- 
 
 . v . 0 i the ©Iwological g 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by Mr. William A. Wheelock of New York City. 
 
 BX 5455 .W5 v. 2 
 
 Whately, Richard, 1787-1863 
 
 Works . . . 
 
n 
 
IticWi Wholly jf ^J^^- ^ 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST 
 
 DELINEATED, IN 
 
 TWO ESSAYS 
 
 ON OUR LORD'S OWN ACCOUNT OF 
 
 HIS PERSON 
 
 AND OF THE NATURE OF 
 
 HIS KINGDOM, 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION, POWERS, AND MINISTRY 
 
 OF 
 
 A CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 AS APPOINTED BY HIMSELF. 
 
 BY RICHARD WHATELY, D.D. 
 
 LONDON : 
 15. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET. 
 1811. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 KICHARD CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. 
 
TO THE CANDIDATES WHO RECEIVED 
 
 ORDINATION 
 
 AT CHRIST CHURCH, DUBLIN, NOVEMBER, MDCCCXL. 
 TO THE LORD BISHOP OF MEATH, WHOSE 
 
 CONSECRATION 
 
 TOOK PLACE IN THE SAME CHURCH, DECEMBER, MDCCCXL. 
 AND TO THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY OF THE PROVINCE OF DUBLIN, 
 WHO ATTENDED THE TRIENNIAL 
 
 VISITATION 
 
 HELD IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, MDCCCXLI. 
 
 CONTAINING THE SUBSTANCE OF THE DISCOURSES DELIVERED 
 ON THOSE OCCASIONS, RESPECTIVELY, 
 IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 WITH EARNEST WISHES FOR THEIR PRESENT AND ETERNAL WELFARE, 
 BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND AND FELLOW LABOURER, 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/kingdomofchristdOOwhat_0 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following Essays contain the sub- 
 stance of some Discourses not originally 
 designed for the Press, but which I was 
 strongly urged to publish by several of 
 the persons to whom the Volume is in- 
 scribed. 
 
 I have endeavoured to throw the mate- 
 rials into a form more suited for private 
 perusal than that of the Discourses origi- 
 nally delivered. I fear, however, that, 
 in consequence of frequent interruptions 
 during the preparation of the work for the 
 Press, some defects may be found in the 
 arrangement and comparative development 
 of the several topics, and other such imper- 
 fections in the composition, which can only 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 be effectually guarded against by means of 
 a period of unbroken leisure beyond what 
 I can ever reasonably expect. 
 
 But whatever may be thought of the 
 Work as a Composition, I trust that, in 
 respect of the matter of it, the reader will 
 give me credit for being incapable of 
 putting forth, on subjects so important, 
 any views that have not been carefully 
 considered. 
 
 In fact, among the subjects here treated 
 of are some on which I have not only 
 reflected much, but have written and pub- 
 lished from time to time for above twelve 
 years past. 
 
 And it may not be impertinent here to 
 remark, that in respect of some most im- 
 portant points now maintained, I may 
 appeal (besides the arguments contained 
 in the following pages) to the strongest of 
 all external confirmations, the testimony of 
 opponents. Not that I have ever written in 
 a polemical form, or sought to provoke con- 
 troversy ; but by opponents, I mean, those 
 who have maintained, and who still main- 
 tain, opinions opposite to those I have put 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 vii 
 
 forth ; but who have never, to the best of my 
 knowledge, even attempted any refutation 
 of the reasons I have adduced. 
 
 For instance, that the introduction into 
 the Christian Religion of Sacrifices and 
 Sacrificing Priests is utterly at variance 
 with the whole System of the Gospel, and 
 destructive of one of its most important 
 characteristics ; and, again, that the implicit 
 deference due to the declarations and pre- 
 cepts of Holy Scripture, is due to nothing 
 else, and that it is not humble piety, but 
 profane presumption, either to attribute 
 infallibility to the traditions or decision 
 of any uninspired Man or Body of men, 
 (whether Church, Council, Fathers, or by 
 whatever other title designated,) or, still 
 more, to acknowledge in these, although 
 fallible, a right to fix absolutely the in- 
 terpretation of Scripture, to be blended 
 therewith, and to supersede all private 
 judgment, — these are positions which I 
 have put forth, from time to time, for 
 many years past, in various forms of 
 expression, and supported by a variety of 
 arguments, in several different works, some 
 
V 1 1 1 
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 of which have appeared in more than one 
 edition. And though opposite views are 
 maintained by many writers of the present 
 day, several of them professed members of 
 the Church of England, I have never seen 
 even an attempted refutation of any of 
 those arguments. 
 
 It cannot be alleged that they are not 
 worth noticing : since, whether intrinsically 
 weak or strong, the reception they have 
 met with from the Public indicates their 
 having had some influence. 
 
 And again, if any one is averse to en- 
 tering into controversy, and especially per- 
 sonal controversy (a feeling with which I 
 cordially sympathize), this would not com- 
 pel him to leave wholly unnoticed all the 
 arguments that can be urged against his 
 views. It would be absurd to speak as if 
 there were no medium between, on the 
 one hand, engaging in a controversy, and, 
 on the other hand, passing over without 
 any notice at all, every thing that ever has 
 been, or may be, urged on the opposite 
 side. Nothing is easier, or more common, 
 and, I should add, nothing more advisable, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 than to notice in general terms the opi- 
 nions or arguments opposed to one's own, 
 and without reference to any particular 
 book or author : as by saying, for instance, 
 " Such and such a doctrine has been 
 held ;" — " this or that may be alleged ;" — 
 " some persons may object so and so," &c. 
 In this way, not only personal controversy 
 may be avoided, without undue neglect of 
 what may be said on the opposite side, 
 but also the advantage is gained (to the 
 cause of truth, I mean) of confining the 
 reader's attention to the real merits of the 
 case, independently of the extraneous cir- 
 cumstances/ which ought not to influence 
 the decision. 
 
 It is true, no one should be required to 
 notice every minor objection, — every diffi- 
 culty relative to points of detail, — that 
 may be alleged against any principle or 
 system he is contending for ; since there 
 may be even valid objections against each 
 of two opposite conclusions." But this 
 does not affect the present case ; the argu- 
 
 * "Ei;w tov Tpajfiaroc, Arist. Rhet. 
 b See Logic, B. iii. § 17. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ments I am alluding to, having relation to 
 fundamental principles. Whatever any one 
 may think of the soundness of those argu- 
 ments, no one can doubt that, if admitted, 
 they go to prove that the system con- 
 tended against is (not merely open to 
 objections, but) radically wrong through- 
 out ; based on false assumptions, supported 
 by none but utterly fallacious reasoning, 
 and leading to the most pernicious con- 
 sequences. 
 
 And these arguments, though it is not 
 for me to say that they are unanswerable, 
 have certainly been hitherto, as far as I 
 know, wholly unanswered, even by those 
 who continue to advocate opposite con- 
 clusions. 
 
 Should it be asked why they do not 
 either abandon those conclusions, or else 
 attempt a refutation of the reasons urged 
 against them, that is evidently not a ques- 
 tion for me, but for them, to answer. Else, 
 an answer is not unlikely to occur to some 
 minds, in the words of the homely proverb. 
 " he that's convinced against his will, is of 
 his own opinion still." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xi 
 
 It is only, however, in reference to 
 the subject-matter itself of the question 
 under discussion — to the intrinsic sound- 
 ness of the conclusions advocated — that 
 the opinions and procedure of individuals 
 can be worth the attention of the general 
 reader. All that I wish to invite notice 
 to, is, the confirmation that is afforded to 
 the conclusiveness of arguments to which 
 no answer is attempted, even by those who 
 continue to maintain doctrines at variance 
 with them. 
 
 All that has been said in reference to 
 the positions above alluded to (which are 
 among those maintained in the second of 
 these Essays) will apply equally to some of 
 those maintained in the first Essay : for 
 instance, that to attempt the propagation 
 or support of Gospel-truth by secular force, 
 or by establishing in behalf of Christians, 
 as such, a monopoly of civil rights, is 
 utterly at variance with the true character 
 of Christ's Kingdom, and with the teaching 
 and practice of Himself and his Apo- 
 stles ; and that to attribute to them any 
 such design, is to impugn their character, 
 
XII 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 not merely as inspired Messengers from 
 Heaven, but even as sincere and upright 
 men. 
 
 These conclusions have been maintained 
 by arguments which have been as long 
 before the Public as the others above 
 alluded to, and have remained equally un- 
 answered. 
 
 If in these, or in any other points, I am 
 in error, I trust I shall be found open to 
 conviction whenever my errors shall be 
 pointed out. In the meantime, I trust 
 I shall not be thought to have been unpro- 
 fitably employed, in endeavouring more 
 fully to elucidate, and to confirm by addi- 
 tional arguments, what appear to me to be 
 momentous truths, and in developing some 
 of the most important of the practical con- 
 clusions which result from them. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 § 1. Christ's own Account of Himself and of his 
 
 Kingdom, at his two Trials 3 
 
 2. His Trial and Condemnation by the Jewish 
 
 Council (> 
 
 3. Jesus, the Son of God, in a peculiar sense . . 9 
 
 4. Christ charged with blasphemy, as claiming to be 
 
 the Son of God, in a sense authorizing adoration 1 1 
 
 5. Proofs that He was so understood 15 
 
 6. A Divine Messiah not expected by the Jews . . 19 
 
 7. Proofs that the sense in which He was understood, 
 
 was that which He designed 22 
 
 8. His Testimony concerning Himself at his Trial, 
 
 must have been true 24 
 
 9. His Declarations concerning Himself, at his Second 
 
 Trial,— that before Pilate 2(5 
 
 10. Sense in which his Disclaimer of a Kingdom of 
 
 this World is to be understood 30 
 
 1 1 . Impiety of attributing to Him a hidden meaning . 35 
 
xiv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 tace 
 
 § 12. Spiritual Societies and Secular, not to be con- 
 founded 39 
 
 13. Intolerance, a natural accompaniment of Insin- 
 cerity ; Tolerance the fruit of Christian Faith 
 and Knowledge 45 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 1. Christianity designed to be a social Religion . 51 
 
 2. Properties of a Community 55 
 
 3. Rights divinely conferred on a Christian Community 59 
 
 4. Constitution of the Jewish Church Gl 
 
 5. How the Disciples would understand the com- 
 
 mission given them 64 
 
 G. Penalties for Ecclesiastical Offences .... 67 
 
 7. Power of the Keys 70 
 
 8. Procedure of the Disciples in conformity with their 
 
 Master's directions 72 
 
 9. Christian Churches derived from Synagogues . . 75 
 
 10. Scanty Records of what relates to Church-govern- 
 
 ment, and copious, of moral and doctrinal In- 
 structions 81 
 
 1 1 . Remarkable circumstances in the matters of detail 
 
 which they do record 83 
 
 12. Internal Evidence of the Gospel resultingfrom the 
 
 above views 91 
 
 13. Things enjoined, things excluded, and things left 
 
 at large 93 
 
 14. Christianity a Religion without Sacrifice, Altar, 
 
 Priest, or Temple 95 
 
 15. The Christian Church Universal has no one Spiritual 
 
 Head on Earth 1 00 
 
 16. Importance of Points excluded 107 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 17. Contrary Errors opposed to the above Principles 109 
 
 18. Church Ordinances removed from a firm Founda- 
 
 tion and placed on one of sand 113 
 
 19. The English Reformers chose the true Foundation 116 
 
 20. Pretended Church-Principles fatal to the Christian 
 
 hopes and privileges, even of their advocates . 127 
 
 21. Appeal to the practice of the early Churches, an 
 
 argument inaccessible to the great Mass of 
 Christians 132 
 
 22. Pretended decisions of the Catholic Church . .135 
 
 23. Appeals to supposed decisions, &c. of the Catholic 
 
 Church, as superfluous as they are unsound . .143 
 
 24. The Articles, the Symbol embodying the deliberate 
 
 decisions of our Church 149 
 
 25. Pretended distinction between coordinate and 
 
 subordinate tradition 154 
 
 26. Alleged importance of human teaching . . . . 1 59 
 
 27. Use and abuse of human instruction 163 
 
 28. The System of Reserve 166 
 
 29. Unsound reasons brought in aid of sound ones . 170 
 
 30. Difficulty of ascertaining unbroken succession in 
 
 the case of individuals 175 
 
 31. Increased Danger of Schism 182 
 
 32. Irregular formations of Christian Communities . 185 
 
 33. Presumption in favour of the Church to which one 
 
 actually belongs 193 
 
 34. Apprehension of what is called unsettling men's 
 
 minds 196 
 
 35. Supposed case neither an impossible one, nor 
 
 useless even if it were 199 
 
 36. Cases of a moral necessity for Separation . . .201 
 
 37. Mistakes to be guarded against by reformers 
 
 when compelled to separation ...... 204 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § 38. Certain views seductive to the Feelings and Ima- 
 gination 209 
 
 39. Case of deposed Bishops and Presbyters . . .215 
 
 40. System of traditionists incapable of being sup- 
 
 ported by clear argument 218 
 
 41. Fallacies resorted to on religious subjects . . . 222 
 
 42. False views of what is Christian Faith and Hu- 
 
 mility 224 
 
 43. Principles of the Anglican Reformers .... 227 
 
ESSAY I. 
 
 ON 
 
 CHRIST'S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS PERSON, 
 
 THE NATURE OF HIS KINGDOM AS SET FORTH 
 AT HIS TWO TRIALS. 
 
 Oboe ('vpidrj A0AO2 iv rw OTOfutTi ab-ou. 
 
ESSAY I. 
 
 § 1 . To any one who is convinced of the Christ's 
 divine origin of the Christian Religion, — who IS count of 
 satisfied that what is called in Scripture " The and his 
 Kingdom of Heaven" does really deserve that the first in- 
 title, — and who is inquiring into the personal quiry ' 
 character of its Founder, and into the nature of 
 that Kingdom which He proclaimed and esta- 
 blished, the most obvious and natural course 
 would seem to be, to appeal, in the first instance, 
 to that Founder Himself, and to consider what 
 account He gave of his own character and that 
 of his kingdom. For to believe Him sent from 
 God, is to believe Him incapable of either de- 
 ceiving or being deceived, as to these points. 
 He must have understood both his own personal 
 nature, and the principles of the religion He 
 was divinely commissioned to introduce. Having 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 Christ's Two Trials. 
 
 [Essay I 
 
 a full reliance therefore both on his unerring 
 knowledge, and his perfect veracity, our first 
 inquiry should be, as I have said (without any 
 disparagement of other sources of instruction) 
 into the accounts He gave of Himself and his 
 religion ; both in the various discourses which 
 He delivered and declarations which He made, 
 on sundry occasions, and, most especially, on 
 the great and final occasion of his being tried 
 and condemned to death. 
 Christ tried "\v e collect from the sacred historians that He 
 
 twice. 
 
 underwent two trials, before two distinct tribu- 
 nals, and on charges totally different; that on 
 the one occasion He was found guilty, and on 
 the other, acquitted ; and that ultimately He 
 was put to death under the one Authority in 
 compliance with the condemnation which had 
 been pronounced by the other. 
 Trial before He was tried first before the Sanhedrim, (the 
 
 the Sanhe- . . v 
 
 drim first, Jewish Council) "for blasphemy," and pro- 
 before nounced " guilty of death :" before the Roman 
 governor, Pilate (and probably before Herod 
 also) He was tried for rebellion, in setting up 
 pretensions subversive of the existing Govern- 
 ment, and was pronounced not guilty. The 
 Jewish ruler had the will, but not the power, to 
 inflict capital punishment on Him; Pilate had 
 the power, and not the will. But though he 
 « found no fault in Him," he was ultimately pre- 
 
§ 1.] Christ's Two Trials. 5 
 
 vailed on by the Jews to inflict their sentence of 
 death. " We a have a law," they urged, " and by 
 our law He ought to die, because He made 
 Himself the Son of God." 
 
 Of this most interesting and important portion 
 of the sacred narrative many persons, I believe, 
 have a somewhat indistinct and confused notion ; 
 partly from the brevity, scantiness and indeed 
 incompleteness, of each of the four narratives, 
 when taken alone; each evangelist recording, 
 it may be supposed, such circumstances, as he 
 was the most struck with, and had seen or 
 heard the most of : and partly, again, from the 
 commonly prevailing practice of reading the 
 Scripture-histories irregularly and in detached 
 fragments, taken indiscriminately and without 
 any fixed object, out of different books. b 
 
 This indistinctness a reader of ordinary 
 intelligence may I think very easily clear away, 
 by attentively studying and comparing together 
 all the four accounts that have come down 
 to us : and he will then find that this portion 
 
 a "Rfjt'ig is expressed in the original. 
 
 b The whole of the New Testament is read in this irregular 
 mode, in the Second Lessons appointed in our Service; as 
 these are appointed in reference to the day of the month only ; 
 and it is consequently a matter of chance which of them shall 
 fall on Sunday. This is one of the imperfections which a 
 Church-government, if we had one, would not fail to remedy. 
 See Appendix to the Second Essay. 
 
6 
 
 Christ's Condem na t ion 
 
 [Essay I. 
 
 of the history so examined, will throw great light 
 on some of the most important points of Gospel- 
 truth ; — on those two great questions especially 
 which were alluded to in the outset, as to the 
 fundamental character of "the kingdom of 
 Heaven," and the person of its Founder. 
 
 Application § 2. When the Jewish Rulers and People 
 
 of the Jews . 
 
 to Pilate for were clamorously demanding the death of Jesus 
 capital under sentence of the Roman Authorities, and 
 ment. Pilate in answer declared that before his — the 
 Roman-tribunal, no crime had been proved, saying, 
 " Take ye Him and judge Him according to your 
 law," his intention evidently was that no heavier 
 penalty should be inflicted than the scourging 
 which was the utmost that the Jewish Autho- 
 rities were permitted to inflict. But they replied 
 that the crime of which they had convicted Him, 
 was, by their law, capital, while yet they were 
 restricted by the Romans from inflicting capital 
 punishment ; (" it is not lawful for us to put any 
 man to death ") on which ground accordingly 
 they called on the Governor to execute the 
 capital sentence of their Court. 
 Pilate's Their clamours prevailed, through Pilate's ap- 
 yieiding. prehension of a tumult, c and of himself incurring 
 
 ' It seems to have been not unusual for the Roman 
 Governors of Provinces to endeavour thus to prevent, or miti- 
 gate, or cut short, any tumult not directed against the Roman 
 
§ 2.] by the Jewish Council. 7 
 
 suspicions of disloyalty towards the Emperor ; 
 which they had endeavoured to awaken by 
 crying out that " if he let this man go, he was 
 not Caesar's friend : whosoever maketh himself 
 a king, speaketh against Caesar." But this was 
 only brought forward as a plea to influence 
 Pilate. The trial before the Jewish Council had 
 nothing to do with the Roman Emperor, but 
 was for " blasphemy," because " He made Him- 
 self the Son of God." 
 
 It is important, therefore, to inquire, — since Meanings 
 this phrase may conceivably bear more than one pression," 
 meaning, — in what sense it was understood by SonofGod - 
 those who founded on it the sentence of death. 
 
 In a certain sense all mankind may be called God'sEiect 
 children of God. d In a more especial manner, — cdiedSons. 
 in a higher sense, — those are often called his 
 children whom He has from time to time chosen 
 to be his " peculiar People," — to have his will 
 
 power itself, by yielding to the wishes of the populace, however 
 unreasonable, or conniving at their disorders. A sort of com- 
 promise was thus made with the most turbulent and violent 
 among them ; who, provided they made no attempt to throw 
 off the yoke of a foreign Power, were permitted to sacrifice a 
 fellow-citizen to their lawless fury. Thus Gallio at Corinth 
 left the rioters to settle their own disputes as they would ; 
 (Acts xviii.) and the magistrates at Philippi readily and spon- 
 taneously gratified the populace by seconding and sanctioning 
 their unjust violence. Pilate on this occasion did so, tardily 
 and reluctantly. 
 
 ,l (Acts xvii.) ... . " for we are also his children." 
 
8 
 
 Christ's Condem nation . 
 
 [Essay 1. 
 
 revealed to them, and his offers of especial 
 favour set before them. Such were the Israelites 
 of old (to whom the title of Son is accordingly 
 assigned by the Lord Himself, Exod. iv. 22,) as 
 being the chosen or " Elect " People of God, 
 called from among all the nations of the world 
 to receive direct communications, and especial 
 blessings from their Heavenly Father. And the 
 like privilege of peculiar " Sonship," (only in 
 a far higher degree,) was extended afterwards 
 to all nations who should embrace the Gospel ; 
 " who aforetime " (says the Apostle Peter) " were 
 not a People, but now are the People of God." 
 And Paul uses like expressions continually in 
 addressing his converts, whether they walked 
 worthy of their high calling or not. 
 
 Yet again, still more especially, those who do 
 avail themselves of the privileges offered to 
 them, and " walk as Children of the light," are 
 spoken of as, in another and a superior way, 
 the " Sons " of Him whom they love and submit 
 to as a Father : " as many," says Paul, " as are 
 led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of 
 God." 
 
 Prophets Those Patriarchs, and Prophets again, to whom 
 supernatu- of old God revealed Himself immediately, and 
 dowed. n made them the means of communication between 
 Himself and other men, — his messengers to his 
 People, — and endowed with miraculous powers 
 
Christ the Son of God. 
 
 9 
 
 as the credentials of a heavenly embassy, — to 
 such men, as having a peculiar kind of divine 
 presence with them, we might conceive the title 
 of Children of God to be applicable in a different 
 sense, as distinguishing them from uninspired 
 men. 
 
 Now it is a most important practical question 
 whether Jesus, the Author and finisher of our 
 faith, — He to whom we are accustomed empha- 
 tically to apply the title of " the Son of God," — 
 was so designated, in the Angel's first announce- 
 ment, and on so many occasions afterwards, 
 merely as being an inspired messenger from 
 heaven, or in some different and higher sense ; 
 and what that higher sense is. 
 
 § 3. And first, that Jesus is spoken of in Jesus, Ae ^ 
 Scripture as the Son of God, in some different inapeculiar 
 sense from any other person, is evident at once 
 from the very circumstance of his being styled 
 " the only-begotten Son ;" which title is particu- 
 larly dwelt on when He is speaking of Himself, 
 (John iii.) This is a further stage in the reve- 
 lation given ; for the Angel had not told Mary 
 that He should be " the Son of God," (though it 
 is so rendered in our version) but only " a Son 
 of God," vlos Qeov. 
 
 I need not multiply the citations of passages 
 of which so many must be familiar to every one 
 
10 Christ the Son of God. [Essay I. 
 
 Revelations even tolerably well-read in the New Testament, 
 occasion of But there is one that is peculiarly worthy of 
 figuration, attention, on account of the care which divine 
 Providence then displayed in guarding the dis- 
 ciples against the mistake of supposing Jesus to 
 be merely one — though the most eminent one — 
 of the prophets. In the transfiguration " on the 
 Mount," three favoured Apostles beheld their 
 Master surrounded with that dazzling super- 
 natural light which had always been to the 
 Israelites the sign of a divine manifestation, and 
 which we find so often mentioned in the Old 
 Testament as the Glory of the Lord — the She- 
 chinah ; — which appeared on Mount Sinai, — 
 on the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, — in Solo- 
 mon's Temple, &c. : and they beheld at the same 
 time, in company with Him, two persons, each of 
 whom had been seen in their lifetime accompanied 
 by this outward mark of supernatural light ; 
 Moses, their great lawgiver, whose " face shone 
 when he came down from Mount Sinai," so that 
 the Israelites could not fix their eyes on it, and 
 Elias (Elijah), their most illustrious Prophet, 
 who was seen borne away from the earth in that 
 Shechinah appearing as a " chariot and horses 
 of fire : " and now, these same two persons were 
 seen along with Jesus. It might naturally have 
 occurred to the three disciples (perhaps some 
 such idea was indicated by the incoherent words 
 
§4.] Christ charged with Blasphemy. 11 
 
 which dropped from thera) — the thought might 
 have occurred to them, — were Moses and Elias 
 also Emmanuels ? — were all three, manifestations 
 of " God dwelling with his People V and was 
 Jesus merely the greatest of the three? To 
 correct, as it should seem, any such notion, it 
 was solemnly announced to them that their Mas- 
 ter was a Being of a different character from the 
 others : " there came a voice out of the cloud, 
 saying, This is my beloved Son : hear Him." And 
 on two other occasions we read of the same signs 
 being given. 
 
 § 4. No one can doubt then, that those who whether 
 believed in Jesus at all, must have believed Him the Son of 
 to be the Son of God in a far different and su- seLeau- 
 perior sense from that in which any other could adoration, 
 be so called. But what was the sense, it may 
 be asked, in which they did understand the title ? 
 Did the people of that time and country under- 
 stand that God was with Him, not only in some 
 such way as He never was with any other man, 
 but so as to permit and require divine worship to 
 be addressed to God in Christ ? Many passages 
 by which this tenet is supported are commonly 
 cited from the Evangelists and Apostles ; but I 
 wish at present to confine myself to the expres- 
 sion " the Son of God," and to inquire in what 
 sense that was understood at the time. 
 
12 
 
 Christ charged with Blasphemy. [Essay I. 
 
 Metaphysi- Waiving then all abstruse disquisition on the 
 sitions on notions conveyed by such terms as " consubstan- 
 scholastic tiality," — '* personality/' — " hypostatic-union," — 
 ne™ssary." u eternal filiation," and the like, (oftener I con- 
 ceive debated about with eagerness than clearly 
 understood,) let us confine ourselves to such 
 views as we may presume the Apostles to have 
 laid before the converts they were instructing ; 
 who were most of them plain unlearned persons, 
 to whom such abstruse disquisitions as I have 
 been alluding to, must have been utterly unintel- 
 ligible ; but who, nevertheless, were called on, — 
 all of them, of whatever age, sex, station, and 
 degree of intellectual education, — to receive the 
 Gospel, and to believe, and feel, and act, as that 
 Gospel enjoined. 
 
 There is one great practical point clearly in- 
 telligible to all, thus far, at least, that they can 
 understand what the question is that is under 
 discussion, and which it is, and ever must have 
 been, needful to bring before all Christians with- 
 out exception : viz. whether there is that divine 
 character in the Lord Jesus which entitles Him 
 to our adoration: — whether He is the Son of 
 God in such a sense as to authorize those who 
 will worship none but the one God, to wor- 
 ship Jesus Christ. So that " all men e should 
 
§4.] Christ charged with Blasphemy. 13 
 
 honour the Son even as they honour the 
 Father." 
 
 Now there is a maxim relative to the right Christ's 
 
 „ _ words to be 
 
 interpretation of any passage of Scripture, so taken in the 
 obvious when stated, that it seems strange it derstood at 
 should be so often overlooked ; viz. to consider the tlme ' 
 in what sense the words were understood by the 
 generality of the persons they were addressed to; 
 and to keep in mind that the presumption is in 
 favour of that, as the true sense, unless reasons 
 to the contrary shall appear. 
 
 Some are accustomed to consider, what sense 
 such and such words can be brought to bear ; or 
 how we should be most naturally inclined to 
 understand them : but it is evident that the point 
 we have to consider — if we would understand 
 aright what it is that God did design to reveal, — 
 is, the sense (as far as we can ascertain it) which 
 the very hearers of Christ and his Apostles did 
 actually attach to their words. For we may be 
 sure that if this was, in any case, a mistaken sense, 
 a correction of the mistake (if it relate to any 
 important practical point) will be found in some 
 part of the Sacred Writings. 
 
 However strange therefore it may seem to 
 any one that the phrase " Son of God" should 
 have been so understood as it was at the time, 
 and however capable of another sense it may 
 appear to us, still, the sense which Jesus and his 
 
14 
 
 Christ charged roith Blasphemy. [Essay I. 
 
 Apostles meant to convey, must have been 
 that,— whatever it was — in which they knew 
 that their hearers understood them. 
 
 And what this meaning was, may I think be 
 settled even by the testimony of his adversaries 
 alone, as to the sense in which theij understood 
 Him. They charged Him, not only on his trial, 
 but on many other occasions also, with " blas- 
 phemy," as " making Himself God," — " making 
 Himself equal with God ;" and threatened to 
 " stone Him," according to the law of Moses 
 against blasphemers; understanding blasphemy to 
 comprehend the crime of enticing the People to 
 worship any besides the one true God, Jehovah/ 
 Christ Now if they had misunderstood his words, 
 
 would have 
 
 warned his and had supposed his language to imply a claim 
 
 hearers 
 
 against a to such divine honour as He did not really mean 
 
 mistake as , . , 
 
 to his to claim, we may be sure that any one — I do 
 
 meaning. , , „ 
 
 not say merely, any inspired messenger from 
 Heaven, but — any man of common integrity, 
 would at once have disavowed the imputation, 
 and explained his real meaning. If any Christian 
 ministers, in these days, or at any time, were to 
 have used some expression which they found 
 was understood, — either by friends or foes, — as 
 implying a claim to divine worship, what would 
 they not deserve, if they did not hasten to dis- 
 claim such a meaning ? 
 
 ' See Deut. xiii. 
 
Christ's Claim of Sons/tip. 
 
 LS 
 
 And much more would this be requisite in Christ 
 
 must have 
 
 the case of a person who foresaw (as Jesus must foreseen 
 have done) that his followers would regard Him followers 
 as divine, — would worship Him — if He did not Him divine 
 expressly warn them against it. Such a one ° n0Uls 
 would be doubly bound to make such explana- 
 tions and such disavowals as should effectually 
 guard his disciples against falling into the error — 
 through anything said or done by Himself — of 
 paying adoration to a Being not divine : even as 
 the Apostle Peter warns the Centurion Cornelius 
 against the adoration which he suspected that 
 Cornelius designed to offer him ; saying, " Stand 
 up, I myself also am a man." Jesus of course 
 would have taken care to give a like warning, 
 if He had been conscious of not having a claim 
 to be considered as divine, and had at the same 
 time been aware that the title of Son of God 
 would be understood as implying that claim. 
 
 That the title was so understood, is the point 
 to which I am now calling the reader's attention. 
 
 § 5. On one occasion, when He had healed a Jesus 
 cripple on the Sabbath-day, and had commanded to claim a 
 him immediately to " take up his bed" (which Sr. cha " 
 was a work prohibited by the Jewish law) He 
 vindicates Himself against his opponents by 
 saying " My Father worketh hitherto/ and I 
 
 g 'Epyc'i^Erat sto£ apri. 
 
16 Sense in which Christ a Claim [Essay I. 
 
 work ;" or, as it might be rendered more clearly 
 according to our modern usage, " My Father has 
 been working up to this time ;" (that is, ever 
 since the creation, the operations of God have 
 been going on throughout the Universe, on all 
 days alike ;) " and I work ;" I claim the right 
 to perform, and to authorize others to perform, 
 whatever and whenever I see fit. " Therefore 
 the Jews" (says the Evangelist) " sought the 
 more to kill Him, because He not only had 
 broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was 
 his [proper] Father ; making Himself equal with 
 God." h 
 
 On another occasion (John x. 33) when He 
 had said " I and the Father are one," the Jews 
 were about to stone Him for blasphemy, " be- 
 cause (said they) thou being a man makest thy- 
 Deftnce of self God." He defends Himself by alleging a 
 
 Jesus when 
 
 charged passage of their Scripture in which the title of 
 
 with bias- r & r , , 
 
 phemy by " God" is applied to those, to whom the word 
 iace P ° pu of God came ;" implying however at the same 
 time a distinction between Himself and those 
 persons, and his own superiority to them : " Say 
 ye of Him" (He does not say "to whom the word 
 
 h Our Version, it is important to observe, does not give the 
 full force of the passage as it stands in the Original. It should 
 be rendered, " that God was his own proper (or peculiar) 
 Father " (narepa \Siov). This it seems was the sense in which 
 (according to the Evangelist) He was understood by hishearers 
 to call God his Father, and Himself " the Son of God." 
 
of Sonship was understood. 
 
 17 
 
 of God came" — but) " whom the Father^ hath 
 anointed and sent into the world, thou blas- 
 phemest, because I said I am the Son of God T 
 This however did not necessarily imply anything 
 more than superiority and divine mission; and 
 accordingly we find the Jews enduring it; but 
 when He goes on to say " that ye may know 
 and believe that the Father is in me, and I in 
 Him" we find them immediately seeking again 
 to lay hands on Him; and He withdraws from 
 them. 
 
 But the most important record by far in His defence 
 
 • i • i before lne 
 
 respect ot the point now before us is that which council. 
 
 I originally proposed to notice, — the account 
 
 of our Lord's trial and condemnation before the 
 
 Jewish Council. In order to have a clear view 
 
 of this portion of the history, it is necessary 
 
 to keep in mind, that when He was tried before 
 
 the Roman Governor, it was (as I observed at 
 
 the beginning) not for the same crime he was 
 
 charged with before the Council of the Jews; 
 
 but for seditious and treasonable designs against 
 
 the Roman Emperor : " We found this fellow 
 
 perverting the nation and forbidding to give 
 
 tribute to Caesar, saying that He himself is 
 
 Christ a King." " Whosoever maketh Himself 
 
 a King, speaketh against Caesar." Now I need 
 
 hardly remark that this was no crime under the 
 
 law of Moses ; and would in fact have been a 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 Christ's Claim of Sons/tip. [Essay I. 
 
 merit in the sight of most of the Jews. But 
 what He was charged with before them, was 
 blasphemy, according to the Law of Moses 
 and of this they pronounced Him guilty, and 
 sentenced Him to death ; but not having power 
 to inflict capital punishment they prevailed on 
 Pilate, who had acquitted Him of the charge 
 of treason, to inflict their sentence : " We have 
 a law, and by our law He ought to die, because 
 He made Himself the Son of God." 
 Accounts In order to understand clearly the trial and 
 in the four' condemnation of our Lord before the Jewish 
 r?e°com-' t0 Council (which is in many respects a most im- 
 togetLr. portant part of Sacred History) we should study, 
 as I have said, the accounts given of it by all 
 four of the Evangelists. Each relates such cir- 
 cumstances as most struck his own mind ; where 
 one is abridged, another is more diffuse ; each 
 omits some things that are noticed by another ; 
 but no one can be supposed to have recorded 
 any thing that did not occur. All the four, 
 therefore, should be compared together, in order 
 to obtain a clear view of the transaction. 
 Jesus con- It seems to have been divinely appointed that 
 his own Jesus should be convicted on no testimony but 
 testimony. ^ ^ perhaps in order to fulfil the more em- 
 phatically his declaration " No man taketh away 
 
 1 See Deut. xiii. 7. 
 
§ 6.] A divine Messiah not expected by the Jews. 19 
 
 my life, but I lay it down of myself." For the 
 witnesses brought forward to misrepresent and 
 distort his saying " Destroy this temple," into 
 " / will destroy," could not make their evidence 
 agree. 
 
 The High Priest then endeavoured, by exa- 
 mining Jesus Himself, to draw from Him an 
 acknowledgment of his supposed guilt. He and 
 
 the others appear to have asked Him two ques- Two ques- 
 tions asked 
 
 tions ; which, in the more abridged narrative of before the 
 
 . Council. 
 
 Matthew and Mark, are compressed into one 
 sentence ; but which Luke has given distinctly 
 as two. After having asked Him " Art thou the 
 Christ ?" they proceed to ask further " Art thou 
 then the Son of God 2" k and as soon as He had 
 answered this last question in the affirmative 
 (according to the Hebrew idiom "Ye say," " Thou 
 hast said") immediately " the High Priest rent 
 his clothes," saying, "He hath spoken blasphemy : 
 ye have heard the blasphemy; what need we 
 any further witnesses ? for we ourselves have 
 heard of his own mouth." 
 
 § 6. Some readers, I believe from not Care- Jesus not 
 fully studying and comparing together the foTprofe^- 
 accounts of the different evangelists, are apt [£f cMst. 
 to take for granted that the crime for which our 
 
 k See John xx. 31. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 A divine Messiah not expected by the Jews. [Essay I. 
 
 Lord was condemned was that of falsely pretend- 
 ing to be the Messiah or Christ. But whatever 
 the Jews may have thought of that crime, they 
 certainly could not have found it mentioned, and 
 death denounced against it, in the Law of Moses. 
 It could, at any rate, have been no crime, 
 unless proved to be a false pretension ; which 
 was not even attempted. Nor could they have 
 brought that offence (even if proved) under the 
 head of blasphemy ; unless they had been accus- 
 tomed to expect the Messiah as a divine person. 
 Then, indeed, the claim of being the Messiah, and 
 the claim of divine honour, would have amounted 
 The Mes- to the same thing. But so far were they from 
 
 siah not ex- . . 
 
 pectedby having this expectation that (not to multiply 
 
 the Jews to _ _ 
 
 be a divine proofs) they were completely at a loss to answer 
 person. Lord's question, how David, if the Christ 
 
 were to be David's son, could speak. of Him 
 as a divine Being under the title of Lord. " If 
 David then call him Lord how is he his 
 son," is a question which they would have 
 answered without a moment's hesitation, if they 
 had expected that the Christ should be, though 
 the Son of David after the flesh and as a human 
 Being, yet, the Son of God in such a sense as to 
 make him a Divine Being also. 
 
 Whatever good reasons then they might have 
 found in prophecy for such expectation, it seems 
 plain that they had it not. 
 
§6.] A divine Messiah not expected by the Jews. 21 
 
 And the same I believe is the case, generally 
 speaking, with the Jews of the present day. 1 
 A learned modern Jew, who has expressly written 
 that Jesus " falsely demanded faith in Himself as 
 the true God of Israel," adds that " if a prophet, 
 or even the Messiah Himself, had offered proof 
 of his divine mission by miracles, but claimed 
 divinity, he ought to be stoned to death ;" con- 
 formably i. e. to the command in Deut. xiii. 
 And the only Jew with whom I ever conversed 
 on the subject appeared to hold the same 
 doctrine ; though he was at a loss when I asked 
 him to reconcile it with the application of the 
 title of Emmanuel. 
 
 The Jewish Council then could not, it Pretensions 
 appears, capitally convict our Lord, merely for be the* l ° 
 professing to be the Christ, even though falsely : attempted 
 and accordingly we may observe that they did proved.' 8 " 
 not even seek for any proof that his pretension 
 was false. But as soon as He acknowledged 
 Himself to be the " Son of the living God " they 
 immediately pronounced Him " guilty of death " 
 for blasphemy ; i. e. as seeking to lead the People 
 (Deut. xiii.) to pay divine honour to another 
 besides the true God. They convict Him on his 
 own testimony (having " heard of his own 
 mouth") of the crime which they afterwards 
 
 1 See Wilson on the New Testament, above referred to. 
 
22 
 
 Sense in -which Christ 
 
 [Essay L 
 
 describe to Pilate. " We have a law, and by our 
 law he ought to die, because he made himself 
 the Son of God." 
 
 Jesus was § 7. No candid reader then can doubt, I think, 
 derstood as that the Jews understood Him to claim by that 
 be divine, title a divine character. And He Himself [must 
 have known that they so understood Him. As 
 little can it be doubted therefore that they must 
 have rightly understood Him. For if He — 
 condemned as He was on the evidence of His own 
 words — had known that those words were under- 
 stood differently from his real meaning, and yet 
 had not corrected the mistake, He would 
 have been Himself bearing false witness against 
 Himself, since no one can suppose it makes any 
 difference in point of veracity, whether a man 
 says that which is untrue in evert/ sense, or that 
 which, though in a certain sense true, yet is 
 false in the sense in which he knows it to be 
 understood. It is a mere waste of labour and 
 learning and ingenuity to inquire what meaning 
 such and such an expression is capable of bearing, 
 in a case where we know, as we do here, what 
 was the sense which was actually conveyed by it, 
 to the hearers, and which the speaker must have 
 been aware it did convey to them, 
 whether Jesus did therefore acknowledge the fact 
 
 Jesus was . . . . 
 
 unjustly or alleged against Him ; viz. : that of claiming to 
 
§ 7.] 
 
 meant to be understood. 
 
 23 
 
 be the Son of God in such a sense as to incur the justly con- 
 penalty (supposing that claim unwarranted) of pends on 
 death for blaspheming, according to the law re- ornotbeing 
 specting those who should entice Israel to worship person. 6 
 any other than the one true God. The whole 
 question therefore of his being rightly or wrong- 
 fully condemned, turns on the justness of that 
 claim : — on his actually having or not having 
 that divine character which the Jews understood 
 Him to assume. For if He were not such, and yet 
 called Himself the Son of God, knowing in what 
 sense they understood the title, I really am at a 
 loss to see on what ground we can find fault 
 with the sentence they pronounced. 
 
 It does appear to me therefore — I say this 
 without presuming to judge those who think 
 differently ; but — to me it appears that the 
 whole question of Christ's divine mission, and 
 consequently of the truth of Christianity, turns 
 on the claim which He so plainly appears to have 
 made to divine honour for Himself. 
 
 I am not one of those indeed who profess to a heaven- 
 understand and explain why it was necessary for « cou^no't 
 man's salvation that God should have visited Si* &ise 
 his People precisely in the way he did. On ckim " 
 such points, as I dare not believe less, so I 
 pretend not to understand more, than He has 
 expressly revealed. If I had been taught in 
 Scripture that God had thought fit to save the 
 
24 
 
 Christ's Witness of Himself [Essay t. 
 
 world through the agency of some Angel, or 
 some great Prophet, not possessing in himself a 
 divine character, I could not have presumed to 
 maintain the impossibility of that. But this does 
 strike me as utterly impossible, that a heaven- 
 sent messenger — the Saviour of the world, — 
 should be a person who claimed a divine 
 character that did not belong to Him ; and who 
 thus gave rise to, and permitted, and encou- 
 raged, a system of idolatry. This is an idea so 
 revolting to all my notions of divine purity, and 
 indeed of common morality, that I could never 
 bring myself to receive as a divine revelation any 
 religious system that contained it. 
 
 All the difficulties on the opposite side — and 
 I do not deny that evert/ religious persuasion has 
 its difficulties — are as nothing in comparison of 
 the difficulty of believing that Jesus (supposing 
 Him neither an impostor nor a madman) could 
 have made the declaration He did make at his 
 trial, if He were conscious of having no just 
 claim to divine honour. 
 
 Declara- § 8. And the conclusion to which we are thus 
 Jesusat his led, arises (it should be observed) out of the mere 
 efficient! 6 consideration of the title " Son of God," or " only- 
 begotten Son of God," as applied to J esus Christ ; 
 without taking into account any of the confirma- 
 tions of the same conclusion (and there are very 
 
§8.] 
 
 must be true. 
 
 25 
 
 many) which may be drawn from other parts of 
 the Sacred Writings, both of the Evangelists and 
 Apostles — from many things that were said, and 
 that were done, both by our Lord and by his 
 Apostles. 
 
 There is indeed no one of these their recorded Unfairness 
 actions and expressions that may not be ex-fngaway 11 
 plained away by an ingenious critic, who should tions^f" 3 
 set himself to do so, and who should proceed like th^'lpo-* 1 
 a legal advocate, examining every possible sense stIes ' 
 in which some law or precedent that makes 
 against his client, may be interpreted. But 
 again, there is hardly one of these passages 
 which can be thus explained, away without 
 violating the maxim above laid down ; viz. that 
 we should consider, not any interpretation what- 
 ever that such and such words can bear, but — 
 what notion they conveyed, and must have been 
 known to convey, to the hearers, at the time. m 
 For if this were a mistaken notion, — an untrue 
 sense, — it follows inevitably that Christ and his 
 Apostles must have been teachers of falsehood, 
 even though their words should be capable of a 
 different and true signification. 
 
 Unless, therefore, we conceive them capable impossiw- 
 of knowingly promoting idolatry, — unless we E^ngeHsts 
 can consider Jesus Himself as either an insane sSeVhaving 
 
 encouraged 
 idolatry. 
 
 m See Sermon on the " Name Emmanuel." 
 
26 
 
 Declarations before Pilate. [Essay I. 
 
 fanatic, or a deliberate impostor, — we must as- 
 sign to Him, the " Author and Finisher of our 
 Faith," the " only-begotten Son of God," who is 
 " one with the Father," that divine character 
 which He and his Apostles so distinctly claimed 
 for Him ; and acknowledge that God truly " was 
 in Christ, reconciling the World unto Himself." 
 
 Deciara- § 9. Not less important, I conceive, are the 
 
 tions before 
 
 Pilate to be lessons to be drawn from the second trial, — that 
 
 interpreted' . 
 
 on similar before Pilate, — to which our Lord was subjected ; 
 
 principles, p^^^ p 0r ti on also of the sacred narrative 
 be studied on the principle already laid down ; 
 that of interpreting his declarations with refer- 
 ence to the meaning they were meant to con- 
 vey at the time, and to the very persons he was 
 addressing. 
 
 The Jewish Council, having found Jesus guilty 
 of a capital crime, and being not permitted," 
 under the Roman laws, to inflict capital punish- 
 ment (for the stoning of Stephen appears to 
 have been an irregular and tumultuous outbreak 
 of popular fury), immediately bring Him before 
 Pilate on a new and perfectly different charge. 
 " The whole multitude of them arose and led 
 Him unto Pilate : and they began to accuse Him, 
 saying, We found this fellow perverting the 
 
 " OVK t£,tOTlV. 
 
§ 9.] Declarations before Pilate. 11 
 
 nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, 
 saying that He himself is Christ, a King." For 
 the crime of which He had been convicted before 
 them, that of blasphemy, in seeking to draw aside 
 the Jews to the worship of another besides the 
 Lord Jehovah, though a capital crime under the 
 Mosaic law, was none at all in the court of the 
 Roman Governor ; and again, the crime alleged 
 in this latter court, treason against the Roman 
 emperor, was no crime at all under the law of 
 Moses. 
 
 Now, in studying the circumstances of this 
 second trial, we ought, as has been above ob- 
 served, to proceed by the same rule of interpre- 
 tation as in respect of the former trial ; viz. to 
 understand our Lord's expressions, not in any 
 sense whatever that they can be brought to bear, 
 nor, necessarily, in the sense which to us may 
 seem the most suitable, but in the sense, as far 
 as we can ascertain it, in which He must have 
 known that He was understood at the time. 
 
 When then He was charged before Pilate with Defence of 
 " speaking against Caesar" and " making Himself agahist the 
 a King," how does He defend Himself? As on treason"' 
 a former occasion, when His adversaries had 
 tried to make Him commit the offence with 
 which they now charged Him, of interfering 
 with the secular government of Caesar, He, so 
 far from " forbidding to give tribute," drew the 
 
28 Declarations before Pilate. [Essay I. 
 
 line between secular and spiritual government, 
 saying, " Render unto Caesar the things which 
 be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be 
 God's." So now, before Pilate, He asserts his 
 claim to be a King, but declares that " His king- 
 dom is not of this world," and that, accordingly, 
 his servants were not allowed to fight for Him ; 
 and He further describes his kingly office to 
 consist in " bearing witness of the truth." 
 
 The result was that Pilate acquitted Him ; 
 declaring publicly that he " found no fault at all 
 in Him." It is plain, therefore, that he must 
 have believed — or at least professed to believe — 
 both that the declarations of Jesus were true, and 
 that they amounted to a total disavowal of all 
 interference with the secular government by 
 Himself or his followers, as such, 
 importance Much ingenuity has been expended, — I must 
 ing the oc- needs say, has been wasted, — in drawing out from 
 whicWesus our Lord's expressions before Pilate, every sense 
 was speak- wor( j s can be found capable of bearing ; 
 
 while a man of little or no ingenuity, but of plain 
 good sense and sincerity of purpose, seeking in 
 simplicity to learn what Jesus really did mean, can 
 hardly, I should think, fail of that meaning, if he 
 does but keep in mind the occasion on which 
 He was speaking, and the sense in which He 
 must have known that his language would be 
 understood. The occasion on which He spoke 
 
§9] 
 
 Declarations before Pilate. 
 
