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HINTS TO A LAYMAN. 
 
HINTS 
 
 A LAYMAN. 
 
 'It is a allocking sight, 
 When children of one family 
 Fall out, and chide, and fight.'' 
 
 Nursery Ballads. 
 
 ■'How much more shocking when the children are grown men and 
 women — and the family is the Church." 
 
 Hartley Coleridge. 
 
 P H I LA D E L P H I A : 
 
 C. G. HENDERSON k CO. 
 1853. 
 
HINTS TO A LAYMAN. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 messrs. c. g. henderson and co. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 In this day of the multitudinous issue of 
 the press, it is a pleasing sign to those who 
 think that man's spiritual and moral nature 
 is his highest glory, to find an increasing 
 attention among American authors, to ques- 
 tions connected with the development and 
 welfare of that nature. The genius of our 
 people is so entirely practical, that there is 
 but little encouragement for writers to 
 engage in the illustration of great princi- 
 ples in almost any department of thought. 
 Eminent foreigners have remarked this in- 
 
14 
 
 tense direction of our life to what is visible 
 and tangible, to what has visible and pal- 
 pable and measurable results; and while 
 they have admitted that the general mind 
 of the country is far more alive to questions 
 that range above mere material interests, 
 than is the case among the nations of 
 Europe, they have been justified neverthe- 
 less, in stating, that, as regards works of 
 profound reflection, there are fewer to ap- 
 predate them than among any other civil- 
 ized nation. That this should be so, is per- 
 fectly natural in the history of a new peo- 
 ple, but it is perhaps time that our atten- 
 tion should be turned to the fact, and some- 
 thing done to increase a taste for such 
 study. We have been led to these remarks 
 by the recent perusal of a work which ap- 
 peared from the pen of one of our own citi- 
 zens, on a theme which, though pre-eminently 
 practical in its object, has been discussed by 
 him, with an elevation of thought which 
 betokens a better spirit than that which has 
 
15 
 
 been common among us, in the examination 
 of questions bearing on the greatest of hu- 
 man interests, and involving others of the 
 utmost depth and comprehension. We hail 
 this book, not because we agree with all its 
 conclusions, but because it seems to us to 
 mark a new era in our country in the treat- 
 ment of great questions that go down to 
 the depths of human nature and society. 
 There have never been wanting men of 
 great speculative ability among us, at any pe- 
 riod ; a few, but very few, might be named, 
 who in this respect would compare with the 
 thinkers of any age or nation ; but as a ge- 
 neral thing, the remark of M. de Tocque- 
 ville is undeniable, and indeed, with a large 
 class even of intelligent men, it is by no 
 means felt to be a reproach to us, that " in 
 no country is so little attention paid to 
 philosophy." By philosophy, in this con- 
 nexion, we do not mean any system of 
 metaphysical science (though it be true in 
 that sense too), nor any mere speculation on 
 
16 
 
 the mysteries of our being, transcendental 
 or other, — but we mean the spirit that leads 
 men of reflection to probe all questions to 
 the bottom, to examine them on all sides, 
 to view them from some point where an 
 impartial estimate can be formed of them, 
 to rest not in conclusions of authority, but 
 " to scrutinize all things," in order to intelli- 
 gent conviction, to the full limit of the 
 power of man. The free spirit of our peo- 
 ple does indeed well fit them for such inves- 
 tigations; but their thoughts have as yet 
 been little turned into such channels ; and 
 though we have freed ourselves from all 
 arbitrary authority in the government of 
 the state, and claim to have the convictions 
 of an unshackled conscience, it may be that 
 in the midst of this invaluable freedom we 
 are still in thraldom to some more subtle 
 tyrant than any king or hierarch, in our 
 undue devotion to some inferior interest, 
 our unworthy fear of cliques, or of some 
 self-styled public opinion, or, in a word, to 
 
17 
 
 some enslaving prejudice, which, however 
 venerable, from antiquity, or association, or 
 universality, can be shown, in the end, to 
 have no other basis than human ignorance 
 or folly. With this view of our national 
 characteristics in matters of thought, we are 
 disposed, as we have said, to regard the 
 work entitled, "New Themes for the Pro- 
 testant Clergy," with much favour, from the 
 truly independent tone in which the matter 
 is treated. This element, or the philosophi- 
 cal spirit, the author certainly has. Some 
 may think he pushes it too far; but 
 whether this be so or not, we think no one 
 can deny it the merit of being that genuine 
 independence of thought which becomes the 
 impartial seeker for truth; which is as 
 remote as possible from that spurious con- 
 ceit, mistaken for it by many, which makes 
 a man abjure the wisdom of the past, and 
 madly dream that everything, in every 
 science, must be settled de novo. Nor is it 
 alone in this spirit that we discern a better 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 sort of thinking than is ordinarily brought 
 to bear on topics of the kind discussed by 
 our author. Confessedly defective as the 
 book is in arrangement, the writer exhibits 
 both power and elevation of thought, far 
 beyond what is usually seen when a man 
 attempts to treat a subject of this kind in a 
 popular way. Great as are the advantages 
 of method, it is but the framework of 
 thought, and as it has not been used in this 
 case, we think it a stronger proof of the 
 author's real intellectual merit, that, coming 
 before us without the adventitious aid of a 
 logically ordered concentration of reasoning, 
 he should still have impressed so many 
 competent judges with the force and value 
 of his main positions. But though not sys- 
 tematically arranged, we have many proofs 
 that this has not sprung from an illogical 
 habit of mind, as the Reviewer styled A 
 Layman so sagely supposes. Only a mere 
 verbal logician could object as he does on 
 page 55, that "statements and counter- 
 
19 
 
 statements, affirmatives and negatives, on 
 the same questions," necessarily prove a 
 loose and inconsistent reasoner. However 
 this may be in the naked forms of logic (and 
 it is not always true even there), those who 
 know that logic only embraces a part of our 
 intellectual processes, are aware that in all 
 the higher regions of thought, nay, in all where 
 the proof is not demonstrative, there are 
 innumerable seeming contradictions, which 
 are only seeming, and that principles, in all 
 the range of moral science, appear to a nar- 
 row vision to be opposed, which a more 
 comprehensive survey shows to be con- 
 sistent. Logical precision, when it can be 
 rightly used, is certainly an invaluable ele- 
 ment of power for any writer, but the 
 Reviewer was never more mistaken, if he 
 supposes that all minds, deservedly deemed 
 logical, have always exhibited this trait, 
 even when treating on subjects that above 
 all others demand it. The great Locke is 
 not unfrequently a striking instance of this. 
 
