SERMON S, 
 
 ACADEMICAL AND OCCASIONAL 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. JOHN KEBLE, M.A. 
 
 VICAR OF HURSLEY, 
 AND LATE FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 Thou shaft no more be haughty because of My holy mountain. 
 Zephaniah iii. 17. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER ; 
 F. AND J. RTVINGTON, LONDON 
 
 I848/ 
 
BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 
TO THE REVEREND 
 
 WILLIAM NICHOLAS DARNELL, B.D. 
 
 SOMETIME TUTOR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 NOW RECTOR OF STANHOPE IN THE BISHOPRIC OF DURHAM, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS INSCRIBED, 
 IN EVER-GRATEFUL MEMORY 
 
 OF INVALUABLE HELPS AND WARNINGS, 
 
 RECEIVED FROM HIM IN EARLY YOUTH 
 
 BY HIS 
 FAITHFUL FRIEND AND SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 r * 
 
 B378 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRESENT POSITION OF ENGLISH CHURCHMEN. 
 
 THE Discourses which are here collected, all of 
 them, profess and endeavour more or less to take 
 a popular view of certain great ecclesiastical sub- 
 jects, to which of late years our attention has been 
 providentially drawn. It will not then be out of 
 place, to introduce them with some few remarks 
 on the kind of evidence to which they appeal, and 
 the principles which ought to guide the judgment 
 of such as may be likely to read them, on the 
 points which now unhappily are most debated 
 among us. I do not mean points merely specu- 
 lative, but practical questions of duty, arising out 
 of our relation, as individual members, to the Body 
 of Christ, which is His Church. 
 
 For it is a sad truth, that no one of us is safe 
 from being called on, at any moment, to e^rcise 
 something like a judgment of his own, on rnatters 
 which in better times would have been indisputably 
 
 b 
 
11 PREFACE. 
 
 settled for him. If we are spared external persecu- 
 tion, and escape trials of our faith and courage, we 
 are tempted perhaps more severely than the early 
 Christians on the side of intellectual pride and wil- 
 lfulness. Our guide is comparatively out of sight, 
 and we are the more tempted to be our own guides ; 
 and all thoughtful persons know how that must end. 
 
 Yet it is certain by our Lord's express promise, 
 that if we have but " a good will to do His Will" 
 unreservedly, we " shall know of the doctrine ;" 
 sooner or later, " God will reveal unto us" that 
 wherein we are "otherwise minded V Our Saviour 
 spoke it of those who were not yet Christians, St. 
 Paul of Christians whose creed was yet imperfect. 
 The two promises together seem to provide for all 
 cases. It cannot be imagined that they pass over 
 the very distressing case, now unhappily so frequent 
 among us, of persons believing the Holy Catholic 
 Church, but doubting more or less of their own 
 place within it. Amidst all our care, and per- 
 plexity, whether for ourselves, or those dear to us, or 
 entrusted to our care, we are graciously permitted 
 to repose with undoubting faith on this one most 
 merciful assurance, that sincere goodness will in 
 the end find its home in the place from whence it 
 came. The pure in heart shall finally see God. 
 
 Having this faith at the bottom of our hearts, 
 in the firm and humble purpose to do and suffer 
 all that He may clearly reveal to be His will, we 
 
 * St. John vii. 17; Philipp. iii. 15. 
 
PREFACE. Ill 
 
 may address ourselves calmly,, without consterna- 
 tion or amazement,, to the inquiry, whether He 
 has clearly revealed the course which He approves 
 in the emergency now imagined. For the conduct 
 of such inquiry, I am now about to suggest a few 
 leading thoughts : not professing to argue out any 
 of the points, but simply to set them down as 
 worthy of grave consideration. 
 
 A dutiful person in the English Church, we will 
 suppose, has in some way been made aware of the 
 sayings and feelings of good Roman Catholics con- 
 cerning her ; and with the fact, that some of those 
 sayings meet with more or less countenance in 
 antiquity : or he has come to be greatly impressed 
 with the sanctity and other attractions undeniably 
 existing in the communion of Rome : and the 
 thought begins to haunt him, " What if her exclu- 
 sive claim be true ? What if it should prove, that 
 as yet I have been living without the pale of Christ's 
 Kingdom ?" 
 
 How is he to deal with such misgivings ? Shall 
 he suppress them with a strong hand, as he would 
 impure or murderous thoughts ? 
 
 It would be hard to prove him wrong in doing 
 so. It would be hard, very hard, to overbear the 
 claim of something like natural piety, urging on 
 us that it is an undutiful thing to doubt whether 
 she be our real Mother, who has ever professed to 
 be so, and who has done a mother's part by us, 
 
 b2 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 from childhood until now. As in families it would 
 be a wild and unnatural supposition, for any one 
 of the children to begin doubting, whether their 
 reputed parents are their real ones ; arguing the 
 point, and requiring demonstration of it : as it is 
 a thing from which we recoil even in fictitious 
 stories, counting it an extravagant and unreal 
 device : so and much more in so serious an affair 
 as this, by how much it is more shocking to 
 undervalue God's mysterious and heavenly gifts, 
 than those which relate to this world only. And 
 if any, through their own or other's neglect, have 
 grown up among us (alas, that the case should 
 be so common!) unconscious of their spiritual 
 Mother's care, and unwarned of their duty towards 
 her, and so should have fallen into grievous sin : 
 how much more miserable to think that they 
 should make this their undutifulness a plea for 
 disloyalty, and say in effect, "You did not keep 
 me in order, therefore I disown you !" Who can 
 deny that there may be, on the one hand, so devout 
 and unwearied an use of the means of grace 
 offered among us, that for the person so favoured 
 to indulge in doubt and misgiving would be simple 
 ingratitude and irreverence, and therefore in such 
 an one not imaginable : on the other hand, such 
 open neglect of them, as to make the very act 
 of comparing and judging profane ? In both those 
 cases, then, it seems a plain duty to reject scruples 
 before they be meddled with : and if in these two 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 extreme cases it be a duty, how should it be a sin 
 in those which are intermediate ? which, partaking 
 alternately of both, suggest to the conscience con- 
 tinually one of two thoughts : either, " If I were 
 always as good as I sometimes feel that I might 
 be, I should have no temptation to doubt :" or, 
 " Until I am a great deal better than I now am, 
 I have no right to dwell on doubts." 
 
 For reasons like these, a person would not seem 
 blameable, perhaps we might well judge his course 
 the most reasonable of any, who should bring 
 himself to reject all scruples concerning our Church 
 with a strong moral abhorrence, as he would any 
 other evil imagination. But it is not every one, 
 perhaps, who could bring himself to do so ; and 
 many, moreover, being more or less answerable for 
 others, may be bound in charity to consider the 
 special matter of their misgivings, and to be pro- 
 vided with some sufficient solution of them : suffi- 
 cient, I mean, to direct a simple man's practice, 
 not necessarily sufficient to silence an acute man's 
 objections. 
 
 Those who have learning and leisure may be 
 referred to the many learned and pious Apologists, 
 by whose labour, from Hooker downwards, the 
 cause of the English Church, apart from that of 
 mere Protestantism, has been providentially illus- 
 trated and defended. If any thing to be said in 
 this Preface, or in the Sermons which follow, sound 
 as if spoken in disparagement of them and of their 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 cause, the writer most heartily disavows it, and 
 wishes it, so far, unwritten. But what are those 
 many to do, who are obviously unable to enter on 
 the task of examining controversial works ? Happily 
 we have not far to seek for principles, real, weighty, 
 and powerful in themselves, and in their application 
 sufficiently clear, to guide such persons along the 
 narrow way. Englishmen of ordinarily good edu- 
 cation have been led of late years, I may say pro- 
 videntially, to the pages of Bishop Butler, as to a 
 never-failing help in their struggles against practical 
 unbelief: and from the very nature of the case, we 
 cannot be wrong in applying his rules to the doubts 
 now mentioned, which tend, in their measure, to 
 unbelief. What are those rules ? 
 
 Without pretending to any great exactness of 
 statement, we may say in general, that they are 
 such as the following : That in practical matters of 
 eternal import, the " safer way" (rightly under- 
 standing that term) is always to be preferred, even 
 though the excess of seeming evidence may tell 
 in any degree on the opposite side. Thus, if one 
 mode of acting imply that there is an eternity, and 
 another contradict it ; though we suppose a mind 
 utterly incapable of comprehending the evidence 
 for it, and quite awake to the objections and diffi- 
 culties, still the tremendous, overwhelming interest 
 at stake ought to determine a man's conduct to 
 the affirmative side. He should act, in spite of 
 seeming evidence, as if eternity were true. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 Another rule will be, that in estimating theological 
 statements, no account need be taken of objections, 
 which apply as well to acknowledged facts in God's 
 natural and moral government, as to those which 
 are in dispute. For example ; a priori objections 
 to the general doctrine of mediation are cancelled 
 at once by the observation, that God has made the 
 natural good of His creatures to depend in so great 
 a degree on the voluntary interference and instru- 
 mentality of other creatures. 
 
 On the other hand, (and this may be set down 
 as a third rule,) any positive analogies to actual 
 experience which we may be enabled to point out, 
 may reasonably tell towards confirming our faith 
 in a system which has stood the two former tests. 
 Thus, the relation of Judaism to Christianity having 
 been accepted upon its proper evidence, it is an 
 allowable satisfaction, and reasonably adds to our 
 full conviction of the doctrine, to reflect on the 
 analogy which it bears to God's providential educa- 
 tion of individuals, by childhood and youth train- 
 ing them up to manhood. 
 
 These, as all men know, are some of the chief 
 principles, whereby such writers as Butler and 
 Pascal have maintained Christianity against unbe- 
 lief. Why may we not apply them as well to the 
 maintenance of orthodoxy against heresy ? or 
 (which comes to the same thing) to the practical 
 guidance of individual consciences among different 
 schools within the Church ? 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 I am aware indeed that a feeling exists, which 
 would limit the principles in question to the con- 
 troversy with unbelievers, and would explain some 
 of the sad misunderstandings which prevail, by 
 ascribing them to an attempt to settle debates 
 among Churchmen by appeal to these maxims ; 
 which are allowed to be sound in themselves, but 
 supposed irrelevant to our case. 
 
 But, in the first place, Bishop Butler himself was 
 clearly not aware of any such limitation. He says, 
 broadly and without all exception, " To us, proba- 
 bility is the very guide of life." He maintains, that 
 when a person is in suspense about religion, " it 
 ought in all reason, considering its infinite import- 
 ance, to have nearly the same influence upon prac- 
 tice, as if it were thoroughly believed. For," he adds, 
 " would it not be madness for a man to forsake a 
 safe road, and prefer to it one in which he acknow- 
 ledges there is an even chance he should lose his 
 life, though there were an even chance likewise of 
 his getting safe through it ?" Further ; he applies 
 his principles to the settlement of matters debated 
 among those who profess to receive the Scrip- 
 tures : such as the nature and degrees of Inspira- 
 tion, the use of Tradition, the doctrine of Vicarious 
 Suffering. 
 
 In the next place, the distinction alleged is far 
 from self-evident. The three rules above specified 
 lose nothing of their axiomatic force, when con- 
 templated with a view (e. g.) to the Predestinarian 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 controversy, or to those which regard Church 
 government, rather than to those which Bishop 
 Butler had directly in his thoughts. At least, if 
 such be the case, it requires to be distinctly shewn 
 why and how. The burden of proof lies on the 
 opponent. The rules themselves profess to be 
 grounded on the essential conditions of human 
 life and practice, not on any circumstances in the 
 matters which Butler applies them to : and if any 
 part of life claim to be exempted from them, the 
 exemption surely ought to be specially made out. 
 
 In the absence of clear explanation on this 
 matter, may we not suspect without unfairness, 
 that it is not so much any argumentative difficulty, 
 as certain uneasy feelings, which have prompted 
 the scruple ? It was hastily concluded, perhaps, 
 that the principles of Pascal and Butler, carried 
 out, would tell practically in favour of Rome : the 
 very contradictory of which, as I shall endeavour 
 presently to shew, is the truth, in regard at least of 
 English Churchmen. 
 
 Or there was an unwillingness to acquiesce in 
 any thing (to use Butler's expression) so " poor." 
 It is naturally enough surmised, that an earnest 
 living faith, in those details especially of Catholic 
 Truth, which bear most immediately on personal 
 religion, can hardly be built up upon statements 
 so guarded and hesitating : much in the same way 
 as a traveller would shrink beforehand from 
 venturing on a road, whose foundation is mere 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 quaking moss and turf; which nevertheless ex- 
 perience has proved secure and available. Thus 
 a prejudice has always existed against Bishop 
 Butler's argument, among those who most long 
 for somewhat of inspiration, and watch most 
 eagerly for direct tokens from above : a prejudice 
 which of course exerts and realizes itself more, 
 as the argument comes to touch more nearly on 
 those transcendental and affecting truths, whereby 
 Faith, if one may so say, lives and moves and has 
 her being b . " Possibly," " perhaps," " why should 
 it not be so ?" these and other like forms of 
 speech, sound strangely cold and unmeaning to 
 young and ardent spirits, trained to throw them- 
 selves, wholly and undoubtingly, on sacred words, 
 which come to them with a thrilling conviction 
 of the very doctrines which they now hear so 
 languidly spoken of. It is a generous and de- 
 votional feeling ; still it is feeling, not reason, and 
 proceeds on an inadequate view of the necessary 
 imperfection of this our mortal state. 
 
 Objectors of a somewhat different class may 
 not improbably complain, that they are urged to 
 believe certain doctrines, on the strength of certain 
 analogies and figures, which for aught they know 
 may be mere play of imagination. This makes 
 them jealous and impatient : they wait not to con- 
 sider the proper force of such topics, in confirming 
 known truths and meeting objections, but discard 
 
 b Compare Anal. p. 2. c. v. . 3. p. 273, 4. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 them altogether, as alien to the clear light of the 
 Gospel: forgetting that the great reasoner himself 
 has plainly declared, that the proper force of analogy 
 lies in answering objections, and that when positive, 
 it is merely subsidiary to more direct arguments. 
 
 Yet a very little consideration will make it ob- 
 vious, that by thus excepting against probabilities 
 and analogies, men are in fact indefinitely narrow- 
 ing the reach and extent of Faith as a principle of 
 action. They are limiting it to a few great and 
 trying moments and occasions : whereas it is clearly 
 spoken of in Scripture as the mainspring of our 
 ordinary life. For how few comparatively are the 
 instances, in which men are able to act without 
 any doubt or misgiving at all, or any notion that 
 something may be said on both sides ! Now all but 
 such cases, on the hypothesis now mentioned, are 
 taken out of the province of Faith. 
 
 And how is this consistent with holy Scrip- 
 ture ? since " hope which is seen is not hope :" 
 and " faith is the substance," the realizing, " of 
 things hoped for," the " evidence, or making ven- 
 ture," of things not seen. When objects therefore, 
 either earthly or heavenly, present themselves to 
 the mind as distinctly as though they were seen, 
 there is no room any longer for either hope or 
 faith, properly so called. To say that probability, 
 as opposed to intuition or demonstration, is the 
 very guide of life and duty ; in other words, that 
 moral questions must be decided by moral not 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 mathematical evidence ; so far from excluding the 
 action of a generous faith, is the only statement 
 which gives faith unlimited scope. 
 
 Again : to urge on a person the wisdom and 
 duty of taking " the safe way," may sound indeed 
 at first like cold calculation, but is practically a 
 principle of faith, since it must ever issue in 
 preferring eternity to time. Perhaps too, even 
 metaphysically, it may imply a righteous Governor 
 of the world : for how can there be any comparison 
 of safe or unsafe, if all be left at random ? And 
 granting the comparison, why should we trust our 
 own impressions about it, except through an in- 
 stinctive faith in the veracity of one who caused 
 us to have such impressions ? Who knows but 
 the like instinct may lie at the foundation of the 
 whole way of reasoning from analogy ? Bishop 
 Butler has put the question without solving it, 
 " Whence it proceeds that likeness should beget 
 that presumption, opinion, and full conviction, 
 which the human mind is formed to receive from 
 it, and which it does necessarily produce in every 
 one ?" It seems not unnatural to say to one's self, 
 Perhaps the tendency may arise from an instinct, 
 unconsciously recognising His Presence and Power, 
 Who actuates all things, and moves them by 
 general laws. For example, our faith in the course 
 of nature, in our own senses, or in our personal 
 identity, when we come really to consider it, is 
 scarcely intelligible but as faith in the God of 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 Nature, " the same yesterday, and to-day, and for 
 ever." And so the very notion of reasoning at all 
 from analogy may seem to stand on a religious 
 basis. 
 
 There may possibly be other and deeper ob- 
 jections to the proposed application of Bishop 
 Butler's principles, which also may be met on the 
 other side by deeper and more searching replies. 
 But it may not be useless thus briefly to have 
 noticed these popular misapprehensions. Let us 
 now revert to the first of them, which alone needs 
 to be here examined in detail. 
 
 An apprehension then exists, that the principle 
 of taking at all events " the safer way," being 
 applied to our controversy with Roman Catholics, 
 tells prima facie against the Anglican side. The 
 Roman statement, put broadly and coarsely, is as 
 follows. It is allowed by English Catholic Divines, 
 such as Hooker, that a Roman Catholic, walking 
 dutifully in the ways of his Church, is unquestion- 
 ably within the kingdom and covenant of Christ, 
 and therefore in a safe way, by God's mercy, 
 towards everlasting salvation. On the other side, 
 Roman theologians do by no means make the same 
 concession to the English Church : they merely 
 allow her sincere members the same plea of invin- 
 cible ignorance, which they do not deny to the 
 most uninstructed of the heathen. Upon this it is 
 argued, and there is in the argument an air of 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 downright common sense, not unattractive to the 
 English mind especially : " The good Roman 
 Catholic is safe, by consent of both parties : not 
 so the good English Catholic : therefore a prudent 
 person will lose no time in ranging himself on the 
 side of the former." 
 
 The slightest consideration, however, shews, that 
 the argument put in this form proves too much : 
 for it would equally shew that Puritanism, or 
 Mahometanism, or the ancient Donatism, or any 
 other exclusive system, is the safer way : since we, 
 I suppose, should not hesitate to hope and pro- 
 nounce favourably of sincere and good persons, 
 living and dying Puritans, or even Mahometans, 
 simply through invincible ignorance : but they 
 would stiffly, I imagine, deny that we, continuing 
 as we are, could have any portion in God's mercy. 
 This should be enough, surely, to prevent any, 
 even the simplest, from being overpowered by the 
 mere boldness of a system more exclusive than that 
 to which himself belongs. 
 
 But there is more than this, it may be urged, 
 in the statement we are now considering. The 
 advocates for change may say, that they proceed 
 not upon their own assertions, but upon our free 
 concessions. " You enumerate," they may allege, 
 "certain conditions of salvation; faith in the 
 Creeds, partaking of the Sacraments, communion 
 with the visible Church ; all which we plainly 
 have, and many rites and doctrines besides, which 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 you must either affirm to be ordinarily contrary 
 to salvation, as some extreme controversialists on 
 your side do, or else you cannot escape the infer- 
 ence, that ours is the safer way, the way to be 
 chosen upon Butler's and Pascal's rule." 
 
 This being, as it is hoped, no unfair represent- 
 ation of the argument, I ask, Do not all generous 
 minds feel in it, before examination, something 
 unsatisfactory ? Does it not give a cold, dry, hard 
 interpretation to the term " safer way," reminding 
 one rather of a dextrous diplomatist insisting on 
 the literal terms of a treaty, than of a loyal and 
 affectionate son and subject, committing himself 
 unreservedly to the King and Father of all ? In 
 fact, when we come to analyse it, it clearly assumes 
 the utilitarian theory of morals. It assumes that 
 the greatest discernible good of the individual is 
 the proper measure, to him, of right and wrong. 
 Whereas if we grant a righteous Governor of the 
 world, the " safe way" of course must be, not what 
 is visibly best for ourselves, but what is most 
 pleasing to Him most apparently on His side in 
 the great conflict between good and evil. We 
 must bind ourselves by an unchangeable rule, never 
 to do evil that good may come ; no not for the 
 seeming certainty of the greatest good, the eternal 
 salvation of our brethren's souls and our own. We 
 must make up our minds to suspect all such 
 appearances, however plausible, and count them 
 fallacious, if they involve a contradiction of a plain 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 moral duty. As the Apostle says, (may it be 
 permitted without irreverence so to apply sacred 
 words ? ) " Though we, or an Angel from Heaven, 
 preach any other Gospel unto you than that 
 which we have preached unto you, let him be 
 accursed." 
 
 To some this will sound as if we were fairly 
 giving up the principle of the " safer way :" but it 
 is not really so. We are merely allowing for an 
 additional element, which the nature of the case 
 requires, in the calculation by which we judge of 
 " safety :" additional, I mean, to those which Butler 
 and Pascal had chiefly to contemplate. They had 
 to deal in the first place with such as denied 
 eternity : and so far, the bare statement of terms 
 was enough to indicate the " safe way." But 
 here Eternity is granted, and we have to choose 
 among conflicting systems, each professing to 
 secure happiness in it. And being by supposition 
 incompetent to decide upon the masses of direct 
 evidence, which these systems severally allege, we 
 look to analogy for further help in determining "the 
 safe way ;" and we find it altogether confirming the 
 impression to which unbiassed instinct would lead 
 us : viz. that the world being under moral govern- 
 ment, the " safe way" in uncertain cases must be 
 that which is most agreeable to the duties we are 
 before certain of. "He that is willing to do His 
 will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be 
 of God." 
 
PREFACE. XV11 
 
 On this principle, neither the Roman nor any 
 other communion would be the "safe way" to a 
 person who could not enter into it without involving 
 himself in moral guilt: if, for instance, it were 
 required as a condition of his baptism that he 
 should confess a crime, whereof he knows himself 
 to be innocent. What could such an one do, but 
 continue formally excommunicate, and hope that 
 in the sight of God he was virtually not so ? 
 
 Cases again may be conceived affecting practice, 
 in which the seeming logical or historical evidence 
 may tell almost wholly on one side, yet it may be 
 clearly right to prefer the other, by reason of some 
 moral instinct, which comes in and will not let 
 itself be unfelt. Suppose a man's parent accused 
 of any great crime : let the amount of apparent 
 proof against him be never so overwhelming, none 
 will deny that it is the child's duty, come what 
 will, to disbelieve his guilt if he can ; to give him 
 the benefit not only of reasonable doubt, but of 
 any the faintest and remotest possibility of inno- 
 cence ; and to act accordingly, disregarding all 
 personal consequences. Now this is but one out 
 of a thousand instances, wherein the moral sense 
 is mercifully empowered to correct the errors of 
 the intellect, or supply its imperfections. Few in 
 comparison are judges of evidence, but all may 
 listen to the inward voice, directing them in such 
 matters to the safer side. 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 Let us now, very briefly, apply these principles 
 to the case before us. And by way of proving 
 their strength more entirely, we will grant for the 
 present far more than the truth demands. We 
 will suppose, on the one side, a great array of 
 facts, authorities, and arguments, which a person 
 does not know how to refute, (though he cannot 
 say but it is very possible some refutation may 
 exist, as yet unknown to him, or that counter- 
 statements equally strong might be made :) and on 
 the other side, only the simple principle, " quieta 
 non movere : wherever a man is called, there let 
 him abide with God :" even this alone ought 
 assuredly to go a good way. Mere contentment 
 and resignation to the Divine will, which has cast 
 our lot where it is, in spiritual and intellectual 
 no less than in temporal respects, ought in all 
 reason to make us slow to change. " I am where 
 God has seen fit to place me ; surely this one 
 consideration entitles me to throw the burden of 
 proof entirely on those who call on me to alter 
 my profession." " Be content with such things 
 as ye have :" be minute therefore and scrupulous 
 in examining, (if your duty really call on you to 
 examine,) whatever is said to separate you from 
 your present Communion : look at it with a jealous, 
 unfavourable eye, and shew to the other side pro- 
 portional favour. For whatever else is right or 
 wrong, this you are quite sure must be right ; " in 
 whatsoever state you are, therewith to be content," 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 until you discern unequivocal manifestations of 
 God's will calling you out of it. 
 
 Again ; some questions are felt to be of a kind, 
 which it requires a certain daring and hardihood 
 of mind to answer in an intellectual way : and no 
 doubt there are persons, who, when such a subject 
 occurs to them, feel it as a kind of challenge to do 
 their best in grappling with it. They acknowledge 
 it as a call of Providence, a venture which they 
 are summoned to make ; but intellects of the 
 average sort instinctively draw back ; and are they 
 not right in so doing ? Doubtless, the extent and 
 complication of an argument, the number and 
 magnitude of the points involved in it, the quantity 
 of information which may be accumulated on it ; 
 these are so many indications of its not being 
 meant to be decided by common persons. They 
 call on us for a wise self-distrust ; and self-distrust 
 is a temper so suitable to us and our condition, 
 that whatever course implies most of it has so far 
 a presumption in its favour. 
 
 Again ; the same remark applies, still more 
 strongly, to the temper of mind which is turned 
 by grace into contrition ; the inclination to magnify 
 rather than extenuate our faults. If, on com- 
 parison of two modes of thinking and acting, one 
 is decidedly more favourable than the other to the 
 cultivation of this great spiritual talent ; this is, so 
 far, a declaration of Providence in favour of one 
 rather than the other. 
 
 c2 
 
XX PREFACE, 
 
 Further ; God's approving mark has been very 
 emphatically set upon those who go as it were out 
 of themselves to meet and welcome goodness in 
 others. True though it be, that no man uninspired 
 is an adequate judge of his neighbour's holiness ; 
 and much as we may fear, that in some late instances 
 too much has been said of visible sanctity as a 
 sufficient test of truth ; yet we may be sure, it 
 is not for nothing that God has made it simply 
 impossible for us to refrain altogether from com- 
 parisons and judgments of that sort. And besides, 
 (to mention no more Scripture sayings,) none shall 
 " rest upon God's holy hill," who " maketh" not 
 " much of them that fear the Lord ." To have 
 safe repose in the true Church, we must encourage 
 in ourselves a great love and zeal for the holiness 
 which He gives us to see and know in our brethren. 
 Thus we seem to be supplied with a fourth moral 
 test, to help in ascertaining our duty when we 
 are called on to change our faith. We may ask 
 ourselves, which is the more respectful way, the 
 freer from unworthy suspicions, in regard of those, 
 who to all outward appearance are doing their 
 best to serve God. 
 
 Observe, I do not say that we are directed, or 
 qualified, to take either that side where the holiest 
 persons may be found, or that wherein the average 
 standard of practical goodness is the highest. I 
 have just said that such comparisons were probably 
 
 Psalm xv. 4. 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 never intended to be made by us. But it is one 
 thing to weigh and measure other men's sanctity, 
 another to love sanctity, and cling to it, wherever 
 God puts it in our way : to love it the more the 
 nearer He has brought it to ourselves, and to 
 shrink from all that tends to disparage it. 
 
 I will add yet one more, and that a most 
 unquestionable element of right decision in all 
 practical matters; the probability of scandal of 
 causing our brethren to sin. No personal interest, 
 surely, of his own, not even the most immediate 
 peril of his own soul, can exempt a Christian 
 man from the necessity of attending to the effect of 
 his behaviour on others. If the Redeemer Himself 
 rose up from His prayer and His Agony to wait 
 on the spiritual need of His disciples, it is plainly 
 impossible for a Christian man, in any conjuncture, 
 to be innocently regardless of giving scandal. 
 When the course to be pursued is most evident, 
 this consideration must come in to regulate the 
 manner of proceeding : clearly, then, in question- 
 able cases, it must be an important ingredient 
 in determining the course itself. 
 
 On the whole, we have enumerated jive points, 
 in which the moral sense may come in to de- 
 termine " the safest way," whether in aid or in 
 default of historical or abstract reasoning, or in 
 some cases even against it. We may ask ourselves, 
 which of two decisions is more in unison, first, 
 with contentment ; secondly, with intellectual 
 
XX11 PREFACE. 
 
 modesty ; thirdly, with contrition ; fourthly, with 
 love of sanctity in others ; fifthly, with fear of 
 giving offence. 
 
 It is not of course meant, that there may not be 
 instances, in which the will of God is so plainly 
 revealed, by direct communication from Himself, 
 or by overwhelming external evidence, as to 
 supersede this kind of consideration altogether. 
 But where the revelation, or the evidence, admits 
 of question, there, I say that we are thrown back 
 more* or less on moral tests, such as have been 
 suggested ; that each one of them according to its 
 measure deserves to be gravely thought on, as in 
 the sight of God ; that where they concur in any 
 great number, the providential warning becomes 
 awful, more than in proportion to their number, 
 the danger of slighting them is not only increased 
 but multiplied ; and that the unequivocal presence 
 of them all is such an indication which way our 
 duty lies, as can only be overborne by manifesta- 
 tions almost miraculous. 
 
 Here it will of course be said, that it is easy for 
 a zealous advocate to select points of this kind, no 
 cause whatever being entirely without them, and 
 so to make out any case at his pleasure. But really 
 the matter is too serious to be disposed of by any 
 such general remark. Let those who are inclined 
 so to deal with it, ask themselves as in the Presence 
 of Almighty God, whether these and other like 
 considerations have not indeed been chosen out 
 
PREFACE. XX111 
 
 for their trial, not by any human pleader, but by 
 His Providence, so that they cannot be neglected, 
 or scornfully over-ruled, without profane disregard 
 of Him. Certainly there do exist such points of 
 detail in every grave question of conduct : and the 
 enabling good and pure minds to discern and 
 appreciate them seems to be the very process, 
 whereby the Guide and Comforter of souls fulfils 
 His Promise, " The meek shall He guide in judg- 
 ment." This may be the kind of argument which 
 our Divine Master intended, when He said, ' Ye 
 shall know them by their fruits.' The most natural 
 paraphrase of that saying seems to be, " The legi- 
 timate results of the doctrine on life and behaviour, 
 where they can be ascertained, are a sufficient test 
 of its truth : and you, if you try to serve God in 
 earnest, will find help to avail yourselves of this 
 test." For instance, since " God hath not called us 
 unto uncleanness, but unto holiness ;" if it were 
 once shewn that a certain set of opinions the 
 Manichsean suppose, or the old Anabaptist, tended 
 towards positive impurity ; this alone would shew 
 that there was in them, viewed as opinions, some- 
 thing opposed to the fundamental truth of Religion 
 inconsistent with the idea of a Moral Governor of 
 the world. That would be a plain and palpable 
 case, and would strike on pure minds with a force 
 like mathematical demonstration. In other in- 
 stances, such as we are now concerned with, we 
 can but follow the more probable course ; secure 
 
XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 of guidance, if we follow it with a sincere and simple 
 heart. To this extent, the promises are sure and 
 universal : " Ye shall know them by their fruits ;" 
 and, " If in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God 
 shall reveal even this unto you." 
 
 Moral Tests then are indispensable : only let 
 them be fairly and religiously applied. I have 
 mentioned a certain number, which obviously, I 
 think, claim to be regarded in any proposed change 
 of religion. The next step in our reasoning would 
 be to shew, that in the question, e Whether an 
 English Churchman is bound to submit himself to 
 the Church of Rome/ all these considerations tell 
 very distinctly on the English side. 
 
 The next, to inquire whether the evidence for 
 Rome is of that overpowering force, which might 
 justify a man in disregarding all such impressions. 
 
 Afterwards, with a view to the same question, 
 we might compare the case between Rome and 
 England with other cases, which some might deem 
 parallel to it. 
 
 Upon all which would follow certain conclusions, 
 as to the line which Divine Providence seems to 
 have marked out for us English Catholics, and as 
 to some of the probable results, would all agree to 
 walk by that line. 
 
 Now then, remembering all along that we are 
 not drawing out, but simply indicating, our argu- 
 ment, let us proceed to the application of our 
 
PREFACE. XXV 
 
 moral tests. As to the first, the promotion of 
 contentedness, it may sound like a mere truism to 
 say, that it is best answered by that theory, which 
 would cause each man to remain where he is. But 
 different virtues are tried by different situations ; 
 and the position of an English Churchman of the 
 Anglo-Catholic school, courted by the various 
 claims and agencies of Rome, seems in many 
 respects peculiarly fitted to form and prove this 
 part of the Christian character : much more so 
 than the converse position, that of a Roman 
 Catholic beginning to suspect that there may be a 
 reality in the English Church. 
 
 This statement does but assume what opponents 
 in general would be eager to grant : viz. that to 
 a romantic imaginative mind at least, the Roman 
 claims stand out in a very obvious manner, and 
 the English deficiencies are quite confessed and 
 palpable. " Yours," they will tell us, " undeniably is 
 the poor, the homely, the unattractive side of the 
 alternative. Who would wish, if he could choose, 
 to be a member of a smaller and comparatively 
 disunited body, instead of the largest and most 
 compact of Christian communities ; to be doubtful 
 where others feel certain ? Who would not have 
 God's Saints, and their miracles, disclosed to Him, 
 rather than regard them as so many unrevealed 
 mysteries ? Who w r ould not possess rather than 
 want an entire and definite system of doctrine, and 
 a poetical ritual, extending through all parts of 
 
XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 life ? Who, if he could help it, would acknowledge 
 such as the Tudor monarchs and their favourites, 
 as framers in any sense of the religious system he 
 lives under ?" In these and many more instances, 
 which Roman Catholics are never tired of alleging, 
 let it be granted that we stand, prima fade, in a 
 position, more or less humiliating : I say, that to 
 acquiesce in it, because it is providentially our own 
 position, to be dutiful and loyal amid the full 
 consciousness of it, savours of the same kind of 
 generous contentment, as the not being ashamed 
 of lowly parentage, nor unloving towards a dull 
 monotonous home. 
 
 Next, as to intellectual modesty : if in any 
 case it is an appalling task to exercise private 
 judgment on sacred things, this surely is such a 
 case : whether one considers the habits of thought 
 in which a person should be trained and prepared 
 for the inquiry, or the variety and extent of in- 
 formation required, or the infinite moment of the 
 conclusions on either side, and the startling nature 
 of some of them ; or finally, the weight and number 
 of conflicting authorities. Well may the judge in 
 such a cause cry out with the Prophet of old, 
 (t How can I alone bear the cumbrance and the 
 burthen and the strife ?" 
 
 For see, first, what is involved in the conclusion, 
 when a person trained in Greece or in England 
 gives in his name to the Church of Rome. It is 
 deciding on his own authority what are the limits 
 
PREFACE. XXV11 
 
 of the Kingdom of Christ, what the evangelical 
 terms of salvation. He is pronouncing not only on 
 the truth, but on the importance also, of the many 
 and various propositions, which being in debate 
 among those who call themselves Catholics, are 
 settled under anathema by the Roman councils. 
 He is consigning millions, who had no other 
 thought than to live and die true subjects of the 
 visible Catholic Church, to the comparatively for- 
 lorn hope of incurable ignorance and uncovenanted 
 mercy. He is doing all this, I say, on his own 
 authority : for although he may declare that he 
 does but accept the Church's word for each doc- 
 trine, this will not make him the less responsible 
 for taking on himself to determine, what is the 
 Church, whose word he will accept. If a child go 
 out of his way to choose a physician for himself, 
 is he not accountable for each separate direction, 
 otherwise than he would have been, had he trusted 
 his parents to choose for him ? 
 
 Imagine how a person would feel, were he 
 challenged solemnly to sign, on Ms own private 
 judgment, such a document as the Creed of 
 St. Athanasius, or the Nicene Creed with its 
 Anathema, and to venture his salvation upon it. 
 In the infinitely varying contingencies of human 
 duty, of the pastoral care, especially, such a 
 step might possibly be needed, but who would not 
 ask overwhelming proof of its necessity? Who 
 would not shrink from it as an act of extreme 
 
XXV111 PREFACE. 
 
 daring ? And yet people can bring themselves to 
 think and speak lightly of adhering to the Tridentine 
 Creed on their own private judgment : a far bolder 
 step, by how much the doctrines enforced are 
 farther removed from the foundations of Chris- 
 tianity, the evidence of their universal and original 
 reception less obvious, and the number greater of 
 those whom they exclude from Christ's pale. 
 
 Further ; supposing such a thing called for, one 
 would rather expect the call to be something 
 single, loud, and irresistible : such as might justify 
 a private citizen in taking on himself to pull down 
 half a city, in extremity of fire or siege. But the 
 call here is the sum and result of at least two long 
 and intricate discussions : the one abstract, on the 
 nature and proper force of theological development ; 
 the other historical, whether the truths taught from 
 the beginning have been duly developed in the 
 Roman Church alone : discussions demanding great 
 ingenuity and learning, and faculties trained or 
 gifted for the most subtle and patient inquiry. 
 
 And as if on purpose to bring home to the con- 
 science still more the boldness of the proceeding, 
 Providence has caused to be gathered on both 
 sides a host of great and holy names, the mere 
 enumeration of which, one would think, might 
 and must put down every thought of making one's 
 self " a judge and divider over them." 
 
 Thirdly : whereas special circumspection is re- 
 quired in dealing with any rule or statement, which 
 
PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 may possibly lessen penitential shame for sins 
 passed : we may well dread the Roman claims, 
 so far as they withhold sacramental grace" from 
 our Church, were it only that they suggest such a 
 ready plea to a conscience bent on extenuating its 
 own sinfulness. To deny or doubt a man's baptism, 
 is to help him to assuage his self-reproaching 
 thoughts, with the notion that after all he has not 
 grieved nor vexed the Holy Spirit : that his state 
 has hitherto been that of a heathen ; and his ill 
 conduct comparatively excusable. It is a miserable 
 fear, and a miserable consciousness which in part 
 prompts it, yet unquestionably there is ground to 
 fear, lest some of us be some day tempted to 
 renounce our privileges, in the secret hope of 
 lightening our account, or our penance. If the 
 Enemy can once persuade us that our Baptism 
 was but a shadow ; that hitherto, being servants of 
 sin, we were free from righteousness, less expected 
 of us in the way of obedience, and our faults more 
 or less venial, what will become of our contrition ? 
 It is the same snare in another form, which is 
 found so attractive in the popular Lutheran per- 
 version of the doctrine of Justification by Faith. 
 The bare possibility of such a thing is plainly one 
 call more for hesitation, in admitting a statement 
 which involves that peril. 
 
 Again ; the change of which I am speaking seems 
 to put men in some especial danger of disparaging 
 the fruits of the Holy Ghost, and of that which 
 
XXX PREFACE. 
 
 the Apostle d calls "rejoicing in iniquity;" ex- 
 ulting over what evil they can find in their 
 brethren. At least, so it would appear from recent 
 experience. Nothing seems to have so long 
 retarded those who have just now been passing 
 away from us, as the apprehension they had of 
 real sanctity in the Body which they were leaving. 
 And no wonder : since by the act of leaving, they 
 were also denouncing it as no part of the Body 
 of Christ. Well might they pause on such a step, 
 which, if wrongly hazarded, would not only prove 
 an outrage on natural piety and affection, and an 
 ungrateful rejection of the methods by which 
 Divine Mercy had fed them all their life long unto 
 this day, but would bring with it besides something 
 profane and sacrilegious, akin to denying the grace 
 of God in His Sacraments : making out that to 
 be human and ordinary, which was the especial 
 and immediate work of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 I suppose there is no one of us, who thinks of 
 such matters at all, but has known from his child- 
 hood, by experience or history or both, some one 
 or more on whom he has depended, as the models 
 of Christian goodness providentially thrown in his 
 way, and specially appointed for himself to work 
 by. Think of bringing one's self to regard those 
 very persons as no more than very good heathens, 
 and their works as no portion nor fruit of the Un- 
 
 A I Cor. xiii. 6. cf. Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. ii. vii. 15. on 
 
PREFACE. XXXI 
 
 speakable Gift ! It seems almost like being forced 
 to part altogether with our faith in sacramental 
 grace, or in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 
 Besides the profaneness, a glory would be departed, 
 such as never could be replaced. 
 
 More especially in this case, where the change 
 would be simply negative a loss without any 
 compensation. It is not that we are introduced 
 to a fresh type of holiness, an order of Saints which 
 before we knew not of; but whereas hitherto we 
 were happy in believing that we were interested in 
 all the Saints of the whole Church, we are now 
 required to cast off all but the Roman. Not so in 
 the opposite case. A Roman Catholic joining the 
 English Communion has no occasion to conceive 
 himself separated from the undeniable sanctity of 
 the Church of Rome. There is nothing to prevent 
 our acknowledging their Saints : there is much to 
 make them slow and jealous in recognising any 
 true holiness beyond their own border. And it is 
 a great additional unhappiness, surely, for those 
 who, with or without their own fault, are haunted 
 with misgivings about the reality of our Church, 
 that they are continually tempted to something 
 like " rejoicing in iniquity :" to grudging and dis- 
 paraging thoughts of that, which after all may prove 
 to have been the grace of God in their brethren. 
 Sad exemplifications might be given of this, were it 
 a subject which would bear dwelling upon. 
 
 But I rather pass on to the fifth and last-men- 
 
XXX11 PREFACE. 
 
 tioned of the moral warnings, (so to call them,) 
 which seem mysteriously to stand in men's way, as 
 the Angel in Balaam's, when they would withdraw 
 themselves from our Church : I mean, the amount 
 of offence and scandal, quite inseparable from such 
 a movement. 
 
 Most considerate persons know something of the 
 grief and perplexity, if but one doubting thought 
 flash across them in their devotions. Judge what 
 it must be to have to answer, though it be for a 
 single soul, haunted for whole years with the like 
 waverings of imagination, every time it addresses 
 itself to prayer. 
 
 But the pain and anxiety is the least part of the 
 mischief. What shall we say, if some hasty step 
 of ours, unsettling the principles of some weak 
 brother, leave him either a sceptic for life, or drive 
 him back, by a kind of reaction, into the cold 
 uncatholic ways, the region where each man does 
 what is right in his own eyes ? What if we confirm 
 the prejudices of the unbelieving world, and put 
 a clue into her hand, whereby to entangle anew 
 those who were just beginning to disengage them- 
 selves from her ? What if we aid in setting an evil 
 mark on primitive truths and counsels of perfec- 
 tion ; provoking persecution, discouraging novices, 
 breaking the bruised reed, and quenching the 
 smoking flax ? One would not wish to write on 
 such a subject from a mere overflow of feeling ; 
 one would rather be guilty of under than of over- 
 
PREFACE. XXXlli 
 
 statement. But none of these perilous conse- 
 quences are denied by those who would most wish 
 to deny them. And being such as they are, and 
 coming in addition to all that has been before 
 enumerated, they surely do throw the burthen of 
 proof with unusual force upon the side to which 
 they adhere. 
 
 Is that side capable of sustaining the burthen ? 
 This is the third and most momentous step in our 
 inquiry ; not to be entered on but in fear and 
 trembling, and under an urgent sense of duty : 
 but so guarded, we may have good hope that it 
 will not take us from the safe way. Here, however, 
 the direct and obvious course is, by supposition, out 
 of our power ; I mean, the detailed examination 
 of the controversy, balancing the arguments on 
 each point. This, I say, our hypothesis excludes, 
 as a task requiring extraordinary endowments ; our 
 endeavour all along being to provide for average 
 cases. Ways, however, of tolerable satisfaction 
 are open, if men will be content with such certainty 
 as the matter allows, and not require absolute 
 instead of practical demonstration. 
 
 Thus, we might survey some one branch of 
 the subject ; the more comprehensive the better, 
 provided it were manageable ; and judge of the 
 whole by the result in that instance. Take the 
 Supremacy, or Purgatory, or the worship of the 
 Blessed Virgin and the Saints ; remembering all 
 
 d 
 
XXXIV PREFACE. 
 
 along that the question is not simply of the truth 
 of what is taught, and the dutifulness of what is 
 done, but of its necessity as a condition of Church 
 communion. Is the evidence in either case of that 
 overwhelming amount, which leaves no material 
 scruple in a fair mind ? and ought it to be less, 
 if it is to sweep away all the moral difficulties 
 just now enumerated ? Is it not mainly made up of 
 subtle inferences, philosophical, historical, or gram- 
 matical, from premisses more or less ambiguous 
 and obscure ? so that we long to close the discus- 
 sion, instinctively certain, that this cannot be the 
 sort of process, intended to counteract so many 
 of our best feelings. 
 
 Or we might take the broad undeniable facts of 
 the dispensation, as stated by the Roman Catholic 
 writers themselves, and see how they correspond 
 with the known dealings of Providence, in cases 
 alleged as analogous. 
 
 For example : one of the principal difficulties 
 which haunt thoughtful Anglicans in the present 
 state of things, is the contrast between what they 
 really find, and what they seem encouraged, in 
 Scripture and Antiquity, to expect. The Church 
 should be one ; but to us the present Church seems 
 palpably and incurably divided. The Church should 
 be a guide ; but by us the present Church is hardly 
 felt to be such in several important points. And 
 persons are tempted hastily to conclude, either that 
 the promises have failed, or that we are not in the 
 Church. 
 
PREFACE. XXXV 
 
 And certainly I would not deny, that both the 
 Prophecies of the Old Testament, and those of 
 our Lord Himself in His farewell discourse with 
 His Disciples, and also the general tone of Church 
 writers and aspect of Church affairs in the first and 
 best times, would lead to the expectation of some- 
 thing very different from what we now see ; some- 
 thing more like what the Roman Church claims 
 for herself. I say, more like what she claims; for 
 it would be begging the question to affirm the 
 justice of her claim, or to maintain that even at 
 first sight a primitive Christian would not be 
 startled at the aspect of the Latin as of other 
 sections of the Church. On first impressions, we 
 might well anticipate that he would find some- 
 thing new and astonishing in the Supremacy, in 
 the adoration of the Virgin, in image worship, and 
 in the doctrine of Purgatory, as each of those 
 tenets is now popularly developed. But I waive 
 that portion of the argument, and suppose for the 
 present that the general face of things at Rome 
 has more of the air and outward habiliments of 
 the system described in the Bible, than can be 
 found elsewhere ; and thereupon I ask, Is it safe, 
 in interpreting Prophecy, to be guided mainly by 
 such anticipations, how natural soever ? 
 
 I think, that the analogy of God's dealings 
 with men in former times would lead us to expect 
 a less obvious fulfilment, to be recognised rather 
 by a trusting, resolute faith, than by a searching, 
 
 d2 
 
XXXVI PREPACK. 
 
 comprehensive, historical intellect. For instance, 
 Canaan seemed to be promised to the Patriarchs 
 themselves* : there was something, to human sense, 
 disappointing, in its not being won till after many 
 generations. How completely did the predictions 
 to the house of David appear to man's judgment 
 as if they failed b ! how eminently is it the work of 
 faith to see that they are realized in our Lord! 
 And to take the greatest instance of all, what a 
 disappointment was that of the whole Jewish 
 nation, the lowly Apostles alike and the haughty 
 Priests, when they were told the true meaning of 
 the Old Testament in its sayings concerning Christ's 
 kingdom ! a disappointment in which even now 
 both Jews and many Christians (so far perhaps 
 Judaizing) seem almost entirely to sympathize. Is 
 it not possible that the Roman Catholic exposition 
 of the same Scriptures may partake of the same 
 error ? It surely seems to depend very much upon 
 certain outward circumstances, which however 
 striking to the imagination, are rather particular 
 forms and embodiments of the great idea of Unity, 
 than inseparable parts of the idea itself. I allude 
 to such details as the correspondence of Jerusalem 
 with Rome, of the succession of the Popes with 
 that of the kings of Judah, of pilgrimages and 
 appeals with the resort of God's people to His 
 city. It were much to be wished, that those who 
 
 Gen. xiii. 15 17; Acts vii. 5. b Ps. Ixxxix. 49. 
 
PREFACE. XXX Vll 
 
 are attracted by these and other like obvious 
 external points of unity in the Roman Catholic 
 Church, would soberly endeavour to analyse their 
 own impressions. They would find, perhaps, that 
 they are influenced in a far greater degree than 
 they imagine by considerations such as I have 
 now specified, political rather than theological 
 or devotional; after which if they go, doing 
 violence to their moral instinct, what is it but 
 taking Christ by force, and making Him an earthly 
 King? 
 
 I will hazard another and a very obvious 
 remark, on the general state of the whole con- 
 troversy ; namely, that the Roman view, to be 
 fully convincing, ought to apply to the other notes 
 of the Church as well as to its Unity and Visibility, 
 No doubt, in respect of those two marks, the theory 
 in question answers more literally to the Prophe- 
 cies, than does the Anglican, which I suppose to 
 be also the Greek theory. The Papal Monarchy 
 unquestionably exhibits to the eye an Unity of 
 government more entire than can be found in the 
 rest of Christendom. But how is it when we 
 come to the note of Sanctity ? Is not Rome obliged 
 to demand on the whole the same allowances as 
 the other parts of Christendom are, when such 
 texts as the following are to be considered ? " All 
 thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great 
 shall be the peace of thy children." " Thy people 
 also shall be all righteous." " Violence shall no 
 
XXXV111 PREFACE. 
 
 more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction 
 within thy borders ." 
 
 Again, in respect of Universality ; wide and large 
 as her Communion is, it does not as yet by a great 
 deal come up literally to the prophetic promises ; 
 such as, " The earth shall be filled with the know- 
 ledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover 
 the sea." Such words as those cannot of course 
 be pleaded for her, just as they stand. A certain 
 approximation to their meaning is all that she can 
 allege : enough and to spare for faith in her as a 
 real Church, but hardly enough to satisfy a sober- 
 minded person, whose duties have hitherto lain 
 elsewhere, that she alone is the real Church. 
 
 Now, if Roman Christians may fairly claim this 
 kind of allowance, in their explanation of those 
 texts, which make Sanctity and Universality notes 
 inseparable of the true Church ; why may not 
 similar allowance be granted to English or Greek 
 Christians, concerning the note of Unity also ? 
 What law of Providence is there, what declaration 
 of holy writ, what clear tradition of antiquity, to 
 warrant our expecting that the Church shall be 
 always visibly One, in another and more exact 
 sense than that in which she shall be visibly Holy ? 
 If the one attribute may be obscured and doubtful, 
 in a greater or less degree, for a longer or a shorter 
 time, why not the other also ? 
 
 " See also Ps. Ixxii. 7; Isaiah xi. 6 9; xxxii. 1 6, 15 18; 
 xxxv. 8, 9 ; Ixv. 25. Ezek. xxxv. 25. &c. 
 
PREFACE. XXXIX 
 
 But it is feared that in this way men lose the 
 promises of guidance and instruction, such as, "My 
 Spirit and My words shall not depart out of thy 
 mouth :" and, " He will guide you into all truth d ." 
 And it is surmised, that without perfect visible unity 
 of government, we might listen in vain after an 
 authoritative voice, to secure well-meaning souls 
 from ruinous error. 
 
 But first, it is surely a material consideration, 
 which has constantly been urged in this contro- 
 versy, and has never, that I know of, met with a 
 satisfactory answer, How far the promises to the 
 Church, like those to individuals, are conditional : 
 her more external privileges dependent on her 
 inward and spiritual privilege of sanctity. 
 
 In the next place, defect of guidance in essentials 
 is no necessary consequence of simple disunion in 
 the Church. A different result is at least con- 
 ceivable. It is conceivable, that before the time 
 of disunion, events had been so providentially 
 ordered, that all truths and practices generally 
 necessary to salvation were sufficiently established 
 in the rule of the whole Church, and that, in all 
 such matters, the several portions continued to 
 agree. Such agreement, being notorious and un- 
 questionable, might be ascertained by any, even 
 
 d This latter promise, by the way, seems at least as inconsistent 
 with the notion of imperfect developement of fundamentals in 
 Apostolical times, as with that of possible error touching truths of 
 a secondary order in after times. 
 
Xl PREFACE. 
 
 the simplest Christian ; by a process similar to that, 
 whereby a Roman Catholic (for example) ascertains 
 the voice of his own Church. 
 
 Now a very large proportion indeed of any 
 Churchman's faith, be he Greek, Roman, or English, 
 is made up of these common elements : much 
 larger than any of us, perhaps, would imagine, 
 until he had considered the thing in detail : and I 
 say again, It is surely conceivable, that in it may 
 be providentially contained all things necessary to 
 salvation : and if so, then the promises about guid- 
 ance are really fulfilled to the divided Church ; and 
 that, in the same unexpected, and as one may say, 
 indirect manner, which seems generally to have 
 characterized the fulfilment of the ancient pro- 
 phecies. 
 
 It may illustrate what is meant, if I put a case, 
 which some Roman Catholics themselves, perhaps, 
 will feel to be not undeserving of attention. For 
 considerable portions of time, sometimes for two 
 generations together, the Mediaeval Western Church 
 has been divided. There have been Anti-Popes 
 rival pretenders to that throne, which in its dis- 
 tinct visibility claims to be the sole sufficient 
 guarantee of the continuance of Christ's kingdom 
 on Earth. How was a plain Christian to know 
 which of the claimants he should adhere to ? What 
 became of those, many or few, who with no fault 
 of their own adhered to the wrong claimant ? 
 Where, during all that time, was the infallible 
 
PREFACE. Xli 
 
 unquestionable guidance ? What was the duty of 
 persons finding themselves providentially in com- 
 munion with one of the claimants, and coming to 
 know that there was a doubt, but conscious that 
 they were unable to balance the authorities, and 
 solve that doubt for themselves ? 
 
 It seems as if the answers to these questions, 
 mutatis mutandis, might help us not a little in 
 coming to a right practical sense of our own posi- 
 tion and duty. Suppose a Roman Catholic should 
 say that all necessary truths and rules having been 
 settled before such schism commenced, a simple 
 believer adhering to them was safe, even though 
 he might be, innocently on his part, out of com- 
 munion with the true successor of St. Peter : I 
 suppose he might also add, that God's watchful 
 Providence protected both sections of the Church 
 against disagreement in fundamentals, during the 
 period of their estrangement; so that although 
 externally divided, they were in His sight One, and 
 the means of grace and salvation might be had in 
 both. 
 
 If thus much be granted, (I know not whether 
 it would be, but if it were,) how is not our principle 
 conceded? For surely the mere length of time 
 is not essential in this case. It is just as con- 
 ceivable that nine as that two generations of 
 believers might live and die in such comparative 
 disadvantage. The one no more implies failure in 
 the Church, or a breach of the promises, than the 
 
Xlii PREFACE. 
 
 other. By whatever process the word of Scripture 
 was fulfilled, to any faithful man " willing to do 
 God's will/' and desiring so to " know of the doc- 
 trine," in a time when the chair of St. Peter was 
 disputed, by the same or a similar process it may 
 be fulfilled to us. 
 
 It was of course impossible, then, for ordinary 
 persons to decide between those claimants ; for how 
 could they ascertain the facts of an election, or 
 settle the disputed points of ecclesiastical law ? 
 They could but abide in the Communion where- 
 unto God's Providence had called them, desiring 
 and hoping to be in the Catholic Church. And is 
 not this just an account of the duty of the same 
 sort of persons under the present sad division of 
 Christendom ? The disputed points are waiting for 
 a general Council to settle them. That final and 
 supreme authority of the Church is for a time, 
 providentially, in abeyance. We go on appealing 
 to it, and in the mean time submitting our judg- 
 ment to that portion of the apparent visible 
 Church, wherewith, by God's appointment, we are 
 in Communion. 
 
 The more I consider the promises of Holy Writ, 
 directed as they are more especially to the meek 
 and humble and trembling of heart, the more hope 
 do I seem to feel that they may be addressed to 
 persons in our condition, at least as consistently 
 with their letter and spirit, as when they are taken 
 in that more outward and palpable sense, which 
 
PREFACE. Xlili 
 
 Roman Catholics attribute to them. And if there 
 is but a fair probability that such may be the case, 
 then on Bishop Butler's principle, rather I will 
 say, on the principle which our Great Father has 
 ordained to guide His children in practical mat- 
 ters, it must be better for each person, and in the 
 end, doubtless, more conducive to the unity of the 
 Church, for English Catholics to "abide in the 
 calling wherein they are called ;" overcoming, for 
 faith and charity's sake, the temptation to seek 
 elsewhere more certainty, and a more satisfactory 
 systematical kind of knowledge : whereof the one 
 seems rather too like " requiring a sign," the other, 
 like "seeking after wisdom," in that spirit which 
 the Apostle reproved. 
 
 Again : according to Roman Catholic state- 
 ments, an analogy might be supposed between our 
 case, and that of an Israelite of old invited to 
 Christianity. What then was the sort and amount 
 of testimony, which it pleased God to vouchsafe to 
 those whom He called to so great a change ? 
 
 By allowance of all but infidels, no Jew could be 
 more certain of the divine origin of the system in 
 which he was trained, than we are of those portions 
 of Christianity which we hold in common with the 
 Roman Church. We seem to ourselves to have, at 
 least, as complete evidence of our relation to Christ, 
 as the Jews had of their interest in the God of 
 their Fathers. Our circumstances (if it may be 
 reverently said) require more abundant proof than 
 
Xliv PREFACE. 
 
 theirs : inasmuch as we are called on to renounce 
 and disavow a great deal, they only to build on 
 what they had before. 
 
 But what is the fact ? While to them was given 
 every mark of supernatural interference, we are 
 left to such comparisons as our own and others' 
 ingenuity and learning can supply. With them it 
 was submission to a voice from Heaven : with us 
 it must be either reasonings and feelings of our 
 own, or acquiescence in those of a guide whom 
 we choose for ourselves. If we were sure that 
 we might reason at all from their case to ours, 
 the obvious inference would be, that God willed 
 us rather to refrain from that, which when He 
 would have done, He signified His purpose so 
 irresistibly. The comparative want of evidence 
 would strengthen the impression which the moral 
 difficulties had left. 
 
 Another broad and obvious way of considering 
 the question would be, to compare the acknow- 
 ledged difficulties of the Roman and English 
 theories, and observe which are in fact most 
 analogous to those, wherewith the general truths 
 of all religion are beset. 
 
 The Anglican theory of Church Unity may 
 perhaps be stated, sufficiently for our present 
 purpose, as follows : That our Lord left His 
 Apostles to be collectively the centre of union 
 to His Church, so that Communion with them 
 in Faith and Sacraments should be for ever the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 visible pledge of Church membership : That this 
 Communion is secured by the gift of the Aposto- 
 lical Succession, and of those truths and ordi- 
 nances,, of which it is notorious, that they were 
 acknowledged as primitive and essential by the 
 undivided Church : That the being of our Lord's 
 Kingdom being thus secured, the collective autho- 
 rity of the Apostles' Successors is requisite, and is 
 sufficient, to make for its well-being laws of universal 
 obligation : But that this authority, for the sins and 
 divisions of Christendom, having been for many 
 centuries under suspension, and visible unity inter- 
 rupted, we can but go on, as was said before, each 
 one in obedience to the portion of the Church in 
 which his own lot has been cast, under appeal to 
 the governing body in respect of any debated 
 points : And so we are preserved, though not in 
 visible, yet as we may hope in real mystical union. 
 Of the gravest and most obvious objection to 
 this view, I mean, its seeming inconsistency with 
 the Prophecies, something has been already said. 
 In addition, we may consider that the scriptural 
 images, by which the unity of the Church is 
 familiarly set forth, are such as rather to suggest 
 than exclude this idea. All, whether Churches 
 or individuals, must be branches of the same Tree ; 
 but a tree may have suckers ; there may be an 
 unseen, underground unity. We must be all 
 streams from the same Fountain, but part of our 
 course may have been out of sight. We must 
 
Xlvi PREFACE. 
 
 be all sheep of the same flock, but the flock may 
 have been more or less scattered. We must be 
 all members of the same Body, but the healthful 
 circulation may be more or less obstructed. We 
 must be all subjects of the same kingdom, but 
 there may be a disputed succession. 
 
 Adverting in particular to this last analogy ; does 
 not the constitution of the Jewish people cause us 
 to think of a federal government, rather than of 
 a monarchy, as likely to be realized in its antitype ? 
 Throughout the far greater part of its existence, 
 such was undoubtedly the form of its unity : the 
 Council of Elders bore sway : the longing for a 
 king was deprecated as a degenerate feeling : and 
 although at times, in default of kingly power, every 
 man did that which was right in his own eyes, 
 we are no where told that the commonwealth 
 of Israel had therefore ceased to exist. 
 
 For aught that appears at first sight, the notion 
 of each Bishop's independency, sometimes called 
 Cyprianic, may be as legitimate a development of 
 the original Apostolical idea, as the notion of the 
 whole Episcopate, or Apostolate, providentially 
 gathered into a single see. The danger in the 
 one case, of indefinite disunion, is not a priori 
 greater than the danger in the other, of con- 
 tinued exaggeration and corruption. If you say, 
 there is supernatural security in the promise 
 through St. Peter, applying it to the Roman see ; 
 why may we not as well apply that promise, as 
 
PREFACE. xlvil 
 
 St. Cyprian seems to have done, to the whole 
 Episcopate ? And if this be called an unreal, un- 
 practical view, inasmuch as the Papacy has been 
 acting in great power for many ages, while the 
 government by co-ordinate Bishops has existed 
 (they say) but in theory : such a statement takes 
 for granted one of the main points in question : 
 that when appeals became necessary, they were 
 always, as of right, made to Rome : whereas at 
 first view it certainly would appear that for many 
 hundred years unity and truth were preserved 
 under the other, or federal constitution. 
 
 Neither would the loyal and affectionate sense 
 of union be at all impaired by such an arrange- 
 ment ; if one may judge at least by analogy from 
 terrestrial commonwealths. Where shall we find 
 a country where national sympathies take up more 
 of men's hearts than in Germany ? Yet in Germany 
 for many years there has been no unity of govern- 
 ment ; but language and race have proved more 
 powerful to bind than political institutions to sepa- 
 rate. Why should it be thought incredible among 
 us, that Divine grace may work a like brotherly 
 feeling in the separated portions of the Church ? 
 Since in God's ear they speak all the same language, 
 and they all belong to the same holy family, their 
 mutual estrangements need not have annulled all 
 the privileges of their new birth. 
 
 Our Scripture difficulties being thus disposed of, 
 those which arise from natural anticipation, pre- 
 
xlviii PREFACE. 
 
 vious to Scripture, ar plainly referable to the 
 same class as those for which solutions are pro- 
 vided in the second part of the Analogy. It may 
 be well to make this evident by taking some of 
 Butler's own statements, only with the substitution 
 of the special terms of the present argument for 
 his general ones. 
 
 For example 6 : "Since, upon experience, the 
 [general course of Church history] is found to be 
 greatly different from what, before experience, 
 would have been expected ; and such as, men 
 fancy, there lie great objections against : this ren- 
 ders it beforehand highly credible, that we may 
 find the [course providentially recommended in a 
 particular emergency of that history], very different 
 from expectations formed beforehand ; and liable, 
 in appearance, to great objections." 
 
 The whole of the well-known passage concerning 
 Inspiration plainly holds good in favour of a 
 probable Tradition, as against a special sensible 
 guidance on the one hand, and Papal Infallibility 
 on the other f . "We are wholly ignorant .... how 
 far, or in what way, God would interpose, to secure 
 [Church Principles] being transmitted to posterity. 
 We are equally ignorant, whether the evidence of 
 them would be certain, or highly probable, or 
 doubtful : or whether all who should have any 
 degree of instruction from them, and any degree 
 of evidence of their truth, would have the same. . . . 
 p. 236. Ed. 1791. f p. 238. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Nay, we are not in any sort able to judge, whether 
 it were to have been expected that the [mind of the 
 Church] should have been committed to writing ; 
 or left to be handed down, and consequently cor- 
 rupted, by verbal tradition, and at length sunk 
 under it, if people so pleased, and during such 
 time as they are permitted, in the degree they 
 evidently are, to act as they will." How does 
 this way of speaking suit with the sentiment, that 
 an Infallible Guide must needs be given, because 
 we cannot see how the truth can be otherwise 
 preserved ? or with that other sentiment, " I walk 
 by my own private judgment, but I know I cannot 
 be far wrong, because I have prayed ?" 
 
 Again g , " The only question [for an English 
 Churchman] concerning the [Church of England] 
 is, whether it be a real [branch of the Church] ; 
 not, whether it be attended with every circum- 
 stance which we should have looked for : and 
 concerning the [Prayer Book,] whether it be what 
 it claims to be ; not, whether it be a book of such 
 sort, and so promulged, as we might be apt to 
 fancy a [perfect form of solemn worship] should." 
 I cannot help thinking that dissatisfied and critical 
 spirits would find much rest, and be saved much 
 temptation, if they would resolve simply to go 
 on in the spirit of these obvious cautions, when 
 they are examining questions relating to their 
 own Church, even as, no doubt, they are used 
 
 e ]). 240. 
 
 e 
 
I PREFACE. 
 
 to do in dealing with objections against the Gospel 
 itself. 
 
 Again h , " The [English theory] represents the 
 Church as [partly] in a state of [decay,] and [offers 
 our system, especially the Prayer Book, as a 
 help against further decay.] Is it credible," the 
 objector asks, " that so many [centuries] should 
 have been let pass, before a matter of such sort, 
 of so great and so general importance, was made 
 known to [Christendom ;] and then that it should 
 be known to so small a portion thereof? Is it 
 conceivable that this [help] should be so very de- 
 ficient, should have so much obscurity and doubt- 
 fulness ?" [being pleaded with equal confidence 
 by two contradictory schools :] " should be liable 
 to as gross perversions," [by State interference, by 
 admission of heretics to Communion, and the like,] 
 " in short," (let it be so stated for the argument's 
 sake,) " lie open to as serious objections," [al- 
 though, it may be, on the opposite side,] " as the 
 [unreformed system] itself?" 
 
 Thus far the objector : now hear the Bishop's 
 reply. " Without determining how far this in fact 
 is so, I answer ; it is by no means incredible that it 
 might be so, if [the course of nature and the provi- 
 dential career of the Church] be under the same 
 Hand. . . . Remedies existing in nature for diseases, 
 have been unknown to mankind for many ages : 
 are known but to few now : probably many valuable 
 h p, 249. 
 
PREFACE. li 
 
 ones are not known yet. Great has been and is 
 the obscurity and difficulty, in the nature and ap- 
 plication of them. Circumstances seem often to 
 make them very improper, where they are absolutely 
 necessary. It is after long labour and study, and 
 many unsuccessful endeavours, that they are brought 
 to be as useful as they are ; after high contempt 
 and absolute rejection of the most useful we have ; 
 and after disputes and doubts which have seemed 
 to be endless. The best remedies too, when un- 
 skilfully, much more if dishonestly, applied, may 
 produce new diseases ; and with the rightest appli- 
 cation, the success of them is often doubtful. In 
 many cases, they are not at all effectual : where 
 they are, it is often very slowly ; and the applica- 
 tion of them, and the necessary regimen accompa- 
 nying it, is, not uncommonly, so disagreeable, that 
 some will not submit to them ; and satisfy them- 
 selves with the excuse, that if they would, it is not 
 certain whether it would be successful. And many 
 persons, who labour under diseases, for which there 
 are known natural remedies, are not so happy as 
 to be always, if ever, in the way of them. In a 
 word, the remedies which nature has provided for 
 diseases are neither certain, perfect, nor universal. 
 And indeed the same principles of arguing, which 
 would lead us to conclude that they must be so, 
 would lead us likewise to conclude, that there 
 could be no occasion for them ; that is, that there 
 could be no diseases at all." 
 
 e2 
 
Hi PREFACE. 
 
 Will not all this apply to the supposed failure of 
 the English Reformation, when alleged as a reason 
 for renouncing the present English Church ? 
 
 Again, the sixth chapter of the same part of the 
 treatise, dealing with the objections supposed to 
 arise from the want of universality in revelation, 
 and from the supposed deficiency in the proof of 
 it, seems even to apply itself, as we read, to our 
 own imputed defects of catholicity and infallibility. 
 " The weakness of these opinions may be shewn, 
 by observing the suppositions on which they are 
 founded : which are really such as these ; that it 
 cannot be thought God would have bestowed any 
 favour at all upon us, unless in the degree which, 
 we think, He might, and which, we imagine, would 
 be most to our particular advantage : and also that 
 it cannot be thought He would bestow a favour 
 upon any, unless He bestowed the same upon all : 
 suppositions which we find contradicted, not by a 
 few instances in God's natural government of the 
 world, but by the general analogy of nature to- 
 gether 1 ." 
 
 Passages of like application might be indefinitely 
 multiplied : I wish those were less appropriate, 
 which speak of a certain scornfulness, but too 
 natural to eager and unguarded minds, fresh from 
 deciding on hard questions : and not least dis- 
 cernible, perhaps, in those who have been led 
 to take the Roman side in this present contro- 
 
 1 p. 297. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 versy. But these citations may be enough to 
 shew, that the analogies from nature, and from 
 former revelation, do not tell so unquestionably 
 against our position, as to dispense with the need 
 of direct evidence, abundant and overpowering, 
 to make it untenable. 
 
 One might conceive such a preponderance of 
 authorities, among those who might be supposed 
 capable of deciding on that evidence, as in all 
 reason ought to satisfy those, who know themselves 
 to be incapable. But neither does our case supply 
 this. Good and wise men for aught that appears, 
 equally good and wise men k , are found equally 
 earnest and persevering on the one side as on the 
 other. There is no appearance, as though in pro- 
 portion to their sanctity, either English or Roman 
 Catholics felt ordinarily any tendency to give up 
 their hereditary views. Three centuries have now 
 passed, and converts having authority are yet very 
 few. A fact which tells more strongly, perhaps, 
 on the English side than on the Roman, inasmuch 
 as we know that the great instructors of our Church 
 had the claims of Rome distinctly before them, 
 
 k If any one is moved by the present want of regular cano- 
 nization in trie English Church : first, this no more evinces a 
 comparative defect of real holiness, than the omission of individual 
 names (Kempis, for example) from the Roman Calendar, dis- 
 proves their inward sanctity in the sight of God; secondly, ad- 
 herence to the Tridentine Creed involves condemnation of the Greek 
 Church also, which has all along claimed and exercised the right 
 of canonizing. 
 
v PREFACE. 
 
 but with Roman Saints and Doctors, for many 
 reasons, the Anglican view had far less chance to 
 be considered. It came on them, generally, from 
 a greater distance : for so it is, that few of them, 
 if any, were our countrymen, or resident among 
 us. To master our theory, therefore, was very 
 seldom their special duty : it was natural for them 
 to slight it altogether, as a dreamy, unreal kind of 
 thing. 
 
 On the whole, authorities being as they are ; 
 analogies, whether of Scripture or Experience, 
 readily coming into view, whereby the objections 
 to our case may be met ; and the details of the 
 controversy not being manageable without more 
 than usual subtlety and learning : ordinary in- 
 quirers seem fairly thrown back on the moral 
 difficulties before alleged : and what can the result 
 be, but patient continuance in our providential 
 calling ? 
 
 But it will be said, " You are proving too much. 
 All, or nearly all this, tells as strongly for Roman 
 Catholics, as for English Catholics, remaining in 
 their present Communion." And supposing this 
 granted, for argument's sake as it is not, to us, 
 an immediate practical topic the objector might 
 go on : " Each one then is to abide in the reli- 
 gious condition in which he finds himself. At 
 this rate, how are heretics, or even unbelievers, to 
 be converted ? what chance remains of healing the 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 Church's divisions ? what becomes of all the great 
 sayings, such as Magna est veritas, et prcevalebit ? 
 are we not sacrificing truth to peace, divine doc- 
 trines to hereditary yearnings and impressions ?" 
 
 Here then we come on the fourth head of our 
 discussion : we have to shew, that what has been 
 said is not transferable to the cases mentioned in 
 the objection : that being granted, it still leaves 
 us a solid and complete ground of dogmatical 
 teaching : and that the hope of Church Union 
 (humanly speaking) would not be diminished, but 
 rather enlarged, by the general acceptance of our 
 principles. 
 
 The matter may perhaps be simplified by re- 
 ferring to a passage in St. John's Gospel, which 
 contains a sort of classification of all religions. 
 " He was in the world, and the world was made 
 by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came 
 unto His own, and His own received Him not. 
 But as many as received Him, to them gave He 
 the privilege of becoming sons of God." The first 
 of these three verses seems to represent the con- 
 dition of Heathens and Unbelievers ; the second 
 of Jews, Mahometans, and Heretics ; the third of 
 Christians properly so called, i. e. Catholics. 
 
 Now as to the first, those who know not their 
 Maker, the principle of " the safe way" is at once 
 applicable to them, because in conversion they 
 give up nothing, and have a chance of gaining 
 eternity. 
 
Ivi PREFACE. 
 
 With respect to those to whom Christ has come, 
 but they have not yet received Him : the mass of 
 testimony given in the first place to the Jews, and 
 now made present to all Christians by the constant 
 tradition of the Church warranting the Scriptures, 
 is prima facie sufficient to overbalance such moral 
 difficulties as may beset them. 
 
 For in their case is no discontent nor ingra- 
 titude ; they are not called on to give up any 
 thing, but only to add to what they have : the 
 Jew, who has always looked to Christ, to believe 
 that He is already come; the Mahometan and 
 Unitarian, to believe in His Divine Nature ; the 
 Rationalist, in our supernatural communion with 
 Him. They are not, like English Churchmen, 
 invited to disavow what they have all along 
 accounted a real and living participation in God 
 the Word made Man for them. 
 
 Again ; in neither of those cases are men invited, 
 as we are, to trust their own a priori reasoning. 
 All is testimony, overpowering testimony ; first, 
 that such and such miracles were wrought, such 
 and such sufferings undergone ; next, that this is 
 the morality, this the doctrinal and sacramental 
 system, in behalf of which it was all done and 
 suffered. The sense of undivided Christendom on 
 all these great points is so notorious, that to ac- 
 quiesce therein is not reliance on, but submission 
 of, our own understandings. 
 
 As to the deep sense of sins past : one who has 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 never yet believed himself a living member of 
 Christ, cannot well experience the same fear and 
 shame as he who has been all along taught what 
 God has done for him. Conversion therefore from 
 any form of rationalism to the Church need not 
 bring with it any such check to contrition, as would 
 naturally be occasioned by disavowal of our part 
 in the Church. 
 
 You go, for example, to a Baptist, and urge him 
 to conform. He cannot say that he is tempted to 
 do so, in part, by the hope of ridding himself of 
 bitter remembrances of post-baptismal sin. For it 
 was never any tenet of his, that post-baptismal sin 
 has any special aggravation. But had he thought 
 himself before in such sense a member of Christ, 
 that his unchristian doings had on them that 
 peculiar mark of evil, which Catholics recognise, 
 then he might feel a sort of relief, in being told 
 that his membership had hitherto been but ima- 
 ginary. 
 
 The same kind of remark might be made as to 
 the degree in which he was separating himself from 
 good persons in his former communion, and dis- 
 paraging their goodness. How has he been used 
 to judge of that goodness in times past ? He has 
 counted it, most truly of course, a special token 
 from God's sanctifying Spirit, vouchsafed (as he 
 thinks) upon the act of our believing in Christ as 
 our Saviour. He has not counted it, as supposing 
 himself Catholic he would have done, a regular 
 
Iviii PREFACE. 
 
 fruit of the Free Unspeakable Gift, vouchsafed in 
 Baptism on our being made members of Christ : 
 the work not so much of the believer himself, as of 
 Christ abiding in him. In that case, he must have 
 been content to lower his estimate of it. But now 
 nothing hinders, but that he may still think of it as 
 he did ; as of a token of mercy overflowing, an 
 extraordinary favour, over and above the settled 
 dispensation of Grace. 
 
 Much in the same way as (it has been observed) 
 the Rationalist ought not to think himself wronged 
 by our denying the reality of his sacraments, since 
 we allow him still as much as he claims himself, 
 edification, comfort, order, and the like : so it is 
 in this case. In joining the Church from any 
 Protestant body, a man does not give up the claim 
 of sacramental and supernatural holiness on the 
 part of the communion which he leaves. For 
 why ? such claim was never at all alleged. In 
 joining the Roman Church from the English or the 
 Greek, he plainly does deny and disavow the same. 
 This is a great and a startling difference. 
 
 Lastly, as to giving offence, no doubt there is 
 risk of it in every change of received opinions and 
 conduct; risk of perplexing the simple, encouraging 
 the presumptuous, and promoting a general scepti- 
 cism. But the danger is mitigated, as the conviction 
 assailed is less. To give up opinions is not like 
 sacrificing principles. Private theories and inter- 
 pretations are not so shocking to part with, as 
 
PREFACE. lix 
 
 Church Formularies. Individuals are disturbed 
 by the one, by the other whole nations and races. 
 And what is more especially to be remarked, the 
 very atmosphere of those bodies which do not 
 profess and call themselves Catholic, is pervaded, 
 avowedly so, by the elements of change. So that 
 a movement towards something fixed, though it 
 be a movement, tends on the whole to stability. 
 
 As the moral objections to change are less, so 
 the positive prima facie reasons for it are far more 
 overpowering, when we deal with Dissenters, than 
 when Roman Catholics are dealing with us. The 
 very axiom which we begin with, " Universal 
 consent among Christians is moral demonstration," 
 is denied by Dissenters : they must deny it, in order 
 to hold their own at all. But being once received, 
 it tells so unquestionably for a visible Church, for 
 sacramental grace, for government by succession 
 from the Apostles, and perhaps for some other 
 kindred points ; that it may well seem intended 
 to overrule far greater moral difficulties than any 
 which stand in its way. 
 
 One case, that which perhaps is most frequently 
 alleged against us the case of the Donatists is 
 at once disposed of by the very obvious reflection, 
 so often adduced, and not least forcibly of late, 
 that the Unity of the Church is by no means 
 visible to us, in the same sense that it was to the 
 contemporaries of St. Augustine. It is matter of 
 reason or of faith, not of sight, in the countries 
 
Ix PREFACE. 
 
 where only, for the most part, appeal to it is 
 needed. Ask for the Church in England, and we 
 know which way people will point. In Greek 
 countries, the Roman Church will be popularly 
 described, I suppose, as the Latin Church. These 
 two facts go a good way against the application of 
 St. Augustine's argument, to the ordinary use of 
 the word Catholic among Protestants. 
 
 Indeed, in the present unhappy state of Christen- 
 dom, one can scarce imagine a person changing 
 his Communion merely for the sake of the old 
 visible unity, without more or less of haunting 
 scruple and distrust of his own choice : and where 
 will he be then ? He will still, as before, run the 
 risk of having to fall back on the excuse of invin- 
 cible ignorance for involuntary schism : but the 
 position will now be one of his own choosing, and 
 who can say how much difference that may make 
 in it to the All-seeing Eye ? 
 
 It would be another matter, if our faith in the 
 Church of England caused us to anathematize 
 other Churches, or to declare them in any sense 
 aliens. Such a spirit, universal among us, would 
 indeed be a sad token of something too like the 
 old Novatianism or Donatism : God grant it may 
 never prevail ! But if it should, besides silencing 
 our old divines, the Prayer Book must be made 
 another book than it is : for at present it implies 
 throughout, and asserts in its Preface to the Ordi- 
 nation Services, that we hold of antiquity through 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Ixi 
 
 the mediaeval times : and therefore that Romans 
 and Greeks, abiding as they were in those times, 
 are still Catholics, and we in true communion with 
 them ; though the visible use of that communion 
 (which God restore !) be in His just judgment sus- 
 pended for a while. 
 
 Roman Catholic controversialists are fond of 
 comparing this view with that of the more 
 moderate Donatists, and of inferring that we are 
 liable to St. Augustine's censures on them. They 
 do not consider, (among other differences,) what 
 a large portion of the " orbis terrarum," for many 
 many generations past, we should have to anathe- 
 matize on our own private judgment : whereas 
 Donatism in St. Augustine's time was scarce a 
 hundred years old, and reached but to a handful 
 of men in a single province. And I suppose it 
 would be true to say, that whenever Roman 
 Catholics will prove the supremacy of the Pope 
 with any thing like the same mass of authority 
 and argument, as that by which St. Augustine 
 proved the necessary imperfection of the visible 
 Church, we will at once submit ourselves to him. 
 Until then, the cases cannot be parallel. 
 
 This suggests the further remark, that our 
 debates with the Roman Catholics turn more on 
 matters of fact and detail, than on principles. 
 
 For example : we are no more minded than they, 
 to set up the private judgment of an individual 
 or a province, against that of the Church universal. 
 
Ixii PREFACE. 
 
 Only we require to be satisfied, before we affirm 
 that the present Roman obedience is the whole 
 Church. 
 
 Our minds are as open, we hope, as theirs, to 
 the fearful mystery of post-baptismal sin : but we 
 dare not take on ourselves to pronounce it neces- 
 sary to salvation, that a person should receive the 
 precise statements of the Roman Schools concern- 
 ing Purgatory. 
 
 We receive as a principle every statement of 
 Scripture and of the early undivided Church, on 
 the Presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist : 
 we hesitate in limiting those statements, on peril 
 of men's souls, to that one only manner of presence 
 which is called Transubstantiation. 
 
 We venerate the Blessed Virgin as most truly the 
 Mother of God : and we know of no honour vouch- 
 safed to any creature, at all comparable to that which 
 she received at our Lord's Incarnation. Neither 
 do we take on ourselves to limit the prerogatives, 
 which the King of Saints may have assigned to 
 those whom He delights to honour. But we dare 
 not of our own authority decide that our Church 
 has forfeited her being as a Church, by her censure 
 passed on the particular system of mediation and 
 tutelage which the Roman Church has counte- 
 nanced '. 
 
 1 This example is not inserted without some painful hesitation. 
 For if indeed the Church of Rome had authoritatively sanctioned 
 the view, lately, alas ! understood to have been put forth in her 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 And so of other things : we feel all along that 
 we have not set out from the beginning in opposite 
 directions,, nor do our courses tend continually to 
 wider separation. It is no such violent imagination, 
 to fancy ourselves re-united as of old, without any 
 sacrifice of principle on either side. I say, of 
 principle : because undoubtedly certain statements 
 of fact, and applications of principle, would have 
 to be waived or withdrawn. 
 
 Now, what is the result of such a feeling as this, 
 on a modest and thoughtful mind ? Plainly to 
 render a man more easily contented with his place ; 
 more willing to hope and wait with patience, as 
 having a right to reckon certainly upon a great 
 
 behalf: the substance of which view appears to be, That some 
 one among creatures must be preeminent above the rest ; that this 
 can be no other than the Mother of God ; and therefore that as 
 long as we account her less than God, we cannot possibly idolize 
 her in a bad sense : if this were part of the recognised Roman 
 Creed, then by adhering to that Creed we should not only be ac- 
 knowledging new facts, but also adopting new principles : and, so 
 far, the argument in the text would not apply. Only in proportion 
 to the strange and startling nature of those principles, and the right 
 which they assume in us, a priori, of judging what must or must 
 not take place in the world out of sight, it is plain that we should 
 naturally look for very distinct and unanswerable proof. Amounting 
 as they really would to an additional dispensation, over and above 
 those of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, we might without 
 presumption hope for the same kind of evidence, as was vouchsafed 
 when the Gospel and the Church were revealed. But the comfort 
 is, these antecedent grounds of the worship in question are not yet 
 put forth by authority ; and most devoutly is it to be wished, that 
 they never may be so: for they would set all our relations on a 
 new footing, more hopeless, humanly speaking, than ever. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 deal of unconscious sympathy, and virtual com- 
 munion in Divine offices, on the part of those even 
 who esteem themselves most alienated from him. 
 But suppose the same person once made aware, 
 that in order to stay where he is, he must con- 
 tradict something which has been held as an axiom 
 by the mass of believers from time immemorial ; 
 some rule, so to call it, of the common law of the 
 Christian kingdom ; this is surely another case 
 altogether. The providential call on such an one 
 to consider where he is, and why, becomes much 
 more direct ; and the possible sacrifice, if as great 
 or greater, yet more evidently worth making. 
 
 Consider next, how this bears on the obvious 
 position of the several communities of Christians, 
 apart from Rome, from Greece, and from England. 
 The Donatists and Novatians of old, (to say nothing 
 of grosser heresies,) avowedly denied the commis- 
 sion of the Church from the beginning, to remit or 
 retain all sins. The Eastern Separatists, whether 
 Nestorians or Jacobites, must feel that if they are 
 right, the great visible Body of Christ has in all times 
 been either undecided or wrong, on no less a point 
 than the reality of our Lord's Incarnation. Again, (to 
 omit for the present all other points,) the Lutheran 
 and Reformed Continental Schools are themselves 
 not slow to acknowledge, that their doctrine of 
 Justification, though traceable, as they say, through 
 considerable portions of Church history, has never 
 been dominant, never universally enforced. These 
 
PREFACE. 1XV 
 
 surely are startling admissions : and whoever finds 
 them irresistibly urged upon him, has a reason for 
 suspecting what he has hitherto trusted in, a reason 
 other in kind than he would have had, were the 
 tenets in dispute of the order before exemplified. 
 
 Neither does this reasoning lose its validity 
 because of our shameful and lamentable disunion, 
 and the free course of false doctrine within our 
 walls, owing to the Church's want of means to 
 enforce the Catholic sense of her formularies: 
 unless it can be shewn, that bearing with an error 
 is the same thing as enacting it, and lays the com- 
 munity chargeable with it under the same dis- 
 advantage : a canon which, according to Roman 
 statements, would unchurch the three first cen- 
 turies of Christendom, since we are told that 
 during that whole time the very Godhead of Jesus 
 Christ, or at least the doctrine of the most Holy 
 Trinity, remained an undeveloped mystery ; that 
 views which virtually impugn it were left un- 
 censured, and their promoters honoured as or- 
 thodox and holy men. If it was so indeed, and 
 yet the Church of the Fathers continued without 
 all question a true Church, why may not the 
 Church of England continue a true Church also, 
 notwithstanding her toleration of Puritans and 
 other Rationalists within her borders ? 
 