 29 
 
 was when on his trial before a Roman governor, 
 for treason, — for a design to subvert, or in some 
 way interfere with, the established government. 
 To this charge, it is plain Pilate understood Him 
 to plead not guilty ; and gave credit to his plea. 
 Pilate, therefore, must have taken the declaration 
 that Christ's " kingdom is not of this world," 
 as amounting to a renunciation of all secular 
 coercion, — all forcible measures in behalf of his 
 religion. And we cannot, without imputing to 
 our blessed Lord a fraudulent evasion, suppose 
 Him to have really meant any thing different 
 from the sense which He knew his words con- 
 veyed. Such is the conclusion which I cannot 
 but think any man must come to who is not 
 seeking, as in the interpretation of an Act of 
 Parliament, for any sense most to his own pur- 
 pose that the words can be made to bear, how- 
 ever remote that may be from the known design 
 of the Legislator ; but who, with reverential love, 
 is seeking with simplicity and in earnest to learn 
 what is the description that Christ gave of his 
 kingdom. 
 
 But the ingenuity which has been (as I said 
 before) wasted in trying to explain our Lord's 
 words in some other way, has been called forth 
 by a desire to escape some of the consequences 
 which follow from taking them in their simple 
 and obvious sense. Those who are seeking not 
 
30 A Kingdom of this World disclaimed. [Essay I. 
 
 really to learn the true sense of our Lord's 
 declarations, but to reconcile them with the 
 conduct of some Christian States, and to justify 
 the employment of secular force in behalf of 
 Religion, are driven to some ingenious special- 
 pleading on the words employed, in order to 
 draw from them such a sense as may suit their 
 own purpose. 
 
 But all this ingenuity is (as I said before) 
 wasted ; because even supposing it proved that 
 the words which Jesus uttered are, in themselves, 
 capable of bearing some other meaning, still, 
 nothing is gained (supposing our object is, not 
 to evade, but to understand, Scripture) if that 
 meaning be one which could not have been so 
 understood at the time, or which would have 
 been one utterly foreign to the occasion, and 
 irrelevant to the question that was to be tried. 
 
 other in- § 10. E. G. I have heard it said that our 
 tions put Lord's description of his kingdom as " not of this 
 world" meant merely that He claimed to possess a 
 spiritual dominion (as undoubtedly He did) over 
 the souls of men, and to be the distributor of the 
 rewards and judgments of the other world. And 
 such certainly is his claim : but the essential 
 point, with a view to the trial then going on, was, 
 that this was his only claim. He did not merely 
 claim spiritual dominion, but he also renounced 
 
§ 10.] A Kingdom of this World disclaimed. 31 
 
 temporal. He declared not merely that his 
 kingdom is of the next world ; but that it is not 
 of this world. 
 
 In fact, the mere assertion of his spiritual do- Mereasser- 
 
 . . -a t i ii tionofspi- 
 
 mimon, and one extending beyond the grave, ritual do- 
 would have been, at that time, and in reference would have 
 to the charge brought against Him, wholly irre- van". ' rre ' e 
 levant, and foreign to the question. He was 
 charged with " speaking against Caesar," — with 
 making Himself King in opposition to the Roman 
 emperor. The Jews expected (as Pilate could 
 hardly have been ignorant) a Christ who should 
 be a heaven-sent " King of the Jews," possessing 
 both temporal and spiritual authority ; a king- 
 dom, both of this world and of the next : for the 
 great mass of the nation believed in a future 
 state. Any man claiming to be such a king of 
 the Jews, would evidently be an opponent of the 
 Roman government. His spiritual pretensions, 
 the Romans did not concern themselves about. 
 It was the assumption of temporal power that 
 threatened danger to the Romans ; and it was of 
 this assumption that Jesus was accused : did He 
 not distinctly deny it? There was no question 
 about the rewards and punishments of another 
 world. The question was, whether He did or 
 did hot design to claim, for Himself, or his fol- 
 lowers as such, any kind of secular empire: 0 
 
 See Appendix, Note (A.) 
 
32 A Kingdom of this World disclaimed. [Essay I. 
 
 could any words have disclaimed it more strongly 
 than those He used ? And can any one in his 
 senses seriously believe that when Jesus said, 
 " My kingdom is not of this world," He meant 
 to be understood as saying that his kingdom 
 was not only of this world, but of the next 
 world too ? 
 
 Mere dis- No, — I have heard it said by some other ex- 
 present pounders, He did mean to disclaim all temporal 
 claims dominion for Himself personally and at that time ; 
 been d frjvoi- but that hereafter when " the kingdoms of this 
 world should become kingdoms of the Lord," 
 and when " kings should become nursing-fathers" 
 of his church, when " the church should be in 
 its complete development by being perfectly 
 identified with the state," — then, all those Chris- 
 tians who should have attained power, should 
 exercise that power in enforcing the profession 
 of his gospel, and in putting down idolatry, 
 infidelity, heresy, dissent, and all false religion. 
 In short, at the time when Christ stood before 
 Pilate, his kingdom was not of this world, u be- 
 cause " (I am citing the words of one of the most 
 celebrated ancient divines) "that prophecy was not 
 yet fulfilled, ' Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, 
 be learned, ye that are judges of the earth ; serve 
 the Lord with fear ; ' " the rulers of the earth, he 
 adds, were at that time opposed to the Gospel ; 
 the Apostles and other early disciples were unable 
 
§ 10.] A Kingdom of this World disclaimed. 33 
 
 to compel men to conform to the true faith ; 
 and therefore it was that the secular arm was 
 not yet called to aid against the Church's 
 enemies. 
 
 Now, without entering into the question To claim 
 whether our Lord's words could, in themselves, power for 
 bear such a meaning ; let us confine ourselves to ers would 
 the principle we set out with, and merely con- to plead 6 " 
 sider whether He could possibly have meant to gulhy ' 
 be so understood. For this, we should observe, 
 would clearly have been to plead guilty to the 
 charge. It mattered nothing to the Roman 
 Government whether it were Jesus Himself, or 
 his followers, that should revolt against Caesar's 
 power, and set up a rival kingdom. And, there- 
 fore, when our Lord Himself, and afterwards 
 Paul and the other Apostles, defended themselves 
 against the imputation of seditious designs, it is 
 impossible they could have meant to be under- 
 stood as merely disclaiming such designs for the 
 present, and renouncing temporal dominion only 
 for themselves, personally, but reserving for their 
 followers, when these should have become strong 
 enough, the right to establish by force a Christian 
 political ascendancy, and to put down all other 
 religions. To have defended themselves against 
 their accusers by acknowledging the very designs 
 which those accusers imputed to them, would 
 have been downright insanity. 
 
 D 
 
34 A Kingdom of this World disclaimed. [Essay I. 
 
 Parallel But such absurdities as would, in any other 
 political re- subject, revolt every man of common sense, are 
 ists. sometimes tolerated in the interpretations of 
 Scripture, that are framed in order to serve a 
 purpose. For instance, suppose some emissaries 
 of the Pretender in the last century, or, in later 
 times, of the French revolutionists, or of the Char- 
 tists, or any set of revolutionists of the present day, 
 to go about the country proclaiming and dissemi- 
 nating their principles, and then to be arrested 
 and brought to trial for sedition : can any one 
 conceive them defending themselves against the 
 charge, by pleading that they did not intend that 
 they themselves, but that their disciples, should 
 obtain the government of the country, and 
 enforce their principles ; that they aimed at the 
 possession and the monopoly of civil rights 1 " and 
 privileges, not for themselves, but for their 
 successors ; that they did not mean to take 
 up arms till they should have collected a suffi- 
 cient number of followers ; and that they taught 
 all men to yield obedience to the existing 
 government till they should be strong enough to 
 overthrow it ? Who does not see at once that to 
 urge such a plea would convince every one of 
 their being madmen ? And yet this is what 
 must be imputed to Jesus and his disciples, 
 
 p See Appendix, Note (A.) 
 
§11.] Christ could have had no hidden Meaning. 35 
 
 by any one who can suppose that they meant to 
 be understood by the Roman magistrates as 
 merely disclaiming all interference with civil 
 government, till they should become numerous 
 enough to enforce the claim ; — all resort to 
 secular coercion in religious matters, till they 
 should have strength to employ it effectually ; — 
 all political monopoly, till they should be in a 
 condition to maintain it by a strong hand. 
 
 Jesus then it is plain, when He said " My 
 kingdom is not of this world" could not have 
 meant to be understood as implying that it should 
 be so hereafter. 
 
 § 11. But had He then some hidden meaning, supposed 
 which He did not intend to be understood at the meaning o 
 time ? Did He design to convey one sense to decw' 1 
 the Roman governor, and another to his own tlon ' 
 disciples ? — to reserve for his followers in future 
 times, that power to enforce the acknowledg- 
 ment of his gospel, which He pretended to 
 disclaim. 
 
 It seems almost too shocking even to ask such 
 a question : and yet it is but too true, that such, 
 in substance, (however glossed over in words) 
 must be the meaning attributed to our blessed 
 Lord by those who would reconcile his declara- 
 tions before Pilate with that which they repre- 
 sent as the right and the duty of every Christian 
 d 2 
 
36 Christ could have had no hidden Meaning. [Essay I. 
 
 Governor. " The magistrate " they say (I am 
 giving the very words that have been employed) 
 " who restrains, coerces, and punishes any one 
 who opposes the true faith, obeys the command 
 of God :" and they contend that a Christian 
 Governor is not only authorized, but bound, 
 to secure to the professors of the true faith a 
 monopoly of political power and civil rights. 
 Now, to reconcile such doctrines with the decla- 
 rations of Christ and his Apostles, a meaning 
 must be attributed to those declarations which it 
 would have been madness for them to have 
 avowed at the time ; — in short, a hidden mean- 
 ing. 
 
 It is recorded of an ancient king of Egypt, — 
 one of the Ptolemies — that he employed a cele- 
 brated architect to build a magnificent Light- 
 House, for the benefit of shipping, and ordered 
 an inscription in honour of himself to be 
 engraved on it : the architect, it is said, though 
 inwardly coveting the honour of such a record 
 for himself, was obliged to comply; but made 
 the inscription on a plaster resembling stone, 
 but of perishable substance : in the course of 
 years this crumbled away ; and the next genera- 
 tion saw another inscription, recording the name, 
 not of the King, but of the architect, which had 
 been secretly engraved on the durable stone 
 below. 
 
§ 1 1.] Christ could have hud no hidden Meaning. 37 
 
 Now, just such a device as this is attributed Dishonesty 
 
 of a double 
 
 to our Lord and his Apostles by those who meaning, 
 believe them to have designed that secular 
 power should hereafter be called in to enforce 
 the Christian Faith, though all such designs 
 were apparently disavowed, in order to serve 
 a present purpose. According to such inter- 
 preters, " My kingdom is not of this world," was 
 only an inscription on the perishable plaster; 
 the design of " coercing and punishing " by 
 secular power all opponents of the true faith, was, 
 it seems, the engraving on the stone beneath. 
 " Render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's," 
 was but the outward part of the inscription; the 
 addition was an inner hidden engraving, directing 
 that Christians, when become strong enough, 
 should compel both Caesar and his subjects, — 
 all Rulers and all citizens — either to acknowledge 
 the true faith, or to forfeit their civil rights. It was 
 the outside inscription only that ran thus, " Sub- 
 mit yourselves to every ordinance of man ;* * * 
 the powers that be, are ordained of God :" the 
 secret characters on the stone said, " Take care 
 as soon as possible to make every ordinance of 
 man submit to you," and to provide that none 
 but those of your own Body shall be in autho- 
 rity; and that they shall use that authority 
 in enforcing the profession of your religion. 
 It -might seem incredible, did we not know it 
 
38 Christ could have had no hidden Meaning. [Essay I. 
 
 to be the fact, that persons professing a deep 
 reverence for Christ and his Apostles as heaven- 
 sent messengers, should attribute to them this 
 double-dealing ; — should believe them to have 
 secretly entertained and taught the very views 
 of which their adversaries accused them, and 
 which they uniformly disclaimed : that the 
 blessed Jesus Himself, who rebukes hypocrisy 
 more strongly than perhaps any other sin, should 
 be regarded by his professed followers as having 
 pretended to disavow that which was his real 
 design, and which He imparted to his Apostles ; 
 teaching them in like manner to keep the secret 
 till they should be strong enough to assert the 
 political supremacy of the Gospel, and to extir- 
 pate, or hold in subjection as vassals, all pro- 
 fessors of false religions, 
 impiety of All this I say, might seem hardly credible, did 
 double- ing not daily experience show us how easily (not 
 oiT^Lord 0 only in this but in other cases also) even intelli- 
 gent men are satisfied with the slightest pretences 
 of argument — with the most extravagant conclu- 
 sions — when they are seeking not really for 
 instruction as to what they ought to do, but for a 
 justification of what they are inclined to do. 
 Such a bias of inclination, is like the magnet 
 which is said to have been once secretly placed 
 near a ship's compass, by a traitor who purposed 
 to deliver the crew into the enemy's hands. All 
 
§12.] Spiritual and Secular Societies. 39 
 
 their diligence and skill in working the ship and 
 steering by this perverted compass, served only 
 to further them on the wrong course. 
 
 Without presuming to pronounce judgment 
 on the general moral character of others, I 
 cannot forbear saying, for myself, that if I could 
 believe Jesus to have been guilty of such subter- 
 fuges as I have been speaking of, I not only 
 could not acknowledge Him as sent from God, 
 but should reject Him with the deepest moral in- 
 dignation. 
 
 How far this indignant disgust may have been 
 excited in the breasts of some who have taken 
 for granted, on the authority of learned and 
 zealous divines, that the interpretation I have 
 been reprobating is to be received, and who may 
 in consequence, have rejected Christianity with 
 abhorrence, it is for those who maintain such an 
 interpretation carefully to consider. 
 
 § 12. It is in many respects important to Fallacious 
 observe and to keep in mind, to how great an adduced by 
 extent both our obliquity of moral judgment, mte%ent 
 and a deficiency in the reasoning-powers, will " le "' 
 often affect, on some one or two particular points, 
 a man who may be, on the whole, and in other 
 points, where his particular prejudices have not 
 gained dominion, a person both morally and in- 
 tellectually above the average. In the present 
 
4U 
 
 Spiritual and Secular Societies [Essay I. 
 
 case, for instance, one may find men of much 
 intelligence misled by a fallacy which in the 
 ordinary concerns of life every person of common 
 sense would see through at once. 
 brought° ns ^ as designed, they say, that Christians 
 against the sno uld never take any part in civil affairs : — 
 
 obvious in- J L 
 
 terpreta should never be magistrates or legislators, and 
 thus partake of political power ? And if this is 
 permitted, must they not, as civil magistrates, 
 act on Christian principles ? No doubt ; but 
 they would cease to act on Christian principles 
 if they should employ the coercive power of civil 
 magistrates in the cause of Christianity ; — if they 
 should not only take a part in civil affairs, but 
 claim as Christians, or as members of a particular 
 Church, a monopoly of civil rights. It is this, 
 and this only, that tends to make Christ's king- 
 dom " a kingdom of this world." 
 
 The same Now this is a distinction which in all other 
 
 persons 
 
 may be cases is readily perceived by every man of common 
 
 members of * 1 ' * 
 
 distinct So* sense. For instance, there are many well-known 
 
 rieties. J 
 
 Societies in this and in most other countries, 
 which no one would call in any degree political 
 Societies ; such as Academies for the cultivation 
 of mathematical and other sciences, — Agricul- 
 tural Societies, — Antiquarian Societies, and the 
 like ; now it would be reckoned silly even to ask 
 respecting any one of these Societies, whether 
 the members of it were excluded from taking 
 
§12.] 
 
 not to be confounded. 
 
 41 
 
 any part in civil affairs, and whether a magistrate 
 or a legislator could be admitted as a member of 
 it. Every one would see the absurdity of even 
 entertaining any doubt on this point : and it 
 would be reckoned no less silly to inquire whether 
 the admission of such persons as members, consti- 
 tuted that Academy a political Society. It would 
 at once be answered that the Society itself, and 
 the members of it as such, had nothing to do 
 with political, but only with scientific matters; 
 and that though individual members of it might 
 be also members of the legislature, the provinces 
 of the two Societies, as Societies, — of a scientific 
 association, and a political community, — are 
 altogether distinct. 
 
 Now this is just the non-interference in political What was 
 affairs which Christ and his Apostles professed, the Apo- 
 and taught, and carried into practice, in respect tLTrcon- 
 of the religion of the Gospel. As the Apostle ver s " 
 Peter converted to the Faith Cornelius the Cen- 
 turion, so likewise Paul, who avowed his practice 
 of " witnessing both to small and great," — con- 
 verted Sergius Paulus the Roman Governor at 
 Paphos, and Dionysius the Areopagite, a judge 
 of the highest court at Athens ;' and expressed 
 his ardent wish to convert King Agrippa, and 
 also all " who heard him that day." Yet neither 
 Peter nor Paul ever thought of desiring the 
 Centurion — the Governor — the Judge and the 
 
•4 2 
 
 Spiritual and Secular Societies [Kssay I. 
 
 King, to lay down their offices, and renounce 
 all concern with secular business ; nor did they 
 ever dream that their holding such offices when 
 Christians, would make Christ's a " kingdom of 
 this world." They wished, and they openly en- 
 deavoured, to make " the kingdoms of this world 
 the kingdoms of the Lord," and " kings the 
 nursing-fathers of the Church," in the sense of 
 making the individuals of every nation members 
 of Christ ; — of inducing kings and magistrates, 
 and subjects too, to abstain from persecuting 
 Christians, and to become Christians, and to act 
 so as to induce others to follow their example. 
 ah Chris- It has been said that this passage respecting 
 quired to the " kingdoms of this world becoming the king- 
 Christian doms of the Lord," describes the Christian 
 in all the ' Church in its perfection, and " My kingdom is 
 jeiations of ^ ^ s WQr | ( j^. (] escr ibes it in its infancy. 
 
 But what Jesus and his Apostles taught on this 
 point, belongs, and ever did, and ever will belong, 
 to the Christian Church in every stage alike ; 
 namely, that the Christian is to act, in all the 
 relations of life, in whatever circumstances he is 
 placed, on Christian principles. And what were 
 the principles they inculcated ? " Render unto 
 Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto 
 God the things that are God's :" " Render unto 
 all their due ; tribute to whom tribute is due ; 
 custom, to whom custom ; fear, to whom fear ; 
 
not to be confounded. 
 
 43 
 
 honour, to whom honour :" " Submit yourselves 
 to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake :" 
 " Ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, 
 but also for conscience' sake," &c. Never was 
 the Christian required to do less than conform 
 to such principles ; never will he be called on to 
 do more. 
 
 If Sergius Paulus and other converted Roman Different 
 governors had consulted Paul, whether they cieties to 
 should use their power as Roman Governors to distinct * 
 put down Paganism by force, or if Dionysius, ^dand 
 after having induced (suppose) the other judges means ' 
 of the Areopagus to embrace the Gospel, had 
 proposed to the Apostle that that Court should 
 sit in judgment on religious offences, and inflict 
 penalties on all persons opposing or rejecting 
 the true Faith, or deprive them of civil rights, — 
 if the Apostle Paul, I say, had been thus con- 
 sulted, what answer think you he would have 
 given ? What answer must he have given, if we 
 believe him sincere in his professions, and if we 
 believe his great Master to have really meant 
 exactly what He declared ? The Apostle would 
 surely have explained to such inquirers that 
 Christ meant the reception of his Gospel to rest 
 on sincere inward conviction, not on constrained 
 outward profession, which is all that legal 
 penalties can produce : — that their office as 
 governors and judges, was to take cognizance 
 
14 
 
 Spiritual and Secular Societies. [Essay I. 
 
 of men's overt acts, and to punish and restrain 
 crimes against the civil community ; but that 
 their duty as Christians was to regulate, and try 
 to persuade others to regulate, the inward mo- 
 tives and dispositions of the heart, according to 
 Gospel principles ; and to keep themselves not 
 from crimes merely, but from sins against God ; 
 and to " exercise themselves in having themselves 
 a conscience void of offence, before God and 
 man," (Acts xxiv. 16) not in seeking to force 
 another to speak or act against his conscience. 
 He would not have forbidden them to take a 
 part (as it is most fit that the laity should) in 
 the government of the Church, or to hold any 
 ecclesiastical or spiritual office in it ; or again, 
 to retain their civil offices : but he would have 
 deprecated with abhorrence their blending the 
 two classes of offices together, and attempting 
 to employ the power of coercion which essentially 
 belongs to the civil magistrate, in the cause of 
 Christ's religion. He would have told them to 
 strive to convert and reclaim their neighbours 
 from superstitious error, (even as he had con- 
 verted them) by instruction and persuasion; never 
 losing sight of their great Master's rule, of doing 
 as they would be done by ; not inflicting there- 
 fore on the unbeliever the persecution which 
 they had disapproved when directed against 
 Christians ; but leaving to every man that liberty 
 
Tolerance. 
 
 45 
 
 of conscience which they desired to enjoy them- 
 selves. 
 
 Such would have been the answer, I think we 
 cannot doubt, which the Apostles would have 
 given to such inquirers ; and which, if Peter and 
 Paul were now on earth, they would give to any 
 like questions at this day. For such surely must 
 be the decision of any one who is convinced that 
 Jesus Himself was perfectly sincere in the de- 
 claration He made at his trial, and that He "left 
 us an example, that we should follow his steps, 
 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
 mouth." 
 
 § 13. Yet if the Apostle Paul, with these Alleged 
 
 . i t i latitudina- 
 
 sentiments, were now on earth, would there not rian ten- 
 be some danger of his being accounted a lati- the above 
 tudinarian — a person nearly indifferent about pnnciples " 
 religious distinctions, — regarding one Religion 
 nearly as good as another ; — ready to profess 
 any, — and believing little or nothing of any ? For 
 such is the character often attributed to any one 
 who disapproves of the employment of secular 
 force in behalf of the true Faith, or the mono- 
 poly by its professors, of civil rights. 
 
 That there are persons indifferent about all Latitudka- 
 religions, is true ; and it is true that SOme ofciples, in- 
 them are, from humanity of disposition, averse tolerant " 
 to persecution and coercion. For many persons, 
 
46 
 
 Tolerance a Fruit of 
 
 [Essay I. 
 
 — perhaps most, — are tolerant or intolerant 
 according to their respective tempers, and not 
 according to their principles. But as far as 
 principles are concerned, certainly the latitudi- 
 narian is the more likely to be intolerant, and 
 the sincerely conscientious, tolerant. A man who 
 is careless about religious sincerity, may clearly 
 see and appreciate the political convenience of 
 religious uniformity ; and if he has no religious 
 scruples of his own, he will not be the more 
 likely to be tender of the religious scruples of 
 others ; if he is ready himself to profess what 
 he does not believe, he will see no reason why 
 others should not do the same. 
 
 That man on the contrary whose own con- 
 science is tender, and his sense of religion deep- 
 felt and sincere, will be (so far) the more 
 disposed to respect the conscience of another, 
 and to avoid giving occasion to hypocritical 
 professions. His own faith being founded on 
 genuine conviction, he will seek for the genuine 
 conviction of others, and not their forced 
 conformity. He will remember that " the 
 highest truth, if professed by one who believes 
 it not in his heart, is, to him, a lie, and 
 that he sins greatly by professing it. Let us 
 try as much as we will, to convince our 
 neighbours ; but let us beware of influencing 
 their conduct, when we fail in influencing their 
 
§13.] Christian Knowledge and Faith. 47 
 
 convictions. He who bribes or frightens his 
 neighbour into doing an act which no good man 
 would do for reward, or from fear, is tempting his 
 neighbour to sin ; he is assisting to lower and 
 to harden his conscience ; — to make him act for 
 the favour or from the fear of man, instead of for 
 the favour and from the fear of God : and if this 
 be a sin in him, it is a double sin in us to tempt 
 him to it." q 
 
 And above all, in proportion as any man has Real know- 
 
 r r J ledge of the 
 
 a right understanding of the Gospel, and a Gospel 
 
 i o i • hit i conducive 
 
 deep veneration for his great Master, and an to toiera- 
 earnest desire to tread in his steps, and a full 
 confidence in his promises, in the same degree 
 will he perceive that the employment of secular 
 coercion in the cause of the Gospel is at variance 
 with the true spirit of the Gospel; and that 
 Christ's declarations are to be interpreted as He 
 Himself knew them to be understood, then, and 
 are to be the guide of his followers, now. 
 
 And finally, such a man will be convinced Tolerance 
 that it implies a sinful distrust, — a want of faith faith, 
 in Christ's wisdom, and goodness, and power, — 
 to call in the aid of the arm of flesh, — of military 
 or civil force, — in the cause of Him who declared 
 that He could have called in the aid of u more 
 than twelve legions of angels ;" and who, when 
 
 q Arnold's Christian Life, p. 435. 
 
48 
 
 Tolerance a Fruit of Faith. [Essay I 
 
 " all power was given unto Him in Heaven and in 
 Earth," sent forth his disciples — not to subjugate, 
 or to rule, but to " teach all nations ;" and " sent 
 them forth as sheep among wolves," forewarned 
 of persecutions, and instructed to " bless them 
 that cursed them," to return " good for evil ;" 
 and to " endure all things, — hope all things, — 
 believe all things," for which He, their Master, 
 had prepared them : — to believe all that He had 
 taught, — to hope all that He had promised, — 
 and to endure and do all that He had com- 
 manded. 
 
ESSAY II. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 ITS POWERS, AND MINISTRY. 
 
 E 
 
ESSAY II. 
 
 § 1. Of all who acknowledge Jesus of Naza- Christianity 
 reth as their Master, " the Author and Finisher be a social 
 of their faith," there are scarcely any who do not Rellglon ' 
 agree in regarding Him as the Founder and perpe- 
 tual Head of a religious Society also ; — as having 
 instituted and designed for permanent continu- 
 ance, a Community or system of Communities, to 
 which his Disciples here on earth were to belong. 
 The religion He introduced was manifestly de- 
 signed by Him, — and so understood by his imme- 
 diate followers, — to be a social Religion. It was 
 not merely a revelation of certain truths to be 
 received, and of practical rules to be observed, — 
 it was not a mere system of doctrines and pre- 
 cepts to be embraced by each individual inde- 
 pendently of others ; and in which his agreement 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 Christianity a social Religion. [Essay II. 
 
 or co-operation with any others, would be acci- 
 dental ; as when several men have come to 
 the same conclusions in some Science, or have 
 adopted the same system of Agriculture or of 
 Medicine ; but it was to be a combination of men 
 who should be " members of the Body of Christ," 
 — living stones of one Spiritual Temple ; a " edi- 
 fying " (i. e. building up) " one another in their 
 Faith ; " — and brethren of one holy Family. 
 
 This " Kingdom of Heaven " as it is called, 
 which the Lord Jesus established, was proclaimed 
 (i. e. preached) 1 ' by his forerunner John the Bap- 
 tist as " at hand." And the same, in this respect, 
 was the preaching of our Lord Himself, and of 
 His Disciples, — first the Twelve, and afterwards 
 the Seventy, — whom He sent out during His 
 ministry on earth. The good tidings they were 
 to proclaim, were only of the approaching King- 
 dom of Heaven ; it was a joyful expectation only 
 that they were commissioned to spread : it was a 
 preparation of men's hearts for the coming of 
 that Kingdom, that they were to teach. 
 
 a See Sermon IV., " On a Christian Place of Worship, 
 and also Dr. Hinds's " Three Temples." 
 
 b This word has come to be ordinarily applied to religious 
 instruction ; from which, however, it is always clearly distin- 
 guished in Scripture. It signifies, properly, to announce as a 
 herald. Our Lord's " preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven 
 was at hand," and his teaching the People, are always expressed 
 by different words. 
 
§ 1.] 
 
 Christianity a social Religion. 
 
 53 
 
 But when the personal ministry of Christ 
 came to a close, the Gospel they were thence- 
 forward to preach was the good tidings of that 
 Kingdom not approaching merely, but actually 
 begun, — of the first Christian Community set on 
 foot, — of a kingdom which their Master had 
 " appointed unto them :" thenceforward, they 
 were not merely to announce that kingdom, but 
 to establish it, and invite all men to enrol them- 
 selves in it : they were not merely to make known, 
 but to execute, their Master's design, of com- 
 mencing that Society of which He is the Head, 
 and which he has promised to be with " always, 
 even unto the end of the world." 0 
 
 We find Him, accordingly, directing them not institution 
 
 ' & J> ° of a Chris- 
 
 Only to " go into all the world, and preach to tianSociety. 
 
 every creature," d but further, to " teach " (" make 
 
 c It is likely that the Doxology at the end of the Lord's 
 Prayer, " Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory," (which all the soundest critics, I believe, are now 
 agreed, does not exist in the best MSS. of the Gospels,) was 
 adopted by the Disciples very soon after our Lord's departure 
 from earth. At the time when He first taught the prayer to 
 his Disciples, it would have been premature to speak of the 
 heavenly kingdom in the present tense, as actually established. 
 They were taught to pray for its coming as a thing future. 
 At a later period, it was no less proper to allude to it as already 
 existing ; and the prayer for its " coming," would be, from 
 the circumstances of the case, a prayer for its continued 
 extension and firmer hold on men's hearts. 
 
 d See a Sermon by Dr. Dickinson (now Bishop of Meath), 
 on our Lord's two charges to his disciples. 
 
54 
 
 Christianity a social Religion. 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 disciples of," as in the margin of the Bible) " all 
 nations ; " admitting them as members of the 
 Body of Disciples, by " baptizing them into 6 the 
 name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 Of his design to establish what should be 
 emphatically a Social Religion, — a " Fellowship " 
 or " Communion of Saints," there can be, I think, 
 no doubt in the mind of any reflecting reader of 
 our sacred books. Besides our Lord's general 
 promise of " coming unto, and dwelling in, 
 any man who should love Him and keep His 
 saying," there is a distinct promise also of an 
 especial presence in any Assembly — even of " two 
 or three — gathered together in his name." Be- 
 sides the general promises made to prayer, — to 
 the prayer of an individual " in the closet," — 
 there is a distinct promise also to those who 
 shall " agree together touching something they 
 shall ask." And it is in conformity with his own 
 institution that Christians have, ever since, cele- 
 brated what they designate as, emphatically, 
 the Communion, by " meeting together to break 
 bread," in commemoration of His redemption of 
 His People. 
 
 e *' In the name," is a manifest mis-translation, originating, 
 apparently, with the Vulgate Latin, which has " in nomine." 
 The preposition, in the original, is not iv but etc, " into " or 
 " to." 
 
§2.] 
 
 Properties of a Community. 
 
 55 
 
 His design, in short, manifestly was, to adapt 
 His Religion to the social principles of man's 
 nature ; f and to bind His Disciples, throughout 
 all ages, to each other, by those ties of mutual 
 attachment, sympathy, and co-operation, which 
 in every human Community and Association, of 
 whatever kind, are found so powerful. 
 
 § 2. Obvious, and indeed trite, as the remark Properties 
 may appear, most persons are apt, I think, not munity.'" 
 sufficiently to consider what important conclu- 
 sions result from it; — how much is implied in 
 the constituting of a Community. It is worth 
 while, therefore, to pause at this point, and 
 inquire what are the inherent properties and 
 universal character naturally and necessarily be- 
 longing to any regularly-constituted Society, as 
 such, for whatever purpose formed. For I think 
 it will appear, on a very simple examination, 
 that several points which have been denied or 
 disregarded by some, and elaborately, but not 
 always satisfactorily, maintained by others, arise, 
 as obvious consequences, out of the very intrinsic 
 character, — the universal and necessary descrip- 
 tion of a regular community. 
 
 It seems to belong to the very essence of a a Commu- 
 Community, that it should have — 1st, Officers of quires 
 
 f See Bampton Lectures for the year 1822, Lect. I. 
 
56 
 
 Properties of a Community. [Essay II. 
 
 Officers, some kind ; 2dly, Rules enforced by some kind 
 
 Rules, and . . 
 
 power to of penalties ; and, 3dly, Some power of admitting 
 Members, and excluding persons as Members. 
 
 For, 1st, whatever may be the character, and 
 whatever the proposed objects, of a regularly- 
 constituted Community, Officers of some kind are 
 essential to it. In whatever manner they may 
 be appointed, — whether by hereditary succession, 
 or by rotation, — or by election of any kind, — 
 whatever be the number or titles of them, and 
 whatever the distribution of their functions, — 
 (all which are matters of detail,) Officers of some 
 kind every Community must have. And these, 
 or some of these, while acting in their proper 
 capacity, represent the Community ; and are, so 
 far, invested with whatever powers and rights 
 belong to it ; so that their acts, their rights, 
 their claims, are considered as those of the whole 
 Body. We speak, e.g. indifferently of this or 
 that having been done by the Athenians, the 
 Romans, the Carthaginians ; or, by the Athenian, 
 the Roman, or Carthaginian Government or 
 Rulers? And so also when we speak of the acts 
 of some University, or of the Governors of that 
 
 g And it is to be observed that it makes no difference, as to 
 this point, whether the Governors are elected by the governed, 
 and in any degree restrained by them, or are hereditary and 
 unlimited. In all cases, the established and recognised Rulers 
 of any Community are considered as representing it. 
 
§2.] 
 
 Properties of a Community. 
 
 University, we are using two equivalent expres- 
 sions. 
 
 2dly. It seems equally essential to every Com- B ye -iaws 
 munity that it should have certain Regulations munity 
 or Bye-laws, binding on its own members. And its mem- 
 if it be not wholly subjected to the control, and ers ' 
 regulated by the directions of some extraneous 
 power, but is in any degree an independent 
 Community, it must so far, have power to 
 enact, and abrogate, — to suspend, alter, and 
 restore, bye-laws, for itself; namely, such regu- 
 lations, extending to matters intrinsically indiffe- 
 rent, as are not at variance with the enactments 
 of any superior authority. The enforcement also 
 of the regulations of a Community by some 
 kind of Penalties, is evidently implied by the 
 very existence of Regulations. To say of any 
 Community that its Laws are valid, and binding 
 on its members, is to say that the violators of 
 them may justly be visited with Penalties : and 
 to recognise Officers in any Community is to re- 
 cognise as among its Laws, submission to those 
 Officers while in the exercise of their legitimate 
 functions. 
 
 In the case of Political Communities, which is Coercive] 
 a peculiar one, inasmuch as they necessarily eX- longs to 
 ercise an absolutely -coercive power, — the Penalties Communi 
 must be determined according to the wisdom Ues ' 
 and justice of each Government, and can have no 
 
58 Properties of a Community. [Essay II. 
 
 other limit. But in a voluntary Community, the 
 ultimate Penalty must be expulsion ; all others, 
 short of this, being submitted to as the alter- 
 native. 11 But in every Community, of whatever 
 description (or in those under whose control it 
 is placed) there must reside a power of enacting, 
 enforcing, and remitting, the Penalties by which 
 due submission to its laws and to its officers is 
 to be secured. 
 
 Admission 3dly. Lastly, no less essential to a Community 
 shi'p of a"" seems to be a power, lodged somewhere, of de- 
 munity. termining questions of Membership. Whatever 
 may be the claims or qualifications on which 
 that may depend, — nay, even whether the com- 
 munity be a voluntary Association, or (as is the 
 case with political Communities) one claiming 
 compulsory power, — and whatever may be its 
 purpose — in all cases, the admission to it, or 
 exclusion from it, of each individual, must be 
 determined by some recognised authority. 
 
 Since therefore this point, and also those 
 others above-mentioned, seem, naturally and 
 necessarily, to belong to every regular Commu- 
 nity, — since it must, in short, consist of regu- 
 larly-constituted Members, subject to certain 
 Rales, and having certain Officers, it follows, that 
 whoever directs or sanctions the establishment 
 
 h See Appendix, Note (B.) 
 
§ 3.] Rights divinely conferred on a Church. 59 
 
 of a Community (as our Lord certainly did in 
 respect of Christian Churches,) must be under- 
 stood as thereby sanctioning those institutions 
 which belong to the essence of a Community. 
 To recognise a Community as actually having a 
 legitimate existence, or as allowably to be 
 formed, is to recognise it as having Officers, — as 
 having Regulations enforced by certain Penalties, 
 and as admitting or refusing to admit Members. 
 
 § 3. All this, I say, seems to be implied by Rights di- 
 
 i n -r-» vinely con- 
 
 the very nature or the case. But, on purpose, ferred on a 
 as it should seem, to provide against any mis- c om - 
 apprehension or uncertainty, our Lord did not munity - 
 stop at the mere general sanction given by Him 
 to the formation of a Christian Community, but 
 He also particularized all the points I have been 
 speaking of. He appointed or ordained the first 
 Officers ; He recognised the power of enacting 
 and abrogating Rules ; and He gave authority 
 for the admitting of Members. 
 
 Such is the obvious sense of his directions to 
 his Apostles : obvious, I mean, to them, — with 
 such habits of thought and of expression as 
 they had, and as He must have known them to 
 have. He must have known well what meaning 
 his words would convey to his own countrymen, 
 at that time. But some things which would 
 appear plain and obvious to a Jew, — even an 
 
60 Rights divinely conferred on a Church. [Essay II. 
 
 unlearned Jew, — in those days, may be such as to 
 require some examination and careful reflection 
 to enable us, of a distinct Age and Country, to 
 apprehend them in the same sense. When how- 
 ever we do examine and reflect, we can hardly 
 doubt, I think — considering to whom, and at 
 what time, He was speaking — that our Lord 
 did sanction and enjoin the formation of a perma- 
 nent religious Community or Communities, pos- 
 sessing all those powers which have been above 
 Power to alluded to. The power of " binding and 
 
 bind and " _ ° 
 
 loose, power loosing;" — i. e. enacting and enforcing, and of 
 
 of the keys, . . 
 
 and power abrogating or suspending regulations, for a 
 of sins. Christian Society, was recognised by his promise' 
 of the divine ratification of those acts, — the 
 " binding and loosing in heaven." The " Keys 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven," denote the power 
 of admitting persons Members of the Church, 
 and excluding them from it. And the expression 
 respecting the " remitting and retaining of 
 sins," if it is to be understood (as I think it is) 
 as extending to anything beyond the power 
 of admitting members into Christ's Church by 
 u Baptism for the remission of sins," must relate 
 to the enforcement or remission of ecclesiastical 
 censures for offences against a Christian Com- 
 munity. 
 
 See Appendix, Note (C) 
 
§ 4.] Constitution of the Jewish Church. 
 
 61 
 
 By attentive reflection on the two topics I 
 have here suggested — namely, on the rights and 
 powers essentially inherent in a Community, and 
 consequently implied in the very institution of 
 a Community, so far as they are not expressly 
 excluded ; and again, on the declarations of our 
 Lord, as they must have been understood by his 
 Disciples, — by reflection, I say, on these two 
 topics, we shall be enabled, I think, to simplify 
 and clear up several questions which have been 
 sometimes involved in much artificial obscurity 
 and difficulty. 
 
 § 4. And our view of the sense in which our Constitu- 
 Lord's directions are to be understood will be Jewish 
 the more cleared and decided, if we reflect that 
 all the circumstances which have been noticed 
 as naturally pertaining to every Community, are 
 to be found in that religious Community in which 
 the Disciples had been brought up ; — the Jewish 
 Church, or (as it is called in the Old Testament) 
 the Congregation, or Ecclesia, k of which each 
 Synagogue was a branch. 1 It had regular 
 Officers ; — the Elders or Presbyters, the Rulers 
 of Synagogues, Ministers or Deacons, &c. — it had 
 Bye-laws ; being not only under the Levitical 
 Law, but also having authority, within certain 
 
 k Septuagint. 
 
 See Vitringa on the Synagogue. 
 
G2 Constitution of the Jewish Church. [Essay II. 
 
 limits, of making regulations, and enforcing 
 them by penalties (among others, that which we 
 find alluded to in the New Testament, of ex- 
 communicating or " casting out of the Syna- 
 gogue") : and it had power to admit Proselytes. 
 Rights With all these points then, the Disciples of 
 exercised j egus na( j \ on g Deen familiar. And He spoke 
 
 church, f a - °f them in terms with which they must have 
 Disciples'. 16 been well acquainted. For instance, the ex- 
 pression "binding and loosing"" 1 was, and still 
 is, perfectly familiar to the Jews, in the sense 
 of enforcing and abrogating rules ; or, — which 
 amounts precisely to the same thing, — deciding 
 as to the manner, and the extent, in which a 
 previously existing law is to be considered as 
 binding : as is done by our Judges in their 
 recorded Decisions. 
 
 The Jewish Church was indeed subject, by 
 divine authority, to the Levitical Law. But 
 minute as were the directions of that Law, there 
 were still many points of detail, connected with 
 the observance of it, which required to be settled 
 by some competent authority : such as, for in- 
 stance, what was, or was not, to be regarded as 
 " work," forbidden on the Sabbath : — what was 
 to be considered as " servile work," forbidden on 
 certain other days: — and in what way the 
 
 ra See Lightfoot on this subject, and also Dr. Wotton's 
 valuable work on the Mishna. 
 
§ 4.] Constitution of the Jewish Church. 
 
 63 
 
 injunctions respecting their food, their garments, 
 the sowing of their fields, and several other 
 matters, were to be observed." 
 
 In regard to regulations of this kind, our Lord Authority 
 recognises the authority of the Jewish Rulers, as Rniers re- 
 being so far successors of Moses ; for He tells by^chrfft. 
 His hearers, " The scribes and Pharisees sit in 
 Moses's seat ; all, therefore, whatsoever they bid 
 you observe, that observe, and do." And though 
 He adds a caution not to " do after their works, 
 for they say, and do not," He does not teach 
 that their personal demerits, or even that gross 
 abuse of their power which He so strongly re- 
 probates, could invalidate the legitimate exercise 
 of that power. Indeed, since there is hardly any 
 human Government that has not, at some time 
 or other, abused, more or less, the power en- 
 trusted to it, to deny on that ground all claims 
 whatever to submission, would be the very prin- 
 ciple of anarchy. 
 
 The Jewish Rulers went beyond their proper Abuse of 
 province, when, instead of merely making such Jewish 
 regulations as were necessary with a view to the 
 due observance of the Mosaic Law, they super- 
 
 n Those who can procure, or gain access to Dr. W.Wotton's 
 Selections from the Mishna, will find in it much curious and 
 interesting information relative to these and several other 
 particulars, which throws great light on many passages of the 
 New Testament. 
 
64 
 
 Commission to the Disciples. 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 added, on the authority of their supposed Tradi- 
 tion, commandments foreign to that Law ; and, 
 still more, evasions of the spirit of it. 0 
 
 Jesus accordingly censures them severely, as 
 " teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
 men ;" and again, as " making the Word of God 
 of none effect, by their Tradition." But still He 
 distinctly recognises their legitimate authority 
 in making such regulations as were necessarily 
 left to their determination. 
 
 How the § 5. And His disciples, therefore, who heard 
 wouldun- both of these His declarations, could not have 
 the S com- Deen at any loss to understand what He meant 
 given°them. DV giv^o to themselves and the succeeding 
 Officers of a Christian Church, the power to 
 " bind and loose." He charged them to " teach 
 every one to observe all things whatsoever He 
 had commanded them ;" promising to be " with 
 them always, even to the end of the world ;" 
 and He also gave them the power of "binding 
 and loosing ;" saying, " whatsoever ye shall bind 
 on earth shall be bound in heaven ;" (i. e. ratified 
 by the divine sanction) " and whatsoever ye shall 
 loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 
 Power to They would of course understand by this, not 
 utions. egu that they, or any of their successors, could have 
 
 ° See Wotton on the Mishna. 
 
§5.] 
 
 Horn understood by them. 
 
 65 
 
 authority to dispense with their Master's com- 
 mandments, — to add to or alter the terms of 
 Gospel-salvation, — to teach them, in short, not 
 to " observe what He had commanded them," — 
 but, to enact, from time to time, to alter, to abro- 
 gate, or to restore, regulations respecting matters 
 of detail, not expressly determined in Scripture, 
 but which yet must be determined in some way 
 or other, with a view to the good order of the 
 Community, and the furtherance of its great 
 objects. 
 
 So, also, we cannot suppose they would even Power of 
 suspect that they, or any mortal man, can have si™ mng 
 H power to forgive sins," as against God ; — that 
 a man could be authorized either to absolve the 
 /wpenitent, or to shut out from Divine mercy 
 the penitent ; or again, to read the heart, so as 
 to distinguish between the two, without an 
 express inspiration in each particular case. 
 
 And this express inspiration in particular cases, 
 whatever may have been their original expec- 
 tations, they must soon have learnt they were 
 not to look for. They were to use their best 
 discretion, to exercise due caution, in guarding 
 against the admission of " false brethren" — 
 " deceitful workers," — hypocritical pretenders to 
 Christian faith and purity ; — but they had not, 
 universally at least, any supernatural safeguard 
 against such hypocrisy. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 Commission to the Disciples. [Essay II. 
 
 A Lommu- The example of Simon Magus would alone 
 pardon show this, even if there were no others 'to be 
 agaTns? found. He was, we find, baptized along with 
 uself ' the other Samaritans (Acts viii. 13), professing, 
 as of course he must have done, sincere repent- 
 ance and devotion to Christ : and yet the 
 Apostles find him, after this, to be still " in the 
 gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." 
 Acts viii. 21. 
 
 But still, the Gospel or good-tidings which 
 they were authorized and enjoined to proclaim, 
 being most especially tidings of " remission of 
 sins" to all who should accept the invitation made 
 to them by the preachers of that Gospel, they 
 might properly be said to remit or retain accord- 
 ing as they admitted to Baptism the attentive 
 and professedly-penitent and believing hearers, 
 and left out of the number of the subjects of 
 Christ's kingdom those who neglected or opposed 
 Him. p " Repent and be baptized every one of you 
 
 p Of course, if there had been a distinct divine appointment 
 of such a sacrament as that of Penance, as it is called (including 
 private Confession and priestly Absolution) we should have 
 been bound to regard that in the same light as we do the 
 sacraments of Baptism and of the Eucharist. Without pre- 
 suming to set limits to the Divine favour, we feel bound to 
 resort to, and to administer, these, as appointed means of 
 grace. But if there had not been that Divine appointment of 
 those sacraments, a Church would have no more authority to 
 confer on them a sacramental character, than on the pretended 
 sacrament of Penance. 
 
§ 6.] Penalties fur Ecclesiastical Offences. 
 
 61 
 
 for the remission of sins " is accordingly the kind 
 of language in which they invite their hearers 
 every where to join the Body of their Master's 
 People ; and yet it is certain the remission of 
 sins was conditional only, and dependent on 
 a condition of which they — the Apostles them- 
 selves — had no infallible knowledge ; the con- 
 dition being, the real sincerity of that penitence 
 and faith which the converts appeared and 
 professed to have. q 
 
 § 6. But although this is the only sense Penalties 
 in which the Apostles, or of course, any of their siastical 
 successors in the Christian ministry, can be ° e " ces ' 
 empowered to " forgive sins " as against God ; 
 i. e. though they can only pronounce and 
 proclaim his forgiveness of all those who come to 
 Him through Christ, and assure each individual 
 of his acceptance with God, supposing him to be 
 one of " those who truly repent and unfeignedly 
 believe," yet offences as against a Community, may, 
 it is plain, be pardoned, or pardon for them with- 
 held, by that Community, or by those its officers 
 who duly represent it. 
 
 Whether our Lord intended, in what He said 
 of " remitting and retaining sins," to include 
 (as seems to me the probable supposition) this 
 
 q See Speech of Bishop Stanley in the House of Lords, 
 May 26, 1840. 
 
 F 2 
 
08 Penalties for Ecclesiastical Offences. [Essay II 
 
 power of inflicting or removing ecclesiastical 
 censures for transgressions of the regulations of a 
 Society, we may be perhaps not authorized posi- 
 tively to conclude ; but at any rate, such a power 
 is inherent necessarily in every Community, so 
 far as not expressly reserved for some superior 
 jurisdiction : regulations of some sort or other, 
 and consequently enforcement of those regula- 
 tions by some kind of penalties, being essential to 
 a Community, and implied in the very nature of it. 
 Different But what leads to confusion of thought in 
 
 views of , _ . . . 
 
 the same some minus, is, that the same action may often 
 Sin and as have two distinct characters, according to the 
 light in which it is viewed; whether as a sin 1 
 against God, or as a crime in reference to the 
 Community; and hence they are sometimes led to 
 confound together the pardoning of the crime 
 — the offence against the Community — with the 
 pardoning of the sin. Now the regularly- 
 appointed Ministers — the Officers of a Community 
 may be authorized to enforce or remit penalties 
 against the ecclesiastical offence, — the crime, in 
 reference to the Community; and may pronounce 
 an absolute and complete pardon of a particular 
 offender, for a particular act, on his making the 
 requisite submission and reparation, and appear- 
 ing outwardly, as far as man can judge, a proper 
 
 ' See Waiburton's Div. Leg. 
 