20 
 
 as several critics have remarked. Though 
 a giant in logical power, his desire to rescue 
 Philosophy from the technicalities with 
 which the schoolmen had oppressed her, led 
 him, at times, when writing in that plain 
 way of which he speaks, to forget the very 
 danger of ambiguous and undefined terms, 
 against which he so convincingly inveighs 
 as the source of endless prejudices and mis- 
 understandings. Yet who shall dare to say, 
 because of this, that he was a loose, ram- 
 bling writer ? Gold is no less gold because it 
 has a measure of alloy. There are, we 
 grant, many apparently conflicting positions 
 taken by the author of New Themes, 
 which, did we not know his design, we 
 would say, were irreconcilable; but know- 
 ing that, they assume a different aspect, and 
 without any forcing, may easily be shown to 
 be compatible. The very strong view he 
 takes of a particular truth, which is com- 
 mon to all who have a great truth to 
 impart, does indeed at times savour of a 
 
21 
 
 degree of one-sidedness, which is alien from 
 the true philosophical character; but the 
 more we reflect on the purpose he has in 
 view, and the more we consider the breadth 
 of mental grasp which he so generally 
 exhibits, the less disposed are we to regard 
 him as defective in that characteristic of a 
 wise and far-seeing mind. But though it 
 should even be admitted that some defect of 
 this kind attached to his writing, the great 
 value and undoubted truth of the principles 
 he insists on, considered in their positive 
 character, would make it a matter of com- 
 paratively small account. We regard the 
 author as sounding the hey-note of a useful 
 reform in the prevailing type of our Chris- 
 tianity, and hence he appears before the 
 world, rather as a reformer than as a philo- 
 sophical writer. We doubt not that his 
 modesty would disclaim either title ; but the 
 world may judge differently; and while to 
 us he seems to show the power of each, 
 it is in the former, rather than the latter. 
 
22 
 
 that he appears as a writer. From the 
 nature of the case, then, we cannot expect 
 the same impartial weighing of every mat- 
 ter in him who would arouse a sleeping 
 world and a sleeping church to some juster 
 conception of their vast responsibilities. 
 Such has ever been the case with reformers. 
 Witness the exaggerations of Luther, on the 
 subject of good works ; which were, however, 
 ably vindicated by Calvin. Says that great 
 man, — "You will say that Luther's mode of 
 expression sounds hyperbolical. I allow 
 this, but contend that he had good reason 
 for it ; he saw the w^orld in mortal slumber, 
 through false confidence in the holiness of 
 works, and despaired of awakening it by 
 words : — the trumpet only could arouse it ; 
 thunder and lightning seemed necessary to 
 him."* 
 
 In fact, in reading some of the more 
 pointed denunciations of the evils that pre- 
 vail in our churches, which have so need- 
 
 * Henry's Life of Calvin, vol. i. p. 493. 
 
lessly excited the fears of " A Layman," lest 
 the Church should suffer from a false friend, 
 we have been reminded of the manner in 
 which Joseph made himself strange to his 
 brethren, that they might be the more 
 deeply sensible of their fault. We doubt 
 not that this was the intention of the 
 author of New Themes; and the response 
 which he has met from many quarters, 
 where a different result might have been 
 feared, shows that he judged wisely, and 
 ttiat there was ground for his rebukes, and 
 will, we hope, be an evidence to him, that 
 however far the Church has wandered, she 
 still has sons who can bear reproof with 
 meekness, and seek a better knowledge of 
 their Master's law. Having now stated our 
 impression that this book, considered as a 
 contribution to Christian ethics, indicates a 
 growing appreciation in our community of 
 the value of moral discussions, and having 
 expressed our estimate of the power and 
 skill the author brino;s to his task, we 
 
24 
 
 would set forth what we understand to be 
 the great principle he endeavours to enforce 
 throughout his pages, which has been most 
 sadly misconceived. Not only is this the 
 case with A Layman, on whose vision it does 
 not seem even to have dawned, but with 
 many others, and especially some clerical 
 reviewers. The pique of the latter, at some 
 rather hard rubs from the author of New 
 Themes, can hardly excuse the small mea- 
 sure of justice dealt to him, when one 
 remembers that their familiarity with the 
 subject discussed should have led them to 
 admit the force and seasonableness of the 
 main doctrine advanced, and to have made 
 many allowances for what would seem to 
 them a depreciation of other principles not 
 less momentous. The much-neglected prin- 
 ciple, then, which our author wishes to 
 implant with living power again in the con- 
 sciousness and the conscience of the Church, 
 is neither more nor less than the simple, all- 
 pervading, all-working principle of Christian 
 
25 
 
 love ; that gentle, but most mighty power, 
 which, springing from the bosom of God, 
 once blessed the universe in creation, blessed 
 it again in redemption, and still seeks, in all 
 the carrying out of the wondrous plan, to 
 bless the souls and bodies, the temporal and 
 eternal being, of the myriads of Adam's 
 race. Alas ! thou heaven-descended Charity ! 
 blind and hard are men, when one must 
 plead for thee ! We conclude this letter, 
 by declaring our belief, that, whatever be 
 the faults, either in matter or manner, of 
 our author, this his main position is wholly 
 impregnable. In our next, we will state it 
 more definitely, and our reasons for believ- 
 ing it. Respectfully yours. 
 
26 
 
 LETTER 11. 
 