 Upon the whole, painful as many things are, the 
 course marked out in the present distress, for a 
 
 f 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 sincere humble-minded Catholic in the Church of 
 England, seems in no wise doubtful or obscure. 
 Suppose him assailed by scruples from without or 
 from within : let him not dare to indulge them in 
 the least, until he has counted the whole cost, 
 how much heavier the burthen of changing, than 
 of persisting in his providential station ; whom and 
 what he is called to separate himself from ; what 
 sort of persons he will grieve, what offences en- 
 courage ; in how many ways, which he can even 
 now perceive, his spiritual dangers will be aggra- 
 vated : besides the certainty that every such ven- 
 ture must be fraught with unforeseen evil of its 
 own. Then let him survey, as any person of 
 average good sense and information may easily do, 
 the kind and amount of evidence brought to dis- 
 turb him : let him compare it with what Providence 
 has vouchsafed in cases said to be analogous. 
 Finally, let him fairly ask himself, " Is the result 
 at all like moral demonstration ? and ought I, in 
 this case, to be contented with less ?" 
 
 I am persuaded that the moral difficulties, which 
 have now been touched upon, would be generally 
 felt by good minds as quite irresistible, but for that 
 longing after assurance perfect rest of mind and 
 heart which might perhaps not unaptly be called 
 the " last infirmity" of saintly spirits. As the tender 
 and anxious conscience is won by the expectation 
 of some peculiar, untried repose, to be found in 
 Roman Catholic confessionals only ; forgetting that 
 
PREFACE. Ixvii 
 
 the same treasure of pardon is by God's mercy 
 already within its reach : so the restless argumen- 
 tative intellect thinks to take refuge in the doctrine 
 of infallibility; not considering, that by a like 
 effort we might as well, if so disposed, silence our 
 scruples in continuing where God has placed us. 
 
 But why should imperfect beings, such as we 
 are, depend on assurance of either kind ? since 
 even on Roman Catholic principles it is not to be 
 expected on that very point, which concerns us 
 more nearly than either, namely, our own final 
 perseverance? A very few years' thoughtful ex- 
 perience will tell us, that a reasonable hope is in 
 general far better than absolute certainty of good, 
 for such beings as most of us are : more in unison 
 with all around us: more conducive to steady 
 improvement: more apt to form in us that re- 
 signed, humble character, that " mind of little 
 children," to which all the promises are made. 
 Scripture again, describing Faith not as full satis- 
 faction of the intellect, but as Trpay^arcdv eXey^ov 
 ov /3Ae7rofieVo)i> " making a venture on things 
 unseen" would seem to encourage a generous 
 trust in that which it is our duty to love; and to 
 discourage, as more or less selfish, all restless 
 cravings for a more certain and systematic know- 
 ledge. A man cannot innocently overlook the 
 risk of forsaking his appointed place, of condemning 
 and unsettling others, for insufficient reasons : and 
 personal assurance is clearly an insufficient reason ; 
 
 f2 
 
Ixviii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 as selfish, in its way, as domestic comfort, partial 
 affection, or the wish to quiet importunity. At 
 best, it is " doing evil that good may come :" and 
 the assurance so gained, there is reason to fear, will 
 prove more or less delusive. 
 
 Neither are providential hints wanting, especially 
 calculated to keep us in our place at this time. 
 The stir and movement for the better within our 
 own walls, as if God had some especial work in 
 store for us, has not quite passed away, as might 
 have been feared. On the other hand, we have 
 been made to see that even were we to submit 
 ourselves to the Roman Church, we should not at 
 once free ourselves of course from uncertainty. 
 Looking at her system in an argumentative way, 
 we should have to choose between the modern 
 theory of Developement, and the more established 
 theory of silent unrecorded Tradition. And again, 
 in so practical a matter as our regular devotions, a 
 doubting thought would be brought almost hourly 
 before us, whether or no the Blessed Virgin Mary is 
 the one Mediatrix of Prayer, in such sense, that 
 to seek her intercession is as truly our duty, as to 
 lean on the merits of her Son. 
 
 Again, to say nothing of other countries, what 
 a fact is the present state of Ireland, in regard 
 especially of the sixth Commandment, if we view it 
 side by side with the many statements, whereby it 
 is sought to propagate the notion of the surer and 
 better working of the Roman system ! 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Surely, taking all into account, it is more scrip- 
 tural, more analogous to God's ordinary moral 
 government, aye, and more hopeful too, in the 
 end, to suppose the whole visible Body shattered 
 and decayed, than to claim perfection for one part, 
 while we deny the very being of the rest. 
 
 It is true that this line of argument would lead 
 Greek or Roman Catholics, as well as English, 
 to shrink from all thoughts of separation" 1 ; and 
 that it would materially affect our own ways of 
 speaking and judging of them and of their systems. 
 It would take us continually back to the very 
 foundation of our English theory : that those 
 from whom we are separated are yet in the 
 Church, since we inherit, as it were, through 
 them. If so, they are nearer to us, every one of 
 them, than any human relation can make them. 
 We have a special duty of brotherly love towards 
 them, over and above the general tribute, due to 
 all men, of lenient and charitable judgment. If 
 called on by sufficient authority to concur 'in 
 words which sound harsh towards them, the nature 
 of the case binds us to take those words in the 
 lowest sense which honest interpretation will allow, 
 
 m It is not, of course, meant that no combination of circum- 
 stances would justify a Roman Catholic, being such by inheritance, 
 much more a penitent after hasty conversion, in conforming to the 
 English Church ; but only that it is in any case a very awful and 
 momentous proceeding: so far, however, less painful and responsible 
 than the act of an Anglican conforming to Rome, as it involves less 
 of an Anathema on the Communion separated from. 
 
1XX PREFACE. 
 
 and to make the most of all remaining sympathies 
 and agreements, except where some special reason 
 is shewn to the contrary. If such consideration 
 be due (as all will allow) to those yet in com- 
 munion with us (alas, how many!) who deny 
 and disavow the Catholic meaning of our formu- 
 laries : it is due no less to those, whose Creed is 
 substantially the same with our own, though we 
 may not worship together. 
 
 This is all self-evident, when men once under- 
 stand the resemblance of our case to that of a 
 divided family, divided for a time by some error 
 of their superiors : relationship continuing, while 
 intercourse is interrupted. And perhaps it applies 
 not the less forcibly, when we recollect the special 
 circumstances of the misunderstanding which origi- 
 nally parted us. Natural piety, too, would recom- 
 mend the most guarded and respectful thoughts 
 and words, seeing that the matters in controversy 
 between us touch continually on the verge of most 
 sacred and unquestionable truths, on which if a 
 man discourse ignorantly, he can hardly fail to 
 symbolize with heretics, and to disparage Saints 
 and Fathers. 
 
 With these feelings, we need not, I trust, fear, 
 lest in clinging dutifully to our own Church of 
 England we lose our hold on the First and only 
 True Church. While we forego some things, in 
 themselves desirable, for charity's and obedience' 
 sake, there remains yet a great body enough, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 if rightly improved,, to fill out a whole life of 
 Catholic opinions, usages, and sympathies, wherein 
 we may indulge without a shadow of offence. Here 
 lies our true Via Pacis, and centre of unity : not to be 
 found by eagerly pressing on to outward commu- 
 nion, but rather by praying for them and with them 
 at a distance : by acquiescing, so long as it shall 
 please God, in the sentence (so to call it) of partial 
 excommunication, which seems now for many 
 centuries to have hung over each separate portion 
 of our sinful and decayed Christendom. This, in 
 God's counsels, may be the kind of unity intended 
 for us, as best suiting our condition, and furthering 
 our probation : an unity of faith, not of sight : an 
 unity which, far from admitting any boastful con- 
 templation of our privileges, cannot be imagined 
 apart from the constant breathings of a lowly and 
 penitent spirit. 
 
 May one be permitted (though most unworthy) 
 to offer one concluding suggestion, which will 
 surely be taken in good part by all kind readers of 
 whatever section of the Church ? It is this : That 
 at one time or another in our daily devotions, we 
 should offer up our Lord's Prayer, as a prayer, in 
 special, for Church union ; if so be He may gra- 
 ciously accept it, remembering His own Eucharis- 
 tical petition, " THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE 
 ARE." 
 
 Our Father, which art in Heaven, One God the 
 Father Almighty, One Lord Jesus Christ, One 
 
Ixxii PREFACE. 
 
 Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the 
 Son ; have mercy upon us Thy children, and make 
 us all one in Thee. 
 
 Hallowed be Thy Name: Thou Who art One 
 Lord, and Thy Name One ; have mercy upon us 
 all, who are called by Thy Name, and make us 
 more and more one in Thee. 
 
 Thy kingdom come: O King of Righteousness 
 and Peace, gather us more and more into Thy 
 kingdom, and make us both visibly and invisibly 
 one in Thee. 
 
 Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven: Thou 
 Who hast declared unto us the mystery of Thy 
 will, to gather together in one all things in Christ, 
 both which are in Heaven and which are on earth : 
 conform us, O Lord, to that holy will of Thine, and 
 make us all one in Thee. 
 
 Give us this day our daily Bread : Thou in Whom 
 we being many are one Bread and one Body : 
 grant that we being all partakers of that one 
 Bread, may day by day be more and more one in 
 Thee. 
 
 And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive 
 them that trespass against us : Thou, Who didst 
 say, Father, forgive them, for those who were 
 rending Thy Blessed Body : forgive us the many 
 things we have done to mar the unity of Thy 
 mystical Body, and make us, forgiving and 
 loving one another, to be more and more one in 
 Thee. 
 
PREFACE. Ixxiii 
 
 And lead us not into temptation : As Thou didst 
 enable Thine Apostles to continue with Thee in 
 Thy temptations : so enable us by Thy grace to 
 abide with Thee in Thy true Church under all 
 trials, visible and invisible, nor ever to cease from 
 being one in Thee. 
 
 But deliver us from evil : From the enemy and 
 false accuser : from envy and grudging : from an 
 unquiet and discontented spirit : from heresy and 
 schism : from strife and debate : from a scornful 
 temper, and reliance on our own understanding : 
 from offence given or taken ; and from whatever 
 might disturb Thy Church, and cause it to be less 
 one in Thee : 
 
 Good Lord, deliver and preserve Thy servants 
 for ever. 
 
 Hursley, 
 Oct. 21, 1847. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 Page 1. 
 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 Psalm cxix. 99, 100. 
 
 I have more understanding than all my teachers ; for Thy testimonies 
 are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients ; because 
 I keep Thy precepts. 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 Page 24. 
 IMPLICIT FAITH RECOGNISED BY REASON. 
 
 Psalm cxix. 99, 100. 
 
 I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies 
 are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients ; hecause 
 I keep Thy precepts. 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 Page 43. 
 IMPLICIT FAITH RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 
 
 1 Thessalonians v. 20, 21. 
 
 Despise not prophesy ings : prove all things ; hold fast that which is 
 good. 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 Page 76. 
 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 St. Matt, xxiv. 12. 
 
 . . . iniquity shall abound. 
 
Ixxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 Page 105. 
 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 Rom. i. 32. 
 
 Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things 
 are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them 
 that do them. 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 Page 127. 
 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 1 Samuel xii. 23. 
 
 As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to 
 pray for you : but I will teach you the good and the right way. 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 Page 149. 
 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 Isiah xlix. 23. 
 
 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
 
 mothers. 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 Page 173. 
 PRIMITIVE TRADITION RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 2 Tim. i. 14. 
 
 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy 
 Ghost which dwell eth in us. 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 Page 232. 
 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 Numbers xxiii. 23. 
 
 According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What 
 hath God wrought? 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 Page 251. 
 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 St. Johnxvii. 19. 
 
 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified 
 through the Truth. 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 Page 273. 
 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 St. Luke v. 11. 
 
 When they had brought their ships to laud, they forsook all, and 
 followed Him. 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 Page 293. 
 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 Jer. xlv. 4, 5. 
 
 The LORD saith thus : Behold, that which I have built will I break 
 down, and that which I have planted will I pluck up, even this whole 
 land : and seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not : for, 
 behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD ; but thy life 
 will I give Unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 Page 321. 
 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 Rom. iv. 18. 
 
 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father 
 of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy 
 seed be. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT TO SERMON VIII. 
 
 Page 339. 
 
SERMONS, 
 ACADEMICAL AND OCCASIONAL. 
 
SERMON L 
 
 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 PSALM cxix. 99, 100. 
 
 / have more understanding than all my teachers ; for Thy 
 testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than 
 the ancients ; because I keep Thy precepts. 
 
 As experience widens and corrects our general 
 views of human life, we are commonly not long in 
 finding out, that the connection between success 
 in any pursuit, and the talent of those employed 
 in it, is by no means so invariable, as our first 
 thoughts would lead us to anticipate. I am not 
 now speaking only of our general liability to failure, 
 how the best concerted schemes are from time 
 to time unaccountably deranged: how after a 
 time we " return, and see under the sun, that 
 the race is not" always " to the swift, nor the 
 battle to the strong, nor yet riches to men of 
 understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill : 
 but time and chance happeneth to them all." 
 
 1 This and the two following Sermons were preached before the 
 University of Oxford in the years 1822, 1823. 
 
 B 
 
2 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 No doubt, there is much in this, which can no 
 -otherwise;' be; raccounted for, than by referring it 
 .to the .cp.ntrol of. a gracious, yet mysterious, Pro- 
 vldehce; whish will not suffer man to depend for 
 success upon himself, or upon any thing on this 
 side the grave. Nevertheless, there is also much, 
 which may in a good degree be explained, without 
 lessening our awful sense of that ever-present 
 control, by reference to certain general laws, 
 according to which the present system of things, 
 so far as it is within our comprehension, appears 
 to be regulated. 
 
 One of these laws probably is, "That the common 
 course of what affects human life should be more 
 nearly adapted to the average* capacity and con- 
 dition of mankind, than to cases which rise much 
 above or fall much below it c ." For example, those 
 kinds of sustenance, which the great majority of 
 animal frames most constantly require, are most 
 widely diffused, and most easily obtained. In strict 
 
 b n/oTo>s yap fieirat HOVTJS, (TO Kqpvypa) ov cruAXo-ytfr/xcoi/' Sto 77 
 fjiaXio-ra avTo Oavpdfciv aiov' ov% on xpjyort/ioi/ Koi o~a>Tr)piov povov, aXX* 
 
 OTl KCU CVKoKoV, KOL pa(TTOJ/, KOL Tolg TTaCTiV fvXrjTTTOV' O dr) /HaXiOTd TTJS 
 
 rov Qeov Trpovoias epyov eVri, KOIVO. ra Trap cavrov TrporiOevros aTracriv' 
 yap eVl ^Xi'ov, /cat (reX^i^j, KCU y^s Ka\ Qa\drT7]s> xal TCOJ/ aXXcov 
 , ov rois pev rrXovrovai Kal o-o(po1s ir\fiovos /ueraSiSous rrjs OTTO 
 xP r }y' ias ' eXarroi/os de rots Trei^o-tv, dXX' larrjv aTracri TTJV 
 nporidfls, TOVTO Kal eVi rov Kypvyparos et/yyacraro- /cat 
 TroXXw TrXeov, ocra) Kal avayKOiOTepov TOVTO eWvooi/. S. Chrys. in Rom. 
 i. 13. t. 3. p. 15. 
 
 c See the same kind of argument in Arist. Eth. i. 8. Jr) tf av 
 
 KOi 7TO\VKOIVOV, K. T. X. 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 3 
 
 accordance with this dispensation, we may observe, 
 that, granting a certain degree of common sense, it is 
 not great natural ability, so much as singleness of 
 purpose, and perseverance in uniform and dis- 
 creet labour, which determines, in the ordinary 
 course of things, who shall succeed, and who fail, 
 in their respective temporal objects. In commerce, 
 a tendency to daring speculations, however skilful 
 and well combined, cannot be so safely trusted as 
 punctual and unswerving industry. In literature, 
 though it were senseless to dispute the great 
 advantage of superior ability, when united with 
 persevering diligence ; it is equally notorious, 
 that supposing the two separated, more fatal 
 errors by far against truth and sound reasoning 
 have resulted from genius without application, 
 than from the contrary character : understanding 
 by the word <e application," not study of any 
 kind, but the patient bending of a man's powers 
 towards the particular point in question, through 
 a sincere desire of ascertaining the truth. 
 
 Now the text appears to point out an analogy, 
 well worth observing, between these circumstances 
 of common life, and what takes place in more 
 important matters : in those, namely, which con- 
 cern our everlasting welfare. " I have more 
 understanding than my teachers, for Thy testi- 
 monies are my study : I am wiser than the aged, 
 because I keep Thy commandments." These 
 words are evidently uttered, not in the Psalmist's 
 
 B2 
 
4 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 own person alone, but in the person of every one, 
 who has the privilege of knowing God and His 
 law. And to one who lives within reach of the 
 Gospel, being interpreted by experience and the 
 rest of Holy Scripture, they will be found to speak 
 some such language as this: That such honest 
 attention and thoughtfulness as are in the power 
 of all men, are not only necessary, but sufficient, 
 by God's blessing, and the assistance of His Holy 
 Spirit, to guide us into all truths really important 
 to our final welfare ; not only to make us 
 virtuous rather than vicious, but also to make us 
 Christians rather than Infidels, orthodox Christians 
 rather than Heretics, and conforming Christians 
 rather than Schismatics. 
 
 So much of this position, as relates to the ordi- 
 nary dealings of life, will not, I suppose, seem ques- 
 tionable to any one, who acknowledges the Bible, 
 as a rule of conduct, at all. But, when we come 
 to extend it to matters of religion, as distinguished 
 from matters of morality to supernatural, as op- 
 posed to social, duties a little explanation may be 
 required, lest we seem to derogate, needlessly and 
 untruly, from the value of high intellectual endow- 
 ments : which must ever rank among the most 
 precious of the talents committed to our charge in 
 this world. It is not, then, meant to be denied, 
 that original genius, even though destitute of the 
 singleness of purpose, here insisted on, is usually 
 more successful in the discovery of new truths, and 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 5 
 
 in enlarging the field of argument, than the most 
 blameless and unrelaxing diligence alone. But 
 then those truths are almost sure to be mixed up 
 with so much of error and paradox to be so far 
 overstated and misapplied for display's sake, for the 
 pleasurable exercise of ingenuity, and many other 
 temptations, against which nothing but strict 
 Christian self-control can secure us that the 
 chances are, on the whole, for their doing more 
 harm than good to the discoverer : perhaps also to 
 the world at large, unless the same topics be after- 
 wards taken up by some mind of a different stamp, 
 more sober and less ambitious. To those, who are 
 versed in the history of theology, abundance of 
 examples will readily suggest themselves. And as 
 the usefulness, even of newly-discovered truths, 
 must depend in a great measure upon something 
 besides the ability of the discoverer : so in the 
 more ordinary, but more momentous, branch of 
 theology the confirmation and application of 
 familiar truths patience, simplicity, and diligence, 
 are, comparatively, all in all. These must choose 
 our course aright, and ensure perseverance in it : 
 without which, mere velocity and energy w r ould 
 only take us farther wrong. Just as a traveller, 
 without a compass, the faster and more fearlessly 
 he goes, will but lose himself the more entirely 
 in the mazes of an Indian forest. 
 
 Now, the only sure clue or compass, to us, is 
 that which the text suggests. Let a man stedfastly 
 
6 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 purpose, in all things, and more particularly a man of 
 genius in all his intellectual pursuits and pleasures, 
 to give up his own will to the will of his Maker ; and 
 then not only the written word of God, but all the 
 means, of which He on various occasions variously 
 avails Himself, to make known His will to mankind, 
 will become " a lamp unto" such a person's " feet, 
 and a light unto his paths :" will help him to see 
 that will more clearly, and to do it more steadily. 
 
 This, as matter of fact, is what every Christian 
 owns. But since, as matter of practice, the ac- 
 knowledgment seems very imperfect : and those 
 even, who are, to a certain degree, sincere, seem 
 afraid to follow the truth in this matter, as far 
 as in consistency they ought; it may be of use 
 to analyse (if I may so speak) the phenomenon 
 itself, which we have been endeavouring to exhibit ; 
 to point out, briefly, how it comes to pass, that 
 depth and originality of intellect that faculty, whose 
 peculiar office is the discovery of truth should in 
 the discovery of practical truth be of far less con- 
 sequence, than the moral qualities of candour and 
 attention, perseverance and self-control. 
 
 Now if we were to lay down, in one word, what 
 it is which most certainly warrants the hope of 
 success in any particular art or undertaking, I sup- 
 pose it would be tolerably correct to say, that it is 
 " having a taste for it." That expression seems to 
 imply, both a right understanding of the end, which 
 such art or undertaking has in view ; and also a 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 7 
 
 real and hearty desire to attain that end : such a 
 desire, as implies real and lasting uneasiness in not 
 attaining it. 
 
 There may be, it is undeniable, great proficiency, 
 and even brilliancy, in any given pursuit or accom- 
 plishment, without either of these qualifications ; 
 at least, without the latter. Arts and sciences may 
 be practised and advanced to a certain degree very 
 successfully, though the aspirant's conceptions of 
 their respective ends may be very inadequate ; and 
 his care about arriving at those ends, for their own 
 sake, absolutely nothing. Power, honour, profit, 
 a sense of duty, or some other extraneous motive, 
 may interfere with the natural bent of our exer- 
 tions, and urge us to make progress in things, from 
 which, if left to ourselves, we should have drawn 
 back in indifference, perhaps in loathing. Neither 
 is it intended to dispute the beneficial effects, in 
 many instances, of such extraneous interference. 
 But as it would be false to say, that he who prac- 
 tises an art for hire, and would leave it off, should 
 it cease to be gainful, has a genuine taste for it : so 
 it must still remain true on the whole, in spite of 
 such exceptions as have now been adverted to, that 
 the only security (humanly speaking) for success 
 in any study or pursuit, is such a sound con- 
 ception of the end, and such a hearty love of 
 it, as we have now supposed to constitute that 
 quality : according to a sentiment in the Book 
 of Ecclesiasticus : " Whatsoever thou takest in 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do 
 amiss." 
 
 It can hardly be worth while to dwell, more 
 minutely, upon the way, in which this remem- 
 brance of the end comes to be so important, 
 towards ensuring improvement, and, generally 
 speaking, success, in practical matters. Evidently 
 the most material difference between men in these 
 respects as in the use of their bodily strength 
 for mechanical purposes lies not so much in the 
 quantity of talent they have to exert, as in the 
 direction, right or wrong, wherein they choose to 
 apply it : supposing, always, an average degree of 
 natural aptitude. Now the true knowledge of the 
 end gives the right direction in the first instance ; 
 and the hearty habitual desire of it would make us 
 diligent and thoughtful, and therefore, in the long 
 run, successful, in our choice of means. And thus 
 a true and lasting taste for any study or accom- 
 plishment is essentially distinguished from a tend- 
 ency to occasional nights, and fits of fondness for 
 it. The one, knowing the end, is furnished with a 
 constant standard, whereby to distinguish what is 
 really important and essential from what is not so. 
 The other, depending upon impulse merely, when 
 it is right, is right at random ; is continually mis- 
 taking the circumstances and outward habiliments 
 of things for the things themselves ; calling great 
 little and little great ; and thus, laying itself open 
 to continual disappointment, is much more likely 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 9 
 
 to subside before long into heartless indiffer- 
 ence. 
 
 The sincere wish of obtaining the end, be it 
 what it- may, is more especially requisite, in order 
 to give unity and consistency to our efforts. It is 
 next to impossible to make people work steadily 
 upon one plan, who are not in earnest bent upon 
 success in that plan, as an object worthy of pursuit 
 for its own sake. If display be their motive, they 
 will only exert themselves in such measure and 
 manner, as is necessary to attract the world's 
 attention, and win its applause ; if money, only so 
 far as is profitable ; and so of all other extraneous 
 influences. 
 
 Upon considering, then, the several arts and 
 faculties, we see reason to conclude, that per- 
 ceiving and delighting in the truth with regard to 
 any of them, is a very different thing from general 
 superiority of talent, and much more to be de- 
 pended upon, as affording a better chance of real 
 and lasting excellency. 
 
 If this hold in the partial and secondary occu- 
 pations of life, much more might it be looked for 
 in that greatest occupation, the sum of all life and 
 action, I mean, the pursuit of happiness. It is but 
 too evident, that with regard to this, most men's 
 minds are in the same kind of posture, as we have 
 described them to be in, with regard to each parti- 
 cular art. They take, occasionally, a certain degree 
 of interest in it, but have little or no true taste for 
 
10 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 it. They live, upon the whole, at random : seldom 
 troubling themselves with the thought of any one 
 grand object, with a view to which their whole 
 conduct should be regulated, but taking up with 
 such immediate ends, as come and go, from time 
 to time, in and out of their imaginations. Of 
 those, again, who are more decisive in their plans, 
 who have chosen each his own end in life, and are 
 turning every thing, diligently enough, to account 
 in their respective schemes ; it is clear, were it 
 only from the great diversity of ends, that a large 
 majority must be very far astray. 
 
 There is, then, in the conduct of human life, a 
 stronger temptation to go on at random without 
 any end at all, than can well be supposed in any of 
 the particular arts. There is also a greater choice 
 of apparent ends, than any one of them can present. 
 For both reasons, the chances of going wrong, in 
 pursuit of happiness, are many times more numerous 
 than in pursuit of any particular object. And the 
 necessity and paramount value of that Moral Taste, 
 which can alone secure us among so many hazards, 
 will become so much the more evident. 
 
 By " moral taste" according to that explanation 
 of the word taste in general, upon which this 
 argument proceeds, would be denoted a sound 
 perception of the chief good, together with a real 
 and steady wish to obtain it. Now it is farther to 
 be observed, that in the arts and partial occupations 
 of life, it is very possible for these two elements of 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 11 
 
 taste to be separated from each other. A man 
 may have the right understanding of the end of 
 an art, without caring to obtain it : but so far 
 as he does go in it from any foreign motive, 
 his understanding of the end will make him go 
 right. But in morals, right understanding and 
 right desire depend much more closely upon each 
 other. Wrong choice deadens our sense of the 
 general principle, as surely as wrong principle 
 misleads and debases our choice. Whether this 
 can be fully accounted for, or no, (as it has been, 
 in a great measure, from our faculty of passive 
 habits,) the matter of fact is unquestionable ; and 
 we may fairly conclude from it, that the true and 
 consistent desire of excellency is even more essen- 
 tial to moral taste, than to taste in any particular 
 occupation or accomplishment. 
 
 In whatever degree, then, the considerations 
 now advanced may seem to account for the pre- 
 ference, due to self-devotion and singleness of 
 purpose above general ingenuity and talent, with 
 a view to excellence in the several arts and pur- 
 suits, into which life is divided : in the same 
 degree, and much more, will they account for the 
 like preference, in the universal pursuit of happi- 
 ness, and the universal art of living well. And 
 so far we may admit the satisfactory conviction, 
 that whatever claim Holy Scripture may seem to 
 advance, on behalf of Christian sincerity, to be 
 accepted as a competent judge on all questions of 
 
12 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 practical religion, is no paradox, no unaccountable 
 exception to the ordinary course of God's dealings 
 with mankind, but is just what analogy, and 
 antecedent reasoning, would lead considerate per- 
 sons to expect. 
 
 In fact, we can hardly open the Bible at all, 
 without finding such a claim earnestly and dis- 
 tinctly recognised. To judge fairly, indeed, of 
 the truth and importance of this observation, we 
 should examine, with reference to it, the whole of 
 Scripture, considered as an exhibition more or less 
 entire, of the soheme or system of God's dealings 
 with mankind. The contents of the Bible should 
 be patiently and thoughtfully considered with strict 
 attention to this point : Whether the selection of 
 its topics, the order in which they are disposed, and 
 the method of treating them, be not apparently 
 such, as to supply the fullest probation possible of 
 the reader's honesty and seriousness: startling to 
 such as will take offence, but ever leading those, 
 who approach it in the right disposition, from one 
 degree of spiritual strength to another, and fixing 
 within them, daily, a more sober and earnest hope 
 of everlasting life. 
 
 A striking exemplification of this may be found 
 in the order, in which the two leading historical 
 points of the true religion are presented to any 
 one, who reads the Bible regularly on from the 
 beginning to the end : the corruption of mankind 
 being the prominent doctrine of the Old Testament, 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 13 
 
 and their redemption, of the New. That is, the 
 truths most revolting and distressing to human 
 nature, but most continually presented to our view 
 in real life, are cautiously and fully impressed 
 upon the mind, before it is invited to dwell upon 
 the more cheering and elevating half of the 
 Gospel. This seems exactly what ordinary minds 
 would require. To have the disease, of which 
 they are conscious, recognised, and its symptoms 
 truly described, is enough to give them full con- 
 fidence in their physician. But it is not so exactly 
 the way of proceeding best calculated to attract 
 independent and sanguine spirits, who do not so 
 much care to be helped, as to learn how to help 
 themselves. It is easy to perceive, moreover, how 
 precisely the degree of acceptance, which this 
 method of instruction would meet with, would be 
 proportioned to the humbleness and self-denial of 
 the learner, and to his just sense of moral obliga- 
 tion : and how unlikely it is, of itself, to captivate 
 minds accustomed to the graces of literature, and 
 to the rhetorical exhibition of truth in its most 
 inviting form. 
 
 Thus much by way of faint specimen of the 
 effect of such an examination of Scripture, as 
 was just now supposed. If fairly instituted and 
 patiently carried through, it would leave as little 
 doubt of the divine purpose in this matter, as 
 the analysis of any other combination of means, 
 natural or providential, is wont to leave of the 
 
14 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 purpose, which the Guide of Nature and Providence 
 had in view in that part of His dispensations d . 
 
 But as any enquiry of this sort must, from its 
 very nature, be a work of time ; and moreover 
 may seem, in some respects, peculiarly liable to 
 be made a work of human fancy and prejudice, 
 instead of fair and reasonable exposition upon 
 principles taught of God : it is very material to 
 observe, that Holy Scripture itself has, in many 
 ways and many places, anticipated its result ; 
 laying it down repeatedly, as a kind of canon of 
 sacred criticism, that, in disputed cases, that inter- 
 pretation of God's works and ways, which approves 
 itself most entirely to the sober and devout 
 spirit, stands in general a fairer chance of being 
 the true interpretation, than what has the suffrage 
 of minds ingenious and original, but deficient in 
 those moral requisites. 
 
 This observation might be verified by reference 
 both to the historical and to the didactic parts of 
 Holy Scripture : the one describing, as matter of 
 fact, the reception which religious and moral 
 truth has ever met with in the world at large : the 
 other inculcating, as matter of warning, what sort 
 of practical preparation it implies and takes for 
 granted, by the method in which it addresses itself 
 to each individual. Let us, for example, turn our 
 thoughts to the numerous declarations, in the Book 
 of Proverbs, concerning the sort of persons, who 
 
 d See Miller's Bampton Lectures, iv, v, vi. * 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 15 
 
 make farthest proficiency in " wisdom ;" and the 
 process, by which they attain to it. " Evil men 
 understand not judgment : but they who seek the 
 Lord understand all things." " The scorner seek- 
 eth wisdom, and findeth it not." " The fear of 
 the Lord is the instruction of wisdom." " Commit 
 thy way unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be 
 established." These texts are but as samples of a 
 large portion of the verses of that most instructive 
 book : by which it seems clearly indicated, that 
 the " Wisdom," " Knowledge," " Understanding," 
 so highly there commended, is something very 
 different from eminent intellectual ability, since 
 the acquisition of it is inculcated on all men, as a 
 duty within their reach. It seems to be much the 
 same thing as the typovrjcri? of the Grecian Mo- 
 ralist : " the practical understanding of our true 
 interest." 
 
 Now concerning this, whether derived from 
 natural reason only, or furthered also by those 
 helps, which God, by especial revelation, had 
 afforded to the Jewish nation for the entire 
 omission of all reference to that peculiar dispens- 
 ation seems to warrant us in extending the mean- 
 ing of the Proverbs to the first as well as the 
 second of these classes of practical wisdom, 
 whichever way communicated, we are every where 
 told by the wisest of mankind, that the poor, the 
 lowly, the humble-minded, stand the best chance 
 
16 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 of arriving at it ; and that the only sure "beginning," 
 or foundation, of it, is " the Fear of the Lord." 
 
 These lessons of the sacred Moralist, concerning 
 human life in general, might be much enforced 
 and illustrated from the experience of God's chosen 
 people, as recorded in the historical parts of the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 Negatively ; it should seem that the worthies 
 of the Jewish History, and favourites of Almighty 
 God, were by no means, all or most of them, 
 persons of preeminent ability, humanly speaking. 
 The wisest of them all as if on purpose to confirm 
 that maxim of his, " Cease from thine own wis- 
 dom," was allowed to bewilder himself, both in 
 speculation and in practice, quite as much as any. 
 The Book of Ecclesiastes, the authentic record 
 both of his wanderings and his wisdom a book 
 which, even if it were uninspired, would ever be 
 most interesting to all genuine philosophers, as 
 containing what may be called " The Confessions 
 of King Solomon" presents, in this point of view, 
 a singular contrast to one, which in the Hebrew 
 Canon is placed very near it : the simple and 
 affecting narrative of Ruth the Moabitess. He 
 who knew himself, upon the faith of an especial 
 promise from God, to be the wisest of mankind 
 after having sounded, to the utmost of his ability, 
 all the depths and " devices of man's heart" makes 
 his report to be, That the Counsel of the Lord 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 17 
 
 that way of happiness, which sends us to God for it, 
 and which God approves, that only " shall stand." 
 His " conclusion of the whole matter" is, " Fear 
 God, and keep His commandments : for this is 
 the whole of man," the only purpose, for which we 
 exist at all. 
 
 Now this is just ending where Ruth had begun ; 
 had begun, in spite of disadvantages almost as 
 singular as the helps which Solomon enjoyed. 
 Domestic affection the love of an afflicted mother- 
 in-law set her first upon choosing Israel to be 
 her people, and Jehovah to be her God. And in 
 the faith so implanted she left the land of her 
 nativity, and found " a full reward of the Lord 
 God of Israel, under whose wings she had come to 
 trust." A good heart, and a steady resolution to 
 do what she knew to be right, placed her, as it 
 were, at once upon the rock, to which Solomon 
 hardly won his way after many hard conflicts, 
 against doubts within, and temptations without. 
 
 Enough perhaps has been said to point out the 
 sort of persons, who are represented in Holy Scrip- 
 ture as most apt and likely to receive aright the 
 truths of natural religion, and of the law which 
 God gave by Moses. 
 
 Concerning that full and final dispensation, under 
 which, by His great mercy, our lot is cast ; as the 
 evidences of its truth are more obvious and abun- 
 dant, so the advantages of moral above merely 
 intellectual qualifications in appreciating that evi- 
 
18 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 dence are proportionately enhanced, and far more 
 distinctly set forth. This indeed was to be ex- 
 pected, in a Gospel professing to be universal, and 
 so differing from all other systems of morality 
 which the world had as yet known. Moses held 
 out a promise of happiness in a great measure con- 
 fined to one nation only : the philosophers, prac- 
 tically at least, to one class in each nation, and 
 that the least numerous : those, namely, who had 
 leisure and ability for refined and deep speculation. 
 But the Gospel of Jesus Christ was avowedly 
 preached " to the poor ;" to the poor, both in 
 station and in spirit. That is, it did not require, 
 as most systems of knowledge do, any peculiar 
 advantages, mental or external, in order to be duly 
 received ; but was so framed, as to lie, practically, 
 within the reach of the mass of mankind. 
 
 What great stress our Blessed Saviour laid upon 
 this characteristic of His doctrine, may be seen by 
 His answer to St. John's disciples ; in which it 
 stands for the sum of that internal evidence, by 
 which, according to the Prophets, the religion of 
 the Messiah was to be known ; and is put on a 
 level with the greatest of His mighty works. 
 " The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk ; 
 the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear : the 
 dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel 
 preached to them." In good truth, the more we 
 know of Christianity, and of the poor, the more 
 deeply shall we be impressed with the exact adapt- 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 19 
 
 ation of the one to the other : both in the sub- 
 stance of what it teaches, and in the manner of 
 teaching. And the poor, it is carefully to be re- 
 membered,, must ever constitute the great majority 
 of those, to whom Christianity is addressed. But 
 this is a subject which can only be glanced at here. 
 It is of consequence, however, to remark, that 
 whatever suited the Gospel to the poor in situation, 
 would in a great measure bring it down to the level 
 of ordinary understandings also : the difficulty, in 
 both cases, being much of the same kind. For to 
 convey a system of new and important truths to 
 a mind comparatively disqualified for intellectual 
 labour, must require nearly the same expedients, 
 whether the unfitness arise from natural dulness, 
 or from long disuse. On either supposition, the 
 mind of the learner being as it were shrunk and 
 narrowed within the compass of mere daily life, it 
 is through the business of daily life, by familiar 
 illustrations and arguments from analogy, that a 
 wise teacher will endeavour to introduce whatever 
 knowledge is really desirable, of a higher and more 
 abstract kind. The declaration, therefore, of our 
 Blessed Lord, in the passage alluded to, is very 
 much to our present purpose ; even though we 
 suppose Him to use the word " poor" in its literal 
 signification only. 
 
 And yet, if we were to extend it to all those, 
 whom He elsewhere denominates, " poor in spirit," 
 we might find, very easily, ample warrant for our 
 
 c2 
 
20 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAfrH. 
 
 interpretation. We might produce other declara- 
 tions of our Blessed Master Himself : as when He 
 thanked His Father for having " hid these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and revealed them 
 unto babes :" and when He promised the knowledge 
 of His doctrine as the appropriate reward of con- 
 formity to His will : " If any man will do His will, 
 he shall know of the doctrine." 
 
 Next, we might look to the prophetic descrip- 
 tions of the general spirit of the Gospel : among 
 which one may distinguish those of Isaiah as re- 
 markably full and express ; so much so, that it 
 would be hard to produce one of his sketches of 
 the Messiah's kingdom, without some such clause 
 as the following : " Thy teachers shall not be 
 removed into a corner any more : but thine eyes 
 shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a 
 word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye 
 in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye 
 turn to the left." And again, "precept must be upon 
 precept, precept upon precept ; line upon line, line 
 upon line ; here a little, and there a little. For 
 with stammering lips and another tongue will He 
 speak to this people :" that is, He will condescend 
 to teach them, be they never so simple, as nurses 
 teach children, by imitating their imperfect utter- 
 ance. 
 
 We might further cite what the Prophets have 
 spoken of the class and character of those, who 
 should prove readiest converts to the religion thus 
 
"FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH, 21 
 
 described. ft In that day shall the deaf hear the 
 words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall 
 see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The 
 meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and 
 the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One 
 of Israel." <e Whom shall He teach knowledge? 
 and whom shall He make to understand doctrine ? 
 them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn 
 from the breasts." " An highway shall be there, and 
 a way : and it shall be called, ' The way of holiness .;' 
 the unclean shall not pass over it the wayfaring 
 men, though fools, shall not err therein." 
 
 Finally, we might verify these anticipations from 
 the Apostolic history : from the remark of St. Paul, 
 that " not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
 mighty, not many noble, were called ;" and from 
 what St. Mark tells us concerning the preaching 
 of our Saviour, that " the common people heard 
 Him gladly." 
 
 These things, taken all together, may seem fully 
 to justify, upon scriptural grounds, the comfortable 
 lesson, which, as we have seen reason to conclude, 
 experience and analogy would have taught us : 
 That we may safely take the judgment of a sincere 
 and single mind, with or without ingenious and 
 original research, for our guide to truth in all matters 
 practical ; and most in the most important ; the 
 determination of moral conduct and interpretation 
 of God's revealed will. 
 
 Whoever shall consider this proposition atten- 
 
22 FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 
 
 tively , will find it to be of the very highest practical 
 importance, in many various ways. At present, 
 however, it is only possible to advert, very briefly, 
 to its immediate bearings on our own conduct, and 
 particularly on the regulation of our studies. 
 
 Would we look upon ourselves, truly, as indi- 
 viduals entrusted with a large portion of literary 
 and intellectual advantages, such as cannot but 
 involve us in a most serious responsibility before 
 Him, Who has so highly favoured us : and would 
 we add to this the consideration which the text 
 suggests, that, after all, these advantages alone 
 cannot advance us in genuine wisdom, so far as the 
 keeping of God's commandments will advance the 
 weakest and humblest of our brethren ; we should 
 surely delight ourselves less, than I fear we do 
 in general, with the possession, and should take 
 more pains about the use and regulation, of those 
 precious, but dangerous, endowments. We should 
 less easily abandon ourselves to any investigation 
 which may happen to attract us for the moment, 
 without staying to enquire how far it is worth the 
 time and thoughts of a Christian. We should 
 consent to be taught resignation from the dis- 
 appointments and errors, which will ever beset 
 the operations of fallen spirits in an imperfect 
 world : and when our enquiries are more successful, 
 we should not rest satisfied with their immediate 
 results, but should learn of them to lift up our 
 hearts, with humble and grateful hope, towards 
 
FAVOUR SHEWN TO IMPLICIT FAITH. 23 
 
 that interminable progress in all knowledge truly 
 worthy of us, which is certain to follow upon 
 admission, through the merits of our Redeemer, 
 to His presence, Who is " the true Light, and in 
 Whom is no darkness at all." 
 
SERMON IT. 
 
 IMPLICIT FAITH RECOGNISED BY REASON. 
 
 PSALM cxix. 99, 100. 
 
 / have more understanding than all my teachers ; for Thy 
 testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than 
 the ancients ; because I keep Thy precepts. 
 
 IT was endeavoured to ascertain,, on a former 
 occasion, what sort of persons would appear most 
 likely, judging by analogy from temporal matters, 
 to understand the truths of the Gospel aright : and 
 so to illustrate the acknowledged fact, that moral 
 rather than intellectual proficiency, is the appropriate 
 qualification for that noblest of all studies. And to 
 confirm this anticipation, scriptural evidence was 
 adduced, regarding the kind of characters, among 
 whom our religion was in fact most worthily re- 
 ceived. Appeal was also made to the frame and 
 structure of the religion itself, to the constant tenor 
 of prophecy, and to the statements of the Old 
 Testament concerning analogous cases, under true 
 natural religion, and under the Mosaic dispensation. 
 
 So far, then, it should seem, that in proportion 
 
IMPLICIT FAITH RECOGNISED BY REASON. 25 
 
 as the world has advanced in the knowledge of 
 true happiness, it has become more and more 
 evident, that we must look to the best man, not to 
 the accomplished or most able, for the soundest 
 views on moral and religious subjects : and that, 
 because it is evidently the best man, not the ablest 
 or most accomplished, who knows most of the true 
 end of life, and judges most accurately between 
 things important and things insignificant. 
 
 But in order to complete the argument, it is 
 desirable to look into the chief uninspired autho- 
 rities before the coming of Christ. It is the more 
 desirable, because a disposition undoubtedly pre- 
 vails among us, greatly to undervalue, at least for 
 all practical purposes, the philosophy of the Greeks 
 and Romans : as if God Almighty, contrary to His 
 own declaration, had "left Himself without wit- 
 ness" among them ; or as if the weakest of their 
 moral treatises did not contain truth and reason 
 enough, to put the Christian world to shame for 
 many things, which pass daily in it as natural and 
 excusable. 
 
 Th fact surely is, that the true view of human 
 happiness, revealed to us fully by the Gospel of 
 Christ, differs from former views, philosophical and 
 religious, not so much in contradicting them, as in 
 going beyond them a . It proves them, not false, 
 but inadequate. So far, therefore, as they are 
 true, we may expect to find them marked by all 
 
 * OVK ?i\Bov xaraXOcrat, dXXa 
 
26 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 the characteristics of moral truth : and among the 
 rest, by this which we are considering ; viz. that 
 any single-hearted, sincere man, who would put so 
 much confidence in them as to make trial of them 
 in his life and conversation, should prove a com- 
 petent judge of their soundness and sufficiency. 
 And this kind of practical confidence, whether 
 exercised in morals or religion, I shall take leave 
 to denote, throughout this enquiry, by the name 
 of " implicit Faith." 
 
 My proposition is, that not only in the express 
 and final exhibitions of the chief good by the 
 Jewish and Christian revelations, but also in the 
 previous, gradual, development of it, so far as that 
 could be accomplished without evident, supernatural 
 aid, we find continually, by God's good providence, 
 more and more advantage given, a door opened 
 wider and wider, to this sort of " implicit Faith," 
 as opposed to mere acuteness and originality of 
 intellect. 
 
 Let us consider, first, the nearest approach, 
 which human reason, purposely abstracted from 
 all traditional notices of natural religion,* could 
 make to the true account of human happiness. 
 This appears to be exhibited in the system of 
 Aristotle, which makes happiness consist in the 
 everlasting contemplation of the highest object, 
 that can come before the understanding of man ; 
 and supposes it to be, most probably, attainable by 
 the discipline of moral virtue. A statement, which 
 
RECOGNISED BY REASON. 27 
 
 every Christian must acknowledge to be true, so 
 far as it goes. And I think there can be no 
 question, but that it laid a real obligation upon 
 the consciences of all, who lived within reach of 
 it, to seek happiness by the practice of moral 
 virtue, according to their best judgment, through- 
 out their lives. 
 
 And as the obligation was real, so it was much 
 more level to the capacity of every man, and 
 therefore much more nearly universal, than we, 
 from our habit of regarding it merely as part of a 
 scholastic theory, are generally apt to imagine. 
 Such at least appears to have been the opinion of 
 the moralist himself. He had observed, that they 
 who lived most wisely were often utterly unable 
 to argue in recommendation of their own rule of 
 conduct. And yet he not only considered that 
 conduct reasonable, but even censured, as highly 
 unreasonable, those who refused to be guided by 
 it, as authority and example for the regulation of 
 their own lives. " We ought," says he, " to pay 
 regard to the dictates and decisions of the expe- 
 rienced and elderly, that is to say, of the wise, 
 even when unaccompanied by proof, as carefully 
 as we should attend to any demonstration. For 
 such persons, because they have a sort of eye of 
 their own by virtue of their experience, see the 
 principles of moral conduct"." A remarkable 
 acknowledgment this, to come from one of the 
 
 * Eth. b. vi. p. 285. 
 
28 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 greatest masters of reasoning, in deference to 
 what may be called unreasoning faith in the final 
 good effects of virtue. 
 
 But I observed, that Aristotle appears purposely 
 to have excluded from his theory all traditional 
 notices of natural religion. It is impossible that 
 he should have been ignorant of what Plato had 
 taught concerning the probability of a future state 
 of rewards and punishments, after death. It is 
 inconceivable, whatever he may have thought of 
 some of his master's arguments, that he should 
 have treated his conclusions, corresponding as 
 they did to the best wishes and feelings of human 
 nature, with mere scorn and contempt. His silence 
 then on these important points must have been 
 designed, in some way or other, to corroborate his 
 main argument. And I can conjecture nothing so 
 probable, as that it was designed to adapt that 
 argument to such sceptical reasoners, as disdained 
 to be guided, in any measure, by obscure tradition, 
 and what they would call superstitious fancy. But 
 even these, unless they would give up their common 
 sense altogether, could not resist the dictates of 
 experience and analogy : to which, accordingly, 
 throughout his great work, Aristotle, scrupulously 
 and exclusively, refers them. To conclude from 
 this, and he was himself an unbeliever in true 
 natural religion, were as unreasonable as to con- 
 clude of our own Bishop Butler, that he was an 
 unbeliever in the facts of revelation, because he 
 
RECOGNISED BY RI-JASUN. 
 
 has used them so sparingly in his Sermons, as 
 authorities for demonstrating the great principles 
 of moral duty. In both cases, the object was the 
 same : to stop the mouths of a sceptical and too 
 argumentative generation, by referring them to 
 their own common sense, their own constant 
 practice, in matters of mere worldly and temporal 
 interest. Revelation, then, in the one case, and 
 tradition in the other, however certain or probable 
 they might appear to the writers, could have com- 
 paratively no place in their works : which neither 
 they themselves, nor the Providence which guided 
 them both, ever intended as a full exhibition of 
 all that might be known of human happiness and 
 duty, but as a practical introduction to the only 
 right way of studying that momentous subject. 
 
 It is on this account, that although in order 
 of time Aristotle came after Plato, and therefore 
 might be expected to have worked with his mate- 
 rials, yet in order of study Plato more properly 
 comes after Aristotle. The mind which has been 
 prepared, by the analogical reasoning of the one, 
 and his constant irresistible appeal to facts, to 
 receive favourably any thing, which strengthens 
 the claims of virtue : such a mind is in the best 
 training to appreciate, as they deserve, the tradi- 
 tional or instinctive anticipations of the other. 
 
 For it is beyond a doubt, that although the 
 reasoning of Aristotle be more convincing, the 
 conclusions of Plato have approached, in some 
 
30 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 remarkable points, a good deal nearer the truth. 
 With regard to the immortality of the soul, and 
 the practical wisdom of living always with a view 
 to a future state of retribution, this has been gene- 
 rally observed. But there is another point, of very 
 great consequence, which does not seem to have 
 obtained any thing like due notice. And that is, 
 that he seems, of the two, to have come much 
 nearer the idea of personal communion with the 
 Deity, and with higher orders of created spirits, as 
 constituting the true chief good of a reasonable 
 creature. There are little touches scattered up and 
 down the Phaedon, which would impress this truth 
 upon a considerate reader, much more affectingly 
 than any direct argument could. As where he 
 describes the soul of the dying as " that invisible 
 thing, departing into another region, like itself, 
 substantial, undefiled, invisible ;" he adds most 
 emphatically, "to the mansions, I mean, of Him 
 Who is invisible, to the good and wise God : 
 whither, if God will, my soul too is presently to 
 depart." And in the Apology of Socrates, it is not 
 the prospect of solitary contemplation, but of the 
 society which he expects to find in the shades, of 
 the good and wise men of all former generations, 
 on which he chiefly depends for comfort. 
 
 Now the observation here to be made is, that as 
 Plato's notion of the chief good approaches nearer 
 the truth than Aristotle's, so his demand of implicit 
 faith in default of overpowering evidence, though 
 
RECOGNISED BY REASON. 31 
 
 not perhaps more peremptory, was however much 
 more constantly kept in view. It is, in fact, 
 implied throughout, in the doubting and cautious 
 tone, which Socrates uniformly preserves on such 
 subjects : which though it was commonly ascribed 
 to some peculiarity of his temper, certainly arose 
 in a great measure from the just sense he enter- 
 tained of human ignorance. He would not speak 
 positively on the great truths of natural religion, 
 because he knew no evidence to warrant his doing 
 so. Yet by all his discourses, and still more by 
 his example, he did most uniformly and positively 
 recommend to men to act as if those truths were 
 entirely demonstrated. 
 
 There is one sentence in the Phsedon, which 
 may serve as a key both to his conduct and to 
 his reasoning. He has been drawing, in strong 
 colours, a contrast between the punishments and 
 the rewards, which he supposed might exist in 
 another world. And thus he concludes it. 
 
 " To be positive, that these things are such as 
 I have described them, becomes not a considerate 
 person ; that however thus it is, or nearly thus, 
 with regard to our souls and their habitations, (for 
 certainly these are appearances of the soul's being 
 something immortal,) this seems to me no irrational 
 idea. AND I THINK IT WORTH WHILE TO TAKE ALL 
 
 CHANCES, UPON A SUPPOSITION OF ITS BEING SO : 
 
 doKel ejjiol a^iov KLvfivvevcrai, olop.evco OVTCOS ^X iv ' 
 For," he concludes, " it is a glorious hazard : and 
 
32 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 one ought to use such thoughts as wholesome 
 charms and incantations for one's own distempered 
 mind:" " XP 7 ) T ^ ToiavTa coa-irtp eTraSttv eavrco." 
 
 This is, in other words, the very same principle, 
 which Bishop Butler has applied to the evidences 
 of Christianity, in the following passage. " Con- 
 sidering the infinite importance of religion revealed 
 as well as natural, I think it may be said in general, 
 that whoever will weigh the matter thoroughly 
 may see, there is not near so much difference, as 
 is commonly imagined, between what ought in 
 reason to be the rule of life, to those persons who 
 are fully convinced of its truth, and to those, who 
 have only a serious, doubting apprehension, that 
 it may be true. Their hopes and fears, and 
 obligations, will be in various degrees ; but as 
 the subject-matter of their hopes and fears is the 
 same, so the subject-matter of their obligations, 
 what they are bound to do, and to refrain from, 
 is not so very unlike." Thus far Bishop Butler. 
 And it is acting on this principle, i. e. taking, 
 practically, the side of virtue and self-denial, where- 
 ever the evidence seems doubtful, which has been 
 here denominated " implicit Faith/' and which, as 
 I conceive, the Bible points out, as sure to bring 
 even a plain man safe through all material dif- 
 ficulties in religion. 
 
 The Gospel, then, in its recommendation of such 
 implicit Faith, does no more than correspond to 
 the expectations of the soundest philosophers of 
 
RECO'GNISED BY REASON. 83 
 
 antiquity. And no wonder : since there is nothing, 
 as we have already seen, more exactly analogous 
 to the usual and ordained course of things. 
 
 I now proceed to point out some of the uses of 
 considering this analogy : first, as it makes a 
 material part of that general evidence of our religion 
 which arises out of its correspondence with the 
 constitution and course of nature : secondly, as it 
 may afford some valuable hints for the comfort 
 and edification of unlearned or erring believers. 
 
 In all practical matters merely temporal, it is, 
 as was before shewn, being soberly and constantly in 
 earnest, rather than ingenuity and brilliancy, which 
 ensures success. This, as far as it goes, would 
 lead us to expect the same in that greatest practical 
 concern of eternal happiness. And Scripture, as 
 we have seen, expressly affirms that it is so : and 
 is framed, throughout, upon that supposition. 
 
 Now, there was an objection formerly brought 
 against Christianity and it is still, apparently, 
 often felt, though less daringly expressed that 
 it was the religion, not of Rulers and Pharisees, 
 educated and refined understandings, but of ordi- 
 nary people, who knew not the law. Nor is it 
 very uncommon to meet with persons, who profess 
 unbelief in conversation with their equals, but go 
 to church, and observe other outward appearances 
 of Christianity, for their inferiors' sake. The same 
 feeling is remarkably exhibited in what is related 
 of a modern unbeliever, that he was surprised one 
 
 D 
 
34 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 day by a friend in the act of teaching his daughter 
 to read the New Testament. His friend expressing 
 some astonishment, he said, " I see your meaning : 
 but, after all, where can she find better instruction ?" 
 He considered the Gospel good for his child, 
 though not good enough for himself. It was 
 better suited, then, in his opinion, and surer to 
 approve itself, to an ordinary, unprejudiced under- 
 standing, than to a cast of mind more subtle and 
 elevated, and better versed in the mazes of abstract 
 speculation. An acknowledgment, which went 
 farther than may appear at first sight, towards 
 evincing, not the moral utility alone, but likewise 
 the probable truth, of Christianity. That very 
 characteristic of it, which disgusted him, being in 
 reality a decisive instance of its corresponding 
 with the course of God's temporal government : 
 and therefore, so far, affording a presumption, that 
 it proceeded from the same Author. 
 
 If unbelievers have never been much pressed 
 with this argument, from the sufficiency of Christi- 
 anity to the happiness of the ordinary sort of men ; 
 the omission is easily accounted for. Cases, to 
 which appeal might effectually be made, are rare : 
 as rare as it is to find believers really and con- 
 sistently endeavouring to act up to their profession. 
 Moreover, it has been rather hastily taken for 
 granted on both sides, that the whole of this 
 experimental proof is a matter of feeling rather 
 than of reason, and however convincing to him 
 
RECOGNISED BY REASON. 35 
 
 who has fairly tried it, cannot be brought home to 
 the understanding of another person. 
 
 Yet to a dispassionate sceptic it must surely 
 seem worth considering, why those Christians, who 
 were freest from all enthusiasm ; those who have 
 had the meanest opinion of themselves, and were 
 least disposed to lean upon their own understanding ; 
 have always been found most uncompromising, 
 and, if the expression may be so used, most stub- 
 born, in their conviction of the truth of the Gospel, 
 and of the soundness of its practical rules. The 
 story of the old peasant, who silenced, as is said, 
 an Arian disputer by merely repeating the Apostles' 
 Creed, might stand as a specimen of the mode and 
 ground of belief, to which I am now referring, and 
 in which it best becomes busy and unlearned 
 Christians to acquiesce. Among wilful gainsayers, 
 or rapid inconsiderate observers, it may pass in- 
 deed for bigotry or prejudice. But a very little 
 reflection will shew, that it is what on all other 
 subjects must ever be accounted true practical 
 wisdom. It is no more than abiding by the 
 dictates of experience, not in defiance, but in de- 
 fault, of theoretical and argumentative knowledge. 
 
 For example : suppose that on the day of a 
 child's birth, a collection of writings should be put 
 into the hands of his parents, purporting to contain 
 rules for the management of his diet and regimen ; 
 and suppose, that after having tried them for years, 
 he found them in all respects satisfactory and 
 
 D2 
 
30 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 sufficient : found that he could not swerve from 
 them without being ill, and that he enjoyed bodily 
 health exactly in such proportion, as he adhered, 
 in practice, to those rules. Would it not be rea- 
 sonable for him to believe, that they were left for 
 his use by some one who knew his constitution 
 perfectly ? He might be utterly unable to explain 
 why and how such a mode of treatment should 
 answer so well. Yet every one would call it 
 inexcusable rashness in him, to adopt an opposite 
 regimen upon the suggestion of any theorist, though 
 recommended by the most plausible shew of de- 
 monstration. Now the care of the soul is a practical 
 matter, just as much as the care of the body ; the 
 only difference being in the comparative importance 
 of the two : and that is indeed unspeakable. But 
 this only makes it the more necessary for men to 
 be very peremptory in abiding by those rules, 
 which in all practical matters are essential to their 
 well-doing. And one of the foremost of these is, 
 " never to act upon reason, in opposition to 
 practical principles, which the Author of nature 
 gave us to act upon." Which Canon, laid down 
 in so many words by one of the safest teachers of 
 religion, natural and revealed, that ever blessed this 
 Church, may indeed be much abused and misapplied 
 by wilful men. But one may venture to affirm, 
 that it can be no abuse of it, to say concerning 
 that conviction, which humble and sober-minded 
 Christians possess of the truth of their religion, 
 
RECOGNISED BY REASON. 37 
 
 without being able at all to argue upon it, that 
 such conviction, being supported by the growing 
 experience of a well-spent life, is indeed a practical 
 principle, given them by God Almighty for their 
 good, and ought not to be parted with on any 
 account, or for any argument whatever. 
 
 The analogy to which I just now referred, 
 suggests the farther remark, that, to a candid 
 sceptic, the argument from the authority of im- 
 plicit believers is cumulative : i. e. a fresh argument 
 is added every time a new instance is observed 
 of a man's finding his happiness in Christianity, 
 whether he be rich or poor, learned or ignorant. 
 Just as in the case of bodily health if a person, 
 comparing his own experience with that of his 
 neighbours, should find that they also had received 
 from the same authority a similar set of pre- 
 scriptions, and always, when fairly tried, with the 
 same unerring result could he deem less of the 
 author, than that he was an universal, infallible 
 physician ? 
 
 The blame, therefore, of begging the question, 
 which the infidel is continually throwing upon the 
 implicit believer, must recoil at least upon himself. 
 For it is he who takes upon him to judge, without 
 trial, of the result of certain rules of conduct, in 
 direct opposition to all those who have actually 
 tried them. 
 
 And thus the demand of " implicit Faith," which 
 the Bible so earnestly reiterates, instead of con- 
 
3& IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 sti tuting an objection to our religion, is in faat a 
 mark of its truth : and, as such, may be urged in 
 refutation of unbelievers. 
 
 It is, moreover, of great consequence to be kept 
 in view by unlearned, but true and reasonable, 
 Christians. Such persons are sometimes apt to be 
 disheartened, upon finding themselves unable to 
 defend in words, or at all to convey to another 
 person, opinions, upon which they have soberly 
 and considerately made up their own minds. 
 Skill and readiness in disputing about a doctrine 
 is so far from implying, or much forwarding, a 
 firm practical conviction, that it may not seldom 
 be traced, even in characters by no means dis^ 
 ingenuous or insincere, to the direct contrary 
 state of mind. Not being quite satisfied con- 
 cerning some part of religious truth, and ill- 
 enduring the condition of doubt and discomfort, 
 (which, after all, would do them no great harm, if 
 they would be careful always to take the safe side 
 in practice ;) subtle and ingenious men set them- 
 selves to devise argument after argument in its 
 behalf; and thus they have often succeeded, to a 
 wonder, in strengthening and extending the fabric 
 of theology, perhaps to the benefit of others, 
 without having been able to find under it any 
 shelter, final and complete, for their own harassed 
 and perplexed spirits. Thus the Church has 
 witnessed, more than once, the sorrowful spectacle 
 of orthodox teachers falling off, in their latter 
 
RECOGNISED BY REASON. 39 
 
 days, from the very truths, which they had them- 
 selves, before, most triumphantly defended : the 
 law of compensation, which has so wide a range in 
 the natural world, extending, apparently, in this 
 among other instances, to the moral world also : 
 in that the versatility and ingenuity, which enable 
 men to devise new modes of evidence, are too 
 often accompanied with a disposition to be restless 
 and unsatisfied with the old. 
 
 It is true, Christians are enjoined to be " always 
 ready for an answer to every man that asketh 
 them a reason of the hope that is in them." But 
 it is, manifestly, " the answer of a good con- 
 science," sober and holy living, which is meant. 
 We are directed to lead such a life, as may be 
 appealed to, if necessary, in vindication of our 
 Creed. If we do so, it matters little, com- 
 paratively, whether we can dispute for our religion 
 or no. Christianity is not a matter of logical 
 arrangement, or philosophical investigation ; much 
 less of rhetorical skill. Not that these things are 
 of trifling value, as talents. But then it should 
 always be remembered, that they are only talents, 
 and will, accordingly, prove worse than useless, 
 except they be united with sincere humility. 
 
 Trains of thought like this seem desirable, 
 especially in situations and periods where intel- 
 lectual eminence is in danger of being over-prized, 
 in order to reconcile us to our own usual mediocrity, 
 and to make us join heartily, as on the whole a 
 
40 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 sound view of the subject would, I think, induce 
 us to join, in such a sentiment concerning mental 
 attainments, as was once expressed in prayer 
 concerning the endowments of fortune : " Give me 
 neither poverty nor riches : feed me with food 
 convenient for me." 
 
 Our judgment, also, of the state of mind, and 
 religious proficiency, of those in any way com- 
 mitted to our charge, (the only persons, strictly 
 speaking^ of whom it becomes us to judge at all,) 
 would be materially affected by such consider- 
 ations. We shall be in less danger of rashly con- 
 demning the simple, or lightly excusing sinners on 
 the ground of ignorance less likely to fall into 
 the common error of imagining, that those who 
 talk best about the truth, really know and love it 
 best if we bear it always in remembrance, that 
 they, whose meditation is in God's testimonies, 
 shall have more understanding than all their 
 teachers : and they who keep His commandments, 
 shall be wiser than the aged. 
 
 Not, however, by a wisdom, or an understanding, 
 directly and perceptibly infused, or communicated 
 from heaven by sensible inspiration. For this too is a 
 further use of considering the analogy which subsists 
 between Christianity and common life in the matter 
 of implicit Faith : viz. that it would tend to relax 
 the hold, which enthusiastic thoughts are daily 
 gaining upon the minds even of sincere believers, 
 and to make their views of their duty soberer and 
 
RECOGNISED BY REASON. 41 
 
 more practical. In order to this good effect, what 
 is chiefly required is, duly to impress serious per- 
 sons with the belief, that God's Spirit works on 
 our spirits, not miraculously, but by quiet methods, 
 guiding not superseding reason, and in such a way, 
 as we must never expect to distinguish from the 
 natural movements of our own thoughts. Such, 
 evidently, is the tendency of the argument, on 
 which I have been employed. It not only takes 
 a large portion of Scripture out of the hands of 
 the enthusiast, but gives it a turn the direct con- 
 trary way. Such texts, I mean, as dwell on " the 
 calling of the foolish, the base and despised, rather 
 than the wise, the mighty, and the noble:" on 
 " the hiding of holy things from the wise and 
 prudent, and revealing them to babes :" on " the 
 doing God's will, being the way to know of His 
 doctrine ;" and the like. The weak impatience of 
 men, too soon weary of the slow and silent process 
 of real improvement, causes them to lay hold on 
 every thing of this kind, as warrant for their 
 expecting some interruption of the established 
 order of things, something approaching to sensible, 
 miraculous inspiration, for conveying to sincere 
 unlearned Christians that knowledge of the ordi- 
 nary means, of which they are supposed to be 
 destitute. Whereas the true meaning of the 
 Bible in all such passages is strictly analogous 
 to what our daily experience in temporal matters 
 would lead us to expect. " The word of God is a 
 
42 IMPLICIT FAITH RECOGNISED BY REASON. 
 
 lantern to the feet, and a light unto the paths" 
 not of every one who takes up the Scripture, as 
 though there were something almost meritorious 
 in the mere act of reading it ; or, it may be, with 
 some secret unacknowledged hope of special aid 
 to be vouchsafed to him in interpreting of it, as 
 though he were, beyond his brethren, high in 
 God's favour : -not unto these is God's word 
 a light, but to those, who have sworn, " and are 
 stedfastly purposed, to keep His righteous judg- 
 ments :" to those all without exception ; and to 
 none besides. 
 
 Thus, as intellectual pride may well be abased, 
 upon finding that it has been God's will to con- 
 stitute uprightness, rather than ability, judge of 
 the truth on the highest of all subjects : so it may 
 reasonably serve to put down spiritual pride, and 
 those self-satisfying thoughts, which the doctrine 
 of assurance, in its various shades, is continually 
 fostering among Christians ; if they are made to 
 be aware, that there is nothing capricious no sort 
 of partiality or fatalism in God's distribution of 
 spiritual understanding : that the Holy Spirit 
 works with us, exactly in such measure as we 
 are disposed to work for ourselves : and that it is 
 not the notion of having, already, pleased God, 
 but the earnest desire to please Him better for 
 the future, which must accompany us in our use 
 of the means of grace, if we would not have them 
 prove to us, in the end, means rather of confusion 
 and condemnation. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 IMPLICIT FAITH RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 
 
 1 THESSALONIANS v. 19, 20. 
 
 Despise not prophesyings : prove all things ; hold fast that 
 which is good. 
 
 THESE two verses, taken both together, appear 
 to contain full directions on the true way of profiting 
 by the public instruction,, delivered from time to 
 time in the Church by the authorized ministers of 
 the Gospel, whether that instruction be contained 
 in set formularies, as in the Creeds, Lessons, and 
 Exhortations of the Prayer Book : or in occasional 
 Sermons and Homilies ; but more especially the 
 latter. For so large is the import of the term 
 " prophesying" in the New Testament. 
 
 It is true, that the Apostle is here speaking, in 
 the first instance, with a view to his own times, 
 and to cases of professed inspiration. We know 
 from the first Epistle to the Corinthians a , that 
 among the various extraordinary gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit, which were so bountifully dispensed to the 
 a 1 Cor. xiv. 
 
44 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 primitive Church, prophecy, or the authorized 
 declaration of God's will, though of the greatest 
 use for edifying, was most apt to be unduly depre- 
 ciated, in comparison with other gifts, more striking, 
 and more evidently supernaturaL 
 
 To correct this error, the Thessalonian converts 
 are here warned not to " despise prophesyings." 
 And, on the other hand, to prevent their running 
 blindly after any doctrine, which might please their 
 ear, or their fancy, they are told, that it is their 
 duty, as a Church and congregation, to judge of 
 what they hear ; not of the teacher, nor of the 
 style, but of the sense of what is spoken : to judge 
 of it, not as matter of speculation or criticism, 
 but simply with a view to their own practical 
 improvement. " Prove all things ; hold fast that 
 which is good." 
 
 St. John, in later and more perilous times, 
 proposes a rule to the same purpose : and by com- 
 paring the two together, it will be seen how closely, 
 in the rninds of the inspired writers, orthodox 
 faith was associated with sound morality. " Be- 
 loved b , believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, 
 whether they are of God : because many false 
 prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby 
 know ye the Spirit of God : every spirit that con- 
 fesseth Jesus Christ come in the flesh, is of God : 
 and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ 
 come in the flesh, is not of God." 
 
 b 1 John iv. 13. 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 45 
 
 " That which is good" is St. Paul's test ; " that 
 which confesseth Jesus Christ come in the flesh," 
 St. John's. The fact is, the two rules are, as a 
 little consideration will shew, completely identical. 
 " That which is good/' implies before all things a 
 due sense of the first and great commandment : 
 " To love God with all our hearts." And if we 
 so love the Father, He has Himself told us, both 
 by clear and express words of Scripture, and by 
 His Church's authoritative interpretation of these 
 words, that we shall love and honour the Son and 
 the Holy Ghost also : without reserve ; without 
 fear or danger of excess. 
 
 As then the being and moral government of 
 God, once known, are an ample standard of all 
 moral and supernatural truths ; so likewise are the 
 mysterious verities implied in the saying, " Jesus 
 Christ come in the flesh :" I mean, the Trinity and 
 Incarnation. Whatever is contrary to those doc- 
 trines will ultimately be found immoral ; and 
 whatever is immoral, will be found contrary to 
 those doctrines. Truth and duty, could we see 
 all, would be recognised as perfect unfailing tests 
 of each other ; " that which is good," and " that 
 which owns Christ incarnate," would appear to be 
 but several aspects of the Divine Will accepted 
 and realized by man. 
 
 Nor let it be supposed that these Apostolical 
 warnings have respect wholly to a state of things, 
 
 c Compare Butler's Analogy, part ii. ch. 1. 
 
4=6 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 which has long ago ceased to exist. It is always 
 a paradox, to make such a statement concerning 
 any part of Scripture ; since by the universal con- 
 sent and use of Christians, the Word of God is His 
 gift alike to one generation and another. And 
 as to the particular passage from which the text 
 is taken, were we to examine it in detail, several 
 arguments would occur, which would render such 
 a limitation exceedingly improbable. But in a 
 question of this sort, it is generally best to rely on 
 the impression, which the words themselves, simply 
 recited with the context, would produce on an 
 unbiassed mind. " We exhort you, brethren, warn 
 them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, 
 support the weak, be patient towards all men. See 
 that none render evil for evil unto any man, but 
 ever follow that which is good, both among your- 
 selves, and toward all men. Rejoice evermore. 
 Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks, 
 for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning 
 you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not pro- 
 phesyings. Prove all things : hold fast that which 
 is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. 
 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly ; 
 and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and 
 body be preserved blameless unto the coming of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Not unfrequently, perhaps, in the Apostolic 
 writings, admonitions of merely local or occasional 
 import may be found, intermingled with aphorisms 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 4t 
 
 of universal and literal application at all times. 
 But then, in order to justify the limitation, it 
 ought always to be strongly marked by something 
 in the passage itself. As in the latter part of the 
 Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul is continually 
 drawn back, as it were, from his general prin- 
 ciples, to make a particular application to the 
 consciences and circumstances of those to whom 
 he was writing, and whose peculiar danger led 
 him to take a more than ordinary interest in 
 them d . 
 
 But in the place now before us, there is nothing 
 of this kind to appropriate his meaning. For 
 aught that appears in the context, or any where 
 in the Epistle, the precepts, " Despise not prophe- 
 syings," yet '* Prove all things," are spoken as 
 absolutely, and addressed as widely, as, " Pray 
 without ceasing ;" or, " Abstain from all appearance 
 of evil." 
 
 It may be thought, however, that there is little 
 need, at present, to dwell much on the caution 
 here given, against despising, or undervaluing, 
 the public instruction of God's ministers : it being 
 matter of constant observation, that sermons are 
 far too much thought of, in comparison with com- 
 mon prayer, the administration of the sacraments, 
 and other parts of the public worship of God. But 
 a very little reflection will shew, that there never 
 was a time, in which it was more seasonable. It 
 
 d Gal. v. 7 9; vi. 1113, 17. 
 
4B IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 is not invidious or querulous to say so. The 
 acknowledged fact, that literature and criticism 
 are now more widely diffused than ever they were 
 before, would, of itself, lead one to expect as 
 much. For these are obviously the very pursuits, 
 the prevalence of which would most perilously 
 tempt the teacher to an undue display of oratory 
 or ingenuity, and the hearer to unprofitable remark, 
 and an irreverent way of treating sacred things. 
 Natural talent may be idolized now, as supernatural 
 gifts were then, at the expense of Christian edifi- 
 cation. In such a case, the caution of the Apostle 
 may come as seasonably to us, as it did in the 
 first instance to the Thessalonians or Corinthians. 
 " Despise not prophesy ings do not degrade that, 
 which is Christ's ordinance for the salvation of 
 souls, into a mere literary amusement, a display of 
 transitory ability, or of supposed spiritual gifts." 
 
 Christian self-denial is often best practised, 
 because it is least seen, in things of themselves 
 trifling. And possibly it might be no unimproving 
 exercise of it, to men of refined judgments, if they 
 would engage themselves, habitually, to put up 
 with improprieties of style or method, with ob- 
 scurities, or even fallacies not affecting practice, 
 for the sake of giving themselves and others a 
 better chance of profiting by sermons. 
 
 By parity of reasoning, what has been said will 
 apply, in a great measure, to our reading, and also 
 to our conversation, on sacred subjects. It is 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 49 
 
 against the delicacy of an earnest and reverential 
 mind, to treat any effort lightly or contemptuously, 
 which offers but a possibility of benefit in its 
 eternal and vital interests. 
 
 Nor, in thus refraining ourselves, need we fear 
 to derogate, in the least, from the positive part of 
 the Apostolic precept : by which we are bidden to 
 " prove," or " assay, all things." Rather we should 
 be keeping our minds in the best possible frame 
 for obeying it. For it is evident, that the less we 
 allow ourselves to be distracted by thoughts of the 
 ingenuity or eloquence of the person speaking, the 
 soberer and more competent judges are we of the 
 practical tendency of what is spoken : the only 
 authorized touchstone of right and wrong in 
 Christian instruction. 
 
 But before proceeding to the consideration of 
 this test, by which all doctrines are to be tried, I 
 have one or two observations to offer, upon the 
 circumstance, that any trial at all is directed. In 
 the first place, it puts an end, at once, to the com- 
 mon sceptical notion concerning our holy faith, as 
 though it were an enemy to thought and inves- 
 tigation, and were best satisfied with a blind un- 
 reasoning service. An objection, which can be 
 grounded only upon gross and wilful ignorance of 
 the sacred Scriptures. For their uniform tenor is 
 the same with that of the text : not only to allow, 
 but to enjoin, the freest of all enquiry, the most 
 
 E 
 
50 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 completely disengaged from worldly fears and 
 prejudices. 
 
 This observation is enforced, by recollecting to 
 which among his converts it is that St. Paul 
 gives the permission, or rather commandment, to 
 " prove all things." Of all the Churches, except 
 perhaps that of Philippi, the Thessalonians appear 
 to have been, personally, most attached to him. 
 Partly from that circumstance, partly, as we may 
 suppose, from his being, at that time, comparatively 
 young in his ministry, his tone in addressing them 
 is peculiarly affectionate and sanguine. He has no 
 need to say to them, as he says to the Corinthians, 
 " Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ :" rather 
 he has to praise them for this very thing, that they 
 had already become " followers of him and of the 
 Lord." It may seem therefore that he is here 
 warning them, lest this tendency to simple child- 
 like submission lay them open to the fraud of the 
 enemy. As if he had said, I know the forward- 
 ness of your mind, that as an obedient and loving 
 flock, you love to follow wherever your Pastor 
 guides you, especially if you see in him the known 
 fruit of holiness. And it is well that you should 
 be of this mind : only not so blindly and implicitly, 
 but that you prove all things by the rule which 
 I shall now give you. 
 
 The same remark applies, still more pointedly, 
 to the teaching of our Blessed Saviour Himself : 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 51 
 
 inasmuch as His tone was more authoritative, and 
 His personal claims to respect more overpowering. 
 Yet even He speaks throughout as one who wished 
 His hearers to " prove all things." His discourses 
 are all (in a certain sense) argumentative : full, it is 
 true, of the most striking and engaging imagery ; 
 but still that imagery is always introduced, humanly 
 speaking, for the argument's sake. In this form, 
 He has Himself conveyed the very same lesson 
 with that in the text, by that emphatic clause in 
 the parable of the sower, so descriptive of weak 
 Christians : I mean where He says, " They have 
 no root in themselves, and so endure but for a 
 time 6 ." Where it is expressly affirmed, that for 
 a man to profit as he ought, even from the best of 
 truths, they must not be merely taken up from his 
 teacher, but must be rooted and grounded in his 
 own understanding and practice. 
 
 Might it not be with a view to this sort of case, 
 that our Blessed Saviour so remarkably checked the 
 young man, who came running to Him with that 
 most true confession and most reasonable demand, 
 " Good Master, what good thing must I do to 
 inherit eternal life f ?" The answer is prefaced by a 
 clause, which to many has proved a source of 
 perplexity : " Why callest thou Me good ? there is 
 none good but One ; that is, God." The apparent 
 harshness of the reply, and its inconsistency at first 
 
 e St. Mark iv. 17. f St. Matthew xix. 16. 
 
 E2 
 
5-2 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 glance with what we know of His exalted nature 
 and office, seem best accounted for, by supposing 
 Him to have wished to remind the young enquirer, 
 that the very honours, which were most His due, 
 would not be welcome to Him, if rashly and 
 thoughtlessly paid : that a man's own salvation 
 was His own concern, aud his reason was given 
 him, and must be used, to secure it : without 
 which, any respect or admiration he might feel for 
 his divine Instructor would prove but a transitory 
 emotion, not to be depended on in the hour of 
 trial : as indeed the sequel of the narrative too 
 sadly evinced. 
 
 But how are we to reconcile a declaration of 
 this kind with the many recommendations, con- 
 tinually occurring in Holy Scripture, of plain 
 undoubting confidence the temper of little chil- 
 dren as being what God most approves ? Are 
 not these incompatible duties the duty of severe 
 independent enquiry on the one hand, and the 
 duty of confidential implicit faith on the other ? 
 
 Some persons, by way of reconciling them, allow 
 both to be Christian duties, but consider them as 
 intended for different classes in rank or intellect. 
 Those, they say, who have leisure or abilities, can- 
 not be excused the task of enquiry. They must 
 examine the evidence of Religion, and make up 
 their minds on reasonable grounds. But the 
 poor, the weak, and the busy, must (as is supposed) 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 53 
 
 take their faith entirely upon trust from those who 
 know better. 
 
 Now, in opposition to this way of speaking, 
 the text expressly, and the whole of Scripture 
 by implication, teaches, that both rational enquiry 
 and implicit faith are in some sense duties of 
 universal constant obligation. " Prove all things," 
 with a sober, deliberate purpose of holding fast 
 that which is good : that is rational enquiry. 
 " Hold fast that which is good," having first duly 
 searched and proved it : that is implicit faith. It 
 is evident from the very construction of the sen- 
 tence, that the same persons are the object of 
 both these maxims : and we have before seen that 
 they are, one as well as the other, addressed to 
 every Christian whatever. 
 
 Further : it is clear, that the process denoted by 
 the term " proving all things," is one which does 
 not require, though it may with advantage employ, 
 the resources of human learning : otherwise it 
 could not be imposed upon all Christians alike. 
 It is of great consequence to be thoroughly aware 
 of this : especially for those, who are in any way 
 entrusted with the spiritual care of others. Be- 
 cause if they do not bear this in mind, they will be 
 sure both to judge unfairly of individuals, and to 
 form a wrong estimate of the general condition of 
 the Church. 
 
 With regard to individuals, the common error 
 
54 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 appears to be, expecting too much of the learned 
 and requiring too little of the unlearned. For 
 whatever be the natural tendency of knowledge 
 itself, so many temptations are called into action 
 in the course of acquiring it, and still more in the 
 display, which is necessary in order to make it 
 useful to others, that it can hardly be considered, 
 upon the whole, more of an advantage towards 
 the practice of piety, than riches or honours or high 
 birth. And therefore, when persons of large intel- 
 lectual attainments are perceived to be erroneous 
 in faith, or worldly in conduct, any thoughts of 
 censure, which may pass through our minds, 
 should be qualified with the recollection of the 
 disadvantage they lay under : especially in an age 
 and nation, characterised perhaps beyond all 
 others by a feverish thirst after knowledge for its 
 own sake. On the same principle, it is a point of 
 sound wisdom to be less sanguine, than first im- 
 pressions would make us, about the success of 
 plans for the general diffusion of knowledge : even 
 of that which is most truly called Christian know- 
 ledge. I do not mean that such plans are likely 
 to fail in their immediate object. Knowledge is, 
 no doubt, daily and hourly increasing, by the 
 laborious exertions of the " many," who are con- 
 tinually " running to and fro" in order to promote 
 and diffuse it g . But we must endeavour not to be 
 
 g Dan. xii. 4. 
 
 ,J 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 55 
 
 disheartened, if we fail to perceive a corresponding 
 progress in holiness : considering that the noblest 
 gifts of God have ever been found liable to the 
 most dangerous abuses. 
 
 On the other hand, the recollection, that 
 " proving all things" is as much the duty of the 
 unlearned, as it is of the educated, should make 
 us less afraid to trust them with reasoning, than 
 in matters of this sort we commonly are. Almighty 
 God, in His Church and in His Scriptures, deals 
 with all men the richest and poorest alike ; as 
 with reasonable creatures ; beings who can, if they 
 will, make up their own minds upon sufficient 
 grounds, concerning their duty and the way to 
 please Him. Whereas we often shrink from ex- 
 hibiting the truth, in any thing like an argumenta- 
 tive form, to poor unlearned people, under a notion 
 that they cannot follow reasoning. But it might 
 be well to consider, whether the same persons 
 would not, somehow or other, contrive to follow a 
 train of reasoning equally intricate, if it terminated 
 in any point of importance to their worldly in- 
 terest. If they could and would do so, clearly the 
 fault of their not receiving instruction may in part 
 rest with them, and not with their teachers only. 
 Neither is it to be immediately concluded, that no 
 good is done, because people do not choose at the 
 time to attend, or be the better for our labours. 
 Good, though we seldom know how, is certainly 
 
56 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 done, whenever the truths of the Gospel are 
 clearly laid before men, whether they regard them 
 duly or no. At least, the whole history of God's 
 dealings with mankind is a proof that it is His 
 will such disclosures should be made and forwarded 
 by us, as extensively as possible. The event must 
 be left in His hands. But natural piety assures 
 us, that where God's will is done, there good, 
 sooner or later, must be the result. 
 
 The text suggests the farther remark, that what 
 we usually call " the right" had better perhaps be 
 called the duty, " of personal judgment in matters 
 of faith." Properly understood, it is far more of a 
 task than a privilege : so great are the interests at 
 stake, and so many the chances of going wrong. 
 It is told of the learned and pious Hammond, that 
 " of all other things, he most disliked the being 
 left to make a choice, and greatly applauded the 
 state of subjection to a superior, where an ob- 
 sequious diligence was the main ingredient of 
 duty h ." A just notion of things might possibly 
 incline men to extend this sentiment into their 
 theological enquiries, and rather choose to be 
 guided, if they safely might, than have to select 
 opinions and rules of conduct for themselves. 
 Nor can we ever be thankful enough, that in 
 respect of all the chief dogmatical truths of Chris- 
 tianity, all of which the Apostle spake when he 
 
 h Bp. Fell's Life of Hammond, p. xxvii. fbl. torn. 1. 
 
 i 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 57 
 
 said, " Though we, or an Angel from Heaven, 
 teach any other, let him be anathema" in respec 
 of these, we are strictly guided and limited. It is 
 our privilege and safeguard, part of our joy and 
 crown, as members of the Holy Catholic Church. 
 
 But in other matters, since so much is left to us, 
 whether we will or no : since it is the condition 
 of our being in this world, to walk by faith and 
 probable conjecture, not by sight or perfect de- 
 monstration : since we have all one and the same 
 business, to be gradually growing in the knowledge 
 of those truths, which most concern our own 
 everlasting happiness : it is natural and reasonable 
 for us, while we judge as we best may for our- 
 selves, yet to sympathise one with another, like 
 comrades in the same march, or adventurers on 
 the same voyage. We should endeavour to un- 
 derstand one another's condition ; the learned not 
 to underrate the capacities of the ignorant, the 
 ignorant to make due allowance for the prejudices 
 and temptations of the learned. These cautions 
 being well observed, we shall find much less dif- 
 ference, than might be expected, between two 
 sincere men, the most unequal in rank and edu- 
 cation, in their power of appreciating divine and 
 moral instructions. 
 
 If now it be enquired, what that test is, which 
 renders every man, who chooses honestly to apply 
 it, so competent yet so independent a judge of the 
 
58 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 most important truths of all: on this also the 
 words of the text, concise as it is, convey all the 
 information that we can need. " Hold fast that 
 which is good" TO /caAo*>, not TO aXrjOes not 
 " what is true in speculation," but " what is, in 
 morality, fit and right." Of which all persons 
 must, we know, be qualified to judge, because all 
 are called on to practise it ; and on which, 
 evidently, the sincerest and best, not the most 
 ingenious, enquirer, is surest to decide aright. So 
 that this passage, which appears at first to con- 
 tradict the sufficiency of implicit Faith, turns out 
 to be, in fact, the strongest recommendation of it. 
 If it only directed enquiry in general, it might 
 occasion some perplexity. But limiting the en- 
 quiry as it does, to a point obviously within the 
 reach of all honest men of ordinary capacities, it 
 affords a clear warrant for the assent, which such 
 are invariably found to yield to Catholic Truth, 
 when fairly laid before them. 
 
 Our Blessed Saviour Himself had taken care, in 
 the very beginning of His ministry, to leave His 
 Church full instructions on this point. " 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*." 
 
 The term -^ev^oTrpo^rjTai is here evidently 
 analogical. In its primitive acceptation it denotes 
 1 St. Malt. vii. 15, 16. 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 59 
 
 not merely false teachers, but false pretenders to 
 supernatural knowledge, such as false teachers in 
 the Old Testament, and under the Jewish theo- 
 cracy, must usually have been. For then, as the 
 ordinary messengers of God were inspired, those 
 who took on themselves the office must of course 
 have affected inspiration also. But here, as is 
 usual in the prophetic parts of the New Testa- 
 ment, the term is applied to the corresponding 
 class of persons, soon to arise in the Christian 
 Church : i. e. to all propagators of false doctrine, 
 whether claiming miraculous powers or no. Such, 
 our Saviour tells us, are to be known by their 
 fruits. 
 