§ 6.] Penalties for Ecclesiastical Offences. 60 
 
 subject for such pardon ; while the pardon of 
 sin as against God, must be conditional on that 
 hearty inward repentance, of which, in each case, 
 God only, or those to whom He may impart the 
 knowledge, can adequately judge. 
 
 When Paul says to the Corinthians in 
 reference s to that member of their Church who 
 had caused a scandal by his offence, " to whom- 
 soever ye forgive any thing, I forgive it also," 
 though I am far from saying that the offender's 
 sin against God was not pardoned, it is quite 
 plain this is not what the Apostle is here speak- 
 ing of. He is speaking of a case in which they 
 and he were not merely to announce, but to 
 bestow forgiveness. They were to receive back 
 the offender, who had scandalized the Society 
 into the bosom of that Society, on his professing 
 with sincerity, or rather apparent sincerity (for 
 of that alone they could be judges) his contri- 
 tion. They would, of course — as believing those 
 his professions — cherish a confident hope that 
 his sin against God was pardoned. But doubt- 
 less they did not pretend either to an omniscient 
 discernment of his Sincerity, or to the power 
 either of granting divine pardon to the impeni- 
 tent, or of excluding from God's mercy the 
 repentant sinner. 
 
 2 Cor. ii. 10. 
 
70 
 
 Power of the Keys. 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 Power of § 7. Then again, with respect to the " Keys 
 the Keys. ^ ^ e Kingdom of Heaven" which our Lord pro- 
 mised (Matt. xvi. 19) to give to Peter/ the 
 Apostles could not, I conceive, doubt that 
 He was fulfilling that promise, to Peter and to 
 the rest of them conjointly, when He " ap- 
 pointed unto them a Kingdom," and when, on 
 the day of Pentecost, He began the building 
 of his Church, and enabled them, with Peter as 
 their leader and chief spokesman, to open a door 
 
 1 There seems good reason to believe, — though it would be 
 most unwarrantable to make it an article of faith, — that Peter 
 really was the chief of the Apostles, not, certainly, in the sense 
 of exercising any supremacy and absolute control over them, — 
 as dictating to their consciences, — as finally deciding all cases 
 of doubt — or as claiming any right to interfere in the Churches 
 other Apostles had founded, (See Gal. ii. 7 — 9 and 1 1 — 14,) but 
 as the chief in dignity : taking precedence of the rest, and acting 
 as President, Chairman, or Speaker in their meetings. Peter, 
 and James, and John, and sometimes Peter, and James, — 
 always with Peter placed foremost, were certainly distinguished, 
 as appears from numerous passages in the Gospels, from the 
 rest of the Apostles. He was apparently the chief Spokesman 
 on the day of Pentecost, when the Jewish Believers were first 
 called on to unite themselves into a Church ; and he was the 
 chosen instrument in founding the first Church of the (" de- 
 vout ") Gentiles, opening the door of the Kingdom of Heaven 
 to Cornelius and his friends. 
 
 I need hardly add, that to claim on that account for Peter's 
 supposed successors such supreme jurisdiction over the whole 
 Church -universal, as he himself neither exercised nor claimed, 
 would be most extravagant. And to speak of a succession of 
 men, as being, each, a foundation on which the Church is built, 
 is not only extravagant but unmeaning. 
 
7-] 
 
 Power of the Keys. 
 
 71 
 
 for the entrance of about three thousand con- 
 verts at once ; who received daily accessions 
 to their number. The Apostles, and those com- 
 missioned by them, had the office of granting 
 admission into the Society from time to time, to 
 such as they judged qualified. u 
 
 And that this Society or Church — was " that Christian 
 Kingdom of Heaven" of which the keys were Kingdom 
 committed to them, and which they had before of Heaveu 
 proclaimed as " at hand," they could not doubt. 
 They could not have been in any danger of 
 cherishing any such presumptuous dream, as 
 that they or any one else, except their divine 
 Master, could have power to give or refuse admit- 
 tance to the mansions of immortal bliss. 
 
 On the whole then, one who reads the Scrip- 
 tures with attention and with candour, will be at 
 no loss, I conceive, to ascertain, what was the 
 sense, generally, in which our Lord's Disciples 
 would understand his directions and injunctions. 
 Besides what is implied, naturally and necessarily, 
 in the very institution of a Community, we know 
 also, what the instructions were which the Disci- 
 ples had already been accustomed to receive from 
 their Master, and what was the sense they had 
 
 u awZofierovg, rendered in our version " such as should be 
 saved ;" by which our Translators probably meant, according 
 to the idiom of their day, (which is the true sense of the 
 original) " persons entering on the road of salvation." 
 
72 
 
 Procedure of the Disciples 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 been used from childhood to attach to the 
 expressions He employed. And as we may be 
 sure, I think, how they would understand his 
 words, so, we may be equally sure that He would 
 not have failed to undeceive them, had they 
 mistaken his real meaning ; which therefore, we 
 cannot doubt, must have been that which these 
 Disciples apprehended. 
 
 Procedure § As f° r tne m °d e in which the Apostles 
 cfpies anc * other early Christian Ministers carried into 
 to^heh" 1 ^ e ff ec t the directions they had received, we have 
 Erections m( ^ ee( ^ but a ^ ew ' anc ^ those generally scanty and 
 incidental, notices in the sacred writers ; but all 
 the notices we do find, go to confirm — if confir- 
 mation could be wanted — what has been just 
 said, as to the sense in which our Lord must 
 have been understood — and, consequently, in 
 which He must have meant to be understood — 
 by his Disciples. 
 
 And among the important facts which we can 
 collect and fully ascertain from the sacred histo- 
 rians, scanty and irregular and imperfect as are 
 their records of particulars, one of the most im- 
 portant is, that very scantiness and incomplete- 
 ness in the detail ; — that absence of any full and 
 systematic description of the formation and regu- 
 lation of Christian Communities, that has been 
 just noticed. For we may plainly infer, from 
 
§ 8.] under their Lord's Directions. 73 
 
 this very circumstance, the design of the Holy 
 Spirit, that those details, concerning which no 
 precise directions, accompanied with strict injunc- 
 tions, are to be found in Scripture, were meant 
 to be left to the regulation of each Church, in 
 each Age and Country. On any point in which 
 it was designed that all Christians should be, 
 every where, and at all times, bound as strictly 
 as the Jews were to the Levitical Law, we may 
 fairly conclude they would have received direc- 
 tions no less precise, and descriptions no less 
 minute, than had been afforded to the Jews. 
 
 It has often occurred to my mind that the importance 
 generality of even studious readers are apt, for the oniis- 
 want of sufficient reflection, to fail of drawing work.'" my 
 such important inferences as they often might, 
 from the omissions occurring in any work they 
 are perusing ; — from its not containing such and 
 such things relative to the subject treated of. 
 There are many cases in which the non-insertion 
 of some particulars which, under other circum- 
 stances, we might have calculated on meeting 
 with, in a certain book, will be hardly less in- 
 structive than the things we do meet with. 
 
 And this is much more especially the case 
 when we are studying works which we believe 
 to have been composed under Divine guidance. 
 For, in the case of mere human compositions, 
 one may conceive an author to have left out 
 
Procedure of the Disciples. [Essay II. 
 
 some important circumstances, either through 
 error of judgment or inadvertency, or from 
 having written merely for the use of a particular 
 class of readers in his own time and country, 
 without any thought of what might be necessary 
 information for persons at a distance and in after- 
 ages ; but we cannot, of course, attribute to any 
 such causes omissions in the inspired Writers. 
 The Sacred On no supposition whatever can we account for 
 
 Writers su- . . A 
 
 rematu- the omission, by all of them, of many points 
 held from which they do omit, and of their scanty and 
 some slight mention of others, except by considering 
 thmgs " them as withheld by the express design and will 
 (whether communicated to each of them or not) 
 of their Heavenly Master, restraining them from 
 committing to writing many things which, natu- 
 rally, some or other of them, at least, would not 
 have failed so to record. 
 
 I have set forth accordingly, in a distinct 
 treatise/ these views respecting the Omissions in 
 the Sacred Books of the New Testament, and 
 the important inferences thence to be deduced. 
 We seek in vain there for many things which, 
 humanly speaking, we should have most surely 
 calculated on finding. " No such thing is to be 
 found in our Scriptures as a Catechism, or regular 
 Elementary Introduction to the Christian Reli- 
 gion ; nor do they furnish us with anything of 
 
 * Essay VI., First Series. See Appendix, Note (D.) 
 
§ 9.] Christian Churches derived from Synagogues. 75 
 
 the nature of a systematic Creed, set of Articles, 
 Confession of Faith, or by whatever other name 
 one may designate a regular, complete Compen- 
 dium of Christian doctrines : nor, again, do they 
 supply us with a Liturgy for ordinary Public 
 Worship, or with Forms for administering the 
 Sacraments, or for conferring Holy Orders ; nor 
 do they even give any precise directions as to 
 these and other ecclesiastical matters ; — any 
 thing that at all corresponds to a Rubric, or set 
 of Canons." 
 
 Now these omissions present, — as I have, in 
 that Treatise, endeavoured to show, — a complete 
 moral demonstration that the Apostles and their 
 followers must have been super naturally withheld 
 from recording great part of the institutions, in- 
 structions, and regulations, which must, in point 
 of fact, have proceeded from them ; — withheld, 
 on purpose that other Churches, in other Ages 
 and Regions, might not be led to consider them- 
 selves bound to adhere to several formularies, 
 customs, and rules, that were of local and tem- 
 porary appointment ; but might be left to their 
 own discretion in matters in which it seemed best 
 to Divine wisdom that they should be so left. y 
 
 § 9. With respect to one class of those points Christian 
 that have been alluded to, it is probable that derived 
 
 from Syna- 
 
 y See Appendix, Note (D.) gogues. 
 
76 
 
 Christian Churches 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 one cause— humanly speaking — why we find in 
 the Sacred Books less information concerning 
 the Christian Ministry and the Constitution of 
 Church-Governments than we otherwise might 
 have found, is that these institutions had less of 
 novelty than some would at first sight suppose, 
 and that many portions of them did not wholly 
 originate with the Apostles. It appears highly 
 probable — I might say morally certain 2 — that 
 wherever a Jewish Synagogue existed that was 
 brought, — the whole or the chief part of it, — to 
 embrace the Gospel, the Apostles did not, there, 
 so much form a Christian Church, (or Congre- 
 gation ; a Ecclesia,) as make an existing Congre- 
 gation Christian; by introducing the Christian 
 Sacraments and Worship, and establishing what- 
 ever regulations were requisite for the newly- 
 adopted Faith ; leaving the machinery (if I 
 may so speak) of government, unchanged ; the 
 " Rulers of Synagogues, Elders, and other Offi- 
 cers (whether spiritual or ecclesiastical, or both) 
 
 " See Lightfoot, Appendix, Note (C.) 
 
 a The word " Congregation" as it stands in our Version of 
 the Old Testament, (and it is one of very frequent occurrence 
 in the Books of Moses,) is found to correspond, in the Septua- 
 gint, which was familiar to the New-Testament Writers, to 
 Ecclesia ; the word which, in our Version of these last, is 
 always rendered — not " Congregation," but " Church." This, 
 or its equivalent " Kirk," is probably no other than " circle ;" 
 i.e. Assembly, Ecclesia. 
 
derived from Synagogues. 
 
 77 
 
 being already provided in the existing institu- 
 tions. And it is likely that several of the earliest 
 Christian Churches did originate in this way ; 
 that is, that they were converted Synagogues ; 
 which became Christian Churches as soon as the 
 members, or the main part of the members, 
 acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. 
 
 The attempt to effect this conversion of a Precedence 
 Jewish Synagogue into a Christian Church, Seems the Jews, 
 always to have been made, in the first instance, 
 in every place where there was an opening for 
 it. Even after the call of the idolatrous Gen- 
 tiles, it appears plainly to have been the practice 
 of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, b when they 
 came to any city in which there was a Syna- 
 
 b These seem to be the first who were employed in con- 
 verting the idolatrous Gentiles to Christianity,* and their first 
 considerable harvest among these seems to have been at 
 Antioch in Pisidia, as may be seen by any one who attentively 
 reads the 13th Chapter of Acts. Peter was sent to Cornelius, 
 a " devout'' Gentile; — one of those who had renounced ido- 
 latry and frequented the Synagogues. And these seem to 
 have been regarded by him as in an especial manner his par- 
 ticular charge. His Epistles appear to have been addressed 
 to them ; as may be seen both by the general tenor of his 
 expressions,f and especially in the opening address ; which is 
 not (as would appear from our Version) to the dispersed Jews, 
 but to the " Sojourners of the dispersion," TrapeTrt^t'ifiovc rita- 
 (nropag, i.e. the devout Gentiles living among the "Dispersion." 
 
 * See Barrington's Miscellanea Sacra, 
 ■j- See Hinds's History, vol. ii. 
 
78 
 
 Ch ristia n Church es 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 gogue, to go thither first and deliver their sacred 
 message to the Jews and " devout (or proselyte) 
 Gentiles ;" — according to their own expression, 
 (Acts xiii. 16,) to the " men of Israel and those 
 that feared God :" adding, that " it was necessary 
 that the Word of God should first be preached 
 to them." 
 
 And when they founded a Church in any of 
 those cities in which (and such were, probably, 
 a very large majority) there was no Jewish 
 Synagogue that received the Gospel, it is likely 
 they would still conform, in a great measure, to 
 the same model. 
 New direc- But though, as has been said, the circum- 
 
 tions need- . . 
 
 ed even for stance just mentioned was probably the cause — 
 Syna- humanly speaking — why some particulars are 
 gogues. recorded in our existing Sacred Books, 
 
 which otherwise we might have found there, 
 still, it does seem to me perfectly incredible on 
 any supposition but that of supernatural inter- 
 • ference, that neither the Apostles nor any of 
 their many followers should have committed to 
 writing any of the multitude of particulars which 
 we do not find in Scripture, and concerning 
 which we are perfectly certain the Apostles did 
 give instructions, relative to Church-Govern- 
 ment, the Christian Ministry, and Public- Wor- 
 ship. When we consider how large a proportion of 
 the Churches and of the ministers were Gentiles, 
 
§ 9.] derived from Synagogues. 79 
 
 and strangers to the constitution of Jewish Syna- 
 gogues, and also how much was introduced that 
 was new and strange, even to Jewish Christians 
 (as well as highly important) — the Christian 
 Sacraments being wholly new, and the Prayers 
 in a great measure so — we may judge how great 
 a number of particular directions must have 
 been indispensably necessary for all ; — directions 
 which it would have been natural, humanly 
 speaking, for the Apostles or their attendants to 
 have recorded in writing ; and which, if this had 
 not been done, would naturally have been so 
 recorded by the persons to whom they were 
 delivered. " Suppose we could make out the 
 possibility or probability, of Paul's having left no 
 Creed, Catechism, or Canons, why have we none 
 from the pen of Luke, or of Mark ? Suppose 
 this also explained, why did not John or Peter 
 supply the deficiency ? And why again did none 
 of the numerous Bishops and Presbyters whom 
 they ordained, undertake the work under their 
 direction?" 0 "And that there is nothing in 
 the Christian Religion considered in itself, that 
 stands in the way of such a procedure, is plain 
 from the number of works of this description 
 which have appeared from the earliest times, {after 
 the age of inspiration) down to the present ; — 
 
 c Essay on Omissions, p. 19. 
 
80 
 
 Christian Churches, tye. 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 from the writings entitled the ' Apostles' Creed,' 
 and the ' Apostolical Constitutions/ &c. (com- 
 positions of uncertain authors, and, amidst the 
 variety of opinions respecting them, never re- 
 garded as Scripture) down to the modern For- 
 mularies and Confessions of Faith. Nor again 
 can it be said that there was anything in the 
 founders of the religion any more than in the 
 religion itself, which, humanly speaking, should 
 seem likely to preclude them from transmit- 
 ting to us such compositions. On the con- 
 trary, the Apostles, and the rest of the earlier 
 preachers of Christianity, were brought up 
 Jews ; accustomed, in their earliest notions of 
 religion, to refer to the Books of the Law, as 
 containing precise statements of their Belief, and 
 most minute directions as to religious Worship 
 and Ceremonies. So that to give complete and 
 regular instructions as to the character and the 
 requisitions of the new Religion, as it would have 
 been natural, for any one, was more especially to 
 be expected of these men." d 
 
 We are left then, and indeed unavoidably 
 led, to the conclusion that in respect of these 
 points the Apostles and their followers were, 
 during the age of inspiration, supernaturally 
 withheld from recording these circumstantial 
 
 d Essay on Omissions, pp. 7, 8. 
 
§ 10.] Mecords relating to Church-government, scanty . 81 
 
 details which were not intended by divine Provi- 
 dence to be absolutely binding on all Churches, 
 in every Age and Country, but were meant to 
 be left to the discretion of each particular 
 Church. 6 
 
 § 10. The absence of such detailed descrip- Scanty re - 
 
 • • x i i i ' cords of 
 
 tions and instructions as I have been adverting what relates 
 
 . ...... . , to Church- 
 
 tO, is the more striking when contrasted with govem- 
 
 the earnest and frequent inculcations we do meet copious, of 
 with, of the great fundamental Gospel-doctrines d^c'riMi 
 and moral duties, which are dwelt upon in so 
 many passages, both generally and in reference 
 to various classes of persons, and various occa- 
 sions. Our sacred writers have not recorded 
 their Creeds, — their Catechisms for the elemen- 
 tary instruction of converts, — their forms of 
 Public Prayer and Psalmody, — or their modes 
 of administering the Sacraments ; — they have 
 not even described the posture in which the 
 Eucharist was received, or the use of leavened 
 or unleavened Bread ; (two points on which, in 
 after-ages, bitter controversies were raised,) nor 
 many other things which we are certain Paul (as 
 well as the other Apostles) " set in order, when 
 he came " to each Church. 
 
 e See some valuable remarks on this subject, in a pamphlet 
 by Dean Hoare, entitled " Letters on the Tendency and Prin- 
 ciples advocated in the ' Tracts for the Times.' " 
 G 
 
82 Records relating to Church-government, scanty . [Essay II. 
 
 Clear re-^ But, on the other hand, it is plainly recorded 
 fact that that they did establish Churches wherever they 
 churches introduced the Gospel ; that they " ordained 
 ed. Elders in every city," and that the Apostles 
 again delegated that office to others ; that they 
 did administer the rite of Baptism to their con- 
 verts ; and that they celebrated the communion 
 of the Lord's Supper. And besides the general 
 principles of Christian Faith and Morality which 
 they sedulously set forth, they have recorded 
 the most earnest exhortations to avoid " con- 
 fusion'^ in their public worship; to do "all 
 things decently and in order ;" to " let all things 
 be done to edifying," and not for vain-glorious 
 display ; they inculcate the duty of Christians 
 " assembling themselves together " for joint 
 worship ; g they record distinctly the solemn 
 sanction given to a Christian Community ; they 
 inculcate 11 due reverence and obedience to those 
 that "bear rule" in such a Community, with 
 censure of such as " walk disorderly" and " cause 
 divisions ;" and they dwell earnestly on the care 
 with which Christian Ministers, both male and 
 female, should be selected, and on the zeal, and 
 discretion, and blameless life required in them, 
 and on their solemn obligation to " exhort, re- 
 buke, and admonish :" yet with all this, they do 
 
 ' 1 Cor. and 1 Tim. B Heb. x. 2.5. 
 
 h See Hebrews and Timothy. 
 
§ 1 1 .] RemarhableCircumstances in some recorded Details. 83 
 
 not record even the number of distinct Orders 
 of them, or the functions appropriated to each, 
 or the degree, and kind, and mode, of control 
 they exercised in the Churches. 
 
 While the principles, in short, are clearly Principles 
 recognised, and strongly inculcated, which ^guidT 
 Christian Communities and individual members societies 
 of them are to keep in mind and act upon, eorded." 5 " 
 with a view to the great objects for which these 
 Communities were established, the precise modes 
 in which these objects are, in each case, to be 
 promoted, are left, — one can hardly doubt, stu- 
 diously left — undefined. 
 
 § 11. Many of the omissions I have alluded Remarka- 
 to, will appear even the more striking in pro- stances in 
 portion as we contemplate with the more minute of^etali*" 
 attention each part of the sacred narrative. For scriptures 
 instance, it is worth remarking that the matters do recor ' 
 concerning which the Apostle Paul's Epistles do 
 contain the most detailed directions, are most of 
 them precisely those which every one perceives 
 to have relation only to the times in which he 
 wrote; such as the eating or abstaining from 
 " meats offered to idols," and the use and abuse 
 of supernatural gifts. He was left, it should 
 seem, unrestrained in recording — and hence he 
 does record, — particular directions in those cases 
 where there was no danger of those his directions 
 o 2 
 
84 
 
 Remarkable Circumstances [Essay II. 
 
 being applied in all Ages and Countries, as bind- 
 ing on every Church for ever. Again, almost 
 every attentive reader must have been struck 
 with the circumstance, that there is no such 
 description on record of the first appointment of 
 the higher Orders of Christian Ministers as there 
 is (in Acts vi.) of the ordination of the inferior 
 Class, the Deacons. And this consideration 
 alone would lead a reflecting mind to conclude, 
 or at least strongly suspect, that the particular 
 notice of this appointment of Deacons is inci- 
 dental only, and that probably there would have 
 been as little said of these, as of the Presbyters, 
 but for the circumstance of the extraordinary 
 effect produced by two of these Deacons, Stephen 
 and Philip, as preachers : the narrative of their 
 appointment being a natural, and almost neces- 
 sary, introduction to that of two most important 
 events, the great outbreak of persecution conse- 
 quent on Stephen's martyrdom (which seems to 
 have led, through the dispersion of the Disciples, 
 to the founding of the first purely Gentile Church, 
 at Antioch),' and the conversion of Samaria. 
 The Seven But this conclusion is greatly strengthened, 
 
 Deacons . 
 
 not the first when, on a closer examination, we find reason 
 to be convinced that these, so-called, first seven 
 
 1 See Encyclop. Metrop. (Ecclesiastical History) on the 
 designation of Christians first given to the Disciples at that 
 place. 
 
§11.] 
 
 in some recorded Details. 
 
 85 
 
 Deacons, who are usually assumed (for I never 
 met with even any attempt at proof,) to have 
 been the first that ever held such an office, were, 
 in reality, only the first Grecian k Deacons, and 
 that there were Hebrew Deacons before. 
 
 The following extract from an able Article in 
 the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana on Ecclesi- 
 astical History, will make this point, I think, 
 perfectly clear. 
 
 " Meanwhile within the Church itself were 
 displayed some slight symptoms of discontent, 
 which deserve to be noticed particularly, on 
 account of the measure to which they gave rise. 
 The complaint is called ' a murmuring of the 
 Grecians (or foreign Jews) against the Hebrews* 
 (or native Jews,) because their widows were 
 neglected in the daily ministration.' Who these 
 widows probably were has already been sug- 
 gested; and if the suggestion, that they were 
 deaconesses, be admitted, the grounds of the 
 complaint may be readily surmised. As the 
 greater share of duty would at this time devolve 
 on the Hebrew widows or deaconesses, they 
 might have been paid more liberally, as their 
 services seemed to require, and hence the dis- 
 content. 
 
 k Hellenist, or " Grecian," is the term constantly used for 
 the Jews who used the Greek language ; as distinguished from 
 Hellen, a Greek or Gentile by nation. 
 
86 
 
 Remarkable Circumstances [Essay II. 
 
 " This, it is true, supposes that the order of 
 deacons and deaconesses already existed, and 
 may seem at first to contradict the statement of 
 St. Luke, that in consequence of this murmuring, 
 deacons were appointed. It does not however 
 really contradict it ; for evidently some dispensers 
 there must have been, and if so, either the 
 Apostles must have officiated as deacons, or 
 special deacons there must have been, by what- 
 ever name they went. That the Apostles did 
 not officiate, is plain from the tenor of the nar- 
 rative, which indicates that the appeal was made 
 to them, and that they excused themselves from 
 presiding personally at the ' ministration,' (as 
 was probably desired by the discontented party,) 
 alleging that it was incompatible with their 
 proper duties. ' It is not reason that we should 
 leave the zvord of God, and serve tables.' This 
 very assertion, then, is proof certain that they 
 did not officiate. Again, on reading over the 
 names of the seven deacons, we find them all of 
 the Grecian or Hellenistic party. Stephen, 
 Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, 
 and Nicolas, the last of whom is expressly de- 
 scribed as a proselyte of Antioch. Now this 
 surely would have produced, in turn, a mur- 
 muring of the Hebrews against the Grecians, 
 unless they had already had some in office 
 interested in looking after their rights. With 
 
§11.] in sonic recorded Details, 87 
 
 these presumptions in favour of a previous 
 appointment of deacons, it would seem then, 
 that these seven were added to the former 
 number, because of the complaint. 
 
 " All that is thus far intimated of their office 
 is, that they were employed in the daily distribu- 
 tion of the alms and the stipends due from the 
 public fund. Whether, even at the first, their 
 duties were limited to this department of service, 
 may be reasonably doubted. Of this portion of 
 their duties we are now informed ; obviously, 
 because to the unsatisfactory mode in which this 
 had been hitherto performed it was owing, that 
 the new appointment took place, and that the 
 subject was noticed at all. It is, however, by 
 no means improbable, that the young men who 
 carried out the dead bodies of Ananias and 
 Sapphira, and who are described as ' ready ' in 
 attendance, were of the same order ; in other 
 words, deacons by office, if not by name. What 
 may serve to confirm this view of it is, the oppo- 
 sition between what would seem to have been 
 their original title, and another order in the 
 Church. They are called ' juniors' and 'young 
 men,' {vewrepov and veai/la/coi,) terms so strongly 
 opposed to presbyters or elders, as to incline one 
 at the first glance to consider them as expressive 
 of the two orders of the ministry, the seniors 
 and the juniors, the 7rpea/3vTepoi Siaicovot and the 
 
88 Remarkable Circumstances [Essay IT. 
 
 uecorepoi 8id/covoi ; the two orders, in short, which 
 at length received the fixed and perpetual titles 
 of presbyters and deacons. 
 
 " Accordingly, there is no just ground for 
 supposing, that when the same term deacon 
 occurs in the Epistles of St. Paul, a different 
 order of men is intended ; first, because an 
 office may preserve its original name long after 
 the duties originally attached to it have been 
 changed \; and, secondly, because, whatever 
 duties may have been added to the office of 
 deacons, it is certain that the duty of attending 
 to the poor was for several centuries attached to 
 it. Even after the deacons ceased to hold the 
 office of treasurers, and the Bishops began to 
 receive the revenues of their respective sees, the 
 distribution of that portion which was allotted to 
 charity still passed through the hands of the 
 deacons. Hence in a still later period, the title 
 of cardinal deacon ; and hence, too, the appro- 
 priation of the term diaconiw to those Churches 
 wherein alms used to be collected and distributed 
 to the poor. 
 
 " Not that it is possible to point out, with any 
 thing like precision, the course of duty which 
 belonged to the primitive deacons. That it 
 corresponded entirely with that of our present 
 order of deacons is very unlikely, whatever 
 analogy be allowed from their relative situation 
 
5ii.] 
 
 hi some recorded Details. 
 
 89 
 
 in the Church. As the Church during the 
 greater part of the first century was a shifting, 
 and progressive institution, their duties probably 
 underwent continual change and modification. 
 If we were to be guided, for instance, by the 
 office in which we find the "young men," 
 veavlaicoi, engaged when the dead bodies of 
 Ananias and Sapphira were removed, we should 
 say that they performed the business, which 
 in the present day would devolve on the inferior 
 attendants of our churches. If, again, we were to 
 judge of their character from the occasion on 
 which we find them acting as stewards of the 
 Church fund, a higher station would be doubtless 
 assigned to them, but still, one not more nearly 
 connected with the ministry of the word, nor 
 approaching more to the sphere of duty which 
 belongs to our deacons. On the other hand, the 
 instances of Stephen and Philip prove, that the 
 title was applied to those who were engaged 
 in the higher departments of the ministry, 
 although not in the highest. 
 
 " After all, it is most likely that the word 
 deacon was originally applied, as its etymology 
 suggests, to all the ministers of the Gospel 
 establishment. But the Apostles having from 
 the first a specific title, it more properly denoted 
 any minister inferior to them, — any, however 
 employed in the service, of the Church. Between 
 
90 Remarkable Circumstances. [Essay II. 
 
 these, also, there soon obtained a distinction. If 
 we suppose, then, that the seniors, or superior 
 class, were distinguished by the obvious title of 
 elder deacons, (irpeafivTepoL &td/covoi) the generic 
 and unappropriated term "deacon" would devolve 
 on the remaining class. And thus the present 
 order in the Church, to which that name is 
 applied, may be truly asserted to be deacons in 
 the apostolical and primitive sense of the word ; 
 and yet, nevertheless, much may be said about 
 deacons, both in the New Testament and in the 
 writings of the early fathers, which will not apply 
 to them." 
 
 If any one should be disposed to think it 
 a question of small moment whether Stephen 
 and his companions were or were not the first 
 Deacons ever appointed, let him consider that, 
 however unimportant in itself, it is one which 
 throws much additional light on the subject now 
 before us. We not only find few and scanty 
 records of those details of the Church-govern- 
 ment established by the Apostles, which, if 
 they had designed to leave a model absolutely 
 binding on all Christians for ever, we might have 
 expected to find fully and clearly particularized, 
 but also we find that a part even of what the 
 inspired writers do record, is recorded incident- 
 ally only, for the elucidation of the rest of the 
 narrative ; and not in pursuance of any design 
 
§ 12.] Internal Evidence from Ike Views above taken. 91 
 
 to give a detailed statement of such particulars. 
 Thus a further confirmation is furnished of the 
 view that has been taken ; viz. that it was the 
 plan of the Sacred Writers to lay down clearly 
 the principles on which Christian Churches were 
 to be formed and governed, leaving the mode of 
 application of those principles undetermined and 
 discretionary. 
 
 § 12. Now what did the Holy Spirit design us internal 
 to learn from all this ? In the first place *e Gospel 
 
 resulting 
 
 ** he that hath ears to hear/' may draw from it, from the 
 as has been already observed, a strong internal views, 
 evidence of the genuineness, and of the inspired 
 character, of our Sacred Books ; inasmuch as 
 they do not contain what would surely have 
 been found in the works of men (whether impos- 
 tors or sincere) left to themselves to record 
 whatever seemed interesting and important. 
 
 And this point of evidence presents itself to 
 the mind at once, before we have even begun to 
 inquire into the particular object proposed in the 
 omission ; because we may be sure, in this case, 
 that what did not come from Man must have 
 come from God. 1 
 
 But besides this we mav fairly infer I think of Essen - 
 
 . . J tials a dis- 
 
 that what is essential is to be found clearly laid tinct reve- 
 down in Scripture ; and that those points which scripture 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note (E.) pected. 
 
92 
 
 Internal Evidence, §c. [Essay 1 1. 
 
 are either wholly passed over in silence (when 
 they are such that we are certain from the 
 nature of the case, the Apostles must have given 
 some directions relative to them) or are slightly 
 mentioned, imperfectly described, and inciden- 
 tally alluded to, must belong to the class of 
 things either altogether indifferent, or so far non- 
 essential in their character that " it is not neces- 
 sary " (as our 34th Article expresses it,) " they 
 should be in all places one and utterly alike ; " — 
 such in short that Divine Wisdom judged it best 
 they should be left to the discretion of each 
 Church in each Age and Country," 1 and should 
 be determined according to the principles which 
 had been distinctly laid down by Divine Autho- 
 rity ; while the application of those principles in 
 particular cases, was left (as is the case with our 
 moral conduct also) 11 to the responsible judgment 
 of Man. 
 
 Extent and It was designed in short that a Church should 
 the power have (as our 34th Article expresses it) " autho- 
 ofaChurch. to ordain, change, and abolish ceremonies 
 and rites resting on Man's authority only ; " (this, 
 be it observed, including things which may have 
 been enjoined by the Apostles to those among 
 whom they were living, and which to those persons 
 had a divine authority ; but which are not 
 
 m See Appendix, Note (F.) 
 
 n Essay on Abolition of Law. Second Series. 
 
§ 13.] Things enjoined, excluded, and left at large. 93 
 
 recorded by the sacred writers as enjoined uni- 
 versally) " so that all things be done to edifying :" 
 but that " as no Church ought to decree anything 
 against Holy Writ, so besides the same ought it 
 not to enforce the belief of anything as necessary 
 to Salvation." 
 
 § 13. And we may also infer very clearly from Things en- 
 an attentive and candid survey of the Sacred things' ex - 
 
 . . , , . abided, and 
 
 Writings, not only that some things were things left 
 intended to be absolutely enjoined as essential, °" arg<? ' 
 and others left to the discretion of the rulers of 
 each Church, but also that some things, again, 
 were absolutely excluded, as inconsistent with the 
 character of a Christian Community. 
 
 It is very important therefore, and, to a dili- 
 gent, and reflective, and unprejudiced reader, not 
 difficult, — by observing what the Sacred Writers 
 have omitted, and what they have mentioned, 
 and in what manner they have mentioned each, 
 to form in his mind distinctly the three classes 
 just alluded to: viz. 1st, of things essential to Points es- 
 Christianity, and enjoined as universally requisite ] compatible, 
 2dly, those left to the discretion of the governors ren*""^ 
 of each Church ; and 3dly, those excluded as 
 inconsistent with the character of the Gospel- 
 religion. 
 
 These last points are not least deserving of a 
 careful examination ; especially on account of 
 
94 Things enjoined, excluded, and left at large. [Essay II. 
 
 the misconceptions relative to them, that have 
 prevailed and still prevail, in a large portion of 
 the Christian World. It would lead me too far 
 from the subject now immediately under con- 
 sideration, to enter into a full examination of all 
 the features that are to be found in most reli- 
 gions except the Christian, and which might 
 have been expected to appear in that, supposing 
 it of human origin ; but which are expressly 
 excluded from it. It may be worth while how- 
 ever to advert to a few of the most remarkable. 
 Temporal The Christian Religion, then, arose, be it re- 
 sueceeded membered, among a People who not only looked 
 
 by those of . . , 
 
 afuture for a temporal Deliverer and Prince m their 
 Messiah, but who had been accustomed to the 
 sanction of temporal rewards and judgments to 
 the divine Law ;° — whose Laws, in religious and 
 in secular matters alike, claimed to be an imme- 
 diate revelation from Heaven — whose civil 
 Rulers were regarded as delegates from " the 
 Lord their God, who was their king," and were 
 enjoined to punish with death, as a revolt from 
 the Supreme Civil Authority, — as a crime of the 
 character of high-treason, — any departure from 
 the prescribed religion. It arose in a Nation 
 regarding themselves as subjects of a " Kingdom 
 of God" that was, emphatically, a kingdom of this 
 
 0 See Essay I., 1st Series: "On the Peculiarities," &c. 
 And also Discourse " On National Blessings." 
 
§14-] 
 
 A Religion without Sacrifice, Sfc. 
 
 95 
 
 world : and its most prominent character was its 
 being " a Kingdom not of this world :" it was in 
 all respects the very reverse in respect of the 
 points just mentioned, o what might have been 
 expected, humanly-speaking, from Jewish indi- 
 viduals, and of what was expected by the Jewish 
 Nation ; and, it may be added, of what many 
 Christians have in every Age laboured to repre- 
 sent and to make it. While the mass of his own 
 People were seeking to " take Jesus by force to 
 make Him a King" (a procedure which has 
 been, virtually, imitated by a large proportion 
 of his professed followers ever since) He Himself 
 and his Apostles, uniformly and sedulously, both 
 in their precepts, and in their conduct, rejected 
 as alien from the character of the Gospel, all 
 employment of secular coercion in behalf of 
 their religion, — all encroachment on " the things 
 that be Caesar's ;" and maintained the purely 
 spiritual character of that " Kingdom of Heaven" 
 which they proclaimed. 
 
 On this every way most important point, I 
 have treated at large in the first Essay in this 
 volume, and also, in the Essay on Persecution 
 (3d Series), and the Essays on the Dangers to 
 Christianity, (4th Series.) 
 
 § 14. Moreover the Gospel-religion was intro- Christianity 
 duced by men, — whether Jews or Gentiles, — who without 0 " 
 
96 
 
 A Relit/ ion without Sacrifice, [Essay II. 
 
 had never heard of or conceived such a thing as 
 a religion without a Sacrificing Priest, — without 
 Altars for Sacrifice, — without Sacrifices them- 
 selves, — without either a Temple, or at least 
 some High Place, Grove, or other sacred spot 
 answering to a Temple ; — some place, that is, in 
 which the Deity worshipped was supposed more 
 especially to dwell. p 
 
 The Apostles preached, for the first time — the 
 first, both to Jew and Gentile — a religion quite 
 opposite in all these respects to all that had ever 
 been heard of before : — a religion without any 
 Sacrifice but that offered up by its Founder in 
 his own person ; — without any Sacrificing Priest 
 (Hiereus) q except Him, the great and true High 
 Priest/ and consequently with no Priest (in that 
 sense) on Earth ; except so far as every one 
 of the worshippers was required to present him- 
 self as a " living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable to 
 God;" 8 and a religion without any Temple, 
 
 p Hence the name of Naoe from vatetv, " to dwell." See 
 Hinds's " Three Temples." 
 
 i See Discourse " On the Christian Priesthood," appended 
 to Bampton Lectures. 
 
 r Hebrews, ch. iv. 
 
 s Rom. xii. This offering the Apostle calls Qvaiav ^axray, 
 " a living Sacrifice," as distinguished from the slain animals 
 offered up in other religions ; and also Xoyia) Xarpda, " a 
 reasonable service," as opposed to the irrational animals slain 
 on the altars. 
 
§14.] 
 
 Altar, Priest, or Tew /tie. 
 
 97 
 
 except the collected Congregation of the Wor- 
 shippers themselves. 4 
 
 Let any one but contemplate the striking- 
 contrast, between the confined — the local cha- 
 racter, — of the Mosaic system, and the character 
 of boundless extension stamped on the Gospel 
 of Christ. " In the place which the Lord shall 
 choose" (says Moses u ) "to set his Name therein, 
 there shalt thou offer thy Sacrifices." " The 
 hour cometh" (says Jesus") "when men shall ( 
 neither on this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, 
 
 worship the Father :" " wheresoever two ' > 
 
 or three are gathered together in my name, f * 
 there am I in the midst of them." y " In his 
 Temple" (says the Psalmist ; z i. e. in his temple 
 at Jerusalem) " doth every one speak of his 
 
 glory :" " there will I" (Jehovah) " dwell, 
 
 for I have a delight therein :" " Ye are the 
 Temple" (says the Apostle Paul) " of the Holy 
 Ghost, which dwelleth in you." a 
 
 Now all this is deserving of attentive reflec- Christianity 
 
 . such a sys- 
 
 tion, both as important in reference to a right tem as Man 
 
 knowledge of the true character of the religion have de- 
 
 of the Gospel, and also as furnishing a strong could have 
 
 internal evidence as to its origin. For not only ™ propa- 
 gating. 
 
 4 I have treated of this point in one of a volume of Dis- 
 courses delivered in Dublin. 
 
 u Deut. xii. * John iv. y Matt, xviii. 
 
 " Ps. xxix. a 1 Cor. iii. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 A llelhjion without Sacrifice, [Essay II. 
 
 is it inconceivable that any impostor or enthu- 
 siast would have ever devised or dreamed of any 
 thing both so strange, and so unacceptable, as 
 must have seemed, in those days, a religion 
 without Priest, Altar, Sacrifice, or Temple, (in 
 the sense in which men had always been accus- 
 tomed to them ;) but also it is no less incredible 
 that any persons unaided by miraculous powers, 
 should have succeeded — as the Apostles did — in 
 propagating such a religion, 
 sacrifices, j$ u j- w hat is most to our present purpose to 
 
 and sacri- A 1 A 
 
 firing remark, is, that the Sacred Writers did not omit 
 
 Priests, ex- 
 cluded from the mention of these things, and leave it to the 
 
 Christian- . 
 
 ity. discretion of each Church to introduce them or 
 not ; but they plainly appear to have distinctly 
 excluded them. It is not that they made little 
 or no mention of Temples, Sacrifices, and sacri- 
 ficing Priests; they mention them, and allude 
 to them, perpetually ; as existing, in the ordinary 
 sense of the terms, among the Jews, and also 
 among the Pagans ; and again they also perpe- 
 tually mention and allude to them in reference 
 to the religion of the Gospel, invariably, and 
 manifestly, in a different sense. Jesus Christ as 
 the Christian Priest and Christian Sacrifice, — 
 Christians themselves as " living Sacrifices," — 
 the sacrifice of beneficence to the Poor, b — the 
 
 b " To do good and to distribute, forget not, for with such 
 sacrifices, ((Wt'ate,) God is well pleased." 
 
§ 14.] 
 
 Altar, Priest, or Temple. 
 
 99 
 
 Temple composed of the Christian Worshippers 
 themselves ; who are exhorted to "build up" (or 
 edify, ol/co8o/j.elv) one another, as " living stones" 0 
 of the Temple of the Holy Ghost ; — all these are 
 spoken of and alluded to continually ; while, in 
 the primary and customary sense, the same 
 terms are perpetually used by the same writers, 
 in reference to the Jewish and to the Pagan 
 religions, and never to the Christian. 
 
 I cannot well conceive any proof more com- 
 plete than is here afforded, that Christ and his 
 Apostles intended distinctly to exclude and for- 
 bid, as inconsistent with his religion, those things 
 which I have been speaking of. It being the 
 natural and inherent office of any Community 
 to make bye-laws for its own regulation, where 
 not restricted by some higher Authority, these 
 points are precisely those which come under 
 that restriction ; being distinctly excluded by 
 the Founder and Supreme Governor of the Uni- 
 versal Church as inconsistent with the character 
 of his Religion. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, therefore, — Unreason- 
 though in other matters also experience shows tion, and 
 the liability of men to maintain at once opposite able exten- 
 errors, — that the very persons who are for re- church- 
 stricting within the narrowest limits, — or rather, vocTed by" 
 
 ' 1 Peter ii. 5, &-c. 
 H 2 
 
LOO 
 
 No Head on Earth 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 the same indeed, annulling altogether, — the natural right 
 of a community to make and alter bye-laws in 
 matters not determined by a superior authority, 
 and who deny that any Church is at liberty to 
 depart, even in matters left wholly undecided in 
 Scripture, from the supposed, — or even con- 
 jectured — practice of the Apostles, these very 
 persons are found advocating the introduction 
 into Christianity of practices and institutions not 
 only unauthorized, but plainly excluded, by its 
 inspired promulgators; — such as Sacrifices and 
 sacrificing Priests ; thus, at once, denying the 
 rights which do belong to a Christian Commu- 
 nity, and asserting those which do not ; at once 
 fettering the Church by a supposed obligation to 
 conform strictly to some supposed precedents of 
 antiquity, and boldly casting off the obligation 
 to adhere to the plainest injunctions of God's 
 written Word. " Full well do ye reject the 
 commandment of God, that ye may keep your 
 own tradition.'" 1 
 
 The Chris- § 15. Among the things excluded from the 
 ^rver h sai ch Christian system, we are fully authorized to in- 
 ritaauS clude au subjection of the Christian World, per- 
 on Earth. manen tly, and from generation to generation, to 
 some one Spiritual Ruler (whether an individual 
 
 J Mark vii. 9. 
 
§15.] 
 
 of the Church Universal. 
 
 101 
 
 man, or a Church) the delegate, representative 
 and vicegerent of Christ ; whose authority should 
 be binding on the conscience of all, and decisive 
 on every point of faith. Jesus Himself, who 
 told his Disciples that it was " expedient for 
 them that He should go away, that He might 
 send them another Comforter, who should abide 
 with them for ever," could not possibly have 
 failed, had such been his design, to refer them 
 to the man, or Body of men, who should, in 
 perpetual succession, be the depositary of this 
 divine consolation and supremacy. And it is 
 wholly incredible that He Himself should be 
 perpetually spoken of and alluded to as the 
 Head of his Church, without any reference to 
 any supreme Head on Earth, as fully represent- 
 ing Him and bearing universal rule in his name, 
 — whether Peter or any other Apostle, or any 
 successor of one of these, — this, I say, is utterly 
 incredible, supposing the Apostles or their Mas- 
 ter had really designed that there should be for 
 the universal Church any institution answering 
 to the oracle of God under the Old Dispensation, 
 at the Tabernacle or the Temple. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, in speaking of miracles as The mira- 
 " the signs of an Apostle," evidently implies that sign^f ai 
 no one not possessing such miraculous gifts as ^.dsfte^or 
 his, 6 much less, without possessing any at all, — any 
 
 " 1 Cor. xiv. IS. 
 
102 
 
 No Head on Earth 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 chimantof could be entitled to be regarded as even on a 
 
 apostolical 
 
 power. level with the Apostles ; yet he does not, by 
 virtue of that his high office, claim for himself, 
 or allow to Peter or any other, supreme rule 
 over all the Churches/ And while he claims 
 and exercises the right to decide authoritatively 
 on points of faith and of practice on which he 
 had received express revelations, he does not 
 leave his converts any injunction to apply, here- 
 after, when he shall be removed from them, to 
 the Bishop or Rulers of any other Church, for 
 such decisions ; or to any kind of permanent 
 living oracle to dictate to all Christians in all 
 Ages. Nor does he even ever hint at any sub- 
 jection of one Church to another, singly, or to 
 any number of others collectively ; — to that of 
 Jerusalem, for instance, or of Rome ; or to any 
 kind of general Council. 
 
 No one It appears plainly from the sacred narrative, 
 
 Communi- 
 ty on Earth that though the many Churches which the Apo- 
 
 power over sties founded were branches of one Spiritual 
 tians. Brotherhood, of which the Lord Jesus Christ 
 is the Heavenly Head, — though there was " one 
 Lord, one Faith, one Baptism," for all of them, 
 yet they were each a distinct, independent com- 
 munity on Earth, united by the common princi- 
 ples on which they were founded, and by their 
 
 1 Gal. ii. 7—9. 
 
§15.] 
 
 of the Church, Universal. 
 
 103 
 
 mutual agreement, affection, and respect; but 
 not having any one recognised Head on Earth, 
 or acknowledging any sovereignty of one of 
 these Societies over others/ 
 
 And as for — so-called — General Councils, we General 
 
 , . Councils 
 
 find not even any mention of them, or allusion not autho- 
 to any such expedient. The pretended first Scripture. 
 Council, at Jerusalem, does seem to me h a most 
 extraordinary chimera, without any warrant 
 whatever from Sacred History. 
 
 We find in the narrative, that certain persons, 
 coming from Jerusalem to Antioch, endeavoured 
 to impose on the Gentile converts the yoke of 
 the Mosaic Law ; pretending — as appears plainly 
 from the context' — to have the sanction of the 
 Apostles for this. Nothing could be more natu- 
 ral than the step which was thereupon taken, — 
 to send a deputation to Jerusalem, to inquire 
 whether these pretensions were well founded. 
 The Apostles, in the midst of an Assembly of 
 the Elders (or Clergy, as they would now be 
 called) of Jerusalem, decided that no such bur- 
 den ought to be imposed, and that their pre- 
 
 g Generally speaking, the Apostles appear to have clearly 
 established a distinct Church in each considerable city ; so that 
 there were several even in a single Province ; as for instance, in 
 Macedonia, those of Philippi, Thessalonica, Beraea, Amphipolis, 
 &c. : and the like in the Province of Achaia, and elsewhere. 
 
 h See Burnet on Article 21. 
 
