IfffJA mmf m : POLEMICAL AND OTHER Costing of &> Ei ARTICLES ORIGINALLY INSERTED IN Tjrfe^ LONDON ECLECTIC ""r AND AN APOLOGY FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. From the Seventh London Edition. BY ROBERT HALL, M. A. OF LEICESTER, ENO. Boston : PUBLISHED BY JAMES LORING, 138 WASHINGTON STREET. 1827. CONTENTS. REVIEWS. Page. Foster's Essays .................................. 5 Zeal without Innovation ........................... 30 Gisborne's Sermons on Christian Morality .............. 91 Gregory's Letters on the Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of the Christian Religion ........................ 105 Belsham's Memoirs of Lindsey ...................... 137 Birt's Lectures on Popery .......................... 166 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Advertisement to the Third Edition .................. 177 Original Preface, to which is prefixed, Remarks on Bishop Horsley's Sermon ............................. 179 Advertisement to the New Edition ................... 189 SECTION 1. On the Right of Public Discussion ......... 191 SECTION 3. On Associations ....................... 200 SECTION 3. On a Reform of Parliament ............... 209 SECTION 4. On Theories and the Rights of Man ........ 223 SECTION 5. On Dissenters ......................... 237 SECTIOH 6. On the Causes of the Present Discontents ..,.251 REVIEW. ESSAYS, in a Series of Letters, on the following Subjects; On a Marts writing Memoirs of Himself; On Decis- ion of Character ; On the Application of the Epithet Romantic ; On some of the Causes by which Evangel- ical Religion has been rendered less acceptable to Persons of cultivated Taste. By JOHN FOSTER. 2 vols. 12mo. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 458. Seventh Edition. THE authors who have written on human nature, may be properly distinguished into two classes, the metaphysical and the popular. The former contem- plate man in the abstract ; and neglecting the different shades of character and peculiarities of temper by which mankind are diversified, confine their attention to those fundamental principles which pervade the whole species. In attempting to explore the secrets of mental organiza- tion, they assume nothing more for a basis than a mere susceptibility of impression, whence they labour to de- duce the multiplied powers of the human mind. The light in which they choose to consider man in their re- searches, is not that of a being possessed already of the exercise of reason, and agitated by various senti- ments and passions, but simply as capable of acquiring them ; and their object is, by an accurate investigation of the laws which regulate the connexion of the mind B O REVIEW OF with the external Universe, to discover in what manner they are actually acquired. They endeavour to trace back every mental appearance to its source. Consid- ering the powers and principles of the rnind as a com- plicated piece of machinery, they attempt to discover the primum mobile, or, in other words, that primary law, that ultimate fact, which is sufficiently comprehen- sive to account for every other movement. This at- tention to the internal operations of the mind, with a view to analyse its principles, is one of the distinctions of modern times. Among the ancients, scarcely any thing of this sort was known. Comprehensive theories, and subtile disquisitions, are not un frequent in their writings ; but they are chiefly employed for the illus- tration of different modes of virtue, and the establish- ment of different ideas of the supreme good. Their most abstracted speculations had almost always a prac- tical tendency. The schoolmen, indeed, were deeply immersed in metaphysical speculations. They fatigued their readers in the pursuit of endless abstractions and distinctions; but the design, even of these writers, seems rather to have been accurately to arrange and define the objects of thought, than to explore the mental facul- ties themselves. The nature of particular and univer- sal ideas, time, space, infinity, together with the mode of existence to be ascribed to the Supreme Being, chiefly engaged the attention of the mightiest minds in the middle ages. Acute in the highest degree, and en- dued with a wonderful patience of thinking, they yet, by a mistaken direction of their powers, wasted them- selves in endless logomachies, and displayed more of a teazing subtilty than of philosophical depth. They chose rather to strike into the dark and intricate by- paths of metaphysical science than to pursue a career of useful discovery : and as their disquisitions were neither adorned by taste, nor reared on a basis of ex- ESSAYS. tensive knowledge, they gradually fell into neglect, when juster views in philosophy made their appearance. Still they will remain a mighty monument of the utmost which the mind of man can accomplish in the field of abstraction. If the metaphysician does not find in the schoolmen the materials of his work, he will perceive the study of their writings to be of excellent benefit in sharpening his tools. They will aid his acuteness, though they may fail to enlarge his knowledge. When the inductive and experimental philosophy, recommended by Bacon, had, in the hands of Boyle and Newton, led to such brilliant discoveries in the in- vestigation of matter, an attempt was soon made to transfer the same method of proceeding to the mind. Hobbes, a man justly infamous for his impiety, but of extraordinary penetration, first set the example ; which was not long after followed by Locke, who was more indebted to his predecessor than he had the candour to acknowledge. His celebrated Essay has been gen- erally considered as the established code of metaphys- ics. The opinions and discoveries of this great man have since been enriched by large accessions, and, on some points, corrected and amended by the labours of Berkeley, Hume, Reid, and a multitude of other wri- ters. Still there seems to be a principle of mortality inherent in metaphysical science, which sooner or later impairs the reputation of its most distinguished adepts. It is a circumstance worthy of remark, that there has never been a reputation of this kind,, which has contin- ued with undiminished lustre, through the revolutions of a century. The fame of Locke is visibly on the de- cline ; the speculations of Malebranche are scarcely heard of in France ; and Kant, the greatest metaphys- ical name on the Continent, sways a doubtful sceptre amidst a host of opponents. It is not our intention to inquire at large into the reason of the transitory fame 3 REVIEW OF acquired by this class of writers. Whether it be that the science itself rests on a precarious foundation ; that its discoveries can never be brought to a decisive test ; that it is too remote from the business of life to be generally interesting ; that it does not compensate by its use, for its defects in the fascinations of pleasure ; and that it is not like the intricacies of law, interwoven with the institutions of society ; the fact itself is un- questionable. He who aspires to a reputation, that shall survive the vicissitudes of opinion and of time, must think of some other character than that of a me- taphysician. Grand and imposing in its appearance, it seems to lay claim to universal empire, and to supply the meas- ures and the criteria of all other knowledge ; but it resembles in its progress the conquests of a Sesostris, and a Bacchus, who overran kingdoms and provinces with ease, but made no permanent settlements, and soon left no trace of their achievements. The case is very different with the popular writers, who, without attempting to form a theory, or to trace to their first elements, the vast assemblage of passions and principles which enter into the composition of man, are satisfied with describing him as he is. These wri- ters exhibit characters, paint manners, and display hu- man nature in those natural and affecting lights under which it will always appear to the eye of an acute and feeling observer. Without staying to inquire why it is that men think, feel, reason, remember, are attracted by some objects, or repelled by others, they take them as they are, and delineate the infinitely various modifi- cations and appearances assumed by our essential na- ture. From the general mass of human passions and manners, they detach such portions as they suppose will admit of the most beautiful illustrations, or afford the most instructive lessons. Next to a habit of self FOSTER'S ESSAYS. $ reflection, accompanied with an attentive survey of real life, writers of this kind are the best guides in the ac- quisition of that most important branch of knowledge, an acquaintance with mankind. As they profess to consider human nature under some particular aspect, their views are necessarily more limited than those of metaphysical writers ; but if they are less extensive they are more certain ; if they occupy less ground they cul- tivate it better. In the language of Bacon, " they come home to men's business and bosom." As they aim at. the delineation of living nature, they can never deviate far from truth and reality, without becoming ridiculous ; while, for the fidelity of their representations, they ap- peal to the common sense of mankind, the dictates of which they do little more than embody and adorn. The system of Locke, or of Hartley, it is possible to conceive, may be exploded by the prevalence of a dif- ferent theory ; but it is absurd to suppose, that the re- marks on life and manners, contained in the writings of Addison, or of Johnson, can ever be discredited by a future moralist. In the formation of a theory, more especially in matters so subtile and complicated as those which relate to the mind, the sources of error are various. When a chain of reasoning consists of many links, a failure of connexion in any part will pro- duce a mass of error in the result, proportioned to the length to which it is extended. In a complicated com- bmatiqn, if the enumeration of particulars in the out- set is not complete, the mistake is progressive and in- curable. In the ideal philosophy of Locke, for exam- ple, if the sources of sensation are not sufficiently ex- plored, or if there be, as some of the profoundest think- ers have suspected, other sources of ideas than those of sensation, the greater part of his system falls to the ground. The popular writers, of whom we have beer* speaking, are not exposed to such dangers. It is pos- B* 10 BEV1EW OF sible, indeed, that many particular views may be erro- neous ; but as their attention is continually turned to living nature, provided they be possessed of competent talents, their general delineations cannot fail of being distinguished by fidelity and truth. While a few spec- ulative men amuse themselves with discussing the com- parative merits of different metaphysical systems, these are the writers, whose sentiments, conveyed through in- numerable channels, form the spirit of the age ; nor is it to be doubted, that the Spectator and the Rambler have imparted a stronger impulse to the public mind than all the metaphysical systems in the world. On this account we are highly gratified when we meet with a writer, who, to a vein of profound and original thought, together with just views of religion and of morals, joins the talent of recommending his ideas by the graces of imagination, and the powers of eloquence. Such a writer we have the happiness of reviewing at present. Mr. Foster's name is probably new to most of our read- ers ; but if we may judge from the production before us, he cannot long be concealed from the notice and applause of the literary world. In an age of medioc- rity, when the writing of books has become almost a mechanical art, and a familiar acquaintance with the best models has diffused taste, and diminished genius, it is impossible to peruse an author who displays so great original powers without a degree of surprise. We are ready to inquire by what peculiar felicity he was enabled to desert the trammels of custom, to break the spell by which others feel themselves bound, and to maintain a career so perfectly uncontrolled and in- dependent. A cast of thought original and sublime, an unlimited command of imagery, a style varied, vig- orous, and bold, are some of the distinguishing features of these very singular Essays. We add, with peculiar satisfaction, that they breathe the spirit of piety and be- FOSTER'S ESSAY*. li nevolence* and bear the most evident indications of a heart deeply attached to scriptural truths. Though Mr. F. has thought fit to give to his work the title of " Essays in a Series of Letters" the reader must not expect any thing in the epistolary style. They were written, the author informs us, in letters to a friend, but with a view to publication ; and in their distinct development of a subject, and fulness of illustration, they resemble regular dissertations, rather than familiar epistles. We could have wished, indeed, that he had suppressed the title of Letters, as it may excite in the reader an expectation of colloquial ease and grace, which will not be gratified in the perusal. A little at- tention to this circumstance, though it might have im- paired the regularity of their method, would have ren- dered them more fascinating. The subjects appear to us well chosen, sufficiently uncommon to afford scope for original remarks, and important enough to call forth the exertions of the strongest powers. They are the following : 1. On a man's writing memoirs of himself : 2. On decision of character : 3. On the application of the epithet Romantic : 4. On some of the causes by which evangelical religion has been rendered less ac- ceptable to persons of cultivated taste. We shall endeavour to give our readers an idea of the general design of each of these essays; and to en- able them, by a few extracts, to judge of the manner in which that design is executed. In the first essay, the author expatiates at large on the influence of external events in the formation of char- acter. This influence he traces to four sources, instruc- tion, companionship, reading, and attention to the state and manners of mankind. Among the many objects calculated to form the character and impress the heart, Mr. F. enumerates natural scenery ; at the same time deploring that want 12 REVIEW OF of fancy and sensibility, which often renders it produc- tive of so little effect. The passage in which he adverts to this subject, is so beautiful, that we cannot prevail on ourselves to withhold it from the reader. He will see at once that the writer has viewed nature with the eye of a poet, and has deeply imbibed the delicious enchantment which he so eloquently describes. ' It might be supposed that the scenes of nature, an amazing as- semblage of phenomena, if their effect were not lost through famil- iarity, would have a powerful influence on all opening minds, and transfuse into the internal economy of ideas and sentiment some- thing of a character and a colour correspondent to the beauty, vi- cis. direction, and every movement and every day was an approxima- tion. As his method referred every thing he did and thought to the end, and as his exertion did not relax for a moment, he made the trial, so seldom made what is the utmost effect which may be granted to the last possible efforts of a human agent ; and there- fore, what he did not accomplish, he might conclude to be placed beyond the sphere of mortal activity, and calmly leave to the im- mediate disposal of Providence, pp. 156160. Pp. 125123. Seventh Edition. We have one remark to make, before we conclude our review of this essay. We are a little apprehensive, that the glowing colours in which the imagination of Mr. F. has painted an unyielding constancy of mind, may tend to seduce some of his readers into an intem- perate admiration of that quality, without duly distin- guishing the object to which it is directed, and the mo- tives by which it is sustained. We give our author full credit for the purity of his principles ; we are firm- ly persuaded that he is not to be classed among the im- pious idolaters of mental energy. But we could wish that he had more fully admonished his readers to re- gard resolution of character, not as a virtue so much as a means of virtue, a mere instrument that owes its value entirely to the purpose to which it is employed ; and that wherever nature has conferred it, an addition- al obligation is imposed of purifying the principles and regulating the heart. It might at first view, be thought impossible, as Mr. F. intimates, that men should be found, who are as resolute in the prosecution of crimi- nal enterprises, as they could be supposed to be in the pursuit of the most virtuous objects. It is surely a mel- ancholy proof of something wrong in the constitution of human nature, that a quality so important as that of energetic decision, is so little under the regulation of principle ; that constancy is so much more frequently to be seen in what is wrong than in what is right ; and, in fine, that the world can boast so many more heroes than the church. FOSTER'S ESSAYS. 17 In the third essay, On the application of the epithet Romantic, Mr. Foster takes occasion to expose the ea- gerness with which terms of censure are adopted by men, who, instead of calmly weighing the merits of an undertaking, or a character, think it sufficient to express their antipathy by some opprobrious appellation. The epithet romantic, holds a distinguished place in the vocabulary of contempt. If a scheme of action, which it requires much benevolence to conceive, and much vigour to execute, be proposed, by many it will be thought completely exploded when they have branded it with the appellation of romantic. Thus selfishness and indolence, arraying themselves in the garb of wis- dom, assume the pride of superiority, when they ought to feel the humiliation of guilt. To imitate the highest examples, to do good in ways not usual in the same rank of life, to make great exertions and sacrifices in the cause of religion and with a view to eternal happi- ness, to determine without delay to reduce to practice whatever we applaud in theory, are modes of conduct which the world will generally condemn as romantic, but which this author shows to be founded on the high- est reason. In unfolding the true idea of the romantic, as applicable to a train of sentiments, or course of con- duct, he ascribes whatever may be justly so denominat- ed, to the predominance of the imagination over the other powers. He points out the symptoms of this dis- ease, as apparent in the expectation of a peculiar destiny, while the fancy paints to itself scenes of unex- ampled felicity in overlooking the relation which sub- sists between ends and means in counting upon cas- ualties instead of contemplating the stated order of events, and in hoping to realise the most momentous projects, without any means at all, or by means totally inadequate to the effect. Some of the illustrations which the author introduces on this part of his subject, are c 18 REVIEW OF peculiarly happy. We are delighted to find him treat- ing with poignant ridicule, those superficial pretenders, who, without disavowing any dependence on divine agency, hope to reform the world, and to bring back a paradisaical state, by the mere force of moral instruc- tion. For the prospect of the general prevalence of virtue and happiness, we are indebted to revelation. We have no reason to suppose the minds of our modern infidels sufficiently elevated to have thought of the ces- sation of wars, and the universal diffusion of peace and love, but for the information which they have obtained from the scriptures. From these, they derived the doctrine of a millenium ; and they have received it as they have done every thing else, only to corrupt it : for, exploding all the means by which the scriptures have taught us to expect the completion of this event, they rely merely on the resources of reason and philosophy. They impiously deck themselves with the spoils of Revelation, and take occasion from the hopes and prospects which she alone supplies, to deride her assistance, and to idolize the powers of human nature. That Being, who planted Christianity by miraculous interposition, and by the ef- fusion of his Spirit produced such effects in the hearts of millions as afford a specimen and a pledge of an en- tire renovation, has also assured us, that violence and injustice shall cease, and that none shall hurt, or de- stroy in all his holy mountain, because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God. But, it seems, rev- elation is to have no concern in this work ; philosophy is to effect every thing ; and we are to look to the Po- litical Justice of Godwin, and the Moral Code of Vol- ney, for that which Christians were so weak as to ex- pect at the hand of Deity ! The conclusion which our author draws from the in- sufficiency of mere human agency, to effect that great 19 renovation in the character and condition of men which Revelation teaches us to expect, is most just and con- solatory. We should Vave been happy to transcribe the passage ; but lest , e should exceed our limits, we refer our readers to v ol. II. pp. 87, 88. Pp. 244 247. Seventh Edition. The last essay in these volumes, attempts to assign some of the causes that have rendered evangelical re- ligion less acceptable to persons of cultivated taste. This essay is the most elaborate. Aware of the deli- cacy and difficulty of his subject, the author seems to have summoned all the powers of his mind, to enable him to grasp it in all its extent, and to present it in all its force and beauty. This essay is itself sufficient, in our opinion, to procure the author a brilliant and lasting reputation. It is proper to remind our readers, that in tracing the causes which have tended to produce in men of taste an aversion to evangelical religion, Mr. F. avow- edly confines himself to those which are of a subordi- nate class, while he fully admits the primary cause to be that inherent corruption of nature, which renders men strongly indisposed to any communication from Heaven. We could, however, have wished that he had insisted on this more largely. The scriptures as- cribe the rejection of the gospel to one general princi- ple ; the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he. know tkc.m, because they are spiritually discerned. The peculiar doctrines of Christianity are distinguished by a spirit irreconcilably at variance with that of the world. The deep repentance it enjoins, strikes at the pride and levity of the human heart. The mystery of an incarnate and crucified Saviour, must necessarily confound the reason, and shock the preju- dices, of a mind which will admit nothing that it can- not perfectly reduce to the principles of philosophy- 20 REVIEW OF The whole tenor of the life of Christ, the objects he pursued, and the profound humiliation he exhibited, must convict of madness and folly the favourite pursuits of mankind. The virtues usually practised in society, and the models of excellence most admired there, are so remote from that holiness which is enjoined in the New Testament, that it is impossible for a taste which is formed on the one, to perceive the charms of the other. The happiness which it proposes in an union with God, and a participation of the image of Christ, is so far from being congenial to the inclinations of worldly men, that it can scarcely be mentioned without exciting their ridicule and scorn. General speculations on the Deity have much to amuse the mind, and to gratify that appetite for the wonderful, which thought- ful and speculative men are delighted to indulge. Re- ligion, viewed in this light, appears more in the form of an exercise to the understanding, than a law to the heart. Here the soul expatiates at large, without feel- ing itself controlled or alarmed. But when evangeli- cal truths are presented, they bring God so near, if we may be allowed the expression, and speak with so com- manding a voice to the conscience, that they leave no alternative, but that of submissive acquiescence or proud revolt. As men of taste are, for the most part, men of the world, not at all distinguished from others by a greater familiarity with religious ideas, these observa- tions are applicable to them in their utmost extent. Though we thought it right to suggest these hints, we wish not to be understood to convey any censure on Mr. F. for confining his attention principally to oth- er topics. In discussing more fully and profoundly, some of the subordinate causes, which have come in aid of the primary one, to render men of cultivated taste averse to evangelical piety, we think he has ren- dered an important service to the public. ESSAYS. 21 The first cause he assigns is, that of its being the religion of many weak and uncultivated minds ; in consequence of which it becomes inseparably associat- ed, in the conceptions of many, with the intellectual poverty of its disciples, so as to wear a mean and de- graded aspect. We regret that we cannot follow the author in his illustration of this topic. We must be content with observing, that he has exposed the weak- ness of this prejudice in a most masterly and triumphant manner. The second cause which the author assigns, as hav ing had, in his opinion, a considerable influence in prej- udicing elegant and cultivated minds against evangeli- cal piety, is the peculiarity of language adopted in the discourses and books of its teachers, the want of a more classical form of diction, and the profusion of words and phrases which are of a technical and systematical cast. We are inclined to think, with Mr. F. that the cause of religion has suffered considerably from the circum- stance here mentioned. The superabundance of phras- es, appropriated by some pious authors to the subject of religion, and never applied to any other purpose, has not only the effect of disgusting persons oi taste. but of obscuring religion itself. As they are seldom defined, and never exchanged for equivalent words, they pass current without being understood* They are not the vehicle, they are the substitute of thought. Among a certain description of Christians, they become, by degrees, to be regarded with a mystic awe ; inso- much, that if a writer expressed the very same ideas in different phrases, he would be condemned as a her- etic. To quit the magical circle of words in which many Christians suffer themselves to be confined, ex- cites as great a clamour as the boldest innovation in sentiment. Controversies whirl) have been agitated with much v/armth, might often have been amicably 22 REVIEW OF adjusted, or even finally decided, could the respective partisans have been prevailed on to lay aside their pre- dilection for phrases, and honestly resolve to examine their real import. In defiance of the dictates of can- dour and good sense, these have been obstinately re- tained ; and have usually been the refuge of ignorance, the apple of discord, and the watch-words of religious hostility. In some instances, the evil which we lament, has sprung from a more amiable cause. The force and solemnity of devotional feelings are such, that they S4)em to consecrate every thing with which they have been connected ; and as the bulk of pious people have received their religious impressions from teachers more distinguished for their simplicity and zeal than for com- prehension of mind and copiousness of language, they learn to annex an idea of sanctity to that set of phrases with which they have been most familiar. These be- come the current language of religion, to which subse- quent writers conform, partly perhaps from indolence, and partly from the fear of offending their brethren. To these causes, we may add, the contentious and sectarian spirit of modern times, which has taught the different parties of Christians to look on one another with an unnatural horror, to apprehend contamination from the very phrases employed by each other, and to invent each for itself a dialect as narrow and exclusive as their whimsical singularities. But, while we concur, in the main, with Mr. F. on this subject, we are dispos- ed to think that he has carried his representations too far, both with respect to the magnitude of the abuse itself, and the probable advantages which would ensue on its removal. The repugnance of the human mind, in its unenlightened state, to the peculiarities of the Christian doctrine, is such, that we have little hope of its yielding to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. Till it is touched and humbled by grace, we are apprehensive that it will retain its aversion, and not suffer itself to be cheated into an approbation of the gospel by any artifice of words. Exhibit evan- gelical religion in what colours you will, the worldly- minded and the careless will shrink from the obtrusion of unwelcome ideas. Cowper has become, in spite of his religion, a popular poet, but his success has not been such as to make religion popular ; nor have the gigan- tic genius and fame of Milton shielded from the ridicule and contempt of his admirers, that system of religion which he beheld with awful adoration. In treating subjects properly theological, we appre- hend, great caution should be used, not to deviate wan- tonly and unnecessarily from the phraseology of scrip- ture. The apostle tells us, that in preaching the gos- pel, he did not use the enticing words of man's wisdom, but such words as the Holy Ghost taught him. We do not, indeed, contend, that in the choice of every par- ticular word, or phrase, he was immediately inspired ; but we think it reasonable to believe, that the unction which was on his heart, and the perfect illumination that he possessed, led him to employ such terms in the statement of the mysteries of Christianity, as were bet- ter adapted than any other, to convey their real import ; which we are the more inclined to conclude, from ob- serving the sameness of phraseology which pervades the writings of the apostles, when they are treating on the same subject. As the truths which the revelation of the New Testament unfolds, are perfectly original, and transcendently important, it might naturally be ex- pected, that the communication of them would give birth to an original cast of phraseology, or in other words, a steady adherence to certain terms, in order to render the ideas which they conveyed, fixed, precise, and un- changeable. In teaching the principles of every science, it is found J4 REVIEW OF necessary, to select or invent terms, which though orig- inally of a laxer signification, are afterwards restrict- ed and confined to one peculiar modification of thought, and constitute the technical language of that science. Such terms are always capable of being defined ; (for mere words convey nothing to the mind ;) but to sub- stitute a definition in their place, would be tedious cir- cumlocution ; and to exchange the term itself for a dif- ferent one, would frequently lead to dangerous mistakes. In the original elementary parts of a language, there are in truth few, or no synonymes ; for what should prompt men, in the early period of literature, to invent a word, that neither conveyed any new idea, nor ena- bled them to present an old one with more force and precision. In the progress of refinement, indeed, re- gard to copiousness and harmony, has enriched lan- guage with many exotics, which are merely those words in a foreign language that perfectly correspond to terms in our own ; as felicity for happiness, celestial for heavenly, and a multitude of others. Since, then, the nature of language is such, that no two terms are exactly of the same force and import, (except in the case last mentioned,) we cannot but apprehend that dangerous consequences would result from a studied attempt to vary from the standard phraseology, where the statement of doctrines is concerned ; and that by changing the terms, the ideas themselves mightbe chang- ed or mutilated. In teaching a religion designed for the use and benefit of all mankind, it is certainly desir- able that the technical words, the words employed in a peculiar and appropriate sense, should be few ; but to fix and perpetuate the ideas, and to preserve the faith once delivered to the saints from the caprices of fancy, and the dangers of innovation, it seems necessa- ry that there should be some. We are inclined to think that in inculcating Christian morality, and in appeals FOSTER'S ESSAYS. 251 and addresses to the heart, a much greater latitude may be safely indulged, than in the statement of pecul- iar doctrines; and that a more bold and varied diction, with a wider range of illustration and allusion than is usually employed, would often be attended with the happiest effect. Mr. Foster has given in many parts of these volumes, beautiful specimens ofwhat we intend. With respect to the copious use of scripture language, which Mr. F. condemns, (in our opinion with too much severity,) as giving an uncouth and barbarous air to theological books, we prefer a middle course ; without applauding the excess to which it is carried by many pious writers, on the one hand ; or wishing it to be kept so entirely apart as Mr. F. contends, on the other. To say nothing of the inimitable beauties of the Bible, considered in a literary view, which are universally ac- knowledged ; it is the book which every devout man is accustomed to consult as the oracle of God ; it is the companion of his best moments, and the vehicle of his strongest consolations. Intimately associated in his mind with every thing dear and valuable, its diction more powerfully excites devotional feelings than any other ; and when temperately and soberly used, imparts an unction to a religious discourse, which nothing else can supply. Besides, is there not room to apprehend, that a studied avoidance of the scripture phraseology, and a care to express all that it is supposed to contain in the forms of classical diction, might ultimately lead to a neglect of the scriptures themselves, and a habit of substituting flashy and superficial declamation, in the room of the saving truths of the gospel ? Such an apprehension is but too much verified by the most cel- ebrated sermons of the French ; and still more by some modern compositions in our own language, which usurp that title. For devotional impression, we conceive that a very considerable tincture of the language of 26 REVIEW OF scripture, or at least such a colouring as shall discover an intimate acquaintance with those inimitable models, will generally succeed best. It is impossible to establish an universal rule, since different methods are equally adapted to different pur- poses ; and therefore we are willing to allow with Mr. F. that where the fashionable and the gay are address- ed, and the prejudices arising from a false refinement are to be conciliated, whatever in the diction might re- pel by an appearance of singularity, should be carefully shunned. Accordingly, we equally admire, in the Rise and Progress of Religion, by Dr. Doddridge, and in the Rural Philosophy of Mr. Bates, the dexterity with which these excellent writers have suited their com- position to their respective classes of readers. On the whole, let it once for all be remembered, that men of taste form a very small part of the community, of no greater consequence in the eyes of their Creator than others ; that the end uf all religious discourse is the sal- vation of souls ; and that to a mind which justly esti- mates the weight of eternal things, it will appear a great- er honour to have converted a sinner from the error of his way, than to have wielded the thunder of a Demos- thenes, or to have kindled the flame of a Cicero. We hasten to close this article, by making a few ob- servations on the last cause which our author has as- signed, for the general distaste that persons of polite and elegant attainments usually discover toward evan- gelical religion. This is, the neglect and contempt with which it has been almost constantly treated by our fine writers, of whose delinquency, in this respect, the author takes a wide and extensive survey, exposing their criminality with a force of eloquence that has per- haps never before been exerted on this subject. Though his attention is chiefly directed to the influence of modern literature, yet as the writings of the an- FOSTER'S ESSAYS. 27 cients, and especially of the poets, have had a power- ful operation in forming the taste and sentiments of succeeding generations, he has extended his notice to these, and has made some most striking animadver- sions on the ancient authors of the epopea, and par- ticularly on Homer. We must do justice to his intrepidity in venturing to attack the idol of all classical scholars : nor can he have failed to foresee the manner in which it will be attempt- ed to be repelled. They will remind him, that the lawfulness of defensive war has seldom been called in question ; that the one in which Homer's heroes were ,ed, was not only just but meritorious, being un- dertaken to avenge a most signal affront and injury ; that no subject could be more suited to the epic muse, either on account of its magnitude, or the deep interest it excited ; that having chosen it, the poet is to be com- mended for throwing into it all the fire of which it was susceptible ; that to cherish in the breasts of youth a gallant and warlike spirit, is the surest defence of na- tions ; and that this spirit, under proper regulations, constitutes that fofMt&K which Plato extols so highly in his republic, as the basis of a manly, heroic charac- ter. This, and much more than this, will be said : but when our Grecians have spent all their arrows, it will still remain an incontestable fact, that an enthusiastic admiration of the Iliad of Homer, is but a bad prepara- tion for relishing the beauties of the New Testament. What then is to be done ? Shall we abandon the clas- sics, and devote ourselves solely to the perusal of mod- ern writers, where the maxims inculcated, and the principles taught, are little, if at all, more in unison with those of Christianity ? a fact, which Mr. F. ac- knowledges and deplores. While things continue as they are, we are apprehensive, therefore, that we should gain nothing by neglecting the unrivalled productions 28 REVIEW OF of genius left us by the ancients, but a deterioration oi taste, without any improvement in religion. The evil is not to be corrected by any partial innovation of this kind. Until a more Christian spirit pervades the world, we are inclined to think that the study of the classics, is on the whole, advantageous to public morals, by in- spiring an elegance of sentiment, and an elevation of soul, which we should in vain seek for elsewhere. The total inattention of the great majority of our fine writers, to all the distinguishing features of the religion they profess, affords a most melancholy reflection. It has no doubt excited the notice of many, and has been deeply lamented ; but it has never been placed in a light so serious and affecting, as in the volumes before us. In the observations which our author makes on the Essay on Man, we are delighted and surprised, to find at once so much philosophical truth and poetical beau- ty. His critique on the writings of Addison and John- son, evinces deep penetration ; and as it respects the former, is uncommonly impressive and important. We take our leave of this work, with sincere reluc- tance. For the length to which we have extended our review, the subject must be our apology. It has fared with us as with a traveller who passes through an en- chanting country, where he meets with so many beau- tiful views and so many striking objects which he is loath to quit, that he loiters till the shades of the evening in- sensiby fall upon him. We are far, however, from re- commending these volumes as faultless. Mr. F.'s work is rather an example of the power of genius, than a specimen of finished composition : it lies open in many points to the censure of those minor critics, who by the observation of a few technical rules may easily avoid its faults, without reaching one of its beau- ties. The author has paid too little attention to the construction of his sentences. They are for the most 29 part too long, sometimes involved in perplexity, and of- ten loaded with redundancies. They have too much of the looseness of an harangue, and too little of the compact elegance of regular composition. An occa- sional obscurity pervades some parts of the work. The mind of the writer seems at times to struggle with con- ceptions too mighty for his grasp, and to present con- fused masses, rather than distinct delineations of thought. This, however, is to be imputed to the originality, not the weakness of his powers. The scale on which he thinks is so vast, and the excursions of his imagination are so extended, that they frequently carry him into the most unbeaten track, and among objects where a ray of light glances in an angle only, without diffusing itself over the whole. On ordinary topics, his concep- tions are luminous in the highest degree. He places the idea which he wishes to present in such a flood of light, that it is not merely visible itself, but it seems to illumine all around it. He paints metaphysics, and has the happy art of arraying what in other hands would appear cold and comfortless abstractions, in the warm- est colours of fancy. Without the least affectation of frivolous ornaments, without quitting his argument in pursuit of imagery, his imagination becomes the perfect handmaid of his reason, ready at every moment to spread her canvass, and present her pencil. But what pleases us most, and affords us the highest satisfaction, is to find such talents enlisted on the side of true Chris- tianity : nor can we help indulging a benevolent triumph at the accession of powers to the cause of evangelical piety, which its most distinguished opponents would be proud to possess. REVIEW ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION, THIRD EDITION. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE REVIEW. IT was the opinion of some sincere friends of relig- ion, that a republication of the following strictures might have its use in certain quarters, where the literary jour- nal in which they first appeared may possibly not have extended. The writer of these remarks has nothing in view but the promotion of Christian charity, the vindi- cation of calumniated innocence, and the counteraction of those insidious arts, by which designing men are seek- ing to advance their personal interest or those of a party, at the expense of truth and justice. How far the Au- thor here animadverted upon, falls under this descrip- tion, must be left to the decision of an impartial public. If it be thought that more commendation ought to have been given, in the following strictures, to those parts of the work which are confessedly unexceptionable, the writer must be allowed to remark, that the effect of what is good in the performance is entirely defeated by the large infusion of what is of an opposite quality. PREFACE TO THE REVIEW. 31 In appreciating the merits of a writer, the general ten- dency of his work should be principally regarded, with- out suffering the edge of censure to be abated by such a mixture of truth as only serves to give a safer and wider circulation to misrepresentation and falsehood. It has been deemed a capital omission in the follow- ing critique, that no notice is taken of the Author's illib- eral treatment of the Puritans. This omission arose partly from a wish to avoid prolixity, and partly from an apprehension it would lead to a discussion not per- fectly relevant to the matter in hand. It would be no difficult matter to construct such a defence of the Pu- ritans, as would leave this or any other author very lit- tle to reply ; but to do justice to the subject would re- quire a deduction of facts, and a series of arguments, quite inconsistent with the limits to which we are con- fined. To oppose assertion to assertion, and invective to invective, could answer no end but the reviving ani- mosities which we should be happy to see for ever ex- tinguished. The controversy betwixt the Puritans and their opponents, turns entirely on these two questions. Has any religious society, assuming the name of a church, a right to establish new terms of communion, distinct from those enjoined by Christ and his apostles? Admitting they have such a right, ought these terms to consist in things which the imposers acknowledge to be indifferent, and the party on whom they are enjoined look upon as sinful ? Is not this a palpable violation of the apostolical injunction, Him that is weak in faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations ? We are persuaded we speak the sentiments of some of the best men in the Church of England, when we as- sert, that the basis of communion was made narrower at the Reformation than is consistent with the dictates of Christian charity or sound policy, and that the Puri- tans were treated with a severity altogether unjustifiable. 32 PREFACE TO A REVIEW OF The Author of l Zeal without Innovation' declares him- self "dissatisfied with the trite remark that there were faults on both sides, when the guilt of aggression rests so clearly on the heads of the Nonconformists." To infer their guilt as aggressors, because they were the first to complain, is begging the question at issue. Before we are entitled to criminate them on this head, it is requisite to inquire into the justice of their com- plaints. They who first discover a truth, are naturally the first to impugn the opposite error. They who find themselves aggrieved, are necessarily the first to com- plain. So that to attach culpability to the party which betrays the first symptoms of dissatisfaction, without farther inquiry, is to confer on speculative error, and on practical tyranny a claim to unalterable perpetuity a doctrine well suited to the mean and slavish maxims inculcated by this writer. The learned Warburton was as little satisfied as himself with the trite remark of their being faults on both sides, but for an opposite reason. "It would be hard," he affirms, "to say who are most to blame, those who oppose established au- thority for things indifferent ; or that authority which rigidly insists on them, and will abate nothing for the sake of tender, misinformed consciences : I say it would be hard to solve this, had not the Apostle done it for us, where he says, we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. I myself, says he, do so, and all for the gospel's sake. This is the man who tells us he had fought a good (ight and overcome. And we may believe him, for, in this contention, he is always the conqueror who submits." When the question is fairly put, whether a tender conscience, admitting it to be erroneous, shall be forced, or the imposition of things confessedly indifferent be dropped, it can surely require but little sagacity to re- turn a decisive answer. The arguments which induced ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 33 Locke to give his suffrage in favour of the Nonconform- ists, the reasons which prevailed on Baxter and on Howe to quit stations of usefulness in the church and doom themselves to an unprofitable inactivity, will not easily be deemed light or frivolous. The English na- tion has produced no men more exempt from the sus- picion of weakness or caprice than these. Desirous of composing, rather than inflaming, the dissensions which unhappily subsist among Christians, we decline entering farther on this topic ; heartily pray- ing with the Apostle, that 'grace may be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.' REVIEW. ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION : or the Present State of Religion and Morals considered ; with a View to the Dispositions and Measures required for its Improve- ment. To which is subjoined an Address to young Clergymen, intended to guard them against some prevalent Errors. THERE are some works which require to be viewed only in a literary light. No important princi- ples are discussed, nor any momentous interests at stake. When this is the case, nothing more is neces- sary than for a reviewer to exhibit the author's plan, and to give an impartial judgment on the ability with which it is executed. If the merit of the performance be very conspicuous, it is the less necessary to multi- ply words in order to show it ; and if it have little or none, it need not be conducted to the land of forgetful- ness with the pomp of criticism. For this reason, the utility of periodical criticism may, in a literary view, be fairly questioned ; as it seems like an attempt to antic- ipate the decision of the public, and prematurely to ad- just those pretensions, which, if left to itself, it will be sure to adjust, in time, with the most perfect impartial- ity. A reviewer may give a momentary popularity to what deserves to be forgotten, but he can neither with- REVIEW, &,C. 35 hold nor bestow a lasting fame. Cowper, we will ven- ture to say, is not the less admired because the Critical Review, with its usual good taste and discernment, could discover in him no traces of poetic genius. There are other works, which owe their importance more to the subjects on which they treat, and their ten- dency to inflame the prejudices and strike in with the humour of the public, than to any extraordinary ability. Their infection renders them formidable. They are calculated to increase the violence of an epidemic dis- ease. The matter of contagion ought not to be slighted on account of the meanness of the vehicle by which it is transmitted. We are sorry to be under the necessi- ty of classing the performance before us with works of that nature ; but our conviction of its deserving that char- acter must be our apology for bestowing a degree of attention upon it, to which it is not otherwise entitled. The author's professed design is to present a view of the state of religion and morals, and to suggest such remedies as are best adapted to correct the disorders under which they languish. A more noble and impor- tant undertaking cannot be conceived. We have only to lament, that, in the pursuit of it, he betrays so many mean partialities and ungenerous prejudices, as utter- ly disqualify him from doing justice to the subject. While we would wish to give him credit for some, por- tion of good intention, we are firmly convinced, that had his eye been single, his whole body had been more full of light. In an attempt to trace the causes of de- generacy in religion and morals, and to point out the proper correctives, nothing is more requisite than a large and catholic spirit, totally emancipated from the shackles of party, joined with extensive knowledge and a discriminating judgment. In the first of these quali- ties, the author is lamentably deficient. He looks at every thing so entirely through the medium of party, 36 REVIEW OF that, though he cannot be said to be absolutely blind, he is quite incapable of seeing afar off. His remarks are often shrewd ; such as indicate a mind awake, and attentive to the scenes which have passed before him. He is sometimes acute, never comprehensive ; accu- rate in details, with little capacity for tracing the consequences, and unfolding the energy of general principles. While the title of the work leads us to expect his attention would be entirely directed to the best means of promoting the moral improvement of mankind, the watchful reader will perceive there are subordinate objects which he is at least equal- ly solicitous to advance. There is a complication in his views, a wheel within a wheel, quite incompatible with simplicity of mind, and perfect purity of intention. There appears too much reason to regard him as an artful, bigoted partizan, acting under the disguise of a philanthropist and a reformer. Severe as this censure may seem, we are persuaded our readers will acknowl- edge its justice, when they are apprised of the leading statements and positions contained in this singular work. The author sets out with descanting on the state of religion in this country, which he represents as very de- plorable ; in proof of this, he adduces, among other facts, the violation of the Christian Sabbath, and the prevailing neglect of public worship. As these symp- toms of degeneracy are not found in an equal degree among Dissenters and Methodists, he is led, by the course of his subject, to notice the state of religion amongst them, where he acknowledges there is no room to complain of a deficiency of zeal. He does not affect to deny that their teachers exhibit the great truths of Christianity with energy and effect, and that much good has resulted from their labours. We should naturally suppose a pious man would here find ground for satisfaction ; and that, however he might regret the ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 37 mixture of error with useful efforts, he would rejoice to perceive that real and important good was done any where. It is but justice to him, to let him convey his feelings on this subject in his own words. ' From the sad state of things represented in the preceding section, many turn with pleasure to what is passing among our Separatists, whose places of worship generally exhibit a very different scene to our parish churches. Here there appears to be some life and effect. The officiating minister has not hall empty pews to harangue, but a crowded auditory "hanging on his lips." vVhether, however, in what is now before us we shall find no cause of uneasiness, when all its circumstances are considered, admits of great doubt. ' It cannot be denied, that with all the fanaticism charged on Separatists, f and it is to be feared with great truth in some instan- ces,) many a profligate has been reclaimed, and much good in other ways has been done among the lower orders, by the labours of their ministers. From these circumstances, and the known igno- rance and dissoluteness of the times, many, without the least degm; of adverse intention to our established church, have in the simplic- ity of their hearts concurred in forwarding the endeavours of the Separatists. And hence it is, that in all the more populous parts of the country, we see that multitude of dissenting chapels, which of late years has increased, and is still increasing. ' To some good men, free from all prejudice ftgainfft the Church of England, it is matter of no regret, that the number olVepHnitistsin- crease, provided there be with this circumstance an inorMMiBg re- gard to Christianity. With such persons, all consideration offorms, am 1 modes of worship, is sunk in the irreater importance of genuine faith and piety. But itenters not into the thon-jliis ol'surli PITS. nt, ires may spring up with the wheat ;" arid that what at pres- ent lias a good effect, may operate to the production of s ( >u,<:'hing hereafter of a very different nature. Now such we conceive to be :ure of the case before us. We have reason to apprehend ill i."i<-es from increasing separatism ; with whatever zeal for ant truths, and with whatever success in propagating them, nt accompanied. Aiul first, it may be observed, that if goes to annihilation of the -in-d church as a national institution. The bulk of every newly-niised congregation of Separatists is composed of persons ea- within the pale of the Church of England. Of these many are heads of families, or likely to become so. By commencing 'ers, they, and their posterity, however multiplied, are broken lilHr-mi th<* national church. These detachments from the estab- nt. 2o*ri2 on as they have done of late years, must conse- mrrease the number of those who prefer a differently con- I church ; and these may in time amount to such a major- it asrain a question with those in power, whether the Church of England shall any longer have the support of the state.' pp.14 17. 