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 102 Coleridge (S. T.), Hints to the Public and the Legislature on the Nature 
 and Effect of Evangelical Preaching, by a Barrister. 4 parts in 1 volume, 
 8vo, very fine uncut copy, calf, 1808. The special interest of this book 
 consists in the enormous quantity of very plainly written marginal notes 
 f>. T. Coleridge, extending throughout, and covering more or less the 
 ■gins of about 120 pages. A portion of these at the commencement 
 (about 35 pages) were originally in pencil (the traces of which are plainly 
 visible), and have been inked over by Southey, who has written as follows 
 on the fly-leaf : — " The marginal notes in this book are S. T. Coleridge's, 
 written in pencil by him, and traced in ink by me — that nothing be lost. 
 — R. Southey, June 13, 1810." A most precious relic of Coleridge and 
 Southey, and the extent of the Notes being so con siderable, of great in- 
 terest as showing Coleridge's religions views,! - 
 
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The Original Manuscript 
 
 OF 
 
 SOUTHEY'S 
 
 LIFE OF DR. BELL. 
 
 One Hundred and Fifty Pages, 4to. 
 
 Entirely Antograph. Very 
 
 closely written in Twelve 
 
 Chapters. 
 
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 Aug. 7, 1813. Also 
 
 R. E. BEWICK'S A.L.S., 1818. 
 
 With printed Receipt for Large Paper 
 
 copy of .(Esop's Fables, with woodcuts 
 
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 of the Receipt. 
 
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HINTS 
 
 PUBLIC AND THE LEGISLATURE, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 NATURE AND EFFECT 
 
 Ctoangeltcal ^reacfnng* 
 
 BY A BARRISTER. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 — " I am astonished at the tranquil courage of any man who can 
 quietly see that a loaded cannon is brought to bear upon him, and that 
 a fool is sitting at its touch-hole with a lighted match in his hand. And 
 yet, my Lords, upon a little reflection, what is it, after what we have seen,' 
 that should surprise us, however it may shock us ?— What have the last 
 ten years of the world been employed in, but in destroying the landmarks 
 of rights, duties, and obligations ; in substituting sound in the place of 
 sense ; in substituting a vile and canting methodism in the place of 
 social duty and practical honour; in suffering virtue to evaporate into 
 phrase, and morality into hypocrisy and affectation ? " 
 
 Curran's Spee.chinthe Cause of the King against Johnson, Feb. 4th, 1805. 
 
 JLon&on .- 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD i 
 
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Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland-court, Strand. 
 
Xv.&.A. 
 
 v 
 
 
 HINTS, 
 
 &e. 
 
 WHEN we behold a gradual but 
 striking alteration unfolding itself in the man- 
 ners and morals of a people, it is matter of 
 some curiosity, since we are touched so nearly 
 by the effects, that we examine a little into the 
 cause. We have nearly a million of inhabitants 
 in this metropolis alone ; — if, therefore, any large 
 number of persons, acting with united force and 
 with one impulse upon the morals of this vast 
 body, and elevating themselves into the high 
 and awful station of public Teachers, by 
 degrees get the direction of the mind, and the 
 disposal of the conscience, of all the lower or- 
 
 a.si\*5?>a. 
 
ders of which this vast community is composed, 
 it is worth our while to inquire a little into the 
 actual nature, that we may determine some- 
 what of the probable effect, of the principles 
 which this body of spiritual Directors inculcate. 
 •^-It is matter of prudence, as well as curiosity, to 
 ascertain whatshape the popular mind is likely 
 to take, when, in due season, it shall come out 
 of the mould in which it is thus to be cast. 
 
 One generation, says Solomon, passeth away, 
 and another generation cometh. — Whether each 
 
 has improved upon the former, it might be dif- 
 
 i 
 ficult to decide ; but, however this may be, 
 
 there seems to be still room for improvement, 
 whatever may be the velocity with which we 
 are speeding towards perfection. 
 
 Many and various, in the present generation, 
 are the new systems to which the old have 
 given place. We have a new system of agri- 
 culture^ — a new system of gardening — a new 
 system of physic — a new system of politics— 
 and, to crown the catalogue, we have a New 
 System of Reltgion ; a system which bids fair 
 to explode the old, and to answer fully all the 
 expectations of those who have franfed it. 
 
Thanks to the indefatigable zeal of these 
 New Reformers, we are fast emerging from a 
 state of moral darkness to a blaze of marvellous 
 light ; and this light is fast spreading itself 
 into every mind which its rays can be made to 
 penetrate. 
 
 Novelty has been justly termed the spice of 
 life. We have had the old Gospel for upwards of 
 eighteen centuries, and the moral law contained 
 in it was, to our pious forefathers, the rule of 
 life. Taking that Gospel for their guide, they 
 were taught that this present world was a state 
 of trial — that every man had certain talents 
 committed to him, some ten, some rive, some 
 one — that to whom much was given, from him 
 much would be required — and that all Were 
 accountable hereafter for the abuse of the 
 talents, or means of improvement, respectively re- 
 ceived.— And the Preacher of that Gospel, when 
 in those days he assembled his congregation to- 
 gether, exhorted them to an earnest and un^ 
 failing attention to this their future responsi- 
 bility ; he urged them never to degrade that 
 nature which God had dignified with the noble 
 gift of reason, but so to act as not to shew 
 
8 
 
 themselves unworthy of that invaluable privi- 
 lege, but apply it to the noble purposes for 
 which it was bestowed.— The obvious duty of 
 conforming to this advice was then felt, and a 
 frequent meditation upon the consequences of 
 neglecting it served to strengthen their resolu- 
 tions to shun whatever might tempt them to 
 disregard it. 
 
 We are weak enough to call these the good 
 old times. Alas ! they were sadly unsound in 
 the faith. This primitive pastor, in the simpli- 
 city of his heart, fancied himself in the discharge 
 of his duty ; he never dreamed that all this made 
 no part of his sacred office. Let us attend to one 
 of the New Gospel-Preachers, that we may 
 learn from themselves, and in their own words, 
 how the duty of reforming vice is to be dis- 
 charged, and in what manner the wicked are 
 to be entreated to turn from their wickedness, 
 and live. 
 
 " 1 shall not declaim," says Dr. Hawker, " on 
 the moral excellence of human nature, while 
 our church prayers with one voice continually 
 declare that we have no health, no excellence, 
 in us ; neither shall I recommend human 
 
9 
 
 strength to exert itself in acts of moral virtue 
 towards their own salvation*." 
 
 "When it is thus publicly announced, that the 
 new Gospel-preachers will not recommend what 
 the apostles of the old Christian dispensation 
 recommended, and that too most strongly and 
 most strenuously, and which they enforced by 
 all the motives and all the sanctions which that 
 dispensation reveals, we can readily perceive how 
 enticing such an assurance must be, and what 
 a concourse such an intimation must draw to- 
 gether. Dr. Hawker accordingly is followed 
 by his crowd of dear hearers, whenever his visit 
 to London from Plymouth is made known amid 
 the congregations of the faithful. 
 
 Mr. CoLQUHOUN,in his excellent and valuable 
 Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, 
 informs us, (and his information is warranted by 
 a pretty correct estimate,) that in this city of 
 
 * Solemn Questions for Serious Christians, by Robert 
 Hawker, D. D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth. The better 
 to extend the numerous tracts of these Evangelical Di- 
 vines, their price is adapted to the lower classes. The tract 
 from which they may derive the above intelligence is price 
 two-pence, or 12s. 6d, per hundred, to those who buy them 
 to give away. 
 
10 
 
 London, including all classes of criminal and 
 depraved persons, " above twenty thousand 
 individuals rise every morning, without knowing 
 how or by what means they are to be supported 
 through the passing day, and, in many instances, 
 where they are to lodge the succeeding night." 
 Should any one or more among those wretched 
 victims of vice and imprudence, when left to 
 solitude and their own conscience, feel such a 
 degree of remorse and penitence as should lead 
 them into a place of worship, it is to be hoped 
 that they would there find some humane moral 
 Teacher, who would dissuade them from vice by 
 an affecting display of its consequences, would 
 teach them how virtuous habits may best be 
 formed, and evil temptation best overcome; — 
 who would adjure them, as they value their 
 present and eternal peace, to forsake for ever 
 their accustomed haunts of wickedness, and 
 strive to support themselves by honest la- 
 bour, that by their future amendment of life 
 they may lay a foundation of hope for that 
 pardon which is promised only to contrite and 
 penitent offenders. — This moral preacher would 
 be encouraged so to do, not only by the die- 
 
ii 
 
 tates of his own heart, but also by the ani- 
 mating words of that apostle*, who has said : 
 " Brethren, if any one of you do err from the 
 truth, and one convert him, let him know that 
 he who converteth a sinner from the error of his 
 way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide 
 a multitude of sins/' — Bat the new Evangelical 
 Reformer, not satisfied with silently neglecting 
 to convert the ignorant and unhappy criminal 
 from the error of his way — not content with 
 forbearing to urge him to use the means of 
 grace, that he may attain the hope of glory, 
 circulates a public notice and acknowledgment, 
 in the shape of a pamphlet, that he shall not 
 
 RECOMMEND HUMAN STRENGTH TO EXERT 
 ITSELF IN ACTS OF MORAL VIRTUE TOWARDS 
 ITS OWN SALVATION. 
 
 Having paused a little, to reflect on the in- 
 telligence thus sent forth to circulate itself into 
 all the alleys and bye-streets, and among all 
 the lower orders in this overgrown capital, let 
 us attend a little further to this Evangelical 
 Doctor's declaration of what he will not do. 
 
 * James 5. 1 9. 
 
12 
 
 It is taken from the same little Manual of Piety 
 in which the former is recorded. — " If (says he) 
 I do from my heart believe in our church doc- 
 trine, of the fallen, sinful, helpless, miserable 
 state of human nature, all the parts of my 
 preaching, as well as my conduct in the world, 
 will carry with it a suitable correspondence." 
 
 It must obviously be of prodigious benefit 
 to the community that all should be made to 
 believe in this Evangelical doctrine, that God 
 made them originally sinful and depraved, if, 
 as we are told, " the conduct will carry with it 
 a suitable correspondence ;" and the likelihood 
 that it will do so is certainly very great, since 
 it is every way calculated to produce that effect. 
 It might perhaps be more serviceable, since 
 " it is God that hath made us, and not we our- 
 selves," if, instead of vilifying him by debasing 
 and sinking into contempt the work of his 
 hands, westrived to preserve our minds as pure, 
 and our conduct as irreproachable, as in the 
 days of our infancy. — If we look abroad into 
 the world, we shall find little difficulty in ac- 
 counting for the depravity that may be seen on 
 
13 
 
 all sides, without placing it to the account of 
 the great Author of Nature. 
 
 For my part, I do not hesitate to say, that, 
 with respect to the origin of that corruption 
 which is so very visible amongst us, I pi'efer 
 the plain intelligible account, as given by that 
 very worthy and valuable magistrate, Mr. Col- 
 quhoun, to all the mysterious jargon and blas- 
 phemous nonsense that Calvin and his followers 
 ever uttered, from his days to the present. 
 
 " Poverty (says this sound practical writer) 
 is no where to be found clothed in so great a 
 degree with the garb and emblems of the ex- 
 tremest misery and wretchedness as in Lon- 
 don. 
 
 " Were we to examine the history of any 
 given number of these our miserable fellow- 
 mortals, it would be discovered that these dis- 
 tresses, almost in every instance, have been oc- 
 casioned by extravagance, idleness, profligacy, 
 and crimes — and that their chief support is 
 by gambling, cheating, and thieving in a 
 little way. 
 
 i* Allured and deceived by the opportunities 
 which the pawnbrokers and the old-iron shops 
 
14 
 
 afford, to enable labouring people, when they 
 marry, and first enter upon life, to raise money 
 upon whatever can be offered as a pledge, or 
 for sale, the first step with too many is gene- 
 rally to dispose of wearing apparel and house- 
 hold goods ; and this is frequently done on the 
 slightest occasion, rather than forego the usual 
 gratification of a good dinner and a hot supper. 
 Embarrassments are the speedy consequence of 
 this line of conduct, which is often followed up 
 by idleness and inactivity. The alehouse is 
 then resorted to as a desperate remedy, where 
 the lazy and dissolute will always find asso- 
 ciates, who, being unwilling to labour, resort 
 to crimes for the purpose of supplying an un- 
 necessary extravagance. 
 
 " It is truly pitiable to behold the abject 
 condition of the numerous classes of profligate 
 parents, who, with their children, are, from in- 
 vincible and growing habit, constantly to be 
 found in the tap-rooms of public houses, spend- 
 ing in two days as much of their earnings as 
 would support them a week comfortably in their 
 own dwellings; destroying their health, wasting 
 their time, and rearing up their children to be 
 
15 
 
 prostitutes and thieves, before they can distin- 
 guish between right and wrong. 
 
 " In the city of London, and within the bills 
 of mortality, there are at present 5,204 licensed 
 public houses, and it is calculated that the 
 money expended in beer and spirits by the 
 labouring people only is upwards of three 
 millions sterling a year. 
 
 " A moment's reflection (he adds) will shew 
 how much these unfortunate habits lead to 
 destroy the moral principle, and to engender 
 crimes." 
 
 Now it may be very Evangelical to trace all 
 this mass of enormity up to the Author of our 
 nature as its first cause, but it is certainly 
 not very prudent, nor very pious, to preach in 
 the ears of all these profligate parents, that this 
 their shocking state of depravity is original, and 
 not the effect of acquired habit ; that they are 
 sinners by nature, and not in consequence of 
 corrupt example and wilful misconduct, be- 
 cause, having once taken this Gospel, it will 
 furnish them with an unfailing apology for 
 their vices, and send them back well satisfied to 
 return again to their old haunts : for they will 
 
16 
 
 reason thus, — If to sin is our nature, then to 
 sin is not blamable, any more than for a bird 
 to fly, or a duck to swim, for such is their na~ 
 ture ; and their conduct, like ours, does but carry 
 with it a suitable correspondence. — When such 
 doctrines are delivered for the instruction of 
 the lower classes, and pressed upon them as 
 making the most important and essential ar- 
 ticle of the Christian failh, they must immedi- 
 ately perceive that all this sin, in every de- 
 formed shape which it assumes in London and 
 elsewhere, is very natural, and that of course 
 the reverse of all this would be very unnatural, 
 and they will be too Evangelical to act in op- 
 position to nature. 
 
 There are two hundred and forty-six places 
 of worship of the established religion in this 
 metropolis.—" When it is recollected (says 
 Mr. Colquhoun, in his Treatise before cited) 
 that large suras are annually expended by so- 
 cieties instituted for promoting religion, virtue, 
 and good morals, it must be evident, as the mi- 
 series of the poor do not appear to be alleviated, 
 and their morals grow worse — that there must 
 be some cause to produce effects so opposite to 
 
17 
 
 What might have been expected from such un- 
 paralleled philanthropy." — 
 
 We shall, perhaps, presently be able to con- 
 jecture to what cause this may be in a great 
 measur'e ascribed. If those who term them- 
 selves Evangelical Preachers, instead of enforc- 
 ing the moral duties of men in society, preach 
 to all the lower orders doctrines which go di- 
 rectly to destroy them, (which 1 shall proceed to 
 prove their doctrines must do, if they have 
 any practical influence at all,) can it be won- 
 dered at that the morals of the rising generation 
 should grow worse ? When a Clergyman of the 
 old stamp assembled his flock round him, 
 he taught them, above all things, to shun 
 idleness, as containing in it every temptation 
 to vice ; he pressed them to beware of evil com- 
 pany, and evil example: — " Enter not (was his 
 text) into the path of the wicked, and go not in 
 the way of evil men: avoid it, pass not by 
 it, turn from it, and pass away*." — This uos- 
 pel, which was not the Gospel of Calvin, but 
 the moral Gospel of God, no where taught him 
 that mankind have naturally no power at all 
 
 * Prov. 4. 13, 15. , 
 
 B 
 
 /> 
 
18 
 
 to do any thing that is good, and are wholly 
 and utterly helpless. HE worshipped a Being 
 who did not command and expect obedience 
 without giving the power to obey, and that 
 Being he taught others to worship, and» that 
 power he earnestly prayed them to exert. — This 
 Christian Preacher did not lull his hearers into 
 a false security by leading them to expect a su- 
 pernatural change in some future day of grace : 
 but assured them, and the authority which he 
 urged carried conviction with it, that " the grace 
 of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared 
 to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness 
 and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righ- 
 teously, and godly, in this present world *." — 
 But it seems the Evangelical, system of teaching 
 asserts, that mankind, being utterly helpless, and 
 incapabje of doing any good, must hear no* ex- 
 hortation to that purpose. Instead, therefore, 
 of urging those motives to repentance which , 
 the Bible contains, and which can alone lead 
 to any reformation, this popular Gospel Preacher 
 enters his express protest against any such . 
 attempt. — " Confessing myself and people, 
 
 * Paul's Epistle to Titus, 2. 11, 12. 
 
19 
 
 while in the desk, to be helpless sinners before 
 God, I shall not, in the pulpit, cry up the 
 moral rectitude of human nature, nor, in de- 
 fiance of my own solemn declarations, contend 
 that man is uble of himself to help himself, and 
 exhort the congregation to do that, which, just 
 before, we all declared we are incapable of 
 doing *." 
 
 But if the Preacher cannot help us, and we 
 cannot help ourselves, for what use are churches 
 erected at all ? If the whole body of the peo- 
 ple should once imbibe this Evangelical senti- 
 ment, they will soon begin to think the good 
 estate of the Catholic church much too ample 
 for its means of service. If the whole swarm 
 of thieves, gamblers, swindlers, and pick- 
 pockets, which infest our streets by night and 
 by day, are to be taught that they cannot help 
 being what they are, and are incapable, of them- 
 selves, of being otherwise, and that a Minister 
 of the Church of England shall professedly 
 forbear exhorting bad men to amendment of 
 life, conceiving it repugnant to his duty as a 
 Gospel Preacher, the mass of public corruption 
 
 * Solemn Questions, &c. p. 7- 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 will augment pretty rapidly, and that profli- 
 gacy which already prevails to such an extent 
 will daily widen its influence ; for when you 
 have furnished the whole race of delinquents, of 
 every description, with this doctrine — " that they 
 can do nothing of themselves to help them- 
 selves," — they will soon follow it up to the con- 
 clusion to which it leads, which is, that their 
 guilt cannot be wilful, for, if they cannot help 
 themselves, the fault is in him who could give 
 them the power, but withholds it. — These Cal- 
 vinistic teachers do well to suppress, as far as 
 they are able, the exercise of reason; thus far 
 the public have cause to be thankful, for cer- 
 tainly their Evangelical premises lead to very 
 dangerous conclusions. 
 
 " Why stand ye here all the day idle ?" said 
 the lord of the vineyard-; they said unto him, 
 " Because no man hath hired us." Surely, had 
 they been brought up under an Evangelical 
 Teacher, they would have made a very different 
 reply. — " Because we have no natural power 
 to work" would have been their answer ; " to hire 
 us would be useless, for, having no power to 
 help ourselves, still less have we a power to 
 
21 
 
 help others." — But, in this beautiful parable, 
 our Saviour teaches au important moral truth, 
 which this helpless order of sinners would do 
 well to remember — that he did not live and 
 die to leave them an example they were unable 
 to follow, nor would have commanded any 
 man to take up his cross if he had not strength 
 to support it. 
 
 If the Evangelical Churchmen* are so fully 
 convinced that " man can do nothing of him- 
 self," why do they who hold this doctrine re- 
 ceive their tithes, or the Evangelical dissenting 
 Ministers their maintenance, at the hands of 
 those whom they cannot assist ?— -\i a Preacher 
 of this stamp really holds this fundamental 
 tenet of Calvinism, why does he not speak out 
 at once fairly and intelligibly ,,and say, — •" I can 
 take no tithes, I can accept no salary • it would 
 be deceiving you to say that I car* help you, or 
 that you can help yourselves ; if I could co- 
 operate in your moral reformation, I would not 
 
 * See Overton's ' True Churchman ascertained.' A cu- 
 rious title this ; it seems to admit the test which ascertains 
 a {rue CHURCHsriN to be different from that which ascertains 
 a true Christian. 
 
22 
 
 hesitate to accept the reward of my service, 
 but it is the sole operation of irresistible grace, 
 which will work in due season, and for that 
 season you must wait ?" — Now surely this would 
 be more honest and more honourable than to set 
 up as a guide to the benighted travellers of this 
 lower world, and levy a contribution upon 
 them, while you confess yourself of no more 
 use than a dark lanthorn. We expect this 
 kind of candour and liberality from a physi- 
 cian, and, to the credit of the profession be it 
 spoken, we usually witness it. If he pro- 
 nounces it to be a helpless case, he declines 
 taking a fee, because he conceives it to be un- 
 just to fill his purse at the expense of those to 
 whom he can be of no utility. — I confess I do 
 not see why those, who declare they can do no- 
 thing towards restoring our souls' health, should 
 not act in the same spirit of justice. I know 
 no reason that can be given why the College of 
 Evangelical Physicians should have less moral 
 honesty than the College of Warwick-lane. 
 
 This doctrine, moreover, is as dangerous in 
 its consequence's as it is absurd in its prince 
 pie, It puts a weapon in the hands of the In? 
 
23 
 
 fidel, the most fatal to the security of civil life ; 
 it goes, in fact, to deny the existence of all 
 moral obligation; for-to affirm that our ability 
 is not equal to our duty, is, in effect, to declare 
 that we have so duty, since- no man can be 
 under either a legal or moral obligation to 
 do that which he has no power to do ; the com- 
 mand would be as foolish as it would be ty- 
 rannical, Can it be the duty of a dumb man 
 to speak ? — 'Would it not border on insanity to 
 request an answer from one whom we knew had 
 no power of speech ? — Would any one tell a 
 man that had no use in his limbs, that it was 
 his duty to takeexercise ?— It would be mockery. 
 It is clear then, that, unless we have a power 
 to obey, the duty of obedience cannot exist. 
 The doctrine, therefore, which denies that we 
 have the one, releases us from the other. 
 
 View it in what light we may, it carries the 
 mind to conclusions equally fatal. If we have 
 no power of ourselves to do that which is 
 right, we cannot be accountable hereafter [for 
 doing that which is wrong. We are thus led 
 either to deny the justice of God, or to reject 
 the doctrine of a future responsibility. Being 
 
thus led to deny one attribute of God, the 
 existence of all the rest are brought into sus- 
 picion. Thus it is that doctrines repugnant to 
 reason begin by making the inquirer a Scep- 
 tic, and end in making him an Atheist. 
 
 Truth is well compared by Lord Bacon to 
 a diamond, which shews best in varied lights. 
 It must therefore be doing an acceptable ser- 
 vice to place it in different positions, that we 
 may have a better opportunity to admire it. — 
 It is this acceptable service which I am endea- 
 vouring to render to Evangelical doctrines. 
 
 But there is one difficulty in the way of this 
 endeavour, which I must take leave to remark, 
 and it is this :— reason, we all know, is the test 
 of truth ; but whenever this test is applied to 
 what is termed Evangelical truth, and it will 
 not stand the trial, the defenders of this doc- 
 trine immediately vilify it ; it is carnal reason, 
 and has no concern with these inquiries. Now 
 give me leave to say, that this phrase, though 
 perpetually in the mouth of these Evangelical 
 preceptors, is utter nonsense ; as well might we 
 talk, only that our ears are not accustomed to 
 it, of croaked straightness, and diseased health. 
 
215 
 
 The phrase carnal reason is just as contra- 
 dictory, and, therefore, just as absurd. I am 
 aware that it would be a great loss if this 
 phrase were taken away from the common 
 stock, because it is so useful, when hard pressed, 
 to silence inquiry ; for the rule seems to be, 
 with regard to a reasoner, if you cannot satisfy 
 his mind, you must stop his mouth. Without 
 some such contrivance, error would never make 
 its way into the world. — When the Catholic 
 Pivines, of past ages, differed respecting the 
 mysteries of their faith, they referred the de- 
 cision, as in duty bound, to the Pope ; but his 
 Holiness, who knew that the less carnal reason 
 pried into the mysteries the better, wisely en- 
 joined silence on both parties. 
 
 I content myself with throwing out this re- 
 mark to the reflective mind, and return to the 
 subject. 
 
 Mr. Colquhoun, ' in his Treatise on the 
 Police of the Metropolis, makes the following 
 recapitulation of his estimate of the persons 
 who are supposed to support themselves by pur- 
 suits either criminal, illegal, or immoral. 
 
26 
 
 An Estimate of the Annual Amount and Value 
 of the Depredations committed on Public and 
 Private Property, in the Metropolis and its 
 Vicinity,, in one year; specifying the Na- 
 ture of such Depredations Under Six different 
 Heads, viz.* — 
 
 1. Small Thefts £7 10,000 
 
 2. Thefts upon the Rivers and Quays 250,000 
 S. Thefts in the pock-yards, &c. in 
 
 the Thames • 200,000 
 
 4. B urglaries, Highway Robberies, &c. 280,000 
 
 5. Coining base Money •• 310,000 
 
 6. Forging Bills, Swindling, &c- • • • 250,000 
 
 Total £2,000,000 
 
 " The foregoing Estimate, grounded on the 
 best information that can be procured, exhibits 
 a melancholy picture of the general depravity 
 which prevails ; and which is heightened in a 
 considerable degree by the reflection, that, 
 among the perpetrators of the crimes there 
 
 * As this Treatise is in every body's hands, I refrain 
 from transcribing the detail, but refer the reader to the work 
 itself. 
 
.27 
 
 particularized, are to be numbered persons, 
 who, from their rank and situation in life, would 
 scarcely be suspected of either committing or • 
 conniving at frauds, for the purpose of enrich- 
 ing themselves at the expense of the nation *." 
 
 In what, let us ask, does all this mass of 
 evil originate ? — Does it not originate in the 
 breach of those moral duties which are the sum. 
 and substance of true religion ? — It is utterly 
 impossible that government can be long held 
 together if this dreadful catalogue continues to 
 increase. But increase it will, increase it tmist, 
 if the inhabitants of that great city in which 
 this system of profligate immorality prevails, 
 instead of being taught to shudder at the trans- 
 gression of those moral duties, the neglect of 
 which it is that produces this shocking cata- 
 logue of crimes just now brought under our 
 view ; if, instead of being taught that the re- 
 ward of eternal life is promised only to those 
 who persevere in well-doing, and that, unless 
 they strive by obedience to merit that reward, 
 they will assuredly lose it in that day when 
 
 * Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, p. 6'09, 6th Ed. 
 
28 
 
 God will judge (he world in righteousness, and 
 give to every man according to his works : 
 if, I say, instead of this, they are to be told 
 and assured, from the press and from the pulpit, 
 that no qualification of merit is necessary ; that 
 they may multiply their offences to what degree 
 they please ; that the seducer, the gambler, the 
 drunkard, the prostitute, the sharper, the rob- 
 ber, may all proceed in their career of infamy, 
 that their, lives cannot be too impure, or their 
 offences too many or too aggravated ; for that, 
 when once the weapon of sin shall fall from 
 their hands, (and this it must do, when thus, 
 worn out in the service of sin, they are too 
 weak to hold it,) they will not be precluded, 
 by this their long catalogue of crimes, from 
 the offered rewards of the Gospel, for that the 
 Gospel does not suspend its favour on the per- 
 formance of any moral duties whatever. 
 
 Is it possible such a doctrine can be taught ? ! ! ! 
 Attend to the words of the evangelical preach- 
 er: — "As no merit induced God to be thus 
 bountiful, so no demerit prevents man from 
 receiving such clemency. These indeed are 
 glorious tidings of good things, and great joy to 
 
* 29 
 all people, to tell a poor sinner that no sins 
 
 ARE TOO GREAT, NO LIFE TOO IMPURE, NO" 
 OFFENCES TOO GREAT OR TOO AGGRAVATED, 
 
 when once the weapons of sin are fallen out 
 of his hands, to prevent the blessed influence 
 of Gospel mercies. But only reverse the case, 
 and suppose that some qualification of merit is 
 necessary in the objects of his favour, and that 
 these mercies are suspended on the performance 
 of such and such duties, what a vast alter- 
 ation would it make in the circumstances of 
 the Gospel *."— 
 
 Thus it seems that all those abandoned pro- 
 fligates and hardened offenders, which are the 
 corruption and curse of human society, are not 
 accountable for the neglect of any duties, as 
 men and as Christians, for they had no duties 
 to discharge, nor is the favour of heaven 
 suspended on the performance of them ! !f 
 
 We have, it appears, for eighteen hundred 
 years, deceived ourselves by the old Gospel into 
 a belief that our duty towards God, and our 
 duty towards our neighbour, really existed, and 
 
 * See Dr. Hawkev's " Prop against all Despair," p. \0. 
 
30 
 
 were duties most essentially binding upon man- 
 kind, and that on our obedience to or neglect 
 of them depended our happiness or misery in a 
 future state ! Our Saviour, in his comprehen- 
 sive and beautiful Sermon on the Mount, sums 
 up the moral duties to which the conduct of a 
 Christian must conform itself, if he would enjoy 
 that felicity in a future state, which he most 
 solemnly suspended on the performance of them. 
 And he adds, with an energy that is awful — 
 " Whosoever shall break one of these command- 
 ments, and shall teach men so, he shall he called 
 the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but who- 
 soever shall do, and teach them the same, shall 
 be called great in the kingdom of Heaven." 
 
 Let us listen then to the evangelical effron- 
 tery with which the existence of these duties is 
 again denied, and this threat despised. Ob- 
 serve in what a decisive tone of deception the 
 Preacher personates the Saviour of the World, 
 and with what easy assurance he affirms away 
 the truth, and puts his own Gospel in its place. 
 
 " Wisdom crieth aloud, not in the temple 
 only, and the courts of the Lord's bouse, but 
 in the streets and the lanes of the city, among 
 
31 
 
 the graceless, the idle ; they who are too grace- 
 less to attend the ordinances of duty, and too 
 idle to be concerned for their own salvation. 
 And when Jesus calls, observe who they are he 
 calls. He says, If any man thirst— If any man 
 hear my voice : He doth not say, If any good 
 man, or any moral man ; but any man. — As if 
 he had said, I will have my offer made among 
 such as the world may fancy too worthless to 
 be made partakers of my salvation, and too far 
 lost to be recovered. Go ye into all the world, 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature. The 
 single qualification I expect is, to believe the 
 Gospel : for he that believeth shall be saved. 
 And even that belief my Spirit will bestow. 
 He maketh my people willing in the day of his 
 power. All that the Father giveth me shall 
 come to me, And he that cometh I will in 
 no wise cast out. Observe again the exten- 
 siveness, the freedom, the sovereignty of his 
 grace. All that the Father giveth. Not one, 
 or two, or ten. thousand, but all. And they 
 shall come. What, if they do such and such 
 duties? Not a word of the kind. What, if 
 they perform such obligations ? Not a syllable 
 
32 
 
 like it. It is an absolute promise of the Lord 
 Jesus, founded in his own absolute power. — 
 Here are neither ifs nor huts. No conditions, 
 nor terms. They shall come *." 
 
 Such is the compendious system of Evange- 
 lical faith. The single qualification expected 
 is,to believe the Gospel; as to practising its du- 
 ties, that is wholly out of the question, for 
 there are none to be practised. " No condi- 
 tions, no terms. No ifs and ands." Only 
 believe, and. the whole road to Heaven is 
 laid level before you. Never indeed was a 
 system so well suited to the wants of all classes 
 of sinners, whose names are to be found in the 
 Registers of the Old Bailey. It is good 
 news, and they will no doubt search the Evan- 
 gelical Gazettes again and again, to learn the 
 " precious truth," that, notwithstanding the 
 thousands they have ruined by their infamous 
 practices of fraud and depredation, they have 
 still as good a chance and as sure a title to 
 salvation as the best of men. 
 
 * " Prop to Despair." This Tract, printed separately 
 at a cheap price for the poor, is to be found in the Col- 
 lection of Dr. Hawker's Works, volume the 6th, p. 122- 
 
33 
 
 Each will triumphantly join chorus in the 
 Song placed for him, by the Reverend Divine 
 himself, at the end of his Instruction-Book : — » 
 
 " There is a. fountain filled with blood, 
 
 Drawn from Emmanuel's veins, 
 And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
 
 Lose all their guilty stains. 
 The dying Thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day ; 
 And there have I, as well as he, 
 
 Wash'd all my sins away." 
 
 The Psalmist says of the wicked man, "that 
 he delighteth in blood ;" he will therefore be 
 readily enough persuaded to wash himself clean 
 in the element of his corruption. His reason 
 will not be shocked, nor his faith staggered, to 
 find this element consecrated to so extraordinary 
 a purpose. 
 
 The community cannot but wish well to the 
 progress of a system of instruction, which 
 tends so greatly to the suppression of vice and 
 the spread of morality ! ! ! We cannot but be 
 sanguine in our hopes of reformation, when the 
 word of proclamation delivered weekly from 
 the pulpits, and dispersed daily in cheap tracts 
 to all classes of society, is— 
 
 To the Seducer — You have betrayed many 
 c 
 
34' 
 
 ■that once were innocent, and have brought 
 down many a father's grey hairs with sorrow to 
 the grave ; but, add one more victim, for your 
 life cannot be too impure, and then — take refuge 
 in a Redeemer. 
 
 To the Robber — You have corrupted many 
 an honest mind by yoar example, and ruined 
 many an honest man by your villany ; but 
 
 YOUR CRIMES CANNOT BE TOO MANY OR TOO 
 
 aggravated; commit one more fraud on the 
 public, and then — lay hold on the cross. 
 
 To the Murderer — Your sins cannot be 
 too great — dip your hands once more in 
 the blood of your fellow-creatures, and then — 
 waeh them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb. 
 
 Such is the plain, distinct, intelligible lan- 
 guage of Evangelical teaching— such are the 
 principles propagated by means of the press 
 throughout the whole extent of the kingdom — 
 such are the lessons .which are taught to the 
 profligate of every class, and sent into the 
 world at a price that may bring the purchase 
 within the reach of that description of persons 
 to whose reception it is fitted — such is the. 
 
35 
 
 -new Gospel faith instilled into the ears of 
 the ignorant in the numerous, and annually 
 increasing, meeting-houses of its professors — 
 such is the Evangelical doctrine which is daily 
 multiplying its converts and its congregations, 
 while it thins every church of God in which 
 the moral duties of man are inculcated, and 
 in which the infinitely serious evils to the sinner 
 and to- society, which attend the breach of those 
 duties, are faithfully impressed. 
 
 On this subject let me quote the well-war- 
 ranted observations of the Dean of Peter- 
 borough, whose experience qualified him to 
 pronounce upon the actual existence and extent 
 of the evil he laments. 
 
 — •" It is a well-known fact that in several 
 parts of this country the common people will 
 scarce listen to the sermon of their Parish 
 Minister, unless the subject of it be some point 
 of doctrine ; and that ail preaching, on other 
 subjects, is sneeringly spoken of as '.good moral 
 preaching.' Should any person take the trouble 
 to inquire, and inform himself, what are the 
 causes and the consequences of this dislike, 
 he would find, I believe, on inquiry, First, that 
 
 c 2 
 
36 . 
 
 in the parishes where this dislike prevails, the' 
 common people are egregiously misled in 
 matters of religion ; and misled, on this most 
 important subject, not only by a numerous 
 tribe of secular itinerants, but by some also 
 of our regular clergy: Secondlv, that those 
 deluded and misguided people, who thus ex- 
 press their dislike and contempt of ' moral 
 preaching,' know just as much what it means 
 as Mr. Wilkes's rabble, about the year 1765, 
 understood of those general warrants which 
 they so vehemently exclaimed against, and 
 no more : Thirdly, that considerable pains have 
 been taken of late to inform the commonality 
 of this, that moral sermons have been repro- 
 bated by some of our Bishops in their charges: 
 and, Lastly, that, if the Minister of a Parish 
 perseveres in his bounden duty of explaining 
 to his parishioners the Ten Commandments, 
 and of preaching against all sorts and all de- 
 grees of immoral conduct, such of his con- 
 gregation as have heard from those strolling 
 preachers ' who creep into houses, and lead 
 captive silly women, laden with sins,' that this 
 is not Gospel-preaching, quit the Established 
 
37 
 
 Church, and resort to the Conventicle ; where 
 they are sure of not being molested with sermons 
 against immorality, and are assured of salvation 
 
 by FAITH ALONE*." 
 
 The plain truth is, that to promise the re- 
 ward of a good life only to those who lead a 
 good life, and to make the threats of the Gospel 
 " a terror to evil-doers," will never be so ac- 
 ceptable to evil-doers as a system of faith 
 which assures the licentious, unprincipled, and 
 immoral, — " that the rich tide of mercy flows 
 continually, without ebbing; that it is not 
 enough to say that it washes on the shore of 
 the undeserving, but it reaches to the ground 
 of the ill-deserving ; not barely to those who 
 have done nothing to merit mercy, but even to 
 those who have done every thing to merit punish- 
 ment. — It rises, therefore, above high-water 
 mark, overflows all bounds, and overtops even 
 the tallest mountains of corruption f." — 
 
 * Thomas Kipling, D. D. Dean of Peterborough, and 
 late .Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. — Vide 
 " Articles of the Church proved not to be Calvinistic," 
 n. 67. 
 
 f See Dr. Hawker's " Prop to Despair," p. 6. This 
 Tract is to be found in the 6th Volume of his Works. It 
 
38 
 
 Surely such cheering news will never want 
 a congregation of sinners to listen to it. The 
 words of our Saviour, who makes tlifs future 
 happiness of men to depend on their fulfilling 
 the terms and conditions on which the offer 
 of salvation to sinful man was made, who 
 says " If ye forgive men their trespasses, your 
 Heavenly Father will also forgive you ; But 
 if ye forgive not them their trespasses, neither 
 will your Heavenly Father forgive you." This 
 moral discourse, these ifs and buts, will never 
 be relished, when a faithful Doctor of the new 
 divinity will assure them there are none, and 
 that the grace of God " rises higher and 
 
 HIGHER, IN PROPORTION AS THE MISERABLE 
 OBJECTS OP SIN AND INIQUITY HAVE SUNK 
 
 . lower and lower *." — The whole rabble from 
 
 Wapping, from St. Giles's, and from every 
 
 haunt of vice and debauchery in all quarters, 
 
 will flock round the messenger of a doctrine 
 
 so suitable to their wishes and their wants- 
 
 No profligate amongst them could have hit 
 i 
 
 is printed separately, on common paper, for the use of the 
 lower orders, that its price may forward its circulation. 
 
 * Dr.- Hawker's " Prop against all Despair." 
 
39 
 
 upon a system so well contrived and fitted to 
 the habits of all those, who, lost to virtue 
 and decency, are daily sinking themselves 
 lower and lower in sin and iniquity ; and 
 joyous, indeed, must they he to learn, that, 
 instead of increasing the anger of Heaven 
 against their offences, these offences, on the 
 contrary, raise the grace or favour of the Al- 
 mighty higher and higher. 
 
 The tendency of all this gross misconcep*- 
 tion, and scandalous misrepresentation, of the 
 moral truths of Christianity, it is not very dif- 
 ficult to discover ; if they are not only to re- 
 main uncontroverted, but every week, and 
 almost every day of the week, are repeated 
 again and again in the ears of the idle and 
 ignorant poor in this populous kingdom, the 
 result, as- sure as we exist as a people, will be, 
 the gradual abolition of all that remains of 
 moral goodness amongst us, — In fact, they are 
 taught, in plain terms, that moral goodness 
 is completely superfluous. — f* The Gospel 
 (says the Evangelical Minister) is a covenant 
 of grace, and not of works, in which Jehovah^ ^. 
 
40 
 
 intended to display the infinite greatness of 
 his character, in giving pardon, mercy, and 
 peace, without terms, and without conditions, on 
 the part of the poor creature who becomes the 
 object of it. So that every idea of moral good- 
 ness, as a qualification for obtaining it, is done 
 
 AWAY *." 
 
 If there are any atheistic parents, whose 
 children, immersed as they may be in vice 
 and villany, have not quite extinguished every 
 sentiment of virtue, they cannot better com- 
 plete them in the discipline of depravity, than 
 by putting Evangelical tracts, of the above 
 tendency, into their hands. — Not even, the 
 Jacobin Societies of France can furnish their 
 agents in this kingdom with any doctrines 
 better calculated to banish the fear of a future 
 retribution, and to annihilate all the binding 
 obligations and .solemn sanctions of the Gospel. 
 No system of doctrine, that ever yet was acted 
 upon, could more effectually revolutionize the 
 whole moral world than this system, the, 
 
 * Dr. Hawker's M Prop against all Despair," p. 15. 
 
41 
 
 teachers of which have proudly appropriated 
 to themselves the title of Evangelical 
 Ministers. 
 
 It would be well if these Reverend Gentle- 
 men would explain to the world what it is 
 they mean when they declare the Gospel to 
 be — " a covenant of grace, without terms, 
 and without conditions," — since it is the 
 very essence of a covenant, of every kind, that it 
 should contain conditions, on the performance 
 of which its validity depends. — It is of great 
 importance that this matter should be rightly 
 understood, since it is most essential that in 
 this town of London, where theft, adultery, 
 robbery, murder, fraud, and every species of 
 vice, abounds — that it should not be publicly 
 proclaimed, and privately taught, that the 
 abstaining from all this makes no part of 
 
 THAT COVENANT WHICH THE QOSPEL CON* 
 
 tains; which must be true if it is a covenant 
 
 WITHOUT TERMS OR CONDITIONS. It WOuld 
 
 be well, at least for the sake of society, if these 
 faithful Preachers would not persuade the mul- 
 titude wholly to throw aside that covenant 
 contained in the Gospel of the New Testament, 
 
42 
 
 which has terms and conditions, and which 
 teaches lis that the only way to find acceptance 
 with God is by doing his will — A covenant, the 
 terms of which are thus distinctly declared — 
 
 IF YE WOULD ENTER INTO LIFE, KEEP THE 
 
 commandments — A covenant, the condition 
 pf which our Saviour has himself most solemnly 
 proclaimed, and, with equal solemnity, de- 
 nounced the awful consequences attending the 
 breaeh of it — except ye repent, ye shall all 
 likewise perish. 
 
 It cannot but be a source of immense de- 
 light and exultation to the many thousands 
 that exist by daily depredations on the public 
 to be assured that they cannot by these means 
 forfeit their claim to that pardon, mercy, and 
 peace, thus unconditionally bestowed. This 
 class of persons will not fail to say of the Evan- 
 gelic Instructor, that he " reasons well/* 
 when, in addition to what he just before taught 
 them, he adds — " Besides this, it is distin- 
 guished under another character, to confirm 
 the certainty of its operation, it being an ever- 
 lasting - covenant, founded in the counsel of 
 peace which was between the glorious Persons 
 
43 
 
 of the Godhead, before the foundation of the- 
 world. Now an everlasting covenant, founded- 
 on Divine wisdom, in the annals of eternity, 
 cannot be frustrated by human folly, in 
 the transient period of time. What God hath 
 made everlasting, man cannot by any after 
 act destroy*," — When this conviction shall 
 be rendered familiar to the minds of the lower 
 orders of society, the present state of the 
 Police of the Metropolis will no doubt be 
 proportionably improved. The different ma* 
 gistrates must be greatly assisted in their efforts 
 to suppress offences by the propagation of 
 such doctrines in this great town, abounding 
 as it does with offenders against the laws, daily 
 increasing in number. When it shall be once 
 universally believed that no human folly can 
 frustrate, nor any act of fraud or felony 
 preclude the pardon or destroy the operation 
 
 - I 
 
 of a covenant which existed, without conditions 
 and terms on their p^.rt, from all eternity; the 
 whole gang of coiners, pickpockets, receivers 
 pf stolen goods, housebreakers, and all the 
 attendant train of criminals who set the laws 
 
 * "Prop against all Despair." p. 18. 
 
44 
 
 of their country at defiance, may go on to sin 
 in security within the scope of a covenant 
 which procured them pardon and peace from 
 all eternity, and the blessings of which no folly 
 or after act whatever canpossibly frustrate 
 or destroy. — -But, as the universal reception of 
 this doctrine (to say the least of it) must consi- 
 derably increase the risk to which the pro- 
 perty and safety of the community is exposed, 
 the community have a right to expect from its 
 Evangelical teachers some security against this 
 additional hazard. We have heard frequently 
 of the alliance between church and state ; 
 but, if such are the doctrines to which the 
 ignorant and profligate of this large capital 
 are to be converted, we may venture to predict 
 that this alliance must soon be dissolved, or the 
 one will sooner or later destroy the other. 
 
 We shall see still more clearly, as we proceed, 
 in what manner the Gospel is made to recon- 
 cile itself to that neglect of the moral duties 
 of life which the vices of this crowded city 
 so strongly exemplify. 
 
 One would suppose that the bulk of the 
 people were so much under the restraint of 
 
45 
 
 moral feeling, and acted so strictly under the 
 influence of virtuous principle, that there was 
 some danger to be, apprehended lest this ex- 
 treme purity of thought and action should 
 come to be considered meritorious. An inhabi- 
 tant of China or Japan, wholly unacquainted 
 with the state of morals amongst us, would be 
 led to conclude that we were a most righteous 
 people, were he to take up any one of the num- 
 berless Evangelical tracts disseminated through- 
 out the kingdom, and see with what earnestness 
 they entreat every class of men amongst us to 
 avoid placing the slightest dependence on their 
 righteousness, or encouraging""' the idea that 
 there is any merit in earnestly striving to fulfil 
 their duty to God and man. 
 
 The grace and favour of God in a future 
 life, as we are distinctly taught by the new 
 Gospel Preacher, " has no respect to meritorious 
 services on the one hand, nor is it influenced by 
 mercenary views on the other. It is not 
 bestowed as a reward for any past performance , 
 nor does it look for a compensation from future 
 obedience. God justifies the sinner freely ; 
 "and imputes to him righteousness without 
 
'Worksr which is therefore styled the gift of 
 righteousness *."— And lest the libertine, who i s 
 running on in his career of sensual gratification, 
 should not think this intimation sufficiently 
 plain and distinct, but should be led, in ihe 
 hour of serious reflection, to consider wilful dis- 
 obedience to the law of that great and glorious 
 Being to whom he is indebted for every bless- 
 ing as neither just nor justifiable, and lest these 
 .reflections should strike his conscience, and lead 
 him back to the discharge of those duties, which, 
 as a man and a Christian, it becomes him to 
 perform — lest any penitent convictions of this 
 kind should influence his future life, the 
 Evangelic Rector, with superabundant industry, 
 again exhorts and assures him, in language 
 which he cannot misconstrue or mistake, that 
 *— "The justification of a sinner has NO 
 
 CONNECTION WITH HIS OWN PERSONAL OBEDI- 
 ENCE either to the moral or ceremonial law — 
 in, the act of his own justification, his own per- 
 
 * " Sermons chiefly designed to elucidate some of the 
 leading doctrines of the Gospel." By the Rev. Edward 
 Cooper, Rector of Hamstale Redware, in the county of 
 Stafford ; Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Earl of Cour- 
 town, and late Fellow of All-Soul's College, Oxford, p. 35. 
 
47 
 
 fortnancesarenot takenhitothe account**" — Now, 
 if an avowed atheist or a declared infidel 
 were to affirm that the. declaration and doc- 
 trines contained in the New Testament were 
 altogether false and unfounded, our ears ' 
 would be shocked, and our reason alarmed — 
 but they may be overturned, and the reverse 
 of them taught as the true faith, if the Preacher 
 do but assume with a tone of authority the 
 title of evangelical — notwithstanding the 
 Apostles declare the Son of God to be " the 
 Author of Salvation to all that obey HiMf." 
 He may teach, in direct opposition to it, to all 
 who transgress his commandments, that their 
 justification has no connection with their 
 own personal obedience. And notwith- 
 standing that the Saviour himself, striving to 
 counteract the tendency of such a doctrine, adr 
 dresses them most plainly and most solemnly 
 thus : " But / say unto you, that every idle 
 word that men shall speak, they shall give an 
 account, thereof in the day of judgment ; for by 
 thy words thou shalt be justified, and by this 
 
 * Sermons by the Rev. Edward Cooper, p. 35. 
 f Heb. 5. 9.- 
 
48 
 
 word thou shall be condemned" — Yet shall 
 the Gospel Preacher teach them, in direct con- 
 tradiction to this solemn assurance, that the 
 justification of a sinner has no connection with 
 his obedience tO the moral will of God, and that 
 in the act of his justification his performances 
 are not taken into the account !!! Is it not in the 
 nature of things that the morals of the middling 
 and lower orders of the people should decline 
 in proportion, to their confidence in the new 
 Gospel Preaching ? Is it not an event to be ex- 
 pected, that their moral principles should in 
 the end fall a sacrifice to their perpetual and 
 unceasing instruction in tenets of practical in- 
 fidelity ? The daily increasing crowds of the 
 ignorant and uninquiring, which are gained 
 over to the new school of faith, shew suffi- 
 ' ciently how acceptable it is. What degree of 
 injury may be accomplished, before the im* 
 posture is fully detected, it is not easy lo de- 
 termine; how much longer, and to what extent, 
 the moral good sense of the people is to be im- 
 posed upon, must depend upon the serious 
 attention that the probable consequences excite 
 in the public mind. Some among. the wisest 
 
49 
 
 of our pious forefathers saw the evil in the 
 beginning — its progress we of this generation 
 have to witness — and if, it proceed much longer 
 to spread as it has done, no very distant pos- 
 terity will see the end. 
 
 It is enough, it seems, that all the disorderly c% "/ 
 
 classes of mankind, prompted as they are by 
 their worst passions to trample on the public 
 welfare, should know that they are, what every 
 
 
 ■ one else is convinced they are, the pests of so- " — — . 
 
 ciety, and the evil is remedied. They are not K/fyjy ■ 
 
 J J tot.' hhJti. ™" 
 
 to be exhorted to honesty, sobriety, or the ob- /? * aAjt 
 
 servance of any laws, human or divine — they /> v L^tf 
 must not even be entreated to do their best. — trip/jr $* 
 " Just as absurd Would it be," we are told, L n 3u.ctc<n<- 
 " in a physician to send away his patient, when rf Ju.c4i a JMn- 
 labouring under some desperate disease, with a pf 'Tntti \ ^ 
 recommendation to do his utmost towards his % fon/Hlr uouB 
 own cure, and then to come to him to finish it, tr itnyuO *^» 
 as it is in the Minister of the Gospel to propose (it d 4 Y*M*r 
 to the sinner to do his best, by way of healing I/rffHU^c & 
 the disease of the soul— and then to come to t *** njfnnAheyi 
 the Lord Jesus to perfect his recovery. The rh&M 'fa- 
 only previous qualification is to know our misery, ^ty^ 1 *- t*- y 
 and the remedy is prepared*." — ***? 
 * See Dr. Hawker's Works, vol. 6, p. 117V 
 
 £r% f m /$.*«/ &**« i^<r*i« & ^~ 
 
50 
 
 Out of pure humanity 1 would beg leave ttf 
 caution every offender, of whatever description 
 he be, against the sure consequences of not 
 doing his best towards abstaining from the 
 future commission of crimes, not only from 
 the certainty of a judgment to come, but from 
 the fear lest, if the eye of the law should 
 chance to detect his offences,, he may then, 
 when it is too late, know his misery, and find 
 that the remedy prepared is a halter. 
 
 The libertine that has worn out the prime 
 of his life in the haunts of prostitution, and 
 who has destroyed his health, dissipated his 
 property, and lost his character, cannot fail 
 to know his misery — there is not a night he goes 
 to rest but he will be put in full possession of 
 this qualification, if that is the only thing 
 required ; but experience will teach him, what 
 common sense will teach every one else, that 
 the consciousness of disease is something very 
 distinct from the application of the remedy. 
 
 It is greatly to be wished, since these Evan- 
 gelical Preachers are so convinced of the absur- 
 dity of entreating the people to do their best 
 towards amending their morals and acquiring 
 virtuous habits, that they would at least not 
 
51 , 
 
 Strive to bring into neglect and contempt those 
 Preachers, who, animated by a regard for the 
 moral welfare of mankind, may entreat them 
 to improve their opportunities of doing good, 
 and to approve themselves, during the short 
 and precarious period allotted them here below, 
 to be faithful stewards of the talents entrusted 
 to their Care, and who may excite them so to 
 do by the assurance that the Judge- of all the 
 earth will finally reward every well-meant en- 
 deavour to promote virtue in others, and to 
 practise it ourselves; 
 
 Whatever these new Evangelists may teach , jj f/ 
 
 to the contrary, the present state of. public * 7 ~\ a liMf 
 mOrals and of public happiness would assume ^ (4hJ£~- hst 
 a very different appearance if the thieves, a. OnJWV- ^' x • 
 swindlers, and highway robbers, would do /js "Ay^iV- 
 their best towards maintaining themselves by Jfc^ " cltni(/f&£' . 
 honest labour, instead of perpetually planning harf,<M a J , 
 new systems Of fraud, and new schemes of de- , MiuJw* (v$' 
 
 predation. However absurd they may conceive , ■//' a^9 vH-o 
 
 it to be to exhort those, who, by private extra- ^ai^h thd- ™* 
 
 vagance are rendering themselves insolvent, to- /tinfir j* jUd/iuri 
 
 retrench their expenses, and do their best to- > » y 
 
 ...... . 'ftu-izrfu <?j 
 
 wards living within their incomes, the long list 7ZZ5^~t {/t LC /rfiS 
 
 **t-^Kc*. ~ <^ A/-«£//~if cv&M. fy/r** *™^4v 
 
 a* Un/ha^tu*/ & 4 tj = c^sM^ ■ fry j^r.JlZJZu 
 
52 
 
 of bankruptcies, which, to the disgrace of the 
 national character, are to be seen in every 
 Gazette, would'be greatly curtailed, our prisons 
 would abound less in fraudulent debtors, and 
 industrious tradesmen would not be — as too 
 many of them are — the prey of cheats, and the 
 dupes of dishonesty. 
 
 I wish these triumphant High-Priests, who 
 arrogate to themselves the exclusive praise of 
 teaching the Gospel, would walk abroad into 
 the world, and see the actual state and condition 
 of criminals in common life — that they would 
 look every Sessions into the list of sins recorded 
 in the Old-Bailey Calendar; it would be well- 
 , judged in them to do this before they teach 
 men that the Gospel has neither terms nor 
 conditions — that the idea of moral goodness 
 is done away — that their future condition has 
 no connection with their personal obedience 
 to the moral law — that all offenders are - 
 justified without their performances being 
 taken into the account — that it is absurd to teach 
 them to do their best towards fulfilling those 
 duties which they were created to fulfil, and 
 the transgression of which it is that occasions 
 all those crimes and misdemeanors which 
 
53 
 
 pollute the community, and which leads so 
 many to the gaol and to the gibbet. 
 
 Let us revert back to that valuable work 
 which has given the public so ample and exact 
 a detail of the various crimes and misdemeanors 
 by which public and private property and 
 security are at present injured and endangered. 
 Mr. Colquhoun, in the course of the remedies 
 which he has so judiciously suggested towards 
 their prevention, has-'the following remarks : — 
 
 " To suffer the lower orders of people to be 
 ill educated — to be totally inattentive to those 
 wise regulations of state policy which might 
 serve to guard and improve their morals — and 
 then to punish them for crimes which have 
 originated in bad habits — has the appearance 
 of a cruelty not less severe than any which is 
 exercised under the most despotic governments. 
 
 " There are two circumstances which ought 
 also to be minutely considered in apportioning 
 the measure of punishment--Me immorality of 
 the action ; and its evil tendency. 
 
 "Nothing contributes in a greater degree to 
 deprave the minds of the people than the little 
 regard which laws pay to morality ; by in- 
 flicting more severe punishments on offenders 
 
54 
 
 who commit what may be termed political 
 crimes, and crimes against property, than on 
 those who violate religion and virtue. — 
 
 — " Private offences being the source of public 
 crimes, the best method of guarding society 
 against the latter is, to make proper provisions 
 for checking the former. — A man of pure 
 morals always makes the best subject of every 
 state ; and few have suffered punishment, as 
 public delinquents, who have^ not long re- 
 mained unpunished as private offenders. The 
 only means, therefore, of securing the peace 
 of society, and of preventing more atrocious 
 crimes, is to enforce, by lesser punishment, the 
 observance of religious and moral duties: 
 without this, laws are but weak guardians 
 either of the state or the persons or property 
 of the subject. 
 
 y The people are to the legislature what a 
 child is to a parent: — As the first care of the 
 latter is to teach the love of virtue, and a 
 dread of punishment, so ought it to be the 
 duty of the former to frame laws with thejm- 
 mediate view to the general improvement 
 
 OF MORALS *." 
 
 * Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, p. 34, 6th Ed. 
 
55 
 
 We shall now proceed to see with what zeal 
 the patriotic efforts of the public Magistrate 
 are opposed and counteracted by the Evangelic 
 efforts of the public Preacher. After declaring, 
 as we have before heard, that — " He shall not 
 recommend men to exert themselves in acts of 
 moral virtue toward their own salvation, he 
 goes on to tell the public, and the legislature, 
 that they are to expect nothing from him, or 
 from the lower classes, so far as he can influence 
 them, towards promoting a regard for any laws 
 which may be niade for the general improve- 
 ment of morals. — "While I am careful (says 
 he) to follow the doctrine and liturgy of the 
 church, in holding up the Lord Jesus Christ 
 as the sole Saviour of sinners, I shall never 
 direct the congregation to seek salvation 
 partly by their own works, and partly by his. 
 — For this is a mongrel religion, unknown in 
 Scripture, in direct opposition as well to the 
 law as to the Gospel, and literally disowned 
 by both *." 
 
 If any work of reformation is to be promoted, 
 
 * Vide Dr. Hawker's " Solemn Questions to Serious 
 Christians." 
 
$6 • 
 
 not for the world will this pious Evangelist per- 
 mit Ins congregation to put their shoulders to. 
 the wheel, not for the world would he act in 
 such direct opposition to the law as to exhort 
 bad men to comply with the rules of it. 
 
 Not for the revenues of an Archbishop would 
 
 he exhort them to a duty unknown in Scripture^ 
 
 pf adding their five talents to the five they have 
 
 received, — never would he direct any follower 
 
 of his so to act as to have it in his power to say 
 
 when, after a long time, the Lord cometh and 
 
 reckoneth with him,—" Lord, thou hast delivered 
 
 0$ Jku l J unto me five talents, behold / have gained 
 
 ^ fUrc ccuuwroy ' five talents more." — Far be it from him to re- 
 
 Mid uruiui toM - commend any personal diligence, so strongly 
 
 \ fafefidy'h' . L /, discommended, so literally disowned both by 
 
 j cn&w f /y.jthe law and Gospel. Nothing should induce 
 
 1/ h u<l <***■ \mkl to preach such a mongrel religion as that 
 
 /g c»*4r cue which says, Well done, thou good and faithful 
 
 ft^y ~T rs tt h servant, to him who doubled the treasure com- 
 
 fa crh&r '//> mitted to0tim by his own diligence, and thus, 
 tu At* H u<iW J 
 j ~\ KOArvnt partly by his own works, obtained the salvation 
 
 trnt-je. "> '^ announced to him in those approving words, 
 
 £m*tyjh* i « Enter thou into the jov of thy Lord." 
 
 *A f*><- /h # !l ■ i Lest the growing immorality and increasing 
 
 fa Awf* ty.r^ otnU^ Hi 7a&*A, aj jer fa ffrtft^a/ 
 
 *& isty&< & f z?£ulJL at^M ***** 7^y.f 
 
57 
 
 disregard of practical virtue discernible in this, 
 crowded city should not spread itself with suf- 
 ficient rapidity, and lest in our villages some 
 moral Preacher should endeavour, by earnest 
 admonition, and fervent exhortation, to check 
 the progress of vice, and produce in his hearers 
 a regard for all those Christian virtues which 
 constitute good works, it was found expedient 
 to prepare a remedy for this sore evil, and ac- 
 cordingly one amongst the most popular of these 
 new Evangelists sends forth, for the instruction 
 pf the rising generation of servants and la- 
 bouring poor in the different rural districts 
 throughout the kingdom — his " Village Dia- 
 logues," penned in that strain of vulgar quaint- 
 ness, and low familiarity, which is so well 
 fitted to the taste of those for whose edification 
 they are intended. 
 
 The moral Preacher of the Established 
 Church whq strives to inform the manners of 
 the public, and to check the prevailing spirit 
 of vice and dissipation,— who labours to re- 
 claim society from that extreme state of de- 
 pravity to which it is fast arriving, and to keep 
 alive, if possible, some veneration for the prac- 
 
58 
 
 iice of good works, amidst the prodigious in- 
 crease of evil works, the effects of which the 
 laws are daily struggling, but struggling in 
 vain, to remedy, — the Parochial Clergyman of 
 this stamp is, in these Village Dialogues, held 
 up to the sneer and ridicule of the country-^peOf 
 pie, under the contemptuous appellation of— 
 the Rev. Mr. Dolittle. Accordingly, when 
 he attempts to teach the farmer and his family, 
 who are made the parties to the Dialogue, that 
 faith alone is insufficient, — and that they must 
 understand that good works are essential, the 
 fanner is made to reply in a style of lovp 
 mockery, 
 
 " Why then, Sir, when I say I shall go alone 
 to Mapleton market next Thursday, you are 
 to understand that I mean to take my wife and 
 daughter Polly with me. — Is this the way in 
 which I am to chop this new-fashioned logic * ?" 
 
 A further string of questions is then so 
 framed as to furnish the farmer and his family 
 with a triumph over the morality of tha Rev. 
 Mr. Dolittle, and an opportunity of saying 
 
 * Village Dialogues, by Rowland Hill, A. M. vol. 1, 
 p. 53. 
 
59 
 
 svery thing in praise of Mr. Lovegood, the 
 faithful Preacher. For this gentleman must 
 have a good name, to give his doctrines the 
 victory. 
 
 Throughout the whole of these Evangelical 
 Dialogues, intended for the use of the country- 
 people in every farm and hamlet, and dis- 
 persed among them with equal zeal aud suc- 
 cess, all that respect and reverence, which all 
 ranks among them were wont to feel towards 
 the Clergyman of their parish or their village, 
 whose sermons aimed at their moral reformation, 
 is gradually diminished and done away. Those 
 Ministers of the living God, who had taught 
 them to work out their own salvation, know- 
 ing they had the example and authority of 
 Christ himself as their warrant so to do, are 
 now pointed at with a sneer, and nicknamed 
 into derision by the profligate and vulgar : — 
 since, it seems, by the aid of the new Evan- 
 gelists, and the assistance of these Dialogues, 
 they soon discovered that " old Mr. Deadman, 
 and his cousin, Mr, Blindman, had preached 
 no more the true doctrine of the Bibie, as it 
 
(l£( !L v k. Ufa? %*>< o*A*""£ &»&r> 
 
 ffl/JiiirhsfK ^ ates *° salvation by Jesus Christ, than if they 
 a lf{Uf ' had Deen two of the priests of Jupiter *." 
 C7i ' & Is it to be wondered at that the mojral 
 
 tAi)c£) ** teachers of the duties of Christianity should be 
 /c&tr<L- ife derided and despised by the lower orders 
 ^fr-tn/h^A thoughout the different parts of the kingdom, 
 aj rke4£- when such language of derision and mockery 
 f^fiw^- is put into their mouths? The complaints of 
 the profligacy of servants of every class, and of 
 the depravity of the times, are in every body's 
 hearing: — and these Evangelical Tutors — the 
 dear Mr. Lovegoods of the day, deserve the 
 . . best attention of the public for thus instruct- 
 ing the ignorant multitude — who are always 
 ready enough to neglect their. moral duties, — . 
 to despise and insult those by whom they are 
 taught. It is well done in Rowland Hill to 
 employ the buffoonery of an infidel, and the 
 levity of a pantaloon, for the purpose of ex- 
 posing to the sneer and ridicule of the common 
 people those teachers which the nation has 
 appointed to protect its youth, and rear them 
 to virtue. It must afford him great consolation, 
 
 * See "Village Dialogues," vol. 1, p. 102. 
 
6i 
 
 amidst the increasing immorality, which shocks 
 
 the feelings of our judges at every returning 
 
 Assizes throughout the kingdom, that he has 
 
 spared no pains to make the rising generation 
 
 of ignorant and dissolute rustics laugh at what 
 
 he terms the white-wash of morality*; that 
 
 when their Village Curate exhorts them, if they 
 
 have faith in the doctrine of a world to come, lAafc ^ u 
 
 to add to it those good works in which the sum e ^t^ t c 
 
 and substance of religion consist, he has led Jr \ ' 
 
 them to ridicule him, as chopping a new- l/K f/^ ^ u O 
 
 fashioned logic. ^x %^.fii If 
 
 That class of Preachers who strive to impress lOlrr%<f 
 men with a due sense of the importance of 
 attending most so those precepts of the Gospel 
 which are practical and essential, and which 
 lead all who obey them to holiness and purity, 
 to honesty and sobriety, to charity and justice, 
 to devotion and piety, in a word, which lead to 
 good works, are stigmatized to the multitude 
 with every sly calumny and indirect reproach, 
 in order to multiply the converts to their 
 Gospel by thus alienating men from the moral 
 Preachers of Christianity. These Village Dia- 
 
 *« Village Dialogues," vol.jl, p. 59. 
 
logues hare throughout this tendency ; it is 
 obviously their end and aim. — The different 
 parties to them are as so many decoy-birds, 
 taught so to sing to the praise of their Preacher 
 as may bring proselytes. — " I admire" — says 
 one of them, by way of prefacing his departure 
 from his former Minister of the moral Gospel, — 
 "1; admire that your Minister takes such 
 different texts to preach from to what Mr. 
 Dulman, and such sort of Ministers, head their 
 sermons with ; and then, when they have taken 
 their text, we hear very little more of the 
 Bible, but only about some moral duty we 
 ought to perform, and against some evil practice 
 that people ought to avoid *." — Thus the secret 
 intimation is thrown out to the ignorant, that 
 the duties of man, with respect to God and his 
 neighbour, make no part of the Bible ; and they 
 are invited over to enlist themselves among the 
 followers of the Gospel Preacher, where their 
 faith will not be misled by instruction to the 
 performance of any moral duty, or corrupted 
 by exhortation to avoid any evil practice. 
 When we behold the High-Priest himself 
 
 * " Village Dialogues." 
 
63 
 
 thus taking part in these Dialogues, in the as- 
 sumed character of a new convert, in order 
 through that means to win over others, it 
 reminds one too much of the similar practice of 
 a recruiting serjeant, who, when he is beating 
 up for volunteers, walks before the drum in 
 the disguise of a new recruit, to throw out a 
 lure which may lead others to enlist. 
 ; It is in vain that the laws of the country 
 strive to check the prevailing spirit of immo- 
 rality. It is in vain that thinking men, con- 
 templating its dreadful effects and its rapid 
 increase, form themselves into a Society for its 
 suppression. It is in vain that the breakers of 
 that moral law, which says thou shalt not steal, 
 are launched into eternity, to deter others by 
 their fate. In vain will all these operate to 
 restore the criminal and profligate to the path 
 of moral duty. The Evangelical Priesthood 
 pursue the extirpation of morality with a zeal 
 and vehemence that must Anally defeat all 
 these efforts. 
 
 The moment they shall have succeeded in 
 gaining possession of the popular mind, and 
 have instilled into it the same rooted contempt 
 
M 
 
 fbr moral. duty which they every where avo#j 
 the triumph over morality will he complete ; 
 for they know that the best mode of attack is 
 first to annihilate all respect for those that 
 preach it, and to render them of no estimation 
 in the eyes of the vulgar.— We shall see with 
 what steadiness this Evangelical union of its 
 enemies carry on their warfare against it. 
 
 The popular tracts of the Evangelical Dr. 
 Hawker declare to the multitude, that—" if he 
 were to drop into a Church of Christians* and 
 discovered that moral discourses were supply- 
 ing the place of Evangelical truths, he should 
 be led to conclude that he had mistaken his 
 path, and fallen into a synagogue of the Jews*. ji 
 — We have had a specimen of those Evangelical 
 truths which are to annul the morality of the 
 Ten Commandments.— The Doctor of the new 
 Divinity, it seems, if he heard any one recom- 
 mend, from the pulpit of a Christian Church* 
 those principles of practical virtue which it 
 was the express command of God that mankind 
 should exemplify in their lives, — if he heard 
 
 * See his " Prop against all Despair," p. 8. 
 
65 
 
 him entreating his congregation to a faithful 
 obedience to that moral law, which God himself 
 prescribed to mankind as their rule of conduct, 
 — if any admonitions of this kind were given 
 in an assembly of Christians, the Doctor 
 would not believe his ears — The thing could 
 not be possible in the Church of England — 
 He must have blundered with some blind guide 
 in a synagogue ! — there is no other way of ac- 
 counting for it. 
 
 The numerous hearers and readers of this 
 alarmist will not fail to act upon his repre- 
 sentation, and keep out of the way of the 
 Teachers of any thing so dangerous to the peace 
 of mankind here, and their own peace hereafter, 
 as the practice of morality. 
 
 Let us next remark what weapon another 
 popular Preacher employs to resist the intro- 
 duction, and destroy the influence, of practical 
 virtue. The Preacher of the duties of Chris- 
 tianity — the better to degrade him in the 
 opinion of the common people — is represented 
 under the flimsy name of Taplash, (for those 
 who have to deal with the multitude know well 
 that a name goes a great way,) his character is 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 made to associate with it the idea of all that is 
 offensive and absurd. — Then, as to his sermons, 
 " the ingredients of all his compositions" (says 
 this Evangelic accuser) " seemed to be nothing 
 better than flimsy declamations and religious 
 compliments — he would be talking of the re~ 
 ward we were to receive from the fair hand of 
 our virtuous conduct." — Thus the ignorant are 
 taught, in pretty plain terms, and by a very 
 plain inference, that our Saviour's Sermon 
 on thev Mount was mere flimsy declamation. — 
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their 's is the 
 kingdom of God. Blessed are the meek, for 
 they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they 
 that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
 they shall be filled." Thus said the Son of 
 God, — and thus does he stand involved in the 
 accusation — He too, we see — for his words are 
 before us — He too would be talking of the 
 reward we were to receive from the hand of our 
 virtuous conduct. Thus is the Saviour himself 
 held up to derision, who, as a moral preacher, 
 had no equal, but who, if the new Evangelical 
 host can help it, shall have no imitators. 
 
 Well might our Saviour say, as he did, to • 
 
67 
 
 this class of Teachers, who, under the disguise 
 of great outward sanctity, were secretly destroy- 
 ing the influence, and undervaluing the im- 
 portance, of his moral example. — " Woe unto 
 you, for ye are as graves which appear not, and 
 the men that walk over them are not aware 
 of them */' 
 
 Let us now attend them a little further. 
 
 The 'faithful Clergyman, striving by his ex- 
 hortation to reclaim mankind from vice, and 
 contrasting the happy consequence of a vir- 
 tuous life with the distressful progress and 
 fatal termination of a life of guilt, is further 
 exposed to the sneer of the vulgar by the 
 ridicule cast upon this discharge of his duty.— 
 Mark the air and language of disdain with 
 which moral virtue is consigned over to con- 
 tempt in the person of its Teacher. " At one 
 time," — says the Reverend Evangelist, address- 
 ing himself to the vulgar, and to that which 
 always governs the vulgar, their prejudices, — 
 " At one time, after a very tasty specimen of his 
 elocution, in which he had been displaying the 
 
 * Luke xi. 44. 
 E 2 
 
68 
 
 rich repast of conscious virtue brought home to 
 the pious mind, he thus concluded, with the 
 following line out of Thomson : — 
 
 ' Come then, expressive Silence, muse her praise.' 
 
 " The orator stood all astonished at his own 
 harangue, gave a very elegant congee to his 
 auditory, and then most gracefully sat down." — 
 " In one of his moral harangues, descanting 
 upon the beauty of virtue and the excellence of 
 a virtuous life, he thus addressed his auditory, 
 in a sentiment he had gathered from a Heathen 
 orator*." — 
 
 Then follows an invocation to virtue, which 
 the Heathen orator is made to venerate, and 
 which the Evangelical orator strives to bur- 
 lesque. — Tom Paine himself never laboured 
 harder to root all virtue out of society, — Man- 
 %t ^ec} ^ deville nor Voltaire never even laboured so 
 
 fa tffiat iart 4 much ; — they were content with declaring their 
 {{nor 0~fT*~<f - disbelief of a future state ; they did not disperse 
 Qjh ditty /! ^f wl Dialogues among the poor and profligate to 
 <m.&n ■ expose to ridicule those who should exhort them 
 
 jU-vU j v to make provision for it. 
 
 feL ik.&t * ® % * « Village Dialogues," toI. iii. p. 4J. 
 
■ 
 
 69 
 
 I confess it does not appear to me that any 
 Jacobin from France could better contrive to 
 make us the instrument of our own ruin than 
 by following up this system of private and 
 public teaching ; let theintelligent reader judge 
 whether the following language used by those 
 writers, who early warned us against the con- 
 sequence of French atheistical principles, does 
 not apply equally to the consequences of 
 English Evangelical principles. Let him de- 
 termine whether what is here addressed to 
 us, on the progress of Gallic infidelity, does 
 not equally refer to the opposition of this new 
 sect of Evangelists to the cause of virtue and 
 morality.^—' 
 
 u "While books instilling sound principles are 
 frequently issued to the world with all the em- 
 bellishments which result from the combined 
 skill of the paper-maker, printer, hot-presser, 
 and engraver, which of necessity confine their 
 purchase to those who are least in want of their 
 instructions, the poison which destroys them is 
 almost invariably circulated iif a cheap form, 
 which renders it easily attainable by that d,e- 
 ' scription of persons on whom it is most likely to 
 
70 
 
 make the deepest impression, and whose mental 
 infection is most prejudicial to the happiness 
 and tranquillity of the state. This surely is 
 an evil of magnitude, and calls loudly for the 
 application of a speedy and effectual remedy. 
 — In the present state of Europe, it is as much 
 the duty of those who are entrusted with the 
 government of states to attend to the press as 
 to the army or to the revenue. The call upon 
 them is imperious ; to evade it would be trea- 
 chery, to resist it criminal. In other times, 
 when the acquisition of -power between rival 
 parties is the contention, government may, 
 without danger, silently contemplate the squab- 
 ble, and remain passive and inert. , But when 
 the object of competition is the social and civi- 
 lized world, with all its venerable train of reli- 
 gious duties and moral feelings, no individual 
 can be neutral and virtuous, no government 
 can be inactive and innocent *." — 
 
 Does not this new Evangelical sect pursue 
 the same end, and by the same means? — It 
 is an impudent evasion to say, or their ad- 
 
 * See the Prefatory Advertisement to the Anti-Jacobin, 
 p. 6. 
 
71 
 
 vocates for them, that they wish well to the 
 ca^ise of virtue and morality, while they are 
 preaching it down in every bye-street in 
 London, and deprecating it in tracts and ser- 
 mons circulated through the kingdom. 
 
 The leaders of this sect, like the atheistic 
 leaders of France, begin by securing the mon- 
 mon people, because they know that, come 
 what may, when that point is once gained, 
 their cause must be victorious. When the 
 populace shall be once brought to a con- 
 viction that the Gospel, as they a*e told, has 
 neither terms nor conditions, — no ifs and buts ; 
 — that the idea of moral goodness, as essential 
 to salvation, is done away ; — that no Qualifi- 
 cation, even of merit, is necessary for the at- 
 tainment of future happiness in another life ; — • 
 that that attainment is not suspended on the 
 performance ,of any duties whatever,- — that it is. 
 procured for them by an eternal covenant, 
 which no folly on their part can frustrate, nor 
 any after-act destroy ; — that no sins can be too 
 great, no life too impure, no offences too many 
 or too aggravated, to disqualify the perpetrators 
 of them fortsalvation ; — that the justification of 
 
 trv&rdy onjerf fc fo-trkr " -fen t&re^ <tefa*JltlHce ^*3 ^fru^hjve^r 
 A f€tArff-<fy>,, a,Q ^Tefa<_jfcrr''A6>a.kn, . M) u tu# &+ fajf. k- 
 <j crrkel JrufC ? &*$ u rf~ 'Kfff tfk. tvLa^w *f rfz firenokr^g^ ^ 
 
 ftwt(/rfcd~ toe*- had Kef f cul a, fa* *<-<£^ /c ntftunei) in^tffi^ 
 
/ A i, osa* a* turtfervr <fe<tiS£ hfh- bird Uh,-/h4t*:.c , 
 
 ^ < ^ ""* r* fir • ' ' 
 
 Ocfovcofc those who have outraged every moral duty 
 
 Lj- fa/tAM* has no connection with their future obedience ; j — 
 
 lfivt~ pr~ l) &4/f0 when this Evangelical system of faith shall 
 
 / /kfe**' eA " have gave gained a thorough possession of the 
 
 f_ ( :/iUK ^ flu^popular mind, it requires no very extensive 
 
 £ e 4£fZtJ& - foresight to predict what will be the result, 
 
 gee*. If^y*- Let us next advert to the nature of that 
 
 [fvx, fy tu y morality which we have just seen treated with 
 
 / Ut/ P t y 7 mockery, and the discourses of the moral 
 
 swdjl ^ L f° r Preacher, whom the weak and the worthless 
 
 are taught by every artful insinuation to shun, 
 
 as a Heathen orator. 
 
 We shall be the better able to judge of that 
 style of Preaching, which the Gospel, and the 
 necessity of the times, require to be exposecfto 
 the jeer of the rabble, and the scoff of the 
 profligate. 
 
 " In every age (says the moral Divine *) the 
 practice has prevailed of substituting certain 
 appearances of piety in the place of the great 
 duties of humanity and mercy. Too many 
 there have always been who flatter themselves 
 with the hope of obtaining the friendship of 
 their Creator, though they neglect to do justice 
 
 * Blair. 
 
to their fellow-creatures. But such persons may f /Hj g /ttt ^ ? 
 be assured that their supposed piety is alto- 
 gether of a spurious kind ; it is an invention of 
 their own, unknown to reason, unknown in the 
 word of God. In Scripture, we are ever di- 
 rected to try our faith by our works ; our love 
 of God, by our love of men. — We are directed 
 to consider piety as a principle which rege- 
 nerates the heart, and forms it to goodness. — 
 We are taught, that in vain we address any 
 homage to Christ, unless we do the things 
 which he saith : and that love, peace, gentleness, 
 goodness, meekness, and temperance, are not 
 only the injunctions of his law, but the native 
 fruits of his Spirit. If, therefore, while piety 
 seems ardent, morality shall decline, you 
 have full reason to believe, that into that piety 
 some corrupting ingredients have entered ; and 
 if ever your regard to morality shall totally 
 fail ; if, while you make many prayers, you 
 give no alms ; if, while you appear to be zealous 
 for God, you are false or unjust to men ; if you 
 are hard or contracted in heart, severe in your 
 censures, and oppressive in your conduct, then 
 conclude with certainty, that what you had termed 
 
74 
 
 piety is no more than an empty name.— What 
 you have called by that name resolves itself 
 into one or other of three things : — either it is 
 a hypocritical form of godliness, assumed in 
 order to impose upon the world ; or, which is 
 the most favourable supposition, it is a tran- 
 sient impression of seriousness, an accidental 
 melting of the heart, which passes away like a 
 morning cloud ; or, which I am afraid is too 
 often the case, it is the deliberate refuge of a de- 
 luded and superstitious, but, at the same time, a 
 corrupted mind." — Such is the recommendation 
 of morality which this new sect of Evangelists 
 abhor ; which they reprobate as the reverse of 
 their Gospel system. I have selected this spe- 
 cimen from Blair, because his Sermons are not 
 merely involved in the indiscriminate ridicule 
 thrown upon all moral harangues, which are 
 represented with a sneer, as descanting upon 
 the beauties of virtue and the excellencies of a 
 virtuous life, but they are marked by the new 
 Evangelists with a peculiar slur of contempt. 
 — " Oh ! my dear, (says one of the uncon- 
 verted, in the Village Dialogues, in order to in- 
 duce his wife to keep out of the crowd which 
 
75 
 
 attended the Evangelical Preacher)— Oh ! my 
 dear, I'll stay at home with you, and read 
 some of the Saturday's papers of the Spectator ; 
 you know they are all upon moral subjects ; or 
 one of Dr. Blair's Sermons, if Mr. Worthy has 
 got them!!" - 
 
 To this Mrs. Lovely (for she must have an 
 Evangelical name) is made to reply, — " In- 
 deed, my dear, I never could read, either in 
 those papers or in Blair's Sermons, any thing 
 like so interesting as what I have heard this day 
 from Mr. Lovegood *." — We cannot fail to 
 remark here the insidious manner in which 
 these admirable Sermons are classed, as it 
 were negligently, with those papers, in order 
 to impress every reader with a prejudice against 
 them, as trifling and flimsy, and beneath the 
 notice of the serious believer. 
 
 Having selected a specimen of Moral Preach- 
 ing from one of its most distinguished advo- 
 cates on the one side, it is but fair to select a 
 specimen of Evangelical Preaching from one 
 of its most celebrated and popular champions 
 on the other. 
 
 * Vide vol. 3, p. 94. 
 
icn£C > y Let us take it then from the favourite and 
 
 it tf t» admired Sermons of Mr. Toplady. 
 
 ic CLtr&Lf^ We will preface it with the solemn and 
 
 el { h ifKl&MCt awful communication of the Evangelist John, 
 
 z . in order to shew how exactly they accord, how 
 
 7 D clearly the doctrines of the one are deduced 
 
 wF 1 "? ' from the Revelation of the other, and how 
 
 <7~&7W" justly, therefore, it assumes the exclusive title 
 
 Mft. <$ of EVANGELICAL. 
 
 fttvhvfrtf/f " And I saw the dead, small and great, 
 7> tfiftM stand before God ; and the books were 
 opened : and another book was opened, which 
 is the book of life : and the dead were judged 
 out of those things which were written on the 
 books, according to their works. 
 
 " And the sea gave up the dead which Were 
 in it ; and death and Hell gave up the dead 
 which were in them : and they were judged 
 every man according to his works *," 
 
 Let us recall to mind, at the same time, the 
 urgent caution conveyed to us in the epistolary 
 writings of Paul, given as an awful warning 
 to the whole human race — " Be not deceived, 
 God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man 
 soweth, that shall he also reap." 
 
 * Revelation, c. 20, v. 12, 13. 
 
77 
 
 And let us further add to the authority of 
 Revelation and of Apostolic testimony the 
 confirmation and assurance of the Saviour him- 
 self. — " When the Son of Man shall come in his 
 glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then 
 shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; 
 
 " And before him shall be gathered all 
 nations, and he shall separate them one from 
 another, as the shepherd divideth the sheep 
 from the goats : 
 
 "And he shall set the sheep on his right 
 hand, but the goats on the left. 
 
 " Then shall the King say unto them on his 
 right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world : 
 
 " For I was an hungered, and ye gave me 
 meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : 
 I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, 
 and ye clothed me : 1 was sick, and ye visited 
 me : I was in prison, and ye came to me. 
 
 " Then shall the righteous answer him, 
 saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, 
 and fed thee ; or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? 
 " When saw we thee a stranger, and took 
 thee in ; or naked, and clothed thee? 
 
78 
 
 " Or When saw we thee sick, or in prison, 
 and came unto thee ? 
 
 " And the King shall answer, and say unto 
 them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of the least of these my 
 brethren, ye have done it unto me. 
 
 " Then shall he say also unto them on the left 
 hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast- 
 ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels* 
 
 " For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no 
 meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no 
 drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me not 
 in ; naked, and ye clothed me not ; sick, and 
 in prison, and ye visited me not. 
 
 " Then shall they also answer him, saying, 
 Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or 
 athirst, or a stranger, Or naked, or sick, or in 
 prison, and did, not minister unto thee. 
 
 " Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily 
 I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to' 
 one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 
 
 " And these shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment, hut the righteous into life eternal*." 
 
 Carrying all this in our mind, let us now 
 attend to the Evangelical Preacher. 
 * Mat. 6. 25. 
 
79 
 
 "The Religion of Jesus Christ stands 
 eminently distinguished, and essentially dif- 
 ferenced, from every "other religion that was 
 ever proposed to human reception, by this 
 remarkable peculiarity, that, look abroad in 
 the world, and you will find that every re- 
 ligion, except one, puts you upon- doing 
 something, in order to recommend yourself to 
 God. A Mahometan expects to be saved by 
 works; a papist looks to be justified by his 
 works; a free-wilier hopes for salvation by his 
 works, compliances, endeavours, and perseverance ; 
 a pagan, if he believes that there is a future 
 state, expects to be happy hereafter by virtue 
 of the supposed good he does, and of the evil ; 
 he leaves undone ; a mystic has the same hope, ' 
 and stands upon the same foundation.. It is 
 only the religion of Jesus Christ that runs 
 counter to all the rest, by affirming that we are 
 saved and called with an holy calling, not 
 according to our works, but according to the 
 Father's own purpose and grace, which was not 
 sold to us on certain conditions to be fulfilled by 
 ourselves, but was given us in Christ before the 
 world began *" 
 
 * Toplady's Works ; see his Sermon on James ii. 18. 
 
80 
 
 Now I would pause here, and ask this plain 
 question, is this the doctrine of the true Gos- 
 pel ? or is it the doctrine of an avowed in- 
 fidel ? — If it is the doctrine of the true Gospel^ 
 then the New Testament cannot be the true 
 Gospel, since what is just before quoted from 
 it teaches a doctrine so glaringly contradictory 
 that no language on earth can reconcile the one 
 with the other. — If, on the other hand, the 
 New Testament contains the true Gospel, then 
 is this the doctrine of one who cannot believe 
 that Gospel to be true, because he is most 
 distinctly and directly at variance with it. He 
 is therefore, let him come in what disguise he 
 may — he is an imfidel. 
 
 Is there any man living so blind that he 
 cannot, or so bigotted that he will not, see the 
 tendency of all this, to pave the way for the 
 most unqualified atheism? 
 
 What do these Evangelical Preachers teach ? 
 — If such are to be our public instructors, and 
 are to draw aside the people of England from 
 all moral admonition, and to vilify it as fit 
 only for a Heathen orator, and worthy only 
 of a Jewish synagogue, let us dissect their 
 doctrine, that we may at least know what it 
 
81 
 
 is we are to learn, and what it is in which our 
 faith is to consist. 
 
 Consulting one of their most distinguished 
 leaders, whose works and doctrines are studied, 
 quoted, copied, consulted, and incorporated 
 into the sermons of all the sect, what are we 
 taught ? — 
 
 In the first place, we learn that — "the re- 
 ligion of Christianity stands distinguished from 
 all others by this remarkable peculiarity, that 
 it is the only one that does not put you upon 
 doing something, in order to recommend your- 
 self to God." — Now the religion of Christianity, 
 as delivered by the Saviour himself to mankind, 
 has not this remarkable peculiarity, but the re- 
 verse ; for it teaches, and in his own words, 
 thus : — " All things whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for 
 this is the law and the prophets." — And ,when 
 one came and said unto him, — " Good Master, 
 what shall I do that I may attain eternal life ?" 
 he told him distinctly what he must do, and 
 by what means he must attain it ; he answered 
 — " If thou wilt enter life, keep the Command- 
 
82 
 
 ments */' — The Gospel, then, which we have 
 ever believed to contain the religion of the 
 Christian world, has not that remarkable ■pecu- 
 liarity by which alone the Evangelical Preacher 
 tells us it is to be known. According to his 
 text- therefore, it must be rejected ! ! 
 
 " The religion of Jesus Christ (says the 
 Evangelical Teacher of the people) runs coun- 
 ter to all others, by affirming that we are 
 not saved on certain conditions to be ful- 
 filled by ourselves." — Now in that religion 
 which the New Testament represents to us 
 as his, and which the Christian world have 
 hitherto embraced as such, are these words : 
 — " Not every one that sayeth unto me, Lord, 
 Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, 
 but he that doeth the will of my Father which 
 is in Heaven ■\." 
 
 Now since we are here put upon fulfilling our 
 duty in order to recommend ourselves to God, 
 and since this Gospel contains certain conditions 
 to be fulfilled by ourselves, it follows, that it 
 
 * Mat. 19, ver. 16, 17. t Mat. 7, vex. 2&T. 
 
83 
 
 cannot contain the religion of Jesus Christ, 
 whose remarkable peculiarity it is, that it does 
 not command the one, or prescribe the other. 
 Trying it, therefore, by the Evangelical test, 
 it must be rejected ! ! ! 
 
 In the Gospel of the New Testament, it is 
 recorded that ' ' Jesus himself said to his dis- 
 ciples, ' The Son of Man shall come in the 
 glory of his Father with his angels, and then 
 he shall_ reward every man according to his 
 works*. 3 " — But it is the Mahometan that ex- 
 pects to be saved by his works. — It follows, 
 therefore, according to the Evangelical Preacher, 
 that the New Testament teaches the delusive 
 faith of Mahomet, and not the genuine religion 
 of Christ. 
 
 In the Gospel, as transmitted to us by the 
 four Evangelists, we are throughout expressly 
 taught that " he that shall endure to the end, 
 the same shall be saved f." — But it is the free- 
 wilier, we are told, that hopes for salvation by 
 his compliances, endeavours, and perseverance. 
 
 * Mat. 16, ver. 27. f Mat. a*, ver. 13. 
 
 F 2 
 
' t > — According, therefore, to the Evangelical 
 
 T~X~/ i i/fucl Preacher, the four Evangelists do not teach 
 m the r elision of Jesus Christ.— - A free-wilier, it 
 
 * i /ff.rtnc^' seems -' mav adopt their doctrine, but it will 
 
 ,>. , j. not be held by a true believer. 
 