 * Acts xv. 24. 
 
104 
 
 No Head on Earth 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 tended sanction had not been given. The Church 
 at Jerusalem, even independently of the Apostles, 
 had of course, power to decide this last point ; 
 i. e. to declare the fact whether they had or had 
 not given the pretended sanction : and the Apo- 
 stles, confessedly, had plenary power to declare 
 the will of the Lord Jesus. And the deputa- 
 Pretended tion, accordingly, retired satisfied. There is no 
 Council, hint, throughout, of any summons to the several 
 character. Churches in Judea and Galilee, in Samaria, Cy- 
 prus, Cyrene, &c. to send deputations, as to a 
 general Council ; nor any assumption of a right 
 in the Church of Jerusalem, as such, to govern 
 the rest, or to decide on points of faith. 
 Ordination It is worth remarking also, that, as if on pur- 
 Bafnabat" 11 pose to guard against the assumption, which 
 might, not unnaturally, have taken place, of 
 some supremacy — such as no Church was de- 
 signed to enjoy, — on the part of Jerusalem, the 
 fountain-head of the religion, it was by the special 
 appointment of the Holy Spirit that Saul and 
 Barnabas were ordained to the very highest office, 
 the Apostleship, not by the hands of the other 
 Apostles, or of any persons at Jerusalem, but by 
 the Elders of Antioch. This would have been 
 the less remarkable had no human ordination at 
 all taken place, but merely a special immediate 
 appointment of them by divine revelation. But 
 the command given was, " separate me .... let 
 
of the Church Universal. 
 
 105 
 
 them go." k Some reason for such a procedure 
 there must have been ; and it does seem proba- 
 ble that it was designed for the very purpose 
 (among others) of impressing on men's minds 
 the independence and equality of the several 
 Churches on Earth. 
 
 On the whole, then, considering in addition [mpossibi- 
 
 ill lityofPaul's 
 
 to all these circumstances, the number and the having 
 variety of the Epistles of Paul, (to say nothing notice a s °- 
 of those of the other Apostles) and the deep vw™Hri- 
 anxiety he manifests for the continuance of his Jj^e been 
 converts in the right faith, and his earnest warn- any ' 
 ings of them 1 against the dangers to their faith, 
 which he foresaw ; and considering also the in- 
 calculable importance of such an institution 
 (supposing it to exist) as a permanent living 
 oracle and supreme Ruler of the Church, on 
 Earth ; and the necessity of pointing it out so 
 clearly that no one could possibly, except 
 through wilful blindness and obstinacy, be in 
 any doubt as to the place and persons whom 
 the Lord should have thus " chosen to cause his 
 name to dwell" therein — especially, as a plain 
 reference to this infallible judge, guide, and 
 governor, would have been so obvious, easy, 
 short, and decisive a mode of guarding against 
 the doubts, errors, and dissensions which he so 
 
 k Acts xiii. 2, 3. 
 
 Acts xx. 
 
106 No Head on Earth of the Church Universal. [Essay II. 
 
 anxiously apprehended ; — considering, I say, all 
 this, it does seem to me a perfect moral impos- 
 sibility, that Paul and the other sacred writers 
 should have written, as they have done, without 
 any mention or allusion to any thing of the 
 kind, if it had been a part (and it must have 
 been a most essential part, if it were any) of the 
 Christian System. They do not merely omit 
 all reference to any supreme and infallible Head 
 and Oracle of the Universal Church, — to any 
 Man or Body, as the representative and Vice- 
 gerent of Christ, but they omit it in such a 
 manner, and under such circumstances, as plainly 
 to amount to an exclusion. 
 Com- It may be added that the circumstance of our 
 
 mentof Lord's having deferred the Commencement of 
 church " hi s Church till after his own departure in bodily 
 Christ* tlU P erson > from the Earth, seems to have been 
 departure, designed, as a further safeguard against the 
 notion I have been alluding to. Had He pub- 
 licly presided in bodily person subsequently to 
 the completion of the Redemption by his death, 
 over a Church in Jerusalem or elsewhere, there 
 would have been more plausibility in the claim 
 to supremacy which might have been set up and 
 admitted, on behalf of that Church, and of his 
 own successors in the Government of it. His 
 previously withdrawing, made it the more easily 
 to be understood that He was to remain the 
 
§ 16.] Importance of Points excluded. 
 
 107 
 
 spiritual Head in Heaven, of the spiritual Church- 
 universal ; and consequently of all particular 
 Churches, equally, in all parts of the world. 
 
 § 16. This therefore, and the other points just importance 
 mentioned, must be regarded as negatively excluded, 
 characteristic of the Christian religion, no less 
 than it is positively characterised by those truths 
 and those enactments which the inspired Writers 
 lay down as essential. Their prohibitions in the 
 one case, are as plain as their injunctions in the 
 other. 
 
 There is not indeed any systematic enumeration 
 of the several points that are excluded as incon- 
 sistent with the character of the religion ; answer- 
 ing to the prohibition of Idolatry in the Decalogue, 
 the enumeration of forbidden meats, and other 
 such enactments of the Levitical Law. But the 
 same may be said no less of the affirmative direc- 
 tions also that are to be found in the New Testa- 
 ment. The fundamental doctrines and the great 
 moral principles of the Gospel, are there taught, — 
 for wise reasons no doubt, and which I think we 
 may in part perceive,™ not in Creeds or other 
 regular formularies, but incidentally, irregularly, 
 and often by oblique allusions ; less striking 
 indeed at first sight than distinct enunciations 
 
 m Sec Appendix, Note (G.) 
 
10S Importance of Points excluded. [Essay II. 
 
 and enactments, but often even the more de- 
 cisive and satisfactory from that very circum- 
 stance ; because the Apostles frequently allude 
 to some truth as not only essential, but indis- 
 putably admitted, and familiarly known to be 
 essential by those they were addressing." 
 Certainty On the whole then, I cannot but think an 
 things en- attentive and candid inquirer, who brings to the 
 bidden Md study of Scripture no extraordinary learning or 
 My"ma y n be acuteness, but an unprejudiced and docile mind, 
 gashed. ma y ascertain with reasonable certainty, that 
 there are points — and what those points are — 
 which are insisted on by our sacred writers as 
 essential; and again, which are excluded as incon- 
 sistent with the religion they taught ; and again, 
 that there are many other points, — some of them 
 such that the Apostles cannot but have practi- 
 cally decided them in one way or another on 
 particular occasions, (such as the mode of admi- 
 nistering the Eucharist, and many others) re- 
 specting which they have not recorded their 
 decisions, or made any general enactment to be 
 observed in all Ages and Countries. 
 
 And the inference seems to be inevitable, that 
 they purposely left these points to be decided in 
 each Age and Country according to the dis- 
 cretion of the several Churches, by a careful 
 
 See Rhetoric, 6th Edition, Part I. eh. 2, § 4. 
 
§ 17.] Contrary Errors apposed to the above Principles. 109 
 
 application of the principles laid down by Christ 
 and his Apostles. 
 
 § 17. At variance with what has been now opposite 
 said, and also at variance with each other, are variance 
 some opinions which are to be found among above prin- 
 different classes of Christians, in these, as well Clples ' 
 as in former times. The opposite errors (as 
 they appear to me to be) of those opinions, may 
 in many instances be traced, I conceive, in great 
 measure, to the same cause ; to the neglect, 
 namely, of the distinction — obvious as it is to 
 any tolerably attentive reader — which has been 
 just noticed, between those things, on the one 
 hand, which are either plainly declared and 
 strictly enjoined, or distinctly excluded, by the 
 Sacred Writers, and, on the other hand, those on 
 which they give no distinct decision, injunction, 
 or prohibition ; and which, I have thence con- 
 cluded they meant to place under the juris- 
 diction of each Church. To the neglect of this 
 distinction, and again, to a want of due conside- 
 ration of the character, offices, and rights of a 
 Christian Community, may be attributed, in a 
 great degree, the prevalence of errors the most 
 opposite to each other. 
 
 There are persons, it is well known, who from Error of 
 not finding in Scripture precise directions, and regardno 
 strict commands, as to the constitution and ordinances, 
 
110 
 
 Contrary Errors opposed to [Essay II. 
 
 &c as bind- regulation of a Christian Church, — the several 
 Orders of Christian Ministers, — the distinct 
 functions of each, — and other such details, have 
 adopted the conclusion, — or at least seem to lean, 
 more or less, towards the conclusion — that it is 
 a matter entirely left to each individual's fancy 
 or convenience to join one Christian Society, or 
 another, or none at all ; — to take upon himself, 
 or confer on another, the Ministerial office, or to 
 repudiate altogether any Christian Ministry 
 whatever ; — to join, or withdraw from, any, or 
 every religious Assembly for joint Christian 
 Worship, according to the suggestion of his 
 individual taste : — in short, (for this is what it 
 really amounts to when plainly stated) to proceed 
 as if the sanction manifestly given by our Lord 
 and his Apostles to the establishment of Christian 
 Communities, and, consequently, to all the pri- 
 vileges and powers implied in the very nature 
 of a Community, and also the inculcation in 
 Scripture of the principles on which Christian 
 Churches are to be conducted, were all to go for 
 nothing, unless the application of these principles 
 to each particular point of the details of Church- 
 government, can also be found no less plainly 
 laid down in Scripture. 
 Mistake of Now though I would not be understood as 
 prec7se n dL insinuating any thing against the actual morality 
 
 rections ^ ^ take such y J ewSj J cann0 t 
 
the above Principles. 
 
 Ill 
 
 but remark, that their mode of reasoning does on each 
 seem to me perfectly analogous to that of men detail. 0 
 who should set at nought all the moral principles 
 of the Gospel, and account nothing a sin that is 
 not expressly particularized as forbidden, — 
 nothing a duty, that is not, in so many words, 
 enjoined. Persons who entertain such lax no- 
 tions as I have been alluding to, respecting 
 Church-enactments, should be exhorted to reflect 
 carefully on the obvious and self-evident, but 
 often-forgotten truth — the oftener forgotten, 
 perhaps, in practice, from its being self-evident — 
 that right and duty are reciprocal ; and, conse- 
 quently, that since a Church has a right (derived, 
 as has been shown, both from the very nature 
 of a Community, and from Christ's sanction) to 
 make regulations, &c. not at variance with Scrip- 
 ture-principles, it follows that compliance with 
 such regulations must be a duty to the individual 
 members of that Church. 
 
 On the other hand, there are some, who, in Error of 
 their abhorrence and dread of principles and leeTiiT 110 
 practices subversive of all good order, and tend- S'fif- 
 ing to anarchy and to every kind of extravagance, ^£uo 
 have thought, — or at least professed to think, — chwch- 
 that we are bound to seek for a distinct authori- enactment - 
 tative sanction, in the Scriptures, or in some 
 other ancient 0 writings, — some Tradition in short 
 
 ° By " ancient " some persons understand what belongs to 
 the first three centuries of the Christian era ; some, the first 
 
1 12 
 
 Contrary Errors. ,\v. 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 - — for each separate point which we would main- 
 tain. They assume that whatever doctrines 
 or practices, whatever institutions, whatever re- 
 gulations respecting Church-government, we can 
 conclude, either with certainty, or with any 
 degree of probability, to have been either intro- 
 duced by the Apostles, or to have prevailed in 
 their time, or in the time of their immediate 
 successors, are to be considered as absolutely 
 binding on all Christians for ever ; — as a model 
 from which no Church is at liberty to depart. 
 And they make our membership of the Church 
 of Christ, and our hopes of the Gospel-salvation, 
 depend on an exact adherence to every thing 
 that is proved, or believed, or even suspected, 
 to be an apostolical usage ; and on our possessing 
 what they call Apostolical Succession ; that is, 
 on our having a Ministry whose descent can be 
 traced up in an unbroken and undoubted chain, 
 to the Apostles themselves, through men regu- 
 larly ordained by them or their successors, 
 
 four ; some, seven ; so arbitrary and uncertain is the standard 
 by which some would persuade us to try questions, on which 
 they, at the same time, teach us to believe our Christian Faith 
 and Christian Hope are staked ! 
 
 " Scire velim, pretium chartis quotus arroget annus : 
 
 Est vetus atque probus, centum qui perficit annos. 
 Quid ? qui deperiit minor uno mense vel anno, 
 Inter quos referendus erit ? veteresne ?" * * * 
 
 Horace, Epist. I. b. 2. 
 
§ 18.] False Foundations substituted for the True. 1 13 
 
 according to the exact forms originally appointed. 
 And all Christians (so called) who do not come 
 under this description, are to be regarded either 
 as outcasts from " the Household of Faith," or at 
 best as in a condition " analogous to that of the 
 Samaritans of old" who worshipped on Mount 
 Gerizim, p or as in " an intermediate state between 
 Christianity and Heathenism," and as " left to 
 the uncovenanted mercies of God." 
 
 § 18. Those who on such grounds defend the church- 
 Institutions and Ordinances, and vindicate the removed 
 Apostolical Character, of our own (or indeed of Ibundatfo™ 
 any) Church, — whether on their own sincere onVbasL' 
 conviction, or as believing that such arguments of sand ' 
 are the best calculated to inspire the mass of 
 mankind with becoming reverence, and to repress 
 the evil of schism, — do seem to me, in propor- 
 tion as they proceed on those principles, to be, 
 in the same degree, removing our institutions 
 from a foundation on a rock, to place them on 
 sand. Instead of a clearly-intelligible, well- 
 established, and accessible proof of Divine Sanc- 
 tion for the claims of our Church, they would 
 substitute one that is not only obscure, disputable, 
 and out of the reach of the mass of mankind, 
 but even self-contradictory, subversive of our 
 
114 
 
 False Foundations 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 own and every Church's claims, and leading to 
 the very evils of doubt, and schismatical division, 
 which it is desired to guard against. 
 Truefbun- The Rock on which I am persuaded our 
 
 dation of 1 
 
 church Reformers intended, and rightly intended, to rest 
 
 enactments. _ . 
 
 the Ordinances of our Church, is, the warrant 
 to be found in the Holy Scriptures written by, 
 or under the direction of those to whom our 
 Lord had entrusted the duty of " teaching men 
 to observe all things whatsoever He had com- 
 manded them." For in those Scriptures we find 
 a Divine Sanction clearly given to a regular Chris- 
 tian Community, — a Church; which is, according 
 to the definition in our 19th Article,' 1 " a congre- 
 gation (i. e. Society or Community ; Ecclesia) of 
 
 q In our Article as it stands in the English, it is " The 
 visible Church of Christ is," &c. ; but there can be no doubt, 
 I think, that the more correct version from the Latin (the 
 Latin Articles appear to have been the original, and the 
 English a translation — in some few places, a careless transla- 
 tion — from the Latin) would have been " A visible Church 
 and a ". The Latin " Ecclesia Christi visibilis " would indeed 
 answer to either phrase, the want of an article definite or inde- 
 finite in that language rendering it liable to such ambiguity. 
 But the context plainly shows that the writer is not speaking 
 of the Universal Church, but of particular Churches, such as 
 the " Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Rome." The 
 English translator probably either erred from momentary inat- 
 tention, or, (more likely) understood by " Ecclesia," and by 
 " the Church," the particular Church whose Articles were 
 before him, — the Church of England. 
 
§ 18.] substituted for the True. 115 
 
 faithful men/ in the which the pure Word of God 
 is preached, and the Sacraments duly admi- 
 nistered according to Christ's ordinance, in all 
 those things which of necessity are requisite to 
 the same." Now since, from the very nature of 
 the case, every Society must have Officers, 
 appointed in some way or other, and every 
 Society that is to be permanent, a perpetual 
 succession of Officers, in whatever manner kept 
 up, and must have also a power of enacting, 
 abrogating, and enforcing on its own members, 
 such regulations or bye-laws as are not opposed 
 to some higher authority, it follows inevitably 
 (as I have above observed) that any one who 
 sanctions a Society, gives, in so doing, his sanc- 
 tion to those essentials of a Society ; its Govern- 
 ment, — its Officers, — its Regulations. Accord- 
 ingly even if our Lord had not expressly said 
 anything about " binding and loosing," still the 
 very circumstance of his sanctioning a Christian 
 Community would necessarily have implied his 
 sanction of the Institutions, Ministers, and 
 Government of a Christian Church, so long as 
 nothing is introduced at variance with the 
 positive enactments, and the fundamental prin- 
 ciples, laid down by Himself and his Apostles. 
 
 ' I. e. believers in Christ ; — fideles ; — wiv-in. 
 
 i 2 
 
11C The English Reformers chose the true Basis. [Essay II 
 
 The § 19. This, which I have called a foundation on 
 
 English * 
 
 reformers a rock, is evidently that on which (as has been 
 true foun- just observed) our Reformers designed to place 
 
 dation. 
 
 our Church. 
 
 While they strongly deny to any Church the 
 power to " ordain any thing contrary to God's 
 Word," or to require as essential to salvation, 
 belief in any thing not resting on scriptural 
 authority, they claim the power for each Church 
 of ordaining and altering " rites and ceremonies/' 
 " so that all things be done to edifying," and 
 nothing " contrary to God's Word." They claim 
 on that ground for our own Church a recog- 
 nition of that power in respect of the Forms of 
 Public Service ; — on the ground, that is (Art. 36) 
 that these " contain nothing that is in itself 
 superstitious and ungodly." 
 chim of And they rest the claims of Ministers, not on 
 te'rs of the some supposed sacramental virtue, transmitted 
 church!" from hand to hand in unbroken succession from 
 the Apostles, in a chain, of which if any one 
 link be even doubtful, a distressing uncertainty 
 is thrown over all Christian Ordinances, 
 Sacraments, and Church-privileges for ever ; 
 but, on the fact of those Ministers being the 
 regularly-appointed officers of a regular Chris- 
 tian Community. " It is not lawful" (says the 
 23d Article) " for any man to take upon him 
 
§ 1 9.] The English Reformers chose the true Basis. 1 1 7 
 
 the office of public preaching, or ministering 
 the sacraments in the congregation, before he 
 be lawfully called and sent to execute the 
 same. And those we ought to judge lawfully 
 called and sent, which be chosen and called 
 to this work by men who have public autho- 
 rity given unto them in the Congregation, to 
 call and send Ministers into the Lord's Vine- 
 yard." 8 
 
 Those who are not satisfied with the founda- Pretended 
 
 Church- 
 
 tion thus laid, — and which, as I have endeavoured principles 
 to show, is the very foundation which Christ and of the func- 
 his Apostles have prepared for us, — who seek to rights of a 
 take higher ground, as the phrase is, and main- 
 tain what are called according to the modern 
 fashion " Church-principles," or " Church-of- 
 England principles," are in fact subverting the 
 principles both of our own Church in particular, 
 and of every Christian Church that claims the 
 inherent rights belonging to a Community, and 
 confirmed by the sanction of God's Word 
 as contained in the Holy Scriptures. It is 
 advancing, but not in the right road, — it is 
 advancing not in sound learning but error, — not 
 in faith, but in superstitious credulity, to seek for 
 some higher and better ground on which to rest 
 our doctrines and institutions than that on which 
 
 ■ See § 23. 
 
1 1 8 The English Reformers chose the true Basis. [Essay II. 
 
 they were placed by " the Author and Finisher 
 of our Faith.'" 
 
 On this point I will take the liberty of insert- 
 ing an extract from a Charge (not published) 
 which was delivered a year ago ; because I wish 
 to point out, that the views I am taking, whether 
 sound or unsound — and this I sincerely wish to 
 be decided according to the reasons adduced — 
 are at least not hastily but deliberately adopted, 
 and have undergone no change in that interval. 
 
 " When I speak of unceasing progress, — of 
 
 ' It is curious to observe how very common it is for any Sect 
 or Party to assume a title indicative of the very excellence in 
 which they are especially deficient, or strongly condemnatory 
 of the very errors with which they are especially chargeable. 
 Thus, those who from time to time have designated themselves 
 "Gnostics," i.e. persons "knowing" the Gospel, in a far 
 superior degree to other professed Christians, — have been 
 generally remarkable for their want of knowledge of the very 
 first rudiments of evangelical truth. The phrase " Catholic" 
 religion, (i. e. " Universal") is the most commonly in the 
 mouths of those who are the most limited and exclusive in 
 their views, and who seek to shut out the largest number of 
 Christian communities from the Gospel-covenant. " Schism," 
 again, is by none more loudly reprobated than by those who 
 are not only the immediate authors of schism, but the advo- 
 cates of principles tending to generate and perpetuate schisms 
 without end. And " Church-principles," — " High-church 
 principles," — " Church-of-England principles," — are the fa- 
 vourite terms of those who go the furthest in subverting all 
 these. 
 
 Obvious as this fallacy is, there is none more commonly 
 successful in throwing men off their guard. 
 
§ 19.] Tlie English Reformers chose the true Basis. 119 
 
 continual improvement in all that pertains to 
 the Christian life, — as what we ought to aim at, 
 both in ourselves, and in those with whom we 
 have influence, it may perhaps be proper to add, 
 — that this does not imply any attempt ' to be 
 wise above that which is written,' — any expecta- 
 tion of a new and additional revelation, or of the 
 discovery of new doctrines, — any pretensions to 
 inspiration, — or hopes of a fresh out-pouring 
 of that, or of any other miraculous gifts. It 
 seemed needful to make this remark, because 
 such hopes have been cherished, — such pre- 
 tensions put forth, — from time to time, in various 
 ages of the Church, and not least in the 
 present. 
 
 " I have coupled together these two things, — 
 miraculous gifts, and a new revelation, because 
 I conceive them to be in reality inseparable. 
 Miracles are the only sufficient credentials on 
 which any one can reasonably demand assent 
 to doctrines not clearly revealed (to the under- 
 standing of his hearers) in Scripture. The pro- 
 mulgation of new articles of faith, or of articles 
 which, though not avowedly new, are yet not 
 obviously contained in Scripture, is most pre- 
 sumptuous, unless so authenticated. And again, 
 pretensions to miraculous powers such as those 
 of Moses and the Prophets, — of Christ and the 
 
120 The English Reformers chose the trueBasis. [Essay II. 
 
 Apostles, seem to imply some such object to be 
 furthered by them. At any rate, those who 
 shall have thus established their claim to be 
 considered as messengers from Heaven, may 
 evidently demand assent to whatever they may, 
 in that character, promulgate. If any persons 
 therefore pretend to such a mark of a divine 
 commission as the gift of tongues, or any such 
 power, no one who admits their pretensions can 
 consistently withhold assent from any thing 
 they may declare themselves commissioned to 
 teach. 
 
 " And, again, if any persons claim for any 
 traditions of the Church, an authority, either 
 paramount to Scripture, or equal to Scripture, 
 or concurrent with it, — or, which comes to the 
 very same thing, decisive as to the interpretation 
 of Scripture, — taking on themselves to decide 
 what is ' the Church,' and what tradition is to 
 be thus received, — these persons are plainly 
 called on to establish by miraculous evidence 
 the claims they advance. And if they make 
 their appeal not to miracles wrought by them- 
 selves, but to those which originally formed 
 the evidence of the Gospel, they are bound 
 to show by some decisive proof, that that evi- 
 dence can fairly be brought to bear upon and 
 authenticate their pretension ; — that they are, by 
 
§19.] The Enylish Reformers chose the true Basis. V2i 
 
 Christ's decree, the rightful depositories of the 
 power they claim. 
 
 " But to such as reject and protest against all 
 such groundless claims, an interminable field 
 is still open for the application of all the facul- 
 ties, intellectual and moral, with which God 
 has endowed us, for the fuller understanding 
 and development of the truths revealed in his 
 written Word. To learn and to teach what is 
 there to be found ; — to develop more and more 
 fully to your own minds and to those of your 
 hearers, what the Evangelists and Apostles have 
 conveyed to us, will be enough and more than 
 enough to occupy even a longer life than any of 
 us can expect. 
 
 " The Mosaic Dispensation was the dawn of 
 ' the dayspring from on high,' not yet arrived, — 
 of a Sun only about to rise. It was a Revelation 
 in itself imperfect. The Sun of the Gospel 
 arose ; ' the true Light, which lighteth every 
 one that cometh into the world ' appeared : but 
 it was partially hidden, and is so, still, by a veil 
 of clouds ; — by prejudices of various kinds, — by 
 the passions, and infirmities, and ignorance, of 
 mankind. We may advance, and we may lead 
 others to advance, indefinitely, in the full deve- 
 lopment of Gospel-truth, — of the real character 
 and meaning and design of Christ's religion ; 
 
122 The English Reformers chose the true Basis. [Essay II. 
 
 not by seeking to superadd something to the 
 Gospel-revelation ; but by a more correct and 
 fuller comprehension of it ; — not by increasing, 
 absolutely, the light of the noonday-sun, but by 
 clearing away the mists which obscure our view 
 of it. Christianity itself cannot be improved ; 
 but men's views, and estimate, and comprehen- 
 sion of Christianity, may be indefinitely im- 
 proved. 
 
 " Vigilant discretion however is no less need- 
 ful than zeal and perseverance, if we would 
 really advance in the Christian course. The 
 most active and patient traveller, if he be not 
 also watchfully careful to keep in the right road, 
 may, after having once diverged from it into 
 some other track, be expending his energies in 
 going further and further astray, while he fancies 
 himself making progress in his journey. 
 
 "In various ways is the Christian, and not 
 least, the Christian Minister, liable to this kind 
 of self-deception. I am not now, you will 
 observe, adverting chiefly to the danger of 
 mistaking what is absolutely false, for true, or 
 wrong for right ; but rather to that of mistaking 
 the real character of some description of truth 
 or of valuable knowledge. We have to guard 
 against mistake, for instance, as to what is or is 
 not a part of the C\m$tian-Reve!ation ; — a truth 
 
§ 19.] The English Reformers chose the true Basis. 123 
 
 belonging to the Gospel, and resting, properly, 
 on divine authority. While advancing in the 
 attainment of what may be in itself very valuable 
 and important knowledge we may be in fact going 
 further and further in error, if we confound 
 together the inspired and the uninspired, — the 
 sacred text, with the human comment. 
 
 " There are persons (such as I have above 
 alluded to) who in their zeal — in itself laudable 
 — to advance towards a full comprehension of 
 the Gospel-revelation, have conceived that they 
 are to seek for this by diligent research into the 
 tenets and practices of what is called the Primi- 
 tive Church ; i. e. the Christian world during the 
 first three or first four Ages ; and some have 
 even gone so far as to represent the revelation 
 of the Christian-scheme contained in the New 
 Testament as a mere imperfect and uncompleted 
 outline, which was to be filled up by the Church 
 in the succeeding three centuries ; — as a mere 
 beginning of that which the early Fathers were 
 empowered and commissioned to finish : though 
 on what grounds any kind of authority is claimed 
 for the Church then, which does not equally 
 belong to it at this day, or at any intermediate 
 period, no one, as far as I know, has even 
 attempted to make out. 
 
 " Now, to learn what has been said and done 
 by eminent men in every Age of the Church, is 
 
1 24 The English Reformers chose the true Basis. [Essay II. 
 
 of course interesting and valuable to a theolo- 
 gical student. And a man of modesty and 
 candour will not fail to pay great attention to 
 their opinions, in whatever period they may 
 have lived. He will also inquire with peculiar 
 interest into the belief and the practices of those 
 who had been instructed by the immediate dis- 
 ciples and other contemporaries of the Apostles 
 themselves. But the mistake is, to assume, on 
 the ground of presumptuous conjecture (for of 
 proof, there is not even a shadow) that these 
 men were infallible interpreters of the Apostles, 
 and had received from them by tradition some- 
 thing not contained, or not plainly set forth, in 
 their writings, but which yet were designed 
 by those very Apostles as a necessary portion of 
 Christianity. 
 
 " Not only are all these assumptions utterly 
 groundless and unwarrantable, but, on the con- 
 trary, even if there is any thing which we can be 
 morally certain was practised in the time of the 
 Apostles, and with their sanction (as is the case 
 for instance with the Agapae or Lovefeasts) we 
 must yet consider it as not designed by them to 
 be of universal and perpetual obligation, where 
 they have not distinctly laid it down as such in 
 their writings. By omitting, in any case, thus 
 to record certain of their practices or directions, 
 they have given us as clear an indication as we 
 
§ 19.] The English Reformers chose the true B/isis. 125 
 
 could have looked for, of their design to leave 
 these to the free choice and decision of each 
 Church in each Age and Country. And there 
 seems every reason to think that it was on pur- 
 pose to avoid misapprehensions of this kind, that 
 they did leave unrecorded so much of what we 
 cannot but be sure they must have practised, 
 and said, and established, in the Churches under 
 their own immediate care. 
 
 " And it should be remembered that what 
 some persons consider as the safe side in respect 
 of such points, — as the extreme of scrupulous 
 and cautious veneration — is in truth the reverse. 
 A wise and right-minded reverence for divine 
 authority will render us doubly scrupulous of 
 reckoning any thing as a divine precept or 
 institution, without sufficient warrant. Yet, 
 at the first glance, a readiness to bestow religious 
 veneration, with or without good grounds (which 
 is the very characteristic of superstition) is 
 apt to be mistaken for a sign of pre-eminent 
 piety. Besides those who hold the ' double doc- 
 trine ' — the ' disciplina arcani ' — and concerning 
 whom therefore it would be rash to pronounce 
 whether any particular tenet taught by them, is 
 one which they inwardly believe, or is one 
 of the exoteric instructions deemed expedient 
 for the multitude , — besides these persons, there 
 are, no doubt, men of sincere though mistaken 
 
126 The English Reformers chose the true Basis. [Essay II. 
 
 piety, who, as has been just intimated, consider 
 it as the safe side in all doubtful cases, to adhere 
 with unhesitating confidence to every thing that 
 may possibly have been introduced or practised by 
 the Apostles ; — to make every thing an article of 
 Christian faith that could have been implied in 
 any thing they may have taught. But such per- 
 sons would perceive on more careful and sober 
 reflection, that a rightly-scrupulous piety consists, 
 as has been said, in drawing the line as distinctly 
 as we are able, between what is, and what is not 
 designed by our divine Instructors as a portion of 
 their authoritative precepts and directions. It is 
 by this careful anxiety to comply with their inten- 
 tion with respect to us, that we are to manifest a 
 true veneration for them. 
 
 " Any thing that does not fall within this rule, 
 we may believe, but not as a part of the Chris- 
 tian revelation ; — we may practise, but not as 
 a portion of the divine institutions essential to a 
 Christian Church, and binding on all men in 
 all Ages : not, in short, as something placed 
 beyond the bounds of that 'binding and loosing' 
 power which belongs to every Church, in refe- 
 rence to things neither enjoined in Scripture 
 nor at variance with it. Otherwise, even though 
 what we believe should be, really, and in itself, 
 true, and though what we practise, should 
 chance to be in fact what the Apostles did 
 
§ 20. | 
 
 Destructive Principles. 
 
 127 
 
 practise, we should be not honouring, but 
 dishonouring God, by taking upon ourselves to 
 give the sanction of his authority to that from 
 which He has thought fit to withhold that 
 sanction. When the Apostle Paul gave his 
 advice on matters respecting which he ' had no 
 commandment from the Lord,' he of course 
 thought that what he was recommending was 
 good ; but so far was he from presuming to put 
 it forth as a divine command, that he expressly 
 notified the contrary. Let us not think to mani- 
 fest our pious humility by reversing the Apostle's 
 procedure ! 
 
 " I have thought it needful, in these times 
 especially, to insert this caution against such 
 mistaken efforts after advancement in Christian 
 knowledge and practice ; against the delusions of 
 those who, while they exult in their imagined 
 progress in the Christian course, are, in reality 
 straying into other paths, and following a bewil- 
 dering meteor." 
 
 § 20. Those whose "Church-principles" lead Pretended 
 them thus to remove from a firm foundation the prineiples 
 institutions of a Christian Church, and especially christian 6 
 of our own, and to place them on the sand, are pHv^eges 
 moreover compelled, as it were with their own XocafclT 1 ' 
 hands, to dig away even that very foundation 
 of sand. For, in respect of our own Church, 
 
128 
 
 Principles destructive of [Essay II. 
 
 since it inculcates repeatedly and earnestly as a 
 fundamental principle," that nothing is to be 
 insisted on as an essential point of faith, that is 
 not taught in Scripture, any member of our 
 Church who should make essentials of points 
 confessedly not found in Scripture, and who 
 should consequently make it a point of necessary 
 faith to believe that these are essentials, must 
 unavoidably be pronouncing condemnation, 
 either on himself, or on the very Church he 
 belongs to, and whose claims he is professing to 
 fortify. 
 
 But moreover, not from our own Church only, 
 but from the Universal Church, — from all the 
 privileges and promises of the Gospel, — the 
 principles I am condemning, go to exclude, if 
 fairly followed out, the very persons who advo- 
 cate them. For it is certain that our own insti- 
 tutions and practices (and the like may be said, 
 I apprehend, of every other Church in the world) 
 though not, we conceive, at variance with any 
 Apostolical injunctions, or with any Gospel- 
 principle, are, in several points, not precisely 
 coincident with those of the earliest Churches. 
 The Agapse for instance, or " Love-feasts," 
 alluded to just above, have, in most Churches, 
 been long discontinued. The " Widows" again, 
 
 " Besides the Articles, see, on this point, the Ordination 
 Service. 
 
§20.] Christian Hopes and Privileges. 12!) 
 
 whom we find mention of in Paul's Epistles, 
 appear plainly to have been an Order of 
 Deaconesses regularly appointed to particular 
 functions in the earliest Churches : and their 
 Deacons appear to have had an office conside- 
 rable different from those of our Church. 
 
 Again, it seems plainly to have been at least Each ^ 
 the general, if not the universal, practice of the originally 
 Apostles, to appoint over each separate Church over one 
 a single individual as a chief Governor, under the church, 
 title of "Angel " (i. e. Messenger or Legate from 
 the Apostles) or " Bishop," i. e. Superintendant 
 or Overseer. A Church and a Diocese seem to 
 have been for a considerable time coextensive and 
 identical. And each Church or Diocese (and 
 consequently each Superintendant) though con- 
 nected with the rest by ties of Faith and Hope 
 and Charity, seems to have been (as has been 
 already observed) perfectly independent as far 
 as regards any power of control. 
 
 The plan pursued by the Apostles seems to 
 have been, as has been above remarked, to esta- 
 blish a great number of small (in comparison with 
 most modern Churches) distinct and independent 
 Communities, each governed by its own single 
 Bishop ; consulting, no doubt, with his own Pres- 
 byters, and accustomed to act in concurrence 
 with them, and occasionally conferring with the 
 Brethren in other Churches, but owing no sub- 
 it 
 
ISO 
 
 Principles destructive of [Essay II. 
 
 mission to the rulers of any other Church, or 
 to any central common authority except the 
 Apostles themselves. And other points of diffe- 
 rence might be added. 
 
 Now to vindicate the institutions of our own, 
 or of some other Church, on the Ground that 
 they " are not in themselves superstitious or 
 ungodly," — that they are not at variance with 
 Gospel-principles, or with any divine injunction 
 that was designed to be of universal obligation, 
 is intelligible and reasonable. But to vindicate 
 them on the ground of the exact conformity, 
 which it is notorious they do not possess, to the 
 most ancient models, and even to go beyond 
 this, and condemn all Christians whose institu- 
 tions and ordinances are not " one and utterly 
 like " our own, on the ground of their departure 
 from the Apostolical precedents, which no 
 Church has exactly adhered to, — does seem — to 
 use no harsher expression, — not a little inconsis- 
 tent and unreasonable. And yet one may not 
 unfrequently hear members of Episcopalian 
 Churches pronouncing severe condemnation on 
 those of other Communions, and even excluding 
 them from the Christian Body, on the ground, 
 not of their not being under the best form of 
 Ecclesiastical Government/ but, of their wanting 
 
 1 It is remarkable that there are Presbyterians also, who 
 proceed on similar principles ; who contend that originally the 
 
§ 20.] Christian Hopes and Privileges. 131 
 
 the very essentials of a Christian Church ; viz. 
 the very same distinct Orders in the Hierarchy 
 that the Apostles appointed : and this, while the 
 Episcopalians themselves have, universally, so 
 far varied from the Apostolical institution as to 
 have in one Church several Bishops; each of 
 whom consequently differs in the office he holds, 
 in a most important point, from one of the pri- 
 mitive Bishops as much as the Governor of any 
 one of our Colonies does from a Sovereign 
 Prince. 
 
 Now whether the several alterations, and 
 departures from the original institutions, were or 
 were not, in each instance, made on good 
 grounds, in accordance with an altered state of 
 society, is a question which cannot even be 
 entertained by those who hold that no Church is 
 competent to vary at all from the ancient 
 model. Their principle would go to exclude at 
 once from the pale of Christ's Church almost 
 every Christian Body since the first two or three 
 Centuries. 
 
 The edifice they overthrow crushes in its fall 
 the blind champion who has broken its pillars. 
 
 distinction between Bishops and Presbyters did not exist; and 
 consequently (not that Episcopacy is not essential to a Church; 
 but) that Episcopal government is an unwarrantable innovation, 
 — a usurpation — a profane departure from the divine ordi- 
 nances ! 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Arguments from Primitive Practice [Essay II. 
 
 Appeal to § 21. Waiving however what may be called a 
 
 the practice 
 
 ofthe early personal argument, and supposing that some 
 an argu- mode could be devised of explaining away all the 
 cessible to inconsistencies I have been adverting to, still, 
 masfoT 1 if the essentials of Christianity, — at least, a consi- 
 chnst.ans. ^g^jg p 0r ^ on 0 f them — are not to be found in 
 Scripture, but in a supplementary Tradition, 
 which is to be sought in the works of those early 
 Fathers who were orthodox, the foundations of 
 a Christian's Faith and Hope become inaccessible 
 to nearly the whole of the Laity, and to much 
 the greater part of the Clergy. 
 
 This, it may be said, is just as it should be ; 
 and as it must be : the unlearned being neces- 
 sarily dependent on the learned, in respect of 
 several most important points ; since the great 
 mass of Christians cannot be supposed capable 
 of even reading the Scriptures in the original 
 tongues ; much less of examining ancient 
 manuscripts. 
 
 supposed Now this necessity I see no reason for admit- 
 on the word ting, if it be understood in the sense that the 
 oneamed un i earne( j mus t ne eds take the word of the 
 learned, and place implicit reliance y on the good 
 faith of certain individuals selected by them 
 as their spiritual guides. It is in their power, and 
 is surely their duty, to ascertain how far the 
 
 y See Appendix, Note (H.) 
 
§ 21.] inaccessible to the People. 133 
 
 assertions of certain learned men are to be safely 
 relied on. z 
 
 1 " It is manifest that the concurrent testimony, positive 
 or negative, of several witnesses, when there can have been no 
 concert, and especially when there is any rivalry or hostility 
 between them, carries with it a weight independent of that 
 which may belong to each of them considered separately. For 
 though, in such a case, each of the witnesses should be even 
 considered as wholly undeserving of credit, still the chances 
 might be incalculable against their all agreeing in the same 
 falsehood. It is in this kind of testimony that the generality 
 of mankind believe in the motions of the earth, and of the 
 heavenly bodies, &c. Their belief is not the result of their own 
 observations and calculations ; nor yet again of their implicit 
 reliance on the skill and the good-faith of any one or more 
 astronomers ; but it rests on the agreement of many indepen- 
 dent and rival astronomers ; who wantneither the ability nor the 
 will to detect and expose each other's errors. It is on similar 
 grounds, as Dr. Hinds has justly observed, that all men, except 
 about two or three in a million, believe in the existence and in 
 the genuineness of manuscripts of ancient books, such as the 
 Scriptures. It is not that they have themselves examined these ; 
 or again, (as some represent) that they rely implicitly on the 
 good-faith of those who profess to have done so ; but they rely 
 on the concurrent and uncontradicted testimony of all who have 
 made, or who might make, the examination ; both unbelievers, 
 and believers of various hostile sects ; any one of whom would 
 be sure to seize any opportunity to expose the forgeries or 
 errors of his opponents. 
 
 This observation is the more important, because many per- 
 sons are liable to be startled and dismayed on its being pointed 
 out to them that they have been believing something — as they 
 are led to suppose — on very insufficient reasons ; when the 
 truth is perhaps that they have been mis-stating their 
 reasons."- — Rhetoric, part I, ch. 2. § 4. 
 
134 Arguments from Primitive Practice. [Essay II. 
 
 Doubtful- But when, in the case now before us, men 
 
 ness of ap- 
 peals to come to consider and inquire what the founda- 
 
 early A 
 
 Churches, tion really is on which they are told (according 
 to the principles I have been speaking of) to 
 rest their own hopes of eternal life, and to 
 pronounce condemnation on those who differ 
 from them, it cannot be but that doubt and dis- 
 satisfaction, and perhaps disgust and danger of 
 ultimate infidelity will beset them, in proportion 
 as they are of a serious and reflective turn, 
 and really anxious to attain religious truth. For 
 when referred to the works of the orthodox 
 ancient Fathers, they find that a very large por- 
 tion of these works are lost ; or that some 
 fragments or reports of them by other writers 
 alone remain : they find again that what has 
 come down to us is so vast in amount that a life 
 is not sufficient for the attentive study of even 
 the chief part of it ; they find these Authors by 
 no means agreed, on all points, with each other, 
 or with themselves ; and that learned men again 
 are not agreed in the interpretation of them; and 
 still less agreed as to the orthodoxy of each, and 
 the degree of weight due to his judgment on 
 several points ; nor even agreed by some cen- 
 turies as to the degree of antiquitif that is to 
 make the authority of each decisive, or more or 
 less approaching to decisive. 
 
 ■ See Note, p. 111. 
 
§22.] Pretended Decisions of the Catholic Church. 135 
 
 Every thing in short pertaining to this appeal Uncertain 
 
 . in foundation 
 
 is obscure, — uncertain, — disputable — and actually of faith 
 disputed, — to such a degree, that even those who reports, 
 are not able to read the original authors may yet 
 be perfectly competent to perceive how unstable 
 a foundation they furnish. They can perceive 
 that the mass of Christians are called on to 
 believe and to do what is essential to Chris- 
 tianity, in implicit reliance on the reports of their 
 respective pastors, as to what certain deep theo- 
 logical antiquarians have reported to them, 
 respecting the reports given by certain ancient 
 Fathers, of the reports current in their times, con- 
 cerning apostolical usages and institutions ! And 
 yet whoever departs in any degree from these is 
 to be regarded at best in an intermediate state 
 between Christianity and Heathenism ! Surely 
 the tendency of this procedure must be to drive 
 the doubting into confirmed (though perhaps 
 secret) infidelity, and to fill with doubts the most 
 sincerely pious, if they are anxiously desirous of 
 attaining truth, and unhappily have sought it 
 from such instructors. 
 
 § 22. But an attempt is usually made to Pretended 
 silence all such doubts by a reference to the S the°ca- 
 Catholic Church, or the "primitive " or the " an- chureh. 
 cient Catholic Church," as having authority to 
 decide, — and as having in fact decided, — on the 
 
136 
 
 Pretended Decisions of 
 
 [Essay 11. 
 
 degree of regard due to the opinions and testi- 
 mony of individual writers among the Fathers. 
 And a mere reference such as this, accompanied 
 with unhesitating assertion, is not unfrequently 
 found to satisfy or silence those who might be 
 disposed to doubt. And while questions are 
 eagerly discussed as to the degree of deference 
 due to the " decisions of the universal Church," 
 some preliminary questions are often overlooked : 
 such as, — when, and where did any one visible 
 Community, comprising all Christians as its 
 members, exist? Does it exist still? Is its 
 authority the same as formerly ? Where is its 
 central supreme government, such as every single 
 Community must have ? Who is the accredited 
 organ empowered to pronounce its decrees, in 
 the name of the whole Community ? And where 
 are these decrees registered ? 
 Noaccessi- Yet many persons are accustomed to talk 
 of Cathoifc familiarly of the decisions of the Catholic Church, 
 decisions. ag ^ ^qj-q were SO m e accessible record of them, 
 such as we have of the Acts of any Legislative 
 Body ; and " as if there existed some recognised 
 functionaries, regularly authorized to govern and 
 to represent that community, the Church of 
 Christ ; and answering to the king — senate — or 
 other constituted authorities, in any secular com- 
 munity. And yet no shadow of proof can be 
 offered, that the Church, in the above sense, — 
 
the Catholic Church. 
 
 137 
 
 the Universal Church, — can possibly give any 
 decision at all ; — that it has any constituted 
 authorities as the organs by which such decision 
 could be framed or promulgated ; — or, in short, 
 that there is, or ever was, any one community on 
 earth, recognised, or having any claim to be re- 
 cognised, as the Universal Church, bearing rule 
 over and comprehending all particular Churches. 
 
 " ' We are wont to speak of the foundation of 
 the Church, — the authority of the Church, — the 
 various characteristics of the Church, — and the 
 like, — as if the Church were, originally at least, 
 One Society in all respects. From the period in 
 which the Gospel was planted beyond the pre- 
 cincts of Judaea, this manifestly ceased to be the 
 case ; and as Christian societies were formed 
 among people more and more unconnected and 
 dissimilar in character and circumstances, the 
 difficulty of considering the Church as One So- 
 ciety increases. Still, from the habitual and 
 unreflecting use of this phrase, *< the Church," 
 it is no uncommon case to confound the two 
 notions ; and occasionally to speak of the various 
 societies of Christians as one, occasionally, as 
 distinct bodies. The mischief which has been 
 grafted on this inadvertency in the use of the 
 term, has already been noticed ; and it is no 
 singular instance of the enormous practical re- 
 sults which may be traced to mere ambiguity 
 
1-38 
 
 Pretended Decisions of [Essay II. 
 
 of expression. The Church is undoubtedly one, 
 and so is the Human Race one; but not as a 
 Society. It was from the first composed of dis- 
 tinct societies ; which were called one, because 
 formed on common principles. It is One Society, 
 only when considered as to its future existence. 
 The circumstance of its having one common 
 Head, (Christ,) one Spirit, one Father, are points 
 of unity which no more make the Church One 
 Society on earth, than the circumstance of all 
 men having the same Creator, and being derived 
 from the same Adam, renders the Human Race 
 one Family. That Scripture often speaks of 
 Christians generally under the term, " the 
 Church," is true ; but if we wish fully to under- 
 stand the force of the term so applied, we need 
 only call to mind the frequent analogous use 
 of ordinary historical language when no such 
 doubt occurs. Take, for example, Thucydides's 
 History of the Peloponnesian War. It contains 
 an account of the transactions of two opposed 
 parties, each made up of many distinct commu- 
 nities ; on the one side were Democracies, on the 
 other Oligarchies. Yet precisely the same use is 
 made by the historian of the terms £< the Demo- 
 cracy" and " the Oligarchy," as we find Scripture 
 adopting with regard to the term " the Church." 
 No one is misled by these, so as to suppose the 
 Community of Athens one with that of Corcyra, 
 
the Catholic Church. 
 
 139 
 
 or the Theban with the Lacedaemonian. When 
 the heathen writer speaks of " the Democracy 
 of" or "in" the various democratical States, 
 we naturally understand him to mean distinct 
 Societies formed on similar principles ; and so, 
 doubtless, ought we to interpret the sacred 
 writers when they, in like manner, make mention 
 of the Church of, or in, Antioch, Rome, Ephesus, 
 Corinth, &c. 
 
 " ' But there was also an especial reason why the 
 term Church should have been often used by the 
 sacred writers as if it applied to One Society. 
 God's dispensation had hitherto been limited to 
 a single society, — the Jewish People. Until the 
 Gospel was preached, the Church of God was 
 One Society. It therefore sometimes occurs 
 with the force of a transfer from the objects of 
 God's former dispensation, to those of his present 
 dispensation. In like manner, as Christians are 
 called " the Elect," their bodies " the Temple," 
 and their Mediator " the High Priest ;" so, then- 
 condition, as the objects of God's new dispensa- 
 tion, is designated by the term " the Church of 
 Christ," and " the Church." 
 
 " ' The Church is one, then, not as consisting 
 of One Society, but because the various societies, 
 or Churches, were then modelled, and ought still 
 to be so, on the same principles ; and because 
 they enjoy common privileges, — one Lord, one 
 
lit) 
 
 Pretended Decisions of [Essay II. 
 