38 REVIEW OF That the increase of Dissenters, in itself considered, cannot be a pleasing circumstance to a conscientious Churchman, is certain ; and if this is all the author means to say, he talks very idly. The true question evidently is, whether the good accruing from the la- bours of Dissenters is a proper subject of congratula- tion, although it may be attended with this incidental consequence, an increased separation from the Estab- lished Church. In a word, Is the promotion of genu- ine Christianity, or the advancement of an external communion, the object primarily to be pursued ? What- ever excellence may be ascribed to our national estab- lishment by its warmest admirers, still it is a human in- stitution ; an institution to which the first ages of the church were strangers, to which Christianity was in no degree indebted for its original success, and the merit of which must be brought to the test of utility. It is in the order of means. As an expedient devised by the wisdom of our ancestors, for promoting true religion, it is entitled to support just as far as it accomplishes its end. This end, however, is found in some instances to be accomplished by means which are of a different de- scription. A fire, which threatens immediate destruc- tion, is happily extinguished before it has had time to extend its ravages ; but it is extinguished by persons who have volunteered their services, without waiting for the engineers, who act under the direction of the police. Here is zeal, but unfortunately accompanied with innovation, at which our author is greatly chagrin- ed. How closely has he copied the example of St. Paul, who rejoiced that Christ was preached, though from envy and contention ! With him, the promulga- tion of divine truth was an object so much at heart, that he was glad to see it accomplished, even from the most criminal motives, and by the most unworthy in- struments. With our author, the dissemination of the same truth, by some of the best of men, and from the purest motives, is matter of lamentation and regret. It requires little attention to perceive he has been taught in a different school from the Apostle, and studied under a different master. The eternal interests of mankind are either mere chimeras, or they are matters of infinite importance ; compared with which, the success of any party, the increase of any external communion whatever, is mere dust in the balance : and for this plain reason, that the promotion of these interests is the very end of Chris- tianity itself. However divided good men may have been with respect to the propriety of legislative inter- ference in the affairs of religion, the arguments by which they have supported their respective opinions, have been uniformly drawn from the supposed tendency of such interference, or the contrary, to advance the moral im- provement of mankind ; and, supposing this to be as- certained, the superior merit of the system to which that tendency belongs was considered as decided. Viewed in this light, the problem is extensive, affording scope for much investigation ; while the authority of religion remains unimpaired, and the disputants on each side are left at liberty to indulge the most enlarged sentiments of candour towards each other. Such were the principles on which Hooker and the ablest of his successors rested their defence of the established church. The High Church Party, of which Mr. Daubeny may be looked upon as the present leader, have taken dif- ferent grounds. Their system is neither more nor less than Popery, faintly disguised, and adapted to the me- ridian of England. The writer before us, without avow- ing the sentiments of Daubeny, displays nearly the same intolerance and bigotry, under this peculiar disadvan- tage, that his views want the cohesion of system, his bigotry the support of principle. This formal separa- tion of the interests of the church from those of true religion, must inevitably produce the most deplorable consequences. Will the serious and conscientious part of the public be led to form a favourable opinion of a religious community, by hearing it avowed, by her champions, that men had better be suffered eternally to perish, than to find salvation out of her pale? Will they not naturally ask what those higher ends can be, in compasison of which the eternal welfare of a large portion of our fellow creatures is deemed a trifle ? Could such a spirit be supposed generally prevalent in the clergy of the established church, it would at once lose all that is sacred in their eyes, and be looked upon as a mere combination to gain possession of power and emolument under pretence of religion. We are mis- taken, if much mischief has not already accrued from the indulgence of this spirit. It has envenomed the ill qualities naturally generated by the domination of a party. It has produced serious injury to the church, by emboldening men to appear in her defence, who bring nothing into the controversy but overweening pride, ceremonial hypocrisy, and priestly insolence. Haughty, contemptuous airs, a visible disdain of the scruples of tender consciences, and frequently of piety itself, except under one garb and fashion, have been too generally assumed by her champions. These fea- tures have given inexpressible disgust to pious and can- did minds ; hurt, as they well may be, to see a religious community, however numerous or respectable, continu- ally vaunting itself, laying exclusive claims to purity and orthodoxy, and seeming to consider it as a piece of condescension to suffer any other denomination to subsist. They cannot dismisss it from their minds, that humility is a virtue proper to a church as well as to an individual, and that ecclesiastical pride may hap- pen to be as offensive to Heaven, as pride of any other ZEAL WITHOUT INNOYATION. 41 kind. In the church of Rome these qualities have been ever conspicuous ; but finding nothing of this sort in an equal degree, in any other Protestant communion, and recollecting that "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man be laid low," one naturally feels some apprehension that they may not pass unpunished, though they are found in the pre- cincts of a cathedral. Our author derives no satisfaction from the acknowl- edged success of Dissenters in turning sinners from the error of their way, from an apprehension that their success may eventually prove injurious to the establish- ment. He pretends to foresee, from this cause, a con- tinual transfer of hearers from the church to the con- venticle. We beg leave to ask the writer, how such a consequence can ensue, but from the superior zeal and piety of sectaries ? To suppose that with only an equal share of these qualities they will be able to make successful inroads on the church, is to abandon the de- fence of the hierarchy altogether ; since this is acknowl- edging a radical defect in the system, which operates as a dead weight on its exertions, and disqualifies it for maintaining its ground against rivals ; that in short, in- stead of being the most efficacious mode of exhibiting and impressing revealed truth, it is intrinsically weak and ineffectual. For that system must surely be ac- knowledged to be so, which is incapable of interesting the people, and which, by rendering public worship less attractive, produces a general preference of a dif- ferent mode. To suppose this to be the case, is to suppose something essentially wrong, which should be immediately examined and corrected. On this suppo- sition, the men are acquitted ; the system is arraigned. As this, however, is far from being the opinion of the author, the conclusion returns with irresistible force, that a permanent increase of Dissenters can only arise 42 REVIEW OP from their superior piety and zeal. Now these are really, in our opinion, qualities too valuable to be dis- pensed with, whatever interests they may obstruct. Regretting, deeply as we may, in common with our author, that they should have formed an alliance so unfortunate, we must still think it better, not only for their possessors but for the world at large, for them to be found even here, than to have no existence at all; and it is upon this point we are at issue with this con- scientlous reformer. For our parts, we are really so old fashioned and puritanical, that we had rather behold men awakened and converted among Dissenters and Methodists, than see them sleep the sleep of death in the arms of an establishment. But our author, it seems, is filled with pious alarm for the cause of orthodoxy, from the increasing separa- tion from the church. 'By the sound doctrine its in- stituted forms express, it will,' he tells us, * as long as it stands, be a witness to the truth, in periods the most barren of ministerial qualification ; a rallying point to all truly Christian pastors ; and an accredited voucher for the purity of their instruction? p. 17. How much were the primitive Christians to be pitied, who were unhappily destitute of any such ' voucher,' and had nothing to secure the permanence of truth, but the promised presence of Christ, the illumination of the Spirit, and the light of the Scriptures poor substitutes, undoubtedly, for the solid basis of creeds and formu- laries ! We should readily concur with the author in his views of the security derived from the subscription of articles, if we could forget a few stubborn facts which we beg leave humbly to recal to his recollection. Is it not a fact, that the nature and extent of the assent and consent signified by subscription, has been the subject of a very thorny controversy, in which more ill faith and chicane have been displayed, than were ever ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 43 known out of the school of the Jesuits ; and that the issue of this controversy has been to establish very gen- erally the doctrine of Paley, that none are excluded by it but Quakers, Papists, and Baptists ? Is it not a fact, that the press is teeming every week with publi- cations of the most acrimonious description, written by professed churchmen, against persons who have incur- red this acrimony merely by their attachment to these articles ? Is it not a fact, that the doctrines they ex- hibit are so scorned and detested in this country, that whoever seriously maintains them is stigmatized with the name of l Methodist,' and that that part of the clergy who preach them are for thai reason alone more in- sulted and despised by their brethren than even the Dissenters themselves ? It is with peculiar effrontery that this author insists on subscription to articles as a sufficient security for the purity of religious instruction, when it is the professed object of his work to recal his contemporaries to that purity. If he means that the * voucher' he speaks of answers its purpose because it is credited, he is plainly laughing at the simplicity of the people : if he means to assert it is intitled to credit, we must request him to reflect how he can vindicate himself from the charge of ' speaking lies in hypocrisy.' 9 A long course of experience has clearly demonstrat- ed the inefficacy of creeds and confessions to perpetu- ate religious belief. Of this the only faithful deposi- tory is, not that which is written with ink, but on the fleshly tables of the heart. The spirit of error is too subtle and volatile to be held by such chains. Whoever is acquainted with ecclesiastical history must know, that public creeds and confessions have occasioned more controversies than they have composed ; and that when they ceased to be the subject of dispute, they have be- come antiquated and obsolete. A vast majority of the Dissenters of the present day hold precisely the same 44 RETIEW OF religious tenets which the Puritans did two centuries ago, because it is the instruction they have uniformly received from their pastors ; and for the same reason the articles of the national church are almost effaced from the minds of its members, because they have long been neglected or denied by the majority of those who occupy its pulpits. We have never heard of the church of Geneva altering its confession, but we know that Voltaire boasted there was not in his time a Calvinist in the city ; nor have we heard of any proposed amend- ment in the creed of the Scotch, yet it is certain the doctrines of that creed are preached by a rapidly de- creasing minority of the Scottish clergy. From these and similar facts we may fairly conclude, that the doc- trines of the church, with or without subscription, are sure to perpetuate themselves where they are faithfully preached ; but that the mere circumstance of their being subscribed, will neither secure their being preached nor believed. ' Separatism,' (says the author) ' has no fixed or perpetual char- acter ; what it is at present, we may by attentive observation be able to pronounce ; but no human foresight can ascertain what it will be hereafter. Though now in its numerous chapels the sound- est doctrine should be heard, we have no security that they will not become the schools of heresy. Here if the licentious teacher get a footing, he moulds the whole system of ministration to hii views ; not a prayer, not a psalm, not a formulary of any kind, but m this case will become the vehicle of error.' pp. 17, 13. How far, in creatures so liable to mistake, a fixed and perpetual character is an enviable attribute, we shall not stay to inquire ; with what right it is claimed on this occasion, it is not very difficult to determine. The thirty-nine articles will unquestionably always re- main the same, that is, they will always be the thirty- nine articles ; but it is not quite so certain that they are universally believed, much less that they will always continue to be so : and least of all that, after having ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 45 ceased to be believed, they will receive the sanction of every successive legislature. For our parts, such is our simplicity, that when we read of a fixed and per- petual character, our attention is always wandering to men, to some mode of thinking, or feeling, to which such perpetuity belongs, instead of resting in the useful contemplation of pen, ink, and paper. With every dis- position, however, to do the author justice, we have some fear for the success of his argument ; suspecting the Dissenters will be ready to reply, ' Our pastors cor- dially embrace the doctrine contained in your Articles ; and as this cannot be affirmed of the majority of yours, the question of perpetuity is reduced to this amusing theorem, In which of two given situations will a doc- trine last the longest, where it is believed without being subscribed, or where it is subscribed without being believed ?' The equal justice it is our duty to maintain, obliges us to notice another aspersion which the author casts upon Dissenters. ry addition Separatism makes to its supporters, alters the proportion existing in this country between the monarchical and the democratic spirit ; either of which preponderating to a consid- erable degree, might be productive of the most serious consequences. For it is certain, that as our church establishment is favourable to monarchy ; so is the constitution of our dissenting congregations to democracy. The latter principle is cherished in all communities, where the power resides not in one, or a few, but is shared, in cer- tain proportions, among all the members ; which is the case in f the religious societies under consideration. Let it be re- membered, then, that if religion increase in this way, there is that increasing with it which is not religion ; there is something spring- ing up with it which is of a different nature, and which will bo sure to stand, whether that better thing with which it may grow, do or not.' p. 20. In this statement, the author has exhibited his usual inattention to facts. That the people had in the first ages a large share in ecclesiastical proceedings, and that their officers were chosen by themselves, is incontro- E* 46 HEVIEW OF vertibly evident, as well from scripture, as from the au- thentic monuments of antiquity. The epistles of St, Cyprian, to go no farther, are as fall in proof of this point, as if they had been written on purpose to estab- lish it. The transfer of power, first from the people to their ministers, and afterwards from them to the bishop of Rome, was a gradual work, not fully accomplished till many centuries had elapsed from the Christian era. Until the conversion of Constantine, the Christian church was an imperium in imperio, a spiritual republic, sub- sisting in the midst of the Roman empire, on which it was completely independent ; and its most momentous affairs were directed by popular suffrage. Nor did it in this state either excite the jealousy, or endanger the repose, of the civil magistrate ; since the distinction betwixt the concerns of this world and those of another, so ably illustrated by Locke, taught the Christians of that time to render to Cesar the things which are Cesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Instruct- ed to yield obedience to princes for conscience' sake, they were not the less orderly or submissive, because they declined their interference in the suppression of error, or the punishment of ecclesiastical delinquency, [f there be that inseparable connexion between political disaffection and the exercise of popular rights in religion, which this writer contends, the primitive Christians must have been in a deplorable state ; since it would have been impossible for them to quiet the just appre- hensions of government, without placing a heathen emperor at the head of the church. What must we think of the knowledge of a Writer who was ignorant of these facts, of the candour which suppressed them, or of the humanity which finds an occasion of aspersing his fellow Christians, in what escaped tjie malignity of heathen persecutors ! ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 47 The Dissenters will not fail to remind the Writer, that the British is a mixed, not an absolute monarchy ; that the habit of considering the people as nothing, is as repugnant to its spirit as that of making them every- thing ; and that to vest the whole power in the hands of one person without check or control, is more suited to the genius of the Turkish, than the British govern- ment. And to this retort it must be confessed, the con- duct of the High Church party, who have seldom scru- pled to promulgate maxims utterly subversive of liberty, would lend a very colourable support. The whole topic, however, is invidious, absurd, and merely calcu- lated to mislead; since the construction of; the Christ- ian church is fixed by the will of its Founder, the dic- tates of which we are not at liberty to accommodate or bend to the views of human policy. The dispute re- specting ecclesiastical government, must, like every other on religion, be determined, if it ever be deter- mined at all, by an appeal to scripture, illustrated, per- haps, occasionally, by the approved usages of the earliest antiquity. To connect political consequences with it, and to make it the instrument of exciting pop- ular odium, is the indication of a bad cause and of a worse heart. After the specimens our readers have al- ready had of the Author's spirit, they will not be sur- prised to find he is not quite satisfied with the Tolera- tion Act, which, he complains, has been perverted from its purpose of affording relief to tender consciences, to that of making Dissenters. We are not acute enough to comprehend this distinction. We have always sup- posed it was the intention of the legislature, by that Act, to enable Protestant Dissenters to worship where they pleased, after giving proper notice to the magistrate ; how their availing themselves of this liberty can be con- strued into an abuse of the Act, we are at a loss to conceive. This Writer would tolerate Dissenters, but 48 REVIEW OF not allow them to propagate their sentiments ; that i? f he would permit them that liberty of thinking which none can restrain, but not of speaking and acting, which are alone subject to the operation of law. It is quite of a piece with the narrow prejudices of such a man, to complain of it as an intolerable hardship that a minister of the establishment is sometimes in dan- ger, through the undistinguishing spirit of hospitality, of being invited to sit down with religionists of different descriptions; and he avows his manly resolution of go- ing without his dinner, rather than expose himself to such an indignity. It is certainly a most lamentable thing to reflect, that a regular clergyman may possibly lose caste, by mixing, at the hospitable board, with some of those, who will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. When Burke was informed that Mr. Godwin held gratitude to be a crime, he replied, ' I will take care not to be accessary to his committing that crime.' We hope the lovers of hospitality will take the hint, and never insult the Author of 'Zeal without Innovation' by exposing him to the touch of the ceremonially un- clean. Although we have already trespassed on the patience of our readers, we cannot dismiss this part of the sub- ject without craving their indulgence a little longer. We are much concerned to witness the spirit of intol- erance that pervades many recent publications. If the uniform course of experience can prove any thing, it is, that the extension of any particular frame of church government will of itself contribute little to the interests of vital Christianity. Suppose every inhabitant of the kingdom were to return to the bosom of the establish- ment to-morrow, what real accession would be gained to the kingdom of Christ ? Is there any magic in the change of a name, which can convert careless, profane, irreligious dissenters into devout and pious churchmen ? ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 49 The virtuous part of them do honour to the Christian profession in the situation they occupy at present ; and for the vicious, they could only infect and disgrace the community with which they proposed to associate. What means this incessant struggle to raise one party on the ruins of another, this assumption of infallibility, and the clamorous demand for the interposition of the legislature, which we so often witness ? If the writers to whom we allude will honestly tell us they are ap- prehensive of their 'craft' being in danger, we will give them credit for sincerity ; but to attempt to cover their bigotry under the mask of piety, is too gross a decep- tion. Were the measures adopted for which these men are so violent, they would scarcely prove more injuri- ous to religion than to the interests of the established church ; to which the accession of numbers would be no compensation for the loss of that activity and spirit, which are kept alive by the neighbourhood of rival sects. She would suffer rapid encroachments from infidelity, and the indolence and secularity too incident to opulent establishments would hasten her downfall. Amidst the increasing degeneracy of the clergy, which must be the inevitable effect of destroying the necessity of vigilance and exertion, the people that now crowd the conventicle, would not repair to the church : they would be scattered and dissipated, like v uter no longer confined within its banks. In a very short time, we have not the smallest doubt, the attendance at church would be much less than it is now. A religion, which by leaving no choice can produce no attachment, a re- ligion invested with the stern rigour of law, and assso- ciated in the public mind, and in public practice, with prisons and pillories and gibbets, would be a noble match, to be sure, for the subtle spirit of impiety and the enormous and increasing corruption of the times. It is amusing to reflect what ample elbow-room the 50 REVIEW OF worthy rector would possess ; how freely he might ex- patiate in his wide domain, and how much the effect of his denunciations against schism would be heightened by echoing through so large a void. Hie vasto rex ^Eolus antro Luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras Imperio premit. The Gallican church, no doubt, looked upon it as a signal triumph, when she prevailed on Louis the Fourteenth to repeal the Edict of Nantes, and to sup- press the Protestant religion. But what was the con- sequence ? Where shall we look after this period, for her Fenelons and her Pascals, where for the distin- guished moniiments of piety and learning which were the glory of her better days ? As for piety, she per- ceived she had no occasion for it, when there was no lustre of Christian holiness surrounding her ; nor for learning:, when she had no longer any opponents to con- fute, or any controversies to maintain. She felt her- self at liberty to become as ignorant, as secular, as irreligious as she pleased ; and amidst the silence and darkness she had created around her, she drew the curtains and retired to rest. The accession of num- bers she gained by suppressing her opponents, was like the small extension of length a body acquires by death ; the feeble remains of life were extinguished, and she lay a putrid corpse, a public nuisance, filling the air with pestilential exhalations. Such, there is every reason to believe, would be the effect of similar measures in England. That union among Christians, which it is so desirable to recover, must, we are per- suaded, be the result of something more heavenly and divine, than legal restraints, or angry controversies. Unless an angel were to descend for that purpose, the ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 51 spirit of division is a disease which will never be heal- ed by troubling the waters. We must expect the cure from the increasing prevalence of religion, and from a copious communication of the Spirit to produce that event. A more extensive diffusion of piety among all sects and parties will be the best and only prepara- tion for a cordial union. Christians will then be dis- posed to appreciate their differences more equitably, to turn their chief attention to points on which they agree, and, in consequence of loving each other more, to make every concession consistent with a good con- science. Instead of wishing to vanquish others, every one will be desirous of being vanquished by the truth. An awful fear of God, and an exclusive desire of dis- covering his mind, will hold a torch before them in their inquiries, which will strangely illuminate the path in which they are to tread. In the room of being re- pelled by mutual antipathy, they will be insensibly drawn nearer to each other by the ties of mutual attach- ment. A larger measure of the spirit of Christ would prevent them from converting every incidental varia- tion into an impassable boundary, or from condemning the most innocent and laudable usages for fear of sym- bolizing with another class of Christians, an odious spirit, with which the Writer under consideration is strongly impregnated. The general prevalence of piety in different communities, would inspire that mutual respect, that heartfelt homage for the virtues conspicu- ous in the character of their respective members, which would urge us to ask with astonishment and re- gret, Why cannot we be one ? What is it that obstructs our union ? Instead of maintaining the barrier which separates us from each other, and employing ourselves in fortifying the frontiers of hostile communities, we should be anxiously devising the means of narrowing the grounds of dispute, by drawing the attention of an 52 REVIEW OF parties to those fundamental and catholic principles, in which they concur. To this we may add, that a more perfect subjection to the authority of the great Head of the Church would restrain men from inventing new terms of communion, from lording it over conscience, or from exacting a scrupulous compliance with things which the word of God has left indifferent. That sense of imperfection we ought ever to cherish, would incline us to be look- ing up for superior light, and make us think it not im- probable that, in the long night which has befallen us, we have all more or less mistaken our way, and have much to learn and much to correct. The very idea of identifying a particular party with the church would be exploded, the foolish clamour about schism hushed ; and no one, however mean and inconsiderable, be ex- pected to surrender his conscience to the claims of ec- clesiastical dominion. The New Testament is surely not so obscure a book, that, were its contents to fail into the hands of a hundred serious impartial men, it would produce such opposite conclusions as must nec- essarily issue in their forming two or more separate communions. It is remarkable, indeed, that the chief points about which real Christians are divided, are points on which that volume is silent ; mere human fabrications, which the presumption of men has attach- ed to the Christian system. A larger communication of the Spirit of truth would insensibly lead Christians into a similar train of thinking ; and being more under the guidance of that infallible Teacher, they would grad- ually tend to the same point, and settle in the same con- clusions. Without such an influence as this, the co- alescing into one com.nunion would probably be pro- ductive of much mischief: it certainly would do no sort of good, since it would be the mere result of intol- erance and pride, acting upon indolence and fear. ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. Oi> During the present disjointed state of things, then, -nothing remains, but for every one to whom the care of any part of the Church of Christ is intrusted, to exert himself to the utmost in the promotion of vital religion, in cementing the friendship of the good, and repressing, with a firm and steady hand, the heats and eruptions of party spirit. He will find sufficient employment for his time and his talents, in inculcating the great truths of the gospel, and endeavoring to ' form Christ' in his hearers, without blowing the flames of contention, or widening that breach which is already the disgrace and calamity of the Christian name. Were our efforts uniformly to take this direction, there would be an Identity in the impression made by religious instruction ; the distortion of party features would gradually disap- pear, and Christians would every where approach toward that ideal beauty spoken of by painters, which is combined of the finest lines and traits conspicuous in individual forms. Since they have all drank into the same spirit, it is manifest nothing is wanting, but a larger portion of that spirit, to lay the foundation of a solid, cordial union. It is to the immoderate attachment to secular interest, the love of power, and the want of reverence for truth, not to the obscurities of Revela* tion, we must impute the unhappy contentions among Christians maladies, which nothing can correct, but deep and genuine piety. The true schismatic is not so properly the person who declines a compliance with what he judges to be wrong, though he may be mista- ken in that judgment, as the man who, like the author before us, sedulously employs every artifice to alienate the affections of good men from each other. Having animadverted on the illiberally of this writer toward persons of different persuasions, we now pro- ceed to notice his representations of the state of religion, F 54 REVIEW OF together with his treatment of that description of the clergy with whom he has been accustomed to associate. The cause of religion he represents as in a very de- clining state. ' Some persons now living,' he says, ' can remember the time, when absence from church was far from being so common as it is now become. Then the more considerable heads of families were generally seen in the house of God, with their servants as well as children. This visible acknowledgment of the importance of re- li^ioii had a good effect on families of inferior condition : the pres- t'tlie merchant and his household, brought the tradesman and his fiinily ; and the example of the latter, induced his journeymen anil i it-door servants to come to church. But this is not a descrip- tion of modern habits In many pews once regularly filled by the entire household to which they belonged, it is now common to see only a small portion of the family, and often not an individual. Two or three of the younger branches, from the female side of the house, occasionally attend, with, perhaps, the mother: but without the father, and the sons ; the father, wearied with business, wants a little relaxation; and to the young men, not suspecting their want of instruction, a rural excursion oiiVrs something interesting, while the tranquil service of a church is too tame an occupation for their unexhausted spirits. Nor among the few who attend public worship are they always the same individuals that we see in the house of God So that it does not appear to he from steady principle, and still less from the influence of parental authority, that some of the f unily are occasionally there. The children are left to themselves ; they may go to church if they choose to do so ; they incur no dis- pleasure from the father, they excite no grief in his bosom if they stay away. There is no disreputation attaching to absence. It falls rather upon the contrary conduct : any uniform attendance on divine worship being frequently considered a mark of imbecility, or demiireness. 1 T-) account for the thinness of our parochial congregations, some allege,, that there is not a suffi -ient quantity of naturally attractive circumstances in the ordinary service of the church. But it is ob- servablo, that where our liturgy is used in its grandest form, the atteu l.Mee is as fir from being numerous as it is elsewhere. It mi-rht lie expected, and especially in an a.jje in which a taste for music so generally prevails, that in a metropolis containing near a million of ui'iabitan's, th".re might be more persons drawn by the grandeur of cathedral worship, to the place where it is performed, than could well bo aceourn xlatod in one church. The cathedral of London, however, presents no such scene. With a numerous attendance of ministers, the finest specimens of church-music, and these perform- ed with that effect which professional qualification gives to such compositions, the scats at St. Paul's cathedral are seldom half filled. 1 pp. 24. ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 55 Though we acknowledge the truth ofhis statement, in a great measure, we are far from drawing from it the inference he wishes to impress. Whenever places of worship are thinly attended, at least in the established church, we have uniformly found it to proceed from a cause very distinct from the general decay of piety ; it results from the absence of that sort of instruction which naturally engages the attention and fixes the heart. In one view, we are fully aware a great altera- tion has taken place : an attachment to the mere forms of religion has much subsided ; the superstitious rever- ence, formerly paid to consecrated places and a pom- pous ceremonial, has waxed old ; so that nothing will now command a full attendance at places set apart for divine worship, but the preaching of the gospel, or of something, at least, that may be mistaken for it. In- stead of concurring with the author in considering this as evincing the low state of Christianity amongst us, we are disposed to look upon it in a contrary light ; being fully convinced that a readiness to acquiesce in the mere forms and ceremonies of religion, to the neglect of that truth which sanctifies the church, is one of the most dangerous errors to which men can be exposed. There is something in the constitution of human nature so ab- horrent from the absence of all religion, that we are in- clined to believe more are ruined by embracing some counterfeit instead of the true, than by the rejection of true and false altogether. We are not sorry therefore to learn, that the music at St. Paul's is not found a suffi- cient substitute for 'the joyful sound,' nor a numerous show of ministers accepted by the people, in the room of' Christ crucified set forth before them.' Let the truths which concern men's eternal salvation be faithfully taught in that noble edifice, and the complaint of slen- der attendance will soon cease. In the mean time, of tiiat part of the citizens who might be expected to fre- REVIEW OF quent the cathedral, some are too gay and fashion- able not to prefer the music of the theatre and the opera, and some are serious Christians, whose hunger for the bread of life will not be satisfied or diverted by the symphonies of an organ, or the splendour of canon- ical dresses. He who is resolved to see nothing but what grows in his own inclosure, may report that 'all is barren,' though the fields around him bloomed like the garden of Eden : and such is the strength of this writer's prejudices, that it is morally impossible for him to give a just represen- tation of facts. In forming his estimate of the state of religion, he is resolved to look only where he knows nothing is to be seen ; and absurdly complains of the want of a crop, where he is conscious the soil has never been cultivated. Effects must be looked for from their natural causes : men do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles, nor are the fruits of Christianity to be expected in the absence of the gospel. Notwithstand- ing this writer's gloomy prognostications, we have no doubt of the kingdom of Christ making sensible advan- ces ; and in support of this opinion we adduce the wi- der extension of religious truth, the multitude of places where the gospel is preached in its purity, the general disposition to attend it, the establishment of Sunday schools, the circulation, with happy effect, of innumer- able tracts, the translation of the Scriptures into for- eign languages, and their more extensive communica- tion to all nations, the formation of Missionary societies, the growing unanimity among Christians, and the pro- digious increase of faithful ministers in the established church. We presume these facts may be allowed a degree of weight, sufficient to overbalance the thin at- tendance at St. Paul's. It is not a little surprising, that a writer, who professes to exhibit a correct idea of the religious state of the nation, should pay no attention ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 57 to these circumstances, or content himself with allu- ding to them in terms expressive of chagrin and vexa- tion. Regarding the extensive institutions, and the diffusive benefits, which the efforts of serious Christ- ians in different connexions have produced, as a con- traband article, not entitled to be mentioned in the esti- mate of our moral wealth, he represents us as gener- ally sunk in spiritual sloth and poverty. We should not learn from this writer, that attempts were making for the universal propagation of Christianity, that trans- lations of the Scriptures were going on in different lan- guages, or that a zeal for the conversion of pa ans had occasioned a powi'ul re-action at home, by producing efforts hitherto unexampled toward carrying the gos- pel into the darkest corners of the kingdom ; we should never suspect, from reading his work, that any mate- rial alteration had taken place within the last fifty years, or that new life had been infused into the professing world, beyond what we might conjecture perhaps from certain indirect references, and dark insinuations. Without noticing these facts, he calls upon us to join in pathetic lamentations over the prostrate state of re- ligion, upon no better ground, than the neglect of pla- ces of worship where the gospel is not preached, and where there is little to attract attention, beside the privilege of hearings/me music, and seeingjfoie ministers, for nothing. It is a consolation to us to be convinced, that the state of things is much otherwise than he rep- resents ; that more persons are brought acquainted with the glad tidings of the gospel, and more minds penetrated with the concerns of eternity, than at any jieriod since the Reformation. Thus far we dispute the justice of this author's state- and are disposed to question the truth of the in- e he has drawn from some insulated facts. But - not the only fault v\e have to find with this part F* REVIEW 0* of his work. He has not only, in our opinion, been betrayed into erroneous conclusions, but has utterly failed in catching the distinguishing features in the aspect of the times, so that his picture bears no sort of resemblance to the original. He has painted nothing ; he has only given an account of a particular distortion or two ; so that a foreigner would no more be able, by reading his work, to form an idea of the state of reli- gion in England, than of a countenance he had never seen, by being told its chin was too long, or its nostrils were too wide. It must be evident to every one, that the most striking characteristic of the present times, is the violent, the outrageous opposition that is made to religion by multitudes, and the general disposition in the members of the community to take a decided part. To this circumstance, the writer has never adverted. It is impossible to suppose it could escape his attention ; we must therefore impute his silence to the well-weighed dictates of prudence, which admonished him of the pos- sibility of betraying himself into inconveniencies by such a discussion ; nor need we be surprised, notwithstand- ing his boasted magnanimity, at his yielding to these suggestions, since his magnanimity is of that sort, which makes a man very ready to insult his brethren, but very careful not to disgust his superiors. As we are happi- ly exempt from these scruples, we shall endeavour, in as few words as possible, to put the reader in posses- sion of our ideas on this subject. The leading truths of revelation were all along re- tained in the church of Rome, but buried under such amass of absurd opinions and supersititious observan- ces, that they drew but little attention, and exerted a very inconsiderable influence in the practical application of the system. At the Reformation, they were effect- ually extricated and disengaged from errors with which ihey had been mingled, were presented in a blaze of ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 59 light, and formed the basis of our national creed. As it was by pushing them to their legitimate consequen- ces, that the reformers were enabled to achieve the con- quest of Popery, they were for a while retained in their purity, and every deviation from them denounced as menacing a revolt to the enemy. The Articles of the church were a real transcript of the principles the re- formers were most solicitous to inculcate; and being supported by the mighty impulse which produced the reformation, while that remained fresh and unbroken, they constituted the real faith of the people. After- wards they underwent an eclipse in the Protestant Church of England, as they had done in the Church of Rome, though from causes somewhat different. The low Arminianism and intolerant bigotry of Laud paved the way for a change, which was not a little aid- ed and advanced by the unbounded licentiousness and profligacy which overspread the kingdom after the Res- toration : for it must be remembered that there is an intimate connexion between the perception and relish of truth and a right disposition of mind, that they have a reciprocal influence on each other, and that the mys- tery of faith can only be placed with safety in a pure conscience. When lewdness, profaneness, and inde- dency reigned without control, and were practised without a blush, nothing, we may be certain, could be more repugnant to the prevailing taste, than the una- dulterated word of God. There arose also, at this time, a set of divines, who partly in compliance with the popular humour, partly to keep at a distance from the Puritans, and partly to gain the infidels, who then be?an to make their appearance, introduced a new sort of preaching, in which the doctrines of the reformation as they are usually styled, were supplanted by copious and elaborate disquisitions on points of morality. Their fame and ability emboldened their successors to improve 60 REVIEW OP upon their patterns, by consigning the articles of the church to a still more perfect oblivion, by losing sight still more entirely of the peculiarities of the gospel, guarding more anxiously against every sentiment or ex- pression that could agitate or alarm, and by shortening the length, and adding as much as possible to the dry- ness of their moral lucubrations. From that time, the idea commonly entertained in England of a perfect ser- mon, was that of a discourse upon some moral topic, clear, correct, and argumentative, in the delivery of which the preacher must be free from all suspicion of being moved himself, or of intending to produce emo- tions in his hearers ; in a word, as remote as possible from such a method of reasoning on righteousness, tem- perance, and judgement, as should make a Felix trem- ble. This idea was very successfully realized, this sin- gular model of pulpit eloquence carried to the utmost perfection ; so that while the bar, the parliament, and the theatre, frequently agitated and inflamed their re- spective auditories, the church was the only place, where the most feverish sensibility was sure of being laid to rest. T his inimitable apathy in the mode of im- parting religious instruction, combined with the utter neglect of whatever is most touching or alarming in the discoveries of the gospel, produced their natural effect of extinguishing devotion in the established church, and of leaving it to be possessed by the dissenters ; of whom it was considered as the distinguishing badge, and from that circumstance derived an additional de- gree of unpopularity. From these causes, the people gradually became utterly alienated from the articles of the church, eternal concerns dropped out of the mind, and what remained of religion was confined to an attention to a few forms and ceremonies. If any exception can be made to the justice of these observa- tions, it respects the doctrines of the Trinity and the ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 61 Atonement, which were often defended with ability, though in a dry and scholastic manner, and the dis- cussion of which served to mark the return of the prin- cipal festivals of the church ; while other points not less important, such as the corruption of human nature, the necessity of the new birth, and justification by faith, were either abandoned to oblivion, or held up to ridi- cule and contempt. The consequence was, that the ereed established by law had no sort of influence in forming the sentiments of the people, the pulpit com- pletely vanquished the desk, piety and puritanism were confounded in one common reproach, an almost pagan darkness in the concerns of salvation prevailed, and the English became the most irreligious peoplfMipon earth. Such was the situation of things, when Whitefield nnd Wesley made their appearance ; who, whatever fail- ings the severest criticism can discover in their char- acter, will be hailed by posterity as the second reform- ers of England. Nothing was farther from the views of these excellent men, than to innovate in the established religion of their country ; their sole aim was to recal the people to the good old way, and to imprint the doctrine of the articles and homilies on the spirits of men. But this doctrine had been confined so long to a dead letter, and so completely obliterated from the mind by contrary instruction, that the attempt to revive it met with all the opposition which innovation is sure to encounter, in addition to what naturally results from the nature of the doctrine itself, which has to contend with the whole force of human corruption. The revi- val of the old, appeared like the introduction of a new religion ; and the hostility it excited was less sanguina- ry, but scarcely less virulent, than that which signalized the first publication of Christianity. The gospel of Christ, or that system of truth which was laid as the foundation of the reformation, has since made rapid 62 REVIEW OF advances, and in every step of its progress has sustain- ed the most furious assault. Great Britain exhibits the singular spectacle of two parties contending, not whether Christianity shall be received or rejected, but whether it shall be allowed to retain any thing spiritual ; not whether the articles and homilies shall be repealed, but whether they shall be laid as the basis of public in- struction. Infidelity being too much discredited by the atrocities in France to hope for public countenance, the enemies of religion, instead of attacking the outworks of Christianity, are obliged to content themselves with vilifying and misrepresenting its distinguishing doctrines. They are willing to retain the Christian religion, pro- viding it continue inefficient ; and are wont to boast of their attachment to the established church, when it is manifest there is little in it they admire except its splen- dour and its emoluments. The clerical order, we are sorry to say, first set the example ; and, since evan- gelical principles have been more widely diffused, have generally appeared in the foremost ranks of opposition. This is nothing more than might be naturally looked for. With all the respect we feel for the clergy, on account of their learning and talents, it is impossible not to know that many of them are mere men of the world, who have consequently the same objections to the gospel as others, together with some peculiar to themselves. As the very attempt of reviving doctrines which have been obliterated through their neglect im- plies a tacit censure of their measures, so, wherever that attempt succeeds, it diminishes the weight of their ecclesiastical character. Deserted by the people, and eclipsed in the public esteem by many much their in- feriors in literary attainments, they feel indignant : and if, as we will suppose, they sometimes suspect their be- ing neglected has arisen from their inattention to impor- tant truths and indispensable duties, this increases their ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 63 uneasiness, which, if it fails to reform, will inevitably exasperate them still more against those who are the in- nocent occasions of it. It is but fair to acknowledge, that in conducting the controversy they have generally kept within decent bounds, have often reasoned where others have railed, and have usually abstained from to- pics hackneyed by infidels and scoffers. But they cannot be vindicated from the charge, of having, by a formal opposition to the gospel, inflamed the irreligious prejudices of the age, obstructed the work they were appointed to promote, and emboldened others, who had none of their scruples or restraints, to outrage piety it- self. The dragon has cast from his mouth such a flood of heresy and mischief, that Egypt, in the worst of her plagues, was not covered with more loathsome abomi- nations. Creatures, which we did not suspect to have existed, have come forth from their retreats, some soar- ing into the regions of impiety on vigorous pinions, others crawling on the earth with a slow and sluggish motion, only to be tracked through the filthy slime of their impurities. We have seen writers of every order, from the Polyphemuses of the North, to the contempti- ble dwarfs of the Critical Review ; men of every party, infidels, churchmen, and dissenters, a motley crew, who have not one thing in common, except their an- tipathy to religion, join hands and heart on this oc- casion : a deadly taint of impiety has blended them in one mass, as things, the most discordant while they are living substances will do perfectly well to putrefy together. We are not at all alarmed at this extensive combi- nation ; we doubt not of its producing the most happy effects. It has arisen from the alarm the great enemy has felt at the extension of the gospel ; and, by draw- tie attention of the world more powerfully to it, ultimately aid the cause it is intended to subvert. 