 *^J / The sacred volume of Holy Writ declares 
 
 ■ /-Afiui I**- U ' K ' that — " true religionj and undeflled before God 
 
 $trtl K %uL ttmkf . and the FathCTj IS THI§5 to risit the fatherless 
 
 &£■ - Tkt and widow in their affliction, and to keep 
 
 / fc/j&fo Uf himself unspotted from the world." But to 
 
 / fat i»-th fr e *' eve this * s t0 ^ e a Pagan, — " a Pagan, if 
 
 b / L~. I? ^ e Relieves that there is a future state, expects 
 
 to be happy hereafter, by virtue of the sup- 
 
 furrH mC-rt- p 0se( j good he does, and of the evil he leaves 
 
 JQ-lU/Jtn- , turf undone." \ 
 
 Cl/I ui&K 6& ^ uc ^ * s tne c * ear inference from the Evan- 
 
 4(Ui I & gelical doctrines! The result is not circuitous, 
 
 C.luLOjrjrtU fu&rfbuX direct, — it is the conclusion to which every 
 
 U A /etjU-'b'ff ™ind must be led that is capable of thinking, 
 
 9lH<Mt,''lkse>cwh/ , and is qualified to examine or reflect at all. 
 
 5 a ■dhlfc ^ an we won ^ er > then, if infidelity increase 
 
 j/ /r under such instructors? — While we are spending 
 
 jL a our strength and draining our resources to re- / 
 
 v. sist that mighty combination framed against 
 
 ' t^4 & m <hr- *M f^ **f 
 
</kh tf~r& Ur£e^6. fotrmf ftd-cua . &6lU OrLantfixtii^re// JL 
 Uitrt OfiUJcnj fe.c+ihcet.«»2 7ct*J*&. - 4*v*j <v^ &M <fruv<t<t 
 
 the religion of Christianity from abroad, it ^^-JJ fr 
 
 may not be wholly useless to open our eyes to a^^ u-trrkj ~~ 
 
 what is going forward at home. tv&n //&/£- 
 
 We must not judge of men by their pro- JraJvt* ^y J Jaiu£/ 
 
 fessions, but by their actual efforts.— We &4 rCt. fa-emj 
 
 must not judge of them by any sounding ty It+nJ^er^t 
 
 name they may appropriate to themselves; -"-1. 
 
 for that is assumed for the purpose of ob- *J f 4-t:jf 
 
 taining a favourable first impressson, and throw- rf / ^kvin^cc/ 
 
 ing the judgment of mankind off its guard. OlFf&rv&^cej , **> 
 
 Whoever weakens, in society, the veneration /***<' & Ctr ^tnx-i3, 
 
 for morality, is a traitor to his country ; and ' ^ H ^ "*?' 
 
 whoever diminishes the influence of religion __ 'y/rx /let<.$uj^. . 
 
 in the world, as a rule of daily conduct, is a ^^Vt * 
 
 traitor to his God. — And it is not the disguise ^ 
 
 of an Evangelist that should screen him from / j / 
 
 . . ,. . . . tr fk hiJ-v i 
 
 shame, or shelter him from indignation ; — it is J , 
 
 fhH * a fa™ 
 a cloak that has been worn threadbare in the - . r\ 
 
 <LiJt an-V 
 service of bigotry and imposture. — It is high * /!&,,* 
 
 time that some efforts should be made to ft tenet - 
 
 rescue ourselves from the abuses that are prac- Uffu &A / f&Jt •'- 
 
 ..j j •. * J(Lln£f ) arc fh£ 
 
 tised under it *. <r . J . 
 
 * There is perhaps no public writer, to whose labours, 
 in the cause of moral virtue, the public are more indebted 
 than to Mr. Paley. There is no one whose writings are 
 
 fa fa.oia.ic Cu.Ct (CcMZuf tdujfMrtuj, fyytrJciK* . 
 
86 
 
 4 
 
 When we remark the odium cast on the 
 moral Ministers of the Established Church by 
 this new spiritual power, and the consequent 
 diffusion of the same hostile spirit among the 
 prodigious body of their followers, we cannot 
 fail to call to mind, that among the pre-dis- 
 posing causes of the French Revolution was the 
 state of public opinion respecting the national 
 clergy — that the unpopularity artfully brought 
 on them by persons who sought their degrada- 
 tion was the prelude to their downfal. — The 
 multitude, whose prejudices had been secretly 
 
 better calculated to do good, by inculcating the essential 
 
 duties of common life, and the sound truths of practical 
 
 > /7 . >» /? Christianity. But in order to suppress their circulation, 
 
 1/ HA&yj W on accoun t f the stress they lay upon the fulfilment of the 
 
 ju-jfetvt ^ T&x " duties of Christian morality, an Evangelical libeller ranks 
 
 //■A f/jj hi m i n tne ^ s t °f infidels, that his readers may be deterred 
 
 from the perusal of his works. — " Though no man (we are 
 
 BTUL P TCCCyir - told) has written better respecting the authenticity of Reve- 
 
 n/ s? ~\ lation, yet few have gone so far in giving up many of the 
 
 \7 </ divine truths therein contained^."' — And what proof is 
 
 HI 
 
 j <j divine iruins inerein coniameaj. ■ — Ana wnar prooi is 
 
 v€KCfiif~tyfU' brought to substantiate so serious a charge? None! I know 
 
 fy\£Lt-n,vCbf ^^ c * /w,t not what sort of character such libellers contrive to obtain 
 
 llSU £w c tyrurf&f™ tne world, but sure I am that they deserve the hiss of 
 
 / /lu CHhsjh eveT Y honest and manly mind. 
 
 to L^t^l^4^ 
 
 Village Dialogues, by Rowland Hill, vol. 2, p. 117, FOURTfl 
 
 

 87 
 
 excited against them, made no scruple to tear 
 them from that station of which they had long 
 been taught to look upon them as unworthy. 
 The passions of contempt, hatred, and revenge, 
 were let loose, and the mob became the willing 
 and eager instruments of the removal of an 
 order of persons whom they had long before 
 been made to despise. 
 
 Their depravity, and their unfitness for their 
 high and sacred function, were the pretexts. 
 The event in which all this defamation ended 
 is under our eye. The national clergy fell 
 under the load of obloquy cast upon them — ■ 
 and with them fell that moral order of society 
 which it had so long been the aim of their op- 
 ponents to overturn. That this was the active 
 and efficient cause may be collected from the 
 reasons urged by Mr. Burke in their defence. 
 , — " Undoubtedly" — says this strenuous sup- 
 porter of moral freedom and moral government, 
 — " Undoubtedly the natural progress of the 
 passions from frailty to vice ought to be pre- 
 vented with a watchful eye and a firm hand. 
 But is it true that the body of your Clergy had 
 passed those limits of a just allowance? From 
 the general style of your publications of all 
 
83 
 
 sorts, one would be led to believe that your 
 Clergy in France were a sort of monsters — an 
 horrible composition of superstition, ignorance, 
 sloth, fraud, avarice, and tyranny. 
 
 " When my occasions took me into France, 
 towards the close of the late reign, the Clergy, 
 under all their forms, engaged a considerable 
 part of my curiosity. So far from finding 
 ^except from one set of men, not then very nu- 
 merous, though very active) the complaint and 
 discontents against that body which some pub- 
 lications had given me reason to expect, I per- 
 ceived little or no public or private uneasiness 
 on their account. On further examination, I 
 found the Clergy, in general, persons of mode- 
 rate minds and decorous manners ; — I had not 
 the good fortune to know a great many of the 
 parochial Clergy, but in general I received a 
 perfectly good account of their morals, and of 
 their attention to their duties. — With some of 
 the higher Clergy I had a personal acquain- 
 tance, and of the rest in that class very good 
 means of information. — They seemed to me 
 beyond the clerical character, liberal and open, 
 with the hearts of gentlemen and men of 
 honour ; neither insolent nor sen ile in their 
 
89 
 
 manners and conduct. They seemed to me 
 rather a superior class, a set of men amongst 
 whom you would not be surprised to find a 
 Fenelon.—l saw among the Clergy of Paris 
 (many of the description are not to be met 
 with any where) men of great learning and 
 candour ; and I had reason to believe that this 
 description was not confined to Paris. "V\ hat 
 1 found in other places I know was accidental, 
 and therefore to be presumed a fair sample. 
 I spent a few clays in a provincial town, where, 
 in the absence of the Bishop, I passed my even- 
 ings with three Clergymen, his Vicars'-General, 
 persons who would. have done honour to any 
 Church. They were all well informed : two of 
 them of deep, general, and extensive erudition, 
 ancient and modern, oriental and western ; par- 
 ticularly in their own profession. They had a 
 more extensive knowledge of our English Di- 
 vines than I expected, and they entered into 
 the genius of those writers with a critical ac- 
 curacy. One of these gentlemen is since dead, 
 the Abbe Moranges. — I pay this tribute, with- 
 out reluctance, to the memory of that noble, 
 reverend, learned, and excellent person ; and I 
 
90 
 
 should do the same with equal cheerfulness to 
 the merits of the others, who, I believe, are 
 still living, if I did not fear to hurt those whom ' 
 I am unable to serve. 
 
 " Some of these Ecclesiastics of rank are, 
 
 by all titles, persons deserving of general 
 
 respect — they are deserving of gratitude from 
 
 me, and from many English. If this letter 
 
 should ever come into their hands, I hope they 
 
 will believe that there are those of our nation 
 
 who feel for their unmerited fall, and for the 
 
 cruel confiscation of their fortunes, with no 
 
 common sensibility. What I say of them is a 
 
 testimony, as far as one feeble voice can go, 
 
 which I owe to truth. Whenever the question 
 
 of unnatural persecution is concerned 1 will 
 
 pay it. No one shall prevent me from being 
 
 just and grateful. The time is fitted for 
 
 the duty ; and it is particularly becoming to 
 
 shew our justice and gratitude when those 
 
 who have deserved well of us and of mankind 
 
 are labouring under popular obloquy *." — 
 
 The same popular obloquy, which thus se- 
 cretly paved the way for the destruction of the 
 
 * Burke's Letters on the French Revolution, p. 314. 
 
91 
 
 national Clergy of France, is, with us, daily 
 forwarding the same aims, and proceeding to 
 the same ends. It is working at present under 
 ground ; but it is not working unseen by those 
 whose eyes are open, nor unfeltby those against 
 whom its preparations are directed. The 
 Evangelical dissenting Ministry, who thus hold 
 up the moral Clergy of the Church as grossly 
 abusing their trust, by perverting that Gospel 
 which they were chosen to preach, when they 
 are not only exposed to the multitude as indif- 
 ferent to their own eternal concerns, but as 
 drawing them aside from the truth ; — when this 
 body of opponents, announcing themselves to 
 be the faithful Teachers of that Gospel which 
 the Church is represented as ignorantly and 
 impiously setting at nought — when this body 
 has by degrees gained such an accession of 
 strength and influence, from the prodigious in- 
 crease of its followers, as to have become a 
 new spiritual power in the State,— and when 
 this power is daily increasing its ascendency 
 over, and multiplying its adherents from, that 
 class of persons which must ever make up the 
 mass of every nation, and in which mass the 
 
92 
 
 physical power of the nation itself must ever 
 reside — when this new power, manifesting a 
 zeal commensurate with its purpose, inspires 
 the same zeal into its proselytes, and those 
 proselytes are taken from among those whose 
 passions are always strong because their reason 
 is weak, and in whom therefore the workings 
 of fanaticism are always the most extravagant 
 and the most to be feared ; — in this state of 
 things, is not the Christian religion here, as in 
 France, in danger of abolition amongst us, 
 from the powerful but disguised hostility thus 
 speciously employed against it ? — Abolish the 
 moral law, which this new power thus slight 
 and abuse, and what have we left ? Take away 
 the mora/Commandments of God from his Gospel, 
 and you have lain the axe to the root; — its es- 
 sence, its vitality, is gone. — Take away the re- 
 straint of itswiora/precepts from religion, and you 
 abolish it to all intents as effectually as it ever 
 was abolished in France in the most frantic period 
 of the Revolution, and you let loose upon so- 
 ciety all the vices and all the crimes which that 
 country exhibited when those moral restraints 
 were disregarded and despised. — Can any man 
 
93 
 
 then, that wishes well to his country, look with 
 unconcern on the establishment of this new 
 power? Can any man that venerates religion, 
 and feels its value in society, carelessly see its 
 practical influence systematically opposed, and 
 the Ministers of Christian morality given over 
 to mockery and scorn by that rival authority, 
 thus risen up to supplant them ? 
 
 These men, lifted up in their ignorance, and 
 muddled with the fumes of their own vanity, 
 proclaim their interpretations of the sacred text 
 to be such alone as should be adopted ; as if 
 the Bible had no meaning till they came to 
 explain it, — as if no one had sense to examine 
 or decide for himself, but must resort to them 
 as ' stewards of the mysteries.' — Common sense 
 is to be cast aside, and reason trampled under 
 foot, to make way for their dictates, and to 
 give place to their decision. — But is it not sur- 
 prising that their emptiness is not discovered ? 
 — Not at all — their followers are not competent 
 to discover it. Look at the crowds which flock 
 round impostorsof every kind. Can the ignorant 
 detect the ignorant ? No. But men of skill will 
 decompound the poisonous mixture, which the 
 
„; , *%™^ deluded victim of quackerv swallows as aft 
 
 j a r\ „ ,/ infallible cure. 
 
 foLtuWlL A lJi.iu- Eventually the whole direction of the popular 
 
 ~4t/hffK £*- ^ mind, in the affairs of religion, will be gained 
 
 £U4ST m ^ Q jj ie nan( j s f a se ^ q£ ignorant fanatics, of 
 
 /td unru^c snc \x \ ow origin and vulgar habits as can only 
 
 f 1 ^ lb F serve to degrade religion in the eyes of those 
 
 "*- ^~ ff to whom its influence is most wanted. — Will. 
 
 fy such persons venerate or respect it in the hands 
 
 ' of a sect composed in the far greater part of 
 
 ' bigotted, coarse, illiterate, and low-bred en- 
 
 » .. h Cr fo k thusiasts ? Men who have abandoned their 
 
 A tH*rtu£s . lawful callings, in which, by industry, they ■ 
 
 l/Uci <*" might have been useful members of society, to 
 
 jyxCv&M A/ \2k& upon themselves concerns the most sacred, 
 
 * ( with which nothing but their vanity and their 
 
 /? jg£ tn t ignorance could have excited them to meddle. 
 
 9 /LtM The doctrine of these directors of the new 
 
 1/ M^c/ Divinity is calculated to repress, as much as 
 
 iAJjU*i,hh*y possible, all personal virtue. — Every page of 
 
 fl flat b the Gospel is perverted from its true meaning, 
 
 (Hl (tfiji™ to in order to make it subservient to this pur- 
 
 ~ f(t l¥c*4*i>i pose; — they throw the imputation of pride 
 
 CLntfta-^- upon what they term the self-righteousness of 
 
 „ -rr-" all those who strive to attain salvation by per- 
 
- Oat . '& ^ *^""* * ^ *^*^ 4 ?*" 
 
 /^^ Hy&jucK i fern* h*<^ *^ jtt*Zt 
 
 sonal goodness. They never fail to refer to the "* "' 
 proud Pharisee, whom they term self-righteous, 'jZl^* fm - 
 and then, having grossly misrepresented his cha- . tc+t^p fy 
 racter, they proceed to declaim on the arro- ,fKC - dL-? 
 gance of founding any expectation of reward ft, 'haft** 
 from the performance -of our moral duties; — i jhrh£~f'^ ts 
 whereas the plain truth is, that the Pharisee fo &*&>*?■■, 
 was not righteous, but merely arrogated to him- n£A^ e f- vf»t- • 
 self that character ; he had neglected all the J'** - 
 moral duties of life, and the weightier matters 2 ' l- 
 
 of the law, and fancied that because he ab- u / CJtaCU. 
 stained from those most flagrant crimes which ll A^ £•*&■ 
 he had no temptation to commit, — had fasted err tr-o&r- " 
 twice in the week, and paid tithes of all that ^^ cJ^umu. 
 he possessed, (where others only paid tithes of faan/tt ' , &~~ 
 the smaller herbs of mint and rue,) that he had / defy *ru 
 a strong and superior claim to reward. — The jffr^J truf 
 moral truth which our Saviour meant to convey fuJUrtnidi^ 
 by this parable is obviously this, — that the y It' *ti 
 sinner who is humbled with a sense of his past IfKnAc h. 
 offences is more likely to repent and obtain ruyAc. 
 salvation than the ostentatious bigot, who, 
 while he neglects the essential duties of Chris- 
 tianity, believes, because he makes long 
 prayers, hears sermons twice in a week, and is * 
 
96 
 
 strict in the outward ceremonials of devotion, 
 that therefore he stands in no need of repent- 
 ance, but is already among the number of 
 the elect. 
 
 To what class of persons does the Gospel tell 
 us this parable was spoken ? to the truly 
 righteous who trusted in their own good works 
 for acceptance ? No such thing, — take the 
 words of the Gospel itself — "And he spake this 
 parable unto certain which trusted in them- 
 selves that they were righteous, and despised 
 others." — But if a fool prides himself in his 
 ignorance, would any one speak of him as 
 being proud of his understanding? Is true 
 wisdom to be abused and undervalued, because 
 the vanity of a blockhead leads him to trust 
 in himself that he is wise ? Is a lecture to the 
 one to be turned into a libel on the other ? 
 
 Yet such is the barefaced distortion of truth 
 practised, for the mere purpose of bringing 
 morality into contempt. The utility of this 
 instructive parable is wholly destroyed by their 
 most shameful perversion of it to the purpose 
 of depreciating the value of that practical good- 
 ness which it was meant to exalt, and of the 
 
97 
 
 efficacy of that personal virtue which it was 
 '^^ its sole design to enforce. To this end, that 
 which is nothing more than self-delusion, in the 
 Pharisee, isHermed self-righteousness ; and from 
 thence occasion is taken to defame all those 
 who strive to prepare themselves, during this 
 their state of trial, for that judgment which 
 they must undergo at that day, when they will • 
 receive either reward or punishment, according Q^ ^ 
 
 as they shall be found to have merited the one, fy&rridUr bt/£. 
 or deserved the other. **& ^/^F ' * 
 
 They rob the upright of their confidence in ; . , 
 Heaven, by teaching them that no good works ja? ^ 
 
 , or virtuous actions can attain it. All the 
 promises which God of his infinite goodness 
 has given to man, to excite him to perseverance 
 in well doing, are in fact denied, and in effect 
 frustrated, by a swarm of new Evangelists, who 
 are every where teaching the people that no y teeafm, S 
 reliance is to be placed on holiness of life as a re-ficcCuG fcvh 
 ground of future acceptance ! ! — Who are these Jw J4 j/OLte -. J' 
 men, I would ask, that thus strive to root out M < m v dan^e) 
 of the belief of the merciful that they shall JjJ ^2? o * ^^ 
 obtain mercy, and of the pure in heart that y'. f j7& 
 they shall see God ?! ! Who are these men that m-c^ it. HtrfiMfi 
 
 fa fkU, <f> SurejL dw AKctfLttfa, fa Au/tujHrni , 
 
98 
 
 thus dare annul the prqmises of Heaven to the 
 righteous, by declaring that righteousness to 
 be no ground of dependence ? — Where is_tlieir 
 warrant for this their ignorant presumption ? Is 
 it by their insulting pretensions to the title of 
 Evangelical Teachers that the voice of reason 
 and the word of God are to be silenced ? 
 
 When the man to whom Jive talents were 
 given produced ten when he was called to 
 account, did the Lord revile his self-de- 
 pendence, or reward his hopes ? — When the 
 steward of one talent produced what he had 
 received, did he praise his faith or punish his 
 folly ? — Let the new Gospel Interpreters answer 
 this plainly, and without equivocation. — Let ■ 
 them first understand that Gospel they affect 
 exclusively to teach, and not fancy themselves 
 doing the work of Evangelists while they 
 are splitting the texts of truth to patch up 
 the doctrines of error. 
 
 There is no virtue which these Preachers do 
 not reprobate in the exercise, in order to sink 
 its worth and value in the estimation of 
 mankind ! — There is no example which the 
 Bible holds forth for our instruction or imi- 
 
99 
 
 tation, but they strive to annul its efficacy 
 by,denying its merit; nay, the very conduct 
 which they allow to be virtuous, they, in the 
 very same breath, denounce as criminal. — 
 Take one among ten thousand examples that 
 might be offered. — " There was a man in the 
 land of Uz (says the Scripture), whose name 
 was Job, and that man was perfect and up- 
 right, and one that feared God, and eschewed 
 evil." — What comment does the Evangelical 
 Preacher make upon this ? what construction 
 does he put upon it so as to discourage others 
 from the imitation of such a character ? 
 " There is no doubt (says he) of the integrity 
 and uprightness of Job, but, while he was 
 righteous, he was self-righteous, and this was 
 his crime *." — What blasphemous jargon is 
 this, which admits the integrity and the up- 
 rightness of the character alluded to, and at 
 the same time denounces this personal righ- 
 teousness as criminal! — I can use no lan- 
 guage which would sufficiently stigmatise so 
 gross and glaring an attempt to root out 
 
 * "Village Dialogues," by Rowland Hill, vol. 8, p. 104, 
 Fourth Edition. 
 
 G 2 
 
100 
 
 of the popular mind all respect for the prac- 
 tice of virtue, by attaching to it the imputa- 
 tion of guilt. 
 
 That self-murder is a sin, we know ; but it 
 was left for the new theory of religion to teach 
 the guilt of self-righteousness. 
 
 Where do we find it affirmed that the righ- 
 teousness of Job was criminal ? What authority 
 is quoted to support a language so stupidly 
 contradictory ? — What a contemptible opinion 
 must such writers entertain of the British 
 public before they can venture to dictate to 
 it in such a strain of unmeaning gibberish ! 
 No man, that did not count upon finding in 
 every reader a greater fool than himself, 
 could risk the publication of such impious 
 trash. 
 
 Are the faithful followers of that Saviour 
 who suffered, leaving us an example that we 
 might follow his steps, to be libelled as proud 
 and self-righteous, instead of being animated 
 to perseverance by the encouraging assurance 
 which he has himself given, that — " he that 
 endureth to the end shall be saved." — Is 
 the upright man, who rests on the promise of 
 
101 
 
 God to reward every one according to his 
 works, to be taught that he is resting on a 
 broken reed ? — This he most certainly is, if 
 the Evangelical doctrine be true, that these 
 works are not to be relied on as a ground of 
 future acceptance. 
 
 What, after all, is the meaning of this term 
 self-righteous, which is canted about from 
 mouth to mouth, and from sermon to sermon, 
 with such a tone of bitter condemnation ? Do 
 those who adopt it one after another pause 
 to inquire what they mean by it ? — Does not 
 righteousness consist in the practice of those 
 duties which the Gospel enjoins, and abstaining 
 from those crimes which the Gospel condemns? 
 If so, must not each individual himself practise 
 • that which is right, and refrain from that 
 which is wrong ? — Can another tell truth 
 for a liar, or be honest for a house-breaker ? 
 — Can the licentious be pure by substitute, 
 or the profane be devout by deputy ? — Can 
 another be upright for the swindler, or chaste 
 for the seducer? — Must not every bad man 
 leave off his own evil courses, and must he 
 not himself repent and reform ? — Is it not ex- 
 
102 
 
 pressly declared that it is " he that doeth righ- 
 teousness that is righteous ?" 
 ficrc- HP&i/h Since then it is plain that each must himself 
 
 at Uuni Pujurt*- be righteous, if he be so at all, what do they 
 ^ M », / // mean wno *hus inveigh against se/f-righteous- 
 
 ' ., /A ness, since Christ himself declares there is no 
 
 /ft lu. pufu&r' 
 
 uJintUk otber? . 
 
 / (rtfik ^ re we ' m tne ^ a y °^ Judgment, to be tried 
 
 / /— aj&r£/, each according to what he hath himself done, 
 
 U>h f(t- tfl - <&% whether it be good or evil ; Or are we to be 
 
 «/- !' "T/uL wi<& tried according to what another hath done ? 
 
 UK UJ\ <j^u&h — When Christ shall come to judge the earth, 
 
 vy y?~£ ct ; t** w j]i he call us to answer for our own deeds, 
 
 ftbrrtbr arfb Qr wJU he not? _if he w i H> how heavily must 
 
 „*» «■ / ^ they answer at the bar of God, who, by de- 
 
 trtM , ir m \ . ' . . 
 
 MtrfC&r&d • /^/"P rec i at i n g the merit of personal goodness, dis- 
 abt 9 ] o<J nA fit courage the truly virtuous, and daily draw 
 h reJ&rvt A as ^ e many from that path which can alone 
 
 L. r f d fa uf«M lead them to Heaven ! 
 
 Ifr- f*" rriitnht " Crimes of every description (says Mr. Col- 
 dcctrt) iMjc to quhoun) have their origin in the vicious and 
 
 uUcm. a Uulma- immoral habits of the people ; in the little 
 a 4j JuAj&ttar attention paid to the education of the inferior 
 
 U £Li%i4 rh orders ; and in the want of some plan for 
 fkt JcdM regulating the morals of this useful class of 
 
 ty L <-hf\CYy fi A*c**t JftArc iA.fi> uefrtj {A^fie^pftnu^ <*A 
 JShnA+uiJwc &uc 'I kritU J<u2 3W kurt+&>vr Cf far 
 
" hi/H * frf^K buck th fa d<M> a / *3f r PL</fc/£/Lrtn'&u* lxtl / 
 ffi^/fr <rf Od fnutry . * 6<^ J&ruxuly , U 'd jkw ft eu*n ctece^tr 
 t, aLu*t &~MAfU&M *£**»/■ A fo#££#6 fir &* 
 the community *."— How then must crimes of ^odrml 4 
 every description increase, if, instead of a plan ~— TO ^ >t/ ^ ' 
 for the regulation of their morals, we have a *>o &e~ <fr**v~ 
 system fitted for their further destruction ; and r**? rfjizt 
 if, instead of being early educated to those qjjb^^^t 
 habits of practical integrity, devotion, and $j mute &•&? 
 purity of heart and life, which in Scripture JtMtioctAf w*~ 
 language is termed " righteousness," thev are f**- 01 ^v *"■**¥¥ 
 . to be educated into a thorough contempt of °i g^f Ub. — 
 those habits, as of no merit Or estimation, and «V t*~ *^" *** 
 ^brought up in the belief that this righteousness O&ry •"&*■ 
 is a thing so rile, as Only fit to be compared to uiccl *- fo 
 whatever is most worthless ? 5&// or v**) 
 
 Lest the Village Dialogues before noticed *"** u0r ^ 
 should not bring the Heathen attribute of Uf"™ 6 "* 
 virtue sufficiently into discountenance, another l/tufLir ^ 
 Evangelical Minister forwards the labour by *% <***)**«&. 
 the aid of Village Sermons.— It is needful that ' St^ty"^ 
 the different districts of this kingdom should r ^^f 
 be well supplied, lest a respect for the laws of Uu^" 1 **- 
 morality should gain ground, and the cottager ™^f • ** M?" 
 should bring his children up in the notion '"* * Ae & ^ re ' 
 that it was meritorious to observe them. " v A jfCf^iS/ 
 
 Notwithstanding the earnest efforts of the 2f V> m 4< -^«* 
 Gospel to guard the youthful mind against ™* $ rotM ^J^ 
 
 * Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, p. 32. dual &nJCrh>,<lfa 
 
 *( fhAutc J€e»e*f 1 M#>£ s*fj fa 2<rfL-<f+nJi fi 
 
 K* } kTJt ' U tuff- rvfe. ok <<rr*fc af**S~~ fa 4 ar-r* -br- - 
 t -«* v „l cut/ u-u-yw&kjj irn. vi4/r tC-C^if^uj/l 
 
(/ be art- fc £c£twc~ fa Msk 'hcc&nJ- < 7e£ / Fa / S*«*i / 
 
 U & fCt, fi>A+r«?Sr « 104 ~ 
 
 the deception too often practised upon it by 
 impostors in the disguise . of Saints ; yet are 
 those efforts defeated by the daring audacity 
 with which they are opposed. — 
 
 " And to her," says the Scripture, " was 
 
 It 
 
 yet granted, that she should be arrayed in fine 
 
 LINEN, CLEAN and WHITE, for the FINE LINEN 
 
 is the righteousness of Saints *." — What say 
 the Village Sermons? — "My dear children, 
 why do you hope to go to Heaven ? Is it 
 because you are not as bad as others; because 
 you say your prayers, and go to church or 
 meeting? If so, you are proud; proud of your 
 own righteousness, which the Scripture 
 
 calls FILTHY RAGS \" 
 
 There's an Evangelical Priest for you ! ! ! 
 
 This Evangelical Instructor of villages 
 answers all questions with great readiness.- — 
 " Are you not asking— (says he) — wherewith 
 shall I come before the Lord, and appear 
 before the Most High God ? You have now 
 heard. Not by works of righteousness which you 
 have done,— these are imperfect and insufficient 
 
 * Rev. 
 
 f " Village Sermons," intended for the use of families, 
 Sunday schools, and companies assembled for religious 
 
105 
 
 — The best of them is mixed with sin.*— Trust 
 not in them *." — This is indeed spoken in a tone 
 of authority. But " be not deceived," says 
 our Saviour ; " he, that doeth righteousness, is 
 righteous." — 
 
 I ana only anxious that the country should 
 have some well-authenticated examples of what 
 those doctrines are which are imposed Hpon 
 the weak and ignorant, and dignified with 
 that pompous title which we find annexed to 
 them. I am only desirous that these doctrines 
 should stand out fairly to the light — should be 
 turned round, and inspected. — If the new faith 
 be the only true one, let us embrace it ; but let 
 not those who vend these neio articles expect clch <V^f 
 that we should choose them with our eyes shut. fruM 4&&* 
 
 Those who know the actual state of the !**■ fif**- 1 ^ 
 morals of the lower classes, in the different ^, * 
 
 hamlets and villages, can alone judge of the ~-' *^ v 
 pernicious and destructive effects which arise ** 0UXJ 
 to society from the propagation of principles /, . . 
 
 so adverse to their reformation, .hvery country /y . 
 
 instruction in country villages ; in four volumes, by George /M.J1/U.0&H.CC 
 Burder. See Sermon XIII. vol. 2, Seventh EditioD. fr. vl&hj( 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
 fpK*WLcc\ Ptst/i? jmo ^u^ w&fcl fei 
 
 frrfcc&jfmaJi titter** /^^,V4//, 
 
106 
 
 magistrate throughout the. kingdom has daily 
 occasion to lament the increase of depredations 
 committed, not only on the farmer, but on 
 property of every description in their respective 
 neighbourhoods. It is equally the duty and 
 interest of every man to give effect, to the 
 utmost of his means, to the exertions of the 
 magistrates to suppress them. But let any 
 person ask himself, whether he thinks the 
 amendment of these offenders, — if in an hour 
 of remorse their conscience should send them 
 to seek instruction, — is to be effected by such 
 an address as the following : — 
 
 " You must despair of obtaining salvation 
 by your Works, — your sorrow for sin, or 
 your future amendment — And this will make 
 the Gospel welcome to you *." — Can any man 
 that is not crazy sit down deliberately and pen 
 such discourses for the press ? — Can any man 
 calling himself a Minister, and professing to 
 teach the doctrines of that great Founder of our 
 religion, who died, that, by his teaching and 
 his example, he might save his people from their 
 
 * Burder's Village Sermons, Seventh Edition. Sermon 
 III. p. "25. 
 
107 
 
 sins, impiously assure every class of offenders 
 that they cannot come to him too heavily laden 
 with crimes and offences, and that it is foolish- 
 ness to think of mending their lives by way of 
 preparing themselv.es to appear before him ? — 
 " Abstain from all appearance of evil" is the 
 injunction of Paul. — " Be ye perfect, even as 
 your Father which is in Heaven is perfect^" is 
 the exhortation of our Saviour himself to those 
 who came to him, and by him directed to be 
 enforced wherever his Gospel- is preached. Can 
 we turn with patience — can we even turn 
 without a mixture of disgust and horror, to the 
 impious reverse of all this, delivered to the 
 ignorant multitude in the coarsest language 
 which vulgar fanaticism can furnish ? — " This 
 man" — says this Village Reformer — " receiveth 
 sinners ; he came on purpose to save them, and 
 bids you come, that he may save you. Think 
 not foolishly first to mend yourselves, and then 
 come to him ; you will never be better till 
 you do come — 
 
 " Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare ; 
 You can't come too filthy — come just as you are*." 
 
 * Burder's Village Sermons, vol. I, Sermon XX. Seventh 
 Edition 
 
108 
 
 Is it not insufferable that a man should 
 dignify this trumpery with the title of Ser- 
 mons ? Is it not lamentable that such discourses 
 and such doctrines should find their way to the 
 hand of the credulous people in all quarters of 
 the country, and that Sermons of this stamp 
 should pass through numerous Editions, to the 
 utter exclusion of every work by which the 
 sound principles of religion might be diffused, 
 and society be rescued from the dominion of 
 those errors by which it is misled, and those 
 crimes by which it is corrupted ? 
 
 What says the parable of our Saviour, and 
 how does it correspond with the language quoted 
 above ? — " And when the King came in to see 
 his guests, he saw there a man that had not on 
 
 a wedding garment. 
 
 " And he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest 
 thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? 
 And he was speechless. 
 
 " Then said the King to the servant, Bind 
 him, hand and foot, and take him away, and 
 cast him into outer darkness. There shall be 
 weeping and gnashing of teeth*." — Can we 
 
 * Matt. 22. 
 
109 
 
 forbear to contrast this with the doctrine 
 taught and the invitation given in direct de- 
 fiance of it ? Yet these Evangelists spare no 
 efforts to spread their principles, and they de- 
 nounce as infidels all who do not acknowledge 
 them to be the Preachers of the true Gospel 
 faith. 
 
 If any work appears which bears about it 
 the tone and colouring of their opinions, or 
 contains even a remote and indirect approba- 
 tion of them, it is admitted into their circle. 
 If it is an avowed defence of their doctrines, 
 the writer is extolled with the utmost ardour, 
 and his work procured with the utmost eager- 
 ness; and though its admiring readers should 
 be wholly unable to understand it, yet, if it 
 descant on the usual mysteries, and produce the 
 usual texts, all agree to applaud it as truly 
 Evangelical ; for this term Evangelical is em- 
 ployed to sum up all merit and perfection in 
 a single word, and is well calculated to conceal 
 the ignorance of those who wish to be thought 
 judges. It is something like the term nervous 
 in physic ; it serves to describe every ailment 
 which the doctor does not understand. — If, on 
 
110 
 
 the other hand, any work is given to the public 
 which examines and exposes their opinions, the 
 writer is instantly denounced as an unbeliever ; 
 no calumny is spared that can repress its circu- 
 lation; the closer and more convincing the 
 arguments, the more are they reprobated as 
 specious and delusive ; for reason, when ap- 
 plied to refute their errors, is always most carnal 
 when it is most conclusive. 
 
 The labours of the most learned are treated 
 by them with supercilious contempt. They 
 speak of what they are pleased to term ' the 
 pride of human learning' with all that disdain 
 which marks the pride of human ignorance. 
 They contrive to convert their disgrace into 
 their glory, and turn that imbecility which 
 should be their shame into their consolation. 
 The man who, by a course of long and arduous 
 study, has qualified himself for the labours of 
 his most high and awful calling, that man is 
 classed, with a sneer, among the worldly wise ; 
 the treasures of divine grace are not for him — 
 he has no interest in the true inheritance. — No. , 
 These genuine descendants of Popery acknow- 
 ledge no true title but in the Pretender. 
 
Ill 
 
 It is impossible not to remark with what 
 dogmatical assurance they affirm or deny in 
 matters of faith ; and how industriously they 
 strive, by mutual puffing and quotation, to give 
 weight and circulation to their own opinions. 
 Instead of defending their assertions by argu- 
 ment, or supporting them by reason, they 
 quote others of the same sect who hold the 
 same doctrines, and thus the unthinking are 
 deceived into a reception of them. But others 
 there are who well know that mere authority in 
 such case is but assertion repeated; that we 
 must not attend to. what men say, but to what 
 they prove ; and that a blockhead does not de- 
 monstrate his opinion to be true by merely 
 producing the testimony of other blockheads 
 in support of it. 
 
 Every publication in which morality is sup- 
 ported against the destructive influence of their 
 doctrines is studiously kept from the sight of 
 their disciples. This can only be done by re- 
 presenting them as containing the worst poison 
 of infidelity, and to this mode therefore they 
 have recourse. They have not an authority to 
 suppress the periodical reviews, but they have 
 
112 
 
 a power, by Evangelical anathema, to interdict 
 the perusal of them, and this power they do not 
 fail to exert ; no mode of attack is left untried ; — ■ 
 sometimes they are to be treated as utterly 
 beneath regard. — " What," — says one of the 
 Evangelists at the Alexandrine close of his 
 labours, — " What will that terrible phalanx, 
 the reviewers, say ? — Oh ! that matter is easily 
 settled: they, like wise men of Gotham, tell 
 the world, even by the title-pages of their books, 
 under whose service they have registered their 
 brains and pens : the reader who minds them 
 (I speak of them as a body) proves he has no 
 mind of his own *." — - 
 
 At other times a more terrific warfare must 
 be made, and the crime and danger of perusing 
 them is then arrayed in all its horrors. — "When 
 asked," says another, lamentingly alluding to 
 some of his flock, " why they do not visit the 
 theatres, they tell us, that they disapprove of 
 the actors, and that it is a sin to minister to 
 the support of such an infamous profession. 
 But it is the constant practice of these very 
 persons to take in Magazines, or periodical 
 
 * Rowland Hill's Village Dialogues, vol. 4, p. 175. 
 
113 
 
 Reviews, the writers of which, from behind 
 the ambush of literature, scatter abroad prin- 
 ciples of scepticism and infidelity *." 
 
 Sermon ' On the Danger of reading improper Books,' 
 preached at the monthly association, Oct. 8, 1807, by 
 the Rev. John Clayton, jun. — This Evangelical Preceptor 
 has affixed a List of Books, to which he is pleased to give 
 the important sanction of his approbation. But he has 
 omitted one of great utility, and which he might himself 
 consult with advantage — an English Grammer. If his 
 Sermon should reach a Second Edition, he will himself do 
 well to review the passage cited above. To talk of scat- 
 tering abroad principles from, behind an ambush is to jumble 
 literal with metaphorical expression in a manner that one 
 should hope even a schoolboy would have avoided* 
 
 His review might be extended to many passages of this 
 discourse, which require to be lowered to a tone of more 
 becoming humility ; for example, — "I must beg leave to 
 say a few words to tutors and governesses ; to you is com- 
 mitted a serious charge— the formation of character. Much 
 depends on the books read in your schools. Apply our 
 previous directions to their choice." — Page 36. 
 
 It were well if those who rail so vehemently against self- 
 righteousness would substitute less of self-conceit in the 
 place of it. 
 
 Some passages deserve his more serious revieic ; among 
 others, that in which he enjoins those who have erred during 
 the day — " to close their engagements by penitentially 
 casting their guilt on their compassionate Saviour." Page 
 30. — He has no warrant from Scripture to authorize such 
 conduct, nor can he produce a single passage from the Gospel 
 which would justify such advice. On the contrary, there 
 is no lesson that can more completely confound the moral 
 judgment, or destroy the moral principle, than that which 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 These pious Pontiffs never condescend to 
 
 prove their assertions. They deal out their 
 
 teaches an offender, of whatever description, to cast his guilt 
 upon the innocent. The Gospel never intended to 'initiate 
 mankind in a practice so repugnant to every feeling of jus- 
 tice, and so hostile to every dictate of truth. 
 
 Mr. Clayton informs the Christian world — that "a large 
 library may be composed of those works alone in which 
 there is nothing objectionable or deleterious." — This may 
 be true ; but whether the booksellers of this kingdom can 
 furnish such a happy collection seems matter of doubt ; 
 it should appear not by his sending us to fetch our materials 
 sofara-field. — "Christians," says this great Divine, — "you 
 are under no necessity to seek materials from^the Heathenish 
 Tyrians for the erection of your glorious temple of 
 knowledge ; there are enough in the land of Israel, and the 
 precincts o/Jerusalem." (Page 24.) 
 
 The catalogue of Authors which this Reverend Gentleman 
 has pleased thus publicly to specify and recommend begins 
 with Homer, Hesiod, the Argonautica, ^schylus, Sopho- 
 cles, Euripides, Pindar, Theognis, Herodotus, Thucidydes, 
 Xenophon, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, &c. To these 
 Greek writers are added a list of Latin Poets, Historians, 
 and Orators ; and these again are followed by a long roll of 
 English writers, moral, historical, theological, political, and 
 poetical, to the number of about one hundred. And as this 
 catalogue of writers, Greek, Roman, and English, is to go 
 forth to the learned world with the consecrative seal of 
 Mr. Clayton to their respective merits, it becomes necessary 
 to proceed in the affair with due caution. — " This cata- 
 logue,"'— says he, with a gravity becoming the great occa- 
 sion, — "might be considerably extended; butl study brevity. 
 It is only necessary for me to add, that the recommendation 
 of these books is not to be considered as expressive of my 
 approbation of every particular sentiment they contain." 
 
lis 
 
 Condemnation with the air of persons who can 
 neither deceive nor be deceived. It is curious 
 to observe the tone of authority with which 
 they send forth their excommunication into the 
 commonwealth of literature. They never con- 
 descend to produce any evidence to testify that 
 their invectives are not wholly without founda- 
 tion ; they are so accustomed to make their own 
 the measure of every other man's faith, and 
 they meet with such entire acquiescence in the 
 circle of their own followers, that they seem to 
 claim a prescriptive right to libel all who hold 
 an opinion opposite to their own. These Evan- 
 gelical Dissenters exercise, as by charter, a 
 right to differ from others in matters of faith, 
 and to abuse and vilify all that differ from 
 them. 
 
 There is one striking circumstance that 
 demands peculiar remark. These high-strained 
 pretenders to godliness, who deny the power 
 of the sinner to help himself, take good care 
 
 It would indeed be a grievous injustice if this writer's 
 reputation should be injured by the occasional unsoundness 
 of opinion in writers whom it is more than probable he may 
 never have read, and for whose sentiments he ought no more 
 to be made answerable than the compiler of Lackington's 
 Catalogue, from whiih it is not unlikely that his own was 
 abridged. • iit/ty jl&tv . 
 
 r H 2 
 
116 
 
 always to attribute his saving change to the 
 blessed effect of some sermon preached by 
 some one or other of their Evangelical fra- 
 ternity. They always hold themselves up to 
 the multitude as the instruments of pro- 
 ducing all those marvellous conversions which 
 they relate. No instance is recorded in their 
 Saints' Calendar of any sinner resolving, in 
 
 f * consequence of a reflective and serious perusal 
 fan) fw/i ■ h of the ScriptureS5 to lead a new life No 
 
 fhM *p instance of a daily perusal of the Bible pro- 
 
 ducmg a daily progress in virtuous habits. — 
 
 ^ ~ • No, the Gospel has no such effect — It is always 
 
 / the Gospel Preacher who works the miracle ; 
 
 ' r^ j .jf- it was some text which he preached from that 
 
 U,^ first struck out the spark of Evangelical faith. 
 
 J i ' Lj- The grace of God may produce all moral re- 
 
 ~7T formation, for that is progressive and gradual, 
 
 f™ i . but God the Priest must stand foremost in 
 
 all the great works of instantaneous conversion, 
 fa /Jui hJl. and, at the feast of praise, must come in for his 
 fff Hu.tr frH s h are from the crowd of the faithful. — 
 
 f 4- 'TJLLrf fa & " Joy to the Master of the feast, 
 * >j /• ^' s name our s °uls for ever bless ; 
 
 fttoC r*ft*f* ** To God the King, and God the Priest, 
 
 Jtrty fitHCiTk A loud Hosannah round the place." — 
 
 ^W^a fi fojjy <? Watts<s Hymns, b.S,h. 13. 
 
117 
 
 They place their own interpretations of the 
 Scripture doctrines on the same level of 
 authority with the Scripture itself,— and who- 
 ever does not subscribe to them must expect a 
 plentiful sprinkling of abuse from the shower- 
 bath of Calvinism ; the terms Infidel, Heathen, 
 Socinian, Deist, Atheist, with all the abusive 
 epithets which their Evangelic spleen can 
 furnish, will be vented against him; for this 
 order of believers do not seem to conceive the 
 rules of Christian candour, or of common 
 justice, to be binding upon them. They never 
 think it necessary to produce evidence to sub- 
 stantiate their charges. With them assertion 
 supplies the place of authority ; for it is with 
 their libels as with their doctrines — they con- 
 sider proof as destroying the very essence offaith. 
 
 After all, in what does the grievous crime 
 of reading reviews consist ? — The material 
 mischief is hinted pretty broadly by this 
 faithful Remonstrant, who declares that he will 
 undertake to prove that some religious profes- 
 sors have, for years, by taking in these and 
 other evil works, " contributed twice as much 
 
118 
 
 to the spread of ruinous opinions as to the 
 support of their Evangelical Minister, who labours, 
 to instruct them in the things which make for 
 their peace *." — 
 
 Such a delicate hint, so publicly sent forth 
 to the world, stamps a real dignity on the 
 character of the Minister. It marks that 
 honourable feeling- of independence which 
 draws a line of separation between such minds 
 and those of a mean and mercenary cast. It is 
 to be hoped that the faithful will relieve them- 
 selves for the future from the reproach thus 
 thrown out against them, and not expose them- 
 selves to the lash of such home-felt provocation. 
 We trust that hereafter the fruits of their faith 
 will more and more abound in the pocket of 
 their Evangelical Directors, that they may say, 
 with increased joy, that in godliness there is 
 great gain. 
 
 But these Saints, who would stop their ears 
 if you should mention with admiration the 
 name of a Garrick or a Siddons ; — who think 
 
 * Sermon by the Rev. John Clayton, jun. " On the 
 Danger," &c. p. 18. 
 
119 
 
 it a sin to support such an infamous profession 
 as that, through the medium of which a Milton, 6fA.&z> • ■ J& 
 a Johnson, an Addison, and a Young, have *? "rcf ■ H> ru 
 laboured to mend the heart; — these Saints, ° 
 
 who, if you were to take their own word fo rit, 
 are really too good for the world they live in, 
 how does their Evangelical Pastor find their 
 holy leisure occupied ?-*- Let us hear: — " Upon 
 entering some houses (says he) I have been 
 struck with the following inconsistency : — the 
 heads of them would not suffer any member of 
 the family to read the nonsense and wickedness 
 which the vagabond pamphlet-sellers bring to 
 their doors ; yet I have seen lying on their 
 table or sideboard a volume which they them- 
 selves had been reading, calculated to instruct 
 their household in the darkest mysteries of 
 vice*/" — What! publicly professing a zeal for 
 the deepest mysteries of godliness, and privately 
 instructing themselves in the darkest mys- 
 teries of vice!!! This is a sad secret dis- 
 closed. It was somewhat unguarded to publish 
 the fact ; but surely it should either have been 
 
 * Sermon by the Rev. John Clayton, jun. " On the 
 Danger," &c. p. 17. 
 
120 
 
 reported with the most indignant censure, or 
 not at all. Is such rank and impious hypocrisy 
 amongst his followers to be merely noticed as 
 inconsistency ? I know not what such sort of 
 conduct may denote in the Evangelical world, 
 but in the moral world we should certainly 
 •not have found so soft a term for it. 
 
 When we reflect how wonderfully the mind 
 of every individual is influenced by early in- 
 struction ; and the readiness with which we 
 imbibe any opinions, however erroneous, or 
 any doctrines, however irrational, according to 
 the books put into our hands at a time of life 
 when we are not competent to examine the 
 foundation of those opinions, or the truth of 
 those doctrines ; we cannot but deem it of the 
 greatest importance that such works only 
 should be employed in the moral education of 
 the youthful mind as may enlist all the faculties 
 of its reason on the side of truth and virtue. It 
 is well observed by a profound philosophical 
 writer, that, " if the multitude must be led, it 
 is of consequence surely that it should be led 
 by enlightened conductors, by men who are 
 able to distinguish truth from error, and to 
 
121 
 
 s 
 
 draw the line between those prejudices which 
 are innocent and salutary (if indeed there are 
 any prejudices which are really salutary) and 
 those which are hostile to the interest and 
 virtue of mankind *." 
 
 By what are those writings which strive to 
 make religion subservient to private happiness 
 and public virtue — by what are they to be 
 superseded ? By the Pilgrim's Progress ! ! ! — 
 Tillotson, Barrow, Atterbury, Newton, Locke, 
 all must retire and give place to John 
 Bunyan ! Addison, Young, Johnson, Hawkes- 
 worth, names dear to religion and learning, 
 must yield in veneration to the Tinker of Bed- 
 ford ! ! It is round his bust that the new Evan- 
 gelists bind their holy fillets ! It is at his shrine 
 they burn their incense of praise, and bring 
 their burnt-offerings of adoration ! The labours 
 of one pious Editor are insufficient to illustrate 
 his beauties f ■ the work of exposition is 
 
 * " Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind." 
 By Dugald Stewart. Page 31. 
 
 f A late Edition of the Pilgrim's Progress is published, 
 with Notes on the First Part, by the Rev. J. Newton 
 and others, and on the Second Part, by the Rev. Dr. 
 Hawker. 
 
122 
 
 allotted therefore to -various hands, that each 
 may have a chance for immortality, and that 
 the annotations may be worthy of the ,text.- 
 And they are so. 
 
 It is the exact coincidence of his doctrines 
 with their own that endears him so power- 
 fully to these anti-moralists. This it is that 
 exalts him to the highest pedestal in their 
 Pantheon. " Many/' say his Evangelical Edi- 
 tors, " have read this book with a kind of 
 rapturous pleasure, though they have not un- 
 derstood the Author's design *."— It is for- 
 tunate for a certain class of Authors that there 
 are so many readers of the description alluded 
 to, that admire a work the more, the less they 
 understand it. The present annotators, how- 
 ever, have given every assistance towards de- 
 ciphering any difficulties that might stand in 
 the way of a shallow comprehension. Take the 
 following as a specimen': — 
 
 " In the advice of Worldly Wiseman to 
 Christian, you have a true picture of self- 
 righteous moralists, who are the greatest 
 
 * See Preface, p. 6. 
 
123 
 
 enemies to young converts *." — What opinion, 
 it is natural to ask, do these persons hold that 
 
 * As a further sample of their utter hatred of moral virtue, 
 and of those Teachers who enjoin the performance of our 
 religious duties, I shall adduce the following Notes, that 
 the public , may be aware of the tendency of this work, and 
 of the additional obligations they owe to the Editors of this 
 body of Divinity. 
 
 (Note, p. 25.) " The moralist and self-righteous legalist 
 are lulled up in a false peace, and see not the- evil of their 
 heart, or the sinfulness of sin, till the law does its office, by 
 working wrath in the conscience." — 
 
 These explanatory Notes require to be explained them- 
 selves. What is the meaning of " the law doing its 
 office by working wrath in the conscience ?" It would be 
 well if these Evangelists would translate their jargon into 
 something like common sense, that those who examine 
 their doctrines might have a chance of understanding 
 them, 
 
 The dull reader is thus assisted to understand the charac- 
 ter of Ignorance : — 
 
 " In the character of Ignorance you have an exact de- 
 scription of our decent moralists, who expect Heaven as 
 the reward of their good works." (Note, p. 128.) 
 
 Again — " The language of ignorance exactly agrees 
 with the fashionable Divinity which is retailed inmost of our 
 modern pulpits. They do not in words reject the Redeemer's 
 righteousness; but, by the terms and conditions which they 
 enjoin, in reality they make it of none effect." (Note, 
 p. 153.) 
 
 In the Second Part of these * Hints' I shall develope more 
 fully the pernicious tendency of this very popular work. 
 As an allegory, the Pilgrim's Progress has amused children, 
 who are naturally pleased with whatever relates to giants and 
 
124 
 
 is so fatally false? It is this, — they "think that 
 the practicd of morality is sufficient to recommend 
 them to the favour of God *." — 4 dreadful opinion 
 this to be entertained in this profligate age ! 
 Considering the numbers in this city of London 
 that recommend themselves to the notice of 
 the Police Magistrates by the violation of the 
 laws, and recollecting the assurance given to 
 the public by one of the ablest and most active 
 of those Magistrates f, that, "if the prevailing 
 immorality and profligacy among the lower 
 orders of the people are not checked, very 
 serious consequences are to be dreaded $, 
 the community will not be much indebted to 
 the Editors of John Bunyan for their endea- 
 vours to reverse this moral opinion. The prac- 
 tice of morality is quite sufficiently discoun- 
 
 castles; nothing else could, have secured it a moment's 
 attention beyond the age of infancy ; but when its doctrines 
 are to be taught as the religion of their riper years, 
 it is necessary that the readers of it should be put upon 
 their guard. 
 
 * Pilgrim's Progress, with Notes, by the Rev. Mr. Newton, 
 Dr. Hawker, and others, p. IS. 
 
 f Mr. Colquhoun. See his Treatise on the Metropolis, 
 P- 39. . 
 
 % Ibid. 
 
125 
 
 tenanced, without any assistance from this 
 Tinker or his Commentators. 
 
 No work could be better calculated for the 
 dissemination of the Evangelical principles, 
 as they are called, than the Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress *. It treats the moral law with as 
 much vulgar derision as the most zealous of 
 the fraternity could wish. They could not 
 have made choice of a better vehicle for the 
 propagation of their Gospel. The Tinker, we 
 •all know, made no pretensions to innocence 
 or integrity of life ; he wallowed in his vices 
 with humility — he laid no claim to merit. — In 
 the town in which he lived, he~ was even a 
 
 * The following extract from the Village Dialogues 
 (Vol. III. Page 23) will serve to shew the high rank which 
 this work holds in Evangelical estimation. 
 
 " Wor. — The Pilgrim's Progress, I confess, is an inimitable 
 Drama, and beautifully describes the state of the real Chris- 
 tian in his spiritual progress ; yet Bunyan, in the general 
 way, happens to be the humble treasure of Divinity in the 
 poor man's cottage ; and I fear is not so often to be found in 
 the study of a contemplative Divine. 
 
 " Lov. — Sir, If God had conferred on me the honour of 
 being the Author of the Pilgrim's Progress, I should have 
 been tempted to have been the proudest man upon earth."— 
 
 This is singing to the praise and glory of the Tinker 
 with a vengeance ! His journeymen lay it on with a 
 trowel. 
 
126 
 
 premature example of coarse profaneness and 
 vulgar debauchery ; it was not difficult for 
 him to teach the doctrine laid down in this his 
 treasure of Divinity, that " it is then only we 
 have right thoughts of God*' when we believe 
 that he abhors all purity of thought and 
 holiness of life, or, as he more concisely, and 
 with more elegance, expresses it,' — " when he 
 think that all our righteousness stinks under 
 his nostrils *." — A precious Teacher this ! ! ! 
 If we may judge by the licentiousness that 
 prevails in low life, he has made many pious 
 converts to this conviction. Is it to be won- 
 dered that the Evangelical Missionaries should 
 so industriously recommend such a companion 
 to their altar as the Pilgrim's Progress ? Have 
 they not reason to be proud of such a 
 disciple f ? 
 
 * See the Pilgrim's Progress, p. 153. The Variorum. 
 Edition. 
 
 f This renowned work has been given to posterity in a 
 poetical version, with explanatory Notes, by the Rev. George 
 Burder, Author of Village Sermons, &c. 
 
 This gentleman has shown himself not less gifted as a Poet 
 than a Preacher. His poem opens with uncommon spirit and 
 delicacy : — 
 
 " 'Twasin the silent watches of the night, 
 When airy visions please us or affright, 
 
127 
 
 Is it at all to be wondered at that these 
 Preaching Missionaries should be desirous to 
 
 Fast lock'd in sleep's embrace, I dreamt a dream;—' 
 The Pilgrim's journey was the fruitful theme. 
 I thought I saw him in a certain place." — 
 The following lines were never exceeded in sublimity 
 by the production of any ballad-maker within time of me- 
 mory : — 
 
 " Great Beelzebub, the captain q/this fiend, 
 Design' d my ruiri : therefore to this end 
 He sent him harness'd out ; and he, with rage 
 That hellish was, did fiercely me engage; 
 But blessed Michael helped me, and I," &c. 
 
 What constable ever exercised his staff" over an intruding 
 crowd in language more appropriate than the followi ng ? — 
 
 " Fast running back, each bare apostate cries, 
 Back ! back ! in that dark valley we have been. 
 And there such horrid spectres we have seen ! 
 There sport the fiends and dragons of the pit ; 
 Back ! back ! with us, if you have any wit." 
 
 The Pilgrim, it seems, had no wit, so he ventures on, 
 ' sword in hand,' through such a road as never before felt the 
 print of mortal foot : — to the right a ditch, — to the left a 
 quag : — as the word quag is a novelty in our language, the 
 reader must presume that a quag-mire is intended, but that 
 the mire is sunk, or, as lawyers would call it, is merged, for 
 the sake of the measure. But it would be a pity to deprive the 
 lovers of poetry of the description itself. — The concluding 
 line exhibits a neiv and beautiful specimen of that poetical 
 figure which is called comparison : — 
 
 " It was a dangerous path the pilgrim trod ; 
 Sure never mortal trac'd so dire a road : 
 On his right hand a ditch tremendous lay, 
 A dang'rous quag on t'other side the voay ; 
 
128 
 
 exclude reviews, and works of a similar kind, 
 from the circle of their followers ? Is it 
 
 To that, when carefully the ditch he'd shun, 
 Into the quag his feet had nearly run ; 
 Avoiding that, 'twas hard to miss the ditch, 
 For now 'twas grown almost as dark as pitch *." 
 The pressing invitation of Demas, at Lucre-hill, is penned 
 in the true style of Brokers' -row : — 
 
 " Beyond the Plain of Ease, at Lucre-hill, 
 Demas salutes them — ' Gentlemen,' he cried, 
 ' Pray have- the goodness just to turn aside, 
 And view this rich, this noble,' " &c. 
 But the poetical fervour of the Evangelist reaches its me- 
 ridian when he snatches Christian, like a brand from the 
 burning, out of the path of morality, which he had been 
 persuaded to enter by the advice of that lying knave, 
 Worldly Wiseman. 
 
 " My counsel take — Yon pleasant village see: 
 Delightful spot! — 'tis called Morality ; 
 Thither with all convenient speed repair, 
 That honest man Legality dwells there. 
 . Apply to him, you'll get a speedy cure, 
 Nor ever more fanatic fears endure. 
 There live in credit — live in pleasure there ; 
 Nor shame, nor persecution, ever fear. 
 Then Christian paus'd. ' If this,' said he, « be true, 
 There's little more to suffer or to do.' 
 He turn'd aside to reach the place he saw, 
 And seek salvation by the moral law. 
 But ah ! no ease he found ; his fears rose higher ; 
 The mount be pass'd shot forth devouring fire. — 
 Mount Sinai fill'd his very soul with dread ; 
 It seem'd just falling on his guilty head. 
 
 * (Page 34.) The present quotations refer to the Sei.ond Edition of 
 this poem. 
 
129 
 
 hot of course that they should reprobate 
 every work in which their opinions are sifted, 
 and their doctrines discussed * ? A bad cause 
 
 'Twas then, his conscience press'd with sin and fear, 
 Just then he saw Evangelist appear. 
 ' Christian ! what business have you here ?' he cried, 
 ' What lying knave has turn'd your feet aside ?' 
 ' 'Twas Worldly Wiseman, rightly is he nam'd.' " 
 This den uciation of the moral laic is the burden of the 
 ballad. It is hard to say which is most to be preferred, the 
 piety or the poetry. 
 
 * The Evangelical fraternity, though they rail with snch 
 rancour against all Reviews not attached to their interest, take 
 care to review their own writings with abundant approbation. 
 The Eclectic Review was instituted for that purpose. 
 The pompous eulogium pronounced upon it by Mr. Clayton, 
 jun. in his Condemnation Sermon, is written in a tone of ar- 
 rogance that is truly ludicrous. The Evangelical Maga- 
 zine also, which circulates every month the number of about 
 twenty-four thousand, sets apart a portion of its valuable 
 pages to review the productions of the Evangelical press, and 
 to display their manifold merits. The learned Editor, in the 
 instance I am about to adduce, has shewn to the public how 
 well qualified he is to decide and dictate in the republic of 
 letters. In the last number of this renowned work, this 
 learned Editor expresses some doubt respecting the faith due 
 to a literary discovery announced in the Marseilles Gazette, 
 Oct. 20 th ; and, winding up his detail, he exclaims, with all 
 the poignancy of classical scepticism, 
 
 Credat Judteus Appelles* ! 
 This immortal painter is here, for the first time, ranked 
 with the sons of circumcision ! ! ! the Jew Appelles ! ! ! 
 
 * See the Erangelica! Magazine of last month, (Nov.) p. 52". 
 I 
 
130 
 
 has no chance for success but in striving 
 . to asperse the character, and, if possible, to 
 destroy the credibility, of the witnesses pro- 
 duced against it. Those who wish that 
 truth should be extracted can stand firm 
 and fearless, whatever evidence is produced ; 
 they have no wish to shun inspection or 
 escape inquiry ; but whoever has doctrines 
 to establish or maintain that will not bear 
 the inspection of reason will endeavour to 
 escape its power by appealing from its ju- 
 risdiction. 
 
 So strenuous are the efforts of these new 
 Gospel Leaders to root out of the minds of 
 
 As this learned Editor and theological Reviewer takes his 
 Latin from hearsay, it may be useful to him, for the avoid- 
 ance of future blunders; to inquire from whence the 
 quotation is made before he ventures to decorate his Evan- 
 gelical labours with such specimens of classic lore. The 
 line with which he meant, in the present instance, to sanction 
 his incredulity, he will find in Horace, Sat. .5, 1. 100. I refer 
 him to the original, that he may not hereafter corrupt the 
 text of the Classics as he does the text of the Scriptures. 
 His Latin and his Logic may pass muster with the readers of 
 John Bunyan and the Village Sermons. — Nonsense makes 
 no stumbling-block in the way of their creed. With them 
 absurdity is sure to be well received if it comes well 
 recommended. 
 
131 
 
 the multitude all veneration for the divine 
 lessons of our religion, that, not satisfied 
 with rendering virtue and morality of no 
 estimation, they even make the Gospel of 
 God defeat itself, ,by • openly teaching the 
 people that our Saviour was talking in banter 
 when he enjoined obedience to the Com- 
 mandments, as necessary to eternal life. 
 An Evangelical Preacher, whom we have be- 
 fore had occasion to notice, declares this 
 most expressly., lie takes, as his text, that 
 part of the Gospel in v.hich the young man 
 inquires of the Redeemer himself the way 
 to life eternal ; and he represents the whole 
 as a trial of logical skill, in which an ig- 
 norant question is parried by an ironical 
 answer. — " Observe," says he, " the masterly 
 and judicious mode in which the assault 
 is made ; to his inquiry, What good shall I do 
 that I may have eternal life ? Jesus replies, 
 If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Command- 
 ments. By this reply does he either insinuate 
 the possibility of purchasing Heaven by obe- 
 dience, or seriously advise the persisting t.. --^* 
 
 I 2 
 
132 
 
 such an attempt ? NO *." — I declare it makes 
 one shudder to see any one, standing in the 
 awful station of a public Teacher of Religion, 
 thus distorting its instruction, and destroy- 
 ing its efficacy. How will it be with us in the 
 end, if those, who should be the instruments 
 of reclaiming the ignorant from guilt and 
 error, thus continue to lure them to the 
 One, and lose them in the other ? I do pro- 
 test that I know not by what fatal per- 
 version of intellect any persons can bring 
 themselves thus to think and to teach ; and 
 that, not content with delivering such de- 
 lusive impiety from the pulpit, they should 
 deliberately circulate it through the medium 
 of the press. It is to me matter of utter 
 astonishment how any man can read such 
 Sermons, with his mind broad awake, and 
 not throw them on the floor with disgust 
 and indignation. 
 
 * Sermons chiefly designed to elucidate some of the 
 leading doctrines of the Gospel, by the Rev. Edward 
 Cooper, Rector of Hamstale Ridware, Chaplain to the 
 Earl of Courtown, &c. I find this Mr. Cooper's Sermons 
 in Mr. Clayton's recommendatory List of Books, The reason" 
 is obvious : he is an Evangelical bird of the true feather. 
 
133 
 
 Not only do these anti-moral Missionaries 
 exert themselves at home, but every effort 
 which the ardour of fanaticism and vanity can 
 inspire is employed to • Evangelise the Hea- 
 then,' as it is called ; and not only are the 
 more opulent of their deluded followers 
 stripped, but even the poorest among them are 
 plundered*, to support the expense of foreign 
 missions, conducted in that spirit of ignorant 
 and ill-directed enthusiasm which the Scrip- 
 ture expressly reprobates as a 'zeal without 
 knowledge ;' missions teaching the mystic doc- 
 trines of Calvinism to savages that cannot count 
 their fingers; and inculcating the mj'steries of 
 an abstruse creed to poor wretches struggling 
 with famine — accustomed to follow the lead of 
 their passions — and whose minds are so dark, 
 
 * Under the title of Evangelicana, in the Evangelical 
 Magazine for the last month, is the following article : — 
 
 " The following anecdote, relating to the journey of 
 Mr. Collison and Mr, Frey, to make collections for 
 
 the Missionary Society, maybe worthy of notice: — At , 
 
 in Yorkshire, after a handsome collection on the preceding 
 evening, a poor man, whose wages are about 284'. per week, 
 brought the next morning, at breakfast-time, a donation of 
 twenty guineas. Our friends hesitated to receive it, doubt- 
 ing whether it was consistent with his duty to his family and 
 the world to contribute such a sum ; when he answered to 
 
134 
 
 as with great diificulty to admit the plainest 
 and most simple principles of common honesty 
 If those writers, whom I have expressly and 
 by name adverted to, were the only persons 
 engaged in the propagation of those principles 
 from the pulpit and from the press, which go 
 so directly to degrade, in the estimation of 
 the multitude, the true practical religion of 
 Christianity, with all its venerable train of 
 moral duties and moral feelings, I should not 
 ^ have thought it worth while to employ so much 
 
 the following effect: — " Before I knew the grace of our Lord 
 I was a poor drunkard : I never could save a shilling. My 
 family were in" beggary and rags; but, since it has pleased 
 God to renew me by his grace, we have been industrious 
 and frugal ; we have not spent many idle shillings ; and we 
 have been enabled to put something into the Bank ; and 
 this I freely offer to the blessed cause of our Lord and Sa- 
 rt *. viour. — This is the second donation of this same poor man, 
 
 ■Jjttjrffeiffl- to the same amount!!!" 
 
 tt TCti} 7n' t d Whatever these Evangelists may think of such conduct, 
 
 . / /%et». they ought to be ashamed of thus basely taking the advan- 
 
 "7? ff o tage of this poor ignorant enthusiast, and depriving his 
 
 tuTltfctU't' p ,t ^ lM i family, in times like these, of such a sum as forty guineas, 
 
 ■ /■ #, when their united earnings amounted only to 28«-. per week. 
 
 A./ J~ flhJk>l / ^- n * itA '^ of meanly profiting by a flash of fanaticism in this 
 
 ' poor creature's mind, they had better have added something 
 
 fo l4jrCM&r4,& to his hard earnings, and have counselled him to preserve ; 
 
 rt dffhumdLl 1 '''*/ them, in order to provide against the various unforseen dis- 
 
 ^ ' ' tresses by which poverty, in old age, is tco often overtaken, 
 
 Kc CirttW and against which it is for the most part very ill provided. 
 
 \fw*rb~<trt.cAt« u*. fa of Of , 4*t '£>*£& /"*£. ?J*\ 
 
135 
 
 of my time and pains to press the subject on 
 the attention of the public. But what I have 
 here given is only a specimen of the manner in 
 which this hostile confederacy is conducted ; 
 the numbers concerned in, and connected with 
 it, are immense, almost beyond belief. These 
 Evangelical anti-moralists swarm in every town 
 in the kingdom, and are daily multiplying their 
 disciples in every hamlet and village through- 
 out the country *. And the entire devotion of 
 the lower classes to these itinerant instructors, 
 who train them to a systematic contempt of the 
 moral law, and withdraw them from all de- 
 pendence on the practice of their duty as men 
 and as Christians, is such as demands that at 
 least the community should be put upon its 
 guard, and that those to whom its welfare and 
 prosperity are entrusted should not sleep at 
 their post. 
 
 * In the very front of the Evangelical Magazine for the 
 last month, (of which work the Author of Village Sermons 
 is th? Editor,) an Advertisement is inserted for " an active 
 young Man, who has suitable qualifications for an itine- 
 rant Preacher, in a neighbourhood where there are seve- 
 ral populous Villages. A Single Man," it is added, "would 
 be preferred." 
 
136 
 
 What is the object of all those laws, which* 
 make up the system of criminal jurisprudence* 
 but to punish offenders against the moral law ? 
 What are the laws of God or man made to 
 prevent, but offences against morality ? What 
 are murder, theft, forgery, fraud, and the long 
 train of crimes which are punished, according 
 to their degree of enormity, with fine, imprison- 
 ment, transportation, and death — what are 
 these but so many violations of the moral law 
 of the Gospel }■ — From what does sin and guilt 
 of every kind arise, but from the neglect of 
 it? — What is infidelity, intemperance, de- 
 bauchery, gambling, and vice of every descrip- 
 tion, but so many breaches of moral duty? — 
 What but a reformation of morals can save the 
 nation from sinking under the weight of its 
 private profligacy and its public crimes ? — Are 
 not the multitude enough excited, by the nu- 
 merous temptations which assail them in this 
 opulent and licentious metropolis, to violate the 
 laws of morality, but they must be taught from 
 the pulpit to slight it? Musi the press be made 
 an engine, and by the priesthood too ! to 
 destroy that moral law, on which alone the 
 
137 
 
 foundations of the world can stand secure? 
 Must the Divine word be perverted to the pur- 
 pose of weakening the efficacy of virtue? — 
 Must the crusade against morality be carried 
 on under banners stolen from the altar of God ? 
 At this tremendous crisis, England — un- 
 shrinking and alone — abandoned by all the 
 vassal Powers of Eufope — is still strong in 
 courage and in hope. " We are troubled on 
 every side, yet not distressed ; we are perplexed, 
 but not in despair ; persecuted, but not for- 
 saken ; cast down, but not destroyed." At 
 this eventful period, surrounded by the wreck 
 of empires, England is the great Atlas that 
 supports the moral world. Thus situated, it is 
 more than ever necessary that she should cul- 
 tivate that high tone of honourable feeling — 
 that moral rectitude of mind — by which she 
 stands distinguished above all the nations of 
 the earth. — These have hitherto been the noble 
 attributes of the national character ; I trust 
 they will long continue so to be. But the hope 
 is visionary — the expectation is vain — if the 
 public mind is gradually to slide under the 
 
 K 
 
138 
 
 sway of a class of public instructors such as I 
 have described. 
 
 To what I have said at present I shall add 
 more hereafter. — In addressing myself as well 
 to the Legislature as to the Public, I feel no in- 
 tention, not the slightest, to excite a spirit of 
 persecution towards those men whose teaching 
 I protest against. I revere too much the private 
 liberty of individuals, and that spirit of to- 
 leration which pervades and presides over that 
 Constitution which is our glory and our boast— •> 
 I revere these too much to wish that error of. 
 any kind should be opposed by any other re- 
 sistance than Argument, or any other weapon 
 than Reason. — But, holding, as I do, in the 
 utmost veneration, the rights of private freedom 
 and of private judgment, I still do not think 
 that the Members of this new Spiritual Body 
 should be favoured, — as to a certain degree they 
 are, — by special immunities, and fostered by 
 exclusive privileges. I do not think that the 
 open and perpetual propagation of doctrines so 
 hostile to moral virtue — so subversive of that 
 public prosperity of which moral virtue is the 
 
139 
 
 soul and the cement — should not only obtain a 
 license with the readiest facility — but that 
 such license should bring with it an exemption 
 from certain burdens attached to other classes 
 of the community. This, and much more, 
 ought neither to be admitted nor endured. — 
 The evil is not slight, far from it.— But, if it 
 is to meet with encouragement instead of coun- 
 teraction, the probable event may deserve to be 
 considered while yet the preventive can be ap- 
 plied; because, when the event itself shall 
 arrive, reflection may be nearer at hand than 
 the remedy. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST PART. 
 
 Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland-court, Strand, 
 
HINTS 
 
 PUBLIC, and the LEGISLATURE, 
 
 NATURE AND EFFECT 
 
 Cbangeiical $tead)ing. 
 
 BY A BARRISTER. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 " What remedies are fit for this disease— whether the fault be in 
 the Laws, or in the Men— whether the cure be a work of time and pa- 
 tience, or of zeal and diligence, or whether any new expedient cau 
 be found to secure the ship from that storm which the swelling of two 
 contrary tides seems to threaten — is wholly left to your ab- 
 
 YICE." 
 
 Lord Chancellor Nottingham's Address to both Houses. 
 
 lioniion : 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHNSON ST. PAUL'S CHDRCH YARD : 
 
 H. D. SYMONDS, PATERNOSTER ROW: HATCHARD, 
 
 PICCADILLY; AND W. REED, BELL-YARD, 
 
 TEMPLE-BAR. 
 
 180S. 
 
Printed by W. Clowes, 
 Northumberland court, Strand. 
 
HINTS, 
 
 Part II. 
 
 RELIGION, and the doctrines which 
 religion inculcates, as thej tend to form the 
 character and to cast the manners of the great 
 mass of the commonwealth, must ever be matter 
 of anxious inquiry to us all. As the public 
 instruction of individuals is meant to regulate 
 their private conduct, it must influence them 
 more or less, according to its efficacy, in all 
 the relations, and concerns, and pursuits of 
 civil life. Pregnant as it is, therefore, with 
 practical consequences of such extensive im- 
 portance, and embracing, as it does, the moral 
 government of the community, it becomes mat- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 ter of cautious delegation , even by the Supreme 
 authority itself. But when this most moment- 
 ous of all concerns, — this most sacred of all sub- 
 jects, — is tampered with by any order of per- 
 sons, who mistake the impulse of vanity for 
 the influence of grace, and have nothing but* 
 their ignorance to plead in excuse fbr their 
 presumption, — when this is the case, — and it is 
 by far too much so — the affair is serious in- 
 deed. 
 
 The pastoral office, is an office of deep and 
 lasting responsibility. It has much to regulate — 
 much to restrain — much to fulfil. Even the 
 wisest will enter upon it with diffidence, and 
 the most upright will engage in it with cau- 
 tion. But the interested fanatic, and illiterate 
 enthusiast, have no such distrust — no such he- 
 sitation. Where others pause with terror, they 
 will leap blindfold. This is greatly to be de- 
 plored, but thus it is, that " fools rush in, 
 where angels fear to tread." Goaded by zeal, 
 and guided by self-conceit, they are neither 
 deterred by the magnitude, nor dismayed by the 
 importance of the station they assume. 
 
 But the community have a common interest 
 
3 
 
 in the investigation of the principles which are 
 thus disseminated, and the doctrines which 
 are thus taught ; because they have a common 
 stake in the practical consequences which arise 
 out of them. It becomes us, therefore, to dis- 
 sect them with attention, that we may at least 
 be able to estimate their tendency, and thence 
 to calculate on the probable effect of their 
 circulation. This it behoves us to do. There 
 is nothing in it that leads to oppression or in- 
 tolerance. It has no tendency that way. Pre- 
 caution is not persecution. It does not purvey 
 to evil, but provides against it. 
 
 To this subject I have already devoted a por- 
 tion of that leisure left me by my professional 
 avocations ; and I shall devote more of that 
 leisure to it hereafter. I have by no means 
 done with it. It requires to be brought out 
 fully, and to be placed, in all its bearings, under 
 the public observation. Let this new Priest- 
 hood pass along in triumphal procession, and 
 let them gather the ignorant and deluded vul- 
 gar at their heels. But do not let them expect 
 that the whole community are to stand in 
 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 mute admiration ; — do not let them expect that 
 all the thinking and reflective part of the 
 British public are to be the muzzled and hood- 
 winked spectators of the scene. 
 
 I was prepared to expect all the low and 
 senseless ribaldry which this sect of Gospel 
 ministers hare poured forth. I knew that with 
 them abuse would supply the place of argu- 
 ment, and that foul-mouthed calumny would 
 be substituted for serious investigation. These 
 illogical and unruly Saints, have shewn how 
 much easier it is to revile than to refute. But, 
 as I have already said, " These pious pontiffs 
 never condescend to prove their assertions. 
 They deal out their condemnation with the 
 air of persons who can neither deceive nor be 
 deceived. It is curious to observe the tone of 
 authority with which they send forth their ex- 
 communications into the commonwealth of 
 literature. They never condescend to produce 
 any evidence to testify that their invectives are 
 not wholly without foundation : they are so 
 accustomed to make their own the measure of 
 every other man's faith, and they meet with such 
 
entire acquiescence in the circle of their own 
 followers, that they seem to claim a prescriptive 
 right to libel all who hold an opinion opposite 
 to their own. These evangelical dissenters 
 exercise, as by charter, a right to differ from 
 others in matters of faith, and to abuse and 
 vilify all that differ from them*." They have 
 fully and to the letter, exemplified what I af- 
 firmed, that—" they place their own interpre- 
 tations of the scripture doctrines on the same 
 level of authority with the scripture itself— and 
 whoever does not subscribe to. them, must ex- 
 pect a plentiful sprinkling of abuse from the 
 showerr-bath of Calvinism ; the terms of infidel, 
 heathen, socinian, deist, atheist, with all the 
 abusive epithets, which their evangelical spleen, 
 can furnish, will be vented against him. For 
 this order of believers do not seem to conceive 
 the rules of Christian candour or of common 
 justice to be binding upon them. They never 
 think it necessary to produce evidence to sub- 
 stantiate their charges. With them, assertion 
 supplies the place of authority ; for it is with 
 their libels, as with their doctrines, they cou- 
 
 * Vide " Hints, &c." p. 122. 
 
6 
 
 sider proof as destroying the very essenee of 
 faith *." 
 
 If, instead of defaming me, they had de- 
 fended themselves, they would have employed 
 the weapons of their spiritual warfare to much 
 better purpose. I can assure these mortified 
 Priests that I have a very cool contempt for 
 their abuse ; but I would caution them in fu- 
 ture, not to shew so much of the cloven foot 
 as is visible in those periodical publications of 
 which they are the ostensible conductors. 
 Thinking men will compare their affected can- 
 dour and canting humility in the pulpit, with 
 that malignant venom and dictatorial pride 
 which they discover from the press, whenever 
 their opinions are controverted, or their doc- 
 trines attacked. Argument may remove pre- 
 judice, and reason may rectify error; to their 
 influence my mind will always be open, and 
 by them, my judgment will always be reformed. 
 But the evangelical host resort to no such modes 
 of conviction. Their weapons of controversy 
 are of a different temper. We may lament 
 this evil, but we cannot cure it; for so long as 
 
 * "Hints," p. t24. 
 
a difference of doctrine or opinion exists, scur- 
 rility will ever be the refuge of fanatics, and 
 calumny the resource of fools *. 
 - From this class of writers much of argument 
 or information was not to be expected. Rea- 
 son with them is neither much cultivated, nor 
 much cared for. It is considered as no better 
 than a vapour, that would bedim rather than 
 enlighten, that empyrean of faith in which 
 they profess to live and move. Their contempt 
 of morality is moreover so extreme, that 
 their vulgar vocabulary, ample as it is, 
 can scarcely furnish them with epithets suffi- 
 ciently abusive for its advocate. — One should 
 
 • Mr. Burder when he reviews " the Hints," in the 
 Evangelical Magazine, and Mr. Clayton in the Eclectic, 
 give a specimen of criticism which unfolds, and that not 
 a little, the character and temper of their sect. They jus- 
 tify the sound and shrewd observation once made by an 
 eloquent lawyer, that " in the mind oi'man there is no more 
 instigating temptation to the most remorseless oppression, 
 than the rancour and malice of irritated pride and wounded 
 vanity.". These Gentlemen are their own review- 
 ERs-^-this is as it should be ! But when public defaulters 
 become the auditors of their own accounts, we may pre- 
 dict that the balance will always turn out to be greatly in 
 their favour. 
 
8 
 
 have thought that they would have mani- 
 fested somewhat of the Christian virtue of 
 mildness, if it were only out of compliment 
 —not to their adversary — but to themselves 
 and their cause. But it seems they have no 
 desire to be respected even for this solitary 
 virtue. One can get from them neither plea- 
 sure nor profit. All claim to merit is so utterly 
 discarded from their humble pretensions, that 
 they really seem to be vain of their ill-deserving. 
 
 But they are not without apology. The 
 truth is they deal out their praise with such 
 lavish profusion towards each other, that they 
 have none to bestow, even in Christian cha- 
 rity, out of the pale of their own communion. 
 It is matter of regret certainly, that an article 
 so pleasing in the distribution, should be thus 
 circumscribed; but perhaps they are sensible 
 that beyond this limit it would be of no value ; 
 it is this, probably, that induces them to con- 
 fine it to that circle in which alone it can be 
 of any estimation. 
 
 Notwithstanding the assumed humility and 
 affected self-abasement of these modern apos- 
 
ties, they resent, as we may perceive, with 
 sufficient asperity, every resistance to their 
 claim of spiritual pre-eminence, and display 
 an arrogance of resentment against whoever 
 would abate any thing of their infallibility 
 in matters of faith. Fancying themselves the 
 regenerated favourites of heaven, they value 
 themselves, of course, upon this exclusive dis- 
 tinction. They alone are the serious Christians 
 — all the world beside, contains only a motley 
 mixture of the infidel and the ungodly. They 
 are the elect of the flock, and graze in green 
 pastures; — the rest are lost sheep, black with 
 the rot of their original corruption, and out- 
 . casts from the fold of faith. — Lifted up as they 
 are in their vision of vanity to the highest 
 heaven, they look down with affected pity on 
 the creatures of this world. They fancy them- 
 selves taught, as by special favour, from above, 
 and by a very natural progress, in which their 
 fanaticism panders to their pride, they soon 
 come to consider all human knowledge as be- 
 neath their attainment. Human reason, com- 
 pared with the light that floats round their 
 holy temples, becomes in their estimation, no 
 
10 
 
 better than a carnal varnish which throws its 
 delusive glare over the unsightly picture of hu- 
 man depravity. 
 
 There is One great disadvantage to which the 
 opponents of this new spiritual power are 
 exposed. — Its members having assumed and 
 appropriated to themselves the exclusive title 
 of gospel preachers and. evangelical ministers, 
 whoever attempts to reprobate or expose the 
 falsehood and evil tendency of their doctrines, 
 is instantly denounced as an enemy to the ' 
 gospel, and one who cannot bear the system 
 of evangelical truth; thus they roundly in- 
 sist upon, and take for granted, the very feet 
 you deny ; which is, that their doctrines are 
 neither derived from the one, or consistent with 
 the other; — and they forthwith proceed to revile 
 you as a reprobate and an unbeliever. 
 
 This was exactly the sophistry employed by 
 the Jesuits ; — they assumed to be exclusively 
 the followers of Jesus ; and when, at length, 
 their doctrines were drawn into discussion, and 
 their proceedings excited alarm, they then did, 
 as their imitators do in the present day, they 
 pleaded their title, without proving it, and pro- 
 
11 
 
 ceeded to argue down their opponents with 
 such logic as the following : — The Jesuits are the 
 disciples of Jesus: whosoever opposes the disci- 
 ples of Jesus, opposes Jesus ; the enemies of the 
 Jesuits, therefore, are the enemies of Christ and 
 his Gospel. — The multitude, who did not per- 
 ceive the fallacy that lurked in the premises., 
 thought the conchtsion irresistible. But expe- 
 rience at length discovered to them, that this 
 argument was unsound, and their senses by 
 degrees reversed the error of their understand- 
 ing. The power of the Jesuits declined — and 
 their imposing title, grew at last into a prover- 
 bial epithet, expressive of all that is equivocat- 
 ing, and all that is base. 
 
 I have perused Dr. Hawker's Letter * with 
 becoming attention. He expresses, — rather 
 awkardly to be sure, — his sense of " the honour 
 I have conferred upon him," and " the obli- 
 gations I have laid him under" — declares his 
 resolution to strap the pamphlet over his 
 shoulder, and like Job in days of yore, " to 
 bind it as a crown to him ;" and then, in a 
 pleasing tone of self-applause informs me, that 
 
 * A Letter to a Barrister, in answer, &c. 
 
12 
 
 did I but know what he knows, and enjoy what 
 he enjoys, I should follow the footsteps of those 
 who have returned from the promised land, 
 " laden with the richest clusters of grapes, and 
 figs, and pomegranates." — This is really a 
 tempting description ! 1 almost wonder that 
 any should have returned : at all from a spot 
 so productive — I suspect all was not right, and 
 I greatly fear that were I to follow the new 
 gospel guides, instead of the old, that I should 
 have occasion to call to mind the admonition 
 which warns us to beware how we attempt 
 to gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
 
 THISTLES. 
 
 So much for the doctor's compliments and 
 gOod wishes. I shall advert next to his an- 
 swers and his arguments. 
 
 He has totally omitted to explain on what 
 ground it is he vindicates his public declara- 
 tion that "he SHALL NOT RECOBIMEND HUMAN 
 STRENGTH TO EXERT ITSELF IN ACTS OF MORAL 
 
 virtue towards its own salvation." — Be- 
 sides, there is here a contradiction from which 
 the Doctor will find it difficult to extricate 
 himself. How can he admit the existence of 
 
13 
 
 human strength, as he here does, and yet ab- 
 stain from recommending its exertion, or how can 
 this human strength be made to consist with 
 that utter helplessness, for which he elsewhere 
 so strenuously contends. 
 
 He has not attempted to prove that — " man 
 
 IS WHOLLY INCAPABLE OF DOING ANY THING 
 TOWARDS HIS OWN REFORMATION," which he 
 
 was bound to do, in order to justify his abstain- 
 ing from all exhortation to that effect. He has 
 not attempted to reconcile his doctrine to the 
 Parables which distinctly contradict it. Nei- 
 ther has he shewn the utility of preaching to 
 such helpless machines as he describes mankind 
 to be; — nor explained on what principle ei- 
 ther himself, or his evangelical brethren, re- 
 ceive their maintenance at the hands of those 
 to whose change from bad to good, they can 
 contribute nothing. — All this the doctor passes 
 by in silence. 
 
 He has adduced no authoritv from the gos- 
 pel to warrant his declaring that the salvation 
 of mankind is not suspended on the per- 
 formance OF THEIR MORAL DUTIES that 
 
 the gospel has neither ifs nor buts, nei- 
 
14 
 
 ther terms nor conditions. — He has shrunk 
 from the examination of ever y passage of scrip- 
 ture which was produced in opposition to this 
 doctrine, of all others the most delusive and 
 the most dangerous. 
 
 He has produced no testimony from the 
 gospel to confirm the assurance given by him 
 to the multitude, that the grace of God "rises 
 
 HIGHER AND HIGHER IN PROPORTION AS THE 
 MISERABLE OBJECTS OF SIN AND INIQUITY SINK 
 LOWER AND LOWER. 
 
 <2cccrr2vhi $ '* behoved him to shew — which he has wholly 
 /C fofkrfatn omitted — in what manner a covenant can 
 
 ./ft£rc exist WITHOUT TERMS OR CONDITIONS. — The 
 
 tfj %t,{Ji~ i*- verv supposition is absurd ; and a man must 
 /£, Pru/ir a'hS either think very superficially, or not think at 
 Pf-trhu^c- 4 all, that on a subject requiring the deepest 
 
 ClrtfnaM consideration, can advance positions so childish 
 Kjl inrfce- f 
 
 /&&&• to* contradictory. 
 
 U/Orc- i4~vi^ He Das not m an y manner referred to the gospel 
 
 usuii-, HU to support his doctrine, that pardon, mercy, 
 
 pfrcofceK u and peace, are unconditionally bestowed 
 
 jc<vr&£y bv virtue of an everlasting covenant which can- 
 
 fljtf/trv/lr-t&r't- no t }y e frustrated by human folly, and 
 
 4/)Cc£M--M which MAN CANNOT BY ANY AFTER-ACT DE- . 
 
 ft, Ijfrfttufy * fte.C*vJ~a /Uy* i\e^c£. ft* ftarrufo . 
 
15 
 
 stroy. If this doctrine of all everlasting un- 
 conditional covenant really exists in the 
 gospel, it could surelj not be difficult to point 
 it out. But this divine offers the difficalty 
 itself, as an excuse for evading it. " It would 
 be the work (says he) of a distinct treatise, 
 and not the subject of a letter." The doctor's 
 admirers may be satisfied with this kind of 
 reasoning ; — it is in their way ; — it is a dexterous 
 mode of getting rid of the objector, without 
 replying to the objection. But he leaves me to 
 make myself informed on this subject. Really 
 this mode of defence is admirable. He advances 
 a doctrine as fundamentally true, which has, 
 in fact, no foundation at all, and when called 
 upon to support it, he throws the onus probandi 
 on its opponent. 
 
 Such is the doctor's mode of answerins. It 
 is, no doubt, very satisfactory, to himself, — and 
 to his brethren, — who always fancy that they 
 maintain an opinion, as long as they refuse to 
 give it up. But it is not so satisfactory to 
 those who think that his answer should have 
 contained a reply to the objections urged 
 
 «fWy /fc^fc^ ^/&c^fr ^4i*,^ fa 
 
 %> $ fa**** /Utof*Kccl to Hfir-e* %-** &* sM &k « 
 
&■ Heal tf fadbFhsiK . /Uft^ht^ct f tfPy Arrrtr- ', 
 
 4, /&*. a g a i nst his assertions, instead of a repetition of 
 
 '> *t> i them. 
 
 M Lrrrrk A "^ ut ** * s va * n to m 9. u i re from, or contend 
 
 bee Gr&xx. w *th, this class of instructors. , You can 
 
 never get a plain answer to a plain question. 
 
