8 ; v. 12. And, therefore, if
through neglect of discipline they remain still in the
exercise of their ministry, Christians must, according
to these directions, avoid them as though they were
excluded. By the same law Christians are carefully
to abstain from affording any sanction to ministers
unsound in doctrine, 2 John, 10, 11. But in oppo-
sition to these laws of Christ, the State has passed
the following laws, which are still in force. By
1 Eliz. cap. 2, parishioners are to attend the parish
church every Sunday and holyday, the penalty for
neglect being twelve-pence, for which the church-
wardens are to distrain. "No person can be duly
discharged from attending his own parish church or
warranted in resorting to another, unless he be first
duly licensed by his ordinary, who is the proper judge
of the reasonableness of his request." 1 By 3 James,
cap. 4, persons not attending common prayer accord-
ing to 1 Elizabeth, cap. 2, shall be distrained for
twelve-pence ; and in default of distress be committed
to prison till payment is made. By 23 Elizabeth,
cap. 1, " Every person above the age of sixteen years,
which shall not repair to some church, chapel, or
usual place of common prayer, shall forfeit to the
queen 20/. a mouth ;" arid by 21 Geo. III., cap. 32,
" All the laws made and provided for frequenting of
1 Burn, vol. iii. p. 405.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 187
divine service on the Lord's day . . . shall be still
in force, and executed against all persons who shall
offend against the said laws." 1
It is the will of Christ that Christians should meet
in every suitable place for prayer. " I will, therefore,"
says St. Paul, "that men pray every where."- It
was by social prayer that the hundred and twenty
disciples of Christ in an upper chamber at Jerusalem
prepared for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. 3
By social prayer they fortified themselves against the
threats of their persecutors. 4 By social prayer they
sought the liberation of the apostle Peter from
prison. 5 At Philippi, Paul united with devout Jews
in prayer at the river's side. 6 At Miletus he prayed
with the pastors of Ephesus ; r and at Tyre consecrated
the sea-shore to the same sacred exercise. 8 Yet in
the face of all these instances of social prayer, the
State has enacted, by 52 Geo. III., cap. 155, "No
congregation, or assembly for religious worship, of
Protestants, at which there shall be present more
than twenty persons, besides the immediate family
and servants of the person in whose house, or upon
whose premises, such meeting, assembly, or congre-
gation, should be held, shall be permitted or allowed,
unless the place of such meeting shall have been duly
certified to the bishop of the diocese, the archdeacon,
1 Burn, vol. iii. pp. 406-408. a 1 Tim. ii. 8. 3 Acts, i. 14.
4 Acts, iv. 23, 24. & Acts, xiii. 12. Acts, xvi. 13-16.
7 Acts, xx. 36. 8 Acts, xxi. 5.
188 PRINCIPLES OE THE UNION.
or the justices of the peace." 1 The last provision
of this statute being limited to dissenters, 2 the State
still prohibits members of the Establishment from
meeting for prayer in any greater number than
twenty, besides the family. Since dissenters may
now freely meet in any numbers, this restriction upon
social prayer is only retained upon ecclesiastical
grounds, on which grounds alone it was advocated
by the bishop of Exeter and by Lord Brougham when
it was last brought before the House of Lords, the
bishop contending that such meetings for worship
were contrary to the spirit of the 23d article, and
Lord Brougham urging that they would prevent pa-
rishioners from attending at the parish churches.
4. The State governs the churches and regulates
their discipline.
Church discipline consists chiefly in regulating
the admission of persons to baptism and the Lord's
supper, and in inflicting the censures of the church
on its offending members. Our Lord has signified
his will on these points, and has directed how his
will is to be executed. The power of government is
placed by the authority of Christ in the congregation
itself, and can be devolved on no one else. The
presbyters of each church have by his authority the
general superintendence. They are therefore called
I, bishops or superintendents, 3 and
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 220. 2 Ibid.
3 Acts, xx. 28 ; Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. 5-7.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 189
pastors or shepherds, 1 and they are exhorted VO^KI-
vstv, to feed the church of God, as a shepherd does
his flock; 2 and St. Peter urged them to the same
duty thus : " The elders which are among you I
exhort .... Feed the flock of God which is among
you, iKKjzoTTovvrzg, taking the oversight" 3 And their
pastoral office is termed tTriffzovrj, the episcopate, the
superintendence. 4 They are further called rulers,
Kgzfffivrspoi TrgoiGTuTzg ; and St. Paul says to the
churches respecting them, " Obey them that have the
rule over you, rolg qyovp&voig vpuv, and submit your-
selves."'' But while presbyters are thus called to
superintend their churches, the church itself, com-
prising both ministers and congregation, has the
ultimate supreme power of government over itself.
Thus all the church united, as we have seen, with
the eleven apostles to select the two brethren, of
which one was to be chosen by lot to fill the place
of the apostate apostle Judas ; the same church chose
their deacons ; and the churches of Asia Minor,
guided by Paul and Barnabas, elected their pastors.
Other churches elected their messengers, called avd-
GTO\OI ixxfyffiuv, who accompanied St. Paul to convey
their contributions to Jerusalem. 6 When a great
doctrinal dispute arose at Antioch, the congregation
at Jerusalem united with the apostles and elders to
1 Eph. iv. 11 ; 1 Pet. v. 4. 9 Acts, xx. 28 ; 1 Pet. v. 2.
3 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. * 1 Tim. Hi. 1.
4 Heb. xiii. 17. 2 Cor. viii. 19, 23.
190 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
settle it. 1 If a dispute arose between two Christians,
they were to refer it to the congregation. 2 The
church at Rome was directed to avoid schismatics; 3
the congregation at Corinth was urged to excommu-
nicate an offending member; 4 and the congregation
at Thessalonica was to withdraw from every one who
disregarded the precepts given to them by Christ's
apostle. 5
The churches being thus appointed by Christ to
exercise self-government, which is essential to their
fidelity, purity, and vigour, have received also divine
instructions respecting the discipline which they are
to exercise. Here let us notice only two main points,
the admission and the exclusion of members. Re-
specting the first, they are instructed by our Lord
and his apostles to admit no one into church-fellow-
ship by baptism except upon a credible profession of
repentance and faith. 6
It is, therefore, the will of Christ that none but
believers shall be baptised, that the churches may be
associations of " saints and faithful brethren." And
if any infants are to be baptised, they must be the
infants of saints and faithful brethren who heartily
dedicate them to God through Christ, and will train
them up for him.
But as some ungodly persons, like Simon of
1 Acts, xv. 12-29. 2 Matt, xviii. 17 ; 1 Cor. vi. 4. 3 Rom. xvi. 17.
4 1 Cor v. 11, 13. * 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14.
6 Mark, xvi. 15, 16 ; Acts, ii. 38 ; viii. 36, 37 ; 1 Pet. iii. 21 ; Acts,
viii. 12; ix. 6, 11, 17, 18 ; x. 44-48 ; xvi. 14, 15, 31, 34 ; xviii. 8.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 191
Samaria, will necessarily intrude themselves into fel-
lowship with the churches through a profession of
faith without conversion of heart, 1 our Lord has
further directed the churches to exclude from their
fellowship all open offenders against the law of God.
The following are some of the directions which we
have received upon this subject :
" Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbe-
lievers : for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness ? and ivhat communion hath light icith
darkness ? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ?
or what part hath he that believeth ivith an injidel ?
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye sepa-
rate, saith the Lord.". . . / would they were even cut off
which trouble you"* It is therefore the will of Christ
that the churches should not allow unbelievers to
come to his table.
" I have written unto you not to keep company,
if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator,
or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner ; with such an one no not to eat.
Therefore put aivay from among yourselves that wicked
person*. . . I have a few things against thee, because
thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols,
and to commit fornication. So hast thou, also, them
1 Acts, viii. 13-23. 2 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15.
3 Gal. v. 12. 1 Cor. v. 11, 12.
192 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I
hate!' 1 It is the will of Christ that all immoral per-
sons should be refused admission to the table of the
Lord, and be put out of communion with the church.
" Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned, and avoid them." . . . A man
that is a heretic after the first and second admonition
reject."* It is the will of Christ that quarrelsome
and factious persons be excluded from the Lord's
table.
" If thy brother trespass against thee, go, fyc.
. . . but if he shall neglect to hear the church, let him
be to thee as a heathen man and a publican* . . . Now
we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every
brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the
tradition which ye received of us. And if any man
obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and
have no company ivith him, that he may be ashamed." 5
It is the will of Christ that all persons who offend in
any way against his law, and do not repent of it,
should be excluded from fellowship with the church,
and therefore from the Lord's table.
1 Rev. ii. 14, 15. 2 Rom. xvi. 17.
8 Tit. iii. 10. Aifirmoti iitfyuvrov . . . vragaircv. " Aiotrixos, one who creates
dissensions, introduces errors, &c., a factious person." ROBINSON'S Lex. of
the N. T. " Sectarius, qui praecepta et mores sequitur a prseceptis institu-
tisque Christi alienissimos." SCHLEUSNER.
4 Matt, xviii. 15-17. 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 193
On the other hand, it is equally the will of
Christ that all the Christians of any place should
have fellowship with each other as brethren ; and as
he has invited all believers to his table (1 Cor. xi.
23, 25), no church has a right to exclude any of
his invited guests. Whatever their doctrinal or prac-
tical differences, all real believers received by Christ
are bound to receive each another. " One is your
master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. 1 . . . Him
that is weak in the faith receive ye?. . . Wherefore
receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to
the glory of God." 3
Christian churches cannot, therefore, abandon this
duty of self-government, nor allow any dictation from
others respecting the admission or exclusion of mem-
bers, without palpable disregard to the will of Christ.
But the Anglican Churches have done both these
things. First, how does any congregation of the
Establishment govern itself? The church has no
voice whatever in the admission or exclusion of mem-
bers : it holds no meetings for brotherly communion,
for consultation respecting its spiritual improvement,
for consideration of the means by which it may
advance the cause of Christ. It is merged in the
Establishment. Then the Establishment itself is
without self-government. It has no representative
assembly, for the Convocation is a synod of digni-
taries and proctors which would be a mockery of
1 Matt, xxiii. 8. * Rom. xiv. 1. 3 Rom. xv. 7.
O
194 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
representation ; and even that mockery has not sat
to transact business since the year 1717. 1 Besides,
were the Convocation to sit, no canon can be enacted
without permission of the Crown. 2 Nor can the
assent of the Crown make any canon binding on the
Anglican Churches without it be ratified by act of
Parliament ; 3 so that the Establishment is reduced
by the Union to complete inactivity. It can make
for itself no law, rectify no abuse, correct no error,
seek no improvement ; the State is watching it as a
tiger an antelope, and allows not the slightest move-
ment. All things else are in progress, but the laws
and the constitutions of the Establishment remain
century after century unrevised and unchangeable.
Each church, according to the will of Christ, should
continually, by its self-government, adapt itself to the
highest degree of civilisation ; but the State forbids,
and the churches prefer the mandate of the State to
the command of Christ.
The churches having criminally disregarded their
duty of self-government, are no longer able to fulfil
the will of Christ with reference to the admission
of members. A church ought to be an association
of saints and faithful brethren, and all admitted into
the association ought to afford, by their conduct and
profession, reason to hope that they are so too.
None, therefore, are to be baptised but those who
profess to repent and believe in Christ. Such is
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 30. * Ibid. p. 24. a Ibid. p. 27.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 195
Christ's order; but the church has received another
order, by canon 68, which is as follows : " No
minister shall refuse or delay to christen any child
. . . that is brought to the church to him on Sun-
days or holydays to be christened ; . . . and if he
shall refuse to christen, ... he shall be suspended
by the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by
the space of three months." This canon, passed by
a synod of dignitaries and proctors, would not bind
the pastors of churches unless it had been confirmed
by the Crown ; but the assent of the Crown has made
it law, and it has thus changed the church from an
assembly of " saints and faithful brethren" into a
congeries of the whole population of each district.
Swarming myriads from Marylebone, St. Pancras,
Shoreditch, and St. Luke's, bring their myriads of
children to be christened without the remotest idea
of dedicating them to God or of training them for
God. These become members of the church, till
the church becomes not merely the world, but com-
prises the most disreputable part of the world ; its
members living without worship, without the bible,
without pastoral superintendence, without any appear-
ance of religion, and, perhaps, without common mo-
rality. And the churches of Christ and his ministers
are the State's agents in thus violating Christ's com-
mands.
According to Christ's law, all such members
ought to be expelled by the church, while all his dis-
196 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
ciples should be freely admitted to communion ; but
the churches have received different orders from the
Convocation and the Crown. Whereas all believers
ought to be admitted to the Lord's table, the court
of Arches, acting by authority of the Crown, will
sustain any minister who excludes from the Lord's
table any person, however sound in faith and holy
in life, however pious and devoted, who refuses to
be confirmed, 1 or belongs to another parish, 2 or is a
dissenter, 3 or scruples to kneel at the Lord's table, 4
or who speaks against the king's authority in eccle-
siastical causes. 5 But on the other hand, the parish-
ioners generally have a right to attend at the table,
however worldly and frivolous their lives may be.
By 1 Ed. VI. cap. 1, " The minister shall not, with-
out lawful cause, deny the same (the Lord's supper)
to any person that will devoutly and humbly desire
it." To be " an open and notorious evil liver," and
to be " living in malice and hatred," are lawful
causes, provided that they are capable of legal proof ;
but the court of Arches, acting by authority of the
Crown, will punish any minister who, with the con-
currence of the whole church, of which he is the
pastor, should refuse the communion to any uncon-
verted and ungodly person whom he could not legally
prove to be an open and. notorious evil liver, or to
be living in malice and hatred.
1 Rubric to the Order of Confirmation. * Can. 28.
3 Can. 27. 4 Ibid. * Ibid.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 197
Few persons, therefore, become the subjects of
church-censures for any causes, because each local
church has devolved its duty upon an ecclesiastical
court, over which a stranger to the case presides by
authority, not of the congregation, but of the Crown,
who must have legal evidence, and must judge accord-
ing to legal precedents.
But the law of Christ is especially set aside when
various offences are committed by those who hold the
situation of pastors. All the rules above-mentioned
for the exclusion of offending members from the
church direct equally the exclusion of offending mi-
nisters. And there are other special directions con-
cerning these. Immoral ministers are altogether dis-
owned by Christ. 1 They are weeds sown in his field
by his enemy ; 2 they are children of the wicked one ; 3
they are strangers, whom the sheep of Christ must
not follow.* And those ministers who teach false
doctrine instead of the Gospel are ministers of Satan. 5
They are in danger of the curse of God ; 6 they ought
to be cut off from the church ; 7 and no Christian
must bid them God speed. 8
Yet an immoral Anglican minister, or one who
perverts the Gospel, cannot be put away by the con-
gregation whom he is leading to destruction. They
have abdicated their rights for the sake of the State's
bribe ; and now the State's functionary alone, who
1 Matt. vii. 23. 8 Matt. xiii. 23. 3 Matt. xiii. 38.
4 John, x. 6. * 2 Cor. xi. 13-15. Gal. i. 8.
7 Gal. v. 12. 2 John, 10.
198 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
presides in the court of Arches, can determine what
penalty shall be paid by the clergyman so offending.
A pastor may be unacquainted with the way of salva-
tion ; he may deny the total ruin of man, salvation
by grace through faith, and regeneration by the Holy
Spirit through the instrumentality of the word of
God ; he may adjust his standard of practice, not to
the law of Christ, but to the maxims of the world ;
but of all this the State functionary can take no cog-
nisance. And how far he is likely, as a substitute
for the church, to enforce the law of Christ for the
exclusion of a minister whose offences he can legally
investigate, we have learned by many painful in-
stances in the last few years.
5. Ere our Lord left the world, he said to his
disciples, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the
Gospel to every creature;" 1 and added, " Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 2
He himself preached the Gospel on the .mountain-
side, 3 on the shore of the lake,* and through all the
villages and towns of Galilee. 5 After his death his
disciples preached every where ; 6 and every zealous
preacher who went forth to the heathen was to be
helped in his work. 7
But the State has, in various ways, hindered the
pastors of the Establishment from obeying these
precepts.
1 Mark, xvi. 16. 2 Matt, xxviii. 20. 3 Matt. v. 1.
4 Matt. xiii. 1-3. s Matt. iv. 23 ; ix. 35 ; xi. 1.
6 Acts. viii. 1-4 ; xi. 19. ' 3 John, 6-8.
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 199
It has several times suspended the preaching of
the Gospel altogether within the Establishment till
further order from the Crown, and the Crown has
the same prerogative now.
Although numbers of unconverted and irreligious
men are, it is to be feared, ordained within the Es-
tablishment, the law gives to each of these the exclu-
sive right to preach in his parish. So that while in
many parishes ungodly incumbents cannot fulfil the
law of Christ by preaching the Gospel to the people,
the State prohibits any godly ministers within the
Establishment from fulfilling it.
However extensive a parish may be, and however
negligent the legal pastor may be, no chapel- of-ease
may be erected within the parish by the people with-
out consent of the diocesan, patron, and incumbent,
except in some cases specified by recent church-
building acts.
However negligent, or even vicious, a pastor may
be, no preacher of the Establishment may preach in
any church or chapel within the limits of the parish
without his consent.
Whatever ignorance or irreligion may prevail in a
diocese, no minister without a benefice in the diocese,
however exemplary, wise, and holy he may be, has
any right to officiate within it in any way whatever
without the license of the bishop. So that when the
State places an ungodly bishop over any diocese, it
enables him, to a great extent, to exclude the Gospel
from the churches within his territory.
200 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
Any clergyman may be by law suspended for
preaching in any place which is not licensed by the
bishop, although there may be thousands of persons
in his immediate neighbourhood who never hear the
Gospel preached, and who will not come to the parish
church.
If this supremacy of the State is in itself a dis-
honour done to Christ, and if it practically sets aside
many of his commands, how can those who wish to
honour him perpetuate it by upholding the Union
between the State and the Church? To allow any
association of men not authorised by him, and, still
more, to allow an association, which cannot but, from
its constitution, be composed of worldly men, to
direct the administration of the churches of Christ in
spiritual things, manifests in the churches which
consent to it a disregard .to the authority and to
the honour of Jesus Christ, on the criminality of
which it is painful to reflect. In that guilt, too,
every member of the Establishment who does not
openly protest against the Union must be involved.
Recall the principles of the supremacy which have
just been stated, and then consider what is the
character of the usurpation on the part of the State
and of the subserviency on the part of each of the
churches.
The State being necessarily composed of a ma-
jority of worldly men, maintains its superintendence
over the churches, not for the sake of the Gospel
which they do not receive, but for the purposes of
THE SUPREMACY OF THE STATE. 201
government, which they can appreciate : " When
these men thrust themselves in to regulate religious
affairs, they are more or less culpable according as the
consciences of their subjects have or have not spon-
taneously placed themselves under the yoke ; but
they are culpable, because every application of sacred
things to secular uses participates in the character of
sacrilege. In the same manner, those who ally them-
selves with the State are more or less culpable,
according as they have invited or only accepted this
alliance with the governing power. But they are
culpable ; and for the crime which they commit as
churches there is no other name than that of adultery.
Thus sacrilege and adultery are the two characters of
the Union, according as one thinks of the State,
which has seized a treasure intrusted to the church,
which ought to have been inviolable, or of the
church which has surrendered it ... The church,
which is the soul of the human race, has God for her
husband. To him she has sworn an entire fidelity.
She has sworn to obey none but him, and to recognise
in him alone the inalienable rights of a husband.
But the Union which she contracts, as a spiritual
society, with a society which has in it nothing spi-
ritual, transferring to that secular society the authority
which belongs to God alone, reduces her to a state of
flagrant and permanent adultery." 1
1 Vinet, " Essai sur la Manifestation des Convictions Religieuses," pp.
231,232.
202 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
SECTION III. Of Patronage.
According to the apostolic precedents, which
have the force of laws among Christians, the churches
should elect their ministers. The whole congregation
at Jerusalem selected the two brethren, one of whom
was to be chosen by lot to fill the place of the apostate
Judas. 1 The~whole congregation chose their deacons ; 8
and the appointment of pastors for the churches of
Asia Minor by Paul and Barnabas is thus recorded by
Luke : " When they had elected elders for them by the
show of hands in every church, and had prayed with
fasting, they commended them to the Z,ord."* Congre-
gational election having thus been instituted by the
I Acts, i. a Acts, vi.
3 Acts, xiv. 23. The words are, Xugorovviraiirts $1 aiiroTs irgifffivTi^auf
KO.T' t**X<nv, &c., the meaning of which is, that they appointed them by
popular election, as appears from the following considerations :
Xtigoroti/u, q. d. TJV % s .~za. <riiva. Manum protendo. Hoc autem quia fie-
bat in suffragiis ferendis, hinc factum est ut ponatur pro scisco, decerno, creo.
Acts, xiv. 23. Xu^arovtitravTis cum creassent, seu potius per suffragia creas-
sent. Stephen.
II 'Ex*xj<r;a (the congregation) was an assembly of people met together
according to law to consult about the good of the commonwealth."
" When the debates were ended the crier asked the people whether they
would consent to the decree."
" The manner of giving their suffrages was by holding up their hands ;
and therefore they called it ^i/gorawa ; and %tioro*tiv signified to ordain or
establish anything; avra^t^orovtiv, to disannul by suffrage." Potter's Anti-
quities, Ed. 1818. Vol. i. pp. 107, 113.
XugoTena, xii^orov'ia., and their compounds, are frequently used in the
sense of popular election by the show of hands, and rarely, if ever, in any
other sense, by Aristophanes, Demosthenes, ./Eschines, Plutarch, and Xeno-
phon. See the instances collected by Stephen.
X<aTvt, to vote by holding up the hands, intrans. In N.T. trans, to
choose by vote. Acts, xiv. 23. Robinson's Lexicon.
The only other place where the word is used in the New Testament is
PATRONAGE. 203
apostles, continued for a considerable period in the
Christian churches. Mosheim the learned Presbyte-
2 Cor. viii. 19, Ou uovov ot, aXXa xoii j/jTavi$; uva rcav \x,xXn<riuv, &C. And
not that only, but who was also chosen (by suffrage) of the churches, &c.
As the xii/>rtia in the civil ixxKn/ria. signified always election by suffrage,
so it bore the same signification in the Christian ix>.rifia.
Refert enim Lucas constitutes esse per ecclesias presbyteros a Paulo et
Barnaba : sed rationem vel modum simul notat quum dicit, factum id esse
suffragiis : %ngoTovtiffavris , inquit, Tgio-fii/Tigou; x,ar ix.xXrnriy.v. Calv. Inst.
lib. iv. cap. iii. sec. 15.
Xf/jaravHa-avTsy a.lr',ij <rur$t>'rtgovs, &c. quum ipsi per suffragia creassent
per singulas ecclesias presbyteros. Ortum est hoc verbum ex Grsecorum
cousuetudine, qui porrectis manibus suffragia ferebant. Est autem notanda
vis hujus verbi, ut Paulum ac Barnabam sciamus nihil private arbitrio gessisse
nee ullam in ecclesia exercuisse tyrannidem, nihil denique tale fecisse quale
hodie Romanus Papa, et ipsius asseclse quos ordinaries vocant. Beza, ad loc.
Acts, xiv. 23. Et cum suffragiis creassent illis per singulas ecclesias
presbyteros, &c.
Iterum commendatur nobis ordinaria electio Eligitur enim com-
munibus populi suffragiis, qui optimorum testimonio probatus est. Bullinger,
ad loc.
Quoniam evangelii profectus id postulabat, ut apostoli per varias regiones
vagarentur, delectos populi suffragiis per singulas civitates presbyteros prse-
fecerunt illis, ut absentium apostolorum vices gererent. Pellican, ad loc.
Acts, xiv. 23. " Quumque ipsis per suffragia creassent," &c. Piscator,
ad loc.
" E dopo ch' ebbero loro per ciascuna chiesa ordinati, per voti communi,
degli anziani." Diodati.
When they had by common votes ordained, viz. with the approbation and
consent of the churches, to whom this right was anciently preserved, even
from the apostles' time. Diodati, ad loc.
Notandum quod apostoli .... presbyteros constituerint per ^ugaTav/av
sive suffragia fidelium Erasmus hie, " ut intelligamus suffragiis de-
lectos." .... Grotius, " accessisse consensum plebis credibile est ob id,
quod in re minori supra habuimus." Cap. vi. 2, 8. Ergo ^n^oravtiv hie
dicitur de apostolis, quemadmodum apud Demost. de vattahrxif, qui suffragiis
prcesidebant. Sequentibus temporibus vocabulum ^s/ga-rav/a, cum plebs suf-
fragari desiisset, pro episcopal! creatione presbyterorum, et %ugehffia usur-
patum est. Sed diu etiam in Ecclesia Romana retentum est, ut episcopus
certe non sine populi assensu crearetur. Cocceius, ad loc.
Xiigortts7v apud Graecos veteres proprie et primarie significat eligere, vel
per suffragia creare : tandem vero, ut multte voces alia, significationem mu-
tavit ; valetque tantum creare, vel constituere, vel ordinare ; quo sensu ver-
bum hoc usurpat turn Philo .... turn Lucianus .... turn Maximus
Tyrius. Poole, ad loc.
204 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
rian historian, Bingham the Episcopalian collector of
ecclesiastical antiquities, Dean Waddington, Paolo
" When they had," with the concurrent suffrage of the people, " consti-
tuted presbyters for them in every church." The old English bible trans-
lated it, " When they had ordained them elders by election." The cele-
brated author just mentioned (Mr. Harrington) has endeavoured largely to
vindicate this interpretation from the exceptions of Dr. Hammond, Dr. Sea-
man, and others, who make ^it^ravia the same with %tigetwi*. Doddridge,
ad loc.
Acts, xiv. 23. "When they had ordained them elders by election in
every church." Geneva Bible.
" When they had ordained them elders by election in every congrega-
tion." Tyndale, Cranmer.
Martin. " So they do force this word here to induce the people's elec-
tion ; and yet in their churches in England the people elect not ministers,
but their bishop. Whereas the holy scripture saith, they ordained to the
people ; and whatsoever force the word hath, it is here spoken of the
apostles, and pertaineth not to the people."
Fulke. " We mean not to enforce any other election than the word doth
signify ; neither do our bishops (if they do well) ordain any ministers or
priests without the testimony of the people, or at leastwise of such as be of
most credit where they are known. Where you use the pronoun ai/roTt, ' to
them,' as though the people gave no consent nor testimony, it is more than
ridiculous, and, beside that, contrary to the practice of the primitive church
for many hundred years after the apostles. That the word ^i^oroila. by the
fathers of the church since the apostles, hath been drawn to other significa-
tion than it had before, it is no reason to teach us how it was used by the
apostles."
Martin " Concerning ^ti^orovia,, St. Jerome telleth them in chap. 58
Esai, that it signifieth giving of holy orders, which is done not only by
prayer of the voice, but by the imposition of the hand . . . Where these
great etymologists, that so strain the original nature of this word to profane
stretching forth the hand in elections, may learn another ecclesiastical etymo-
logy thereof .... to wit, putting forth the hand to give orders."
Fulke. " The testimony of St. Jerome, whom you cite, you understand
not .... His purpose is not to tell what %tiorovia properly doth signify,
but that imposition of hands is required in lawful ordination, which many did
understand by the word %iigoTona, although in that place it signified no such
matter. And, therefore, you must seek further authority to prove your eccle-
siastical etymology, that ^n^avia signifieth putting forth of the hands to give
orders. The places you quote in the margin, out of the titles of Nazianzen's
Sermons, are to no purpose, although they were in the text of his homilies.
For it appeareth not, although by synecdoche the whole order of making
clerks were called %iigaratia, that election was excluded where there was or-
dination by imposition of hands. As for that you cite out of Ignatius, it
PATRONAGE. 205
Sarpi the Roman Catholic historian of the proceedings
of the Council of Trent, and Beza one of the fathers
of the Calvinistic churches, Neander the Lutheran his-
proveth against you, that %tiorovi~v differeth from imposition of hands ; be-
cause it is made a distinct office from %ngt>hri7v, that signifieth to lay on hands :
and so ^n^aravix and i-rihtrif ruv x'.iftov by your own author do differ."
A Defence of the English Translations of the Bible against the Cavils of
Gregory Martin, by William Fulke, D.D. Mauler of Pembroke Hall, Cam-
bridge. Edition of Parker Society, pp. 245-248.
Acts, xiv. 23. " Lorsque par 1'avis des assemblies, ils eurent tabli des
pretres ou des pasteurs dans chaque eglise," &c. Le Sueur, Histoire de
I' Eglise. Geneva, 1674. P. 159.
To all this argument it is objected that the word ^i^oToviTv may mean,
either, first, to ordain by imposition of hands (Hammond in Dod. ad loc.) ;
or, secondly, to select or appoint, as the word r^a^n^araviu, Acts, x. 41
(Bloornfield, Recensio ad loc.) : but that it cannot mean " to constitute those
whom others have elected." (Campbell and Bloomfield.}
The first of these senses is inadmissible, because the word %iiasravia never
had the sense of %tigofa<ria in any writer, sacred or classical, to the time of the
Book of Acts ; and it is no more allowable to give it this meaning, because
later ecclesiastical writers so employed it, than it would be to understand
the word i^riffKa-ras to mean, in the New Testament, a prelate instead of a
presbyter, or the word lxxX<r/a to mean a building, or a body of clergy, or
an aggregate of local churches, in an entire nation, instead of a Christian
assembly, because these words subsequently received these new significations.
The second sense of selection by individuals the word has : but this is a rare
and derived sense, not to be resorted to without necessity. It is true that the
sense of causing to elect, or electing by means of others, is also rare and de-
rived : but it is so agreeable to common usage in other words, that it might
be admitted here, even if no instance of it could be found in any classical
writer. Men are constantly said to do that which they direct others to do.
An architect is said to build a house, because he superintends the builders ;
the Lords of the Admiralty are said to launch a vessel when it is launched
under their order ; and a king is said to invade a country when he sends his
troops to invade it. Thus, Luke might write that the apostles Paul and Bar-
nabas elected presbyters by suffrage, when they caused them to be so elected.
In this causative sense the same writer has used the word x^'ivw in the follow-
ing passage : He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. (Acts, xvii. 31.) As,
therefore, God is said to judge the world, because he has appointed Christ
to judge it ; so Paul and Barnabas may be said to have elected the presbyters
by vote, because they appointed them to be so elected. Luke might use the
word %ugoTona in this sense, even if Xenophon or Demosthenes never had
occasion so to employ it. But Cocceius remarks, " %iigen>niv hie dicitur de
206 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
torian of our own days, Bost the author of " The
History of the Moravian Brethren," and even Hooker
with his strong antipopular predilections, all ac-
apostolis, quemadmodum apud Demosthenem de vepohrais , qui svffragiis prae-
sidebant." One of the passages to which he may allude is the following, in
the oration against Timocrates : Talv S lofitav ruv xuftiwv ft I%t7va> Kuffu.i
trdivo. lav W It voji.o6ira.i(. Tort 3t i%t7vai <rta /3auA.<ytvai TUV ittvtetun /.v-iv,
orov
, ~ \ \ ~ / ~ / r - ~
>oua' "jrewrov (AIV vrtfi rov xiij&tvov, n OOKII t^irnono; itnai TM OH/AW rcav
aiuv, * ei> : iwra. vrti rau TI^'.VOIJ. 'OHOTEPON A' 'AN XEIPOTONH-
'OI NOMOeETAI, TOTTON r EINAI. (Oratores Grseci, Reiske, vol. i.
p. 710.) The office of the vofe./>0t<ru.i " was not to enact new laws by their own
authority, for that could not be done without the approbation of the senate and
the people's ratification ; but to inspect the old ; and if they found any of them
useless or prejudicial, as the state of affairs then stood, or contradictory to others,
they caused them to be abrogated by an act of the people." (Potter's Ant. i. 92.)
Agreeably to this statement of Archbishop Potter, it appears from the pas-
sage before us, that a new law proposed at Athens, after having been allowed
by the viftohrcu, was to be brought before the !*xXi<na, or assembly. The
vpoiSeoi, or presidents, were then vomv ^ia^ti^oTovia.i, to determine by the
show of hands, first, whether the old law should be abrogated, secondly,
whether the proposed law should be enacted. And as the voftefarai, or pro-
posers of laws, originated the act of the Ixx^nmx, THEY WERE SAID, XEIPO-
TONEIN TON NOMON, TO ENACT THE LAW BY THE SHOW OF HANDS.
Exactly in the same manner, the apostles, who held in the Christians'
ixxXtiffia exactly the offices of the wgoiSgei and the tofiafirai in the civil
txxtofix, might be said as presiding over the church -ron?* Zia.%ug/>-To*lay, and
as instituting the election of the presbyters ^n^Totil-o <roi>s <ri<r$u<riovf.
Since, then, the causative sense of ^ngorovtu is as admissible as its sense
of individual selection, there are the following reasons for preferring the
former.
It is nearer to the original and common sense of the word, which is to
enact, or elect by suffrage.
As the usual sense of the word is to elect by suffrage, had Luke wished
to exclude the idea of suffrage on this occasion, he would have used the word
ix^iyoftai, or xaGurrtifii , or some other word not involving that idea.
The election of presbyters by the churches would not have been so gene-
rally adopted or so long maintained, without apostolic precedent, considering
the early and rapid growth of clerical power and pretension.
The congregational election of presbyters is in accordance with other con-
gregational acts appointed or allowed by the apostles. The churches alone
could know the qualifications and characters of the brethren to be appointed,
as the apostles made only transient visits. See Acts, xvi. 1-3.
PATRONAGE. 207
knowledge this to be the fact. 1 Hence congrega-
tional election became the principle of all the Cal-
I It was the assembly of the people which chose their own rulers and
teachers, or received them by free and authoritative consent, when recom-
mended by others. Mosheim, cent. i. p. ii. c. ii. sect. 6.
No bishop was to be obtruded on any orthodox people against their con-
sent Sometimes the bishops in synod proposed a person, and the
people accepted him ; sometimes, again, the people and the bishops con-
sented If they were divided, it was the metropolitan's care to unite
and fix them hi their choice, but not to intrude upon them an unchosen
person. This we learn from one of Leo's epistles, where he gives us, at once,
both the church's rule and practice, and the reasons of it : ' In the choice of a
bishop,' says he, ' let him be preferred whom the clergy and people do unani-
mously agree upon and require. If they be divided in their choice, then let
the metropolitan give preference to him who has most votes and most merits ;
always provided that no one be ordained against the will and desire of the
people, lest they contemn or hate their bishop, and become irreligious or
disrespectful, when they cannot have him whom they desired.' " Bingham's
Antiquities, book iv. ch. ii. sect. 4.
St. Jerome says expressly, that presbyters and the other clergy were as
much chosen by the people as the bishops were. And Possidius notes this to
have been both the custom of the church, and St. Austin's practice, in the
ordinations of priests and clerks, to have regard to the majority, or general
consent, of Christian people. And Servicius, who speaks the sense and
practice of the Roman Church, says, that when a deacon was to be ordained
either presbyter or bishop, he was first to be chosen both by the clergy and
people. Ibid. sect. 10.
In the earliest government of the first Christian society, that of Jerusa-
lem, not the elders only, but the whole church, were associated with the
apostles, Acts, xv. 2, 4, 22, 23, &c. Dean Waddington, Hist, of the
Church, chap. ii. p. 20.
Of most of the apostolical churches the first bishops were appointed by
the apostles : of those not apostolical, the first presidents were probably the
missionaries who founded them ; but on their death the choice of a successor
devolved on the members of the society. In this election the people had an
equal share with the presbyters and inferior clergy, without exception or dis-
tinction ; and it is clear that their right, in this matter, was not barely testi-
monial, but judicial and elective. Ibid. p. 23.
There were some variations in the mode of election according to times and
circumstances, since no rule is laid down in scripture on the subject ; but
there is a great concurrence of evidence to show that no bishop was ever
obtruded on an orthodox people against their consent. Ibid. Note.
II modo dell' elegere i ministri, fu come si e detto di sopra, instituito
dalli santi apostoli, che Ii vescovi, preti, e altri ministri della parola di Dio,
208 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
vinistic and Presbyterian churches. It is recognised
e li diaconi ministri delle cose temporal!, fossero eletti de tutta 1'Universita
de' fedeli Paolo Sarpi, Trattato de la Materie Beneficiarie. Opere, vol.
iii. p. 27.
Habemus ergo esse hanc, ex verbo Dei, legitimam ministri vocationem,
ubi, ex populi consensu et approbatione, creantur, qui visi fuerint idonei.
Calv. Inst. lib. iv. chap. iv. sect. 15.
Iterum repeto quod antea dixi, nunquam receptum fuisse in Christianis
ecclesiis jam constitutis, ut quis admitteretur ad functionem ecclesiasticam
nisi libere et legitime electus ab ecclesia cujus intererat.
Quid igitur spectarunt apostoli quum pastores et diaconos constituerint in
ecclesiis quas sedificabant ? hoc nimirum, ut qui elegebantur essent, quoad ejus
fieri posset a.vi-xt\-nTrToi, et invito gregi non obtruderentur.
Turn ergo ne in aedificatis quidem ecclesiis erunt omnia suffragiis multi-
tudinis committenda, neque tamen absque totius ecclesise consensu deligendi
fuerint pastores. Beza, Confessio Fidei, cap. iv. sect. 135.
Pour ce qui est du choix des functionnaries ecclesiastiques, il est evident
que les premiers diacres, et les delegues qui accompagnaient les apotres avaient
etc choisis dans le sein des eglises qui leur avoient donne leurs pouvoirs.
2 Cor. viii. 19. On pourrait conclure de plusieurs exemples, qu'on en agis-
sait de meme pour 1'institution des presbyters. Neander, Histoire de I'Eta-
blissement de VEglise, vol. i. p. 130.
Qui est ce qui nomme les pasteurs d'une eglise ? Bien que la parole ne
dise pas expressement que chaque eglise se choisisse les conducteurs, il est
cependant assez naturel de le conclure de certains passages. Si, par exemple,
de simples freres furent appeles a choisir deux candidats pour la charge
d'apotre, a plus forte raison peuvent Us nommer un pasteur. Acts, i. 15, 16.
Acts, xiv. 23 ; 2 Cor. viii. 19. Semblerait etablir la nomination des pas-
teurs par des eglises Quoi-qu'il en soit a cet egard, imposer comme
de force a une eglise un pasteur, ou meme un diacre, serait assurement mani-
fester un esprit, bien different de celui des apotres, (Acts, i. 6,) qui requi-
raient 1'assistance et le concours des eglises dans des choses ou, selon nos
idees, ils auraient pu ne le point faire. Bost, Essai sur la Nature des
Eglises, &c. p. 41.
Now when that power (of order) so received is once to have any certain
subject whereon it may work, and whereunto it is to be tied, here cometh in
the people's consent, and not before. The power of order I may lawfully
receive without asking leave of any multitude ; but that power I cannot exer-
cise upon any one certain people utterly against their wills. Neither is there
in the Church of England any man, by order of law, possessed with pastoral
charge over any parish, but the people, in effect, do choose him thereunto. For,
albeit, they choose not by giving every man personally his particular voice,
yet can they not say that they have their pastors violently obtruded on them,
&c. &c. Hooker, Polity, book vii. sect. 14.
Ministri ipsi erant delecti ut plurimum ex coetibus ipsis,
PATRONAGE. 209
in the Saxon, Helvetic, and Belgian confessions ; and
magno sane rei sacrce adjumento ecclesiarum commodo Quae
quidem singula tarn aperta sunt e sacris literis, et primeva historia, ut pro-
batione ulterior! non indigeant. Weismann, Historia Ecclesiastica. Halle,
1745, p. 96.
Therefore, to avoid all such unlearned and unapt persons, the custom
in times past of choosing ministers is greatly to be commended, which was
this. The whole parish, or the better part of them, where a pastor was
wanted, assembled themselves together certain days before the election, and
conferred of the appointment of a new minister. The names of certain honest,
grave, godly, wise, sober, zealous, constant, and learned men, were prefixed,
and set up in some notable place of the city or town, with a schedule or writ-
ing, to declare that the men, whose names were there entitled, were appointed,
on such a day, to be chosen ministers of the congregation of God : again, that
if any man did know any fault or notable imperfection in them, concerning
either their doctrine or life, they should, on such day, be present, and object
what they lawfully could. If no worthy objection at the day appointed were
made, then did the election proceed. But before the election, the parish being
gathered together in the name of Christ, they gave themselves to fasting and
prayer ; and a sermon made, concerning both the office of the pastor and the
duty of the parishioners, some other minister or ministers, with certain elders
of that congregation, laid their hands upon the new chosen minister, wishing
nnto him the Spirit of God and the fruits of the same That this was
the custom in times past, divers ancient writings of the most ancient writers
abundantly testify. St. Cyprian, an ancient Latin writer, saith, " The com-
mon people themselves have, before all other, power either to choose worthy
priests, or to refuse the unworthy. Which thing we see to have the beginning
of God's authority, that the priest, in the presence of the people, should
openly, and in every man's sight, be chosen, and allowed to be worthy and
meet, by the public judgment and open testimony." Becon's Works. Ed. of
Parker Society, p. 7.
Propter quod plebs obsequens prseceptis dominicis, et Deum metuens, a
peccatore prjeposito separare se debet, nee se ad sacrilegi sacerdotis sacrificia
miscere ; quando ipsa maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacer-
dotes, vel indignos recusandi. Quod et ipsum videmus, ut sacerdos, plebe
prassente, sub omnium oculis deligatur, et dignus atque idoneus publico
judicio ac testimonio comprobetur. Cyprian. Op. Oxon. 1682. Epist. 67,
in note, p. 7 ; Becon's Works.
Electio ordinarie facta est ab apostolis, aut eorum delegatis (Tit. i. 5) ;
sed priesenti, adplaudenti subinde postulante, populo ecclesiam constituente,
quippe penes quern jus electionis erat ; Acts, xiv. 23 ; Ubi verbum ^tifOTtv'Jy
denotat per suffragia, qua? protensis manibus dari solebant, eligere ; uti 2 Cor.
viii. 19 Venema, Historia Ecclcsiee, torn. iii. p. 202.
210 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
the French churches embodied it in one of their canons
of discipline. 1
1 Vocentur et eligantur, electione ecclesiastica et legitima, ministri eccle-
sias ; id est, eligantur religiose ab ecclesia, vel ad hoc deputatis ab ecclesia, &c.
Sylloge Confessionum, p. 68. Confessio Helvetica, sect, xviii.
Filius Dei est sumrnus sacerdos, unctus ab seterno Patre, qui ut non fundi-
tus intereat ecclesia, ministros evangelii ei attribuit, partim a se immediate
vocatos, ut prophetas et apostolos, partim vocatione humana electos. Nam
et ecclesise electionem approbat, et immensa bonitate efficax est, etiam so-
nante evangelio per electos suffragiis aut nomine ecclesise. Ib. p. 276. Con-
fessio Saxonica, sect. xii.
Credimus ministros, seniores, et diaconos debere ad functiones illas suas
vocari et promoveri legitima ecclesise electione, &c. Ib. p. 347. Confessio
Belgica, sect. xxxi.
He whose election shall be declared unto the church shall preach publicly
the word of God on three successive sabbaths ; the people's silence
shall be taken for a full consent. But in case contention should arise, and the
aforenamed elect should be pleasing to the consistory, but not unto the people,
or to the major part of them, his reception shall be deferred, and the whole
shall be remitted unto the Colloquy or Provincial Synod ; and
although the said elect shall be then and there justified, yet shall he not be
given as pastor unto that people against their will, nor to the discontentment
of the greatest part of them. Discipline of the Reformed Churches of France,
chap. i. canon 6. Quick's Synodicon, p. xvii.
Vous voyez, en second lieu, comme les apotres ont defere a 1'eglise le droit
de creer ses propres officiers, comme ils 1'avoient pratique lors qu'il fut
question de subroger un apotre a Judas ; car ils le proposerent a 1'assemblee
laquelle en choisit deux, Joseph et Matthias, entre lesquels on jeta le sort, afin
que Jesus Christ declarat lui-meme du ciel, lequel le deux lui ctoit le plus
agreable, et qu'ainsi celui-la tint sa vocation immediatement de lui, ce qui
etoit une condition necessaire a la charge d'apotre. De celle des diacres il
u'etoit pas de meme, et ainsi il n'etoit pas necessaire d'y employer le sort ;
c'est pourquoi le chose fut simplement remise au choix de 1'assemblee. Et
ainsi s'est il observe en 1'ancienne glise en 1'election des pasteurs, comme
nous le voyons en Saint Cyprien, et en une infinite des passages des autres
anciens. Mais aux siecles suivans les eveques de Rome ont ote ce droit au
peuple Chretien, et se le sont reserve a eux seuls ; convertissans le ministere
en une denomination monarchique. Pour nous nous avons ramene 1'ancien
ordre, et restitue a 1'eglise de droit qui lui appartenoit. Car encore qu'en
1'election d'un pasteur nous n'assemblions pas toute une eglise pour recueillir
les suffrages de tous les fideles qui la composent, en quoi il y auroit du des-
ordre et divers inconvenients, neanmoins precede a son election, dans un synode
compose des pasteurs et anciens, qui sont deputes de toutes les eglises de la
PATRONAGE. 211
No less than their brethren on the Continent, the
Scotch reformers adopted the same principle ; and in
the " First Book of Discipline," drawn up by John
Knox, Spottiswood, Douglass, and others, in the year
1560, and then " subscribed by the kirk and the
lords," we find these words : " It appertained to the
people and to every several congregation to elect their
minister Altogether this is to be avoided, that
any man be violently intruded or thrust in on any
congregation ; but this liberty, with all care, must
be reserved to every several church, to have their votes
and suffrages in the election of their ministers." 1
The " Second Book of Discipline," which was agreed
upon in the general assemblies of 1577 and of 1578,
which contains the present discipline of the Scotch
Establishment, has the following maxims : " Election
is the choosing out of a person, or persons, most
habile (suited) to the office which vaikes (is vacant)
by the judgment of the eldership and consent of the
congregation to whom the person or persons is to
be appointed. In this ordinary election it is to be
eschewed that no person be intruded in any of the
offices of the kirk contrary to the will of the congre-
gation to whom they are appointed. . . . The liberty
of election of persons called to ecclesiastical functions,
province, et qui les representent. La on voit les temoignages qu'il a de sa vie,
et puis en 1'examine sur la doctrine, et sur la dextcrite qu'il a a detailler la
parole de Dieu ; apres quoi 011 le propose a 1'eglise pour y ctre vu et oui ; et
si elle 1'approuve et 1'agree, on le lui donne pour pasteur, avec pricre et impo-
sition des mains. Le Fauclteur. Sermon sur Actes, vi. 1-6.
1 First Book of Discipline, chap. iv. sect. 1.
212 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
and observed without interruption, so long as the
kirk was not corrupted by Antichrist, we desire to be
restored and to be retained within this realm." 1
By this scriptural evidence we must conclude it to
be our Lord's will, that each congregation should
refuse an ungodly pastor ; and therefore should care-
fully make choice of a pastor possessed of the qualifi-
cations which are required in the New Testament.
But by the Union, the churches, without any autho-
rity from Christ, have transferred this whole duty to
others.
As another consequence of the legal maintenance
of the Anglican pastors, it has been settled that the
owners of estates charged with the payment of the
salaries of pastors shall have the nomination. The
parochial churches of Christ, within the Establish-
ment, being about 11,000, the pastors of 952 are
chosen by the Crown; 1248 are chosen by bishops
and archbishops; 787 by deans and chapters; 1851
by other dignitaries; 721 by colleges; and 5996 by
private patrons. 2 When a patron presents a minister
to a bishop to be settled as the pastor of a church, the
church has no voice in the transaction. The bishop
is almost as powerless ; for, unless he can prove the
nominee to be legally disqualified, he must admit him
to the pastoral charge. That the nominee is offensive
to the people, infirm, indolent, with little talent,
1 Second Book of Discipline, chap. iii. sect. 4, 5 ; chap. xii. sect. 9.
2 M'Culloch's " Statistics," vol. ii. p. 406.
PATRONAGE. 213
slender theological attainments, and few virtues ; that
he is ill-tempered or eccentric ; that he hunts and
shoots, attends at balls, and plays cards, are no legal
disqualifications. Unless the bishop can prove him to
be heretical or immoral, he must admit him to be the
pastor, or the patron would obtain damages against
him in an action of cjuare wtpedit in the temporal
court ; and the rejected nominee would obtain a judg-
ment against him in the ecclesiastical court by a suit
of duplex querela. If in this latter case the bishop do
not prove his charge, or if the cause of his refusal to
institute be insufficient in law, the archbishop decrees
that the nominee shall be instituted, and the bishop is
condemned in the expenses. 1 By this state of the law,
whenever the patron chooses an unfit and obnoxious
person out of sixteen thousand ecclesiastics, of whom
many are ungodly, to be the pastor of any church,
neither the bishop nor the church can oppose any
direct hindrance. If he be not legally disqualified he
must be admitted.
Few things can be more important to a church
than the choice of its pastor. A wise, holy, zealous,
and affectionate minister may be the instrument of
conversion to many souls, and promote the spiritual
welfare of all the members of the church. Under his
pastoral care personal and family religion, education,
attention to the wants of the poor, and missionary
zeal, may all flourish. Parents may see their children
1 Burn, vol. i. pp. 157, 159, 161.
214 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
growing up in the fear of God, families may be united
and happy, a congregation may be devout and holy,
and the piety of a whole neighbourhood may be
advanced. An ungodly minister may, on the other
hand, alienate the most pious members of the church
from his ministry, empty both the school and the
temple, expose religion to the contempt of the scorner,
bring down a spiritual blight upon the place, and
leave the clmreh, after half a century of misdeeds, as
lukewarm as the church of Laodicea, and as dead as
the church of Sardis.
Yet in this important transaction a church within
the Establishment has no voice. The patron, the
nominee, and the bishop, may be all worldly men,
who care nothing for their spiritual welfare ; but the
nominee, backed by his patron, and aided by the
bishop, may despise the reluctance of the church, and
assume, against their will, the direction of their wor-
ship, the government of their schools, and the whole
pastoral superintendence of their parish. It is true,
that assuming to guide them to heaven he does not
know the way thither himself; but they must place
themselves under his guidance, because they wish to
avoid paying his salary. Men do not act thus in
matters of far less moment. The same persons who
quietly allow strangers to nominate their pastor would
resent a similar dictation respecting any other func-
tionary. They would allow no stranger to nominate
the tutor to instruct their children, the physician to
PATRONAGE. 215
attend their families, the lawyer to transact their
business, or the member to represent them in Par-
liament. And yet the qualifications of their pastor
exercise a more powerful influence upon them for good
or evil than any one of these professional or public
men.
To transfer an unrestricted right of choosing their
pastor to any patron, however wise and pious, would
be culpable rashness ; but the patrons to whom the
Anglican Churches commit this right are peculiarly
unfitted to exercise it. The right is obtained not by
their personal excellence, nor by an election to it, but
from the accident that they hold the estate which pays
the salary, or have purchased the right from those
who hold it. Thus persons of all degrees of imbecility,
ignorance, irreligion, and immorality, may choose pas-
tors for the Anglican Churches out of a body of sixteen
thousand ecclesiastics, among whom there are numbers
of irreligious and unconverted men. And since these
patrons are generally rich, and " it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rick
man to enter into the kingdom of God" 1 they are, as a
class, more likely to be irreligious than others are, and
thus far less capable of estimating rightly the qualifi-
cations of a good pastor. It makes the matter worse,
that this right is often separated from the possession
of the estate which originally conveyed it, so that the
patron may be a stranger to the people, and totally
1 Matt. xix. 24.
216 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
regardless of their welfare. To such hands have the
eleven thousand parochial churches of the Establish-
ment consented, for the sake of the salaries, to trans-
fer the right of choosing their pastors.
By the law of Christ, Christians are to try the
ministers who preach to them, must not listen to
those who do not preach the Gospel, must not receive
unsound teachers into their houses, and must separate
from evil-doers whether ministers or members. 1 But
the Anglican Churches, on the condition that they
do not furnish the salaries, have committed to men
who are generally, it is to be feared, destitute of
spiritual religion, the absolute right of selecting their
pastors without reserving to themselves the right of
examination or remonstrance.
This custom of the churches within the Establish-
ment is the less excusable, because, as we have seen,
it contradicts the practice of the churches which were
under the immediate direction of the apostles. To
disregard these precedents is to despise the authority
of Christ, by which the apostles acted; for, unless
special circumstances can be pleaded to show that any
apostolic practice was meant to be ephemeral, each
such practice must describe a permanent authoritative
institution, which is to be respected and maintained
by every disciple of Christ.
When, therefore, any Anglican congregation sub-
1 Matt. vii. 15-20 ; John, x. 5 ; 2 John, 9-11 ; Rom. xvi. 17 ; 1 Cor.
v. 11, 13; 2 Cor. vi. 14-18, &c. &c.
PATRONAGE. 217
mits to the intrusive appointment of a pastor by a
patron, it consents to disregard a regulation framed
by the apostles upon Christ's authority for the
universal church. What right has the patron to
nominate the pastor? His estate qualifies him to
furnish the salary, but as it gives him neither talent
nor piety, nor even good morals, it does not qualify
him to choose the pastor ; nor can it convey the right
to do so. If it be replied that the State has enacted
this arrangement, we must ask, Who gave the State
authority thus to interfere with the prescribed duties
of the church ? The State has no such right ; and if
it has usurped the right of the church by means of
the salary, the church is bound to relinquish the salary
and to recover the right. It is bound to recover its
independence, however excellent the intrusive pastor
might be ; but the mischief becomes still more intense
when the pastor to be forced upon them is ungodly.
The mischief which is done to a church by the
appointment of an ungodly minister demonstrates the
magnitude of the injury which the whole Establish-
ment must suffer from this cause. If it be as into-
lerable an evil to an evangelical church to have an
ungodly pastor as for a flock to have a wolf for its
shepherd, a crew when tossed by the tempest to have
a drunkard for their captain, or for an army in an
enemy's country to have a traitor for their general,
it must be intolerable to the Establishment to have
many of its churches misled by many such pastors.
218 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
But as long as the system of patronage lasts, this evil
must continue. The rich patrons of this country are
not generally evangelical and godly, and therefore do
not nominate evangelical and godly pastors ; and
ungodly pastors can never form and build up evan-
gelical and godly churches. Thus this single evil of
patronage secures that the churches of the Establishment
shall continue, as they have ever been, to a great extent
ignorant and irreligious. Irreligious patrons are a
corrupt foundation for the Establishment, ivhich no
improvements in the detail of its administration can
ever rectify ; and patronage must ever be a source of
mischief, so prolific that the churches of the Establish-
ment, without such miracles of grace as this disregard
of the authority of Christ forbids us to expect, must
still remain ignorant and irreligious.
A veto law, such as was adopted by the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, would mitigate
the evil, because a church once enlightened and evan-
gelical would never afterwards receive as its pastor
an ungodly nominee of the patron ; and thus evan-
gelical churches would be multiplied. Here let me
describe the working of that veto law in Scotland,
w T hich was beneficial in the highest degree :
" The veto was proposed by Dr. Chalmers, and
lost by a majority of two, in 1833 ; and in 1834, on
the motion of Lord MoncriefF, it was carried by a
majority of forty-six.
" The use of the right, thus recovered by the com-
PATRONAGE. 219
municants of the Church of Scotland, has been so
moderate, that although there have been three hun-
dred presentations since the passing of the Act, there
have been only about twelve instances of the veto ;
and not a single instance of a second veto in any one
vacancy.
" On the other hand, its influence, which has been
felt through the whole Scottish people, speedily justi-
fied the wisdom of those who enacted it. Parents
could no longer destine a son to the ministry without
regard to his religious character or mental powers ;
and patrons could no longer determine who should be
the pastor of a parish by mere caprice, nor settle a
young man in an important spiritual relation to repay
the secular services rendered by his parents, to serve
a dependant or to gratify a friend : but parents and
patron were now obliged to consider whether the
talents and virtues of the young man would secure
the assent of the parishioners.
" The effect of the veto upon the presbyteries was
equally good. Prior to this act, the chief check upon
absolute patronage lay in their examinations ; but
many of the presbyters had themselves been thrust
upon reluctant parishes ; many depended upon patrons
for preferment ; there was a right of appeal from their
judgment to higher church courts, which were then
under the dominant influence of moderatism ; and
should they be supposed to act beyond their com-
petency, the civil courts were ready to interpose.
220 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
These, or some other reasons yet more powerful, had
so paralysed them, that, although many incompetent
and unworthy men were presented, it has been
asserted that there is no instance within the memory
of man in which a presentee has been rejected by a
presbytery on the ground of moral disqualification
till the passing of the veto. Presbyteries themselves
deteriorated under absolute patronage ; the dread of
the condemnation of public opinion was not sufficient
to prevent the passing of individuals, whose want of
the most ordinary qualifications was a scandal to the
church ; and the trial of a presentee, no less than the
call of the people, ' was too often a total mockery/
But since the veto act, presbyteries having been led
to consider more carefully the good of the people,
their examinations have become in consequence more
strict ; and in two cases a probationer, nominated by
the patron, and accepted by the people, has been
rejected by the presbytery on the ground of dis-
qualification.
" If these two checks exercised a happy influence
upon the patrons in the choice of a minister, they
acted still more powerfully on the theological students
themselves. Under the reign of an almost unrestricted
patronage, any youth who had not talent enough for
the bar, and was without sufficient industry for trade,
might be sure, if his parents could only obtain the
favour of a patron, that he would get into a comfort-
able manse. But after the enactment of the veto,
PATRONAGE. 221
every theological student knew that, in the absence of
considerable ability, learning, and seriousness, to say
the least, he would be vetoed by the people or rejected
by the presbytery, even if he could obtain a nomina-
tion from the patron. Access to the ministry being
thus denied to the irreligious and the indolent, men
of ability, learning, and virtue, now saw their way
open to posts of usefulness. Whether they were of
opulent families without ecclesiastical patronage, or
of the humblest rank still further off from the smiles
of the great, they had no longer the mortification of
seeing the ill-qualified dependants of patrons, without
any kind of excellence, by an unworthy favouritism
placed over their heads. Hence, while there were as
many probationers from the higher classes as before
the veto, the students of every class were decidedly
more instructed and more talented than before. Nor
did the increased severity of discipline leave the
church without pastors. It scared away the worth-
less, but it attracted the men of worth. In 1838,
i. e. four years after the operation of the veto, the
number of probationers was five hundred, and in
1839 it was about seven hundred, while the whole
number of vacancies occurring in the church, includ-
ing unendowed churches and colonial appointments,
was about fifty. So that, in that latter year, the
number of piK)bationers was equal to the supply of
the church with ministers for fourteen years ; and
at the same time, the additional annual supply of
222 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
probationers was double the annual number of
vacancies.
" When, further, the accepted probationer became,
under the veto, the pastor of a parish, he entered on
his ministry under circumstances remarkably con-
trasted with those which often arose from, almost
unrestricted patronage. The intruded presentee,
forced upon a reluctant people, was a being apart
from them ; perhaps irritated by their opposition,
perhaps indifferent to their welfare, but at all events
beginning his parental and pastoral care of them with
the aspect of one who was determined to exact ob-
noxious dues from sullen debtors, and to exercise a
hated authority upon those who would expel him if
they cpuld : under the veto he would not begin his
ministerial labours among them till he had first
secured their friendship ; and, owing his appointment
to their consent, he would feel a gratitude for their
kindness blending with other motives to do them
good.
" On the congregation, too, the influence of the
veto was salutary. When a minister is forced upon
a people against the principle of their church, and
against their own convictions of his suitableness, their
minds must be shut against his instructions, because
they doubt his charity, and because they question his
authority from Christ ; but when they have solemnly
expressed their belief that their pastor is well fitted
to do them good, and he assumes his ministry among
PATRONAGE. 223
them, by their own consent, in accordance with
every law of the Gospel and of their church, then
are they prepared to listen to him with reverence
and affection.
"The effect of these improved relations between
the ministers of the Scotch Church and their people,
was felt far beyond the bounds of the parishes in
which new ministers were settled under the act. As
unrestricted patronage and the settled worldliness to
which it mainly gave rise in the church had driven
many from it, and alienated many more who remained
within it, so its friends now saw with joy its increas-
ing spirituality, and the sight revived their attachment
to it. Fresh activity began now to be displayed in
multiplying the means of instruction through the
land. During the dreary period of declension and
spiritual death, from 1730, when ministers began to
be generally intruded, to 1834, when the veto was
enacted, scarcely any additional buildings were erected
for the worship of God, though the population had
continued to increase. As late as 1797, all pro-
posals to erect chapels-of-ease were discountenanced
by the Assembly ; and except by the direction of that
authority, which was then hostile, no member of the
church might erect one.
" The result of this policy, which was as neglectful
of the welfare of the people as it was suicidal to the
Establishment, was, that while six hundred congre-
224 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
gations of dissenters grew up within that century,
sixty-three chapels-of-ease alone were added to the
fabrics of the Establishment. But, after the passing
of the veto, new life was infused into the evangelical
members of the church, and under their guidance new
energy marked all its operations. In 1834, ministers
of chapels-of-ease were admitted by the act of the
Assembly to church courts and other privileges. In
1835, sixty-two new churches were either built or in
progress, being only one less than the number which
had been erected in the whole previous century ; and
at the end of five years, the number of new churches
erected or in progress was 201 ; being an addition
of more than one-fifth to the whole number of the
churches in the Establishment in 1834.
"Meanwhile, the growing zeal of pious members
of the church would not be confined to home objects.
In 1796, an overture made to the Assembly in behalf
of missions was rejected by 58 to 44. The speeches
made against the overture by the clergymen who
spoke on that occasion, preserved in a spirited tract
by Mr. Hugh Miller, I will not characterise. But
better counsels began to prevail : the principle of
foreign missions was adopted in 1824 ; a colonial
missionary scheme was instituted in 1836 ; a mission
to the Jews was undertaken in 1838; and besides
the erection of two hundred new churches at home,
and large annual contributions to the scheme for
PATRONAGE. 225
education, the missionary income of the church in-
creased, between 1834 and 1842, from 485G/. to
25,307/.
" Yet all this exertion was not the result of a spirit
of sectarian rivalry. The same grace of God which
had revived evangelical doctrine in the church, had
also opened the hearts of Christians within it to their
brethren of other denominations. Bigotry often grows
with the decay of piety, as the fungus flourishes most
on a rotten tree ; and during the declension of the
eighteenth century, the Church of Scotland did not
become liberal. ' Saints by profession,' says the Con-
fession of the Church, ' are bound to maintain an
holy fellowship and communion in the worship of
God, &c., which communion, as God offers opportu-
nity, is to be extended unto all those who in every
place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.' 'In
contravention, however, of this catholic doctrine of
the Confession, and in opposition to the uniform
practice of the Church of Scotland downwards from
the Reformation, the limits of ministerial communion
with other churches were perseveringly straitened
during the long reign of moderatism, till at last, by
an act of Assembly, passed in 1799, the absolute
exclusion of the ministers of every other church under
heaven, from even occasional preaching in the pulpits
of the Establishment, was effected, and a declaration
of non-communion in this matter against the whole
Christian world was promulgated.'
Q
226
PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
" Very different were the views of the evangelical
majority of 1834, of which the following sentence,
adopted by the Assembly in 1838, may be taken as
an exposition : ' We protest therefore, most solemnly,
as our fathers often, at the utmost hazard of their
lives, protested, against intolerance and persecution of
every kind on account of religion, against all proceed-
ings and plans whose object is to impose restraints,
or pains and penalties, on men for conscience sake;
or in any other way to coerce or constrain their senti-
ments concerning the truth of God.'
" These are sentiments worthy a Christian church ;
and though the voluntary controversy still ran high,
the conduct of the church since 1834 was calculated
in various ways to lessen the asperity of dissent. The
intolerant act of 1799 was modified, and ministers of
foreign Presbyterian churches were admitted into the
pulpits of the Establishment, which were eventually
thrown open to other denominations also.
" Former exclusiveness had augmented the amount
of dissent, and increased its bitterness. Under the
influence of moderatism, the few seceding congrega-
tions of the Erskines and their friends grew into five
hundred ; and the whole number of dissenting congre-
gations in 1834 was six hundred, or more than half
the number of the congregations of the Establishment.
But while the evangelical majority of 1834 had raised
201 new churches within five years after the passing
the veto act, their principles and their piety so influ-
PATRONAGE. 227
cnced many of the dissenters, that the burgher synod,
comprehending about forty churches, reunited them-
selves with them.
" Thus the veto law, under the administration of
the non-intrusionists in the Church of Scotland, aided
by several other wholesome laws which they passed,
had restrained the abuses of patronage, had induced
presbyteries to be more strict in their examinations of
candidates for the ministry, had raised the mental and
moral qualifications of probationers, and was yearly
enlarging the number of pious ministers. It cemented
the affections of ministers and their flocks ; it satisfied
the consciences of the most enlightened and pious
members of the church, and revived their affection to-
wards it when viewed as an Establishment ; it multi-
plied churches and schools ; it improved the discipline
of the church and augmented its resources; it esta-
blished or strengthened missions to the colonies, to
the heathen, and to the Jews ; and it conciliated mul-
titudes of dissenters, while it lessened the asperity
of all." l
But the determined opposition to the veto by
almost all our statesmen of all parties, the merciless
maintenance of unrestricted patronage, the resolute
defiance of the dangers foreseen to be involved in its
maintenance, and the unrepentant steadfastness with
which Parliament has clung to it after 450 of the
best and ablest of the Scotch ministers, by their
1 Case of the Free Church, pp. 14-30.
228
PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
forced secession, have left the Establishment almost
a ruin, proves that, in the opinion of Parliament, the
principle of an Establishment is essentially interwoven
with the principle of patronage. Before these events
in Scotland I hoped for a reformation on this point in
the Anglican Churches ; but no one can hope now. It
has been irrevocably ruled, that a patronage which
tramples down the rights of churches, and which in
many instances allows the blind to nominate the blind
as guides of the seeing, is the condition upon which
the Establishment exists.
It seems, then, to me, that they who by the
sovereign mercy of God have been brought out of
darkness into light, and have enlisted loyally in the
service of Christ, are bound either to recover the right
of the churches, and to recall them to their duty in
this vital matter; or if they are too weak for this
achievement, then to act with the integrity which has
done honour to the north, and leave the Establishment
to drift down the stream of events in the hands of the
blind and the deaf.
By thus resigning one spiritual right after another,
the Anglican Churches have lost much that ought to
distinguish the churches of Christ. Their pastors are
selected and supported by strangers ; all sorts of per-
sons may force their children into communion with
them by baptism, and demand admission themselves
to the Lord's table. They have no discipline except
such as is exercised by a distant Crown officer. As-
COERCION. 229
there is no exclusion of ungodly persons from their
society, so they have little association among them-
selves ; no church meetings being held either for their
own spiritual welfare or for their united action in the
service of Christ. In yielding to the dominion of the
State each church has lost all self-government, has cast
away many of its most sacred functions, and has
finished by abandoning its proper name ; and prefer-
ring a secular to a sacred appellation, calls itself not
a church, but a parish, as though it were ashamed,
after its open infidelity to Christ, to call itself his
church any longer.
SECTION IV. On tJte Principle of Coercion.
A necessary consequence of the legal maintenance
of the Anglican pastors is, that its payment should be
secured by law. " The principle of coercion by
penalty," says an evangelical advocate of the Esta-
blishment, " must stand, because laws must be en-
forced." The provision for pastors must be " secured
by compulsion, should compulsion be rendered neces-
sary by resistance." " Let this stand. Let the
penalty be modified so as not to touch the conscience
or the person of any man, but only his property. It
compels not to conformity in either worship or doc-
trine, but only to a pecuniary contribution for the
230 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
supply of outward means. This will meet the exi-
gencies of the case." * Such is substantially the
existing law with respect to dissenters. Members of
the Establishment may be still compelled to attend the
parish church ; for " no person can be duly discharged
from attending his own parish-church, or warranted
in resorting to another, unless he be first duly licensed
by his ordinary, who is the proper judge of the reason-
ableness of his request." 2 By 3 James I. cap. 4,
" Persons not attending common prayer, according to
1 Eliz. cap. 2, are to be distrained for twelve-pence,
and in default of distress are to be committed to
prison till payment is made." By 23 Eliz. cap. 1,
" Every person above the age of sixteen years who
shall not repair to some church, chapel, or usual
place of common prayer, . . . shall forfeit to the queen
20/. per month." And by 31 Geo. III. cap. 32,
" All the laws made and provided for frequenting
divine service on the Lord's day, commonly called
Sunday, shall be still in force, and executed against all
persons who shall offend against the said laws." 3 But
though these acts are still in force against negligent
members of the Establishment, dissenters are exempt
from their application.
Great improvements have likewise been effected in
the tithe-laws. Till recently, any person withholding
his tithe might, by the 2 and 3 Ed. VI. cap. 13, be
1 Lectures on the Church of England, pp. 181, 182.
2 Burn, vol. iii. p. 406. a Ib. p. 408.
COERCION. 231
sued in the ecclesiastical court : " And if the eccle-
siastical judge gave any sentence, and the party con-
demned did not obey the said sentence, it was lawful
to every such judge to excommunicate the said party ;
and after forty days, the judge might require from the
court of Chancery process de excommunicato capiendo
to be awarded against him; in other words, might
cause him to be arrested and imprisoned." 1 But by
recent tithe-acts, a corn-rent, or rent-charge, payable
in money and permanent in quantity, though fluctu-
ating in value, is substituted for all tithes in England
and Wales. 2 And by 6 and 7 Will. IV. cap. 71,
" When the rent-charge is in arrear for twenty-one
days after the half-yearly days of payment, the person
entitled thereto may distrain." 3
The law of church-rates is similar. " The repair
of the fabric of the church is a duty which the parish-
ioners are compelled to perform. The parishioners
have no more power to throw off the burden of the
repair of the church than that of the repair of bridges
and highways. 4 . . . The spiritual court has power and
jurisdiction, by ecclesiastical censures, to compel the
churchwardens to perform their duty in relation to
the repairs of the church, to compel parishioners to
perform their duty in providing means for making
such repairs, and after a legal rate has been imposed
to compel each individual to contribute the sum as-
1 Burn, vol. iii. p. 750. s Burn, p. 698.
3 Ib. p. 733, margin. Ib. vol. i. pp. 338, 339.
232 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
sessed upon him." 1 And, by 53 Geo. III. cap. 127,
" If any one duly rated to a church-rate shall refuse or
neglect to pay the same sum at which he is so rated,
it shall be lawful for any one justice of the peace of
the same county where the church is situated to con-
vene before any two or more such justices any person
so refusing, and by order under their hands to direct
the payment of what is due, so as the sum do not
exceed 10/. over the costs; and upon refusal to pay,
it shall be lawful for any one of such justices by war-
rant to levy the money by distress and sale of the
goods of such offender."
Thus, although persons may not now be impri-
soned for conscientiously objecting to the Union be-
tween Church and State, yet tithe-payers and rate-
payers are compelled by law to maintain the pastors
and to repair the buildings which they use for wor-
ship. These payers may generally be divided into five
classes, the devout members of Anglican Churches,
worldly and thoughtless members, evangelical dissent-
ers, Roman Catholics, and unbelievers. Let us con-
sider the effect of compulsory payments upon each of
these classes.
1. Devout and pious Anglicans cheerfully comply
with the demands of the law to support pious minis-
ters, because they would without the law cheerfully
pay more than they do now to support them. But
the compulsory system has occasioned two great evils
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 388, ', m .
COERCION. 233
with respect to this class. 1. It has entirely obscured
and hidden from the world the liberality with which
they, in obedience to Christ's commands, would main-
tain their pastors, because their present payments are
made under compulsion of law. Five thousand pas-
tors, maintained by the zeal and generosity of the
Anglican Churches, would be an impressive proof of
their faith and love, but sixteen thousand pastors,
maintained by compulsion of law, are no proof of
faith and love in the payers whatsoever. 2. The
majority of the pastors are worldly men, who, accord-
ing to Christ's law, ought not to be pastors at all ;
and, in all these cases, pious members of a church
are compelled to expend on the maintenance of an
ungodly pastor the money by which, if free to
choose, they might have secured a faithful one.
2. Worldly members of churches, being often re-
luctant to pay their pastors' dues, have frequent
occasions of contention with their pastors, sometimes
respecting the amount of the payments, and some-
times on account of arrears. Such altercations, while
they last, defeat the object for which the ministry
has been established, and tend to alienate the pastor
and the people from each other. That he might not
lessen his influence as a minister, Paul at Corinth
refused to receive even spontaneous contributions
from the church (1 Cor. ix. 12), but Anglican minis-
ters, to the destruction of their influence, compel
their hearers, by process of law, to pay what is due.
234 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
Law and custom have so blinded men's minds, that
in culpable disregard to the example of an inspired
apostle, the ministers of Christ secure their interest
to the ruin of their usefulness.
3. Evangelical dissenters often complain that
these compulsory payments are unjust : 1. because,
objecting to the Union of Church and State, they are
compelled to support what they condemn ; 2. because
they are compelled to support the pastors of others,
whose ministry is of no service to them ; 3. because,
being much poorer than the Anglican Churches, they
are compelled to make a double payment, first, for
the pastors of the Anglicans, secondly, for their own.
The advocates of the Establishment reply, that for a
great national object all must be taxed alike, and that
if they choose to support a second set of pastors, this
is entirely the result of their own fancy. But how
can this answer satisfy the dissenter ? Believing the
Union to be wrong, and that the Anglican Churches
would be more effective if they ceased to be esta-
blished, he cannot but feel that the tax laid upon
him to support that mischievous Union is both bur-
densome and unjust. But when he labours for its
removal, the advocates of the Union resent this as
an injury, and hence perpetual strife is occasioned
among the servants of Christ.
4. Roman Catholics and unbelievers have of course
similar objections, and may well feel it to be a hard-
ship to be compelled to support what one believes to
COERCION. 235
be heresy, what the other pronounces to be delusion,
and both imagine to be mischievous. If an Angli-
can minister would preach to these two classes, the
slightest regard to the success of his mission should
prompt him to refuse their contributions. So the
first ministers of Christ did, as we learn from the
following passage in the third epistle of St. John,
" Beloved, thou doest faitli fully whatsoever tliou doest
to the brethren and to strangers ; which have borne
witness of thy charity before the church : whom, if
thou briny forward on their journey after a godly
sort, thou shalt do ivett ; because that, for his name's
sake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles"
Compelled to support a doctrine which they repudiate,
both Roman Catholics and unbelievers must become
still more alienated from it and from its ministers,
whose ministrations must necessarily become sterile,
and their mission a failure.
By this system the ears of the irreligious popu-
lation, in general, are closed against the established
ministers, because they see that the poorer classes
pay for the pastors of the rich; that the many pay
for the pastors of the few; and that those who pro-
test against their ministry have to pay no less than
those who use it. This, as much as any other cause,
has alienated the Irish against Protestantism. To
make dissenters and Roman Catholics pay for the
pastor of the neighbouring noble and his tenantry, is
the same thing as to make them pay for his lawyer
236 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
or his physician ; and to allege that it is in pursuance
of a system which is advantageous to the country, no
more carries conviction to their minds in the one case
than it would in the two others.