64 REVIEW OF The public will not long be at a loss to determine where the truth lies, when they see, in one party, a vis- ible fear of God, a constant appeal to his oracles, a so- licitude to promote the salvation of mankind ; in the other, an indecent levity, an unbridled insolence, an un- blushing falsehood, a hard unfeeling pride, a readiness to adopt any principles and assume any mask that will answer their purpose, togeth/r with a manifest aim to render the scriptures of no authority, and religion of no effect. Having so often alluded to the 'evangelical clergy,' we shall close this division of our remarks, with ex- hibiting a slight outline of the doctrine by which the cler- gy of this class are distinguished. The term evangel- ical was first given them, simply on account of their preaching the gospel ; or, in other words, their exhib- iting with clearness and precision the peculiar truths of Christianity. In every system there are some princi- ples which serve to identify it, and in which its dis- tinguishing essence consists. In the system of Chris- tianity, the rules of moral duty are not entitled to be con- sidered in this light, partly because they are not pecu- liar to it, and partly because they are retained by pro- fessed infidels, who avow without scruple their admira- tion of the morality of the gospel. We must look then elsewhere, for the distinguishing character of Christian- ity. It must be sought for in its doctrines, and, (as its professed design is to conduct men to eternal happi- ness,) in those doctrines which relate to the way of salvation, or the method of a sinner's reconciliation with God. There are some, we are aware, who would reduce the whole faith of a Christian to a belief of the Messiahship of Christ, without reflecting that, until we have fixed some specific ideas to the term Messiah, the proposition which affirms him to be such contains no information. The most discordant apprehensions ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. are entertained by persons who equally profess that belief ; some affirming him to be a mere man, others a being of the angelic order, and a third party, essentially partaker of the divine nature. The first of these look upon his sufferings as merely exemplary ; the last, as propitiatory and vicarious. It must be evident then, from these views being at the utmost distance from each other, that the proposition that Christ is the Mes- siah conveys little information, while the import of its principal term is left vague and undetermined. The Socinian and Trinitarian, notwithstanding their verbal agreement, having a different object of worship, and a different ground of confidence, must be allowed to be of different religions. It requires but a very cursory perusal of the Articles of the established Church, to de- termine to which of these systems they lend their sup- port ; or to perceive that the deity of Christ, the doc- trine of attonement for sin, the guilt and apostasy of man, and the necessity of the agency of the Spirit to restore the divine image, are asserted by them in terms the most clear and unequivocal. This question stands quite independent of the Calvinistic controversy. Are the clergy, styled evangelical, to be blamed for preach- ing these doctrines ? Before this can be allowed, the Articles must be cancelled by the same authority by which they were established ; or it must be shewn how it consists with integrity, to gain an introduction to the church, by signifying an unfeigned assent and consent to certain articles of religion, with the intention of im- mediately banishing them from notice. The clamour against the clergy in question, cannot, without an utter contempt of decency, be excited by the mere fact of their being known to hold and inculcate these doctrines ; but by the manner of their teaching them, or the ex- clusive attention they are supposed to pay them to the neglect of other parts of the system. The measure of 66 REVIEW OF zeal they display for them, they conceive to be justifi- ed, as well by a view of the actual state of human na- ture, as by the express declaration of the inspired ora- cles. Conceiving, with the compilers of the articles, that the state of man is that of a fallen and apostate creature, they justly conclude that a mere code of mor- als is inadequate to his relief; that having lost the favour of God by his transgression, he requires not merely to be instructed in the rules of duty, but in the method of regaining the happiness he has forfeited ; that the pardon of sin, or some compensation to divine jus- tice for the injury he has done to the majesty of the Supreme Lawgiver, are the objects which ought, in the first place, to occupy his attention. An acquaintance with the rules of duty may be sufficient to teach an in- nocent creature how to sjecare the felicity he possesses, but can afford no relief to a guilty conscience, nor in- struct the sinner how to recover the happiness he has lost. Let it be remembered, that Christianity is essen- tially a restorative dispensation ; it bears a continual respect to a state from which man is fallen, and is a provision for repairing that ruin which the introduction of moral evil has brought upon him. Exposed to the displeasure of God and the curse of his law, he stands iii need of a Redeemer ; disordered in his powers, and criminally averse to his duty, he equally needs a Sanctifies. As adapted to such a situation, much of the New Testament is employed in displaying the char- acter and unfolding the offices of both, with a view of engaging him to embrace that scheme of mercy, which the divine benignity has thought fit to exhibit in the gospel. The intention of St. John, in composing the evangelical history, coincides with the entire purpose and scope of revelation: 'These things are written ,' said he, ' that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ , and that, believing, ye might have life through hit ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 67 name.' Whoever considers that, upon every hypothe- sis except the Socinian, Christianity is a provision of mercy for an apostate and sinful world, through a divine Mediator, will acknowledge that something more is in- cluded in the idea of preaching the gospel, than the in- culcation of moral duties ; and that he, who confines his attention to these, exchanges the character of a Christian pastor for that of a fashionable declaimer or a philosophical moralist. If we turn our eyes to the ministry of the apostles, we perceive it to have consist- ed in ' testifying repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ;' repentance, which is natural religion modified by the circumstances of a fallen crea- ture, including a return to the path of duty ; and faith, which is a practical compliance with the Christian dis- pensation, by receiving the Saviour as the way, the truth, and the life. Faith and repentance being the primary duties enjoined under the gospel, and the pro- duction of these the professed end of the inspired wri- ters, we need not wonder that those, who are ambitious to tread in their steps, insist much, in the course of their ministry, on the topics which supply the principal mo- tives to these duties ; the evil of sin, the extent of hu- man corruption, together with the dignity, power, and grace of the Redeemer. Remembering that the ob- ject of repentance is God, they do not, in treating of sin, satisfy themselves with displaying its mischievous effects in society : they expatiate on its contrariety to the divine nature ; they speak of it chiefly as an affront offered to the authority of the Supreme Ruler ; and represent no repentance as genuine, which springs not from godly sorrow, or a concern for having displeased God. In this part of their office, they make use of the moral law, which requires the devotion of the whole heart and un- failing obedience, as the sword of the Spirit, to pierce the conscience, and to convince men that by the deeds 68 REVIEW OF of it no flesh living can be justified, but that every mouth must be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. The uniform course of experience serves to convince them, that, till a deep impression of this truth be made on the heart, the character of the Sav- iour, and the promise of pardon through his blood, will produce no gratitude, and excite no interest. In in- culcating faith in Christ, they cannot satisfy themselves with merely exhibiting the evidences of Christianity ; a mere assent to which upon historical grounds, undenia- bly fails, in innumerable instances, of producing those effects which are uniformly ascribed to that principle in the New Testament, neither overcoming the world, no; ;mri tying the heart, nor inducing newness of life. They are of opinion, that the external evidences of the Christian religion are chiefly of importance, on account of their tendency to fix the attention on Christ, the principal object exhibited in that dispensation ; and the faith on which the Scriptures lay so much stress, and connect with such ineffable benefits, they conceive es- sentially to involve a personal reliance on Christ for salvation, accompanied with a cordial submission to his authority. Attempting to produce this scriptural faith, in a dependence upon the divine blessing (without which the best means will be unsuccessful,) they dwell much on the dignity of his character as the Son of God, the admirable constitution of his person as Immanuel, God with us, the efficacy of his atonement, and the gracious tenor of his invitations, together with the agency of that Spirit which is intrusted to him as the Mediator, to be imparted to the members of his mystical body. In their view, to preach the gospel is to preach Christ ; they perceive the New Testament to be full of him, and while they imbibe that spirit with which it is re- plete, they feel a sacred ambition to diffuse * the savour of his name in every place.' ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 69 Let it not be inferred from hence, that they are in- attentive to the interests of practical religion, or that their ministry is merely occupied in explaining and en- forcing a doctrinal system. None lay more stress on the duties of a holy life, or urge with more constancy the necessity of their hearers shewing their faith by their works ; and they are incessantly affirming with St. James, that the former without the latter is dead, being alone. Though in common with the inspired writers they ascribe their transition, from a state of death to a state of justification, solely to faith in Christ previous to good works actually performed, yet they equally insist upon a performance of those works as the evidence of justifying faith ; and, supposing life to be spared, as the indispensable condition of final happiness. The law. not altered in its requirements, (for what was once duty they conceive to be duty still) but at- tempered in its sanctions to the circumstances of a fall- en creature, they exhibit as the perpetual standard of rectitude, as the sceptre of majesty by which, the Sa- viour rules his disciples. They conceive it to demand the same things, though not with the same rigour, un- der the gospel dispensation as before : the matter of duty they look upon us as unalterable, and the only difference to be this, that whereas under the covenant of works the condition of life was sinless obedience, under the new covenant, an obedience sincere and af- fectionate, though imperfect, is accepted for the sake of the Redeemer. At the same time, they do not cease to maintain, that the faith which they hold to be justi- fying comprehends in it the seminal principle of every virtue, that if genuine, it will not fail to be fruitful, and that a Christian has it in his power to show his faith 'by his works,"* and by no other means. Under a full conviction of the fallen state of man, together with his moral incapacity to do what is pleasing to God, they 7(3 REVIEW OF copiously insist on the agency of the Spirit, and affec- tionately urge their hearers to implore his gracious as- sistance. From no class of men will you hear more solemn warnings against sin, more earnest calls to re- pentance, or more full and distinct delineations of the duties resulting from every relation in life, accompan- ied with a peculiar advantage of drawing, from the mysteries of the gospel, the strongest motives to strength- en the abhorrence of the one, and enforce the practice of the other. In their hands, morality loses nothing but the pagan air with which it is too often infested : the morality which they enjoin is of heavenly origin, the pure emanation of truth and love, sprinkled with atoning blood, and baptized into an element of Christ- ian sanctity. That they are not indifferent to the in- terests of virtue, is sufficiently apparent, from the warm approbation they uniformly express of the excellent work of Mr. Wilberforce, which is not more conspicu- ous for the orthodoxy of its tenets, than for the purity and energy of its moral instruction. If we look at the effects produced from the ministry of these men, they are such as might be expected to result from a faithful exhibition of the truth of God. Wherever they labour, careless sinners are awakened, profligate transgressors are reclaimed, the mere form of religion is succeeded by the power, and fruits of genuine piety appear in the holy and exemplary lives of their adherents. A visible reformation in society at large, and in many instances unequivocal proofs of solid conversion, attest the purity of their doctrines, and the utility of their labours ; effects, which we challenge their enemies to produce where a different sort of teaching prevails. The controversy between them and their opponents, to say the truth, turns on a point of the greatest magni- tude ; the question at issue respects the choice of a supreme end, and whether we will take 'the Lord to ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 71 be our God.' Their opponents are for confining re- ligion to an acknowledgment of the being of a God, and the truth of the Christian revelation, accompanied with some external rites of devotion, while the world is allowed the exclusive dominion of the heart : they are for carrying into effect the apostolic commission, by summoning men to repentance ; and engaging them to an entire surrender of themselves to the service of God through a Mediator. In the system of human life, their opponents assign to devotion a very narrow and limited agency : they contend for its having the supreme control. The former expect nothing from religion, but the restraint of outward enormities by the fear of future punishment ; in the views of the latter, it is pro- ductive of positive excellence, a perennial spring of peace, purity, and joy. Instead of regarding it as a matter of occasional reference, they consider it as a principle of constant operation. While their opponents always overlook and frequently deny the specific differ- ence between the church and the world ; in their views, the Christian is a pilgrim and stranger in the earth, one whose heart is in heaven, and who is supremely enga- ged in the pursuit of eternal realities. Their fiercest opposers, it is true, give to Jesus Christ the title of the Saviour of the world ; but it requires very little atten- tion to perceive, that their hope of future happiness is placed on the supposed preponderancy of the virtues over the vices, and the claims which they thence con- ceive to result on the justice of God : while the opposite party consider themselves as mere pensioners on mer- cy, flee for refuge to the cross, and ascribe their hopes of salvation entirely to the grace of the Redeemer. For our parts, supposing the being and perfections of God once ascertained, we can conceive of no point at which we can be invited to stop, short of that serious piety and habitual devotion which the evangelical cler- 12 REVIEW OF gy enforce. To live without religion, to be devoid of habitual devotion, is natural and necessary in him who disbelieves the existence of its object ; but upon what principles he can justify his conduct, who professes to believe in a Deity, without aiming to please him in all things, without placing his happiness in his favour, we are utterly at a loss to comprehend. We cannot dismiss this part of the subject, without remarking the exemplary moderation of the clergy of this class on those intricate points which unhappily di- vide the Christian church ; the questions, we mean, that relate to predestination and free will, on which, equally remote from Pelagian heresy and Antinomian licentiousness, they freely tolerate and indulge a diver- sity of opinion, embracing Calvinists and Arminians with little distinction, provided the Calvinism of the former be practical and moderate, and the Arminian- isin of the latter evangelical and devout. The greater part of them lean, we believe, to the doctrine of gener- al redemption, and love to represent the gospel as bear- ing a friendly aspect toward the eternal happiness of all to whom it is addressed : but they are much less anx- ious to establish a polemical accuracy, than to ' win souls to Christ.' The opposition they encounter from various quar- ters, will not surprise those who reflect, that they are not of the world, that the world loves only its own, and naturally feels a dislike to such as testify that its works are evil. The Christianity of the greater part of the community is merely nominal ; and it necessarily fol- lows, that, wherever the truths of religion are faithfully exhibited and practically exemplified, they will be sure to meet with the same friends and the same enemies as at the first promulgation ; they will be still exposed to assault from the prejudices of unrenewed minds, they will be upheld by the same almighty power, and ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. .73 will continue to insinuate themselves into the hearts ot the simple and sincere with the same irVesistible force. We hope our readers will excuse the length to which we have extended our delineation of the principles of the clergy styled ' evangelical, ' reflecting how grossly they have been misrepresented, and that, until the subject is placed fairly and fully in view, it is impossi- ble to form an equitable judgement of the treatment they have met with from the writer under considera- tion. The first charge he adduces against the evangelical clergy, is that of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, according to Mr. Locke, is that state of mind, which disposes a person to give a stronger assent to a religious propo- sition than the evidence will justify. According to the more common and popular notion, it implies a pretence to supernatural communications, on \\hich is iounded a belief in certain doctrines and the performance of certain actions, which the scriptures have not author- ised or revealed a dangerous delusion, as it tends to disannul the standard of religion ; and, by the extrav- agancies and follies it produces, to bring piety into dis- grace. We hold enthusiasm in as much abhorrence as our author does ; but we ask, what is the proportion of the evangelical clergy, who are guilty of it; and, for every individual amongst them, to whom it attach- es, \ve will engage to produce ten amongst their oppo- nents who are deficient in the essential branches of morality. Yet we should esteem it extreme illiberality in a writer to brand the clergy in general with immo- rality. There may be some few, among the many hun- dreds whom the author has undertaken to describe, who are real enthusiasts ; but where is the candour or justice of mingling this feature in the delineation of the body ? We appeal to the religious public, wheth- er they are iiot, on the contrary, eminently conspicu- 74 REVIEW or ous for their close adherence * to the law and to the testimony,' and for their care to enjoin nothing on their hearers without direct warrant from the bible. If ev- ery one is to be charged with enthusiasm, whose piety is of a more fervid complexion than the accuser is dis- posed to sympathize with, or can readily account for, we must indeed despair of convincing this writer of the futility of his allegation. They have the zeal, which, to him who makes what is most prevalent in the church his model, must look like innovation. He frequently insinuates, that there is a disposition in them to symbolise with the Dissenters, though he had allowed, at the very outset of his work, that they most strictly conform to the prescribed ritual, have no scruples against canonical obedience, and are most firmly attached to the ecclesiastical constitution. Speaking of the established church, he says, They, (the evangelical clergy) approve, they admire the Church in which they serve. They rejoice in being ministers of such a church. Instead of being indifferent to its continuance, their de- youtest wish is, that it may stand firm on its basis. They consider it as the greatest of blessings to their country. They observe, with no little anxiety, separatism gaining ground upon it. And this, not from an invidious principle, but because hereby an alienation in perpetuity is produced in many minds, from a constitution, which they consider as bost providing for the universal conveyance, and permanent publication of Christian truth. Its continuance they like- wise consider, as the surest pledge of religious liberty, to all who wish for that blessing. And in this view, they pity the short-sight- edness of those religious persons, who forward any measures, which make against the stability of the national church. They view them as men undermining the strongest bulwark of their oicn security and comfort ; and conceive, that Protestant sects of every name, however they might prefer their own modes of religion, would de- voutly pray for the support and prosperity ofthe Church of England, as it now stands " sua si bona norint." In short, the ecclesiastic- al establishment of this country is, in their views, what " the ark of God " was in the estimation of the pious Israelite ; and, " their hearts tremble" more for that, than for any thing else, the stability of which may seem to be endangered in these eventful times. They would consider its fall, as one ofthe heaviest judgments that could befal the nation,' pp. 138, 129. ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 75 Any such approach to the Dissenters, as is inconsist- ent with their professional engagements, is incompati- ble with the truth of this testimony. But let us go on to notice another imputation. * I am constrained,' says the author, * to admit that there is a great deal of truth in what is often alleged by their opponents, namely, that under their preaching there has arisen an unfavoura- ble opinion of the body of the clergy. To excite a hatred of what is evil, is, undoubtedly, one purpose of Christian instruction. But while the preacher is attempting this, he must take care that he do not call forth the malignant passions. This he is almost sure to do, if he point out a certain set of men, as persons to whom his repre- hensions particularly apply. The hearers, too generally apt to for- get themselves, are drawn still further from the consideration of their own faults, when they can find a defined class of men, on whom they can fasten the guilt of any alleged error ; on them they will discharge their gall, and mistake their rancour for righteous- ness.' pp. 154, 155, Sec. Edit. Two questions arise on this point ; first, how far an unfavourable opinion of the body of the Clergy is just, and secondly, what sort of influence the evangelical party have had in producing it. ' The Clergy as a body,' the author complains, * are considered by them and their adherents, as men who do not preach the gospel.' If we understand him, he means to assert that the clergy as a body do preach the gospel ; for we cannot suspect him of being so ridiculous, as to com- plain of their being considered in their just and true light. Here we have the very singular spectacle of gospel ministers exclaiming with bitterness against some of their brethren for preaching the doctrines of the new birth, justification by faith, the internal ope- rations of the Spirk, and whatever else character- ised the faith of the reformers ; which we have the satisfaction of learning, from this most liberal \vriter, are no parts of the gospel. Or, if he demur in assent- ing to such a proposition, it is incumbent on him to ex- plain what are the doctrines distinct from those we 76 REVIEW OF have mentioned, the inculcation of which has excited the opposition of the clergy. We in our great simplic- ity supposed that the ministers styled evangelical had been opposed for insisting on points intimately related to the gospel ; but we are now taught from high author- ity, that the controversy is entirely of another kind, and relates to subjects with respect to which the preach- ers of the gospel may indifferently arrange themselves on either side. We are under great obligations to our author for clearing up this perplexing affair, and so sat- isfactorily showing both parties they were righting in the dark. Poor George Whitefield ! how much to be pitied, who exhausted himself with incredible labours, and endured a storm of persecution, in communicating religious instruction to people, who were already fur- nished with more than ten thousand preachers of the gospel ! To be serious, however, on a subject which, if there be one in the world, demands seriousness, it is an incontrovertible fact, that the doctrines of the reformation are no longer heard in the greater part of the established pulpits, and that there has been a general departure from the truths of the gospel, which are exhibited in the ministry of a small though increas- ing minority of the Clergy. The author knows this to be a fact, although he has the meanness to express him- self in a manner that would imply his being of a con- trary opinion. We wish him all the consolation he can derive from this trait of godly simplicity ; as well as from his reflection on the effect which his flattery is likely to produce, in awakening the vigilance and im- proving the character of his newly-discovered race of Gospel ministers. With respect to the degree in which an unfavourable opinion of the Clergy is to be ascri- bed to the representations of the evangelical party, we have to remark, that they possess too much attachment to their order to delight in depreciating it; and that ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 77 they are under no temptation to attempt it with a view to secure the preference of their hearers, who, suppo- sing them to have derived benefit from their labours, will be sufficiently aware of the difference between light and darkness, between famine and plenty. Were they to insinuate, with this author, that all their cleri- cal brethren are actually engaged in the same cause and are promoting the same object with themselves, they would at once be charged with a violation of truth, and be considered as insulting the common sense of the public. The author is extremely offended at Dr. Haweis, on account of the following passage in his * History of the Church of Christ.' "Different itinerant societies have been established in order to send instruction to the poor, in the villages where the gospel is not preached. Probably not less than five hundred places of divine worship have been opened within the last three years." Dr. Haweis, in making this representation, undoubted- ly conceived himself to be stating a simple fact, with- out suspecting any lover of the gospel would call it in question. The author's comment upon it is curious enough. * It would be scarcely credible,' ho says, 1 were not the time and place marked with sufficient precision, that a clergyman, beneficed in the Church of England, was describing, in the foregoing- passage, something which had lately been taking place in this country !' It is surely very credible that there are five hundred places in England where the gospel is not preached ; the incredible part of the business, then, consists in a ' beneficed clergyman ' daring to assert it, who, according to the author, is a sort of personage who is bound never to utter a truth that will offend the deli- cate ears of the Clergy, especially on so trivial an oc- casion as that of describing the state of religion in En- H REVIEW OF gland. What magnanimity of spirit, and how far is this author from the suspicion of being a man-pleaser ! After acknowledging that the ministers he is char- acterising have been unjustly charged with infringing on canonical regularity, he adds, ' Would it were as easy to defend them universally* against those who accuse them of vanity, of courting popularity, of effrontery, of coarseness, of the want of that affectionate spirit which should breathe through all the ministrations of a Christian teacher, of their commonly appearing before a congregation with an objurgatory as- pect, as if their minds were always brooding over some matter of accusation against their charge, instead of their feeling toward them as a father does toward his children.' p. 157. The reader has in this passage a tolerable specimen of the ' vanity' and ' effrontery ' of this writer, as well as of that ' objurgatory aspect ' he has thought fit to as- sume toward his brethren, not without strong suspicion of assuming it from a desire to * court popularity.' It would be a mere waste of words to attempt to reply to such an accusation, which merits attention on no other account than its exhibiting a true picture of his mind. { As for the matter,' he proceeds to observe, ' of which the sermons delivered by some of them are composed, it is contemptible in the extreme. Though truths of great importance are brought forward, yet, as if those who delivered them were born to ruin the cause in which they are engaged, they are presented to the auditory, asso- ciated with such meanness, imbecility, or absurdity, as to afford a complete triumph to those who are adverse to their propagation. We are disgusted by the violation of all the rules, which the com- mon sense of mankind teaches them to expect the observance of, on the occasion. It is true, indeed, that something is heard about Christ, about faith and repentance, about sin and grace ; but in vain we look for argument, or persuasion, or suavity, or reverential de- meanour ; qualities which ought never to be absent, where it is of the utmost importance, that the judgment be convinced, and the affections gained.' p. 158. Unfair* and illiberal in the extreme, as this repre- sentation is, it contains an important concession, that * The word univertally, marked in italics, was inserted after the first edition ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 79 the lowest preachers among them have the wisdom to make a right selection of topics, and to bring forward truths of great importance ; a circumstance sufficient of itself to give them an infinite superiority over the 'apes of Epictetus.'* A great diversity of talents must be expected to be found amongst them ; but it has not been our lot to hear of any, whose labours a good man would think it right to treat with indiscriminate con- tempt. As they are called, for the most part, to ad- dress the middle and lower classes of society, their lan- is plain and simple ; speaking in the presence of God, their address is solemn ; and, as becomes ' the ambassadors of Christ,' their appeals to the conscience are close and cogent. Few, if any, among them, as- pire to the praise of consummate orators : a character which we despair of ever seeing associated, in high perfection, with that of a Christian teacher. The min- ister of the gospel is called to declare the testimony of God, which is always weakened by a profuse employ- ment of the ornaments of secular eloquence. Those exquisite paintings and nice touches of art, in which the sermons of the French preachers excel so much, excite a kind of attention, and produce a species of pleasure, not in perfect accordance with devotional feeling. The imagination is too much excited and em- ployed, not to interfere with the more awful functions of conscience ; the hearer is absorbed in admiration, and the exercise which ought to be an instrument of conviction becomes a feast of taste. In the hand of a Hamilton, the subject of death itself is blended with so many associations of the most delicate kind, and calls up so many sentiments of natural tenderness, as to be- come a source of theatrical amusement, rather than of religious sensibility. Without being insensible to the charms of eloquence, it is our decided opinion that a * Horsley. bO REVIEW OF sermon of Mr. Gisborne's is more calculated to 'con- vert a sinner from the error of his way,' than one of Massillon's. It is a strong objection to a studied at- tempt at oratory in the pulpit, that it usually induces a neglect of the peculiar doctrines of Christian verity, where the preacher feels himself restrained, and is un- der the necessity of explaining texts, of obviating ob- jections, and elucidating difficulties, which limits the excursions of imagination, and confines it within nar- row bounds. He is therefore eager to escape from these fetters, and, instead of ' reasoning out of the Scriptures, 1 expatiates in the flowery fields of declama- tion. It would be strange, however, if the evangelical clergy did not excel their contemporaries in the art of preaching, to which they devote so much more of their attention. While others are accustomed to describe it under the very appropriate phrase of ' doing duty,' it is their business and their delight. They engage in it under many advantages. Possessed of the same ed- ucation with their brethren, they usually speak to crowd- ed auditories ; the truths they deliver command atten- tion, and they are accustomed to ascend the pulpit un- der an awful sense of the weight and importance of their charge. Under such circumstances, it is next to impossible for them not to become powerful and impres- sive. Were it not indelicate to mention names, we could easily confirm our observations by numerous living examples. Suffice it to say, that perhaps no de- nomination of Christians ever produced so many excel- lent preachers ; and that it is entirely owing to them, that the ordinance of preaching has not fallen, in the established church, into utter contempt. With respect to the remarks the author makes on the i hypochondriacal cast of preaching heard among them,' of their ' holding their hearers by details of conflicts and experiences,' and of their 'prosings on the hiding ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 81 of God's face,'* we need not detain our readers. To good men it will be matter of serious regret, to find a writer, from whom different things were to be expected, treat the concerns of the spiritual warfare in so light and ludicrous a manner ; while the irreligious will heartily join in the laugh. It should be remembered that he is performing quarantine, purging himself from the suspicion of Methodism, and that nothing can an- swer this purpose so well as a spice of profaneness. After expressing his contempt of the evangelical clergy AS preachers, he proceeds to characterise them in the following manner as writers. 1 Here,' says he, ' I can with great truth affirm, that many inclii' ded in that description of clergymen now under consideration, arc sorely ^rirvcd. l.y much of what comes out as the produce of au- thorship on their side. And well they may be ; to see, as is frequent- ly the case, the blessed truths of the gospel degraded, by being as- sociated with newspaper bombast, with impudence, with invective, with dotage, with drivelling cant, with buffoonery, and scurrility ! Who can read these despicable publications, without thinking con- temptuously of all who abet them ? But let not every one, in whom an occasional coincidence of opinion may be recognized, be inclu- ded in this number. For it is a certain truth, that the writings of nvo\vf>(' infidels are not more offensive to several of the clergy in question, than are some of the publications here alluded to. "Let thorn not therefore b: judged of. by that which they condemn; by productions, which they consider as an abuse of the liberty of the press, and a disgrace to the cause which their authors profess to serve.' p. ]7'J. Whoever remembers that the most learned inter- preter of prophecy now living ranks with the evangel- ical clergy, whoever recals to his recollection the names of Scott, Robinson, Gisborne, and a multitude of oth- ers of the same description, will not easily be induced to form a contemptuous opinion of their literary talents, or to suspect them of being a whit behind the rest of the clergy in mental cultivation or intellectual vigour. * In the second edition, the author has changed the term l pro* sings, 1 into ' discour sings.' H* 82 REVIEW OF In a subsequent edition, the author has explained his meaning, by restricting the censure to all who have ranged themselves on the side of the clergy under con- sideration. But as far as the most explicit avowal of the same tenets can indicate any thing, have not each of the respectable persons before mentioned ranged themselves on their side ? Or if he will insist upon limiting the phrase to such as have defended them in controversy, what will he say of Overton, whose work, for a luminous statement of facts, an accurate arrange- ment of multifarious articles, and a close deduction of proofs, would do honour to the first polemic of the age ? In affecting a contempt of this most able writer, he has contradicted himself, having, in another part of this work, borne a reluctant testimony to his talents. He closes his animadversions on the clergy usually styled I'vungelical, with the following important concessions. ' We arc ready to own, though there have been a few instances to the contrary, that the moral conduct of the nion in question is con- sistent with their calling ; and that though tin- t'uilts above detail- ed arc found among them, yet that as a body they are more than free from immoralities.' p. K ; 'J. The men to whom their accuser ascribes an assem- blage of virtues so rare and so important, must unques- tionably be * the excellent of the earth,' and deserve a very different treatment from what they have received at his hands. Before we put a final period to this article, we must beg the reader's patience to a few remarks on the gen- eral tendency of the work under examination. For the freedom of censure the author has assumed, he cannot plead the privilege of reproof. He has \i- olated every law by which it is regulated. In admin- istering reproof, we are not wont to call in a third par- ty, least of all the party to whom the persons reproved are directly opposed. Besides, if reproof is intended ZEAL WITHOUT INNOTATION. 83 to have any effect, it must be accompanied with the in- dications of a friendly mind ; since none ever succeed- ed in reclaiming; the person he did not appear to love. The spirit this writer displays toward the object of his censure, is decidedly hostile ; no expressions of esteem, no attempt to conciliate ; all is rudeness, asperity, and contempt. He tells us in his preface, 'It is difficult to find an apology for disrespectful language under any circumstances ; if it can be at all excused, it is when he who utters, lets us know from whence it comes ; but he who dares to use it, and yet dares not put his name to the abuse, give us reason to conclude that his cow- ardice is equal to his insolence.' (Pref. p. iv.) In vio- lation of his own canon, he seerns to have assumed a ise for the very purpose of giving an unbridled in- dulgence to the insolence he condemns. If we consider him in the light of a public Censor, he will appear to have equally neglected the proprieties of that character. He, who undertakes that office, ouiiht, in all reason, to direct his chief attention to vice and impiety ; which, as the common foes of human nature, give every one the privilege of attack. Though ibject naturally led him to it, we find little or noth- ing of the kind. In his eagerness to expose the aber- is of goodness, the most deadly sins and the most ictive errors are scarcely noticed. In surveying the slate of morals, the eccentricities of a pious zeal, a hair-breadth deviation frora ecclesiastical etiquette, a momentary feeling of tenderness towards Dissenters, are the things which excite his indignation ; while the seeularity, the indolence, the ambition, and dissipation, lo.i prevalent in the church, almost escape his observa- tion. We do not mean to assert, that it is always im- proper to animadvert on the errors of good men ; we are convinced of the contrary. But, \\henever it is attempted, it ought to be accompanied with such ex- 84 REVIEW OF pressions of tenderness and esteem, as shall mark our sense of their superiority to persons of an opposite de- scription. In the moral delineations with which the New Testament abounds, when the imperfections of Christians are faithfully reprehended, we are never tempted to lose sight of the infinite disparity betwixt the friends and the enemies of the gospel. Our reverence for good men is not impaired by contemplating their infirmities : while those who are strangers to vital re- ligion, with whatever amiable qualites they may be in- vested, appear objects of pity. The impression made by the present performance is just the reverse. The character of the unquestionably good is placed in so invidious a light on the one hand, and the bad qualities of their opponents so artfully disguised and extenuated on the other, that the reader feels himself at a loss which to prefer. Its obvious tendency is to obliterate every distinctive murk and characteristic, by which genuine religion is ascertained. The writer of this work cannot have intended the re- formation of the party on which he has animadverted ; for, independently of his having, by the rudeness of his attack, forfeited every claim to their esteem, he has so conducted it, that there is not one in fifty guilty of the faults he has laid to their charge. Instead of being in- duced to alter their conduct, they can only feel for him those sentiments which unfounded calumny is apt to in- spire. The very persons to whom his censures apply, will be more likely to feel their resentment rise at the bitterness and rancour which accompanies them, than to profit by his admonitions. As we are fully convinced that the controversy ag- itated between the evangelical party and their oppo- nents, involves the essential interests of the gospel, and whatever renders Christianity worth contending for, we cannot but look with jealousy on the person who offers ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 85 himself as an umpire ; especially when we perceive a leaning towards the party which we consider in the wrong. This partiality may be traced almost through every page of the present work. Were we to look on- ly to speculative points, we might be tempted to think otherwise. It is not, however, in the cool argumenta- tive parts of a work, that the bias of an author is so much to be perceived, as in the declamatory parts when he gives a freer scope to his feelings. It is in the choice of the epithets applied to the respective parties, in the expression of contemptuous or respectful feeling, in the solicitude apparent to please the one, combined witli his carelessness of offending the other, that he be- trays the state of his heart. Judged by this criterion, this author must be pronounced an enemy to the evan- gelical party. We hope this unnatural alienation from the servants of Christ will not prove contagious, or it will soon completely overthrow that reformation which the established church has experienced within the last fifty years. When Samson was brought into the house of Da- gon to make sport for the Philistines, it was by the Philistines themselves : had it been done by an Israel- ite, it would have betrayed a blindness much more de- [ plorablo than that of Samson. Great as were the ir- irities and disorders which deformed the church M Corinth, and severely as they were reprehended) it -y to conceive, but impossible to express the in- tion Paul would have felt, had a Christian held ; iose disorders to the view and the derision of < -:ithen world. It is well known that the conduct liher, of Carlostadt, and of many other reformers, lied matter of merited censure, and even ofplau- invective; but he who had employed himself in i /oning and magnifying their faults, would have leen deemed a foe to the Reformation. Aware that 86 REVIEW OF it will be replied to this, the cases are different, and neither the truth of Christianity nor the doctrines of the Reformation are involved in the issue of the present controversy, we answer, without hesitation, that the controversy no\v on foot does involve nearly all tha renders it important for Christianity to be true, am most precisely the doctrines of the Reformation, which the papists are not more inimical, (in some point, they are less so) than the opponents of the evangelica clergy. It is the old enmity to the gospel, under new form ; an enmity as deadly and inveterate, as tha which animated the breast of Porphyry or of Julian. The impression of character on the public mind^ closely connected with that of principles ; so that, in the mixed questions more especially which regard re ligion and morals, it is vain to expect men will conde- scend to be instructed by those whom they are taugh to despise. Let it be generally supposed that the pat rons of orthodox piety are weak, ignorant, and enthu siastic, despicable as a body, with the exception of lew individuals ; after being inured to such represen tations from their enemies, let the public be told thi by one who was formerly their friend and associate, and is it possible to conceive a circumstance more cal culated to obstruct the efficacy of their principles Will the prejudices of an irreligious world against tin gospel be mitigated, by being inspired with contemp for its abettors ? Will it be won to the love of piety by being schooled in the scorn and derision of its mos serious professors ? We can readily suppose, that, stung with the re- proaches cast upon his party, he is weary of bearing th< cross : if this be the case, let him at once renounce his principles, and not attempt, by mean concession! and a temporising policy, to form an impracticable alitiou betwixt the world and the church. We appre- ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 87 hend the ground he has taken is untenable, and that he will be likely to please neither party. By the friends of the gospel he will be in danger of being shunned as an ' accuser of the brethren ;' while his new associ- ates regard him with the contempt due to a sycophant. It must give the enlightened friends of religion con- cern, to witness a spirit gaining ground amongst us, which, to speak of it in the most favourable terms, is calculated to sow the seeds of discord. The vivid at- tention to moral discrimination, the vigilance which seizes on what is deemed reprehensible, is unhappily turned to the supposed failings of good men, much to the satisfaction, no doubt, of an ungodly world. The practice of caricaturing the most illustrious men has grown fashionable amongst us. With grief and indig- nation we lately witnessed an attempt of this kind on the character of Mr. Whitefield, made, if our informa- tion be correct, by the present author ; in which every shade of imperfection, which tradition can supply, or ingenuity surmise, is industriously brought forward for the purpose of sinking him in public estimation. Did it accomplish the object intended by it ? It certainly did not. While the prejudice entertained against Whitefield, by the enemies of religion, was already too violent to admit of increase, its friends were perfectly astonished at the littleness of soul, and the callousness to every kind feeling, which could delight in mangling such a character. It was his misfortune to mingle free- ly with different denominations, to preach in unconse- crated places, and convert souls at uncanonical hours ; whether he acted right or wrong in these particulars, it is not our province to inquire. That he approved "limself to his own conscience, there is not the least room to doubt. Admitting his conduct, in the instan- ces alluded to, to have been inconsistent with his cler- ical engagements, let it be temperately censured ; but let 88 REVIEW OF it not efface from our recollection the patient self-de- nial, the inextinguishable ardour, the incredible labours, and the unexampled success, of that extraordinary man. The most zealous votaries of the church need be under no apprehension of her being often disgraced by producing such a man as Mr. VVhiterield. Nil admirari, is an excellent maxim, when applied, as Ho- race intended it, to the goods of fortune: when extended to character, nothing can be more injurious. A sensibil- ity to the impression of great virtues, bordering on en- thusiasm, accompanied with a generous oblivion of the little imperfections with which they are joined, is one of the surest prognostics of excellence. Verum, ubi plura nitent non ego paucis OfFendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit, Aut humana parum cavit natura The modern restorers of the piety of the Church of England were eminent for their godly simplicity and fidelity. Sincerely attached, as it became them, to the establishment of which they were ministers, their spirit was too enlarged, too ardent, too disinterested, to suffer them to become the tools of a party, or to confound the interests of Christianity with those of any external communion. From their being looked upon as innovators, as well as from the paucity of their num- bers, they were called to endure a much severer trial than falls to the lot of their successors. They bore the burden and heat of the day; they laboured, and oth- ers have entered into their labours. We feel, with re- spect to the greater part of those who succeed them, a confidence that they will continue to tread in their steps. But we cannot dissemble our concern, at per- ceiving a set of men rising up among them, ambitious of new-modelling the party ; who, if they have too much virtue openly to renounce their principles, yet ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 89 have too little firmness to endure the consequences : timid, temporising spirits, who would refine into insi- pidity, polish into weakness, and, under we know not what pretences of regularity, moderation, and a care not to offend, rob it utterly of that energy of character to which it owes its success. If they learn, from this and other writers of a similar description, to insult their brethren, fawn upon their enemies, and abuse their de- fenders, they will soon be frittered to pieces ; they will become Mike other men,' feeble, enervated, and shorn of their strength. We would adjure them to be on their guard against the machinations of this new sect. We cannot suspect them of the meanness of submitting; to be drilled by their enemies, whom they are invited to approach in the attitude of culprits, beseeching them, (in our author's phrase) to ' inquire whether there may not be some found among them of unexceptionable character !' We trust they will treat such a suggestion with ineffable contempt. After the taste our readers have had of this writer's spirit, they will not be surprised at his entire disappro- bation of Mr. Overtoil's work. The discordance of sentiment must be great, betwixt him who wishes to betray, and him whose aim is to defend. Mr. Overton, in behalf of his brethren, boldly appeals from their accu- sers, to the public ; this writer crouches to those very accusers, approaches them in a supplicating tone, and, as the price of peace, offers the heads of his brethren in a charger. Overton, by a copious detail of facts, and by a series of irrefragable arguments, establishes their innocence ; this writer assents to their condem- nation, entreating only that execution may be respited till an inquiry is made into the degrees of delinquency. The author of The True Churchman Ascertained clothes himself with the light of truth ; the author of 90 REVIEW, &IC. Zeal without Innovation hides himself in the thickest gloom of equivocation. Before we close this article, we must entreat our reader's patience while we make one observation relat- ing to the permanence of the ecclesiastical establish- ment. It is possible the dignitaries of the church may be at a loss to decide whether the services of the . evangelical class shall be accepted or rejected : but we are persuaded the people will feel no difficulty, in de- termining whether to continue their attendance at the places from whence they are banished. Teachers of the opposite description have already lost their hold on the public mind ; and they will lose it more and more. Should the secession from the established church become so general, as that its services are no longer the objects of popular suffrage, it will be depri- ved of its firmest support. For the author of the ' Al- liance* acknowledges, that the compact betwixt church and state, which he allows to be a virtual rather than a formal one, mainly rests upon the circumstance of the established religion being that of the majority ; without which it becomes incapable of rendering those services to the state, for the sake of which its privileges and emoluments were conferred. Nothing but an extreme infatuation can accelerate such an event. But if pious and orthodox men be prevented from entering into the church, or compelled to retire from it, the people will retire with them ; and the apprehension of the church being in danger, which has so often been the watchword of party, will become for once well founded. REVIEW. . SERMONS, principally designed 4o illustrate and to enforce Christian Morality. By the Rev. T. GISBORNE, A. M. 8vo. pp. 430. WE have read these sermons witli so much satis- faction, that were it in our power to aid their circula- tion by any testimony of our approbation, we should be almost at a loss for terms sufficiently strong and em- phatic. Though the excellent author is possessed al- ready of a large share of the public esteem, we are persuaded these discourses will make a great accession to his celebrity. Less distinguished by any predom- inant quality, than by an assemblage of the chief excel- lencies in the pulpit composition, they turn on subjects not very commonly handled, and discuss them with a copiousness, delicacy, and force, which evince the pow- ers of a master. They are almost entirely upon moral subjects, yet equally remote from the superficiality and dryness with which these subjects are too often treated. The morality of Mr. Gisborne is arrayed in all the majesty of truth, and all the beauties of holiness. In perusing these sermons, the reader is continually re- minded of real life, and beholds human nature under its most unsophisticated aspect, without ever being tempted to suppose himself in the schools of pagan philosophy. We cannot better explain the professed yZ REVIEW OS 1 scope and object of the author, than by copying a few sentences from his preface. Of late years it has been loudly asserted that, among clergymen who have shewed themselves very earnest in doctrinal points, ade- quate regard has not been evinced to moral instruction. The charge has perhaps been urged with the greatest vehemence by persons, who have employed little trouble in examining into its truth. In many cases, it has been groundless ; in many, exaggerated In some instances there has been reason, I fear, for a degree of com- plaint ; and in more, a colourable pretext for the imputation. I be- Jit-y that some preachers, shocked on beholding examples, real or supposed, of congregations starving on mere morality substituted for the bread of life ; eager to lay broad and deep the foundations of the gospel; and ultimately apprehensive lest their own hearers should suspect them of reverting towards legality ; have not given to morals, as fruits of faith, the station and the amplitude to which they have a scriptural claim. Anxious lest others should mistake, or lest they should themselves be deemed to mistake, the branch for the root : not satisfied with proclaiming to the branch, as they were bound habitually to proclaim, Thou bearcst not the root, but the root thce : they have shrunk from the needful office of tracing the ramifications. They have not left morality out of their dis- courses. But they have kept it too much in the back ground. They have noticed it shortly, generally, incidentally ; in a man- lier which, while perhaps th^y were eminent as private patterns of moral duties, might not sufficiently guard an unwary hearer against a reduced estimate of practical holiness, nor exempt themselves from the suspicion of undervaluing moral obedience, pref. pp. vii, To the truth of these remarks we cordially assent, as they point to a defect in the ministrations of some excellent men, which the judicious part of the public have long lamented, and which Mr. Gisborne, in his present work, has taught his contemporaries how to remedy. Extremes naturally lead to each other. The peculiar doctrines of the gospel had been so long ne- glected by the most celebrated preachers, and the per- nicious consequences of that neglect, in wearing out every trace of genuine religion, had been so deeply felt, that it is not to be wondered at if the first attempts to correct the evil were accompanied with a tendency to the contrary extreme. In many situations, those who SERMONS. 