 ~" C Ask them in the midst of their harangue, to 
 
 [/ wLfXgtM explain any difficulty that arises out of their 
 
 wi Hj. ft** doctrines, and they lead you into the wilder- 
 
 ! t fetiifa "ness of mystery, lose themselves and you in 
 
 a -, / a maze of texts without connection, and terms 
 
 * without meaning ; and after all — like dancers 
 
 /s i £ A^/ in a minuet — they end where they began. 
 
 ? The doctor is somewhat wrathful against Dr- 
 ■^T^^ Blair, whose moral discourses I had presumed 
 to contrast with the evangelical effusions of 
 , Mr. Toplady ; and he modestly " ventures to 
 believe, that there are many who appreciate 
 very highly the elegance of Br. Blair as a writer, 
 who have a sovereign contempt for his principles 
 as a divine." — He is compelled, however 
 reluctantly, to allow that Dr. Blair did en- 
 force and inculcate the moral precepts of the 
 gospel ; but he endeavours to defend him against 
 the sad evil of so doing, by suggesting that the 
 
17 
 
 doctor could not have recommended them as 
 of any value in themselves, or have urged the 
 practical observance of them as having any 
 essential concern with their future salvation. 
 " I would hazard an opinion, (says he) that 
 where he is most earnest in enforcing the prac- 
 tice of morality, his design was to enforce it 
 as so many evidences that a work of grace is 
 wrought in the heart. He meant it as the 
 effect, not the cause of godliness." — And by 
 this very luminous and sensible comment, we 
 are hereafter to illustrate and explain away 
 the morality of Dr. Blair ! ! ! 
 
 Perhaps at some future time, the doc- 
 tor himself (or his Eclectic reviewers,) will 
 condescend to explain what he means that the 
 reader should understand, when he is told that 
 Dr. Blair meant to enforce the practice of 
 morality " as the effect, not the cause of god- 
 liness." — What is godliness, but the practical 
 fulfilment of those moral duties of religion, 
 which God himself hath enjoined? — What le- 
 gitimate or intelligible distinction, then can be 
 taken between godliness and morality ? — If 
 it is important that these anti-moralists should 
 
18 
 
 be admired, it is at least as important that 
 they should be understood*. 
 
 * As the new divines aspire to all kinds of glory, 
 they do not hesitate privately " to snatbh a grace" 
 from every class of writers. Doctor Hawker prays in aid 
 of Mr. Bukre, and his letter to the Duke of Bedford, 
 on the affair of his pension from the Crown, is compelled 
 to contribute a portion of its eloquence; although, stripped 
 as it is of its connection, it makes but a very sorry figure 
 in its new alliance. 
 
 Mr. Burke thus begins his letter to the noble Duke, 
 "My Lord, * 
 
 " I could hardly flatter myself with the hope that so 
 early in the season I should have to acknowledge obligations 
 to the Duke of Bedford and to the Earl of Lauderdale. 
 These noble persons have lost no time in conferring upon, 
 me that sort of honour, which it is alone within their com- 
 petence, and which it is certainly most congenial to their 
 nature and their manners to bestow" 
 
 Dr. Hawker commences his letter to me, thus : 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I know not to whom I have to make my acknowledg- 
 ments for that sort of honour conferred upon me in the 
 pamphlet entitled " Hints, &c." But to whomsoever 
 this tribute is due, I certainly- would lose no time in ex- 
 pressing; a proper sense of the obligations you have laid 
 me under, and of giving the answer which is so imperiously 
 demanded from me." 
 
 And speaking of his former opponents, the doctor adds, 
 ~" They poured forth a full heaped measure of censures 
 upon me, and in a way best suited to their mind and man- 
 ners to bestow." . 
 
 Mr. Burke's letter proceeds thus : — 
 
 " To be ill spoken of, in whatever language they speak, 
 
19 
 
 The doctor talks a great deal about the 
 new birth, but he evades, as usual, any expla- 
 
 by the zealot? of the new sect in philosophy and politics, 
 of which these noble persons think so charitably, and 
 of which others think so justly, to me, is no matter qf un- 
 easiness or surprise. To have incurred the disp'easure of 
 the Duke of Orleans or the Duke of Bedford, to fall 
 under the censure of Citizen Brissot, or of his friend the 
 Earl of Lauderdale, / ought to consider as proofs not the 
 least satisfactory, that I have produced some part of the 
 effect I proposed by my endeavours." 
 
 The doctor, adopting the same strain, says, 
 
 " You deceive yourself, sir, if you fancy that any thing con- 
 tained iu your pamphlet, hath provoked my displeasure.— 
 
 — " And for the poor and feeble hand I bear in the ho- 
 nourable service of a preacher of these divine truths, the 
 abuse of such a thing as me, / ought to consider as a mat- 
 ter not a little satifactory. (p. 2, 3.) 
 
 "■I have to thank the Bedford's and the Lauderdale's, 
 (says Mr. Burke) for having so faithfully and so fully ac- 
 quitted towards me whatever arrear of debt was left un- 
 discharged by the Priestley's and the Paine's." — 
 
 — " The Porter's and the Poi/Whele's, (says the doc- 
 tor) with the whole hue and cry of anti-jacobihical and 
 anti-Christian reviewers, long since run me down and run 
 over me. And sir, they would have told you, had you con- 
 sulted their labours, that as far as the abuse of the tongue 
 and the pen could go, they had anticipated your labours."— 
 (p. 3.) 
 
 " At every step of my progress in life, (says Mr. Burke) 
 (for in every step I was traversed and opposed) and at 
 every turnpike I met, I was obliged to shew my passport." 
 — (p. 398.) — I am alone, I have none to meet my enemies 
 in the gate." — (p. 417.)- 
 
 C2 
 
20 ' 
 
 nation of what is meant by it. He finds an 
 apology however, for this omission ; it is a cu- 
 
 The doctor has been it seems, exposed to similar hos- 
 tility. 
 
 " At every step I have made in those divine parts of 
 the Gospel, I have met with opposition from men who do 
 not believe it, and from men who never can believe it." — 
 (p. 21.) And he views the opposition he thus met with 
 at every turnpike, in exactly the same metaphoric light. 
 
 " I consider this however, (says he) but as a toll which 
 all the faithful labourers in the Gospel are obliged to 
 pay, when they speak with their fnemics in the gate" 
 (p. 2.) 
 
 " Loose libels, (saj's the philosopher of Beaconsfield) 
 ought- to be passed by in silence and contempt. By me 
 they have been so always. I knew that as long as I re- 
 mained in public, I should live down the calumnies of 
 malice, and the judgments of ignorance." (p. 378.) 
 
 The philosopher has the good fortune to have this doc- 
 trine confirmed by the preacher. 
 
 " Libels, (says he) of every kind, in my esteem, are 
 best treated by silence. And libels which come from 
 anonymous authors, certainly can have no higher preten- 
 sions, than to contempt. The general tenor of a mans 
 life, is the truest refutation of all such calumny.'" (p. 4.) 
 
 " Had his grace condescended to inquire, (says the cor- 
 respondent of the Noble Duke) concerning the person whom 
 he has not thought it below him to reproach, he might 
 have found that in the whole course of my life, I have never 
 &c. (p. 298.) 
 
 " Allow me, sir, (says my evangelical correspondent) 
 to add, had you condescended to have made inquiry concerning 
 the person, whose character and writings you make so free 
 with, before that you sent forth into the world your judg- 
 
21 
 
 rious one, but as it was probably the best he 
 could offer, it becomes matter of courtesy to 
 
 ment and sentence for execution upon both, you might 
 have found cause to hare stopped the warrant." 
 
 " It is not my way, (says Mr. Burke) to refuse a full 
 and heaped measure of justice to the aids which I receive.* 
 ,(p- 387.) 
 
 " They poured, (says the vicar) a full heaped measure of 
 censure upon me." (p. 3.) 
 
 " When I say I have not received more than I deserve, 
 (says the celebrated politician) is this the language I hold 
 to majesty ? No, far, very far from it. (p. 381.) 
 
 " Is this appeal to an honourable reputation, (says the 
 popular preacher) foreign to the modesty becoming me f 
 Is it in any degree departing from my own principles of 
 thefallen state of man ? Far, very far from it. (p. 5.) 
 
 " I challenge the Duke of Bedford as a juror, (says the 
 orator) to pass upon the value of my services." (p. 379.) 
 
 Not so the doctor. He does not " decline the jurisdic- 
 tion" of his censor. " The jurors of my conduct, (says 
 he) he himself shall iaipannel." (p. 4.) 
 
 " In private life, (says Mr. Burke) I have not at all the 
 honour of acquaintance with the noble duke. But I might 
 to presume — and it costs me nothing to do so — that he abun- 
 dantly deserves the esteem and love of all who live with 
 him. (p. 406.) — If I should happen to trespass a little, 
 which I trust I shall not, let it always be supposed that a 
 eonfusion of characters may produce mistakes, that in the 
 masquerades of the grand carnival of our age, whimsical 
 adventures happen. Odd things are said, and pass off." 
 
 (p. 379-) 
 
 " J ought to take for granted, (says the doctor) for it 
 certainly puts me to no expence so to do, that you really 
 are what you profess to fee, a man learned in the law. 
 
22 
 
 accept it. " / shall not stay to inquire (says 
 he) at this time, in what, according to the 
 
 For such I suppose the title of Barrister is intended to 
 imply. But yet methinks a Barrister unacquainted with 
 the laws of the land, is somewhat novel. And yet I cor- 
 rect myself, it is an age of masquerade ; few among the 
 pantomimical characters around us are in reality what 
 they appear to be." (p. 89.) 
 
 The class of writers to which the doctor belongs, 
 must be inconsistent with themselves, to be consistent 
 Kith each other. This sufficiently reconciles his first 
 assertion, " that he takes it for granted that the Barrister 
 is learned in the law," with the contradiction which 
 immediately follows, that he thinks him " unacquainted 
 with the laws of the land." Here is certainly an 
 accidental want of coincidence. But, as Burke truly 
 says of this whimsical age—" Odd things are said, and 
 pass off," 
 
 Besides the doctor makes another con cession ,— which like 
 the former, puts him to no expence, as he borrows it from the 
 same writer — the concession of fallibility. 
 
 " If I happened, (says Mr. Burke) to be now and then in 
 the wrong fas who is not J like all other men, &c." (p. 
 378.) 
 
 '■' Though now and then, (says the doctor) no doubt in 
 the wrong, (for who is there that is not J &c. (p. 47.) 
 
 It issomethingto have obtained from an evangelical an- 
 tagonist a confession that he may be now and then in the 
 wrong. Who knows but that in the end such per- 
 sons may be brought to believe that others may be in the 
 right. It would, to be sure, be a strange innovation on their 
 present creed. But who can say what a revolution of opinion 
 the study of Mr. Burke may produce. He is a most con- 
 vincing and powerful writer. He once reformed the Jacobins, 
 
23 
 
 analogy of scripture, this new birth con- 
 sists." But the doctor is one of those power- 
 ful adversaries that contends as successfully 
 without the aid of reason or argument, as if 
 he were ever so well seconded. The most 
 acute logician could not manage matters more 
 triumphantly. " Let this new birth (says he) 
 be what it may, the very admission of the thing 
 itself, throws to the gbound all your high- 
 flown notions of the competency of morality, 
 to the full correction of the minds and manners 
 of the people $ ." What -close and cogent rea- 
 soning is here \ ! Talk of Locke and Leib- 
 nitz, why the Vicar of Charles beats them 
 hollow ! ! 
 
 Since this renowned champion of methodism 
 will not stay to inquire in what this new birth 
 consists, I will devote a page or two to supply 
 the omission occasioned by his want of leisure. 
 I do this the more readily because the delusive 
 jargon that is abroad on this subject gives it a 
 
 end it is not impossible that he may one day enlighten the 
 Saints. He has given sight to the blind in the one in- 
 stance, let us hope that he may do it in the other; 
 
 t P. 23- 
 
24 
 
 strong claim on the attention of considerate and 
 reflective ,minds. 
 
 Let us examine this doctrine as it comes 
 from the pulpit of the modern expositors. The 
 Reverend Mr. Cooper gives us the following as 
 the defective advice of one who entertains false 
 conceptions on this subject. — *' Let the evil pro- 
 pensities be weakened and subdued. Let the 
 inherent good dispositions be strengthened and 
 encouraged. Let the noxious weeds, the tares 
 and thorns be cleared away, and the seeds of 
 virtue, thus freed from every impediment which 
 can obstruct their growth, will naturally vege- 
 tate and thrive." And he then asks — " But 
 is this a remedy adapted to the disease * }■" 
 — If it is not, I would ask, what is? This 
 we are not told. But we are told that this 
 remedy "does not reach the extent of the 
 disorder ; the corruption is total, total must 
 be the change." Now any one would sup- 
 pose, that if all evil propensities were subr 
 
 * Sermons chiefly designed to elucidate some of the lead- 
 ing doctrines of the Gospel. By the Rev. Edward Cooper, 
 Rector of Hamstall Ridware, in the County of Stafford, 
 Chaplain of the Right Hon. the Earl of Courtown, &c. 
 
25 
 
 dued, the change for the better would be as 
 total as it is ever likely to be in any man or 
 woman on this side the grave. But the re- 
 verend doctrinist proceeds thus : — " If that 
 which is born of the Jlesh, be flesh, must not 
 every child of Adam be born again, or for 
 
 EVER EXCLUDED FROM THE MANSIONS OF 1'HE 
 
 blessed ? Is not this the express assertion of 
 our Lord ? Except a man be born again, he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God.—" 
 
 Thus it is that these teachers quote half- 
 texts, and garble the scriptures for the sake 
 of supporting their own particular doctrines. 
 All the disciples of the new birth, as it is 
 called, quote this half-text, and their igno- 
 rant hearers rest content with repeating it 
 one after another, without once adverting to 
 its genuine meaning, which is as plain and 
 intelligible as any moral truth contained in 
 the Gospel. Our Saviour himself, explains 
 his meaning explicitly. When, — taking his 
 words in their literal sense, — Nicodemus pro- 
 ceeds to inquire how a man can be born 
 again when he is old ? and, whether he can enter 
 a second time into his mother's womb and 
 
Ao /&//- |, e born ? Jesus answered him thus — " Verily, 
 <hvr )&*ru j ga ^ un { y OUj un | ess a man be born of water 
 
 I and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
 
 / u> doin of God/' — The true sense of which is 
 
 Lf <U obviously this — Except a man be initiated 
 
 rfcntftij raio my religion by baptism, (which at that 
 
 (ru4(A£Jb *l time was always preceded by a confession of 
 
 naA.i&k" faith) and unless he manifest his sincere re- 
 
 £c 4fy* c *~ e * ception of it, by leading that uprisht and 
 
 LrJt V- P 4 . . . . . . . I 
 
 x. j j, spiritual life which it enjoins, he cannot enter 
 
 v 7/ ij-ml.1 tne kingdom of Heaven, or be a partaker of 
 
 bitiiift- tfk** * na t happiness which it belongs to me to con- 
 
 fj-d^lt^ ^- c ' fer on those who believe in my name and keep 
 
 hfV 'j i^ 4 my sayings. — 
 
 } ee j *-*+ But this doctrine of the new birth, in the 
 
 ^W^T hands of these evangelical methodists, is cal- 
 
 - — ~~' culated to sink the weak but well-meaning 
 
 I. * ? mind to the depths of despair ; and to per- 
 
 j plex the feelings and alarm the fears of their 
 
 a^C ft* •* ^ 
 
 bearers, till they are driven, as too many of 
 
 I 4t~ Jih them are, from the meeting, to the mad-house. 
 
 v ^_^^^ One of the evangelical brethren, in a sermon 
 
 ^^ryp&r fluJ^ on this subject, thus addresses one whom he 
 
 Lr\ supposes to be inquiring of him respecting the 
 
 nature and necessity of a new birth. 
 
27 
 
 " Do you say, ' Nay, but I do no harm to 
 any man: I am honest and just in all my deal- 
 ings : I do not curse, or take the Lord's name 
 in vain : I do not prophane the Lord's day : I 
 am no drunkard : I do not slander my neigh- 
 bour, nor live in wilful sin.' If this be so, it 
 were much to be wished that all men went 
 as far as you do. But you must go farther 
 yet, or you cannot be saved: still y.ou must 
 be born again. Do you add, 4 I do go far- 
 ther yet ; for I not only do no harm, but do 
 all the good I can.' I doubt that fact; I fear 
 you have had a thousand opportunities of do- 
 ing good, which you have suffered to pass 
 by unimproved, and for which therefore you 
 are accountable to God. But if you had im» 
 proved them all, if you really had done all the 
 good you possibly could to all men, yet this does 
 not at all alter the case: still you must be 
 born again. Without this, nothing will do 
 any good to your poor, sinful, polluted soul. 
 'Nay, but I constantly attend all the ordi- 
 nances of God : I keep to my church and sa- 
 crament.' It is well you do. * But all this 
 will not keep you from hell, except you be 
 
28 
 
 born again. Go to church twice a day, 
 go to the Lord's table every week, say ever 
 so many prayers in private, read ever so many 
 
 good books, YOU STILL MUST BE BORN AGAIN : 
 
 none of these things will stand in the place of the 
 new birth: no nor any thing under heaven* ," 
 
 We here see what the simple truths of Chris, 
 tianity, become in the mouth of a fanatic. 
 
 In another part of this discourse, we have 
 the following passage. — " What danger, say 
 they, can a woman be in, that is so harmless 
 and so virtuous ? What fear is there that so 
 honest a man, one of so strict morality, should 
 miss of Heaven .? Especially if over and above 
 all this, they constantly attend on church and 
 sacrament. One of these will ask, with all as- 
 surance, ' What, shall I not do as well as my 
 neighbours?' Yes, as well as your unholy 
 neighbours ; as well as your neighbours that 
 die in their sins. For you will all drop 
 
 INTO THE PIT TOGETHER, INTO THE NETHER- 
 
 * " The New Birth-, a Sermon on John iii. 7- Printed 
 by G. Paramore, and sold at the Chapel, City Road, 
 and at theMethodist Preaching-Houses in Town and Coun- 
 try. 1794." 
 
MOST HELL. YOU WILL ALL LIE TOGETHER 
 IN the lake OF FIRE, the lake of fire burn- 
 ing with brimstone?' 
 
 Here those who practise virtue, and the 
 strictest moral duties of the gospel of God, 
 are placed on the same level with the unholy ; 
 and this presumptuous enthusiast consigns 
 both to eternal torment with as little con- 
 cern, and allots them their portion of fire 
 and brimstone, with as much confidence, as 
 if the empire of the lake were exclusively 
 his' own. 
 
 But is it not dreadful that the gospel of a 
 wise, and j ust, and beneficent Creator should be 
 thus perverted and prophaned ? Is it not de- 
 plorable that such ignorant impostors should 
 daily multiply their deluded victims, and set 
 the scriptures and common sense at defiance?!! 
 
 The true meaning of being " born again," 
 in the sense in which our Saviour uses the 
 phrase, implies nothing more or less in plain 
 terms, than this : — to repent ; to lead for the 
 future a religious life, instead of a life of dis- 
 obedience ; to believe the holy scriptures, and 
 to pray for grace and assistance, to persevere 
 
fr?i*.o l *j'A*' in our obedience to the end. All this any 
 A&u> /***■ man Q f common sense, might explain in a 
 . I - -v few words. But these foolish fanatics, instead 
 faJue,. iliJfc of enforcing the necessity of a moral and holy 
 „ t, £JJt~&* life, teach their deluded hearers that virtue 
 ^fi^C, *"" , and morality is just worth nothing; but that 
 />£&** the "new birth," which they preach up as a 
 something quite distinct from it, is all in all. 
 ''fo /t^ w*y So that they go on in their sin waiting for a 
 ^ /> ~" . " new birth," or a miraculous and sudden 
 /c^**" .••■ conversion, which they relate to happen in the 
 j. /H ,L/L*i-t most absurd cases and .situations. There is 
 rf> >vtfa->"~, an account, amongst many others equally ab- 
 /r n ^*>~ t ~7 surd, of an old washerwoman having a new 
 /&_,«_ <*•*■*- *■ birth, while busy at the tub. The following 
 C*.*e. j£ /to*/. accoun t of it, is extracted from the Methodist 
 * . - ■ , Magazine for 1798, p. 273.—" The Lord as- 
 /Zc^- in-<^->7 tonished Sarah Roberts with his mercy, by 
 $*£&jj^f; setting her at liberty, while employed in the ne- 
 cessary business of washing for her family. 
 For even while her hands were engaged in the 
 world, her heart was given unto the Lord. 
 She now found all the ways of religion to be 
 ways of pleasantness, and all its paths peace. 
 She received a clear witness that God, for 
 - %.tb- fl/hHu Uhxruj ~ fa fat- Vm»a* - sKc Um<f 
 
31 
 
 Christ's sake, had blotted out all her sins, and 
 received her into his family." 
 
 Could the scoffer or the infidel more effec- 
 tually laugh at religion, than by forging such 
 a ridiculous " Tale of a Tub" as these me- 
 thodistic mountebanks have here recorded, as 
 a miraculous manifestation of mercy. A fa) (Jure, 
 washerwoman has all her sins blotted out, in &***$ $ 
 
 the twinkling of an eye, and while reeking ^ £™ffr/ 
 with suds, is received in the family " of the / ' q* * 
 Redeemer's kingdom ! ! ! " _ ^ ^ 
 
 Surely this is a most abominable profanation a^Jrk<^^/ \ 
 of all that is serious ! — a most monstrous bur- fcl^/&s*& r ■* , 
 lesq ue of all that is sacred ! Yet such, accord- ~*>?. '"f* l J? 
 ing to the evangelists of methodism, is the , 
 
 new birth!!! fuob'ty' 
 
 The air of positive infallibility with which these gUg^ <ujj- * 
 
 new gospel Oracles deliver their word, is not fkc ft? ■ ^V 
 
 the least prominent feature of their character. ^ luiQ 
 
 The most solemn injunctions, the most sacred aJ- 
 
 commands of God and his gospel, seem to be uw fc /"Iff^ 
 
 treated with no respect or reverence, when- % ™* Unv^h 
 ever they stand in the way of their doctrine. 
 They do not even deign to refer to them, but i „ rf 
 
 U*<~» U) (U >hui ^_ free h fcu otcKp %*_ #4^, rf * 
 //# h(Uh L)cr€. a^fKu uncAd Jc La^.Lc£& <w/ 
 
 7/u4 * (or for- U* C-lts&tjL- 
 
32 
 
 pass by their authority, with apparently ag 
 much indifference as though they did not 
 exist. In order that I may be better under- 
 stood, and that I may not be considered as 
 dealing in general assertion, I will thus ex- 
 emplify it. 
 i^l,^ /La~- The leading design of John the Baptist, 
 jui?*"/'' '"the immediate herald of the Messiah, was 
 ^' evidently this: — To prepare the minds of 
 
 / ./££- men Wr tne reception of that pure system of 
 -/ Av>-'u'/Wt' inora l truth which the Saviour, by divine au- 
 
 /**/ ^'A**^ thority, was speedily to inculcate, and of those 
 **~*^ sublime doctrines of a resurrection and a fu± 
 
 /; **~/ J*/**-" * ure j u< ^» men t which, as powerful motives 
 A~i crH-le*/^ to the practice of holiness, he was soon to 
 ^^r*f~ reveal— 
 
 . " And he came into all the country about 
 
 /. y^-t Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance 
 
 ^^e^./A^J^-/ f ¥OVi the remission of sins. — " 
 a,/ A /-*-- Here repentance is made, — what in the lan- 
 ^ guage of legal accuracy is termed — a condition 
 ^ y_ ■ precedent ; that is, it must be previously ma- 
 rt. /^*-r-wL_ n tf este d> m 01 'der to procure the remission of 
 
 / /^/-^UZ-v s ins ; it is made the express condition, upon 
 
 U~r%4i- 
 
\ 
 
 S3 
 
 I 
 
 the performance of which the promised par- 
 don is granted. — I wish the reader to remark 
 this, as it is presently to be compared with 
 the doctrine opposed to it. 
 
 When the Baptist thus exhorted his hearers 
 to amendment of life, he seems to hare soared 
 
 above their comprehension. The change of a * VA*^**- 
 
 ceremonial for a moral dispensation, was jC^^^/X^y/C^ 
 
 a change which they did not conceive to be otsuJJZfi, ^-^ "a*^^ 
 
 an improvement at all intelligible. They j , ■' , • - 
 
 had been always accustomed to consider them- jj/fca**. Ji./^ /wi* 
 
 selves as already in such complete possession jfrfAe- t»m /t^y / */ j 
 
 of all that was essential in religious truth ; /^*^ i^'-rtfi/tZ 1 
 
 and their faith in the efficacy of their own, i rjfc^ -JL */c?i 
 
 rites, and creeds, and ceremonies, and their ^/^^^/^(fw 1 
 
 whole train of substitutions for moral du- A~-t-C*,+- JyH^yf+w, 
 
 ty, was so entire, and in their opinion was **~ **~r'-~~y*-**~' ■ 
 
 such a saving faith, that they could not at ~J~J> *r*^J> I 
 
 all interpret any language that seemed to dis- ui^s, sjU+^JL *?— 
 
 pute their value, or deny their importance. ea^-f^^c- a^^>-<- 
 
 " And the people asked him, saying, What ^^ . *wf 
 
 shall we do, then \ " f^ . [^E, 
 
 The prophet's reply, and the spiritual in- ^ s^k%~A~*<, 
 
 struction which it contained, is as simple as £*>■ /***%-£ ^^/i 
 
 it is rational, and as impressive as it is simple. W *^~~ se+*e~~ J! ^^ 
 
34 
 
 He did not lay before them any doctrinal 
 points of faith. — He did not tender any mys- 
 terious creed for their subscription — •No. 
 
 " He answereth and saith unto them, He 
 that hath two coats, let him impart to him 
 that hath none ; and he that hath meat, let him 
 do likewise/' 
 
 And we cannot fail to remark, that each 
 separate class of inquirers were enjoined to 
 avoid those peculiar errors, not of faith, but of 
 practice, to which they were respectively 
 most exposed, and most addicted. 
 
 " Then came also publicans to be bap- 
 tized, and said unto him, Master, what shall 
 we do V* 
 
 "And be said unto them, Exact no more 
 than that which is appointed you." 
 
 " And the soldiers likewise demanded of 
 him, sajing, And what shall we do \ And 
 he said unto them, Do violence to no man, 
 neither accuse any falsely ; and be content 
 with your wages." 
 
 Thus it was that this moral preacher ex- 
 plained and enforced the duty of repentance, 
 and thus it was that he prepared the way for 
 Cc^c^C /£*+-. ist. *s6l< /%** u~a* 1*^- *~- y**^-^!'*'/-**^ /**^^ 
 
 /vu^A jU^ <**— s~~+JA~v ^P^^^^^'^P^l 
 
35 
 
 that greatest and best of teachers, who in ( 
 
 language the most awful, thus confirmed the 
 exhortation of the prophet ; — " I tell you, 
 except ye repent, ye shall all likewise pe- 
 rish." 
 
 Repentance is here, in language equally so- 
 lemn and equally plain, made the condition 
 precedent of salvation ; — for except repentance 
 is manifested in the moral reformation of the 
 heart and life, it is declared that their salva- 
 tion was precluded, and they would assuredly 
 perish. 
 
 Now let us turn our attention to one of 
 the popular leaders, and learn the evangelical 
 doctrine as laid before the multitude to be 
 received as the truth. What sums up and 
 completes his finished view of the Gospel, is 
 the super-addition, we are told, of this striking 
 peculiarity, that 
 
 "—It is "ALTOGETHER UNCONDITIONAL On. 
 
 the part of God, and requires no previous 
 qualification or worth on the part of man. 
 Indeed," (it is added) "the highly favoured ob- 
 jects of such rich bounty as is shewn in the 
 gospel, being all along considered as without 
 
36 
 
 strength, and dead in trespasses and sins, 
 and having the sentence of death in them- 
 selves, that they should not trust in them- 
 selves, but in him who raiseth the dead, it 
 would be a contradiction in terms to suppose 
 that characters so described should be capable 
 of doing any thing to help, or bringing any thing 
 to recommend them, to the divine favour*" — 
 
 AM that this worthy doctor proves by the 
 introduction of a passage from an epistle of 
 Paul, is that he does not understand the 
 meaning of it. These Calvinistic evangelists 
 so split and divide, and so mis-interpret and 
 mis-apply, the epistles penned by the great 
 apostle of the Gentiles, that they make him 
 strive against the gospel, as effectually as be 
 ever struggled for it. He becomes in the 
 hands of these sectaries, an instrument of de- 
 stroying the moral fabric of that religion 
 which he once laboured so strenuously and 
 so successfully to establish. 
 
 The conclusion that follows the premises, 
 "that no previous qualification or worth on the 
 
 * Dr. Hawker's " Prop against all Despair," preface, p. S. 
 
37 
 
 part of man is necessary, is most ,clearly, this : 
 — that this life is not a state of preparation 
 for another ; since all previous qualification or 
 worth is declared to be unnecessary as a 
 ground of acceptance hereafter. Thus what 
 has ever been considered by all rational Chris- 
 tians, as the true view of the Gospel, is here \ 
 discarded, and all the duties which the ne- 
 cessity of such a preparation render compul- 
 sory, fall to the ground. — A libertine, therefore, 
 gets rid of the gospel thus far. 
 
 But still such a man, with some principles /i^> /t/./^(*v ^ 
 of conscience still lingering on his mind, might 6^y**~- /Vy* 
 be disposed to believe that he ought to gj^f€*£*4*£t~t* 
 make some exertion towards improving his <>^£XJy*' t*~J-- 
 principles, reforming his habits, and restrain- ■ fc ^^^^/^ 
 ing his passions. But the logic of the new <2**-*v*-- e^w^n*^ 
 evangelists will convince him that it is a con- dr+i *^ *•**>»■ 
 
 : * - ■ , . ,, t^^^^zf. 
 
 tradiction in terms even to suppose himselt a— ■' 2^./^ 
 
 CAPABLE OF DOING ANY THING to help, Or A^«^/ &> A" 1 ^" 
 BRINGING ANY THING to RECOMMEND HIM- " j^T ^^ 
 
 SELF TO THE DIVINE FAVOUR. Thus his £• l^JuAjJ 
 
 conscience is set completely at rest on that ^L^, tJL, n_ 
 
 score, and being assured that all attempts to *~* *«-^ 'As*. 
 
 reform himself is fruitless — that it is about , -V/, 
 
 UrvCt «sV *" 
 
38 
 
 as profitable an employment, as cyphering 
 on the sand — he easily gives credit to a doc- 
 trine so favourable to the indulgence of pro- 
 pensities which he has no desire to conquer, 
 and therefore, like a true philosopher, takes 
 no unnecessary pains. 
 
 But after all this, there may be moments 
 when gleams of moral light will pass over 
 his mind, and he may be induced to believe that 
 religion could never be revealed without con- 
 taining such evidences of its truth and of 
 the divine mission of its founder, as upon 
 examination would demand and even extort, his 
 faith in it, and pursuing this train of reflec- 
 tion, it might lead him to this inference — > 
 that he was placed here in a state of trial, 
 and that according as his deeds were good 
 and evil in this life, so in exact proportion 
 would be his reward or punishment in the 
 life to come. — Having, I -say, a serious faith 
 in this great doctrine, he would collect from 
 it the duty and the necessity of jrepent- 
 ance, and might be alarmed, by the force 
 of a natural and sincere conviction at the 
 danger of deferring his endeavours to regain 
 
39 
 
 i i 
 
 that favour promised to the returning pro- 
 digal, and that pardon, extended to every pe- 
 nitent offender. 
 
 The conscience of the libertine would be 
 relieved from a considerable source of dis- 
 quietude and remorse, if his. evangelical tutor 
 could dismiss from him the conviction that 
 faith and repentance — which consist in ab- 
 staining from all forbidden indulgences, that 
 these — were not the conditions of obtaining 
 salvation, for if once coovinced of that, he 
 might then continue to enjoy the one without 
 forfeiting his hopes of the other. — If then, he 
 would become a willing convert to this con- 
 viction, — if this doctrine would be of all others 
 the most congenial to his wishes, and the most 
 consolatory to his fears, the new evangelical 
 preacher has a gospel exactly suited to his 
 case. 
 
 — "Even repentance and faith, (says Dr. 07*. ytU' *-^ "** 
 Hawker) those most essential qualifications •**-*<£' y **~ x 
 of the mind, for the participation and enjoy- ~~ fi^^Jzz 
 ment of the blessings of the gospel, (and faj^ h* /*2**£c*t 
 which all real disciples of the Lord Jesus can- fiCtp***™*** <s> 
 not but possess) are never supposed as a con- 4 * , i 
 
 ■Jul- /*+& «- f>*-+»&~i**f /£++**—? J~»"~j, l* A*.r€ c4a*4L J&/^£y / t 
 
* *, . t dition which the sinner performs to entitle him 
 
 i' to mercy, but merely as evidences that he is 
 
 ^T g ■ * /? brought and has obtained mercy. They can- 
 
 r^/sfc •s^"*' NOT * e ^ e conditions of obtaining salva- 
 
 A> c*±+4~ *~fi'r The f ornaer authorities on this subject, I 
 
 ^^/t^A^V^v had quoted from the gospel according to St. 
 
 g^J / 9 n4 ' Z 1 ^ u Luke; that gospel most positively and most 
 
 A ^** y *- / 2/ solemnly declares the repentance of sinners to 
 
 / be the condition on which, alone, salvation can 
 be obtained. But the doctors of the new di- 
 vinity deny this, they tell us distinctly it can- 
 
 d I / J- *uJL NOT BE - — For the future, the gospel according 
 
 j /j Ahst**! to Calvin, must be received as the truth. — Sin- 
 
 ^.t^^/^ *i- fa*" ners will certainly prefer it as the more com- 
 
 /tAfivvk*^ 4 ' i . t. fortable of the two, beyond all comparison. — 
 
 isms**' To them, the old evangelists offer nothing 
 
 ^T~£ \[jf that can at all come into competition with 
 
 v, *£. ^J^jt^ the precious faith instilled into them by their 
 
 cstd**^^ r NEW RIVALS. 
 
 ffc/C* 0, ^ What is faithl Is it not a conviction pro- 
 
 ' i/> **7 \ 'jx- duced in the mind by adequate testimony }Jf. 
 
 Afo^ Let us then put this plain question, — Is the 
 
 ~ y J \ * Dr. Hawker's « Prop, &c." preface, p. 6. 
 
41 
 
 concurrent testimony of the four evangelists 
 who hare faithfully recorded the doctrines of 
 our Saviour, and the miracles by which he 
 attested his divine mission — is this sufficient to 
 produce in any rational mind a correspondent 
 faith in the gospel ? I apprehend that none 
 but an infidel will answer, No. — What then 
 must the multitude think, if they think at all, 
 when they find so popular a preacher as 
 Dr. Hawker — who must be supposed to have 
 devoted the leisure of a long life in searching 
 the scriptures — put so striking and so impres- 
 sive a declaration as the following, deliberately 
 upon record : — " I could as easily create a / / ^^_ 
 world, as create either faith or repentance ^J, fca+JL*-' 
 in my own heart *." Surely this is a most mon- rtfc* , **''**' t j. 
 strous confession. — What ! is not the Christian /A*. 3. 2V». 
 religion a revealed religion, and have we ^"'/"iff, / 
 not the most miraculous attestation of its *ZjjcA*"'Z i / 
 truth ?— Is then the evidence of Him who died ^f/^X'^ 
 " that he might bear witness to the truth," ^f^d^^ 
 is his evidence so feeble and inconclusive, that ^^oO^Q- 
 a veteran preacher of the gospel shall pub- ^*ff/£ L 
 
 &~jiL, & ' *+SL tut Kizi^&f***'*^, *^ 
 
 U&4 ffc>9~, UJ*/ $6- 'u^, L~6~ 6*Ca~^ tv^ny 
 
licly affirm that he could as easily create a 
 World, as produce in himself the /aiM it de- 
 mands, or practice the repentance it requires. 
 
 How can Dr. Hawker, — how can any man — 
 express himself so rashly on a subject of such 
 importance ? ! How can any preacher, that 
 has once deliberately penned such a confession, 
 how can he ever reprobate an atheist, or re- 
 buke the unbeliever?! — If the divine testimony 
 of revelation is of itself, after full investigation, 
 insufficient to produce conviction in his own 
 mind, how can he ever object to the sceptic 
 that he is guilty of wilful disbelief? — How, af- 
 ter this, can he ever urge the deist to embrace the 
 gospel, as containing such adequate proof of 
 its authenticity, as will justify his faith in it ?! 
 y . . J?,- How can this evangelical preacher declaim on 
 9 Jitst- *4~ the necessity of seriously searching into the 
 l^c.4 tp^f-y*'^' truth of revelation, for the purpose either of 
 <" /"*"* _ producing or confirming our belief of it, when 
 A~fLJA~i~' ne ' ias a l rea dj pronounced it to be just as 
 & r < l /ih'&y possible to arrive at conviction as to create a 
 Afcf*** world?!!! 
 
 s^Zvt '■fyr¥"~ What becomes all this time of the evidences 
 " ^" » j*" 6 ""* of Christianity ? Are the miracles to be de- 
 
 - vua. Ct~J,i &<~* t, *<-jL- Jl~JL <6 ^jr^M-L^ 
 
 /LL, /*a*.l*~> dL.~£~y, pO^^ fir fc c 2^?Z r ~~ 
 
 fa y~~~^, ^^i^sjr^ff^]^ 
 
Tried, or is their force deemed inconclusive ? Is Ur*^, z***/^ 
 
 all the proof, internal and external, coincident * 4 & ^ i/ f- 
 
 and collateral, which the gospel carries with fC^Xc**^" 1 ^ 
 
 it, to be rejected as inadequate ? I Is then the ,J\J^^*~ 
 
 life, and death, and resurrection of the Saviour fiAy^^j^ 4 '£, * 
 
 not authentic ? Is the veracity of the apostles £^f*<J £ f^f~ 
 doubtful, or does their testimony go for no- 
 thing ? 
 
 Really these ministers of the new church are 
 a most extraordinary class of teachers ! ! ! 
 
 But this Calviuistic evangelist tells us, by J^ jfc/$&"'**Us r 
 
 way of accounting for the utter impossibility &>*■ J^'"**?" *~ 
 of producing in himself either faith or repent- • r&£d-~ 
 
 ance, that — " both are of divine origin, and /t^**"* ** 
 
 like the liarht, and the rain, and the dew of Cy/rt ^7^ / ^~ 
 
 heaven, which tarrieth not for man, neither ^ c *s*j6-'**~ ) 
 
 waiteth for the sons of men, are from above, ^fc" t ^*°" . /. 
 
 and come down from the Father of light, from jf w 
 
 \ whom alone cometh every good and perfect ai ^_^/iA^Z^ 
 
 gift *." <7e*~/4, - /rf**- 
 
 4- »^B*^<-/ 
 
 Here the reverend divine runs into the old / ns * iK > 
 
 error of his sect, that of quoting a text of «,/*<■<- A~* 
 scripture which has no relation whatever to ^a^"-^^**^- 
 
 * " Prop to Despair," preface, p. 6". ^y 
 
 Z**^+ 
 
44 
 
 the doctrine which he pretends to establish by 
 it. That from the Father of light cometh 
 every good and perfect gift, we well know ; 
 but we know equally well, that the best and 
 most perfect gift is that reason which he has 
 bestowed upon us for the purpose of distin- 
 guishing truth from falsehood, and right from 
 wrong ; and to that reason, thus imparted to us 
 his gospel is so fully manifested, and its truth 
 so abundantly revealed, that the man who 
 deems it insufficient to create faith in his 
 mind, " neither would he believe though one 
 rose from the dead." 
 
 It is a most remarkable circumstance, by 
 the way, that this new order of evangelists 
 should be perpetually exhorting the multitude 
 to have faith in their doctrines, which are con- 
 fessedly full of mystery, while they at the 
 same time represent it to be just as impos- 
 sible for a man to create a world, as to beget 
 a faith in the gospel of God, in which there 
 is nothing unintelligible, and which all who 
 read may understand. According to them it 
 requires a miracle, to enable us to have faith 
 in the religion of Christ which has the fullest 
 
45 
 
 and most complete evidence, and yet we are 
 to have faith, on pain of damnation, in the 
 doctrines of Calvin which have no evidence 
 at all ! ! ! 
 
 Weak and timid minds are overawed by the 
 authoritative tone in which these teachers of 
 humility deliver themselves. Thus the reverend 
 doctor modestly assures us, that this his view 
 of the gospel is certainly the only true view of 
 it ; and when he lays down the doctrine imme- 
 diately afterwards, which I formerly remarked 
 upon, that " the rich tide of mercy flows con- 
 tinually without ebbing, that it is not enough 
 to say, that it washes on the shore of the un- 
 deserving, but it reaches to the ground of the 
 ill-deserving, not barely to those who have 
 done nothing to merit mercy, but to those who 
 have done every thing to merit punishment. 
 That it rises above high-water mark, overflows 
 all bounds, and overtops the tallest mountains of 
 corruption." — He does not fail to subjoin that 
 " this is undoubtedly the state of the case with 
 reference to the gospel." 
 
 Dr. Hawker then, it seems, cannot be mis- 
 taken. He that cannot mistake, is infallible. 
 
46 
 
 Dr. Hawker, therefore, is infallible. — This rea- 
 soning is conclusive. 
 
 The view which this new spiritual Regency 
 take of a subject, they forthwith declare to 
 be the view which the gospel takes of~ it. Thus 
 " the gospel, (says the unerring doctor) con- 
 siders all men, universally speaking, as lost, 
 and all equally incapable of putting forth an 
 helping hand toward the attainment of their 
 own salvation *." But surely it would be but 
 fair in these instances, to forewarn us, that it 
 is the Calvinistic, not the Christian gospel 
 that thus considers mankind. That no such 
 view of human nature is manifested in the 
 latter, must be obvious to every man that 
 ever read attentively the ten commandments. 
 
 Ct t<r-£*fc*fc According to that gospel which hath hitherto 
 
 ty «X^- *y ^>een the pillar of the Christian world, we are 
 ' Kt **'^>?- taught that whosoever endeavours to the best 
 
 tr ij fr'}^' of his aViility to reform his manners and amend 
 i£ his life, will find pardon and acceptance. 
 
 frct,*"^, That " when the wicked man turneth away 
 lu^istv"'/ ; from the wickedness which he hath committed, 
 
 
 ; Prop, &c." preface, p. 1. 
 
 
 
and doeth that which is lawful and right, he ^^ ' ^~ 
 
 shall save his soul alive. "_£ This gracious de- hj&{ 6,^*4 
 
 claration the old moral divines of our church, Jd^tA*** 
 
 have placed in the front of its liturgy. When $2- £*-**** 
 
 the doctor himself announces this from the / ?/l y 
 
 desk, as he must do, at the very commence- 7\ _/%• 
 
 ment of the service, does it never strike him ■/ 
 
 as utterly repugnant to the doctrine he de- < T_ r . ^^ 
 livers from the pulpit. Would it not be a ', 
 
 sort of inhuman or tyrannic mockery to assure " ' 
 
 a poor helpless being, that if he walked a , ]/~ 
 
 cei tain distance he should be restored to j t ^, 
 health, when we knew him to be utterly in- ■ 
 
 capable of putting one leg before the other. *—//> / ■ 
 
 The scriptural promise above quoted, in order v ' -^ 
 
 to square with the doctor's creed, should be (^Uji rm+y 
 
 altered thus, — " When the wicked man hath // J J^_ 
 
 been turned away from the wickedness which /Laa^ /C&~ 
 
 he hath committed, and that is done for him W , &-~^ 
 
 which is lawful and right, he shall save his ?ca>+.'e*'tw t 
 
 as plainly as language can deny, that utter in- /Vc^a**.£T 
 ability in every bad man to pu{ forth a helping 
 hand towards his own reformation, for which 
 
fi J hnl*L~ apostles of the new church so strenuously 
 
 **~ . j That we too often want the will to do good, 
 * .r? Cr* and abstain from evd, is unquestionable. But 
 f-tC't*'}** tn at we want tlie power to do so, if we were 
 tsh>is+* i sincerely disposed to exert it, is utterly false. 
 a ^. t .*4»- The scripture denies the doctrine, and expe- 
 £ J y-<4t&* u '* rience refutes it. 
 
 r**}"~ ', " And herein I give my advice" — (I am 
 
 47 Js& quoting St. Paul) — " for this is expedient for 
 j^J ' f£*' , you,w/io have begun before not only to do, but 
 ^ev-vy / < *" also to forward a year ago. 
 
 oigrt*-*"' " Now therefore perform the doing of it ; that 
 ££*.*"'•* * as there was a readiness to will, so there may 
 **J. //l^+t ^ e a P er f ormance a ^ s °j out of that which ye 
 
 *g-***4 have - 
 
 f£C&"**^ " For if there be first a willing mind, it is 
 
 rZ***y accepted according to that a man hath, and 
 
 rtJ\yC not according to that he hath not." 
 
 h *J-"**~~ ^ ie doctor and his evangelical brethren, 
 
 etS*Ji*>AA* would be much better employed in exhorting 
 
 i>**- , . their hearers and readers to overcome their 
 
 fir faJ.*"*' 
 
 \A. JJU/rf-^ffi^ habits, and to refrain from bad company 
 
 ^v^ • and bad examples, than to furnish them with 
 
 t**f i 
 
isrU* •j**~-> 1 ' Se****, &~^)*^, a^9 uA^u> fyU~ . - 
 
 an apology for their vices by assuring them 
 they were born corrupt, and to check and 
 dis-spirit their return to virtue, by persuading 
 them that it is wholly out of their own power 
 to procure or prepare themselves for a better 
 state hereafter, or to put forth a helping hand 
 to obtain the reward promised only to those 
 that overcome. 
 
 The mischievous tendency of such doctrines 
 is obvious. Every unprejudiced and thinking 
 mind must revolt from them. To multiply 
 arguments to the bigot is useless ; he is reason- 
 proof. You might as well attempt ' to make 
 a blind man see by lighting up more candles.' 
 
 The teachers in the great school of Christian 
 morality, were ever of opinion that the 
 foundation of morals cannot be laid too soon. 
 That the education of children should begin 
 in the nursery, and that no corrupt example 
 should be suffered to mislead them. They 
 warned the parent of the flexible and imita- 
 tive disposition of the infant mind, and the 
 imperceptible progress of vicious habit ; — they 
 reminded him of the eternal importance of 
 early training his offspring to virtue, and to 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 an obedience to the precepts of that religion 
 which bids us abstain from all appearance of 
 evil. But it seems that this mode of teaching 
 is of all others the most erroneous. Vice and 
 wickedness, it now appears, are the only 
 true preparatives of salvation. Instead, there- 
 fore, of praying to be " delivered from evil," 
 the rising generation must adopt a form of 
 prayer, directly the reverse ; their petition 
 must be that they may commit such a due 
 portion of crimes as may give them an interest 
 in the saving truths of the gospel. " For so 
 very peculiarly directed to the SINNER, and 
 to him only — (says the evangelical preacher) 
 Cfcy t<s*£&" — is the blessed gospel of the Lord Jesus, that 
 
 JUtZ**$- **7 UNLESS YOU ARE A SINNER, YOU ARE NOT 
 
 /A***" * -) INTERESTED IN ITS SAVING TRUTHS*." 
 
 V *~/ 
 ^j^^*^ I really thought the good doctor had gone 
 
 4^ 
 
 vrdf? -^ C ^^T ? w *' e f ar enough, when he affirmed that our 
 
 ^ t tr-f^Jt.. future salvation is so completely without terms 
 
 /k«, /«- «-^* ana< conditions that " every idea of moral good- 
 
 £^ f^ •/£**-* <*- ness as a qualification for obtaining it is done 
 
 ^r2)&^-f^\i avpay\." But here we find that moral evil is 
 
 1 """•'? * Dr. Hawker's " Prop against all Despair," p. 13. 
 
 ^/»~y tI L P ., 7 . ' - 
 
 {tXt>rt«r*s £E &A*rUUr*-,? ft- iveM* ifL fue^re^^Xd, *+£ **£&**-' 
 
51 
 
 itself indispensable to our future acceptance, 
 and thus sin is made necessary to salvation. 
 
 To what lengths will the anti-moralists 
 go next ! ! ! 
 
 Does not this divine know that the first 
 step into guilt, is most to be dreaded ; — that the 
 first compliance with the impulse of immoral 
 desire, is most to be feared. And this, because 
 when virtue is in one instance overcome, it is 
 the fatal prelude to a victory that may here- 
 after be complete. The Wise Man knew this, 
 when he raised so earnestly, his warning voice 
 to put the youthful and uncorrupted on their 
 guard. — " Enter not into the path of the 
 wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.; 
 avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it and pass 
 away *." He knew that if once seduced aside, 
 the chance would be greatly against their re- 
 turning ; he feared that if they once entered 
 the path of the wicked, they would be en- 
 ticed to go on with them to the end of the 
 journey. 
 
 But this moral instructor was not brought 
 
 • Prov. v. 14—15. 
 E2 
 
52 
 
 up at the feet of the new Gamaliels; he was 
 
 therefore not aware that it was necessary to 
 
 inoculate the infant mind with vice, in order 
 
 to qualify him to become a successful candidate 
 
 fL*v+£j r^C*"- for immortality. It was reserved for these days 
 
 fl+J- ^&j* fi*J f new discovert/ to announce to mankind, that 
 
 ,/gj^J unless they are sinners, they are excluded from 
 
 / /& t4fe*t~ } the promised blessings of the gospel. 
 
 (y&iKeJw f I expatiated at some length, in my last, on the 
 
 pernicious consequences which result from the 
 
 ** '' . j positions laid down by Dr. Hawker, and while 
 
 /. #{*<£"''] 
 
 ^ commenting upon them, I endeavoured to place 
 
 t^i/fy +sf those consequences in a strong and striking 
 
 / hsfL+J<**~/" r **> light. I there stated distinctly the language 
 
 which was virtually held forth to the seducer, 
 
 >^> /LxU, the robber, and to criminals of every cast. 
 
 /^ ^w**- >n-*- The different writers, who have come forward 
 
 //^L - Jv*A~ as they say, to answer, — but who in fact, have 
 
 j$ /& *~%^*j done every thing but answer, — the charges 
 
 brought against those doctrines, have not 
 
 Jt^j/vv snewn > nor attempted to shew, that they do 
 
 ffCuety^ 4 -^ ' no * ' eac ^ *° tne conc l us i° ns deduced from them. 
 
 g]y^tt^*ii j Instead of doing this, which they would wil- 
 
 $J irw^ "^ ingly enough have done, but that they were 
 
 A - fit 
 
 sy^/lr t^, uJ > no t able, they quote the passage itself apart 
 
53 
 
 from the doctrines and positions to which it 
 
 referred, and then proceed, as is usual with 
 
 them, to raise the hue and cry against the 
 
 writer, as one who "deems the blood of the 
 
 covenant an unholy thing." But it is not by 
 
 declamation and invective, that what I have 
 
 stated to be the result of their tenets, is to be T 1-t ■ £*- &- 
 
 got rid of. I can assure these gentlemen, that /$&**•""'' . / 
 
 I regard, with a reverence as pure and awful 7 zj ■ / \k ■£ 
 
 as can enter into the human mind, thatjblood j, /£r/t. ft**/- 
 
 which was shed upon the cross ; but I cannot - 9i*J& A*'* 1 * j~ 
 
 regard, without a mixture of astonishment / ^«~*^*-' 
 and horror, the dreadfully delusive doctrine ? /?s&U»'fo 
 
 which they ground upon it ; a doctrine which fa^jb* 9>~**l- 
 
 our Saviour himself never taught, and which c*spT-'e«fi~£ f l ^* y 
 the whole gospel throughout distinctly and ut- *j^ g r /jr//^ - 
 
 terly disavows. JL^./^*i^^ J****- 
 
 But as this subject is important, I will a ^ *****' 
 
 go over the ground again, and I call upon y. /p^ / •t*j~<- 
 those who may hereafter come forward to CtiZ-Jr f ty*- 1 ™*^ 
 answer me, distinctly to shew, first, that <** "«*' K ~~*y <£*■:* 
 
 it is not repentance and amendment of life, /j /> 
 
 to which the promise of pardon is made, but /?■&*) &P /ClXs^^ \ 
 that the blood of Christ »cleanseth from / fc**^ ^ 
 all sin; and next, that this doctrine is au- ^ — *f*p**i 
 
 
L<- fU**s *-h tliorized by our Saviour, and that it is 
 
 +,, tCrwfr^/'' c taught in his gospel. This I call upon them 
 
 ; / to do— how they will acquit themselves of 
 
 / the task, remains to be seen. Let them not 
 
 . yjji*-* ,r ^~~ attempt to escape it by quoting a few dis- 
 
 j/i J£ryiO/J*i/ connec ted phrases in the epistles, but let them 
 
 ,fjb fl*"'*~y adhere solely and steadfastly to that gospel, 
 
 ** W - of which they affect to be the exclusive 
 
 ' preachers ; and let them prove explicitly from 
 
 ■t- . tfo^ the evangelists, that doctrine which as evan- 
 
 f j a (xa/L gelical ministers they deliver as the corner- 
 
 . f&'4 ^*^ stone of their creed. 
 
 /l*.ca~J^ / ^~" I n tne mean time, I must be permitted to 
 
 jt-C < f- t fi**~1 remark, that Dr. Hawker's language and his 
 
 JcM/ fi^ doctrine — which the whole tribe so zealously 
 
 '7,'hv1?& , / "^**' adopt and defend — appear to hold forth a 
 
 ^xm^m^ most unwarranted encouragement to criminals, 
 
 IrsyilH^ and to lay down as the most prevailing plea 
 
 lexx/^ for pardon, that which seems of all others the 
 
 C.4^^t *-+" most calculated to exclude the hope of it. 
 
 ^fsG^' « You will not (says he) I hope after what 
 
 , j. hath been advanced, continue to say that 
 
 your sins are too great, or too many to be par- 
 
 f , , / / doned, for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
 
 i . i J, all sin. David so far thought the multitude. 
 
/f /sr»»- A~^ t^'f, c*tv~t -#Z ^4^- / ?yr<~ «w^w; 
 
 
 or the malignity of his transgressions, from be- £H*Z- ^i^y ?, 
 
 ing an argument against suing for mercy, that /^*~~ ** 
 
 he makes it the very foundation of pleading V"~7 
 
 with God, * For thy names sake, O God, be , >^ /fu^- 
 
 merciful Unto my sin, for it is great *.' This £^^^JT~ 4 
 
 kind of arguing, were it made among men, C-jLt^^S^* f 
 
 would be considered strange indeed, for" we ns£*+£ **~ 
 
 use the very reverse. It is the common maxim <4*-&u~w^ ^ 
 
 to endeavour to extenuate onence, by plead- . ... • 
 
 ins; the never having done it before, and the . 
 
 ... Jtv t*****' 
 
 hope of never falling into it again. But with /CTj 
 
 God, the plea differs; the greatness of our sin . */!/*.Jl- 
 
 pleads with the greatness of divine mercy.— y - *J4~- 
 
 Deep calleth unto deep \" 
 
 Here not a word is said of future obedience / 
 
 as the ground of the forgiveness of past trans- . / > j/ 
 
 gressions!! Surely if it be true that it is the y ^.X^. 
 
 greatness of our sin, and not the. sincerity £Tj aJ^£^-^ 
 
 of our repentance, that pleads with the j ~ &t*dt~ ' 
 
 divine mercy, I know of no stronger induce- tf 4/urJ* ^— 
 
 ment that can be held forth to the multitude /i^^t^^A-^i 
 
 * Is there any thing in these words of the Psalmist, that /%/(*,ir m /*^ 
 
 can at all justify the most extraordinary inference it is %^" &***'' — 
 
 brought to support, — that heliuilt his plea for pardon-on the / dJ-*Sr r ~ /*■*' 
 foundation of his offences f d/Ls& $£~fZ- 
 f Dr. Hawker's " Prop against all Despair," p. 25. / - *&)£ c*<jt4-r 
 
 j •? 
 
 past j^gaf S^tsa^" 
 
 A 
 
to multiply their offences. The degree of guih, 
 it seems, makes no difference. " This (says 
 the doctor) becomes the universal remedy for 
 great sinners, as well as little sinners : the 
 blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin *." 
 
 Does our Saviour teach, in any one passage 
 of his gospel, that there was any thing in his 
 sufferings that would alter the nature of sin ; 
 or that bis blood — shed by the most obstinate 
 and eruel bigots that ever disgraced the 
 human character — would, when thus shed, 
 exempt sinners from the punishment denounced 
 against their crimes ? — Did he, in any one in- 
 stance, affirm that the blood thus spilt, was in 
 itself effectual to the pardon of guilt, and 
 would therefore annul that solemn decla- 
 ration of God, that he would in a future life ren- 
 derto everyman according to his works? — 
 Did he invite the miscreant multitude that 
 nocked with frantic mockery to his cross — did 
 he invite them to wash their guilt away in the 
 blood they were shedding ? — Did he direct 
 them to bathe in that crimson flood, in order to 
 
 * Dr. Hawker's "Prop against all Despair/' p. 12. 
 
57 
 
 purify themselves from the blackness of their 
 guilt, — a guilt so tremendous that the dark- 
 ened earth trembled to its centre. — Did our 
 Saviour after his resurrection, in any manner, 
 or on any occasion, even allude to his blood, 
 as cleansing the impure from their vices, or as 
 clearing the guilty from their crimes ? — Did 
 he, when risen from the dead, give commission 
 to his disciples to direct those, who had lived 
 in open violation of his laws, to a fountain 
 filled with blood "I No — "He said unto them, 
 Thus it is written, and thus it behoveth Christ 
 to suffer and to rise from the dead, the third 
 day. And that repentance and remission of 
 sins, should be preached in his name among 
 all nations, beginning at Jerusalem *." 
 
 Thus we see repentance held forth as the 
 sole condition on which pardon, or the remis- 
 sion of sins, can be obtained, and we have it 
 left upon record as the last, as well as the 
 first, revealed will of God, that this solemn 
 truth should be preached to all nations. 
 
 What then are we to think of those, who 
 
 * Luke xxiv. 46 — 4". 
 
58 
 
 instead of supporting this authoritative decla- 
 ration of the Deity, lead the ignorant multitude 
 either to mistake or to deny it, by prostituting 
 the metaphoric language of the Jewish law, 
 to the purpose of destroying the doctrines of 
 revealed truth. 
 
 The language of our Saviour is always in- 
 telligible. "Let him that hath stolen, steal 
 no more." Such was his moral admonition, 
 and none to whom it was addressed, were 
 perplexed about its meaning. When the 
 young man inquired of him the way to eter- 
 nal life, he did not direct him to the "blood 
 of sprinkling'" a phrase so perpetually per- 
 verted in the mouths of the modern teachers, — 
 but he answered, in language in which there 
 was nothing vague or indefinite, " If thou 
 wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." 
 And when the youth presses his inquiry more 
 closely, our Saviour proceeds to lay before 
 him distinctly and one by one, those rules 
 of moral duty to which it was indispensable he 
 should conform. 
 
 " And he said unto him, which ? 
 
 " Jesus said, Tliou shalt do no murder, 
 
59 
 
 thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt 
 hot bear false witness, 
 
 " Honour thy father and thy mother, and 
 thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 
 
 Our Saviour here proposes no other mode of 
 salvation than the practice of piety, and the 
 cultivation of habits of moral goodness. So 
 likewise when " A certain lawyer stood up, 
 and tempted him, saying, What shall I do to 
 inherit eternal life." He refers him to that 
 moral law, which these modern evangelists 
 hold in such utter contempt as to its concern 
 with SALVATION. 
 
 , " He said unto him, What is written in the 
 law] How readest thou? 
 
 " And he answering said, Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with 
 all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
 " And he said unto him, Thou hast an- 
 swered right ; this do, and thou shalt 
 
 live." 
 
 Now if instead of inculcating, as our Saviour 
 expressly did, an habitual conformity to the 
 precepts of Christianity, and an obedience to 
 
60 
 
 the moral commandments of God, as contained 
 in the gospel— if, I say, instead of inculcating 
 this, as the ground on which men can alone 
 rest their hope of salvation, the minds of the 
 multitude are to be drawn aside from the con- 
 templation of it, and made to rest in the roe- 
 taphoric existence, and mystic efficacy of a 
 fountain of blood, in which all the crimes and 
 vices by which they have corrupted themselves 
 and the community, are to be washed away : 
 we shall in proportion as this doctrine is dif- 
 fused, become a race of irrational visionaries, — - 
 while all the vigour of active goodness, and that 
 
 PERSEVERANCE IN WELL-DOING, which is the 
 
 soul of social virtue as well as of Christian duty, 
 will gradually disappear from amongst us. 
 
 In a profligate metropolis like London, 
 which abounds with perpetual temptations to 
 vice, to which the lower classes are perpetually 
 exposed, it is of peculiar importance that the 
 moral principle should be cultivated and 
 strengthened with increasing assiduity, and 
 that the people should be taught by their reli- 
 sious Instructors, to view the Saviour in the 
 true, just, and genuine light, in which the 
 
61 
 
 scriptures represent him, as " the author of 
 eternal salvation to all who obey him ;" and 
 not as a sacrifice by whose blood the ven- 
 geance of God is appeased, and the disobe- 
 dient and sineul receive pardon and peace. — 
 This latter is the tenet of Calvinism, but it 
 makes no part of the truth of Christianity. 
 
 The personal ministry of our Saviour was at 
 first confined to the Jews. His authority was. 
 not extended to the Gentiles, until after his 
 resurrection. It was then, and as the reward 
 of his obedience, that he received the addi- 
 tional authority of extending the blessings of 
 grace, and the offer of salvation, to the whole 
 human race. He thus broke down the middle 
 wall of separation between the Jewish and 
 Gentile worlds, united both under the same 
 covenant of salvation, and thus extended, to 
 all mankind, the same terms and conditions 
 of pardon and acceptance. In this sense it 
 is, that he is said to have brought the Gen- 
 tiles nigh by his blood ; because by his death, 
 they were united under one head, and made, on 
 
 CONDITION OF THEIR OBEDIENCE TO HIS GOS r 
 
 pel, equally partakers of that salvation which is 
 
62 
 
 its promised reward. The gospel is spoken of 
 as a covenant, because- its promises are made 
 to depend on the fulfilment of those moral 
 duties which the commandments contain, and 
 because the death of Christ confirmed the truth 
 of that covenant gospel which he revealed. 
 
 As all covenants were, under the Jewish 
 dispensation, confirmed with the sprinkling 
 of blood, ' so the death of Christ, by which 
 he bare witness to the truth of his mission, 
 is figuratively, and with allusion to that cus- 
 tomary mode of confirmation, called the 
 blood of the New Testament, and the blood of 
 sprinkling. 
 
 As the death of Christ has for its object, 
 the salvation of all who obey him, and as he 
 •' gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
 from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a 
 people zealous of good works ;" — having died 
 for this purpose, he is truly and justly said 
 to have died for our salvation ; and it is with 
 a figure of speech equally correct, that thus 
 we are said to have redemption through his 
 Hood. 
 
 But that by atoning for their guilt, he be- 
 
63 
 
 tomes the author of salvation to those who dis- 
 obey him, is NOT TRUE. 
 
 That he came to redeem sinners from the 
 punishment of all iniquity, by suffering it in 
 their stead, is not true. - 
 
 That he gave himself for those who were not 
 zealous of good works, is not true. 
 
 That when he shaft come to judge the earth, 
 he will impute his righteousness to the wicked, 
 
 IS NOT TRUE. 
 
 That they will benefit by his death, who 
 never benefited by his life, — that those whom 
 the promises of the gospel could never stimu- 
 late to holiness, will receive, through his blood, 
 the reward promised only to the practice of vir- 
 tue,— this is not true. And such doctrines, 
 either in the metropolis or elsewhere, it is nei- 
 ther wise to teach, nor safe to learn. 
 
 With respect to the phrase of " the blood of 
 Christ," — a phrase sacred in the mouth of all 
 rational Christians, and which ought never to 
 be used on slight occasions, — these Fanatics re- 
 peat it with a frequency that is surfeiting, and 
 associate it with a familiarity that is ludicrous. 
 I will present the reader with one example 
 
among an endless variety, from the Evangeli- 
 cal Magazine for December last. They were 
 among the last words of a reverend Methodist, 
 whose life, character, and behaviour, is duly 
 recorded in that marvellous Chronicle of saints. 
 
 " — Sunday, the 24th. On a friend saying, 
 ' Take a drop of wine into your dear mouth ;' 
 he replied, ' It is a dear mouth, for it was pur- 
 chased with precious blood." 
 
 Surely such language comes much nearer to 
 the irony of an infidel, than the piety of a 
 divine I id . f*»f ' 
 
 When ouv Saviour sent forth his disciples, 
 he commanded them to " go rather to the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel *." This exhor- 
 
 * According to Dr. Hawker, Jesus is said to have ad- 
 dressed his disciples thus : — " Go forth unto all the world, 
 and preach the gospel to every creature, but as you go, 
 still seek for the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But 
 this representation, — with submission to the divine — is er- 
 roneous. It was not until after his resurrection, that his 
 opostles were commissioned to " Go forth and teach all 
 nations f;" — before that event, they were expressly inter- 
 dicted from so doing. " These twelve (says St. Matthew) 
 Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not 
 into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Sa- 
 
 . . f Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
65 
 
 iation is thus singularly paraphrased by one 
 whom Dr. Hawker denominates a sweet writer. 
 
 "■—Tell them that I will be their shepherd 
 still, though they despised my tears, and 
 spilled my blood. Tell them that for their 
 sakes I shed both. Let them know that I 
 live, and because I live, my death shall not 
 be their damnation, nor my murder an unpar- 
 donable sin, but tell them that the blood of 
 Jesus cleanses from all sin, even that sin 
 
 BY WHICH THAT BLOOD WAS SHED. And 
 
 do you let them know that you have seen 
 the prints of the nails upon my hands and 
 
 maritans enter ye not ; but go rather to the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel f." 
 
 The privileges of extending the blessing of the gospel 
 to all the heathen toorld made a part of the reward set before 
 him, by his heavenly Father from whom he was sent. Thus 
 when the woman of Canaan intreated him to heal her de- 
 ceased daughter, " He answered her not a word :" and 
 in reply to the request of his disciples respecting her, " He 
 answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep 
 of the house of Israel.%." — This differs greatly from the. 
 doctor's statement ; I point out his mistake, not only be- 
 cause it relates to a circumstance of material importance" 
 in itself, but on account of its connection with the extraor-- 
 dinary paraphrase of which it is made the subject. 
 
 t Matt. x. 5— 6. t Matt, xv. 33— 24- 7 < 
 
66 
 
 feet, and the wound of the spear in my side, 
 and that those marks of their cruelty, so far 
 from giving me vindictive thoughts, that every 
 
 WOUND THEY HAVE GIVEN ME, SPEAKS IN 
 THEIR BEHALF, PLEADS WITH MY FATHER 
 FOR THE REMISSION OF THEIR SINS, and 
 
 enables me to bestow it; and by these suf- 
 ferings, which they may be ready to think 
 have exasperated me against them, by these 
 very wounds, do persuade them to receive 
 the Salvation they have procured. Nay, if 
 you meet that poor wretch that thrust the 
 spear into my side, tell him that there is ano- 
 ther and a better way of coming at my heart, 
 even my heart's love, that they may look on 
 him whom he hath pierced and mourn. I 
 will cherish him in that very bosom he hath 
 wounded, and he shall find the blood he shed, 
 an ample atonement for the sin of 
 shedding it. And add moreover from me, 
 that his refusal now will put me to more 
 pain and displeasure, in rejecting again sal- 
 vation through my blood, than when his spear 
 first drew it forth." 
 
 Having thus quoted this most extraor- 
 
m 
 
 dinary paraphrase, the doctor subjoins 
 the following comment. — " How irresistible ap- 
 pears the argument, and how ought it, my 
 brother, to operate upon you ! Did the kind 
 Jesus mean all this, and more, when he 
 commanded salvation to be first preached in 
 Jerusalem, and will he refuse your cry for that 
 salvation, when by his gracious command, it 
 is thus brought here and offered to you ? 
 Were the very murderers of our Lord made 
 partakers of this great salvation, and shall 
 it be withholden from you ? How irrecon- 
 cilable this to our ideas *." 
 
 If this consolatory kind of teaching can have 
 any tendency to prop the despair of the repro- 
 bate and sinful, it can only be by destroying 
 their belief in a judgment to come, when the 
 secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, and men 
 shall receive exactly in proportion to " what 
 they have done in the body, whether it be 
 good or whether it be evil." 
 
 If these very murderers of our lord 
 
 * Vide Dr. Hawker's 'Prop against all Despair," p. 
 28 — 29, in which the above doctrine from this sweet writer, 
 (Dr. Grosvenor) is quoted. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 were made partakers of the great sal- 
 vation as the doctor affirms they were, what 
 becomes of the parable which our Saviour 
 himself delivered of the foolish Virgins, who ' 
 having neglected to prepare themselves, with 
 tears and importunity intreated admission, 
 saying, " Lord, Lord, open to us ;" and re- 
 ceived for answer, " Verily, I say unto you, 
 I know you not."— It is utterly beyond the 
 powers of my mind, to reconcile the doctrines 
 of the new and of the old gospel with each 
 other. . 
 
 These doctors of the new divinity, seem 
 never to consult the gospel. If they had done 
 it in the instance before us, they would have 
 found that the doctrine held forth in the most 
 extraordinary paraphrase above quoted, is not 
 only not warranted by our Saviour, but that 
 a doctrine diametrically the reverse of it, is 
 taught by him, and delivered too in a parable, 
 apparently to preclude all possibility of mis- 
 conception or mistake. 
 
 The parable itself is striking. — It was spoken 
 before those very priests and scribes who af- 
 terwards became his murderers. After speak- 
 
69 
 
 ing of those servants who had been before 
 sent by the lord of the vineyard, and the ob- 
 durate arid cruel manner in which they were 
 rejected by the husbandmen, he then pro- 
 ceeds figuratively to represent his own mission, 
 and prophetically to foretel that death which 
 he should be constrained to suffer at the hands 
 of those merciless persecutors that were then 
 present before him. 
 
 " Then said the Lord of the vineyard, what 
 shall I do ? I will send my beloved Son ; it 
 may be they will reverence him when they 
 see him. 
 
 " But when the husbandmen saw him, they 
 reasoned among themselves, saying, this is the 
 heir, come, let us kill him, that the inheritance 
 may be ours. 
 
 . " So they cast him out of the vineyard, and 
 killed him. What therefore shall the 
 Lord of the vineyard do unto them? 
 
 " He shall come, and destroy them, and 
 shall give the vineyard to others. 
 
 " And when they heard this, they said God 
 forbid. v -'-■,- 
 
 " And he beheld them, and said, What is 
 this then that is written, The stone which the 
 
70 
 
 builders rejected, the same is become the head 
 of the corner ? 
 
 " Whoever shall fall upon that stone shall be 
 broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it 
 
 SHALL GRIND HIM TO POWDER. 
 
 " And the chief priests and the scribes, 
 the same hour, sought to lay hands on him, 
 and they feared the people, for they per* 
 ceived that he had spoken this parable against 
 
 THEM *." — 
 
 The murderers of our Lord then — if the gos- 
 pel is to be credited in preference to the modern 
 evangelists — were very far from finding " the 
 blood they shed an ample atonement for the 
 sin of shedding it," — it appears far wide of 
 the truth " that every wound they gave, 
 spoke in their behalf." — How can any men 
 in their senses deliver such shocking propo- 
 sitions as the truths of Christianity ? and 
 circulate them too, throughout the vast popu- 
 lation of an extensive kingdom, as laying 
 a foundation for that faith which is to fit 
 us for eternity ! ! ! 
 
 Is it wonderful that persons holding such 
 
 * Luke vi. 20. 
 
71 
 
 sentiments and sending forth such doctrines, 
 should consign to contempt and reprobation, 
 all such moral teachers of the establishment, 
 as urge their hearers to a steadfast perse- 
 verance in well doing, and who teach them 
 to consider this life as a state of probation; 
 as the allotted period in which each must 
 strive by a faithful improvement of the ta- 
 lents committed to him, to merit the re- 
 compense of reward promised to every one 
 " according as his work shall be ?" 
 
 The term " blood," and the phrase " blood 
 of sprinkling," is not only banded about by 
 these sectaries with the most vulgar and ir- 
 reverent familiarity, but it is even used by 
 way of giving a zest to the fiercest depre- 
 cations of divine vengeance, against those 
 who differ from them in religious opinions. 
 
 " O ! might the blood of sprinkling cry 
 For those who spurn the sprinkled blood, 
 
 Assert thy glorious Deity ! 
 Stretch outthyarm, thou Triune God ' 
 
 The Unitarian fiend expel, 
 
 And chace his doctrine back to hell *." 
 
 This forms part of a hymn ! ! Such are 
 
 * Large Hymn Book, 431. 
 
72 
 
 the pious strains in which they offer up 
 their prayer against all persecution/ ! — It is 
 thus they warble forth the mild melodies of 
 methodism in their Holy Tabernacles ! ! ! 
 Pious saints, and pure, it is thus they chaunt 
 forth their evangelical petitions to the God of 
 love and mercy ! ! ! 
 
 This is but the symphony of this spiritual 
 band — it is but the prelude with which they 
 " awake their lute and harp." But it dis- 
 covers their spirit, and may serve to put us 
 on our guard. They themselves " will 
 awake right early." 
 
 This strain of doctrinal poetry deserves a 
 remark that ought not to escape us. If any 
 man assume the name of a particular leader, 
 he is presumed to adopt his religious opi- 
 nions, and you are justified in imputing 
 to him the whole of the doctrines, whatever 
 they may be, that are held and taught by 
 the teacher to whom he thus avowedly at- 
 taches himself. Thus, if any one choose to 
 rank himself among the followers of Calvin, 
 ,he may be presumed to hold all the opi- 
 nions which Calvin taught. — But this does 
 
73 
 
 not apply with respect to any one, who at-> 
 taching himself: to no leader, professes to 
 deny a particular doctrine, and to assume 
 a denomination which shall designate his 
 particular opinion. You cannot be justi- 
 fied in imputing any doctrine to such a man, but 
 that distinct opinion which such denomination 
 includes. — Thus if a man call himself a 
 Unitarian, the disbelief of three Gods is 
 all you are entitled to impute to him — the ap- 
 pellation imports no more than the rejection 
 of the Trinitarian hypotliesis. 
 
 An Unitarian is he that believes in the 
 unity of the divine nature ; o?-, in other words 
 that there is but one God. 
 
 Our Saviour most explicitly declares that 
 there is but one God, and that from that one 
 and only true God, he was sent to be the 
 messenger of salvation to mankind. His 
 words are " This is life eternal, to know 
 thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
 whom thou hast sent *." 
 
 Ouj: Saviour then, most clearly believed, 
 
 * John vii. 7. • 
 
74 
 
 and taught all mankind t6 believe, in the 
 unity of the divine nature. 
 
 To put up a prayer to the Deity, be- 
 seeching the exercise of his vengeance against 
 " the Unitarian fiend/' is to couch it in 
 language in which the zealous bigot may 
 glory, but at which the pious Christian will 
 tremble. 
 
 When likewise we search the gospel for 
 our instruction on this doctrine, ,and find 
 that one of the scribes came and enquired 
 of our Saviour, " Which is the first com- 
 mandment OF ALL? 
 
 " And Jesus answered him, The. first rom- 
 mandmcnt of all is, Hear, O Israel, .The 
 Lord our God is one Lord." 
 
 Having here found the belief of .the unity 
 of the divine nature, declared by Christ 
 himself to be among the first commandments 
 of God to man, who that -reflects at all can 
 join his voice with those who thus entreat 
 the Almighty, in language equally revengeful 
 and prophane, to 
 
 " Chase his doctrine back to hell." 
 
 It is a most extraordinary circumstance, 
 
75 
 
 and it is a circumstance which deserves a 
 peculiar and marked attention, that this 
 new sect at the same time that they ar- 
 rogate to themselves the exclusive appella- 
 tion of Gospel Ministers, and Evangelical 
 Preachers, neither deduce their doctrines 
 from the gospel nor from the evangelists, but 
 passing over both with silent indifference, 
 they refer to the most abstruse passages of 
 the letters of St. Paul, and to certain writers 
 of the Old Testament. — The gospel, as re- 
 corded by the four evangelists, they scarcely 
 deign to notice; you never find the parables, 
 which our Saviour employed to illustrate 
 his doctrines, even made the text of a sermon 
 in which theirs are insisted upon. And this 
 for the plainest of all reasons : — The moral 
 truths inculcated in the instructive parables 
 delivered by our Saviour himself, are so 
 glaringly subversive of the whole of their 
 system of faith, that they always keep them 
 out of sight. Disconnected phrases are 
 quoted from the epistles, while the plain 
 language of our Saviour, and the doctrines 
 of his gospel, are thrown completely into the 
 
back-ground. With the cant of holiness upon 
 their lips, they pretend to "preach Christ 
 and him crucified." while all the time they 
 are preaching Paul and him perverted. 
 
 Could the Apostle of the Gentiles revisit 
 this earth, he would be among the most for- 
 ward to disavow the construction put upon 
 the different passages in his epistles, and to 
 denounce the doctrines they are quoted to 
 support. He would be among the foremost 
 to expose the pernicious consequences to 
 which those doctrines lead ; and would con- 
 jure the Epistolic preachers not to twist the 
 controversial part of his letters to the sup- 
 port of a system which none can compre- 
 hend, but rather to enforce his moral pre- 
 cepts which all may practise, and his ex- 
 hortations to obedience, which all may un- 
 derstand. He would conjure them, not to, 
 mis-interpret his occasional expressions to 
 support doctrines by which the foundation 
 of Christianity is subverted, and the whole 
 end and aim of his preaching frustrated and 
 brought to nought. 
 
 Saint Paul, educated as he was under 
 
77 
 
 Gamaliel, one of the most renowned pro- 
 fessors of the Jewish law, and brought up 
 among the strictest sect of the Pharisees, had 
 been initiated into all the principles of that 
 law, and had observed with the strictest 
 formality, all the superstitious works and ce- 
 remonial observances which it enjoined, and 
 like the rest of his brethren, he had been 
 taught to value himself very highly upon 
 this depth of legal knowledge, and this ri- 
 gorous conformity to the Levitical system. 
 
 But after his conversion, this great apostle 
 completely relinquished his prejudices in favor 
 of the superstitious works of the Jewish law, 
 and exerted all the energies of his zeal, and 
 all the powers of his eloquence, to persuade 
 mankind to govern their conduct by the 
 plain rules of truth, justice, and charity, 
 which the moral law of the gospel laid 
 down. And as in his epistles to the Romans, 
 and elsewhere, he had to contend with those 
 who insisted with obstinate perseverance 
 upon the indispensable necessity of circum-. 
 cision, and the observance of the works of 
 the lyiosaic law, he is consequently led to 
 
78 
 
 insist, that the necessity of these works ifr 
 superseded by the introduction of the Chris- 
 tian faith, and that it is by a moral obe- 
 dience to what that faith enjoins, that they 
 can alone be saved, and not by works ; lest a 
 any man should boast of such works, sup- 
 posing them of greater importance than the 
 fulfilment of their moral duties, and the 
 weightier matters of the law; — a delusion which 
 St. Paul knew to be very prevalent, and which 
 he therefore laboured with great earnestness 
 to remove. 
 
 The first Jewish converts thought it es- 
 sentially necessary that the Gentiles, before 
 they could become partakers of the promises 
 contained in the gospel, must first conform 
 to the ceremonies of the Jewish dispen- 
 sation, and submit themselves to the law of 
 Moses. ** And certain men," we are told, 
 " who came down from Judea, taught the 
 brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised 
 after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be 
 saved *."— These taught that the gospeL was 
 
 * Acts xv. 1. 
 
79 ? 
 
 insufficient, unless accompanied by the works 
 of the law. These teachers St. Paul stre- 
 nuously combats, and it is in consequence 
 of his resistance to this doctrine, that he is led 
 so frequently and so forcibly to deny the 
 efficacy of works, and the external observances- 
 of the law, in procuring the inheritance of 
 the kingdom of heaven. " Christ," says the 
 great apostle, " is become the author of eter- 
 nal salvation TO ALL THEM THAT OBEY HIM*." 
 And he holds forth no rational hope of sal- 
 vation on any other grounds. 
 
 But when he declares to these Judaizing 
 Christians that they are saved without works 
 and "without the law," does he ever once 
 affirm that they are saved without good 
 works, or without an obedience to the moral 
 law ? — Is it not most extraordinary that 
 these evangelical preachers, in consequence 
 of the term " works" being thus used in the 
 controversial epistles of St. Paul, should take 
 occasion, as they most manifestly do, to un- 
 dervalue good works, which include, in fact, 
 
 * Heb. v. 9. 
 
80 
 
 all that the gospel either requires or com- 
 mands ? — Is it not most strange that follow- 
 ing this spirit of perversion, they should 
 teach the multitude that righteousness is 
 filthy rags ? — Is it not most unaccount- 
 able, that mis-representing the allusion of 
 St. Paul to the Mosaic law, they should de- 
 cry the efficacy and depress the influence of 
 the moral law, without obedience to which 
 neither peace here, nor heaven hereafter, is 
 promised, , or can be procured ? — 'Yet it is 
 in consequence of this most palpable, but most 
 dangerous delusion, that incredible numbers, — 
 perhaps the far greater part of the popu- 
 lation of this kingdom, — are taught to set 
 active virtue and practical morality infinitely 
 below the merit of faith, and of faith too, 
 in those very doctrines in which moral righ- 
 teousness is thus slighted, and its influence 
 destroyed *. 
 
 * A pamphlet has been published entitled " An appeal 
 to the Legislature and to the Public, in answer to the 
 * Hints, &c.' By an Evangelical Preacher." It is as- 
 cribed by the Ecclectic Review to Mr. Coi.lyer. As far 
 as it respects himself, it is, like the rest of his com* 
 pilations, full of nauseous pedantry, and sickly self-con- 
 
81 
 
 I took occasion in the former part of these 
 " Hints," to mention the name of Mr. 
 
 ceit. As far as it respects the work to which it feigns to 
 be an answer, it is nothing to the purpose. I should have 
 left him " to the scandal of his own applause," but that 
 I deem it fit to give an example of the gross mis-repre- 
 sentation to which he has bad recourse in order to supply 
 the want of argument on a subject with which his vanity 
 led him to meddle, but which from his imbecility, he was 
 unable to manage. 
 
 The reader may remember that in the first part of these 
 Hints, I took occasion to contrast evangelical with moral 
 preaching; the specimen of the latter was taken from. Dr. 
 Blair, of the former, from Mr. Toplady. After first 
 distinctly stating the doctrine of revelation ; after 
 adding to this, the explicit language of St. Paul, and 
 after subjoining to both these sources of authority, the 
 express information of our Saviour himself ; I then pro- 
 ceeded to quote, as openly and flatly contradictory to it, 
 the following doctrine as delivered in the sermon of Mr. 
 Toplady. 
 
 " The religion of Jesus Christ stands eminently 
 distinguished, and essentially differenced from every other 
 religion that was ever proposed to human reception, by 
 this remarkable peculiarity, that look abroad in the world, 
 and you will find that every religion except one, puts 
 you upon doing something in order to recommend your- 
 self. A Mahometan expects to be saved by his works ; 
 a Papist looks to be justified by his works ; a free- 
 wilier hopes for salvation by his works, compliances, en- 
 deavours, and perseverance; a Pagan, if he believes that 
 there is a future state, expects to be happj' hereafter, by 
 virtue of the supposed good he does, and of the evil he 
 leaves undone ; a Mystic has the same hope, and stands 
 
53 
 
 Paley — a name that I trust will never cease 
 to be held in honor while virtue continues 
 
 upon the same foundation. It is only the religion of 
 Jesus Christ that runs counter to all the rest, by af- 
 firmingthat — ' we are saved and called with an holy calling, 
 net according to our works, but according to the Father's 
 own purpose and grace, which teas not sold to us on cer* 
 tain conditions to be fulfilled by ourselves, but was given 
 us in Christ before the world began." 
 
 I was sufficiently aware that the last passage was quoted 
 from St. Paul, and I marked in italics the assertion foisted 
 into it, which gives it a construction that wholly destroys 
 the apostle's meaning. Upon this passage, thus cited, 
 and thus interpolated, I made no comment, though it would 
 not have been difficult to shew that it gave no support 
 whatever to the language that preceded it ; but I confined 
 myself wholly to the doctrine of Mr. Toplady, and in a 
 comment extending to the length of four pages, I compared 
 it closely and connectedly with the language of the 
 gospel, which I proved to be diametrically the reverse 
 of it. 
 
 Now in what manner does this " evangelical preacher," 
 as he calls himself, and who wishes to have it believed 
 that he has written an answer — in what manner does he 
 defend Mr. Toplady's doctrine ? — Does he reconcile it to 
 the scriptures to which I had shewn it to be repugnant? — 
 Has he even attempted to prove that it is not at variance 
 with those declarations of our Saviour and those passages 
 of his gospel which I had produced and opposed to it ? 
 No— he has done nothing of the kind ; but wholly and 
 entirely omitting the language and doctrine of Mr. Top- 
 lady, — to which my animadversions were applied, — he quotes 
 the verse of St. Paul, as altered by Mr. Toplady, omitting 
 the whole of the doctrine of Mr. Toplady himself, and 
 
83 
 
 to be respected, or religion to be loved. 
 His laborious exertions to instruct the ig- 
 norant — to convince the sceptical — to amend 
 
 exulting in a paltry artifice of which any man of sound 
 integrity would have been ashamed, he writes thus : — " The 
 Barrister has attacked Mr. Toplady so successfully that 
 he has proved the apostle Paul an infidel ! ' Mr. Toplady 
 is found guilty of saying, that — 'the religion of Jesus 
 Christ affirms — "that we are saved and called with an holy 
 calling, not according to our works, but according to the 
 Father's own purpose and grace, which was not sold to us 
 on certain conditions to be fulfilled by ourselves, but was 
 given us in Christ before the world was.' Now," (he adds) 
 " it unfortunately happens for the conclusion of this gen- 
 tleman, that the apostle Paul had said the very same thing 
 in the very same language, one single member of a sentence 
 merely explanatory, excepted, seventeen centuries before 
 Mr. Toplady was born." And thus concealing the whole 
 of the unscriptural doctrine of Mr. Toplady, he requests 
 the reader " will have the goodness to compare the passage 
 with the words of St. Paul, and then to listen to the con- 
 clusion of the Barrister," — and he thus endeavours to 
 make it appear that I pronounce the aposti,e to be an 
 infidel. 
 
 What must we think of a cause that requires to be thus 
 defended ? Do the evangelical ministry think they are 
 served by any writer who can conduct himself thus un- 
 worthily ? "Will it not rather teud to bring them -greatly 
 into suspicion ? How can we in any instance depend upon 
 the integrity of men as public teachers, who when they 
 have a system to defend, will resort to the most shameful 
 mis-statements for the purpose of evading objections 
 which they have not the manliness to meet, nor the abi- 
 lity to answer? • 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 the profligate — to reform the immoral — stand 
 manifest in every page of his most valuable 
 writings. If the Infidel had stigmatized his 
 labours, or the Atheisist vilified his efforts, I 
 should not have been surprised. Had a 
 disciple of Voltaire, or a pupil of Payne, 
 despised his writings and aspersed his fame, 
 I should not have been alarmed. But when 
 I read the following passage in a letter ad- 
 dressed to me by a divine — and of the 
 Church of England, too — I do confess 1 paused 
 over it with astonishment. — 
 
 " You say, — ' There is, perhaps, no public 
 writer, to whose public writings in the cause 
 of moral virtue, the public are more indebted 
 than to Mr. Paley,' — I say, that perhaps, 
 there are not many who have contributed 
 more to increase the mass of moral evil, 
 and therefore, deserve less from mankind, 
 than Mr. Paley. So that while to your daz- 
 zled eye, he appears as a bright luminary 
 leading to the temple of truth, because you 
 look at him through the meretricious glare 
 in which high station and public countenance 
 bath made him shine, I behold him as ma- 
 
85 
 
 riners do those light-houses which are pur- 
 posely upon rocks in the midst of the sea, 
 by way of warning the navigator from coming 
 near*." 
 
 It was against the unsupported calumny 
 of Rowland Hill, that I was led to defend 
 the memory of Mr. Paley. If I considered 
 this invective against him as injurious, I 
 should regret to have been in any way in- 
 strumental ,in producing it. But I consider 
 it as the best evidence of his having been a 
 strenuous teacher of Christian truth, that 
 these anti-moralists are thus forward to de- 
 fame him. Those moral exertions which the 
 public countenance rewarded, will never fail 
 to be derided by an order of teachers who 
 consider " good works," as mere chaff and 
 stubble, fit only to be scattered before the 
 wind of their doctrine. 
 
 It is the pious doctor's opinion that the 
 labours of Mr. Paley, in the cause of moral 
 virtue do not merit the thanks of his fol- 
 lowers. " Who are they ?" he asks, " that 
 
 * Dr. Hawker's " Letter to a Barrister," p. 35. 
 
86 
 
 thank him. Do many living saints thank 
 him ?" — To this, I do not hesitate to reply, 
 that I believe they do not. The Calvinistic 
 Methodists — I beg pardon, I should have 
 said, the living Saints — have too rooted an 
 antipathy to moral virtue to thank any one 
 who labours to enforce the practice of it. 
 But I really think that Satan is under no 
 small obligation, and owes no small share 
 of thanks to this new spiritual body ; and 
 indeed we find that he is not wholly in- 
 sensible to his obligations, for we learn 
 
 that 
 
 " Satan, that raven unclean 
 Who croaks in the ears of the Saints, 
 
 Compell'd hy a power unseen, 
 Administers oft to their wants*." 
 