 Now He must mean, either their own bad 
 conduct ; or the pernicious tendency, or pernicious 
 effect, of the doctrine they taught. 
 
 But He could not mean the bad conduct of 
 the teachers themselves, because unhappily all 
 experience shews us, that the soundest and most 
 orthodox principles are but too consistent with 
 the worst practices. And He said to Judas, as 
 unreservedly as to any other of the Apostles, " He 
 that receiveth you, receiveth Me j ." Bad conduct 
 therefore in an orthodox teacher, how hateful and 
 deplorable soever, cannot entitle him to the epithet 
 \lsev8o7rp6(j)r)Tr]s : for it neither annuls his commis- 
 sion, nor falsifies his doctrine. Nor, on the other 
 hand, will good conduct, at least such as human 
 j St. Matt. x. 40. 
 
60 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 eyes can discern, afford a sufficient argument that 
 a man's faith is in the right : for this reason among 
 others ; that the very sense of doubtfulness and 
 paradox, singularity and novelty, a feeling often 
 connected with lurking error, in many cases has 
 a tendency to make people more circumspect. In 
 others again, natural good impulses do much 
 towards correcting the effects of monstrous and 
 immoral doctrines, and rendering men happily 
 inconsistent with themselves. 
 
 It follows, that the term " fruits," in our 
 Saviour's warning, means something different from 
 the personal character of the Teacher. Indeed 
 the analogy of itself would suggest as much. For 
 since the question is concerning the soundness of 
 doctrine, not the integrity of the man, it must be 
 the fruits of the doctrine, not of the man, to which 
 appeal would naturally be made. 
 
 But here again a question arises, What are, 
 properly speaking, the fruits of the doctrine ? Does 
 our Saviour mean the actual effects which it has 
 produced in the world, or its natural and legitimate 
 tendency, if fairly acted upon ? Here also the 
 perverseness and inconsistency of mankind will 
 not leave us long to seek for an answer. It is but 
 too manifest, that in all ages the best truths have 
 been so abused, as to shelter and encourage the 
 worst practices. If there be any one temper more 
 hateful than another to Almighty- God, more fre- 
 quently and awfully denounced, and surer to draw 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 61 
 
 down His heaviest curses upon the Church or 
 the individual chargeable with it, that temper is 
 Hypocrisy ; the knowledge of God without the 
 love of Him. But the very notion of Hypocrisy, 
 as the word is used in Scripture, implies, to a con- 
 siderable degree, Orthodoxy. The Pharisees were 
 the straitest k , i. e. the most orthodox, sect of the 
 Jews in our Saviour's time. Never was the whole 
 body of the nation so free from idolatry, so fondly 
 attached to the law of Moses. Never, in the 
 worst times of their idolatry, was God so deeply 
 displeased with them. We must not dare then to 
 judge of doctrines by their apparent actual effects, 
 lest we be driven to the blasphemy of charging the 
 Mosaic Law, the gift of God Himself, with all the 
 guilt of the Pharisees. 
 
 Nay more : our Lord and His Prophets are 
 continually warning us, that the very Gospel itself, 
 humanly speaking, will produce results which would 
 compel us, on such a supposition, to reject it. 
 " Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on 
 earth ? I tell you, Nay, but rather division V And 
 if we will believe the constant witness of the Pro- 
 phets, we must make up our minds to see iniquity 
 abounding, and the love of God dying away, at the 
 very same time that the Gospel is preached most 
 extensively ; and, as far as outward profession and 
 speculative assent go, most successfully also m . 
 
 k Acts xxvi. 5. cf. Phil. Hi. 5. l St. Luke xii. 51. 
 
 m See particularly St. Matt. xxiv. 12 14. Dan. xii. 1, 4. 
 
62 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 Ultimately indeed, if ever we come to view the 
 full effects of the Christian Revelation, private as 
 well as public, on the heart as well as on the 
 visible conduct, in the next world as well as in 
 this ; doubtless we shall perceive, that in despite 
 of bad Angels and bad men, it has done good, 
 infinitely beyond comparison with the evils which 
 now meet our view. This, however, is as yet 
 matter of faith, not of sight. 
 
 But if the test last proposed, viz. the visible 
 effect, fail as applied to the Christian religion 
 generally, it cannot be safely applied to any par- 
 ticular doctrine or part of that religion. 
 
 It follows, that when our Lord spoke of knowing 
 false Prophets by their fruits, He meant neither 
 their own lives, nor the lives of their followers, 
 but the genuine tendencies of their teaching, sup- 
 posing it fairly interpreted, and followed up in 
 practice. I put out of the question here the great 
 verities of the Christian faith, recognised by consent 
 of all Churches, and registered in their Creeds. 
 For these are like the first truths of natural 
 religion ; implicitly to be received at all risks ; not 
 to be judged of, but to be made a measure for 
 judging of others. Of these we are to make no 
 controversy : but concerning all minor points, 
 I understand our Lord's maxim to be, If a doc- 
 trinal view, or an interpretation of Scripture, on 
 the best consideration you can give it, tend really 
 to deepen faith in those great foundation articles, 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 63 
 
 and otherwise to promote holiness and humility, to 
 disengage you from the world, to " make sin more 
 exceeding sinful," then act as if it were true, and 
 you are safe. If it contradict that which was 
 from the beginning; if it lower the standard of 
 morality, or encourage men to take liberties ; if it 
 engender spiritual pride, and a conceit of God's 
 especial favour ; be sure it is not of God : it will 
 not stand the proof: it must be let go, if you will 
 hold fast that which is good. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected, that the character- 
 istic here proposed as the test of disputed doctrine 
 is itself as finely marked, and as difficult to ascertain, 
 as any of the truths that are to be tried by its 
 means. To judge of the true tendency of a doc- 
 trine requires, it may be said, no common degree 
 of natural acuteness, aided by large stores of expe- 
 rience. For every ordinary hearer to be encouraged 
 to attempt it, may seem like trusting one unskilled 
 in chemistry with the most delicate processes of 
 the laboratory. Nothing but fallacy, or at best 
 only random truth, can be reasonably expected 
 from such an allowance. 
 
 Any one who should argue in this manner 
 would need to be reminded of this great difference 
 (amongst others) between practical questions in 
 morality and religion, and all investigations merely 
 technical : that the experience, which guides us to 
 the truth in arts and trades, is of course confined 
 
64 IMPLICIT PAITH 
 
 to the few who practise them ; but the experience, 
 which teaches us the way to be happy, is constantly 
 growing in every man, whatever be his faculties or 
 opportunities. Rich and poor, learned and ignorant, 
 are completely on a level in that respect. 
 
 In the next place, we must take into our account 
 the great quickness and subtlety, which men of 
 the most ordinary parts frequently attain to, in 
 regard of some one favourite subject. By con- 
 tinually bending all their faculties and exertions 
 that one way, they come in time to a surprising 
 readiness in connecting all other things with it, 
 and discerning the remotest bearings which they 
 can by possibility have upon it. Just as some 
 savage tribes, not otherwise remarkable for quick- 
 ness of perception, are reported to distinguish the 
 beasts of chace, which form their chief support, at an 
 almost incredible distance, and where a less prac- 
 tised eye would never be able to detect them. It 
 is not surely past belief, that any one among 
 Christians, however deficient in human learning 
 or argumentative skill, might be able, through a 
 siimlar attention to the great end of life, to see his 
 way safely, if not clearly or comfortably, through 
 all the mazes of error and disputation. 
 
 In one respect, such a person would even have 
 the advantage of those, who, with no greater natural 
 endowments, were placed more within reach of 
 instruction. He would be less perplexed with 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 65 
 
 those varieties of evidence on the different sides of 
 a question, which multiply the chances of apparent 
 inconsistency, and render it more difficult to strike 
 the balance between conflicting opinions. His single 
 enquiry would be, Does this doctrine, or does it 
 not, tend to confirm me in the love of God and 
 my neighbour ; in doing as I would be done by ; 
 in renouncing the world, and denying myself? 
 And it cannot be thought, that having his mind 
 constantly bent on such things, he would ever be 
 much perplexed about the answer, or materially 
 misled by it. 
 
 One thing which makes the generality of reasoners 
 afraid to trust themselves or others in this mode 
 of enquiry, is their habit of confounding the actual 
 effects of any doctrine with its genuine natural 
 tendencies. To most men it is a far pleasanter 
 task, to watch the apparent result of an opinion or 
 system of belief upon other people's conduct, than 
 to sit down and consider fairly, what effect, in all 
 reason, their believing it ought to have upon them- 
 selves. Accordingly, whenever mention is made of 
 judging of a doctrine by its tendency, such as are 
 not in the habit of thinking very accurately, take 
 you to mean its real result, as visible in the lives of 
 its maintainers. A criterion of which considerate 
 men are with the best reason exceedingly jealous : 
 it having been, at all times, the prevailing artifice 
 of error and heresy, especially error of the fana- 
 tical cast, to appeal to the good conduct of their 
 
66 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 followers, and to the wickedness or carelessness of 
 orthodox believers. 
 
 On the other hand, to judge properly of the 
 tendencies of a doctrine, merely from the doctrine 
 itself, without knowing its history, implies that 
 one is used to consider one's own opinions and 
 principles, in good earnest, as matter of practice. 
 In this mainly seems to have consisted that 
 guilelessness, which received such an approving 
 welcome from our Blessed Lord in the case of 
 Nathanael : the exact contrary to the hypocrisy 
 of the Pharisees. But being, it is to be feared, a 
 very uncommon fairness of mind; we cannot easily 
 bring ourselves tp give other people credit for it ; 
 or to allow it, where it does exist, that authority 
 in controversies of faith, to which it is reasonably 
 entitled. 
 
 But the strongest scruples must give way to 
 experiment. By way therefore of completing our 
 view of this matter, let us now institute what may 
 be called an experiment upon it, by just turning 
 our thoughts, of course very briefly, towards three 
 or four of the most important points, which are 
 debated among persons professing and calling 
 themselves Christians. Divesting ourselves, for a 
 moment, of all impressions received from other 
 kinds of evidence, let us endeavour to consider 
 these points with an eye to nothing but their 
 practical tendency. It will be seen, I think, not 
 only that the most primitive view of them, in each 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 67 
 
 case, is also the most favourable to good morals 
 and unaffected piety : but likewise, that this tend- 
 ency is so direct and obvious, that it could not 
 pass unobserved by any one, who should conduct 
 his enquiries in that honest, practical way, which 
 we have been now supposing. 
 
 To help us in this examination, it will be con- 
 venient to distinguish the various forms of error 
 in regard of doctrine against all of which, as we 
 believe, the text offers a sure and simple remedy 
 into four classes, corresponding to the four Com- 
 mandments of the First Table of the Decalogue. 
 Of course, we understand those Commandments 
 spiritually, and interpret them by the aid of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 On this plan of exposition, the meaning of the 
 first Commandment, with its preface, will stand as 
 follows. As the Israelites were forbidden to have 
 any God, except Jehovah, Who brought them out 
 of the land of Egypt, so Christians must not seek 
 for happiness in any but Him, to Whom they stand 
 indebted for redemption from eternal death, and 
 sanctification to eternal life. This first Command- 
 ment, then, is a warning not only against open 
 infidelity, but also against that more subtle apostasy, 
 which would substitute another notion of God for 
 the Jehovah of the Bible, Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, the holy Trinity in the adorable Unity. 
 
 The second, in like manner, may be considered 
 F 2 
 
68 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 as an authoritative condemnation of those errors* 
 which substitute any other Mediator, any other 
 way of coming to God and happiness, in the place 
 of our only Teacher and Saviour, Christ Jesus. 
 
 Again ; since swearing by the name of any being 
 is used in Holy Scripture to denote acknowledging 
 his Godhead ; taking God's Name in vain may be 
 understood, in a wider sense than it generally is, 
 as comprehending all nominal, hypocritical con- 
 formity to the true religion. 
 
 And lastly ; since the Jewish sabbath was con- 
 fessedly meant as a type of that better rest, which 
 remained for the people of God ; that is, of the 
 condition of baptized Christians; it is reasonable to 
 regard the fourth Commandment as a caution to 
 all such, that they remember their own privileges 
 remember how blessed their condition is, and keep 
 it holy accordingly : not waiting for any further 
 conversion or regeneration not excusing defects 
 in moral goodness by any supposed want of grace, 
 nor in any way going back to the slavery and 
 imperfection of the Law, or of their natural state. 
 
 Under these four heads, of apostasy, false 
 mediators, nominal Christianity, and depreciation 
 of Gospel privileges, may be classed, if I mistake not, 
 all heresies and material errors in regard of the 
 doctrinal part of religion. If therefore it can be 
 shewn, that the rule of trying doctrines by their 
 tendencies would sufficiently protect us against 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 69 
 
 either of these, we need not fear to act on it 
 ourselves, or to recommend it to others, as a safe 
 universal rule. 
 
 With regard to the first class of errors, it will 
 be sufficient to repeat the answer usually and 
 justly made to those, who look upon the Catholic 
 doctrine of the Trinity as a mere speculative 
 position. He who believes the Almighty God to 
 have become incarnate, and to have died to do 
 away with the cause of sin, must in reason feel a 
 deeper horror of sin and its consequences, than 
 could be excited by the voluntary death of any 
 prophet or martyr, or even angel. And He who 
 knows the Eternal Spirit of God to be personally 
 close to him, as an ever-present Friend, to watch 
 every thought, word, and action, prompting to all 
 good, and checking all evil knows a truth, which 
 ought surely to impress him with the peculiar, 
 mysterious interest which God takes in his doings, 
 more strongly even than the belief in His omni- 
 presence : the moral tendency of which no partizan 
 of mere natural religion can deny. 
 
 To this may be added, that the doctrine of the 
 Incarnation opens a way for all our best human 
 affections to interest themselves more immediately 
 on behalf of religion. We are sure now that we 
 may understand the Bible quite literally, when it 
 speaks of God's sympathizing with us : Christ 
 Himself having declared His willingness to feel 
 towards us as towards brethren and sisters and 
 
70 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 mothers : and consequently inviting and encou- 
 raging us to cultivate the corresponding affec- 
 tions towards Him. Whatever, therefore, is taken 
 away from the Catholic doctrines of the Trinity 
 and Incarnation; is so much taken away from the 
 love and fear of God : the necessary foundation of 
 all sound morality. 
 
 Next, with regard to those errors, which affect 
 our faith in one only Mediator : and which, as 
 I suppose, bear the same relation to the second 
 Commandment, that Apostasy and Socinianism do 
 to the first. Whatever withdraws our minds from 
 the Cross of Christ, to fix them on any thing else as 
 the meritorious cause of our pardon and salvation ; 
 or from participation of Christ, as the one efficient 
 cause, whereby His merits are made available to 
 us ; whether it be a personal agent, a saint or 
 angel, or a mere phantom of our own supposed 
 merit, to which we are invited to look : either 
 way, the favour and forgiveness of God is made 
 infinitely a cheaper thing,. and the offence of sin in 
 the same degree extenuated. We are no longer 
 led distinctly to refer all our hopes of happiness to 
 the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, applied to ourselves : 
 consequently, we are not so incessantly called 
 upon to imitate that sacrifice in our lives to be 
 made (as the Apostle words it) " conformable to 
 His death 11 ," by suffering and self-denial. Where 
 the Atonement is denied, or explained away, this 
 
 n Philipp. iii. 10. 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 71 
 
 evil tendency is of course most palpable. But no 
 doubt it is also to be discerned in those cases, (if 
 any such there be,) where the reconciling efficacy 
 of our Saviour's blood is acknowledged entire, and 
 only His office as Intercessor intruded upon. In 
 either case, there is, as it were, " a graven image" 
 set up : an unscriptural, unauthorized medium of 
 communication between God and man is resorted 
 to: an imperfect standard is placed before us, 
 instead of the divine and unblemished Jesus: and 
 (what is of chief moment in morality, and mainly 
 distinguishes the true religion from Heathenism) 
 there is no longer an unity in our religious thoughts 
 and feelings ; our faith, hope, and charity, are 
 not undivided: how then can our practice be alto- 
 gether steady and consistent ? 
 
 Proceeding to the third class of errors, above 
 specified, and designated by the phrase " nominal 
 Christianity," or taking God's Name falsely upon 
 one's self, I need not surely point out, how im- 
 possible it is for any thing of this kind to stand the 
 trial proposed by St. Paul. Of all heresies, Anti- 
 nomianism is the last, which could ever recommend 
 itself to the conscience of any plain honest believer, 
 as a doctrine fit to be held fast because of its moral 
 goodness. Although it bid fair to become, in one 
 shape or another, the most prevailing error of any, 
 yet it will least of any bear to be argued upon : the 
 case concerning it, both from Scripture and Reason, 
 being so very plain. 
 
72 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 I will not therefore now dwell on it, but will 
 just explain, in the fourth and last place, how our 
 rule, of judging doctrines by their tendency, may 
 be exactly applied to the detection of such errors, 
 as were typified, in Jewish times, by neglect of 
 the Sabbath such as lead men to depreciate the 
 privileges of the visible Church. 
 
 Let us, for example, suppose a considerate un- 
 biassed man, acting steadily by this rule, to have 
 the following statement, for the first time, presented 
 to his mind : that although the offers of grace by 
 the Gospel are addressed to all Christians, they 
 are to be understood with limitation to those only, 
 who are especial objects of His favour who con- 
 stituting a certain number, foreseen and decreed 
 by the Almighty, shall be saved, as it were in spite 
 of themselves, out of an evil world : while to the 
 rest, for all the declarations of the Church, and 
 the language of Scripture, no mercy was ever 
 intended, no grace ever given. Lay this before 
 a sincere, sober-minded person, who never heard 
 of it before, and see if he will not answer, This 
 must be wrong, for it takes away the use of good 
 works. 
 
 Let the same person be asked again, Whether 
 strong feelings, returns of prayer, or any thing 
 approaching to sensible impulses of God's Holy 
 Spirit, are necessary, or always desirable, as signs of 
 a state of grace. Will not his reply be, " All these 
 things are mere matter of comfort : to expect them, 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 73 
 
 is to expect our reward in this world : at any rate, 
 they take off a man's attention from the calm and 
 steady performance of his duties : and therefore it 
 must be best to think as little as possible of them, 
 one way or the other?" 
 
 Many more instances might be given. But 
 these may suffice by way of specimen, and will 
 readily enable any one, who thinks the argument 
 worth pursuing, to supply more for himself. Only 
 I am tempted, at the risk of going too much into 
 detail, to produce one additional example of the 
 utility of the proposed test : viz. that it furnishes, 
 practically, a short but satisfactory way of settling 
 the controversy concerning the Christian Ministry. 
 That which is good, KOL\OV, conformable to one's 
 natural feelings of propriety, veneration, and af- 
 fection, in such a matter, is surely for men to 
 take too little upon themselves, rather than too 
 much. If there are any, who seem to have 
 Christ's transmitted warrant for the ministerial 
 prerogatives they exercise, while another class is 
 so circumstanced, that the most they can say is, 
 " We mean well, and have good hope that we are 
 not intruding upon the priest's office ;" common 
 sense bids us " hold fast" by the communion of the 
 former, in preference to that of the latter. And 
 this the more earnestly, the more we value the 
 blessings they are empowered to dispense : which 
 again will depend upon our sense of eternal things, 
 the horror we feel at our own manifold trans- 
 
74 IMPLICIT FAITH 
 
 gressions, and our anxiety to keep as near to our 
 Saviour as we can. 
 
 To have touched here on the question of the 
 Ministry may be excusable, because so many of 
 those, who think and talk of such subjects, seem 
 either to undervalue it altogether, or to rest their 
 anxiety about it on grounds comparatively inade- 
 quate. They are content to plead the ill effects 
 of swerving from the established order of things ; 
 the heresy, which is apt to follow on schism ; and 
 the like : arguments of great weight in themselves, 
 but less availing than they might be, from our 
 neglecting to support them, openly and fearlessly, 
 with the plain and brief consideration, what the 
 love of Christ, and respect for Him as our common 
 Master, would suggest at first thought. 
 
 Besides, this last application exemplifies a very 
 general and important use of the Apostolic principle 
 of interpretation, on which I have been enlarging : 
 viz. that where the Church is silent, it is one of the 
 best helps in determining what is important in 
 discussions about religion, and what may be as. 
 well passed over. Nothing in the whole world is 
 really important, except so far as it may be brought 
 to bear upon religion. This is the dictate of reason 
 to every one who believes a future state of retri- 
 bution. Nothing in religion itself is important, 
 except so far as it may be brought to bear upon 
 practice. This is the uniform tenor of the Bible, 
 and of the Church's dogmatical decisions ; and it 
 
RECONCILED WITH FREE ENQUIRY. 75 
 
 is pronounced., with peculiar emphasis, in the 
 words of the text. Let us endeavour to regulate, 
 not only our studies, but our lives, by this divine 
 rule : remembering that it may be violated more 
 ways than one. The theologian, who exerts him- 
 self on matters of mere curiosity, may lose his time 
 and labour : but the Christian, who contemplates 
 the most profitable subjects without exerting him- 
 self to profit by them, loses his chance of happiness 
 for ever. 
 
 " Let every man prove his own work, and then 
 shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not 
 in another. For every man shall bear his own 
 burden." 
 
SERMON IV.' 
 
 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 ST. MATT. xxiv. 12. 
 . . . iniquity shall abound. 
 
 THAT such mournful occasions as the present 
 should continue to recur, year after year, in a 
 Christian country ; with symptoms apparently un- 
 mitigated by the progress which knowledge and 
 refinement have for so long a time confessedly 
 been making this cannot but excite very serious 
 and awful reflections in those, who are disposed to 
 regard life in a religious point of view, and not to 
 let things pass unthought of, only because they 
 are frequent and familiar. 
 
 Indeed, if men will childishly look on these 
 solemnities only as pageants, without intending to 
 be at all the better for them or if they take up 
 
 a Preached at the Lent Assize, St. Mary's, Oxford, March 6, 
 1823. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 77 
 
 with the narrow and short-sighted views of the 
 mere worldly politician respecting them it is no 
 wonder if they go away, as under the same dis- 
 position of mind they go away from public worship, 
 not the better, but the worse, for their attendance 
 on it. 
 
 For the administration of justice, of criminal 
 justice particularly, in the graver cases, is in many 
 respects not unlike the public worship of God. 
 To His especial presence there is constant appeal 
 made in the one as well as in the other. In pro- 
 portion as men allow themselves to attend on 
 either out of mere levity or curiosity, they run 
 a risk of hardening their own consciences, and 
 deadening their sense of right and wrong b . And 
 though public worship, of the two, be the more 
 immediately concerned with men's eternal welfare, 
 yet, if the administration of justice have any thing 
 at all to do with it, however incidentally and 
 indirectly, it is surely as real an offence against 
 reason to leave another world out of sight on 
 these occasions, as it would be to confine one's 
 estimate of the purposes of social worship to bare 
 external decency, and the peace and order of civil 
 society. 
 
 It is an absurdity, too, particularly unworthy 
 of refined and educated minds. For they ought 
 ever to be distinguished by taking the largest 
 
 b Cf. Butler's Analogy, p. 1. c. 5. p. 116. Oxf. Ed. 1807. 
 
78 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 views, and selecting what is most important, in 
 every subject, as matter of chief consideration. 
 
 Considering, then, in this enlarged way of think- 
 ing, the abundance of crimes and lawsuits, so far 
 as it is indicative, not now of the civil and social, 
 but of the spiritual, condition of our age ; con- 
 sidering it as one instance of " iniquity abounding" 
 among us ; we may find ourselves engaged in a 
 train of thought, not only melancholy, but at first 
 sight also perplexing. 
 
 For " what," it may be enquired, " is, after all, 
 the great benefit of Christianity ? It came into the 
 world, professing to bring with it a sovereign remedy 
 for all the diseases of our moral nature. It has 
 now been among men for eighteen hundred years, 
 and the world seems, on a large view of it, to be 
 much about where it was c . Some degrading 
 customs may be obsolete, some brutish vices dis- 
 countenanced. But the temper of men in general 
 seems as worldly and selfish, as far from true 
 goodness and happiness, as ever. How," it may 
 be asked, " are such things consistent with the 
 claim advanced in the Gospel to superior know- 
 ledge of ( what was in man,' and to the praise of 
 being exactly adapted to his nature ? or with what 
 we are told of the temper and conduct of those, 
 who first gave in their names to the Christian 
 institution ?" 
 
 Such thoughts as these may indeed make a 
 
 c Cf. Miller's Bampton Lectures, pp. 7176, 129131. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 79 
 
 Christian sorrowful, and ought to render him very 
 circumspect. But he need not be long perplexed 
 by them. For it may, without much difficulty, 
 be shewn, that the very depravity, by which the 
 Church is overrun, and by which unbelievers 
 would startle and confound her advocates, fur- 
 nishes, in fact, an irrefragable argument for her 
 divine authority as the representative of our 
 Blessed Lord. It was the great subject of His 
 own express prophecy : and that prophecy so 
 peculiar in its tone and circumstances > as to be 
 distinguished, not only from casual coincidences, 
 or sagacious glances at futurity, but also from all 
 inspired predictions ever delivered by mere men. 
 
 Some perhaps maybe inclined to doubt, whether 
 it is correct to speak of the iniquity of our own 
 times as having been within the immediate con- 
 templation of our Saviour, when He delivered the 
 prophecy in the text. I would just observe, 
 therefore, that the general argument on which 
 I am about to enter, as well as many of the 
 practical conclusions, to which the whole enquiry 
 may give rise, will be found to stand unaffected by 
 such a difference of interpretation. 
 
 But, indeed, it is hardly possible to explain this 
 chapter of St. Matthew consistently, without con- 
 sidering it as a general description of the latter 
 times, or days of the Messiah : i. e. of the whole 
 period of time from the first promulgation of 
 
80 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 Christianity to the end of the world. The 
 struction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, the 
 first great event of the New Dispensation, is 
 brought prominently forward, to be, as it were, 
 a voucher for the correctness of the whole re- 
 presentation, to such as lived in those times. And 
 therefore it is given with more of detail, than any 
 other part of the prophecy : so that when it 
 should come to pass, the men of that generation, 
 beholding the wonderful agreement of the event 
 with the prediction, might be forced to confess, 
 that all was indeed being fulfilled, exactly as 
 Jesus Christ had foretold d . The destruction 
 therefore of Jerusalem stands in order of time 
 rather as the beginning, than as the termination, 
 of this awful prophecy. 
 
 In support of this it should be considered, that 
 the prediction, when first delivered, was a private 
 one : not heard by the Jewish nation, but by four 
 only of the chosen Apostles e . We must then look 
 upon it as addressed to Christians, not to Jews. 
 And one should expect it to turn principally upon 
 
 d Cf. v. 34. in which, on any interpretation of the prophecy, 
 (except it be wholly confined to the destruction of Jerusalem,) 
 the phrase navra ravra must mean " this entire state of things," 
 rather than " each particular thing mentioned." See S. Chrys. in loc. 
 who explains yei/ea to mean " this kind of generation ;" a constant 
 succession of believers : " oiSe yap yeveav OVK OTTO xpovov %apa.KTr)piiv 
 povov, aXXa KOL aV6 rpojrov Bprjo-Keias KO.I TroXireias." 
 
 e St. Mark xiii. 3. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 81 
 
 the fortunes of Christianity, not to terminate in 
 those of the Jewish Church. 
 
 The question likewise of the Apostles, to 
 which it was an answer, referred primarily indeed 
 to the downfall of the temple, but principally to 
 the establishment and fortunes of the New Dis- 
 pensation. " Tell us, when shall these things be ? 
 and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of 
 the end of the world ?" 
 
 The Apostles seem to have imagined, not un- 
 naturally, that when once the Jewish city and 
 temple were destroyed, the old things passed 
 away, and the days of the Messiah begun, all 
 would be peace, righteousness, and mercy, and 
 the sin and miseries of mankind would cease for 
 ever. Jesus Christ, therefore, is careful to explain 
 to them, on this as on many other occasions, that 
 although they judged quite rightly of the natural 
 and essential tendencies of the Gospel, they were 
 greatly mistaken as to its real results in this world. 
 " Think not that I am come to send peace on the 
 earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. 
 For I am come to divide a man against his father, 
 and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter- 
 in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's 
 foes shall be they of his own household'." On 
 
 f St. Matt. x. 3437. coll. St. Luke xi. 49, 5153. Perhaps 
 what is said of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and the 
 accompanying parable of the relapsed daemoniac, in that chapter of 
 St. Luke, and in the 12th of St. Matthew, has some reference of 
 this kind. 
 
 G 
 
82 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 another occasion, when the approaching reign of 
 the Messiah had been the topic of discourse with 
 the Pharisees, He turned to His disciples with an 
 admonition, well calculated to check any too 
 sanguine expectations, which the bare mention of 
 His reign would be likely to excite within them. 
 " g Days will come, when ye shall desire to see one 
 of the days of the Son of Man," (i. e. to recall the 
 times when I was with you visibly on earth,) " and 
 shall not see it." " As the days of Noe were, and 
 as the days of Lot were, so shall it be in the days 
 of the Son of Man." He will not shew Himself 
 again, till the world is sunk into such a state of 
 irreligion and iniquity, as can only be paralleled 
 by the sinners just before the flood, or by Sodom 
 before the fire and brimstone fell upon it from 
 heaven. 
 
 It is reasonable to understand this later and 
 not less solemn denunciation, of which the text 
 forms a part, as addressed in great measure to the 
 same state of mind in His Apostles. " You think 
 all is going to be rectified, and the world to 
 become a Paradise again. But I forewarn you to 
 expect no such thing. There will still be false 
 Christs, i. e. false religions, wars, earthquakes, 
 famines, pestilences, troubles in the world at 
 large : and what is worse, and more contrary to 
 
 g St. Luke xvii. 17 37: continued, apparently, with special 
 reference to the duties most essential in an apostate world, in 
 c. xviii. 1 14, 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 83 
 
 your expectations, there will not only be per- 
 secution against the Church from without, but all 
 sorts of apostasy and iniquity within. Then shall 
 many be offended, and shall betray one another, 
 and shall hate one another : and many false 
 prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And 
 because iniquity shall abound, the love of the many 
 shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto 
 the end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel 
 of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, 
 for a witness unto all nations : and then shall the 
 end come." The whole, I say, of the prophecy 
 down to this point, appears to convey a general 
 description of the latter times, or days of the 
 Messiah, intended, amongst other purposes, to 
 counteract the too flattering hopes of the disciples : 
 which being provided for, the direct and immediate 
 sign of the destruction of Jerusalem, (itself possibly 
 a type of something to precede in like manner the 
 end of the world",) is distinctly specified: i.e. "the 
 abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
 prophet, standing in the holy place." 
 
 From this it appears, that in describing the con- 
 dition of mankind under the New Dispensation, 
 which Jesus Christ was about to bring into the 
 world, He expressly inserted this circumstance, 
 that in it " iniquity should abound." Iniquity, or 
 
 b Cf. Dan. xi. 31. xii. 11. ix.27. (coll. Es. x,23.) and perhaps 
 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. N.B. also, the same caution given in St. Matt. 
 xxiv. 16, &c. is given in St. Luke xvii. 31, &c. 
 
 G2 
 
84 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 transgression of the law, means sin, or immorality 
 in general. This we know by St. John's definition : 
 " Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also 
 the law. For sin is the transgression of the law 1 :" 
 r) afjiaprla earlv rj dvojmla. This transgression 
 Christ declares should be " multiplied :" the word 
 is as strong as possible, to express almost unlimited 
 increase and repetition 1 ". And it is added, that in 
 consequence of this, " the love of many" it should 
 be, of " the greater part" would " wax cold." 
 That is, the prevailing immorality of the times 
 would gradually extinguish charity, or the love of 
 God, in the generality of mankind. They would 
 no longer consent to forego their own wishes for 
 His sake ; they would no longer make it the 
 business of their lives to please Him. And this, 
 not from ignorance of the great things He had 
 done for them: for it is not of dark ages that our 
 Lord is speaking, but of times, in which " the 
 Gospel is to be preached in all the world, for a 
 witness unto all nations l ." 
 
 Now that iniquity, in this sense of plain dis- 
 obedience to. God's laws, does positively " abound" 
 to a great extent among us : this seems so very 
 evident, that one should hardly know how to go 
 about to prove it, if it were denied. One or two 
 
 1 1 St. John iii. 4. 
 
 k Acts vii. 17. Heb. vi. 14. 1 St. Pet. i. 2. 2 Cor. ix. 10. 
 
 1 Cf. Dan. xii. 4. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 85 
 
 obvious considerations may however help us to 
 form a juster estimate of the amount of that evil, 
 which, from its being so close and familiar to us, 
 we are sure, without very particular attention, to 
 under-rate. 
 
 All the forms and rules of legal and commercial 
 business imply, as much as ever they did, that 
 mankind are, on the whole, wicked and immoral. 
 Hardly any one dares venture his property, his 
 reputation, or his comfort, upon the chance of a 
 stranger's honesty or kindness, without the safe- 
 guard of human laws and punishments. That is, 
 in other words, every one shapes his conduct, in 
 regard to his worldly interests, upon the notion 
 that sin and wickedness abound. 
 
 More particularly are the enemies of Christianity 
 witnesses, that in this prediction at least, Jesus 
 Christ spake the truth. For one of their main 
 objections to it an objection, for which thousands 
 are the worse, who never advanced it as an express 
 proposition is this: That Christians (i. e. the 
 majority of men, for every one is presumed to call 
 himself a Christian, till we know to the contrary) 
 act as immorally as if they were heathens, and 
 therefore cannot be supposed themselves to believe 
 what they profess. 
 
 Jesus Christ then anticipated and predicted the 
 general failure of His Gospel, at least for a long 
 period, in working any thing like a complete 
 reformation even among those who should profess 
 
86 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 it: and the event has shewn, by the confession of 
 His adversaries themselves, that He anticipated 
 and predicted truly. 
 
 Now it is notorious, that those who invent any 
 project for the good of mankind, commonly enter- 
 tain high hopes of the success of their inventions : 
 at least in the outset of their career. A physician, 
 who has discovered a new medicine a mechanist, 
 who has brought a new force into action are 
 seldom found to expect too little fruit of their 
 labours. And it is matter of constant experience 
 that the like holds good in those, who are the first 
 to set on foot extensive plans for the moral and 
 religious improvement of their fellow-creatures. 
 They set out, almost invariably, with expecting, as 
 was emphatically said of one of them, " to convert 
 the world" 1 :" and nothing short of actual expe- 
 rience will undeceive them. 
 
 A generous enthusiast, therefore, could not have 
 spoken in the tone which our Saviour uniformly 
 adopts on this subject. It is against the very 
 nature of enthusiasm. Still less would an impostor 
 have 'thought it prudent thus openly to augur 
 defeat. 
 
 Besides, it is clear that in either of these cases 
 the prediction would have adapted itself to the 
 Jewish prophecies, as they would be generally and 
 obviously understood. Now the tone, which at 
 first sight appears to prevail in the Jewish pro- 
 
 m Law's Letter to J. Wesley, in Southey's Life. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 87 
 
 phecies, whenever the reign of the Messiah is 
 spoken of, is a tone as unlike what has been de- 
 scribed, as can well be imagined. Consider such 
 expressions as the following n : " Thy people also 
 shall be all righteous." " I will direct their work 
 in truth, and will make an everlasting covenant 
 with them : and their seed shall be known among 
 the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people : 
 all that see them shall acknowledge them, that 
 they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." 
 " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the 
 leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the sucking 
 child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the 
 weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice 
 den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
 holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters 
 cover the sea." Any anticipations which could be 
 derived from hence, would evidently be the very 
 reverse of iniquity abounding, and the love of the 
 greater part waxing cold. 
 
 Concerning these and similar passages of the 
 Old Testament, I would farther remark, that even 
 after all the warnings of our Saviour, and after the 
 event has gone so far towards leading us to seek 
 another interpretation of them, they are still made 
 to justify assertions, too sanguine, I fear, and fanciful 
 to be of much practical use, of the actual improve- 
 ment of Christendom in holiness and virtue, and of 
 
 n Is. lx. 21. Ixi. 8, 9. xi. 69. 
 
88 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 the apparent dawning of a state of things, even in 
 this world, in which sin and sorrow shall be, com- 
 paratively, no more. Much more must it have 
 appeared natural, in the time of our Saviour, to 
 expect something like a real reformation of the 
 world upon the establishment of the New Dis- 
 pensation. These anticipations would, of course, 
 grow more and more sanguine, as the observer 
 came to know more and more of the perfection of 
 the new doctrines, and also of the overpowering 
 evidence the mighty hand and out-stretched arm 
 by which they were upheld and furthered. Now, 
 no one could be so thoroughly aware of these 
 things could have such entire knowledge, either 
 of the perfection of His doctrines, or of the amount 
 of their evidence as our Blessed Lord Himself. 
 And therefore His foretelling, in spite of all this, 
 the real state of things just as we behold it, is 
 the strongest possible proof that He was indeed a 
 Prophet, and more than a Prophet : and that He 
 knew, in a way peculiar to Himself, all that was 
 in man. 
 
 I say, " in a way peculiar to Himself." For it 
 will appear upon consideration, that there is indeed 
 something very peculiar in the tone of these pre- 
 dictions : something quite different, not only from 
 the natural expectations of uninspired men, but 
 also from the manner of His inspired messengers 
 themselves, whether before or after His coming. 
 
 It is true indeed, that the more we know of 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 89 
 
 human nature, the less shall we be inclined to 
 reckon certainly upon success in any method pro- 
 posed for ameliorating it. Accordingly, we find 
 that Socrates, the wisest, practically, of the ancient 
 philosophers, was also, apparently, the least san- 
 guine, openly declaring, that he did not expect 
 men would ever be taught what was really good 
 for them, except by an interposition from above ; 
 and anticipating the probable fate of a perfectly 
 righteous man, if such should appear on earth, in 
 the following very remarkable words p . " Let us 
 suppose him (says he) doing no injury, to have on 
 him the strongest imputation of injustice : let him 
 not swerve even unto death, accounted unrighteous 
 throughout his life, but being righteous. Under 
 these circumstances, the just man will be scourged, 
 racked, imprisoned, his eyes burned out at last, 
 suffering all manner of evils, will perish by a vile 
 and tormenting death." 
 
 It is to be observed, however, that these words 
 were not written, till after the event had shewn, 
 what kind of success a philosopher might expect 
 in his benevolent efforts for the good of mankind. 
 There is nothing to make us believe, that Socrates 
 did not look forward hopefully, at first, to the fruit 
 of his labours, in the reformation of his country- 
 men. And when he speaks of a possible divine 
 revelation, it does not appear that he at all contem- 
 
 Plat. Alcib. 2. p. 150. Op. t. ii. Ed. Serrani. 
 P Plat., de Rep. ii. p. 361. 
 
90 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 plated any probability of its failing in this respect. 
 The tone, in which that dialogue is conducted, 
 would rather lead one to infer the contrary. Ill 
 as his experience had taught him to think of the 
 chance of bringing mankind to a truer sense of 
 their own interest, it never entered his thoughts to 
 apprehend, that an interposition even from God 
 Himself might be so far frustrated by the wicked- 
 ness of His creatures. 
 
 But the singularity of our Lord's manner of 
 speaking on this subject will be still more evident, 
 upon comparing it with that of former Prophets ; 
 with Moses, for instance, or with Elijah ; the most 
 remarkably gifted of them all, and therefore the 
 fittest to be brought into comparison with Him on 
 this argument. 
 
 No portion perhaps of the Old Testament 
 sounds so nearly in unison with His predictions, or 
 speaks in so calm and decided a tone of the certain 
 falling off of those, to whom it was addressed, as 
 do the concluding chapters of the book of Deute- 
 ronomy' 1 . " I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff 
 neck : behold, while I am yet alive with you this 
 day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord ; and 
 how much more after my death ! Gather vinto 
 me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, 
 that I may speak these words in their ears, and 
 call heaven and earth to record against them. For 
 I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt 
 i Deut. xxxi. 2729. cf. v. 16, 20, 21. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 91 
 
 yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I 
 have commanded you ; and evil will befal you in 
 the latter days ; because ye will do evil in the sight 
 of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger with the 
 work of your hands." 
 
 But when these words were written, Moses was 
 very old, and had been used for forty years to see 
 his countrymen rebel against God, even in sight 
 of His glory, and while " the meat," which they 
 received by miracle, was yet " between their teeth." 
 Consider him in the outset of his ministry, and 
 before the effect of those wonderful manifestations 
 had been tried, and he too will appear to have 
 been sanguine at first : as indeed who would not 
 have been, with such means as he had in his 
 hands ? None but a sanguine person would have 
 broken the tables of the Covenant, upon seeing 
 the people worshipping the molten calf r . It 
 was the act of a man bitterly disappointed : forced 
 to part in a moment with expectations long 
 and fondly cherished, and, humanly speaking, not 
 unreasonable, of seeing the fruit of God's mercy, 
 and his own labours, in the steady obedience of 
 his people. 
 
 Again : when God had so signally answered the 
 prayers of Elijah by fire on mount Carmel, and 
 the backsliders had been driven in spite of them- 
 selves to acknowledge the true God, and, what was 
 more, to aid His minister in the slaughter of the 
 
 1 Exod. xxxii. 19. 
 
92 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 worshippers of Baal ; it was no wonder, if the 
 Prophet expected much more lasting amendment 
 than he found: if he felt weary of the world, and 
 in his disappointment prayed to die, when he saw 
 persecution and idolatry likely to be still as pros- 
 perous as ever". 
 
 But it is indeed a wonder, and bespeaks evidently 
 the presence of one greater than Elijah or Moses, 
 to observe Jesus Christ, with all His miracles, and 
 with such discoveries as He had to make, never 
 for a moment miscalculating in the same way. 
 There are no traces, in His demeanour, of any such 
 revolution of thought, as most speculative men 
 sooner or later experience, when their first visions 
 of approaching general improvement are to be 
 exchanged, more or less suddenly, for sadder, but 
 more correct, and therefore (if it be not their own 
 faults) more useful, views. He speaks sorrowfully 
 indeed, and most affectingly, but not like one dis- 
 appointed. There is no difference, in this respect, 
 between the end of His ministry and the beginning : 
 between His address to His own city Nazareth, 
 where, if any where, He might fairly have depended 
 upon doing much good, and His mournful expostu- 
 lation with Jerusalem in the last week of His life. 
 " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this 
 thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace ! 
 but now they are hid from thine eyes'." 
 
 8 1 Kings xix. 4. 
 
 < St. Luke iv. 1630. coll. c. xix. 4144. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 93 
 
 His calm forebodings, every now and then, of 
 the ruinous effect, which the knowledge of the 
 Gospel would have upon very many, sound most 
 exceedingly aweful : " This is the condemnation, 
 that light is come into the world, and men loved 
 darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
 were evil." And, " If they hear not Moses and the 
 Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though 
 one rose from the dead." An evident allusion to 
 the way, in which His last and greatest miracle 
 would be generally resisted and made void, as the 
 witness of the Old Testament had been u . 
 
 Yet farther : the very Apostles of our Lord, 
 after all His warnings, could hardly bring them- 
 selves to anticipate any thing like the present 
 fallen state of the Church. The way to make 
 this out most clearly, will be to compare their 
 earlier with their later writings, and see which of 
 the two exhibit most of the tone and manner of 
 our Blessed Saviour in this respect : St. Peter's 
 first Epistle, for instance, with his second : or 
 St. Paul writing to the Galatians, evidently under 
 a feeling of surprise at the introduction of a spirit 
 of Judaism, with the same St. Paul, calmly warning 
 the Hebrews against an approaching spirit of prac- 
 tical unbelief, and entire apostasy. 
 
 The second Epistle to Timothy, if carefully 
 examined, will be found to present, in the tone 
 of the writer, some remarkable points of difference 
 u St. John iii. 19. St. Luke xvi. 31. 
 
94 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 from the first. Both contain prophecies of " a 
 falling away" in the latter times. But the first 
 speaks, apparently, of avowed unbelief: "In the 
 latter times some shall depart from the faith, 
 giving heed to seducing spirits." The other, of 
 what is far more disheartening, and less likely to 
 be calculated on beforehand : " In the last days 
 perilous times shall come. For," not " some," but 
 " the generality of men" ol avOpwiroL " the men 
 of those times" " shall be lovers of their own 
 selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 
 disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without 
 natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, in- 
 continent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
 traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure 
 more than lovers of God; having the form of 
 godliness, but denying the power thereof x ." 
 
 Both these Epistles, again, speak of individuals 
 who had fallen away from Christ, but with a similar 
 variation of manner. In the first Epistle, " Some 
 having put away a good conscience, concerning 
 faith have made shipwreck." " Some have erred 
 from the faith." " Some have already turned aside 
 after Satan :" as though it were matter of surprise. 
 Whereas in the second Epistle, when he comes to 
 speak of similar cases, the tone of surprise is greatly 
 abated, and that of sorrow deepened. " This thou 
 knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned 
 away from me." " Demas hath forsaken me, having 
 
 x 1 Tim. iv. 13. coll. 2 Tim. iii. 19. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 95 
 
 loved this present world ;" " At my first answer no 
 man stood with me, but all men forsook me : I 
 pray God that it may not be laid to their charge y ." 
 
 Yet even in these instances, particularly the last, 
 how unlike is the manner of speaking to that of 
 Jesus Christ upon such occasions ! " Do ye now 
 believe ? Behold, the hour cometh, yea is now 
 come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his 
 own, and shall leave Me alone." " Wilt thou lay 
 down thy life for My sake ? Verily I say unto 
 thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied 
 Me thrice 2 ." The one speaks as an Omniscient 
 Being, to whom nothing was wonderful. The 
 other as a poor frail man, liable to be deceived, 
 from time to time, in his best hopes and surest 
 reckonings. 
 
 Upon this subject, of what St. Paul anticipated, 
 I cannot forbear citing one passage, as associating 
 itself, more immediately, with the occasion of 
 the present solemnity. Some of the Corinthians, 
 it seems, being at variance one with another, had 
 brought their cause before the customary judi- 
 cature of the city. St. Paul denounces this as 
 unchristian, and this is the remonstrance which he 
 addressed to them a . " Dare any of you, having 
 a matter against another, go to law before the 
 unjust," i. e. the heathens, " and not before the 
 
 y 1 Tim. i. 19. vi. 10. v. 15. coll. 2 Tim. i. 15. iv. 10, 16. 
 1 St. John xvi. 31, 32. xiii. 38. 
 a 1 Cor. vi. 19. 
 
96 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 saints ? Do ye not know, that the saints shall 
 judge the world ? and if the world shall be judged 
 by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest 
 matters ? Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? 
 how much more things that pertain to this life ? 
 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not 
 a wise man among you ? no, not one that shall be 
 able to judge between his brethren ? But brother 
 goeth to law with brother, and that before the 
 unbelievers ! Now, therefore, there is utterly a 
 fault among you, because ye go to law one with 
 another. Why do ye not rather take wrong ? why 
 do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded ? 
 Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that your 
 brethren. Know ye not, that the unrighteous 
 shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?" He who 
 writes in this strain, could he possibly have anti- 
 cipated, in a country where Christianity has been 
 long established, and in which it is an affront, to 
 suppose a man an unbeliever could he, I say, 
 have anticipated such a state of things, as that of 
 which we are witnesses ? prisons so crowded, suits 
 so numerous and various, statutes so rapidly multi- 
 plying, a large profession constantly and laboriously 
 employed, courts almost incessantly sitting, assizes 
 twice a year ? It is plain, that no such thing ever 
 entered into his thoughts : and if he had been to 
 frame prophecies for himself, this was of all pictures 
 the least likely for him to have drawn, of the times 
 in which the Gospel should be very generally re- 
 ceived. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 97 
 
 One observation more, and the argument, as far 
 as concerns the New Testament, may be regarded 
 as tolerably complete. Let it be examined, which 
 of all its human authors appear to have had the 
 deepest sense of the universal degeneracy, which 
 was to be looked for among Christians. They will 
 appear to have been the very persons, who from 
 birth or other causes were likely to have imbibed 
 most of the sentiments of Jesus Christ Himself: 
 St. James and St. Jude, who are called in Scripture 
 His brethren ; and St. John His beloved disciple. 
 These, when they speak of approaching apostasy, 
 speak calmly and decisively, as of a familiar, though 
 very sorrowful, thought b . When they recommend 
 moral duties, they do it as men who are aware that 
 the great majority of their hearers will devise how 
 to slight or evade them. Every where they assume, 
 that those to whom they address themselves know 
 the truth, and that it is but the plain common sense 
 of doing their duty, in which they are deficient c . 
 They, therefore, lay their danger before them, not 
 as though they reckoned upon doing much good 
 by it, but as if it were their best and only chance 
 of doing any. This, though not without exception, 
 is the prevailing tone of the three brethren of our 
 Lord. But it is, I think, uniformly and without 
 
 b 1 S. John ii. 18. iv. 3, 5. 2 S. John 7, 8. S. Jude 4, 17, 18. 
 
 c e. g. S. James i. 13, 22. ii. 12, 14. 1 S. John ii. 29. iii. 7, 
 18. iv. 20. v. 1821. 2 S. John 5, 6. 3 S. John 11. S. Jude 
 3,20,21. 
 
 H 
 
98 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 exception, the tone of our Blessed Lord Himself 
 in His public ministrations. 
 
 The falsehood, then, of our religion the fraud 
 or enthusiasm of its Author is the very last con- 
 clusion, to which a reasonable man would be led, 
 upon considering the abundance of iniquity in the 
 Christian world. On the contrary, things have 
 been so ordered, that the very degeneracy of the 
 Church is bearing, at this moment, the strongest 
 possible testimony to the divine authority of Jesus 
 Christ. For in it a prophecy is accomplishing 
 before our eyes, so unlike what could have been 
 expected when it was first delivered, that His own 
 friends and apostles, as we have now seen, could 
 hardly bring themselves to receive it ; and do not 
 seem to have apprehended its full import, even 
 when they repeated it themselves. 
 
 To find fault, therefore, with the Gospel, as 
 many do, for not having made men better than 
 they are, is to find fault with it for not having 
 done that, which its Founder never expected it 
 would do : nay, that in which He expressly pre- 
 dicted its failure. 
 
 If men will go on to ask, How these things 
 should be ? how we can possibly reconcile it to 
 infinite wisdom and goodness, that so large a 
 portion of the world should be in that strange and 
 frightful condition, which is implied in the words, 
 " immoral Christian ;" with a God, a Saviour, and 
 a judgment to come, known and believed by almost 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 99 
 
 all in theory, and, almost as universally, slighted in 
 practice : the same account may be given of this, 
 as of the permission of moral evil in general : that 
 we cannot possibly be competent judges, how far 
 it may conduce towards carrying on some greater 
 scheme of Divine Wisdom, of which we, and all 
 our concerns, form only a subordinate part. And 
 we may apply, particularly, to the present subject, 
 what Bishop Butler has remarked on this whole 
 class of difficulties : " It is not impossible, that 
 men's shewing and making manifest, what is in 
 their heart, what their real character is, may have 
 respect to a future life, in ways and manners which 
 we are not acquainted with : particularly it may 
 be a means (for the Author of Nature does not 
 appear to do any thing without means) of their 
 being disposed of suitably to their characters ; and 
 of its being known to the creation, by way of ex- 
 ample, that they are thus disposed of d ." 
 
 But whether this, or any other, be accepted, as 
 a probable, though imperfect, solution of present 
 appearances, (and surely any thing is more probable 
 than Atheism) : it is clear that the difficulty, as far 
 as it respects the Scripture, is entirely done away 
 with, when it is seen, that the Scriptures them- 
 selves recognise and imply the very same state of 
 things, which seems so unaccountable at first. 
 There are some passages, which appear to repre- 
 sent it in this particular point of view: viz. as a 
 
 d Anal. p. i. c. 5. Works, Oxford, 1807. vol. ii. p. 145. 
 H'2 
 
100 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 cause of mental perplexity to speculative and 
 curious men. Possibly the expression, " Mystery 
 of Iniquity 6 / used so significantly in one place, may 
 have respect to something of this kind. It seems 
 to be set in opposition to the Mystery of Godliness : 
 the one standing for the whole of what God would 
 do to save mankind; the other, for the whole of 
 what they would do to ruin themselves : and the 
 word Mystery giving us to understand, that there 
 would be something, at first sight, startling and 
 unaccountable, something contrary to all human 
 speculations, in the one as well as in the other. 
 
 To conclude : It being morally demonstrable, as 
 I am persuaded it is upon a general view of Scrip- 
 ture, (whatever may be thought of the aptitude of 
 particular citations,) that we are living in the times, 
 are ourselves among the persons, concerning whom 
 these prophecies were delivered this is indeed a 
 thought, not hastily to be dismissed from the 
 mind of any reasonable person. If a man knew 
 on good authority, that Jesus Christ did, at such 
 and such a time, make mention of the particular 
 date and place of His own birth, declaring also 
 that all persons, then and there born, would 
 live in peculiar danger ; in " a perilous time ;" in 
 " days which must be shortened, or no flesh could 
 be saved;" would it not be a very pressing call 
 upon that man, to walk in fear and trembling ; to 
 mistrust appearances, and the judgment of the 
 
 e 2 Thess. ii. 7. cf. Rev. xvii. 5. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 101 
 
 world ; to mistrust himself, and his own standard 
 of right and wrong, and to feel rfio : security, but in 
 the constant exercise of humiliation 1 / self-denial, 
 and prayer ? The words formerly* address^ ; to, 
 one in the act of quitting a home just about to be 
 destroyed, would very nearly describe, I should 
 think, the temper most becoming and natural in 
 one, who knew himself to be concerned in such a 
 prophecy. " Escape for thy life, look not behind 
 thee, neither stay thou in all the plain : escape to 
 the mountain, lest thou be consumed." It would 
 be particularly unsuitable for him to allow himself 
 to be satisfied with the praise of an age, which, he 
 knew on such high authority, measured things by 
 so defective a standard. He could not reasonably 
 flatter himself, upon having observed the law of 
 the land, or kept up a good character among his 
 neighbours. For all this, at most, would only shew, 
 that he was not the worst, outwardly, in a bad 
 world. But of his progress in charity in the love 
 of God in the resignation of the whole will and 
 purpose of heart entirely to Him and His service, 
 it would prove absolutely nothing. 
 
 Now, whatever frame of mind would be natural 
 and reasonable in a person so circumstanced, is 
 natural and reasonable for every Christian living in 
 the latter times : as much so, as if the prophecies 
 had been addressed to each individual by name; 
 unless we will say, that the danger is less imminent 
 because there are so many to share in it ; or that 
 
102 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 the description does not apply to us and our times, 
 because it is spread over so large a portion of 
 history besides/ and takes in so many who have 
 lived before" us.. ;*' 
 
 These things, or something equivalent to them, 
 may indeed and will be said. Nor does there seem 
 much reason to hope, that any great portion of 
 those concerned in our Lord's warning, will ever 
 be brought to see their own defection and danger 
 in the just and true light. Warning has been long 
 ago given, that " evil men and seducers shall wax 
 worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived 6 ." 
 And there is a sort of blinding power in this moral 
 disease, which makes the result but too probable, 
 even were it not matter of prophecy. Men cannot 
 comprehend their own perils, because, being more 
 and more used to self-indulgence, they cannot 
 perceive how it should be so ruinous as it is : much 
 on the same principle that the Saints, entering 
 most into the mind of Him Who was alone without 
 sin, have all along been most thoroughly enabled 
 to discern clearly from the beginning, and state as 
 matter of course, the full amount of the mischief it 
 would do. 
 
 Meanwhile it is infinitely important to observe; 
 that great and near as the danger surely is, it is, as 
 surely, in each individual's own power to escape 
 from it if he will. As an earnest of which, we see 
 it is wonderfully ordered, that the visible Church 
 
 e 2 Tim. iii. 13. 
 
INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 103 
 
 of Christ should still continue among us according 
 to His promise, in the full enjoyment of all the 
 means of grace, and generally acknowledged even 
 by those, whose lives are most adverse to the 
 Gospel. And, as far as we can see, there is as little 
 chance of its ever being extinguished, as there is 
 of its members ever becoming, generally, such as 
 they profess and ought to be. 
 
 Let us recollect also, that we have to do with a 
 good and gracious Father, Who has promised in 
 one instance, and will doubtless perform it in all, 
 that " if there be first a willing mind," a sincere 
 alacrity in doing His will, He will accept it " ac- 
 cording to that a man hath, and not according to 
 that he hath not f ." We may hope that a less 
 degree of positive holiness, if it were the very best 
 a man could attain to, under his circumstances, 
 may be as richly crowned hereafter, as a greater 
 progress would have been in better and less se- 
 ducing times. It ought not to need remarking, 
 that this is said to prevent despondency, not to 
 encourage sloth and self-indulgence. 
 
 Finally: If there be any one temper of mind, 
 which suits better than others with so aweful a 
 situation as Christians are now placed in, it is the 
 temper of perfect resignation and singleness of 
 purpose : a constant inward appeal, as it were, from 
 a bad and seducing world to a good God, Who 
 cannot flatter or deceive us. These dispositions 
 
 f 2 Cor. viii. 12. 
 
104 INIQUITY ABOUNDING. 
 
 will carry us through all our duties, whether public 
 or private, with the least possible countenance to 
 the prevailing degeneracy; and with as much real 
 inward satisfaction, as can prudently be looked for 
 in the present state of things : thankfully remem- 
 bering, that the very same persons, among whom 
 it was foretold, " Iniquity should abound," and 
 " the love of the generality wax cold/* are also 
 those for whose benefit the gracious promise was 
 added, "He that shall endure unto the end, the 
 same shall be saved." 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 ROM. i. 20. 
 
 Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit 
 such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but 
 have pleasure in them that do them. 
 
 THE temper described in this verse is the worst 
 form of moral degradation ; consisting not so much 
 in want of principle, as in principles positively bad 
 and ruinous. Which distinction is more clearly 
 marked in the original by the use of the two verbs 
 Troielv and irpdrTtiv. " The civilized and enlight- 
 ened heathen" so the Apostle seems to say "were 
 fully aware of the sentence, the judicial sentence of 
 God Almighty, declaring that such as practise (ol 
 irpdacrovTes) outrageous immoralities, are worthy 
 of death : yet they could find in their hearts, not only 
 to commit those actions, (ov JJLOVOV avra TTOLOVCTL^) 
 which might have happened under strong impulse, 
 contrary to their own habitual feelings : but also 
 
 a Preached before the University of Oxford, Jan. 30, 1831. 
 
106 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 to consent to such as practise them, 
 
 rols TrpdcrcrovorL^) to acquiesce in them thoroughly, 
 
 and be well-pleased with them." 
 
 Here, as with the finishing touch, and the 
 darkest of all, he completes his picture of that 
 intense depravity, from which Christ came to 
 rescue the Gentile world : emphatically implying, 
 that worse could not be, on this side the region 
 of unmingled evil. 
 
 Assuredly it would be a fatal mistake, to limit 
 this aweful denunciation to those only, whose cir- 
 cumstances tempt them directly to participate in 
 great and heinous crimes : or to imagine that, living 
 as we do in an age of Christian light and instruc- 
 tion, we can have no great occasion to deprecate 
 these worst excesses of heathenish wickedness. 
 The effect on society, the immediate effect, is 
 indeed greatly mitigated ; but the effect on our 
 own character is the same, when we have pleasure 
 in the guilty, as such, though we cannot, or dare 
 not, perform their worst actions. Those who are 
 kept, so far, innocent, merely from irresolution or 
 want of energy which state of mind is infallibly 
 indicated by the imagination delighting to dwell on 
 wickedness cannot well be conceived of as less 
 guilty, in the eyes of an All-seeing God, than if 
 they had been allowed to accomplish their own 
 evil dreams. And wilfully persisting in such in- 
 ward licence, for any considerable length of time, 
 their condition may seem, in one respect, the more 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION, 107 
 
 dangerous for this involuntary restraint. It has 
 less chance of being amended by outward reverses, 
 or the reproof of others : it gives less room for the 
 sort of reaction, which is apt to ensue on great 
 and palpable transgressions, and to make the re- 
 morse and repentance of ardent minds as signal as 
 their guilt had been. There is the more reason 
 therefore, and the more mercy, in those numerous 
 denunciations of Scripture, which represent us as 
 partaking in other men's sins, merely by brooding 
 over them in fancy, with any thing like indulged 
 approbation or sympathy. 
 
 Two kinds of immorality may be named, in 
 which, more readily perhaps than in others, men's 
 unchastened imaginations are apt to involve them : 
 sins of sensuality, and sins of rebellion. 
 
 For just as in the former of these two instances, 
 reading, hearing, or seeing mischief, if the heart at 
 all consent to it, may plunge a man in intense 
 guilt, though shame, fear, or want of opportunity, 
 put a bar on overt actions of sin : so it is possible, 
 as we read history, or hear news, to learn a vicious 
 sympathy with rebellion or oppression. I name 
 the two thus together, because they are but two 
 names for the same evil tendency within us, only 
 acting in opposite directions. Discontented, covetous 
 tempers, I say, as naturally exercise themselves 
 in brooding over past, or imaginary, or distant, 
 examples of successful rebellion, or triumphant 
 
108 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 violence, as debauched and sensual hearts do in 
 those which most naturally occur to them. 
 
 There is, indeed, a closer analogy between these 
 two vices, than many, at first sight, would be apt 
 to imagine : and Scripture accordingly names them 
 together, as equally descriptive of those degenerate 
 Christians, who might be expected to arise in the 
 latter days. They who " defile the flesh/' we are 
 told, will also be the readiest to " despise dominion, 
 and speak evil of dignities." " These speak evil of 
 those things which they know not :" calumniate, 
 where they are incompetent to judge : " but what 
 they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things 
 they corrupt themselves." " These are murmurers, 
 complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their 
 mouth speaketh great swelling words of vanity." 
 They " walk after the flesh, in the lust of unclean- 
 ness, and despise government." " While they 
 promise" their disciples " liberty," " they them- 
 selves are slaves of corruption." 
 
 Nor is this connection hard to account for. It 
 is the same love of excitement, and impatience of 
 pure and quiet satisfactions; venting itself, ordi- 
 narily, in wild and wanton pleasures ; and flaming 
 out, when opportunity is given, in lawless defama- 
 tion, and rude resistance. These are the visible 
 and actual results, where men have audacity and 
 ability to compass them: but who shall estimate 
 the silent corruption, which they daily and hourly 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 109 
 
 foster in themselves, dreaming of and enjoying the 
 mischief, which they want the heart or the power 
 to realize ? 
 
 It is possible, therefore, in every department of 
 wickedness, to make one's self partaker in other 
 men's sins, however long ago committed. And in 
 these two ways of sensuality and rebellion, it is 
 even certain, that without overt acts, an infinite 
 load of such guilt is daily incurred by inconsiderate 
 or self-deceiving Christians. Consequently, there 
 is nothing so very absurd, as some men appear to 
 imagine, in deprecating, annually, all participation 
 in a public sin of former days. According to the 
 pattern set us in the Litany, we have cause to 
 humble ourselves for the " iniquities of our fore- 
 fathers," else they will surely become our own. 
 
 But if ever the descendants of a guilty generation 
 stood in need of continual warning, not to " find 
 pleasure" in their fathers' sins, and so become, like 
 them, " worthy of death :" surely it is so with us 
 of this country, in regard of that series of crimes, 
 of which this day saw the consummation. Whether 
 we consider the general tendency of human opinions 
 on such subjects, or the habitual leaning of the 
 people of England in particular, the experience of 
 every year must shew, I think, to an impartial eye, 
 more clearly than that of the last, how apt men 
 are to have pleasure in those, whom the law of 
 God would charge with rebellion. 
 
110 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 To say, that mankind in general are disposed 
 to think slightly of this sin, and to encourage it, at 
 least, by seeming pleased with it, is merely saying, 
 that we sympathise most readily with the faults 
 which are prompted by our own situation in life, 
 the temptation to which, therefore, we are able 
 most thoroughly to estimate. By the constitution 
 of society, nay, even by the law of domestic life, 
 by far the greater part of mankind stand in an 
 inferior relation to others. Children and subjects 
 are by many more numerous, than magistrates and 
 parents are, and have therefore always a greater 
 number to stand by them, and keep them in coun- 
 tenance. The result is well known to every one, 
 who has ever been called to direct others, as 
 magistrate, teacher, master, or parent. It is what 
 almost all must confess, who will survey their own 
 past demeanour, as children, servants, pupils, or 
 subjects, with any thing like an impartial view. 
 
 It is the last thing men are ready to own as a 
 fault, their simply refusing to submit and obey. 
 That they have gone too far, in such and such 
 expressions of their contumacy, they are not 
 seldom willing to acknowledge ; but they will 
 scarce ever cordially allow, that they were wrong 
 to be contumacious at all. And what greatly 
 encourages this evil spirit is, that here, as in the 
 matter of sensual indulgence, men commonly, as 
 far as they dare, take the part of their guilty 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. Ill 
 
 neighbours ; from a secret consciousness, it is to 
 be feared, that themselves are, or soon may be, 
 more or less partakers in their guilt. 
 
 Further : in spite of habitual recklessness, our 
 moral nature, generally speaking, will have its way 
 so far, that some pretence of good will be accept- 
 able, even to the most profligate of men, to justify 
 the pleasure he takes in the wicked : and it is 
 obvious to remark, that insubordination, in this 
 respect, has greatly the advantage of sensual vices. 
 For as no human administration can be perfect, 
 there never shall be wanting some colour of op- 
 pression, towards which it will be easy, if we 
 choose, to turn our minds so exclusively, that all 
 our presumption and self-will shall pass off, in our 
 own account, for a generous hatred of wrong, and 
 concern for the weaker party. When the question 
 really lies between submission and resistance, we 
 have an artful way of putting it to ourselves, as if 
 it lay between resistance and oppression : as if the 
 merely not interfering, where one has the power 
 to do so, made a man partaker in the wrong. Of 
 course, there are some such cases ; but it may be 
 questioned, perhaps, not unreasonably, whether 
 they do not occur oftener on the side of authority 
 than against it: and at any rate, what is called 
 " the heroic temper," the love of excitement, 
 credit, and consequence, is sufficiently awake in 
 human nature, to allow enough for those instances, 
 without any special care of the moralist. On this 
 
112 DANGER OF SYMPATHIZING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 head, as in the regulation of the bodily appetites, 
 the theorist may conceive an excess of apathy, 
 but the stress of warning surely must be laid, 
 almost or altogether, on the side opposed to in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 These observations are remarkably confirmed 
 by the total silence of Holy Scripture, as to any 
 exceptions from the general rule of not actively 
 resisting civil authorities : a silence so obvious 
 and emphatical, as to be confessed even by those 
 moralists, who are disposed to make the greatest 
 allowance for our natural impatience of control ; 
 and carrying with it, by their own statement, this 
 very important conclusion, that obedience to rulers 
 and magistrates is, in His judgment Who cannot 
 err, as sacred a duty as filial obedience, and admits 
 only of the same kind of exceptions. According 
 to which, no calculations of expediency, no amount 
 of public or private good, would justify a subject 
 in violently resisting authority, except in such 
 an extreme case, as would justify a child under 
 pupillage in violently resisting a father or mother. 
 The duty cannot be well stated lower, on the 
 principles of Paley himself a . 
 
 a Moral Philosophy, b. vi. .4. " [The Scriptures] enforce the 
 obligation [to civil obedience] by the proper sanctions of Chris- 
 tianity, without intending either to enlarge or contract, without 
 considering, indeed, the limits by which it is bounden. This is 
 also the method in which the same Apostles enjoin the duty of 
 servants to their masters, of children to their parents, of wives to 
 their husbands," &c. 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 113 
 
 But however that may be, the studious omission, 
 throughout the Bible, of any word of encourage- 
 ment to resistance, is surely a circumstance of 
 more meaning, than we seem, in general, willing 
 to allow. It is, as every one knows, the fashion, 
 to dismiss this consideration at once, with some 
 such remark as the following : That it was no part 
 of our Saviour's mission, to interfere at all in our 
 political conduct : a very unadvised assertion, 
 surely, unless it can be proved that political con- 
 duct involves no moral responsibility. But those 
 who believe that the sanctions and principles of 
 the Gospel were meant to guide us as members of 
 civil society, no less than in the other relations 
 of life, I do not see how they should so lightly 
 forget, that the whole weight of express Gospel 
 precept is thrown unreservedly into the scale of 
 submission. The exceptions, be they rare or 
 frequent, are not however thought needful to be 
 mentioned : and whoever dwells much upon them, 
 either in popular instruction, or in his own views 
 of social duty, is so far at variance with Scripture. 
 
 Here, again, it is usual to say, that the first 
 Christian converts had wilder notions of liberty, 
 and were more disposed to be turbulent, than 
 mankind in general are ; that passages, therefore, 
 intended for their guidance, required to be very 
 strictly worded, but may be received now with 
 large allowances. It is usual, I say, to affirm 
 this : but for the shadow of any thing like proof of 
 
 i 
 
114 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 it, we may search far and wide in vain. If there be 
 one fact in Ecclesiastical History more thoroughly 
 proved than the rest, it is the patient loyalty of the 
 early Christians, under every kind of persecution 
 and injustice, and latterly, in spite of great tempta- 
 tions, from the consciousness of their own number 
 and influence. Is it possible for an unbiassed 
 reader to suppose, that it was fear of their peculiar 
 turbulence, which led the holy writers to speak as 
 they have spoken of the duty of submission ? Was 
 it not rather their deep sense of that inward dislike 
 of authority, which they knew to be rooted in all 
 mankind ? Let us hear the words of one, who was 
 certainly very much on his guard against over- 
 stating the rule of non-resistance. " The Scrip- 
 ture," says Bishop Butler, " throughout the whole 
 of it, commands submission ; supposing men apt 
 enough, of themselves, to make the exceptions, 
 and not to need being continually reminded of 
 them b ." 
 
 Such is the tone of God's holy word : how ill it 
 harmonizes with the ordinary tone of Christians, 
 speaking or writing on political subjects, all know, 
 who have ears to hear. The lowest statement of 
 the Christian doctrine is that which makes sub- 
 mission the rule, resistance the rare and dangerous 
 exception : would it be speaking too strongly if 
 one said, that the prevalent feeling of Christians 
 is, to sympathize, at once, with such as resist, but 
 
 b Vol. i. p. 352. in his Sermon for Jan. 30. 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 115 
 
 to require unusual energy or talent, before they 
 can be interested for the supporters of authority ? 
 
 St. Paul has ranked even personal liberty, liberty 
 opposed to the condition of a slave, among other 
 temporal blessings, as an object, comparatively 
 speaking, below the serious concern of a redeemed 
 immortal being. " Art thou called being a slave ? 
 care not for it : but even if thou mayest be made 
 free, put up with it rather c ." That is, " make the 
 best of your condition as it is, rather than grasp, 
 with eager anxiety, at every chance of emanci- 
 pation." And what he says of personal liberty, is 
 true, I suppose, a fortiori, of civil liberty as opposed 
 to subjection. " Care not for it," says the inspired 
 Voice : " let it be your tendency, in this as in all 
 things, rather to improve existing opportunities, 
 than to be always craving after a change of con- 
 dition." 
 
 But what says the Christian world to this ? Do 
 not men, somehow, think of liberty, as of some- 
 thing unlike other outward blessings, such as 
 health, riches, domestic comfort ? something, the 
 mere pursuing of which, for its own sake, is a part 
 of virtue ? Contented slavery in either kind, are 
 they not apt to pronounce it meanness d ? 
 
 c *A\X' ei KOL $vva<rai e\cvdepos yfvtvdai, p.a\\ov xprjarai. See 
 St. Chrysostom in loco. 
 
 d " All other sorrows virtue may endure, 
 
 And find submission more than half a cure ...... 
 
 But Slavery Virtue dreads it as her grave, 
 Patience itself is meanness in a slave." COWPER. 
 
116 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 All this being calmly considered, and compared 
 with what our Lord and His Apostles have said ; 
 or rather, with what they have left unsaid, (for 
 there is a silence more significant than words ;) 
 I think one must own, that civil liberty, high as 
 it may stand among earthly blessings, is usually 
 allowed to fill a space in our thoughts, out of all 
 proportion to that which it fills in the plan of 
 happiness drawn out in the Bible. Though men 
 commit things worthy of death, yet if they be 
 done for freedom's sake, the world finds pleasure 
 in them that do them. 
 
 Divesting ourselves, therefore, as far as we may, 
 of all national and party-feeling, the common 
 tendency of mankind, I think, would seem, alone, 
 sufficient to justify the institution and continuance 
 of this day's warning. 
 
 But if such be the leaning of mankind in 
 general, it will not, I suppose, be pretended, that 
 we of this country are exempt from it : we who 
 pride ourselves in our love of independence, our 
 quick sense of encroachment and oppression : we 
 who can endure the daily diffusion of calumny 
 and falsehood, of irreverence and insubordination ; 
 and not only endure them, but pay their way ; 
 under the plea that liberty might suffer, if the 
 popular channels of information were restrained. 
 Of such a people it cannot be said, that the 
 annual commemoration of a great public sin, into 
 which they were hurried in a great measure by 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 117 
 
 their extravagant love of liberty, is as yet become 
 superfluous and unmeaning. On this point one 
 might confidently appeal from the judgment of 
 minds hackneyed in politics, to the pure and un- 
 biassed feeling of those, who read history for the 
 first time ; that is, supposing them accustomed 
 also to the reverent and thoughtful use of the 
 Bible. 
 
 For what are the undisputed recollections of the 
 day ? A Christian King, as pure and devout in his 
 daily life as any character that adorns history, is 
 brought to trial by his own subjects, for refusing 
 to sacrifice his persecuted friends, and the Church 
 of his country; is condemned and executed with 
 circumstances of insult, inexcusable though offered 
 to the vilest malefactor. All this is done for 
 liberty's sake : and within a few months the same 
 people, who could not endure his doubtful pre- 
 rogative, shall be seen crouching at the footstool 
 of his murderer, a notorious usurper and tyrant. 
 
 I know there is a way of reading history, and 
 watching the turns of passing events, which would 
 make men indifferent to all this, and teach them 
 to regard it as a matter of course : but can this 
 indeed satisfy any, who soberly recollect the moral 
 government of God ? To such it must ever seem 
 quite as natural, that the Church of England 
 should keep this day, as it is, that Christ's uni- 
 versal Church should keep the day of St. Stephen's 
 
118 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 martyrdom: God having shewn Himself to the 
 eye of faith, not indeed miraculously, yet as 
 distinctly, in the one for our special good, as in 
 the other for that of all Christians. 
 
 Such, I am persuaded, is the first feeling of 
 all good minds on this part of history. But too 
 many, as they grow older, are taught to regard 
 it very differently : a change, which in persons 
 generally well-principled is owing perhaps chiefly 
 to two causes. 
 
 The first to be mentioned is, the course of 
 events after the restoration of the King's son. His 
 vices, even more than the errors of his brother, 
 have alienated sincere but inconsiderate judgments 
 from the very name and memory of the race : 
 and thus, reversing the Scripture rule most un- 
 fairly, men visit the sins of the children on the 
 parent. But surely, on reflecting and generous 
 minds, the very opposite impression must be made. 
 The dignified purity of the King's conduct must 
 shine brighter in their eyes, by contrast with what 
 they are forced to believe regarding his successor's 
 heartless dissipation : and the more dangerous and 
 seducing they esteem the religious errors of James 
 the Second, the more cause they see to bless 
 God for his father's loyalty to the Church of 
 England. The solemn protest against sins of 
 rebellion, which this service brings with it, is so 
 much the more welcome to them, as it comes 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 119 
 
 accompanied with an act of justice to one, too 
 often unfairly condemned by mere association with 
 names less pure than his own. 
 
 The same might be said of the other circum- 
 stance just alluded to, as lessening men's interest 
 in King Charles the First, and their horror of 
 the Great Rebellion: I mean, the mixture of 
 religious prejudice, and especially the interference 
 of received opinions on the point of unlimited 
 toleration. Men look on the King as the chosen 
 champion of doctrines to which themselves are 
 averse, and allow their party-spirit to make them 
 at least indifferent to his wrongs, and impatient 
 of the solemn remembrance of him, if they do not 
 actually take pleasure in his murderers. But this 
 only makes it the more desirable that the memorial 
 should be .retained, as a caution for ever against 
 the indulgence of party-spirit, and doing evil that 
 good may come : the force of which godless 
 principles is demonstrated by the indifference of 
 posterity to such crimes, quite as unequivocally, 
 though not so fatally, as by the aid or connivance 
 they received at the time. Opinions, be they true 
 or false in the abstract, must be immoral or im- 
 morally applied, to have such an effect on the 
 popular sense of right and wrong. Upon this 
 ground, those even, who differ in faith or politics 
 from the King, might well bear with the service of 
 this day : and such among them as are considerate 
 
120 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 and truly liberal, do, I believe, bear with it, and 
 approve it. 
 
 Connected in some degree with this latter 
 prejudice is one arising from his personal charac- 
 ter; by nature reserved, serious and retiring, and 
 loving his own contemplations better than the 
 applause of the world. This was not the kind 
 of demeanour to attract the popular sympathy 
 then, nor to fascinate, in after-times, the ordinary 
 readers of history. And when his severe trials 
 came, unimpeached as he was for personal fortitude, 
 and nobly obstinate in his own good principles, 
 he was found wanting in some qualities, which 
 the world seems agreed to call " heroic," and which 
 have secured the good word of posterity to many, 
 in spite of oppression and tyranny far worse, 
 than any one now dares impute to him. In a 
 qualified sense, one might apply to his political 
 character (there is no irreverence, I trust, in so 
 applying) the prophetical delineation of his Master, 
 the King of Kings. " There is no form nor come- 
 liness, and when we shall see Him, there is no 
 beauty that we should desire Him." If he had 
 been less pure in his morals and religion, more 
 decided and unscrupulous in his public conduct, 
 he had been likelier then to win his way, and men 
 would now be judging of him more indulgently. 
 There is nothing at all to wonder at in this : nor 
 to lament either, as far as he is concerned. If in 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 121 
 
 his reputation he still continue to bear the Cross 
 after his Saviour, and be likely to do so till the 
 end of the world ; we know that every thing of 
 this sort will but enhance the reward of the true 
 Martyr, when the day of retribution comes. But 
 it highly concerned the Church of Christ in this 
 realm, in her office of public instruction, to take 
 such a providential opportunity of putting on 
 record, for her children's warning, her own esti- 
 mate of true greatness. And it is at each indi- 
 vidual's peril, whether he will take that warning, 
 or whether he will yet go on to measure things 
 by the old Pagan notions of heroism : admiring 
 talent more than virtue, and " speaking good of 
 the covetous, whom God abhorreth." 
 
 These cautions are the more necessary, on 
 account of a peculiar kind of Fatalism, which is 
 apt to intrude itself, more especially, on our politi- 
 cal opinions and conduct : by reason, I suppose, of 
 men's acting together, on such occasions, in large 
 masses : which makes it easier for each person's 
 imagination to transfer his own guilt to others. 
 But whatever be the cause, certain it is, that such 
 a tendency does exist; that many consciences are 
 beguiled by it ; and must we not add, that it has of 
 late been visibly and daily gaining ground ? For 
 at what time ever among Christians was the 
 doctrine so often heard, that " such and such evils 
 must be complied with, the ' spirit of the times' so 
 requiring ?" On every part of literature and con- 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 duct, but especially in reference to political duties, 
 we hear this observation repeated ; it appears, in 
 fact, to be the sum and substance of some men's 
 practical wisdom ; but can it win the calm assent 
 of the conscience ? does it not, in fact, amount to 
 a surrender, I do not say of Christian principle 
 only, but of every thing like moral independence 
 and dignity ? Can such casuists have root in 
 themselves ? can they endure even for a while, 
 when the times are evil and corrupt ? " It is im- 
 possible," they plead, " but offences will come ;" 
 and they proceed as if our Saviour had inferred, 
 <e It matters not by whom the offence cometh." 
 Let it be enough for the condemnation of such a 
 spirit, that it is the direct contrary of the spirit of 
 martyrdom : and we all know how its promptings 
 are applied to palliate great public crimes. 
 
 Thus, in regard of the fatal precedent by which 
 our history was this day stained : we are told over 
 and over again, that the season had come round, 
 in a kind of moral cycle, when there could not but 
 be a revolution : that the King was in some sort 
 fairly punished for not understanding the times 
 better : that it was indeed much to be regretted, 
 but could not be helped, and had better be borne 
 with, in consideration of greater benefits ensuing. 
 
 It is something, at all events, to have upon 
 record the deliberate protest of the Church of 
 England against these lessons of base accommoda- 
 tion : something, that those who are yet willing to 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 123 
 
 take advice from her Prayer-Book, should find 
 there the good old principles, of plain submission 
 and cheerful obedience, applied to a real and near 
 example, and a condition of society like the present. 
 But it is more, to have the verdict of Scripture 
 herself (for such, undoubtedly, may the History 
 of the Passion falling on this day be considered) in 
 favour of those, who have followed their Saviour 
 in making resignation all their glory. Whether 
 wise or unwise in a worldly sense, the doctrine of 
 the Cross is on their side, and can never, surely, 
 be misapplied, when rehearsed to encourage us in 
 imitating them. Again ; could any thing tell more 
 significantly against the too fashionable notion of 
 I know not what fatal necessity, suspending, as it 
 were, men's accountable agency, when they yield 
 to the " spirit of the times" could any thing 
 more unsparingly condemn the measuring political 
 right and wrong by mere present visible expedi- 
 ency than the parable selected for the Gospel of 
 the day : our Lord's own expressive rebuke to the 
 Jewish rulers, Caiaphas and the rest ? They were 
 deceiving themselves, no doubt, more than they 
 did any one else, with the specious plea of public 
 welfare, and the little worth of one man's blood, 
 set against the safety of the whole nation. There 
 was a voice which spoke home to their consciences, 
 when it represented the husbandmen saying, 
 " Come, let us kill the heir, and then the inherit- 
 ance surely will be ours." And it is our duty to 
 
1*24 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 repeat the warning, as long as we see people doing 
 such things, or " taking pleasure in them that do 
 them." 
 
 It is easy enough, no doubt, for any one who is 
 so inclined, to neutralize all that the Church can 
 say, by a dexterous use of party-feeling : easy, to 
 call it a device of the State for upholding a par- 
 ticular set of opinions. But the matter may be 
 brought to a short issue. If attachment to the 
 cause of our injured King, and sympathy with his 
 high-minded patience, were not in entire harmony 
 with the principles inculcated in all other parts of 
 the Prayer-Book : if Sanderson, Hammond, and 
 Taylor, those Restorers of our fallen Church, spoke 
 otherwise on the duty of subjects, than as former 
 generations of true Churchmen had spoken : then 
 we might perhaps have cause to fear, that Feeling 
 had got the better of Reason, in this one portion of 
 our yearly solemnities. But if they " all speak the 
 same thing, and there be no division among them ;" 
 and (what is infinitely more) if what they speak be 
 altogether scriptural : if the doctrine of submission 
 and loyal obedience be only one inseparable branch 
 of the universal doctrine of resignation and con- 
 tentment an ingredient of that unreserved Faith, 
 without which it is impossible to please God then 
 let us bless our Preserver, for not leaving us without 
 special witness to a part of our duty, where all 
 experience has proved us so likely .to go wrong. 
 Let us trust our civil welfare to the Gospel rule of 
 
DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 125 
 
 non-resistance, as fearlessly as we trust our domestic 
 happiness to the kindred rule of filial obedience. 
 Such conduct, if universal, would be a perfect 
 security to liberty : inasmuch as the same principle 
 which forbids illegal resistance, would equally 
 forbid being agents in illegal oppression. And 
 they who abide by it, be they many or few, have 
 for their warrant the general tenor and express 
 word of Revelation, the example of our Blessed 
 Lord, His Apostles, and His suffering Church. In 
 every case, the burthen of proof lies wholly on those 
 who plead for resistance. 
 
 And what if young men the high-born espe- 
 cially instead of that degrading ambition of com- 
 mencing, early, " men of the world," would consent 
 to shape their own conduct by the noble simplicity 
 and downright goodness of him, whom we this 
 day commemorate ? the secret of whose excellence 
 lay, chiefly, in two qualities, by them most imitable : 
 consistent purity of heart and demeanour, and 
 strict constancy in devotional duties, under the 
 guidance of his and our Church ? Does any one 
 believe that such a change would leave society at 
 all a loser, in point of true generosity and courtesy, 
 or whatever else makes life engaging ? 
 
 But if all this must still be unheard if the in- 
 struction of the day be quite drowned, in men's 
 eager cry for what is called Freedom : at least the 
 service answers the purpose of a solemn appeal 
 from human prejudice, to Him, before Whom king 
 
126 DANGER OF SYMPATHISING WITH REBELLION. 
 
 and subject must ere long appear together. To 
 whose final and unerring decision, not, it is hoped, 
 with presumptuous confidence, nor yet with any 
 uncharitable thought, but in cheerful assurance that 
 resignation and loyalty can "in no wise lose their 
 reward," we desire, now and always, to " commit 
 our cause." 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SERMON ON NATIONAL APOSTASY . 
 
 SINCE the following pages were prepared for the press, 
 the calamity, in anticipation of which they were written, 
 has actually overtaken this portion of the Church of God. 
 The Legislature of England and Ireland, (the members of f 
 which are not even bound to profess belief in the Atonement,) 
 this body has virtually usurped the commission of those 
 whom our Saviour entrusted with at least one voice in 
 making ecclesiastical laws, on matters wholly or partly 
 spiritual 1 *. The same Legislature has also ratified, to its 
 full extent, this principle ; that the Apostolical Church 
 in this realm is henceforth only to stand, in the eye of the 
 State, as one sect among many, depending, for any pre- 
 eminence she may still appear to retain, merely upon the 
 accident of her having a strong party in the country. 
 