03 attempted to revive doctrines which had long been con- sidered as obsolete, found themselves much in the same circumstances as missionaries, having intelligence to impart before unknown, and exposed to all the con- tempt and obloquy which assailed the first preachers of Christianity. While they were engaged in such an undertaking, it is not at all surprising that they confin- ed their attention almost entirely to the doctrines pe- culiar to the Christian religion, with less care to incul- cate and display the moral precepts which it includes in common with other systems than their intrinsic im- portance demanded. They were too much occupied in removing the rubbish and laying the foundations, to permit them to carry the superstructure very high. They insisted in general terms on the performance of moral duties, urged the necessity of that holiness with- out which ' none shall see the Lord,' and, by a forcible application of truth to the conscience, produced in many instances the most surprising, as well as the most happy effects. But still, in consequence of limit- ing their ministry too much to the first elements of the gospel, and dwelling chiefly on topics calculated to alarm the careless and console the faithful, a wrong taste began to prevail amongst their hearers ; a dis- relish of moral discussions, a propensity to contem- plate Christianity under one aspect alone, that of a system of relief for the guilty, instead of a continual discipline of the heart. Those wished for stimulants and cordials, whose situation required alteratives and correctives. Preachers and hearers have a reciprocal influence on each other ; and the fear of being reproach- ed as * legal,' deterred some good men from insisting so much on moral and practical subjects as their own good sense would have dictated. By this means the malady became more inveterate, till the inherent corrup- tion of human nature converted the doctrine of the 94 REVIEW OF gospel in a greater or less degree into the leaven of antinomianism. An error, which at first appeared trivial, at length proved serious ; and thus it came to pass that the fabric of sacred truth was almost uni- versally reared in such a manner, as to deviate sensi- bly from the primitive model. When we look at Christianity in the New Testa- ment, we see a set of discoveries, promises, and pre- cepts, adapted to influence the whole character ; it presents an object of incessant solicitude, in the pur- suit of which new efforts are to be exerted, and new victories accomplished, in a continued course of well doing, till we reach the heavenly mansions. There is scarce a spring in the human frame and constitution it is not calculated to touch, nor any portion of human agency which is exempted from its control. Its re- sources are inexhaustible ; and the considerations by which it challenges attention, embrace whatever is most awful or alluring in the whole range of possible exist- ence. Instead of being allowed to repose on his past attainments, or to flatter himself with the hope of success without the exercise of diligence and watch- fulness, the Christian is commanded to work out his salvation with fear and trembling. In the actual exhi- bition of religion, the solicitude of serious minds has been made to turn too much on a particular crisis, which has been presented in a manner so insulated, that nothing in the order of means seemed instrumental to its production. In short, things have been repre- sented in such a manner, as was too apt to produce despondency before conversion, and presumption alter it. It must be allowed, the judicious management of practical subjects, is more difficult than the discussion of doctrinal points ; which may also account, in part, for the prevalence of the evil we are now speaking of. M In treating a point of doctrine, the habit of belief al- most supersedes the necessity of proof: the mind of the hearer is usually pre-occupied in favour ol the con- clusions to be established ; nor is much address or in- genuity necessary to conduct him in a path in which he has long been accustomed to tread. The materials are prepared to the preacher's hands ; a set of texts with their received interpretations stand ready for his use ; the compass of thought which is required is very limited, and this little circle has been beaten so often, that an ordinary understanding moves through it with mechanical facility. To discuss a doctrinal position to the satisfaction of a common audience, requires the smallest possible exertion of intellect. The tritest arguments are in fact the best : the most powerful con- siderations to enforce assent are rendered by that very quality the most conspicuous, as the sun announces himself by his superior splendor. In delineating the duties of life, the task is very different. To render these topics interesting, it is necessary to look abroad, to contemplate the principles of human nature, and the diversified modes of human feeling and action. The preacher has not to do with a few rigid and un- bending propositions ; he is to contemplate and pour- tray a real state of things, a state which is continually changing its aspect while it preserves its essential char- acter, and the particulars of which mock the pow r ers of enumeration. If he does not think with great origi- nality, he must at least think for himself: he must use his own eyes, though he may report nothing but what has been observed before. As there lies an appeal, on these occasions, to the unbiassed good sense and observation of unlettered minds, the deficiencies of an injudicious instructer are sure to be detected. His principles will fail of interesting for want of exem- plification 5 or his details will be devoid of dignity, and 96 REVIEW OP his delineations of human life disgust by their deviation from nature and from tfuth. In points of casuistry, difficulties will occur which can only be solved and disentangled by nice discrimi- nation, combined with extensive knowledge. The general precepts, for example, of justice and humanity, may be faithfully inculcated, and earnestly insisted on, without affording a ray of useful direction to a doubting conscience. While all men acknowledge the indispen- sable obligation of these precepts, it is not always easy to discover what is the precise line of action they en- force. In the application of general rules to particular cases of conduct, many relations must be surveyed, opposing claims must be reconciled and adjusted, and the comparative value of different species of virtue established upon just and solid principles. These difficulties have been evaded, rather than overcome, by the greater part of moralizing preachers ; who have contented themselves with retailing extracts from the works of their celebrated predecessors, or with throwing together a few loose and undigested thoughts on a moral duty, without order and arrange- ment, or the smallest effort to impress its obligation upon the conscience, or to deduce it from its proper sources. To the total want of unction, to the cold, pagan, antichristian cast of these compositions, joined to their extreme superficiality, must be ascribed, in a great measure, the disgust which many serious minds have contracted against the introduction of moral topics into the pulpit. Our readers will not suspect we mean to apply this censure indiscriminately, or that we are insensible to the extraordinary merits of a Barrow or of a Tillotson, who have cultivated Christian morals with so universal an applause of the English public. We admire, as much as it is possible for our readers to admire, the rich invention, the masculine sense, the GISBORNE'S SERMONS. 97 exuberantly copious, yet precise and energetic diction, which distinguish the first of these writers, who by a rare felicity of genius united in himself the most distin- guishing qualities of the mathematician and ot the ora- tor. We are astonished at perceiving in the same per- son, and in the same composition, the close logic of Aristotle, combined with the amplifying powers of Plato. The candour, the good sense, the natural arrangement, the unpremeditated graces of Tiliotson, if they excite less admiration, give us almost equal pleasure. It is indeed the peculiar boast of the English nation, to have produced a set of divines, who, being equally acquainted with classical antiquity and inspired writ, and capable of joining, to the deepest results of unassisted reason, the advantages of a superior illumi- nation, have delivered down to posterity a body of moral instruction, more pure, copious, and exact, than subsists amongst any other people ; and had they appealed more frequently to the peculiar principles of the gospel, had they infused a more evangelical spirit into their discourses, instead of representing Christianity too much as a mere code of morals, they would have left us nothing to wish or to regret. Their decision of moral questions was for the most part unquestionably just; but they contemplated moral duties too much apart, neglecting to blend them sufficiently with the motives and principles of pure revelation, after the man- ner of the inspired writers; and, supposing them to believe, they forgot to inculcate, the fundamental truth that ' by the deeds of the law no flesh living shall be justified.' Those internal dispositions, whence right conduct can alone flow, were too little insisted on ; the agency of the Spirit was not sufficiently honoured or acknowledged; and the subordination of the duties of the second, to those of the first table, not enough kept io view. The virtues they recommended and enforc- 98 REVIEW OF ed, were too often considered as the native growth of the human heart, instead of being represented as 'fruits of the Spirit. 1 Jesus Christ was not laid as the foun- dation of morality ; and a very sparing use was made of the motives to its practice deduced from his prom- ises, his example, and his sacrifice. Add to this, that the labours of these great men were employed almost entirely in illustrating and enforcing the obligation of particular duties, while the doctrine of the cross engag- ed little of their attention, except as far as it was im- pugned by the objections of infidels, or mutilated by the sophistry of papists. From the perusal of their writings, the impression naturally results, that a belief of the evidences of revealed religion, joined to a correct deportment in social life, is adequate to all the demands of Christianity. For these reasons, much as we admire, we cannot recommend them in an unqualified manner, nor consider them as safe guides in religion. By these remarks, we intend no offence to any class of Christians. That the celebrated authors we have mentioned, with others of a similar stamp, have refin- ed the style, and improved the taste, of the English pulpit, while they have poured a copious stream of knowledge on the public mind, we are as ready to ac- knowledge as their warmest admirers ; but we will not disguise our conviction, that, for the just delineation of the ' truth as it is in Jesus,' we must look to the Baxters, the Howes, and the Ushers, of an earlier period. He who wishes to catch the flame of devotion, by listening to the words fc which are spirit and are life,' will have recourse to the writings of the latter, notwith- standing their intricacy of method, and prolixity of style. It is with peculiar satisfaction we call the attention of our readers to a work, which unites, in a considera- ble degree, the excellencies of each class of divine* SERMONS. 99 alluded to, without their defects. The discourses are on the following subjects. Our Lord Jesus Christ the Foundation^ Morality ; on the Evils resulting from False Principles of Morality ; on the Changes produced by the coming of Christ in the Situation of Men as to the Divine Law; Justification not attainable by Acts of Morality ; on Living after the Flesh or after the Spirit ; the Love of God an Inducement to strict Mo- rality ; on Brotherly Love ; on the Love of Money ; on the Sacrifice of Worldly Interest to Duty ; on Chris- tian Bounty; on Discontent; on Worldly Anxiety; on Christian Obedience to Civil Rulers ; Christian Patriotism illustrated by the Character of Nehemiah ; on quiet Diligence in our Proper Concerns ; on Par- tiality ; on Suspicion ; on doing Evil to produce good ; on the Superiority of Moral Conduct required of Chris- tians. The reader will perceive it was not the author's design to make a systematic arrangement of Christian duties, and that there are many vices and virtues not comprehended within the plan of his present work. In the discussion of the subjects which he has selected, he has evinced much observation of human life, a deep insight into the true principles of morals, and intimate acquaintance with the genius of the Christian religion. He has erected his edifice upon a solid basis ; in the choice of his materials he has carefully excluded the wood, hay, and stubble ; and admitted no ornaments but such as are fitted to grace the temple of God. The intelligent reader will discover, in these dis- courses, the advantage resulting from studying morality as a science. It will yield him great satisfaction to find the writer ascending on all occasions to first prin- ciples, forming his decisions on comprehensive views, separating what is specious from what is solid, and en- forcing morality by no motives which are suspicious or equivocal. He will not see vanity or ambition pressed 100 REVIEW OF into the service of virtue, or any approach to the adop- tion of that dangerous policy which proposes to expel one vice by encouraging another. He will meet with no flattering encomiums on the purity and dignity of our nature, none of those appeals to the innate good- ness of the human heart, which are either utterly inef- fectual, or, if they restrain from open profligacy, diffuse, at the same time, the more subtile poison of pride and self-righteousness. Mr. Gisborne never confounds the functions of morality with the offices of the Saviour, nor ascribes to human virtue, polluted and imperfect at best, any part of those transcendent effects, which the New Testament teaches us to impute to the medi- ation of Christ. He considers the whole compass of moral duties as branches of religion, as prescribed by the will of God, and no farther acceptable to him than as they proceed from religious motives. The disposition in mankind to seek justification by the works of the law, has been so much flattered and encouraged by the light in which moral duties have been usually placed, that Mr. Gisborne has shown his judgment by counteracting this error at the outset. We recommend to the serious attention of our readers, with this view, the fourth sermon, on Justification not attainable by Acts of Morality. We have never seen a publication, in which that important argument is set in a more clear and convincing light. Though Mr. Gisborne for a series of years has dis- tinguished himself as the able opponent of the doctrine of expediency, yet on no occasion has he exerted more ability in this cause than in his present work. We recommend it to the thinking part of the public to for- get for a moment that they are reading a sermon, and conceive themselves attending to the arguments of a sober and enlightened philosopher. To purify the sources of morals, and to detect the principles of a 101 theory, which enables us to err by system and be de- praved by rule, is to do good of the highest sort ; as he who diminishes the mass of human calamity by striking one from the list of diseases, is a greater bene- factor to mankind than the physician who performs the greatest number of cures. It is in this light we look upon the labours of the present author ; to whom we are more indebted than to any other individual for discrediting a doctrine, which threatens to annihilate religion, to loosen the foundation of morals, and to de- base the character of the nation. We recommend to universal perusal the admirable discourse, on the Evils resulting from False Principles of Morality. The two discourses which propose to illustrate the Character of Nehemiah, contain the most valuable instruction, adapted in particular to the use of those who occupy the higher ranks, or who possess stations of commanding influence and authority. It evinces just and enlarged views of the duties attached to elevat- ed situations, and breathes the purest spirit of Chris- tian benevolence. The sermon on the Love of Money displays, perhaps, the most of the powers of the orator, and demonstrates in how masterly a manner the author is capable, when he pleases, of enforcing ' the terrors of the Lord.' It contains some awful passages, in which, by a kind of repeated asseveration of the same truth, and the happy reiteration of the same words, an effect is produced resembling that of repeated claps of thunder. We shall present our readers with the follow- ing specimen. Fourthly. Meditate on the final condition to which the lover of money is hastening. The covetous, the man who is under the do- minion of the love of money, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. In the present life he has a foretaste of the fruits of his sin. He is restless, anxious, dissatisfied : at one time harassed by uncertainty as to the probable result of his project* ; at another, soured by the failure of them ; at another, disappointed in the midst of success by 102 REVIEW OF discerning, too late, that the same exertions employed in some other line of advantage would have been more productive. But suppose him to have been, through life, as free from the effects of these sources of vexation as the most favourable picture could represent li:.'i He. ,-finii not inherit the kingdom of God. He may not have ij-fii a miser ; but he was a lover of money. He may not have been nn extortioner ; but he was a lover of money. He may not have lif i fraudulent ; but he was a lover of money. He shall not in- ln rit ,kc kingdom of God. He has had his day and his object. He has sought, and he may have accumulated, earthly possessions. By their instrumentality he may have gratified many other appe- tites and desires. But he did not seek first the kingdom of God ; therefore he shall not obtain it. He loved the world ; therefore he shrill perish with tic world. He has wilfully bartered his soul for money. In vain is he now aghast at his former madness. In vain do'--i lie now detest the idol which he worshipped. The gate of sal- vation is closed against him. He inherits the bitterness of unavail- ing remorse, the horrors of eternal death, pp. 145, 14(i. If we were called to specify the discourse in the present volume, that appeared to us the most ingenious and original, we should be inclined to point to the eighteenth, on Suspicion. Having expressed our warm approbation of this per- formance, justice compels us to notice what appear to us its principal blemishes ; which, however, are so overbalanced by the merit of the whole, that we should scarcely deem them worthy of remark, were it not requisite to vindicate our claim to impartiality. Against the sentiments or the arrangement of these discourses, we have nothing to object : the former are almost in- variably just and important, often striking and original: the latter is natural and easy, preserving the spirit of method even where it may seem to neglect the forms : equally remote from the looseness of an harangue, and the ostentation of logical exactness. With the style of this work, we cannot say that we are quite so much satisfied. Perspicuous, dignified, and correct, it yet wants something more of amenity, variety, and ease. Instead of that flexibility which bends to accommodate itself to the different conceptions which occur, it pn 1 - GISBORNE'S SERMONS. 103 serves a sort of uniform stateliness. The art of trans- position, carried, in our opinion, to excess, together with the preference of learned to plain Saxon words, give it an air of Latinity, which must necessarily render it less intelligible and acceptable to unlettered minds. It is indeed but fair to remark, that the discourses ap- pear to have been chiefly designed for the use of the higher classes. But while we allow this apology its just weight, we are still of opinion, that the composition might have assumed a more easy and natural air, with- out losing any thing of its force or beauty. Addresses from the pulpit should, in our apprehension, always make some approach to the character of plain and popular. Another blemish which strikes us in this work, is the frequent use of interrogations, introduced, not only in the warm and impassioned parts, where they are grace- ful, but in the midst of argumentative discussion. We have been struck with the prevalence of this practice in the more recent works of clergymen, beyond those of any other order of men. With Demosthenes, we know inter- rogation was a very favourite figure ; but we recollect, at the same time, it was chiefly confined to the more ve- hement parts of his speeches ; in which, like the erup- tions of a furnace, he broke out upon, and consumed his opponents. In him it was the natural expression of triumphant indignation : after he had subdued and laid them prostrate by the force of his arguments, by his abrupt and terrible interrogations he trampled them in the mire. In calm and dispassionate discussion, the frequent use of questions appear to us unnatural : it discomposes the attention by a sort of starting and ir- regular motion ; and is a violation of dignity by affect- ing to be lively, where it is sufficient praise to be cogent and convincing. In a word, when, instead of being used to give additional vehemence to a discourse, they are 104 REVIEW, &C. interspersed in a series of arguments as an expedient for enlivening the attention, and varying the style, they have an air of undignified flippancy. We should scarce- ly have noticed these little circumstances in an inferior work, but we could not satisfy ourselves to let them pass without observation in an author, who, to merits of a more substantial nature, joins so many and such just pretensions to the character of a fine writer. REVIEW. Letter to a Friend, on the Evidences, Doctrines, and du- ties of the Christian Religion. By OLINTHUS GREG- ORY, LL. D. Of the Royal Military Academy, \Voolvvich. As this is a work of no ordinary merit, and writ- ten upon a subject which all must confess to be of the last importance, we shall endeavour, alter being indulg- ed with a few preliminary remarks, to give a pretty copious analysis of its contents ; not doubting the great- er part of our readers will be solicitous to avail them- selves of the rich entertainment and instruction, which its perusal will unquestionably afford. The first vol- ume is employed in the discussion of a subject which has engaged the powers of the wisest of men through a series of ages ; and minds of every size, and of ev- ery diversity of acquisition, having contributed their quota towards its elucidation, the accumulation of ma- terials is such, that it has become more necessary, per- haps more difficult, to arrange than to invent. In the conduct of so extensive an argument, the talents of the writer will chiefly appear, in giving the due degree of relief and prominence to the different branches of the subject, in determining what should be placed in a strong and brilliant light, and what should be more slight- ly sketched, and disposing the whole in such a man- K* 106 REVIEW OF ner as shall give it the most impressive effect. If there is little rooin lor the display of invention, other powers are requisite, not less rare or less useful ; a nice and discriminating judgment, a true logical taste, and a tal- ent of extensive combination. An ordinary thinker feels himself lost in so wide a field ; is incapable of classifying the objects it presents ; and wastes his atten- tion on such as are trite and common, instead of di- recting it to those which are great and interesting. If there are subjects which it is difficult to discuss for' want of data to proceed upon, and, while they allure by their appearance of abstract grandeur, are soon found to lose themselves in fruitless logomachies and unmeaning subtleties, such as the greater part of the discussions on time, space, and necessary existence ; there are others whose difficulty springs from an oppo- site cause, from the immense variety of distinct topics and considerations involved in their discussion : of which the divine origination of Christianity is a striking specimen, which it has become difficult to treat as it ought to be treated, merely in consequence of the va- riety and superabundance of its proofs. On this account, we suspect that this great cause has been not a little injured by the injudicious conduct of a certain class of preachers and writers, who, in just despair of being able to handle a single topic of re- ligion to advantage, for want of having paid a devout attention to the scriptures, fly like harpies to the evi- dences of Christianity, on which they are certain of meeting with something prepared to their hands, which they can tear, and soil, and mangle at their pleasure. Diripiuntque dapes, contactuque oinnia fcedant. The famine, also, with which their prototypes in Virgil threatened the followers of ^neas, is not more dismal than that which prevails among their hearers. The GREGORY'S LETTERS. 107 folly we are adverting to, did not escape the observa- tion nor the ridicule of Swift, who remarked in his days, that the practice of mooting, on every occasion, the question of the origin of Christianity, was much more likely to unsettle the faith of the simple, than to counteract the progress of infidelity. It is dangerous to familiarize every promiscuous audience to look upon religion as a thing which yet remains to be proved, to acquaint them with every sophism and cavil which a perverse and petulant ingenuity has found out, unac- companied, as is too often the case, with a satisfactory answer ; thus leaving the poison to operate without the antidote, in minds which ought to be strongly imbued with the principles, and awed by the sanctions of the gospel. It is degrading to the dignity of a revelation, established through a succession of ages by indubitable proofs, to be adverting every moment to the hypothesis of its being an imposture, and to be inviting every in- solent sophist to wrangle with us about the title, when we should be cultivating the possession. The prac- tice we are now censuring is productive of another in- convenience. The argument of the truth of Christian- ity, being an argument of accumulation, or, in other words, of that nature that the force of it results less from any separate consideration than from an almost infinite variety of circumstances, conspiring towards one point and terminating in one conclusion; this concen- tration of evidence is broken to pieces, when an attempt is made to present it in superficial descants, than which nothing can be conceived better calculated to make what is great appear little, and what is ponder- ous, light. The trite observation that a cause is inju- red by the adoption of feeble arguments, rests on a ba- sis not often considered, perhaps, by those who most readily assent to its truth. We nover think of esti- mating the powers of the imagination on a given sub* 108 REVIEW OF ject, by the actual performance of the poet ; but if fie disappoint us, we immediately ascribe his failure tc the poverty of his genius, without accusing his subject or his art. The regions of fiction we naturally con- ceive to be boundless. But when an attempt is made to convince us of the truth of a proposition respecting a matter of fact or a branch of morals, we take it for granted, that he who proposes it has made himself per- fectly master of his argument, and that, as no consid- eration has been neglected that would favour his opin- ion, we shall not err in taking our impression of the cause from the defence of its advocate. If that cause happen to be such as involves the dearest interests of mankind, we need not remark how much injury it is capable of sustaining from this quarter. Let us not be supposed, by these remarks, to com- prehend within our censure, the writer, who, amidst the multifarious proofs of revelation, selects a single topic with a view to its more elaborate discussion, pro- vided it be of such a nature that it will support an inde- pendent train of thought, such, for example, as Paley has pursued in his Horae Paulinae, to which a peculiar value oug;ht to be attached, as a clear addition to the body of Christian evidences. All we mean to assert is, that it is incomparably better to be silent on the evidences of Christianity, than to he perpetually advert- ing to them in a slight and superficial manner, and that a question so awful and momentous as that relating to the origin of the Christian religion, ought not to be debased into a trivial common place. Let it be for- mally discussed, at proper intervals, by such men, and such only, as are capable of bringing to it the time, talents, and information requisite to place it in a com- manding attitude. That the author of the present per- formance is possessed of these qualifications to a very great degree, will sufficiently appear from the analysis 109 we propose to give of the work, and the specimens we shall occasionally exhibit ol its execution. It is ushered in by a modest and dignified dedication to Colonel Mudge, lieutenant governor of that royal military institution, of which the author is so distinguish- ed an ornament. The whole is cast into the form of letters to a iriend ; and the first volume, we are given to understand, formed the subject of an actual corres- pondence. As much of the epistolary style is preserv- ed as is consistent with the nature of a serious and pro- tracted argument without ill-judged attempts at refresh- ing the attention of the reader by strokes of gaiety and humour. The mind of the writer appears to have been too deeply impressed with his theme, to admit of such excursions, the absence of which will not, we are per- suaded, be felt or regretted. Before he proceeds to state the direct proofs of the divinity of the Christian religion, he shows, in a very striking manner, the absurdities which must of necessity be embraced by those who deny all pretences to rev- elation ; enumerating in the form of a creed, the vari- ous strange and untenable positions, which form the subject of skeptical belief. In this part of the work, that disease in the intellectual temperament of infidels is placed in a stronger and juster light than we remem- ber to have seen it, which may not improperly be de- nominated the credulity of unbelievers. This represen- tation forms the contents of the first letter. The necessity of revelation is still more indisputably evinced, by an appeal to facts, and a survey of the opin- ions which prevailed among the most enlightened heath- ens, respecting God, moral duty, and a future state. Under each of these heads, our author has selected, with great judgment, numerous instances of the flagrant and pernicious errors entertained by the most celebrat- ed Pagan legislators, poets, and philosophers ; suffi- 110 KEVIEW OF cient to demonstrate, beyond all contradiction, the in ability of unassisted reason, in its most improved an< perfect state, to conduct man to virtue and happiness and the necessity, thence resulting, of superior aid Much diligence of research, and much felicity of ar rangement, are displayed in the management of thi complicated topic, where the reader will find exhibited in a condensed form, the most material facts adduce* in Leland's voluminous work on this subject. All along he holds the balance with a firm and steady hand without betraying a disposition, either to depreciate th value of those discoveries and improvements to whicl reason really attained, or charging the picture of it aberrations and delects, with deeper shades than just! belong to it. The most eminent amongst the Pagan themselves, it ought to be remembered, who, havin no other resource, were best acquainted with its weal ness and its power, never dreamed of denying the cessity of revelation : this they asserted in the m< explicit terms, and on some occasions seem to hai expected and anticipated the communication of such benefit. We make no apology for citing, from present work, the following remarkable passage out Plato, tending both to confirm the fact of a revelatii being anticipated, and to evince, supposing nothii supernatural in the cnse, the divine sagacity of tl great author. He says, that ' this just person, (the ii spired teacher of whom he had been speaking,) mi be poor and void of all qualifications, but those of virti alone ; that a wicked world would not bear his instn tions and reproofs ; and therefore, within three or fot years after he began to preach, he should be persecut< imprisoned, scourged, and at last, be put to death.' In whatever light we consider it, this must be allows to be a most remarkable passage, whether we regj * De Republica. L. II. GREGORY'S LETTERS. Ill lit as merely the conjecture of a highly enlightened (mind, or as the fruit of prophetic suggestion : nor are we aware of any absurdity in supposing that the pro- lific spirit scattered, on certain occasions, some seeds of truth amidst that mass of corruption and darkness ;which oppressed the Pagan world. The opinion we ,have ventured to advance, is asserted in the most posi- Jtive terms in several parts of Justin Martyr's second jApology. Without pursuing this inquiry further, we ^shall content ourselves with remarking, that as the suf- ificiency of mere reason as the guide to truth never en- jtered into the conception of Pagans, so it could never ve arisen at all, but in consequence of confounding results with the dictates of revelation, which, since publication, has never ceased to modify the specula- s, and aid the inquiries of those, who are least dis- posed to bow to its authority. On all questions of mo- rality and religion, the streams of thought have flowed through channels enriched with a celestial ore, whence they have derived the tincture to which they are in- debted for their rarest and most salutary qualities. Before we dismiss this subject, we would just observe that the inefficacy of unassisted reason in religious con- cerns appears undeniably in two points ; the doubtful manner in which the wisest Pagans were accustomed to express themselves respecting a future state, the ex- ce of which, Warburton is confident none of the ilosophers believed ; and their proud reliance on r own virtue, which was such as left no room for ntance. Of a future state, Socrates, in the near spect of death, is represented by Plato as express- a hope, accompanied with the greatest uncertainty ; i with respect to the second point, the lofty confi- ice in their own virtue, which we have imputed to m, the language of Cicero, in one of his familiar let- 3, is awfully decisive. ' Nee enim dum ero, angor 112 REVIEW OP ulla re, cum omni caream culpa ; et si non ero, sensu omni carebo.' ' While I exist, I shall be troubled at nothing, since I have no fault whatever ; and if I shall not exist, I shall be devoid of all feeling.'* So true is it, that life and immortality are brought to light by the Saviour, and that until he appeared, the greatest of men were equally unacquainted with their present con- dition, and their future prospects. The next letter, which is the fourth in the series, is on mysteries in religion. Aware that while tne preju- dice against whatever is mysterious subsists, the sa- ving truths of the gospel can find no entrance, the au- thor has taken great, and, as far as the force of argu- ment can operate, successful pains, to point out the weakness of the foundations on which that prejudice rests. He has shown, by a large induction of particu- lars, in natural religion, natural philosophy, and in pure and mixed mathematics, that with respect to each oi these sciences, we arrive by infallible steps to conclu- sions, of which we can form no clear, determinate con- ceptions ; and that the higher parts of mathematics es- pecially, the science which glories in its superior light and demonstration, teem with mysteries as incompre- hensible to the full, as those which demand our assent in Revelation. H ; s skill as a mathematician, for whicl he has long been distinguished, serves him on thisocca- sion to excellent purpose, by enabling him to illustrate his subject by well-selected examples from his favourite science, and by that means to prove in the most satis- factory manner that the mysterious parts of Christianity are exactly analogous to the difficulties inseparable from other branches of knowledge, not excepting those which make the justest pretensions to demonstration We run no hazard in affirming, that rarely, if ever have superior philosophical attainments been turned tc * Vol. I. P . 51. LETTERS. 113 a better account, or a richer offering brought from the fields of science into the temple of God. Some of his illustrations being drawn from the sublimer speculations of mathematics, must necessarily be unintelligible to ordinary readers : but many of them are plain and popular ; and he has succeeded in making the princi- ple on which he reasons throughout, perfectly plain and perspicuous, which is this that we are able, in a multitude of instances, to ascertain the relations of things, while we know little or nothing; of the nature of the things themselves. If the distinction itself is not entirely new, the force of argument with which it is supported, and the extent to which its illustration is carried, are such as evince much original thinking. We should seriously recommend this part of the work to the perusal of the Barrister, if he were capable of understanding it ; and to all, without exception, who have been perverted by the shallow and ambiguous sophism first broached, we believe^ by Dr. Foster, that where mystery begins, religion ends ; when the fact is, that religion and mystery both begin and end together ; a portion of what is inscrutable to our faculties, being intimately and inseparably blended with its most vital and operative truths. A religion without its mysteries is a temple without its God. Having thus marked out the ground, removed the rubbish, and made room for the foundation, our author proceeds with the skill of a master, to erect a firm and noble structure, conducting the argument for the truth of Christianity through all its stages, and commencing his labours in this part of the subject, with establishing the genuineness and authenticity of the sacred vohunne. As he manifestly aims at utility, not at display, we are ghid to find he has availed himself of the profound and original reasoning of Hartley, which he has fortified all with ingenious reflections of his own, and crown- 114 BE VIEW OF ed by an appeal to the principal testimonies of Christ- ian and Pagan antiquity. The leiter devoted to this subject is long, but not more so than the occasion de- manded, and is replete with varied and extensive in- formation. To the whole he has annexed a very ac- curate and particular account of the researches and discoveries of Dr. Buchanan, made during his visit to the Syrian Churches in India ; nor are we aware that there is a single consideration of moment, tending to conlmn the genuineness and integrity of the scriptures in their present state, which in the course of our au- thor's extended investigation has escaped his notice. By some he will be blamed for placing the proofs of the authenticity of the sacred records before the argument from prophecy and miracles : but we think he is right in adopting such an arrangement; since the reasoning on this part not only stands independent of the sequel, but greatly abridges his subsequent labour, by enabling him to appeal, on every occasion, to the testimony of scripture, not indeed as inspired, but as an authentic document, that point having been previously established; while it is in perfect unison with that solicitude he every where evinces, to imbue the mind of his readers with a serious and devotional spirit. Here is a book of a singular character, and of high antiquity, from which Christians profess to derive the whole of their informa- tion on religion, and it comes down to us under such circumstances, that every thing relating to it is capable of being investigated, apart from the consideration of prophecies and miracles, except its claim to inspira- tion. Why then should not the pretensions of this book be examined at the very outset, as far as they are susceptible of an independent examination ; since the proof of its beiog genuine and authentic, will ex- tend its consequences so far into the subsequent matter of discussion, as well as exert a great and salutary influ- ence on the mind of the inquirer. GREGORY'S LETTERS. 115 The next letter is devoted to the subject of prophecy : in which, after noticing a few of the more remarkable predictions relating to the revolutions of power and einpire, he descends to a more particular investigation of the prophecies relating to the Messiah, which he ar- ranges under three heads ; such as respect the time and place of his appearance his character, doctrine, rejection, and final triumph and the exact correspond- ence betwixt his contemptuous treatment and suffer- ings, and the representations of the ancient oracles. Under the last, he embraces the opportunity of rescu- ing the proof from the 53d chapter of Isaiah, from the cavils of the Jews, as well as from the insinuation of certain infidels, that the prophecy was written after the event : which he triumphantly refutes by an appeal to a remarkable passage in the books of Origen against Celsus. In confirming the inference from prophecy, we again meet with a judicious application of the au- thor's mathematical skill, by which he demonstrates, from the doctrine of chances, the almost infinite im- probability of the occurrence of even a small number of contingent events predicted of any one individual ; and the absolute impossibility /consequently, of account- ing for the accomplishment of such numerous predic- tions as were accomplished in the person of the Mes- siah, without ascribing it to the power and wisdom of the Deity. From the consideration of prophecy, he proceeds to the evidence from miracles, and the credibility of hu- man testimony. He begins with stating, in few and simple terms, but with much precision, the just idea of a miracle, which, he remarks, has oftener been obscu- red than elucidated by definition, while the sentiments entertained by good men upon the subject have been almost uniformly correct, when they have not been en- 116 REVIEW OF tangled or heated by controversy. This branch of the evidences of revelation is certainly very little indebted to the introduction of subtle refinements. In resting the evidence of the Jewish and Christian revelations on the ground of miracles, the author restricts his propo- sition to uncontrolled miracles ; on the propriety of which, different judgments will probably be formed by his readers. We believe him to be right : since, ad- mitting the limitation to be unnecessary, it is but an extreme of caution, a leaning to the safe side ; for who will deny, that it is much easier to prove it to be in- consistent with the wisdom and goodness of the Deity, to permit an uncontrolled miracle to be performed in support of error, than to demonstrate from a metaphys- ic-il consideration of the powers and capacities of spir- itual agents of a high order, their incapacity of accom- plishing what to our apprehensions must appear super- natural. The writer of this, at least, must confess for himself, he could never find any satisfaction in such speculations, not even in those of Farmer, ingenious as they are, which always appeared to him to be like ad- vancing to an object by a circuitous and intricate path, rather than take the nearest road. But to return to the present performance. After exhibiting the most approved answers to the flimsy sophistry of Hume, in- tended to evince the incredibility of miracles; and cor- roborating them by a copious illustration of the four criteria of miraculous facts, suggested by Leslie in his admirable work, entitled, " A short Method with the Deists," he reduces the only suppositions which can be formed, respecting the miracles recorded in the New Testament, to the four following, which we shall give in the words of the author : ' Either, first, the recorded accounts of those miracles were abso- lute fictions, wickedly invented by some who had a wish to impose upon mankind : Iff 1 Or, secondly, Jesus did not work any true miracles ; but the senses of the people were in some way or other deluded, so that they believed he really did perform miracles, when, in fact, he did not : ' Or, thirdly, that the spectators were not in any way deluded, but knew very well he wrought no miracles ; yet were all, (both enemies and friends, the Jews themselves not excepted, though ^they daily " sought occasion against him,") united in a close con- federacy, to persuade the world he wrought the most surprising things. S that while most actively circulated reports of those a- mazing occurrences, the rest kept their counsel, never offering to un- mask the fraud, but managing the matter with so much dexterity and cunning, and such an exact harmony and correspondence, that the story of Jesus Christ's performing miracles should become current, should obtain almost universal credit, and not a single per- son be able to disprove it : 1 Or, fourthly, that he did actually perform those astonishing works, and that the accounts given of them by the Christian writers in the New Testament are authentic- arid correct. ' He that does not adopt the last of these conclusions will find it a matter of very small consequence which of the three he chooses; for that the stories cannot be fictions, is evident from the reasonings of Leslie, already adduced : and it will be seen further, from a mo- ment's consideration, that the denial of the miracles of Jesus Christ, in any way, leads necessarily to the admission of a series of real miracles of another kind.' He closes this part of his disquisition with an elabo- rate confutation of the notion too generally admitted by the advocates of revelation, that the evidence of mirac- ulous facts necessarily grows weaker in proportion to the distance of the time at which they were performed ; aiul in no part does the vigour of his understanding ap- pear to more advantage than N in his reasonings on this point, where, among many excellent, we meet with the following profound remark : ' Tt i.i onlv.' he observes, ' with regard to the facts recorded in the Oible, that men ever talk of the daily diminution of credibility . Who complains of a decay of evidence in relation to the actions of Alc<;mder, Hannibal, Pompey, or Cao*ar ? How many fewer of sits recorded by Plutarch, or Polvbius, or Livy. are believed linw (on account of a diminution of evidence) than were believed hv Mr. Addison, or Lord Clarendon, or fJcoffrey Chaucer? We Hear persons wishing they had lived ages 'earlier, thnt they might have had better proofs that Cyrus was the conqueror of J3ab- 1 I 8 REVIEW OF ylon, that Darius was beaten in several battles by Alexander, that Titiu destroyed 'Jerusalem, that H;ook from which they pro! derive no information, and saved by a religion which is GREGORY'S LETTERS. 121 allowed to engage little or none of their attention. This is one of the most distinguished features in the charac- ter of those, who with exemplary modesty style them- selves rational Christians. In this spirit, a distinguish- ed prelate of the present age* has published a collec- tion of tracts for the benefit of the junior clergy ,in which not a single treatise is admitted, which professes to ex- hibit a view of Christian doctrine; and has introduced it with a preface, ingeniously calculated, under pretence of decrying dogmas, to bring all such inquiries into contempt. It certainly is not difficult to perceive whence this manner of thinking proceeds, nor whith- er it tends. It proceeds from a rooted aversion to the genuine truths of revelation ; and had it not received a timely check, would have terminated in the general prevalence of skepticism. It presents a neutral ground, on which professed Christians and infidels may meet, and proceed to assail with their joint force the substan- tial truths of our religion. There is nothing in such views of Christianity to appal the infidel; nothing to mortify the pride, nothing to check or control the exor- bitances, of that "'carnal mind" which is "enmity against God." In stripping the religion of Christ of all that is spiritual, it renders it weak and inefficacious as. an instrument of renovating the mind ; and by fostering its pride, and sparing its corruption, prepares it for stinking off the restraints of religion altogether. It gives us, however, unfeigned satisfaction to perceive, that the evil we so much deprecate, appears to have met with a fatal check ; and that the present times are distinguished by two things, which we cannot but con- sider as most favourable prognostics, an increased at- tention to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, and a growing unanimity with respect to the modes in which those doctrines are entertained. There is less disposi- * Bishop Watson, 122 REVIEW OP ft tion on the one hand to receive for Christianity a system of Pagan ethics, and on the other to conioimd points of doubtful speculation with its fundamental doctrines. The religious zeal of the present day is more nobie and catholic than in former times, partaking less of the ac- rimony of party, and more of the inspiration of truth and charity. The line of demarcation betwixt sound doc- trines and heresy, is better ascertained, than it has ev- er been before ; and the Christian world are equally averse to whatever approaches to Socmian impiety, and to the mooting; of inter livable questions. In the statement o( the peculiar doctrines of Christ- ianity, there are two extremes to be avoided. The one is, that of pusillanimously shrinking from their bold originality, and attempting to recommend them to the acceptance of proud and worldly-minded men by the artifices of palliation and disguise of which, in our opinion, the Bishop of Lincoln has given an agregious specimen in his late work ;* the other extreme is that of stating them in a metaphysical form, mixing doubtful deductions with plain assertions, and thereby incumber- ing them with needless subtleties and reBnements. We should neither be ashamed of the dictates of the Spirit, nor ' add to his words, lest we be reproved." They wjll always appear with the most advantage, and carry the most conviction, when they are exhibited in their native simplicity^ without being mixed with heteroge- neous m uter, or with positions of doubtful authority. In our apprehension, the true way of contemplating the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, is to consider them as facts believed on the authority of the Supreme Being, not to be proved by reason, since their truth does not result from any perceptible relations in our ideas, but they owe their existence entirely to the will and counsel of the Almighty Potentate. On this account we nev- *Entitled " A Refutation of Calvinism." GREGORY'S LETTERS. 123 er consider it safe to rest their truths on a philosophical basis, nor imagine it is possible to add to their evidence by an elaborate train of reasoning. Let the fair gram- matical import of scripture language be investigated, and whatever propositions are by an easy and natural interpretation deducible from thence, let them be re- ceived as the dictates of infinite wisdom, whatever as- pect they bear, or whatever difficulties they present. Repugnant to reason, they never can be, because they spring from the Author of it ; but superior to reason, whose limits they will infinitely surpass, we must expect to find them, since they are a communication of such matters of fact respecting the spiritual and eternal world, as need not have been communicated if the knowledge of them could have been acquired from any other quarter. The facts with which we have become acquainted in the natural world would appear stupend- ous, were they communicated merely on the evidence of testimony : they fail to astonish us chiefly because they have been arrived at step by step, by means of their analogy to some preceding one. We have climb- ed the eminence by a slow progression, and our pros- pect has insensibly widened as we advanced, instead of being transported thither instantaneously by a supe- rior power. Revelation conducts us to the truth at once, without previous training, without any intellectual process preceding, without condescending to afford other proof than what results from the veracity and wis- dom of the Creator ; and when we consider that this truth respects much sublimer relations and concerns than those which subsist in the material world, that it regards the ways and counsels of God respecting man's eternal destiny, is it surprising it should embrace what greatly ! surpassed our previous conjectures, and even transcends our perfect comprehension ? To a serious and up- right mind, however, its discoveries are no sooner made 124 REVIEW OF than they become supremely acceptable : the interpo- sition of the Deity in the great moral drama is seen to be absolutely necessary ; since none but Infinite Wisdom could clear up the intricacies, nor any power short of Omnipotence relieve the distress it produced. These very truths which some ridicule as mysteries, and others despise as dogmas, are to the enlightened u sweeter than honey, or the honeycomb," apart from which, whatever else is contained in the Bible, would be per- fectly tasteless and insipid. Though he receives every communication from God with devout and grateful emotions, he feels no hesitation in co.ifessins;, that it is in these parts oi revelation he especially exults and tri- umphs ; it is these, which in his estimation entitle it to the appellation of " marvellous litrht." If it is no small gratification, to find so perfect a con- currence in these sentiments, on the paii'of our author i to find them stated and illustrated in so able a man- ner as they are throughout this work, is a still greater^ The first letter in this volume is devoted to a general view of the Christian Doctrines, designed to obviate certain prejudices, and to piopare the mind for that se- rious inquiry into their nature i.nd import, which cannot fail, under the blessing of God, of conducting it to the most satisfactory conclusions. Our author never loses sisrht of the gospel as a re- storative dispensation : this is its primary and most es- sential feature ; and the most dangerous and numerous aberrations from it, may be traced to the neglect of con- sidering it in this light. It is not the prescription of a rule of life to the innocent, but the annunciation of a stupendous method of relief for the sinner. Overlook- ing all petty varieties, and subordinate distinctions, it places the whole human race on one level ; abases them all in the dust before the Infinite JV'ajtsty ; and offers indiscriminately a provision of sanctification to the REOORY'S LETTERS, 125 polluted, and of pardon to the guilty. These are the glad tidings ; this is the jubilee of the whole earth, pro- claimed in the songs of angels, celebrated in the praises of the church, alike in her militant and her triumphant state, whether toiling in the vale of mortality, or re- joicing before the throne. The second letter in the series which composes this volume, is on the Depravity of Human Nature ; where the reader will find the evidence of that melancholy, but fundamental truth, exhibited with much conciseness, perspicuity, and force. The third is employed in sta- ting the arguments for the Atonement of Christ under the four divisions of typical, prophetical, historical, and declamatory proofs ; and the whole is closed by a very luminous and satisfactory answer to the most specious objections against that momentous truth. In adverting to the objection to a vicarious sacrifice, founded on the notion of its being unjust that the innocent should be ap* pointed to suffer in the room of the guilty, we meet with the following admirable passage of Archbishop Tillotson, remarkable for that perfect good sense, sim- plicity, and perspicuity, which distinguish the writings of that excellent prelate. 