 This being the case — they can do no less 
 certainly, than make "a suitable return for 
 his services ; and to do them justice, they 
 appear to be, in this instance, sufficiently 
 grateful. 
 
 By the way, it were to be wished that 
 Satan "croaked" less " in the "ears of the 
 
 * Vide Lady Huntingdon's Collection of Hymns. 
 Hymn 247. 
 
87 
 
 saints," for their doctrines are man) 7 of them 
 so much like his whisperings, that they ap- 
 pear sometimes to confound the one with 
 the other. 
 
 The bulk of mankind have their time 
 fully occupied in acquiring the means of 
 subsistence. Their daily labour supplies their 
 daily wants ; but it leaves them very little, 
 if any, leisure for the cultivation of their 
 minds. It is enough that they are skilful 
 in their particular callings ; to expect more 
 from them, is to expect that they should 
 possess what they have had no means or 
 opportunity of acquiring. Their natural un- 
 derstandings, if they have not been cul- 
 pably neglected, are usually sufficient for all 
 the ordinary purposes of life. But they 
 have no notion of accurate reasoning, nor 
 are they at all capable of that examination 
 which all propositions must undergo before 
 the mind can arrive at any sound and sa- 
 tisfactory conclusion as to their truth. To 
 preach the abstruse doctrines of Calvinistic 
 Methodism to persons of this class, is the 
 most perverse of all absurdities. And yet it 
 
88 
 
 is to such persons that all these doctrines 
 are for the most part, addressed ; and amongst 
 them it is, that all the penny and two-penny 
 tracts are chiefly circulated. Not that this 
 description includes the whole sect. No — they 
 count numbers among them that are raised 
 above this class in station and circumstances, 
 but who are nevertheless not much above 
 it in the rank of intellect. A more lucra- 
 tive, or more successful industry, has elevated 
 some greatly above others in the scale of 
 pecuniary wealth, but in point of under- 
 standing, — I speak of them as a body,— they 
 are all pretty well upon a level ; men of 
 mean and low education, make up the mass 
 of the sect ; that there are exceptions to this 
 description I am well are; but they are few 
 comparatively. It is most extraordinary, but 
 it is true, that the most absurd errors will 
 sometimes seize hold on the strongest minds. 
 A man, who on other subjects thinks most 
 correctly, falls in unaccountably, with prin- 
 ciples propagated by persons whose authority, 
 he would in other instances, be ashamed to 
 own, and whose lead, on other occasions, he 
 
89 
 
 would disdain to follow. This often happens 
 in politics, and it happens sometimes in re- 
 ligion. Many, from whom the public ex- 
 pected better things, were the zealous disciples 
 of Tom Paine ! The reveries of that insane 
 prophet, Mr. Brothers, found a faithful con- 
 vert in a man of most distinguished talents, 
 and a member of the House of Commons! 
 The modern prophetess, Hannah Southcot, 
 is not without her crowd of true believers, 
 and some rank among them whose under- 
 standing, on other subjects, is far from con- 
 temptible. So it is with the disciples of 
 error of every denomination, and so it is here. 
 Some have been bit in the heel, by the 
 tarantula of Methodism, who, like Achilles, 
 were in no other part vulnerable. 
 
 These self-styled Gospel Ministers — these 
 adepts in the mysteries of methodisrn, take 
 care to keep their eyes steadily upon the 
 flock ; the wealthiest among which never 
 fail to receive their due share of deference 
 and attention. If the evangelist keeps a shop, 
 ■ — which is not uncommon, — he takes good 
 care to make the counter and the pulpit, 
 
90 
 
 play into each other's hands ; the congrega- 
 tion of th> one, become the customers of 
 the other; it proves a good speculation to 
 conduct both the trades in conjunction— (for 
 preaching is grown with this class of persons, 
 to be quite a trade) — that the profits of the 
 Lord's day, may either" balance the losses, 
 or increase the gains, of the week. At 
 length the reverend mechanic finds the 
 meeting-house so good a thing, that 
 upon a fair calculation, he finds it will pay, 
 to devote his whole time and labour to the 
 ministry : thus inspired, he follows the lead 
 of his interest, till he gropes his way by 
 degrees to the centre of the Calvinistic 
 vineyard, and there vies with the busiest 
 of his fellow-labourers in watering the branches 
 of bigotry, and manuring the roots of 
 error. 
 
 But if the evangelic pastor should happen 
 to be unmarried, which is most likely, the 
 chance is still more in his favour ; should 
 some of the ignorant wealthy be numbered 
 among his followers, the speculation in this 
 case, brightens prodigiously — a bow, — a smile, 
 
91 
 
 — a visit, from the pious young man, is a 
 great favor, and the pious young man soon 
 learns in what quarter it is best to bow 7 . 
 — and smile, — and visit. His information in 
 these matters never fails to be pretty accu- 
 rate ; for these Saints take good case never 
 to unite themselves but with the Elect of 
 Fortune.— They never tread the road of 
 matrimony, but in the track of her wheel. 
 This is a speculation which more or less 
 prompts, and presides over, all their labours 
 of love. Their eye is ever on the watch. 
 They know well who has a rich uncle, and 
 who has an estate in expectancy, — and they 
 stand, like Hogs in an orchard, waiting for 
 a wind-fall. 
 
 He that in vain attempted to succeed in 
 trade — and whose parents found it difficult 
 to dispose of him in the world — having his 
 natural dulness increased by his perfect ig- 
 norance of every thing but the outward 
 sanctity and the common-place cant of the 
 sect in which he was born and bred — is 
 roused on a sudden by a serious impression 
 of love for the ministry — his vanity is stirred 
 
92 
 
 where his industry could never be excited — 
 he is forthwith sent to the academic nursery 
 for young evangelists — and after avowing his 
 assent to a declaration of faith, ready cut 
 and dried for his subscription — going through 
 the usual course of training, and serving 
 out his short apprenticeship to the mystery 
 of evangelical preaching — he binds up his 
 bundle of doctrines, buys a Concordance and 
 Common-place book, and with this stock 
 in trade, sets out on the great concern of 
 soul saving. 
 
 A skilful physician notes with care and 
 accuracy, all the general symptoms and cir- 
 cumstances of disease, that the patient may 
 be directed to the means of cure adapted 
 to his particular case. He acquaints him 
 with the morbid causes to which his dis- 
 temper is to be attributed, and gives him 
 practical directions that he may know what 
 to follow and what to avoid. So likewise, 
 the true moral physician dissects the human 
 heart, and gives an anatomy of the human 
 character — he combines all the facts that 
 illustrate his subject, and makes the man 
 
93 
 
 intimate with himself. But the evangelical 
 empiric of our days, knows no more than 
 the technical terms of his science — faith and 
 election — guilt and atonement — sin and sal- 
 vation — with these, and his magic-lanthorn 
 of mystery, he travels forth and sets reason 
 and truth at defiance. 
 
 To the word "faith," so perpetually on 
 their tongues, they annex no distinct idea. 
 The most extravagant expectations are en- 
 tertained of its efficacy, at the very time 
 that they cannot give even a precise de- 
 finition of its meaning, much less any ac- 
 count of its operation. 
 
 Most truly, and with literal exactness do 
 they describe themselves as preaching the 
 word : and most justly do their hearers de- 
 scribe themselves as sitting under the sound, 
 of the gospel ; for as to any genuine illus- 
 tration of the sense of it, it is in vain to be 
 looked for. 
 
 It has been sometimes contended that 
 however apparently prejudicial the Calvin- 
 istic system may be, still, those who are 
 brought up in that religious persuasion, are 
 
94 
 
 more sober, more orderly, and more serious, 
 in their manners, and deportment than others. " 
 Now if it is meant to affirm that their 
 minds are more pure, .or their principles 
 more strict, I deny the fact. That there 
 may be .more of outward gravity, and more 
 of the form of godliness, — that there may 
 be louder hymns and longer prayers, — all 
 this may be. — But as far as this goes, we 
 see only the outside of the platter. That 
 they resist secret temptation more strongly,— 
 that they are privately more pure, — that they 
 are more disinterested, or more upright,— 
 that they practise the precepts of religion 
 more rigorously — that they govern their tem- 
 pers more conspicuously, or perform the 
 duties of life more conscientiously, than those 
 who, having never heard of Calvin or his 
 Creed, have been educated in the severe 
 school of Christian morality ; — this I deny. 
 It is insanity to talk of that system of 
 belief which composes " the faith" of Cal- 
 vinistic, or what is termed Evangelical Me- 
 thodism. — It is insanity to talk of it as 
 making its followers better than others. It 
 
95 
 
 has a direct tendency to make them worse; 
 and as far as it is acted upon, it must in- 
 evitably do so. Fortunately for society, all 
 the inborn feelings of our nature oppose it — 
 all the instinctive principles of moral action, 
 which God has implanted in the soul of man, 
 are at war with it. — If it were not that 
 reason and conscience triumphed over the 
 docrines which that faith inculcates, religion, 
 as far as it respects every practical purpose 
 for which it was revealed, would sink into 
 a useless routine of outward observances — » 
 nay worse — it would corrupt the energies of 
 nature, and pervert the principles of virtue. 
 If the children that are brought up in that 
 faith, were not whipt out of its practical 
 consequences, they would be vipers in the 
 bosom of the state. — If, while they were 
 taught that they can of themselves do no- 
 thing that is good, they were not corrected 
 whenever of themselves they did any thing 
 that was evil. — If, at the same time that 
 they were assured that the gospel has nei- 
 ther terms nor conditions, they were not 
 punished for acts of disobedience. — If, in ad- 
 
96' • 
 
 dit ion to this, the public law of the state 
 did not concur with the powerful convictions 
 of conscience to neutralize in these doctrines, 
 all the licentious and destructive conse- 
 quences to which they lead, the community 
 could not be held together ; for the prin- 
 ciples which the evangelical teachers disse- 
 minate, are so shamefully false, and so shock- 
 ingly pernicious, that if they were acted 
 upon with as much zeal as they are pro- 
 pagated, they would annul the command- 
 ments of God by destroying their efficacy, 
 and reduce the moral order of society to a 
 chaos of confusion and crime. The creed of 
 these Apostles of Calvin, only requires to be 
 extensively exemplified in its active effects 
 and practical consequences to expose it in all 
 its nakedness of error and calamity, to the 
 terrified gaze of mankind. 
 
 Wherefore is it that those who set up as 
 evangelical preachers insist so strongly and 
 so unceasingly, on the necessity of faith 1 
 The true reason is this — their doctrines lead 
 to conclusions which so greatly bewilder 
 and becloud the understanding, and are 
 
97 
 
 withal so contradictoiy to common sense, 
 that they must be received, if they be re- 
 ceived at all, with an uninquiring and im-, 
 plicit belief. The importance of faith, must 
 therefore, be perpetually repeated and en- 
 forced. Damnation must be denounced against 
 all who doubt, and the wrath of God must 
 be threatened against all who disbelieve.; 
 For as inquiry into the truth of their doc- 
 trines would infallibly bring them into sus- 
 picion, this must be precluded at the outset ; 
 and this can only be done — in the very way 
 in which it is done — by stigmatizing all dis- 
 trust as the commencement of scepticism, and 
 the fatal prelude of infidelity. 
 
 Prove all things ; hold fast that which is 
 good. This was the sound and earnest ad- 
 vice of Saint Paul. But this new order of 
 Saints are very shy of desiring their disciples 
 to prove all things. They proceed on the 
 reverse of the apostolic precept — they manu- 
 facture the doctrines — put them into their 
 hands ready made — and then exhort them 
 to " hold fast." They are literally the 
 authors of the faith of all their followers. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 Which faith bears as much resemblance to 
 the system of revealed truth, as a dead body 
 does to the living soul. 
 
 This new order of evangelists establish 
 a pontifical sovereignty within their own 
 circle. They want, thank God, the power 
 and the means- — but they do not want the 
 effort, nor the inclination— to shackle the 
 human understanding, and suppress the ex- 
 ertions of reason, and the right of private 
 judgment, as completely as in the days when 
 sacerdotal tyranny was at its height. Theif 
 proceedings in Ireland will bear witness to 
 this. — We shall come to that matter by and 
 bye. 
 
 When it is distinctly and undeniably shewn 
 that both by their doctrines and their discourses, 
 these evangelical ministers depreciate and cry 
 down morality and moral preachers, 
 we find that like detected culprits, they have 
 no resource but in denying the fact; they 
 make no attempt to refute the evidence; but 
 unable to defend themselves by argument, 
 they endeavour to escape by abjuration. 
 These notable reasoners seem to imagine, 
 
w 
 
 that when they have denied themselves to 
 be in the wrong, they have proved themselves 
 to be in the right. 
 
 Never do these these men confirm their 
 assertions by direct testimony. It is in vain 
 to call upon them so to do. You will be 
 told that you are an infidel to disbelieve 
 what they affirm, or deny what they advance! 
 With this evidence you must be satisfied! — ■ 
 with this proof you must rest content. 
 
 Mr. Burder, for example, in his Village 
 Sermons, tells us — and the same intelligence 
 may be found in evangelical tracts and 
 pamphlets that would form a pile higher 
 than the eye could reach — he tells us 
 " Christ, has obeyed the precepts of the law 
 in our stead. He has also borne the punish- 
 ment in our room *." 
 
 If this be so, what have the perpetrators of 
 most mischievous and wicked actions, what 
 have they to fear ? 
 
 What have the Robespierre's, and Marat's, 
 and the whole gang of ruffian regicides, who 
 
 *. Burder's Village Sermons, 7th Ed. Sermon 5. p. 55. 
 
 h2 
 
100 
 
 went smoakihg with the gore of their slaugh- 
 tered countrymen to the scaffold, what fu- 
 ture punishment have they to dread — None. 
 Christ, it seems, has borne the punish- 
 ment in their room. Even the present 
 renowned Usurper, who in his chace after 
 royalty has snuffed the scent of blood with 
 every breeze ! — even this atrocious tyrant, 
 before whose merciless march Empires stagger, 
 and Nations disappear, — who shall > condemn his 
 violation of every rule of justice; his con- 
 tempt of every maxim of that law which 
 came from God to be at once the consolation 
 and control of man ? Who, I say, shall con- 
 demn him ? — None. Christ has obeyed the. pre- 
 cepts of the law in his stead ! ! If this 
 doctrine be true^ the necessity of obedience 
 to the ten commandments, which contain 
 the law, is superseded. 
 
 "Thou shalt do no murder," is a law 
 which the robber despises, and the as- 
 sassin sets at nought ; but when in the ago- 
 nies of their remorse, their death-bed shall 
 shake under them, will they not rejoice to 
 hear that Christ has obeyed the pre- 
 
101 
 
 CEPTS OF THE LAW IN THEIR STEAD ; and 
 
 will they not exult to be told when their 
 career of crime has reached its close, that 
 Christ has borne the punishment in 
 their room.t— fiverj agent in iniquity will rea- 
 dily receive this tuition — this doctrine every bad 
 man will willingly embrace — but at the close of 
 life the terrors of conscience will triumph 
 over the delusions of Calvinism, and his fears 
 will give the lie to his faith. 
 
 But let these champions of the new divinity, 
 or any one in the sweeping train of their 
 disciples — let them come forward, and avow 
 by what authority they teach such lessons 
 to the multitude *. Does our Saviour in any 
 
 * I have just read " A Defence of Evangelical Preach- 
 ing, in a Letter to a Barrister, occasioned by his 
 « Hints, &c.' by a Layman." — If I had not learned from 
 the title-page, that the " Hints" occasioned this Letter, 
 I should certainly not have discovered it from any con- 
 nection that it has with that work, or to the statements 
 contained in it. It exhibits 'a confused heap of texts 
 brought together without order or connection. — Any person 
 with a concordance at his elbow, might have collected 
 these with equal ease, and with as little expense of 
 thought. This worthy Layman appears to have fatigued 
 his memory, without exercising his understanding. In- 
 deed his mind is not fitted for very elaborate investigation. 
 He is one of those who read more than they examine, 
 and quote more than they understand. 
 
102 
 page or passage of his gospel, affirm that 
 
 HE HAS OBEYED THE PRECEPTS OF THE 
 
 law in our stead— Does he declare at any 
 time, or in any instance, to the wicked and 
 disobedient, I have borne the punish- 
 ment in your room B If he does not — if 
 his language bears no affinity to such a 
 doctrine, what must we think of its teachers ? 
 Is it the deceitful title of evangelical — which 
 they sound forth as with a trumpet through- 
 out the nation — is it this, that is to play 
 the fool with our reason, and make us flock 
 blindfold to their standard? I trust we are 
 not quite so far gone ! — 
 
 Men are acted upon by what they hear 
 and see, and these are times in which evil 
 principles are not slow to produce evil actions. 
 — These are times in which we can ill afford 
 to part with the laws of moral duty ; if 
 they are to be sacrificed — as apparently they 
 are — at the shrine of Calvinism, I for one, 
 shall throw no incense on the pile. 
 
 When the consequences of their delusive 
 tenets are exposed, these teachers have re- 
 course to subterfuge and evasion. The re- 
 mark made by Burke upon the preceptors 
 
103 
 
 in the new school of philosophy and politics, 
 applies exactly to ihe tutors of the new 
 divinity: "Thus they proceed (said he) whilst 
 little notice is taken of their doctrines; but 
 when they are to be examined upon the 
 
 PLAIN MEANING OF THEIR WORDS and the 
 DIRECT TENDENCY OF THEIR DOCTRINE, 
 
 then equivocations and slippery constructions 
 come into play *." When did impostors of 
 any kind deal in demonstration ? — Never. 
 Nor ever will. It does not suit their purpose. 
 These Spiritual Pastors have publicly taught 
 and declared "that error is more dangerous 
 than vice." In private, indeed, when they 
 have no way left to elude the charge of 
 destrojing the importance and necessity of 
 good works, by preaching up faith alone, 
 they boldly affirm that faith cannot be 
 without good works. But when the in- 
 tolerant spirit of persecution throws them off 
 their guard, the doctrine is exhibited in its 
 true colours, and we learn that "if a wicked 
 man is sound in the faith, there is soma 
 
 * Letter on the French Revolution, p. 97* 
 
104 
 
 hope of him *." Here we find a direct re- 
 futation of their own assertion. They shift 
 their ground according as it becomes neces- 
 sary either to defend error or justify into- 
 lerance. They have the contradictory affir- 
 mations both ready to urge, according as 
 
 * The following extract from the publication of the 
 " Letters from Mr. Vidler to Mr. Fuller, on the uni- 
 versal restoration, with a statement of facts attending 
 that controversy," deserves to be seriously read and 
 steadily remembered. 
 
 " It is a maxim pretty generally allowed among Cal- 
 vinistic churches, that error is more dangerous than 
 vice. This maxim was publicly avowed at the association 
 of the particular Baptist churches, at Chatham in Kent, 
 1793- At that assembly I was publicly excluded from 
 their communion, for believing and avowing the doctrine 
 of the restitution of all things. The moderator, when he 
 had pronounced the sentence of excision, added, — ' I am 
 constrained to say, that your moral conduct has been 
 such as would do honour to a much better cause than 
 that in which you are engaged.' — And the minister, who 
 preached on the occasion to a very crowded audience, 
 said — ' The universal doctrine is an heresy, and every 
 one who holds it is a heretic ; not that every heretic is a 
 wicked man; for heretics are often the holiest of men; 
 but heresy is more dangerous than vice : for if a wicked 
 man is socnd in the faith, there is some hope of 
 him ; such are often recovered : but as for heretics, they 
 are very seldom recovered from their errors.' — There 
 were near thirty C'alvinist ministers of different denomi- 
 nations present, and only one of them disavowed the sen- 
 timent that was so publicly taught." 
 
105 
 
 the followers of Calvinism are to be deluded, 
 or those who have forsaken it oppressed.—' 
 If these new lords of articles should 
 ever attain the ascendency to which their 
 hopes seem to have destined them, and 
 which their efforts are rapidly preparing, 
 Woe to those whose reason will not bend 
 itself to the yoke of their creed. 
 
 This restless fraternity, mad with the in- 
 satiable thirst of proselytism, aspire to evan- 
 gelize empires, and to extend their spiritual 
 ascendency over the most remote kingdoms 
 of the earth. With no other authority than 
 their own signet, they send forth missionaries 
 to declare those doctrines and dictate that 
 faith which they decree to be true, and to 
 which therefore, the judgment of all nations 
 must conform. The exeputive Convention 
 of Calvinists, in their address read at the 
 conference held at Hernnhuth, June 11, 1S06, 
 give their co-operative Convention in England, 
 the following singular, but important intel- 
 ligence. 
 
 " You have, as yet, not met every where, 
 with equal success; but it has, however, uni- 
 
106 
 
 formly been such that all intelligent Chris- 
 tians agree, that with the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, A new era has commenced in the church 
 of Christ. A new conflict has begun betwixt 
 Christ and Belial. The adherents op 
 both are arming on either side*." — This is 
 a somewhat strange description of the effect 
 produced by the mission of those who should 
 be " Preachers of peace and good will 
 towards men." 
 
 But these ring-leaders of methodism, 
 who appear to talk so much at their ease 
 of this new conflict, should not only, I think, 
 give us some satisfaction with respect to the 
 question in issue, but some security against 
 the consequence of these hostilities which 
 they are thus preparing. It is not difficult 
 to predict what will eventually be the effect 
 of thus proscribing the religious tenets, and 
 disturbing the private tranquility, of his ma-; 
 jesty's foreign subjects. It were to be wished 
 that Mr. Hardcastle, and Mr. Burder, 
 — who it seems were deputed to answer this 
 Address, communicated by " dear brother 
 * Vide Evangelical Magazine, Nor. 1807. 
 
107 
 
 gteinkoff," to the Missionary Covention. — It 
 were to be wished that these worthy gen- 
 tlemen had inquired from their " beloved bre- 
 thren," some particulars , as to the probable 
 issue of this contest, and its possible effect 
 on the safety and allegiance of our foreign, 
 possessions. But all this seems to be below 
 their " high consideration." They return 
 their thanks for this gracious message and 
 communication, in the true style of Consular 
 dignity. 
 
 " Accept, faithful brethren, our Christian 
 salutations ; let us have a share in the peti- 
 tions you present iu your assembly, Sfc. Sfc* " 
 All this kind of proceeding, is hitherto new 
 and unheard-of in the history of this country! ! 
 Its consequences remain to be seen. — Thus 
 much, however, may be remarked, that those 
 engaged in it, do not appear to make 
 the essential interests of this kingdom, 
 as connected with its foreign territories, a 
 matter of very scrupulous attention. And 
 thus far I would suggest, that if this 
 
 » Evan. Mag. Nov. 1807.' 
 
103 
 
 desperate spirit of proselytisin is permitted, 
 as it has been, to force itself into the dis- 
 tant dependencies of our government, these 
 religious revolutionists — strongly as they draw 
 the bow — will one day shoot the arrow beyond 
 their mark *." 
 
 * On the subject of the Indian Missionaries, I need 
 enter into no detail. It has been most ably discussed 
 by Major Scott Waring, and with a force and effect 
 that has at length led the India Company to perceive 
 the expediency of putting a stop to the progress of a 
 mis-guided zeal, the fatal effects of which they began 
 very seriously to feel, and which they have wisely be- 
 stirred themselves to avert. To the statements of that 
 writer, delivered, as they are, with the strong emphasis of 
 truth and feeling, the public are greatly indebted. He 
 has brought the evil fully before the eyes of the Directors, 
 while yet the remedy is within their power. — Surely 
 India is not a dominion into which these Methodist 
 Missionaries can safely carry the wildfire of their fana- 
 ticism. — I trust, unless it is meant to strike it from the 
 map of the British Empire, that it will never again be. 
 so carelessly exposed to the dangerous issue of a holt 
 
 WAR. 
 
 The sums collected for Missionary purposes are incre- 
 dible. We have noticed on a former occasion, from tes- 
 timony under their own hands, the shameless manner in 
 which the poorest of the poor, are stript of the earnings 
 of their hard labom-, to support these insane schemes of 
 conversion. The following recent fact — which is but too 
 authentic— may be added to the " Evangelicana." I 
 have thought proper to make it public, lest it should not 
 
109 
 
 In what does righteousness consist, but in 
 obedience to the will of God ? Is it not the 
 duty of every religious instructor to exhort 
 men to govern their conduct by an adherence 
 to that will ? In a word, ought they not to be 
 
 find its way into that, record of pious donations, and as 
 an instructive illustration of the difference between evan- 
 gelical, and Christian charity. • ' 
 
 A few weeks since, a Mr. Whitaker, and within a few 
 days afterwards, Mrs.W. his wife, both died at Hackney, 
 and were interred on the same day. Mr. W.left Cheshire 
 many years ago, and having in the course of his trade 
 as a Farrier, acquired some little property, he some 
 time previous to his decease, had retired from business. 
 He was an evangelical methodist, not a whit behind the 
 most zealous oi the brethren, as the following bequest 
 will bear witness. He has left ONE thousand pounds 
 to the Missionary Society, although he had two poor, 
 aged, and infirm sisters, who are at present residing at 
 a place called Brokencross, near Macclesfield, and who 
 are at this very time, and have long been, paupers on the 
 parish of Prestbury, in Cheshire ! ! ! 
 
 No doubt the Missionary Society consider Brother 
 Whitaker as sound in the faith ! ! The executor to 
 this charitable saint, too, is an evangelical preacher! ! 
 
 We here see the influence of this new religion ! This 
 unnatural zealot, with an unfeeling indifference leaves 
 his nearest kindred to struggle against the combined ca- 
 lamities of poverty and old age, while with cold pride, 
 and cruel enthusiasm, he gives a thousand pounds 
 towards the propagation of methodism among the heathen, 
 the most unenlightened of whom would manifest a sense 
 of moral duty, that would put such conduct to shame. 
 
no 
 
 teachers of righteousness? Yet so openly 
 the reverse of this are the high-priests of the 
 new church, that it is a phrase perpetually in 
 their mouths — a phrase which, by endless repe- 
 tition, they have made familiar to the profligate 
 vulgar of all classes — that " righteousness is 
 filthy rags." Instead of explaining that pas- 
 sage, and putting the ignorant on their guard 
 against any misconception of its meaning, by 
 supposing that the prophet meant, in the least 
 degree, to depreciate the infinite and eternal 
 worth of that obedience to the word and will of 
 God, which constitutes righteousness, they, 
 with malignant pains, impress upon the minds 
 of the multitude that very misconception 
 against which they should most anxiously have 
 warned them. These anti-moral priests pass 
 over all those beautiful and impressive exhor- 
 tations to righteousness, which our Saviour 
 every where expresses, and to the practice of 
 which he promises the reward of eternal life.— 
 They omit the whole of the most powerful in- 
 centives, and most pathetic persuasions to 
 righteousness, with which the Bible, from the 
 beginning to the end, abounds. All this they 
 
Ill 
 
 either wilfully conceal, or contemptuously dis- 
 regard ; and they cull out a single passage from 
 Isaiah, which they most grossly pervert from 
 its true meaning, in order to seduce the igno- 
 rant to conceive, that righteousness, the 
 practice of which the Son of God himself 
 lived to exemplify, and died to enforce — is 
 filthy rags! ! 
 
 What band of atheists — let them come from 
 France, or from wherever else they may — can 
 spread amongst us a more dreadful and dan- 
 gerous delusion ? What benefit can redound 
 to God or man from such tuition ? What can 
 justify it? What can be hoped from it? — ■ 
 Righteousness is the reverse of that system of 
 guilt and crime, which arises from the repe- 
 tition of that which is icrong. What rebels 
 could repair to the work of destroying the con- 
 stitution of moral society With a maxim better 
 suited for the purpose than this — that righteous- 
 ness is filthy rags ! ! ! Can any man, or 
 set of men, inflict a more serious injury oo 
 the community, than by producing such a 
 conviction ? ! Can any thing better pave the 
 way for the introduction of anarchy and 
 
112 
 
 atheism, than the adoption of this doc- 
 trine ? ! 1 
 
 Let us now observe upon this passage of the 
 prophet which is thus distorted from its 
 true meaning for the purpose of proving the 
 utter worlhlessness of all moral virtue. " We 
 are all," (says the prophet) "as an unclean 
 thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy 
 rags *." 
 
 Let us now examine and see whether these 
 anti-moral priests are in any manner jus- 
 tified in citing these words to support their 
 condemnation of morality. 
 
 Does Isaiah here affirm that the practice 
 of righteousness is to be held as of no ac- 
 count ? Is he to be understood as declaring 
 that a sincere obedience to the moral com- 
 mandments of God, as set forth in his 
 gospel, are of no avail towards our future 
 salvation ? Or to put the question still more 
 closely, does he pronounce righteousness 
 to be filthy rags \ — 1 aver that he does not. — 
 His doctrine is directly the reverse. — And 
 
 * Isa. lxiv. 6. 
 
113 
 
 these new gospel teachers wilfully misre- 
 present him, for the shameful purpose of 
 supporting by his authority, that contempt 
 which tbey manifest for morality and the 
 efficacy of good works. They know that 
 the ignorant and uninquiring crowds to 
 whom they preach, will never examine into 
 the truth of what they are taught, or com- 
 pare the passages they quote, with the 
 context to which it relates, in order to de- 
 termine how far it will warrant their com- 
 ment, or confirm the doctrine it is brought 
 to support. — But I shall proceed to defend 
 the prophet Isaiah from the palpable mis-re- 
 presentation of him by the new order of evan- 
 gelists. To do this no more is necessary 
 than merely to quote the verse that 
 precedes that from which this phrase is 
 taken. . . - • 
 
 The Prophet, as is evident, is deploring 
 the depraved state of the Jewish Church, 
 which had departed from its primitive piety 
 and degenerated into vice and superstition. 
 In his prayer he dwells on the inestimable 
 value in the sight of heaven, of that righte- 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 oumess, which the mass of the Jewish people 
 had forsaken. 
 
 " Thou meetest him>" (says the Prophet) 
 "that rejoieeth and worketh .righteous- 
 ness; those that remember thee in thy ways 
 — " behold thou art wroth, for We have 
 sinned." 
 
 He then goes on to describe the state of 
 his countrymen — for it is to them he is al- 
 luding, and not to mankind at large — and he 
 represents them as having justly incurred the 
 wrath of God, by their neglect of his laws, 
 and lamenting their degeneracy from 
 righteousness, he thus proceeds : 
 
 " But We are all as an unclean thing ; and 
 all Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; 
 and we all do fade as a leaf, and our ini- 
 quities, like the wind, have taken us away, 
 and there is none that cajleth upon thy 
 name, that stirreth up himself to take hold 
 of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from 
 us, and hast consumed us because of our 
 iniquities." 
 
 We here see that it is actually the moral 
 declension — the fall of his countrymen from 
 
115 
 
 virtue — that he represents as drawing down 
 the calamities with which they were visited. 
 
 " How is the faithful city," (says he) 
 "become an harlot ? It was full of judg- 
 ment, righteousness lodged in it, but now 
 murderers ; thy silver is become dross." 
 
 This sufficiently manifests the meaning of 
 the figurative expression of the prophet, that 
 their righteousness was become as filthy 
 rags. — What confidence, then, can be placed 
 in a class of men, who to support their own 
 doctrines, can thus delude the multitude 
 by such flagrant mis- representations. 
 
 Every chapter in Isaiah abounds with the 
 praises of righteousness, and sets forth the 
 eternal rewards that will follow the practice 
 of it. 
 
 " Open ye the gates," (says the Prophet) 
 " that the righteous nation, which keepeth the 
 truth, may enter in." 
 
 And yet we are told — and the mouths of 
 the profligate vulgar are made to re-echo 
 the assertion — that righteousness is filthy 
 rags. And the prophet Isaiah is quoted to 
 confirm the truth of it ! ! ! 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 Really the evil of all this is great and de- 
 plorable. But I trust we shall open our 
 eyes before such doctrines, bring with them 
 • — as sooner or later they will — their own in- 
 evitable consequences *. 
 
 * In the first part of the " Hints," as the reader may 
 remember, I cited on this subject, the following impres- 
 sive passage from the Book of Revelations, (c. 19- v. 8.) 
 — " And to her was granted that she should be arrayed 
 in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is 
 the righteousness of the saints." — And I then contrasted 
 with this the language of the Village Sermons. In 
 the pamphlet written by Mr. Collyer, — who is pleased 
 to dignify himself with the title of an Evangelical Preacher, 
 —the author of those Sermons is exposed as effectually 
 as he can be, by the following feeble attempt to defend 
 him at the expense of truth, and by the aid of the most 
 evident mis-statement. 
 
 " Mr. Burder," (says this writer) " is indeed the person 
 ostensibly attacked, because he has had the temerity to 
 repeat what the prophet said before him — ' My dear chil- 
 dren, why do you hope to go to heaven ? Is it because 
 you are not so bad as others; because you say your prayers, 
 and go to church or to meeting ? If so, you are proud, 
 proud of your own righteousness, which the scripture 
 
 Calls FILTHY RAGS." 
 
 What the prophet said before him ! — Where has the pro- 
 phet made any such address to children as this? Again 
 — " the language employed in the Village Sermons, is not 
 an opinion of the writer, but literally a quotation 
 from the prophet." — After what I have said above, this 
 audacious assertion will require no comment — Its falsehood 
 
117 
 
 " Though," (says an eloquent and sen- 
 sible writer) " the present increasing luxury 
 
 is too gross and too glaring. So imbecile a defender 
 as Mr. Collyer, only betrays the cause be attempts 
 to serve; he will do wisely hereafter to think before he 
 writes. His pompous nothings may pass muster among the 
 old women in the republic of methodism, but in the 
 republic of letters we are not quite so amorous of ab- 
 surdity. 
 
 I have no room to remark at any length, on the in- 
 flated style of his pamphlet, on which he seems to value 
 himself so highly ; but we will take a short specimen, 
 
 " It is not my intention," (says he) " to enter into a 
 defence of those gentlemen, either of whom are quite 
 competent to repel the injurious charges alleged against 
 them, notwithstanding the evasive intimations which are 
 made respecting the illiterateness of some of them ; but 
 this writer has so interwoven his attack that it is impossible 
 to separate these altogether. It is impossible to follow 
 him along his serpentine track, which sometimes wears the 
 appearance of winding solely to asperse, without convict- 
 ing him of that, to which the softest name that can be 
 given, is mis-representation." 
 
 Here we have in one single passage, a grammatical 
 error, a ridiculous iricism, and the metaphor of a ser- 
 pentine track that is made to asperse, and to asperse by 
 winding ! ! ! ' , 
 
 But so anxious is this evangelical champion, for the 
 literary reputation of his pamphlet, that he sends forth 
 a list of " Errata," after its publication, and he sub- 
 joins five lines of comment, in which small space 
 there are two blunders. We have a plural antecedent 
 with a relative singular, and are told of the pressure of 
 his unavoidable avocations, — not during the time that he 
 
118 
 
 in one part of the community, with the in- 
 creased and increasing distress in another, 
 do greatly favour the corruption of public 
 morals, I think that another very vigorous 
 and active cause of the declension of virtue 
 and the increase of vice, will be found in 
 those polluted, unreasonable, and absurd re- 
 presentations of the Christian religion which 
 have of late years, been with too little con* 
 sideration patronized by the great, and with 
 too much facility listened to by the popu- 
 lace. Of those persons who ever think se-* 
 riously of going to heaven, the majority, 
 would fain travel thither in company with 
 that guide who requires the fewest sacrifices 
 at their hands; who orders the least self- 
 denial) and permits the greatest self-indul- 
 
 was writing and publishing this pamphlet, — but " during 
 the time that this pamphlet was both writing andptib? 
 lishing." 
 
 This gentleman tells the public with becoming mo-! 
 desty, the object of his publication — •" It is," {says he} 
 " to prostrate the affected superiority of a man who' as- 
 saults that WHICH I BELIEVE TO BE TRUE f ! ! ! 
 
 Gil Blas, you owe your life to your country— study 
 
 YOUR GRAMMAR. 
 
 t P- 42. 
 
119 
 
 gence. Thus they are pre-disposed to lend 
 a willing ear to the instructions of any reli- 
 gious juggler who endeavours to persuade 
 them that faith without holiness, grace with- 
 out exertion, or righteousness by imputation* 
 will supersede the necessity of personal good^ 
 ness, and exempt the favoured convert from 
 the painful toils of practical morality. Such 
 admonitions, covered over with a great deal 
 of cant, in order to disguise the rottenness 
 of the ingredients and the unwholesomeness 
 of the mixture, have been called ' evange- 
 lical preaching,' and at other times, em- 
 phatically, * preaching the gospel,' and the 
 great and everlasting principles of moral 
 duty have been shamefully libelled, and 
 most industriously lowered in the public 
 estimation, by men professing to- teach the 
 holy doctrine of the holy Jesus *." 
 
 If this statement required corroboration, 
 it will find the strongest it can possibly 
 
 * Vide Preface to " Religion without Cant, by Robert 
 Fellowes, A. M." — A work which cannot be too strongly- 
 recommended to the attention of the public, as an elo- 
 quent and masterly delineation of the principles of Chris- 
 tian truth. 
 
120 
 
 receive in the following statement of the 
 Bishop op Lincoln, who, when speaking of 
 a class of men — " who professing to believe 
 all the church doctrines, yet renounce its 
 
 AUTHORITY, and REVILE ITS MINISTERS,"— 
 
 expresses himself thus, 
 
 " Many of these fanatics, by pretending 
 to an extraordinary degree of sanctity, to a 
 faith not to be found in the gospel, to an 
 especial call or gift of grace, which super- 
 sedes the necessity of education, and of 
 the regular ordination commanded, and prac- 
 tised by the apostles themselves, seduce the 
 
 PEOPLE FROM THEIR APPOINTED MINISTERS, 
 
 separate them from the communion of the 
 
 church, GAIN A COMPLETE ASCENDENCY 
 
 over them, and instil into their minds the 
 most dangerous opinions, with the most 
 active enthusiasm. The effect of this mis- 
 called EVANGELICAL PREACHING, tOO often 
 
 appears in the despondence of religious me- 
 lancholy, or in the licentiousness qf shameless 
 profligacy, and in principles and conduct, 
 which the precepts of the gospel, and the 
 whole history of mankind declare to be ut~ 
 
121 v ; 
 
 TERLY INCONSISTENT WITH TRUE RELIGION,: 
 AND THE WELL BEING OF SOCIETY *." 
 
 A zealous Champion of methodism -j", whose 
 popularity enables him to give an extensive 
 circulation to whatever comes from his pen, 
 and whose "Village Dialogues, have been 
 already noticed in the former part of these 
 ''Hints/' has delivered ",in the similitude of 
 a dream/' and under the character of " an 
 old observer," such a picture of the 
 clergy of this kingdom, that if it comes at 
 all near the truth, would justify all that 
 active indignation against them which it is so 
 well fitted to excite. 
 
 The Press is a great and powerful engine 
 in the hands of the new order of eccle- 
 siastics. The regular clergy seem to be 
 sitting without concern under * their own 
 fig-tree, while all the arts that can move 
 the minds of men against them, are employed 
 with the greatest activity and effect. It is 
 
 * Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of 
 Lincoln, at the triennial visitation in June and July, 
 J 800. ByG. Prettyman, D. D. F. R. S. Lord Bishop 
 of Lincoln. 
 
 f The Rev. Rowland Hill. 
 
122 
 
 not their Doctrines that are reprobated for if 
 these were false or unsound, the public would be 
 indebted to whoever discovered their error, 
 or exposed their fallacy. In such a case too, 
 however severely they were attacked, they 
 might be recanted if they were wrong, or 
 defended if they were right. Reason might 
 oppose itself to reason, and argument to ar- 
 gument. But the imputations against them 
 are wholly personal ; the whole body is 
 indiscriminately stigmatized as pregnant with 
 private vice — as apostate, abandoned, and 
 corrupt. In this case there is no means of 
 counter-proof, and the charges are left to 
 work their own way*. 
 
 * While I am speaking on the subject of personal 
 attack, I cannot pass without remark the assertion of 
 Dr. Hawker, that I have endeavoured to blacken his cha- 
 racter, which assertion is re-echoed by the Eclectic Review, 
 and repeated by all the pamphlets to which the " Hints " 
 have given rise. But neither Dr. Hawker himself, nor 
 any of his advocates, have brought forward a single in- 
 stance in which I have alluded in the most distant manner 
 to his private character, or his personal conduct; or to that 
 of any one of those writers whose doctrines I have been 
 led to discuss. It is not in their power to produce an 
 instance, and this they know. 
 
 The doctrines of this class of teachers, and the conse- 
 quences of those doctrines, are so closely connected toge- 
 
123 
 
 The "Village Dialogues," abound in such 
 descriptions as are calculated to compel 
 
 ther, that the one must be exposed through the medium of the 
 other. This I have done, and no more. But the language 
 of the Eclectic Review will sufficiently manifest the fero- 
 cious spirit which animates this evangelical body. Such a 
 specimen of literary criticism, I think has never yet been 
 exhibited to the world, as may be found in their review 
 of the three pamphlets occasioned by the " Hints." I ex- 
 tract a sample. 
 
 The Barrister is " a pamphleteer so abjectly despicable" 
 that they lament the notice he obtains. "Next to the 
 approbation of the worthy," (saythese 1 egant and courtly 
 scholars) " we should covet the enmity of the vile ; nor 
 can we think it a trifling honour to any system or person, 
 to the cause of truth and the character of its defenders, 
 to be insulted by such an individual as this." — An indi- 
 vidual " who has made the disguise he wears, so unspeak- 
 ably disgusting to the intelligent public, that he has only 
 to unmask his portentous front in order to receive 
 the indelible consummation of his ignominy." 
 
 "It is some consolation to be convinced that we 
 bave now seen human nature in its very basest 
 degradation." 
 
 He " evinces such a combination of ferocity and mean- 
 ness, such an epitome of the HYAENA and the worm, as we 
 are confident will never be exceeded by any future being 
 that may appear in the likeness of man." 
 
 In suffering the name of Bunyan to flow from his pen, 
 he — "gives proof of infatuation scarely consistent with 
 mental sanity. It was fitting that such should be the 
 penalty of sacrilege, that the disturber of the dead 
 should be smitten- with fatuity in his .unholy work, and 
 issuing from the desecrated sepulchre, should announce, 
 
124 
 
 the deluded peasantry of this kingdom, to 
 think and act towards their parish minister 
 with no feelings but those of aversion and 
 disdain. The " Sale of Curates," is but ano- 
 ther quiver laden with arrows of stronger 
 venom, and directed at the same, target. It 
 was suggested, it seems, by the late Clergy 
 Residence Act, which led this evangelical 
 dreamer to represent the divines of the 
 establishment as put up to public auction, 
 and through the medium of this fiction to 
 exhibit them to the public as objects of con- 
 tempt, and to load them with shame, ignominy, 
 and dishonour, 
 
 in the gibberish of his exultation, the punishment of his 
 awful temerity f." 
 
 What a specimen of cool and dispassionate inquiry / ! ! 
 And this purports to be a review ! ! ! The pious editors 
 could not have furnished the public with a clearer insight 
 into their character and their capacity. If they apprehend 
 that by all this foolish and unworthy abuse, I shall be 
 made to desist from bringing their doctrines under the 
 review of the public, they greatly mistake. But why 
 should these exasperated priests thus supplyevidence against 
 themselves ? In the transport of their rage, they appear 
 to have thrown away their reason. 
 
 " When some home stroke has reach'd their solemn souls, 
 In vengeance they determine — to be fools." 
 
 •J- Eclectic Review for May. 
 
125 . 
 
 Among the earliest attendants at the Auc- 
 tion, a sailor is made to appear, and such 
 language is put into his mouth, as may best 
 serve to degrade in the estimation of the 
 seamen of the British Navy, those whom the 
 government of the country have appointed 
 to cherish in them a respect for religion, 
 and to keep alive the energies of conscience 
 and moral feeling. The dialogue between him 
 and the Auctioneer runs thus: 
 
 " Auc. I suppose your captain wants a 
 
 CHAPLAIN, OUt of some Of THESE REVEREND 
 
 gentlemen, that are to be disposed of. 
 
 " Sailor. The Devil a bit for that, Master 
 Auctioneer. Our captain has more re- 
 gard TO THE MORALS OF THE SHIP'S CREW, 
 
 than to take another chaplain on board. 
 
 " Auc. Why to be sure, Jack; your chap- 
 lain could not be so bad as all that, to 
 
 MAKE EVEN SAILORS WORSE THAN HE FOUND 
 THEM. 
 
 " Sailor. Why every sailor on board will be 
 
 crjing, THAT IF ANY WISHED TO GO TO 
 HELL FIRST AND FOREMOST, he Would have 
 
 nothing to do but to follow the parson; 
 
126 
 
 for he would be sure to be drunk the 
 first of any of the mess, and then he 
 would run on with such a jaw, and swear 
 
 LIKE THE DEVIL; OUR CAPTAIN WAS OBLIGED 
 TO KICK HIM TWICE OUT OF THE CABIN FOR 
 HIS IMPUDENCE *." 
 
 Can any thinking man doubt for a mo- 
 ment, the effect that is meant to be produced, 
 and that must be produced, when such tracts 
 are put into the hands of the crowd? These 
 new evangelists, we see, omit no pains to 
 eradicate from the minds of all to - whom 
 they gain access, whatever of affection or 
 respect they might cherish for the clergy of 
 the establishment; they spare no effort to 
 induce them to forsake its teachers, and to en- 
 list under the new spiritual powERby which, 
 at present that establishment is overshadowed 
 and by which, at a period perhaps not very 
 far distant, it may be overwhelmed. 
 
 It would be, one should think, one of the 
 most earnest wishes of every friend to his 
 
 * Scriptural Characteristics, represented in an ac- 
 count of a most curious Sale of Curates by Public Action, 
 &c. delivered in the similitude of a dream, by an Old Ob- 
 server, p. 28. 
 
127 
 
 country, to strengthen the ties of amity be- 
 tween its brave defenders, and those whom 
 the state has appointed to be their in- 
 structors. . For unless there exist a spirit of 
 respect and kindness towards those by whose 
 exhortations they are to be kept faithful to 
 their duty to God and man, they will never 
 imbibe those principles of practical religion, 
 which can alone produce that moral subor- 
 dination of the heart, which is the basis of 
 all genuine allegiance to the sovereign or 
 to the state. A greater calamity could not 
 befal the public than that complete alien- 
 ation of our seamen from their religious 
 teachers which is here attempted, — and at- 
 tempted too, by an evangelical preacher ! ! 
 For by one of this stamp it is that the na- 
 tional church is thus held up to 'mockery 
 and scorn. 
 
 After the dismission of Doctor Flesh- 
 and-blood and Mr. Skinflint, the former 
 painted as a sensual and profligate Drunkard, 
 the latter as a mean and contemptible Miser; 
 Mr. Lead-head is brought to the hammer, 
 
128 
 
 and the contemptible description which he 
 is made to give of himself, may be col- 
 lected from the following address made to him 
 by the Auctioneer. 
 
 " Auc. Upon my word, sir, by your own 
 account of yourself you must be one of the 
 cleverest spiritual jack-a-dandys of the age ; 
 though I must honestly confess, I am heartily 
 glad as it respects the trade of parsoning, 
 you are not likely to be wanted in that oc- 
 cupation much longer, especially as you have 
 had no better education than what you got 
 from the famous Doctor Sounding-brass, and 
 his most insignificant curate Mr. Tinkler*." 
 
 It is most assuredly a prediction that may 
 in all likelihood be verified, that the regular 
 clergy of this kingdom " are not likely to 
 
 BE WANTED IN THEIR OCCUPATION MUCH LON- 
 GER," if the indignant zeal of the multitude 
 against them, bears any proportion to the 
 efforts made to excite it. Their season of adver- 
 sity is not far ofF, if such attempts to alienate 
 
 * Scriptural Characteristics, &c. p. 40. 
 
129 
 
 from them the affections of all by whom they 
 have been hitherto esteemed and respected, 
 is to go forth into every corner of the king- 
 dom ; and to be followed up by an unceasing 
 labour to draw aside their followers to the 
 conventicle. 
 
 Mr. Wanton, a Rector, is next brought 
 forward. Rowland Hill, we find, is not 
 a little indebted to the Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress for his nomenclature;, it is from that 
 propria quts maribus that he has furnished him- 
 self with his appellatives of degradation. 
 
 " The auctioneer," we are told, " drew out 
 
 of this WRETCHED CREATURE, Such a DREAD* 1 ' 
 
 edl long story of his most vile and wan- 
 ton conduct ; attended also with such a de- 
 tail of different promises of marriage, only 
 made for the basest purposes, and after- 
 wards as cruelly violated, as were too 
 shocking and indecent to relate." — The 
 reader being thus left to figure to his ima- 
 gination a character the most profligate, li- 
 centious, and abandoned ; and to cast this 
 character so formed, at random, among the 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 clergy. The dialogue — the drift of which inay 
 be easily seen — proceeds thus : 
 
 " Auc. I don't wonder that you are ashamed 
 to go back again to your living, as you lived 
 there before till you could reside among them 
 no longer. I am afraid you will make a sad 
 hand of it in driving the methodists and dis- 
 senters out of your parish. Have you plenty 
 of these sort of people ? 
 
 " Wanton. O yes, they swarm in every cor- 
 ner of the parish ; and an audacious set they 
 are as ever you met with. Some of them 
 had impudence enough to write up in large 
 letters, and paste it against the chunk 
 doors, Whoremongers and adulterers God 
 wile judge, and this was done on a Sunday 
 morning when all the people were going to 
 church." 
 
 After thus suggesting this most infamous 
 scheme of slander, by way of instruction to 
 the methodists, who may be supposed not 
 sufficiently expert in devising new modes of 
 contumely, this evangelist proceeds in the 
 assumed character of the Auctioneer, to give 
 
131 
 
 to a libel thus dark and detestable, the encou- 
 raging fiat of his approbation. 
 
 " Auc. Indeed, reverend sir, if I may speak 
 
 MY MIND, I THINK THEY SERVED YOU VERY 
 
 right, for in my opinion, much more mischief 
 is done in attempting to cover and connive at 
 
 Such ABOMINABLE EVILS AMONG THE CLERGY, 
 
 or among any other sectaries bearing the 
 Christian name, than by exposing them to 
 shame, if they have any shame in them *." 
 
 We may remember that previously to the 
 destruction of the clergy of France, and the 
 confiscation of their property, the minds of 
 the multitude were thoroughly heated against 
 them ; and this effect once produced, it be- * 
 came no difficult matter for their enemies to 
 find a pretext for the spoliation and plunder 
 of an order of persons thus held up as scanda- 
 lously disgracing their sacred function. Are we 
 of this country, foolish enough, or thoughtless 
 enough, not to foresee that the same unequi- 
 vocal and unqualified charges of abuse and 
 
 * Scriptural Characteristics, &c. p. 46. 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 corruption, will eventually lead to similar 
 consequences. 
 
 When this picture of the established clergy 
 of England, shall have become familiar to 
 the great mass of the people, — when this 
 reiterated representation shall once get, as 
 by degrees it will, complete possession of 
 their minds, the national church, will be- 
 come in their eyes no better than an Augean 
 stable, and they will soon come to look upon . 
 it as a nuisance to be removed. — What we 
 shall have erected in its stead, the evan- 
 gelical directory, for the time being, will 
 decide. 
 
 This kind of abuse and defamation is well 
 suited to the meridian for which it is in- 
 tended, it is well calculated to inflame the 
 minds of the . vulgar against the national 
 church, and to league them against all 
 preachers, in that church or out of it, by 
 whom their fanatical errors are not embraced. 
 
 But while the portraits of the great body 
 of the English clergy are thus painted, and 
 hung up for public exhibition, what becomes 
 
133 
 
 of the Dignitaries of that order ; are their 
 features less dark, or their character less 
 repulsive. — Not at all. But the libel against 
 them required to be introduced with greater 
 management. 
 
 " A very grave, though cross looking crea- 
 ture, remarkably formal and precise both in 
 his dress and behaviour, witji a vast deal of 
 spiritual grimace, quite a contrast to many 
 who had appeared before him, was next told 
 to come forward. (Doctor Sacheverell) *." 
 
 This Doctor is introduced for the purpose 
 of displaying an excessive and high-toned 
 zeal in behalf of the head order of the 
 clergy, and thereby to afford the " Old Ob- 
 server," an opportunity of replying in such 
 terms as may best serve to expose the 
 episcopal authority to derision, and the office 
 of ordination to contempt. 
 
 " Auc. Doctor, before you begin upon 
 others, may it not be necessary to look, at 
 home ? Have you no ignorance and folly to 
 correct among yourselves ? 
 
 * p. 48. 
 
134 
 
 " t)r. Sack. Supposing we have, sir, yet 
 we know that ours is the true successional 
 apostolic church ; and it is impossible that 
 the ignorance and wickedness of her ministers 
 can invalidate the efficacy of her holy or- 
 dinances. We have no doubt but that her 
 sacraments are equally efficacious whether 
 they be administered by ! a priest that is as 
 holy as an angel, or as wicked as a devil. 
 No man can derive the powers of his priest- 
 hood from the holiness of his own life, but 
 from the power of the bishop, who upon 
 the authority of his apostolical succession, 
 alone confers the holy right. Sir, I'd have 
 you to know, that it is impossible there 
 can be a Christian Church, but as it is 
 under the successional power of Christian 
 Bishops. 
 
 " Auc. And pray, sir, what are we to 
 reckon if these Christian Bishops, so called^ 
 
 havtlHO MORE REAL RELIGION THAN IF THEY 
 WERE HEATHEN PRIESTS." 
 
 As the dialogue is managed by the -" Old 
 Observer," Doctor Sacheverell admits the 
 fact, that they are so unprincipled and pro- 
 
135 
 
 fane, as to deserve the appellation of hea- 
 then priests, but affirms that this charge, 
 however well warranted, does not weaken 
 their authority, or invalidate their claim. 
 The " Old Observer" knew that if he could 
 but impress the minds of the multitude 
 with the belief that these Christian Bishops, 
 so called, were in fact no better than Hea- 
 then Priests, he might safely leave the 
 conclusion in their hands ; and as to the 
 mock defence of the order of our clergy, 
 by Doctor Sacheverell, it is so contrived as 
 to insinuate the folly of preserving an au- 
 thority so wilfully perverted, and so wick- 
 edly abused. Subscribing to the above ac- 
 cusation, therefore, the doctor is made to 
 argue in this wise. — 
 
 " Dr. Sack. Sir, there can be no doubt 
 but that their orders are equally valid ; let 
 their lives be ever so bad, their office is just 
 the same. But God forbid that we should 
 have many such Christian Bishops as these. 
 
 f Auc. So say I ; but it was the opinion 
 of one honest plain spoken bishop at the 
 time of the reformation, that there were a 
 
-N, 
 
 136 
 
 sufficient number of wicked unpreaching 
 prelates in his day, to Jill a gap in hell as 
 wide as from Dover to Calais. 
 
 " Dr. Sack. No matter for that. I insist 
 upon it, if they are but bishops, that is quite 
 enough ; and as to myself, to speak out, I 
 had rather receive my holy orders from the 
 wickedest bishop upon the earth, than from 
 the most righteous among the schismatics from 
 our holy and apostolic church. 
 
 " Auc. If he had been as wicked as the 
 Right Reverend Father in God, Bishop 
 Judas Iscariot, who lost his bishopric for 
 selling his master, and afterwards was given 
 over to hang^* himself. In my opinion, if you 
 have not the honor of sainthood conferred 
 upon you from the Holy Father who pre- 
 sides over that most ancient apostolical church, 
 the Church of Rome, you are not rewarded 
 by his holiness according to your deserts ; 
 especially for your very charitable doctrine, 
 on sending [at least one half of your Pro-? 
 testant Churches to the devil, beqause they 
 are not headed by what you call your succes,- 
 sional bishops. 
 
137 
 
 " Dr. Sach. Sir, if it was not that I had 
 to dispose of my curate, I would leave the 
 room, as 1 fear your notions are dreadfully 
 schismatical. 
 
 " Auc. Only because I cannot, speak so highly 
 of your wicked bishops as yourself. Let 
 them be but good bishops, and preach and 
 pray and labour for the salvation of souls, 
 and be instant in season and out of season, 
 and thus make full proof of their ministry, 
 and I shall have no more objection against 
 the name and office of a bishop, than I 
 have against the name and office of a king. 
 But God bless his majesty I say, and may 
 we never want a king in England, and so 
 I suppose, a Christian Church may do 
 without your successional bishops,. Still 
 God bless their lordships also, and long may 
 they live, &c. &c. &c.*" 
 
 The multitude must take for granted that 
 the <{ Old Observer," in thus passing judg- 
 ment on the English Prelacy, is justified in 
 so doing, by sufficient evidence and sound 
 
 * " Spiritual Characteristics, &c." p. 51, &c. 
 
138 
 
 information. He is a gospel preacher, and 
 therefore cannot err from want of charity ! 
 —He is an evangelist, and cannot incur 
 the guilt of slander ! His word, therefore, 
 will pass current in the new spiritual king- 
 dom, and his representation be received as 
 the truth. If hereafter, they should rise in 
 their wrath to subvert this order of hea- 
 then priests, can we be at all suprized 
 at the consequences of an indignation so 
 justly excited? Will their downfal deserve 
 to be regretted? Certainly not — A Chris- 
 tian Church may do without your suc- 
 
 CESSIONAL BISHOPS ! ! ! 
 
 After the disappearance of Dr. Sacheverell, 
 the curate Mr. Prettyman, is introduced. — 
 He is friendly to the cause, and names begin 
 to soften. — By the relation which Mr. Pret- 
 tyman is made to give, we learn that his Rector 
 was sorely displeased with the Methodists, 
 for their extraordinary devotion and piety, while 
 be himself pays due homage to their superior 
 learning, and their transcendent attainments 
 in theology. The " Old Observer," by the 
 help of Mr. Prettyman, manages the matter 
 
139 
 
 very much to their advantage in this respect; 
 nor does he omit to pay a passing tribute 
 to the blessed effect of the Village Sermons. 
 
 " Prettyman. When I saw them (the Me- 
 thodists) the last time at the visitation, be- 
 cause they behaved civil to me, I thought 
 it my duty to be civil to them in return ; 
 and they entered into some conversation 
 about religion, and lent me some very good 
 sermons, called Village Sermons, written 
 by a Mr. Burder, and while I preached these 
 to the congregation, it is amazing how the 
 methodists began to crowd the church *." 
 
 The tendency of these precious treasures 
 of divinity, must sufficiently recommend them 
 to the praise and patronage of the author 
 of the " Village Dialogues." He that 
 has spared no pains to make the rising ge- 
 neration of ignorant and dissolute rustics 
 laugh at what he terms the white-wash of 
 morality, and who, when their village 
 curate exhorts them, if they have faith in the 
 doctrine of a world, to come, to add to it 
 
 * " Spiritual Characteristics, &c." p. 58. 
 
140 
 
 those good-ieorks in which the sum and sub- 
 stance of religion consists, has. led them to 
 ridicule him as chopping a new-fashioned lo- 
 gic* — He could not consistently, let slip any 
 opportunity to extol his co-instructor. 
 
 Te multa prece, te prosequitur mero 
 Defuso pateris, et Laribus tunin 
 Miscet numen, uti Grcecia Castoris 
 Et magoi memor Herculis. 
 
 These brother-directors, who have con- 
 jointly struggled with so much activity and 
 success to convert our villages from morality 
 to Methodism, if they do not merit the 
 thanks of the public, deserve at least, the 
 praise of each other. 
 
 This reverend dreamer — to whom, in his 
 visions, the regular clergy of this kingdom, 
 appear so execrably profligate, and so de- 
 structively corrupt — brings next into his dor- 
 mitory, " an angry looking rector, whose name 
 was Grinder." He is made so to describe 
 himself, as may lead us to conceive of the 
 whole order, as one of which the country 
 should be disburthened. 
 
 * Vide " Hints," Part I. p. 64. 
 
141 
 
 " Pray," — says the "Old Observer," address- 
 ing him in the representative character of the 
 Auctioneer — " pray did you ever attend to 
 the solemn warning given in the 34th of 
 Ezekiel, to shepherds of the same stamp, 
 and the dreadful woes our Lord pronounced 
 against the scribes and pharisees, the regular 
 clergy of the day *." 
 
 In what manner this new spiritual republic, 
 — when its system shall be fully matured, 
 and its power properly organised, — will dis- 
 pose of the regular clergy, is matter of 
 delicate discussion, but is not matter of very 
 difficult prediction. When our minds be- 
 come famaliarized to this representation of 
 them, the rest will follow in its season. 
 When the existence of any order in the 
 state is rendered hateful to us, we are 
 prepared to approve, and even to wish for 
 
 ITS ABOLITION. 
 
 The rector presents his curate as one whom 
 the evangelical Auctioneer may bring very 
 successfully to the hammer. 
 
 * p, 73. 
 
142 
 
 " — If ever you have in hand more dirty 
 work than common, let it rest with him, 
 and Til assure you he'll be the man for you. 
 
 " Mr. Quibble, (to the curate) What then, 
 had you no religious impressions when you 
 took upon you your religious profession ? 
 
 " Curate. Not I, no more than the old co- 
 vetous bishop who ordained me*. — " 
 
 That this divine, so greatly revered in the 
 wide circle of evangelical methodists, 
 purposes through the medium of all this 
 calumny, to multiply their adherents, is suf- 
 ficiently obvious. The tendency of all this 
 detraction is to bring the church clergy into 
 disrepute, to produce a general belief that 
 there is no true piety out of a meeting-house. 
 nor any true religion where pure Calvinism is 
 not the profession of faith. We here see every 
 feeling of candour, of truth, of charity, and 
 of patriotism, sunk in the mean hypocrisy 
 of a pretended attachment to the church, 
 and an outside shew of zeal for religion 
 and the gospel ! — We see with what restless 
 
 * p. 77. 
 
143 
 
 activity the new system is propagated in every 
 part of the world! — Dreaming, and waking, 
 this aspiring sect omit nothing that can in- 
 crease their proselytes, and augment their 
 power. 
 
 But their " dreams," defamatory as they 
 are, may teach us wisdom ; for as the Doctor 
 in Macbeth truly observes, 
 
 " Infected minds 
 To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets." 
 
 And the same honest physician follows 
 up his remark by advice, to which, while 
 this new spiritual power is moving onward, 
 we should do wisely to attend : 
 
 "Look after her; 
 Remove from her the means of all annoyance 
 And still keep eyes upon her: — 
 
 We know that for reasons of sound and 
 salutary policy, our forefathers incorporated 
 the clergy with the constitution : in framing 
 a system of government, under which justice 
 should be administered, they did not forget 
 to provide for the moral wants of the peo- 
 ple, and they thought it their duty to se- 
 
144 
 
 cure to the state a permanent religious es- 
 tablishment for the common benefit of all 
 who were born under it. They thought that 
 in so doing they consulted our real interests, 
 and provided for our real good. There is 
 somewhat of defect or imperfection in what- 
 ever is modelled by the mind of man. In all 
 human institutions, as in all human charac- 
 ters, there is room for great amendment. 
 We are indebted greatly to those who suggest 
 a cure for evils, which admit of cure ; and 
 next to them, we are indebted to those who 
 teach us to bear with what we cannot re- 
 medy. 
 
 But to those who with malicious zeal, vi- 
 lify and defame the ecclesiastical establish- 
 ment of their country, by libelling indis- 
 criminately the conduct, and blasting with- 
 out exception the character, of all its mem- 
 bers : — Where is their " commission from 
 above," for such a proceeding. What must 
 we think when we behold " a minister of the 
 altar," striving to provoke a spirit of dis- 
 gust and hatred toward those appointed to 
 officiate in the religious concerns of the com- 
 
145 
 
 munity, and struggling to withdraw from them 
 all that reverence, which is essential to their 
 utility, and wholly to alienate the minds of 
 the people from those, , to whom, by all the 
 ties of social and moral kindred, they ought to 
 be most connected and most attached. A com- 
 mon libel, from an obscure and disaffected 
 individual, might pass unheeded. But here 
 it is not so— the minds of the multitude, 
 are for the greater part, in the hands, and 
 under the controul, of this new sect. The 
 influence of its leaders secures the operation 
 of the principles they inculcate. When there- 
 fore, these new spiritual directors spread 
 throughout the extent of their dominion, a 
 spirit hostile to the Clergy of the Establish- 
 ment, the effect is as sure as the evil is in- 
 calculable. 
 
 The " Old Observer" lets slip somewhat 
 of that secret which the future will more 
 fully reveal. 
 
 " Auc. Well, well, if the bad state of 
 the patronage of the church does not prove 
 its destruction, 1 shall wonder ; we well 
 know what a horrid mess they have made 
 
 t 
 
146 
 of religion, in France ; and I am sure we 
 
 ARE GOING AFTER THEM AS FAST AS WE 
 
 CAN *." 
 
 It requires no very strong-sighted mind to 
 discover the drift of all this. The plain in- 
 sinuation is, that unless the patronage of the 
 church is extended to the Calvinistic Me- 
 thodists, to the exclusion of the regular 
 clergy, — whom this evangelical libeller in 
 another of his popular works, affirms to be 
 "regularly wicked f," — we of this kingdom, 
 shall one day witness the downfal of the 
 established church. I hope and trust, that 
 we shall not, like France, become the deluded 
 instruments of our own ruin ; but, " that 
 wb are going after them as fast as 
 we can," is a confession, in which, however 
 unguarded it may be, there is but too much 
 
 truth. 
 
 Surely, surely, before this period can ar- 
 rive, reflection will find its way to the heads 
 of all honest men ! — Listen to the intolerant 
 language which these sectaries hold forth to 
 
 * Spiritual Characteristics, &c. p. 79- 
 ' f Village Dialogues, by Rowland Hill, A. M. v. 4. p. 1 74. 
 
147 
 
 all who refuse subscription to their creed. 
 Look to the style in which they reply to 
 such as differ from them in doctrine. It exhibits 
 a compound of the most bigotted ignorance 
 blended with the fiercest fauaticism. It is 
 easy to perceive, that whenever this power 
 shall be fully organised, the papal autho- 
 rity will return upon us in the guise of an 
 
 EVANGELICAL PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 With respect to the Effect produced on the 
 popular mind, by the endless circulation of 
 tracts aspersing the credit and character of 
 the regular clergy in every quarter of 
 the kingdom — it is a conduct, which, let the 
 avowed motive be what it may, deserves to 
 be arraigned as a treasonableatte mpt to sub- 
 vert that order. It is a procedure that 
 requires no comment — it explains itself. 
 
 This " Old Observer," does not omit to 
 close his dream by introducing " a me- 
 thodist preacher," under the prepossessing 
 name- of Mr. Goodman. This ' : evange- 
 lical minister, " is to be parted with at 
 the auction. But his dear hearers are made 
 to entreat the Lord on their own behalf for 
 
 ■ 
 
148 
 
 his continuance amongst them ; they were 
 all ignorant of the gospel till he came, and 
 how can they part with him!!! The Good- 
 man resolves and relents. The saints in 
 their turn bemoan and beseech. 
 
 "Goodman. I am too hard pressed. I 
 dare not give an answer. If I were to con- 
 tinue with you, what could I do more than 
 give you my best advice, and exhort you 
 from house to house. 
 
 " Mr. Hearty. It will be our fault if you 
 can do no more than that. While we hate 
 money in our pockets and zeal in our hearts, 
 if you are turned out of one place, we may ea- 
 sily p rovide you with another *." 
 
 Dear Mr. Goodman is then reminded of 
 the " blessed effects produced by his ministry 
 amongst them ;" of his instantaneous conver- 
 sion of John Anvil the blacksmith, " one 
 of the completest brutes that ever lived," by 
 a single sermon which cut him to the heart ; 
 in a word, the methodist preacher is de- 
 scribed as a paragon of saints. And the 
 "Old Observer" himself, in a tone of in- 
 
 * p- 95. 
 
149 
 
 dignant and bitter regret, proceeds to ex- 
 claim, 
 
 " How. lamentable that such ministers 
 as these should be nick-named and abhorred, 
 and thrust into holes and corners, while the 
 wicked and the vile are sought after, and 
 
 PROMOTED IN THEIR STEAD*!!" 
 
 Or, in plain English, how lamentable it is that 
 the methodistic preachers of the doctrines of 
 Calvinism, should not obtain all church pre- 
 ferment to the utter exclusion of such wicked 
 and vile clergymen of the establishment as 
 enforce the moral duties, and proclaim 
 the moral truths of Christianity. 
 
 The doctrinal methodist is represented as 
 the only faithful preacher, and miraculous 
 conversions as never manifested but in some 
 congregation of this class. 
 
 ? Old Observer. It never yet was known 
 that God ever gave such signal tokens of 
 his divine favour, but where the gospel is 
 faithfully and affectionately preached, and ap- 
 plied to the souls of men. 
 
 " Trueman. True, sir, for Mr. Decency, 
 
 * p. 101. 
 
150 
 
 who was our minister formerly, was a gen- 
 tleman of a very excellent character in 
 every point of view, but would be fre* 
 quently lamenting that he could do little or 
 no good, though he aimed at it to the ut-> 
 most of his power ; still the church in his 
 days was but thinly attended, and no 
 wonder at it, for while his life was per- 
 fectly correct, and the morality he 
 preached very strict, yet the glorious truths 
 of the gospel were not brought forward in 
 that full and decided manner, so as to ren- 
 der them in the hands of the divine spii-it, 
 the ppwer of God unto the salvation of the 
 souls of men." 
 
 Here we have it most plainly taught that 
 the Almighty neither assists nor favours the 
 endeavour of the true Christian to contribute 
 to the moral perfection of his creatures ! 
 He gives no tokens of his divine favour, where 
 the minister exemplified in his life that 
 moral obedience to the precepts of that re- 
 ligion which he earnestly preached and strictly 
 enjoined. That God it seems whose attri- 
 bute is righteousness, abandons such ministers 
 
151 
 
 and those who attend upon them, and, in- 
 fluenced only by a love for the creed of 
 methodisra confines his divine favour to 
 such only as are assembled to hear their 
 doctrines delivered. 
 
 "Can any proposition be more flagrantly 
 profane ? — Can any representation be more 
 deceitfully false ? — Yet all this perversion 
 must Christianity submit to, that morality a 
 and its preachers may be degraded, and Me- 
 thodism may win converts and establish its 
 throne in triumph. 
 
 The probable end of all this deserves to 
 be considered wisely and soberly. While 
 these pure patriots send forth their dreams, 
 it is fit that the public should be awake., 
 They have a matchless fertility of invention, 
 but their nocturnal visions are full of instruc- 
 tion. The following is of a singular and 
 portentous cast. It is meant no doubt, to 
 to be delivered as prophetic. More of ab- 
 stract iniquity, in giving to a wilful and fa- 
 bricated lie, the shape of a miraculous ma- 
 nifestation from heaven, was I think, never 
 before put upon record. It is the serious 
 
152 
 
 and solemnly attested experience of a preacher 
 of the new church militant by which he 
 was first warned to forsake the establishment. 
 
 — " For some time I was much perplexed 
 concerning the lawfulness of attending places 
 of worship where the ministers were wicked 
 in life, or erroneous in doctrine. This was 
 the case at the places where I sometimes at- 
 tended. After much reading, conversation, 
 and prayer, on the subject, I was satis/ted 
 by the following dream. I dreamed I was 
 at church attending divine service, the 
 minister was reading the litany ; a sudden 
 noise caught my attention, and looking to- 
 wards the place where it proceeded, I saw 
 
 A PERSON OF BRIGHT APPEARANCE, who 
 
 beckoned me with his hand. I followed him ; 
 he led me to the back part of the church, 
 and descended with me down a number of 
 steps into a cellar under ground. It seemed 
 
 AS IF THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE CHURCH 
 WERE REMOVED, and THE SUPERSTRUCTURE 
 UPON PILLARS OF WOOD WHICH WERE WORM- 
 EATEN and rotten. I was much astonished; 
 my guide observing me, said, " You see 
 
153 
 
 THE SITUATION OF THIS FOUNDATION;" and 
 
 then, pointing to the place by which we en- 
 tered, said, " escape!" — I did so, and sud- 
 denly awoke. — This, and a thousand cir- 
 cumstances which have since happened, have 
 satisfied me, that it is inexpedient for me 
 to attend any place of worship where the 
 gospel is not preached. But I condemn 
 no man in this matter *." 
 
 They know little of human nature, who 
 do not know that such representations as 
 these produce a powerful effect upon the 
 ignorant, who are always prone to super* 
 stition, and whose minds are strongly arrested 
 by the marvellous. When they are made to 
 behold the church thus arraigned by the 
 Almighty himself, who vouchsafes in an- 
 swer to the prayer of this gospel minister, 
 to warn him in a dream to separate him- 
 self from it, at the same time that he dis- 
 covers to him its tottering and ruinous 
 condition, they will not only be dispo-ed 
 
 * Experience of Richard Elliot, s. Methodist 
 Preacher, published in the Methodist Magazine for 
 1796', page 575. 
 
154 
 
 to benefit in good time by this miracu- 
 lous admonition, but they will learn to 
 look with awe and reverence upon that 
 minister in whose favour the Lord so gra- 
 ciously interfered. 
 
 Leaving for the present, the instruction im- 
 parted to us in dreams, and the similitude 
 of dreams, let us turn our attention to a 
 subject, which, at this eventful moment, 
 cannot engage the public notice too strongly, 
 or detain it too seriously. This new church, 
 in the plenitude of its authority, has pub- 
 licly sent an Inquisition to Ireland, to ex- 
 amine and report the state of its religion, 
 preparatory to the introduction of a radical 
 reform. The result of their mission is pre- 
 sented to the public under the title of a 
 " Report of a Deputation from the Hi- 
 bernian Society, respecting the Religious 
 State of Ireland *." 
 
 * The following Ministers and Gentlemen, are stated 
 at the end of this Report, to be the Committee until 
 the next annual meeting. 
 
 Rev. George Burder Rev. W. B. Collyer 
 
 mm John Clayton, Sen. — Rowland Hill 
 
155 
 
 By what authority, may we take leave to 
 ask, are these inquiries prosecuted, and under 
 what sanction are these measures concerted? 
 These Committees of Research, I must 
 confess, appear to me as unconstitutional in 
 their nature, as they are dangerous in their 
 tendency. I had hoped that the whole race 
 of ecclesiastical Inquisitors had been quiet 
 in their graves. What has this self-con- 
 stituted junto of busy, meddling, restless, 
 Priests, what have they to do with the re- 
 ligious state of Ireland, or with the private 
 religious opinions of any one individual in 
 it? Do these officious zealots, bloated with 
 vanity, do they fancy that all are in dark* 
 ness but themselves, that they are thus run* 
 
 Rev. Joseph Hughes Messrs. Alexander Maitland 
 
 — John Townsend George Meyer 
 
 — Matthew Wilks William Shrubsole 
 Messrs. Alderman Lea Robert Steven 
 
 William Alers Thomas Stiff 
 
 Joseph Bunnell Joseph Farn 
 
 Robert Butcher Francis Weybridge, 
 
 Henry Dobbs The Rev. John Campbell, 
 
 John Fenn Shackleivell, near London, 
 
 Joseph Hardcastle Secretary, 
 
 Sam. Hollingsworth Mr. John Neale, Assistant 
 
 William Lane Secretary and Collector. 
 
156 
 
 ning about with their farthing candle, to en- 
 lighten the world ? — The absurdity of the 
 scene would excite laughter, if the mischief 
 of it did not make it serious. 
 
 Let us mark the line of labour which the 
 members of this evangelic Deputation have 
 chalked out, as prefatory to their future 
 exertions. — 
 
 " They will go — intent upon doing justice 
 to their opportunities. They will feel themselves 
 pledged to devote every day of absence in a 
 manner pointedly conducive to the spiritual 
 welfare of the sister island. They will visit 
 manu places, confer with a variety of indi- 
 viduals, and notice, with united care and 
 candour, the state of all religious denominations. 
 Accumulating such testimonies as agree, and 
 balancing such as are discordant, they will 
 endeavour to form just conclusions, so that 
 the committee without any further ap- 
 peal, will, in abundance of cases, know when 
 to hesitate, and when to decide, where to 
 exert themselves, and where to be still *' 3 
 
 * See Report of the Hibernian Society, p. 1 — 3, 
 
157 
 
 What power do these spiritual directors 
 calculate to have under their command, that 
 they talk so confidently of deciding without 
 appeal, and exerting themselves, when in their 
 judgment, the exertion of their power shall 
 be necessary ? It becomes prudent to look 
 at the length of the muster-roll of the saints, 
 when they thus assume to themselves an 
 authority which the provident constitution of 
 this country has hitherto confined to the ex- 
 ecutive magistracy. The recognised principles 
 of freedom, neither justify nor suffer this 
 kind of active interference. To me it appears 
 the most haughty and insolent intrusion into 
 the religious circles of domestic life, that we 
 have ever witnessed. Assuming the name, 
 style, and title of the Hibernian Society, 
 they announce themselves with as much as- 
 surance, and reveal their intentions with an 
 air as magisterial, as if they were the ple- 
 nipotentiaries of the spiritual kingdom. The 
 Legates of the Pope, in the meridian of his 
 supremacy, never adopted a tone more per- 
 emptory, or proclaimed their commission in 
 terms more decisive. 
 
158 
 
 We next find announced, in solemn form, 
 whom it is that the committee have been 
 graciously pleased to appoint as spiritual in- 
 spectors of the sister kingdom. 
 
 " The proposal," we are told, " respecting 
 a deputation, having been acceded to, the 
 following persons were charged with the ex- 
 ecution of it. — S. Mills, Esq. of London, Trea- 
 surer to the Society ; Rev. D. Bogue, of Gos- 
 port ; Rev. T. Charles, of Bala ; and Rev. T. 
 Hughes, of Battersea *." 
 
 With what talents these reverend chevaliers 
 are furnished, that have thus marched forth 
 in array, to combat the errors of the catholic 
 faith, we are not informed. Whether they 
 carry with them any other, or better, quali- 
 fications than bigotry and intolerance, the 
 public have not hitherto had the means of 
 knowing. That, as far as these requisites 
 go, they are amply prepared, this report bears 
 full testimony. 
 
 These new reformers preface the account of 
 their route, with a pious hope that their 
 
 * Report, &c. p. 5. 
 
159 
 
 exertions may not outstrip the provisions 
 made for their support ; that the evangelical 
 exchequer may be duly augmented, — and that 
 the committee of spiritual supply may find 
 their ways and means fully adequate to the 
 magnitude of the service to which they are 
 meant to be applied. " While presenting an 
 account of their excursion, and of its result 
 on their own views and feelings, they flatter 
 themselves that the resources of that society, 
 on whose behalf they consented to travel, 
 and now take the liberty to plead, will soon 
 be enlarged, so as to bear some proportion to 
 the excellence and magnitude of its design *." ■ 
 Whether the Prime Minister of the Hiber- 
 nian Society, when he comes to open his 
 Irish budget, will give satisfaction to the faith- 
 ful, it is difficult to guess. The evangelical 
 system of finance is extremely .simple — it has 
 but one principle, — it is comprehended in a 
 single measure — contribution: but the col- 
 lectors of it contrive to work so powerfully 
 on the misguided zeal of the deluded tri- 
 
 p. 3. 
 
160 
 
 butaries, that their projects encounter no 
 great obstacles. The machine which their 
 joint labour sets a-going, seldom stops for 
 , want of grease to its wheels. 
 
 These evangelical Envoys open their cir- 
 cuit with sufficient pomp, and they divide 
 their inquisitorial labours with due pre- 
 cision. 
 
 " On Friday, July 31st" (says the report) 
 " they commenced their tour : Messrs. Bogue 
 and Charles proposing to visit Athy, Castle- 
 comber, Kilkenny, and Clonmell ; while, for 
 the sake of enlarging the field of ob- 
 servation, Messrs. Mills and Hughes took 
 the road through Wicklow, Arklow, Gorey, 
 Fearns, Enniscorthy, and New Ross." 
 
 What his majesty's subjects in Ireland 
 may think of the deputies of this new con- 
 vention, sent to spy out the nakedness of 
 their land, I do not know. But if this is 
 to be the prelude to other Conventions of a 
 similar nature, I am sure it cannot, on this 
 side the water, be too seriously inspected, or 
 too severely condemned. If his majesty's 
 ministers are to be held incompetent to pro- 
 
161 
 
 vide for the interests, or to purify the prin- 
 ciples, of the people, I trust the task will 
 never be confided to the meddling zeal and 
 stupid self-conceit of ministers of this descrip- 
 tion. If the legislature, to whose integrity 
 and wisdom the constitution has alone con- 
 signed the religious concerns of the state, is 
 to be held inadequate to the duty, I trust 
 it will never be exercised by any new order 
 of Lords Spiritual of which this Hibernian 
 Inquisition furnishes so odious an example. 
 The principle of such- associations is irrecon- 
 cileably hostile to the true interests of British 
 freedom, even when best constituted, but 
 when composed, as this is composed, the pre- 
 cedent is as alien to the spirit of the con- 
 stitution, as it is insulting to the sense and 
 independence of the people. 
 
 The tour through Ireland, as made by these 
 eagle-eyed inspectors, was impetuous and ra- 
 pid. They passed with abrupt flight over 
 the land ; but they speak, nevertheless, most 
 decidedly on its fallen state, and descant at 
 great length, on the heavy obstacles which 
 obstruct its pace Zion-wards. These birds 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 of ill omen did but dip their sanctified wing 
 beneath the surface, and with an intuitiv* 
 glance they detected every spring which fed 
 the stream of its corruption. They com- 
 menced their tour of observation on tha 
 thirty-first of July, and we learn that — " On 
 Wednesday, August 19, the deputation re- 
 turned, through Dundalk and Drogheda, to 
 Dublin ; where they continued till Thursday, 
 August 25, when having previously made 
 
 ARRANGEMENTS RELATIVE TO THE OPERA- 
 TIONS of the society, they closed THEIR LA- 
 BOURS in Ireland, and embarked for Holy- 
 head*." 
 
 The singular and unprecedented embassy 
 of these envoys-extraordinary, these ministers 
 plenipotentiary, must naturally have produced 
 a feeling of indignation as well as suprize, 
 in the Catholic Clergy of Ireland. It must 
 be galling to this class of men to be ex- 
 posed to the taunts and insults of officious 
 ignorance, and over-forward zeal ; and we 
 hare sufficient -evidence in the report as 
 
 * Report, &c. p. II.. 
 
163 
 
 published to the world by these deputy- 
 evangelists, that these taunts and insults 
 were scattered with unsparing profusion. It 
 is the language of libel throughout. But 
 we will presently resort to the Report itself ; 
 it will be edifying to observe with what 
 unshrinking audacity these spiritual Spies 
 come forward as public accusers. 
 
 Their proceedings, it seems, did not pass 
 without exciting, as was very natural, the 
 remark and animadversion of the Catholic 
 body : — " The establishment," we are told, " of 
 the Hibernian Society, recent as it is, has 
 not escaped the notice of the Irish Catholics *." 
 It was not likely that it should, and I trust 
 moreover, that it will not escape notice on 
 this side the water, and that allegations, 
 which so strongly and so shamefully asperse, 
 at this critical moment, the great mass of 
 the population of Ireland, and hold up its 
 clergy to scorn, will not v be suffered to 
 spread themselves in Reports presented to 
 the public by any incorporated body of sec- 
 
 * Report, &c. p. 19. 
 MS 
 
164 
 
 tarians amongst us, whatever be their cha- 
 racter, or however evangelic their pretensions. 
 This is not a time to generate discord and 
 disunion; this new spiritual power, composed 
 as it is of active, imbecile, intrusive, zealots, 
 err equally against the permanent interests of 
 their country, and the principles of true Chris- 
 tianity, when they thus ignorantly tamper 
 with the prejudices of an irritated people, 
 and busy themselves with affairs with which 
 nothing but that restless vanity, which is 
 always blind to the consequences of its own 
 rashness, could ever prompt them to inter- 
 meddle. 
 
 The following are among many specimens 
 of the magisterial mode in which they pub- 
 licly pronounce judgment on the Catholic 
 character. 
 
 " It will inevitably occur," says the Re- 
 port, " to any serious Protestant who makes 
 a progress through Ireland, that the laity 
 have been most dreadfully imposed on, as it 
 respects the perusal of the scriptures, so that 
 under an apprehension of their not being 
 qualified for a practice, which is stated to 
 
165 
 
 be, in the absence of the priest, pregnant 
 with danger, thousands revolt from the re- 
 commendation, as they would from the re- 
 commendation of a pestilential atmosphere. Ig- 
 norance, is indeed, the mother of their de* 
 votion ; absurdity is their chosen element, and 
 they are the blind followers of those, whom. 
 it requires a stretch of charity to pronounce 
 merely blind*.'" 
 
 This evangelical imputation as usual, is 
 gratuitous. It is sent forth to the public 
 wholly unsupported by any shadow of proof. 
 The offensive language of the missionaries 
 of the new faith, is the direct reverse of that 
 in which the mild system of genuine Chris- 
 tianity recommends itself to its votaries. 
 This report, which these new gospel divines 
 have thought fit to present to the world, 
 is a performance which places their intellectual 
 habits and character in an interesting light. 
 It is on more accounts than one, deserving 
 our grave and reflective perusal. 
 
 Let us again hearken to the saintly tone 
 
 * Report, &c. p. 21. 
 
166 
 
 in which the Methodist elect hurl forth 
 their evangelical philippics. 
 
 " The great hody of the Irish wander like 
 sheep that have no faithful shepherd to lead 
 them. Legendary tales, pilgrimages, penances, 
 superstitious offerings, priestly domina- 
 tion, THE NOTORIOUS HABIT OF RECONCIL- 
 ING SANCTIMONIOUS ACCENTS AND ATTI- 
 TUDES with abandoned practices, and all 
 that shocks and disgusts in the muMt 
 mery of the mass-house, cannot fail to 
 fix a mournful sentiment in the heart of every 
 enlightened and pious observer *.'* 
 
 No doubt these gospel tourists aspire to 
 the praise of being faithful historians. If it 
 be so, they have obtained a vast fund of 
 melancholy information at a very small ex- 
 pence of time and labour. But this broad 
 charcoal sketch of the Catholic church, will I 
 am afraid, not be very acceptable to that great 
 body who must be presumed to have sit for 
 it. This reprobate picture of an Irish group, 
 though warm from the evangelic easel, wil} 
 
 f Report, &c. p. 23. 
 
167 
 
 even disgust by its distorted features and 
 unnatural colouring, those who stand at such 
 a distance from it as to view it in its best 
 style of effect. It may, indeed, suit their 
 own religious taste. Such a painting may 
 serve as an altar-piece to their communion, 
 but elsewhere even Bigotry herself must blush 
 to contemplate it. 
 
 We have here a specimen of the temper 
 and spirit of these new spiritual reformers, 
 who are about to evangelize the world. Such 
 are the new torch- bearers who are to go 
 before us amid the sad eclipse which morality 
 and carnal reason have spread over the 
 earth. It is the rays of their link we are 
 to receive as the " light of life." But it 
 seems these illuminati see nothing in Ireland 
 but a dense medium by which these rays 
 are liable to be perpetually refracted, and 
 they sum up this cause of grief and discou- 
 ragement in the following lofty strain of 
 animadversion. 
 
 — " On the whole, Popery appears to be 
 exhibited and inculcated there (as it pro- 
 bably is in every country where it obtains 
 
168 
 
 a footing) with such a decided partiality in 
 favour of its most fantastic and anti^chris- 
 tian feature — the manouvres of its priests 
 
 ARE SO VARIOUS, SO SUBTLE, and ALAS ! SO 
 
 efficient — and the moral aspect, from these 
 and other causes, is so discouraging, that 
 the deputation, confining themselves to this 
 view of Ireland, see nothing but formidable 
 barriers erected against every attempt to blgss 
 her inhabitants with the light of life ; 
 nor, must it be concealed, that the numeral 
 predominance of Roman Catholics is itself 
 a prolific seed of disunion, not to say, 
 political disaffection." 
 
 Really, these evangelical accusers appear 
 to conceive themselves entitled to trample 
 the qualities of truth, liberality, and Chris- 
 tian candour under their feet. But I trust 
 the Catholics of Ireland, — if any among them 
 deign to notice the report as given to the 
 public by this self-constituted Committee 
 of Inquiry — I trust they will do themselves 
 the justice to belive that such extravagant 
 and ill-founded aspersions are treated by all 
 considerate and thinking persons in this .part' 
 
169 
 
 of the United Kingdom, with the contempt 
 they deserve. That this Hibernian Soci- 
 ety receives no public countenance, but on 
 the contrary, is held to originate in a con- 
 vocation of fanatics possessing, as is usual 
 with persons of this cast, more zeal than 
 prudence, and more pride than piety. 
 
 The religious faith of the Catholic con- 
 tains much that a more enlightened rea- 
 son would rectify, and much that a more 
 sound, extensive, unprejudiced enquiry would 
 remove. But viewed as mere matter of po- 
 licy, nothing could be more preposterous 
 than thus to insult the feelings, and rouse 
 the resentment of a people, amongst whom 
 they are about to introduce themselves, and 
 whom, of course, it behoved them to con- 
 ciliate, by a spirit of forbearance and mo- 
 deration. 
 
 This deliberative assembly tell us, — and 
 that in language that betrays not a little 
 what at the bottom is their true character — • 
 the effect which this new spiritual order in 
 the state is to accomplish. They proclaim, 
 
170 
 
 in a tone of superlative self-importance, the 
 manner in which this new spiritual dominion 
 is to conduct itself, and what it must be* 
 come in order to reach its real aim. The 
 whole is summed up in the following laconic, 
 but peremptory and singular description- 
 
 — " In a word, they must be such, in their 
 doctrine and manner of life, as bigots, for- 
 malists, and hirelings, whether popish or Pro- 
 testant, assail yet fear— disdain yet EN» 
 vy— calumniate, yet inwardly applaud *." 
 