 It is a moment, surely, full of deep solicitude to all 
 those members of the Church who still believe her autho- 
 rity divine, and the oaths and obligations, by which they 
 are bound to her, undissolved and indissoluble by calcu- 
 lations of human expediency. Their anxiety turns not so 
 much on the consequences, to the State, of what has been 
 done, (they are but too evident,) as on the line of conduct 
 which they are bound themselves to pursue. How may 
 
 a Preached in St. Mary's, Oxford, before His Majesty's Judges of 
 Assize, on Sunday, July 14, 1833. 
 
 b In the suppression of certain Irish Sees, contrary to the suffrage of 
 the Bishops of England and Ireland, 
 
128 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 they continue their communion with the Church established, 
 (hitherto the pride and comfort of their lives,) without any 
 taint of those Erastian Principles on which she is now 
 avowedly to be governed ? What answer can we make 
 henceforth to the partisans of the Bishop of Rome, when 
 they taunt us with being a mere Parliamentarian Church ? 
 And how, consistently with our present relations to the 
 State, can even the doctrinal purity and integrity of the 
 MOST SACRED ORDER be preserved ? 
 
 The attention of all who love the Church is most ear- 
 nestly solicited to these questions. They are such, it will 
 be observed, as cannot be answered by appealing to pre- 
 cedents in English History, because, at most, such could 
 only shew, that the difficulty might have been raised 
 before. It is believed, that there are hundreds, nay thou- 
 sands, of Christians, and that soon there will be tens of 
 thousands, unaffectedly anxious to be rightly guided with 
 regard to these and similar points. And they are mooted 
 thus publicly, for the chance of eliciting, from competent 
 judges, a correct and early opinion. 
 
 If, under such trying and delicate circumstances, one 
 could venture to be positive about any thing, it would 
 seem safe to say, that in such measure as it may be thought 
 incumbent on the Church, or on Churchmen, to submit 
 to any profane intrusion, it must at least be their sacred 
 duty, to declare, promulgate, and record, their full con- 
 viction, that it is intrusion ; that they yield to it as they 
 might to any other tyranny, but do from their hearts 
 deprecate and abjure it. This seems the least that can be 
 done : unless we would have our children's children say, 
 " There was once here a glorious Church, but it was 
 betrayed into the hands of Libertines for the real or affected 
 love of a little temporary peace and good order." 
 
 July 22, 1833. 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 1 SAMUEL xii. 23. 
 
 As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in 
 ceasing to pray for you : but I will teach you the good 
 and the right way. 
 
 ON public occasions, such as the present, the 
 minds of Christians naturally revert to that portion 
 of Holy Scripture, which exhibits to us the will 
 of the Sovereign of the world in more immediate 
 relation to the civil and national conduct of man- 
 kind. We naturally turn to the Old Testament, 
 when public duties, public errors, and public 
 dangers, are in question. And what in such cases 
 is natural and obvious, is sure to be more or less 
 right and reasonable. Unquestionably it is a 
 mistaken theology, which would debar Christian 
 nations and statesmen from the instruction afforded 
 by the Jewish Scriptures, under a notion, that the 
 circumstances of that people were altogether pecu- 
 liar and unique, and therefore irrelevant to every 
 other case. True, there is hazard of misapplication, 
 as there is whenever men teach by example. There 
 is peculiar hazard, from the sacredness and delicacy 
 
130 
 
 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 of the subject ; since dealing with things super- 
 natural and miraculous as if they were ordinary 
 human precedents, would be not only unwise, but 
 profane. But these hazards are more than coun- 
 terbalanced by the absolute certainty, peculiar to 
 this history, that what is there commended was 
 right, and what is there blamed, wrong. And 
 they would be effectually obviated, if men would 
 be careful to keep in view this caution : suggested 
 every where, if I mistake not, by the manner in 
 which the Old Testament is quoted in the New : 
 that, as regards reward and punishment, God dealt 
 formerly with the Jewish people in a manner ana- 
 logous to that in which He deals now, not so much 
 with Christian nations, as with the souls of indi- 
 vidual Christians. 
 
 Let us only make due allowances for this cardinal 
 point of difference, and we need not surely hesitate 
 to avail ourselves, as the time may require, of those 
 national warnings, which fill the records of the 
 elder Church : the less so, as the discrepancy lies 
 rather in what is revealed of God's providence, 
 than in what is required in the way of human 
 duty. Rewards and punishments may be dis- 
 pensed, visibly at least, with a less even hand ; 
 'but what tempers, and what conduct, God will 
 ultimately reward and punish, this is a point 
 which cannot be changed : for it depends not on 
 our circumstances, but on His essential, unvarying 
 Attributes, 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 I have ventured on these few general observa- 
 tions, because the impatience with which the world 
 endures any remonstrance on religious grounds, is 
 apt to shew itself most daringly, when the Law 
 and the Prophets are appealed to. Without any 
 scruple or ceremony, men give us to understand 
 that they regard the whole as obsolete : thus taking 
 the very opposite ground to that which was pre- 
 ferred by the same class of persons two hundred 
 years ago ; but, it may be feared, with much the 
 same purpose and result. Then, the Old Testa-) J 
 ment was quoted at random for every excess or 
 fanatical pride and cruelty: now, its authority 
 goes for nothing, however clear and striking the) 
 analogies may be, which appear to warrant us in\ 
 referring to it. The two extremes, as usual, meet ; 
 and in this very remarkable point : that they both 
 avail themselves of the supernatural parts of the 
 Jewish revelation to turn away attention from 
 that, which they, of course, most dread and dislike 
 in it : its authoritative confirmation of the plain 
 dictates of conscience in matters of civil wisdom 
 and duty. 
 
 That portion, in particular, of the history of the 
 chosen people, which drew from Samuel, the truest 
 of patriots, the wise and noble sentiment in the 
 text, must ever be an unpleasing and perplexing 
 page of Scripture, to those, who would fain per- 
 suade themselves, that a nation, even a Christian 
 nation, may do well enough, as such, without God, 
 
 K 2 
 
132 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 and without His Church. For what if the Jews 
 were bound to the Almighty by ties common to 
 no other people ? What if He had condescended 
 to know them in a way in which He was as yet 
 unrevealed to all families of the earth besides ? 
 What if, as their relation to Him was nearer, and 
 their ingratitude more surpassing, so they might 
 expect more exemplary punishment ? Still, after 
 all has been said, to exaggerate their guilt, in 
 degree, beyond what is supposed possible in any 
 nation whatever now, what can it come to, in kind 
 and in substance, but only this ; that they rejected 
 God ? that they wished themselves rid of the moral 
 restraint implied in His peculiar presence and 
 covenant ? They said, what the prophet Ezekiel, 
 long after, represents their worthy posterity as 
 saying, " We will be as the heathen, the families 
 of the countries ." Once for all, we will get rid 
 of these disagreeable, unfashionable scruples, which 
 throw us behind, as we think, in the race of worldly 
 honour and profit." Is this indeed a tone of thought, 
 which Christian nations cannot fall into ? Or, if 
 they should, has it ceased to be displeasing to God ? 
 In other words, has He forgotten to be angry with 
 impiety and practical atheism ? Either this must 
 be affirmed, or men must own, (what is clear at 
 once to plain unsophisticated readers,) that this 
 first overt act, which began the downfall of the 
 Jewish nation, stands on record, with its fatal con- 
 c Ezek. xx. 32. 
 
\ 
 
 \ 
 
 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 133 
 
 sequences, for a perpetual warning to all nations, 
 as well as to all individual Christians, who, having 
 accepted God for their King, allow themselves to 
 be weary of subjection to Him, and think they 
 should be happier if they were freer, and more 
 like the rest of the world. 
 
 I do not enter into the question, whether visible 
 temporal judgments are to be looked for by 
 Christian nations, transgressing as those Jews did. 
 Surely common sense and piety unite, in repre- 
 senting this inquiry as, practically, one of no great 
 importance. When it is once known for certain 
 that such and such conduct is displeasing to the 
 King of kings, surely common sense and piety 
 concur in setting their mark of reprobation on 
 such conduct, whether the punishment, sure to 
 overtake it, come to-morrow, or a year hence, or 
 wait till we are in another world. 
 
 Waving this question, therefore, I proceed to 
 others, which appear to me, I own, at the present 
 moment especially, of. the very gravest practical 
 import. 
 
 What are the symptoms, by which one may 
 judge most fairly, whether or no a nation, as such, 
 is becoming alienated from God and Christ ? 
 
 And what are the particular duties of sincere 
 Christians, whose lot is cast by Divine Providence 
 in a time of such dire calamity ? 
 
 The conduct of the Jews, in asking for a king, 
 may furnish an ample illustration of the first point : 
 
134 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 the behaviour of Samuel, then and afterwards, 
 supplies as perfect a pattern of the second, as can 
 well be expected from human nature. 
 
 I. The case is at least possible, of a nation, 
 having for centuries acknowledged, as an essential 
 part of its theory of government, that, as a Chris- 
 tian nation, she is also a part of Christ's Church, 
 and bound, in all her legislation and policy, by the 
 fundamental rules of that Church the case is, I say, 
 conceivable, of a government and people, so con- 
 stituted, deliberately throwing off the restraint, 
 which in many respects such a principle would 
 impose on them, nay, disavowing the principle 
 itself; and that, on the plea, that other states, as 
 flourishing or more so in regard of wealth and 
 dominion, do well enough without it. Is not this 
 desiring, like the Jews, to have an earthly king 
 over them, when the Lord their God is their King ? 
 Is it not saying in other words, " We will be as 
 the heathen, the families of the countries," the 
 aliens to the Church of our Redeemer ? 
 
 To such a change, whenever it takes place, the 
 immediate impulse will probably be given by some 
 pretence of danger from without, such as, at the 
 time now spoken of, was furnished to the Israelites 
 by an incursion of the children of Ammon ; or by 
 some wrong or grievance in the executive govern- 
 ment, such as the malversation of Samuel's sons, 
 to whom he had deputed his judicial functions. 
 Pretences will never be hard to find; but, in 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 135 
 
 reality, the movement will always be traceable to 
 the same decay or want of faith, the same defi- 
 ciency in Christian resignation and thankfulness, 
 which leads so many, as individuals, to disdain and 
 forfeit the blessings of the Gospel. Men not im- 
 pressed with religious principle attribute their ill 
 success in life, the hard times they have to 
 struggle with, to any thing rather than their own 
 ill-desert : and the institutions of the country, 
 ecclesiastical and civil, are always at hand to bear 
 the blame of whatever seems to be going amiss. 
 Thus, the discontent in Samuel's time, which led 
 the Israelites to demand a change of constitution, 
 was discerned by the Unerring Eye, though perhaps 
 little suspected by themselves, to be no better than 
 a fresh development of the same restless, godless 
 spirit, which had led them so often into idolatry. 
 " They have not rejected thee, but they have 
 rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 
 According to all the works, which they have done 
 since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt 
 even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken 
 Me, and served other gods, so do they also unto 
 theeV 
 
 The charge might perhaps surprise many of 
 them, just as, in other times and countries, the 
 impatient patrons of innovation are surprised, at 
 finding themselves rebuked on religious grounds. 
 Perhaps the Jews pleaded the express counte- 
 
 (1 1 Sam. viii. 7, 8. 
 
136 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 nance, which the words of their Law, in one place 6 , 
 seemed, by anticipation, to lend to the measure 
 they were urging. And so, in modern times, when 
 liberties are to be taken, and the intrusive passions 
 of men to be indulged, precedent and permission, 
 or what sounds like them, may be easily found 
 and quoted for every thing. But Samuel, in God's 
 name, silenced all this, giving them to understand, 
 that in His sight the whole was a question of 
 motive and purpose, not of ostensible and colour- 
 able argument ; in His sight, I say, to Whom we, 
 as well as they, are nationally responsible for much 
 more than the soundness of our deductions as 
 matter of disputation, or of law ; we are respon- 
 sible for the meaning and temper in which we deal 
 with His Holy Church, established among us for 
 the salvation of our souls. 
 
 These, which have been hitherto mentioned as 
 omens and tokens of an Apostate Mind in a nation, 
 have been suggested by the portion itself of sacred 
 history, to which I have ventured to direct your 
 attention. There are one or two more, which the 
 nature of the subject, and the palpable tendency 
 of things around us, will not allow to be passed 
 over. 
 
 One of the most alarming, as a symptom, is the 
 growing indifference, in which men indulge them- 
 selves, to other men's religious sentiments. Under 
 the guise of charity and toleration we are come 
 
 e Deut. xvii. 1420. 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 137 
 
 almost to this pass ; that no difference, in matters 
 of faith, is to disqualify for our approbation and 
 confidence, whether in public or domestic life. 
 Can we conceal it from ourselves, that every 
 year the practice is becoming more common, of 
 trusting men unreservedly in the most delicate and 
 important matters, without one serious inquiry, 
 whether they do not hold principles which make 
 it impossible for them to be loyal to their Creator, 
 Redeemer, and Sanctifier ? Are not offices conferred, 
 partnerships formed, intimacies courted, nay, 
 (what is almost too painful to think of,) do not 
 parents commit their children to be educated, do 
 they not encourage them to intermarry, in houses, 
 on which Apostolical Authority would rather teach 
 them to set a mark, as unfit to be entered by a 
 faithful servant of Christ ? * 
 
 I do not now speak of public measures only or 
 chiefly ; many things of that kind may be thought, 
 whether wisely or no, to become from time to time 
 necessary, which are in reality as little desired by 
 those who lend them a seeming concurrence, as 
 they are, in themselves, undesirable. But I speak 
 of the spirit which leads men to exult in every step 
 of that kind ; to congratulate one another on the 
 supposed decay of what they call an exclusive 
 system. 
 
 Very different are the feelings with which it 
 seems natural for a true Churchman to regard 
 
138 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 such a state of things, from those which would 
 arise in his mind on witnessing the mere triumph 
 of any given set of adverse opinions, exaggerated 
 or even heretical as he might deem them. He 
 might feel as melancholy, he could hardly feel so 
 indignant. 
 
 But this is not a becoming place, nor are these 
 safe topics, for the indulgence of mere feeling. 
 The point really to be considered is, whether, 
 according to the coolest estimate, the fashionable 
 liberality of this generation be not ascribable, in a 
 great measure, to the same temper which led the 
 Jews voluntarily to set about degrading themselves 
 to a level with the idolatrous Gentiles ? And, if it 
 be true any where, that such enactments are forced 
 on the Legislature by public opinion, is APOSTASY 
 too hard a word to describe the temper of that 
 nation ? 
 
 The same tendency is still more apparent, be- 
 cause the fair gloss of candour and forbearance is 
 wanting, in the surly or scornful impatience often 
 exhibited, by persons who would regret passing for 
 unbelievers, when Christian motives are suggested, 
 and checks from Christian principles attempted to 
 be enforced on their public conduct. I say, " their 
 public conduct," more especially ; because in that, 
 I know not how, persons are apt to be more 
 shameless, and readier to avow the irreligion that 
 is in them ; amongst other reasons, probably, 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 139 
 
 from each feeling that he is one of a multitude, 
 and fancying, therefore, that his responsibility is 
 divided. 
 
 For example : whatever be the cause, in this 
 country of late years, (though we are lavish in 
 professions of piety,) there has been observable a 
 growing disinclination, on the part of those bound 
 by VOLUNTARY OATHS, to whatever reminds them of 
 their obligation ; a growing disposition to exolain 
 it all away. We know what, some years ago, 
 would have been thought of such uneasiness, if 
 betrayed by persons officially sworn, in private, 
 legal, or commercial life. If there be any subjects 
 or occasions, now, on which men are inclined to 
 judge of it more lightly, it concerns them deeply 
 to be quite sure, that they are not indulging or 
 encouraging a profane dislike of God's awful Pre- 
 sence ; a general tendency, as a people, to leave 
 Him out of all their thoughts. 
 
 They will have the more reason to suspect them- 
 selves, in proportion as they see and feel more of 
 that impatience under pastoral authority, which 
 our Saviour Himself has taught us to consider as 
 a never-failing symptom of an unchristian temper. 
 "He that heareth you, heareth Me ; and he that 
 despiseth you, despiseth Me f ." Those words of 
 divine truth put beyond all sophistical exception, 
 what common sense would lead us to infer, and 
 what daily experience teaches ; that disrespect to 
 
 f Luke x. 16. 
 
140 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 the Successors of the Apostles, as such, is an un- 
 questionable symptom of enmity to Him, Who gave 
 them their commission at first, and has pledged 
 Himself to be with them for ever. Suppose such 
 disrespect general and national, suppose it also 
 avowedly grounded not on any fancied tenet of 
 religion, but on mere human reasons of popularity 
 and expediency, either there is no meaning at all 
 in these emphatic declarations of our Lord, or that 
 nation, how highly soever she may think of her 
 own religion and morality, stands convicted in His 
 sight of a direct disavowal of His Sovereignty. 
 
 To this purpose it may be worth noticing, that 
 the ill-fated chief, whom God gave to the Jews, as 
 the prophet tells us, in His anger g , and whose dis- 
 obedience and misery were referred by himself to 
 his "fearing the people, and obeying their voice h ," 
 whose conduct, therefore, may be fairly taken as 
 a sample of what public opinion was at that time 
 supposed to require, his first step in apostasy was, 
 perhaps, an intrusion on the sacrificial office 1 , cer- 
 tainly an impatient breach of his engagement with 
 Samuel, as the last and greatest of his crimes was 
 persecuting David, whom he well knew to bear 
 God's special commission. God forbid, that any 
 Christian land should ever, by her prevailing 
 temper and policy, revive the memory and likeness 
 of Saul, or incur a sentence of reprobation like 
 his. But if such a thing should be, the crimes of 
 
 * Hos. xiii. 11. h 1 Sam. xv. 24. l I Sam. xiii. 8 14. 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 141 
 
 that nation will probably begin in infringement on 
 Apostolical Rights ; she will end in persecuting 
 the true Church ; and in the several stages of her 
 melancholy career, she will continually be led on 
 from bad to worse by vain endeavours at accom- 
 modation and compromise with evil. Sometimes 
 toleration may be the word, as with Saul when he 
 spared the Amalekites ; sometimes state security, 
 as when he sought the life of David ; sometimes 
 sympathy with popular feeling, as appears to have 
 been the case, when violating solemn treaties, he 
 attempted to exterminate the remnant of the 
 Gibeonites, in his zeal for the children of Israel 
 and Judah k . Such are the sad but obvious results 
 of separating religious resignation altogether from 
 men's notions of civil duty. 
 
 II. But here arises the other question, on which 
 it was proposed to say a few words ; and with a 
 view to which, indeed, the whole subject must be 
 considered, if it is to lead to any practical improve- 
 ment. What should be the tenor of their conduct, 
 who find themselves cast on such times of decay 
 and danger ? How may a man best reconcile his 
 allegiance to God and his Church with his duty to 
 his country, that country, which now, by the sup- 
 position, is fast becoming hostile to the Church, 
 and cannot therefore long be the friend of God ? 
 
 Now in proportion as any one sees reason to 
 fear that such is, or soon may be, the case in his 
 
 k 2 Sam. xxi. 2. 
 
142 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 own land, just so far may he see reason to be 
 thankful, especially if he be called to any national 
 trust, for such a complete pattern of his duty, as 
 he may find in the conduct of Samuel. That 
 combination of sweetness with firmness, of consi- 
 deration with energy, which constitutes the temper 
 of a perfect public man, was never perhaps so 
 beautifully exemplified. He makes no secret of the 
 bitter grief and dismay, with which the resolution 
 of his countrymen has filled him. He was prepared 
 to resist it at all hazards, had he not received from 
 God Himself directions to give them their own 
 way ; protesting, however, in the most distinct and 
 solemn tone, so as to throw the whole blame of 
 what might ensue on their wilfulness. Having so 
 protested, and found them obstinate, he does not 
 therefore at once forsake their service, he continues 
 discharging all the functions they had left him, with 
 a true and loyal, though most heavy, heart. " God 
 forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing 
 to pray for you : but I will teach you the good and 
 the right way." 
 
 Should it ever happen (which God avert, but 
 we cannot shut our eyes to the danger) that the 
 Apostolical Church should be forsaken, degraded, 
 nay trampled on and despoiled by the State and 
 people of England, I cannot conceive a kinder wish 
 for her, on the part of her most affectionate and 
 dutiful children, than that she may, consistently, 
 act in the spirit of this most noble sentence ; nor 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 143 
 
 a course of conduct more likely to be blessed by a 
 restoration to more than her former efficiency. In 
 speaking of the Church, I mean, of course, the 
 laity, as well as the clergy in their three orders, 
 the whole body of Christians united, according to 
 the will of Jesus Christ, under the Successors of 
 the Apostles. It may, by God's blessing, be of 
 some use, to shew how, in the case supposed, the 
 example of Samuel might guide her collectively, 
 and each of her children individually, down even 
 to minute details of duty. 
 
 The Church would, first of all, have to be con- 
 stant, as before, in INTERCESSION. No despiteful 
 usage, no persecution, could warrant her in ceasing 
 to pray, as did her first fathers and patterns, for 
 the State; and all who are in authority. That 
 duty once well and cordially performed, all other 
 duties, so to speak, are secured. Candour, respect- 
 fulness, guarded language, all that the Apostle 
 meant, in warning men not to " speak evil of 
 dignities," may then, and then only, be practised, 
 without compromise of truth and fortitude, when 
 the habit is attained of praying as we ought for 
 the very enemies of our precious and holy cause. 
 
 The constant sense of God's presence and con- 
 sequent certainty of final success, which can be 
 kept up no other way, would also prove an effectual 
 bar against the more silent but hardly less male- 
 volent feeling, of disgust, almost amounting to 
 misanthropy, which is apt to lay hold on sensitive 
 

 144 NATIONAL APOSTASV. 
 
 minds, when they see oppression and wrong tri- 
 umphant on a large scale. The custom of inter- 
 ceding, even for the wicked, will keep the Psalmist's 
 reasoning habitually present to their thoughts: 
 " Fret not thyself because of the ungodly, neither 
 be thou envious against the evil doers : for they 
 shall soon be cut down like the grass, and be 
 withered even as the green herb. . . Leave off from 
 wrath, and let go displeasure : fret not thyself, else 
 shalt thou be moved to do evil 1 ." 
 
 Thus not only by supernatural aid, which we 
 have warrant of God's word for expecting, but even 
 in the way of natural consequence, the first duty 
 of the Church and of Churchmen, INTERCESSION, 
 sincerely practised, would prepare them for the 
 second ; which, following the words of Samuel 
 as our clue, we may confidently pronounce to be 
 REMONSTRANCE. " I will teach you the good and 
 the right way." REMONSTRANCE, calm, distinct, and 
 persevering, in public and in private, direct and 
 indirect, by word, look, and demeanour, is the 
 unequivocal duty of every Christian, according to 
 his opportunities, when the Church landmarks are 
 being broken down. 
 
 Among laymen, a deep responsibility would 
 appear to rest on those particularly, whose pro- 
 fession leads them most directly to consider the 
 boundaries of the various rights and duties, which 
 fill the space of civilized Society. The immediate 
 
 1 Psalm xxxvii. 1, 2, 8. 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 145 
 
 machinery of change must always pass through 
 their hands : and they have also very great power 
 in forming and modifying public opinion. The 
 very solemnity of this day may remind them, even 
 more than others, of the close amity which must 
 ever subsist between equal justice and pure reli- 
 gion ; Apostolical religion, more especially, in pro- 
 portion to her superior truth and exactness;, It is 
 an amity, made still more sacred, if possible, in the 
 case of the Church and Law of England, by his- 
 torical recollections, associations and precedents, 
 of the most engaging and ennobling cast. 
 
 But I return to the practical admonition afforded 
 her, in critical periods, by Samuel's example. 
 
 After the accomplishment of the change which 
 he deprecated, his whole behaviour, to Saul espe- 
 cially, is a sort of expansion of the sentiment in the 
 text. It is all earnest INTERCESSION with God, grave, 
 respectful, affectionate REMONSTRANCE with the mis- 
 guided man himself. Saul is boldly rebuked, and 
 that publicly, for his impious liberality in sparing 
 the Amalekites, yet so as not to dishonour him in 
 the presence of the people. Even when it became 
 necessary for God's prophet to shew that he was 
 in earnest, and give the most effectual of warnings, 
 by separating himself from so unworthy a person, 
 when " Samuel came no more to see Saul,"- 
 even then, we are told, he still " mourned for him." 
 
 On the same principle, come what may, we have 
 
 m i Sam. xv. 35. 
 
146 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 ill learned the lessons of our Church, if we permit 
 our patriotism to decay,, together with the pro- 
 tecting care of the State, " The powers that be 
 are ordained of God/* whether they foster the true 
 Church or no. Submission and order are still 
 duties. They were so in the days of pagan perse- 
 cution ; and the more of loyal and affectionate 
 feeling we endeavour to mingle with our obedience, 
 the better. 
 
 After all> the surest way to uphold or restore 
 our endangered Church, will be for each of her 
 anxious children, in his own place and station, to 
 resign himself more thoroughly to his God and 
 Saviour in those duties, public and private, which 
 are not immediately affected by the emergencies 
 of the moment : the daily and hourly duties, I 
 mean, of piety, purity, charity, justice. It will 
 be a consolation understood by every thoughtful 
 Churchman, that let his occupation be, apparently, 
 never so remote from such great interests, it is in 
 his power, by doing all as a Christian, to credit 
 and advance the cause he has most at heart ; and 
 what is more, to draw down God's blessing upon 
 it. This ought to be felt, for example, as one 
 motive more to exact punctuality in those duties, 
 personal and official, which the return of an Assize 
 week offers to our practice ; one reason more for 
 veracity in witnesses, fairness in pleaders, strict 
 impartiality, self-command, and patience, in those 
 on whom decisions depend ; and for an awful 
 
NATIONAL APOSTASY. 147 
 
 sense of God's presence in all. An Apostle once 
 did not disdain to urge good conduct upon his 
 proselytes of lowest condition, upon the ground, 
 that, so dping, they would adorn and recommend 
 the doctrine of God our Saviour". Surely, then, it 
 will be no unworthy principle, if any man be more 
 circumspect in his behaviour, more watchful and 
 fearful of himself, more earnest in his petitions for 
 spiritual aid, from a dread of disparaging the holy 
 name of the English Church, in her hour of peril, 
 by his own personal fault or negligence. 
 
 As to those who, either by station or temper, 
 feel themselves most deeply interested, they cannot 
 be too careful in reminding themselves, that one 
 chief danger, in times of change and excitement, 
 arises from their tendency to engross the whole 
 mind. Public concerns, ecclesiastical or civil, will 
 prove indeed ruinous to those, who permit them 
 to occupy all their care and thoughts, neglecting 
 or undervaluing ordinary duties, more especially 
 those of a devotional kind. ' 
 
 These cautions being duly observed, I do not 
 see how any person can devote himself too entirely 
 to the cause of the Apostolical Church in these 
 realms. There may be, as far as he knows, but a 
 very few to sympathise with him. He may have 
 to wait long, and very likely pass out of this world 
 before he see any abatement in the triumph of 
 disorder and irreligion. But, if he be consistent, 
 
 " Titus ii. 10, 
 L2 
 
148 NATIONAL APOSTASY. 
 
 he possesses, to the utmost, the personal consola- 
 tions of a good Christian : and as a true Church- 
 man, he has that encouragement, which no other 
 cause in the world can impart in the same degree : 
 he is calmly, soberly, demonstrably, SURE, that, 
 sooner or later, HIS WILL BE THE WINNING SIDE, and 
 that the victory will be complete, universal, eternaL 
 
 He need not fear to look upon the efforts of 
 Antichristian powers, as did the Holy Apostles 
 themselves, who welcomed the first persecution in 
 the words of the Psalmist : 
 
 " Why do the heathen rage, and the people 
 imagine a vain thing ? 
 
 " The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers 
 take counsel together, against the Lord, and against 
 His Anointed. 
 
 " For of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, 
 Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pon- 
 tius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of 
 Israel, were gathered together, 
 
 " FOR TO DO WHATSOEVER THY HAND AND THY 
 COUNSEL DETERMINED BEFORE TO BE DONE ." 
 
 Acts iv. 25 28. 
 
SERMON VII.* 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 TSAIAH xlix. 23. 
 
 And kings shall be thy nursing father s^ and their queens 
 thy nursing mothers. 
 
 THESE words, few and simple as they are, con- 
 tain in them the force of an entire parable, similar 
 in some respects to those affecting domestic pictures, 
 by which our Divine Master Himself delighted to 
 teach men sacred and saving truth. And perhaps 
 one may observe by the way, that this is a notion 
 which may be applied with some advantage to 
 many portions of the Old Testament, the prophe- 
 tical books more especially. What men, in a light 
 and superficial way, are accustomed to pass over as 
 mere ornaments of oriental poetry, may be found 
 on a closer inspection to contain whole treasures of 
 divine morality, applying immediately to the con- 
 duct of life. 
 
 There is indeed no occasion, respecting these 
 
 " Preached before the University on the 26th of June, 1835 : 
 the anniversary of William the Fourth's Accession. 
 
150 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 words of Isaiah in particular, to prove that we 
 are not over-straining figurative language, if we 
 apply them to cases now existing, and to the 
 circumstances of the Christian Church. For by 
 common consent of Christians they are so ap- 
 plied. All, I suppose, or nearly all, who receive 
 the holy Scriptures, are agreed in explaining this 
 famous hymn of Isaiah whether it be called pro- 
 phecy, or precept, or a mixture of both, all agree 
 to interpret it of the case of the Christian Church 
 since the time of Constantine. Even those, who 
 imagine it for the most part yet unfulfilled, looking 
 forward as they do to an sera of millennial happi- 
 ness, yet mix up that happiness so far with certain 
 circumstances of civil government, as to believe, 
 partly on the strength of this particular verse, that 
 the kings and rulers of this world are to be prime 
 agents in the glorious change they look for. And 
 it is notorious, that no one passage of holy Scrip- 
 ture is more continually in the mouths of those, 
 who, for some years past in this country, have been 
 engaged in vindicating the established order of 
 things, against the combined efforts of what I will 
 venture to call antichristian powers of sundry and 
 manifold denominations. Whenever the alliance 
 of Church and State has been attacked, they have 
 met the assailants with the plea, that Scripture 
 itself expressly points out the kings of this world 
 as the ordinary nursing fathers of the Church, and 
 their queens as her nursing mothers. And doubt- 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 151 
 
 less they have had great reason in so arguing : but 
 it may be questioned, whether the words have 
 always been taken in the exact meaning which the 
 holy Prophet intended : and what is a much more 
 serious consideration, it may be questioned whether 
 the misinterpretation of them be not one among 
 many encouragements to prevailing errors, which 
 are daily doing more and more mischief both to 
 governments and people, and to the whole Church 
 of God. 
 
 For is not the common interpretation of these 
 words nearly or exactly such as the following : viz. 
 that the Church, of herself feeble and helpless, 
 and so far like an infant, is committed by Divine 
 Providence to the care of the State, as any child 
 might be to the care of its nurse : consequently, 
 that it depends mainly on State support, and could 
 not well exist, at least could not in any sense flourish, 
 were that support withdrawn, any more than an 
 infant could go on and prosper without the at- 
 tending care of nurses ? From which inevitably a 
 tendency follows, to sacrifice more, much more, of 
 ecclesiastical rights to political expediency, than 
 would be sacrificed, if the Church were deemed 
 independent. 
 
 Now whether such a tendency, considering all 
 things, be right or wrong, wise or unwise whether 
 the Church, however naturally, in all Christian , 
 lands, allied to the State, were meant to remain 
 independent or no this is not our present question ; 
 
152 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 but simply, whether the analogy adopted by Isaiah 
 will justify the conclusion which has been so 
 frequently deduced from it : whether we are here 
 really taught by the voice of Inspiration to consider 
 the pillar and ground of the truth as an edifice 
 based in any measure on the will of man, however 
 enlightened, and however sincere. 
 
 It may perhaps appear, on a nearer consideration 
 of the passage, that the meaning is altogether 
 different : that instead of representing the Church 
 as dependent on the State, the holy Prophet in- 
 tended to point out the entire submission which 
 the State owes to the Church : that is, in other 
 words, the entire -submission which God's ministers 
 in temporal things owe to that great enduring plan, 
 which He has set on foot in a lost world for sub- 
 duing all things to Himself. 
 
 For it is plain on consideration of the context, 
 and indeed it is acknowledged by some of the 
 commentators, that when the Church is told, 
 Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, it is not meant 
 that the Church as an infant is lodged in the arms 
 of the civil power, but that as a mother she lodges 
 her children in its arms. The monarchs and 
 princesses of this world are as foster fathers and 
 foster mothers in the family of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and of His Spouse, the Holy Church 
 Universal. Let us observe how the image is 
 gradually introduced, and we shall see, I think, 
 that it is impossible to give it any other turn. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE, 153 
 
 First, Zion, or the Church, appears in the 
 prophetic vision, as a widowed and bereaved 
 woman. " Zion saith, The Lord hath forsaken 
 me, and my God hath forgotten me." As if not 
 enduring to hear her complain, the voice of the 
 heavenly Comforter immediately interposes : and 
 the chief topic of consolation is, " the children she 
 should have, after she had lost the other ;" or as 
 it stands literally, the " children of her bereave- 
 ment." " Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who 
 hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my 
 children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing 
 to and fro : and who hath brought up these ? 
 Behold, I was left alone ; these, where had they 
 been ? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will 
 lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my 
 standard to the people ; and they shall bring thy 
 sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be 
 carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be 
 thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
 mothers." 
 
 Is it not plain, that the office of the nursing 
 parents in the last sentence is the very same with 
 that described in the former one ? It is, to bring the 
 children of the Church in their arms, and to carry 
 them On their shoulders. The latter image will 
 be more exact and congruous, if we understand it, 
 as the phrase of the original directs, of an infant 
 borne in the usual way, partly on the arms and 
 partly on the bosom: according to the beautiful 
 
154 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 picture in the Book of Deuteronomy, in which the 
 Almighty condescends to represent Himself under 
 this very image of a nursing Father, taking charge 
 of Benjamin as His youngest child ; not without 
 allusion to the history of the patriarch Jacob. 
 " Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord 
 shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall 
 cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell 
 between his shoulders V that is, shall be carried 
 on his bosom, as a labouring man on a day of rest 
 takes delight in carrying his children. Whoever 
 will compare the two passages, even to the very 
 wording of the original, will see that they mean 
 one and the same thing : the same which Moses 
 also mentioned when he complained, that he had 
 to carry the people in his bosom, " as a nursing 
 father beneath a sucking child, to the land which 
 God sware unto their fathers c ." And Moses, it will 
 be observed, was by office a kind of type of the 
 civil power in the Church : so that the image of a 
 nursing father would almost seem appropriated^ 
 (ol/cetoz/,) to that subject : as that of a bride is to 
 the Church herself. 
 
 However, the image in Isaiah, as above explained, 
 is most distinct, and perfectly agreeable to the 
 context. Not so, if the words be understood in 
 what appears to be the more popular way : if the 
 sovereigns of earth be to nurse the Church herself, 
 and not to act as nurses under her. In such a 
 
 b Deut. xxxiii. 12. c Numbers xi. 12. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 155 
 
 construction there is a violent change of imagery,, 
 such as can hardly be paralleled in the prophetic 
 writings. The Church, which one sentence before 
 was an almost orphaned mother, in this sentence 
 would wear the person of a foundling child : an 
 alteration the more unnatural, since in the very 
 next clause she is again a majestic mother of 
 children : " They shall bow down to thee with 
 their faces to the earth, and shall lick the 
 dust of thy feet. ... I will contend with them 
 that contend with thee, and will save thy 
 children/' 
 
 Nor can it in reason be objected to this inter- 
 pretation, that the expression used is, " thy nursing 
 fathers and mothers :" since the same way of 
 speaking is used in other places : for example, the 
 persons who educated Ahab's children are called 
 " bringers up" or " nursing fathers" to Ahab d . 
 For indeed the term, however endearing, was in 
 those early times associated with slavery. Foster 
 parents were slaves, or at least dependents on some 
 large family : it was a name expressive of service, as 
 chamberlain or messenger might be. Accordingly 
 we see with what deference the nursing fathers 
 treat the mystical Mother in the vision : " They 
 bow themselves with their faces to the ground, 
 and lick up the dust of her feet." 
 
 There is indeed one following prophecy, which 
 might seem to countenance the ordinary inter- 
 d 2 Kings x. 1 . 
 
156 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 pretation of the place : namely, where in the 
 sixtieth chapter* it is promised, " Whereas thou 
 hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went 
 through thee, I will make thee an eternal excel- 
 lency, a joy of many generations. Thou shall also 
 suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shall suck the 
 breast of kings" It is clear however, on examining 
 the place, that " giving suck" and " yielding milk" 
 are here put, not as representing the office of a 
 foster parent, but simply to express that nothing, 
 in the days there spoken of, should be thought by 
 the former persecutors too near and dear to be 
 yielded up to God's people. The one passage is 
 not parallel to the other, and cannot therefore 
 affect our explanation of it. 
 
 The force of the prophetical imagery here being 
 thus in some sort ascertained, it may be well to 
 examine in detail its moral drift and meaning, 
 which the very terms of it shew to be strictly in 
 unison with the services of this, important day. 
 
 But first, that one may not seem to build too much 
 on the interpretation of a single verse, and that 
 in a highly poetical portion of Scripture, I would 
 just recommend to your consideration, whether the 
 meaning now assigned to that verse be not in sub- 
 stance identical with St. Paul's meaning in a passage 
 professedly didactic : I mean, where he tells the 
 Roman Christians, that the magistrate, even the 
 heathen magistrate, is "a minister of God to them for 
 e Ver. 16. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 157 
 
 good,"0eot> SLOLKOVOS croi elf TO ar/a6ov, And again, 
 that their rulers' expenses must be cheerfully paid, 
 because they are burthened in God's name with a 
 public service, Xeirovpyoi rov GeoO, The figure in- 
 deed adopted by the Apostle differs in some measure 
 from that which the Prophet had employed, the one 
 being taken from a republic, the other from a family ; 
 but there is no difference in the practical import 
 of the two. In both, civil governors are reminded 
 that they are far from independent ; they are in 
 the one place " ministers of God," in the other, 
 nursing fathers under the mystical Sion : in both is 
 declared the immense importance of their function 
 not only to the general welfare, but also to that of 
 each individual Christian ; St. Paul saying, " He is 
 the minister of God to thee for good ;" Isaiah, " Thy 
 sons and daughters," each of them, " shall be 
 carried and borne in their arms :" in both (to add 
 no more) the duty of submission all but unreserved 
 is most emphatically expressed or implied. 
 
 Bearing this agreement of the Prophet and 
 Apostle in mind, let us proceed to apply their 
 common sentiment as a sort of key to some of 
 the doubts and perplexities, which in the present 
 stage of God's providential government have arisen, 
 or may probably arise, from the blending of things 
 sacred and things civil. For (not to speak of 
 those who maintain, profanely and fanatically, that 
 the State, as such, ought not to be of any religion) 
 I suppose that there now are, and have been ever 
 
158 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 since there was a Church established in the world, 
 two distinct systems, views, or theories, to one or 
 other of which might be referred all opinions and 
 practices concerning what is called the Alliance of 
 Church and State. The one theory supposes it 
 one duty of the civil governor to protect and cherish 
 some religion, as one means among many for secur- 
 ing peace and order in his dominions : the other, 
 considering that there can be but one Church, the 
 one great system ordained by our Lord before His 
 Ascension into Heaven, to which all the promises 
 are made, assigns to civil governors in every land 
 their high Xeirovpyia, or ministry under that 
 Church, namely, to be nursing fathers to her 
 children, training them up in her principles, and 
 by her ordinances, bringing them to her, and keep- 
 ing them with her. Of these two systems, the two 
 interpretations of this famous verse of Isaiah may 
 be taken respectively as types, samples, or speci- 
 mens : and perhaps it may be no bad way of getting 
 at their comparative merits, if we compare their 
 respective results, on some of those branches of 
 duty, public and private, which naturally offer 
 themselves to a loyal Christian's contemplation, as 
 often as this good day returns. 
 
 To take individual duties first, and to begin with 
 that which is undoubtedly the prominent duty of 
 the day ; loyalty, or affectionate reverence to our 
 Sovereign. Surely the difference is not small, 
 whether we consider him as holding a sacred office,, 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 159 
 
 as ordained in a certain sense to perform certain 
 duties in the Church of God ; or simply as stationed 
 over us by God's providence, without any special 
 commission for the Church's welfare. No doubt, 
 a dutiful mind would honour and obey His Majesty 
 in any case : but in acting on the one opinion 
 there will be an immediate conviction of God's 
 presence, a sense of security in being on His side, 
 a humble hope that we are even working with God 
 in the great scheme of the Church Universal. All 
 this and more will be experienced by those who 
 consistently obey kings as the Church's chief 
 ministers, and cannot well be experienced by those 
 who obey them as merely invested with state 
 authority. GOD'S ANOINTED, ever was and will be a 
 phrase of deep and sacred meaning to such as have 
 the fear of God in their hearts. In the commonest 
 acts of submission to royal authority, they will 
 endeavour to have something of the same devout 
 feeling, with which they serve Him in His Church, 
 or listen, for His sake, to the recommendations of 
 His ministers : a feeling which beyond all others, 
 when duly practised, becomes by the blessing of 
 God its own reward. 
 
 Next, observe what an effect would be produced 
 by this same idea of kingly authority, in restraining 
 the tendency men have to speak evil of rulers. The 
 voice of inspiration teaches over and over, that 
 this practice, indulged and habitual, is one of the 
 most fearful symptoms of irreverence and practical 
 
160 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 atheism : yet it is a sin in which even well-disposed 
 persons are apt to go a good way, out of mere in- 
 consideration, or by way of conforming themselves 
 to the presumptuous liberties of the time. Surely 
 the very thing to check them would be, to recall 
 if possible the old notion, and persuade them, as 
 the truth is, that in wantonly speaking evil of 
 anointed Kings, they are just reviling God through 
 His chosen ministers. In sudden and continually 
 recurring temptations, such as this of evil-speak- 
 ing, not all the arguments that can be offered 
 regarding the mischief done to society, the ill effect 
 on our own minds, and the like, will ever be half 
 so available as the simple feeling that such and 
 such topics have something holy about them, and 
 require to be treated with a certain self-restraint, 
 such as keeps even thoughtless people silent in a 
 Church. 
 
 I may remark in passing, that this reverential 
 treatment of the King's name is the more needful to 
 be enforced, since in a great country like ours, and 
 according to the course of society in ordinary times, 
 it is really almost the only way, besides intercession, 
 public and private, whereby we may exercise and 
 cherish the feeling of loyalty, completely separated 
 as we are from the person of the King. I say, " in 
 ordinary times :" for at present, unhappily, there is 
 but too distinct a call on every Christian here, for 
 the direct exercise of loyalty, in discouraging in- 
 trusion on the plain rights of our Sovereign, more 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 161 
 
 or less openly menaced in so many quarters. But 
 on this painful topic no more shall be added than the 
 simple expression of an earnest wish, that all who are 
 any way engaged in that cause may remember that 
 it is a sacred cause, the cause of God ; as being 
 that of him who is in one sense Chief Minister 
 over this part of His Church. Pity that so many 
 should take it up as a mere struggle for just rights, 
 an effort to preserve liberty and property, or any 
 thing else which the world values. It is all that, 
 and much more : and surely we must beware, lest 
 by our unworthy and inadequate notions we forfeit 
 the blessing otherwise sure to attend on it, whether 
 visibly triumphant or no. 
 
 But in thus urging loyalty to Christian kings on 
 the ground of their being appointed agents in the 
 Church system, are we not, it may be asked, open- 
 ing a door to disloyalty, first in the case of unbe- 
 lieving or heretical governors, and next> if any 
 calling themselves Churchmen take part with the 
 world in oppressing the Church, and trampling on 
 her fundamental principles ? Are we not sanction- 
 ing what is commonly accounted one of the worst 
 errors of Rome, the notion that there is a visible 
 Church authority above the civil power, entitled 
 in certain cases to dispense with the subjects' 
 obedience ? 
 
 This may be imagined, but the contrary to all 
 this is the fact. So far from furnishing an incite- 
 ment to impatience and rebellion, there is no such 
 
 M 
 
162 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 security for quiet and Christian submission even 
 to abused authority, as a sense of that authority 
 proceeding from God, and forming a part of His 
 great everlasting plan : nothing which so reconciles 
 the mind to the thought of enduring it for its time, 
 as the knowing it to be, however perverted, a real 
 trust under Him for His Church. The experience 
 of the three first centuries is surely a sufficient 
 proof of this : a proof not to be invalidated by any 
 contradictions or exceptions which may appear 
 among the conflicts of the subsequent ages. It is 
 not to be doubted that even at that time the kings 
 of the earth had received their commission to be 
 nursing fathers of the Church, although, as yet, 
 they despised and rejected it. Accordingly, they 
 were even then to be owned, and they were con- 
 stantly owned, as ministers, XtLrovpyol, of the 
 Great King to Christian people for their good. No 
 personal oppression, no religious persecution, could 
 then tempt Christian subjects to mutiny. The 
 high destinies of the royal office being known 
 beforehand, it was held sacred, as for other bless- 
 ings to which God made it instrumental, so especially 
 for the work's sake which He had decreed it should 
 one day perform. Nor could any unworthiness 
 of the person ever at all desecrate the function, 
 or take away its claim to something like religious 
 reverence. 
 
 Thus it was before the rulers of the civilized 
 world had generally agreed to acknowledge them- 
 
CHURCH AND STATE, 163 
 
 selves, in the sense above explained, servants of 
 the Church of God. And thus it will be, we trust, 
 again, should the evil day occur, in which they 
 shall renounce that service, and consent to live, as 
 rulers, without God in the world. Then it will be 
 again seen, by His grace, that true religious loyalty 
 is independent of the worthiness of governors ; 
 and that while the Church ceases not, in her col- 
 lective character, and by her ordained instruments, 
 to reprove, rebuke, exhort even highest earthly 
 potentates, as having a true indefeasible authority 
 towards them, yet Churchmen individually will not 
 dare to meet the abuses of legitimate power by any 
 thing but firm remonstrance and patient suffering, 
 But what will be the result on the loyalty of 
 Christians towards rulers renouncing the Church, 
 supposing the prevalence of that which may be 
 called perhaps without offence the lower view of 
 the connection of Church and State ? If the office 
 of sovereign has nothing in it particularly sacred, 
 what is to secure the allegiance of Churchmen to 
 it, should it happen at any time or place to be 
 turned against the privileges and interests of the 
 Church ? Will not men presently begin to talk of 
 obedience and protection being reciprocal ; of an 
 ecclesiastical expediency, paramount to all alle- 
 giance ; of excusable resistance, forfeiture, and 
 virtual abdication ? Whereas no calculations of 
 what may seem momentarily expedient even for 
 the best of causes, no, nor yet " oppression, which 
 
 M2 
 
164 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 maketh even a wise man mad/' will ever move a 
 true consistent Churchman to rebellion, any more 
 than the personal errors of some prelates would 
 lead him to renounce Apostolical authority. 
 
 Thus on the simple principle of the civil ma- 
 gistrate being by God's ordinance an agent in the 
 great Church system, and so far a sacred person, 
 it would seem that all the duties of loyalty on the 
 part of individuals are sufficiently provided for : 
 and strengthened moreover by a sanction, such as 
 nothing at all, but that kind of heavenly inter- 
 position, could have afforded. 
 
 And here perhaps, naturally, our deductions from 
 the Prophet's principle of regal power would close : 
 the duty of governors, to the consideration of which 
 in the next place it would of course lead us, not 
 being a very proper subject for discussion on the 
 part of mere subjects. 
 
 But we of this country are, by God's providence, 
 so situated, that more or less of regal and public 
 duties have (if one may say so) devolved on us 
 generally. By the constitution of our country, we 
 are almost all of us, in some slight measure at 
 least, responsible for the acts of that country. Not 
 one so insignificant but he has his share in forming 
 what is called public opinion ; not one of us there- 
 fore but has reason to apprehend, that he will have 
 his share of account to give hereafter, for any great 
 national sin or neglect of the Church, of which in 
 our time our country may have been guilty. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 165 
 
 For this reason, and also with a view to the 
 right direction of our intercessions for our King 
 and country, and moreover because the sentiment 
 of the text more immediately leads the mind in that 
 direction; it may be right in conclusion to take 
 some notice of certain great public questions and du- 
 ties also, which instinctively occur to our thoughts, 
 as being most directly and materially affected by 
 such an intimation of the Divine Will. 
 
 First, whereas it is held by some that truth of 
 doctrine only, by others that peaceable and moral 
 tendencies only, are to be looked to by the governors 
 of a country, in determining what religion they will 
 encourage, or whether they will encourage any : 
 it seems, that if we would act on this and on other 
 like passages of the Prophets and Apostles, some- 
 thing beyond either truth or good tendency must 
 enter into our consideration. We must look to 
 the whole system of the Church as it was ordained 
 from the beginning ; to its external and visible, as 
 well as to its internal parts, its government and 
 Sacraments, as well as its doctrine and morals. 
 The whole system (I mean of course in all im- 
 portant points) is the rule to be established, as 
 nearly as circumstances allow. Otherwise, instead 
 of foster-fathers, entrusted to train the Church's 
 children according to the Church's own princi- 
 ples, we constitute ourselves judges, governors, 
 and directors, for the training and reforming the 
 Church herself. So doing, how acute soever our 
 
166 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 calculations, and benevolent our plans for our 
 fellow-men, we cannot with any shew of reason 
 pretend to that highest honour, of being God's 
 fellow-labourers, in building up that holy house- 
 hold, of which Jesus Christ is the Head Corner 
 Stone. 
 
 For this reason, though one would speak ten- 
 derly of many of those bodies which have thought 
 themselves excused in dispensing with the holy 
 Apostolical Succession in their ministry, yet surely 
 it is most unwise, and I will add most unkind, to 
 speak of those bodies as if they could be sure of a 
 full inheritance of sacramental grace ; or as though 
 any state were free by God's word to choose be- 
 tween their form, and that of the Apostles : modes 
 of speaking, which can never be justified by Scrip- 
 ture, and which are clearly against the whole stream 
 and current of Antiquity. 
 
 And should that turn out true, which experience 
 seems daily to indicate ; that this same slighted 
 succession is the fore-appointed safeguard of the 
 integrity of our Lord's holy Sacraments, and that 
 again of the integrity of His fundamental doctrines ; 
 much indeed will they have to answer for, who 
 so disparage it, whether out of a false charity, or 
 merely in a loose unguarded way of discourse. 
 And this is a very practical matter. Conversations 
 requiring the above caution are continually oc- 
 curring : and opportunities arise oftener than might 
 be wished, of according or denying one's sanction 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 167 
 
 to laxer systems, by actual religious communion, 
 or refusal to communicate, with their followers. 
 
 With regard to another great point on which 
 discussions are continually arising; the view which 
 a Christian commonwealth ought to take of the 
 endowments of the Church : I could almost be 
 content with a fair opponent to try the whole issue 
 by appeal to this single verse ; " Kings shall be 
 thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
 mothers." Governments then are put in trust by 
 Almighty God with the office of cherishing the 
 children of the Church, as such : and it is not the 
 duty or the custom of faithful nurses to deal out 
 grudgingly the least that will support the infant. 
 Their charge is too tender and precious to be set 
 aside for any inconvenience : it must be attended 
 to at all events, whatever else appear to be neg- 
 lected. 
 
 Again, the office of rulers is a XtLrovpyia, an 
 honourable public burthen : they are not therefore 
 justified in seeking out ways to serve God which will 
 cost them nothing. Such was the noble sentiment 
 of King David ; what a contrast does it make with 
 those, which seem now to be avowed as the standing 
 principles of most of the governments called free 
 in Christendom! Does not the comparison fear- 
 fully convict this generation, of having quite lost 
 the likeness of the man after God's own heart ? 
 
 As to the amount of the sacred endowment : 
 tithe among Christians was no doubt given on a 
 
168 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 principle of generous piety. Nature teaches, and 
 Scripture encourages, the honouring Almighty God 
 with the choice of our substance ; and He Himself, 
 both before and after Moses, graciously approved 
 the Tenth as a fit proportion. In days when men 
 served God on Church principles, and not on prin- 
 ciples of their own invention, the intimations of 
 Scripture on this point were held sufficient. Signs 
 were then given, that He would approve the gift 
 of one Tenth ; and with the Tenth accordingly He 
 was honoured over the greater part of the Christian 
 world. What things have come to now, we see : 
 but we see not yet half the fatal result. In the 
 mean time it is rather saddening to observe, that 
 the defenders of the Church in resisting her spoilers 
 are reduced to dwell on nothing so much as the 
 danger of unsettling the rights of property : as if 
 there were no such thing as sacrilege, no mention 
 in Scripture of robbing God, no specification of 
 tithes and offerings as the subject of such robbery, 
 no curse on that whole nation, which shall ever be 
 accessory to the like proceedings. After all allow- 
 ance made for the necessity of meeting other 
 people's prejudices, our tone would not surely be 
 so lowered, we should not so entirely wave the 
 point of Church property being the property of 
 God, if we had not now of a long time been used 
 to take a low tone about the Church herself, and 
 to think little of God's presence within her, and 
 of the way in which He is graciously pleased to 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 169 
 
 identify, if I may so speak, His interests with 
 hers. 
 
 The same studious lowering of tones and views 
 is observable in regard of another analogous and 
 most material part of the holy system of the 
 Church : the observance of the Lord's Day. The 
 Church's provision for her little ones, grounded 
 on the word of God, is one tenth of our sub- 
 stance, and one seventh of our time : and it is 
 the business of those entrusted to nurse them, 
 the Christian legislators and magistrates of every 
 country, to guard as much as possible against 
 their being defrauded of either privilege, the latter 
 more especially, since God's Providence has more 
 expressly called attention to it, by the mention 
 made of it in the Decalogue. But there are some 
 who would set the State above the Church, that 
 is, Earth above Heaven, in this respect also, that 
 they would denounce it as tyrannical, were a 
 Christian government to interfere with the pro- 
 faners of the holy day, even in the mildest way of 
 protection for those who wish to keep it. And so 
 far is the Church system forgotten, that others, 
 who feel the sanctity of the subject, are fain to 
 rest their argument on the sanctions of the elder 
 covenant, in a manner which themselves would be 
 the first to denounce on many other topics which 
 might be mentioned. Whereas, would they consent 
 to accept the Church's authority, as a sufficient 
 warrant for the difference between that and all 
 
170 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 other days,, and to regard Christian governments 
 as appointed Church guardians over the weaker 
 and more helpless sort especially, not in respect 
 of this only, but of all other Christian privileges ; 
 they might not indeed meet with more success in 
 their well-meant efforts,, than they do at present, 
 but they would at least bear a consistent and 
 valuable testimony to sound principles in a corrupt 
 and presumptuous age. 
 
 For indeed this matter of the Lord's Day is 
 only one point of many in the great trust of 
 educating, in the largest sense, the children of the 
 Church ; which trust includes the greater and 
 weightier part of the duty of her nursing fathers. 
 
 Speaking of education as Christians, of course 
 we understand not the management of children 
 only, but of such as are children by station, under- 
 standing, or prejudice : and not merely regular 
 instruction in Church doctrine, but regular com- 
 munication also of Church privileges : that being 
 in a manner true of the law of every Christian 
 land, which the Apostle affirms concerning the 
 Law of Moses : it is in the Divine purpose, and 
 ought to be in effect, a kind of " schoolmaster to 
 bring us to Christ." Thus, the idea of the State as 
 a foster-parent will illustrate those delicate ques- 
 tions, how far error is to be tolerated : when and 
 in what measure even penal interference may be a 
 Christian duty, interference, I mean, not of course 
 with opinions, but with the reckless propagation 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 171 
 
 of them : what outward tests or sanctions may be 
 wisely adopted or relaxed from time to time, for 
 the encouragement of holy truth, and discounte- 
 nance of antichristian error. All these points are 
 included in the analogy drawn by the Scriptures 
 from nursing parents. And the passage in Isaiah 
 suggests the thought, whether Christian sovereigns 
 be not appointed agents especially in the work of 
 propagating the Gospel where yet unknown. " I 
 will lift up Mine Hand to the Gentiles, and set up 
 My standard to the people ; and they shall bring 
 thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be 
 carried upon their shoulders ; and kings shall be 
 thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
 mothers." Surely it is a mean and low ambition 
 in these statesmen of our time, which casts aside 
 these promises, and thinks it more noble to be free 
 from a Church, which would employ them in such 
 a career as this. 
 
 In sum : if there be one thing more than another 
 utterly condemned and shut out by that principle 
 of Church and State connection, which Moses and 
 the Prophets have delivered, and on which the 
 Church in her better days acted, the principle of 
 the State being bound to foster the Church's off- 
 spring : it is the disposition to insolent indiffer- 
 ence, and leaving things to take care of themselves. 
 And is not this the very disposition which bears sway 
 at present in what is called enlightened society ? 
 Men seern inclined to declare with one voice, We 
 
172 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 may for such and such reasons for a while patronize 
 this or that Church : but we will not serve the 
 Church ; we will not believe that there is a great 
 universal plan, established by our Lord after His 
 Resurrection, and now abiding in the world : we 
 will not submit ourselves to any such claim. 
 
 In reply, we can only remind them, that the 
 following words are the words of God, and were 
 undoubtedly addressed to the Church, whose au- 
 thority they reject : " The nation and kingdom 
 which will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those 
 nations shall be utterly wasted." 
 
 May God withhold the judgment from our 
 country, and enable us to do something, each in 
 his own sphere, however humble, towards that 
 nursing care of Christ's little ones, which only can 
 give a chance of averting it ! 
 
SERMON VIII. a 
 
 PRIMITIVE TRADITION RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 2 TIM. i. 14. 
 
 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the 
 Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. 
 
 WHATEVER men may severally anticipate con- 
 cerning the final issue of the many anxious dis- 
 cussions which at present occupy the Catholic 
 Church in England, all, I suppose, must feel that 
 for the time they occasion a great perplexity and 
 doubtfulness of mind. We are beset on every side 
 (the clergy more especially) with conflicting diffi- 
 culties, and temptations to unworthy compromise. 
 That man must be either very confident in the 
 accuracy of his own views, or very highly favoured 
 in respect of clearness of judgment, or very suc- 
 cessful in keeping himself out of the way of all 
 controversy, who has not repeatedly found himself 
 
 a Preached in the Cathedral Church of Winchester, at the 
 Visitation of the Worshipful and Reverend William Dealtry, D.D, 
 Chancellor of the Diocese, Septemher 27, 1836. 
 
174 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 at a loss, within the last seven years, on such 
 points as the following: What are the limits of 
 the civil power in ecclesiastical matters, and how 
 far we may venture in the way of submission with- 
 out sacrifice of Church principle : how the freedom 
 of the Anglican Church may be vindicated against 
 the exorbitant claims of Rome, and yet no dis- 
 paragement ensue of the authority inherent in 
 the Catholic Apostolical Church: again, how the 
 method of voluntary combination, so generally 
 resorted to in our days for important ecclesiastical 
 objects, may be reconciled with entire deference 
 to episcopal prerogative ; how Christ's ministers 
 may " study to be quiet," and yet do their duty 
 as watchmen, and not let their people slumber in 
 the midst of danger ; and how they may best unite 
 unwearied meekness in judging, and active Chris- 
 tian love, with strict reserve and timely censure 
 towards every one that walketh disorderly. The 
 time was, not long since, when many of these 
 points appeared to most of us as mere historical 
 curiosities. We felt, perhaps, that they were, 
 abstractedly, of grave importance, but we thanked 
 God that our lot was cast in times which required 
 not of us, as pastors and stewards in Christ's 
 service, any distinct consideration and settled 
 views concerning them. Now things are different : 
 the course of God's providence has permitted the 
 enemies or prompted the defenders of the Church 
 to lay bare her very foundations ; and it has be- 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 175 
 
 come imperative on us all, in discharge of our 
 Ordination vows, to make up our minds as well 
 as we can, and endeavour to see our own way, on 
 points which we should gladly, if we might, have 
 taken on trust. 
 
 It cannot be safe to shrink from this duty, and 
 say, as many seem inclined to do, that we could 
 bear persecution itself better than the perplexity 
 of considering such things, or the responsibility of 
 deciding for ourselves, and agitating others, con- 
 cerning them. We have put our hand to the 
 plough, and we must not we dare not look back. 
 It is too late for sworn and ordained Priests and 
 Ministers in the Church of God to dream of draw- 
 ing back from responsibility. The nature of the 
 case contradicts the very thought. For what re- \ 
 sponsibility can be more fearful than his, who indo- 
 lently and unthinkingly gives his assent to changes, 
 which, for aught he knows, may prove not only 
 ruinous in the event, but in theory and principle 
 also opposed to the truths and ordinances where- 
 with Christ has put him in trust ? Dismissing, 
 therefore, as a snare of our great enemy, the false 
 comfort which many of us, perhaps, are too much 
 inclined to take to ourselves, from a notion that by 
 not interfering we keep ourselves irresponsible, let 
 us see whether the unprejudiced study of those 
 parts of Scripture, which are obviously best suited 
 to our case, may not supply us with a better and 
 more genuine comfort, by furnishing some one clear 
 
176 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 and unquestionable rule, which may go a good way 
 in guiding us rightly, independent of all results : 
 shewing us where our chief responsibility lies, 
 and to which, among interests and duties appa- 
 rently conflicting, we are bound always to give the 
 preference. 
 
 It is natural, in such an inquiry, to turn imme- 
 diately to the two Epistles to Timothy, especially 
 the last. For undoubtedly it must have been to 
 that holy Bishop a time of very great perplexity, 
 when his guide and father in the faith was on the 
 eve of departing from him: the heretics also, as 
 appears from many passages, already beginning to 
 infest the Asiatic Churches, according to St. Paul's 
 own prophecy. It appears from the opening of the 
 second Epistle, that when all doubt was taken 
 away as to St. Paul's approaching martyrdom, his 
 affectionate disciple was in danger of being over- 
 whelmed by his sorrow for so great a loss, joined 
 to his sense of the heavy burden which would be 
 laid on himself, now left comparatively alone. To 
 these two feelings in the breast of Timothy, the 
 Apostle in his farewell letter addresses himself: re- 
 membering, as he says b , the tears which Timothy 
 had shed, perhaps when they had last parted from 
 each other, and longing the more for the satis- 
 faction of seeing him again. In the mean time, 
 there are two words, which he seems studiously 
 to repeat over and over, that he may leave them 
 
 " Ch. iii. 4. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 177 
 
 sounding,, as it were, in his disciple's ears, for 
 remembrancers of the two duties most pressing 
 at the moment : KAKOIIA0H2ON, and IIAPAKATA- 
 HKH : " endure hardness," and " keep that com- 
 mitted to thy charge." 
 
 First, with reference to the dejection of mind, 
 by which Timothy was then suffering: "endure 
 hardness/' says the Apostle , " as a good soldier of 
 Jesus Christ ;" " endure d affliction, make full proof 
 of thy ministry ;" " be thou e partaker of the afflic- 
 tion of the Gospel, according to the power of God." 
 The drift of all which warnings is the same as 
 where he reminds the Thessalonians f , "When we 
 were with you, we told you that we should 
 suffer tribulation ; even as it came to pass, and 
 ye know." Affliction, hardness, trial, tribulation, is 
 the very atmosphere of the Gospel ministry : we 
 never had cause to expect any thing else. " Do 
 not, therefore," (so the Apostle implies,) " do not 
 shrink thus over-tenderly from the thought of losing 
 me, which, you now see, comes into your ordained 
 portion of trouble." " Be not ashamed of the 
 testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner ;" 
 do not carry your affectionate regret so far as 
 almost to cause an appearance of defective faith. 
 Do not take it to heart so very bitterly, as if you 
 in some sort regretted your Christian engagement, 
 finding so much to be borne beyond your expect- 
 ation ; as if you were sorry that you had put so 
 
 Ch. ii. 3. d Ch. iv. 5. Ch. i. 8. f 1 Thess. iii. 4. 
 
 N 
 
178 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 much confidence in me. But, instead of vain 
 regret, take comfort in doing your duty ; resort 
 to that fountain of supernatural grace which was 
 opened for you when you were consecrated to be 
 an Apostle. " Remember that thou stir up the 
 gift of God which is in thee by the imposition of 
 my hands. For the Spirit which we both of us 
 then received was not a spirit of fear," of unworthy 
 sadness and cowardice ; excessive, unreasonable 
 dejection can be no fruit of it. 
 
 Such were the tender expostulations and chidings 
 of St. Paul, well beseeming the kindest and most 
 thoughtful of parents recalling his own son in the 
 faith to a manly firmness. Then, in the temper of 
 a noble and true soldier, he propounds his own ex- 
 ample, teaches his younger comrade the way of con- 
 solation which he found most effectual for himself. 
 " Because I am ordained a herald and apostle 
 and teacher, I suffer these things : but I am not 
 ashamed, for I know in Whom I have believed, 
 and am persuaded that He is able to keep that 
 which I have committed unto Him against that 
 day." And elsewhere g , " I suffer evil, as a male- 
 factor, even unto bonds, but the word of God is 
 not bound." What can be more animating, what 
 more affecting, than to witness a person like St. 
 Paul, full of conscious energy, power, and useful- 
 ness, thus devoutly reconciling himself to that 
 which, humanly speaking, would have seemed the 
 * Ch. ii. 9. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 179 
 
 most untimely interruption of his labours ? It is \ 
 clear, I think, that even St. Paul found this a severe 
 struggle ; but he cheers himself, as in his former 
 imprisonment ; when he wrote to the Philippians, 
 that the taunts of his enemies on his confinement 
 had turned out rather to the furtherance of the 
 Gospel, causing his bonds in Christ to be spoken 
 of in the palace of the Caesars, and in all places : 
 so that even those who in speaking of his sufferings 
 meant nothing but envy and strife, did in a manner 
 " preach Christ ;" make His Gospel known, and 
 draw popular attention to His Name h . Such I 
 take to be the true meaning of that often alleged 
 text ; far from conveying the encouragement, which 
 some think they find in it, to irregular and schis- 
 matical efforts, but fraught with abundant con- 
 solation for those, who being anxious for the 
 Church in evil times, feel themselves precluded 
 from active exertions on her behalf. They can 
 always say to themselves, " The Word of God is 
 not bound : He can make even envy and strife 
 involuntary heralds of His cause." Their fidelity 
 in acting while they could is rewarded with the 
 assurance of a strong faith, that when their work is 
 over, God's eternal and glorious work is still in 
 progress, although they cannot see how. 
 
 But we dare not take this comfort to ourselves, 
 we dare not, in those instances where we find 
 the Church bound and fettered, mitigate our 
 
 h See Note (A) at the end of ihis Sermon. 
 
 N2 
 
180 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 regret by exulting remembrance of the expansive 
 inherent force of divine truth, except we be 
 really, in some tolerable measure, doing our best 
 for her, so far as we are at liberty. The sense of 
 our own responsibility, and of our faithfulness to it, 
 must lie at the root of all true and solid consolation. 
 
 To this, therefore, as the one thing needful, 
 both for the cause and for himself, the Apostle 
 most emphatically bespeaks his disciple's attention. 
 He loses no opportunity of reminding him of the 
 TrapaKaTaOrjKri, the charge, trust, deposit, which 
 had been left jointly in both their hands, and in 
 the hands of all commissioned as they were. 
 Observe how naturally, with what dexterity of 
 affection, he passes from the mention of his own 
 trust to that of the same trust as committed to 
 Timothy : " I am not ashamed, for I know in 
 Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He 
 is able to keep my deposit, rrjv TrapaKaraOrjKrjv JULOV, 
 against that day. Hold fast the form," or, " abide by 
 the pattern or standard, of wholesome words which 
 thou hast heard from me, by faith and love which 
 is in Christ Jesus. That good thing committed 
 unto thee" (literally, the good and noble deposit) 
 " keep, by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." 
 
 Surely these are words in which we ourselves 
 are concerned, as deeply as he was, to whom 
 they were first written. We are so far in Timothy's 
 case, that we are full of sorrow and perplexity at 
 the condition in which we find the Church and 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 181 
 
 Body of Christ Jesus : we would fain lay hold of \ 
 Timothy's and St. Paul's consolation: let us first j 
 see to it, that we neglect not the warning given. \ 
 To the companion of Apostles that warning was 
 plain and simple. The duty imposed on him, , 
 paramount to all others, was simply to keep safe 
 and entire a certain trust committed to his charge ; 
 to that one vital object all considerations of present 
 expediency, temporal comfort, visible, apparent 
 edification, were to give way. What that treasure 
 was, Timothy could not be ignorant ; nor yet 
 could he be doubtful as to the celestial aid, by 
 which, if not wanting to himself, he would surely 
 be enabled to preserve it. But in both respects 
 some consideration is requisite, before we of this 
 day can fully apply the case to ourselves. It is 
 not obvious at first sight, what this trust or trea- 
 sure was : nor (of course) whether we are partakers 
 of it : and even supposing those points settled, 
 there might still remain a doubt, whether we have 
 the same help for the faithful discharge of our 
 trust, the Holy Ghost dwelling in us. The con- 
 sideration of these points in their order may not 
 unfitly employ us on the present occasion. 
 
 1. And, first, as to the exact notion which we 
 are to attach to the word TrapaKaraOrjKr]^ " trust or 
 deposit," in this place : I observe, that the very 
 use of so general a word with the article implies 
 that it had been by that time received among 
 Christians as a term (if one may so speak) of their 
 
128 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 t 
 
 own, a part of the vocabulary of the holy Catholic 
 Church. A diligent eye may detect, in St. Paul's 
 Epistles, many traces of the like use of language : 
 current sayings, or senses of words, or formulae, 
 which the Apostle only just alludes to, as well 
 known to all his readers. For instance, the ex- 
 pression, " This is a faithful saying," which occurs 
 repeatedly in these latter Epistles, indicates, in all 
 probability, so many Christian proverbs, familiar 
 in the mouths of that generation of believers. 
 Thus in the first Epistle to Timothy, we have, 
 " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all men 
 to be received, that ' Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners 1 :' This is a faithful saying, 
 ' If a man desire the office of a Bishop, he desireth 
 a good work k ;' This is a faithful saying, ' That 
 therefore we both labour, and suffer reproof, 
 because we trust in the living God, Who is the 
 Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe V " 
 In the second Epistle m , " It is a faithful saying, ' If 
 we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him ; 
 if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him ; if we 
 deny Him, He also will deny us/" And to Titus, 
 after a brief summary of the Gospel way of salvation, 
 which by the exact rhythm and order of its mem- 
 bers might almost appear to be part of a primitive 
 hymn n , St. Paul adds the same clause, " Faithful 
 is the saying." From all which I argue, that there 
 
 ' Ch. i. 15. k Ch. iii. 1. ' Ch. iv. 9, 10. 
 
 m Ch. ii. 11. n See Note (B) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 183 
 
 was a certain set of " sayings" currenf among the 
 Christians of that time, to which any allusion or 
 appeal, however brief, would be presently under- 
 stood. Nor will it be hard to find examples of 
 single words, which had evidently acquired by that 
 time a Christian sense ; so that, even when usecf 
 absolutely, they could only be taken by Christians 
 in a particular relation : such words, I mean, as 
 TO jjivcrTrjpLov, for " the scheme of supernatural 
 truth revealed in the Gospel, and more especially 
 in the doctrine of our Lord's incarnation ;" o e%ffpef) 
 for " the evil spirit ;" 77 oSos, for " the profession of 
 Christianity." These, and other examples which 
 might be mentioned, make it surely not incredible, 
 that rj TrapaK.aTaOrjK'Yji " the deposit, trust, or 
 charge," conveyed to Christian ears in those days a 
 peculiar and definite, I had almost said, a technical, 
 meaning. 
 
 Now both this word and its kindred term, 77 
 tvroXrj, " the commandment," are mentioned in 
 connection with errors to be avoided in doctrine. 
 Thus, Timothy is warned" to <e keep the deposit, 
 avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppo- 
 sitions of science falsely so called." Again, on 
 mention made of the "good confession," made by the 
 same Timothy "before many witnesses," at the time 
 of his first calling to eternal life, which " good 
 confession" can only mean the Apostles' Creed, or 
 some corresponding formula, recited at baptism, 
 
 n 1 Tim. vi. 20. 
 
184 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 St. Paul proceeds thus : " I exhort thee before God 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who before Pontius 
 Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep 
 the commandment without spot, unrebukable, until 
 the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Does not 
 this appear as if " the confession" in the former 
 verse had suggested the caution about " the com- 
 mandment" or " commission" in the latter ? and 
 if so, what more probable than that " the com- 
 mission" means the same treasure of doctrine which 
 we know to have been embodied in the Confession 
 or Creed ? 
 
 This interpretation of the noun TrapaKaTaQrjKTj, 
 " deposit," is confirmed by the repeated use of the 
 kindred verb, 9ropar&6cr0a*j " to entrust, or com- 
 mit," in reference to Christian doctrine. For ex- 
 ample, " This commandment I commit unto thee, 
 son Timothy, that thou mightest charge some that 
 they preach no other doctrine*" Elsewhere (a 
 passage which seems to be sufficient alone to 
 warrant the proposed interpretation) Timothy is 
 instructed concerning the things which he had 
 heard from St. Paul, " before many witnesses," that 
 is, as it should seem, at a kind of public charge at 
 his ordination : these he is directed to commit or 
 entrust " to faithful men, who shall be able to teach 
 others also p ." Ability to teach is the thing re- 
 quired : it is plain, therefore, that the test related 
 principally to doctrtne\ 
 
 1 Tim. i. 18, 3. p 2 Tim. ii. 2. ' See Note (C) at 
 
 the end of this Sermon. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 185 
 
 Further, it will be observed that the phrase of/ 
 the Apostle is absolute : the trust, not your trust ; 
 the great frust of all, in which whosoever partici- 
 pates has reason to consider himself especially re- 
 sponsible to the great Judge of heaven and earth. 
 And it is implied that the charge of St. Paul and 
 that of Timothy were one and the same. " Keep 
 the good deposit/' says the Apostle, " by the Holy 
 Ghost which dwelleth in us" Now what St. Paul's 
 trust was, the trust uppermost in his heart, he 
 himself teaches, exclaiming, " I have fought a good 
 fight, I have finished my course, / have kept the 
 faith 7 !' He does not say, " I have kept the flock, 
 I have kept those left in my charge ;" but, " I have 
 kept the faith, the truth of Christ, the doctrine of 
 the Gospel. I have watched it, and preserved it 
 entire." Great as was the holy Apostle's anxiety 
 for the souls which God had put under his care, 
 his anxiety for the system of Christ, the kingdom 
 of heaven, did at that moment apparently engross 
 him more entirely. And it is clearly probable, that 
 what he felt himself to be the main care, the chief 
 trust of all, that he would recommend to his disciple 
 in such words as those of the text, " That good 
 thing which is committed unto thee, keep ;" espe- 
 cially considering that those words immediately 
 follow a caution which can only relate to doctrinal 
 formulae : " Hold fast," as a model for thyself, 
 " the form of sound words," the course of healthful, 
 orthodox interpretations and doctrines, " which 
 r 2 Tim. iv. 7. 
 
186 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 thou hast heard of me." That " form of sound 
 words/' is it not obviously the same with " the 
 good deposit" in the next verse ? 
 
 Thus the context leads to the same exposition 
 which, as we have seen, the parallel passages 
 suggest an exposition ratified also by the general 
 consent of Christian antiquity. The good deposit 
 is commonly understood by the Fathers to mean 
 the truths committed by St. Paul to Timothy. 
 Thus, in the paraphrase ascribed to St. Jerome 8 : 
 " Watch over the deposit of the faith, entrusted 
 to thy keeping by us. What thou hast not heard 
 of me, though it were spoken by an angel, receive 
 it not willingly." And a venerable Father of the 
 third century, Hippolytus, having quoted the ex- 
 pressions, " O Timothy, keep that which is com- 
 mitted to thy charge," and, " The things which 
 thou hast heard of me before many witnesses, the 
 same commit to faithful men," remarks *, that " the 
 
 * " Commendatum a nobis servandum tibi fidei depositum 
 custodi. Quod a me non audisti, nee ab angelo si dicatur, libenter 
 admittas." T. ix. 388. ed. Froben. Basil. 
 
 1 "Opa Se p.rj els dirla-TOVs KOI &Xao-(pr)[J.ovs -yXeoo-cras eyKa.Ta.df) ravra' 
 Kivbwos yap ov% 6 rv^utv /neraSoy de evXaftecri xal mcrTols dv6pa>7rois 
 TOLS (6e\ov<Tiv 60-icos Kai ducaias pera (p6ftov r)v' ov yap p.drr]v 6 
 fxafcapios 'ATTOoroAos irapaivwv TifioBeco \eye.t' T ii TipoQee, TTJV TrapaKara- 
 6f)Kr)v <pv\aov, fUTpeTropevos, K. K. X. Kat TrdXtv .... a fjKovcras Trap' 
 tpov Sia TroXXcov 7rapaK\rj(T0)V t ravra Trapdflov TTIO-TOLS dv6p<a7rois, K. T. X. 
 Et ovv 6 pandpios per evXafteias Trapedidov ravra, arrep ajra<riv evyvaxrra 
 ty, /SXeTrcov rw Hvevpari, on ov navra>v TJV 17 nicrris' TTOO-O) /xaXXoj/ r)p.els 
 Kiv^vveixro/jieVt el ebrXaJs KOI a>s erv^e TO TOV 0eov Xoyia p.eTadwo'op.ev 
 ftfftrjXois Kal dvaiois dv8pd<riv ; Dem. de Christo et Antichristo, ap. 
 Biblioth. Patrum, Gallandi, t. ii. p. 418. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 187 
 
 blessed Apostle used religious care in delivering 
 these truths, which were easily accessible to all." 
 And Vincent of Lerins u ; " Keep," says the Apostle, 
 " that which is committed to thy charge ; the 
 Catholic faith, as a talent, preserve thou inviolate 
 and unalloyed." 
 
 Upon the whole we may assume with some con- 
 fidence, that the good thing left in Timothy's charge, 
 thus absolutely to be kept at all events, was the 
 treasure of Apostolical doctrines and Church rules x : 
 the rules and doctrines which made up the charter 
 of Christ's kingdom. 
 
 2. The next question to be settled is, whether 
 the precept in the text apply literally to us : that is, 
 in other words, whether we have yet in our pos- 
 session the identical deposit which St. Paul left with 
 Timothy. For, if we have, mere natural piety would 
 teach us to reverence and guard it as he was 
 required to do. 
 
 " Commonit. c. xii. " Quid est depositum p id est, quod tibi 
 creditum est, non quod a te inventum; quod accepisti, non quod 
 excogitasti ; rein non ingenii, sed doctrinse ; non usurpationis 
 privatse, sed publicse traditionis ; rem ad te perductam, non a te 
 prolatam ; in qua non auctor debes esse, sed custos ; non institutor, 
 sed sectator; non ducens, sed sequens. ' Depositum,' inquit, 
 ' cu*,lodi; catholica jidei talentum inviolatum illibatumque con- 
 serva." 
 
 * The insertion of " Church rules" here has been objected to^ 
 as not being warranted by the preceding citations. But the Sa- 
 craments, at least, were from the beginning Church rules; and 
 were not they part- of the trust committed to Timothy, in common 
 with all " Stewards of the Mysteries of God ?" 
 
188 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 Some will reply to this question at once, We 
 have the holy Scriptures, and we know for certain 
 that they contain all that is important in Timothy's 
 trust. These would resolve the custody of the good 
 deposit into the simple duty of preserving the Scrip- 
 tures incorrupt, and maintaining them in their due 
 estimation among Christians. Undoubtedly this 
 would be in some respects the least troublesome, 
 if it could be proved the most correct and dutiful 
 way. But can it be so proved ? 
 
 We are naturally, if not reasonably, jealous of 
 the word Tradition, associated as it is in our minds 
 with the undue claims and pernicious errors of 
 Rome. Yet must it not be owned, on fair con- 
 sideration, that Timothy's deposit did comprise 
 matter, independent of, and distinct from, the truths 
 which are directly Scriptural? that it contained, 
 besides the substance of Christian doctrine, a certain 
 form, arrangement, selection, methodizing the whole, 
 and distinguishing fundamentals ; and also a certain 
 system of Church practice, both in government, 
 discipline, and worship ; of which, whatever portion 
 we can prove to be still remaining, ought to be re- 
 ligiously guarded by us, even for the same reason 
 that we reverence and retain that which is more 
 properly Scriptural, both being portions of the same 
 divine treasure. 
 
 To these conclusions we are led by the con- 
 sideration, first, that the truths and rules committed 
 to Timothy's charge were at the time almost or 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 wholly unwritten. This is clear from the very 
 date of the Epistles which mention that charge : 
 the latest of which must have been composed many 
 years before St. John's Gospel, and in the first of 
 them the deposit in question is spoken of, not as 
 an incomplete thing on its progress towards per- 
 fection, but as something so wholly sufficient, so 
 unexceptionably accurate, as to require nothing 
 but fidelity in its transmitters y . The holy writings 
 themselves intimate, that the persons to whom 
 they were addressed were in possession of a body 
 of truth and duty, totally distinct from themselves, 
 and independent of them. Timothy, for instance, 
 a few verses after the text, is enjoined to take 
 measures for the transmission, not of holy Scripture, 
 but of the things which he had heard of St. Paul 
 among many witnesses 2 . The Thessalonians had 
 been exhorted to hold the traditions which they 
 had received, whether by word or apostolical 
 letter*. They could not be exhorted to hold the 
 Christian Scriptures, since at that time in all pro- 
 bability no Christian Scriptures yet existed, except 
 perhaps St. Matthew's Gospel. Much later we 
 find St. Peter declaring to the whole body of 
 Oriental Christians, that in neither of his Epistles 
 did he profess to reveal to them any new truth or 
 duty, but to " stir up their minds by way of remem- 
 brance of the commandment of the Apostles of the 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 3 ; vi. 14, 20. * 2 Tim. ii. 2. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 15. 
 
190 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 Lord and Saviour V St. John refers believers, for 
 a standard of doctrine, to the word which they had 
 heard from the beginning 6 , and intimates that it 
 was sufficient for their Christian communion if that 
 word abode in them. If the Word, the Command- 
 ment, the Tradition, which the latest of these 
 holy writers severally commend in these and similar 
 passages, meant only or chiefly the Scriptures 
 before written, would there not appear a more 
 significant mention of those Scriptures ; something 
 nearer the tone of our own divines, when they are 
 delivering precepts on the Rule of Faith ? As it 
 is, the phraseology of the Epistles exactly concurs 
 with what we should be led to expect : that the 
 Church would be already in possession of the sub- 
 stance of saving truth, in a sufficiently systematic 
 form, by the sole teaching of the Apostles. As 
 long as that teaching itself, or the accurate recol- 
 lection of it, remained in the world, it must have 
 constituted a standard or measure of Christian 
 knowledge, though it had never seemed good to 
 the Almighty to confer on us the additional boon 
 of the books of the New Testament. 
 
 It can hardly be necessary to remind this au- 
 dience, that these scattered notices are abundantly 
 confirmed by the direct and formal testimony of 
 the ecclesiastical writers of the age immediately 
 following the Apostles. As often as Tertullian 
 and Irenaeus have false teachers to reprove, or un- 
 
 " 2 S. Pet. Hi. 1. c 1 S. John ii. 24. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 191 
 
 evangelical corruptions to expose, do they not 
 refer to the tradition of the whole Church, as to 
 something independent of the written word, and 
 sufficient at that time to refute heresy, even alone ? 
 Do they not employ Church tradition as parallel < 
 to Scripture, not as derived from it? and con- 
 sequently as fixing the interpretation of disputed 
 texts, not simply by the judgment of the Church, 
 but by authority of that Holy Spirit which inspired 
 the oral teaching itself, of which such tradition is the 
 record. Their practice is throughout in accordance 
 with the following sentence of Irenaeus d : " We 
 ought not to be still seeking among others for the 
 truth, which it is easy to receive from the Church ; 
 since therein, as in a rich depository, the Apostles 
 did most abundantly lodge all things appertaining 
 to the truth : so that whoever will, may receive 
 from her the waters of life. For the Church is 
 the entrance to life : all the rest are but thieves 
 and robbers. . . . And what if the Apostles them- 
 selves had left us no Scriptures ? Ought we not 
 to follow the course of tradition, such as they 
 delivered it to those whom they entrusted with 
 the Churches ? Which rule is followed by many 
 nations of the barbarians, those I mean who believe 
 in Christ, without paper or ink, having salvation 
 written in their hearts by the Spirit, and diligently 
 keeping the old tradition." Then having recited 
 the substance of the Apostles' Creed as a specimen 
 
 d See Note (D) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
192 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 of that tradition, he adds, " this faith those who 
 without letters have believed, in respect of our 
 language are indeed barbarians, but in respect of 
 their views, habits, and conversation, have attained 
 by faith a very high measure of illumination, and 
 please God, walking in all justice, chastity, and 
 wisdom. And if any one should relate to them in 
 their own language the new inventions of the 
 heretics, they would presently shut their ears and 
 escape as far as possible, not enduring so much as 
 to hear the profane discourse." This noble passage 
 I the rather quote, because it shews that the case 
 which was just now put, of persons left without 
 the Scriptures to depend on tradition alone, is not 
 a mere dream of imagination, but at that time 
 actually existed in some parts of the Christian 
 world. There were instances, it seems, known to 
 Irenaeus, of true believers who did not as yet know 
 any thing of the New Testament, yet were able to 
 stop the mouths of heretics by merely avouching 
 the ancient apostolical tradition. As was the con- 
 dition, duty, and privileges, of those faithful and 
 simple men, such would have been those of the 
 whole Christian world, had the inspired Scriptures 
 either remained unwritten, or perished with so 
 many other monuments of antiquity. Faith in 
 those divine truths with which the Church was 
 originally entrusted would still have been required 
 at the hands of Christian men ; but the task of 
 ascertaining those truths would have been far 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 193 
 
 harder and more delicate. Now that it has pleased 
 our gracious God to bestow on us, over and above, 
 the use of His written word, can we be justified 
 in slighting the original gift, on pretence of being 
 able to do without it ? Surely, in whatever respect 
 any tradition is really apostolical, to think lightly 
 of it must be the same kind of sin, as if those un- 
 learned and remote Christians, of whom Irenaeus 
 speaks, had thought lightly of the New Testament 
 when it came to be propounded to them. We 
 see at once in what manner sincere reverence for 
 God's truth would lead them to treat the portions 
 of His written word, as they were brought succes- 
 sively under their notice. If we will be impartial, \ 
 we cannot hide it from ourselves, that His unwritten 
 word, if it can be any how authenticated, must ; 
 necessarily demand the same reverence from us ; 
 and for exactly the same reason : became it is His 
 word. 
 