 Spirit, one baptism. Accordingly, the Holy 
 Ghost, through his agents the Apostles, has not 
 left any detailed account of the formation of any 
 Christian society ; but He has very distinctly 
 marked the great principles on which all were to 
 be founded, whatever distinctions may exist 
 amongst them. In short, the foundation of the 
 Church by the Apostles was not analogous to 
 the work of Romulus, or Solon ; it was not pro- 
 perly, the foundation of Christian societies which 
 occupied them, but the establishment of the prin- 
 ciples on which Christians in all ages might form 
 societies for themselves.' — Encyclopedia Metro- 
 politana. "Age of Apostolical Fathers," p. 774. 
 
 " The above account is sufficiently established 
 even by the mere negative circumstance of the 
 absence of all mention in the Sacred Writings of 
 any one Society on earth, having a Government 
 and officers of its own, and recognised as the 
 Catholic or Universal Church : especially when 
 it is considered that the frequent mention of 
 the particular Churches at Jerusalem, Antioch, 
 Rome, Corinth, &c. — of the seven Churches 
 in Asia,— and of • the care of all the Churches ' 
 which Paul had founded, would have rendered 
 unavoidable the notice of the One Church (had 
 there been any such) which bore rule over all the 
 rest, either as its subjects, or as provincial depart- 
 ments of it. 
 
§ 22.] the Catholic Church. 141 
 
 " This negative evidence, I say, would alone 
 be fully sufficient, considering that the whole 
 burden of proof lies on the side of those who 
 set up such a claim. He who appeals to the 
 alleged decisions of a certain Community, is 
 clearly bound, in the first place, to prove its 
 existence. But if we proceed to historical evi- 
 dence, we find on examination, that there never 
 was a time when the supremacy of any one 
 Church was acknowledged by all, or nearly all 
 Christians. And to say they ought to have done 
 so, and that as many as have refused such sub- 
 mission are to be regarded as schismatics and 
 rebels, is evidently to prejudge the question. 
 
 " The Universal Church, then, being one, in 
 reference, not to any one Government on earth, 
 but only to our Divine Head, even Christ, ruling 
 Christians by his Spirit, which spoke to them 
 from time to time through the Apostles while 
 these were living, and speaks still in the words 
 of the Christian Scriptures, it follows that each 
 Christian is bound (as far as Church-authority 
 extends) to submit to the ordinances and de- 
 cisions, — not repugnant to Scripture, (See Art. 
 xxxiv.) of the particular Church of which he is 
 a member. 
 
 " If it were possible that all the Christians 
 now in existence — suppose 250 millions — could 
 assemble, either in person, or by deputations of 
 
142 Pretended Decisions; of the Catholic Church. [Essay II. 
 
 their respective Clergy, in one place, to confer 
 together ; and that the votes, whether personal 
 or by proxy, of 230 or 240 millions of these 
 were to be at variance (as in many points they 
 probably would be) with the decisions and prac- 
 tices of our own Church ; we should be no more 
 bound to acquiesce in and adopt the decision of 
 that majority, even in matters which we do not 
 regard as essential to the Christian Faith, than 
 we should be, to pass a law for this realm, be- 
 cause it was approved by the majority of the 
 human race." h 
 
 Bold as- And yet one may find it asserted, as a matter 
 
 sumptions 
 
 of authority that admits of no doubt, and is to be taken for 
 
 forsuppos- 
 
 ed Catholic granted, as " generally admitted, except by those 
 trained in a modern school, that any particular 
 Church owes obedience to the Universal Church, 
 of which it is a part." Such assertions coming 
 from men of acknowledged learning (in reality 
 far too learned not to be themselves well aware 
 that there never was, since the days of the 
 Apostles, any such Body existing, as could claim 
 such obedience from each particular Church) 
 will often succeed in overawing the timid, in 
 deceiving the ignorant and inconsiderate, and in 
 satisfying the indolent. 
 
 The temptation, doubtless, is very strong — 
 
 b Essays, 4th Series, pp. 1GG — 171. 
 
§23.] Appeals to Catholic Decisions superfluous. 143 
 
 especially for those who would maintain doctrines Awe b- 
 
 , . spired by 
 
 or practices, that are, seemingly at least, at variance appeals to 
 
 . .. . an unde- 
 
 with Scripture — to make an appeal to a standard fined au- 
 that is inaccessible to the mass of mankind, and thonti ' 
 that is in all respects so vague ; to a vast and 
 indefinite number of writers, extending over a 
 very long and indefinite space of time ; — and to 
 avail oneself of the awe-inspiring force of sacred 
 names by exhorting men in the apparent lan- 
 guage of Scripture 0 — (for no such passage really 
 exists) to " hear the Church ! " 
 
 § 23. The readiness with which some persons Appeals to 
 
 . supposed 
 
 acquiesce, at least profess to acquiesce, m sup- decisions, 
 posed decisions of the Universal or Catholic Catholic 
 Church, using the term in a sense in which it superfluous 
 can even be proved that no such Community unsound" 0 
 ever existed on Earth, and of General Councils 
 such as, in fact, never met, and of Traditions 
 several of which are such as to need proof, first, 
 how far they are genuine, and next, how far, if 
 
 c Our Lord directs his disciples, in the event of a dispute 
 between two individuals, to refer the matter, in the last resort, 
 to the decision of the Congregation, Assembly, or Church 
 (Ecclesia) ; and that if any one disobey (or " refuse to hear," 
 as our translators render it) this, he is to be regarded " as a 
 heathen," &c, idv rfjg tKK\r)tTtae TrapaKOvatj. Those who 
 adduce this passage, would, it may be presumed, have at least 
 preferred bringing forward, if they could have found one, 
 some passage of Scripture which does support their views. 
 
144 Appeals to Catholic Decisions superfluous. [Essay II. 
 
 admitted to be genuine, they would be binding 
 on all Christians, — this ready acquiescence, I 
 say, is the more extraordinary when we consider 
 that many of the points which are attempted to 
 be supported by an appeal to such authority, 
 do, in fact, stand in no need of that support, 
 but have a firm foundation in Scripture, by vir- 
 tue of the powers plainly conferred by Christ 
 Himself on Christian Communities. 
 
 Any forms, for instance, for Public Worship, 
 and for the Ordaining of Christian Ministers, 
 which " contain " (as our Reformers maintain 
 respecting those they sanctioned) d " nothing 
 that is in itself superstitious and contrary to 
 God's Word," are plainly binding, by Christ's 
 own sanction, on the members of the Church 
 that appoints them. 
 Not only But some, it should seem, are not satisfied 
 cation with a justification of their own ordinances and 
 also con- institutions, unless they can find a plea for con- 
 ofThST demning all those who differ from them. And 
 this plea they seek, not by endeavouring to show 
 the superior expediency with a view to decency, 
 good order, and edification, of the enactments 
 they would defend, but by maintaining the obli- 
 gatory character of supposed apostolical tra- 
 ditions; and then they are driven, as I have 
 
 d Article xxxvi. 
 
§ 23.] Appeals to Catholic Decisions superfluous. 145 
 
 said, to shift our own Institutions from the founda- 
 tion on a rock, to place them on sand. 
 
 When one sees persons not content with the 
 advantages they enjoy, unless they can exclude 
 others, and in the attempt to do so, " falling into 
 the midst of the pit they have digged for an- 
 other," it is hardly possible to avoid recalling to 
 one's mind the case of Haman and the result of 
 his jealousy of Mordecai. 
 
 Some persons have endeavoured from time to Reformers 
 time, to represent our Reformers as appealing as appeal- 
 tO the practice of what is called the Primitive Scripture 
 Church, and to the writings of the early Fathers, tfon jointly, 
 as the principal, — or as one principal — ground on 
 which they rest the vindication of their own 
 decisions ; and as taking for their authoritative 
 standard of rectitude and truth in religious 
 matters, not Scripture alone, but Scripture com- 
 bined and " blended with Tradition." 
 
 And it is very true that they do, as it was per- Conduct 
 fectly natural they should, engaged as they were formers in 
 in controversy with the Romanists, frequently their con- 
 refer to the records which their opponents iTthRo- 
 appealed to, in order to show that the very mams s " 
 authorities these last were accustomed to rely on, 
 are in fact opposed to them. They point out the 
 proofs extant that many doctrines and practices 
 which had been made to rest on supposed ancient 
 tradition were in fact comparatively modern 
 
 L 
 
146 Appeals to Catholic Decisions superfluous. [Essay II. 
 
 innovations ; and they vindicate themselves from 
 the charge of innovation in some points by re- 
 ferring to ancient precedents. All this is perfectly 
 natural and perfectly justifiable. But it is quite 
 a different thing from acknowledging a decisive 
 authority in early precedents, and in Tradition, 
 either alone, or " blended with Scripture." 6 If 
 any man is charged with introducing an unscrip- 
 tural novelty, and he shows first that it is scrip- 
 tural, and then (by reference to the opinions of 
 those who lived long ago) that it is no novelty, it 
 is most unreasonable to infer that Scripture 
 authority would have no weight with him unless 
 backed by the opinions of fallible men. 
 
 No one would reason thus absurdly in any other 
 case. For instance, when some Bill is brought 
 into one of the Houses of Parliament, and it is 
 represented by its opponents as of a novel and 
 
 e The maxim of " abundans cautela nocet nemini" is by 
 no means a safe one if applied without limitation. (See 
 Logic, b. ii. ch. 5, § 6.) 
 
 It is sometimes imprudent (and some of our Divines have, 
 I think, committed this imprudence) to attempt to " make 
 assurance doubly sure" by bringing forward confirmatory 
 reasons, which though in themselves perfectly fair, may be 
 interpreted unfairly, by representing them as an acknowledged 
 indispensable foundation ; — by assuming for instance, that an 
 appeal to such and such of the ancient Fathers or Councils, in 
 confirmation of some doctrine or practice, is to be understood 
 as an admission that it would fall to the ground if not so 
 confirmed. 
 
§ 23.] Appeals to Catholic Decisions superfluous. 
 
 147 
 
 unheard of character, it is common, and natural, 
 and allowable, for its advocates to cite instances 
 of similar Acts formerly passed. Now, how 
 absurd it would be thought for any one thence 
 to infer that those who use such arguments 
 must mean to imply that Parliament has no 
 power to pass an Act unless it can be shown 
 that similar Acts have been passed formerly ! 
 
 If any Bishop of the present day should be 
 convinced that such and such Theologians, — 
 ancient or modern — have given correct and 
 useful expositions of certain parts of Scripture, 
 he could not but wish that the Clergy he 
 ordained should give similar expositions ; and he 
 would probably recommend to their attentive 
 perusal the works of those theologians. Now 
 how monstrous it would be to represent him, on 
 such grounds, as making those works a standard 
 of faith conjointly with Scripture ! 
 
 Of a like character is the very reference I Reference 
 have now been making to the documents put writ ings or 
 forth by those reformers themselves. I certainly of any per- 
 believe them to be in accordance with the prin- proof that 
 ciples above laid down as scriptural and reason- Sty"^™* 0 " 
 able : but I protest (and so probably would [°sive as de 
 they) against " blending with Scripture " the 
 writings of the Reformers, to constitute jointly 
 a rule of faith binding on every Christian's con- 
 science. If any one is convinced that the 
 l 2 
 
148 Appeals to Catholic Decisions superfluous. [Essay II. 
 
 doctrines and practices and institutions of our 
 Church are unscriptural, he is bound in con- 
 science to leave it. 
 Beiiefofthe Our Reformers believed, no doubt, that their 
 as'toX 8 institutions were, on the whole, similar to those 
 clentprac- °f the earliest Churches; perhaps they may 
 p r c 0 e ; f n 0 ° f have believed this similarity to be greater than 
 mfning that^ rea Uy * s : Du t what is the ground on which 
 lTbiTg^de they reste d the claim of these institutions to 
 respectful acquiescence ? On the ground of their 
 " not being in themselves superstitious, and 
 ungodly, and contrary to God's Word;' — on the 
 ground of the " power of each particular Church 
 to ordain and abrogate or alter" (though not 
 wantonly and inconsiderately) Church -rites 
 and ceremonies, provided nothing be done con- 
 trary to Scripture." So also they believed, no 
 doubt, that the doctrines they taught, and which 
 they commissioned others to teach, were such 
 as had been taught by many early Fathers ; and 
 thinking this, they could not but wish that the 
 teaching of the Clergy should coincide with that 
 of those Fathers : but what was the rule laid down, 
 — the standard fixed on, for ascertaining what 
 should be taught as a part of the Christian Reli- 
 gion ? It was Holy Scripture : not Scripture and 
 Tradition, jointly, and "blended together;" but 
 the Written Word of God ; nothing being allowed 
 to be taught as an Article of faith that could 
 
§ 24.] The Articles the Symbol of our Church. 
 
 149 
 
 not thence be proved. Again, they doubtless 
 believed that there were early precedents for the 
 form of Church-government they maintained, — 
 for the different orders of the Ministry, and for 
 the mode of appointing each. They believed, 
 no doubt, as a fact, that the Apostles ordained 
 Ministers, and these, others, and so on in suc- 
 cession, down to the then-existing period. But 
 what was the basis on which they deliberately 
 chose to rest their system ? On the declared 
 principle that " those and those only are to be 
 accounted as lawfully-appointed Ministers who 
 are called and sent out by those who have autho- 
 rity in the Congregation" (or Church) " to call 
 and send labourers into the Lord's vineyard :" 
 and though themselves deliberately adhering to 
 episcopal Ordination, they refrain, both in the 
 Article on the " Church" and in that on 
 " ministering in the Church" from specifying 
 Episcopacy and episcopal Ordination as among 
 the essentials. 
 
 § 24. Some individuals among the Reformers TheArtides 
 have in some places used language which may embodying 
 be understood as implying a more strict obliga- rate deci- 
 tion to conform to ancient precedents than is church.*"" 
 acknowledged in the Articles. But the Articles 
 being deliberately and jointly drawn up for the 
 very purpose of precisely determining what it was 
 
150 
 
 The Articles the Symbol of our Church. [Essay II. 
 
 designed should be determined respecting the 
 points they treat of, and in order to supply to the 
 Anglican Church their Confession of Faith on 
 those points, it seems impossible that any man 
 of ingenuous mind can appeal from the Articles, 
 Liturgy, and Rubric, put forth as the authori- 
 tative declarations of the Church, to any other 
 writings, whether by the same or by other 
 authors/ On the contrary, the very circum- 
 stance that opinions going far beyond what the 
 
 ' Articles XIX. XX. XXIII. XXXIV. XXXVI. 
 
 " XIX. Of the Church.— The visible Church of Christ 
 [" ecclesia Christi visibilis est," &c. evidently^ visible Church 
 of Christ is a congregation, &c] is a congregation of faithful 
 men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the 
 Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance 
 in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. 
 
 " As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch. 
 have erred ; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only 
 in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters 
 of Faith. 
 
 " XX. Of the Authority of the Church. — The Church hath 
 power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Con- 
 troversies of Faith : And yet it is not lawful for the Church 
 to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written, 
 neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be 
 repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a 
 witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree 
 any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to 
 enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation. 
 
 " XXIII. Of Ministering in the Congregation.— It is not 
 lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public 
 preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the Congregation, 
 
§ 24.] The Articles the Symbol of our Church. 151 
 
 Articles express, or in other respects conside- 
 rably differing from them, did exist, and were 
 
 before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. 
 And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which 
 be chosen and called to this work by men who have public 
 authority given unto them in the congregation, to call and 
 send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 " XXXIV. Of the Traditions of the Church.— It is not 
 necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, 
 and utterly like ; for at all times they have been divers, and 
 may be changed according to the diversities of countries, 
 times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against 
 God's Word. Whosoever through his private judgment, 
 willingly and purposely, doth openly break the traditions and 
 ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the 
 Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common 
 authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear 
 to do the like,) as he that ofFendeth against the common order 
 of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, 
 and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren. 
 
 " Every particular or national Church hath authority to 
 ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church 
 ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done 
 to edifying. 
 
 " XXXVI. Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers. — The 
 Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops, and Or- 
 dering of Priests and Deacons, lately set forth in the time of 
 Edward the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time by autho- 
 rity of Parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such 
 Consecration and Ordering : neither hath it any thing, that 
 of itself is superstitious and ungodly. And therefore whoso- 
 ever are consecrated or ordered according to the Rites of that 
 Book, since the second year of the forenamed King Edward 
 unto this time, or hereafter shall be consecrated or ordered 
 according to the same Rites ; we decree all such to be rightly, 
 orderly, and lawfully consecrated and ordered." 
 
Ib2 The Articles the Symbol of our Church. [Essay II. 
 
 well known and current, in the days of our 
 reformers, gives even the more force to their 
 deliberate omissions of these, and their distinct 
 declaration of what they do mean to maintain. 
 It was not hastily and unadvisedly that they 
 based the doctrines of their Church on " the 
 pure Word of God," and the claim of their 
 Church to the character of a Christian Com- 
 munity, on its being a " Congregation of be- 
 lievers, in which that pure Word is preached, and 
 the Christian Sacraments duly administered." 
 Distinction Whatever therefore may have been the private 
 
 between 
 
 what was opinion of any individuals among their number, 
 
 believed by 1 J . ° . 
 
 any of the they have declared plainly what it was they 
 and what ' agreed in regarding as a safe and sufficient 
 on as essen- foundation, and as essential, and consequently 
 requiring to be set forth and embodied in the 
 Symbol or Creed of their Church. 
 
 But neither the Reformers of our Church, nor 
 any other human Being, could frame any ex- 
 pressions such as not to admit of being explained 
 away, or the consequences of them somehow 
 evaded, by an ingenious person who should 
 resolutely set himself to the task. And accord- 
 ingly our Church has been represented as 
 resting her doctrines and her claims on Scripture 
 and Tradition jointly, and "blended" together. 
 
 We have been told for instance of a person 
 held up as a model of pure Anglican Church- 
 
§ 24.] The Articles the Symbol of our Church. 153 
 
 principles, that he "submitted to the decisions 
 of inspiration wherever it was to be found, 
 whether in Scripture or Antiquity." And again we 
 have been told that " Rome differs from us as to 
 the authority which she ascribes to tradition : 
 she regards it as co-ordinate, our divines as 
 ^-ordinate ; as to the way in which it is to be 
 employed, she, as independent of Holy Scripture ; 
 ours, as subservient to, and blended with it : as 
 to its limits, she supposes that the Church of 
 Rome has the power of imposing new articles 
 necessary to be believed for salvation ; ours, 
 that all such articles were comprised at first in 
 the Creed, and that the Church has only the 
 power of clearing, defining, and expounding 
 these fixed articles." 
 
 Now if by " us " and " our divines " is to be The An g n- 
 understood certain individuals who profess does not 
 adherence to the Church of England, the above altionwith 
 description is, no doubt, very correct as far as Scnpture - 
 relates to them : but if it be meant that such are 
 the tenets of our Church itself as set forth in its 
 authoritative Confession of faith, — the Articles, 
 nothing can be more utterly unfounded, and in- 
 deed more opposite to the truth. Our Church not 
 only does not " blend Scripture with Tradition," 
 but takes the most scrupulous care to distinguish 
 from every thing else the Holy Scriptures, as 
 the sufficient and sole authoritative standard. 
 
154 Co-ordinate and Subordinate Tradition. [Essay II. 
 
 Our Reformers do not merely omit to ascribe 
 to any Creed or other statement of any doctrine, 
 an intrinsic authority or one derived from tradi- 
 Grounds tion, but in the Article on the three Creeds, 6 
 
 on which ' 
 
 the creeds they take care distinctly to assign the ground on 
 rest. which those are to be retained; viz. that "they 
 may be proved by Holy Writ." 
 
 Pretended § 25. As for the distinction drawn between 
 between making Tradition on the one hand " an authority 
 and subor- CO- ordinate with Scripture/' on the other hand, 
 dition. tra " " subordinate and blended with Scripture," I 
 cannot but think it worse than nugatory. 11 The 
 
 g Nor by the way is it true that our Church has declared, in 
 that, or in any other Article, " that all such Articles as are neces- 
 sary to be believed for Salvation were comprised at first in the 
 [Apostles'] Creed. This, in fact, is neither done, nor was 
 intended to be done by the framers of that Creed ; if at least 
 they held — as I doubt not they did, the doctrine of the Atone- 
 ment : for this is not at all mentioned in the Apostles' Creed. 
 The cause, I have no doubt, was that the doctrine had not in 
 the earliest ages, been disputed. But at any rate, the fact is 
 certain ; that the Creed does dwell on the reality of the histo- 
 rical transaction only, the actual death of Christ, without 
 asserting for whom or for what He suffered death. 
 
 h It is not meant to be implied that all persons who take this 
 view are, themselves, disposed to join the Romish Church, or 
 to think little of the differences between that and their own. 
 Distinctions may be felt as important by one person, which may 
 appear to others, and may be in themselves, utterly insignifi- 
 cant. The members of the Greek Church for instance abhor 
 image- worship, while they pay to pictures an adoration which 
 Protestants would regard as equally superstitious. 
 
§ 25.] Co-ordinate and Subordinate Tradition. 155 
 
 latter doctrine I have no scruple in pronouncing 
 the worse of the two ; because while it virtually 
 comes to the same thing, it is more insidious, and 
 less likely to alarm a mind full of devout reve- 
 rence for Scripture. 
 
 When men are told of points of faith which Tradition 
 
 . blended 
 
 they are to receive on the authority ot Tradition with scrip- 
 alone, quite independently of any Scripture- most dan- 
 warrant, they are not unlikely to shrink from gero, ' s 
 this with a doubt or a disgust, which they 
 are often relieved from at once by a renuncia- 
 tion, in words, of such a claim, and by being- 
 assured that Scripture is the supreme Authority, 
 and that Tradition is to be received as its hand- 
 maid only, — as not independent of it, but 
 " subordinate and blended with it." And yet if any 
 or every part of Scripture is to be interpreted 
 according to a supposed authoritative Tradition, 
 and from that interpretation there is to be no 
 appeal, it is plain that, to all practical purposes, 
 this comes to the same thing as an independent 
 Tradition. For on this system, anything may 
 be made out of anything. The Jews may 
 resort whenever it suits their purpose, (and often 
 do) to an appeal to their Scriptures interpreted 
 according to their tradition, in behalf of anything 
 they are disposed to maintain. I remember con- 
 versing some years ago with an educated Jew on 
 the subject of some of their observances, and 
 
156 Co-ordinate and Subordinate Tradition. [Essay II. 
 
 remarking, in the course of the conversation, that 
 their prohibition of eating butter and flesh at the 
 same meal, rested, I supposed, not, like several 
 other prohibitions, on the Mosaic written Laws, 
 but on Tradition alone. No, he assured me it 
 was prohibited in the Law. I dare say my 
 readers would be as much at a loss as I was, to 
 guess where. He referred me to Exod. xxiii. 19. 
 conse- In like manner, if an ordinary student of Scrip- 
 
 quences of 
 
 authorita- ture declares that he finds no warrant there for 
 pretations believing in the bodily presence of Christ in the 
 ture by Eucharist, and that he finds on the contrary our 
 ra uion. jji mse if declaring that " it is the Spirit that 
 
 quickeneth" ; (giveth life) " the flesh proflteth 
 nothing" he is told that Tradition directs us to 
 interpret literally the words " This is my Body," 
 and that he must not presume to set up his 
 "private judgment" against the interpretation, 
 and this, when perhaps he is assured by the same 
 person, on similar grounds, that " the whole Bible 
 is one great Parable !" 
 
 If again he finds the Apostles ordaining Elders, 
 (Presbyters) and never alluding to any person, 
 except Christ himself, as bearing any such office 
 in the Christian Church as that of the Levitical 
 Priest, (Hiereus) he is told, on the authority 
 of Tradition, which he must not dispute, that 
 Presbyter means Hiereus, a sacrificing Priest. 
 Mahomet's application to himself of the prophecy 
 
§25.] Co-ordinate and Subordinate Tradition. 157 
 
 of Jesus that He would " send another Para- 
 clete" or Comforter, was received by his fol- 
 lowers on similar grounds; that is, it was an 
 interpretation which he chose to put on the 
 words ; and woe to him who should dispute it ! 
 
 If again we find the whole tenor of Scripture 
 opposed to Invocation of Saints, and Image- 
 worship, we may be told that there is a kind of 
 invocation of Saints which the Scriptures, as 
 interpreted by Tradition, allow and encourage. 
 And so on, to an indefinite extent ; just as effec- 
 tually, and almost as easily, as if Tradition had 
 been set up independent of Scripture, instead of 
 being " blended with it." 1 
 
 " Tradition " and " Church-interpretation " are 
 made, according to this system, subordinate to, 
 and dependent on Scripture, much in the same 
 way that some parasite-plants are dependent on 
 the trees that support them. The parasite at first 
 clings to, and rests on the tree, which it gradu- 
 ally overspreads with its own foliage, till by little 
 and little, it weakens and completely smothers it : 
 
 " Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poraa." 
 
 And it may be added that the insidious cha- Insidious 
 racter of this system is still further increased, if of a wrong 
 the principle be laid down without following not at first 
 
 followed 
 out into all 
 its results. 
 
 * See Powell on Tradition, § 14—17. 
 
158 Co-ordinate and Subordinate Tradition. [Essay II, 
 
 it out, at once, into all the most revolting con- 
 sequences that may follow, and that have 
 followed from its adoption. For by this means a 
 contrast is drawn between the most extravagant, 
 and a far more moderate, system of falsehood 
 and superstition ; and it is insinuated that this 
 favourable contrast is the result of the one being 
 built on " co-ordinate" and the other on " subor- 
 dinate" Tradition ; the real difference being only 
 that every usurped and arbitrary power is usually 
 exercised with comparative leniency at first, till it 
 has been well established. Let but the principle 
 which is common to both systems be established ; 
 and the one may be easily made to answer all 
 the purposes of the other. 
 Proved to And all this time the advocates of this autho- 
 important ritative tradition may loudly proclaim that 
 question. re q U j re no assen t to anything but what 
 
 " may be proved by Scripture ;" that is, proved 
 to them ; and which, on the ground of their con- 
 viction, must be implicitly received by every 
 man.. It is most important, — when the expres- 
 sion is used of " referring to Scripture as the 
 infallible standard," and requiring assent to such 
 points of faith only, as can be thence proved, to 
 settle clearly, in the outset, the important ques- 
 tion " proved to whom $ " If any man or Body 
 of men refer us to Scripture, as the sole authori- 
 tative standard, meaning that we are not to be 
 
§ 26.] Alleged Importance of Hitman Teaching. 
 
 159 
 
 called on to believe anything as a necessary 
 point of faith, on their word, but only on our own 
 conviction that it is scriptural, then, they place 
 our faith on the basis, not of human authority, 
 but of divine. But if they call on us, as a point 
 of conscience to receive whatever is proved to 
 their satisfaction from Scripture, even though it 
 may appear to us un scriptural, then, instead of 
 releasing us from the usurped authority of Man 
 taking the place of God, they are placing on us 
 two burdens instead of one. " You require us," 
 we might reply, " to believe, first, that whatever 
 you teach is true; and secondly, besides this, to 
 believe also, that it is a truth contained in Scrip- 
 ture ; and we are to take your word for both !" 
 
 § 26. I can imagine persons urging, in reply Alleged 
 to what has been said, the importance of giving oThuman 
 the people religious instruction over and above teaching " 
 the mere reading of Scripture, — the utility of 
 explanations, and comments, — and the necessity 
 of creeds and catechisms, &c. ; and dwelling also 
 on the reverence due to antiquity, and on the 
 arrogance of disregarding the judgment of pious 
 and learned men, especially of such as lived in 
 or near the times of the Apostles. 
 
 It is almost superfluous to remark that nothing 
 at variance with all this has been here advanced. 
 The testimony of ancient writers as to the facts, 
 
160 
 
 Alleged Importance [Essay II. 
 
 that such and such doctrines or practices did or 
 did not prevail in their own times, or that such 
 and such a sense was, in their times, conveyed 
 by certain passages of Scripture, may often be 
 very valuable ; provided we keep clear of the 
 mistake of inferring, either that whatever is 
 ancient is to be supposed apostolical, or even 
 necessarily, in accordance with apostolical teach- 
 ing ; (as if errors had not crept in, even during 
 the lifetime 1 " of the Apostles) or again, that 
 every practice and regulation that really had 
 the sanction of the Apostles, (and which, there- 
 fore, must be concluded to have been the best, 
 at that time) was designed by them, — when they 
 abstained [see § 16] from recording it in writing, 
 — to be of universal and eternal obligation ; — in 
 short, that they entrusted to oral T radition any 
 of the essentials of Christianity. 1 And, again, 
 the opinions of any author, ancient or modern, 
 are entitled to respectful consideration in pro- 
 portion as he may have been a sensible, pious, 
 
 k See Appendix, Note (I.) 
 
 1 And yet one may find persons defending this view by 
 alleging that we have the Scriptures themselves by Tradition. 
 Any one may be believed to be serious in urging such an 
 argument, if it is found that he places as much confidence 
 in the genuineness of some account that has been transmitted 
 from mouth to mouth by popular rumours from one end of the 
 kingdom to another, as in a letter that has been transmitted 
 over the same space. 
 
§26.] 
 
 of Human Teaching. 
 
 161 
 
 and learned man : provided we draw the line 
 distinctly between the works of divine messen- 
 gers inspired from above, and those of fallible 
 men. 
 
 The utility, and indeed necessity, of human 
 instruction, both for young Christians and adults, 
 has never, that I know of, been denied by any 
 Christian Church or denomination. The only 
 important distinction is between those who do, 
 and those who do not, permit, and invite, and 
 encourage, their hearers to " search the Scrip- 
 tures whether these things be so," which they 
 are taught by their pastors. m 
 
 The distinction, as I have above remarked, is 
 
 m It may be not unnecessary here to remark that I mean a 
 reference to Scripture as the sole basis of the articles of neces- 
 sary faith, — the only decisive authority. 
 
 Some persons, while claiming reception for such and such 
 confessions of faith, declare continually and with much earnest- 
 ness, that they are teaching nothing but what is " conformable 
 to Scripture," " agreeable to Scripture," &c. And the unwary 
 are often misled by not attending to the important distinction 
 between this, — between what is, simply agreeable to Scripture, 
 — and what is derived from Scripture, — founded on it, and 
 claiming no other authority. 
 
 When it is said that the Old Testament and the New are 
 not at variance, but conformable to each other, this is quite 
 different from saying that either of them derives all its 
 authority from the other. On the other hand, our Reformers 
 do not maintain merely that the Creeds which they receive 
 are agreeable to Scripture; but that they are to be received 
 because they may be proved from Scripture. 
 
 M 
 
162 Alleged Importance of Human Teaching . [Essay II. 
 
 apparent only, and not really important, between 
 those who require the acceptance of what they 
 teach, independently of Scripture, and those who 
 do refer to Scripture as the ground of their own 
 conviction, or at least as confirmatory of their 
 teaching, but require their interpretations of 
 Scripture to be implicitly received ; denying to 
 individuals the right and the duty" of judging 
 ultimately for themselves. The real distinction 
 is between those who do, and those who do not, 
 recognise this right and duty. For if a certain 
 comment is to be received implicitly and without 
 appeal, it not only is placed, practically, as far 
 as relates to every thing except a mere question 
 of dignity, on a level with Scripture, 0 but has 
 also a strong — and as experience has abundantly 
 proved, — an increasing tendency to supersede 
 it. A regular and compact system of theology, 
 
 n See Dr. Hawkins on the Duty of Private Judgment. 
 
 0 Among the Parliamentarians at the time of the Civil War, 
 there were many, — at first a great majority, — who professed 
 to obey the King's commands, as notified to them by Parliament, 
 and levied forces in the King's name, against his person. If 
 any one admitted Parliament to be the sole and authoritative 
 interpreter and expounder of the regal commands, and this, 
 without any check from any other power, it is plain that he 
 virtually admitted the sovereignty of that Parliament, just as 
 much as if he had recognised their formal deposition of the 
 King. The parallelism of this case with the one before us, is 
 too obvious to need being dwelt on. 
 
§27.] Use and Abuse of Human Instruction. 163 
 
 professedly compiled from Scripture, or from 
 " Scripture and Tradition blended together," p if 
 it be that which, after all, we must acquiesce in 
 as infallible whether it accord or not with what 
 appears to us to be the sense of Scripture, 
 being more compendious and methodical than 
 the Sacred Books themselves, will naturally be 
 preferred by the learner. And all study, pro- 
 perly so called, of the rest of Scripture, — (for 
 on the above supposition, such a comment would 
 be itself a part of Scripture, infallible and divinely 
 inspired, as much as the rest) —all lively interest 
 in the perusal, — would be nearly superseded by 
 such an inspired compendium of doctrine ; to 
 which alone, as being far the most convenient 
 for that purpose, habitual reference would be 
 made in any question that might arise. Both 
 would be regarded, indeed, as of divine authority : 
 but the compendium, as the fused and purified 
 metal ; the other, as the mine, containing the 
 crude ore. 
 
 § 27. The uses are so important, and the Use and 
 abuses so dangerous, of the instruction which human in- 
 may be afforded by uninspired Christian teachers, 
 that it may be worth while still further to illus- 
 trate the subject by an analogy, homely perhaps 
 
 p See Essay (Third Series) on " Undue Reliance on Human 
 Authority." 
 
 m2 
 
164 Use and Abuse of Human Instruction. [Essay IT 
 
 and undignified, but which appears to me per- 
 fectly apposite, and fitted by its very familiarity 
 to answer the better its purpose of affording 
 explanation. 
 
 The utility of what is called paper-currency 
 is universally acknowledged and perceived. 
 Without possessing any intrinsic value, it is a 
 convenient representative of coins and ingots 
 of the precious metals. And it possesses this 
 character, from its being known or confidently 
 believed, that those who issue it are ready, 
 on demand, to exchange it for those precious 
 metals. And the occurrence, from time to time, 
 of this demand, and the constant liability to it, 
 are the great check to an over-issue of the paper- 
 money. But if paper-money be made a legal 
 tender, and not convertible into gold and silver 
 at the pleasure of the holder, — if persons are 
 required to receive it in payment, by an arbi- 
 trary decree of the Government, either that 
 paper shall be considered as having an intrinsic 
 value, or again, that it shall be considered as 
 representing bullion, or land," or some other 
 intrinsically valuable commodity, the existence 
 and amount of which, and the ability of Govern- 
 ment to produce it, are to be believed, not by 
 the test of any one's demanding and obtaining 
 
 i This was the case with the Assignats and Mandats of 
 France. 
 
§27 ] Use and Abuse of Human Instruction. 165 
 
 payment, but on the word of the very Government 
 that issues this inconvertible paper-currency, 
 then, the consequences which ensue are well 
 known. The precious metals gradually disap- 
 pear, and a profusion of worthless paper alone 
 remains. 
 
 Even so it is with human teaching in religion. Scripture 
 
 t ni i i proof to b 
 
 It is highly useful, as long as the instructors produced 
 refer the People to Scripture, exhorting and™ 
 assisting them to " prove all things and hold 
 fast that which is right ;" — as long as the Church 
 " ordains nothing contrary to God's word," — 
 nothing, in short, beyond what a christian Com- 
 munity is authorized both by the essential cha- 
 racter of a Community, and by Christ's sanction, 
 to enact ; and requires nothing to be believed as 
 a point of christian faith " that may not be 
 declared" 1 (i. e. satisfactorily proved) to be taken 
 from Holy Scripture. But when a Church, or any 
 of its Pastors, ceases to make this payment on 
 demand — if I may so speak — of Scripture-proof/ 
 and requires implicit faith, on human authority, 
 in human dogmas or interpretations, all check is 
 
 r The word " declared" is likely to mislead the English 
 reader, from its being ordinarily used in the present day in a 
 different sense. The Latin " declarare/' of which it was evi- 
 dently intended to be a translation, signifies " to make clear " — 
 " to set forth plainly." 
 
 s See Appendix, Note (K.) 
 
166 
 
 The System of Reserve. [Essay II. 
 
 removed to the introduction of any conceivable 
 amount of falsehood and superstition; till hu- 
 man inventions may have overlaid and disfigured 
 Gospel-truth, and Man's usurped authority have 
 gradually superseded divine : even as was the 
 case with the rabbinical Jews, who continued to 
 profess the most devout reverence for the Mosaic 
 Law, even at the time when we are told that 
 " in vain they worshipped God, teaching for 
 doctrines the commandments of men." 1 
 
 System of § 28. It is worth remarking also that the 
 persons who make this use of Tradition, are often 
 found distinctly advocating the deliberate sup- 
 pression, in the instruction of the great mass of 
 Christians, of a large portion of the Gospel- 
 doctrines which are the most earnestly set forth 
 in Scripture ; as a sort of esoteric mystery, of 
 which ordinary believers are unworthy, and 
 which should be " reserved " as a reward for a 
 long course of pious submission. This system 
 of " reserve " or " economy " is vindicated, by 
 studiously confounding it with the gradual initi- 
 ation of Christians in the knowledge of their 
 religion, in proportion as they are " able to bear 
 it;" i.e. able and willing to understand each 
 point that is presented to their minds : and the 
 
 * See Dr. Hawkins on Tradition. 
 
§28.] 
 
 The System of Reserve. 
 
 167 
 
 necessity of gradual teaching, — of reading the 
 first line of a passage before the second, — and the 
 care requisite to avoid teaching any thing, which 
 though true in itself, would be falsely under- 
 stood by the hearers, is thus confounded with 
 the system of withholding a portion of Gospel- 
 truth from those able and willing to receive it ; 
 the system of " shunning to set before men all 
 the counsel of God," and of having one kind of 
 religion for the initiated few, and another for the 
 mass of the Christian World. Very different 
 was the Apostle Paul's Gospel, which he assures 
 us, " if it was hid, was hid from them that are 
 lost " (men on the road to destruction, airoWv- 
 fxevovs), " whom the god of this world hath 
 blinded." 
 
 But the charge of teaching something different Suppres- 
 from what they inwardly believe, the advocates Gospel- 
 of this system repel, by alleging that all they do amount^ 
 teach is agreeable to Scripture, although they tion. ° a ~ 
 withhold a part, and do not teach all that is to 
 be found in Scripture : as if this did not as 
 effectually constitute two different religions as 
 if they had added on something of their own. 
 For, by expunging or suppressing at pleasure, 
 that which remains may become totally different 
 from what the religion would have been if exhi- 
 bited as a whole. 
 
 It has been remarked that every statue existed 
 
16S 
 
 The St/stem of Reserce. 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 in the block of marble from which it was carved ; 
 and that the Sculptor merely discloses it, by 
 removing the superfluous portions; — that the 
 Medicean Venus, for instance, has not in it a 
 single particle which did not originally exist 
 exactly in the same relative position as now; 
 the Artist having added nothing, but merely 
 taken away. Yet the statue is as widely different 
 a thing from the original block, as if something 
 had been added. What should we think of a 
 man's pleading that such an image is not con- 
 templated in the commandment against making 
 an image, because it is not " made," as if it had 
 been moulded, or cast, out of materials brought 
 together for the purpose ? Should any one 
 scruple to worship a moulded, but not a sculp- 
 tured image, his scruple would not be more 
 absurdly misplaced, than if he should hold him- 
 self bound, in his teaching, not to add on to 
 Scripture anything he did not believe to be true, 
 but allowed to suppress any portions of Gospel- 
 truth at his pleasure, and to exhibit to his People 
 the remaining portions, as the whole system of 
 their religion. 
 
 It may be added also, that as a Christian 
 teacher is not authorized either to suppress any 
 portion of the Gospel as unfit for those disposed 
 and able to receive it, or to inculcate as an 
 essential portion of it, any thing not revealed in 
 
§28.] 
 
 The System of Reserve. 
 
 1 69 
 
 Scripture, but dependent on Tradition, whether 
 alone or " blended with Scripture," so, he ought 
 not to insist on the acceptance, as essential, of 
 anything which, even though it may be satisfac- 
 torily proved from Scripture, yet is so slightly 
 hinted at there, that till attention has been called 
 to it, and the arguments by which it is supported, 
 brought together, whole Churches for whole 
 generations together, may have studied Scripture 
 without finding it. I do not say that nothing of 
 this character should be maintained, and supported 
 by arguments which may satisfactorily prove it ; 
 but it should not be maintained as something 
 necessary to Salvation, unless it is clearly revealed 
 to an ordinary reader of candid mind. 
 
 For instance, there are some who think that 
 an intermediate state of consciousness, — and 
 others, of unconsciousness, — between death and 
 the resurrection, — may be proved from Scrip- 
 ture ; but I cannot think it justifiable to repre- 
 sent either opinion as an essential article of faith. 
 
 Again, the call of the Gentiles to be partakers 
 with the Jews of the privileges of Gods People, 
 and the termination of the Mosaic dispensation, 
 are contained, but not clearly revealed, in the 
 Old Testament, and in the discourses of our 
 Lord ; these doctrines are not so obviously con- 
 tained there, as to make them an essential part 
 of the Jewish faith. This, therefore, was a case 
 
170 
 
 Unsound Reasons [Essay II. 
 
 in which a fresh and distinct declaration, supported 
 by miraculous evidence, was fairly to be ex- 
 pected : and this was accordingly afforded. A 
 distinct miraculous revelation was made to the 
 Apostle Peter as to this very point. u 
 
 Unsound § 29. In saying that the essential doctrines 
 brought in or " Christianity are to be found in Scripture, or 
 ones. f s ° und ma y be satisfactorily proved from it, and that 
 the enactments of any Church, with a view to 
 good government, " decency and order," derive a 
 sufficient authority from that very circumstance, 
 inasmuch as the Apostle commands us to " do 
 all things decently and in order," and our 
 Heavenly Master has given power to " bind and 
 loose" in respect of such regulations, I do not 
 mean to imply that such reasons always will, in 
 fact, prove satisfactory to careless and uncandid 
 reason ers, — to the fanciful, the wilful, and the 
 arrogant. But nothing is in reality gained by 
 endeavouring to add force to sound reasons by 
 the addition of unsound ones. To seek, when 
 men will not listen to valid arguments, for some 
 other arguments which they will listen to, will, 
 I am convinced, (to say nothing of its unfair- 
 ness) be found in the end, to be unwise policy. 
 
 " According to our Lord's promise respecting the Holy 
 Spirit : — " He shall teach you all things, and bring all things 
 to your remembrance," &c. 
 
§29."] brought in aid of sound ones. 171 
 
 Yet I cannot but suspect that the principles 
 I have been deprecating must have been some- 
 times maintained by persons, not altogether 
 blind to the inconsistent consequences they lead 
 to, but actuated by a desire of impressing on the 
 minds of the multitude not only an additional 
 confidence in the doctrines of our Church, but 
 also that reverence, which is so often found to 
 be deficient, for Church-institutions and enact- 
 ments, and for regularly-ordained Christian 
 Ministers : and that they have been influenced 
 by a dread of certain consequences as following 
 from an adherence to what I have pointed out 
 as the only sound and secure principles/ 
 
 x For instance, the view taken (see Thoughts on the Sabbath) 
 of the Lord's Day, as a Church-festival observed in memory 
 of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week, and not 
 in compliance with the Mosaic law, I have seen objected to, 
 on the ground that " men are apt not to pay so much deference 
 to the enactments of the Church, as to express commands of 
 Scripture." That is to say, although the Mosaic Law be not 
 really binding on Christians (for, if it were, and the observance 
 of the Lord's Day were a part of it, that would supersede all 
 need of other arguments) yet it is advisable to teach men that 
 it is, in order that they may be the more ready to observe the 
 Lord's Day. The Church therefore is to be represented, — 
 and that, to men who by supposition are disposed to under- 
 value Church-authority, — as having taken the liberty to alter 
 a divine commandment of acknowledged obligation, by 
 changing the seventh day of the week for the first (besides 
 alterations in the mode of observance) in compliance with a 
 supposed tradition that the Apostles sanctioned — which it is 
 plain from Scripture they did not — this transference of the 
 
172 
 
 Unsound Reasons [Essay II. 
 
 Supposed For instance, it has been thought dangerous 
 
 danger of a ° ° 
 
 power to to acknowledge a power in any Body of unin- 
 cient regu- spired men to depart in the smallest degree from 
 the recorded precedents of the earliest Churches; 
 including (be it remembered by the way) those 
 existing after the times of the Apostles, and 
 therefore consisting, themselves, of uninspired 
 men. And a danger there certainly is ; a danger 
 of the misuse of any power, privilege, or liberty, 
 entrusted to any one. The Christian course is 
 beset by dangers. They are an essential part 
 of our trial on Earth. We are required to be 
 on our guard against them ; but we must never 
 expect, here below, to be exempt from them. 
 And there is nothing necessarily gained by 
 exchanging one danger for another ; the danger 
 of erring in our own judgment, for that of 
 following imperfect, uncertain, or corrupted 
 traditions. 
 
 But to maintain the right of any Community — 
 a Church, among others — to establish, abrogate, 
 or alter, regulations and institutions of any kind, 
 is understood by some as amounting to an 
 approval of every thing that either ever has been 
 done, or conceivably might be done, by virtue 
 of that claim ; as if a sanction were thus given 
 
 Sabbath. This is surely expecting an unreasonable deference 
 for Church-authority from men who, it is supposed, are 
 unwilling to yield to it such a deference as is reasonable. 
 
§ 29.] brought in aid of .sound ones. 173 
 
 to perpetual changes, the most rash, uncalled 
 for, and irrational. But what is left to men's 
 discretion, is not therefore meant to be left to 
 their ^discretion. To maintain that a power 
 exists, is not to maintain either that it matters 
 not how it is used, or again, that it cannot 
 possibly be abused. 
 
 The absurdity of such a mode of reasoning 
 would be at once apparent in any other case. 
 For instance, the Senate, Parliament, or other 
 legislative Body of this or any other country, 
 has clearly a right to pass or to reject any 
 proposed law that is brought before it ; and has 
 an equal right to do the one or the other ; now 
 no one in his senses would understand by this, 
 that it is equally right to do the one or the 
 other ; — that whatever is left to the legislator's 
 decision, must be a matter of absolute indiffer- 
 ence ; and that whatever is to be determined by 
 his judgment, may fairly be determined according 
 to his caprice. 
 
 A Church, — and the same may be said of a Abuse of 
 State, — may so far abuse its power, and exceed Argument 
 the just limits of that power, as to make enact- exLTence! 
 ments which a man may be bound in conscience 
 to disobey ; as for instance, if either an ecclesi- 
 astical or a civil Government should command 
 men (as the Roman Emperors did the early- 
 Christians) to join in acts of idolatrous worship ; 
 
174 
 
 Unsound Reasons, fyc. [Essay II. 
 
 or (as was done formerly towards the Saxon 
 Clergy) to put away their wives. But this does 
 not do away the truth of the general assertion 
 that " the Powers that he are ordained of God ;" 
 — that both civil and ecclesiastical Governments 
 have a right to make enactments that are not 
 contrary to religion or morality. 
 
 And again, even of these enactments, — such 
 as a State or a Church does possess a right to 
 make, — it is not only conceivable, but highly 
 probable, that there will be some which may 
 appear to many persons, and perhaps with 
 reason, to be not the very wisest and best. In 
 such a case, a man is bound to do his best 
 towards the alteration of those laws : y but he is 
 not, in the mean time, exempted from obedience 
 to laws which he may not fully approve. 2 For 
 supposing his objections to any law to be well- 
 founded, still, as infallibility does not exist 
 among men, all professions and precepts relative 
 to the duty of submission to Government, would 
 be nugatory, if that duty were to be suspended 
 and remain in abeyance, till an unerring govern- 
 ment should arise. 
 
 If any one, accordingly, is convinced that 
 a certain Church is essentially unscriptural, 
 
 y See " Appeal in behalf of Church-Government ;" (Houl- 
 ston ;) a very able pamphlet. 
 