 How shall we decypher all this ! ! ! This new 
 spiritual government is certainly not meant to 
 be administered with weakness, if this strange 
 and striking result is meant to flow from 
 it ! ! We are let a little into the secret as 
 to the mode in which they are to prosecute, 
 and the principles on which the are to con- 
 duct that great change which they are so 
 strenuously busy in preparing. I think it 
 at least not unfit that this secret — as far 
 as we thus have it disclosed— should reach, 
 
 * Report, &c. p, 29, 
 
171 
 
 the legislative ear ; and that their proceeds 
 Wigs — as far as they are known — should not 
 escape the legislative eye. 
 
 This new spiritual power is daily multi- 
 plying its leaders, and daily increasing its 
 followers. Surely this public and perpetual 
 encroachment on . the rightful authority of 
 the constitution, is not a thing to be encou- 
 raged by connivance. That the religion of 
 a country should come gradually, — in the 
 great mass of its population — into the hands 
 of low, illiterate, intriguing cabals of enthu-* 
 siasts and fanatics, is not an affair of slight 
 moment. That this most important of all its 
 concerns, should come, moreover, under the 
 sway and management of persons professedly 
 dissenting from its church establishment, and 
 who deny, in doors and out of doors — in pri- 
 vate and in public — from the press and from 
 the pulpit — the intrinsic worth of practical 
 morality, when compared with their system 
 pf faith, — teachers who disconnect and cut 
 asunder all those ties which make the fu- 
 ture happiness of men dependent on their 
 compliance with those terms of the gqspej 
 
172 
 
 which they were created to fulfil, and on 
 those conditions which they were created to 
 obey. Teachers, in fact, who /deceitfully as- 
 suming the sacred and high-sounding epithet 
 of evangelical — as the Jesuits called them- 
 selves the disciples of Jesus — send forth into 
 the remotest borders of the kingdom, doc- 
 trines as directly the reverse of scriptural 
 truth, as they are subversive of all that moral 
 goodness and practical virtue which it was the 
 avowed and sole object of the great founder 
 of Christianity to inculcate and enforce. 
 
 It is surely a most gross and glaring vio- 
 lation of that right of private judgment, 
 and that freedom of religious inquiry, which 
 the liberal spirit of the English Constitution 
 imparts and secures to all. It is surely, a 
 most illegal, as well as insulting, violation of 
 the spirit of that constitution, that any class 
 or order of men in the kingdom, should 
 dare to erect themselves into a Society for 
 the purpose of exterminating doctrines, which 
 in their judgment, are unsound, and intro- 
 ducing — by means of agents and emissaries 
 employed for that purpose — a certain system 
 
173 
 
 of religious belief, which they arrogantly pro- 
 nounce to be the only true faith. If those 
 who assumed this sort of sovereignty, were 
 men of vigorous intellect and profound learn- 
 ing, the evil— ^-for it would even then be an 
 evil — would be lessened. But when it con- 
 sists, in the far greater part, of Blockheads, 
 tainted with the mania of preaching, with- 
 out a single requisite which should fit them 
 for that high and important destination — who 
 disdaining the usual means of acquiring a 
 subsistence by honest industry, turn religion 
 into a trade, and, — like the quack professors 
 in other sciences, — live on that credulity 
 of the ignorant, upon which impostors of 
 every description for ever feed and fatten. — 
 When we behold this new order of Eccle- 
 siastics, — that thus obtrudes itself amongst 
 us — consisting, not of an enlightened, liberal, 
 well-educated, moderate clergy, diffusing by ex- 
 hortation, and inculcating by example, the moral 
 duties of life — but of a bloated race of LAY 
 priests, propagating with importunate and 
 unceasing zeal, doctrines drawn not from 
 
i74 
 
 that gospel which is the pure fountain of 
 light and life, but from the absurd and ir-. 
 rational institutes of John Calvin, imbibed at 
 second-hand from an Assembly's Catechism 
 « — can we see this, and not ask ourselves, 
 Are these upstart, untaught, mechanics, to 
 be our dictators ? ! ! — Are these foolish fa- 
 natics, who follow one another blindfold, are 
 they to be our infallible guides ?— -Is it from 
 such as these we are to beg the alms of our 
 religious freedom, and " be made at once to 
 fear and to envy ? ! ! ! " 
 
 To what climax of criminal stupidity must 
 we arrive before we can contemplate such 
 arrogance without contempt and indignation. 
 
 The ' following side-wind suggestions are 
 in the true style — they are given with all 
 the selfish cant and sanctified whine of the 
 sect. 
 
 " It was stated to the deputation that se- 
 veral curacies could be obtained if such 
 ministers were to offer. Cannot England 
 spare a few of her young evangelists ? 
 Would not a few be willing to cross the 
 
175 
 
 channel at their brethren's invitation ? But 
 how much more important to provide apostolic 
 men with benefices!!*" 
 
 Miracles of humility ! Monuments of self- 
 denial ! Will none then step forward and 
 give a theological lift to these holy apostles ? 
 Cruel neglect. Will none put the ladder of 
 preferment to the foot of these pious evan- 
 gelists? Shameful inattention. Shall such 
 splendid talents and profound learning go un- 
 patronized ? Shall such immense services to 
 religion and the state go unrewarded? Shall 
 we not zealously co-operate in measures so 
 well calculated to spread morality among 
 the vicious in this country, and to strengthen 
 the union with our catholic brethren in the 
 sister kingdom ? Can we be unconcerned to 
 reward those who manifest so sincere and 
 zealous an attachment to our national church, 
 and so fervent an affection for the moral 
 clergy of its establishment ? ! Can we fail 
 to venerate the caution with which they 
 guide themselves in the- religious concerns 
 
 • Report, &c. p. S9. 
 
176 
 
 of the kingdom, the modest distrust which 
 they express of their own judgment in mat- 
 ters of faith, and their ardent endeavours to 
 render us a peculiar people zealous of good 
 works ?! Can we withhold our admiration 
 from the earnestness with which they incul- 
 cate the moral duties which the gospel en- 
 joins, and the zeal with which they enforce 
 the conditions of salvation which that gospel 
 contains ? When we think on all this, and 
 pause to count out its compensation, what 
 are benefices ! ! ! All reward so lags behind 
 their deserving, that to provide these apostolic 
 men with bishoprics, would leave them without 
 their recompense. 
 
 This obscure Hibernian Society which seems 
 to fancy itself entitled from its own spiritual 
 importance, to cast its reproach in all di- 
 rections, modestly presumes that if its efforts 
 to regenerate Ireland should fail, the affair 
 must necessarily be hopeless. "Where it can do 
 nothing, it supposes that nothing can be done. 
 " If the means," we are told " proposed by 
 the Hibernian Society, or if the united ener- 
 gies of Christians in Ireland had been long 
 
177 
 
 employed, and, after all, the spiritual aspect 
 of the country had been what it now is, there 
 might have appeared reason for the appre- 
 hension it was given up to judicial blindness, 
 and that all endeavours to recover it would be 
 vain. But this is not the case. That which 
 occurs too often with- regard to the physical 
 soil of Ireland, occurs much oftener, and surely 
 calls for louder lamentation, with regard to 
 her moral soil. — 'The husbandmen are shame- 
 fully negligent. Preceding statements will 
 shew that the Deputation have not over- 
 looked the agreeable exceptions. But what 
 are these, compared with the specimens of 
 
 INATTENTION, INSUFFICIENCY, DISCORD, Of 
 LICENTIOUSNESS, which, IN ONE DENOMINA- 
 TION or another, becloud the scene, and 
 prove that the opposers of popery, as well 
 as its -advocates, should lie in the dust 
 of humiliation, covered with their 
 
 own REPROACHES *." 
 
 Wherefore all this personal imputation of 
 base neglect and utter unworthiness r What 
 
 U C5" 
 
 * Report, &c. p. 43. 
 N 
 
178 
 
 overt acts do these bold accusers give in 
 evidence to support their indictment ? Is 
 it upon the hearsay testimony of their three 
 weeks tour, that they thus confidently turn 
 informers, and warrant the publication of this 
 their most singular, most novel, and most 
 extraordinary Report ? I most earnestly hope 
 that this will be the last precedent of the 
 kind that will be presented to the public. 
 Ireland will certainly not be very sanguine 
 in her hope of reformation from these new dis- 
 pensers of the light of life, unless in future 
 she finds them turn their own lucid interval? 
 to better account. 
 
 In this Report even the Protestant Clergy 
 of Ireland are indirectly stigmatized. But 
 the plan to be pursued by these active 
 Sectarians, as it respects the increase of their 
 disciples in Ireland, and their projected at- 
 tack on the Catholic persuasion — which they 
 most offensively and invidiously term popery 
 - — is thus set forth — 
 
 — " With regard to the choice of stations, it 
 should be regulated, in a great degree, by 
 the comparative prevalence of popery. In 
 
179 
 
 several parts of the north, Protestants are 
 the more numerous body. Now, whatever 
 disadvantages some of these may lie under, 
 they have the scriptures in their hands, and 
 even where they would have been perverted or 
 grossly neglected by the ministers of tlieir own 
 parish or denomination, they have, perhaps, 3. 
 few associates who would be happy to afford 
 them spiritual assistance, or they may have 
 it in their power to attend other ministers, 
 who would feed them with knowledge and 
 understanding ; so that if they are ignorant, 
 it is far more probable than in the case of 
 papists, that they are willingly ignorant. 
 The most legitimate field of labour for the 
 Hibernian Society, is therefore, in the con- 
 fessed region of popery, where there are 
 few or no Protestants to shew the deluded mul- 
 titude a more excellent way. Yet, there are un- 
 questionably many places where proiestants have 
 been labouring for years, and not quite in vain, 
 which on account of their vast population, 
 may be resorted to by the agents of the Hi- 
 bernian Society, nor will good sense or 
 candour, suspect of hostility or illiberal com- 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 petition *. On every hand the deter* 
 
 MINATION should be, TO DETACH AS MANY A9 
 POSSIBLE FROM THE FOLDS OF COUNTERFEIT 
 
 shepherds, but not to diminish the flocks 
 of the vigilant and faithful ; to make perpetual 
 inroads on the kingdom of Satan, but by no 
 means to disturb or divide the family of 
 Jesus Christ f ." 
 
 Now there is no doubt but that in the 
 opinion of- these high-toned Evangelists, — for 
 it must be remembered they are themselves to 
 be the judges — all will be considered as coun- 
 terfeit thai are, not of their stamp. Whatever 
 does not come from the mint of Calvin, will 
 be considered as false coinage. It must bear his 
 image and superscription, or it will be nailed 
 to the counter to prevent its circulation. 
 Who, may we ask, is to decide on the mode 
 by which this determination to detach the 
 different congregations from their ancient 
 
 * Surely not ! Their language is so friendly ! so conci- 
 liating ! so palpably opposite to any thing like hostility 
 or competition ! ! I 
 
 f Report, p. 51, &c. 
 
181 
 
 pastors, is to be carried into effect? By 
 what criterion are " the vigilant and faithful,' ■ 
 to be ascertained? — What facts are to be 
 proved ? — What evidence is to be pro- 
 duced? — Are all who subscribe to the same 
 creed with the Hibernian Society, to be in- 
 cluded in the family of Christ, and the rest 
 to be turned over to the kingdom of Satan? 
 — So it will be, and so it must be ex- 
 pected to be, for they have no other test of 
 godliness but their own creed ; this is the 
 two-foot rule by which all must be mea- 
 sured, and they must come within the stand- 
 ard, or they will be thrust out from the 
 circle of true believers. 
 
 May not the Catholic Clergy be excited to 
 resent any clandestine spirit of intrigue by 
 which their followers may be drawn aside. 
 Is it not possible that even the multitude, 
 whose earliest and strongest prejudices are-, 
 on the side of their pastors, may be exas- 
 perated by the very attempt to seduce and 
 disunite them. Has this Society, or its agents, 
 calculated upon the consequences that may 
 
182 
 
 follow from thus fomenting a spirit of dis- 
 content among his majesty's subjects in Ire- 
 land, by thus rudely rushing on their altar, 
 and treating with contemptuous and inde- 
 cent disrespect, all that they have been ac- 
 customed to honour and to venerate. I wish 
 these Angels of Light had more of sound 
 sense and civil prudence — they would cer- 
 tainly make better subjects, and I trust they 
 would not make worse saints. 
 
 The Judges in our courts of law, turn 
 their backs against hearsay evidence ; but in 
 the spiritual court of this Hibernian So- 
 ciety, it is admitted with the greatest rea- 
 diness, and acted upon with the utmost 
 promptitude. 
 
 *' As a subordinate measure, the society 
 will find their account in bearing the expences 
 of other ministers inclined to visit places at 
 a moderate distance from their settled charge, 
 and it may be expedient to employ a few 
 itenarants, whose reports, after they have 
 explored the districts assigned them, may 
 often supply the knowledge of important 
 
183 
 
 facts, and give rise to advantageous ex- 
 ertions*. 5 ' 
 
 But by what means is intelligence to be 
 gained by these Itinerants, whom none will 
 respect, and most will avoid — they must them- 
 selves depend on vulgar rumour, they must take 
 their information as they receive it — dis- 
 torted — misrepresented — or misconceived. One 
 will tell them this, and another that, and 
 they will report, what is reported to them, 
 and these reported reports are to be made 
 the ground of correspondent exertions?!! 
 If the Society will find their account in this 
 sort of proceeding, I apprehend the advan- 
 tage will be exclusively their own. 
 
 By what unheard ©f power, moreover, are 
 these districts to be explored ? By what re- 
 cognized authority are these saintly inspectors 
 to conduct their search ? Under what con- 
 stitutional commission are these spiritual 
 judges to go their circuit. 
 
 Such Societies are pregnant with incal- 
 culable mischief. Those who enter into com- 
 
 > 
 
 * Report, &c. p. 53. 
 
184 
 
 binations thus unconstitutional and impolitic, 
 are guilty of a high breach of duty. They 
 are guilty towards the King, who is at the head 
 of the church, — they are guilty towards his 
 subjects, of whose religion they thus inso- 
 lently constitute themselves the dictators. 
 All such interference in the internal affairs 
 of any people, is not merely an atrocious 
 infringement of their right of private judg- 
 ment ; it is a tacit libel on those to whom the 
 conduct of public affairs is entrusted. Such 
 confederacies, formed under the specious pre- 
 text of spreading the true gospel, is at once 
 an abuse of its principles and a violation of 
 its spirit. They cannot be too severely re* 
 probated or too promptly repressed. . Are re- 
 ports of this nature to be repeated ? Are 
 visitations of this description to be renewed? 
 I trust this convention of divines will not 
 again send forth their delegates to any class 
 of his majesty's subjects, or into any district 
 of his dominions ; but if they should, that 
 their proceedings would come under the cog' 
 nizance of a different jurisdiction ; if they 
 feel themselves justified in thus setting the 
 
185 
 
 principles of the constitution at defiance, I 
 cannot dismiss the hope that instead of be- 
 ing suffered to insult the British public with 
 their reports, they will be made to enter 
 their justification on another and a different 
 
 RECORD. 
 
 The associations which are forming in 
 every county of the kingdom, wear an 
 aspect not very favourable to that spirit of 
 union which the religion of Christianity 
 requires. It furnishes matter of grave deli- 
 beration when we read in the Monthly 
 Report of the new church militant, such in- 
 telligence as the following: it seems rather 
 an extract from some Military Chroncicle, 
 than from an Evangelical Magazine. 
 
 "Sept. 9. The Gloucestershire Asso- 
 ciation met at Wotton-under-Ege. 
 
 " Sept. 15. The Wilts Association met 
 at Devizes. 
 
 " May 2R. The Somerset Association 
 held their annual meeting at Yeovil. 
 
 "Sept. 16. The Dorset Association met 
 at Dorchester. 
 
 " October. The Buckinghamshire Asso- 
 
186 
 
 ciation met at Mr. Gardner's, Potter's 
 Bury. 
 
 " Sept. 23. At Brigg, the Eighteenth Ge- 
 neral Meeting of the Lincolnshire Asso- 
 ciatiation. 
 
 " Oct. 14. At Mr. Atkinson's, Margate, a 
 meeting of the East Kent Association. 
 
 " The Sussex Association was held at 
 Heathfield, on the 28th and 29th May. 
 
 "June 4. The Buckingham and Banbury 
 Association met at Mr, Fletcher's Meeting, 
 Bicester. 
 
 "June 18. The Devonshire Association 
 met at Axminster. 
 
 " An Association hath been lately formed 
 denominated ' The Middlesex and Hert- 
 fordshire Union of Protestant Dissenting 
 Ministers.' Their first meeting is to be at 
 Hertford, on the Wednesday after the first 
 Sabbath in April, 1808. Mr. Whitefoot of 
 Enfield, to preach on the nature, advantages, 
 and best methods of conducting religious as- 
 sociations *." 
 
 * Evangelical Magazine. 
 
187 
 
 It would be superfluous to transcribe more 
 of this kind of information. I believe there 
 is not a single county in England, in which 
 an association of this kind is not formed. 
 
 Whether those who are thus active through- 
 out the kingdom in extending the line of 
 religious separation, are actuated by any se- 
 rious conviction of what is good for the com- 
 munity at large, or by an anxiety to aug- 
 ment their own influence, and concentrate 
 their own power, is yet to be seen. It 
 only remains at present to view all this in 
 connection with a scheme at present in agi- 
 tation — and a most important one it is — to 
 give to the confederacies of Methodism 
 one common centre, and for that purpose 
 to embody them all in one grand incor- 
 poration, having its head-quarters in the 
 metropolis. The printed particulars of this 
 last concerted project, are now lying before 
 me *. It purports to be " An Address to 
 
 • It is printed "by R. Rutt, Shacklewell," but has 
 NO publisher's name. For the present it appears to be 
 intended for circulation only among those concerned in 
 effecting this grand junction. The scheme appears 
 
188 
 
 the Ministers and Churches of the Con- 
 gregational Order," — and the statement 
 of the plan divides itself into the following 
 heads. " The Title to be assumed— The 
 General Principles to be acted upon — • 
 The Objects to be obtained — The Members 
 to be eligible — The plan of Correspondence 
 —and the scheme of Finance. 
 
 The NATIONAL CONVENTION of the NEW 
 
 church, is to be distinguished by the fol- 
 lowing title : 
 
 " General Union of Congregational 
 Ministers and Churches throughout 
 England and Wales.' 3 
 
 The Members are to consist, it seems, of 
 
 to have been first planned about three years ago, and 
 will be found reported in the Evangelical Magazine 
 for February, 1806. "We," it is there said, "whose 
 names are hereunto subscribed, agree to form ourselves 
 into a general body, designated The Associate Con- 
 gregations, comprehending that large body of Chris- 
 tians throughout the United Kingdom, who are commonly 
 called Calvinistic Methodists." 
 
 Then follows the list of the original projectors, in 
 which we find the name of Rowland Hill. 
 
189 
 
 " The Congregational Board iu Loa- 
 don *." 
 
 " Ministers who are acknowledged Mem- 
 bers of Associations in the country, pro- 
 fessing themselves protestant dissenters, 
 and of the congregational order, with 
 their churches. 
 
 " Such Congregational Ministers, not be- 
 longing to Associations, but recommended by 
 
 * The London Committee, (which is te vary annually) 
 consists of the following persons : 
 
 Rev. John Atkinson s Messrs. James Davies 
 
 Joseph Barber - George Dyson 
 
 Charles Buck James Evans 
 
 George Bueder Joseph Hardcastle 
 
 George Ford Samuel Houston 
 
 Noah Hill John Keylock 
 
 Thomas Hill Joseph Lee 
 
 John Humphrys Alexander Maitland 
 
 JohnKello Eben. Maitland 
 
 Samuel Palmer Thomas Pellatt 
 
 John Townsend Robert Stephen 
 
 Robert Winter Joseph Stevenson 
 
 Messrs. William Alers John Thomas 
 
 Josiah Banger John Wesley 
 
 Joseph Bunnell William WhitwelL 
 
 Joseph Cecil Thomas Wilson 
 
 Thomas Conder Benjamin Wright 
 
 Treasurer — Mr. Robert Steven. 
 
 Secretaries — Rev. John Kell,o. Rev. Thomas, Hill. 
 
 V 
 
190 
 
 three neighbouring ministers ; Members dp 
 the General Union." 
 
 A general meeting is to be held an- 
 nually in London, when a. Sermon is to be 
 preached on the occasion. And at this an- 
 nual meeting, committees, both in town 
 and country, are to be chosen or approved, 
 to conduct the business of the union. 
 
 Under the specious pretence of giving 
 spiritual advice, a foundation is laid for in- 
 terference in temporal concerns, and the way 
 is paved for establishing gradually a domi- 
 nion over the property as well as the con- 
 science of mankind. One of the avowed ob- 
 jects of these United Brethren, who style 
 themselves Calvinistic Methodists, is thus 
 openly announced : 
 
 " Giving advice, when advice is sought, 
 respecting trust deeds and other tempo- 
 ralities, Of ANY of the ASSOCIATED CON- 
 GREGATIONS, except in such cases as come, 
 within the province of the deputies." 
 
 What difficulties, soma might ask, can occur' 
 in the disposition of property to render ad- 
 vice necessary ? This new priesthood could 
 
191 
 
 tell them, in confidence, the emergencies which 
 render it requisite. They could give them 
 counsel's opinion, that no devise of land, 
 or of any thing chargeable upon, or out of 
 land, can be made to any charitable 
 use ; but they could tell them likewise, that 
 the courts of law, with a nicety of construc- 
 tion which softens the watchful rigour of 
 mortmain, have held * such devises good as 
 Appointments to charitable uses; they 
 could inform them, moreover, of the restraints 
 and limitations to which such devises are 
 subjected by a particular Statute f ; all which 
 tends greatly to embarrass testamentary do- 
 nations of this kind, and to render pastoral 
 advice necessary in all the Congregations of 
 the county committees in their respective dis- 
 tricts, as well as by the General Executivb 
 Directory under which the provincial di- 
 rectories are to act, and into which they are 
 to be incorporated %. 
 
 * Under the Stat. 43 Eliz. c. 4. 
 f 9 Geo. c. 36. 
 + The occasional necessity of advice respecting '* trust 
 
192 
 
 But we find an exception to the exercise 
 of tbis mediatorial power — " Except in snch 
 
 deeds and other temporalities," the following case, 
 among others, will sufficiently testify. It is, perhaps, fa- 
 miliar to the* Evangelical preacher, if it is not, he will 
 derive some information which will give the merit of 
 legal accuracy to his future advice, on the point to which 
 it relates. 
 
 "Doe, on the demise of Philips, v. Aldridge." 
 
 On the trial of this ejectment for a house and ground 
 belonging to it, a verdict was taken for the plaintiff, sub- 
 ject to the opinion of the court on a case reserved. The 
 plaintiff claimed as heir at law, the defendant was the 
 devisee of W. Phillips, who devised thus — " To the Rev. 
 Adam Aldridge, late of Amesbury in Wiltshire, but 
 now Preacher at the Meeting-house at Lyudhurst, all, 
 &c. &c. [describing the premises] to hold to him, the said 
 Adam Aldridge, for and during his natural fife only, on 
 this express condition, that he do and shall without delay, 
 after my decease, settle and convey the same to trustees, 
 for the use and support of the preaching of the word of 
 God at the Meeting-house at Lyudhurst, aforesaid, for 
 ever ; and in case such preaching should be discontinued, 
 I direct the same to be applied towards a school for teach- 
 ing the poor of Lyndhurst aforesaid, for ever, and I do 
 give unto the said Adam Aldridge, full and absolute 
 power and authority to settle the same accordingly." Then 
 followed a bequest of money in the funds to the same uses, 
 an additional" legacy of 100/. to the preacher as ex- 
 ecutor, and a bequest to him of the household furniture 
 in the house in question for life, with a direction to settle 
 the same to the use of succeeding ministers, to go as heir- 
 looms. 
 
193 
 
 cases as come within the province of the 
 deputies." — And we are referred to the 
 
 The testator then adds the following clause — " And if 
 it should happen that I have not left any of the afore- 
 said legacies in a legal and lawful manner, to prevent 
 any advantage being taken thereof, I do give, devise, and 
 bequeath, such legacy or legacies unto the said Adam 
 Aldridge and William Downer, (the preacher's co-ex- 
 ecutor) in trust to be disposed of at their discretion for 
 ever." 
 
 The court held clearly that the limitations subsequent 
 to the preacher's life estates was void, but that the life 
 estate was good. — Vide 4 Term Reports, 264. 
 
 This will appears to have been drawn by some such 
 conveyancer as the congregational union would be 
 likely to furnish. It is a useful precedent, nevertheless, 
 and may serve to regulate the advice of these sage 
 instructors. The next time the statute is^to be evaded, 
 they will be more circumspect. Like Adam, in the case 
 before us, they will enjoy the fruit for their life, but they 
 will be more attentive than he was to the interests of their 
 posterity. 
 
 As spiritual advice is not always at hand, the Evan- 
 gelical Magazine, under the head of " Religious 
 Intelligence," furnishes its readers with the follow- 
 ing 
 
 " Form of a Legacy." 
 
 " Item. — I A. B. do give and bequeath the sum of 
 unto the Treasurer for the time being, 
 of a Society of Christians, called the Associate Congre- 
 gations, including that large body of Christians through- 
 out the United Kingdom, who have been commonly 
 called Calvinistic Methodists, formed in London in 
 
194 
 
 > 
 
 following note for information respecting the 
 order of persons here alluded to. 
 
 *' The deputies of the dissenting con." 
 gregations in and about London, for the 
 protection of our civil rights. An in- 
 teresting account," it is added, V of this 
 highly useful body, and of their ACTIVITY 
 in that important department, has been 
 published, and should be in the possession of 
 every dissenting minister." 
 
 What ! are then the legislature and the 
 laws so inadequate to the maintenance of 
 the civil rights of the subject, that this new 
 priesthood must come forth in their de- 
 fence ? Are the twelve judges so incom- 
 petent or so corrupt that a corps of Cal-t 
 vinistic Methodists. must form themselves 
 into a protectorate ? Are these deputy 
 
 DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH to USUrp the SLU-? 
 
 thority of magistrates, and invest themselves 
 with the power to preserve those civil rights 
 
 the year 1805: the same to be paid within 
 months, next after my decease, out of my personal es- 
 tate, and to be applied to the uses and purposes of the 
 aforesaid society." — Evan. Mag. Feb. 1806, 
 
193 
 
 against the violation of them on the part of 
 the existing government, or the abandon- 
 ment of them by the legal Tribunals of the 
 kingdom ; for it is only against the encroach- 
 ment of the former, or the corruption of the 
 latter, that the civil rights of the commu- 
 nity can need protection ?! ! 
 
 Surely these " deputies of the dissenting 
 
 CONGREGATIONS IN AND ABOUT LONDON,'* 
 
 are taking upon them weightier concerns than 
 are consistent with their holy function ! If, 
 indeed, the purport be to prepare the people 
 to look to the new spiritual power for 
 official vindication of their civil rights, in 
 this case, the object is, to a certain extent, 
 accomplished. But, most certainly, this, to say 
 the least of it, is not the shape which re- 
 ligion should assume in society. And those 
 who are thus active in introducing - into 
 this country, such Committees, and Asso- 
 ciations, and Conventions, as we are now ad- 
 verting to, may be among the best friends 
 and the foremost allies of Calvinism, but they 
 are among the worst and most dangerous 
 enemies of the Constitution. 
 
 o2 
 
196 
 
 No one can hold in greater detestation, 
 than I do, every species of persecution, on 
 account of opinions. To attempt to extirpate 
 error by the arm of force is as iniquitous as 
 it is foolish. 1 ^rust those days are for ever 
 gone by ; and that we shall never strive to rec- 
 tify the judgment of men by the violation of 
 their rights. But there are wise and sound 
 principles of policy, nevertheless, that justify 
 vigilance, and that demand precaution on the 
 part of government, when a new and formi- 
 dable SPECIES OF POWER IS GROWING UP IN 
 THE VERY HEART OF THE COUNTRY, full of a 
 
 hot and ardent zeal for the propagation of 
 principles, which in their effect go to shake 
 the security of all moral society ; and which 
 Power is daily drawing to itself new accessions 
 of support, and strengthening the cord of its 
 • separation from the National Church, on whose 
 declension it is growing great, and whose 
 adherents it spares no pains to alienate. — This 
 is a subject of serious reflection, and ought to 
 be a subject too of severe watchfulness. — The 
 spiritual Leaders of this new republic have 
 fully testified the spirit which they bear 
 
197 
 
 towards all, who oppose that system of doc- 
 trine which they have taken upon themselves 
 to propagate. What such opponents may ex- 
 pect when this order of Rulers shall have fully 
 extended their dominion, and digested their 
 system, persons of sufficient foresight may 
 easily enough prophecy. 
 
 The mild and benevolent principles of the 
 British Constitution tolerate — and most wiselv, 
 — all sects, and all systems of faith. But the 
 day seems fast approaching, when the Church, 
 established under that Constitution, shall, in 
 its turn, solicit toleration. The pure faith 
 of Christianity is hourly giving way to the 
 mystic doctrines of Calvin, — doctrines as ab- 
 surd as they are impious, and as fatal as they 
 are false. How long will this delusion last — 
 and where will it end? This gigantic Coalition 
 against the moral empire of the .Gospel — where 
 will it terminate ? — It will terminate in this — 
 
 The nation will be plunged again into that 
 thick gloom of bigotry, the fog of which is 
 now gathering round it — The ignorant multi- 
 tude will gradually be brought under the 
 sottish dominion of Calvinistic Methodists, 
 
198 
 
 and the Church of England will either even- 
 tually BE FILLED BY THAT ORDER, Or Will 
 
 fall before it. 
 
 These predictions may seem invidious and 
 may sound severe — and were they unfortified 
 by argument or unaccompanied by evidence, — 
 they would be so. But the aspect of things 
 demands that we should speak out. It is not 
 a time for complimenting and coqueting. 
 Elsewhere and at another period, these may 
 be suitable,- -but here, and at this crisis, they 
 would be sadly out of season. — It is wise to 
 take precaution while the wind whispers, 
 it may be too late when it roars. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND PART. 
 
 Printed by W. Clowes, 
 Northumberland-court, Strand. 
 
HINTS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PUBLIC AND THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
HINTS 
 
 PUBLIC and the LEGISLATURE, 
 
 NATURE AND EFFECT 
 
 €bangelual #teatlring* 
 
 BY A BARRISTER. 
 
 FART THE THIRD- 
 
 " Alarm some men — you do not drive them to provide for their 
 security, you put them to a stand ; you induce them, not to take 
 measures to prevent the approach of danger, but to remove so un- 
 pleasant an idea from their minds ; you persuade them to remain as 
 they are, from a new fear that their activity may bring on the appre- 
 hended mischief before its time. But the few to whom I wish to 
 
 submit my thoughts are of a character which will enable them to 
 see danger without astonishment, and to provide agaiust it without 
 perplexity." 
 
 Burke's Thoughts on French Affairs. 
 
 llcmfcott : 
 
 printed for johnson, st. paul's church-yard ! 
 
 hatchard, piccadilly; w. reed, bell-yard, 
 
 temple-bar: and sherwood, neely, and 
 
 jones, paternoster-row. 
 
 1809. 
 
Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland-court, Strand. 
 
HINTS, 
 
 &c. 
 
 WHETHER it is to be ascribed to the 
 cunning of the interested, practising on the 
 simplicity of the credulous, or to whatever 
 other cause it is owing, certain it is that the 
 multitude have ever manifested more eagerness 
 to embrace the reveries of human weakness 
 than the revelations of Eternal Wisdom. The 
 same perverseness of mind is manifested in 
 other matters not connected with religion. The 
 nostrum of the Mountebank will be preferred 
 to the prescription of the regular Practitioner. 
 Why is this ? Because there is something in 
 the authoritative arrogance of the pretender 
 
 
-f- ' / ^ A.,r ' -V ,' J? _ ^ - '. -,L 
 
 c/ki us*^, . y^ f<*-> 
 
 ft 
 
 ^ ^ • y' 1 by which ftenorance is ove.awed. The same 
 
 . thing happens in the concerns 01 kingdoms 
 
 and commonwealths ; the perilous, but ini- 
 
 /%^ /TeSn-'*-j posing, novelties of political theorists, seduce 
 
 jltMiti t^~> /*~ the veneration of the crowd from the com- 
 
 $efx<Li&- &*2 paratively cold principles of rational freedom. 
 
 x« , / iX In each case, the result is similar. The Quack 
 
 . physics us into distemper, and the Projector 
 
 / . reforms us into ruin. — What the new fraternity 
 
 c-^n-*-e^/v<t~'y> o £ ANTI . M0RALISTS w ill accomplish, and into 
 
 ^x-^W /^ what high-road of evil they will carry their 
 
 S^/i&r-c S?- followers, remains to be seen ; and into what 
 
 f+. /'t vortex those who are not their followers will 
 
 be swept by the strength 01 the current — ■ 
 
 tZ- ^-t-A^V this remains to be seen also. 
 
 //i£^C <s* > Considerate men, now numbered with the 
 
 -f dead — for I advert to the days of our fathers — 
 
 ' j considerate men, sanguine in their hopes from 
 
 the progressive advancement of the human 
 
 f rw'">-f* /■ mind, anticipated the happiest result in the 
 
 JJZ /r*~ t~- ' AJ -* t diffusion of social benevolence, and the growth 
 
 .Isrc, .^* ^ /l4 ^ of practical virtue. Tracing the meliorating 
 
 /&. tirCi&Jr influence of religion, from its first break of 
 
 0Uit<- Se&fe 1 morning light to the then period of its rise, they 
 
 £2 tp. /y,'H— indulged the most gratifying predictions from 
 
W SMZZ J fair**. 
 
 7 
 
 the wisdom of those who were to come after 
 them. The philosophic vision of future years 
 floated on their fancy, and they rejoiced. But 
 how far, — how very far, — is this augury from 
 its fulfilment ! Could these patriots — the wor- 
 thiest in the train of our ancestry — could they 
 have predicted— surely they could not — that, at 
 an era to which they looked forward with such 
 prophetic exultation, we, their descendants, 
 instead of moving onwards towards the me- 
 ridian of reason and truth, should be fast 
 declining into the thick gloom of ignorance 
 and fanaticism ? — Deplorable as this conside- 
 ration may be, it comes but too near reality. 
 That high-strung vigour of intellect, which 
 once promised so much to the future, seems 
 paralyzed and inert. The multitude appear 
 to . be drawn aside from the protection 
 of their rightful leaders. The contagion of 
 bigotry — daily extending itself — has dwarfed 
 in its progress all the natural dimensions of 
 the popular mind. Rational devotion, — in its 
 principles and in its practice the summit 
 of all earthly wisdom, — is hourly disappearing 
 before that outward sanctity which apes the 
 
8 
 
 farm of religion without conforming to its 
 spirit, and wears its livery without yielding to 
 its commands. 
 
 We seem to live in a new era. — We have 
 been left, it should seem, hitherto without 
 the rudiments of a Christian education. 
 Under the tuition of a moral Clergy, the 
 importance of personal holiness, and the 
 certainty of a judgment to come, has been 
 the substance of all the religious teaching 
 we have received. A new race of Divinity- 
 tutors, rising, as it were, out of the ashes of 
 their own corruption, have started up, pro- 
 fessing themselves to be the only true inter- 
 preters between God and man, and, announc- 
 ing themselves as Evangelists, demand that 
 we should put our conscience into their cus- 
 tody, and, with all due humility, repeat their 
 catechism and receive their creed. 
 
 In France, the Jacobin ringleaders of the 
 Revolution, the better to win over the pre- 
 judices of the people, assumed the names of 
 the most virtuous and disinterested of the 
 Roman republicans ; the names of Brutus, 
 Cassius, Gracchus, rung in the ears of the 
 
unthinking mob, who readily gave the Im- 
 postors credit for the patriotism which their 
 titles announced. The natural good sense of 
 mankind has always been abused, and their 
 judgment thrown off its guard, by names and 
 titles. Who could fear despotism under the 
 government of a Protector ? Who could sus- 
 pect that the lust of temporal dominion could 
 lurk in the bosom of his Holiness the Pope ? 
 What can better pave the way for the pro- 
 gress of unscriptural error than conferring 
 upon it the denomination of Gospel-truth ? 
 or how can ambition better accomplish its 
 designs than under the insinuating disguise 
 of an Evangelical Priesthood ? 
 
 A writer of sound piety and strong pene- 
 tration, — a Doctor of Divinity too, — has de- 
 scribed, in the homely, honest, lauguage of 
 his time, the leaders of that sect which makes 
 such high pretensions to godliness : — " The 
 only, or at least the principal, thing which 
 that sort of men support themselves by, is 
 the gift of the tongue; a peculiar knack of 
 talking religiously; for, if you look into th«ir 
 lives and temper, they have no advantage of 
 
16 
 
 other men ; and, if you examine into their 
 principles, or their abilities, that will not mend 
 the matter ; and yet they have a strange au- 
 thority and influence in the world ; thev 
 charm men into security of their honesty 
 by their talk ; they cast a mist before men's 
 eyes that they are taken for godly men, let 
 their pride and passion, their covetousness 
 and ambition, be otherwise as palpable 
 and notorious as they may. This talent of 
 talking is so valuable, it redeems them from 
 suspicion ; with this passport they go unde- 
 tected ; they are Saints from the teeth up- 
 wards, and fools admire them, and so they 
 compass their ends *." — 
 
 Never was a delineation more exact. Never 
 was a picture more faithful to the original. 
 
 * Winter Evening Conferences between Neighbours. 
 p. 82, Eleventh Edition. By J. Goodman, D. D. Printed 
 1720. This valuable work well merited the attention with 
 which it was received by the religious world at the period 
 at which it was written. It is of a class very different 
 from the " Village Dialogues," " Village Sermons," and 
 other works of the same stamp, which are daily sapping 
 the foundation of religion amongst us ; and which, while 
 they root out of the mind of the ignorant all love of moral 
 righteousness, give them nothing in return but the trash of 
 the Tabernacle. 
 
11 
 
 Worse principles than those taught by 
 the new Priesthood were never sent forth 
 to misguide the world. At no time, and 
 under no circumstances, can they be pro- 
 pagated with safety. But when these ille- 
 gitimate principles are followed and fed by 
 an equally illegitimate influence, we must be 
 sunk into a state of unpardonable apathy 
 if we fail to investigate their tendency, 
 more especially when we find them so ex- 
 tensively patronised and so proudly an- 
 nounced. If thej T have a tendency to harden 
 the heart, and to deaden and destroy all the 
 grateful and affectionate sympathies which 
 link man to his Maker and to his kind; if 
 their practical effect is to substitute a cold and 
 unfeeling bigotry in the place of a pure and 
 masculine benevolence ; if this be — as most 
 assuredly it is — their tendency and effect, 
 we may then calculate, by advance, what 
 we are to expect under the establishment of 
 the new Hierarchy which seems preparing 
 for us. The sinews of its power must be — 
 as, in such cases, it ever has been — in the 
 multitude. It is among the enthusiastic and 
 
12 
 
 unreflecting crowd that the train of its pro- 
 selytes are made ; it is from that quarter 
 that the main accession of its strength is 
 drawn. It was well observed by some one, 
 (I think by Lord Lyttleton,) that " a fool, with 
 the majority on his side, is the greatest tyrant 
 in the world." — When fanatics of this stamp 
 shall be of power to drive men into the 
 Temple of their faith, woe be to those who 
 loiter at the threshold. 
 
 Of the nature and tendency of the doctrines 
 which are publicly taught we may judge 
 from the specimens already selected from the 
 writings thrust with incessant earnestness 
 into popular circulation. Notwithstanding 
 the dangerous and afflictive consequences to 
 which they most manifestly lead, they have 
 been in no one instance disavowed ; — moral 
 goodness is depreciated, — its concern with our 
 future salvation derided, and its efficacy de- 
 nied ; and all this — not merely without pal- 
 liation — but with a zeal incensed by exposure, 
 and an obstinacy aggravated by opposition. 
 
 But the anti-moralists aver — and it- makes 
 a prominent feature in their defence— that they 
 
/Lc s&?t~L- cvAst*- * 
 
 
 s are quoted unfairly ; — that although they tJA^c^ /^ 
 disavow, it is true, the necessity, and deny ** / *'»^-** 
 the value, of practical morality and personal 
 holiness, and declare them to be totally ir- 
 relevant to our future salvation, yet that, by x " / *"***--u~f 
 
 diligent attention, I might have found occa* 
 sional recommendations of moral duty, which 
 I have neglected to notice. 
 
 i'*-i>- 
 
 That, although - . , 
 it is true they aver self-righteousness to be 
 the criminal result of pride, yet that passages, 
 are interspersed in their works which may / 
 
 be interpreted in its favour. That, true it ^ 
 is, they declare righteousness to be filthy ^ * J. 
 rags; yet that expressions could, notwithstand- / 
 ing, have been found, had I taken due pains ** ^j <f 
 to select them, that might have been put in ^ &*■*/$>£, 
 the balance against the contempt thus cast '-* V%>»— ■ 
 upon it. Such is the nature of their defence, <"**< -^e-*^^/ 
 and it amounts, in other words, to this: — ^^^L.AU- 
 You quote our deliberate doctrine without *~f&~*r 
 pointing out our refutation of it in other /w/- '/ 
 places. You condemn and expose us, because fi_ flf-*^ ^ 
 we declare all obedience to the moral law fi-.c^y* / 
 of God to be vain and fruitless; and you * l /*v&«~- £x^s 
 
t^-tcc^s '<** omit to glean those passages in which we 
 
 /^^, run c °unter to our own creed. Our works, 
 
 ■£ 'fa \'&ie**t~ from which you adduce your evidence against 
 
 CAst«*je* ff us > are sprinkled up and down with contra- 
 
 / JaJuaA Mictions, which you do not give us credit 
 
 / . J*- 'for. You charge us with error and absurdity, 
 
 but you do not take our inconsistency into 
 
 z' ' 7 the account. — This, which is the sum and 
 
 "y substance of their vindication, is as prepos- 
 
 L*$3n r &~* terous as it is evasive. What unbeliever ever 
 
 yet carried on his warfare against Chris- 
 
 4 /***■* fr tianity, without occasionally mixing a com- 
 
 fa • / % j( pliment to its utility with his contempt of 
 
 ^ . • its obligations ? The writings of Voltaire, 
 
 , and of every infidel before and since, furnish 
 
 instances sufficient of this. What libeller of 
 
 y the Consistution but gives, now and then, a 
 
 Jfr As-vvhw r sentence in favour of those principles which 
 
 f 1 uO^^L jt; j s tj ie direct tendency of his works to 
 
 /* r <% fr€c discountenance and destroy? When Paine's 
 
 ^ ^^_ ^ Rights of Man came to be defended in a 
 
 /^__ - court of justice, his advocate found no dif- 
 
 ^jj ficulty in producing here and there passages 
 
 ***** of loyal interpretation ; and his Age of Reason, 
 
J^ 7 . Js^ /f&~^ **— ^7 u*~*'~- <*■***. a*$ys^ 
 
 when put upon its defence, was made to furnish /«■ • 
 
 passages of devout tendency, and phrases v^ 
 
 of moral meaning. --- • 
 
 I do not affirm of these Evangelical Preachers, . ,, 
 
 that they never, in any instance, manifest a ^*.**, — 
 respect for that reason which they condemn 
 as carnal. I do not affirm that its rays 
 never pierce through the dense medium of 
 their dulness, or never skirt, for a moment, 
 the clouds of error in which they envelop 
 themselves. But, when a ray of truth does 
 break forth, as sometimes it does, it is like 
 Ossian's sun-beam in the Isle of Mist, and 
 its radiance is soon obscured in the gloom 
 that gathers over it. 
 
 In the revolution which the anti-moralists 
 are meditating in the Christian world, they 
 manifest the utmost hostility to whatever 
 bears the stamp of intellect. Whenever great 
 changes have been to be brought about by 
 means of the multitude, the cunning of 
 enthusiasts never fails to suggest the same 
 policy. Impostors of every class, religious as 
 well as political, cry down the exercise of 
 reasony for they have no chance of escaping 
 
^W^ > *^*f 2 * 16 ^'^ ^"^ ^7 
 
 <&«^ ^C^ exposure but by bringing men of penetration 
 
 <^t^.^' and inquiry into disrepute. It is well known 
 
 A^*^*»-d-/ that the sanguinary tyrant Roberspierre, 
 
 /if ru,-r^ in his " Journal," called *Ae learned " the 
 
 /Ic^yf/^ ** roost dangerous set of men in the republic ;" — 
 
 £^y 4C4enfi„ and so they were, because he dreaded the 
 
 _ t^c^-f a**l? ordeal which his opinions and measures were 
 
 /4~ rt ,v^ ...made to undergo. Their comment was not 
 
 ~ ~'T~~ suited to his text. 
 
 \. ^.-- We are told, by our new spiritual Teachers, 
 
 ., ,that reason is not to be applied in the in- 
 
 , - quiry into the truth or falsehood of their 
 
 / . r ^ doctrines; they are spiritually discerned, and 
 
 J*. carnal reason has no concern with them. — 
 
 _ What insufferable jargon. As well might a 
 
 £ 0+J' M4mt<f man t e ]i rae J am no t to use my eyes to 
 
 -'distinguish between the counterfeit and current 
 
 /icr # .TCtUlif coin. Away with such absurdity; — there is 
 
 ^ rid «- bsft ^ rau< i an< i deception upon the face of it. 
 
 ■ Can we have faith in a doctrine which we 
 
 have no reason to believe is true ? Most 
 
 f /t . *, *y cer t a ^ n ]y no j; if then we have reason to 
 
 /l-*^* believe it true, we must be able to give 
 
 /wyiAvt-- that reason. To say, therefore, that reason 
 
 /Cr?**- is useless, is to talk like a fool — to say that 
 
 ftt*4*?«fl4*^t k*4L~ee^ fa /f&fi-t yet- , . <*t*Jfimra/uM 
 
17 
 
 it ought not to be exercised, is to talk like a 
 knave. 
 
 The prominent and leading truths of Chris- 
 tianity may be seen by common eyes ; but, 
 involved, as they have been, in the haze and 
 mist of metaphysics, the most quick-sighted 
 have sometimes searched for them in vain. 
 If men would be content with studying at- 
 tentively the Evangelists themselves, instead 
 of running blindfold after the impostors who 
 assume their title, the doctrines of the Gospel 
 would never have been perverted amongst 
 us, as now they are ; and thousands would 
 have marched under the banners of truth, 
 who now flock to the standard of fanaticism. 
 
 Religion has for its object the moral care ' ^^isy ^^^J 1 J 
 
 and the moral cultivation of man. Its beauty „V /#*w *— • 
 
 is not to be sought in the regions of mystery or /UK,/ . {c ^"^"zz " 
 
 /? y^A. yl 
 in the flights of abstraction. It was intended y^ , 
 
 to be the regulator of life. Its laws were ,', / 7 • 
 
 % Ac /*«— ^«-*~ 
 given for our government, and its precepts *_ %* , -rr /- 
 
 for our guide. The Gospel carries with it _">_ A*4-siu f \ 
 
 its own evidence ; pure, intelligible, sublime, ,* { ^j_^j fJtAv%~ 
 
 its transcendent excellence is beyond the /) /fA 1 fe '/Ih \~ 
 
 efforts of man to design or to dictate. The ~ r / f eJs4.T"^ **+$- 
 
 £^t? fa+1{ t*,/&~ X*~^ £"*-&; vi" i-' Jt+^*->»'*4j <-e r/yu^" , 
 
 /' 
 
18 
 
 seal of its Author is on every page. — Its Author* 
 is God ; and every page displays his benevo- 
 lence as clearly as it reveals his will. 
 
 The Scriptures were never intended to 
 furnish points of controversy, but rules of obe- 
 dience. To bewilder the minds of the mul- 
 titude with the stupid and contradictory 
 gibberish of a Whitfield or a Wesley is to 
 turn their heads instead of turning their 
 hearts. The plain, energetic, homely truths 
 of the Bible, best suit their wants and their 
 capacity. When our Saviour preached upon 
 the Mount, his Sermon was as plain as it 
 was practical ; it discussed no doctrinal points, 
 it laid no stress on modes of faith ; it enforced 
 moral righteousness, and promised the bless- 
 ings of salvation to the practice of that alone. 
 But all this is cold and heartless to the 
 modern saints. This system of morality has 
 no charms for the elect. Hawker, Burder, 
 Hill, Cooper, and such like, these are the 
 faithful Preachers ; they carry the lantern 
 of Calvin. — They alone have the patent for 
 the new light ; the rest are blind guides. 
 
 This new order of Pontiffs are not content 
 
19 
 
 with bestowing on themselves the title of Evan- 
 gelical Preachers — their apostolic dignity rises 
 in its demands — they have at length risen to a 
 level with the Evangelists themselves. That 
 their claim may be known and their rank 
 recognised, the Reverend Rowland Hill un- 
 dertakes to assert their claim, for the purpose 
 of procuring to the New Gospel Preacher his 
 due share of popular veneration. 
 
 In the Village Dialogues, Mr. Merryman* 
 a Minister of the Church of England, is 
 made to Owe his new birth to a Visitation 
 Sermon, preached by dear Mr. Lovegood. 
 This Sermon was blessed to the Reverend 
 Mr. Merryman ; he forsook his brethren of 
 the Establishment, and became serious; he 
 was Mr. Merryman no longer. 
 
 " Had you no serious impressions," says the 
 whining Mr. Worthy, " before you heard our 
 Minister at the Visitation ?" 
 
 " Till that time, replies Mr. Merryman, I 
 was the vainest Puppy that ever lived *." 
 In short, he proceeds to describe himself as 
 
 * "Village Dialogues," by the Reverend Rowland Hill, 
 vol. iii. p. 31, Fourth Edition. 
 
 B 2 
 
m 
 
 being as frothy and irreligious as the rest 
 of his brethren, the Church Clergy, until, by 
 the precious hearing of the aforesaid Methodist 
 Sermon, " he was instructed to know some- 
 what of God in truth." 
 
 Dear Mr. Lovegood then gives Mr. Merry- 
 man an account of a happy incident in the 
 course of his experience. It was a singular 
 circumstance, no doubt, and became on that 
 account worth recording. — " In our neighbour- 
 hood," says he, " there lived another Clergy- 
 man, known by the name of Mr. Soberman, 
 who was very correct and chaste in the whole 
 of his deportment." — Such a character is a 
 phenomenon in the Church of England, no 
 doubt. But as dear Mr. Lovegood, in the 
 zeal of his Christian candour and bene- 
 volence, truly declares — " We should ever 
 speak well of good, wherever we find it ; 
 and I should be happy," he adds, " if, in 
 every country, and in every line of life, men 
 of such character were more universally to 
 be found, It would be horrid, indeed, if all 
 the Clergy were equally dissolute and pro- 
 fane." 
 
21 
 
 " Oh, Sir," rejoins the converted Minister, 
 " it fell to niy lot to be acquainted with a 
 sad sample of the worst men of every cha- 
 racter ! Some of these were professed libertine 
 Deists; and among the Clergy themselves I 
 found some Deists in disguise. But what can 
 be expected from the Church, under its pre- 
 sent circumstances *-? " — ■ 
 
 Whilst the Clergy of the Establishment are 
 held up to the people as being destitute of 
 every principle which should characterize the 
 Teachers of Christianity, and as being enemies, 
 both in their preaching and in their practice ? 
 to the Gospel, the Methodist Preachers, in 
 the Church and in the Meeting, are not a 
 whit inferior in authority to Matthew and 
 Mark, nor in holiness- to Luke and John. 
 Those who were not members of the pious 
 fraternity might presume them to be mortals 
 of common mould ; but at last, no doubt, they 
 would be satisfied of their mistake ; it was 
 so at first, it seems, with dear Mr. Lovegood J s 
 convert. 
 
 * f Village Dialogues," vol. iii. p. 34, 35. 
 
22 
 
 " Indeed, Sir," says he, " I had no concep- 
 tion, at first, that there could be any other 
 Evangelists than the Preachers of the four 
 Gospels *." 
 
 But the Dialogue that succeeded the Vi- 
 sitation Sermon rectified his misconception 
 of this matter ; indeed the Reverend Convert, 
 bred — as he is described to have been — to 
 the Church, had the misfortune to be born 
 in this land, where Bibles are so scaree, and 
 in this barbarous age, when Christianity is so 
 little taught or understood, that, but for the 
 miraculous good fortune of liearing a Me- 
 thodist at a Visitation, he would never have 
 known that the Gospel had ever found its 
 way to this country, or had ever hitherto 
 been preached by any Clergyman within his 
 Majesty's dominions. — " Till that hour," says 
 he, " I never had the most distant conception 
 what was meant by the Gospel, or a Gospel 
 Preacher, any more than the horse J rode on 
 to the Visitation -J 5 ." 
 
 These insinuations, and the slander that 
 
 * " Village Dialogues," vol. iii. p. 47. 
 t Ibid. p. 47. 
 
23 
 
 accompanies them, do not fail of their effect. 
 This gentleman's writings are propagated most 
 extensively, and his popularity obtains a very 
 extensive reception to the principles which 
 they contain : the impression they produce 
 in favour of the new Spiritual Directory, 
 and the prejudice they create against the 
 Parochial Clergy throughout the kingdom, 
 will be felt, and that too most severely, when 
 this Directory shall be sufficiently powerful 
 to give a practical direction to those prin- 
 ciples of hostility to the Establishment, 
 which they are spreading, by means of the 
 press, into every district of the kingdom. It 
 has already produced an alarming change, in 
 the minds of the great mass of the lower orders, 
 with respect to the Established Clergy. 
 The anti -moral faction have increased their 
 partisans, in every quarter, to a most fearful 
 extent. They are struggling to become the 
 predominant party. The plausible pretext 
 of spreading the Gospel, and extending vital 
 Christianity, serves to lull the suspicions of 
 many whose good sense would otherwise have 
 put them on their guard. " All men," says 
 
24 
 
 Burke, "that are ruined, are > ruined on the 
 side of their natural propensities. There 
 thej are unguarded. Above all, good men 
 do not suspect that their destruction is at- 
 tempted through their virtues/ 5 
 
 What can these men — what can any man — 
 mean, by thus casting the National Clergy 
 into derision ? Does the cause of religion 
 demand this ? Does the happiness or the 
 safety of "the commonwealth demand that 
 the hatred of the populace should be thus 
 excited towards them ? Can the welfare of 
 the Establishment itself be intended by all 
 this misrepresentation and mockery ? No, 
 it is fitted only to produce its destruction ; in 
 spite of all their senseless shuffling, the fact 
 can neither be smothered nor concealed ; 
 that alone is the aim, and that will be the 
 end. 
 
 Nothing can save us from the coming ca- 
 lamity but a wise and manly attention to 
 the danger. It is near — much too near — 
 and, what is worse, the national character 
 is fast changing. It is not what is was. The 
 masculine strength and moral firmness which 
 
once distinguished the great mass of the /£.s^/2Lw» 
 
 British people is daily fading away; Me- £/gn*J 
 
 thodism, with all its cant, with all its cunning, ^'4^ *%*£ 
 
 with all its hypocrisy, and with all its mean- A /- ^J^ 
 
 ness, has taken place of that religion which ,^ y t/- 
 
 made us what we were, and which, while it /(+* nf-^ 
 
 gave a moral energy and direction to all our /£&**■ *, r*^ ) 
 
 feelings as Christians, gave strength, and '*Vv*«. »*? 
 
 vigour, and dignity, to our character as men. ""V^*^ ***^ 
 
 It is, perhaps, not yet too late. We may be ftf^-yr* 
 
 recovered ; — we may be restored. But if, / 
 
 seeing the cause of our degeneracy, we shut ■_ — '"" 
 
 our eyes against it, then will the evil overtake /*' 
 
 us, and we are gone. Englishmen, in the *^ -wsfc.**^ 
 
 eyes and in the estimation of all Europe, "„ ^fa, »^y 
 
 will not be what they have been — they will ii„-^ jfc 
 
 be modelled by vulgar, bigotted, mechanic ^ ^jJiy 
 
 Teachers— and will become the ready com- „ /-■/• ' 
 parative for every thing that is insincere, and 
 illiberal, and unprincipled. There will be 
 nothing amongst the majority of us but gloom 
 and grimace, psalm-singing and dissimulation, 
 — To this state we are fast approaching. 
 
 
 It was not in matters of faith that the 1 
 
 Romans sent for their Dictators from the - — • 
 
26 
 
 plough. Men should be fitted for the station 
 they are to fill, whatever it be, or they will 
 be the occasion of much mischief. In what- 
 ever is connected with the religious instruction 
 of the people, it is more especially of import- 
 ance that they should be fully prepared. 
 It is not among the ignorant that the com- 
 munity is to seek for its Instructors. — I am 
 naturally led, by this train of thought, to 
 the memory of John Bunyan. — I cannot, as 
 some do, look forward to the approaching 
 blessings of being governed in spiritual matters 
 by men of this cast ; — I cannot anticipate 
 much happiness from any revolution that 
 should turn out the present Church Ministers, 
 to make way for gentlemen of his calling. 
 The Reverend Rowland Hill, I know, and 
 the whole corps of Evangelists, are very 
 sanguine on this subject. But if the Dialogues 
 of this Divine should convert all the villages 
 in the kingdom to his views of the subject, 
 mine would still remain as they are. 
 
 " If this formerly wicked Tinker," he asks, 
 " became so good a man, and such an ex- 
 cellent Preacher and writer, is it not to be 
 
27 
 
 lamented that some of our present Preachers 
 were not turned into Tinkers, provided we 
 could get such another set of Tinkers to be 
 turned into Preachers* ?" 
 
 I confess I cannot answer this question in 
 the affirmative. — No honest occupation, how- 
 ever humble, is disgraceful to any man. I 
 can respect the industry of the cobbler in 
 his own stall, but I cannot vote for his pro- 
 motion to a stall in the choir. So with the 
 Tinker; I would give him the care of kettles, 
 but I would not give him the cure of souls. 
 So long as he attended to the management 
 and mending of his pots and pans, I would 
 wish success to his industry ; but when he 
 came to declare himself a " chosen vessel," 
 and demand permission to take the souls of 
 the people into his holy keeping, I should 
 think that, instead of a license, it would be 
 more humane and more prudent to give him 
 a passport to Saint Luke's. — Depend upon it fad^ t/j 
 such men were never sent by Providence to 
 rule or to regulate mankind. /.tu^*t**i 
 
 * "Village Dialogues," vol. iii. p. 24, Fourth Edition, ^ '^^yt 
 
 /vt- ok j tt^ i~ /& /L~ ■fics^ if>u-/ y^^ ,tf~ si**.-&y . /^> . 
 f&~ <&i~A£+^<t r/ fo :^t~.f/-u^ 1a- *■*■■ *«~' S!»£-t, ^i^t^^i ' 
 
-. /, y If a blockhead, fancying himself a mariner, 
 
 venture on the seas — if he sail without a 
 s chart, and steer without a compass — the 
 
 consequence of his rashness is limited to 
 ' j himself. If he sinks, he suffers alone. But 
 if the same vain pretender, duping others 
 into a belief of his sufficiency, assume the 
 
 /IT*** 
 
 \*v 
 
 /nAe^ t+- ■'*-■ office and station of a Pilot, the danger be- 
 £. Jjktdi V comes widely different — the lives of many 
 are put to the risk ; if he does not make the 
 
 A-<,c£ A*-- 
 
 i 
 
 i "Jt <s* <*■ »t ■ 
 
 right port, but steers them far wide of their 
 /* destination, his ignorance involves the fate of 
 
 them all. — Whether the ignorant mechanic 
 forsake his proper calling to become a Preacher 
 Or a Pilot, his presumption is equally unpar- 
 donable. 
 
 We will turn our attention for a few mo- 
 ments to the Pilgrim's Progress, that Trea- 
 sure of Divinity, as it is termed, to which such 
 an extensive circulation is given — upon which 
 such excessive and endless praise is lavished, 
 and such high honours of editorship conferred *. 
 
 * " An eminent bookseller, lately deceased, who made 
 an estimate of the number of copies sold of the books most 
 generally read, said, ' That upwards of four hundred and 
 
29 
 
 The Pilgrim, in the early stage of his pro* 
 gress, is directed into the path of morality 
 by Worldly Wiseman — for all those are repro- 
 bated and ranked with the worldly-wise who 
 enforce the moral law of God, and direct 
 mankind to the practice of what is con- 
 temptuously termed self-righleousness. — But 
 Evangelist fortunately meeting this inquir- 
 ing Christian, and finding him thus misguided 
 by his moral conductor, " he looked upon 
 him," we are told, " with a severe and dreadful 
 
 thirty thousand copies of the Pilgrim's Progress have 
 been printed,' which exceeds the sale of all the other 
 books in the English language, except the Bible and Prayer- 
 Books, by one hundred thousand copies." — 
 
 Vide Evangelical Magazine for Dec. 1806. p. 560. 
 
 John Bnnyan was buried in Bunhill-fields ; and so nu- 
 merous have been — .and still are — the dying requests of 
 his idolaters to be buried as near as possible to the 
 place of his interment, that the spot is completely sur- 
 rounded by dead bodies to a very considerable distance. I 
 am informed, from unquestionable authority, that it is not 
 now possible to obtain a grave near him, the whole sur- 
 rounding earth being entirely pre-occupied. Surely we 
 have little cause to ridicule the gross superstition of past 
 ages, when this country, and in this enlightened era, affords 
 evidence of superstition as silly and contemptible as the 
 history of human folly and weakness can well exhibit. 
 
so 
 
 cGuntehance," and forthwith proceeded to accost 
 him thus :— 
 
 " What dost thou here ? *} 
 
 He then inquires of him how he came so 
 quickly to turn aside from his guidance, and 
 soon succeeds in convincing him that he is 
 now totally out of the way, — and thus an 
 end is put to his moral career. 
 
 But lest the Christian reader should not 
 be so easily dissuaded as the Calvinistic 
 Pilgrim, or be so readily induced to turn 
 aside from the path of morality, these anti- 
 moral editors assure us, in a note, that 
 
 " A truly awakened conscience can never 
 find relief from the law." [i. e. the moral 
 iaw.] " The more he looks for peace this 
 way, his guilt, like a heavy burden, becomes 
 more intolerable ; when he becomes dead to 
 the law, — as to any dependence upon it for 
 salvation, — by the body of Christ, and married 
 to him, who was raised from the dead, then, 
 and not till then, his heart is set at liberty 
 to run the way of God's Commandments *." 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan. A New Edi- 
 tion. With Notes on the First Part, by the Reverend 
 
31 
 
 What a jingle of senseless phraseology is 
 here ! How different from the majestic and 
 dignified simplicity of the Scriptures :— " All 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should 
 do to you, do ye even so to them, for this 
 is the law and the prophets." 
 
 Such is the intelligible and eternal com- 
 mand of the Gospel. Such is the solemn 
 injunction of the Son of God. But here we * fi**t- ***~ 
 are taught that the conscience can never find 
 
 a* 
 
 relief from obedience to the law of the Gospel, * fj^, 
 
 and are told, directly in the teeth of it, s k t&'&u**. 
 
 that the more a man looks for peace this c&~- x-txst-*' 
 
 wuy, the more intolerable becomes the burden ft-**-* 1 *c& r £, 
 
 of his guilt I ! — Name, if you can, the Atheist J+-r < & 
 
 whose dagger ever stabbed the vitals of Chris- /fa r&Ji'itv. 
 
 tianity more deeply.—" If ye love me," says £ fZot*^> 
 
 the Saviour, " keep my Commandments." ^ fc //**«/ 
 
 But here, in a tone of amorous mystery, it ^/ < »/ / _ ^„y 
 
 is declared that until we become dead to the /jc. t i * f 
 
 law — that is, dead to his Commandments, for /y^-<. ♦//?<-' 
 
 they contain the law, and in them it consists—^ fa *»«^ *~* 
 
 we are neither empowered nor permitted to «^ ^^ 
 
 J. Newton, and others. On the Second Part, by th& ' * ' _/ 
 
 Reverend Dr. Hawker." Parti, p. 15. x ^*'"* f ( 
 

 pLt^JuA^ f f obey them ! A man must become dead to* 
 
 y > y the law, by f/*e iocfy of Christ, and mar- 
 
 - / ' ried Jo fttwr, and iAera, and nof fo7/ iAen, his 
 
 heart is sef «£ liberty to run the way of God's 
 
 As-i/iAy «* Commandments ! !^-If any man can understand 
 
 /^ CJyLt *■■£■*■ this language, he has powers of comprehension 
 
 L^ti^'H ns to which I lay no claim. But these doctrines 
 
 /Jt- JbA'fi «- °^ * ne anti-moralists [ suspect would be, in 
 
 ?i,t/. <£> <J many instances, even more pernicious and 
 
 &y*Jr A"* l~ fatal than they are, if the spiritual gibberish 
 
 X^rti't/fett'- f j ts Teachers did not weaken their efficacy 
 
 ■ ' *y J by destroying their meaning. 
 
 *t^»/vw*-* This note" is immediately followed by another, 
 
 1 .J- ' . . 
 
 %y c-i-f <*- which — in language sufficiently explicit and 
 
 rt&v^ sufficiently malignant — strives to excite the 
 
 A *• — most rancorous suspicions of the moral Clergy 
 
 A- ffL'eiU*, of the Establishment, to whom the Evangelists 
 
 Jit.*P I fikA.-ry of the new Church Militant so arrogantly 
 
 <- *\ >A oppose themselves. 
 
 /*! /5C-> — " Beware of taking men by their looks. 
 
 s They may look as gentle as lambs, while 
 
 the poison of asps is under their tongue; whereby 
 
 <-.y «f+>~ - they infect many souls with pernicious errors 
 
 A~* * *^f / and pestilent heresies, turning them from Christ, 
 
 £*». k*>'2- an< ^ tne no P e °* ^ u ^ justification and eternal 
 
life through him only, to look to, and rely s^ , /%-.* 
 
 upon, their own works, in whole, or in part, f j J / 
 for salvation*." ^>^»// A j?|.jC' a>/_ 
 
 What infatuation of error, what phrenzy of /? . y J 
 
 fanaticism, can instigate any man, or body j* ^ 
 
 of men, thus to write and to preach ? What ! . * ** 
 
 was the poison of asps under the tongue of * j. , j 
 
 the Redeemer when he taught men to look / , x. 
 and rely on their own works for salvation, and 
 
 confirmed his doctrine by this most plain /_T-_-/ f 
 
 and most impressive declaration — " For the /flr-ec £nur t 
 
 Son of Man shall come in the glory of his jty^D /&&/?*. 
 
 Father, with his angels, and then he shall ^^ ^ 
 
 REWARD EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS £ ^ C* »■ '*4?>iS 
 
 WORKS t ?" I $^^1 
 
 Was the poison of asps under his tongue *. /«•-<_ 
 
 when he delivered the Parable of the Talents» /- * 
 
 and assured his Disciples, and all the future <*, 
 
 &•*■*■■ 
 
 generations of the earth, that every one would " "C, 
 
 hereafter be rewarded according as he, by his . 
 own exertion, improved the talents committed 
 
 to his care?— And are mankind now to be ^^^^ iA t^A 
 
 taught, in direct defiance of this doctrine, y ^^t^t**^ 
 
 ,£? / " ' 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," parti, p. 16. {*C*l<9 y* **■*■ .~> 
 
 t Matt. xvi. 27. £<r S*£- / 
 
 H^ A ^- Ail* ?<~*4- v A- t->*/*~Us s~*/~e,*^-< «*>~> 
 
34 
 
 Neither to look to nor rely upon their own 
 •works, either in whole or in part, for sal- 
 tation ? 
 
 Was the poison of asps under His tongue, 
 when, in order to excite men to activity, 
 and to warn them lest they should fail to 
 attain salvation by carelessly sleeping at their 
 post, and neglecting those duties, as a reward 
 for the performance of which that salvation 
 would be alone bestowed ; — when, for the 
 sake of teaching more impressively this most 
 important truth, he used the following fa- 
 miliar comparison : — " For the Son of Man 
 is as a man taking a far journey, who 
 left his house, and gave authority to his 
 servants, and to every man his work, and 
 commanded the porter to watch. 
 
 " Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not 
 when the master of the house cometh ; at 
 even, or midnight, or at the cock-crowing, 
 or in the morning:. 
 
 " Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 
 
 " And what I say unto you, I say unto all. 
 Watch *." 
 
 * Mark xiii» 
 
So 
 
 Did bur Saviour infect many souls with 
 Pernicious errors when he led them to 
 hope for eternal life, not through him only, 
 without any reliance, in whole or in part, On 
 the fruits of their own moral exertions, but, 
 on the contrary, taught them to look to 
 these only for salvation ? When, after exhort* 
 ing them most earnestly to " bring forth 
 fruit worthy of repentance," he subjoins 
 the following most solemn protestation : — 
 " For now the axe is laid unto the root of 
 the trees, every tree, therefore, which bringeth 
 not forth good fruit, is hewn down and 
 
 CAST INTO THE FIRE *." 
 
 Did the Saviour of the World infect many 
 souls with pestilent heresies, when he referred 
 those to the law who inquired from him the way 
 to eternal life, and enjoined the fulfilment 
 of the moral duties which that law enjoins 
 as the sole foundation of their final accept- 
 ance and salvation ? 
 
 " And, behold, a certain Lawyer stood up, 
 and tempted him, saying, Master, what sha^ll 
 I do to inherit eternal life ? 
 
 * Luke iii. 
 
 c 2 
 
. ; . " He said unto him, What is written 
 
 / y IN THE LAW ? HOW READEST THOU ? 
 
 *0 , > / <•_ . 
 
 ""#■ ^ " And he answering, said, Thou shalt 
 
 j, • (~ '/ l° ve tne Lord thy- God with all thy heart, 
 A" /U(Mi i 4 "with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, 
 / r{ t J'% t ,frt*$ 'and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour 
 4*~~^2 as thyself. 
 
 /frh'cyj Pit't- ■ " And he said unto him, Thou hast answered 
 ^ right. This do, and thou shalt live *." 
 
 i ■ When these men behold their declarations 
 
 f thus pointedly disavowed by the language 
 
 / of the Saviour himself, what will they an- 
 
 swer ? Will they disclaim the authority of 
 **■ ^ e "^r^^ his word, as opposed to their own? or will 
 / they struggle to evade it by flying to the 
 
 /v ^^ _ Epistles, perverting the language of Saint Paul, 
 
 ^4-i.<^A^-< and pouring forth abuse and invective upon 
 /t^-A^h- t-y* 4 whoever shall thus have compared their Gospel 
 S^/% with the Gospel of God? That they will 
 
 aA^A**- '*'*■' *y carefully revise their creed, it were weakness 
 fur* t &~c^~~ to expect. They are supported at the ex- 
 fcj kz- ^J^Uu^pense of Christian truth — it is to these de- 
 rit^ti <~t rA*>ti . lusive doctrines that they owe their main- 
 
 'fa ~* . s£ "A~*~* *~* t^Z*****^ 
 
 a-. 
 
<JL. p ^a -* *£- £-2^ **<-<« r*~"z±* 
 « ^ <**/ ** ^«V, S7 ^ •* ^^ /r~ *^ r~7 
 
 tenance— their system of error is their daily J - £- 
 
 bread. They seem, for the purpose of sup- e^..^^. <?*, 
 
 porting their own scheme of faith, to have A j£*&tr*+' > 
 
 entered into a conspiracy to attack every &**& Art^y 
 
 advocate for the moral law of God and u^u^ s*&**, 
 
 the moral happiness of man. You may cite J , sg*^ 
 
 the language of the Redeemer, but if you ^J^.^, **^ 
 
 bring it forward to expose the perfidy of "~ 
 
 their teaching, and the delusion of their creed, / 
 
 the authority of the Redeemer himself will /^>- /C+*f-fi*t, 
 
 not save you from reproach and insult — it ^/^//'V/*^ 
 
 will serve only to embolden their insolence $L ^w-w*wc; 
 
 and imbitter their rage. /? J£s~ 0u*> C 
 
 If the Profligate consults this New Gospel A,-0fju~ £, 
 
 Directory, he will there find how speedily the <r> j * 
 
 " gripes of conscience" are cured — not by re- £ / 
 nouncing evil habits — not by a more steadfast ^ ^*v^** * ^'-v. 
 adherence to the will of Heaven, and a more ' & j£c^-/£>s&. c~- 
 strict fulfilment of religious duty — No ; the y,J {*-*•* j^*.-^ 
 Tinker settles matters much more expedi- /&, 4l0V<L' 
 tiously. This Evangelical Empiric has a 
 mystical prescription, which relieves the pa- A^y, j 
 
 4 
 
 tient without the difficult and tedious process /yuL t*'***-'*-?^ 
 of reinstating himself in the favour of God i^,-^ iJ/l\.ty^ 
 by ceasing do evil and learning to do well ; — **/%_ i<^t-^ 
 
 A^ i~ <* / 'iL. fa^, *'#^ , e,; } y£, ovw ^L X^f ^^'/i^^ t** 
 
4V1 
 
 , j // he administers but a single pill, and the 
 * cure is complete. But it will be worth while 
 
 . . to attend to the air of low-bred coarseness 
 
 ' and ludicrous impiety with which this mystic 
 
 tyre** ' ^ restorative is recommended. It will enable 
 
 fL irre+/rr' US) moreover, to take measure of the under-* 
 
 fib» C**"**~, standing of that order of Teachers by whom 
 
 /£ ,v«W«^/ the Tinker is reverenced as such an inva- 
 
 ft /%e~- liable Instructor. 
 
 , ■*■/ — " Now Matthew, the eldest son of Chris-* 
 
 / tiana, fell sick, and his sickness was sore 
 
 upon him, tor he was much pained in his 
 
 /*£. *f*-x.s*.s*C bowels, so that he was with it, at times, 
 
 *n. a/e^J, «-^ pulled, as it were, both ends together. There 
 
 •ft *4 0k JU~ ?*■*■/-: dwelt also, not far from thence, one Mr. Skill, 
 
 f / £ an ancient and well-approved physician ; so 
 
 . jr- Christiana desired it, and they sent for him, 
 
 ' and he came. When he was entered the 
 
 **- y ' / room, and had a little observed the boy, he 
 
 y^M.^v.'v*. A*A**c concluded that he was sick of the gripes. 
 
 $ /<yr?>- f/Kt Then he said to his mother, What diet has 
 
 jt *~.J( Matthew of late fed upon? Diet, said Christ 
 
 f tiana, nothing but what is wholesome. The 
 
 ' Physician answered, Thjs boy has been tam- 
 
 C4i6srtub<tki_ J pering with something that lies in his maw 
 
 fo -'t^.Jeufi£> rt^^*j rt&yi**' #**^j a./fMt 
 
!A-*/£^ tfl A*>1 £rJ/ iJZ*"* S^^*. /JcrH / <^ ^i *h* 
 
 ■ .. - — undigested, and that will not away without SU-si-hA*** * j 
 
 means; and I tell you he must be purged, or t-^ *J *-fo*>/*&^ 
 
 else he will die. yV teftriLe. i-r 
 
 " Sam. Then said Samuel, Mother, what was fy / ■ r- ./■<<. fjJ/Jij- 
 that which my brother did gather and eat, / jf TJCa~ 
 
 so soon as we were come from the gate that is " / „ . / 
 at the head of this way ? You know that ' ^ 
 
 there was an orchard on the left hand, on 
 
 the other side of the wall, and my brother i lt?fi VH 
 did pluck and did eat. £r>&** i ta£J 
 
 f 
 
 " Chr. True, my child, said Christiana, he ir&ivJH of a,i 
 
 did take thereof, and did eat; naughty boy c+clfa L / 
 as he was, I cbid him, and yet he would . Z-^/jr A > i 
 
 cat thereof. «^4w^ 
 
 " Skill. I knew he had eaten something • t / 
 
 that was not wholesome food ; and that food, —- 
 
 t.o wit, that fruit, is even the most hurtful 
 
 of all. It is the fruit of Beelzebub's orchard. &»*&" i 
 
 1 do marvel that none did warn you of it ; /WW A '-£* 
 many have died thereof. /^./a^-T^^j^C 
 
 "Then Christiana began to cry, and she J?j r~ccJ*L~ 
 said, O naughty boy] O careless mother! /l>*t4-€u.i/€S 
 
 What shall I do for my son ? fcAjfi, n£ k 
 
 " Skill. Come, do not be too much dejected; /rf fwJuc ' 
 
 
% Av^t c£*,£> tne D °y mSi y ^° we ^ a S am 5 but he must purge 
 
 ///t> 4- il Chr. Pray, Sir, try the utmost of your skill 
 , with him, whatever it costs. 
 
 " Skill. Nay, I hope I shall be reasonable; 
 
 t' ' ' I so he made him a purge, but it was too 
 
 Cm p>- f *C£4fi** wea k . jt was sa id it W as made of the blood 
 
 $.**-- M**** of a goat, the ashes of a heifer, and some 
 /fit** / uyJt^^t of the juice of hyssop, &c. When Mr. Skill 
 / s)rJL/Si4A n &d seen * na * ^at purge was too weak, he 
 ? made one to the purpose : it was made ex 
 
 . /"" > came ex sanguine Christi, John vi. 54 — 
 57 : Mark ix. 49 : Heb. ix. 14: (you know 
 t-Jt*** y physicians give strange medicines to their 
 
 patients:) and it was made into pills, with 
 a promise or two, and a proportionable quan- 
 tity of salt. Now he was to take them three 
 at a time, fasting, in half a quarter of a pint 
 of the tears tif repentance. When this po- 
 tion was prepared, and brought to the boy, 
 he was loth to take it, though torn with 
 the gripes, as if he should be pulled in pieces. 
 Come, come, said the physician, you must 
 take it. It goes against my stomach, said 
 
41 
 
 the boy. I must have you take it, said the 
 mother. I shall vomit it up again, said the 
 boy. Pray, Sir, said Christiana o Mr. Skill, 
 how does it taste ? It has no ill taste, said the 
 doctor ; and with that she touched one of the 
 pills with the tip of her tongue. Oh ! Matthew, 
 said she, this potion is sweeter than honey ; 
 if thou lovest thy mother, if thou lovest thy 
 brothers, if thou lovest Mercy, if thou lovest 
 thy life, take it. So with much ado, after 
 a short prayer for the blessing of God upon it, 
 he took it, and it wrought kindly with him, 
 It caused him to purge, to sleep, and rest 
 quietly : it put him into a fine heat and breath- 
 ing sweat, and rid him of his gripes *." 
 
 Can absurdity go beyond this? Can the 
 solemnity of the Gospel be more completely 
 burlesqued, or the repentant strugglings of 
 remorse more successfully ridiculed? — The 
 imbecility that could dictate such insane 
 nonsense can only be exceeded by the ig- 
 norance of its admirers. 
 
 In Bunyan we find the reverse of all that 
 is majestic and venerable ; — his mind, like a 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part ii. p. 56 — 58. 
 
42 
 
 tramper's bag, contains nothing but rags, 
 and even those lie in confusion. In his 
 hands every thing seems to become low and 
 ludicrous. 
 
 Mercy, one of the most sublime and most 
 exalted, one of the most Heavenly and most 
 affecting, attributes of the Deity ; that attri- 
 bute which, in every page of the Gospel, 
 speaks peace to the soul of the afflicted, and 
 pours the balm of consolation on the wounded 
 spirit — Mercy is here personified ; and, being 
 forsaken by Mr. Brisk, in a tone of vulgar 
 levity and indecent allusion she is made to 
 express herself thus : — ■ 
 
 — " Well, if nobody will have me, I will 
 die a maid, or 'vay conditions shall be to 
 me as a husband ; for JT cannot change my 
 nature; and to have one that lies cross to me 
 in this, that I purpose never to admit of as 
 long as I live *." 
 
 This lively damsel should confine her lan- 
 guage to the purlieus of Old Drury ; in that 
 circle it may be well received and well un- 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part ii. p. b6. 
 
43 
 
 derstood, but its admirers do not act wisely 
 to extend it further. 
 
 A young female, whose parents had been at 
 pains to preserve in her that modest sim- 
 plicity of mind which is the soul of moral 
 virtue, would not, I apprehend, be much edi- 
 fied by such an Evangelical dialogue as the 
 following :— 
 
 " Chr. Well, Neighbour Faithful, said 
 Christian, let us leave him, and talk of 
 things that more immediately concern our* 
 selves. Tell me now what you . have met 
 with in the way as you came ; for I know 
 you have met with some things, or else it 
 may be writ for a wonder. 
 
 " Faith. I escaped the slough that I per- 
 jceived you fell into, and got up to the gate 
 without that danger ; only I met with one 
 whose name was Wanton, that had like to 
 have done me a mischief. 
 
 " Chr. It was well you escaped her net : 
 Joseph was hard put to it by her, and he es- 
 caped her as you did ; but it had like to have 
 cost him his life. But what did she do to 
 you ? 
 
44 
 
 " Faith. You cannot think, (but that you 
 know something) what a flattering tongue she 
 had ; she lay at me hard to turn aside with her, 
 promising me all manner of content. 
 
 " Chr. Nay, she did not promise you the 
 content of a good conscience ? 
 
 " Faith. You know what I mean, all carnal 
 and fleshly content. 
 
 " Chr. Thank God, you have escaped her ; 
 the abhorred of the Lord shall fall into her 
 ditch. 
 
 " Faith. Nay, I know not whether I did 
 wholly escape her, or no. 
 
 " Chr. Why, I trow, you did not consent 
 to her desire ? 
 
 " Faith. No, not to defile myself ; for I 
 remembered an old writing that I had seen, 
 which said, • her steps take hold of hell. 5 
 
 " So I shut mine eyes, because I would not 
 be bewitched with her looks; then she railed 
 on me, and I went my way*." 
 
 This is extremely instructive ; — but it is not 
 quite so well calculated to form the minds 
 . 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part i. p. 69, 70. 
 
 . ^^, S***jn^r^7/ 
 
45 
 
 of the female circle in any decent family 
 as it is to please the taste of the Visitants 
 of easy virtue which Mrs. Lightmind describes 
 herself, with great delicacy, to have met at 
 Mrs. Wanton's rout, and whose names, with 
 true feminine modesty \ she thus announces : — 
 
 — " I was yesterday at Madam Wanton's, 
 where we were as merry as the maids. For 
 who do you think should be there but I 
 and Mrs. Love-the-Flesh, and three or 
 four more, with Mrs. Lechery, Mrs. Filth, 
 and some others ? So there we had music and 
 dancing, and what else was meet to Jill up the 
 pleasure; and I dare say my lady herself 
 is an admirably well-bred gentlewoman, and 
 Mr. Lechery is as pretty a fellow *." — . 
 
 If this work forms — as we are told it does — 
 the Treasure of Divinity in the poor 
 man's cottage, I think it not likely that the 
 morals of his children will be much mended 
 by it. Sure I am, that no father of a fa- 
 mily, that can at all estimate the importance 
 of keeping from the infant mind whatever 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part ii. p. 13. 
 
fiyr j might raise impure ideas or excite improper* 
 
 . inquiries* will ever commend the Pilgrim'* 
 forest- k,a**~.™-i 
 
 j ' Progress to their perusal. 
 
 '"y 1 ' Young people — and old people too, some- 
 
 fZi xAf&ety-o |.j mes — rea( j w ithout affixing any meaning to 
 
 /jW/W' their words. It is fortunate, as it respects 
 
 ffe*'t~£~t-/ the work before us, that they do so, other- 
 
 f/\ ^u~, r I* w i se the words and phrases that perpetually 
 
 d-iif ** occur in this "Treasure of Divinity" are 
 
 y'V/** ^^V ?l/ *' suc h as n0 m oral Instructor of youth would 
 
 _ ^^.em*. />"«- debauch their innocent minds by explaining. 
 
 /& /<**&**"* Can any thing be more indecently coarse 
 
 fX^ tJ ^ i than to describe Christ as passing through 
 
 fas*c'fr.v*<' what is termed Vanity Fair,^ which is described, 
 
 f^ t,k-i<*te*-t» in the grossest terms, as consisting, among 
 
 'it /&l~-vc£' other things, " of lusts, pleasures, and delights 
 
 d MA^-y °f all sorts, as whores, bawds," &c. * ! ! ! 
 
 A^/X^v t * s tn is divinity ! ! ! Is this the inimitable 
 
 i 'jt J book, " which," as its Evangelical Editors 
 
 .A f are pleased to tell us, " only they who have 
 
 1 y/~ * ne e ^ es °^* their mind enlightened by the 
 
 v, Spirit of God can fully enter into j" ? " . • 
 
 ££%* ~ * *?* J**** 1 ** ***** 
 
 ' " Pilgrim's Progress," part i. p. 29. 
 
 * tt 
 
 yi~ 
 
 t See Preface, Variorum Edition, p. 6. y //%. 
 
47 
 
 Independent of the shameful and shocking 
 association of the agonies of the Redeemer 
 with such allusions as are here connected 
 with it, let us ask whether the female mind is 
 likely to be trained to purity by studying this 
 Manual of Piety, and by expressing its devo- 
 tional desires after the following example:— 
 
 " Mercy, being a young and breeding woman, £?_ *,_ *. & 
 longed for something that she saw there, but ^jftts. s 
 was ashamed to ask. Her Mother-in-law then /^^^C-^/f-**/' 
 asked her what she ailed, for she looked as ^/^ ?** 
 one not well ; then said Mercy, There is a lycXvt A 
 looking-glass hangs up in the dining-room, i/l^/Uu^jUf^ 
 off which I cannot take my mind ; if, there- ;/ ft^^t 
 fore, I have it not, I think I shall miscarry. y>c<~/fi*<^- 
 Then, said her Mother, I will mention thy z. /fy-fktA.. 
 wants to the shepherds, and they will not jfti4»/ 
 deny it thee ; but she said, / am ashamed f+t~6/ 
 that these men should know that I have v^^k.^/t 
 longed. Nay, my daughter, said she, it is 
 no shame, but a virtue, to long for such a 
 thing as that ; so Mercy said, Then, mother, 
 if you please, ask the shepherds if they are 
 willing to sell it. 
 
 "Now the glass was one of a. thousand; 
 
48 
 
 it would present a man, one way, with his 
 own features exactly ; and turn it but another 
 way, and it would shew one the very face 
 and similitude of the Prince of Pilgrims 
 himself. Yes, I have talked with them that 
 can tell, and they have said, That they have 
 seen the very crown of thorns upon his head, 
 by looking in that glass ; they have therein 
 also seen the holes in his hands, his feet, 
 and in his side. Yea, such an excellency 
 is there in that glass, that it will shew him 
 to one, where they have a mind to see him, 
 whether living or dead; whether in earth or 
 in Heaven ; whether in a state of humiliation, 
 or in his exaltation ; whether in coming to 
 suffer, or coming to reign. 
 
 Ch ristiana, therefore, went to the shepherds 
 apart, (now the "names of the shepherds were 
 Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sin- 
 cere,) and said unto them, There is one of 
 my daughters, a breeding woman, that, I think, 
 doth long for something that she hath seen 
 in this house, and she thinks she shall mis- 
 carry if she should by you be denied *." 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part ii. p. 114,115. 
 
49 
 
 This, assuredly, is not the manner in which 
 religion was taught by the Evangelists of 
 old. This style of teaching seems much 
 better calculated to excite a spirit of ridicule 
 than a spirit of devotion. Children disci- 
 plined under this Tutor will make a profi- 
 ciency not very serviceable to their morals, 
 if they are at all inquisitive. Should a 
 talkative old nurse turn commentator on 
 Bunyas's text, how greatly will the inno- 
 cence and modesty of the rising generation 
 be indebted to her annotations. 
 
 The account which Mr. Standfast gives of 
 the attack made on his chastity by Madam 
 Bubble is not adapted to produce very 
 pious impressions in a female circle, or 
 to cherish very exalted sentiments of de- 
 licacy : — " She presented herself to me," — 
 says the demure and modest Mr. Standfast, — 
 "and offered me three things, to wit, her body, 
 her purse, and her bed : now, the truth is, 
 I was both weary and sleepy : I am as poor 
 as a howlet, and that, perhaps, the witch 
 knew. Well, I repulsed her once and again ; 
 but sh^ put by my rejmlses, and smiled ; then I 
 
 n 
 
began to be angry, but she mattered that no- 
 thing at all. Then she made offers again, and 
 said, if I would be ruled by her, she would 
 make me great and happy ; for, said she, I am 
 the mistress of the world, and men are made 
 happy by me. Then I asked her name, and 
 she told me it was Madam Bubble *." 
 
 The fantastic effusions of John Bunyan ; 
 afford delight to kindred minds ; his sec- 
 tarian jargon is exactly seasoned to the re- 
 ception of illiterate enthusiasts ; its coarseness 
 is suited to their taste, and its language to 
 their capacity. In an age of gross credulity 
 and superstition, when books of all kinds 
 were scarce, such an allegory was a novelty 
 likely ertough to be popular. A fabulous 
 narrative would be perused With avidity, 
 when a lecture on moral duty would be laid 
 aside. Hills and valleys, lions and dragons, 
 the attack of Great-heart on the renowned 
 Giant Slay-good, the demolition of, Doubt- 
 ing-castle, and the destruction of s : the grim 
 Giant Despair ; — all this amuses children, and 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part ii. p» 126. 
 
51 
 
 men with the capacity of children. They 
 are delighted with such suppositious achieve- 
 ments ; and, finding them well sprinkled with 
 doctrinal texts and doctrinal tenets, they are 
 in raptures. But men of sound sense ' and 
 sober judgment do not love to find the 
 revelation of God blended with the visions 
 of a Bigot ; — they cannot bear that the so- 
 lemn truths of Christianity should be inter- 
 mixed with the fooleries of a Fanatic. Such 
 persons venerate religion too much to endure 
 that its sublime precepts should be allegorized 
 into unmeaning nonsense, and the sacred word 
 of the Saviour and his Apostles frittered away 
 and perverted by a Tinker and a Dreamer 
 of Dreams. 
 