The ends for which Christ has instituted the minis-
try is, that evangelists, by turning sinners from the
power of Satan unto God, may save their souls, and
that pastors may build up the disciples of Christ in
faith and piety. For these ends it is necessary that
they should love and be loved : for men will not
listen to those whom they despise or hate. St. Paul,
therefore, jealously avoided whatever could impair
either the esteem or the affection of his hearers. For
this he maintained so contented a temper at Ephesus,
that he could say, " I have coveted no man's silver,
or gold, or apparel;" while, at the same time, he
was so poor t that he could add, " Ye yourselves know
that these hands have ministered unto my necessities,
and to them that were with me." ! To the Corin-
thians, too, among whom he feared that his motives
would be mistaken, and his ministry hindered, if he
should accept any money from them, he made the
following profession : " I will not be burdensome to
you : for I seek not yours, but you. And I will
very gladly spend and be spent for you." These
precedents seem to me to furnish rules for all Christian
ministers, who cannot have stronger reasons for exact-
ing a maintenance from reluctant hearers than he had.
1 Acts xx. 33, 34. 2 2 Cor xii. 14, 15.
COERCION. 237
But by our system pastors are made collectors of a
tax, and share in the odium which usually falls upon
the tax-gatherer. But with this important difference,
that other tax-gatherers collect for the use of the
Government, while Anglican pastors collect for them-
selves. They seize the goods of their brethren by
distraint, or compel them to pay by the fear of that
process : shepherds give up their sheep to be worried
by justices of the peace for church-rates, the pastor is
forgotten in the rector, the ends of the ministry are
sacrificed to questionable means, interminable schisms
rend the churches, and the evangelisation of the un-
godly ceases.
Under the Mosaic law, which was a system of
minute detail and of rigid exaction, priests could not
compel the Israelites to pay their tithes, nor could
monarchs enact tithe-laws in their behalf; but we,
under the Gospel, which is a message of salvation,
the whole character of which is charity and good-will
to man, authorise the pastor to compel his reluctant
hearers to pay him for bringing to them Christ's
message. The rule of payment established by the
apostle is, " Every man, as he purposctli in Ms heart,
so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God
loveth a cheerful giver!' 1 The Anglican rule is,
" Every man, according as the law prescribes, let him
pay, however grudgingly, for the rector shall have his
right." It is Christ's declared will that the hearers
1 2 Cor. ix. 7.
238 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
should pay the teacher spontaneously and generously
from a regard to justice and from a feeling of grati-
tude, " Let him that is taught in the word communicate
to him that teacheth in all good things." 1 But it is
the will of the State that all the parishioners who are
not hearers should pay the teacher against whom they
protest, and thus take the burden from the hearers
who ought to bear it. Common justice and common
sense are alike disregarded by the arrangement, and
the ends of the pastoral office are sacrificed to the
means of maintaining the pastor.
CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART.
Let us now recapitulate what has been said. The
Union between the Church and the State in any
country, involving as it does the subordination of the
Church to the State, is unprincipled, absurd, and
mischievous. The State being the world, it is a close
alliance between the church and the world which
Christ has forbidden. The Church being in spiritual
things the parent, and the State its child, it is an
unnatural subordination of the parent to the child.
History abundantly condemns it as uniformly hostile
1 Gal. vi. 6.
CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART. 239
to spiritual religion ; and it is condemned by the pro-
visions of the Mosaic economy, by the language of the
Hebrew prophets, and by the express declarations of
Christ and his apostles.
The Union of the Churches with the State in this
country rests upon four main principles, the legal
maintenance of the pastors, the supremacy of the
State, patronage, and compulsion. In supporting this
Union, Christians who are charged by the authority
of Christ to support their own pastors, have devolved
this duty upon the State ; and being bound to inter-
pret and enforce Christ's laws for themselves, they
have committed to the State, that is to the world, the
right to superintend them; thus allowing the supre-
macy of the world to encroach upon the supremacy
of Christ. It is Christ's declared will that they
should select their pastors with the greatest care,
according to the directions which he has given for this
purpose; and they have left the nomination of their
pastors to others who are for the most part men of
the world, not reserving to themselves even the
liberty of objecting to the intrusive nominee. And
while every offering to God should be free, and
Christian ministers ought to receive no contribution
which can hinder their usefulness, Anglican Christ-
ians allow the State to alienate thousands from the
Gospel by compelling them to pay for the support of
good and bad pastors indiscriminately on pain of the
spoliation of their goods. The support of the first of
240 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
these principles of the Union involves Anglican Christ-
ians in the guilt of a selfish and covetous disregard of
positive duty. Their allowance of the State supremacy
is infidelity to Christ, their King and Head. The
third principle which they support is destructive of
their spiritual welfare ; and the fourth renders them
schismatical towards their dissenting brethren and
uncharitable to every other recusant. All these four
principles are unscriptural, corrupt, and noxious ; and
by placing the churches of Christ under the influence
of men of the world, hinder their free action, destroy
their spirituality, and perpetuate their corruptions.
Were this Union to be now for the first time pro-
posed to Christian men, I believe there is scarcely one
who would not instantly repudiate it. Custom alone
can account for its continuance. Christians have
been familiar with it from their infancy ; romantic
associations are connected with it; a thousand times
they have heard it termed venerable ; few ever study
the directions of the word of God upon this subject ;
Governments, patrons, prelates, incumbents, and ex-
pectants, are all interested in its stability ; and num-
bers belonging to a large political party dread all inno-
vations, and especially those which would strengthen
the popular element in any of our institutions.
Erroneous opinions, eagerly embraced and assiduously
reiterated, invest it with an air of sacredness. And
many who resolutely shut their eyes to the evils which
it entails, and who close their ears against all expo-
CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART. 241
sitions of its corruption, applaud even the blindest
and most headlong of its advocates ; glorify with their
hosannas reasonings which are palpably weak ; sustain
their tottering cause by expositions of scripture which
are worthy of Rome itself ; misrepresent the scriptural
system which should replace it ; predict the most
doleful results from changes which would occasion a
general revival of religion ; cry " Ichabod," when they
should shout, as David when he anticipated the erec-
tion of the temple, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates ;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King
of glory shall come in ;" appeal to martyrs of ancient
date who, if their gigantic energies could once more
do battle on the earth, would gallantly lead on the
army of the second reformation ; and when all
reasons fail for their adherence to a system which is
incurably corrupt, oppose to all reasoning their unal-
terable resolution, and rise to a sort of heroism by
nailing their colours to the mast in defence of that
which every enlightened man would seek by the help
of God to overthrow.
Under these circumstances the little band who,
with less courage than the crisis demands, investigate
their duty in the word of God, are called more reso-
lutely and more perseveringly to summon the churches
of Christ to accomplish their Redeemer's will. Let
them demand, on behalf of Christ, that the churches
of this land substitute persuasion for compulsion in
the advancement of the cause of God; that they re-
R
242 PRINCIPLES OF THE UNION.
ceive no pastors but those whom the word of God
sanctions ; that they maintain the sovereignty of Christ,
by claiming the right of unrestricted submission to
all his laws , and that they support their own pastors
according to his will.
Should we in this cause meet with some rude
assaults, the cause is worth the conflict. The humble
tomb at Thermopylae speaks more to the generous
traveller than the sky-pointing pyramids. For when
the three hundred Spartans stood on the narrow cause-
way between Mount (Eta and the sea, to guard the
liberties of their country against an innumerable host
of invaders, resolved to die rather than yield, they did
that which will live in the hearts of brave men while
the world lasts. And the liberties of Christ's churches
are more precious than the civil liberties of Greece.
Let each minister, and each Christian, who knows
that the principles of the Union are corrupt and dis-
honourable to Christ, resolve that they will ter-
minate the bondage of the Anglican Churches by
destroying it, and, with the aid of God, they will at
last succeed.
PART II.
THE EFFECTS OF THE UNION.
HAVING shown that the principles of the Union
are unscriptural and corrupt, I might consider my
task accomplished, and ask my Christian brethren to
labour with me for its removal. No good effects can
justify what is evil in principle, and every Christian
should seek to destroy the Union because it is cri-
minal, without waiting to survey its consequences.
The effect, moreover, of what is evil in principle can
never be ultimately good. Sooner or later, bad prin-
ciples are sure to work bad results ; and when any
measure, as the Union, has been shown to be crimi-
nal, all practical men ought to condemn it as certain
to be at length mischievous. But few persons value
simple principle as it deserves. Numbers, on the
contrary, test every principle by its results ; and so
long as the effects of any established custom are not
244 EFFECTS OF THE UNION.
palpably injurious, they will blind their eyes to all its
violations of principle. Foreigners say that this is
particularly the weakness of Englishmen, who are
eminently utilitarians, and will seldom move earnestly
on any subject which does not conduct immediately
to important consequences.
This being the case, I will proceed to consider the
effects of the Union ON PERSONS AND ON THINGS, that
those persons who have accustomed themselves to
judge of measures chiefly by their results, may see
what cause we have, as Christians, to wish for a dis-
solution of the Union.
245
CHAPTER I.
EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
I NOW proceed to consider the disastrous influence
of the Union upon prelates, pastors, and curates, upon
members of the Anglican Churches, and upon dis-
senters, all of whom suffer great mischief from that
ill-principled compact of the Churches with the State,
to which our reformers, in days of partial knowledge
and of rude conflict, weakly assented, because they
were glad to bribe the State for its support against
their gigantic and implacable Roman foe.
SECTION I. Influence of the Union upon Bishops.
The Lord Jesus Christ has appointed pastors and
teachers 1 to convert the ungodly, 2 to feed his flock as
his under-shepherds, 3 to build up Christians in their
faith, 4 and to be instrumentally the cause of salvation
to their hearers. 5 For this end to set them high
examples of piety, 6 to be lovers of good men, sober,
1 Eph. iv. 11 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28. * Matt, xxviii. 19.
3 Acts, xx. 28 ; 1 Peter, v. 2. 4 Eph. iv. 12.
5 1 Tim. iv. 16. 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; 1 Pet. v. 3.
246 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word, 1
and to be filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom. 3
But whatever excellence is required in the pastor of
a church, must be much more requisite in those who
assume the office of pastor of pastors. Prelacy can
be useful only when the prelate, surpassing the pas-
tors whom he governs, employs his immense influence
to render them wiser and better men. To fulfil his
office rightly he must be more free than his brethren
from ambition and covetousness, more spiritually-
minded, more devoted to his ministry, more anxious
to bring sinners to Christ, more brotherly and liberal
to his fellow-Christians, more zealous for the honour
of his Master, more entirely consecrated to God. As
a pastor who is less pious than the members of the
church over which he presides, does them mischief,
because his ministrations tend to bring them down
to his level, so a prelate less pious than the pastors
whom he governs, inflicts on them a similar mischief.
His duty to them is what theirs is to the churches.
He has to convert unconverted ministers, to guide
the erring, to reclaim the backsliding, to animate the
despondent, to strengthen the weak, to encourage and
aid the most devoted. To accomplish these objects,
he must surpass them in wisdom and Christian ex-
perience, in faith and fervency, in meekness and self-
control, in holiness and spirituality of mind. Like
Paul he should be able to say, " Be ye followers of
1 Tit. i. 8, 9. * Act*, vi. 3.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS. 247
me, even as I also am of Christ." 1 "Be followers
together of me, and mark them which walk so, as ye
have us for an example." 2 -
To an office like this a man ought to be chosen
with exclusive reference to his spiritual qualifications
by pious men, with the utmost caution and with the
most solemn prayer. When the church at Jerusalem
chose Matthias as one of those most suitable to suc-
ceed the apostate Judas in his place as an apostle,
they then sought the guidance of God : 3 when Paul
was set apart for his mission to the Gentiles by the
presbyters of Antioch, they fulfilled that duty with
fasting and prayer : 4 and even our Lord, before he
chose his twelve apostles, spent the whole night in
prayer. 5 With no less solemnity, earnestness, and
dependence upon God, should pious men choose those
prelates who exercise so vast an influence in the
Anglican Churches for good or evil. But ministers of
State are little likely to choose them in this manner.
Since prelates have votes in Parliament, where parties
are often nearly equal, the most religious statesmen
are strongly tempted to make zeal for their political
party a leading qualification for a bishopric ; and,
secondly, since prime-ministers are usually the ablest
men of their party, chosen, without reference to reli-
gious character, for their knowledge of public affairs
and their administrative skill, they have often been
1 1 Cor. xi. 1. * Phil. iii. 17 ; see also Acts, xx. 20, 31-35.
* Acts, i. Acts, xiii. 3. * Luke, vi. 12.
248 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
destitute of piety. Hence men have been raised to
the bench from party considerations : the choice of
the nominee being determined by the wish to please
a powerful adherent, or to strengthen the party by
the accession of a debater of known capacity, not to
mention more questionable motives. The way to rise
is obvious. Let any cleric of fair abilities, who as-
pires to rank and power, be respectable but not over
religious, make himself a good scholar, write some
work of literary merit, be a moderate but firm sup-
porter of the party in power, express no opinions on
any subject which could be inconvenient to the
Government, be a foe to innovation without being
unfriendly to improvements of detail, cultivate the
friendship both of powerful families and influential
prelates, be a staunch but good-tempered supporter
of the church against dissent ; above all, be a safe
man, who neither in the administration of a diocese,
nor in any parliamentary business, would create em-
barrassment to the Government, and he may be
almost sure of reaching the highest honours of his
profession. I will not say,
" That he
Must serve who fain would sway ; and soothe and sue,
And watch all time, and pry into all place,
And be a living lie who would become
A mighty thing among the mean ; "
but a course too near to this has often led to great-
ness. Governments can count upon the services of
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS. 249
pliant men who never form inconvenient opinions ;
but they would be exposed to trouble should they
nominate any man who, with severe integrity and
ardent love of truth, will frankly express his convic-
tions, and manifest the least approach to the temper
of a reformer.
If, likewise, the first minister of the Crown, and
the lord chancellor, who chiefly determine the ap-
pointments, happen to be irreligious men, then, though
they may be moral and estimable men, they cannot
appreciate the spiritual qualifications which alone
should direct their choice. Christ has said of his
disciples : " If ye were of the world, the world would
love his own; but because ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you ;" 1 and Paul has added : " The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually dis-
cerned." 2 " Therefore" adds St. John, " the world
knoweth us not because it knew him not" z As long
as these statements remain true, unconverted minis-
ters of the Crown, however estimable and able they
may be, are likely to consider the spirituality of mind
and the love for evangelical truth which, according to
scripture, are essential to the pastor, and therefore
much more to the prelate, a disqualification for the
bench. Under the influence which public opinion
1 John, xv. 19. 3 1 Cor. ii. 14. 3 1 John, iii. 1.
250 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
has acquired, we shall not see again such a ministry
as that which was composed of Clifford, Arlington,
Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale ; nor will many
chancellors, it is to hoped, rival Lord Jeffreys in
profligacy : but premiers, far more respectable than
Buckingham, and chancellors less profligate than
Jeffreys, would select for the prelacy decent worldly
men in preference to men of evangelical earnestness.
In the late ecclesiastical struggle in Scotland the
moderates were much more in favour with the Go-
vernment than the evangelicals ; and our history has
shown that a similar class in England has been gene-
rally preferred by successive ministers of State. I
rejoice to declare my conviction, that the present
prime-minister is conscientious in his appointments,
and has advanced men of great worth. I gladly
express the great respect which I feel for several
prelates with whom I have the honour of being ac-
quainted, especially for the Archbishop of Canterbury,
whose elevation to that high office is as beneficial to
the Church of England as it is creditable to Lord
John Russell. Let me be understood to write not
respecting individuals, but institutions, of what has
been and will be, of the course of patronage in past
days and of its probable course in days to come.
" I am a happy accident," said the Emperor Alex-
ander to Madame de Stae'l, when she was led by the
observation of his personal virtues into too favourable
an opinion of the atrocious system of government of
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS. 251
which he was the head. Lord John Russell and Dr.
Sumner are happy accidents.
Whilst thus it is much to be feared that a suc-
cession of worldly statesmen, as in past times, will
secure a succession of worldly prelates, who, being
exalted to posts of vast influence and of undefined
prerogative, will use both rather to repress spiritual
religion than to promote it, no dependence can be
placed on the use of the conge d'elire by the deans
and chapters ; for if they refuse to elect the minister's
nominee, each member of the chapter is liable to the
intolerable penalties of a prcemunire. He is, there-
fore, never rejected ; and when, after being duly
elected and presented by two bishops to the arch-
bishop, he makes the required promises, he is as sure
of consecration as he was previously of election. No
cases of refusal occur ; the patronage of the prime-
minister carries him through all difficulties. Each
successive archbishop says to each successive nominee,
" Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a
bishop in the church of God now committed to thee
by the imposition of our hands. And remember that
thou stir up the grace of God which is given thee by
this imposition of our hands." Upon which the
nominee is numbered, as many think, among the
successors of the apostles.
When Anglican presbyters are thus advanced to
the prelacy by the State, the influence of their new
252 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
position must be dangerous even to the best and
wisest men.
1. They are first put by the State in possession
of a palace and 5000/. per annum. Our Lord has
said, " A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom
of heaven : it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God." 1 When we think of these
words of Christ so little considered, and so worthy
of repeated consideration, we must see that to be-
come possessed of this wealth not by inheritance,
nor by industry, both which prepare for it, and in
some measure correct its influence, but by sudden
donation must be dangerous to the spiritual welfare
of any one.
2. In the next place they are made peers. Honour
is ensnaring, and, in their case, adds the intoxication
of greatness to that of wealth. But in another view
this practice is still more detrimental. When the
apostles were consulted respecting the administration
of a charitable fund at Jerusalem, they replied, " It
is not reason that we should leave the word of
God and serve tables .-" and then, having directed
the church to choose its deacons, they added, "But
we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to
the ministry of the word."* Timothy, likewise, was
thus directed by St. Paul with respect to the direct
1 Matt. xix. 23, 24. * Acts, vi. 2-4.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS. 253
duties of his ministry : " Meditate upon these things ;
give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may
appear to all. . . . Preach the word ; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with
all long-suffering and doctrine. . . . Watch thou in all
things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of thy ministry ! n In opposition to
these directions our prelates are loaded with a number
of duties in their dioceses, which leave little leisure
or inclination to " preach the word" or to " do the
work of an evangelist;" and then are tempted to
make themselves accomplished politicians and skil-
ful debaters by being called to share in the numerous
politico-religious debates which now occupy the at-
tention of Parliament.
3. The State has laid another snare for each
prelate. As if wealth and dignity, aristocratic asso-
ciations and political excitement, were not sufficient
obstacles to his humility and spirituality of mind, it
has surrounded him with numbers of needy clergy-
men, and invested him with a large amount of
patronage. The archbishops and bishops of England
and Wales have, together, ]248 benefices in then-
gift, besides other church preferment. The Arch-
bishop of Canterbury presents to 148 livings ; the
Archbishop of York, to 103; the Bishop of London,
to 86 ; the Bishop of Norwich, to 95 ; the Bishop of
Lincoln, to 156; the Bishop of St. David's, to 102;
1 1 Tim. iv. 15 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2, 5.
254 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
and the Bishop of St. Asaph, to 120. 1 While this
patronage tends to depress the clergy into a de-
grading servility of temper, it tempts the prelate
to undue self-exaltation, and is likely to create in
him an impetuous and arbitrary temper towards those
who so much depend upon his favour for their sub-
sistence.
4. On the other hand, the State has thrown in
his way an opposite temptation, to servility towards
the ministers of the Crown, by offering him the pro-
spect of translation to a richer see. The late act,
6 and 7 Will. IV., for equalising the revenues of the
sees, has diminished this temptation ; but still the
sees of Winchester, Durham, and London, of York
and of Canterbury, glitter before the eyes of those
who are nominated by the minister to the poorer
sees. The evangelist Timothy, to whose position
Episcopalian writers often allude as illustrating the
office of diocesans, received from the apostle Paul,
who had occasion to notice the covetousness and the
self-indulgence of many, the following advice : " Hav-
ing food and raiment, let us be therewith content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil ; which,
while some coveted after, they have erred from the
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sor-
1 M'Culloch's " Statistics," vol. ii. p. 406.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS. 255
rows. But thou, man of God, flee these things" 1
In the presence of these apostolic cautions to the
ministers of Christ, the State stimulates the curate to
his duty by the prospect of a living, the incumbent
by the hope of a prebeudal stall, the prebendary by
the sight of a deanery, the dean by the richer prizes
of a bishopric, and the bishop by visions of Lambeth
and of Bishopsthorpe, where he may feel on a level
with the loftiest and the proudest of the realm.
5. The duties imposed by the State upon the
bishop are further unfavourable to the cultivation
of a liberal spirit towards other churches, or a dis-
position to reform his own. Before his consecration
he is a third time required to take the oath of supre-
macy, by which he consents to devolve the spiritual
superintendence of the Anglican Churches upon the
State in derogation of the authority of Christ, which
State supremacy he must, of course, afterwards de-
fend. At the ordination of a priest he is obliged by
the State to say to the kneeling candidate, in imita-
tion of the authoritative words by which our Lord,
before his ascension, communicated the Spirit to his
apostles, " Receive the Holy Ghost for the office
and work of a priest in the church of God, now
committed to thee by the imposition of our hands ;"
' Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven,
and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained."
Upon these words the Bishop of Oxford has thus
1 1 Tim. vi. 8-11.
256 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
commented : " All this is the most blasphemous fri-
volity, if it be not the deepest truth." Had the
bishop stopped there we might have thought that the
formula in question appeared to him " blasphemous
frivolity," not " deepest truth." But he adopts it
heartily, as expressing a stupendous prelatic power,
for he continues thus, " But truth it is : the self-same
truth as that which turned the madness of that upper
chamber into a reality which has subdued the world.
Only let our faith lay hold of it : for Christ is with us
in spiritual presence as truly as he was with them." 1
Thus the bishop thinks that he, like Christ the eternal
Son of God, communicates the Holy Spirit, and that
not to apostles already devoted to Christ, but to
young men, many of whom are so frivolous, it may
be, that in a purer state of the churches they would
be excluded from the table of the Lord as sportsmen,
dancers, and card-players, or semi-papal Anglo-Ca-
tholics.
This dangerous inflation of bishops is likely to
be confirmed by the prayer which the State obliges
them to use at the time that they lay their hands on
the heads of the young persons who kneel down to
them at confirmation. That the Holy Spirit is be-
lieved to be then communicated by the imposition
of the hands of the prelates who have been nomi-
nated by the prime-minister, and forced upon the
chapter and the archbishop by the terrors of a prce-
1 Ordination Sermon, p. 24. Rivingtons, 1848.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS. 257
munire, may be inferred from the language of some
of the ablest of our prelates. Thus, in an " Address
to be read in Church," preparatory for confirmation,
issued by the Bishop of London in 1848, the
clergyman, who is requested by the bishop to read
it as his own to the people, is made to say, " It is my
duty to exhort the younger members of my flock,
who are of age to understand the nature of those
promises which were made for them at their baptism,
to embrace that opportunity of publicly ratifying and
confirming the same, . . . that BY IMPOSITION OF
HANDS, and by prayer, agreeably to the practice of
the church in all ages, THEY MAY OBTAIN THE BLESS-
ING OF GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT." Multitudes of child-
ren are brought to confirmation by worldly parents
and by worldly ministers ; all children of parochial
schools, above a certain age, are sometimes driven
like a herd of cattle to confirmation. I have seen
their undisguised levity at the time of the ceremony ;
I have known instances in the country in which the
ceremony has been made the occasion of holiday
merriment, and, I fear, it is still so in many country
towns and villages. The bishop can know nothing of
the children except by the testimony of clergymen,
who may be themselves ungodly, yet he is compelled
by the State to say of all those hundreds and thou-
sands of children who crowd to have his hands laid
upon them, that God has " vouchsafed to regenerate
them by the Holy Ghost, and has given unto them for-
258 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
giveness of all their sins ;" and that he lays his hands
upon them " to certify them by this sign of God's
favour and gracious goodness towards them." All
this is vastly inflating.
Next, the State requires the bishop to compel
his clergy to maintain the doctrine, the discipline,
and the mode of worship in the Church of England,
in certain questionable particulars. If any minister
within his diocese is accused to him of having denied
any one of the thirty -nine articles, of having violated
any one of the canons, or of having deviated from
the rubric, he must see that the offence be punished.
If a minister should be accused to a bishop of denying
that it is generally lawful to use the ministry of evil
men, the bishop must maintain against him the
twenty-sixth article, which asserts its lawfulness. If
any minister should neglect in any particular to
observe the ceremonies prescribed by the rubric,
however obsolete and inconvenient, the bishop, upon
complaint being made, must enforce against him the
fourteenth canon. If complaint be made to a bishop
that a minister has impeached any part of the regal
supremacy against the second canon, or that he has
declared any statement of the prayer-book to be
repugnant to scripture, against the fourth canon, or
that any part of any one of the thirty -nine articles is
erroneous, against the fifth canon, or that any dis-
senting ministers with their hearers constitute Christ-
ian churches, against the tenth canon, or if complaint
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON BISHOPS.
be made that he has denied every layman in the
parish to be bound to receive the Lord's supper
three times a-year, against the twenty-second canon,
or that he has administered the Lord's supper to
avowed dissenters, or to any who scruple to kneel
at it, or to persons from other parishes, against the
twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth canons, or that he
has preached in any private house, against the seventy-
first canon, or that he has attended any clerical meet-
ings for the reformation of the Establishment, against
the seventy -third canon, the bishop must enforce these
canons, and inflict the legal punishment upon the
offenders, which is, in other words, to be the agent
of the State to punish good men for doing their duty.
All this the bishop is compelled to do by the State,
because the Crown alone makes the canons to be
binding on the clergy, and the State alone prevents
their revision.
Prom this enumeration of some of the functions
of a prelate imposed by the State, it is too obvious
that a pastor suddenly raised by the fiat of the premier
to the prelatic dignity must undergo temptations of
no ordinary force. How can one, whose position was
so humble, become at once so lofty without giddiness ?
That smile of a statesman has made him at once a
peer, the master of a palace, the owner of a lordly
revenue, the successor of apostles. Thenceforth he
shines in Parliament, and moves amidst the most
splendid circles of the wealthiest nation of the earth ;
260 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
or, retiring to his palace, he administers within its
baronial precincts an extended patronage, wields an
absolute sceptre over one-third of his clergy, and by
an indefinite prerogative awes and controls the rest ;
meets with no one to question his opinions or con-
tradict his will; and may look along a lengthened
vista of enjoyments to the more dazzling splendour
and prerogatives of Lambeth. If a man, under these
circumstances, is not deteriorated, he must have ex-
traordinary wisdom and virtue. To the efficiency of
most men as ministers of the Gospel, these circum-
stances would be fatal. They would cease to be
pastors ; their preaching would become lordly, heart-
less, and infrequent ; and they would grow worldly,
covetous, self-indulgent, proud, and imperious. If,
under ah 1 circumstances, "it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God," wealth, dignity, pa-
tronage, and prerogative thus combining, must greatly
increase the difficulty.
Through such an ordeal, scarcely the best men in
the kingdom could pass unscathed. But, to make the
matter worse, worldly statesmen are, in general, likely
to create worldly prelates, and to expose men whose
tempers are ambitious, and who have given no proofs
of spirituality, to temptations strong enough to corrupt
the wisest and the most devout.
But when worldly men are chosen by the Govern-
ment, and are rendered more worldly by the disad-
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 261
vantages of their position, their distribution of livings,
their visitation charges, their circuits for confirmation,
their private intercourse with the clergy, and their
whole influence, must check evangelical religion, and
add to the numbers of worldly and unsound incum-
bents throughout the land. In injuring the religious
character of the bishops, the Union injures the cha-
racter of the churches over which they preside.
Pastors, curates, people, all catch the worldly taint ;
and if there is reason to believe that the ministers of
the Crown will ever select a majority of unevangelical
and worldly men to be the prelates of the Establish-
ment, there is reason to fear that, under their influence,
the churches of the Establishment will remain, like
them, unevangelical and worldly.
SECTION II. Influence of the Union upon Pastors.
The word episcopos, ivitrxoTos, which signifies
superintendent, overseer, or bishop, is used five times
in the New Testament. 1 In the first epistle of Peter
it is applied to our Lord; in the other four places
it is applied to pastors of congregations : if is never
in the New Testament applied to a diocesan or
prelate. The word episcope, gcnraoTpj, occurs twice in
1 Acts, xx. 28 ; Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. 7 ; 1 Pet. ii. 25.
262 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
the sense of bishopric, or the office of superintendent. 1
Once it is applied to Judas, and once it describes the
office of a pastor ; but it never expresses the office of
a diocesan or a prelate. And the word episcopeo,
\7Ciff tcovku, is likewise applied to the exercise of the
pastoral office ; never to the exercise of the prelatic
office. 2 When, therefore, we meet with this word in
the New Testament, we must apply it to pastors not
to prelates.
Our Lord has indicated the qualifications of those
who may be chosen as episcopoi, ST/WOTO/, pastors of
churches, in the following passages :
" And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and catted
the elders of the church. And when they were come to
him, he said unto them, . . . Take heed to yourselves and
to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers (ItriffzoKovs), to feed the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. . . .
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of
three years I ceased not to warn every one night and
day with tears . . . I have coveted no mans silver, or
gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these
hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them
that were with me. I have showed you all things, how
that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It
is more blessed to give than to receive." 3
1 Acts, i. 20 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1. 2 1 Pet. v. 2.
* Acts, xx. 17, 18, 28, 31, 33-35.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 263
" Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ,
to all the saint s in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi,
with the bishops (i.e. pastors) and deacons. . . . Let your
conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ ;
that whether I come and see you, or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one
spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of
the Gospel* . . . Do all things without murmurings and
disputing* ; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in
the world, holding forth the word of life? . . . There-
fore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy
and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly be-
loved. . . . Let your moderation be known unto all men ;
the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing ; but in
every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks-
giving let your requests be made known unto God? . . .
Tltis is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a
bishop (i.e. of a pastor), he desireth a good work. A
bishop (i. e. pastor) must be blameless, the husband of
one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to
hospitality, apt to teach ; not given to wine, no striker,
not greedy of jilthy lucre ; but patient, not a brawler,
not covetous ; one that ruleth well his own house, having
his children in subjection witli all gravity ; (for if a
man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he
take care of the church of God?} Not a novice, lest
1 Phil. i. 1, 27. 2 Phil. ii. 14-16. 3 Phil. iv. 1, 5, 6.
264 * EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation
of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of
them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and
the snare of the devil. 1 . . . Thou, therefore, my son,
be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the
things that thou hast heard of me among many wit-
nesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall
be able to teach others also. 2 . . . A bishop (i. e. pastor)
must be blameless, as the steward of God ; not self-
willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker,
not given to filthy lucre ; but a lover of hospitality, a
lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate ; holding
fast the faithful word? . . . The elders which are
among you I exhort, who am also an elder. . . . Feed
thejlock of God, which is among you, taking the over-
sight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as being
lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the
Unconverted men, on the other hand, though
preachers of the Gospel, are declared to be strangers
to him: "Beware of false prophets, which come to
you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves ; ye shall know them by their fruits:' ....
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast
out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
' 1 Tim. iii. 1-7. 2 2 Tim. ii. 1,2. 3 Tit. i. 7-9.
4 1 Pet. v. 1-3. * Matt. vii. 15, 16.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 265
works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity. ," 1
All unconverted and ungodly persons, professing
to be Christians, whether pastors or others, are said
to be zizania, weeds among the wheat, children of the
wicked one, and sown among believers by the wicked
one. 2 Those who preach false doctrine are declared
to be false apostles, transforming themselves into
apostles of Christ and ministers of Satan, pretending
to be ministers of righteousness. 3 Preachers who
pervert the doctrines of the Gospel, and especially the
doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ
through faith alone, ought to be cut off from the
church. 4 From these passages it is evident that those
pastors alone minister to the churches of Christ by his
authority who are sound in doctrine, faithful, holy,
and experienced men ; who take the episcopate of their
churches, not for the sake of income, but from hearty
zeal ; sober, just, and temperate : all others, though
regularly ordained, being intruders into the ministry,
disowned by him.
Here let us, for a moment, imagine the effect
upon this country if all the pastors of the Anglican
Churches were such as the New Testament declares
that they ought to be. In 1847, the number of the
clergy in England and Wales was 16,010. 5 The
1 Matt. vii. 22, 23. 2 Matt. xiii. 24, 25, 38, 39.
3 2 Cor. xi. 3, 12-15. Gal. i. 8, 9 ; v. 12.
* Horsman, " Speech on Bishopric of Manchester Bill," p. 20.
266 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
population of England and Wales in 1841 was
15,906,829, and must be now above 16,000,000.
The number of Anglican pastors, is therefore, on an
average, one to each 1000 of the population, i. e. one
to each 200 families. Rightly directed, therefore,
there are now Anglican ministers enough to carry the
Gospel to the fireside of every family in the land ; and
when we subtract the millions of dissenters, who have
provided for themselves abundant pastoral superin-
tendence, and then consider the lay agency which has
of late years been brought into activity, these 16,000
pastors, if faithful and zealous men, which they are
bound by the law of Christ to be, would be more than
sufficient to supply the spiritual wants of the country.
Sixteen thousand ministers in the apostolic age would
have preached the Gospel to many more than sixteen
millions ; and so might these : but the torpedo touch
of the State has paralysed them. Individual minis-
ters may, through divine grace, overcome, in some
degree, the influence of the system under which they
live ; but a legal income, the prospect of preferment,
wealth, and dignity, the ubiquitous influence of the
State supremacy, multiplied restrictions upon evangelic
zeal, with unrestricted liberty to be indolent, depend-
ence upon worldly patrons, and the possession of ex-
clusive prerogatives, must ever hinder the clergy of
England from being zealous evangelists to the com-
munity at large.
But let us consider these points more in detail.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 267
First, we will notice the influence which the Union
exerts upon Anglican pastors by affording them a
legal income. In this its advocates most glory. It
gives dignity and independence, they think, to the
pastor. ' Those who, like actors, must please to live,
like actors will live to please. Stern truth must be
banished from the pulpit, and nothing be heard but
what flatters the pride, and indulges the frailties of
the purse-bearers. While those whose income is
secure can afford to scorn this servility, and can
assume the authority of a parent towards his
children.'
Unfortunately for this theory, it is against the law
of Christ, who has ordained that the minister should
be maintained by the spontaneous offerings of the
church ; and, whatever plausibility it may possess, we
might expect that experience would disprove it. A
wide and long experience has disproved it, in fact.
The mode in which the law of Christ is obeyed by
a congregational church is as follows : When the
pastor is called by the church to settle among them,
the church promises him a certain income at a church-
meeting, the deacons being the officers who are to
superintend the accomplishment of the promise.
Persons who have seats in the chapel are invited to
contribute according to their means, and at the close
of the year the receipts are reported to the church at
one of its meetings. Should they fall short of the
stipulated sum, the defect is made up by the members
268 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
of the church according to their means and their
liberality. In all these pecuniary matters the pastor
has no concern, they are settled by the deacons and
the church without him. Should a minister be un-
faithful or incapable, his congregation would diminish,
the receipts would fail, and, after a time, he must
resign his office. Under such circumstances an irre-
ligious, weak, or ignorant minister would be tempted
to flatter the congregation, and to make himself popular
by servility ; but such low arts would only precipitate
his removal, since they would necessarily alienate all
the earnest and intelligent members of the church,
who are the pastor's chief supporters. A zealous and
faithful man is under no such temptation. It is
found, with scarcely one exception, among thousands
of cases, both in England and in the United States, that
such a minister, with good sense and good temper, is
generously and affectionately sustained by the church :
and no others ought to be ministers, or can expect to
be sustained. Moreover, it is evident, from the nature
of the case, that the most faithful minister is sure to
be the most appreciated : for the chief supporters of
the ministry are true Christians, whose chief interest is
to secure their own salvation and the salvation of their
families. Such persons value most the preaching
which most enlightens and improves them, which
most reaches the conscience, and which most warms
the heart. The bold, earnest, sincere, affectionate
minister, with whom the Lord works (Mark, xvi. 20),
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 269
who prays in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20), and who
preaches " in the demonstration of the Spirit," " with
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," is necessarily
the minister who does them the most good, who most
wins their esteem, and for whom they are ready to
make the greatest sacrifices. The worldly may be
offended and retire, the church is built up, and its
members sustain his efforts with affectionate grati-
tude. Instead of being tempted to servility and flat-
tery, such a minister has every inducement to be
faithful both with respect to doctrine and Christian
morals. Christ, in his law for the maintenance of his
ministers, has not neglected to furnish them with
secondary motives to fulfil their duty in addition to
those which are derived from a regard to his glory
and the knowledge of his will. The minister who is
made by Christ dependent on the church, if he works
hard for the church, and loves them sincerely ; if he
watches for their welfare, and builds them up by his
experienced counsel and holy life, if he converts sinners
to God, and is without covetousness, may be free
from all anxiety about his income. His brethren are
sure to be generous, liberal, affectionate. They will
do more than they stipulated to do. They give with
joy. They count him worthy of double honour
(1 Tim. v. 17), and he feels year by year in their
proved kindness new motives for devotedness to Christ
and to them.
But in the Establishment all this is reversed. The
270 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
rent-charge is as much the property of the incumbent
as the rent is the property of the landlord; and the
incumbent is no more indebted to his congregation
for the one than the landlord is to his tenant for the
other. By 6 and 7 Will. IV., they must pay or suffer
distraint upon their goods. He owed them, nothing
for the possession of his living, perhaps they petitioned
against his appointment, perhaps they are now reluctant
to pay his dues ; how can he feel gratitude to them
for his income? His income, moreover, is not de-
pendent upon his piety or virtue, his diligence, his
zeal, or his usefulness ; it is secured to him by law.
It will be paid to him in full, however destitute he
may be of all these. What inducement, then, of a
secondary kind has he to cultivate them ? The duties
imposed by the State he must indeed fulfil. He must
reside in the parish nine months of the year ; he must
abstain from gross and open immorality; he must
read the Sunday services ; he must read a sermon,
which may be written by another man ; he must read
the baptismal service over every child brought to the
font, he must read the marriage-service for all who
lawfully require it, and must read the burial-service
whenever a death occurs. When he has thus paid
his debt to the State in return for his State salary,
the law can ask no more ; and he can resign himself
to a life of almost total self-indulgence with complete
impunity.
With such temptations to indolence how can An-
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 271
glican ministers generally be expected to be diligent ?
Let us assume that they are like other men. With
the average share of integrity and vigour, how can
they work hard when this bed of down is inviting
them to repose? How many physicians, lawyers,
military officers, or public functionaries, under these
circumstances would be laborious men ? Not one in
ten. And the clergy being like the rest of the world,
is there more than one rector out of ten who preaches,
catechises, visits the sick, instructs from house to
house the men, women, and children of his flock?
What rector works in his study and works among his
people, works on the Sunday, and works through the
week, with any thing like the hearty perseverance with
which the physician and the lawyer work out a com-
fortable maintenance for their families ? Let any one
examine the pastoral superintendence in the ten parishes
round his dwelling, and see.
When the pastor's income is paid by his church,
should he grow careless and negligent, unsound in
doctrine, or immoral in life, he would be at once
removed from his office, because the people would
withdraw from his ministry. But how can a bad
Anglican minister be removed from his parish ? His
freehold is his castle. His legal income affords him
impunity, within very wide limits, for ministerial trans-
gression. He may be ignorant and idle, he may be
a sportsman and a card-player, he may be gluttonous
and fond of wine, he may be proud and quarrel-
272 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
some, he may be a flatterer and a parasite, he
may be a hater of good men, and even covertly
vicious, and yet within the entrenchments of his free-
hold may bid defiance to the world's contempt and
anger, as a feudal baron from the inaccessible heights
of his castled rock hurled his defiance upon his be-
leaguering foes.
Even the natural wish which men have to secure
the good opinion of their neighbours is checked by
the Anglican system. Under the scriptural system, a
feverish desire of change in ministers is repressed by
the fact that the largest incomes being generally
attached to the most arduous and responsible situa-
tions, those who are not fitted to fill them usually
shrink from the task, and therefore contentedly culti-
vate the good will of the people among whom they
labour. But the State provision reverses this salu-
tary order of things. In the Establishment the
richest livings may be held by men of small capacity,
and of no zeal, as easily as by men of the highest
attainments. And with this fact before them, multi-
tudes of the Anglican pastors must have an eager
wish to quit their parishes. There are in the Esta-
blishment 5230 curates, with an average professional
income of 8U. per annum. These are impelled by
their subordinate position and scanty remuneration
to look out for livings. But the livings themselves
are generally poor, so that 4882 incumbents have
official incomes beneath 200/., and 1979 more have
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 273
less than 300/. On these suras it is hard to maintain
their families; and thus out of 68G1 incumbents, and
5230 curates, many are looking out for any change
which may improve their condition. Already severed
from their people by education, by independence, by
union with aristocratic patrons, they are still further
severed from them by the hope of preferment. With
the knowledge that there are 3433 livings, varying in
value from 3007. to 1000/. per annum, how earnestly
must many of these 12,091 pastors desire to quit the
congregations in connexion with which they are com-
paratively so poor ! Incomes so large, without any
additional labour or responsibility, to be obtained, not
by merit, but by favour, must unsettle the minds of
numbers, and most mischievously impair their zeal
in behalf of churches whom they are endeavouring to
desert. On the minds of some of these incumbents,
who are men of rank, of learning, or of talent, the
more splendid emoluments which Government have
at their disposal must exercise a still more injurious
influence, not only relaxing the ties which ought to
bind the pastor to his church, but also poisoning their
minds with a secular cupidity most unfavourable to
spirituality or devotedness.
The result of this system is too apparent in the
undisguised worldliness of many of the clergy, who,
by their presence at the ball and the race-course, by
their assiduity in hunting and shooting, by their
ignorance of the scriptures and their ministerial
T
274 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
incapacity, do much dishonour to the religion of
which they are professedly ministers.
Let us next notice the influence exercised upon
Anglican pastors by the supremacy of the State.
Scarcely any quality is more necessary to a pastor
than sincerity. Men will bear much from those
whom they know to be perfectly honest in their
opinions. On the other hand, any measure of insin-
cerity in a pastor is both fatal to his influence and
destructive to his reputation. " I am sure," says
Bishop Wilberforce, " a more deadly blow could not
be inflicted on our church than that a people, of
whose character, thank God, sterling honesty is the
distinctive feature, should have reason to suspect that
their clergy believed one thing whilst they taught
another." 1 To inflict this blow, it is not needful that
the clergy should manifest insincerity in many things.
" He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful
also in much : and he that is unjust in the least is
unjust also in much."' Habitual insincerity in any
one thing shows a man to be destitute of sterling
sincerity. A man of truth cannot lie sometimes, any
more than he can lie often.
St. Paul speaks much of this needful sincerity,
and made much use of it in his appeals to the
churches. Thus to the pastors .of Ephesus he de-
clared, " Ye knoio hoiv I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you . . . Wherefore I take you to record
1 Charge, Dec. 31, 1843, p. 15. - Luke, xvi. 10.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 275
f/tis day, that I am pure from the Hood of all men ; for
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God'' 1 To the Christians of Corinth he could make
this profession : " Our rejoicing is this, the testimony
of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity,
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, ice
have had our conversation in the world." . . . For -ice are
not as many, which corrupt the word of God : but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak
we in Christ."* And with honest joy he reminded the
Thessalonian church of his sincerity in these terms :
" Our exhortation was not of deceit . . . nor in guile.
For neither at any time used ice flattering words, as ye
know, nor a cloke of covetousness ; God is ivitness"*
A pious pastor, superintending a free church, may
use the same language. There is nothing to hinder
him and them from investigating and obeying the
whole will of Christ, whom alone, as head of his own
house, they are bound to obey. 5 Every error in the
church may be removed by mutual study of the word
of God, and every practical evil be renounced. All
truth lies open to their investigation, all duty invites
them to accomplish it.
But the circumstances of a pious pastor in the
Establishment are such as strongly tempt him to be
insincere. While yet a youth, he was compelled at
Oxford or Cambridge to express his belief in the
1 Acts, xx. 20, 26, 27. 2 2 Cor. i. 12. 3 2 Cor. ii. 17.
4 1 Thess. ii. 3, 5. * Heb. iii. 6 ; Acts, v. 29.
276 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
thirty-nine articles, when neither his age nor his
leisure allowed him maturely to examine them.
When he reached the age of twenty-three, and was
ordained, he was required to " subscribe, ex animo"
the three following articles of the thirty-sixth canon :
1. " That the king's majesty, under God, is the only
supreme governor of this realm .... as well in all
spiritual or ecclesiastical tilings or causes as temporal,'*
&c. 2. " That the book of common prayer, and of
ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth
in it nothing contrary to the word of God," &c.
3. " That he acknowledged all and every the articles
. . . being in number thirty-and-nine . . . to be agree-
able to the word of God." He was thus pledged to
allow the State supremacy, and to maintain that the
whole prayer-book and the thirty-nine articles are
throughout agreeable to the word of God. Further,
w r hen he was instituted to his living, he made the
following declaration : "I do hereby declare my un-
feigned assent and consent to all and every thing
contained and prescribed in and by the book intituled
the book of common prayer," &c. Lastly, though
he has not subscribed to the canons, he is bound
by their doctrines, and the ecclesiastical judge may
punish him for any violation of them. By the second
canon, if he impeach any part of the king's supremacy,
he is excommunicated ipso facto. By the fourth
canon, if he affirm that the form of worship in the
Church of England " containeth in it any thing repug-
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 277
nant to scripture," lie is excommunicated. By the
fifth canon, if he assert that the thirty-nine articles
" are in any part superstitious or erroneous," he is
excommunicated. By the eighth canon, if he affirm
" that the form and manner of making and conse-
crating bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth any
thing in it that is repugnant to the word of God," he
is excommunicated. And by the tenth canon, if he
affirm that dissenters and their ministers are Christian
churches, he may be excommunicated. Lastly, by
13 Elizabeth, cap. 12, " If he shall affirm any doc-
trine contrary to any of the thirty-nine articles, he
shall be deprived of his ecclesiastical promotions;" 1 or
if he " speak or preach any thing in derogation of the
book of common prayer," he may be deprived. 2 Ex-
communication hinders a person from making a will,
or sueing in an action, real or personal ; and exposes
him to be arrested and imprisoned by a writ de excom-
municato capiendo directed to the sheriff, granted out
of the court of Chancery. 3
Thus each Anglican pastor has been deeply
pledged to the whole State Church system while he
was yet a novice, and incapable of maturely examining
it. His worldly interests have by degrees become
deeply involved in it. If he zealously maintain every
tittle of it, a living, a prebendal stall, a deanery, a
bishopric, a peerage, a palace, and 5000/. a-year, may
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 105. 5 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 141.
3 Ibid. pp. 248, 250.
278 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
reward his advocacy. If he question the truth of any
of its doctrines, or in the least impugn the supremacy,
or any part of the prayer-book, or any one of the
articles, he must look for frowns, not favour ; and may
think himself happy if, like Mr. Head, he is only sus-
pended for tliree years from his ministry, and deprived
for that period of his income, with the prospect of
restoration upon renouncing his dissentient opinions. 1
Let us now consider some of those things in the
prayer-book and in the thirty -nine articles which
each Anglican pastor declares to be agreeable to the
word of God. First, the prayer-book, in its baptis-
mal services, catechism, confirmation -service, and
articles, distinctly teaches the doctrine of spiritual
regeneration by baptism. 2
Since all the parishioners are thus supposed to be
regenerate, it adds to the communion -service this
notice: " NOTE That every parishioner shah 1 commu-
nicate three times in the year, of which Easter to be
one."
When a parishioner is sick, the prayer-book directs
that the priest, after confession, " shall absolve him, if
he humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort : ' Our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church
to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in
him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences :
1 The offence of Mr. Head was his condemnation of several expressions in
the baptismal service.
See Part II. chap. ii. sect. 4.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 279
and by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee
from all thy sins'" &c.
At length each parishioner dies : the irreligious,
the worldly, the profane, and the vicious, are sum-
moned to receive their awful doom as impenitent
enemies of Christ, and their bodies being brought to
the churchyard, the prayer-book says of each : " For-
asmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great
mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother
here departed, we therefore commit his body to the
ground." After which the priest is forced to proceed
thus : " We give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath
pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the
miseries of this sinful world." All- this the Anglican
pastor declares to be agreeable to the word of God !
When deacons come to the bishop to be or-
dained priests, they are forced to kneel down before
him, and he says to each, including all the worldly
and the Anglo-Catholic among them, " Receive the
Holy Ghost .... Whose sins thou dost forgive, they
are forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are
retained." At the consecration of a bishop the arch-
bishop uses similar words, adding, "Remember that
thou stir up the grace of God which is given thee by
this imposition of our hands"
Respecting all these statements at ordination and
consecration, which, according to the Bishop of Oxford,
are " blasphemous frivolity" if not " deepest truth,"
each clergyman is obliged to maintain as follows :
280 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
Article thirty-six, "The book of consecration of
archbishops and bishops, and ordering of priests
and deacons . . . doth contain all things necessary,
. . . neither hath it any thing that of itself is super-
stitious and ungodly" All the nominees of ministers
of State in succession thus assume to give the Holy
Spirit to all sorts of young men who come for ordi-
nation ; and clergymen must profess this to be
"neither superstitious nor ungodly!"
Besides thus binding the pastor to express his
assent to all the statements of the prayer-book and
the ordination services, the State supremacy likewise
compels him to assent to the thirty-nine articles.
The twentieth article declares, " The church hath
power to decree rites or ceremonies, and authority in
controversies of faith." The twenty-sixth article de-
clares, " Although in the visible church the evil be
ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil
have chief authority in the ministration of the word
and sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the
same in their own name, but in Christ's, and do
minister by his commission and authority, we may use
their ministry both in hearing the word of God and
in receiving of the sacraments." 1 The thirty-sixth
article declares that the book of consecration of
bishops, and of ordering of priests, hath not " any
1 See Matt. vii. 15-23 ; John, x. 5 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3, 12-15 ; Gal. i. 6-9 ;
v. 12 ; 1 Tim. Hi. 2-7 ; 2 Tim. ii. 2 ; Tit. i. 5-8 ; 2 John, 10, 11 ; 1 Cor.
v. 11-13.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 281
thing that of itself is superstitious and ungodly."
These three articles each Anglican pastor declares to
be " agreeable to the word of God ! " Dr. Paley,
indeed, does not require the clergy to believe them.
"They who contend," he says, "that nothing less
can justify subscription to the thirty-nine articles
than the actual belief of each and every separate pro-
position contained in them, must suppose that the
Legislature expected the consent of ten thousand men,
and that in perpetual succession, not to one contro-
verted proposition, but to many hundreds. It is
difficult to conceive how this could be expected by
any who observed the incurable diversity of human
opinion upon all subjects short of demonstration." 1
It is, indeed, as the archdeacon states, difficult to
conceive that sixteen thousand clergymen believe " all
and every the articles, being in number nine-and-
thirty, to be agreeable to the word of God," but it is
certain that the State compels them all to say that
they believe it.
When any pastor finds out the errors of the
prayer-book, or the unscriptural character of the
duties imposed upon him, he may withdraw from
the Establishment ; but by that step he would ne-
cessarily expose himself and his family to great suffer-
ing. According to the maxim of the ecclesiastical
law, " Once a priest, always a priest." He may be
prosecuted in the court of Arches for officiating in
1 Moral Philosophy, book iii. chap. xxii.
282 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
any diocese without the license of the bishop, even
after he has seceded as Mr. Shore has recently been
under these circumstances prosecuted by the Bishop
of Exeter. But if he be spared this persecution, it is
only to be esteemed by many of his former friends a
schismatic, to be shunned as an apostate, to become
a bye-\vord and a proverb, to lose his position in
society, to be reduced to penury, to be without em-
ployment and without prospects.
Few men have the courage to plunge into such an
abyss of trouble, and therefore they must adjust their
belief to their circumstances as best they may. To ex-
pose the errors of the prayer-book, or to renounce
unscriptural practices, is out of the question. In
either case, a minister would be at once suspended or
deprived. What must he then do? First, he may
make desperate efforts, by exclusively reading on one
side, and, by living solely with ardent conformists, to
persuade himself that all the statements of the
prayer-book are true, and ah 1 the requirements of the
State are scriptural. Should this effort fail, and
should the errors of the prayer-book force themselves
upon him, his next attempt must be to conceal his
dissentient opinions by absolute silence on the subject.
But this is a fearful course for a minister of Christ.
Was he not placed by Christ in the church as a witness
for the truth ? Is not concealment of the truth at once
an infidelity to Christ, and a wrong to the world?
His silence prevents the overthrow of error, and con-
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS.
firms others in mischievous delusion. Besides, in his
circumstances concealment is falsehood; for he has
subscribed to the truth of the prayer-book, and only
on that condition is he allowed to retain his living : so
that the effect of his silence is to induce the people,
the clergy, and the bishop, to think that he maintains
the prayer-book to be wholly consonant to scripture.
Silence, too, is almost impossible. Occasions must
arise when to say nothing would be equivalent to an
avowal of dissent from the prayer-book ; and in such
an emergency he would be strongly tempted to defend
himself from the suspicions of zealous conformists by
professions not entirely sincere. To avoid this pain,
however, there is another course which the pious
Anglican pastor may take. He may exaggerate the
importance of the Union, extol " the church" as the
purest and best in the world, persuade himself that
it is the chief bulwark of Protestantism ; he may fill
up his time and thoughts with the duties of his mi-
nistry, and may resolve not to read, speak, or think on
those disputed topics. Thus he may strive to hide
out the errors of the prayer-book, and avoid every
conclusion respecting the legal fetters of his ministry,
shielding himself under the thought that many ex-
cellent men do all that he is called to do ; and that
matters so trifling ought not to endanger an institution
so venerable and so necessary.
Symptoms of this state of mind are, I think,
common.
284 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
Amongst pious Anglican pastors it is common to
hear strong and even violent denunciation of popery,
which requires no courage, because the thunderer
launches his bolts against a despised minority, and is
echoed by admiring multitudes. But the ten thousand
practical abuses within the Establishment wake no
such indignant thunders, the nomination of worldly
prelates, the exclusion of the Gospel from thousands
of parishes in which by the Union ungodly ministers
have the monopoly of spiritual instruction, the easy
introduction of irreligious youths into the ministry,
the awful desecration of baptism, especially in large civic
parishes, the more awful fact, that sixteen thousand
Anglican pastors leave some millions of the poor out of
a population of only sixteen millions utterly untaught,
the hateful bigotry of the canons, which excommuni-
cate all who recognise any other churches of Christ in
England except our own, the complete confusion of
the church and the world at the Lord's table, the
obligation upon every parish minister publicly to thank
God for taking to himself the soul of every wicked
person in the parish who dies without being excommu-
nicated, the almost total neglect of scriptural church
discipline, the tyranny of the license system, the
sporting, dancing, and card-playing of many clergy-
men, the Government orders to the churches of
Christ to preach on what topics, and to pray in what
terms, the State prescribes, the loud and frequent
denunciation of our brethren of other denominations
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 285
as schismatics, the errors of the articles and of the
prayer-book, and the invasion of the regal prerogatives
of Christ by the State supremacy, the total absence
of self-government, and therefore of all self-reformation,
in the Establishment, &c. &c. &c. : all these enormous
evils are tolerated and concealed. Dissenters are
often and eagerly attacked because comparatively
weak : but scarcely a tongue condemns the tyranny of
the State towards the Anglican Churches, because the
State is strong and holds the purse. Some eagerly
search into the future, compel unfulfilled prophecy to
reveal to them the fate of distant generations ; but
majestic and momentous events passing before our
eyes are overlooked. They keenly discuss what Jeru-
salem is to be in the millennium, but do not ask what
Scotland and the Canton de Vaud are now. There is
not a corner or nook of prophetic scripture which they
do not explore, but they know little of what the same
scripture declares of the constitution and discipline of
Christian churches. Books and pamphlets without
end solicit attention to the millennium, but scarcely
a whisper suggests how existing churches are to be
purified and revived. The evils without the churches
are delineated with vehement fidelity, but the evils
within nestle undisturbed. We hear much of an
immediate advent of our Lord, but few labour to set
his house in order for his coming : were he to come,
he would find the Establishment in many things like
the temple at Jerusalem, which moved his indignation,
286 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
and scarcely any will do any thing to purify it. The
lamps are burning dim, and no one trims them.
(Matt. xxv. 5.) Almost all reading and reflection on
the subject of churches and Establishments appears to
be with many on one side. Mr. M'Neile's " Lectures
on the Church," and even Mr. Gladstone's less popular
treatises, are read extensively ; but Wardlaw, Ballan-
tyne, Conder, Gasparin, Vinet, Baird, with greater
power, are unread and unknown. Nay, such is the
terror generated by the system, that some seem afraid
to do right till others do it. When any effort of
Christian benevolence is proposed, as the London
City Mission, for example, the first questions which
seem to arise to such are not whether it is right,
scriptural, and useful, but questions of the following
kind : What do the other clergy think of it ? What
does the bishop say? Does the project violate any
canon ? Is it agreeable to ecclesiastical law ? How
will it affect "the church?" Can I do it safely?
All this is very unfavourable to the formation of
a free, earnest, sincere character, eager to find truth,
and ready to maintain it; yet this is essential to the
efficiency of Christian ministers.
By their silence on many important subjects which
claim a decision, and by their exclusive reading on
one side, when no fair judgment can be formed but
by a full investigation of both sides, many seem to be
afraid that their ecclesiastical opinions will not bear
examination. But to maintain without inquiry opi-
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 287
nions which inquiry might reverse, is to be insincere.
Here let me recall the words of Bishop Wilberforce :
" I am sure that a more deadly blow could not be
inflicted on our church, than that a people of whose
character, thank God, sterling honesty is the distinctive
feature, should have reason to suspect that their clergy
believed one thing while they taught another." If
this be true, how much of the impotence of our
pulpits, of the irreligion of society, and of the aliena-
tion of the masses from the clergy, may be traced to
this cause, that many are not believed to be sincere !
Further ; let us consider the influence of patronage.
According to the will of Christ, as declared by the
practice of the churches which were under the
guidance of apostles, the pastors were chosen by the
churches. Congregational churches still follow the
apostolic precedents ; and the effect is excellent. A
pastor chosen by the church must generally be suited
to it in all respects. When thus freely chosen, he is
likely to be esteemed and valued by those who, in
respecting him, justify their own choice. There may
be a minority displeased with the election, but they
know that the voices of the majority ought in equity
to prevail, and have had no personal collision with
the pastor. They may, therefore, soon be won by
him, if he be an effective minister ; and, in fact, earnest
and affectionate, intelligent and faithful men are
usually much loved and esteemed by the best and
most influential members of their churches.
288 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
But the Anglican pastor is chosen without the
concurrence of the church, and often against its de-
clared wishes, by the legal patron. The following is
the distribution of patronage in this country. The
Crown presents to 952 benefices, archbishops and
bishops to 1248, ecclesiastical corporations to 787,
dignitaries to 1851, colleges to 721, and private
patrons to 509G. 1 In the nomination to these bene-
fices the people are not consulted, the qualifications
required by law in the pastors are extremely small,
the proofs of incapacity and of irreligion in the candi-
date must be very evident ; and if the bishop refuses a
presentee without legal grounds, both the presentee
and the patron have a legal remedy. 2 The effect of
this state of the law is, that scarcely any presentee is
rejected ; children may be brought up with a certainty
that they shall have a family living, and advowsons are
a valuable marketable property. The effect of the
veto granted by a law of the General Assembly to the
churches of Scotland was, till it was reversed by the
law of the State, most remarkable. It led serious
young men to study for the ministry, while it deterred
all others ; and secured evangelical pastors in numbers
for the Scotch parishes. The unrestricted patronage
of England, on the contrary, secures a constant sup-
ply of worldly pastors. Comparatively few among
the great and rich become the disciples of Christ,
his doctrine being too humbling, and his yoke too
1 M'Culloch's " Statistics." 2 Burn, vol. i. p. 156.
INFLUENCE OE THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 289
strict. " It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the king-
dom of God." The rich and noble patrons, therefore,
who have 5096 livings at their disposal, are likely to
bestow the largest number of them on men who are,
like themselves, unconverted. College livings are
given without any reference to pastoral qualifications.
Any man, however ungodly in his habits, who be-
comes a good scholar, may obtain a fellowship at
Oxford or Cambridge ; by the thirty -third canon a
fellowship is a title for ordination, and when obtained,
a fellow obtains a college living in his turn as a
matter of right, so that collegiate patronage of 721
livings must materially swell the body of ungodly
pastors in the Anglican Churches. We have no
reason to suppose that the leaders of the great po-
litical parties in the State will generally be such men
as appreciate spiritual religion. Mr. Pitt and Lord
Liverpool, who have been amongst the most estimable
prime-ministers, were avowedly opposed to evangelical
views. And the able lawyers whom party consider-
ations have advanced to the office of lord chancellor
have not always been distinguished by religious
earnestness. The Crown patronage, therefore, of 952
livings necessarily forms another large body of worldly
and unconverted pastors. Lastly, when the prime-
minister and his colleagues in office are worldly men,
and from political considerations select worldly men
as bishops, the patronage of these worldly bishops
290 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
must still increase the number of unconverted pastors
placed over the churches of Christ in this land. In
estimating the tendency of patronage, we must not
overlook the strong inducement which patrons of all
classes have to provide for their own relations. 9581
benefices, excluding 952 in the patronage of the Crown,
are at the disposal of patrons who have children,
brothers, and cousins, to provide for. Varying in
value from 507. to 1000/. per annum, these offer
prizes to young men of every rank in life ; and is it
conceivable, in the actual state of competition for em-
ployment, and the extreme difficulty with which pa-
rents, especially of the upper classes, can obtain a
provision for their children, that patrons should not
give their family livings to multitudes of young
men, with slender abilities, poor health, and no
spirituality? We must also observe, that it is easier
for a clergyman to educate his sons for the clerical
office than for any other profession. They can gene-
rally superintend themselves the first stages of a
classical education. Classical schools abound ; and as
the lawyer is found to educate his sons for the law,
and the officer for the army and navy, so clergymen
are found to educate then: sons for their own pro-
fession. Thus young men of decent habits, but
without piety, are urged and almost forced by their
circumstances into a profession which of themselves
they never would have chosen. On the whole, it is
too obvious to all who inquire into this subject, that
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 291
the English clergy, as a body, are not directed to the
ministry by their peculiar fitness for it, but by the
circumstances which render that step convenient.
That body is not composed of able and pious men,
drawn in proportionate numbers from all classes of
the country in mature life and after much Christian
experience (1 Tim. iii. 6) ; but of young men, who
have from their earliest years been destined by their
parents to belong to it, just as in Roman Catholic
countries the younger children of the nobility are
destined for the monastery and the convent, because
it is convenient. The children of patrons and of rich
capitalists, of bishops and of clergymen, recruit the
ranks of the clergy, not so much because they have
given themselves up to the service of Christ and of
their fellow -creatures, as because they have not
ability for law or medicine, nor spirit enough for the
army or navy, nor capital enough for commerce, nor
income enough to lead an idle life. Thus the mi-
nistry in the Establishment is permanently corrupted ;
and it would be against all the known principles of
our nature, and in defiance of universal experience, to
expect under such circumstances that the clergy can
be ever generally evangelical and earnest men.
While absolute patronage thus introduces num-
bers of unfit men into the ministry, it excludes from
it many who would be its brightest ornaments. Were
the churches to decide upon the choice of their pas-
tors, ability, integrity, and earnestness, would secure
292 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
to each young minister a post of usefulness and com-
fort ; but since the greatest number of benefices in
the land are inaccessible to any young man who has
no other influence than that of character, all the
avenues to them being thronged by needy claimants,
who are sons, brothers, and cousins of patrons, able
and pious young men are necessarily led to seek em-
ployment of another kind ; and thus while the State
secures a perpetual supply of unconverted and incom-
petent pastors, it excludes from the pastoral office
many who might act most powerfully on the religion
of the nation.
God has called his ministers in this country to an
honourable but arduous work. It is their mission to
maintain the doctrine of the Gospel in its purity, to
elevate the piety of the churches, to direct their ener-
gies, and call Christians of all classes to combined
and powerful action in the service of the Redeemer.
They have to defend, in this day of mental activity
and fearless research, the inspiration of the scriptures,
the truth of Christianity, and even the being of God ;
not only must they invade the carelessness of the
fashionable classes, and bring down the towering
pride of nobles who scorn to hear that they are
perishing sinners who without humble faith in
Christ must lie under the wrath of God for ever,
but they have to address the judgment and the con-
science of men of literature and science, lawyers, phy-
sicians, engineers, and editors Goliaths who scorn
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 293
those that cannot grapple with them with a giant energy
like their own, and who are not to be reduced to dis-
cipleship by any child's play. They have to recover to
Christ Chartists and Socialists, whose hatred of reli-
gion is embittered by their detestation of the political
institutions with which it is allied. Mechanics and
operatives whose rude energy is no more to be drilled
by authority, and who never again will be the tame
human herds which in other days the pretenders to
apostolical descent could drive to what theological
pastures they pleased now claim a brotherly, frank,
and respectful attention ; while the thronging myriads,
who, in the cities and manufacturing districts of the
kingdom, are totally disconnected with the churches
of Christ, cannot be brought to listen to the Gospel
without much self-denying assiduity.
Never were such varied attainments needed in
pastors and evangelists, because the world was never
so well-informed, independent, and fearless. Sound
criticism of scripture, extensive knowledge of men
and things, authorship, preaching, and pastoral ac-
tivity, are all requisite to them, if they are not to be
despised as the stupid bonzes of Foh-kien. Anti-
quated claims to an apostolic authority transmitted
by descent, are now treated with merited contempt as
absurd, if they are not repelled with indignation as a
barefaced imposture. Henceforth, mind, heart, and
character, are the only titles to consideration, as our
Lord has prescribed. Pastors, therefore, must be,
294 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
above all, experienced Christians, with much faith,
hope, and love, who pray in the Holy Ghost, and
therefore obtain what they pray for. Laborious
students, they must yet be rather men of the world
than men of the cloister ; of the cottage and the work-
shop rather than of the drawing-room ; not butterflies
who have fluttered through a sunny day over a para-
dise of roses, but soldiers, who in the storm and strife
of duty have learned hardihood ; not aristocrats, not
plebeians, but men who, taken from all ranks, belong-
to all and sympathise with all ; a class who, by their
knowledge and wisdom, their virtue and their zeal,
have risen to an intellectual and moral nobility ; the
successors of Luther and Calvin, of Bunyan and Bax-
ter, of Whitefield and Wesley, of Scott and Martyn,
the elite of the nation for piety and force.
But what are the pastors of the Anglican Churches
in fact ? I grieve to write it. There are men among
them of great virtues to whom I gladly do homage.
I know and love many faithful, energetic, and sincere
servants of Christ; but when such exceptions are
subtracted, what are the rest? I grieve to write it.
Chosen by peers and squires, by colleges and church-
corporations, by chancellors and State-made prelates,
many are made pastors by a corrupt favouritism, many
are allured to an uncongenial employment by the in-
come which it offers them, and many embrace the
profession of a pastor because they are too dull, inert,
or timid, for any other. They have scarcely any
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON PASTORS. 295
theological training, they are pledged to all the errors
in the prayer-book, and all the abuses sanctioned by
the Union. They dread reforms, they are servile to
patrons, they are intolerant to dissenters ; their zeal
is crippled by State restrictions, and their indolence
tempted by unbounded liberty to indulge it. Severed
from the body of the people by their birth, by their
early education, by their college life, by their aristo-
cratical association, by their zeal for their ecclesiastical
prerogatives, they have littje popular influence. Law-
yers, men of science, and editors of newspapers, do
not listen to them ; Chartists and Socialists dislike
and despise them ; they scarcely touch the operative
millions ; they make few converts among the devotees
of fashion ; and under then- leadership the Christian
army is inert, timid, and unsuccessful.
But whenever the Union between the Church and
State shall cease, patronage and State restrictions will
cease with it ; the churches will recover then- right of
self-government and the nomination of their pastors ;
and the pastors having no preferment to expect from
the barons of the land, would identify themselves with
their flocks, and being contented, energetic, and affec-
tionate, would become on those accounts influential.
May God, in his mercy, after terminating this unhal-
lowed Union, raise up to his free churches such
pastors as may surround themselves with energetic
disciples of Christ; and through their combined
efforts may many among the literary, fashionable, and
296 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
laborious classes, now alienated from the Redeemer,
be led to serve him with affectionate and devoted
zeal.
SECTION III. Influence of the Union upon Curates.
Let us next examine the effect of the Union upon
the 5230 curates of the Establishment. Were pa-
tronage at an end, ministers being dependent on the
approval of the churches, each able and pious young
man would obtain a pastoral charge; while the
frivolous, the weak, and the ungodly, would be re-
jected by the congregations. Hence, unfit men would
be deterred from seeking ordination. Such was the
effect of the veto law in Scotland, which, leaving to
ill-instructed and ungodly youths no hope of em-
ployment, and rendering employment almost certain
to young men of sense, energy, and Christian prin-
ciple, exceedingly improved the class of candidates
for the ministry in that part of the kingdom. But
our system attracts to the ministry the incapable and
the indolent, while it repels many who are able and
energetic. Patronage rules every thing. Paper
checks, in the shape of subscriptions to articles and
canons, can exert very little influence on unscrupu-
lous young men who have the promise of livings;
the required testimonials are easily obtained by any
man not openly immoral, and thus almost all who
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON CURATES. 297
have livings ready for them can, in fact, make their
way to the expected preferment through all the need-
ful preliminaries. The result is, that the churches
have pastors forced upon them by the patrons from
these five classes : 1, College fellows ; 2, Political
adherents of the Government ; 3, Sons of patrons ;
4, Sons of wealthy men, who pay for situations for
them ; and 5, Sons of clergymen, who find it easier
to educate their sons for "the church" than for
any other profession. None of these classes are sent
into the ministry because of their zeal and capacity,
but because there are livings ready for them, or it is
otherwise convenient : and thus the Establishment
is injured by the admission of many pastors utterly
unsuited to their sacred calling.
It might seem at first sight that the churches
are protected from the intrusion of unfit men into
the pastoral office by the discretionary power of
ordination allowed to the bishop by law. On this
point Burn thus writes : " Since it is said to be
discretionary in the bishop whom he will admit
to the order of priest or deacon, and that he is not
obliged to give any reason for his refusal, this im-
plieth that he may insist upon what previous terms
of qualification he shall think proper, consistent ivith
law and right." But these last words seem to in-
timate that the friends of a young man, to whom
a family living has been promised, would have a
legal remedy should the bishop refuse to ordain him
298 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
without assigning some legal cause. In point of
fact, I believe that pious bishops ordain young men
who have given no proof of piety ; and bishops, who
in their charges condemn Anglo-Catholicism, have
been said to ordain young men who do not conceal
their Anglo-Catholic views. The discretionary right
of ordination, thus modified, leaves to the bishop
little power to exclude unfit men of rank and of
good prospects, but is only exercised now and then
towards some unpatronised candidate, whose views
may be thought by him to be too Calvinistic or too
liberal.
Let us now see upon what terms a young man
enters on his ministry. After having expressed by
subscription his belief in the spiritual supremacy of
the Crown, and the scriptural accuracy of the prayer-
book with the thirty -nine articles, he declares further
his " unfeigned assent and consent to all and every
thing contained and prescribed in and by the book
intituled the book of common prayer;" and then
comes under the iron power of the episcopal
license. By canon thirty-six, " No person shall be
suffered to preach in any parish church or chapel, or
in any other place within this realm, except he be
licensed either by the archbishop or by the bishop of
the diocese." By 13 and 14 Charles II., "No per-
son shall be received or allowed to preach as lecturer,
unless he be first approved and thereunto licensed by
the archbishop of the province or by the bishop of the
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON CURATES. 209
diocese." And by the Act of Uniformity, " No person
shall be suffered to preach in any church, chapel, or
other place of public worslu'p, unless he be first ap-
proved and thereunto licensed by the archbishop of
the province or the bishop of the diocese."
This license the bishop can give or withhold at
his discretion. The bishop of London refused to
license the Rev. Richard Povah to the lectureship
at the church of St. Bartholomew, alleging " that he
cannot consistently with his duty as bishop of
London approve of him as a fit person for such lec-
tureship." Upon which Lord Ellenborough said,
" There is no instance of an application for a man-
damus to compel a bishop to approve, we can only
compel him to inquire." 1 By this arbitrary power
the bishop can exclude a sound, learned, and faithful
man from his diocese without alleging any reason :
the knowledge of which must tend to make all the
young men who wish to obtain curacies within the
diocese conform to all his errors and prejudices.
Their independence is further destroyed by the
power which the bishop has of revoking his license.
The case of Hodgson v. Dillon decided that the
bishop may absolutely and discretionally withdraw
a license to officiate in an unconsecrated chapel ; and
in the course of his judgment Dr. Lushington said,
" No clergyman whatever of the Church of England
has any right to officiate in any diocese in any Avay
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 36.
300 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
whatever as a clergyman of the Church of England,
unless he has a lawful authority so to do ; and he
can only have that authority when he receives it at
the hands of a bishop, which may be conferred on
him by license when the clergyman officiates as sti-
pendiary curate." " The bishop may revoke such
license whenever he thinks fit, according to a dis-
cretion not examinable by the ecclesiastical judge." 1
It is the settled doctrine of the ecclesiastical law that
" the ordinary may, at his discretion, displace the
curate by withdrawing his license without formal
process of law." 2 Which is, indeed, confirmed by
statute, for, by 1 and 2 Viet. cap. 106, the bishop
may summarily revoke his license. 3
This state of the law places 5230 curates en-
tirely at the mercy of the bishops. If a curate is
too evangelical or too friendly towards pious dis-
senters, or denies the doctrine of baptismal regenera-
tion, or questions the canons, or offends the great
by his faithful preaching, he may be as blameless
as Daniel and as devoted as Paul, but the bishop
may revoke his license without assigning any reason,
and may expel him altogether from his diocese. The
worst felon in her majesty's dominions cannot be con-
demned without trial before a jury ; but a minister
of Christ, of the highest qualifications, the greatest
capacity, and the most devoted zeal, may be driven
from his flock, deprived of his income, and sent
1 Bum, vol. i. p. 306 b . 2 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 74. 3 Ibid. p. 75.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON CURATES. 301
forth an exile from the diocese, without any trial
nay, without any reason, except the autocratic fiat of
the ordinary. And this has been re-enacted within
the present reign !
It may occur to the reader that such a curate
would, in reality, suffer no great hardship, since he
would instantly be welcomed by other bishops. But
the forty-eighth canon enacts as follows : " Curates
and ministers, if they remove from one diocese to
another, shall not, by any means, be admitted to
serve without testimony of the bishop of the diocese
whence they came, in writing, of their honesty, ability,
and conformity to the ecclesiastical laws of the Church
of England." When, therefore, a bishop revokes his
license, and drives a curate from his diocese, as he
will not countersign any testimonies in his favour,
and without his testimony no other bishop can ca-
nonically receive the curate, the arbitrary act which
expels the curate from one diocese drives him, in
reality, from all, and sentences him to dissent or
starvation. Should he venture to preach without
a license, he would be liable to excommunication ;
whereupon, after forty days, a writ de excommunicato
capiendo may issue against him out of Chancery, and,
being imprisoned, he may have to endure all the
consequences which the State has attached to epi-
scopal fulminations. It is not clear that he can with
impunity seek a provision for his family even as a
302 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
layman, for, by the seventy-sixth canon, " No man
being admitted a deacon or minister shall from hence-
forth voluntarily relinquish the same, nor afterwards
use himself in the course of his life as a layman, upon
pain of excommunication." Excommunication may
meet him whether he exercise his ministry or renounce
it ; and he must then either satisfy the bishop or
starve.
