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diff --git a/36113-h/36113-h.htm b/36113-h/36113-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..577e481 --- /dev/null +++ b/36113-h/36113-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4160 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century, by Caroline Frances Cornwallis</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 30%; } + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century, by +Caroline Frances Cornwallis + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century + + +Author: Caroline Frances Cornwallis + + + +Release Date: May 15, 2011 [eBook #36113] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN SECTS IN THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1846 William Pickering edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>CHRISTIAN SECTS IN THE<br /> +NINETEENTH CENTURY<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">IN A SERIES OF LETTERS</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">TO A LADY</span></h1> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0a.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" +src="images/p0a.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<blockquote><p>“By this shall all men know that ye are my +disciples if ye<br /> +have love one to another.”—<span +class="smcap">John</span> xiii. 35.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0bb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" +src="images/p0bs.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">WILLIAM PICKERING</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">1846</span></p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<blockquote><p><a name="pageiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +iv</span>“Heaven and Hell are not more distant, than the +benevolent spirit of the Gospel, and the malignant spirit of +party. The most impious wars ever made were +called—‘Holy Wars.’”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Lyttleton</span>.</p> +<p>“Let those ill-invented terms whereby we have been +distinguished from each other be swallowed up in that name which +will lead us hand in hand to heaven—the name of <span +class="smcap">Christian</span>.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Bishop +Ryder</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="pagev"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. v</span> +<a href="images/p0c.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p0c.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The following letters grew out of a conversation between one +of the editors of the “Small Books,” and a lady of +his acquaintance; and as there are probably many who have felt +the want of the information they contain, it has been thought +that by publishing them in a collected form they may be +useful. The views of the writer are sufficiently explained +in the letters themselves. All lament the small sum of +Christian charity to be found among religionists in general, but +few when they begin to write have kept clear of a severity of +comment which but prolongs differences. The writer, himself +a member of the Church of England, is anxious to show that it is +possible to be attached <a name="pagevi"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. vi</span>to one persuasion without imputing +either folly or ill intention to others; and it is with a view of +promoting the loving fellowship of all whom God disdains not to +create and support, that this slight sketch is given to the +world.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0db.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" +src="images/p0ds.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>LETTER +I.</h2> +<p>You some time ago requested me to give you the result of my +inquiries into the tenets of the different religious sects which +I had been acquainted with; and respecting which we had at +different times conversed. In the time which has since +elapsed I have been endeavouring, both to ascertain them more +completely, and to compare them with what I conceive to be the +true spirit of Christianity; but the subject has so grown as I +proceeded, that even now I can only give you a very short, and I +fear, in some cases, an imperfect notion of them. Yet the +subject is one of deep interest; and as I feel convinced that if +we looked a little closer into the differences between the +established church and those who separate from it, both parties +would find them smaller and less important than <a +name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span>they imagine, +and that Christian charity would be increased by the examination, +I do not shrink from the task however inadequately I may execute +it.</p> +<p>I propose therefore to show you by extracts from the works of +the principal writers among the different religious sects, how +they all agree in most of the fundamental doctrines of +Christianity; at the same time that I point out the evil +consequences which I conceive would ensue were some of their +tenets <i>fully carried out</i> into practice: and also to state +wherein their peculiar opinions appear to me to be opposed to +“the truth as it is in Christ Jesus,” so far as to +prevent me from adopting them; though I can fully believe that +those who hold these opinions in the abstract, may, +notwithstanding, be excellent practical Christians.</p> +<p>Firmly attached as I am to the Church of England, whose form +of worship (allowing for the imperfections which naturally cling +to all human institutions), I consider preferable to any other; I +can still see much to admire in other persuasions and other +ceremonies, mixed up, though it be, with some imperfections and +error; and my love to the established church does not blind me to +some matters which might <a name="page3"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 3</span>be better otherwise, and which I shall +point out as I proceed.</p> +<p>“Of all the Christian graces,” says a quaint +writer, “zeal is the most apt to turn sour;” and the +observation is no less true than it is sad, for men too seldom +remember that they must add to their faith knowledge, and that +both are of no avail without the crowning gift of charity, <a +name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3" +class="citation">[3]</a> or in other words, brotherly love for +all mankind. The real Christian, it seems to me, should +imitate the liberality of St. Paul, who, after having been bred +up in the habits of the “strictest sect” of the Jews, +scrupled not to quit all his former prejudices, in order to +preach Christ to the Gentiles, without disgusting them by +ceremonies which were no fundamental part of the religion he +taught, and was content to become “as a Jew, that he might +gain the Jews, and to them that were without law, to become as <a +name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>without law +(being not without law to God), that he might by all means save +some.” <a name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4" +class="citation">[4]</a></p> +<p>We are too apt to hold each other accountable for all the +consequences which can be logically deduced from an opinion, +however extreme they may be: and then having persuaded ourselves +that those abstract tenets which, by straining them to an extreme +point, <i>may</i> have an evil effect, <i>must</i> have an evil +effect on all who profess them,—we avoid those who differ +from us on religious subjects, because we have assumed that they +are actually immoral by virtue of their opinions; and thus we +miss the opportunity of convincing ourselves of our mistake by a +more intimate knowledge of their lives. “By their +fruits ye shall know them,” says our Lord; but we seldom +approach them closely enough to see the fruits.</p> +<p>If we would be content to sink minor differences, and be +satisfied that “in every nation he that feareth God and +worketh righteousness is accepted with him,” we should soon +meet on better terms; for we do not hold at a distance from those +on earth whom we expect to meet in heaven; and thanks be to God, +there <a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>is no +religious persuasion that cannot boast of many such as +Cornelius.</p> +<p>St. Paul recommends to the churches that they be “kindly +affectioned one towards another, in honour preferring one +another:” <a name="citation5a"></a><a href="#footnote5a" +class="citation">[5a]</a> “by this shall men know that ye +are my disciples,” says our Great Exemplar, “if ye +have love one to another;” but alas! if we contemplate what +is called the Christian world, where shall we find Christ’s +<i>true</i> disciples? Grievous indeed it is, as has been +well observed, that that religion, which “should most +correct and sweeten men’s spirits, sours and sharpens them +the most.” But surely “<i>we</i> have not so +learned Christ.” Let us for a moment contemplate His +conduct towards those who differed from him in religious +opinions; his compassion towards them; his meek reproofs not only +to the Sadducees and the Samaritans, but even to the more +hardened; <a name="citation5b"></a><a href="#footnote5b" +class="citation">[5b]</a> <a name="page6"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 6</span>and then let us turn to our own hearts +and confess with shame that we have fallen miserably short of +that charity without which “whosoever liveth is counted +dead before God.”</p> +<p>So clear is the command to exercise universal benevolence, +that whatever obscurity there may be in other parts of Scripture, +however men, even wise ones, may differ as to the real +signification of certain passages in the Bible, <i>here</i> at +least there can be no cavilling. It is intelligible to the +most ignorant as well as the most learned, so that “the +wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein.”</p> +<p>Archbishop Tillotson relates of Mr. Gouge, an eminent +nonconformist, that he allowed men to differ from him in opinions +that were “<i>very dear</i> to him;” and provided men +did but “fear God and work righteousness,” he loved +them heartily, how distant soever from him in judgment about +things less necessary: “in all <a name="page7"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 7</span>which,” observes the Archbishop, +“he is very worthy to be a pattern to men of all +persuasions.” “I abhor two principles in +religion,” says William Penn in a letter to the same +archbishop, “and pity them that own them. The first +is obedience upon authority without conviction; and the other, +destroying them that differ from me for God’s sake: such a +religion is without judgment, though not without truth. +Union is best, if right; if not, charity.”</p> +<p>I have given the opinion of these two eminent men of different +persuasions, partly to show that the evil I complain of is one of +long standing; partly to justify my own opinion as to the remedy; +namely, the paying <i>more</i> attention to the fundamental +doctrines of Christianity; <i>less</i>, to those minor +differences which, from the very obscurity of the texts on which +they are founded, come more frequently under discussion, and +thus, from a mental operation somewhat analogous to that of the +laws of perspective, seem large and important because they are +close under our eyes, though they are in fact minute in +comparison with those which we have not been examining so +closely. Thus men inadvertently reverse the order of +things, and zeal for the maintenance of peculiar tenets too often +supersedes <a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +8</span>the far more important virtue of Christian benevolence, +to the scandal of all good Christians and the mockery of +unbelievers.</p> +<p>The Quakers, in their address to James II. on his accession, +told him that they understood he was no more of the established +religion than themselves. “We therefore hope,” +said they, “that thou wilt allow us that liberty which thou +takest thyself:” and it would be well if we took a hint +from this, and reflected that we differ as much from other sects +as they do from us, <a name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8" +class="citation">[8]</a> and that the greatest heresy is, as a +Christian Father declared it to be long ago—“a wicked +life.”</p> +<p>It is, however, needful to distinguish between the Christian +spirit of forbearance towards those who differ from us in +religious opinions, which <a name="page9"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 9</span>Christ and his apostles so strongly +inculcate, and the indolent latitudinarianism which induces many +to declare that “a man cannot help his belief,” that +“sincerity is everything,” that “all religious +sects are alike,” &c.: positions which, as you well +observed on one occasion, ought rather to be reversed; for when +men are <i>not</i> sincere, all sects certainly <i>are</i> alike: +for then it is but a lip service which will never influence the +life, and it matters not what opinion is professed; it will be +equally powerless.</p> +<p>Sincere belief must be the consequence of proof, without which +we cannot believe truly; with it, we must. If then we +content ourselves with the mere <i>ipse dixit</i> of others +without seeking proof, our belief is the result of indolence, <a +name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>and for that +indolence we shall be accountable when we are called on to give +an account of the talent committed to our charge, if error has +been consequent upon it. He, on the contrary, whose +education or whose means have not put proof within his reach, +although he may wish earnestly for it, <i>may</i> be wrong in +understanding, but he will never be wrong in heart: his tenets +may be wrong, but his life will be right. It behoves us +therefore to be cautious how we pass sentence on one another in +religious matters, since, as has been well observed, we are +ourselves amenable to a tribunal where uncharitable conduct +towards others, will bring down a just and heavy sentence on +ourselves. We are not to erect ourselves into judges of +other men’s consciences, <a name="citation10"></a><a +href="#footnote10" class="citation">[10]</a> but leave them to +the judgment and disposal of <span class="smcap">One</span> who +alone can see into the heart of men, and alone can ascertain the +real nature and ultimate consequence of all questions which admit +of “doubtful disputation.”</p> +<p>There will be some danger of losing our way <a +name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>among the +almost numberless divisions and subdivisions of sects, which +present themselves as soon as we begin to consider the subject at +all narrowly. I therefore propose to simplify my task, and +make our course a little plainer, by adopting the two great +divisions into which the reformed churches may have been said to +have arranged themselves at the era of the Reformation, as a +foundation for the classification of Christian sects at +present. Calvin and Melancthon may be considered as the +prototypes and heads of these two divisions, which however they +may sometimes vary and sometimes intermingle, are continually +reproduced, because they are grounded upon two great natural +divisions of human kind, the stern and the gentle. My own +leaning is to the latter, because it appears to me most in +accordance with the spirit of that gospel whose great Promulgator +made universal benevolence the test of his disciples; but at the +same time I must acknowledge, and shall indeed prove before I +have done, that the sterner theoretical view may coexist in the +mind with a large share of true Christian charity and +benevolence. Be the abstract belief of the Christian what +it may, if he be really at heart a disciple, the example of his +mild Master will always influence <a name="page12"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 12</span>his life and feelings, and he will +tread in the steps of his Lord, even if his judgment should +sometimes have mistaken the true meaning of some of his +words.</p> +<p>These two views of the Divine dispensations towards man were +first arrayed in actual hostility at the Synod of Dort in 1618, +where the doctrines of James Arminius, professor of divinity in +the University of Leyden, who had followed the opinions of Luther +and Melancthon, were condemned, and those of the Calvinistic +church of Geneva affirmed. From that time the various sects +of the reformed church have generally been known as Arminian or +Calvinistic, according as they embraced the peculiar tenets of +either party on the subject of man’s salvation: I shall +therefore thus distinguish the two classes into which I propose +to arrange them, though they may not follow out either in the +whole of their opinions.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">I. <span +class="smcap">Arminian</span>.</p> +<p>1. Quakers.</p> +<p>2. Socinians and Unitarians.</p> +<p>3. Wesleyan Methodists.</p> +<p>4. General Baptists, Moravians, Swedenborgians, Plymouth +Brethren.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="page13"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 13</span>II. <span +class="smcap">Calvinistic</span>.</p> +<p>1. Presbyterians, Independents.</p> +<p>2. Particular Baptists, Sub and Supralapsarians, +Sandemanians.</p> +<p>3. Calvinistic Methodists. Evangelical or Low +Church.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p13b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" +src="images/p13s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>LETTER +II.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">QUAKERS.</span></h2> +<p>The sect which I have placed first upon my list, arose about +the middle of the seventeenth century, when a number of +individuals withdrew from the communion of every <i>visible</i> +church “to seek,” <a name="citation14"></a><a +href="#footnote14" class="citation">[14]</a> as they expressed +it, “the Lord, in retirement:” and George Fox, their +leader, or as they termed him, their “honourable +elder,” went about preaching their opinions in fairs and +markets, in courts of justice, and steeple houses, i.e. +churches. He denounced the state worship as +“superstitious,” and warned all to obey the Holy +Spirit, speaking by him. He was in consequence brought +before two justices of the peace in Derbyshire in 1650, one of +whom, Mr. Bennet, called Fox, and his hearers +“Quakers,” in derision of their frequent admonitions +to “<i>tremble</i> at the Word of God;” <a +name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>and this +appellation soon became general, though they themselves took +then, and still preserve, the title of “the Society of +Friends.”</p> +<p>The rigid peculiarities of phrase, &c. which Fox added to +his religious sentiments; the regular discipline which he +enforced; and the zeal with which he maintained and propagated +his tenets gave consistency to this sect, although he was not, as +has been supposed, the originator of their doctrines. He +conceived himself forbidden by divine command to pull off his hat +to any one, or to address any one excepting in the singular +number, or to “call any man master;” and for these +peculiarities as well as for the refusal to give or accept titles +of honour, or to take an oath, the “Friends” suffered +the most cruel persecutions; for we are told that “they +tortured with cruel whippings the bodies of both men and women of +good estate and reputation;” <a name="citation15a"></a><a +href="#footnote15a" class="citation">[15a]</a> and were further +punished by impounding of their horses; by distress of goods; by +fines, imprisonments, whipping, and setting in the stocks: <a +name="citation15b"></a><a href="#footnote15b" +class="citation">[15b]</a> yet, notwithstanding these severities, +<a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>the sect +increased and spread far and wide, and great numbers of people +were drawn together, many out of animosity, to hear them.</p> +<p>The Declaration of Indulgence in 1663 stopped for a short time +the persecution of the Quakers, but by the Conventicle Act of +1664, numbers of them were condemned to transportation: in 1666, +however, their condition improved, when the celebrated William +Penn, the son of Admiral Penn, joined them.</p> +<p>The discipline of this society is kept up by monthly meetings, +composed of an aggregate of several particular congregations, +whose business it is to provide for the maintenance of their +poor, and the education of their children; also to judge of the +sincerity and fitness of persons desirous of being admitted as +members; to direct proper attention to religion and moral duty; +and to deal with disorderly members. At each monthly +meeting persons are appointed to see that the rules of their +discipline are put in practice. It is usual when any member +has misconducted himself, to appoint a small committee to visit +the offender, to endeavour to convince him of his error and +induce him to forsake it. If they succeed, he is declared +to have “made satisfaction for his offence,” +otherwise he is dismissed <a name="page17"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 17</span>from the society. In disputes +between individuals, it is enjoined that the members of this sect +should not sue each other at law, but settle their differences by +the rules of the society.</p> +<p>Marriage is regarded by the Quakers as a religious, not a mere +civil compact. Those who wish to enter into that state +appear together, and state their intentions at one of the monthly +meetings, and if not attended by parents or guardians must +produce their consent in writing duly witnessed; and if no +objections are raised at a subsequent meeting, they are allowed +to solemnize their marriage, which is done at a public meeting +for worship; towards the close of which the parties stand up and +solemnly take each other for man and wife. A certificate of +the proceedings is then read publicly and signed by the parties, +and afterwards by the relations as witnesses. The monthly +meeting keeps a register of the marriages as well as of the +births and burials of the society.</p> +<p>Children are named without any attending ceremony; neither is +it held <i>needful</i> that there should be any at burial, though +the body followed by the relatives and friends is sometimes +carried into a meeting house, and at the grave a <a +name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>pause is +generally made to allow of a discourse from any friend attending +if he be so inclined.</p> +<p>The women have monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings of +their own sex, but without the power of making rules. +“As we believe,” they say, “that women may be +rightly called to the work of the ministry, we also think that to +them belongs a share in the support of Christian discipline; and +that some parts of it wherein their own sex is concerned devolve +on them with peculiar propriety.”</p> +<p>But what, you will ask, are the religious tenets of this +sect? The question will perhaps best be answered by an +extract from their “Rules of Discipline,” a work +published under the sanction of the society. “The +original and immediate ground of the religious fellowship of the +early Friends,” says the writer of this manual, “was +<i>union of sentiment in regard to Christ’s inward +teaching</i>.” They were firm believers in all that +is revealed in Holy Scripture respecting our Lord and Saviour +Jesus Christ; nor would they have allowed that any one held the +truth who denied his coming in the flesh, or the benefit to +fallen man by his propitiatory sacrifice. “We believe +that, in order to enable mankind to put in practice the precepts +of the gospel, every <a name="page19"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 19</span>man coming into the world is endued +with a measure of the light, grace, or good Spirit of Christ, by +which, as it is alluded to, he is enabled to distinguish good +from evil, and to correct the disorderly passions and corrupt +propensities of his fallen nature, which <i>mere reason</i> is +altogether insufficient to overcome. For all that belongs +to man is fallible, and within the reach of temptation: but the +divine grace, which comes by Him, i.e. Christ, who hath overcome +the world, is, to those who humbly and sincerely seek it, an +all-sufficient and present help in time of need . . . whereby the +soul is translated out of the kingdom of darkness, and from under +the power of Satan into the marvellous light and kingdom of the +Son of God. Now as we thus believe that the grace of God, +which comes by Jesus Christ, is alone sufficient for salvation, +we can neither admit that it is conferred upon a few only, while +others are left without it; nor thus asserting its universality, +can we limit its operation to a partial cleansing of the soul +from sin even in this life.”</p> +<p>Baptism and the Lord’s supper are regarded by this sect +as mere types or shadows, representing in a figurative manner +certain great particulars of Christian Truths, but not intended +<a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>to be of +permanent obligation. They consider the former to have been +superseded by the baptism of the Spirit: of the latter they say, +“the emblem may be either used or disused as Christians may +consider most conducive to the real advantage of the church: the +only <i>needful</i> supper of the Lord is altogether of a +spiritual nature.” They conceive that a reliance on +the eucharist as a ‘viaticum or saving ordinance,’ is +a dangerous tenet, as well as the connecting the rite of baptism +with regeneration. They think that “ordinances so +liable to abuse, and the cause of so many divisions and +persecutions, cannot truly appertain to the law of +God.”