 1 See Sermon on Obedience to Laws. 
 
§ 30.] Difficulty of ascertaining Unbroken Succession. 175 
 
 he cannot with a sound conscience belong to its 
 communion. But he may consistently adhere to 
 it, even though he should be of opinion that 
 in some non-essential points it has adopted regu- 
 lations which are not the most expedient. He 
 may still consistently hold these to be binding, 
 as coming from a competent authority, though 
 he may wish, that they had been, or that they 
 should be, settled otherwise. 
 
 § 30. But as there are some persons who are Difficulty 
 
 . of ascer- 
 
 too ready to separate from any religious Com- taining im- 
 munity on slight grounds, or even, through mere succession, 
 caprice, to "heap up to themselves teachers, 
 having itching ears," it has been thought, — or at 
 least maintained, — that the only way of affording 
 complete satisfaction and repose to the scrupu- 
 lous, and of repressing schism, is to uphold, 
 under the title of "Church-principles," the 
 doctrine that no one is a member of Christ's 
 Church, and an heir of the covenanted Gospel- 
 promises, who is not under a Ministry ordained 
 by Bishops descended in an unbroken chain from 
 the Apostles. 
 
 Now what is the degree of satisfactory assu- 
 rance that is thus afforded to the scrupulous 
 consciences of any members of an Episcopal 
 Church ? If a man consider it as highly pro- 
 bable that the particular Minister at whose hands 
 
176 Difficulty of ascertaining [Essay II. 
 
 he receives the sacred Ordinances, is really thus 
 apostolically descended, this is the very utmost 
 point to which he can, with any semblance 
 of reason, attain : and the more he reflects and 
 inquires, the more cause for hesitation he will 
 1 find. There is not a Minister in all Christendom 
 ; who is able to trace up with any approach 
 to certainty his own spiritual pedigree. The 
 • sacramental virtue (for such it is, that is implied, 
 — whether the term be used or not, — in the 
 principle I have been speaking of) dependent on 
 the imposition of hands, with a due observance 
 of apostolical usages, by a Bishop, himself duly 
 consecrated, after having been in like manner 
 baptized into the Church, and ordained Deacon 
 and Priest, — this sacramental virtue, if a single 
 link of the chain be faulty, must, on the above 
 principles, be utterly nullified ever after, in respect 
 of all the links that hang on that one. For if a 
 Bishop has not been duly consecrated, or had 
 not been, previously, rightly ordained, his Ordi- 
 nations are null ; and so are the ministrations of 
 those ordained by him ; and their Ordination of 
 others ; (supposing any of the persons ordained 
 by him to attain to the episcopal office) and so 
 on, without end. The poisonous taint of infor- 
 mality, if it once creep in undetected, will spread 
 the infection of nullity to an indefinite and irre- 
 mediable extent. 
 
§30.] 
 
 Unbroken Succession. 
 
 177 
 
 And who can undertake to pronounce that informality 
 
 . . common 
 
 during that long period usually designated as during the 
 
 i -r^ i i • dark ages. 
 
 the Dark Ages, no such taint ever was intro- 
 duced? Irregularities could not have been 
 wholly excluded without a perpetual miracle ; 
 and that no such miraculous interference existed, 
 we have even historical proof. Amidst the 
 numerous corruptions of doctrine and of practice, 
 and gross superstitions, that crept in, during 
 those ages, we find recorded descriptions not 
 only of the profound ignorance and profligacy 
 of life, of many of the Clergy, but also of the 
 grossest irregularities in respect of discipline and 
 form. We read of Bishops consecrated when 
 mere children ; — of men officiating who barely I 
 knew their letters; — of Prelates expelled, and 
 others put into their places, by violence; — of 
 illiterate and profligate laymen, and habitual 
 drunkards, admitted to Holy Orders ; and in 
 short, of the prevalence of every kind of disorder, 
 and reckless disregard of the decency which the 
 Apostle enjoins. It is inconceivable that any 
 one even moderately acquainted with history, 
 can feel a certainty, or any approach to certainty, 
 that, amidst all this confusion and corruption, 
 every requisite form, was, in every instance, 
 strictly adhered to, by men, many of them 
 openly profane and secular, unrestrained by 
 public opinion, through the gross ignorance of 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 Difficulty of ascertaining [Essay II. 
 
 the population among which they lived ; and 
 that no one not duly consecrated or ordained, 
 was admitted to sacred offices. 
 
 Even in later and more civilized and enlight- 
 ened times, the probability of an irregularity, 
 though very greatly diminished, is yet diminished 
 only, and not absolutely destroyed. Even in 
 the memory of persons living, there existed a 
 Bishop concerning whom there was so much 
 mystery and uncertainty prevailing as to, when, 
 where, and by whom, he had been ordained, that 
 doubts existed in the mind of many persons 
 whether he had ever been ordained at all. I do 
 not say that there was good ground for the 
 suspicion ; but I speak of the fact, that it did 
 prevail ; and that the circumstances of the case 
 were such as to make manifest the possibility of 
 such an irregularity occurring under such cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Now, let any one proceed on the hypothesis 
 that there are, suppose, but a hundred links 
 connecting any particular minister with the 
 Apostles ; and let him even suppose that not 
 above half of this number pass through such 
 periods as admit of any possible irregularity ; 
 and then, placing at the lowest estimate the 
 probability of defectiveness in respect of each of 
 the remaining fifty, taken separately, let him 
 consider what amount of probability will result 
 
§ 30.] 
 
 Unbroken Succession . 
 
 179 
 
 from the multiplying of the whole together. 3 
 The ultimate consequence must be that any one 
 who sincerely believes that his claim to the 
 benefits of the Gospel-Covenant depends on his 
 own Minister's claim to the supposed sacra- 
 mental virtue of true ordination, and this again, 
 on perfect Apostolical Succession as above 
 described, must be involved, in proportion as he 
 reads, and inquires, and reflects, and reasons, on 
 the subject, in the most distressing doubt and 
 perplexity. 
 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that the advocates 
 of this theory studiously disparage reasoning, 
 deprecate all exercise of the mind in reflection, 
 decry appeals to evidence, and lament that even 
 the power of reading should be imparted to the 
 People. It is not without cause that they dread 
 and lament "an Age of too much light," and 
 wish to involve religion in " a solemn and awful 
 gloom." b It is not without cause that, having 
 removed the Christian's confidence from a rock, 
 to base it on sand, they forbid all prying curiosity 
 to examine their foundation. 
 
 * Supposing it to be one hundred to one, in each separate 
 case, in favour of the legitimacy and regularity of the trans- 
 mission, and the links to amount to fifty, (or any other 
 number) the probability of the unbroken continuity of the 
 whole chain must be computed as ^ of ^ of ~, &c. to the 
 end of the whole fifty. 
 
 K\eVnj hi re vvtcroq a^iuvio. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 Difficulty of ascertaining 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 Fallacy of The fallacy, indeed, by which, according to 
 
 confound- 0 
 
 ingtoge- the above principles, the Christian is taught 
 
 therthe . ° 
 
 apostolical to rest his own personal hopes of salvation, 
 of a Body on the individual claims to "Apostolical succes- 
 of^chfe- sion" of the particular Minister he is placed 
 
 dividual. un( J e ^ - s g0 g rosg t ^ at ^ thoughtJegg 
 
 enough to be deceived by it in any case where 
 Religion is not concerned ; — where, in short, 
 a man has not been taught to make a virtue of 
 uninquiring, unthinking, acquiescence. For the 
 fallacy consists in confounding together the 
 unbroken Apostolical succession of a Christian 
 Ministry generally, and the same succession in 
 an unbroken line, of this or that individual 
 Minister. The existence of such an Order of 
 men as Christian Ministers, continuously from 
 the time of the Apostles to this day, is perhaps 
 as complete a moral certainty, as any historical 
 fact can be ; because (independently of the 
 various incidental notices by historians, of such 
 a class of persons) it is plain that if, at the 
 present day, or a century ago, or ten centuries 
 ago, a number of men had appeared in the world, 
 professing (as our Clergy do now) to hold a 
 recognised office in a Christian Church, to 
 which they had been regularly appointed as 
 successors to others, whose predecessors, in like 
 manner, had held the same, and so on, from the 
 times of the Apostles, — if, I say, such a pretence 
 
§ 30.] 
 
 Urib r often Success ion. 
 
 181 
 
 had been put forth by a set of men assuming an 
 office which no one had ever heard of before, — it is 
 plain, that they would at once have been refuted 
 and exposed. And as this will apply equally to 
 each successive generation of Christian Minis- 
 ters, till we come up to the time when the 
 institution was confessedly new, — that is, to the 
 time when Christian Ministers were appointed 
 by the Apostles, who professed themselves eye- 
 witnesses of the Resurrection, we have (as Leslie 
 has remarked) 0 a standing Monument, in the 
 Christian Ministry, of the fact of that event as 
 having been proclaimed immediately after the 
 time when it was said to have occurred. This 
 therefore is fairly brought forward as an evidence 
 of its truth. 
 
 But if each man's Christian hope, is made to 
 rest on his receiving the Christian Ordinances at 
 the hands of a Minister to whom the sacramental 
 virtue that gives efficacy to those ordinances, has 
 been transmitted in unbroken succession from 
 hand to hand, every thing must depend on that 
 particular Minister : and his claim is by no 
 means established from our merely establishing 
 the uninterrupted existence of such a class of men 
 as Christian Ministers. " You teach me," a 
 man might say, " that my salvation depends on 
 the possession by you — the particular Pastor 
 
 0 Short Method with Deists. 
 
182 
 
 Increased Danger of Schism. [Essa y II. 
 
 under whom I am placed — of a certain qualifica- 
 tion;" and when I ask for the proof that you 
 possess it, you prove to me that it is possessed 
 generally, by a certain class of persons of whom 
 you are one, and probably by a large majority 
 of them !" How ridiculous it would be thought, 
 if a man laying claim to the throne of some 
 Country should attempt to establish it without 
 producing and proving his own pedigree, merely 
 by showing that that Country had always been 
 under hereditary regal government / 
 
 increased § 31. Then, as to the danger of Schism, 
 schfsm° f nothing can be more calculated to create or 
 increase it, than to superadd to all the other 
 sources of difference among Christians, those 
 additional ones resulting from the theory we are 
 considering. Besides all the divisions liable to 
 arise relative to the essential doctrines of Scrip- 
 ture, and to the most important points in any 
 system of Church- Government, Schisms, the 
 most difficult to be remedied, may be created 
 by that theory from individual cases of alleged 
 irregularity. 
 
 Schism of A most remarkable instance of this is fur- 
 t!^ s Dona nished in the celebrated schism of the Donatists, 
 in Africa, in the beginning of the fourth cen- 
 tury.* 1 They differed in no point of doctrine 
 
 H Sec Waddington's Ecclesiastical History, &c. 
 
31.] 
 
 Increased Danger of Schism. 
 
 183 
 
 or Church-discipline from their opponents, the 
 Orthodox, (that is, the predominant party ;) but 
 were at issue with them on the question as to 
 an alleged irregularity in the appointment of a 
 certain Bishop ; whose ordinations consequently 
 of other Bishops and Presbyters, they inferred, 
 were void ; and hence, the baptisms administered 
 by those ministers were also void, and their 
 whole ministration profane ; so that they re- 
 baptized all who joined their party, (as I believe 
 the Greek Church does, to this day) and regarded 
 their opponents in the light of Heathen. And 
 this schism distracted the greater part of the 
 Eastern portion of the Church for upwards of 
 two hundred years. 
 
 And an attempt was made in the last century, schism of 
 by the Non-jurors, to introduce, in these realms, j U rors° n " 
 the everspreading canker of a similar schism. 
 They denied the episcopal character of those 
 who had succeeded the displaced prelates ; and, 
 consequently, regarded as invalid the Orders 
 conferred by them ; thus preparing the way for 
 all the consequences resulting from the Donatist- 
 schism. 
 
 The sect died away before long, through a 
 happy inconsistency on the part of its sup- 
 porters ; who admitted the claims of the substi- 
 tuted Bishops on the death of their predecessors ; 
 though it is hard to understand how those who 
 
184 Increased Danger of Schism. [Essay II. 
 
 were not true Bishops at first, could become such, 
 through a subsequent event, without being re- 
 consecrated ; the Presbyters ordained by them, 
 becoming at the same time true Presbyters, 
 though their Ordination had been invalid. It 
 seems like maintaining that a woman, who, 
 during her husband's life-time marries another 
 man, and has a family, becomes, on her real 
 husband's death, the lawful wife of the other, 
 and her children legitimate. 
 
 More recently still, an attempt was made of 
 the same nature, on the occasion of the sup- 
 pression (as it was called) of some of the Irish 
 Bishoprics; that is, the union of them with 
 others. 6 It has been publicly and distinctly 
 declared that an effort was made to represent 
 this measure as amounting to an " interruption 
 of Apostolical succession ;" though it is not very 
 easy to say how this was to be made out, even 
 on the above principles/ 
 
 " I do not mean to maintain that this was seriously believed 
 by all those — some of them men of intelligence and learning — 
 who put it forward. It may very likely have been one of 
 their " exoteric doctrines," designed only for the Multitude. 
 But, be this as it may, they evidently meant that it should be 
 believed by others, if not by themselves. 
 
 f According to this view, the Apostolical succession must 
 have been long since lost in some parts of England, and the 
 greatest part of Ireland. For there were many such unions 
 existing before the Act in question ; such as Bath and Wells, 
 
§32.] Irregular Formations of Christian Communities. 185 
 
 In short, there is no imaginable limit to the 
 schisms that may be introduced and kept up 
 through the operation of these principles, advo- 
 cated especially with a view to the repression 
 of schism. 
 
 § 32. Some have imagined however that since irregular 
 
 • i • o i formations 
 
 no rule is laid down in Scripture as to the nura- of christian 
 ber of persons requisite to form a Christian ties. 
 Community, or as to the mode in which any such 
 Community is to be set on foot, it must follow 
 that persons left to Scripture as their sole de- 
 cisive authority, will be at liberty, — all, and 
 any of them, — to form and dissolve religious 
 Communities at their pleasure; — to join, and 
 withdraw from, any Church, as freely as if it 
 were a Club or other such institution ; and to 
 appoint themselves or others to any ministerial 
 Office, as freely as the members of any Club elect 
 Presidents, Secretaries, and other functionaries. 
 
 And it is true that this licence has been as- 
 sumed by weak and rash men ; who have thus 
 given occasion to persons of the class who 
 " mistake reverse of wrong for right," to aim at 
 counteracting one error by advocating another. 
 But so far are these anarchical consequences 
 from being a just result of the principles here 
 
 Cork and Ross, Ferns and Leighlin, Lichfield and Coventry, 
 and several others. 
 
186 
 
 Irregular Formations [Essay II. 
 
 maintained, that I doubt whether, on any other 
 subject besides Religion, a man would not be 
 reckoned insane who should so reason. 
 Analogous To take the analogous case of civil govern- 
 G 0 S ve°rn- ml ment : hardly any one in his right mind would 
 ments: ' attempt a universal j ustification of rebellion, on the 
 ground that men may be placed in circumstances 
 which morally authorize them to do what, in 
 totally different circumstances, would be rebellion. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, a number of emigrants, 
 bound for some Colony, to be shipwrecked on a 
 desert island, such as afforded them means of 
 subsistence, but precluded all reasonable hope of 
 their quitting it : or suppose them to have taken 
 refuge there as fugitives from intolerable oppres- 
 sion, or from a conquering enemy; (no uncommon 
 case in ancient times) or to be the sole survivors 
 of a pestilence or earthquake which had destroyed 
 the rest of the nation : no one would maintain 
 that these shipwrecked emigrants or fugitives, 
 were bound, or were permitted, to remain — 
 themselves and their posterity — in a state of 
 anarchy, on the ground of there being no one 
 among them who could claim hereditary or other 
 right to govern them. It would clearly be right, 
 and wise, and necessary, that they should regard 
 themselves as constituted, by the very circum- 
 stance of their position, a civil Community ; and 
 should assemble to enact such laws, and appoint 
 
§32.] of Christian Communities. 187 
 
 such magistrates, as they might judge most 
 suitable to their circumstances. And obedience 
 to those laws and governors, as soon as the Con- 
 stitution was settled, would become a moral duty 
 to all the members of the Community : and this, 
 even though some of the enactments might appear, 
 or might be, (though not at variance with the 
 immutable laws of morality, yet) considerably 
 short of perfection. The King, or other Magis- 
 trates thus appointed, would be legitimate 
 rulers : and the laws framed by them, valid and 
 binding. The precept of " submitting to every 
 ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake," and of 
 "rendering to all, their due," would apply in this 
 case as completely as in respect of any Civil 
 Community that exists. 
 
 And yet these men would have been doingwhat, Extraordi- 
 in ordinary circumstances, would have been mani- genciesjus- 
 fest rebellion. For if these same, or any other, wouid hat 
 individuals, subjects of our own, or of any ex- ^wrong. 
 isting Government, were to take upon themselves 
 to throw off their allegiance to it, without any 
 such necessity, and were to pretend to constitute 
 themselves an independent Sovereign-State, and 
 proceed to elect a King or Senate, — to frame a 
 Constitution, and to enact laws, all resting on 
 their own self-created authority, no one would 
 doubt, that, however wise in themselves those 
 laws might be, and however personally well- 
 
188 
 
 Irregular Formations [Essay II. 
 
 qualified the magistrates thus appointed, — they 
 would not be legitimate governors, or valid laws : 
 and those who had so attempted to establish 
 them, would be manifest rebels. 
 
 A similar rule will apply to the case of ecclesias- 
 tical Communities. If any number of individuals, 
 — not having the plea of an express revelation to 
 the purpose, or again, of their deliberate convic- 
 tion that the Church they separate from is funda- 
 mentally erroneous and unscriptural — take upon 
 themselves to constitute a new Church, accord- 
 ing to their own fancy, and to appoint themselves 
 or others to ministerial offices, without having 
 any recognised authority to do so, derived from 
 the existing religious Community of which they 
 were members, but merely on the ground of 
 supposed personal qualifications, then, however 
 wise in themselves the institutions, and however, 
 in themselves, fit, the persons appointed, there 
 can be no more doubt that the guilt of Schism 
 would be incurred in this case, than that the 
 other, just mentioned, would be an act of re- 
 bellion. If the Apostle's censure of " those that 
 cause divisions" does not apply to this case, it 
 may fairly be asked what meaning his words can 
 have. 
 
 On the other hand, men placed in the situation 
 of the supposed shipwrecked emigrants or exiles 
 above spoken of, would be as much authorized, 
 
§ 32.] of Christian Communities. 189 
 
 and bound, to aim at the advantages of a Re- 
 ligious, as of a Civil Community : only with this 
 difference, arising out of the essential characters 
 of the two respectively ; that they would not be 
 authorized in the one case, as they would, in the 
 other, to resort to secular coercion. Compliance 
 with civil regulations, may, and must, be abso- 
 lutely enforced ; but not so, the profession of a 
 particular Creed, or conformity to a particular 
 mode of Worship. 
 
 Another point of distinction between the Christian 
 formation of a Civil and Ecclesiastical Consti- ties design- 
 ation arises out of this circumstance, that it facilities for 
 was plainly the design of the Apostles that there munToii" 
 should be as much as possible of free intercom- 
 munion, and facility of interchange of members, 
 among Christian Churches. Consequently, 
 when it is said, here and elsewhere, that each 
 of these is bound to make such enactments 
 respecting non-essentials, as its governors may 
 judge best, it is not meant that they have to 
 consider merely what would seem in itself best, 
 and supposing they were the only Christian Com- 
 munity existing; but they must also take care 
 to raise up no unnecessary barrier of separation 
 between the members of their own and of other 
 — essentially pure — Churches. Any arrange- 
 ments or institutions, &c. which would tend to 
 check the free intercourse, and weaken the ties 
 
190 
 
 Irregular Fur/nations 
 
 [Essay II. 
 
 of brotherhood, among all Christ's followers 
 throughout the world, should be as much as 
 possible avoided. 
 
 This, however, is no exception to the general 
 rule, but an application of it. For, those enact- 
 ments which should tend to defeat, without 
 necessity, one of the objects which the Apostles 
 proposed, would (however good in themselves) 
 evidently not be the best, for that very reason. 
 Christians But it would be absurd to maintain that men 
 when pos- placed in such a situation as has been here sup- 
 c?mbii°e as posed, are to be shut out, generation after gene- 
 So C c iety Uan ration, from the Christian Ordinances and the 
 Gospel-covenant. Their circumstances would 
 constitute them (as many as could be brought 
 to agree in the essentials of faith and Christian 
 worship) a Christian Community ; and would 
 require them to do that which, if done without 
 such necessity, would be schismatical. To make 
 regulations for the Church thus constituted, and 
 to appoint as its ministers the fittest persons 
 that could be found among them, and to cele- 
 brate the Christian Rites, would be a proceeding 
 not productive, as in the other case, of division, 
 but of union. And it would be a compliance, — ■ 
 clearly pointed out to them by the Providence 
 which had placed them in that situation, — with 
 the manifest will of our Heavenly Master, that 
 Christians should live in a religious Community, 
 
§32.] of Cltrisliun Communities. 191 
 
 under such Officers and such Regulations as are 
 essential to the existence of every Community. 
 
 To say that Christian ministers thus appointed 
 are, to all intents and purposes, real legitimate 
 Christian ministers, and that the Ordinances 
 of such a Church would be no less valid and 
 efficacious (supposing always that they are not 
 in themselves superstitious and unscriptural) 
 than those of any other Church, is merely to 
 say in other words, that it would be a real 
 Christian Church ; possessing, consequently, in 
 common with all Communities of whatever kind, 
 the essential rights of a Community to have 
 Officers and Bye-laws ; and possessing also, in 
 common with all Christian Communities, (i. e. 
 Churches) the especial sanction of our Lord, 
 and his promise of ratifying (" binding in Hea- 
 ven") its enactments/ 
 
 It really does seem not only absurd, but even it could not 
 impious, to represent it as the Lord's will, that the Lord" 
 persons who are believers in his Gospel, should, men'shouid 
 in consequence of the circumstances in which themselves 
 his Providence has placed them, condemn them- church! 
 selves and their posterity to live as Heathens, 
 instead of conforming as closely as those circum- 
 stances will allow, to the institutions and 
 
 g See in Appendix, Note (L), a quotation from an Appeal 
 of Luther's in 1520, cited in D'Aubigne's " History of the 
 Reformation." 
 
1 92 
 
 Irregular Formations, fyc. [Essay II. 
 
 directions of Christ and his Apostles, by com- 
 bining themselves into a Christian Society, 
 regulated and conducted, in the best way they 
 can, on Gospel-principles. And if such a Society 
 does enjoy the divine blessing and favour, it 
 follows that its proceedings, its enactments, its 
 officers, are legitimate and apostolical, as long 
 as they are conformable to the principles which 
 the Apostles have laid down and recorded for 
 our use : even as those (of whatever race " after 
 the flesh") who embraced and faithfully adhered 
 to the Gospel, were called by the Apostle 
 "Abraham's seed," h and "the Israel of God." 1 
 Apostolical The Ministers of such a Church as I have 
 dependent been supposing, would rightly claim " Apostolical 
 rence h to succession," because they would rightfully hold 
 p^ndpies! the same office which the Apostles conferred on 
 those " Elders whom they ordained in every 
 City." And it is impossible for any one of sound 
 mind, seriously to believe that the recognition 
 of such claims in a case like the one here sup- 
 posed, affords a fair precedent for men who 
 should wantonly secede from the Church to 
 which they had belonged ; and take upon them- 
 selves to ordain ministers and form a new and 
 independent Church according to their own 
 fancy. 
 
 h Rom. v. 16. 
 
 Gal. vi. 16. 
 
§ 33.] Presumption in favour of the Church, Sfo 
 
 193 
 
 § 33. I have spoken of seceding from " the Presump- 
 
 Church to which they had belonged/' because, favour of 
 
 in each case the presumption k is in favour of to which 
 
 that ; not, necessarily, in favour of the Church belongs. 
 
 to which a man's ancestors may formerly have 
 
 belonged, 1 or the one which can boast the 
 
 greatest antiquity, or, which is established by the 
 
 Civil Government. The Church, whatever it is, 
 
 in which each man was originally enrolled a 
 
 member, has the first claim to his allegiance, 
 
 supposing there is nothing in its doctrines or 
 
 practice which he is convinced is unscriptural 
 
 and wrong. He is of course bound, in deference 
 
 to the higher authority of Christ and the 
 
 Apostles, to renounce its communion, if he does 
 
 feel such a conviction ; but not, from motives 
 
 of mere fancy, or worldly advantage. 
 
 All separation, in short, must be either a duty, ah separa- 
 tion, either 
 
 Or a Sin. m a duty or a 
 
 sin. 
 
 k See Rhetoric, Part i. oh. 3, § 2. 
 
 1 Accordingly, if we suppose the case of the Romish Church 
 reforming all its errors, and returning to the state of its 
 greatest purity, although we should with joy " give the right 
 hand of fellowship " to its members, it would be utterly 
 unjustifiable for any member of our Church to throw off his 
 allegiance to it and go over to the Church of Rome, on the 
 ground of his ancestors having belonged to that ; nor would 
 such a reform confer on the Bishop of Rome any power over 
 the Anglican Church. 
 
 m It may be necessary perhaps here to remind the reader / 
 that T am speaking of separating from, and renouncing, some I 
 O 
 
194 Presumption in favour of [Essay II. 
 
 obligation And the Christians obligation to submit to 
 
 to conform . 
 
 to the ordi- the (not unscriptural) Laws and Officers of his 
 
 nances of a 1 1 • 
 
 church, not Church, being founded on the principles above 
 on the explained, is independent of all considerations 
 ontsTrigi-' of the regularity or irregularity of the original 
 naijorma- f orma tj on 0 f Church : else indeed, no one 
 could be certain what were his duties as a 
 member of a certain Church, without entering 
 on long and difficult researches into eccle- 
 siastical history ; such as are far beyond the 
 reach of ninety-nine persons in the hundred. 
 A certain Church may, suppose, have originated 
 
 Church ; not, of merely joining and becoming a member of 
 some other. This latter does not imply the former, except 
 when there is some essential point of difference between the 
 two Churches. When there is none, a man's becoming a 
 member of another Church on changing his residence, — as for 
 instance, a member of the Anglican Church, on going to reside 
 in Scotland or America, where Churches essentially in agree- 
 ment with ours exist — this is the very closest conformity to 
 the principles and practice of the Apostles. In their days 
 (and it would have been the same, always, and everywhere, 
 had their principles been universally adhered to) a Christian 
 of the Church of Corinth for instance, on taking up his abode, 
 suppose, at Ephesus, where there was a Christian Church, 
 differing perhaps in some non-essential customs and forms, 
 but agreeing in essentials, was received into that Church as a 
 brother : and this was so far from implying his separation 
 from the former, that he would be received into the Ephesian 
 Church only on letters of recommendation* from the 
 Corinthian. 
 
 * 'E7riff-fAa! ovrTTariml. See 2 Cor. 
 
§ 33.] the Church one belongs to. 19f> 
 
 in a rash separation from another Church, on 
 insufficient grounds ; but for an individual to 
 separate from it merely for that reason, would be 
 not escaping but incurring the guilt of Schism." 
 
 It may indeed often be very desirable to 
 attempt the re-union of Christian Communities 
 that had been separated on insufficient grounds : 
 but no individual is justified in renouncing, from 
 motives of mere taste or convenience, the com- 
 munion of the Church he belongs to, if he can 
 remain in it with a safe conscience. 
 
 As for the question, what are, and what are 
 not, to be accounted essential points, — what 
 will, and what will not, justify, and require, 
 separation, — it would be foreign from the 
 present purpose to discuss it. The differences 
 between two Churches may appear essential, 
 and non-essential, to two persons equally con- 
 scientious, and equally careful in forming a 
 judgment. All I am insisting on is, that the 
 matter is one which does call for that careful 
 and conscientious judgment. A man should, 
 deliberately, and with a sense of deep responsi- 
 bility, make up his mind, as to what is, or is 
 not, to the best of his judgment, essential, before 
 he resolves on taking, or not taking, a step 
 
 n For some very sensible and valuable remarks on this 
 subject, see Hinds's History of the Rise and Early Progress 
 of Christianity. 
 
 o 2 
 
190 Apprehension of unsettling Mens Minds. [Essay II. 
 
 which must in every case be either a duty or 
 a sin. 
 
 Apprehen- § 34. It may be said however that it is super- 
 
 sionof what „ 
 
 is called fluous to enter at all on the consideration of 
 
 unsettling . 
 
 men's what xvoiild be allowable and right under some 
 
 minds. 7 . 
 
 supposed circumstances, which are not our own ; 
 and to decide beforehand for some imaginary 
 emergency, that may never occur ; at least never 
 to ourselves. 
 
 ^ It may be represented as an empty and 
 speculative question to inquire whether our 
 Ministry derive their authority from the Church, 
 or the Church from them, as long as the rights 
 both of the Church and its Ministers, are but 
 acknowledged. And if any one is satisfied both 
 that our Ministers are ordained by persons 
 descended in an unbroken series of Episcopal 
 Ordination from the Apostles, and also that they 
 are the regularly -appointed and recognised 
 Officers of a Christian Community constituted 
 on Apostolical principles, it may be represented 
 as impertinent to trouble him with questions as 
 to which of these two things it is that gives them 
 the rightful claim to that deference which, as it 
 is, he is willing to pay to them. 
 
 It is in this way that the attempt is often 
 made, and not seldom with success, to evade 
 the discussion of important general principles, 
 
§ 34.] Apprehension of unsettling Men's Minds. 197 
 
 and thus to secure an uninquiring acquiescence 
 in false assumptions which will not stand the 
 test of examination, and which when once 
 admitted will lead to very important and very 
 mischievous practical results. Why should we 
 unsettle men's minds — one may hear it said — 
 by speculations on any imaginary or impossible 
 case, when they are satisfied as they are ? As 
 long as any one will but believe and do what he 
 ought, what matters it whether his reasons for 
 acquiescence are the most valid, or not ? And 
 then, when, in this way, men's minds have been 
 " settled" in false notions, some of them are 
 likely to follow out a wrong principle into the 
 pernicious consequences to which it fairly leads ; 
 and others again become most dangerously, and 
 perhaps incurably, ?msettled, when the sandy 
 foundation they have been taught to build on 
 happens to be washed away. 
 
 If, as has been above remarked, a man is 
 taught that view of Apostolical succession which 
 makes every thing depend on the unbroken 
 series between the apostles and the individual 
 minister from whom each man receives the 
 Sacraments, or the individual bishop conferring 
 Ordination, — a fact which never can be ascer- 
 tained with certainty — and he is then presented 
 with proofs, not of this, but of a different fact 
 instead, — the Apostolical succession, generally, 
 
198 Apprehension of unsettling Men's Minds. [Essay II. 
 
 of the great Body of the ministers of his Church ; 
 — and if he is taught to acquiesce with conso- 
 latory confidence in the regulations and ordi- 
 nances of the Church, not, on such grounds as 
 have been above laid down, but, on the ground 
 of their exact conformity to the model of the 
 " ancient Church," which exact conformity is, 
 in many cases, more than can be satisfactorily 
 proved, and in some, can be easily ^proved, 
 the result of the attempt so to settle men's minds, 
 must be, with many, the most distressing doubt 
 and perplexity. And others again when taught 
 to " blend with Scripture," as a portion of Reve- 
 lation, the traditions of the first three, or first 
 four, or first seven or fifteen centuries, may 
 find it difficult to understand when, and where, 
 and why, they are to stop short abruptly in 
 the application of the principles they have 
 received : — why, if one general Council is to 
 be admitted as having divine authority to bind 
 the conscience, and supersede private judgment, 
 another is to be rejected by private judgment : 
 and that too, by the judgment of men who are 
 not agreed with each other, or even with them- 
 selves, whether the council of Trent, for instance, 
 is to be regarded as the beginning of the Roman 
 Apostasy, or as a promising omen of improve- 
 ment in the Church of Rome. That man must 
 be strangely constituted who can find con- 
 
§ 35.] Supposed Case not useless, even if impossible. 199 
 
 solatory security for his faith in such a guide ; — 
 who can derive satisfactory confidence from the 
 oracles of a Proteus ! 
 
 § 35. Moreover, the supposed case of Chris- s upposed 
 tians deprived of a regular succession of Episco- iher'anfo 
 pally-ordained Ministers, and left to determine on^'nor 
 what course they ought, under such circum- "nt were!' 
 stances, to take, is not inconceivable, or impossible, 
 or unprecedented ; nor again, even if it were, 
 would the consideration of such a question be 
 necessarily an unprofitable speculation ; because 
 it will often happen that by putting a supposed 
 case (even when such as could not possibly 
 occur) we can the most easily and most clearly 
 ascertain on what principle a person is acting. 
 Thus when Plato 0 puts the impossible case of 
 
 ° " Atque hoc loco, philosophi quidam, minime mali illi 
 quidem, sed non satis acuti, fictam et commentieiam fabu- 
 lam prolatam dicunt a Platone : quasi vero i lie, aut factum 
 id esse, aut fieri potuisse defendat. Haec est vis hujus an- 
 nuli et hujus exempli, si nemo sciturus, nemo ne suspicalurus 
 quidem sit, cum aliquid, divitiarum, potentiae, dominationis, 
 libidinis, caussa feceris, — si id diis hominibusque futurum sit 
 semper ignotum, sisne facturus. Negant id fieri posse. Quan- 
 quam potest id quidem ; sed quaero, quod negant posse, id si 
 posset, quidnam facerent ? Urgent rustice sane : negant enim 
 posse, et in eo perstant. Hoc verbum quid valeat, non 
 vident. Cum enim quaerimus, si possint celare, quid facturi 
 sint, non quaerimus, possintne celare," &c. — Cic. de Off. 
 b. iii. c. 9. 
 
200 Supposed Case not useless, even if impossible. [Essay IX. 
 
 your possessing the ring of Gyges, p which, ac- 
 cording to the legend, could make the bearer 
 invisible, and demands how you would then act, 
 he applies a kind of test, which decomposes, as 
 the chemists say, the complex mass of motives 
 that may influence a man, and calls on you to 
 consider whether you abstain from bad actions 
 through fear of the censure of the world, or 
 from abhorrence of evil in itself. 
 
 So again — to take another instance — if any 
 one is asked how men ought to act when living 
 under a Government professing, and enforcing 
 under penalties, a false religion, and requiring of 
 its subjects idolatrous worship, and other prac- 
 tices contrary to Scripture, if he should object 
 to the question, on the ground that there is no 
 prospect of his being so circumstanced, and that 
 he is living, and may calculate on continuing to 
 live, under a Government which inculcates a 
 true religion, it would be justly inferred that 
 he was conscious of something unsound in his 
 principles, from his evading a test that goes to 
 ascertain whether he regards religious truth and 
 the command of God, as things to be adhered 
 to at all events, or merely, when coinciding with 
 the requisitions of Government. 
 
 So also, in the present case : when a Church 
 possesses Ministers who are the regularly- 
 
 " Rhetoric, pt. i. c. 2, § 8. 
 
§ 3(5.] Cases of a moral. Necessity for Separation. 201 
 
 appointed officers of a Christian Community 
 constituted on evangelical principles, and who 
 are also ordained by persons descended in an 
 unbroken series from those ordained by the 
 Apostles, the two circumstances coincide, on 
 which, according to the two different prin- 
 ciples, respectively, above treated of, the legiti- 
 macy and apostolical commission of Christian 
 Ministers may be made to depend. Now in order 
 to judge fairly, and to state clearly the decision, 
 which foundation we resolve to rest on, it is 
 requisite to propose a case (even supposing — 
 which is very far from being the fact — that it 
 could not actually occur) in which these two 
 circumstances do not come together ; and then 
 to pronounce which it is that we regard as 
 essential. 
 
 § 36. As a matter of fact, there can be no Cases of a 
 reasonable doubt that the Apostles did " ordain cessity for 
 Elders in every city." Even if there had been separatlon ' 
 no record of their doing so, we might have in- 
 ferred it from the very fact of their instituting 
 Christian Societies ; since every Society must 
 have Officers ; and the founder of a Society will 
 naturally take upon him to nominate the first 
 Officers ; as well as to " set in order the rest " of 
 the appointments." 1 And those Officers, acting 
 
 ' 1 Cor. 
 
202 Cases of a moral Necessity for Separation. [Essay II. 
 
 in the name and on the behalf of the Commu- 
 nity, would, of course, appoint others to succeed 
 them ; and so on, from generation to generation. 
 As long as every thing went on correctly in each 
 Church, and its doctrines and practices remained 
 sound, there would be nothing to interrupt this 
 orderly course of things. But whenever it hap- 
 pened that the Rulers of any Church departed 
 from the Christian faith and practice which it is 
 their business to preserve, — when, for instance, 
 they corrupted their worship with superstitions, 
 made a traffic of " indulgences," and " taught 
 for doctrines the commandments of men," by 
 " blending " human traditions with Scripture, 
 and making them, either wholly or in part, the 
 substitute, as a rule of faith, for the records of 
 inspiration, — in any such case, it became the 
 duty of all those who perceived the inroads of 
 such errors, to aim at the reformation of them ; 
 and, when all or any of the Spiritual Pastors of 
 such a Church obstinately stood out against 
 reform, to throw off their subjection to persons 
 so abusing their sacred office, and, at all events, 
 reform themselves as they best could. It is as 
 plain a duty for men so circumstanced to obey 
 their Heavenly Master, and forsake those who 
 have apostatized from Him, as it would be for 
 the loyal portion of a garrison of soldiers to 
 revolt from a general who had turned traitor to 
 
§ 36.] Cases of a moral Necessity for Separation. 203 
 
 his King, and was betraying the city into the 
 enemy's hands. So far from being rebellious 
 subjects in thus revolting, they would be guilty 
 of rebellion if they did not. 
 
 In like manner, the very circumstances in which 
 such a Body of reformers, as I have been allud- 
 ing to, are placed, confer on them that indepen- 
 dence which they would have been unjustifiable 
 in assuming wantonly. The right is bestowed, 
 and the duty imposed on them, of separation 
 from the unreformed, which, under opposite 
 circumstances, would have been schismatical. 
 They are authorized, and bound, by the very 
 nature of their situation, either to subsist as 
 a distinct Community, or to join some other 
 Church ; r even as the vitality which Nature has 
 conferred on a scion of a tree, enables it, when 
 cut off from the parent-stock, either to push 
 forth fresh roots of its own, or to unite, as a 
 graft, with the stock of some kindred tree. 
 
 It is for men so circumstanced to do their best Conduct 
 according to their own deliberate judgment, to conscienti- 
 meet their difficulties, to supply their deficiencies, er S S . seced 
 
 r An instance of this was very recently afforded by the 
 people of Zillerthal, in the Austrian dominions ; who, being 
 deliberately convinced of the errors of the Church in which 
 they had been brought up, underwent, in consequence of their 
 refusal of compliance, a long series of vexatious persecution, 
 and ultimately forsook their home, and found refuge and 
 freedom of conscience in the territory of Prussia. 
 
204 Mistakes to which Reformers are liable. [Essay I [. 
 
 and to avail themselves of whatever advantages 
 may lie within their reach. If they have among 
 their number, Christian Ministers of several 
 Orders, or of one Order, — if they can obtain a 
 supply of such from some other sound Church, — 
 or if they can unite themselves to such a Church 
 with advantage to the great ultimate objects for 
 which Churches were originally instituted, — all 
 these are advantages not to be lightly thrown 
 away. But the unavoidable absence of any of 
 these advantages, not only is not to be imputed 
 to them as a matter of blame, but, by imposing 
 the necessity, creates the right, and the duty, of 
 supplying their deficiencies as they best can. 
 Much as they may regret being driven to the 
 alternative, they ought not to hesitate in their 
 decision, when their choice lies between ad- 
 herence to the human Governors of a Church, 
 and to its Divine Master ; — between " the form 
 of godliness, and the power thereof;" — between 
 the means and the end; — between unbroken 
 apostolical succession of individuals, and un- 
 corrupted Gospel principles. 
 
 Mistakes to § 37. Persons so situated ought to be on their 
 agafnstby 1 guard against two opposite mistakes : the one 
 whenTonf- is, to undervalue the privileges of a Christian 
 separation. Community, by holding themselves altogether 
 debarred from the exercise of such powers as 
 
§ 37.] Mistakes to which Reformer* are liable. 205 
 
 naturally and essentially belong to every Com- 
 munity ; the other mistake is to imagine that 
 whatever they have an undoubted right to do, 
 they would necessarily be right in doing. In no 
 other subject perhaps would such a confusion of 
 thought be likely to arise, as is implied by the 
 confounding together of things so different as 
 these two. Although the legislature (as I have 
 above remarked) has an undoubted right to pass, 
 or to reject, any Bill, a man would be deemed 
 insane who should thence infer that they are 
 equally right in doing either the one or the other. 
 So also the Governors of a Church are left, in 
 respect of ordinances and regulations not pre- 
 scribed or forbidden in Scripture, to their own 
 judgment ; but they are bound to act according to 
 the best of their judgment. What is left to their 
 discretion is not therefore left to their caprice ; 
 nor are they to regard every point that is not abso- 
 lutely essential, as therefore absolutely indifferent. 
 
 They have an undoubted right according 
 to the principles I have been endeavouring to 
 establish, to appoint such Orders of Christian 
 Ministers, and to allot to each such functions 
 as they judge most conducive to the great 
 ends of the Society ; they may assign to the 
 whole, or to a portion of these, the office of 
 ordaining others as their successors ; they may 
 appoint one superintendent of the rest, or several ; 
 
200 Mistakes to which Reformers are liable. [Essay II. 
 
 under the title of Patriarch, Archbishop, Bishop, 
 Moderator, or any other that they may prefer ; 
 they may make the appointment of them for life, 
 or for a limited period, — by election, or by rota- 
 tion, — with a greater, or a less extensive, juris- 
 diction ; and they have a similar discretionary 
 power with respect to Liturgies, Festivals, Cere- 
 monies, and whatever else is left at large in the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Province of N ow to infer that all possible determinations 
 
 discretion. A 
 
 of all these and similar points, would be equally 
 expedient, and equally wise, and good, would be 
 an absurdity so gross that in no other case not 
 connected with religion, would men need even 
 to be warned against it. In fact, it would go to 
 do away the very existence of any such attri- 
 butes as " wisdom," — "prudence," — "discretion," 
 — " judgment," &c. altogether : for there is 
 evidently no room for the exercise of them in 
 matters not left to our choice, and in which the 
 course we are to pursue is decided for us, and 
 distinctly marked out, by a higher Authority ; 
 nor again is there any room for them in matters 
 where there is not a right and a wrong, — a better 
 and a worse ; and where the decision is a matter 
 of total indifference ; as in the choice between 
 two similar sheets of paper to begin writing on, 
 when both are lying within one's reach. The 
 sole province of prudent and cautious delibera- 
 
§ 87.] Mistakes to which Reformers are liable. 207 
 
 tion is in cases which are left to our decision, 
 and in which we may make a better or a worse 
 decision. 
 
 The mistakes, however, which I have been instances 
 
 . oftheabo\ 
 
 alluding to, have been not unfrequently made in mistakes, 
 what relates to the powers possessed by Chris- 
 tian Communities, and the mode of exercising 
 these powers. For instance, at the time of the 
 great Reformation, some Bodies of Christians 
 found themselves without any Bishop among 
 their number ; and formed what are called Pres- 
 byterian Churches. Some members accordingly 
 of these Churches have felt themselves called 
 upon in self-defence to decry Episcopacy, as a 
 form of Government not instituted by the Apo- 
 stles, and, consequently, as one which all Chris- 
 tians are bound to reject. Erroneous as, I am 
 convinced, their premiss was, they were, on the 
 above principles, still more erroneous in drawing 
 that conclusion from it. Others of them again 
 lamented their want of Episcopacy ; considering 
 that form of government as having the apostolical 
 sanction, and consequently, as obligatory and in- 
 dispensable to be retained, when possible ; but to 
 them, unattainable, from the interruption of epis- 
 copal succession. And while some presume to 
 exclude all Presbyterians from the pale of Christ's 
 universal Church— professing at the same time, in 
 words, what they virtually nullify by their inter- 
 
208 Mistakes to which Reformers arc liable. [Essay II. 
 
 pretations, that " Holy Scripture contains all 
 things necessary to salvation" others again com- 
 passionate and sympathize with the supposed un- 
 avoidable deficiency in the Presbyterian Churches. 
 
 Now that all these parties are mistaken in 
 their views (though a mere mistake, when not 
 accompanied with a want of charity, is not de- 
 serving of severe censure) must be evident to 
 any one who embraces the principles which 
 in the outset I endeavoured to establish. It 
 follows from those principles, that the Bodies 
 of Christians we have been speaking of, had full 
 power to retain or to restore, or to originate, 
 whatever form of Church-government they, in 
 their deliberate and cautious judgment, might 
 deem best for the time, and country, and persons, 
 they had to deal with ; whether exactly similar, 
 or not, to those introduced by the Apostles ; 
 provided nothing were done contrary to Gospel- 
 precepts and principles. They were, therefore, 
 perfectly at liberty to appoint Bishops, even if 
 they had none that had joined in the reformation ; 
 or to discontinue the appointment, even if they 
 had: whichever they were convinced was the 
 most conducive, under existing circumstances, 
 to the great objects of all Church-government. 
 And though their decision of this point ought to 
 have been very greatly influenced by their belief 
 as to what were the forms adopted by the 
 
§ 38.] Seduction of the Feelings and Imagination. 209 
 
 Apostles (which must have been not only wise, 
 but the very wisest, for those times and persons) 
 they had no reason to hold themselves absolutely 
 hound to adhere, always and everywhere, to those 
 original models. Indeed, to so considerable a 
 degree have all Churches judged themselves at 
 liberty to depart from the exact model of the 
 earliest institutions — especially (as I formerly 
 remarked) in respect of that important change 
 introduced, — whether wisely or unwisely, — by, 
 I believe, all of what are called Episcopal 
 Churches ; that of having several bishops in one 
 Church, instead of making each Diocese, as 
 appears to have been the apostolical system, an 
 entire and distinct Church ; — so considerable, 
 I say, is the liberty in this respect, that has been 
 assumed by all Churches, that those who speak 
 of all Christians being strictly bound to conform 
 in every point to the exact pattern of the primi- 
 tive institutions, can hardly wonder if they find 
 imputed to them either great want of knowledge, 
 or of reflection, in themselves, or else, a design 
 to take advantage of the ignorance or inattention 
 of others. 
 
 § 38. I have specified the want of " attentive Erroneous 
 
 n .„. i . .<■-.. . 1 views se- 
 
 reflection in applying rightly in practice the ductive to 
 knowledge men do possess, as tending to foster and imagi- 
 erroneous notions, because it is probably both a natlon ' 
 p 
 
210 Seduction of the Feelings and Imagination. [Essay II. 
 
 more common and a more dangerous defect than 
 mere want of sufficient knowledge. And it may 
 be added, that it arises not so often from original 
 deficiency in the mental powers, as from neglect 
 to exercise them. There are many who inad- 
 vertently, and not a few who advisedly and 
 designedly, resign themselves, in all matters 
 pertaining to morals or religion, to the impres- 
 sions produced on their imagination and feelings ; 
 and rather applaud than reproach themselves for 
 not awaiting the decisions of calm judgment, 
 or for allowing their judgment to be biassed. 
 To such persons, there is, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, something very captivating and seductive 
 in the notions I have been censuring ; and not 
 the less, from their being somewhat vague and 
 dimly apprehended, incapable of abiding the test 
 of sober examination, and invested with some of 
 that " mysterious and solemn gloom," which has 
 been put forth expressly by some of their advo- 
 cates, as a recommendation. There is something 
 to many minds awfully and mystically sublime 
 in the idea of the " decisions of the Catholic 
 Church," and of " Catholic Councils, convened 
 in the name of Christ, and whose deliberations 
 are overruled, and their decrees authoritative," — 
 in the idea of the " Sacramental character of 
 Ordination," conferred by persons who have 
 derived a mystical virtue from the successive 
 
§ 88.] Seduction of the Feelings and Imagination. 211 
 
 imposition of hands up to the times of the I 
 Apostles ; — and of the '* priestly " character, 
 (that of Hiereus) thus imparted, and the " Sacri- 
 fices " offered at an *' altar ;" — of a " primitive 
 doctrine always to be found somewhere in the 
 Catholic traditions," &c. : especially when these 
 matters are treated of in solemn and imposing 
 language, of that peculiar kind of dazzling 
 mistiness whose effect is to convey at first to 
 ordinary readers a striking impression, with an 
 appearance of being perfectly intelligible at the 
 first glance, but to become more obscure and 
 doubtful at the second glance, and more and 
 more so, the more attentively it is studied by a 
 reader of clear understanding ; so as to leave 
 him utterly in doubt, at the last, which of several 
 meanings it is meant to convey, or whether any 
 at all. 
 