 John Bunyan certainly came most deplor- 
 ably qualified to be a Public Instructor ; 
 according to the account given us by his 
 present Editors*, who are amply indulgent, 
 — " He was called to the knowledge and 
 ministry of the Gospel from a low state of 
 life, as well as from a vicious course of con" 
 
 * Messrs. Hawker, Binder, and Company, 
 D 2 
 
m 
 
 venation,- and was unfurnished with human 
 literature ."-*-Now vulgarity, and vice, and 
 ignorance, let the Tinker's advocates say 
 what they will, are woeful preparatives for 
 those who assume the arduous and respon- 
 sible situation of Religious Teachers in: a 
 corrupt and populous community. It is not 
 uncommon in these days; as in the days that 
 are past, for illiterate enthusiasts, puzzled 
 with mysteries and pulled up with self-con- 
 ceit, to undertake the conversion of mankind. 
 It is not uncommon for the Carpenter to throw 
 aside his. .awl, and the Cobbler his lap-stone, 
 to become Preachers of the Word, and Stewards 
 of the Mysteries. An empty head and a 
 heated imagination are the only tools such 
 persons bring iP the task of regenerating the 
 wqrld ;- — they . mistake the fermentation of the 
 leaven of vanity for the workings of the: Spirit 
 of grace. Under the auspices of such Spiritual 
 Guides, where at last shall we be led ? ! ! 
 Under the tuition of such Oracles, what in 
 the end shall- we learn?!! 
 
 With respect to the Doctrines into which 
 the youthful-'mind is initiated by this com- 
 
53 
 
 pendium of the New Gospel, we shall take 
 as a specimen that of " imputed righteous- 
 kess." If the reader has ever found more 
 of extravagant delusion or of stupid per- 
 plexity than is crowded into the following 
 space, he is more conversant with the gabble 
 and blasphemy of this class of Teachers than 
 any man of sound mind need wihh to be. 
 
 — " Now, said Christiana, it comes to my 
 mind what was said to us at the gate ; to 
 wit, That we should have pardon by word 
 and deed : by word, that is, by the promise ; by 
 deed, to wit, in the way it was obtained. 
 What the promise is, of that I know some- 
 thing ; but what it is to have pardon by 
 deed, or in the way that it was obtained, 
 Mr. Great- heart, I suppose you know ; which, 
 if you please, let us hear you discourse 
 thereof. 
 
 " Great-heart. Pardon by the deed done 
 is pardon obtained by some one for another 
 that hath need thereof; not by the person 
 pardoned, but in the way, saith another, in 
 which I have obtained it. So then, to speak 
 to the question more at large, this pardon 
 
54 
 
 is that which you and Mercy, and these 
 boys, have attained by another; to wit, by 
 Him that let you in at the gate; and he 
 hath obtained it in this double way ; he has 
 performed righteousness to cover you, and spilt 
 
 BLOOD TO WASH YOU IN. - 
 
 " Chr. But if he parts with his righte- 
 ousness to us, what will he have for himself? 
 
 " Great-heart. He has more righteousness 
 than you have need of, or than he needeth 
 himself, 
 
 " Chr. Pray make that appear. 
 
 " Great-heart. With all my heart : but first 
 I must premise, that He, of whom we are now 
 about to speak, is one that hath not his fellow. 
 He has two natures in one person, plain to be 
 distinguished, impossible to be divided. Unto 
 each of these natures a righteousness belongeth, 
 and each righteousness is essential to that 
 nature ; so that one may as easily cause the 
 nature to be extinct, as to separate its justice 
 or its righteousness from it. Of these righte- 
 ousnesses, therefore, we are not made par- 
 takers, so as that they, or any of them, 
 should be put upon us, that we might be 
 
55 
 
 made just, and live thereby. Besides these, 
 there is a righteousness which this person 
 has, as these two natures are joined in one : 
 and this is not the righteousness of the 
 Godhead, as distinguished from the manhood ; 
 nor the righteousness of the manhood, as 
 distinguished from the Godhead ; but a righte- 
 ousness which standeth in the union of both 
 natures, and may properly be called the 
 righteousness that is essential to his being 
 prepared of God to the capacity of the me- 
 diatory office which he was intrusted with. 
 If he parts with his first righteousness, hte 
 parts with his Godhead; if he parts with 
 his second righteousness, he parts with the 
 purity of his manhood ; if he parts with his 
 third, he parts with that perfection which 
 capacitates him to the office of mediation. 
 He has, therefore, another righteousness, which 
 standeth in performance or obedience to a 
 revealed will ; and that is that he puts upon 
 sinners, and that by which their sins are 
 covered : wherefore he saith, ' As by one man 5 
 •disobedience many were made sinners, so by 
 
56 
 
 the obedience of one shall many be made 
 righteous *.' 
 
 " Chr. But are the other righteousnesess of 
 no use to us ? 
 
 " Great-heart. Yes : for though they are es- 
 sential to his nature and offices, and cannot 
 be communicated unto another, yet it is 
 by virtue of them that the righteousness 
 that justifies is for that purpose efficacious. 
 
 * This text, from St, Paul, gives not the slightest coun- 
 
 f/1,^ /^w tenance, when properly understood, to the unscriptural doc- 
 
 . trine in support of which the blindfold followers of Calvin 
 
 fi#v i-C •CJykyUHt/ perpetually quote it. Its interpretation is simply this : — As 
 
 , - } t -r by following the fatal example of one man's disobedience 
 
 many were made sinners, so by that pattern of perfect obe- 
 
 i/l^T 9**~j *■*" dience which Christ has set before us shall many be made 
 
 A ^TV , d-i, righteous. — This passage, thus understood, is as true as it 
 
 TJ i ; is intelligible, and is equally consistent with reason and 
 
 4^t*^<W^ 1 - Scripture. 
 
 >f a/!~Z> u-$ So contradictory is error, that, even by their perverse in- 
 
 / terpretation of this passage to support one of their doc- 
 
 lf^ C(T~ t ' 1 v trines, they destroy another. For example, it is not said 
 
 f 'iff l-(/'rl / ~^ that all, but that many, were made sinners; thus the 
 
 ' . .. tfKtt doctrine of the original depravity of all men is disaffirmed. 
 
 vs - t Even their very doctrine of imputed righteousness is con- 
 
 fr-w- &~*j ' . tradicted by if, for it is truly averred that many shall be 
 
 A- Ifa l^CcrJ righteous, and they, it is said, shall actually become so; 
 
 ,y they shall be made righteous, as all will be who follow 
 
 <f£hJ'l- "e'r him who " died setting us an example that we should follow , 
 
 £/*& ***T* his steps," ,j 
 
 ■- 
 
t^ AC* /ue^ A K* 57 # '" ^C > - - • 7 ^f^ f*f ~^ 
 
 The righteousness of his Godhead gives virtue -n.*/^, «-#*;£ 
 to his obedience ; the righteousness of his ^**- ( *~r- 
 manhood giveth capability to his obedience to r* 
 
 justify ; and the righteousness that standeth " 
 
 „ . . . ^iA fc 
 
 in the union of these two natures to nis ^ 
 
 office giveth authority to that righteousness . 
 
 to do the work for which it was ordained. / 
 
 " So then here is a righteousness that Christ, . . • . 
 
 as God, has no need of; for he is God without f /, 
 
 it : here is a righteousness that Christ, as man, • 
 
 has no need of to make him so ; for he is '**' ( /*' i> 
 
 perfect man without it: again, here is a **■*■'— /*^~ 
 
 righteousness that Christ, as God-man, has ^^,, 
 
 no need of; for he is perfectly so without 
 
 it. Here is a righteousness that Christ, as , 
 
 God, and God-man, hath no need of, with 
 
 reference to himself, and therefore he can / 
 
 spare it; a justifying righteousness, that he tt-m**^ 
 
 for himself wanteth not, and therefore giveth • j/ ^ / *; 
 
 it away ; hence it is called the gift of righte- *-'?&"**? 
 
 ousness. This righteousness, since Christ ** _' **■ 
 
 Jesus the Lord has made himself under the 
 
 law, must be given away ; for the law doth * *" 
 
 not only bind him that is under it to do ' -C" y 
 
 justly, but to use charity; wherefore he must, £s\ fJ 
 
frtt>~r^ fr*~ & /-~ &~ ^5 / ** A S*<*~dl - **- ^~ 
 
 ^^ ~ * a. i*^ h^a v^ ~ ; f V 
 
 T r . and ought by the law, if he hath two coats, 
 
 ^./ : f£* to give one to him that hath none. Now 
 
 A.t^v~j ~< our Lord, indeed, hath two coats, one for 
 
 fi 4+^ *•*■** himself., and one to spare; wherefore he freely 
 
 * ' ' bestows one upon those who have none. And 
 
 ftAt , YfW- thus ^ Christiana and Mercy, and the rest of 
 
 * > **- u ' *■"*'*' you that are here, doth your pardon come 
 
 lrc-uv*L*n »j .jjy j eet j ? or |jy t ue WO rk f another man. 
 
 r% tff-^kJ Your Lord Christ is he that worketh, and 
 
 Y^*' 7 hath given away what he wrought for to 
 
 ^a*^> • the next poor beggar that he meets. 
 
 £**w *~* " But again, in order to pardon by deed, 
 
 J^tt*. t*i\sO there must something be paid to God as a 
 
 if- £*.' A 7 price, as well as something prepared to cover 
 
 £fjviJ*4> us withal. Sin has delivered us up to the 
 
 /£; fn^*5* just curse of a righteous law. Now from 
 
 ■ f 1 jt l/b^t * n * s curse we must be justified by way of 
 
 ' redemption, a price being paid for the harms 
 
 fry gv~**~ 
 
 ~ we have done; and this is by the blood of 
 
 j /?-, your Lord, who came and stood in your 
 
 iA.IA^/ ***** P^ ace an d stead, and died your death for 
 
 tfi '' ea.'K- / y our transgressions. Thus has he ransomed 
 
 // ^ you from your transgressions by blood, and 
 
 e ir--cv*~i &~ covered your polluted and deformed souls 
 
 r> . . // with righteousness ; for the sake of which 
 
 ±44 l*r£ £v- 
 
 ii**<iii^/«f <-■ a* iw /*-<K £*. ***** A^-^v/* J £ *~ 
 
 k!eij«^ A A A& ****£/& <? &* XJ^#** 
 

 God jsa»e<A 6y */o«, and will not hurt ^ ^^/^ 
 
 YOU WHEN HE COMES TO JUDGE THE WORLD. f- ' ^> 
 
 " CAr. TAis zs brave: now I see that tb'"-' 1 
 
 
 is something to be learned by our being par- /, > 
 doned by word and deed*." — ^J^JLc £y*h>- '" 
 
 Can the eternal truths of Christianity be ^- itrrt /^. 1 
 
 more shockingly perverted? — Can the awful //-?-'/> 
 
 declarations of the Gospel be more effectually /£, / -a 
 
 annulled? — Can the most abandoned offenders . . 
 
 any where meet with more encouragement, , . . * 
 or the most obdurate criminals look tor better 
 
 consolation ?— Yet such is the Treasure of ft ***•/+"*** 
 
 Divinity so precious to the devotion of the ^* '*■' 
 
 new order of Saints ! ! Such are the effusions */.- " 
 
 of that Miracle of Theology, the Tinker of /tc^i^»u4J 
 
 Bedfordf!!! ^4 &- 
 
 * " Pilgrim's Progress," part ii. p. 38 — 40. ^jfcyowt// 
 
 f Such is the invaluable Instructor, the mention of whose / ^/T 
 
 name drew forth from the Eclectic Review such fierce and / 
 
 furious invective : — " In suffering the name of Bunyan to /W'«' ,t '" 
 
 flow from his pen, the writer," it is there said, " gives /> /jL. l 
 
 proof of infatuation scarcely consistent with mental sanity. 
 It was fitting that such should be the penalty of sacrilege, 
 
 /t~ 
 
 /*4** 
 
 that the disturber of the dead should be smitten with 
 fatuity in his unholy work, and, issuing from the desecrated 
 sepulchre, should announce, in the gibberish of his exulta- 
 tion, the punishment of his awful temerity ! ! !" — Were the 
 proprietors of the Eclectic Review — these Critics of the 
 Sanctuary — indebted for this valuable stricture to the pen 
 of Mr. Styles ? — I suspect so ; for, besides that the maniac 
 
60 
 
 • But this Paragon of Purity — this Oracle of 
 the Sans Culottes of Methodism — on what 
 
 spirit of the passage betrays its author, the passage itself is 
 vamped up again, and made to apply to the writer in the 
 Edinburgh Review, who exposed the insanity of Methodism 
 and Missions : " As if the aufxd spirit of Christianity," says 
 he, " had smote him with fatuity, he drivels and creeps with 
 the meanness of a Grub-street Pamphleteer, &c.f" This 
 is a sample of criticism, according to " the peculiar prin- 
 ciples of Evangelical Religion ! ! " 
 
 The Edinburgh Reviewers had observed, and with 
 great truth, that " the regular Clergy endeavour to do that 
 which, upon the whole, and for a great number of years, 
 will be found to be the most admirable and most useful."— 
 Mr. Styles, like the rest of the brethren with whom be so 
 proudly associates himself, can suffer no tribute of praise, 
 not even the slightest, to be paid lo the character or conduct 
 of the regular Clergy. — " These. Clergymen," — says this 
 Evangelical Preacher, in reply to the above observation, — 
 " these Clergymen have had a clear stage for a great num- 
 ber of years ; they have been surrounded with every pos- 
 sible advantage ; they have had no prejudice to encounter ; 
 from no sphere of labour have they been excluded ; our 
 universities, our cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, pre- 
 sented them with a wide field, of which, indeed, they 
 were the first occupiers. But what benefit, it may be confi- 
 dently asked, has the community at large derived from their 
 exertions during the last century ? " — This insolent aspersion 
 of the Church Clergy, with much more of the same cast, 
 is followed by a sycophantic eulogy in favour of the 
 Preachers of Methodism : — " It is strikingly obvious," we 
 are told, " that the smallest deviation from moral purity 
 entirely destroys the influence of the Evangelical Preacher 
 among his flock. Let him be distinguished by the spirit 
 
 t " Strictures on the Edinburgh Review, on the Subject of Me- 
 thodism and Missions, &c. By John Styles." P. 87. 
 
61 
 
 score of merit is it that his Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress is thus trumpeted to the skies? It is 
 
 of the ivorld, let him once depart from the dictates of that 
 religion which he has embraced, and whieh demands the 
 highest moral worth, and his authority is at an end, and he 
 must either join the Orthodox Clergy, or be for ever 
 silenced f." Is this really the alternative? and has Mr. Styles 
 the barefaced impudence to make this assertion? Does 
 he not himself know the person against whom a Grand 
 Jury found a Bill of Indictment for an infamous Libel on 
 the resident Clergyman of the place in which he first 
 commenced his Gospel labours, and that the Ministry of this 
 Libeller is nevertheless not deserted ? Does he not himself 
 know the Seducer who concealed the illegitimate issue of 
 his crime, lest the publicity of the fact should preclude his 
 admission to the Seminar}' at Hoxton ? And can he affirm 
 that this culprit, in consequence of this small deviation 
 from moral purity, either found himself compelled to join 
 the Orthodox Clergy, or was f or ■ ever silenced? As 
 these facts must be within the recollection of Mr. Styles, 
 it is hoped he will, in future, not be so forgetful as to 
 calumniate the Clergymen of the Establishment with such 
 Pharisaic arrogance, or to pledge himself so stoutly to the 
 purity of that immaculate Priesthood which he presses for- 
 ward with such strutting self-importance to defend. 
 
 As to his Epistle, purporting to. be " A Vindication 
 of the Nature and Effect of Evangelical Preaching," it is 
 written in a tone of drunken insolence which can excite no 
 feeling but of contempt. 
 
 Perhaps the most comprehensive and correct Critique on 
 this Pamphlet was given by a friend of mine, who, throwing 
 it by, after the perusal of it, said — " This fellow argues 
 like a Fool, and writes like a Blackguard." 
 
 t " Strictures on the Edinburgh Review," &c. P. 7l,etseq. 
 
obviously this '.—Because it lays in the infant 
 mind the foundation of those doctrines which 
 make up the Creed of the New Church. 
 We have seen the prominent figure which 
 the favourite doctrine of " imputed righte- 
 ousness" makes in this wonderful allegory ; 
 we shall now turn to it as it is condensed 
 in the " Declaration" containing the Ar- 
 ticles of Faith, which every Student edu- 
 cated in the Academies which yearly send 
 forth their swarm of Gospel Preachers 
 over the land is bound to subscribe *." 
 The following. is an extract from 
 " Article VII. All that are saved 
 are justified by the righteousness of Christ, 
 imputed to them. God pardons their sins, 
 and accepts them as righteous, not on ac- 
 count of any thing in them, or done by 
 them, but for Christ's sake alone." 
 
 Is it possible to pause even for a moment on 
 
 * Entitled, " A Declaration as to some controverted 
 Points of Christian Doctrine." It is not sold, but is pub- 
 lished for the private use of the Students of Hoxton and 
 Homerton, and such other Seminaries of the Saints. I 
 shall take a future opportunity of making it a subject of 
 more detailed investigation. 
 
63 
 
 this doctrine, and not' shrink backward with 
 terror ? Is this the belief to be poured, through 
 a thousand channels, into the minds Of the pro- 
 fligate populace of this great city ? Can we 
 ponder over the practical consequences of this 
 creed, and not find our attention rivetted in 
 horror ? Call forth the Robber from his cavern, 
 and the midnight Murderer from his den ; sum- 
 mon the Seducer from his couch, and beckon 
 the Adulterer from his embrace ; cite the Swin- 
 dler to appear, that feeds on the bread of hun- 
 gered industry, and the Procuress, that lies in 
 wait for innocence, and fattens on the price of 
 prostitution ; assemble from every quarter all 
 the various miscreants whose vices deprave, and 
 whose villanies distress, mankind ; — and when 
 they are thus thronged round you in a circle, 
 assure them — not that there is a God that 
 judgeth the earth — not that punishment in the 
 great day of retribution will await their crimes 
 — not that they must repent and turn away 
 from the wickedness which they have commit- 
 ted, and do that which is lawful and right if 
 they would save their souls alive : no, let no r* -* ^* , 
 declarations of this stamp be addressed to them ; 
 
A*u/ i 
 
 /- _^. let no exhortations of this sort be heard: all 
 ifl *s*~s tms wou ^ damp the ardour of villany, and 
 "j alarm the hardihood of guilt. Let every sinner 
 
 . . . / in the throng be told that they will stand justi- 
 
 / &r7 i ' j} e( i before God ; that the righteousness of Christ 
 T^Cv^^y \i\W. be imputed to them. ; and that consequent- 
 f**" 1 ly they will be precisely in the same condition 
 
 tt*\vtl?t* as if they had led a life of the utmost holiness ; 
 ft fli/f *J that the not forsaking their guilty courses will 
 $\&~^. Jitf" not intercept their certainty of salvation, for 
 ^/A<- God pardons their sins, and accepts them as 
 di I'AK/l righteous, by imputation, and without being at 
 y - ^ all influenced by any act done by them; that 
 /j ju^^ their own righteousness will profit them no- 
 thing, and of course the practice of it is unne- 
 cessary, because it is useless, and superfluous, 
 
 n fu,; - ' : .... 
 
 because it is unavailing. 
 ***"*>. ' Let us Jook at this doctrine as it is preached 
 i, -■> */H7**tayj to t jj e servan ts 5 mechanics, and ignorant farm- 
 Tlric^r A ing men in our villages, and we shall not won- 
 frtjte *// ^y der that they flock to " hear the word," as it is 
 A^t^e-^ expounded from the pulpit of their Evangelical 
 W&**fi***>i Minister. . 
 
 f_^ \jjjt i/j — " The righteousness of Christ is to and 
 Ft ft ' JUx.i upon all who believe in mm : it is trans- 
 it /^L^t *'&£• 4 #«*"'* ^A^l/^r/^ f^' 
 9*&*iv~. j/^ty** few*' y (t-t^~ —7— v 
 
 y 
 
*" K *\1^+ A*AS"*, ** ********* ~* A; 
 
 I ce~fr, **» *~* ^ 4%~&- ^M^?^ 
 
 f erred to them, imputed to them, or reckoned to s5*-**^ t ^'*y ' 
 
 their account, as if they had themselves * 
 
 performed it ; and on this ground it is that ' 
 
 they are admitted into the realms of light and • / 
 
 glory : therefore are they before the throne, be- ■*■"«-< * 
 
 cause they have washed their robes, and made //piU^T^ 
 
 them white in the i/ooc? of the Lamb, and not /Cr4*~*s£&~^ 
 
 on account of any goodness, virtue, or good J? y*v~S 
 
 works of their own*." / jL) 
 
 Again: " All have sinned, sin being the 
 
 transgression of the law. How, then, can * 
 
 any man, being a sinner, become righteous? «-^>*- £■ 
 
 There is but one way : it is to the righteousness ♦/^^7/t'*- ^ — 
 
 of Christ, put to the account of an unrighteous ^.^ /C*^t fa^- 
 
 Whoever encourages men to expect the re- /r-^lr tfSLZ^ 
 
 ward of virtue without the practice of it, lays A»^y4^f *rf 
 
 the axe at the root of all religion. That the /t~ S *rj£jL 
 
 Calvinistic Priesthood do this is most manifest. /y ir S 
 
 If all the swindlers who live by fraud and de- j— ' 
 predation on this town of London are to have 
 
 the righteousness of Christ transferred to them, 
 and placed to their account, as if they had them- 
 
 
 * Burder's Village Sermons, Sertn. 19> p. 5. •? » - 
 
 t Ibid. Serm. h, p. 141. ft../* J* 
 
 A^v* o6--''-'i-« > *s*^ A^v^ /Vt*«~ fct-tjr r&rJ- y £y. .£, <U*iA***~*~ 
 
 J, 
 
 LU^ 
 
 A*J 
 
 
A*'ii-c-**-''^y selves performed it, what have they to fear? 
 
 £<•>>-*»''«-* ( ~"' - Can men be better tempted to continue in 
 
 ^ve^ A£^ % ^^ their habit of wickedness by any doctrine that 
 
 fcT/ Atheism can frame, or that Infidels can teach ? 
 
 . Tt is a doctrine which every bad man will will- 
 
 /**'7** r ' ingly embrace, because it absolves him here- 
 
 *<r /uc^^tL.i*y after from all personal responsibility ; but if a 
 
 / £ > V thinking man should adopt it, he must from 
 
 / f tnat time shut up his Bible, or he will infallibly 
 
 *%<^Afi%}' disturb his faith. 
 
 That a sinner should be accounted righteous 
 is a contradiction in terms. A housebreaker 
 can never be accounted an honest man on the 
 score of another person's integrity. An adul- 
 terer may find some one to stand surety for 
 the damages awarded against him ; but protect- 
 ing him from the penal consequences of his 
 guilt can never make him righteous. Suppose 
 Howard had been content to suffer instead of 
 '" . Abershaw, the benevolent actions of that great 
 
 / ' philanthropist could in no manner be imputed to 
 
 /*■(■(''* Cl^ yniJy j na t desperate murderer, as if he had performed 
 t /^tT'Vl'Vtl . them. The thing is not possible. He would 
 Mc jJk.'JLiJ have been an acquitted felon, and nothing more. 
 / * 3 He that doeth righteousness is righteous: thus 
 
i x ^- ^**^ v 
 
 67 
 
 Says the Scripture ; and none but an ideot or an 
 infidel would dare to give the lie to it by de- 
 claring that he that doeth unrighteousness is ac- 
 counted righteous. Will the drunkard, in the 
 Day of Judgment, be held to have lived soberly, 
 or the highwayman to have led a life of ho- 
 nesty? When that great day shall arrive, will 
 chastity be imputed to the licentious, or piety / 
 
 trunsfcrred to the profane ? — How is it possible 
 that men in their senses can teach such a doc- 
 trine ? How is it possible they can so shamefully 
 deceive others, or so grossly impose upon them- 
 selves ? 
 
 Let us refer to the Parables of our Saviour. 
 Were industry and diligence imputed to the 
 slothful steward that hid his talent in the 
 earth ? Were the foolish virgins accounted wise ? 
 or, having neglected to supply their lamps with 
 oil, were they accounted to have kept them 
 burning ? John Bunyan, indeed, tells us that 
 Christ has a coat more than he wants, and that 
 with this he covers the sinner ; but it appears 
 that the man who was found at the marriage 
 supper, not having on a wedding garment, had 
 no covering of this kind presented to hinv; but 
 
 e2 
 
68 
 
 that, on the contrary, he was consigned over 
 to the punishment pronounced against such as 
 had neglected to prepare themselves. Has the 
 Saviour any where promised that his righteous- 
 ness should be placed to the account of an un- 
 righteous man ? Has he led mankind in any 
 manner, by his precepts or his • conduct, to 
 infer it ? When we read that the unprofitable 
 servant was ordered " to be cast into utter dark- 
 ness," what becomes of the doctrine of trans- 
 fer ? Was he by virtue of Christ's righteousness 
 accounted a profitable servant ? Were vigour 
 and fruitfulness imputed to the barren fig- 
 tree, or was it withered by a curse ? — It was 
 when Paul reasoned of righteousness, temper- 
 ance, and judgment to come, that Felix trem- 
 bled. What consolation would it have afforded 
 to the Roman Governor to have learned that 
 the Saviour, having passed his life in doing 
 good, his righteousness would be placed to the 
 account of the wicked, and on that ground he 
 would be admitted in the realms of light and 
 glory ? — Such a doctrine as this to a bad man 
 can never come ill-timed : it always meets his 
 conscience at the convenient season. Never 
 
69 
 
 will he say to the Preacher of it, as Felix did 
 to the Apostle of the Gentiles, " Go thy way 
 for this time." 
 
 To ascend the steep of virtue is a task of 
 great labour and perpetual vigilance : it is much 
 easier to loiter below, and to believe that an- 
 other has ascended in our stead, and that he will 
 bestow on our indolence the reward of his per- 
 severance ! 
 
 Righteousness is a term of extensive im- 
 port, and includes in it the discharge of all 
 those duties which constitute a Christian life ; 
 but those duties, to be conscientiously fulfilled, 
 require great forbearance on our part, and 
 great exercise of self-denial. Nothing can be 
 more commodious than to get rid of all this 
 difficulty, by having faith in some High-Priest 
 of the new Temple, who will assure us that all 
 righteousness has been fulfilled for us, and will 
 be placed to our account, as if we had ourselves 
 fulfilled it ; and that a life of piety and obedi- 
 ence will no more contribute to our future salva- 
 tion than a life of impiety and disobedience ; for 
 that mankind are not admitted into Heaven on 
 
70 
 
 account of any goodness, virtue, or goob 
 works of their own. 
 
 An Apostle, indeed, tells us, that " the Lord 
 knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temp- 
 tation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day 
 of judgment to he punished*." But this is 
 the old Gospel, and is not at all suited to the 
 sinner's necessities. , The new dispensation is of 
 quite another stamp. It declares to the unjust 
 that the punishment due to them has been, 
 already suffered ; and that at the day of judg- 
 ment they will be deemed righteous, and 
 will be held to have led that holy life which 
 Christ led, but the example of which they dis- 
 regarded ; and to have fulfilled those precepts 
 which he fulfilled, but which they failed to 
 obey. 
 
 Those who implicitly adopt opinions are 
 often not capable of comprehending the argu- 
 ments brought to refute them : this must in- 
 evitably be the case with the greater part of 
 mankind. Unaccustomed to reasoning, they 
 hold a doctrine as true, because they cannot 
 
 * 2 Peter, c. ii. v. 9. 
 
71 
 
 follow the train of discussion or inquiry which 
 proves it to he false. The Teachers, moreover, 
 by whom they are misled, have recourse to a 
 mode of deception of which the ignorant and 
 unreflecting are not aware; it is this: — The 
 conclusions deduced from their doctrines by 
 those who are at pains to examine them, they 
 bring forward as first principles taught by 
 their adversaries, and they proceed to reprobate 
 them accordingly. 
 
 That I may be properly understood, I will 
 give an instance of this : — Dr. Hawker, as we 
 have already seen, affirms " that the Gospel 
 has neither terms nor conditions ;" and tells the 
 multitude that " their offences cannot be too 
 great or too aggravated, when once the weapon 
 of sin has fallen from their hands, to exclude 
 them from salvatiofi, for that the blood of Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin." — When you deduce 
 from this doctrine the inference to which it 
 plainly leads, which is this : — That the swin- 
 dler or seducer may add one crime more to 
 the catalogue, before he throws down the 
 weapon, since it is declared that the previous 
 extent or atrocity of his crimes cannot be to© 
 
72 
 
 great or too aggravated, and that he may 
 then look to be purified from all sin, and 
 exempt from all punishment, by the blood of 
 the Redeemer ; — when, I say, you thus point 
 out the frightful consequences to which this 
 style of teaching directly leads, in what manner 
 do they seek to defend it ? — Not by shewing 
 distinctly that your conclusions are untruly 
 drawn — No ; the mode to which they most 
 artfully have recourse is this : — Keeping 
 their own doctrines in the back ground, 
 they represent you as giving a license to the 
 swindler and the seducer to multiply these 
 offences, and then to look to the blood of 
 their Saviour as cleansing them from sin. And 
 they proceed to abuse and reprobate you as 
 an Infidel, and as one who " accounts the 
 blood of the Covenant an unholy thing," when 
 the real truth is, that this doctrine, which they 
 misrepresent as yours, is no other than their own 
 doctrine, drawn out and exposed, and from 
 the consequences of which they feel them- 
 selves unable to escape. — As they propagate 
 their errors, so they support them — by artifice 
 and fraud. 
 
73 
 
 Leaving these doctrinal discussions for the 
 present, I will take leave to remark, before I 
 quit the subject of the Pilgrim's Progress, that 
 the ideas conveyed through the medium of 
 this allegory are well calculated to corrupt the 
 simplicity and innocence of the infant mind, 
 and to make it familiar with the language 
 of debauchery and prostitution ; and such as 
 are anxious to keep the minds of their chil- 
 dren untainted by impure associations, and 
 unpolluted by obscene allusions, will pause 
 before they give the first place in the infant's 
 library to a work in which such colloquial 
 indecencies abound. Miss Edgeworth, in her 
 Treatise on Practical Education — a work which 
 contains more sound sense and valuable in- 
 formation than is to be found in all the 
 voluminous labours of the Calvinistic Priest- 
 hood taken together — makes the following 
 most judicious and important observations : — 
 " It may be laid down as a first principle 
 that we should preserve children from the 
 knowledge of any vice, or any folly, of which 
 the idea has never entered their minds, and 
 which they are not necessarily disposed to 
 learn by example. Children who have never 
 
74 
 
 lived with servants, who have never associ- 
 ated with ill-educated companions of their 
 own age, and who in their own family have 
 heard nothing but good conversation, and 
 seen none but good examples, will, in their 
 language, their manners, and their whole 
 disposition, be not only free from many of 
 the faults common amongst children, but they 
 will absolutely have no idea that there are such 
 faults. — It is the same with bad habits ; false- 
 hood, caprice, dishonesty, obstinacy, revenge, 
 and all the train of vices which are the con-* 
 sequences of mistaken or neglected education, 
 which are learned by bad example, and which 
 are not inspired by nature, need scarcely be 
 known to children whose minds have from their 
 infancy been happily regulated. Such children 
 should be sedulously kept from contagion ; 
 their minds are untainted ; they are safe in 
 that species .of ignorance which alone can 
 deserve the name of bliss. No books should 
 be put into the hands of this happy class 
 of children but such as present the best 
 models of virtue; there is no occasion to shock 
 them with caricatures of vice ; such carica- 
 tures they will not understand to be well 
 
75 
 
 drawn, because they are unacquainted with any 
 thing like the originals. Examples to deter 
 them from faults to which they have no 
 propensity must* be useless, and may be dan- 
 gerous. For the same reason that a book 
 written in bad language should never be 
 put into the hands of a child that speaks 
 correctly, a book exhibiting instances of vice 
 should never be given to a child that thinks 
 and acts property *." 
 
 It is greatly to the credit of the present age 
 that many persons of great intellectual ac- 
 quirements have devoted themselves to the 
 service of Religion and Science. Books 
 adapted to this purpose have been given to 
 the public by females of deserved celebrity, 
 as well for excellence of character, as for 
 strength of understanding -j\ Women, judi- 
 ciously educated, are usually the best, as well 
 as the safest, Tutors of Infancy, There is a 
 
 * " Practical Education. By Maria and R. L. Edge- 
 worth. In three volumes." Vol. ii. p. 89. 
 
 f The name of Mrs. Barbauld, on this occasion, de- 
 serves to be mentioned with peculiar respect. 
 
 i ^- / ,wL «&,£&<■ ***&+*$?***?» / T trJL * , 
 
 
76 
 
 delicacy and chasteness in their tone of in- 
 struction which are not always found in mas- 
 culine Preceptors. 
 
 " We are acquainted with the mother of a 
 family," says the excellent authoress just men- 
 tioned, " who has never trusted any book to 
 her children without having first examined it 
 herself with the most scrupulous attention ; 
 her care has been repaid with that success 
 in education which such care can alone en- 
 sure. We have several books before us marked, 
 which, having undergone some necessary ope- 
 rations with the scissors, would, in their mu- 
 tilated state, shock the sensibility of a nice 
 librarian. But shall the education of a fa- 
 mily be sacrificed to the beauty of a page, 
 or even to the binding of a book ? Few books 
 can safely be given to children without the 
 previous use of the pen, the pencil, and the 
 scissors *." . 
 
 It would be well if the example of this 
 judicious and excellent parent, whoever she 
 
 * '" Edgewoith on Education," vol. ii. p. 87. 
 
77 
 
 was, were more generally followed. The evil 
 produced by the early perusal of books not 
 properly selected is incalculable. 
 
 Nothing but the meanest imbecility or the 
 most deplorable prejudice can wed us to the 
 hob-nail coarseness and impure fanaticism of 
 John Bun y an, in an age abounding with books 
 admirably adapted to the end of training the 
 youthful mind to the acquirement of know- 
 ledge, and impressing it with the plainest and 
 purest principles of religious truth. 
 
 I cannot entirely dismiss the Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress without drawing: attention to the notes 
 which are interspersed throughout by its mo- 
 dern Editors *, in order, no doubt, to impress 
 the multitude with a belief of the superior 
 Godliness of the Apostles of the New Church, 
 and to attract the sympathy of the lower 
 classes towards them, on account of the hard- 
 ships which they suffer, and the persecution 
 to which they are exposed, for their safety. 
 Such insinuations are not meant to be with- 
 out their effect. The New Spiritual Power 
 will, in due time, crave the aid of their fol- 
 
 * Messrs. Hawker, Burder, &c 
 
I 
 
 78 
 
 lowers to defend them against the hatred 
 which they encounter, and " strengthen them 
 that ihey may vanquish and overcome all their 
 enemies ;" by which are meant all such as 
 oppose their supremacy, or refuse assent to 
 their creed. 
 
 The following annotations hold out a very 
 discouraging prospect to those who may feel 
 inclined to forsake the evil of their ways, 
 and to walk in the path of religious duty. 
 
 " When a man turns his back on the world, 
 and is in good earnest resolved for everlasting 
 life, his carnal friends, and ungodly neigh- 
 bours, will pursue him with hue and cry ; but 
 death is at his heels, and he cannot stop short 
 of the City of Refuge." (P. 5. n. 8.) 
 
 This representation of the state of real Chris- 
 tians is as mischievous as it is false. Let any 
 one, with his eyes open, look abroad in the 
 world, and ask himself — Is the man who con- 
 scientiously endeavours to conform his life to 
 the precepts of Christianity pursued with hue 
 > and cry ? ! ! — If he " visit the fatherless and 
 the widow in their affliction, and keep himself 
 unspotted from the world," is death, on that 
 account, at his heels, and is lie exposed to 
 
19 
 
 contempt and persecution ? ! ! On the con- 
 trary, are not such characters respected, even 
 by bad men, wherever they are known, and 
 esteemed wherever they are seen ? How, then, 
 can these Preachers deter persons from fol- 
 lowing the path of religious duty, by thus 
 lying in the face of fact, and representing the 
 condition of a truly good man in society as 
 one of all others the most comfortless and 
 the most desperate. — We must beware how 
 we take our estimate of Christianity from 
 the mock-heroics of Methodism. If these men 
 — calling themselves "the Godly"— have real 
 reason to complain of the conduct of man- 
 kind towards them, it "is a proof that they 
 are not what they appear to be. Their com- 
 plaints divulge a secret which it is hardly 
 sound policy in them to disclose. But they 
 ought not, nevertheless, to affright the votaries 
 of true Religion from her altar, by lamenta- 
 tions which can only apply to suspected hy- 
 pocrites or detected knaves. 
 
 Three things are enumerated, as bringing 
 with them all the terrific honors of mar- 
 tyrdom. 
 
80 
 
 " Three things the world cannot bear in 
 a Christian: — 1st. His garment; that is, his 
 profession of justification by the righteousness 
 of Christ — 2d. His language ; what he can 
 declare of the great things which God hath 
 done for his soul ; his sense of pardoning lore, 
 and communion with God in Christ — 3d. His 
 preciseness, as ihey call it, in refusing to 
 conform to their vain and sinful practices. 
 On these accounts, believers, if consistent and 
 upright in their profession, are a gazing- 
 stock, and a laughing-stock ; must expect, 
 at the best, trials of cruel moekings ; and some- 
 times are exposed to stripes, imprisonment, 
 and death." (P. 91. n. 7>) 
 
 One wonld really think that the axe of 
 the Civil Magistrate was lifted up against 
 these querulous Priests, and that they were 
 called to wrestle, in good earnest, with " prin- 
 cipalities and powers, and against the rulers 
 of the darkness of this world. 1 ' The bulk of 
 their disciples must be filled" with resentment 
 when they are thus called to contemplate 
 the sufferings to which their Spiritual Pastors 
 stand exposed ! What a task it is for them 
 
Si 
 
 to contend " against spiritual wickedness in 
 high places," in order to defend "the elect," 
 and to keep the corner-stone of the con- 
 venticle firm in its place. What a contempt 
 of death do they manifest in the midst of 
 direful opposition ! Were it not that they dis- 
 dain "filthy lucre" what a handsome contri- 
 bution ought the congregations to make to 
 compensate nil the " pelting of this pitiless 
 storm ! *' What an increase of salary ought, 
 in justice, to reward the serenity and stead- 
 fastness with which they endure the persecution 
 of their adversaries ! Above all, what enthu- 
 siasm ought to be manifested in favour of 
 the Saints, whom, it would appear, stripes, im- 
 prisonment, and death, await in the exercise of 
 their ministry, and threaten in their progress 
 Zion-ward. 
 
 The Calvinistic Methodists — or, to use their 
 own phrase, the people of God — are repre- 
 sented as the victims of slander, as well as 
 inhumanity. 
 
 " Cruelty and calumny are usually joined 
 when the People of God suffer. The one 
 gratifies the spirit of persecution, the other 
 is designed to justify it." (N. 8.) 
 
 F 
 
<2fyA^ *V ™ The spirit with which all their merciless 
 
 /f/'/b't**. &, treatment is to be borne is next pointed out, 
 
 . j / / and they are reminded of the good effects 
 
 ' f f which will result from the meekness with 
 
 f which they sustain their persecution. 
 
 /^Zy <-*-* >^t- « Patient hearing of injuries is true Chris- 
 
 tymi ft-*- tion fortitude, and will always be more effec- 
 
 / / fj/g/p tual to disarm our enemies, and to bring others 
 
 ' j to the knowledge of the truth, than all ar- 
 
 f guments whatever. A time of outward trouble 
 
 to the Church is usually a season of grace. 
 
 The exemplary conduct of those who suffer 
 
 for the truth conciliates an attention to their 
 
 principles." (N. 9.) 
 
 The conflict they endure is represented as 
 a thing of course. 
 
 " When we come to make the word of 
 God the rule of our conduct, and not the 
 ways and customs of the world, we must ex- 
 pect to feel the weight of opposition from those 
 who live directly contrary to the Gospel, 
 and fashion their religion after the smooth 
 easy way of the times." (P. 08. n. 2.) 
 
 The next admonitory note warns them of 
 what, in this great encounter, they must be 
 content to suffer. 
 
83 
 
 " We are not now, blessed be God ! called 
 to suffer unto death; but if any man will 
 live Godly in Christ Jesus, he must suffer 
 persecution, and be content to bear what 
 the malice of the enemy shall be permitted to 
 accomplish against us. Suffering is the way 
 to glory. If we would reign with Christ, we 
 must be content to suffer with him shame, re- 
 proach, or, if called to it, even death itself." 
 (N. 3.) 
 
 But, under all this fierceness of persecution, 
 and in the midst of their sufferings, they are 
 thus consoled and encouraged : — 
 
 " It is the Lord's cause, and he is able to 
 protect his servants, and make a way for 
 their escape. He calls some to the honour of 
 suffering; others he delivers from dangers 
 equally apparent; and, though their enemies 
 fight and rage, they cannot prevail against 
 them. ' The blood of the martyrs is the 
 seed of the church. 5 " (N. 4, 5. ) 
 
 The stout conflict between Great-heart and 
 the Giant Maul presents occasion to subjoin 
 the following illustration : — 
 
 " The persecution which faithful and la- 
 F 2 
 
84 
 
 borious ministers meet with in their Lord's 
 service are here described under the image 
 of a violent struggle between Mr. Great-heart 
 and Maul the Giant. But, as in this instance, 
 so in every other, the Lord makes the issue 
 to result to his own glory, in the victory 
 of his servants. ' More than conquerors they 
 shall be, througli him that loveth them/ " 
 (B. ii. p. 73. n. 3.) 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Burder, in his poetical 
 version of this Manual of Piety, does not 
 fail to illustrate it with notes of the same 
 complexion ; for example, when the Pilgrim 
 is put in bodily fear by the Lions, this great 
 Expositor adds the following explanatory 
 comment: — 
 
 " The lions may signify any of those spi- 
 ritual enemies which oppose our Christian course, 
 and which hinder modest professors from the 
 enjoyment of Church-fellowship. But all our 
 enemies are chained ; that is, they are restrained 
 by Divine power v"-— 
 
 Knowing the extensive circulation of this 
 work, and the implicit faith with which what- 
 ever is to be found in it is received,, can we for- 
 
 y. 
 
85 
 
 bear to ask, To what purpose is all this gross 
 and unparalleled misstatement ? Can any 
 persons, professing to be Ministers of the 
 Gospel of Truth, draw such a picture of the 
 condition of their folloieers as is here deli- 
 neated ? — Can it have any other effect than 
 to alienate those followers — increased, as they 
 are, to an extent that is incredible — from that 
 constitution under which all the persecution 
 thus insinuated to exist is permitted ? — Can it 
 have any other effect than to separate them 
 in interest, and withdraw them in affection, 
 from their fellow-subjects, by whom it is 
 presumed to be inflicted ? — Do not the Cal- 
 vinistic Methodists enjoy, in common with 
 every other sect, a mild, protective, and liberal 
 toleration ? Are they not even tolerated to 
 a degree of patronage? What design, then, 
 is to be answered by these Sectarians thus 
 inducing the mass of their adherents to con- 
 sider themselves as a suffering and persecuted 
 body ? Those who have read the history of 
 this country, or who know any thing of 
 human nature, know what fatal consequences 
 have ensued from feelings thus excited in weak 
 
86 
 
 and bigotted minds ? For my part, I see no 
 other purpose that such shameful misrepre- 
 sentation can effect, except to divide the king- 
 dom into two descriptions — the Godly, and the 
 unregenerate ; and, by teaching the one to 
 consider themselves as suffering under the ab- 
 horrence and opposition of the other, to in- 
 troduce a spirit of enmity, and to pave the 
 way to all the evils of civil jealousy and 
 domestic disunion. 
 
 There is something even in mistaken enthu- 
 siasm that the benevolent may esteem ; — there 
 is something about it that good men will 
 respect. The errors of a misguided mind 
 ought never to be treated with severity ; but 
 the errors and enthusiasm of this mushroom 
 race of Preachers, that overswarm the Jand, 
 are not of this cast. It is impossible to give 
 them credit for integrity when we behold the 
 obstinacy and the artifice with which they 
 defend their system against the strongest ar- 
 gument, and against the clearest evidence. 
 When, too, in addition to this, we perceive 
 those errors made subservient to their worldly 
 interest ; that reason is vilified, and morality 
 
 i 
 
 A d<-J, 
 
 / 
 
 f 
 
 L 
 
 
 $ ts* 
 
 A^-rt 
 
 
 0*~y--* 
 
 
C^te^-e-^ £*'' 
 
 degraded, in order to make way for them ; ^^*^^>^-^ 
 
 that no opportunity is overlooked to promote ty "/^*^ /W>-" 
 
 their influence, and no zeal spared to extend ^* t ' t ' /v^a^o 
 
 their power ; that, so far from wishing honestly /f ^/ * A^-^^ 
 
 to inquire into the truth, or earnestly to serve #**y?&*<'' '*^*- 
 
 the cause of moral righteousness, the more /v£*«^ sp 
 
 strongly truth is placed before them the more fi^fa **^*^ ^~ 
 
 they are provoked, and the more strenuously /%>v~S ?r**>*~y 
 
 any one defends morality the more do they ? fyf^ *-^~ 
 strive to overwhelm him with rancour and 
 invective. Their doctrines are at war with 
 truth and virtue, and they first wilfully de- 
 ceive themselves, only that they may the more 
 
 *-^' 
 
 
 conscientiously impose upon others. A sincere c^ + ,£. 
 principle of love to God cannot actuate such 
 
 Teachers ; — to give them credit for good in- 
 tention js not candour, but credulity. 
 
 Take the character of the fraternity from 
 any member of the sect, and their piety is 
 without a parallel : but strip off their mask 
 of sanctity, and sketch them as they stand, 
 and I fear the portrait will present the Pha- 
 risee in the place of the Saint. Their preach- 
 ing, it is said, has made converts from the 
 ale-house ; and, we are told, Swearers, turned 
 
 fay /~~^- 
 
I 
 
 88 
 
 Methodists, cease their profanation. On this 
 subject I will quote the just and striking ob- 
 servations of an excellent modern writer : — 
 " In whatever village," says he, " the fanatics 
 K AA* / /ur**s get a footing, drunkenness and swearing — sins 
 A? /£ j*ofr«t*<- which, being more exposed to the eye of 
 a, &c~~* h* t* the world, would be ruinous to their great 
 /£se~ts>~£++') pretensions to superior sanctity — will, perhaps, 
 / jfp^ c /fa* De found to decline ; but I am convinced, 
 /t t s^~~e rJ ' /**/ from personal observation, that lying and 
 fiA*~i m- & dishonesty, that every species of fraud and 
 l_t^ Xe^e^/i*- falsehood — sins which are not so readily de- 
 t*~.<st(} "fy**- tected, but which seem more closely con- 
 fi^ e+e* &£**& nected with worldly advantage — will be found 
 fcrt/**'* — ' invariably to increase*." 
 
 Crrnfjir' f— The prevailing opinion in society coincides 
 
 jU.J A~* , with, and corroborates, this statement. The 
 
 A j, L-tfa*' same hollowness and hypocrisy which our 
 jk +> /t*f Saviour so fully detected and so sharply re- 
 ' L fo proved in the Godly Pharisees of old time 
 ,j, is manifested in their puritanic posterity. The 
 
 'fa, jis* <*{aS' ... 
 
 ^ same superstitious display of the outward 
 
 and visible signs of devotion; the same long 
 
 a. J * " Religion without Cant. By Robert Fellowes, A. M. 
 
 ft^y of St. Mary Hall, Oxford." . 
 
 fc^.^t, /L* £ 0LCOU44, ^"igi^ t+^-t £<-*£** jU*"^; 
 
T 
 
 
 prayers; the same /ai*A in the elective pre- jf 
 ference given to them as the Godly of the ^ 
 
 earth ; the same pious thanksgiving that they 
 are not " as other men are ;" the same ri- 
 gorous abstinence from all appearance of recre- 
 %~* ation on the Lord's day ; and the same neglect 
 ^**- of the weightier "matters of the moral law, in •, > / ? 
 the course of the week ; all these, and many . >u x 
 
 t& — r~r *y &/* 
 
 lues**"/ &«*— 
 
 t^r 
 
 ~ t^-*-t 
 
 S' , more features, assimilate both. — So likewise S , 'a 
 %,&!/*- the same accusation which our Saviour brought 
 
 j^A- against the Pharisees of his day, that they . 
 
 J , " taught for doctrines the commandments of , 
 \tK*t-& men," applies to the modern Pharisees with 
 
 f**"r equal force. His charge against them, that y 
 
 ,^*Jh*s. they would " compass sea and land to make ^y**^*^^ 
 
 one proselyte •" equally includes the sect who „i /fc^.- 
 
 / furnish, in character, so exact a counterpart. y / 
 
 Y /*- Even their cant of super-righteous zeal is ex- ^ 
 
 j(C»A-«- — pressed in the same terms. When our Saviour r / 
 
 f^y / restored the blind man, by anointing his eyes "sky AZcS 
 
 r*- "" ... . # fr 7 
 
 |- ^ Vk and directing him to bathe in the Pool of Si- iSs*j/m*. 
 
 &&&-/ loam*, they strove, with a shew of religious Z'**C4 A^t- 
 
 fa-'u+r 2ea i } to discredit his miracle, and to charge f<.M^y 
 
 * John ix. 24. ^ i.^ X 
 
 iHt»A^ 
 
 ■y*n~t fst c*^/.^^, ^. c ^^ <*^t^ &£' 
 
 <*V-C 
 
 iff* /- ~ • 
 
90 
 
 him with guilt ; — but they did not omit to 
 adopt that sanctified phraseology which is found 
 so perpetually in the mouths of their descend- 
 ants: — " Then again called they the man that 
 was blind, and said unto him, Give God the 
 praise, we know that this man is a sinner *." 
 
 * A most deplorable, but by no means uncommon, in- 
 stance of the prostitution of religious phraseology may be 
 found in the " Statement of Facts," lately published by 
 the Plaintiff, in the case of Flower ucmwCiayton, on 
 a trial for defamation. Mr. Flower, it seems, had written 
 to the latter gentleman, who had declared that " he 
 would not contribute a shilling to save him from a gaol," 
 soliciting a renewal of that friendship which he had 
 done no act to forfeit ; expressing himself extremely re- 
 luctant to be on terms of enmity with the husband of 
 his sister, and suggesting his willingness to continue to- 
 wards him that spirit of kindness to which he had formerly 
 acknowledged himself so much indebted. Of the reply 
 which he received from the Reverend Mr. Clayton 
 to this Letter, Mr. Flower has laid the following ex- 
 tract before the public : — " A due regard to the sanctity 
 of my office prevents me from holding any intercourse 
 with you, and I therefore peremptorily forbid your 
 
 entering my doors. At the same time, I shall not 
 
 cease to pray for you, both in the closet and in my family, 
 that God would deliver you from all blindness, and hardness 
 of heart, and contempt of his word and commandments." — 
 Vide "Statement of Facts," &c. p. 18. 
 
 When charity was solicited from the Priest in the Fable, 
 he refused to contribute a shilling to save the supplicant 
 from starving, but he gave him his blessing. The heart 
 
91 
 
 Religion is perverted by these men into an 
 affair of speculation. The most popular doc- 
 trines are the doctrines for them. A con- 
 cordance, affording a ready reference to every 
 text, at the same time that it saves them all 
 trouble of examination or research, serves to 
 procure them credit with the ignorant for 
 being well read in the Gospel. With this 
 class of Teachers, the moral duties of justice 
 and benevolence, ' those eternal links that 
 clasp the world,' are as nothing in the scale of 
 their faith. It is, indeed, a lucrative system, 
 for too many of these Ministers of the Sanc- 
 tuary, — as they proudly term themselves, — 
 keep open a sort of account current with re- 
 ligion ; with them its claims are adjudged by 
 the average of profit and loss ; they post the 
 returns of their faith from the waste-book to 
 
 of the holy man had nothing else in its gift. The Reverend 
 Mr. Clayton, in the treatment of his brother-in-law, im- 
 proved upon the pious precedent which he found in the 
 satire of the Fabulist: he retarded him by the refusal of his 
 purse, but he gave him a lash with the Litany — He de- 
 nied him the satisfaction of his friendship, but he gave him 
 the slander of his prayers. 
 
92 
 
 the ledger, and estimate its value by the cal- 
 culation of its nett proceeds. 
 
 The practice of preaching without the aid 
 of a written sermon carries to the vulgar the 
 appearance of immediate inspiration. But, 
 in fact, nothing is more easy than to harangue 
 an ignorant audience who sit prepared to ad- 
 mire what they cannot comprehend, and to 
 approve what they do not understand. To 
 pour out, as these men do, at random, " what- 
 ever suggests itself, without considering whi- 
 ther it tends, how it is connected, or to what 
 it may be applied," is no difficult task. The 
 difficulty, in such case, is not so much how to 
 proceed, as when to leave off. They have a 
 certain set of doctrines which furnish the sub- 
 stance of all their discourses. Like barrel- 
 organs, they repeat, perpetually, the same airs. 
 There may be a variation in the key, but 
 the tunes are always the same. In truth, 
 extempore preaching, like extempore playing, 
 is only fit for a finished performer. The un- 
 studied effusions of a man of genius often 
 display more sublimity than the most deli- 
 
, 93 
 
 berate efforts of less enlightened minds ; but 
 when the ignorant enthusiast begins to ex- 
 temporize, he is only likely to produce, without 
 study, what no one that had studied would 
 ever have produced. 
 
 Dr. Hawker will, perhaps, accuse me of 
 disrespect in having proceeded thus far with- 
 out noticing his second Letter. I do cer- 
 tainly not think, that, in the period in which 
 we live, it is either discreet to teach, or ad- 
 viseable to learn, such lessons of doctrine as 
 peculiarly belong to his school. At the same 
 time, it is not to the Teachers themselves 
 that I address myself with any hopes. You 
 might as well argue with Aldgate-pump, as 
 to any effect to be produced upon them by 
 reasoning. The writer of the present work 
 has no wish but to appeal to the sober sense 
 of his countrymen, and to press upon their 
 serious attention the subject he has brought 
 before them. It has been handled already 
 by abler pens, but the evil to be combated 
 still exists, and with aggravated danger. So 
 far from being removed or lessened, it is daily 
 
94 
 
 growing in greatness and in strength. It is 
 the good sense and sober caution of the public 
 that can alone be applied to with success ; 
 those who profit by error and prejudice are 
 not the persons to be addressed in behalf of 
 truth. Who would think of appealing to a 
 Cardinal against the corruptions of Popery, 
 or exposing to the High-Priest the errors of 
 Judaism ? 
 
 But, waving this discussion, I will turn my 
 attention, for a few moments, to Dr. Hawker. 
 
 This Divine, I hope, will not impute it to 
 me as a fault that I am not impressed with 
 that thorough conviction of his infallibility 
 in matters of faith to which he appears to 
 lay claim. It is recorded of the celebrated 
 Balzac, that he held himself in such re- 
 verence, that he never had occasion to men- 
 tion his own name but he pulled off his 
 hat. Whether the Vicar of Charles stands 
 with equal awe in his own presence, those 
 who know him can best tell ; — I have not 
 that honour. I should be sorry, however, to 
 approach him, even in the field of contro- 
 
95 
 
 Versy, without due deference ; — his profession 
 entitles him to that respect which his ta- 
 lents might, perhaps, not so readily command. 
 Nevertheless, if, in the comments which his 
 publications have drawn from me, I have 
 been guilty of any thing like unfairness, 
 I owe him an apology which I would not 
 wilfully withhold. Popularity is a precious 
 thing ; it is brittle, moreover, and ought not 
 to be rudely handled. But one thing is re- 
 quired of all who demand reparation, and it 
 is this, to prove the injury complained of: 
 all accusations, of whatever nature, must be 
 verified, or they go for nothing. The Doctor, 
 in the present instance, prefers his charge 
 with great confidence, but he comes into 
 court without his witnesses : — " Let the greatest 
 enemy," says he, " upon earth to Evangelical 
 principles, read my little publication, entitled 
 ' A Prop against all Despair,' as it is in itself, 
 and let him judge between us if there ever 
 was a greater perversion of an author's de- 
 sign or subject than you have made of it. 
 Sir, if the word of God was to be garbled 
 and torn, it might be made a libel ; nay, it 
 
96 
 
 might be made to speak the very reverse of 
 all its sacred contents*." 
 
 To pervert the meaning of any writer, by 
 forcing any passages in his works from the 
 context necessary to their explanation, or to 
 twist them in any manner from their true 
 sense in order to make them the subject of 
 a comment which their genuine import would 
 not justify, — such conduct I hold to be as 
 dishonourable as it is unjust. It marks a 
 want of manliness and integrity which cannot 
 be too strongly reprobated. But this is a 
 conduct which it is always in the parly's 
 power, against whom such unfairness is ex- 
 ercised, to expose. The means of defence 
 are in his own hands, and nothing is more 
 easy than the application of them. He will 
 produce the passages as they stand in their 
 original connection, and will thence shew 
 how they disavow the comment ; he will 
 compare the doctrine, as distinctly laid down 
 in his work, with the doctrine as it stands 
 mutilated in the annotations of his adversary ; 
 
 * " A Second Letter to a Barrister, &c. By Robert 
 Hawker, D. D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth." P. 15. 
 
97 
 
 by this simple process he will at once jus- 
 tify himself, and cover his opponent with 
 shame. Has Dr. Hawker done this ? Has he 
 even attempted to do it ? No ; — in no one 
 instance has he proved his design or subject 
 to have been in any manner perverted. The 
 charge has been repeated by his advocates, 
 but it has in no instance been verified. Even 
 Mr. Collyer — careless as he is about his credit 
 for accuracy in these matters — has not at- 
 tempted it *. But, as an example of Doctor 
 
 * In the paragraph which this gentleman inserted in 
 all the public newspapers, to announce his Doctorship of 
 Divinity, it was difficult to discover which was most con- 
 spicuous, the childish vanity of the Advertiser, or the de- 
 gradation of the University whose prostituted favour it 
 proclaimed. It was procured, he informs us, by the merit 
 of his "Lectures on Scripture Facts." Can this be? — 
 They must be little read in theology whom that work 
 could have enlightened. If, indeed, it displayed the re- 
 searches of a mind enriched by study, and enlightened 
 by science, although in this there would be nothing rare, 
 there would still be something to reward, Those who con- 
 ferred honour upon such endeavours would, at least, not 
 be disgraced. But to requite with a diploma a compiler 
 who has added nothing to our knowledge, the very title 
 of whose work is not grammatical f, who is indebted 
 
 T It should have been " Lectures on Scriptural Facts." What 
 should we think of the Grammarian, who, instead of Historical, should r , ) 
 
 present us with " Lectures on History Facts." SIwI-iCPiamS s VA^cpI . f^ 
 
98 
 
 Hawker's reasoning, let us attend to the de- 
 fence of his doctrine of the " natural inability 
 of man to do the will of God," and the illus- 
 tration by which he endeavours to rescue it from 
 the objectionable consequences opposed to it. 
 
 " Do you really believe/' says he, " that, 
 because man by his apostasy hath lost his 
 power and ability to obey, God hath lost 
 his right to command ? Would you carry 
 this kind of reasoning into common life ? Put 
 the case that you were called upon, as a 
 Barrister, to recover a debt due from one 
 man to another, and you knew the debtor had 
 not the ability to pay the creditor, would 
 
 for his materials to the labours of the Church Clergy, and 
 whose work presents not one page of information that is 
 original, nor one remark of importance that is new. — This 
 is to make, diplomas cheap indeed. 
 
 When strong native genius is united with profound eru- 
 dition, it is wise to draw such talents from obscurity — if, in- 
 deed, their possessors can ever be obscure — and raise them to 
 honourable distinction in the ranks of literature. Doctor 
 Johnson did honour to the University of Oxford, from 
 which he received his degree, and the University did itself 
 honour in bestowing it. But the University of Edinburgh 
 and Doctor Collyer ! ! ! Really the thing is too ridiculous ! 
 It can only serve to render a Doctor's degree equivocal in 
 future as a testimony of desert, and contemptible ae a re- 
 ward ofdearjiing. 
 
99 
 
 you tell your client that his debtor was under 
 no legal or moral obligation to pay what he 
 had no power to do ? And would you tell 
 him that the very expectation of his just right 
 was as foolish as it was tyrannical? Really, 
 Sir, I should have thought your profession, as a 
 Barrister, would have taught you better*/' 
 I have no doubt but that the Doctor con- 
 ceived himself to have here put a case com- 
 pletely in point, and quite conclusive in 
 favour of his doctrine. But that man must 
 be a very feeble reasoner that does not in- 
 stantly perceive the foolishness, as well as 
 the fallacy, of this mode of statement. 1 will 
 give my reply to these questions distinctly, 
 and without hesitation. " If you knew" says 
 the Doctor, " that the debtor had not the 
 ability to pay the creditor, would you tell 
 your client that his debtor was under no 
 legal -j - or moral obligation to pay what he had 
 no power to do?" Most certainly I should. 
 Suppose A to have lent B a thousand pounds, 
 
 * " A Second Letter," &c. p. 73. 
 
 t The law presumes the capacity of payment when it 
 enforces the duty. — The present is solely a question of moral 
 
 obligation. 
 
 G 2 
 
100 
 
 as a capital to commence trade, and that, 
 when he purchased his stock to this amount, 
 and lodged it in his warehouse, a fire were 
 to break out in the next dwelling, and, ex- 
 tending itself to his warehouse, were to con- 
 ' . jl2i i* sume the whole of his property, and reduce 
 I /'jLJLfki' ^ nT1 t0 a sta * e °f utter ruin. If A, my client, 
 - ■ were to ask my opinion as to his right to 
 <,. j recover from B, I should tell him that this 
 , j his right would exist should . B ever be in a 
 
 * L.lcl?*' ** condition to repay the sum borrowed ; and that 
 t <r*» . 
 
 A «,/<f/kw jf ? by any unforeseen circumstances, B should 
 
 r, ,-f.iA*-< have it in his power to repay it, he would be 
 
 . / under a moral obligation so to do, but that 
 
 ^/ v / ' the attempt to recover a thousand pounds 
 
 'if from a man thus reduced, by accident, to 
 
 utter ruin, and who had not a shilling left 
 
 V? in the world, would be as foolish as it was 
 
 tjrir'tdf'- ' . j 
 
 / tyrannical. 
 
 A* / • 
 
 iL ' y ** ;t j. Again, suppose an artist to have borrowed 
 
 * irom its possessor an original picture, by Kv- 
 
 * . , bens, for the purpose of taking a copy. Can 
 
 i ^_ any doubt exist of his obligation to return it? 
 
 ft.-.viw*. -^ None surely. But suppose him to have 
 
 <r *** '"*'*' * * % lodged in the first flour of the house above 
 
0t~i*J -^ ^ <*-**"" t*^*~j r™~~- u/A*l *- >~~t^ 
 
 mentioned, and that the fire which consumed 
 the premises had unfortunately consumed the 
 picture also — Will any one still assert that 
 the artist lies under a moral obligation to 
 return it ? Does not every man's common 
 sense perceive, that, the power of returning it 
 being thus taken away, the obligation is gone 
 also ? — A public Teacher of Religion, that 
 could produce an instance so absurd to 
 support a doctrine so erroneous, must either 
 wilfully attempt to impose upon others, or 
 he must egregiously impose upon himself. 
 
 The doctrines and principles which the 
 Doctor maintains, and which are so stoutly 
 defended and so strenuously taught by the 
 whole Evangelical host, are calculated, by 
 their perpetual repetition, to wear away, by 
 degrees, every trace of moral feeling and of 
 moral fear. Such are their influence and tend- 
 ency upon their disciples here; what shall 
 grow out of them to affect their salvation 
 hereafter, who shall say ? 
 
 When the spirit of the unrepentant sinner 
 shall be summoned into judgment, let us 
 suppose these questions to be put by him 
 
102 
 
 who is appointed to judge the world in 
 righteousness : — Whether he could not have 
 abstained from the crimes which he com- 
 mitted ? and why he did not ? — Will he, 
 at this most awful hour, dare to affirm that 
 he could not forbear, for that he was cre- 
 ated without any natural power of himself 
 to do good, and that he therefore could not 
 abstain from evil ? — Will he dare, when stand- 
 ing at the bar of God, to fling such an im- 
 putation on his justice, as to declare that he 
 never imparted to him the ability to fulfil 
 those commands, for his disobedience to which 
 he is called upon to answer? — If the reflec- 
 tive mind recoils at so impious an avowal, 
 what must we think of those who teach such 
 shocking tenets as the true doctrines of that 
 religion of which they arrogantly style them- 
 selves the Evangelical Ministers? 
 
 When, at this solemn tribunal, the sinner 
 shall be called upon to answer for the trans- 
 gression of those moral laws, on their obe- 
 dience to which their salvation was made to 
 depend, will it be sufficient, that, with unut- 
 terable terror and alarm, he declares himself 
 
*t*>, ^-cu /-—- A-^t*-^/ "^ 
 
 J 
 
 
 lo have been taught, when on earth, to be 
 
 lieve that the Gospel had neither terms nor 
 conditions, and that his salvation was secured 
 by a covenant which procured him pardon 
 and peace, from all eternity; a covenant, the 
 erFects of which no folly or after-act. what- 
 ever could possibly destroy? — Who could f^r^^c^ A^ 
 anticipate the sentence of condemnation, and 
 not weep in agony over the deluded victim 
 of ignorance and imposture, who was thus /3«~* /" 
 
 
 
 Isi^ a- 
 
 try, 
 
 ^V AAT" > 
 
 l&t^/t+frvyj f du^'tf J&-r?^4~~. AjtL*^**y ^*-VK~< 
 
 taught a doctrine so fatally false ? 
 
 When the sound of the last trumpet shall 
 call the guilty from the grave ; when they 
 shall awake in speechless consternation, and 
 " shall see the dead, small and great, stand 
 before God, and the book opened, which is 
 the book of life ; when the dead shall be 
 judged out of those things which are written 
 in the books, according to their works*;"- — with 
 what anguish of heart will thev then urge 
 that they had been taught never to seek 
 salvation by their works!! — that they had 
 been led to neglect the moral duties of the 
 
 * Rev. xx. 12. 
 
 -= jSL. 
 
. Gospel by the most earnest and repeated 
 
 1 • ,-r assurance of their earthly Teachers that their 
 
 T^ 1 * . righteousness would be no ground of their 
 
 i i~4*-t acceptance with God ! ! ! — that, oh the con- 
 
 /*'**' trauy, their justification had no connection 
 
 t*~^j *. ' >xX *y_ JL with theur^PEasoNAi, obedience to the moral 
 
 fct^jriS* **"} • law; and thatf*in the act of their justification, 
 
 fc^/C e6ir*t *~~ their performances would not be taken into 
 
 Jrw*" *"•"■' ^ ie ac count * ! ! ! — If the dreadful errors which 
 
 +jf>fri'c+i*'* M *" have thus betrayed them into a false se- 
 
 ield- ^ tJU+t curity should also bring down upon them 
 
 f % ^^i c€l*~^ - the punishment denounced against their 
 
 /^,-A «*-^* d*-** guilt ; when, with the shriek of despair, they 
 
 u^v-***-' > *^ tZ ' / shall call upon the mountains to hide, and 
 
 Uj* turf*-* ******* upon the rocks to cover them — where, where 
 
 £* pi++^ f ^^ will they shelter themselves by whom mil- 
 I^L^iah- J)**}, lions have been thus drawn aside from the 
 
 ^ii t~ iU7~s truth into a delusion which it will be then 
 %4i~* c^/^^"^ past their power to rem<my or to expiate ? ! ! 
 
 f 1 4U**' "*■* Doctor Hawker, like the rest of the pro- 
 
 f. /jH^rdt -• pagators of these doctrines, takes shelter behind 
 y J yi v*^" tne Articles of the Church of England, 
 i JiLrttk^ tnus making the Establishment an accom- .*__ 
 
 f P~ * Vide "Hints," &c. Fart i. p. 41, 44, 48, 59, 112. . A, 
 
Y fa* 
 
 
 r, td^i- A~f** ^^y *-^'^~~ ^f*~«^ ; 
 
 \1U^7'J ^' 105 — ■ *> ^/A— ^V^A' * 
 
 plice in its own downfall. But admit for a mo- ^**y f*~4>-* 
 ment — what I am very far from admitting in ~fa^~* - 
 fact — that the pernicious principles thus disse- fift </&■-' 
 minated in society are legitimately drawn from fot&ftvrrstf 
 those Articles — still those who, for the sake • J gLJ 
 of distinction, claim for themselves, exclu- j^.- /f 
 sively, the title of Gospel Preachers, and 
 Evangelical Ministers, are bound to con- 
 firm them by that Gospel which those Evan- M-rf^-^ 
 belists have left upon record. For either ^t^cJ^^f^t. 
 the doctrines which they preach are derived ?^-t.e^*4- 
 from the Gospel, or they are not. If they /*>~£~/-t 
 are, then they are capable of proof by that a Ji+^JfLt 
 alone, and all reference to the Articles, as yj Vi*<^> 
 authority, becomes superfluous. If they are 'o^-v— 
 not, then the Articles can afford no con- /, y > 
 elusive evidence of the truth of any doctrine } tj 
 which the Gospel itself is not found to — /*' 
 reveal, and all reference to them is therefore ' i 
 precluded. b£e^ 
 
 The strongest and most leading feature in 7A#r~" 7 
 
 the Law of Evidence is this :— That the best i^**^ '+**** 
 
 evidence the nature of the case will admit ****? '$f 
 
 must be produced, for if it, appear that fa*+"*~- 
 
belter evidence might have been brought 
 
 forward, the very circumstance of its being 
 
 A*' withheld furnishes suspicion that it would 
 
 y^t/i^- ' have prejudiced the party in whose power 
 
 A pf"'*" it was, had he produced it. When, therefore, 
 
 (4L+*-/ * we ^ n( 3 these Tutors of Calvinistic Divinity 
 
 / flLtU"^- resort *° r tne su PP°»"t of their creed to the 
 
 j , ' Articles, we may be sure that the higher evi<- 
 
 J cA k~i dence y ails them 
 
 ■**^j ^< <*•*"' The Reformers by whom those Articles 
 ft. O- £,+* were framed were educated in the Church 
 ftftot rt> of Rome, and opposed themselves rather to 
 h^J t+*2y. the perversion of its power, than the errors of 
 /it^ **- its doctrine. £** <*- ^^oW <aX' / 0~/)6*+J&,. A 
 pC 1 C-triJL**' Amid the rancorous controversies of the- 
 y. , / i ology, by which that period of our history 
 was alike distinguished and disgraced, moral 
 ■ _--/ philosophy, as a system, was little known. 
 
 The abstruse subtleties of scholastic divinity 
 absorbed all the leisure, and engaged all the 
 talents, of the learned. Fine-spun distinc- 
 tions, in which common sense was lost — doc- 
 trines which confounded the weak, and puz- 
 zled even the wise — occupied all that leisure 
 
 j 
 

 ju "/•^A/>" z^''^^^^^, 
 
 which should have been devoted to the ad- ^/^/^t.^7 
 vancement of moral science and the inves- + fj kyr ^^ 
 tigation of moral truth. Lord Bacon was .j^ln**^*- 
 the first who dedicated his profound and fc i/f; 
 penetrating genius to the cultivation of sound 
 philosophy, and who taught us how best 
 to improve those faculties which God has 
 given to man for the perfection of his rational 
 nature. Disgusted with the puerile, worthless, 
 wire-drawn theories of the schools, he struck out 
 that true path to knowledge which has since 
 been a guide to the footsteps of subsequent 
 philosophers. This extraordinary man ap- 
 peared at an eclipse — the lustre of his mind 
 threw its rays over the whole intellectual 
 waste on which he stood. He taught his 
 countrymen ivhat regions of intellect best 
 deserved to be explored, and in what man- 
 ner to explore them. He moved, majestic 
 and alone, amid the circle of the sciences. 
 He instructed us so to apply our reason, as 
 to elevate ourselves above the fooleries of 
 vain, speculative, unprofitable, disputation. 
 Since this period, that freedom of inquiry 
 which has embraced all subjects has gra- 
 
108 
 
 dually cleared the simple truths of Chris- 
 tianity from the errors and corruptions by 
 which they have been disfigured ; the creeds 
 and confessions which grew out of the frauds 
 of " political theologians, and theological po- 
 liticians," have been suffered to die away 
 in the veneration of the reflective and the 
 wise, who have been brought, at length, to 
 esteem those as most orthodox who are most 
 virtuous, and to be convinced that to love 
 God, and to keep his commandments, is the 
 u*! if « best test of a true believer. We l ook back 
 - — .. to that era of our history when Superstition 
 f*~ f threw her victim on the pile, and Bigotry 
 
 ft ?<j,+.//pc/ t j e( j t he mar t vr t h; s stake — but we take 
 
 ta^yy • our eyes from the retrospect, and turn them 
 
 y & u ^ /uy in thankful admiration to that Being who 
 
 &£■■&+*,■"%- has opened the minds of many, and is daily 
 
 opening the minds of more amongst us, to 
 
 // the reception of these most important of 
 
 y . ""• all truths, that there is no true faith but 
 
 fit C^t/Y^^XA. r 
 
 in practical goodness, and that the worst of 
 
 yyiyjU^itf. errors i s the error of the life. 
 {fe~* ffn-'fl* Such is the conviction of the most en- 
 tlU—j^H- lightened of our Clergy; — the conviction, I 
 /SpferA >eJ&*f, fc dW^^&W', hUlcO fas 
 
 ■ \ 
 
trust, of the far greater part. They do not, ^/ J / 
 
 therefore, feel it necessary to revive the ex- . 
 
 ploded controversies which agitated, without . 
 
 purifying, the passions of the Divines of _^/ *' 
 
 past days. They hold it more important 
 
 to reform the vicious, and, after the example l^-**t~ ■' 
 
 of their Divine Teacher, to exhort men to '? ffa.-iu.^/ 
 
 do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly y ' /. 
 
 with their God. They deem it better to in- y / 
 
 culcate the moral duties of Christianity in 
 
 the pure simplicity and clearness with which ^Y'<-» , 
 
 they are revealed, than to go aside in search Xf/^t, 
 
 of doctrinal mysteries. For as mysteries • % a 
 
 cannot be made manifest, they, of course, 
 
 cannot be understood — and that which cannot /**-**- / 
 
 be understood cannot be believed, and can, A-^ /*- 
 
 consequently, make no part of any system /.**••/;» tf 
 
 of faith; since no one, till he understands , j J 
 
 a doctrine, can tell whether it be true or - f] 
 
 **'JL~i- iff** t 
 false; till then, therefore, he can have no faith 
 
 in it, for no one can rationally affirm that he w ^*"*/ 
 
 believes that doctrine to be true which he does £^-a.*».*-/^ 
 
 not know to be so ; and he cannot know it to /<. Ccltu^) 
 
 be true if he does not understand it. — In 
 
 the religion of a true Christian, therefore, r* >^- 
 
 n jKryJ- * fk, z /t 
 

 110 
 
 there can be nothing unintelligible ; and if 
 the Preachers of that religion do not make 
 mysteries, they will never find any. 
 
 We shall discover, upon an attentive exami- 
 : nation of the subject, that all those laws 
 Cet^A*^*' which lay. the basis of our constitutional 
 /f%2t t/fC ' liberties are no other than the rules of re- 
 tLitofJvi , ]igi on transcribed into the judicial system, 
 and enforced by the sanction of civil au- 
 thority. The divine law, as transmitted to 
 r Us through the Gospel, is the source of all 
 fi~ those fundamental maxims which constitute 
 
 the code of our political freedom. It is the 
 •i- **" I progressive influence of Christian morality 
 t»j*Lf** J ~' that has improved, imperceptibly, the cha- 
 £*-'.*■■> h*t, racter of man, and the system of his govern- 
 f-^r^^i' ment; and it is to a departure from its dic- 
 f}.*~~ tates that we can alone ascribe the present 
 
 lsi.4%- A- desolate and degraded condition of civilized 
 /vu. /«v £ Europe. We have seen — thank God we have 
 •2 f?/v£U&, seen it at a distance, but we ought to profit 
 ^ J'lz^ for ever by the lesson — that it is neither more 
 / >h-i l ~ nor less than a disregard of all moral prin- 
 *7 l ciple that produced that reign of terror, 
 
 hr**~ } which, in France, subjected a whole kingdom 
 
Ill 
 
 to the terrific dominion of a single Tyrant. 
 It was so under Robespierre. It is so still 
 — The end is not yet. 
 
 Surely there is enough of evil principle at 
 present afloat in the world to render it un- 
 necessary for any Priesthood, of any deno- 
 mination, to destroy all excitement to practical 
 goodness, by withdrawing mankind from all 
 reliance upon it as the ground of their hope 
 of happiness in the world to come ; or, to use 
 their own words, to deny it to be in any man- 
 ner efficacious " as the procuring cause of 
 salvation." 
 
 But it is urged by some — who seem not 
 insensible to the present effects nor to the 
 future consequences of the doctrines — which 
 bear the insinuating name of Evangelical — 
 that, be the nature and effect of those doc- 
 trines what they may, the Legislature ought 
 not to be addressed on the subject. I owe 
 it to those who think thus to state my opi- 
 nion somewhat explicitly on this head. 
 
 The objection appears to me to assume 
 what is by no means true — that to address 
 the Legislature is to call in the aid of -power 
 
112 
 
 to correct the errors of opinion. What ! 
 have then the associated Guardians of the 
 Commonwealth no legitimate means of pre- 
 serving the moral order and prosperity of the 
 People and the State ? Can Reason find no 
 remedy, or Policy suggest no regulation, that 
 can be reconciled to the law of the Consti- 
 tution, or to the spirit of its freedom ? If 
 the evil could not be reformed or miti- 
 gated without some such sacrifice, the public 
 interest would indeed be very ill provided 
 for. 
 
 Opinions, however false, can never be re- 
 futed by pains and penalties. Persecution 
 never yet enlightened the understanding or 
 refuted the arguments of any man. No Ma- 
 gistrate on earth has a right to enter the 
 sacred retirement of conscience, and say what 
 religious doctrines a man shall either admit 
 into, or strike out of, his creed. But here a 
 question occurs which demands to be an- 
 swered with caution, and which we cannot 
 come prepared to decide upon without much 
 profound and steady reflection. It is not a 
 question to be answered by common-place 
 
113 
 
 flourishes in favour of freedom of thought, 
 and the right of private judgment. This 
 freedom and this right are admitted unequi- 
 vocally, and to the full ; but they have no 
 concern with the inquiry that remains behind, 
 which is this — Admitting the right of the in- , 
 dividual to retain his religious opinions, what- 
 ever they may be, without any corrective inter- 
 ference on the part of the State, can he also claim 
 a right to instil those opinions into the mind 
 of every other subject of which that State is 
 composed ? — I trust I know the value of free- 
 dom, and that, should the occasion call for 
 it, I should not be wanting in exertion to 
 defend it ; but it is because I value it highly 
 that I would not express myself at random 
 on any question connected with the enjoy- 
 ment of it. My opinion on the subject is 
 this — -Where a man holds a certain system of 
 doctrines, the State is bound to tolerate, though 
 it may not approve, them ; but when he de- 
 mands a license to teach this system to the rest 
 of the community, he demands that which 
 ought not to be granted incautiously and 
 without grave consideration. This discretion- 
 
 H 
 
" } ai 7 po we r is delegated in trust for the common 
 
 ^ / good ; and to give permission to all persons, 
 
 Mij &//&- indiscriminately, to spread doctrines destruc- 
 
 frv iv*ffri**<U- live in their tendency to the moral interests 
 
 / Cp^.Js.1*^ t~t**- °^ ^ ne public, is to act in disobedience to 
 
 7 Ajl, /-c-^ tne P UD ^ C safety- The argument applies to 
 
 j. political as well as to religious opinions. A 
 
 man may, from the peculiar bent of his his- 
 
 &*" *y ' torical inquiries, or from whatever other cause, 
 
 &a,J /i/**^ have persuaded himself that a Republican 
 
 *//<-• ^^-- form of Government is preferable to that mixed 
 
 ' ^ t^'pt^ system which prevails in the British Consti- 
 
 a y M tution, and I know no earthly authority that 
 
 . j could be justified in disturbing his convic- 
 
 ', tion ; but when, not content with the free 
 
 and unmolested enjoyment of it, he asserts 
 
 his right to inculcate this persuasion on the 
 
 multitude, and to bring them to reject the 
 
 principles of that system under which they 
 
 live, in favour of those which he has himself 
 
 embraced — I confess I am not aware of any 
 
 legitimate authority under which such a right 
 
 jf can be claimed. 
 
 In like manner, if a man be an Infidel, I 
 v *~"*~' t know of no Defender of the Faith that is* 
 
or ought to be, invested with a power to 
 compel him to become a convert to Chris- 
 tianity. It would be injustice to attempt it. 
 He is amenable to a higher Tribunal, and 
 has no Judge beneath the skies. But if this In- 
 fidel, should demand permission from the State 
 to teach every where, that good works were 
 in no wise essential towards procuring salva- 
 tion hereafter — that no future punishment 
 awaited the wicked, for that the punishment 
 due to sinners was already suffered, and the 
 penalty of their offences paid — that those who 
 committed crimes in this world would be 
 treated as righteous by imputation in the next, 
 and that personal righteousness was filthy 
 rags — those to whom the care of the Com- 
 monwealth was entrusted would not, I ap- 
 prehend, be bound to grant him a license to 
 pervert the minds and corrupt the morals 
 of the people, by publicly teaching these 
 destructive theories. This is not a permit 
 to be demanded as a matter of course. The 
 State cannot consistently grant it. It has no 
 authorized power, under the Constitution, so 
 to do ; because it has no power to put in 
 
 u 2 
 
116 
 
 hazard the moral welfare of the Community, 
 
 whose interests are in its hands. In matters 
 
 « 
 
 of Religion, every one has a right to exer- 
 cise and to enjoy his own private judgment, 
 however weak or erroneous ; but the Legisla- 
 ture may justly withhold from any one a 
 license to infect the public judgment with 
 errors fatal to the public interest. 
 
 Errors, resulting from the honest imperfec- 
 tion of his own reason, no man can help. 
 The faculties of his mind may, perhaps, be- 
 come more mature ; exercise may extend, and 
 inquiry may enlighten, them. Should exercise 
 and inquiry fail to do this, persecution should 
 in no wise be resorted to. Punishment is just 
 as proper a remedy for a diseased limb as for 
 a defective understanding. None but a Fool 
 or a Tyrant would think of applying it. But, 
 because error ought not to be punished by 
 the Legislature, it does not follow that it 
 ought to be patronised. 
 
 But here it will be asked — since the public 
 must have Religious Teachers, who shall de- 
 cide on the truth or falsehood of the doctrines 
 they deliver ? This question is too general to 
 
admit of a very precise answer, but thus much 
 I think may be said in reply to it. The lead- 
 ing aim of Religion, and the avowed pur- 
 pose for which itVas revealed, was most clearly 
 this-^to teach mankind their duty to God 
 and to each other ; and the great and im- 
 portant object of all its doctrines is to fur- 
 nish the highest and most powerful motives 
 to the discharge of that duty. To this end, the 
 resurrection from the dead, and a state of 
 future rewards and punishments — -the strongest 
 incitements to human action — were placed as 
 first truths in front of the lesson of Revela- 
 tion. — A promise of pardon is held forth to 
 reformed penitents, and this world is repre- 
 sented as being a stage of preparation and 
 a state of trial for another, in which, accord- 
 ing as we acquit ourselves well or ill, we 
 shall receive hereafter, from the final Judge 
 of all the earth, our recompense of reward 
 or condemnation. — Now these are doctrines 
 that can never be too forcibly nor too fre- 
 quently pressed upon our attention ; and some 
 precaution ought at least to be taken that 
 counter-doctrines are not circulated throughout 
 the whole extent of the kingdom, that virtually 
 
118 
 
 deny the existence and actually destroy the 
 efficacy of these first and most important 
 truths; . 
 
 I can concede, most amply and without 
 reserve, to every man the privilege of judg- 
 ing and deciding for himself, on every sub- 
 ject that can occupy the human mind *; 
 
 * I had not heard till just now that Mr. Collyer had 
 published an Appendix to his Appeal on the Subject of 
 Evangelical Preaching. I really find nothing in it which 
 deserves notice, and yet, as I 'understand, it waited upwards 
 of a month from the finishing, that his name might issue 
 forthwith the dignified appendage of D. D. ! It would be- 
 tray want of courtesy, after this, to pass it by without remark. 
 Yet I must confess, that even now, and bearing as he does 
 " this blushing honour," I cannot find either that his vanity 
 is less, or that his wisdom is greater. But, perhaps, the one 
 will abate, and the other abound, by degrees ; we will, 
 therefore, leave them to events. 
 
 The Doctor is welcome to any grammatical reprisals 
 he may make; but his attempt in p. 16 and 17 of his 
 Appendix is sadly unsuccessful. 1 had not stated the autho- 
 rities as distinct, but I distinctly stated them, to shew their 
 coincidence, and with respect to the article it, the antece- 
 dent is " the express information of our Saviour." This Dig- 
 nitary is not grammatices artis doctissimus — but no matter. 
 
 The Doctor complains that I dismissed his Appeal 
 with too slight a notice, and that I did not treat him with 
 due respect. I can assure him, that had he fairly met 
 the statements which he professedly came forward to op- 
 pose — had he proved that the practical application of the 
 doctrines which he undertook to defend was not what I 
 had affirmed them to be — had he shewn that the principles 
 
119 
 
 I can concede to every man the right of 
 laying the conscientious result of his judg- 
 ment before the public, on every subject 
 that can interest the feelings or the fate of 
 man. But when we behold a vast body of 
 men separating themselves from the mass 
 of their fellow-subjects, and assiduously dis- 
 seminating opinions adverse to the morals of 
 
 advanced by the writers I referred to were erroneously stated, 
 or that the conclusions deduced from them were untruly 
 drawn — had he demonstrated that their assertions, and the 
 declarations of the Saviour himself, which I opposed to 
 them, were not what I had declared them to be, contra- 
 dictory, but corroborative and consistent — Had he done 
 this, and I had afterwards treated his labours with levity 
 and disrespect, a conduct 10 unworthy on my part would 
 only have added a lustre to his triumph. The strength of 
 an argumentative and powerful mind will assert its own 
 claim, and force its own way; to consign over its efforts to 
 derision or contempt is beyond the power of me, or of any 
 man ; but when Doctor Collyer. poured forth his flippant 
 and evasive declamation, seasoned with epithets of high in- 
 vective, and — thinking more of himself than his subject — . 
 talked of " feeling a sort of degradation in replying to an 
 anonymous writer," and affected to regret that he should 
 " condescend to rescue him from oblivion," with much 
 more of this sort of coxcombry and nonsense ; and when 
 he, in no one instance, compensates for the silliness of his 
 pride by the strength of his reasoning ; if I should not 
 have treated his self-importance with due ceremony, or 
 should have manifested a want of reverence for his in- 
 capacity — the occasion is with himself. 
 
120 
 
 the people ; — when we perceive these men 
 perverting that Gospel which they pretend 
 exclusively \to propagate, and spreading doc- 
 trines that, while they tend to bring morality 
 into neglect and disesteem, are pregnant with 
 every principle that can deprave the igno- 
 rant and misguide the unthinking; — when 
 we remark their restless activity, their cease- 
 less ardour, their hot-brained zeal ; — when we 
 find their agents and emissaries traversing 
 every quarter of the globe, and perceive this 
 confederacy growing daily to a gigantic 
 energy and strength ; when we observe them 
 assuming a title, which, while it distinguishes 
 them from the National Church, serves at 
 once to designate their separation and their 
 supremacy ; — when we discern this very title 
 to be itself a standing libel against the 
 Established Order of Clergy in the State ; — 
 when we mark their ascendency every hour 
 gaining ground, and the national character ra- 
 pidly degenerating under their influence; — 
 when we view the multitude seduced from 
 the Teachers of Christian Morality by every 
 art which bigotry and cunning can suggest ; — 
 
121 
 
 when we behold the Leaders of this hostile 
 sect no longer content with being tolerated, 
 but aspiring to take the lead, and succeed- 
 ing to an extent that menaces the State by 
 whose protection they were fostered ; — when 
 we witness in the Members of this New 
 Ecclesiastical Republic a spirit that is fierce, 
 fanatical, and intolerant, full of impatience 
 towards all who doubt, and full of wrath 
 towards all who differ ; — when we discover 
 the bulk of their followers drawn from 
 the lowest rank of intellect, trained to 
 an allegiance to their Sect and its Spi- 
 ritual Leaders ; — when we behold Associa- 
 tions in every county in England, and a 
 Congregational Union projected for the 
 purpose of bringing the whole mass into 
 contact, and giving energy and effect to 
 its operations; — when we turn our eye to 
 the Report of the Deputies appointed by 
 this New Spiritual Regency to take a survey 
 of the religious state of Ireland— a precedent 
 unknown to the history of the British Con- 
 stitution ; — when we perceive the followers of 
 this aspiring sect separating themselves from 
 
122 
 
 their fellow-citizens in all the common con- 
 nections, habits, and relations of life, and 
 cherishing the coldest feelings of dislike to- 
 wards all from whom they are thus disso- 
 ciated, and who are not disciplined in their 
 corps ; — when we call to mind that this 
 sect, infuriate in their thirst for proselytism, 
 disdain all appeal to reason, in matters of 
 faith, and in consequence leave themselves 
 no appeal but to force; — when we recollect, 
 in the train of all this, that an Evangelical 
 sect, of exactly the same views and prin- 
 ciples, and habits, and doctrines — a party out 
 of which this party has grown, and from 
 which it has descended, has once before 
 overthrown the state. — With all this pre- 
 sent to our minds, are we prepared to say, that 
 we find nothing in all this but what is neces- 
 sarily attendant on the right of private judg- 
 ment ; nor any thing which, consistently with 
 the enjoyment of that right, can be either 
 regulated or restrained ?' If any are of opi- 
 nion that all this ought to proceed in its 
 course, and that to bring it in any manner 
 under the notice or knowledge of the ex- 
 
123 
 
 isting Government is to offer violation to the 
 privileges of religious freedom — If any are of 
 this opinion, I freely confess that I am not 
 of that number. 
 