</p> +<p>Quakers consider all holidays as “shadows” which +ceased with the shadowy dispensations of the law, and that +neither the first day of the week, nor any other, possesses any +superior sanctity; <a name="citation20"></a><a href="#footnote20" +class="citation">[20]</a> but as a society they have never <a +name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>objected to +“a day of rest,” for the purpose of religious +improvement. They consider the Christian Dispensation to +have superseded the use of oaths, and contend that our +Lord’s precepts <a name="citation21"></a><a +href="#footnote21" class="citation">[21]</a>extend even to the +swearing of witnesses in courts of law. War they hold to be +altogether inconsistent with the spirit and precepts of the +gospel, and urge that the primitive Christians during two +centuries maintained its unlawfulness. They object on the +same principle to capital punishments, and the slave trade.</p> +<p>The members of the society are bound by their principles to +abstain entirely “from profane and extravagant +entertainments,” from excess in eating and drinking; from +public diversions; from the reading of useless, frivolous, and +pernicious books; from gaming of every description; and from vain +and injurious sports (such as hunting or shooting for diversion); +from unnecessary display in funerals, furniture, and style of +living: from unprofitable, seductive, and dangerous amusements, +among which are ranked dancing and music; and generally <a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>from all +“such occupations of time and mind as plainly tend to +levity, vanity, and forgetfulness of our God and Saviour,” +and they object to all complimentary intercourse.</p> +<p>In the sketch I have now given of the tenets of this sect, you +cannot have failed to observe how closely their notions with +regard to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity tally with +those of the great body of the church; the differences being all +on points of minor import, if we except the ceremonies of baptism +and the Lord’s supper; which, being the appointment of +Christ himself, we are not at liberty to reject. And yet, +be it observed, the Quaker does not presumptuously reject them, +but merely acts upon, as we suppose, an erroneous view of their +nature.</p> +<p>On points of minor difference it may be observed, that He who +was the <span class="smcap">Prince of Peace</span>, and came to +establish it, never specifically forbad war, (for there may be +cases where it is merely self defence,) but left it to the spirit +of the gospel to remove the <i>causes</i> of war. <a +name="citation22"></a><a href="#footnote22" +class="citation">[22]</a> We <a name="page23"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 23</span>all know the appellation bestowed on +the Centurion, Cornelius: and when soldiers came to John the +Baptist saying, “What shall we do?” he merely sought +to retrench the disorders and injustice which those who follow +the profession of arms might be tempted to commit; but did not +condemn their necessary employments. We may therefore +fairly conclude that the sweeping condemnation of <i>all</i> war +by the Quakers, is not warranted by Scripture, although it is in +many and indeed most instances, entered upon far too +carelessly.</p> +<p>One of the main distinctions of the Quakers is the rejection +of certain amusements and pursuits, which others on the contrary +consider as innocent, believing that the religion of Christ +rather encourages than forbids a cheerful spirit, and allows by +the example of the Saviour, a <a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>participation in social pleasures: +and that “an upright, religious man, by partaking in such +pleasures, may be the means of restraining others within due +bounds, and by his very presence may prevent their degenerating +into extravagance, profligacy, and sin;” <a +name="citation24a"></a><a href="#footnote24a" +class="citation">[24a]</a> and such do not feel in their hearts +that <i>these</i> <a name="citation24b"></a><a +href="#footnote24b" class="citation">[24b]</a> are the +“pomps and vanities of the world,” which by their +baptismal vow they renounce. But surely it is possible that +different persons may regard the same pursuits and amusements in +a very different light, and yet both may be conscientious in +their views, and both, whether in abstaining or enjoying, be +equally doing that which is lawful <a name="page25"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 25</span>and right in the sight of God. +That very amusement or pursuit which is a snare to one, and +therefore to be avoided by him, may be a source of innocent, and +perhaps profitable recreation to another. It is the +intention, the <i>animus</i> with which an act is done, and not +the act itself which constitutes the sin. “Let not +him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him that +eateth not judge him that eateth: to his own master he standeth +or falleth.”</p> +<p>“Christianity,” says an excellent prelate of our +church, “forbids no necessary occupation, no reasonable +indulgences, no innocent relaxation. <a +name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>It allows us +to ‘use’ the world, provided we do not +‘abuse’ it. It does not spread before us a +delicious banquet, and then come with a ‘Touch not, taste +not, handle not:’ all it requires is that our liberty +degenerate not into licentiousness; our amusements into +dissipation; our industry into incessant toil; our carefulness +into extreme anxiety and endless solicitude. When it +requires us to be ‘temperate in all things,’ it +plainly tells us that we <i>may</i> use all things temperately. +<a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26" +class="citation">[26]</a> When it directs us to ‘make +our moderation known unto all men,’ this evidently implies +that within the bounds of moderation we may enjoy all the +reasonable conveniences and comforts of this present +life.”</p> +<p>I have noticed this, in my opinion, erroneous practice of the +Quakers at the more length, because it is not confined to +them. Asceticism, of which this is one branch, has been the +bane of the church and of Christianity generally; and few sects +are entirely free from the notion that holiness requires a +withdrawal from amusements, and a certain degree of seclusion +from the world. Yet, if the world is to be <a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>improved, the +leaven must be placed <i>in</i> it; and a good man probably never +does his Father’s work more effectually than when he +spreads the sanctifying influence of his example through all the +relations of life; showing that there is no position in society +where Christianity does not add a grace and a relish unknown +without it: spreading refinement of manners and delicacy of +thought, and insensibly rendering social intercourse more +polished, and more delightful, by banishing from it all that can +offend.</p> +<p>The Quakers adduce Matt. v. 33–37, James v. 12, &c. +in support of their objection to all oaths, even judicial ones, +and consider that the Christian dispensation abrogated their +use. But in answer to this we may observe that even the +Almighty is represented as confirming his promises by a solemn +oath. “Because,” says the apostle, “He +could swear by no higher, He sware by Himself;” and St. +Paul on particular occasions expresses himself thus, “As +God is true:” “Before God I lie not:” +“God is my record,” &c. all which expressions +undoubtedly contain the essence and formality of an oath; and the +Apostle upon some occasions mentions this solemn swearing with +approbation, “an oath for confirmation is the end of all +strife:” <a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span>the swearing, therefore, which our Saviour absolutely +forbids, is common or unnecessary swearing, and we are +recommended to affirm or deny in common conversation without +imprecations. “Let your conversation be yea, +yea,—nay, nay.”</p> +<p>The repugnance entertained by the Quakers against paying +tithes appears to me to arise from an error in their mode of +viewing the question. The assertion made by them +“that all the provision made for ministers of the gospel in +the first ages was made by the love of their flocks,” is +true, though that love very soon produced endowments, even before +Christianity was established as the law of the empire. But +allowing this, it does not follow, as they go on to assert, that +“since we are under the same dispensation of love as the +Apostles were, the principles which governed the church then are +to govern it now.” Tithes were originally given to +the church as a corporation, by the owners of the soil; and since +that time estates have been transferred from hand to hand subject +to that charge, till no man has any plea for refusing it. +The question is not one of religion but of property. If my +estate devolve to me chargeable with an annuity payable either to +a corporation <a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>or an individual, I have no right to set up his +religious opinions in bar of his claim: for I have paid less for +the purchase in consequence of the existence of that claim, which +in common honesty therefore I am bound to satisfy, be the +annuitant who he may. <a name="citation29"></a><a +href="#footnote29" class="citation">[29]</a></p> +<p>Having now noticed the points wherein I consider the peculiar +tenets of the Quakers to be erroneous, I shall conclude with the +more agreeable part of my task, and prove by extracts from one of +their writers how much of true Christian feeling exists among +them. The following is from a little book given me by a +Quaker, from the pen of J. Gurney, entitled “An Essay on +Love to God.”</p> +<p><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>“Still more completely than the provisions of +nature fall in with our bodily state, and supply our temporal +wants; still more properly than the air agrees with the functions +of the lungs, and the light with those of the eye, does the +gospel of our Redeemer suit the spiritual condition of man. +We are a fallen race, alienated from God by our sins, justly +liable to his wrath: in the gospel we have pardon, peace and +restoration. ‘Christ made all things new,’ says +Grotius, ‘and the latter creation is <i>more divine</i> +than the former.’ If then the first creation of +mankind and all the bounties of nature are the result of Love, +that attribute is far more gloriously displayed in the scheme of +redemption and in the works of grace.—The love of God the +Father is ever represented in Scripture as the origin of all our +hopes,—as the eternal, unfathomable spring of the waters of +life and salvation, and this love is plainly described as +extending to the whole world. ‘God so loved the +world, &c. <a name="citation30a"></a><a href="#footnote30a" +class="citation">[30a]</a> God was in Christ reconciling +the world to himself’ <a name="citation30b"></a><a +href="#footnote30b" class="citation">[30b]</a>—‘God +would have all men to be saved, &c.’ <a +name="citation30c"></a><a href="#footnote30c" +class="citation">[30c]</a> Do we ask for an overwhelming <a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>evidence of +the love of God? Let the Apostle satisfy our inquiry. +‘In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because +God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live +by him. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he +loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our +sins.’ <a name="citation31a"></a><a href="#footnote31a" +class="citation">[31a]</a> Do we ask whether God thus loved +the whole or only a part of the world?—Let the same Apostle +answer: ‘He tasted death for <i>every man</i>—He gave +himself a ransom for <i>all</i>, &c.’ Even the +Gentiles, who were without the benefit of an outward revelation, +were by no means destitute of an inward knowledge of the law of +God, and some of them showed ‘the work of the law written +on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness.’ +<a name="citation31b"></a><a href="#footnote31b" +class="citation">[31b]</a> ‘Christ is the true light +which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ <a +name="citation31c"></a><a href="#footnote31c" +class="citation">[31c]</a> Hence we may reasonably infer +that as God appointed the death of Christ to be a sacrifice for +the sins of the <i>whole</i> world, so <i>all</i> men receive +through Christ a measure of moral and spiritual light, and all +have their day of gracious visitation. If the light in +numberless <a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span>instances be extremely faint, if the darkness fail to +comprehend it, we may rest in the conviction that God is not only +just but equitable, and that those ‘who know not their +Master’s will and do it not shall be beaten with few +stripes.’ <a name="citation32"></a><a href="#footnote32" +class="citation">[32]</a> The gospel of our Lord Jesus +Christ, as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, is intended for +the benefit of the whole world: it is adapted to men of every +condition, clime, and character: all are invited to avail +themselves of its benefits: all who <i>will</i> come <i>may</i> +come, and ‘take the water of life freely.’”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p33b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p33s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>LETTER +III.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">SOCINIANS AND UNITARIANS.</span></h2> +<p>When the first great movement which led to the Reform of a +large part of the Christian Churches in Europe, awakened +men’s minds from the lethargy in which they had slept +whilst learning was confined to the cloister, the questions with +regard to the nature of the Deity which had distracted the early +church began again to be mooted; and as early as the year 1524, +“the divinity of Christ was openly denied by Lewis Hetyer, +one of the wandering and fanatical Anabaptists, who was put to +death at Constance.” <a name="citation33a"></a><a +href="#footnote33a" class="citation">[33a]</a> He was +succeeded by Michael Servede or Servetus, a Spanish physician; +who, for his wild notions on the same subject, was apprehended on +his road through Switzerland at the instigation of Calvin, +accused of blasphemy, and condemned to the flames. <a +name="citation33b"></a><a href="#footnote33b" +class="citation">[33b]</a> But <a name="page34"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 34</span>doctrines were never yet crushed by +persecution, unless indeed it were so wholesale as to exterminate +all who held them; and though these opinions were thus fatal to +their professors, the main points were reproduced by others; and +finally assumed form as a sect, under the titles above +named. The term Socinian was taken from two of its most +distinguished promoters, Lælius and Faustus Sozinus, or +Socinus. They were of an illustrious family at Siena in +Tuscany, and Lælius, the uncle of Faustus, having taken a +disgust to popery, travelled into France, England, &c. to +examine into their religious creed, in order, if possible, to +come at the truth. He was a man distinguished for his +genius and learning, no less than for his virtuous life; he +settled at last at Zurich, embraced the Helvetic confession of +faith, and died at Zurich in 1562, before he had reached his +fortieth year. His sentiments, or rather doubts as to +certain points, were embodied, and more openly propagated by his +nephew Faustus; who, as is supposed, drew up from his papers the +religious system afterwards known under the name of +Socinianism. There is however a considerable degree of +obscurity hanging over the rise of this sect, and no one has +given a satisfactory history of it.</p> +<p><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>The +first appearance of Unitarians, as a distinct congregation, was +in Poland, where they obtained a settlement in the city of Cracow +in the year 1569; and in 1575 they published at Cracow the +“Catechism or Confession of the Unitarians;” <a +name="citation35a"></a><a href="#footnote35a" +class="citation">[35a]</a> but Faustus Socinus having settled +among them in the year 1579, soon obtained so much influence as +finally to remodel the whole religious system of the sect, and a +new form drawn up by Socinus himself, was substituted for the old +Catechism.</p> +<p>The following is an abstract of the doctrines taught in this +Catechism. After affirming that the Christian religion is +“a road for arriving at eternal life, divinely made +known,” the pupil is told that the will of God on points +essential to salvation was revealed by Jesus Christ. The +Catechism then goes on to affirm the entire unity of the Deity; +since if he is one essence, then must he also be individually +one, <a name="citation35b"></a><a href="#footnote35b" +class="citation">[35b]</a> and <a name="page36"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 36</span>therefore Christ cannot he truly said +to be a <i>separate</i> person or individual, partaking of the +<i>essentia</i> of the Deity, since that <i>essentia</i> is +necessarily one. That the Spirit of God, being an essential +part of the Deity, cannot be a separate individual (for in this +sense the Catechism interprets the word <i>persona</i> <a +name="citation36"></a><a href="#footnote36" +class="citation">[36]</a>), any more than his wisdom or his +goodness is a separate individual, and that therefore the +manifestations of the Spirit of God are manifestations of the +Deity himself.</p> +<p>“Christ,” says the Catechism, “is a man, +according to Rom. v. 15, conceived by a virgin, through the power +of the Divine Spirit, without the intervention of man in the +ordinary course of generation. He was first subject to +suffering and death—afterwards impassible and immortal, +Rom. vi. 9. It is in the sense of his existence derived +immediately from God, that he, though man, is called the Son of +God—as Adam is so <a name="page37"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 37</span>termed from the same cause. +Jesus Christ was the immediate instrument of God’s +communications to man; and being, whilst on earth, the voice of +God, he is now the anointed King, or Christ, over the people of +God.”</p> +<p>The passages where he is said to have existed from the +beginning: to have created all things, &c. are laboriously +explained away, as referring to the regeneration, or new state of +things introduced by Christ’s mission on earth: and in this +part there is much forced interpretation. I shall annex +some of the passages in the language of the original, <a +name="citation37"></a><a href="#footnote37" +class="citation">[37]</a> as a proof that I have given a fair +account of the real Socinian doctrine, which is very little +understood at present. Writers from whom we might expect +greater accuracy, have very generally confounded Socinians and +Arians, although Faustus Socinus was at the pains to write a +laboured refutation of the Arian doctrine, and although a +reference to the doctrines of the two sects would show that they +are the antipodes of each other. Arius taught that Christ +was not of <i>the same</i> nature +(ὁμοούσιος), +with the Father, but of <i>a like</i> nature +(ὁμοιούσιος) +and therefore individually separate—separate in <a +name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>will, and +capable of differing. This is a direct assertion of two +Gods. Socinus on the contrary strenuously asserts the unity +of the Deity to the extent of denying the pre-existence of +Christ: which Arius though acknowledging that there was a time +when he began to exist, nevertheless refers to a period remote +beyond human calculation. Thus upon their characteristic +doctrines, the two sects are diametrically opposed to each +other.</p> +<p>Having now given you the real opinions of Socinus, from his +own works, for the book is lying beside me as I write, I shall +pursue my plan of examining how far they accord with what was +taught by those who certainly ought to be best informed on the +subject, namely, Christ himself, his Apostles, and their +immediate successors; as well as with the deductions of +reason. The unity of the Deity is so frequently and so +decidedly asserted in Scripture, that it is impossible to +consider any man as unorthodox who professes to make this the +groundwork of his belief—so far therefore the Socinian is +in accordance both with Scripture and the general voice of the +Christian church, for the early Apologists for Christianity, who +had to address polytheists, are full of declarations <a +name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>that they +worship One only Deity, who by various manifestations has made +himself, at different times, known to mankind. <a +name="citation39a"></a><a href="#footnote39a" +class="citation">[39a]</a> There is not a writer of the +first and second centuries who does not anxiously assert the +one-ness of the God whom the Christians worship: but then they as +anxiously assert the identity of their Teacher and Lord with that +God. From Christ himself, who says, “Before Abraham +was, I am;” <a name="citation39b"></a><a +href="#footnote39b" class="citation">[39b]</a> “I and the +Father are one;” <a name="citation39c"></a><a +href="#footnote39c" class="citation">[39c]</a> “He who hath +seen me hath seen the Father;” “the Father that +dwelleth in me, He doeth the works;” <a +name="citation39d"></a><a href="#footnote39d" +class="citation">[39d]</a> to St. Paul, who tells us that +“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” +<a name="citation39e"></a><a href="#footnote39e" +class="citation">[39e]</a> down to the fathers of the early +church, to whom I may refer <i>passim</i> for the same doctrine; +all have distinctly asserted that the message of peace to man was +delivered by God himself, making use of a human form as the mode +of communication with his creatures, and dwelling in “the +man Christ Jesus,” <a name="citation39f"></a><a +href="#footnote39f" class="citation">[39f]</a> as in a temple +built up for his especial use; the human nature, <a +name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>to use the +expression of the church, “having been taken into +God,” not the Godhead circumscribed in man. I will +not swell the length of my letter with quotations from the +fathers which may be found elsewhere; I think the texts I have +quoted with many more of the same purport, which you will readily +call to mind, suffice to prove that when Socinus asserted the +Christ to be <i>merely</i> a man, he erred; for though Jesus +“the Carpenter’s son,” as his contemporaries +called him, was to all intents and purposes a man “of a +reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting;” <a +name="citation40"></a><a href="#footnote40" +class="citation">[40]</a> and though this may be proved from +numberless passages in the Scripture, where the man Jesus speaks +of his inferiority to the Father and bestower of his human frame +and spirit,—yet if we do not entirely distort the meaning +of words, <i>that man</i> at times uttered declarations of divine +power which could only have proceeded from the indwelling Deity, +otherwise they must have been the assertions of imposture, which +Socinus by no means teaches to have been the case. I know +not, therefore, how the believer in the Gospel can avoid +acknowledging that Christ was a compound being:—<a +name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>perfectly a +man, and speaking as such on some occasions; but, at the same +time, the temple of the Ever-living God, whose words flowed from +his lips like the answer from the Mercy seat: “Heaven and +the heaven of heavens” no doubt “cannot +contain” the Infinite; and no true believer will assert +that God can be circumscribed in a human body—but, if so +mean a comparison may be permitted—as the crater of the +volcano is but the mouthpiece of the mighty agents operating +within for the fashioning of the earth,—so the +manifestation of the Deity in the form, and from the lips of a +man, is but that spot of the material creation where the ever +blessed Divinity allows himself, as it were, a vent; and gives +forth a visible and tangible sign of his existence.</p> +<p>“He that has seen me has seen the Father,” says +<i>the Christ</i>. “I can of my own self do +nothing” <a name="citation41"></a><a href="#footnote41" +class="citation">[41]</a> says <i>the man</i>: and this +distinction which the Christ who necessarily knew something of +the composition of his own nature so frequently asserts, has +probably been the groundwork of the mistaken views of this class +of Christians, and we may well look with charitable <a +name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>indulgence on +the errors of men, who dreading lest they should incur the +penalty of giving the incommunicable glory of the Mighty God to +another, have not allowed their due weight to the passages, which +assert that Mighty God to have undertaken the task of bringing +his creature man back to Himself.