1 If the matter,' says he, ' were searched to the bottom, all this perverse contention about our Saviour's suffering for our benefit, but not in our stead, will signify just nothing. For if Christ died for our benefit, so as some way or other, by virtue of his death and sufferings to save us from the wrath of God. and to procure our es- cape from eternal death, this, for ought I know, is all that any kody means by his dying in our stead. For he that dies with an intention to do that benefit for another, or to save him from death, doth certainly, to all intents and purposes, die in his place and itead. And if they will grant this to be their meaning, the contro- versy is at an end ; and both sides are agreed in the thing and do only differ in the phrase and manner of expression, which is to seek a quarrel and an occasion of difference, when there is no real ground for it : a thing which ought to be very far from reasonable and ible minds. For many of the Socinians say, that our Sav- iour's voluntary death and sufferings procured his exaltation at the right hand of God, and power and authority to forgive iins, and U> REVIEW OF give eternal life to as many as he pleased : so that they grant that his obedience and lufferiozs, in the meritorious consequence of them, redound to our brm'fit nnd advantage, as much as we pre- tend to say they do ; only they are loth, in express terms, to ac- knowledge that Christ :lind in our stead ; and this for no other rea- son that I can imagine, but because they have denied it so often and so long: Vol. II. p. 64. We have only to say, on this part of the subject, that we heartily commiserate the state of that man's mind, who, whatever Socinian prejudices he may have felt against the most glorious of all doctrines, that of the ar our neur, does not feel them shaken, at least, if not removed, by the arguments adduced in this letter. The next is devoted to the defence of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, which our author evinces in a master- ly manner, from the predictions of the ancient prophets, compared with their application in the New Testament, from the conduct, the miracles, and the discourses of our Lord, from the declarations of his apostles and from the concurrent testimony of the early Christ- ian writers and martyrs, before the council of Nice. (Jnd^r the last head, the reader will meet with a copi- ous induction of passages attesting this grand doctrine, selected with much judgment, and applied with great force. The author all along contends for the divinity of Christ as a fundamental tenet ; and, of course, will forfeit all pretensions to candour with rational Christ- ians, on whose approbation, indeed, he appears to set very little value. In the next letter, which is on Conversion, he has treated of the nature and necessity of that new birth, on which our Lord insisted so strenuously in his dis- course with Nicodemus, in a manner which will be as offensive to mere nominal Christians, as it will be in- structive and satisfactory to serious and humble inquirers after trutn. He shews, from well known and indubi- table facts, the reality of such a change j and evince* 127 its indispensable necessity, from the express declara- tions of Scripture, the corruption of human nature, the exalted character of the Deity, and the nature of that pure and perfect felicity to which good men aspire af- ter death. In illustrating this subject, he has made a happy use of Bishop Burners narrative of the conver- sion of the Earl of Rochester, has carefully guarded his readers against the pernicious error of confounding regeneration with baptism, and has closed the discus- sion with solving certain difficulties arising out of the subject, which have often perplexed serious minds. As every effect naturally invites us to contemplate the cause, he passes from conversion to the consideration of Divine Influence, which is the subject of the suc- ceeding letter ; and were we to give our opinion of the comparative merit of the different parts of this volume, we should be inclined to assign the palm to the disqui- sition on this confessedly mysterious subject. In no part, certainly, is the vigour of the author's very pow- erful understanding more eminently exerted ; in none are the prejudices founded on a pretended philosophy, more triumphantly dispelled. He has shewn, in the most satisfactory manner, that the belief of an imme- dmto divine influence on the mind, not only accords witii the sentiments of the wisest men in Pagan times, but that it is rendered highly reasonable by the close analogy it bears to the best established laws of the ma- terial world. Though there are many admirable pas- sages in this portion of the work, which it would grat- ify us to lay before our readers, we must content our- selves with the following. 1 No person cqn look into the world with the eye of a philosopher, and not soon ascertain, that the grand theatre of phenomena which lies hefore him, is naturally subdivided into two great classes of scenery : the one exhibiting r-onstrained, the other voluntary mo- tion , the former characteristic of matter, the latter as clearly indi- ca,ting something perfectly distinct from matter, and possessing tu 128 REYIEW OF tally opposite qualities. " Pulverise matter (says Saurin,) give it all the different forms of which it is susceptible, elevate it to its highest degree of attainment, make it vast and immense, mod- erate, or small, luminous, or obscure, opaque, or transparent, there will never result any thing but figures ; and never will you be able, by all these combinations, or divisions, to produce one single sentiment, one single thought." The reason is obvious : a substance compounded of innumerable parts, which every one acknowledges matter to be, cannot be the subject of an individual consciousness, the seat of which must be a simple and undivided substance : as the great Dr. Clark has long ago irrefragably shewn. Intellect and volition, are quite of a different nature from corporeal figure, or motion, and must reside in, or emanate from a different kind of be- ing, a kind which to distinguish it from matter, is called spirit, or mind. Of these, the one is necessarily inert, the other essentially active. The one is characterized by want of animation, life, and even motion, except as it is urged by something ab extra ; the oth- er is living, energetic, self-moving, and possessed of power to move other things. VVe often fancy, it is true, that matter moves matter ; but this, strictly speaking, is not correct. When one wheel, or lever, in a system of machinery, communicates motion to matter, it can, at most, only communicate what it has received ; and if you trace the connexion of the mechanism, you will at length arrive at a first mover, which first mover is in fact, spiritual. If, for exam- ple, it be an animal, it is evidently the spiritual part of that animal from whence the motion originally springs. If otherwise, if it be the descent of a weight, or the fall of water, or the force of a current of air, or the expansive power of steam, the action must be ulti- mately referred to what are styled powers of nature, that is, to grav- itation or elasticity ; and these, it is now well known, cannot be explained by any allusion to material principles, but to the indes- inent operation of the Great Spirit, in whom we live, and move, and have our being the finger of God touching and urging the va- rious subordinate -Brings, which, in their turn, move the several parts of the universe. Thus God acts in all places, in all times, and upon all persons. The whole material world, were it not for his Spirit, would be inanimate and inactive; all motion is derived either from his energy, or from a spirit which he animates; and it is next to certain, that the only primary action is that of spirit, and the most direct and immediate that of spirit upon spirit.' p. 154. We doubt not the intelligent reader will be of opin- ion that the author has gone to the very bottom of this subject, and will feel himself highly gratified in seeing it placed in so clear and convincing a light ; the more so, as he has taken care to guard against its most ob- vious abuse, by shewing that the influence, for which he contends, is not to be expected independent of means, among which he considers prayer, and conscientious regard to known duty, as the principal. We earnestly recommend this part of the performance to such of our readers as have, upon too light grounds, imbibed phi- losophical prejudices against the doctrine contended for : a doctrine which lies at the foundation of all spir- itual religion, though treated by many with an excess of insolence and scorn, which can hardly be accounted for, without adverting to the injudicious conduct of its advocates. The important doctrine of Justification by Faith, forms the subject of the next letter in the series. Here, after confirming the position he means to defend by the authority of the Homilies, he proceeds to a more particular discussion of the subject, under three heads of inquiry : What is meant by justification what by faith and what is the genuine import of " justifi- cation by faith." Under each of these, the reader will meet with much instruction, arising from a very lu- minous statement of truth, accompanied with happy il- lustrations. The charge against the doctrine pleaded for, of its tending to licentiousness, is very successfully con. hated and refuted. The exhibition of the leading doctrines of Christian- ity is completed in the three following letters, on Prov- idence, the Resurrection, and the Eternal Existence of Man after Death. We perused with much satisfac- tion, the author's masterly defence of a particular prov- idence, the denial of which is, to all practical purposes, equivalent to the denial of a providence altogether. Trust in God is the act of an individual, as all the ex- ercises of piety must necessarily be ; so that if the prov- idence of God embraces not the concerns of individu- als, no rational foundation can be conceived for expect- rotcction from danger, or relief under distress, in (30 REVIEW or answer to prayer. The denial of a particular provi- dence is, it must be confessed, the best possible expe- dient for keeping God at a distance and on that ac- count so vehemently insisted on by certain periodical writers, the poison of whose impiety, prepared, it is generally understood, by hallowed hands, and distribu- ted through the nation in a popular and seducing ve- hicle, has met with a powerful antidote and rebuke from Dr. Gregory, who, himself a layman, will be honoured as the champion of that religion, which a clergyman has insulted and betrayed.* How is it that the con- ductors of the publication alluded to, allot to this clerical associate the province of libelling religion? Is it that its alliance with nominal sanctity gives rank impiety a new ziest, at the same time that its total dereliction of principle more perfectly incorporates the specific de- sign of the article with the general character of the work ? In treating of the Resurrection of the Dead, the au- thor has happily availed himself of the striking analo- gies which the system of nature presents, as if design- ed on purpose, as Tertullian more than insinuates, to excite the expectation of such an event. Among oth- ers highly deserving attention, we shall present our rea- ders with the following, in the words of Dr. Gregory. 1 Nearly allied to these are the examples of peculiar transfprma- / tions undergone by various insects, and the state of rest, and insen- sibility, which precede those transformations : such as the chrysalis, or aufelia state of butterflies, moths, and silk-worms. The myr- HrHeon furmicaleo, of whose larva, and its extraordinary history, Reaumur and Roesel have given accurate descriptions/contimrs in its insensible, or chrysalis state, about four weeks. The libell'da. or dragon-fly, continues still longer in its state of inaction. N.mir- alists tell us, that the worm repairs to the margin of its p-'iid in quest of a convenient place of abode during its insensible state. It attaches itself to a plant, or piece of dry wood, and the skin, which gradually becomes parched and brittle, at last splits opposite to the upper part of the thorax ; through this aperture the insect, now * See the Article on Methodism in the Edinburgh Review GREGORY'S LETTERS. 181 become winged, quickly pushes its way ; and being thus extricated from confinement, begins to expand its wings, to flutter, and, finally, to^aunchinto the air with that gracefulness and ease which are pe- culiar to this majestic tribe. Now who that saw, for the first time, the little pendant coffin in which the insect lay entombed, and was ignorant of the transformation of which we are now speaking, would ever predict that, in a few weeks, perhaps in a few days or hours, it would become one of the most elegant and active of winged in- sects ? And who that contemplates with the mind of a philosopher this curious transformation, and knows that two years before the insect mounts into air, even while it is living in water, it has the rudiments of wings, can deny that the body of a dead man may, at some future period, be again invested with vigour and activity, and soar to regions for which some latent organization may have pecu- liarly fitted it.' p. 225. In descanting on the change that will be effected by the Resurrection, when we shall be invested with a glorified body, the language of the author rises to a high pitch of elevation, and exhibits a scene which sur- passes the brightest visions of poetry, while the exact- ness of the delineation, in its most essential lineaments, is attested by the " true sayings of God." The sci- ence with which the mind of the author is so richly im- bued, enables him to mingle a refined spirit of philoso- phy with the colours of imagination, which without di- minishing their brightness, compels the assent of the understanding, while it captivates the heart. In the letter on the Eternal Existence after Death, the author strenuously opposes the sleep of the soul, and urges formidable, and, we apprehend, irrefragable arguments for interpreting the passages of scripture which speak of the everlasting misery of the impenitent, in their obvious and literal sense ; nor have we met with a discussion of this awful subject so calculated to carry conviction to a philosophical mind, provided it be disposed to bow to the authority of revelation. Hiu confutation of the reasoning of his opponents, founded on the supposed ambiguity of the terms employed to denote an eternal duration, is particularly masterly. 132 REVIEW OF On the third branch of his subject, which relates Co the Duties of Christianity, he is comparatively brief, not, it is evident, from his undervaluing their import- ance, but partly, we conceive, on account of the length of his former discussions, and partly because, in this part, there is little room for controversy. He has con- tented himself with arranging the duties of Christianity under three heads those which relate to God, to our fellow-creatures, and to ourselves ; and with illustrating and enforcing them by a direct appeal to the language of Scripture. Having endeavoured to put our readers in possession of the general plan and design of this work, we shall close this article with a few general observations on it. Dr. Gregory throughout denominates the abettors of the simple humanity of Christ, Socinians, instead of employing their favourite appellation of Unitarians. We rejoice that he has done so, and hope his example will be generally followed. To accede to the appella- tion of Unitarians, is to yield up the very point in debate : for ask them what they mean by Unitarian, and they will feel no scruple in replying, that it denotes a believ- er in one God, in opposition to a Tritheist. That this is not asserted at random, is evident, as well from many other facts, fis from the following very remarkable one, tint, when a noted academic was, some years since, expelled from the university of Cambridge, amidst va- rious points which he insisted on in his defence, one was this, that it was quite absurd to censure him lor avowing Unitarian principles, since he never heard but of one person who publicly declared himself not an Uni- tarian. Now what did he mean by this singular asser- tion ? Did he mean to say, that he never heard of more than one person who publicly affirmed his belief in -A plurality of persons in the Godhead ? Th's is im- possible. What could he mean, then, but that he never GREGORY'S LETTERS. 13o knew but of one person who affirmed himself not to be a believer in one God ? which is neither more nor less than to identify the term Unitarian with a believer in one God, and the term Trinitarian with a believer in three. Let the intelligent public judge, whether it is not high time to withhold from these men an appellation, which assumes the question at issue, and which cannot be be- stowed without being converted into an occasion of in- sult and triumph over their opponents. There was a time when the learning and moderation of Lardner, and the fame and science of Priestley, combined to throw a transitory splendour over their system, and to procure from the Christian world forbearance and complaisance to which they were ill entitled. That time is passed. Such rational Christians as they are, should have dis- cernment to perceive, that it is not with them as in months past, when the candle of their leader shone around them : it becomes them to bow their spirit to the humble state of their fortunes. They should learn at last to know themselves. The world is perfectly aware, whether they perceive it or not, that Socinianism is now a headless trunk, bleeding at every vein, and exhibiting no other symptoms of life, but its frightful convulsions. But why should they be offended at being styled So- cinians, when it is undeniable that they agree with So- cintis in his fundamental position, (the simple humani- ty of Christ ;) which is all the agreement that subsists betwixt the followers of Calvin or of Arminius, and those eminent persons ? The Calvinists are far from con- curring in every particular with Calvin, the Arminians with Arminius, yet neither of them have violently dis- claimed these appellations, or considered them as terms of reproach. Why are the Sorinians only offended at being denominated after Socinus ? Is it because they diiier in the nature of Christ's person from that cele- 134 RETIEW OF brated Heresiarch ? This they will not pretend. But they differ from him in many respects ! In what re- spects ? Is it in those respects in which his senti- ments gave most offence to the Christian world ? Is it that they have receded from him in that direction which brings them nearer to the generally received doctrine of the church ? Just the reverse. In the esteem of all but themselves they have descended many decrees lower in the scaJt? of error, have plunged many fathoms deeper in the cmif of impiety ; yet with an assurance, of which they hnve furnished the only example, they affect to consider themselves injured by being styled Socinians, when they know, in their own consciences, that they differ from Socinus only in pushing the deg- radation of the Saviour to a much greater length and that, in the views of the Christian world, their religious di^inquences differ from his, only as treason differs from sr.iition, or sierilege from theft. The appellation of S >." > Snian, as npplied to them, is a term of forbearance, calculated, if they would suffer it, not to expose, but to hide a part of their shame. Let them assume any de- nomination they please, provided it he such as will fairly represent their sentiments. Let them be styled Anti- scripturalists, Humanitarians, Semi-deists, Priestleians, or Socinians. But let them not be designated by a term, which is merely coveted by them for the pur- poses of chicane and imposture. Our readers will perceive that the system which Dr. Gregory strenuously abets is orthodoxy : but it is mod- erate and catholic ; it is the orthodoxy of the three first centuries ; it is tint system which, communicated by Christ and his apostles, pervaded the church long before the confusion of modern sects arose, or even the distinction betwixt Protestants and Catholics was heard of; it is the orthodoxy which has nourished the root of piety in every age, warmed the breast of saints GREGORY'S LETTERS. 135 and martyrs, and will continue to subsist in the church till the heavens and the earth are no more. We congratulate the public on the accession of Dr. G. to such a cause ; and sincerely rejoice that, amidst hrs multifarious scientific pursuits, he has found time and inclination to meditate so deeply, and to exhibit so suc- cessfully, the " truth as it is in Jesus." We hope his example will stimulate other men of science and genius to pursue so noble a career. We will venture to assure them, that, upon a dying bed, it will occasion no regret to reflect upon their having enrolled their names with such illustrious laymen as Boyle, Newton, and Locke, in the defence of Christianity. In a beautiful passage of Euripides, Medea is intro- duced expressing her surprise, that, amidst such a mul- titude of inventions and inquiries, the art of persuasion, the mistress of human volition, should alone have been neglected. This neglect cannot be imputed to Dr. Gregory. He has united, with extraordinary attain- ments in the severer sciences, the art of recommending his sentiments with the most impressive effect ; and though he is above a solicitude respecting the minuter graces of finished composition, he exhibits, in an emi- nent degree, the most important ingredients of good writ- ing. He is correct and luminous, and often rises to the tone of the most impassionable feeling. His lan- guage is eminently easy, flowing, and idiomatic. The abstractions of science have not in him exerted the in- fluence often imputed to them, of chilling the heart, and impairing the vigour of the imagination. While he reasons with the comprehension and depth which dis- tinguish the philosopher, he feels with ardour, and paints with force. He is often inspired and transported with his theme. In the midst of pursuits which are not al- ways found to have a propitious effect on the religious character of their votaries, he has found the means of 136 REVIEW, &C. preserving his devotion in its warmth, his faith in its purity, and his sensibility in its infantine freshness and vigour. We must conclude with earnestly recommending this work to the attentive perusal of young persons, whose minds have been cultivated by science and letters : and must be permitted to add, that we are acquainted with no book in the circle of English literature, which is equally calculated to give persons of that description, just views of the evidence, the nature, and the impor- tance of revealed religion. REVIEW. Memoirs of the late Rev. THEOPHILUS LINDSEY, A. M. Including a Brief Analysis of his Works ; together with Anecdotes and Letters of eminent Persons, his Friends and Correspondents : also, a General View of the Progress of the Unitarian Doctrine in England and America. Bj THOMAS BKLSHAM, Minister of the Chapel in Essex-street. 8vo. pp. xxiv. 544. As the life of Mr. Lindsey is evidently adopted as a vehicle for the propagation of Socinian sentiments, we shall be excused for being more copious in our re- marks upon it, than the biography of a man of such extreme mediocrity of talents could otherwise possibly justify. If a zealous attachment to any system of opin- ions, can be supposed to be aided by its association v/ith personal reputation, we cannot wonder at finding Mr. Lindsey's fondness for Socinianism so ardent and so persevering, inasmuch as the annals of religion scarcely furnish an instance of a celebrity acquired so entirely by the adoption of a particular creed. Luther and Calvin would have risen to distinction, in all prob- ability, if the Reformation had never been heard of; while the existence of such a man as Mr. Lindsey, would not have been known beyond the precincts of his parish, had he not, under a peculiar combination of circumstances, embraced the tenets of Socinus- 138 , REVIEW OF His reputation is altogether accidental and factitious. Though the leading events of his life, with one excep- tion, are marked by no striking peculiarities, yet, by the help of a great deal of adventitious matter, Mr. B. has contrived to make it the ground work of a bulky, and not unentertaining volume : disfigured, however, throughout, by that languid and inelegant verbosity, which characterises all his compositions. It must be confessed, Mr. Belsham has taken care in this work to exhibit himself as no ascetic, no religious enthusiast, but quite a man of the world ; not by lively delineation of its manners and foibles, still loss by a development of the principles by which mankind are actuated, but by such a profusion of compliments bestowed on men of rank and title, and so perfect a prostration before secular grandeur, as has never been paralleled, we suspect, in a Christian Divine. At the * pomp and circumstance' of human life, this philosopher appears awed, and planet-struck, and utterly incapable of exer- cising that small portion of discrimination with which nature has endowed him. Every nobleman or states- man he has occasion to introduce, is uniformly ushered in with a splendid retinue of gorgeous epithets, in which there are as little taste and variety as if they had been copied verbatim from the rolls at the Herald's office. Orators of pre-eminent powers, together with virtuous and enlightened noblemen, meet us at every turn, and we are not a little surprised at finding so much of the decoration and splendour of this mortal scene, in so close contact with the historical details of Unitarianism. We have long remarked the eagerness of Socinians to emblazon their system by associations with learning, rank, and fashion ; but on no other oc- casion have we seen this humour carried so far, as in these Memoirs. The leading events of Mr. Lindsry's life are thr MEMOIRS OF LINDSET. 139 following. He was born, June 20, 1723, at Mid die- wich, in Cheshire, where his father was a mercer in respectable circumstances, but was afterwards reduced by misfortunes. His mother, whose maiden name was Spencer, was distantly related to the Marlborough fam- ily, and, previously to her marriage, lived twenty years in the family of Frances, Countess of Huntingdon a circumstance which led to considerable intimacy, that continued for some years, with the celebrated Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who married the son of that Lady. Under the patronage of Lady Betty and Lady Ann Hastings, Mr. Lindsey was educated first at a school in the neighbourhood of Middlewich, whence he was removed, and placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. Barnard, master of the free grammar school in that town, who is represented as a gentleman of distinguish- ed learning and piety. His vacations were usually spent at the mansion of his noble patronesses in the vicinity of Leeds, during the life of Lady Betty Has- tings, and, after her decease, at Ashby Place, near Ashby de la Zouch, in , Leicestershire, where Lady Ann then fixed her residence. In the 18th year of his age, May 21, 1741, he was admitted a student at St. John's, Cambridge, where he acquitted himself with credit in his academical exercises, and behaved with such exemplary propriety as to attract the attention of Dr. Reynolds, Bishop of Lincoln, who thought fit to entrust him with the care of his grandson, a youth of fifteen. He was elected fellow of St. John's College, in April, 1741. Having been ordained by Bishop Gibson, he was, at the recommendation of Lady Ann Hastings, presented to a chapel in Spital-square, by Sir George Wheeler. In a short time after his settle- ment in London, the Duke of Somerset received him into his house in the capacity of domestic chaplain. He continued after the decease of that nobleman, to 140 REVIEW OF reside some time with the Dutchess dowager, better known by the title of Countess of Hertford, and, at her request, he accompanied her grandson, the present Duke of Northumberland, then about nine years of age, and in a delicate state of health, to the continent, where he continued two years ; at the expiration of which time, he brought back his noble pupil, improved both in his health and learning. From this distinguish- ed personage, he continued to receive attentions and favours as long as he lived. Immediately after his re- turn from the continent, he was presented by the Earl of Northumberland, to the valuable rectory of Kirkby Whiske, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, at first un- der condition to resign it when the person for whom it was intended should come of age ; but this young man dying a short time afterwards, it was given to Mr. Lindsey unconditionally, in the usual form. In this very retired situation, Mr. Lindsey continued about three years ; and during his residence in Yorkshire, he became acquainted with the celebrated Archdeacon BJackburne at Richmond : a^circumstance which led to important consequences, and to which he was in- debted under Providence for the most important bless- ing of his life. In the year 1756, at the request of the Huntingdon family, he resigned the living of Kirkby Whiske, for the living of Piddletown, in Dorsetshire, which was in the gift of the Earl of Huntingdon. In this place he lived seven years; and in 1760, married Miss Els- worth, the step-daughter of Archdeacon Blackburne, a lady whose principles were congenial with his own, and who is represented as possessed of a superior un- derstanding, and of exalted virtue. It was during his residence in that situation that he first began to enter- tain scruples concerning the lawfulness of Trinitarian worship, and of his continuing to officiate in the estab- MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 141 lished church. It appears he had from his early youth disapproved of some things in the thirty-nine articles. Some years afterwards, these doubts were matured into a full conviction that the Divinity of Christ was an erroneous tenet, and that the Father was the sole object of worship ; in consequence of which, while in Dorsetshire, he took some previous steps with a view to quitting his preferment in the church. In the year 1762, upon the appointment of the late Duke of Nor- thumberland to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he was strongly urged to accept the place of chaplain to his Grace ; which, from the preference he gave to a re- tired situation, he declined. An opportunity occurring the year following of exchanging his living for that of Catterick in Yorkshire, he made the exchange, for the sake of enjoying the society of Archdeacon Blackburne and his family, who lived in that neighbourhood. On this occasion, Mr. Belsharn justly remarks, It may ap- pear singular that Mr. Lindsey could submit to that re- newed subscription, which was requisite in order to his induction to a new living. 1 And the case,' he adds, ' appears the more extraordinary, a* many clergymen, who, in consequence of a revolution in their opinions, had become dissatisfied with the Articles, would never, for ke of obtaining the most valuable preferment, subscribe ilnvM ;igyin, though while they were permitted to remain unmolest- od, they did not perceive it to be their duty to retire from the church.' p. 17. The extreme want of candour and sincerity evinced by such conduct, is very unsatisfactorily apologized for ;jy Mr. Lindsey, and is very gently reproved by Mr. Belsharn. The principal plea alleged by Mr. L. in defence of himself, is, that as he continued to officiate in the forms of the liturgy, his renewed subscription him little concern, since be considered himself, every time he used the liturgy, as virtually repeating 142 REVIEW OF his subscription. At length, he brought himself, he says, to consider the Trinitarian forms in the liturgy, and the invocations at the entrance of the litany, as ' A threefold representation of the one God, the Father, govern- ing all things by himself and by his Son and Spirit ; and as a three- fold way of addressing him as a Creator, and original benevolent cause of all things, as Redeemer of mankind by his Son, and their Sanctifier by his Holy Spirit.' p. 23. How far he was influenced by mercenary consider- ations in retaining his station under such circumstances, it is impossible to say ; but that lie was guilty of much collusion and impious prevarication in this affair, can- not be reasonably doubted ; nor is there any species of simulation or dissimulation in religion, which might not be justified on pretences equally plausible : and when we recollect that Mr. L. persisted in that conduct for a series of years, we shall find it difficult to conceive of him, as that prodigy of virtue, which Mr. Belsham represents him. 'He must be a severe moralist,' says Mr. B. ' whom such a concession does not satisfy.' And what is this concession, that is to stop every mouth, and to convert censure into praise f We will give it in Mr. L.'s own words : it is this : ' Not,' says he, ' that I no\V justify myself therein. Yea, rather I condemn myself. But as I have humble hope of the divine for- giveness, let not men be too rigid in their censures.' p. 24. It is impossible to conceive a confession of conduct extremely criminal, in terms of lighter reprehension, but agreeably to the theory of Mr. B. the merit of re- pentance so much exceeds the moral turpitude of trans- gression, that the faintest indications of it transport him with admiration. For our parts, were we not aware of the tendency of Socinianism to produce most attenuated conception of the evil of sin, we should have expected to find such insincerity and impiety de- MEMOIRS OF L1NDSEY. 143 plored in the -strongest language of penitential sorrow. As we wish, however, to do ample justice to the real virtues of Mr. L. we feel a pleasure in quoting the fol- lowing account of the manner in which he conducted himself while he was rector of Catterick. ' No sooner was he settled,' says his biographer, ' in his new sit- uation, than he applied himself with great assiduity, in his extensive and populous parish, to perform the duties of a parochial minister. He regularly officiated twice on the Sunday in his parish church, and in the interval between the services he catechis<-d young people. He visited the sick, he relieved the poor, he established and sup- ported charity-schools for the children, he spent considerable sums of money in feeding the hungry, in clothing the naked, in providing medicines for the disrasfd. and in purchasing and distributing the books for the instruction of the ignorant. In his domestic arrange- ment*, the greatest economy was observed, that he and his excel- lent lady might have the greater surplus to expend in liberality and charitv ; for it was a rule with him to lay up nothing from the in- come of his living.' p. 26. This is, unquestionably, a pleasing picture of the character of an exemplary Christian pastor. It does not appear that any considerable success attended his labours. On this head he contents himself with ex- pressing a faint hope, that some of the seed he had (I, might not be lost. In this situation he continued ten years, till a dan- gerous fit of sickness roused his conscience, and ren- dered his continuance in the discharge of his eclesias- tical functions insupportable. We are far from wishing to depreciate the value of that sacrifice which Mr. Lindsey tardily and reluctantly made to the claims of conscience ; but we cannot conceal our surprise, that a measure to which he was forced, in order to quell the apprehensions he most justly entertained of the dis- ure of the Almighty, alter a system of prevarica- tion persisted in for upwards of ten years, should be 3\ tolled in terms, which can only be applied with pro- priety to instances of heroic virtue. To prefer the \ 144 REVIEW OF surrender of certain worldly advantages to a persever- ance in conduct highly criminal, evinces a mind not utterly insensible to the force of moral obligation, and nothing more. Our admiration must be reserved for a higher species of excellence ; for an adherence to the side of delicacy and honour, where many plausi- bilities might be urged to the contrary ; or a resolute pursuit of the path of virtue, when it is obstructed by the last extremities of evil. Mr. Lindsey renounced, it is true, a respectable and lucrative situation in the church, rather than continue any longer in the prac- tice of what he considered as idolatry. But he was unincumbered with a family : he possessed some per- sonal property, and enjoyed the friendship of several great and noble personages, who were never likely to suffer him to sink into absolute poverty. He merely descended to the level where many of the best, and some of the greatest of men, have chosen to place themselves, and where his friend Dr. Priestley, whose talents would have commanded any preferment in the church, chose, from an attachment of the same prin- ciples, to remain for life. We approve his resignation of his living, but we confess we are more disposed to wonder that he could reconcile himself to continue in his situation so long, than that he should feel himself compelled to quit it at last. This event took place in the year 1773 ; after which he came to London, and a plan was soon set on foot for opening a chapel for him in the metropolis, where, retaining the use of a liturgy modified agreeably to his views, he might promulgate the tenets of Socinus. Many persons, Mr. B. informs us, both of the establish- in^ t and among the dissenters, aided the undertaking, among whom are particularly enumerated the follow- ing : Dr. Priestley, and Dr. Price, Samuel Shore, Esq. of Norton Hall, in Yorkshire, and Robert Newton. of Norton House, in the same village. MEMOIRS OF L1NDSEY. 145 These gentlemen, in conjunction with others, enter- ed into a subscription, to indemnify him for the neces- sary expenses incurred in procuring and fitting up his chapel. The place fixed upon for this grand experi- ment, was a room in Essex House, Essex Street, which having before been used as an auction-room, was capable, at a moderate expense, of being turned into a convenient place of worship. Here Mr. L. introduced his improved liturgy, formed very much upon the plan of Dr. Clarke's, but with such variations as correspond- ed to the difference of his views from those of that celebrated divine. From this period, the life of Mr. L. proceeds in a very equable; and uniform course, with little worthy of remark, besides the various publi- cations to which the system he had adopted gave birth ; and over the congregation formed in Essex Street, he continued to preside till his 70th year, when he thought fit to retire from a public station : after which he lived sixteen years, when he was attacked with a disease which was judged to be a pressure of the brain, and expired in the 86th year of his age. Such are the outlines of a narrative which Mr. Belsham has contriv- ed to extend to upwards of five hundred octavo pages. It is by no means our intention to follow the biographer through his boundless excursions, or to criticise every remark which appears to us justly obnoxious to cen- sure. We shall content ourselves with selecting a few passages, and making a few observations, which may -erve to illustrate the genius and progress of Socinian- ism, the promotion of which evidently appears to be the sole object of the writer of these Memoirs. The secession of Mr. Lindsey from the established church produced much less impression than might have been expected ; nor does it appear that his exam- ple was followed by one individual among the clergy, until Mr. Disney, his brother-in-law, after the lapse of 140 REVIEW OP some years, adopted the same measure, and afterwards became his colleague in the ministry. The establish- ment of a Socinian chapel with a reformed liturgy in the metropolis, is narrated by our biographer with the utmost pomp, as forming a distinguished epoch in the annals of religion ; and undoubtedly great hopes were entertained of its producing a memorable revolution among the Episcopalians, but these expectations were frustrated. The attendance, composed chiefly of per- sons of opulence, (among whom the Duke of Grafton made the principal figure,) was at no time very numer- ous, and no similar society was formed from among the members of the established church in any part of the united kingdom. The utmost that the efforts of Lind- sey, Priestley, and others, effected, was to convert the teachers of Arianism among the dissenters, into Socin- ians, who exerted themselves with tolerable success to disseminate their principles in their respective congre- gations : so that the boasted triumphs of Socinianism consisted in sinking that section of the dissenting body, who had already departed from the faith, a few degrees lower in the gulf of error. From these very Memoirs under consideration, we derive the most convincing ev- idence that the tenets of Socinus, with respect to the nation at large, have lost ground, and that the people of England are much less favourably disposed to them than formerly. They also present us a very full and particular account of the association of a part of the clergy at the Feathers Tavern, to procure relief in the matter of subscription ; for which purpose, agreeably to a resolution of the general body, on the 6th of Feb- ruary, 1772, a petition was presented to the house of commons. The number of the petitioners amounted to nearly two hundred and fifty, among whom, the names of the celebrated Archdeacon Blackburne, and Law, Bishop of Carlisle, were the most distinguished. Of MEMOIRS OP LINDSEY. 147 the state of the public mind in the metropolis, we have a striking picture in a letter from John Lee, afterwards solicitor-general, a zealous friend of the discontented clergy. ' It will surprise you who live in the country, (says he,) and consequently have not been informed of the discoveries of the metropolis, that the Christian re- ligion is not thought to be an object worthy of the least regard ; and that it is not only the most prudent, but the most virtuous, and benevolent thing in tlie world, to divert men's minds from such frivolous subjects with all the dexterity that can be. This is no exaggeration, I assure you ; on the contrary, it seems to be the opin- ion (and their conduct will show it) of nine-tenths of both houses of parliament !' Allowing for some slight exaggerations arising from the chagrin and vexation of the writer, it is still impossible not to perceive, if any credit is due to his statement, that the parliament were not in a disposition to feel any conscientious objections to the repeal of the articles, and that if th-.y opposed such a measure, that opposition originated simply from the fear of innovation common to politicians. The manner in which the debate was conducted when the affair came actually under the consideration of the Blouse, confirms this conclusion. There was not one member who expressed his be- | lief in the articles : it was treated entirely as a political I question, without once adverting to its intrinsic merits, .volving a religious controversy, and Mr. Hans I Stanley opposed the bringing up of the petition, as it landed to disturb the peace of the country, which, in ; his opinion, ought to be the subject of a fortieth article, ,1 which would be well worth all the thirty-nine.* With I such levity and contempt was the national creed treated at that time. Will the sturdiest champion of Socinianism n that a similar discussion in the house of commons, * See pages 54, 55, of these memoirs. 148 HE VIEW OF or in the upper house, would be conducted in a similar manner at present ? or that there would not be one member who would contend for the continuance oi the articles on the ground of their intrinsic excellence and verity ? The fact is, that through the secularity and irreligion of the clergy, evangelical truth was nearly ef- faced from the minds of the members of the establish- ment in the higher ranks, and that an indolent acqui- escence in established formularies, had succeeded to the ardour with which the great principles of religion were embraced at the Reformation. Such was the state of the public mind, that in a contest between orthodox and heresy, the former proved triumphant, merely be cause it was already established, and had the plea antiquity and prescription in its favour. Since that pe riod, vital religion has revived in the national churcl the flame of controversy has been widely spread ; th inconsistency of Socinianism with the scriptures, to gether with its genuine tendency and character, ha been fully developed : it has lost the attraction of nov elty ; it has revolted the minds of men by its impiety and having been weighed in the balance, has bee found wanting. If among the clergy there still subsi a small remnant who are attached to those unscriptur tenets, they are content with beins; connived at, an nothing could now urge them to the imprudence of pre senting their claims for legal security to the legislature We hear nothing of an intention to renew the scene which took place at the Feathers Tavern in 177 We consider this as a decisive proof that Sociniar ism has lost ground in the nation, notwithstanding prevalence in societies of a certain description amon the dissenters : those who never formally renounce the orthodox doctrine, have, in consequence of recei discussions, become more than even attached to while that class of dissenters who were already movir MEMOIRS OF L1NDSEY. 149 in an heretical direction, have reposed in Socinianism, as their natural centre of gravity. From several other circumstances recorded in these Memoirs, the same in- ference may be drawn with respect to the discredit un- der which this system lies at present, compared with the countenance and indulgence with which it was re- ceived thirty or forty years back. While Mr. Lindsey was deliberating on the propriety of quitting his living, it was suggested to him by Dr. Priestley, that he might continue to officiate, by making such alterations in the public offices of devotion as corresponded to his pecu- liar views. * Nor was there any ground to suspect,' says Mr. B. ' that he would have met with any moles- tation from his superiors.' Mr. Chambers, who held the living of Oundle, in Northamptonshire, Mr. Disney, for many years, and others, did so without being called to account for their conduct. We should be sorry to express ourselves with an improper degree of confidence, but we may venture to express a firm persuasion, that such a silent repeaf*of the doctrine of the church by the mere authority of a parochial minister, would not now be permitted to pass unnoticed, or uncensured, in any part of the kingdom. The dignitaries of the church are alive to the importance of the distinguishing truths of Christianity, and would shew themselves prompt and eager, as appears from recent instances, to discourage the open disavowal of them. We have no hesitation in asserting that the hope of rendering the tenets of the Polish heresiarch, popular and prevalent throughout this nation, was at no period so completely extinguished as at the present ; and from a certain air of despond- ency which the Memorialist of Lindsey betrays, amidst all his gasconades, we are convinced he is of the same opinion. The disposition on all occasions to vaunt of their success, and to predict with great confidence the 150 HtVIEW OF speedy triumph of their principles, is a peculiar feature in the character of modern Socinians, and the absurd and exaggerated statements of matters of fact into which this propensity betrays them, are truly ludicrous. All other sorts of enthusiasts of whom we have either heard or read, are, in this respect, cold and phlegmatic com- pared with them. In numerous extracts from the let- ters of Mr. Lindsey's correspondents, and of others, representations are made of numerous and rapid con- versions to Socinianism, which Mr. B. from a regard to truth and decency, finds it necessary to correct and apologize for, as the effusion of well-intended, but in- temperate zeal. The boast of success is almost invaria- bly the precursor of a statement on the part of Mr. B. in which it is either repealed, or qualified ; and it is but do- ing him justice to say, that his judgement and experience have exempted him from those illusions and deceptions of which his party have become the easy dupes. We had been confidently informed, for instance, that almost all the people of Boston, in the province of Massachu- setts, were becoming Socinians, and that the ministers, with the exception of one or two, had already declared themselves ; when it appears from the unimpeachable authority of Mr. Wells, himself a Socinian, and an in- habitant of that city, that there is but one professedly Unitarian chapel throughout New England, and so little sanguine is he with respect to the spread of that doc- trine, that he strongly deprecates its discussion, from a conviction that it will issue in producing among the body of the people a more confirmed attachment to or- thodoxy.* It is also worthy of remark, that these ex- travagant boasts of success are not accompanied with the slightest advertence to the moral or spiritual effects, which the Socinian doctrine produces on the character : this is a consideration, which rarely, if ever, enters in- : * Sec his Letter in the Appendix of the Memoirs. MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 151 lo the mind of its most zealous abettors, who appear to be perfectly satisfied if they can but accomplish a change of sentiment, however inefficacious to all prac- tical purposes. Their converts are merely proselyted to an opinion, without pretending to be converted to God ; and if they are not as much injured by the change as the proselytes made by the Pharisees of old, it must be ascribed to causes totally distinct from the superior excellence of the tenets which they have embraced. Tlu'v have been taught to discard the worship of Christ, and to abjure all dependence upon him as a Saviour an admirable preparation, it must be confessed, for a devout and holy life. Let the abettors of those doc- trines produce, if they can, a single instance of a per- son, who, in consequence of embracing them, was re- claimed from a vicious to a virtuous life, from a neglect of serious piety to an exemplary discharge of its obli- gations and duties ; and their success, to whatever ex- tent it has been realized, would suggest an argument in their favour deserving some attention. But who is ignorant that amor.c the endless fluctuations of fashions and opinions recorded in the annals of religion, the most absurd and pernicious systems have flourished for a while ; and that Arianism, for instance, which these men profess to abhor almost as much as orthodoxy, prevailed to such a degree for years, as to threaten to become the prevalent religion of Christendom.* So- cinianism can boast but few converts compared with infidelity; in England, at least, they have gone hand in hand, and their progress has been simultaneous, derived from the same causes, and productive of the same effects. Shall we therefore affirm that infidelity be rejected with less confidence, because it pos- sesses in reality that to which Socinianism only pre- e the 2<1 Book of Fulpic'ms Severus, Chapter H5. " Tumhte- resis Arrii prorupit totumque orbcm invecto errore turbavcrat." 