 We stated in the close of our last letter 
 what we deemed the main object of the au- 
 thor of New Themes. As the point is one 
 of great importance, and as he has been 
 much misunderstood, we will endeavour to 
 present it in a light which will make it diffi- 
 cult to mistake it, and also show some of the 
 consequences involved in his main principle. 
 Assuming, as admitted by all who acknow- 
 ledge the authority of Christ, that the pre- 
 cept '^ thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self" is the second great command, and is 
 like to the first, and while second to it in 
 order, is second to it alone in importance, he 
 contends that, too often under the cover of 
 zeal for the first, and in many other ways, 
 the Christian Church has practically lost 
 sight of the inherent, far-reaching obligation 
 of the law of love. The author's main 
 
27 
 
 theme then resolves itself into two : — 1st. 
 That the love of our neighbour, in all the 
 forms demanded by our varied relations to 
 him, is a cardinal duty of the Christian sys- 
 tem. 2d. That Christians, as such, have 
 most deplorably failed in yielding an obedi- 
 ence to this command at all commensurate 
 with the pure, and spiritual, and elevated 
 character of its requirements. In regard to 
 the duty itself, if it be needful to urge its 
 paramount claims on any in civilized and 
 Christian communities, this itself shows some- 
 thing essentially wrong in the state of one 
 thus in the dark. Yet we are by no means 
 sure that there are none who would not be 
 for giving this virtue and this grace a subor- 
 dinate place in their religious system. Thus, 
 when love of men as brethren is urged, has 
 it not been often replied, that brethren in 
 Christ is meant in the injunction? And 
 when, again, even that limited benevolence 
 was brought home as implying a warm re- 
 gard for the welfare of all that are truly 
 
28 
 
 Christ's, of every name, who, alas ! has not 
 known instances where the duty was practi- 
 cally denied, because the party to whom it 
 was due gathered not with them, and was 
 looked on with coldness and suspicion, be- 
 cause, though working and living to the glory 
 of Christ, he followed not the same standard- 
 bearer, and uttered not the same Shibboleth ? 
 So, again, if one should urge the general ob- 
 ligations of benevolence, and remind Chris- 
 tians of their duties to all as fellow-beings, 
 sprung from a common source, created by a 
 common Father, and bought with the same 
 precious blood, how often, though these be 
 admitted, do we find no practical recognition 
 of this spirit as one of the highest fruits that 
 faith in the Gospel can produce ? Let none 
 say, then, that there is no need to show that 
 love to our neighbour is an imperative duty : 
 facts that stare us in the face prove that it is 
 needful. What Christian, for example, has 
 acquitted his conscience of his duty to street 
 beggars? Of ten who may pass one, and 
 
29 
 
 who are favourably situated for his reHef, 
 are there five who would give any aid that 
 might reasonably be expected from those 
 who are commanded to "give to him that 
 asketh of thee ?" One will plead his haste ; 
 another, on principle, never gives to street 
 beggars ; a third thinks them all impostors ; 
 a fourth says there are societies established 
 to relieve them, and passes by; a llfth re- 
 minds you that there are limitations to hu- 
 man responsibility, and that if he gave to 
 every applicant, he would soon have nothing 
 to give. Thus, if one-half are so easily sup- 
 plied with excuses, which are too common to 
 be fictitious, we may well doubt if, of the re- 
 mainder, there would be a majority to act 
 the part of the Good Samaritan. Take 
 another case : we are far from thinking that 
 the external divisions of the body of Christ 
 must necessarily impair its true unity; but 
 who that is not blinded by party spirit can 
 pretend to justify the miserable alienations 
 between sects that even admit the safety of 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 those in either communion ? Nay, not to 
 limit the matter thus — where do we see, even 
 in the case of those separated from us by 
 fundamental error, anything that would bear 
 to be compared with that divine, all-conquer- 
 ing love, which the Author of truth exhibited 
 towards the blaspheming deniers of his 
 claims and murderers of his person ? Hatred 
 of the error we have, and this is well ; but 
 full as much, we fear, hatred of the errorist, 
 which too often forbids, we do not say cha- 
 rity, but even justice. These things ought 
 not to be so ; but since they are so, it becomes 
 those to whom it is for a lamentation, to look 
 for a remedy. We think the author of New 
 Themes has suggested the true one, by sim- 
 ply calling the attention of the Christian 
 world back to the neglected truism, if you 
 will, that our religion is, in its origin, in its 
 essence, in its precepts, its spirit and its ef- 
 fects, a religion of love. The deepest and 
 most precious truths are ever the oldest ; and 
 though he calls his book New Themes, it has 
 
31 
 
 been truly said that they are as old as Chris- 
 tianity. Indeed, in some respects they are 
 as old as creation ; for, as the law of God is 
 eternal, and its obligations unchangeable, the 
 germ of the duties insisted on has had place 
 under every dispensation ; and if, in the me- 
 ridian blaze of the gospel day, they are quiet- 
 ly ignored, after all the ineffable sanctions 
 that have been added to them by the work 
 and authority of the Son of God, not the 
 heathen merely, but the earth herself will 
 cry out against us. But though these themes 
 be old, as relating to duties that belong to 
 man as man, they are new — too new, we fear, 
 from the long-continued and wide-spread ne- 
 glect of them. In fact, our author is but re- 
 calling the attention of the Church to the 
 remarkable fact — which, somehow, she has 
 most remarkably forgotten — that our blessed 
 Lord, who came not to destroy the law, when 
 about to leave his disciples, said to them, " A 
 new commandment I give unto you, that ye 
 love one another; as I have loved you, that 
 
32 
 
 ye also love one another;" and as if this 
 were not sanction enough, he adds, " By this 
 shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 if ye have love one to another." This divine 
 injunction is re-echoed, as it were, by that 
 beloved apostle who, after he had leaned on 
 the Masters breast, had, with the others, 
 heard this gracious word. His language is 
 peculiar, and shows, as we have said, the 
 precept is at once old and new. " Brethren, 
 I write no new commandment unto you, but 
 the old commandment which ye had from 
 the beginning. The old commandment is 
 the word which ye have heard from the be- 
 ginning. Again, a new commandment I 
 write unto you, because the darkness is past 
 and the true light now shineth." The con- 
 text shows that the commandment referred 
 to is love to the brethren. 
 