Thus, on the one hand, if a curate conforms
himself in every respect to the will of a bishop,
zealously upholds the supremacy, maintains the un-
erring wisdom of the prayer-book, the immaculate
truth of each of the thirty-nine articles, and the au-
thority of the canons, then peace and plenty are
before him : nay, possibly he may himself climb to
the pinnacles of ecclesiastical greatness, to a peerage
and a palace ; but if he maintains the authority of
Christ against the spiritual authority of the State,
examines, with hearty allegiance to the truth, the doc-
trines and the discipline of the Establishment, if he
condemns the canons, and in any way comes into
collision with the prejudices and the passions of the
diocesan, then he is at the mercy of an irresponsible
autocracy, which may at any moment ruin his pros-
pects and blight his fame. Such circumstances inter-
dict, if I mistake not, to the curates of England
all fearless, generous, and independent search after
truth.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON CURATES. 303
I have noticed before the influence of a compli-
cated system of ecclesiastical law, and of unrestricted
patronage, in the same direction.
There is, further, a very disagreeable addition
likely to be made to the character of a young curate
by the circumstances of his condition. Deterred by
consequences so tremendous from questioning any
doctrine of the prayer-book, he must defend the
formula of his ordination to the priesthood. " Re-
ceive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a
priest. . . . Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are
forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are
retained." By these words he is tempted to believe
that he has received the Holy Ghost by the im-
position of the bishop's hands. Then he is called
to ponder the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
canons, which condemn as schismatics all dissenting
congregations, and excommunicate those who own
them to be churches of Christ ; he reflects, also, that
he is the legal pastor of the parish exclusively patron-
ised by the State ; and when to this is added his
exclusive training at an exclusive school and in an
exclusive college, with exclusive reading and exclu-
sive friendships, and the constant recurrence of ex-
clusive charges of bishops and archdeacons, it is to
be expected that each young curate will imbibe
Anglo-Catholic inflation. More especially if he has
been thrust upon his parish, in order to secure the
family living, without talent, knowledge, or piety, he
304 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
is almost sure to protect himself against his non-
conformist rival by lofty pretensions ; boldly and
blindly denounce dissent as schism, and thus unite,
with his timid servility to the great, an arrogant
exclusiveness towards the disciples and ministers of
Christ.
Curates become under such training the incum-
bents of the land.
SECTION IV. Influence of the Union upon Members of
Anglican Churches.
It is the will of Christ, as manifested in the New
Testament, that each church should select its own
pastor, with careful regard to the pastoral qualifica-
tions which are required by him ; * but the Angli-
can Churches allow strangers to choose their pastors
for them. A church is bound to receive none but
a pious pastor to rule over it ; 2 but the Anglican
Churches receive multitudes of unconverted pastors,
because the State has given to patrons the right to
nominate them. To be without the services of a
faithful and active pastor is a great evil to any
church ; but it is a much greater evil to be placed
1 Acts, i. 15, 23-26 ; vi. 3 ; xiv. 23. See page 202.
2 Matt. vii. 15-23 ; John, x. 4, 5 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3, 12-15 ; Gal. i. 6-9 ;
1 Tim. iii. 1-7 ; Tit. i. 5-9 ; 2 John, 8-10.
ON MEMBERS OF ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 305
under the guidance of an unsound and ungodly one.
For if an ungodly pastor is loved and followed by
a church, he leads them with himself to destruction ;
if they despise and hate him, they, probably, learn
to despise and hate the religion itself of which he
is the unworthy representative ; and if they are in-
different to him and his teaching, they often sink
into complete religious ignorance and insensibility.
Sometimes a church, has thus assented to a succession
of ungodly pastors, generation after generation, so
that no Gospel light has ever broken in upon the
irreligion of the village ; and the whole population
for generations has crept obscurely to the grave in
total ignorance of the way of salvation. Sometimes
a church, more culpably still, after having had a faith-
ful pastor, receives from the legal patron, with sloth-
ful acquiescence, some ungodly nominee, who comes
to contradict what his predecessor taught, and to
neutralise the effects of a faithful ministry. If the
Anglican Churches have been led thus to disregard
the law of Christ and their spiritual interests from a
penurious desire to escape the burden of maintaining
their pastors by securing the State salaries, this reason
only adds to their guilt. Christ's law is that they
should maintain their ministers.' When, therefore,
in order to evade this duty, they lay the burden
upon the State, they must injure themselves by their
neglect. No disregard of duty can be harmless ; and
1 Gal. vi. 6 ; 1 Tim. v. 17, 18 ; 1 Cor. ix. 11-14.
X
306 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
every Christian in the Establishment, by consenting
to make the State support his pastor, instead of doing
it himself, is doing mischief to his own Christian
character.
Further ; as the churches have relinquished their
own right of nominating their pastors, they have like-
wise neglected to maintain Christ's rights over them.
The church of real believers is the house of Christ,
over which he alone has the right to rule. 1 But the
Anglican Churches have allowed the State to usurp his
authority. A stranger rules over his house ; and laws
are passed by worldly politicians to direct his churches
with their consent. The church, as the bride of
Christ, ought jealously to maintain his dominion, 2
but it has; consented to an adulterous alliance with
the State, not from affection, but for money ; and
the State pays the money to keep the church in
subjection. By this faithless consent to transfer to
the State the authority of Christ, the churches neces-
sarily submit to a disgraceful neglect or desecration
of the ordinances of their Lord. Pastors and people
having resigned to the stranger the control over
their discipline, ecclesiastical courts erected under
the authority of the State, but unknown to the New
Testament, determine their whole internal adminis-
1 Heb. iii. 5 ; x. 21 ; Matt. x. 25 ; xxiv. 45 ; xxv. 14-30 ; Rom. vii. 6 ;
xiv. 9 ; 1 Cor. vii. 22, 23 ; Gal. vi. 10 ; Eph. ii. 19 ; vi. 6 ; Col. iii. 24 ;
1 Tim iii. 15, &c. &c.
2 Eph. v. 22 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; John, iii. 29 ; Rom. vii. 4 ; Rev. xix. 7 ;
Txi. 9.
ON MEMBERS OF ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 307
tration. Christ has appointed that those only who
repent and believe shall be baptised j 1 and the
churches, under the dictation of the State, allow all
the children of all parishes to be baptised, though
neither children nor parents have any faith or piety.
He has appointed that none but his true disciples
should receive the Lord's supper in commemoration
of his love, and in testimony of their allegiance; 2 but
the churches, under the dictation of the State, admit
all who cannot legally be proved to be heretical or
immoral to receive it, although they may openly
oppose evangelical doctrine, be devoted to worldly
pleasures, have no family religion, be of a fierce,
Bchismatical spirit, and exhibit no marks whatever of
piety in their lives. The church and the world are
completely blended at the table of the Lord. The
'theatres, the ball-rooms, and the race-courses, may
pour their whole contents into the assemblies of
communicants, to be welcomed by the churches as
" members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors
of the kingdom of heaven." If any ungodly person
" creeps into the church unawares," 3 such a person
ought to be put out. From all fellowship with such
the churches are ordered to withdraw ; there must be
no communion of light with darkness, no concord
between Christ and Belial, no familiar association
1 Mark, xvi. 16 ; Acts, ii. 38 ; viii. 37 ; x. 47.
2 1 Cor. xi. 27-29 ; v. 11, 13 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14.
Jude 4.
308 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
between Christians and the devotees of pleasure ; '
but in Anglican Churches these laws are disregarded.
Believers are yoked together with unbelievers, the
righteous with the unrighteous, the worshippers of
Christ with the worshippers of Belial, in all their
church acts. Men of a schismatical spirit, who cast
out their brethren, fierce successors of Diotrephes,
violating the law of charity with shameless party zeal,
kneel side by side with Christ's disciples at the altar,
from which the most estimable and faithful brethren
of dissenting churches are rudely excluded. The
covetous, the railer, and even those who are generally
thought to be fornicators and drunkards, may take
their place at the Lord's table as easily as in their
pew : and Anglican Christians consent to all this !
Pastors who are ignorant, and even irreligious, re-
main under the sanction of the law to misrepresent
the Gospel and mislead the congregation : and An-
glican Christians support them !
It was characteristic of the early churches, that
they held forth the word of life to the ignorant,
shining as lights in the world; 2 from them sounded
out the word of the Lord; 3 their faith was spoken of
among the heathen ; 4 and they were epistles of Christ
known and read of all men. 5 But Christians in the
Anglican Churches, satisfied if they can secure their
own salvation, do little for others. Enlightened
1 2 Cor. vi. 14-18; Rom. xvi. 17; John, xv. 19; Gal. v. 12; Rev. ii.
14, 15. * Phil. ii. 15, 16. 3 1 Thess. i. 8. 4 Rom. i. 8. 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3.
ON MEMBERS OF ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 309
congregations allow parishes round them, in which
the Gospel is not preached, to remain unvisited and
unregarded in their ignorance and vice. They no
more seek to convert the people of other parishes
than if those people had no souls to be saved. Nay,
they do very little for the ungodly within their own
parishes. In the ten thousand parishes of England
how few Anglican Christians visit the poor to instruct
them, or distribute the scriptures, or become Sunday-
school teachers ! And of those few scarcely any are
men of education.
Inactive towards the ignorant and the uncon-
verted, Anglican Christians have also little spiritual
association with each other. All Christians are
brethren, but they have little brotherly intercourse.
They ought " to excite each other to love and to
good works, not forsaking the assembling of them-
selves together;" but except that they meet with all
the parish once a-week to read through the liturgy
and to hear a sermon, they never assemble as
churches. What church -meetings do they hold to
improve their discipline, to pray with one another, to
exhort one another, to consider how they may revive
religion in then* families and in the church, to devise
means for the spiritual improvement of their neigh-
bourhood ?
Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals, holding the
most opposite views, grow on together in the Estab-
lishment. Each party accuses the other of bad faith,
310 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
violations of vows, and treachery to the church ; each
declaring that the other should be expelled from its
fold. Both maintain the exact orthodoxy of the
same vast compilation of doctrines ; both appeal to
the prayer-book. New recruits are added daily to
both armies ; and the new levies, fiercely opposed to
each other, continue to subscribe to the same articles,
and to declare their assent to the same prayer-book.
Either the prayer-book must be utterly obscure, or
one party must be dishonest : yet the Christians
within the Establishment, fettered and handcuffed by
the State, remain mute and motionless spectators of
the feud.
They remain still inactive, though ungodly nomi-
nees of patrons can force their way into the national
pulpits ; though pastors convicted of delinquency can
maintain their position in defiance of public censure ;
though discipline is wholly relaxed ; though ungodly
persons, armed with legal right, place themselves at
the table of the Lord ; though anti- Christian canons
declare dissenters, however pious, to be excommuni-
cated schismatics ; though the Establishment never
removes an abuse, or corrects an error, has no self-
government, but is doomed to perpetual incapacity of
advancement. The State has robbed them of their
rights : they have no church functions left.
But, indeed, many of them do not wish for any
alteration in their circumstances ; the system of servi-
tude to the State has not only taken away their liberty
ON MEMBERS OF ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 311
of action, but also their value for it. By long inac-
tivity, by isolation one from another, by the influence
of those pastors whose interests and whose privileges
are identified with the support of the system as it is,
by a conservative political dread of all innovation,
numbers of Anglicans, it is to be feared, are satisfied
with their bonds, evade the force of the scriptures,
shrink from a free and fearless examination of their
duty, are tempted to justify what they are afraid to
mend, and exaggerate the mischiefs of dissent to make
their own indefensible system less intolerable.
On the whole, it is most melancholy to contrast
what the Anglican Churches ought to be with what
they are. They ought to be composed of " saints
and faithful brethren," under the superintendence of
able and faithful pastors. They ought to be " the
salt of the earth and the light of the world;" " epis-
tles of Christ known and read of all men;" the
soldiers of truth clothed in a divine panoply, and
earnestly contending for the faith ; each separate
member an evangelist to his neighbours, and all toge-
ther aiming at the conquest of the whole nation for
Christ.
But they are a confused mass of believers and
unbelievers, allowing strangers to impose upon them
multitudes of ungodly pastors, who bring a spiritual
blight upon them, and whose ministry they neverthe-
less support. The scriptural discipline, which is essen-
tial to the purity and vigour of Christian churches,
312 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
they have wholly abandoned. For the plague-stricken
multitudes round them they do almost nothing. If
the pastors are often exclusive and schismatical, so
are some of them. They associate freely, both at
their own tables and at the Lord's table, with his
enemies, from whom they ought to separate ; and live
in almost total separation from his nonconformist
followers, with whom they ought to be united. Few are
evangelists to the poor ; few teach in Sunday-schools,
and of these few scarcely any are educated men. They
see round them whole villages degraded by ignorance
and vice, and suffer them to live and die untaught and
unwarned. Family and personal religion languishes.
Few heads of families expound the scriptures to their
children and servants, or pray with them, except by
the repetitions of a book. Trained in so heartless
a manner, the children of religious parents frequently
relapse into total worldliness ; and the world recruits
its forces from those who ought to have become the
servants of the Redeemer. Upon the masses of the
working class, the myriads of fashion, and the whole
army of scientific and literary men, Anglican Christ-
ians make scarcely any impression, while a latent
and wide infidelity is making unchecked ravages
among them. In this Laodicean lukewarmness the
churches ought to repent, to meet for discussion and
mutual exhortation ; should unitedly and fervently
supplicate the gift of the Holy Spirit, and begin to
labour for the conversion of sinners and their own
ON MEMBERS OF ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 313
spiritual improvement. But except to go through the
Sunday services they never meet as churches ; they
have no brotherly association, no social prayer, no acts
of humiliation, no effort for spiritual revival.
Nor is it easy to see how, under the Union, any
great improvement can be effected. State supremacy
and aristocratic patronage secure that the Establish-
ment shall continue for ever a worldly corporation.
As a representative government must ever reflect
the attributes of its constituency, so long as the
majority of the people are worldly, the State must
be worldly too : a worldly State must generally raise
worldly nominees to the bench of bishops ; and
worldly bishops will ordain without scruple young
men as worldly as themselves. Further, as the
patrons, who are rich and great, are likely as a class
to be worldly, and the pastors must generally resemble
the patrons by whom they are chosen, the pastors
must generally be worldly ; and as the churches can-
not generally rise in spirituality beyond their pastors,
the churches must be worldly too. So that worldly
bishops and worldly patrons are likely to secure in
perpetuity worldly pastors and worldly churches
throughout the land.
314 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
SECTION V. Influence of the Union upon Dissenters.
The State, by exalting one sect, must depress
the rest. There may be the most complete toleration
which is compatible with any Establishment, and dis-
senters may have access to all the honours and emo-
luments connected with civil office, yet if the State
pays the established clergy alone, and confers upon
them dignities which are refused to others, it bestows
on their sect an authority, and, for a long time at
least, a superiority of numbers, which expose all other
sects to proportionate neglect and contempt. Fashion-
able persons will in every country belong to the reli-
gion of the State. No man of fashion would like to
be a Roman Catholic at St. Petersburg, a Protestant
at Madrid, or a Dissenter in London. And all those
who are connected with the fashionable world, even
remotely, feel the temptation to be ashamed of any
sect which the State has excluded from its favours.
The effect of this State preference of one sect
is to lead it to an undue exaltation of itself. In the
United States, where all sects are legally equal, it
would be preposterous in any one to speak of all
the rest as schismatics ; but when a sect is esta-
blished, it may instantly assume to be " the Church "
within that country, and pronounce its lofty anathe-
mas upon all dissentients from it as presumptuous
and criminal. Thus the language of the English
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON DISSENTERS. 315
Establishment, by its canons is as follows. Canon 9 :
"Authors of schism in the Church of England cen-
sured. Whosoever shall hereafter separate them-
selves from the communion of saints, as it is approved
by the apostles' rules in the Church of England, and
combine themselves together in a new brotherhood,
&c. ... let them be excommunicated ipso facto."
Canon 10: "Maintainers of schismatics in the Church
of England censured. Whosoever shall hereafter
affirm that such ministers as refuse to subscribe to
the form and manner of God's worship in the Church
of England, prescribed in the communion-book, and
their adherents may truly take unto them the name
of another church not established by law, &c. . . .let
them be excommunicated." Canon 11: "Whosoever
shall hereafter affirm or maintain that there are
within this realm other meetings, assemblies, or con-
gregations of the king's born subjects, than such as
by the laws of this land are held and allowed, which
may rightly challenge to themselves the name of true
and lawful churches, let him be excommunicated."
Canon 12: "Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that
it is lawful for any sort of ministers and lay persons,
or of either of them, to join together and make rules,
orders, or constitutions in causes ecclesiastical with-
out the king's authority, and shall submit themselves
to be ruled and governed by them, let them be ex-
communicated ipso facto." By these canons with
their titles dissenters are termed schismatics. The
316 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
charge is false. There are schism atical dissenters as
there are schismatical Anglicans, but dissenters are
not, as such, schismatical. Schism (from o^/o^a, a
rent) is division among the disciples of Christ, who
as one flock, one brotherhood, one body, ought to be
united; 1 and those who cause this division are schis-
matics. Schism, or division, arises within a church
by unbrotherly tempers, when its members quarrel
with each other; 2 it arises when any members of
churches maintain dangerous errors, which force faith-
ful men to protest against them; 3 it arises when any
members of churches oblige their fellow-Christians to
separate from them by their violation of the plain com-
mands of God; 4 and it arises when any Christians,
on any account, refuse to associate with their fellow-
Christians who are sound in faith and devoted in
their practice. 5 But when Christians in a brotherly
spirit maintain the doctrines of the Gospel and obey
the commands of Christ, they are no schismatics ;
and if any schism arises in consequence of their
fidelity, those who oppose truth, and not they, are
its authors. 6 According to these plain truths, Angli-
cans are more schismatics than dissenters. Dissenters
are contending for a sound ministry in opposition
1 John, x. 16; Matt, xxiii. 8; Eph. iii. 15; Heb. ii. 11, 12; Eph. i.
22, 23 ; iv. 1, 5 ; John, xvii. 20, 21; Rom. xiv. 1 ; xv. 5-7; 1 Cor.i. 10,
2 Rom. xvi. 17; 1 Cor. i. 10 ; ii. 3 ; xi. 18, 19 ; xii. 25 ; Gal. v. 23;
3 John, 9, 10. s Gal. ii. 11-13 ; 2 John, 9-11.
4 Thess. iii. 6, 14. Gal. ii. 12 ; Jude, 19.
* Matt. x. 32-38 ; Rom. xvi. 17; Gal. v. 1; 2 Thess. ii. 15.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON DISSENTERS. 317
to the mass of unsound doctrine admitted through
patronage into the pulpits of the Establishment ; but
Anglicans recognise and support these unsound
ministers. Dissenters insist upon a regard to the
authority of Christ in opposition to State-supremacy ;
but Anglicans uphold the supremacy. Dissenters
claim an obedience to the laws of Christ respecting
the administration of the churches ; Anglicans over-
look them. And when dissenters do this in a bro-
therly spirit, they are no more guilty of schism than
Paul was when he withstood Peter to the face at
Antioch. 1 It is not schism to maintain truth, but to
oppose it ; it is not schism to execute Christ's laws,
but to disregard them. And, I repeat it, that Angli-
cans of a brotherly spirit are therefore more schis-
matical than dissenters of a brotherly spirit. Further ;
as Christ has never commanded in scripture, or
sanctioned, by any precedent, the agglomeration of
many churches into one ecclesiastical corporation, nor
allowed the Union of such corporation with the State,
to dissent from these associations, with charity towards
those who consent to them, is no division in the
church of Christ. And if any schism arise from their
dissent, its authors are not those who reject doctrines
and practices which they know to be contrary to the
will of Christ, but those who make an assent to these
doctrines and practices the condition of communion
with them.
1 Gal. ii. 11.
318 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
Yet, however inconsiderate and false this charge
against dissenters may be, it is brought against them
by the Establishment itself, for these canons were
passed by a synod of the province of Canterbury in
1603, received the royal sanction, and were imposed,
by authority of the Crown, upon both the provinces
of Canterbury and York. Each bishop, when appealed
to, must enforce them ; each minister, when so en-
joined by the bishop, must submit to them ; they are
the ecclesiastical laws which bind the clergy ; and the
Anglican Church has made the following enactments
respecting them :
" Whosoever shall hereafter assert that the sacred
synod of this nation, in the name of Christ and by
the king's authority assembled, is not the true
Church of England by representation, let him be
excommunicated. ' '
" Whosoever shall affirm that no manner of person,
either of the clergy or laity, not being themselves
particularly assembled in the said sacred synod, are
to be subject to the decrees thereof, &c. . . .let him
be excommunicated." 1
All clergymen, therefore, who disown the autho-
rity of these canons, are liable to excommunication
and to imprisonment by the writ de excommunicato
capiendo.
Without the aid of the Union, these canonical
fulminations would be simply ridiculous ; but when
1 Canons, 139, 140.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON DISSENTERS. 319
solemnly promulgated by a synod of the State-paid
clergy as the doctrine of the national church, they
attach the stigma of schism to dissenters in the minds
of myriads. Under the shelter of these canons, bishops
proclaim them in their charges to be schismatics,
clergymen echo it from their pulpits, and even liberal
men in the Establishment are afraid openly to deny
it. By aid of the Union, the Establishment, rising
above all competition, can loftily look down upon all
other churches as sectaries. " This is not a mere
State-church," says the excellent bishop of Calcutta,
" but the religion of Christ our Lord, as established
by his providence and grace in Great Britain in the
second century . . . the Christian religion wisely and
mildly established by a Christian government. Much
less is our church a sectarian body, as some would
call it ; that is, a small number of persons who have
cut themselves off from the mass of Christians by
certain peculiarities ; but the national church of the
Government, nobles and people of our religious
country." 1
This doctrine, originated and sustained by the
Union, besides being in the highest degree unjust to
dissenters, inflicts upon them many injuries.
Persons thus trained from childhood to look upon
dissenters as schismatics, whom they should, according
to the apostle's command, avoid (Rom. xvi. 17), are
afraid to hear the Gospel from their lips. Were a
1 Farewell Charge, May 1825, pp. 22, 23.
320 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
dissenting minister to open a chapel for worship in
any large village where there is a moral and bene-
volent rector, whose doctrine is unsound and whose
life is worldly, few among the villagers would dare
to hear the schismatic. Were the two ministers
upon the footing of legal equality, as in a village of
the United States, the multitude would flock to hear
the Gospel ; but here, where the State maintains the
worldly pastor, and frowns upon the evangelist, his
doctrine is suspected, his person is despised, and he
cannot gather a congregation. A similar spirit has
hitherto impeded the evangelic labours of dissenters
in every city of the kingdom.
As, however, members of the Establishment may
hear a dissenting minister without paying a very
heavy penalty to society in the present day for the
liberty which they assume, those of the upper classes
whose piety has conquered their prejudices will steal
into a chapel where an experienced and able dissenter
so expounds the Gospel as to enlarge their views
and warm their Christian affections more than the
neighbouring ministers of the Establishment. But
no such pious and liberal Anglicans ever join their
nonconforming brethren at the table of the Lord.
They will hear able and eloquent dissenters, but to
become dissenters themselves would be so offensive
to the class with which they usually associate, and
would expose them to such a storm of reproach, that
not one in a thousand has the courage to come to
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON DISSENTERS. 321
that decision ; while those few who do arc usually
represented as persons of extreme and culpable eccen-
tricity.
Similar influences act upon wealthy dissenters
themselves. When the possession of large fortunes
has opened the way for them, and still more for their
children, to fashionable society, their dissent is the
chief barrier to be removed. The aristocracy is almost
entirely devoted to the Establishment. Independently
of obvious political considerations, the system which
has the favour of the Crown and the smiles of the
Government, and which includes within it prelates,
peerages, and palaces, attract them far more than a
vulgar Presbyterianism and a still more democratic
Independency. Since, therefore, those who aim at
admission into this refined and noble society must
leave that plebeianism behind them, the sons of
wealthy dissenters very often spurn the communion
of their fathers, and by an enthusiastic support of
the Union prove their title to glitter in those aristo-
cratic circles from which nonconformity is excluded.
Perhaps the constant accession of poor persons to
the ranks of dissent by faithful preaching, and the
constant loss of the children of the Avealthy, may not
exercise an unfavourable influence upon the spirit-
uality of dissenting churches ; but at the same time
they must be considerably embarrassed and impeded
in their operations by the fact that the wealth which
was once employed by the parents to support their
322 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
ministers, their schools, their missions, and their
poorer members, is continually passing over, by the
defection of the sons, to the aid of those who
condemn them as mischievous schismatics.
Being thus impoverished by the indirect influence
of the Establishment, they are further taxed to sup-
port it.
As the State is the owner of the ecclesiastical
property by which it maintains the incumbents of
the Establishment, upon condition of sendees to be
rendered by them in return, it has a right to resume
those funds when it finds that this application of
them is both unscriptural and injurious. When the
State discovered that the ministry of Catholic priests
Avas injurious to the country, it transferred its eccle-
siastical f\mds to Protestant pastors with perfect
justice ; and with equal justice might it now transfer
them to schoolmasters, or employ them for any other
useful object, upon discovery that their present use
is mischievous. Under these circumstances, the
application of the ecclesiastical rent-charges to the
maintenance of the clergy of one sect deprives dis-
senters of their share of the benefit which all might
receive from their application to common objects.
But church-rates are a much more direct tax upon
them ; and believing, as they do, that the churches
of the Establishment are crippled and enfeebled rather
than benefited by the patronage of the State, the
\vithdrawal of which patronage would lead to a revival
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON DISSENTERS. 323
of religion throughout the kingdom, they must feel
it hard to be made to contribute by their industry
to the support of a Union which they know to be
contrary to the will of Christ and prejudicial to the
best interests of the nation.
For seeking to destroy this Union they are re-
proached with being political ; but how can they
dissolve a political arrangement except by politic?!
means? How can they bring the State to sound
legislation on this subject except by meetings and
petitions ? The political nature of the Union compels
those who seek its removal to engage in politics.
And if Roman Catholics and infidels feel the griev-
ance too, and seek its removal for their own reasons,
evangelical dissenters may no more justly be accused of
fraternising with them in these efforts, because they
vote and act on the same side, than evangelical Angli-
cans can be accused of fraternising with gamblers and
profligates, because their votes are blended with the
votes of some profligate conservatives in support cf
the Establishment. If the necessity of political action
to separate the Church from the State does further
lead some dissenters to enter more deeply into other
political questions than is good for them, this fur-
nishes a new reason why they should as speedily as
possible destroy the Union, because then this tempt-
ation to rush into the strife of party politics would
be withdrawn. But in whatever degree dissenters
offend by their association with irreligious politicians
324 EFFECTS OF THE UNION UPON PERSONS.
or by their bitterness of spirit, Anglican Christians
must share in their guilt, because they have driven
them to both. Upon the removal of the Union
both would cease, and the different denominations
of England, as the different denominations in the
United States, forsaking political aims and the fierce-
ness of party strife, would act in harmony, to the
great improvement of the churches, and to the com-
fort of the country at large.
Let us now recapitulate the evils which the Union
inflicts upon dissenters. By exalting a rival denomi-
nation it necessarily depresses them, and by brand-
ing them as schismatics shuts them out from the
society and the sympathy of their fellow-Christians.
It impedes their efforts to instruct the ignorant ; it
allures the children of their wealthier members to
desert them, and thus impoverishes their ministers,
their schools, their colleges, and their missions ; it
deprives them of their share of advantage from the
ecclesiastical property of the nation ; it forces them,
by the payment of church-rates, to support an eccle-
siastical system which they condemn ; and, by com-
pelling them to seek a political remedy for a great
political grievance, it exposes them to the censure
and dislike of their fellow-Christians, as a turbulent
political party who merit the severest reprehension.
CHAPTER II.
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
have now to consider tlie influence of the
Union on the progress of true religion in our country.
Its principles, as we have seen, are corrupt and mi-
scriptural; its influence upon various important classes
of men is noxious ; and, lastly, it injures various great
interests of the country connected with religion. In
the progress of our inquiry we shall see that it does
not much increase the number of Christian ministers,
that it prevents their wise distribution through the
country, that its resources are ill applied, that it main-
tains corruption in doctrine, that it has ruined church
discipline, that it hinders the evangelisation of the
country, that it perpetuates schisms in the churches,
that it renders the reformation of the Establishment
impossible, that it impedes the progress of religion,
that it embarrasses the Government, and that it lends
strength to all the papal Establishments of Europe*
326 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
SECTION I. Influence of the Union upon tie Number
of Ministers.
Too much lias been said and thought of the mere
multiplication of ministers. Bad ministers are the
greatest enemies to the cause of Christ ; and while
they profess to lead men to eternal life, rather con-
duct them, by their preaching and example, to eternal
destruction. If the State were to render its rectors
and vicars as numerous as the monks and friars of
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it would only
increase the irreligion of the country, supposing these
incumbents to be irreligious. Nothing whatever is
gained to the cause of religion by the multiplication
of unconverted ministers. Of what use was it to the
Jews before the destruction of their nation, that those
religious teachers were multiplied, of whom Christ
said, " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for
ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that
are entering to go in. . . . Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land
to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves i ." 1
They multiplied indeed religious ceremonies over the
land, but God's judgment of them was, " In vain
do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the com-
1 Matt, xxiii. 13, 15.
UPON THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS. 327
mandments of men!' And our Lord declared the end
of them and their disciples by saying, " Let them
alone : they be blind leaders of the blind: and if the
blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" 1
Pompons, bigoted, worldly, sporting, dancing,
covetous, vicious, ignorant, self-indulgent, or idle in-
cumbents, not called to the ministry by the Holy
Spirit, not owned as ministers by Christ, ignorant of
the Gospel and as much enemies to true religion as
Paul was when he was at once a punctilious Pharisee
and a furious persecutor, can only misrepresent reli-
gion, perpetuate spiritual death in the churches, and
make the Gospel hateful to the rest of the world.
They harden the irreligious in their profanity; they
make numbers think that all religion is hypocrisy;
they oppose the disciples of Christ ; and they conceal,
by a decent religious ceremonial, the spiritual desti*
tution of the country from those who would other-
wise strive to remove it. If no ungodly persons were
permitted to bring their children to be baptised, or
were admitted to the Lord's supper, or could become
ministers, if all ungodly communicants and ministers
could be wholly put out of the churches according
to divine command, 2 the churches of Christ in this
country, though perhaps greatly reduced in the num-
ber of their members, would be in much better cir-
cumstances for preaching Christ to the world. In
examining, therefore, the Union, let us rather ask
1 Matt. XY. 9, 14, 1 Cor. v. 11, 13.
328 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the character of such ministers than their number.
Yet we ought to consider their number likewise.
If the Anglican Churches have sacrificed their liberty,
their purity, their zeal, their discipline, and their
concord with other churches, for the sake of their
Union with the State, how much have they gained
in the number of their ministers by the Union ?
The whole number of benefices is 10,533 ; 1 the
number of curates is 5230 ;" and thus the number of
the officiating clergy is somewhat above 15,763. Mr.
Horsman, including various dignitaries and heads of
colleges, states the whole number of clergy in England
and Wales to be 1G,010. ? But of these, 3087 " hav-
ing no duties to attend to," the number of the work-
ing clergy is reduced to 12,923 for 10,533 benefices,
forming 11,077 parishes. As many of these benefices
have been created by individual zeal, and many of the
curates are furnished by the " Pastoral Aid Society,"
the " Curates' Aid Society," and other voluntary
sources, all the working clergy are not provided by
the State. However, let us assume that the State
provides 12,923 ministers for 16,000,000 of the
population, affording one minister to each 1238
persons. This is a large supply ; and if all, or even
half of these ministers could be thought to be con-
verted men, it would make Christians bear very much
before they took a step to diminish their number.
1 M'Cullocb, vol. ii. p. 396. J Ibid. p. 412.
3 Horsman, " Speech on the Bishopric of Manchester Bill," p. 20.
UPON THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS. 329
But, alas ! we have too little ground for that suppo-
sition, whether we consider the characters of the young
men at the Universities, the patrons who select them,
the reasons for which so many " go into the church,"
the number of pulpits offered to the " Church Mis-
sionary Society," the number of clerical subscribers
to the " Bible Society," or the portion of reputed
evangelical clergymen in almost any neighbourhood
of almost any county. However, whatever their merit,
the dissolution of the Union will not lessen their num-
bers so much as many ignorantly suppose.
To form a sound opinion on this point, we have
to consider what is already done by free churches.
The following table shews the number of minis-
ters of three evangelical denominations in the year
1831, since which they have considerably added to
their number :
CO
rH
.
I
I
bb
If
Of O
o
Ot
CM
c?
o
o
6
rH CO CM
rH
Ol
rH
3
||
:
GO
CM
CO
CO
O
rH
:
CO
*|
TP
fel
O OS GO
00
c
i-ti
o
00
*
P^
to
"I
rH
tp
'S^
Ot
oc co o
OS
I-H
o
C O
CM
\
o
c?
i *"
CO
^
ul
i ^
Ot
GO OS CO
C?
*^4
O?
-f
co
oj'6
O
^4 < ' ^}
i^Ti
CO
rH
"3
CM
rH
T5
C{
X'
^g
cf
ta
I- ^
O
C
CO
OS
fH
'C
o
rH ^f
rH
ii3
o
1
1 I
*
M
r -
1
CO
rH rH CO
co co o
rH
c
o
s
c
Q
rH
rH
CO
CM
a
s
HH
g
O
C? rH O
<T*
c?
00
10
Q
^<
-* <?? OS
OS
CO
os
CM
*s
CM
rH C{ -^
rH
CM
fc-
os
00
c
rH
g
O
rH O 00
OS Tf 1~-
O
rH
S
>o
<3*
00
J-
00
00
CO "^ Tj<
OS
GO
CO
rH
1 I
co"
^r c.f -*"
co"
co"
rH
cT
l^~
0.
eo
CO O OS
CO
1~*
OS
*
CO CO "^
CM
CO
GO
GO
&H
rH
rH
rH
co"
rH
Q
CO
tn
6
'oj
^
J
J"
S
1
r^
o
c
mi
2
.1-4
02
Ti
London i
P rt '
.3 cs tn
rS tS S
< d
C >
rO
OOP
1 Durham
Lancashi
1 Yorkshir*
1 North am
H
UPON THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS. 331
But since 1831 the evangelical free churches
have greatly multiplied. In 1838, Mr. Conder stated
the Congregationalist churches to be 1840; the
Methodist congregations of all classes to be 4239 ;
and the evangelical Presbyterian churches to be 113. 1
The Baptist churches in Great Britain and Ireland
now amount to 1911 ; c and deducting 100 Scotch and
43 Irish churches, there remain 1861 Baptist churches
in England and Wales. Hence the number of evan-
gelical free churches in England and Wales, of four
denominations, is now as follows :
Congregationalist above, 1 840
Baptist 1861
Methodist 4239
Presbyterian 113
8053
Moravian, Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, &c. say IT
Total free churches of England and Wales 8070
If now we deduct one-fourth from this number, as
being without regular ministers, the number of the
ministers of free churches will be about 6053. 3 Mr.
Conder represents the number of attendants in these
congregations to be above 3,000,000, and thinks that
1 Conder's View of all Religions, p. 421.
2 Baptist Manual for 1848, p. 37.
3 Since the publication of the first edition, I have learned that this is about
the number of churches without regular ministers,
332 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
they represent a population of 4,500,000.' Assuming
that 4,000,000 of the population are connected with
these 8070 churches, then 4,000,000 maintain 6000
ministers, i.e. one minister for each 666 of the
hearers. The number of ministers maintained by the
Wesleyan body in connexion with the Conference, is
1010, besides 175 aged or infirm, and the number
of members is 339,379, so that there is one minister
to each 336 members.
In 1837, Mr. M'Cullocli stated the number of
Protestant congregations in Scotland to be as fol-
lows :
Summary of the Congregation* of Scotland, 1837.
Established Church 1033
Presbyterian Dissenters 541
Scottish Episcopalians 1'Z
English Episcopalians 4
Independents 88
Other Sects 40
Total not connected with the Establishment 745
Majority of the Establishment 278 2
But the number of the free churches has since
then greatly increased. Not long ago I was fur-
nished by a friend in Scotland with the following
summary:
1 Conder's View of all Religions, p. 421.
1 M'Culloch, vol. ii. p. 430.
UPON THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS. 333
Summary of the Congregations of Scotland, 1847.
Ministers of the Establishment 1105
Free Church 625
Associate Synod 393
Original Seceders 34
Relief Synod 115
,, Cameronians 30
,, Cougregationalists 75
Scotch Episcopalians 101
English Episcopalians 9
Baptists 40
,, Free Churches 1422
The number of the congregations of the Tree
Church has now grown to about 847, l and the num-
ber of their regular ministers is above 700. To the
foregoing summary we must, therefore, add seventy-
five Free Church ministers, and the total number of
the ministers of free churches in Scotland appears to
be 1497 : the majority of the ministers of free
churches over the ministers of the Establishment
being 392. In Scotland, therefore, individual zeal
maintains a number of ministers one-fourth greater
than the number maintained by the State. The po-
pulation is 2,628,957, and if we estimate the mem-
bers and the adherents of the free churches to be one-
half the population, i.e. 1,314,478, then individual
zeal in Scotland maintains 1497 or 1500 ministers
for 1,314,478 of the population, which is one minister
for every 870 hearers.
1 Missionary Record of the Free Church, June 1848.
334 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
In the United States the results of individual zeal
are not less extensive. The population of the United
States in 1840 was 17,06.2,666,' and the number of
ministers of five evangelical denominations is repre-
sented in the following table, which is extracted from
an important volume which Mr. Baird has published
on the state of religion in the United States. 2 .
The Number of Ministers of Five Evangelical Denominations in
the United States.
Denominations.
Churches.
Ministers.
Communicants.
Hearers.
Episcopalians . . .
1,164
1,033
105,745
712,000
Presbyterians and
Congregationalists
8,111
5,411
751,803
4,350,000
Baptists
8,561
4,375
632,478
3,423,000
Methodists
12,4453
4,112*
935,418
5,400,000
Totals
30,381
14,931
2,415,444
13,885,000
The American Almanac for 1846 confirms the
statements of Mr. Baird, making the churches of the
evangelical denominations to be 29,490, the ministers
1 American Facts, by G. P. Putnam, 1845, p. 27.
2 Baird's Religion in United States, chap. 16, p. 600.
3 Mr. Baird makes them 25,134, but as many of them are very small, I
have stated them at the number of the local preachers.
4 " The total number of Methodist preachers is 10,505 ; but as this num-
ber includes the local preachers, I have set the number of ministers at the
number of travelling preachers who are wholly devoted to the ministry." .
BAIRD, p. 601.
UPON THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS. 335
15,231, and the communicants to be 2,651, 003. *
We may therefore safely state the number of minis-
ters to be 15,000 for a population of 17,000,000.
The people of the United States are placed under
great disadvantages with reference to the maintenance
of ministers, first, because there is annually a large
influx of European emigrants, who bring with them
the irreligion and apathy into which they have been
plunged by the Establishments of Europe; and secondly,
because the population, like the population of our own
colonies, is spread over a wide surface, in which cir-
cumstances it is much more difficult to maintain
pastors. Yet, notwithstanding these obstacles, the
Christians of the United States maintain 15,000 evan-
gelical ministers for 17,000,000 persons, i.e. one
minister to every 1133 of the population, a number
very nearly adequate to the whole supply of their wants.
Nearly fourteen millions out of seventeen millions are
actually listening to the Gospel from fifteen thousand
faithful ministers, and maintain for themselves pastors
in the ratio of one pastor for 925 hearers.
From these figures it appears* that under all the
disadvantages which the Establishments have thrown
in their way, the evangelical free churches of England
have supplied 6000 ministers for 16,000,000, i.e. one
minister to every 2666 ; the evangelical free churches
of Scotland supply one minister to every 1752 of the
whole population ; while in the United States, where
1 American Almanac for 1846, p. 191. I have made the same alterations
as before in the number of the Methodist congregations and ministers.
336 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
no such obstructions exist, the evangelical churches
supply one minister to every 1133 of the whole popu-
lation.
These figures enable us further to judge how large
a supply of ministers may be expected to be furnished
by individual zeal when the advancement of sound
views shall have dissolved the connection of the Angli-
can Churches with the State. Since the Wesleyan
body in England maintain one minister for every 336
members; since the evangelical free churches of
England maintain one minister to every 666 hearers ;
since the evangelical free churches of Scotland main-
tain one minister to each 876 hearers; and since the
evangelical churches of the United States maintain
one minister to each 925 hearers, we may infer that
every 1000 hearers throughout England and Wales will
maintain their minister when the Anglican Churches
shall be also free.
Those who think this to be a vain expectation,
from the present apathy of the masses in the Anglican
Churches, should recollect that new circumstances
would create in them new principles. We may no
more argue from what Anglican Churches do under
the oppressive chain of the State to what they would
do when free, than we could calculate the present
efforts of the Scotch Free Church from the compara-
tive indifference of its members before the disruption.
Anglicans are not necessarily inferior in liberality to
all other denominations ; and that which is done by
the free churches of England, Scotland, and the United
UPON THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS. 337
States, could be done by the Anglican Churches like-
wise if they were free.
Large numbers, it is true, often claimed by
writers of the Establishment when they make a
boastful comparison of its forces with those of
dissenters, belong in reality to no denomination.
Perhaps one-fourth of the whole population must be
assigned to this irreligious class. Effective Angli-
cans may, therefore, be reduced to 8,000,000. Of
these we may safely assert, from the large experience
of other bodies, that they would maintain one minister
for every 1000. The supply of ministers, therefore,
after the dissolution of the Union, would stand thus :
Pastors for 8,000,000 Anglicans 8,000
Pastors for 4,000,000 Evangelical Dissenters. . 6,000
Total pastors for 16,000,000 14,000
There would, in other words, be one pastor to every
1142 of the population, a number which surpasses
by more than 1000 the present number of the working
clergy, and though it would be less than the number .
now supplied by the Establishment and the free
churches together, yet the increased efficiency of
pastors chosen and maintained by the churches, and
the better distribution through the country, would
render the whole supply of religious instructors to
the community far more effective than it is at
present.
338
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
SECTION II. Influence of the Union upon the
Distribution of Ministers.
As the Union introduces unfit men into the
ministry, and maintains an inadequate number of
ministers, so it distributes its ministers with a waste-
ful inattention to the wants of the population. Thir-
teen thousand working clergy, if selected for their
piety and well placed, might, with the aid of the
ministers of other denominations, nearly meet the
wants of the country : but under the reign of patronage
they are so distributed as to leave millions of the
people uninstructed.
Let us first examine the disproportionate distribu-
tion of ministers in many of the dioceses.
Table of the Population and of the Benefices in Four populous
Districts. 1
Dioceses.
Benefices.
Population.
Chester
616
1,883,958
Lich.fi eld
623
1,045,481
577
1,722,685
York
828
1,496,538
Totals
2 644
6,148,662
1 M'Culloch, vol. ii. p. 396. The erection of the two sees of Ripon and
Manchester makes no difference in the number of the working clergy.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS.
339
Table of the Population and of the Benefices in Nineteen Dioceses?
Dioceses.
Benefices.
Population.
160
191,156
131
163,702
Bath and Wells
440
403 795
Bristol
255
232,026
Canterbury
343
405,272
Carlisle
128
135,002
Chichester
266
254 460
St David's
451
358,451
Ely .
156
133,722
Gloucester
283
315 512
Hereford
326
206 327
Llandaff
194
181,244
1,273
899,468
Norwich
1 076
690 138
Oxford
208
140,700
Peterborough
305
194,339
Rochester
93
191,875
Salisbury
408
384,683
Worcester
222
271,687
Totals
6 718
5 753 559
Table of the Population and of the Benefices in Four Agricultural
Dioceses. 9
Dioceses.
Benefices.
Population.
Lincoln
1,273
899,468
Norwich
1,076
690,138
Oxford
208
140,700
Peterborough
305
194,339
Totals
2,862
1 924 645
1 M'Culloch, vol. ii. p. 396.
9 Ibid.
340 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
1. In four dioceses, containing 6,148,662 souls,
there are 2644 pastors; and in nineteen other
dioceses, containing 5,753,559 souls, there are 6718
pastors. The State, therefore, provides twice the
number of pastors for the smaller population : in the
nineteen dioceses, it provides one pastor to every 856
of the population, and in the four dioceses one pastor
for every 2325 of the population.
2. In the four populous dioceses there are
6,148,662 souls, with 2644 pastors, and in the four
agricultural dioceses there are 1,924,645 souls, with
2862 pastors. In the first four dioceses the popu-
lation is three times greater than it is in the last four,
and yet the number of pastors in the first four is less
than the number in the second four. In the first
four there is one pastor to each 2325 souls, and in
the second four there is one pastor to each 672 souls.
Either, therefore, the State has created a lavish and
useless multiplication of pastors in the agricultural
dioceses, or it has mischievously neglected the supply
of pastors in the populous dioceses.
Similar results, unhappily, appear from a com-
parison of the State supply of pastors in dinerent
counties.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 341
Table of the Number of Clergymen in Three populous Counties,
in 1831. 1
County.
Clergy.
Population.
London and Middlesex
Lancashire
246
292
1,358,300
1,336,854
Yorkshire
760
1,371,359
Totals
1,298
4,066,513
Table of the Number of Clergymen in Twenty Counties.*
County.
Clergy.
Population.
Bedford
127
95,483
Berkshire
160
145 389
Buckingham
214
146,529
Cambridge
174
143 955
Devon
490
494 478
Dorset
263
159,252
Hereford
227
111 211
Hertford
131
143,341
Huntingdon
97
53,192
Leicester
254
197 003
Lincoln
607
317,465
Norfolk
699
390,054
Oxford
242
152 126
Rutland
50
19,385
Somerset
494
404,200
Suffolk
501
296 317
Sussex
322
272,340
Westmoreland
67
55,041
Wiltshire
314
240 156
Worcestershire
201
211,565
Totals
5 634
4 048,482
1 M'Culloch, vol. ii. p. 415.
Ibid.
342 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Table of the Number of Clergymen in Three Agricultural Counties.
County.
Clergy.
Population.
Huntinsdon
97
699
501
53,192
390,054
296,317
Norfolk
Suffolk
Totals
1,297
739,563
From a comparison of the first table with the
second, we find that the State has appointed 1298
ministers for 4,066,513 of its subjects residing in
certain parts of the kingdom, and 5634 for 4,048,482
residing in other parts of the kingdom. To the one
body it assigns one pastor for every 3132 souls, and
to the other body it assigns one minister for every
718 ; in other words, it supports four times as many
pastors for the one body as for the other.
From a comparison of the first table with the
third, we learn that the State has provided 1298
ministers for 4,066,513 souls in three counties, and
1297 ministers for 739,563 souls in three other
counties. The one population being five times
greater than the other, the State has furnished each
with the same number of ministers. If, therefore,
it has provided a sufficient number for the greater
population, it has lavished four times too many on
the smaller; if it has barely supplied the wants of
the smaller, it has left the larger destitute of four-
fifths of the number required.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 343
But these figures do not properly represent the
unequal distribution of ministers throughout the
country, because that inequality, arising chiefly from,
the disregard of the town population by the State,
cannot be disclosed by the examination of any large
portions of country which embrace both civic and
agricultural districts ; it is understood better by a
comparison of a city with a district exclusively agri-
cultural a comparison, for instance, of London with
Rutlandshire.
The whole number of parishes in the metropolis,
if we comprehend all the parishes within eight miles
of St. Paul's, is 190, 1 and this represents the whole
number of ministers appointed by the State for the
metropolis; being 190 for 2,022,384, or one minister
to each 11,069 of the population. But 98 of these
parishes He within the city, and confine their clerical
exertions to 54,626 souls, the population of that part
of the metropolis. There remain 92 parishes, which
contain the remaining population of the metropolis,
amounting to 2,022,384-54,626 = 1,967,758 souls.
The whole supply, therefore, which the State has
secured for the metropolis, exclusive of the city, is
92, which is one minister to each 21,388. As, how-
ever, all the metropolitan incumbents, exclusive of
those in the city, must have curates, who, though
not appointed by the State, are yet generally main-
1 London City Mission Magazine, Jan. 1843, p. 4.
344 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
tained by the official incomes of the incumbents, we
must add these curates to the number of the pastors
maintained by the State. Thus the State maintains
184 ministers for 1,967,758, which is one minister
to each 10,694 of the population.
In Rutland, in 1831, there were 19,385 persons
distributed among fifty-four parishes, for which the
State has provided fifty ministers, 1 which is one
minister for each 387 persons. And as 27x387 =
10,449, which is less than 10,694, the number as-
signed by the State to each city pastor, the State
maintains twenty-seven times as many ministers for
the agriculturists of Rutland as for the citizens of
London. To 10,449 country labourers the State
allots twenty-seven pastors, and to 10,449 Londoners
one pastor. To one city minister the State allots
twenty-seven times as much labour as to one country
minister. Either, then, the Union has been mis-
chievously lavish in its regard to country labourers,
or has mischievously neglected the citizens of the
metropolis.
Unhappily, this comparison of London with Rut-
landshire only affords a specimen of the neglect of
the State towards many of the cities and great towns
of England. The Pastoral Aid Society now assists
301 incumbents, who have under their care an ag-
gregate population of 2,077,703 souls, or an average
1 M'Culloch, vol. ii. p. 415.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 345
of 6902. 1 At the same time there are in England
and Wales 4774 parishes, which have a population
varying from 100 to 300. 2 Putting the population of
each of these parishes at 300, we have 4774 ministers
for 1,432,200, while there are 301 ministers for
2,077,703 souls. In round numbers there are 4774
ministers to 1,500,000 persons, and 300 ministers to
2,000,000 persons. In other words, the State has
assigned one minister to each 300 peasants, and one
minister to each 6900 citizens ; and since 23 x 300
= 6900, the State has given to each city minister
a charge twenty-three times greater than that assigned
to each country minister. Deducting one-fifth from
the civic numbers, we find that 1,500,000 country
labourers receive from the State 4774 ministers, and
1,500,000 citizens receive 240. The 1,500,000
labourers have received nineteen times as many pas-
tors as the 1,500,000 citizens ; either, therefore, the
labourers have far too many State pastors, or the
citizens have far too few.
Still greater inequalities in the State distribution
of pastors appear when we select for comparison cer-
tain civic parishes with certain country parishes.
In the autumn of 1846 there were seventeen me-
tropolitan parishes, in which the supply of ministers
was as follows :
1 Report, 1848. The Society have now before them fifty-six further ap-
plications from incumbents, having an average population of 5688 under their
charge.
8 Horsman, p. 20.
346
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Table of the Clergy of Seventeen Metropolitan Parishes.*
Parish.
Clergy.
Population.
St. George's, Southwark
5
50,000
St George's, East
4
42 000
Poplar
2
21 000
Limehouse
2
22 000
Shadwell
1
10 000
Spitalfields
2
21 000
Shoreditch, St. Leonard
3
35,000
Hoxton
2
24 000
Haggerstone
2
19,000
Clerkenwell, St. James...
2
30,000
St. John ...
I
8,000
St. Luke, Old Street ...
2
15,000
St. Barnabas
1
14 000
Newington, Surrey
7
60,000
Christ Church
2
15 000
St. Anne's, Soho
2
17 000
Stepney, St. Dunstan's...
3
25,000
Totals
43
428,000
Thus, for 428,000 citizens, the Establishment
furnishes forty-three ministers, i.e. one for each 9953
souls. But out of 11,077 Anglican parishes there are
1907 which have each less than one hundred souls in
them. Thus the Establishment has provided forty-
three ministers for 428,000 of the civic population,
1 Horsman, p. 21. This list includes all the clergy of these parishes,
and not merely those provided by the State.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 347
and 1907 ministers for 190,700 of the village popu-
lation. In the metropolis it allots one minister to
9953 souls, in the country one minister to 100 souls ;
and as 99x100 = 9900, the State allots ninety-
nine times as many persons to the city pastor as it
does to the country pastor. In 1907 country parishes
9900 persons have ninety-nine pastors, and in seven-
teen metropolitan parishes 9900 persons have only
one pastor. In the first case there is enormous waste
of public instructors, in the second an enormous
neglect.
It is further melancholy to consider to what an
extent this neglect on the one hand, and this waste on
the other, are carried. There being, on the whole,
11,077 parishes containing 16,000,000 persons, 1907
of these have each less than 100 inhabitants, and there-
fore contain less than 190,700 inhabitants, and 4774
of them contain each less than 300 inhabitants, and
therefore together they contain less than 1,432,200.*
Of 11,077 parishes, 6681, together, contain less than
1,622,900 persons. Deducting these from the higher
figures, we find that there remain 4396 parishes,
containing 14,377,100. As there are 12,923 working
clergy, and the State has assigned 6681 of these
to parishes with less than 300 inhabitants, there
remain 6242 ministers for the remaining 4396 pa-
rishes. Thus, in 6681 parishes the State has pro-
vided one pastor for less than 300 souls, and in 4396
parishes it has provided one pastor to 2300 souls;
1 Horsman, p. 20.
348 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
and as 7 x 300 = 2100, the State has provided seven
times more pastors for its subjects in one part of
the country than it has for those in another. In 4396
parishes, 2300 persons have one pastor, and in 6681
parishes 2300 persons have seven pastors. More
than one half the number of working ministers are ex-
pended by the State upon one-eighth of the population,
and seven-eighths are left with a provision not equal to
that which is afforded to one-eighth. Fourteen millions
are starved, and two millions are surfeited.
Individual zeal, on the other hand, is as thrifty as
the State is prodigal as wise as the State is thought-
less. Whether we regard the counties of England,
the manufacturing districts, or the metropolis, we find
that while the State disregards the proportions of the
population, individual zeal makes them the measure
of its supply.
First, let us compare the number of Anglican
ministers with the number of the free-church minis-
ters in several counties.
Table of the Number of Clergymen and of Dissenting Ministers in
Three Agricultural Counties, in 183 1. 1
County.
Population.
Clergy.
Independ-
ents.
Baptists.
Method-
ists.
Three
Denomi-
nations.
All
Dissen-
ters.
Norfolk .
390,054
699
34
40
99
173
206
Rutland
19,385
50
4
2
7
13
14
Suffolk .
296,317
501
35
39
41
115
132
Totals .
705,756
1250
73
81
147
301
352
1 M'Culloch, vol. ii. p. 415.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS.
349
Table of the Number of Clergymen and Dissenting Ministers in
Three populous Counties in 183 1. 1
County.
Population.
Clergy-
men.
Indepen-
dent
Ministers.
Baptist
Ministers.
Methodist
Ministers.
Three
Denomi-
nations.
Dissen-
ters.
London &
Middlesex
1,358,300
246
103
65
88
256
306
Lancashire
1,336,854
292
100
40
243
383
581
Yorkshire
1,371,359
760
170
63
680
913
1,047
Totals . .
4,066,513
1,298
373
168
1,011
1,552
1,934
The population in three agricultural counties is
705,756, while that in three manufacturing and
civic counties is 4,066,513, which is five times greater
than the former. The Anglican pastors provided for
the former is 1250, for the latter 1298, which is nearly
the same. The State provides one pastor for each
564 of the rural population, and one for each 3132 of
the manufacturing; and as 5x564 = 2820, it pro-
vides 2820 of the manufacturers and citizens with
one pastor, and 2820 of the peasants with five pastors.
On the other hand, the pastors provided by free
evangelical churches for 705,756 persons in the three
agricultural counties amount to 301, which affords
one pastor to each 2344 of the population ; and the
ministers provided by them for 4,066,513 persons in
the three populous counties is 1552, which affords one
minister to each 2620. The proportion to numbers
is in each case the same. As the population in the
manufacturing counties is five times greater than that
1 M'CuUoch, vol. ii. p. 415.
350 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
in the agricultural counties, so the number of free-
church pastors in the former counties is five times
greater than that in the latter counties. The distri-
bution of ministers by the State in these counties
is wasteful and inconsiderate ; their distribution by in-
dividual zeal is economical and wise. For the agri-
cultural population, which is five times smaller than
the manufacturing, the free churches have furnished a
number of ministers four times less than that fur-
nished by the State ; but for the civic and manufac-
turing population, which is five times greater than the
agricultural, the free churches have furnished a num-
ber which surpasses the number of the State pastors
by 254. For the three agricultural counties the evan-
gelical free churches have done less, because these are
the least important ; but for the three most populous
counties, which are the most important, these free
churches have furnished 254 more ministers than the
Establishment.
Let us next compare the provision of ministers
which has been made by the State with that which
has been furnished by individual zeal in the manufac-
turing districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire. On this
point I cannot do better than avail myself of the valu-
able labours of Mr. Baines, of Leeds, some of the
results of whose extended and accurate investigations
are contained in the following table, which I have
extracted from his important pamphlet, entitled " The
Social, Educational, and Religious State of the
Manufacturing Districts . ' '
'ill
co o o r i
otoeoi-ciftooeoao
1-4 i-H O
saqoonqo
saqoonqo
S
saqoonqo
r-lf I C4
<8
sSupjig
saqoanqo
g c
s
c
I
>
1
Si
= 2
.^1
sSuiwig
eg <M o in
i-c tO 00 <-<
to in i-^ >
<N -!
in
to
to"
*
>^
spdBqo
to OS CO
* 1-1 l-l
in
-*
S
I
5
s3uiig
OO OS O OS
^ os in cs
in oo ""H co
cT in" to" cs
rH -^ <N
in
CO__
co"
oo
eg
1
Biadwqo
rH OS O OS
-i to CO ^
t-
to
;her Denoir
<
<
i
i
i
sSupjig
oo os in oo
*!< to CO <M
OS I-H ^ CO
oT oo~ t-T to"
CO i-(
oo
*
"^1
to"
eg
o
8
|
i
sjadBqo
o oo to *
I-H in eg rH
o
in
!
5
(
i
>
sftriMIS
o o o ^
O CO rH >.
to > t-^ m
tC oo" eg"
CO
O
OS
to"
to
i
I
(
5
1
spd^qo
-H rH O O
rH rH
to
i
i
f.
!
s2uiTg
to *>. o -*
CO CO t*. OO
OS CO O5_ tO
qT -T -.jT tC
eg rH
to
CO
t>
to"
CO
seqoonqo
in o co
eg I-H
>i
to
I
c>
S
A
sSuiMTg
to eg o o
i i <N . m
OS O_ in rH
eg" o" of r-T
to
eg
^
eg"
CO
S
o
o
6
saqoanqo
co *>. o eg
rH
m
1
'S.
H
Built sir
15
<s
sSuijjig
o o o o
o m o o
T)< tp^ 0^ 0^
^T oo" co"
to
eg
"i
CO
1
eaqoanqo
rn co * eg
OS
eg
I
a
,
sSu^ig
o m o -*f
eg to o co
to to < m
r-T eT ^ co"
*
oo
t
eg"
>.
I
saqoanqo
rH O * CO
i i
.
CO
Population.
00 O rH
rH < TJI eg
o oo_ oo_ co_
in" r-T o" oo"
eg in rH eg
rH rH
CO
to
in
*"
-*<
00
o
1
Huddersfield
Leeds Parish
Sheffield Parish
Wakefield Parish . .
Yorkshire Wool Distn
4
to in
rH
*fej
saw
S? 3
r3
&*" "*""
-
r-T to"
OO
" 09
00 ->i
eg
a
sjaduqo
OO 00
CO
CO -<}
oo
^ -I
m
oo in
CO
StIIllT*s
l>. co
"3
. .0
eg" co"
to"
o oo
oo
s
o
co eg
m
1
SI adq
oo t^
00
a
1
i
sSuinjg
OS CO
CO T).
00
o
oT
b
g
eg eg
^
S
1
siad^qo
?i S
CO
*s
f in
OS
f
o
m co
oo
S
s2inws
M* OS
5.
o
o
^ to"
in to
to"
eg
0>
to to
eg
M
*S[9d^qr)
OS rH
r" 1
5
eg
*
CO to
* CO
oo
_
l
s
U H4!&
i r to*
5
eg co
in
g
eg I-H
CO
o t
J^
saqoanqQ
O to
to
Cg rn
CO
in to
l _ l
<* eg
t
sSuiwtg
*t
I
.
O -4-1
O
OS CO
s
I
saqoanqQ
eg rH
os m
CO
1
f "
1
-*- t
in to
l _ l
13
oo eg
gp4
E
H
m |
38u W ig
os in
CO CO
m
to
.s
1
aqoonqQ
m os
*
m
00 -*
eg
S
rH CO
o
<2 .
sSupjig
p
OS *>.
CO
seqoanqo
CO t^
oo oo
o
"
CO CO
^
o to
4>^
3
*> in
oT
3
eg **<
to
A
1
TT
1 1
'
j
- m
** '
1
S
l
E
rl '
j
1 I
Is
o
J H
O
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS.
353
The first thing which strikes us when we look at
the religious condition of the manufacturing districts
is the great necessity which exists for sustained exer-
tion to supply their religious and educational wants.
The increase of population has been as follows :
Increase of the Population in the Cotton and Woollen Districts
since 1800.
District.
Population,
1801.
Population,
1841.
Increase.
Increase
per Cent.
Lancashire
493,834
1,234,708
730,874
148
Yorkshire
414,000
844,563
430,563
104
Totals
907,834
2,069,271
1,161,437
127
Since, then, the population of these districts
doubles itself in less than forty years, it is necessary
that the provision of the ministers of religion should
likewise be doubled in forty years.
But this the Union has not been able to accom-
plish. In the year 1801, there were 170 churches in
the Establishment for 907,834 souls in these districts ;
and, assuming that these churches were furnished by
the Union, that the Union allotted one minister to
each church, and that one minister can take the
spiritual charge of 1000 souls, then the Union pro-
vided for 170,000 persons in these districts, leaving
737,834 unprovided with ministers.
To be efficient, then, in its assumed episcopate,
the State ought to have provided for these districts,
since that time, 737 more ministers, who were then
A A
354 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
needed; and 1161 other ministers were required for
1,161,437, who have since been added to that popu-
lation. In all, 1898 ministers were required to be
added by the State to make the Establishment effec-
tual as a national provision for the whole population
of those districts. Instead, however, of furnishing
1898 ministers, the State has, from that day to this,
furnished scarcely any. Sir Robert Peel's act has
added a few ministers recently, a wise and salu-
tary measure, but of very limited power. And this
is nearly all that the State has done. Parliamentary
churches, indeed, have been raised to the number of
54, containing 66,511 sittings ; .but the funds provided
for these have been supplied chiefly by individual zeal,
so that they cannot fairly be ascribed to the State,
which merely aided in their erection. However, let
them be ascribed to the Union. Then, between 1800
and 1841, the Union, which ought to have provided
1898 additional ministers for the people, has added
54. It ought to have provided for 1,899,271 ; it
has provided for 54,000, leaving 1,845,271 without
ministers. The manufacturing districts are sometimes
represented as in a pitiable state of spiritual destitu-
tion : they would certainly have been so if the Union
alone had supplied their wants. Out of a population of
907,834 in 1801, the State then left 737,000 without
ministers, and since that time has merely aided in
supplying 54 more, while the population has grown to
2,069,271, thus leaving 1,845,000 without ministers.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS.
355
But individual zeal has done what the Union left
undone. Fettered by many restrictions, Christians
within the Establishment, though under the bondage
of the State, have added in the last forty years 143
churches, and therefore 143 ministers, to these dis-
tricts, and have thus diminished the number of those
without ministers by 143,000. The numbers within
these two districts provided with ministers by the
Establishment is 367,000 ; and the number left by
the Establishment unprovided is 1,702,271. All that
the Union has done, aided by individual zeal within
the Establishment, is to furnish ministers to less than
one-fifth of the population, leaving four-fifths without
pastors.
But the zeal of the evangelical free churches has
done much to provide themselves with pastors, as may
be seen by the following tables :
Number of the Chapels of Three Evangelical Denominations
in the Cotton District of Lancashire.
Denomination.
Churches
and
Chapels.
Sittings.
Sunday
Schools.
Sunday-
School
Teachers.
Scholars.
Baptists
68
28 885
59
1 520
10 868
Independents
Wesleyans
92
116
57,496
66 260
108
124
3,556
4 735
30,206
32 602
Free churches
Establishment
276
200
152,641
221,248
291
199
9,811
7,167
73,676
7,5930
Excess of Establish-
ment
68,607
2,254
Excess of Free
Churches
76
92
2,644
356
INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Number of the Chapels and Schools of Three Evangelical Denomi-
nations in the Woollen District of Yorkshire.
Denomination.
Churches
and
Chapels.
Sittings.
Sunday-
Schools.
Sunday-
School
Teachers.
Sunday
Scholars.
Baptists
65
30,394
71
3,473
12,700
Independents
91
59,161
108
5,043
23 714
^Vesle vans
229
117,123
237
13.4JO
48,511
Free churches
385
206,678
416
21,926
84,925
Establishment
167
136,736
180
5,801
40,499
Excess of the Free|
churches j
218
69,942
236
16,125
44,426
Number of the Chapels and Schools of Three Evangelical Deno-
minations in the Cotton and Woollen Districts of Lancashire
and Yorkshire.
Denomination.
Churches
and
Chapels.
Sittings.
Sunday-
Schools.
Sunday-
School
Teachers.
Sunday-
Scholars.
Free chu.-che^ ...
661
359,313
707
31,737
158,601
Establishment ...
367
357,984
379
12,968
116,429
Excess of Free|
churches . . . J
294
1,335
328
18,769
42,172
From these tables it appears that the evangelical
free churches of the cotton and woollen districts have
done far more than the Establishment to meet the
wants of the population. Assuming that there is one
minister to each church and chapel, and that one
minister can take the pastoral charge of 1000 persons,
the Establishment maintains 367 pastors : the evan-
gelical free churches, 661. If the Establishment can
instruct 367,000, the pastors of the free churches
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 357
can instruct 661,000 : if the Establishment leaves
1,702,271 unprovided with ministers, the free churches
reduce that number to 1,041,271. The free churches
sustain 294 more ministers than the Establishment,
have established 328 more Sunday-schools, instruct
42,000 more Sunday scholars, and supply 18,000
more Sunday-school teachers ; that is, their ministers
and schools are nearly twice as numerous as those of
the Establishment, and their Sunday-school teachers
are more than twice as numerous. To these must be
added twenty-four congregations of Moravians, Pres-
byterians, and some smaller evangelical denominations.
If by any sudden catastrophe all the ministers
and schools of the Establishment in these manufac-
turing districts were to vanish, nearly two-thirds of the
evangelical instruction now given to the people would
remain.
Some, indeed, think that the dissolution of the
Union will materially lessen the number of Anglican
ministers. But these districts at least afford no
ground for such an opinion. Why should not the
Anglican Churches maintain their ministers as freely
as the other evangelical churches do ? If three evan-
gelical denominations now maintain 661 ministers,
why should not the great episcopal denomination,
when free from the shackles of the State, maintain
its 367 ministers ? To allege that Anglicans are too
worldly, indifferent, and selfish, to do what all other
evangelical churches do, is to pronounce sentence of
358 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
condemnation on the Union which has made them so.
But bad as the effects of the Union have been, it has
not so completely paralysed the churches beneath its
influence. There is no class of religionists who do
not maintain their ministers sufficient for their wants.
The 661 ministers of three evangelical denominations
afford, perhaps, a less striking proof of what individual
zeal may do when free from the shackles of the State,
than the number of ministers maintained by other
religious bodies. However rationalistic or however
superstitious, each sect will have its ministers ; and the
whole number of ministers maintained in these dis-
tricts by the individual zeal of nonconformists is not
661, but 1185. Dissenters of all classes, including
Catholics, actually maintain three times as many
ministers as those maintained by the Establishment.
Aided by all the authority of the State, with a State
provision, and embracing all the aristocracy of the
land, the Establishment has not in these districts one-
fourth of the whole number of the ministers of reli-
gion. Dissenting zeal sustains the other three-fourths.
Who can suppose that on the arrival of the dissolution
of the Union, the Anglican Churches will discard
their ministers, and will shake off the burden of
maintaining 367 ministers, when poorer sects in the
same neighbourhood are maintaining 1185 ?
The Establishment has, in fact, already answered
this question. A large part of its ministers are
already maintained by their people. And the excess
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS.
359
of the results of individual zeal over those produced
by the Union is far larger than the excess of dissent-
ing ministers over those of the Establishment. On
this point the following tables afford satisfactory
evidence.
Comparison of the Number of Churches provided by the State for
the Cotton District of Lancashire, with the Number of Churches
and Chapels furnished for the same District by individual zeal.
Denomination.
Churches
and
Chapels.
Sittings.
Sunday-
Schools.
Teachers.
Scholars.
Free churches of 3?
Denominations
276
152,641
291
.9,811
73,676
Voluntary Anglicans
92
92,345
66
2,389
25,310
Total Voluntaries . . .
368
244,986
357
12,200
98,986
State Anglicans ...
108
128,903
133
4,778
50,620
Excess of Voluntaries
260
116,083
224
7,422
48,366
Comparison of the Number of Churches provided by the State for
the Woollen District of Yorkshire, uith the Number of Churches
and Chapels provided for the same district by individual seal.
Denomination.
Churches
and
Chapels.
Sittings.
Sunday-
Schools.
Teachers.
Scholars.
Free Churches of 3 1
Denominations j
Voluntary Anglicans
385
51
206,678
32,426
416
45
21,926
1,450
84,925
10,124
Total Voluntaries . . .
436
239,104
461
23,376
95,049
State Anglicans
116
104,310
135
4,351
30,375
Excess of Voluntaries
320
134,734
326
19,025
64,674
360 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Comparison of the Churches furnished by the State for the Cotton
and Woollen Districts, with the Churches and Chapels furnished
for the same District by individual zeal.
Denomination.
Churches.
Sittings.
Sunday-
Schools.
Teachers.
Scholars.
Voluntaries of 7
Lancashire \
368
244,986
357
12,200
98,986
Voluntaries of j
Yorkshire J
436
239,104
461
23,376
95,049
Total Voluntaries . . .
State Anglicans in?
Lancashire
804
108
484,090
104,310
818
133
35,576
4,778
194,035
50,620
State Anglicans in?
Yorkshire ^
116
104,310
135
4,351
30,375
Total State Anglicans
224
233,213
268
9,129
80,995
Excess of Voluntaries
580
250,877
550
26,447
113,040
The foregoing tables show that individual zeal in
four evangelical denominations has already furnished
to the manufacturing districts three times more
ministers, schools, and school-teachers, than those
which are directly or indirectly supplied by the State ;
and when the Anglican Churches shall be separated
from the State, a very small part of the evangelical
instruction now given to those districts would be
affected by it ; and if all the ministers supported by
the State were to vanish with the State salaries, three-
fourths of the ministers of those four great evangelical
denominations would still remain to preach Christ to
the people, of which 143, that is nearly one-fifth,
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 361
would be ministers of free Anglican Churches. But as
143 Anglican Churches now maintain their ministers
without aid of the State, there can be no doubt that
the 2:24 churches whose ministers are now maintained
by the State would, at the dissolution of the Union,
begin to maintain their ministers as the rest do.
Already the number of Anglican ministers maintained
by the people is 143, and the total number of minis-
ters maintained by the people is 1328, while those
maintained by the State are only 224. It is incon-
ceivable that 224 Anglican congregations would dis-
grace themselves by remaining without ministers and
without public worship, though probably the richest
congregations in the manufacturing districts, while
1328 congregations, poorer than themselves, maintain
their ministers and schools, and at the same time
raise funds to send missionaries to the heathen. It
is, on the contrary, probable, that as soon as the
State's shackles are removed, a larger number of
ministers than at present would be furnished to those
important districts.
Lastly, I have assumed throughout that the fifty-
four parliamentary churches and their ministers have
been furnished by the Union ; but this assumption is
erroneous. In almost all cases the churches have
been built chiefly by voluntary contributions, and
the ministers are chiefly maintained by the people, so
that these fifty-four churches ought properly to be
added to the number furnished by individual zeal,
362 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
and leave only 170 out of the 1028 congregations of
four evangelical denominations, that is, less than
one-fifth of the whole number, to be at all affected
by the dissolution of the Union.
Lastly, let us compare the number of ministers
which has been provided by the State with that
which has been furnished by individual zeal for the
metropolis.
The following is a table made after minute in-
quiries, and published by the committee of the Lon-
don City Mission in their magazine for January
1843.
a
CO
J,
o
o
Of
fc-
o
oo
Of
& .
*o
O5
CO
os
os
O5
c^
i-H
CO
~- G
OS
t^.
^)
co
^
^4
O5
^4
<
s'S
o"
1ft"
jC
o"
os"
os"
jC
i-H
o"
<U
iO
OJ
Of
CD
Of
00
p^
o
1ft
H
Of
i-H
co
o
o
^
lO
oo
l~
t~.
fc'S a
1ft
i-H
o
1 1
i!
lO
l-H
^
O5
Of
9
r cts
fc a OS
fi s
l "~
00
r 1
lO
i-H
O5
Of
00
CO
CO
o
Of
co"
os
is
o
co
o
CO
o
o
CD
CD
*
CO
CO
CO
o
00
00
Of
g"*
of
^r
oo"
os"
oo"
^r
*
Of
1ft
o
o
OS
1ft
^J,
^
o
o
^
Of
05
CO
CO
co
u
"^1
o^
'W
t-^
00^
t~^
o
Of
00
i
i-H
i-H
co"
of
I-H
1ft"
i^r
CO"
-^
Of
"#
^
s
s s
o
o
o
o
os
i-H
o
00
05
CD
os
co
o> '
o
t
O5
rH
CO
Of
CO
CO
i-H
'-*"
of
of
i-H
os"
oo"
1,
o-g
o
CD
o
l-H
o
05
co
CO
oo
CO
00
co_
CO
I-H
CO
0} K
73
if
~
c^
o"
of
t-"
l-H
co"
oo"
9
i-H
^J*
Of
os
00
bC
C M
o
00
o
Of
00
00
00
'? 60
r-*
CO
00
^4
Of
Of
r-H
g.s
CO
co_
fc.
Of^
CO
Of
co^
Jg
oo"
o"
-^jT
o"
o"
i-H
^
cT
,_ r
s'
l-H
i-H
l-H
Of
I-H
CO
"^
1ft
CO
1 1
Of
Of
!* .
Jjj
cS.
i-H
o
co
1ft
fc-
CO
1ft
^
CD
11
Of
Of
CO
00
1ft
o
-*
Of
1?
^^
^*
CO
^
o
Of
Of
1ft
00
T*
jj S)
^4
os
00
i-H
1ft
OS
OS
-^
a.S
co^
O5_
Of^
Of^
CO
Of,
05
bc"+"
of
1ft"
of
os"
Os"
oo"
co"
i-H
oo"
<j
CO
i-H
i-H
CO
r~*
4Ct*
t
1ft
r 1
*
CO
CO
c y J
r V
2 4
o
CO
CO
o
co
o
o
o
l
CO
l-H
F-H
CO
o
*
oo
1ft
OS
a
i-H
CO
Of
H
00
CO
00
00
co
00
CO
00
00
1ft
o
H
Of
"^
CO
**^
CO
l-H
<*
CO
Jt*
1
CD
rtl
CO
I-H^
O5
of
t-"
1
^
o"
oo"
of
1ft"
o"
o"
Of
co
1ft
O5
Of
o
CD
i-H
(^}
OS
0?
05
CO
CO
of
i r
8
00
CD
o
Of
1ft
os
o
Of
'1
05
i-H
i-H
Of
co
os
os
CM
T^
<
G
^r*"^
si.