152 REVIEW OP tends ? When we reflect on the inert and torpid char- acter of Socinianism, it is surprising any serious expec- tation should be entertained of its final triumph. From innumerable passages in these Memoirs, it appears that the far greater part of those who have embraced it in the established church, have been content to retain their situation ; and it is certain that of the two hundred and fifty who joined in the petition for relief in the matter of subscription, Mr. Lindsey was the only person who made any sacrifice of emolument to principle. We find both Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Belsham incessantly reproaching Unitarians with timidity, in declining the avowal of their sentiments ; and the former remarking with just indignation, that amidst the multitudes that concurred in his views, there was but onem ember of the established church that afforded him any pecuniary aid towards defraying the necessary expenses attend- ant on the opening of his chapel. The avowal of Socinianism among dissenters, has rarely been follow^ ed by worldly privations ; and in the church of Eng- land, where such consequences must have ensued, it has not been made. Except in the instances of Lindsey, Jebb, and a very few others, the converts to Socinianism have stooped to the meanest prevarication, and the most sacrilegious hypocrisy, rather than sacrifice their worldly emoluments and honours. Compare this with the conduct of the Puritans in the reign of Charles the Second ; who, though the points at issue were com- paratively trifling and insignificant, chose, to the num- ber of two thousand, to encounter every species of ob- loquy rather than do violence to their conscience ; and learn the difference between the heroism inspired by Christian principle, and the base and pusillanimous spirit of heresy. What an infatuation to expect that a system, which inspires its votaries with no better sen- timents and feelings than are evinced by these decisive MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 153 facts, will ever become the prevailing belief; a system which, while it militates aeainst every page of revela- tion, is betrayed by the selfish timidity of its followers ! The system of Socinus is a cold negation ; the whole secret of it consists in thinking meanly of Christ ; and what tendency such a mode of thinking can have to in- spire elevation or ardour, it is not easy to comprehend. If it is calculated to relieve the conscience of a weight which the principles of orthodoxy render it difficult to shake off without complying with the conditions of the gospel, infidelity answers the same purpose still better, and possesses a still higher degree of simplicity, meaning by that term what Socinians generally mean, the total absence of mystery. Great part of these Memoirs are occupied in giving a copious analysis of Mr. L.'s publications, which, pos- sessing no intrinsic merit, nor having excited more than a temporary interest, it would be trifling with the patience of our readers to suppose they could derive either entertainment or instruction from seeing them abridged. Of .Mr. Lindsey, considered as a writer, it is sufficient to observe, that the measure of intellect he displays, is the most ordinary, and that he was not pos- id of the power, in its lowest degree, of either in- venting what was rare, or embellishing what was com- mon. He was perspicuous, because he contented him- it. on all occasions, with the most common-place Jits ; he was simple, because he aspired to noth- Miore than to convey his meaning in intelligible terms, without the least conception of force, elegance, or harmony. Though his writings are replete with professions of unbounded liberality and candour, it is evident, from his treatment of Mr. Robinson of Cam- bridge, that he was indulirent only towards those who ached nearer to infidelity than himself. Nothing : ); conceived more splenetic and acrimonious than 154 REVIEW 01 his examination of that ingenious author's ' Plea lor the Divinity of Christ,' who, in return for compliment? and condescensions, which, however unworthy of the cause he was defending, were sufficient to soften a Cerberus, met with nothing but rudeness and insolence. It was truly amusing to see the imbecility of a Lindsey assuming the airs of a Warburton. Throughout the whole of that publication, he affects to consider Mr. Robinson as a mere superficial declaimer ; although his friend Archdeacon Blackburne, Mr. B. informs us, always spoke of the Plea as a most able and unanswer- able performance : So much for the modesty of this heretical confessor ! B.it it is time to leave Mr. L. to that oblivion which is the infallible destiny of him and of his works, and to proceed to make a few remarks on the narrative, and the miscellaneous strictures of his biographer. In the first place, we congratulate him on his abatement of that tone of arrogance which so strikingly character- ized his former publications : not that we ever expect him to exhibit himself in the light of an amiable or un- assuming writer, which would be for the ^Ethiopian to change his skin ; but it is with pleasure we remark less insolence and dogmatism than he has displayed on other occasions. He writes like a person who is con- scious he is supporting a sinking cause ; an air of des- pondency may be detected amidst his efforts to appear gay and cheerful. He knows perfectly well that he is celebrating the obsequies, not the triumph, of Socinian- ism ; and from the little advantage it has derived from his former efforts, his vanity will not prevent him from suspecting that he is giving dust to dust, and ashes to ashes. In this, as in all his former publications, he evinces a total ignorance of human nature, together with that propensity to over-rate the practical effect of meta- MEMOIRS OF LINO SET. physical theories, which almost invariably attaches to metaphysicians of an inferior order. He who invents a metaphysical system, which possesses the least claims to public regard, must have paid a profound attention to the actual constitution of human nature. He must have explored the most delicate and intricate processes of the mind, and kept a vigilant eye on the various phenomena which it presents. He is necessarily above his theory ; having been conducted to it by an inde- pendent effort of thought. He has not adjusted his observations to his hypothesis, but his hypothesis to his observations. The humble disciple, the implicit admirer, proceeds too often in a directly opposite man- ner. All he knows of the mental constitution, in its more intricate movements, he derives from the system prepared to his hand, w r hich he adopts with all its cru- dities, and confidently employs as the key which is to unlock all the recesses of nature. Having been accus- tomed to contemplate the human mind with a constant view to the technical arrangements to which he has devoted himself, he estimates the practical importance of metaphysical theories by what has passed in his own mind. We are fully convinced that the bulk of man- kind are very little influenced by metaphysical theories, and that even in minds which are more prone to specu- lation, metaphysical dogmas are seldom so firmly em- braced, or so deeply realized, as to be productive of important practical effects. The advocate of necessity and the champion of liberty, will, in the same state of moral proficiency, act precisely the same part in simi- lar circumstances. Mr. Belsham, however, in the plentitude of his enthusiasm for the doctrine of philo- sophical necessity, ascribes, without hesitation, the ruin of multitudes of young persons to their embracing the opposite tenet. It is truly surprising that he who was so quick-sighted as to perceive the tendency of 156 REVIEW OF the notion of liberty to promote immoral conduct, should entertain no suspicion of a similar tendency in the doc- trine of God's being the author of sin, which Mr. B. repeatedly asserts. ' The true solution of the first difficulty (says Mr. B.) whether God be the author of sin ? appears to be this : that God is, strictly speaking, the an'hor of evil; but that, in the first place, he never ordains or permits evil but \viih a view to the production of a great- er good. Which could not have existed without it. And secondly, that though (MM! is the author of evil, both natural and moral, he is not the approver of evil ; he does not delight in it for its own sake ; it must be the object of his a\ersim, and what he would nev- er permit or endure, if the -rood ho intends could have been accom- plished without it. With respect to the justice of punishment, the best and only philosophical solution of it, is, that under the divine government all punishment is remedial Moral evil is the disease, punishment is the pn>< ess of cure, of greater or less intensity, and of I >n;rer or shorter duration, in proportion to the maliiinity and in- veteracy of the maladv, but ultimately of sovereign efficacy under the divine government, to operate a perfect cure ; so that those whose vires have been the means of proving, purifying, and exalt- ing the virtues of others, si, all. in the end, share with them in their virtu- and their triumph, and thr impartial justice, and infinite be- nevdiMiee of the Divine Being, will he made known, adored, and celebrated through the whole created universe.' pp. 323,4. The malignant tendency of such representations as the foregoing, is so obvious, that it is quite unnecessary to point it out to our readers. How vain are all pre- cautions against sin, if in all cases it is produced by the omnipotent power of the Deity ! and what motive can remain for avoiding it, if it is certain of being ultimate- ly crowned with happiness and glory ! The distinction between producing it, and approving of it for its own sake, with which the doctrine is attempted to be palli- ated, is perfectly futile ; for this is ascribing no more to the Deity than must in justice be ascribed to the most profligate of mankind, who never commit sin for its own sake, but purely with a view to certain advan- tages with which it is connected ; and the difference between the two cases arises, not from any distinction MEMOIRS OF LINDSET. 157 in the moral character of the proceeding, but simply from the superior comprehension of view, with which the conduct of the Deity is accompanied. As the perpetration of vice is, upon this system, a calamity, not a crime, it is but fitting and necessary it should re- ceive a compensation ; and for this I\lr. B. has provid- ed, by representing the ultimate happiness of such as have been the means of purifying the virtue of others by their vices, as the effect of the impartial justice of the Deity. Persons of this description are, it seems, a species of benefactors, and it is but right they should, in due time, be rewarded. They are the scavengers of the universe, and having done a great deal of neces- sary, though dirty work, they are entitled to commis- eration at present, and to proportionable compensation in another state of being. How admirably are these views adapted to promote a horror of sin ! What ten- derness of conscience, fear of offending, deep humility, and penitence, may we expect to find in Mr. Belsham. and in his admirers ! Doubtless their eyes are a foun- tain of tears, which, like Jeremiah, they are incessant- ly pouring out for those vices and impieties, which are the sure and certain pledges of endless felicity. To expect Mr. B. to write a bulky volume without intermingling a large portion of infidelity, would be to t grapes of thorns, and fic;s of thistles. In the work under consideration, he fully maintains the con- sistency of his character. He more than insinuates his disbelief of a great, if not the greater part, of the Mo- saic history. Mr. Lindsey having expressed himself in terms of just reprehension with respect to the con- duct of those who reject the books of Moses, Mr. B. takes upon him to censure the severity of his friend. ' Rut simly if the vrnrrnhle writer (snys lie.) hnd reconsidered -< with hia nsM-ii i.-i'mrn'ss and imartialit, he would have seen that a person may be a very firm believer in the divine mission 158 REVIEW OF and doctrine of Christ, and he well satisfied with the general evi- dence of the divine legation of Mosr.s, while he at the same time may entertain very serious doubts, whether the books commonly at- tributed to Moses were really written throughout by him, and whe- ther either the. narrative or the institute, exist at present exactly in the form in whirh he delivered them.' p. 408. But supposing the narrative to be in certain points false, the institution misrepresented and disguised, and the books which we term the Pentateuch the produc- tion of some unknown author, who does not see the impossibility of separating the truth from the falsehood, and of attaching, on any consistent principles to any part of it, the credit due to a Divine communication? the spirit of infidelity evinced in these passages, is little different from that which pervades the pages of Bolingbroke and Voltaire. But such is the genuine progress of Socin'cuiism : it begins with denying some of thfi clearest propositions in the New Testament, in order to which its ch'inis to inspiration must be weak- ened or annulled ; whence it proceeds to dispute the authority of the Old, till the whole Bible be virtually set aside as the umpire of controversy. Among the other sublime discoveries to which Mr. B. has been led by a critical investigation of the writings of the New Testament, one is, that the Lord Jesus Christ possesses no authority whatever, or to use a term of his own in- vention, no external authority. Speaking of the .. uke of Gnifton, he says, < In a paper. date! Jan 1, 17>2, the Duke, expresses a belief that the exaltation of Christ to dominion and authority was the con- scqii'Mire of his submission to those Bufferings whirh " were soefli- vtfious. perhaps so necessary, to his own glow and to the future happiness of mankind " His mind seems at this time to have been perpb'xed with some obscure notion of the nnsrriptural dcctrinesot" meritorious sufferings, and of the external authority of Jesus Christ : which, however, lie regards as a mystery, which " it will probably never lie given to man in the present state" to understand; and which, therefore, " musi consequently be ranked unons those arti- cles, the belief of which cannot be necessary to salvation." ' p. 327 MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 159 Though the Apostles have affirmed the exaltation of the Saviour to the government of the universe, in ev- ery variety of form which language can supply ; though he himself declared that all power was given to him in heaven and in earth, his possession of external author- ity is unblushingly asserted to be an unscriptural tenet. We challenge Mr. B. to invent terms more strongly expressive of the highest dominion and authority, than those which the inspired writers have employed in de- scribing the exaltation of the Saviour. We can regard this assertion of Mr. Belsham's, in no other light than as a specimen of that theological audacity which forms the principal feature in that gentleman's character, and which happily can have no other effect than to inspire a complete abhorrence of the system which renders such a procedure necessary. We cheerfully accept, however, the concession implied in these daring posi- tions, that the doctrine of the meritorious sufferings of Christ is inseparably connected with his exaltation 5 and as the latter cannot, without the utmost indecency, be denied, the former follows of course. We can an- nex no other meaning to the epithet external, as appli- ed to authority, than what might be more clearly ex- pressed by the term personal ; or, in other words, Mr. B.'s intention is to assert, that our Lord possesses no authority whatever, apart from the credit due to his mission and to his doctrine, and that the Christian church is in no other sense governed by Christ, than the might be affirmed to be governed by Moses after his decease. It must be obvious, however, to every ihat this is not to explain, but boldly and unequiv- ocally to contradict, the writings of the Apostles on this important subject. We shall close these strictures on Mr. Belshum, by quoting one passage more, which illustrates at once, his insufferable arrogance, and his servile deference to au- thority. 160 REVIEW OF 4 What childish simplicity and ignorance,' says he, ' does it be- tray in some, to feign or to feel alarmed at the tendency of those doctrines which are avowed by such men as Lindsey, Priestley, Hartley, and Jebb, and which are represented by them as lying at the foundation of all right views of the divine government, of all rational piety and virtuous practice, and of all rational and substan- tial consolation ! And yet such persons feel no alarm at the vulgar notion of philosophical liberty, or the power of acting differently in circumstances precisely similar ; a notion, the fond persuasion of which encourages men to venture into circumstances of moral dan- ger, and to which thousands of the young and inexperienced espe- cially are daily falling victims.' p. 394. The arrogance, folly, and absurdity of this passage, are scarcely to be paralleled, even in the writings of its inimitable author. The most celebrated metaphysi- cians and reasoners, in every age and in every country, Malebranche, Cudworth, Clarke, Butler, Reid, Chil- lingworth, and innumerable others, who have avowed the strongest apprehensions of the immoral tendency of the doctrine of fatalism, or, as it has been styled, of philosophical necessity, are consigned by a writer, who has not capacity sufficient to appreciate their powers, much less to rival their productions, to the reproach of | childish simplicity and ignorance ; and this for no oth- er reason than their presuming to differ in opinion from Lindsey, Priestley, Hartley, and Jebb ! What is this] but to enjoin implicit faith ? and why might not a Ro- man Catholic, with equal propriety, accuse of childish simplicity and ignorance, those who should suspect the pernicious tendency of sentiments held by Pascal, Fen- elon, and Bossuet . ? We must be permitted to remind Mr. B. that we hold his pretensions to a liberal and in-i dependent turn of thought extremely cheap ; that pos- sessing nothing original even in his opinions, to sayj nothing of his genius, his most vigorous efforts havel terminated in his becoming a mere train-bearer, in a! very insignificant procession. Having already detained our readers longer on this| article than we ought, we should now put a period tc: MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 161 our remarks, but that there is one particular connected with the history of Mr. Lindsey, which we conceive, has been too often set in such a light as is calculated to produce erroneous impressions. We refer to the re- signation of his livings in deference to his religious scru- ples. He is, on this account, every where designated by Mr. Belsham by the title of ' the venerable Confes- sor ; and what is more to be wondered at, the late ex- cellent Job Orton, in a letter to his friend, the late Rev. Mr. Palmer of Hackney, speaks of him in the following terms : 'Were I to publish an account of silenced and ejected ministers, I should be strongly tempted to insert Mr. Limlsey in the list, whi'-h he mentions in his Apology with so much veneration, lit cer tainly deserves as much respect and honour as any of them, for the part he has acted. Perhaps few of them exceeded him in learn- ing and piety. I venerate him as I would any of your confessors, As to his particular sentiments, thev are nothing to me. An honest pious man, who makes such a sacrifice to truth and conscience as lie has done, is a glorious character, and deserves the respect, esteem, and veneration of every true Christian.' We have no scruple in asserting that this unqualified encomium is repugnant to reason, to scripture, and to the sentiments of the best and purest ages of the Christ- ian church. To pass over the absurdity of denomina- ting Mr. L. a silenced and ejected minister, merely on account of his voluntary withdrawment from a commu- nity whose distinguishing tenets he had abandoned, we are far from conceiving that the merit attached to his conduct on this occasion, was of such an order as to entitle him for a moment to rank with confessors and martyrs. To the praise of manly integrity for quitting a situation he could no longer conscientiously retain, we cady to acknowledge Mr. L. fully entitled. We are cordially disposed to admire integrity, wherever we perceive it ; and we admire it the more in the present instance, because such examples of it, among benefie- r 162 REVIEW OF ed ecclesiastics, have been rare. But we cannot per- mit ourselves to place sacrifices to error on the same footing as sacrifices to truth, without annihilating their distinction. If revealed truth possess any thing of sanctity and importance, the profession of it must be more meritorious than the profession of its opposite ; i>y consequence, sacrifices made to that profession must be more estimable. He who suffers in the cause of ti-uth is entitled to admiration ; he who suffers in the ice of error and delusion, to our commiseration ; which are unquestionably very different sentiments. If truth is calculated to elevate and sanctify the character, he who cheerfully sacrifices his worldly emolument to its pursuit, must be supposed to have participated, in no common degree, of its salutary operation. He who suffers equal privations in the propagation of error, evinces, it is confessed, his possession of moral hones- ty ; but unless persuasion could convert error into truth, it is impossible it should impart to error the effects of truth. Previous to the profession of any tenets what- ever, there lies an obligation on all to whom the light of the gospel extends, to believe the truth. We are bound to confess Christ before men, only because we are bound to believe on him. But if, instead of believing on him, we deny him in his essential characters, which is the case with Socinians, the sincerity of that denial will in- deed rescue us from the guilt of prevarication, but not from that of unbelief. It is possible, at least, since some sort of faith in Christ is positively asserted to be essential to salvation, that the tenets of the Socinians may be such as to exclude that faith : that it does ex- clude it, no orthodox man can consistently deny ; and how absurd it were to suppose a man should be enti- tled to the reward of a Christian confessor, merely for denying, bonafide, the doctrine which is essential to .salvation ! The sincerity which accompanies his pro- MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 168 fession, entitles him to the reward of a confessor : the error of the doctrine which he professes, exposes him, at the same time, to the sentence of condemnation as an unbeliever ! If we lose sight of Socinianism for a moment, and suppose an unbeliever in Christianity in toto, to suffer for the voluntary and sincere promulga- tion of his tenets, we would ask Mr. Orton, in what rank he would be inclined to place his infidel confessor. Is he entitled to rank with any of the confessors ? If he is, our Saviour's terms of salvation are essentially altered, and though he pronounces an anathema on him who shall deny him before men, the sturdy and unshak- en denial of him in the face of worldly discouragement, would answer, it seems, as well as a similar confession. Men are left at their liberty in this respect, and they are equally secure of eternal happiness, whether they deny, or whether they confess, the Saviour, providing they do it firmly and sincerely. If these consequences appear shocking, and he be forced to assert the nega- tive, then it is admitted that the truth of the doctrine confessed, enters essentially into the inquiry, whether he who suffers for his opinions, is to be, ipso facto, classed with Christian confessors. Let it be remem- bered, that we are not denying that he who hazards his worldly interest, rather than conceal or dissemble his tenets, how false or dangerous soever they may be, is an honest man, and, gvoad hoc, acts a virtuous part ; but that he is entitled to the same kind of approbation with the champion of truth. That the view we have taken of the subject is consonant to the scriptures, will not be doubted by those who recollect that St. John rests his attachment to Gains and to the elect Lady^ on the truth which dwelt in them ; that he professed no Christian attachment, but for the truth's sake ; and that he forbade Christians to exercise hospitality, or to shew the least indication of friendship, to those who taught any other doctrine than that which he and his 104 REVIEW, &,e. fellow apostles had taught. The source of the confu- sion and absurdity which necessarily attach to the opin- ions of Mr. Orton and others, here expressed on this subject, consists in their confounding together, moral sincerity and Christian piety. We are perfectly willing to admit, that the latter cannot subsist without the for- mer ; but we are equally certain that the former is by no means so comprehensive as necessarily to include the latter. We should have imagined it unnecessary to enter into an elaborate defence of so plain a position as this, that it is one thing to be what the world styles an honest man, and another to be a Christian a dis- tinction, obvious as it is, sufficient to solve the whole mystery, and to account for the conduct of Mr. L. with- out adopting the unmeaning jargon of his biographer, who styles him, in innumerable places, the venerable confessor. How repugnant the language we have been endeavouring to expose, is to that which was held in the purest and best ages of the church, must be obvi- ous to all who are competently acquainted with eccle- siastical history. The Marcionites, we are informed by Eusebius, boasted of their having furnished a mul- titude of martyrs, but they were not the less on that ac- count considered as deniers of Christ. Hence, when orthodox Christians happened occasionally to meet at the places of martyrdom with Montanists and Mnnichaeans, they refused to hold the least communion with them, lest they should be supposed to consent to their errors.* In a word, the nature of the doctrine professed must be taken into consideration, before we can determine that profession to be a Christian profession ; nor is martyr- dom entitled to the high veneration justly bestowed on acts of heroic piety, on any other ground than its being, what the term imports, an attestation of the truth. It is the saint which makes the martyr, not the martyr the saint. < Euseb. L. 5. C. 14. HE VIEW. ,# Summary of the Principles and History of Popery, in Five Lectures, on the Pretensions and Abuses of the Church of Rome. By JOHN BIKT. 8vo. pp. 176. AT a time when Popery is making rapid strides, and Protestants in general have lost the zeal which once animated them, we consider the publication wo have just announced as peculiarly seasonable. What may be the ultimate effect of the efforts made by the adherents of the Church of Rome to propagate its ten- idcd by the apathy of the opposite party, it is not for us to conjecture. Certain it is, there never was a period when the members of the papal community were tive and enterprising, or Protestants so torpid and indifferent. Innumerable symptoms appear, of pre- vailing disposition to contemplate the doctrines of Po- pery with less distrust, and to witness their progress with less nlarm, than has ever been known since the Reformation. All the zeal and activity are on one side ; and while every absurdity is retained, and every pre- tension defended, which formerly drew upon Popery the indignation and abhorrence of all enlightened Christ- ians, we should be ready to conclude, from the altered st:it' 1 of public feeling, that a system once so obnoxious had undergone some momentous revolution. We seem , fcEVlEW OJ on this occasion, to have interpreted, in itb most litcra' sense, the injunction of "hoping all things, and believ- ing all things." We persist in maintaining that the ad- herents to Popery are materially changed, in contradic- tion to their express disavowal ; and while they make a boast of the infallibility of their creed, and the unal- terable nature of their religion, we persist in the be- lief of its having experienced we know not what meliora- tion and improvement. In most instances, when men are deceived, it is the effect of art and contrivance on the part of those who delude them : in this, the deception originates with ourselves ; and instead of bearing false witness against our neighbour, such is the excess of our candour, that we refuse to credit the unfavourable tes- timony which he bears of himself. There is, in the mean time, nothing reciprocal in this strange method of proceeding : we pipe to them, but they will not dance. Our concessions, instead of soft- ening and mollifying, seem to have no other effect upon them, than to elate their pride and augment their arro- gance. An equal change in the state of feeling towards an object which has itself undergone no alteration what- ever, and where the party by which it is displayed profess to adhere to their ancient tenets, it would be difficult to specify. To inquire into the causes of this singular phenomenon, would lead to discussion foreign to our present purpose. Let it suffice to remark, that it may partly be ascribed to the length of time which has elapsed since we have had actual experience of the enormous cruelties of the papal system, and to the fancied security we possess against their recurrence ; partly to the agitation of a great political question, which seems to have had the effect of identifying the cause of Popery with that of Protestant Dissenters. The impression of the past has in a manner spent itself; BIRT ON POPERY. 16T and in many, its place is occupied by an eagerness to grasp at present advantages, and to lay hold of every expedient for shaking off the restraints which a narrow and timid policy has imposed. The influence of these circumstances has been much aided by that indifference to religious truth which too often shelters itself under the mask of candour ; and to such an extent has this humour been carried, that distinguished leaders in Par- liament have not scrupled to represent the controversy between the Papists and the Protestants as turning on obscure and unintelligible points of doctrine, scarcely worth the attention of enlightened minds ; while a bene- ficed clergyman of some distinction, has treated the whole subject as of no more importance than the idle disputes agitated by the schoolmen. It was but a few years since, that a celebrated nobleman, in the House of Peers, vehemently condemned the oath of abjuration for applying the term superstitious to the doctrine of instantiation. In exactly the same spirit, the ap- pellation of Papist is exchanged for Catholic, a con- cession which the adherents of the Church of Rome well know how to improve, as amounting to little short of a formal surrender of the point at issue. For, if the P-ipists are really entitled to the name of Catholic*^ Protestants of every denomination are involved in the h of schism. This revolution in the feelings of a great portion of the puhlic, has probably been not a little promoted by another cause. The present times are eminently dis- tinguished by the efforts employed for the extension of vital religion : each denomination of Christians has taken its station, and contributed its part toward the diffusion of evangelical sentiments. The consequence has been, that the professors of serious piety are multi- plier!, and form at present a very conspicuous branch of the community. The space which they occupy in 168 REVIEW OF the minds of the public, is not merely proportioned to their numerical importance, still less to their rank in society. It is in a great measure derived from the publicity of their proceedings, and the numerous asso- ciations for the promotion of pious and benevolent ob- jects, which they have originated and supported. By these means, their discriminating doctrines, essential to vital piety, have become better known, and more fully discussed than heretofore. However beneficial, as to its general effects, such a state of things may have been, one consequence, which might be expected, has been the result. The opposition of the enemies of religion has become so virulent, their hatred more heated and inflamed, and they have turned with no small compla- cency to the contemplation of a system, which forms a striking contrast to the object of their detestation. Po- pery, in the ordinary state of its profession, combines the " form of godliness" with a total denial of its power. A heap of unmeaning ceremonies, adapted to fascinate the imagination, arid engage the senses, implicit faith in human authority, combined with an utter neglect of Divine teaching, ignorance the most profound, joined to dogmatism the most presumptuous, a vigilant ex- clusion of biblical knowledge, together with a total ex- tinction of free inquiry, present the spectacle of re- ligion lying in state, surrounded with the silent pomp of death. The very absurdities of such a religion ren- der it less unacceptable to men whose decided hostili- ty to truth inclines them to view with complacency, whatever obscures its beauty, or impedes its operation. Of all the corruptions of Christianity which have pre- vailed to any considerable extent, Popery presents the most numerous points of contrast to the simple doctrines of the gospel ; and just in proportion as it gains ground, the religion of Christ must decline. On these accounts, though we are far from suppos- BIRT ON POPERY. 169 ing that Popery, were it triumphant, would allow tole- ration to any denomination of Protestants, we have the utmost confidence, that the professors of evangelical piety would be its first victims. The party most oppos- ed to them, look to Papists as their natural ally, on whose assistance, in the suppression of what they are pleased to denominate fanaticism and enthusiasm, they may always depend ; they may, therefore, without pre- sumption, promise themselves the distinction conferred on Ulysses, that of being last devoured. Whether Popery will ever be permitted, in the in- scrutable counsels of Heaven, again to darken and overspread the land, is an inquiry in which it is for- eign in our province to engage. It is certain that the members of the Romish community, are at this moment on the tip-toe of expectation, indulging the most sanguine hopes, suggested by the temper of the times, of soon recovering all that they have lost, and of seeing the pretended rights of their church restored in their full splendour. If any thing can realize such an expecta- tion, it is undoubtedly the torpor and indiiltif ee of Protestants, combined with the incredible zeal and -activity of Papists ; and universal observation shews what these are capable of effecting, how often they compensate the disadvantages arising from paucity of number, as well as almost every kind of inequality. From a settled persuasion that Popery still is, what it always was, a detestable system of impiety, cruelty, and imposture, fabricated by the father of lies, we feel thankful at witnessing any judicious attempt to expose its enormities, and retard its progress. The Lectures published some years since by Mr. Fletcher, are well adnpted for this purpose, and entitle their excellent Author to the esteem and gratitude of the public. " The Protestant" a series of periodical papers com- posed by Mr. IVic Gavin, of Glasgow, contains the 170 REVIEW OF fullest delineation of the popish system, and the most powerful confutation of its principles in a popular style, of any work we have seen. Whoever wishes to see Popery drawn to the life in its hideous wickedness and deformity, will find abundant satisfaction in the pages of that writer. The Author before us has been str-^'ous of concise- ness, and has contented himself with o\h 'i-igabrief, but a very correct and impressive outline of that copi- ous subject. As these lectures were delivered at Manchester, it is probable the Author's attention was more immediately directed to it, by witnessing the alarming progress which the tenets of the Romish Church are making in that quarter. There is nothing in them, however, of a local nature, or which is calcu- lated to limit their usefulness to any particular part of the kingdom. They are adapted for universal peru- sal, and entitled to an extensive circulation. The First Lecture is on the claim of the Church of Rome to the appellation of catholic, the futility and absurdity of which the Author has confuted, in a Concise but highly satisfactory manner. On this part of the argument, he very acutely remarks, 'That no church which is not coeval with Christianity itself, ought to pretend to be the universal Christian Church/ ' The contrary sentiment is evidently unreasonable and absurd ; for it supposes, that something whirl) has already a distinct and complete existence, may be a part of something else which is not to come into being until a future period ; or, which is equivalent to this, that what is entirely the creation of to-day, may include that which was created yesterday. This would be in opposition to all analogy; and therefore, if the Church of Rome had not an earlier comrnencemunf than all other Christian Churches, if the origin of that Church be not coincident and simultaneous with the first moment of Christianity, then the pretension of the Church of Rome to be the " Catholic Church,'' is altogether vain. Now. it is clear from the Acts of the Apostles, that many Christian Churches flourished in the East, before the Gospel was even preached at Rome. It was enjoined on the Apostles that their ministry should BIRT ON POPERY. 171 begin at Jerusalem, and in that city, the first Christian church was actually constituted. Until the persecution which arose about the stoning of Stephen, Christ was not preached beyond the borders of Palestine, and even then, with a scrupulous discrimination, " to the Jews only." In fact, churches wore formed in Jerusalem and Judea, at Damascus and Antioch, and the gospel was sent even into Ethi- opia, before there is any evidence of its being known at Rome.' pp. 10, 11. The Second Lecture is an historical exposition of the principal events which led to the elevation of the Church of Rome to supremacy : in tracing these, much acumen is evinced, as well as an intimate ac- quaintance with ecclesiastical history. The Third Lecture consists of a masterly delinea- tion of the genius and characteristics of the papal ascen- dency. In this part of the work, the judicious Author enters deeply into the interior spirit of Popery. After setting in a striking light, the seeming impossibilities it had to encounter ere it could accomplish its object, he enumerates the expedients employed for this pur- pose, under the following heads. The votaries of the papal see succeeded, 1 . By enslaving the mental faculties to human authority. 2. By giving to super- stition the semblance and sanction of religion. 3. By administering the affairs of their government on the iptest principles of worldly policy. Each of these topics is illustrated with great judgement, and a copi- ous induction of facts. On the last of these heads, we beg leave to present to our readers the following extract, as a specimen of the style and spirit of this writer. '"My kingdom is not of this world," saith our Lord ; "My kingdom is of this world," is truly the sentiment of the Pope; and hen lies the difference. The only consistent view of this Church, tt of a political establishment, employing indeed religious teriii- and denominations, but only as the pretext and colour of an inordinate pursuit of secular and temporal objects Head its history as that of a Christian Church, you stumble at every step, and every period shocks you with the grossest incongruities : read the same history as of one of the kingdoms of this world, all is natural and 172 REVIEW OF easy, and the various proceedings and events are just what you are prepared to expect. The papal supremacy was conceded by an earthly monarch all its interests have varied with the fluctua- tions of human affairs and when the princes of this world shall withdraw their support, it will fall, and great will be the fall there- of. The Bishops of Rome have ever pursued, under the guise of religion, some earthly advantage ; ann thus Pope Leo the Tenth exclaimed most appropriately, " Oh how profitable has this fable of Jesus been unto us !" ' The first object of these subtle politicians, was to provide a revenue, ample and permanent. Kings and nations were accord- ingly laid under tribute, and to the utmost extent of papal influence, the treasures of Christendom flowed into the Exchequer of Rome. On every hand, art, fraud, and intimidation, were equally and suc- cessfully employed, in transferring the wealth of the world to the coffers of the church. ' This was effected partly by regular ecclesiastical taxes, but principally by selling every thing the Church of Rome had to be- stow, and by perpetually inventing new articles of bargain and sale. Hence the multiplying of sacraments ; hence the sale of par- dons, indulgences, benefices, dignities, and of prayers for the living and the dead. Every thing was prostituted : and under the pretence of being the " bride, the Lamb's wife," this church became the " mother of harlots." In the same spirit, the death-beds of the rich were besieged, that they misiht bequeath their property to the Cler- gy ; and the consciences of opulent criminals were appeased, in re- turn for liberal donations to ecclesiastical funds. Thus an amount of riches almost incredible accrued to the papal treasury.' pp 9496. The Fourth Lecture is occupied by giving a rapid sketch of the most interesting events in the past history of the Romish community. We have seldom, if ever, seen so large a body of facts exhibited with perfect perspicuity within so small a compass : The Author's complete mastery of the subject appears from the ease with which he has condensed an immense mass of his- torical matter, without the least indication of disorder or confusion. The last of these Lectures presents an animated and instructive view of the prospects which are opening on the Christian Church, and the probable issue of the causes and events which are in present operation. BIRT ON POPERY. 173 The notice we have taken of this publication will, we trust, induce our readers to avail themselves of the instruction and the pleasure which an attentive perusal cannot fail to bestow. It is distinguished for precision and comprehension of thought, energy of diction, and the most enlarged and enlightened principles of civil and religious freedom ; nor should we find it easy to name a publication which contains, within the same compass, so much information on the subject which it professes to treat. A little redundance of ornament, and excess in the employment of figurative language, are excrescences very pardonable in a young writer, and which more mature years and experience may be safely left to correct. On the whole, we cannot dis- miss the work before us, without sincerely congratu- latigg the Author on that happy combination of philo- sophical discrimination with Christian piety, which it throughout displays. AN APOLOGY FOR THE GENERAL LIBERTY: TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED, REMARKS ON BISHOP HORSLEY'S SERMON, PREACHED JANUARY 30, 1703. BY ROBERT HALL, M. A. Shall Truth be ilent, became Folly frowns ^- THE SEVENTH LONDON EDITION. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. SINCE this pamphlet was first published, the principles it aims to support have received confirmation from such a train of disastrous events, that it might have been hoped we should have learned those lessons from misfortunes, which reason had failed to impress. Uninstructcd by our calamities, wo still persist in an impious attack on th- liberties of France, and are eager to take our part in the great drama of crimes which is acting on the continent of Europe. Meantime the violence and injustice of the internal administration keeps pace with our iniquities abroad. Liberty and truth are si- lenced. An unrelenting system of prosecution pn vails. The cruel and humiliating sentence passed upon Mu. Mum and MR. PALMKR, men of unblemished morals and of the purest patriotism, the out- rages committed on DR. PRIESTLEY, and his intended removal to America, are events which will mark the hitter end of the eight- eenth century with indelible reproach. But what has liberty to expect from a minister, who has the audacity to assert the King's right to land as many foreign troops as he pleases, without tho previous consent of Parliament ! If this doctrine be true, the boast- ed equilibrium of the constitution, all the barriers which the wisdom of our ancestors have opposed to the encroachment! of arbitrary power, are idle, ineffectual precautions. For we have only to sup- pose for a moment, an inclination in the royal breast to overturn our liberties, and of what avail is the nicest internal arrangement ngain-t a I" ifi'.'M force? Our constitution, on this principle, is the a!ir!i>ch arc cu;uhirt is superior to prejudice, and never fails to re- cognize, in a persecutor, a friend and a brother. Ad- mirable consistence in a Protestant Bishop, to lament over the fallen of that antichrist, whose overthrow is re- presented by unerring inspiration, as an event the most splendid and happy ! It is a shrewd presumption against the utility of religious establishments that they too often become seats of intolerance, instigators to persecution, nurseries ofBonners and of Horsleys. His Lordship closes his invective against dissenters, and Dr. Priestley in particular, by presenting a prayer in the spirit of an indictment. We are happy to hear of his Lordship's prayers, and are obliged to him for remembering us in them ; but should be more sanguine in our expectation of benefit, if we were not informed, the prayers of the righteous only avail much. " ORIGINAL PREFACE. 187 erable men" he tells us, we " are in the gall of bitter- ness, and in the bond of iniquity" With respect to the first, we must have plenty of that article, since he has distilled his own ; and if the bonds of iniquity are not added, it is only because they are not within the reach of his mighty malice. It is time to turn from this disgusting picture of sanc- timonious hypocrisy and priestly insolence, to address a word to the reader on the following pamphlet. The political sentiments of Dr. Horsley are in truth of to6 little consequence in themselves, to engage a moment's curiosity, and deserve attention only as they indicate the spirit of the times. The freedom with which I linvo pointed out the abuses of government, will be lit- tle relished by the pusillanimous and the interested, but is, I am certain, of that nature, which it is the duty of the people of England never to relinquish, or suffer to be impaired by any human force or contrivance. In the present crisis of things, the danger to liberty is ex- treme, and it is requisite to address a warning voice to the nation, that may disturb its slumbers, if it cannot heal its lethargy. When we look at the distraction and misery of a neighbouring country, we behold a srene that is enough to make the most hardy republi- can tremble at the idea of a revolution. Nothing but an obstinate adherence to abuses, can ever push the people of England to that fatal extremity. But if the state of things continues to grow worse and worse, if the friends of reform, the true friends of their country, continue to be overwhelmed by calumny and persecu- tion, the confusion will probably be dreadful, the mis- ery extreme, and the calamities that awaits us too great for human calculation. What must be the guilt of those men, who can calmly contemplate the approach of anarchy or despot- ism, and rather choose to behold the ruin of their coun* 188 ORIGINAL PREFACE. try, than resign the smallest pittance of private emolu- ment and advantage. To reconcile the disaffected, to remove discontents, to allay animosities, and open a prospect of increasing happiness and freedom, is yet in our power. But if a contrary course be taken, the sun of Great Britain is set for ever, her glory departed, and her history added to the catalogue of the mighty empires which exhibit the instability of all human grandeur, of empires which, after they rose by virtue to be the admiration of the world, sunk by corruption into obscurity and contempt. If any thing shall then remain of her boasted constitution, it will display mag- nificence in disorder, majestic desolation, Babylon in ruins, where, in the midst of broken arches and fallen columns, posterity will trace the monuments only of Qur ancient freedom ! ADVERTISEMENT TO THE NEW EDITION. As the following pamphlet has been long out of print, the reader will naturally expect some reason should be assigned lor its repub- licatiun. I might satisfy myself with safely affirming that I have no alternative left but either to publish it myself, or to permit it to be done by others, since the copy-right has long since transpired ; and 1 have been under the necessity of claiming as a favour what I could not insist upon as a right. In addition to this, a most erroneous inference has been drawn from my suffering it to fall into neglect. It has been often insinu- ated, that my political principles have undergone a revolution, and that I have renounced the opinions which it was the object of this pamphlet to establish. I must beg leave, however, to assert, that fashionable as such changes have been, and sanctioned by many conspicuous examples, I am not ambitious of the honour attached to this species of conversion, from a conviction that he who has, once been the advocate of freedom and of reform, will find it much easier to change his conduct than his principles to worship the golden imago, than to believe in the divinity of the idol A reluc- tance to appear as a political writer, an opinion, whether well or ill founded, that the Christian ministry is in danger of losing some- thin-,' of its energy and sanctity by embarking on the stormy ele- ment of political debate, were the motives that determined me, and whifh, had I not already engaged, would probably have effectually deterred me from writing upon politics. These scruples have given way to feelings still stronger, to my extreme aversion to be classed with political apostates, and to the suspicion of beirm deterred from the honest avowal of my sentiments on subjects of groat moment, by hopes and fears to which, through every period of my lifr, 1 have been a total stranger. The effect of increasing years lias been to augment, if possible, my attachment to the principles of -ml and religious liberty, and to the cause of reform as inseparably combined with their preservation ; and few thing* would <>\ve me more uneasiness, than to have it supposed 1 could ever become hostile or indifferent to these objects. 190 ADVERTISEMENT. The alterations in the present edition are nearly all of minor im portanr.e ; they chiefly consist of slight literary corrections, which very rarely affect the sense. It was not nay wish or intention to impair the identity of the performance. There is in several part* an acrimony and vehemence in the language, which the candid reader will put to the account of juvenile ardor ; and which, should it be deemed excessive, he will perceive could not be corrected, without producing a new composition One passage in the pre- face, delineating the character of the late Bishop Horsley, is omit- ted. On mature reflection, it appeared to the Writer, not quite consistent either with the spirit of Christianity, or with the rever- ence due to departed genius. For the severity with which he has treated the political character of Mr. Pitt, he is not disposed to apologise, because he feels the fullest conviction that the policy, foreign and domestic, of that celebrated statesman, has inflicted a more incurable wound on the Constitution, and entailed more per- manent and irreparable calamities on the nation, than that of any other minister in the annals of British history A simple reflection will be sufficient to evince the unparalleled magnitude of his apos- tacy, which is, that the memory of the Son of Lord Chatham, the vehement opposer of the American war, the champion of Reform, and the idol of the people, has become the rallying point of tory- ism,the type and symbol of whatever is most illiberal in principle, and intolerant in practice. 1821. AN APOLOGY, SECTION I. N THE RIGHT OF PUBLIC DISCUSSION. SOLON, the celebrated legislator of Athens, we are told, enacted a law for the capital punishment of every citizen who should continue neuter when parties ran high in that republic. He considered, it should seem, the declining to take a decided part on great and crit- ical occasions, an indication of such a culpable indif- ference to the interests of the commonwealth, as could be expiated only by death. While we blame the rig- our of this law, we must confess the principle, on which it was founded, is just and solid. In a political contest, relating to particular men or measures, a well- wisher to his country may be permitted to remain si- lent ; but when the great interests of a nation are at stake, it becomes every man to act with firmness and vigour. I consider the present as a season of this na- ture, and shall therefore make no apology for laying before the public, the reflections it has suggested. The most capital advantage an enlightened people can enjoy is the liberty of discussing every subject which can fall within the compass of the human mind : 192 ON THE RIGHT OP while this remains, freedom will flourish ; but should it be lost or impaired, its principles will neither be well understood nor long retained. To render the magis- trate a judge of truth, and engage his authority in the suppression of opinions, shews an inattention to the na- ture and design of political society. When a nation forms a government, it is not wisdom but power which they place in the hand of the magistrate ; from whence it follows, his concern is only with those objects which power can operate upon. On this account, the admin- istration of justice, the protection of property, and the defence of every member of the community from vio- lence and outrage, fall naturally within the province of the civil ruler, for these may all be accomplished by power ; but an attempt to distinguish truth from error, and to countenance one set of opinions to the prejudice of another, is to apply power in a manner mischievous and absurd. To comprehend the reasons on which the right of public discussion is founded, it is requisite to remark the difference between sentiment and con- duct. The behaviour of men in society will be influ- enced by motives drawn from the prospect of good and vil : here then is the proper department of govern- ment, as it is capable of applying that good and evil by which actions are determined. Truth, on the contra- ry, is quite of a different nature, being supported only by evidence, and, as when this is represented, we can- not withhold our assent, so where this is wanting, no power or authority can command it. However some may affect to dread controversy, it can never be of ultimate disadvantage to the interests of truth, or the happiness of mankind. Where it is indulged in its full extent, a multitude of ridiculous opinions will no doubt be obtruded upon the public ; but any ill influence they may produce cannot continue long, as they are sure to be opposed with at least equal PUBLIC DISCUSSION. 