</p> +<p>Having thus given you a fair account of the creed of Socinus, +I must next notice the modern Unitarians, who on some points +differ from him. Where there is no acknowledged creed or +catechism, <a name="citation42"></a><a href="#footnote42" +class="citation">[42]</a> which may be quoted as authority, it is +<a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>difficult +to give the doctrines of a sect with any precision; but as far as +it is possible to judge from the writings most in repute among +the Unitarians, they disclaim the notion of the miraculous <a +name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>conception, +and believe Christ to have been to all intents and purposes <i>a +mere man</i>. At the same time they allow him to have been +so inspired and guided by God, that it is difficult to see where +they draw the line between their own creed and that of the +church, which allows the perfect humanity of Jesus, but asserts +that “God and man make one Christ,” namely, that the +message of peace was that of God speaking by human lips, and that +the Anointed prophet who declared it, was, when so anointed, the +temple and place of manifestation of the living God. They +disclaim the doctrine of atonement, <a name="page45"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 45</span>and believe that the mission of +Christ had for its object the reform of the world, and the +restoration of man to a sense of his true relation towards God, +and even here Scripture and the early church speak a language +which differs not very greatly from theirs. For the +language in which our redemption is spoken of, is that of a +master purchasing a slave, as will be seen on a reference to Rom. +vi. in the original. The ransom by which man was purchased +to be the servant of holiness instead of that of sin, was paid to +his former master, sin; by the purchaser; and the purchaser is +God. “I speak after the manner of men,” says +St. Paul, “because of the infirmity of your flesh.” +i.e. I adopt the phraseology of a common transaction because your +minds are not sufficiently accustomed to the contemplation of +higher things to understand them without a metaphor; but the +Unitarian forgets, when asserting that the ransom was not paid +<i>to</i> God, that it was paid <i>by</i> God: and that man, the +slave, was bought from sin, the master, at no less a price than +the condescension of the Deity himself to the infirmity of our +flesh, by making himself visibly and tangibly known to his +creatures, through the medium of a human form.</p> +<p><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>I have +now endeavoured to give a dispassionate view of the doctrines of +these sects, hitherto so much misunderstood, and having marked +the points wherein they appear to me to recede from Christian +truth, I have the pleasanter task before me, of showing by +extracts from their writings, how large a portion of the religion +which we all profess, they still retain, and I may say from +experience, on most occasions conscientiously act upon.</p> +<p>“If with the Apostle we glory in the cross of Christ, or +in that religion which could not have been confirmed without his +death, let us not only be careful to govern our lives by the +precepts of it in general, but more particularly be prepared to +suffer what the strictest profession of it may call us to. +Let us remember that our Saviour hath said, if any man will be +his disciple he must “take up his cross, and follow +him.” That is, he must be ready to do it rather than +abandon the profession of the Gospel, or whatever the strictest +purity of it may require. A true Christian is no more <i>of +this world</i> than his Lord and Master was of it. With him +every thing here below is but of secondary consideration, +&c.—but this we must remember for our consolation, that +if, in time of persecution “He that <a +name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>keepeth his +life shall lose it,” “He that loseth his life” +for the profession of the Gospel “shall keep it to life +eternal.” “If we suffer with Christ, we shall +also reign with him and be glorified together.” <a +name="citation47"></a><a href="#footnote47" +class="citation">[47]</a></p> +<p>“The truths which relate to Jesus himself are among the +<i>most important</i> which the Gospel reveals. ‘We +preach Christ,’ says the Apostle, ‘warning every man +and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in +Christ Jesus.’ From this passage we derive a most +important sentiment, confirmed by the whole New +Testament—that the great design of all the doctrines and +precepts of the Gospel, is, to exalt the character,—to +promote eminent purity of heart and life, to make men +‘perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect.’ +We must preach not to make fiery partizans, and to swell the +number of a sect; not to overwhelm the mind with fear, or to heat +it with feverish rapture; not to form men to the decencies of +life, to a superficial goodness, which will secure the admiration +of mankind. All these effects fall infinitely short of the +great end of <a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>the Christian ministry. We should preach that we +may make men perfect Christians: perfect, not according to the +standard of the world, but according to the law of Christ; +perfect in heart and in life, in solitude and in society, in the +great and in the common concerns of life. Here is the +purpose of Christian preaching. In this, as in a common +centre, all the truths of the Gospel meet; to this they all +conspire; and no doctrine has an influence on salvation, any +farther than it is an aid to the perfecting of our nature.” +<a name="citation48"></a><a href="#footnote48" +class="citation">[48]</a></p> +<p>“Christ is a great Saviour, as he redeems or sets free +the mind, cleansing it from evil, breathing into it the love of +virtue, calling forth its noblest faculties and affections, +enduing it with moral power, restoring it to order, health and +liberty.” * * * * “Christ has revealed to us God as +the Father, and as a Father in the noblest sense of that +word. He hath revealed Him as the author and lover of all +souls, desiring to redeem all from sin, and to impress his +likeness more and more resplendently on all; as proffering to all +that best gift in the universe, his ‘holy Spirit;’ as +having sent his beloved Son <a name="page49"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 49</span>to train us up and to introduce us to +an ‘inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading in +the heavens.’” <a name="citation49"></a><a +href="#footnote49" class="citation">[49]</a></p> +<p>“I confess when I can escape the deadening power of +habit, and can receive the full import of such passages as the +following, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest.’ ‘I am come to +seek and to save that which was lost.’ ‘He that +confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father in +heaven.’ ‘Whosoever shall be ashamed of me +before men, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he +cometh in the glory of the Father with the holy +angels.’ ‘In my Father’s house are many +mansions; I go to prepare a place for you;’ I say, when I +can succeed in realizing the import of such passages, I feel +myself listening to a being, such as never before and never since +spoke in human language. I am awed by the consciousness of +greatness which these simple words express; and when I connect +this greatness with the proofs of Christ’s miracles which I +gave you in a former discourse, I am compelled to speak <a +name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>with the +Centurion, ‘Truly this was the Son of God.’ <a +name="citation50a"></a><a href="#footnote50a" +class="citation">[50a]</a></p> +<p>“In reading the Gospels I feel myself in the presence of +one who speaks as man never spake; whose voice is not of the +earth; who speaks with a tone of reality and authority altogether +his own; who speaks of God, as conscious of his immediate +presence, as enjoying with him the intimacy of an only Son; and +who speaks of heaven, as most familiar with the higher states of +being.” <a name="citation50b"></a><a href="#footnote50b" +class="citation">[50b]</a></p> +<p>“Go to Jesus Christ for guidance, inspiration, and +strength in your office.” * * * “The privilege of +communing with such a spirit is so great, and the duty of going +from man to Christ is so solemn, that you must spare no effort to +place yourself nearer and nearer to the Divine +Master.” “My brother, go forth to your labours +with the spirit and power of Him who first preached the Gospel to +the poor.” <a name="citation50c"></a><a href="#footnote50c" +class="citation">[50c]</a></p> +<p>“To Jesus the conqueror of death we owe the sure hope of +immortality.” * * * “Is that <a +name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>teacher to be +scorned, who in the language of conscious greatness says to us, +‘I am the resurrection and the life’?” <a +name="citation51a"></a><a href="#footnote51a" +class="citation">[51a]</a></p> +<p>“What are we to understand by the Divinity of +Christ? In the sense in which many Christians, and perhaps +a majority interpret it, we do not deny it, but believe it as +firmly as themselves. We believe firmly in the Divinity of +Christ’s mission and office, that he spoke with Divine +authority, and was a bright image of the Divine +perfections. We believe that God dwelt in him, manifested +himself through him, taught men by him, and communicated to him +his spirit without measure. We believe that Jesus Christ +was the most glorious display, expression, and representative of +God to mankind, so that in seeing and knowing him, we see and +know the invisible Father; so that when Christ came, God visited +the world and dwelt with men more conspicuously than at any +former period. In Christ’s words, we hear God +speaking; in his miracles, we behold God acting; in his character +and life, we see an unsullied image of God’s purity and +love.” <a name="citation51b"></a><a href="#footnote51b" +class="citation">[51b]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p52b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p52s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>LETTER +IV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">WESLEYAN METHODISTS.</span></h2> +<p>Towards the beginning of the last century, two young men at +Oxford, the one a fellow of Lincoln College, struck by the +thoughtlessness or lukewarmness of those about them, resolved to +devote themselves to closer and more profitable study. They +were brothers, by name John and Charles Wesley; and two other +students joined them in their evening readings of the New +Testament in the Greek: the elder of the brothers was at this +time about twenty-six. <a name="citation52"></a><a +href="#footnote52" class="citation">[52]</a> After a year +of this kind of life, they admitted two or three of the pupils of +the elder brother, and one of those of the younger, to their +meetings; and the following year, being joined by yet more of the +students, the regularity of their lives obtained for them the +title of <i>Methodists</i> from those who were not inclined to +follow their example.</p> +<p><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>In 1735 +another name was added to their number, which has also become +celebrated: this was George Whitfield of Pembroke College, then +in his eighteenth year; but of him I shall have occasion to speak +by and by. I shall therefore confine myself to the +Wesleys. A difference of opinion on the subjects of +Freewill and Predestination separated them from their younger +coadjutor in 1741, and their respective friends, adopting +strongly the distinctive opinions of the two, the grand division +of the sect, which sprung up from their preaching, into Wesleyan +or Arminian, and Whitfieldian or Calvinistic Methodists, +ensued. All three received holy orders according to the +ceremonial of the Church of England, and Wesley never ceased to +hold his spiritual mother in high estimation. “The +Church of England,” he says in one place, “is the +purest in Christendom.” But the singularity of their +proceedings raised suspicion, and though both brothers continued +to profess the fullest assent to the articles and liturgy of the +established church, yet their manner of preaching and form of +worship had something in it which led the bishops and clergy in +general to consider them as verging on Sectarianism. In +many places they were refused the <a name="page54"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 54</span>use of the pulpit; and then, in the +perhaps enthusiastic belief that they were the appointed +instruments of rekindling religion in hearts where it had been +dead hitherto, they began a system of field preaching.</p> +<p>There were at that time large districts slumbering in utter +darkness and ignorance of the saving truths of the Gospel: and it +was to these that the Wesleys especially directed their +attention, with a success proportioned to their zeal; and had the +then heads of the church availed themselves of the assistance of +these earnest men in the way they might have done, by sanctioning +their missionary labours among the poor and the uninstructed, the +benefit would have been incalculable. But the harsh +treatment <a name="citation54"></a><a href="#footnote54" +class="citation">[54]</a> <a name="page55"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 55</span>they met with, drove John Wesley at +last into complete schism: and then the ambition, which had +perhaps animated his first exertions almost unknown to himself, +assumed a bolder flight, and he aspired to the distinction of +being the head and leader of a sect which grew so rapidly, that +at the time of his death in 1791, “the number of members in +connexion with him in Europe, America, and the West Indian +Islands, was 80,000. And at the last conference in 1831 the +numbers returned were, in Great Britain, 249,119; in Ireland, +22,470; in the Foreign Missions, 42,743. Total +314,332. Exclusive of more than half a million of persons +in the Societies in the States of America.” <a +name="citation55"></a><a href="#footnote55" +class="citation">[55]</a></p> +<p>You are probably aware that, besides the public preaching, +Wesley instituted among his people several kinds of private +meetings. To the public prayer meetings, which were +generally held in private houses, persons not of this sect were +often invited, and on these occasions a hymn <a +name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>was first +sung, then they all knelt, and the first who felt +“moved” made an extempore prayer: when he had +finished, another commenced, and so on for about two hours. +These prayer meetings were held in such high esteem among the +Methodists, that they asserted more were “born again” +and “made free,” as they termed it, “from all +the remains of sin” than at any other meetings, public +preachings, &c.</p> +<p>There was much in this kind of meeting which was likely to +lead to enthusiasm, which is universally found to be most easily +awakened where numbers are congregated; and according to an +author formerly of their persuasion, <a name="citation56"></a><a +href="#footnote56" class="citation">[56]</a> the consequence was +such as might have been expected. “It is +impossible,” says he, “to form any just idea of those +assemblies except you had been present at them. One coaxes +the Divine Being, another is amorous, and a third will tell the +Deity, ‘He must be a liar if he does not grant all they +ask.’ They thus go on working up each other’s +imagination until they become as it were spiritually intoxicated, +and while in this state they sometimes recollect a text or two <a +name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>of Scripture, +such as ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’—‘Go +and sin no more’—‘Go in peace,’ &c. +and then declare themselves to be ‘born again’ or +‘sanctified.’”</p> +<p>The love feast is also a private meeting of as many members of +the community as choose to attend; and they generally assemble +from all parts within several miles of the place where the feast +is held. They then alternately sing and pray, and some +among them, who think that their experience, as they term it, is +remarkable, stand up, and narrate all the transactions which they +say have taken place between God, the devil, and their souls.</p> +<p>There is a curious propensity to egotism in human nature which +frequently shews itself in religious matters. Men love to +talk of themselves: and the Romanist finds pleasure in the power +of pouring forth all his feelings and thoughts to his father +confessor, whenever he is strongly excited by passion: of this I +have become aware from personal knowledge. Other +enthusiasts enjoy no less satisfaction in talking of the interior +conflicts they have sustained; for all ungoverned feeling loves +to vent itself in speech, and the lover who talks of his +mistress, or the penitent who talks of his sins, is for the time +<a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>being in +the same state of restless excitement. <i>Governed</i> +feeling, on the contrary, as far as my experience goes, is +silent.</p> +<p>In these Love Feasts those present have buns to eat, which are +mutually broken between each “Brother and Sister,” +and water to drink, which they hand from one to another. +These meetings commence about seven o’clock, and last till +nine or ten.</p> +<p>Each society is divided into smaller companies called +“classes” according to their respective places of +abode. There are about twelve persons in every class, one +of whom is styled “the Leader,” whose business it is +to see each person in his class, at least once a week, to advise, +comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require, and to receive what +each is willing to give towards the support of the Gospel.</p> +<p>It is expected that every member should continue to evince his +desire of salvation by abstaining from “the taking of the +name of the Lord in vain”; “the profaning of the +Lord’s day, either by ordinary work thereon, or by buying +and selling”; “drunkenness, buying or selling +spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme +necessity; fighting, quarreling, brawling; going to law with a +brother; <a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>returning evil for evil, or railing for railing; the +using many words in buying or selling. <a +name="citation59a"></a><a href="#footnote59a" +class="citation">[59a]</a> The buying or selling uncustomed +goods; the giving or taking things on usury, i.e. unlawful +interest; the putting on of gold or costly apparel; the taking +such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus +Christ; the singing those songs or reading those books, that do +not tend to the knowledge or love of God;—softness and +needless self-indulgence, &c. <a name="citation59b"></a><a +href="#footnote59b" class="citation">[59b]</a></p> +<p>Among the duties expected and required of the members are all +kinds of beneficence, diligence, frugality, <a +name="citation59c"></a><a href="#footnote59c" +class="citation">[59c]</a> self-denial, and attendance on all the +ordinances of God, among which is specifically mentioned +fasting. If any member habitually break any of these rules +he is admonished; <a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +60</span>and if he do not then repent, expulsion follows. +“Marrying with unbelievers,” and bankruptcy, if the +party has not kept fair accounts, are also followed by +expulsion.</p> +<p>No one I think can doubt that much good was effected by the +first preaching of Wesley and his disciples, for at that time our +church was in a lethargic state, and the lower orders shamefully +neglected in spiritual matters in many parts of England. +Yet there are some things which excite one’s regret in +their practices, and of these none displeases me more than the +familiar use of Scripture language, which when properly and +judiciously applied is striking and solemn; but to hear every +notion of enthusiastic ignorance, every rise and fall of the +animal spirits, expressed in the language of the Apostles and +Evangelists, and even of our <a name="page61"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 61</span>Lord himself; to witness their +familiarity with the Almighty, their full trust and confidence in +the reality of small miracles wrought at their +request;—must always be painful to a soberly religious +mind. In a book entitled “The Bank of Faith,” +the author asserts, that a dog brought him mutton to eat, that +fish died at night in a pond on purpose to be eaten by him in the +morning, and that money, clothes, &c. in short every thing he +could desire he attained by prayer. <a name="citation61"></a><a +href="#footnote61" class="citation">[61]</a></p> +<p>An old woman of Wesley’s society, named Mary Hubbard, +would often wash her linen, hang it out to dry, and go away to +work in the fields or to Taunton Market four miles from her +house, and when blamed for thus leaving her linen unprotected, +she would reply that “the Lord watched over her and all +that she had, and that he would prevent any person from stealing +her two old smocks, or if He permitted them to be stolen, He +would send her two new ones in their stead.” I +seriously assure you, <a name="page62"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 62</span>says the author who relates this +tale, and who at one time went even greater lengths <a +name="citation62"></a><a href="#footnote62" +class="citation">[62]</a> than this old woman, “that there +are many thousand Mary Hubbards among the Methodists.”</p> +<p>It may be added, that their strict abstinence from the common +amusements of the world, even where innocent in themselves, has +its evils, <a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>as I have already noticed when speaking of the Quakers; +for the mind cannot always be kept in a state of tension, and if +we refuse ourselves recreation altogether, there is danger that +we shall find the yoke of Christ a wearisome instead of an easy +one, and cast it off in disgust; nay, I am afraid that if we were +to inquire closely, we should find instances enough of this +result to demonstrate, what indeed wants but little proof, i.e. +that God knows better than we do “whereof we are +made,” and that it is not wisdom to bind a heavy burthen on +our shoulders when Christ himself has declared that his is +light. Still, though tinged with a degree of enthusiasm +which we may regret, the doctrine of the Wesleyan Methodists +retains the fundamental parts of Christianity, and after reading +the following extracts from Wesley’s Sermons, I think you +will hardly forbear asking, Why is this a separate sect?</p> +<p>“Justifying Faith implies not only a Divine +ελεγχος, evidence +or conviction, that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the +world to himself,’ but a sure trust and confidence that +Christ died for <i>my</i> sins, that he loved <i>me</i>, and gave +himself for me; and the moment a penitent sinner believes <a +name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>this, God +pardons and absolves him.” <a name="citation64a"></a><a +href="#footnote64a" class="citation">[64a]</a> +“Christian perfection does not imply, as some men seem to +have imagined, an exemption either from ignorance, or mistake, or +infirmities, or temptations; indeed it is only another term for +holiness: thus every one that is holy, is in the Scripture sense +‘perfect.’ We may yet observe that neither in +this respect is there absolute perfection on earth.” <a +name="citation64b"></a><a href="#footnote64b" +class="citation">[64b]</a> “If the Scriptures are +true, those who are holy or religious in the judgment of God +himself, those who are endued with the faith that purifies the +heart, that produces a good conscience; those who live by faith +in the Son of God; those who are sanctified <a +name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>by the blood +of the Covenant may nevertheless so fall from God as to perish +everlastingly, therefore let him who thinketh he standeth take +heed lest he fall.” “In strictness neither our +faith nor our works justify us, i.e. <i>deserve</i> the remission +of our sins, but God himself justifies us of his own mercy +through the merits of his Son only.” <a +name="citation65"></a><a href="#footnote65" +class="citation">[65]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p66b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p66s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>LETTER +V.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">GENERAL BAPTISTS, MORAVIANS, +SWEDENBORGIANS, PLYMOUTH BRETHREN.</span></h2> +<p>Among the sects which arose about the period of the +Reformation of the church in the sixteenth century, we find the +Anabaptists <a name="citation66"></a><a href="#footnote66" +class="citation">[66]</a> playing rather a conspicuous part, by +exciting political tumults in Saxony and the adjacent +countries. For this, Munzer, their leader, after the defeat +of his forces, was put to death, and the sect generally was +proscribed, and the profession of its doctrines punished +capitally. What those doctrines were is not easy, nor is it +essential now, to state, since the modern sect, which we now term +Baptists, retain only so much of them as relates to baptism by +immersion, <a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>and of adults only, and the rejection of episcopal +church government.