 But, further: the fact is clearly demonstrable 
 from Scripture, that as long as the canon of the 
 New Testament was incomplete, the unwritten 
 system served as a test even for the Apostles' own 
 writings. Nothing was to be read, as canonical, 
 except it agreed with the faith delivered once for 
 all to the first generation of the saints. The direc- 
 tions of St. Paul on this subject are perfectly clear, 
 and without reserve. " Though we or an angel 
 from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you 
 than that which we have preached unto you, let 
 
 o 
 
194 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 him be anathema." And St. John, in his Epistles, 
 strikes continually on the same chord. His language 
 sounds like an emphatical protest against any 
 suspicion of novelty or originality in his teaching. 
 " Brethren, I write no new commandment unto 
 you, but the old commandment which ye had from 
 the beginning. The old commandment is the word 
 which ye heard from the beginning." He writes 
 to them as to persons knowing the truth ; knowing 
 all things ; not needing that any man teach them. 
 He forbids their acquiescing without trial in any 
 pretensions to spiritual gifts : he would have the 
 spirits tried, whether they be of God, whatever 
 their claim to be confirmed even by miracle ; and 
 the test or touchstone which he recommends is, 
 agreement with the orthodox doctrine of the Incar- 
 nation. " Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh, is of God ; and every 
 spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come 
 in the flesh, is not of God d ." And his second 
 Epistle speaks just the same language : " Whoso- 
 ever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine 
 of Christ, hath not God ; he that abideth in the 
 doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and 
 the Son*." 
 
 I do not see how we can be wrong in inferring, 
 from these and similar passages, that the faith 
 once for all delivered to the saints, in other words, 
 Apostolical Tradition, was divinely appointed in the 
 
 d S. John ii. 7, 20, 21, 27; iv. I, 3. e 2 S. John 9. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 195 
 
 Church as the touchstone of canonical Scripture 
 itself. No writing, however plausible the appear- 
 ance of its having come from the Apostles, was to 
 be accepted as theirs, if it taught any other doctrine 
 than what they at first delivered : rather both it 
 and its writers were to be anathema. 
 
 This use of apostolical tradition may well correct 
 the presumptuoi's irreverence of disparaging the 
 Fathers under a plea of magnifying Scripture. 
 Here is a tradition so highly honoured by the 
 Almighty Founder and Guide of the Church, as to 
 be made the standard and rule of His own divine 
 Scriptures. The very writings of the Apostles 
 were to be first tried by it, before they .could be 
 incorporated into the canon. Thus the Scriptures 
 themselves, as it were, do homage to the tradition 
 of the Apostles ; the despisers, therefore, of that 
 tradition take part, inadvertently or profanely, with 
 the despisers of the Scripture itself f . 
 
 On the other hand, it is no less evident that 
 Scripture, being once ascertained, became in its 
 turn a test for every thing claiming to be of apo- 
 stolical tradition. But on this part of the subject 
 there is the less occasion to dwell, it being, I sup- 
 pose, allowed on all hands. Only it may be well 
 to notice a distinction not always sufficiently kept 
 in view by modern writers on the rule of faith ; 
 
 f It is assumed in this paragraph, that where Scripture is silent 
 or ambiguous, consent of the Fathers is a probable index of apo- 
 stolical tradition. See below, p. 198 208. 
 
 o2 
 
196 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 viz. that whereas Scripture was from the beginning 
 appealed to, of course, as a test of positive truth, it 
 could only then be appealed to negatively, that is, 
 its silence could then only be quoted as excluding 
 any point from the list of truths necessary to 
 salvation, when itself had attained a certain degree 
 of completeness. And this perhaps may be one 
 reason why the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scrip- 
 ture is no where expressly affirmed in Scripture 
 itself g . The character which our Article justly 
 assigns to the Bible, of " so containing all things 
 necessary to salvation, that whatsoever is not read 
 therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be 
 required of any man that it should be believed as 
 an article of faith, or be thought requisite or neces- 
 sary to salvation :" this character the Bible could 
 not, from the very force of the terms, acquire, 
 until a sufficient portion of its contents had ap- 
 peared, to include in one place or another every 
 one of such fundamentals. Nor are we sure of 
 this condition having been fulfilled until the 
 appearance of St. John's Gospel and first Epistle, 
 the latest, probably, of those canonical Scriptures, 
 of whose authority was never any doubt in the 
 Church. This consideration may serve to account 
 for the comparative rareness of quotations from 
 the New Testament in the writings of the first 
 century ; in the Epistle of St. Clement, for instance, 
 who, while he produces in almost every paragraph 
 
 * See Note (E) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 197 
 
 some testimony from the Jewish Scriptures, has 
 only three or four references to the New Testa- 
 ment : where such might be expected, he rather 
 uses to remind men of " the depths of divine 
 knowledge, which they had looked into h ;" of " the 
 immortal knowledge, whereof they had tasted 1 ;" 
 and of the apostolical examples which they had 
 seen. Whereas the writers of the following age, 
 Irenaeus, Tertullian, and the rest, add to the 
 argument from tradition, on which in itself they 
 lay as much stress as St. Clement, authorities and 
 arguments from the New Testament, much in the 
 manner of controversialists of our own time. 
 
 From all this I gather, that in the interval 
 between Clement and Ignatius on the one hand, 
 Irenaeus and Tertullian on the other, the canon of 
 the New Testament had first become fixed and 
 notorious, and then the fact had been observed, 
 which is stated in our Article ; That the funda- 
 mental point of doctrine is contained in the un- 
 questioned books of that canon, taken along with 
 the Hebrew Scriptures. And this observation, 
 being once made, would of course immediately 
 suggest that golden rule, not of the Anglican only, 
 but of the Catholic Church ; That nothing is to 
 be insisted on as a point of faith necessary to sal- 
 vation, but what is contained in, or may be proved 
 by, canonical Scripture. At any rate it is unques- 
 tionable, that by the time of Irenaeus, that is, 
 h c. 40. > c. 36. 
 
198 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 towards the end of the second century, the fact 
 had been universally recognised, and the maxim 
 thoroughly grounded and incorporated into the 
 system of the Catholic Church k . 
 
 Reserving thus the claim of Scripture to be sole 
 and paramount as a rule of faith, we may now, I 
 think, venture to assume, from the nature of the 
 case, the incidental testimony of Scripture, and 
 the direct assertions of the Fathers, that it was an 
 unwritten system which the holy writers spoke of, 
 when they so earnestly recommended the deposit, 
 the commandment, the word heard from the begin- 
 ning, to the reverential care both of pastors and of 
 all Christian people. 
 
 Will it be said, " This is no concern of ours ; 
 it may be true in fact, but it yields no practical 
 result ; the traditionary system, whatever it was, 
 having long ago passed away, except so far as it 
 has been preserved in inspired writings ?" This 
 may be stated, and often is so, but can hardly be 
 proved. 
 
 For in the first place, as long as it is only doubt- 
 ful whether any statement or precept is part of the 
 Apostolic system or no, so long a mind imbued 
 with true devotion will treat that statement or pre- 
 cept with reverence, will not rudely reject or scorn 
 it, lest he refuse to entertain an angel unawares. 
 So long the mere fact of its not being contained in 
 
 k See note (F) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 199 
 
 Scripture cannot be felt as a justification for casting 
 it aside, any more than we should venture to dis- 
 parage it on account of its not being revealed in 
 any particular book of Scripture, which we might 
 happen to value above the rest. Although not in 
 Scripture, it may yet be a part of their rule, con- 
 cerning whom the Son of God has declared, " He 
 that heareth you, heareth Me : and he that 
 despiseth you, despiseth Me." 
 
 But in truth it may be proved to the satisfaction 
 of any reasonable mind, that not a few fragments 
 yet remain, very precious and sacred fragments, of 
 the unwritten teaching of the first age of the Church. 
 The paramount authority, for example, of the 
 successors of the Apostles in Church government ; 
 the threefold Order established from the beginning ; 
 the virtue of the blessed Eucharist as a commemo- 
 rative sacrifice ; infant Baptism ; and above all, 
 the Catholic doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity, as 
 contained in the Nicene Creed. All these, however 
 surely confirmed from Scripture, are yet ascertain- 
 able parts of the primitive, unwritten system, of 
 which we yet enjoy the benefit. If any one ask, 
 how we ascertain them ; we answer, by application 
 of the well-known rule, Quod semper, quod ubique, 
 quod ab omnibus : Antiquity, Universality, Catho- 
 licity : tests similar to those which jurists are used 
 to apply to the common or unwritten laws of any 
 realm. If a maxim or custom can be traced back 
 to a time whereof the memory of man runneth not 
 
200 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 to the contrary ; if it pervade all the different 
 courts, established in different provinces for the 
 administration of justice ; and, thirdly, if it be 
 generally acknowledged in such sort, that contrary 
 decisions have been disallowed and held invalid : 
 then, whatever the exceptions to it may be, it is 
 presumed to be part and parcel of our common 
 law. On principles exactly analogous, the Church 
 practice and rules above mentioned, and several 
 others, ought, we contend, apart from all Scripture 
 evidence, to be received as traditionary or common 
 laws ecclesiastical. They who contend that the very 
 notion of such tradition is a mere dream and extra- 
 vagance ; who plead against it the uncertainty of 
 history, the loss or probable corruption of records, 
 the exceptions, deviations, interruptions which have 
 occurred through the temporary prevalence of 
 tyranny, heresy, or schism ; must, if they would be 
 consistent, deny the validity of the most important 
 portion of the laws of this and of most other old 
 countries. 
 
 It is not, therefore, antecedently impossible that 
 a system of tradition, subsidiary to the Scriptures, 
 might yet exist in the commonwealth or city of 
 God. The rest is matter of investigation in each 
 case, whether any given rule, interpretation, or 
 custom, be traditionary in the required sense. But 
 it will not be going too far into particulars, and 
 may help to the understanding and application of 
 the whole argument, if I point out three distinct 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 201 
 
 fields of Christian knowledge,, in neither of which can 
 we advance satisfactorily or safely without constant 
 appeal to tradition, such as has been described. 
 
 The first is, the System and Arrangement of fun- 
 damental Articles, so far as they have come down 
 to us systematic and arranged. We, that is all 
 of the Anglican Church who have had any regular 
 training in theology, are so early taught to trace 
 the Creed in the Scriptures, and to refer at once 
 certain portions of both Testaments to certain high 
 mysteries of the Catholic faith, that it commonly 
 appears to ourselves as though we had learned 
 those mysteries directly from the Scriptures. But 
 there are few, surely, who on careful recollection 
 would not be compelled to acknowledge that the 
 Creed, or some corresponding catechetical instruc- 
 tion, had prepossessed them with these truths, 
 before ever they thought of proving them from 
 Holy Writ. I need hardly remind you of the 
 unquestioned historical fact, that the very Nicene 
 Creed itself, to which perhaps of all formulce we 
 are most indebted for our sound belief in the proper 
 divinity of the Son of God even this Creed had/ 
 its origin, not from Scripture, but from tradition. 
 The three hundred Bishops who joined in its pro- 
 mulgation did not profess to have collected it out 
 of the Bible, but simply to express the faith which 
 each of them had found in the Church which he 
 represented, received by tradition from the Apo- 
 
20*2 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 sties 1 . Nor is this any disparagement to Scripture, 
 nor need it excite any alarm for the great funda- 
 mental verity itself, which the Creed was meant 
 to assert ; any more than it would disparage the 
 works of God, or shake the foundation of our faith 
 in natural religion, were one to affirm that the 
 power and Godhead of the Creator, although 
 unquestionably proveable from the things which 
 are made, would yet have remained unknown to 
 the mass of mankind, but for primitive tradition, or 
 subsequent revelation of it. 
 
 The second great subject, on which most of us 
 are unconsciously indebted to the ancient Catholic 
 tradition, is the Interpretation of Scripture, espe- 
 cially those parts of which less obviously relate 
 to the mysteries of the Gospel. Catholic tradition 
 bears upon Scripture interpretation, not only indi- 
 rectly, by supplying, as just now stated, certain 
 great landmarks of apostolical doctrine, conform- 
 ably to which the written statements are all to be 
 interpreted ; but also, in numerous cases, directly ; 
 setting the Church's seal, as it were, upon one 
 among many possible expositions of particular pas- 
 sages. For example : how else could we know, 
 with tolerable certainty, that Melchisedek's feast 
 is a type of the blessed eucharist m ? or that the 
 
 1 See note (G) at the end of this Sermon. 
 m For this, see S.Cyprian, Ep. 63. p. 149. ed. Fell; S. Au- 
 gustin, de Civ. Dei, xviii. 20; S. Jerome, Ep. ad Marcellam, t. i. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 103 
 
 book of Canticles is an allegory, representing the 
 mystical union betwixt Christ and his Church"? 
 or that Wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, is a 
 Name of the second Person in the Most Holy 
 Trinity ? All which interpretations, the moment 
 they are heard, approve themselves to an unpre- 
 judiced mind, and must in all likelihood have come 
 spontaneously into many readers' thoughts. But 
 it may be questioned whether we could ever have 
 arrived at more than a plausible conjecture re- 
 garding them, but for the constant agreement of 
 the early Church, taking notice every where, in 
 these and the like instances, of the manner in which 
 the Old Testament was divinely accommodated to 
 the wonders of Christ's religion. 
 
 The third great field of apostolical tradition lies 
 among practical matters, the Discipline, Formula- 
 ries, and Rites of the Church of Christ : in regard 
 
 p. 123. ed. Frob. Basil. These with the distinct acknowledgment 
 in the ancient Roman Liturgy, may perhaps be considered sufficient 
 to represent the sense of the Western Churches. Among the 
 Greeks, S. Chrysostom (on Gen. xiv.) clearly implies the same 
 construction. But the reserve maintained by them on all liturgical 
 subjects may account for their comparative silence on this point, 
 even supposing them to have received the same interpretation. 
 
 n In this I believe all the Fathers who quote that divine Book 
 (and most of them do so often) are agreed. 
 
 The disputes on the text, Proverbs viii. 22, at the Nicene 
 Council, are sufficient to prove agreement on this point. It is 
 well known that the Arians alleged it, as it stands in the Septuagint, 
 (6 Kvpws KTLO- /Me,) as a proof of the Son's inferiority. The 
 Catholics never disputed the application of the text to our Lord, 
 but denied the deduction from it. 
 
204 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 of which, reason tells us that the Church Apo- 
 stolical must here have had some method and 
 system ; yet it is evident to the very eye that the 
 New Testament exhibits no such system in form, 
 but only fragments and other indications of one in 
 full operation at the time, and well known to those 
 for whom the Apostles were writing. These frag- 
 ments being found to coincide with similar but 
 more copious indications in later Church records ; 
 consideration also being had of the religious reve- 
 rence wherewith in those ages every thing primi- 
 tive was regarded, and of the charitable jealousy 
 of the Churches, watching each other for the pur- 
 pose of remonstrating against unwarrantable de- 
 viations ; we need not fear to accept in its fulness, 
 on all such matters, the well-known rule to St. 
 Augustin, which I give in the words of Hooker p : 
 " Whatsoever positive order the whole Church 
 every where doth observe, the same it must needs 
 have received from the very Apostles themselves ; 
 unless, perhaps, some general council were the 
 authors of it." In this kind no one at all versed 
 in Church history can be at a loss for examples 
 of the benefit which the present Church derives 
 from the chain of primitive tradition. Without 
 its aid, humanly speaking, I do not see how we 
 could now retain either real inward communion 
 with our Lord through His Apostles, or the very 
 
 P E. P. vii. v. 3. from Aug. Ep. 108. t. ii. 125. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTUhE. 205 
 
 outward face of God's Church and kingdom among 
 us. Not to dwell on disputable cases: how, but 
 by the tradition and practice of the early Church, 
 can we demonstrate the observance of Sunday 
 as the holiest day, or the permanent separation 
 of the clergy from the people as a distinct order ? 
 or where, except in the primitive Liturgies, a main 
 branch of that tradition, can we find assurance 
 that in the Holy Eucharist we consecrate as the 
 Apostles did, and, consequently, that the cup of 
 blessing which we bless is the communion of the 
 Blood of Christ, and the bread which we break the 
 communion of the Body of Christ ? 
 
 Whether, then, we look to Discipline, to Inter- 
 pretation, or to Doctrine, every way we see reason 
 to be thankful for many fragments of apostolical 
 practice and teaching, most needful to guide us in 
 the right use of Holy Scripture. 
 
 So it is, however, that either fr6m impatience 
 of authority, or dislike of trouble, or excessive 
 dread of Romish error, tradition has become to 
 most of us an unpalatable word, and we love not 
 to allow that in any sense we rest our faith and 
 practice upon it. And, as commonly happens when 
 the mind is first made up, and reasons are to be 
 found afterwards, objections the most contradictory 
 are brought to justify this our determined dis- 
 regard of antiquity. Sometimes it is urged that 
 the matters involved are so many, so intricate and 
 
206 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 various, and demand such minute research, that 
 it is out of the question bringing them within the 
 reach of the great body of the clergy, however 
 learned; sometimes, on the contrary, it is main- 
 tained, that the points agreed on in the whole 
 ancient Church are obviously so few, there have 
 been such constant discussions and waverings of 
 opinion, that after all there is no such thing as 
 primitive Catholic tradition : what is called such 
 being merely the register of the dictates of that 
 which has proved, on the whole, the strongest 
 and most fashionable party in the Church r . The 
 one statement makes the field so wide, that it is 
 impossible not to lose one's way in it ; the other 
 so contracted, that occupying it is no advantage. 
 It is obvious that both objections cannot stand 
 together ; and as might be expected, the truth 
 lies between the two. On the one hand, we are 
 not to imagine that every usage which has pre- 
 vailed in any part of the Church, every opinion 
 which has been upheld even among orthodox 
 Fathers, claims to have been part of the system 
 of the Apostles. On the other hand, we cannot 
 surely deny such claim to those rules, in which 
 all primitive Councils are uniform, those rites and 
 formularies which are found in all primitive Litur- 
 gies, and those interpretations and principles of 
 interpretation in which all orthodox Fathers agree ; 
 
 r See Note (H) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
RECOGNISED IN- HOLY SCRIPTURE. 207 
 
 more especially when they produce them as 
 undoubted and authoritative. Now the genuine 
 canons of the primitive Councils, and the genuine 
 fragments of the primitive Liturgies, are reducible 
 into a small space ; even although we go so low 
 down in both as the division of the Eastern and 
 Western Churches, including the six first Councils 
 general, and excluding image-worship and similar 
 corruptions by authority. As far, therefore, as 
 the Councils and Liturgies are concerned, tracing 
 the remnant of apostolical tradition need not prove 
 such a very overwhelming task. To establish con- 
 sent among the Fathers is, doubtless, a far more 
 laborious process ; easiest, however, where it is 
 most desirable, namely, in the great points of faith 
 and worship, as recurring continually, and implied 
 in all other discussions. What remains is chiefly 
 interpretation of Scripture ; a precious, inexhausti- 
 ble mine of primitive knowledge, to such as have 
 the zeal to explore it, but not essential to the fixing 
 of the main outlines. Leaving out, for the present, 
 all such incidental discussions, and confining our 
 view to that which touches the foundation, we shall 
 find that the matters are neither few nor unim- 
 portant, which are settled by traditionary evidence 
 within reach of common students. Were they 
 much fewer than they are, and less important, still, 
 as unquestionable relics of the Apostles, a devout 
 and thoughtful mind would prize them for their 
 
208 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 authors' sake, and for the sake of the lost treasure, 
 whereof they are portions. To forget and dis- 
 parage them, would be a hard and unnatural thing, 
 like coldly refusing due reverence to the dead. As 
 it is, by the gracious Providence of Almighty God, 
 the points of Catholic consent known by tradition 
 constitute the knots and ties of the whole system ; 
 being such as these : the canon of Scripture, the 
 full doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, the 
 oblation and consecration of the Eucharist, the 
 apostolical succession ; truths and orders soon 
 enumerated, but such as to extend in vital efficacy 
 through every part of the great scheme of the 
 Church. What, then, if the Church in our time, 
 for the sins of Christians, should have lost more 
 or less of " that good thing," the perfect apostolical 
 body of government, doctrine, and sacramental 
 grace, committed to St. Paul first, and by him to 
 Timothy ? It is not the less our duty, and by 
 God's grace we will regard it as our high privilege, 
 to keep unwearied watch over what remains, and 
 to preserve it, " by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth 
 
 in us." 
 
 3. These concluding words, while they supply 
 an additional reason for extreme jealousy of our 
 precious apostolical relics, open to us the appointed 
 way of guarding what remains, and if one might 
 be so happy, of recovering more : a way not our 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 209 
 
 own, but strictly and properly supernatural. And 
 thus we are conducted to the final point of our 
 enquiry, Whether we, the existing Ministers of the 
 Church, have the same grace dwelling in us, by 
 which Timothy was exhorted to maintain his trust. 
 Now certainly the obvious meaning of the text 
 is, that the treasure of sound doctrine was to be 
 guarded by the grace of the Apostolical Succession. 
 For St. Paul speaks of the Holy Ghost dwelling 
 in us; that is, in himself and Timothy: and how 
 it had passed from him to Timothy had been 
 expressed a few verses before ; " I will that thou 
 stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the 
 imposition of my hands." The Church of England, 
 you will remember, supplies full warrant for this 
 interpretation ; by directing the same phrase to be 
 solemnly repeated at the consecration of every 
 Bishop: " Remember that thou stir up the grace 
 of God which is given thee by the imposition of our 
 hands; and also where, in ordaining a Bishop or 
 Presbyter, the solemn words are spoken, " Receive 
 the Holy Ghost." Our Church, therefore, does 
 not teach us to consider the Holy Ghost dwelling 
 in St. Paul and Timothy as properly miraculous, a 
 gift of extraordinary grace ; but as their portion of 
 that Spirit which was to be poured out on all 
 Apostles, and successors of the Apostles, for ever. 
 It was not what is commonly called miraculous ; 
 yet it was altogether supernatural. For no natural 
 or acquired virtue or talent, though it might be 
 
210 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 called the gift of the Holy Ghost, would ever be 
 designated as the Holy Ghost Himself abiding in a 
 man. Neither was it the preventing or assisting 
 grace, common to all Christian persons ; for it was 
 given to Timothy in particular by imposition of 
 St. Paul's hands. It could only be, what the Church 
 interprets it, apostolical or episcopal grace. 
 
 Apostolical, then, or episcopal grace is by God's 
 ordinance the guardian of sound doctrine ; the 
 Spirit abiding in Timothy is to watch incessantly 
 the deposit or trust of divine truth left in his 
 charge ; and where the one, the succession, fails, 
 there, as this verse would lead us to expect, and 
 as all Church history proves, the other, the truth 
 of doctrine, is immediately in imminent jeopardy* 
 
 Here, then, we seem to have arrived at one 
 cardinal point at least, whereby we may shape our 
 course in times and emergencies more than usually 
 perplexing. We are to look before all things to 
 the integrity of the good deposit, the orthodox faith, 
 the Creed of the Apostolical Church, guaranteed 
 to us by Holy Scripture, and by consent of pure 
 antiquity. Present opportunities of doing good ; 
 external quietness, peace, and order ; a good 
 understanding with the temporal and civil power ; 
 the love and co-operation of those committed to 
 our charge; these, and all other pastoral con- 
 solations, must be given up, though it be with 
 a heavy heart, rather than we should yield one 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. tl I 
 
 jot or one tittle of the faith once delivered to the 
 Saints. 
 
 And whereas the dangers to that faith vary 
 according to the differences of times, interests, 
 and opinions ; and sometimes the scriptural, some- 
 times the traditionary safeguards of it appear to 
 be more immediately threatened ; both must be 
 watched with jealous and impartial care, since com- 
 parative neglect of either is sure to be attended 
 with ill consequences to both. Thus the reverence 
 of the Latin Church for tradition, being applied 
 unscrupulously, and without the necessary check 
 from Scripture, to opinions and practices of a date 
 comparatively recent, has led a large portion of 
 Christendom to disuse and contempt, not of Scrip- 
 ture only, but of that real and sure tradition, which 
 they might and ought to have religiously depended 
 upon. On the other hand, is there not reason to 
 fear that the Holy Scriptures themselves are fast 
 losing reverence, through the resolute defiance of 
 tradition, which some affect, in conformity, as they 
 suppose, with the maxim, that the Bible only is 
 the religion of Protestants ? Surely it is no rare 
 nor unnatural result, if such as are trained to this 
 principle, being left, as some one has said, alone 
 with their Bibles 9 , use their supposed liberty of 
 interpretation, first in explaining away the mys- 
 terious meaning, and afterwards in lowering or 
 evading the supernatural authority, of the very 
 
 8 Hooker, E. P. Pref. vii. 7. 
 
 p2 
 
212 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 'Scriptures which at first they deferred to exclu- 
 sively. And no wonder; since among the tradi^ 
 tionary truths which they are taught to undervalue 
 is the canon of Scripture itself, and the principle 
 also, that fundamental articles of belief must be 
 sought for in Scripture. In short, the sacred 
 building is so divinely, though invisibly, cemented, 
 that, for aught we know, it is impossible to remove 
 any portion, either of scriptural or traditionary 
 truth> without weakening the whole arch. We, 
 to whorn the whole is committed, under the most 
 solemn of all pledges, and with the actual gift of 
 the all-sufficient Spirit to aid us in redeeming that 
 pledge ; let us, above all things, beware of the 
 presumption of selecting for ourselves among the 
 truths and laws of the Most High, which we will 
 retain, and ivliich we may venture to dispense with. 
 In the next place, let us beware of novelty : 
 novelty> I mean, as compared with the apostolic 
 age ; not the mere appearance of novelty as com- 
 pared with the current notions of our time. For 
 it is self-evident, that if in any age or country any 
 portion of apostolical truth be lost, whenever it is 
 revived it must for the time look new ; and its 
 main tain ers will have to contend with the preju- 
 dice which constantly waits on the disturbers of 
 things established. Not novelty, therefore, relative 
 to us, but novelty relative to the primitive and 
 original standard, is the thing above all to be 
 deprecated in the whole of theology, by whatever 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 213 
 
 plausible air of originality, ingenuity, completeness, 
 it may seem to recommend itself. 
 
 Observe under what a fearful penalty, in a warn- 
 ing parallel to that of the text, St. Paul, writing to 
 the Thessalonians, discourages every intrusion of 
 speculative doctrine. The apostasy, he tells them, 
 will come ; the wicked one shall be revealed, 
 actuated by Satan to deceive them that perish; 
 " on whom God will send strong delusion, that 
 they may believe a lie." And then he proceeds, 
 " Wherefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the 
 traditions which ye have been taught, whether by 
 word or our epistle." Is not this equivalent to 
 saying, that whoever is studious of novelty in 
 religion is in a way to take part with Antichrist ; 
 that the only security against him, and the spirit 
 which prepares the way for him, is to hold the 
 apostolical doctrine, whether taught in word or in 
 writing; and to. exclude all additions, however 
 tempting to human ingenuity and love of system, 
 however acutely they may appear to be reasoned 
 out, and to fall in with allowed principles ? 
 
 Had this rule been faithfully kept, it would have 
 preserved the Church just as effectually from the 
 assertion of transubstantiation on the one hand, as 
 from the denial of Christ's real presence on the other 
 hand. The two errors in the original are perhaps but 
 rationalism in different forms ; endeavours to explain 
 away, and bring nearer to the human intellect, that 
 which had been left thoroughly mysterious both 
 
214 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 by Scripture and tradition. They would both 
 turn the attention of men from the real life-giving 
 miracle to mere metaphysical or grammatical sub- 
 tilties, such as our fathers never knew. 
 
 Observe, again, the phraseology of the Apostle, 
 how it is formed throughout upon the supposition, 
 that in the substance of the faith there is no such 
 thing as improvement, discovery, evolution of new 
 truths ; none of those processes, which are the 
 pride of human reason and knowledge, find any 
 place here. Here the one thing needful is to 
 " retain the mystery of the faith ;" to " abide in 
 the good instruction whereto we have already 
 attained ;" to " teach no other doctrine ;" to be on 
 our guard against those who resist the truth under 
 pretence of " proceeding further," assured that 
 such, although they seem to be " ever learning," 
 shall never be able to " come to the knowledge of 
 the truth ;" they will "proceed" indeed, but it will 
 be from bad to worse*. All these cautions, and 
 others no less fearful, the Holy Spirit has left for 
 our admonition, directed not against any positive 
 wrong opinion, but in general against the fatal 
 error of treating theology like any human science, 
 as a subject in which every succeeding age might 
 be expected to advance on the former u . 
 
 Nor is the warning less important, nor the ap- 
 
 * 1 Tim. iii. 9; iv. 6 ; i. 3. 2 Tim. iii. 7, 9, 13. 
 eVt TO xelpoi/, ir\av(H)VTs KCU TrAai/co/^ei/ot. 
 
 u See note (I) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 215 
 
 plication to our times less certain, where Timothy 
 is enjoined* to " keep that committed to his 
 charge, turning away from profane, empty verbal 
 discussions and oppositions of knowledge falsely 
 so called." The allusion was probably in the first 
 instance to the low-minded empirical system of 
 the Gnostics. But the words are not much less 
 appropriate to that which may be called the 
 Nominalism of our days ; I mean, the habit of 
 resolving the high mysteries of the faith into mere 
 circumstances of language, methods of speaking 
 adapted to our weak understanding, but with no 
 real counterpart in the nature of things. Whoever 
 takes this line must needs hold the tradition of 
 antiquity cheap, since it is based altogether on the 
 supposition which he rejects as unphilosophical. 
 Thus slighting tradition, and explaining away 
 Scripture, there is no saying what pernicious 
 heresy such a theorist may not fall into, if not 
 happily guarded against himself by feelings and 
 prejudices more reasonable than all his reasoning. 
 Mean time the warning of Scripture is express : 
 that they who " profess" such things may be ex- 
 pected to " err concerning the faith." And it is 
 plain, that if at any time either the high places 
 of the Church, or the schools of theological 
 knowledge, should be left in such keeping, the 
 guardians of the good deposit would be bound to 
 direct especial attention that way, and not permit 
 x 1 Tim. vi. 20,21. 
 
216 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 things to pass away, as in a dream, before men 
 are aware. 
 
 This leads directly to the recollection of a third 
 danger, to which the Church seems especially 
 exposed at this moment ; I mean, that which is 
 commonly entitled Erastianism ; the Church be- 
 traying to the civil power more or less of the good 
 deposit, which our Lord had put exclusively into 
 her hands. This is a form of compromise with 
 the world, for which no occasion was given by the 
 circumstances of the Apostles : a trial peculiar to 
 times like ours, when the governors of the world 
 profess to have become the servants of our Lord 
 and of His Christ. We cannot therefore look in 
 the New Testament for literal instruction how to 
 behave with regard to this delicate and dangerous 
 part of our duty. The Gospel affording no ex- 
 press rules or precedents, we are thrown first 
 upon the many analogous cases which the inspired 
 records of the Jewish history supply ; and then 
 upon the conduct and determinations of the 
 Catholic Church, in those centuries of her esta- 
 blishment during which the primitive system 
 existed in something like integrity, to guide her 
 demeanour in her altered condition. Yet, un- 
 doubtedly, the general rule, Keep the deposit, 
 affects our relations to the civil authorities more 
 immediately than persons unversed in Church 
 matters might imagine. If we are to understand 
 by " the deposit," the faith once for all committed 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 217 
 
 to Christians ; and if the Apostolical Succession be 
 the appointed guard of that faith ; and if the 
 charter of the Succession, " As My Father hath 
 sent Me, even so send I you/' convey the power 
 of Church government as well as that of adminis- 
 tering Sacraments ; then every undue sacrifice of 
 the power of Church government to any earthly 
 power is an infringement of the charter, and ren- 
 ders the deposit of the faith less secure. For the 
 sake therefore of the very foundation of sound 
 doctrine, and not only for the sake of peace and 
 order in the Church, ecclesiastical government, as 
 well as the custody of the Sacraments, should be 
 jealously reserved in those hands to which Christ 
 originally entrusted it. Nor do I see how it can 
 be less than a sacred duty, however painful, and to 
 human eyes unavailing, to protest, if we can do no 
 more, against unauthorized intrusions on Church 
 government, as every one will readily allow we 
 ought to protest against unauthorized administra- 
 tion of Sacraments 7 . 
 
 Such being the object for which we are set in 
 defence, and such the enemies with whom we 
 have to contend ; such also the heavenly Assistant, 
 dwelling in us and fighting on our side ; it cannot 
 be hard to perceive with what dispositions we 
 ought to address ourselves to that holy warfare. 
 It will not do to shrink from responsibility, or 
 
 y See note (K) at the end of this Sermon. 
 
218 PRIMITIVE TRADITION 
 
 to be over scrupulous in calculating immediate 
 results. Once let us be reasonably assured that 
 we are in the way of our duty, really keeping the 
 good deposit ; and then, to use the words of the 
 Prophet, we may " set our faces like a flint, and 
 need not be ashamed." Then, as often as mis- 
 givings and alarms come over us, we must " stir 
 up the grace of God which is in us by imposition 
 of apostolic hands." For " God hath not given 
 us a Spirit of cowardice % but of power, and of 
 love, and of brotherly correction and reproof a ;" 
 a Spirit that brings with Him an invisible but 
 real power, to open and shut the kingdom of 
 heaven in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ; a 
 Spirit of never-failing love and chanty to men's 
 souls, to guide us in the exercise of that more 
 than human power ; and, lastly, a Spirit of kind 
 and fatherly, yet, if need be, uncompromising and 
 fearless rebuke. 
 
 Let us be only true to our sacred trust : let us 
 put every thing else by for the sake of handing 
 down the whole counsel of God, our good deposit, 
 entire as we received it : and who knows but we 
 may by God's mercy be made instrumental in 
 saving the English Church from ruin not unlike 
 that which has fallen on Ephesus, Smyrna, or 
 Sardis ? At any rate, the Church Catholic, in one 
 country or another, we are sure, will survive and 
 triumph. As of old she has stood before kings and 
 
 r AetXtW 
 
RECOGNISED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. "219 
 
 governors, and it turned to her for a testimony, so 
 now blessed are they whom Divine Providence shall 
 choose and enable worthily to support her cause 
 against popular delusion and tyranny. We, in- 
 deed, as Priests of the second order, are but under- 
 labourers in that most holy cause. Yet the least 
 and lowest among us may look for his share of the 
 blessing, as he has undoubtedly his share of the 
 burthen and of the peril. Is there not a hope, that 
 by resolute self-denial and strict and calm fidelity 
 to our ordination vows, we may not only aid in 
 preserving that which remains, but also may help 
 to revive in some measure, in this or some other 
 portion of the Christian world, more of the system 
 and spirit of the apostolical age ? New truths, in 
 the proper sense of the word, we neither can nor 
 wish to arrive at. But the monuments of antiquity 
 may disclose to our devout perusal much that will 
 be to this age new, because it has been mislaid or 
 forgotten ; and we may attain to a light and clear- 
 ness, which we now dream not of, in our compre- 
 hension of the faith and discipline of Christ. We 
 may succeed beyond what humanly appears pos- 
 sible in rekindling a primitive zeal among those 
 who shall be committed to our charge. Even as 
 Abraham, neglecting all earthly objects, " taught 
 his children and his household after him, to keep 
 the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment ;" 
 and one part of his reward was, that " God would 
 
220 PRIMITIVE TRADITION, &C. 
 
 not hide from Abraham the thing which He did b ;" 
 another, that he was made the glorious and favoured 
 instrument for transmitting divine truth through a 
 fallen and corrupt age. 
 
 b Gen. xviii. 1719, 
 
NOTE S. 
 
 NOTE A, p. 179. 
 
 Philip, i. 15 18. The construction here adopted 
 varies a little from that commonly received. It may be 
 as well, therefore, briefly to state the exact import of it, 
 and the grounds on which it is preferred. It supposes that 
 the words xyguva-siv and xarayyeAXe^v, are not used here 
 in any technical or official sense, which might answer to 
 the English word preaching, taken as in our version of the 
 Bible, but that they represent the occasional though pro- 
 vidential result of St. Paul's imprisonment having been 
 made the subject of conversation at Rome. Some spoke 
 of it as faithful Christians ; others, the Judaizers more 
 especially, as jealous enemies of Christianity: both became 
 in a certain sense heralds of Christ, the one sincerely and 
 intentionally, speaking the word, as he says just above, 
 the more boldly for his bonds ; the other occasionally, 
 without any purpose of their own, Clearly the words 
 will bear this construction. And the ancient interpreters 
 unite in denying the applicability of St. Paul's expres- 
 sions to heretical teaching. So Tertullian, adv. Marcion, 
 lib, v. c. 20. having quoted the passage from St. Paul, 
 remarks, that " this was the natural place for excepting 
 to the substance of the preaching complained of, had any 
 
NOTES, 
 
 variation of that kind been the cause of this great diversity 
 of feeling. But the Apostle states the irregularity to 
 exist in the motives and tempers of men only, not in their 
 standards of mysterious doctrine. His manner of speak- 
 ing shews) that with whatever purpose they preached, 
 it was one God Whom they preached, and one Christ. 
 * Therefore/ he adds, ' it is nothing to me, whether in 
 pretence or in truth Christ be preached ;' because it was 
 still the same who was preached, whether with pretended 
 or with real faithfulness. It was in respect of their good 
 faith in preaching that he used the phrase ' in truth,' not in 
 respect of the rule of doctrine itself, which they preached. 
 For the rule was all the time one ; but some had genuine, 
 i. e. simple good faith in delivering it; others were too 
 full of subtilties." Again, it appears that in St. Cyprian's 
 time, some had argued from this passage of St. Paul in 
 favour of allowing heretical baptism. St. Cyprian's reply 
 is, " He was not speaking of heretics, nor of their baptism. 
 We cannot shew that he has here laid down any rule 
 pertaining thereto. He was speaking of Christians walk- 
 ing, some disorderly, and contrary to Church discipline ; 
 some, through fear of God, preserving evangelical verity. 
 .... Now, it is one thing for those within the Church to 
 speak in the name of Christ ; another thing for those 
 without (i. e. heretics) to baptize in the name of Christ." 
 Ep. ad Jubaian. p. 204. ed. Fell. comp. Firmilian. ad 
 Cyprian, p. 226. See also S. Chrys. in loco, who agrees 
 with the preceding Father in not interpreting the passage 
 of heretics, but is more express than they in supposing, 
 that it was some sort of formal preaching of which St. Paul 
 complains. It seems, however, a hard supposition, that 
 any should have literally preached the truth of Christ, 
 and exposed themselves to persecution, for the sake of 
 exasperating the emperor against St. Paul. In this, there- 
 
NOTES. 
 
 223 
 
 fore, it may be excusable to depart from St. Chrysostoirt) 
 and rather to understand x^yVcreiv and xarayyeAAeiv, when 
 applied to the adversaries, in a secondary sense, of the 
 pains taken by them to spread the report of the Apostle's 
 imprisonment, which they considered a check and discredit 
 to the Gospel. 
 
 NOTE B, p. 182. 
 
 The validity of this conjecture may be best estimated 
 by simply comparing the passage in the original with the 
 preceding and subsequent verses : 
 
 note xi y^ss avorjroj, 
 
 OVTSC e7n$ujuuaj xa ^ovaTj Trom'Aafc;, sv xax/a Kotl tpQovcu 
 trryy>jTO, [AKTOVVTSC aAA^Aoyj. 
 
 r/ Or= 5 r; ^^CTTO'TVJJ xa ^ <piAav^a)7r/a 67re<pav>] row 
 
 vifjuov 0EOT, 
 OUK e^ g^ycov rwv Iv ixao<ruv>) wv STTOIYJO'IX^SV fjj^sTf, 
 
 aAAa xara TOV auroy eAsov scrcocrsv y^, 
 
 Sia AOUT^OU TraAjyysvscr/flr^, xt avaxaivcoagcoj IINETMATO^ 
 'AFIOT, 
 
 XPI^TOT TOO 
 
 ai;v*oy. 
 as Sta 
 o TrsTncrrgyxorg^ TO> 
 
 IliO"To$ 6 Aoyof xa TTS^J 70t;ra>v 
 
 Tva covnaxr xaAcov I^ycov 
 0E11. 
 
 NOTE C, p. 184. 
 
 The only other notion of the Tra^axara^xr], or apostolical 
 deposit, which can at all approve itself to one versed in 
 Scripture language, is that which would explain it of 
 
224 NOTES. 
 
 persons rather than of doctrines ; the flock which was given 
 him, the souls committed to his charge : according to the 
 use of the word in the Acts of the Apostles : " They com- 
 mended their new converts to the Lord on Whom they had 
 believed;" and St. Paul "commended the Ephesian elders 
 to God and the word of His grace." 
 
 But, besides the reasons above given for interpreting 
 the place rather of doctrine, it may be asked whether the 
 very form of expression, Keep the deposit, is such as would 
 have been probably adopted, had pastoral duties been only 
 or chiefly intended. It seems to cast upon the person so 
 admonished rather too much of absolute responsibility, 
 considering that, after all, the success of the pastoral care 
 must depend chiefly on those who are the objects of it. 
 In short, it is a mode of interpreting too much in unison 
 with the overstrained exaggerated demands of our day ; in 
 which it has become a general custom to speak as if every 
 thing depended on the personal qualities of the clergy ; to 
 blame them altogether for failure, and, in consequence, 
 to attribute to them over much of the blessing, with which 
 the Almighty from time to time may be pleased to visit 
 His Church. 
 
 NOTE D, p. 191. 
 
 Iren. adv. Haer. iii. 4. " Non oportet adhuc qurerere 
 apud alios veritatem, quam facile est ab Ecclesia sumere ; 
 cum Apostoli, quasi in depositorium dives, plenissime in 
 earn contulerint omnia quae sint veritatis : uti omnis, qui- 
 cunque velit, sumat ex ea potum vitae. Haec est enim vitae 
 introitus ; omnes autem reliqui fures sunt et latrones .... 
 Quid autem si neque Apostoli quidem Scripturas reliquis- 
 sent nobis ? Nonne oportebat ordinem sequi traditionis 
 quam tradiderunt iis quibus committebant Ecclesias ? Cui 
 
NOTES. 225 
 
 ordiiiationi assentiunt multae gentes Barbarorum, eorum 
 qui in Christum credunt, sine charta vel atramento scriptam 
 habentes per Spiritum in cordibus suis salutem, et veterem 
 traditionem diligenter custodientes. . . . Hanc fidem qui 
 sine literis crediderunt, quantum ad sermonem nostrum, 
 barbari sunt; quantum autem ad sententiam, et consue- 
 tudinem, et conversationem, propter fidem perquam 
 sapientissimi sunt, et placent Deo, conversantes in omni 
 justitia et castitate et sapientia. Quibus si aliquis an- 
 nunciaverit ea quse ab haereticis adinventa sunt, proprio 
 sermone eorum colloquens, statim concludentes aures, lorigo 
 longius fugient, ne audire quidem sustinentes blasphemum 
 colloquium." 
 
 NOTE E, p. 196. 
 
 This is not said without recollection of such texts as 
 St. John v. 49; 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17. But it is plain 
 that both these passages speak of the Scriptures of the Old 
 Testament only ; and therefore, if understood exclusively, 
 prove too much. The latter, indeed, adds a general 
 remark on the use of all Scripture ; that being, as it is, 
 all alike divinely inspired, every part of it has its use, for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
 righteousness ; and must help to the perfection and entire 
 furnishing of the man of God unto all good works. But 
 St. Paul does not there affirm that all truths necessary to 
 salvation are contained in Scripture, any more than he 
 affirms all to be contained in each separate portion of 
 Scripture. 
 
 These being the passages commonly adduced to prove by 
 Scripture the sufficiency of Scripture, and being evidently 
 inadequate to the purpose, we cannot be very wrong in 
 rather referring to Tradition, as for the Sacred Canon 
 
 Q 
 
226 NOTES. 
 
 itself, so also for this rule concerning it ; That it contains 
 or implies whatever points of faith are necessary to eternal 
 salvation. 
 
 NOTE F, p. 198. 
 
 Not to travel at present beyond the writings of Irenaeus 
 himself, the following might be cited as passages clearly 
 implying this doctrine. In b. ii. c. 46. he thus lays down 
 the rule to be adopted in interpreting Scripture parables: 
 " A sound, and safe, and religious mind, and one really 
 bent on truth : whatsoever things God has left within 
 our province, and subjected to our knowledge, those such 
 a mind will diligently study to the uttermost, and in the 
 same continually advance, by daily exercise rendering the 
 acquisition of knowledge easy to itself. Now these things 
 are, first, such as come under the cognizance of our sight ; 
 secondly, whatsoever things are openly and unambiguously 
 uttered in the very words of the Divine Scriptures. And 
 therefore the parables, or dark passages, ought always to 
 be expounded consistently with those which are clear." 
 Is it not plain that Irenaeus is here dividing the grounds 
 of human knowledge into two classes, the one of Sight and 
 the other of Faith ; and that his definition of the latter is, 
 " such things as are openly and unambiguously uttered in 
 the very words of Divine Scripture ?" Presently after, he 
 compares those who leave express Scripture for doubtful 
 and fanciful theories of figurative language, to the foolish 
 virgins, who " being freely and in plain terms invited to 
 meet the bridegroom, lose their opportunity, and are shut 
 out of the marriage feast, while they are seeking light from 
 those who busy themselves in the dark with forced expla- 
 nations of parables." Again, in the very passage above 
 quoted, p. 191, where he speaks most highly of real aposto- 
 
NOTES. 227 
 
 lical tradition, he clearly intimates that the Scriptures are 
 parallel to it in substance. The mere question, If we had 
 not the Scriptures, must we not follow tradition ? implies, 
 that having the Scriptures, we have the substance of truths 
 necessary to salvation, and so far depend not at all on 
 tradition. The manner, again, in which Irenaeus every 
 where opposes the heretics to the Scriptures, evinces that 
 they were constantly and unhesitatingly appealed to by 
 the orthodox, as the foundation, without going further. 
 E. g. lib. ii. c. 54. " These are not fitter guides than the 
 Scriptures : nor does it become us, leaving the writings of 
 the Lord and Moses, and the other prophets, heralds of 
 the truth, to rest our faith on these, whose teaching has 
 nothing sound, but is full of distraction and incoherency." 
 
 NOTE G, p. 202. 
 
 The following is the statement of St. Athanasius ; de 
 Deer. Nic. Synod, c. iii. t. i. 210. ed. Bened. 
 
 xa) 0gOjU,apg7v sTrs^sigovv, ra psy 
 ' aurcSv a<rs/3e/af yv peara' ol $t <rvve\QovTe$ evl- 
 
 Tr^acyj xat 
 Xoyov xa< 7 
 
 xai jtx-ovov ^syyo^svoi x.otTsyivaxrx.ovro, xa* TTPO^ 
 eavrcav otlge<7ews TYJV otTrogiotv, 
 ot^otvel; jxev gjxevov OUTOJ, xat 8/a T>}J a-iaonryg wpohoyovv TYJV STTI T^ 
 a atiroov a<rp^wjv' ol TO/VUV S7r/crxo7roi AOITTOV avsAovrsj ra 
 ' auraJv $tnt9tflfarM pypctTot, OVTOD$ egeQevro xar' aurcov T^V 
 uyta/vouo-av xat gxxArj<Tii3e(rT<x^v TiffTtv. 
 
 " The Arians being forward in their impiety, and taking 
 the offensive, and uttering words full of ungodliness, the 
 Bishops who had assembled, being in number three hun- 
 dred, more or less, quietly asked of them to give some 
 explanation and proof of their affirmations, consistent with 
 
 Q2 
 
228 NOTES. 
 
 piety. But when upon their own shewing they were 
 convicted, and were at variance with each other, finding 
 themselves much at a loss in maintaining their heresy, 
 the result was, on the one part, silence, and an implied 
 confession of shame for their perverse opinion; on the 
 other, the Bishops rejected the expressions devised by 
 them, and proceeded to enunciate against them the sound 
 faith, the faith of the Church from the beginning" 
 
 The orthodox therefore at Nice argued indeed largely 
 from Scripture, but it w r as in refutation of the Arian 
 subtilties, rather than for establishment of the Catholic 
 faith. For the latter purpose, they were content to appeal 
 to tradition. 
 
 NOTE H, p. 206. 
 
 Chillingworth, Religion of Protestants, c. vi. p. i. s. 5tf. 
 " The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of 
 Protestants. Whatever else they believe besides it, and 
 the plain irrefragable indubitable consequences of it, well 
 may they hold it as a matter of opinion : but as matter of 
 faith and religion, neither can they with coherence to their 
 own grounds believe in themselves, nor require the belief 
 of it in others, without most high and most schismatical 
 presumption. I for my part, after a long and (as I verily 
 believe and hope) impartial search of the true way to 
 eternal happiness, do profess plainly, that I cannot find any 
 rest for the sole of my foot, but upon this rock only. I 
 see plainly, and with mine own eyes, that there are Popes 
 against Popes, Councils against Councils, some Fathers 
 against others, the same Fathers against themselves, a con- 
 sent of Fathers of one age against a consent of Fathers of 
 another age, the Church of one age against the Church of 
 another age ; traditive interpretations of Scripture are pre- 
 tended, but there are few or none to be found. No tradition 
 
NOTES. 229 
 
 but only of Scripture can derive itself from the fountain, but 
 may be plainly proved either to have been brought in in such 
 an age after Christ, or that in such an age it was not in. 
 In a word, there is no sufficient certainty but of Scripture 
 only for any considering man to build upon" It is melan- 
 choly, but instructive, to reflect, that the writer of these 
 sentences is known to have been for along time "sceptical, 
 to say the least of it, on the highest points of faith." 
 Clarendon's Life, i. 56. See Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, 
 L 66, 67; Des Maizeaux, Life of Chillingworth, 55. 
 
 NOTE I, p. 214. 
 
 The sort of improvement which we are encouraged to 
 hope for, is traced out by Vincentius Lirinensis, Corn- 
 monitor, c. 22. " O Timothee, O sacerdos, O tractator, 
 O doctor, si te divinum munus idoneum fecerit, ingenio, 
 exercitatione, doctrina, esto spiritalis tatfernaculi Bezaleel, 
 pretiosas divini dogmatis gemmas exsculpe, fideliter coapta, 
 adorna sapienter, adjice splendorem, gratiam, venustatem. 
 Intelligatur te exponente illustrius quod ante obscurius 
 credebatur. Per te posteritas intellectum gratuletur, quod 
 ante vetustas non intellectum venerabatur. Eadem tamen 
 quae didicisti doce ; ut cum dicas nove, non dicas nova." 
 Compare Bp. Butler, Anal, part ii. c. iii. vol. ii. p. 9A9. 
 Oxford, 1807. 
 
 NOTE K, p. 217. 
 
 This part of the argument can hardly be stated, under 
 the present circumstances of our Church, without giving 
 rise to the grave practical question, "What is the line to be 
 taken by those clergymen, who feel serious objections, in 
 
230 NOTES. 
 
 conscience and principle, to the course of ecclesiastical 
 legislation now in progress : who consider our Saviour's 
 charter to be violated by the admission of a body con- 
 stituted as the British Parliament now is to legislate 
 for the Church of Christ, especially without control or 
 authority from the Bishops synodically assembled ? Under 
 such persuasion, can we help regarding the laws so passed, 
 or hereafter to be passed, as having in themselves no 
 canonical force, and only then claiming the submission 
 of Christ's ministers and people, when enforced on us 
 severally by command of our respective diocesans ? Or 
 can we avoid entertaining fears, that the whole may 
 amount in God's sight to the concurrence of the Church 
 in a great national sin ? All this, over and above the 
 many grave exceptions which, as not a few of us think, 
 may reasonably be alleged against the details of the pro- 
 posed reform. Can it be wrong to take such opportunities 
 as we have of respectfully recording our humble but 
 deliberate protest against proceedings, in our judgment 
 so very objectionable ? 
 
 The present writer is well aware of the insignificancy 
 of such expressions of individual opinion ; and also of the 
 danger of appearing undutiful to those whom he is bound 
 most on earth to honour and revere. But he has observed 
 in several quarters a disposition to interpret the silence 
 of the parochial clergy as implying approbation of the 
 measures in question: and he fears that such supposed 
 acquiescence may tend to neutralize our efforts on future 
 occasions. These feelings, he hopes, may plead his excuse 
 for being anxious to disavow on his own behalf, and as 
 far as he may venture to do so, on behalf of the clergy in 
 general, all responsibility on the subject. The principles, 
 on which we might well be supposed averse to the course 
 which has been adopted, were sufficiently manifested three 
 
NOTES. 231 
 
 years ago in the remonstrances against the Irish Church 
 Bill. Whatever has been now done, for good or for 
 evil, the praise or blame of it must belong entirely to 
 our governors. Our part has been merely that of 
 soldiers, laying down their arms at the command of their 
 superior officers. Nor can it in fairness be so construed 
 as to preclude us hereafter from asserting Church prin- 
 ciples, as often as we feel that our duty calls on us to 
 do so". 
 
 a For the Postscript annexed to former editions, see the end of the 
 Volume- 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 NUMBERS xxiii. 23. 
 
 According to this time it shall be said of Jacob, and of Israel, 
 What hath God wrought ? 
 
 THESE words are part of Balaam's involuntary 
 blessing, pronounced on God's people when he 
 had intended to curse them. They appear to 
 contain a distinct intimation of that which must 
 strike all considerate persons on reading this 
 portion of the sacred history : namely, that it 
 exhibits, in a condensed and what may be almost 
 called a symbolical form, the general course and 
 final issue of the warfare, which is ever going on 
 between the Church and the world : which war- 
 fare is the great subject of prophecy, both in the 
 Old and in the New Testament. 
 
 a Preached at Winchester, May 31, 1838, at the annual 
 meeting of the District Committees of the Societies for Propa- 
 gating the Gospel, and Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 233 
 
 Thus, the alarm and perplexity of Balak, when 
 he first heard of the coming of the Israelites, 
 vividly represents the feelings of the mere states- 
 men, the soldiers, conquerors, and other rulers of 
 this world, when they find themselves compelled 
 to deal with the Church of God. His sending for 
 Balaam may be compared to the continual efforts 
 they distinctively make to enlist human learning 
 and science, popular prejudice and false religious 
 feeling, on their side, and against this new power, 
 so strange in itself, and existing to them so un- 
 accountably ; which they would gladly evade, but 
 find themselves compelled to meet. Balaam's 
 reluctant refusal at first, and his unwilling testi- 
 mony afterwards, in favour of those whom he was 
 invited, and wished, to curse, are no inapt ^emblem 
 of struggling human reason, forced on its own 
 principles to offer assent and profess allegiance 
 to the Cross of our Lord and Saviour. And too 
 easily, must we own likewise, may a parallel be 
 found for the success of the false prophet in tempt- 
 ing God's people to fornication, and thence to 
 idolatry, by those who consider how a base secular 
 policy is ever combining with a baser earthly phi- 
 losophy, to lower the standard both of morals and 
 of doctrine within the holy city, which they vainly 
 assail from without. 
 
 Other points of analogy, and very striking ones, 
 will occur of themselves to a diligent reader. And 
 surely this whole train of thought acquires an 
 additional and a very aweful importance, when we 
 
234 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 consider what the text, as I just now mentioned, 
 seems to affirm : that the entire transaction was 
 intentionally over-ruled from on high, so as that it 
 should prove a kind of sample or specimen of the 
 proceedings of the Almighty, of His Church, and 
 of His enemies, from that time to the world's end. 
 " According to this time it shall be said of Jacob, 
 and of Israel, What hath God wrought?" As if 
 he should say, " This signal interposition of the 
 Lord to deliver His people will be a type or 
 pattern of His watchful Providence over them, 
 from time to time calling forth the fear and 
 admiration even of those who would least wish 
 to acknowledge it." The literal Israel first, and 
 afterwards the spiritual, was to be the Lord's 
 chosen field; the medium (if so it may be called) 
 in which it would please Him to display His 
 glorious and gracious attributes, not to men only, 
 but to the powers in the heavenly places : and that 
 " according to the time" of Balaam and Balak, 
 in a manner analogous to what was then taking 
 place. To that time in particular we are author- 
 ized to look, for instruction in the privileges, the 
 dangers, and the duties, of the Church at all 
 times. 
 
 It cannot therefore be out of season shortly to 
 direct attention that way on such occasions as the 
 present. For the two Societies, whose joint claim 
 we are this day to consider, are not to be regarded 
 as merely charitable voluntary associations, stand- 
 ing each on its own merits, independent of all 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 235 
 
 other institutions : like the body of subscribers to 
 a hospital, or a charity school. They are forms 
 and modes of action which the Church in England 
 has adopted : supported, as they are, and regulated, 
 as they profess to be, by the whole body of our 
 Prelates, they are, pro tanto, that Church. So far, 
 her privileges, dangers, and duties are theirs : and 
 the word spoken of old for her warning and encou- 
 ragement may be applied in some measure to them. 
 With this application in view, let us consider, 
 first, the particular privilege of the Church, to 
 which more especially the context would direct 
 our thoughts. " God brought him out of Egypt; 
 he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn : 
 surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, 
 neither is there any divination against Israel." In 
 other words, The Church redeemed out of the 
 world, and endowed with the power of the Cross 
 which redeemed it, and to which it is made con- 
 formable, is thereby secured against all evil spirits. 
 " Endowed," I say, " with the power of the Cross :" 
 for to the Cross unquestionably there is an allusion, 
 when the horns of the unicorn are spoken of as 
 the instrument of God's power. There can be no 
 doubt of this interpretation, if the meaning of a 
 prophetical symbol may be decided by the consent- 
 ing judgment of antiquity. Observe now against 
 what evil the strength of the unicorn, that is, the 
 power of the Cross, is here repeated as a safe- 
 guard. " There is no enchantment against Jacob, 
 neither is there any divination against Israel." 
 
236 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 Whatever in former or in later times may have 
 been meant by enchantment or divination : whether 
 the availing ourselves of power, actually permitted 
 for a while, under certain limits, to evil spirits ; or 
 communion, fancied or pretended, with such spirits ; 
 or the sort of insight into the mysteries whether 
 of nature or of man, and consequent command 
 over both, which to ordinary men wears most the 
 appearance of magic ; we are here assured, that 
 none of these forces shall ever prevail against the 
 Church of God. 
 
 The sign of the Cross was of old time a 
 weapon for Christians against unknown dangers : 
 the doctrine of the Cross, their instrument of 
 triumph against Pagan philosophy from Celsus 
 to Julian : and so it continues to this day. I 
 mean, the Cross of Christ so believed in, as that 
 we should in our measure bear it and conform 
 ourselves to it. That is the Cross to which the 
 promises are made. The children of Israel covered 
 the face of the earth ; yet they lay still, and moved 
 not against the Moabites. They had but to con- 
 tinue faithful, and the curse was changed into a 
 blessing. The Christians in Julian's day were in 
 a manner the universal Roman empire, but they 
 patiently endured both the insolent sophistry and 
 the harassing edicts of the emperor, and God 
 interfered in His own time to deliver them. 
 
 By His great and distinguishing mercy, the same 
 Church which was then preserved through patience 
 continues among us to this day. We are inheritors 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 237 
 
 of the same promises ; and let us take it as one 
 token of our privilege, that we inherit the same 
 opposition and hostility. Our age seems to answer 
 to that of Julian in this very characteristical cir- 
 cumstance, that in it Balaam and Balak are as it 
 were combined in one. Over the greater part of the 
 civilized Christian world Science and Philosophy 
 falsely so called the " enchantment" and " divina- 
 tion" of a literary and refined age have acquired 
 of late to a great extent, and are daily, as it seems, 
 acquiring, secular power. It is this combination 
 which forms the spirit of our age ; a spirit which 
 would fain curse the kingdom and people of God : 
 but we see daily the effect of His Providence 
 turning the curse into a blessing, in that even this 
 evil spirit is forced to affect a Christian tone, in 
 words at least to praise the Gospel, and predict its 
 universal triumph. 
 
 Here then we are led on from the consideration 
 of the Church's privilege to that of her peculiar 
 accompanying danger. Balaam's cursing could not 
 hurt Israel : but the seduction which he contrived 
 took effect, we know how fatally. May not some- 
 thing like this be apprehended with regard to the 
 people of God in their present trial ? The power 
 and the wisdom of this world may each in their 
 way war against Christianity, but the only mean 
 for them really to hurt the Church is their prevail- 
 ing on her (which God forbid !) to take them into 
 her councils ; to stain her discipline with the 
 
238 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 world's policy, and lower her doctrine to the 
 world's standard of credibility. 
 
 I will give an example or two under each head. 
 Should any portion of the Catholic Church have 
 virtually surrendered, for popularity or state 
 support, the power which our Lord gave to His 
 Apostles and their successors only for the remission 
 and retention of sins; I should call this a com- 
 promise in respect of discipline which could not be 
 too deeply repented of, tending as it does to forfeit 
 the Redeemer's blessing. Should another portion, 
 no less virtually and truly, have adopted the prin- 
 ciple of sanctioning political evil that theological 
 good may come disturbing nations and dethroning 
 sovereigns with a view to the supposed unity 
 and influence of the Church, what unperverted 
 conscience can fail to see the offence and fear the 
 consequence ? This latter case is or has been that of 
 the Church of Rome in particular: the former, I 
 fear, is that of all established Churches under heaven, 
 and of some not established ; but the Romish offence 
 is evidently the more grievous of the two, by how 
 much activity in treason is worse than unwilling 
 acquiescence in other men's profaneness. 
 
 Again, to exemplify under the head of doc- 
 trine ; wherever what is called Rationalism holds 
 sway : that is, wherever it is assumed that all 
 important points in religion may be accounted 
 for on principles within reach of human reason : 
 there it may be truly said, that an earthly 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 23$ 
 
 philosophy prevails against the true faith, not in 
 a way of direct opposition, but by dexterously 
 insinuating itself into the very substance of men's 
 belief. And where that particular line of specu- 
 lation is patronised by the civil power, it is exactly 
 Balaam teaching Balak to put a stumbling-block 
 before the children of Israel. 
 
 From this brief account of the privileges and 
 dangers, it will not be hard to collect also the 
 peculiar duties of the Church at the present 
 moment. Her duty surely is, to defy the enmity 
 against which she is secured by an unfailing 
 promise, but greatly to fear the world's insinuating 
 friendship, the treacherous compromises into which 
 either policy or philosophy is continually endea- 
 vouring to beguile her. The Israelites had nothing 
 to do but to abide in their tents by their tribes, 
 and they were safe from open warfare and avowed 
 cursing. But they were called on to arouse 
 themselves, and make active resistance, when the 
 emissaries of idolatry and sensuality came actually 
 within their camp. And the mischief was not 
 abated but by a terrible atonement, tasking to the 
 very utmost the zeal of Phinehas, and of the rest 
 who continued faithful. Who shall warrant us of 
 the Church in England against being brought in 
 no long time to some such severe and fiery trial, 
 as the only alternative to open apostasy and 
 irreligion ? except it shall please God to open our 
 eyes, more generally than as yet they are opened, 
 
240 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 to the extreme peril we are in, of sacrificing 
 apostolical prerogative to political expediency, 
 and apostolical truth to rationalistic ingenuity. 
 
 For so it is, (and the present occasion especially 
 calls on us to remark it,) that the Body of Christ 
 in these later ages (at least in those members 
 with which we are most concerned) has been 
 gradually growing imperfect and languid in her 
 discharge of both the duties now specified. She 
 has not shewn her ancient bold front to the civil 
 power, when profane or encroaching : she has not 
 kept her old jealous watch against utilitarian 
 breaches of order, or philosophical perversions of 
 truth, within her precincts. The former of these 
 errors is the natural abuse of that which is in itself 
 a plain duty, and a great blessing; the govern- 
 ment acknowledging the Church, and cooperating 
 with it : called in common language the establish- 
 ment of the Church, and its union with the State. 
 In itself, I say, this is a duty, and brings a blessing ; 
 but it becomes a snare and a curse, when for its 
 sake we are tempted to sacrifice any part of 
 primitive truth and order : and how far this has 
 been and is our position in this country especially, 
 let considerate persons judge. 
 
 The other ill effect just mentioned the more 
 or less unconscious lowering or distortion of doc- 
 trines, to make them prove more useful, or appear 
 more refined and enlightened is the natural 
 result of what is called high civilization. The 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 241 
 
 more we know of the material world, the less 
 willing are we to believe and value things which 
 take us entirely beyond its range : the more we 
 communicate with and depend, on others, the 
 more anxious do we become to find out the use 
 of every thing, as becoming more aware of the 
 general unwillingness to be guided by any other 
 consideration. Thus the distinctions on which 
 this generation prides itself are just such as would 
 lead a thoughtful person to expect a rank growth 
 of heresy and schism in the Church : and she 
 being bound and pressed down by her connection 
 with states so constituted as quickly to receive 
 all these evil impressions, it becomes her faithful 
 children to seek out subsidiary modes, if any can 
 be found, of enabling her in some sort to discharge 
 her two great duties, of denying the world's hos- 
 tility, and purging herself of its infection. 
 
 It is perhaps in this point of view that Societies, 
 such as we now meet to support, may best be 
 regarded, if we are desirous of recommending and 
 maintaining them on true Church principles. Were 
 the Catholic Church in a sound and united state, 
 able to discharge all her duties, such combinations 
 would be unnecessary ; and being unnecessary, 
 they would be hurtful, as dividing and dispersing 
 those energies, to which she has the sole and 
 entire right. For the idea of the Catholic Church 
 is all that in one, which we imperfectly endeavour 
 to shape out by our innumerable and partial, and 
 
 R 
 
242 CHURCH SOCIETIKS. 
 
 therefore most unsatisfactory, combinations. The 
 Church, as has been remarked before now, is a 
 Society for promoting Christian Knowledge ; for 
 propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; for 
 building Churches ; for providing Curates ; for 
 educating the Poor ; and for whatever other pur- 
 poses would conduce to the being of God's King- 
 dom where as yet it is not, and its well-being 
 where it is. She has her Eucharistical Sacrifice 
 of alms, to provide the funds for all these, and all 
 other holy and bountiful purposes ; she has her 
 Bishops to be stewards, responsible receivers, of 
 those funds, and her Deacons to assist in the 
 labour of keeping and disbursing them. She is 
 present at once in all nations, keeping up among 
 all her members that full unreserved communi- 
 cation, which may best enable her to distribute 
 her treasures, so that the abundance of one 
 portion shall be a supply for the want of another. 
 Finally, and above all, she is a society divinely 
 instituted for these very purposes : whereas these 
 our modern charities, however good and useful, 
 are but inventions of men. 
 
 Nor am I merely speaking here of the theory or 
 idea of the Church, as of some Utopian or Platonic 
 commonwealth. Those who know any thing of 
 Christian antiquity, know that for many hundred 
 years it actually corresponded to this description. 
 And that no doubt is the reason why, although 
 we read much in early ecclesiastical history of 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 243 
 
 hospitals, almshouses, and other such institutions, 
 founded for purposes of temporal charity, we 
 no where meet with any thing corresponding to 
 what are called the religious Societies of the 
 present day. As we draw towards the middle 
 ages, when the Church had begun to decline both 
 in unity, in independence, and in orthodoxy, we 
 find certain monastic orders having purposes of 
 this kind. But not till then : not until the Church 
 as a body felt herself cramped, and unequal to her 
 former efforts. 
 
 Thus it becomes evident, (and the remark, I 
 trust, is not inconsistent with unfeigned respect 
 and cordial gratitude towards Societies such as 
 the present,) that however useful and valuable 
 they are, their existence and flourishing estate 
 cannot in itself be reckoned a token of general 
 growth and prosperity in God's Kingdom. It 
 argues not a sound habit of body, but rather a 
 strong effort of a diseased constitution to right 
 itself. While, therefore, we heartily rejoice in the 
 comparative success and usefulness of such insti- 
 tutions, it becomes us notwithstanding to feel 
 humbled and anxious, in the consciousness that 
 after all their very existence is a symptom and a 
 confession of fearful decay. We trust that in 
 encouraging and supporting them, we are on the 
 whole " doing right in the sight of the Lord ;" yet 
 they remind us painfully, at every turn, that " the 
 high places are not taken away." They may be 
 
244 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 well enough for the second Temple, but it is fit 
 that they should be accompanied with remorseful 
 remembrances of the first. 
 
 This view may be confirmed and illustrated 
 by reverting to the historical origin of the two 
 Societies. The elder of the two is the Society for 
 Promoting Christian Knowledge, the records of 
 which are a remarkable instance of the great 
 visible effect with which God's Providence is 
 sometimes pleased to crown the pious zeal of a 
 few individuals. It began in the last year of the 
 seventeenth century, at a meeting at which it 
 appears that only five persons, four of them lay- 
 men, were present. The preamble to their first 
 minute of proceedings states, as the immediate 
 occasion of their combining, the deep sense they 
 had of the growth of vice and immorality. The 
 English Church, it is not now needful to enquire 
 why, had lost, and was then losing more entirely 
 than ever, the " godly discipline" wherewith Christ 
 had at first endowed her ; and this Society was an 
 effort of her instinctive energies to mitigate in 
 some sort that irreparable defect. 
 
 Again, as things then were, her connection with the 
 State, with whatever advantages attended, brought 
 along with it undoubtedly this evil : that it greatly 
 restrained her power as a Missionary Church. She 
 was prevented from sending out Bishops, that is, from 
 propagating Christ's Gospel and Kingdom in the only 
 primitive way, even within the unconverted portion 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 245 
 
 of His Majesty's own dominions. Hence the need 
 of such a Society as that for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel in Foreign Parts : which issued at 
 length in the present American Church : but not 
 until the worldly and short-sighted policy of re- 
 fusing all State encouragement to the Church in 
 the Colonies had met its reward in the separation 
 from the mother country : a change, which in all 
 probability would have been obviated, had true 
 Church principles been allowed to develope them- 
 selves in that land. As it was, however pressing 
 the need, the Church had not power in England, 
 as a Church, to take any signal step, either for the 
 promotion of Christian Knowledge with a view to 
 the reformation of manners at home, or for the 
 propagation of the Gospel abroad. It was neces- 
 sary for her members, as individuals, to exert 
 themselves, and form a party, if so it must be 
 called, for those great purposes : which, had she 
 been free and erect, she might, under God's 
 blessing, have achieved by her own moving force 
 applied to her own machinery. 
 
 Thus much to explain the assertion, that volun- 
 tary Societies such as these, however worthy of 
 support under present circumstances, are never- 
 theless an indication of an unhealthy state of the 
 Church. Their very existence too surely betrays 
 constraint from without, or disorder within, or 
 both. 
 
 Yet this view of their origin and operations need 
 
24() CHURCH SOCIETIES, 
 
 not at all cause a considerate person to hesitate as 
 to the duty of supporting them. Poor suhstitutes 
 undoubtedly they are for the victorious self- 
 purifying energies with which the Kingdom of 
 Heaven was endowed when the last of the Apostles 
 left it, but of all institutions within our reach as 
 individuals, they answer most nearly to the cha- 
 racter of the Church's organs : first, historically, 
 because it is a known fact, that they have been 
 generally supported from the beginning by the 
 Prelates of oar Church : and secondly and chiefly, 
 on principle, because their peculiar rule and law is, 
 to propagate the Gospel, and promote Christian 
 knowledge, not in any way which to human eyes 
 may seem expedient, but strictly in the way which 
 our Lord Himself ordained: joining always the 
 Church with the Scriptures, the means of grace 
 with the doctrines of grace. From which it would 
 seem to follow, that over and above their positive 
 good effects, it is good and right in itself for indi- 
 vidual Christians to join themselves to them, and 
 zealously forward their exertions. Each of us would 
 perhaps do well to consider himself as being by 
 such adherence pledged anew to the great Church 
 principles, the assertion of which these Societies 
 undertook in degenerate and forgetful times. By 
 supporting the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel, we virtually acknowledge that the 
 Kingdom of Christ, the visible Apostolical Church, 
 is independent of the kingdoms of this world : 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 247 
 
 that it is her duty and commission to go on, con- 
 quering and to conquer, with or without the co- 
 operation of the civil power. The other Association 
 binds us no less to uphold what one may perhaps 
 venture to call the right of the Church to purify 
 and correct herself the censorial prerogative which 
 Christ has conveyed to her rulers over the edu- 
 cation and the studies of all her members, and 
 especially over those of the young and of the poor. 
 In submitting to the Bishops all our plans for the 
 promotion of Christian Knowledge, we take the 
 divinely appointed way of securing our camp against 
 the seduction of false prophecy. And in propa- 
 gating the Gospel always along with the Church, 
 and exclusively under the Bishops and in com- 
 munion with them, we do in effect claim for the 
 Church an inherent independence of the secular 
 power, and a right to disregard that power, should 
 it prove hostile. By the one we defy Balak : by 
 the other we stand on our guard against Balaam. 
 Thus the two cautions which their page of sacred 
 history presents, are virtually recognised ; and men, 
 if they would be consistent, would feel that they 
 were pledged to the further support of the same 
 high principles, as soon as ever their spiritual 
 governors shall call on them for such support. 
 
 It may be worth considering, whether this view 
 do not imply, that our support of the Societies in 
 question should be exclusive. If we rightly regard 
 them as the organs of the Church, however unwil- 
 
248 CHURCH SOCTKTIES. 
 
 lingly adopted by her at first in a time of extreme 
 necessity, when her natural functions seemed in a 
 manner paralyzed ; it would seem that the unity 
 which the Church covets in all things ought also 
 to be found here; and therefore that coordinate 
 institutions for the same purposes, however noble 
 in design and successful in result, cannot be quite 
 consistent with primitive Christian order. 
 
 Should this view be correct, it can hardly be 
 necessary to add, that it becomes us to shew our 
 earnestness in it by so much the more liberal con- 
 tributions, on occasions like the present, when our 
 alms assume more than usual of the character of 
 Clrurch oblations. If we find ourselves conscien- 
 tiously precluded from giving our aid to other well- 
 meant institutions, it may be well for us to prove 
 our sincerity by increased bounty to those, in 
 regard of which no such scruple exists : and more 
 especially at the present moment to the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel, whose call is 
 rendered more urgent than ever by the situation 
 of the Canadian provinces, in consequence of the 
 denial of the usual Parliamentary grant. 
 
 But whatever may be thought of exclusiveness, 
 it is quite clear, that the original principles of the 
 two Societies being continually kept in view, would 
 tend more than any thing else to rectify their 
 movements in detail, wheresoever the spirit of our 
 time is most likely to pervert and mislead them. 
 Thus, should either of them betray an inclination 
 
CHURCH SOCIETIES. 249 
 
 to measure God's favour by visible results ; and, 
 with a view to greater effect, to admit on its list all 
 persons who will give their money, and all sorts of 
 well-meaning books, which are at all likely to find 
 general acceptance ; might it not be seasonable to 
 remind one another, that one of the original funda- 
 mental rules of the Christian Knowledge Society 
 was to admit no man, to receive no man's subscrip- 
 tion, without testimony given of his sober and 
 religious life ? Thus a kind of discipline was kept 
 up, in which, as in some other respects, these 
 venerable Societies were no unmeet representatives 
 of the Church Catholic in this realm. If this rule 
 has been allowed to pass away, and if in other 
 respects there be reason to fear a lowering of their 
 standard to ensure present support, then it is the 
 more necessary that we should remember the 
 special promise and special danger of God's people. 
 Against them no " enchantment" or " divination" 
 shall ever prevail from without ; but they may and 
 will be most fearfully visited for every instance 
 of internal accommodation to the spirit of their 
 enemy, the world. 
 
 In a word : when we take ways of our own to do 
 good, we may seem to make great progress, but we 
 cannot be sure that our prosperity is a blessing. But 
 when we scrupulously adhere to God's way, both 
 His present favour and our final success are certain, 
 let the immediate effect be what it may. For this 
 is that course of spiritual husbandry which has the 
 
250 CHURCH SOCIETIES. 
 
 promise of the Lord of the whole earth : " So is 
 the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed 
 into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night 
 and day, and the seed should grow and spring up, 
 he knoweth not how." Therefore, as St. James 
 adds, " Be patient, brethren, until the coming of 
 the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the 
 precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience 
 for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 
 Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts : for the 
 coming of the Lord draweth nigh." 
 
SERMON X.' 
 
 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 ST. JOHN xvii. 19. 
 
 For their sakes 1 sanctify Myself, that they also may be 
 sanctified through the Truth. 
 
 WHEN we seriously consider this solemn address 
 of our Lord, with all the circumstances under which 
 it was delivered, we cannot well doubt of its bearing 
 especial reference to the Holy Communion,, which 
 He had just then instituted. It comes before us 
 as a solemn service from the mouth of the Great 
 High Priest : a prayer of invocation and interces- 
 sion : a verbal oblation, accompanying and ratifying 
 the actual oblation of His sacred Body and Blood. 
 
 In this connexion it is presented to us, first of 
 all, by the very time and place of its delivery. The 
 place, that upper room, whither our Lord had so 
 emphatically summoned His disciples, as being the 
 chosen spot, where all the prophecies and types 
 especially concerning Sion should receive their 
 accomplishment, in the last Passover, the first 
 Eucharist, and the descent of the Holy Spirit to 
 
 * This Sermon, in substance, was prepared for a Church in 
 Scotland, the Sunday on which the Communion Office was intro- 
 duced there. 
 
252 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 set up the Kingdom of Heaven. This was the place 
 of that aweful Prayer : as appears plainly where we 
 are told, that " after He had spoken these words/' 
 and not before, " He went out with His disciples 
 over the brook Cedron," into the garden, the ap- 
 pointed scene of His agony. 
 
 Then as to the time and order, in which the 
 Prayer stands among the events of that night, 
 there can be no question among harmonists. It 
 followed immediately upon the farewell promise of 
 the Comforter, as that promise had followed on 
 the institution of the Sacrament of the Cup. Our 
 Lord had risen from the Table where they were 
 all sitting at meat, and where a few minutes before 
 He had ordained the Sacrament of His Body : He 
 had risen to leave the room, and in rising, had 
 turned the parting Cup which was distributed as 
 usual on such occasions into the Sacrament of His 
 Blood : and then He had gone on to tell them of 
 the True Vine, of their portion in It, of the severe 
 trial and persecution inseparable from that privi- 
 lege, and of His intercession and the presence of 
 the Comforter, as their unfailing aid and consola- 
 tion. And having said this, He " lift up His eyes 
 to Heaven," (still continuing in the same place and 
 posture, standing with them round the Table on 
 which He had ordained the Holy Eucharist,) and 
 commended them, with all who should believe on 
 Him through their word, to His Father, in that 
 heavenly and mysterious Prayer, of which the text 
 is part. And then without delay He goes out, 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 253 
 
 and submits Himself to His agony, and afterwards 
 to His death. Who but must feel, concerning 
 this His last public prayer, that as it clearly sets 
 forth some of the great purposes of the bloody 
 offering of Himself which He was about to make, 
 so it could not be without signification, as regards 
 the unbloody Sacrifice, the perpetual memory of 
 His precious death, which He had been just 
 ordaining to all generations ? Who that knows at 
 all what it is to pray just after Communion, can 
 doubt that the prayer of Christ, made presently 
 after that first Communion, must teach us some- 
 thing of the virtue of the same, and of His special 
 purposes in appointing it ? 
 
 Accordingly we find, that certain high and 
 sacred words, words which may be said to give, 
 as it were, the key note to the Eucharistical 
 Services of the Church, are also the dominant 
 words in our Lord's Intercession. Observe espe- 
 cially the word " sanctify," as He here employs it 
 more than once. " Sanctify them" whom Thou 
 hast given Me " by Thy Truth : Thy Word is 
 Truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, 
 even so have I sent them into the world : and for 
 their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may 
 be sanctified in the Truth." The passage corre- 
 sponds in a remarkable way with our Lord's affirm- 
 ation to the Jews, a few months before. " Say ye 
 of Him, Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent 
 into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, 
 
254 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 I am the Son of God ?" Sanctified" and sent :"- 
 the two words are connected together in both 
 passages : only in His reproof to the unbelievers 
 our Lord speaks of Himself alone, in this His 
 farewell intercession He extends the sanctifi- 
 cation and mission, through His Apostles, to all 
 faithful men. In both the allusion evidently is to 
 the great Council of God in His Son's Incarnation. 
 " A Body hast Thou prepared Me : . . . . then said 
 I, Lo, I come to do Thy Will, O God :" now 
 observe how the Apostle follows up the train of 
 thought : " By the which Will," he says, " we are 
 sanctified, through the offering of the Body of 
 Jesus Christ once for all a ." 
 
 In short, the term is ecclesiastical and liturgical, 
 implying special and solemn devotion to the service 
 of God. Thus it is used concerning precious ma- 
 terials : " The Temple sanctifieth the gold, the Altar 
 the gift." " The creatures of God are good, being 
 sanctified by the Word of God, and by Prayer." 
 
 In this last verse, as in several others, the pro- 
 cess of sanctification is ascribed to the Word of 
 God, effectually and solemnly pronounced for that 
 purpose : one might perhaps correctly say, to His 
 sacramental Word. So in reference to Holy Bap- 
 tism, we read, " Christ loved the Church, and gave 
 Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse 
 it with the washing of water by the Word: that 
 He might present" (or " offer") " it to Himself a 
 
 * S. John x. 36; Psalm xl. 68; Heb. x. 510. 
 
EUCHARTSTICAL OFFICES. 255 
 
 glorious Church." And in a passage which is with 
 much reason apprehended to allude to the liturgical 
 office of that time, St. Paul speaks of " the grace 
 given him of God, that he should be a sacrificial 
 minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, doing the 
 priest's work in respect of the Gospel of God : that 
 the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, 
 being sanctified by the Holy Ghost b ." 
 
 Further, and still more decisively, Sanctification 
 is the word constantly employed in the Old Testa- 
 ment, in the Pentateuch and Ezekiel, and where- 
 soever the Mosaic Ritual is set forth, to denote 
 solemn consecration and devotion to God's service, 
 whether of persons or of things. Thus it is applied 
 to the sabbath day, to the first-born, to the persons 
 of the priests, to their apparel, to the tabernacle, 
 to the altar and other sacred furniture, to the 
 whole people of Israel as distinguished from other 
 nations, to the sabbatical year, to the censers of 
 Korah and his company : and in every one of 
 these instances, I believe, there is an outward 
 dedication, or something equivalent to it. 
 
 Doubtless the whole was moral and symbolical, 
 but of what ? Not simply, I suppose, of the inward 
 vital change of heart wrought by the Holy Ghost 
 in each Christian who does not reject it, (which is 
 what we especially associate with the term Sancti- 
 
 b S. Matt, xxiii. 17 19 ;1 Tim. iv. 5 ; Eph. v. 26 ; Rom. xv. 16. 
 c Gen. ii. 3 ; Exod. xiii. 2; xxix. 1, 27,44, 37; xxxi. 12; 
 Lev. xxv. 10 ; Num. xvi. 37. 
 
256 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 fication,) not simply of this, though it be most real, 
 and blessed, and necessary : but Sanctification, in 
 its ordinary scriptural meaning, seems primarily to 
 refer to the solemn act of God the Son, setting 
 Himself apart to do God's will in His Incarnation 
 and Death, and in the whole economy of salvation. 
 Sanctification, like Righteousness, is the property 
 of Christ our Head : to us His members, and to 
 all created things, so far as it pleases Him to use 
 them in His great work, it is vouchsafed most 
 truly in our several measures, but in a secondary 
 and derivative sense : each depending on that first 
 Sanctification of His, and each in its degree repre- 
 senting and applying It. 
 
 Consider again, in this point of view, the use of 
 the word Truth in our Lord's farewell intercession. 
 " Sanctify them through Thy Truth : Thy Word 
 
 is Truth For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that 
 
 they also may be sanctified in the Truth." He seems 
 to say, that whereas all past Sanctification, all that 
 they read of in the Old Testament, or saw prac- 
 tised in their authorized ritual, was but shadowy, 
 ceremonial, and typical, now the very Truth is 
 come, the Word of God, Who is the Way, the 
 Truth, and the Life, the substance which had 
 cast all these shadows before it. He is come, 
 having by the act of His Incarnation sanctified 
 and devoted Himself, and with Himself all those 
 who are to be made members of Him : all whom 
 He should consecrate in the waters of Baptism, 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 257 
 
 and send forth on their several errands into the 
 world, as His Father had sent Him into the world : 
 " for all these," our Lord seems to say, " I am 
 even now sanctifying Myself, I am repeating and 
 rehearsing in their sight the solemn act by which I 
 devoted myself to do My Father's will in redeeming 
 mankind. I offer Myself anew in the Sacrament 
 of My Body and Blood, which I have just in- 
 stituted, that they, partaking of Me therein, may 
 be also solemnly dedicated, sanctified, and offered, 
 not in rite and shadow, but in deed and in truth." 
 