9
8
^ '
T^
09
5
:
^
^
o
s
in
'^
00
>
If
g
^^
'-~
O3
o
09
PH
H
r c*{
o
^t
1
QJ
fl
03
CD
^5
m -^
-^
CO
CD" **
Q
"2 CO
%
_a
^
^3
X
"3 'e?
o .
"3
"o 'o
w
>
"
'-'
-M ^~>
^
^F
PH
PH
r ^
O
1*
s
CQ
CO
O)
1
f
a
li
p.
4!)
-
^^
^
2 to
-P C3
2
2 f >
364 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
The foregoing table enables us to judge of the
neglect of the metropolis by the State. The whole
population is 2,022,384 : but to learn the propor-
tion of the State ministers to the wants of the popu-
lation, we must subtract the population of " the City"
from that of the modern metropolis. Within the
City there is a large supply of State ministers, but as
they confine their ministrations entirely to their own
parishes, and their influence is not felt beyond the
City walls, to include them in any survey of the
supply of public instruction for the modern metro-
polis would only deceive. Subtracting, then, all the
City items from the account, the churches and chapels
of the modern metropolis stand thus : The popu-
lation is 1,967,758; the parishes are 92 ; the An-
glican churches and chapels, 290 ; Anglican sittings,
318,944. Dissenting chapels are 426; dissenting
sittings, 231,618; of which 88,716 belong to the
Independents, 8369 to the Presbyterians, 44,834 to
the Baptists, and 54,328 to the Methodists. The
sittings of the four denominations are 196,247, and
those of all denominations, 550,462. Assuming that
every parish-church and every district-church has two
ministers, we can approximate to the number of Angli-
can ministers. The parishes being 92 in number, and
the proprietary chapels about 50, the number of the
district churches is 290 142 = 148. Hence the An-
glican ministers are 2 x 92 + 2 x 148 + 50 = 530 :
and the Establishment provides for the instruction
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 365
of 530,000 out of 1,967,758 ; leaving 1,437,758, i.e.
two-thirds of the whole population, without ministers.
This supply of Christian ministers cannot be ascribed
wholly to the Union. For, first, we must subtract
the ministers of proprietary chapels who are not
maintained by the State, but by the people; and,
next, we must make large deductions from the State
supply in the item of the district churches. These
churches have, for the most part, been raised by
voluntary contributions ; many of them having very
small endowments, their ministers depend mainly on
the pew-rents ; and their curates are furnished in
many instances by the Pastoral Aid and the Curates'
Aid Society, so that, at least, one half of the minis-
ters of district churches are not maintained by the
State, but by individual zeal. When these subtrac-
tions are made, the number of ministers supported
by the State appears to be, 530 - 50 - 148 = 332.
All that the Union has done for the metropolis
is to furnish 332 ministers for 1,967,758 souls.
It affords ministers to 332,000 persons, and leaves
1,635,758 persons ; i. e. more than four-fifths with-
out ministers. It ought to furnish one minister for
every 1000 of the population; it does furnish one
for each 5926.
The importance of the metropolis can scarcely
be exaggerated. Within it 2,022,384 persons are
gathered together, whose number is increasing at
the rate of 30,000 annually. Its population already
366 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
equals that of the counties of Bedford, Berks, Bucks,
Cambridge, Chester, Cornwall, Cumberland, Dorset,
Durham, and Rutland. It is already double that of
Wales, and approaches that of Scotland. Here is the
seat of empire ; here the Queen's court gathers to it
the most splendid aristocracy in the world. Here
assemble the ministers of the imperial Parliament,
who rule the vast territories of the British Crown.
In its courts of law thousands of the most active
and energetic minds in the kingdom are engaged in
their intellectual competition for wealth and fame.
Its commerce spreads out its arms to gather wealth
from the whole world, and loads its merchants,
bankers, brokers, and traders of every description,
with princely fortunes. From it issues a multifarious
literature to elevate or to degrade, to enlighten or to
pervert, to bless or to curse, the whole family of man.
Every town and village of the kingdom pore over its
newspapers. To it, as to the centre of fashion, of
gaiety, of refinement, of knowledge, and of benevo-
lence, myriads of educated persons come to seek the
enjoyments congenial to their tastes, while foreigners
from every land visit it, to study our institutions, or
to criticise our manners.
On the other hand, there is much to corrupt it.
It offers unlimited indulgence and infinite luxury to
enfeeble and vitiate the wealthy, for whom dissipating
amusements succeed each other so rapidly as to
make an indolent and worthless life seem busy, and
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 367
oppress with fatigue those whose only business is to
do nothing. Among the working classes, myriads
who crave excitement in the brief intervals of
exhausting toil are demoralised by gin-shops, tea-
gardens, and low theatres, by Sunday newspapers
and Sunday excursions, by Socialist lectures and by
infidel magazines ; and, above all, a hopeless poverty,
which has steeped multitudes to the very lips, has
made them regardless of religion, loyalty, character,
and life itself.
There is no place in the world which more needs
earnest ministers and earnest churches, or where their
exertions would be more effective. What an influence
might London exert on the world if there were only
one earnest and enlightened minister to each thousand
persons ; if rich and poor, princes, nobles, senators,
lawyers, editors of newspapers, authors, merchants
and men of business, mechanics and labourers, visitors
from every county, and foreigners from every land,
could find here a thousand heart -stirring preachers,
and a thousand congregations, whose piety, zeal, and
brotherly -kindness, might recall the experience of the
church at Jerusalem when the grace of God made it
a praise in the earth I 1
Yet, for this unrivalled city, the State, professing
to provide for its spiritual wants, maintains, directly
and indirectly, 430 ministers, 98 of whom it orders to
confine their ministrations to 54,000 persons within
1 Acts, ii. 41-47; iv. 31-37.
368 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the" City walls, and assigns to the remaining 332 the
charge of 1,967,758 souls. Such a distribution of
ministers reduces the parochial system to an ab-
surdity ; and makes the Establishment itself, with
respect to the metropolis, a mere delusion. What
can 332 ministers do for two millions ? What do
they accomplish in fact? Chosen by patronage, in-
dependent of their people, with a discretionary power
to do almost as little as they please of a spiritual
kind, do they lead the metropolis to Christ ? Will
they ever ? Can they, or their successors, to the
judgment -day ?
Individual zeal, however, has done something
towards the supply of ministerial instruction with-
held by the State. The sittings of all dissenters in
426 chapels, exclusive of the City, are 231,618, of
which 196,247 are the sittings of four evangelical
denominations. The sittings, then, of these deno-
minations, being five-sixths of the whole number of
dissenting sittings, the number of their ministers
will be about five-sixths of the whole number of
dissenting ministers, including Catholic priests ; and
assuming that there is one minister to each chapel,
the ministers of these four denominations are about
five-sixths of 426 = 355. Thus we have 355 minis-
ters of four evangelical denominations, and 198
Anglican ministers maintained by individual zeal
for the modern metropolis. The State maintains
332 ministers ; the Establishment maintains 530 ;
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 369
and individual zeal maintains 553. Individual zeal
maintains 23 ministers more than the Establishment,
and 221 more than the State. If the Union were to
be dissolved, 553 ministers of the metropolis out of
885 would be unaffected by it ; and there can be
no doubt that 92 parishes and 74 district churches
would easily maintain the 332 ministers who are now
partly maintained by the State. What is afforded
by dissenters of every class, by Unitarians and by
Roman Catholics, the Anglicans, who are the richest
of all classes, would not be too poor or too niggardly
to accomplish.
We learn, by the fact above stated, that individual
zeal has done much more than the State for the
diffusion of religious knowledge in the metropolis
and in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and
Yorkshire : similar results are found in other great
towns and populous districts of the country. But
both the State and individual zeal have manifestly
failed fully to evangelise the population. If there
are 885 ministers in five evangelical denominations
for the metropolis, exclusive of the City, these, being
a supply of ministers for 885,000, leave 1,967,758-
885,000 = 1,082,758, without ministers. And the
effect of this is worse than appears at first sight ;
for since the pastoral charges of the ministers of the
parish churches and the district churches extend not
to 480,000 whom they could, in a measure, superin-
tend, but to the 1,967,758, who are wholly beyond
B B
370 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
their superintendence, this throws upon these minis-
ters such a mass of ecclesiastical business in the form
of marriages, baptisms, burials, registrations, vestry
meetings, chanty schools, &e. &c., that little time is
left for pastoral intercourse with their people; and
as each of these 480 ministers has undertaken to be
the pastor of 4099 souls, among whom the fraction of
his time saved from this load of surplice duty is to
be distributed, the result is, that he almost entirely
ceases to be a pastor, that the pastoral relation in the
civic parishes of the Establishment is no more. Lon-
don has not 480 Anglican pastors, but 480 preachers
and readers, of whom scarcely any can be pastors at
all. The scriptural idea of a church and a pastor has
almost vanished from the Establishment in all our
great towns.
Under these circumstances, how anxiously ought
the State, in the discharge of its episcopate, to have
facilitated the erection of places of worship by indi-
vidual zeal, and encouraged both episcopalians and
dissenters to maintain other ministers, and to gather
new churches from among the untaught myriads.
Instead of which it has discouraged both. I need
not repeat what has already been said of the hin-
drances which the existence of an Establishment creates
to the multiplication of dissenting congregations. It
is obvious that the fear of being esteemed schismatics,
of being expelled from fashionable society, of being
degraded and proscribed, of being injured in business,
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 371
and impeded in professional efforts, with other similar
consequences of association with dissenters, must con-
firm many Anglicans in a stiff, unexamining resolution
to have nothing to do with dissent.
Dissenters, therefore, labour to extend the know-
ledge of Christ under great disadvantages. Mean-
while the Union has still more effectually checked
individual zeal within the Establishment itself. Some
persons, who think that the State is bound to supply
ministers to the whole population, view with jealousy
every voluntary effort as tending to diminish the
responsibility of the Government. Others are back-
ward to contribute to the maintenance of ministers,
because they think that a part of the enormous epi-
scopal and cathedral property possessed by the Esta-
blishment ought to be appropriated to that object.
But the barriers to individual zeal created by the
Union are more formidable than these.
1. However large a parish may be, and however 1
negligent its rector, no portion of his parishioners
can form themselves into a distinct church except by
becoming dissenters. By 1 and 2 Victoria, cap. 107*
it is lawful for her majesty in council to direct, by an
order in council, the division of the parish into sepa-
rate parishes; but five thousand parishioners, whose
legal pastor may be an ungodly mail; or so loaded
with business that he is no pastor at all to them,
cannot choose a minister for themselves, however
willing they may be to support him. The privy-
372 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
council may enable the bishop or the patron to set a
new rector over them ; but they have not the smallest
power to secure a pastor for themselves.
2. When the privy-council is willing to allow a
parish to be divided., and the people are anxious to
build a new place of worship, the bishop may hinder
the whole proceeding by refusing to consecrate it.
" For albeit churches and chapels may be built by
any of the queen's subjects, yet, before the law takes
knowledge of them to be churches or chapels, the
bishop is to consecrate or dedicate them." 1
3. Should the bishop be willing to consecrate,
he cannot do it until the building is adequately
endowed. 2 A thousand persons, without a minister,
and without public worship, in a poor district, may,
by vast exertions, raise two or three thousand pounds
for a new building ; and their zeal and earnestness
may secure a competent income to any pious pastor
who may minister to them, but unless they can raise
another thousand for an endowment, they must re-
nounce their project, and remain without a minister.
4. But why should they not worship in an uncon-
secrated building? (1.) No unconsecrated building
can be employed for Anglican worship without the
bishop's license. 3 (2.) No clergyman can be admitted
to officiate in such building without the bishop's
license. 4 (3.) The bishop has an absolute discretion to
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 322. 2 Ibid. p. 323.
3 Ibid. p. 322, can, 71. Ibid, vol. ii. p. 61, can. 48, 36,
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 373
withhold his license from whom he will. 1 (4.) When
the bishop has given his license, he may withdraw it
when he will without formal process of law. 2 As,
therefore, the privy-council may hinder the erection of
a district church, and the law prevents the conse-
cration of any building without endowment, so the
bishop has the legal power to prevent the employ-
ment of an unconsecrated building ; and, if he be
a worldly man, unwilling to see an evangelical
minister in his diocese, may extinguish their efforts
to obtain such a minister, whether for a consecrated
or unconsecrated place.
5. But suppose the chapel to be built and the
bishop willing to license, the law forbids the people to
nominate their minister. " Whenever a chapel-of-
ease is erected, the incumbent of the mother church
is entitled to nominate the minister, unless there is
a special agreement to the contrary which gives
a compensation to the incumbent of the mother
church." 3 The rector may be a man without religion,
he may have done nothing to raise the chapel, the
persons whose zeal raised it may disapprove of his
doctrine, but he has the right, notwithstanding, to
appoint for them a pastor whose doctrine they may
condemn, and in whose character they can feel no
confidence.
6. Indeed they cannot reach this point without
his consent. In order to authorise the erecting of a
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 15G C , '', m ,n. 2 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 74, 75 ; i. p. 30C b .
8 Ibid. vol. i. p, 305.
374 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
chapel-of-ease, the joint consent of the diocesan, the
patron, and the incumbent, are all required. " A
chapel for the performance of public worship," said
Sir John Nicholl, " cannot be opened without con-
sent of the bishop, the minister of the parish, and
I think the patron of the living.'" Either of the
three, upon any caprice, or any view of self-interest,
may thus deprive the people of their plain right to
assemble for worship, unless they consent to quit
their own communion.
7. Should the people, disregarding the legal
difficulty, build their chapel without leave of the
bishop, patron, and incumbent, no Anglican minister
would dare to preach to them therein, however they
might desire it. " By law no persons can procure
divine service to be administered without the consent
of the incumbent and the license of the bishop ; and
the person officiating without such consent is liable to
ecclesiastical censures." "For there is no general
principle of ecclesiastical law more firmly established
than this, that it is not competent to any clergyman
to officiate in any church or chapel within the limits of
a parish without consent of the incumbent."'
8. The people have still the resource left of ga-
thering into private houses, and in those populous
parishes where there is really no pastor, and where
thousands remain untaught, they might invite pious
ministers to meet them in these small assemblies.
. > Burn, vol. i. p. 300 ; Sir J. Nicholl in Burn, vol. i. p. 306*.
8 Burn, vol. i. p. 306.
UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS. 375
But the State has foreseen and precluded their design,
for canon 71 enacts, that " no minister shall preach
... in any private house . . . upon pain of suspen-
sion." Christ has, indeed, commanded his ministers
to preach the Gospel to every creature ; l and it is
recorded of the apostles, that daily in the temple,
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and
preach Jesus Christ; 2 but the State has enacted, that
throughout England no Anglican minister shall preach
Christ without license of the bishop, and without
consent of the incumbent ; and without similar license
and consent the neglected population should not
build for themselves places of worship, nor maintain
for themselves pastors, nor form themselves into
Christian churches. These laws sitffitiently account for
the fact, that in the metropolis alone the State has left
one million of souls without pastors, and Christians look
on and do nothing.
But the dissolution of the Union will come, and
then the legal hindrances to the introduction of new
ministers arising from patronage and from parochial
monopoly will cease. Pious members of the Anglican
Churches, thenceforth able to build for themselves a
house of prayer wherever and whenever they will, can
also call any pious minister, whom they may choose, to
take the pastoral office among them. Vulgar preju-
dices against dissent will likewise cease ; and the
churches of England, free from State shackles, will
1 Mark, xvi. 16. a Acts, v. 42.
376 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
prove themselves not less zealous than the churches of
America : London will not be less supplied with
Christian temples than New York ; and we shall no
longer have occasion to fear the vast addition to the
population, for whom Christian zeal will then provide
ministers and teachers according to their wants.
SECTION III. Influence of the Union upon the
Maintenance of Ministers.
It is not certain that the system of payment which
makes the clergy most wealthy is the best system.
The first ministers of Christ were poor. St. Paul
worked for his maintenance at Corinth, Ephesus, and
Thessalonica ; ' and other ministers in those churches
would not receive a larger maintenance than the
apostles. It is probable that all ministers then la-
boured to support themselves, because the churches
were generally poor; yet these churches had much
grace, and their ministers, chosen by the churches
and sanctioned by the apostles, were undoubtedly
effective men.
When churches are poor, their ministers may be
likewise poor without disadvantage : but Christ has
ordained that, whether ministering to poor or rich,
1 1 Cor. ix. 11-15 ; 2 Cor. xi. 7-9 ; 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12 ; Acts, xviii. 1-3 ;
Acts, xx. 33-35 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8, 9.
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 377
they should be maintained according to their needs.
This he has claimed for them on the principle of
justice : " Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass
in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two
coats, neither shoes nor yet staves ; for the workman is
worthy of his meat. 1 . . . And in the same house remain,
eating and drinking such things as they give ; for the
labourer is worthy of his hire."'- Paul also appeals to
the justice of Christians when he asks a maintenance
for their ministers: " If we have sown unto you spi-
ritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your
carnal things?" And as thus the maintenance of
those who devote their time and faculties to the service
of the churches should in justice be maintained by the
churches, the payment of this debt is expressly enjoined
by the authority of Christ : " Do ye not knoiv that they
which minister about holy things live of the things of the
temple? And they which ivait at the altar are par-
takers with the altar ? Even so hath the Lord ordained
that they ivhich preach the Gospel should live of the
Gospel.* . . . Let him that is taught in the word com-
municate to him that teacheth in all good things. 5 . . .
Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double
honour, especially they who labour in the word and doc-
trine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the corn ; and, The labourer is
worthy of his reward."
1 Matt. x. 9, 10. * Luke, x. 7. s 1 Cor. ix. 11.
4 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. 5 Gal. vi. G.
378 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
These injunctions demand a maintenance for all
those who are called to minister by the authority of
Christ, and who have the qualifications for the ministry
which his Spirit imparts ; but they neither urge the
churches to give nor entitle their ministers to expect
any thing approaching to wealth. In a civilised and
rich community it is very desirable that ministers
should have a liberal education, possess a good library,
and be able to devote their time and their faculties to
the ministry without temporal cares ; because these
things are necessary for their efficiency: but these things
may be had without much wealth. It is undesirable
that ministers should be as rich as the richest members
of their churches or as poor as the poorest. The one
condition would tempt them to pride, the other to
servility. The one would make them self-indulgent,
the other burden them with care. A middle con-
dition is probably that in which ministers can best
promote the spiritual welfare of the churches ; in
which a minister who lives within his income, and
reserves some surplus for charity, is richer than the
richest who expend beyond their means ; is protected
from the envy of the poor by his simplicity of life,
and is shielded from the contempt of the rich by his
independence, refinement, and knowledge.
It is, further, conducive to the welfare of the
churches that the income of the minister should cor-
respond to the circumstances of the church. Wealth
raises the minister of a poor people to a condition in
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 379
which neither party can fully sympathise with the
other : and, on the other hand, if a church abounds in
wealth, the minister, if very poor, can scarcely asso-
ciate with its members on terms of equality, or visit
them at their houses, or receive them to his own.
These obvious principles have been too much dis-
regarded by the State. The total nett income of the
Establishment in 183G was 3,439,7G7/., and, reckon-
ing the working clergy at 12,923, this total would
yield to each an income of 266/. But to ascertain
the actual payments made to the working clergy in
general, we must make large deductions from the
nett income of the Establishment before we strike our
average.
1 . We have first to subtract the incomes of the
prelates. The nett revenue of the sees as returned
to the commissioners of ecclesiastical inquiry, at an
average of three years ending with 1831, was as
follows :
Canterbury '19,182
York 12,029
Durham 19,060
Ely 11,105
London 13,929
Winchester 11,151
Total of six sees 87,062
Total of twenty-seven sees 1 60,292
By the 6th and 7th William IV. cap. 77, it was
enacted that, " In order to provide for the augmcnta-
380 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
tion of the incomes of the smaller bishoprics, such fixed
annual sums be paid to the commissioners out of the
revenues of the larger sees respectively, as shall be
determined on, so as to leave as an average annual
income to the archbishop of Canterbury, 15,000/. ;
to the archbishop of York, 10,0007; to the bishop of
London, 10,000/. ; to the bishop of Durham, 8000/. ;
the bishop of Winchester, 7000/. the bishop of Ely,
5500/. ; the bishop of St. Asaph, 5200/. j the bishop
of Worcester, 5000/. ; the bishop of Bath and Wells,
5000/. ; and that the annual incomes of the other
bishops respectively be not less than 4000/. nor
more than 5000/." 1 The revenues of the poorer sees
have, since the passing of the act, been augmented by
means of the surplus from the richer ; which, amount-
ing to 157,000/., has been paid into the hands of the
commissioners. 2 A further sum of 92,402/. having
been realised by the sale of certain episcopal estates,
the ecclesiastical commissioners employed this sura of
249,4027. as follows:
In augmenting poor sees '106,388
On episcopal residences.. 143,014
Total 249,402
The 143,0147. was expended on the purchase and
improvement of the residences of eight of the bishops,
and was distributed as follows :
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 195 rt . 2 Horsman, p. 9.
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 381
Ripon 16,111
Bath and Wells 3,000
Oxford 6,500
Exeter 3,500
Worcester 7,000
Gloucester 23,672
Rochester 28,832
Lincoln.. .... 54,444
Total expended on eight palaces 143, 014
When all the arrangements of the commissioners
are completed, the whole annual expenditm-c of the
State in support of the prelates, besides the interest of
the sums spent on the palaces, will be as follows :
Canterbury 15,000
York 10,000
London 10,11(111
Durham 8,000
Winchester 7,000
Ely 5,500
St. Asaph 5,200
Worcester 5,000
Bath and Wells 5,000
19 other sees (4000/.) 76,000
Total on twenty-eight sees ...146,700
This must be deducted from the income of the
Establishment before we can ascertain the payments
made to the working clergy.
2. We must next deduct the incomes of the
cathedral clergy and the cathedrals. The dean of
Durham has a nett income, exclusive of the expense of
382 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the establishment, of 4SOO/. a-year ; and the chapter,
of 32,1607. The dean of Oxford has 31137. ; and
the chapter, 14,7367. The dean of Westminster has
29797. ; and the chapter, 17,5667. The total
amount of the gross annual revenues of the several
cathedral and collegiate churches in England and
Wales is 284,2417. ; and the total amount of the nett
annual revenues of the same is 208,2897.* By a recent
act the cathedral incomes have been reduced, so that
henceforth, as the prebendaries die off, each cathedral
establishment will consist of a dean, whose average
income is to be 16807. ; of four canons, whose average
incomes are to be 8007., and six minor canons, with
1507. each." 2 So that the cathedrals, excluding the
minor canons, will stand nearly thus :
26 deans, at 1080Z '43,680
104 canons, at SOD/ 83,200
156 minor canons, at 150. ,., 23,400
Total income of cathedral clergy 150,280
This sum must be subtracted from the income of
the Establishment, before we strike the average in-
comes of its working ministers.
3. We have next to subtract, before we can make
an average of the incomes of the great majority of the
working clergy, the incomes of some of the richer
benefices. Some of these are as follows :
2 M'Cullocb, vol. ii. pp. 399, 411. Horsman, p. 27.
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 383
954 have incomes from 500 to '750
323 750 to 1,000
]:U 1,000 to 1,500
33 ],500 to 2,000
13 2,000 to 3,000
3 3,000 to 4,000
1 4,843
1 7,306
Thus 1461 have incomes varying from 500/. to
3000/. and upwards ; and, if we take their average
income as 700/., the aggregate of their annual incomes
is 1,022,700/.
These three items, if added together, are large,
The revenues of 28 prelates '140,700
,, 286 deans and canons 150,280
1461 incumbents 1,022,700
1619 bishops and clergy 1,319,680
4. It will be further convenient for our exami-
nation to separate a fourth class, whose incomes are
above the average. There are 830 incumbents with
incomes from 4007. to 500/. ; 1326, with incomes
from 3007. to 400/. ; 1979, with incomes from 200/,
to 300/. ; and thus there are 4135, whose incomes
vary from 2007. to 500/. If we take the average of
their incomes at 300/., their aggregate amounts to
1,240,500/.
If we add to this the aggregate incomes of the
three previous classes, which together amount to
1,319,680/., these sums together make 2,560,1SO/.,
and subtracting this amount from 3 ; 439,767/., which
384 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
we have seen to be the income of the Establishment,
we find that the remaining sum to be distributed
among the remainder of the clergy is 8 7 9, 5 8 11.
5. There remain 4882 incumbents, among whom
the sum of 879,5877. is to be divided, which would
yield to each an average income of 1807. But this is
indeed above the real average, for 297 have beneath
507. per annum, 1629 have beneath 1007., and 1G02
have beneath 150/., while 1354, alone, have between
1507. and 2007. The average of even 1507. must be
beyond the truth.
To these poor incumbents must be added 5230
poorer curates, whose salaries average 8 1/., the aggre-
gate being only 4 2 3, 6 3 07. These two classes to-
gether amount to 10,112, and as the whole number
of working clergy is only 12,923, they compose
more than three-fourths of the working clergy.
These together receive about 732,3007. + 423,6307.
= 1,155,9307. But, as we have seen, 1619 clergy-
men receive 1,319,6807., i. e. 1619 clergymen receive
more from the State than 10,112 who do nearly all
the work. 1619 clergymen, who have got the great
prizes of the Establishment, have an average of 8087. ;
and 10,112 of the working clergy have an average of
1147. The 1619 have salaries from the State seven
times larger than their more laborious brethren.
The inequalities in the favours of the State are
still more remarkable when seen in detail. In the
diocese of Gloucester, where 23,0007. was spent upon
the palace, there are 97 livings under 1007. a-year.
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 385
In Lincoln, where 54,000/. have been expended on
the palace and its grounds, there are 218 benefices
under 100/. a-year; and in the eight dioceses on
which the commissioners spent 143,000/. upon the
eight palaces, there are 502 clergymen whose official
incomes are severally less than 100/. a-year. 1 As the
amount of the incomes of these 502 clergymen when
taken together is 50,200/., the State spent more than
twice the income of 502 ministers upon these eight
houses. Each house cost on an average 17,S7G/. ;
each swallowed up one year's income of 178 ministers
in those dioceses; and that although each of those
prelates already possessed revenues, the arrangements
of the commissioners having raised each to 4000/.,
equal to 40 of their incumbents. Facts like these led
Mr. Sydney Smith to say, with some exaggeration,
but also with some truth, "Why is the Church of
England to be nothing but a collection of beggars
and bishops ? the right reverend Dives in the palace,
and Lazarus in orders at the gate, doctored by dogs
and comforted by crumbs?" 2
While, however, the commissioners were building
or repairing the bishops' palaces, they were also aug-
menting the poorer livings in these dioceses. Yet
their aid was such as only to bring into more glaring
contrast the preference of the State for its prelates.
They spent on the palaces 143,000/., they doled out
to the pauper clergy, as Mr. Horsman terms them,
1 Horsman, pp. 14-15. 8 Ibid. p. 15.
C C
\
386 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
52597. ; that is, they spent twenty-seven times as
much upon the palaces as upon the pastors. The
cases of the 502 pastors in the eight dioceses have
unhappily too many parallels in other places; 10,000
out of 13,000 working clergy having, on an average,
under 1147. per annum.
This poverty, inflicted on the pastors by the
Union, is the more noxious, because the Union se-
cures the least payments to those who ought to
receive the largest. Rich pastors to poor congrega-
tions can scarcely be brothers among brethren. How
.can the tenants and labourers, who make up the
church of which a squire in orders is pastor, feel
towards him as brethren to a brother ? Much more
readily would they trust and love a pastor who with
equal piety should be nearer to the level of their con-
dition. For similar reasons a very poor pastor has to
struggle with great difficulties in an opulent city and
with a rich congregation. Great talent, great grace,
and resolute determination to avoid all debt, may
enable him to surmount them as Paul did at
Corinth ; but wealth is so much valued in this
country that a very poor pastor can scarcely minister
to a rich people as a brother to brethren, and except
in rare cases would be placed as disadvantageously as
a rich pastor among a poor people.
Now the State by its Union with the churches
has created both these evils. Its rich pastors are
often amongst the poor, and its poor pastors arc
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 387
among the rich. The 6681 parishes, which have
under 300 souls in them, probably comprehend by
far the larger number of the 1461 pastors who have
from 500/. to 3000/. per annum. On the other hand,
the payment of the State to its city ministers may be
judged from the following statements in the last
report of the Pastoral Aid Society. " The Society
now aids 301 incumbents, who have under their care
an aggregate population of 2,077,703 souls, or each
on an average 6902. The average income of these
incumbents is about 200/., while 154 of them have
no parsonage-houses." 1 "The committee during the
year have made twenty new grants." "The aggre-
gate population of the districts to which these new
grants have been made is 152,218, which number
gives an average of about 8000 to each incumbent,
while the average amount of their incomes is only
164/., and thirteen of them are without parsonage-
houses." 2 "The committee have now before them a
list of fifty-six applications." "The average popula-
tion under the charge of the applicants is 5688 to
each; the average amount of their incomes is 183/.,
and 44 of them are without parsonage-houses." 3
These 301 pastors, whose incomes average 200/.,
among the merchants, manufacturers, and shop-
keepers of the great towns, and 1461 pastors whose
incomes vary from 500/. to 1000/. among poor vil-
1 Report, p. 24, Ibid. p. 20. 3 Ibid. p. 28,
388 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
lagers, must find it almost equally difficult to be as
brethren among brethren.
By G and 7 William IV., the income of the arch-
bishop of Canterbury is reduced to 15,000/. ; and the
Union, by the aid of individual zeal, has secured 200/.
per annum to each of 301 pastors, who have under
their care 2,077,703 souls, affording an average of
6902 to each. The income, therefore, of the arch-
bishop ecaials the income of 75 of these incumbents,
and swallows up as much as the State has afforded
for the spiritual instruction of 517,650 souls.
The State has allotted 60,700/. per annum to the
archbishops of Canterbury and York, with the bishops
of London, Durham, Winchester, Ely, and St. Asaph ;
and with the aid of individual zeal it has afforded
60,200/. per annum, to 301 pastors, who have charge
of 2,077,703 souls. It has given the same sum to
seven prelates that it has given to the pastors of two
millions of the people ; and while it has given palaces
to the prelates, it has not given a cottage to 154 of
these pastors.
These figures show that in the event of the disso-
lution of the Union, this country will probably main-
tain a number of pastors not much less than the
number of its effective pastors at present, and will
afford them as good an income.
The number of the working clergy at present is
12,923, of whom 2871 receive incomes varying from
200/. upwards. But as 5230 curates receive an
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 389
average income of 817., and 4882 incumbents receive
an average income of 150/., there are 10,112 pastors
who receive altogether annually 423, G30/. + 732,3007.
= 1,155,9307., which yields an average income to
each of 1147.
It is highly improbable that the Anglican Churches,
after the dissolution of the Union, will fail to maintain
10,112 pastors at an average income of 1147.
Assuming that one-fourth of the population dis-
sent from the Establishment, and that another fourth,
through the long neglect of the Establishment, have
sunk into irreligious habits, and Avould make no sacri-
fice for the maintenance of Christian ministers, there
remain eight millions of Anglicans ; and if these
should maintain 10,112 pastors at an average cost of
1147. for each, or of 1,155,9307. for all, this would
allow one pastor to every 791, at a cost of three
shillings to each person.
Have we reason to think that the Anglican
Churches, when freed from the shackles of the State,
will make the sacrifice?
Assuming, as before, that evangelical dissenters
amount to four millions, who maintain COOO minis-
ters, we find that they maintain, on an average, one
minister for every 666 souls. 1 The salaries of these
ministers vary from 507. to 6007., and the average is
taken by Mr. Conder at 1107. 2 This sum, divided
among 666 persons, assigns three shillings and four-
1 See p. 337. * Conder'g " View of all Religions," p. 422.
300 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
pence to each. Pour millions, therefore, of evan-
gelical dissenters in England and AVales maintain
0000 ministers, with average salaries of 1107. at an
average cost of 3s. 4cL to each member of their
congregations. If eight millions of Anglicans, when
severed from the State, shall do as much, they will
maintain jnst twice that number of ministers at the
same salary; that is, they will maintain 12,000 at a
salary of HO/. ; whilst the State now maintains
only 13,000, of whom 10,000 have only an average
salary of 1147.
The members of the Free Church of Scotland,
who form about one-fourth of the whole population of
Scotland, and are about 657,239 in number, maintain
above 700 ministers. These ministers received in the
last year (1847-8) 80,9597. from their common fund,
which yielded 115/. to each. The collections for con-
gregational objects further amounted to 71,8507., from
which additions were made to the stipends of many
of the pastors ; and the whole sum raised within the
year for religious objects, by the churches collectively,
was 221,5897., which affords an average of 3107. to
each minister. Very few of the aristocracy of Scot-
land belong to the Free Church ; but 657,239 of the
middle and poorer classes maintain for themselves
700 pastors, or one pastor to each 938 members, at
a cost of six shillings to each member. If eight
millions of Anglicans, when free from the shackles of
the State, should do as much, being twelve times as
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 391
numerous, they could maintain 16,800 ministers at an
average salary of 115/., which is more than the pre-
sent average salary of 10,000 Anglican ministers, and
would raise, besides, 43/. for other religious objects
in each of the 16,800 congregations : a supply of
instruction vastly beyond that which is now afforded
by the Establishment.
The experience of the United States, where the
maintenance of Christian ministers is left, as it ought
to be, by the State to the Christian churches, is
similar to that of the free churches of England
and of Scotland. The number of hearers in four
evangelical denominations being 13,885,000, sustain
14,931 regular ministers, besides local preachers ;
that is, one minister for every 925 hearers. Respect-
ing the support of these ministers, Mr. Baird writes
as follows : " The clergy of all evangelical denomina-
tions, with two exceptions, receive paid salaries from
their people, and are expected to devote themselves to
their proper vocation. The exceptions are a part of
the Baptist ministers, and all the Quaker preachers." 1
"Few, if any, of them receive salaries that would
enable them to live in the style in which the wealthiest
of their parishioners live ; their incomes are not equal
to those of the greater number of lawyers and phy-
sicians. . . . There arc few, if any, of them who,
with economy, can do more than live upon their
salaries. Yet, on the other hand, the greater number
1 Baird, p. 403.
392 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
are able, with economy, to live comfortably and re-
spectably. In New England, if we except Boston,
the salaries of the Congregational, Episcopalian, and
Baptist pastors are, in the largest towns, from 800 to
1200 dollars; in the villages and country churches
they vary from 300 or 400 to 700 or 800, besides
which the minister sometimes has a house and a few
acres of land, and receives a good many presents." 1
" The salaries in the largest and wealthiest churches
of the principal cities are handsome : 1500 dollars,
1800, 2000, 2500, are the sums commonly given,
and in a few cases 3000, 3500, and even 4000."
" As it is, they are enabled to live, with great
economy, in comfort; and a faithful pastor will no-
where be allowed to starve. In no country of the
world are ministers more respected by the people.
Many of them belong to families of the first rank ;
and as they can, at least, give their families a good
education, their children are almost invariably pros-
perous, and often form alliances with the wealthiest
and most distinguished families in the country." 2
When, therefore, the Anglican Churches shall be
freed from their bondage to the State, if they shall do
as much as is done for the cause of God by the
American churches, they will maintain in comfort one
minister for every thousand hearers ; that is, 8000
ministers, besides numerous local preachers. If they
do as much as the members of the Free Church of
1 Baird, p. 403. Ibid. pp. 304-306.
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 393
Scotland, they will maintain 10,800 ministers at the
same average salary as is now paid by the State to
10,000 out of 13,000 of the working clergy, namely,
1157. ; and if they do as much as the free churches
of England, they Avill maintain 15,800 at an average
salary of 110/., besides raising large contributions for
schools, missions, and other works of Christian bene-
volence.
To allege that the Anglican Christians will not
manifest the same liberality as Americans, Scotchmen,
and English dissenters, is to condemn the Establish-
ment to eternal shame. Has it, then, so withered up
the charity of its members, so blunted their sense of
duty, so stupified them with religious indifference
and selfish love of money, that while the members of
other free churches, both foreign and domestic, libe-
rally maintain their ministers, they only would refuse ?
If so, it is time that the Union should cease. It is a
tree of deadly poison, beneath which zeal and con-
science die. But bad as its influence has been,
Anglicans cannot be so hopelessly injured that free-
dom would not restore their energy. We must not
judge of what they would do if free from what they
do in bonds. The members of the Free Church of
Scotland, while their ministers were paid by the
State, no more thought of exercising Christian libe-
rality towards their pastors than Anglican Christians
now do. But new circumstances called forth new
principles. English Christians are not necessarily
394 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
inferior to Scottisli Christians ; and let them only bo
emancipated from the State's golden chain, and they
will soon emulate their northern brethren in liberality.
Since the members of the free churches of England,
Scotland, and America, maintain their ministers libe-
rally, the Anglican Churches, when free, will eventu-
ally do the same.
It is often argued that some great ecclesiastical
incomes are necessary to attract men of rank and
talent into the ministry, whereby the whole body
of pastors is made more influential, and that the
separation of the churches from the State, by de-
stroying these larger incomes, would deteriorate
the ministry. But 1. If rich livings attract men
of talent and learning, they attract much larger
numbers of the weak and vicious, the idle and the
worldly, who are related to patrons. 2. Men of rank
and talent without piety are not called to the ministry
by Christ, and are unable to fulfil its duties. The
business of a minister is to convert sinners and to
build up Christians ; but how can those who arc
unconverted do cither the one or the other? 3. Men
of rank and talent, if they are called by God to the
ministry, being animated by zeal for God and charity
towards men, will enter it if it entails poverty as
readily as if it promises wealth. 4. Free churches
attract, on the whole, more talent to the ministry
than establishments, because patronage, by advancing
worthless relatives over the heads of men of the
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 395
highest worth, sentences the latter class to neglect
and obscurity ; but churches ever choose for their pas-
tors those from whose ability and zeal they can derive
the greatest advantage. Able and zealous men are
also more likely to choose the ministry in free churches,
because in them they are more likely to fill important
spheres of action in city congregations. And if we
have able and zealous ministers, why should we regret
it if there are none of rank and wealth ?
Is it thought that without rank and wealth
Christian ministers will lose their influence over the
higher classes ? Exactly the reverse is the truth. Can
any sincere man think that ecclesiastical wealth at this
moment makes any clergymen effective evangelists?
How many noblemen, rich squires, members of Par-
liament, bankers, and merchants, at this moment, in
this country, arc converted to be humble and holy
disciples of Christ, to live by faith, and to seek the
glory of Christ in their daily life, through the exhorta-
tions and examples of prelates, deans, and rich digni-
taries? God the Spirit evidently much more works
by humble pastors without wealth, both in and out of
the Establishment, Bishops and other dignitaries
may receive princes and nobles to their splendid hos-
pitality ; but who can think that such baronial guests
are likely to turn to God and to welcome a life of
faith and self-denial through their enjoyment of a
loaded table, graced though it be by the intelligence
and urbanity of its right reverend possessor ? Men
396 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
of the stamp of John the Baptist are much more likely
to accomplish this work. Talent, learning, earnest-
ness, strength of character, poverty these are the
things in ministers which must subdue both high and
IOAV to Christ ; not palaces, or liveried servants, or
sumptuous festivity. The aristocracy crowded to hear
Robert Hall and Chalmers, though neither of them
boasted of ancestral honours, nor possessed prelatic
wealth. The ablest men will always most obtain the
attentions of the rich and the clever. Nothing can
atone for dulness. Men will not be taught by solemn
stupidity, however attractive its accompaniments. In
our day teachers must be able to teach.
But whatever may be the influence of a poorer
body of pastors on the richer classes, a much more
important question is, What is likely to be their
influence on the masses ? Ministers are appointed by
Christ to save men's souls ; and that is the best system
which is calculated not to save the most wealthy, but
the greatest number. Now large ecclesiastical in-
comes, by exciting the cupidity of the multitude, by
awakening their ready suspicions of the motives which
have led their pastors to choose the ministry, and by
preventing all endearing intimacy between their pas-
tors and themselves, render rich ministers very in-
effective among the poor. The fact lies open to any
one's investigation. Have the rectors of the Establish-
ment as much pastoral intercourse with the working
classes as dissenting pastors have?
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 307
If it be said that ecclesiastical wealth, though not
requisite to give a pastor influence with the people, is
yet necessary to secure to the ministry the talent
which I acknowledge to be necessary, I deny it alto-
gether. The cost of education and the partialities of
patronage now exclude young men of ability from the
Anglican ministry, however rich the Establishment
may be; but free churches, although much poorer,
by throwing open the most important spheres of
action to men of the highest qualifications, attract
men of earnestness, ability, and force of character
from every class. Have the parochial clergy generally
as much popular ability as the pastors of free
churches ? Whatever may be the reader's answer to
this question, Robert Hall, Foster, Pye Smith,
Vaughan, Wardlaw, Harris, Sortain, Davidson, and a
host of similar men, show that, without baronial titles
or lordly incomes, men of talent will consecrate their fa-
culties to the service of the Redeemer in the ministry.
But more than enough has been said on this sub-
ject. Since Christ, when he sent out his disciples
to preach the Gospel, said to them, " Lo, I am with
you alway, even to the end of the world," 1 to suppose
that faithful, intelligent, and laborious ministers will
not be maintained, is not merely to contradict expe-
rience, and to misrepresent Christians as destitute of
liberality, zeal, or justice, but it is also to disbelieve
his care and love. Since he is with those who preach
1 Matt, xxviii. 20.
398 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the Gospel, he will certainly take care of them. God
has said to each faithful minister, as he said to the
Mosaic priest, "7 am thy part and thine inheritance. ." l
Rich endowments are necessary to provide for a
worldly, idle, and worthless priesthood, because, assu-
redly, Christians would not maintain them, but to
zealous ministers they are worse than superfluous.
All the disciples of Christ have received from him the
following instructions and promises : " Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat ? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(for after all these things do the Gentiles seek .-) for
your heavenly Father knowcth that ye have need of all
these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteomness, and all these things shall be added
unto you."" If, then, all believers have a right, when
they are doing their duty, to trust God for the supply
of their temporal wants, surely those have more than
all others permission to do so, who have renounced the
lucrative secular employments which they might have
sought, in order that they might devote themselves to
the more immediate service of Christ.
Indeed, so little in the opinion of some is poverty
to be dreaded by the ministers of free churches, that
one of the most zealous and estimable advocates of the
Establishment has argued the necessity of the Union
With a view to restrain their wealth and power.
" Appealing," he says, " to the strongest affections of
1 Numb, xviii. 20. 2 Matt. vi. 31-33.
MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS. 399
the human heart, hope, fear, love, conscience, grati-
tude, generosity representing the sacraments of
the church as generally, perhaps tempted to say
absolutely, necessary to salvation, and themselves
as the only persons by whom those sacraments
can be administered, it is beyond all question that,
unless subjected to some regulating restriction from
without, they icill, they must, in process of time, and
from the bulk of mankind, obtain an extravagant power
and an enormous wealth. Thus superstition will
give, and avarice will receive, and ambition will abuse,
until all other authority sinks before the priesthood . . .
A State endowment for the supply of the church was
rendered unnecessary (by voluntary zeal in the days of
Constantine) ; but, at the same time, and by the same
means, a State enactment for the restraint of the
church was rendered imperative if civil liberty was to
be maintained on the earth. . . . Some such enactment
is a matter of indispensable self-defence on the part of
the civil ruler to ward off the prostrating power of the
clergy." 1 So that, according to this zealous advocate
of the Establishment, the ministers of free churches
are not likely to be too poor, but too rich ; and the
Union of the Anglican Churches Avith the State is
necessary to hinder their ministers from climbing to
"extravagant power," and revelling in "enormous
wealth." Free-church ministers are likely to be paid
too much ; but the ministers of the Establishment to
1 Lectures on the Church of England, pp. 120-120.
400 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
be kept under salutary restraint. We may so far
accept this argument as to conclude, that free-church
ministers, if sensible and faithful men, will not often
be left in want.
SECTION IV. Influence of the Union upon the Doctrine
taught in the Anglican Churches.
The Gospel contained in the bible is of absolute
necessity to the world. By the knowledge and belief
of it men are saved from eternal death ; by it they
are led to serve God, and all the highest interests of
the world are inseparably associated with it. As soon
as a man becomes acquainted with it, he is bound to
maintain, defend, and promulgate it. One of the
great ends of the existence of churches is, that they
may maintain its doctrines in their purity, and use
their combined influence to diffuse it throughout
society. This is, likewise, one of the highest ends
sought by the association of churches into great con-
federations such as the Church of England, and the
Union of those confederations with the Governments
of Europe. Why are 13,000 congregations in Eng-
land, and their pastors, marshalled under a potent
hierarchy, instead of each being distinct and inde-
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 401
pendent? and why are their pastors maintained by
the Government, except because this organisation and
State maintenance is supposed to favour the diffusion
of sound doctrine through the land ? If, then, it
should appear that the Union maintains error rather
than truth, the chief reason for the Union is destroyed.
If individual zeal can establish greater numbers of
ministers, distribute them more wisely, pay them
better, and, at the same time, be a better preservative
to the purity of their doctrine, then the Union should
cease.
The first fact with which we meet in our exami-
nation of the effects of the Union on the doctrine of
the Anglican Churches is that, having sanctioned
various errors in the prayer-book, it gives them cur-
rency in all the parishes of the land.
When our Lord appeared to his disciples after his
resurrection, he breathed on them and said to them,
" Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whosesoever sins ye
remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins
ye retain, they are retained." In these words he
secured to them the communication of the Holy
Spirit, by whom they would be inspired to declare,
with unerring certainty, who are condemned by God
and who are pardoned. This was no prayer of
Christ, but an authoritative communication of the
Spirit, upon which the power to remit or to retain
1 John, xx. 22, 23.
D D
402 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
sins was consequent. From that time they acted
upon that commission ; and with divine wisdom and
with unfaltering authority declared, not of indivi-
duals, but of classes and of characters, who were for-
given and who were unforgiven. But as they could
not convey the inspiration to others, they never
pretended to convey to others the authority. In
exact imitation of our Lord, the bishop chosen by
the premier as a good schoolmaster, a clever political
adherent, a safe man without strong opinions, or
perhaps as a man of sense and piety, must, by order
of the State, lay his hand " upon the head of every
one that receiveth the order of priesthood, the re-
ceivers humbly kneeling upon their knees," and say,
" Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work
of a priest in the church of God, now committed
unto thee by this imposition of our hands. "Whose
sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose
sins thou dost retain, they are retained." When a
deacon is ordained, the bishop uses none of the fore-
going words, but says merely, " Take thou authority
to execute the office of a deacon in the church of
God committed to thee." The deacon does not
receive the Holy Ghost from the bishop, and there-
fore must not remit sins, nor read the absolution in
the public service ; but the priest receives authority
to remit sins, because he is supposed to receive the
Holy Ghost.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 403
There is little difference between the external
action by which Christ communicated the Holy Spirit
to his apostles, and that by which the bishop, nomi-
nated by the prime minister, is supposed to commu-
nicate the Holy Ghost to the Anglican priest, except
that the apostles stood to receive the benediction of
their Lord, but the priest must kneel to the prelate.
The prelatic words are no prayer, because Christ's
words are not so, because the words do not express
a prayer, because had they been a prayer the prelate
would have knelt instead of standing over the kneel-
ing priest, because he adds immediately to the words
of power these following words, " Whose sins thou dost
forgive they are forgiven ;" and because in the service
for the consecration of a bishop, the archbishop is
compelled to say to the nominee, " Receive the Holy
Ghost .... and remember that thou stir up the
grace of God which is given thee by this imposition of
our hands." Each Anglican priest ordained by each
nominee of the Government is thus stated by the
prayer-book to receive the Holy Ghost and the power
of remitting sins. The power communicated by the
Almighty Saviour to his apostles through the gift of
inspiration, and which they had neither authority nor
power to convey to any other persons, is thus stated
by the prayer-book to be given by all prelates, con-
verted or unconverted, to all priests, converted or
unconverted, Anglo - Catholics, sportsmen, fellows
of colleges, agriculturists, ordained squires, and all
404 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
others who form the immense assemblage of the
Anglican clergy. In the opinion of Bishop Wilber-
force, " All this is blasphemous frivolity, if it be not
deepest truth." 1 It being, therefore, assuredly un-
true that all sorts of prelates communicate the Spirit
to all sorts of Anglican clergymen, it is, according to
the bishop, blasphemous : and this " blasphemous fri-
volity " the Union by its prayer-book teaches to all the
Anglican Churches, and compels all the clergy to declare
that it is neither superstitious, nor ungodly, nor con-
trary to the word of God. 2
As we have received a revelation from God, each
believer is bound to study it, ascertain its meaning,
and adhere to it. He ought, indeed, to distrust his
own judgment, to weigh the opinions of the wise and
good, to obtain every help, to pray, to meditate, to
wait ; but eventually to let no one intervene between
God and him, and to maintain no doctrine which he
does not see to be true from the word of God. Paul's
direction is, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind. .... Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." s
James adds, " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him."* Each believer is
taught by the Spirit. God has given this promise to
the church : " All thy children shall be taught of
the Lord" 5 Our Lord has himself assured us that
1 Sermon at the Ordination, 1845, p. 24. 2 Art. 36, Can. 36.
3 Rom. xiv. 5, 23. 4 James, i. 5. 5 Isa. liv. 13.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 405
our heavenly Father will give the Holy ,Spirit to those
that ask him. 1 And according to these and similar
promises all believers now may be addressed as the
first Christians were by the apostle John, " Ye have
an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
.... The anointing which ye have received of him
abideth in you ; and ye need not that any man teach yon;
but the same anointing teacheth you all things.'" 1 Each
Christian, therefore, may obtain wisdom in proportion
to his study, meditation, piety, and prayer. And so
may a church, which is a company of Christians ; but,
as individual Christians err, so do churches. The
church of Antioch erred; 3 the churches of Galatia
erred; 4 the churches of Greece have erred; and the
churches in connexion with the Church of Rome,
scattered throughout the world, have erred more
grievously still. If the episcopacy of the Church of
England is right, the churches of Scotland have erred.
If the Congregational system of the English free
churches is right, the Anglican Churches have erred.
If the Baptists are right, the Independent churches of
England have erred. When a church errs, a believer
must disregard the false opinion of the church, and
follow the teaching of the word of God. No church
has received authority to direct the faith of its mem-
bers, for each ought to be taught of God through his
word. If any church has received such authority all
1 Luke, xi. 13. 2 1 John, ii. 20, 27.
3 Gal. ii. 11, 13. 4 Gal. i. 6 ; iii. 1.
406 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
churches must have received it, for scripture has not
any where assigned different degrees of authority to
different churches. Opposing churches on this hypo-
thesis must have received authority from Christ to im-
pose upon their members the various errors into which
they have fallen. Believers at Antioch and in Ga-
latia were bound, on this supposition, to oppose St.
Paul ; and Roman Catholics may not question the
tenets held in their churches. There cannot, there-
fore, be any such church authority, nor is there.
Not a single line in the New Testament, from
Matthew to Revelation, gives any church such au-
thority, either directly or by implication. And yet
the Union, by its prayer-book, teaches as follows :
" The church hath power to decree rites or ceremo-
nies, and authority in controversies of faith" On
this article, Dr. Hey, after most unwarrantably assert-
ing that authority means influence, comments thus :
" You are not expected to give up your judgment to
the judgment of the church except on doubtful and
difficult points" 2 On doubtful and difficult points,
then, we are to give up our judgment to the judgment
of the church. If we believe scripture to teach one
thing and the church declare it to teach another
thing, we are to disregard what the word of God
seems to establish because the church denies it, and
to maintain what the word of God seems to us to
1 Art. 20.
2 Lectures on Divinity, by J. Hey, D.D., Norisian Professor, Cambridge.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 407
condemn because the church maintains it. But to
what church has Christ given this dominion over our
creed ? To the Church of England ? Impossible !
There is no such body described in scripture
nothing approaching to it. Whatever is ascribed to
the church in scripture is not ascribed to it, but to
something quite different. Which church in the New
Testament in the least resembled the Church of Eng-
land, formed as it is of 13,154 churches? In the
New Testament there is only one universal church
described, composed of all the true followers of Jesus
Christ and a multitude of local churches, the uni-
versal company of believers who will assemble in
heaven, and the assembly of professed believers who
assemble at any place on earth. Which of these
churches has this authority to control the faith of
each Christian ? The universal church ? But how
shall we get its mind " in doubtful and difficult
points?" The disputants are all within it. Episco-
palians and Presbyterians, Calvinists and Arminians,
Baptists and Paedobaptists, they are all within it.
Each thinks he is right. Whence is the deciding
voice of the universal church to issue ? But since the
universal church cannot be meant, we must come to
the local church as the seat of authority any English
church, for instance, like the church at Philippi or
the church at Thessalonica. So, then, " in doubtful
and difficult points" a pious minister, or a thoughtful
and experienced Christian, is to give up his judgment
408 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
of the meaning of the word of God, because a
few poor villagers who worship with him have an
opposite opinion ! The idea is absurd. No church,
then, has this authority ; and yet the Union de-
clares, by the prayer-book, that the church has it,
and compels each Anglican minister to maintain that
this declaration of the prayer-book is agreeable to the
word of God.
The qualifications of a pastor appointed by Christ's
authority the only pastor which any church may law-
fully receive are thus described by an apostle : " A
bishop (that is, the pastor of a church) must be blame-
less, sober, of good behaviour, . . . apt to teach, not
given to wine, . . . not covetous, NOT A NOVICE ; * . . .
a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, hold-
ing fast the faithful word." If any preachers who
were unevangelical came to any place, the Christians
were forbidden to receive them as teachers into their
houses. 3 Paul desired that all such might be excom-
municated,* and declared them to be ministers of
Satan under the guise of angels of light. 5 And re-
specting all teachers of ungodly character, however
plausible their pretensions to be Christ's ministers
might seem, our Lord himself said, "Beware of false
prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but in-
wardly they are ravening wolves : ye shall know them
by their fruits" 1 Could our Lord more plainly cau-
1 1 Tim. iii. 2-6. 2 Tit. i. 5, 9. 3 2 John, 9, 11.
4 Gal. i. 8 ; v. 12. 5 2 Cor. xi. 3-15. Matt. vii. 15, 16.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 409
tion his disciples against listening to bad ministers
because they are regularly ordained ? What is the
sheep's clothing but a plausible claim to be ministers
of Christ? And what is the wolfish heart but the
ungodliness which makes unconverted ministers the
worst and most dangerous enemies of their people ?
Of such our Lord says all Christians should beware.
*/
But, in opposition to these passages of scripture, the
twenty-sixth article declares: "Although in the visible
church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and
sometimes the evil have chief authority in the minis-
tration of the word and sacraments, yet forasmuch as
they do not the same in their own name, but in
Christ's, AND DO MINISTER BY HIS COMMISSION AND
AUTHORITY, WE MAY USE THEIR MINISTRY, both in
the hearing the word and in receiving of the sacra-
ments." Openly wicked ministers, who by Christ's
authority ought to be excommunicated, 1 are said to
" minister by his authority ;" and when Christ com-
manded his disciples to beware of them, when St.
John forbade all association with them, and St. Paul
urged their excommunication, it is here said that
" we may use their ministry." Of this doctrinal
decision the twenty-eighth canon makes the following
practical application : " The churchwardens, or quest-
men, and their assistants, shall mark, as well as the
minister, whether all and every of the "parishioners
came so often every year to the holy communion as
1 1 Cor. v. 1-13 ; 2 John, 9-11 ; Gal. v. 12.
410 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the laws and our constitutions do require ; and whe-
ther any strangers come often and commonly from
other parishes to their church : and shall show their
minister of them, lest, perhaps, they be admitted to
the Lord's table among others, which they shall
forbid, and remit such home to their own parish
churches and ministers, there to receive the commu-
nion with the rest of their neighbours."
The article teaches that Christians should adhere
to their parish clergyman, although he may be openly
ungodly, against the plain directions of the New Tes-
tament ; and the Union compels all Anglican ministers
to declare that this is agreeable to the word of God. 1
We find in the New Testament that baptism is a
profession of faith in Christ. 2 Repentance and faith
were always in the apostolic churches required in
those who were admitted to baptism. By faith they
became disciples of Christ; and then, by baptism,
professed to be his disciples, and were united to his
churches. They were first regenerated by the Spirit,
and then received the sign of their regeneration.
Baptism was always administered to those who were
believed to be regenerate, never to the unregenerate
with a view to their regeneration. It was the uni-
form of Christ put upon those who had enlisted as
his soldiers ; it was the admission into the local church
of those who had previously become, by faith, members
1 Can. 36.
8 See Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Mark, xvi. 15, 16 ; Acts, ii. 38 ; viii. 12, 36, 37 ;
ix. 17 ; x. 44-48 ; xvi. 14, 31 ; xviii. 8 ; Eph. iv. 5, &c. &c.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 411
of the universal church. But the prayer-book teaches
that baptism regenerates; and, requiring the Anglican
ministers to baptise all the children of the country,
declares of these millions of children baptised in all
the parishes of England and Wales, that they are re-
generated by the Holy Spirit. By canon sixty-eight,
" No minister shall refuse or delay to christen any
child, according to the form of the book of common
prayer, that is brought to the church to him upon
Sundays or holidays to be christened . . . And if he
shall refuse to christen, ... he shall be suspended by
the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by the
space of three months." Almost all the children,
therefore, of country parishes, and myriads of the
children of populous city parishes, of all sorts of
parents, are brought to be " christened."
The effect of their baptism is thus described in
the twenty-seventh article : " Baptism is not only a
sign of profession, and mark of difference whereby
Christian men are discerned from others that be not
christened, but it is also a sign of regeneration or new
birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive
baptism rightly are grafted into the church," &c.
It is here first asserted, that baptism is a sign of
regeneration, but, according to the doctrine of the
church, sacramental signs are effectual, as we learn
from the following question and answer in the Cate-
chism : " Q. What meanest thou by this word sacra-
ment? A. I mean an outward and visible sign of
412 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained
by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive
the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof" And,
therefore, the twenty -fifth article calls the sacraments
"EFFECTUAL signs of grace." Since, therefore, bap-
tism is an effectual sign of regeneration, it regenerates.
Secondly, " By it, as by an instrument, those who
receive baptism rightly are grafted into the church."
Now all who receive baptism, whether they receive it
rightly or not, become members of the local church.
The admission into the church, therefore, which is
restricted to worthy recipients, must mean a spiritual
admission into the church of Christ, following the
gift of the Holy Spirit, as is expressed in the following
prayer for a child before baptism : " Wash him and
sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, that he, being
delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the
ark of Christ's church." And since baptism is THE
INSTRUMENT by which infants are thus grafted into
the church, it is the instrument by' which they are
regenerated. Both Bishop Burnet and Dr. Hey agree
in this view of the doctrine of the articles.
On the twenty-fifth article the bishop says, " A
sacrament is an institution of Christ, in which some
material thing is sanctified by the use of some form
of words, in and by which federal acts of this
religion do pass on both sides ; on ours, by stipu-
lations, professions, or vows ; and in God's, by his
secret assistance : by these we are also united to the
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 413
body of Christ, which is the church . . . Federal
acts, to ivhich divine grace is tied, can only be insti-
tuted by him . . . The rites, therefore, that we under-
stand, when we speak of sacraments, are the constant
federal rites of Christians, which are accompanied by
a divine grace and benediction, being instituted by
Christ to unite us to him and to his church." On the
twenty-seventh, he continues, "As for the ends and
purposes of baptism, St. Paul gives us two : The one
is, we are admitted to the society of Christians. . . .
But a second end is internal and spiritual. Of this
St. Paul speaks in very high terms, when he says,
that God has saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. . . . Here, then, is the
inward effect of baptism. It is a death to sin, and a
new life in Christ, in imitation of him, and in con-
formity to his Gospel. . . . There is something in it
which is internal which comes from God; it is an
admitting men into somewhat which depends only
on God." 1
Dr. Hey is more explicit than the bishop. On
the twenty-fifth he remarks, " We must not deny that
sacraments give grace, ex opere operato" On the
twenty -seventh, he adds, baptism " is also a sign of
regeneration, .... whereby, per quod, by which sign,
the promises of God are sealed, &c., or in one word
regeneration is enacted, executed, and sealed. The
1 Burnet on the Thirty-nine Articles. Articles 25, 27.
414 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
particulars which follow seem to be component parts
of regeneration." 1
The language of the prayer-book, in many places,
painfully confirms this false doctrine of the articles,
and teaches that both children and adults are rege-
nerated by the Spirit through baptism.
When any child is brought by its sponsors to
the parish minister to be baptised, the minister is
compelled by the State to pray thus : " Almighty
God, ... we call upon thee for this infant, that he
coming to thy holy baptism, may receive remission
of sins by spiritual regeneration. Receive him, O
Lord, as thou hast promised by thy well-beloved
Son, saying, Ask and ye shall have." He then con-
tinues, to the sponsors, not to the parents, "Dearly
beloved, ye have brought this child here to be bap-
tised, ye have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ
would vouchsafe to receive him, to release him of
his sins, to sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, to
give him the kingdom of heaven, and everlasting life.
Ye have heard also that our Lord Jesus Christ hath
promised in his Gospel to grant all these things
that ye have prayed for : which promise, he, for his
part, will most surely keep and perform." 2 After this,
by the Act of Uniformity, he prays thus : " Almighty
1 Key's " Lectures on Divinity." Articles 25 and 27.
2 A manifestly false application of the promise, otherwise every baptised
child would be regenerate, and Christians would be bound similarly to regene-
rate all the world.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 415
God, sanctify this water to the mystical washing away
of sin ; and grant that this child, now to be baptised
therein, may receive the fulness of thy grace, and
ever remain in the number of thy faithful and elect
children." This done, the State enjoins that the
minister continue as follows : " Seeing now . . . that
this child is regenerate, and grafted into the body
of Christ's church, let us give thanks to Almighty
God for these benefits." " We yield thee hearty
thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee
to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to
receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to
incorporate him into thy holy church." The prayer-
book adds : "It is certain, by God's word, that
children which are baptised, dying before they com-
mit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved." Not a word
is said in scripture, clearly and explicitly, about the
baptism of infants ; but the prayer-book rules it, that
their baptism so certainly regenerates them that what-
ever happens to other infants they must be saved.
No less distinctly does the prayer-book teach, in
opposition to the word of God, that baptism rege-
nerates adults likewise, as is too apparent in the
following pasages from the form of baptism for such
as are of riper years :
" Dearly beloved, forasmuch as ... our Saviour
Christ saith, None can enter into the kingdom of
God except he be regenerate and born anew of water
and of the Holy Ghost ; I beseech you to call upon
416 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
God . . . that he will grant to these persons . . .
that they may be baptised with water and with
the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy
church."
" Almighty and everlasting God, . . . mercifully
look upon these thy servants, wash them and sanctify
them with the Holy Ghost, that they, being delivered
from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of
Christ's church."
" We call upon thee for these persons, that they,
coming to thy holy baptism, may receive remission of
their sins by spiritual regeneration."
" Give thy Holy Spirit to these persons, that they
may be born again, and be made heirs of everlasting
salvation."
" Sanctify this water to the mystical washing
away of sin, and grant that the persons now to be
baptised therein may receive the fulness of thy grace,
and ever remain in the number of thy faithful and
elect children."
They are then baptised; and the minister adds,
" Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that these
persons are regenerate and grafted into the body of
Christ's church, let us give thanks unto Almighty
God for these benefits." So that, like the infants,
these adults come to the font to be regenerated.
The Anglican child being thus spiritually regene-
rated by baptism, has next to be instructed in the
truth by the catechism, which begins by reminding
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 417
him that he has been thus regenerated in the follow-
ing terms : " Who gave you this name ? My god-
fathers and godmothers in my baptism, wherein I was
made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an
inheritor of the kingdom of heaven."
Being thus regenerate through baptism, and
assured of his regeneration by the catechism, the
Anglican child is now brought to confirmation. The
directions of the minister to the sponsors at the
baptism, by order of the State, were, " Ye are to take
care that this child be brought to the bishop to be
confirmed by him, so soon as he can say the creed,
the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments in the
vulgar tongue, and be further instructed in the church
catechism set forth for that purpose." The prayer-
book, therefore, further directs thus : "So soon as
children are come to a competent age, and can say in
their mother tongue the creed, the Lord's prayer, and
the ten comraandments, and also can answer to the
other questions of this short catechism, they shall be
brought to the bishop ; and every one shall have a
godfather, or a godmother, as a witness of their con-
firmation." In pursuance of these orders all the
children of the parish learn the catechism, and then
come to be confirmed ; upon which the bishop is
compelled by the State to say, " Almighty and ever-
living God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these
thy servants " (all the baptised children of the parish
who can say the catechism and renew the vows), " by
E E
418 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them
forgiveness of all their sins, strengthen them, we
beseech thee," &c.
Ah 1 the parish children being thus regenerated by
the Holy Spirit, and therefore all the parishioners, who
were once children, being also regenerate, the minis-
ter, at the death of each, is compelled by the Union
to bury him, unless the party deceased died excom-
municated; and whatever was his previous ungodliness
up to his last moments, he is forced to speak thus at
his grave : " Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty
God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul
of our dear brother here departed, we commit his
body to the ground ... in sure and certain hope of
the resurrection to eternal life." " Almighty God,
we give thee hearty thanks for that it hath pleased
thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of
this sinful world."
I once laboured hard to convince myself that our
Reformers did not and could not mean that infants
are regenerated by baptism, but no reasoning avails.
This language is too plain. Although the catechism
declares that repentance and faith are prerequisites to
baptism, yet the prayer-book assumes clearly, that
both adults and infants come to the font unregenerate
and leave it regenerate ; that worthy recipients of
baptism are not regenerate before baptism, but come
to be regenerated; that they are unpardoned up to
the moment of baptism, that they are pardoned the
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 419
moment after. 1 This unscriptural doctrine of the
prayer-book, as its other errors, each evangelical
minister of the Church of England is compelled, by
the thirty-sixth canon, to pronounce not contrary to
the word of God ; and, by the Act of Uniformity, he
must make himself a party to all this delusive in-
1 The bishop of Worcester has, in his recent charge, correctly stated the
doctrine of the church in the following terms :
" Conceiving, as I do, that the articles of our church are the principal
authority to which we ought to appeal in attempting to settle any controverted
point, we will, in the first instance, refer to the twenty -seventh article upon this
subject. We find there baptism described as ' not only a sign of profession
and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that
be not christened, but also as a sign of regeneration, or new birth.' This
article, therefore, declares that regeneration, or new birth, is conferred at bap-
tism, of which the ablution in water is the acknowledged sign. Now, it is
impossible, in my opinion, to estimate justly the full effect of this article
without taking into consideration, at the same time, the import of the ninth
article on original sin. We, therefore, find it laid down as the doctrine of our
Church, that ' every person born into the world deserveth God's wrath and
damnation.' It Hoes not fall within my purpose, on the present occasion, to
discuss the doctrine of original sin, or how far it may be founded upon those
words of the apostle, that ' by the offence of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation.' Suffice it that such a doctrine is broadly laid down in the
ninth article, and must therefore be acknowledged by all who have subscribed
that article as the doctrine of our church. In the case, then, of infant-
baptism, the effect of baptismal regeneration is to relieve infants baptised
from this state of condemnation, and to confer upon them a new birth unto
righteousness, ' for, being by nature born in sin the children of wrath, they
are thereby made the children of grace.' These are the words of our ' cate-
chism,' which seem distinctly to imply the doctrine of baptismal regeneration,
and they are further confirmed by the prayers directed to be used in both the
baptismal and confirmation services. In the former, we call upon God to grant
that the infant to be baptised ' may receive remission of his sins by spiritual
regeneration, that he may be born again and made an heir of everlasting sal-
vation ; ' and, after the sacrament of baptism has been administered, we offer
up our thanks to God ' that it hath pleased him to regenerate this infant with
his Holy Spirit, and to receive him for his own child by adoption.' And in
the service for confirmation, which must be considered supplemental to that
of baptism, we speak of those who attend to renew the solemn vows and pro-
mises made in their names at their baptism as ' regenerated by water and the
Holy Ghost.' It seems impossible, in the face of the articles of our church,
420 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
struction every time that he baptises an infant or an
adult, teaches the children of his parish the church
catechism, or buries the corpse of an ungodly
parishioner.
The foregoing errors are thus perpetuated in the
Anglican Churches : for no man can remain a
and of the above expressions directed to be used in the ' catechism ' and the
services for baptism and confirmation, to deny that the doctrine of baptismal
regeneration is distinctly the doctrine of our church." Record, Thursday,
Sept. 14th, 1848.
The bishop of Oxford has given his view of the doctrine in the following
terms :
"Those who were the advocates of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration
held, that in that ceremony man was first introduced to his God ,- and that
the guilt of his fallen nature was done away ; and that there would be continued
to him, unless he were a reprobate, the continual influxes of grace, which would
lead him to salvation." Charge of the Bishop of Oxford, Record, October
9th, 1848.
" Q. What is required of persons to be baptised ?
"A. Repentance whereby they forsake sin, and faith whereby they sted-
fastly believe, &c. &c." Church Catechism.
The bishop, therefore, believes that repentance and faith, which are pre-
liminaries to baptism, do not " introduce a man to his God." A repentant
believer remains still a stranger to God with the guilt of original sin remaining
on him till he is "introduced to his God" by baptism ; he has then "an influx
of grace ; " he repented without grace, and he believed without grace, but as
soon as he was baptised the influx came. "Yet, after repentance, faith, and the
baptismal influx of grace, he may be a reprobate still; for " there would be
continued to him the continual influxes of grace unless he were a reprobate."
If he become a reprobate under the influxes of grace, it seems that they cease;
but of what use they were to him does not appear, since under their influence
he grew to be a reprobate. And how is this to be understood of the infant ?
The infant is not a reprobate, and therefore receives " continual influxes of
grace ;" how long does this continue ? Six years, perhaps, the child receives
these influxes ; at seven he becomes a reprobate, and all the influxes are
withdrawn. Astonishing that six years of grace should make a child a re-
probate in his seventh year, or ten years of grace make a child a reprobate in
his eleventh year ; or any number of years of enlightening and sanctifying
grace of God end in reprobation ! This may be the doctrine of the church, but
where does the word of God say all this? See Mark, xvi. 16; Acts, viii. 37 ;
John, iii. 16, 36 ; Acts, xvi. 30, 31 ; Rom. iii. 28 ; Gal. iii. 26 ; Rom. viii.
30 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14 ; 1 Pet. i. 3-5.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 421
minister of the Establishment, without maintaining
that every statement of the prayer-book is agreeable
to the word of God. 1
Whatever errors there may be in the prayer-book
or the articles, each Anglican minister has the greatest
possible temptations to persuade himself and others
that they are truths. His peace, his income, his posi-
tion in society, his friendships, and the maintenance
of his family, all depend on his avowing his belief that
the prayer-book contains in it nothing repugnant to
the scriptures, and that there is nothing in any one
of the thirty-nine articles which is erroneous.
It is by the authority of Parliament that these
canons, which have received the sanction of the
Crown, now bind the clergy. Parliament maintains
them in force, and hinders their revision; and, there-
fore, it is the Union which represses in the ministers
of the Establishment all free inquiry, and holds them
down to maintain age after age, with hopeless inca-
pacity of progress, the errors of those great men who
broke through the shackles of Romanism only to rivet
on the churches the shackles of the State.
To complaints against the errors in the prayer-
book, sanctioned and perpetuated by the Union, it
may be replied, that there is a much larger amount of
truth sanctioned and perpetuated by it ; that the
liturgy is excellent, that the thirty-nine articles are
generally sound, and that the church continues evan-
1 See Canon 36, Act of Uniformity, and Canons 4 and 5.
422 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
gelical through its creeds and formularies, whatever
changes of doctrine may invade society. But it
seems to me puerile to exult in orthodox creeds
which are disregarded by the living teachers. If our
authorised books are sound, and our pastors and con-
gregations are unsound, the churches are unsound.
The use of a sound creed is to maintain soundness in
the teachers ; and if the teachers are unsound in
contempt of it, it becomes a dead letter. The articles
are generally scriptural; but the doctrine of many
Anglican pulpits may be judged of by the following
extracts from Anglo- Catholic writers, who number, it
is to be feared, some thousands of their adherents
among the clergy :
1 . "It cannot be too often repeated, that if Protestantism be
Christianity, Catholicism is Anti-Christianism, and of course vice
versa. There never was, and there never will be, charity in
softening down real distinctions ; open hostilities are ever a
shorter road to eventual peace than hollow and suspicious
alliances." British Critic, July 1843, p. 64.
2. PKOTESTANTISM AND ROMANISM. " It ought not to be for
nothing, no, nor for any thing short of some very vital truth . . .
that persons of name and influence should venture on the part of
ecclesiastical agitators ... an object thus momentous we believe
to be the unprotestantising of the national church." Ibid.
July 1841, p. 44.
" As we go on, we must recede more and more from the
principles, if any such there be, of the English Reformation."
Ibid. p. 45.
" I utterly reject and anathematise the principle of Pro-
testantism as a heresy, with all its forms, sects, or denomina-
tions." Rev. W. Palmer, Letter to Mr. Golightly, p. 9.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 423
" Protestantism in its essence and in all its bearings is
characteristically the religion of corrupt human nature."
British Critic, July 1841, p. 27.
" The Protestant tone of doctrine and thought is essentially
anti-Christian." Ibid. p. 29.
" Antichrist, we know, is prophetically described as the Man
of Sin, who opposeth and exalteth himself above . . . God. This,
to be plain, is just our own notion, as we have never shrunk from
avowing, of Protestantism." Ibid. July 1843, p. 65.
" We trust, of course, that active and visible union with the
see of Rome is not of the essence of a church ; at the same time,
we are deeply conscious that in lacking it, far from asserting a
right, we forego a great privilege.. Rome has imperishable
claims upon our gratitude, and, were it so ordered, upon our
deference . . . For her sins, and for our own, we are estranged
from her in presence, not in heart : may we never be provoked to
forget her, or cease to love her ! " Ibid. July 1841, p. 3.
3. ON THE SCRIPTUEES. " The true creed is the Catholic
interpretation of scripture, or scripturally proved tradition . . .
Scripture and tradition taken together are the joint rule of
faith." Tract 78, p. 2.
"As to the nondescript system of religion now in fashion,
that nothing is to be believed but what is clearly in scripture . . .
suffice that it has all the extravagance of latitudinarianism with-
out its internal consistency . . . Both, however, are mere theories
in theology, and ought to be discarded by serious men." Tract
85, p. 25.
" The structure of scripture is such . . . that either we must
hold that the gospel doctrine or message is not contained in
scripture, or, as the alternative, we must hold that it is but
indirectly and covertly recorded there, under the surface."
Ibid. p. 27.
" So, then, we do not make scripture the rule of our faith,
but that other things in their kind are rules also ; in such sort
that it is not safe, without respect had to them, to judge things
by the scripture alone." FIELD, in Tract 90, p. 11.
" In the sense in which it is commonly understood at this
424 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
day, scripture, it is plain, is not, on Anglican principles, the rule
of faith." FIELD, in Tract 90, p. 11.
" The writers of the ' Tracts for the Times ' took the true
ground of an appeal to the voice of the church in all ages. It was
not to supersede the use of the scriptures ; it was not even to
establish tradition as the rule of faith separate from the written
word . . . that they had recourse to antiquity, but it was to settle
the sense of the scriptures." Plain Words, 2d edit. p. 17.
4. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. " When faith is called the sole
instrument, this means the sole internal instrument, not the sole
instrument of any kind. There is nothing inconsistent, then, in
faith being the sole instrument of justification, and yet baptism
also the sole instrument ; nor does the sole instrumentality of
faith interfere with the doctrine of works being a mean also . . .
An assent to the doctrine that faith alone justifies, does not at
all preclude the doctrine of works justifying also." Tract 90,
p. 12.
" Works done with divine aid, and in faith before justifica-
tion, do dispose men to receive the grace of justification." Ibid.
p. 16.
" The bishop then would say, that justified Christians are
accounted righteous, in consideration of a righteousness not their
own ; Mr. Newman, that they are accounted righteous inasmuch
as they have been made so through Christ's righteousness
inwrought into them." British Critic, July 1843, p. 74.
" Evangelicals . . . cleave to the soul-destroying heresy of
Luther on the subject of justification." Ibid. p. 33.
" The very first aggression of those who labour to revive some
degree at least of vital Christianity . . . must be upon that strange
congeries of notions and practices of which the Lutheran doctrine
of justification is the origin and representative. Whether any
heresy has ever infested the church so hateful and unchristian as
this doctrine, it is perhaps not necessary to determine : none cer-
tainly has ever prevailed so subtle and extensively poisonous."
Ibid. Oct. 1842, p. 390.
5. THE SACBAMENTS. "This may even be set down as the
essence of sectarian doctrine ... to consider faith and not the
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 425
sacraments as the instrument of justification." Tracts, vol. ii.
p. 6. Preface.
" The sacraments, not preaching, are the sources of divine
grace." Tracts, vol. i. p. 4. Preface.
" This, then, is the characteristic mark of these two [sacra-
ments, baptism and the Lord's supper], separating them from all
other whatever ; and this is nothing but saying in other words,
that they are the only justifying rites or instruments of com-
municating the atonement." Tract 90, p. 46.
" The two ' sacraments of the Gospel ' are those which
directly communicate Christ to the soul." British Critic, July
1843, p. 51.
6. BAPTISM. " The doctrine of regeneration in baptism, the
very spirit and essence of the whole teaching of the church."
Plain Words, p. 21.
" However frankly we may admit, and however gladly we may
contemplate, that wonder of divine grace, whereby the man who
has long wandered from his baptismal standing is brought back
to it, we must never permit ourselves to view such cases as
according to the general rule. In their way they are anomalies,
wonderfully illustrative, indeed, of the long-suffering of God, but
not the unthwarted growth of his own plan of salvation, which,
in the first instance, contemplates baptism as the beginning, and
then the Christian character steadily growing out of that begin-
ning." Christian Remembrancer, May 1843, p. 670.
" Baptism . . . confers on a child all things, and the true way
of addressing such a child is not to speak to him of any new birth
yet to be waited for ; but to tell him to go forth against evil, fresh
from the water, and strong in the blessings, of his baptism."
Ibid. June 1843, p. 816.
" Surely the church has not encouraged the modern habit of
dating conversion, of taking cognisance of any marked revolu-
tionary epoch in a man's life, besides his baptism?
" Justification, in Anglican theology, is ruled to be the first
step in the Christian life. In the thirteenth article, ' works done
before justification ' are explained to be equivalent to ' works
done before the grace of Christ and inspiration of his Spirit,'
426 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
which, at the latest, takes place at baptism." Christian Eemem-
brancer, October 1841, p. 273.
7. THE LORD'S SUPPER. "As material bodies approach by
moving from place to place, so the approach and presence of a
spiritual body may be in some other way ; . . . the body and blood
of Christ may be really literally present in the holy eucharist,
yet, not having become present by local passage, may still literally
and really be at God's right hand . . . The true determination of
all such questions may be this, that Christ's body and blood are
locally at God's right hand, yet really present here present
here, but not here in place." Tract 90, p. 56.
" This is what the Catholic church seems to hold concerning
our Lord's presence in the sacrament, that he then personally
and bodily is present with us in the way an object is which we
call present." Ibid. p. 56.
" Receiving him [Christ] into this very body, they who are
his receive life." Dr. Pusey's Sermon, p. 9.
" His flesh and blood in the sacrament shall give life, . . .
because they are the very flesh and blood which were given and
shed for the life of the world, and are given to those for whom
they had been given." Ibid. p. 20.
" If Balaam's ass instructed Balaam, what is there fairly to
startle us in the church's doctrine, that the water of baptism
cleanses from sin ; that eating the consecrated bread is eating
his body ; or that oil may be blessed for spiritual purposes ? "
Tract 85, p. 90.
8. THE PRIESTHOOD. " The holy feast on our Saviour's sacri-
fice . . . was intended by him to be constantly conveyed through the
hands of commissioned persons. Except, therefore, we can show
such a warrant, we cannot be sure that our hands convey the
sacrifice ; we cannot be sure that souls worthily prepared, receiving
the bread which we break and the cup of blessing which we
bless, are partakers of the body and blood of Christ." Tract 4,
p. 2.
" The sacerdotal office in the church is the foundation of all
the rest ... If the church have a sacerdotal office, she must
necessarily have functionaries by whom to administer it. . . The
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 427
priest is to be considered by his flock as standing to them in so
many respects in the place of God . . . the type and representative
to them of the invisible. . . . Their primary office is to be the
Church's functionaries in dispensing to the people her varied
blessings, . . . and above all, in offering up that holy service
whereby the fruits of our Lord's atonement are daily impetrated
and diffused . . . throughout the church . . . The priesthood may
be called the organs of the Spirit." British Critic, July 1843,
pp. 50, 53, 54, 58.
" A person not commissioned from the bishop may use the
words of baptism, and sprinkle or bathe with the water on earth,
but there is no promise from Christ that such a man shall admit
souls to the kingdom of heaven. A person not commissioned . . .
may pretend to give the Lord's supper, but . . . there is no war-
rant from Christ to lead communicants to suppose that . . . they
will be partakers in the Saviour's heavenly body and blood."
Tract 35, p. 3.
9. APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. " I fear we have neglected the
real ground on which our authority is built our apostolical
descent . . . The Lord Jesus Christ gave his Spirit to his apo-
stles ; they in turn laid their hands on those who should succeed
them, and these again on others ; and so the sacred gift has been
handed down to our present bishops, who have appointed us as
their assistants . . . We must necessarily consider none to be really
ordained who have not thus been ordained." Tract 1, pp. 2, 3.
" Why should we talk so much of an Establishment, and so
little of an apostolical succession ? Why should we not seriously
endeavour to impress our people with the plain truth, that by
separating themselves from our communion, they separate them-
selves . . . from the only church in this realm which has a right
to be quite sure that she has the Lord's body to give to his
people?" Tract 4, p. 5.
" Do you then unchurch all the Presbyterians, all the Christians
who have no bishops ? . . . We are not to shrink from our deli-
berate views of truth and duty because difficulties may be raised
about the case of such persons, any more than we should fear to
maintain the paramount necessity of Christian belief because
428 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
similar difficulties may be raised about virtuous heathens, Jews, or
Mahometans." Tract 4, p. 6.
"It is not merely because Episcopacy is a better or more
scriptural form than Presbyterianism . . . that Episcopalians are
right and Presbyterians are wrong ; but because the Presbyterian
ministers have assumed a power which was never intrusted to
them. They have presumed to exercise the powers of ordination,
and to perpetuate a succession of ministers, without having received
a commission to do so." Tract 7, p. 2.
"It is beautifully expressed in the acts of the synod of Beth-
lehem, which the Eastern Church transmitted to the nonjuring
bishops : ' Therefore we declare, that this hath ever been the
doctrine of the Eastern Church, that the episcopal dignity is so
necessary in the church, that without a bishop there cannot exist
any church, nor any Christian man ; no, not so much as in
name.'" British Critic, April 1842, p. 498.
" A person who denies the a.postolical succession of the
ministry, because it is not clearly taught in scripture, ought, I
conceive, if consistent, to deny the Godhead of the Holy Ghost,
which is nowhere literally stated in scripture." Tract 85, p. 4.
I believe the number of those who hold these
false doctrines to be still increasing. A still larger
number neglect or deny the doctrine of justification
by grace through faith, and of regeneration by the
Holy Spirit. Young men of both classes" very easily
obtain ordination, and when they are ordained the
Union opens to them all our parishes. Were An-
glican ministers dependent on the congregations for
their maintenance, evangelical doctrine and personal
piety would be esteemed essential to the pastor of an
Anglican congregation as they now are to the pastors
of Independent, Baptist, and Methodist congregations.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 429
But under the system of State patronage, all tests of
spirituality become nearly impossible. What bishop
ever ventures to refuse ordination to a respectable and
well-educated young man because he is not evan-
gelical, and because he affords no proof of positive
piety? The law, it is true, leaves ordination to the
discretion of the bishop ; but were he to exercise that
discretion so as to exclude all men from the ministry
who do not afford evidence of personal piety, he would
soon hear of it in Parliament. In fact, therefore, few
bishops investigate too closely. Now and then a can-
didate is put to the literary torture, when suspected of
Calvinism, or rejecting baptismal regeneration ; but,
for the most part, a "judgment of charity" covers all.
This "judgment of charity" is of most extensive appli-
cation in the Anglican ministry. No bishop or pres-
byter hires his servant, buys or sells, seeks a school
for his child, or gives his vote at an election, by the
"judgment of charity." In those things they act as
men of sense and business, investigate, obtain testi-
mony, judge by facts, and avoid by all possible pre-
cautions injurious mistakes. But in their ministerial
functions ah 1 is reversed ; there is no investigation of
facts, no conclusions gathered from experience, no pre-
cautions against error. A "judgment of charity"
pronounces all the children of the parish regenerate,
though successive generations, ever since the Refor-
mation, equally pronounced regenerate, have proved
themselves ungodly. The "judgment of charity"
430 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
admits to the Lord's table all who choose to come,
although they love the ballet of the opera and the
exhibition of the polka no less than the memorials of
the death of Christ. The "judgment of charity"
makes the minister thank God for the death of every
profligate of his parish whom he buries. The "judg-
ment of charity" makes facile incumbents give their
ready testimonials to the worth and piety of any
squire's son in their neighbourhood who knows more
of fishing, shooting, and hunting, than he does of the
bible; and at length the same "judgment of charity"
makes the bishop ordain him on the strength of those
testimonials. The result is, that multitudes of uncon-
verted men force their way into the ministry, over
each of whom a bishop says, " Receive the Holy Ghost
for the office and work of a priest in the church of
God, . . . whose sins thou dost forgive they are for-
given, and whose sins thou dost retain they are re-
tained." Thenceforth introduced into the apostolical
succession, they catch the exultation of the writer of
the first " Tract for the Times," and with him they
thus extol their new-born dignity : " We have been
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
gave his Spirit to his apostles ; they in turn laid their
hands on those who should succeed them ; these again
on others ; and so the sacred gift has been handed
down to our present bishops, who have appointed us
as their assistants, and in some sense representatives.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 431
. . . Through the bishop who ordained us, we received
the Holy Ghost, the power to bind and to loose, to
administer the sacraments and to preach." 1
Unsound and unconverted men being thus made
priests can easily force their way into livings. Some
few bishops, of vigorous mind and of impetuous
temper, enamoured of power and hostile to evan-
gelical truth, may now and then brave all the cost and
trouble of refusing institution to an evangelical. One
of our bishops has lately refused to institute an excel-
lent, sound, and experienced minister, because he
denies baptismal regeneration ; 2 but there is probably
no instance of such refusal on the ground of world-
liness and want of piety in the presentee. The hazards
to the bishop are too great. When a bishop refuses
to institute to a benefice he must assign cause of re-
fusal ; and if the cause alleged seem to the court insuf-
ficient (which the want of conversion and spirituality
would always seem), then he is condemned in the
costs, and the right of institution is transferred to the
archbishop of the province. Courts of law cannot
judge of the qualifications of the ministers of Christ ;
and if the presentee, however near he may be to Ro-
manism or Socinianism, will only sign the thirty -nine
articles, and subscribe to the prayer-book, and has
neither written nor preached any thing directly contra-
1 Tracts for the Times, No. 1.
2 See " Examination before Admission to a Benefice by the Bishop of
Exeter." By G. C. Gorham. Hatchard and Son. 1848.
432 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
dieting the doctrines of the church, the court would
give judgment against the bishop. Bishops, therefore,
never put themselves into this position, and Anglo-
Catholic priests by thousands occupy the pulpits of
the land. But Anglo-Catholic priests are not the
worst pastors of our churches ; they may be earnest
and devout men, though holding serious errors : but
by extensive inquiries in many counties, I am con-
vinced that in thousands more of our parishes such a
meagre theology prevails as suits men of the world.
Agriculturists, sportsmen, men of literature, lovers of
fashionable amusements, upright and estimable but
worldly men by thousands, are pastors to the people :
in whose ministry the doctrines of justification by grace
through faith without the deeds of the law, of regene-
ration by the Holy Spirit, of the necessity of pro-
gressive sanctification, and the duty of unreserved
obedience to the whole law of God, find no place.
To make this evil the more intolerable, the same sys-
tem which fills the parishes of England with men who
do not know how to preach the Gospel to their people,
excludes from those parishes all Anglican ministers
who would preach it. " Not two thousand out of
sixteen thousand pulpits in England advocate the
cause of the Church Missionary Society." : That
Society, patronised by archbishops and bishops, is
supported by nearly all the evangelical ministers of
the Establishment, and yet has access to only two
1 Church Missionary Society Jubilee, June 1848, p. 8.
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 433
thousand pulpits. Can we venture to hope that
there are then more than three thousand evangelical
ministers in the Establishment ? if so, then, as there
are 13,154 churches and chapels, 12,923 of the
working clergy, and 10,533 benefices, there must be
nearly 7533 benefices and 10,154 pulpits in which
the Gospel is not faithfully preached, and about 9923
Anglican ministers who are unevangelical.
Three thousand faithful men, however, if they
were unfettered, could make the Gospel known in
every parish, but they are forbidden. Christ has said,
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature" 1 and Paul felt himself to be a debtor
to preach as far as his strength allowed to all ;~ but
the State says to all Anglican evangelists, " You must
enter no parish without the permission of the incum-
bent." We read in the fifth chapter of the Acts that
when the apostles were beaten by their rulers, and
commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus,
" Daily in every house they ceased not to teach and to
preach Jesus Christ." 3 But by the seventy-first canon
it is enacted, " No minister shall preach in any private
house .... upon pain of suspension for the first
offence, and excommunication for the second." When
Peter, aided by Barnabas, was sanctioning in the
church of Antioch dangerous error, we find that Paul
withstood him to the face. 4 But the fifty-third canon
1 Mark, xvi. 15. 2 Romans, i. 14.
Acts, v. 42. Gal. ii. 11.
F F
434 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
enacts that, " If any preacher shall in the pulpit par-
ticularly, or namely of purpose impugn or confute any
doctrine delivered by any other teacher in the same
church, or in any church near adjoining, before he
hath acquainted the bishop," (whose own doctrines
may be unevangelical,) " the churchwarden shall ....
not suffer the said preacher any more to occupy that
place which he hath once abused," (by exposing false
doctrine ;) " except he faithfully promise to forbear all
such matter of contention in the church," &c. Christ
has commanded the Gospel to be preached to every
creature; but while there are, perhaps, 7500 parishes
in England in which the Gospel is not faithfully
preached, no evangelical minister may invade their
ignorance and spiritual death. For, " There is no
general principle of ecclesiastical law more firmly
established than this, that it is not competent to
any clergyman to officiate in any church or chapel
within the limits of a parish without the consent of the
incumbent ;"* and from private houses we have already
seen that they are excluded. Evangelical ministers
are thus shut out of the parishes of ungodly ministers.
An able and excellent man may be tempted to indo-
lence as the pastor of one of the 1907 parishes, whose
population is under 100; or of the 6681 parishes,
whose population is under 300 ; and around him may
be populous districts, in which his sermons might bring
hundreds to Christ. Multitudes within his reach mav
V
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 306;
DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 435
never hear the Gospel ; and their ministers may be un-
converted men, farmers, sportsmen, and men of plea-
sure, but without their leave he must not enter one of
their parishes, though he knows that the people are
perishing in irreligion, and willing to hear. If among
them some few crowd his small " church of wood and
stone," and, being converted by his ministry, wish to
join the living church, their own parish incumbents
and neighbours being all careless about religion, the
twenty-eighth canon forbids it in the following terms :
" The churchwardens . . . shall mark . . . whether
any strangers come often and commonly from other
parishes to their church, and shall show their minister
of them, lest, perhaps, they shall be admitted to the
Lord's table amongst others ; which they shall forbid,
and remit such home to their own parish churches
and ministers, there to receive the communion with
the rest of their neighbours." And the fifty-seventh
canon adds the following directions : "If any parson,
vicar, or curate, shall either receive to the communion
any such persons, which are not of his church and
parish, or shall baptise any of their children, let him
be suspended." By one canon the faithful ministers
of the Gospel are forbidden to enter the parishes
of ungodly ministers to preach to their neglected
parishioners; by another they are required to expel
any of them who may happen to be awakened from
their own churches; and by another they must
not even warn their people of the false doctrines
436 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
which are ruining men's souls in all the surrounding
pulpits.
Thousands of parishes are thus surrendered by the
State to Anglo- Catholic or worldly men, to whom the
Union secures a monopoly of instruction. A spiritual
darkness broods over the land, beneath which piety
dies, and no stirring evangelists may dispel it. This
is bad enough, but it seems to nie still worse that the
effect of the Union has been to stupify men's con-
sciences, while it ties their hands. Christ's command
to preach the Gospel to every creature is superseded
by canons which forbid it to be preached ; and evan-
gelical ministers, and myriads of pious persons, con-
tentedly see the commandments of Christ made of
none effect by church traditions (see Matt. xv. 1-9),
and when they know that there are thousands to whom
the Gospel is not preached, do nothing to save them ;
nay, uphold, with a strange enthusiasm, the " venera-
ble Establishment," whose law of patronage and whose
merciless canons perpetuate their fatal ignorance.
If this continues, and the country becomes more
irreligious, if myriads of men, women, and children,
who might have been saved by the knowledge of
Christ, perish in their ignorance because Christian
men are so timid and slothful that they will not break
down this parochial monopoly, and will not claim and
win the right of Christian ministers to preach Christ
to all that know him not, then the ruin of these mul-
titudes in the untaught alleys of each city, and the
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 437
ill-taught villages of each county, must lie at their
door. Ministers and churches are bound to preach
Christ to every creature, and woe is unto us if we
preach him not !
SECTION V. Influence of the Union upon the
Discipline of the Anglican Churches.
By church discipline is meant the system of regu-
lations for the admission, correction, and exclusion of
members and of officers in churches ; its objects are
to maintain purity of doctrine in each church, and to
promote the piety of its members. It is to prevent
unfit persons from being admitted into fellowship
with the church, to correct offending members, and
to exclude those whose conduct is unworthy of their
profession ; to secure the selection of a faithful pastor,
and to remove a pastor who is unsound, immoral,
ungodly, or incapable. It is thus intended to render
each church, what several of the primitive churches
were, a society of " saints and faithful brethren." 1 It
is to help each church to fulfil in its measure the pre-
diction of Isaiah respecting the universal church, con-
tained in these words : " Arise, shine ; for thy light is
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thec ;
1 Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; Eph. i. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 2 ; 1 Thess. i. ;
2 Thcss. i. 3, &c. &c.
438 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
for, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise
upon thee, and Ms glory shall be seen upon thee." 1 It
is to render each church, in a degree, what the Lord
Jesus Christ will eventually make his universal
church, " a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing, but holy and without blemish."* It
is to make and keep the members of the church
" blameless and harmless, the sons of God without
reproach," r'exvu Qzov ap&fMffn*
In order to examine how far the Union provides
for these objects in the discipline of the Establish-
ment, let us consider, first, the constitution of its
church courts, and secondly, its administration of
discipline.
I. ON CHURCH COURTS.
I do not find in the New Testament any other
church court than the church itself under the presi-
dency of its elders. Acts, vi. 1-6 ; xv. 6, 21, 22,
23, 25, 28; Heb. xiii. 7, 17; 1 Pet. v. 1, 2.
Church-meetings were frequent. Acts, vi. 2 ;
xi. 22 ; xiv. 27 ; xv. 4, 22 ; xviii. 22 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19 ;
Col. iv. 1G, &c.
The church forsook or excommunicated unsound
eachers. Matt. vii. 15; Gal. v. 12.
1 Isa. lx. 1, 2. 4 Eph. v. 27. 3 Phil. ii. 15.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 439
Individual members used their gifts for the wel-
fare of the church. 1 Cor. xiv. 12 ; 1 Pet. iv. 10.
Some acted as pastors who were not preachers.
1 Tim. v. 17.
Members of churches comforted each other. 1
Thess. iv. 18.
They edified each other. 1 Thess. v. 11.
They exhorted and admonished each other. Col.
iii. 1C; Heb. iii. 13 ; x. 25.
They confessed to each other. James, v. 16.
They warned the unruly, comforted the feeble-
minded, and supported the weak. 1 Thess. v. 14.
They settled quarrels among themselves. Matt.
xviii. 17 ; 1 Cor. vi. 3, 4.
They restored backsliders. Gal. vi. 1 ; 2 Cor.
ii. 6, 7.
They excommunicated offenders. Matt, xviii. 17 ;
Rom. xvi. 17; 1 Cor. v. 13 ; 2 Cor. ii. 6 ; 2 Cor.
vi. 14-18.
And each church was responsible for all the false
doctrine or immoral conduct which was found within
it. Rev. ii. 2, 5, 14-16, 20, with ii. 11, 17, 29.
But by the Union the church is set aside. It
has nothing to do with the choice of its officers, nor
their dismissal, nor with the admission or exclusion
of members, nor with the infliction of church-cen-
sures; its functions having been entirely superseded
by a system of ecclesiastical courts, established for all
the Anglican Churches by authority of the Crown.
440 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Criminally has the State, without authority from
Christ, usurped the functions of the churches ; and,
with equal disregard to the will of Christ, declared
by apostolic precepts and precedents, have the Angli-
can Churches abandoned their proper duty of self-
administration. Instead of that loving watchfulness
over one another, and that loyal zeal for the honour
of the Redeemer, by which the purity of the first
churches was secured, all cases of discipline are now
carried into courts which have no authority from
Christ, for which there is no precedent in the New
Testament, and which common sense rejects.
The highest court in the Establishment is the
Convocation, which is its legislature; while the ad-
ministration of its laws is committed to the bishops,
to 300 peculiars, to diocesan consistorial courts, to
the court of Arches, to the courts of common law,
and to the privy council. Let us examine the consti-
tution and operation of these courts.
1. The Convocation. In the province of Canter-
bury the Convocation consists of two houses, the
upper house of bishops, the lower of the inferior
clergy and their representatives. Besides those who
sit in their own right, there are proctors elected to
represent the cathedral chapters and the diocesan
clergy. Each diocese sends up two representatives ;
but as none but incumbents have any right to vote
in their election, the curates, who amount to one-third
of the working clergy, are unrepresented, together
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 441
with all the churches themselves. Thus the synod
comprehends 22 deans, 53 archdeacons, 24 proctors
of chapters, and 44 proctors of the parochial clergy.
Of the 143 members of whom the court is composed,
75 are dignitaries who sit in their own right, and 24
represent the cathedral clergy. There are, therefore,
99 members who are connected with the cathedrals
and the higher offices of the Establishment, and 44
represent the parochial clergy. The Anglican Churches
and their curates are totally unrepresented. No An-
glican curate, and no layman, can sit there. The
clergy are represented by their proctors, and these
form only one-third of the assembly, while the
other two-thirds are composed of proctors who repre-
sent the cathedral chapters, and of dignitaries who
are not representatives at all. This court is a
mockery of representation. No part of it represents
the churches, and that part of it which represents the
clergy is so small, that in any question between the
dignitaries and the working clergy the dignitaries
must always have an overwhelming majority. Yet
the 139th canon has enacted, "Whosoever shall
hereafter affirm, that the sacred synod of this nation,
in the name of Christ and by the king's authority
assembled, is not the true Church of England by
representation, let him be excommunicated;" and if
ever the Church of England is to act as a corporate
body, it must act through this mockery of a legislature.
Were the 13,000 Anglican Churches divided into
442 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
groups of fifty, and each group were to send two de-
puties, a pastor and a lay member, this body of 520
deputies would be a real representation of the Esta-
blishment ; but this dwarfish synod, being two-thirds
head and one-third body, with only forty -four elected
representatives of the clergy, could effect no reform,
and seems only fitted, even if in active operation, to
perpetuate those abuses in the Establishment among
which it itself occupies a principal place.
But even this feeble thing is so feared by the
State, that it is kept, like a tiger, in a cage, where it
has no space in which to act ; and has received so
many knocks that its very growl has died.
Before they can meet in convocation, the clergy
must have leave to do so under the broad seal, as a
convocation cannot assemble without consent of the
king. 1
Whatever evils prevail in the Establishment re-
quiring, like the semi-papal mania of late years, the
most earnest deliberation and solemn decisions of the
churches, they must remain unexamined, unless the
CroAvn gives, not the churches, but the dignitaries
and the lawyers, leave to examine them. The churches
can never examine them ; the dignitaries must not
without leave of the Crown.
When the Convocation has obtained leave to sit,
it cannot make any canon without the assent of the
Crown.
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 24.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 443
When any canon is made, it cannot be executed
without the assent of the Crown ; so that if the An-
glican Churches think any law, as, for instance, a con-
gregational veto upon the appointment of a pastor, to
be agreeable to the will of Christ, and necessary for
their welfare, the sovereign may forbid it, and the
churches must prefer the will of the sovereign to the
will of Christ,
Nor are these the only restrictions upon this caged
legislature. For even the consent of the Crown does
not enable it to make any canons against the queen's
prerogative, against common law, against any statute,
and against any custom of the realm ; so that if the
prerogative, the common law, the statute law, or the
customs of the realm, be in any respects opposed to
the authority of Christ and to the will of God, the
Anglican Churches must uphold the authority of the
State, and must disregard the authority of Christ, as
the condition upon which they are established.
If, further, the courts of common law determine
that a canon is not against the prerogative, nor against
common law, nor against statute law, nor against
custom, and it is sanctioned by the queen, still it
cannot bind the laity till it is sanctioned by Parlia-
ment, By canon 139, the Convocation is the Church
of England, and therefore no law passed by the
Church of England can bind the Church till the State
consent. 1 If the queen consent, it may then bind the
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 27.
444 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
pastors ; but unless a majority of the representatives
of London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Edin-
burgh, Dublin, Oldham, Aberdeen, Kilkenny, and
Cork, &c. &c., consent, it cannot be adopted by the
churches. If Roman Catholics, and men of no reli-
gion in Parliament, can obtain a majority to say
"No" to any law of the Anglican Churches, then,
however scriptural and however necessary the law
may be for the promotion of religion in the land, it
cannot bind the members of the churches. The
Establishment rests on this condition.
Andjyet, unprincipled as it appears in churches
to allow any strangers thus to forbid their self-govern-
ment, which is to forbid their unlimited obedience to
Christ, an examination of the canons may make us
rejoice that the State has so pinioned the Convocation.
The existing canons bind the clergy, but do not bind
the laity. The State has placed the incumbents and
the curates under the control of the dignitaries' canons,
but it has protected all other members of the Esta-
blishment from this unwholesome domination. We
live, therefore, under a curious system, in which laws
thought too bad to bind the flocks are thought good
enough to bind their pastors ; the churches are eman-
cipated, but their ministers are enthralled.
2. Diocesan and other Ecclesiastical Courts. There
are various ecclesiastical courts charged with the ad-
ministration of the laws relating to the Establishment. 1
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 30.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 445
Three hundred of these, of various descriptions, are
termed peculiars. Each diocese has also its consis-
torial court, exercising general jurisdiction, over which
the bishop presides. 1 A new and formidable power
has been given to the bishops by the church discipline
act, 3 and 4 Viet. cap. 86, the object of which, says
a French paper, is to place the inferior clergy more
completely under the rod of the bishops. 2 By that
act the bishop may issue a commission to five persons
to inquire against any offence against ecclesiastical
law alleged to have been committed by any minister ;
for instance, that he denies baptismal regeneration, or
that he owns dissenting ministers to be lawful mi-
nisters of Christ. These commissioners are to report
to the bishop whether there is ground for instituting
proceedings against the party accused. Upon their
report the bishop may summon him before him ; and
if the truth of the charges be denied, the bishop, with
three assessors to be nominated by him, shall hear the
cause, and pronounce sentence,, which sentence shall
be good in law. According to this un-English statute,
the bishop may nominate five of his creatures to in-
vestigate the case in secret ; upon their report he may
nominate three others of his creatures to sit together
with him secretly in judgment upon the accused, and
upon their exparte judgment may suspend, or other-
wise punish, the clerical victim. The bishop is accuser,
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 30.
9 " Toujours mieux sous la ferrule des evques."
446 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
jury, and judge; all persons concerned in the trial
may be his creatures, the accused has no right of
challenging jurors, the public are excluded from the
investigation, and the bishop's sentence has the force
of law. Ministers who are aggrieved may appeal to
the judicial committee of the privy council, but the
appeal is expensive and hazardous. 5230 curates
have average stipends of 8U. ; 5861 incumbents have
under 300/. per annum, and except in very grave
cases, a victory over the bishop in the court of appeal
would be a worse evil than defeat in his own court.
Defeat, if patiently endured, might satisfy his desire
of vengeance, but victory in the court of appeal would
rouse it into dangerous intensity. And, therefore, in
the ten thousand annoyances to which, after a few
years of slumber, this statute is likely to expose the
most exemplary clergymen, they will find it better to
submit than to demand justice.
The highest court of discipline in the province of
Canterbury is the court of Arches, which exercises
appellate jurisdiction over each of the diocesan courts
and over most of the peculiars. 1 It may decide all
matters of spiritual discipline ; and it may suspend
or deprive clergymen without the presence of the
bishop or archbishop. 2 The judge is a doctor of civil
law, and is termed dean of the court.
3. Privy Council. From the court of Arches
there formerly lay an appeal to the court of Delegates,
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 30. * Ibid. pp. 30, 146.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 447
which was composed of commissioners named by the
king ; but by 2 and 3 Will. IV. cap. 92, and 3 and
4 Will. IV. cap. 41, the appeal was transferred to a
judicial committee of the privy council. 1 The com-
mittee consists of the president of the council, the
lord chancellor, the lord keeper, the chief justice of
the Queen's Bench, the master of the rolls, the vice-
chancellor, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas,
the chief baron, the judge of the prerogative court of
Canterbury, and all members of the privy council who
have filled any of the above offices. 2
By means of all these courts offending clergymen
are screened from the punishment of their offences.
If, for instance, a clergyman of Cumberland or of
Cornwall becomes a drunkard, instead of being judged
by the church to which he ministers, according to
the method of the New Testament, he would first
be brought before the consistorial court, then before
the court of Arches, and then before the judicial
committee of the privy council. And if these noble
and learned persons do not think him sufficiently
drunken to deserve deprivation or suspension, then
his flock must continue to attend him or have no
Anglican pastor at all. The law of Christ says to
the church, " Put away from among yourselves that
icicked person" whether minister, peasant, or peer ;
but the Union has ruled it, that they must not put
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 64. * IbicU
448 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
him away, unless the consistorial court, the court of
Arches, and the judicial committee of the privy coun-
cil, say that they may. Their obedience to the law
of Christ depends upon the decision of a number of
distinguished men, who may be neither communicants
nor believers.
The reason why the committee of council judges
in the last resort of all ecclesiastical matters is, that,
according to the doctrine of the Union, the jurisdiction
exercised by the ecclesiastical court is derived from
the Crown of England. The 37 Hen. VIII. cap. 17,
runs thus : " Archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, and
other ecclesiastical persons, have no manner of juris-
diction ecclesiastical but by and from your royal
majesty. . . . Forasmuch as your majesty is the only
and undoubted supreme head of the Church of Eng-
land, to whom, by holy scripture, all authority and
power is wholly given to hear and determine all
manner of causes ecclesiastical, and to correct all
vice and sin, whatsoever." 1
Yet when it is said that an appeal lies from the
court of Arches to the privy council, we must notice
that this is only true of matters within the jurisdiction
of the inferior court. If any case which is brought
before the court of Arches is beyond its jurisdiction,
or is thought to be so, the case may be transferred
by appeal to the courts of common law. "As the
laws and statutes of the realm have prescribed to the
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 43.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 449
ecclesiastical courts their bounds, so the courts of
common law have the superintendency over them to
keep them within the limits of their jurisdiction, and
to determine whether they have exceeded their limits
or no."
" The judges of the courts of common law have
the exposition of those statutes."
Both the superintendence of the courts of common
law and the appeal to the privy council illustrate the
statement of Dr. Burn : " The jurisdiction exercised
in the ecclesiastical court is derived from the Crown
of England ; and the last devolution is to the king
by way of appeal." 2 When and where did Christ
give this authority to the Crown ? and, if nowhere,
what right have the churches to abandon their sacred
trust?
II. ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE UNDER THE
UNION.
There is a remarkable contrast between the sim-
plicity of the scriptural system and the complexity
of the Anglican. According to scripture the church
itself expels its offending members : and this is better
than the Anglican system. The members of the church
best know the transactions which take place among
themselves. It is better that a matter should be
settled on the spot among those who were witnesses
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 51. 2 Ibid.
G G
450 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
of it, than that it should be transferred to a distance
for adjudication. A church composed of spiritual men
can understand spiritual questions far better than the
lawyers who practise in the court of Arches or those
who compose the committee of council. And since
the church is composed of brethren among whom the
pastor ought to be as a brother, it is a great evil that
they should receive back to them, by sentence of a
court of law, a pastor who has lost their confidence.
To execute the pastoral office usefully, a minister
ought to be esteemed and loved by the church to
which he ministers. As his office exists solely for
their welfare, and as without their esteem he cannot
do them good, upon losing that esteem he ought to
retire. The court of Arches has, therefore, inflicted
a mischief and a wrong upon any church when it
fastens upon them a minister who has lost their
esteem because he has not been legally proved to
be guilty of an offence which may occasion his
degradation. This whole cumbrous machinery, the
consistorial court, the court of Arches, the committee
of council, and the superintendence of the common
law courts, is all contrived to execute what the
church itself could execute much more cheaply and
effectually.
To illustrate this, let us examine the actual exer-
cise of discipline in the Establishment.
1. Settlement of Pastors. The first point which
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 451
claims attention is the mode in which, under the
Union, pastors are settled over the churches within
the Establishment.
Since the character of a pastor is of great import-
ance to a church, its members are bound by a regard
for their own spiritual welfare to secure a good one.
Since the qualifications necessary to become a minister
of Christ by his authority are laid down in scripture,
and no ordained persons without these minister by
his authority, each church must see that its minister
has these qualifications. 1 And since the first churches
chose their own ministers, with the sanction, and
probably by the advice, of the apostles, each church
is under a moral obligation to follow this precedent. 2
No church is at liberty to devolve this duty of trying
its pastor upon any one else. Any law or custom
notwithstanding, each of the 13,000 churches in the
Establishment is bound to see that its pastor is a true
pastor, having the qualifications required by the New
Testament ; and if this duty is assigned by a church
to a patron, to a diocesan, to a court of law, the
church is disregarding the authority of Christ. In
whatever manner the patrons or others may discharge
this duty for a church, its members have sinned in
putting their consciences into the keeping of others.
Christ did not appoint that the committee of council
1 2 Tim. ii. 2 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. 5 ; Matt. vii. 15-20 ; John, x. 4, 5 ;
Matt. xii. 30; Rom. xvi. 17 ; 1 Cor. v. 11-13; 2 John, 9, 11 ; Rev. ii. 2;
2 Cor. ii. 13-15 ; Gal. i. 7-9 ; v. 12.
Acts, i. 15-26 ; vi. 1-6 ; ziv. 23.
452 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION LPON THINGS.
should determine whether their pastor is faithful, but
that they should determine it, and they are responsible
for their own duty. Still, since the Anglican Churches
have devolved this duty on the State, let us see how
the State discharges it.
Settlement of Assistant Paslors. The pastors of
the Establishment are either assistant pastors or sole
pastors, either curates or incumbents. Let us first
examine the discipline of the Establishment respecting
the curates. Church discipline is meant to afford
facilities for the introduction of pious men into the
ministry, and to exclude the unworthy ; but the
discipline of the Establishment is unfavourable to
both these ends.
First, let us consider the case of a devoted man
who wishes to become the pastor of a church within
the Establishment. Various great difficulties are placed
in his way by the Union. 1. He must declare, ac-
cording to the thirty-sixth canon, that the Queen,
under God, is the only supreme governor of this realm
in all spiritual things and causes ; which is contrary
to scripture, because scripture allows no authority to
Caesar in spiritual things ; and which is contrary to
fact, because the Legislature, and not the Crown,
is the supreme legislative authority in this country.
2. By the Act of Uniformity he must declare his
assent and consent to the prayer-book with its various
errors ; and, by the thirty-sixth canon, must declare,
notwithstanding those errors, that it contains in it
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 453
nothing contrary to the word of God. 3. By the
same canon he must pronounce all the thirty-nine
articles, though these also are in several points erro-
neous, agreeable to the word of God. When he has
considered the statements to which he is obliged to
subscribe by the thirty-sixth canon and by the Act of
Uniformity, he has next to ask himself whether he
can place himself under the control of those objec-
tionable canons, by which he will be legally bound
the moment that he shall become an Anglican
minister.
If he is not withheld by these considerations from
seeking to become a pastor within the Establishment,
his next task is to secure the consent of the bishop.
If he is seeking ordination, the bishop has nearly
absolute power to reject him without assigning any
definite reason. The bishop may choose to think
him unfit because he believes in justification by grace
through faith, in regeneration by the Holy Ghost,
instead of maintaining regeneration and remission of
sins by baptism; or he may declare that he is too
old, because, like our blessed Lord, he is thirty years
of age before he has entered upon his ministry. If,
on the other hand, he is already ordained, the bishop
has absolute power to repel him from the charge of
any church within his diocese by simply refusing his
license.
It is hence too plain that the Union tends to
prevent many pious men from becoming pastors. On
454 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the other hand, the provision to exclude bad men
from the pastorate is far from adequate. The bishop,
it is true, is absolute, and can exclude whom he will
from the ministry by refusing to ordain, or any minister
from being assistant pastor by refusing his license.
But if the bishop excluded from ordination or from
curacies worldly young men of rich families and high
connections, he would subject himself to a disagree-
able publicity in Parliament and elsewhere. Bishops,
also, nominated by the ministers of the Crown, who
are apt to view the Establishment chiefly as an
engine of government, may themselves be, like their
patrons, worldly men, who would be disposed to
exclude converted men from the ministry as en-
thusiastic, and to admit the unconverted as more
rational. The majority of patrons also being worldly
men, and presenting worldly men to their livings,
these worldly incumbents would generally prefer
worldly curates. And when worldly bishops have
worldly curates presented to them for license or for
ordination, it is very unlikely that they should refuse
to them either one or the other.
To statements of this kind it is common to reply
by adducing the solemn subscriptions and professions
required from each candidate. But all experience
proves that a paper protection against abuses, with-
out a living reforming agency, is of no use. I do
not advance any thing doubtful when I say that
many unconverted men make all the required pro-
DISCIPLINE OP THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 455
fessions without seriously intending them. Every
one knows it to be the case. The required subscrip-
tions not unfrequently repel men of thoughtful minds
and tender consciences ; but who has ever heard of
the youthful expectant of a good living being fright-
ened by them in consideration of his habits of idle
gaiety? If it be further imagined, that if men will
make false professions the Establishment deserves no
blame, I answer, the Establishment is wholly to
blame ; because it depends upon paper defences and
dead creeds for the protection of its churches from
ungodly pastors, when it might have a powerful
living agency to protect them.
Why is not each candidate examined here, as in
Scotland, by a board of presbyters, independent of
the diocesan, whose approval might be indispensable
for ordination ? This would hinder the ordination
of some unworthy men. Why has not each church
a veto on the appointment of its pastor? The ex-
periment in Scotland completely succeeded. Never,
perhaps, was a church so rapidly improved as the
Church of Scotland under its veto law. Students,
patrons, and presbyters, were all benefited. Bad
men were sure of being rejected by the churches,
and would not expose themselves to the disgrace.
Good men were certain of advancement, and crowded
into the profession. And when the State interposed
to prevent the veto, so convinced were the evangelical
portion of the Church of Scotland of its necessity,
456 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
that rather than forego it they separated for ever
from the Establishment with all its emoluments and
honours. While these guards are despised by us, it
is idle to glory in paper checks, which every unscrupu-
lous aspirant after ecclesiastical wealth and dignity
disregards. Even those who make their boast of the
solemnity of ordination and the extent of the required
subscriptions, know well that both are useless when
they are most required, and that thoughtless liber-
tines may laugh at both when pressing on to rich
rectories which can afford them the means of luxurious
self-indulgence.
It may be said that something like the veto is
given to the Anglican Churches by the Union, because
when a candidate is to be ordained deacon or priest,
a notice, termed Si Quis, must be first published in
the parish where he is residing, in the following
terms : " Notice is hereby given, that J.B., now resi-
dent in this parish, intends to offer himself a candi-
date, &c. If any person knows any just cause or
impediment for which he ought not to be admitted
into holy orders, he is now to declare the same, or to
signify the same forthwith to the lord bishop of
;" and, at the time of ordination, the bishop
first addresses the people thus : "If there be any of
you knoweth any impediment or notable crime in
any of these persons, for the which he ought not to
be received into this holy ministry, let him come
forth in the name of God and show what the crime
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 457
or impediment is." And the rubric adds, " If any
great crime or impediment be objected, the bishop
shall surcease from ordering that person until such
time as the party accused shall be found clear of that
crime."
This sounds very well. But this popular liberty
is never used ; the fitness of notoriously careless men
is never challenged ; and the fact is too clearly ac-
counted for by the following reasons : 1. The im-
pediment alleged must be a legal one ; and, since
worldliness, carelessness, and the want of conversion,
are no legal impediments, no one can adduce these
things as reasons why any candidate should not be
ordained. 2. The charge must be capable of legal
proof; and as the establishment of it would consume
time and money, be invidious, and might fail of
success, few will expose themselves to these incon-
veniences. 3. The candidate for ordination is to be
ordained at a distance from the church to which he
is about to minister, which is the only church whose
immediate interest it is to prevent his ordination ;
and no members of that church are present to object.
4. The candidate for ordination is generally a per-
fect stranger to the church over which he is to be
co-pastor, and not one of its members may know
more of him than they would of a Chinese mandarin
or a baboo of Bengal. Hence, the address to
the people is a mere form; and not one of the
thousands of candidates for the ministry in England,
458 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
whatever his incapacity and whatever his levity, en-
counters even the whisper of an objection at his
ordination. The churches of the Establishment are
perfectly defenceless ; but it is their own doing.
They might disenthral themselves if they would.
Settlement of Sole Pastors. The difficulties
encountered in the endeavour to repel from the
ministry unordained persons who are unfitted for
their office, grow into an impossibility respecting
those who, having already been ordained, are to
become, through the nomination of patrons, the sole
and permanent pastors of churches. Patrons being
unrestricted in their choice among sixteen thousand
ministers of the Establishment, a patron may select
whom he will for any church with which he is
connected. Provided that his presentee has com-
mitted no ecclesiastical offence rendering him liable
to deprivation or suspension, the presentee can bid
defiance to the bishop and to the church. 1 To the
legal rights of the patron and the presentee the
bishop can oppose no resistance ; and if the latter
be utterly unfit for the pastoral office, and entirely
distasteful to the people, destitute of the chief qualifi-
cations required by Christ, but not destitute of those
required by law, the bishop must admit him to be the
pastor of a church which detests him ; although his
entrance among them will be the signal for the
desertion of the temple and for the decay of all
1 Burn, vol. i. pp. 156, 161, 162.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 459
religion in the place. Of all parties the church is the
most deeply interested in the settlement of its pastor,
and of all parties it is the least regarded. The law
considers nothing else than the rights of the patron
and presentee, and judges of the settlement of the
pastor just as it would judge of the settlement of an
account between two partners in business. The
church, therefore, having no veto, no right of effective
objection, no method of legal repulsion of an unfit
man, may see a pastor forced upon it, whose intellect
and whose character alike forbid both respect and
affection. If the Anglican Churches were severed
from the State, no man could become the minister of
any church without having first secured its approba-
tion : but now there are thousands of churches who
have received from patrons their pastors with merited
reluctance, or with degraded and stupid indifference.
And this system will go on while the Union lasts.
Bad pastors will continue to be forced upon the
people, and the Gospel will be excluded from many
parishes by the tyranny of the law and the degra-
dation of the churches.
2. Influence of the Union upon the ordinary exer-
cise of the Ministry. As no clergyman can officiate in
any parish without the bishop's license, which, with
respect to curates, the bishop may withhold and
revoke at his pleasure, the ministry of each of the
five thousand curates of the kingdom must be greatly
directed and restrained by the views of his diocesan.
460 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Should the diocesan frown upon extempore preaching
and prayer, upon village meetings, bible classes,
ministerial conferences, the support of evangelical
institutions, and friendly relations with dissenters,
the curate must forego these means of usefulness.
By his immense authority, his large patronage, and
his absolute power over a license essential to the
exercise of the Anglican ministry, the bishop can
mould and fashion the preaching and ministry of his
curates as he will. And when the bishop is a worldly
man who dislikes the Gospel, this influence must be
noxious in the extreme. The Union at this moment
greatly represses the preaching of the Gospel through-
out the kingdom. Although it is Christ's command to
his ministers to preach the Gospel to every creature ;
and in the first churches of Christ the apostles would
allow no restrictions upon their preaching, and even
private Christians went every where preaching the
word; any Anglican minister who should preach
Christ in any ignorant or vicious town or village
without the license of the bishop, would be punish-
able by law. Incumbents as well as curates are thus
hindered from preaching the Gospel. Multitudes of
pious men, who might preach Christ in thousands of
parishes, are confined to their own little congrega-
tions, leaving all the villages around them in ignorance,
because they have no license to preach in them. Even
the bishop's license would not set them free ; for no
Anglican minister may preach in another man's parish
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 461
without his consent ; and as ungodly incumbents never
consent that evangelical ministers should disturb them
by their doctrines of grace, the zealous ministers of the
Establishment are shut up to their own little cures.
Even in their own parishes all meetings for preaching
in private houses are condemned by canon 71. And,
as though these rules were not sufficiently repressive
of evangelical zeal in Anglican ministers, the 52
George III. cap. 155, prohibits all religious assem-
blies in private houses of more than twenty persons
besides the family unless the place be first duly certi-
fied to the bishop, the archdeacon, or the justices of
the peace ; and the provisions of this statute have
been held by Sir John Nicholl and others to be con-
fined to dissenters. 1 Thus the Union first secures
by patronage that a majority of parochial ministers
shall be worldly men, who do not know how to
guide their people to salvation ; and then, having
cursed these parishes with spiritual darkness, prohibits
the evangelical minority from doing any thing to
enlighten them.
The Lord Jesus Christ having claimed from all
believers to express their faith in him before the
world, without which confession their cowardice would
prove them to be no believers, required them to be
baptised, baptism being the appointed mode of pro-
fessing their faith. Repentance and faith are, there-
fore, the essential prerequisites to baptism : * and if
1 Burn, ii. p. 220.
2 Mark, xvi. 16 ; Acts, ii. 38 ; viii. 37 ; ix. 1-18 ; x. 44-47 ; xvi. 14, 15,
30-34.
462 INFLUENCE OP THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the infants of believers are to be baptised, as is gene-
rally believed, it must be on the supposition that God
accepts them as penitent believers, through the faith
and the prayer of their parents. But the practice of
the Establishment is to baptise all the children of the
several parishes without any inquiry into the faith of
the parents, or any rational prospect that they will
receive a religious education. By the sixty-eighth
canon, a minister who refuses to baptise any child
who is brought to him to the church for that purpose,
is liable to suspension for three months. Thus,
though parents and sponsors are alike ungodly, and
general experience proves that their children will grow
up ungodly too, the Anglican minister must baptise
them, and thank God that he has regenerated them
with his Holy Spirit. Through this church law the
conditions of baptism are generally violated, the ends
of it are frustrated, and the nature of it is forgotten.
The baptised millions of England having made no
profession of faith, for they were baptised without
their consent, baptised atheists, deists, and profligates,
dishonour the Christian name ; and the churches of
Christ, which ought to be composed of saints and
faithful brethren, as the churches of Rome and Corinth,
of Thessalonica, Philippi, and Colosse,were, are churches
of persons ignorant of the Gospel and unconcerned
about their salvation. 1 They ought to be separate
from the world \ but they are the world : converted
1 Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 2 ; 1 Thess. i. 1-10.
* John, xv. 19 ; Acts, v. 13, 14 ; 1 Cor. v. 13 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 463
persons and unconverted, believers and unbelievers,
are confounded in one undistinguishable mass ; and
evangelical ministers are agents in accomplishing the
fatal amalgamation.
Next conies the ceremony of confirmation. At
the baptism of an infant the minister, by order of the
State, directs sponsors to bring the child to be con-
firmed " so soon as he can say the creed, the Lord's
prayer, and the ten commandments in the vulgar
tongue, and is further instructed in the church cate-
chism." Those conditions being fulfilled, the minister
must forward all the children of the parish to the
bishop, with his certificate of fitness for the rite. And
being thus certified by the minister that the child can
say the creed, &c., the bishop is ordered by the State
to say of the whole crowd of children who there and
then profess to take upon themselves the baptismal
vows, that God has " vouchsafed to regenerate them
by water and the Holy Ghost, and has given unto
them forgiveness of their sins."
After confirmation, each person not convicted of
heresy or immorality has a legal right to attend the
Lord's supper at his parish church. By 1 Edward VI.
cap. 1, " The minister shall not, without a lawful
cause, deny the same (the sacrament) to any person
that will devoutly and humbly desire it." To have
been at a card-party on the previous Monday, at a
ball on Tuesday, at the race-course on Wednesday,
and at the theatre on Thursday, to have spent Friday
464 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
in talking scandal, and to have devoted Saturday to
some irreligious novel, would be no legal disqualifi-
cation for the reception of the Lord's supper on the
following Sunday. No proofs of a worldly temper, no
indolent self-indulgence, and no neglect of prayer,
would affect the parishioner's statutory right to force
his way to the Lord's table. The minister is obliged
by law to administer to him the ordinance, the church
is forced by law to receive him into communion with
them. None but believers are invited by our Lord
to his table, 1 and the churches are commanded to
separate themselves from evil men : 2 but the statute
interposes, and both the minister and the church must
admit all who will to the sacred feast.
An instance of the effect of this state of the law
occurred not many years since at , as I have
been informed by a clerical friend on whose accuracy
I can rely, and who had reason to be well acquainted
with the facts. A benevolent and moral man, of
Unitarian opinions, having contributed five pounds
a-year to the Bible Society, and having attended the
committee of the association, the clergyman of the
parish declared that he could not support the society
because he could have no fellowship with Unitarians.
The next Sunday after that this statement had been
made, the Unitarian presented himself at the altar of
the parish church ; and the same clergyman adminis-
1 Matt. xxvi. 26 ; 1 Cor. xi. 27-29.
* Rom. xvi. 17 ; 1 Cor. v. 11-13 ; 2 Cor. iv. 14-18 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 465
tered the Lord's supper to him with the other com-
municants. Had the clergyman refused to administer,
the court of Arches must have decided in favour of
the Unitarian, according to the act, unless the heresy
could be legally proved. If the clergyman had so
much conscience respecting union with the Unitarian
in' the Bible Society, why did he not refuse to give
him the Lord's supper? The State forbade his
refusal.
Those who eat and drink unworthily, instead of
securing a blessing, eat and drink damnation to them-
selves, not discerning the Lord's body, and jthe Angli-
can Churches do nothing to prevent this. 1 Were irre-
ligious persons excluded from the Lord's supper, it
might excite conscience and make them see that they
are in danger; but their admission to the table is
calculated to stupify and to deceive them, making
them say, " Peace ! peace !" when there is no peace.
Those who eat and drink at the Lord's table profess
thereby to receive Christ by faith as their Saviour;
and the Anglican Churches allow those to dishonour
Christ by this profession who are living frivolous,
dissipated, ungodly lives, without any symptoms of
devotedness or of faith. The Lord's supper was meant
to be a gathering of the church, by which Christ-
ians may be strengthened and refreshed by sympathy
with each other ; but in the Anglican Churches it is
a gathering of all kinds of persons, and many of them
1 1 Cor. xi. 29.
H H
4G6 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
have no more knowledge of each other than they have
of foreigners. The Lord's supper in parish-churches
is no title to mutual confidence, no pledge of bro-
therly regard. It is no meeting of the church, but
often an unhallowed association of the church and of
the world. Churches which fall into coldness and
allow ungodly persons to remain among their mem-
bers, have received solemn warnings and severe
threatenings from Christ. 1 How many parochial An-
glican Churches are now exposed to these threaten-
ings ! And this corrupt condition of the churches,
this admixture of the church and the world, by
which religion is misrepresented, our Lord is dis-
honoured, and multitudes are injured, is sanctioned by
evangelical ministers who uphold the system by ad-
hering to it. Verbal protests are inadequate. They
belong to it, they officiate in it, their characters and
their labours support it ; and they must be held in a
high degree responsible for the evils which they chiefly
perpetuate.
At this moment of what members are the Anglican
Churches composed? The men who devote their time
and thought to betting at Newmarket and Doncaster,
those who haunt the gambling-houses of London,
those who divide their time between the pleasures of
the chase and of the table, are members of churches ;
the theatres and the opera-house, notwithstanding that
they are the haunts of vice and schools of irreligion,
1 Rev. ii. 4, 5, 14-16, 20-23; iii. 1-3, 15, 16.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 467
are filled with church members. The crowds who
throng the Sunday trains and the Sunday steamboats,
the numbers who sell and buy on the Lord's-day, the
emaciated and ragged community of gin-drinkers, the
rabble of the lowest alleys of London, Liverpool, and
Manchester; the myriads who admire the "Dispatch,"
or love the pollution of the worst novels, all who are
worthless, ignorant, and depraved, in the community,
baptised in childhood, and not convicted of heresy or
immorality, are in full communion with the Anglican
Churches. They are all described in the catechism as
" members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors
of the kingdom of heaven ;" all have a right to intro-
duce their children into the churches by baptism, and
then they find their children, as members of Christ,
children of God, and inheritors of heaven, have a legal
right to participate in the Lord's supper as guests at
Christ's table with his saints. If our Lord manifested
so much indignation when the material temple was
desecrated by traders, 1 how does he regard this cor-
ruption within his churches ? If St. Paul said to the
church of Corinth, " Yc are 1/ie temple of God, if any
man defile the temple of God, 1dm shall God destroy"*
what judgment does our Lord pronounce on those
who, by abetting and perpetuating this contempt of
Christian discipline, by adhering to this abuse of the
ordinances of Christ, continue to defile his churches ?
1 John, ii. 13 ; Matt. xxi. 12. - 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.
468 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
When the parish minister has thus permitted
persons of all sorts to make their children members of
his church, and themselves, if they will, to participate
in the Lord's supper, he is at length called to commit
their bodies to the grave when they are removed by
death. Many of them grieved his heart by their open
irreligion : they were covetous, they were quarrelsome,
they were drunken ; they broke the Sabbath, they
neglected public and social worship, they were profane
in their language, they died as they lived, testifying
neither repentance nor faith; and over each who is
brought to the grave, he, by order of the State, must
say, " It hath pleased Almighty God, of his great
mercy, to take unto himself the soul of our dear
brother here departed. . . . Almighty God, we give
thee hearty thanks, for that it has pleased thee to
deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this
sinful world." The lost soul is gone to perdition,
and the minister thanks God that it is gone to him.
If the bystanders infer from this that they also shall
go to God when they die, and that death will be their
release also from misery, whose fault is this ? If they
perish in their sins, is the minister without blame
whose words deceived and hardened them ?
The evangelical minister of an Anglican Church is
thus placed in a miserable position. He must not
preach Christ in private houses, nor enter into any
neighbouring parish where an ungodly minister is
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 409
leading the people to destruction; lie must baptise
the infants of ungodly persons ; he must teach his
parishioners, against all observation, that these infants
are members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors
of the kingdom of heaven ; he must take unregenerate
young persons at the age of fifteen or sixteen to be
pronounced regenerate by the bishop ; he must admit
all sorts of persons to the Lord's table, though they
are not invited by Christ; and must finally, when
they die, express his thanks to God that they are
taken to glory, when he has every reason to think that
they are lost for ever.
Although the ministers of proprietary chapels are
not placed under this legal compulsion to desecrate
Christ's ordinances, yet, by adhering to the Establish-
ment, they sanction and support the whole system ;
and must be responsible for that corrupt Union of
the church and the world through which Christ is
dishonoured and souls are ruined.
3. Church Censures and Penalties. The welfare
of a Christian church depends in a great measure on
the liberty of action afforded to its fervent members,
and on the correction or removal of those who are
inconsistent. Let us now consider how far the Angli-
can system under the Union accomplishes these two
objects.
Under the Union, the following offences are pun-
ishable by law, ^simony, immorality, heresy, schism,
refusal to perform ministerial acts, and the perform-
470 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
ance of ministerial acts without authority. I will
notice these in order.
Simony. Simony is termed by the fortieth canon
a " detestable sin." Buying and selling of spiritual
and ecclesiastical functions, offices, promotions, dig-
nities, and livings, are there said to be " execrable
before God," on which account the canon enjoins that
a clergyman, on being admitted to any ecclesiastical
office or living, shall swear that he has made no
simoniacal payment or contract respecting it. The
sale, therefore, or purchase of a vacant living, is illegal ;
but the application of the canon is restricted to livings
which are vacant. Presentations are constantly bought
and sold like all other property. The salary of the
pastor of an Anglican Church is sold by contract, or
by public auction. A man may buy it for himself or
for his son, for his friend or for his customer. The
best prices are always given for the pastoral salary of
those churches in Avhich the number of members is
the smallest and the income the largest ; the age of
the existing pastor being always taken into the ac-
count. When the salary is bought, the purchaser has
no difficulty in securing the pastoral charge of the
congregation for any friend who may have the
minimum of knowledge and of character required by
law. Many churches are thus placed under pastors
of very small attainments, without the wishes of the
church being any more considered by the seller and
the buyer of the pastor's salary than the wishes of the
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 471
stock arc considered in letting a farm, or the wishes
of the slaves in the sale and purchase of an estate in
Cuba. 1
1 The following advertisements, extracted from The Record newspaper, in
the single month of October last, show in what manner this sale and purchase
of the incomes of pastors, and effectively of the pastoral office, is conducted
in the Establishment :
ESSEX. ADVOWSON AND RECTORY OF MAGDALEN LAYER.
MESSRS. ELLIS and SON are directed to SELL by AUCTION, at GARRA-
WAY'S, on Thursday, October 12, at Twelve o'clock (unless previously dis-
posed of by private contract), the valuable ADVOWSON and NEXT PRESENTA-
TION to the RECTORY of MAGDALEN LAVER, situate in a pleasant district,
about twenty-six miles from London, six from Epping, and six from the Har-
low station. The tithes have been commuted at 310. per annum. The glebe
consists of twenty-eight acres of land of the annual value of 45J. The par-
sonage is at present out of repair, but a considerable sum has accumulated
for the repair of it. The population is about 210. The present incumbent
is in his seventy-fourth year.
Printed particulars may be had at the George Inn, Harlow ; of Messrs.
Hindman and Howard, solicitors, Basinghall Street ; at Garraway's ; and of
Messrs. Ellis and Son, auctioneers and estate agents, 36 Fenchurch Street.
ADVOWSON. KENT.
To be DISPOSED OP, the NEXT PRESENTATION to a VICARAGE, eligibly
situated between Ashford and Canterbury, a quarter of a mile from a station
on the South-Eastern and Dover Railway, and two hours and a half from
London. Nett income 700/. per annum. The incumbent sixty-five years of
age. There is an excellent residence, with gardens and suitable offices, and
thirty acres of glebe.
For further particulars and price apply to Messrs. Baker and Co., soli-
citors, No. 52 Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.
ADVOWSON FOR SALE.
THE PATRON of a VICARAGE in a southern county, of evangelical senti-
ments, is anxious to find a PURCHASER for the ADVOWSON of similar views.
The income exceeds 10002. per annum. There is an excellent house for a
large family, standing in its own grounds, part of which are glebe and part
freehold, the property of the patron, which may be purchased if required.
For further particulars apply, by letter (prepaid), to A.Z., at the office of
the Record.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. PERPETUAL ADVOWSON AND NEXT PRESENTA-
TION TO THE VICARAGE OF LITTLE ADDINGTON.
MESSRS. DRIVER are instructed by the Trustees of the late J. C. Powell,
Esq., to offer to public COMPETITION, at the Auction Mart, on TUESDAY;
472 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
The relation of a pastor to the church is most
solemn : " Take heed to yourselves" said Paul to the
the 14th of November, at Twelve, the very desirable and valuable ADVOWSON
and RIGHT of NEXT PRESENTATION to the VICARAGE of LITTLE ADDING-
TON, in the hundred of Huxloe, a very delightful village, most conveniently
situate, two miles from Irthlingborough, four from Higham Ferrars, five from
Thrapston, and seven from Wellingborough, in the county of Northampton ;
comprising a vicarage -house, garden, and paddock, and a very valuable parcel
of glebe-land and allotments, lying within a ring-fence, containing about 280
acres, with desirable homesteads, most eligibly situate, near the village, with
live subdivision quick fences, and in the respective occupations of Mr. John
Abbott, William Brawn, and Samuel Wright ; of the value together of about
415/. per annum, subject to the life of the present incumbent, the Rev. Tho-
mas Sanderson, aged sixty-three years. The population last census was 299.
ADVOWSOX.
PERPETUAL PATRONAGE and RIGHT OF PRESENTATION to be DISPOSED
OF, subject to the life of an incumbent, now sixty-eight years. The benefice
consists of an excellent rectory-house, lately built at a considerable expense ;
abounding with conveniences, and capitally fitted good out-offices, pleasure-
grounds, garden, &c., farm-yard, and forty acres glebe. The tithes are com-
muted. Annual value upwards of GOOJ. per annum, independent of surplice-
fees, and is well situated in a pleasant and luxuriant country, four miles from
a large town, to which there is railway conveyance.
ADVOWSON.
To BE SOLD, BY PRIVATE CONTRACT, the PlCRPKTUAL ADVOWSON of the
RECTORY of CHIPSTABLE, in the county of Somerset. The gross annual
rent-charge in lieu of tithe amounts to 28 1/., and the annual value of the
glebe as at present let and occupied, including the parsonage-house, garden,
and outbuildings, to about 100. After deducting rates and taxes, the nett
annual value of the living may be estimated at upwards of 300/. The present
incumbent was born in the year 1785. Chipstable is a rural parish, lying
about three miles west of Wiveliscombe, and contains 2252 acres, and rather
less than 400 inhabitants. The rectory-house (upon which several hundred
pounds have been lately expended in putting it into a complete state of repair)
is pleasantly situated, about a mile from the turnpike-road leading from
Taunton to Tiverton through Bampton, about three miles from Wiveliscombe,
ten from the Wellington station of the Bristol and Exeter railway, and ten
from Dulverton.
FOR SALE by AUCTION, by Messrs. COBB at the AUCTION MART, Lon-
don, on TUESDAY, the 21st day of November, 1848, at Twelve o'clock, the
NEXT PRESENTATION to the RECTORY of the UNITED PARISHES of MILTON
DAMEREL and COOKBCRY, in the county of Devon, distant from Holswortliy
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 473
pastors of the Ephesian church, " and to all the flock
over which the Holy Ghost has made you zKiffzovoug,
bishops (or pastors), to feed the church of God." 1
" Take heed unto thyself" he added to his friend
Timothy, " and unto the doctrine ; continue in them :
for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them
that hear thee."" And pastors and teachers have been
appointed by Christ in his church, "for the per-
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ." 3 Yet this solemn
office is determined in hundreds of instances in the
Establishment by the mere sale and purchase of the
pastor's salary ! Although the Church of England,
by the fortieth canon, recognises the sale and pur-
chase of livings to be " detestable" and " execrable
before God," yet hundreds of livings arc annually
bought and sold, by which the pastoral office is
secured to the purchasers or their friends. Incom-
petent and unconverted men thus obtain a spiritual
jurisdiction over churches, by Avhich they can exclude
from them every other Anglican minister, thus con-
fining them to their own worthless and mischievous
ministrations. With the dissolution of the Union
this abuse will cease; for such ministers will never
six miles, Torington nine miles, and Bideford twelve miles. The nett annual
income from the living derived from tithe, rent-charges, and glebe-lands, com-
prising HOa. 3r. 29p., may be safely estimated at 450/. The present incum*
bent is seventy- seven years of age. The rectory-house is pleasantly situated,
adjoining the turnpike-road from Launceston to Bideford, over which a mail-
coach passes, and there are two post deliveries daily.
1 Acts, xx. 28. -' 1 Tim. iv. 10. 3 Eph. iv. 12.
474 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
be maintained by the voluntary offerings of the
churches. Meanwhile, ought the churches to endure
these money bargains now? this purchase and sale of
souls? Ought Christian men, by remaining in the
Establishment, to give it their sanction and support P 1
Immorality. The word of God declares that a
bishop, that is, a pastor of a church, must be blame-
less, not given to wine, not given to filthy lucre,
but sober, just, holy, and temperate. 2 Immoral mi-
nisters are to be shunned by each Christian, and
excommunicated by the church. 3 Every Anglican
Church ought, therefore, to put away from them each
immoral pastor. The churches, do, indeed, recognise
this duty. For in the twenty-sixth article we read,
" It appertaineth to the discipline of the church that
inquiry be made of evil ministers ; that they be ac-
cused by those that have knowledge of their offences,
and, finally, being found guilty by just judgment, be
deposed." But their practice differs from their pro-
fession. The State and the Convocation together
have deprived them of all power to remove their
pastors, and have committed the power to a civilian
appointed by the Crown to preside over the court of
Arches. Immoral clergymen, therefore, if brought to
account at all, must be tried before the judge, unless
they are brought before the bishop himself by the new
Correction of Clerks bill.
1 See Rev. xviii. 13. s 1 Tim. iii. 1-7 ; Tit. i. 5-9;
3 1 Cor. v. 11-13 ; 2 Thess. iii. C.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 475
Several decisions of the court of Arches have
lately been before the public, which show to what
extent this court, to which the Anglican Churches
have resigned their right of discipline, protects them
from immoral pastors. In the case of Brooks v.
Cresswell, the judge, Sir H. J. Fust, said : " He was
afraid he must come to the conclusion that Mr.
Cresswell had been in the habit of frequenting public
houses, of drinking on some occasions to excess, of
sitting there smoking his pipe, and drinking half-and-
half, that he was guilty of dropping out an oath, and
on some occasions of using obscene expressions. Re-
collecting that he had already been suspended during
the pendency of this suit, a period of eighteen months,
he was of opinion, that if the court pronounced a
further suspension of eighteen months, it woidd be
but such a censure as the case required." 1
Thus a pastor who, according to scriptural in-
junction, ought to have been excommunicated by the
church, was permitted to resume his pastoral charge
of 1200 souls, after a suspension of eighteen months,
though he was convicted of having been an obscene
drunkard ; and provided that he was afterwards more
prudently vicious, the church could do nothing to
remove him.
The Times of March 14, 1846, reported that Mr.
Hodgson, vicar of Kington, &c., was charged with
1 Record, Monday, Feb. 16, 1840.
476 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
grossly immoral conduct. Although the proof was
both circumstantial and direct, the judge refused to
credit the witnesses on their oaths ; upon which The
Times made the following remarks :
o
" The judge refused to credit the witnesses on their oaths.
The fault of the witnesses was, in his opinion, their perfect
concordance. Their testimony wore the air of a preconcerted
scheme. Is there any precedent in any court of justice, in any
country of the world, where criminal jurisprudence is carried on
under fixed rules of procedure, where the concurrent testimony
of three or four witnesses has been positively rejected, and held
for nought, just on the very ground that it is concurrent ? We
call on the church herself to vindicate her purity, and to lop oil'
from her still sacred hody her profane and infamous members.
The misjudging leniency sometimes apparent in the judgments
of Sir H. J. F. is directly calculated to produce an impression
on the public mind that the spiritual body enjoys an indulgence
in sin and an immunity from punishment far beyond what is
allowed to the laity. When the poor parishioner hears of the
rector of his parish being mulct in a small line (temporary
suspension is nothing more), or perhaps acquitted altogether of
heinous crimes which he has himself seen perpetrated in tin;
light of day, he cannot feel satisfied that the law is impartial or
that the church is pure. When such men as a Day, a Heath-
cote, a Loftus, and a Cresswell, are suffered to remain in the
ministry, who can wonder that dissent increases, or that the
people are vicious?"
The expense attending suits in the court of
Arches, and the difficulty of securing the punishment
of clerical offenders, seems often to give such offenders
impunity in their crimes. In the spring assizes of
1846, Dr. B. of B,, near W-, was tried by Mr. Baron
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 477
Parke on the charge of adultery. The jury found
him guilty, and gave the plaintiff 2507. damages; but
he remains still, as far as I know, the unmolested
pastor of the parish. The civil court condemned him
as an adulterer, the church retained him as their
pastor. Mr. M., incumbent of , near the town
of P., who shamelessly avowed his vicious habits
before the public, still continues the non-resident
pastor to the same church, and, after paying a small
stipend to a resident curate, is allowed to spend his
large ecclesiastical income in idleness and vice at
Paris, Milan, Vienna, or wherever he will.
It is thus that the State throws its shield over
unworthy pastors. From any free church a pastor
convicted of immorality would be dismissed ; but
under the protection of the State such pastors in
the Establishment can generally defy censure. First,
the State has settled that unless his vices can be
legally proved, however notorious they may be, he
must remain unmolested ; and, secondly, if they are
capable of legal proof, the State has committed the
punishment of them to the discretion of a lawyer who
may know nothing of the qualifications which Christ
requires in the pastor of a church, and who may have
much more sympathy with the offending pastor than
with the injured church. The result is, that through-
out 10,500 benefices, pastors whose unfitness for
their office is notorious, but who are prudent in their
immorality, escape official censure, and remain the
478 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
worthless pastors of degraded or indignant churches.
For this scandal evangelical men who adhere to the
Establishment are responsible.
The following case is reported in The Record of
Oct. 19, 1848:-
" Last week, Mr. Commissioner Smith presided at the
Gainsborough county court, when the Rev. F. Stunner, insolvent
rector of Heapham, presented himself for examination. His
liabilities amounted to 2200?., and the only sum given up was
about 14?, Mr. Andrews appeared to oppose on behalf of a
large number of creditors, and contended that the reckless way
in which the debts had been contracted disentitled the insolvent
to the protection of the court. He might here say that the
insolvent had before taken the benefit of the act for 3000?. In
this instance he was instructed to state, that all the trade debts
had been incurred within two or three years, and without any
reasonable prospect of being able to defray them. The debts
amounted to 1100?., and were contracted in 1840, 1847, and
1848, when, according to his own statement, his income was
245?., and the occupation of land would increase it to 290?.
He gave the insolvent no credit for honesty in the proposal to
pay 50?. yearly, and ascribed it merely to the good advice and
prudence of his solicitor. For five years his income had been
HOC/., or 221?. yearly; his expenditure 1762?,, or 352?. yearly,
being 132?. a-year more than his income. And while these
debts were being contracted, he was under securities by which
he knew that the goods he obtained might be swept off at any
time, as eventually they were. The judge said, it appeared to
him that 100?. was only a fair sum to set aside for the benefit
of the creditors. At the suggestion of Mr. Huddlestone, the
rev. insolvent retired with him, and, at the advice of his legal
adviser, agreed to offer the 100?. He was proceeding to com-
plain of the way he had been assailed by the newspapers in
respect to some begging letters, when he was stopped by the
judge, who observed that the best explanation would be faithfully
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 479
to cany out the arrangement made. He had been living extra-
vagantly and intemperately, and his difficulties were the conse-
quence of that. His best answer to any imputation upon his
honesty would be to do the best to pay the debts he had so
recklessly incurred. The insolvent said, he had then to pay 43/.
a-year to Queen Anne's Bounty. The judge wished to under-
stand whether the insolvent proposed to pay 100Z. a-year to his
creditors. The insolvent intimated his assent. Eventually the
examination was adjourned. [The result is understood to amount
to a refusal of protection, and that the final examination of the
insolvent will be adjourned till he has bound himself by bond to
pay the yearly sum of 100/. for the benefit of his creditors.]"
In this case all parties seemed satisfied, if one
hundred pounds per annum out of the living should
be set aside for the creditors. No man seemed for
one moment to imagine that the pastor was disquali-
fied for his office ; and provided that he was restrained
from cheating his creditors, the commissioner, the
attorney, and the creditors, all took it for granted
that he would still retain his living ; in other words,
would still be the only legal pastor of the church at
Heapham, with the right of excluding every evan-
gelical preacher from his pulpit and his parish.
Heresy. By heresy is meant in the New Tes-
tament discord and dissension raised by a person
or a party within a church (1 Cor. xi. 19 ; Gal. v.
20 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1) ; and by the word heretic is meant
a factious person who creates dissension (Tit. iii. 10).
But in modern language a heretic is one who em-
braces any great doctrinal error. According to the
New Testament, a man who is a heretic in this sense
480 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
ought to be excommunicated, and the church ought
to separate from him as from a person guilty of
immorality. 1 Heretics are still liable to severe treat-
ment in the Establishment. By 1 Elizabeth, cap. 1,
" All such spiritual jurisdiction as by any spiritual or
ecclesiastical power may lawfully be exercised for the
correction of all manner of heresies, is for ever an-
nexed to the Crown." 2 Heresy is a legal ground of
deprivation. 3 A bishop may pronounce sentence upon
a heretic : 4 and an obstinate heretic being excom-
municated, is still liable to be imprisoned by force of
the writ de excommunicato capicndo, till he make satis-
faction to the church. 5 If in these laws the word
heretic were always taken for one denying an essential
doctrine of the Gospel, they would take the correction
of heresy from the church, of which it is a necessary
function, to give it to the Crown and to bishops ; but,
further, the meaning which, if I mistake not, the law
attaches to the term heretic, renders them intolerant
and tyrannical. Any doctrine, I apprehend, which in
the opinion of an ecclesiastical judge is contrary to
the doctrine of "the church," however sound and
scriptural the doctrine may be, is heresy : at all
events, all opinions which are contrary to the doctrine
of " the church " are treated, according to statute and
canon law, exactly as heresy is treated. The minister
'John, x. 5; 2 Cor. xi. 3, 13-15; Gal. i. 6-9; v. 12; 2 John, 10;
Rev. ii. 14, 15, 16-20.
2 Burn, vol. ii. p. 301. 3 Ibid. p. 341". Ibid. p. 105. 5 Ibid. p. 307.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 481
who in his preaching deviates in the slightest degree
from the doctrine of the prayer-book, is treated by
the law as he would be if he denied the deity of
Christ or the inspiration of the bible. The punish-
ment of a minister who denies any erroneous doctrine
of the prayer-book is excommunication and depri-
vation; an obstinate heretic suffers nothing more.