 The rule of u omne ignotum pro mirifico," 
 applies most emphatically to such doctrines 
 treated of in such language. The very simplicity 
 and plainness of the reasoning by which, in 
 the foregoing pages, the divine authority of a 
 Christian Church, and consequently of its regu- 
 lations and its ministers, are deduced direct 
 from the sanction given by Christ Himself as 
 interpreted by his Apostles, is likely to be, to 
 some minds, no recommendation, but the con- 
 trary. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 Seduction of the Feelings and Imagination. [Essay II. 
 
 views And as men are of course less likely to exer- 
 misiead the cise a clear and unbiassed judgment in respect 
 ciergy. ^ theory which tends especially to exalt 
 their own persons, and invest them with myste- 
 rious powers and awful dignity, the Clergy 
 accordingly are under a peculiar temptation s 
 to lean too favourably, and with too little of 
 rigorous examination, towards a system which 
 confers the more elevation and grandeur on 
 them, in proportion as it detracts from the claims 
 of the entire Community. It is not the most 
 flattering to them to be urged to say continually, 
 not only in words, but by their conduct, " We 
 preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, 
 and us, your Servants for Christ's sake ;" — to be 
 taught that they are merely the Functionaries 
 of the particular Church of which they are 
 members, — that it is in that capacity only that 
 they derive their station and power from Christ, 
 by virtue of the sanction given by Him to 
 Christian Communities ; — that their authority 
 therefore comes direct from the Society so con- 
 stituted, in whose name and behalf they act, as 
 its representatives, just to that extent to which 
 it has empowered and directed them to act. 
 
 ' The minds of many persons among the Laity are so con- 
 stituted as to make the same temptation very little less powerful 
 to them, than to the Priesthood ; for reasons set forth in the 
 Essay (3d Series) on " Vicarious Religion." 
 
§38.] Seduction of the Feelings and Imagination. 213 
 
 These views do indeed leave them a most awfully 
 important and dignified office, as Servants in 
 "the House of God/'— (the "Temple of the 
 Holy Ghost/') — as Stewards (i. e. dispensers ; 
 otKovo/Aot) of divine truth to his People, and as 
 Messengers from Christ, (so far as they " set forth 
 his true and lively word, and duly administer his 
 Holy Sacraments,") as having been appointed 
 conformably to his will. But although their title 
 is thus placed on the secure basis of a clear 
 divine sanction given, once for all, to every 
 regularly-appointed minister of any Christian 
 Community constituted on Gospel principles, 
 instead of being made to depend on a long chain, 
 the soundness of many of whose links cannot be 
 ascertained, yet this last is a system more 
 flattering to human weakness ; inasmuch as it 
 represents the Priesthood as comparatively inde- 
 pendent of each particular Church, and derives 
 their Church's authority rather from them than 
 theirs from it. 
 
 For, according to this system, the sacramental Error of 
 virtue of Holy Orders, which is indispensable for authority 
 all the christian ordinances and means of Grace, emanate" 
 is inherent indefeasibly in each individual, who [[sMhitl- 
 has derived it, in no degree from any particular ters ' 
 Community, but solely from the Bishop whose 
 hands were laid on him ; who derived his power 
 to administer this sacrament, altogether from 
 
214 Seduction of the Feelings and Imagination. [Essay II. 
 
 Consecration by another Bishop — not necessarily 
 a member of the same particular Church, but 
 obtaining his power again from another ; and so 
 on, up to the apostolic times. On this system 
 the Church is made a sort of appendage to the 
 Priesthood ; not, the Ministry, to the Church.' 
 A People separated from their Ministers by some 
 incurable disagreement as to Christian doctrine, 
 even supposing these last to have occasioned it 
 by an utter apostasy from Gospel truth, — would 
 be left (supposing they could not obtain other 
 ministers qualified by the same kind of transmis- 
 sion of Sacramental Virtue) totally and finally 
 shut out from the pale of Christ's universal 
 Church, and from his " covenanted mercies ;" 
 while the Ministers, on the contrary, though 
 they might be prohibited by civil authority, or 
 prevented by physical force, from exercising 
 their functions within a particular district, would 
 
 1 That pernicious popular error, which confounds the Church 
 with the Clergy (see note to § 33,) as if the Spiritual Com- 
 munity consisted only of its Officers, is partly kept up perhaps 
 by men's neglecting to notice one peculiarity belonging to 
 Christ's Kingdom at its first establishment ; viz. that it did, 
 then, consist of Ministers only ; though it was by no means 
 designed so to continue. All the Disciples who constituted the 
 infant Church were those destined to be employed in various 
 offices therein : so that an inattentive reader is liable to con- 
 found together what our Lord said to them as Ministers, and 
 what as Members ; — as Rulers of a Church, and as the Church 
 itself. 
 
§ 39.] Case of deposed Bishops and Presbyters. 
 
 215 
 
 still, even though antichristian in doctrine and 
 in life, retain their office and dignity unimpaired, 
 — the Sacramental Virtue conferred on them by 
 Ordination, and the consequent efficacy of their 
 acts, undiminished. 
 
 §39. And this is not merely an inference Case of <k- 
 fairly deducible from the principles of the system. Bishops 
 I have even met with persons who acknowledged byters. 
 that, if a Bishop, of our own Church for instance, 
 who had been, for some crime, removed and 
 degraded by regular process, should think proper 
 afterwaids to ordain men Priests or Deacons, 
 though he and they would be legally punishable, 
 still his Ordinations would be valid, and these 
 men consequently (however morally unfit) real 
 Clergymen, capable of exercising the spiritual 
 functions. This is to recognise a fearful power, 
 and that, placed in the very worst hands, of 
 producing and keeping up schism with some- 
 thing of an apparent divine sanction to give it 
 strength." I need hardly remark that, according 
 to the principles I have been endeavouring to 
 maintain, a Bishop when removed from his 
 Diocese, (whether for any crime, or otherwise) 
 and not appointed to any other, ceases altogether, 
 ipse facto, to be a Bishop/ and has no more 
 
 ™ See above, § .'52. 
 
 1 For a Bishop, it should be observed, does not, in becoming j 
 
216 Case of deposed Bishops and Presbyters. [Essay II. 
 
 power or right to ordain, or to exercise any 
 other episcopal function than a layman ; that is, 
 till the same, or some other Christian Church, 
 shall think proper to receive him as a Bishop. 
 
 On the same principle, the acts of a Presbyter, 
 or Deacon, or other Minister, of any Church 
 cease to be valid, as soon as ever the Christian 
 Community in which he was appointed, withdraws 
 its sanction from his acts. If another Church 
 think fit to receive him as a Minister, they have 
 an undoubted right to do so ; and he then 
 becomes a Minister of that Church. So he 
 does also, when not expelled from the Society to 
 which he originally belonged, supposing the 
 Church to which he transfers himself thinks Jit 
 to recognise the Ordinations of the other; which 
 they may do, or refuse to do, entirely at their 
 own discretion. This is a point which every 
 Church has a full right to determine according 
 to its own judgment. 
 
 And as for the individual himself who is regu- 
 larly deprived by his Church, if, on beconing 
 a Clergyman, he engaged (as is required by, 
 I believe, most existing Churches) that he Wimld 
 follow no other profession/ of course he cannot 
 
 k such, enter on a new Profession, (as he did on taking orders) 
 but only on a new Office in his profession. 
 
 y It would be, I am convinced, very advantageous tha; this 
 rule should be modified as regards Deacons. We might avail 
 
§ 39.] Case of deposed Bishops and Presbyters. 217 
 
 absolve himself from that engagement; but 
 must continue so far a Clergyman, though with 
 suspended functions. Moreover a Church has 
 a right, — though I think such a regulation a 
 very unwise one, — to recognise as valid the acts 
 of a degraded Minister; (while subjecting him 
 nevertheless to penalties for performing such 
 acts) or of a Layman. 
 
 Concerning several points of this class, — such 
 as the validity of lay-baptism, or of baptism by 
 heretics or schismatics, &c. questions have been 
 often raised, which have been involved in much 
 unnecessary perplexity, from its being common 
 to mix up together what are in fact several dis- 
 tinct questions, though relating to the same subject. 
 For instance, in respect of the validity of Lay- 
 baptism, three important and perfectly distinct 
 questions may be raised ; no one of which is 
 answered by the answering, either way, of the 
 others : viz. 1st. What has a Church the right 
 to determine as to this point? 2dly. What is 
 the wisest and best determination it can make ? 
 and, 3dly. What has this or that particular 
 Church actually determined ? Now persons who 
 are agreed concerning the answer to one of these 
 
 ourselves of the services of some very useful assistants, if we 
 would admit to this subordinate office some who could not 
 maintain themselves wholly, without resorting (as the Apostle 
 Paul did) to some secular employment. 
 
218 
 
 Arguments for the System of [Essay II. 
 
 questions, may yet differ concerning the others ; 
 and vice versa. 2 
 
 System of K 40. But to return to the consideration, 
 
 tradition- ° 
 
 ists incapa- generally, of the whole system of what is called 
 
 ble of being 0 . . J 
 
 supported " Catholic tradition," &c. which I have been 
 
 by clear ar- . . „ _ 
 
 guments. censuring ; it is calculated, as has been said, to 
 produce at the first glance a striking and im- 
 posing effect, and to recommend itself strongly 
 to the imagination and the feelings of some 
 persons : but will not stand the test of a close 
 examination. The advocates of these doctrines, 
 accordingly, either from a consciousness of this, 
 or else from indistinctness in their own concep- 
 tion, often set them forth with something of 
 oracular obscurity and ambiguity, half concealed 
 behind a veil, as it were, of mystery ; as some- 
 thing of which the full import and complete 
 proof were to be reserved for a chosen few. And 
 when clear evidence is demanded of a sufficient 
 foundation for the high pretensions put forth, 
 and the implicit submission that is demanded, 
 we are sometimes met by a rebuke of the " pride 
 of human intellect," and of the presumptuous 
 expectation of having every thing that we are to 
 believe made perfectly level to our understand- 
 ing, and satisfactorily explained. 
 
 See Appendix, Note (M.) 
 
§ 40.] 
 
 Tradition not clear. 
 
 •219 
 
 No one, it may be said, would believe in God, 
 if he were to insist on first obtaining a clear and 
 full comprehension of the nature and attributes 
 of such a Being; an explanation, — such as no 
 man of sense would think of giving, or of seek- 
 ing, — of the divine attributes, brought down to 
 the capacity of such a Being as man. Nor would 
 any one believe in the Christian Revelation, if he 
 were to require, previously, to have a clear and 
 full comprehension of the mysteries of the 
 Incarnation, the Redemption, of the Trinity, and 
 of every thing else appertaining to the Gospel- 
 scheme. We must content ourselves, therefore, 
 we are told, with faint, indistinct, and imperfect 
 notions on religious subjects, unless we would 
 incur deserved censure for want of faith. 
 
 How often and how successfully the fallacy 
 here sketched out has been employed, is really 
 wonderful, considering how totally different and 
 entirely unconnected are the two things which 
 are thus confounded together ; the clear or in- 
 distinct notion of the subject-matter itself, — of 
 the fact or proposition — that is before us ; and, 
 the clear or indistinct notion of the evidence of 
 it, — of the reasons for believing it. A moment's 
 reflection is sufficient for any one to perceive 
 the difference between the two ; and yet, in the 
 loose language of careless or sophistical argu- 
 ment, they are continually confused together, 
 
220 
 
 Arguments for the System of [Essay II. 
 
 and spoken of indiscriminately, as if they were 
 the same thing, 
 clear or Every one, whether possessing Christian faith 
 
 faint appre- 
 
 hension of or not, believes firmly, — and must believe, — and 
 dence, and that, on the clearest evidence, — in the existence 
 ject of it,not of many things concerning which he has but a 
 founded"" very imperfect knowledge, and can form but 
 indistinct and confused ideas of their nature ; 
 while to believe in whatever is proposed to us 
 without any clear proof that it is true, — with 
 an imperfect and indistinct apprehension of any 
 reason for believing it, — is usually regarded as a 
 mark of credulous weakness. And, on the other 
 hand, some description, narrative, or statement, 
 may be, in itself, perfectly clear and intelligible, 
 and yet may be very doubtful as to its truth, or 
 may be wholly undeserving of credit. 
 
 For instance, there is, I suppose, no one who 
 seriously doubts the existence of something which 
 we call Soul, — or Mind — be it Substance or Attri- 
 bute, material or immaterial — and of the mutual 
 connexion between it and the Body. Yet how 
 very faint and imperfect a notion it is that we 
 can form of it, and of many of its phenomena 
 that are of daily occurrence ! The partial sus- 
 pension of mental and bodily functions during 
 Sleep, — the effects of opium and other drugs, 
 on both body and mind; — the influence again 
 exercised by volition, and by various mental 
 
Tradition not clear. 
 
 221 
 
 emotions, on the muscles, and on other parts of 
 the bodily frame, and many other of these pheno- 
 mena, have exercised for ages the ingenuity of 
 the ablest men to find even any approximation 
 towards but an imperfect explanation of them. 
 Yet the evidence on which we believe in the reality 
 of these and of many other things no less dimly 
 and partially understood, is perfect. 
 
 On the other hand, the characters, transac- 
 tions, &c. represented by dramatic writers, or 
 described by historians, are often as clearly in- 
 telligible as it is possible for any thing to be; 
 yet from the total want of evidence, or from the 
 want of clear and decisive evidence, as to their 
 reality, we regard them as either entire fictions, 
 or mixtures of fable and truth, or as more or less 
 likely to have actually existed/ The character 
 and conduct of Lear, for instance, or Othello, of 
 Hamlet, and Macbeth, are perfectly intelligible ; 
 though it is very doubtful how far the tales 
 which suggested to Shakspeare the idea of most 
 of his dramas had any foundation in fact, or were 
 originally fictitious. Many again of the Orations 
 recorded by the ancient Greek and Roman his- 
 torians are as easily and plainly to be understood 
 as any that are reported in our own times ; but 
 in what degree each of these is a faithful record 
 
 a See Rhetoric, part i. c. 2, § 2. " On the plausible and the 
 historically probable." 
 
■22-1 
 
 Fallacies resorted to 
 
 [Essay if. 
 
 of what was actually spoken, is a point on which 
 we have, in some cases, a slight and imperfect 
 evidence ; and in others, none that deserves the 
 name. 
 
 Fallacies § 41. In all subjects where religion is not 
 
 resorted to , n i- i 
 
 on religious concerned, no one or ordinary good sense ever 
 subjects, confounds together two things so dissimilar and 
 unconnected as those I have been speaking of. 
 But in what pertains to religion, the fallacy is, 
 as I have said, often introduced. Yet Religion 
 does not, in this respect, really differ from other 
 subjects. 
 
 Our Saviour's character and his teaching were 
 matter of wondering perplexity to all around 
 Him ; even in a far greater degree than after the 
 establishment of his Kingdom, on his personal 
 ministry being completed ; both because the Jews 
 were full of the expectation of a totally different 
 kind of Deliverer, and because great part of his 
 discourses were not even designed to be fully 
 intelligible, at the time, to his own disciples ; but 
 to be explained afterwards by the occurrence of 
 the events He alluded to. Some of his followers, 
 accordingly, " went back and walked no more 
 with Him," on the occasion of one of these dis- 
 courses. But the Apostles, who adhered to Him, 
 did so, neither from having any clearer notions 
 concerning his revelations, (for we often find it 
 
41.] on Religious Subjects. 
 
 &23 
 
 recorded that " they understood not this saying/' 
 &c.) nor again, from being satisfied to believe 
 without any clear proof of his high pretensions ; 
 but because they " believed, and were sure that 
 He was the Christ, the Son of the living God," 
 on such evidence as He had Himself appealed 
 to : " the works that I do in my Father's name, 
 they bear witness of me." Dim, and indistinct, 
 and imperfect as were still their notions (as to a 
 great degree, ours must be also) concerning 
 " the Son of God," it was no indistinct or im- 
 perfect evidence on which they believed that He 
 was so. 
 
 A converse case is that of the several false 
 Christs who afterwards arose. " I am come," 
 says our Lord, " in my Father's name," (with 
 such manifestations of divine power as testified 
 his coming from God) " and ye receive me not ; 
 if another shall come in his own name," (viz. 
 requiring acceptance on his own bare word, 
 without any miraculous credentials) " him ye 
 will receive." b Their teaching, their pretensions, 
 and promises, were as clearly intelligible to the 
 greater part of the Jews — because falling in with 
 the prevailing belief and expectations, — as those 
 of Jesus had been (even to his own disciples) 
 obscure, perplexing, or unintelligible. Accord- 
 
 b See Sermon on the "Name Emmanuel :" and also Cruden's 
 Concordance on the word " Name." 
 
224 False Views of what is Faith. [Essay II. 
 
 ingly, vast multitudes followed these pretenders, 
 without requiring any clear and sufficient evi- 
 dence of the truth of their pretensions : and they 
 followed them to their own and their Country's 
 ruin. 
 
 The very history of our own religion, there- 
 fore, supplies us here with an illustration of the 
 distinction I have been speaking of. On the 
 one side we have a revelation, itself dimly and 
 partially understood, and doubtful, in great part, 
 as to its meaning, but with clear evidence that 
 it really came from God : on the other, a pre- 
 tended revelation, containing, to those it was 
 proposed to, no doubts or difficulties as to its 
 sense and its design, but supported by no evi- 
 dence that could satisfy an unprejudiced mind, 
 bent on the attainment of truth. 
 
 False views § 42. However plausible then the system I 
 hhh.^ 1S have been objecting to may appear to any one, — 
 however imposing and mysteriously sublime, — 
 however gratifying and consolatory to the feel- 
 ings — let him not therefore neglect to inquire 
 for the proofs by which its high pretensions are 
 to be sustained; but rather examine with the 
 more care the foundation on which so vast a 
 superstructure is made to rest. Let no one be 
 deterred from this by fierce denunciations against 
 the presumptuousness of all inquiry, and all use 
 
§42.] False Viervs of what is Faith. 225 
 
 of private judgment in religious matters; and 
 by eulogies on the virtue of faith ; remembering 
 that the "faith " thus recommended is precisely 
 that want of faith for which those Jews just 
 mentioned were so severely condemned. They 
 refused to listen to good evidence, and assented 
 to that which was worthless. 
 
 And let no one allow himself to be persuaded Danger 
 
 i ii 0 ^ mis ~ 
 
 that he is evincing an humble piety, acceptable directed 
 
 to the "jealous God," in hastily giving credence piety " 
 
 to the pretensions to divine authority put forth 
 
 in behalf of uninspired men, (not producing the 
 
 miraculous " Signs of an Apostle " ) by those 
 
 who are for blending " Tradition with Scripture," 
 
 and " following the dictates of inspiration where- 
 
 ever found, whether in Scripture or Antiquity ;" 
 
 and who pronounce according to their own 
 
 arbitrary choice, what are, and what are not, 
 
 the general Councils whose " deliberations were 
 
 overruled by the Holy Spirit, and their decrees 
 
 consequently authoritative." 
 
 " If any of these entice thee secretly, saying, 
 Let us go after other Gods, thou shalt not 
 hearken unto him." And those who speak in 
 the name of Jehovah, saying, " Thus saith the 
 Lord ; when the Lord hath not spoken," are no 
 more exempt from the guilt of enticing to 
 idolatry, than the worshippers of Baal. 
 
 The more disposed any one is to submissive 
 
 Q 
 
226 False Views of what is Faith. [Essay II. 
 
 veneration, the greater the importance of guard- 
 ing him against mis-directed veneration ; — 
 against false piety ; against reverencing as divine, 
 what in reality is human. And the more awfully 
 important any question is, the greater is the 
 call for a rigid investigation of what may be 
 urged on both sides ; that the decision may be 
 made on sound, rational, and scriptural grounds, 
 and not according to the dictates of excited 
 feelings and imagination. 
 Use of And in these times especially, and in respect 
 
 terms op- 
 
 positeto ot this subject, men need to be warned against 
 
 the things . . 
 
 designated, a mistake which at all times is not uncommon ; — 
 that of allowing themselves to be misled by names 
 and professions, which are often — apparently 
 by designed choice, — the most opposite to the 
 things really intended. Thus, for instance, the 
 term " Apostolical" is perpetually in the mouths 
 of some who the most completely set at nought 
 the principles which the Apostles have laid 
 down for our guidance in the inspired writings ; 
 and who virtually nullify these by blending with 
 them the traditions of uninspired men. The 
 evils of " schism" again, are especially dwelt on 
 by some who maintain principles the tendency 
 of which has been shown to be to generate and 
 perpetuate schism. To satisfy and " settle men's 
 minds," is the profession of some whose principles 
 lead (as has been above remarked) in proportion 
 
43. J Principles of the Anglican Church. 
 
 22? 
 
 as each man has the most tender conscience, and 
 the greatest anxiety abont religious truth, to 
 perplex and torment him with incurable doubts 
 and scruples. " Church-principles" is a favourite 
 phrase with some who are, in fact, lowering the 
 just dignity and impairing the divinely-conferred 
 rights of a Church. And none more loudly 
 profess devoted and submissive admiration for 
 the Anglican Church, than many of those who 
 are emphatically opposed, in some of the most 
 important points, to the principles on which our 
 Reformers proceeded, and the spirit which 
 actuated them throughout. 
 
 If any one is deliberately convinced that those 
 their fundamental principles are erroneous, and 
 that they rested the doctrines and institutions 
 of our Church on a wrong basis, he deserves 
 credit at least for honest consistency in leaving 
 its communion. 
 
 § 43. But to me it does appear, that — without Pr 
 attributing to them an infallibility which they a 
 expressly disclaim — we may justly give our R 
 Reformers credit for such sound views, and such 
 resolute adherence to evangelical truth, com- 
 bined with such moderation and discretion, as 
 were — considering the difficult circumstances 
 they were placed in, — truly wonderful; and 
 such as are, in all times, and not least in the 
 q 2 
 
228 Principles of the Anglican Church. [Essay II 
 
 present, well worthy of imitation. It was their 
 " wisdom to keep the mean" (as is expressed in 
 the preface to the Book of Common Prayer) 
 " between the two extremes, of too much stiffness 
 in refusing, and too much easiness in admitting, 
 any variation." It was their wisdom also to 
 "keep the mean" between the claims — never 
 conflicting, except when misunderstood — of 
 Scripture and of a Church. It was their wisdom 
 to keep the mean between a slavish bondage to 
 ancient precedents on the one hand, and a 
 wanton and arrogant disregard of them, on the 
 other. It was their wisdom — their pious and 
 Christian wisdom — to keep the mean between 
 rash and uncharitable judgment of other 
 Churches, and equally rash carelessness, or fond- 
 ness for innovation, in the regulations of their 
 own. They conformed as closely as, in their 
 judgment, circumstances would warrant, to the 
 examples of the earliest Churches, without for 
 an instant abandoning the rightful claims of 
 their own, and without arrogantly pronouncing 
 censure on those whose circumstances had led 
 them to depart farther from those ancient pre- 
 cedents. Their " Faith" they drew from the 
 Scriptures; their " Hope" they based on the 
 Scriptures ; their " Charity" they learned from 
 the Scriptures. 
 
 A member of the Anglican Church, — I mean, 
 
§ 43.] Principles of the Anglican Church. 229 
 
 a sincere and thoroughly consistent member of 
 it- — ought to feel a full conviction — and surely 
 there are good grounds for that conviction, — 
 both that the reforms they introduced were no 
 more than were loudly called for by a regard 
 for Gospel-truth, and that the Church as consti- 
 tuted by them, does possess, in its regulations 
 and its officers, " Apostolical succession," in the 
 sense in which it is essential that a Christian 
 Community should possess it ; viz. : — in being a 
 regularly-constituted Christian Society, framed in 
 accordance with the fundamental principles taught 
 us by the Apostles and their great Master. 
 
 Successors, in the Apostolic office, the Apo- Successors 
 sties have none. As witnesses of the Resur- Apostles. 
 rection, — as Dispensers of miraculous gifts, — as 
 inspired Oracles of divine Revelation, — they 
 have no successors. But as Members, — as 
 Ministers, — as Governors — of Christian Commu- 
 nities, their successors are the regularly-admitted 
 Members, — the lawfully-ordained Ministers, — 
 the regular and recognised Governors, — of a 
 regularly-subsisting Christian Church ; especially 
 of a Church which conforming in fundamentals, 
 — as I am persuaded ours does, — to Gospel- 
 principles, claims and exercises no rights beyond 
 those which have the clear sanction of our great 
 Master, as being essentially implied in the very 
 character of a Community. 
 
230 Principles of the Anglican Church. [Essay II. 
 
 May the members of a Church which our 
 Reformers cleansed of so much corruption, and 
 placed on its true basis, have the grace to profit 
 by their example, and follow out their funda- 
 mental principles ; labouring to be apostolical 
 " not in mere words and names" but in deed and 
 truth ; actuated by the same spirit which was 
 found in those great and good men, so far as 
 they decreed what is agreeable to God's word, 
 and to the " pure and peaceable wisdom that 
 is from above." And especially may all who 
 profess Church-principles be careful to guard 
 themselves and others against the two most 
 prevailing errors of these days ; — the two kinds 
 of encroachments on the legitimate rights of a 
 Church ; on the one side by presumptuous and 
 self-sufficient irregularities, and defiance of law- 
 ful authority ; and by the pretensions of sup- 
 posed " Antiquity" and " Tradition," on the 
 other ; that they may be enabled, under the 
 divine blessing, to carry into effect more and 
 more fully, and to bring to completion " all the 
 holy desires, all the good counsels, and all the 
 just works" of our Reformers, and of all other 
 our predecessors, as many as have endeavoured, 
 in simplicity and truth, to conform to the 
 instructions of our divine Master and his 
 Apostles. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Note (A.) Pp. 31, 34. 
 
 I have said, " secular empire" and a " monopoly of civil 
 privileges and powers," because the rule does not apply to such 
 as are purely ecclesiastical. The government of the Church 
 (except as far as relates to temporalities, which are clearly the 
 property of the Nation) ought to be monopolized by members 
 of that Church. It is an unseemly, and in many respects, 
 mischievous, anomaly, that, in purely religious matters, any 
 authority should be possessed (as is the case in this country) 
 by those who are not members of the Religious Community. 
 [See " Appeal on behalf of Church-government," a valuable 
 and well-written pamphlet. Houlston and Co.] 
 
 It is true that the greatest evils that might arise from such an 
 anomaly, — vexatious and oppressive interference in matters 
 that affect the conscience — do not arise in this country. No 
 greater evil does result in practice than that (no small one 
 however) of leaving the Church virtually without any legislative 
 Government. But even if this were a less evil than it is, it 
 would not be the less true as a principle, that none ought to 
 have any share in the government (except — as I have said — in 
 respect of secular matters) of a Church, who are not members 
 of it. 
 
l»:3! 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 There are some however who, from want of the habit of 
 attentive reflection, are with difficulty brought to perceive the 
 unsoundness of any false principle, except when it is fully 
 developed in practice, and produces, actually, all the ill effects 
 that it can consistently lead to. They cannot perceive which 
 way a wind is blowing unless it blows a perfect gale. They 
 not merely know a tree only by its fruits, but, except when it 
 is actually bearing its fruits, and when it has brought them to 
 the full perfection of poisonous maturity, they do not recognise 
 the tree. 
 
 This defect may often be observed in men's judgments on 
 another point also, — the employment of secular coercion in 
 religious matters, with a view either to compel men to conform 
 to the faith and mode of worship prescribed by the Civil- 
 government, or to give more or less of political ascendancy, and 
 monopoly of civil rights and power, to those of a particular 
 persuasion. To burn Dissenters under the title of heretics, — 
 or to put them to a less cruel death, — or to banish, or fine and 
 imprison them, — or to exclude from all, or from some, of the 
 rights of citizens, and reduce, more or less, to the condition 
 of vassals or Helots, those who do not profess the religion 
 which the State, as such, enjoins, — these are widely different 
 indeed, in respect of the actual amount of evil inflicted, or of 
 good denied to individuals ; but the principle is in all these 
 cases, the same ; viz : the assumed right of the Secular 
 Government, as such, to interfere with men's conscience and 
 consequently (when the Government calls itself Christian) to 
 make Christ's kingdom, so far, " a kingdom of this world." 
 
 Note (B.) P. 58. 
 
 " That no society can exist without some rules, and 
 without some means of enforcing obedience to those rules, is 
 obvious. When therefore it is asked, whether Christ or the 
 Holy Spirit left any ecclesiastical laws, or vested any where 
 
Appendix. 
 
 power to enforce those laws ? if tlie question is put with a 
 view to ascertain whether Church-government be of divine 
 origin, it is idle ; inasmuch as the very institution of the 
 ecclesiastical society, the Church, implies the design that rules 
 should be established, and means provided to enforce them. 
 
 " But another object may be intended by the question. It 
 may be put with the view of ascertaining what those rules are, 
 whereby this society, the Church, is designed to be governed. 
 For, it may be said, and plausibly enough, that granting the 
 intention of the Church's Founder to have laws established to 
 be ever so apparent, how are we to know what kind of govern- 
 ment he intended ? 
 
 " On one point the inquirer must satisfy himself. Jf, from 
 the nature of the Church, and from existing circumstances, 
 the members were already possessed of the means of acquiring 
 this knowledge, in that case neither Christ nor the Holy Spirit 
 would be likely to leave any code of ecclesiastical laws ; on 
 precisely the same principle, as no code of ethics was left. 
 
 " Now, is there any thing in the nature of the Church to 
 guide us, as to what are ecclesiastical offences ? Undoubtedly 
 there is. In every society there must be such a principle ; 
 and by reference to it in each, are formed laws for the govern- 
 ment of each. Every society recognises peculiar offences, 
 arising out of, and depending solely on, the peculiar nature 
 of the society ; so that, in proportion as this latter is under- 
 stood, the former are defined. Much mischievous confusion 
 in some instances arises from a want of attention to this con- 
 nexion ; and the attention is frequently diverted from it by 
 the accidental circumstance, that the same act often becomes 
 an offence against many societies. Thus, theft is at once an 
 offence against the supreme Ruler of the universe, — against 
 the political body to which the thief is attached, — against some 
 certain class of society, perhaps, in which he moves, and so 
 on. The act being one, it is only by reflection that we are 
 enabled to separate the different views which render it in each 
 case an offence, and in each of a different magnitude. Again, 
 what becomes a crime because violating the principle of one 
 
236 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 society, may be none in another ; if, namely, it does not 
 interfere with the object proposed in the formation and pre- 
 servation of that other society. Thus, the violation of the 
 academical rules of our Universities does not render the 
 offending member amenable to the laws of the land. Thus, 
 too, the very conduct which recommends a smuggler or a 
 robber to his confederacy, becomes an offence against the 
 political body with which he is associated. 
 
 " In order, therefore, to ascertain what are inherent offences 
 or crimes in any society, it is necessary that we should know 
 with what object or objects such society is formed. If in- 
 formation of this kind then be found in the sacred record, 
 respecting the Christian society, ecclesiastical law by revelation 
 was no more to be expected, than a code of ethics to tell men 
 what their own consciences were already constituted by God 
 to declare. 
 
 " It is certain, however, that if the question need not be 
 answered in the affirmative, in order either to establish the 
 divine origin of ecclesiastical government, or to determine 
 what offences come under its cognizance, there is yet a third 
 object which may be proposed in urging it. What punishments 
 are authorized, in order to check those offences ? Ought not 
 these to have been specified ? and, not having been specified, 
 does the nature of the case here also supersede the necessity 
 of a revelation, and enable us to know what coercion is, and 
 what is not, agreeable to the Divine will ? The inquiry, too, 
 seems to be the more reasonable, because in looking to the 
 methods by which various societies are upheld, we find the 
 punishment even in similar societies by no means the same. 
 Military discipline, for instance, in different countries, and at 
 different periods, has been enforced by penalties unlike in de- 
 gree and in kind. In different countries and ages, the social 
 tie between the master and the slave has been differently main- 
 tained. All this is true, but still, in looking at the question so, 
 we take only a partial view, and lose one important feature in 
 the establishment of coercion, — the right. 
 
 " Now, this right is either inherent in the society, or con- 
 
Appendix. 
 
 237 
 
 ventional, or both, as is the case in most confederate bodies. 
 When the right is limited to what the society exercises as 
 inherent and indispensable, — inherent in its nature, and in- 
 dispensable to its existence, — the extreme punishment is, 
 exclusion ; and the various degrees and modifications of pu- 
 nishment, are only degrees and modifications of exclusion. 
 When the right is conventional also, (as far as it is so,) the 
 punishment is determined by arbitrary enactment, proceeding 
 from some authority acknowledged by all parties, (whether 
 that authority be lodged in the parties themselves, or in com- 
 petent representatives, or in other delegated persons,) and 
 therefore styled conventional. Few societies have ever existed 
 without a large portion of these latter. Hence the anomaly 
 above alluded to, and hence too the vulgar impression, that all 
 punishments are arbitrary, and depend solely on the caprice 
 and judgment of the government. What is popularly and 
 emphatically termed society, affords a good instance of the 
 first ; that is, of a social union regulated and maintained only 
 by a right inherent. In this, excessive ill-manners and the 
 gross display of ungentkmanly feelings are punished by abso- 
 lute exclusion. According as the offence is less, the party 
 offending is for a time excluded from some select portion of 
 good society, or from certain meetings and the like, in which 
 more particularly the spirit and genuine character of gentility 
 are to be cherished. All its lawful and appropriate punish- 
 ments are a system of exclusion, in various shapes and de- 
 grees." — Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, (Historical Division,) 
 vol. ii. pp. 744, 745. 
 
 Note (C.) Pp. 60, 76. 
 
 " Hereupon doth the Apostle lay a divine directory before 
 him, concerning their manner of praying, choosing and 
 ordaining of ministers, approving deacons, admitting widows, 
 and regulating the people — that nothing could be wanting to 
 
238 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 the healthful temper of that church, if they receive and em- 
 brace these applications ; in the most of which prescriptions, 
 he useth exceeding much of their synagogue-language, that 
 he may be the better understood ; and reflecteth upon divers 
 of their own laws and customs, that what he prescribeth, may 
 imprint upon them with the more conviction. He calleth the 
 minister ' Episcopus,' from the common and known title ' the 
 chazan' or ' overseer' in the synagogue : he prescribeth rules 
 and qualifications for his choice, in most things suitable to 
 their own cautions in choosing of an elder : he speaketh of 
 ' elders ruling only, and elders ruling and labouring in the 
 word and doctrine ;' meaning, in this distinction, that same 
 that he had spoken of in chap. iii. ' bishops and deacons.' 
 Both these, in the common language, then best known, were 
 called, ' elders,' and both owned as ' rulers.' Yea, the very 
 title, that they usually termed, ' deacons,' (Parnasin), was the 
 common word that was used to signify, ' a ruler.' The Jeru- 
 salem Talmud, speaking of the three ' Parnasin,' or ' deacons,' 
 that were in every synagogue, hath these two passages, which 
 may be some illustration to two passages in this epistle : — 
 ' They appoint not less than three Parnasin in the congre- 
 gation : for if matters of money were judged by three, matters 
 of life much more require three to manage them.' Observe, 
 that the deacon's office was accounted as an office that 
 concerned life ; namely, in taking care for the existence of 
 the poor. According to this, may that in chap. iii. 12, be 
 understood : ' For they that have used the office of a deacon 
 well, purchase to themselves a good degree;' a good degree 
 towards being entrusted with souls, when they have been 
 faithful in the discharge of their trust concerning the life of 
 the body." — Lightfoot's Harmony of the New Testament. 
 Edited by the Rev. John Pitman. Vol. iii. p. 257. 
 
 " The Apostles at Jerusalem, hearing the glad tidings of 
 the conversion of Samaria, send down Peter and John ; 
 and why these two rather than any other of the twelve, is not 
 .so easy to resolve, as it is ready to observe, that if, in this 
 
Appendix. 
 
 239 
 
 employment, there was any sign of primacy, John was sharer 
 of it as well as Peter. Being come, they pray, and lay their 
 hands upon them, and they receive the Holy Ghost. Here 
 episcopacy thinketh it hath an undeniable argument for proof 
 of its hierarchy, and of the strange rite of confirmation. For 
 thus pleadeth Baronius for the former : ' From hence (saith 
 he) it may be seen, that the hierarchical order was instituted 
 in the church of God, even in this time ; for Philip doth so 
 baptize those that believe, that yet he usurpeth not the apo- 
 stolical privilege, — namely, the imposition of hands granted 
 to the Apostles.' And thus the Rhemists both for it, and 
 for the latter, in their notes on Acts viii. 17- : — ' If this Philip 
 had been an Apostle (saith St. Bede), he might have imposed 
 his hands, that they might have received the Holy Ghost ; 
 but this none can do, saving bishops. For though priests 
 may baptize and anoint the baptized also with chrism conse- 
 crated by a bishop, — yet can he not sign his forehead with 
 the same holy oil ; because that belongeth only to bishops, 
 when they give the Holy Ghost to be baptized.' And after 
 this testimony of Bede, they subjoin their inference : ' This 
 imposition therefore of hands, together with the prayers here 
 specified (which no doubt was the very same that the church 
 useth to that purpose) was the ministration of the sacrament 
 of confirmation.' 
 
 " Now, let the reader, with indifferency and seriousness, but 
 ruminate upon these two queries, and then judge of these 
 two inferences : — 
 
 " First, whether apostleship were not an order for ever, 
 inimitable in the church : for besides the reason given to 
 prove that it was, upon the choosing of Matthias, others may 
 be added to make it more clear : — as, 1 . The end of their 
 election was peculiar, the like to which was not to be in the 
 church again ; for they were chosen to be with Christ, 
 Mark hi. 14 ; to be eye-witnesses of his resurrection, Acts i. 
 22, ii. 32, and x. 41 ; as they had been of his actions and 
 passion, Luke i. 2. And, therefore, Paul pleading for his 
 apostleship, that " he had seen the Lord," 1 Cor. ix. 1 ; and 
 
240 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 in the relation or story of his calling, this particular is singu- 
 larly added, that " he saw that Just One, and heard the voice 
 of his mouth," Acts xxii. 14. 
 
 "Secondly, the name of ' Apostles' keepeth itself unmixed 
 or confounded with any other order. It is true, indeed, that 
 the significancy of the word would agree to other ministers 
 that are to preach : but there is a peculiar propriety in the 
 sense, that hath confined the title to the twelve and Paul : as 
 any indifferent eye will judge and censure upon the weighing 
 of it in the New Testament. 
 
 "Thirdly, When Paul reckoneth the several kinds of ministry, 
 that Christ Jesus left in the church at his ascension, Eph. iv. 
 1 1 , and 1 Cor. xii. 28, — there is none that can think them all 
 to be perpetuated, or that they should continue successively 
 in the like order from time to time. For within a hundred 
 years after our Saviour's birth, where were either prophets or 
 evangelists, miracles or healings ? And if these extraordinary 
 kinds of ministration were ordained but for a time, and for 
 special occasion, and were not to be imitated in the church 
 unto succeeding times ; much more, or at the least as much, 
 were the Apostles, and order much more, at least, as much 
 extraordinary, as they. 
 
 " Fourthly, The constant and undeniable parallel, which is 
 made betwixt the twelve Patriarchs, the fathers of the twelve 
 tribes, and the twelve Apostles, not only by the number itself, 
 but also by the New Testament, in the four-and-twenty Elders, 
 Rev. iv. 4, — and in the gates and foundations of the New 
 Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 12, 14, — doth argue and prove the latter 
 order as inimitable as the first. These things well considered, 
 if there were no more, it will show, how improbable and 
 unconsonant the first inference is, that is alleged, that because 
 there was a subordination betwixt the apostles and Philip, 
 therefore, the like is to be reputed betwixt bishops and other 
 ministers, and that bishops in the church are in the place of the 
 Apostles." — Lightfoot's Commentary on the Acts, vol. viii. p. 1 25. 
 
 " 1. Here beginneth ' the kingdom of heaven;' when the 
 
Appendix. 
 
 2-11 
 
 Gentiles are received to favour and to the Gospel, who had 
 been so long cast off, and lain in ignorance and idolatry ; and 
 when no difference is made betwixt them and the Jews any 
 longer, — but, of every nation, they that fear God and work 
 righteousness are accepted of him, as well as Israel. This is 
 the very first beginning or dawning to the kingdom of heaven ; 
 and so it grew on more and more, till Jerusalem was 
 destroyed ; and then was the perfect day, when the Gentiles 
 only were become the church of Christ ; and no church or 
 commonwealth of Israel to be had at all, but they destroyed 
 and ruined. 
 
 " 2. Here 1 Peter hath the keys of the kingdom,' and un- 
 locked the door for the Gentiles to come in to the faith and 
 gospel, which, till now, had been shut, and they kept out. 
 And Peter only had the keys, and none of the apostles or 
 disciples but he, for though they from henceforward brought 
 in Gentiles daily into the kingdom of heaven, by converting 
 them to the Gospel, — yet it was he that first and only opened 
 the door ; and the door, being once opened, was never shut, 
 nor never shall be to the end of the world. And this was all 
 the priority that Peter had before the other apostles, if it 
 were any priority ; and how little this concerneth Rome, or 
 the Papacy, as to be any foundation of it, a child may observe. 
 
 " 3. Peter here looseth the greatest strictness, and what was 
 the straitest bound-up of anything that was in all the policy of 
 Moses and customs of the Jews, — and that was, the difference 
 of clean and unclean, in the legal sense. And this he looseth 
 on earth, and it is loosed in heaven ; for from heaven had he 
 an immediate warrant to dissolve it. And this he doth, first 
 declaratively, showing that nothing henceforward is to be 
 called common or unclean, and showing his authority for this 
 doctrine ; and then practically conforming himself to this 
 doctrine that he taught, by going in unto the uncircumcised, 
 and eating with them. ' Binding and loosing,' in our 
 Saviour's sense, and in the Jews' sense, from whose use he 
 taketh the phrase, is ' of things and not of persons ;' for Christ 
 saith to Peter, o idv lr)or\Q, and 5 kav \vat)q ; o and not ov ; 
 R 
 
242 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 ' whatsoever' thou bindest, and not ' whomsoever ;' and to the 
 other apostles, otra lav li)ar)-t, Matt, xviii. 18, vara and not 
 Strove, ' whatsoever things,' and not, ' whatsoever persons ;' so 
 that, though it be true and indeed, that Jews and Gentiles 
 are loosed henceforward one to the communion of another, — 
 yet the proper object of this loosing, that is loosed by Peter, 
 was that law or doctrine that tied them up. And so con- 
 cerning the eating of those things that had been prohibited, — 
 it is true, indeed, that the Jews were let loose henceforward 
 to the use of them in diet, and to eat what they thought good ; 
 but this loosing was not so properly of the men, as the loosing 
 of that prohibition, that had bound them before. And this 
 could be no way but doctrinally, by teaching that christian 
 liberty that was given by the gospel. 
 
 " Now, though Peter only, and none but he, had ' the keys 
 of the kingdom' of heaven, yet had all the apostles the ' power 
 of binding and loosing,' as well as he ; and so have all the 
 ministers of the gospel as well as they ; and all in the same 
 sense, namely, doctrinally to teach what is bound and loose, 
 or lawful and unlawlui ; but not in the same kind : for the 
 apostles, having the constant and unerring assistance of the 
 Holy Ghost, did nullify, by their doctrine, some part of 
 Moses's law, as to the use of it, as circumcision, sacrifices, 
 purifyings, and other legal rites, — which could not have been 
 done by men, that had not had such a Spirit ; for there must 
 be the same Spirit of prophecy to abrogate a law which had 
 set it in force." — P. 219. 
 
 " Besides these there was ' the public minister of the syn- 
 agogue,' who prayed publicly, and took care about the reading 
 of the law, and sometimes preached, if there were not some 
 other to discharge this office. This person was called, ' The 
 Angel of the Church,' and ' the Chazan or Bishop of the 
 Congregation.' The public minister of the synagogue himself 
 read not the law publicly ; but, every sabbath, he called out 
 seven of the synagogue (on other days, fewer) whom he judged 
 fit to read. He stood by him that read, with great care 
 
Appendix. 
 
 24 ;i 
 
 observing, tliat he read nothing either falsely, or improperly, — 
 and calling him back, and correcting him, if he had failed in 
 any thing. And hence he was called, ' 'ETiWo-oe,' or ' Over- 
 seer.' Certainly, the signification of the word ' Bishop,' and 
 ' Angel of the Church,' had been determined with less noise, 
 if recourse had been made to the proper fountains, — and men 
 had not vainly disputed about the signification of words, taken 
 I know not whence. The service and worship of the temple 
 being abolished, as being ceremonial, God transplanted the 
 worship and public adoration of God used in the synagogues, 
 which was moral, into the Christian church ; to wit, the 
 public ministry, public prayers, reading God's word, and 
 preaching, &c. Hence the names of the ministers of the 
 gospel were the very same, ' The Angel of the Church,' and 
 ' The Bishop,' — which belonged to the ministers in the 
 synagogues." — Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations upon the 
 Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, vol. xi. p. 88. 
 
 " Ver. 19: Kai $16010 001 rag kXeIq rijg fiaaiXeiac tQv 
 ovpavuiv. ' And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of 
 heaven.' That is, ' Thou shalt first open the door of faith to 
 the Gentiles.' He had said, that he would build his church 
 to endure for ever, against which ' the gates of hell should 
 not prevail,' which had prevailed against the Jewish church : 
 and ' To thee, O Peter (saith he) I will give the keys of the 
 kingdom of heaven ; that thou mayest open a door for the 
 bringing in of the gospel to that church.' Which was per- 
 formed by Peter in that remarkable story concerning Cornelius, 
 Acts x. And I make no doubt, that those words of Peter 
 respect these words of Christ, Acts xv. 7 ; A</>' ripepuiy doyaitoi' 
 6 Gtoc iv jjfiiv \lt\ila~o Ctd rou (T-Ojiaroc jjov devout ra iQvr) 
 rov \6yox> rov TLvayyeXlov, Kai TnareTiaui. ' A good while ago 
 God made choice among us, that the Gentiles should hear the 
 word of the Gospel by my mouth, and believe.' 
 
 " Kai 5 idv SrjirriQ i'/iti rijc y»jc, &c. ' And whatsoever thou 
 shalt hind on earth, &C. Kat o idv XvariQ t7ri -rjc yrjc, &c. 
 ' And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth,' &c. 
 
 11 2 
 
244 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 " I. We believe the keys were committed to Peter alone, 
 but the power of binding and loosing to the other apostles 
 also, chap, xxviii. 18. 
 
 " II. It is necessary to suppose, that Christ here spake 
 according to the common people, — or he could not be under- 
 stood without a particular commentary, which is nowhere to 
 be found. 
 
 " III. But now ' to bind and loose,' a very usual phrase 
 in the Jewish schools, was spoken of things, not of persons ; 
 which is here also to be observed in the articles, o and ova, 
 ' what,' and ' whatsoever,' chap, xviii." — Lightfoot, p. 226. 
 
 Note (D.) Pp. 74, 75. 
 
 " It was indeed not at all to be expected that the Gospels, 
 the Acts, and those Epistles which have come down to us, 
 should have been, considering the circumstances in which they 
 were written, any thing different from what they are : but the 
 question still recurs, why should not the Apostles or their 
 followers have also committed to paper, what we are sure must 
 have been perpetually in their mouths, regular instruction to 
 Catechumens, Articles of Faith, Prayers, and directions as to 
 Fublic Worship, and administration of the Sacraments ? 
 