 This construction of our Lord's Prayer, which 
 represents it as continuing, confirming, and ap- 
 plying the benediction just before pronounced on 
 His holy Feast, seems further countenanced by 
 comparison of it with ancient Liturgies, and with 
 our own. If our Lord begins, lifting up His eyes to 
 Heaven, " Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may 
 glorify Thee :" we know that every where from the 
 beginning the more solemn portion of the Eucha- 
 ristical office has commenced with the invitation, 
 " Lift up your hearts :" and has proceeded to give 
 glory to the Father especially. If our Lord in this 
 one place salutes Him Who sent Him as " Holy 
 Father :" so does the Church in this one Hymn : 
 " It is very meet . . . that we should at all times . . . 
 give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, Holy Father." 
 If He plead, " I have glorified Thee on the earth, 
 I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to 
 do :" she rehearses in all her Liturgies, more or less 
 
 s 
 
258 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 at large, in form of exhortation, of scriptural sen- 
 tences, or of thanksgiving, the process of that 
 great work. If He say in so many words, " I pray 
 for them, I pray not for the world :" we know that 
 our Eucharistical intercessions,*properly so called, 
 are confined to "the whole state of Christ's Church :" 
 neither were the names of aliens mentioned, nor 
 their offerings accepted, in the ancient services. 
 If He pray especially for the Apostles first, and 
 then for those who should believe on Him through 
 their word : the common order of the Church 
 has been to give her governors the precedence 
 among those whom she enumerates in her in- 
 tercessory prayer. If one great object of our 
 Lord's intercession is the visible unity of all 
 believers in Him, and through Him with the 
 Father; such unity as the world might see, and 
 believe that God had sent Him ; we in our obla- 
 tion prayer beseech God before all things "to inspire 
 continually the Universal Church with the Spirit 
 of truth, unity, and concord ; that all who profess 
 His holy Name may agree in the truth of His 
 holy Word, and live in unity and godly love." If 
 our Lord goes on from outward unity to speak of 
 that depth of inconceivable blessing, " That they 
 may be with Me where I am; that they may 
 behold My glory which Thou hast given Me : 
 that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may 
 be in them, and I in them :" the petition that we 
 make on our knees just before consecration is," That 
 
EUCHARISTiCAL OFFICES. 259 
 
 we may evermore dwell in Him and He in us." 
 Lastly, as " when Jesus had spoken these words, 
 He" delayed not, but " went over the brook Cedron," 
 to the place where He had appointed to suffer : so 
 we are instructed, immediately on receiving That 
 which is the accomplishment of those words, to lose 
 no time in offering " ourselves, our souls and bodies," 
 a living sacrifice to Him, to do, and endure, what- 
 ever He has prepared for us. 
 
 If now, by considerations such as these, we are 
 satisfied that our Lord's farewell prayer was indeed 
 an Eucharistical prayer, and corresponds with our 
 Eucharistical services : surely no man who loves 
 Him can think of this as of a beautiful circumstance 
 merely, a warrant for a certain imaginative joy 
 and delight, permitted us in addition to the other 
 innumerable blessings of that holiest service. Truly 
 such it is, and a great deal more than such, in re- 
 gard both of doctrine and of consolation. 
 
 And first, for doctrine. Have we not indeed, in 
 the words of the text alone, the substance of the 
 Eucharistical office, in both its parts both in its 
 sacrificial and in its sacramental character ? " I 
 sanctify Myself:" there is the Sacrifice: <f that 
 they also may be sanctified through the Truth :" 
 there is the Sacrament. Are not these plainly 
 the guiding, the prevailing thoughts, which He, 
 our Great Teaclier and Exemplar, would have us 
 associate with the services of His sacred Altar ? 
 
 For thus it is. After ordaining the Eucharist 
 s2 
 
260 EUCHARISTK'AL OFFICES. 
 
 for a remembrance or memorial of Himself : having 
 also by solemn prayer commended to His Father 
 His Apostles first, and in them all who should 
 believe on Him through their word, He sums up 
 the effect of what He was doing and saying : " For 
 their sakes I am sanctifying Myself, that they also 
 may be sanctified through the Truth." 
 
 Our Blessed Lord then was "sanctifying Himself," 
 that is, setting Himself apart, devoting or offering up 
 Himself, His own Body and Blood, to be the con- 
 veyance of like sanctification to us. He was making 
 Himself a sacrifice, that we, being joined to Him, 
 might be holy and lively sacrifices. And all this, 
 " through the Truth :" by participation, namely, of 
 Him, Who is the Very Truth and Reality, the sub- 
 stance of which the old sacrifices were shadows. 
 
 I repeat it : this one saying of Christ conveys 
 apparently in itself the two chief points of the 
 evangelical doctrine concerning the holy and blessed 
 Eucharist : first, that it is His memorial Sacrifice, a 
 mean of obtaining God's favour and pardon for all 
 such as truly repent : next, that it is a most high 
 Sacrament, a mean whereby we are united to 
 Christ, and so made more and more partakers of 
 His righteousness here, and of His glory hereafter. 
 
 When we say, " a memorial sacrifice," we mean, 
 that the offering in the Holy Communion does 
 not only put us in mind of the great unspeakable 
 things which Christ has done for us, but also that 
 it puts GOD in mind of them : so the Scripture 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 261 
 
 vouchsafes to speak, over and over putting into 
 our mouth the word, " Remember," when we are 
 being taught to pray". So our Lord in the very 
 words of consecration : " This do for the memorial 
 of Me." So the meat or bread offering, mentioned 
 so often in the Old Testament, especially in that 
 manual for sacrifice, the Book of Leviticus, is con- 
 stantly said to be offered " for a memorial b :" and 
 without all controversy, it was a type and shadow 
 of that which we Christians present on our altars. 
 
 The Eucharist, therefore, is a memorial or 
 commemorative sacrifice : that is, God graciously 
 receives what we break, pour out, and offer, as 
 though His Son presented before Him His very 
 own Body and Blood. He receives it as a con- 
 tinuation of that first aweful Eucharist : according 
 to the saying of the Wise man, " I know that 
 whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever 1 ." He 
 " smelleth," as the Bible speaks, " a sweet savour," 
 and is favourable and merciful unto us for the sake 
 of Christ so offering Himself before Him. 
 
 In His farewell intercession, accordingly, our 
 Lord pleads His having glorified God on earth, 
 
 * Deut. ix. 27; 2 Kings xx. 3; Nehem. i. 8; v. 19; xiii. 14, 
 22,29,20; Ps. xx. 3; xxv. 6, 7, 8; Ixxiv. 2, 19, 23; Ixxix. 8; 
 lxxxix.46, 49; cvi. 4; cxxxii. 1; cxxxvii. 9; Isai. Ixiv. 9; Jerem. 
 xviii. 20 ; Lam. v. 1 ; S. Luke xxiii. 42. 
 
 b dvdpvr)<riv, Lev. xxiv. 7; (cf. Num. x. 10;) pvrip6<nvop, Lev. 
 ii. 2, 9,16; v. 12; vi. 15; Num. v. 26; (cf. Exod. xxviii. 12,29: 
 xxx. 16 ; xxxix. 7 ; Num. xxxi. 54.) 
 
 c Eccl. iii. 14. 
 
262 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 His " finishing the work," the work of Sacrifice, 
 " which His Father had given Him to do," in 
 order to win from the Father a blessing on those 
 whom He had given Him. As He pleaded then 
 after His first Communion, so His priests are to 
 plead always with their Maker. We do so, when 
 we lay our oblations on His altar, and beseech 
 Him therewith to " receive our prayers :" and more 
 expressly, when we " entirely desire His fatherly 
 goodness to receive our sacrifice of praise and 
 thanksgiving," that is, our Eucharistical sacrifice, 
 " for ourselves and for all His whole Church." 
 Other Churches in communion with us do so, 
 moreover, in such words as these : " O Lord and 
 heavenly Father, according to the institution of 
 Thy dearly beloved Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 we Thy humble servants do celebrate and make, 
 here before Thy Divine Majesty, with these Thy 
 holy gifts, which we now offer unto Thee, the 
 memorial which Thy Son hath commanded us to 
 make d ." 
 
 Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly believe, 
 that the Communion duly offered on our altars, is 
 a true memorial sacrifice of our Lord's death. Be 
 sure that where you join in that offering worthily 
 and humbly, with a true penitent heart, at least 
 your sins are so far forgiven, as that you may 
 without fresh sin draw near and receive the Holy 
 Things, and obtain the full blessing of Christ's 
 
 d Scottish Communion Office. 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 263 
 
 Sacrifice. The merciful God looks down on you 
 from heaven, and sees on you the robe of His Son's 
 righteousness, and so permits you to draw near, 
 that you may eat and live, and not die. 
 
 And may we not have good hope, that by virtue 
 of this blessed Sacrifice He graciously overlooks 
 all involuntary defects in the Sacramental Service 
 itself? He accepts our good meaning, according 
 to that we have, and not according to that we have 
 not. Here is consolation for all those, who being 
 more or less aware of the sad differences in Christ's 
 Church, fear lest something more or less important 
 should be wanting in their own Communion. For 
 such, as for their involuntary personal defects, 
 their gracious Master will not fail to receive the 
 Atonement which He Himself hath provided; as 
 in old time He bore with the frailties and errors 
 of His chosen people: as He ordained a daily 
 trespass-offering for the infirmities of the priests : 
 as His servant Hezekiah prayed for those " who 
 seek the Lord God of their fathers, though they be 
 not cleansed according to the purification of the 
 sanctuary 6 ." May we not hope, that in His sight 
 men " seek the Lord God of their fathers," when 
 they cling to the Creeds of the Church, and to her 
 Communion wheresoever their lot has been cast, 
 whatever blemishes there may be in the details 
 of her service, either in the way of omission or of 
 addition, so long as the great substantial points, 
 
 * 2 Chron. xxx 18, 10. 
 
264 EUCHARIST1CAL OFFICES. 
 
 Oblation and Participation, are expressly or vir- 
 tually retained ? 
 
 Thus much of the Sacrificial Aspect of the holy 
 Eucharist. Concerning its other, or Sacramental 
 Aspect, there is less need to speak here at large, 
 since it is recognised more unreservedly by the 
 Offices of our Church, and received more generally 
 and heartily by her members. It will be enough 
 at present simply to point out how this matter also 
 is especially noticed in our Lord's farewell prayer. 
 Observe then : what He asks for them is real and 
 true sanctification, sanctification by the Word of 
 the Father, which is Truth, sanctification by unity 
 with Him. Christian unity is, most undeniably, 
 the peculiar and paramount object of His great 
 intercession the unity of believers through the 
 Son of God with the Father and with each other. 
 " Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name 
 those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may 
 be one, as We are." This for the Apostles : the 
 next is for ordinary Christians : " That they all 
 may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in 
 Thee. ... I in them, and Thou in Me, that they 
 may be made perfect in one." I need scarcely 
 remark, that this is the very blessing which He 
 had some time before appropriated to the future 
 Eucharistical Rite. Of Sacramental union with 
 Himself He had said, " He that eateth My Flesh 
 and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in 
 Him. As the Living Father hath sent Me, and I 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 265 
 
 live by the Father, so He that eateth Me, even 
 He shall live by Me." Of Sacramental union 
 among Christians His Apostle wrote afterwards, 
 " Ye being many are one Bread and one Body : for 
 ye are all partakers of that one Bread." What then, 
 though our Lord's intercession itself contain no 
 direct mention of the Sacrament ? yet the favour 
 asked being in effect the spiritual grace of that 
 Sacrament, and the time of asking, the very hour 
 of its institution, as we cannot doubt, that in our 
 Lord's purpose it was an Eucharistical blessing : 
 that when He said, " I Sanctify Myself, that they 
 may be sanctified," He was thinking of the great 
 oblation and participation of Himself: so we may 
 thankfully apply to our Communions, public and 
 private, lowly and humble as they may be in many 
 respects, all the great and unspeakable words, 
 which the Great High Priest here speaks in our 
 hearing to His Father. We 'may trust, that as 
 often as we do this worthily in remembrance of 
 Him, He both sanctifies Himself for our sakes, and 
 causes us also, partaking of Him, to be sanctified 
 in the truth. 
 
 Thus ample for instruction of doctrine are the 
 words of His gracious intercession : consider them 
 now as a treasure of inexhaustible consolation : 
 and that we may not be quite lost in the greatness 
 of the subject, let us help ourselves by imagining 
 how the disciples who heard that prayer must 
 have recalled it ever after : what a glory it must 
 
266 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 have thrown over all their devotional exercises, 
 more especially over their Communions, to feel that 
 they were but the continuance of that first pre- 
 vailing intercession : how amid all future troubles, 
 but especially in spiritual troubles, they must have 
 hastened back in thought to that moment for 
 shelter and comfort. Did they feel at any time 
 too much disappointed and mortified, at the im- 
 perfection and seeming failure of their efforts in 
 God's cause ? they might reflect that our Lord, 
 then when He seemed at the lowest, had most 
 perfectly glorified His Father on earth, and when 
 to mankind He appeared to have done nothing, 
 had finished the work which His Father gave Him 
 to do. Were they overcome by a sense of lone- 
 liness, they in the world, and He in heaven with 
 His Father? they would remember that He, 
 before He went, had engaged the Father to keep 
 them in His own Name, had willed that they should 
 be with Him where He is. Had they defections 
 to mourn over, perhaps among those very dear to 
 them ? their Lord had condescended to speak sadly 
 of " the son of perdition." Did the world hate 
 them ? it was His token that they were not of the 
 world, even as He was not of the world. Did they 
 feel themselves, their persons and their system, 
 still entangled with many imperfections ? they 
 would recollect, that He had expressly declined to 
 pray that they should be taken out of the world, 
 though He did pray that they might be kept from 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 267 
 
 the power of the evil one. Were they anxious 
 about their converts, their spiritual children and 
 posterity ? He had interceded not for themselves 
 only, but for all who should believe on Him through 
 their word. Were they apt to be bewildered, and 
 full of care, at the symptoms of disunion which 
 they saw already among Christians, and at the 
 fearful prospects of decay and division, which were 
 opened to them by the Spirit of prophecy ? they 
 had in their hearts this sure and unfailing con- 
 solation, that Christ had prayed for all believers 
 to be One ; One, therefore, they must continue, 
 in some high and saving sense, however widely 
 separated to the outward eye. For the prayer of 
 the Only-Begotten could not be in vain. 
 
 And we too, my brethren, in our moments of 
 excitement and perplexity, more especially in our 
 spiritual perplexities, whither may we so well 
 betake ourselves for soothing and support, as to 
 the holy Eucharistical Services, which are in fact 
 the continuation and expansion of our Lord's most 
 gracious words ? 
 
 When our frail weak souls are, according to 
 their natural infirmity, in a tumult of earnest feel- 
 ings on any event, glad or sorrowful : when 
 moments to which we have long looked forward 
 are come, and we know not how to meet them 
 worthily, how to order our hearts and minds in 
 the Presence of God and our Lord Jesus Christ 
 and the Elect Angels, amidst the rush and strife of 
 
268 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 many contending emotions, hope and fear, penitence 
 and thankfulness, deep reverence and overflowing 
 love : then may we discern and experience more 
 clearly than usual the condescending mercy of our 
 God and Saviour, in coming to us outwardly by 
 His Sacraments, as well as inwardly by His Grace. 
 We may discern His mercy in this among other 
 respects, that He tells us what to think of, where 
 to fix our minds for the time. He steadies and 
 supports, strengthens and comforts us, by com- 
 manding and enabling us to remember Him : not 
 simply Him, but Him engaged in some one definite 
 work or suffering for our sakes. 
 
 Thus, what various overpowering thoughts must 
 of course come thronging upon the mind, when 
 infants are offered to God in Holy Baptism ! far 
 more, one may well believe, than anxious affec- 
 tionate hearts would be able to endure, were it 
 not for the soothing and solemn pictures, which 
 He by His Church invites us to look upon : His 
 own Baptism first in the river Jordan, and then 
 His calling little children to Him, putting His 
 Hands upon them, and blessing them. And so 
 ever afterwards, through the whole course of our 
 lives, we are invited to soothe and sanctify all our 
 greater cares and joys, by approaching our Re- 
 deemer in the Sacrament of the Holy Communion. 
 Confirmation, Marriage, admission to Holy Orders, 
 Dedication of Churches, the Coronation of a King, 
 severe sickness, recovery from the pain and peril of 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 209 
 
 childbirth, or if there be any other occasion which 
 more than another takes up the whole heart, those 
 are the times when the Church more especially 
 recommends or enjoins us to draw near by faith, 
 and take that Holy Sacrament to our comfort. 
 And at this time, and here among us, she has 
 given the word of gracious invitation, she has 
 repeated it over again like a true nursing mother, 
 to those particularly, whom God has lately called 
 to the great and good work of building up His 
 House in this place. The Holy Church is not 
 ignorant what a troublous world of thoughts and 
 regrets, hopes, anxieties, and satisfactions, wishful 
 and earnest longings and prayers, will naturally 
 gather itself around such times as these : and to 
 assuage and regulate and sanctify them all, she 
 calls you from them by her authoritative voice. 
 She bids you for a while forget yourself, and be 
 wholly taken up with the Idea and Image of our 
 Blessed Lord at those two most solemn times of 
 His earthly humiliation, the Consecration of the 
 Holy Communion, and the offering of Himself on 
 the Cross. 
 
 For on those two moments of our Lord's earthly 
 and visible life His will is that we should fix our 
 entire attention, they should occupy our whole 
 thoughts, when we draw near to receive Him as 
 He has ordained. So our Church intimates, first 
 in the Exhortation to the Communicants, and 
 afterwards in the Consecration Prayer. We are 
 
270 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 instructed at the outset of the more aweful part of 
 the Service to give " humble and hearty thanks to 
 Almighty God, for that He gave His Son Jesus 
 Christ, not only to die for us, but also to be our 
 spiritual food and sustenance in that holy Sacra- 
 ment." Again, in the mysterious and wonder- 
 working Prayer of Consecration, we acknowledge 
 first the " full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, 
 oblation, and satisfaction, which He made on the 
 Cross for the sins of the whole world ;" and then, 
 how He " did institute, and in His holy Gospel 
 command us to continue, a perpetual memory of 
 that His precious death, until His coming again." 
 These are the two pictures, one or other of which 
 a devout communicant would desire to have, if 
 possible, constantly before him. When he is 
 humbling himself towards the Altar of his only 
 Saviour and Redeemer, he would wish, were he by 
 chance to lift up his eyes, to behold nothing but 
 what should remind him either of Mount Calvary, 
 or of that upper chamber where our Lord ate the 
 Passover with His Disciples, and where in all 
 probability the Holy Spirit afterwards came down 
 upon them : one and the same place being ordained 
 to witness both His sanctification of Himself for 
 their sake, and their sanctification in Him Who is 
 the Truth. 
 
 Keeping these two scenes before you in thought 
 and imagination, fixing on them the eye of a strong 
 faith, you will by God's blessing be enabled to cast 
 
EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 271 
 
 all your burthen upon Him, whether it be of joyful 
 or of trembling expectation, and to come into His 
 Holy Place with somewhat of angelical composure. 
 The heavenly Comforter will assist you to make 
 the memorial which Christ has appointed, not only 
 in His Name, but also according to His mind and 
 will. 
 
 What is there wanting in our Altars, to make 
 the comers thereunto perfect ? Have we not an 
 Apostolical Creed, an Apostolical Ministry, Apo- 
 stolical yearnings after Unity? Have we not the 
 presence of Angels in our hymns, of Saints de- 
 parted in our holy commemorations ? What ampler 
 warrant need we ask in our time, for our belief 
 that Christ is truly in our oblations and conse- 
 crations, sanctifying Himself for our sakes : and 
 that we, receiving worthily, are sanctified by His 
 Truth? 
 
 Well may we feel, as we look around, humbled, 
 dejected, oppressed in heart by the broken and 
 divided state of the Church, so unlike the accom- 
 plishment of our Lord's gracious Prayer. Here, 
 then, let us resort for comfort : hither let us come 
 to be united more entirely with our Lord ; so shall 
 we have union with each other also, though out- 
 wardly it seem otherwise ; and in that faith we 
 may wait patiently, till it please Him to heal the 
 wounds of His mystical Body. 
 
 But you fear to come, because of your many 
 sins. Nay, but here is confession and absolution : 
 
272 EUCHARISTICAL OFFICES. 
 
 here is memorial made of that Blood which hath 
 virtue to take away the sin of the whole world : 
 here is that offering for sin, which the Son com- 
 manded, which the Father hath promised to bless, 
 which the Holy Spirit, duly invocated, descends 
 upon, to sanctify and make it acceptable. Stand 
 no more waiting and hesitating, but resolve hence- 
 forth to order your whole life with a view to this 
 Holy Communion, which Christ meant to be all in 
 all to us, and with a view to which the Church 
 orders all her services. " O taste and see how 
 gracious the Lord is : blessed is the man that 
 trusteth in Him." 
 
SERMON XI 
 
 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION, 
 
 ST. LUKE v. 11. 
 
 When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, 
 and followed Him. 
 
 WHETHER the history of which this is the 
 conclusion, the account of the miraculous draught 
 of fishes,, refer to the same event as related in 
 St. Matthew and St. Mark, the first calling of the 
 four first disciples, or no, has been much ques- 
 tioned, and apparently with good reason. But 
 whichever of the two calculations may seem more 
 probable, it seems very clear that St. Andrew was 
 one of those whom St. Luke relates to have left 
 all and followed our Saviour, as he was certainly 
 one of the four, whose original call St. Matthew 
 and St. Mark describe. In their Gospels he is 
 mentioned by name : in St. Luke he is not indeed 
 named, but it is clearly indicated that his brother 
 Simon was not alone in the boat. The plural 
 number is employed, both in our Lord's direction, 
 and in the account of their obedience. " Launch 
 
 * Preached before the University of Oxford on the Feast of 
 St. Andrew, 1841. 
 
274 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 out into the deep water, and let down" (not " thy" 
 but) " your nets for a draught." And again, " when 
 they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude 
 of fishes, and their net brake. And they beckoned 
 unto their partners which were in the other ship, 
 that they should come and help them : and they 
 came, and filled both the ships . . . and he was 
 astonished, and all that were with him, at the 
 draught of the fishes which they had taken : and 
 so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, 
 which were partners with Simon." There can be 
 no reasonable doubt, I suppose, that as in the 
 former instance, so now, (if the two instances were 
 different,) St. Andrew, the Apostle of this day, was 
 in the ship with his brother ; and participated in 
 St. Peter's final call, as he had in his first intro- 
 duction to our Lord. It will not be therefore 
 inappropriate, if we take occasion from the memory 
 of St. Andrew to make some reflections on one 
 circumstance of our Lord's method of training His 
 Apostles for the hard and high task on which 
 He meant to employ them : setting out from the 
 details of the call and the miracle, as though both 
 were one transaction, or at least not being careful 
 to distinguish exactly between the two. For the 
 moral of both will be the same : both exemplify 
 the same rule of our Lord's mysterious doings on 
 earth. 
 
 Nor is it perhaps without providential meaning, 
 that on the first Saint's day in our Church's year 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 275 
 
 our regards should be turned towards a part of our 
 Lord's history, so full of instruction concerning 
 His Saints in general : their duty and their pri- 
 vileges, and the portion assigned them in His 
 kingdom. As the day and hour when that king- 
 dom was set up is known unquestionably, (for it is 
 the great day of Pentecost,) so it has pleased our 
 Lord to mark not indistinctly the day in His 
 earthly life, in which He first began to prepare and 
 educate those who were to be His representatives 
 in that kingdom. It seems to have been about the 
 forty-third day after our blessed Saviour's baptism, 
 when He shewed Himself to St. John the Baptist, 
 where He was standing with two of His disciples ; 
 who followed our Lord on hearing that He was 
 the Lamb of God. One of those disciples the 
 Gospel names, and it was St. Andrew. So far 
 another was equally favoured with him. But in 
 the next circumstance he appears distinguished 
 from all others, as the very first who should bring 
 a convert to our Saviour. " He first findeth his 
 own brother Simon," tells him Whom he had found, 
 and brings him to Jesus. The force of the word 
 first seems to be, that the two who first saw our 
 Lord, having separated each to look for a brother 
 or near friend to whom he might relate these 
 wonders, St. Andrew, by special providence, lighted 
 first upon St. Peter : and thus, as an ancient writer 
 beautifully remarks, Christ laid the foundations of 
 His Church on brotherly love : as He had done 
 
 T 2 
 
276 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 also in the Old Testament, beginning that earlier 
 building from Moses and Aaron, who were brethren b . 
 
 So far then, St. Andrew having precedence of 
 all the other disciples of Christ, there seems an 
 especial fitness in the place which our Calendar 
 appoints to the day of his martyrdom. And al- 
 though in that after calling, which caused him to 
 become a regular attendant on our Lord, no par- 
 ticular eminence seems assigned him in comparison 
 of the other three, yet, as he had so far led the 
 way, there seems a propriety in reading on his 
 memorial-day in particular the account of their 
 common calling and adherence to Christ. 
 
 Thus the first faint stirring and movement of 
 men's minds towards the kingdom of God was 
 intimately associated with feelings of brotherly 
 love. The second, the call of the four Apostles, 
 as it kept up and in a manner multiplied this idea, 
 (for they were two pairs of brethren,) so it gave 
 the first example of self-sacrifice, as another main- 
 spring of the Christian life, and perhaps the very 
 chiefest of all. The sacrifice seems to have con- 
 sisted in this, that whereas before they only knew 
 that they were to look up to our Lord as the Great 
 Teacher and Deliverer, with the same kind of re- 
 verence, only higher and deeper in degree, as they 
 had paid to the Baptist, but still understood them- 
 selves to be at liberty to go on with their ordinary 
 
 b Op. imperf. in S. Matih. ap S. Chrys. Horn. 7. quoted in 
 " Catena Aurea." 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 277 
 
 employments : now they knew that they were 
 literally to leave all and follow Him : to share His 
 fortunes, Who they saw had not where to lay His 
 head, and to take their chance of such persecution 
 as seemed to be foreboded by the fate of the 
 Baptist, and by the temper with which our Lord 
 had been received in Jerusalem. This was their 
 sacrifice : and by accepting it as they did, they 
 led the van in that noble army of Martyrs and 
 Confessors, who in all ages of the Church have 
 been so touched with dutiful love of their Re- 
 deemer's Cross, as to be ready to take up and bear 
 their own cross with joy. 
 
 It is on this subject, the spirit of self-sacrifice, 
 how it is encouraged and at the same time re- 
 gulated by observation of our Lord's intercourse 
 with these His earliest followers, that I wish now 
 to make a few plain observations. 
 
 I think it will appear to a diligent reader of the 
 Gospels, that our Saviour almost always followed 
 up His invitations given to great efforts of self-r 
 denial, and His recommendations and praises of 
 them, with some cautionary words or actions in-r 
 culcating humility and soberness of mind. Thus 
 after that exciting call, (for exciting in a certain 
 sense it must have been,) which brought the four 
 disciples suddenly away from their home and 
 kindred and employments, to wait on Him, and 
 witness His wonderful miracles, He loses no time 
 in setting forth the true character of His kingdom : 
 
278 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 for the next thing the Gospel tells us of is His 
 Sermon on the Mount, in which the order of the 
 Beatitudes is this ; that they begin and end with 
 the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is assigned in the 
 first instance to the poor in spirit, and not until 
 other kindred virtues and graces have been men- 
 tioned, such as meekness, peace-making, purity 
 of heart, is the same blessing pronounced upon 
 suffering for righteousness' sake. Not till those 
 humble and quiet dispositions have been com- 
 mended, which belong alike to all times and cir- 
 cumstances, is any thing said in praise of what 
 may be called the heroic virtues of a Christian : 
 affliction, scorn, and calumny endured for Christ's 
 sake. Surely this is a significant circumstance, 
 and much to be considered by all who may have 
 made any sacrifices for Christ, or may think they 
 find in themselves any heart to do so. They are 
 not to be satisfied with themselves, till their 
 humility and charity has been tried as well as their 
 self-denial. 
 
 If we suppose the narrative in St. Luke, and 
 the miraculous draught of fishes, to belong to a 
 different occasion from the former call : this gives 
 us a second instance of the instructive caution 
 I am now attributing to our Lord : for this was 
 shortly followed by the ordination of the Apostles, 
 and by the Sermon then pronounced, in which the 
 same order of the Beatitudes is observable. It 
 had also been preceded, no very long time, by the 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 279 
 
 calling of St. Matthew ; a more remarkable instance 
 even than the former one, of leaving all to follow 
 Christ. 
 
 Another very eminent and critical point in our 
 Lord's preparation for His approaching kingdom 
 was the promise to St. Peter, that he should have 
 the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, to which 
 succeeded the earnest warning to take up the 
 Cross and follow Christ. As this led to the Trans- 
 figuration, the height of spiritual joy, so that again 
 to the silence imposed on the high thoughts of the 
 disciples by setting a little child before them. The 
 series of lessons begun in self-denial was imperfect, 
 and came to nothing, unless so far as it was 
 accompanied by humility. 
 
 Observe next the order of the precepts in the 
 nineteenth chapter : that which, to use an ex- 
 pressive phrase adopted by Bishop Taylor and 
 others, may be called eminently the Chapter of 
 Counsels of Perfection. First, one particular kind 
 of self-denial for Christ's sake is commended in the 
 well-known words, " He that is able to receive it, 
 let him receive it :" then little children are brought 
 to Him, and welcomed : and their temper, the 
 temper most opposite to all self-praise, all thought 
 of one's own sacrifices, is declared essential to a 
 place in the kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 The very next thing which occurs is the case 
 of the rich young man, to whom was offered the 
 privilege of embracing voluntary poverty, and whose 
 
280 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 tearfulness St. Peter contrasted with the zeal of 
 the Apostles. Upon which what ensues ? First, 
 a parable, the point of which is, that " many that 
 are first shall be last, and the last first;" and then 
 a conversation, which results in the solemn saying, 
 whereby we know what sort of person shall even- 
 tually be first: "Whosoever will be greatest among 
 you, let him be your servant ; even as the Son of Man 
 came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." 
 
 Considering these and similar instances, we shall 
 perhaps see reason to apprehend, that the temper 
 of mind which leads men to what appear great 
 sacrifices for Christ's sake, noble and dutiful as it 
 is in many respects, yet has its peculiar dangers, 
 and that its remedy and safeguard is, in one word, 
 childlike humility. 
 
 Similar thoughts are forced upon the mind, when 
 we consider the manner in which He commonly 
 introduced the topic of self-sacrifice to those whom 
 He destined for such a privilege, and the sort of 
 persons from whom He specially required it. His 
 manner seems always to have been to prepare 
 them gradually for it : as if, like some of the 
 mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, it were not 
 fit for all persons, and might do more harm than 
 good, if forced upon unprepared minds. 
 
 This circumstance also is strongly put before us 
 by the calling of the four Apostles, which we com- 
 memorate to-day. Two of them we know had been 
 the Baptist's disc 'pies before, and had been, one 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 281 
 
 may say, expressly sent to Jesus by him. The 
 other two, as friends and partners with them, could 
 not be ignorant of the wonders which they were 
 beginning to know : though we should suppose 
 the notion untenable which some of the ancients 
 entertained, that St. John the Evangelist himself 
 was the companion of St. Andrew on his first 
 access to our Lord, and that he omits his own 
 name, as is his custom elsewhere. In any case, 
 the call to follow Christ was not sudden, but one 
 for which they had been long in training. And 
 if, as great authorities suppose, there were two 
 separate calls by the lake of Gennesaret, the one 
 more peremptory than the other, of course the 
 first was an effective preparation for the second. 
 
 The like remark might be made on other cases, in 
 which our Lord uttered His Counsels of Perfection 
 to individuals. St. Matthew, though he followed 
 at the first summons, did not quite at once give 
 up all that he had : for we find him afterwards 
 making our Saviour a great feast in his own home. 
 The rich young man, by the very act of coming 
 to our Lord with the question about eternal life, 
 shewed a mind more or less prepared for high 
 requirements, though not as yet up to the level 
 of what was eventually demanded of him. There 
 may be other cases where no hint of the kind is 
 given. But enough appears to shew, that not 
 every person is ripe at once for such open sacri- 
 fice of himself. And when we feel called, as some 
 
282 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 will in every age, to any strong step of that sort, it 
 cannot but deeply concern us to see to it, that we 
 are not too unlike those whom our Blessed Lord 
 was accustomed to honour with such calls. For 
 though the sacrifice may be noble in itself, yet it 
 may be that according to the laws of His Kingdom 
 we are not proper persons to offer it. 
 
 This brings me to the other point, which, it 
 was just now said, our Lord in His Counsels of 
 Perfection seems plainly to have regarded : the 
 previous character of those whom He favoured 
 with them. This is greatly to be observed, espe- 
 cially here in His first open act of preparation for 
 His Church, as illustrating both the call itself, and 
 His ways of dealing subsequently with those who 
 obeyed it. 
 
 If any one, for example, be zealous and energetic 
 in his love of a good cause, and of good men, 
 keenly impressed with the sense of his own faults 
 and infirmities, and never slow to confess them 
 and punish himself for them : such an one has so 
 far ground of hope, that he, like the first of the 
 Apostles, St. Peter, may at some time be counted 
 worthy of making a sacrifice for Christ's sake : but 
 then he must expect, like the same Apostle, to be 
 often reproved, and cautioned, and kept back, by 
 the voice of the Church, by the advice of those who 
 through long obedience may be supposed to know 
 best the mind of the Church, by many a provi- 
 dential hint of one kind or another ; lest he err 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 283 
 
 (and the error may be ever so grievous) through 
 confidence in his own feelings. 
 
 Suppose next one of a different cast of character, 
 more sedate, and what is called more practical: 
 affectionate and domestic, and ever watching to do 
 good both in body and soul to those who are in any 
 way connected with him : punctual and exact, and 
 observant, for duty's sake, even of all minor details 
 of business and behaviour: such an one would 
 appear to have the same ground of goodness in 
 him, as the blessed Saint whom we this day com- 
 memorate : so far then it would not be surprising, 
 if the Providence of God called him also to some 
 great and signal act of self-denial : he is no un- 
 likely instrument, perhaps, to be employed in 
 winning many to Christ at some great temporal 
 cost to himself. And may we not say, that this 
 kind of character too may find, even in the little 
 that is recorded of St. Andrew, a warning appro- 
 priate to its own peculiar danger? For what is 
 that danger ? It would be expressed, I imagine, 
 by what in common conversation we should call a 
 tendency to be over-practical: an inclination to 
 make too much of difficulties in action, which it 
 cannot help seeing perhaps more clearly than 
 others ; and so far a deficiency in the spirit of 
 faith, which it requires a very affectionate heart 
 to counteract. The holy Martha, the sister of 
 Lazarus, appears to have been a person of this 
 class: and such too might St. Andrew naturally 
 
284 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 be ; at least, her scruple about opening the grave 
 answers well enough to his remark* when the 
 miracles of the loaves and fishes was in preparation. 
 " There is a lad here, which hath" such and such 
 supplies : " but what are they among so many ?" 
 This sounds very like the demurring of a man of 
 business, a practical man, when some great and 
 good work requiring extraordinary faith is pro- 
 posed. And how does our Lord meet it ? He 
 simply passes it by, as if the words had never been 
 spoken, and goes on to perform His mighty work, 
 as if there were nothing uncommon in it. " Make 
 the men sit down," He says : as if He had replied, 
 " You shall soon see what it will come to, only 
 do as you are directed." Plain simple uninquiring 
 obedience, when a thing is commanded with suffi- 
 cient authority, seems to be the proper exercise, 
 and appointed remedy, for the kind of temper 
 which has been now described. Such men's error 
 in respect of sacrifice will probably be a too great 
 backwardness and unwillingness to incur it, except 
 where personal affection urges them on in spite of 
 difficulties. 
 
 Of the third great Apostle, St. James, so little is 
 recorded, that it may almost seem fanciful to draw 
 any moral from his share in our Saviour's call. 
 But it may be, that this silence itself implies a good 
 deal. Is it not clear, as far as one may judge of 
 God's providential dealings with His Church, that 
 from time to time He prepares persons who are to. 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 285 
 
 do Him service in the way of self-sacrifice, by 
 deep retirement, by quiet study and devotion ? 
 If St. James were intended to stand in a manner 
 at the head of this class, the warning given to him 
 and his brother, when seeking the highest place in 
 the Kingdom, may point out one of the tempt- 
 ations which they are especially to guard against. 
 It is no small authority which says, "Ambition, or 
 an untimely desire of higher advancement, under 
 colour of doing more good, is a great stumbling- 
 block to the holiness of scholars ." Heresy itself, 
 in some instances, appears to have owed its origin to 
 neglect of this caution, endangering and ultimately 
 spoiling many a high and noble character, and turn- 
 ing self-sacrifice into a subtle self-indulgence. 
 
 Less need be said of St. John, the last of that 
 highly-favoured four, as his character stands out 
 on the surface of Scripture : evidently it was his 
 natural tendency to a pure undivided feeling of 
 dutiful loyalty, seeking only to approve itself to its 
 object, not dwelling at all on good done, or effects 
 produced, this was what qualified him to forsake 
 all, and follow his Saviour. No less evidently it 
 was his indulging this occasionally as a human 
 feeling, not chastening and elevating it as a divine 
 principle, which drew down on him more than 
 once the rebuke of his Master. " Ye know not 
 what ye ask ye know not what spirit ye are of." 
 Who dare trust his own consciousness of his own 
 
 * Herbert's Country Parson. 
 
286 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 good intentions and feelings, when he hears such 
 cautions as these addressed by the Searcher of 
 Hearts to His own beloved disciple, who seemed 
 to himself at the time actuated by nothing but 
 generous and dutiful attachment ? 
 
 Particularly it may seem, that in the absence of 
 our Lord's visible Presence, our behaviour with 
 regard td the true and high doctrine concerning 
 Him supplies the same kind of test, and is beset 
 with the same kind of danger, as is suggested by 
 St. John's conduct to Him personally on earth. 
 
 There are persons who feel their hearts swell 
 within them at the very sound of the Creeds of 
 the Church, and have felt so from their youth up : 
 to whom it seems as if by God's grace they could 
 make any sacrifice, rather than give up Christ or 
 His Church. If they have been pure and obedient 
 in their lives, they too are a kind of persons, for 
 whom, judging by the experience of the first 
 disciples, Almighty God may be not unlikely to 
 prepare severe trials, Confessors' or Martyrs' 
 crowns. Pity that they should either fail of them, 
 or stain their lustre, by confidence in their own 
 orthodoxy, by slighting thoughts of others, or by 
 any thing else that mars their lowliness of heart. 
 Such, we may believe, was the warning intended 
 for them, when our Lord, with the little child 
 before Him, whom He had presented to His 
 Apostles as a kind of sacrament of humility, 
 proceeded to reprove the beloved disciple for 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 287 
 
 checking one who wrought miracles in His Name, 
 because he was not one of the Apostolical com- 
 pany. The passage, as applied to us, seems to 
 say, " You have devoted yourself to Christ that 
 is well : but take care that you be not indulging, 
 under the idea of loyal sacrifice, a selfish taste of 
 your own. And it is a bad sign for you in this 
 respect, if you grudge others, Catholic believers 
 like yourselves, the good they do, and the privileges 
 they enjoy : if you would fain forbid those whom 
 our Lord has empowered to work miracles in His 
 Name." 
 
 In this way the call of the four disciples, taken 
 along with our Lord's subsequent admonitions, 
 conveys implicitly the whole doctrine of self-sacri- 
 fice, and the most necessary cautions against abusing 
 the occasions of it. Each of the four, it will be 
 observed, has his own singular blessing : stands, in 
 some way or other, first. St. Peter is first in the 
 College of Apostles, St. Andrew first in coming to 
 our Lord at all, St. James first to receive the crown 
 of martyrdom, St. John first as the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved. But in this one respect St. Andrew 
 stands before all the rest : that they seem to have 
 been, more or less, converted through his instru- 
 mentality. A thing much to be regarded, -that 
 natural affection and calm usefulness should be 
 preferred as instruments to begin that holiest work, 
 before higher and rarer and more engaging qualities. 
 Might it not be that the sacrifices so originating 
 
288 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 are the least likely to be blemished by proud or self- 
 indulgent thoughts ? 
 
 The whole subject abounds with instruction, both 
 for the ministers of Christ, in their management of 
 Counsels of Perfection, and for those Christians, 
 who feel as if such counsels were addressed, with 
 more or less distinctness, to themselves individually. 
 At no time can this be a merely theoretical subject. 
 There will always be many, whose appointed trial 
 lies mainly in such things ; many, whose minds 
 tend in one way or another towards great move- 
 ments and visible sacrifices. 
 
 It seems very desirable, that such persons should 
 not be left to their feelings, but directed early to 
 the helps which the Church has provided for them, 
 and taught habitually to refer themselves to our 
 Lord's guidance of His disciples as a standard, 
 whereby they may judge whether any step which 
 suggests itself to them would indeed be a forsaking 
 all and following Christ, or whether it might not 
 be more truly ascribed to some refined variety 
 of self-indulgence. 
 
 On the one hand, our Lord's frequent sayings, 
 nay the whole tenor of His teaching, in deed as 
 well as word, are far too express to bear any 
 general disparagement of Counsels of Perfection, 
 as visionary or mischievous, either in ourselves, or 
 in those with whom we may be intrusted. " He 
 that is able to receive it, let him receive it," is 
 a saying which extends further than to its own 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 289 
 
 immediate subject : and great indeed, nay into- 
 lerable, must be their responsibility, who either by 
 ridicule or by seeming argument, or by what is 
 perhaps more common and worse than either, by 
 a cold worldly contempt, discourage the very idea 
 of such things, and try to tread out the spark of 
 primitive self-denial. 
 
 Yet it is almost as bad on the other hand, when 
 unthinking indiscriminate encouragement is ac- 
 corded to feelings having that tendency ; a fault, 
 I fear, not rarely committed through a certain 
 easiness and slothfulness of mind. Persons to 
 whom God in some way has given authority, hear 
 plans formed and sentiments uttered, implying a 
 disposition to forsake all and follow Christ, and 
 they repress them or give them their way, just 
 according to their own humour or feelings :, not 
 considering, that as the mysteries of the Kingdom 
 of Heaven are not for all persons, so neither are our 
 Lord's Counsels of Perfection ; and that as it is a 
 grievous thing to keep them back from those whom 
 He has prepared for them, so it is a sacrilegious 
 and hurtful thing to let such pearls be scattered at 
 random, among those who in spite of present good 
 impulses may for aught we know be unclean at 
 heart. 
 
 As therefore we would not in any way disparage 
 true primitive self-denial, on the contrary, we 
 honour and revere it, and account it most exceed- 
 ingly blessed ; we make no question that these 
 
 u 
 
290 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 are they who bring forth fruit an hundred fold ; 
 who build on the One true Foundation the purest 
 gold, silver, and precious stones : so in proportion 
 would we beseech those who feel themselves im- 
 pelled to seeming acts of high self-denial, to search 
 and probe their own hearts the more unsparingly, 
 lest there be something there cherished, tending 
 to make their outward sacrifices void and profane. 
 It is a truism to say so, yet it may require to 
 be said, that real self-denial is inward as well as 
 outward : great and heroic efforts are not to be 
 an exception to our habitual course of thought 
 and conduct, lights shining in a dark place, but 
 rather an exemplification of it, brighter spots in a 
 surface which is all brightness : and therefore it is 
 generally far happier for those who are gradually 
 trained up to them, than for such as suddenly and 
 eagerly venture on them. 
 
 Two tests especially appear to be appointed for 
 men to try such impulses by, dutifulness, and a 
 charitable fear of causing Christ's little ones to 
 stumble. I do not of course mean that a Christian 
 is never called on to do what in some respects may 
 appear undutiful, or otherwise scandalous, or both : 
 if it were not so, our Lord would not have said, 
 " If a man come to Me, he must hate father and 
 mother." Yet He condemned those also who 
 pleaded a religious vow for refusing due succour 
 to their parents : and will not such His sentence 
 tell against us, if we permit excited feelings, be 
 
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 291 
 
 the matter ever so sacred, to make us unmindful 
 of what we owe to any kind of parental authority ? 
 St. Peter and St. Andrew, though they forsook all, 
 did not so in such a sense as to imply alienation 
 from their parents : for we find them presently 
 afterwards in the house of Simon, attending on his 
 sick mother-in-law. And though for the time the 
 sons of Zebedee left their father in the ship, we 
 know that St. John still so far resided with his 
 mother in his own house, as to be able to take the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary there from the hour when our 
 Lord was crucified. 
 
 Neither, lastly, is it easy to over-rate the exceed- 
 ing responsibility men take upon themselves, when 
 they act on any feeling whatever without consider- 
 ation of those, whom our Lord emphatically calls 
 His little ones, that is, of all those among Christians, 
 who are on any account likely to look up to them. 
 Who would not fear to touch even with so much 
 as one of his fingers, the burthen which in its full 
 weight is worse than a mill-stone tied about a man's 
 neck, and cast with him into the depth of the sea ? 
 It may be partly on this account, that our Saviour 
 has so particularly enjoined secresy, to the very 
 utmost of our power, in all self-sacrifice. But 
 when from circumstances we must submit to the 
 pain and danger of setting an example, let us not 
 least pray and strive that no excitement may 
 prevent our putting ourselves in the place of those 
 who may be offended by us. And if, as most 
 
 u 2 
 
292 COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 
 
 commonly will be the case, we find ourselves after 
 all in perplexity, obliged to act, though in all modes 
 of acting we discern probable offences which we 
 know not how to obviate : let us at least humble 
 ourselves, as not knowing how far some sin of ours 
 may have forfeited the blessing of entire light and 
 guidance : and let us beseech God that our errors, 
 if err we must, may at least be on the side of duti- 
 fulness, humility, and true self-denial. 
 
SERMON XII." 
 
 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS 
 
 JER. xl\ r . 4, 5. 
 
 The Lord saith thus: Behold* that which 1 have built will 
 I break down, and that which I have planted, will I pluck 
 up, even this whole land: andseekest thou great things for 
 thyself? seek them not : for, behold, I will bring evil upon 
 all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee 
 for a prey in all places whither thou goest. 
 
 IT is not to be supposed, that the deep distress 
 of Baruch, which caused this awful yet gracious 
 message from the Almighty, was merely of an 
 ordinary and temporal sort, such as any person 
 might feel, on the sight of great affliction coming 
 on his country, and likely to involve himself and 
 his family. The immediate occasion of it leads 
 rather to the conclusion, that it was religious per- 
 plexity : the sense of God's wrath, and a bewil- 
 dering doubt whether it were possible for him to 
 escape it. For Baruch's distress came on, we find, 
 when he had written for the first time the words 
 
 " Written for the Feast of St. Andrew, 1841, to be preached 
 before the University* 
 
294 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 of Jeremiah, from his dictation, in the fourth year 
 of Jehoiakim, in that warning " roll of a book/' 
 which the king, a few months after, so profanely 
 destroyed. In executing that duty he had vividly 
 brought before him the true and most alarming 
 purport of Jeremiah's prophecies ; the rather, as in 
 that year (so we learn by comparison of dates) 
 the Babylonish armies first came upon the Holy 
 Land b . The miserable certainty therefore was 
 forcing itself daily more and more upon Baruch's 
 mind, that God's ancient law and covenant were 
 broken that He had, for a time at least, cast off 
 His people. His dispensation seemed to fail; to 
 be made void by the perverseness of men. The 
 foundations were cast down, and what was the 
 righteous to do ? 
 
 It is not very easy for us, connecting as we 
 habitually do the events of those times with the 
 contemporary prophecies, and with the hope of 
 the better dispensation to come, to enter into the 
 fulness of the grief and perplexity, which in that 
 crisis must have overcast such surveys as good and 
 true Israelites might take of God's moral govern- 
 ment : a grief and perplexity in some respects ag- 
 gravated in proportion to the fidelity and diligence 
 with which they had before applied themselves to 
 His Word, The Law of God, it would appear, 
 had become impossible to be kept, His Covenant 
 impossible to be fulfilled. The earth had again 
 
 b 2 Kings xxiv. 1 ; Jercui. xxv. 1 ; xlvi. 2. 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 295 
 
 come to be without form and void, and a thick 
 darkness had settled down over the deep of the 
 counsels of the Almighty c . 
 
 It is this, and not merely the sense of God's 
 present anger, still less the outward and bodily 
 calamities of the time, which will best explain the 
 deep corroding anguish, the chillness of heart and 
 utter desolation, which reign in the Lamentations 
 especially of Jeremiah, and in many other of the 
 prophetic writings of the age just before the 
 captivity. 
 
 It has been well observed, that the treasures of 
 Evangelical Prophecy were critically vouchsafed 
 at this very time to support the faithful remnant 
 in this most afflictive trial. But in order to receive 
 these worthily and effectually, as to receive the 
 Gospel itself, a certain mind and temper were 
 required. And it would seem that the admonition, 
 here addressed to Baruch, shortly describes that 
 mind and temper. Baruch had said, " Woe is me 
 now, for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow : 
 I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest." He 
 was utterly dismayed and out of heart : his hands 
 were weakened, and his knees enfeebled : he found 
 no rest for his wandering thoughts : like another 
 Prophet of the captivity, Habakkuk, he was amazed, 
 because " the Law" seemed to be " slackened," 
 and "judgment" appeared never to " go forth d ." 
 God Himself, by one of His chief Prophets, sends 
 
 c See Davison on Prophecy, Disc. vi. p. iii. . 6. d Hab. i. 4. 
 
296 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 Baruch in this distress an especial message to 
 soothe and support him. He was but as any 
 private believer : yet expressly on his account the 
 word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and the form 
 of address to him was, " Thus saith the Lord, the 
 God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch." A sufficient 
 intimation, surely, of the merciful sympathy which 
 is in heaven for the distressed and doubting con- 
 science : only let the accompanying practical mes- 
 sage be duly weighed and faithfully submitted to. 
 When God seems to be breaking down what He 
 hath built, and plucking up what He hath planted ; 
 when we know not how soon our house may be 
 left unto us desolate ; let us not then, of all times, 
 be seeking great things for ourselves ; neither in 
 the way of temporal safety and ease, nor even in 
 the way of spiritual assurance and comfort ; but 
 let us turn our thoughts more dutifully than ever 
 to the plain straightforward keeping of the Com- 
 mandments of God, to the calls and obligations of 
 every hour and moment ; to purity, charity, humi- 
 lity, and the fear of God : accounting it a great 
 thing, if we do but probably see our way in the 
 very next step we are to take, and if we have but 
 a reasonable chance of being in God's Church now, 
 and of pardon and peace when we come to the 
 eternal world. Even as Baruch was to be con- 
 tented with living on from day to day through 
 those years of banishment and tribulation : and 
 whatever comfort he might derive from the great 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 297 
 
 Evangelical Prophecies occasionally vouchsafed, 
 was to be over and above the promise : more than 
 he might dare to expect or depend on. 
 
 I wish to offer a few remarks on the application 
 of this principle to the religious perplexities of our 
 own time and country. The subject, indeed, may 
 not seem appropriate to an occasion of festival 
 joy. But it will be found, I trust, not ill suited to 
 the commemoration of that Apostle, whose great 
 characteristic seems to have been entire disin- 
 terestedness, both in waiting himself on our Lord, 
 and in bringing others to Him. For surely to 
 serve God loyally in doubt and anguish and per- 
 plexity concerning the faith, it is as great a trial of 
 disinterestedness, as to serve Him in the midst of 
 outward and bodily discomforts. And the same 
 simplicity and dutifulness of heart, which guided 
 Saint Andrew, and through him others, straight 
 to our Saviour, in the midst of their Judaical 
 prejudices, will doubtless be blessed in its serious 
 endeavours to keep hold of Him, amid the embar- 
 rassments, hardly less serious, of our time and of 
 our country. 
 
 Now, as before each of the captivities of Israel, 
 the great perplexity of the religious mind arises out 
 of the apparent failure of God's promises. What 
 caused Baruch to " faint in his sighing," and to 
 " find no rest ?" What but the divisions of Israel 
 first, then their idolatry and backslidings, and lastly 
 what seemed to the eye of man the near approach 
 
298 ENDURANCE OF CF1URCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 of their utter rejection and the very extinction of 
 their worship? so that even such a Prophet as 
 Jeremiah, with all his insight into the hopes of the 
 future, was in a manner constrained to cry out, 
 " Ah, Lord God, surely Thou hast greatly deceived 
 this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have 
 peace, whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul." 
 What is the great cause of the doubt and anxiety, 
 amounting sometimes even to agony of spirit, which 
 is more or less experienced by so many in various 
 portions of the Church, at this present moment ? 
 " For the divisions of Reuben are great searchings 
 of heart." Without going into particulars, or pre- 
 sumptuously affecting to allot to the several portions 
 of Christendom their several degrees of blame for 
 so calamitous a state of things : the simple circum- 
 stance of the Body of Christ being broken up into 
 three portions, mutually separated from each other, 
 at least in regard of formal and acknowledged 
 communion, is enough to excite very real and sad 
 misgivings, in any mind accustomed to measure 
 things by the plain Canons of Scripture and of the 
 early Church. Compare it with such Prophecies 
 as, " In that day there shall be one Lord, and His 
 Name One : then will I turn unto the people a pure 
 language, and they shall all call upon the Name 
 of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent ;" or, 
 " All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, 
 and great shall be the peace of thy children ;" or, 
 " My Dove, my Undefiled is but One." Or again, 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 2 99 
 
 compare this state of things with the doctrinal 
 descriptions of the Church given in the New 
 Testament. " There is one Body and one Spirit." 
 Or take our Lord's own Intercession : " That 
 they all may be one in Us." Who shall deny that 
 such descriptions as these imply an outward and 
 visible Unity, such an Unity as the world can take 
 notice of, else how should it thence learn belief? 
 such an Unity as should be no more doubtful or 
 equivocal, (speaking on a large scale, of great bodies 
 of Christians and for a long time,) than the Form 
 of Baptism, or the faith connected with that Form : 
 faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ? 
 Now it matters not much, in this view of the 
 case, to which of the great sections of Christendom 
 we belong. Allow what preponderance you will 
 to any one portion of it, Eastern or Western, in 
 respect either of miracles, or of continued visible 
 unity within itself: still the broad fact remains, 
 and must be more or less perplexing when it 
 is known, that portions of the Christian world, 
 positively of such an extent, and bearing out- 
 wardly the appearance of Christian Churches, 
 are out of communion with it. There is nothing 
 parallel to this in the ancient Church. We 
 cannot be certain that the unhesitating chal- 
 lenges of St. Cyprian in the third century, and of 
 St. Augustine in the fourth, which to some appear 
 to make communion with Rome a necessary index 
 of Catholicity, would at all apply to the case. To 
 
300 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 us at least in this country, and over a full third part 
 of Christendom, the contrary appears at first sight. 
 At all events, the matter is not so clear as the 
 sayings of Scripture and Antiquity would lead us 
 to expect the notes of the Church should be. 
 
 On the other hand, think as highly as we may 
 of the comparative purity of particular Churches, 
 Roman, Oriental, or Anglican, in doctrine and 
 worship, still the thought of separation from very 
 great companies of Christian people cannot but 
 hang heavy on the heart of any one who has tried 
 to realize our Lord's declarations about unity : 
 and that so much the more, as there is less 
 apparent longing in those among whom his own 
 lot is cast, for the remedy of so great an evil. 
 If we saw men's minds tending to unity, if we 
 knew that many prayed with Bishop Taylor, " Unite 
 us all in faith and hope and charity, and in external 
 communion, when it shall seem good in Thine 
 Eyes :" then the want of the outward forms of 
 such communion would be far less distressing : but 
 what if on both sides there appear a proud repul- 
 siveness, which looks as if the spirit of schism had 
 imbued the very substance of the Church ? 
 
 In short, turn our eyes which way we will, 
 decay and degradation seem to meet them, be- 
 cause the Church is no longer visibly one. 
 
 Again, in the Church we naturally look for a 
 guide in all material points, both of doctrine and 
 worship. She is " the pillar and ground of the 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 301 
 
 Truth" the continuance of the divine building, 
 whereof the foundation is the Apostles and Pro- 
 phets, Jesus Christ Himself being the head Corner 
 Stone : to which exclusively and properly belongs 
 the Truth of whatever was shadowed in the former 
 dispensations. Till the Kingdom of God came, the 
 doctrines of salvation were but prophetic words : 
 its establishment turned them into realities. In this 
 sense, and not merely historically, as the witness 
 and keeper of it, she is the " pillar and ground of 
 the truth." So speaks an ancient Bishop in his brief 
 exposition of these words : " Believers, as forming 
 one Church, are called the pillar and ground of the 
 Truth, because of their abiding, founded upon the 
 Rock, impassive to all storms, by their very deeds and 
 realities proclaiming the truth of our doctrines 6 ." 
 
 This being so, we are naturally disconcerted if the 
 Church fail to speak out on any important doctrine 
 or rite ; any thing which in its nature must make up 
 a considerable part of our Creed, or of our worship : 
 or if her sayings, prima facie, seem to contradict 
 Holy Scripture. So far she disappoints expect- 
 ations, which at first sight appear not unscriptural : 
 and leaves us in doubt and care, where full satis- 
 faction seemed to be promised. 
 
 Now what is our own condition in this respect, in 
 this generation, here in all countries of the West ? It 
 is true, and surely we cannot be too thankful for it 
 it is a blessing far beyond reasonable hope, consider- 
 ing what our deserts have been that the present 
 e Theodoret. 
 
302 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 Church comes to us as an unequivocal witness of 
 the great foundations of the faith. Concerning 
 the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity, of the 
 Incarnation and Redemption, of our Lord's Person 
 and Office, she is a complete and sure guide ; her 
 exposition of Scripture is not dubious, nor hesi- 
 tating. But when we go on to those Articles of 
 the Creed, which concern the Body of Christ, 
 and the privileges thereto appertaining ; the one 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Communion 
 of Saints, the one Baptism for the remission of 
 sins, and inquire in what sense they are to be 
 interpreted and developed ; presently we are met 
 in one place by a startling indecision, in another 
 by a no less startling positiveness about matters 
 which Scripture and Antiquity seem either to leave 
 open, or to determine another way. 
 
 Our own Church (I desire to speak with all 
 tenderness and reverence) appears to many to 
 speak less decisively, than the obvious aspect of 
 Primitive Antiquity would lead one to expect, 
 on some grave doctrinal points. Each one of 
 these would prove a real and sorrowful, though 
 not we trust an intolerable, perplexity to an 
 ancient Catholic believer, could we conceive such 
 an one to be suddenly transported into our times : 
 and he might be tempted to look with a wistful 
 eye towards other portions of the Church, which 
 might seem to promise him guidance, not only 
 distinct, but peremptory. But would this relieve 
 his perplexity, or only transfer it ? Surely, when he 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 303 
 
 came to discover how many additions to the 
 ancient Creed he should be compelled to receive, 
 as necessary to salvation ; what petitions he was 
 encouraged, nay commanded, to offer to created 
 beings petitions requiring much subtlety of ex- 
 planation to justify them from the charge of direct 
 idolatry : he might well say in his heart, " What- 
 ever I might have done, had Providence laid this 
 burden on me, it can hardly be right to put myself 
 voluntarily under it." 
 
 Thus, whichever way he turned, he must endure 
 the perplexity of having to decide for himself on 
 matters, which in earlier and happier times he 
 would have found decided without question, for 
 all reverent and dutiful minds. 
 
 The discipline of the Church is another point, 
 which at first sight (and throughout this argu- 
 ment I am only speaking of the acknowledged 
 appearance of things) could hardly fail to trouble 
 and disquiet a mind imbued with the old eccle- 
 siastical notions. Where are we to find it ? It has 
 vanished from among ourselves, by our own con- 
 fession, who annually pray for its return : and has 
 it not in good measure vanished in practice and 
 influence from other parts of Christendom also ? 
 In both its theory is acknowledged, and there is 
 constant, however faint, hope and prayer for its 
 revival : we trust therefore that in neither case is 
 the being of the Church affected by this imper- 
 fection. Still, considering that Scripture bears 
 
304 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 testimony to our Lord's own institution of this 
 discipline, as expressly as to that of the holy 
 Sacraments themselves, the disappearance of it is a 
 very serious fact ; corresponding in the supernatural 
 government of the Church to those irregularities 
 in the moral government of the world, which 
 caused such astonishment and grief of heart to 
 Prophets and Psalmists in old time*. Their 
 remedy was, to go " into the sanctuary of God," 
 and there " understand the end of these men :" 
 ours, to read in the Divine oracles, in the Parables 
 of our Lord Himself, His warning, that offences 
 must ever be expected in His Kingdom, which 
 would not therefore cease to be His Kingdom. But 
 how much of grace and perfection is lost, by the 
 Church submitting for any length of time to this 
 absence of discipline : that is another question, 
 and a very anxious one. 
 
 Once more ; whatever may be thought of any 
 abstract doctrine of Counsels of Perfection, it can- 
 not be denied that two Churches, or two ages of 
 the Church, may differ widely from one another in 
 the tone of thought which they encourage con- 
 cerning voluntary privations endured, or sacrifices 
 made, for Christ's sake : and there may be some 
 who so understand holy Writ, as to find it a real 
 ground of perplexity and alarm, when the School 
 or Church in which their lot is cast appears to 
 them to frown on such endeavours to take up the 
 
 * Psalm Ixxiii, xdv. Eccles. ix. 1 3. &c. 
 
f' ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 305 
 
 Cross. Whether or no this be the case with our 
 Church or with the prevalent school within it, as 
 compared with earlier ages and other countries, it 
 belongs not to the present argument positively to 
 affirm or deny ; but surely it were too bold to say, 
 there are no appearances of it : and in proportion 
 to such appearances must be the temptation of 
 ardent and devout minds, over-wistfully to long 
 and reach after such helps as they imagine may 
 be found in other Communions : a temptation 
 which may and ought to be met practically by the 
 like exercise of self-control as any other indulgence 
 of our natural feelings ; yet a real and sore trial, 
 and one which especially requires the sympathy 
 and prayers of all good people for those who are 
 labouring under it. God forbid that our English 
 Church should ever so far forget her charity, and 
 I will add, her humility too, as to make no allow- 
 ance for scruples and yearnings of this sort. It 
 would not be a reason for leaving her Communion ; 
 no mere moral defect would be so : but who shall 
 say how far it might forfeit God's blessing, or how 
 justly it might bring on us the character we so 
 much deprecate of a cruel Church ? 
 
 But however men may seem to fail us, there is 
 instruction and comfort, we may be sure, laid up 
 in the Scriptures of God for this as for every other 
 trial. And I return to the instruction and com- 
 for there laid up in store for that particular kind 
 of affliction. We shall find that it comes in effect 
 
30() ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 to the same which the Gospel prescribes for all 
 afflictions whatever. " Seekest thou great things 
 for thyself? seek them not." We are invited to 
 go out of ourselves, not to allow ourselves to be 
 swallowed up by our own particular distress, but 
 so to contemplate the Cross of Christ, His suffer- 
 ings either in Himself or His members, as to have 
 our own united, mysteriously but really, to Him. 
 Thus when Baruch, too keenly touched with his 
 own share in the calamities of his time, fainted in 
 his sighing, and could find no rest, the divine 
 message to him was in effect, " Let your conso- 
 lation be this : to go out of yourself, out of your 
 own private afflictions, and bear a part in the over- 
 whelming trials of the Household of God, now 
 seeming to be forsaken. Teach yourself to acqui- 
 esce in what befals you, by considering how strange 
 it would seem, how unaccountable in the sight of 
 the Angels, were you to be exempt from fear and 
 anguish, now when the windows from on high are 
 opened, and the foundations of the earth do shake. 
 Rather learn to take with thankfulness your own 
 share of perplexity, as a token of hope that you 
 are yet in God's Household, since you are ac- 
 counted worthy to be afflicted in her affliction." 
 
 Why should not this, God's appointed way of 
 comfort of old, apply itself, among other griefs, 
 to the religious difficulties which may be occa- 
 sioned to some by the present state of the Church 
 among us ? If the whole Kingdom of God be 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 307 
 
 indeed in the decayed condition, which so many 
 appearances indicate ; how dare any individual 
 among us seek great things for himself, either in 
 the way of certainty or of sensible comfort ? To 
 warn an acute mind, in spiritual dimness and 
 anguish, against much use of its own argumenta- 
 tive powers, a practical mind against trusting the 
 good which it seems to behold actually done, a 
 sensitive mind against its own seeming experiences 
 whether of improvement or consolation, is but to 
 repeat in different forms one and the same evan- 
 gelical maxim, " Walk by faith, not by sight ;" 
 " distrust whatever seems to bring present com- 
 fort, knowing your own unworthiness of it, and 
 deeply feeling that you are not the persons to be 
 led exactly right, when all around is decay and 
 error." Who among us have led such lives, that 
 we may safely trust our own impressions of having 
 received full satisfaction, either in our judgment or 
 in our feelings ? They have too much of a seeming 
 Paradise in them, too little of the Cross. So that 
 a rightly disposed and considerate person, I should 
 think, would rather be startled and rendered sus- 
 picious by arguments and statements which sound 
 entirely satisfactory ; by experiments appearing to 
 answer in every point, by systems which leave no 
 spot unguarded or unprovided for. Or again, if 
 his trial lay rather in the heart than in the intel- 
 lect, he would not lightly permit himself to be 
 influenced by imaginations, right or wrong, of 
 
 x2 
 
308 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 privileges offered him in other schools or com- 
 munities. Not that he will of course utterly dis- 
 believe such statements, far less treat them with 
 scorn and irreverence. Still, as far as he is himself 
 concerned, he will greatly mistrust the probable 
 effect of any change, which is made not out of 
 simple obedience, but for comfort's sake, and from 
 a longing after abstract perfection. " Such and such 
 a rule of devotion," he may perhaps think ; " such 
 and such an instance of full and entire Communion, 
 such and such a holy Sacramental rite, such and 
 such a way of approach to our ordained Guides, 
 though in itself a great blessing, yet might not be 
 a blessing to me. Nay, these things will assuredly 
 fail to be blessings, so far as we are influenced in 
 seeking them by a desire to avoid the Cross." Thus 
 he will " refrain his soul and keep it low, like as a 
 child that is weaned from its mother :" not helping 
 himself to the full of those spiritual satisfactions 
 even which may seem with a little trouble to be 
 within his reach ; and cheerfully foregoing them 
 altogether, if they are not to be had without 
 wandering from his own Communion. 
 
 For to a mind so constituted, the act of God's 
 Providence, appointing his portion here or there, 
 will be far more decisive in keeping him where he 
 is, than any dream of promised comfort or assurance 
 in withdrawing him from his post. 
 
 Now if any be thus minded, determined to bear 
 doubt and misgiving as well as other tokens of the 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 309 
 
 Lord's indignation, in the consciousness of having 
 sinned against Him : resolved by God's grace not 
 to despair either of his Church or of himself, 
 though he pretend not to see the][position of 
 either with distinctness : to such an one it seems 
 as if the prophetic words of our Lord would come 
 with peculiar force,, and cause him more than ever 
 to shrink from excitements and charges, and from 
 taking the management of his soul into his own 
 hands : I mean, His word of warning expressly 
 left us for the trying times of the Church. " Then 
 if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, 
 or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false 
 Christs and false Prophets, and shall shew great 
 signs and wonders." Not even miracles therefore, 
 outward and visible ones, will be any sufficient 
 sign of the true Church. Neither again will her 
 abode be strange or obscure ; in the desert, or in 
 the secret chambers. But her great note will be, 
 to be conspicuous, and manifest unto all men. 
 " As the lightning cometh out of the east, and 
 shineth even unto the west, so shall also the 
 coming of the Son of Man be." We translate it 
 " coming," but the word is irapovvia, and is under- 
 stood by old expositors to relate not only to the 
 final approach of our Lord to judge the world in 
 the last day, but also to His continual mani- 
 festation of Himself in His Kingdom. His in- 
 visible Presence therefore in His mystical Body 
 may be as clearly discerned by those who watch 
 
310 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 and wait for it, as a flash of lightning by a person 
 whose eyes are open and turned towards that 
 quarter of the heavens. 
 
 We know what use is made of this text, and of 
 the comment of St. Augustine upon it, to enforce 
 communion with Rome as an absolute condition of 
 being within the Church. But let its true practical 
 force be considered, as it applies to any one among 
 ourselves. Does it not seem to say to us, " If the 
 Communion in which you are placed by God's 
 Providence has prima facie the most evident notes 
 of the Church, all except visible Communion with 
 other parts of Christendom : if it appear to be linked 
 by due succession with those who were sent out to 
 preach among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem : if 
 it acknowledge the same Scriptures, and interpret 
 them by the same Creeds, as did the whole Church 
 in her days of perfect union : if it seem also to 
 possess the Holy Sacraments unmutilated in all 
 things essential, or at least as completely so as 
 those who invite you away from it : (for surely the 
 omission of the Cup in the Eucharist is in itself a 
 greater liberty to take with the institution of Jesus 
 Christ, than any deviation allowed by us from the 
 services of the early Church ;) if your Church, 
 moreover, pray constantly for the actual Com- 
 munion which it unhappily wants, and have never 
 yet forfeited it, as the Donatists did, by pronouncing 
 other Churches out of the Body of Christ : then 
 continue in it, and do your best for it, by prayer, 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 311 
 
 by good works, by patience, by self-denial, by 
 humility : not encouraging in yourself any doubt 
 of Christ's Presence within it, but so endeavouring 
 to realize that Presence, that you may do what in 
 you lies towards recovering the fulness of His grace, 
 both for this and for other portions of His Body : 
 full and actual as well as virtual unity : full and 
 definite guidance in all material points, as well as 
 in the fundamentals of the Faith : full Sacraments 
 where they are now mutilated : the body of disci- 
 pline where there is now but the desire of it . 
 encouragement for high and self-denying rules of 
 life, where such are now but barely tolerated." 
 
 Judging by God's doings of old, the way of the 
 Cross is the only way, by which these blessings 
 can ever be restored. And as things stand at 
 present, the mark of the Cross seems rather to 
 belong to those who struggle on in a decayed 
 and perhaps still decaying Church, bearing their 
 burden as they may, than to those who allow 
 their imaginations to dwell on fancied improve- 
 ments, and blessings to be obtained on possible 
 changes of Communion. " Go not after them, 
 nor follow them," is a voice which may well seem 
 intended to sound in the ears of all who feel any 
 such perilous inclination. Where is the clear, the 
 indisputable, the lightning-like evidence, that Jesus 
 Christ is with others in a higher and better sense 
 than He is with us ? If much may be said one 
 way, may not much also be said another way ? 
 
312 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 But that Presence which we are taught to look for 
 can no more be questioned than the presence of 
 the lightning in the Heavens. Allowing It to be 
 where the Visible Church is by her Creeds, her 
 Scriptures, her Succession, and her Sacraments, 
 then It is clearly both with us and with them. 
 But when we descend to minuter or less definite 
 marks, presently questions arise, affecting, some 
 our claim, some theirs, some perhaps those of the 
 oriental Churches. So that thfe fact is no longer 
 obvious and palpable. Either therefore the whole 
 Church is so decayed, that our Saviour's test can 
 in no case be applied; which seems contrary to 
 plain promises : or it is a test practically available 
 for us, as well as for other portions of the Church. 
 We may and ought to allege it, however our sins 
 and the sins of our fathers may cause us to allege 
 it with doubt and trembling, 
 
 As to greater apparent holiness in one region of 
 the Church than in another : in the first place, it 
 is a comparison for which no mortal faculties are 
 adequate: and next, it seems to have been the 
 very snare of the Donatists, to think they could 
 measure Church privileges by the worthiness either 
 of Ministers or Communicants. Not to mention, 
 that in this case there are obvious appearances one 
 way as well as another. So that in regard of this 
 note, we are still left in the uncertainty which our 
 Lord's rule would seem to exclude. 
 
 But we may go a step further in this argument. 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 313 
 
 Even if it were granted, for argument's sake, that 
 some other portion of the Church is abstractedly 
 better than our own, has surer marks of life and 
 reality in it : are we quite sure that men's passing 
 over to it would not involve them in the moral 
 guilt of schism, though wanting perhaps the formal 
 nature of a schismatical act ? Men well disciplined 
 in Church principles account it schismatical to 
 withdraw on such motives from the congregation 
 of which they are locally members. St. Paul 
 called it schism, when comparisons were but made, 
 and party distinctions invented between himself, 
 St. Peter, and Apollos. Nay, the very Name of 
 Christ, he warns us, may be used in a schismatical 
 tone. Undoubtedly it is so, when any one section 
 of the true Church calls itself Christian, Catholic, 
 Evangelical, or the like, to the exclusion of the 
 rest. A zealous Apostle once did something of 
 the kind, and received the memorable reproof, 
 " Forbid him not : for he that is not against us is 
 on our part." Whatever other application those 
 words may or may not bear, they seem to fall in 
 remarkably with the present separations in the 
 Catholic Church. They teach us not to deny the 
 miracles and mighty works of the Gospel to those 
 who are by no means against us, though for a time 
 they are not visibly following in the same company 
 with us. 
 
 Yet this is virtually done by individuals, as far 
 as in them lies, when they pass from one section of 
 
314 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 the Catholic Church to another. Forsaking the 
 guide of their youth, the Church of their baptism, 
 on the ground of her not seeming to supply their 
 spiritual wants, they do in a manner excommu- 
 nicate and unchurch her. 
 
 Yet nature herself surely teaches us as much as 
 this : that we ought to be slow to believe evil and 
 great imperfection of the Church of our baptism : 
 and that to whatever extent such belief is forced 
 on us by considerations which we cannot dutifully 
 avoid, yet we should set our hearts stedfastly to 
 abide by her, as long as there is any hope that she 
 is a Church. 
 
 It may be replied, that after all no particular or 
 national Church is, properly speaking, a Christian's 
 spiritual mother : that the heavenly Jerusalem, the 
 mother of us all, is Christ's Holy Catholic Church, 
 one and the same in all countries, and to her alone 
 we owe true filial allegiance. Suppose this were 
 granted; yet so far as one's own Church is dis- 
 tinguishable from the Church Universal, she is not 
 surely a stranger, but a nurse, honoured with the 
 mother's confidence, and imbued with her spirit. 
 And have we no duty to the foster-parent, who 
 has fed us all our lives long unto this day ? Are 
 we not bound to respect her wishes, and to consult 
 her peace and welfare, in all matters otherwise 
 indifferent ? in all doubtful matters to understand 
 and interpret her sayings according to the known 
 mind and will of our common mother, and to deal 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 315 
 
 reverentially with her very failures and imper- 
 fections, should there be any, which duty may at 
 any time compel us to notice ? 
 
 Let us remember Who it was that would not 
 permit even a solemn vow to the Almighty to 
 supersede the duty of succouring our earthly 
 parents, and what a severe judgment He passed 
 on those who said " Corban," to excuse themselves 
 from any instance of filial respect. We have need 
 to be constantly on our guard, that we draw not 
 on ourselves any portion of this reproof, by failing 
 in dutifulness to this our nursing-mother, under 
 plea of exclusive regard to the one Holy Catholic 
 Church. It is one of the points by which we are 
 to try our Catholicity, whether it be real, or merely 
 a thing of taste and imagination : whether at the 
 bottom we be seeking our own things, or the things 
 that be Jesus Christ's. 
 
 Above all, there is one consideration, which 
 should be present day and night to the minds of 
 those who feel any tendency to change : to change, 
 I say, in any direction whatever, provided they 
 have but a reasonable hope that they are already 
 in the Church. The consideration I mean is a 
 very obvious one, but I fear not often duly realized. 
 It is this : that the evils of our present religious 
 condition, be they what they may, (excepting, of 
 course, such as we have brought on ourselves by 
 wilful disobedience,) were none of our own choosing. 
 We are not, therefore, responsible for them, any 
 
316 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 further than as each in his station may have 
 neglected providential helps to discern and amend 
 them. But the evils of a man's new profession, 
 should he take on him to choose for himself, will 
 be his by a very peculiar kind of responsibility. 
 He will be deliberately preferring that, which in 
 the very communion to which he resorts had never 
 perhaps been quite voluntarily chosen, but had 
 been the silent and half-unnoticed growth of ages, 
 and which even now, it may be, is rather tolerated 
 than taught. But those who go out of their way 
 to yoke themselves to the mischief, must be content 
 to bear the whole burthen of it. 
 
 In this view it seems a providential circumstance, 
 that the very forms which are said to be in use 
 when English Catholics conform to the Church of 
 Rome, are such as to bring before the mind the 
 thought of many (to say the least) questionable 
 things, which they by so conforming make entirely 
 their own. Image-worship, for example, and the 
 worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints are 
 presented to the convert for his express sanction ; 
 and of course he is understood to sanction them, 
 such as they avowedly exist, and are encouraged 
 in that Church. Otherwise the mentioning them 
 at all is either nugatory or deceptive. This seems 
 as if it were overruled to be a warning to all in 
 danger of taking such a step, that they reflect well 
 on all its particulars, before they venture on it. 
 Whoever at any time shall be so tempted, it will 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 317 
 
 be well for him to make special prayer, that by a 
 strong effort he may be enabled to throw his mind 
 a little onward, and imagine the position in which 
 he will soon find himself, should he fail to break 
 the spell which is more or less upon him. Now, 
 it may be, without any direct fault of his, he has 
 the pain of doubting whether his Church be not in 
 schism : what if he should by and by find himself 
 at least as near to idolatry, and be aware that it is 
 his own doing ? What if the practical corruptions, 
 questionable theoretical claims, and peremptory 
 anathemas of his new Communion, bring him 
 back before long to as sorrowful a feeling as at 
 first, of the decayed and disunited condition of the 
 whole Church ; aggravated by the consciousness, 
 that at such a time he has been seeking great 
 things for himself, and has little regarded the con- 
 sequences to his brethren. Such persons must 
 expect to feel, and justly, as if they were them- 
 selves in part answerable for every thing painful in 
 divine Service, or in the ordinances of the Church 
 which they have chosen, and will wish themselves, 
 possibly, back again, where they might at least 
 have protested with more or less effect against 
 irregularities and deficiencies. 
 
 Nor ought people to leave out of their antici- 
 pations the too certain results of such violent 
 changes on the side which is forsaken. As far as 
 the example goes, men generally are perplexed 
 and unsettled. A kind of practical scepticism is 
 
318 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 encouraged, and a disposition to think and speak 
 lightly of all religion. Many more minds are 
 brought to doubt and pain by the mere hearing of 
 such changes, than are comforted and established 
 by the self-denial which may accompany them. 
 And they greatly tend to cherish mutual bitter- 
 ness between the divided portions of the Church, 
 and to make void her constant hearty prayer for 
 unity. 
 
 Sad illustrations of this view might be gleaned, 
 I apprehend, from the records of Church History. 
 Is there one single instance, since the heat of the 
 Reformation was over, of any person passing from 
 the English to any other Church, (one might 
 perhaps add, from any other to the English,) and 
 afterwards becoming at all remarkable for sanctity ? 
 On the other hand, there are, we know, fearful 
 examples of the final results of a man's encouraging 
 in himself that craving of mind which commonly 
 leads to such conversions. We almost seem to 
 discern an intended token of the will of the Most 
 'High, that in this as in other respects every 
 person, wherein he is called, therein should abide 
 with God. 
 
 May we not conclude with some certainty, that 
 of the three great Communities, which have the 
 Creeds, the Succession, and the Sacraments, 
 neither one is out of the Church ? And therefore 
 instead of proselyting in a spirit of hostility, their 
 business is to reform themselves, and pray that 
 
ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 319 
 
 in God's good time they may be reunited in visible 
 communion/ 
 
 It is of course to be expected, as long ss the 
 separation continues, that one branch should excel 
 in one respect, another in another, and that in 
 each there should always be found some indivi- 
 duals, whose natural tone and cast of mind would 
 lead them to sympathize with one or other of the 
 foreign branches, rather than with their own. It 
 were perhaps the part of wisdom and charity, 
 rather to bear with such persons, and make use of 
 them to supply our own defects, than to vex and 
 smite them as disloyal and unfaithful children. 
 
 As for themselves, their part clearly is, to use 
 their particular position as a mode vouchsafed to 
 them of taking up their Cross. They must learn 
 in respect of Church privileges, assurances, and 
 comforts, what we have all learned in respect of 
 the more ordinary enjoyments of life : " Not to 
 covet nor desire other men's goods, but to learn 
 and labour truly to get their own living, and do 
 their duty in that part of the Church, to which it 
 has pleased God to call them." 
 
 We have great examples to encourage us in 
 this particular sort of resignation : I mean, under 
 religious difficulties. Daniel in the Captivity 
 sought no great things for himself, but simply 
 mourned and fasted over Jerusalem in ruins ; and 
 which of all the Saints of the Old Testament had 
 such angelical visitations, or such high and express 
 personal promises, as he had ? Our own Bishop Ken, 
 
320 ENDURANCE OF CHURCH IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 though in a manner cast out of the Church of his 
 baptism, would not wander from it, but abode by 
 its door : and it is not surely too much to say, God's 
 blessing visibly rested upon him, more than on any 
 of those whom we read of as having given way to 
 the temptation of seeking something more perfect. 
 May it be our lot to die, as he wished and 
 prayed to do, in virtual Communion with the One 
 Catholic Church, East and West, as before its 
 separation : and may our earnest of such death 
 be our visible Communion with the Church of 
 England, such as he understood it to be! But 
 if we would ensure so great a blessing, our pre- 
 paration must be like his : the not seeking great 
 things for ourselves, but simply obeying the pro- 
 phetic voice : " Who is among you that feareth 
 the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, 
 that walketh in darkness, and hath no light ? let 
 him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon 
 his God." If on the other hand we will still be 
 seeking excitements and sensible consolations, 
 clearness of sight and certainty of assurance, be- 
 yond what is suitable for sinners in a fallen state of 
 the Church, then whatever mercy may be in store 
 for us at last, we may read, I suppose, our great 
 responsibility and danger in the subsequent words 
 of the Prophet : " Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, 
 that compass yourselves about with sparks : walk 
 in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye 
 have kindled : this shall ye have of mine hand : ye 
 shall lie down in sorrow." 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 ROM. iv. 18. 
 
 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become 
 the father of many nations, according to that which was 
 spoken, So shall thy seed be, 
 
 THIS sentence, " hoping against hope'/' has from 
 the beginning been a kind of watchword in the 
 camp and city of the Great King ; a sentence in- 
 scribed, as one may say, upon the wayside crosses, 
 which are set as marks here and there on either 
 hand of the road to the heavenly Jerusalem. It 
 is, in a certain sense, more than faith ; for faith, 
 simply taken, only goes beyond what we see ; but 
 this hope goes against it also. 
 
 Hope, such as Abraham had, such as St. Paul 
 here describes, is an actual throwing off and mas- 
 tering the impression of importunate present evils. 
 
 a Preached in the Chapel of Hairow Weald, Middlesex, on 
 Wednesday, July 1, 1846, on laying the foundation of a new 
 Church, and opening a new School. 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 It lifts and buoys up the whole man towards the 
 good which faith only discerns. It not only 
 realises, but appropriates the unseen good. It is, 
 therefore, both a more immediate spring of action, 
 and, as recognising God's unchangeable goodness, 
 more intimately tied to love, the " end of the 
 commandment" and " the bond of all perfectness." 
 
 And when Scripture speaks of " hoping against 
 hope," or, in kindred phrase, of " glorying" and 
 " rejoicing in tribulations," let us not imagine that 
 it contemplates external and temporal difficulties 
 only. The history, indeed, of the Old Testament 
 turns our attention chiefly to these ; and there is 
 no doubt that in all times, and under all dis- 
 pensations, pain, and loss, and bereavement, and ill 
 usage, and the other calamities of social and bodily 
 life, have been a great field and nursery for saintly 
 hope. Still, we are warranted in believing that 
 those outward trials were typical of our spiritual 
 ones ; and we know, moreover, by the Psalms and 
 Prophets, by the Prophet Jeremiah especially, 
 what deep misgivings, what chilling desolation 
 of heart, what sense of desertion, and loneliness, 
 and labour in vain, they had to contend against, 
 what temptations to sloth or despondency, as if 
 the Law and the promises had failed. 
 
 This, however, it may be thought, was no more 
 than one might reasonably look for, so long as 
 God's people had with them but the shadow only 
 of His supernatural kingdom and presence. But 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 823 
 
 when the substance should come, it might be 
 expected that His people would no longer be tried 
 in the same way ; hoping would no more be an 
 effort against hope, rather it would be the natural 
 element in which the regenerate soul might live 
 undisturbed, and go on from strength to strength. 
 So the sanguine heart might imagine ; and might 
 seem to find encouragement in doing so, every 
 where almost in the old Prophets. But the 
 reality, we know, was far otherwise. As it pleased 
 our Almighty Redeemer Himself to be a Man of 
 sorrows and acquainted with grief, in this respect 
 as much as in any ; that His earthly life was 
 throughout, humanly speaking, a life of disap- 
 pointment, so it has ever been with His Church. 
 The outward and visible appearance of things has 
 always, on the whole, been against her. Her time 
 on earth is a time of crosses, even apart from perse- 
 cution and direct hostility. Looking at the whole 
 comprehensively, and weighing one thing against 
 another, we may truly say she has had constant 
 experience of hopes frustrated and expectations 
 cut off. Think of our Lord weeping over Jerusa- 
 lem ; think of " the number of the names together" 
 being " about an hundred and twenty ;" think of 
 St. Paul, without rest in his spirit, fears within, as 
 well as fightings without ; and consider whether 
 the citizens of the heavenly kingdom have not 
 had, from the very beginning, notice sufficient that 
 anxiety, doubt, and disappointment, regarding the 
 
 Y2 
 
324 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 spiritual good of themselves and others, would 
 continue to be in great measure the very air they 
 would have to breathe. The word spoken of the 
 father of the faithful, " against hope believing in 
 hope," and transferred by the Apostle as a kind of 
 password from him to the Church, his spiritual 
 seed ; have we any right to complain if that word 
 is still visibly fulfilled in our time ; if after that 
 men, as men, have done their best, all that we see 
 remains yet very unsatisfactory, the air around us 
 full of confusion, mistrust, and perplexity ; " men's 
 hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after 
 those things which" appear to be " coming on the 
 earth ?" Come what will of that kind, as we too 
 deeply feel that we have deserved it all, and worse ; 
 so, if we read thoughtfully, we cannot deny that 
 we have had ample warning of it, in the New 
 Testament as well as in the Old. 
 