 The author of New Themes has endea- 
 voured to show the justice of his charge by 
 a variety of instances, some of which we 
 hope to examine hereafter. Our object in 
 
33 
 
 this letter has been to show there was ground 
 for the charge generally, and especially that 
 the great law of love — that which the apos- 
 tle James calls the royal law — has been in 
 many ways degraded from its place, and 
 forced to take a very subordinate position. 
 We will, however, before closing this, notice 
 one way referred to by our author, in which 
 this has been done, which we must treat of 
 more thoroughly hereafter, but which we 
 can only now touch upon, to add our testi- 
 mony to the justice of the charge, at least 
 in part. We refer to the charge that syste- 
 matic theology has had the effect, from the 
 disproportionate attention paid to it, of set- 
 ting aside the practical obligation of this law. 
 " Layman" is profoundly shocked by the 
 manner in which our author speaks on this 
 subject. His strictures on this point may be 
 found on pages 36 and 37 of his Review. 
 We will examine the inferences of Layman, 
 and then state our own impression of the 
 matter. The amount of his inference from 
 
34 
 
 our author's words is, that he speaks of the 
 doctrmes of the Gospel with such gross irre- 
 verence as to warrant one who did not, from 
 other sources, know the contrary, in setting 
 him down as an infidel. We have a simple 
 answer to this charge : the author regards 
 the Christian theology of the Scriptures as 
 not entirely identical with that set forth in 
 formularies and the general teaching of the 
 Church; not that he denies those formula- 
 ries, but that he regards the whole impres- 
 sion made by them, and by the same doctrines 
 as taught in Scripture, to be different. We do 
 not entirely agree with the author as to the 
 full validity of his view on this topic ; but 
 we insist that he is entitled to the benefit of 
 this obvious distinction. We wish, especially 
 for the sake of the success of his cause, that 
 he had used a somewhat different tone on 
 this head, that he might not seem to dispa- 
 rage what we are persuaded he deems most 
 precious ; but in the face of the above dis- 
 tinction, without any allowance for the undue 
 
35 
 
 earnestness almost inseparable from a favour- 
 ite idea, or any regard to the admission of the 
 author's preface, that " some of his expres- 
 sions require qualification," to charge him 
 with irreverence and infidelity, argues either 
 great dulness or great want of candour. 
 Now, while we think this defence good 
 against the strictures of Layman — who 
 should have sharjDened his wits or stirred up 
 his charity before writing these pages, as 
 well as many more of his review — we must 
 say, that we do not think our author is 
 wholly free from censure as regards the 
 manner in which he has set forth the topic 
 in question. We believe that when he wrote 
 the pages under review, the idea of an ap- 
 proach to a depreciation of any doctrine 
 deemed sacred by true Christians was remote 
 from his thoughts. In this case, as in some 
 others, we think he has fallen into an error, 
 like that of the reformers, whose unsparing 
 zeal against error sometimes led them to dis- 
 parage what their successors, in calmer times, 
 
36 
 
 have found to be of value. As we have be- 
 fore remarked, the method he has pursued 
 has its advantages : it excites attention ; it 
 stimulates inquiry ; but still we must ever 
 remember that it has its limit, and that a 
 very narrow one, since Truth will admit no 
 pleading in her favour that does not bear the 
 stamp of her own unvarying impartiality. 
 Having stated this exception to the author's 
 tone, while we regard the suggestions based 
 on it by Layman as eminently unjust and 
 unworthy, we have two things to say in re- 
 ference to the principle itself, for which the 
 author contends. The first is, that his view 
 of the office of systematic theology does not 
 answer to w^hat we think can be shown to be 
 its true function from the Scriptures. This, 
 however, is a theme too extensive to be 
 treated now ; let us be understood, while we 
 have a decided conviction on this point ; we 
 are far from denying, nay, we rejoice, that 
 the author has so clearly shown how an erro- 
 neous estimate of the all-sufficiency of a 
 
37 
 
 theology of formulas merely has done vast 
 disservice both to the Church and the world. 
 Our second remark is, that one palpable evil 
 which he justly attributes to this source, is 
 the bitter root of sectarianism. Truly, if 
 anything can wound charity — if anything 
 can conflict with " the love of the gospel" — 
 it is this. It is not our intention to enlarge 
 upon this ; we conceive that the author has 
 ably stated the truth on this point on pages 
 92 and 93. 
 
 Hoping to engage in a fuller discussion of 
 these points again, in our next we will offer 
 some remarks on the spirit of the charges 
 made by A Layman and others against our 
 author, of aiding the cause of infidelity. 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
38 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 The charge of A Layman against the 
 author of New Themes, of having written in 
 an infidel spirit, has led us into a train of re- 
 flection which we hope may be more useful 
 than any detailed answer to such a charge. 
 
 There is a species of oppression which he 
 who endures all else, never will endure. It 
 is that sense of wrong which he who feels it 
 at all, feels most acutely. 
 
 You may invade a man's opinions one by 
 one, and dispossess him of them all, until you 
 interfere with his religious sentiments, and 
 his rights of conscience. You then strike a 
 spring whose elasticity increases with its 
 pressure — rallying every other power in the 
 system, and quickening the motion of them 
 all. You provoke his love of truth, his re- 
 gard of early impressions, his sense of duty, 
 his hopes of happiness, his pride, his zeal, 
 
39 
 
 his obstinacy, his chagrin, and his resent- 
 ment. 
 
 He who would willingly encounter these 
 knows nothing of the lessons of history. It 
 appears to be the decree of God that religious 
 persecution shall avail its authors only 
 shame and remorse — while it endows its vic- 
 tims with extraordinary courage, insures 
 them the divine protection, and fits Lhem for 
 heroic suffering and achievement. 
 