 Whether a license ought indiscriminately, 
 and without care or inquiry, to be granted 
 to any, even the lowest of the vulgar, to 
 take an active lead in this Church Mili- 
 tant ; and whether he should, moreover, be 
 lured to enlist into its service by an ex- 
 emption from certain burdens which attach 
 to every other class of subjects, — the policy 
 of all this, to say the least of it, seems very 
 questionable. If an evil approaches us, against 
 which all precaution would be fruitless, in 
 this case our fate is our apology ; — so situ- 
 ated, we are obliged to acquiesce ;— but it 
 were an extreme of indifference, approaching 
 to insanity, to become the careless accom- 
 plices of our own ruin. If the Legislature, 
 instead of considering on the means of re- 
 pressing the danger which menaces the Es- 
 tablishment and the State, shall lend its 
 authority to the cause ; still it is of import- 
 ance that we should know what is our true 
 
124 
 
 situation, that our minds may be gradually 
 made up to the event. 
 
 When I read all the insinuations contained 
 in certain publications, of very extensive cir- 
 culation and impressive effect — when I con- 
 sider amongst what order of persons those 
 publications are assiduously spread, and the 
 zeal and authority with which they are re- 
 commended — I think I perceive a disposition 
 very much the reverse of that which would 
 respect the public welfare, if the turn of 
 affairs gave a chance of subverting the con- 
 stituted authority of the Church, and es- 
 tablishing, in its stead, the supremacy of the 
 New Priesthood. A very popular work, en- 
 titled " A Plea for Religion," written by 
 a Minister of the Establishment, seduced into 
 the circle of Methodism, manifests, but too 
 clearly the views of the New Spiritual Di- 
 rectory. The book itself is well calculated 
 to accelerate those views. It seeks, in al- 
 liance with the publications of Rowland 
 Hill, and other strenuous Evangelists of the 
 same stamp, to purify the Constitution from 
 that public grievance, an Established Clergy, 
 
125 
 
 and to clear out the Moral Temple to make 
 room for the Assembly of the Saints. 
 
 This writer descants, with a zeal peculiarly 
 exasperated, against the Dignitaries of the 
 Church *. The Luminaries of Methodism 
 are contrasted with the Regular Clergy, and 
 the former are found, in the comparison, to be 
 as shining stars in the firmament of Faith. So 
 far as these have obtained admission into the 
 Church, so far, and just hi that proportion, it is 
 Evangelical and pure ; but beyond that it is cor- 
 rupt, unholy, profligate, and not worth preserv- 
 ing. — " In my judgment," — says this converted 
 Divine, — ■" the corrupt state of the Established 
 Religion is the grand and original cause of much 
 of our immorality ; and these two, together, are 
 the only true and genuine sources of our national 
 distress. Let us remove out of the way every 
 unevangelical stumbling-block, and turn unto 
 
 * The late Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle, is singled out 
 by name, as one upon whom Church preferment was un- 
 deservedly accumulated. The Bishop was an elegant 
 scholar, and a most enlightened and liberal Divine; these 
 qualities were, of themselves, sufficient to him make a sub- 
 ject of fanatical reproach, but they were, at the same 
 time, sufficient to elevate him above the reach of it. 
 
126 
 
 God in good earnest, and he will soon make 
 our enemies to be at peace with us. Could 
 this be done, the throne of King George should 
 be as the days of Heaven *." 
 
 I really doubt much whether. the throne 
 of King George will be much better sup- 
 ported by the Lumber-troop of Methodists, 
 than it is by the Regulars whom they so 
 proudly depreciate^ and whom they are so 
 forward to vilify and reproach. 
 
 The prodigious increase of this sect is 
 ascribed to the first followers of Whitfield 
 and Wesley not having been duly pa- 
 tronised and supported by the Bishops and 
 Clergy : — " Instead," says this writer, " of 
 encouraging, moderating, and regulating, the 
 pious zeal of a few young men in Oxford, 
 by gentle and lenient measures, they shut 
 their Churches against them, and compelled 
 them to go out into the highways and hedges, 
 to preach to those who were inclined to 
 hear them ; and though they were then but 
 
 * " A Plea for Religion and the Sacred Writings. By 
 the late Rev. David Simpson, Member of Christ Church, 
 Macclesaeld. Fifth Edition. 1806." P. 226. 
 
127 
 
 a small band, they are now become a goodly 
 company, and have already overspread Eng- 
 land, Scotland, Ireland, America, and 
 the West Indies. — All this weight, too, is. 
 thrown into the dissenting scale ! A few 
 more such imprudent measures — and down 
 goes Mother Church *!" 
 
 This language is not very eloquent or re- 
 spectful ; but the representation is certainly 
 correct. There is no doubt but these Spi- 
 ritual Missionaries have been sufficiently 
 successful, and that their embassies of alien- 
 ation have met with no obstacles in the 
 wisdom or policy of the States they have 
 overspread. That Paine, and others of Repub- 
 lican notoriety, whose hostility to the existing 
 Government was open and avowed, should 
 predict, in language of insulting mockery, 
 the downfal of Mother Church, could oc- 
 casion no surprise ; but surely that ordinary 
 decency, which even hypocrisy demands, might 
 have forbid a Professor of Religion from treat- 
 ing its public institutions with contempt, and 
 
 * «« Plea for Religion," &c. P. 271. 
 
128 
 
 poisoning the minds of his countrymen against 
 the Establishment provided for the support of 
 it. — This, surely, makes no part of the duty 
 intrusted to the hands of Gospel Ministers. 
 
 As this reverend Proselyte had concluded 
 upon withdrawing from the Church, and 
 joining the Methodist connection, he does 
 not hesitate to declare decisively the steps 
 which ought to be pursued ; and the sen- 
 timents which he has deliberately expressed 
 on this subject demand attention. Rowland 
 Hill and his confederates could not have 
 had a better Ally, or one more hearty in the 
 cause. 
 
 " As matters are now managed," says he, 
 " a large proportion, both of our Bishops 
 and Clergy, are, in a very considerable de- 
 gree, an useless burden upon the public. We 
 not only do little or no good, but we do 
 a great deal of harm. While we continue 
 dead to the interests of religion, subscribe 
 what we do not approve, and set the pulpit 
 and reading-desk at loggerheads one with 
 the other ; while our doctrines are unevan- 
 gelical, our spirit lukewarm, our minds se- 
 
129 
 
 cular and worldly, our studies merely literary 
 or philosophical, and our conduct immoral; 
 far better would it be that the nation were 
 without us, and all our preferments seques- 
 tered to the purposes of the state, as they 
 respectively become vacant, and the people 
 left to provide at their own expense for 
 Ministers, as it is among all denominations 
 of Dissenters. In this case, Ministers, in ge- 
 neral, would both be better provided for, 
 the people would be better served, the Go- 
 vernment would gradually obtain considerable 
 sums of money to aid them in their efforts 
 to save the country, and all the dumb dogs, 
 the useless and immoral part of the Clergy, 
 would be sent a-packing, one to his farm, and 
 another to his merchandize. Can any rati- 
 onal man say that this would be a misfor- 
 tune to the nation ? At least, were I in the 
 Prime Minister's place, and wanted to raise 
 money for the salvation of the kingdom, as 
 it is well known he must do, / should eer- 
 tainly turn my attention to the property 
 of the Church*." 
 
 * " Plea for Religion," &c. Appendix, p. 383. 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 Under what law of the Constitution would 
 this Methodist Minister of State justify 
 this sequestration ? Under what Plea for 
 Religion would he empty the spoils of the 
 Church into the new Bank of Faith, and 
 build Conventicles with the confiscated re- 
 venues of the Establishment ? Under what 
 pious pretext would he sanction the viola- 
 tion of those steady principles of justice 
 which are the sole security of property 
 amongst us ? — I trust the rights of property 
 will never fall under the management of 
 these Saintly Sequestrators. Some persons 
 are fearful of becoming eventually the vic- 
 tims of French oppression ; I have no ob- 
 jection to any fears, however unfounded, 
 that suggest precaution ; — but to be absorbed 
 in the dread of a distant evil, and entirely 
 to abstract our attention from a danger that 
 is at our doors, is neither considerate nor 
 safe. If the rattle of the distant serpent 
 warns us to beware, so likewise does the hiss 
 of the adder that is writhing at our heels. 
 
 We have seen the spirit of reforming fury 
 with which the fanatics of France laid their 
 
131 
 
 axe to the root of all prescriptive right and 
 of all public law. — " You may suppose," 
 says Mr. Burke, referring to the deplorable 
 consequences of their fraudulent and cheat- 
 ing zeal, " you may suppose that we do 
 not approve your confiscation of the revenues 
 of Bishops, and Deans, and Chapters, and 
 parochial Clergy, possessing independent es- 
 tates arising from land, because we have the 
 same sort of Establishment in England. That 
 objection, you will say, cannot held, as to 
 the confiscation of the goods of Monks and 
 Nuns, and the abolition of their order. It 
 is true that this particular part of your ge- 
 neral confiscation does not affect us in Eng- 
 land, as a precedent in point ; but the reason 
 applies, and it goes a great way. The Long 
 Parliament confiscated the lands of Deans and 
 Chapters in England on the same ideas upon 
 which your assembly set to sale the lands 
 of the Monastic Orders. But it is in the 
 principle of injustice that the danger lies, and 
 not in the description of persons on whom it 
 is first exercised. — If prescription be once 
 shaken, no species of property is secure when 
 
 i 2 
 
132 
 
 it once becomes an object large enough to 
 tempt the cupidity of indigent power. I see 
 a practice perfectly correspondent to their 
 contempt of this great fundamental part of 
 natural law. I see the confiscators begin 
 with Bishops, and Chapters, and Monasteries ; 
 but I do not see them end there *." 
 
 This is the warning voice of real wisdom. 
 It is not enough to say that men who circu- 
 late such principles mean well. It is no com- 
 pensation, nor is it any apology, that the 
 zeal which destroyed us, first deluded itself. 
 The work of ruin is the same ; and, as the 
 same profound and philosophic statement most 
 truly remarks, — " Of all things, Wisdom is 
 the most terrified with epidemic Fanaticism, 
 because of all enemies it is that against 
 which she is the least able to furnish any 
 kind of resource/' 
 
 The rapid increase of a powerful sect, com- 
 posed, as the Methodists \ are composed, 
 
 * " Letter on the French Revolution," p. 325. 
 
 f This sect was formerly divided into the Calvinistic 
 and Armenian, and both parties were full of hate and 
 hostility towards each other, as their controversial writings 
 
133 
 
 and separated, as it were, from the great 
 mass of the Community, presents an object 
 of deep interest to the contemplation of a 
 reflective mind. It offers — and this, of itself, 
 if it existed alone, is an evil of great mag- 
 nitude — it offers an organized mass of power 
 and authority ready prepared to the hands 
 of any intriguing and desperate leader that 
 has art and enterprize sufficient to take ad- 
 vantage of it. Cromwell put himself at 
 the head of the Puritans ; he found in 
 them the very engine he wanted, and he 
 had address enough to turn their zeal to 
 good account. The present Tyrant of France 
 — compared with whom the character of 
 Cromwell is pure and spotless — would not 
 fail to pay his court to a power so well 
 fitted to be made the instrument of his am- 
 bition as that Spiritual Order which over- 
 spreads the kingdom through all its borders. 
 He would carry on the Godly work of re- 
 formation with an exclusive indulgence to the 
 
 sufficiently testify. But of late years they have found 
 it expedient to form a coalition, and the Establishment 
 has now to resist their combined force. 
 
134 
 
 pious of this sect ; and we should, perhaps, 
 have, in some Manifesto to the Parliament 
 of England, a repetition of the curious Answer 
 presented by him to the Address of the Corre- 
 gidor of Madrid: — "I have preserved the 
 Spiritual Orders, but with a limitation of 
 the number of Monks. There is not a single 
 intelligent person who is not of opinion that 
 they are too numerous. Those of them 
 who are influenced by a 'divine call shall re- 
 main in their cloisters. With regard to those 
 whose call was doubtful, I have fixed their 
 condition in the order of Secular Priests *." — 
 If any subtle agent of sedition, by a pre- 
 tended attachment to those principles which 
 unite this formidable sect, should place him- 
 self among the foremost and most enthu- 
 siastic of their followers, what a prodigious 
 physical force is placed within his grasp. 
 An intriguing man of talents, full of am- 
 bition and full of energy, with such a power 
 at his devotion — and at his devotion it 
 
 * See the "Answer presented to the Address to his 
 Majesty the Emperor, by the Corregidor of Madrid, in the 
 name of the Magistracy and Citizens of that Capital." — 
 Dated December 9, 1808. 
 
135 
 
 would be placed by the sure ascendency 
 which his talents would gain — such a man, 
 so seconded, what might he not accomplish ? 
 They would be proud of such a convert to 
 their order. It would be to them a test of 
 the truth of their opinions, that they were 
 espoused by one of such high mental en- 
 dowments. They would readily identify 
 themselves with so illustrious an adherent, 
 and would look upon every accession to his 
 greatness as an augmentation of their own 
 power, and they would rejoice in and pro- 
 mote it accordingly. When such a leader 
 as I have adverted to shall have fully or- 
 ganized his authority, and made it in all 
 things compact — where we are to look for 
 the opposing balance is more than I know. 
 
 I do not say that such a termination is looked 
 to, or that it is even within the forecast 
 of the order of persons I speak of. But 
 all who are studied in the history of Govern- 
 ments, and of human affairs, know this-— . 
 that when a great change is gradually pre- 
 paring in the condition of any people, all 
 the events that may follow in the train of 
 
130 
 
 that change are not distinctly foreseen. 
 An aspiring and dextrous individual — and 
 every great kingdom furnishes many such — 
 who has long watched the movements of other 
 minds, and lain wait for some favourable 
 vicissitude, rushes sometimes on a sudden 
 out of the ranks of society, and seizes hold 
 on circumstances which his less daring as- 
 sociates could neither mould nor manage. 
 He winds himself into the centre, while they 
 are pacing the circle. The mass of his fol- 
 lowers are brought under his management, 
 and he thus gains full possession of that 
 power which those who created could not 
 control. — He keeps his eye upon events — 
 he profits by conjunctures — till at length he 
 rides upon the whirlwind, while they, who 
 were at first the unconscious instruments of 
 his elevation, become, in the end, either the 
 victims of his cunning, or the partners of 
 his crime. 
 
 Cromwell gave in to all the prejudices 
 of his party, and accommodated himself to 
 the sanctified hue and temper of the times. 
 The cant of religion rounded all his periods. 
 
137 
 
 His speech, on dissolving the Parliament, is 
 a complete specimen of that hypocritic tone 
 of piety in which he conducted his usur- 
 pation, and by which he imposed on the 
 superstitious imbecility of the multitude. 
 It commences in the modern strain of Me- 
 thodism : — 
 
 — " I had very comfortable expectations that 
 God would make the meeting of this Par- 
 liament a blessing, and, the Lord be my wit- 
 ness, I desired the carrying on the affairs 
 of the nations to these ends. The blessing 
 which I mean, and which we ever climbed 
 at, was mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace, 
 and which I desire may be improved." — 
 Then comes the cant of humility, and a pro- 
 fession of his own peaceful and unambitious 
 temper, in which he affects a reluctance to 
 accept the burden of that Government which 
 he was secretly determined to usurp.—" I 
 can say," says he, " in the presence of God, 
 in comparison with whom we are but like 
 poor creeping ants upon the earth, I would 
 have been glad to have lived under my 
 wood-side, to have kept a flock of sheep, 
 
 K 
 
138 
 
 rather than undertook such a Government as 
 this ; but undertaking it by the advice and 
 petition of you, I did look that you that had 
 offered it unto me should make it good." — 
 And he winds up the whole of this righteous 
 oration to the Parliament with these words : 
 — " I think it high time that an end be pnt 
 unto your sitting, and let God judge between 
 you and me *." 
 
 Such was the Evangelical sanctity of Crom- 
 well ! who never forgot to represent lm cause 
 as the cause of God. His son Richard, who 
 succeeded him in the Protectorate, fur- 
 nishes us with a still more perfect sample 
 of the current cant of the Saints in his 
 time ; it is curious to remark how exactly 
 it accords with the strains of their sanctified 
 posterity of the present day ;?-» 
 
 — " The cause of God and these nations," 
 says he, in his Speech on the Meeting of Par- 
 liament, " which my father was engaged in, 
 met, in all the parts of it, as you well know, 
 with many enemies and great opposition. 
 
 * See " Hatsell's Collection of Parliamentary Speeches," 
 vol. i. p. 151. 
 
139 
 
 Archers, privily and openly, sorely grieved 
 him, and shot at him ; yet his bow abode 
 in strength, and the arms of his hands were 
 made strong by the hands of the mighty 
 God of Jacob. — As to himself, he died full 
 of days spent in great and sore travail ; yet 
 his eyes were not waxed dim, neither was 
 his natural strength abated, as was said of 
 Moses. He was serviceable even to the last. 
 — As to these nations, he left them in great 
 honour abroad, and in full peace at home; 
 all England, Scotland, and Ireland, dwelling 
 safely, every man under his vine, and under 
 his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba *." — 
 No doubt the serious hearers greeted this 
 pious harangue with many groanings of ap- 
 probation. There were some in the congre- 
 gation, however, who listened to it with ears 
 less erect. They h ad sit too long under the 
 sound of this sort of pulpit eloquence ; they 
 grew tired of the farce. Richard predicted 
 the consequence, and, finding himself unable 
 to curb the steed which his father had trained, 
 he wisely resigned the reins. 
 
 * See « Hatsell's Collection," &c. p. 154._ 
 
140 
 
 It is profitable to advert to history, and to 
 retrace old times. The record of the past 
 is full of interest, and it is full of instruction. 
 It contains what the wisest of our forefathers 
 have written " for our learning." There is 
 much before our eyes to which it is fruitful 
 of application. — I have by no means said all 
 that might be said on the different topics 
 upon which I have touched. I have thrown 
 but a sketch upon the canvas — more reflec- 
 tive minds will fill up the outline. 
 
 END OF PART THE THIRD. 
 
 Printed by W. Clowes , 
 Northumberland-court, Strand. 
 
fUy. J* ^/^ t J P-^- • '/" '* ( 
 
 t,,TLs/Z^ rjU.-ty~ S,&r^h~. t* — '— ? 7 
 
 HINTS 
 
 PUBLIC AND THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
HINTS 
 
 PUBLIC AND THE LEGISLATURE, 
 
 NATURE AND EFFECT 
 
 (SEtoangelttal ^reacjnnfl* 
 
 BY A BARRISTER. 
 
 PART THE FOURTH. 
 
 SI QUID JIEREMUR, SANA POSTERITAS SCIET. 
 
 JLonDon: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHNSON AND CO. ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD; SHERWOOD, 
 NEELY, AND JONES, PATERNOSTER-ROW; HATCHARD, PICCADILLY; 
 AND W. REED, BELL-YARD, TEMPLE-BAR : AND FOR ARCHIBALD CON- 
 STABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH. 
 
 1810. 
 
HINTS, 
 
 &c, 
 
 THE religion of genuine Christianity is fit*.£ •a./.^.v 
 a revelation so distinct and specific in its fc< $stf^ &*£- 
 design, and so clear and intelligible in its ^^ ^*JF*^t - 
 rules, that a man of philosophic and retired .^^£ "Cytd 
 thought is apt to wonder by what means >*W £**:7>_ **^- 
 the endless systems of error and hostility **■&■£ t%yr&s, *-*> ' 
 which divide the world were ever intro- J-,^/. /u « -sT/I^r "' 
 duced into it. But whoever is thrown by **.*'* ' P*."* *■*-'' 
 circumstances into the throng of human ^//^SZT"^ 
 life, and observes the daily operations ^•V'^/V 
 
 fa** iUi-L 
 
 «**-€. />■ '. *- L -*' f 
 
 J, 
 
 of cunning, and artifice, and interest, and <U^~i. ? - 
 
 cf 
 
 /■u* 
 
 0^ £A^„J/. 
 
 passion, and prejudice, will be at no loss , ^jU. 
 
 to trace out the variety of sources which $£*.* >3iyX^<^*k; 
 
 ** 7~*- * S ^J^> "J u ~~^ *^~- fc^^ &4p,'~~ jAah&jc^. 
 
 'to***' "~^r*~> -/*> At^y^\. /& ^y^u s&~~-*>, t&c^/xSt 
 
 £-~»^-*C.4. f 
 
 ijW^fig 
 
 - /■ r* — ** ss*~ **~* r 
 
 

 ***£~*'/t*. yfc. m^^^Ji ■ y. AC /e^L*^, ^ <Z 1 ^ 7 ' ^ c-^Afre*^^ 
 
 '-i^'/'Z./^ nave ^ e( ^ ^y degrees to the perversion of 
 
 ~& *«^£~J*/ </i+jLz^ ^ reason, and the corruption of truth. Let 
 
 t«~t,'&+sl *~*JL.*~y a ny man f strong common sense come 
 
 * a " ""j*- to the examination of a plain act of Par- 
 
 ,*-«£ «*/>T«~- y*^^- liament, with a real desire to be informed 
 
 Mr^t^U A* S~~ of its purport, and with a wish to construe 
 
 &^~ ^^,,^y j ts wor( ] s according to their real signifi- 
 
 /. t^i^dr^^ cation, — this man will rarely lail to un- 
 
 ■j& ju4*L- jk^*^" derstand its true meaning, and he will 
 
 t-6**L t ~'h> ^^ find httle difficulty in complying with its 
 
 /V*:^5 ^~^" regulations; yet every clause of this act 
 
 &*» i+j-rr* 1 * f- G f Parliament has perhaps been a source 
 
 ?7y* ^ ^ of constructive cavil to lawyers, who, hav- 
 
 . . < inff investigated it with a diversity of 
 
 ^ views, have construed it with a diversity ©f 
 
 fiSL^A^'*^ opinion - 
 
 ^ AX-'i, y /*#*£- It is remarkable that, in cases where 
 
 jCk^^ 1 - ~- r, *-* u the pecuniary interests and temporal ad- 
 
 '-~- **•/"*'' *~7 vancement of men are at stake, they anxi- 
 
 t,,/u^ .,. ^ - ous \y endeavour, — when any doubt arises 
 
 r '*■'£' 
 
 c&A~< &&/"^ the best evidence, and consult the best ad- 
 t%U^A***.*4 r ** visers; but in matters connected with their 
 /£ £*.& 9if*u^ f eternal welfare, they adopt the opinions 
 
they are first taught, and retain them, how- 
 ever absurd or erroneous, with an obstinacy 
 that resists all discussion, and a bigotry that 
 rejects all inquiry. It is enough that those 
 who dictate to the ignorant in matters of 
 doctrine deliver themselves in a tone of ve- 
 hemence and decision. Truth soberly en- 
 forced will stand no chance against error 
 roundly asserted. An elegant modern 
 Writer, speaking incidentally of a fanatical 
 orator, remarks with great truth, that — " as 
 long as he can appear to feel the passions 
 which he strives to impress, he will seldom 
 fail of impressing them upon the ignorant 
 and credulous, and then it signifies little 
 what he says; merely ringing the changes 
 upon the words sin and repentance, dam- 
 nation and redemption, &c. &c. is all that 
 is required to excite the admiration, and 
 win the confidence of the affrighted and as- 
 tonished rabble. It was by these means, 
 that the club orators in France obtained 
 their influence ; the tumultuous assemblies 
 of the populace, which they addressed, were 
 
4 
 
 as little capable of understanding, as of ut- 
 tering reason ; but the words libertt, egalite, 
 trahison, vengeance, Mc. repeated with a loud .. 
 voice, strong emphasis, and vehement ges- 
 ticulation, filled their minds with mysterious 
 hopes, fears, and suspicions, and led them 
 to the commission of all those dreadful ex- 
 cesses which disgraced the Revolution, and 
 rendered all the wild efforts for universal 
 liberty subservient to the cause of univer- 
 sal despotism *." • 
 
 Against that strong fortress of error 
 which the anti-moralists have erected, no 
 impression can be made by a desultory 
 shock ; it becomes necessary " to set down 
 before it, and to assail it by regular ap- 
 proaches." It will be often expedient to 
 recur to topics already adverted to, and 
 to enforce again what may before have 
 been slightly touched upon ; the mind 
 may often be led to a train of reflection 
 at one time, by a remark that it would 
 
 * Vide Knight's Analytical Inquiry into the Principles 
 of Taste. 
 
have passed by at another. We are dif- 
 ferently disposed for the reception of truth 
 at different periods. For this reason, I have 
 preferred rather to resume a subject at in- 
 tervals, than to exhaust it at once. 
 
 The new fraternity of Apostles have de- 
 claimed vehemently against the Title of this 
 Pamphlet, as pregnant with the worst de- 
 signs of persecution. As I know not from 
 whence the inference is drawn, it would 
 be foolish to attempt to refute it. Indeed, 
 they have by habit arrived at such a hardi- 
 hood of assertion in controversy, that those 
 who know them will never look for fact of 
 foundation in their charges. 
 
 The word " Legislature" has been repre- 
 sented by them as full of ill intention. 
 Any hint in that quarter has been consi- 
 dered, it seems, as a spark in gun-powder, 
 which was to blow up the whole magazine 
 of Methodism. But, in good truth, these 
 spiritual alarmists are not quite so sincere 
 in their apprehensions as they affect to be. 
 To fasten upon the writer the wish, and the 
 
6 
 
 aim, of exciting a spirit of persecution, was 
 artfully attempted, in the. first place, — to 
 raise that prejudice which we all feel, and 
 very justly, against any one possessed with 
 such views ; and, in the next, — to strengthen 
 the tie of common union between them- 
 selves. 
 
 On the statement which I have made of 
 the doctrines, and of the proceedings of this 
 gigantic sect, the public will form its own 
 opinion. The accusation and the evidence 
 are alike before them. Whatever is brought 
 forward in the way of exculpation or de- 
 fence, from the opposite quarter, must be 
 content to go before the same tribunal. 
 They will there have all the weight to 
 which they may be found entitled. I have 
 no leisure to wander over waste ground. 
 I cannot suffer myself to be drawn aside 
 into discussions which would lead me quite 
 astray from my more immediate subject.-^- 
 All that is necessary in that way will come 
 in its order. 
 

 I hold it sufficient to give a general de- 
 nial to general charges. To incur the epi- 
 thet of Socinian, is to me a matter of the 
 most perfect indifference. To give an op- 
 ponent an appellation instead of an argument, 
 is to give proof at once of a barren mind 
 and a bad cause. The great inquiry is, 
 whether the statement made, or the doc- 
 trine advanced, be true or false. If true, 
 it is no more an answer to the argument to 
 call the writer a Socinian, than to call him 
 a Soap-boiler. It has no more to do with 
 the matter than the cast <of 'his complexion 
 or the colour of his coat. Socinus can have I 
 
 no claim upon my veneration ; I have never 
 concerned myself with what he believed, 
 or with what he taught. If, on any point, 
 I should chance to concur in sentiment with 
 him, this coincidence would not weaken 
 my conviction ; — if, on the other hand, I 
 chanced to run counter to his conclusions, 
 this fact would by no means unsettle my 
 belief. — The Scripture is my authority, and ^jT^±' 
 
 K^/i^^- JU-e-^-^-t^-f 4 S^^t**.*^**-— 'f *s**-»s£- ffW^e X*-*— 
 
*~*~-*i ^ /P »y /^ $ &: ¥+~4 <^. V *~*>. f^> ~, 
 
 on no other authority will I ever, know- 
 ingly, lay the foundation of my faith. 
 
 When an appellation is objected to as a 
 substitute for argument, it must be remem- 
 bered that the epithet Evangelical is not ap- 
 plied to this sect by its opponents, but is 
 assumed by themselves. It is meant to car- 
 ry with it a certain character of superior 
 sanctity — it is an epithet of exclusion. 
 " Stand aside, I am holier than thou," is 
 the true import, and genuine translation of 
 it. With all the canting lamentations of 
 their own vilenefs thick upon their lips, 
 they arrogate a title full of honourable dis- 
 tinction. Under the exterior of supreme 
 humility they cover the proudest preten- 
 sions. To dispute their doctrines is to 
 " deny the Lord." The more timid of 
 their opponents are positively half subdued 
 by their terrific denunciations, by the im- 
 posing air with which they identify themr 
 selves with the Deity, and represent their 
 faith as " the faith of the Gospel," and their 
 cause as " the cause of God." But the 
 
9 
 
 more thinking part of the public are not 
 deceived by appearances, nor duped by pro- 
 fessions. They can distinguish practical 
 goodness from puritanic pretence ; — they do 
 not confound the seriousness of Christianity 
 with the grim solemnity of Methodism *. 
 
 These Preachers of mystery appear to 
 consider religion, not as a system of moral 
 preparation, fitted to govern us in this 
 world, and to guide us to the next, but as 
 a system addressed to elect metaphysicians, 
 to be shaped into a creed that shall confer 
 a crown of immortality on its believers. 
 
 But while they are scattering the seeds 
 of error broad-cast over the land, they tell 
 us, in reply to every objection, that great 
 good has been effected, and great changes 
 wrought in the vineyard of their labours. 
 
 * tl Serious" has become the cant term of late to desig- 
 nate the character of this holy Order. All the evangelical 
 advertisements are blazoned with this epithet. The Me- 
 thodist denomination, too, in the depth of their humility, 
 have taken to themselves the appellation of " the Religi- 
 ous Public." 
 
10 
 
 No sooner have they appeared and preach- 
 ed than, behold ! some text has struck one, 
 and some sermon roused another, — one 
 spark has kindled here, another there, — the 
 train of conversion has run like wild-fire, 
 till at length the hearts of steel and flint, 
 which stood proof against all moral exhor- 
 tations, are suddenly subdued as by a mi- 
 racle, and many whom Satan held in bon- 
 dage are forthwith set at liberty ! — Such is 
 the magic of Methodism and its preach- 
 ers! 
 
 It would be very gratifying, all this 
 while, to learn from which of their doc- 
 trinal points all this rapid metamorphosis 
 proceeds, — to what prominent feature of 
 their delectable system it is to be traced ! — 
 Our curiosity is disappointed of all satisfac- 
 tion on this head. 
 f.„> (..£? If the creed of Calvin istic Methodism 
 uu, C -f-'i is really more productive of conversions than 
 ^kl%~~J~* the religion of Christianity, let them 
 ]'C*.U'>-~'^ openly and at once say so, and let them put 
 /Lsti *~~t~- (heir defence of it upon that ground. If 
 
11 
 
 the superiority of their anti-moral system 
 to the moral system of revelation can be 
 made out, let us receive it. But let us first 
 be well assured that the sermon of our Sa- 
 viour on the Mount deserves all that sneer 
 and opprobrium which it pleases the new 
 evangelists to cast upon moral preaching. 
 All this, and much more, will previously 
 require our most profound and steady con- 
 sideration. When we shall have fully con'- 
 vinced ourselves that the institutes of the 
 French reformer, and not the Testament of 
 the Redeemer of the World, contains the 
 true Gospel, then, — but not till then, — let us 
 accept John Calvin as our only sound 
 oracle, and his system of mystery as our 
 only sure guide. 
 
 But permit us to ask, in the mean time, 
 Who was John Calvin, that he is entitled 
 to decide on the doctrines of eternal truth? — 
 What was there in him that can authorise 
 his followers to assume to themselves a mo- 
 nopoly of wisdom and discernment in mat- 
 ters of faith ? — Where, in this man, do we 
 
 cLr„,^,l^, p^*. //e-u. ic^- £>*. *g>- ^h^k X: j£-t^i)m~ 2*/l&~? 
 

 f&~l 1stf*4*i-' jCc^y~ 
 
 71^ 
 
 ^ fi 
 
 &,ftU — j 
 
 s 
 
 .4. 
 
 •7 r 
 
 *y°*, - - f m( j tnafc intellectual superiority that should 
 
 — /■ 
 
 
 fit him to frame a creed for all posterity, 
 and entitle his disciples to count all as in- 
 fidels who refuse to sit down in the circle 
 of their communion ?— Surely there is no- 
 thing in the moral character- of the Mur- 
 derer of Servetus that can claim all this ve- 
 ' 7~ , ' neration ! There was certainly nothing in 
 y J 7 the disinterestedness of his efforts, or the 
 'hu^s'e—. i* 4 - humility of his conduct, or the mildness of 
 <£,p^ Cf jf hj s proceedings, or the purity of his views — 
 JF ■*" / there was certainly nothing in this way for 
 
 ^*y t*'" / , his followers to celebrate, or for those who 
 
 7~s*Y~f<~ were not his followers to admire. Had 
 t) */{ £A^- ^ „„ ..... . ...... 
 
 ,/ / Calvin lived m these times, his vindictive 
 
 . / , and ferocious spirit would more probably 
 
 & 6- <k^/C- have brought him to an untimely end, than 
 
 £*celsU~< ^~ have given that notoriety to his name 
 
 /ere**- » / *^* which the crowd of bigots that have bap- 
 
 ^^r^^^^tized themselves at his font have conferred 
 
 tf vL/tL^Ai- upon it. 
 
 ts~*y /^»~— The pretended reformation produced by the 
 
 ^^TJjI preaching of the anti-moral Evangelists has 
 
 nothing in it that is either solid or durable. 
 
 JrT^ 0u**~i u*-* 
 
 /SL ^.Jlwl £ <*/ *p /MLj^^. //^ 1*^*1, nn/fj **t*C^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 %e~eJ l X* 
 
 X 
 
 tst*+s*j o>- &-r£a 
 
 t^^^f, <e^.^ 
 
 s L jfZ-^e&*?Lc~ 
 
 ' z^^u-rls 
 
It is all hollow and external. If religion *" >V ■ 
 consists in listening to long prayers, and ^.vi/L/Cv* /£. 
 
 
 attending long sermons, in keeping up an JH.*^£ t 
 
 outside appearance of devotion, and inter- 
 larding the most common discourse with 
 phrases of gospel usage ; — if this is religion, 
 then are the disciples of Methodism pious 
 beyond compare. But, in real humility of 
 heart, in mildness of temper, in liberality 
 of mind, in purity of thought, in openness 
 and uprightness of conduct in private life, 
 in those practical virtues which are the vi- 
 tal substance of Christianity, — in these are 
 they superior? No. Public observation 
 is against the fact, and the conclusion to 
 which such observation leads is rarely incor- 
 rect. Simplicity and fair dealing has been 
 usually held to mark the conduct of the Quak- 
 ers, and they consequently stand high in 
 the confidence of that community of which 
 they make a part. But the character of the 
 Methodist has gradually unfolded itself 
 Avith a very different reputation. The very 
 name of the sect carries with it an impres- 
 
 y. 
 
u^^o' £~*~ s } on f meanness and hypocrisy. Scarce 
 
 ' *~ *£*~j> 4 ^' an ind ividual t hat has had any dealings 
 
 rf,A^>(i/ f '*y- w jth those belonging to it, but has good 
 
 7**rff /l>*~<0 cause to remember it, from some circum- 
 
 fc f^ie^f/, stance of lo w dece ption or of shuffling fraud. 
 
 "r*-* ^ ''\*~i'- Its very members trust each other with 
 
 / y^il /L*£ caution and reluctance. The more weal- 
 
 /^'Jy*~>~* £~ tn y among them are drained and dried by 
 
 sl~s(Ji"~-*' the leeches that perpetually fasten upon 
 
 -* * / j them. The leaders, ignorant and bigotted, 
 
 /^*" — I speak of them collectively, — present us 
 
 / f> im^su. with no counter-qualities that can conciliate 
 
 ■4 l~t~~ <~&~^ respect. They have all the craft of Monks . 
 
 ^f- iJ it~/^tM. without their courtesy, and all the subtlety 
 
 b. ,L~U/*'*~J~ f ^ ne J esu its without their learning. 
 
 ~* . / - The overflowings of the Nile are suppos- 
 
 / /w ^ ed to have first taught the science of geo- 
 
 cJL^rp^ i^f — metry in Egypt. — If the pressure and the 
 
 tyrrftiA**-^ progress of danger can teach wisdom, we 
 
 ^— ^-^~~~~i of this nation have certainly an ample store 
 
 J*JiUrrJ-~4 of instruction before us. 
 
 / ^j lZi ' Uhistrious as Great Britain has rendered 
 
 U<~ ^.^c^V- herself in every quarter of the globe, by 
 
 /i^jL. c-rt~<c/~ her unexampled exertions, intellectual and 
 
commercial, and by her ambitious spirit of im- 
 provement, in all those sciences which tend to 
 elevate and dignify the intercourse of active 
 life ; yet, amidst all this progress of know- 
 ledge, amidst all this spirit of research, we 
 find nothing, — comparatively nothing, — of 
 advancement in that science, of all others 
 the most important in its influence, the high- 
 est in its nature, and the most interesting 
 in its consequences. Religion, — except 
 from the emancipating energy of a few su- 
 perior minds which have dared to snap a- 
 sunder the cords which bound them to the 
 rock of error, — except what it owes to the 
 masculine courage of some minds of this cast, 
 — Religion has been suffered to remain, in its 
 principles and in its doctrines, just what it 
 was when the craft of Catholic superstition 
 first corrupted its simplicity. The creed of 
 mystery, received with our swathing-clothes, 
 has been carried with an uninquiring assent 
 to the grave. This creed, lisped by nurses 
 in the ear of infancy, and moulded with all 
 the feelings and prejudices of after life, has 
 
16 
 
 at length prevailed over that gospel to which 
 it stands opposed, and Calvinism has more 
 followers than Christianity. 
 
 Unhappily, the prospect, instead of bright- 
 ening, has, of late years, been thickening 
 with darker gloom. Supplies to the army 
 of fanatics have been collected, with rest- 
 less diligence, from all quarters. The con- 
 scripts of Methodism have been called out 
 from every village and hamlet in the king- 
 dom. The privacies of domestic life are 
 besieged by an artful race of bigots, who 
 spare no pains, and start at no expedient 
 to make converts to their cause. They 
 worm themselves into families only to make 
 proselytes. Not only is the parlour be- 
 sieged, but even the kitchen is invaded. 
 They consider no acquisition as beneath 
 them. All the relationships of civil life are 
 separated and drawn asunder, wherever 
 these saintly inquisitors, with their outside 
 " form of godliness," can gain admission. 
 
 We find them regularly parading before 
 the public eye their annual accession of 
 
17 
 
 new members. The increase of the Socie- 
 ties during the last year, in Great Britain 
 and Ireland, amounts, we are told, to 6716 *. 
 — What a curious exhibit it would make, 
 were they, at the same time, to divulge all 
 the management and manoeuvring, all the 
 holy hypocrisy, and pious frauds by which 
 these new converts were drawn into the 
 connexion ! 
 
 How happens it, by the way, that we 
 hear nothing of the number of Seceders,— 
 of the many that, from time to time, throw 
 off their allegiance to the new Spiritual 
 Monarchy ? A full report is given of the 
 new Subjects, but no return is made of 
 the Emigrants, — no account either of the 
 numbers expelled. These theological politi- 
 cians have their reasons for all this, — and 
 good reasons too. The children of this 
 world are wiser in their generation than 
 the children of light. 
 
 * Vide Evangelical Magazine for October, p. Jt39. 
 B 
 
18 
 
 The concurring proof of all that is going 
 on before us is, or ought to be, more than 
 sufficient to open our eyes. — The accumu- 
 lating numbers, and increasing ascendancy 
 of this pestilent Priesthood, sending out its 
 Missionaries into the heart of foreign king- 
 doms, and dispatching its spies and inquisi- 
 tors to the very extremities of our own, for 
 the purpose of cementing the ties of bro- 
 therhood, and extending their spiritual in- 
 fluence in every possible direction, and of 
 watching, at the same time, the movements, 
 and alienating the members of every other 
 sect, — and all this under the canting pre- 
 tence of advancing Christ's Kingdom ! ! — 
 traversing all space to Evangelize the Hea- 
 then ; to impart to the swarthy Savage, — 
 not the knowledge of those sciences which 
 minister to the improvement, or of those 
 manufactures which contribute to the accom- 
 modation, of life, — not to instruct them in 
 the principles and practice of truth, and jus- 
 tice, and mercy, which are the essentials of 
 all true religion, — not to inure them to those 
 
19 
 
 habits, and sympathies, and feelings, con- 
 genial to civilized man. — No. But to tutor 
 them in the mysteries of Calvinistic Theo- 
 logy ! ! To spread before them all those ab- 
 struse doctrines which have been a source of 
 dispute, and misconception, and wrangling, 
 and fanaticism, from the first date of their 
 introduction, to the present hour* ! ! ! 
 
 * The Calvinistic and Arminian Methodists, although ' 
 they do not concur in their doctrines, Have, as I hare before 
 taken occasion to notice, laid aside that bitter enmity to 
 which the division between Whitefield and Wesley gave 
 birth ; their common enmity to the establishment having at 
 length become a bond of union. But notwithstanding 
 these sects hold doctrines in many important respects di- 
 rectly the reverse of each other, yet each gives to its system, 
 of faith the imposing title of " the Gospel." A Mission- 
 ary of the Arminian school, in his letter, dated from New 
 Providence, in February last, writes thus : " This is 
 charming ground whereon to plant the Gosptl." — It appears 
 too, to be charming ground on which to plant himself, for 
 he presently afterwards adds, — " the people (friends, and 
 members of the society,) are the most liberal perhaps in the 
 world. They think nothing too good for the Preacher." 
 — See Methodist Magazine for October last, p. 439, letter 
 from Mr John Rutledge to the Rev. Dr Coke. 
 
 Brother Granges, the Calvinntic Methodist, does not find 
 . the East India to equal the West India produce, nor has he 
 
20 
 
 It is impossible to mark the progress of 
 this spiritual regency without the strongest 
 feelings of indignation. The proceedings 
 of its leaders are not to be accounted for 
 on the principles which guide the ordinary 
 efforts of men. Their zeal in the accom- 
 plishment of their designs, leads them to 
 make perpetual inroads on the first great 
 principles of freedom. They have at length 
 announced a mode of restricting the li- 
 berty of the press, which England never 
 witnessed in the worst times of tyranny. 
 They have introduced, — to their utter scan- 
 dal and disgrace, and to the scandal and 
 disgrace of the nation which is made to 
 furnish the precedent ; — they have virtu- 
 
 those prospects, so gratifying to the former Evangelist. In 
 his letter of January, he cries out lustily, — " send more 
 Missionaries to this part of the world. I lament that Gan- 
 jam, Chicacole, Rajimundry, and Musalapatam, which are 
 such eligible fields fur Missionary exertions, are entirely des- 
 titute of the light of the Gospel." — Vide Evangelical Maga- 
 zine for September last. 
 
 Thus the Gospel is made the common appellative for both 
 systems, because neither could gain Converts without assum- 
 ing it. 
 
21 
 
 ally introduced the test act into the very 
 recesses of literature ! They form a cor- 
 poration in the most monstrous and un- 
 constitutional spirit of monopoly, and they 
 then tender a subscription to articles, as the 
 sine qua non of admission ! ! This compa- 
 ny of Calvinists thus constituted, announces 
 itself to the public, under the title of " the 
 Society of United Theological Book- 
 sellers *." 
 
 It is worth while to examine a little 
 minutely the address with which this most' 
 extraordinary and unexampled Associa- 
 tion preface their establishment. 
 
 " The Society of United Theological 
 Booksellers, 
 
 " To the Religious Public. 
 
 "In the month of July 1808, a Society 
 was formed in London, amongst a select 
 number of Booksellers, for the purpose of 
 printing and selling theological books upon 
 
 * See their advertisement at full length in the Evangelical 
 Magazine for December last. 
 
22 
 
 an enlarged principle. In order to for- 
 ward this design, such regulations were 
 adopted for the creation of funds, and the 
 admission of members, as it was conceived 
 would promote the objects of" the society, 
 and fix it upon a solid basis." — 
 
 Nothing is more disgusting than the cant 
 of liberality employed to cover the schemes 
 of selfishness. A certain number of Me- 
 thodist booksellers, full fraught with all the 
 bigotry of their sect, and well versed at the 
 §ame time in all the mercenary manage- 
 ment of trade, discover the great advantage 
 that would accrue from confining to them- 
 selves the sale of works most current, and 
 most in request among that religious order 
 in society to which they belong, and of 
 striving, at the same time, to suppress the 
 sale and circulation of all theological works 
 of a tendency opposed to their system. 
 No sooner is this spiritual scheme of mono- 
 poly matured amongst them, than the Re- 
 ligious Public are to be prepared for its 
 reception and its patronage, and they arc 
 
23 
 
 told, and it is expected they will believe it, 
 that a select number of Booksellers have 
 formed themselves into a society for the 
 purpose of printing and selling theological 
 books, upon an enlarged principle ! ! Real- 
 ly the impudence of this language is equal 
 to its hypocrisy. 
 
 The address thus proceeds : — 
 
 " An association of this nature has long 
 been considered, by many thinking persons, 
 a desideratum in the religious world ; and. 
 various applications to this effect have been 
 made from distant places, to the booksellers 
 in London. For the gratification of such 
 individuals, and the information of the 
 public at large, the " United Theologi- 
 cal Booksellers " take this method of ac- 
 quainting them with the formation of their 
 society." — 
 
 Surely those thinking persons must have a 
 most preposterous mode of cogitation, that 
 could conceive an Association of this na- 
 ture to be a desideratum in the religious 
 world, To procure themselves a slice of 
 
24 
 
 the profits of this new theological part- 
 nership, — this indeed might be a desidera- 
 tum ; but, sure I am, that this new secta- 
 rian policy, instead of commending itself 
 to the religious world as desirable, must fill 
 the mind of every thinking man, whether in 
 that world, or out of it, with the liveliest 
 feelings of alarm and indignation. Can 
 such a sweeping scheme of monopoly as 
 this, impose itself upon any one for a mo- 
 ment, as the suggestion of disinterested 
 persons, anxious only for the public good ? 
 ■ — Is it any other than a part of that exe- 
 crable system of this new sect, which is 
 daily and hourly contriving to concentrate 
 its power, and to bring all its concerns, of 
 whatever kind, within its own girdle ? — 
 These booksellers Elect, next present us with 
 a specimen of the enlarged principle upon 
 which their scheme is founded. 
 
 — *' As the success of an institution simi- 
 lar to the one above described, depends 
 greatly upon the encouragement afforded 
 by the religions public ;" — one is really 
 
25 
 
 quite surfeited with this term ; — u it will 
 be expected, that the members of this Asso- 
 ciation should make a distinct avowal of the 
 principles upon which they set out. Consider- 
 ing that an union in religious sentiment, 
 as far as it concerns the great doctrines of 
 the Gospel, is essential to the well-being of 
 any society, they do not hesitate to declare 
 their decided attachment to Evangelical 
 truth." 
 
 Which, translated into good plain Eng- 
 lish, runs thus: — We, the Associators, do 
 not hesitate to declare our decided attach- 
 ment to the doctrines of Calvin; and no 
 bookseller, or other person, can be admit- 
 ted into the Society, established for the ex- 
 clusive propagation of these doctrines, un- 
 less he first makes a distinct confession of 
 his faith. — 
 
 A more mischievous principle than this, 
 —a principle more repugnant to the liberal 
 spirit of the British constitution, — never yet 
 found its way into the community. It is a 
 principle which goes, in its slow but sure 
 
26 
 
 effect, to establish the worst species of eccle- 
 siastical tyranny. These tutelary priests of 
 the sanctuary, with the deluded train of 
 fanatics assembled at their heels, will gra- 
 dually carry this engrossing and exclusive 
 spirit into other trades. — There will be nei- 
 ther countenance nor patronage, but to 
 such as have taken up their freedom in this 
 new Company. 
 
 To act on the principle of exclusion, 
 seems as it were inseparable from the 
 narrow, selfish, overbearing spirit of this 
 sect. An acute and sensible Foreigner, giv- 
 ing an account of the city of Bremen, 
 writes thus : — "The predominant church is the 
 Calvin istic. Of this persuasion are the 
 Magistrates, though the Lutherans are not, 
 by any law, excluded from the regency. 
 Formerly, they were sometimes chosen in- 
 to these offices, but since the Calvinists 
 have had undisturbed possession of the go- 
 vernment, they have taken care to keep out all 
 that are not of their own sect*." — Is not the ob- 
 
 * Letters written on a journey from Lorraine to Lower 
 Saxony, by Baron Knigge.— Translated from the German. 
 
27 
 
 ject of these Theological Associations, 
 which this sect are forming in this kingdom, 
 sufficiently visible to all men of discern- 
 ment ? — Is it not the tendency of this sec- 
 tarian system of coalition here, to expel and 
 exterminate all other sects, and all other 
 systems ? — Are not the leaders of this new 
 Spiritual Republic, one and indivisible, 
 striving, to the full stretch of their means, 
 to extend their authority, and to increase 
 their power ? — Will they not naturally wish 
 to weaken every other authority, and eve- 
 ry other power by which their own may 
 be limited or controuled ? — I trust we shall 
 not be so far led away by the semblance of 
 religion, or the profession of enlarged princi- 
 ples, or by any other of the mock preten- 
 sions which are held out to us — I trust, 
 that neither the religious public, nor the 
 public of any other denomination, will be 
 so far thrown off its guard, as not to reflect, 
 coolly and dispassionately, upon the nature 
 of such associations, and the danger that 
 arises from the introduction of a precedent, 
 
28 
 
 that contains within it the germ of a prin- 
 ciple, that may hereafter neutralize the pri- 
 vilege of free inquiry, and annul the free- 
 dom of the press. 
 
 — " The diffusion of religious know- 
 ledge," — say these associators, — " being the 
 most important benefit that can be confer- 
 red upon society, the present institution, as 
 it is directed to that object, cannot fail 
 meeting with extensive approbation." — Can 
 the credulity of the people of this kingdom 
 be so grossly imposed upon as to believe, 
 even for an instant, that the diffusion of reli- 
 gious knoivledge is the pure and real object 
 of these " United Theological Booksel- 
 lers!!" — Can they believe for an instant, 
 that it is any other than a part of that con- 
 ventional system of power and influence 
 which this new church militant are labour- 
 ing to establish ?— Their Primary Societies — 
 their Provincial Associations — their Con- 
 gregational Union — their Hibernian Socie- 
 ty—their Missionary Society — their Tract 
 Society — and their Society of United Theo' 
 
29 
 
 logical Booksellers — all these are but parts of 
 the organized system of Calvinistic Metho- 
 dism, which has for its object, not, as it 
 is delusively and artfully pretended, the dif- 
 fusion of religious knoivledge, but the diffusion 
 of their own doctrines, and the exclusive es- 
 tablishment of their own sect. 
 
 But the lure of pecuniary advantage is 
 held out to quicken the activity of the faith- 
 ful. They are tempted to subscribe, by the 
 assurance, that this new branch of theolo- 
 gical trade promises to yield eventually a 
 profitable return. 
 
 — " The accumulation of materials" — we 
 are told, — "and the approbation of some very 
 eminent ministers in different denomina- 
 tions*, have induced the Society to increase 
 
 * This is the ordinary puff collateral to which the Evan- 
 gelical Leaders have recourse. Who are those eminent mi- 
 nisters, whose pretended patronage is held out to soothe us? 
 If of different denominations, how were they thus conciliat- 
 ed to a society of this ominous nature, from which they must 
 themselves of necessity be excluded by that indispensable 
 condition of admittance, " a union of religious sentiment in 
 the great doctrines ;" which very want of union it is that 
 creates these different denominations? /, a 7 / /?*. 
 
 " ^^^ /a^*..^ fc^-^ ^-a^i^/ 
 

 s£Z 
 
 ^k 
 
 U . 
 
 z / i the number of shares, in order to make way for 
 
 y w ^ access i° n °f new members, and the enlarge- 
 ^ry ' men t of its funds. It is, therefore, agreed to 
 / / invite into the Society such booksellers, mi- 
 
 ^7' * ' nisters, and even private gentlemen as may be 
 
 4. / i disposed to forward the objects above stat- 
 f^*- -/ed. For the information of such as are 
 
 ' * not acquainted with trade, it may be proper 
 
 to observe, that ultimately little or no risk 
 can attach to this concern ; on the contrary, 
 at stated periods, the share-holders will re- 
 ceive dividends, according to the success of 
 the Society's publications ; and the shares 
 will be transferable, upon notice given to the 
 Society." — 
 
 Really this is a most sacred system of 
 money-jobbing! a great 'desideratum no 
 doubt to the members of the new religious 
 world, to be able to circulate their peculiar 
 doctrines at a profit of twelve per cent. The 
 spirit of the FATHERS of the New Church is 
 indeed most enterprizing ; the most zealous 
 votaries of Mammon could not have struck 
 
 rtsedyry ? 
 
 /%*-' /jtAsett 
 
 Si ^**V ^yLt^iyA^Jt^. 
 
31 
 
 out a better speculation. To contrive a 
 scheme of monopoly that should at once 
 concentrate their interest, and consolidate 
 their power, — and so to manage it, withal, as 
 to carry a prospect of premium on the 
 transferable shares, is really making their 
 doctrines a goodly inheritance ! — The Money- 
 changers have returned again to the temple. — 
 Surely, in this age of mercenary specula- 
 tion, we might at least have kept, theology 
 unmixed with dividends, and funds, and 
 transfers. — Non hoc ista sibi tempus specta- 
 cula possit. 
 
 To Associations of this description, no 
 Englishman ought to lend his support or 
 cooperation. They pave the way to a gra- 
 dual encroachment on every liberal prin- 
 ciple of commercial dealing, which it is 
 our common duty, and our common inte- 
 rest to cherish and protect. They lead the 
 way to other combinations the most arbi- 
 trary, and to other monopolies, the most in- 
 vidious, oppressive, and illiberal. Let them 
 come before the public in whatever shape, 
 
32 
 
 or under whatever disguise they may, they 
 are pregnant with evils of the very worst 
 kind. The British Constitution revolts from 
 such Associations, and the Religion of Chris- 
 tianity disavows their support. 
 
 We will proceed to take a view of those 
 great doctrines, as they are termed, respect- 
 ing which an union of sentiment is made 
 the grand pre-requisite of communion. We 
 shall find them distinctly drawn up in a 
 Tract to which I have adverted in a for- 
 mer part, and which forms the Confession 
 of Faith, expected from the Students, prepa- 
 ratory to their reception into the ministry of 
 the New Church*. We are informed by 
 way of preface to this manual of Ortho- 
 doxy, that, " Some ministers and gentle- 
 men, being sensible of the great opposition 
 
 * This summary is entitled, "A Declaration, as to some 
 
 CONTROVERTED POINTS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE."— Being 
 
 the private Confessional, it is not publicly Sold, and has 
 therefore no bookseller's name. The copy which I have 
 before me purports to be printed by Bye and Lax, St 
 John's Square, Clerkenwell. 
 
53 ■ 
 
 which has been made of late to the Christ- 
 ian religion, agreed to use their utmost 
 endeavours to support the ancient and true 
 Protestant doctrines ; and as there are 
 some points which are not controverted at 
 present, they judged it proper to give a very 
 brief" summary of those doctrinal truths, 
 which are now attacked with the greatest 
 vehemence, and which they had a special 
 regard to in the following articles."— 
 
 Although mere names are of no autho- 
 rity in determining what the authority of 
 the Scriptures alone can decide; it would 
 be, nevertheless, desirable to have known 
 who these " ministers and gentlemen" were, 
 who thus elevate themselves to the Spirit- 
 ual chair, and, with an air of papal infalli- 
 bility, draw up this their Declaration, as 
 to what they allow previously to have been 
 controverted Points. It would assist us to 
 determine by what high commission they 
 are warranted, without discussion, and with- 
 out proof, to affirm these controverted points 
 
 C 
 
34 
 
 to be doctrinal truths. Without taking for 
 granted all that these anonymous lords of 
 Articles choose to declare, we will proceed 
 to examine the code of Calvinistic Divini- 
 ty, as it is here drawn ex cathedra, and with- 
 out a distinct acceptance of which, it seems 
 we can have no title to be numbered with 
 the religious public. It will enable us to esti- 
 mate the solidity of the rock upon which 
 the new Evangelists have built their church. 
 
 The Declaration, dividing itself into 
 ten sections, begins thus : 
 
 — " The light of nature affords men so 
 much knowledge as to the being and per- 
 fections of God, that they are without ex- 
 cuse when they glorify him not as God ; 
 but it is not sufficient to give a saving 
 knowledge of the Most High, therefore God 
 was pleased to give a clear full manifesta- 
 tion of his mind and will, in the Scriptures 
 of the Old and New Testament, which are 
 the only and the perfect rule of faith * and 
 
 * What is meant by a rule of faith ? — This phrase is in 
 
35 
 
 practice; and no doctrines are to be re- 
 garded which are not there expressed, or 
 deduced from thence by necessary conse- 
 quence. In the Scriptures, nothing is re- 
 vealed contrary to right reason, but many 
 mysteries are there revealed which tran- 
 scend finite reason, and they are to be re- 
 ceived on the authority of the revealer, 
 without inquiry into the mode of them." — 
 
 Now, the very first proposition with 
 which this Declaration sets out, is 
 not only false in itself, but the terms in 
 which it is conveyed are highly objection- 
 able. 
 
 — " The light of nature affords men so 
 much knowledge as to the being and per- 
 fections of God, that they are without ex- 
 cuse, when they glorify him not as God." — 
 
 perpetual use among the writers of this sect, but no one 
 among them ever pauses to inquire whether or not he under- 
 stands his own meaning. Rules of practice there may be, and 
 these rules are unquestionably contained in the precepts of 
 the Gospel ; but a rule of faith there cannot be, for faith, is 
 produced by evidence, and is not regulated by rule : thq 
 phrase is most absurd and unmeaning. 
 
36 
 
 The ligkt of nature ! What is this light ? 
 What is nature *? To Voltaire, and to 
 the disciples of that school, such terms may 
 be pardoned. To the page of their philo- 
 sophy they are appropriate. But the in- 
 troduction of such suspicious and equivocal 
 language into a summary of doctrine, pur- 
 porting, as this does, to be the standard of 
 Evangelical truth, is most preposterous. 
 On subjects professedly religious, and in a 
 Declaration of this kind more especially, 
 no mode of expression should be resorted 
 to, which serves to draw off the mind from 
 the contemplation of the Great First 
 Cause. 
 
 But, without dwelling on this sceptical 
 phraseology, the proposition itself is the re- 
 verse of truth. That the light of nature, 
 or, to use terms more intelligible in the 
 
 * Is this light imparted by animal nature, or vegetable- 
 nature, or the nature of man, or the nature of the world, or 
 the moral nature of the human mind, or the physical nature 
 of things ? From which nature does that light irradiate, 
 which produces the extraordinary effect here ascribed to it ? 
 
37 
 
 Christian world, that the works of the Al- 
 mighty, and the ways of his providence, 
 " afford to mankind universally such a 
 knowledge of the being and perfections of 
 God, as to leave them xoithout excuse, if 
 they glorify him not as such," — is an asser- 
 tion contradicted by fact, and disproved by 
 experience. 
 
 If we would ascertain the degree of re- 
 ligious knowledge, which, what is here 
 called the light of nature imparts, we must 
 look for it among the rude and untutored 
 barbarians, who, at this day, have no other 
 guide. Now, the horrid practices to which 
 superstition has given birth, and the 
 endless variety of objects before which the 
 idolatrous savage has, in all ages, bowed 
 down and worshipped, is a sufficient proof, 
 that where the light of revelation has not 
 dawned, a just knowledge of the being and 
 attributes of the Deity never has prevailed. 
 Search the history of the American In- 
 dians, — search all history for proof of this. 
 But let us refer to records more appropri- 
 
33 
 
 ate. Did not the Athenians, previous to 
 the arrival of St Paul amongst them, en- 
 joy this light of nature ? Without doubt 
 they did. But did it illuminate their minds 
 in the manner here spoken of? Did it af- 
 ford to them that knoivledge of the being and 
 perfections of the true God, which it is here 
 said to impart? Let us refer to the Apostle 
 himself, and see whether his experience con- 
 firms the fact. 
 
 — " Then Paul stood in the midst of 
 Mars Hill, and said, ye men of Athens, I 
 perceive that in all things ye are too su- 
 pertitious. 
 
 " For, as I passed by, and beheld your 
 devotions, I found an altar with this in- 
 scription, To the Unknown God *." 
 
 This does but ill accord with the state- 
 ment we are considering ! To what better 
 authority will it please these new guides 
 of the religious public to refer us for the 
 truth of their declaration on this point f 
 
 * Acts, ch. xtii. 
 
39 
 
 Again, when Saint Paul healed the cripple 
 at Lystra, had the light of nature afford- 
 ed such a knowledge of the perfections of 
 God, as to lead the people to ascribe the 
 miracle to his poiver. Quite the reverse. 
 So far were they from supposing this mira- 
 culous cure to be performed by the Al- 
 mighty, or by any power derived from 
 him, that they conceived Paul and Bar- 
 nabas to be Gods come down in human 
 shape; and concluding one of them to be 
 Jupiter, the priest of that Heathen deity 
 went forth to do him homage, and after 
 the preparatory solemnities, would have 
 proceeded with the people to offer sacrifice, 
 had not the Apostle taken pains to correct 
 their misconception, in which he with 
 great difficulty succeeded *. 
 
 * — " And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent 
 in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who 
 never had walked. 
 
 " The same heard Paul speak, who stedfastly beholding 
 him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, 
 
 <{ Said, with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet ; and 
 he leaped and walked." 
 
40 
 
 When we speak of the -unenlightened 
 Heathens, we speak of a people to whom 
 the being and perfections of God is most im- 
 perfectly, if at all, known. But if the light 
 of nature afforded this knowledge, a people 
 of this description could never have ex- 
 isted. 
 
 But we have it even declared, that this 
 most important of all knowledge is com- 
 municated so clearly by this light, that 
 all error with respect to the proper mode 
 and object of worship is inexcusable, 
 " they are without excuse when they glorify 
 him not as God." 
 
 Now, Saint Paul, speaking of the errors 
 in this respect, which prevailed previously 
 among those who were not blessed with 
 
 " And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted 
 tip their yoiccs, saying, in the speech of Lystra, the Gons 
 are come dozen to us in the likeness of men. 
 
 <c And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercu- 
 kius, because he was the chief speaker. 
 
 " Then the Priest of Jupiter, which was before the city 
 brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have 
 done sacrifice with the people." Acts, c. xiy. 
 
41 
 
 the light of the Gospel, but had been left to 
 the mere light of nature, so far from affirm- 
 ing that they were without excuse, adds, 
 
 — " And the times of this ignorance God 
 winked at, but now commandeth all men 
 everywhere to repent *."• 
 
 This representation, which directly con- 
 tradicts the former, is alike consistent with 
 the goodness, and with the justice of that 
 Being, who expecteth from every man on- 
 ly according to that which he hath, not ac- 
 cording to that which he hath not. 
 
 A man, whose reason is matured by edu- 
 cation, and rectified by study, may, by 
 contemplating the works of creation, and the 
 power, and wisdom, and benevolence, eve- 
 rywhere displayed, be led to infer the ex- 
 istence of those attributes in the Creator ;. 
 and he will be led to reverence and glorify 
 the being in whom these attributes are thus 
 manifest. But this knowledge, thus ac- 
 quired, will be in proportion to the means 
 
 * Acts. c. xvii. v. 30, 
 
42 
 
 bestowed. The sun-burnt savage will not 
 discover, by the light of nature, that that 
 Being who sends forth the sun to warm, 
 and the rain to replenish the earth, is the 
 same that sends abroad the whirlwind, the 
 pestilence, and the earthquake, that seem 
 to tear it from its roots. No gleam of that 
 light will flash upon his mind a convic- 
 tion that it is the same power that supplies 
 him with food, and preserves him in health, 
 that, at another time, afflicts him with famine, 
 and racks him with pain. Hewill ascribethese 
 contrary effects to different agents. His reli- 
 gion will have its good and its evil spirit ; the 
 anger of the latter he will endeavour to avert 
 by prayer, or to appease by sacrifice. Ido- 
 latry, the child of gratitude — and supersti- 
 tion, the offspring of terror, — both will have 
 dominion over him. The human mind 
 must be far advanced before it can esti- 
 mate truly the designs of Providence, and 
 obtain just conceptions of God, and of his 
 infinite perfections. 
 
43 
 
 The works of God, throughout all nature, 
 do, unquestionably lead the mind to a just 
 knowledge of his character and attributes* 
 But this discovery is made by our reason ; 
 and that very faculty is the first in the 
 rank of those invaluable gifts which lead us 
 to glorify him as the giver of all good *. 
 Mere observation, however, will not suffice. 
 The savage will see the same objects as 
 the man of thought and reflection ; but 
 while they afford an accession of know- 
 ledge to the one, they will leave the other 
 as ignorant as before. — It may be of im- 
 portance to the present subject to illustrate 
 this. — The savage may behold the neck of 
 a fine Horse, and may be pleased with its 
 shape ; the neck of a Camel he will observe 
 to be much longer, and less shapely; the 
 neck of the Elephant he will observe to be 
 
 * The fact is singular, and worth remark, — that it is the 
 cxercise of that reason which this sect so loudly, and so per- 
 petually condemn as carnal, that affords all that knowledge, 
 the origin of which they have ascribed to the light of nature, 
 and of which they speak so highly. 
 
44 
 
 very short, and if he remarks upon it at all, 
 it will be, that it is clumsy and out of pro- 
 portion.— This will be the extent of his ob- 
 servation ; and that these respective animals 
 have the neck of different shape and length, 
 will be all the knowledge he will derive 
 from these particulars. But the man of 
 education, accustomed to combine his 
 ideas, and to trace effects to their causes* 
 will view the same object with a very dif- 
 ferent eye. The very same particulars 
 will attract his attention, but they will 
 suggest to his mind reflections of far wider 
 range. He will remark how admirably 
 this part of the body is adapted to the na- 
 ture and necessities of each animal. It wilt 
 occur to him, that the neck of all animals is 
 proportioned to their stature, that they may 
 readily reach their food from the ground ; 
 that tall animals, as the Camel, are assisted 
 in this respect, by the length of the neck ; 
 that it is so likewise in the feathered, creation. 
 The neck of the Elephant he perceives to 
 be an exception, but reflection suggests to 
 
45 
 
 him, that the neck of the Elephant would 
 be an enormous size, were its length pro- 
 portioned to its body ; and he does not 
 fail immediately to remark the wise and 
 beneficent contrivance by which this is 
 avoided ; the neck being formed remark- 
 ably short, and the want of length supplied 
 by the trunk, by the projection of which 
 this animal gathers his food from the 
 ground, as his immense size renders it im- 
 practicable for him to stoop. He thus infers 
 the infinite goodness of the Almighty from 
 his benevolent attention to the wants of 
 every order of created beings. He infers 
 that his wisdom is commensurate with his 
 goodness, because he finds every instance of 
 the one accompanied by equal evidence of 
 the other. 
 
 But it is obvious, that this knowledge of 
 the perfections of God is the deduction of 
 reason from fact and experience ; and that 
 without the steady application of the reflec- 
 tive power of the mind, neither fact nor 
 experience will afford instruction. 
 
46 
 
 Had it been affirmed, that — Men in an 
 enlightened age, possessing the adequate 
 means of acquiring a knowledge of the Su- 
 preme Being, and of his attributes, are 
 without excuse if they neglect to obtain 
 such knowledge, or fail to act in conformi- 
 ty with it, — the remark would have been 
 just, and the admonition useful. But this 
 foolish talk about the light of nature, while 
 it is calculated to mislead the thinking 
 mind, can teach nothing to those who are 
 to receive this Declaration as their reli- 
 gious creed. 
 
 It is impossible to converse on their pe- 
 culiar doctrines with these Calvinistic Priests, 
 or,— if the title suits their views or their vani- 
 ty better, these Evangelical Ministers — with- 
 out perceiving how perfectly raw and un- 
 exercised their minds are in all the first 
 principles of moral truth ; *how utterly inca- 
 pable they are of all connected reasoning ; 
 and how wholly unaccustomed to all habits 
 of extensive inquiry, or profound research. 
 It is impossible to read their writings with- 
 
47 
 
 out instantly perceiving that they are the 
 mere echoes of each other ; that the same 
 authorities are cited by all, and the same 
 writers referred to ; that their doctrines are 
 perpetually supported by the same asser- 
 tions, and defended by the same texts. — 
 It is, as in a Catch, one voice leads, another 
 follows, a third succeeds, and so on, till it 
 ends in one common chorus. 
 
 Nothing can be more fatal to the human 
 mind, than to be early accustomed to the 
 use of phrases, which bring nothing before 
 it in a distinct shape. However slight may 
 be the attainment we make in knowledge 
 of any kind, it is of the first necessity that 
 our ideas should be clear and determinate. 
 Nothing more decidedly paves the way, 
 both to bigotry and scepticism in religion, 
 than those indistinct and confused notions 
 produced by the perpetual use of language 
 which defines nothing. It is, therefore, of 
 infinite importance, that the language em- 
 ployed on religious subjects should be 
 plain, perspicuous, and easily understood ; 
 
48 
 
 i 
 
 for without this our conceptions must be 
 visionary, and our knowledge useless. 
 
 In the next clause of the article we are 
 considering, we are told, that—" in the 
 Scriptures many mysteries are revealed* 
 which transcend finite reason." — 
 
 Can any assertion be more absurd, or 
 any language more confused or contra- 
 dictory than this ? To talk as these people 
 perpetually do, — of the mysteries of revela- 
 tion *, is a perfect solecism. A mystery re- 
 vealed, is a mystery no longer. It would 
 not be more absurd to talk of a concealed 
 discovery. 
 
 To tell us, too, of " mysteries revealed, 
 that transcend finite reason" — is to abuse 
 the ear and the understanding with a jar- 
 gon of words. The proposition is not in- 
 telligible. It is utter nonsense ; for unless 
 our reason can comprehend what is reveal- 
 ed, no revelation can be made. It is most 
 
 * The mysteries of revelation " are proposed to us as 
 objects of faith alone." — Vide Cooper's Sermons. 
 
49 
 
 clear, that nothing can be explained, unless 
 there is a capacity of receiving the expla- 
 nation. 
 
 When it is added, that — " they are to be 
 received upon the authority of the revealer, 
 without inquiring into the mode of them," 
 < — what is to be understood by this ? " The 
 mode of them !" The mode of what ? the 
 mode of the mysteries ? — What stuff is this ? 
 
 That what cannot be understood, can- 
 not be believed, and that it can conse- 
 quently make no part of any system of 
 faith *, is a proposition, which, notwith- 
 standing the ferocity with which it has been 
 denied, and the foolish attempts made to 
 disprove it, is capable of the clearest illus- 
 tration. 
 
 For example : A boy sees, for the first 
 time, a balloon floating in the air ; of the 
 existence of such a phenomenon he has the 
 evidence of his senses, and therefore be- 
 
 D 
 
 * See Hints, Sec. Part III. p. 10. 
 
50 
 
 lieves the fact. The mystery to him is, how 
 a body of so great bulk and weight floats in 
 the air, while his peg-top, which is a thou- 
 sand times smaller, and a thousand times 
 lighter, would, if thrown into the air, fall 
 immediately to the ground. The cause of 
 this, tiil explained, can be no subject of be- 
 lief to him ; but when the nature of specific 
 gravity * is illustrated to him by experi- 
 ments, and he is made to understand that 
 this machine is inflated with gas, specifically 
 lighter than the atmospheric air, and that, 
 owing to this cause, it floats upon the air, as 
 cork does upon water, that which before 
 was a mystery is now revealed; and he is now 
 enabled to believe, not only in the phenome- 
 non itself of which he had the evidence of 
 his senses, but in the cause of it. 
 
 Again : We believe in the existence of 
 God. The wonders of creation carry a 
 conviction of this truth to every sound mind, 
 
 * The term made use of to signify the relative weight of 
 bodies. 
 
51 
 
 and the word of his Revelation confirms 
 what the ways of his Providence had de- 
 clared. Our belief in God is therefore 
 established on authority that cannot be sha- 
 ken — our faith is built on a foundation that 
 cannot be moved. But of the mode of his 
 existence we know nothing, and can there- 
 fore believe nothing. In the fact of his ex- 
 istence there is no mystery, the evidence is 
 irresistible ; but the mode in which HE ex- 
 ists, who by his presence pervades at once 
 all worlds, is a mystery which our finite rea- 
 son cannot fathom. It is a mystery which 
 cannot be revealed to us, because our fa- 
 culties are not fitted to comprehend it, and 
 respecting which> therefore, no faith is ex- 
 pected from us. That " He is, and that he 
 is the rewarder of them that diligently seek 
 him," is revealed in his word, and made mani- 
 fest in his works. These are truths of eter- 
 nal moment ; truths which it behoves us 
 all to believe, and which are therefore de- 
 livered in language that all may understand. 
 
52 
 
 In the Gospel, all is sublime, impressive, 
 and intelligible. Its doctrines are adapted 
 to the great purpose for which they were de- 
 livered — to influence the actions, and train 
 the character, and regulate the life. The 
 rules of our duty, and the terms of our fu- 
 ture acceptance, are placed distinctly before 
 us. In the religion which the Evangelists 
 of Christianity teach, we have a system of 
 doctrine, which bears, in every part, the 
 stamp of its All-wise and benevolent Au- 
 thor. But when we compare with it the 
 Declarations of those zealots, who " teach 
 for doctrines the commandments of men," 
 we are bewildered with Calvinistic conun- 
 drums, and our faith can find no resting- 
 place. 
 
 There is a striking passage in the Reve- 
 lations, which ought to put us for ever on 
 our guard against these impostors in reli- 
 gion, that are perpetually striving to mould 
 our faith to the reception of the mysteries 
 of their creed. 
 
53 
 
 It was Mystery that paved the way to all 
 those corruptions of Christianity, which so 
 sadly defile the Romish Church. It was 
 under cover of mystery that all those errors 
 were first introduced, that led afterwards to 
 the overthrow of that great Empire, which 
 had become " the hold of every foul spirit, 
 and the cage of every unclean and hateful 
 bird." — "Babylon the Great is fallen!" — Let 
 us attend to the figurative description which 
 is given us of that Mistress of Error. 
 
 — " So he carried me away in the spirit, 
 into the Wilderness ; and I saw a Wonfan 
 sit upon a scarlet-coloured Beast, full of 
 names of blasphemy, having seven heads 
 and ten horns. 
 
 " And the Woman was arrayed in purple, 
 and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, 
 and precious stones, and pearls, having a 
 golden cup in her hand, full of abomina- 
 tions, and filthiness of her fornication. 
 
 " And upon her forehead was a name 
 written, MYSTERY* Babylon the 
 
 * Rev. ch. 17. t. 3, 4, 5. 
 
54 
 
 Great, the Mother of Harlots, and 
 abominations of the earth *." 
 
 When the Apostle of Calvinism finds it 
 impossible to escape the pernicious conclu- 
 sions to which his doctrines lead, or to re- 
 concile the contradictions which arise out 
 of them, he delivers himself from all diffi- 
 culty, by declaring the doctrine to be one 
 of those " hidden things," which human 
 reason must in vain endeavour to penetrate. 
 He never fails, on such occasions, to remind 
 us, that — " the wisdom of this world is 
 foolishness with God." He then proceeds 
 to quote the usual phrases, that — " we see 
 at present, through a glass, darkly," and that 
 " these things are hidden from the wise." 
 Having thus suppressed the inquiries which 
 he could not satisf\r, he looks around him, 
 and, with an air of self-complacency, asks, 
 
 * When once a person is brought to venerate what is un- 
 intelligible, there is no doctrine, however monstrous its ab- 
 surdity, that he may not be persuaded to embrace. " And 
 upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY." — This 
 striking passage of Revelation contains an awful caution, 
 that ought never to be absent from our minds. 
 
55 
 
 — " Where are now the disputers of this 
 world?" — as if he had silenced all objec- 
 tions, and left no opponent without an an- 
 swer. 
 
 But a rational inquirer into truth is not 
 to be thus silenced. He hears, indeed, as in 
 the above instances, a few scriptural phrases, 
 wrested from their context, and perverted 
 from their true application ; but he hears 
 nothing that relieves his mind from per- 
 plexity, or that clears the objectionable doc- 
 trine from the consequences involved in it. 
 
 Mark how opposite the conduct of the 
 great Teacher of mankind ! Similies the 
 most apposite — -parables the most illustra- 
 tive — are framed by him, to elucidate, and 
 to enlighten the doctrines which he taught. 
 When any inquiry was made of our Savi- 
 our, in sincereness of mind, he satisfied the 
 inquirer. When any objection was urged 
 to his doctrine, he answered the objector. 
 In no one instance did he ever tell those 
 who questioned him, that his doctrine was 
 a mystery, in A?hich they must have faith, 
 
• 56 
 
 and thus put them off without an answer. 
 On the contrary, his appeal to their reason 
 was so forcible, and the illustration of his 
 doctrine so perspicuous, that they were im- 
 pelled to exclaim, in the enthusiasm of ad- 
 miration, Never man spoke like this man. 
 
 Our Saviour never, in any single in- 
 stance, reprobated the exercise of reason : 
 on the contrary, he reprehends severely 
 those who did not exercise it. Carnal rea- 
 son is not a phrase to be found in his Gos- 
 C Jj/j****^ ! P e l » ne appealed to the understanding in 
 r, , ,, s£„ all he said, and in all he taught. He never 
 'Ut^i. r^u^'t, re( l u i re d jaith in his disciples, without first 
 fiLS'-M %*• f urn ^hing sufficient evidence to justify it, 
 i**JU^w */ The truth of his divine mission he attested by 
 /PhotuAj W~' miracles. He reasoned thus : — If I have 
 ^r?liW., <*-* done what no human power could do, you 
 pc£>. c*M-,Js- must admit that my power is from above. 
 t-c. ^-v^i^eu. y ou naV g witnessed the miracles which I 
 ISUt*. .n*~ ^have wrought; let this testimony lay the 
 
 ^"T"P'hk fou,idatiotl of your faith. 
 
 ' fs ~ '/s*_ J friH defy any one to produce anydocr 
 
 „ ^ 9J) trine that our Saviour ever delivered, that 
 
57 
 
 contains in it any thing incomprehensible, or 
 that has any thing of mystery about it. 
 
 But the Evangelists of our day place their 
 incomprehensible doctrines in the fore-ground 
 of their creed ; and the faith of their dis- 
 ciples is strong, in proportion as the mystery 
 is great : like a gaping crowd at a Juggler's 
 slight of hand, they admire it the more the 
 less they understand it. 
 
 " By various ways," says a very sensible 
 modern writer, " have the injudicious 
 friends of Revelation brought disgrace and 
 discredit on her sacred cause. They have 
 advanced doctrines utterly inconsistent with 
 reason, and have maintained, as articles of 
 faith, articles inconsistent with our concep- 
 tions of the justice or goodness of the divine 
 administration, and contrary to those ideas 
 which we form of the greatest and best of 
 Beings. They have also laid too much 
 stress on mysteries, which they themselves, 
 can neither understand nor explain; and have 
 placed confidence in opinions that can ad- 
 minister neither to hope nor comfort, and 
 
 

 •/ t ^ x? : *'?~jy$rz?Z'J!>i? 
 
 as^Uh c+fTWy €an j mv£ JW i m d m cy to support virtue and mo- 
 
 v^ j iff rality. Such unwise conduct has afforded 
 
 / ■) a handle to the enemies of religion, to re- 
 
 M"*" present the whole as unmeaning or irra- 
 
 o^***.*"; tionaL 
 
 iJ^j / W . « Q n ^jg p ar t/' he continues, " I have 
 
 /O * ■ V~ some remarks to offer, to prevent miscon- 
 l^ ^*rir> , structions. 
 
 iru^jlo"^ » Doctrines, or articles of faith, incon^ 
 
 ^fff-j *—''/"' sistent with reason, can never be received 
 " * '"/ _' '' ' I J 7 by the understanding, nor can they ever 
 produce any good effect on the heart. Men 
 may affect to believe them, but this affectation 
 can never beget any sincere conviction, nor 
 have any power in the government of life *." 
 These observations are most true, and 
 they are most important ; but the remarks 
 which follow them, and which I shall pro- 
 ceed to quote, well deserve to be reconsider- 
 ed. This writer displays so much sound 
 judgment and good sense, and is withal so 
 
 * Popular Evidences of Natural Religion and Christiani- 
 ty. By the Rev. Thomas Watson, p. 8. — A volume which 
 ■will well repay the attentive perusal of every class of readers 
 
59 
 
 obviously desirous of enlightening the un- 
 derstanding of his readers on all that re- 
 dounds to the glory of God, and that relates 
 to the leading design of his Gospel, that 
 he is entitled to receive from those who 
 differ from him on any point, a full expla- 
 nation of the reasons on which their objec- 
 tion is founded. 
 
 He proceeds thus : — 
 
 " But, on ih e other hand, I do not mean 
 to say that we are not to admit any thing 
 into religion, but what we can perfectly un- 
 derstand. This is a point that every man 
 that studies nature ought most absolutely to 
 reject. At every step that we take in this 
 study, we meet with innumerable difficul- 
 ties, things above our reason, things that we 
 cannot account for, and an infinite number 
 of things that we cannot possibly under- 
 stand. But what should we think of the 
 philosopher who should refuse to believe in 
 such appearances, and without being able 
 to assign any other reason, than that they 
 
60 
 
 are not level to his comprehension and ca- 
 pacity*." 
 
 Now, I do affirm distinctly, not only that 
 we are not to admit, but that we cannot ad- 
 mit into Religion that which we cannot un- 
 derstand ; and I will undertake to demon- 
 strate the fallacy of that reasoning by which 
 this respectable writer has misled himself^ 
 and by which numbers, besides himself^ 
 have been misled. 
 
 The train of his reasoning is this — We 
 must admit manjr things into religion which 
 we cannot understand ; because, in the study 
 of nature, we meet with things above our 
 reason, and that we cannot account for; 
 and what should we think of the philoso- 
 pher that, for this reason alone, should re- 
 fuse to believe in such appearances. — 
 
 In the first place, there is no sufficient 
 analogy between Religion and the Study of 
 Nature to support the argument founded 
 upon it. Religion is a system of revealed 
 truth; and to affirm of any revealed truth, 
 
 * Popular Evidences, &c p. 8. 
 

 til. 
 
 £*+/-: A^~ a*^ <r£*^+J$J> tf —* 
 
 that we cannot under stanlLit^\% in effect, either ^ ^^ *" 
 to deny that it has been revealed, or — which ^-*- "^■^ 
 is the same thing — to admit that it has been 
 revealed in vain. Just, therefore, in the pro- 
 portion that we admit the existence of myste- 
 ries in religion which we cannot understands^ 
 so far deny it to be a revealed religion. — This, /i-w*k~*/4^2 
 the orthodox would do well to consider. // 
 
 In the study of nature, we have no reve- 
 lation to guide our researches ; it is surely 
 therefore, most preposterous to affirm, that 
 we must believe what we cannot understand 
 in religion, because there are -phenomena in ^ Witey 
 nature which we cannot explain. ^tu^^-~ 
 
 In the next place, when it is asked, — ^£*^**^t_ rUs 
 " What should Ave think of the philosopher P/-/ Tf~' 
 that should refuse to believe in such ap- ^J tfZ^ 
 pearances, without being able to assign c _ ? 
 
 other reasons than that they are not level $ 7~ 
 
 to his comprehension and capacity ? — This ^^^ i 
 question, instead of leading to any just in- /&*£- /c i2 
 ference, contains in it the very fallacy which ^^^^^ 
 has bred all the misconception that prevails A^ £^~*^ ' 
 upon this subject. *? ^^T 
 
 
62 
 
 *' No philosopher refuses, or could possibly 
 refuse to believe, in such appearances, on the 
 ground, that they were not level to his com' 
 prehension and capacity ; because the appear- 
 ances, whatever they may be, are matter 
 of fact, of which he has the evidence of his 
 senses, and from which, therefore, he cannot 
 withhold his assent ; but it is in what such 
 appearances originate, and by what causes 
 they are produced, this it is that is be- 
 yond his comprehension ; and he would not 
 deserve to rank very high as a philosopher, 
 who should declare his belief in that which 
 he could not understand, and of which he had 
 no knoxvledge." 
 
 The farther this writer proceeds in his 
 argument, the more manifestly he shews 
 himself to have fallen into that error which 
 I have pointed out. 
 
 — " In the heavens," says he, " we clear- 
 ly see things, of which we cannot give any 
 satisfactory account. We find there, co- 
 mets, whose path and course the astronomer 
 cannot subject to any known law. These 
 
63 
 
 awful visitors come upon the world unex- 
 pected; they continue, for some time, to sur- 
 prise the curious and inquisitive part of man- 
 kind, and to frighten the vulgar, and to fly off 
 again with rapidity, to visit distant worlds. 
 They mock all human calculations; we 
 cannot tell whence they come, or whither 
 they go. Now, would it be consistent with 
 reason and philosophy, lor us to refuse our 
 assent to such phenomena, merely because 
 we can give no satisfactory account of their 
 motions and laws?" — 
 
 ■ — " Appearances, much more familiar, 
 and to which we are daily witnesses, are to 
 us equally mysterious. We cannot tell 
 how the rain is formed. Hath the rain a fa- 
 ther ? or, who hath begotten the drops of dew ? 
 How do the clouds support this collection 
 of water in a region that must be much 
 lighter than themselves ? At what height 
 are these collections placed ? What must 
 be that powerful cause that so suddenly 
 collects the water dispersed and dissolved 
 in the atmosphere, and, in a moment preci- 
 
64 
 
 pitates it in a deluge upon the earth ? We 
 are equally at a loss to explain how the 
 snow is formed, and to account for the se- 
 vere cold in these higher regions, that in- 
 stantaneously congeals the moisture into 
 hail, as it descends on the surface of the 
 earth *."— 
 
 — " In these cases, the fact is evident ; 
 the cause lies in obscurity, deeply removed 
 from all the knowledge and penetration of 
 man. Now, if we meet with these difficul- 
 ties in our researches into the works of na- 
 ture, need we be surprised, if we meet also 
 with difficulties in our inquiries into reli- 
 gion." 
 
 Now, it is only necessary to keep our 
 minds steadily upon the question, in order 
 to discover that all that is here brought for- 
 ward, as argument, is in nowise applicable 
 to it. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 9. Other instances are produced to the same 
 purpose, such as the formation of stones and metals, &c. but 
 it is unnecessary to lengthen the quotation. 
 
* 
 
 6*5 
 
 The proposition which this writer sets 
 out with affirming, is this, " that a man must 
 admit many things into his religion which he 
 cannot understand ;" — and after enumerating 
 certain appearances in nature for which we 
 cannot account, he concludes with this 
 question.—" Now, if we meet with these 
 difficulties in our researches into the works 
 of nature, need we be surprised if we 
 meet also with difficulties in our inquiries 
 into religion ?" 
 
 But it is obvious, that this writer has here 
 shifted the question, which is not — whether 
 we ought to be surprised at meeting with 
 difficulties in our inquiries into religion; but 
 whether there can be any mysteries in rmtk 
 lation, and whether we can have faith in a 
 doctrine, whatever it may be, which Ave 
 cannot understand ? The. latter is the true 
 point in issue ; and it is the point which this 
 writer at first seeks to support, but, after 
 much defective reasoning, imperceptibly 
 slides into quite a different proposition. 
 
 But it will be necessary, to the full exa- 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 mination of a truth so important as that for 
 which we are contending, to demonstrate 
 the fallacy of the reasoning produced against 
 it. This. I shall proceed to do with as 
 much brevity as is consistent with an expli- 
 cit investigation of it. 
 
 " Appearances much more familiar than 
 these, and to which we are daily witnesses, 
 are to us equally mysterious. — We cannot 
 tell how the rain is formed." — 
 
 Here again, as before, the appearances 
 theinselves are confounded with their causes. 
 These appearances are not, as here affirm- 
 ed, mysterious, for they are evident to the 
 senses ; and we believe in their existence. 
 It is astonishing, that a distinction so obvi- 
 ous could escape a mind engaged in the 
 investigation of a point in which it was of 
 such leading importance. 
 
 " We cannot tell how the rain is form- 
 ed "—If so then, neither, in such case, can 
 we believe anything as to how it is formed*. 
 
 * Mr Watson is an intelligent divine, but lie is, appa- 
 rently, not very, familiar with the discoveries of nnUiraJ 
 
67 
 
 It became this writer, for the purpose of 
 supporting his doctrine, to shew, what we 
 can believe respecting that which is inexpli- 
 cable, and which we cannot understand. 
 
 That in all the appearances which he ad- 
 verts to as phenomena in nature, and pro-i 
 nounces to be ?nysierioits, he has clearly 
 fallen into the error which I have pointed 
 out, of confounding these j'acis with their 
 causes, is manifest afterwards, from his own 
 concession ; for he sums up the whole thus — 
 
 philosophy. " We are strangers to those laws," says he, 
 " by which vapours ascend and descend." Cat it is well 
 known, that vapour rises in the air, because it is specifically 
 lighter than the air, and, for the same reason cannot de- 
 scend. When it is said — " that we cannot tell how the rain. 
 is formed," the proposition is too affirmative, since we are 
 not quite sure that that is not ascertained. Modern disco. 
 Tories have made it highly probable that electricity alone is 
 the primary cause. Mr W. Finch, junior, of Birmingham, 
 to whose researches the science of chemistry seems likely to 
 owe great obligations, thus accounts, apparently with 
 great correctness, for fhe rain that accompanies lightning : 
 " We know," says he, " that caloric enables the air to hold 
 a large portion of water in solution : — now, may not the 
 electric fluid also act in the same way ? If so, we see how 
 it is that rain accompanies lightning ; for when the clouds 
 part with their electricity, they cannot hold an equal quan- 
 tity of water, and consequently the superabundant moisture 
 falls down in rain." 
 
08 
 
 " In these cases, the fact is evident, tfae, 
 cause lies in obscurity, deeply removed 
 from all the knowledge and penetration of 
 man." 
 