 I do not say that the tones of disappointment, 
 still less that those of perplexity and doubt, are 
 by any means the most prevailing in the voice of 
 Christian antiquity. As the mass of external trials 
 was greater, more universal, and more overwhelm- 
 ing ; as miracles, and visions, and martyrdoms, and 
 miraculous instances of visible sanctity, were vouch- 
 safed to the Church more abundantly, to sustain 
 her in the conflict ; there was, of course, the less 
 room for doubt and wavering what to believe, or 
 with whom to communicate ; men's duty was plain, 
 if they had but strength to do it ; and when pas- 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 325 
 
 tors were disappointed, it was rather in the way 
 of direct apostacy than in the practical failure of 
 good principles still professed. But it is very 
 observable, that in all instances, as soon as perse- 
 cution is relaxed, the other sort of complaint be- 
 gins ; and I do not suppose that it would be hard 
 to trace, along a chain of Fathers quite back to 
 the companions of the Apostles, the old complaint, 
 " To what times, O Lord, hast Thou reserved me !" 
 In a word, the perplexity inseparable from tend- 
 encies to disunion and from practical unbelief, is 
 no new thing in the Church ; more or less, it has 
 accompanied her all along. How should it be 
 otherwise, since even in the regenerate the evil 
 mind of the flesh remains ? And perhaps it would 
 not be too rash a saying, were one to suggest, that 
 a claim to be free from all this, whenever and 
 wheresoever found, is a suspicious rather than an 
 attractive circumstance : as, in medicine, wise men 
 look coldly on remedies which profess to be quite 
 perfect and infallible. In fact, such a claim ap- 
 pears in some degree to deprive Christ's people, in 
 ordinary times, of one of their most salutary trials. 
 Where we have infallible assurance, no perplexity 
 or misgiving at all, there, it would seem, can be no 
 room for " hoping against hope," no opportunity of 
 patiently enduring, and of so being " blessed, with 
 faithful Abraham." 
 
 Even if such doubtfulness be not a condition 
 of our earthly being altogether, have we not some 
 
326 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 reason to apprehend that we may have incurred it 
 (so far as we may be suffering from it) personally, 
 nationally, or ecclesiastically, for our many sins ? 
 If so, our only course must be to behave ourselves 
 patiently under it, caring for this above all, that 
 we make it not an excuse, either consciously or 
 unconsciously, for slothfulness or neglect of known 
 duties. 
 
 We know what the rule of the ancient saints 
 was, when they suffered, were it more or less 
 frequently, from painful doubt about their own 
 condition. " Against hope" they " believed in 
 hope," that the promises of God might be fulfilled 
 in them ; they endeavouring to do their plain 
 duties, and leaving the rest to Him. That which 
 passed in all their hearts may be understood by 
 the recorded experience of one of them, familiar, 
 no doubt, to many who now hear me : 
 
 " When one that was in anxiety of mind, often 
 wavering between fear and hope, did once, being 
 oppressed with grief, humbly prostrate himself in a 
 Church before the altar in prayer, and said within 
 himself, ' Oh, if I knew that I should yet persevere !' 
 he presently heard within him an answer from 
 God, which said, ' What if thou didst know it ? 
 What wouldest thou do ? Do now what thou 
 wouldest do then, and thou shalt be secure/ And 
 being herewith comforted and strengthened, he 
 committed himself wholly to the will of God, and 
 that noisome anxiety ceased, neither had he any 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 327 
 
 mind to search curiously any farther to know what 
 should befall him, but rather laboured to under- 
 stand what was the perfect and acceptable will of 
 God for the beginning and accomplishing of every 
 good work." 
 
 This saying, well considered, will appear equally 
 applicable to other kinds of spiritual misgiving 
 to doubts about truth of doctrine and reality of 
 Church communion, as well as to perplexity and 
 want of assurance concerning a man's own per- 
 sonal salvation. We may understand the heavenly 
 voice as saying, " What if thou didst see clearly 
 the theological grounds of this or that mysterious 
 proposition, this or that article of the Creed ? 
 What wouldest thou do ? Do the same now, and 
 thou wilt be right." In like manner, had that 
 ancient saint come to know of any Christian whose 
 heart Providence permitted to be troubled with 
 doubtings, whether he were truly or no a member 
 of Christ's body ; may we not imagine him, in his 
 deep charity, repeating those comfortable words, 
 " Do now what thou wouldest do, hadst thou no 
 doubt at all of thy being within the pale of God's 
 grace, and by that grace thou shalt be secure." 
 
 Thus, whatever our spiritual anxieties may be, 
 the God of our father Abraham has from the be- 
 ginning provided us with a sure remedy : not to 
 distrust the grace of our baptism, but to use it 
 in faith and hope. And this holds in respect of 
 others quite as much as in respect of ourselves. 
 
328 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 Where God's Providence empowers and calls on 
 us to be instrumental in doing good to the souls 
 of our brethren, we are not to draw back and say, 
 " It is impossible ; they are past help, there is 
 nothing at all to be done." We are not to behave 
 as though the grace of their regeneration were 
 clean dried up, the sign of the cross worn entirely 
 out of their foreheads. Against all human hope 
 and expectation, we are to believe with a divine 
 and Christian hope, that our feeble endeavours and 
 prayers may, sooner or later, by His miraculous 
 mercy, be rewarded with many souls : as Abraham 
 in his weak old age became " the father of many 
 nations." We are not to set limits to His ever- 
 bountiful returns, but, according to the measure 
 of the gifts which He has given us, we are in all 
 cheerfulness to venture all, hope for all, but expect 
 to see nothing. 
 
 And this so much the more, as we feel our- 
 selves, either as a nation or as individuals, to be 
 strictly and properly in the station of penitents. 
 Surely it is enough and far too much, it is over- 
 flowing mercy, for such as we are, to be allowed 
 to do any the least work in the house of our God, 
 merely but to lift a hand or to breathe a prayer in 
 the holy and blessed cause of the Church, which 
 is His body. Surely it were presumption in us to 
 look to behold the fruit of our labours, when even 
 our Lord and Saviour waited long before He could 
 see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. And 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 329 
 
 as to present satisfaction and comfort, if we can 
 have but a reasonable hope that we are, on the 
 whole, in a right path, let us thank God, and ask 
 no more. 
 
 It is obvious how these principles apply to the 
 occasion of our present meeting. When we leave 
 this sacred place, we shall proceed, God permitting, 
 to lay the foundation-stone of a new Church, and 
 that being done, to open for the first time a new 
 School, to be carried on under high and strict 
 rules ; both ceremonies to be accompanied with 
 solemn prayers and benedictions, and both, in the 
 general design, not without sanction of sufficient 
 authority, in the name and on the behalf of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 At any time, and under any circumstances, 
 such efforts are real and deep trials to those who 
 undertake them. If we venture so immediately on 
 putting our hand to God's work, we had need 
 begin with special preparation of heart; neither 
 can we go on without special prayer and interces- 
 sion. So it is in any case. But in this country 
 and at this time, what reasons there are to make 
 our prayers more than usually anxious and earnest, 
 we are all more or less aware. Our consciences 
 within, and our experience all around, tell us a 
 sad and heart-breaking tale of blessings forfeited, 
 privileges wasted, irreverence, self-will, unbelief, 
 sensuality indulged, until the very trace and outline 
 of God's city seems nearly worn away from among 
 
330 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 us. But we know also and believe in our hearts 
 (may He confirm and increase our faith!) that 
 in the Church-system, as contained in the Prayer- 
 Book, had we but the will and the strength to 
 use it, we possess the remedy for this sad state of 
 things. 
 
 And here, to allay possible misgivings, I will say 
 in a word what I mean by the sufficiency of our 
 Church-system. I mean : 
 
 First, That we believe ourselves, since our bap- 
 tism, to be in a high and supernatural state, 
 analogous to that in which the Israelites were of 
 old, only infinitely higher and nearer to God, as 
 depending on our real union with God the Son 
 made Man, and therefore infinitely more blessed 
 on the one hand, more dangerous on the other. 
 I mean : 
 
 Secondly, That the sacraments, and prayers, 
 and discipline of the Church, administered by 
 apostolical authority, are God's ordained outward 
 means for keeping us in this condition, and ensur- 
 ing to us the blessings of it. 
 
 And thirdly, I mean : That in our Prayer-Book, 
 supposing it really and fully obeyed, He, of His 
 undeserved mercy, has sufficiently provided for 
 each one of us those sacraments, prayers, and 
 discipline. 
 
 This, in rough outline, being supposed the true 
 notion of the system in which our lot is cast ; a 
 Church and School, to be conducted accordingly, 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 331 
 
 must be scrupulously conformed in all things to 
 the mind and meaning of the Prayer-Book. And 
 if in any respect that has been mistaken or over- 
 looked, we must humbly and charitably endeavour 
 to supply the defect. Evidently, then, so far, we 
 are making a venture, we are trying an experiment ; 
 so much the more anxious and exciting is the work 
 which we are setting about, and our need is pro- 
 portionately increased of a stedfast, humble resolu- 
 tion, like that of Abraham, and of hope believing 
 against hope. 
 
 God in His great mercy has given us saintly 
 examples and Scripture promises : unworthy as we 
 are, we may venture on, we may disregard our own 
 doubts and misgivings ; we need not look back, 
 now that we have been permitted once to put our 
 hands to His plough. 
 
 Besides, (and here I desire especially to speak 
 with all seriousness, both to those who are more 
 immediately engaged in sacred undertakings, and 
 to others who, like myself, are but lookers-on 
 in comparison,) Abraham's watchword, " hoping 
 against hope," is God's warning to us not to expect 
 to see or feel here on earth, and in our own life- 
 time, the good effect of our undertakings in His 
 cause. There is a very dangerous and subtle snare 
 of the Evil One, apt to beset men in times like 
 ours : I mean, our being tempted to put all or a 
 great deal upon the providential issue of some one 
 project or experiment ; upon the line taken by this 
 
33'2 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 or that individual or set of persons. Whereby we 
 bring on ourselves almost certainly the peril either 
 of sloth or of over-confidence ; our own self-will 
 in either case counterfeiting the voice of a direct- 
 ing angel. Remember what people they were who 
 were always seeking after signs, and what the 
 event was. Would it not be a safe rule, to take 
 care first that all our undertakings be in accord- 
 ance with the spirit of our Prayer-Book, and then 
 commit them to God, in faith, hope, and penitence : 
 resolving beforehand that we will not be greatly 
 moved by the mere event either way ; that neither 
 seeming failure shall make us remorseful about 
 what we really did for the best, nor yet (which 
 would be still more lamentable) shall present suc- 
 cess lift us up, and set us on thinking ourselves to 
 be somewhat ? 
 
 Further : we must " hope against hope," not in 
 our first beginnings only, and in respect of our 
 general plans, but afterwards also, in every minute 
 detail of them. The longer we live, the more 
 plainly shall we learn, that in no other temper 
 would our Maker have us deal with His free 
 though fallen creatures, the souls of our brethren. 
 
 To take a very familiar and obvious instance : 
 who knows not that, even in the material fabric 
 and arrangements of every new or restored Church, 
 many things are sure to turn out, after the very 
 best consideration, quite differently from what was 
 intended and hoped ? And if we do not previously 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 333 
 
 make up our minds to this, how certainly will the 
 good work turn, more or less, to discontent and 
 discouragement ! 
 
 Again : no one can say beforehand what will be 
 the immediate visible effect even of the wisest and 
 most dutiful arrangements for the ordering of 
 Church-services ; how they will strike the minds 
 of the people ; whether those whom we design to 
 train in them will walk worthy of them, or no. 
 Shall we therefore be disheartened, if our efforts 
 in that way seem for a while to bear no fruit? 
 Shall we cease caring for such things, and say, 
 " It is all of no use ?" Nay, " the husbandman 
 waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath 
 long patience for it, until he receive the early and 
 latter rain :" and shall not Christ's servants do as 
 much for that seed, which, for aught they know, 
 will spring up and bear good fruit in eternity ? 
 O, my brethren, " be patient ; stablish your hearts ; 
 the coming of the Lord draweth nigh :" and until 
 then, it is the very law of our being to " walk by 
 faith, not by sight." 
 
 Let us go on in thought from our Church to 
 our School, and consider the special intention of 
 it. There we shall perceive still greater need of 
 being prepared with patient hearts to encounter 
 any degree of seeming failure, by how much the 
 work intended is of a newer and more untried 
 cast. For, as most of my hearers are of course 
 aware, there is a special object in this institution, 
 
334 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPK. 
 
 over and above that which is common to all 
 Christian Schools. We hope and pray, that from 
 this day forward this place may begin to be a 
 nursery, not only of sincere Christians, but of 
 Christians willing and able to serve the Church 
 of God, at home or abroad, in her roughest and 
 barest paths of duty : and it is obvious that to 
 this end they must be trained to endure hardness, 
 to love the poor and low places of the earth, to 
 give up their own wills, more unreservedly than 
 is expected, in a common way, even of those who 
 are most carefully brought up in our Church. So 
 far, then, those who are engaged in it seem to be 
 making a sort of venture ; to be entering on a 
 course of which hitherto their eyes have seen 
 little, however long and deeply their hearts may 
 have mused upon it. God be with them ! God 
 forbid that a single word or tone should be uttered 
 to discourage their devout, their dutiful, their cha- 
 ritable work ! But it will not be discouragement, 
 it will be cheerfulness and hope in the end, if they 
 now say in their hearts, " O Lord, we commit our 
 work to Thee : we know not what the end of it 
 may prove ; but take it, we beseech Thee, into 
 Thine own hands. Prepare us, from beginning to 
 end of it, for what Thy Providence shall bring 
 forth." 
 
 Or it may be well to remember the prayer of 
 Moses, and, knowing as we do our own utter un- 
 worthiness, and fearing above all things the pride 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 335 
 
 of apparent success, to beseech God, so far as we 
 may lawfully choose, not to let us see much of the 
 fruit of our labours in this world : " Shew Thy 
 servants Thy work ;" teach them what to do in Thy 
 cause, " and their children Thy glory :" may the 
 next age see the result. We know not what is 
 success, and what failure ; we only know that it 
 must be good to do and suffer all Thy will. 
 
 Far better, surely, for each one of us to spend 
 all his life in so praying and labouring, than to 
 have present joy of his labours, along with such 
 confidence as is apt to be engendered by the con- 
 sciousness of satisfying and influencing others. And 
 in the end, depend on it, far better for the Church 
 itself, though we may not understand how. 
 
 Some of the greatest advances in perfection have 
 been granted to God's family in this manner; by 
 the after-growth of sayings and examples which 
 seemed at first to have been utterly thrown away. 
 Our Lord's saying to the rich young man did but 
 send him away sorrowful ; but within a few months, 
 hundreds in Jerusalem remembered and obeyed it, 
 bringing their goods, and laying them at the Apo- 
 stles' feet. Some centuries afterwards, the same 
 saying fell accidentally (as men speak) on the eye 
 of another rich young man, and he presently sold 
 all that he had, took up the cross, and became a 
 prime pattern of the strictest way of life in the 
 Church : and all generations honour him by the 
 name of St. Antony. Not long after, the memory 
 
336 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 of his example moved yet another young man to 
 do that which ended in his embracing a religious 
 life in like manner ; and this was no other than 
 the great St. Augustine. 
 
 Thus the happiest results may ensue from per- 
 sons not thinking at all of results, but simply and 
 unreservedly trying to do what will be most ac- 
 ceptable to God. 
 
 In this spirit let us endeavour to begin and end 
 all our prayers and works. Having weighed pro- 
 bable consequences, so far as charity requires, (for 
 to do so is one condition of knowing God's will,) 
 and having once made up our minds, let us thence- 
 forth dismiss from our hearts all anxious longing to 
 see the good we may be doing. 
 
 What if we made this the special grace to be 
 asked for at the Altar of God, the next time He 
 shall permit us to draw near it ? as no doubt we 
 shall then feel it our duty to offer up special 
 intercession for this Church and School. 
 
 The season upon which this work has pro- 
 videntially fallen is full of encouragement to such 
 intercession, full of motives for self-denying hope. 
 For this is the seventh day from the birth of 
 St. John the Baptist, and to-morrow, being the 
 octave of his birth, is marked by the Church as the 
 day of the Visitation of the blessed Virgin Mary ; 
 the day, probably, on which she ended her long 
 visit to her cousin Elisabeth, and set her face 
 homewards, to prepare for the greater and more 
 
THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 837 
 
 mysterious blessing which awaited herself. Our 
 thoughts accordingly are now carried back to the 
 Virgin Mother, the type of Christ* s Holy Church, 
 blessing with her presence and prayer the birth 
 and the childhood of him who was to make ready 
 the way of Jesus Christ : and may we not, without 
 presuming too far, accept this as a gracious token 
 of a blessing on the two undertakings which 
 this day has brought together ? Our Mother, the 
 Church, we hope is with us in laying our found- 
 ation-stone : may we not hope that she will be with 
 us also when our School-doors shall be opened ; 
 that an answer may be vouchsafed to her prayers, 
 like to that which crowned the intercessions made 
 for St. John ; that the children with whom God 
 shall entrust us here may " grow" and " wax strong 
 in spirit," and abide thankfully in holy retirement 
 and self-denial, until it please God to " shew them 
 to Israel," by calling them to their several employ- 
 ments in His Church ; and that they may then go 
 forth, each in His station, turning men's hearts to 
 the Lord against His second coming ? 
 
 Finally : if any man's conscience reproach him, 
 as being hitherto a mere looker-on in pious and 
 dutiful undertakings, much more as having by 
 wilful sin done his part towards making them 
 void, let the fruit of that reasonable shame ap- 
 pear now in his works, by true amendment, and 
 by his making some venture for Christ's sake : 
 ever so little will be better than none at all. And 
 
 z 
 
338 THE DUTY OF HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 
 
 may those whom God permits to come nearer, 
 and to be forward in good works, remember those 
 at a distance in their solemn intercessions. So may 
 we all go on, for ourselves and for our brethren, 
 " against hope believing in hope :" and all that is 
 heart-breaking here perplexity, disappointment, 
 disunion shall become, by His blessing, helps to 
 patience, and therefore means of true peace and 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 It may be well to subjoin here the " Rules of the College of 
 St. Andrew, Harrow Weald :" which is the Institution referred to 
 in the Sermon. 
 
 FOR GOD, THE CHURCH, AND CHRIST'S POOR. 
 
 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace; good-will 
 towards men. 
 
 1. This School is begun in the Name of the ever-blessed TRINITY, 
 for the benefit of the Poor of Christ's Holy Catholic Church. 
 
 2. All who are Members of it shall in all things obey and serve, 
 to the best of their power, Christ's Holy Catholic Church, and the 
 Bishops and Governors placed over them by her ; and shall daily 
 attend her Services, and observe her appointed seasons of Fast and 
 Festival. 
 
 3. The Scholars shall in all things strictly obey the Superiors 
 placed over them in this College, since we are told " to obey them 
 that have rule over us." 
 
 4. The Scholars shall attend and assist in all Ministrations of 
 the Church, in which the Priest may find his need of them : such 
 as attending him in the performance of the Marriage or Burial 
 Services, and in other ways aiding his Ministrations. 
 
NOTE. 339 
 
 t>. The Scholars shall devote a portion of each day to the relief 
 of Christ's Poor, and those afflicted by God with sickness, by 
 carrying food to their respective houses, and waiting on them 
 when they are the guests of the College : they being " blessed 
 who provide for the sick and needy." 
 
 6. The Poor, Widows, Orphans, and all friendless and destitute 
 persons, shall be liberally provided with such help as they need 
 from the College, and shall at least twice in each week dine at the 
 College-table : the selection being made by the Superiors under 
 authority, since " inasmuch as we do it unto the least of them, we 
 do it unto Christ." 
 
 7. The Scholars will devote a portion of each day to the attaining 
 such knowledge as shall fit them to be useful and faithful members 
 of the Holy Church of which they are children, and to whom they 
 are devoted for life and for death. The divisions of such work 
 shall be as the Superiors shall direct, between learning from good 
 books, the care of cattle, and the tillage of the ground, as hereafter 
 described. 
 
 8. The Scholars shall especially observe rules of devotion and 
 reverence in their respective Bedrooms, they being the places 
 wherein they approach God in prayer, wherein they pass the 
 perilous hours of darkness and helpless sleep, wherein also they 
 may some day pass through their last sickness and the gate of 
 death. 
 
 9. The Scholars shall be reminded of their various duties at 
 their respective seasons by the ringing of the College-Bell, the 
 call of which they shall watchfully and punctually obey at all 
 times, it being the likeness of that call we must one day all 
 attend. 
 
 10. The Scholars shall solemnly observe the appointed hours 
 of devotion, at Morning, Noontide, and Evening, and shall 
 reverently observe the striking of the hours, seeing how quickly 
 time is passing away and eternity coming on. 
 
 11. The Scholars shall rise early, and be active in their ap- 
 pointed works throughout the day ; watchfulness and industry 
 being the duty of all Christian People and faithful Sons of the 
 Church ; sloth and idleness the doors to all evil spirits. 
 
 12. The Scholars shall specially observe a respectful and 
 reverential manner to all their Superiors and Betters, the Poor* 
 
 z2 
 
340 NOTE. 
 
 the Aged, and those afflicted by God's Providence> " not answering 
 again." 
 
 13. The Scholars shall be very careful to observe cleanliness in 
 person and dress, it being a likeness of inward purity. 
 
 14. The Scholars shall each have his own respective work, for 
 the care and well-being of the College, in the tending of cattle, 
 cultivating the soil, and carrying on the other works of the College, 
 as they shall be directed j and that cheerfully and with alacrity, 
 without jealousy and discontent, counting it joy to have their work 
 appointed to them, since we are all ignorant of what is for our 
 own good. 
 
 15. The Scholars shall strictly observe all hours, seasons, and 
 bounds of places appointed by their Superiors, and shall be 
 careful to appear in the dress of the College. 
 
 16. The Scholars shall pay deference and attention to the four 
 Head Boys, who are bound, with God's help, to be themselves 
 patterns and examples, " in word, in conversation, in charity, in 
 spirit, in faith, in purity," for the glory of GOD and CHRIST'S 
 HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH and the BROTHERHOOD to which 
 they belong. 
 
 Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give 
 the glory, for Thy mercy and Thy truth's sake. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SERMON ON TRADITION, 
 
 TRADITION is a word of so vague use, and so closely 
 associated, in most men's minds, with a whole host of 
 partialities and antipathies, that it were chimerical to 
 think of escaping objections, though a person's view on the 
 subject were much clearer and more accurate than the 
 author of the Sermon professes to have attained. This 
 consideration ought in limine to check any thought of 
 bitterness, such as is apt to spring up in a writer's mind, 
 when he finds himself charged with opinions which he 
 knows he never held, and believes he never expressed 
 and at the same time it may console him under the fear, 
 which he must more or less experience, lest something 
 incautious or negligent in his way of writing may have 
 led to such misrepresentation, and so may have injured 
 what he conscientiously believes to be a most important 
 and sacred cause. As it is, he may perhaps be excused 
 for waiving any detailed notice of the censures with which 
 the Sermon has been visited ; not out of any disrespect to 
 their authors, but under the sincere conviction, that the 
 subsequent remarks, if duly followed up, will explain and 
 justify, to considerate persons, whatever may have appeared 
 questionable in the original argument. 
 
342 Tradition) no novelty in the English Church. 
 
 On a general view of what he has read and heard in 
 opposition to the idea of Church Tradition here enforced, 
 he finds matter, first, for serious protest on his own behalf, 
 and, secondly, for serious caution to all who approach that 
 subject. 
 
 I. 1. He is principally anxious to remove any impres- 
 sion which may exist of his wishing to recommend a new 
 theory, a rule of faith devised for present occasions, by 
 any particular school of divines, now or at any former 
 time. On the contrary, he is persuaded, that what he is 
 endeavouring to inculcate is no other than the very rule of 
 the Church of England, as distinguished on the one hand 
 from Roman usurpation, on the other from rationalistic 
 licentiousness. And in support of this persuasion he 
 appeals to that array of standard English Divines, whose 
 views concerning Tradition are exhibited under the title 
 of Catena Patrum, in the Tracts for the Times, No. 78 : 
 which Tract was subjoined to some former editions of this 
 Sermon. If he err in his estimate of the spirit of the 
 English Church, it will appear, he trusts, by those ex- 
 tracts, that at least his error was not of his own invention 
 that he has both high and ancient authority for it. 
 
 With this reference the topic of novelty might be dis- 
 missed ; but there is one great name occurring in the 
 Catena, to the benefit of which some may deny that the 
 argument has a full right : and as there are appearances to 
 the contrary, a few words may be allowed in explanation. 
 The name meant is that of Bishop Jeremy Taylor ; in one 
 of whose latest Sermons, a Sermon addressed to his Clergy 
 during his Episcopate, the following occurs among the 
 rules for securing in corruption of doctrine : 
 
 " Next to this analogy or proportion of faith, let the 
 consent of the Catholic Church be your measure, so as by 
 
Opinion of Bishop Taylor. 
 
 no means to prevaricate in any doctrine, in which all 
 Christians always have consented. This will appear to be 
 a necessary rule by and by ; but in the mean time I shall 
 observe to you, that it will be the safer, because it cannot 
 go far ; it can be instanced but in three things, in the 
 Creed, in ecclesiastical government, and in external forms 
 of worship and liturgy. The Catholic Church hath been 
 too much and too soon divided : it hath been used as the 
 man upon a hill used his heap of heads in a basket ; when 
 he threw them down the hill, every head ran his own way, 
 ' quot capita tot sententise ;' and as soon as the spirit of 
 truth was opposed by the spirit of error, the spirit of peace 
 was disordered by the spirit of division ; and the Spirit of 
 God hath overpowered us so far, that we are only fallen 
 out about that, of which if we had been ignorant, we had 
 not been much the worse ; but in things simply necessary, 
 God hath preserved us still unbroken ; all nations and all 
 ages recite the Creed, and all pray the Lord's Prayer, and 
 all pretend to walk by the rule of the Commandments, and 
 all Churches have ever kept the day of Christ's resur- 
 rection or the LORD'S day holy ; and all Churches have been 
 governed by Bishops, and the rites of Christianity have 
 been for ever administered by separate orders of men, and 
 those men have been always set apart by prayer and the 
 imposition of the Bishop's hand ; and all Christians have 
 been baptized, and all baptized persons were, or ought to 
 be, and were taught that they should be, confirmed by the 
 Bishop, and presidents of religion ; and for ever there were 
 public forms of prayer, more or less, in all Churches; and 
 all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were 
 ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest: in these 
 things all Christians have ever consented, and he that shall 
 prophesy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of 
 these things, hath no part in that article of his Creed; he 
 
344 Bishop Taylor on the proper uses of Tradition: 
 
 does not believe the holy Catholic Church, he hath no 
 fellowship, no communion with the saints and servants of 
 GOD"." 
 
 In the Dissuasive from Popery, a work of the same 
 
 i date, he says, " The great use. of the Fathers, especially 
 of the first three hundred years, is to tell us what was first, 
 
 . to consign Scripture to us, to convey the Creed, with sim- 
 plicity and purity to preach Christ's Gospel, to declare 
 what is necessary and what not b ." . . Again, in the Ductor 
 Dubitantium, " There is yet one more use of Tradition, 
 
 but it is in rituals Such are, 1 . The observation of 
 
 the Lord's day, solemnly once a year, and less solemnly 
 once a week ; i. e. the feast of Easter, and the weekly 
 Sunday. 2. The government of the Church by Bishops, 
 which is consigned to us by a tradition greater than some 
 books of Scripture, and as great as that of the Lord's day ; 
 and that so notorious, that thunder is not more heard than 
 this is seen in all the monuments of antiquity. 3. Offices 
 ecclesiastical to be said and done by ecclesiastical persons ; 
 such as are, the public prayers of the Church, the conse- 
 cration of the blessed Eucharist, the blessing of the married 
 pairs and joining them in the holy and mysterious rite of 
 marriage, the consecration of Bishops by Bishops only, &c. 
 These three are the most universal and apostolical Tra- 
 ditions ; which, although they have also great grounds in 
 Scripture, yet because the universal practice and doctrine 
 of the Church of GOD in all ages and in all Churches 
 primitive is infinitely evident and notorious, less liable to 
 exception, and an apt commentary upon the certain but 
 less evident places of Scripture, therefore these may be 
 placed under the protection of universal Tradition ; for 
 they really have it beyond all exception ." 
 
 Vol. vi. p. -V2C. ' Vol. x. p. 312. r siii. 118. 
 
his agreement with the doctrine of the Sermon. 345 
 
 Passages of this kind (and many more might be adduced) 
 would seem to shew, that when Bishop Taylor speaks in 
 disparagement of Tradition, he means only such as the 
 Church of Rome avouches : Tradition of the substance of 
 doctrine, independent of Scripture, and purporting to be of 
 things necessary to salvation. For the form of doctrine, 
 i. e. for the Creed, or selection of fundamental articles ; 
 for ritual matters ; and for Church government, he accounts 
 it not only useful, but (morally and practically speaking) 
 necessary. And he repeatedly and distinctly assigns the 
 reason for the different degree of authority which he 
 attributes to it in the two cases ; viz. that in practical 
 matters it may be verified, but in doctrinal (with the 
 exception of the Creed) it cannot. If it could, his own 
 statement is, it ought to be received on the same ground 
 as the Scriptures, the distinction of written and spoken 
 being but an accident d . 
 
 Now in all this it will be difficult to shew in what 
 instance Bishop Taylor's doctrine varies from that of the 
 Sermon, except it be in these two particulars ; which 
 do not, it is conceived, affect the main argument : first, 
 that the Sermon mentions Interpretation of Scripture as 
 another possible field of genuine Tradition, besides those 
 which Taylor has specified ; and, secondly, that although 
 Taylor, in a passage above cited, appears to make certain 
 
 d x. 418. " Tradition signified either preaching or writing, as it happened. 
 When it signified preaching, it was only the first way of communicating the 
 religion of Jesus Christ ; and until the Scriptures were written, and con- 
 signed hy the full testimony of the Apostles and apostolical Churches 
 respectively, they, in questions of religion, usually appealed to Tradition." 
 Then quoting the passage of St. Ireneeus, which is cited in the Sermon, 
 he adds, " That which was true then, is also true now ; for, if the Apostles 
 had never written at all, we must have followed Tradition ; unless God had 
 provided for us some better thing." Comp. p. '{*">. 
 
346 Change apparent in Bishop Taylors opinion. 
 
 traditional practices absolutely necessary to Church com-, 
 munion, yet in his Ductor Dubitantium, a work of an 
 earlier date by a few years, he had followed up his mention 
 of the same observances thus : " Whatever can descend to 
 us and be observed in this channel, there is no sufficient 
 reason to deny it to be apostolical ; but then how far it can 
 be obligatory to all ages and to all Churches will be another 
 consideration 6 ." On comparing the two statements, it may 
 be perhaps thought, that this great man, like his prede- 
 cessor Hooker, as he grew older, became more convinced 
 of the importance as well as genuineness of those portions 
 of the Church system, which are most concerned in this 
 controversy f . And it may be observed, that any admis- 
 sion from him, apparently narrowing the terms of commu- 
 nion, comes to us with peculiar force ; his tendency, as the 
 Liberty of Prophesying shews, being quite the other way ; 
 indulgent and liberal (as many will judge) to a fault, and 
 not well brooking the austere denunciations of some even 
 of the primitive Creeds. 
 
 On the whole, we need not have much hesitation in 
 adding the name of Bishop Taylor to the illustrious cloud 
 of witnesses for Primitive Tradition, so conspicuous in 
 English Theology. 
 
 e xiii. 139. 
 
 f " It is something in favour of Vincentius's rule, that it has been received, 
 extolled, and acted upon, by such men as Bidley, Jewel, Grotius, Overal, 
 Hammond, Beveridge, Bull, Hicks, Bramhall, Grabe, Cave, and our own 
 Archbishop King ; that it has been admitted expressly even by Chilling- 
 worth; and that it has been unreservedly acknowledged as a just and true 
 guide, by Bishop Taylor, in one of his latest works, his Visitation Sermon at 
 Connor ; a tribute, this last, the more remarkable, because in his Liberty of 
 Prophesying, and in his Ductor Dubitantium, he had spoken less respectfully 
 of the principle, and his remarkable change of language can be accounted for 
 only by his having undergone a correspondent change of sentiment. He had 
 seen, felt, and weighed every difficulty ; the result of all was, a deliberate 
 persuasion that Vincentius was right, and that he himself had been wrong." 
 Bishop Jebb, Letter liii. in Forster's Life, ii. 249. 
 
Traditional and Scriptural Truth blended. 347 
 
 It is in behalf of their constant doctrine, and not of any 
 modern invention, that the writer desires further to pro- 
 test against certain undue assumptions, on which, as it 
 appears to him, is based nearly the whole of the reasoning 
 of the deniers of Primitive Tradition. 
 
 2. Because it is affirmed that the full Tradition of 
 Christianity existed before the Christian Scriptures, and 
 so far independent of them, we are charged with alleging 
 two distinct systems or words of God, the one written, the 
 other unwritten, running as it were parallel to each other 
 quite down to our own time. But this, by the terms of 
 the case, is plainly unwarranted. If a man were to say 
 that the Severn and the Wye rise separately in the same 
 mountain, one higher up than the other, must he therefore 
 maintain that they never meet before they reach the sea ? 
 Tradition and Scripture were at first two streams flowing 
 down from the mountain of God, but their waters presently 
 became blended, and it were but a vain and unpractical 
 inquiry, to call upon every one who drinks of them to say, 
 how much of the healing draught came from one source, 
 and how much from the other. On account of those who 
 would poison the stream, it is necessary from time to time 
 to analyse it, and shew that it contains no ingredients 
 which were not to be found in one or other of the two 
 fountains ; and in so doing, it becomes incidentally mani- 
 fest, at least in some measure, what portion each of the 
 two has contributed to the general mass; it is manifest, 
 for example, that all necessary credenda, all truths essential 
 to salvation, are contained in the Scripture itself; and is it 
 not equally manifest, that many helps of the greatest con- 
 sequence, nay I will say generally necessary, to the right 
 development and application of Scripture, are mostly if not 
 entirely derivable from Tradition ? And is it not a poor 
 kind of reasoning to say, Tradition would have been 
 
348 No Tradition irrespective of Scripture. 
 
 worthless had we been left to it alone, therefore it cannot 
 be of any value, now that Scripture has been all along at 
 hand, to check, to sustain, to interpret, to rectify it, as the 
 several occasions might require ? Yet this is the whole 
 substance of many men's argumentation on the subject : 
 they have argued against an imaginary case, instead of 
 addressing themselves to the realities of Church history; 
 and have thus given an advantage to Romanists on one 
 side and Rationalists on the other, of which neither party 
 has been slow to avail itself. Such is not the way of the 
 English Church ; she does not so violently sever the dif* 
 ferent parts of the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, 
 but acknowledging Scripture as her written charter, and 
 Tradition as the common law, whereby both the validity 
 and practical meaning of that charter is ascertained, vene- 
 rates both as inseparable, members of one great providential 
 system ; without confounding their provinces, or opposing 
 them to each other, in the manner of modern Rome. 
 Why should it be thought a thing incredible, that persons 
 should be found among her members and ministers desirous 
 to follow, as God shall give them grace, in so plain, sa 
 reasonable, so moderate, so safe a way ? Because they 
 call attention to the fact, that " Primitive Tradition is 
 recognised in Holy Scripture," as being, AT THAT TIME, 
 of paramount authority ; why should they be presently 
 suspected of having a system of their own in reserve ; a 
 theory, like some parts of Romanism, still independent of 
 Holy Scripture, and to be supported by modern tradi- 
 tions ? more especially if they themselves are careful to 
 declare and exemplify the use they wish to make of the 
 fact in question ; viz. to illustrate and enforce, by its aid, 
 certain portions of the existing Church System, which they 
 consider to be especially in danger. 
 
 3. I say, of the existing Church System, here in England : 
 
Tradition helps to appreciate our Church- System. 349 
 
 for this is another point on which some protest seems to 
 be required. It is sometimes assumed, that the traditions 
 and practices, which the Sermon has most in view, are 
 " obscure and obsolete ;" and that where persons are 
 called on to search in antiquity for genuine relics of the 
 Apostles, " the question of course concerns those points 
 which are not embodied in our own formularies." In 
 assuming this, the fact is overlooked, that in the very page 
 of the Sermon here referred to, the chief points in question 
 are specified ; " being such as these : the canon of Scrip- 
 ture ; the full doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation ; 
 the oblation and consecration of the Eucharist ; the Apo- 
 stolical Succession;" to which, perhaps, it might have 
 been well to add the doctrine of baptismal Regeneration. 
 Surely it is not too much to say, that these points are 
 " embodied in our own formularies ;" and, if there be any 
 of them about which the Clergy are unhappily not agreed, 
 it is not too much to hope, that in so far as the right use 
 of Tradition may clear up what is ambiguous, whether in 
 those formularies or in Scripture itself, it may give some 
 help towards bringing us to a better agreement. This is 
 the very chiefest advantage which the warmest recom- 
 menders of Tradition in our Church expect from it ; viz. 
 that attention to it should very much elevate men's ideas 
 of the existing system, proving it divine in many points 
 where they now ignorantly suppose it human. This, and 
 not the establishment of any mere theory, new or old, is 
 the immediate object of those who have most earnestly 
 urged, from time to time, the reverential study of Christian 
 antiquity. Not that they would entirely shut out the 
 hope of improvement in many respects : thankfully as they 
 own that God has preserved to us all things on which the 
 being of a Church depends, they yet feel that much is 
 wanting more, probably, than can ever be supplied of 
 
350 Tradition compatible with the Sixth Article ; 
 
 the perfect order and harmony of the apostolical age. 
 Nor do they feel it any breach of fidelity to the Church of 
 England, to join in the confession of one on whom she 
 has ever prided herself, as among her truest children and 
 chiefest ornaments : 
 
 " The second temple could not reach the first, 
 And the late Reformation never durst 
 Compare with ancient times and purer years, 
 But, in the Church and us, deserveth tears." 
 
 4. It may be well to protest, once for all, against the alle- 
 gation so confidently repeated concerning the Sixth Article 
 of the Church of England, that it was meant to set aside the 
 claims of Primitive Tradition. To apprehend the drift of that 
 Article exactly, it must be considered as chiefly intended 
 for a guide to the Clergy : and will be found in that light 
 exactly to correspond with the engagement in the Ordi- 
 nation and Consecration Services, to " teach nothing as 
 required of necessity to eternal salvation, but that which 
 we shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved b^ the 
 Scripture ;" as being " persuaded that the Holy Scriptures 
 contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for 
 eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ." A com- 
 parison of the two documents will tend to shew how care- 
 fully they are limited to matters of doctrine, articles of 
 faith, propositions, the belief of which may be deemed 
 fundamental and indispensable. Not that Scripture is not 
 divinely perfect as a rule of life and manners also ; but the 
 framers of the Article were not at the time turning their 
 attention that way : they wished to be understood of neces- 
 sary points of faith, doctrinal conditions of admission into 
 Christ's covenant. Observe the wording of that clause, 
 where they compare the canonical with the apocryphal 
 books. " The other books the Church doth read for 
 
which relates to Doctrine ; Tradition to Practice. 351 
 
 example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth 
 not apply them to establish any doctrine." 
 
 Thus the Article leaves ample scope for the province, 
 which, as we have seen, Bishop Taylor assigned principally 
 to Tradition : practical rules relating to the Church of 
 Christ. For any thing stated in the Article, such rules 
 might be both divine, and generally necessary to salvation, 
 and yet not be contained in Scripture ; but the doctrines 
 or propositions concerning them would not be necessary : 
 it would be wrong to insert them as Articles of the Creed. 
 For instance, St. Ignatius writes as follows 6 : " Let that 
 Eucharist be accounted valid which is under the Bishop, 
 or some one commissioned by him." Wherein he lays 
 down the rule, which we know was universally received 
 in the Primitive Church, that consecration by apostolical 
 authority is essential to the participation of the Eucharist, 
 and so far generally necessary to salvation. Now sup- 
 posing this could not be at all proved from Scripture, (as 
 it may, in a great measure, to the satisfaction of unpre- 
 judiced minds,) still it might be accepted, on the above 
 evidence, as a necessary rule of Church communion, with- 
 out infringing on our Sixth Article : but it could not be 
 turned into a proposition, and put into the Creed, because 
 that would make not only the rule itself, as observed by 
 the Church, but the knowledge of it also by the individual, 
 necessary to salvation: and it may be thankfully admitted, 
 that knowledge of the true nature of Sacraments is no 
 where required in Holy Scripture 11 , as a condition of our 
 receiving the spiritual grace they impart. 
 
 8 Ad Smyrn. c. viii. 
 
 h 1 Cor. xi. 29. is no exception to this ; since SiaKpivwv means rather 
 " reverent separation" (from common bread) than " accurate knowledge 
 and discernment" in the modem sense. And compare the inspired 
 narrative, St. Matth. ix. 20, &c. 
 
352 Tradition implied in Articles VI. and VIII. 
 
 Neither again does the Article say any thing derogatory 
 to the divinely-appointed 1 use of Primitive Tradition, (i. e. 
 of the Creeds of the Church,) in pointing out which among 
 scriptural truths are fundamental, and ought to be made 
 terms of communion : rather it implies an appeal to such 
 Tradition, allowing, as it does expressly, that there may be 
 fundamental truths, the premises whereof only are contained 
 in Scripture, and not the very propositions themselves ; 
 which allowance would throw the terms of communion into 
 no small uncertainty, were it not for the Article next but 
 one directing attention especially to the three Creeds, as 
 adequate to supply what the former Article had left want- 
 ing ; and both together completing the rule of faith ; the 
 Creeds presenting the conclusions to be believed, the 
 Scripture confirming them out of the mouth of God. 
 
 Moreover, the principle itself of the sufficiency of Scrip- 
 ture is mainly a traditional principle ; although when once 
 put in possession of it, we find it irresistibly confirmed 
 by contemplation of the contents of the written Word. 
 But on this subject it were presumptuous to do more 
 than refer the reader to the masterly discussion by Mr. 
 Newman, in the llth, 12th, and 13th of his Lectures 
 on the Prophetical Office of the Church. One question 
 only shall be added. Do we not discern, on this hypo- 
 thesis, a very beautiful and instructive harmony between 
 the several provinces of evangelical teaching ? the pre- 
 liminary principle, the sufficiency of the written Word, 
 being taught by Tradition and confirmed and illustrated by 
 the Bible, just in the same way as the several doctrines 
 are afterwards. And is not this analogy, as far as it goes, 
 both a material confirmation of the general statement, and 
 also an indication of the purpose of moral probation, which 
 we may believe was one final cause of the whole arrange- 
 
 Gal. i. 8. 
 
English Canon 0/1571. 353 
 
 ment ; just as, under God's natural government, our pro- 
 bation is the more entire from the circumstance, that we 
 receive our first impressions from Testimony, but must use 
 Observation to confirm or correct them, and cannot long 
 depend upon either quite alone. 
 
 Now since we are bound to receive the Articles in their 
 literal and grammatical sense, this construction might be 
 fairly maintained, whatever were the known sentiments of 
 those who at first imposed them ; but the argument for it 
 becomes more forcible, when it is recollected that the 
 same Convocation, which first enforced subscription on the 
 Clergy, passed also the following Canon for the regulation 
 of preaching throughout the kingdom : " That the Clergy 
 shall be careful never to teach any thing from the pulpit, 
 to be religiously held and believed by the people, but what 
 is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old or New Testament, 
 and collected out of that very same doctrine by the Catholic 
 Fathers and ancient Bishops." This Canon, passed in 1571, 
 under the auspices of Archbishop Parker, has been often 
 quoted, (among others, repeatedly by Bishop Taylor k ,) as 
 expressing the genuine, permanent sense of the Anglican 
 Church on the matters in question. And it seems fair 
 and natural that it should be so quoted, as often as we are 
 asked on what authority, and by whose warrant, our Clergy 
 can be called upon to walk by the rule of primitive anti- 
 quity, rather than by their own private judgment. 
 
 5. As to any suspicion which may have arisen about 
 limiting Primitive Tradition to mere formularies, and 
 ministerial faithfulness to the investigation and custody 
 of the traditional safeguards of faith only : such suspicion 
 must vanish, of course, when it is once well understood, 
 that the " depositum" so much insisted on includes to us 
 the written Word, as in the first age it doubtless included 
 
 k Works, x. 131, 322, 404. 
 
 A a 
 
354 In what sense the Creed is sufficient. 
 
 the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Still, that in the 
 first age there were Creeds and Catechisms, and that the 
 apostolical writings sometimes allude to them, we may 
 well take the liberty of believing : being strengthened in 
 this interpretation by the witness of Bishop Taylor, who, 
 speaking of the Apostles' Creed as " having been always 
 in the Primitive Church esteemed a full and perfect digest 
 of all the necessary and fundamental Articles of Christian 
 religion 1 ,'' goes on to say: "St. Paul gave us the first 
 formal intimation of this measure, in his advices to St. 
 Timothy : f Hold fast the form of sound words m which 
 thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ 
 Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee 
 keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.' This 
 was the depositum that St. Paul left with Timothy ; the 
 hypotyposis or summary of Christian belief, the Christian 
 Creed, which St. Paul opposes to the profane new talk- 
 ings, and the disputations of pretended learning ; meaning 
 that this symbol of faith is the thing on which all Chris- 
 tians are to rely, and this is the measure of their faith." 
 Surely it were unfair, on account of such a sentence as this, 
 to accuse Bishop Taylor of shutting up either the Apo- 
 stles' teaching, or the trust committed to their successors, 
 in one scanty form of words. It is not the form of words, 
 but the substantial truths, which are meant, when people 
 speak of our still having the Primitive Creed, and of its 
 exclusive vital importance to the very being of the king- 
 
 i x. 458. 
 
 m Bishop Taylor here gives the interpretation of this phrase most approved 
 among moderns. The turn given to it in the Sermon, p. 188, being rather 
 different, it may be right just to mention the reasons of the difference ; which 
 are, 1. The want of the definitive article in the Greek : exe VTTOTVTTUO-IV, not 
 eX T"V 6. 2. The mode of paraphrase adopted by the ancients, especially 
 Chrysostom and Theodoret. Elsewhere Bishop Taylor expounds rfarov 
 ^s in Rom. vi. 17. as conveying a like allusion, x. 129. 
 
Error of requiring infallible Evidence. 355 
 
 dom of heaven. Neither, should it appear at any time 
 requisite to urge on the Clergy, as their paramount care, 
 the integrity of doctrinal faith, is this necessarily any dis- 
 paragement of practical religion, of pastoral vigilance, or 
 of any other of their objects and duties. 
 
 II. Thus much by way of protecting the scriptural 
 argument for Primitive Tradition against certain mis- 
 apprehensions under which it appeared to labour. It may 
 be well to add a few cautionary remarks, obvious enough, 
 yet not always regarded by those who take an interest in 
 this subject. 
 
 1. We should be careful that we are not, unknown to 
 ourselves, expecting demonstration, where practical proof 
 only is attainable, and ought to be sufficient. Somewhat 
 of this error appears to lurk in those minds, which reject 
 the notion of a rule of faith made up of Scripture and Tra- 
 dition together, on the ground that Scripture is infallible, 
 Tradition merely historical. They appear to reason as if 
 there could be no faith without demonstrative infallible 
 evidence. The truer statement surely would be, that such 
 evidence, complete in all its parts, leaves no room for faith ; 
 and therefore we are no where left to such evidence alone. 
 Is it not so, that in regard of those truths, the evidence 
 whereof is most entirely scriptural, we are yet to depend 
 on common historical proof both for the genuineness and 
 the right interpretation of the text ? And as the stream 
 can rise no higher than the fountain, so our assent even to 
 scriptural truths differs not from our assent to other well- 
 attested historical propositions, so far as the kind of 
 evidence is concerned. The great point in which it does 
 differ is the deep feeling of awe and reverential attention 
 with which it is naturally accompanied, from the very 
 circumstance that God Himself, as we have reason to 
 believe, is speaking from heaven to assure us of these 
 
 A a 2 
 
356 Error of expecting entire Satisfaction ; 
 
 things. Now as far as we have reason to consider any 
 traditional or ecclesiastical rule as being in effect the voice 
 of God, so far we shall naturally treat it (the substance of 
 it) with the same kind of reverence as we should treat both 
 the substance and the very words of a text from the Bible. 
 For instance, could we be once fully satisfied that the 
 order of consecration of the Holy Eucharist, such as it is 
 gathered out of the Primitive Liturgies, was established 
 by the Apostles under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, 
 we should be affected by it much as we are by the apo- 
 stolical writings themselves ; i. e. with reverence inferior 
 only to that with which we regard our Lord's own words 
 in the Gospel. Suppose we are not fully satisfied on the 
 point, but only discern a strong probability, sufficient for 
 a wise man to act on ; yet surely we are bound, if circum- 
 stances allow, to act on it with all devotion : and our doing 
 so will be an exercise of faith, and may humbly hope for 
 the reward of faith. This instance may serve to shew, that 
 the distinction alluded to is not valid, since on the one 
 hand, scriptural evidence must always presuppose a found- 
 ation in that which is historical ; and on the other hand, 
 historical or traditional evidence may lead us back to a 
 point so very near the Throne of God, as to require of us 
 something of the same kind of feeling as if we heard Him 
 speaking in Scripture. 
 
 2. Closely allied to this caution is another, too apt to 
 be forgotten by both extremes in this controversy : Not to 
 speak or argue as though we had any right, a priori, to 
 expect full satisfaction and comfort here in our religious 
 enquiries. Who are we, that our satisfaction, our comfort 
 and ease of mind, should be the regulating point (if one 
 may so call it) of the machinery of God's dispensations ? 
 the index whereby to determine in what measure and 
 degree the Almighty shall have revealed Himself to His 
 
leads men to narrow the Terms of Communion. 357 
 
 creatures ? Yet this is virtually premised, both in the 
 schools of Rome, when they argue that there must be on 
 earth an infallible judge of controversies, otherwise the 
 Church will be left in comparative discomfort; and also 
 by those Protestants who account Tradition inadmissible, 
 because it is, as they judge, always more or less " uncer- 
 tain and slippery ;" who seem to think that nothing can 
 be, practically, an object of faith, except what is " very 
 distinct in character, clear in its credentials, well authen- 
 ticated in its details ;" and who consider it a sufficient 
 objection to an account of a mystery, that it leaves the 
 nature of the transaction dubious, and admits of no clear 
 statement. Experience shews that there is too much 
 danger, lest the enemy take advantage of this longing after 
 completeness and clearness, to turn men aside, ingenious 
 men especially, from the strait and narrow and sometimes 
 broken way, towards some path of human framing, more 
 enticing to such minds, because it seems distincter in its 
 end, better defined and more continuous in its course. 
 But clearness and symmetry of doctrine are a dear pur- 
 chase, when Christian truth and duty must be impaired 
 for their sake. After all, a fragment of the true Temple 
 is worth all the palaces of modern philosophical theology. 
 One ill effect of the tone of mind just mentioned, and 
 one which is very little suspected by the parties them- 
 selves, is this, that it sets them on limiting our enquiries 
 and opinions more strictly than the Church does : they 
 seem to themselves to move in such fulness of light, that 
 they become after a time quite impatient to see others 
 feeling their way, walking as in twilight, and betraying 
 more or less uncertainty : they little suspect that, perhaps, 
 all the while, they may be but " walking in the light of 
 their own fire, and in the sparks which themselves have 
 kindled," while the others may be gradually learning to 
 
358 Danger of Rationalism more or less unconscious; 
 
 " trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their 
 God n ." However, in the state of things which the holy 
 Prophet here describes, those who seem to themselves 
 illuminated become after a time, as was said, impatient of 
 the caution and comparative timidity of the others, and 
 are wont to interfere, more or less rudely, to force or 
 frighten them into their own way. Is it not from some 
 impression of this kind, that among the persons who are 
 most averse to Tradition, on this express ground, that they 
 require things to be distinct and certain, are those who 
 would tie us down most strictly to the very letter of the 
 Homilies ? although it is most clear from the wording of 
 the 35th Article, that the recommendation of them to the 
 Church by authority was but general as to their substance, 
 and bore express reference to that particular time . Nay, 
 and the matter has been carried so far as to demand 
 rejection, at the hands of the Clergy, of all that is (not 
 " inconsistent with," but) " unauthorized by" the Thirty- 
 nine Articles : as if the Articles were either a rule of faith, 
 or a complete system of theology ; as if they were in any 
 sense conditions of lay communion ; as if the Prayer Book 
 added nothing to the declaration of the mind of the Church 
 of England ; or as if, on the other hand, it were impossible 
 to urge any thing as vitally important, without setting it 
 forth as a formal condition of Church communion, nay, 
 even of final salvation. 
 
 3, But the cardinal point, on which, it would seem, all 
 men require warning, from beginning to end of these dis- 
 cussions, is the irreverent use of reason. There is continual 
 danger of our treating as profane what, for ought we 
 know, may be sacred, though not as yet proved to be so ; 
 danger of slighting Divine mysteries because we cannot 
 
 n Isaiah 1. 10. 
 
 > See Bishop Jebb, Practical Theology, ii. 283, &c. 
 
Example affecting the Canon of Scripture. 359 
 
 comprehend or explain them ; danger of forfeiting Divine 
 grace, because, being unable to trace its workings, we will 
 not be at the trouble of seeking it. Even in the course of 
 the brief controversy which the Sermon has occasioned, 
 some remarkable facts have occurred, to strengthen the 
 impression which all Church history would make, as to the 
 ill tendencies inseparable from disregard of antiquity. 
 
 For example, in answer to the allegation, that our 
 assurance of the spiritual interpretation of Solomon's Song 
 depends mainly on a constant tradition of the early 
 Church-, it is replied, that a spiritual interpretation is, from 
 the evidence " of the book itself, the only one that is con- 
 sistent with its canonicity p ." What is this but expressly 
 submitting the Canon of Scripture, so far, to each man's 
 private taste and judgment? what is it but laying down 
 rules beforehand what inspired writings ought to be ? At 
 this very time, in regard of this very book, we see the 
 effect of such licentious discussion ; the most distinguished 
 living theologian among dissenters having refused to accept 
 it as part of the sacred Scripture, on the ground that he 
 cannot see how it may be expounded in any sense which 
 he considers worthy of a divine origin q , The opponent of 
 Tradition, indeed, goes on to say, that " we are scripturally 
 led to interpret the Canticles as we do the forty-fifth Psalm, 
 and many similar portions of Scripture." But how are we 
 so led ? Not by any reference in the New Testament, for 
 the book is not once cited or alluded to, but by analogy of 
 several passages in which the same kind of allegory is 
 employed. Now how do we know that we have a right to 
 assume such an analogy here ? Scripture itself does not 
 affirm it. Reason is not so positive about it, but that many 
 distinguished interpreters have laid down a rule inconsistent 
 
 P Ohr. Observer, May, 1837, p. 328. 
 
 Scripture Testim. to the Messiah, i. 46. ed. 2, 
 
360 Principle of the Spiritual Interpretation of Canticles; 
 
 with such an application of it the rule, namely, that 
 nothing must be received as a type, without' "solid proof 
 from Scripture itself" of " the Divine intention in the 
 correspondence between it and the antitype." The most 
 that we can attain to, on such premises, is to say, that the 
 book may be possibly canonical, (i. e. if history is right in 
 saying that it made part of the Jewish Scriptures at the 
 time when our Lord set His seal on them ;) but on the 
 interpretation of it we must be absolutely silent, for the 
 literal meaning is pronounced unworthy of Scripture, and, 
 concerning any other, nothing is revealed. Nor would 
 this be incredible to such as are convinced, that we are 
 in no sort judges beforehand what sort of a book Scrip- 
 ture was likely to be, how far intelligible at all, how far 
 its own interpreter : but to those who have made up their 
 minds that it must be " a volume which may be under- 
 stood," and understood " without traditional aid 8 ," the case 
 is too likely to prove matter of serious -offence. The more 
 comfortable, surely, as well as the more religious way is, 
 to accept, with all reverence, whatever intimations God 
 has graciously vouchsafed for aiding our conviction, both 
 of the genuineness and of the right exposition of the sacred 
 books. Let us ask of those to whom Scripture was first 
 delivered, those who had the means of consulting inspired 
 persons as to the meaning of obscure places. We shall 
 find these agreeing in the following rule of interpretation : 
 That the types and figures which the New Testament 
 expressly notices out of the Old, are but a few out of 
 many, specimens or ensamples, as it were, of the manner 
 in which the Holy Ghost wills us to regard the whole of 
 the former dispensation. This gives us just what we want: 
 authority for applying the imagery which we find in the 
 
 * Bishop Van Mildert, as quoted in Home's Introduction, ii. 724. 
 Chr. Obs. ubi supra. 
 
not disproved, because liable to Abuse. 361 
 
 forty-fifth Psalm and elsewhere, to the exposition of the 
 similar imagery in Solomon's Song; although the two 
 differ in this material point, that the one is formally quoted 
 in the New Testament, the other not even obscurely 
 alluded to. When we take into consideration the witness 
 of the first ages, we feel that this sacred application rests 
 no longer on our own critical conjectures, but upon fair 
 practical evidence, that men of God so taught in the- 
 beginning of the Gospel. 
 
 To this it will be presently said, You are claiming the 
 sanction of inspiration to all the extravagancies of the early 
 mystical expounders. And it may be as shortly replied, 
 We are doing no such thing: we claim attention to the 
 fact, that a certain rule of interpretation was recognised by 
 those, who could not, all things considered, be deceived in 
 the matter ; but it does not follow that in their application 
 of the rule they were left in no measure to their own 
 fallible judgment. The principle, that Scripture is suf- 
 ficient for the substance of the faith, is a sacred principle, 
 and infallibly, i. e. certainly, true, without any kind of 
 exception ; yet men may err, and have erred, in their 
 selection of fundamentals out of Scripture. So in this 
 matter of primitive exposition ; we may receive with 
 respect, nay with awe, the rule of regarding the New 
 Testament quotations as ensamples only of the true way 
 to interpret the Old, without at all claiming infallibility 
 for the details of any comment, professing to be founded 
 on that rule. 
 
 Not but that, in some instances, the catholic consent, 
 even on details of interpretation, is so marked and unques- 
 tionable, and comes with so much authority, as to justify 
 us in concluding, that besides the general rule regarding 
 all types, they had a special witness from the first age to 
 the meaning of the Holy Ghost in those particular texts. 
 
Unconscious Rationalism, in regard of Sacraments. 
 
 A prominent case of that kind is the allegorical application 
 of the Canticles: concerning the proof of which from 
 antiquity, whoever permits himself to speak lightly, had 
 better take care lest he be found slighting a very gracious 
 providence of God, for the protection of a portion of His 
 word, peculiarly exposed to the rudeness of the scorner. 
 Such an one will perhaps do well to consider, whether he 
 be going the true way to encourage, in himself or in others, 
 veneration for the Bible. 
 
 4. This instance has been dwelt on the longer, as peculiarly 
 apt to confirm and illustrate the position, " that the Holy 
 Scriptures themselves may be fast losing reverence through 
 the resolute defiance of Tradition which some affect." 
 And is there not ground to apprehend the like with regard 
 to the Holy Sacraments also ? What but a too exclusive 
 jealousy of Tradition could have prevented the writer of 
 the sentence noted below * from perceiving, that it sounds 
 as if he were scornfully denying all supernatural virtue 
 in the Holy Eucharist? a denial which, of course, was 
 very far from his thoughts. For the life-giving miracle, 
 the mention of which so offends him, is simply this, that 
 " the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed 
 taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." 
 And it is called " life-giving," because it is the appointed 
 means of participation of Christ, Who is " a quickening 
 Spirit," and " our life ;" even as He Himself said, " I am 
 that Bread of life," and " he that eateth My Flesh 
 and drinketh My Blood hath eternal life." Neither is 
 God hereby robbed of His prerogative, any more than 
 
 * Christ. Obs. May, 1837, p. 329. " As to Mr. Keble's notions of ' the 
 life-giving miracle' of ' Christ's real Presence,' which ' has been left 
 throughly mysterious both by Scripture and Tradition,' we shall only say, 
 that the records of Popery abundantly prove that mysticism is neither 
 theology nor piety." 
 
The Holy Spirit honoured in the Primitive Eucharist. 363 
 
 our Saviour could be said to forego His prerogative of 
 opening the eyes of the blind, when He first spat on the 
 ground, and made clay of the spittle, and then anointed 
 the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 
 
 Nor is the Holy Spirit, as some fear, at all dishonoured 
 by this statement, in respect of His Office as the Lord and 
 Giver of Life. Rather we may shew from the Primitive 
 Liturgies", and from that of our own Church as it was 
 originally formed from them, that the honour of God's 
 Spirit in the Holy Sacrament is no way so effectually 
 vindicated as by appealing to ecclesiastical Tradition. 
 
 The Primitive Liturgies, with the exception perhaps of 
 the Roman, agree in distinctly invoking God the Holy 
 Ghost to descend upon the sacred elements, and prepare 
 them to be the communication of Christ's Body and Blood 
 (and therefore of life supernatural) to the faithful. E. g. 
 the Alexandrian Liturgy, denominated from St. Basil, (the 
 very words of which, in not a few cases, may be satis- 
 factorily traced back at least to his own time,) appoints 
 this supplication to be used immediately after the com- 
 memoration of the words of institution 1 . " We therefore, 
 also, remembering His holy sufferings, His rising again 
 from the dead, His ascension into heaven, His sitting on 
 the right hand of Thee, Who art God and Father, and 
 His glorious and fearful coming again, offer unto Thee 
 Thine own, out of Thine own gifts. And we supplicate 
 and beseech Thee, merciful and gracious Lord, we Thy 
 sinful and unworthy servants, and worship Thee, that by 
 the good pleasure of Thy goodness, Thy Holy Spirit may 
 
 u Which, in those points wherein they agree, are equivalent to a genuine 
 formulary of the first age. See Palmer's Dissertation on Primitive Liturgies, 
 prefixed to his Oriyines Liturgies, and Tracts for the Times, No. 63. 
 
 * S. Basilii Op. ed. Bened. t. iii. p. 678, 9. 
 
364 Eucharistical Invocation of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 come upon us Thy servants, and upon these Thy gifts 
 here set forth, and sanctify and exhibit them to be most 
 holy : and may cause this bread to become the holy Body 
 of Him our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, unto 
 forgiveness of sins, and eternal life, to all who partake 
 thereof: and this cup, the precious Blood of the New 
 Testament of Him our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, unto forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who 
 partake thereof. And do Thou count us worthy, O Lord, 
 to partake of Thy holy mysteries, unto sanctification of 
 soul and body and spirit, that we may become one body 
 and one spirit, and may find a portion and inheritance to 
 possess with all Thy saints, who from all time have been 
 well-pleasing in Thy sight." The first Prayer Book of 
 King Edward VI. directed consecration to be made as 
 follows : " Heare us, O mercyfull Father, we beseeche 
 Thee, and with Thy Holy Spirite and worde vouchsafe to 
 blesse and sanctifie these Thy gifts and creatures of bread 
 and wine, that they may be unto us the Bodie and Blood 
 of Thy most derely beloved Sonne Jesus Christe ; Who in 
 the same night," &c. (as in our present Service.) So far is 
 the teaching of Tradition, on this point, from neglecting 
 to honour the Giver of Life in the Sacrament of eternal 
 life. 
 
 On the contrary, it may be thought, that if circum- 
 stances had permitted this part of the ancient Service to 
 be retained, communicants would have been so much the 
 more effectually taught to give glory to the blessed Spirit, 
 not only by the tenor of the Liturgy itself, but also by 
 the light which it would have thrown on certain passages 
 of holy writ, which, as things are, they hardly understand 
 to refer to the Communion at all ; such (e. g.) as where 
 the Corinthians are reminded, " By one Spirit ye have 
 been all baptized into one body and ye have 
 
-Scriptural Allusions to that part of the Liturgy. 365 
 
 been all made to drink into one Spirit 7 ;" and where 
 St. John mentions together as Three combining in One 
 witness, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood : pre- 
 mising his remark with the following verse, which, to any 
 one familiar with the ancient Liturgical Services, must 
 have sounded very descriptive of the Communion : " This 
 is He that came" (or rather " cometh," Ixflwv) " by water 
 and blood, even Jesus Christ:" (for in those days they 
 always mixed water in the cup of blessing ; and some, at 
 least in St. Cyprian's time, thought they might consecrate 
 with water only z ; which error and irreverence, if it existed 
 in St. John's day also, might give occasion to the following 
 clause :) " Not by water only, but by water and blood. 
 And," he proceeds, " it is the Spirit that beareth witness, 
 because the Spirit is Truth," or " The Truth :" that which 
 causes the reality and substance of the Sacraments, and 
 hinders them from being mere signs and shadows. This 
 conjectural interpretation is offered without any prejudice 
 to the part which holy Baptism may be reasonably sup- 
 posed to claim in the inspired allusion and argument, since 
 there also is a combination of the visible water and the 
 
 y 1 Cor. xii. 13. " i. e. We have arrived at the same mysterious privi- 
 lege, we partake of the same table. And why said he not, We are fed with 
 the same Body, and drink the same Blood ? Because, by the word Spirit he 
 indicated both both the Blood and the Flesh for by means of both we 
 are made to drink of one Spirit. But as I think, he is here speaking of 
 that visitation of the Spirit which takes place after Baptism and before the 
 holy Communion :" eKeivr^v rov I1NETMATO2 r-^jv tTTKpolTyffus, r^v cwrb TOV 
 PatrTiff/jiaTos Koi TTpb roov fj.vffT'npicav fyyii/o/Jifj/f]!/ rjfuv." See St. Chrys. in 
 loco. As much as to say, that the Spirit here spoken of is the Holy Ghost, 
 shewing Himself especially in the two Sacraments ; by His regenerating 
 grace ensuing upon the Sacrament of Baptism, and by His consecrating 
 grace preparing both the worshippers and the elements for the Sacrament 
 of the Eucharist. 
 
 z Ep. 63. p. 148, &c. Ed. Fell. 
 
366 Apostolical Succession : Analogy of the Course of Nature. 
 
 cleansing blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the agent, 
 and has the glory". 
 
 5. The Apostolical Succession is another subject sure 
 almost to attract to itself whatever particles of instinctive 
 rationalism may be lurking in the mind to which it is 
 presented. But surely in the outset it may claim to be 
 treated with seriousness, on the ground urged by Bishop 
 Butler against the despisers of religion in general; viz. 
 that the a priori objections which occur to ingenious men 
 concerning it, are such as may be urged against God's 
 natural government, which is plain undeniable matter of 
 fact, in spite of all such objections ; therefore the Aposto- 
 lical Succession may, as far as similar objections go, turn 
 out matter of fact also, and the light extemporal way in 
 which many reject it may have results similar to those, 
 which attend the like rejection of other mysteries, whether 
 of natural or of revealed religion. This consideration alone 
 ought to protect the doctrine against insinuations, whether 
 grave or sportive, that it is of course unworthy of God, 
 because it represents Him as making the spiritual welfare 
 of one man depend on the manner in which another executes 
 his trust. Whatever is said against that dispensation would 
 hold against what we daily see in the course of nature, as 
 we call it. The moral condition of children is influenced 
 by the conduct of their parents ; of subjects by that of 
 their rulers, and the like ; and why should it not be 
 
 a Another text, which is with great reason supposed to convey the same 
 allusion, is Eom. xv. 15. " The grace that is given me of God, that I should 
 be the Minister (\firovpybv) of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles, exercising the 
 priest's office (tepovpyowra) in respect of the Gospel of God : that the offering 
 up (irpoff<popk} of the Gentiles might be acceptable, BEING SANCTIFIED BY 
 THE HOLY GHOST: (j^yuur/ueVi) tv FINETMATI 'AFint.)" In which passage 
 aje four or five liturgical words. This remark is borrowed from the papers 
 of a deceased friend, which it is hoped will be given to the world before 
 long. He seems to have taken it from a passage in Bishop Hickes. 
 
The Succession not to be lightly set aside: 367 
 
 equally credible that even fallible and unworthy men may 
 be endued with real power to put their brethren out of 
 the Church, or admit them into it ; i. e. to change their 
 condition in such a manner as shall make the greatest 
 possible difference in respect of revealed and covenanted 
 privileges ? (It is not said, " immediately in respect of 
 final salvation") Now this defensive argument from ex- 
 perience is so obvious in this case, and lies so near the 
 root of all religion whatever, that it almost seems to be 
 irreligious thoughtlessness, when .men allow themselves to 
 deride the Succession, either before all enquiry, or because 
 on enquiry they find the evidence not so irresistible a* 
 they think it ought to be, or because the Succession itself 
 is represented as a mystery, and of course left, as all 
 mysteries are, in some respects dimly revealed f i. e. in the 
 world's language, " vague and indistinct." It cannot be 
 set aside by treating it as "a new discovery in Tradition," 
 a vague idea of certain individuals only, when all men 
 know that it is a received theological term, denoting a 
 doctrine clearly enough understood, and always main- 
 tained, whether truly or untruly, by more or fewer in this 
 Church of England (to say nothing now of other times and 
 Churches) ever since the following statement was put forth 
 by authority of Archbishop Cranmer : " Order is a gift of 
 grace or ministration in Christ's Church, given of God to 
 Christian men by the consecration and imposition of the 
 
 Bishop's hands upon them and as the Apostles 
 
 themselves, in the beginning of the Church, did Order 
 Priests and Bishops, so they appointed and willed the 
 other Bishops after them to do the like V 
 
 One would think the appearance, prima facie, of the 
 doctrine in the Church Prayer Book might save it at least 
 
 b Necessary Doctrine, &c. 1543. ap. Formularies of Faith temp. Hen. VIII, 
 Oxford, 1825, p. 277, 8. 
 
368 Implied in the Twenty -third Article. 
 
 from being treated with contumely. This is a matter on 
 which especial challenge has been made, and that challenge 
 is accepted most willingly. On comparing different ex- 
 pressions of censure, it should seem that the phrase most 
 objected to is " the grace of the Apostolical Succession." 
 Two points are implied in the phrase ; first, that the 
 sacerdotal office in the Christian Church is conveyed by 
 succession from the Apostles ; secondly, that a peculiar 
 grace or gift of the Holy Ghost accompanies the convey- 
 ance of that office. 
 
 As to the first ; if the Articles are to be taken in their 
 literal and grammatical sense, surely the 23d Article 
 affirms the principle of the Succession, however confidently 
 men quote it on the contrary side. The way to judge of 
 this is to see how it would work in practice ; for, as was 
 remarked above, the Articles are altogether of a practical 
 cast, adapted to the actual guidance of this Church and of 
 her Ministers under controversies and cases really existing. 
 Thus the Article in question supposes a person claiming 
 to be a Christian Minister, and supplies a simple test 
 whereby to determine whether such his claim be valid. 
 It directs that this question to be asked, " Who called you 
 to the office you assume ? Was it one who had public 
 authority given him to do so ?" Now apply this to the 
 first person professing to be ordained by Luther, or Calvin, 
 or Wesley. Would he not, if he spake truth, be obliged 
 to answer the second question in the negative ? Must we 
 not, by the letter of the Article, deny his commission ? 
 Suppose him nevertheless to go on, and pretend not only 
 to preach, baptize, and consecrate, but also to ordain 
 others, still pleading the same warrant, a commission to 
 do so from Luther, or Calvin, or Wesley. Would not the 
 same process have to be repeated, and with the same 
 result, in the case of each person claiming to be ordained 
 
Succession enforced by the English Church. 369 
 
 by him ? unless we will say, that though Luther or Calvin 
 could not himself lawfully ordain, he might empower 
 others to do so ; which no one probably would ever think 
 of maintaining. The Article therefore virtually enforces 
 Succession as the test of a lawful Ministry. Were it 
 strictly observed, no person, having only Lutheran, Cal- 
 vinist, or Wesleyan orders, could ever be allowed to 
 preach or minister the Sacraments in the congregation. 
 
 The title of Bishop indeed is not mentioned, and it may 
 be that it was avoided on purpose to make the exclusion 
 intended less invidious ; but what if it turn out, as some- 
 times in Acts of Parliament, that the description answer 
 the end of the enactment more effectually than the namfr 
 would have done ? Had it been simply said, " Those we 
 judge lawfully called, who have their calling and mission 
 from Bishops," there would have been perhaps room for 
 the Genevan allegation, that all Presbyters, being in fact 
 Bishops, received with their office the power of ordaining; 
 but now the Article precludes this, by reciting (so to call 
 it) the special clause in the Episcopal commission, on which 
 the whole matter turns ; as much as to say, " People may 
 call themselves Bishops; but if they cannot shew that they 
 have received this particular prerogative, we will not have 
 their ordinations accounted lawful ." This meets the case 
 of Danish ordinations at present ; their superintcndants 
 are called Bishops, but there has been a break in the 
 
 c It may be worth remarking here, that the Prayer Book of Elizabeth is 
 the first which inserts in the Consecration Service an express mention of 
 the power of Ordination as one of the especial prerogatives of Bishops, in 
 the question, namely, " Will you be faithful in ordaining, sending, and 
 laying hands on others ?" In all former ordinals, as Mr. Palmer shews, 
 that power was understood of course as part of the Episcopal office ; no 
 clause formally relating to it had been accounted necessary. The insertion 
 afterwards may be thought to indicate an anxiety to point out the necessity 
 of the test required in the Article. 
 
 Bb 
 
370 Practical drift of the Twenty -third Article. 
 
 chain, and their Ministers cannot make good the test 
 required in the Article : consequently they cannot, ac- 
 cording to our rule, be admitted to officiate in English 
 churches. This is mentioned to shew the practical 
 bearing of the Article. 
 
 Observe now what would follow from this, if we could 
 agree with those who consider the Articles as a Confession 
 of Faith, supposing the term Confession of Faith to be 
 taken in its usual and obvious meaning ; viz, for a Creed, 
 or enumeration of doctrinal fundamentals. Belief in the 
 exclusion of all but Episcopal orders, instead of being left 
 indifferent, will be absolutely made a condition of com- 
 munion ; the very error which is falsely charged on the 
 maintainers of Apostolical Succession ; who believe it to 
 be a divine and necessary ordinance, but are far from 
 wishing it to be put in the Creed, or from requiring the 
 express knowledge and profession of it as a term of 
 admission into the kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 But there is another place, where the English Church 
 defines who shall be taken for a lawful Minister, viz. the 
 Preface to the Ordination Service, and that in the following 
 words : " No man shall be accounted or taken to be a 
 lawful Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, in the United Church of 
 England and Ireland .... except he be called thereunto 
 according ,to the form hereafter following, or hath had 
 formerly EPISCOPAL consecration or ordination." Is it to 
 be supposed that the Church, in different parts of her 
 formularies, intended to give different accounts of the test 
 of a lawful Ministry? If not, then we have reason to 
 believe that the Bishops, and the Bishops only, were in 
 her mind, when she spoke in her twenty-third Article of 
 a lawful calling being that which proceeds from " men who 
 have public authority given unto them in the congregation, 
 to call and send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard." The 
 
The Succession: Preface to the Ordination Service. 371 
 
 rather, as the thirty-sixth Article expressly adopts and 
 approves the Ordination Services, affirming, on the one 
 hand, against the Papists, that they " contain all things 
 necessary to consecration and ordering ;" on the other hand, 
 against the Puritans, that " neither have they any thing 
 that of itself is superstitious and ungodly." In which 
 latter clause is implied an adoption of the other doctrine 
 now excepted against the doctrine of ministerial grace 
 derived by succession from the Apostles ; which doctrine, 
 as will presently appear, runs through the Ordination 
 Services. 
 
 But before proceeding to that head, let the reason be 
 noticed which the English Church herself assigns, for 
 limiting her acknowledgment of a lawful call to those who 
 have had episcopal consecration or ordination. It is " to 
 the intent that these orders may be CONTINUED, and 
 reverently used and esteemed in the Church of England." 
 Without such limitation, it would seem, the Church judges 
 that the orders would not be " continued." This sounds 
 a good deal like succession by Episcopal ordination ; and 
 the following words of the same preface carry back the 
 succession to the Apostles : " It is evident to all men 
 diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient authors, 
 that /row the Apostles'' time there have been these orders 
 of ministers in Christ's Church; Bishops, Priests, and 
 Deacons." 
 
 We learn from this preface what to think of the occa- 
 sional allowance of Presbyterian orders, which seems to 
 have taken place during the first years of the Reformation, 
 and which is supposed by some to receive sanction from a 
 certain Act of the 13th of Elizabeth. It was neither more 
 nor less than an illegal irregular proceeding, connived at 
 sometimes for supposed edification's sake, sometimes for 
 political reasons ; but from time to time excepted against, 
 
372 Meaning and Validity of 13 Eliz. c. 12. 
 
 as in the case of Whittingham, by Archbishop Sandys ; in 
 that of Travers, by Archbishop Whitgift ; and never, as it 
 may seem, effectually vindicated. And as both the above- 
 mentioned cases occurred after the Act of the 13th of 
 Elizabeth, one might with some likelihood infer, that it 
 was the intention of that Act to take away doubt touching 
 the admissibility of Romish rather than of Genevan letters 
 of orders. Clearly it was so understood and acted on ; as 
 is shewn by the complaints of Travers in his own behalf, 
 and of Lord Huntingdon in behalf of Whittingham d . 
 Any how, the Act, resting only on secular authority, cannot 
 have done away with the Ordination Service, which is still 
 received by solemn subscription of the whole Clergy of 
 .England. And if the meaning of it was such as is pre- 
 tended, it is but one more instance of the danger of allow- 
 ing mere statesmen to legislate for the Church. In the 
 mean time, nothing which then took place can in any way 
 affect our present succession ; it not being averred by any 
 one that ever the office of Bishop was allowed to be exer- 
 cised on such ordination. Nor, as long as the Ordination 
 Services, with their preface, shall remain as they are, can 
 the Church of England be fairly made responsible for any 
 irregularity of the kind, any more than for the late 
 suppression of Bishoprics, by a Parliament in which 
 Dissenters held sway. She may suffer intrusion, but her 
 witness to the truth remains. 
 
 We have next to examine, whether the Church formu- 
 laries seem to encourage the idea, that the Episcopal suc- 
 cession is a channel of any special grace. We need not 
 be long to seek : the cavils of the Church's enemies will 
 presently direct us to the right point. " The Holy 
 Ghost," said Cartwright and Travers, " you cannot give, 
 
 d Travers ap. Hooker, iii. 690 ; Strype, Ann. II. 2. p. 168, 620. 
 
Hooker's Construction of the Words of Ordination. 373 
 
 and therefore you foolishly bid men receive it e ." What 
 was the reply of the Church's defender ? Did he disavow 
 all mystical import in the sacred words, " Receive the Holy 
 Ghost," as employed in the Ordination Services ? Did he 
 explain them away, as carrying with them no more than 
 the virtue of a prayer, on behalf of the newly-ordained, 
 that they might be faithful, and their ministry blessed f ? 
 Nay, the language, of which he was so unrivalled a master, 
 fails him, as it were, in his endeavour to find words to 
 express the greatness of the gift which he there appre- 
 hended. " The Holy Ghost," says he g , " which our Lord 
 then gave," (when He spake the words to His Apostles,) 
 " was a holy and a ghostly authority, authority over the 
 souls of men, authority, a part whereof consisteth in power 
 to remit and retain sins: * Receive the Holy Ghost; whose 
 sins soever ye remit, they are remitted; whose sins ye 
 retain, they are retained.' . . . Seeing therefore that the 
 same power is now given^ why should the same form of 
 words expressing it be thought foolish ? . . . . The power 
 and authority delivered with those words is itself p^a^o-jxa, 
 a gracious donation which the Spirit of God doth bestow." 
 And besides, " we may most assuredly persuade ourselves 
 that the hand which imposeth upon us the function of our 
 ministry, doth, under the same form of words, so tie itself 
 thereunto, that he which receiveth the burthen is thereby 
 for ever . warranted to have the Spirit with him and in 
 him for his assistance, countenance, and support, in what- 
 soever he faithfully doth to discharge duty. . . . When we 
 take ordination, we also receive the presence of the Holy 
 Ghost, partly to guide, direct, and strengthen us in all 
 our ways, and partly to assume unto itself, for the more 
 authority, those actions that appertain to our place and 
 
 * Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 5. f Sec Burnet on Art. xxxvi. 
 
 s Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 7, 8, 
 
374 Hooker on the Principle of the Succession : 
 
 calling. . . . We have for the least and lowest duties 
 performed by virtue of ministerial power, that to dignify, 
 grace, and authorize them, which no other offices on 
 earth can challenge. Whether we preach, pray, baptize, 
 communicate, condemn, give absolution, or whatever, as 
 disposers of God's mysteries ; our words, judgments, acts, 
 and deeds, are not ours, but the Holy Ghost's." Before, 
 in a still more striking passage h , he had borne testimony 
 not only to the reality of the grace then and there given, 
 but also to the ordinary necessity of being able to shew 
 our Lord's warrant for conferring it ; i. e. in other words, 
 to the Apostolical Succession. " The power of the ministry 
 of God translateth out of darkness into glory ; it raiseth 
 men from the earth, and bringeth God Himself down 
 from heaven ; by blessing visible elements, it maketh them 
 invisible grace ; it giveth daily the Holy Ghost ; it hath 
 to dispose of that Flesh which was given for the life of 
 the world, and that Blood which was poured out to redeem 
 souls ; when it poureth maledictions upon the heads of the 
 wicked, they perish ; when it revoketh the same, they 
 revive. O wretched blindness, if we admire not so great 
 power, more wretched if we consider it aright, and not- 
 withstanding imagine that any but God can bestow it!" 
 
 Hooker then made no question as to the mystical import 
 and virtue of the form, wherewith the Church of England 
 ordains and consecrates. And his construction seems to 
 be greatly confirmed by the choice of Lessons which she 
 has made for those occasions, by the scriptural allusions 
 of which the Offices are full, and by the use of the solemn 
 prayer, Veni Creator, immediately before the laying on of 
 hands. 
 
 In these short and occasional remarks, it was not possible 
 to do justice to so high an argument : but the Author 
 h V. Ixxvii. 1. 
 
it is far from implying Infallibility. 375 
 
 hopes that enough has been said, to shew that there are 
 appearances of both the Succession and the grace con- 
 veyed by it being recognised, as well in the Articles as in 
 the Ordination Service. There is so much in favour of 
 them, as ought to protect the whole subject from scornful 
 indiiference and dismissal without examination. 
 
 Nor let any person shrink from this view, under the 
 notion that it invests the Ministry with any thing like 
 infallible authority. We may not be able to conceive 
 how, yet undoubtedly so it is, that a man may receive 
 the grace of God in vain ; he may defile the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost ; he may have supernatural grace dwelling 
 in him, to guide him into all goodness, and yet may be 
 " almost in all evil :" why then should it be incredible 
 that a minister of God, as such, may have the same Spirit 
 especially abiding in him, as for all other parts of his office, 
 so for the custody of the good deposit, the fundamentals 
 of doctrine and practice, and yet be liable to error, and 
 heresy, and apostasy? That grace implies infallibility, 
 is an error of the same school, which supposes that faith 
 cannot be required except on overpowering, demonstrative 
 evidence; which is impatient of obscurity and indistinct- 
 ness, and longs after present visible effect; which fancies, 
 in the pregnant words of a great writer 1 , " that it 
 cannot be thought God would have bestowed any favour 
 at all upon us, unless in the degree which we think He 
 might;" and where there is instruction, and spiritual aid, 
 and a chance of salvation, concludes that there must of 
 necessity be also comfort, and assurance, and satisfaction 
 of mind. 
 
 6. Once more. There appears to be danger of irre- 
 verence danger of a very subtle and insidious kind in 
 declining religiously to accept universal tradition (con- 
 * Bp. Butler, Anal. p. II. c, vi. near the beginning. 
 
376 Private Selection of Fundamentals irreverent: 
 
 firmed as it is by Scripture) as our guide in the selection 
 of fundamentals ; if at least it be irreverence, rather to 
 choose for ourselves among Scripture truths, which we 
 will regard as fundamental, and which secondary, than to 
 acquiesce in the choice made for us with such evidence 
 of providential guidance, as reasonable persons would 
 consider sufficient in all other practical matters. 
 
 The word Irreverence, let it be observed, is used here to 
 denote the tendency of the principle, not the actual feeling 
 of any particular person. No doubt, among those who 
 have been trained in the notion here combated, are many 
 of most reverential hearts and lives ; and one sign of their 
 being so is, that they do almost always, more or less 
 unconsciously perhaps, yet really, use the Creed of their 
 Baptism, the baptismal Creed of the holy Church Universal, 
 to help them in making their selection, and to test it when 
 made. 
 
 But the farther we are from questioning any individual's 
 devotion and reverence, the more necessary does it seem 
 to be on our guard against the principle, if erroneous : 
 since its acceptance by such persons is an alarming 
 symptom of its very general influence. The principle 
 meant is that which would make it necessary for each 
 person to select for himself a certain number of divine 
 truths out of the great body of the Scriptures, on 
 which he may lay his finger and say ; This, and this 
 alone, is the Gospel : it hangs together as one perfect 
 whole. Surely this is a startling kind of proposition, 
 to be enunciated by any individual as the result of his 
 own enquiries. Surely it is not a prerogative to be 
 lightly assumed, that of sitting in judgment on Scripture 
 truths, and determining which are essential as formal 
 objects of belief, and which not. Surely it involves a 
 responsibility far more perilous, and a labour far more 
 
erroneous Objections to the sufficiency of the Creed. 377 
 
 overwhelming, than the method which the Sermon recom- 
 mends ; accepting, namely, as the Gospel, the substance of 
 the baptismal Creed ; testing it by Scripture ; and, when 
 it has been scrip turally verified, acquiescing in the judg- 
 ment of the Church the Primitive Universal Church 
 concerning its sufficiency. 
 