 There are two species of emancipation to 
 be accomplished in perfecting the freedom of 
 man, the one of the conscience, the other of 
 the person, and history shows that they have 
 ever gone hand in hand, in the progress of 
 reform. Emancipation of conscience pro- 
 duced the Protestant Church, but liberty of 
 conscience includes that of thought and opi- 
 nion, the free exercise and expression of 
 which is inconsistent with personal bondage ; 
 and therefore the new-born church, like the 
 dove of the ark, never found rest for the sole 
 of her foot, till her principles had produced 
 
40 
 
 the civil liberty of the American Eepublic. 
 The doctrine of the rights of conscience pro- 
 claimed by Roger Williams, in the colony of 
 Massachusetts, became the animating spirit 
 of that free constitution, one of whose fra- 
 mers re-echoed it in the sentiment, that even 
 "error of opinion maybe tolerated when rea- 
 son is left free to combat it." 
 
 This was the sentiment of a mind too 
 deeply tinctured indeed with the infidel phi- 
 losophy of Europe, but it involves a great 
 principle, in the prevalence of which truth 
 has nothing to fear ; it is not the use, but 
 the abuse of reason that has injured Chris- 
 tianity ; not right but perverted reason. To 
 deny this, is to confess it indefensible, and 
 to surrender the cause. 
 
 As freedom of opinion is the spirit of liber- 
 ty in the world, so it is the spirit of charity 
 in the Church. A man who holds the vital 
 doctrines of grace, believing them in his 
 heart, confessing them with his lips, advoca- 
 ting them with his pen, and evincing them in 
 
41 
 
 his life, may reprehend the practical short- 
 comings of the Church, without justly incur- 
 ring the charge of infidelity, or that of inten- 
 tionally giving aid and comfort to her ene- 
 mies. 
 
 Holding these, he may differ from her 
 brethren, as to their non-essential modifica- 
 tions, and yet not merit the harsh and bigot- 
 ted denunciation of infidel ; else, how shall 
 the many denunciations of evangelical Chris- 
 tendom be accommodated in the kingdom of 
 heaven ? Shall one set itself up as the 
 church, sine qua non^ excommunicate all the 
 rest, and deliver them over to uncovenanted 
 mercy ? This might have succeeded in hush- 
 ing the voice of free thought and opinion, in 
 the papal-bound despotism of the dark ages, 
 but 71010 it is too late. The spirit of the 
 present age, both in church and state, is at 
 war with it. The world has abjured that 
 hoary wrong ; it " has put off the old man 
 with his deeds." That is, the sanctified pur- 
 pose is born, and the conflict of the princi- 
 
42 
 
 pies of the new world with the lingering 
 principles of the old, like the struggle of 
 grace with corruption in the renewed soul, is 
 pressing on to conquest. 
 
 Our author is no decrier of the inspiration 
 of the Scriptures, but one who receives them 
 as of supreme authority, in matters of faith 
 and practice : a member of the Protestant 
 Church, seeing evils in the world which he 
 thinks it her mission to correct, he ventures 
 to admonish her of what he considers to be 
 her duty. Being her friend, he is the more 
 bold and free in his strictures. If he had 
 been less severe, his book might have been 
 tame and unreadable, and thus have failed of 
 its object ; in aiming to avoid this, he may 
 have gone upon the opposite extreme of un- 
 due severity ; he recognises the purity of her 
 system of doctrine, but reprehends her derelic- 
 tion in practice. Right doctrine often exists 
 with defective practice, seldom the reverse. 
 The Church is yet militant, not only outward- 
 ly but inwardly 5 neither objectively nor sub- 
 
43 
 
 jectively, does she yet assume to be perfect, 
 but pressing after that high state : surely 
 then she will not anathematize one who by 
 reminding her of a failure would aid her pur- 
 suit. 
 
 But alas ! for the poor Churchy often injured 
 in the house of her friends, a member, ima- 
 gining that she has been assailed, waxes very 
 zealous for the Lord of Hosts, volunteers as 
 her cham^Dion, and issues "A Review ;" a mem- 
 ber, we say, presuming that such is his posi- 
 tion, from the fact of his gratuitous champion- 
 ship of the Christian cause, not from any mani- 
 festation of the Christian spirit in the Review, 
 which 'is harshly exasperated, and bitterly 
 and coarsely personal. It breathes on every 
 page a splenetic and spiteful spirit, as of one 
 of whom some wedded and untenable preju- 
 dice had been attacked. Its whole tone is 
 haughty and dogmatical. It treats its subject 
 as if evidence and argument were no helps to 
 the judgment of its assumed infallibility; as if 
 he whom it anathematized as an infidel surely 
 
44 
 
 must be so ; no Papal ^a^ could make it more 
 certain. 
 
 It would be more difficulty from the inter- 
 nal evidence of their respective books, to 
 prove the author of New Themes an infidel, 
 than his reviewer a Pharisee, a religionist 
 who would officially drop a tract at the door, 
 where he would scorn to stop and minister a 
 persuasive word. It requires but a superficial 
 reader to detect his religious stand-point, and 
 find confirmation of what has been before 
 suggested. Every chapter betrays it, and the 
 fact explains all the phenomena of his book, 
 the chief of which is its arrogant denuncia- 
 tion. 
 
 Thus inspired, the Ee viewer begins. Assum- 
 ing the author of New Themes to be an infi- 
 del, he tortures, garbles, exaggerates, and mis- 
 represents his book, to prop up his foregone 
 conclusion. Lest he should not find sufficient 
 material, he first seizes the title, which, be- 
 cause it addresses the Protestant clergy, he 
 considers evidence, prima facie, that the au- 
 
45 
 
 thor is a renegade from Protestantism to 
 Kome. As well might he infer, from an au- 
 thor who should write on the liberty of con- 
 stitutional states, with special reference to the 
 United States, did he take for a title, " The 
 Principles of American Liberty," that such a 
 one implied by it, a disbelief in the existence 
 of free principles in any other constitution 
 than our own. 
 
 But we must not visit this Layman's logi- 
 cal delinquencies too closely. 
 
46 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 The task of the reviewer of New Themes 
 has been that of treasuring passing remarks, 
 — of catching the sparks emitted by others — 
 of seizing the dart hurled by other hands. 
 He has shown a degree of patience and skill, 
 which gives fair promise of his future critical 
 career. 
 