 Then what can we believe respecting these 
 causes? and, if we can believe nothing 
 respecting them, what becomes of them as 
 arguments in support of the proposition 
 that we ought, in religion, to believe tchat 
 tee cannot understand *£ 
 
 * The same erroneous view of the subject is taken by all 
 the advocates of mystery that have undertaken to illustrate 
 it. In the " Reflections upon the tendency of a publica- 
 tion entitled Hints, &c. by the Rev. John Hume Spry, M. A. 
 Minister of Christ's Church, Bath," the reasoning runs ex- 
 actly in the same strain. — " A mystery," says this Evange- 
 list, " is, no doubt, something which cannot be made mani- 
 fest : it cannot, therefore, be understood ; because what is 
 above comprehension'must be unintelligible. A truism this to 
 which it needed not the logical skill of the Barrister to force- 
 our assent. But who would not laugh at the sophist, who 
 should declare, that he did not believe the sky to be blue, 
 or the grass to be green, because he could not satisfactorily 
 explain the reason why these two objects assume their dif- 
 ferent colours." — But surely the man that should seriously 
 declare that he did not believe the sky to be blue, when he 
 saw with his eyes that it teas blue, would rather deserve to be 
 pitied, as insane, than to be laughed at as a sophist. The 
 blue colour of the sky is owing to the vapours which are 
 
69 
 
 We will now return to the first article 
 of that DECLARATION of evangelical doctrines 
 which is the more immediate subject of 
 our present examination. 
 
 — " Many mysteries are revealed in scrip- 
 ture, which transcend finite reason, and they 
 are to be received on the authority of the 
 revealer, without inquiry into the mode of 
 them. 
 
 perpetually exhaling from the 'earth, and mixing with the 
 air. .This Saussuke demonstrated by experiment, on the 
 Alps. But no man ever previously disbelieved or doubted 
 the fact, because he was unable to account for the cause. 
 He must be a very feeble and a very foolish reasoner that 
 could attempt to support his opinion by an illustration so 
 childish and inapplicable. If I am striving to persuade any 
 one that he ought to hnvefailk in a mystery, is it at all to 
 the purpose to ask, — what would be thought of the sophist 
 that, standing on Fi6h-street Hill, should refuse to believe 
 the Monument was there, because he could no t tell who built it ? 
 And yet the Rev. John Hume Spiiy, in order to prove 
 that what is mysterious and unintelligible may yet be an ar- 
 ticle of faith, thinks it enough to inquire whether we should 
 not laugh at a man that refuses to believe the sky was blue, 
 and that grass was green, because he could not explain the 
 reason of it — as if that which he could not explain was just 
 as clear as what he saw with his eyes, and might be as firmly 
 believed!!! 2 
 
70 
 
 If it were necessary to add more to what 
 has been already said upon this most irra- 
 tional and unmeaning position, it might be 
 shewn, that this very ankle, short as it is, 
 contradicts its own teaching, and is at war 
 with its own absurdity. 
 
 In the very sentence preceding, we are. 
 told that God has been pleased — " to give 
 a full and clear manifestation of his mind 
 and will in the scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testament, which are the only and the per- 
 fect rule of faith and practice ; and no doc- 
 trines are to be regarded which are not 
 there expressed, or deduced from thence b3 r 
 necessary consequence." — 
 
 Now, if the scriptures contain — as most 
 certainly they do — a full and clear manifes- 
 tation of the mind and will of God — how- 
 can an}' part of that revelation be mysteri- 
 ous ? — If the scriptures present to us a per- 
 fect system of' 'faith and practice ; how then 
 can any part of that system of faith be un- 
 intelligible, and the comprehension of it 
 transcend finite reason ? If no doctrines arc to 
 
71 
 
 be regarded which are not there expressed, or 
 deduced from thence by necessary conse- 
 quence, how can there be any doctrines 
 that are to be received on the authority of 
 the revealer, icithout inquiry into the mode 
 of them? 
 
 It were needless to pursue this first article 
 with further comment. 
 
 To consecrate error, by teaching us to 
 receive it as so much of holy mystery, suits 
 well with the purposes of a designing and 
 ambitious priesthood. No persuasion can 
 be better calculated to suppress inquiry than 
 that which assures us, that all inquiry is vain; 
 in such case, it is deemed impiety to doubt, 
 and heresy to examine — " Many men," sa) T s 
 Locke, — and his remarks are as striking 
 as they are instructive, — " Many men 
 firmly embrace falsehood for truth, not 
 only because tbey never thought other- 
 wise, but also because, blinded as they have 
 been from the beginning, they never could 
 think otherwise, at least without a vigour 
 of mind able to contest the empire of ha- 
 bit, and look into its own principles ; a free- 
 
72 
 
 dom which few men have the notion of 
 in themselves, and fewer are. allowed the 
 practice of by others; it being the great 
 art and badness of the teachers and guides 
 in most SECTS, to suppress, as much as they 
 can, this jundamenial duty, which every man 
 owes himself, and is the first steady step 
 towards right and truth in the whole train 
 of his actions and opinions. This would 
 give reason to suspect, that such teachers 
 are conscious to themselves of the falsehood or 
 weakness of the tenets they profess, since they 
 will not suffer the grounds whereon they 
 are built to be examined; whereas those 
 who seek truth only, and desire to own and 
 propagate nothing else, freely expose their 
 principles to the test ; are pleased to have 
 them examined ; give men leave to reject 
 them if they can ; and if there be any thing 
 weak and unsound in them, are willing to 
 have it detected, that they themselves, as 
 well as others, may not lay any stress upon 
 any received propositions, beyond what the 
 evidence of its truth will warrant and allow."— 
 
73 
 
 These remarks deserve our steadiest refleo 
 
 tion. 
 
 That religious inquiries may be pursued 
 to a point, on which human reason will 
 meet with difficulties that it cannot resolve, 
 is most true. But what is the moral cau- 
 tion which this fact should impress upon 
 pur minds ? Is it, that we should receive 
 these inexplicable difficulties with implicit 
 faith ? No such thing. The true moral 
 admonition is this, — that we ought not to 
 reject truths, which it has pleased God to 
 reveal, and which we can understand, be- 
 cause, when extending our researches be- 
 yond what is revealed, we are stopped by dif- 
 ficulties which our reason cannot penetrate 
 or explain. 
 
 To fulfil the duties of religion, and to 
 acquit ourselves as becomes us in the sta- 
 tion to which, by Providence, we are ap- 
 pointed ;— to conform to the precepts which 
 Christianity enforces, and to cherish the 
 virtues which the Founder of Christianity 
 enjoins ; — all this may be done without the 
 aid pf talents, or of learning ; a mild and 
 
74 
 
 teachable temper, a disposition humble and 
 devout, an earnest endeavour to act up to 
 that knowledge of our duty which we pos- 
 sess, or have the means of procuring ; — 
 these alone are the qualifications which fit 
 a man for the fulfilment of all that religion 
 either requires or commands. Christian 
 humility should lead us to Confess our igno- 
 rance of what we cannot know, and to re- 
 ceive with gratitude, the truths that are re- 
 vealed. 
 
 But that we are to grrs^, by an effort 
 of faith, whatever is placed beyond the 
 reach of our understanding ; — this, whatever 
 the High-priests of Calvinism may assure us, 
 — this makes no part of religion, nor the 
 duties of it. There is nothing arising out of 
 iiv/st'ay, that has any tendency to pro- 
 mote the good of mankind. Notwith- 
 standing all the magnificent pretensions of 
 the'licenseel Evangelists of Clerkenwel!, the 
 creed of Calvin can never be profitable, 
 — except to themselves. 
 
 If the generality of orthodox disciples 
 were to examine their religious creed;, they 
 
75 
 
 would find that the mass of doctrines 
 which they profess, are not, in their own 
 minds, the result of careful examination, 
 and patient inquiry ; — that they have ne- 
 ver been at pains to hring them faithfully 
 and fairly to the test of the Gospel. — The 
 foundation of their faith in these mysteries 
 of doctrine, is very easily traced. They 
 have been taught them from their earliest in- 
 fancy, at a time when they could not distin- 
 guish truth from error; they repeated them 
 from a catechism by rote, and the texts 
 applied in support of them, are, by the 
 same repetition, imprinted on the memory ; 
 — whether these texts are justly applied, — ■ 
 whether the}" do, in fact, confirm the doc-v 
 trine they are quoted to prove, they have 
 never examined. — Although the particular 
 doctrine may seem to be supported by the 
 mere words of the text, literally interpret- 
 ed ; yet, whether it is supported by such 
 text, interpreted in the true spirit, and' ge- 
 nuine sense in which' it ought to he under* 
 stood,— -does one of a thousand inquire? 
 
7<3 
 
 The champions of Calvinism are the 
 echoes of each other. — The same line of 
 argument serves them all round. The 
 Christian Observer, in support of the autho- 
 rity of mysticism, resorts to the same rea- 
 soning, the fallacy of which has already 
 been exposed *. The waiter manifests 
 so much flippancy, combined with so 
 much feebleness, that it is scarcely neces- 
 sary to do more than quote his observa- 
 tions, and leave them to their own refuta- 
 tion. But, as I understand this periodical 
 work expresses the opinion, and carries 
 with it the authority of " a great political 
 religious party,." it may be worth while to 
 examine its authority on the present ques-r 
 tion -f . 
 
 * See " Review of the Barrister and others, on Evange- 
 lical preaching." Christian Observer for June 1809. 
 
 + " We cannot conclude," says a very judicious and 
 masterly writer, in his review of the publications on Indian 
 Missions — " We cannot conclude, without the most point- 
 ed refutation of the low mischief of the Christian Observer ; 
 a publication which appears to have no other method of dis- 
 cussing a questidn fairly open to discussion, thaD that of ac- 
 
•77 
 
 " It is very mortifying," — saystbis writer, — 
 " that we must go to school again in meta- 
 physics. We have to unlearn what we 
 have learned from Locke, that, though we 
 cannot believe what is against reason, we 
 may rationally believe, upon competent 
 evidence, that which is above reason." — 
 
 Locke's proposition is perfectly correct. ; 
 this writer has no occasion to unlearn it ; it 
 
 cuslng their antagonists of infidelity. No act can be more 
 unmanly, or if its consequences are foreseen, more wicked. 
 — If this publication had been the work of ui single indivi- 
 dual, we might have passed it over in silent disgust; but as 
 it is looked upon as the organ of a great political religious 
 parti/ in this country, we think it right to notice the very 
 unworthy manner in which they are attempting to extend 
 their iufluence. For ourselves, if there were a fair prospect 
 of carrying the Gospel into regions where it was before un- 
 known, — if such a project did not expose the best posses- 
 sions of the country to extreme danger — and if it were in the 
 bauds of men that were discreet as well as devout, we 
 should consider it to be a scheme of true piety, benevolence, 
 and wisdom ; but the baseness and malignity of fanaticism, 
 shall never prevent us from attacking its arrogance, its ig- 
 norance, and its activity. For what vice can be more tre- 
 mendous than that, which, while it wears the outward ap- 
 pearance of religion, destroys the happiness of [man, and 
 dishonours the name of God." Vide Edinburgh Review 
 for April 1808. 
 
to 
 
 is only necessary that he should understand 
 it. He is so very bald and superficial a 
 reasoner, that he does not even see the mean- 
 ing of the position he attempts to press in- 
 to his service. This may be shewn in a 
 few words. The resurrection of the dead to 
 a state of future rcicard or punishment, is a 
 fact which the human understanding could 
 not arrive at by its own unassisted reason- 
 ing, because it has no data upon which it 
 could rest its inferences, nor any fact to 
 which it could refer as proof; this doctrine, 
 therefore, previously to its being revealed, 
 was above reason. But when our Saviour, 
 in confirmation of this doctrine, himself 
 died, and rose from the dead ; this demon- 
 strative evidence became the ground of our 
 belief; that doctrine which was before above 
 reason, was now no longer so, and we 
 embrace it with the full assurance of 
 faith. Locke is therefore perfectly right 
 when he affirms, that " we may rationally 
 believe, upon competent evidence, that which 
 is above reason." — But what man, who un- 
 
79 
 
 derstood what he was writing about, would: 
 discover any connexion between this pro- 
 position, and that which declares " we may 
 have faith in a mystery, which cannot be 
 made EVIDENT, and may believe what we 
 cannot comprehend?' 
 
 Does any one find himself reduced to 
 the dilemma of either receiving, the one 
 proposition, or rejecting the other ? What 
 a low estimate must the Christian Observer 
 have of the understanding of its readers, to 
 feel satisfied, that such a puny fallacy as. 
 this would pass muster among them. 
 
 " That which cannot be understood, 
 cannot be believed *!" — This notable writer 
 quotes the position with a note of admira- 
 tion, by way of preparing us to remark 
 with what ease he can reduce it to an ab- 
 surdity, thus — 
 
 " By what power bodies fall to the earth, 
 we cannot understand ; therefore, that bo- 
 
 * Hints, Part III. p. 10. 
 
■ 80 
 
 dies fall to the ground, we cannot believe, 
 even on the testimony of our senses !" 
 
 Here, a doctrine that cannot be understood, 
 is considered as being as much entitled to 
 belief, and as capable of being believed, 
 as afact of which we have the testimony of 
 our senses. This profound logician confounds 
 the principles of gravitation, or that un- 
 knoxvn force, which cause bodies to approach 
 each other, with the fact itself; which is the 
 common error into which all the brother- 
 hood have fallen. 
 
 He thus proceeds : — 
 
 " No one," says the Barrister, " can af- 
 firm *, that he believes that doctrine to be 
 true which he does not know to be so." — 
 Is this to be endured, after all that has been 
 written by metaphysicians, and by lawyers 
 too, on the distinction between knowledge 
 
 * My words arc, " can rationally affirm." But it 
 pleased this Christian Observer to suppress that word in 
 quoting the passage. But no matter, I am content to give 
 him all the advantage that he can derive to his argument, 
 from the suppression of it. 
 
81 
 
 and belief, on the various degrees of proba- 
 bility, on the different kinds of evidence *? 
 Would it be tolerated in Westminster Hall, 
 on a motion for a new trial? Let the 
 Barrister try the experiment. — " My lords, 
 the jury did not knoxv the prisoner to be 
 guilty ; it is true, the evidence was conclu- 
 sive against him, but still the jur}' did not 
 know him to be guilty, therefore, they 
 could not believe him to be guilty, and ought 
 to have acquitted him !" 
 
 Really this is a very silly attempt at illus- 
 tration. One would have thought, that 
 any old Lady in the Meeting would have 
 furnished something better. Certainly no 
 man that had ever been under the roof of 
 Westminster Hall, could have introduced 
 such nonesense and contradiction into a 
 
 *. This writer affects here to be conversant with subjects 
 which he has never studied, and about which he is wretchedly 
 ill-informed. If metaphysicians or lawyers have furnished 
 him with an- answer to the proposition which he wishes to re- 
 fute, he would have done well to produce it. 
 
82 
 
 speech on a motion for a new trial, as this 
 silly specimen contains. In the first place, 
 this writer confounds knowledge derived 
 from testimony with personal knowledge. If 
 the evidence was conclusive against the priso* 
 ncr, then the jury did and must know him 
 to be guilty, and their knowledge of his 
 guilt was founded on the conclusive evidence 
 produced against him. When we speak of 
 the knowledge which a jury have of the 
 guilt of a prisoner, we refer, of course, as 
 the foundation of it, to the evidence which 
 has been produced in proof of the charge ; 
 for if they knew it in any other manner, they 
 would be ivitnesses, not a jury. This writer has 
 entangled himself in absurdity, by attempt- 
 ing to appear familiar with what he does 
 not at all understand. To admit first, that 
 the evidence was conclusive, and to affirm, in 
 the same breath, that the jury could not be- 
 lieve it, would be a mode of arguing on a 
 motion for a neio trial, that would lead the 
 court to suspect the Mover was not sound 
 in his head, 2 
 
83 
 
 If I had said this — no man can affirm that 
 he believes that fact to be true that he does 
 not of his own knowledge know to be so — I 
 should, no doubt, have asserted what was 
 extremely exceptionable, and extremely 
 absurd ; and if any thing so foolish had 
 been worth the confutation — this case of a 
 jury would have applied. But I was 
 speaking of a doctrine, — and I do delibe- 
 rately affirm, and I do it without the fear of 
 confutation,— that no man can rationally af- 
 firm, that he believes a doctrine to be true, 
 which he cannot understand, and which he 
 cannot, therefore, know to be either true or 
 false. 
 
 We will now release ourselves for the 
 present, from the further discussion of this 
 topic. The Evangelical Fraternity always 
 defend their peculiar doctrines, by mistating 
 the arguments produced against them, and 
 this practice very often succeeds ; but 
 when the reader is once upon his guard, 
 the artifice will defeat itself. 
 
81 
 
 We will next proceed to notice a new 
 and most extraordinary basis on which the 
 system of Calvinistic ' doctrine is made to 
 rest. In those days of spiritual despotism, 
 when the predecessors of the present priest- 
 hood cast the popular faith in whatever 
 mould they pleased ; these doctrines, — the 
 very doctrines which we are now combat- 
 ing, — were received with implicit reve- 
 rence ; any liability to error in those who 
 taught them, was not, for an instant, to be 
 supposed or suspected ; their infallibility 
 was not to be disputed ; and the ignorant 
 and docile multitude repeated them in their 
 creed. At length, under the slow and im- 
 perceptible progress of the human mind, 
 the light began to break in, and reason 
 commenced, by degrees, a weak and doubt- 
 ful struggle with authority. This was soon 
 perceived to be a most dangerous enemy, 
 and no mode of resistance offered itself, 
 but that of hunting her down as a carnal 
 intruder into those holy regions, in which 
 alone the voice of the Priest should be 
 
85 
 
 heard. But although the efforts of reason 
 were greatly frustrated, her influence could 
 not be wholly overcome. That influence 
 was distinctly felt ; it threatened the rejec- 
 tion of the popular creed, and the downfal 
 of the priestly dominion. What was to be 
 done ? The best expedient to be resorted 
 to was, to acknowledge boldty, and at 
 once, that these doctrines were at war with 
 reason, and then to hold them up as myste- 
 ries, which, being incomprehensible, were out 
 of the province of reason. By this vicious 
 delusion, all inquiry into the truth of their 
 doctrines was suppressed ; but it became 
 necessary to insist strongly and perpetually 
 upon the importance of faith in the great 
 mysteries of revelation, as they were called ; 
 and thus sheltered, their peculiar dictrines 
 passed without examination ; and their being 
 unintelligible, and contrary to reason, became, 
 by degrees, their best passport to venera- 
 tion. But a spirit of rational inquiry 
 having, in process of time, brought this 
 theological system to a more severe test, 
 
 i 
 
86 
 
 and the tendency of each of those doc- 
 trines, which are presented to us as the 
 mysteries of the Gospel, are shewn to be di- 
 rectly contrary to the spirit of that Gospel, 
 and to defeat all the benefit to mankind, 
 which that Gospel was intended to produce, 
 the sect, alarmed more than ever for the 
 safety of their creed, resort to a new ground 
 of defence, — a defence that contains within 
 it a concession which carries with it the utter 
 discredit and overthrow of the system of 
 doctrine which it is meant to uphold. It 
 is admitted, that each of the peculiar doc- 
 trines of the Calvinistic system is perni- 
 cious, and of bad tendency, taken separate- 
 ly ; but it is contended, that they ought to 
 be taken collectively, and that they will 
 then shine forth in all their excellence. 
 This is really a very unprecedented de- 
 fence ! — it has very much the appearance 
 of throwing desperately for the last stake. 
 
 Let us attend to the Christian Observer. — 
 " The last species of sophistry which we 
 notice in the " Hints," is that of attacking 
 
S7 
 
 the Evangelical doctrines separately. A 
 doctrine may be very pernicious, if in^ 
 culcated by itself, which is very salutary 
 when taught in connexion with others. 
 Thus, the doctrine of original sin, if 
 taught otherwise than in connexion with the 
 ATONEMENT, must either drive the sin- 
 ner to despair, or harden him in sin ; and 
 the doctrine of the atonement itself, 
 if severed from that of sanctification by the 
 Holy Spirit, may be converted into an en- 
 couragement to iniquity. By attacking, 
 therefore, these doctrines separately, and 
 suppressing that connexion between them, 
 tohich constitutes the excellence and perfection 
 of the Christian Scheme *; the Barrister has 
 furnished himself with plausible arguments, 
 plausible to those, and only to those who do 
 not take a compreiiensive view of the whole 
 system." 
 
 * We are not now to be imposed upon by the stale .arti- 
 fice of terming the Calvinistic the Christian Scheme. The 
 time is gone by 'when that would pass. 
 
88 
 
 But surely the Evangelists of Calvinism 
 should shew, in what manner the malignant 
 influence of each separate doctrine is not 
 only neutralized by its connexion, but made 
 replete with blessed effects. If the doc- 
 trine of original depravity, considered in 
 itself, has a tendency to harden him in sin, — 
 how can you destroy this baneful effect, 
 without opposing the doctrine which gives 
 birth to it ? — If the doctrine of the atone- 
 ment, distinctly taught, may be converted, 
 — as they declare in express and literal terms 
 it may, — into an encouragement to iniquity ; 
 how is this dreadful result to be warded off, 
 without putting the multitude upon their 
 guard against those who teach it ? — If in a 
 great kingdom like this, doctrines confessed- 
 ly bad in themselves, and pregnant with 
 mischievous consequences, are preached 
 through all its borders ; how is the energy 
 of this evil to be circumscribed ? 
 
 It perplexes me, moreover, to discover, — 
 and I think it must perplex every man of 
 ordinary understanding, — how it is that 
 
39 
 
 a certain number of doctrines, each pernio 
 cious in iiself, can be purified and made 
 perfect, by reference to each oilier ! It is as 
 if I should say of a building, that it \s faul- 
 ty in all its parts, but faultless as a whole ! 
 Those who can believe what is unintelligible, 
 may know how all this can be. I am not 
 one -of that class ; whenever these sort of 
 mysteries come across me, my faith is at a 
 ,staud. 
 
 What has been said of a system of 
 law, applies with equal justice to a system 
 of religion ; — No one erroneous principle 
 can be introduced, without producing any- 
 other that can be deducible from it. Ifi 
 in the premises of any argument, yon 
 admit one erroneous proposition, nothing 
 but bad reasoning can save the conclusion 
 from falsehood. — The validity of every 
 principle must be determined by the con* 
 sequences which arise out of it. There is n© 
 other test of the truth of any doctrine. It 
 is sound and legitimate, if it will abide 
 this test. — It is adulterate and spurious, if 
 it will not. 
 
90 
 
 To affirm of the Christian System, that its 
 doctrines are individually productive of evil ; 
 that thej r are beneficial only in the mass ; 
 and that it is their connexion that constitutes 
 their excellence,- — is the language of gross 
 and shameful imposition, from whatever 
 great political religious parly in this kingdom 
 such language may proceed,^— it is an 
 insult on the common sense and moral 
 judgment of every man in whose mind any 
 toace of these attributes remain. — Look to 
 the genuine revelation of Christianity, 
 Take the whole system to pieces, to its last 
 spring, — examine it in all its parts, — hold 
 jthern asunder, as distant as you please ; — 
 the more you thus examine it, the more 
 clearly will you discern its beauty and its 
 usefulness. The rays of infinite wisdom il- 
 lumine it equally, in whatever mode you 
 survey it. 
 
 Take anv genuine doctrine of Christ- 
 
 ianity, and try it by this test. Take, 
 
 ibr instance, the doctrine of the resurrection 
 
 from the dead ; does it give birth to any 
 
91 
 
 conclusion that reason hesitates to admit I. 
 Is there anv argument connected with it 
 that mav not be followed out to all its ex- 
 tent? Does it give rise to' any difficulty 
 that imposes on us the necessity of escape 
 or evasion ? Is there any thing resulting 
 out of it, — taught singly, and by itself — that 
 tends to liarden a man in sin ? Quite the 
 reverse. View it as disconnectedly as you 
 may, it furnishes new assurances to iaith, 
 and fresh excitements to virtue. Examined 
 in every -light, it bespeaks the goodness of 
 God, and breathes consolation to man. 
 
 Turn to the doctrine of future rewards 
 and punishments, is there any thing in 
 it, taken singly, that is not calculated 
 to promote the perfection of the whole 
 intellectual and moral world ? Is there 
 any result arising out of it, that seeks re- 
 fuge in association ? Is there any thing in 
 it, considered separately, that can possibly 
 be, in any manner, converted into an encou- 
 ragement to iniquity f Quite the contrary. 
 The more distinctly it is investigated, the 
 
02 
 
 more clearly shall we discover its eternal 
 truth, and develope its invaluable and in- 
 finite importance. — The genuine doctrines 
 of the Gospel will be found, upon a close 
 and rational examination, to contain the 
 motives which should excite and stimulate 
 our obedience to its precepts ; it is, there- 
 fore, utterly impossible, but that each doc- 
 trine, taken separately, must contribute to 
 the good resulting from their united opera- 
 tion and effect. — 
 
 These fanatic dictators in the New Spiri- 
 tual Republic, would subvert the first princi- 
 ples of Christianity, in support of that system 
 of faith which they are so active to propagate 
 to the uttermost corners of the earth. When 
 ttlose pressed by the statements brought a- 
 gainstthem, they reply, by representing their 
 accuser as an enemy to the cross of Christ : 
 like the robber, that, finding his escape 
 hopeless, turns on his pursuer, and charges 
 him with the theft. 
 
 I cannot dismiss the Christian Observer 
 without noticing its strenuous co-operation 
 
1)3 
 
 with the Evangelical Methodists, to frus- 
 trate every attempt, on the part of the Esta- 
 blished Clergy, to cultivate the moral feel- 
 ings of man, and to enforce a pre-eminent 
 attention to the practice of moral duty. 
 
 Mr Bidlake's Sermons are brought under 
 their review*. These sermons have for their 
 object, to impress upon the great mass of the 
 people, a due sense of those obligationswhich 
 Christianity enjoins, — to withdraw their 
 minds from the bondage of guilty pleasure, 
 and to fix it steadily on the contemplation of 
 — whatsover things are true, whatsoever 
 things are honest, whatsoever things are 
 just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever 
 things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
 good report, — and to exhort them, if there 
 be any virtue, and if there be any praise, 
 to think on these things. — But to urge these 
 considerations, is matter of grave offence to 
 the anti-moralists; plain sense, and prac- 
 tical exhortation, addressing the reason, and 
 
 * It follows the Review of the " Hints." — Vide Chris- 
 tian Observer for June 1809. 
 
94 
 
 appealing to the consciences of men,— '•all 
 this is to be slurred over with the contemp- 
 tuous appellation of fashionable preaching, 
 as if it vyeighed nothing in importance with 
 the peculiar doctrines, and the mysteries of 
 Calvinistic revelation. 
 
 " The next species of fashionable preach- 
 ing," — says this Christian Observer*, — " to 
 which we shall advert, might perhaps, but 
 very imperfectly, be designated by the epi- 
 thet moral. The preacher who excels in 
 this department, exhibits some of the attri- 
 butes of the Divine Being with much jus- 
 tice, and more impressiveness of manner. 
 In stating the general nature, and some of 
 the particulars of human responsibility, he is 
 often highly energetic. He does not decline, 
 but is even anxious to introduce some of 
 the doctrines and duties of Christianity ; and, 
 in particular, the character of our Saviour, as 
 presenting a perfect example of holiness and 
 benevolence ; and his acts as being those 
 which became a divine person, humbling 
 
 * Vide Review of Mr Bidkke's Sermons. 
 
95 
 
 himself to humanity, and suffering for 
 man's salvation." — To these topics of ex- 
 hortation, it seems, no objection can be of- 
 fered, they even receive the lukewarm 
 commendation of being right; but this com- 
 mendation is bestowed, subject to a very 
 heavy drawback ; this moral preaching is 
 made chargeable with high defects. — " The 
 defects alluded to," we are told, " are of a 
 rank and influence to threaten, or perhaps 
 rather secure, the ruin of the whole system. 
 In considering the divine attributes, al- 
 though the • divine holiness is not over- 
 looked, it is \ 7 et never enforced, as going 
 that depth into the heart, and as applying to 
 those fundamental principles of action, which 
 are plainly insisted upon in the w r ord of 
 God.— 
 
 We have here a specimen of that sort of 
 jargon, so familiar to this sect, which, while 
 it appears to carry with it a deal of meaning, 
 has, in fact, no meaning at all. The eye 
 passes over a mass of words, but no dis- 
 tinct idea finds its way into the mind. 
 
9(5 
 
 What charge is meant to be conveyed in 
 this sentence, it is impossible to collect ; but 
 Avhat follows will enable us to catch a glimpse 
 of the intended accusation. 
 
 — " The divine justice, in a variety of" 
 important aspects, is displayed and incul- 
 cated ; but in that which dooms to death 
 and wrath, not only the notorious and inso- 
 lent sinner, but him that continueth not in 
 all things that are written in the law, it is 
 totally neglected." — 
 
 Before we put the Teachers of Christiani- 
 ty upon their defence, let us ask one or two 
 plain questions.— Has our Saviour himself, 
 in any part of his preaching, taught us, 
 that nothing less than perfect and unfailing 
 obedience would secure us from the tvrath 
 of God, and satisfy the divine justice. Has 
 he, in any page of his Gospel, placed upon 
 the same level, him that offends in one 
 point, and him that offends in every point ; 
 has he anywhere directed the preachers of 
 that Gospel, to doom to death and wrath, in- 
 discriminatelv, the notorious and insolent sin- 
 
97 
 
 ner, that continueth not in any thing written 
 in the law, and that man, whose character 
 is, in general, devout, and his conduct ex- 
 emplary, but of whom, it may neverthe- 
 less be affirmed, — as it may of the best of 
 human beings,— that he continueth not in 
 all things obedient, or, in other words, is ' 
 not perfectly faultless. — Is he that has once 
 wandered from the fold received, on his 
 return, with ivrath, punished with death, 
 and put in the same rank with the most 
 notorious offenders ? Is not our Saviour's 
 representation completely and distinctly 
 the reverse ? — 
 
 " What think ve ? If a man have an 
 hundred sheep, and one of them be gone 
 astray, doth he not leave the ninety-and 
 nine, and goeth into the mountains, and 
 seeketh that which was astray ? 
 
 " And if he findeth it, verily I say unto 
 you, he rejoiceth more over that sheep, than 
 over the ninety-and-nine which went not 
 astray." 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 This affecting representation of the Di- 
 vine goodness, which embraces the repent- 
 ant offender on his return to duty and 
 obedience, must operate on every well- 
 framed mind more strongly, and must 
 touch the chord of every good and grateful 
 feeling with infinitely more force and ef- 
 fect, than that terrific, unforgiving, and, at 
 the same time, defamatory and false as- 
 pect, in which the Preachers of Metho- 
 dism place what they term the divine 
 justice ; yet it is brought forward by 
 them, as a heavy charge against moral 
 Preachers, whether in the Establishment 
 or out of it ; that they totally neglect to 
 exhibit the Father of Mercies, as visiting 
 equally with death and ivratli, and placing 
 on the same level of guilt and punishment, 
 the notorious and insolent sinner, and the 
 man that shall have fallen so far short of 
 perfect righteousness, as to have been guil- 
 ty even of one act of disobedience :- — a doc- 
 trine manifestly calculated to generate the 
 falsest view of the divine character, to 
 
99 
 
 create doubt and distrust as to the equity of 
 bis dispensations, and to beget all those 
 painful conflicts between fear and faith, 
 which terminate too frequently in infideli- 
 ty or despair. 
 
 After a short pause for reflection, let us 
 attend to the summary of the charge. — 
 
 " In short, the persons here concerned 
 have no just conception of the nature and 
 magnitude of sin, of its malignity, of its 
 power, of the peculiar seat of its residence, 
 of its desert. It is with them, and in their 
 doctrine, a considerable evil ; and in the 
 instances of thieves, blasphemers, murderers* 
 drunkards, profligates, an atrocious one. 
 In their invectives, indeed, against such 
 characters, there is something apparently 
 vindictive and inexorable *." — 
 
 If, — to use this writer's elegant phraseology, 
 ■^-the persons here concerned, or any other per- 
 sons, are fortunate enough to have come to 
 maturity in this metropolis, without having 
 
 * Christian ObserTer. Ibid* 
 
100 
 
 any just conception of the nature and magni' 
 tude of sin, — it is certainly not for want of 
 practical examples, sufficient to initiate 
 them into the knowledge of it. Unhap- 
 pily the present age of the world will 
 furnish them with much more than is re- 
 quisite to cure any deficiency of their in- 
 formation with respect to what is the ge- 
 nuine and true nature of vice and depravi- 
 ty. The Calvinistic host have not, certain- 
 ly, within their own circle, a monopoly of 
 the means of intelligence on this subject. 
 
 It would have been well, if, for the pur- 
 pose of making himself intelligible, this 
 Christian Observer had selected some particu- 
 lar sin, by way of example* and had shewn 
 in what manner its nature was misunder- 
 stood, or its magnitude misconceived ; we 
 should then have had, at least, some clue- 
 to his meaning. There are gradations in 
 vice, and the shades of human guilt are in- 
 finite ; but the degree of individual imperfec- 
 tion can be known only to that Being to 
 whom all hearts are open. The modern 
 
101 
 
 Evangelists, however, will admit no distinc- 
 tion, — and will have every description of 
 offenders, small and great, melted down in- 
 to one common mass, and will include the 
 whole in the same sweeping clause of con- 
 demnation. That the moral clergy do not 
 impress the great body of the people with 
 this view of the subject, is lamented by the 
 Holy Fathers of the New Church, as a cry- 
 ing evil. — 
 
 — " With that just, sober, profound 
 view of sin, which, in a great measure, di- 
 minishes the relative differences of sins, and 
 brings the holiest of men to almost the same 
 confessions, and the same self-accusations, the 
 same despair of forgiveness in themselves, 
 and the same view of the necessity of that 
 mercy, which, in all its parts and progress, 
 is divine, as they would select for the chief 
 of sinners ; with such a view of sin, if they 
 have any acquaintance, they most certain- 
 ly do not discover it in their preaching *."— - 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
102 
 
 And thankful may we be that they do 
 not ; for the heart and soul of every rational 
 Christian must recoil from a representa- 
 tion so shockingly preposterous. Can the 
 conscience of a good man put forth a sting 
 as sharp as that which tills the worst of 
 criminals with agony and alarm ? Is he 
 to be brought to the same self-accusations 
 which spread a horror over the solitude of 
 the robber and the assassin ? Is the honest 
 trader, and the exemplary father of a fa- 
 mily, to utter the same confessions of guilt 
 with the veteran swindler, and the licen- 
 tious profligate? The Holiest of Men 
 to despair of forgiveness in themselves, equally 
 with the worst of sinners ! ! ! Where, 
 in the Gospel, is this required ? In which 
 of the Evangelists of Christianity is this 
 doctrine to be found ? 
 
 These Men turn religion upside down. 
 — They give us a system, in which every 
 thing is inverted ; — a system abounding in 
 every thing that can puzzle our reason, 
 and perplex our faith. What man of plain 
 
103 
 
 understanding can bring himself to the 
 conviction, that the best and the worst of 
 them should load themselves with the same 
 accusations, and be filled, — as consistently 
 they ought, — with the same remorse ? The 
 thing is not possible. It runs counter to 
 every dictate of common feeling, arid of 
 common sense. The whole proclamation 
 of divine truth is against it. — " Blessed," 
 says our Saviour, " are the pure in heart, for 
 they shall see God." — But the Evangelists of 
 our day deny this point blank. According 
 to them, the most pure in heart must as 
 much despair of forgiveness in themselves 
 as the most impure ! ! I Thus, they pluck 
 away from the true Christian all the ..ope 
 that sustains him, and make the promises of 
 the Gospel of none effect. 
 
 It is impossible, within the compass of 
 a work of this kind, to enter into a full 
 detail of the consequences which arise out of 
 all this monstrous perversion of Christiani- 
 ty. Little more can be done iu this space, 
 than to furnish suggestions to the reflective. 
 
104 
 
 and to put the unreflective on their guard. 
 If this " great political religious party" 
 were active in the production of moral 
 principle, and zealous in the propagation 
 of moral truth, they might make some 
 atonement, at least to the community, for 
 the fatal tendency of their creed. But we 
 have already seen in what a contemptible 
 light they hold all moral exhortation ; it is 
 to them a sort of fashionable failing in the 
 pulpit ; the most impressive admonitions of 
 the most enlightened of our Clergy meet 
 with nothing from them but rebuke and la- 
 mentation. Every discourse that has not the 
 crimson glow of Calvinism about it, has, in 
 their eye, the tinge of infidelity. 
 
 The Christian Observer, in the continuance 
 of their review of Mr Bidlake's Sermoris, 
 will present us with a specimen of that sort 
 of hostility, which threatens the suppres- 
 sion of all moral preaching, and a conse- 
 quent indifference towards all moral prac- 
 tice. 
 
 2 
 
105 
 
 ■" It may be proper," say they, " to 
 premise, that the first four sermons are on 
 the four seasons, others on the omnipre- 
 sence of God, his worship, the pharisee 
 and publican, &c. — Our first extract," they 
 add, " shall be from the first sermon, on 
 spring." 
 
 They then produce the following quo- 
 tation : 
 
 — " Our subject next directs us to the 
 process of vegetation. This is the season 
 when the earth begins to expand her trea- 
 sures ; this is the season of hope, and ela- 
 tion of mind. The bursting of the vege- 
 table world fills the soul with transporting 
 promise. Innumerable buds swell on the 
 trees, in a variety of soft and beautiful 
 tints ; herbs spring from the womb of their 
 maternal earth ; the fields are brightened 
 with a livelier verdure, softly stealing over 
 the face of nature ; man walks forth, de- 
 lighted, amidst the cheerful scene, and from 
 these inviting prospects, anticipates the fer- 
 tility of plants, and the abundance of har- 
 
106 
 
 vests. Not to be elated with such animat- 
 ing objects, is to be utterly incapable of 
 sensibility, and not to feel the emotions of 
 gratitude to the Giver of all Good, is al- 
 together brutal. Who can tread the gar- 
 den, blooming in all the gradations and 
 varieties of colour, and not feel the heart 
 gladdened ? Who can partake of such 
 innocent and religious pleasures, — -for reli- 
 gious well may they be called, — and not 
 break forth into praise of the Omnipotent 
 Creator ? To examine and to delight in 
 the beauties and the excellence of the works 
 of God, is indeed true religion ; this is ra- 
 tional worship, far more sedate, and more 
 exalted than the unmeaning rhapsody of 
 the fanatic. This is communion with the 
 Deity." pp. 5, 6. 
 
 " Again," 
 
 " What mind is there so dull, as not to 
 feel rapture at the melody of the grove ? 
 The heaven-taught music, which is so evi- 
 dently the gift of the Divine Creator, that 
 it is impossible to hear it without experien- 
 
107 
 
 cing an awakened sense of religion, and which 
 naturally invokes us to the praises of (he Fa- 
 ther of all Mercies." p. 12. 
 
 Is any reader prepared to expect, that 
 this earnest effort to awaken them to a 
 sense of religious duty, by pressing upon 
 their grateful remembrance all those sources 
 of blessing and enjoyment which the great 
 Father and Friend of all has scattered 
 with such affectionate profusion over the 
 whole face of nature — Is any reader pre- 
 pared to expect, that this can possibly be 
 received with censure and condemnation ? 
 Incredible as it may appear, the fact is 
 really so. 
 
 " It is not," — says the Christian Ob- 
 server, after concluding the above extract^ 
 ■ — " it is not to the style alone of" these pas* 
 sages that we object, but to the wretched 
 opiate to the minds of sentimental simiers ivhich 
 they exhibit" 
 
 It is under indefinite language, such as 
 this, that these men, who have not the 
 boldness openly to stigmatize the preachers 
 
108 
 
 of Christianity, contrive to expose them to 
 suspicion. It is under cover of this fanati- 
 cal jargon, that they strive to convey a 
 charge of irreligion against every one who 
 does not devote the whole of his preaching 
 to the "spread of their peculiar doctrines. 
 
 Is every attempt to enlist our best feel- 
 ings in the service of God, and to elevate 
 our minds to the contemplation of all that 
 is good, and great, and glorious, and be- 
 nevolent in the dispensation of his provi- 
 dence, — is all that can raise the mind to 
 heaven, and bend us before its throne, in 
 humble adoration for all the glory that we 
 behold, and in grateful thanksgiving for all 
 the good that we receive — Is all this to be 
 turned into contempt ? — Are all reflections 
 drawn from these considerations to be sup- 
 pressed ? — Is this source of devotional feel- 
 ing, to be defamed and reprobated, and 
 every effort to fix the mind on the infinite 
 goodness of the Creator, and to fill the heart 
 with the purest and most sublime feelings 
 of reverence and devotion, to be repro- 
 
109 
 
 bated as " a wretched opiate to sentimental 
 sinners ?" 
 
 Another passage is next singled out from 
 these sermoiis, and the attention of" the read- 
 er is arrested towards it, as containing a 
 corrupt and careless abuse of religious 
 truth. 
 
 — " Let the best construction," says this 
 Christian Observer, " be put upon the divi- 
 nity of the following passage, and let the 
 levity with which the highest point of our re- 
 ligion is settled, and settled in what we must 
 call absolute falsehood and delusion, be parti- 
 cularly observed!' 
 
 After this preface, so full of alarm and 
 caution, we naturally anticipate that some 
 gross mixture of falsehood and profaneness 
 is about to be produced. What must the 
 astonishment of the reader be to find, that 
 the passage which has drawn forth this 
 serious and indignant accusation against the 
 author, is as follows ? — 
 
 " Let us then cultivate all the several vir- 
 tues. In our transactions with men let us be 
 
110 
 
 generous, compassionate, forgiving, and gentle; 
 then shall we render the passage of life easy 
 and delightful ; then, after all the storms 
 of our transitory state, we shall pass on to 
 that perfect fruition, to that peace which 
 the world cannot give, and which is alone 
 to be found in the society of the blest, and in 
 the presence of our Saviour and our God." 
 p. 203. 
 
 When we find all this denounced as so 
 much of " absolute falsehood and delusion," 
 and that, too, by the ostensible Leaders of 
 " a great political religious party in this 
 country," it is impossible not to be filled 
 with the utmost solicitude. The evil that 
 is likely to ensue from this fanatical hosti* 
 lity cannot surely escape the public obser- 
 vation. 
 
 All those feelings which should regulate 
 the intercourse between God and man will, 
 by degrees, be rooted out from amongst 
 us. Who, that is interested for the moral 
 reformation of the human race, can con- 
 template, without alarm, the increase of a 
 
Ill 
 
 Power which,from the tendency of its prin- 
 ciples, and the activity of its agents, is gra- 
 dually drawing the great mass of the lower 
 orders within its circle ? 
 
 The coarse and rough-cast character of 
 the vulgar makes them not easily suscep- 
 tible of intellectual impressions. Their ima- 
 gination must be strongly struck, — and 
 struck quickly too, — or it will not be made 
 to feel. One accustomed to the sonorous 
 twang, and turbulent gestures of the ora- 
 tors of the conventicle, and whose ears have 
 been fed with the marvellous calls, and con- 
 versions, and preservations, of Methodists, 
 their peculiar providences, and all the won- 
 derful dealings of the Lord zvith their souls, 
 soon loses all relish for the comparatively 
 cold and homely exhortations to the every- 
 day duties of life. The former produces a 
 certain agitation of mind which is pleasing 
 to the ignorant, inasmuch as it serves to 
 relieve that state of inaction to which their 
 minds are necessarily doomed. But the pre- 
 cepts of religious obligation require to be 
 
112 
 
 Avell considered, — to listen to them merely 
 will not do ; the arguments urged to en • 
 force the practice of them must be treasur- 
 ed up ; — all this demands an exertion of 
 thought and reflection ; whereas the dis- 
 ciples of the Anti-moralists congratulate 
 each other on having had a good liear- 
 ing. The mysteries of doctrine always ab- 
 sorb their most devout attention, because 
 they are encouraged to repose in their ig- 
 norance, while they take to themselves, at 
 the same time, all the merit of faith. 
 
 As the High Priests of the order of Me- 
 thodism live by their calling, and as their 
 system of doctrine is the source of all 
 their profit and of all their popularity, 
 their great concern is to support it. If 
 that system is shaken, their occupation 
 is gone. The resistless energy of truth 
 would overwhelm them ; the instant rea- 
 son takes the field they tremble, the craft 
 is in danger, and the alarm runs through 
 all their ranks. This spectacle is not new. 
 
113 
 
 The Historian of the Acts relates *, that 
 when Paul went forth, teaching " that God 
 would judge the world in righteousness," 
 this moral doctrine menaced the silver 
 shrines of superstition, and an uproar arose. 
 Demetrius, inspired by the strong stimu- 
 lus of self-interest, called together all the 
 workmen of like occupation, and said, " Sirs, 
 ye know that by this craft we have our zvealth." 
 He foresaw, that if the moral temple was 
 introduced, the votaries would be drawn 
 aside from their altar, and her magnificence 
 would be despised, whom all Asia and the 
 world worshipped. Notwithstanding the 
 centuries which have passed away since 
 this period, selfishness and cunning have 
 lost none of their influence. They are still 
 in the meridian of their power. — " Thus, 
 our craft is in danger to be set at nought ;" 
 — such is the sad secret of all the enmity, 
 and zeal, and tribulation of the Arui-mo- 
 
 * Acts, eh. xix. i 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 ralists of the Old Temple, and of the 
 •New. 
 
 To trace out the connexion of religion 
 with the moral nature, and moral condi- 
 tion of man, — to illustrate the practical 
 conclusions to which all its genuine doc- 
 trines lead, and the test which those prac- 
 tical conclusions form of the truth of the 
 doctrines out of which they arise, — to shew 
 forth the sublimity of the sound uncorrupt- 
 ed revelation of Christian truth, and its 
 tendency to purify, and to perfect all that 
 is great and glorious jn the original desti- 
 nation of man, — to contemplate religion 
 as intended, in its end and aim, to lay the 
 lasting foundations of civil society, and to 
 be the source of all that is solid, and sound, 
 and durable in the moral structure of the 
 world ; — all this is beyond the puny intel- 
 lect of the petty Traders in theology, which 
 distinguish our times. Nothing of it occu- 
 pies the study of the countless host of 
 preachers, that " come with a call " to the 
 pulpits of our modern conventicles. 
 
115 
 
 Is it in this enlightened age that we are 
 to take our religion from the hirelings that 
 are daily thickening around us in every 
 quarter ? Is it for such purblind dictators, 
 to declare that we shall judge only as they 
 interpret, and rehearse only the mysteries of 
 their creed ? I feel ashamed for England, 
 when I see that it is against such adversaries 
 that our establishment is to fight for its exist- 
 ence ! ! I feel ashamed lor the people of 
 England, when I mark the predominating 
 influence of such a sect ! ! If the rank, or the 
 talents, or the genius, or the learning of its 
 leaders could apologize for the popular cre- 
 dulity, it would be something ; but to find 
 in them nothing that can shelter us from 
 the disgrace of surrendering our minds to 
 their direction ; to find nothing that can 
 rescue us from the shame of being delud- 
 ed. — What a sad and humiliating period 
 of our history is this ! ! 
 
 The puritanic bigotry of the fifteenth 
 Century, — an era, perhaps the most disgrace- 
 ful, certainly the most disgusting in Eng- 
 
116 
 
 lish history, — is fast reviving amongst us. 
 The gloomy Schismatics of that day have 
 their successors in the Evangelical Me- 
 thodists of the present times. It is impossi- 
 ble to make the comparison without being 
 struck most forcibly with the resemblance. 
 The comparison itself is fruitful of instruc- 
 tion that will well repay all the attention 
 we can bestow upon it. 
 
 Glanvil, Chaplain to Charles the Se- 
 cond, — a man of stern rectitude and pro- 
 found sagacity, — saw the floating vapours 
 which seemed to indicate the second com- 
 ing of that spiritual storm which had swept 
 aside the Constitution and the State. — He 
 lived at the era we are speaking of. — He 
 stood upon the spot. — He was a spectator 
 of all the consequences of that party spirit 
 in religion, which has been revived amongst 
 us with so much zeal. — To the testimony 
 of such a witness as this there can be no 
 exception. 
 
 It was to ward off the apprehended re- 
 turn of the then recent evils of civil dis- 
 
117 
 
 cord, by rescuing, if possible, the minds of 
 the misguided multitude from the influence 
 of fanatic teachers, that he published two 
 Tracts *, which, for impressive strength of 
 observation, and practical utility of effect, 
 have rarely been exceeded. The style is 
 homely and unadorned, but it is that kind 
 of style which is made eloquent by its 
 manliness, and forcible by its simplicity. 
 The extracts which I shall have occasion 
 to lay before the reader, will sufficiently 
 shew what was the parent stock of that 
 theological branch by which we are at pre- 
 sent overshadowed. 
 
 His " Essay on Preaching" has the fol- 
 lowing observations and advice on the sub- 
 ject of simplicity and plainness in public 
 discourses, from which we may infer the 
 
 * The one entitled, " An Essay on Preaching, written 
 for the direction of a young Divine." — The other, " A Sea. 
 sonable Defence of Pheaching, and the plain way to 
 It." Both tracts are extremely scarce, and might, with a few 
 judicious curtailments, be reprinted with great benefit, as an 
 antidote to that delusion which they were originally written 
 to expose. 
 
118 
 
 nature and kind of preaching which then 
 prevailed. 
 
 " Preaching should be plain, in opposi- 
 tion to deep and mysterious notions ; we 
 should not trouble our pulpits with hypo- 
 theses of philosophy, or the heights of spe- 
 culative theology. The generality are not 
 capable of much theory ; those are matters 
 fit for the schools of learning, and the 
 thoughts of deep considering men. Much 
 mischief is fallen on religion, by reason of 
 the trangression of this rule ; mysterious no- 
 tional preaching hath put many conceited 
 people upon meddling with what they can 
 never well understand, and hath filled them 
 with air and vanity* ." — 
 
 Nothing, as this writer truly intimates, 
 can be more preposterous, than to descant 
 on mysteries before a multitude assembled 
 together for religious worship and religi- 
 ous instruction. The mass of the people 
 
 * An Essay concerning Preaching, by Jos. G-lanvil, 
 Chaplain to King Charles II. and Fellow of the Royal 
 Society. Second Edition, 1703, p. 19. 
 
119 
 
 have but little tithe or talent for abstract 
 thinking. The calls of necessity keep them 
 always in action. The great aim of these 
 religious teachers should be, to form their 
 temper and character — to teach them to 
 check and restrain every malevolent and 
 irregular passion, — to impress them with 
 strong convictions of the certainty of a fu- 
 ture judgment, — to instil into them the 
 pure, plain, intelligible principles of Christ- 
 ian duty ; and so to instil them, that they 
 may become the dictates of conscience, 
 and may prompt, as it were instinctively, 
 the actions and intercourse of daily life, — but 
 no mysteries of doctrine ever yet did this, 
 nor ever will. Sermons of this cast may 
 perhaps not make a good man bad, but 
 they will never make a bad man better. 
 
 What follows applies as pointedly to the 
 present race of Gospel Preachers, as it did 
 to their predecessors at the time in which 
 it was written. It contains much from 
 which the orators of the Conventicle, and 
 their dear hearers may derive great profit. 
 
120 
 
 " Plainness of preaching implies also the 
 avoiding of fantastical phrases. There are 
 some that place the power and spirituality of 
 preaching in these, and reckon that there 
 is something of extraordinary grace and 
 force in them ; so that if a man represent 
 the truths of the Gospel in simplicity and 
 plainness, that shall go for dull morality ; 
 but the same thing set off by conceited fa- 
 shionable phrases, shall be most rare and 
 spiritual divinity. Thus, if you teach them 
 to believe Christ's doctrines, to obey his laws, 
 to trust to his promises, to conform to his ex- 
 ample ; these shall be counted dull, dry, 
 and unedifying things, that noways affect or 
 move. But if you tell the people that they 
 must close zvith Christ, get into Christ, get a 
 saving interest in the Lord Christ — Oh, this 
 is savoury ! this is precious ! this is spiri- 
 tual teaching indeed ! Whereas, if any 
 thing more be meant by those expressions, 
 than what the other plain expressions in- 
 tend, it is either falsehood or nonsense. 
 If, therefore, you would be a taking popu- 
 
121 
 
 lar preacher, here is your way. But if 
 you would (as I hope you design) be a so- 
 lid and honest one, you must avoid such 
 odd and foolish affectations. For, bv the 
 use and delight in such, ignorant people 
 are blown up into an apprehension of their 
 extraordinary knowledge, and acquainted- 
 ness with the mysteries of the Gospel, when 
 as indeed they knoio nothing ; and when 
 they hear such phrases, they are pleased 
 with their sound, but have no meaning or 
 knowledge of any thing conveyed by them ; 
 and though this be vulgarly accounted plain 
 preaching, yet, in truth, it is the most diffi- 
 cult, and, for the most part, neither teach- 
 ers nor HEARERS understand it *" 
 
 We have here much strong and striking 
 truth compressed in a short space. These 
 preachers of the peculiar doctrines, as they 
 are termed, are always among the most for- 
 ward to complain of the little influence 
 which religion has in the world ! What 
 
 - . * lb. 25.-27. 
 
122 
 
 effect can it have, — what effect can it be ex- 
 pected to have, — until it is preached in its 
 native purity ; until it is cleared from the 
 cloud and obscurity in which their doc- 
 trines have enveloped it ? Doctrines that 
 are utterly irreconcilable with all the obser- 
 vation we make on the attributes of God, — 
 that are at war with the spirit of his word, 
 — that contradict every conclusion which 
 reason would draw from the truths we are 
 taught ? What stronger illusion, moreover, 
 can be practiced on mankind, than to pre- 
 tend to them that the Almighty has given 
 to the world a religion, containing in it 
 doctrines which it is of eternal moment to 
 believe, but the truth of which he has se- 
 cured against all examination, by wrapping 
 them in impenetrable mystery ? It is the 
 language of fraud and imposture. It is a li- 
 bel on the goodness of God, and an impo- 
 sition on the credulity of man. 
 
 We find that, at the period to which we 
 are adverting, a coalition of Priests were 
 found combating, with the same bigot zeal, 
 
123 
 
 for these mysteries, as is witnessed in the 
 still stronger, and more formidable confe- 
 deracy of the present da} 7 ! We see that 
 dull morality was, even then, sufficiently 
 stigmatized by public opinion, although 
 not brought, perhaps, to quite so low an es- 
 timate as at present. We are told, I know, 
 by these Spiritual Directors, — and they af- 
 firm it with all the insulting triumph of 
 Jesuitical evasion — that they are the prime 
 supporters of morality — that they hold good 
 ivorks in high estimation, and that, when they 
 speak of them as notlihig icorth, it is with 
 reference to them as the procuring cause 
 of salvation, to which they contribute no- 
 thing, and with which they have no con- 
 cern. But this distinction is as dangerous 
 as it is false. Are we to suffer all the evil, 
 and vice, and mischief arising out of this 
 great and growing hostility against the 
 preachers of moral truth and practical obe- 
 dience — are we to suffer all this, and look 
 for our compensation in a casuistical quib- 
 ble? 2 
 
124 
 
 Let these Pastors of the New Church lis- 
 ten to the express and decisive declaration of 
 our Saviour himself on this subject, and 
 then let them state to us the grounds on 
 which they deny it, — let them then pro- 
 duce to us the authority which warrants 
 them in preaching and propagating a con- 
 trary conviction. 
 
 — " Not every one that saith unto me 
 Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
 of heaven, but HE that doth the will op 
 MY FATHER ivhich is in heaven." Here mo- 
 ral obedience is most distinctly affirmed to 
 be the cause which will procure our entrance 
 into the kingdom of heaven ; no language 
 can aver this truth more strongly. It is so 
 plain and so clear, that the false prophet 
 cannot escape it, — the forger of systems 
 cannot shrink from it. The whole of the 
 four Gospels teem with authorities to the 
 same effect. Every parable which our 
 Saviour has delivered, tends to bring the 
 same great truth level to all understandings. 
 
125 
 
 And yet it is denied, and those who preach 
 it are covered with obloquy ! ! ! 
 
 All practical religion will inevitably fall 
 more or less into neglect, the instant good 
 works, or, in other words, religious obe- 
 dience to the word and will of God, is held 
 to be ineffectual to salvation. These Anti- 
 moralists fancy they are cutting down the 
 claims of human merit, while, in fact, they 
 are annulling all the promises which God 
 has given to man, and withdrawing every ex- 
 citement which the gospel holds forth to re- 
 pentance and holiness of life. 
 
 This doctrine, with others of a like 
 tendency, was preached most zealously by 
 the Puritans. Glanvil remarks, and with 
 emphatic truth, that, — " the absolute neces- 
 sity of thorough repentance and reformation of 
 life, is much weakened, if not taken azvay 
 by them." And he takes occasion to en- 
 force the indispensable duty of those who 
 set themselves apart to be Teachers of the 
 people, — " to fix their minds upon the ne- 
 cessity of Jiving well, in order to the ob- 
 
126 
 
 taining the favour of God ; for if any thing 
 else," he adds, " will render them accepted 
 of him, all our exhortation to holiness and 
 good life will be to little purpose *." — 
 
 But lest truth like this should make its 
 way to the understanding, the New Gospel 
 members have furnished their disciples with 
 a reply to it. " We preach the efficacy of 
 faith alone, it is true, but true faith cannot be 
 xoithout good ivorks." But this proposition is 
 false ; it is fitted only to impose upon the 
 mind, and to hold it in bondage to preju- 
 dice and error. That faith must necessari- 
 ly produce a correspondent practice, is an 
 assertion contradicted by all human expe- 
 rience. 
 
 Faith, in the language of Scripture, — and 
 in the language of common liie, — must be 
 understood to signify, the belief that a cer- 
 iain fact or doctrine h true ; and this faith, 
 is founded upon the testimony with which 
 the revelation of such fact or doctrine is at- 
 
 * Ibid. p. 23. 
 
127 
 
 tended. Now, although a man is. most se- 
 riously and sincerely convinced, that a doc- 
 trine — of a future judgment, for example, — is 
 true, yet we all know, that this faith will 
 not necessarily produce such good uorks as 
 should prepare him for it. 
 
 In fact, that a man's belief has no positive 
 and necessary connection with his practice, 
 is a fact of which we have such perpetual 
 evidence, that nothing bait the imperious 
 and peremptory tone in which the leaders 
 of this sect always deliver themselves, could 
 have ever led their disciples to join in the 
 averment, that " faith cannot be without good 
 works." 
 
 Tell the Drunkard, that his excessive in- 
 temperance will injure his constitution, and 
 destroy his faculties. He does not disbelieve 
 this assertion ; on the contrary, his faith in 
 it is fully confirmed by the fact. He feels 
 his health impaired, his nerves unstrung, 
 bis hand tremulous, his whole frame disor- 
 dered. He is well convinced, — for the 
 
128 
 
 truth is. daily before his eyes, that this 
 course of life will bring him to an early 
 grave ; but, convinced as he is of the truth 
 of all this, this conviction is not of power 
 to destroy the force of habit. 
 
 Ask the man that has committed forgery, 
 if he believed that the law punished that of- 
 fence with death, — that it was an offence, 
 moreover, to which the king rarely extends 
 his pardon.^ — You will find, that no doubt 
 existed in his mind, on either of these 
 points ; but he committed the crime not- 
 withstanding. 
 
 In fact, there is no truth of which a 
 man of common reflection can be more 
 strongly convinced, than of this, — that a 
 man's conduct is not necessarily governed 
 by his creed. If it were so, a belief in THE 
 doctrine of a future state would never 
 Jail to produce a correspondent preparation 
 ibr it. — A belief in the OMNIPRESENCE OF 
 God would be always followed by that purity 
 of thought and life which ought to arise from 
 it. — But we all know that a man may have 
 
129 
 
 a most sound faith in the leading truths 
 of Christianity, and yet be governed in his 
 conduct by the influence of the very oppo- 
 site principles. 
 
 The Apostles of Methodism> they surely 
 cannot preach up a system of doctrines 
 which they disbelieve.— They cannot surely be 
 suspected of harbouring any secret doubt re- 
 specting the authenticity of their peculiar 
 doctrines. They, of course, must have the 
 true faith; TRUE FAITH must, of necessity, 
 produce good icorks. — The conclusion is ob- 
 vious. — How good, and pure, and pious 
 must all Methodist Preachers be ! What 
 a swarm of Saints ! What a hive of Holy 
 Disciples ! 
 
 But these great theological Logicians sel- 
 dom encumber their assertions with much 
 proof. They never trace the origin of that 
 necessary connexion which they aver to 
 exist between faith and good zvorks. They 
 never attempt to shew how this inseparable 
 alliance is produced. I could wish to see 
 
 i 
 
130 
 
 them bring some sort of proof, — it is what 
 they have never hitherto done, — to demon- 
 strate this. 
 
 To affirm that that only is true faith, 
 which does bring forth good works, is to at- 
 tempt to escape the difficulty by a mere 
 verbal evasion. Truth is invariable and 
 eternal. If a man, for example, believing 
 implicitly in the existence of God, does, 
 nevertheless, violate his commands, are we 
 thence to infer, that this is not the time faith. 
 The gross absurdity of the assertion is ob- 
 vious. The Apostle James, in a tone 
 of impressive anxiety, brings this impor- 
 tant consideration home to every man's 
 bosom, — Whether any man can be so 
 grossly imposed upon by others, or can so 
 fatally impose upon himself, as to believe, 
 that faith is of more importance than mo- 
 ral practice f And he illustrates his admo- 
 nition thus : 
 
 " If a brother or a sister be naked, and 
 destitute of daily food, and one of you 
 say unto them, depart in peace, be ye 
 
131 
 
 warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give 
 him not those things which are needful to 
 the body, — what doth it profit ? 
 
 " Even so faith, if it hath not works, is 
 dead, being alone." 
 
 This is of itself a sufficient refutation of 
 this axiom of Methodism, that — " faith 
 cannot be without good works." 
 
 To believe truth attested by evidence is 
 one thing ; and to resist temptation, and 
 keep ourselves unspotted from the world, is 
 another. 
 
 These Teachers, moreover, cannot more 
 stupidly contradict themselves, than when 
 they pretend that they promote practical 
 righteousness by preaching faith alone, be- 
 cause it must unavoidably produce good works, 
 — for if this were so, there could be no such 
 thing as faith alone. 
 
 The Gospel of Christianity directs us to 
 seek salvation by purity of life, and declares 
 this to be the true and only path to hea- 
 ven : — " Mark the perfect man, and be- 
 hold the upright, for the end of that man is 
 
132 
 
 peace." — The Gospel of Methodism, on the 
 contrary, affirms, that this is not the way of 
 salvation ; that none but the heretical self- 
 righteous can either expect, or teach others 
 to expect, that heaven is to be the reward 
 of -personal goodness. On this point, the 
 Old and the New Gospel Preachers are at 
 issue. If the doctrine of the latter is the 
 true faith, then " virtue's prize and prospect 
 are no more ;" — -all these promised bles- 
 sings, all the high reward, all that hope of 
 immortality which Christianity holds forth, 
 at once to console and to animate her fol- 
 lowers, — all are gone ! ! 
 
 But, thank heaven, it is not thus. Deep 
 and dreadful, however, is the responsibility 
 which this Legion of Preachers incur, who 
 are thus guilty of deceiving the ignorant 
 multitude, on a point on which it is most 
 essential to the welfare of society that they 
 should not be deceived, — and of misleading 
 them, where it is of the utmost importance 
 to their own happiness that they should 
 not be misled. 
 
133 
 
 Very little can ever be done towards the 
 advancement of rational religion, until the 
 minds of the people are instructed steadily 
 and constantly in their duties towards God 
 and each other. If only the genuine and 
 legitimate doctrines of Christianity are 
 taught, there can be no difficulty in pro- 
 curing them to be readily comprehended, 
 and faithfully received. Whatever is deli- 
 vered from the pulpit, should always be 
 delivered with the utmost clearness in the 
 statement, whether it has relation to prac- 
 tice or belief. " This," — as the author of 
 the Essay on Preaching justly observes, 
 " is exceeding necessary, in order to the 
 forming clear and distinct conceptions in 
 the minds of the hearers, for so much a 
 man knows as he distinctly understands, 
 and no more. And this is generally much 
 wanted ; for men have but confused imagi- 
 nations about the doctrines and duties of 
 religion, like the sight of him that saw men 
 walking like trees, their thoughts about 
 these, like their dreams, having nothing in 
 
134 
 
 them distinct or clear. Hence it is that 
 they understand so little of religion, and 
 reason so foolishly and injudiciously about 
 it *."— 
 
 The crowds which swarmed round the 
 banner of the popular gospel preachers of his 
 day, were well sketched by this shrewd ob- 
 server; the exact resemblance of the original 
 portraiture to its present counterpart it is 
 edifying to trace. 
 
 — " The hearing things so little suitable 
 as principles of religious knowledge, and 
 enforcement of religious practice, is tedious 
 to them ; an hour so spent is intolerable. 
 You are never like to have reputation for 
 a preacher among such. Another sort of 
 hearers are very contrary to these ; they 
 have a great zeal lor religion, but then 
 their heads are full of images, and fantastic 
 principles ; — they love to have every thing 
 in the phrases to which they have been ac- 
 customed, and according to the fancies they 
 
 * P. 48.-9. 
 
135 
 
 have entertained, so that your plainness 
 and simplicity of speaking will not edify 
 them ; it wants the life, and power, and spi- 
 rituality of preaching, that is, it has no vain 
 unintelligible notions, no odd figures, or 
 words without sense ; and these are so 
 given up to the admiration of the teachers 
 of their own genius, that you can expect no-* 
 thing but to be contemn'd by them as a 
 preacher of a low dispensation, and one 
 that is unacquainted with the spiritualities and 
 mysteries of the Gospel. — Whereas those 
 that cant in words without sense, — which, 
 neither the speakers themselves understand, 
 nor any wise man can, — are taken by those 
 people for the only plain preachers. The 
 reason of which is this, they have been used 
 to a set of words and phrases, which they 
 continually talk, and frequently hear ; and 
 therefore, though they never had any dis- 
 tinct meaning conveyed to their minds by 
 them, yet use having made them familiar, 
 they doubt not but that they fully compre- 
 hend the sense of them ; whereas, being 
 
136 
 
 not used to sound matter and plain speak- 
 ing, these are looked upon as strange and 
 hard things, which their prejudice and their 
 dulness cannot easily admit *.* 
 
 The concluding observations which fol- 
 low, are too valuable to be omitted. — ■ 
 
 " Now, these two sorts make up the 
 greatest part of those that lead the vulgar 
 judgment, and under the condemnation of 
 their sentence you must fall. So that it is 
 not very often, in this age, that the true 
 plain preaching is popular ; you must be 
 content to hear affected triflers, and igno- 
 rant canters, applauded as the rare men ; 
 the excellent preachers, to which all others 
 must give place ; while the substantial, 
 and truly learned, are either disliked, or 
 but indifferently esteemed. It doth, I con- 
 fess, require much patience to hear folly 
 and nonsense applauded, without contra- 
 dicting those perverse judgments ; but, in 
 our circumstances, this must often be quiet* 
 
 * lb. p. 87. 
 
137 
 
 ]y borne. It will, I hope, be enough to 
 you, as it is to all good men, that the wise 
 and truly religious judge of these things as 
 they are. And whatever the opinion of 
 vain and ignorant persons may be of the 
 preaching I have described, it will, I hope, 
 if performed in sincerity, have the appro- 
 bation of God, and acknowledgements of 
 all pious and good men ; and all the world, 
 first or last, zuill be of their mind *." 
 
 That we have hitherto made but slow 
 progress towards this happy consummation, 
 is a lamentable truth. Notwithstanding 
 the prodigious advancement in knowledge 
 of every kind, which has been made since 
 the era in which this Writer lived, yet the 
 great bulk of the people seem fully as ill- 
 prepared at present for the reception of just 
 and rational notions of religion, as they 
 were in that period of bigotted imbecility, 
 which he so firmly and so faithfully repre- 
 sents -f-. 
 
 * lb. p. 91. 
 
 + Some idea of the puerile snperstition which prevails 
 amongst these Ministers of Methodism, and with which, in 
 
138 
 
 At a moment when all the kingdoms of 
 the earth seem shaken to their centre — in 
 the midst of conflicts which have well nigh 
 thrown the earth off its axis — England 
 stands in a firm, indeed, but in a fearful 
 posture. 1 trust in God she is not doomed 
 to fall ; but be her fate what it may, it be- 
 hoves us, at least, to be warned of the 
 
 their turn, they infect the popular mind, may be gathered 
 from the following extract from an advertisement of " Hen. 
 ry r s Family Bible " printed lately on the cover of the Evan- 
 «elical Magazine. This edition is published by the Rev. 
 Joseph Hughes, A. M. Secretary to the Missionary So- 
 ekty, &c. and is prefaced with the following communica- 
 tion : 
 
 M The publisher is credibly informed, that such was the 
 tout-fell advantage, that that Man of God, Mr Whitfield, 
 received by reading Mr Henry's Comment, that he deter- 
 mined to read it through on his knees ; which resolution he 
 teas permitted to realize, and the identical copy is now 
 preserved «t the Tabernacle, Moorfields. As this pro- 
 bably rendered his preaching more eminently useful, the 
 blessing was extended to the edification of his numerous 
 Heauees. No one is ignoraut of the happy effects of his 
 ministration." — 
 
 What low, debased, unworthy notions of the Deity this 
 class of preachers entertain, we have here a sufficient specimen. 
 Such are the rulers of the religious public in the nineteenth 
 century ! ! I • 
 
 / 
 
139 
 
 ground on which we stand. While we 
 fancy ourselves secure, let us not lose the 
 protection of our prudence, nor let go that 
 safety which lies in foresight. While we 
 look our foes in the face, let us beware of 
 the blow from behind. 
 
 It was the great policy of the Puritans 
 to make the Church Clergy odious, and to 
 hold up their own order, as peculiarly conse- 
 crated to a high and holy ministry. They 
 had their " Sale of Curates," and publica- 
 tions of a similar stamp, disseminated 
 throughout all classes of the Community, 
 to arm bigotry in favour of their preten- 
 sion. They were the Lights of the King- 
 dom ; — all the great conversions were made 
 under their Sermons. Sinners sunk in the 
 depths of depravity, and callous to all the 
 exhortations from the pulpit of the parish 
 church, no sooner deserted it than they 
 took their seat with the Elect, and became 
 heirs of the kingdom. These Spiritual 
 Alchy mists transmuted the most impure 
 
140 
 
 metal into gold of the true currency. The 
 following answer to one, urging the fact of 
 their extraordinary and exclusive success in 
 this way, will naturally press itself strongly 
 on our reflection. It is extracted from 
 " The Dialogue concerning preaching." 
 
 " You remember, that on the beginning 
 of the late unhappy times, the preaching of 
 the Puritan Ministers did great things, and 
 there were, no doubt, considerable changes 
 wrought upon many of their lives by it; at 
 least, to reformation from open profaneness 
 and irreligion, which we have no need to 
 ascribe to their having greater matters to 
 say, than were said before or since ; but 
 there was a concurrence of many things that 
 disposed the multitude to be so affected. 
 The pretences of these men were very 
 taking ; it was all light, and mystery, and 
 spirituality, that they taught; set out by 
 new conceits, and new phrases, by great 
 earnestness, and fervours of mighty zeal ; 
 which things, especially, when they are new, 
 
141 
 
 fill the imagination, and by that work ex- 
 ceedingly upon the affections of the vulgar. 
 Theirs was looked on as the only soul-saving 
 sermons, and those conceits contributed 
 mightily to the success of them, so that they 
 could not choOse but prevail upon warm 
 imaginative people, so prepared, and dis- 
 posed. But when the Constitutions of 
 the Church were destroyed and those 
 ways no longer met opposition ; when the 
 novelty of the notions and phrases was over* 
 and the things began to grow stale, then, you 
 may remember, that those moving Preachers 
 affected nothing so much as they had done 
 before. Then we heard great complaints of 
 the comparative unfrequency of conversions, 
 and the loss of that warm zeal, that the peo- 
 ple were actuated by in the former seaso?i. 
 Such were the dispositions that contributed 
 to their popularity. But our Ministers are 
 under the quite contrary disadvantages, so 
 that 'tis a rare thing if any of them be very 
 popular, though never so excellent Preach- 
 ers.*" 
 
 Dialogue, pp. 2, 8. 
 
142 
 
 This is valuable as history, and use- 
 ful as admonition. We are at this moment 
 playing the same prelude to the same con- 
 flict ; should the same means ripen again, 
 into the same effects, we shall, at least, not 
 stand unwarned of the result. 
 
 When the explosion shall have taken 
 place, it may be, that the Worshippers of 
 the new Altar will cool in their zeal ; that 
 in some feeling of caprice, or some fit of 
 disgust, they will, as before, turn away from 
 the sacrifice. The Citizens OfZion may even 
 refuse to be baptised at the lake of Gene- 
 va*. All this may be ; but when the banks 
 are once broken up, who shall say what the 
 rushing of the waters may carry away with 
 it. By the very existence of this sect, in 
 the manner, and with all the means, in 
 which it exists at present, Government is 
 half unhinged ; — but light will break in 
 upon us by degrees. 
 
 * In the Pdrsuits of Liter ature, the reader will find the 
 following note. — " It is remarkable, that in Switzerland ap- 
 peared the Three' Persons, whose principles, doctrines, and 
 
143 
 
 I will make one extract more from this 
 excellent Dialogue. The most prominent 
 charges, urged against the Ministers of the 
 Establishment, by their adversaries of the 
 Evangelical church, are repelled by this 
 writer, with no other weapon, than the lan- 
 guage of direct and simple truth. 
 
 " D. — After all you have, or can say, I 
 must tell you, they (the Godly Ministers) 
 are very powerful preachers, and prevail so 
 much, because they preach Christ, and cry 
 
 practice, fas it seems to me) have primarily and ultimately 
 affected the great change and downfal of regal, and of all 
 lawful pozeer in Europe. Calvin in Religion ; Rousseau 
 in Politics; and Necker by his Administration. Calvin 
 and his disciples zsere never friends to Monarchy and Epis- 
 topacy ; but I shall not here contend politically, or theolo- 
 gically, with Bishop Horsley, concerning Calvin. A poet's 
 words are better for a poet. I have looked into history ; 
 and, as I think, have found them true. Dryden speaks of 
 Calvin thus, and remarkably enough : 
 
 a The last of all the litter 'scap'd by chance, 
 And from Gekeva first infested Fraxce. +" 
 
 Pursuits of Literature. Dialogue the 
 fourth, 1. 10." 
 
 ■i The Hind and Panther, B. i. v. 17£. 
 
144 
 
 down sin, which very few of your national 
 Preachers do. 
 
 "A. — In what I have said, I have spoken 
 plainly, as I thought, and as I doubt not 
 the matter clearly is, as all understanding 
 loiprejudiced men, who have been acquainted 
 with their ways, may see, so that you do 
 wrong to accuse me of bitterness ; as if I 
 had aggravated things, beyond the just 
 and due representation of them, which, I 
 assure you, was all I intended. 
 
 " They are powerful, indeed, to move the 
 affections that ignorance, and enthusiasm, 
 pride, singularity, and faction, have begot ; 
 those they stir by the same ways by which 
 they were produced '. — They are powerful 
 on the affections of the senseless, inconsider- 
 ing vulgar, which are mightily transported 
 by blustering and noise, as the waters are 
 by a storm ; when, as soon as the violence is 
 over, they are still as before. But I do not 
 find that they generally move the intelligent 
 a-nd judicious; otherwise than to beget in 
 
145 
 
 them scorn of their egregious follies, and 
 pity of their fond admirers. 
 
 " But they preach Jesus Christ, you say, 
 which others, you think, do not. And it is 
 true they have the name of Christ almost 
 ever in their mouths ; and tali as men trans- 
 ported with the beauties and excellencies 
 of the Lord Jesus. This others do not so 
 much, and therefore preach not Christ, 
 you fancy, by which you shew how little 
 you understand what you say, notwith- 
 standing you live under their poiccrful 
 preachings. For, to preach Christ, is to de- 
 clare and express his doctrines, laws, example, 
 and sanctions, which I am sure our mini- 
 sters constantly and earnestly do ; and not 
 to doat upon, and be always impertinently and 
 fulsomely repeating his name. I cannot de- 
 ny, indeed, but that your men also profess 
 his doctrines and laws, but yet, 'tis the opi- 
 nion of some, that many of those preachers 
 have so darkened them by their phrases, 
 and so corrupted them by their false and fa- 
 K 
 
146 , ' 
 
 natical conceits, that their gospel is quite 
 another thi?ig from the primitive Apostolical 
 Christianity." 
 
 " Oh, but they preach down sin, you tell us, 
 and that's powerful preaching, and by that 
 they affect the hearts and consciences of 
 their hearers. And it is true, those teach- 
 ers cry out against sin, in the general, with 
 a great deal of earnestness, declaring what a 
 vile and odious thing sin is, with wondrous 
 zeal ; but then they seldom descend to par- 
 ticulars, except in declaiming against the 
 noted sins of others, and such as they take 
 those of opposite judgment to them to be 
 guilty of, So that their common-places of 
 invective are idolatry, will-worship, supersti- 
 tion, human invention, formality, persecution, 
 hatred of THE godly, and such like (things, 
 of which themselves are as guilty as any sort 
 of men in the world, though they think 
 not so). But for the sins with which they 
 are generally and plainly chargeable, ma- 
 lice, deceit, pride, covetousness, backbiting, 
 schisms, and other such, we seldom hear 
 
147 
 
 them declaim against those. I do not re- 
 member that in ten years, in which I was 
 capable of observing in the late times, that I 
 ever heard one sermon from any of them 
 upon either of those subjects *." 
 
 These are the observations of a man 
 who judged from facts, and spoke from ex- 
 perience. They are quoted to shew the 
 line of descent through which the present 
 Church militant may be traced. They are 
 quoted to prove, that the order of persons 
 which compose it, bear, at this day, the 
 very stamp of their predecessors. They 
 are stronger, indeed, beyond all computa- 
 tion, in point of numbers ;— -their sphere of 
 proselytism is beyond all conception great- 
 er ; — the whole mass is informed with one 
 mind, and moves under one impulse ; — 
 their spirit of co-operation, and their union 
 of object, give a vigour and elasticity 
 to all their movements, and render the 
 progress of the present sect infinitely more 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
148 
 
 alarming, not to the interests of this nation 
 alone, but to the interests of the whole hu- 
 man race. They have no object of com- 
 mon concern to forward, but instantly an 
 Association is entered into to carry it into 
 effect. They have formed themselves, as 
 it were, into a distinct order of society ;-*— 
 they have their separate associations in 
 every county and district throughout the 
 kingdom. They have their Agents always 
 alert at home, they have their Emissaries 
 ever active abroad. They have their cor- 
 responding societies in every quarter. And 
 their last effort is to bring the press within 
 their grasp. — No attempt is left untried to 
 strengthen and secure their ascendancy 
 over the minds of the rising generation. 
 All this is incompatible with the secure ex- 
 istence of the Church as an Establishment. 
 We may put by the day of consideration. 
 We may, from timidity or indolence, turn 
 our eyes from it. But we shall be much 
 better employed in looking out for the 
 
149 
 
 path that can conduct us to wisdom and to 
 safety. 
 
 But the great consideration which ob- 
 viously occurs to the mind* is this, — Ad- 
 mitting the evil, where is the remedy ? 
 Are we to look for it in privation and per- 
 secution ? Certainly not. The remedy is 
 to be sought where alone it can be found, 
 in the enlarged wisdom, and enlightened 
 prudence of those to whom the guardian- 
 ship of the nation is entrusted. The majo- 
 rity of the nation see and feel the danger^ 
 and they look anxiously for the timely ap- 
 plication of some corrective to its excess, 
 But still the principal question seems to press 
 itself: What is the remedy, and in what 
 course of proceeding is it to be found ? 
 
 On this subject I shall express myself 
 without reserve, but with becoming dis- 
 trust, because I am fully aware of the deli- 
 cacy aud the difficulty which attend the 
 practical application even of the means 
 best fitted to the end. — But thus far I 
 think we cannot err. We should investi- 
 
150 
 
 gate first the cause of the evil, that we may 
 apply the means of cure with more cer- 
 tainty, and with better effect. If it should 
 be found, upon inquiry, that we ourselves 
 contribute in part to produce and to perpe- 
 tuate the evil we complain of, let it be our 
 first care to remove the cause thus far. It 
 is impossible not to remark, that all the 
 leaders of this most dangerous sect, shelter 
 themselves behind the Articles of the 
 Church, at the very time that they are 
 loosening its foundation day by day, and 
 hastening every hour the crisis of its down* 
 fal. 
 
 Let then the Articles which were framed in 
 an unenlightened age, and at a period of bi- 
 gotry and bloodshed ; let them be fairly, 
 and without prejudice, examined ; and if 
 any one is found to contain any expression 
 which seems to undervalue the importance 
 Osgood works, or, which is the same thing, — to 
 undervalue that practical obedience to the 
 laws of God, without which religion is an 
 
151 
 
 empty name, — let such expression be with- 
 drawn. 
 
 If there is any Article that experience has 
 proved to be more productive of religious 
 dissension than of reverence to God or al- 
 legiance to the state — let such cause of of- 
 fence and disunion be removed. 
 
 If any article should be found to have sepa- 
 rated conscientious and worthy men from the 
 Established Church, by demanding an im- 
 plicit and specific faith on points not fun- 
 damental — let such article be so revised as 
 to restore the right of private judgment, and 
 the freedom of religious inquiry. 
 
 Thus revised, the Articles would be no 
 longer — what I fear they have too long 
 been — a stumbling-block to the friends of 
 the establishment, and a stalking-horse to 
 its enemies. 
 
 I an* aware of the outcry that may be 
 raised against this by the Bigot, whose creed 
 it may disturb, and by the Sectary, whose 
 views it may counteract; but the intelli- 
 gent part of the public will give to such 
 
152 
 
 outcry just the weight it deserves, and no 
 more. The only point they will seek to 
 determine will be — Is such a measure salu- 
 tary, and is it just ? Does it tend, as far as 
 it goes, to avert the perilous consequences 
 to be apprehended from the present state 
 of things ? This is the sole inquiry. The 
 appeal is to reason and to fact. Mere din 
 and clamour can contribute as little to any 
 wise decision upon it, as the bellowing of a 
 blacksmith's forge. , 
 
 It is a plain truth — but it is a truth that 
 should not be withheld. — This nation does 
 not, nor can, avail itself of the progress of 
 knowledge, and the dissemination of learn- 
 ing amongst its Clergy. The Church has 
 in it,, both now and in times past, many 
 persons of distinguished piety and exalted 
 talents, by whom Christianity might have 
 been cleared from those errors which have 
 so long corrupted its purity and retarded its 
 influence ; but a boundary line is drawn, be- 
 yond which they cannever step with safety. 
 They have no power to oppose, by argu- 
 
153 
 
 merit, the progress of those doctrines by 
 which the multitude are so fatally misled. 
 They find these doctrines so incorporated 
 with that formula of Faith which they have 
 subscribed, that their lips are sealed. — This 
 is an evil of infinite magnitude, and is full 
 of the worst consequences to society. 
 
 No articles can ever be a proper foun- 
 dation for any man's faith. In a revealed 
 religion, they must always be useless, be- 
 cause there can be no necessity to resort to, 
 much less to rest on, — any human deci- 
 sion. 
 
 If such Articles were attempted to be in- 
 troduced at this day, the whole kingdom 
 would be in a ferment from one end to the 
 other. Such a despotic encroachment on 
 all the principles of religious freedom! — such 
 a flagrant violation of the indelible right 
 of private judgement ! — No man would 
 consider the constitution of England as 
 worth ten days purchase. 
 
 Is it possible, then, for any person ration- 
 
1.54 
 
 ally and really to persuade himself, that by 
 combating the revision of these Articles, he 
 is actuated by a due attention to the real 
 interest of religion, and the true interests of 
 his country? No enlightened, disinterested, 
 reflective mind, can come to such a conclu- 
 sion as this. It is not possible *. 
 
 * It is surely the duty of every public teacher of religion, 
 whether of the church of England or any other church, to 
 lie well convinced that the doctrines he delivers to others are 
 the doctrines delivered irt that Gospel which he professes to 
 teach. Dr Hawkish, however, is of a quite different opi. 
 nion. His reasoning on the subject is most extraordinary. 
 " However determined," says this reverend divine, li the 
 matter may be in respect to the subject of religion in gene- 
 ral ; yet, in the instance of sincerity to the profession, as a 
 member of the church of England, this kind of reasoning 
 loses all its force ; for the single question hero is — not what 
 the scripture saiih, btit, what / have subscribed to — Not, 
 whether the doctrines of the established church- are founded 
 on the scriptures, but whether I, who have publicly ac- 
 knowledged them for my rule of failliy am guided thereby in 
 nil my ministration ? I shall very readily confess, indeed, 
 that it Tzas my duty, before 1 did subscribe to the doctrines 
 of the church, to be most perfectly satisfied that they were 
 in exact agreement to the sacred scripfeuBe, which, without 
 all question, become the only standard of truth. But what 
 I am now contending for, is, that after subscription, it is 
 
155 
 
 It is good for the community that there 
 should be an established clergy. Why? 
 Because it is of indispensable importance 
 that the sacred obligations of Christianity 
 may be impressed firmly and frequently on 
 the minds of the people — that justice, tem- 
 perance, mercy, prudence, benevolence, 
 uprightness— that all those practical virtues, 
 in which it has pleased God to place the 
 whole duty of man, may be inculcated on 
 all classes, and in all quarters of the king- 
 dom. Every man thus employed — whose 
 
 impossible for toe to swerve from those articles of faith, 
 -without the highest breach of moral honesty." 
 
 Solemn Question to serious Christians, &c. 
 by Robert Hawker, D. D. Vicar of Charles, 
 Plymouth, &C. &c. 
 I suspect the Doctor has not capacity sufficient to disco- 
 ver the consequences to which this reasoning leads. What 
 the scripture saith, must, I apprehend, always be the great 
 point of inquiry to serious Christians. If Dr Hawker has 
 precluded himself, in his awn opinion, from all freedom of 
 inquiry, by his subscription, and has thereby shut out all 
 the light which leads to the discovery of religious truth, 
 this forms but a poor apology for binding the same bandage 
 round the eyes of all who come within the sphere of his 
 preaching. It is really a most preposterous style of argu- 
 ment. 
 
156 
 
 attainments fit him for the duty — whether 
 in the church or out of it, is employed wise-' 
 ly and usefully. But the State would ab- 
 jure its duty, should it leave the religious 
 instruction of the people to chance. An 
 established order of clergy is therefore 
 essential, that by its example and exertion, 
 the moral character of the nation may be 
 preserved, and the public prosperity placed 
 on the most solid of all foundations. 
 
 But Articles of controversial divinity have 
 no connection with, nor can they ever con- 
 tribute to, the great and sole purposes for 
 which a national Clergy is instituted. 1 1 is 
 not by such articles that the moral refor- 
 mation of the profligate, either in high or 
 low life, can be effected. You may enforce 
 them for ages, without rooting out a single 
 vice from society. You may declaim upon 
 them to eternity, and never bring one bad 
 man to repentance. The leaders of the 
 Church-militant will be found among their 
 most strenuous supporters. TheEvANGELiSTS 
 of Methodism resort to them as their rock 
 
157 
 
 of refuge. If you expose the destructive 
 tendency of their tenets, or trace their gra- 
 dual and excessive accumulation of power ; 
 if you set forth the danger which this new 
 political and religious interest threatens to the 
 vital interests of the state — they do not at- 
 tempt to meet you as an opponent in the 
 open field of argument, but they artfully 
 slip aside from the subject, and endeavour 
 to involve you in a discussion of the Articles 
 of the church. — They take advantage of this 
 in two ways. — If you admit the authorit}' of 
 the Articles in matters of faith, they then 
 take occasion so to manage the controversy 
 as to leave all the main points out of the 
 case, and to shew that they are supported by 
 them. If you do not admit their authority, 
 thev then draw off the whole attention from 
 the statement you have made, to you person- 
 ally, and denounce you as the real enemy 
 of the Church ; and by this expedient they 
 throw r the charge from themselves. In the 
 meanwhile, all that it most behoves the 
 public to mark — their Delegates abroad — - 
 
158 
 
 their Associations at home — their insatiable 
 spirit of prosely tism — their Society of Unit- 
 ed Theological Booksellers — their provincial 
 and Corresponding Societies — their influence 
 at the India Board — their party in the House 
 of Commons — their restless conversionaiy 
 exertions in the army and navy — their 
 funds for the purchase of livings — the zeal 
 with which they labour to propagate, among 
 the lower classes of the community, a spirit 
 of hatred and distrust towards the moral 
 Preachers of the Establishment — and the 
 careless and assured "air with which they 
 prophecy the downfal of what they con- 
 temptuously term " Mother Church" — 
 all this representation they reply to by 
 pronouncing you to be a Soc inian, and by 
 quoting the Thirty-nine Articles in support 
 of the Trinity ! ! 
 
 The Church Establishment may confide 
 both in my faith and my attachment; but 
 I will endeavour, to the utmost of my 
 means, to protect its interests, even at the 
 risk of running counter to its Creed. I 
 
159 
 
 will not suffer, if I can help it, its existence 
 to be sacrificed to its Articles. In them, 
 treachery has too long found a fund of re- 
 sources. From that Armoury it has but too 
 long furnished weapons for its own destruc- 
 tion ; but the good sense of the people will 
 by degrees be awakened to the suggestions 
 of sound policy on this subject. When this 
 shall be done, the true remedy for the dan- 
 ger that besets us will meet no obstacle to 
 its application. 
 
 END OF THE FOURTH PART. 
 
 Printed bv George Ramsay & Co. 
 Edinburgh, 1810. 
 

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