</p> +<p>The more modern sect is subdivided into General and Particular +Baptists. The General or Arminian Baptists admit +“much latitude in their system of religious doctrine, which +consists in such general principles, that their communion is +accessible to Christians of almost all denominations, and +accordingly they tolerate in fact, and receive among them persons +of every sect, who profess themselves Christians, and receive the +Holy Scriptures as the source of truth, and the rule of +faith.” <a name="citation67"></a><a href="#footnote67" +class="citation">[67]</a> They agree with the <span +class="smcap">Particular Baptists</span> in this, that they admit +to baptism adults only, and administer that sacrament either by +dipping or total immersion; but they differ from them in another +respect, for they repeat the administration of baptism to those +who had received it, either in a state of infancy, or by +aspersion instead of dipping: for if the common accounts may be +believed, the Particular Baptists do not carry matters so +far.</p> +<p>The General Baptists consider their sect as the only true +church; in baptism they dip only once and not three times as was +the practice in <a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>the primitive church: and they consider it a matter of +indifference whether that sacrament be administered in the name +of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or in that of Christ alone: <a +name="citation68a"></a><a href="#footnote68a" +class="citation">[68a]</a> they adopt the doctrine of Menno with +regard to the Millennium; many of them also embrace his +particular opinion concerning the origin of Christ’s body. +<a name="citation68b"></a><a href="#footnote68b" +class="citation">[68b]</a> They look upon the precept of +the Apostles prohibiting the use of blood and of things +strangled, as a law that was designed to be in force in all ages +and periods of the church: they believe that the soul, from the +moment that the body dies until its resurrection at the last day, +remains in a state of perfect insensibility: they use the +ceremony of extreme unction, and finally, to omit matters of a +more trifling nature, several of them observe the Jewish as well +as the Christian Sabbath. <a name="citation68c"></a><a +href="#footnote68c" class="citation">[68c]</a> In some of +their churches they have three distinct orders separately +ordained, i.e. messengers, elders, and deacons; and their general +assembly (where a minister preaches, and the churches <a +name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>are taken +into consideration), is held annually in London on the Tuesday in +Whitsun week, and they afterwards dine together. They have +met thus for upwards of a century.</p> +<p>The propriety of the exclusive application of the term +“Baptists” to those who baptize adults by immersion, +has been questioned; and for this reason they are by many styled +Antipædobaptists, <a name="citation69"></a><a +href="#footnote69" class="citation">[69]</a> namely, opposers of +infant baptism; but the term Anabaptist should not be applied to +them, it being a term of reproach.</p> +<p>The old General Baptists have been on the decline for many +years; their churches are principally in Kent and Sussex. +The English and most foreign Baptists consider a personal +profession of faith, and immersion in water, essential to +baptism: this profession is generally made before the church at a +church meeting. Some have a creed, and expect the candidate +for baptism to assent to it, and give a circumstantial account of +his conversion: others only require him to profess himself a +Christian. The former generally consider baptism as an +ordinance which initiates persons into a particular church, <a +name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>and they say, +that without breach of Christian liberty, they have a right to +expect an agreement in articles of faith in their own +societies. The latter think that baptism initiates into the +Christian religion generally, and therefore think that they have +no right to require an assent to their creed from such as do not +join their churches. They quote the baptism of the Eunuch +in Acts viii. in proof.</p> +<p>The first mention of the Baptists in English History is as the +subject of persecution in the reign of Henry VIII. During +that of Edward VI. a commission was issued to bishops and other +persons “to try all Anabaptists, heretics, and despisers of +the common prayer,” and they were empowered, in the event +of their contumacy, to commit them to the flames. The same +inhuman policy was persisted in under Elizabeth. The last +Baptist martyr burned in England was Edward Wightman; he was +condemned by the bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, <a +name="citation70a"></a><a href="#footnote70a" +class="citation">[70a]</a> and burned at Lichfield April 11, +1612. <a name="citation70b"></a><a href="#footnote70b" +class="citation">[70b]</a></p> +<p>The celebrated Whiston became a Baptist <a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>towards the +close of his life, retaining nevertheless his Arian belief.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>The <span class="smcap">Moravians</span> are supposed to have +derived their origin from Nicholas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, a +German nobleman, who died in 1760. The society however +assert that they are descended from the old Moravian and Bohemian +Brethren, who existed as a distinct sect sixty years prior to the +Reformation. No sooner had these Moravian Brethren heard of +Luther’s bold testimony to the truth, and of the success +which attended his labours, than they sent in the year 1522 two +deputies to assure him of “the deep interest which they +took in his work;” giving him, at the same time, an account +of their own doctrine and constitution. They were most +kindly received; and both Luther, and his colleague Bucer, +recognised the Moravians as holding the same faith; and bore +honourable testimony to the purity of their doctrine, and the +excellence of their discipline. The chief doctrine of the +Moravian society is, that “by the sacrifice for sin made by +Jesus Christ, and by that alone, grace and deliverance from sin +are to be obtained for all mankind:” and they stedfastly +maintain the following points:</p> +<p>1. The divinity of Christ.</p> +<p><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +72</span>2. The atonement and satisfaction made for us by +Jesus Christ; and that by his merits alone we receive freely the +forgiveness of sin, and sanctification in soul and body.</p> +<p>3. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the operations +of his grace. That it is he who worketh in us conviction of +sin, faith in Christ, and pureness of heart.</p> +<p>4. That faith must evidence itself by willing obedience +to the commandments of God from love and gratitude.</p> +<p>The internal constitution of the ancient church of the +Moravians, which is still substantially adhered to, was +originally adopted in 1457, and more definitely settled in 1616 +by the Synod of Zerawitz. Its principal peculiarities +are,</p> +<p>1. Every church is divided into three classes, i.e. 1. +<i>Beginners</i> or <i>Catechumens</i>. 2. <i>The +more advanced</i> or <i>communicants</i>, who are considered as +members of the church. 3. <i>The perfect</i>, consisting of +such as have persevered for some time in a course of true +piety. From this last class are chosen in every church +<i>the Elders</i>, from three to eight in number.</p> +<p>2. Every congregation is directed by a board of elders, +whose province it is to have a watchful eye over its members with +respect to the <a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +73</span>doctrine and deportment. Once in three months +these elders are bound to visit the houses of the brethren, in +order to observe their conduct, and to ascertain whether every +one is labouring diligently in his calling, &c. of which they +make a report to the pastor. They also are required to +visit the sick, and assist the poorer brethren with money, +contributed by the members of the church, and deposited in an +alms box.</p> +<p>3. The ministration of the Word and Sacrament is +performed either by members who have received ordination from the +bishops of the church of the brethren, or by those who have +received that of the Calvinist or Lutheran church. The +deacons, according to the ancient constitution of the church, are +the chief assistants of the pastors, and are considered as +candidates for the ministry. The bishops, who are nominated +by the ministers, appoint the pastors to their stations, and have +the power of removing them when they think fit, and of ordaining +the deacons as well as the ministers. Every bishop is +appointed to superintend a certain number of churches, and has +two or three co-bishops, who, if necessary, supply their +place. The ancient church appointed some of its members to +the business of watching over the civil <a +name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>affairs of +the congregation, under the name of <i>Seniores Civiles</i>, who +were ordained with imposition of hands. This office is +still continued. The synods, which are held every three or +four years, are composed of the bishops and their co-bishops the +Seniores Civiles, and of “such servants of the church and +of the congregation as are called to the synod by the former +elders’ conference, appointed by the previous synod, or +commissioned to attend it as deputies from particular +congregations.” Several female elders also are +usually present at the synods, but they have no vote. All +the transactions of the synod are committed to writing, and +communicated to the several congregations.</p> +<p>A liturgy, peculiar to the Brethren, is regularly used as a +part of the morning service on the Sabbath; on other occasions +the minister offers extempore prayer. The singing of hymns +is considered as an essential part of worship, and many of their +services consist entirely of singing. At the baptism of +children, both the witnesses and the minister bless the infant, +with laying on of hands immediately after the rite. The +Lord’s Supper is celebrated every month: love feasts are +frequently held, i.e. the members eat and drink together in +fellowship: cakes and <a name="page75"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 75</span>tea are distributed during the +singing of some verses by the congregation. The washing of +feet is practised at present only at certain seasons by the whole +congregation, and on some other occasions in the choirs. +Dying persons are blessed for their departure by the elders, +during prayer and singing a verse with imposition of hands. +At funerals, the pastor accompanies the corpse to the burial +place with the singing of hymns; and an address is delivered at +the grave. Marriages are, by general agreement, never +contracted without the advice and concurrence of the elders. <a +name="citation75a"></a><a href="#footnote75a" +class="citation">[75a]</a> The casting of lots is used +among them to know, as they express it, “The will of the +Lord.” <a name="citation75b"></a><a href="#footnote75b" +class="citation">[75b]</a></p> +<p>With regard to discipline, “the Church of the Brethren +have agreed upon certain rules and orders. These are laid +before every one, that <a name="page76"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 76</span>desires to become a member of the +church, for his consideration. Whoever after having +voluntarily agreed to them, does not act conformably, falls under +congregation discipline.” This has various degrees, +and consists in admonitions, warnings, and reproofs, continued +until genuine repentance and a real conversion become evident in +the offender, when he is readmitted to the holy communion, or +reconciled to the congregation, after a deprecatory letter has +been read, expressing the offender’s sorrow for his +transgression, and asking forgiveness. The Brethren assert +that the church government in the established Protestant churches +“does not apply to the congregations of the Brethren, +because they never were intended to form a national +establishment: for their design is no other than to be a true and +living congregation of Jesus Christ, and to build up each other +as a spiritual house of God, to the end that the kingdom of Jesus +Christ may be furthered by them.” Hence the doctrine +of Jesus and his Apostles, and the order and practice of the +Apostolic churches, are the models by which they wish to be +formed. It may be added, that they are generally the most +successful Missionaries, and that their society seems the most +nearly to realize <a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +77</span>the practice of the early Christians, of any sect now +remaining.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>The <span class="smcap">Swedenborgians</span> take their name +from Emmanuel Swedenborg, who was born at Stockholm in +1683. His father was Jasper Swedberg, bishop of West +Gothland. He received his education chiefly in the +University of Upsala; and in 1716 was appointed by Charles XII. +Assessor of the Royal College of Sciences; he was ennobled by +Queen Ulrica Eleonora, and received the name of Swedenborg. +He published scientific works on various subjects, but in 1747 he +resigned his office, in order, as he himself states, that he +might be more at liberty to attend to that new function which he +considered himself called to, and the rest of his life was spent +in composing and publishing the voluminous works which contain +his peculiar doctrines. He died in 1772. He was a man +of blameless life and amiable deportment, and was distinguished +for his attainments in mathematics and mechanics.</p> +<p>His writings are so very obscure, that it is difficult to +state what are the opinions contained in them; he taught, +however, that by the New Jerusalem which came down from heaven, +was <a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +78</span>intended a new church as to doctrine, and that he was +the person to whom this doctrine was revealed, and who was +appointed to make it known to the world. Swedenborg made no +attempt to found a sect; but after his death, his followers, in +1788, formed themselves into a society under the denomination of +“The New Jerusalem Church.” They have several +places of meeting, both in London and Manchester, and send +delegates to a “General Conference,” under whose +direction a liturgy has been prepared, from which I shall make a +few extracts to shew the peculiar doctrines of this sect.</p> +<p>The following are some of the questions asked of the candidate +for ordination, which is performed by imposition of hands, of +course of a minister of their own communion.</p> +<p>“<i>Min.</i> Dost thou believe that Jehovah God is +One both in Essence and in Person; in whom, nevertheless, is the +Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that these +are, his Essential Divinity, his Divine Humanity, and his Divine +Proceeding, which are the three Essentials of One God, answering +to the soul, the body, and the operative energy, in man, and that +the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that God?</p> +<p>Dost thou believe that by his temptations, <a +name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>the last of +which was the passion of the cross, the Lord united, in his +Humanity, Divine Truth to Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom to Divine +Love, and so returned into his Divinity in which he was from +eternity, together with, and in, his Glorified Humanity?</p> +<p>Dost thou believe that the sacred Scripture, or Word of God, +is Divine Truth itself, and that it contains a spiritual and +celestial sense, heretofore unknown, whence it is divinely +inspired and holy in every syllable; as well as a literal sense, +which is the basis and support of its spiritual and celestial +sense?</p> +<p>Dost thou believe that the books which have the internal sense +and are truly the Word of God are,—the five books of Moses, +Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings, +the Psalms of David, the prophets, including the Lamentations of +Jeremiah, the four Gospels, and the Revelation?” <a +name="citation79"></a><a href="#footnote79" +class="citation">[79]</a></p> +<p>It is further stated in their eleventh article of faith, +“That immediately after death, which is only a putting off +of the material body, never to be resumed, man rises again in a +spiritual or <a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>substantial body, in which he continues to live to +eternity.”</p> +<p>On these doctrines it may be observed that the forms of +worship founded on them are not such as Christ and his apostles +ordered. The doxology is, “To Jesus Christ be glory +and dominion for ever and ever;” the blessing, “The +grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” The +prayers are addressed to the “blessed Lord +Jesus.” Whereas Christ, when he gave us a form of +prayer, bade us address “our Father in heaven;” and +bade us ask of the Father in his name; and the form of the +apostolic doxology is, “To God only wise be glory through +Jesus Christ for ever”; <a name="citation80a"></a><a +href="#footnote80a" class="citation">[80a]</a> and the blessing, +“Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and from +the Lord Jesus Christ.” <a name="citation80b"></a><a +href="#footnote80b" class="citation">[80b]</a> As at this +time Christ had ascended from the earth, had the human nature +been entirely merged in the Divine, as this sect asserts, Paul +the Apostle would not have made this distinction, which implies +that the Lord Jesus still existed somewhere in his human form as +the everlasting visible temple of the Invisible father of all +things, for “no man hath seen God at <a +name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>any +time,” says the beloved Apostle, <a +name="citation81a"></a><a href="#footnote81a" +class="citation">[81a]</a> and this is confirmed by Christ +himself. <a name="citation81b"></a><a href="#footnote81b" +class="citation">[81b]</a> If the man then be lost in the +Deity, it follows that the Lord Jesus exists no more for +us. I am aware that this consequence is denied by the sect, +but it is a self evident proposition: for their creed runs thus, +“I believe in one God in whom is a Divine Trinity, &c., +and that this God is the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is +Jehovah in a glorified human form.” Now a human form +must have some properties of matter; it must be visible, and +circumscribed, or it is not form; and what is circumscribed and +visible cannot be God, who, of necessity, is uncircumscribed, and +therefore invisible. The infinite Eternal Omnipotent Deity +<i>must</i> be where that glorified body is not; therefore, the +Great Father of all things must always be the object of worship, +through Jesus Christ, who is the <i>visible</i> image of his +glory. The <i>form</i> of baptism is retained by this sect, +though they assert that the rite was “constantly +administered by the Apostles in the name of Christ alone”; +an assertion contradicted by the whole testimony of antiquity +from the earliest times; adding, “nevertheless it is <a +name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>well to use +the express words of the Lord, when it is known and acknowledged +in the church that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are +not three separate persons but three Divine Essentials, +constituting the single Divine Person of our Lord Jesus +Christ.” <a name="citation82"></a><a href="#footnote82" +class="citation">[82]</a> With regard to the +“internal sense” of Scripture it is sufficient to +observe that if “every syllable” were to be +considered as inspired and holy, the long list of various +readings would grievously shake our faith, though these are quite +immaterial as to the general meaning.</p> +<p>There are serious objections to the distinctive tenets of this +sect, yet, in justice to them, it must be allowed that the +unguarded language of some preachers does so split up the Deity +into separate individuals as to make the doctrine so taught a +complete tritheism, and that a serious mind returning to the +express declaration of the Scripture, that God is One, may be so +far shocked by such unmeasured expressions, as to run into the +extreme which I have condemned. Unitarianism on the one +hand, and the doctrine of Swedenborg on the other, have equally +sprung from a want of proper caution when speaking of <a +name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>the different +manifestations of the Deity, and an unmeasured itch for the +definition of things too far beyond the reach of our finite +faculties to admit of any precision of terms. <i>Words</i> +were formed for the things pertaining to earth; how then can they +ever exactly express the nature of the Deity?</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the faith professed by this sect, their +teaching, nevertheless, returns to the doctrine of the +Gospel. In a tract “on the true meaning of the +intercession of Jesus Christ,” published at Manchester by +their own religious tract society, we have the following passage: +“The Humanity named Jesus is the medium whereby man may +come to God, because the Father, <i>heretofore invisible</i>, is +manifested and made <i>visible</i> and <i>approachable</i> in +him. This is meant by <i>our coming unto God by +him</i>;” and elsewhere, as we cannot obtain this +“light of life” without following the Lord, and doing +his will, as he did the will of the Father, agreeably to his own +saying, “If ye keep my commandments, even as I have kept my +Father’s commandments, and abide in his love;” so +neither can we obtain that divine food by which our spiritual +life is to be sustained, unless we labour for it, as the Lord +himself instructed us when he <a name="page84"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 84</span>said “Labour for the meat which +endureth unto everlasting life”; and is it not of the +greatest importance clearly to understand what this labour +implies? Let the reader be assured that he must labour in +that spiritual vineyard which the Lord desires to plant in his +soul, in order that it may bear abundant fruits of righteousness +to the glory of his heavenly father.” <a +name="citation84"></a><a href="#footnote84" +class="citation">[84]</a> Thus we see again that the +fundamental doctrines of Christianity <i>will</i> find their way, +however men may speculatively disclaim them. Why then do we +differ outwardly, when at heart we agree?</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>The <span class="smcap">Plymouth Brethren</span>, so called +probably from the place where this society first arose, do not +allow themselves to be a sect, though in their practices they +differ considerably from those of the Established Church. +They meet together on the morning of the first day of the week to +celebrate the Lord’s Supper, when any “Brother” +is at liberty to speak for mutual edification. In the +afternoon and evening, when they have preachers, the services are +similar to those in the Congregational Churches (Independents): +<a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>the desk, +however, for they condemn pulpits, is not occupied by one man, +but used as a convenient place for speaking, being alternately +occupied by the “Brother,” who reads the hymn, the +one who prays, and the one who teaches or preaches the +Word. There are also “Meetings for Prayer,” and +what are technically called “reading meetings;” when +a chapter is read, and those “Brethren” who have made +it matter of reflection, speak upon it clause by clause for their +mutual instruction.</p> +<p>Before a person is acknowledged a “Brother,” his +name is announced at one of the times of “meeting together +to break bread,” as it is termed, and if nothing occurs in +the interval, he takes his seat with them the next Sunday.<a +name="citation85"></a><a href="#footnote85" +class="citation">[85]</a> Any one is admitted to their +communion whom they believe to be “a child of God;” +but they do not receive or acknowledge him as a brother, +“while in actual connection with any of the various forms +of worldliness,” i.e. the other churches of Christ. +Their preachers move about from place to place, forming different +congregations, which they again leave for other places where +their services are required. None of their <a +name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>ministers +receive any <i>stipulated</i> charity. The +“Brethren” disapprove of any association of +Christians for any purpose whatever, whether civil or religious, +and therefore discountenance all Sunday School, Bible, +Missionary, or even purely Benevolent, Societies. They do +not disapprove of sending either Bibles or Missionaries to the +heathen; but they say that if they go at all, “God and not +the church must send them.” They do not think that +the Gospel is to convert the world, but that it is to be +“preached as a witness to” or rather against +“all nations.” The world, they say, “is +reserved for judgment, and therefore it is wholly contrary to the +character of a Christian to have any thing to do with it or its +government.” When a child of God is born again, +“he lays,” say they, “all his worldly relations +down at the feet of Christ, and he is at liberty to take up none +but those which he can take up in the Lord.” They +neither pray for pardon of sin, nor for the presence and +influence of the Spirit, and carefully exclude such petitions +from their hymns. Many of them think it inconsistent with +the Christian character to amass wealth, or to possess furniture +or clothing more than is <i>necessary</i> for health and <a +name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>cleanliness; +and very great sacrifices have been made by the more wealthy of +them.