 He has, besides, entered into his work with 
 such hearty good will, and used his second- 
 hand weapons with such evident design to 
 hurt, that he clearly evinces a disposition to 
 be unsparing, if not destructive. Such blows 
 as he deals, if they fall not upon the object in- 
 tended, must, at least, wrench the arm which 
 inflicts them. It is very possible that his use 
 of weapons, forged by stouter hands, may, in 
 the result, prove injurious to a champion, so 
 much more willing than strong. 
 
 It were a pity to disturb the excessive 
 complacency with which this worthy Lay- 
 
47 
 
 man now fills the chair of reviewer. It 
 might be disastrous, just now, to extinguish 
 this light of the Church. The Church is safe 
 — with such a champion in front any num- 
 ber of the timid can crouch beneath the broad 
 covert, and be safe from heresy, infidelity, 
 and socialism. 
 
 The office of critic, assumed, in this in- 
 stance, with such innocent confidence, is 
 open, in our free country, to all comers, and 
 denote chiefly, in the first place, the good opi- 
 nion which the critic has of himself, and 
 secondarily, reminds one very forcibly of the 
 fable of Pha3drus, de vitiis Hominum : — 
 
 '^ Peras imposuit Jupiter nobis duas : 
 Propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit, 
 Alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem. 
 Hac re videre nostra mala non possumus j 
 Alii simul deliuquunt, censores sumus." 
 
 " Jupiter gave to every man a sack, 
 To hold his faults and carry on his back ; 
 Another, Jupiter gave, which from his breast 
 Hung heavy with his neighbour's faults oppressed : 
 On this account, man never can behold 
 His own, but can his neighbour's faults unfold." 
 
48 
 
 But terms should not mislead. The idea 
 of a critic or reviewer, may suggest to per- 
 sons, not in the habit of careful discrimina- 
 tion, such names as Dr. Johnson, Dr. Parr, 
 Jeffrey, and Brougham ; they were critics, but 
 such men have no exclusive title to the name 
 or the office. 
 
 The Barings are merchants ; so are the re- 
 tailers at the corners of a country village. A 
 hundred pound ball comes crushing from a 
 Paixhan, and a pennyweight plug of paper 
 comes from a pop-gun. Yet both are guns; 
 the calibre and strength only differ. So in the 
 domain of criticism, from the great critics 
 above-named down, down a long literary de- 
 clivity, through grade below grade, to the re- 
 viewer of New Themes. But this reviewer is 
 not to be estimated bv this lonof interval be- 
 tween him and the learned men whose names 
 are given ; he is really respectable : this can be 
 explained. The schoolmaster and the school- 
 mistress are both abroad. Reading, writing, 
 composition, and grammar, are widely taught, 
 and even the dullest intellects are daily drilled 
 
49 
 
 into fair attainments in these accomplish- 
 ments. 
 
 In the days of Bacon, and long after, many 
 a learned man and profound thinker, was far 
 from being a proficient in spelling, or style, 
 punctuation, or grammar. 
 
 The progress of education has wiped away 
 that reproach to literature; everybody can 
 write now, and nearly everybody does write. 
 Authors of this day not unfrequently even dis- 
 dain the printer's aid in punctuation and 
 spelling. We have now myriads of books, 
 for the most part well written ; they do credit 
 to the schoolmaster and the schoolmistress. 
 These have done their part, they have done 
 what they could ; but they could not make 
 thinkers, and thinking has not kept pace with 
 writing. The difficulty has now become more 
 formidable to tell whether the author one is 
 reading is dealing in thoughts, or in words 
 merely ; whether he thinks for himself, or re- 
 lates the thoughts of others, or whether there 
 is any thought involved. 
 
50 
 
 It is not an unfrequent remark, in this 
 happy country, that the housemaid dresses 
 as well as her mistress, and strangers can no 
 longer be sure, in the streets, whether they 
 are admiring the mistress or the maid. So 
 literary distinctions have been levelled. It 
 is only for the throng of the educated now to 
 determine in what department they intend 
 to shine. 
 
 Criticism is that which suits the humblest 
 intellect, as it requires the least literary 
 capital, whilst there is an air of importance 
 about it which falls in very well with the 
 inclination of those who have no other way 
 of distinguishing themselves so easily. Criti- 
 cism is consistent with the smallest attain- 
 ments, because its province is mainly finding 
 fault — an office in which almost every one 
 is, if not a proficient, at least in very large 
 practice. 
 
 Besides, the critic can scarcely select an 
 author whose faults are not already pointed 
 out, and in circulation. It is but the work 
 of a scribe to select these stray criticisms 
 
51 
 
 and work them up into chapters, and adorn 
 them with the graces of style, adding 
 merely the standard phrases of censure 
 which occur in all works of criticism, and 
 which a ready writer can apply with slight 
 change to any author or any subject. 
 
 A critic may venture before the public on 
 this plan with success if he will stick to his 
 trade, which is censure — straightforward, 
 positive, unqualified, from which if he de- 
 part, in any attempt at discussion or ex- 
 planation, it is all over with him; igno- 
 rance and shallowness and all other in- 
 sufficiency stand forth unmistakeably recog- 
 nised. Thus it has happened to the Re- 
 viewer of New Themes. 
 
 His reproaches and his censure, gathered 
 from all the channels in which they cir- 
 culate, are propounded in the approved and 
 oft-repeated phrases of current criticism. 
 Of the truth of such of these as are well 
 founded, the writer of New Themes is pro- 
 bably more entirely aware than those with 
 whom they may have originated. 
 
62 
 
 LETTER Y. 
 
 It is very curious to notice how very dis- 
 tant this Reviewer stands, from any just 
 conception of the meaning of the volume 
 before him. This is so conspicuous that he 
 may be placed at the head of that uncom- 
 prehending class who never understand any- 
 thing that is not plainly set down in some 
 one of the Guide Books by which they 
 make their way through life. 
 
 Yery many minds of high culture, of 
 great intelligence, and steadily pious frame, 
 have promptly understood the general scope 
 of this volume, and have, with various ex- 
 ceptions given their hearty approval. 
 