193 ability, and that superior advantage which is ever at- tendant on truth. The colours with which wit or elo- quence may have adorned a false system will gradually die away, sophistry be detected, and every thing esti- mated at length according to its true value. Publica- tions besides, like every thing else that is human, are of a mixed nature, where truth is often blended with falsehood, and important hints suggested in the midst of much impertinent or pernicious matter ; nor is there any way of separating the precious from the vile, but by tolerating the whole. Where the right of unlimited inquiry is exerted, the human faculties will be upon the advance ; where it is relinquished, they will be of necessity at a stand, and will probably decline. If we have recourse to experience, that kind of en- larged experience in particular which history furnishes, we shall not be apt to entertain any violent alarm at the greatest liberty of discussion : we shall there see that to this we are indebted for those improvements in arts and sciences, which have meliorated in so great a degree the condition of mankind. The middle ages, as they are called, the darkest period of which we have any particular accounts, were remarkahle for two things ; the extreme ignorance that prevailed, and an excessive veneration for received opinions ; circumstances, which having been always united, operate on each other, it is plain, as cause and effect. The whole compass of science was in those times subject to restraint ; every new opinion was looked upon as dangerous. To affirm the globe we inhabit to be round, was deemed heresy, and for asserting its motion, the immortal Galileo was confined in the prisons of the Inquisition. Yet, it is remarkable, so little are the human faculties fitted for restraint, that its utmost rigour was never able to effect a thorough unanimity, or to preclude the most alarming discussions and controversies. For no sooner was one 194 ON THE RIGHT OF point settled than another was started ; and as the arti- cles on which men professed to differ were always ex- tremely few and subtle, they came the more easily in- to contact, and their animosities were the more violent and concentrated. The shape of the tonsure, or man- ner in which a monk should shave his head, would then throw a whole kingdom into convulsions. In proportion as the world has become more enlightened, this unna- tural policy of restraint has retired, the sciences it has entirely abandoned, and has taken its last stand on re- ligion and politics. The first of these was long con- sidered of a nature so peculiarly sacred, that every at- tempt to alter it, or to impair the reverence for its re- ceived institutions, was regarded under the name of heresy as a crime of the first magnitude. Yet, dan- gerous as free inquiry may have been looked upon when extended to the principles of religion, there is no department where it was more necessary, or its inter- ference more decidely beneficial. By nobly daring to exert it when all the powers on earth were combined in its suppression, did Luther accomplish that reforma- tion which drew forth primitive Christianity, long hid- den and concealed under a load of abuses, to the view of an awakened and astonished world. So great is the force of truth when it has once gained the attention, that all the arts and policy of the court of Rome, aided throughout every part of Europe, by a veneration for antiquity, the prejudices of the vulgar, and the cruelty of despots, were fairly baffled and confounded by the opposition of a solitary monk. And had this principle of free inquiry been permitted in succeeding times to have full scope, Christianity would at this period have been much better understood, and the animosity of sects considerably abated. Religious toleration has never been complete even in England ; but having prevailed more here than perhaps in any other country, PUBLIC DISCUSSION. 195 there is no place where the doctrines of religion have been set in so clear a light, or its truths so ably de- fended. The writings of Deists have contributed much to this end. Whoever will compare the late defences of Christianity by Locke, Butler, or Clark, with those of the ancient apologists, will discern in the former far more precision and an abler method of reasoning than in the latter, which must be attributed chiefly to the superior spirit of inquiry by which modern times are distinguished. Whatever alarm then may have been taken at the liberty of discussion, religion, it is plain, hath been a gainer by it ; its abuses corrected, and its divine authority settled on a firmer basis than ever. Though I have taken the liberty of making these preliminary remarks on the influence of free inquiry ia general, what I have more immediately in view is, to defend its exercise in relation to government. This being an institution purely human, one would imagine it were the proper province for freedom of discussion in its utmost extent. It is surely just, that every one should have a right to examine those measures by which the happiness of all may be affected. The control of the public mind over the conduct of ministers exerted through the medium of the press, has been regarded by the best writers both in our country and on the con- tinent, as the main support of our liberties. While this remains, we cannot be enslaved ; when it is impaired or diminished, we shall soon cease to be free. Under pretence of its being seditious to express any disapprobation of the form of our government, the most alarming attempts are made to wrest the liberty ol the press out of our hands. It is far from being my inten- tion to set up a defence of republican principles, as 1 am persuaded whatever imperfections may attend the British constitution, it is competent to all the ends of government, and the best adapted of any to the actuql 196 ON THE RIGHT O situation of this kingdom. Yet I am convinced there is no crime in being a republican, and that while he obeys the laws, every man has a right to entertain what sentiments he pleases on our form of government, and to discuss this with the same freedom as any other top- ic. In proof of this, I shall beg the reader's attention to the following arguments. 1. We may apply to this point in particular, the ob- servation that has been mude on the influence of free inquiry in general, tint it will issue in the firmer estab- lishment of truth, and the overthrow of error. Every thing that is really excellent will bear examination, it will even invite it, and the more narrowly it is survey- ed, to the more advantage it will appear. Is our con- stitution a good one ; it will gain in our esteem by the severest inquiry. Is it bad ; then its imperfections should be laid open and exposed. Is it, as is generally confessed, of a mixed nature, excellent in theory, but defective in its practice ; freedom of discussion \villbe still requisite to point out the nature and source ol its corruptions, and apply suitable remedies. If our con- stitution be that perfect model of excellence it is repre- sented, it may boldly appeal to the reason of an enlight- ened age, and need not rest on the support of an im- plicit faith. 2. Government is the creature of the people, and that which they have created they surely have a right to examine. The great Author of Nature having pla- ced the right of dominion in no particular hands, hath left every point relating to it to be settled by the con- sent and approbation of mankind. In spite of the at- tempts of sophistry to conceal the origin of political right, it must inevitably rest at length on the acquies- cence of the people. In the case of individuals it is extremely plain. If one man should overwhelm another with superior force, and after completely subduing him 1'UBLIC DISCUSSION. 19t under the name of government, transmit him in this condition to his heirs, every one would exclaim against such an act of injustice. But whether the object of his oppression be one, or a million, can make no difference in its nature, the idea of equity having no relation to that of numbers. Mr. Burke, with some other authors, are aware that an original right of dominion can only -pi. lined by resolving it into the will of the people, yet coiit -ii'l that it becomes inalienable and independ- ent bv lenirth of time and prescription. This fatal mis- take appears to me to have arisen from confounding the right of dominion with that of private property. Possession for a certain time, it is true, vests in thei latter a complete right, or there would be no end to vexation of claims ; not to mention that it is of no con- sequence to society where property lies, provided its regulations be clear, and its possession undisturbed. For the same reason, it is of the essence of private prop- erty, to be held for the sole use of the owner, with liber- ty to employ it in what way he pleases, consistent with the safety of the community. But the right of domin- ion has none of the qualities that distinguish private possession. It is never indifferent to the community in whose hands it is lodged ; nor is it intended in any de- gree for the benefit of those who conduct it. Being derived from the will of the people, explicit or implied, and existing solely for their use, it can no more become independent of that will, than water can arise above its source. But if we allow the people are the true origin of political power, it is absurd to require them to resign the right of discussing any question that can arise either upon its ferm or its measures, as this would ut i lor- ever out of their power to revoke the trust which they have placed in the hands of their rulers. 3. If it be a crime for a subject of Great Britain to express his disapprobation of that form of government 198 ON THE RIGHT OF under which he lives, the same conduct must be con- demned in tne in Habitant of any other country. Per- haps it will he said, a distinction ought to be made on account of the superior excellence of the British Con- stitution. Tins superiority 1 am not disposed to con- test ; yet cannot allow it to be a proper reply, as it takes for granted that which is supposed to be a matter of debate and inquiry. Let a government be ever so despotic, it is a chance if those who share in the ad- ministration, are not loud in proclaiming its excellence. Go into Turkey, and the Pachas of the provinces will probably tell you, that the Turkish government is the most perfect in the world. If the excellency of a con- stitution then is assigned as the reason that none should be permitted to censure it, who, 1 ask, is to determine on ttiis its excellence ? If you reply, every man's own reason will determine; you concede the very point 1 am endeavouring to establish, the liberty of free inqui- ry : if you reply, our rulers, you admit a principle that equally applies to every government in the world, and will lend no more support to the British constitution than to that of Turkey or Algiers. 4. An inquiry respecting the comparative excellence '** of civil constitutions can be forbidden on no other pre- tence, than that of its tending to sedition and anarchy. This plea, however, will have little weight with those who reflect, to how many ill purposes it has been al- ready applied ; and that when the example has been once introduced of suppressing opinions on account of their imagined ill tendency, it has seldom been con- fined within any safe or reasonable bounds. The doc- trine of tendencies is extremely subtle and complicated. Whatever would diminish our veneration for the Christ- ian religion, or shake our belief in the being of a God, will be a lowed to be of a very evil tendency ; yet few, I imagine, who are acquainted with history, would PUBLIC DISCUSSION. 199 to see the writings of skeptics or deists suppressed by law ; being persuaded it would be lodging a very dan- gerous power in the hands of the magistrate, and that truth is best supported by its own evidence. This dread of certain opinions, on account of their tendency, has been the copious spring of all those religious wars and persecutions, which are the disgrace and calamity of modern times. Whatever danger may result from the freedom of political debate in some countries, no apprehension from that quarter need be entertained in our own. Free inquiry will never endanger the existence of a good nment ; scarcely will it be able to work the over- throw of a bad one. So uncertain is the issue of all rev- olutions, so turbulent and bloody the scenes that too of- ten usher them in, the prejudice on the side of an an- cient establishment so great, and the interests involved in its support so powerful, that while it provides in any tolerable measure; for the happiness of the people, it defy all the efforts of its enemies. The real danger to every free government is less from its enemies than from itself. Should it resist the most reforms, and maintain its abuses with obsti- n-iry, imputing complaint to faction, calumniating its friends, and smiling only on itsflattere, s ; should it en- courage informers, and hold out rewaids to treachery, turning every mnn into a spy, and every neighbourhood into the seat of an inquisition, let it 1.01 hope it can long conceal its tyranny under the mask o< Ireedom. These are the avenues through which desj otbm must enter ; are the arts at which integrity sickens and free- dom turns pale. 200 SECTION II. ON ASSOCIATION; THE associations that have been formed in various parts of the kingdom, appear to me to have trodden very nearly in the steps I have been describing. Noth- ing could have justified this extraordinary mode of com- bination but the actual existence of those insurrections and plots, of which no traces have appeared, except in a speech from the throne. They merit a patent for insurrections, who have discovered the art of conduct- ing them with so much silence and secresy, that in the very places where they are affirmed to have happened, they have been heard of only by rebound from the cabinet. Happy had it been for the repose of unoffend- ing multitudes, if the Associators had been able to put their mobs in possession of this important discovery before they set them in motion. No sooner had the ministry spread an alarm through the kingdom against republicans and levellers, than an assembly of court-sycophants with a placeman at their head, entered into what they termed an association at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, whence they issued accounts of their proceedings. This was the primitive, the metropolitan association, which, with few exceptions, gave the tone to the succeeding, who did little more than copy its language and its spirit. As the popular fer- ment has, it may be hoped, by this time in some meas- ON ASSOCIATIONS. 201 ure subsided, it may not be improper to endeavour to estimate the utility, and develop the principles of these societies. 1 . The first particular that engages the attention, is their singular and unprecedented nature. The object is altogether new. The political societies that have been hitherto formed, never thought of interfering \vith the operations of la\/, but were content with giving by their union, irreak'r force and publicity to their senti- ments. The diffusion of principles was their object, not the suppression ; and, confiding in the justness of their , they challenged their enemies into the field of controvert . These societies, on the other hand, are combined with an express view to extinguish opinions, and to overwhelm freedom of inquiry by the terrors of criminal prosecution. They pretend not to enlighten the people by the spread of political knowledge, or to confute the errors of the system they wish to discoun- tenance : they breathe only the language of menace: thrir element is indictment and prosecution, and their criminal justice formed on the model of Rhadaman- th'.is, the poetic judge of hell. /., fn/ffif'/Hc, (lulos HiMiiitque fateri. They arc not only new in thrir nature and com- plexion, but are unsupported by any just pretence of lirnce or necessity. The British constitution hath provided ample securities for its stability and per- manence. The prerogatives of the crown in all mat- i-s dignity, are of a nature so high and '.iy as may rather occasion alarm than need cor- roboration. The office of Attorney General is created for the very purpose of prosecuting sedition, and he bus the peculiar privilege of filing a bill against ofTcnd- m the king's name, without the intervention of a 2;raud jury. If the public tranquillity be threatened. 202 ON ASSOCIATIONS. the king can embody the militia as well as station the military in the suspected places ; and when to this is added the immense patronage and influence which flows from the disposal of seventeen millions a year, it must be evident the stability of the British government can never be shaken by the efforts of any minority whatever. It comprehends within itself all the re- sources of defence, which the best civil polity ought to possess. The permanence of every government must depend, however, after all, upon opinion, a general persuasion of its excellence, which can never be in- creased by its assuming a vindictive and sanguinary aspect. While it is the object of the people's appro- bation, it will be continued, and to support it much be- yond that period, by mere force and terror, would be impossible were it just, and unjust were it possible. The law hath amply provided against overt acts of se- dition and disorder, and to suppress mere opinions by any other method than reason and argument, is the height of tyranny. Freedom of thought being inti- mately connected with the happiness and dignity of man in every stage of his being, is of so much more importance than the preservation of any constitution, that to infringe the former under pretence of support- ing the latter, is to sacrifice the means to the end. 3. In attempting to define the boundary which sepa- rates the liberty of the press from its licentiousness, these societies have undertaken a task which they are utterly unable to execute. The line that divides them is too nice and delicate to be perceived by every eye, or to be drawn by every rude and unskilful hand. When a public outrage against the laws is committed, the crime is felt in a moment ; but to ascertain the qualities which compose a libel, and to apply with exactness the general idea to every instance and ex- ample which may occur, demands an effort of thought ON ASSOCIATIONS. 203 and reflection, little likely to be exerted by the great mass of mankind. Bewildered in ' pursuit \\hsch they are incapable of conducting with propriety, taught to suspect treason and sedition in eveiy page they read, and in every conversation they hear, the neces- sary effect of such an employment must be to perplex the understanding, and degrade the heart. An admi- rable expedient for transforming a great and generous people into a contemptible race of spies and in- formers ! For private individuals to combine together at all with a view to quicken the vigour of criminal prosecu- tion, is suspicious at least, if not illegal ; in a case where the liberty of the press is concerned, all such combinations are utterly improper. The faults and the excellencies of a book are often so blended, the motives of a writer so difficult to ascertain, and the mischiefs of servile restraint so alarming, that the crimi- nality of a book should always be left to be determin- ed by the particular circumstances of the case. As one would rather see many criminals escape, than the punishment of one innocent person, so it is infinitely better a multitude of errors should be propagated, than one truth be suppressed. If the suppression of Mr. Paine's pamphlet be the object of these societies, they are ridiculous in the ex- treme ; for the circulation of his works ceased the moment they were declared a libel : if any other pub- lication be intended, they are premature and imperti- nent, in presuming to anticipate the decision of the courts. 4. Admitting, however, the principle on which they are founded to be ever so just and proper, they are highly impolitic. All violence exerted towards opin- ions which falls short of extermination, serves no other purpose than to render them more known, and ulti- 204 ON ASSOCIATIONS. mately to increase the zeal and number of their abet- tors. Opinions that are false may be dissipated by the force of argument 5 when they are true, their punish- ment draws towards them infallibly more of the public attention, and enables them to dwell with more lasting weight and pressure on the mind. The progress of reason is aided in this case by the passions, and finds in curiosity, compassion, and resentment, powerful auxiliaries. When public discontents are allowed to vent them- sclves in reasoning and discourse, they subside into a calm ; but their confinement in the bosom is apt to give them a fierce and deadly tincture. The reason of this is obvious : as men are seldom disposed to complain till they at least imagine themselves injured, so there is no injury which they will remember so long or resent so deeply, as that of being threatened into silence. This seems like adding triumph to oppres- sion, and insult to injury. The apparent tranquillity which may ensue, is delusive and ominous ; it is that awful stillness which nature feels, while she is awaiting the discharge of the gathered tempest. The professed object of these associations is to strengthen the hands of government : but there is one way in which it may strengthen its own hands most effectually ; recommended by a very venerable au- thority, though one from which it hath taken but few- lessons. " He that hath clean hands," saith a adviser, " shall grow stronger and stronger." If the government wishes to become more vigorous, let it first become more pure, lest an addition to its strength should only increase its capacity for mischief. There is a characteristic feature attending these as- sociations, which is sufficient to acquaint us with their real origin ami spirit, that is the silence, almost total, which they maintain respecting political abuses. Had ON ASSOCIATIONS. 205 they been intended, as their title imports, merely to furnish an antidote to the spread of republican schemes and doctrines, they would have loudly asserted the ne- cessity of reform, as a conciliatory principle, a centre of union, in which the virtuous of all descriptions might have concurred. But this, however conducive to the good of the people, would have defeated their whole project, which consisted in availing themselves of an alarm which they had artfully prepared, in order to withdraw the public attention from real grievances to imaginary dangers. The Hercules of reform had penetrated the Augean stable of abuses ; the fabric of corruption, hitherto deemed sacred, began to totter, and its upholders were apprehensive their iniquity was almost full. In this perplexity, they embraced an oc- casion afforded them by the spread of certain bold speculations (speculations which owed their success to the corruptions of government) to diffuse a panic, and to drown the justest complaints in unmeaning cla- mour. The plan of associating, thus commencing in corruption, and propagated by imitation and by fear, had for its pretext the fear of republicanism ; for its object the perpetuity of abuses. Associations in this light may be considered as mirrors placed to advan- tage for reflecting the finesses and tricks of the mini- stry. At present they are playing into each other's hands, and no doubt find great entertainment in de- ceiving the nation. But let them be aware lest it should be found, after all, none are so much duped as themselves. Wisdom and truth, the offspring of the sky, are immortal ; but cunning and deception, the meteors of the earth, after glittering for a moment, must pass away. The candour and sincerity of these associators is of a piece with their other virtues : for while they pro- fess to be combined in order to prevent riots and in- 206 ON ASSOCIATIONS. surrcctions, attempted to be raised by republicans and levellers, they can neither point out the persons to whom that description applies, nor mention a single riot that was not fomented by their principles and en- gaged on their side. There have been three riots in England of late on a political account, one at Bir- mingham, one at Manchester, mid one at Cambridge ; each of which have been levelled against dissenters and friends of reform.* The Crown and Anchor association, as it was first in order of time, seems also deuvmirrr, by pushing to a greater length the maxims of arbitrary power, to maintain its pre-eminence in every other respect. The divine right of monarchy, the sacred anointing of kin^s, passive obedience and non-resistance, art? the hemlock and night-shade which these physicians have prescribed for the health of the nation ; and are yet but a specimen of a more fertile crop which they have promised out of the hot-bed of their depravity. The opinions which they have associated to suppress, are contained, they tell us, in the terms liberty and equali- ty ; after which they proceed to a dull harangue on the mischiefs that must flow from equalizing property. All mankind, they gravely tell us, are not equal in virtue, as if that were not sufficiently evident from the existence of their society. The notion of equality in * The conduct of an honourable member of the House of Com- mons, respecting the last of these, \v;is extremely illiberal He in- formed the Mouse, that the riot at Cambridge was nothing more than that the mob compelled Mr. iMusjjrave. one of his constitu- ents, who hail been heard to speak seditious words, to sing. God save the King a statement in which he was utter! v mistaken. Mr. Mnsiirave, with whom I have the pleasure of heinir well ac- quainted, was neither guilty of uttering seditious discourse, nor did he, I am certain, comply with the requisition. His whole crime consists in the love of his country, and a zeal for parliament;: i form. It would be happy for this nation, if a portion only of the inte::ri'v and disinterested virtue which adorn his character, could be infused into our great men. ON ASSOCIATIONS. 207 property, was never seriously cherished in the mind of any man, unless for the purpose of calumny : and the term transplanted from a neighbouring country, never intended there any thing more than equality of rights as opposed to feudal oppression and hereditary dis- tinctions. An equality of rights may consist with the greatest inequality between the thing to which those rights extend. It belongs to the very nature of pro- pcny, lor the owner to have a full and complete right to that which he possesses, and consequently for all properties to have equal rights ; but who is so ridicu- lous as to infer from thence, that the possessions them- selves are equal. A more alarming idea cannot be spread amoim; the people, than that there is a large parly ready to abet them in any enterprise of depre- dation and plunder. As all men do not know that the element of the associators is calumny, they are really in danger for a while of being believed, and must thank themselves if they should realize the plan of equality their own malice has invented. I am happy to find that Mr. Law, a very respecta- ble gentleman, who had joined the Crown and Anchor society, has publicly withdrawn his name, disgusted with their conduct ; by whom we are informed they receive anonymous letters, vilifying the characters of persons of the first eminence, and that they are in avowed alliance with the ministry for prosecutions, whom they entreat to order the Solicitor General to proceed on their suggestions. When such a society declares " itself to be unconnected with any political party" our respect for human nature impels us to be- it, and to hope their appearance may be consid- ered as an era in the annals of corruption, which will transmit their names to posterity with the encomiums they deserve. With sycophants so base and venal, no argument or remonstrance can be expected to have 208 ON ASSOCIATIONS. any success. It is in vain to apply to reason when it is perverted and abused, to shame when it is extin- guished, to a conscience which has ceased to admon- ish : 1 shall therefore leave them in the undisturbed possession of that true philosophical indifference, which steels them against the reproaches of their own hearts, and the contempt of all honest men. All the associations, it is true, do not breathe the spirit which disgraces that of the Crown and Anchor. But they all concur in establishing a political test, on the first appearance of which the friends of liberty should make a stand. The opinions proposed may be innocent, but the precedent is fatal ; and the moment subscription becomes the price of security, the rubicon is passed. Emboldened by the success of this expe- dient, its authors will venture on more vigorous mea- sures : test will steal upon test, and the bounds of tol- erated opinion will be continually narrowed, till we awake under the fangs of a relentless despotism. SECTION III. A REFORM OF PARLIAMENT. Whatever difference of opinion may take place in points of less importance, there is one in which the friends of freedom are entirely agreed, that is, the ne- cessity of reform in the representation. The theory of the English constitution presents three independent powers ; the King as executive head, with a negative in the legislature, an hereditary House of Peers, and an assembly of Commons, who are appointed to repre- sent the nation at large. From this enumeration it is plain, the people of England can have no liberty, that is, no share in forming the laws, but what they exert through the medium of the last of those bodies ; nor then, but in proportion to its independence of the other. The independence, therefore, of the House of Com- mons, is the column on which the whole fabric of our liberty rests. Representation may be considered as complete when it collects to a sufficient extent, and transmits with perfect fidelity, the real sentiments of the people ; but this it may fail of accomplishing through various causes. If its electors are but a handful of people, and of a peculiar order and de- scription; if its duration is sufficient to enable it to im- bibe the spirit of a corporation ; if its integrity be cor- rupted by treasury influence, or warped by the pros- 210 ON A REFORM pect of places and pensions ; it may, by these means, not only fail of the end of its appointment, but fall into such an entire dependence on the executive branch, as to become a most dangerous instrument of arbitrary power. The usurpation of the emperors at Rome ; would not have been safe, unless it had concealed it- self behind the formalities of a senate. The confused and inadequate state of our represen- tation, at present, is too obvious to escape the attention of the most careless observer. While through the fluctuation of human affairs, many towns of ancient note have fallen into decay, and the increase of com- merce has raised obscure hamlets to splendour and distinction, the state of representation standing still amidst these vast changes, points back to an order of things which no longer subsists. The opulent towns of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, send no members to parliament; the decayed boroughs of Cornwall appoint a multitude of representatives. Old Sarum sends two members, though there are not more than one or two families residing in it. The dispropor- tion between those who vote for representatives and the people at large is so great, that the majority of our House of Commons is chosen by less than eight thou- sand, in a kingdom consisting of as many millions. Mr. Burgh, in his excellent political disquisitions, has made a very laborious calculation on this head, from which jt appears, that the aftairs of this great empire are de- cided by the suffrages of between five and six thou- sand electors ; so that our representation, instead of being co-extended with the people, fails of this in a proportion that is truly enormous. The qualifications, moreover, that confer the right of election, are capri- cious and irregular. In some places it belongs to the corporation, or to those whom they think proper to make free ; in some to every house-keeper ; iu others. OF PARLIAMENT. 211 it is attached to a particular estate, whose proprietor is absolute lord of the borough, of which he makes his advantage, by representing it himself, or disposing of it to the best bidder. In counties, the right of elec- tion is annexed only to one kind of property, that of freehold ; the proprietor of copyhold land being entire- ly deprived of it, though his political situation is pre- cisely the same. The consequence of this perplexity in the qualifica- tions of electors is often a tedious scrutiny and exam- ination before a committee of the House of Commons, prolonged to such a length, that there is no time when there are not some bojroughs entirely unrepresented. These gross defects in our representation have struck all sensible men very forcibly ; even Mr. Paley, a courtly writer in the main, declares, the bulk of the inhabitants of this country have little more concern in the appointment of parliament, than the subjects of the Grand Seignior at Constantinople. On the propriety of the several plans which have been proposed to remedy these evils, it is not for me to decide ; I shall choose rather to point out two gen- eral principles which ought, in my opinion, to pervade every plan of parliamentary reform ; the first of which respects the mode of election, the second the indepen- dence of the elected. In order to give the people a true representation, let its basis be enlarged, and the duration of parliaments shortened. The first of these improvements would diminish bribery and corruption, lessen the violence and tumult of elections, and secure to the people a real, and unequivocal organ for the expression of their sentiments. Were every householder in town and country per- mitted to vote, the number of electors would be so great, that as no art or industry would be able to bias their minds, so no sums of money would be sufficient 212 ON A REFORM to win their suffrages. The plan which the Puke of Richmond recommended was, if I mistake not, still more comprehensive, including all that were of age, except menial servants. By this means, the different passions and prejudices of men would check each oth- er, the predominance of any particular or local interest be kept down, and from the whole there would result that general impression, which would convey with pre- cision the unbiassed sense of the people. But besides this, another great improvement, in my opinion, would be, to shorten the duration of parlia- ment, by bringing it back to one year. The Michel Gremote, or great council of th kingdom, was appoint- ed to meet under Alfred twice a year, and by divers ancient statutes after the conquest, the king was bound to summon a parliament every year or oftener, if need be ; when to remedy the looseness of this latter phrase, by the 16th of Charles the Second it was enacted, the holding of parliaments should not be intermitted above three years at most ; and in the first of King William, it is declared as one of the rights of the people, that for redress of all grievances and preserving the laws, parliaments ought to be held frequently ; which was again reduced to a certainty by another statute, which enacts, that a new parliament shall be called within three years after the termination of the former. To this term did they continue limited till the reign of George the First ; when, after the rebellion of fifteen, the septennial act was passed, under the pretence of diminishing the expense of elections and preserving the kingdom against the designs of the Pretender. A no- ble lord observed, on that occasion, he was at an utter loss to describe the nature of this prolonged parlia- ment, unless he were allowed to borrow a phrase from the Athanasian Creed ; for it was, "neither created, Nor begotten, but proceeding." Without disputing the OF PARLIAMENT, 213 upright intentions of the authors of this act, it is plain, they might on the same principle have voted them- selves perpetual ; and their conduct will ever remain a monument of that short-sightedness in politics, \\liich in providing for the pressure of the moment puts to hazard the liberty and happiness of future times. It is intolerable, that in so large a space of a man's life as, seven years, he should never be able to correct the error he may have committed in the choice of a repre- sentative, but be compelled to see him every year dip- ping deeper into corruption ; a helpless spectator of the contempt of his interests, and the ruin of his coun- try. During the present period of parliaments, a na- tion may sustain the greatest possible changes ; may descend by a succession of ill counsels, from the high- est pinnacle of its fortunes, to the lowest point of de- pression ; its treasure exhausted, its credit sunk, and its weight almost completely annihilated in the scale of empire. Ruin and felicity are seldom dispensed by the same hand, nor is it likely any succour in calamity should flow from the wisdom and virtue of those, by whose folly and wickedness it was inflicted. The union between a representative and his constit- uents, ought to be strict and entire ; but the septennial art has rendered it little more than nominal. The duration "of parliament sets its members at a distance from the people, begets a notion of independence, and gives the minister so much leisure to insinuate himself into their graces, that before the period is expired, they become very mild and complying. Sir Robert Wai- pole used to say, that " every man had his price ;" a rnaxim on which he relied with so much security, that he declared he seldom troubled himself \\iib the- elec- tion of members, but rather chose to stay and buy them up when they came to market. A very interesting work, lately published, entitled, " Anecdotes of Lord 214 ON A REFORM Chatham," unfolds some parts of this mystery of iniq- uity, which the reader will probably think equally new and surprising. There is a regular office, it seems, that of manager of the House of Commons, which gen- erally devolves on one of the secretaries of state, and consists in securing, at all events, a majority in parlia- ment by a judicious application of promises and bribes. The sums disbursed by this honourable office are in- volved under the head of Secret Service Money ; and so delicate is this employment of manager of the House of Commons considered, that we have an account in the above-mentioned treatise, of a new arrangement of ministry, which failed for no other reason, than that the different parties could not agree on the proper per- son to fill it.* This secret influence which prevails, must be allow- ed to be extremely disgraceful ; nor can it ever be effectually remedied, but by contracting the duration of parliaments. If it be objected to annual parliaments, that by this means the tumult and riot attendant on elections will be oftener repeated ; it ought to be remembered, that their duration is the chief source of these disorders. Render a seat in the House of Commons of less value, and you diminish at once the violence of the struggle. Tn America, the election of representatives takes place * As I have taken my information on this head entirely on the authority of the work called, " Anecdotes of Lord Chatham,' 1 the reader may nut be displeased with The following extract, vol. ii. p. 121. " The management of the House of Commons, as it is call- ed, is a confidential department unknown to the constitution In the public accounts it is immersed under the head of secret service money. It is usually given to the secretary of state when that post is filled by a commoner. The business of the department, is to distribute with art and policy, amongst the members who have no ostensible places, sums of money, for their support during the session ; besides contracts, lottery tickets, and other douceurs. It is no uncommon circumstance, at the end of a session, 'or a irentlo- man to receive five hundred or a thousand pounds fur his services " OF PARLIAMENT. throughout that vast continent, in one day, with the greatest tranquillity.* lii a mixed constitution like ours, it is impossible to estimate the importance of an independent parliament 5 for as it is here our freedom consists, if this harrier to the encroachments of arbitrary power once fails, \ve can oppose no other. Should the King attempt to gov- ern without a parliament, or should the upper house pretend to legislate independently of the lower, we should immediately take the alarm ; but if the House of Commons falls insensibly under the control of the other two branches of the legislature, our danger is greater, because our apprehensions are less. The forms of a free constitution surviving when its spirit is extinct, would perpetuate slavery by rendering it more concealed and secure. On this account, 1 apprehend, did Montesquieu predict the loss of our freedom, from the legislative power becoming more corrupt than the itive ; a crisis to which, if it has not arrived al- ready, it is hastening apace. The immortal Locke, far from looking with the indifference too common on the abuses in our representation, considered all im- proper influence exerted in that quarter as threatening the very dissolution of government. " Thus, says he, it, n-gulate candidates and electors, and new-model t/te of election, what is it but to cut up the govern- by the roots, and poison the very fountain of public security." No enormity can subsist lone; without meeting with advocates; on which account we need not wonder, that the corruption of parliament has been justified un- der the mild denomination of influence, though it must pain every virtuous mind to see the enlightened Puk-y /Rcl in its defence. If a member votes consistent- ly with his convictions, his conduct in that instance has * This in an error. Publisher ON A REFORM not been determined by influence ; but if he votes oth- erwise, give it what gentle name you please, he forfeits his integrity ; nor is it possible to mark the boundaries which should limit his compliance ; for if he may de- viate a little, to attain the See of Winchester, he may certainly step a little farther, to reach the dignity of Primate. How familiar must the practice of corrup- tion have become, when a philosophical moralist, a minister of religion, of great talents and virtue, in the calm retirement of his study, does not hesitate to be- come its public apologist. The necessity of a reform in the constitution of par- liament is in nothing more obvious than in the ascen- dency of the aristocracy. This Colossus bestrides both houses. of parliament ; legislates in one and exerts a domineering influence over the other. It is humilia- ting at the approach of an election, to see a whole county send a deputation to an Earl or Duke, and beg a representative as you would beg an alms. A multi- tude of laws have been framed, it is true, to prevent all interference of peers in elections ; but they neither are nor can be effectual, while the House of Commons opens its doors to their sons and brethren. If our lib- erty depends on the balance and control of the re- spective orders in the state, it must be extremely ab- surd to blend them together, by placing the father in one department of the legislature, and his family in the other. Freedom is supposed by some to derive great secu- rity from the existence of a regular opposition ; an ex- pedient which is, in my opinion, both the offspring and the cherisher of faction. That a minister should be opposed, when his measures are destructive to his country, can admit of no doubt ; that a systematic op- position should be maintained against any man, merely as a minister, without regard to the principles he may F PARLIAMENT. 217 profess, or the measures he may propose, which is in- tended by a regular opposition, appears to me a most corrupt and unprincipled maxim. \Vhen a legislative assembly is thus thrown into parties, distinguished by no leading principle, however warm and animated their debates, it is plain, they display only a struggle lor the emoluments of office. This the people discern, and in consequence, listen with very little attention to the representations of the minister on one hand, or the minority on the other ; being persuaded the only real difference between them is, that the one is anxious to gain, what the other is anxious to keep. If a measure be good, it is of no importance to the nation frrm \\licni it proceeds : yet will it be esteemed by the opposition a point of honour, not to let it pass without throwing every obstruction in its way. If we listen to the min- ister for the time being, the nation is always flourishing and happy; if we hearken to the opposition, it is a chance if it be not on the brink of destruction. In an assembly convened to deliberate on the affairs of a na- tion, how disgusting to hear the members perpetually talk of their connexions, and their resolution to act with a particular set of men, when if they have- hap- pened, by chance, to vote according to their convict. '.ns rather than their party, half their speeches are made up of apologies for a conduct so new and unexpected. YVhrn they see men united who agree in nothing but their hostility to the minister, the people fall at first in- to amazement and irresolution ; till pel-reiving political debate is a mere scramble fpr profit and power, they endeavour to become as corrupt as their betters. It is not in that roar of faction which deafens the ear and sickens the heart, the still voice of Liberty is heard. She turns from the dis- eene, ?nd regards these stnimcles as the pangs and convulsions in which she is doomed to expire. 218 ON A REFORM The aera of parties, flowing from the animation of freedom, is ever followed by an aera of faction, which marks its feebleness and decay. Parties are founded on principle, factions on men; under the first, the peo- ple are contending respecting the system that shall be pursued ; under the second, they are candidates for servitude, and are only debating whose livery they shah 1 wear. The purest times of the Roman republic were distinguished by violent dissensions ; but they consisted in the jealousy of the several orders of the state among each other ; on the ascendance of the patricians on the one side, and the plebeians on the other ; a useful strug- gle, which maintained the balance and equipoise of the constitution. In the progress of corruption things took a turn : the permanent parties which sprang from the fixed principles of government were lost, and the citi- zens arranged themselves under the standard of parti- cular leaders, being bandied into factions, under Marius or Sylla, Caesar or Pompey ; while the republic stood by without any interest in the dispute, a passive and help- less victim. The crisis of the fall of freedom in differ- ent nations, with respect to the causes that produce it, is extremely uniform. After the manner of the ancient factions, we hear much in England of the Bedford par- ty, the Rockingham party, the Portland party, when it would puzzle the wisest man to point out their political distinction. The useful jealousy of the separate orders is extinct, being all melted down and blended into one mass of corruption. The House of Commons looks with no jealousy on the House of Lords, nor the House of Lords on the House of Commons ; the struggle in both is maintained by the ambition of powerful individ- uals and families, between whom the kingdom is thrown as the prize, and the moment they unite, they perpetu- ate its subjection and divide its spoils. From a late instance, we see they quarrel only about OF PARLIAMENT. 219 the partition of the prey, but are unanimous in defend- ing it. To the honour of Mr. Fox, and the band of illustrious patriots of which he is the leader, it will however be remembered, that they stood firm against a host of opponents, when, assailed by every species of calumny and invective, they had nothing to expect but the reproaches of the present, and the admiration of all future times. If any thing can rekindle the sparks of freedom, it will be the flame of their eloquence ; if any thing can reanimate her faded form, it will be the vig- our of such minds* The disordered state of our representation, it is ac- knowledged on all hands, must be remedied, some time or other ; but it is contended, that it would be improper, at present, on account of the political ferment that oc- cupies the minds of men and the progress of republi- can principles ; a plausible objection, if delay can re- store public tranquillity : but unless I am greatly mis- taken, it will have just a contrary effect. It is hard to conceive, how the discontent that flows from the abuses of government can be allayed by their being perpetua- ted. If they are of such a nature that they can neither be palliated nor denied, and are made the ground of in* vective against the whole of our constitution, are not they its best friends who wish to cut off this occasion of scandal and complaint ? The theory of our consti- tution, we say, and justly, has been the admiration of the world ; the cavils of its enemies, then, derive their force entirely from the disagreement between that the- ory and its practice ; nothing therefore remains, but to bring them as near as human affairs will admit, to a perfect correspondence. This will cut up faction by the roots, and immediately distinguish those who wish to reform the constitution, from those who wish its sub- version. Since the abuses are real, the longer they are continued the more they will be known j the di?- 220 ON A REFORM contented will be always gaining ground, and though repulsed, will return to the charge with redoubled vig- our and advantage. Let reform be considered as a chirurgical operation, if you please, but since the con- stitution must undergo it or die, it is best to submit be- fore the remedy becomes as dangerous as the disease. The example drawn from a neighbouring kingdom, as an argument for delay, ought to teach us a contrary lesson. Had the encroachments of arbitrary power been steadily resisted, and remedies been applied, as evils appeared, instead of piling them up as precedents, the disorders of government could never have arisen to that enormous height, nor would the people have been impelled to the dire necessity of building the whole fab- ric of political society afresh. It seems an infatuation in governments, that in tranquil times, they treat the peo- ple with contempt, and turn a deaf ear to their com- plaints ; till public resentment kindling, they find when it is too late, that in their eagerness to retain every thing, they have lost all. The pretence of Mr. Pitt and his friends for delay- ing this great business, are so utterly inconsistent, that it is too plain they are averse in reality to its ever tak- ing place. When Mr. Pitt is reminded that he him- self, at the beginning of his ministry, recommended par- liamentary reform, he replies, it was necessary then, on account of the calamitous state of the nation, just emerged from an unsuccessful war, and filled \vith gloom and disquiet. But unless the people are libelled, they now are still more discontented ; with this dif- ference, that their uneasiness formerly arose from events but remotely connected with unequal repn tation ; but that this is now the chief ground of com- plaint. It is absurd, however, to rest the propriety of reform on any turn of public affairs. If it be not re- quisite to secure our freedom, it is vain and useless ; OF PARLIAMENT. 221 but if it be a proper means of preserving that blessing, the nation will need it as much in peace as in war. When we wish to retain those habits, which we know it were best to relinquish, we are extremely ready to fce soothed with momentary pretences for delay, though they appear, on reflection, to be drawn from quite op- posite topics, and therefore to be equally applicable to all times and seasons. A similar delusion is practised in the conduct of public affairs. If the people be tranquil and composed, and have not caught the passion of reform, it is impol- itic, say the ministry, to disturb their minds, by agitat- ing a question that lies at rest : if they are awakened, and touched with a conviction of the abuse, we must wait, say they, till the ferment subsides, and not lessen our dignity by seeming to yield to popular clamour : if we are at peace, and commerce flourishes, it is con- cluded we cannot need any improvement, in circum- stances so prosperous and happy : if, on the other hand, we are at war, and our affairs unfortunate, an amend- ment in the representation is dreaded, as it would seem an acknowledgment, that our calamities flowed from the ill conduct of parliament. Now, as the nation must always be in one or other of these situations, the conclusion is, the period of reform can never arrive at all. This pretence for delay will appear the more extra- ordinary in the British ministry, from a comparison of the exploits they have performed, with the task they decline. They have found time for involving us in millions of debt; for cementing a system of corruption, that reaches from the cabinet to the cottage ; for car- rying havoc and devastation to the remotest extremi- ties of the globe ; for accumulating taxes which famish the peasant and reward the parasite ; for bandying the whole kingdom into factions, to the ruin of all virtue 22 ON A REFORM, &C. and public spirit ; for the completion of these achieve- ments they have suffered no opportunity to escape them. Elementary treatises on time mention various arrange- ments and divisions, but none have ever touched on the chronology of statesmen. These are a generation, who measure their time not so much by the revolutions of the sun, as by the revolutions of power. There are two aeras particularly marked in their calendar ; the one the period they are in the ministry, and the other when they are out ; which have a very differ- ent effect on their sentiments and reasoning. Their course commences in the character of friends to the people, whose grievances they display in all the colours of variegated diction ; but the moment they step over the threshold of St. James's, they behold every thing in a new light ; the taxes seem lessened, the people rise from their depression, the nation flourishes in peace and plenty, and every attempt at improvement is like heightening the beauties of par* adise, or mending the air of elysium. 