</p> +<p>These are most of them unimportant peculiarities; but the +great feature of this sect, for so notwithstanding their protest, +I must call these “Brethren,” is a degree of self +approbation and uncharity for others, which, to say the least, is +not what Christ taught. “No sect,” says Rust, +<a name="citation87a"></a><a href="#footnote87a" +class="citation">[87a]</a> “is more Sectarian, and none +more separate from Christians of all denominations than +“The Plymouth Brethren.” The Church of Rome +they consider “bad.” The Church of England +“bad.” “A popish priest and a parish +priest, both bad;” “but infinitely worse,” says +one of the Brethren (a Captain Hall), “is a people’s +preacher.” They occasionally indulge in what they +term “biting jests and sarcastic raillery,” of the +ministers of our church, and of those who differ from them, which +evince but little of the meek and peaceable spirit of the Gospel; +<a name="citation87b"></a><a href="#footnote87b" +class="citation">[87b]</a> for, <a name="page88"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 88</span>as Lord Bacon has well observed, +“to intermix Scripture with scurrility in one +sentence;—the majesty of religion and the contempt and +deformity of things ridiculous,—is a thing far from the +reverence of a devout Christian, and hardly becoming the honest +regard of a sober man.” If I have appeared to speak +harshly of this <a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +89</span>sect, it is because they seem to me to have abandoned so +much of the spirit of the Gospel. “If the tenets of +the Plymouth Brethren be consistent with themselves,” +observes Mr. Rust, “they necessarily withdraw them from all +society, and every existing form of Christianity, shutting them +out from all co-operation with the holy and benevolent, for the +relief and blessing of their poor or sinful fellow creatures, +making it sinful to fulfil the duties of a subject, a citizen, +&c.” But I hope and believe that these tenets +must be and are counteracted by the instinctive love of our kind, +which for the benefit of the world God has implanted in +man. The human race is so essentially social that they who +endeavour to dissociate mankind, stand in much the same situation +as he would do who should hope to dam up the ocean. It is +in fact to these silent tendencies of human nature, whose force +we never know till we attempt to check them, that we owe much of +the innocuousness of false or overstrained opinions: the reason +is deluded, but the feelings which the Creator has made a part of +our very being, generally correct the false argument; and the +man, if not previously corrupted by vice, acts right though he +argues wrong.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p90b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p90s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>LETTER +VI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">CALVINISM.</span></h2> +<p>I have already noticed that the sects into which the reformed +churches are split, may be classified generally under two great +divisions, the one adopting mainly the milder views of +Melancthon, whose advice was much used in the reform of the +Anglican church; the other following those of Calvin, which were +chiefly carried out, at Geneva, the birthplace of that reformer, +and among the Huguenots of France. It may be well, +therefore, before we proceed to notice the particular sects which +profess to combine in a greater or less degree the doctrines +usually termed Calvinistic, to examine what the opinions are +which pass under that name. <a name="citation90"></a><a +href="#footnote90" class="citation">[90]</a></p> +<p><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>It was +at the Synod of Dort, which was assembled in the year 1618, that +these opinions received a decided form; for James Arminius, +professor of divinity in the University of Leyden, having +rejected some part of the Genevan doctrine respecting +predestination and grace, this synod was called in order to +settle the disputed points. After much debate the opinions +of Arminius were condemned, and the doctrine of Calvin was summed +up in five points, which gave name to what has been called the +Quinqueticular controversy between the Calvinistic and +Anti-calvinistic divines of Holland. They related to,</p> +<p>1. Predestination or Election.</p> +<p>2. The extent of redemption.</p> +<p>3. Moral depravity and impotency. <a +name="citation91"></a><a href="#footnote91" +class="citation">[91]</a></p> +<p>4. Effectual calling.</p> +<p>5. Final perseverance of the sanctified.</p> +<p>Calvinists are understood to maintain that predestination is +absolute; redemption limited; <a name="page92"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 92</span>moral impotency total; grace +inevitable; and the salvation of the believer, certain. But +among Calvinistic as among Arminian divines, there are many +shades of difference indicated by the terms <i>high</i> +Calvinist, and <i>moderate</i> Calvinist, <i>sub</i> lapsarian +and <i>supra</i> lapsarian, <i>scholastic</i> Calvinism and +<i>popular</i> Calvinism; which latter has been described as +“the Augustinian theology strained off from its +mathematics.” These all differ so materially that +Bishop Horsley found it necessary to admonish his clergy +“to beware how they aimed their shaft at Calvinism before +they knew what it is, and what it is not;” a great part of +what ignorantly goes under that name, being “closely +interwoven with the very rudiments of Christianity.” +I believe, however, that though differences may subsist among +Calvinists themselves, as to the explication of their doctrines, +they generally allow,</p> +<p>1. That God has chosen a certain number in Christ, to +everlasting glory before the foundation of the world, according +to his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and love; without +the least foresight of faith, good works, or any conditions +performed by the creature; and that the rest of mankind he was +pleased to pass by, <a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>and ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sins to +the praise of his vindictive justice.</p> +<p>2. That Christ by his death and sufferings made an +atonement only for the sins of the elect. <a +name="citation93a"></a><a href="#footnote93a" +class="citation">[93a]</a></p> +<p>3. That mankind are <i>totally</i> depraved in +consequence of the fall.</p> +<p>4. That all whom God has predestined to life, he is +pleased in his appointed time effectually to call by his Word and +Spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by +nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>5. That those whom God has effectually called and +sanctified by his Spirit, shall never finally fall from a state +of grace.</p> +<p>The prominent feature then, of the Calvinistic system, <a +name="citation93b"></a><a href="#footnote93b" +class="citation">[93b]</a> is the election of some, and <a +name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>reprobation +of others from all eternity; but to <a name="page95"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 95</span>this we may answer, that if all +mankind are really appointed to sin and punishment, holiness and +salvation irrespectively to any act of their own, then they will +be judged in exact opposition to our Saviour’s declaration, +that he will reward every man <i>according to his works</i>: <a +name="citation95a"></a><a href="#footnote95a" +class="citation">[95a]</a> and again, that it is “not the +will of ‘our’ Father which is in heaven that one of +those little ones,” i.e. children, “should +perish.” <a name="citation95b"></a><a href="#footnote95b" +class="citation">[95b]</a> These declarations would, I +think, sufficiently prove that St. Paul’s expressions on +the subject relate to national, and not individual election, even +had the Apostle himself left his meaning unexplained: for the +servant is not greater than his master, and it is not possible +that an inspired Apostle should preach a doctrine different from +that of Him who commissioned him; but if I mistake not, he has +himself taken especial care that his meaning on this important +subject should <i>not</i> be misunderstood. For first, it +is a notorious fact, though often overlooked in argument, that +the very passage, “I will have mercy on whom I will have +mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have +compassion,” which is the main support claimed for the +doctrine of <a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +96</span>absolute decrees, is quoted from Exodus, and forms the +assurance given by God himself to Moses, that He had separated +<i>the Hebrew nation</i> from all the people on the face of the +earth. <a name="citation96a"></a><a href="#footnote96a" +class="citation">[96a]</a> Again St. Paul has asserted that +God will render to <i>every</i> man <i>according to his +deeds</i>, for there is <i>no respect of persons</i> with God. <a +name="citation96b"></a><a href="#footnote96b" +class="citation">[96b]</a> God will have <i>all men</i> to +be saved, &c. &c.</p> +<p>God forbid that we should consider that a man may not be a +sincere Christian, who believes himself irrevocably called, +“elect,” and inevitably secure of his salvation; or +declare that a strict Calvinist cannot be attached to our church: +but St. Paul teaches that “Christ died for all;” that +grace instead of being irresistible may be received in vain; that +those who have been once justified instead of being <i>sure</i> +of “final perseverance” and salvation, <i>may</i> +“sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the +truth,” and “draw back to perdition,” so that +it behoves every one “who thinketh he standeth to take heed +lest he fall.” <a name="citation96c"></a><a +href="#footnote96c" class="citation">[96c]</a></p> +<p><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>In +regard to “irresistible” (special) +“grace,” Scripture assures us that grace sufficient +for salvation is denied to none; for St. Paul in every passage of +the Epistles, which relates to grace, declares that the Spirit +works in the souls of <i>all</i>, enabling them, if they do not +obstinately resist it, “to work out their +salvation.” The following passage is taken from the +work of a teacher of the doctrine of Special Grace. +“The reign of sin consists not in the multitude, greatness +or prevalency of sins, for all these are consistent with a state +of grace, and may be in a child of God, in whom sin doth not and +cannot reign; but in the in-being of sin without grace, whether +it act more or less violently, yea, whether it acts at all or no: +yet if the habit of sin possess the soul without any principle of +grace implanted, which is contrary to it, that man may be said to +be still under the dominion of sin. This mortification then +of sin, as to its reigning power, is completed in the first act +of <a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +98</span>conversion and regeneration.” <a +name="citation98a"></a><a href="#footnote98a" +class="citation">[98a]</a> But this language is by no means +that of St. Paul: for the writer makes grace the test of +holiness; whereas the apostle, following therein the doctrine of +his master,—“by their fruits ye shall know +them,”—makes holiness the test of grace. Indeed +the obscurity and perplexing nature of the doctrine above quoted, +stands in no favourable contrast with the simple and clear +declaration of the Saviour, that we “do not gather grapes +of thorns, nor figs of thistles,”—and that therefore +the heart must be known by the words and actions: and the no less +decided and simple exposition of the doctrine of Christ, by the +beloved disciple, “Little children, let no man deceive you: +he that doeth righteousness is righteous . . . he that committeth +sin is of the devil. Whosoever is born of God <i>doth not +commit sin</i> . . . whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of +God.” <a name="citation98b"></a><a href="#footnote98b" +class="citation">[98b]</a></p> +<p>The doctrine of the <i>total</i> depravity of human nature, it +appears to me, cannot be proved from <a name="page99"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 99</span>Scripture any more than the two +former. St. John, whilst asserting that no man is wholly +without sin, exhorts to efforts, and supposes a possible state of +Christian perfection in his converts, wholly incompatible with a +state of entire corruption: and St. Paul, though he clearly +states that sin has brought all men under condemnation, and that +the unspirituality of the flesh can only be successfully opposed +by the influence of the Holy Spirit, does not declare the +consequences of the Fall in terms such as we find in the +Calvinistic writers—as “Man, instead of the image of +God, was now become the image of the Devil; instead of the +citizen of heaven, he was become the bond-slave of hell, having +in himself no one part of his former purity, but being altogether +spotted and defiled—now he seemed to be nothing else but a +lump of sin.” And again: “Man is of his own +nature fleshly and corrupt, &c. without any spark of goodness +in him; only given to evil thoughts and evil deeds.” +Even human nature, if closely examined, does not bear testimony +to this as truth: for either the grace of God is accorded in such +large measure to man from his birth, that none can be considered +as wholly bad; or the utter corruption preached by Calvin does <a +name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>not +exist. All experience may be appealed to on this point, +even that of the persons who use the above language; for if they +search their own hearts in sincerity, they will become conscious +of amiable affections, and admiration of what is good and right: +neither, probably, are they guilty of any such gross and habitual +sins, as must mark a nature so wholly depraved. The +Calvinist therefore can only use these strong phrases with +certain grains of allowance: and he would be wiser if he were to +avoid offending his—if he prefer so to call +him—weaker brother, by technical terms which he himself +cannot use in their <i>full force</i> before the Searcher of +hearts.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p101b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p101s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +101</span>LETTER VII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PRESBYTERIANS. +INDEPENDENTS.</span></h2> +<p>When the preaching of Luther and his coadjutors had +effectually called men’s attention to the affairs of the +church, it was natural that questions with regard to its +government no less than its doctrine, should be freely +mooted. The usurpations of Rome had a tendency to disgust +the Reformers with episcopal government, and accordingly we find +both Calvin and Luther establishing a more republican form; and +instead of giving the ecclesiastical power into the hands of one +man, they judged it proper to delegate it to the elders +(presbyters) of each church respectively; subject only to the +control of the majority of a general synod. Such was the +origin of what we now term Presbyterians as a sect: for in +<i>England</i> more moderate councils, and the circumstance that +the reformed tenets were embraced by many of the bishops, led to +retaining the Episcopal form of church government. In +<i>Scotland</i>, after a struggle, the Presbyterian <a +name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>form was +finally established, and the church or kirk of that part of Great +Britain is regulated upon that system. A secession has +lately taken place on the question of the right of presentation +to livings, but the <i>doctrine</i> taught in both is nearly +similar, i.e. that of the Calvinistic churches.</p> +<p>The General Synod of Ulster (originally a branch of the +established kirk of Scotland), is the principal body of +Presbyterians considered as dissenters from the establishment: +and there also, there is a Presbyterian Synod, or Church of +“the Apostolic Seceders,” formed by seceders from the +General Synod, which is thoroughly Calvinistic, and which +maintains the same discipline that is usually observed among the +seceding “Scottish Presbyterians.” In the reign +of Geo. I. Arianism <a name="citation102"></a><a +href="#footnote102" class="citation">[102]</a> was openly +embraced by some of the more speculative of the Presbyterian +ministers <a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>in Ireland, and in consequence, a theological +controversy was carried on for twenty years (from 1705 to 1725), +which ended in the secession of eight Arian ministers, and the +formation of the Presbytery of Antrim. Some who were +secretly inclined to Arianism had not the courage to follow the +example of the eight seceders, and the leaven continued to spread +among the general body during the latter part of the eighteenth +century, till at length inquiries were instituted in the Synod, +which led to a fresh separation. Seventeen at length +seceded out of thirty-seven ministers, holding Arian or Socinian +tenets in the year 1830, and they subsequently formed themselves +into a distinct Synod, under the name of “the Remonstrant +Synod of Ulster,” and the Presbytery of Antrim has now +become incorporated with this Synod. These Arian +congregations are chiefly situated in the counties of Antrim and +Down, in the north and eastern part of the province. There +are ten or twelve congregations in the south of Ireland forming +the Synod of Munster, which were also, till within a few years, +Arian or Socinian. The total number of Remonstrant and +Socinian congregations is between thirty and forty. +<i>All</i> the Presbyterian bodies,—Orthodox and Arian, +share <a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>in +the Government grants known under the name of “Regium +Donum.” This royal bounty was originally dispensed +among the Presbyterian clergy of Ulster in lieu of the tithes +which were taken from them at the Restoration, and bestowed upon +the Episcopal conformists. It was withdrawn towards the +close of the reign of Charles II.; but at the Revolution, letters +patent passed the great seal of Ireland, granting £1200 per +annum to seven Presbyterian ministers, during pleasure, for the +use of the ministers of the north of Ireland, to be paid +quarterly out of any of the revenues of the kingdom. This +grant was renewed, under certain limitations, in the reign of +Queen Anne: and in the reign of Geo. I. £800 per annum was +divided in equal shares between the ministers of the Ulster Synod +and those of the Southern Association. In 1784 an +additional grant was made to the Ulster Synod of £1000 per +annum. In 1792 the grant was augmented to £5000 to be +divided among the ministers of the Synod,—the Presbytery of +Antrim,—the Seceders,—the Southern +Association,—and the ministers of the French church, +Dublin. In 1803 some fresh regulations were made, by which +the distribution of the bounty was <a name="page105"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 105</span>taken immediately into the hands of +Government, and the Presbyterian clergy were thus rendered more +ostensibly what they had previously been only in effect, i.e., +stipendiaries of the state. The congregations under the +care of the several Synods and Presbyteries are now arranged in +three classes according to the number of families and the stipend +of each minister; and the allowance to the ministers of the three +classes was fixed at £50, £75, and £100 per +annum. The members of the congregation feel under no +obligation to contribute much, if anything, to their +pastor’s support, who is therefore often compelled to have +recourse to farming, grazing, or some other secular employment, +for the support of his family.</p> +<p>“In 1834 the ascendant party in the Synod succeeded in +carrying a resolution enforcing unqualified subscription to the +“Confession of Faith,” which had not previously been +enforced. The ostensible motive for this is a desire to +bring about a closer union with the Established Church of +Scotland. The Irish Synod being now so far connected with +the state as to form a species of ecclesiastical establishment, a +feeling has been generated in favour of the established <a +name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>church of +both countries: a strong protest, however has been made against +the decision, but without avail.” <a +name="citation106"></a><a href="#footnote106" +class="citation">[106]</a></p> +<p>The increase of the Presbyterians in Ireland from whatever +cause has borne no due proportion to that of the general +population.</p> +<p>“Presbyterianism received as a scheme of policy, though +admirably adapted to the exigencies of the times in which it +originated, partakes of the essential defectiveness of the +incipient reformation of the sixteenth century, embodying these +erroneous principles which were adopted by the founders of most +of the Protestant churches, and which soon proved not less fatal +to the cause of scriptural truth than to the internal peace of +the Christian communities.”</p> +<p>The first Presbyterian church was founded in Geneva by John +Calvin, about <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1541, and the +system afterwards introduced into Scotland, with modifications by +John Knox, about the year 1560, but not <i>legally</i> +established there till <a name="page107"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 107</span>1592. It has never flourished +greatly in England, and the Unitarian doctrine has now been +almost universally received among the quondam Presbyterian +congregations.</p> +<p>The <i>theory</i> of discipline in the <span +class="smcap">Scottish Church</span> does not differ very widely +from that of the English episcopacy, but the <i>practice</i> of +the two churches, as modified by the habits of the two nations, +is totally different. In order to reconcile the Anglican +and Scottish confessions of faith, it would be requisite that the +Church of England should consent to suppress Articles III. VII. +XXXV. and XXXVI. also that part of Art. VI. which sanctions the +public reading of the Apocrypha, and the first clause of +Art. XX, attributing to the church a power to decree rites +and ceremonies, as well as authority in controversies of +faith. Agreeing, as the English and Scottish Churches do +<i>substantially</i> in the doctrines of the Protestant faith, +they nevertheless differ widely,</p> +<p>1. As to the nature of holy orders and the power of +ordination.</p> +<p>2. As to the hierarchical constitution of the Anglican +Church.</p> +<p>3. As to matters of ritual, especially the use of +liturgies which the Church of Scotland rejects.</p> +<p><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +108</span>4. As to the doctrines of sacramental grace and +sacerdotal absolution, implied in the offices of the Anglican +Church.</p> +<p>5. As to the whole system of discipline, Ecclesiastical +Courts, &c.</p> +<p>6. As to certain points of Calvinistic theology.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>The <span class="smcap">Independents</span> differ from the +Presbyterians chiefly in three points, namely:</p> +<p>1. As to ordination, and the liberty of preaching.</p> +<p>2. As to the political form and constitution of church +government, and the conditions of church communion.</p> +<p>3. As to the grounds and limits of religious +liberty.</p> +<p>“Ordination alone,” say the Independents, +“without the precedent consent of the Church by those who +formerly have been advanced by virtue of that power they have +received by their ordination, doth not constitute any person a +church officer, or communicate office power unto +him.” The Presbyterians on the other hand deny that +the mere invitation and choice of the people could confer the +pastoral office, or that it was even a pre-requisite. The +Independents <a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +109</span>seem to have identified the ministerial function with +the pastoral office; and argued that it was absurd to ordain an +officer without a province to exercise the office in. Their +opponents viewed the Christian ministry more as an order invested +with certain inherent powers; a faculty or profession endowed +with peculiar privileges, the admission into which required to be +jealously guarded; and this power and authority they conceive +could be transmitted by those of the order. All approved +candidates for the ministerial office among the Presbyterians, +are ordained without reference to any local change; among the +Independents no probationer is ordained till he has been +appointed to the pastoral office. The first Independent or +Congregational Church in England was established by a Mr. Jacob, +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1616, though it is asserted that +a Mr. Robinson was the founder of this sect, of which Dr. John +Owen, Dr. Isaac Watts, Dr. Doddridge, and Job Orton were +members.</p> +<p>The following extracts are from the discourses of Robert Hall, +who, though a Baptist, dissented from most of his brethren on the +subject of strict communion. He was a preacher both of +Baptist and Independent congregations, but he did not hesitate to +avow that “he had <a name="page110"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 110</span>more fellowship of feeling for an +Independent or a Presbyterian than for a close communion +Baptist.” His system of theological tenets was on the +model of what has come to be denominated “Moderate +Calvinism.” With regard to the distinctive +Calvinistic doctrine of Predestination, “I cannot,” +says his biographer, “answer for the precise terms in which +he would have stated it, but I presume he would have accepted +those employed by the Church of England. In preaching he +very rarely made any express reference to that +doctrine.”