By the fourth canon, whoever affirms that the form of
worship contained in the book of common prayer con-
taineth any thing in it repugnant to scripture, is to
-be excommunicated. By the eighth canon, whoever
affirms that the forms of consecrating bishops, priests,
imd deacons, contain any thing in them repugnant to
the word of God, is to be excommunicated. Further,
it is a doctrine of ecclesiastical law that an incumbent
" speaking or preaching any thing in derogation of the
book of common prayer, or using any other rite or
-ceremony, being thereof twice convicted, shall ipso
facto be deprived." 1 If, therefore, a minister declares
that the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, which he
holds to be the doctrine of the prayer-book, is false
and dangerous ; or that ministers ought not to thank
God for the death of wicked parishioners ; or that
the bishop ought not to say to each youth at his or-
dination, " Receive thou the Holy Ghost, whosesoever
^sins thou remittest they are remitted ;" such minister
must be excommunicated and deprived.
The State and the Convocation have, also, specially
1 Burn, vol. ii. p. 141 a .
I I
482 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
guarded their thirty-nine articles from inconvenient
criticisms. In the fifth canon we read, that who-
soever shall affirm that the thirty-nine articles are in
any part superstitious or erroneous is to be excom-
municated. The 13th Eliz. cap. 12, s. 2, enacts as
follows : "If any person ecclesiastical, or who shall
have ecclesiastical living, shall advisedly maintain or
affirm any doctrine directly contrary or repugnant to
any of the said articles, and being convened before
the bishop of the diocese or ordinary, shall persist
therein, and not revoke his error, ... he shall be
deprived of his ecclesiastical promotions." 3
If, therefore, any minister declare, against the
twentieth article, that the church has not authority
in controversies of faith ; or, against the twenty-sixth,
that evil men do not minister by Christ's authority,
and that Christians ought not to continue under that
ministry ; or, against the. thirty-sixth, that the ordi-
nation service for priests contains in it expressions
which are superstitious and ungodly, he is liable to
excommunication and deprivation.
Let no one think that these laws are inoperative
because few ministers are thus excommunicated and
deprived: so completely do they answer their pur-
pose that scarcely any Anglican minister ventures on
any free examination of these guarded writings. Few
men will indulge in a criticism to which are ap-
pended penalties so terrible. Since criticism would
1 Bum, vol. i. p. 105.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 483
lead to deprivation, the prospect of deprivation ex-
tinguishes inquiry. The system escapes the shame
of persecution by repressing independent thought.
It does not expel good men from their parsonages,
but it warps their judgment. It would crush them if
remonstrant, but it achieves a more complete victory by
making them submissively acquiescent ; and the errors
of the prayer-book triumph over successive generations.
But while the State is thus severe against those
who controvert the least doctrines of the prayer-book,
it leaves unmolested many who maintain an open
warfare against important doctrines of the bible.
Anglo-Catholic ministers by hundreds diffuse those
doctrines, of which I have already offered some speci-
mens, without reproof; and thousands, it is to be
feared, still more mischievous than these erring but
earnest men, have a rooted dislike to the doctrines of
grace ; deny justification . by grace through faith
without the deeds of the law ; deride the conversion
and sanctification of sinners by the Holy Spirit ;
mislead and confirm in their indifference the churches
over which they preside ; and are unblamed. Ought
evangelical men to sanction all this by their adherence
to the Establishment ?
Schism. The doctrine and practice of the Esta-
blishment respecting schism are not less unsatisfactory.
The Anglican Churches so far recognise and fraternise
with the Church of Rome, that Roman Catholic priests
when they become Protestants are recognised as minis-
484 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
ters of Christ, and may preach in our churches without
reordination. The late archbishop of Canterbury also
officially recognised the corrupt Greek Church as a
sister church in the instructions which he gave to
Bishop Alexander on his departure for Jerusalem ;
but while Roman priests, and Greek priests, still more
degraded, are recognised to be ministers of Christ by
the Anglican Churches, these churches maintain a com-
plete separation from the purest churches of Christ,
and disown their ministers. Schism in the New Tes-
tament is dissension among Christians who ought to
be united as brethren (1 Cor. i. 10; xi. 18; xii. 25).
It is not schismatical to refuse to unite with fellow-
Christians in those things which are forbidden by
Christ, for here we must refuse all union ; nor in those
things which are not enjoined by Christ, for here we
must have liberty of judging for ourselves. It was
not schismatical, therefore, in the Gentile Christians
of the apostolical churches to refuse to conform to the
Jewish ritual when the Jewish Christians did so ; and
if a schism arises in a Christian church on account of
any doctrine or practice, those who, in a Christian
spirit, maintain the true doctrine and the right prac-
tice, are not the authors of the schism, but those who
uphold the false doctrine and who insist on the cor-
rupt practice. Thus, when a schism arose in the
church of Antioch, and Paul resisted openly Peter
and Barnabas, he was not the schismatic when he
energetically disturbed their Judaising doctrine and
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 485
practice ; but they, because they upheld them. 1 So
pious and peaceable dissenters are no schismatics.
As each man is bound to follow Christ's will in all
things, numbers of enlightened and excellent men,
who have thought the Union of the Establishment
with the State a corrupt junction with the world and
a disregard of Christ's authority; its prelacy un-
scriptural, its system of patronage mischievous, its
formularies erroneous, its discipline at once tyrannical
and relaxed, its claims arrogant, and its spirit
worldly, have felt compelled to abandon it, that they
might fulfil the law of Christ, by maintaining a more
scriptural form of church government with a purer
discipline. They felt their duty to be imperative;
their right has been recognised by statute, and they
now amount to some millions, who are not less moral
and religious than the soundest part of the Estab-
lishment. Their nonconformity cannot in itself be
schism, because the Anglican ritual is no more en-
joined on them than the Jewish ritual was on the
early Christians ; and as uniformity of worship has
not been enjoined, variety and liberty are likely to be
more useful. Their voluntaryism cannot be schis-
matical, because there is no hint in the New Testa-
ment of a Union between Church and State. Their
rejection of prelacy does not render them schismatics,
because prelacy is a human arrangement subsequent
to the apostolic age without sanction of scripture.
1 Gal. ii. 11-14.
486 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
And their independence in local churches cannot bo
schismatical, because all the apostolic churches were
independent ; there was no association of churches,
such as the Church of England or the Church of Scot-
land, in primitive times, nor was one church subject
to another: the church at Philippi was independent
of the church at Thessalonica, and the church at
Thessalonica was equally free from the control of
the church at Corinth : each Christian assembly in
the apostolic age was independent of all the rest, and,
therefore, each congregation now may, without schism,
follow that precedent. The Anglican Churches were
therefore bound to respect their Christian liberty, and
fraternise with them, churches with churches, minis-
ters with ministers, and members with members. If
this brotherly concord were manifested, their differences
in the form of worship and discipline would be minor
evils. The churches of Christ being one in doctrine,
in obedience to the will of Christ, and in heart, would
snatch from the Roman Catholics their favomite argu-
ment against the Protestants, and from unbelievers
their most usual weapon against Christianity. Let
Christians, notwithstanding their differences in disci-
pline, be one in heart and action, and the beautiful
spectacle of liberality, disinterestedness, and affection,
would conquer the world's unbelief. (John, xvii.
20, 21.) United, they could much more effectually
labour to remove ignorance, to oppose vice, and to
preach the Gospel. If the world saw that Christians
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 487
generally associated with Christians, without asking
whether they were Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Inde-
pendent, or Baptist, then their differences would be
reduced to their just dimensions, and their common
faith be exalted. Among all denominations, too, there
are not very many stirring, earnest, experienced, and
able preachers of the Gospel ; but if all these divided
the land among them, and, with fraternal concord,
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists,
and Wesleyans, were to preach in all congregations
which now have evangelical pastors, a revival of reli-
gion would probably ensue much more extensive
than that in the time of Whitfield. Multitudes of
congregations, now cold and negligent, would manifest
unwonted earnestness, and myriads of souls would be
saved. What narrow-minded ritualists would dread
as disorder is Christ's order. This fraternisation of
pious men of all denominations is the standing law of
Christ's church, the necessary condition of its health.
We must achieve it.
But, at present, the Union renders it impossible.
While the Anglican Churches admit Roman Catholic
priests and Greek priests to be ministers of Christ,
they excommunicate his purest churches -and his most
faithful ministers. By canons 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12,
and 27, all dissenters are declared to be schismatics,
and are utterly excommunicated.
In the apostolic age a schismatic obtained unen-
viable notoriety by the following censure of the
488 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
apostle John : " I wrote vmto the church : but Dio-
trephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among
them, receiveth us not . . . prating against its icith
malicious words: and not content therewith, neither
doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddetk
them that would, and casteth them out of the church."
In what does the spirit of these canons and of their
defenders differ from the spirit of Diotrephes ?
While the Establishment condemns the dissenters-
as schismatics, because they have obtained more know-
ledge of the scriptures in some points than Anglicans-
have, it is itself schismatical, disowning the purest
churches of Christ, excommunicating brethren whom
it ought to receive into fellowship, and heaping oppro-
brium on the most faithful and enlightened followers
of the Redeemer.
Some deceive themselves by supposing that these
canons are obsolete and forgotten. But any ecclesi-
astical judge will tell them that they are living laws
of the church, which the pastors are bound to obey
and which he is obliged to enforce. Not an Anglican
minister dare openly speak against their authority or
controvert their doctrine, except he dare also to brave
the vengeance of the law. In fact, they exercise a
general and disastrous influence over Anglican minis-
ters. Why are the most experienced and honoured
ministers of the free churches excluded from the
pulpit of every evangelical pastor of the Establish-
ment ? Why do the best Anglican ministers live ia.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 489
this act of schism? Why are multitudes of evan-
gelical pastors afraid and ashamed to associate with
the pastors of free churches, as honoured and as
blessed by the Redeemer as they are themselves?
Why do so few Anglican ministers support the Bible
Society, the Tract Society, the London City Mission ?
Why have they so combined against the Evangelical
Alliance ? Whv did the " Christian Observer," the
t/ *
organ of the evangelical ministers of the Establish-
ment, month after month, rail against the servants
of Christ in other churches, and pour out its bitter-
ness upon those who upheld an effort to promote
that brotherly affection among Christians which our
Lord has so solemnly enjoined ? Why is there almost
no friendly association in private between Anglican
ministers and the ministers of any other denomina-
tion ? Why are pious Anglicans afraid and ashamed
to enter into a dissenting chapel? Thus by actions
more significant and cutting than words do pious
Anglicans brand the purest and most spiritual
churches of Christ in this land as schismatics, with
whom they ought to hold no communion. This
offence against charity is rank, and cries to heaven.
Roman Catholics are nattered by it, the saints of
Christ are dishonoured, his churches are rent into fac-
tions, his cause is impeded, his name is blasphemed.
How r long is this to continue by the support of evan-
gelical men?
Refusal to perform Ministerial Acts. "What-
490 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
soever is not 'of faith is sin;" and therefore every
minister ought to be fully persuaded in his own
mind, after due examination of the word of God, that
that what he does is right. 1 But the Union pro-
hibits to the Anglican minister this exercise of con-
science with respect to several ministerial acts.
[i.] Baptism. Baptism, according to the New
Testament, should be preceded by repentance and
faith, being a solemn profession of both. c Many
think, that the children of believers, being dedicated
to him, and about to be trained up for him, ought
to be admitted to baptism, as though they were
penitent believers, in virtue of their parents' faith.
But as ungodly parents do not dedicate their children
to God, nor intend to train them up for his service,
being unbelievers themselves, it is obvious that the
intention of the ordinance, and all the prerequisites
demanded by the New Testament in candidates, are
set aside when the children of ungodly parents are
baptised. Each minister ought to refuse to baptise
such. Their baptism inflicts injury on the children,
on the parents, on the church, and is a contempt of a
solemn ordinance of Christ. But no Anglican minister
must exercise his judgment, or listen to conscience in
any such case which is brought before him, unless he
is prepared to endure suspension from his office : for
the law is, " No minister shall refuse or delay to
1 Rom. xiv. 5, 23.
2 Matt. x. 32 ; Rom. x. 8, 10 ; Mark, xvi. 15, 16 ; Acts, ii. 38, 41 ;
yiii. 12, 13, 37 ; ix. 17, 18; x. 44-47, &c. &c.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 491
christen any child that is brought to the church to
him. And if he shall refuse, he shall be suspended
by the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by the
space of three months." 1 The consequence is, that no
children are refused, the ordinance is desecrated, chil-
dren are deceived with the idea that they are regene-
rated, which hinders them from seeking regeneration ;
multitudes of persons, with nothing of religion, but
the name, become members of the Anglican Churches ;
Christ's churches are corrupted ; there remains no dif-
ference between the churches and the world ; the
cause of Christ is checked, and religion itself is blas-
phemed, because of the multitudes of " baptised
heathens." All this is sanctioned and perpetuated
by Christian men and Christian ministers adhering
to the Establishment.
[ii.] The Lord's Supper. Christ has invited to
his table, as welcome guests, none but his disciples.
The bread and wine represent his body and blood;
to eat that bread and wine represents the reception
of him as our crucified Saviour into our hearts ; and
to eat this publicly is to profess before the world that
we receive him. Believers only can properly receive
the Lord's supper, since they only are invited ; and all
others " eat and drink condemnation to themselves, not
discerning the Lord's body"' : It must be, therefore,
the duty of each church, not to admit profane and
ungodly persons to that ordinance. 3
1 Canon 68. 2 1 Cor. xi. 29. 3 1 Cor. v. 11-13.
492 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
And since these sins are often matters of notoriety,
when they are not capable of legal proof, each church
ought to have complete power to admit persons to
fellowship with themselves at the Lord's table, or to
exclude them. But the Union has destroyed the right
of the church to interfere in this matter. By 1 Edvv.
VI. cap. 1, the State has enacted that " the minister
shall not, without a lawful cause, deny the same" (the
sacrament) " to any person that shall devoutly and
humbly desire it." All parishioners, therefore, have a
statutory right to the Lord's supper unless they are
legally disqualified. According to law, a minister
may reject from the Lord's table a person whom he
can legally prove to be an open and notorious evil
liver, or one in whom malice and envy reign ; but if
he is not prepared with his legal proof, the State gives
each parishioner whom he excludes from the table the
right of sueing him in a court of law. He may reject
a pious man who scruples to be confirmed by the
bishop, or who thinks it superstitious to kneel at the
table, or who denies the supremacy of the Crown, or
who condemns any part of the prayer-book ; but he
must not reject one who frequents the ball-room and
the theatre, runs into debt, eats and drinks to excess,
and is a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God.
Thus the law of the Establishment compels him to
exclude many of the disciples of Christ from his table
and to admit to it many of his enemies ; whereby the
guests become a miscellaneous assemblage, from whom
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 493
some pious persons have thought it to be their duty
to withdraw, that they might seek elsewhere the com-
munion of saints. The gathering of guests at the
table of Christ is determined by Parliament, not by
the invitations of the Master. Warned off by canons,
which have been sanctioned by the Crown, but are
disowned by Christ, his guests are excluded from his
feast ; and, armed by an act of Parliament which is
likewise disowned by Christ, his enemies force their
way to it. The sacred supper, which ought to gather
round it none but brethren, lies almost as open to all
sorts of comers as a theatre or a ball-room. Where
two or three of his disciples meet in his name, there is
he presiding over them and blessing them (Matthew,
xviii. 20) ; but as to these miscellaneous collections,
from which the world has thrust out many of his
disciples, and into which it has forced many of its
devotees, is he there ? The churches ought to keep
the guests of Christ's table select ; but their rights are
trampled under feet. Christ's ministers ought not to
allow his table to be thus invaded ; but they are com-
pelled to be the administrators of the State law, which
sanctions the invasion.
[in.] Burial. The time when friends commit to
the grave the remains of one departed is so solemn
that a minister ought to improve it to the utmost for
the benefit of the survivors. Then, especially, when
their hearts are softened to receive instruction, should
he explain clearly the nature of true religion, enforce
494 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
its importance, guard them against self-deception, and
leave them in no doubt of the characters to which the
scripture assigns a happy and a miserable doom re-
spectively. Such being the nature of the occasion, the
State, by the Act of Uniformity, has ordered that the
parish minister should use over each body which he
commits to the grave these words : " It hath pleased
Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself
the soul of our dear brother here departed." " Al-
mighty God, ... we give thee hearty thanks for that
it hath pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of
the miseries of this sinful world." No man could use
these words over an unregenerate and unpardoned
sinner who has gone to the judgment-seat to give
account for his unrepented rejection of Christ, whose
soul is lost, and who is shut up among the damned for
ever, knowing all this of the dead man, without awful
falsehood and cold-blooded cruelty to survivors. Now
many persons in every parish so live and die that the
minister has much more reason for fear than for hope
respecting them. Their lives were ungodly, their last
hours afforded no indication of a change of heart, the
minister has reason to believe that they are lost. Over
the corpse of one of these to declare that God has
taken to himself the soul of a dear brother, when there
is ample proof that God has banished from him the
soul of an enemy ; to bless God for delivering a bro-
ther from the miseries of this life, when death has too
probably consigned an unbeliever to the miseries of
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 495
hell, would involve some measure of falsehood and of
cruelty. A minister ought not to make these decla-
rations over those whom he has reason to think died
unbelieving and unpardoned ; but he must make
them. He owes it to truth and charity to refuse ;
but canon 68 enacts, "No minister shall refuse . . .
to bury any corpse that is brought to the church . . .
in such manner and form as is prescribed in the book
of common prayer; and if he shall refuse to bury
(except the party deceased were denounced, excom-
municated majori excommunicatione, for some grievous
and notorious crime, and no man able to testify his
repentance,) he shall be suspended by the bishop of
the diocese from his ministry by the space of three
months." If he makes these declarations, he either
leads ungodly survivors to suppose that he thinks the
dead man to be safe, or that he uses words contrary
to his convictions that he may keep his place ; if he
refuse to make them, he must be suspended for three
months. The consequence is, that these words are
used over all the ungodly myriads of our country who
die in profound ignorance, in complete unbelief, and
in utter impenitence, leaving survivors to follow their
fatal courses with a hope that they too will, at their
departure, be blessed by God and be honoured by
the church. An evangelical minister tells his congre-
gation from the pulpit that unless they be born again
they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and so
describes true religion that it is evident the great
496 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
majority are not truly religious ; and although no ap-
parent change occurs in many of them to the time of
their death, he then says of them all that they are his
dear brethren whom God has taken to himself out of
the miseries of the world. Our Lord and Saviour
has made the following solemn declaration : " Enter
ye in at the strait (/ate ; for wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat ; because strait is the gate and
narrow is the way which leadeth unto tife, and few
there be that find it." 1 Recognising the authority of
these statements, Anglican ministers on the brink of
each open grave declare the road to heaven to be so
broad that the whole nation get into it before they
die. In their pulpits they teach that "many are
called, but few are chosen "~ but in their churchyards
they virtually declare the whole parish, including the
drunken and the dissolute, to be chosen. Their creed
is, that " if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
he must be anathema maranatha" 3 and their pro-
clamation over all their dead parishioners who gave no
sign of love to the Lord Jesus Christ to their last
moment, is, that they are gone to God and glory.
The Performance of Ministerial Acts without
Authority. Another class of offences punishable by
ecclesiastical law comprehends all those ministerial
acts for which a pastor has not received ecclesiastical
authority.
1 Matt. vii. 13, 14. 2 Matt. xxii. 14. 3 1 Cor. xvi. 22.
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 497
There are two ecclesiastical offences peculiar to a
deacon. The first is the consecration of the bread
and wine in the Lord's supper. The Anglican priest
at the administration of the Lord's supper reads a
" prayer of consecration," and is directed to lay his
hand upon the bread and upon the cup ; now if a
deacon were to do this he would be guilty of an
ecclesiastical offence. This act is made penal by the
13th and 14th Charles II., cap. 4, which enacts as
follows : " No person shall presume to consecrate the
sacrament of the Lord's supper before such time as
he shall be ordained priest." 1 The second diaconal
offence is pronouncing absolution. When a deacon is
ordained priest, the bishop says to him, " Receive the
Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest . . .
Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven."
Hence when he visits a sick man, and the sick man
makes confession of his sins, the prayer-book directs
as folio ws : " The priest shall absolve him (if he
humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort : ' Our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church
to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in
him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences ;
and by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee
from all thy sins,' " &c. But should the deacon thus
absolve any one after a similar confession, he would
commit an ecclesiastical offence. This is laid down
by Dr. Burn in the following terms : " The deacon
1 Burn, vol. iii. p. 58.
K K
498 INFLUENCE OP THE UNION UPON THINGS.
may perform all other offices in the liturgy which a
priest can do, except only consecrating the sacrament
of the Lord's supper, and except also pronouncing-
the absolution . . . That the priest only, and not the
deacon, hath power to pronounce the absolution,
scemeth most evidently to be deduced from the acts
of ordination." 1 The deacon may instruct the igno-
rant, argue with the infidel, reclaim the backsliding,
console the dying, preach to the congregation, admi-
nister the bread and wine at the Lord's table, reprove,
rebuke, and exhort, and in the office of a pastor " feed
the flock of God," but if he consecrate the bread and
wine, or pronounce the absolution, he is liable to cen-
sure for his presumption.
Another ecclesiastical offence, which may be com-
mitted by an Anglican pastor, is preaching without
icen se. It is true, that every one who is, according to
the ordination service, " moved by the Holy Ghost,"
and " called according to the will of our Lord Jesus
Christ," to become a minister, is bound by our Lord's
commission, as far as he can, " to preach the Gospel
to every creature;" but the canons have determined
that he must have the license of the bishop as well as
a commission from Christ, a call from the Holy Spirit,
and regular ordination. If a careless incumbent preach
once on each Sunday, though his sermons be mere
moral essays in which the saving doctrines of the
Gospel find no place if he read other men's sermons
1 Burn, vol. iii. pp. 59, 60.
DISCIPLINE OP THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 499
as being himself unable to compose, no authority in
the Establishment can molest him ; but if a minister
be zealous, and seeing parishes round him in which
the people are rude and vicious, and in which the
Gospel is not faithfully preached, should pass the
bounds of his parish to preach Christ to them, al-
though he might preach with all the wisdom of Paul,
and hundreds might be converted by his ministry, yet
if lie should do this without the license of the bishop,
he would be liable to punishment. 1 Thus Mr. Keith,
minister of May-fair chapel, a chapel-of-ease to St.
George's, Hanover Square, officiating without license,
was excommunicated in the court of the bishop of
London, reported to Chancery, and the writ c/e cx-
communicato caplcndo issued against him. 2
But if he could get the bishop's license to preach
in the neglected parishes round him, any zealous
minister would be legally stopped by the ungodly
incumbents. 3
The result of these laws is, that multitudes live
and die without hearing the Gospel preached to them ;
unfaithful pastors are upheld in their indolence and
false doctrine ; pious ministers, restrained in their
zeal, grow lethargic in the routine of their duties in
very small villages ; and whereas the Gospel ought
to be " preached to every creature," and there are
enough of evangelical ministers to accomplish this
1 Burn, vol. i. p. 30G b . 2 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 188. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 30G.
500 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
command, the command of Christ is made of none-
effect by our traditions. (Matt. xv. 3-G.)
But the state of an incumbent is perfect liberty
compared with the thraldom to which our church dis-
cipline, at once so relaxed and so tyrannical, has
doomed curates. Uncharged with the commission of a
single oifence, untainted with error, and unblemished
in life, an experienced, able, and faithful minister of
Christ may be driven from any diocese by the tyranny
of the license system, without defence, without trial,
without appeal, without the right of complaint, as
though he had been convicted of the worst errors, or
had been disgraced by notorious crimes. As the con-
sequence of this state of the law, Mr. Kyle was lately
refused a license by Archbishop Whateley for mani-
festing his kindness to his Christian brethren, accord-
ing to Christ's command, by joining the Evangelical
Alliance ; and the archbishop declared his determi-
nation to withdraw his license from any curate who
should join it. When a curate is thus dismissed from
a diocese, he is in danger of utter ruin. For the
forty-eighth canon enacts as follows: "Curates and
ministers, if they remove from one diocese to another,
shall not be by any means admitted to serve without
testimony of the bishop of the diocese whence they
came, in writing, of their honesty, ability, and con-
formity to the ecclesiastical laws of the Church of
England." The practice founded on this canon is
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES, 501
for each bishop to demand from any minister who
requests his license a testimonial from the bishop of
the diocese in which he last served. This wanting
he must be rejected, and therefore, unless an ejected
curate obtains a living, his dismissal from a diocese is
nearly equivalent to an ejectment from the Anglican
Church. 1
It may be supposed by some, that those who feel
their conscience to be wounded by the demands of
the Establishment, their /eal to be checked by its re-
strictions, and their liberty to be oppressed by pre-
Jatic power, may withdraw to exercise their ministry
in other denominations. But not to mention the
.general notion that episcopacy is of divine origin,
which Avould hinder some from seceding, and the
inveterate fancy that dissent from the Established
Church is schism, which would hinder others, not to
speak of the disruption of pleasant friendships and of
the violence done to cherished tastes, which are often
involved in a separation from the Establishment, it is
forbidden by canon, to every Anglican minister, ever
to exercise his ministry in another denomination. In
the eye of " the Church," all dissenting churches are
companies of schismatics, and their ministers are lay-
men living in schism. To become a dissenting min-
ister is, therefore, according to our ecclesiastical law,
to relinquish the ministry, and become a layman,
1 Driven from the diocese of Dublin, Mr. Kyle found no ark of safety
from the prelatic storin within Ireland, and has gone to Jersey.
502 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
in a state of schism. And this is forbidden by the
seventy-sixth canon. The effect has been recently
proved in the case of Mr. Shore, the excellent minister
of a congregation at Bridgetown near Totnes. A new
incumbent having taken possession of the living of
Bury Pomeroy, in which Bridgetown is situated, in-
formed Mr. Shore, whose evangelical principles he did
not like, that he (Mr. Shore) required, in consequence
of the new incumbency, to have a new nomination to
be minister of the congregation of Bridgetown, which
he meant to withhold. The new incumbent refusing
to nominate, and the bishop of Exeter withdrawing his
license, Mr. Shore was about to be forcibly separated
from an attached congregation, to which he had been
for some years a faithful and blameless pastor. Rather
than desert the church over which the Holy Ghost
had made him overseer, and where he had received
many seals to his ministry, he registered his chapel
as a dissenting place of worship, and continued to be
the pastor of the flock as a dissenter. For this he
was cited into the court of Arches, which decided
that he could not divest himself of the character of
a minister of the Church of England, nor therefore
officiate without a license. The privy council to which
he appealed confirmed the sentence of the court of
Arches ; when he petitioned the House of Lords,
that House disregarded his petition ; and eventually
he was admonished by the court of Arches not to
officiate within the province of Canterbury ; he was
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 503
warned that if he disregarded the sentence of the
court he must expect severer treatment ; and was
condemned in his poverty to pay the whole costs of
the proceedings, of which his own share had already
been above seven hundred pounds, about one thou-
sand pounds more being now imposed upon him.
He has continued to preach, and it remains to see
what further severity the bishop means to use. 1
But that which, under this head of discipline,
seems to me most to condemn the Union of the An-
glican Churches with the State, is the easy indepen-
dence, the total impunity, the absolute freedom from
all ecclesiastical censure, with which numbers of An-
glican pastors are living in a manner which in any
free churches would be considered to unfit them for
the pastoral office. Some have no acquaintance with
the doctrines of the Gospel; some add to false doctrine
the Anglo-Catholic practices which are leading their
congregations towards Romanism ; some betoken a
worldly and covetous spirit by actions for the recovery
of their dues and frequent contention with their pa-
rishioners ; some are pursuing the pleasures of lite-
rature to the almost total neglect of theology ; some
spend hours and days in shooting ; others waste more
1 The following is extracted from the " Leeds Mercury " of December
30th :
" THK RF.V. J. SHORK We copy the following from the 'Plymouth
and Devonport Journal :' ' A correspondent at Totnes says a warrant has been
issued for the apprehension of the Rev. J. Shore for contempt of court, and
for the costs incurred by the harsh persecution of the bishop of Exeter.' "
504 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
time and more money in hunting; the names of many
appear in the lists of attendants at balls and races;
and others read to their congregations the sermons of
others, copied from books or bought in manuscript; 1
1 A friend of mine lately heard a sermon of Robert Hall's, interlarded
with a few high- church expressions, preached in the parish-church at Hythe.
I am acquainted with a person who not long ago told me that he was getting
his livelihood by writing twelve sermons weekly for clerical correspondents.
A clergyman, with whom I am acquainted, once told me that lie had never
written a sermon, and could not write one. I counted lately 150 volumes
of second-rate and third-rate sermons in a clergyman's library, containing
altogether about 300 volumes. And the following advertisements appeared
lately in the " Record :"
" MANUSCRIPT SERMONS. The minister of a large congregation in
London is willing to SUPPLY another clergyman from his stock of original
SERMONS, or to compose sermons on given texts and occasions. Cor-
respondence confidential.
" For a specimen sermon and terms, address to D. E., Post-Office,
Goswell Street Road, London."
" MANUSCRIPT SERMONS.
" To CLERGYMEN who, from ill health, or other causes, are prevented
from composing their own sermons, the advertiser offers his services on mode-
rate terms. Original sermons composed on any given texts or subjects.
N.B. A specimen sent if required.
" Address L. S. W., Post-Office, Winchester."
And the following notices, among others, appear in Mr. Richard Baynes's
Catalogue for 1847 :
"A GENUINE SET OF ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT SERMONS, 50 in number,
(plainly written), for every Sunday and principal Festival in the year. These
Sermons are orthodox in doctrine, practical in their subjects, lucid in their
style, and have all been written within the last twelve months. Price 30/.
" A COLLECTION OF ORIGINALS, moderately doctrinal, and strongly
practical, written by a Retired Clergyman, for a Church of England Pulpit,
on several occasions. Quite modern. Price 41. per dozen.
"A SERIES OF ORIGINALS, BY ANOTHER CLERGYMAN, similar to the
above, at the same price per dozen.
" SIXTY ORIGINAL SERMONS, by a CLERGYMAN, Lithographic, in per-
fect accordance with the Doctrinal Articles of the Church, including those on
different days of the Church of England. These are little known, only a few
on sale. Price of the Sixty, 21. 15*.
"TWENTY DITTO, by the same CLERGYMAN, Lithographic, on the Prin-
cipal Festivals of the Church. Price of the Twenty, 15*.
' ' The above two Collections, comprising 80 Sermons, are a valuable series
for Divines moderately Evangelical."
DISCIPLINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 505
and after going through the minimum of official duty
required by the State, spend the rest of their time in
the most trivial employments. All these remain in
their neglect unmolested. Their churches have no
legal right to complain, the bishops can do nothing
but enforce the law, the requirements of which they
fulfil, and under the wing of the State they can defy
interference.
To any one who considers for what purposes Christ
has instituted the pastoral office, and what results
flow from a faithful ministry, it is melancholy in the
highest degree to reflect how this Union of the Church
with the State authorises the blind to lead the blind,
the dead to be bishops of the dead. Ought they who
see the enormous evil to perpetuate it by remaining
within the Establishment ? Patronage will ever intro-
duce multitudes into the ministry, for the sake of liv-
ings, who have neither talent nor taste for it, without
piety and without knowledge ; and the State, protect-
ing them from the just consequences of their ineffi-
ciency, will ever leave them at full liberty to preach
other men's sermons, neglect all pastoral labour, and
indulge in discreditable indolence, provided that they
baptise every child, and bury every corpse, pronounce
the prayer-book to be altogether scriptural, and do
not violate the canons by friendship towards pious
dissenters.
506 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
SECTION VI. The Influence of the Union on tlte Evan-
gelization of ike Country.
We have seen what reason there is to fear that
thousands of incumbents are unconverted men who
entered the ministry from worldly considerations, who
do not understand the Gospel, who dislike the evan-
gelical ministers of their neighbourhood, who support
no evangelical institutions, who indulge in worldly
amusements, who neglect their parishes, and over
whom neither the Government nor the bishops exercise
any effectual superintendence. Their parishes, for the
most part, remain profoundly ignorant of the Gospel.
The population of England is likewise increasing at
the rate of about 200,000 annually ; and as agriculture
cannot iind employment for many more than those who
are already engaged in it, these new myriads find their
way chiefly to the cities, where the pastors of all de-
nominations being already too few, they must be con-
sidered as adding to the population which is destitute
of religious instruction. To all these untaught mil-
lions, both in villages and in cities, the Gospel ought
to be preached ; it is necessary for their welfare.
Here let me beg the reader solemnly to consider
the import of the following passages of the word of
God:
RUIN OF THE UNGODLY. " The carnal mind is
enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of
EVANGELIZATION OF THE COUNTRY.
God, neither indeed can be. . . . You hath lie quick-
ened who were dead in trespasses and sins. . . . Ye
were the servants of sin. . . . Except a man Ite born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . We were
by nature the children of wrath even as others. . . . As
many as arc of the works of the law are under the
curse ; for it is written, Cursed is cccry one that con-
tinueth not in alt things which arc written in the book of
the taiv to do them. . . . All have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God. . . . The icages of sin is death"
SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH. " God so
loved the world, that he gave his only -begotten Son, that
whosoever belicvcth in him might not perish, but have
everlasting life. . . . He that believelh on the Son hath
everlasting life. . . . lie that believelh and is baptised
shall be saved. . . . By him all that believe arc justi-
fied from all things. . . . This is life eternal, to know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. . . . I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
THE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED. " Go ye into all
the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. . . .
They went- forth and preached every where, the Lord
working with them. . . . / am debtor both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise ;
so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel
to you that are at Home also. . . . Necessity is laid
upon me ; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the
508 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Gospel! . . . The Holy Ghost icitnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Rut none
of these things move me, neither count I mi/ life dear
wito myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,
and the ministry which I have received of the Lord
Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God. . . .
They called them, and commanded them not to sjjeak at
all nor leach in the name of Jesus. Rut Peter and
John answered and said to them, Whether it be right in
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto
God, judye ye: for we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard. . . . And when they
had called the apostles, and beaten them, they com-
manded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus,
and let them go. And they departed from the presence
of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple,
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach
Jesus Christ. . . . And at that time there was a great
persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem ;
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every
where preaching the ivord"
THE EFFECTS OF PREACHING. "Now they which
were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose
about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus,
andAntioch, preaching the word. And the hand of the
EVANGELIZATION OF THE COUNTRY. 509
Lord was with them, and a great number believed and
turned to the Lord." 1
These passages clearly show the danger and ruin
of those who are ignorant of Christ ; the value of the
Gospel ; that it is the express will of Christ it should
be preached to every creature ; that the apostles and
first Christians preached Christ every where, and
would allow no authority to hinder them; and that
God blessed their labour to the conversion of sinners.
With these passages of scripture in view, it cannot be
doubted that the disciples of Christ in England are
bound to make him known to all in the country who,
being ignorant of the way of salvation, are willing to
listen. To obey this command of Christ, to accom-
plish this work of charity, to proclaim salvation by
grace through faith to every one in the country willing
to listen, is quite within their reach.
Out of sixteen thousand ministers of the Esta-
blishment, if three thousand are evangelical and ear-
nest men, these three thousand, by a well-organised
home mission, could bring the Gospel to almost the
whole country. The parishes of England and AVales
are not twelve thousand ; and how easy it would be
for each evangelical minister to preach once in each
month to each of three parishes contiguous to his
own ! Assuming, then, that there are three thousand
1 Rom. viii. 7; Epli. ii. 1; Rom. vi. 1"; John, iii. 3; Eph. ii. 3 ;
Gal. iii. 10 ; Rom. iii. 23 ; vi. 23 ; John, iii. 1C, 36 ; Mark, xvi. 16 ; Acts,
xiii. 39; John, xvii. 3; Phil. iii. 8 ; Mark, xvi. 15, 20 ; Rom. i. 14, 15 ;
1 Cor. ix. 16 ; Acts, xx. 23, 24 ; iv. 18-20 ; v. 40-42 ; viii. 1,4; xi. 19-21.
510 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
evangelical ministers in the Establishment, these
might easily preach the Gospel monthly in nine thou-
sand parishes besides their own. Such extra official
efforts would prove new life to their own congrega-
tions ; and each church, emulating the earnestness of
its pastor, would become a centre of evangelisation to
all its neighbourhood. What the evangelical church
of Lyons has done of late years under its pious pastors,
enlightening and blessing many neighbouring villages,
the three thousand Anglican Churches, with evangelical
pastors, could do likewise. Were good men unfet-
tered, there are enough of them in the Establishment
to make the Gospel known throughout the land to
every one willing to listen.
But much more than this could be done at once.
Besides three thousand evangelical pastors of Anglican
Churches, there are about six thousand evangelical
pastors of free churches, who are generally better
fitted than their Anglican brethren to address the
poor, by the popular habits to which the organisation
of the free churches has formed them. All these,
by the law of Christ, ought to be one in heart and
action (John, xvii. 20, 21). All ought to receive one
another to their hearts and houses, as Christ has re-
ceived them (Rom. xv. 7; xiv. 1). All ought to be
of one heart and of one soul (Acts, iv. 32). All
ought to aid each other in the warfare of the church
of Christ with the unbelief of the Avorld (Phil. i.
27). Imagine these nine thousand ministers of Christ
EVANGELIZATION OF THE COUNTRY. 511
heartily combined to do their utmost for the spiritual
welfare of the sixteen millions of their countrymen ; to
hold frequent meetings for consultation and prayer;
to preach in each other's pulpits ; to establish the
stated preaching of the Gospel in every parish of the
land ; to hold together Evangelical Alliance meetings ;
to manifest to the churches and to the world the unity
of Christ's followers in place of a corrupt dead uni-
formity ; and to urge all their flocks to united bene-
volent exertion for the welfare of their several neigh-
bourhoods : these efforts would, with the aid of the
Holy Spirit, which is never withheld from earnest
and prayerful exertion, occasion a vast revival of reli-
gion in the whole country. But if they could do
this, they are bound to do it ; for " to Mm that
knowcth to do good and doctk it not, to Mm it is sin" 1
Like St. Paul, we are debtors to do all the good in
the world which we can do. 2
But the Union forbids these evangelical exertions,
and thus perpetuates the ignorance of millions. It
has secured the ordination of many ungodly ministers,
it maintains them unmolested in their ungodliness,
and excludes the Gospel from their parishes. The
union of Christians to evangelize the country is pro-
hibited, the union of the churches with the world
is upheld. Christians ought to be acting together for
Christ and his cause ; but Anglican ministers, while
they fraternise Avith his enemies at visitations and
1 James, iv. 17. 2 Rom. i. 14, 15.
512 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
elsewhere, too often regard the pious pastors of free
churches, Independent, Baptist, and Wesleyan, as
schismatic intruders. Schism is called unity, and
unity stigmatised as schism. The evangelists, who
most reach the spiritual wants of the poor, and without
whom the moral darkness of the land would be deeper
and deadlier still, are represented as noxious; and
even earnest Anglicans are afraid to countenance and
own them. The force of combined action is worse
than lost, and the ministers of Christ spend their time
in neutralising each other's efforts. Combined, they
would evangelize the country; but the Union has
effectually enfeebled both, first, by forcing its ser-
vants into schismatic separation from their brethren,
and then by discountenancing the separate efforts of
nonconformist ministers and churches.
Having thus erected insurmountable barriers to
the united efforts of Christians, the next work of the
State Union is to prevent the separate efforts of zealous
Anglicans to evangelize the country. No minister
may preach in any church or chapel in any parish
without the license of the bishop and the consent of
the incumbent ; and lest, with the bishop's consent,
he should collect the people in these benighted
parishes into a schoolroom, barn, or cottage, to hear
the Gospel, the seventy-first canon ordains, " that no
minister shall preach in any private house" on pain
of suspension for the first offence, and excommuni-
cation for the second.
EVANGELIZATION OF THE COUNTRY. 513
These laws have done their work. Not a single
effort is made by the pious ministers of the Establish-
ment to preach the Gospel extensively to their coun-
trymen. As 6681 parishes have less than 300 souls
in each, robust and educated men spend their ener-
gies upon 200 or 300 villagers, with whom even,
as their parishioners are labouring on the farms all
day, they have little pastoral intercourse ; and leave
thousands around them in the deepest ignorance of
the Gospel. Not one generous irregularity breaks
the deadly calm; not one complaint even interrupts
the silence. The parochial system has buried all in
slumber, and in view of dying myriads, each minister
of the Establishment seems to have adopted the
defence of Cain, " Am I my brother's keeper?"
Qnce, indeed, in our day, a faithful effort has
been made in connection with the established church
to invade the regions of death. A home missionary
society was organised in Ireland, which, including
among its supporters the best ministers in the country,
was from the first eminently successful. Station was
added to station, circuit to circuit, and one minister
after another joined the zealous fraternity till the
mission covered nearly the whole of the island. Each
parish heard with astonishment the doctrines of grace
preached, not by some ignorant fanatic, but by the
most able and accomplished ministers of the Esta-
blishment successively. Protestants flocked to hear,
Roman Catholics began to inquire, thousands heard
L L
514 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the Gospel who had never heard it before. On no
single effort of Protestant zeal in Ireland did the
o
divine blessing more manifestly rest ; and every year
the prospect was brightening, when an enemy de-
termined to arrest its progress. The indolent and
worldly clergy were vexed and humbled when they
saw with what zeal the associated ministers were
preaching, and with what eagerness the people flocked
to hear them. An action was brought against one of
the missionary preachers for officiating in a parish
without the consent of the incumbent, and the
preacher was condemned. From that time the oppo-
sition of the Irish prelates to the scheme was more
decided, and at length this most influential method
of reviving piety amongst the Protestants, and of
attracting Roman Catholics to the Gospel, was re-
nounced as uncanonical and irregular. By that judg-
ment the question has been set at rest. Unconverted
and worldlv ministers in the Establishment are now
w
secure from the intrusion of Anglican evangelists into
their moral deserts, prejudices fostered by a State
church hinder multitudes from listening to dissenters,
and the Gospel is excluded from thousands of
parishes wherein it might easily be preached. Do
not the pious men who, by adhering to the Esta-
blishment uphold this system, seem responsible for
the consequences?
UPON THE UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 515
SECTION VII. Influence of the Union upon the Union
of Christians.
Of the numerous disciples of Christ, regenerated
by the Spirit, justified by faith, and living in obedi-
ence to the commands of Christ in the British islands,
many are to be found in the established churches of
England and Ireland, and a much greater number in
the free churches, in the Independent, Baptist, Wes-
leyan, and Presbyterian churches of England, in the
Presbyterian and other free churches of Scotland and
Ireland. All these are bound by many obligations to
be united in heart and in effort for the promotion of
the kingdom of Christ. They are sheep of the flock
of Christ, they are fellow-servants in his household,
they are fellow-soldiers in his army, they are members
of his body, they are brethren of the family of God.
And if they are divided and quarrelsome, it is as unna-
tural and disgraceful as if the sheep of the same flock,
the servants in the same household, the soldiers in the
same army, the members of the same body, and the
brothers of the same family, should be enemies to one
another. The reasons for their Union are many and
obvious. They are children of one Parent who loves
them all, and who wishes them to be united : they are
the servants of one Saviour, who has redeemed them
all by his blood, and who would be dishonoured and
grieved by their disunion. They maintain the same
516 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
great truths, they obey the same authority ; they are
seeking alike to glorify God and to save souls ; they
all, and they alone, honour Christ by their lives ; they
are all sanctified by the same Spirit, have embraced the
noblest principles, and are adorned with the greatest
social virtues. They are all labouring to serve their
fellow-creatures, they are opposing with similar zeal
the vice and the ungodliness of the world. God will
welcome them all as his adopted children to heaven,
and they will spend eternity together in the exercise
of perfect affection towards each other. The truths
on which they agree are incomparably greater than
those on Avhich they differ ; their common interests
are much more important than their rival interests ;
their own welfare, and the welfare of the world, is
essentially connected with their union, and their
union is so important that the Lord Jesus Christ and
his apostles have declared it to be a mark of disciple-
ship to him, a prelude to the world's belief, and there-
fore their necessary duty. Let us listen to his words
and theirs : " A nciv commandment I give unto you,
tliat ye love one another ; as I have loved you that ye
also love one another. By this shall all men knoiv that
ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another. 1 . . .
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also-
which shall believe on me through their word ; that they
all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in its ; THAT THE WORLI>
1 John, xiii. 34, 35.
UPON THE UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 517
MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU HAST SENT ME. 1 . . . Him that
is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful dispu-
tations"- . . . Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ
also received us to the glory of God? . . . Noiv, I beseech
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and
offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have teamed ;
and avoid them* . . . Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." 1 ' Whatever, there-
fore, hinders this Union and encourages schism, both
corrupts the churches and prevents the progress of
religion in the world.
But either the Union of the Anglican Churches
with the State, that is, with the world, must be dis-
continued, or their union with other churches must
remain impossible.
By the canons of the Establishment, r the living law
by which its pastors are governed, and to which the
judicial decisions of its prelates and ecclesiastical
judges must be conformed, all the Independent, Bap-
tist, Wesleyan, and Presbyterian churches, and their
ministers, with all who own them to be true churches,
and their ministers true ministers, are excommu-
nicated. 6 They are shut out from the company of
Christians as heathens and publicans, with whom
Christians ought to hold no fellowship, and who are
to be excluded from the Lord's supper. Episcopal
charges are often in harmony with these canons, con-
1 John, xvii. 20, 21. * Rom. xlv. 1. 3 Rom. xv. 7.
4 Rom. xvi. 17. & Eph. vi. 24. See Canons, 9-12, 27.
518 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
denming the purest churches, the most zealous
Christians, and the most devoted ministers of this
country, as schismatics, with whom the clergy should
have little association. What may be expected from
proud and worldly-minded men when one of the
most eminent of our evangelical bishops has thus
written in his latest charge ? " Much less is our
church a sectarian body, as some would call it ; that
is, a small number of persons who have cut themselves
off from the mass of Christians by certain peculi-
arities ; but the national church of the Government,
nobles, and people, of our religious country at home
and abroad. . . . Walk in charity and holy Avisdom
towards the different bodies of Christians not of our
own church. The less toe are drawn into either fami-
liarity or controversy with either of them the better."
The Apostle Paul says to us, " Him that is weak in
the faith receive ye (TgoatMppKvzfffa 1 ) ;" " Receive
ye one another ( i 7rooa'kcz,p>fiavzaQ& aTO^kovg) openly to
friendship and familiarity." But it seems to this
excellent bishop " holy wisdom" to avoid all such
familiarity. Can this be a wisdom which " descendeth
from above" (James, iii. 15)? What may we not
look for from weak and pompous incumbents when
one of the most able and pious of our Anglican mi-
1 Heoir^aftfavu, in the middle voice, is to take to oneself, as a helper or
partner. Generally, in the New Testament, it expresses open and manifest
association with another, and not any mere feeling. (Acts, xvii. 5 ; xviii. 26 ;
xxviii. 2 ; Philem. 12, 17, &c.) This open, generous fellowship with all our
Christian brethren Paul enjoins, and the good bishop forbids.
UPON THE UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 519
nisters has lately written thus when assigning some
reasons why he would not join the Evangelical Alli-
ance ? " Speaking for myself, I feel myself pledged
most willingly to the Episcopal established church
of England, and I can do nothing which merges that
church as one of many coequal sects in. England" To
associate with dissenters in the Evangelical Alliance
places the ministers and members of the Establishment
on an equality with the ministers and members of the
free churches ; and this is what this excellent minister
cannot do. Notwithstanding his dissent, the Esta-
blishment is only one among various coequal sects in
England ; its pious members are bound by apostolic
precept to receive the members of other churches as
brethren, that is, their equals in the Lord ; but then,
because it is established, that is, because it is united
with the world, paid honoured and nattered by the
world, this excellent minister cannot so recognise th^in.
With him, therefore, the Union is clearly the great
hindrance to brotherhood. Were there no pretensions
of an Establishment to be maintained, he would as-
sociate with the good and the wise of other denomina-
tions ; but the supremacy of the Establishment must
not be endangered, and for its sake he must shun their
society. It is precisely when his disciples are dis-
honoured and depressed that the Lord Jesus Christ
calls all who are not so troubled to own, honour, and
help them. 1 Exactly because the brethren of Christ
1 Let the reader consider attentively Matt. xxv. 31-46.
520 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
in dissenting churches are not honoured by the State,
should their Anglican brethren manifest all brotherly
kindness towards them ; but the Union so inflates
the mind, and so warps the judgment, of even good
and able men in the Establishment, that they think
it their duty to augment and to perpetuate their
depression.
Answerable to these canons and maxims is, un-
happily, the usual practice of the Establishment. No
young dissenter, however great his abilities, however
rare his attainments, and however estimable his
character, can take a degree at either Cambridge or
Oxford. No minister of a dissenting church, however
eloquent, wise, or holy, can be admitted to an An-
glican pulpit. The most consistent members of un-
established churches are excluded from the table of
their Lord, against his wishes, when Anglicans
assemble at it. Even when they meet to celebrate
the love of the Redeemer to his whole family, Angli-
cans exclude his beloved friends from his own table.
Let a Roman Catholic priest, who has spent his life
in misleading the people by superstitious doctrines
and practices which he did not believe, renounce
communion with the Church of Rome, though with
an unconverted heart, as poor Blanco White, and he
is recognised at once as a minister of the Establish-
ment; but the most devoted ministers of Christ in
England, Scotland, or Ireland, whose talents and
virtues are an honour to their country, who have been
UPON THE UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 521
regularly ordained as pastors in their own denomina-
tion, and upon whose ministry God has set the seal
of his approbation by the conversion of hundreds, if
they are nonconformists, must be reordained by the
hands of a prelate, or the ecclesiastical law will still
account them intrusive laymen, and will sternly deny
them, even as conformists and Anglicans, the right of
preaching to the people.
The more private intercourse of Anglicans with
their brethren of free churches becomes, under these
circumstances, exceedingly restricted. Few of the
clergy will sit on the same committee with dissenters.
Few join the Bible Society or the Tract Society ; and
fewer still the London City Mission or the Evan-
gelical Alliance, although the tokens of the blessing
of God have been abundant in the history of each of
these four institutions. Against the latter, evangelical
ministers and magazines have been violent and un-
fair. An archbishop has declared he will withdraw
his license from any curate who joins it ; and, under
the dread of prelates and patrons, of incumbents and
canons, nearly all the curates of the Establishment,
and all but about 300 of the incumbents, have re-
fused to offer this manifestation of brotherly kindness
to their fellow-disciples.
Friendly, social intercourse of a more domestic
character between Anglican and other pastors is
almost wholly unknown. Out of 16,000 clergy are
there sixty who are in habits of friendly association
522 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
with dissenting pastors at their own houses? In
their paradise of privilege, smiled on by parliaments
and patrons, Anglican pastors seem to say to all
others, " Between us and you there is a great gulf
fixed."
Political enmity, as might be expected, rolls in its
thundering tides to widen the gulf still more. Pre-
rogatives to be preserved make the clergy eager
political Conservatives ; while wrongs to be redressed,
and mischiefs to be abated, hurry dissenting pastors
into association with the Whigs. Both grow eager,
both dislike each other for that eagerness, and the
strife between them grows more acrimonious. The
unnatural schism, product of a Union no less unna-
tural, confirms unbelievers in their scepticism, pro-
longs the noxious existence of Roman Catholic priest-
craft, and perpetuates the world's levity and un-
godliness.
For all these mischiefs who arc chiefly responsible ?
Were the Union between the Anglican Churches and
the world dissolved, their union with other churches of
Christ would become practicable. And if evangelical
ministers so cherish their union with the world as to
make their union with their brethren impracticable,
will they not have to answer for it to God and to
posterity? And when future generations shall have
to pronounce that their virtues and wisdom lent the
adulterous Union of the church to the world its
chief support, and more than any other came pro-
UPON THE UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 523
longed the schism which rent the churches of Christ,
will not the Christians of happier days, in the un-
known future, record their conduct with deep regret ?
With shame and sorrow will the Christian historian of
those times have to speak of the Anglican Churches of
our day in the following tone :
' The Anglican Churches of that day placed them-
selves under the spiritual government of a Legislature
composed of all sorts of characters, chosen by the
world and representing the world. They were com-
manded to come out of the world and to be separate ;
they were assured that the friendship of the world is
enmity to God; they knew that they were com-
manded not to be conformed to the world, not to love
the world, because if any man love the world the love
of the Father is not in him; 1 but they voluntarily
sought the world's society, accepted the world's
bribes, allowed the world dominion over them, and
were so blended with the world that the world seemed
the church and the church the world. Their prelates
were nominees of worldly - minded statesmen, and
were often, therefore, as worldly-minded as their
patrons. These worldly prelates the churches owned
as the ambassadors of Christ, and gave them a
despotic dominion over themselves and their pastors.
The aristocracy chose their pastors, whence it hap-
pened often that worldly pastors were chosen by
worldly patrons and ordained by worldly bishops.
1 2 Cor. vi. 14, 17 ; James, iv. 4 ; Rom. xii. 2 ; 1 John, ii. 15.
524 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
In utter neglect of the qualifications of a Christian
pastor, detailed in the New Testament, they allowed
to these worldly pastors, who were themselves igno-
rant of the Gospel, such a power of excluding the
Gospel from their parishes, that no evangelical Angli-
can could ever preach to them. All the children of
the parish were admitted to baptism, all the gay and
the thoughtless who wished it came, after confirma-
tion, to the Lord's table. The discipline of each
church they committed to the care of ecclesiastical
judges appointed by the law, and to lawyers whose
acquaintance with the ecclesiastical laws afforded no
security that they either knew or loved the Gospel.
Amidst this confused and worldly mass in the Anglican
Churches the true ministers of Christ were few ; but
they justified, with a strange tenacity, the adulterous
Union of the church with the world. And because their
dissenting brethren, as wise and holy as themselves,
protested against it, they disowned them, they refused
to them their pulpits, banished them from the table
of the Lord, shut the doors of their houses against
them, and would never fight the battles of the Lord
by their side. And yet these men, so linked to the
world, so buried in the world, were Christians. They
maintained the doctrines of grace, they lived pious
lives, they were estimable and useful ministers. How
strangely may habit, interest, and prejudice, blind
even the best men to obvious duty!'
There are some noble exceptions to the general
ON THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCHES. 525
practice, but do these do all that they should ? Why
should pious churches and their pastors wait for
others to heal the schism ? let them heal it for them-
selves. Let every liberal and loyal disciple of Christ
in the Establishment own pious dissenters as brethren,
their churches as churches, their ministers as ministers
of Christ ; let them support zealously those societies
in which pious and peaceable men of various sects
work harmoniously together, especially the Evangelical
Alliance, the best testimony on behalf of the duty
of brotherly kindness to all our fellow-Christians
which has been given in our day ; let them attend
dissenting chapels, support dissenting missions, re-
ceive with them the supper of the Lord, ask them
to their houses, and claim for them admission to the
pulpits of the established churches : then they will
fulfil the command of Christ by his apostle, "JRe-
ceive ye one another, as Christ also received m, to the
glory of God''
SECTION VIII. Influence of the Union on the Reform-
ation of the Churches.
When churches discover that they have fallen into
error and sin, they ought at once to. repent and
reform themselves. To each church within the Es-
tablishment, and to its pastor, does our Lord still
speak by his epistles to the churches of Asia Minor
thus : " / have somewhat against thce, because thou
526 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from
whence thou art fallen, and do the first works ; or
else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove
thy candlestick out of his place, EXCEPT THOU REPENT.
. . . I have afeiv things against thee because thou hast
there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. . . .
REPENT, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will
fight against them with the sword of my mouth. . . .
Be watcliful, and strengthen the things which remain^
that are ready to die ; for I have not found thy works
perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou
hast received and heard, and HOLD FAST AND REPENT.
If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee
as a thief. . . . Tknoio thy works that thou art neither
cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot. . . . As
many as I love I rebuke and chasten : BE ZEALOUS,
THEREFORE, AND REPENT : ... he that hath an ear
let him hear what the Sjririt saith unto the churches."
Much reformation is urgently needed throughout
the Establishment. The State should no longer
exercise any supremacy in spiritual things over the
churches, who ought in temporal things to be subject
to the queen and to the Parliament as all other
subjects are, but in spiritual things should be subject
to Christ alone. Prelates, if they continue at all,
should no longer be nominated by the Crown, nor
sit in Parliament, nor be ennobled by their episcopate,
but be simply ministers of the Gospel, chosen, as in
1 Rev. ii. 4, 5, 14, 16 ; iii. 2, 3, 15, 19, 22.
ON THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCHES. 527
the United States, by the churches and ministers over
whom they are to preside. Each church, according
to Christ's law, should nominate its own pastor.
Presbyters, independent of the bishop, should be
associated with him in the examination and ordi-
nation of ministers. A declaration of belief in the
bible as the inspired word of God, and a general
acceptance of the doctrinal articles in their plain
meaning, ought to be substituted for an insincere
and ensnaring subscription to the prayer-book. The
canons, liturgy, rubrics, and articles, should be re-
considered, and made harmonious with the word of
God. The baptismal and burial services should be
amended. The sale of livings, that is, the sale of
souls, ought to be repudiated by the churches. The
tyranny of the episcopal license ought to be abolished,
and all ministers who have been solemnly admitted
to the ministry as called to it by the Holy Ghost,
ought to have full liberty to exercise their ministry
in conformity with Christ's laws and the regulations
of the churches. Pastors who are free from church
censures ought to be permitted to preach Christ
freely in every part of the kingdom, subject, of
course, to church censure, should they in the ministry
be guilty of any offence against Christ or their
brethren. The exercise of church discipline should
again be vested in the church and its pastor, ac-
cording to apostolic usage. The administration of
528 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
baptism and the Lord's supper should be rendered
less indiscriminate. Bad members of churches ought
to be warned by the church, and, if necessary, ex-
communicated. No secular legal consequences should
follow excommunication : bad pastors should be
removable from any church by the votes of the mem-
bers. Pious dissenting pastors ought to be admitted
to Anglican pulpits, and pious dissenters to the Lord's
supper in Anglican churches. The churches should
be more separated from the world, and more united
with their fellow-Christians. To effect these objects
the Establishment ought to have the right of self-
government restored to it by the State, free from all
State control in spiritual things.
If the Establishment were an association of free
churches, these reforms might be easily effected ; but
the Union prevents their accomplishment. No au-
thority at present existing in the church can effect
them. A vast power is, indeed, lodged with the
Crown by the following terms of 1 Eliz. cap. 1,
" Any such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities, and
pre-eminences, spiritual and ecclesiastical, as by any
spiritual or ecclesiastical power or authority have
heretofore been or may lawfully be exercised or used
for the visitation of the ecclesiastical state and persons,
and for the reformation, order, and correction of the
same, and of all manner of errors, heresies, schisms,
offences, contempts, and enormities, shall for ever be
ON THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCHES. 529
united and annexed to the imperial crown of this
realm." 1 But this power is unscriptural, and could
not now be tolerated in its full exercise either by
Parliament or by the churches. Bishops neither
have, nor ought to have, such power. And that
the churches may reform themselves, some general
assembly is needed, if the Establishment is to continue,
which might examine their whole condition and legis-
late accordingly.
But such an assembly the Legislature will never
grant ; when the Convocation was prorogued in 1717
it was nullified for ever. Any revived representation
of the Establishment which should be more than a
name would raise so many hazardous questions,
would engage in such obstinate disputes, and, if
ever united, would wield a power so inconvenient
to each successive Government that no statesman
will venture to permit it. The discussions of the
Scotch assembly, their vigorous legislation, the re-
sistance of the patrons, and the apparition of the
vast Free Church rising armed from the rolling va-
pours of those stormy debates, have made our states-
men dread any similar experiment in England. Without
the assent of the queen no Convocation has any right
to assemble, and that assent will be withheld. When
met, the Convocation could not act, since without a
fresh assent no Convocation can form, a single canon ;
without a further assent no canons can be executed
1 Burn, vol. iii. p. 659.
M M
530 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
even when formed, and after the royal assent has been
fully given, canons may bind the clergy, but cannot
bind the churches till they are ratified by act of
Parliament. 1 Will Parliament ever intrust to a
Convocation this perilous business of reform?
Should the Legislature, however, give to a Con-
vocation unfettered liberty to reform the churches,
it would immediately manifest its incompetency. The
lower house of Convocation consists of twenty-two
deans, twenty-four proctors of chapters, fifty-three
archdeacons, and forty-four proctors for the parochial
clergy. There are, therefore, ninety-nine dignitaries
and representatives of cathedrals, forty-four repre-
sentatives of the clergy, and no representatives of
churches. Dignitaries are slow to reform abuses of
which their own privileges form a part. And if the
forty-four proctors who represent the clergy were
disposed to reform the Establishment, what could
they do against the ninety-nine votes pledged to
privilege? Such a Convocation would be useless,
even .if the desire of reform were general in the
country. But that desire is wanting. The bishops
are against a reform, because it would remove
their successors from the House of Lords, and by
implication condemn their own baronial dignity;
patrons are against it, because it would, perhaps,
destroy their right to enrich their families with church
property ; incumbents are against it, because it would
1 Burn, vol. ii. pp. 30, 24, 27.
ON THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCHES. 531
invade their spiritual monopoly, and make them de-
pendent on their congregations ; and the churches
care little for it, because it would, perhaps, impose on
them the burden of paying their own pastors. If
among the pastors of the Anglican Churches there
are any earnest and generous men who mourn over
the disgraceful state of these churches, they can
scarcely think of reformation with safety. Whoever
affirms that the rites of the church are superstitious
is excommunicated Avhoever declares the present
government of the Establishment to be repugnant to
the word of God is excommunicated ; whoever affirms
that the form of consecrating bishops, priests, and
deacons, containeth in it any thing repugnant to the
word of God, is excommunicated ; and those are also
excommunicated who affirm that dissenting ministers
and their adherents are churches of Christ. 1 Any
meetings of ministers to consider how they might
promote the reformation of the Establishment would
expose them to the same penalty, according to the
following enactment of the seventy-third canon : " In-
asmuch as all conventicles and secret meetings of
priests and ministers have ever been justly accounted
very hurtful to the state of the church wherein they
live, we do now ordain and constitute, that no priests
or ministers of the word of God, or any other per-
sons, shall meet together in any private house, or
elsewhere, to consult upon any matter or course to
1 Canons, 6-12.
532 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
be taken by them, or upon their motion and direction
by any other, which may any way tend to the im-
peaching or depraving of the doctrine of the Church
of England, or of the book of common prayer, or of
any part of the government and discipline now es-
tablished in the Church of England, under pain of
excommunication ipso facto. ... A man under ex-
communication can neither sue in any action nor
make his will ; and if he remain forty days without
satisfying the church, may be arrested and imprisoned
by a writ de excommunicato capiendo"^ With these
ruinous penalties before their eyes, there can be no
confidential discussions among ministers of the Es-
tablishment respecting its errors and faults, nor,
indeed, any free inquiry. Yoked to its time-worn
car, they must help to drag it on between the lofty
barriers which coniine them ; and though they see
that there is a precipice before them, they can neither
stop nor turn. Few even wish it to be reformed.
In all ages and countries the privileged classes have
duck to privilege till it was too late.
These facts account for the remarkable silence
on these matters which is maintained by all classes
in the Establishment. If the churches had been
spiritual and free, coextensive with the population of
the country, and abounding in the fruits of piety if
all its ministers had been exemplary, its temples filled
with attentive congregations, its churches all growing
1 Burn, vol. ii. pp. 245, 247, 248.
ON THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCHES. 533
in grace, there could scarcely have been a more
complete absence of self-condemnation and complaint
among the clergy than there is at present. Even the
most pious utter no remonstrance against crying evils
and avert their eyes from them. They can study
every branch of polite literature, discuss political
questions, examine unfulfilled prophecies, expose the
fallacies of Romanism, or refute the reasonings of
infidels : but that which claims their first attention,
upon which their investigations ought to be the most
earnest, their conclusions the most clear, their efforts
the most energetic, cannot evoke one expression of
opinion, or secure even superficial inquiry. Among
all the events of our own day, none have involved
more important principles, or have called forth greater
virtues, than the establishment of the Free Church of
Scotland and the persecution of the Free Church of
Vaud : but neither have excited more than a passing
and partial interest in members of the Establishment.
Few have studied their principles. Most even of the
pious Anglicans with whom I have conversed, have
condemned those churches without any examination,
or disliked them without any definite reason for their
dislike. The reasons are plain to all the world.
I have no hope, therefore, of a general reformation
originating with the Establishment. The Government
dare not attempt it. The dignitaries of the church
have neither the will nor the power requisite, and the
most pious of its members are fettered. Those per-
534 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
sons, therefore, who remain within the Establishment
support its abuses without any rational prospect of
seeing them removed. Apparently the errors and
scandals connected with the system must last as long
as the system itself ; and it becomes a serious question
for a pious man to answer, Whether he may uphold
those evils by adhering to it, for the sake of his own
ease, from consideration of the interests of his family,
or from regard to any supposed expediency what-
soever ?
The only remedy within reach is for each church
and pastor, who see these evils, to do their duty by
reforming themselves without waiting for others.
Those who "tremble at the word of God" 1 ought
solemnly, as in his presence, to consider their duty in
this matter. " Let every man be fully persuaded in
his own mind. . . . Happy is he that condcmnetli not
himself in that tiling which he attoweth. . . . For
whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 2 Let each keep a
good conscience, and do what he believes the Judge
will at the last day approve. Each church can refuse
to receive any longer a salary from the Government
for its pastor, and can pay the salary itself. It can,
therefore, nominate its own pastor. It can dismiss
an ungodly pastor, and choose a pious pastor instead.
It can resume, according to Christ's law, the exercise
of discipline. It can separate from the world, by
excluding from the Lord's table, those who are known
1 Isaiah, Ixvi. 2. 2 Rom. liv. 5, 22, 23.
ON THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCHES. 535
to be frivolous and ungodly. It can unite with all
Christians in preaching, in prayer, in the sacraments,
in benevolent action, and in social fellowship. It
can hold church-meetings with a view to promote
brotherly feeling among the members, to unite in
social prayer, to seek a revival of religion among
them, and to consider how they may benefit their
neighbourhood ; and pastors may aid and encourage
their churches to effect this godly reform, leaving the
consequences to God in the assurance that he does
not forget his promises, " Them that honour me I will
honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed. 1 . . . Therefore take no thought \ saying,
What shall we eat? or, Wliat shall we drink? or,
Wlierewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these
/
things do the Gentiles seek ; for your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But
seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you"*
1 1 Sam. ii. 30. 2 Matt. vi. 31-33.
536 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
SECTION IX. Influence of the Union upon He Pro-
gress of Religion in the Country.
All men are created by their Maker for his own
glory ; and they are therefore required to love him
with all their heart, to obey his laws, to be devoted
to his service ; and since they have neglected all this,
through the corruption of their nature, he expects
that they repent of their sins, seek his mercy through
faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and earnestly
implore the renovation and sanctification of their
hearts by the influence of his Holy Spirit. 1 Failing
to do this, they remain in the condition described in
the following passages of the word of God : " He that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abidcth on him. . . . He that believeth not shall
be damned. . . . As many as are of the works of the
law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things which
are written in the book of the law to do them. . . . If
any man love not the Lord Jesm Christ, let him be
anathema maranatha, an accursed thing. . . . When
the Lord comcth, he will burn up the chaff with un-
quenchable fire. . . . When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven ivith his mighty angels, inflaming
1 Prov. xvi. 4 ; Rom. xi. 36 ; Rev. iv. 11 ; Matt. xxii. 37 ; Eccles. xii.
13 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20; Rom. xii. 1 ; Matt. v. 3; Luke, xiii. 2-5 ; Mark, xvi.
10 ; John, iii. 16 ; iii. 3, 5 ; Luke, xi. 13.
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 537
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jestts Christ : w/to
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,
when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and
to be admired in all them that believe." 1
It is essential to men's welfare that they should
be converted, sanctified, and saved. " What is a man
profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his
men soid ?" The progress of true religion, therefore,
in a nation, is of more consequence to it than its
liberties and laws, its industry and its commerce.
Without religion its inhabitants perish ; and religion
carries with it liberty, prosperity, and power.
But when our Redeemer was on the earth, he
said to his relations in Galilee, " The world cannot
hate you ; but me it hateth, because I testify of it that
the works thereof are evil"* The same dislike still
attaches to his Gospel. Men, in general, are still
unwilling to submit to his holy law. " The carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be."* And nothing
but the influence of earnest and consistent Christians
can turn them to God. The word of God, though
a perfect revelation of himself and of his will, lies
neglected and unknown where there are not living
1 John, iii. 39; Mark, xvi. 10; Gal. iii. 10; 1 Cor. xvi. 22; Matt.
iii. 12 ; 2 Thess. i. 7-10.
2 Matt. xvi. 26. 3 John, vii. 7. * Rom. viii. 7.
538 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Christians to vindicate its claims. But earnest and
consistent believers call attention to it, enforce its
authority, expound its meaning, illustrate its princi-
ples by their lives, prove by their own experience that
obedience to its laws is practicable, compel men to see
the beauty as well as the possibility of true religion,
and draw sinners to Christ. And this is their voca-
tion : "Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the
light of the world. Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which, is in heaven. . . . I beseech you, there-
fore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service. . . . For none of us
Hveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For
whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; or whether we
die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore,
or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both
died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both
of the dead and living. . . . Ye are not your own ;
for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God
in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. . . .
Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a peculiar people : that ye should show forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light."*- If all Anglican Christians
lived answerably to this calling, they would accomplish,
1 Matt. v. 13, 14, 16; Rom. xii. 1 ; xiv. 7-9; 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Pet.
ii. 9.
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 539
with the aid of the Spirit, the moral transformation of
England.
To enable them more effectually to serve God and
the world, Christians have been gathered into societies
or churches, which at the first were composed of
saints, and laboured for the conversion of sinners.
The primitive churches are thus addressed in the
letters of Paul :
" Paid, a servant of Jesus Christ, . . . . to all that
be at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints."
" Paul, called to be an apostle, . . . unto the church
of God icliich is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus, called to be saints"
"Paul . . . to the saints which are at Ephesus,
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus."
" Paul to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are
at Philippi."
" Paid to the saints and faithful brethren which
are at Colosse."
" Paul unto the church of the Thessalonians . . .
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention
of you in our prayers ; remembering, without ceasing,
your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God
and our Father ; knowing, brethren beloved, your elec-
tion of God. . . . We are bound to give thanks alway to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
540 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
These primitive churches, being thus composed
generally of saints and faithful brethren, laboured in
the cause of Christ, and converted sinners to him.
The faith and piety of the church at Jerusalem are
recorded in the second chapter of the Acts. The
result is thus stated : " And the Lord added to the
church daily rov$ co^o^kvovg, the saved."" When the
members of this pious church were driven from their
homes by persecution, " They that were scattered
abroad went every where preaching the word : and
some of them were men of Cyprus and Gyrene, who
when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Gre-
cians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the
Lord was with them ; and a great number believed and
turned unto the Lord." 5
The Romans manifested so much piety, that their
faith was spoken of throughout the whole world. 4 The
Philippians willingly shared in Paul's labours and
sufferings for the sake of the Gospel. 5 And to the
church at Thessalonica Paul wrote, " Ye were ensam-
ples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only
in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your
1 Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; Eph. i. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 2 ; 1 Thess. i.
1-4 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13.
2 Acts, ii. 47. 3 Acts, viii. 4 ; xi. 20, 21.
4 Rom. i. 8. * Phil. i. 7.
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 541
faith towards God is spread abroad : so that we need
not to speak any thing." 1 There are 13,000 Anglican
Churches, possessed of greater advantages than the
primitive churches : if all these were, like them,
composed of saints and faithful brethren, labouring
for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls,
how soon would the whole nation be leavened by the
Gospel !
For the improvement of the churches and for the
conversion of the careless, Christ has further appointed
pastors and evangelists, of whom we read in the New
Testament, " that they must be lovers of good men,
sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faith-
ful word." z And they have received from Christ
the following commands : " Take heed unto your-
selves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. 3 . . . Meditate upon these things, give thy-
self icholly to them, that tliy profiting may appear
unto all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the
doctrine : continue in them : for in doing this
thou shalt bolh save thyself and them that hear
thee."* If the 16,000 pastors and ministers of the
Anglican Churches were living according to these
divine commands, England would soon turn to
Christ.
1 1 Thess. i. 7, 8. 2 Eph. iv. 11, 12 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2, 3, 6 ; Tit. i. 7-9.
3 Acts, xx. 28. 4 1 Tim. iv. 15, 16.
542 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
But what is the actual state of the Establishment ?
Myriads of its members have nothing of Christianity
but the name, received in infancy by baptism, and
retained without one spontaneous act of their own :
and millions do nothing whatever to promote the
cause of Christ. Its 13,000 churches are generally
without evangelistic activity, without brotherly fellow-
ship, without discipline, without spirituality, without
faith. Like Laodicea, they are lukewarm ; like Sardis,
they have a name to live and are dead. 1 Of its
16,000 ministers, about 1568 do nothing;- about
6681 limit their thoughts and labours to small parishes,
which contain from 150 to 300 souls ; while others
in cities and towns profess to take charge of 8000 or
9000 souls.' 1 And of the 12,923 working pastors of
churches, I fear, from much inquiry and from various
symptoms, that about 10,000 are unconverted men,
who neither preach nor know the Gospel. 4
When churches become corrupt, and when their
pastors become worldly, mercenary, or proud, it is
impossible that unbelievers should renounce their
1 Rev. iii. - Horsman, p. 20. 3 Ibid. pp. 20, 21.
4 The plain declaration of this melancholy fact will, of course, excite
much indignation. All those inculpated will naturally call it uncharitable,
libellous, bigoted, &c. I can only say I have visited every part of England
and have made much inquiry. No one would more gladly than myself be
convicted of error in this matter ; but with sorrow I must profess with Paul,
<x-if<riin>f*,iv, $10 xai XaXoi^tv, 2 Cor. iv. 13. If any earnest man doubts the
fact, let him only ask the testimony of competent persons in various agricul-
tural counties respecting the ministers of their own neighbourhoods, and he
will find, if I mistake not, that I have overstated the number of earnest
Anglican pastors.
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 543
scepticism, or that religion should make progress in
society. Whatever, therefore, corrupts the churches
of a nation, is fatal to the nation itself. But the
Anglican Churches and pastors are corrupted ; and
the Union being one principal cause of their corrup-
tion, the Union is at this time one great obstacle to
the progress of religion in the country.
The Union checks the progress of religion in the
country by placing the Anglican Churches under the
ecclesiastical government of worldly politicians assem-
bled in Parliament, including Roman Catholics and
Unitarians, who control them in spiritual things,
determine the mode in which their pastors are to be
chosen, perpetuate their false doctrine, and prevent
the exercise of discipline. How can the blessing of
God descend upon this Union of the churches of
Christ with strangers to him? How can churches
so governed ever bring the nation to faith and god-
liness ?
The Union checks the progress of religion in the
country by giving undefined and arbitrary power over
the churches to prelates, who, being the nominees of
politicians, must be often as worldly as their patrons.
These worldly prelates exercise incalculable influence
upon the churches by their example, by their chap-
lains and archdeacons, by their extended patronage,
by their discretionary power in ordination, by their
tyrannical right of license, and by their visitation
544 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
charges ; all which influence increases the worldlincss
and the deadness of the Establishment.
The Union checks the progress of religion in the
country by giving to worldly patrons the right of
naming the pastors of the churches. Continually may
the rich and the great, of whom our Lord has said
that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for them to enter the kingdom of
heaven, 1 pour over the parishes of the land a majority
of worldly presentees like themselves. In addition
to this, they hold fast under their worldly influence
all the expectants of preferment, who can look for
income and prosperity from nothing but their favour ;
and thus they can effectually defeat all efforts to raise
the churches to more spirituality, faith, and love.