 They have failed to discover, what this 
 compiler of the Review saw so quickly — 
 whether with his own eyes or another's, is 
 impossible to tell — that the book is a cru- 
 sade against the Christian religion, by an 
 
53 
 
 arrant unbeliever, but have regarded, and 
 do regard it, as a simple protest against 
 Christian Pharisaism; against the dispo- 
 sition so generally cherished, which induces 
 men professing to be governed by the spirit 
 of Christ, to say to the poor, "Go, be ye 
 warmed, be ye filled," while it lifts not a 
 finger for their relief. They find in it a 
 protest against fanaticism and the barren 
 inoperative theology of the schools, but not 
 even one "wound of a friend," inflicted 
 upon the body of Christ. 
 
 And these approvers of the general aim 
 and spirit of the work are not confined to 
 any denomination of Christians, but have 
 been found among all. 
 
 The Keviewer, with the papal shout of 
 " Heresy," and the insidious whisper of " So- 
 cialism," has pronounced utter condemna- 
 tion, guiltless, let it be confessed, of knowing 
 what he condemns. He charges the author 
 with being illogical, and reasoning in a cir- 
 cle; but that should not bear very hard upon 
 
54 
 
 the literary sensibility of one who neither 
 reasons directly, nor inversely, nor in a 
 circle; who never begs a question, not 
 knowing when a question is to be begged, 
 nor scarcely when a question is involved. 
 
 If the host of English, Scotch, and con- 
 tinental writers, who have been engaged in 
 these important questions touching the inte- 
 rest of the poor could have been present to 
 receive the Reviewer's solution of some of 
 their graver difficulties, it would have been 
 worth while to observe the look of blank 
 astonishment which would have shrouded 
 their faces, and perhaps hear Dr. Chalmers 
 exclaim, " Hoot mon ! Hoot mon ! ye ken na 
 mair whatye're speaking about than ye ken 
 of the fish in the Dead Sea." 
 
 This work of A Layman will not be with- 
 out its service. Literary coxcombs will be 
 warned not to crow until they are out of 
 danger; not to rush into any print but the 
 print of their own retreating footsteps; and 
 
55 
 
 not to give advice until they are old enough 
 to take care of themselves. 
 
 Self-appointed critics may learn to tarry 
 on the stool of caution until they are ready 
 to expiate folly and rashness on the rack of 
 torture; and fledgling Reviewers, that they 
 must not mistake their critical propensities 
 for the promptings of knowledge, much less 
 of common sense; and that they should not 
 exalt themselves above all compassion for 
 literary aspirants. 
 
 Men may find in this review lamentable 
 evidence that ignorance is not always inno- 
 cence, and that very pugnacious intentions 
 to injure may be combined with very small 
 ability to hurt. They may discover that it 
 is better for persons having very youthful 
 qualifications to keep near the maternal eye 
 and leave the Reviewer's task to those who 
 have character and endowment. 
 
 It is a matter of regret that a highly re- 
 spectable individual, like the "Layman," 
 should not better conceal the authorship of 
 
56 
 
 the Eeview, on account of his future pros- 
 pectSj and that he had not given his hours of 
 composition to the more profitable employ- 
 ment of storing his mind with the commo- 
 dity of knowledge, which should bear a high 
 price, as we may justly infer from its rarity 
 in that region. Such acquisitions might 
 make his future criticisms as richly profitable 
 as they are now empty and prompt, and 
 make him as slow to condemn what he can- 
 not comprehend, as he is now ready to exhibit 
 ignorance of which he is not aware. 
 
 If such needful additions should ever be 
 made to his mental furniture, the wiser man 
 will not lightly imitate the thoughtless youth 
 in crying Heretic and Infidel, for he will then 
 know that thousands of the best men the 
 world has ever known perished at the stake, 
 under the Satanic rage of those who made 
 no other charge than that of heresy. If men 
 do not perish now under this charge of infi- 
 delity, it is not for the want of the spirit of 
 persecution, nor of deadly malice in perse- 
 
57 
 
 cutors, but because they are disarmed, and, 
 having no other weapon more formidable, 
 they vent their rage in words, but, happily, 
 they are not 
 
 "Words that burn.'' 
 
 If they were, woe to the man who should 
 dare to think of reading the Bible for him- 
 self. 
 
 Very truly. 
 
58 
 
 LETTER YL 
 
 The unfairness of the reviewer provokes 
 me into a spirit which I must desist from. 
 He does not prove one defect, nor even refer 
 to our author's theory of doctrine, upon 
 which alone the charge of infidelity could be 
 justly based. He only attacks his theory of 
 Christian practice, which, as it takes its own 
 private interpretation of the Scriptures as its 
 basis, and does not reject their authority 
 cannot constitute a man an infidel, however 
 defective in the judgment of others. He 
 assumes that because our author maintains 
 that Protestant Christianity has failed of its 
 duty as to charity, that he would have it 
 abolished, which is false. He proposes no 
 such thing, nor any substitute, but that it be 
 reinfused with the spirit of Christ and his 
 apostles. He uses " failure" in the sense of 
 short-coming and defect in the exercise of 
 inherent energy — not of incompetence and 
 
69 
 
 absolute inadequacy to the object of its mis- 
 sion, as the reviewer assumes. It is infidelity 
 to assail the gospel of divine revelation — not 
 to expose the imperfections and derelictions 
 of those to whom its grace is committed. 
 Even Paul owned that he was but an earthen 
 vessel. How much more may we, and even 
 his self-styled successors ! 
 
 You will find much in confirmation of our 
 author's book in Mayhew's London Labour 
 and London Poor. He asserts from observa- 
 tion that many of the lower classes of oppo- 
 site sexes live together without marriage, 
 because unable to pay the marriage fee which 
 the clergy demand. 
 