 Observe, what is insisted on is the substance, not the 
 identical expressions of the Creed : according to the 
 general if not universal difference between the traditional 
 and written relics of the Apostles ; that in the former, the 
 things only, in the latter, the very words also, are holy. 
 This may suffice to answer historical objections, drawn 
 from the variation in terms between reports made of the 
 baptismal Creed by Tertullian, Cyprian, Irenaeus, and 
 others ; to which, if one added the partial enumeration 
 by St. Paul in the beginning of 1 Cor. xv., a good deal 
 might be said for the probability of such a conjecture. 
 
 But are there not other objections felt, besides historical 
 ones, to the paramount authority of the Creed ? Such 
 expressions as, " It hangs together as one perfect whole," 
 would seem to imply a disposition to require, as essential 
 to any 'statement of fundamentals, that its parts should be 
 connected with one another in a manner intelligible to us ; 
 whereas the propositions of the Creed are isolated in form, 
 and do not at all impress the mind with any necessity of 
 apprehending them as portions of an entire system. For 
 any thing that appears on the face of the document, it 
 may be sufficient heartily to receive, and practically to 
 acknowledge, each truth as it there stands, whether we 
 discern much or little of their relation to each other. 
 Here then is a remarkable difference between the tradi- 
 tional statement of fundamentals, and those which devout 
 and ingenious men are in the habit of selecting and 
 arranging for themselves. System, method, connection, 
 
^1 ^Systematic Understanding wrongly required inFundamentals: 
 
 mutual illustration, is a sine qua non in the one ; not so in 
 the other. What authority have we for so insisting on it ? 
 Scripture says, such and such things are necessary : does 
 it any where say, we must be able to shew why they are 
 necessary? Is not the rule applicable in respect of our 
 faith towards God, which holds in all other parts of our 
 moral conduct ? The fact is the main point or principle ; 
 and, if in such matters that be made sufficiently evident, 
 there will be no need to give the reason besides V We 
 have here, then, a second instance of unconscious irre- 
 verence, into which those who refuse Primitive Tradition 
 as their guide to the selection of fundamentals are almost 
 inevitably betrayed. Professing and intending to confine 
 themselves to the written Word of God, they do in effect 
 bring in a mere human unauthorized Tradition ; viz. that 
 in order to a right faith in the Gospel, the connection of 
 its parts as a system must be discerned 1 . 
 
 From which immediately follows a third great evil : that 
 when, after our best efforts, we are not able to make out 
 
 k 'Apxh T^ #TI* Kal et cv robrois tyaivono apKovvrws, ou8ei/irp0o-8e^<ret TOV 5i6ri. 
 
 1 It seems to have been a fallacy of this kind which led to the censure 
 uttered in the course of this controversy, (Mr. Kussell's Remarks, p. 21, 37, 
 &c.) on the assertion that the Atonement was not a manifestation of God's 
 justice : by which is probably meant, that we have no sufficient data to prove 
 it exactly just, according to our notice of justice. No one denies that it is 
 an awful signification of God's justice, so far as it is fitted and intended to 
 impress our minds with a deep sense of His real hatred of sin. Of course, 
 if faith implies a full and systematic understanding, to say that you cannot 
 explain our Lord's satisfaction is equivalent to saying you do not believe it. 
 Not so, on any other supposition. But " the deductions of supernatural 
 truth are not within the sphere of the human intellect. They are not to be 
 inferred as discoverable conclusions from one primary principle. A 
 Redeemer being foretold, His divine nature, His incarnation, the vicarious 
 nature of His suffering, His death, and the atoning efficacy of it; all 
 these, though real connections of truth, comprehended, with the original 
 promise, in the scheme of the Divine economy, come down to man like 
 new streams of light by their separate channels ; and when they are com- 
 municated in their proper form, then we know them, not before," Davison 
 on Primitive Sacrifice, p. 152. 
 
Consequent Peril of false Doctrine. 379 
 
 the place of any particular doctrine in the system, we are 
 tempted to leave it out of our Creed, as unessential, at 
 any rate to us. The common pervading attractive force, 
 by the supposed laws of which it has become usual in our 
 days to adjust the relation of the parts of Christianity with 
 each other, is their tendency to act on the soul of man, 
 and produce in him such and such heavenly dispositions. 
 Those doctrines, in which it is less easy to discern any 
 such practical tendency, are of course comparatively dis- 
 regarded. 
 
 Can this be justified by reason or Scripture ? Is it not 
 a mere human tradition, contrary to the analogy of God's 
 natural and moral government, and traceable to a known 
 infirmity of fallen mankind ? 
 
 But to proceed : the secret but sure tendency of mea- 
 suring the vitality of any truth, by the clearness with 
 which we discern its connection with " the Gospel, con- 
 sidered as a transaction between God and the soul of 
 man," is to withdraw attention, and finally faith, from 
 the unseen truths themselves, towards the process in our 
 own minds, which is matter of feeling and experience : 
 e. g. from the Catholic verities concerning the most holy 
 Trinity, to our own contemplation of God simply as our 
 Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. It is enough just to 
 mention this topic, which has received of late both full 
 discussion in the writings of the defenders of Primitive 
 Tradition, and melancholy illustration in the conduct of 
 some of its most strenuous opponents. 
 
 It may be well to notice one more symptom of the 
 unconscious rationalism, in which men are involved by 
 mistrust of Primitive Tradition. They dwell on single 
 texts or propositions, enouncing some one great Gospel 
 truth, (e. g. the resurrection of our Lord,) as if acknow- 
 ledging them were equivalent to an acknowledgment of 
 
380 Danger of dwelling on Single Texts or Propositions. 
 
 the whole Gospel. And so, virtually and in reason, it 
 is, but not practically, not in the faith of men's minds. 
 All geometrical truths may be involved in the original 
 axioms and definitions, but we do not therefore consider 
 a person who has learned the two or three first pages of 
 Euclid as actually assenting to all that is important in 
 geometry. Now we see what fatal use will be made of 
 this particular method of simplifying beyond what the 
 Church has sanctioned, by the history of the school of 
 Episcopius, Locke, and Hoadley; they set out with this 
 aphorism, " that the one point of faith necessary to sal- 
 vation was simply to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the 
 true Messias." What was the result? The first discarded 
 the divinity of our Lord from his list of fundamental 
 truths ; the second, apparently, was at least an Arian m ; 
 the third denied the grace of the Sacraments. True there- 
 fore as it may be in a certain sense to say, that any one 
 book or any one text of Scripture contains in itself, after 
 a sort, all things necessary to eternal salvation, it is not a 
 truth which in any way dispenses with the use of Creeds 
 and Confessions of faith ; or of Tradition, if any can be 
 produced capable of guaranteeing such documents. It is 
 not a truth which can help us to discern fundamentals. 
 For the question will still remain, " which among the 
 many things implied in this comprehensive saying are 
 needful to be really thought of and professed by all ?" and 
 the deeper and more comprehensive the proposition may 
 be, the more is this difficulty enhanced. The appropriate 
 use of such texts lies, not in the selection of fundamentals, 
 but in their demonstration. " Tradition," in this respect, 
 " teaches ; Scripture proves." And we ought to be very 
 thankful to the Almighty for leaving us a tradition so 
 
 m See his Reasonableness of Christianity, Works, vii. 171. ed. 1801 ; 
 Commentary on the Epistles, viii. 122, 338. 
 
Tendency to Irreverence in arguing on Scripture. 381 
 
 complete as the Creed is, not only for our comfort, but 
 because we are thereby spared a great and otherwise 
 inevitable temptation to a kind of irreverence, which, as it 
 is, proves but too inviting to many of us : the irreverence 
 of dealing rudely with the words of the Most High, while 
 we are handling them as the materials of a system which 
 we are to plan out for ourselves, instead of marking them 
 with silent reverence, as the foundations of a vast Temple, 
 the outline whereof, so far as we can trace it, has been 
 previously delivered into our hands by an unerring 
 Architect. 
 
 The reader has now before him a specimen, both of the 
 kind of protest which seemed desirable, on behalf of the 
 great Church principles, against the misrepresentations 
 which commonly beset them ; and also of the cautions 
 most required in the examination of those principles. 
 And if, under the latter head, for clearness' sake, and also 
 for the sake of incidentally justifying what he had before 
 stated, the author has illustrated his argument from the 
 pages of those writers to whom he is unfortunately opposed 
 m this discussion, it has not been, if he at all knows himself, 
 from any unkind or invidious feeling, but simply because 
 he knew no better way of pointing out the tendency of 
 their line of argument, towards a rationalism not the less 
 perilous to others, because they themselves are utterly 
 unconscious of it. He charges no man with disloyalty to 
 the Church of England, and hopes in his turn not to be 
 so charged ; convinced as he is, that the view which he 
 humbly advocates is not only permitted, but warranted 
 and taught, by her formularies. And, in the substantial 
 truth of that view, for which, every day of his life, he 
 seems to perceive accumulating evidence, from Scripture, 
 from Reason, and from Church History, he finds a sure 
 ground of hope, that the earnest and (he trusts) not un- 
 
382 Canon of Scripture, how far known to Timothy. 
 
 charitable inculcation of it will not be hurtful to the 
 Church of God. 
 
 Although in general the Author has declined noticing, 
 in this Postscript, objections of detail, criticisms on par- 
 ticular expressions, or fallacies apprehended in particular 
 arguments ; as feeling that if any persons could be once 
 set in the right way with regard to the great principles, 
 such things might well be passed over, affecting, at most, 
 what is of small consequence in comparison, his own credit 
 for skill in reasoning, history, or languages ; yet there are 
 two points, on which it may be well to make an exception 
 to that rule, by reason of their aptness to illustrate the 
 whole subject. 
 
 One of these topics is, the state of the Canon of the 
 New Testament implied in St. Paul's Epistles, particularly 
 those to Timothy. The Sermon had said, " The truths 
 and rules, committed by St. Paul to Timothy's charge, were 
 wholly or for the most part unwritten/' The expression 
 was so far, perhaps, verbally incorrect, as it took no notice 
 of the Old Testament, which undoubtedly formed part of the 
 Church's Depositum, quite down from the day of Pentecost. 
 But it is objected to on a different ground : viz. that at the 
 time when these Epistles were indited, a very large pro- 
 portion of the books of the New Testament was already in 
 existence. The objection overlooks the fact, that the time 
 spoken of was not the time when St. Paul was writing, but 
 when Timothy received his charge, that is, when he was 
 first admitted to a portion in the Christian Ministry. And 
 that was, before St. Paul wrote the first Epistle to the Thes- 
 salonians ; as is probable, by the opening of that Epistle, 
 where Timothy joins with St. Paul and Silas in a solemn 
 benediction to the Church ; and evident, from the follow- 
 
No Christian Scriptures known to the Thessalonians, 383 
 
 ing passage : " We sent Timotheus, our brother, and a 
 minister of God, and a fellow-worker with us in the Gospel 
 of Christ"." Now the date of that Epistle lies between 
 A.D. 51 and A.D. 53. And Mr. Greswell, with great 
 probability, assigns to the year 52, or thereabouts, the first 
 appearance both of St. Mark's Gospel, and of the Greek 
 of that of St. Matthew. In short, with the exception of 
 the Hebrew original of St. Matthew, the first Epistle to 
 the Thessalonians seems to be generally considered by 
 learned men as the earliest portion of the whole Christian 
 Scriptures. That the Thessalonians, at least, had no 
 other part of the New Testament as yet in their hands, 
 may not improbably be argued, perhaps, from a verse in 
 the second Epistle, " Stand fast, and hold the traditions 
 which ye have received, whether by word or our Epistle." 
 This does not seem a natural way of writing, if they 
 possessed any Gospel or Epistle besides, of equal au- 
 thority with the letter which St. Paul had sent. Yet 
 if St. Paul or Timothy knew of any such, we should 
 naturally expect them to have communicated it to the 
 Thessalonians ; who seem to have been as worthy of such 
 a boon as any converts could be, by their simple and 
 affectionate faith ; and whose condition as new converts, 
 early bereft of their spiritual fathers, and exposed to 
 much persecution and insult, called for all the comfort and 
 aid which such memorials were apt to afford. Again, if 
 St. Paul knew not as yet either St. Matthew's Gospel, or 
 St, Mark's, (for to them the question is nearly confined,) 
 it is hardly conceivable that either could have been made 
 public over any considerable part of the existing Church. 
 For to whom could such a document have been known 
 sooner than to the learned and vigilant Apostle of the 
 Gentiles? It follows that both the charge delivered to 
 
 n i Thess. iii. 2. 
 
384 when St. Paul wrote : Inference from this. 
 
 Timothy, and the faith in which the Thessalonians were 
 instructed, were " almost or wholly unwritten," excepting 
 always so much as was contained in the books of the Old 
 Testament. Those books, indeed, Timothy had known 
 " from a child," and they were " able to make him wise 
 unto salvation :" but then it was " through faith that was 
 in Christ Jesus :" that is, by the help of that key to their 
 true meaning, which the history and doctrine of Christ, 
 written or unwritten, afforded to considerate believers. 
 
 The argument therefore is in a great measure inde- 
 pendent of the exact number of books supposed to be 
 written before such and such an Epistle. It is sufficient 
 on the question of date that the Gospel of St. John, 
 allowed to be doctrinally one of the most important por- 
 tions of the Bible, was later than all St. Paul's writings ; 
 and that St. Paul, in writings of several dates, speaks of 
 the Tragaxara^joj, or depositum, as of a standard or measure 
 complete in itself, and completely within reach of those 
 whom he was addressing. The gradual accumulation of 
 the treasures of the New Testament was going on all the 
 while, but, as a standard of doctrine, was rather a provision 
 for future ages, than a necessary supply of any want then 
 existing. The case has been compared, not unaptly, to 
 that ingenious contrivance of modern machinery, by which 
 two metals, expanding under opposite temperatures, are 
 arranged so as that the shrinking of the one shall be 
 compensated by the dilating of the other, whereby on the 
 whole the same effect is produced. Thus when exact 
 tradition, of all at least but fundamental doctrine , would 
 have become gradually more uncertain, its place was pro- 
 videntially supplied by the Canon of Scripture becoming 
 fixed, and thoroughly known all over the Christian world. 
 
 Fundamentals were secured, perhaps, by the Creed : i. e. in substance, 
 though not in evidence. 
 
How Scripture came gradually in Aid of Tradition. 385 
 
 An effect mainly perhaps attributable (among second 
 causes) to the operation of the great Church principle, 
 that necessary doctrines must all be proveable from Scrip- 
 ture. Bishop Taylor gives a remarkable instance of the 
 process here alluded to. His words are quoted here, not 
 as altogether accurate, but as throwing light both on the 
 general argument, and on that great writer's opinion. 
 " Because the books of Scripture were not all written at 
 once, nor at once communicated, nor at once received ; 
 therefore the Churches of God at first were forced to trust 
 their memories, and to try the doctrines by appealing to 
 the memories of others ; that is> to the consenting report, 
 and faith delivered and preached to other Churches, 
 especially the chiefest, where the memory of the Apostles 
 was recent and permanent. The mysteriousness of Christ's 
 priesthood, the perfection of His sacrifice, and the unity 
 of it, Christ's advocation and intercession for us in heaven, 
 might very well be accounted traditions, before St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Hebrews was admitted for canonical ; but 
 now they are written truths, and if they had not been 
 written, it is likely we should have lost them. But this 
 way could not long be necessary, and could not long be 
 safe"." 
 
 Nay, and we have higher testimony yet to appeal to, 
 St. Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus expressly for 
 this end, that it might be a " document of proof;" not to 
 supersede the catechetical instructions (that is, in other 
 words, the traditions) of the Church, but to make us all 
 (Iffiyvwvai) know more firmly than ever, rr t v &<r$otteiotv, the 
 absolute certainty of those elementary truths, wherein we, 
 in common with Theophilus, have been instructed, and 
 which we, by the Gospel history, may clearly discern to 
 have come down from heaven. In all this there is nothing 
 
 1 Works, vol. T. p. 423. 
 
 c c 
 
386 Argument from the Preface to St. Luke's Gospel. 
 
 to contradict, but much surely to favour, the notion that 
 Christians never were designed to be left to collect each 
 his own Gospel out of the Scriptures by the unbiassed 
 exercise of private judgment 1 ". And so far as it can be 
 shewn by any thing like decisive evidence, that we have 
 in our Creeds substantially the same catechetical truths 
 which Theophilus had been taught, so far we are the very 
 persons for whose immediate use St. Luke wrote, and 
 must of course come to the reading of his Gospel with a 
 great advantage over those who consider themselves bound 
 not only to confirm, but to discover. 
 
 But here comes in the second question of detail, on 
 which it seemed desirable to touch ; the question, in 
 what sense, and in what measure, the Nicene Creed was 
 traditional rather than scriptural. 
 
 Now the method of proceeding at Nicaea appears to 
 have been nearly as follows : Each Bishop was required 
 to rehearse the faith which he and his Church professed, 
 and into which they were baptized. In those statements 
 when nothing appeared of the peculiar views of Arius, but 
 all, on the contrary, with seventeen or eighteen exceptions, 
 agreed substantially in the orthodox interpretation, and 
 shrank, with religious horror, from the first sound of the 
 new doctrine ; the burthen of proof was of course thrown 
 on the heresiarch, and he was required to make good his 
 theory by allegations from Scripture ; which he endeavoured 
 to do, availing himself also to the utmost of his own skill 
 in philosophy and dialectics. But his allegations being 
 overthrown by large arguments from Scripture itself, the 
 orthodox Creed was considered as sufficiently established. 
 However, to seal the doctrine for ever against the like or 
 more plausible misconstruction, the orthodox traditional 
 
 r Compare on St. Luke's Preface, Dr. Hawkins on Unauthoritative 
 Trftditinn, p. 35, 3d. 
 
How far the Nicene Creed was Traditional. 387 
 
 interpretation was incorporated into a written Creed: 
 being first thoroughly vindicated, both in the substance 
 and wording of it, and also in the annexed anathema*, by 
 reasoning out of Holy Writ. The result was, the Nicene 
 Creed with its anathema. In that document, therefore, we 
 have two points clearly made out ; first, the substance of 
 the baptismal Creed of those times ; and secondly, the 
 Tradition then received on the sense and importance of 
 the disputed article. These two complete the Creed as a 
 formula ; and therefore, as a formula, it may be truly said 
 to have its origin, not from Scripture but from Tradition : 
 and yet it is quite necessary that every word of it should 
 be proveable from Holy Scripture, and quite certain that 
 all was so proved, with most religious care, in the first 
 instance. 
 
 As to the fact, that such were the proceedings of the 
 Council, it may not, perhaps, be set down in so many words 
 by any historian ; but it is capable of being established by 
 circumstantial evidence of the strongest kind. First, there 
 is the general presumption in favour of it. What would 
 all men what should we ourselves do under the like 
 circumstances ? Would it be natural to discard all reference 
 to Creeds, and Catechisms, and Articles, and Liturgies, out 
 of " an earnest desire to draw all things unto the deter- 
 mination of bare and naked Scripture * ?" To come with 
 minds altogether blank to the study of the Bible, as to the 
 
 8 The anathema originally annexed to the Nicene Creed, and answering 
 in its ecclesiastical use to the severe monitory clauses of the Athanasian 
 Creed in the Church of England, is as follows : " Those who say, ' There 
 was a time when He was not,' and, ' Before He was hegotten He was not,' 
 and, ' He came into heing from among things non-existent, or of some other 
 substance or being,' those who affirm that the Son of God is ' created,' or 
 ' mutable,' or alterable,' are hereby anathematized by the Holy Catholic 
 and Apostolical Church." See Theodoret, E. H. i. 12 ; St. Athanas. ad 
 Jovian, t. i. 781 ; Concil. Harduin. i. 444 ; Socr. i. 8. p. 23. 
 
 ' Hooker, E. P. ii 7. 1. 
 
 C C 2 
 
388 Views of the Managers at Nic&a: of Alexander: 
 
 cultivation of a field which no one had ever yet laboured 
 in ? For example, suppose a Convocation now called to 
 settle this very point, what degree of deference is due to 
 primitive Tradition ; would the received formularies of the 
 Church of England be left entirely out of the question ? 
 Nay, already, in the present controversy, a certain tradi- 
 tion that is, the Thirty-nine Articles has been alleged 
 as a decisive touchstone of the truth as well as importance 
 of whatever may be taught by a member of the English 
 Church. Whether the allegation in the particular instance 
 were altogether just and adequate, or no, still it seems 
 to indicate, that even the opponents of Tradition, had they 
 been present at Niceea, might have been led to make con- 
 siderable use of it. 
 
 But let us see what the history of the Council contains, 
 to confirm or disappoint this our natural expectation. Is 
 there any thing in the line taken by those most influential 
 in the Council, before the proceedings commenced, which 
 may help us in judging of the course they would be most 
 likely to pursue afterwards ? The public document, by 
 which the peril arising from Arianism was first made 
 known to the Church generally, was the circular letter of 
 Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, signed also by his 
 Clergy, to the Bishops of every diocese u . Now in that 
 letter the line taken is analogous to what is here supposed. 
 First he states against Arius, according to Tertullian's rule 
 in such cases, the prtescriptio, or preliminary exception, 
 arising from the novelty of his doctrines. " Who," says 
 he, " ever heard such things * ? or who now hearing them 
 is not astonished, and stoppeth his ears, that the con- 
 tamination of these words may not touch his hearing ?" 
 These are not mere rhetorical exclamations ; as is proved 
 by a comparison with a passage of Athanasius, which begins 
 
 11 St. Athanas. i. 397. x ris yap tfKOvffe Trcoirore roiavra', 
 
and more especially of St. Aihanasius. 389 
 
 with the same saying : a saying which indeed appears to 
 have grown into a watchword among the Catholics, " Who 
 ever heard of such things?? Whence or from whom did 
 the parasites or bribed partisans of the heresy hear such 
 things ? Who, when they were catechumens, spake such 
 things to them ? Who told them, ' Leave your worship of 
 the creature, and draw near again to worship a being created 
 and made ?' Now if they themselves confess that they 
 have now for the first time heard such things, let them not 
 deny that this heresy is a stranger, and not of the Fathers. 
 But that which is not of the Fathers, but just now invented, 
 what other character can it have than such as St. Paul 
 foretold : ' In the latter times some shall depart from the 
 sound faith ?' " Alexander's view may be further under- 
 stood by his letter to the Patriarch of Constantinople, of 
 the same name, in which the order of the topics is indeed 
 inverted, but the substance of the reasoning is exactly the 
 same z . The occasion of the letter being to announce the 
 excommunication of Arius, he was led first to give some 
 account of the Arian errors, on which naturally followed a 
 refutation of them out of Scripture : but that being ended, 
 the holy Bishop was not willing to conclude without a 
 distinct enunciation of his own and his Church's faith, 
 conceived in such terms, and with such arrangement, as 
 evidently shew it to be a paraphrase on the baptismal or 
 apostolical Creed then in use at Alexandria. "Concerning 
 which things we so believe, as seemeth meet to the Aposto- 
 lical Church : In one unbegotten Father .... and in one 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God .... and 
 besides this religious opinion concerning the Father and 
 Son, as the sacred Scriptures teach, we confess one Holy 
 Ghost .... one only Catholic Church, the Apostolical one, 
 .... and after this we acknowledge the resurrection from 
 y St. Athanas. i. 412. C ; cf. 902. B. z Ap. Theodoret, E. H. i. .'). 
 
390 St. Athanasius Account of the Form of the Faith : 
 
 the dead, the first-fruits whereof was our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, Who assumed the body really, and not in appear- 
 ance only, of Mary the mother of God : Who, in the end 
 of the world, to put away sin, sojourned among the race of 
 mankind ; Who was crucified and died, and rose again from 
 the dead, and was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the 
 right hand of Majesty .... These things we teach, these 
 we preach, these are the Apostolical doctrines of the Church, 
 for the sake of which also we die, not regarding those who 
 would force us to disavow them, even though they compel 
 us by torments ; not drawing back from the hope which is 
 in them." 
 
 Thus much may suffice to shew the opinion of the 
 venerable Alexander, concerning the best way of dealing 
 with the controversy which led to the Nicene Council. 
 But there is another person, St. Athanasius, whose judg- 
 ment on the same point would go near to determine the 
 question : it being well known that for all the inferiority 
 of his rank, (for he was then only a deacon in the Alexan- 
 drian Church,) he exercised a principal influence on the 
 tone and course of the deliberations at Nicsea. Now 
 St. Athanasius more than once mentions a certain "form 
 or stamp a of the faith of a Christian," ^agax-rijga TOO Xgurn- 
 avi0-ju,ou, by recurrence to which doctrines may be best 
 tried, and heresy repressed ; and this form or stamp, he 
 says, we receive by Tradition, but are able to demonstrate 
 it by the Scriptures b . Thus, speaking of the Arian mis- 
 interpretation of the text in Proverbs, rendered by the 
 LXX, "the Lord created Me to be the chief of His 
 ways," he remarks as follows : " The heretic will say, Is 
 
 a Xopo/crV properly means the image impressed by a seal ; and is trans- 
 ferred to any thing which is originated by and accurately represents another 
 thing. Cf. Heb. i. 3. 
 
 b Ep. aft Adelph. t. i, 914. E. 
 
 i. 688. B. 
 
received by Tradition, to be proved by Scripture. 391 
 
 it not so written ? It is so written, and so expressed with 
 the highest reason ; but that which is well said, the heretics 
 understand ill. For if they had perceived and known the 
 very Form (p^apaxryj^a) of Christianity, they would not 
 have said that the Lord of glory is a creature, nor have 
 stumbled at the good words of Scripture. But they do 
 not know, nor understand ; therefore, as it is written, they 
 walk in darkness. Nevertheless, it is right for us to ex- 
 plain this point, that their folly may be madje manifest in 
 this respect also, and that we may not leave out that which 
 is the proper test to be employed against their impiety; 
 perhaps too that themselves may come to a better mind. 
 The very form then of the faith in Christ is this d : That 
 the Son, the Word of God, being God, (for ' in the begin- 
 ning was the Word, and the Word was God,') being the 
 Wisdom and Power of the Father, (for ( Christ is the 
 Power of God and the Wisdom of God,') that He, I say, 
 in the end of the world, was made Man for our salvation ; 
 (for John himself having said, ' In the beginning was the 
 Word,' a little below said, ( And the Word was made 
 Flesh ;' as much as to say, He was made man) ..... and 
 having become Man, and taken order for all things that 
 appertained to Him as Man, and having subdued and 
 abolished our enemy, Death, sitteth now at the right hand 
 of the Father, in Whom He is, the Father being also in 
 Him, as it was always, and is for ever. Now, this form is 
 from the Apostles through the fathers 6 . For the rest, it 
 is the duty of a reader of the Scripture to search and 
 distinguish when it speaks of the Godhead of the Word, 
 when, on the other hand, of His human attributes; that we 
 
 d 'O x a P aKT ^lp Tolwv rrjs eV XPISTflt Tr/orrews fffrlv ouror rbv Ttbv rov 
 EOT, K. -r. A. 
 
 e '0 juej/ x a P OKT V frros IK ru>v 'A7roa"r<$Aa>j/ 8ta ra>v irareptoV 
 nal SiaKpiveiv, K. r. A.. 
 
392 The Nicene Fathers had in view the Form of the Faith. 
 
 may not err, taking the one for the other, which is the case 
 of the Arians." The same principle he more briefly ex- 
 presses, though without the term p^a^axryjg TOU Xi<mavjcrjw,oO, 
 in arguing against a refined form of heresy, the professing, 
 namely, to abstract from all thoughts of our Lord's human 
 nature in our worship of His Person : concerning which, 
 having shewn that it must end in the denial of the In- 
 carnation, he adds f , " To the Heathen and Jews let us 
 leave such madness and desperation ; but to us belongs the 
 right faith, setting out from the Apostolical teaching and 
 tradition of the Fathers, and confirmed both by the New 
 and the Old Testament." Could he have said more clearly, 
 *' Tradition teaches, Scripture proves?" 
 
 What is more, and yet nearer to our point, this same 
 " Form of the Faith," for which, as we have seen, Atha- 
 nasius looked to Tradition, he affirms elsewhere to have 
 been the very drift and scope of the Fathers in drawing 
 up the Nicene Creed : and he himself, be it still remem- 
 bered, had been among the foremost in that work. " This 
 Council g ," says he, " in Nicaea, is truly a pillar set up 
 with an inscribed warning against every kind of heresy. 
 In this, such also as blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, 
 and call Him a creature, may find their refutation. For 
 the Fathers, having spoken concerning faith in the Son, 
 added presently, ' We believe also in the Holy Ghost ;' 
 that professing the full and perfect faith in the Holy 
 Trinity, they might thereby make known the Form of 
 
 t T. i. 914. E. 
 
 8 Ep. ad Afros, t. i. 899. D. AUTTJ yap i) eV N<Kca (ruj/oSos, o.\T]Q<as CTrjAo- 
 ypatyia Kara irda"r]S atpecrecas fcrnv' afrrrj Kal TOVS ^Xaff^jJ-ovvras et's rb 
 I1NETMA rb 'AFION, Kal Xtyovras avrb KTiVjua, ai/arpeTrer tpr)K6Tes yap ol 
 Trarepes irepl TVJS els rbv Tibj/ Tn'aTews, ftH^ytrya? evQvs' Trtcrreuquez/ Kal ets rb 
 nNEYMA Tb 'AFION- tVa rsXeiav Kal irX-fipirj T^V et's TIJV ayiav TptdSa iriffnv 
 6/j.o\oyr)ffdvT5, TON XAPAKTHPA TH2 EN 
 TTJS 5t3a(ToA.iar TT)S 
 
St. Athanasius on the best way of dealing with Heretics. 393 
 
 the Faith in Christ, TOV %a^axr>;^a rrjs ev XPI^TH* w/<r- 
 Tscus, and the teaching of the Catholic Church. For it 
 hath become manifest among you, and among all, and no 
 Christian can have in his mind any doubt on this point ; 
 that our faith is not in the creature, but in God the 
 Father Almighty, Maker of all things both visible and 
 invisible ; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, His only-begotten 
 Son; and in one Holy Ghost; one God, Him Who is known 
 in the holy and perfect Trinity : into which faith having 
 been baptized, and therein united to the Deity, we trust 
 also to inherit the kingdom of heaven through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." 
 
 These passages put together seem to afford full and un- 
 exceptionable testimony as to the principle acted on at 
 Nicaea. But it may be satisfactory to shew, in one or two 
 more cases, how completely this great theologian had 
 made up his mind, that such was the only way of dealing 
 with heretics. To Epictetus, Bishop of Corinth, who had 
 transmitted to him certain heads of heretical opinions 
 touching the Person of our Lord, he gives the following 
 advice, almost in the tone of reproof. " These h , it seems, 
 were the subjects on which they were debating and con- 
 tending with each other the very persons who vaunt 
 themselves in the confession of the Fathers, drawn up at 
 Nicsea. But I, for my part, am inclined to wonder how 
 Your Piety could endure them ; and that you did not at 
 once silence them uttering such words, and confront them 
 with the Creed of the true religion ; in order that on hear- 
 ing it they might either hold their peace, or speaking 
 against it, might be accounted as heretics. For the things 
 above mentioned were never spoken nor heard among 
 Christians, but are altogether foreign to the teaching of 
 the Apostles. This is the reason why I (if I may allege 
 h T. i. 903. r. 
 
394 Preliminary Proceedings at Nicaea : 
 
 myself as authority) have caused their sayings, as they 
 appear above, to be simply transcribed in my letter : so 
 that any one who does but hear them, may perceive the 
 shamefulness and impiety which is in them. And though 
 it were necessary more at large to censure and expose the 
 folly of such theorists, yet it were well that the letter 
 should stop here, and no more be set down in writing. 
 For things so evidently betraying their own vileness ought 
 not to have any further labour or inquiry bestowed on 
 them, lest those who are disputatious begin to think they 
 admit of a question. Or it may be right to reply to such 
 words so far only as to say, ' It is enough that these things 
 belong not to the Catholic Church, neither was this the 
 mind of the Fathers.' Yet, lest through our entire silence 
 the inventors of evil provide themselves with an excuse 
 for their shamelessness, it may be well to rehearse a few 
 places from the divine Scriptures, for the chance that 
 being so put to shame they may cease from these their 
 unclean imaginings." In like manner, arguing against 
 Apollinarius, his first challenge is 5 , noQev updv xarrjyyeXflij ; 
 " Tell me, ye inventors of the new Gospel according to 
 yourselves, (which is not another,) from what quarter was it 
 announced to you, that you should call the Flesh [of our 
 Lord] uncreated ?" This emphatic question is asked after 
 allegation of the Creed of Nicsea, (that is, of the embodied 
 tradition of the Church,) and comparison of the errors in 
 question with it. 
 
 Proceeding to the few details which remain of what 
 took place in the Council, we find nothing to contradict 
 and much to strengthen the idea, that not only St. Atha- 
 nasius's doctrine, but also his mode of establishing it, was 
 
 i T. i. 923. E. 'HH&V 8e ^ irl<rris t<rr\v opQ^ Kal c/c 8i5a<rKa\ias airoffro\iKT)S 
 Kal Trapa56cre(Ds ruv irarepwi', &t&aiov(jierr] &c re vcas /coi ira\cuas 
 
Nicene Council; preliminary Discussions. 395 
 
 there sanctioned. One slight indication of this may seem 
 to be afforded by an anecdote which Sozomen k (among 
 others) has preserved. The Bishops, having arrived at 
 Nicaea a few days before the opening of the Council, had 
 many conferences among themselves, (to which, it ssems, 
 Arius was also admitted,) on the best way of conducting 
 the debate. " Some were for discouraging all innovation 
 on the faith delivered down from the beginning ; those 
 especially whose simplicity of character taught them, 
 without nice inquiry, to accept the faith in God. Others 
 were peremptory, that it was wrong without trial to follow 
 after the more ancient opinions." In a word, the question 
 lay between traditive and private interpretation. Which 
 of the two prevailed, Sozomen does not expressly say ; but 
 he does say, that this preliminary discussion proved an 
 effectual trial of the skill of the principal debaters on each 
 side ; and that from that time St. Athanasius, being there 
 in attendance on Alexander, obtained the lead in the 
 proceedings of the Council. This does not look as if 
 Athanasius had failed in the preliminary debate ; and we 
 know which side he must have taken in it. Moreover, 
 Sozomen goes on to record, in immediate connection with 
 this discussion, the well-known anecdote of the aged and 
 unlearned confessor, who silenced a pagan disputer, present 
 at the Council, by the bare recital of his baptismal Creed, 
 adding these few sentences : " ' That these things are so, 
 we believe without nice inquiry. Do not thou, then, 
 labour in vain, seeking confutations of those who are exact 
 in faith; and how it was or was not possible for these 
 things to take place ; but answer my question at once : 
 Believest thou ?' Upon this the philosopher, astounded, 
 replies, ' I believe ;' and, avowing his gratitude for his 
 defeat, came over to the old man's opinions: and recom- 
 k Lib. ii. . 17, 18. p, 431. Ed. Vales. 
 
396 Nicene Council: Remark of Acesius: 
 
 mended to those who before felt with him to be of the 
 same mind : affirming with an oath, that not without 
 Divine influence had this change taken place in him, but 
 that he was urged to become a Christian by some ineffable 
 power." Whether this account be correct in detail or no, 
 that something of the kind took place is clear from the 
 parallel report of Socrates 1 . " A little before the assembling 
 of the Bishops in council, the professors of disputation 
 were exercising themselves beforehand in argument with 
 whomsoever they met ; and many found their reasoning 
 attractive and pleasant. But a certain confessor, a layman, 
 of a simple mind, opposes himself to the logicians, and says 
 to them, Christ and His Apostles taught us not an art of 
 disputation, nor any vain deceit, but a simple doctrine, 
 the guard of which is faith and good works. On his so 
 speaking, all who were present marvelled, and received the 
 saying : and the disputers, thinking better of it, remained 
 quiet, the simple word of truth having been brought to 
 their ears. The very next day the Bishops assembled." 
 Not to dwell on the possibility that here is something of a 
 Divine sanction given to the appeal to antiquity which 
 our argument supposes ; even the lowest statement, that 
 of Socrates, (who had the evidence of an eye-witness to 
 this among other things that passed at NicaBa m ,) implies 
 a decided preference there given to traditional over private 
 interpretations. It shews what bias the Fathers were 
 under the day before the Council was holden. 
 
 There is another anecdote, still better accredited, which 
 indicates the esteem in which the argument from antiquity 
 was held among the orthodox at that time. The Nova- 
 tianist Prelate in Constantinople, Acesius, being present 
 at the Council, though not allowed to take part in it, was 
 asked by the emperor, after the publication of the Creed, 
 1 I. 8. p. 20. D. goer. i. 10, p. 3D. 
 
Creed of Eusebius of Nicomedia. 397 
 
 whether he also consented to this faith. " He replied, 
 ' It is no new matter, O emperor, which the synod hath 
 determined ; for so from of old, from the beginning, even 
 from the times of the Apostles, I have received the defini- 
 tion of the faith".'" 
 
 In the actual session, the Council having been first 
 opened by speeches from Eustathius, the Patriarch of 
 Antioch, and the emperor Constantine, the next proceed- 
 ing is related, by that Patriarch himself , in these words : 
 " When the question was put concerning the mode of faith, 
 there was produced that paper, which, containing in it the 
 blasphemy of Eusebius [of Nicomedia], was> in fact, a 
 manifest conviction [of the same], which, being read before 
 all, caused at first hearing inconceivable grief to the audi- 
 ence, -z% sxrgoTrys eveKot, on account of its great deviation; 
 and brought incurable disgrace upon the writer." This 
 shews that a confession of faith was required from the 
 innovators at least ; and that, according to the statement 
 of St. Athanasius quoted in the Sermon, it was met with a 
 burst of censure at first hearing, as new and perverse. 
 
 But we have also a letter of Eusebius the historian p , 
 tending to throw light on the mode of proceeding. It is 
 addressed to certain upholders of the new opinions, and 
 purports to explain the part which he, Eusebius, had 
 taken in subscribing the Greed of the Homoousiori. " I 
 have sent you herewith," he says, " as the case required, 
 first the written statement which I offered concerning the 
 faith, afterwards the other, which they have published, 
 with certain additions of their own to my expressions. 
 My formula then, read in the presence of our gracious 
 sovereign, and approved as good and genuine, stands thus. 
 
 n Socr. i. 10. p. 38 ; Soz. i. 22. p. 43G ; Gelasius ap. Concil. i. 425. 
 Ap. Theodoret. i. 7. 'fls Se e^VjTetro TTJS Trto-rews 6 rp6-jros, K. r. A. 
 P Ap. Theodoret. i. 11 ; Socr. i. 8. p. 23 ; St. Athanas. i. 238. 
 
398 Nicene Council : Creed of Eusebius Pamphilus : 
 
 ' As we have received from the Bishops before us, in our 
 first catechetical instruction, and when we were baptized ; 
 as also we have learned out of the divine Scriptures, and 
 (what is more) as we have both believed and taught in our 
 offices of Presbyter and Bishop, so now also believing, we 
 offer unto you our faith. We believe in orre God,' &c.<i" 
 (reciting the substance, and almost the words of the Nicene 
 Creed, with the exception of the Homoousion). Having 
 afterwards accounted for his reception of those clauses 
 which were added at Nicsea, he finishes by declaring that 
 he had assented to nothing which did not " appear evi- 
 dently to concur with the confession which he had just 
 made in the fore-recited formula." This proves that 
 Eusebius, at any rate, in any confession made or statement 
 allowed by him at Nicaea, had respect to his baptismal 
 Creed, and to the traditionary explanation of it received in 
 his Church. He takes that as his groundwork, and appeals 
 to the Scriptures for his proof. Now Eusebius was not a 
 very likely person to adopt this mode of his own accord. 
 It is well known that he delighted, perhaps to excess, in 
 the exercise of his own learning and acuteness; that he 
 was more apt to idolize talent than antiquity ; and that 
 his name has consequently become associated, whether 
 justly or no, with a most dangerous kind of rationalism. 
 So much the more probable is it, that he was guided in 
 this instance by the general voice or feeling of the Council. 
 These things being well considered, it may perhaps not 
 unreasonably be thought, that the custom which after- 
 wards prevailed, of opening Church Councils with a formal 
 
 1 Kafla>s irapc\dfio/J,fV Trapa ruv irpb TjfJLuiu fTTiffKAirow, cv rrj irpcaTr) /carr;%^(rei 
 KCU tire rb \ovrpbv ^Kafj-^dvo^v, Ka&c/as Kal airb rSav Of LUIS ypafywv jue/ia07j/ca/iej/, 
 fcal us fv ain$ T(p irpefffivreptcp Kal 4v aiirfj TTJ ttriffKOTrfj eTnoreuo/ieV re Kal 
 eSiSarr/co^.ei', ourw Kal vvv iriffTevovres, r^v f]fj,Tepav iriffnv irpocra.va(pepofj,fv, 
 K. r. X. 
 
ordinary Practice of succeeding Councils. 390 
 
 profession of faith, had its origin, or at least found sanc- 
 tion, in the proceedings at Nicaea. The Preface to the 
 Arabic Version of the Nicene Canons, as translated by 
 Bishop Beveridge, states, that " the Confessions (profes- 
 siones), discourses, and sentences of the several holy Fathers 
 [there assembled], were preserved in fifteen books 1 ." The 
 document referred to is most probably apocryphal ; still 
 there was evidently a tradition as to the form of their 
 proceedings, agreeing in substance with what has now 
 been advanced. Some centuries further back, (A. D. circ, 
 830,) Isidorus Mercator had inserted in the Preface to 
 his Edition of the Councils 8 a kind of formulary for 
 the holding of a synod; one of the directions of which 
 is, that as soon as the synod has been regularly opened 
 " collatio pariter et instructio de mysterio sanctce Trinitatis 
 habebitur, simulque et ordinibus qfficiorum, si in omnium 
 sedibus ejusdem celebritatis unitas teneatur:" i. e. "A com- 
 parison and explanation shall take place concerning the 
 mystery of the Holy Trinity, and also concerning the 
 orders which relate to [ecclesiastical] offices : [to ascertain] 
 whether or no unity be maintained in all the sees of the 
 aforesaid assembly." And a little below, that " on the 
 three days of solemn supplication, with which the synod 
 is to open, there shall be no business transacted, nisi sola 
 collatio de mysterio Sacrosanctcs Trinitatis, et de ordinibus 
 sacris, vel qfficiorum institutis ; excepting the comparison 
 [before mentioned] concerning the Mystery of the Most 
 Holy Trinity, and concerning sacred orders, or regulations 
 of offices." 
 
 Reverting to the course taken in particular councils : of 
 what passed at the second general synod at Constantinople, 
 
 r Concil. Harduin. i. 526. E. 
 
 Ibid. Prsef. Isid. Merc. p. 7. B. C. Compare the Note at the end of this 
 Postscript. 
 
400 Council of Constantinople, a Witness to Tradition : 
 
 A. D. 38 1, we have no detailed account. The Council, in 
 their report to the emperor Theodosius II. state them- 
 selves to have first renewed their concord, opovolav, with 
 one another'; which word Concord might seem to relate 
 to their settlement of the disputes then existing about 
 the see of Constantinople : but the narration of Socrates" 
 shews that the comparison of doctrinal views preceded that 
 arrangement; and in the course of it he twice uses the 
 word to denote their consent in the orthodox faith. At 
 all events, they have left it on record, that their adherence 
 to the Nicene Creed was not without reference to the 
 witness of the Church in all ages concerning the Creed 
 of the Apostolical times. " Whether it be persecutions, 
 or afflictions, or threats from our sovereign, or cruelties 
 from persons in office, or any other trial, which we have 
 endured from the heretics, we endured it on behalf of 
 the evangelical faith, as ratified in Nicaea by the three 
 hundred and eighteen Fathers. For this must needs 
 find acceptance, both with you and with us," (they are 
 addressing their brethren, the Bishops of the Church 
 Universal,) "and with all who pervert not the word of 
 the true faith : being most ancient and suitable to our 
 Baptism, and teaching us to believe in the Name of the 
 FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST V 
 
 The Nicene Creed, as enlarged at Constantinople, came, 
 it seems, presently to be regarded as so complete a symbol 
 of sound doctrine, that it superseded in general all necessity 
 
 * Cone, Harduin, i. 808. B. u Lib. v. c. 8. p. 265. 
 
 * Concil. i. 825; Theodoret. E. H. v. 9. c H/*e?s yap efoe Stwy/j-ovs, efre 
 6\tyeis, etfre fiaffiXiKas cwretActs, elfre ras ruv a.p\6vTwv cwyuo'HjTas, efre nva 
 ireipafffjibv erepbv irapa T>V alperiKcov virefj.etvaiJ.ev, irrrep TTJS evayyeXiK^s TricrTeus, 
 Tys ev NtKaia rrjs BiOvvlas irapa riav Tit] irarepuv Kvptadelffi^s, virea'T'rjiJ.ev' ravrriv 
 yap Kal v/juv Kal rjfuv Kal naffi ro?s fj.^ StaffTpetyovffi rbv \6yov TT)S a\-r]6ovs 
 Triarrecas ffwapeffKeiv 8e?, irpefffivrdTiriv ovaav, Kal o.K6\ovQov rep /JairTur/uaTj, 
 Kal SiSdffKOvffav f)/j.as Triffrevfiv els rb ovo/J.a rov ITATPO2, Kal TOV TIOT, Kal 
 rov 'Aylov FINETMATO2. 
 
Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon. 401 
 
 for a confession, to be made by each several Bishop, of the 
 belief of himself and his Church, at the first meeting of a 
 Council. Thus at Ephesus y , professing to observe the 
 exact order of the Canons, they entered on the doctrinal 
 discussion by a solemn recitation of that Creed ; " in order 
 that all might be said concerning the faith being compared 
 with that exposition, such sayings as harmonized therewith 
 might be received, and such as varied therefrom rejected." 
 The expression of opinion at Chalcedon was still more re- 
 markable. In the first session the emperor's commissioners 
 proposed to begin the proceedings of the second by a 
 written confession of faith on the part of the several 
 Bishops*. " Let each boldly set down his faith in writing, 
 having the fear of God before his eyes ; with the under- 
 standing that our sovereign's own faith is guided by the con- 
 fessions of the Nicene and Constantinopolitan Fathers, and 
 the canonical epistles and expositions of the holy Fathers 
 Gregory, Basil, Athanasius, Hilary, Ambrose, and the 
 canonical epistles of Cyril, which were read at Ephesus." 
 Two days after, in the second session, they renewed their 
 proposition a . " The point," they said, " which now demands 
 our inquiry, judgment, and serious attention, is the reinforce- 
 ment of the true faith. That, more than any thing else, is 
 the object of the synod. Knowing then, that to God Him- 
 self you will give account each for his own soul, and also for 
 us all, who desire to be rightly instructed in Christianity, 
 and to have all doubt taken away by the concord and 
 consent, and harmonious exposition and teaching, of the 
 venerable Fathers, give diligence without fear, favour, or 
 dislike, to set out the faith in its purity : so that those 
 also, who, compared with the general body, appear to be 
 otherwise minded, may, by acknowledgment of the truth, 
 be brought back to unanimity." To this, the Bishops 
 y Concil. i. 1361. E. * Ibid. ii. 273. A. * Concil. ii. 284, 5. 
 
 Dd 
 
4 02 Nicene Creed, how received at Chalcedon, and elsewhere: 
 
 replied by acclamation, "Other exposition [of the faith] 
 no man maketh, nor do we endeavour nor dare to put forth 
 any ; for the Fathers have taught us, and the things set 
 forth by them are preserved in writing ; contrary to these 
 we have no power to say any thing." The acclamation 
 was repeated more than once : " We make no fresh con- 
 fession in writing : the Canon forbids it : the old confession 
 is enough : let the rules of the Fathers prevail :" which 
 Florentius, Bishop of Sardis, enforced by the strong reason, 
 that " it was not possible for them to write hastily on the 
 faith, taught as they were to obey the holy Nicene Council, 
 and that which was rightly and religiously assembled at 
 Ephesus." Then was recited the Nicene Creed; whereupon 
 their acclamation was b : " This we all believe ; in this we 
 
 were baptized, in this we baptize this 
 
 is the true faith ; this is the holy faith ; this is the eternal 
 faith . . . thus we believe, every one of us." 
 
 A reference to the Councils would shew other examples 
 of the like especial deference paid to the Creed of Nicsea, 
 as ratified by the four synods above mentioned c . One 
 more only shall be here mentioned. The Assembly at 
 Trent, in their third session and first decree concerning 
 the faith, " decrees and determines before all to begin by 
 this confession of their faith ; following herein, as they say, 
 the examples of the Fathers, who, in their more venerable 
 Councils, when commencing business, have been wont to 
 hold out this, as their shield against all heresies what- 
 soever* 1 ." Well had it been for them and for us, had they 
 followed antiquity as religiously in all things ! 
 
 So far, then, as the practice of other Councils aifords 
 
 b Ibid. 288. A. 
 
 c E. g. 2 Constantinop. t. iii. 70; 3 Tolet. t. iii. 471 ; Emerit. iii. 999 ; 
 11 Tojet. iii. 1019 ; 3 Bracarens. iii. 1031 ; 3 Constantinop. iii. 1060, &c. 
 d Concil. t. x. 20. 
 
same in substance with the Apostles'. 403 
 
 any presumption of what was done at Nicsea, we should 
 expect to find that the Fathers looked in the first place to 
 their Creeds before acknowledged, which as yet, perhaps, 
 were mostly unwritten 6 ; and did not set themselves, as 
 though hitherto destitute of formularies, to the compiling 
 of an entirely new one by their own judgment out of the 
 Scriptures. And this expectation is confirmed by the 
 substance of the Creed itself: which every child must 
 perceive to be substantially the same formula with the old 
 baptismal Creed, the Creed of the Apostles f , only ex- 
 panded in the two points which specially required it. And 
 as to those additions and explanations, they were indeed 
 most carefully and reverentially proved from Scripture, 
 yet even in them the Fathers went to Church Tradition g 
 for the critical and decisive phrase, " of One Substance 
 with the Father;" on which we have ever since mainly 
 depended, as constituting one of our best securities against 
 the profane conformity of heretics in heart. 
 
 These, and similar considerations, have appeared here- 
 tofore to learned men so decisive, that they have not 
 scrupled to make such affirmations as the following h : 
 " That ecclesiastical tradition, which Vincentius Liri- 
 nensis so much commends, did especially consist in the 
 confessions or registers of particular Churches. Now 
 the unanimous consent of so many several Churches as 
 exhibited their confessions to the Nicene Council, being 
 not dependent one of another, was a pregnant 
 
 e Compare St. Hilary writing to the Bishops of Gaul : " Blessed are ye in 
 the Lord, and glorious, who, retaining the perfect apostolical faith in the 
 confession of the inward conscience, to this hour know nothing of written 
 professions of faith." De Synodis, c. 63. p. 1187. Ed. Bened. 
 
 f See the Creeds of Alexander and Eusehius, as quoted before ; and 
 compare the accounts given by Tertullian and Irenaeus; and Bp. Bull, 
 Jud. Eccl. Cnthol. &c. . 4, 5, 6; with Grabe's annotation. 
 
 f S. Ath. i. 230. De Deer. Nic. Syn. . 2527. 
 
 h Jackson's Works, iii. 892. 
 
404 Jackson and others on the Proceedings at Nicaa. 
 
 argument to any impartial understanding man, that this 
 faith, wherein they all agreed, had been delivered unto 
 them by the Apostles and their followers." And again ' : 
 " The unanimous consent of so many distinct visible 
 Churches, as exhibited their several confessions, catechisms, 
 or testimonies of their own and their forefathers' faith, 
 unto the four first ^Ecumenical Councils, was an argument 
 of the same force and efficacy against Arius and other 
 heretics, for whose conviction those Councils were called, 
 as the general consent and practice of all nations in 
 worshipping some divine power or other, hath been in all 
 
 ages against the Atheists Nothing, besides the 
 
 evidence of truth delivered unto the Christian world by 
 Christ and His Apostles, would have kept so many several 
 Churches as communicated their confessions to the Councils 
 of Nice and Ephesus, &c. in the unity of the same faith." 
 Hear, again, Leslie, speaking of the provincial synod, 
 which prepared the way for the proceedings at Nicaea. 
 " This was the method taken in the Council called at 
 Alexandria against Arius; it was asked by Alexander, the 
 Archbishop who presided, Quis unquam talia audivit? 
 * Who ever heard of this doctrine before ?' And it being 
 answered by all the Bishops there assembled in the negative, 
 it was concluded a novel doctrine, and contrary to what 
 had been universally received in the Christian Church. 
 Thus every doctrine may be reduced to fact: for it is 
 purely fact, whether such doctrine was received or not V 
 Bishop Taylor says 1 : " It is not certain that the Nicene 
 Fathers at their meeting recited any other Creed than the 
 Apostolical:" assuming that they recited some Creed. 
 
 And after all, though some doubt were still thought to 
 hang on the exact order of their deliberations, their general 
 
 ' Jackson's Works, iii. 892. k See Catena Palrum, No. iii. p. 102. 
 
 X. 462. 
 
S. AtJmnasius refers the Nicene Creed to Tradition. 405 
 
 rule is surely expressed, with sufficient plainness, and on 
 unexceptionable testimony, in the three following passages 
 of St. Athanasius. First, of the instinctive and inevitable 
 comparison which the new doctrines underwent with those 
 before received, he writes: " Who m , on hearing the word 
 Son, does not conceive in his mind the thought of identity 
 of substance with the Father ? Who, when he learned in 
 his first Catechism, that God had a Son, and made all 
 things by His own Word, did not so receive it in his mind 
 as we now understand it ? Who, at the first origin of the 
 impure heresy of the Arians, was not presently astounded 
 at the mere hearing of their words, as at persons uttering 
 strange things, and sowing a new seed, contrary to the 
 Word sown in the beginning ?" Secondly, he presents the 
 Creed to the emperor Jovian, not merely as the judgment 
 of the present Church on the meaning of the Scriptures, 
 but rather as her testimony to the fact, that " this faith 
 had all along been known to all in the Church, being 
 learned and read out of the divine Scriptures. For in this 
 the saints^ being perfected, endured martyrdom, and now 
 are at rest in the Lord. And this faith would have con- 
 tinued throughout unimpaired, but for the wickedness of 
 certain heretics, who have dared to pervert it , , . . 
 although our Fathers lost no time in assembling at Nicaea, 
 and pronouncing the anathema on them. But the faith of 
 the Catholic Church they professed in writing ; so that by 
 the proclaiming thereof every where, the heresy might be 
 quenched which the perverse disputers had kindled"." 
 Lastly, in respect of those portions of the Creed which 
 appeared in some sense new, he is careful to shew that for 
 these also they had authority from antiquity, as well as 
 proof from holy Scripture, (thus acting on the very prin- 
 ciple laid down in the English Canon of 1571, to which 
 
 Oral. ii. contr* Arian. i. 502. B, I. 780. 
 
406 Athanasius his deep reverence for the Bible. 
 
 reference has before been made): " The Fathers," says he, 
 " inserted the clause of the Son's consubstantiality with the 
 Father, and anathematised those who affirmed a diversity 
 of substance, not in terms which they had framed for 
 themselves, but which they too had learned from the 
 
 Fathers before them which being so, the 
 
 Creed of Nicsea is sufficient, agreeing as it does also with 
 the ancient Bishops ." This shews in what light the 
 framers of the Creed wished it to be viewed ; and that the 
 Church did so receive it, the words of Epiphanius (among 
 others) may serve to testify: "They p professed the faith 
 of the Fathers, orthodox and unswerving, and delivered 
 down to us from the Apostles and Prophets." 
 
 Now if St. Athanasius and the Nicene Fathers were thus 
 earnest and constant in resorting to Tradition, in order 
 to decide among conflicting interpretations of Scripture, 
 and settle the fundamentals of our most holy faith; that 
 circumstance alone is a sufficient answer to the suspicion, 
 that reliance on Primitive Tradition leads of course to 
 disparagement of Scripture. For certainly, if there be 
 one among divines, ancient and modern, who commits his 
 cause to the witness of Scripture more unreservedly than 
 the rest, and expresses a deeper reverence in listening to 
 its voice, and a more entire preparation of heart to follow 
 whithersoever it shall lead him, that one is the great 
 St. Athanasius. But the more unfeignedly he revered the 
 Bible, and felt the necessity of obeying it in all things, the 
 more thankfully did he avail himself of the greatest of 
 providential helps to the right understanding of the Bible, 
 the record of faith which the New Testament itself assumes 
 to have been taught to those for whose immediate use it 
 was written. That record helps to explain the Scriptures, 
 somewhat in the same way, and with the same kind of 
 
 Ad Afros, . 9. t. i. 898. C. P Epiph. in Har. Arlon. 
 
Instances of Tradition practically infallible. 407 
 
 evidence, as the grammar of a language, once rightly taught, 
 explains the sentences of that language. If truth and sound 
 philological knowledge would be advanced by throwing aside 
 the grammar rules which we have learned, and analysing 
 sentences till we have constructed each a new grammar for 
 ourselves, then, and not else, the proposition, that each man 
 must make out his own Gospel from Scripture, discarding 
 all confidence in traditional Creeds, may be tenable in 
 common sense, whatever Piety may think of it. Why is 
 the assurance of faith any more undermined by accepting a 
 constant and practically infallible Tradition, to the effect that 
 what is to us the obvious meaning of the Bible, was always 
 accounted its true meaning, than by accepting in like manner 
 the similar traditions, that these books, and no other, are 
 the Bible ; that these words in English answer to the 
 corresponding words in the sacred languages, out of which 
 they profess to be translated ? Indeed, were it not for 
 Romish corruptions, it would not be at all easy to enter 
 into the mind of those who feel concerning Primitive 
 Tradition otherwise than as if it were a great and real 
 help from above. See what it comes to in this case of the 
 Nicene Creed. Had the interpretation and anathema 
 therein contained been merely the deliberate judgment of 
 the three hundred Bishops, undoubtedly this would have 
 been a very material fact : more material, perhaps, con- 
 sidering all things, than the like assent at any other time : 
 still the whole would have been matter, not of testimony, 
 but of opinion, and could not have proved, in any sense, 
 an end of controversy. It might still be said, as unthinking 
 people now say, " Why should I submit my judgment to 
 the judgment of three hundred persons assembled at Nicsea 
 fifteen hundred years ago?" However, as the matter stands, 
 we have the full benefit of their judgment, (for the remains 
 of St. Athanasius. alone are sufficient to shew, that they 
 
408 Peculiar Force of the Nicene Tradition. 
 
 fully and critically examined the Scriptures on all the 
 disputed points) : and we have moreover this greater this 
 unspeakable benefit ; that by them has been preserved the 
 irrefragable testimony of the Church to the fact, that the 
 Apostles interpreted the Bible in this way, and held their 
 interpretation to be fundamental. 
 
 The argument may be thus stated. Christians disagree 
 among themselves which are the essential, fundamental 
 truths of their religion. Now if we could know in what 
 doctrine Theophilus, (e. g.) to whom St. Luke wrote, had 
 been catechised, we should know these fundamental truths : 
 those truths which the eye-witnesses and ministers of the 
 Word did most emphatically deliver to their converts. 
 Now of course the fundamentals taught to Theophilus 
 were the same as those taught to other converts: they 
 were, in short, the baptismal Creed. However that Creed 
 might vary in terms, as it was occasionally delivered by 
 the Apostles and their successors, it must have been the 
 same in substance all over the world ; being not so much 
 the Creed of the several Apostles, as of that Holy Spirit, 
 by Whom they were all alike guided. Can we any how 
 ascertain the substance of that Creed ? The Council of 
 Nicaea enables us to do so, practically and effectually 
 nay, infallibly. For the fact to which the three hundred 
 prelates bore witness, was one in which they could neither 
 be deceived themselves, nor be able to deceive others. 
 They must have known each one of them the baptismal 
 Creed of his own Church, and the interpretation of it 
 there commonly received, and professed by himself in his 
 letters communicatory when he first entered on his epis- 
 copate. They could not, therefore, be deceived them- 
 selves. Neither could they deceive others : for, (not to 
 dwell on the evidence of sincerity which many of them 
 had given, and some afterwards gave again, by enduring 
 
The Nicene Creed universally accepted. 40i) 
 
 pain and privations for the Gospel's sake,) every Chris- 
 tian must have known his baptismal Creed, and every 
 Bishop must have known what letters communicatory he 
 had received from his newly-ordained brethren. More- 
 over, their testimony ranges far beyond those who were 
 actually present in the Council. They were in the nature 
 of a representative body ; and it may be remarked by 
 the way, that the Church councils are perhaps the first 
 decided instance in the w r oiid's history of the adoption of 
 that mode of government. The three hundred and 
 eighteen were but so many out of the eighteen hundred 
 prelates of the Roman world, whom circumstances per- 
 mitted to be present at the Council y and their decisions 
 were scrupulously communicated to their absent brethren, 
 and formally approved by them, with very trifling excep- 
 tions. " Know, O prince beloved of Heaven," writes St. 
 Athanasius to the emperor Jovian q , " that these things have 
 been preached from the beginning, and this Creed the 
 Fathers who assembled at Nicaea confessed ; and to these 
 have been awarded the suffrages of all the Churches every 
 where in their respective places : both in Spain, and Bri- 
 tain, and Gaul, and all Italy and Dalmatia, Dacia and 
 Mysia, Macedonia and all Greece ; and in all Africa, and 
 Sardinia, and Cyprus, and Crete, Pamphylia and Lycia, 
 and Isauria, and those in Egypt and the divisions of 
 Libya, and Pontus and Cappadocia, and those near us, 
 and the Churches in the east, all besides a few persons 
 who take part with Arius. For as to all the aforesaid, we 
 know by their conduct what their judgment is ; and more- 
 over, we have their letters. And thou knowest that 
 should there be some few who speak in opposition to this 
 faith, they cannot create any prejudice against it, the 
 
 i I. 781. Even the Arian Philostorgius bore witness to their unanimity. 
 Ad crt/r. Thpodoret, E. H. 409. B. Ed. Vales. 
 
410 A 7 o prevailing political influence at Niccea. 
 
 whole world maintaining the Apostolical Creed." We 
 need not, therefore, hesitate to accept the Nicene formula 
 as the testimony of all the Churches. 
 
 Any suspicion which might arise, of the proceedings 
 having been tainted by political influence, is sufficiently 
 obviated by what remains of Constantine's own corre- 
 spondence at that time. Whether from ignorance, he being 
 yet a catechumen and recent convert, or from the habit of 
 looking at all things with the eye of a mere statesman, or 
 from whatever reason, he was far, indeed, from entering 
 into the views of St. Athanasius and those who acted with 
 him. His language in the letter to Alexander, whereby 
 he at first endeavoured to stifle the controversy, was such 
 as this r : "A certain empty question, w r hich ought neither 
 to have been asked nor answered . . . an argument 
 kindled not concerning any main point of the Divine com- 
 mands .... no new heresy brought in ... 
 a dispute about matters trifling to an excess of insignificance 
 . you may keep up communion with each other, 
 however decidedly your opinions vary in some minute point 
 of detail." And it is too well known how easily he was 
 afterwards perverted by the arts of Eusebius. The 
 agreement, therefore, among the Bishops was in no sort the 
 result of state influence : it can only be explained by the 
 fact, that such was in reality the tenor of the traditional 
 confessions of their several Churches. 
 
 Now such a harmony of statements all over the world, 
 even beyond the limits of the Roman Empire, (for the In- 
 dians too are mentioned as allowing the Creed 8 ,) admits of 
 no account but a common origin ; and that common origin 
 can only be the first Gospel, as it was every where preached 
 
 ' Ap. Socr. i. 7. p. 15. D. E ; 16. C ; 17. C. 
 
 8 St. Ath. ad Afros, . 2. avrri iraffav ryv o\KOv^vt]V irewh-fipuKf ravrrjv 
 eyvwffav Knl 'I/5ol, ol fcVot irapa rots &\\ois ftapfidpots (Vt Xptffnavol. i. 892. B. 
 
The Nicene Creed, a Moral Demonstration. 411 
 
 by Apostles and apostolical men. It is, in fact, a complete 
 instance of successful application of the triple test of 
 Vincentius. The " uUque" is insured by the Council 
 representing all Churches ; the " semper" in each Church, 
 by the succession of Bishops, each receiving the Creed as 
 a trust at his consecration ; the " ab omnibus" by the like 
 delivery of the same Creed to every Christian at his Bap- 
 tism. The whole together constitutes an infallible tradi- 
 tion, of the same sort as that which induces us to receive 
 the Scriptures themselves as genuine. And the comparison 
 of it with Holy Scripture, which took place at Nicasa, 
 and has been since repeated over and over, is the same 
 kind of satisfactory confirmation to it, as when, in sur- 
 veying a country, a line on being actually measured is 
 found to be exactly of the length, which it ought to be on 
 computation, perhaps through a long series of triangles. 
 Such an operation strengthens the surveyor's confidence, 
 on the one hand in the goodness of his instruments, on the 
 other in the accuracy of his figures : just as the coin- 
 cidence of Scripture and Tradition at Nicaea tends to 
 prove (may we not say morally demonstrates ?) both that 
 the tradition is apostolical and that the interpretation is 
 sound. Nor does it appear that the Arians of that time 
 often, if ever, questioned this broad statement of Church 
 practice ; they commonly satisfied themselves with meta- 
 physical and critical objections to particular words in the 
 Creed, or particular constructions of the text of Scripture. 
 Now because the Romanists make bold with the word 
 Tradition on very diiferent matters from this mere in- 
 structions of a part of the present Church, in no wise able 
 to stand the test of Vincentius, even supposing them uncon- 
 tradicted in Scripture are we therefore to throw aside or 
 depreciate a tradition, established as we see the Nicene 
 Creed is ? Can we fairly say it is of small use, either in 
 
412 Tendency of the Doctrine of Primitive Tradition, 
 
 confirming the natural interpretation of God's word, or in 
 directing us what sort of points to esteem fundamental ? 
 Can any one of us soberly say y with any degree of con- 
 fidence, where he himself might now have been without it? 
 Take a case but too possible : suppose an inquiring person, 
 not scholar enough to detect the falsehood and sophistry of 
 the Arian and Socinian interpretations, nor to follow the 
 argument when others detect them; must not this man rest 
 his faith on Tradition ? i. e. on the assurances of better 
 scholars than himself, that the words of Scripture really 
 mean what the Church says they do ? And which Tradition 
 would be safer and more consoling, that of a few scholars 
 and their writings, or that of the Apostolical Church, pro- 
 perly so called ? Surely this latter, rightly understood, is 
 a great blessing, and touches the foundation, and we cannot 
 be too thankful for it. Surely men know not what they 
 are doing, when they go about to shake our reliance on it. 
 In conclusion, a few words shall be offered to those 
 who recoil from Tradition not so much on argumentative 
 grounds, as because they seem to feel that whatever is 
 introduced, over and above the words of Holy Scripture, 
 lessens the sacredness of any religious contemplation, and 
 hinders it from being altogether devotional. Such persons 
 would do well to consider, whether the view which they 
 depreciate would not tend to put them more entirely in 
 possession of the words of Scripture, exempting them once 
 and for ever from haunting doubts, and leaving them free 
 to such thoughts as piety delights in. Let them once 
 fairly endeavour to imagine themselves convinced that the 
 Nicene Tradition is true and divine, and see what would 
 then be their feelings on the subject. It would be with 
 them in some measure as if a voice came from Heaven, to 
 say, This and this only is the meaning of the Scriptures 
 touching the foundation of the faith. Were such a miracle 
 
to keep our enquiries devout and humble. 413 
 
 to be vouchsafed, would it take away veneration from the 
 Scriptures ? Would it shake our confidence in them ? 
 Would it not be welcomed by some as a deliverance from 
 doubt ; by others as' superseding in a great measure all 
 necessity for that kind of critical discussion of God's Word, 
 which is continually leading them into peril of irreverence ; 
 by all, as a most merciful addition to the supernatural 
 treasure of Faith and Hope ? Now the case of the Nicene 
 Tradition is perhaps as near an approach to the realization 
 of this supposed miracle, as might consist with the ordinary 
 course of God's moral government. Perhaps, had the 
 evidence for it been more overpowering, no room would 
 have been left for the requisite trial of our faith. 
 
 It follows, that we obtain in this way not only more 
 entire conviction of understanding than if we were left to 
 the unaided study of Scripture, but more also of that which 
 is, on earth, Faith's appropriate sanction and encouragement 
 the reverential sense of the immediate presence of God. 
 We discern an echo, as it were, of the Divine voice, remote 
 but unquestionable, and infallibly guiding us towards the 
 true and only temple : a ray, not from Antiquity only, 
 but from the very Source of light, falling on the pages of 
 the Bible, and bringing out in its full lustre that high and 
 sacred Truth, which many might otherwise have failed to 
 discern, and many more feared to enunciate. As things 
 are, we see it so clearly, that we can hardly understand 
 how any one should ever miss it ; and so, as in many 
 other instances, the very abundance, anticipating our want, 
 hinders our being duly thankful. But it is the part of 
 Faith to remedy this ; and the part also of Charity to 
 remember our brethren, who feel, many of them, and own 
 their need of such guidance. 
 
 Of course, if so it had pleased Almighty God, the 
 Scriptures might have been all clear of themselves ; or 
 
414 Tradition, God's providential Way with us. 
 
 their meaning might have been clearly revealed to indivi- 
 duals at a certain stage of their progress in the Christian 
 life : or there might be somewhere in the present Church 
 an unerring court of appeal to fix their interpretation. 
 Men may go on imagining the advantages of such a dis- 
 pensation, until they have persuaded themselves that things 
 are really so ordered. But theories of that kind, after all 
 that can be said in their favour, must they not incur the 
 censure of true wisdom, as partaking of " that idle and not 
 very innocent employment of forming imaginary models 
 of a world, and schemes of governing it 1 ?" How much 
 better, humbly to acquiesce in God's dispensations as we 
 find them ! How much more dutiful, with all seriousness 
 to use our privilege of belonging to a Church, which on 
 the one hand refers us to Scripture as the standard and 
 treasure of all necessary doctrine, on the other hand " ties 
 her doctors, as much as the Council of Trent does, to 
 expound Scripture according to the consent of the ancient 
 Fathers"." 
 
 t Bp. Butler, Pref. to Anal sub fine. Bp. Taylor's Works, x. 322. 
 
Note: Ancient Form for holding Church Synods. 415 
 
 Note, see page 399. 
 
 It may be well to insert here the whole of the formulary 
 for the opening of a synod, as it is given by Isidore, and 
 from him by Hardouin in the Preface to his " Concilia," 
 t. i. col. 610. 
 
 The order according to which the sacred Synod should be held in the 
 Name of God, 
 
 At the first hour of the day, before sunrise, let all he cast out of the 
 Church ; and, the entrances being harred, let all the door-keepers stand 
 at the one door, through which the Prelates are to enter. And let all 
 the Bishops, assembling, go in together, and take their seats according 
 to the time of their consecration. When all the Bishops have come in 
 and taken their places, next let those Presbyters be summoned, whose 
 admission the nature of the case in hand seems to warrant. And let no 
 Deacon intrude himself among them. After these, may be admitted the 
 more eminent among the Deacons, whose presence is required by the 
 regular form of proceeding. And a circle being made of the Bishops' 
 seats, let the Presbyters sit down behind them : those, namely, whom 
 the Metropolitan has selected to be his assessors ; such, of course, as 
 may act with him both in judging and in pronouncing sentence. Let 
 the Deacons stand in sight of the Bishops : then let the laity also enter, 
 who, by choice of the Council, have obtained the privilege of being there. 
 Moreover, the Notaries must also come in, as is directed by the regular 
 form, for reading documents and taking notes. Then, the doors being 
 fastened, and the Prelates sitting in long silence, and lifting up their 
 whole heart to the Lord, the Archdeacon shall say, Pray ye. And 
 presently they shall all fall on their faces to the earth, as well the 
 Bishops as the Presbyters ; and they continuing long in silent prayer, 
 with weepings and mournings, one of the elder Bishops shall arise, and 
 pour out a supplication aloud unto the Lord, they all lying still on the 
 ground. He shall say, 
 
 " Behold, we are here, O Lord the Holy Ghost, we are here: bound 
 indeed by our sinful nature as men, yet in Thy name especially assembled 
 together. Come to us, and be Thou with us, and deign to pour Thyself 
 
416 Note: Ancient Form for 
 
 into our hearts; teach us what we are doing 1 , whither we are going; and 
 shew us what measures it is our duty to take: that, hy Thine own aid, 
 we may he ahle to please Thee in all things. Be Thou alone both the 
 Prompter and the Executor of our decisions, Who alone, with God the 
 Father aud His Son, art Possessor of the glorious Name. Suffer us not 
 to he perverters of justice, Thou, Who most exceedingly delightest in 
 equity. Let not ignorance draw us the wrong way, nor favour hias us, 
 nor acceptation of gift or person coriupt; hut unite us to Thyself 
 effectually, hy the gift of that grace which is Thine only: that we may 
 be one in Thee, and in nothing swerve from the truth ; so that, as we 
 are assembled in Thy Name, we may in all things uphold Justice under 
 the sway of Religion ; so that here our sentence may in nothing depart 
 from Thee, and in future for things well done we may obtain eternal 
 rewards." 
 
 In this supplication, the prayer of * Our Father' is not to be recited, 
 nor the Blessing, but the supplication only itself to be confirmed [by an 
 4 Amen.' J 
 
 But when there are more Metropolitans than one, then by another 
 the following prayer is repeated. 
 
 " O Lord, Who commandest us to speak justice, and to judge the 
 things that are right ; grant unto us, that neither iniquity be found in 
 our mouth, nor corruption in our mind ; that with a pure heart we join 
 discourse yet more carefully purified ; that justice may go forth in our 
 doings, and no guile be found in our tongue." 
 
 And by the third Metropolitan, in the third place, the following 
 prayer is recited. 
 
 " O Lord Jesu, Who hast promised by the sacred oracle of Thy 
 Word, that where two or three are gathered together in Thy Name, 
 Thou wouldest vouchsafe to be present in the midst of them ; be Thou 
 graciously preseut in our assembly, and illuminate our hearts by Thy 
 mercy; that we may so keep the straight path of righteousness, as not 
 in any measure to err from the excellency of mercy." 
 
 Another : 
 
 " Unbind, O Lord, the chain of our souls, aud break the bond of 
 wickedness wherein we are held; that for our deliverance we may 
 render praise to Thee, whose chastisement we fear for our trans- 
 gressions. 
 
 " God, Who wiliest that the truth should be spoken by the sons of 
 men, and whose delight is, that they should deal purely in judgment; 
 
holding Church Synods. 417 
 
 vouchsafe unto us to have an upright mind, that we may he ahle to 
 utter with our lips the true justice." 
 
 The supplication being ended, and all having answered ' Amen,' the 
 Archdeacon says again, ' Stand up.' Immediately let all arise, and 
 with all fear of God, and orderly discipline, let Bishops and Presbyters 
 both take their seats. And thus, all in their places sitting silently, a 
 Deacon, wearing the Albe, bringing forward in the midst the Book of 
 the Canons, reads aloud the chapters on the manner of holding Councils; 
 i. e. from the Third Council of Toledo, No. 18: also, from the Canons 
 of the Oriental Fathers, which Martin, [Bishop of Braga,] translated 
 into Latin ; No. 1 8, Of the manner of holding a Synod. Also from the 
 Fourth of Toledo, No. 3. Also from the Council of Chalcedon, No. 18. 
 Also from the Council of Agatha, (Agde in Languedoc,) No. 25 or 26 : 
 or any other of the Canons, which may seem to the Metropolitan fitter 
 to be read. And the extract from the Canons being ended, the Metro- 
 politan Bishop shall address the Council with an exhortation, thus saying : 
 
 " Behold, most holy Prelates, having first offered our prayer to God, 
 I present myself to your brotherhood with words of affectionate exhort- 
 ation, and by the name of God beseech you, that whatsoever things you 
 shall hear spoken by us, concerning the Deity, and concerning sacred 
 orders, or religious conduct, you will receive with all piety, and with 
 entire reverence strive to fulfil. Should it so happen that some one of 
 you should differ from any opinion expressed, when we come all of us to 
 mutual conference, let him, without any scruple about making dis- 
 turbance, propose, to be conferred on again, the subjects of his scruple : 
 in order that by God's favour he may either give or receive instruction. 
 In the next place, with the like adjuration, I approach and entreat you, 
 that none of you in judgment either accept persons, or depart from the 
 truth, smitten by fear or favour. Take care that you handle so religiously 
 whatever shall occur to be judged of by our assembly, that neither 
 peevish contention, to the overthrow of justice, find any place among us, 
 nor yet in long searching for equity, the vigour and vigilance of our 
 order begin to grow lukewarm." 
 
 After this exhortation, wherewith the Metropolitan is wont'to address 
 the whole synod, presently the King, with his nobles, enters into the 
 Council; and first, dismissing the attendant Bishops to a station behind 
 him, turning to the altar, there says a prayer; and the prayer being 
 over, he turns to the Council and speaks. And, falling on his face to 
 the ground, and then raising himself, he both recommends himself to 
 
 E e 
 
418 Note: Ancient Form for 
 
 the prayers of the Bishops, and also, addressing the whole Council, with 
 religious exhortation urges on them the duty of acting by the highest 
 rule of justice. His exhortation being ended, the Deacon says, * Let 
 us pray.' 
 
 Then, the King having turned to the east, let all the Prelates together 
 fall prostrate as before ; and so let the following prayer, with the Lord's 
 Prayer, be recited. 
 
 " O God our King, who swayest the dominion of kings, by Whose 
 governance it is exalted, and by Whose abandonment itgroweth frail; 
 let Thy servant N. have Thee present as his Director. Give unto him, 
 O Lord, a right and firm faith, and never to grow weary of watching 
 over Thy law. Let him so excel in uprightness of life, that he may be 
 pleasing in the eyes of Thy Majesty: so rule over the nations in this 
 life, that after his departure he may be crowned with the elect. Our 
 Father," &c. 
 
 The Blessing. 
 
 " Be thou blessed, most serene Prince, by the Lord of all Powers, 
 and the Almighty God. Amen. May He inspire thee to do mercy, and 
 [therewith] to temper justice. Amen. He who hath assigned to thee 
 the kingdom, may He Himself keep thine heart unharmed from the 
 mischiefs of all people. Amen. And thou in whose sight our assembly 
 is venerable for the Lord's sake, mayest thou, with all thine, after long 
 ages, receive the crown. Amen. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 Who, with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, One God, is glorified 
 for ever." 
 
 This Blessing having been pronounced, the Deacon says to him, * In 
 the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, depart in peace.' Thereupon all 
 shall answer, < Thanks be to God.' And immediately the King retires 
 from the assembly of the Council. 
 
 After the departure therefore of the King, and the exhortation of the 
 Archbishop before mentioned, shall enter in all who are Priests, Deacons, 
 or in religious orders of any kind, to the hearing of doctrinal discussion. 
 Then the Archdeacon shall read the Canon of the Eleventh Council of 
 Toledo, (No. I.) against tumultuous excitement in Councils. After the 
 reading of this Canon, the proceedings of the Council of Ephesus shall 
 be regularly read over ; then a comparison and explanation shall take 
 place concerning the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and also concerning 
 the orders which relate to [ecclesiastical] offices; to ascertain whether 
 
holding Church Synods. 419 
 
 or no unity be maintained in all the sees of the aforesaid assembly. In 
 relation also to those causes, as the time of day may allow, shall be read 
 the Epistles of Pope Leo to the Bishop Flavianus, concerning the 
 errors of Eutyches and the mystery of the Trinity; the Canons also 
 concerning unity of offices. Nor shall the Council pass to any other 
 business, until all these have been gone through. Provided always that 
 in the whole three days of solemn supplication nothing else be transacted 
 or discussed, but only the comparison [before mentioned] concerning the 
 mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, and concerning sacred orders, or 
 regulations of offices, so as that these subjects be entirely gone through 
 in the course of those three entire days : that, as aforesaid, nothing else 
 be done, but simply the inquiry carried on which relates to the aforesaid 
 matters: provided also that in every case the proceedings commence 
 with the reading of some document suitable to the order and cause 
 which is to be discussed. 
 
 A Prayer to be said on the second day at the opening of the Council* 
 
 " We bow unto Thee, O Lord, the knees of our hearts, and beseech 
 Thee that we may obtain the blessings which we most need at Thy 
 hands ; namely, that walking in watchful care before Thee, we may be 
 of exact judgment in the arduous discrimination [of doctrine], and 
 loving mercy, may be eminent by zeal in such a course as shall please 
 Thee." 
 
 Also a Prayer y on the third day, rehearsed at the opening of the Council. 
 
 " From Thee, O Lord, with the words of an inward cry, we ask with 
 one accord, that, being strengthened by the countenance of Thy grace, we 
 may be made fearless heralds of the Truth, and have power to speak 
 Thy word with all boldness.*' 
 
 After these things, on the fourth day, other causes shall be admitted 
 in order. And thereupon all the religious persons, who on the former 
 days had been present in the Council for spiritual instruction's sake, 
 shall go out; some Presbyters keeping their seats in the Council, whom 
 the Metropolitan shall have appointed to that honour. 
 
 In any case, throughout the aforesaid three Litany days, both Bishops 
 and Presbyters, with the Minister who bids the prayers, shall begin by 
 prostrating themselves in supplication. And then, after a collect, or a 
 recapitulation of their prayers by the Metropolitan, they shall arise, and 
 discuss, as was said, divine things only. But on other days, all standing 
 
420 Note: Ancient Form for 
 
 by, the Collect shall be pronounced. And so sitting down they shall 
 judge the matters brought in question. But let no disturbance be 
 allowed, either among those who sit in the Council, or the by-standers. 
 
 Further, they are to enter into the Council each day in the same 
 manner and order as is herein-before appointed. For the rest, whether 
 they be either Presbyters or Deacons, Clerks or Laymen, not themselves 
 members of the Council, who think themselves bound to appeal to it in 
 any matter, let them give notice of their caftuse to the Archdeacon of the 
 metropolitan church, and let him mention it to the Council ; then let 
 them severally be permitted to come in and state their case. But let 
 none of the Bishops retire from the general assembly until the hour 
 come for all to retire. Again, let no one presume to break up the 
 Council, unless all things shall have been so determined, as that every 
 point which has been settled by common consultation, be subscribed by 
 the hand of every Bishop severally. Provided always, that two or three 
 days before the Council be dissolved, they revise with diligent consi- 
 derations all the Canons they have drawn up, lest haply they may have 
 stumbled in something. Also, that on the day appointed for the breaking 
 up of the Council, the Canons which have been decreed in the holy 
 Synod be read publicly before the Church. And when they are ended, 
 there shall be a choral response of ' Amen.' 
 
 Then returning to the place where they sat in Council, let them sub- 
 scribe the same Canons. The Metropolitan also must give them notice 
 concerning the next following Easter, on what day it comes on; also of 
 the time in the next year when they shall come to hold Council. 
 Certain of the Bishops, too, must be selected, to assist the Metropolitan 
 in the celebration of the feasts of the Nativity and of Easter. After 
 these things, the Archdeacon saying, * Pray ye,' let all together cast 
 themselves down on the ground ; and when they have there prayed for a 
 considerable time, let one of the seniors recite this prayer : 
 
 " There is not, O Lord, in any conscience of man such virtue as may 
 be able, without offence, to declare the judgments of Thy will. There- 
 fore, seeing that Thine eyes have beheld our frailty, account it for 
 perfection, we beseech Thee, that it is our chief wish to decide by the 
 perfect rule of justice. Thee in our beginnings we did ask to meet us 
 [with Thine aid] ; Thee again in this termination of our decisions we 
 beseech to be present, making allowance for our deviations. For why? 
 to spare our ignorance ; to allow for our wandering ; to crown the full 
 service of our prayers with full practical efficacy. And because, through 
 the galling of our conscience, we pine away, fearing lest either ignorance 
 
holding Church Synods. 421 
 
 should have drawn us into some error, or haply too eager will should 
 have urged us to swerve aside from justice: for this we supplicate and 
 beseech Thee, that if we have contracted any offence during the solemn- 
 ization of this Council, by Thy pardon we may find it venial ; and that 
 whereas we are about to give release from attendance on this assembled 
 Council, we ourselves may first be released from all the bands of our 
 own sins : so that as transgressors Thy pardon may attend us, and as 
 confessing our faults to Thee, Thy eternal recompense." 
 
 To this prayer the prayer called Pater Noster shall be subjoined; and 
 over them still prostrate the following Blessing shall be pronounced : 
 
 " Christ, the Son of God, Who is the Beginning and the End, vouchsafe 
 unto you the fulness of charity. And may He Who hath brought you 
 safely to the completion of this Synod, cause you to be absolved from all 
 infection of sin. Amen. So that, freed more entirely from all guilt, 
 absolved also by the gift of the Holy Ghost, you may return happily, 
 and seek again unharmed the resting places of your own habitations. 
 Amen. Which may He vouchsafe to grant, Whose kingdom and 
 dominion abideth for ever and ever. Amen" 
 
 These directions having been observed, and the Archdeacon having 
 said, In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us go in peace ;' 
 presently all shall arise together, and the Metropolitan still keeping his 
 seat, all alike, beginning from him first, shall mutually bestow on each 
 other the kiss [of peace]. And thus, with the mutual giving and 
 receiving of peace, the meeting of the Council shall be dissolved. 
 
 The above document most probably belongs to the good 
 days of the Spanish Church, when it first recovered from 
 Arianism. It must have been drawn up after the llth 
 Council of Toledo, A.D. 675, and apparently before 714, 
 at which time the Saracens began to overrun Spain. This 
 would settle its probable date within about 40 years. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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