</p> +<p>“Jesus Christ did not come, let it be remembered, to +establish a mere external morality, that his followers might be +screened from human laws and human justice, for human laws will +take care of this. The holy institution of Christianity has +a nobler object, that of purifying our hearts and regulating our +behaviour by the love of God. In the most practical +accounts of the proceedings of the last day given in the +Scriptures, the excellency which is represented as being a +criterion and distinguishing feature of the disciple of Christ, +and which He will acknowledge, is: Christian +benevolence—love to man manifested in the relief of the +poor. The Apostle St. John has given us a most sublime +description <a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +111</span>of the love of God, when he says, ‘God is +love;’ love is not so much an attribute of His nature as +His <i>very essence</i>; the spirit of Himself. Christian +benevolence is not only the ‘image of God,’ but is +peculiarly an imitation of Christ.” “I do not +ask, my brethren, what particular virtue you have, but <i>how +much are you under the influence of Him</i>? for just so much +virtue we have, as we have of His spirit and +character.” “Our Saviour places the acceptance +of men, not upon their dispositions, but upon their actions; upon +what <i>they have done</i>, not upon what they have <i>merely +believed</i> or <i>felt</i>, or in any undefined state of +mind.”—“I am persuaded that the cause of the +ruin of professing Christians does not arise so much from a +mistake of the doctrines of Christianity as from a low idea of +Christian morals; in abstaining from certain crimes and disorders +through fear of the loss of character and of punishment, without +reflecting on the spirit of that holy religion which we +profess.”—“Christ went about doing good, not as +an <i>occasional</i> exercise, but as his <i>employment</i>; it +was the one thing which he did. Though possessed of +infinite power, he never employed it in resenting or retaliating +an injury. He was pre-eminently devout. His was <a +name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>an active +life; it was not the life of a solitary monk. That devotion +which terminates in itself is a luxury which sometimes perverts +the principles of benevolence to a pernicious purpose. Let +us rather recede from being called Christians than forget the +great symbol of our profession, love to one another.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p113b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p113s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +113</span>LETTER VIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PARTICULAR BAPTISTS, SUB AND +SUPRALAPSARIANS, SANDEMANIANS.</span></h2> +<p>Having now given some account of the principal Calvinistic +sects, I shall conclude by mentioning a few of those less +numerous societies, which, whilst agreeing in the peculiar +doctrines of Calvin, differ upon other points. <span +class="smcap">The particular baptists</span>, agreeing with the +General Baptists on most other practices and doctrines, differ +from them on this. The separation took place in the year +1616, when a controversy on the subject of infant baptism having +arisen among the Baptists, one portion calling itself the +“Independent Congregation” seceded, embraced the +Calvinistic doctrine, and became the first Particular Baptists: +others, who were in general attached to the opinions of Calvin, +concerning the decrees of God and Divine Grace, were not entirely +agreed concerning the manner of explaining the doctrine of the <a +name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>Divine +decrees. The greater part believed that God only +<i>permitted</i> the first man to fall into transgression, +without particularly predetermining his fall: these were termed +<span class="smcap">sublapsarians</span>. But others again +maintained that “God in order to exercise and display his +justice and his free mercy, had decreed from all eternity the +transgression of Adam, and so ordered the course of events, that +our first parents could not possibly avoid their fall. +These were termed <span class="smcap">supralapsarians</span>.</p> +<p>There is a modern sect that originated in Scotland about 1728, +termed Glassites, from its founder Mr. John Glass, who was +expelled by the Synod from the Church of Scotland, for +maintaining that “the kingdom of Christ was not of this +world.” His adherents then formed themselves into +churches, conformable in their institution and discipline to what +they apprehended to be the plan of the first churches recorded in +the New Testament. Soon after the year 1755, Mr. John +Sandeman (an elder in one of these congregations in Scotland) +attempted to prove that “Faith is neither more nor less +than a simple assent to the Divine testimony, concerning Jesus +Christ delivered for the offences of men and raised again for +their <a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +115</span>justification, as recorded in the New +Testament.” He also mentioned that the word +<i>Faith</i> or <i>Belief</i>, is constantly used by the Apostles +to signify what is denoted by it in common conversation, i.e. a +persuasion of the truth of any proposition, and that there is no +difference between believing any common testimony, and believing +the apostolic testimony, except that which results from the +testimony itself, and the Divine authority on which it +rests. This led to controversy among the Calvinists and +Sandemanians, concerning the nature of justifying faith; and the +latter formed themselves into a separate sect. They +administer the sacrament of the Lord’s supper weekly, and +hold “love feasts,” of which every member is not only +allowed but required to partake, and which consists of their +dining together at each other’s houses, in the interval +between the morning and afternoon service. They interpret +literally the precept respecting the “kiss of +charity,” which they use on the admission of a new member, +as well as on other occasions, when they deem it necessary or +proper: they make a weekly collection before the sacrament of the +Lord’s supper; use mutual exhortation; abstain from blood +and things strangled; wash each other’s feet; hold that +every <a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>one is to consider all that he possesses to be liable +to the calls of the poor and the church, and that it is unlawful +to “lay up treasure upon earth,” by setting them +apart for any future use. They allow of public and private +diversions, so far as they are not connected with circumstances +really sinful; but apprehending a lot to be sacred, they +disapprove of lotteries, playing at cards, dice, &c. +They maintain the necessity of a plurality of elders, pastors, or +bishops in each church, and the necessity of the presence of two +elders in every act of discipline, and at the administration of +the Lord’s supper. Second marriages disqualify for +the office of elder. The elders are ordained by prayer and +fasting, imposition of hands, and giving the “right hand of +fellowship.” In their discipline they are strict and +severe, and in every transaction esteem unanimity to be +absolutely necessary.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p117b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p117s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +117</span>LETTER IX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">CALVINISTIC METHODISTS. EVANGELICAL +OR SERIOUS CHRISTIANS.</span></h2> +<p>I noticed the name of George Whitfield when speaking of Wesley +and his followers, for during a time they acted in unison; +Whitfield, however, soon embraced the Calvinistic tenets, and +then the friends separated with much of unkindly feeling. +Wesley held the doctrines of Calvin in abhorrence, as altogether +unchristian and unfounded in Scripture. “I defy you +to say so hard a thing of the Devil,” said he with +characteristic earnestness, when speaking of the notion that God +could arbitrarily create any for eternal reprobation. This +separation between the leaders soon extended to their +congregations, and from that time Calvinistic and Wesleyan +Methodists became distinct sects, differing, however, but little +on any other point, excepting in the greater tendency to +enthusiasm among the followers of Whitfield.</p> +<p><a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +118</span>“Wesley and Whitfield,” says Mr. Sidney in +his life of Rowland Hill, “were men of widely different +characters, both in respect to their natural dispositions as well +as the discipline of their minds; and painful frailties were +visible in the midst of their true greatness. An ambitious +love of power was evidently the besetting weakness of John +Wesley; aspiration to the <i>honours</i> when he had no prospect +of the <i>suffering</i> of martyrdom, was that of +Whitfield.” In his letters to Rowland Hill, it is +evident how he courted and enjoyed persecution; and whenever +“<i>the fire</i> (to use his own expression) was kindled in +the country;” he was not satisfied unless +“honoured” by being scorched a little in its +flame. This was a wrong spirit, and did injury to his own +mind, and to his followers, by encouraging a morose and morbid +carriage towards the world, giving needless offence, and +provoking animosity in those who might have been attracted and +endeared to truth by the lovely graces of pure +Christianity.”</p> +<p>At the time when he, and his early friends the Wesleys began +their ministry, the piety of all classes was at a very low +ebb. The earnestness of these men gave a new impulse to +religious feeling, and after a time a considerable <a +name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>number of +other episcopally ordained ministers of the church, together with +a portion of the laity, became influenced by the same +sentiments. Without seceding, they formed a party in the +church, leaning to Calvinism to the extent they thought justified +by the <span class="smcap">xxxix</span> Articles; and this party +soon became designated by several distinguishing terms. +They called themselves <i>Evangelical</i> first, afterwards when +that became a cant term of misapplied reproach, they took the +title of <i>Serious</i> Christians, and by others were called +<i>Low Church</i>, and <i>Methodistical</i>. Besides +distinguishing themselves by an especial name, they avoided +public amusements, used a peculiar phraseology, and seemed to +delight in wearing their religion externally in the sight of all +men, thinking perhaps to reform the thoughtless by the example of +their greater strictness. But herein, in my opinion, they +made a net for their own feet, for that very aspiration after +greater exaltation which is implanted in us as a spur to strive +after glory and immortality, is soon by mismanagement perverted +into a love of earthly distinction. Hence comes ambition; +but the ambition for worldly honours has in it this alleviation, +that the man who toils after a title or a fortune, knows that he +is, after all, <a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +120</span>seeking but a mean object; and if ever his mind is +awakened at all to a sense of the world to come, the soul springs +back to its true ambition, and launches into the career natural +to it: but the man who seeks to be distinguished among his +brethren for superior holiness, and wears it externally, that it +may be seen and honoured by men, blinds his better nature, and +fetters it to earth by chains forged in heaven; he sees not that +he is ambitious; he is not aware that while seeking, as he +imagines, to honour God in his life, he is enjoying at his +heart’s core the respectful homage of men; and whilst +attending to his outward deportment, and making a display even of +his humility, he too frequently leaves the inner heart +unchastened. Our Saviour knew the frailties of man, and his +injunction that our religion should chiefly be manifested by our +benevolent feelings towards our fellow creatures, while the +communing with God should be carried on in silence and secrecy, +is the only safe guide in these matters.</p> +<p>I have no doubt that there are many of the Low Church party, +whose conscientiousness sets at defiance the dangers of the +system they have adopted: indeed my own private friendships +warrant <a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +121</span>me in saying so: but it is not well to lead others into +dangerous paths where our own skill indeed may enable us to walk +safely, but where the hindmost, whom we are not leading by the +hand, are in continual hazard of deviating from the true course; +and therefore whilst honouring individual virtues, I continue to +consider the whole system erroneous: one whose tendency is to +create spiritual pride, and lower the standard of Christian +benevolence by restricting to a party that fellowship which +should be universal. It does but substitute the excitement +of the crowded church where a popular preacher charms with all +the graces of rhetoric, of the committee room, of the speakers at +Exeter Hall, for the ball room and the theatre; with this +difference, that in the first case the instinct which makes the +mind seek this excitement, is overlooked; the man believes +himself performing a meritorious action, and looks with some +contempt on his weaker brethren, who cannot exist without worldly +amusements; on the other he knows what he is about, and if he be +well-intentioned, guards against excess. It would be wiser +therefore to acknowledge the instinct; not bad in itself, for God +implanted it, and if it be denied a due indulgence, <a +name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>the mind +sinks into hopeless imbecility; and not to blame those who seek +other, but innocent means of gratifying it. <a +name="citation122a"></a><a href="#footnote122a" +class="citation">[122a]</a></p> +<p>The extracts that I am about to give, from the writings of two +men of note, in that party, distinguished also for their genuine +Christian feeling, will show that they saw the dangers I have +pointed out, and were anxious to guard against them. The +following extracts are given in Mr. Sidney’s “Life of +the Rev. Rowland Hill.” <a name="citation122b"></a><a +href="#footnote122b" class="citation">[122b]</a></p> +<p><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +123</span>“I hate dry doctrinal preaching, without warm, +affectionate, and experimental applications. Oh! ’tis +most pleasant to love one another with pure hearts +fervently. Love is of God, for ‘God is +love.’ The summit of our happiness must be the +perfection of our holiness. By this blessed grace we have +the brightest evidence that we are ‘born of +God.’ If we allow that little shades of difference +may exist, we ought to ‘love as brethren,’ and where +Christian candour and love are found to reign, the odious sin of +schism, according to its general interpretation, cannot +exist.” “It is no sign that we value the +blessings of God, if we can part with them” (i.e. dear +friends) “without regret. That mind is badly framed +that prefers stoical indifference to Christian sensibility, and +though the pain is abundantly more acute where those finer +feelings of the mind are found to exist; yet who deserves the +name of a human being who is without them?” <a +name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>“While a soul within our reach is ignorant of a +Saviour, we must endeavour to win it to Christ. How weary I +am of a great deal of what is called the ‘<i>religious +world</i>!’ High and Low Church Sectarianism seems to +be the order of the day; we are much more busy in contending for +<i>parties</i> than for <i>principles</i>. These evils are +evidences of a lack of genuine Christianity. Oh! when shall +that happy day dawn upon us, when real Christians and Christian +ministers of all denominations shall come nearer to each +other.”</p> +<p>The next extracts shall be from the writings of one who was +scarcely appreciated by the world in general, but of whose +excellencies I was enabled to judge, during my residence at +Cambridge; Mr. Simeon.</p> +<p>“Religion appears in its true colours when it regulates +our conduct in social life; your religion must be seen, not in +the church, or in the closet only, but in the shop, the family, +the field: it must mortify pride and every other evil passion, +and must bring faith into exercise. Try yourselves by this +standard: see what you are as husbands or wives, parents or +children, masters or servants.” <a +name="citation124"></a><a href="#footnote124" +class="citation">[124]</a></p> +<p><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>“The self-righteous, self-applauding moralist can +spy out the failings and infirmities of those who profess a +stricter system of religion; but let me ask such an one, +‘Are there not in thee, even in thee, sins against the Lord +thy God?’ Verily if thou wouldst consult thy own +conscience, thou wouldst see little reason, and feel little +inclination too, to cast stones at others. Professors of +religion also are but too guilty of this same fault, being filled +with an overweening conceit of their own excellencies, and a +contemptuous disregard of their less spiritual neighbours. +But I would ask the professed follower of Christ, Are there not +sins with thee too as well as with the pharisaic formalist? +Are there not great and crying evils in the religious world, +which prove a stumbling block to those around them? Are +there not often found among professors of religion the same +covetous desires, the same fraudulent practices, the same +deviations from truth and honour, as are found in persons who +make no profession? Are there not many whose tempers are so +unsubdued, that they make their whole families a scene of +contention and misery? Yes! Though the accusations +which are brought against the whole body of religious people as +‘hypocrites,’ are a gross <a name="page126"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 126</span>calumny, there is but too much +ground for them in the conduct of many.” +“Nothing is more common, and nothing more delusive than a +noisy, talkative religion. True religion is a humble, +silent, retired thing; not affecting public notice, but rather +wishing to approve itself to God. It is not in +<i>saying</i> ‘Lord, Lord!’ but in <i>doing</i> the +will of our heavenly Father, that we shall find acceptance at the +last day. Happy would it be if many who place all their +religion in running about and hearing sermons, and talking of the +qualifications of ministers, would attend to this hint, and +endeavour to acquire more of that wisdom which evinces its Divine +origin by the excellence of its fruits.” <a +name="citation126"></a><a href="#footnote126" +class="citation">[126]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p127b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p127s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +127</span>LETTER X.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">ON ROMANISM AND CEREMONIAL +RELIGION.</span></h2> +<p>I promised that as the completion of my task, I would notice +those differences which have occurred in the bosom of the church +itself, even though they can scarcely be called <i>sects</i>; I +therefore propose to conclude my correspondence with a short +survey of the above-named, which I think should rather be viewed +as the working out of great principles, than as parties +distinguished by particular creeds or opinions on abstract +subjects. I may run counter to some prejudices, perhaps, in +so doing; but the truth is well worth running a tilt +for:—you may sit by as umpire, and decide when I have done, +whether I have carried my spear in a knightly fashion.</p> +<p>Though I shall not think it necessary, like Racine’s +advocate in Les Plaideurs, to go back to the Assyrians and the +Babylonians to illustrate my proposition, yet I must begin from a +<a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>very +distant period, in order to make my views thoroughly +comprehensible. I must therefore beg you to notice that the +tendency of man’s mind always is, and always has been, +towards the visible and the tangible. The pure abstraction +of a Governing Will without any perceptible presence, has in it +something too remote from the common habits, powers, and feelings +of human nature, ever to be thoroughly embraced by the heart of +man; and we find that the Deity has always condescended so far to +the weakness of his creatures, as to give the imagination some +resting place. Thus the patriarch had his altar of +sacrifice, where the fire from heaven marked the present +Deity—and the Israelite had first the pillar of the cloud, +and then the tabernacle, where the mysterious Shechinah dwelt +over the mercy seat. Yet even this indistinct +representation of an embodied Deity, did not satisfy the people: +they required a <i>form</i>, tangible, visible, and Aaron yielded +to the wish; because he thought it a prudent and allowable +compliance with the weakness of human nature. He was wrong, +and was punished for it; and this transaction we shall find the +type and foreshadowing of every thing that has since happened in +the world with regard to religion. <a +name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>The +Almighty gives man just enough to rest his thoughts upon: it is +the fire on the altar, the cloud, the temple, and last of all +<i>the man</i>, in whom our devotion may find also an object of +affection: but he requires that we shall not go beyond +this. We must not return to earth, and make for ourselves a +worship less spiritual than he has instituted; on the contrary, +he requires us to pierce through the veil as we advance in +knowledge, and discern the spiritual through the visible. +Hence the perpetual denunciations of the prophets against the +Jews for their adherence to forms, which latterly they did adhere +to, instead of giving attention to the purification of their +hearts.</p> +<p>Among all but the Israelites, the progress of the tangible was +much more rapid: idolatry, with all its gross rites, had +established itself among <i>the people</i>, at any rate, in +Egypt, at a very early period; and spread from that old and +luxurious empire, through the more simple states which sprang up +around and from it. The Exodus was a warning from on high, +that there was a Being, unseen and intangible, whose fiat +governed all things: and this lesson was not wholly without +fruit: yet still the human race reverted to the objects of the +senses, till, in <a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +130</span>God’s good time, he sent his Son: presented a +tangible form on which the mind could dwell—then removed it +from the earth, and said, “You may now think on this, and +give your imagination a resting place: this form you shall see +again; but in mean time you must purify your hearts from earthly +desires: that form will only greet your eyes when you have cast +off the burthen of the flesh, and have entered upon a spiritual +existence.” The first Christians remembered and loved +the man; his precepts, his example, his smallest words or actions +were recurred to with the fondness of personal friendship; and +this carried Christianity through the first two centuries; but +then this remembrance began to have a character of abstraction, +and again the human heart called for tangibility. Then +came, step by step, gorgeous ceremonies, pictures, +representations of the personal presence and sufferings of the +Saviour. The very requirements of those who quitted the +splendid and sensual rites of heathenism for the faith of Christ, +led the Christian doctors to endeavour to replace the festival of +the idol by something analogous in the Christian church: and thus +without well knowing what they were tending to, the heads of the +church yielded one point of <a name="page131"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 131</span>spiritualism after another; sought +to captivate and awe the people by impressive ceremonies; and +finished by the sin of Aaron: they set up the image and said, +“These be thy Gods, O Israel! that brought thee out of the +land of Egypt.” <a name="citation131a"></a><a +href="#footnote131a" class="citation">[131a]</a> For be it +observed here, that Aaron set up this image merely as a tangible +representation of the true Deity; <i>a help to the devotion of +the people</i>, who could not worship without seeing +something.</p> +<p>This then is Romanism; it is not transubstantiation, nor the +mediation of the Virgin and the Saints, <a +name="citation131b"></a><a href="#footnote131b" +class="citation">[131b]</a> nor the infallibility of popes and +councils; these are natural consequences indeed, but the +distinctive character of the Romish church is +<i>tangibility</i>. “There is the actual +flesh,” it says, “there is the representation of the +actual human presence of saints and martyrs; there is the actual +man enthroned, who represents the power of God:” but it +might have fifty other ways of satisfying this restless craving +of the human mind, and it would be equally pernicious in any of +these forms. Man’s great struggle has always been +between the animal <a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>and the spiritual nature, and when religion goes one +step farther towards tangibility than the Deity himself has +allowed, the animal nature gains strength; and vice and +licentiousness follow as naturally, among the mass of the people, +as rain follows the cloud.