The Union further checks the progress of religion
in the country by investing these worldly nominees of
worldly patrons with exclusive spiritual jurisdiction,
under the bishops in their respective parishes. If,
indeed, about 10,000 out of the 12,900 pastors of the
Establishment, manifest, by their opposition to evan-
gelical doctrine and their dislike of evangelical socie-
ties, by their want of earnestness in their ministry,
and their hatred of pious and peaceable dissenters,
that they are unconverted men, to these the Union
gives the right of excluding from their parishes all
1 Matt. six. 3, 4. See also 1 Cor. i. 26 ; James, ii. 3-7.
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 545
Anglican ministers who are more enlightened and
more earnest than themselves. The parishioners have
no voice in the matter. The whole parish may desire
to hear the Gospel from the lips of a stranger. His
preaching would, perhaps, revivify the church, they
have a natural right to hear him, but the Union has
given the negligent, idle, and ungodly pastor, the
right of declaring that they shall hear no one but
himself.
It is impossible that the Establishment, under the
control of worldly politicians, led by worldly prelates,
and taught by worldly pastors chosen by worldly
patrons, can possibly extend the empire of spiritual
religion through the land. How can worldly prelates
and pastors make men better than themselves ? Them-
selves unconverted, they must leave their country-
men unconverted too. And so long as worldly
politicians and worldly patrons have the absolute
nomination of the pastors of the Establishment, so
long the Establishment must be worldly and the
nation irreligious.
The Union further checks the progress of religion
in the country by leading to a common belief that
Anglican pastors are mercenary. Nothing is more fatal
to the influence of pastors than this belief concerning
them, except, indeed, it be to be guilty of the sin
laid to their charge. But to this the Union tempts
many pastors. When peerages and palaces, deaneries
and prebendal stalls, masterships and fellowships, rich
N N
546 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
livings and pleasant mansions, glitter before the eyes
of young men as rewards of clerical talent, how can
they fail to be attracted by them? Many of the
cleverer sort, and of those connected with patrons,
certainly become pastors, not from delight in the
duties, but through desire for the gains. It is no
less certain, that the world, in which the love of
money is a prevailing passion, believes this to be
more generally true than it is in fact. How can
they see men, who are remarkable neither for piety
nor pastoral diligence, but men of good abilities, or
with great connections, climbing to the possession
of ecclesiastical power and wealth, without believing
that they chose the profession for the sake of those
glittering rewards ? And if this belief is wide-spread
among the people, as it must be, what can more
effectually neutralise the religious influence of. the
clergy, or more generally expose religion itself to
popular contempt? Still more, how can they see
livings, that is, the pastor's income, to which the
pastor's right is in effect attached, bought and sold
with all the bargaining which would attend the sale
of a cargo of sugar or of cotton, without feeling that
their pastors are not heaven-sent, nor heirs of apostolic
authority ?
The nomenclature of " the church" is further cal-
culated to establish this conviction in the minds of
the multitude, and shows to how great a degree the
idea of personal honour and advantage is connected
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 547
with the clerical profession. Seldom are the clergy
of the Establishment called pastors, ministers, or
presbyters, the names by which the New Testament
designates the preachers of the Gospel ; but they are
called as follows :
Prelates, prcelati, advanced before others.
Dignitaries, those who have attained to dignity.
Rectors, rector es, rulers.
Incumbents, from incumbens, lying upon any
thing, an incumbent load which the Church
must support.
Parsons, persona, the chief persons of the parish.
And their office, instead of being called the pas-
toral charge, or episcopate (fatffxoirij), as it is in
scripture (1 Tim. iii. 2), is termed
A Living, or that which will enable the incumbent
to live ;
A Benefice, beneficium, a thing for his advantage ;
and
A Preferment, a thing to advance him in the world.
How could these names have superseded the
scriptural names, unless the ideas which they convey
had first superseded the true ideas of the ministry of
the word, both among clergy and people ? And now
they bear their fruit, and the professed ministers of
Christ are believed to seek honour, ease, and wealth,
just as the lawyer, the merchant, or the tradesman.
There are some, indeed, who are, beyond suspi-
cion, earnest and painstaking men, who are destined
548 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
to fill no stalls and to wear no mitres, upon whose
teaching the blessing of the Spirit rests. They are
the strength of the Establishment ; they give a salu-
tary impulse to the piety of the nation ; they bring
a blessing on the land. And these are hindered and
crippled by the Union. Frowned on by unevangelical
bishops, by the potent magnates of their neighbour-
hood, and by the worldly incumbents, who feel con-
demned by their zeal, they must admit all sorts of
persons to the sacraments, they can exercise no dis-
cipline within their churches ; they must not preach
Christ beyond the narrow bounds of their own
parishes ; and while condemned to associate as bre-
thren at visitations and confirmations, &c. &c., with
unconverted men, who dislike them and their princi-
ples, they are obliged to refuse their pulpits to the
most fervent evangelists among their brethren of free
churches ; dare not associate with them freely, or
generously own them, and thus share in the guilt and
mischief of the Anglican schism.
The Union further hinders the progress of religion
in the country by checking the activity of the Anglican
Churches. These churches are destitute of activity,
of discipline, and of brotherly fellowship. Their
members generally do little to promote the salvation
of souls ; they are quietly associated in church-mem-
bership with those who make no profession of godli-
ness, and they are strangers to each other. The
Union has done all this, because it has given them
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 549
worldly pastors to be their rulers and incumbents ; it
has taken the right of discipline out of their hands;
it has given to nearly all the parishioners, not being
" saints and faithful brethren" of free churches, the
right of admission to Christ's ordinances, and has
bound up, in one frozen mass, those who have no
agreement in doctrine, no mutual esteem, no common
objects, and no church-meetings. Since every ungodly
parishioner may bring his child to be made " a mem-
ber of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of
the kingdom of heaven," by baptism, and since all
the devotees of money and of pleasure, if confirmed,
may come of right fresh from the theatre and the ball-
room, from Melton and Newmarket, to the table of
the Lord, which in one place becomes the rendezvous
of fashion, in another remains neglected and de-
spised, in all has lost its distinctive character as a
communion of saints, how can such churches labour
for Christ?
From the apostolic churches the word of the Lord
sounded forth ; they shone among their neighbours as
lights ; their faith was spoken of throughout the
whole world ; and walking in the fear of the Lord and
the comfort of the Holy Ghost, they were multiplied. 1
But what number of Anglican Churches out of the
13,000 thus bless their neighbourhoods, and spread
around them the knowledge of Christ ? When the
church of Jerusalem was threatened by the powerful
1 1 Thess. i. 2, 3, 6, 8 ; Phil. ii. 15, 16 ; Rom. i. 8 ; Acts, u. 31.
550 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
and abhorred by the bigot, but strong in faith, con-
fessed the lordship of Christ, consented to great sacri-
fices for his sake, met often in his name, and loved
each other as brethren, then " the Lord added to the
Church daily those who were saved" 1 and to such a
church he would add them again. But how can these
Anglican Churches, half church, half world, lying
open to all comers, except the saints in dissenting
churches, a miscellaneous aggregate of all characters,
principles, and opinions, act upon the conscience or
the heart of any worldly man? The unbeliever
scorns the impure mixture, and the mass of the
people are increasingly alienated from them and from
their pastors.
The Union further checks the progress of religion
in the country by perpetuating schism. Preventing
all revision of the canons, it holds down the bishops,
ecclesiastical judges, and clergy, to the corrupt and
schismatical dogma that dissenters are schismatics.
Although they alone have awakened many a country
village from a deathlike torpor, and through them
two or three millions of our countrymen in cities and
manufacturing districts, who would have been without
instruction ready like the mob of Paris to preach
anarchy from the smoking and sanguinary summits of
their barricades, are now gathered into loyal, orderly,
and exemplary churches of Christ, the Union has
taught Anglicans to regard their labours as a mis-
1 Acts, ii. 47.
PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE COUNTRY. 551
fortune, to esteem their existence a social blot, and
to exclude them from their pulpits, their altars, and
their friendship. By this contempt and suspicion even
patient men are roused to indignation, and men of
sterner mould indulge in those bitter vituperations of
the Establishment and its pastors, of which it is only
an imperfect palliation to say, that they were cruelly
provoked. The violence of both parties hinders the
progress of the Gospel. If these be the fruits of faith
in Christ, it seems better to many not to believe.
Since each party proscribes the other as an enemy,
and the world knows not which to believe, why
should it not treat them both as enemies to its peace ?
Since they cannot convince each other of the truth
of their doctrines, how should they convince the
rest of mankind? As each declares the other to be
wrong, the world may think both wrong. It cannot
understand their reasonings, but it can appreciate
their passion ; their conclusions may be obscure, but
their anathemas are very plain. The result is, that
many believe nothing to be at the bottom of this
strife between the Anglicans and their rivals but
selfishness, cupidity, and pride. For this conclu-
sion, and the consequent enmity to religion which
grows up in the nation, the Union and its ad-
herents are mainly responsible. " Woe to the world
because of offences ! For it must needs be that offences
come; but woe to that man by whom the offence
cometh f"
552 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
Out of these schisms grow political strifes. Since
the Anglican, eager to preserve his privileges, is a
Tory, and the dissenter, anxious to obtain his rights,
is a Whig, both are embittered by the addition of
political to theological debate. On either side the
disciples of Christ are leagued with those who openly
dishonour him, while they proscribe his friends in
the opposite political party. The political heat and
party spirit of Christians hide out from the world's
view their faith and zeal; religion seems to have
vanished from the churches, and the nation despises
evangelical religion through the faults of its sup-
porters.
Those who uphold this corrupt and paralysing
system, beneath which worldliness must luxuriate and
spirituality must die, by which the churches are cor-
rupted and the whole nation injured, are answerable
for the consequences.
SECTION X. Effects of the Union upon the Government.
It has been shown in the preceding pages that
the Union is detrimental to Anglican pastors and
churches, to dissenters, and to the nation at large.
During its continuance it is vain to hope that Christ-
ians will be united, that churches will be pure, or
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 553
that religion will make much progress in society. I
now add, that it is a constant source of embarrassment
to the Government. Anglican and dissenting pastors,
who ought to be raised above all party politics, " to
watch for souls as those who must give account,"
become, almost necessarily, through the Union, eager
political partisans. The clergy have privileges to
maintain, which are menaced by numerous and
watchful antagonists ; and the place where the battles
for these privileges must be fought is Parliament.
Their salaries, their honours, their influence as the
established teachers of the nation, are all at stake;
but if they can maintain at the helm of affairs a party
which identifies its interest with theirs, they are safe.
As so vital a matter is not to be neglected, they
must labour resolutely to keep their party in power.
Scarcely less important is it to secure the return of
members known for devotion to their cause. There
is many a Goliath armed against them in the House
of Commons, and they must send as many Davids
as they can to meet them in the field. Various bills,
also, calculated either to strengthen or to diminish
their influence, some recognising the principle of an
Establishment, others hostile to it, some discouraging
their rivals, and others threatening their own ruin,
demand their best attention. Each must canvass, on
these points, the vote of his representative ; each
obtain signatures for the petitions to the Legislature
which each measure requires. Besides these tempt-
554 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
ations to political eagerness, Anglican pastors na-
turally desire to serve their patrons, sometimes out of
gratitude for past favours, sometimes in hope of favours
yet to come. To canvass zealously for a powerful
dispenser of church preferment is the way to a com-
fortable parsonage and to a good income.
Exactly similar temptations beset the pastors of
free churches. To be placed on a legal equality with
the established sect, to escape the imposition of church-
rates, to see the national ecclesiastical property saved
from its mischievous appropriation to a sect, and em-
ployed usefully for all, to remove great hindrances
to the purity of the Christian churches and to the
triumph of the Gospel in the country, are objects
for which they also think that they must carry their
party to power, secure the return of representatives
pledged to the separation of Church and State, and
labour for the success or defeat of measures which
are favourable or hostile to their great principle. This
political activity of the two bodies of pastors in op-
posite directions brings them both into worldly asso-
ciations, impairs their efficiency as Christian teachers,
leads to irritating imputations on both sides, exas-
perates their enmity against each other, and increases
the schism which rends the churches of Christ. Yet,
mischievous as it is, they almost necessarily regard
it as Christian zeal. Anglicans think that they must
fight for a principle with which, in their judgment,
the prosperity, maintenance, and extension of the
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 555
church of Christ, are so inseparably blended. Non-
conformists are persuaded that they must eject it
from our constitution, as incompatible with the rights
of Christ, with the fidelity of the churches, or the
spiritual welfare of the nation. As long as the
Union lasts the clergy must and will be politicians in
two hostile camps.
Their respective objects determine their political
connections. Two great parties in this country have
long contended with each other for the possession of
power. The principle inscribed upon the banner of
the Tories is, " Privilege against innovation." They
appeal to the historical traditions of the country ;
they point with pride to its present prosperity and
power ; they warn the nation against the empiricism,
which may endanger the glorious fabric of the con-
stitution ; they are for " leaving well alone." The
spirit of the Whig creed, on the contrary, is " Pre-
servation by progress." Against change for the sake
of change they protest ; but as they will not adopt
a bad thing because it is new, so neither will they
retain a bad thing because it is old. As a nation
grows in intelligence and in morality, it ought to
adapt its institutions to its circumstances ; and fear-
lessly to destroy whatever is unjust and mischievous
is the way to preserve what is right and useful. These
being the opposite principles of the two parties, all
the privileged classes are naturally linked with the
Tories, who are for upholding privilege, and all the
556 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
unprivileged classes are for the Whigs, who advocate
progress. For these reasons the ministers of Christ,
who ought to be united as brethren, knowing no
political party, are marshalled in two hostile armies :
the Anglicans are with the Tories against the Whigs,
the dissenters with the Whigs against the Tories.
To both political parties these clerical politics
appear to me disastrous. As advocates of progress,
the Whigs, when in power, arm against themselves
the clergy who are the advocates of privilege. No
moderation of views, no caution in their measures,
no suavity of manner, no eminence of virtue, can
save Whig statesmen from having the clergy for their
foes. They are for progress against privilege ; and
that alone is cause enough to make every privileged
class eager for their downfall. But 16,000 clergy-
men spread over the whole country, and animated
with inextinguishable jealousy and dislike, are formid-
able opponents. It is true that their fundamental
principle secures to the Whigs the adherence of
the unprivileged classes; and, therefore, dissenters,
Roman Catholics, and reformers of every grade, will
aid them rather than their rivals. But the neces-
sities of the Government, so long as the Union of the
Church and State subsists, by compelling ministers
to make concessions to their adversaries, excites the
anger of their adherents. To avoid pushing their
antagonists to extremities, the Whigs shrink from the
application of their own principles, maintain abuses
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 557
which are too strong to be attacked, and are com-
pelled to justify their maintenance by insufficient
reasons. The consequence has been, and will be
again, that although the cabinet is formed of able
and of honest men, they alienate their supporters,
who cannot, perhaps, appreciate the difficulties of their
position. No amount of talent, no administrative
skill, no brilliancy in debate, no amount of services
to the country, can perpetuate their popularity. Too
liberal for the aristocracy, and too conservative for
the unprivileged mass, they are unable to conciliate
their enemies or to retain their friends. Successive
votes slip away from their majorities, their friends
out-of-doors grow cold and sullen, and the reins of
power drop from their hands.
Yet no better prospect awaits the Tories on their
accession to office. Loud and long are the rejoicings
of the clergy at that event, and the aristocracy will
gallantly support them ; but there are other parties
leagued against them, which, despised hitherto, are
annually becoming more formidable. As the Whigs
become conservative, so the Tories become liberal in
office. Although their dependence on the aristocratic
classes secures their fidelity to their maxim of " privi-
lege against innovation," yet, like the Whigs, they
cannot but make some concessions to their oppo-
nents. But these can never conciliate dissenters,
Roman Catholics, and reformers. The instincts of
the privileged and the unprivileged are essentially
558 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
antagonistic. Cerberus will grow hungry again after
his sop ; and still the array of four-fifths of the lower
classes who are excluded from the elective franchise,
the Roman Catholics, who claim civil and religious
equality with the rest of their fellow-subjects, dis-
senters, who think that the welfare of the nation is
bound up with the freedom of the churches, and the
most enlightened portion of the middle classes, who
see that progress is the only condition of national
safety, all supporting the Whig opposition, defeat
their measures and insult their incapacity. Mean-
while, their own friends, who cannot endure their
concessions to either dissenters, Roman Catholics, or
Whigs, are alienated and embittered. It becomes
evident that they have lost the confidence of the
country, and in their turn they are hurled from their
seats.
Both parties have good reason to wish the Union
at an end; but of the two the Tories suffer from it
the most. Political parties are already nearly equal,
and, as the popular element in our constitution is
continually growing, and with it the strength of the
popular party in Parliament, the active opposition of
dissenters to a Tory administration must be a source
of increasing embarrassment. Already they have been
much perplexed by the combination of the unpri-
vileged classes against them, and the time does not
seem far off when it will render them incapable of
carrying on the government at all.
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 559
If it appears doubtful to any one that the dis-
solution of the Union would lessen the political ac-
tivity of the two classes of pastors, let him only con-
sider the circumstances, and the doubt must vanish.
Since Anglican pastors are now political, because they
have to contend in Parliament for the prerogatives,
honours, and emoluments of their church ; and since
dissenters are now political, because they are unjustly
depressed, and the progress of religion in the country
is impeded by the existence of the Union, both
classes must cease to be political, when, the Union
being dissolved, they have nothing to fear from the
Legislature and nothing to hope for. That great
reform being effected, why should they any longer
engage in the war of politics? When no political
party can either serve or injure them, when they
have no enactments to promote or frustrate, no cham-
pions to elect, and no enemies to humble, their poli-
tical activity would be worse than ridiculous. Now
religion seems to demand and to consecrate their
entrance into political contention ; but then it would
seem to their churches and to the nation an obtrusive
meddling, an undisguised worldliness, and it could
not be endured. Then the better part of the pastors
would have no taste for political bustle, and the rest
would be forbidden to indulge it. Tories and Whigs
would alike rejoice in their deliverance from a waver-
ing friendship and a resolved enmity ; and the pastors
of churches, rescued from a powerful temptation,
would leave party questions to those more qualified
560 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
to discuss them, reserving to themselves nothing but
the sacred right to uphold all good government, by
inculcating in their ministry respect for the laws, af-
fectionate loyalty to their sovereign, and patriotic zeal
for the welfare of their country.
Against a measure so useful to all classes, it is
often argued that the resumption of church property
by the State would be spoliation. That property
belongs, it is said, to the Church of England, and the
sacrilegious hands which would rob her of it might
with equal justice confiscate the properties of the
landlords, or sell the manufactories of Lancashire and
Yorkshire, for purposes of State. Big words, but with
little in them. Who gave the church property to
the clergy, and for what ends was it given ? It was
the Legislature which justly took it from the Roman
priests, because their ministry was judged noxious
to the country, and which gave it to the Protestant
clergy for the good of the whole community. As
justly might they take it from the Episcopal clergy,
existing interests being respected, and give it to Pres-
byterian or Independent ministers if they judged it
beneficial to the country. It was given by the nation
to its pastors for its own use, and the nation must
still be judge how far its present application answers
that end. As it was justly taken from the Catholic
trustees when their tenure of it was proved to be
mischievous, so may it justly be taken from the Pro-
testant trustees when their tenure is likewise proved
to be mischievous. Church property exists by act of
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 561
Parliament for the good of the nation, and Parliament
must be the supreme judge whether it is for the good
of the nation that it should cease to exist. Anglicans
maintain that the interests of religion depend on its
remaining in their hands; dissenters, with much
more reason, contend that religion would flourish
more if it were applied to other purposes. Both
appeal to Parliament, and Parliament alone must
judge. Who, in fact, will suffer if this property is
resumed by the State? Not the people, for they
will be better taught without it ; not the patrons, for
they ought to receive a compensation for the loss of
their advowsons ; not the pastors, for they ought to
enjoy the income till their deaths ; not their suc-
cessors, for they do not exist. All classes would be
benefited, and none would suffer, if church property,
being resumed by the State, were employed for schools,
village libraries, hospitals, or any other purposes which
would serve the interests of all.
But if the measure be admitted to be necessary,
some will plead for delay. ' Not now at least/ they will
say, ' attempt the overthrow of the most venerable
part of our majestic constitution. Not now, when
every European Government is tossed about by the
prodigious heavings of the people, like a brig in the
roused Pacific ; when England is almost the only
country whose institutions have manifested stability,
and to which all the wise and the good throughout
Europe look as the only breakwater which may stay
o o
562 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
the flood of wild and lawless revolution which is burst-
ing upon the world. Why at this moment let loose
all the revolutionary cravings of the kingdom to dis-
turb our tranquillity, if not to endanger our existence ?'
Vain fears ! The safety of the constitution demands
its immediate removal. The Union disfigures our con-
stitution, disturbs our social peace, revolts our sense
of justice, is condemned by religion, and irritates mil-
lions against the social system under which they live.
Rescue them from all desire of change by granting
their righteous claims. Make the millions of dis-
senters conservatives, by giving them these rights to
preserve. Remove the Union, and our social fabric
will stand. Maintain it, and take care that it does
not pull down the rest. Precisely because the nations
are now restless, and are subjecting all institutions to
a bold and irreverent criticism, should all that will
not endure such criticism be abandoned. What can
more exasperate the discontented than to see that the
most just, rational, and religious complaints fare as ill
with our Legislature as those which are ignorant or
unprincipled ? What can so quicken the love of
extensive change in the people as to let them see
that their rulers will not sacrifice even an abuse ?
Thoughtful, just, and religious progress is the only con-
dition of our safety. If we wish to see our institutions
secure against revolution, we must adapt them to the
intelligence and the conscience of the nation. No
cherished injustice, no detected absurdity, must remain
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 563
to enfeeble them. And if the Union is ever to be
dissolved, which is most for the welfare of the country,
that it should be dissolved by just and prudent men
with regard to existing rights, and with foresight of
the inconvenience which so great a change must ever
occasion in a nation ; or with impetuosity, and perhaps
injustice, by those who would exult in it as a triumph
over religion itself?
This part of the alternative is not so impossible as
some may think. A separation of the Church from
the State is the distinct tendency of the foremost
nations of Europe, which must, sooner or later, govern
the course of the rest. In the year 1795 the Conven-
tion of the French republic introduced into its con-
stitution the following article : " No one shall be
hindered from exercising, in conformity with the laws,
the religion (culte) which he has chosen. No one
shall be forced to contribute to the maintenance of
any religion. The republic salaries none." If a
similar article is not inserted in the French constitu-
tion of 1848, this is attributable more to a temporary
fear of increasing the difficulties of the republic than
to any value for the Union itself. M. de La Mennais
has already proposed that the following terms should
be inserted in the constitution : " Each person pro-
fesses his religion with equal liberty. All religions
are independent of the State. It salaries none but
1 " Nul ne peut-etre empeche d'exercer, en se conformant aux lois, le
culte qu'il a choisi. Nul ne peut-etre force de contribuer aux depenses d'aucun
culte. La Republique n'en salarie aucun." ART. 354.
564 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
protects them all." Other influential public men have
professed themselves in favour of separation. The
payment of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Jews,
of those who blaspheme the Redeemer as well as of
those who adore him, must be repugnant to thought-
ful and conscientious men, because seen to be political,
not religious ; and the time cannot be far off when it
will be abandoned. In Germany this step is already
taken. The National Assembly at Frankfort has
decreed as follows :
" Every religious communion regulates and ad-
ministers its affairs for itself.
" No religious communion may be favoured by
the State to the exclusion of others.
" There will henceforth be no State Church.
" No one may be constrained to concur in the
ceremonies and religious acts of any religion." l
What the legislators of Paris did in 1795, and
those of Frankfort have done in 1848, our reformers
would be likely to do if ever they should assume the
reins of government. For they would depend exclu-
sively on the parties in the State who are enemies to
privilege ; on the working classes, the great majority
1 I have only seen this fact reported in the Semeur, where it is reported
in the following terms :
" Toute communion religieuse regie et administre elle-meme ses affaires.
" Aucune communion religieuse ne doit etre favorisee par 1'Etat a 1'exclu-
sion des autres.
" II n'y aura plus dor6navant d'Eglise de 1'Etat.
" Nul ne peut-etre contraint de concourir aux c6rmonies et aux actes
religieux d'un culte." Semeur, Oct. 4, 1848.
UPON THE GOVERNMENT. 565
of whom are without the elective franchise ; upon
Roman Catholics, who detest the Establishment ; and
upon radical reformers like themselves : all these
would demand the dissolution of the Union ; and
when they are strong enough to carry the reformers
to power, will be strong enough to carry that measure
also. It is better to terminate the Union prudently
and quietly, than to leave it to the violence of such
an epoch.
Lastly, a crisis of another kind demands the same
measure. In Ireland the Roman Catholics exclaim
loudly against the partiality which applies large
national resources to maintain the pastors of a small
and rich minority, while the pastors of a poor majority
are overlooked. Our statesmen feel that this cannot
go on. But the existence of the English Establishment
hinders any satisfactory settlement of the question.
To endow the priests is against the convictions of the
majority of this kingdom, as it is contrary to religious
principle. Protestants ought not to vote public money
for the promulgation of what they believe to be fatal
errors. But no principle forbids the disestablishment
of the Protestant churches, which by placing Catholics
on an equality with Protestants would content them.
What, then, hinders this settlement of the question ?
It is chiefly the fear that if the Irish churches were
severed from the State, the English churches must
soon undergo the same great change. This compels
each successive ministry to uphold the Irish Establish-
566 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
ment. But Roman Catholic millions do not mean to
acquiesce in their social inferiority, because their
claims are inconvenient to a party in power ; nor do
they mean to have their rights withheld because her
majesty's ministers wish to please the clergy. It is
certain, therefore, that their claim of equality must
become more urgent as they grow in numbers and in
power ; and if the Government will not disestablish
the Protestant church, they must raise a co-ordinate
Roman Catholic Establishment. They cannot avoid
it : and the real authors of this unprincipled conclusion
will be those Protestants who resisted the religious
and high-principled arrangement, by which the main-
tenance of divine worship in the Establishments both
of England and of Ireland would have been left to the
faith and zeal of their members.
SECTION XI. The Influence of the Union upon the
other Religious Establishments of Europe and of
the World.
The long prevalence of the pagan and papal
principle the Union of Church and State in this
kingdom, has rendered powerful support to the more
corrupt Establishments in Catholic and Greek coun-
tries. If in those countries Protestantism has not
been tolerated, if evangelists have been deported to
UPON OTHER RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. 567
the frontiers, if peaceable believers could not meet for
worship, and bibles have been torn up or burned,
they had plausible excuse for these enormities. ' Even
England/ they might say, ' which calls itself enlight-
ened, religious, and free, has asserted the right of the
State to support the truth. We claim the same right,
only we are more consistent than the Government of
England ; for if it be a duty to support the truth, it
must be no less incumbent on the State to repress
error. We only fulfil the double duty, and while we
uphold Catholic truth we forbid the audacious rivalry
of heretics and schismatics.' In this case the heretics
and schismatics are Anglicans.
But when, as a tribute to all-enduring and all-
conquering truth, the Union is dissolved, when there
is enough of wisdom, justice, and faith in this country
to compel our statesmen to leave the support of the
Gospel to the faith and love of Christ's disciples,
when Anglicans are no longer corrupted by State
patronage, and free churches are no longer checked
by State discouragements, when religion is no longer
desecrated by being made a supplement to the police,
when unbelievers can no longer say that the belief of
the Gospel rests upon statutes and State pensions,
when churches and pastors, having regained their
rights, are free to obey the laws of Christ in all things,
when, with this recovered freedom, the churches regain
their long-lost energy, when schisms are mitigated,
and many being converted, religion is gaining ground
568 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
in the country, then papal and Greek Establishments
must fall. Germany has already set us the example
of this wisdom and justice. There is no Union of
the Church and the State in Germany now. Austria
and Bohemia being now set free, the bible and other
evangelical writings may be freely circulated ; evange-
lists may preach the Gospel, congregations may be
gathered, churches may be organised, they may choose
their pastors, they may establish their schools. And
throughout the rest of Germany, conscience being dis-
enthralled, the disciples of Christ may set themselves
to reform the churches, and seek once more their
pristine force and fervour.
The three nations of Europe which are taking the
lead in the progress of civilisation, and setting the
example to all the rest, are England, France, and
Germany. When Germany and England have both
separated the secular from the spiritual, and find their
Governments and their Churches in all respects gainers
by the change, France, which is remodelling its in-
stitutions, which has already once abolished the
Union, and which is held to it now by a mere gos-
samer thread, will confirm, by our experience, its
previous just instincts, and will set its churches free.
The advantages to France and to Europe will be
incalculable. Once set free from their worldly con-
sistories, nine out of ten of which are hostile to the
Gospel, the reformed churches will choose not infidel
pastors but evangelical. Already they have worthy
UPON OTHER RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. 569
successors to Claude and Daille, to Du Moulin and
Drelincourt, to Morus and Mestrezat, to Coligny
and Duplessis Mornay. And when their eminent
preachers, unfettered, shall preach the Gospel
throughout France, and their devoted laymen, as
Lutteroth, Pressense, and Gasparin, shall lead them
in all their evangelical undertakings, they will, with
God's blessing, attain a holy energy beyond even that
of the churches of the desert. But for poor, old,
rickety, blind, withered, and pampered priestcraft,
how will that fare ? When the State withdraws from
its paralytic and trembling limbs the couch on which
it has been reclining, with royalty for its nurse,
nothing will remain for it but the grave.
Now, imagine the three most enlightened and
powerful nations of Europe, advancing in religion, in
intelligence, and in wealth, because each is free from
its incubus of a State-Union with the Church. Can
the secondary nations long wear their ecclesiastical
chains? Beyond all question many years will not
pass, after the emancipation of the churches of Eng-
land, Erance, and Germany, before all the churches of
Europe will be free. Hitherto the suicidal support
which papal Governments have afforded to an ex-
clusive priesthood in the southern and western coun-
tries of Europe, have effectually excluded the Gospel
from their populations. But when those tyrannical
Unions are destroyed, the banks of the Douro, the
Guadalquiver, and the Tagus, will resound with the
570 INFLUENCE OF THE UNION UPON THINGS.
voice of evangelists and the hymns of evangelical
churches, no less than those of the Po and of the
Tiber. No priestly combination then will be able to
hinder the peasants of Catalonia or of Lombardy from
hearing the Gospel, when the despotism of the priest
is no longer sustained by the policeman and the
gaol.
But further, when from the heart of Europe to its
southern and western extremities, numbers emanci-
pated from priestcraft are rejoicing in the ennobling
yoke of Christ, and liberty of conscience has revived
the piety of all the nations, will the millions of Russia,
down-trodden and lying in the mire of superstition
with the feet of the Czar and of his priests upon their
necks, remain hopelessly prostrate ? Last though the
Russians may be to burst the iron chain which the
strongest of modern despotisms has riveted upon
their consciences, the autocrat cannot so exclude
them from the brotherhood of nations as to hinder
them for ever from claiming the right to follow Christ
according to their own consciences. The rights of
conscience, more precious than all other rights, cannot
long be denied in St. Petersburg when they are re-
cognised in London and Paris, in Berlin and Vienna,
in Madrid and Rome.
A new era is dawning, amidst tempest upon
Europe, an era of constitutional governments and
free institutions, an era of schools and libraries, of
unfettered discussion and unrestricted liberty of con-
UPON OTHER RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. 571
science, an era of union among Christians, and of
their separation from the world, an era of evangelical
energy and of renovated fervour.
In the separation of the churches from the State
all the world is essentially interested. For it the
strongest thinkers of Europe and the most devoted
Christians have contended. The purest churches of
Europe have long illustrated its working ; it has been
put to the test by a great nation across the Atlantic
with extraordinary success ; the events of Europe are
happily hastening it on ; and may England be among
the earliest of the European nations to fulfil the duty
and to reap the advantages !
PART III.
ON THE MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL OF RELIGION
IN THE COUNTRY.
UNDER the influence of the Union the Anglican
Churches have sunk into a low religious state. In
the great majority of parishes, as we have too much
reason to fear, the Gospel is not preached, and the
people are indifferent to religion. In cities, too, there
is a vast and growing population to whom there is no
instruction given. Few boys, as far as my knowledge
goes, in the great schools for the rich, or in those for
the poor, appear to love and serve God. At the
universities, the number of pious young men is almost
confined to those who are going to take orders, and
even among these many make no profession of religion.
Few professional men do much to promote the cause
of Christ. Few peers or members of Parliament avow
evangelical opinions. Not one thousandth part of the
MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 573
income of the kingdom is given to promote the cause
of Christ among the heathen, while millions are spent
in drunkenness and vice. The circulation of decent
writings of all sorts is said to be less than that of pub-
lications which are infidel or licentious : " 11,702,000
copies of absolutely vicious and sabbath-breaking
newspapers are annually circulated in these realms.
... Of works, infidel and polluting, there are cir-
culated a yearly average of 10,400,000. If we sum
up the entire yearly circulation of pernicious literature
it will stand thus :
Ten stamped papers 11,702,000
Six unstamped papers 6,240,000
About sixty miscellaneous papers 10,400,000
Worst class 520,000
Total 28,862,000"
Putting together the annual issues of bibles, testa-
ments, religious tracts, newspapers, and periodicals of
every kind, we find a total of 24,418,620, leaving a
balance of 4,443,380 in favour of pernicious and
corrupting literature. 1 Nearly the whole of the
working classes in London, and great numbers of the
middle and upper classes too, have renounced public
worship. The Lord's day is profaned by a large
amount of travelling, of business, and of pleasure.
Schisms enfeeble the efforts of Christians ; and reli-
gion is making little progress in society.
1 Power of the Press, quoted in Mr. James's " Church in Earnest," pp. 94-96.
574 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL.
There is very little reason to hope for any mate-
rial improvement while the Union continues. The
Establishment, in allowing the State to govern it in
spiritual things without authority from Christ so to
do, is like a wife who has given to a stranger the
rights of her husband; and the adulterous alliance
cannot have his blessing. Through the control of
the State, the Establishment is necessarily and per-
manently corrupted by worldly prelates and worldly
patrons, who, like an August snow-storm upon a
garden in Labrador, must speedily destroy any par-
tial revival which may have lasted for a few years.
Probably three-fourths, at least, of the parish-churches
of England are without the Gospel ; and in the Esta-
blishment, the influence of a worldly minister to cor-
rupt and to deceive his church is unchecked by any
opposite power. The parishes cannot generally rise
much above the moral level of their pastors ; and
when these are worldly and irreligious, worldliness
and irreligion are sure to prevail among the members
of their congregations. A revival of religion, if it
ever take place, must be accomplished by the preach-
ing of the Gospel ; 1 but this can never be extensively
employed in the Anglican State Churches ; because,
1st. The great majority of Anglican pastors are un-
evangelical, and exclude the Gospel from their pulpits ;
2dly. The church doctrine of baptismal regeneration
paralyses the ministry even of good and earnest men.
1 John, xvii. 17 ; Eph. vi. 17 ; James, i. 18.
MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL. 575
For since justification accompanies regeneration, bap-
tismal regeneration is baptismal justification ; infants,
therefore, are justified as well as regenerated in bap-
tism ; and since nearly the whole nation is baptised in
infancy, nearly the whole nation is therefore justified
in infancy by baptism. Thenceforth, therefore, they
are no more dead in sin, or heirs of wrath, but " mem-
bers of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the
kingdom of heaven :" the threatenings of the Gospel
are addressed to them in vain, there is nothing left to
rouse them from their insensibility. Evangelical An-
glicans might indeed, with their brethren of the free
churches, preach the Gospel to every creature in the
land, but the Union excludes the former from nine
thousand out of twelve thousand pulpits ; and has
created, throughout the country, a powerful prejudice
against the latter.
It is contrary to the word of God, and to all
experience, that with all these sins unrepented and
unremoved, there should be any general revival of
religion through the effusion of the Spirit of God.
Rather, if we repent not, especially after light has
been thrown upon these evils, must we expect a
gradual withdrawal of the Spirit from the churches,
by whose adherence to sin he is grieved.
576 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
SECTION I. What may be done by the Free Churches
to promote their own Spiritual Improvement.
Although no general revival of religion in the
Anglican Churches can be expected till the auspicious
day which shall free them from the ecclesiastical con-
trol of the State, Christians need not wait for that,
or for any other public act, to seek a revival. The
apostles did not wait for a reformation of the Jewish
Church, or of the Roman empire, before they began
to seek the establishment of the kingdom of Christ
in Judea and throughout the world. Individuality
is the spirit of Christ's religion, as blind conformity
is the spirit of paganism and of Romanism. The
churches of Christ are societies of believers, who
think, will, and act for themselves, in obedience to
Christ ; as pagan and Catholic communities are
human herds, who are packed together by church
laws and by State laws, as the potentate and the
priest may determine.
Each individual, therefore, who sees that the State
pay is, like Achan's gold, an accursed thing, which
troubles the camp of Israel, ought to cease to parti-
cipate in it, and seek the revival of the cause of
Christ among the free churches. Anglican Churches
and pastors, who attain to this knowledge, should
encourage each other to abandon a corrupt system.
The church should offer a maintenance to its pastor ;
IN THE CHURCHES. 577
the pastor should adhere to his church ; and both
should come out from an unblessed alliance with the
world in sacred things. In city congregations the
transition would be effected without much difficulty.
Free churches have access at once to various
methods by which they may seek their spiritual im-
provements.
Among the prominent means of revival provided
by Christ, are the pastors of churches. Each of these
can do much to revive the piety of his church.
He can first renew his entire dedication of him-
self to God, and accepting salvation with all the ines-
timable blessings accompanying it as the free gift of
God to him, a ruined sinner, can heartily give himself
up, in body and soul, to the service of the Redeemer.
He can read and meditate on the lives of eminent minis-
ters of Christ, as Paul, Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin, Brad-
ford, Wesley, Whitfield, Fletcher, Brainerd, Marty n,
Thomas Scott, John Venn, Oberlin, Neff, Payson ; and
determine, by the help of God, to resemble them.
He can determine to set himself free from worldly
care, by bringing his expenditure completely within his
income, whatever that may be. The example of Paul
is before him. When that admirable man preached at
Thessalonica, he would take no remuneration from the
church in that city, because they were poor; upon
his arrival at Corinth, he maintained himself there
by tent-making, and received no money from the
church, because, in their temper of mind, he saw
p P
578 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
that it would lessen the success of his ministry.
And again he showed the same humility, indepen-
dence, and zeal, at Ephesus. 1 In like manner, each
pastor, renouncing for the sake of Christ, those
advantages which his talents and education might
secure him in a secular employment, may, by reso-
lute economy and simplicity of living, " owe no man
anything," " render to all their dues," avoid " en-
tangling himself with the affairs of this life," and
give himself wholly to his ministry. 2
He may further become, through the help of God,
an example of every Christian grace to his people ;
a pattern of faith and love, of zeal and courage, of
humility and self-denial, of charity, patience, and for-
giveness, of spirituality and of social virtue. The life
speaks more than the pulpit. Without setting a high
example the pastor can do nothing ; but example is
seldom lost. 3
So prepared, he may preach the Gospel to his
people " with power, and with the Holy Ghost, and
with much assurance," commending the truth to their
consciences and hearts. He can throw similar sin-
cerity and earnestness into his superintendence of all
his social meetings ; the meetings of the church, of
the bible classes, of Sunday-school teachers, of visitors
of the poor, of children, of servants. Prayer-meet-
1 1 Thess. ii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 7-9 ; Acts, xviii. 1-3 ; 1 Cor. ix. 11-15 ;
Acts, xx. 33-35.
2 Rom. xiii. 7, 8 ; 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4 ; Acts, vi. 2-4 ; 1 Tim. iv. 13, 15.
3 1 Tim. iii. 1-7 ; Tit. i. 7, 8 ; Acts, xx. 28 ; 1 Tim. iv. 16.
IX THE CHURCHES. 579
ings, missionary meetings, and all other meetings for
social intercourse, may feel the hallowed influence.
To these may be added personal visitation of all
the families composing the church, in which he may
stir them up to seek first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, to fulfil in a Christian manner
each relative duty. Thus may he " feed the flock of
God." 1
In so doing, pastors are usually blessed to those
whom they instruct. Christ has appointed them for
this end: " ffe lias given pastors and teachers, for the
perfecting of his saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ." Nor when they do
their duty will he let their labour be in vain. Most
encouraging are the promises : " Take heed unto thy-
self, and unto the doctrine ; continue in them ; for in
doing this thou shalt both save tliyself and them that
hear thee . . . For as the rain cometh down, and the
snow from heaven, and returncth not thither, but water-
eth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater :
so shall my word be that goetU forth out of my mouth ;
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom-
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I send it.""
Let ministers think what motives they have to
animate them. Blessings beyond all value are
1 1 Thess. i. 5 ; Acts, xx. 20, 28, 31 ; 1 Thesa. ii. 11 ; 1 Pet. v. 1-2.
5 Eph. iv. 11, 12; ITim.iv. 16; Isa. Iv. 10, 11.
580 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
attained by each believer, and a curse eternal as
their existence is about to ruin the unconverted. If
they are good ministers of Jesus Christ, work hard,
set high examples, bear trial patiently, love much,
and pray fervently, many will be saved by them from
hell ; many, now useless, will become blessings to the
church and to the world ; many, after loving and
honouring them now, will be their joy and their
crown in heaven ; and many who now dishonour
Christ will live to love and glorify him.
On the other hand, if religion decays in any
church, if parents degenerate from their spirituality
and zeal, if their children grow up to be ungodly,
if the church is indolent, lethargic, and fruitless, if
the neighbourhood is unblessed, because the pastor
is selfish and idle, soft and worldly, because he only
half believes the truths which he preaches, sets no
high example, and neglects prayer, he will have no
pleasant retrospect on his death-bed. For he has
chosen his place and office. No one forced him to
be an officer in Christ's army and a shepherd to
Christ's flock. If the soldiers are defeated and dis-
heartened, because he is a cowardly and faithless
officer, if the sheep wander to their hurt, because
he is an idle and heartless shepherd, the guilt of all
this lies on him. Had he not placed himself at the
head of that church, another, perhaps, would have
been there, who would have blessed and edified
them. But now, if he does not build up the be-
IN THE CHURCHES. 581
lievers, who will? If he does not convert and save
the careless, who else will save them ? " Son of
man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel ; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my
mouth, and warn them from me. When I say
unto the wicked, wicked man, thou shalt surely
die ; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked
from his way, that wicked man shall die in his
iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy
hand." 1
Members of churches may materially aid their
pastors in seeking an extensive revival of religion.
Each is bound to be a decided and devoted Christian ; 2
and each has means at command by which he may
become so. 3 If a member of a church becomes him-
self a devoted man, trains up his children in the fear
of God, rules his household in a Christian manner,
employs his wealth in doing good, teaches the young,
visits the poor, animates his fellow-Christians, and
carries his religion into all the business of life, he
may occasion an increase of piety in the whole church
with which he is associated. 4
Much more may a few earnest persons who meet
often for reading the scriptures, consultation, and
1 Ezek. xxxiii. 7, 8.
2 Matt. vi. 33; Rom. vi. 13; xii. 1 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; Eph. v. 18;
2 Pet. iii. 18 ; Matt. v. 48.
3 Psalm i. 1-3 ; John, xvii. 17 ; 1 Thess. ii. 13 ; Col. iii. 16 ; Eph. vi. 17 ;
1 Pet. ii. 1, 2 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; Matt. vi. 6 ; vii. 7-11 ; xxi. 22 ; John, xiv.
13, 14 ; Phil. iv. 6, 7.
4 Eph. vi. 4, 9 ; Col. iii. 21 ; iv. 1 ; Matt. vi. 19, 21 ; 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18.
582 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
prayer, assist their pastor to promote a revival of
religion in the whole church, by the spirit which they
may infuse into the church-meetings, and com-
municate to their fellow-members as Sunday-school
teachers, visitors of the poor, and members of bible
classes.
How effectually, then, may a united church, aware
that it has become negligent and lukewarm, promote
its own revival ! Let its members set themselves
heartily to obey the following precepts of Christ by
his apostles, and they cannot fail to obtain an abun-
dant blessing :
1. Churches to Repent. " / have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy FIRST LOVE.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do the first works. . . . Be watch-
ful, and strengthen the things which remain, which
are ready to die ; for I have not found thy works
perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how
thou hast received and heard ; and hold fast and
repent. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten :
be zealous, therefore, and repent."
2. Churches to obey their Pastors, speaking to
them in the Name of Christ. " We beseech you,
brethren, to know them which labour among you,
and are oner you in the Lord, and admonish you ;
and to esteem them very highly in love for their
work's sake. . . . Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word
IN THE CHURCHES. 583
of God ; whose faith follow. . . . Obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit yourselves : for
they watch for your souls, as they that must give
account. . . . Likewise, ye younger, submit your-
selves unto the elder."
3. Churches to meet for Mutual Exhortation.
" Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves to-
gether, as the manner of some is / but exhorting
one another ; and so much the more, as ye see the
day approaching"
4. Duties of Church Members to each other, at
their Meetings and elsewhere. " A new command-
ment I give unto you, That ye love one another :
as I have loved you, that ye love one another. By
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if
ye have love one to another. . . . Be kindly af-
fectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
honour preferring one another. . . . As touching
brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you /
for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another. But we beseech you, brethren, that ye
increase more and more. . . . We know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love
the brethren. . . . But whoso hath this world's goods,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up
his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth,
the love of God in him ? . . . My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. . . . Endeavouring to keep
584 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. . . .
Be of one mind, and live in peace. . . . For 1 say,
through the grace given unto me, to every man that
is among you, not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think ; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the pro-
portion of faith. . . . Let nothing be done through
strife or vain-glory, but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves. . . . All of
you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility : for God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble. . . . Him that is weak in the
faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
. . . Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ
also received us to the glory of God. . . . Let all
bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour,
and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all
malice ; and be ye kind one to another, tender-
hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. . . . Rejoice with
them that do rejoice, and weep with them that
weep. . . . Be of the same mind one towards
another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. . . . Whosoever will be chief
among you, let him be your servant. . . . Even as
the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for
many. . . . By love serve one another. . . . Look
not every man on his own things, but every man
IN THE CHURCHES. 585
also on the things of others. . . . Wherefore com-
fort yourselves together, and edify one another. . . .
Worn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-
minded, support the weak. . . . Exhort one another
daily, while it is called to-day. . . . Confess your
faults one to another, and pray one for another."
5. Churches to exercise Discipline. "Moreover,
if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and
tell him his fault between thee and him alone ; if he
shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But,
if he will not hear thee, then take ivith thee one or
two more, that in the mouth of two or three wit-
nesses every word may be established. And if he
shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church :
but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be to
thee as a heathen man and a publican. . . . Now I
have written to you not to keep company, if any
man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner, with such a one no not to eat.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that
wicked person. . . . Mark them which cause divi-
sions and offences contrary to the doctrine which
ye have learned ; and avoid them. ... A man
that is a heretic (factious) after the first and second
admonition reject. . . . We command you, bre-
thren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that
walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition
586 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
which he received of us. . . . And if any man
obey not our word by this epistle, note that man,
and have no company with him, that he may be
ashamed"
6. Churches to restore Backsliders. " If a man
be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness."
7. Churches to labour for Christ. " Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, foras-
much as you know that your labour is not in vain
in the Lord. . . . Let your conversation be as it
becometh the Gospel of Christ, that whether I come
and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your
affairs that ye stand fast, with one mind, striving
together for the faith of the Gospel. . . . It was
needful for me to exhort you that ye should ear-
nestly contend for the faith which was once delivered
to the saints"
8. Church members to seek Spiritual Progress.
" Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. . . . Be ye filled with the Spirit. . . .
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ"
9. Churches to abound in united Prayer. " Pray
without ceasing. . . . Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watch-
ing thereunto with all perseverance and suppli-
cation for all saints. . . . If two of you shall agree
IN THE CHURCHES. 587
on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask,
it shall be done for them of my Father which is in
heaven. For when two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them. . . . Ask, and it shall be given you; seek,
and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. If ye being evil know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask him?" 1
Humiliation and confession of sin in public and in
private, frequent church-meetings for consultation and
pray.er, the exercise of a spirit of kindness, forbearance,
and forgiveness towards each other, humble and cour-
teous manners in all to all at their church-meetings, to
avoid disputation, to serve each other by multiplied
friendly acts, to exhort each other to diligence in duty,
to repress, censure, or excommunicate offenders, and
to persevere in united prayer for the Holy Spirit,
would speedily restore a church which has lost its zeal
and love.
Besides these means, any church and pastor
anxious to obtain spiritual improvement may invite
1 Rev. ii. 4, 5; iii. 2, 3, 19 ; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13 ; Heb. xiii. 7, 17 ; 1 Pet.
v. 5 ; Heb. x. 25 ; John, xiii. 34, 35 ; Rom. xii. 10; 1 Thess. iv. 9, 10 ;
1 John, iii. 14 ; Eph. iv. 3 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; 1 Cor. i. 18 ; Rom. xii. 3 ; Phil.
ii. 3; 1 Pet. v. 5; Rom. xiv. 1; xv. 7; Eph. iv. 31, 32; Rom. xii. 15, 16;
1 Pet. iii. 8; 1 John, iii. 18; 1 Thess. iv. 18; Matt. xx. 27 ; Gal. v. 13;
Phil. ii. 4 ; 1 Thess. v. 11, 14 ; Heb. iii. 13 ; James, v. 16 ; Matt, xviii. 17 ;
1 Cor. v. 11 ; Rom. xvi. 17 ; Tit. iii. 10 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14 ; 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7 ;
Gal. vi. 1 ; 1 Cor. xv. 58 ; Phil, i 6, 7, 27 ; Jude, 3 ; Matt. v. 48 ; 2 Pet.
iii. 18 ; 1 Thess. v. 17 ; Eph. vi. 18 ; Matt, xviii. 19, 20 ; Luke, xi. 9, 13.
588 MEANS OF A PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
the visits of the most earnest ministers of Christ in
the country. When the first churches of Christ were
visited by Paul, Barnabas, and Silas, they were thereby
confirmed in piety. 1 When the apostle Paul could
not visit any churches himself, he sent experienced
and zealous evangelists, the companions of his labours,
and animated with his own spirit, to do them good.
The church of Philippi was visited by Timothy A.D.
56 ; by Epaphras, A.D. 62 ; and then again by Timothy,
A.D. 62. 2 The church of Thessalonica was visited by
Timothy, A.D. 51, and A.D. 56. 3 The church of
Corinth was visited by Timothy, A.D. 57 ; by Apollos,
A.D. 57 ; and by Titus, A.D. 58. 4 And the church of
Ephesus was visited by Timothy, A.D. 57, and twice
by Tychicus, A.D. 61 and A.D. 65. 5 These earnest
evangelists, Timothy, Titus, Tychicus, Epaphras, and
others like them, visiting the apostolic churches from
time to time, would correct, reform, instruct, and
animate them, revive a dying church like Sardis, and
restore to zeal a lukewarm church like that at Laodicea.
If, in a similar manner, an experienced and earnest
minister should come from an earnest and active church
to any church, by invitation of the pastor and people,
to preach to them in their place of worship, address
their church-meeting, exhort their children, Sunday
school-teachers, and visitors of the poor, and hold with
1 Acts, xiv. 21-23 ; xv. 10, 41. * Acts, xix. 22 ; Phil. ii. 25, 19.
3 1 Thess. iii. 2 ; Acts, xix. 22.
4 1 Cor. iv. 17 ; xvi. 12 ; 2 Cor. vii. 6 ; viii. 6.
5 1 Tim. 1, 3 ; Eph. vi. 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 12.
IN THE CHURCHES. 589
them meetings for united prayer, that church might
be revived and strengthened.
Still larger effects might be witnessed if a number
of churches would follow the precedents set us by
divine appointment in the history of the Jews. Great
revivals of religion followed their sacred festivals, when
they solemnly spent a whole week together in the
exercises of religion. 1 Not less earnest and perse-
vering was the Pentecostal church at Jerusalem, which
won from God still larger blessings. 2 Why should
not many of the free churches of England follow these
examples? Let each church hold some preliminary
meetings for conversation and prayer ; let its members
so arrange their business as to be able to devote the
beginning and the end of each day to the exercises of
religion ; and then inviting three or four earnest
ministers to spend with them such a sacred week as
Solomon kept at the dedication of the temple, and
Josiah at the celebration of the Passover, they might
obtain a spiritual improvement never to be again
lost.
Nothing is so likely to increase the piety of the
churches as to obtain a large number of able and
devoted ministers ; and as God alone can fit men for
the office, or incline their hearts to undertake it, our
Lord has said to us, " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest
1 1 Kings, viii. G5 ; 2 Kings, xxiii. 21 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 1-19 ; xxx.
21-27.
2 Acts, ii. 42, 46, 47.
590 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."
Yet it is ever his will that we should use all the means
in our power to attain each important end ; and it
is worthy the attention of the thoughtful friends of
religion, how the ablest and most pious young men
may be brought into the ministry, and how their
theological education may be conducted in the manner
the most effective to prepare them for an energetic
and fervent ministry.
Much spiritual improvement may be obtained by
the churches generally if meetings of the Evangelical
Alliance are held throughout the country tcith especial
reference to the revival of religion. At their general
meetings why should not the most holy, experienced,
and successful ministers of Christ in the country be
charged with the duty of addressing the assembled
brethren on this subject ? And why should not such
ministers, after long thought and prayer, come forth
in the spirit with which Paul addressed his parting
counsels to the pastors of Ephesus, to lay it upon the
consciences of us all that we grow in grace, and serve
the church of Christ and the world with more devoted
assiduity ?
All this may clearly be done by the churches as
they now are if they will do it. A revival of religion
is not withheld by God, but unsought by ourselves.
Let the churches ask, and they will have.
But if the pastors and churches of England have
so little faith that they will not effectually seek a large
IN THE CHURCHES. 591
effusion of grace by vigorous and sustained exertions,
the case is not hopeless. Think what God has done
in the church by individuals. How much did John
alone prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ ! How
few of the first disciples of our Lord laid the founda-
tions of the universal church ! How great a work
was wrought in Asia and Europe by the single labour
of Paul ! How small the number of the reformers
who tore from the grasp of the raging Church of Rome
one-third of its victims ! If many are not prepared
to seek a great spiritual improvement of the churches,
let a few then seek it.
Each earnest believer in Christ who reads this book
may determine to give himself entirely up to the
service of God and of his fellow-creatures, in his pre-
sent place and catting, so as to seek to revive the
religion of his fellow- Christians by all means in his
power. Especially let each of us who are ministers of
Christ do this.
And if only a few earnest and thoughtful men,
after renewing the dedication of themselves to God,
combine to promote an extensive revival of religion in
this country, no one can say how much they may
effect. Let them read, think, and converse upon the
subject ; let them use all the means which the pro-
vidence of God may place within their reach ; above
all, let them earnestly commit the matter to him to
whom the glory of his Son and the salvation of his
perishing creatures are objects far dearer than they
592 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
are to the most holy and most loving of his people
upon earth, and he will not reject their prayers.
SECTION II. What may be done for the Extension of
Religion throughout the Country.
God has spoken in his word with merciful dis-
tinctness of the condition of those who do not trust in
Christ alone for their salvation, through the converting
and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, and he
has left no room to doubt his decision at the last
day respecting their state. Let the reader weigh
carefully those passages of the word of God which
expressly declare, that they are under the righteous
curse of God, and can expect nothing but destruction
after death. 1 Such being the condition and prospects
of all unbelievers, a great moral change must be
wrought in them by the Spirit of God, through their
efforts, prayers, and meditation on the wxxrd of God,
or they cannot escape their merited and certain doom. 2
To accomplish this renovation of their fallen nature,
Christ has appointed ministers to preach the Gospel
to them. 3 There, are, perhaps, 9000 preachers of the
1 John, iii. 16, 36 ; Mark, xvi. 16 ; Gal. iii. 10; 1 Cor. xvi. 22 ; Heb. ii.
1-4 ; x. 28-29 ; 2 Pet. ii. 4-9 ; Rom. ii. 6-9 ; 2 Thess. i. 7-9 ; Matt. iii. 12.
2 John, iii. 3 ; Matt, xviii. 3 ; Acts, iii. 19 ; James, v. 20 ; John, i. 12,
13 ; Gal. iii. 26 ; 1 Pet. i. 23 ; James, i. 18 ; Rom. viii. 14.
3 Matt, xxviii. 18-20; Acts, xxvi. 17, 18 ; 1 Tim. iv. 16; Eph. iv. 11 ;
Mark, xvi. 20; 1 Pet. i. 12.
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 593
Gospel in England ; 3000 in the Establishment and
6000 in other denominations. How crippled, feeble,
slothful, timid, and selfish, we must be ! What
cowardly soldiers, what idle servants, what heartless
friends to the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not some-
how make the sixteen millions of our countrymen to
hear distinctly that there is salvation by grace through
faith to every one that believeth in Jesus !
As his ministers we may abandon all learned
trifling, all idle ornament, and simply, earnestly,
affectionately, and solemnly entreat men to seek the
salvation of their souls. 1 We may with faith and
prayer follow up the impressions made in public by
pastoral visits, seeking affection ately to turn each in-
dividual of the family, parents, children, servants,
to a life of godliness. We may gather rich and poor,
heads of families, young men, young women, children,
servants, into separate associations for reading the
scriptures and prayer ; to all which meetings we may
bring earnest desires for their conversion and salva-
tion, with humble dependence on the Holy Spirit
through Christ.
Were we half alive to the greatness of our work,
to the value of salvation, to the danger of the uncon-
verted, and to our solemn responsibility, we should
endeavour to convert the children in our schools, the
poor in their cottages, the rich in their drawing-rooms,
and strangers wherever we might meet them. We
1 1 Thess. i. 5 ; 1 Cor. v. 11 ; 2 Cor. v. 20.
QQ
594 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
should be more solicitous respecting our example than
even respecting our preaching ; and should wish that
all our friendships, domestic arrangements, and per-
sonal habits, might recommend religion to the un-
converted. Nor should we then labour alone. Each
would be anxious to see the wisdom, piety, and
experience of other ministers made useful to his
people. Ministers of the same neighbourhood would
then meet often and earnestly to consider how they
might unitedly carry on the work of God in their
neighbourhood. What might not nine thousand
evangelical ministers do for their country if they
were united, affectionate, self-denying, and strong in
faith !
The efforts of ministers may be rendered more
than doubly effective, if they are sustained by the
similar efforts of the pious members of their churches.
Each saved sinner should seek to save his neighbour ;
each redeemed disciple should make known his Re-
deemer ; each child of God should glorify his heavenly
Father. When the Jewish sanhedrim and their ad-
herents burst like a company of wolves upon the
flock of Christ at Jerusalem, and his sheep were
scattered in all directions, they did not retire from
the scene of slaughter to bury their faith in silence.
Even in retreat they were meditating victory ; and
" they that were scattered abroad went every where
preaching the word." 1 Divine power attended their
1 Acts, viii. 1-4.
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 595
testimony ; " The hand of the Lord was with them ;
and a great number believed and turned to the
Lord." 1 So let all do who at this day are true dis-
ciples of Christ. By conversation with irreligious
persons, by giving and lending Christian books, by
drawing them to hear earnest preaching, by a consistent
example, and by much prayer, let them seek to save
as many as possible among their unconverted relations,
friends, and neighbours. If thus men and women in
every rank and situation were to strive to do good, if
Christian members of the Government, Christian
noblemen, and members of Parliament, Christian
landowners, Christian bankers and merchants, Christ-
ian lawyers of every department, Christian shop-
keepers and manufacturers, Christian clerks, artisans,
and labourers, would, in loyalty to Christ, and in
charity to their fellow-men, strive to convert them,
no one can fully estimate the results which would
follow.
But the combined action of revived churches may
be far more effective to convert men to God than
the efforts of either ministers or members individuaUy
can be. The piety of the church of Christ is or-
dained by God to do great things yet. Let us listen
to his word.
" God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause his
face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known
upon earth, thy salvation (*J03W2^) among all nations.
The peoples shall praise thee, God; all the peoples
1 Acts, xi. 19-22.
596 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
shall praise thee. 1 . . . Arise, shine ; for thy light is
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise
upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And
the gentiles shall come to thy light ; and kings to the
brightness of thy rising? , . . Ye are the salt of the
earth. Ye are the light of the world. Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven*. . .
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them, also,
who shall believe on me through their word ; that they
all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I
in thee, that they, also, may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me."* These
passages were illustrated by the effects of the grace
of God upon the first church of Christ ever formed.
Three thousand Jews having been converted to God
upon the day of Pentecost, we read of them as
follows : " They continued stedfastly in the apostles
doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread,
and in prayers. And all that believed were together,
and had all things common; and sold their posses-
sions and goods, and parted them to all men, as
every man had need. And they, continuing daily
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with glad-
ness and singleness of heart, praising God and
yi D*iay TJJITT PS. ixvii. 1-3.
2 Isa. Ix! 1-3. 3 Matt. v. 13, 14, 16. 4 John, xvii. 20, 21.
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 597
having favour with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily those that were saved." 1
Their confession of Christ in the expectation of severe
trial, their diligence in seeking Christian knowledge,
their united prayer, their brotherly love, their joy and
thankfulness, so acted upon men's consciences and
hearts, that some souls were saved daily through
the blessing of God upon their piety. Similar grace
in any church would produce similar results. Other
primitive churches followed their example. 2 Were all
the churches of Christ now to be thus adorned with
moral glory, as they might be, its influence on the
minds of men would, with the grace of God, which is
ever ready to bless his obedient people, transform the
world.
But the members of Christ's churches are called
not only to let their example shine, but, as Christ's
soldiers and servants, to strive and labour directly to
subdue the world to him. 3
Each church may obviously do much to save
souls. They may meet to consider what special faci-
lities for doing good the neighbourhood may afford,
and unitedly to pray for the progress of the Gospel
throughout it. Some may become visitors of the
poor, and secure a circulation of Christian tracts, and
a supply of the scriptures for the district. Some may
become Sunday-school teachers and visitors of day-
1 Acts, ii. 42-47.
a Acts, ix. 31 ; Rom. i. 8 ; 2 Cor. iii. 2 ; Phil. ii. 15, 16 ; 1 Thess. i. 6-8.
3 1 Cor. xv. 58 ; Phil. i. 27 ; Rev. ii. 1-6.
598 MEANS OF PROMOTING A REVIVAL,
schools for the poor. Some may superintend libraries
for the working-classes. Some may become evange-
lists to all the neighbouring villages, while the whole
church may bear the expenses attending their labours,
and encourage them by their prayers.
Christians of various denominations may be use-
fully associated for objects common to them all. Why
do not greater numbers support the British and Fo-
reign Bible Society? Why is not the Tract Society
so zealously sustained that its wholesome literature
may surpass the number of infidel and licentious pub-
lications by millions ? Why is not the London City
Mission, upon which the blessing of God has so sig-
nally rested, enabled to visit all the poor of London
by means of four hundred missionaries instead of half
of them by means of two hundred ? Why are not the
Home Missionary and the Town Mission Societies
enabled to send faithful preachers and paid mis-
sionaries into every ignorant and vicious parish in
the kingdom ?
Further, as our age is distinguished by unpre-
cedented mental activity, and learned men, without
the smallest respect for revelation, are pushing their
researches in every direction, some of them not only
criticising with freedom, but questioning with an
air of philosophical impartiality, its inspiration, its
historical fidelity, its doctrines, and its morals, the
churches ought to employ some of their ablest minds
to add from time to time satisfactory works on
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 599
evidence to those already in existence, which may
maintain Christianity itself and its great truths against
all modern opponents.
It seems to me that 10,800/. could now be very
usefully employed by any opulent Christian in the
following manner. Let the greatest minds in the
churches of Christ, in Great Britain, the United States,
France, and Germany, be invited to devote their
thoughts to the defence of religion by the following
prizes, open to competition in the three languages.
Let 2000/. be given for each of the best essays on
the four following subjects :
1. The Being and Attributes of God.
2. The Person and Work of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
3. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.
4. The Authenticity, Inspiration, and Character
of the Books of the Bible.
100/. should be given to each of the three next
best essays in each of the three languages ; so that
each language should have one native essay besides
the successful one.
50/. should be given for each best translation of
the sixteen essays.
10,800/. so spent would be an exemplary tribute
of gratitude to God from some opulent Christian.
What comparable results will flow from the
10,000/. lately given by the king of Prussia to endow
a bishopric at Jerusalem ? or from the 20,000/. spent
600 CONCLUSION.
by the bishop of Calcutta upon his cathedral? or
from the 30,000/. lately given by a benevolent lady
to erect a new church in Westminster ? It would
call forth the talent of some of the strongest minds to
the defence and illustration of the only religion which
can bless and save mankind; it might set the mind
of Europe on the side of the Gospel ; it would defeat
Pantheism and Romanism, and it would go far to
Christianise the literature of the four great nations
which are leading the civilisation of the world.
CONCLUSION.
THE Union of the Churches with the State is
doomed. Condemned by reason and religion, by
scripture and by experience, how can it be allowed
to injure the nation much longer? All the main
principles upon which it rests are unsound. Its
State-salaries, its supremacy, its patronage, its com-
pulsion of payments for the support of religion, are
condemned by both the precedents and the precepts
of the word of God. We have seen that it sheds
a blighting influence upon prelates, incumbents,
CONCLUSION. 601
curates, and other members of churches. It adds
little to the number of pastors, it distributes them
with a wasteful disregard to the wants of the popu-
lation, and it pays least those whom it ought to pay
most liberally. It excludes the Gospel from thousands
of parishes ; it perpetuates corruptions in doctrine ;
it hinders all scriptural discipline ; it desecrates the
ordinances of Christ, confounds the church and the
world, foments schism among Christians, and tempts
the ministers of Christ both in and out of the Esta-
blishment to be eager politicians. Further, it embar-
rasses successive Governments, maintains one chief
element of revolution in the country, renders the
reformation of the Anglican Churches hopeless, hinders
the progress of the Gospel throughout the kingdom,
and strengthens all the corrupt papal Establishments
of Europe.
Worst of all, it "grieves" and "quenches" the
Spirit of God, who cannot be expected largely to
bless the churches which will not put away their
sins. 1
But when it shall be destroyed, we have reason
to hope that the churches will revive in religion
speedily. Sound doctrine will then be heard from
most of the Anglican pulpits ; evangelists will go
forth into every part of the land ; scriptural discipline
will be restored ; schisms will be mitigated ; Christian
1 Ps. Ixvi. 18 ; Isa. i. 15, 16 ; lix. 1, 2'; John, ix. 31 ; xv. 7 ; 1 John,
iii. 22 ; Eph. iv. 30 ; 1 Thess. v. 19.
602 CONCLUSION.
ministers will cease to be political partisans ; we may
look for a larger effusion of the Spirit of God; and
England may become the foremost of the nations in
godliness and virtue.
Let all who fear and love God arise to accomplish
this second Reformation. The work which our mar-
tyred forefathers began in the face of the dungeon and
the stake, let us, in their spirit, complete !
If any one is undecided respecting the principles
advocated in this work, let him compare the argu-
ments adduced by Hooker and Warburton, by Chal-
mers and M'Neile, by Gladstone and Birks, on the
one side, with those advanced by Dick and Graham,
by Ballantyne and Conder, by Wardlaw, Vinet, and
Gasparin, on the other. Let him study the history
of the Free Churches of Scotland and of Vaud.
Let him attentively observe the phenomena of State
churches in Scotland, in Switzerland, and in France.
Let him examine, as they are developed by Mr. Baird,
the grand results of spiritual liberty in the United
States. And then let him determine his conduct,
without regard to interest, fashion, or friendship, in
loyalty to Christ, and as accountable to the heart-
searching God.
Since many will hold back from even an examin-
ation of truths which entail momentous consequences
to themselves, each disciple of Christ, who ascertains
the separation of the churches from the State to be
his Master's will, must count it an honour to serve
CONCLUSION. 603
him singly, if need be, in this conflict. Great events
in history have waited on the actions of a few intrepid
men. Hampden, by his resolute resistance to an act
of tyranny, awoke in his countrymen the spirit which
secured our liberties. The gallantry of Clive saved
our Indian empire. Luther long thought and laboured
almost alone. The extensive revival of the last cen-
tury was owing, under God, to Wesley and Whitfield,
with very few companions. Let each member of the
Establishment, therefore, who comprehends this duty,
determine that he will, without waiting for the decision
of others, do his utmost in the name of Christ to
secure the freedom of the Anglican Churches from the
shackles of the State.
Members of congregations, who already maintain
your ministers in connection with the Union, by which
your own functions are abandoned and your ministers
fettered, release them, and recover your own sacred
rights, by declaring that you will be free. A few such
instances in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds,
and Birmingham, would awaken the whole nation to
their duty.
With greater confidence I address my brethren
of the free churches. There should be no longer
disunion or sloth. Independents and Baptists,
Wesleyans and members of the free churches of
Scotland, let us all, with united voices, from Caith-
ness to Cornwall, claim, in the name of Christ,
the Christian liberty of the British Churches ; and
604 CONCLUSION.
this generation may yet see accomplished a second
Reformation more spiritual, and not less extensive,
than the first.
Above all, let us take care to fulfil this duty in
a Christian spirit. No religious cause requires irre-
ligious means for its advancement. Let us disgrace
ourselves by no railing, condemn all personal invec-
tive, and be guilty of no exaggeration, for these are
the weapons of the weak and the unprincipled ; but,
uniting with all those who love the Redeemer, let us
recognise with gratitude every work of the Spirit
within the Establishment as well as without it. And
with much prayer, with constant dependence on the
Holy Spirit, with a supreme desire to glorify God,
and with an abundant exercise of faith, hope, and
love, which are our appropriate armour in every
conflict, let us persevere in our efforts till the blessing
of God renders our triumph a decisive step towards
the evangelization of the world.
London: Printed by George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Square.
BOOKS
PUBLISHED BY
JAMES RISBET AND CO.,
21, BERNERS STREET,
LONDON.
JAMES NISBET AND CO., IN APDITION TO THE WORKS CONTAINED
IN THIS CATALOGUE, HAVE CONSTANTLY ON SALE A LARGE STOCK OF
STANDARD WORKS IN THEOLOGY AND GENERAL LITERATURE, BIBLES,
PRAYER-BOOKS, AND CHURCH SERVICES, IN EVERY VARIETY OF BINDING.
ALL NEW BOOKS, MAGAZINES, AND OTHER PERIODICALS, FORWARDED
IMMEDIATELY ON PUBLICATION.
M DCCC XLIX.
JAMES NISBET AND CO.'S
SELECT
THEOLOGICAL CIRCULATING LIBRARY.
THE Library contains the writings of the best Theological
Authors, with the latest and most popular works on Missions
and Missionary Travels, Christian Biography, Biblical Literature,
Sermons, Lectures, Essays, Reviews, Magazines, Sue.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
s. d.
Annual 220
Six Months 160
Three Months . . . . 0160
One Month 080
Single Subscription, One Guinea per annum, entitling Subscribers
to Two Volumes in Town, or Four Volumes in the Country.
BOOKS PUBLISHED
BY
JAMES NISBET AND CO,
Amy Harrington ; or, a Sister's Love. By the Author
of "The Curate of Linwood." Foolscap 8vo., 6s. cloth.
The Angels Lodged with Abraham ; or, Meditations
on the Eighteenth Chapter of Genesis. Translated from the French.
18mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
An Earnest Appeal ; addressed to the Lay-Members
of the Church of England, with a Proposition for the Establishment of
a Scripture Readers' Society. By G. ATKINSON, Esq., R.N.,
Torquay. 8vo., 6d.
A Survey of the Holy Land : its Geography, History,
and Destiny. By J. T. BANNISTER, Author of "Chart of the
Holy Land," &c. With an Introduction by the Rev. Dr. MARSH,
of Leamington. The Eighth Edition, illustrated with Plates and Maps.
8vo., 14s. cloth, gilt edges.
The Temptation of our Blessed Lord in the Wilder-
ness. By the Rev. DANIEL BAGOT, B.D., Edinburgh. 12mo.,
Is. 6d. cloth.
The Early Days of Faith and Love. By M. A. S.
BARBER. Author of " Childhood's Duties," &c. 18mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
Childhood's Duties; or, Precepts for Little Emma.
By the same Author. 18mo., 2s. cloth.
Missionary Tales for Little Listeners. By the same
Author. Second Edition. 18mo., cloth, 2s. Gd.
Friendly Strictures upon Certain Portions of the Rev.
E. B. ELLIOTT'S HOR^E APOCALYPTIC^). By the Rev. W.
G. BARKER, M.A., Incumbent of Matlock-Bath, Derbyshire. 8vo.,
3s. 6d.
The Widow of Nain ; and other Lectures on various
Passages of Scripture. By the Hon. and Rev. LOWTHER BAR-
RINGTON. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the
Christian Church. By BASILICUS (the late Rev- LEWIS WAY).
Fourth Edition. 12mo., 2s. 6d.
A 2
4 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Directions for Weak Christians ; and the Character
of a Confirmed Christian. By RICHARD BAXTER. 12mo., 5s.
cloth.
The Mystery of Providence ; or, the Prophetic His-
tory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. A Historical
Exposition of Rev. viii. ix. By the Rev. T. R. BIRKS, M.A., Rector
of Kelshall, Herts, late Fellow of Trinity College, Camhridge. Fcp.
8vo., 6s. cloth.
Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 1848. Glimpses of Mes-
siah's Glory. Being Twelve Lectures delivered during Lent, 1848, by
Twelve Clergymen of the Church of England. With a Preface by the
Rev. A. DALLAS, M.A., 12mo., cloth, C>s.
Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 1847. Good Things to
Come. With a Preface by the Rev. W. W. PYM, M.A., Vicar of
Willian, Herts. 12mo., cloth, 6s.
Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 1846. Israel's Sins and
Israel's Hopes. With a Preface by the Rev. WILLIAM MARSH,
D.D., Incumbent of St. Mary's, Leamington, and Chaplain to Earl
Cadogan. 12mo., cloth, 6s.
Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 1845. The Hope of the
Apostolic Church ; or, the Duties and Privileges of Christians in con-
nexion with the Second Advent, as unfolded in the First Epistle of St.
Paul to the Thessalonians. With a Preface by the Rev. T. R. BIRKS,
M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Camhridge. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 1844. The Second
Coming of Christ Practically Considered. With a Preface by the
Hon. and Rev. H. MONTAGU VILLIERS, M.A., Rector of St.
George's, Bloomsbury. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 1843. The Second
Coming; the Judgment ; and the Kingdom of Christ. With a Preface
by the Rev. E. B1CKERSTETH, Rector of Watton, Herts. Second
Edition. Foolscap octavo, 5s. cloth.
A Commentary on Leviticus, Expository and Prac-
tical. With Critical Notes. By the Rev. ANDREW A. BONAR.
Post 8vo., with illustrations, 8s. Gd. cloth.
Redemption Drawing Nigh ; a Defence of the Pre-
millennial Coming of Christ. By the same Author. Foolscap octavo,
5s. cloth.
Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray
M'Cheyne, Minister of St. Peter's Church, Dundee. By the same
Author. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from
the Church of Scotland in 1839. By the same Author. 12mo., 3s. 6J.
cloth. Also, in two vols. 8vo., 10s. 6d. cloth.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 5
Prophetical Landmarks. By the Rev. HORATIUS
BONAR. Second Edition. Foolscap Svo., 5s.
The Night of Weeping ; or, Words for the Suffering
Family of God. Twenty-fifth Thousand. By the same Author.