 The reviewer misrepresents our author's 
 theory of charity, as contemplating only the 
 indiscriminate and inconsiderate distribution 
 of alms to the poor; whereas, it looks to 
 their intellectual and moral elevation, in af- 
 fording to them the means of education and 
 of grace, which the rich have invested with 
 so much expense and refinement, as to be in- 
 
60 
 
 accessible. There is no objection to these in 
 the case of those who have the means to 
 command and the taste to appreciate them ; 
 but it is absurd to expect the poor, with their 
 low means and tastes, to be transported into 
 the midst of them, and feel at home. The 
 author of New Themes would have us give 
 the poor labourer higher wages, and bring 
 the gospel down to his door and capacity, 
 and raise him thence. 
 
 We understand that the Review of New 
 Themes is soon to be followed by another 
 labour of the same kind, though we trust not 
 as premature, for the sake of the perpetuity 
 of the paternal name. One cannot keep from 
 recalling the olden legend of the Titanic 
 race — " haters of light, lovers of darkness" — 
 who attempted to shut out the rising morn- 
 ing from their vision, as well as that of the 
 world, and therefore piled Pelion on Ossa, 
 and Olympus on Pelion; but, despite all 
 their efforts, the bright sun came peering 
 o'er their loftiest heights, ma'gnificently fair, 
 
61 
 
 and down the mountain's slant poured the 
 intolerable day. Meanwhile, we are told, 
 the laboriously piled hills came toppling 
 down, and beneath the ruin hid the giant's 
 grave. 
 
 We are told that the author of New 
 Themes, though he discovers an error in the 
 system of charity in use at present, does not 
 offer any substitute. 
 
 When Galileo discovered the satellites of 
 Jupiter — when Newton studied the lunar 
 motions — were they asked by the mariners 
 to pilot them across the deep ? 
 
 When Oersted discovered the principles of 
 electro-magnetism, was he asked* to play the 
 clerk of the telegraph office ? 
 
 When the chemist, through high research, 
 had discovered the analysis of coal, was he 
 asked to apply one of its gaseous elements 
 to the lamps of our houses or streets ? 
 
 No ; it is unfair to demand the philosopher 
 to assume the post of the utilitarian. 
 
 His is the higher aim to unfold the powers 
 
62 
 
 of divine skill — to develope the laws of di- 
 vine government. He leaves to others the 
 application of the remedies involved in these 
 principles. 
 
 We thus compare the position of the moral 
 philosopher to that of the physical one ; not 
 because we are ignorant of important differ- 
 ences in the kind of discovery made by each, 
 but because, for the purpose of the argument, 
 there is a real analogy. Notwithstanding it 
 must be admitted whatever may be revealed 
 by the moralist is indeed not so much new 
 truth as old truth newly applied, yet, prac- 
 tically, the latter is often as important as the 
 former. 
 
 While, therefore, our author proposes no 
 remedy for the sad evils of our social state 
 beyond a better observance of the second 
 great command of the law, we hold that it 
 may still have all the value of a new princi- 
 ple, if men, by his elucidation of its true 
 character and exhortations to keep it, can be 
 brought in some better measure than here- 
 
63 
 
 tofore to acknowledge how shamefully blind 
 they have been to this obligation, which, 
 though scorned as trite by selfishness and 
 formalism, has an ever-increasing beauty and 
 scope to those who regard it as a transcript 
 of that divine love which shines alike on the 
 evil and the good. 
 
 I am, dear sirs, yours, very truly. 
 
64 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 On first reading the Review of New 
 Themes, by A Layman, I was greatly at loss 
 to account for the attempted severity of the 
 reviewer. I am now told that he is a lay- 
 man of the Episcopal Church, and the problem 
 in my own mind is solved — '' et Jiiiic illce 
 lachrymce /" You know my respect for the 
 Church, and will not suspect me of insensi- 
 bility to anything calculated to impair her 
 Christian influence ; and yet I must confess 
 I discover in New Themes nothing to awaken 
 my apprehensions and alarm me, as does this 
 modest {stat nominis umhral) author. For 
 his sake, I regret the haste with which he 
 has written, and his evident determination 
 to turn to ridicule and to consign to contempt 
 the views he undertakes to censure. That 
 cannot be done, sirs. Beside, how much pre- 
 
65 
 
 ferable, more creditable, and profitable, had 
 been a calm, grave, kind, and courteous in- 
 vestigation and interchange of thought. 
 
 Doubtless, New Themes is susceptible of 
 improvement — of modification of statements 
 in some cases — of statement of opinion I 
 mean — but surely there is no ground to infer 
 from it that the author is an unbeliever, and 
 labouring insidiously to undermine our com- 
 mon Christianity. 
 
 As I understand the author of the book 
 which has brought down upon his head such 
 a torrent of denunciation, he finds cause of 
 complaint, not in the principles and precepts 
 of Christianity, but in the practice of Chris- 
 tians. And if there be not such, let it be 
 shown — let not the reviewer content himself 
 with assertions merely, but let him give us 
 proof The onus is with him, and we cannot 
 release him except he meet more fairly and 
 evince more clearly the fallacies of the author 
 of New Themes. 
 
 That Mr. C.'s theory of charity is alto- 
 
66 
 
 gether misap23rehended by our worthy re- 
 viewer, is beyond a doubt. He assumes that 
 it is by an unreflecting and indiscriminate 
 outpouring of alms that the poor are to be 
 relieved. How could he lose sight of the 
 fact that the language and statements of Mr. 
 C. imply no such thing? How could he 
 forget — especially when reading the book 
 with the eye of a critic, and with the inten- 
 tion of reviewing it — that the questions of 
 spiritual and intellectual improvement — of 
 regard rather for the individual than for the 
 mass — of increase of wages to the poor — " et 
 id mane genus'' — enter into his calculation, 
 and help to form his theory ? 
 
 That the New Themes are widely circu- 
 lated, I have ample means of knowing; that, 
 since the appearance of the Review, they are 
 more than ever extensively read, I also know; 
 that they will continue, despite the Review, 
 to be read by wise and good men, at least 
 until some abler " Richmond takes the field," 
 
67 
 
 I do not doubt. That they may produce the 
 eflect designed by the worthy Christian au- 
 thor, is the fervent prayer of 
 
 Episcopus.* 
 
 * Not Episcopalian — but vide 1 Timothy 3:1. 
 
 THE END. 
 
Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
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