</p> +<p>Observe, I do not here deny that many may profess a religion +of sense, and remain spiritually-minded themselves: Heathenism +had its Socrates, its Xenocrates, &c.—Romanism has its +Pascal, its Fenelon, and a train of other great names: but look +at the <i>people</i> during that period, and the account will be +very different. When an ignorant man imagines that he can +remove the Divine anger by a sacrifice or a penance, he avoids +the trouble of curbing his passions, and compounds, as he thinks, +for indulgence of the one, by the performance of the other; but +when he is told that purity of life and thought is the only road +to Divine favour, if he sins, he sins at least with some feelings +of compunction, some dread that he may not have it in his power +to remove the stain he is incurring. The preaching of +Wesley reformed multitudes, all enthusiastic as it was; but it +would be difficult to find a parallel in the annals of +Romanism. As great a movement of the public <a +name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>mind was +made by the preaching of Peter the Hermit; but how different was +the object and the result! The personal pilgrimage to the +Holy Sepulchre, as a mode of wiping out sin, was undertaken by +thousands, who perished miserably, or, if they lived, came back +not better men than they went: under a system of less +tangibility, and a preaching as effective, they might have staid +in their homes, and glorified God by a life such as Christ came +to teach and to exemplify.</p> +<p>It is so much easier to make a pilgrimage, or endure a long +fast, than to subdue and tame the animal nature till it becomes +obedient to the rational will, and seconds instead of resisting +its wishes, that it is not surprising that in all ages a religion +of outward observance should be more popular than one of inward +purification. Those even which set off with the highest +pretensions in this way have degenerated, and the outward and +visible form is too often substituted for the inward and +spiritual grace, which it was intended to <i>represent</i> not to +<i>supersede</i>. That religion therefore has the best +chance of influencing the soul, which, as far as is possible, +renounces outward demonstrations which human indolence is so glad +to rely on, and preaches <a name="page134"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 134</span>boldly and effectually the +uselessness of ceremonies, farther than as they tend to preserve +the remembrance of <span class="smcap">Him</span> who came to +call the world back to <span class="smcap">Himself</span>, to +trample on the sensual and the animal, and to raise man to his +pristine, or rather, to what is to be his future state. A +public acknowledgment of Christ as our Master and Lord, and a +compliance with his own few and simple ordinances; are all that +Christian duty requires, and nearly as much as Christian prudence +will permit. The rest is a matter of worldly expediency, +and should be so regarded.</p> +<p>No doubt rests on my own mind—I leave others to think as +they may—that Episcopacy was the established form of the +Church as soon as the Christian communities began to assume +enough of regularity to admit of any settled order; and I think +it a wise form. As far as any institution can, it secures +unity and decency in the church: and as far as any institution +can, that was not positively established by Christ himself, it +possesses, in my mind, the sanction of antiquity. It gives +the concentration of purpose and regularity of effort which is +bestowed by the discipline of an army; for as in an army a +detachment acts upon the same system of tactics, <a +name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>and obeys +officers constituted by the same authority, and thus assists the +efforts of the main body, and falls into rank with it when they +meet; so the church, under such a form, may send detachments to +the ends of the earth, who may meet after long years, as brothers +of the same communion, and find that though the individuals have +passed away, others have stepped into their place in the ranks, +and are teaching what their predecessors taught. The +benefit of church discipline, therefore, in my mind is great; but +I do not suppose that salvation depends on it, because God has +repeatedly declared that Christ died <i>for all</i>, <a +name="citation135a"></a><a href="#footnote135a" +class="citation">[135a]</a> and that he is not willing that any +should perish; <a name="citation135b"></a><a href="#footnote135b" +class="citation">[135b]</a> consequently he can hardly have made +our eternal state dependent on what no man can accomplish for +himself. A person may not have it in his power to receive +baptism from an ordained priest, but he may live as Christ +taught; or, having never heard of Christ even, he may, like the +gentiles, win glory and immortality, <a +name="citation135c"></a><a href="#footnote135c" +class="citation">[135c]</a> if, having not the law, he be a law +unto himself. I would not receive Christ’s ordinances +from the hands of any but an ordained <a name="page136"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 136</span>priest, myself, because if a doubt +exist in my mind, I sin in doing the doubtful thing; but herein I +speak only for myself; let every man do as he is “persuaded +in his mind” <a name="citation136"></a><a +href="#footnote136" class="citation">[136]</a> in matters of +secondary import, as all ceremonial matters must be.</p> +<p>You will now be prepared for my opinion with regard to the +late movement made in the church by the Anglo-Catholics, as they +term themselves; Puseyites, or Newmanites, as they have been +termed by others. They have been thought to have introduced +innovations—they have not:—there is not one of the +ceremonies or practices which they have recommended, which was +not very early practised in the church; but it was from the undue +importance attached to these ceremonies, which came to be +regarded with reverence from having been instituted by apostles +and martyrs, that the after growth of Roman superstition sprang +up so rankly. I believe the first promoters of this +movement were as remote from actual Romanism as I am, when they +first began it; but when once reason is submitted to any human +dictum, in matters of religion, there is no resting place <a +name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>till we +arrive at the “infallible” guide which the Romish +church claims to be. There alone can the soul which will +not think for itself, find a ready and confident director. +Accordingly, we find that some of those very men who but a few +years back exposed the errors of Romanism, have now yielded +themselves blindfold to the guidance of that very church, which, +as long as they allowed themselves to reason, they acknowledged +to have departed from the truth. Yet it is perhaps +fortunate for the people generally, that this declension of its +pastors has been as rapid and complete as it has been:—they +were going back towards the sin of Aaron—they were +insisting on ceremonies as necessary to salvation, thus rendering +religion gross and tangible, and the people thus taught would +soon have forgotten what those ceremonies were intended to +represent, and have depended for salvation on what could not +avail them in the hour of need: for the repetition of prayer is +not necessarily praying, nor is the reception of the eucharist +necessarily sanctification, though these may be the outward and +visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace which is working +in the heart. Once teach a man that <i>any</i> ceremony is +<i>requisite</i> to salvation, and he will soon <a +name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>go a step +further by himself, and think the outward ceremony sufficient +without the inward grace. This indeed is but a necessary +corollary; for if the ceremony be requisite to salvation, then +the inward grace working purity of life, avails not without the +ceremony; and thus purity of life is no longer a substantive +virtue; it cannot stand alone; and the prop which it requires +being so very strong, why should not the prop itself be all in +all? This will be the course of ratiocination in the mind +of the mass of mankind, whether avowed or not; and however the +promoters of a ceremonial religion may shrink from such a +consequence, it is so certain, as all experience shows, that they +might as well throw a man who cannot swim into the water, and +recommend him not to drown, as give a half instructed man a +ceremony, which he is told is requisite to salvation, and expect +that he will not cling to that, as the more convenient and least +difficult observance; and whilst perfect in complying with every +ordinance of the church, forget that he has overlooked the +weightier matters of the law—judgment, justice, and +mercy.</p> +<p>This may sound harsh, but it is true; and I appeal to the calm +judgment even of the excellent <a name="page139"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 139</span>Dr. Pusey himself, who has so +unintentionally drawn many into a course from which, haply, he +would now gladly draw them back, whether it be not so? His +learning will show him how, through all ages, the spiritualism +taught from heaven, has been counteracted by the visible and the +tangible contrived by man; and in the step from the patriarchal +religion, to the idolatry of Greece and Rome; from Christianity +as preached by Christ and his Apostles, to the gross +superstitions of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth +centuries, he may see a type of what would be the consequence of +again enforcing a ceremonial religion.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p140b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative header" +title= +"Decorative header" +src="images/p140s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +140</span>APPENDIX.</h2> +<p>The following are extracts from the “Christianæ +Religionis Institutio,” of Faustus Socinus:</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Quid igitur de Dei natura, sive essentia, +nosse omnino nos debere statuis?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. Hæc duo in summa. Quod sit et quod +unus tantum sit.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Verum quid quæso saltem de Spiritu +Sancto nunc mihi dicis de quo isti similiter affirmant eum esse +divinam personam, nempe tertiam, et unum atque eundem numero Deum +cum Patre et Filio?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. Nempe illum non esse personam aliquam a Deo +cujus est spiritus, distinctam, sed tantum modo (ut nomen ipsum +<i>Spiritus</i>, quod flatum et afflationem, ut sic loquar, +significat, docere potest) ipsius Dei vim et efficaciam quandam, +id est eam, quæ secum sanctitatem aliquam afferat.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Quid censes de Christi natura sive essentia +nobis cognitii esse necessarium?</p> +<p><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span><i>R</i>. Id, ut antea dixi, sine cujus +cognitione voluntas Dei erga nos per ipsum Christum patefacta, a +nobis vel sciri, vel servari nequeat.</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Quid igitur ex iis quæ ad Christi +naturam sive essentiam pertinent, ejusmodi esse censes?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. Vix quidquam. Nam quædam, +quæ ad ipsius Christi personam alioqui pertinent, et nobis +omnino ob prædictam causam cognita esse debent, non +naturalia illi sunt, sed a Deo postmodum ipsi data et concessa, +et sic ad Dei voluntatem sunt referenda, et quidem ad primam quam +fecimus ejus partem, id est ad Dei operationes.</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Quæ nam sunt ista?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. Divinum imperium quod in nos habet. Rom. +xiv. 9.; et suprema illa majestas. Ephes. i. 20, &c.; +qua quidquid usquam est, aut excogitari potest, præter unam +tantum ipsius Dei majestatem longe excellit. 1 Cor. xv. +27. Phil. ii. 8, 9. Heb. ii. 9. Hæc enim +Christo haud naturalia esse, sed a Deo Patre illi data fuisse, +ipsumque ea per et propter mortem atque obedientiam et +resurrectionem suam adeptum esse, apertissime scriptura +testatur.</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Cur vero hæc de Christo cognoscere +omnino debemus?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. Quia, ut Christum divino cultu officiamus vult +Deus. Joh. v. 25. Psal. xlv. 12. Heb. i. +6. <a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +142</span>Philip. ii. 10.; ejus generis, inquam, cultu cujus is +est, quem ipsi Deo exhibere debemus.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Quid de ipsa tamen Christi essentia seu natura +statuis?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. De Christi essentia ita statuo, illum esse +hominem. Rom. v. 15.; in virginis utero, et sic sine viri +ope, divini spiritus vi conceptum ac formatum. Matt. i. 20. +23. Luc. i. 35.; indeque genitum, primum quidem patibilem +ac mortalem. 2 Cor. xiii. 4.; donec, scilicet munus sibi a Deo +demandatum hie in terris obivit; deinde vero postquam in +cœlum ascendit, impatibilem et immortalem factum. +Rom. vi. 9.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Quid enim primum sibi vult, quod innuis hoc +quod Christus Dei filius sit proprius et unigenitus non omnino ad +ejus naturam pertinere?</p> +<p><i>R.</i> Divina ista Christi filiatio, eatenus tantum +ad ejus naturam aliquo modo referri potest, quatenus id respicit +quod Christus divini Spiritus vi sine viri ope in virginis utero +conceptus et formatus fuit. Nam hujusce rei causa eum Dei +filium vocatum ire, ipsius Dei Angelus ipsimet virgini, ex qua +natus est, prædixit. Luc. i. 35; et quidem +consequenter Dei filium proprium et unigenitum, cum nemo alius +hac ratione, et ab ipso primo ortu Dei films unquam +extiterit.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +143</span><i>R</i>. Quod attinet ad primum testimonium quod +habetur (i.e. of præexistence) Joh. i. 3. Dictio +universalis <i>omnia</i> non prorsus universaliter accipienda +est, sed ad subjectam materiam restringenda, ut scilicet ea +tantum omnia complectatur, quæ ad Evangelium pertinent.</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. Sed quid dices, quod in loco isto apud +Johannem additur; sine verbo, id est Deo filio, nihil esse +factum?</p> +<p><i>R</i>. Immo cum certum esse videatur, mox sequentia +verba <i>quod factum est</i> (quidquid nonnulli contra sentiant) +cum additione ista conjungenda esse: dicendum potius videtur, +voluisse Evangelistam cum ista addidit indicare se de quibusdam +nunquam antea et nova ac mirabili ratione factis loqui. Nam +ad docendum simpliciter se loqui de iis quæ sunt facta nec +semper fuerunt, satis habebat illa verba addere, <i>et sine ipso +factum est nihil</i>. Itaque mysterio non videtur carere, +quod præterea addit <i>quod factum est</i>; subaudi novum +et mirabile, ad mundi ipsius statum pertinens, &c. +&c.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Jam dictum est (est de pœnis persolvendis primum agamus) +pœnam quam uniusquisque nostrum propter delicta sua pendere +tenebatur, mortem æternam esse. Hanc profecto +Christus non subiit; et si cam subiisset, universi salutis +nostræ et liberationis a peccatorum pœna spes, <a +name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>et ratio +funditus eversa fuisset. Immo si jam Christus non +resurrexisset, vana, ut inquit Paulus. 1 Cor. xv. 14, 17.; +esset Evangelii prædicatio, et nos adhuc essemus in +peccatis nostris. Et tamen, si idcirco nos servasset +Christus, quod pœnas nostris peccatis debitas ipse +sustinuisset, et nobis ejus rei fides quoad ejus fieri poterat +facienda fuisset; eum nunquam resurgere, sed in morte perpetuo +manere oportuisset: Op. Vol. p. 197, fol. Edit.</p> +<p>Ac dicitis, ut conjeci potest, animadvertendum esse, aliam in +ipsa essentia divina personam patris esse, aliam personam filii: +et Patri potuisse a Filio satisfieri seu ut satisfierat, vim +suppeditari: nec tamen aliquid quod satisfactioni per solutionem +facienda adversetur, committi. Sed dicite obsecro, nonne +ipsius filii personæ non minus quam patris satisfaciendum +fuisse affirmatis. Si filius patri satisfacit, hoc est, +quod illi debetur solvit: quis ipsi filio, quod ipsi debetur, +dabit? Respondebitis, ut arbitror, si patri satisfactum +fuit, filio quoque satisfactum esse; cum eadem sit utriusque +voluntas . . . Quomodo patri a filio quidquam ullo parto solvi +potuisset si quod unius aut est, aut fit, alterius reipsa esse +necesse foret? . . . At vero quis deinde ambigere queat filium +patri nihil dare posse: cum quidquid filius habet patris revera +sit, et ipse Christus disertè dixerit, Joh. xvii. 10, +omnia <a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>quæ sua erant patris esse? Annon ex ipsa +disciplina vestra, hoc est Dei essentiam non distinguere, sed +partiri: si præter personarum proprietates, aliquid unam +personam habere velitis quod alia non habeat. Filii autem +personam proprietates suas patris personæ pro peccatorum +nostrorum satisfactione solvisse, cui unquam in mentem venire +poteret? Ib. p. 202.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">FINIS.</span></p> +<div class="gapspace"><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span> + +</div> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">CHARLES +WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.</span></p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<h2>Footnotes.</h2> +<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3" +class="footnote">[3]</a> αγαπη +which is the word generally translated <i>charity</i> in the New +Testament means <i>affectionate regard</i>. The distinction +between charity and almsgiving is well laid down by St. Clement +of Alexandria. “Charity,” says he, “leads +to the sharing our good things with others; but this is not in +itself charity, but only our outward sign of that +feeling.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4" +class="footnote">[4]</a> See 1 Cor. ix. 19, 20.</p> +<p><a name="footnote5a"></a><a href="#citation5a" +class="footnote">[5a]</a> Rom. xii. 10.</p> +<p><a name="footnote5b"></a><a href="#citation5b" +class="footnote">[5b]</a> “No national prejudices, no +religious differences could hinder our Saviour from doing +good. We should consider that men’s understandings +naturally are not all of the same size and capacity, and that +this difference is greatly increased by different education, +different employments, different company, and the like. No +man is infallible. We are liable to errors perhaps as much +as others. The very best men may sometimes differ in +opinion, as St. Paul ‘withstood St. Peter to the +face;’ and if there was such a difference between two of +the chiefest of the Apostles, well may there be between inferior +mortals. About modes of faith there will always be dispute +and difference; but in acts of mercy and kindness all mankind may +and should agree.”—<i>Newton</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8" +class="footnote">[8]</a> “In fact, all the religious +persecutions in the world, all the penalties and inflictions upon +those who differ from ourselves, however conscientiously, take +their rise from an imperfect and erroneous notion of what really +constitutes the glory of God, and the manner in which we best can +assist its display and extension. The angels at the birth +of Christ sang that the glory of God was in unison with +‘Peace on earth, and good will towards +men.’—‘No!’ said the Schoolman, +‘the glory of God consists in thinking of the Deity as we +think.’—‘No!’ said the Inquisitor, +‘the glory of God consists in worshiping as we +prescribe.’—‘No!’ said the Covenanters, +‘the glory of God consists in exterminating those whom we +call his enemies.’ Mistaken men! who <i>thus</i> +propose to honour the God and Father of the universe, the +merciful God, and the gracious Father of all his rational +creatures! Instead of perusing with delight and conviction +the plain declaration contained in our Sacred records, too many +Christians have in almost every age passed over the +characteristics of kind design throughout nature: they have +mistaken or forgotten the clear delineations of Divine Mercy and +Goodness in the Book of Grace, and have had recourse to the +narrowed circle of their own +prejudices.”—<i>Maltby’s Sermons</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10" +class="footnote">[10]</a> It would be well if Rom. xiv. +were more attentively studied and more universally practised +among Christians.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14" +class="footnote">[14]</a> They have in consequence been +sometimes called “Seekers.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote15a"></a><a href="#citation15a" +class="footnote">[15a]</a> Gough’s History of the +Quakers. Vol. i. p. 139.</p> +<p><a name="footnote15b"></a><a href="#citation15b" +class="footnote">[15b]</a> Probably their resolute refusal +to pay tithes and other dues brought on them some of these +punishments.</p> +<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20" +class="footnote">[20]</a> “Keep the Sabbath +holy,” says Luther, “for its use both to body and +soul; but if any where the day is made holy for the mere +day’s sake; if any where any one sets up its observance +upon a <i>Jewish</i> foundation, then I order you to work on it, +to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it, to do any thing +that shall remove this encroachment on the Christian spirit and +liberty.” This is language which may be easily +misunderstood and perverted from Luther’s meaning; but it +was uttered by him from a jealousy of Sabbatical +superstition.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21" +class="footnote">[21]</a> Matt. v.</p> +<p><a name="footnote22"></a><a href="#citation22" +class="footnote">[22]</a> “There is an unreasonable, +uncharitable, and superstitious notion that a soldier, so far as +his profession is concerned, is ‘of the world;’ and +that a man who dies in the field of battle is <i>necessarily</i> +less prepared for his change than one who dies in his bed. +These feelings, which have sadly tended to degrade and impoverish +the mind of modern Europe . . . to make armies what they are told +they <i>must</i> be; and therefore to make them dangerous by +depriving them of any high restraining principles, have been +greatly encouraged by the tone which religious men of our day +have adopted from the Quakers.” <i>Maurice’s +Kingdom of Christ</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote24a"></a><a href="#citation24a" +class="footnote">[24a]</a> Moral education, in spite of all +the labours of direct instruction, is really acquired in hours of +recreation. Sports and amusements are, and must be the +means by which the mind is insensibly trained: ‘Men are but +children of a larger growth;’ they will have their +pleasures; and unless care be taken, the sermon of the church or +chapel will be neutralized by the association of the tavern and +the raceground. There must be safety valves for the mind, +i.e. there must be means for its pleasurable, profitable, and +healthful exertion; those means it is in our power to render safe +and innocent; in too many instances they have been rendered +dangerous and guilty.” <i>Dr. Taylor</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote24b"></a><a href="#citation24b" +class="footnote">[24b]</a> Every creature of God is good, +and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. (1 +Tim. iv. 4.) Extend this maxim, apply it to the several +means of enjoyment, either supposed or real, that the world +presents to us. Those pleasures from which we cannot +unreservedly arise, and thank our Maker; those pursuits which mar +our devotions, and render us unwilling or afraid to come before +Him, cannot be innocent. It would be no easy matter to lay +down, as applicable to all, a rule as to how far conformity with +the world is admissible, and where the Christian must stop: for +as the habits and tempers and propensities of men differ, so also +do their temptations and their danger. Thus through the +rule by which one would stand securely, another would as +certainly fall. <i>Lectures on the Church +Catechism</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26" +class="footnote">[26]</a> See 1 Tim. iv. 4.</p> +<p><a name="footnote29"></a><a href="#citation29" +class="footnote">[29]</a> “A reverend Doctor in +Cambridge was troubled at his small living at Hoggenton +(Oakington) with a peremptory Anabaptist, who plainly told him, +‘It goes against my conscience to pay you tithes except you +can show me a place of Scripture whereby they are due unto +you.’ The Dr. returned, ‘Why should it not go +as much against my conscience that you should enjoy your nine +parts for which you can show no place in Scripture?’ +To whom the other rejoined, ‘But I have for my land deeds +and evidences from my fathers, who purchased and were peaceably +possessed thereof by the laws of the land.’ +‘The same is my title,’ said the Doctor, +‘tithes being confirmed unto me by many statutes of the +land, time out of mind.’” <i>Fuller’s +Church History</i>, <i>Book II</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote30a"></a><a href="#citation30a" +class="footnote">[30a]</a> John iii. 16.</p> +<p><a name="footnote30b"></a><a href="#citation30b" +class="footnote">[30b]</a> 2 Cor. v. 19.</p> +<p><a name="footnote30c"></a><a href="#citation30c" +class="footnote">[30c]</a> 1 Tim. ii. 4.</p> +<p><a name="footnote31a"></a><a href="#citation31a" +class="footnote">[31a]</a> 1 John iv. 9, 10.</p> +<p><a name="footnote31b"></a><a href="#citation31b" +class="footnote">[31b]</a> Rom. ii. 15.