 " Supposing that the other avocations of the Apostles would 
 not allow any of them leisure for such compositions, — though 
 we know that some of them did find time for writing, two of 
 them, not a little, — even this supposition does not at all explain 
 the difficulty ; for the Acts, and two of the Gospels, were 
 written by men who were only attendants on the Apostles. 
 Nor would such writings as I am speaking of have required 
 an inspired penman ; only, one who had access to persons 
 thus gifted. We know with what care the Apostolic Epistles 
 were preserved, first by the Churches to which they were 
 respectively sent, and afterwards, by the others also, as soon 
 
Appendix. 
 
 245 
 
 as they received copies. How comes it then that no one of 
 the Elders (Presbyters) of any of these Churches should have 
 written down, and afterwards submitted to the revision of 
 an Apostle, that outline of catechetical instruction — that 
 elementary introduction to the Christian faith — which they 
 must have received at first from that Apostle's mouth, and 
 have afterwards employed in the instruction of their own con- 
 verts ? Why did none of them record any of the Prayers, of 
 which they must have heard so many from an Apostle's mouth, 
 both in the ordinary devotional assemblies, in the administra- 
 tion of the Sacraments, and in the " laying on of hands," by 
 which they themselves had been ordained ? 
 
 " Paul, after having given the most general exhortations to 
 the Corinthians for the preservation of decent regularity in their 
 religious meetings, adds, ' the rest will I set in order when 
 I come.' And so doubtless he did ; and so he must have 
 done, by verbal directions, in all the other churches also ; is it 
 not strange then that these verbal directions should nowhere 
 have been committed to writing ? This would have seemed a 
 most obvious and effectual mode of precluding all future 
 disorders and disputes : as also the drawing up of a compen- 
 dious statement of Christian doctrines, would have seemed a 
 safeguard against the still more important evil of heretical 
 error. Yet if any such statements and formularies had been 
 drawn up, with the sanction, and under the revision of an 
 Apostle, we may be sure they would have been preserved and 
 transmitted to posterity, with the most scrupulous and reve- 
 rential care. The conclusion therefore seems inevitable, that 
 either no one of the numerous Elders and Catechists ever 
 thought of doing this, or else, that they were forbidden by the 
 Apostles to execute any such design ; and each of these alter- 
 natives seems to me alike inexplicable by natural causes. 
 
 " For it should be remembered that, when other points are 
 equal, it is much more difficult to explain a negative than a 
 positive circumstance in our Scriptures. There is something, 
 suppose, in the New Testament, which the first promulgators 
 of Christianity, — considered as mere unassisted men, — were 
 
240 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 not likely to write ; and there is something else, which they 
 were, we will suppose, equally unlikely to omit writing : now 
 these two difficulties are by no means equal. For, with respect 
 to the former, if we can make out that any one of these men 
 might have been, by nature or by circumstances, qualified and 
 induced to write it, the phenomenon is solved. To point out 
 even a single individual able and likely to write it, would 
 account for its being written. But it is not so with respect to 
 the other case, that of omission. Here, we have to prove a 
 negative ; — to show, not merely that this or that man was 
 likely not to write what we find omitted, but, that no one was 
 likely to write it." * * 
 
 " Although however we cannot pretend, in every case, to 
 perceive the reasons for what God has appointed, it is not in 
 the present case difficult to discern the superhuman wisdom 
 of the course adopted. If the Hymns and forms of Prayer, — 
 the Catechisms, — the Confessions of faith, — and the Eccle- 
 siastical regulations, which the Apostles employed, had been 
 recorded, these would all have been regarded as parts of 
 Scripture : and even had they been accompanied by the most 
 express declarations of the lawfulness of altering or laying 
 aside any of them, we cannot doubt that they would have been 
 in practice most scrupulously retained, even when changes of 
 manners, tastes, and local and temporary circumstances of 
 every kind, rendered them no longer the most suitable. The 
 Jewish ritual, designed for one Nation and Country, and 
 intended to be of temporary duration, was fixed and accurately 
 prescribed : the same Divine Wisdom from which both dis- 
 pensations proceeded, having designed Christianity for all 
 Nations and Ages, left Christians at large in respect of those 
 points in which variation might be desirable. But I think no 
 human wisdom would have foreseen and provided for this. 
 That a number of Jews, accustomed from their infancy to so 
 strict a ritual, should, in introducing Christianity as the second 
 part of the same dispensation, have abstained not only from 
 accurately prescribing for the use of all Christian Churches for 
 over, the mode of divine worship, but even from recording what 
 
Appendix. 
 
 247 
 
 was actually in use under their own directions, does seem to 
 me utterly incredible, unless we suppose them to have been 
 restrained from doing this by a special admonition of the 
 Divine Spirit. 
 
 " And we may be sure, as I have said, that if they had 
 recorded the particulars of their own worship, the very words 
 they wrote would have been invested, in our minds, with so 
 much sanctity, that it would have been thought presumptuous 
 to vary or to omit them, however inappropriate they might 
 become. The Lord's Prayer, the only one of general appli- 
 cation that is recorded in the Scriptures, though so framed as 
 to be suitable in all Ages and Countries, has yet been subjected 
 to much superstitious abuse." * 
 
 " Each Church, therefore, was left, through the wise fore- 
 sight of Him who alone ' knew what is in Man,' to provide for 
 its own wants as they should arise ! — to steer its own course 
 by the Chart and Compass which his holy Word supplies, 
 regulating for itself the Sails and Rudder, according to the 
 winds and currents it may meet with. 
 
 " ' The Apostles had begun and established precedents, 
 which, of course, would be naturally adopted by their uninspired 
 successors. But still, as these were only the formal means of 
 grace, and not the blessing itself, it was equally to be expected 
 that the Church should assume a discretionary power, whenever 
 the means established became impracticable or clearly un- 
 suitable, and either substitute others, or even altogether 
 abolish such as existed. ... It might seem at first that the 
 apostolical precedents were literally binding on all ages ; but 
 this cannot have been intended ; and for this reason, that the 
 greater portion of the apostolical practices have been trans- 
 mitted to us, not on apostolical authority, but on the authority 
 of the uninspired church : which has handed them down with 
 an uncertain mixture of its own appointments. How are we 
 to know the enactments of the inspired rulers from those of 
 the uninspired ? and if there be no certain clue, we must either 
 bring down the authority of apostolical usage to that of the 
 uninspired church, or raise that of the uninspired church to 
 
248 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 that of the apostolical. Now the former is, doubtless, what 
 was, to a certain extent, intended by the Apostles themselves, 
 as will appear from a line of distinction by which they have 
 carefully partitioned off such of their appointments as are 
 designed to be perpetual, from such as are left to share the 
 possibility of change, with the institutions of uninspired 
 wisdom. 
 
 " ' If then we look to the account of the Christian usages 
 contained in Scripture, nothing can be more unquestionable, 
 than that while some are specified, others are passed over in 
 silence. It is not even left so as to make us imagine that 
 those mentioned may be all : but while some are noted speci- 
 fically, the establishment of others is implied, without the 
 particular mode of observance being given. Thus, we are 
 equally sure from Scripture, that Christian ministers were 
 ordained by a certain form, and that Christians assembled in 
 prayer ; but while the precise process of laying on of hands is 
 mentioned in the former institution, no account is given of the 
 precise method of church service, or even of any regular forms 
 of prayer, beyond the Lord's Prayer. Even the record of the 
 Ordination Service itself admits of the same distinction. It 
 is quite as certain that, in it, some prayer was used, as that 
 some outward form accompanied the prayer ; but the form is 
 specified, the prayer left unrecorded. 
 
 " 1 What now is the obvious interpretation of the holy Dis- 
 penser's meaning in this mode of record ? Clearly it is, that 
 the Apostles regulated, under His guidance, the forms and 
 practices of the church, so as was best calculated to convey 
 grace to the church at that time. Nevertheless, part of its 
 institutions were of a nature, which, although formal, would 
 never require a change ; and these therefore were left recorded 
 in the Scriptures, to mark this distinction of character. The 
 others were not, indeed, to be capriciously abandoned, nor 
 except when there should be manifest cause for so doing ; but, 
 as such a case was supposable, these were left to mingle with 
 the uninspired precedents ; the claims of which, as precedents, 
 would be increased by this uncertain admixture, and the 
 
Appendix. 
 
 249 
 
 authority of the whole rendered so far binding, and so far 
 subject to the discretion of the Church. They might not be 
 altered unless sufficient grounds should appear; but the 
 settling of this point was left to the discretion of the church.' a 
 " The Apostles themselves, however, and their numerous 
 fellow-labourers, would not, I think, have been, if left to 
 themselves, so far-sighted as to perceive (all, and each of them, 
 without a single exception) the expediency of this procedure. 
 Most likely, many of them, but according to all human pro- 
 bability, some of them, would have left us, as parts of Scrip- 
 ture, compositions such as I have been speaking of ; and 
 these, there can be no doubt, would have been scrupulously 
 retained for ever. They would have left us Catechisms, which 
 would have been like precise directions for the cultivation of 
 some plant, admirably adapted to a particular soil and climate, 
 but inapplicable in those of a contrary description : their 
 Symbols would have stood like ancient sea-walls, built to repel 
 the encroachments of the waves, and still scrupulously kept in 
 repair, when perhaps the sea had retired from them many 
 miles, and was encroaching on some different part of the 
 coast. 
 
 " There are multitudes, even as it is, who do not, even now, 
 perceive the expediency of the omission ; there are not a few 
 who even complain of it as a defect, or even make it a ground 
 of objection. That in that day, the reasons for the procedure 
 actually adopted, should have occurred, and occurred to all 
 the first Christians, supposing them mere unassisted men, and 
 men too brought up in Judaism, is utterly incredible." — Essay 
 on Omissions, -pp. 15 — 19; 24 — 27; 30—34. 
 
 Note (E.) P. 91. 
 
 " It is not, I think, unlikely that some hasty and superficial 
 reasoners may have found an objection to Christianity in the 
 " Hinds's History, vol. ii. pp. 113 — 115. 
 
250 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 omission of which I have been speaking. It is certain that 
 there are not a few who are accustomed to pronounce this or 
 that supposition improbable, as soon as they perceive that it 
 involves great difficulties ; without staying to examine whether 
 there are more or fewer on the other side of the alternative : 
 as if a traveller when he had the choice of two roads, should, 
 immediately on perceiving that there were impediments in the 
 one, decide on taking the other, before he had ascertained 
 whether it were even possible. I can conceive some such 
 reasoners exclaiming, in the present case, ' Surely, if the 
 Apostles had really been inspired by an all-wise God, they 
 would never have omitted so essential a provision as that of a 
 clear systematic statement of the doctrines to be believed, and 
 the worship to be offered, so as to cut off, as far as can be 
 done, all occasions of heresy and schism. If the Deity had 
 really bestowed a revelation on his creatures, He would have 
 provided rules of faith and of practice so precise and so 
 obvious, as not to be overlooked or mistaken ; instead of leaving 
 men, whether pretending to infallibility, as the Romanists, or 
 interpreting Scripture by the light of reason, as the Protestants, 
 to elicit by a laborious search, and comparison of passages, 
 what doctrines and duties are, in their judgment, agreeable to 
 the Divine Will.' 
 
 " You think it was to be expected (one might reply) that 
 God would have proceeded in this manner ; and is it not at 
 least as much to be expected that Man would ? It is very 
 unlikely, you say, that the Apostles would have omitted these 
 systematic instructions, if they had really been inspired : but 
 if they were not, they must have been impostors or enthusiasts ; 
 does then that hypothesis remove the difficulty ? Is it not at 
 least as unlikely, on that supposition, that no one of them, or 
 of their numerous followers, should have taken a step so 
 natural and obvious ? All reasonable conjecture, and all ex- 
 perience show, that any men, but especially Jews, when 
 engaged in the propagation and establishment of a religion, 
 and acting, whether sincerely or insincerely, on their own 
 judgment as to what was most expedient, would have done 
 
Appendix. 
 
 251 
 
 what no Christian writer during the age of (supposed) inspi- 
 ration lias done. One would even have expected indeed, that, 
 as we have four distinct Gospels, so, several different writers 
 would have left us copies of the Catechisms, &c. which they 
 were in the habit of using orally. This or that individual 
 might have been prevented from doing so by accidental cir- 
 cumstances ; but that every one of some hundreds should have 
 been so prevented, amounts to a complete moral impossibility. 
 
 " We have here, then, it may be said, a choice of difficulties : 
 if the Christian religion came from God, it is (we will suppose) 
 very strange, and contrary to all we should have expected 
 from the Deity, that He should have permitted in the Scrip- 
 tures the omission I am speaking of : if, again, it is the con- 
 trivance of men, it is strange, and contrary to all we could 
 have expected from men, that they should have made the 
 omission. And now, which do we know the more of, God, or 
 Man I Of whose character and designs are we the more 
 competent judges, and the better able to decide what may 
 reasonably be expected of each, the Creator, or our fellow- 
 creatures ? And as there can be no doubt about the answer 
 to this question, so, the conclusion which follows from that 
 answer is obvious. If the alternative were presented to me, 
 that either something has been done by persons with whose 
 characters I am intimately acquainted, utterly at variance with 
 their nature, and unaccountable, or else that some man to 
 whom I am personally a stranger, (though after all, the nature 
 of every human Being must be better known to us, than, by 
 the light of reason, that of the Deity can be,) had done some- 
 thing which to me is entirely inexplicable, I should be thought 
 void of sense if I did not embrace, as the less improbable, this 
 latter side of the alternative. 
 
 " And such is the state of the present case, to one who finds 
 this peculiarity in the Christian Scriptures quite unaccountable 
 on either supposition. The argument is complete, whether 
 we are able, or not, to perceive any wise reasons for the pro- 
 cedure adopted. Since no one of the first promulgators of 
 Christianity did that which they must, some of them at least, 
 
25:2 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 have been naturally led to do, it follows that they must have 
 been supernaturally withheld from it ; how little soever we 
 may be able even to conjecture the object of the prohibition. 
 For in respect of this, and several other (humanly speaking, 
 unaccountable) circumstances in our religion, especially that 
 treated of in the Fourth of the Essays above referred to, it is 
 important to observe, that the argument does not turn on the 
 supposed wisdom of this or that appointment, which we con- 
 ceive to be worthy of the Deity, and thence infer that the 
 religion must have proceeded from Him : but, on the utter 
 improbability of its having proceeded from Man ; which leaves 
 its divine origin the only alternative. The Christian Scrip- 
 tures considered in this point of view, present to us a standing 
 Miracle ; at least, a Monument of a Miracle ; since they are 
 in several points such as we may be sure, according to all 
 natural causes, they would not have been. Even though the 
 character which these writings do in fact exhibit, be such as 
 we cannot clearly account for on any hypothesis, still, if they 
 are such as we can clearly perceive no false pretenders would 
 have composed, the evidence is complete, though the difficulty 
 may remain unexplained." — Essay on Omissions, pp. 19 — 24. 
 
 Note (F.) P. 92. 
 
 " The three great principles then, on which every Church, 
 or Christian society, was formed by the apostles, were Spiri- 
 tuality, Universality, and Unity. Out of these arose 
 one important limit to the discretionary powers of the unin- 
 spired Church, when deprived of extraordinary authority. It 
 is of the last importance that this fact should be borne in 
 mind, in every appeal to the practice and authority of the 
 primitive Church. There is (even among protestant divines) 
 a vague method of citing the authority of the early Churches 
 in matters of discipline and practice, without any distinct 
 
A ppendix. 
 
 253 
 
 view of the exact weight of that authority. In quoting 
 doctrinal statements we are generally more accurate in our 
 estimate ; but it is undeniable, that the practices and discipline 
 of the primitive Churches, are subject to the same kind of 
 check from Scripture, as are their opinions and faith ; and 
 are in no instance to be received as if they were matters left 
 altogether to their discretion. The principles, although not 
 the specific rules, are given in the New Testament : and this 
 is, perhaps, nearly all that is done in the case of the doctrines 
 themselves. Only the elements, out of which these are to be 
 composed, are furnished by Scripture. So far from being 
 stated in a formal way, some of the abstract terms for these 
 doctrines are not found in the Scriptures ; such a statement 
 and enunciation of them being left to the discretion of the 
 Church. So, too, the principles of the Church-establishment 
 were given, and were put in practice for illustration ; and the 
 application of these principles was all that was left to the dis- 
 cretion of its uninspired rulers. In short, every Church, in 
 all ages, holds Scripture in its hand, as its warrant for its 
 usages as well as for its doctrines ; and had the immediate 
 successors and companions of the apostles, from the very first, 
 corrupted the government and constitution of the Church, we 
 should be enabled to condemn them, from the New Testa- 
 ment ; and to this test it is the duty of all ages to bring them. 
 Their management of those matters which are said to be left 
 indeterminate, has only the authority of an experiment ; it 
 is a practical illustration of Scriptural principles. Whenever 
 they have been successful in this experiment, it would, indeed, 
 generally be unwise and presumptuous in us to hazard a 
 different mode of attaining the same result ; but even 
 here, any deviation is authorized by difference of circum- 
 stances ; the same principle which guided them being kept in 
 view by us. But, in whatever stage of ecclesiastical history 
 the principle itself has been forgotten, — it matters not how 
 far back the practice may be traced, — it has no authority as 
 a precedent. The Bible is our only attested rule ; and we 
 must appeal to it with the boldness recommended by the 
 
254 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 apostle to his converts ; and though an angel from heaven 
 preach unto us any other rule than that we have received, let 
 him he accursed. 
 
 " This boundary line to the discretionary powers of the 
 Church would be quite clear, supposing the ecclesiastical 
 principles to have been left only as above considered, in the 
 form of abstract instruction, whether formally enunciated, or 
 certainly deducible from the Scriptures. But far more than 
 this was done. On these very principles the apostles actually 
 formed and regulated societies of Christians ; so as to leave 
 them not merely abstractedly propounded, but practically 
 proved. This proceeding, while it lightened the difficulty 
 of the uninspired Church, (especially of those who first 
 received the guidance of it from the apostles, and who most 
 needed it,) proportionably contracted the discretionary powers 
 with which they were invested. If only abstract principles 
 had been left, uninspired authorities would have been justified 
 in regarding solely these, and regulating the means of con- 
 formity to them by their own unbiassed judgment. But the 
 apostolical precedents created a new restriction. Rulers of 
 infallible judgment had not only taught the principle, but the 
 precise method by which that principle was best preserved 
 had been practised by them, and set forth, apparently for the 
 guidance of their less enlightened successors. 
 
 " Was the Church of all ages bound to follow their track 
 without any deviation ? If so, where was any room for dis- 
 cretionary power ? If not, on what authority was the devia- 
 tion to be made, and how far was it authorized ? Here the 
 most accurate view of the character and object of the Chris- 
 tian's sacred record is necessary, in order to remove all ob- 
 scurity from the question. That record, as far as the agency 
 of human ministers is its object, is partly historical, partly 
 legislative. The two terms are not, perhaps, quite expressive 
 of the distinction intended ; but, by Scripture being partly 
 legislative, is meant, that it is partly concerned in conveying 
 the rules and principles of religion — the revealed will, in short, 
 of God. It is also partly historical ; and of the historical 
 
Appendix. 
 
 255 
 
 portion no inconsiderable share is solely or principally a prac- 
 tical illustration of these rules. History and legislation are 
 indeed both blended ; and it is because they are thus con- 
 nected : but the respective uses of them, as distinct portions 
 of Scripture, are here, as in other questions of a similar na- 
 ture, very important. When the historical incidents, the facts 
 recorded, are recorded as specimens of the fulfilment of God's 
 will, their only authority, as precedents and examples, arises 
 from their conformity to the principle which they illustrate. 
 Now it is conceivable and likely, that a change of circum- 
 stances may render a practice inconsistent with such a principle, 
 which originally was most accordant with it, and vice versa. 
 The principle is the fixed point, and the course which has first 
 attained it may become as unsuitable to another who pursues 
 it, as the same line of direction would be for two voyagers 
 who should be steering for the same landmark at different 
 seasons, and with different winds. Still, as in this latter case, 
 the first successful attempt would be, to a certain extent, a 
 guide to those which follow ; and this, exactly in proportion 
 to the skill of the forerunner. The apostles were known to 
 be infallible guides ; and those who immediately succeeded 
 them, and all subsequent ages, are quite sure that they must 
 have pursued that which was, under the existing circum- 
 stances, the most direct line to their object, — that, situated as 
 Christianity was in their hands, all their regulations were the 
 best possible for preserving the principles of the Church-esta- 
 blishment and government. The uninspired Church was 
 therefore bound to follow them, until any apostolical practice 
 should be found inadequate to accomplish its original purpose. 
 Here commence the discretion and responsibility ; the first 
 obligation being to maintain the principle according to the 
 best of their judgment, as the prudent steersman alters his 
 track and deviates from the course marked out in his chart, 
 when wind or tide compel him to the deviation. 
 
 " And thus we shall be at no loss for the precise difference 
 of authority between the precedents of the apostolical and of 
 the primitive uninspired Church. In matters which admit 
 
256 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 of appeal to the usage of the apostolical Church, we are sure, 
 not only that the measure was wise, but the very wisest ; and, 
 accordingly, the only question is, whether its suitableness has 
 been affected by any change of circumstances. On the other 
 hand, in a similar reference to the uninspired Church of any 
 age, the measure is first of all pronounced wise or unwise — 
 lawful or unlawful, as it conduces or not to the maintenance 
 of the revealed principles of ecclesiastical society. And, sup- 
 posing the measure under consideration be proved to have 
 been so conducive, still it is not at once certain, as in the 
 former case, that it was the wisest and most judicious measure 
 which the existing circumstances required or admitted. It 
 emanated from fallible wisdom. Accordingly, in canvassing 
 the authority of such a precedent, we are authorized and 
 bound to institute two inquiries ; — Was the measure the most 
 accordant with ecclesiastical principles then ? Is it so now ? 
 Whereas, in the former appeal to apostolic usage, the only 
 question is, whether it is convenient, now ?" — Encyclopcedia 
 Melropolitana, (Historical Division,) vol. ii. pp. 775, 776. 
 
 Note (G.) P. 107. 
 
 " Supposing such a summary of Gospel-truths had been 
 drawn up, and could have been contrived with such exquisite 
 skill as to be sufficient and well-adapted for all, of every age 
 and country, what would have been the probable result ? It 
 would have commanded the unhesitating assent of all Chris- 
 tians, who would, with deep veneration, have stored up the 
 very words of it in their memory, without any need of labo- 
 riously searching the rest of the Scriptures, to ascertain its 
 agreement with them ; which is what we do (at least are evi- 
 dently called on to do) with a human exposition of the faith ; 
 and the absence of this labour, together with the tranquil 
 security as to the correctness of their belief which would have 
 
Appendix. 
 
 257 
 
 been thus generated, would have ended in a careless and 
 contented apathy. There would have been no room for 
 doubt, — no call for vigilant attention in the investigation of 
 truth, — none of that effort of mind which is now requisite, in 
 comparing one passage with another, and collecting instruction 
 from the scattered, oblique, and incidental references to vari- 
 ous doctrines in the existing Scriptures ; and, in consequence, 
 none of that excitement of the best feelings, and that improve- 
 ment of the heart, which are the natural, and doubtless the 
 designed result of an humble, diligent, and sincere study of 
 the Christian Scriptures. 
 
 " In fact, all study, properly so called, of the rest of Scrip- 
 ture, — all lively interest in its perusal, — would have been 
 nearly superseded by such an inspired compendium of doc- 
 trine ; to which alone, as far the most convenient for that 
 purpose, habitual reference would have been made, in any 
 questions that might arise. Both would have been regarded, 
 indeed, as of divine authority ; but the Compendium, as the 
 fused and purified metal ; the other, as the mine containing 
 the crude ore. And the Compendium itself, being not, like 
 the existing Scriptures, that from which the faith is to be 
 learned, but the very thing to be learned, would have come to 
 be regarded by most with an indolent, unthinking veneration, 
 which would have exercised little or no influence on the 
 character. Their orthodoxy would have been, as it were, 
 petrified, like the bodies of those animals we read of incrusted 
 in the ice of the polar regions ; firm-fixed, indeed, and pre- 
 served unchangeable, but cold, motionless, lifeless. It is only 
 when our energies are roused, and our faculties exercised, 
 and our attention kept awake, by an ardent pursuit of truth, 
 and anxious watchfulness against error, — when, in short, we 
 feel ourselves to be doing something towards acquiring, or 
 retaining, or improving our knowledge, — it is then only, that 
 that knowledge makes the requisite practical impression on 
 the heart and on the conduct." — Essay on Omissions, , pp. 
 34—37. 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Note (II.) P. 132. 
 
 " Some one may perhaps ask you, how you can know, 
 except by taking the word of the learned for it, that there are 
 these Greek and Hebrew originals which have been handed 
 down from ancient times ? or how you can be sure that our 
 translations of them are faithful, except by trusting to the 
 translators ? So that an unlearned Christian must, after all, 
 (some people will tell you,) be at the mercy of the learned, in 
 what relates to the very foundations of his faith. He must 
 take their word (it will be said) for the very existence of the 
 Bible in the original languages, and for the meaning of what 
 is written in it ; and, therefore, he may as well at once take 
 their word for everything, and believe in his religion on their 
 assurance. 
 
 " And this is what many persons do. But others will be apt 
 to say, ' How can we tell that the learned have not deceived 
 us ? The Mohammedans take the word of the learned men 
 among them ; and the Pagans do the same ; and if the people 
 have been imposed upon by their teachers in Mohammedan 
 and Pagan countries, how can we tell that it is not the same 
 in Christian countries ? What ground have we for trusting 
 with such perfect confidence in our Christian teachers, that 
 they are men who would not deceive us ? ' 
 
 " The truth is, however, that an unlearned Christian may 
 have very good grounds for being a believer, without placing 
 this entire confidence in any man. He may have reason to 
 believe that there are ancient Greek manuscripts of the New 
 Testament, though he never saw one, nor could read it if he 
 did. And he may be convinced that an English Bible gives 
 the meaning of the original, though he may not trust com- 
 pletely to any one's word. In fact, he may have the same sort 
 of evidence in this case, which every one trusts to in many 
 other cases, where none but a madman would have any doubt 
 at all. 
 
 " For instance, there is no one tolerably educated who does 
 not know that there is such a country as France, though he 
 
Appendix. 
 
 259 
 
 may have never been there himself. Who is there that doubts 
 whether there are such cities as London, and Paris, and Rome, 
 though he may have never visited them ? Most people are 
 fully convinced that the world is round, though there are but 
 few who have sailed round it. There are many persons living 
 in the inland parts of these islands who never saw the sea ; 
 and yet none of them, eVen the most ignorant clowns, have 
 any doubt that there is such a thing as the sea. We believe 
 all these, and many other such things, because we have been 
 told them. 
 
 " Now suppose any one should say, ' How do you know 
 that travellers have not imposed upon you in all these matters ; 
 as it is well known travellers are apt to do ? Is there any 
 traveller you can so fully trust in, as to be quite sure he would 
 not deceive you ? ' What would you answer ? I suppose 
 you would say, one traveller might, perhaps, deceive us ; or 
 even two or three might possibly combine to propagate a false 
 story, in some case where hardly any one would have the 
 opportunity to detect them ; but in these matters there are 
 hundreds and thousands who would be sure to contradict the 
 accounts if they were not true ; and travellers are often glad 
 of an opportunity of detecting each other's mistakes. Many 
 of them disagree with each other in several particulars respect- 
 ing the cities of Paris and Rome ; and if it had been false that 
 there are any such cities at all, it is impossible but that the 
 falsehood should have been speedily contradicted. And it is 
 the same with the existence of the sea, — the roundness of the 
 world, — and the other things that were mentioned. 
 
 " It is in the same manner that we believe, on the word of 
 astronomers, that the earth turns round every twenty-four 
 hours, though we are insensible of the motion ; and that the 
 sun, which seems as if you could cover it with your hat, is 
 immensely larger than the earth we inhabit ; though there is 
 not one person in ten thousand that has ever gone through 
 the mathematical proof of this. And yet we have very good 
 reason for believing it ; not from any strong confidence in the 
 honesty of any particular astronomer, but because the same 
 
 s 2 
 
200 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 things are attested by many different astronomers ; who are 
 so far from combining together in a false account, that many 
 of them rejoice in any opportunity of detecting each other's 
 mistakes. 
 
 " Now an unlearned man has just the same sort of reason 
 for believing that there are ancient copies, in Hebrew and 
 Greek, of the Christian sacred books, and of the works of other 
 ancient authors, who mention some things connected with the 
 origin of Christianity. There is no need for him to place full 
 confidence in any particular man's honesty. For if any book 
 were forged by some learned men in these days, and put forth 
 as a translation from an ancient book, there are many other 
 learned men, of this, and of various other countries, and of 
 different religions, who would be eager to make an inquiry, 
 and examine the question, and would be sure to detect any 
 forgery, especially on an important subject. 
 
 " And it is the same with translators. Many of these are 
 at variance with each other as to the precise sense of some 
 particular passage ; and many of them are very much opposed 
 to each other, as to the doctrines which they believe to be 
 taught in Scripture. But all the different versions of the 
 Bible agree as to the main outline of the history, and of the 
 discourses recorded : and therefore an unlearned Christian 
 may be as sure of the general sense of the original as if he 
 understood the language of it, and could examine it for him- 
 self; because he is sure that unbelievers, who are opposed to 
 all Christians, or different sects of Christians, who are opposed 
 to each other, would not fail to point out any errors in the 
 translations made by their opponents. Scholars have an op- 
 portunity to examine and inquire into the meaning of the 
 original works ; and therefore the very bitterness with which 
 they dispute against each other, proves that where they all agree 
 they must be right. 
 
 " All these ancient books, in short, and all the translations 
 of them, are in the condition of witnesses placed in a witness- 
 box, in a court of justice ; examined and cross-examined by 
 friends and enemies, and brought face to face with each other, 
 
Appendix. 
 
 2qi 
 
 so as to make it certain that any falsehood or mistake will be 
 brought to light." — Easy Lessons on Christian Evidences, 
 pp. 23—27. 
 
 Note (I.) P. 160. 
 
 " We are often too much disposed, perhaps, not indeed to 
 lay it down, but tacitly to assume, that those who sat at the 
 feet of Apostles must be secure from error. It is more pro- 
 bable that they would hold substantial truth not unmixed with 
 subordinate deviations from it. It was so even during the 
 lifetime of the Apostles, and why not after their decease ? If 
 indeed the good providence of God had not directed the 
 Apostles themselves to bequeath to the Church their own 
 instructions in writing, and we had to gather them only from 
 the writings of their successors, then it might have been 
 hoped that such very important witnesses, as the Apostolical 
 Fathers would have thus become, would have been secured 
 from every mistake, from every error at least which could 
 seriously mislead us. But as it is, there was no more need of 
 a perpetual miracle to give such an immunity from error to 
 the immediate successors of the Apostles than to us. More- 
 over, we have an unhappy advantage over them, in that we 
 know by sad experience the fatal consequences which by de- 
 grees resulted from even slight deviations from the language 
 and sentiments of Inspiration ; such as a sacrificial character 
 gradually ascribed to the Eucharist, or an improper exaltation 
 of the Christian Ministry, or praise allotted upon unscriptural 
 grounds to celibacy or asceticism. If Antiquity, quo propius 
 aberat ab ortu et divina progenie, hoc melius ea fortasse, quae 
 erant vera, cernebat, she may have been for that very reason, 
 knowing what was true, and meaning what was right, the less 
 suspicious of the effect of slight deviations from the exact 
 truth of Holy Scripture. We may lament, indeed, but we 
 cannot be surprised, that uninspired men, holding the truth 
 
262 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 substantially both as to doctrine and discipline, should slide 
 into error here and there in tone, or sentiment, or subordinate 
 opinion. Doubtless their errors should be our warning. Only 
 let us be careful to detect the seeds of error even in the 
 writings of good and holy men in primitive times, not in order 
 to censure them, but to secure ourselves ; to counteract our 
 natural tendency to confound the uninspired with the inspired, 
 and to make us doubly grateful that God has blessed His 
 Church with the unerring records, written by inspired Apostles, 
 of Gospel truth." — Hawkins's Sermon on the Ministry of Men, 
 pp. 41, 42. 
 
 Note (K.) P. 165. 
 
 " ' But are we then,' (all Romanists, and some Protestants 
 would ask) ' to be perpetually wavering and hesitating in our 
 faith ? — never satisfied of our own orthodoxy ? — always sup- 
 posing or suspecting that there is something unscriptural in 
 our Creed or in our Worship ? We could but be in this con- 
 dition, if Christ had not promised to be with his Church, 
 " always, even to the end of the world;" — had not declared by 
 his Apostle, that his " Spirit helpeth our infirmities ;" had not 
 taught us to expect that where we are " gathered together in 
 his Name, there is He in the midst of us." Are we to explain 
 away all that Scripture says of spiritual help and guidance ? 
 Or are we to look for a certain partial and limited help ; — that 
 the Holy Spirit will secure us from some errors, but lead us, 
 or leave us, to fall into othei-s V 
 
 " Such is the statement, the most plausible I can give in a 
 small compass, of the Romish (but not exclusively Romish) 
 argument, which goes to leave no medium between a claim to 
 infallibility on the one hand, and universal hesitation, — absolute 
 Scepticism, on the other. An appeal to the common sense 
 which every one, Romanist or Protestant, exercises on all but 
 religious subjects, might be sufficient to prove, from the practice 
 
Appendix. 
 
 268 
 
 oi' those very men who use such reasoning, not only its absurdity, 
 but their own conviction of its absurdity. In all matters which 
 do not admit of absolute demonstration, all men, except a few 
 of extravagant self-conceit, are accustomed to regard them- 
 selves or those under whose guidance they act, as fallible ; and 
 yet act, on many occasions, — after they have taken due pains 
 to understand the subject, to ascertain their own competency, 
 and to investigate the particular case before them, — without 
 any distressing hesitation. There are questions in Medicine, 
 in Agriculture, in Navigation, &c. which sensible men, well 
 versed in their respective arts, would decide with sufficient 
 confidence for all practical purposes ; yet without holding 
 themselves to be infallible, but on the contrary always keeping 
 themselves open to conviction, — always on the watch against 
 error, — attentive to the lessons which observation furnishes, — 
 ready to stand corrected if any argument shall be adduced 
 (however little they may anticipate this) which will convict 
 them of mistake. 
 
 " ' Yes,' (it may be replied) ' all this holds good in worldly 
 matters ; but in the far more important case of religious con- 
 cerns, God has graciously promised us spiritual assistance, to 
 "lead us into all truth." ' 
 
 " It is most true that He has. Christ has declared, ' If any 
 man keep my saying, my Father will love him, and we will 
 come unto him, and make our abode with him :' — ' without 
 Me ye can do nothing :' for ' if any man have not the Spirit 
 of Christ, he is none of his ;' and ' as many as are led by 
 the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' 
 
 " But some distinction there must be, between the spiritual 
 guidance granted to the Apostles, which was accompanied by 
 sensible miracles, and all that has ever been bestowed, since 
 the cessation of miracles. I do not mean a difference as to 
 the evidence for the existence of each ; for both are equally to 
 be believed, if we have faith in the divine promises : but there 
 must be a difference in the character of the divine assistance 
 in the two cases, arising out of the presence, in the one, and 
 the absence, in the other, of sensibly-miraculous attestation. 
 
•26 i 
 
 . ! ppendix. 
 
 And this difference evidently is, that in the one case, the divine 
 agency is, in each individual instance, known; in the other, 
 unknown. If an Apostle adopted any measure, or formed a 
 decision on any doctrine, in consequence of a perceptible 
 admonition from Heaven, he knew that he was, in this point, 
 infallibly right. A sincere Christian, in the present day, may 
 be no less truly guided by the same Spirit to adopt a right 
 measure, or form a correct decision ; but he never can know 
 this with certainty, before the day of judgment. It is not 
 that spiritual aid is now withdrawn, but that it is imperceptible ; 
 as indeed its ordinary sanctifying influence always was. It is 
 to be known only by its fruits ; of which we must judge by a 
 diligent and candid examination of Scripture, and a careful, 
 humble, self-distrusting exercise of our own fallible judgment. 
 
 " It is conceivable, therefore, that an individual or a church, 
 may be, in fact, free from error ; but none can ever be (either 
 at the present moment, or in future) secure from error. We 
 are not bound to believe, or to suspect, that any of the doc- 
 trines we hold, are erroneous ; but we are bound never to feel 
 such a confidence in their correctness, as to shut the door 
 against objection, and to dispense with a perpetual and vigi- 
 lant examination. Even the fullest conviction that a complete 
 perfection in soundness of doctrine is attainable, has in it 
 nothing of arrogance, — nothing of a presumptuous claim to 
 infallibility, as long as we steadily keep in view, that even one 
 who should have attained this, never can, in this life, be certain 
 of it. We are taught, I think, in Scripture, to expect that 
 the pious and diligent student will be assisted by the divine 
 guidance ; and that in proportion as he is humble, patient, 
 sincere, and watchfully on his guard against that unseen 
 current of passions and prejudices which is ever tending to 
 drive him out of the right course, — in the same degree will he 
 succeed in attaining all necessary religious truths. But how 
 far he has exercised these virtues, or how far he may have 
 been deceiving himself, he never can be certain, till the great 
 day of account. In the mean time, he must act on his con- 
 victions, as if he were certain of their being correct ; he must 
 
Appendix. 
 
 265 
 
 examine and re -examine the grounds of them, as if he 
 suspected them of being erroneous. 
 
 " In this it is that great part of our trial in the present life 
 consists : and it is precisely analogous to what takes place in 
 the greater part of temporal concerns. The skilful and 
 cautious navigator keeps his reckoning with care, but yet 
 never so far trusts to that as not to ' keep a look-out,' as it is 
 termed, and to take ' an observation,' when opportunity offers. 
 There is no risk incurred, from his strongly hoping that his 
 computations will prove correct ; provided he never resigns 
 himself to such an indolent reliance on them as to neglect any 
 opportunity of verifying them. The belief, again, whether 
 true or false, that it is possible for a time-keeper to go with 
 perfect exactness, can never mislead any one who is careful to 
 make allowance for the possibility of error in his own, and to 
 compare it, whenever he has opportunity, with the Dial which 
 receives the light from heaven."— Essay on Omissions, pp. 
 43—49. 
 
 Note (L.) P. 191. 
 
 " It has been said that the Pope, the Bishops, the Priests, 
 and those who dwell in convents, form the spiritual or eccle- 
 siastical State ; and that the princes, nobles, citizens, and 
 peasants, form the secular state or laity. This is a fine story, 
 truly. Let no one, however, be alarmed at it. All Chris- 
 tians belong to the spiritual State ; and there is no other 
 difference between them than that of the functions they dis- 
 charge. * * * * 
 * If any pious laymen were banished to a desert, 
 and having no regularly-consecrated priest among them, were 
 to agree to choose for that office one of their number, married 
 or unmarried, this man would be as truly a priest as if he had 
 been consecrated by all the bishops in the world. Augustine, 
 Ambrose, and Cyprian, were chosen in this manner. Hence 
 
266 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 it follows that laity and priests, princes and bishops, or, as 
 they say, the Clergy and the Laity, have, in reality, nothing 
 to distinguish them, but their functions. They all belong to 
 the same Estate ; but all have not the same work to perform," 
 &c. — Luth. Opp. I. xvii. f. 457, et seq. 
 
 It may be needful to add, that if in a Church thus consti- 
 tuted, or in any other, the Laity are admitted to a share in 
 the government of it, and to ecclesiastical offices, this would 
 be, not only allowable, but wise and right. That laymen, — 
 that is, those who hold no spiritual office — should take part 
 in legislating for the Church, and should hold ecclesiastical 
 offices, as in the Scotch Kirk, and in the American Episco- 
 palian Church, (always supposing, however, that they are 
 Members of the Church ; not, as in this Country, belonging 
 to other Communions) is far better than that the whole 
 government should be in the hands of men of one Profession, 
 the clerical. 
 
 That this has nothing of an Erastian character, it would be 
 unnecessary to mention, but that I have seen the observation 
 — in itself perfectly true — made in such a manner as to imply 
 what is not true ; i. e. so as to imply that some persons do, or 
 may, maintain that there is something of Erastianism in such 
 an arrangement. But who ever heard of any such charge 
 being brought ? Who, for instance, ever taxed the Scotch 
 Kirk, or the American-Episcopalian, with being Erastian, on 
 account of their having Lay-Elders ? Erastianism has always 
 been considered as consisting in making the State as such, — the 
 Civil Magistrate by virtue of his office, — prescribe to the People 
 what they shall believe, and how worship God. 
 
 Note (M.) P. 218. 
 
 With respect to the first question (in reference to lay-baptism) 
 it is plain that, according to the above principles, a Church has 
 a right to admit, or refuse to admit, Members. This right it 
 
Appendix. 
 
 207 
 
 possesses as a Society : as a Christian Society, sanctioned by 
 our Heavenly Master, it has a right to administer his Sacra- 
 ments ; and it has a right to decide who shall or shall not 
 exercise certain functions, and under what circumstances. 
 If it permit Laymen (that is, those who are excluded from 
 other spiritual functions) to baptize, it does, by that permission, 
 constitute them its functionaries, in respect of that particular 
 point. And this it has a right to do, or to refuse to do. If 
 a Church refuse to recognise as valid any baptism not admi- 
 nistered by such and such officers, then the pretended 
 administration of it by any one else, is of course null and void, 
 as wanting that sanction of a Christian Church which alone can 
 confer validity. 
 
 With respect to the second question, it does appear to me 
 extremely unadvisable, — derogatory to the dignity of the ordi- 
 nance, — and tending both to superstition and to profaneness, 
 that the admission, through a Divinely-instituted Rite, of 
 members into the Society, should be in any case entrusted to 
 persons not expressly chosen and solemnly appointed to any 
 office in that Society. 
 
 Nearly similar reasoning will apply, I think, to the case of 
 Ordinations. What appears to me the wisest course, would 
 be that each Church should require a distinct appointment hy 
 that Church itself, to any ministerial office to be exercised 
 therein ; whether the person so appointed had been formerly 
 ordained or not, to any such office in another Church. But 
 the form of this appointment need not be such as to cast any 
 stigma on a former Ordination, by implying that the person in 
 question had not been a real and regular minister of another 
 distinct Society. For any Church has a fair right to demand 
 that (unless reason be shown to the contrary) its acts should 
 be regarded as valid within the pale of that Church itself: but 
 no Church can reasonably claim a right to ordain ministers for 
 another Church. 
 
 As for the remaining question, — What is the actual deter- 
 mination as to this point, — this is of course a distinct question 
 in reference to each Church. 
 
2G8 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 On this point it is only necessary to remark how important 
 it is, with a view to good order and peace, that some deter- 
 mination should be made, and should be clearly set forth, by 
 any Church, as to this and other like practical questions ; and 
 that they should not be left in such a state of uncertainty as 
 to furnish occasion for disputing and scruples. b Many points 
 of doctrine, indeed, that may fairly be regarded as non-essential, 
 it may be both allowable and wise for a Church to leave at 
 large, and pronounce no decision on them ; allowing each 
 Minister, if he thinks fit, to put forth his own exposition, as 
 the result of his own judgment, and not as a decision of the 
 Church. But it is not so, in matters even intrinsically indif- 
 ferent, where ChurcYi- discipline is concerned. A Minister 
 ought to be as seldom as possible left in the predicament of 
 not knowing what he ought to do in a case that comes before 
 him. And though it is too much to expect from a Church 
 composed of fallible men that its decisions on every point 
 should be such as to obtain universal approbation as the very 
 best, it is but fair to require that it should at least give deci- 
 sions, according to the best judgment of its Legislators, on 
 points which, in each particular case that arises, must be 
 decided in one way or another. 
 
 That so many points of this character should in our own 
 Church be left in a doubtful state, is one out of the many 
 evils resulting from the want of a Legislative Government for 
 the Church : which for more than a century has had none, 0 
 except the Civil Legislature ; a Body as unwilling, as it is 
 unfitted, to exercise any such functions. Such certainly was 
 not the state of things designed or contemplated by our Re- 
 formers ; and I cannot well understand the consistency of 
 those who are perpetually eulogizing the Reformers, their 
 principles and proceedings, and yet so completely run counter 
 to them in a most fundamental point, as to endeavour to pre- 
 vent, or not endeavour to promote, the establishment of a 
 
 b See " Appeal on behalf of Church-government." 
 c See " Case of Occasional Days and Prayers," by John Johnson, A.M. 
 Vicar of Cranbrook, in the Diocese of Canterbury. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 26<) 
 
 Church government ; which no one can doubt they at least 
 regarded as a thing essential to the well-being, if not to the 
 permanent existence, of a Church. d 
 
 I have never heard any thing worth notice urged on the 
 opposite side, except the apprehension that such a Church- 
 government as would be probably appointed would be likely to 
 be objectionable /—would probably be a bad one. 1 have no 
 doubt of this ; if by " bad " be meant, faulty. In this sense, 
 I am convinced that no government, civil or ecclesiastical, ever 
 existed, or will exist, that is not " bad." All governments 
 being formed and administered by fallible men, it would be 
 absurd to look for any that shall be exempt from errors, both 
 in design and in execution. But the important question, and 
 that which alone is really to the present purpose, is, whether 
 it is likely a Government should be established tbat is worse 
 than the absence of government. 
 
 Another consideration which ought not to be lost sight of, 
 is, that for any evils which might be produced through the 
 fault of Legislators, those Legislators would be responsible : 
 while for the evils (not, which may arise, but which are actually 
 existing, notorious, and grievous,) caused by the want of a 
 Legislature, every Prelate, every Minister, and every Member 
 of the Church is responsible, who has it in his power to do 
 anything — much or little — towards the remedy of that want, 
 and neglects to do his utmost. 
 
 I will take the liberty of concluding this note with the words 
 of Bishop Blomfield, in a Charge delivered about seven years 
 ago. " It is undoubtedly incumbent upon us to do all in our 
 power to render the Established Church efficient in the highest 
 possible degree, . . . and if, as I am persuaded is the case, 
 changes can be made " (he is here speaking of Church property) 
 " with perfect safety to the Establishment itself, I hope we 
 shall not be deterred from adopting them by the unreasonable 
 clamours of our adversaries, nor by the hasty and officious zeal 
 of some of our friends. Let us rather be desirous of making 
 
 " See " Speech on presenting a Petition from the Diocese of Kildare, 
 with Appendix," reprinted in a volume of Charges and other Tracts. 
 
■270 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 those well-considered and salutary amendments which may 
 take away from the one an occasion of cavil and reproach, and 
 satisfy the reasonable wants of the other in a manner consistent 
 with the stability and honour of the Church. We shall do 
 wisely, I think, in availing ourselves of a respite from imminent 
 danger, to go round our bulwarks, and mark the defects thereof, 
 with a view to their restoration ; and to place our outworks 
 at least in a state of defence, even though the citadel itself may 
 need no substantial repair. It is true that nothing we can do 
 in the way of reform will appease our enemies : . . . but some- 
 thing should be done to satisfy our own conscience 
 
 During the last few years a great variety of projects have been 
 laid before the Public for alterations in the discipline and 
 formularies of our Church. So great indeed has been the 
 variety, that it has afforded a plausible ground for arguing, 
 that, as it will be impossible to satisfy all who are desirous of 
 change, we need not attempt to satisfy any. It cannot be 
 necessary that I should point out to you the fallacy of such a 
 mode of arguing. What is reasonable, and salutary, and safe, 
 we should admit, though it may be claimed but by a few. 
 What is extravagant, or hazardous, we should resist, though 
 
 clamoured for by multitudes If I were asked what my 
 
 own opinion is, as to the expediency of attempting any altera- 
 tion in the Liturgy, I should be deficient in candour and truth, 
 if I did not acknowledge that I think our Liturgy susceptible 
 of improvement. It would be little short of a miracle were 
 it otherwise ; and I know not why I should be ashamed or 
 reluctant to avow an opinion which was entertained by Sancroft 
 and Tenison, and Wake, and Seeker, and Porteus. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 RICHARD CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.