18mo., 2s. cloth.
The Story of Grace. By the same Author. Fifth
Thousand. 18mo., 2s. cloth.
Truth and Error ; or, Letters to a Friend on some of
the Controversies of the Day. By the same Author. 18mo. Second
Edition. 2s. cloth.
Gillies' Historical Collections ; relating to remarkable
periods of the success of the Gospel. Published originally in 1754, and
now reprinted with a Preface, and continuation to the present time.
By the same Author. Royal 8vo., 10*. 6d. cloth.
The Blood of the Cross. By the same Author. Royal
32mo., Is. cloth.
Sermons and Lectures. By the Rev. J. M. CAMPBELL,
late Minister of Row, Dumbartonshire. Two vols., 12mo., 11s.
Sermons on Various Subjects. By the Rev. M. A.
COLLISSON, M.A., late Incumbent Minister of Bishop Ryder's
Church, Birmingham. 12mo., 4s. 6d. cloth.
Memoir of the late Rev. J. G. Breay, Minister of
Christ Church, Birmingham, and Prebendary of Lichfield, with a
Selection from his Correspondence. Sixth Edition. Foolscap 8vo., 6s.
The Family of Bethany; or, Meditations on the
Eleventh Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. By L.
BONNET. Translated from the French, with an Introductory Essay,
by the Rev. HUGH WHITE, of St. Mary's, Dublin. Twelfth Edition.
Foolscap 8vo., 5s. cloth.
Meditations on the Lord's Prayer. With Four Dis-
courses on Different Subjects. By the same Author. Foolscap 8vo.,
4s. cloth.
Memoir of Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, R.N.,
C.B. By his Brother Vice-Admiral Sir JAHLEEL BRENTON,
Bart., K.C.B. 8vo., 7s. Gd. cloth.
An Appeal to the British Nation, on behalf of her
Sailors. By Rear-Admiral Sir JAHLEEL BRENTON, Bart., K.C.B.,
Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital. 18mo., Is. 6d. cloth.
The Hope of the Navy ; or, the True Source of
Discipline and Efficiency, as set forth in the Articles of War, pro-
vided for the Government of the Fleet of Great Britain. An
Address to the Youth now rising in the Naval profession. By the
same Author. Foolscap 8vo., 5*. cloth.
6 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice. Abridged
from Dr. BREVINT, Dean of Lincoln. Revised and Edited by the Rev.
JOHN NOKMAN PEARSON, M.A., Incumbent of the District Church,
Tunbridge Wells. Second Edition. Is. cloth.
Scriptural Studies. By the Rev. CHARLES BRIDGES,
M.A., Vicar of Old Newton, Suffolk. Eighth Edition. ISmo., Is. 6d.
half- bound. Second Series, uniform with the First. Is. 6d. half-
bound. First and Second Series bound together, 2s. Gd. half-bound.
Brief Memoirs of Remarkable Children, whose
Learning or whose Piety is worthy the Imitation of those little Boys
and Girls who desire to grow in Wisdom. Third Edition. 18mo.,
2s. 6d. cloth.
Doctrines for the Church. By the Rev. MOURANT
BROCK, A.M. 12mo., Is. 6d., cloth.
The Church and the Sacraments. By the same
Author. 3s. cloth.
The Dwellings of Jacob ; or, Household Ministrations
for Every Day in the Year. By the Rev. JOSEPH BROWN, Dal-
keith. Foolscap 8vo., 4s. 6d. cloth.
The Lambs of the Flock, or Sermons to the Young.
By the same Author. 18mo., Is. 6d. cloth.
Anecdotes, Religious, Moral, and Entertaining. Se-
lected by the Rev. CHARLES BUCK. Tenth Edition. 12mo., 5s.
cloth.
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; with Notes by Rev.
THOS. SCOT!'. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Jerusalem's Glory before the Second Coming of Christ.
By the Rev. JEREMIAH BURROUGHS. ISmo., Is. Gd.
The Patience of Christ; being the Substance of a
Course of Lectures delivered during Advent in 1845, in Trinity Church,
Belfast. By the Rev. THEOPHILUS CAMPBELL, B.A. Foolscap
STO., 2s. Gd. cloth.
Original Thoughts on Various Passages of Scripture ;
being the substance of Sermons preached by the Rev. RICHARD CECIL,
A.M. ; never before published. Edited by CATHERINE CECIL. 8vo.,
10s. Gd. cloth.
Remains of the Rev. RICHARD CECIL, M.A. With a
View of his Character, by the Rev. J. PRATT. Foolscap 8vo., 5s., and
16mo., 2s. 6d.
Derry : a Tale of the Revolution. By CHARLOTTE
ELIZABETH. Tenth Edition, with a beautiful Frontispiece of Derry
Cathedral. Foolscap 8vo., 5s. cloth.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 7
The Rockite : an Irish Story. By the same Author.
Fourth Edition, enlarged. Foolscap 8vo., 4s.
Osric : a Missionary Tale. By the same Author.
Third Edition. Foolscap 8vo., 3s. Qd. cloth.
Izram : a Mexican Tale, and other Poems. By the
same Author. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Perseverance. By the same Author. Third Edition.
18mo., 2s. cloth.
Rachel: a Tale. By the same Author. 18mo.,
Is. Gd. cloth.
The Child's Missionary Magazine, Vol. I. 32mo.,
Is. Gd. cloth.
The Christian's Daily Guide to Prayer, and the Study
of the Holy Scriptures. 12mo., 2s. cloth.
A Narrative of Iniquities and Barbarities practised at
Rome in the Nineteenth Century. By RAFFAELLE CIOCCI,
formerly a Benedictine and Cistercian Monk, Student and Hon. Li-
brarian of the Papal College of San Bernardo Alle Tenne Diocleziane,
in Rome. Fifth Edition. ISmo., 2s. 6d. cloth. An Edition of the
above is printed in Italian. 12mo., 3s. C>d. sewed.
Evidence of more Roman Catholic Injustice : being a
Defence of the Narrative of R. Ciocci, against the Misrepresentations
contained in an Article in the " Dublin Review." In I8mo., Is. Gd.
Sermons preached in the Parish Church of St. Paul,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, by the Rev. WILLIAM COGSWELL, M.A.
Second Series, 8vo., 12s. cloth.
Conversations on the Parables of the New Testament ;
for the use of Children. Fifth Edition. 18mo., 2.?. Gil. half-bound.
The Decision of Ruth ; an Example to the Young,
especially to those who come forward as Candidates for Confirmation.
By the Rev. GEORGE COLE. 18mo., Is.
The Threefold Cord ; or, Justification by the Grace of
God, the Righteousness of Christ, and the Faith of Man. By the same
Author. Royal 32mo., Is.
I am a Christian ; What Then ? Eight Discourses
suggested by the Dying Words of Dr. PAYSON. By the same Author.
12mo., 5s. cloth.
A Companion for My Young Friend, and recom-
mended to all who feel an interest in the training and education of
the Young. 18mo., Is. Gd. cloth.
8 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Companion for the Afflicted ; or, Texts of Scripture
containing Duties, Prayers, and Promises, with verses of Hymns
occasionally added. Printed in very large type. In two parts, price
Gd. each, or both parts in one, Is. Gd. cloth limp.
Thoughts on the Coming and Kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ. By the Rev. JOHN COX. Second Edition. 12mo.,
cloth, 3s. Gd.
Thoughtfulness and Thankfulness ; a Book for the
New Year. By the same Author. 18mo., cloth, Is.
Our Great High Priest ; or, the Sacerdotal Character
of Christ contemplated. By the same Author. 12mo., cloth, 2*. Gd.
Immanuel Enthroned; or, the King in his Beauty.
Being a Compendious Statement and Defence of the Doctrine that the
Lord Jesus will come personally to set up a glorious Kingdom upon
the Earth. By the same Author. 12mo., Is. Gd. cloth.
Cox's Congratulations and Counsels. A Book for
Birthdays. 18mo., Is. Gd.
Missions viewed in their Scriptural Connexion and in
relation to the " Signs of the Times." By the same Author. In
12mo., Is.
The History of an Old Pocket Bible. By the late
Rev. ROBERT COX, A.M. 18mo., Is. Gd. cloth.
Church of England Village Dialogues; containing
Remarks upon the Foundation, Order, Usages, Services, and Liturgy
of the Church ; also answering certain popular Objections, and showing
the evil of certain practices in Religion among those who separate
themselves from her. By the Rev. ANTHONY CROWDY, A.M.,
Rector of Winnal, Winchester. Fourteenth Thousand, 12mo., Is. Gd.
cloth.
The Christian Villager's Guide Book; a Manual of
Practical Instruction, pointing out the way to a holy and happy life.
By the same Author. 2s. Gd. half-bound.
Cruden's Complete Concordance to the Holy Scrip-
tures. 4to., cloth, One Guinea.
Israel and the Gentiles. A Sketch of the History
of the Jews to the present day. By Dr. ISAAC DA COSTA, of
Amsterdam.
Pastoral Superintendence ; its Motive, its Detail, and
its Support. By the Rev. ALEXANDER DALLAS, M.A. 8vo.,
12s. cloth.
The Cottager's Guide to the New Testament ; that is,
the Life and Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ plainly set forth. By
the same Author. In six vols., 12mo., cloth, 3s. Gd. each.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 9
The Guide to the Acts. By the same Author.
3s. 6d. clotli.
Revelation Readings ; an Aid in Searching the
Apocalypse. With an Appendix, containing an Historical Sketch of
the Church's History. By the same Author. Vol. I., 12mo., 3s. 6d.
cloth.
Look to Jerusalem. A Scriptural View of the Posi-
tion of the Jews, in the Great Crisis of the World's History. By the
same Author. Third Edition. Foolscap 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
The Prophecy upon the Mount. A Practical Con-
sideration of our Lord's Statement respecting the Destruction of Jeru-
salem, His own Appearing, and the End of the Age. By the same
Author. Foolscap 8vo., 3s. cloth.
My Church -yard. An Experimental Exhibition of
the Management of Conscience in the Ministry, in the Cases of Mary
Norton, William Harewood, and Emily Mills. By the same Author.
In foolscap 8vo., 3s. 6d. cloth.
The Pastor's Assistant. Intended to facilitate the
Discharge of the Pastoral Office in the Church of England. By the
same Author. Vols. I., II., and III., in one volume, cloth, 9s.
Jesus Tempted. A Practical Consideration of our
Lord's Temptation, in a Course of Six Familiar Lectures preached
during Lent. By the same Author. Third Edition. Is. 3d. cloth.
Realising ; the Strength of an effectual Ministry. By
the same Author. Is. cloth.
The Book of Psalms arranged in Daily Portions for
Devotional Heading twice through in the Course of the Year, with
Suggestions to promote Personal Application. By the same Author.
16mo., cloth, 2s. Qd.
Romanism ; its Rise, Progress, and Prospects. In a
Series of Letters from a Pastor to his Flock. By the same Author. Is.
stitched, Is. 6d. cloth.
The Miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ, familiarly
explained and applied. By the same Author. Is. 3d. cloth.
The Parables of our Lord Jesus Christ, familiarly
explained and applied. By the same Author. Is. 3d. cloth.
Monastic Institutions : their Origin, Progress, Nature,
and Tendency. By S. P. DAY, formerly of the Monastery of the
Presentation Order at Youghal. Second Edition. Foolscap 8vo., 5*.
cloth.
10 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Hymns and Poems. By Sir EDWARD DENNY, Bart.
Millennial Hymns, with an Introduction Miscellaneous Hymns
Miscellaneous Poems. 3s. 16mo., cloth.
Detached Thoughts. By the WIDOW of an IRISH
CLERGYMAN. 24mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
The Village Rectory ; or, Truth in Fiction. By the
Rev. R. W. DIBDIN, M.A. Foolscap 8vo., with illustrations, 5s.
Sermons, preached in the Parish Church of St.
George, Bloomsbury. By the same Author. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Hymns for Passion Week and the Forty Days.
Adapted for Churches or for Private Worship. By WILLIAM
DICKINSON. 32mo., Is. cloth.
The Family Expositor : or, a Paraphrase and Version
of the New Testament; with Critical Notes, and a Practical Improve-
ment of each Section. By the Rev. P. DODDRIDGE, D.D.
Four vols., 8vo., II. 16s. cloth.
Twenty Sermons, suitable to the Times, on the First
Part of the Book of Common Prayer. By the Rev. FREDERICK
DUSAUTOY, A.M., &c., Curate of Haselbury, Somersetshire. Cloth,
6s. 6d.
Edda : or, the Tales of a Grandmother. History of
Denmark, First Part from the earliest Ages to the Death of Canute
the Great. Foolscap 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
A Volume of Sacred Poetry. By JAMES EDMESTON.
Author of " Hymns for the Chamber of Sickness." Foolscap 8vo.,
5s. cloth.
The Church of the Lord ; or, the Gracious Work of
God the Spirit. By the late Rev. FRANCIS ELLABY, M.A.
12mo., 4s. 6d. cloth.
Sermons, chiefly designed for the Use of Families.
By Rev. JOHN FAWCETT, M.A. Two vols., 12mo., 12s. cloth.
Brief Memoirs of Nicholas Ferrar, M.A., Founder of
a Protestant Religious Establishment at Little Gidding, Huntingdon-
shire. Chiefly collected from a Narrative by the Right Rev. Dr.
TURNER, formerly Lord Bishop of Ely; and now edited, with addi-
tions, by the Rev. T. MACDONOGH, Vicar of Bovingdon. Second
Edition. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
Twelve Sermons on the Liturgy of the Church of
England ; plain, practical, and experimental. By the Rev. EDWARD
WELWYN FOLEY, M.A., Incumbent of Trinity Church, Tewkes-
bury. Second Edition. 12mo., 4s. 6d. cloth.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 11
The Listener. By CAROLINE FRY. Tenth Edition.
Two vols., foolscap 8vo., 10s. cloth.
The Scripture Header's Guide to the Devotional Use
of the Holy Scriptures. By the same Author. Fourteenth Edition.
1 8mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
Scripture Principles of Education. By the same
Author. Fourth Edition. 18mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
A Brief Memorial of Isabella Edgar, who died of
consumption, aged thirty-two years. Edited by the Rev. F. V. LOCK-
WOOD, A.M. ISmo., Is. 6d. cloth.
St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans Explained, in simple
and familiar Language. By G. B. Second Edition. 12mo., 3s. cloth.
St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians Explained.
12mo., 3s. cloth.
St. Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and
Galatians, Explained. 12mo., 3s. 6d. cloth.
St. Paul's Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and
Colossians, Explained. 12mo., 3s. cloth.
St. Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians, Timothy,
Titus, and Philemon, Explained. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews Explained. 12mo.,
3s. cloth.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Explained, in
simple Language, with Meditations and Prayers. 12mo., Sd. stiff covers,
or Is. cloth.
Morning and Evening Prayers. Second Edition.
ISino., Is.
The Sure Foundation; or, a Selection of Texts of
Scripture, fitted for the Support and Comfort of a Christian, with a
short Commentary on each. Second Edition. 18mo., Is. 6d. stitched,
or 2s. cloth.
Lectures on the Prophet Daniel, considered in a
Series of Lessons for a Sunday School. By the Rev. L. GAUSSEN,
of Geneva. Foolscap 8vo., 5s. cloth.
The Coming of the Lord to Judge the Earth, Doc-
triually and Practically Considered ; being the Substance of a Course
of Lectures on the Second Advent, delivered in Bath, and published by
request from the Congregation to whom they were addressed. By the
Rev. EDWARD GILLSON, B.A., Bath. Second Edition. Foolscap
8vo., cloth, 2*. Qd.
12 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
A Treatise on the " First Resurrection " and " The
Thousand Years." By the late Rev. HENRY GJPPS, LL.D., of
Hereford. 18tno., 3s. boards.
The Hope of Israel; an Exposition in a Course of
Advent Sermons, of Four Prophecies concerning the Mission of Elijah,
the Conversion of Israel, the Fall of Antichrist, and the Reign of
Messiah. By the Rev. H. GIRDLESTONE. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
Good Tidings of Great Joy to all People. New
Edition. 18mo., 2*. cloth.
Isaiah Unfulfilled : being an Exposition of the Pro-
phet. With a New Version and Critical Notes. By the Rev. R.
GOVETT, M.A., Norwich. 8vo., 10s. 6d. cloth.
Memoirs of Miss Grane, late of Heathcote-street,
Mecklenburgh-square ; illustrative of the Nature and Effects of Christian
Principles. Compiled principally from her own Papers. Second Edi-
tion. Foolscap 8vo., 3s. 6d. cloth.
Grace and Peace : a Brief and Practical Summary of
the Fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 3*. 6d.
Sorrow and Consolation ; or, the Gospel preached
under the Cross. From the French of J. H. GRANDPIERRE, D.D.
12mo., 5s. cloth.
The Touchstone ; or, the Claims and Privileges of
True Religion Briefly Considered. By Mrs. ANNE GRANT. 18mo.,
2s. 6d. cloth.
An Historical Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures
of the Old Testament, chiefly those of a Chronological character;
showing their aspect on the present times, and on the Destinies of the
Jewish Nation. By MATHEW HABERSHON. Third Edition.
Post 8vo., 10s. cloth.
An Historical Exposition of the Prophecies of the
Revelation of St. John ; showing their connexion with and confirmation
of those of Daniel, and of the Old Testament in general ; particularly
in their most important aspect on the present times. By the same
Author. Second Edition. Two Vols., post 8vo., 16s. cloth.
A Guide to the Study of Chronological Prophecy. By
the same Author. 18mo., Is. 6d.
The Child's Mirror. By Mrs. HALLS. 16mo., 1,9. 6d.
The Mount of Olives ; and other Lectures on Prayer.
By the Rev. JAMES HAMILTON. 18mo., Forty-fifth Thousand,
Is. 6d. cloth.
Life in Earnest. Six Lectures on Christian Activity
and Ardour. Fifty-fifth Thousand. 18mo., Is. 6d. cloth.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 13
Hamilton's Tracts ; containing Church in the House ;
Dew of Hermon ; Remembering Zion ; Thankfulness ; Memorial
Sketch of the Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne ; Address of the Provisional Com-
mittee of the Evangelical Alliance; and Lecture on Pastoral Theology.
18mo., cloth, 2s.
Haweis' Communicant's Spiritual Companion ; or, an
Evangelical Preparation for the Lord's Supper : with Meditations and
Helps for Prayer suitable for the Subject. With an Introductory Essay,
by the Rev. B. PHILPOT, late Archdeacon of the Isle of Man. 32mo.,
cloth, Is. 6d.; roan, 2s.; morocco, 3s.
Biblical Researches and Travels in Russia. By the
Rev. Dr. HENDERSON. 8vo., 16s.
The Change ; or, a Memoir of Lieut.-Col. Holcombe,
C.B., late of the Royal Artillery. By a FRIEND. Foolscap 8vo.,
4*. cloth.
Bishop Home's Commentary on the Psalms. 8vo.,
10s. 6d.
Gospel Inquiries. Six Sermons on as many Solemn
Questions of the Gospel Narrative. By the Rev. GEORGE COTTER
KINGSTON, B.A., late Curate of Banwell-cum-Stapleton, Leicester-
shire. Foolscap 8vo., 3s. 6d. cloth.
The Blessedness of the Righteous. By JOHN HOWE,
M.A. A New Edition, Revised. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
A Treatise on Delighting in God. By the same
Author. New Edition, Revised. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
The Church of God. A Book for the Age. By the
Rev. T. D. HULL, A.B., late Curate of Bangor, Diocese of Down,
and now of Huntley. Foolscap 8vo., 4s. cloth.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. By the same Author.
32mo., 1*.
Italy and the Gospel : Letters and Discourses of
CELIO CURIO. Translated from the Italian Edition of 1552. With
a Sketch of his Life. 18mo., Is. 6d. cloth.
The Infant Brothers : Notices of the Lives and
Death-beds of Abner and Darid Brown, two Infant Brothers, who
were laid in one grave on the 18th January, 1834; with Suggestions on
the Christian nurture of Children. Eighth Thousand, 18mo., 3s.
Innisfail ; or, the Irish Scripture Reader. A Narrative
of Facts. 18mo., 2s. 6d. half-bound.
Irish Scenes Eighteen Years Ago. By the Author
of "Truth without Novelty." With Preface, by the Rev. FRANCIS
TRENCH. ISmo., 2s. cloth.
14 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Jenks' Family Devotions. By Rev. CHARLES SIMEON.
18mo., 3s., and 12mo., 4s. 6d. bound.
The Law of the Offerings in Leviticus. Considered
as the appointed figure of the various aspects of the Offering of the
Body of Jesus Christ. By ANDREW JUKES. Second Edition,
foolscap 8vo., 3s. cloth.
The Coming of the Lord, as inferred from the 24th
and 25th Chapters of St. Matthew, compared with the Signs of the
Times. By S. KAPFF, M.A. From the German. Is. 6d. stitched.
Evidence of Prophecy. By the Rev. Dr. KEITH.
Thirty-sixth Edition, in 8vo., greatly enlarged, with eighteen
Daguerreotype Views on Steel, and other Engravings. 8vo., 20s. cloth.
The Signs of the Times. By the same Author.
With an Examination of Mr. ELLIOTT'S Theory of the First Six Seals;
of the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Witnesses, &c., &c.
Eighth Edition, enlarged. 2 vols., post 8vo., 16s. cloth.
The Land of Israel, according to the Covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. By the same Author. Post
8vo., Fifth Thousand, Plates and Maps, 9s. 6(7. cloth.
Demonstration of the Truth of Christianity. By the
same Author. Sixth Edition. 12mo., 7s. 6d. cloth.
A Series of Lectures on Subjects connected with
Prophecy, preached by the Rev. JAMES KELLY, M.A., in St.
James's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh. Third Edition, 12mo., 4s. cloth.
Kelso. The Sermons and Services at the Opening of
the North Parish Church, and the Ordination and Introduction of
the Rev. HORATIUS BONAR, the First Minister. Foolscap Svo.,
2s. 6d. cloth.
The Kelso Tracts. 12mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
The Churchman's Brief Manual of Baptism. In
Four Parts. By the Rev. CHARLES E. KENNAWAY, A.M.,
formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, Vicar of Campdcn.
Second Edition, foolscap 8vo,, 4s. 6d. cloth.
Family Prayers, for the Mornings and Evenings of a
Fortnight ; to which are added, Prayers on Special Occasions. By the
same Author. Third Edition, 18mo., Is. Gd. cloth.
Sermons. By the Rev. HENRY KING, of Trinity
College, Dublin. Second Edition, 8vo., 10s. 6(7. boards.
Korah ; or, Christian Comfort in the Uses of Affliction.
By a SUFFERER. Is. 6d. cloth.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NI8BET AND CO. 15
Israel's Wanderings in the Wilderness, from Rameses
to the Borders of the Promised Land. By the Rev. G. D. KRUM-
MACHER, of Elberfeld. From the German, by the Translator of
" Elijah the Tishbite." Sixth Edition, 2 vols., 12mo., 12s. cloth.
A Glance into the Kingdom of Grace. To which is
added, Christ in the Wilderness. By F. W. KRUMMACHER, D.D.,
Author of "Elijah the Tishbite." Translated from the German by the
Rev. MAXIMILIAN GENESTE, M.A. Second Edition, \2mo.,2s.6d. cloth.
The Last Day. A Gift for all Seasons. Square
16mo., Illuminated borders and gilt edges. Second Edition, 3s. 6d.
Also, an Edition without the Frontispiece, and printed in uniform
colour. 2s. Gd. cloth.
Ten Lectures on the Points in Controversy between
Romanists and Protestants. 8vo., 5s.
Light from the Sanctuary for the Cloudy and Dark
Day. Inscribed to Mourners. 16mo., 2s. cloth.
Little Cloud of Witnesses to the Duties and Dangers
of the Tongue. Second Edition. 32tno., Is.
Sir Roland Ashton. A Tale of the Times. By Lady
CATHARINE LONG. In Two Vols., post 8vo., 16s. cloth.
The Midsummer Souvenir. Thoughts Original and
Selected. By the same Author. 32mo., silk, gilt edges, 3s. Gd.
The Christmas Souvenir. Edited by Lady CATHARINE
LONG, Author of " Sir Roland Ashton," " The Midsummer Sou-
venir," &c. Royal 32mo., 3s, Gd. silk.
Luther's Exposition of the Lord's Prayer. Translated
from the German. 12mo., cloth, Is. Gd.
Pietas Juvenilis. A Manual of Devotions for Schools
and Young Persons. Comprising, 1. Prayers for Week-day Schools.
2. Prayers for Sunday-schools. 3. Prayers for Boarding-schools.
4. Private Prayers for Young Persons. 5. Devotional Hymns for the
School and the Closet. By the Rev. J.M. M'CULLOCH, A.M. 32mo.,
cloth, gilt edges, 2s. Gd.
The Mountains of the Bible : their Scenes and their
Lessons. By the Rev. Dr. MACFARLANE, Glasgow. Royal 12mo.
With Illustrations by Finden. 7s. 6d. cloth; 8s. Gd. half-morocco.
Gospel Seeds ; or, a Collection of Unpublished Pieces
on the Revealed Truths of the Word of God, and the Practice it
enjoins on Christians. Translated from the French. By Dr. C.<ESAR
MALAN. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Le Veritable Ami des Eufans, ou Petits Tableaux
Domcstiqucs dessiuus d'apres Nature. L'y the same Author. With
Engravings, 12mo., Gs. cloth.
16 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
The Church of Rome Examined ; or, Can I ever enter
the Church of Rome so long as I believe the whole Bible ? By Dr.
(LESAR MALAN. 12mo., 3s. 6d. cloth.
The Death of the Eldest Son. By the same Author.
18mo., 2.v.
Theogenes ; or, a Plain and Scriptural Answer to the
solemn Question, Am I, or am I not, a Child of God? By the same
Author. Second Edition. 18mo., Is. 6d.
The True Cross; a Narrative as profitable to Pro-
testants as to Roman Catholics. By the same Author. Fourth Edition.
18mo. } cloth, Is. 6d.
Missions at Home ; a True Narrative. By the same
Author. Fourth Edition. 18mo., Is.
Another Bartimeus ; or, the Spiritually Blind Restored
to Sight. A true Narrative. By the same Author. 18mo., 8d.
Hora3 Hebraicae ; an Attempt to discover how the
Argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews must have been understood
by those therein addressed ; with Appendices on Messiah's Kingdom,
&c., &c. By GEORGE, DUKE of MANCHESTER. Royal 8vo.,
16s. cloth.
An Apology for Millennarianism, with Copious Replies
to Modern Objections. By J. G. MANSFORD. Second Edition. Post
8vo., 6s. cloth.
The Two Resurrections, in their relation to the
Doctrine of Election. By the same Author. 12mo., 2s.
The Jews in Great Britain ; being a Course of Six
Lectures delivered in the Liverpool Collegiate Institution, on the
Antiquities of the Jews in England. By the Rev. MOSES MARGO-
LIOUTH, Incumbent of Glasnevin. 12mo., 7s. 6d. cloth.
Twenty-two Sermons, with an accompanying Prayer
to each, intended for reading in Families and Sick Rooms. By the
Rev. RICHARD MARKS. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Sea Sermons ; or, Plain Addresses intended for Public
Worship on board of Merchant Vessels, and for Private Use among
Seamen and Plain People. By the same Author. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
The Retrospect; or, a Review of Providential Mercies,
with Anecdotes of Various Characters, and an Address to Naval
Officers. By the same Author. Twenty-first Edition. 12mo., 5*.
cloth.
The Ocean, Spiritually reviewed, and compared to
passing Scenes on the Land; with various Anecdotes and Reflections.
By the same Author. Seventh Edition. Foolscap Svo., 5s. cloth.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 17
Morning Meditations ; or, a Series of Reflections on
various Passages of Holy Scripture and Scriptural Poetry, for every
Day in the Year. By the same Author. Fifth Edition. 1 2mo., 5s. cloth.
Evening Meditations. Uniform with the above. By
the same Author. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
The Devotional Testament; containing Reflections
and Meditations on the different Paragraphs of the New Testament
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; intended as a help for the
Closet and for Domestic Worship. By the same Author. Small 4to.,
16s. cloth.
The Village Observer ; or, an Attempt to prove that
Poor People may be Happy. By the same Author. Tenth Edition.
18mo., 2s. 6d. half-bound.
The Village Pastor. Third Edition. By the same
Author. 18mo., 2s. 6d. half-bound.
The Village Churchyard; or, Reflections on Death,
Past Times, and a Future State. By the same Author. Fifth Edition.
18mo., 25. 6J. half-bound.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Examined and
Explained, and the Duty of celebrating it recommended and enforced.
By the Rev. BENJAMIN MATUR1N, A.B., 'ft in. Coll., Dublin,
Curate of Biddenham, Bedfordshire. With a recommendatory Preface
by the Rev. T. S. GRIMSHAWE, M.A. 18mo., 2s. cloth.
Lectures to the Young on Interesting Subjects. By
the late Rev. ROBERT MAY, Missionary, Chinsurah. Seventh
Edition, 18mo., 3s. cloth.
The Jewish Ordinances ; or, Lessons on the Mosaic
Observances. Designed for the Young. By Miss MAYNE.
18mo. Is.
Lectures, Expository and Practical, on the Book of
the Prophet Daniel. With copious Notes. By the Rev. CHARLES
POPHAM MILES, B.A. 2 vols., 12mo., 10s. cloth.
The Missionary Minstrel ; for the Use of Missionaries
Abroad, and Friends of Missions at Home. Second Edition, greatly
enlarged, 32mo., cloth, 2s. ; silk, 2s. Qd.
Sermons par M. ADOLPHE MONOD, Professeur a la
Faculte de Theologie Protestante de Montauban. Translated by the
Rev. WILLIAM HICKEY, M.A., Rector of Mulrankin, Diocese of
Ferns, Ireland. 8vo.
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History ; Ancient and
Modern. Latest Edition, 4 vols., 8vo., price 21. 8s.
Religion and Poetry ; being Selections, Spiritual and
Moral, from the Poetical Works of the Rev. ROBERT MONT-
GOMERY, M.A. Second Edition, foolscap 8vo., 5s. cloth.
18 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Missions. An Essay, designed to evince, according to
the Scriptures, the present Bearing and probable Results of Missionary
Enterprise. By the Rev. W. MUDGE, B.A. 12mo., Is. 6d. cloth.
The Prophecies delivered by Christ Himself, and the
Miraculous Gifts exercised by his Apostles, applied to the present State
and future Prospects of the Church of God. By the Rev. THOMAS
MYERS, M.A. 12mo., 5*. cloth.
Memoirs of Mrs. Harriet Newell, Wife of Rev. S.
Newell, Missionary to India. 18mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
Aids to Prophetic Inquiry. By B. W. NEWTON.
12mo., Is. 6d. limp cloth.
No Cross, No Crown; an Inquiry into Distress of
Mind, 18mo., cloth, 2s. Gd.
An Essay on the Union of the Church with the State.
By the Hon. and Rev. B. W. NOEL, M.A. Second Edition, 8vo.,
12s. cloth.
Sermons preached at the Chapels Royal of St. James's
and Whitehall, by the Hon. and Rev. BAPTIST W. NOEL, M.A.
12mo., price 5s. cloth.
Notes of a Tour in Switzerland, in the Summer of
1847. By the Hon. and Rev. BAPTIST W. NOEL, M.A. Post
8vo., with Illustrations, 10s. Gd. cloth.
The Proposed Increase in the Grant to Maynooth.
By the same Author. 12mo., Gd.
Protestant Thoughts in. Rhyme. By the same Author.
Royal 16mo. Second Edition. 3s. Gd. fancy boards.
The Case of the Free Church of Scotland. By the
same Author. 8vo., 2s.
The Gospel of the Grace of God, illustrated in a
Series of Meditations. By the same Author. Sixth Thousand.
32mo., Is. cloth, gilt edges.
Christian Missions to Heathen Nations. By the
same Author. Post 8vo., 8s. cloth.
Infant Piety; a Book for Little Children. By the
same Author. Fourth Edition. 18mo., Is. Gd. cloth.
Meditations in Sickness and Old Age. By the same
Author. Fifth Edition, 2s. cloth.
The First Five Centuries of the Church ; or, the early
Fathers no safe Guides. By the same Author. 8vo., Is.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 19
Journal of a Residence in China and the Neighbour-
ing Countries, from 1830 to 1833. By the Rev. DAVID ABEEL ;
with an Introductory Essay, by the Hon. and Rev. B. W. NOEL, M.A.
12mo., 6s. cloth.
Sermons. Selected from the Manuscripts of the late
Rev. ROBERT OAKMAN, B.A., Vicar of Martock, Somerset. 12mo.,
5s* cloth.
Brief Memorials of Jean Frederick Oberlin, Pastor of
Walbach, in Alsace ; and of Auguste Baron de Stael Holstein. With
an Introductory Sketch of the History of Christianity in France, from
the Primitive Ages to the present Day. By the Rev. THOMAS
SIMS, M.A. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
Popular Objections to the Pre-millennial Advent and
to the Study of the Prophetic Scriptures Considered. By GEORGE
OGILVY, Esq., of Cove. Second Edition, foolscap 8vo., 4s. cloth.
Parkhurst's Greek and English Lexicon. By ROSE.
8vo., 24s. cloth.
Paul Gerhardt ; an Historical Tale of the Lutherans
and Reformed in Brandenburg, under the Great Elector. By C. A.
WILDENHAHN. Translated from the German by Mrs. STANLEY
CARR. Foolscap 8vo., 6s. cloth.
Introduction to the Acts of the Apostles and Travels
of St. Paul. In Question and Answer ; with a Geographical Index,
and some Hints on the Study of Scripture by Parallel Passages. By
the Rev. A. G. PEMBERTON, A.M. 18mo., 2s.
Contrasts Between the Righteous and the Wicked ;
compiled from the Holy Scriptures, with a suitable text prefixed to
each. By the Hon. Mrs. PEN ROSE. 12mo., 3s. Gd. cloth.
The Gathering of Israel ; or, the Patriarchal Blessing.
By AARON PICK. 12mo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
Letters, selected from the Correspondence of Helen
Plumptre. Second Edition. 12mo., 6.?. cloth.
Scripture Stories ; or, Sacred History familiarly
explained and applied to Children. By the late Miss HELEN
PLUMPTRE. Tenth Edition. 18mo., 3s. cloth, or 3s. Gd. half-hound.
The History of Joseph ; or, Continuation of Scripture
Stories. Fifth Edition. 18mo., 2s. 6d. cloth, or 3s. half-bound.
The History of Moses ; being a Continuation of Scrip-
ture Stories. Fifth Edition. 18mo., 3s. cloth, or 3s. Gd. half-bound.
The History of Joshua ; being a Continuation of
Scripture Stories. Fifth Edition. 18mo., 2s. Gd. cloth, or 3s. half-
bound.
B 2
20 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
The History of Samuel ; being the concluding volume
of Scripture Stories. ISmo., 3s. cloth, or 3s. Gd. half-bound.
The Teacher of Babes ; or, Instructive Lessons
derived from Pictures. ISmo., cloth limp, Is.
Baskets of Fragments ; or, Notes from Sermons
preached by the Rev. Thomas Jones, of Creaton. Edited by the same
Author. Sixth Edition. 12mo., 6s. Gd. cloth.
The Faithful Friend ; or, Two Conversations on
Worldly Intercourse and Family Duties. With a short Memoir of
the Writer. By JOHN PEMBERTON PLUMPTRE, Esq., M.P.
Fourth Edition. 18mo., 2s. Gd. cloth.
Annotations on the Bible : wherein the Sacred Text
is inserted, and various Readings annexed, together with the Parallel
Scripture ; the more difficult Terms in each Verse are explained
seeming Contradictions reconciled Questions and Doubts resolved
and the whole Text opened. By MATTHEW POOL. In 3 vols.,
imperial 8vo., price 3/. 3s. cloth.
Evil and Danger of Apostacy, as exemplified in the
History of Francis Spira. From the French, with a Preface by JOHN
POYNDEU, Esq. 18mo., Is. Gd.
Short Meditations on the Psalms, in their Prophetic
Character. 12mo., 2s. Gd. cloth.
The Restitution of All Things. By the Rev. W. W.
PYM, M.A. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
An Enquiry concerning Spiritual Gifts. By the same
Author. 12mo., 2s. Gd.
What will this Babbler say 1 By the same Author.
12mo., Is.
A Word of Warning in the Last Days. By the same
Author. Fourth Edition. 12mo., 2s.
Thoughts on Millennarianism. By the same Author.
Fourth Edition. 12mo., Is. Gd.
Watch : a Call to every Man. By the same Author.
12mo., Gd.
The Triumphs of Truth ; or, Facts displaying the
Value and Power of the Word of God, more especially as exhibited in
the Operations of the British and Foreign Bible Society. By
ROBERT RAMSDEN, Esq. Third Edition. 18mo., 3s. cloth.
A Rational Introduction to Music ; being an Attempt
to simplify the First Principles of the Science, and render the Art of
Singing at Sight more easy of Acquirement. 8vo., 2s.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 21
Memoir of the Rev. C. T. E. Rhenius, comprising
Extracts from his Journal and Correspondence, with Details of Mis-
sionary Proceedings in South India. By his SON. Crown 8vo., 10s.
cloth.
Light Shining Out of Darkness : the Fidelity of the
Four Evangelists. By the Rev. A. ROBERTS, M.A. 12mo.,
3s. 6d. cloth.
Rollin's Ancient History. Six Vols. 8vo. 425.
Jesus Comes, and Quickly. By the Rev. WILLIAM
ROGERS, M.A., of Catharine Hall, Cambridge. Foolscap 8vo.
Sermons by the Rev. Henry Roxby Roxby, LL.B.,
Vicar of St. Olave's, Jewry, and Rector of St. Martin, Ironmonger-
lane. 8vo., 10s. 6d.
Letters of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford, Professor of
Divinity at St. Andrew's : with Biographical Notices of his Corres-
pondents. By the Rev. JAMES ANDERSON. And a Sketch of
his Life, hy the Rev. A. A. BONAR. 12mo., 9s. 6d. cloth.
The Judgment on the Quick. By the Rev. JOHN E.
SABIN, A.B. 12mo., 3s. hoards.
The Sailor's Hope for Himself and the Nation. By
A NAVAL OFFICER. Foolscap 8vo., 5s.
The Question, " Was St. Peter ever at Rome *? "
Historically Considered. By AUGUSTUS SCHELER, Doctor of
Philosophy. Translated from the French by a CLERGYMAN. With a
Preface by the Translator. Foolscap 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
Memorial of an Affectionate and Dutiful Son,
Frederick R. H. Scoresby, who fell asleep in Jesus, December 31st,
1834, aged sixteen. By his Father, the Rev. W. SCORESBY, D.D.,
of Bradford. 12mo., 4s. cloth.
Discourses to Seamen. By the Rev. WILLIAM
SCORESBY, D.D., F.R.S.L.E., now of Bradford. 12mo., 6s. boards.
The Holy Bible ; with Explanatory Notes, Practical
Observations, and Marginal References. By the Rev. THOMAS
SCOTT, Rector of Aston Sandford. A New Edition. In Six Vols.
4lo. With Eighty-four Illustrative Engravings, consisting of Maps,
Costumes, and more than Sixty Authentic Views of the most important
Places mentioned in the Sacred History. 61. 6s. cloth.
The Holy Bible. With Explanatory Notes and
Practical Re-flections. By the same Author. A New Edition. In
3 vols., imperial 8vo. Edited by the Rev. JOSIAH PRATT, B.D.
21. 5s. cloth.
22 WOKKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Essays on the most important Subjects in Religion.
13y the Rev. THOS. SCOTT. With a Memoir of the Author.
12mo., 5s. cloth.
My Sunday-School Class. Twelve Lessons, designed
to assist Junior Teachers in the Communication of Religious In-
struction to the Young. By JOHN F. SARGEANT. ISmo.,
2s. 6d. cloth.
A Treatise on the Deity of Jesus Christ. By the late
Mr. SERJEANT SELLON. Edited by Rev. E. G. MARSH, M.A.
8vo., 10*. cloth.
Horse Solitaries ; or, Essays upon some remarkable
Names and Titles of Jesus Christ occurring in the Old Testament and
declarative of His essential Divinity and gracious Offices in the
Redemption of Man. By AMBROSE SERLE. 2 vols., 12mo., 14s.
Seventy Prayers on Scripture Subjects ; or, Family
Prayers for a Month, and Scripture Readings for a Year. 12mo.,
2*. cloth.
Short Meditations. By a CLERGYMAN. 32mo., Is.
Short Meditations on Elisha, 18mo. Sd. sewed ; Is. 6d,
cloth.
The Sick Room Attendant ; containing Directions for
the Young or Inexperienced Nurse ; with much Useful Advice, and
upwards of 200 well-tried Recipes, &c. ; to which are added, Original
Prayers and Meditations, suitable to be used in a Sick Room. By a
LADY. Second Edition. 12mo., 2s. cloth limp.
Simple Family Prayers. Intended for the Use of
those Classes whom it has pleased God to place in a humbler position
than their more favoured neighbours. IGmo., Is. cloth limp, Is. (jtl.
cloth.
Anti-Tractarian Tracts. By the Rev. J. SPURGIN.
12mo., 5s. 6d. Second Series, 8vo., 2s.
Tracts in Defence of the Church of England. By
the same Author. 8vo., Is. 3d. cloth.
Voice of Warning to the Church. By the same
Author. 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth.
South Indian Missionary Sketches; containing a short
account of some of the Missionary Stations connected with the
Church Missionary Society of Southern India. In Letters to a Young
Friend. By Miss TUCKER. Foolscap 8vo., 6s. cloth.
Spiritual Songs. Respectfully Dedicated to the
Members of the Evangelical Alliance. 8vo., 2s. 6d. cloth, gilt edges.
WORKS 1'DBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 23
The Scottish Church Question. By the Rev.
ADOLPHUS SYDOW, Minister of the United Evangelical Church
of Prussia, and Chaplain to his Majesty's Court and Garrison at
Potsdam. 8vo., 7s. cloth.
Madeira; or, the Spirit of Antichrist in 1846, as
exhibited in a Series of Outrages perpetrated in August last on
British Subjects and Portuguese Protestant Christians. By J.
RODDAM TATE, R.N. Second Edition. 8vo., 1*. 6d.
Nineteen Sermons. By Rev. M. J. TAYLOR, M.A.,
Curate of Trinity Church, Tewkesbury. 12mo., Gs. cloth.
Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor. By JOHN HOLT
RICE, D.D., and BENJAMIN HOLT RICE, D.D. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
The Teacher Taught; or, the Sunday School In-
structor furnished with Materials for his Work. Four distinct portions
of this work arc now published, each of which may be had complete,
comprising the Questions and Answers. Each portion may be pur-
chased separately. 18mo. Doctrines and Duties, 2s. ; Genesis, Is. ;
Exodus, Is. 6d.; Leviticus, Is. 4r/. ; half-bound.
Thoughts for the Day. First Series, 18mo., 2s. 6d.
cloth. Second Series. 18mo., 3s. cloth.
Missionary Journals and Letters. Written during
Eleven Years' Residence and Travels amongst the Chinese, Siamese,
Javanese, Khassias, and other Eastern Nations. By the Rev. J.
TOM LIN, A.M. 8vo., 7s. cloth.
A Tribute of Gratitude from a humbled Sinner, on
being permitted to enter his Eighty-second Year ; in Two Letters to a
Friend. By the Writer of the Letter to an Aged Friend. With an
Introductory Address by the Rev. JAMES T. HOLLOWAY, D.D. 18mo.,
2s. 6d. cloth.
Sermons. By the Rev. W. FORD VANCE, M.A.
8vo., 10s. 6d. cloth. Also, another volume, 12mo., 5s. cloth.
Sermons Preached in the Parish Church of St.
George's, Bloomsbury. By the Hon. and Rev. H. MONTAGU
VILLIERS, M.A. 12mo., 5s. cloth.
The Young Professor ; being the Substance of Eight
Lectures delivered to the Candidates for Confirmation, at St. George's
Church, Bloomsbury, 1846. By the same Author. 18mo., 2s. cloth.
Religion no Fiction ; being the Substance of Eight
Lectures delivered to the Candidates for Confirmation, at St.
George's Church, Bloomsbury, 18H. By the same Author. 18mo.,
8(/. sewed.
Two Counsels of Wisdom. Translated from the
French of A. Vinet, of Lausanne. 18mo., 1*.
24 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Visits of Familiar Instruction, in the Doctrines and
Duties of Scripture ; designed to assist both the Teacher and Learner
of Divine Truth. In Four Series. By a MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND. 4s. 6d. cloth.
Questions for Examination in the Visits of Familiar
Instruction. 12mo., Is. cloth.
Pastoral Recollections. Addressed to his Parishioners
at the close of his Ministrations in the Establishment. To which is
added, a Discourse preached before the First General Assembly of the
Protesting Church of Scotland. By the Rev. J. A. WALLACE,
Minister of the Protesting Church, Hawick. Foolscap 8vo., Ss. cloth.
The Seven Churches of Asia practically considered.
By the same Author. Foolscap 8vo., 3s. cloth.
Testimonies in favour of the Principles and Procedure
of the Free Church of Scotland. With an Introductory Notice.
Foolscap 8vo., Ss. cloth.
The Hill of Zion ; or, the First and Last Things
illustrative of the present Dispensation. By the Rev. THOS.
WATSON, M.A. Foolscap 8vo., 3s. 6d. cloth.
Female Missionaries in India: Letters from a Mis-
sionary's Wife in India to a Friend in England. By Mrs. WE1T-
BRECHT. Second Edition, 18mo., 2s. cloth.
Memoirs of the Rev. R. C. Whalley, D.D., late
Rector of Chetwood. Illustrated by Select Letters and Sermons. By
JOHN S. HARFORD, Esq., D.C.L. Foolscap 8vo., 5*.
Wilderness Records ; or, a Memorial of H. H., of
Chertsey, who died July, 1839. Second Edition. 18mo., 2.i. cloth.
Memoir of Mrs. Harriet W. Winslow, containing a
sketch of the Ceylon Mission, with Introductory Essay. By Rev. J.
HARINGTON EVANS. 12mo., 5s. 6d. cloth.
A Family Record; or, Memoirs of the late Rev.
BASIL WOODD, and of several deceased Members of his Family.
A New Edition, 12mo., 4s. cloth.
The Church of Christ Pourtrayed. As to the
peculiar Character of its Unity, Ordinances, Visibility, and Spirituality.
By the Rev. C. I. YORKE, M.A., Rector of Shenfield. Foolscap
8vo., 4s. cloth.
Protestantism or Popery. A Tract for the Times.
Showing that the Tractariari Movement is a departure from the
Principles of the Church of England, and a departure for the Prin-
ciples of (he Church of Rome. By the Rev. EDWARD YOUNG,
M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. Second Edition. 8vo., Is.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 25
CHARTS, ETC.
A Chart of the Sacred History of the World :
From the Creation to the Birth of Christ; being a Synchronical
Arrangement of the leading Events of Sacred and Profane History;
subdivided into Periods, embellished by Pictorial Illustrations, and
accompanied by a concise Introductory Sketch, and copious Notes.
Folio, 21*. cloth.
A Chart. Illustrated throughout with Pictorial
Designs. Entitled, A Prophetical Stream of Time ; or, an Outline of
God's Dealings with Man, from the Creation to the End of all
Things. By Sir EDWARD DENNY, Bart. With a Key or Com-
panion. Price II. Ws.
Two Charts : entitled, the Seventy Weeks of Daniel,
and the Cycle of Seventy Weeks. Together forming One Work.
By the same Author. With a Key or Companion. Price 16s.
Children's Missionary Map of the World. Id. plain,
Is. coloured. India, Id. plain, Is. 6d. coloured. Jews, Id. plain,
Is. coloured.
The Lending Library of the Kildare-place Society,
for Promoting the Education of the Poor in Ireland. In 79 vols.,
18mo., bound in sheep, 21. 15s.
Scripture Cards : Four Series of Scripture Questions
on Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Subjects. Printed on Cards,
in a Case. Price, with Key, 2s. each, or 7s. the set.
PERIODICALS.
The Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. 8vo., 2s. 6d.
Published on the 1st of January, April, July, and October.
The English Presbyterian Messenger. 8vo., 3d. ;
stamped, 4d. Published monthly.
The Children's Missionary Magazine. 32mo., Id.
stitched. Edited by M. A. S. BARBER. Published monthly.
Revelation Headings. By the Rev. A. DALLAS, M.A.
12mo., 2d. stitched. Published monthly with the Magazines.
The Cottager's Guide to the Epistles. By the same
Author. 12mo., 2d. stitched. Published monthly with the Magazines.
The Apocalypse Interpreted in the Light of the
Day of the Lord. By the Rev. JAMES KELLY. 12mo., 3</.
stitched. Published monthly with the Magazines.
The Jewish Missionary. 12mo., 6d. stitched. Pub-
lished monthly with the Magazines.
26
WOKKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
ffim's anti ^Traveller's
Baxter's Dying Thoughts. 1*. Gd.
Call to the Unconverted.
Saint's Rest. 2*. 6d.
Dialogues. 1*. 6d.
Bridge on Faith. Is. fid.
on the Ninety-first Psalm. 1*.
on the Sinfulness of Sin. Is.
Brown's Concordance. 3*.
Journal of a Sabbath-day. Is.
Charnock on Man's Enmity to God. 2s.
Clarke's Scripture Promises. Is. Gd.
Cruso's Tender Conscience. Is.
Divine Breathings. Is.
Doddridge's Rise and Progress. Is. Gd.
Dorney's Letters, 1638 to 1682. Is. 6d.
Duty and Blessedness of maintaining a
constant Recollection of the Presence
of God. Is.
Flavel's Balm of the Covenant. Is.
Hall's (Bishop) Christ Mystical, and
Dorney on Union with Christ. Is. Gd.
Christian. Gd.
Peace-maker. Is. Gd.
Haweis' Companion to the Lord's Supper,
with Introduction by Archdeacon Phil-
pot. Is. Gd.
Hill's It is Well. Is.
Deep Things of God. Is. Gd.
Hooker's Discourse on Justification, &c.
Is. Gd.
Hopper's Joy and Peace in Believing.
Is. Gd.
Fruits of Joy and Peace in Be-
lieving. Is. Gd.
Important Truths from various Authors.
Is. Gd.
Key-stone ; a Selection from various
Authors. Silk, Is. Gd.
Leighton (Abp.) on the Lord's Prayer.
In 32mo., cloth ; uniform size.
Missionary Minstrel, 2nd Edit., enlarged.
1*. 2s.
Newton's " Omicron" Letters. 2*.
Olney Hymns, by Cowper and Newton.
2s. Gd.
Owen on Spiritual-mindedness. Is. Gd.
Petto on the Voice of the Spirit. 2s.
Romaine's Select Letters. 2s. Gd.
Serle's Christian Remembrancer. 2s.
Husbandry. Is. Gd.
Is.
Rules for a Holy Life.
Gd.
Macarius on Christian Perfection. Is. Gd.
Charis ; or, the Office of the Holy
Spirit. Is. Gd.
Stoddard's Guide to Christ. Is.
Venn on Zacharias. Is.
Wilberforce on Christianity. 2s.
Witherspoon on Regeneration. Is. Gil.
Also may be had, uniform ivith the above.
Augustine's Confessions. Is. Gd.
Baxter's Family Book. 2s.
Bogatsky's Golden Treasury. Is. Gd.
Cecil's Visit to the House of Mourning.
Is. 6^.
Earle's Sacramental Exercises, and
Grove's Lord's Supper. Is. Gd.
Flavel's Touchstone of Sincerity. Is. Gd.
Goodwin's Return of Prayer. 1*. Gd.
Henry's Pleasantness of a Religious Life.
Is. Gd.
Hints for Reflection. 2*.
Ken's Retired Christian. Is. Gd.
Mason's Crumbs from the Master's Table.
Is. 3d.
History of Jesus, for Children.
1*,
Select Remains and Letters.
Is. Gd.
Orton on Eternity. Is.
Pike's True Happiness. Is.
Prayers for Children and Young Persons.
Is.
Romaine's Triumphs of Faith. Is. Gd.
Shaw's Welcome to the Plague. Is.
Thoughts in Affliction. Is.
Watson on Divine Contentment.
Is. 6d.
Malan's Hymns, in English verse. 2s.
Manual of One Hundred Practical Con-
templations. Is. Gd.
The above may also be had in calf or morocco bindings, in great variety of patterns.
Miniature Pocket Editions, 6Amo.
Genesis. Roan, Is. Gd. ; tuck, 2s. i Timothy. Cloth, 4d.; roan, Gd.
Samuel. Roan, Is. Gd. ; tuck, 2s. I Titus. Roan, 5d.
Acts. Fioan, Is. ; tuck, Is. Gd. ] James. Cloth, 3d. ; roan, 5d.
Ephesians. Cloth, 4d. ; roan , Gd.
Philippians. Cloth, 3d. ; roan, 5d.
Colossians. Cloth, 3d. ; roan, 5d.
Peter.
John.
Cloth, 4d. ; roan, Gd.
Cloth, 3d. ; roan, 5d.
Beaufoy's Guide to True Pilgrims. Tuck,
2s.
Bible Christian and the Contrast. Is. Gd.
Clarke's Scripture Promises. Roan, Is. Gd.;
tuck, 2s.
Home's (Bp.) Daily Communings. Cloth,
2s. ; tuck, 2s. Gd.
Little Child's Text-book. Tuck, Is. Gd.
Mason's Pocket Companion. Is. Gd.
Rowe's Devout Exercises of the Heart.
Sewed, Is. ; tuck, 2s.
Sunbeams. A Diary of Promise. 128mo.,
Gd. ; tuck, Is.
Texts for my Little Ones. 128niu., roan,
Is.; tuck, Is. !(/.
"WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Jltsfcet's Seriea of Cracte.
1. The Manifold Grace of God.
!</., or 105. 6d. per hundred.
2. God is Love, lid., or 10s. 6J.
per hundred.
3. The Meeting-place of God with
the Sinner. Id., or 7s. per
hundred.
1. Have you Peace with God? Id.,
or 7*. per hundred.
5. Conviction not Conversion. Id.,
or 7*. per hundred.
G. Christ is our King. Id., or 7s.
per hundred.
7. The True Witness. lid., or
10s. 6d. per hundred.
8. Israel's Weariness. I%d., or
10s. 6d. per hundred.
9. Good and Bad Prayers. }%d.,
or 10s. Gd. per hundred.
10. The Manifold Wisdom of God.
\\d., or 10s. Gd. per hundred.
11. Living Water for the Thirsty.
Id., or 7s. per hundred.
12. A Believed Gospel. Id., or 7s.
per hundred.
13. The Vine. IJrf., or lO.v. Gd. per
hundred.
14. The Cedar. Hrf., or 10s. Gd.
per hundred.
15. The Palm. Hrf., or 10s. Gd.
per hundred.
16. The Olive. IJrf., or 10s. Gd. per
hundred.
17. The Tropics and the Poles.
lid., or 10s. Gd. per hundred.
18. The "Rock. ld., or 10s. Gd.
per hundred.
Or in sets, price 2s.
1. Why are you so Anxious? Id.,
or 7s. per hundred.
2. Conversations on Confirmation.
2d., or 14s. per hundred.
,']. The Gleaners. Id., or 7s. per
hundred.
4. The Lord's Supper. Id.
5. Cottager's Family Prayers. Id.*
(i. The Return of Christ. Id.
7. What does the Bible say of the
Poor? Id.
8. The Right of the Poor. Id.
9. Conversations on Baptism. Id.
10. What can I do for others ? Id.
11. I pay every one their Dues. Id.
12. The Benefits of Sickness. Id.
13. A Word to Cabmen. 1^.
14. A Quiet Neighbour. Id.
15. May and Must. Id.
16. The Empty Church and the Full
Farmhouse. Id.
17. Walks in a Turnip-field. Id.
18. On the Creed. Id.
19. Peace at Home. Id.
20. The Three Weddings. Id.
Or in sets, price Is. 9d.
* This is also printed in large type, price 2d., or 14s. per hundred.
lM0o Ctacte.
1. The Door of Salvation Opened.
c/., or 3s. per hundred.
2. The Faithful Saying. ^d., oi-
ls. Gd. per hundred.
3. The Well of Living Water. J</.,
or 3s. per hundred.
4. Jehovah our Righteousness, ^d.,
or Is. Gd. per hundred.
5. Believe and Live. |</., or
4s. Gd. per hundred.
6. Sin put away by Christ. </., or
3s. per hundred.
7. Words of Warning. \d. t or
Is. Gd. per hundred.
8. Electing Love, {d., or Is. Gd.
per hundred.
9. The Works of the Holy Spirit,
as recorded in the Scriptures,
f d., or 4s. Gd. per hundred.
10. Now. \d., or Is. Gd. per hundred.
11. The First Epistle of John to
Fathers, to Young Men, and
to Little Children. \d., or
3s. per hundred.
28
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
12. The White Robes. For Sabbath-
school Children. %d., or 3s.
per hundred.
13. The Works of the Holy Spirit,
as recorded in the Scriptures,
f d., or 4s. 6d. per hundred.
14. Luther's Conversion. \d., or
3s. per hundred.
15. Sin our Enemy, and God our
Friend. id., or Is. 6d. per
hundred.
16. The Lord's Supper. %d., or 3s.
per hundred.
17. The Anchor of the Soul. id.,
or Is. 6d. per hundred.
1 8. Do you go to the Prayer-Meeting ?
J</., or Is. Gel. per hundred.
19. The City of Refuge. $d., or 3s.
per hundred.
20. Night, Day-break, and Clear 33.
Day. \d., or 3s. per hundred.
21. Behold He cometh with Clouds. 34.
id., or Is. 6d. per hundred.
22. God's unspeakable Gift, the Sin- 35.
ner's Pledge and Plea for
every Blessing. frf., or 4s. 6d. 36.
per hundred.
23. Salvation to the uttermost. $d., 37.
or 4s. 6d. per hundred.
The above may be had in sets, price Is
24.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
The Love of the Spirit. $d., or
4s. 6d. per hundred.
Who shall dwell with the De-
vouring Fire ? \d. } or Is. 6(/.
per hundred.
Righteous Reconciliation. %d.,
or 3s. per hundred.
The Throne of Grace, ft/., or
4s. 6d. per hundred.
The True Heart. id., or Is. 6d.
per hundred.
Without God. id., or Is. 6d.
per hundred.
The False Peace and the True.
^d., or Is. 6d. per hundred.
God's Purpose of Grace. $d.,
or 4s. 6d. per hundred.
The Chosen One. \d., or 3s.
per hundred.
The Last Time, id., or Is. 6d.
per hundred.
The Sin-Bearer. %d., or 4s. 6d
per hundred.
The Power of the Gospel, f d.,
or 4s. 6d. per hundred.
Tribulation. ff/., or 4s. 6d. per
hundred.
Grace and Glory. %d., or 4s. 6d.
per hundred.
6d., or bound in cloth, 2s. 6d.
1. The Lord's Remembrancers.
</., or 3s. 6d. per hundred.
2. The Right Way to get the
Right Thing. \d.
3. The Two Railroads. \d.
4. The Smooth Stones out of the
Brook. \J.
5. The Sweepstakes. \d,
6. A Diorama of the Harvest. Id.
7. The Dusty Bible. Id.
8. The Forgotten Prayer. %d.
9. The Warrant for Intercessory
Prayer, &c. Id.
10. The Negroes' Petition. %d.
11. Seeing Him who is Invisible. Id.
12. Harvest Hints for Christian La-
bourers, ^d.
13. Four Reasons for Family Prayer.
Ctacto.
14. The Pleasure Fair. \d.
15. A Word about the Children. Id.
16. Pleading in Prayer. \d.
17. The Mummy-Wheat. \d.
1 8. General Union for Private Prayer.
Id.
] 9. Thoughts for the Throne of Grace.
2d.
20. Sacramental Meditations. 2d.
21. The Races. \d.
22 to 28. Pulpit Thoughts. 2 d. each.
29. Wise Words Plainly applied. 2d.
30 and 31. Words in Season. Id.
each.
32. Sacramental Meditations.
33. False Alarms. \d.
34. Not by Chance. %d.
35. Touchstone of Romanism. Id.
The above may be had in sets, price Is.
WONSTON TRACT COMMENTARIES on the GOSPELS (25) in sets, price 2s.
Wonston Confirmation Tracts.
Nos. 1 to 12, \d. and Id. each. In sets Is., or bound, 1*. 6d.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO. 29
ACTIVE and PASSIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS. By LUTHER. Id., or 7s. per 100
ADDRESS to the LAITY of the CHURCH of ENGLAND.
By an OLD PRESBYTER If?., or 7s. per 100
ANSWERS to COTTAGE OBJECTORS, " GOD is MER-
CIFUL " If 7. i or 7s. per 100
" I AM NO SCHOLAR" Id., or 7s. per 100
The ARCH of TITUS and the COLISEUM 3d., or 21s. per 100
The BEACON of HOPE at the PRESENT CRISIS 2d, or 14s. per 100
The BLIGHT in the GARDEN Id., or 7s. per 100
BAPTISM BRIEFLY OPENED UP and APPLIED. By
the Rev. A. A. BONAR Id, or 7s. per 100
STATE of RELIGION in the LAND. A Letter to the
Rev. E. Bickersteth. By the Rev. C. J.
BROWN, A.M 2d, or 14s. per 100
CAST thy BREAD upon the WATERS Id., or 7s. per 100
The CENTRE of UNITY ; a Scriptural Glimpse of a
future, perfect, and all-controlling Centre of Unity
on Earth Id, or 7s. per 100
The CHARGE of the BISHOP of LONDON EXAMINED,
and its Unscriptural Tendency set forth 3(7., or 21s. per 100
CHRIST BETWEEN the Two THIEVES d, or 6s. per 100
The CHRISTIAN SABBATH Hd, or 10s. 6d per 100
CHRISTMAS BILLS. By a DEBTOR Id, or 7s. per 100
The CHURCH'S CONSOLATION 2d, or 14s. per 100
CLOSING SCENES of the PRESENT DISPENSATION . Id, or 7s. per 100
COMMON EXCUSES for not RECEIVING the LORD'S
SUPPER \d. t or 3s. per 100
COTTAGE PICTURES 8d
EXCUSES for NEGLECTING CHURCH ANSWERED. By
the Rev. THOMAS DAVIS, A.M 2d, or 14s. per 100
The RUIN of ALL ISRAEL. By the Rev. R. W.
DIBDIN 1 d, or 7s. per 100
DINAH ; a Christian Memorial Id, or 7s. per 100
The CAUSE of CHRIST and the CAUSE of SATAN. By
the Rev. Dr. DUFF 2d, or 14s. per 100
The DUTY of ATTENDING the HOLY SACRAMENT. 1 Jd, or 10s. 6d per 100
A FEW WORDS on the DUTY of PRIVATE PRAYER,
principally addressed to Servants 4d
A FEW WORD'S to the Rev. R. W. SIBTIIORP Id, or 7s. per 100
GEORGE the SHOEMAKER Id, or 7s. per 100
The CHURCH in the HOUSE. By the Rev. JAMES
HAMILTON 1 id, or 10s. 6d per 100
THANKFULNESS. By Ditto l\d., or 10s. 6d per 100
REMEMBERING ZION. To Scotchmen in London.
By Ditto lid, or 10s. 6d per 100
The DEW of HERMON ; or, the Source of Christian
Unity. By Ditto 1 \d., or 10s. 6d per 100
The HARP on the WILLOWS. By Ditto Id, or 7s. per 100
DAYS NUMBERED and NOTED. By Ditto Id, or 7s. per 100
FAREWELL to EGYPT. By Ditto Id, or 7s. per 100
CHINA and the CHINESE MISSION. By Ditto. . ld, or 10s. 6d per 100
HAPPY HOME. Nos. 1 to 10 . . Id each.
30 WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Miscellaneous Tracts continued.
LAST DAYS of MRS. COOPER, of the Scottish Mission,
Hurnee, East Indies Id., or 7s. per 100
LESSONS from the GOSPELS ; chiefly in words of one
syllable, for the use of ADULT SCHOLARS 6J.
LETTER from a JEW to his BRETHREN; or, the
Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews 6(7.
LOOKING-GLASS to the HEART Id., or 7s. per 100
LOVE to ALL, and LIFE to ALL \d., or 3s. per 100
DOCTRINE and DUTY ; for the use of Sabbath-
schools. By the Rev. ROBERT MACDONALD . . 3(7., or 21s. per 100
MARY and ELLEN ; or, Beware of Sin 3d, or 21s. per 100
MARY ; or, The Two Wooden Legs Id., or 7s. per 100
The USE of the ROD. By the Rev. R. J. M'G^E,
A.M 4d., or 28s. per 100
The SABBATH - BREAKERS. By the Rev. T. A.
METHUEN . , 3s., or 2s. Gd. per doz.
CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESS. By the Rev. W.
NICOLSON 2(7., or 14s. per 100
The UNITY of the CHURCH. By the Hon. and Rev.
B. W. NOEL 2d., or 14s. per 100
The SANCTIFICATION of the SABBATH. By Ditto .. 2d., or 14s. per 100
The DOCTRINE of the WORD of GOD respecting UNION
among CHRISTIANS. By Ditto Id., or 14.9. per 100
An OLD DISCIPLE Id., or 7s. per 100
An OLD DISCIPLE : Acts xxi. 16. A True Character 3d., or 21s. per 100
PLAIN ADDRESS to the SICK 1 \d., or 10s. Gd. per 100
POPERY at MADRAS an Account of John Jordan . . 2d., or 14s. per 100
The POTTER'S WORK id., or 7s. per 100
The POWER of DIVINE GRACE. A Narrative . . l%d., or 10s. 6r7. per 100
A WORD to the ENGLISH LAITY, with reference to
Puseyism. By J. POYNDER, Esq 2(7., or 14s. per 100
The PROMISES made to the FATHERS, contrasted with
ISRAEL'S STATE under the LAW 3d., or 21s. per 100
REASONS for DECLINING to ATTEND a CONCERT of
SACRED Music Gd.
REPENTANCE ; in large Type If?., or 7s. per 100
The RETURN of the JEWS Id., or Is. 6(7. per 2u
RIGHT ELECTION and the GREAT REFORM Id., or 7s. per 100
ROMAINE'S EARNEST INVITATION to PRAYER 2(7., or 14s. per 100
The SALE of a SOUL. 2cL, or 14s. per 100
JOSEPH SAUNDERS 5s. per 100.
The SHEPHERD and his FLOCK 9d., or 7s. Gd. per doz.
THOUGHTS on the ATTRACTIVE LIGHT of the WISE
VIRGINS. By the Rev. JAMES HALDANE
STEWART , 3(7.
The THREE STEPS. In large Type Id., or 7s. per 100
The SUICIDE Id., or 6s. per 100
A REAL TRACT for the TIMES. By the Rev. JAMES
SUTCLIFFE, A.M Gd.
TESTIMONY to the late RELIGIOUS AWAKENINGS in
SCOTLAND. By PAROCHIAL MINISTERS 2d., or 14s. per 100
The TKACTARIAN DOCTRINE of CHRISTIAN UNITY
not the Doctrine of the Gospel. By the Rev.
W. H. TURNER 3d., or 21. per 100
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
31
UNION in GLOKY. A Letter to the Hon. and Rev,
B. W. NOEL, A.M
A VKRY COMMON QUESTION
VILLAGE PRAYER MEETING
On BALLS and THEATRES. By the Hon. and Rev.
H. M. VILLIERS
The LORD'S SUPPER. By Ditto
The VOTEK'S DUTY, according to the BIBLE
AVr, DON'T GET UP by the CLOCK
WHERE THERE is A WILL, THERE is A WAY
WHEREWITHAL SHALL WE BE CLOTHED ?
WHY DOES YOUR PRIEST FORBID YOU TO READ
THE BIBLE ?
WILLIAM JONES and POOB WADE . .
4d
Id, or 7s. per 100
Id., or 7s. per 100
2d., or 14s. per 100
Id., or 7s. per 100
2d., or 14s. per 100
1 d., or 5s. per 100
Id., or 7s. per 100
Id, or 3s. per 100
Id., or 7s. per 100
Id., or 7s. per 100
MISCELLANEOUS.
Alexander (Emperor of Russia), Brief Memoir
of. 12mo., 4d.
Assembly's Shorter Catechism, with Proofs.
:i2nio. ' 2fl.
Bayssiere's (Peter) Life. 18mo., 8rf.
Beamish's (Rev. H. H.) Christian Church.
12mo., Is.
Biblical Calendar. 32mo., 3d.
Bonar's (Rev. A. A.) The Lord's Supper Ex-
plained. 32mo., 2d. ; or gilt, 4d.
(Rev. II.) White Robes. Id. ; or gilt, M.
Believe and Live. 32mo., 2d. ; or
gilt, 4d.
The Spirit's Teaching; or, Memoir of
John Ross. 32mo., id. ; or gilt, 2d.
Booth's Grace Reigning in Election. 32mo.,
2il. ; or gilt, 4d.
Rraham's Catechism of the Church of England.
ISmo., 4d.
Breay's Absent Pastor's Address. 32mo., 2d.
On Oratorios. ISmo., 3d.
Unruly Member. 32mo., Id.
Hymns and Texts for the Teacher
Taught. 32mo., 2d.
Elementary Catechism. ISmo., 3d.
Bridge's (W.) Christ's Coming. 32mo., 3d.
Brock's (Rev. M.) Jubilee. 6d.
Brown (Rev. A.) on the Sabbath. ISmo., 9d.
Burns' (Rev. I.) Family Hearth. 32mo., 2d.
. Walk with Physician of Souls. 32mo.,
2d.
Vital Religion. 32mo., 2d.
Carlyle's (Rev. J.) Fruit Gathered among
Roman Catholics in Ireland. ISmo., Grf.
Catechism of Truth, for Children. 18mo., 8d.
Chambers' (Rev. W.) Lily of the Valley.
ISmo., 4d.
Tribute of a Father. 32mo . , 3d.
Church of Rome. By a Layman of the Church
of England. 12mo., Gd.
Cole's (Rev. G.) Decision of Ruth. ISmo., !.<?.
Craik's Pastoral Letters. ISmo., I.
Darby's Studies on the Book of Daniel. 12mo.,
sewed, 1*. 2d. ; cloth, 1*. 6d.
Dibdin's (Rev. R. W.) Three in One. ISmo.,
3d.
English History, for Children from four to ten
years of age. Parti. 1*.
Ferprusson's (Rev. D.) Covenanting with God.
12mo., 6d.
First Resurrection and Rapture of the Saints.
32mo., Id.
First Resurrection. By E. B. 12mo , Gd.
Friendship's Faithfulness ; or, a Letter from
a Trinitarian to a Unitarian. 18mo., 4d.
Hale's (Mrs.) Catechism for Children. 12mo.,
8d.
Heaven and Earth. 12mo., Gd.
Huie's Sons in Law of Lot. 32mo., 2d. .
Hull's (Rev. J. D.) Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
32mo., 8d.
Hymns, Original and Selected. 18mo., 2rl.
I have Nothing to Lose, and may Gain.
12mo., 2rf.
Introduction to the First Truths of the Gospel.
12mo., \s.
Is there not a Cause ? By Abdiel. 32mo., 2d.
Jane and her Teacher. ISmo., 6d.
Joy in Israel. 32mo., 3d.
Jukes' Drying up of the Euphrates. 12mo.,
2d.
Lamb Gathered into the Fold ; or, Memoir of
Little Anna. 18mo., 6d.
Letters from a Sunday School Teacher. 32mo.,
2d.
Little Mary, the African Girl. 32mo., 2d.
32
WORKS PUBLISHED BY NISBET AND CO.
Miscellaneous. Continued.
Live Happily and Die Happily. ISmo., 4rf.
M'Cheyne's Songs of Zion. 32mo., gilt, 3d.
This do in Remembrance of Me.
32mo., gilt, Zd.
The Acceptable Year of the Lord.
32mo., gilt, 2rf.
Daily Bread ; being a Calendar for
reading through the Word of God in a Year.
32mo., gilt, Id.
To the Lambs of the Flock. ISmo.,
\d. ; 32mo., gilt, Id.
I love the Lord's Day. 32mo.,
gilt, Id.
The Sword of the Lord over Christ-
less Souls. 32mo., gilt, 2rf.
Select Pieces ; being the above
seven Tracts done up in one volume. 32mo.,
cloth, gilt edges, 1*. 6d.
Macdonald's (Rev. R.) Doctrine and Duty.
ISmo., Gd.
Madden's (Dr.) Rest for the Weary. 18mo., Gd.
Marks' (Rev. R.) Cottage Girl. ISmo., Gd.
Dying Experience of Mary Ann. 4d.
Familiar Questions. ISmo., 3d.
Little Ann. 18mo., 4d.
Vice, Penitence, and Virtue. ISmo., id.
Mansford's (J. G.) Sixth Seal and Seventh
Vial. 12mo., Gd.
Mayne's Jewish Ordinances. ISino., 1*.
Memorial of Mary Kean. 18mo., 6d.
Mesmerism : its Pretensions and Character.
By Philadelphus. 12mo., 3d.
Miller's (Rev. P. L.) Minister's Great AVish.
32mo.
Mine Explored. By Mrs. Breay. 8d.
Newbury's (Uncle) Moral Maxims, ISmo., Is.
Noel's (Hon. and Rev. B. W.) Catechism of
Doctrine and Practice. ISmo., 3d.
Orphan's Hope and Mourner's Joy. ISmo., 6d.
Parker's (Rev. E.) Baptismal Regeneration.
32mo. 6rf.
on the Prayer Book. 32mo., 9d.
False Charges Refuted. 32mo., 6d.
Parting Words on Weighty Subjects. 32mo.,
4d.
Plumptre's (Miss Helen) Christian Guest.
ISmo., 3d.
Christian Warfare. ISmo., 3d.
Canaanitish Mother. ISmo., 3d.
Legion Cast Out. ISmo., 3d.
Little Maid. ISmo., 3d.
Master's Remembrancer. ISmo., 3d.
Teacher of Babes. ISmo., Is.
Infants' School. 2rf.
God, the Best Teacher. Sd.
Prayers, &c., for Children. First Set, ISmo., 2d.
Second Set, ISmo., 2d.
The Rescue : a Narrative of a recent Con-
version. Cd.
Romaine's Full Christ for Empty Sinners.
With Preface by Rev. H. Bonar. Gilt, id.
Ryle's (Rev. J. C.) Living or Dead. 3d., or
2s. per dozen.
Are You Holy? 12mo., 3d.
Faith's Choice. 12mo., Gd.
Children Walking in Truth. ISmo., 3d.
Seeking the Lord Early. ISmo., 3d.
Train up a Child. ISmo., 3d.
Young Men Exhorted. 12mo., fid.
Sacred Steps for Youthful Feet. ISmo., 4d.
Satan, an Angel of Light. By G. Alexander.
12mo., 4d.
Self-Examination ; or, 365 Questions for Every
Day in the Year. 32mo., 6rf.
Shepherd and the Flock. 12mo., stitched, 9d.
Short Meditations on Elisha. ISmo., 8d.
Sinner's Friend. 18mo., 3d.
Large Type, 8vo., Is.
Strong Consolation. ISmo., 6d.
Sugden's (Rev. F.) Catechism of the Lord's
Supper. 18mo., Cd.
Task (The). Texts of Scripture on the Second
Advent. 18mo., Is.
What is now England's Duty. ISmo., Is.
Wilcox's Christ is All. Preface by Rev. H.
Bonar. 2d. ; or gilt, 4d.
Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.
THE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW.
Series 9482