</p> +<p><a name="footnote31c"></a><a href="#citation31c" +class="footnote">[31c]</a> John i. 9. See also 1 John +ii. 1, 2. 2 Heb. ii. 9.</p> +<p><a name="footnote32"></a><a href="#citation32" +class="footnote">[32]</a> Luke xii. 48.</p> +<p><a name="footnote33a"></a><a href="#citation33a" +class="footnote">[33a]</a> Mosh. Ecc. Hist. Cent. xvi. +Sect. iii.</p> +<p><a name="footnote33b"></a><a href="#citation33b" +class="footnote">[33b]</a> Ib.</p> +<p><a name="footnote35a"></a><a href="#citation35a" +class="footnote">[35a]</a> Some of the passages of this +Catechism are quoted by Mosheim, which differ very little from +the doctrine of the primitive church: all that can be noticed is, +that they omit a distinct recognition of the divinity of +Christ.</p> +<p><a name="footnote35b"></a><a href="#citation35b" +class="footnote">[35b]</a> “Fausti Socini Senensis +Opera omnia,” vol. i. p. 561. These works form a part +of the “Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum qui Unitarii +appellantur.” Irenopoli post anno dom. 1656.</p> +<p><a name="footnote36"></a><a href="#citation36" +class="footnote">[36]</a> It is remarkable that +<i>persona</i> should so often be confounded with +individual. <i>Persona</i> in its original sense was the +mask of the actor, <i>through which the sound</i> came. The +same actor might wear many <i>personæ</i>. If Socinus +had recollected this, he might have spared himself the trouble of +controverting a notion never maintained by the orthodox, i.e. +that the Deity was <i>individually divided</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37" +class="footnote">[37]</a> Vide Appendix.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39a"></a><a href="#citation39a" +class="footnote">[39a]</a> Small Books &c. No. +VII. p. 21, &c.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39b"></a><a href="#citation39b" +class="footnote">[39b]</a> πρἰν +Άβραὰμ +γενέσθαι +ἐγώ είμι.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39c"></a><a href="#citation39c" +class="footnote">[39c]</a> John. x. 30.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39d"></a><a href="#citation39d" +class="footnote">[39d]</a> John xiv. 9, 10.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39e"></a><a href="#citation39e" +class="footnote">[39e]</a> 2 Cor. v. 19.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39f"></a><a href="#citation39f" +class="footnote">[39f]</a> 1 Tim. ii. 5.</p> +<p><a name="footnote40"></a><a href="#citation40" +class="footnote">[40]</a> Athanasian Creed.</p> +<p><a name="footnote41"></a><a href="#citation41" +class="footnote">[41]</a> John v. 30.</p> +<p><a name="footnote42"></a><a href="#citation42" +class="footnote">[42]</a> The following are extracts from +the “Book of Common Prayer reformed,” professing to +have been a selection made by “the late Rev. Theophilus +Lindsey for the use of the congregation in Essex +Street”—and as a liturgy is generally allowed to be a +fair exponent of the doctrines of those who use it—perhaps +we may assume that the violent and reprehensible expressions made +use of by some few persons of this persuasion, are not such as +would be acknowledged by the congregations of Unitarians in +general.</p> +<p>Form of baptism. “I baptize thee into +(εἰς) the name of the Father and of the Son +and of the Holy Spirit.”</p> +<p>“Almighty and ever blessed God, by whose providence the +different generations of mankind are raised up to know thee and +to enjoy thy favour for ever; grant that this child now dedicated +to thee as the disciple of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, may be +endued with heavenly virtues . . . and that we may daily proceed +in all virtue and goodness of living, till we come to that +eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Christ our +Lord.”</p> +<p>Order for the administration of the Lord’s Supper. +Confession, the same as in the liturgy of the English church as +far as “we do heartily repent and are heartily sorry for +these our misdoings, the remembrance of which is grievous unto +us. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful +Father; forgive us all that is past: and grant that we may ever +hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life to the honour +and glory of thy name.” The absolution is the same +with the trifling change of <i>us</i> for <i>you</i>. The +sentences following are the same till “Hear also what St. +John saith,” where the text 1 John i. 8, 9, is +substituted.</p> +<p>Prayer before the minister receives the communion. +“Almighty God, our heavenly Father, by whose gracious +assistance and for our benefit, thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus +Christ, was obedient even to the death upon the cross; who did +institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue, a +perpetual memorial of his death until his coming again; hear us, +we most humbly beseech thee; and grant that we may receive this +bread and wine in grateful remembrance of his death and +sufferings, and of thy great mercy to mankind in sending him, thy +chosen messenger, to turn us from darkness to light, from vice to +virtue, from ignorance and error to the knowledge of thee, the +only true God, whom to know is life everlasting.”</p> +<p>Form of administration. “Take and eat this bread +in remembrance of Christ”—“Take and drink this +wine in remembrance of Christ.”</p> +<p>In the daily service many prayers are omitted, so as to make +the service much shorter. The exhortation and confession +are the same; for the absolution is substituted “Almighty +God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from +whom no secrets are hid; purify the thoughts of our hearts that +we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name +through Christ our Lord.”—It would be useless to +multiply extracts—enough has been given to show the +doctrine of the Unitarian congregations who use this liturgy.</p> +<p><a name="footnote47"></a><a href="#citation47" +class="footnote">[47]</a> Priestly’s +“Discourses on Various Subjects,” p. 419. See +also p. 14, &c. and Prefatory Discourse, p. 93.</p> +<p><a name="footnote48"></a><a href="#citation48" +class="footnote">[48]</a> Channing’s Discourse on +preaching Christ.</p> +<p><a name="footnote49"></a><a href="#citation49" +class="footnote">[49]</a> Channing’s Works. On +the great purpose of Christianity.</p> +<p><a name="footnote50a"></a><a href="#citation50a" +class="footnote">[50a]</a> Channing’s Character of +Christ.</p> +<p><a name="footnote50b"></a><a href="#citation50b" +class="footnote">[50b]</a> Channing’s Sunday +School.</p> +<p><a name="footnote50c"></a><a href="#citation50c" +class="footnote">[50c]</a> Channing’s Charge at the +Ordination of Rev. R. C. Waterston.</p> +<p><a name="footnote51a"></a><a href="#citation51a" +class="footnote">[51a]</a> Channing On Infidelity.</p> +<p><a name="footnote51b"></a><a href="#citation51b" +class="footnote">[51b]</a> Channing’s System of +Exclusion.</p> +<p><a name="footnote52"></a><a href="#citation52" +class="footnote">[52]</a> John Wesley was born in 1703.</p> +<p><a name="footnote54"></a><a href="#citation54" +class="footnote">[54]</a> “I rode over to a +neighbouring town,” says Wesley, “to wait upon a +justice of peace, a man of candour and understanding; before whom +I was informed their angry neighbours had carried a whole waggon +load of these new heretics.” But when he asked, +“what they had done,” there was a deep silence, for +that was a point their conductor had forgot. At length one +said, “Why they pretend to be better than other people, and +besides they pray from morning till night.” Mr. S--- +asked, “But have they done nothing besides?” +“Yes, Sir,” said an old man, “an’t please +your worship they have <i>convarted</i> my wife; till she went +among them she had such a tongue, and now she is as quiet as a +lamb.” “Carry them back,” replied the +justice, “and let them convert all the scolds in the +town.”—(Wesley’s Journal.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote55"></a><a href="#citation55" +class="footnote">[55]</a> Watson’s Life of Wesley, +page 484.</p> +<p><a name="footnote56"></a><a href="#citation56" +class="footnote">[56]</a> Lackington.</p> +<p><a name="footnote59a"></a><a href="#citation59a" +class="footnote">[59a]</a> “Who does as he would be +done by, in buying or selling? particularly selling horses? +Write him a knave that does not, and the Methodist knave is the +worst of all knaves.”—<i>Wesley’s Large +Minutes</i>, Q. 13.</p> +<p><a name="footnote59b"></a><a href="#citation59b" +class="footnote">[59b]</a> Snuff-taking and drams are +expressly forbidden.</p> +<p><a name="footnote59c"></a><a href="#citation59c" +class="footnote">[59c]</a> In May 1776, an order was made +in the House of Lords, “That the Commissioners of His +Majesty’s Excise do write circular letters to all such +persons whom they have reason to suspect to have plate, as also +to those who have not paid regularly the duty on the +same.” In consequence of this order the +Accountant-general for household plate sent a copy of it to John +Wesley. The answer was as follows:</p> +<blockquote><p>Sir,</p> +<p>I have <i>two</i> silver teaspoons in London and two at +Bristol: this is all the plate which I have at present, and I +shall not buy any more while so many round me want bread.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">I am Sir, your most humble +servant,<br /> +<span class="smcap">John Wesley</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote61"></a><a href="#citation61" +class="footnote">[61]</a> “I used my prayers,” +says the author of the ‘Bank of Faith,’ “<i>as +gunners do swivels</i>; <i>turning them every way</i> as the +cases required.” Wesley relates in his Journal that +“By prayer he used to cure a violent pain in his +head,” &c.</p> +<p><a name="footnote62"></a><a href="#citation62" +class="footnote">[62]</a> This writer, the celebrated +Lackington the bookseller, relates the following occurrence soon +after he turned Methodist. “One Sunday morning at +eight o’clock, my mistress seeing her sons set off, and +knowing they were gone to a Methodist meeting, determined to +prevent me from doing the same, by locking the door; on which in +a superstitious mood I opened the Bible for direction what to do, +and the first words I read were these, “He shall give his +angels charge concerning thee, lest at any time thou dash thy +foot against a stone.” This was enough for me, so +without a moment’s hesitation I ran up two pair of stairs +to my own room, and out of the window I leapt to the great terror +of my poor mistress. My feet and ancles were most +intolerably bruised, so that I was obliged to be put to bed; and +it was more than a month before I recovered the use of my +limbs. I was then ignorant enough to think that <i>the Lord +had not used me very well</i>; and I resolved <i>not to put so +much trust in him</i> for the future. My rash adventure +made a great noise in the town, and was talked of many miles +round. Some few admired my prodigious strength of faith; +but the major part pitied me as a poor ignorant, deluded, and +infatuated boy.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote64a"></a><a href="#citation64a" +class="footnote">[64a]</a> Wesley’s Works, vol. xii. +p. 49. Some of Wesley’s expressions, when confronted +with each other, appear incompatible; in such cases the main +drift of the writer must always be considered; for it is much +more usual to fail in expressing our meaning than to express +contradictory opinions: since the latter implies a cerebral +defect verging on insanity, the former merely results from a +faulty style. Scripture does not any where warrant us in +saying “<i>the moment</i> a penitent sinner,” +&c.; but requires from us a proof of this belief by actions +conformable to it. God has promised us immortality through +his Son, only if we not merely believe, but “do that which +is lawful and right.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote64b"></a><a href="#citation64b" +class="footnote">[64b]</a> Wesley censured some of his +preachers for pushing the doctrine of perfection too far.</p> +<p><a name="footnote65"></a><a href="#citation65" +class="footnote">[65]</a> Wesley’s Works, vol. viii. +p. 219. and vol. xi. p. 415.</p> +<p><a name="footnote66"></a><a href="#citation66" +class="footnote">[66]</a> So called from their habit of +rebaptizing those who entered their communion. They were +afterwards called <i>Antipædobaptists</i>, from their +objection to <i>pædo</i> or infant baptism; and finally, +the English habit of abbreviation of words at all commonly used, +contracted the word into <i>Baptist</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote67"></a><a href="#citation67" +class="footnote">[67]</a> Mosheim. Ecc. Hist. Cant. XVI. +Sect, iii. Part 2.</p> +<p><a name="footnote68a"></a><a href="#citation68a" +class="footnote">[68a]</a> Milton belonged to the class of +Anti-Trinitarian General Baptists.</p> +<p><a name="footnote68b"></a><a href="#citation68b" +class="footnote">[68b]</a> That the body of Jesus was not +derived from the substance of the blessed Virgin, but created in +her womb by an omnipotent act of the Holy Spirit.</p> +<p><a name="footnote68c"></a><a href="#citation68c" +class="footnote">[68c]</a> V. Mosheim’s Ecc. +Hist.</p> +<p><a name="footnote69"></a><a href="#citation69" +class="footnote">[69]</a> All who baptize infants may be +termed pædo-baptists; the word is derived from the Greek +πάις a child or infant, and +βὰπτω to baptize.</p> +<p><a name="footnote70a"></a><a href="#citation70a" +class="footnote">[70a]</a> Yet the bishop ought to have +known that baptism by immersion was practised in the church for +many centuries, and the rubric of our common prayer leaves the +option of immersion or aspersion.</p> +<p><a name="footnote70b"></a><a href="#citation70b" +class="footnote">[70b]</a> Condor’s View. p. 380.</p> +<p><a name="footnote75a"></a><a href="#citation75a" +class="footnote">[75a]</a> Marriage is enumerated in one of +the Moravian hymns amongst the services of danger, for which the +United Brethren are “to hold themselves +prepared.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“You as yet single are but little tried,<br +/> +Invited to the supper of the bride,<br /> +That like the former warrior each may stand<br /> +Ready for land, sea, marriage, at command.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote75b"></a><a href="#citation75b" +class="footnote">[75b]</a> See Latrobe’s edition of +Spangenburgh’s Exposition of Christian Doctrine.</p> +<p><a name="footnote79"></a><a href="#citation79" +class="footnote">[79]</a> Litany of the New Church. +Office of ordination, p. 151.</p> +<p><a name="footnote80a"></a><a href="#citation80a" +class="footnote">[80a]</a> Rom. xxi. 27.</p> +<p><a name="footnote80b"></a><a href="#citation80b" +class="footnote">[80b]</a> 1 Cor. i. 3.</p> +<p><a name="footnote81a"></a><a href="#citation81a" +class="footnote">[81a]</a> John i. 18.</p> +<p><a name="footnote81b"></a><a href="#citation81b" +class="footnote">[81b]</a> John vi. 46.</p> +<p><a name="footnote82"></a><a href="#citation82" +class="footnote">[82]</a> Liturgy of the New Church Office +of Baptism, p. 58.</p> +<p><a name="footnote84"></a><a href="#citation84" +class="footnote">[84]</a> “Jesus the Fountain of Life +and Light,” p. 12.</p> +<p><a name="footnote85"></a><a href="#citation85" +class="footnote">[85]</a> In some places it is not till the +end of a fortnight.</p> +<p><a name="footnote87a"></a><a href="#citation87a" +class="footnote">[87a]</a> Examination of the opinions of +the Plymouth Brethren.</p> +<p><a name="footnote87b"></a><a href="#citation87b" +class="footnote">[87b]</a> The following is a sample from +one of their published works: “The first eclogue of Virgil +has always appeared to me to express most felicitously the +pleasures of a <i>pastoral</i> life as we too frequently see it +in these days. With what force the following lines describe +the grateful feeling of a <i>young clergyman</i>, who is +recounting the benefits conferred on him by his patron:</p> +<blockquote><p>O Melibœe, Deus nobis hæc otia +fecit.<br /> +Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus—<br /> +Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum<br /> +Ludere, qæe vellem, calamo permisit agresti.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>My patron shall always be a divinity to me, for he put me into +this life of ease when he gave me this <i>gem</i>, <i>the +prettiest living in England</i>. He gave me this <i>easy +duty</i>, so that I can let my flock wander wheresoever it may +please them, as you see they do; while I myself do just what 1 +like, and occasionally amuse myself with a <i>pianoforte</i> by +Stoddart, that cost eighty-five guineas.”</p> +<p>“He (the congregational minister) is now, in his own +opinion, the <span class="smcap">one man</span> of the whole body +of believers in all the services of the sanctuary. He +utters all their sentiments of faith and doctrine, and offers up +all their prayers! How can he justify the position he has +assumed as <i>an usurper</i>? yea as a <i>grievous wolf</i>! in +that he has swallowed up <i>all the gifts of the Holy Ghost</i> +in the <i>voracity of his selfishness</i>,” &c. +It is not thus that the “unity of the church,” which +they profess to desire is likely to be cemented.</p> +<p><a name="footnote90"></a><a href="#citation90" +class="footnote">[90]</a> Bishop Jewel, in his +“Defence of his apology for the Church of England,” +says, that “the term <i>Calvinist</i> was in the first +instance applied to the Reformers and the English Protestants as +a matter of reproach by the Church of Rome.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote91"></a><a href="#citation91" +class="footnote">[91]</a> Whatever difference may have +subsisted between Luther and Calvin on the subject of Divine +decrees, no language can be stronger than that in which Luther +insists upon the moral impotence of man’s depraved nature +in opposition to the Pelagian doctrine of freewill.</p> +<p><a name="footnote93a"></a><a href="#citation93a" +class="footnote">[93a]</a> It is difficult to reconcile +this doctrine with 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. 1 Tim. ii. 6. 2 +Pet. iii. 9. Rom. viii. 32. 1 Tim. iv. 10. +&c.</p> +<p><a name="footnote93b"></a><a href="#citation93b" +class="footnote">[93b]</a> The best account of their system +is to be found in “The Assembly’s Catechism,” +which is taught their children. To this sect belongs more +particularly the doctrine of <i>Atonement</i>, or, “that +Christ by his death made satisfaction to the Divine justice for +the <i>Elect</i>; appeasing the anger of the Divine Being, and +effecting on his part a reconciliation.” That thus +Christ had, as they term it, “the sin of the Elect laid +upon him.” But some of their teachers do not hold +this opinion, but consider Christ’s death as simply a +medium through which God has been pleased to exercise mercy +towards the penitent. “The sacrifice of +Christ,” says Dr. Magee, “was never deemed by any +(who did not wish to calumniate the doctrine of atonement), to +have made God placable: but merely viewed as the means appointed +by Divine wisdom by which to bestow forgiveness.” To +this it may be further added, that the language used throughout +the Epistles of St. Paul with regard to the redemption of man, is +that of the then familiar slave market. Man is +“bought with a price” from his former master, Sin, +for the service of God. The scholar who will consult Romans +vi. will see immediately that all the metaphors used are those of +purchase for military service; “Your members,” says +he, ver. 13, “shall not be the arms +(ὄπλα) of unrighteousness used for the +service of sin; but the arms (ὄπλα) of +righteousness for God.” And ver 23, τὰ +γὰρ ὀψώνια +τῆς +ὰμαρτίας, +θάνατος· τὸ +δὲ χαρισμα +τοῦ θεοῦ, +ζωὴ, +αἰώνιος ἐν +Χριτῷ Ιησοῦ +τῷ κυρίῳ +ἠμῶν. i.e. The rations of sin are death, but +the donative of God is eternal life, by means of Jesus Christ our +Lord. It is impossible to express more clearly that it was +not the wrath of God which required to be appeased by the great +sacrifice—the slave was <i>bought by Him for +Himself</i>—the price was of course paid to another. +Much misunderstanding has arisen from the careless interpretation +of these and the like passages, whose phraseology has become +obsolete along with the practice of buying and selling slaves, at +least in this country.</p> +<p><a name="footnote95a"></a><a href="#citation95a" +class="footnote">[95a]</a> Matt. xvi. 27.</p> +<p><a name="footnote95b"></a><a href="#citation95b" +class="footnote">[95b]</a> Matt. xviii. 14.</p> +<p><a name="footnote96a"></a><a href="#citation96a" +class="footnote">[96a]</a> Vide Exod. xxxiii. 14, et +seq.</p> +<p><a name="footnote96b"></a><a href="#citation96b" +class="footnote">[96b]</a> According to the Calvinistic +doctrine above stated, character has no concern whatever with +their call; ergo, if this is right, St. Paul is wrong, and +mankind <i>are</i> called with respect of persons.</p> +<p><a name="footnote96c"></a><a href="#citation96c" +class="footnote">[96c]</a> “This system (Calvinism) +by setting aside the idea of a human will, leaves the doctrine of +Divine Will barren and unmeaning; the idea of a personal ruler +disappears, and those most anxious to assert the government of +the Living God have been the great instruments in propagating the +notion of an atheistical necessity.” +<i>Maurice’s Kingdom of Christ</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote98a"></a><a href="#citation98a" +class="footnote">[98a]</a> Hopkins on the New Birth.</p> +<p><a name="footnote98b"></a><a href="#citation98b" +class="footnote">[98b]</a> 1 John iii. 7–10, see also +v. 21 of the same chapter, where our confidence towards God is +shown to depend on the judgment of our own consciousness of wrong +or well doing. The whole chapter is well worth the study of +every Christian.</p> +<p><a name="footnote102"></a><a href="#citation102" +class="footnote">[102]</a> I take this from books, not +having personal acquaintance with the Presbyterians of Ireland: +and such is the confusion generally made by authors between +Arianism, Socinianism, and Unitarianism, that it is difficult to +know which is meant. As a large proportion of the modern +Presbyterians have embraced Unitarian doctrines, it seems +improbable that the Irish should have adopted those of Arius, +though my author uses the term Arian as applied to the doctrine +of the seceders.</p> +<p><a name="footnote106"></a><a href="#citation106" +class="footnote">[106]</a> See “The Use and Abuse of +Creeds and Confession of Faith,” by the Rev. Charles James +Carlile, Dublin, 1836. “The Irish Church and +Ireland,” p. 66–68, and “A Narrative of the +Proceedings of the Associate Synod in Ireland and Scotland in the +affair of the Royal Bounty,” by James Bryce. Belfast, +1816.</p> +<p><a name="footnote122a"></a><a href="#citation122a" +class="footnote">[122a]</a> Although the excellent Bishop +Heber’s mind was deeply imbued with devotional feelings, he +considered a moderate participation in what are usually called +worldly amusements, to be allowable and blameless. +“He thought,” says his biographer, “that the +strictness which made no distinction between things blameable +only in their abuse, and the practices which were really immoral, +was prejudicial to the interests of true religion; and on this +point his opinion remained unchanged to the last. His own +life indeed was a proof that amusement so participated in, may be +perfectly harmless, and no way interfere with any religious or +moral duty.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote122b"></a><a href="#citation122b" +class="footnote">[122b]</a> “Rowland Hill, in his +theological opinions, leaned towards Calvinism, but what is +called Hyper-calvinism, he could not endure. In a system of +doctrine he was follower of no man, but drew his sermons fresh +from a prayerful reading of the Bible. He was for drawing +together all the people of God wherever they could meet, and was +willing to join in a universal communion with Christians of every +name. When, on one occasion, he had preached in a chapel, +where none but baptized adults (i.e. baptized after attaining +years of discretion), were admitted to the sacrament, he wished +to have communicated with them, but was told respectfully, +‘You cannot sit down at <i>our</i> table.’ He +calmly replied, ‘I thought it was the Lord’s +table.’” Sidney’s Life of R. Hill, p. +422, 3rd Edit.</p> +<p><a name="footnote124"></a><a href="#citation124" +class="footnote">[124]</a> Simeon’s Works, Vol. III. +p. 101, &c.</p> +<p><a name="footnote126"></a><a href="#citation126" +class="footnote">[126]</a> Simeon’s Works, Vol. III. +p. 333.</p> +<p><a name="footnote131a"></a><a href="#citation131a" +class="footnote">[131a]</a> Exod. xxxii. 4.</p> +<p><a name="footnote131b"></a><a href="#citation131b" +class="footnote">[131b]</a> Vide Colossians ii. 18, 19.</p> +<p><a name="footnote135a"></a><a href="#citation135a" +class="footnote">[135a]</a> 2 Cor. v. 15. 1 Tim. ii. +6.</p> +<p><a name="footnote135b"></a><a href="#citation135b" +class="footnote">[135b]</a> 2 Pet. iii. 9.</p> +<p><a name="footnote135c"></a><a href="#citation135c" +class="footnote">[135c]</a> Rom. ii. 6–11.</p> +<p><a name="footnote136"></a><a href="#citation136" +class="footnote">[136]</a> Rom. xiv. 5.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN SECTS IN THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 36113-h.htm or 36113-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/1/1/36113 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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