223 SECTION IV. OH THEORIES AND THE RIGHTS OF MAW. AMONG the many alarming symptoms of the pres- ent time, it is not the least, that there is a prevailing disposition to hold in contempt, the Theory of liberty as false and visionary. For my own part, it is my de- termination never to he deterred by an obnoxious name, from an open avowal of any principles that appear use- ful and important. Were the ridicule now cast on the Rights of Man confined to a mere phrase, as the title of a book, it were of little consequence ; but when that is made the pretence for deriding the doctrine it- self, it is matter of serious alarm. To place the rights of man as the basis of lawful government, is not peculiar to Mr. Paine ; but was done more than a century ago by men of no less emi- nence than Sidney and Locke. It is therefore ex- tremely disingenuous to impute the system to Mr. Paine as its author. His structure may be false and erroneous, but the foundation was laid by other hands. That there are natural rights, or in other words, a certain liberty which men may exercise, independent of permission from society, can scarcely be doubted by those who comprehend the meaning of the terms. Every man must have a natural right to use his limbs in what manner he pleases, that is not injurious to another. In like manner, he must have a right to wor- 224 ON THEORIES AND ship God after the mode he thinks acceptable : er i ether words, he ought not to be compelled to consult any thing but his own conscience. These are a speci- men of those rights which may properly be termed natural; for, as philosophers speak of the primary qualities of matter, they cannot be increased or dimin- ished. We cannot conceive the right of using our limbs to be created by society, or to be rendered more complete by any human agreement or compact. But there still remains a question, whether this nat- ural liberty must not be considered as entirely relin- quished when we become members of society. It is pretended, that the moment we quit a state of nature, as we have given up the control of our actions in re- turn for the superior advantages of law and govern- ment, we can never appeal again to any original prin- ciples, but must rest content with the advantages that are secured by the terms of the society. These are the views which distinguish the political writings of Mr. Burke, an author whose splendid and unequalled pow- ers have given a vogue and fashion to certain tenets, which from any other pen would have appeared abject and contemptible. In the field of reason the encoun- ter would not be difficult, but who can withstand the. fascination and magic of his eloquence. The excur- sions of his genius are immense ! His imperial fancy has laid all nature under tribute, and has collected riches from every scene of the creation, and every walk of art. His eulogium on the Queen of France is a masterpiece of pathetic composition ; so select are its images, so fraught with tenderness, and so rich with colours, " dipt in heaven," that he who can read it without rapture may have merit as a reasoner, but must resign all pretensions to taste and sensibility. His imagination is in truth only too prolific : a world of itself, where he dwells in the midst of chimerical THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 225 alarms, is the dupe of his own enchantments, and starts, like Prospero, at the spectres of his own creation. His intellectual views in general, however, are wide and variegated, rather than distinct; and the light he has let in on the British constitution in particular, re- sembles the coloured effulgence of a painted medium, a kind of mimic twilight, solemn and soothing to the senses, but better fitted for ornament than use. A book has lately been published, under the title of "Happiness and Rights," written by Mr. Hey. a re- spectable member of the University of Cambridge, whose professed object is, with Mr. Burke, to overturn the doctrine of natural rights. The few remarks I may make upon it are less on account of any merit in the work itself, than on account of its author, who being a member of considerable standing in the most liberal of our universities, may be presumed to speak the senti- ments of that learned body.- The chief difference between his theory and Mr. Burke's seems to be the denial of the existence of any rights that can be denom- inated natural, which Mr. Burke only supposed resign- ed on the formation of political society. " The rights," says Mr. Hey, " I can conjecture (for it is but a con- fpcfvre) to belong to me as a mere man, are so uncer- tain, and comparatively so unimportant, while the rights I feel myself possessed of in civil society are so ?r that source will not diminish our ob lig ation to obey j THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 231 it only explains its reasons, and settles it on clear, de- terminate principles. It turns blind submission into ra- tional obedience, tempers the passion for liberty with the love of order, and places mankind in a happy me- dium, between the extremes of anarchy on the one side, and oppression on the other. It is the polar star that will conduct us safe over the ocean of political de- bate and speculation, the law of laws, the legislator of legislators. To reply to all the objections that have been ad- vanced against this doctrine, would be a useless task, and exhaust the patience of the reader ; but there is one drawn from the idea of a majority, much insisted on by Mr. Burke, and Mr. Hey, of which the latter gentleman is so enamoured, that he has spread it out into a multitude of pages. They assert, that the theo- ry of natural rights, can never be realized, because every member of the community cannot concur in the choice of a government, and the minority being com- pelled to yield to the decisions of the majority, are under tyrannical restraint. To this reasoning it is a sufficient answer, that if a number of men act to- gether at all, the necessity of being determined by the sense of the majority, in the last resort, is so obvious, that it is always implied. An exact concurrence of many particular wills, is impossible, and therefore when each taken separately has precisely the same in- fluence, there can be no hardship in suffering the re- sult to remain at issue till it is determined by the coin- cidence of the greater number. The idea of natural liberty, at least, is so little violated by this method of proceeding, that it is no more than what takes place every day in the smallest society, where the necessity of being determined by the voice of the majority is so plain, that it is scarcely ever reflected upon. The de- fenders of the rights of man mean not to contend for 232 ON THEORIES AND impossibilities. We never hear of a right to fly, or to make two and two five. If the majority of a nation approve its government, it is in this respect as free as the smallest association or club ; any thing beyond which must be visionary and romantic. The next objection Mr. Hey insists upon is, if pos- sible, still more frivolous, turning on the case of young persons during minority. He contends, that as some of these have more sense than may be found among common mechanics, and the lowest of the people, natural right demands their inclinations to be consult- ed in political arrangements. Were there any method of ascertaining exactly the degree of understanding possessed by young persons during their minority, so as to distinguish early intellects from the less mature, there would be some force in the objection ; in the present case, the whole supposition is no more than one of those chimeras which this gentleman is ever fond of combating, with the same gravity, and to as little purpose, as Don Quixote his windmill. The period of minority, it is true, varies in different countries, and is perhaps best determined every where by ancient custom and habit. An early maturity may confer on sixteen, more sagacity than is sometimes found at sixty ; but what then ? A wise government having for its object human nature at large, will be adapted, not to its accidental deviations, but to its usual aspects and appearances. For an answer to his argu- ment against natural rights, drawn from the exclusion of women from political power, I beg leave to refer the author to the ingenious Miss Wolstencroft, the elo- quent patroness of female claims ; unless, perhaps, every other empire may appear mean in the estima- tion of those who possess, with an uiicontroled author- ity, the empire of the heart. "The situation," says Mr, Hey, (p. 137) "in which THE RIGHTS OP MAN. 233 any man finds himself placed, when he arrives at the power of reflecting, appears to be the consequence of a vast train of events, extending backwards hundreds or thousands of years, for aught he can tell, and totally baffling all the attempts at comprehension by human faculties." From hence he concludes, all inquiry into the rights of man should be forborne. " What rights this Being (God) may have possibly intended that I might claim from beings like myself, if he had thought proper that I had lived amongst them in an unconnected state, that is to say, what are the rights of a mere man, appears a question involved in such obscurity, that I cannot trace even any indication of that Being having intended me to inquire into it." If any thing be intended by these observations, it is, that we ought never to attempt to meliorate our condi- tion, till we are perfectly acquainted with its causes. But as the subjects of the worst government are, prob- ably, as ignorant of the train of events for some thou- sands of years back, as those who enjoy the best, they are to rest contented, it seems, until they can clear up that obscurity, and inquire no farther. it would seem strange to presume an inference good, from not knowing how we arrived at it. Yet this seems as reasonable as to suppose the political circumstances of a people fit and proper, on account of our inability to trace the causes that produced them. To know the source of an evil, is only of consequence, as it may chance to conduct us to the remedy. But the whole paragraph I have quoted betrays the utmost perplexity of thought; confounding the civil condition of individ- uals, with the political institution of a society. The former will be infinitely various in the same com- munity, arising from the different character, temper, and success of its members : the latter unites and per- w 234 ON THEORIES AND vades the whole, nor can any abuses attach to it, but what may he displayed and remedied. It is perfectly disingenuous in this author, to repre- sent his adversaries as desirous of committing the busi- ness of legislation indiscriminately to the meanest of mankind.* He well knows the wildest democrat'cal writer contends for nothing; more than popular govern- ment by representation. If the labouring part of the people are not competent to choose legislators, the En- glish constitution is essentially wrong ; especially in its present state, where the importance of each vote is en- hanced by the paucity of the electors. After the many examples of misrepresentation which this author has furnished, his declamations on the lev- elling system, cannot be matter of surprise. An equality of right is perfectly consistent with the utmost disproportion between the objects to which they extend. A peasant may have the same right to the exertion of his faculties with a Newton ; but this will not fill up the vast chasm that separates them. The rninistrv will feel great obligations to Mr. Hey, for putting off the evil day of reform to a far distant period, a period so remote, that they may hcpe be- fore it is completed, their names and tl eir actions will be buried in friendly oblivion. He indulges a faint expectation, he tells us, that the practice of govern- ments may be improved " in two or three thousand years." * " A man whose hands and ideas have been usefully confined for thirty or fort) A cars 1o the labour and management of a farm, or the roiistniftinn of a wall, or piece of cloth, does indeed, in one respect, appear superior to an infant three months old. The man could tm.Ue a law of some sort or other; the infant could not. The man could in any particular circumstances of a nation sa\ tl ^M- words, We will go to \\ar ; or. We will not go to war: the infant could not. But the difference between them is more in appearance than in any useful reality. The man is totally unqualified to jud< what ought to be enacted for laws" Hey, (p. 31 j TRE RIGHTS OF MAN. 235 A smaller edition of this work has lately been pub- lished, considerably abridged, for the use of the poor, who, it may be feared, will be very little benefited by its perusal. Genius may dazzle, eloquence may per- Mi.ide, reason may convince ; but to render popular, cold and comfortless sophistry, unaided by those pow- - sm hopeless attempt. 1 have trespassed, I am afraid, too far on the pa- tience of my readers, in attempting to expose the falla- cies by which the followers of Mr. Burke perplex the understanding, and endeavour to hide in obscurity the true sources of political power. Were there indeed any impropriety in laying them open, the blame would not fall on the friends of freedom, but on the provoca- tion afforded by the extravagance and absurdity of its enemies. If princely power had never been raised to lc\cl with the attributes of the Divinity by Filmer, it ;id probably never been sunk as low as popular ac- :nce by Locke. The confused mixture of lib- rty and oppression, which ran through the feudal i), prevented the theory of government from be- ing closely inspected ; particular rights were secured, but the relation of the people to their rulers was nev- er explained on its just principles, till the transfer of superstition to civil power, shocked the common sense of mankind, and awakened their inquiries. They drew aside the veil, and where they were taught to expect a mystery, they discerned a fraud. There is, however, no room to apprehend any evil from political investi- gation, that will not be greatly overbalanced by its ad- vantages : for besides that truth is always beneficial, tame submission to usurped power has hitherto been the malady of human nature. The dispersed situation of mankind, their indolence and inattention, and the opposition of their passions and interests, are circum- stances which render it extremely difficult for them to 236 ON THEORIES, &C. combine in resisting tyranny with success. In the field of government, as in that of the world, the tares of des- potism were sown while men slept i The necessity of tegular government, under some form or other, is so pressing, that the evil of anarchy is of short duration. Rapid, violent, destructive in its course, it is an inunda- tion which, fed by no constant spring, soon dries up and disappears. The misfortune on these occasions is, that the people, for want of understanding the prin- ciples of liberty, seldom reach the true source of their misery ; but after committing a thousand barbarities, only change their masters, when they should change their system. SECTION V, ON DISSENTERS. OF that foul torrent of insult and abuse which it has lately been the lot of the friends of liberty to sustain, a larger portion hath fallen to the share of Dissenters than any other description of men. Their sentiments have been misrepresented, their loyalty suspected, and their most illustrious characters held up to derision and contempt. The ashes of the dead have been as little spared as the merit of the living ; and the same breath that has attempted to depreciate the talents and virtues of a Priestley, is employed to blacken the memory of a . The effusions of a distempered loyalty are mincrled with execrations on that unfortunate sect ; as if the attachment to the King were to be measured by the hatred to Dissenters. Without any shadow of cri- minality, they are doomed to sustain perpetual insult and reproach ; their repose disturbed, and their lives threatened and endangered. If dissent be in truth a crime of such magnitude, that it must not be tolerated, let there be at least a punishment prescribed by law, that they may know what they have to expect, and not lio at thp mercy of an enraged and deluded populace. It is natural to inquire into the cause of this extreme virulence against a particular class of the community, who are distinguished from others, only by embracing a different form and system of worship. w* 238 ON DISSENTERS. In the practice of the moral virtues, it will hardly be denied, that they are at least as exemplary as their neighbours ; while in the more immediate duties of re- ligion, if there be any distinction, it lies in their car- rying to a greater height, sentiments of seriousness and devotion. The nature of their public conduct will best appear from a rapid survey of some of those great po- litical events in which it has had room to display itself j where, though our history has been ransacked to sup- ply invective, it will be seen, their merits more than co npensate for any errors they may have committed. Their zeal in opposing Charles I. has been an eternal theme of reproach ; but it should be remembered, that when that resistance first took place, the parliament s consisted for the most part of Churchmen, and was fully justified in its opposition, by the arbitrary meas- ures of the court. Had the pretensions of Charles been patiently acquiesced in, our government had long ago been despotic. What medium might have been found between tame submission and open hostility, and whether matters were not afterwards pushed to an extremity against the unfortunate monarch, it is not for me to determine, nor does it concern the vindication of Dissenters. For long before the final catastrophe which issued in the King's death, the favourable intentions of parliament were overruled by the ascendency of Cromwell ; the parliament itself oppressed by his arms, and the influ- ence both of churchmen and dissenters, bent under military usurpation. The execution of Charles was the deed of a faction, condemned by the great body of the puritans as a criminal severity. But whatever blame they may be supposed to have incurred on ac- count of their conduct to Charles ; the merit of restor- ing monarchy in his son was all their own. The en- tire force of the empire was in their hands; Monk ON DISSENTERS. 239 himself of their party ; the parliament, the army all puritans ; yet were they disinterested enough to call the heir to the throne, and yield tlie reins into his hands, with no other stipulation, than that of liberty of conscience, which he violated with a baseness and in- gratitude peculiar to his character. All the return he made them for the recovery of his power, consisted in depriving two thousand of their ministers, and involv- ing the whole body in a persecution, by which not less than ten thousand are supposed to have perished in im- prisonment and want. But their patriotism was not to he shaken by these injuries. When towards the latter end of Charles the Second's reign the character of his successor inspired a dread of the establishment of po- pery, to avert tha evil they cheerfully acquiesced in an exclusion from all places of emolument and trust ; an extraordinary instance of magnanimity. When J imes the Second began to display arbitrary views, dissenters were among the first to take the alarm, re- garding with jealousy, even an indulgence when it flow- ed from a dispensing power. The zeal with which they co-operated in bringing about the revolution, the ardour with which they have always espoused its prin- ciples, are too well known to need any proof, and can only be rendered more striking by a contrast with the conduct of the high church party. The latter main- tained in its utmost extent the doctrine of passive obe- dience and non-resistance ; were incessantly engaged in intrigues to overturn the revolution, and affirmed the doc-trine of divine right to be an ancient and indisputa- ble tenet of the English Church. Whoever wishes to ascertain the existence of those arts, by which they embroiled the reign of King William, may see them displayed at large in Burnet's History of his own Times. The attachment of dissenters to the house of Hano- 240 ON DISSENTERS. ver, was signalized in a manner too remarkable to be soon forgotten. In the rebellions of fifteen and forty- five, they ventured on a breach of the law, by raising and officering regiments out of their own body ; for which the parliament were reduced to the awkward expedient of passing an act of indemnity. This short sketch of their political conduct, as it is sufficient to establish their loyalty beyond suspicion, so may it well augment our surprise at the extreme obloquy and re- proach with which they are treated. Mr. Hume, a competent judge, if ever there was one, of political principles, and who was far from being partial to dis- senters, candidly confesses that to them we are in- debted for the preserv tion of liberty. The religious opinions of dissenters are so various, that there is perhaps no point in which tin . irrd, except in asserting the rights of conscience against all h'imun control and authority. From the time of Queen Elizabeth, under whom they began to make their appearance, their views of religious liberty have gradually extended, commencing at first with a disap- probation of certain rites and ceremonies, the remains of papal superstition. Their total separation from the church did not take place for more than a century after ; till, despairing of seeing it erected on a com- prehensive plan, and being moreover persecuted for their difference of sentiment, they were compelled at last, reluctantly to withdraw. Having been thus di- rected by a train of events into the right path, they pushed their principles to their legitimate consequen- ces, and began to discern the impropriety of all religi- ous establishments whatever, a sentiment in which they are now nearly united. On this very account, how- ever, of all men they are least likely to disturb the peace of society ; for they claim no other liberty than what they wish the whole human race to possess, that ON DISSENTERS. 241 of deciding on every question where conscience is con- cerned. It is sufferance they plead for, not establish- ment ; protection, not splendour. A disposition to im- pose their religion on others cannot be suspected in men, whose distinguishing religious tenet, is the disa- vowal of all human authority. Their opinion respecting establishments is founded upon reasons which appear to them weighty and solid. They have remarked, that in the three first and purest ages of religion, the church was a stranger to any alli- ance with temporal powers ; that far from needing their aid, Christianity never flourished so much as while they were combined to suppress it ; and that the pro- tection of Constantino, though well intended, diminish- ed its purity more than it added to its splendour. The only pretence for uniting Christianity with civ- il government, is the support it yields to the peace and good order of society. But this benefit will be derived from it, at least in as great a degree, without an estab- lishment as with it. Religion, if it lias any power, op- erates on the conscience of men. Resting solely on the belief of invisible realities, and having for its object the good and evil of eternity, it can derive no additional weight or solemnity from human sanctions ; but will appear to the most advantage upon hallowed ground, remote from the noise and tumults of worldly policy. Can it be imagined that a Dissenter, who believes in divine revelation, does not feel the same moral restraints, as if he had received his religion from the hands of par- liament ? Human laws may debase Christianity, but can never improve it ; and being able to add nothing to its evidence, they can add nothing to its force. Happy had it been, however, had civil establishments of religion been useless only, instead of being product- ive of the greatest evils. But when Christianity is es- tablished by law, it is requisite to give the preference 242 ON DISSENTERS. to some particular system : an'd as the magistrate is no better judge of religion than others, the chances are as great of his lending his sanction to the false as to the true. Splendour and emolument must likewise be in some dvirrce ;;U :ehed to the national church ; which are a strong inducement to its ministers to defend it, be it ever so remote from the truth. Thus error becomes permanent, and that set of opinions which happens to prevail when the establishment is formed, contim: spite of superior light and improvement, to be handed down without alteration from age to age. Hence the disagreement between the public creed of the church and the private sentiments of its ministers ; an evil !Tr-> win 5 out of the very nature of an hierarchy, and not likely to be remedied before it brings the clerical char- > the utmost contempt. Hence the rapid 1 of infidelity in various parts of Europe; a nat- ural and never-failing consequence of the corrupt alli- ance between church and state. Wherever we turn our eyes, we shall perceive the depression of religion is in proportion to the elevation of the hierarchy. In France, where the establishment had attained the utmost splendour, piety had utterly decayed ; in England, where the hierarchy is less splendid, more remains of the latter ; and in Scotland, whose national church is one of the poorest in the world, a greater sense of re- ligion appears among the inhabitants, than in either of the former. It must likewise be plain to every obser- ver, that piety flourishes much more among Dissent- ers, than among the members of any establishment whatever. This progress of things is so natural, that nothing seems wanting in any country, to render the thinking part of the people infidels, but a splendid es- tablishment. It will always ultimately debase the cle- rical character, and perpetuate, both in discipline and doctrine, every error and abuse. ON DISSENTERS. 243 Turn a Christian society into an established church, and it is no longer a voluntary assembly lor the wor- ship of God ; it is a powerful corporation, lull o( such sentiments and passions as usually distinguish those- bodies ; a dread of innovation, an attachment to abu- ses, a propensity to tyranny and oppression. Hence ' onvulsions that accompany religious relorm, ' the truth of the opinions in question is little re- garded, amidst the alarm that is felt for the splendour, opulence, and power, which they are the means of sup- porting. To this alliance of Christianity with civil power, it is owing that ecclesiastical history presents a chaos of crimes ; and that the progress of religious opinions, which left to itself had been calm and silent, may be traced in blood. Among the evils attending the alliance of Church and State, it is not the least, that it begets a notion of their interests having some kind of inseparable though mysterious connexion ; so that they who are dissatis- fied with the one, must be enemies to the other. Our very language is tinctured with this delusion, in which Church and King are blended together with an arro- gance that seems copied from Cardinal Wolsey's Egv cl rex mcus, 1 and my King ; as if the establish- ment were of more consequence than the sovereign who represents the collective majesty of the state, he interference of civil power be withdrawn, and the animosity of sects will subside for want of materials to inflame it, nor will any man suspect his neighbour for being of a different religion, more than for being of a different complexion from himself. The practice of toleration, it is true, has much abated the violence of those convulsions which, for more than a century from the beginning of the Reformation, shook Europe to its ; but the source and spring of intolerance is by no means exhausted. The steam from that infernal pit 244 ON DISSENTERS. will issue through the crevices, until they are filled up with the ruins of all human establishments. The alliance between Church and State is, in a political point of vieiv, extremely suspicious, and much better fitted to the genius of an arbitrary than a free government. To the former it may yield a pow- erful support ; to the latter it must ever prove danger- ous. The spiritual submission it exacts, is unfavoura- ble to mental vigour, and prepares the way for a ser- vile acquiescence in the encroachments of civil author- ity. This is so correspondent with facts, that the cpi- thet high church, when applied to politics, is familiaily used in our language to convey the notion of arbitrary maxims of government. As far as submission to civil magistrates is a branch of moral virtue, Christianity will, under every form, be sure to enforce it ; for among the various sects and parties into which its profession is divided, there sub- sists an entire agreement respecting the moral duties it prescribes. To select, therefore, and endow a partic- ular order of clergy to teach the duties of submission, is useless, as a means to secure the } eace of a society, though well fitted to produce a slavish subjection. Ministers of that description, considering themselves as allies of the state, yet having no civil department, will be disposed on all occasions to strike in with the cur- rent of the court ; nor are they likely to confine the obligation to obedience within any just and reasonable bounds. They will insensibly become an army of spi- ritual janizaries. Depending, as they every where must, upon the Sovereign, his prerogative can never be exalted too high for their emolument, nor can any better instruments be contrived for the accomplish- ment of arbitrary designs. Their compact and united form, composing a chain of various links which hangs suspended from the throne, admirably fits them for N DISSENTERS. 245 conveying the impression that may soothe, inflame, or mislead the people. These are the evils which, in my opinion, attach to civil establishments of Christianity. They are indeed often mitigated by the virtue of their mi mbers, and among; the English clergy in particular, as splendid ex- amples of virtue and talents might be produced, as any which the annals of human nature can afford ; but in all our reasonings concerning wen, we must lay it down as a maxim, that the greater part are moulded by cir- cumstances, [f we wish to see the true spirit of an hierarchy, we have only to attend to the conduct of what is usually termed the hi^li church parly. While they had sufficient influence with the legisla- ture, they impelled it to persecute ; and now that a more enlightened spirit has brought that expedient into disgrace, they turn to the people, and endeavour to in- flame their minds by the arts of calumny and detrac- tion. When the Dissenters applied for the repeal of ?))' corporation and test acts, an alarm was spread of the church being in danger, and their claim was de- feated. From the late opposition of the Bishops to the repeal of the penal statutes, we learn that they have lost the power rather than the inclination to persecute, or they would be happy to abolish the monuments of a spirit they ceased to approve. The nonsense and ab- surdity comprised in that part of our laws would move laughter in a company of peasants ; but nothing is thought mean or contemptible which is capable of be- ing forged into a weapon of hostility against Dissenters* To perpetuate laws which there is no intention to exe- cute, is certainly the way to bring law into contempt; but the truth is, that unwilling to relinquish the right of persecution, though they have no immediate opportu- nity of exerting it, they retain these statutes as a body 246 ON DISSENTERS. in reserve, ready to be brought into the field on the first occasion that shall offer. The prejudice entertained against us, is not the work of a day, but the accumulation of ages, flowing from the fixed antipathy of a numerous and powerful order of men, distributed through all the classes of so- ciety ; nor is it easy to conceive to what a pitch popu- lar resentment may be inflamed by artful management and contrivance. Our situation in this respect bears a near resemblance to that of primitive Christians, against whom, though in themselves the most inoffen- sive of mankind, the malice of the populace was di- rected, to a still greater degree, by similar arts, and upon similar principles. The clamour of the fanatic rabble, the devout execration of Dissenters, will re- mind the reader of ecclesiastical history of the excess- es of pagan ferocity, when the people, instigated by their priests, were wont to exclaim, christianos ad le- ones. There is the less hope of this animosity being allayed, from its having arisen from permanent causes. That Christianity is a simple institution, unallied to worldly power ; that a church is a voluntary society, invested with a right to choose its own officers, and ac- knowledging no head but Jesus Christ ; that ministers are brethren, whose emolument should be confined to the voluntary contributions of the people ; are maxims drawn from so high an authority, that it may well be apprehended that the church is doomed to vanish be- fore them. Under these circumstances, whatever por- tion of talents or of worth Dissenters may possess, serves only to render them more hated, because more formidable. Had they merely revelled with the wan- ton, and drunk with the drunken ; had they been cloth- ed with curses, they might have been honoured and esteemed notwithstanding, as true sons of the church ; but their dissent is a crime too indelible in the eyes of ON DISSENTERS. 247 their enemies for any virtue to alleviate, or any merit to efface. Till the test business was agitated, however, we were not aware of our labouring under such a weight of prejudice. Confiding in the mildness of the times, and conscious that every trace of resentment was van- ished from our own breasts, we fondly imagined that those of Churchmen were equally replete with senti- ments of generosity and candour. We accordingly ventured on a renewal of our claim as men, and as citi- zens ; but had not proceeded far, before we were as- sailed with the bitterest reproaches. The innocent design of relieving ourselves from a disgraceful pro- scription, was construed by our enemies into an attack on the church and state. Their opposition was both more violent and more formidable than was expected. They let us see, that however languidly the flame of their devotion may burn, that of resentment and party spirit, like vestal fire, must never be extinguished in their temples. Calumnies continued to be propagated, till they produced the riots at Birmingham, that ever memorable a3ra in the annals of bigotry and fanaticism, when E'irope beheld, with astonishment and regret, the outrage sustained by philosophy in the most enlighten- ed of countries, and in the first of her sons ! When we hear such excesses as these justified and applauded, we seem to be falling back apace into the darkness of the middle ages. The connexion between civil and religious liberty is too intimate to make it surprising, that they who are attached to the one, should be friendly to the other. The Dissenters have accordingly seldom failed to lend their support to men, who seemed likely to restore the vigour of a sinking constitution. Parliamentary reform has been cherished by them with an ardour equal to its importance. This part of their character inflames op- 248 ON DISSENTERS. position still farther ; and affords a pretext to their en- emies for overwhelming the cause of liberty under an obnoxious name. The reproach on this head, how- ever, is felt as an honour, when it appears by their conduct that they despair of attacking liberty with suc- cess, while the reputation of Dissenters remains undi- minished. The enmity of the vicious is the test of virtue. Dissenters are reproached with the appellation of republicans ; but the truth of the charge has neither appeared from facts, or been supported by any reason- able evidence. Among them, as among other classes (and in no greater proportion) there are persons to be found, no doubt, who, without any hostility to the pre- sent government, prefer in theory a republican to a monarchical form ; a point on which the most enlight- ened men in all ages have entertained very different opinions. In a government like ours, consisting of three simple elements, as this variety of sentiment may naturally be expected to take place, so, if any predilec- tion be felt toward one more than another, that partial- ity seems most commendable which inclines to the re- publican part. At most it is only the love of liberty to excess. The mixture of monarchy and nobility is chiefly of use as it gives regularity, order, and stability to popular freedom. Were we, however, without any proof, to admit that Dissenters are more tinctured with republican principles than others, it might be consider- ed as the natural effect of the absurd conduct of the legislature. Exposed to pains and penalties, exclud- ed from all offices of trust, proscribed by the spirit of the present reign, menaced and insulted wherever they appear, they must be more than men if they felt no re- sentment, or were passionately devoted to the ruling powers. To expect affection in return for injury, is to gather where they have not scattered, and reap where ON DISSENTERS. 249 they have not sown. The superstition of Dissenters is not so abject as to prompt them to worship the consti- tution through fear. Yet as they have not forgotten the benefits it imparted, and the protection it afforded till of late, they are too much its friends to flatter its defects, or defend its abuses. Their only wish is to see it reformed, and reduced to its original principles. In recent displays of loyalty they must acknowledge themselves extremely detective. They have never plundered their neighbours to shew their attachment to the King ; nor has their zeal for religion ever broke out into oaths and execrations. They have not pro- claimed their respect for regular government by a breach of the laws ; or attempted to maintain tranquil- lity by riots. These beautiful specimens of loyalty be- long to the virtue and moderation of the high church party alone, with whose character they perfectly cor- respond. In a scurrilous paper which has been lately circulat- ed with malignant industry, the Dissenters at large, and Dr. Price in particular, are accused, with strange ef- frontery, of having involved us in the American war ; when it is well known they ever stood aloof from that scene of guilt and blood. Had their remonstrances been regarded, the calami- ties of that war had never been incurred ; but what is of more consequence in the estimation of anonymous scribblers, there would have remained one lie less to swell the catalogue of their falsehoods. From the joy which Dissenters have expressed at the French revolution, it has been most absurdly infer- red, that they wish for a similar event in England ; without considering that such a conclusion is a libel on the British constitution, as it must proceed on a suppo- sition that our government is as despotic as the ancient monarchy of France. To imagine the feelings must be x* 250 ON DISSENTERS, the same, when the objects are so different, shews* a most lamentable degree of malignity and lolly. Encompassed as Dissenters are by calumny and re- proach, tuey have still the satisfaction to reflect, thai these have usually been the lot of distinguished virtue ; and that in the corrupt state of men's interests and passions, the unpopularity of a cause is rather a pre- sumption of its excellence. They will be still more happy if the frowns of the world should be the means of reviving that spirit of evinjjelical piety, which once distinguished them so highly. Content if they can gain protection, without being so romantic as to aspire to praise, they will con- tinue firm, I doubt not, in those principles which they have hitherto acted on, unseduced by rewards, and unshaken by dangers. From the passions of their enemies, they will appeal to the judgment of posterity ; a more impartial tribunal. Above all, they will calmly await the decision of the Great Judge, before whom both they and their enemies must appear, and the springs and sources of their mutual animosity be laid open ; when the clouds of misrepresentation being scattered, it will be seen they are a virtuous and op- pressed people, who are treading, though with unequal steps, in the path of those illustrious prophets, apostles, and martyrs, of whom the world was not worthy. In the mean time they are far from envying the populari- ty and applause which may be acquired in a contrary course ; esteeming the reproaches of freedom above the splendours of servitude. SECTION VI THE CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS WE have arrived, it is a melancholy truth which can no longer be concealed, we have at length arrived at that crisis, when nothing but speedy and effectual re- form can save us from ruin. An amendment in the representation is v\ anted, as well to secure the liberty we already possess, as to open the way for the removal of those abuses which pervade every branch of the ad- ministration. The accumulation of debt and taxes, to a degree unexampled in any other age or country, has so augmented the influence of the crown, as to de- stroy the equi poise and balance of the constitution. The original design of the funding system which com- menced in the reign of Kins: William, was to give sta- bility to the revolution, by engaging the monied inter- est to embark on its bottom. It immediately advanc- ed the influence of the crown, which the Whigs then r-xalted as much as possible, as a countervail to the in- terest of the Pretender. The mischief of this short-sighted policy cannot be better described than in the language of Bolingbroke. " Few men," says he, " at that time looked forward enough to foresee the consequences of the new consti- tution of the revenue, that was soon afterward formed ; nor of the method of the funding system that immedi- ately took place ; which, absurd as they are, have con- 252 ON THE CAUSES tinued since, till it has become scarcely possible to alter them. Few people, I say, foresaw how the multipli- cation of taxes, and the creation of funds would in- crease yearly the power of the crown, and bring our liberties, by a natural and necessary progression, into a more real, though less apparent danger, than they were in before the revolution : a due reflection on the experience of other ages and countries, would have pointed out national corruption as the natural and ne- cessary consequence of investing the crown with the management of so vast a revenue ; and also, the loss of liberty as the natural and necessary consequence of national corruption.'** If there be any truth in these reflections, how much must our apprehensions be heightened by the prodigi- ous augmentation of revenue and debt, since the time of George the First. What a harvest has been reaped from the seeds of corruption then sown ! The reve- nue is now upwards of seventeen millions; and though nine are employed to pay the interest of the national debt, this is small consolation, when we reflect that that debt is the remnant of wasteful, destructive wars, and that till there is a change in the system, we are con- tinually liable to similar calamities. The multiplied channels through which seventeen millions of money must flow into the treasury, the legion of officers it creates, the patronage its expenditure on the several branches of the administration supplies, have rendered the influence of the crown nearly absolute and decisive. The control of parliament sinks under this pressure into formality : the balance of the different orders be- comes a mere theory, which serves to impose upon ignorance, and varnish corruption. There is no pow- er in the State that can act as a sufficient antagonist to the silent, irresistible force of royal patronage. * Letter ii. on the Study of History. OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS. 25o The influence of the crown, by means of its reve- nue, is more dangerous than prerogative, in proportion as corruption operates after a more concealed manner than force. A violent act of prerogative is sensibly felt, and creates an alarm ; but it is the nature of cor- ruption to lay apprehension asleep, and to effect its purposes while the forms of liberty remain undisturbed. The first employs force to enslave the people : the second employs the people to enslave themselves. The most determined enemy to freedom can wish for nothing more than the continuance of present abuses. While the semblance of representation can be main- tained, while popular delusion can be kept up, he will sp;ire the extremities of liberty ; he aims at a higher object, that of striking at the heart. A fatal lethargy has long been spreading amongst us, attended, as is natural, with a prevailing disposition both in and out of parliament, to treat plans ol reform with contempt. After the accession, place and pension bills were frequently passed by the Commons, though led by the Lords : nothing of that nature is now ever attempted. A standing army in lime of pr:.cc was a subject of frequent complaint, and is expressly provided against by the bill of rights : it is now become a part of the constitution ; for though the nomiuiil di- rection be placed in parliament, the mutiny bill passes as a matter of course, the forces are never disbanded ; the more completely to detach them from the commu- nity, barracks are erected ; and martial low is estab- lished in its utmost severity. If freedom can survive this expedient, copied from the practice of foreign des- pots, it will be an instance of unexampled good fortune. Mr. Hume terms it a mortal distemper in the British constitution, of which it must inevitably perish. To whatever cause it be owing, it is certain the measures of admiuistratiou have, during the present 254 ON THE CAUSES reign, leaned strongly towards arbitrary power. The decision on the Middlesex election was a blow aimed at the vitals of the constitution. Before the people had time to recover from their panic, they were plunged into the American war a war of pride and ambition, and ending in humiliation and disgrace. The spirit of the government is so well understood, that the most violent even of the clergy, are content to drop their animosity, to turn their affections into a new channel, and to devote to the house of Hanover, the flattery and the zeal by which they ruined the race of Stuart. There cannot be a clearer symptom of the decay of liberty than the dread of speculative opinions; which is at present carried to a length in this nation that can scarcely be exceeded. Englishmen were accustomed till of late, to make political speculation the amusement of leisure, and the employment of genius ; they are now taught to fear it more than death. Under the tor- pid touch of despotism, the patriotic spirit has shrunk into a narrow compass ; confined to gaze with admira- tion on the proceedings of parliament, and listen to the oracles of the minister with silent acquiescence., and pious awe. Abuses are sacred, and the pool of cor- ruption must putrify in peace. Persons who a few years back were clamorous for reform, are making atonement for having been betrayed into any appear- ance of virtue, by a quick return to their natural char- acter. Is not the kingdom peopled with spies and in- formers ? Are not inquisitorial tribunals erected in every corner of the land ? A stranger, who beholding a whole nation filled with alarm, should inquire the cause of the commotion, would be a little surprised on being informed, that instead of any appearance of in- surrection, or plots, a pamphlet had only been publish- ed. In a government upheld by so immense a reve- nue, and boasting a constitution declared to be the OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS. 255 envy of the world, this abject distrust of its own power, is more than a million lectures on corruptions and abuses. The wisdom of ages, the master-piece of hu- man policy, complete in all its parts, and that needs no reformation, can hardly support itself against a sixpen- ny pamphlet, devoid, it is said, of truth or ability ! To require sycophants to blush, is exacting too great a departure from the decorum of their character ; but common sense might be expected to remain, after shame is extinguished. Whoever seriously contemplates the present infatua- tion of the people, and the character of the leaders, will be tempted to predict the speedy downfall of lib- erty. They cherish the forms, while they repress the spirit of the constitution ; they persecute freedom and adorn its sepulchre. When corruption has struck its roots so deep, it may be doubted whether even the liberty of the press be not of more detriment than ad- vantage. The prints which are the common sources of information, are replete with falsehood ; virtue is calumniated ; and scarcely any characters safe from their blast, except the advocates of corruption. The greater part, no doubt, are in the pay of ministry, or their adherents. Thus delusion spreads, and the peo- ple are instructed to confound anarchy with reform, their friends with their oppressors. Who can hear without indignant contempt, the ministers' annual eulogium on the English constitution. Is the parliament so ignorant then, that it needs to go to school every session to learn those elements of po- litical knowledge which every Briton understands ? Or is the nature of the British constitution a secret in the breast of the ministry to be opened with the budget ? Indisputable excellence wants no encomium ; but this flattery is intended to bury, in an admiration of its merit, all remembrance of its defects. Whatever re* 256 ON THE CAUSES mains of beauty or vigour it possesses, are held in n* estimation but as they produce an acquiescence in abuses. It is its imperfections only ministers admire ; its corruptions that solace them. The topics of their encomium are as absurd as the purpose is infamous. The flourishing state of trade and manufactures is dis- played in proof of the unequalled excellence of the British constitution, without reflecting; that a tempo- rary decay will support with equal force an opposite conclusion. For if we owe our present prosperity to the nature of the government, our recent calamities must be traced to the same source, and that constitu- tion which is now affirmed to be the best, must be al- lowed, during the American war, to have been the worst. That there is a connexion between commer- cial prosperity and the nature of a government must be admitted ; but its operation is gradual and slow, not felt from year to year, but to be traced by the com- parison of one age and country with another. But al- lowing that our wealth may increase along with the in- crease of abuses, the nation we hope is not so sordid as to look upon wealth as the supreme good, however well that idea may correspond with the views of a ministry, who seem determined to leave us no other. Freedom, as it animates industry by securing its re- wards, opens a path to wealth ; but if that uealth be suffered to debase a people, and render them venal and dependant, it will silently conduct them back again to misery and depression. Rome was never more op- ulent than on the eve of departing liberty. Her vast wealth was a sediment that remained on the reflux of the tide. It is quite unnecessary to remind the reader how all this at present is reversed, and that the un- bounded prodigality of Mr. Pitt and his successors, in the conduct of the war, which the corruption of par- liament enabled them to maintain, has plunged the na- tion into the deepest abyss of poverty and distress. OP THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS. 257 It is singular enough, but 1 hope not ominous, that the flattery bestowed by the poets of antiquity on the ruling powers, resembles in every thing but its ele- gance, the adulation of modern sycophants. The ex- tent of empire, the improvement of arts, the diffusion of opulence and splendour, are the topics with which Horace adorned the praises of Augustus : but the pene- tration of Tacitus develops amidst these flattering ap- pearances, the seeds of ruin. The florid bloom but ill concealed that fatal malady which preyed upon the vitals. Between the period of national honour and com- plete degeneracy, there is usually an interval of nation- al vanity, s and reserve. If nothing more be intended than the maintenance of national honour, and the faith of treaties, it will merit the warmest support of every well wisher to his country. But if the re-establish- rnent of the ancient government of France be any part of the object ; if it be a war with freedom, a confeder- acy of Kings against the rights of man ; it will he the lust humiliation and disgrace that can be inflicted on Great Britain; and were there any truth in tales of in- cantation, to behold us engaged in such a cause, were enough to disturb the repose of our ancestors, and move the ashes of the dead ! The steps preparatory to the war, the inflamed passions, and the character ol our allies, afford an ill omen of the temper with which it will be conducted. The pretence respecting the Neth- erlands certainly entitles the ministry to the praise of consistence. It is quite of a piece with the candour and sincerity which affirmed the balance of Europe to be destroyed by the seizure of Oczakow, but denied it was endangered by the conquest of Poland, and the in- vasion of France. The French revolution we cannot but remember was from the first an object of jealousy to ministers. There needed not the late unhappy excesses, the mas- sacres of September, and the execution of Louis, to excite or display their hostility. It appeared in the in- sult and derision of their retainers, from the highest to the lowest. If they meant fairly to the interests of general liberty, why that uneasiness at the fall of des- potism in a neighbouring country ? Why render par- liament a theatre of abuse on a revolution, whose coin- ni'Micement was distinguished by unexampled mildness and tranquillity ? But this part of their conduct was likewise consistent. Intent on the destruction of liber- ty in one country, they were disconcerted at seeing it revive in another ; and before they ventured to extin- 264 ON PRESENT DISCONTENTS. guish the dying taper, waited for the surrounding scene to be shut up in darkness. I am perfectly aware that to speak in terms of decency and respect of the French revolution, is to incur in the prevailing disposition of the times the last of infamies. If we dare to rejoice at the emancipation of a great people from thraldom, it must be at the peril of the foulest imputations that ima- gination can invent, or malignity apply. In contempt, however, of these calumnies, I am free to confess, the French revolution has always appeared to me, and does still appear, the most splendid event recorded in the annals of history. The friends of liberty contem- plate the crimes and disorders with which it has been stained* with the deepest regret ; but they still hope that they will in the result be more than compensated, by the grandeur of its principles, and the beneficence of its effects. Instead of wishing for a similar event in England, they are intent on reform, chiefly to avoid that necessity. Under every form of government, they know how to recognize the divine aspect of freedom, and without it can-be satisfied with none. The evils of anarchy and of despotism are two extremes which they equally dread ; and between which no middle path can be found, but that of effectual reform. To avert the calamities that await us on either side, the streams of corruption must be drained off, the independence of parliament restored, the ambition of aristocracy re- pressed, and the majesty of the people lift itself up. It is possible to retreat from the brink of a precipice, but wo to that nation which sleeps upon it ! * The execution of tho King wa certainly a most c'-uet and unjustifiable transac- tion, a ik" repugnant to law,o.d r, .ml hti .;inity. ' ithuiit b ni c.-nduc \t to any vir.v of poiicy whnu-vri, it s.vtns to Ituve b > > nvivij a gratification of tin- most <1< t stib p,is>iuiis. 'Phi- tivatim-iii of rh Ivautinil and unfortunate Qu en, and of th i .ya! Fa nily, is ba . burou* and umimnly in tin- rxu me. When we look at their sufferings, humanity weeps, and pity fiirgi ts chrir crimes. THE END* FOURTEEN DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. w 3001 ROOSJun'65 fff UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY in