// 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 SAMUEL AG NEW, 
 
 BX 5055 .BA83 1835 
 Gathercoal Rabshakeh. 
 The posthumous letters of 
 Rev. Rabshakeh Gathercoal 
 
I 
 
 1 
 
Digitized by tlie Internet Arcliive 
 in 2014 
 
 lnttps://arcliive.org/details/postliumousietterOOgatli 
 
THE 
 
 POSTHUMOUS LETTERS 
 
 OF Tim 
 
 Rev. RABSHAKEH GATHERCOAL, 
 
 LATE VICAll OF TUDDINGTON, 
 NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, ^yITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, 
 
 AND DEDICATED TO 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON, 
 
 LONDON: 
 FREDERICK WESTLEY AND A. H. DAVIS. 
 
 JIDCCCXXXV. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 EO BV WILLIAM CLOWES, 
 Duke Street, Lambeth. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER PAGE 
 
 I.— The Rev. Rabshakeh Gatheicoal to L. S. K.— 
 
 describes the State of his Parish . . 1 
 II. — Rab. to the Rev. JuUus Scrope — ijives au Ac- 
 count of his Conversion ... 6 
 
 III. — Rab. to L, S. E. — the Inaugural Sermon . 14 
 
 IV. Scene in the Vestry ; Dinner 
 
 at the Vicarage . . . .29 
 
 V. Effect produced by Sermon — 
 
 Father Oddy reproves the Vicar . . 35 
 VI. — The Dissenting Ministers of Tuddiugton to 
 
 Rabshakeh . ... . .43 
 
 VII. — Rabshakeh's reply to the Dissenting Mi- 
 nisters ...... 47 
 
 Vlll.-^Catholic Priest to Rab. : accuses the English 
 
 Clergy of Heresy . . . .51 
 
 IX.— Rab.. to the Catholic Priest :— asserts the 
 
 antiquity of the Established Church . 62 
 X.— The Catholic Priest to Rab. in reply . 65 
 
 XI.— Rab. to L. S. E. The uneasy state of the 
 
 Parish, &c. 70 
 
 XII.— Mrs. Thompson to Rabshakeh . . 76 
 
 XIII. — Rab's. answer to Mrs. Tliompson . . 80 
 XIV.— Obadiah Crabtree to Rabshakeh . . 81 
 XV.— Rab. to L.S. E. — Mervyn's Lecture on Nou- 
 
 conformity ..... 84 
 
 X\'I. Intended sale of sheep for 
 
 tithe 112 
 
 a 2 
 
I.F.TTF.U PAUE 
 
 XVII.— Rab. to L. S. E.— Sale of slieep for tithe. 
 
 CU rical dinner 119 
 
 XVIII.— Frank Kmerson to his uncle Ilahshakeh— 
 
 gives some arconnt of Cambridge . 143 
 XIX. Prelacy examined bj Scrip- 
 ture 153 
 
 XX. The true Church and its 
 
 functions ...... 106 
 
 XXI. Cunfirmation and Baptism 176 
 
 XXII. The Priesthood examined. 133 
 
 XXIII. The Prayer Book— its for- 
 mularies 194 
 
 XXIV. The Three Creeds . . 203 
 
 XXV. The Burial Service . 220 
 
 XXVI. The Psalms in the Prayer 
 
 Book 221 
 
 XXVII. The Pride and Luxury of 
 
 the Prelates . .... 223 
 
 XXVIII. The Titles and Offices of 
 
 the Clergy 233 
 
 XXIX. The Account of his Expul- 
 sion from College, for Non-conformity . 2-13 
 
 XXX.— Rab. to L. S. E.— Mrs. G. turned Dis- 
 senter — a union projected with tlie Metho- 
 dists 263 
 
 XXXI.— The Wesleyan Superintendent to Rab. : 
 
 declines the proposed union • . , 270 
 XXXII.— Rab. to L. S. E. Church-rates refused . 279 
 
 The Editoi-'s conclusion of the tragedy . . 234— 2S8 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 ADDllnSSED TO 
 
 THK RIGHT HOXORABLE AND RIGHT REVERKN'O 
 
 CHARLES JAxMES BLOMFIELD, D.D. 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON*. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 In executing the office of Editor of the 
 Letters contained in this volume, I feel myself 
 bound by every tie of duty, respect, and gratitude, 
 to dedicate it to your Lordship, hy whose illustrious 
 patronage the letters of L. S. E. have become a 
 text-book amongst the Clergy of the establish- 
 ment. 
 
 W'c were in a pitiable plight till those Letters 
 were published ; every day saw the press teeming 
 with fresh invectives and threats against our 
 holy order, — and the reformers were already feel- 
 ing our ribs, to ascertain if we were quite fit for 
 
 * " The letters of L. S. E., a puWication which I recom- 
 mend as containing a peat deal of useful information and 
 sound reasoning, set forth with a little too much sharpness 
 of invective against the Dissenters." — Cliarge of the Bishop 
 OF London to the Clergy of his Diocese, 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the shambles ; but now our enemies are covered 
 with confusion, " they are driven back and put to 
 shame," and we who were already tied to the 
 horns of the altar, rear once more our sacred 
 heads, and claim that mastership which the 
 Gospel has given us, and the laws of our country 
 have piously conceded. 
 
 We see every day how the venders of quack 
 medicines are compelled to fortify their genuine 
 drugs by threats against imitators, and fac-similes 
 of authentic autographs : this is the case with the 
 " Anti-Schism Pills of L. S. E.," which are al- 
 ready claimed by I know not what insignificant 
 mimics of his name and abilities. A person styling 
 himself " Michael Augustus Gathercole, Curate of 
 Myton, near Boroughbridge," has in the provin- 
 cial newspapers declared that he is the author of 
 the Letters signed L. S. E. ; but as Editor of this 
 volume, and as a friend of the true family, I hereby 
 declare that I know nothing of that person, and 
 that he is no relation of the genuine Gathercoals, 
 whose name is spelt in a different way. Common 
 report says of the curate of Myton, that he was, in 
 his emliryo-state, a bookseller^s haicker, com- 
 monly called " a number man," going about the 
 country with works pubUshed in cheap numbers j 
 but whether there is any tiiith in that report I 
 know not, nor care to know, for my only business 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vii 
 
 here is with the fame of my friend, whose 
 efforts for the supremacy of his Order are 
 here recorded. The Letters of the Vicar of 
 Tuddington make it pretty clear who the " vrai 
 Amphitryon " is ; so that the epistles of L. S. E. 
 will not be handed down to posterity with 
 the mysterious motto stat nominis umbra ; nor 
 will future generations have to inquire who that 
 great man was that Bishops loved, and Arch- 
 bishops admired. 
 
 The true Gathercoal has an A in the coal ; no 
 spurious coal, but genuine bituminous inflammable 
 matter, brought into day-light out of tlie nether 
 regions, and used in purposes of combustion and 
 smoke. 
 
 The elder brother of the Vicar of Tuddington 
 was baptized with the names Lucifer, Sandeman, 
 Euroclydon ; and the following account is given of 
 these somewhat eccentric titles by friends of the 
 family : — " Lucifer " is the niorninc/ star ; which 
 it was determined should be the first name of the 
 first born, to gratify the wishes of a rich old lady, 
 a distant relation, who was an admirer of Moore's 
 Almanac, and addicted to astrology. The family 
 were a long time in doubt whether they should call 
 the lad Lucifer, Phosphorus, or Morning Star, but 
 amongst these synonymes, they at last decided 
 for Lucifer, which gives us the first initial, L . 
 
I'REFACE. 
 
 The second name, " Sandeman," was added to 
 gratify Mrs. G., who not liking the sound of Lu- 
 cifer, insisted on giving another name of her own 
 choice : she fixed on Sandeman, her favourite di- 
 vine- — and hence the second initial, S . 
 
 " Euroclydon," the third name, is " the tem- 
 pestuous wind," mentioned in the tw enty-seventh 
 chapter of Acts, which blew upon the ship when 
 they came near the isle of Crete, — Crete that 
 island renowned for liars ; — for it so happened that 
 Mr. G. was reading the verse in which mention is 
 made of this wind, when news was brought him 
 that Mrs. pi. had presented him with a son. As 
 the north-east w ind — Euroclydon — was blowing a 
 hurricane at that very time, Mr. G. determined by 
 giving this name, to fix on his memory the exact 
 time and circumstances of the birth of his first 
 born : and hence the third letter E. 
 
 Here then your Lordship sees the mystery of 
 L. S. E's. initials, which ought to be set in bril- 
 liants, in a love-knot, with three other letters, 
 C. J. B., not less dear to the Church of England ; 
 for it is to your Lordship that we must attribute 
 the success of those celebrated epistles which have 
 both restored the fainting strength of our venerable 
 mother, and inflicted nausea on her malignant 
 enemies. 
 
 And tlie thanks and gratitude due to yoiu: lord- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 ship must by no means be withheld, seeing that 
 a suspicion was imjustly entertained in some 
 quarters that your Lordship was not thorough, 
 but was disposed to lean to a liberal policy, which 
 in these days is another word for revolution. It is 
 said that your brother Prelates have by no means 
 felt or expressed a cordial approbation of your 
 tactics, especially during Lord Grey's administra- 
 tion ; but all doubts must now be removed, and 
 the whole body of the Clergy must confess that 
 you are a staunch advocate of that system which 
 Archbishop Laud significantly termed thorouuh. 
 
 I know not well how to account fo^ these ill- 
 grounded doubts to which I have alluded, for in 
 truth my slight observation would have led me to a 
 different conclusion : only this seems certain, that 
 some persons have entertained doubts of the 
 soundness of your theology, which, they say, can- 
 not be reconciled with the doctrines contained in 
 the Articles, Liturgy and Homilies : and if it should 
 turn out that your Lordship is not a churchman in 
 doctrine, how can you, it is asked, be so in any 
 other respect ? Now on this topic I will not un- 
 dertake to decide anything, for I know by expe- 
 rience how impossible it is to get at the meaning 
 of words when churchmen are resolved to inter- 
 pret a document according to their own system ; 
 and I have observed that a Bishop can take a 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 chapter of the Bible, or an Article, and by means 
 of some secret alchemy, turn it out in so new a 
 form, and -w ith such a different aspect, that no man 
 could have imagined he was in the presence of an 
 old friend ; — therefore, I say, I will myself pro- 
 nounce nothing, but simply state what people 
 assert. Now these doubters declare that the 
 founders and first Bishops of the Established 
 Church were notorious Calvinists ; that the Arti- 
 cles are Calvinistic, and that for a century nothing 
 but pure Calvinism was tolerated in the Church of 
 England. In proof of this assertion they quote 
 the famous seventeenth Article, which for nearly 
 two centuries has been a slough of despond for 
 Bishops and Prebendaries, a soft place for digni- 
 fied feet — and which never yet has been filled up, 
 though no man can calculate the cart-loads of 
 Arminian rubbish in the shape of books and ser- 
 mons, Avhich have been thrown in here to make 
 the road to Lambeth and York more pleasant, but 
 without the slightest visible amendment. 
 
 Thus speaketh the Article : — " Predestination 
 to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby 
 (before the foundations of the world were laid) he 
 hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to 
 us, to deliver from curse and damnation those 
 whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and 
 to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which 
 be endowed with so excellent a benefit of God, be 
 called according to God's purpose by his Spirit 
 working in due season — they through grace obey 
 the calling — they be justified freely ; they be 
 made sons of God by adoption ; they be made 
 like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus 
 Christ ; they walk religiously in good works, and 
 at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlast- 
 ing salvation." Parallel with this article they place 
 your Lordship's published sentiments : — 
 
 " St. John called our Saviour the Lamb of 
 God that taketh away the sins of the world : not of 
 the chosen few, the predestinated, but of the 
 whole world, whose sins being thus taken away, 
 they are justified, and may be saved if they 
 please*. 
 
 " When the Apostle tells them to give diligence 
 to make their calling and election sure, he does in 
 effect tell them that it may be forfeited, and lost 
 for want of diligence : and that, therefore, none of 
 them can have been for a surety chosen before- 
 hand of God to be saved. All the other passages 
 in the writings of the Apostles where election is 
 mentioned, are to be explained in like manner ; 
 
 * " Sermon on Predestination, intended for the use of 
 country congregations; by Charles James Blomfield, D.D., 
 Rector of St. Botolph's ; 1820." 
 
xii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 SO that the term elect is never used to distinguish 
 some Christians from others, but to distinguish all 
 Christians in general from those who had not taken 
 up the Christian profession ; all who are baptized 
 into the name of Christ and profess his sa\dng 
 faith are elect, and yet may forfeit their election by 
 unchristian conduct. All who disown that holy 
 name, or dishonour it by their practise, are repro- 
 bate, and yet by God's grace they ma}' be brought 
 back into the truth, and rooted in the faith, and by 
 dihgence make their calling and election sure. 
 
 " There are no doubt some expressions in the 
 writings of St. Paul, which seem at first sight to 
 give some countenance to the doctrine of predesti- 
 nation to life ; but St. Peter has told us that in the 
 writings of that great Apostle there are some 
 things hard to be understood, amongst which we 
 may safely* reckon those which I refer — i. e. 
 Rom. viii. 29." 
 
 The question then seems to be this, is the se- 
 venteeth Article the language of Calvin, and is 
 your Lordship's doctrine that of Arminius ? Does 
 your lordship sing the same song with the Article ? 
 or is your lordship out of tune ? I have heard a 
 cockatoo and a bulfinch sing together, but they 
 seemed to me rather out of tune. 
 
 * Compare this with Bradwardine's words in the next 
 note. 
 
PREFACK. 
 
 xiii 
 
 There was a time, my Lord, when tlie House 
 of Commons resented with high wrath any the 
 smallest deviation from Calvinism, because tliey 
 saw clearly, first, that the Church of England \\ as 
 Calvinistic, and secondly, that Arminian tenets 
 were embraced by all the enemies of the country, 
 and that Papists, semi-Papists, and Bishops, are 
 always taking refuge in those doctrines which the 
 Reformation confuted and confounded. And there 
 are persons even now who say, that if the majority 
 of the House of Commons consisted, at this pre- 
 sent time, of true Calvinists, it would be much 
 better for the nation, and that we could depend 
 upon the principles of such men much more than 
 we can on that mighty sect of Free-thinkers 
 which now prevails there — but this is merely an 
 opinion : I am now about matters of fact, and 
 your Jjordship must remember how smart the 
 Commons used to be upon the Arminians. For 
 instance, in the reign of Charles I., they laid hold 
 of one Montague, a High-Church clergyman, who 
 had published a sermon containing theology, very 
 like your Lordship's, and, on review of this ser- 
 mon, they resolved, that "Whereas the Seven- 
 teenth Article had declared, «S:c. (quoting the 
 article at length), he, the said Richard Mon- 
 tague, in the said book, doth affirm and maintain 
 that men justified may fall away fiom that state 
 
xiv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 which they once had, thereby laying a most mali 
 cious scandal upon the Church of England, as if 
 she did differ herein from the Reformed Churches 
 in England, and from the Reformed Churches 
 beyond the sea, and did consent unto those per- 
 nicious errors commonly called Arminianisra, which 
 the late famous Queen Elizabeth and King James, 
 of happy memory, did so piously and religiously 
 labour to suppress," &c. &c. And on another 
 occasion they came to the following resolution, 
 " Whoever shall bring in innovation of religion, 
 or by favour or countenance seek to extend 
 Popery and Arminianism, or other opinion dis- 
 agreeing from the truth, or orthodox church, 
 shall be reputed a capital enemy to the kingdom 
 and commomvealih ;" by which grave decree 
 it seems highly probable, that had your Lord- 
 ship lived in those times your Lordship would 
 have got into a scrape, from which it would have 
 been no easy matter to extricate your Lordship. 
 
 Now, persons who attentively consider these 
 things, and who have noticed the zeal of the 
 Prelates in introducing Arminian and Pelagian 
 tenets into the Church of England, compare 
 these dignitaries to fish, which being captivated 
 with the appearance of a fat worm, as it hangs 
 on the fisherman's hook, find that there is some--" 
 thing more in the worm than they can comfort- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 ah\y digest ; for, though the Bishops find tlie bait 
 of the mitre infinitely dehghtful, they also discover 
 that the hook of the article is infinitely dis- 
 agreealtle, and in their efforts to disgorge that 
 which they have swallowed, they only vomit up 
 floods of Pelagian* bile in the shape of " Charges 
 to the Clergy," " Sermons for Country Congre- 
 gations," and " Elements of Christian Tlieology." 
 And I do not wonder that Calvinism should be 
 extremely indigestible to the Bishops, for with 
 it there always is acting a movement sjririt, if 
 I may so term it — a discordance with the " wis- 
 dom of ancestors," which is the very oxygen in 
 the atmosphere of Priests, and without which they 
 cannot exist. I take it to be an axiom in the 
 priestly mysteries, that the " wisdom of ancestors" 
 is the breath of their nostrils ; for there never was 
 yet a priesthood, nor ever will be to the end of 
 time, which did not refer to the ancestral wisdom 
 as the truest and the best. In the religion of the 
 clergy there is a noble maxim, " Si mundus vult 
 
 * Bradwardine, that famous champion of the Trufh, 
 speaks eloquently on this subject, " Ecce euira quod non 
 nisi tactu iloloris refero, sicut olitn contra unum Dei Pro- 
 phetam, octingenti et quinquagintaProphetse Baal, et similes 
 repertisimt, quibus et innumerabilis populus adhseiebat ; ita 
 et hodi6 in hac causa, quot O Domine, cum Pelagio pro li- 
 bero arbitrio contra gratuitam gratiam tuam pugnant, et 
 contra Paulum pugilem gratiae specialem ? exsurge ergo> 
 O Domiue, sustine, protige, consolare," &c. 
 
xvi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 vadere sicut vult, mundus debet vadere sicut vult," 
 tliat is, " If the world likes to jog on in the old 
 way, in the old way the world ought to jog on," 
 which also is expressed sometimes in these words, 
 " Let well alone* for why should anything be 
 changed ? Were not our ancestors wiser men than 
 we? Which of living animals, excepting man, 
 seeks to deviate from the parental path ? Does the 
 bee buzz for reform ? or does the spider alter the old 
 orthodox interstices and intersections of its web ? 
 Man, and man only, is clamouring for change, and 
 seeking out many inventions. " Be not followers 
 of them which are given to change," is, therefore, 
 the sweetest text in the Bible, and has been 
 preached on more than any other ; for when we 
 consider the Cardinals who have preached on it 
 against the Huguenots, the Abbots against the 
 Lutherans, and the English Bishops against the 
 Reformers — when we think how the Albigenses 
 and the Vaudois, the French Calvinists and the 
 Lollards, the Puritans and the Brownists, have all 
 
 * There is an old adage, .that " Trutli lies hid in the bot- 
 tom of a well," and from this adage 1 imagine that other 
 saying has arisen, " Let well alone," for if truth is at the 
 bottom of the well, it is very natural for the clergy fo re- 
 quest the people "to let the well alone:" drawing water 
 from the well, or any way disturbing it, might be the means 
 of bringing truth into day-light ; therefore, " Let well alone 
 by all means." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xvii 
 
 smarted under this text, we must needs acknow- 
 ledge that there is none Uke it in Scripture. If 
 Reformers and Independents would let the world 
 jog on in the old wa}', we should have Bishops 
 and Priests, Cardinals and Brahmins, Bonzes 
 and Grand Lamas, to the end of the chapter — 
 for in the eye of a philosopher there is no dif- 
 ference ; they all hold the same office, with a 
 variation of costume, but a philosopher sees 
 throiigh robes of ceremony, and he classifies 
 under one genus the Brahminical thread of a Guru, 
 the triple crown of a Pope, the yellow apron of a 
 Lama, and the lawn sleeves of an English Bishop. 
 
 Nov/, as the tendency of mankind, in all ages, 
 is to priestly government, how comes it that any 
 antagonist power has risen up to oppose the na- 
 tural nuirch of the human mind, and what is this 
 power ? The Dissenters tell us it is the Gospel, 
 your Lordship will say it is Beelzebub; and here 
 your Lordship and the Dissenters are at issue. 
 This, however, is certain, that, if the Gospel is 
 not this antagonist power, it rests with those 
 who have misinterpreted the Gospel; for there 
 is not a spot on the face of the earth where 
 priests are opposed, excepting where the Bible 
 is in popular use. It is clear, therefore, that if 
 the Bible does not condemn a priesthood, those 
 b 
 
xviii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 people only who read the Bible are the opponents 
 of a priesthood. 
 
 The question, then, in tliis momentous crisis 
 is, "What is to be done?" To seal up the 
 Bible in these days I consider hoi-eless. The 
 Bishops did their worst to crush the Bible So- 
 cieties, but without effect ; and I should suppose 
 that Sir Robert Peel would hardly turn liis 
 thoughts to a suppression of the Scriptures,' in 
 order to save the Church of England. But if 
 the light cannot be extinguished, can it not be 
 darkened ? Let us consider the cpiestion more 
 attentively. 
 
 Now, it seems to me, (an attentive observer of 
 mankind,) that as the strength of the clergy con- 
 sists chiefly in cherishing that bias of the mind 
 and affections, which, in theologic language, is 
 called the " natural man j" so I should recommend 
 the friends of the Establishment to study those 
 things which the natural man doth ujost covet, 
 and to feed him to the full accordingly. The 
 natural man, then, being a superstitious animal, 
 and the secret of all superstition resting iu the 
 dominion which the senses may be brought to 
 obtain over the mind in religious notions, I know 
 nothing better for the Church of England, as 
 matters now stand, than to increase ln-r Riiual, 
 
PREFACE. six 
 
 which may be easily done in the projected Reform 
 of the Prayer Book. " The Church hath power 
 to decree rites and ceremonies," says the Twentieth 
 Article. Why, then, doth not the Church exercise 
 this power ? We have had nothing new since the 
 Restoration of the Stuarts ; and, as for tlie 
 paltry ceremonies which we now possess, such as 
 bow ing to the East, making the sign of the cross 
 in baptism, dressing in lawn-sleeves, surplices, 
 hoods, and square caps; walking into choirs pre- 
 ceded by beadles, singing prayers in cathedral 
 fashion, and some score more of such amuse- 
 ments — they are not worth naming. We want 
 a good dish-full of ceremonies, a complete new- 
 edition of processions, set to new tunes, with 
 new machinery, scenery, dresses, and decorations 
 — and, indeed, it is a shame that more is not 
 done in this way, seeing the ample space of the 
 cathedrals and great churches, which were built 
 for exhibitions of this sort, and are never crowded 
 with large congregations, according to the vulgar 
 practice of conventicles. There is room enough, 
 and to spare, for the clergy, to perform all sorts of 
 ceremonies, if they choose it ; therefore, I say, let 
 the Church exercise that prerogative which the 
 Tenth Article has asserted, and let the Dis- 
 senters be ashamed out of their puritanical 
 plainness. 
 
 b 2 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Next to ceremonies, I find traditions a most 
 excellent recipe. Traditions have been much 
 used by the Church, and have, within the last 
 two or three years, come greatly into fashion 
 again ; so that Ignatius, Barnabas, Clement, 
 Hermes, and Irenseus, the Apostolical consti- 
 tutions, and the Councils are now rescued from 
 Bodleian dust, and sent forth in dainty extracts 
 by Oxford tracts and clerical pamphlets ; and 
 this, my Lord, is as it should be, for it is a sad 
 oversight to allow the Pope a monojioly of 
 Fathers and Councils ; they are wanted at Lam-- 
 beth full as much as at the Vatican. And 
 the advantage of appealing to the Fathers, Coun- 
 cils, Decretals,* Canons, or, in one word, to 
 tradition, is this, that there is no imaginable 
 desideratum which may not be found in that 
 quarter. Whatever your Lordship may think 
 useful or agreeable I will undertake to furnish 
 out of that storehouse — tithes. Bishops, Arch- 
 bishops, images, Archdeacons, processions. Deans, 
 fine dresses, ceremonies of every description; 
 quick march round the altar, slow march, bowing, 
 kneeling, sitting down, standing up, knocking the 
 
 * In tr.e Decretals, Causa XII. Can. Dileclissimis, Sfc, 
 that decree of Clement is set down at large, where Plafo is 
 praised and called the wisest of the Grecians for leaching 
 that women sliouUl be common. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXI 
 
 head and the hreast ; fasts, feasts, empty bellies 
 and full bellies ; holy water, bells, wax-candles, 
 anthems, solos, incense, saints, martyrs, mediators, 
 intercessors, union of Church and State, anointing 
 Kings and Queens, confirmation, comminations, 
 catechisms, creeds, salt and spittle, prebends, 
 transubstantiation, consubstantiation, church-war- 
 dens, painted windows, clerical titles, rubrics, 
 college caps, Lent, lawn sleeves, and what not. 
 Only in appealing to tradition, and in quoting the 
 Fathers, it should be done judiciously ; we must 
 omit the story of the Phoenix in Clemens Romanus, 
 and keep in the back ground some strange fables 
 preserved by Irenoeus ; for it would be a sad 
 blunder to republish in the Oxford tracts the story 
 of Lot's wife, told by that ancient Father, who 
 says she was in his time existing as a pillar of 
 salt, and known to be the Patriarch's wife by 
 infallible indications. Neither must we record 
 that other tradition of his, which he declares he 
 received from some Presbyters who heard it from 
 
 St. John the Evangelist — that said " the 
 
 time should come when vine-trees would grow, 
 each having ten thousand branches, and on each 
 branch ten thousand stalks, and on each stalk ten 
 thousand twigs, and on each twig ten thousand 
 bunches, and on each bunch ten thousand grapes, 
 and every grape should yield twenty-five measures 
 
xxn 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 of wine; and when some of the Saints should 
 essay to gather one of the hunches, another bunch 
 should cry out, ' Gather me, I am a finer bunch ; 
 bless the Lord through me,' " &c. 
 
 Keeping traditions of this sort out of sight, we 
 may, my Lord, with much advantage, make use 
 of Fathers and Councils, to prove the three orders, 
 and such other points as are fundamental in the 
 Church of England. 
 
 With these hints for things to be done, a word 
 may be added as to what should not be done; 
 for the natural man must be considered in his 
 dislikes as well as in his likings. Now it may be 
 taken as an axiom that the natural man dislikes 
 to be robbed and murdered ; and therefore with 
 all humility I recommend that the Clergy of our 
 scriptural Church should cease to exact tithes at 
 the point of the bayonet, and that, for the present 
 at least, such battles as those fought at Skibbereen 
 and Rathcormac should be rather avoided than 
 sought after ; for though the affair of Rathcormac 
 Avas a splendid victory, and though the fourth 
 Irish Dragoons did on that day commit a great 
 slaughter of the enemy, yet no one can tell where 
 violence of this sort may end ; we have the three 
 days of Paris before us ; we see there how an 
 attack on the people has terminated ; and that 
 which has been done in one country may be done 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 in another. I therefore recommend to your 
 Lordship and the whole bench of Bishops a more 
 mild use of the shepherd's crook as the best 
 policy to be adopted by the constituted Pastors ; 
 and, ■whenever it shall be requisite to terrify the 
 sheep, to substitute the charges of Bishops for the 
 charges of Dragoons ; for if ever the people should 
 be exasperated into open defiance, and if ever the 
 Reformers should be the masters of the Church, 
 •we may surmise that the mitre would not be the 
 least protection to its wearer, but rather show a 
 broader mark to the missiles of the enemy — it 
 would be as the lantern hung on the waistcoat of 
 the Due d'Enghein when he fell at the night time 
 in the castle fosse of Vincennes.* 
 
 After all, my Lord, I do not pretend to predict 
 that the system can be certainly perpetuated by 
 anything we can do. There is an ugly look about 
 the spirit of this generation which frightens me. 
 The march of intellect is worse to the Clergy than 
 the march of a hundred thousand men with fixed 
 bayonets. Litellect is a great, grim, striding 
 giant, with a huge besom that no man can measure, 
 and with this he sweepeth away the wisdom of 
 ancestors as if it was only a spider's web in his 
 path ; a cathedral and a Bishop he can shovel up 
 
 * Decus el liilamcii, by the Reverend J. Riland. 
 
Xxiv PREFACE. 
 
 in a trice, and tithes are nothing but the dust 
 beneath his feet. He has already swept away 
 half a dozen Bishops in Ireland, what will he not 
 do when he steps over the channel? 
 
 And here, my Lord, I pause to express my 
 astonishment at the conservatives, who now praise 
 Lord Stanley as the great prop of the Church — 
 Lord Stanley, who has abolished bishoprics — he 
 a friend of the Church ! 
 
 The liistorian Collier, a high Church clergyman, 
 has spoken pertinently to the point. " As to the 
 parallel between the Princess Elizabeth and her 
 sister Queen ISIary, may it not be affirmed that 
 one made martyrs in the Church and the other 
 beggars ; the one executed the men, and the other 
 the estates ? And therefore reserving the honour 
 of the Reformation to Queen Elizabeth, the ques- 
 tion -n iW be whether the retaining the first fruits 
 and tenths, putting many of the vicarages in this 
 deplorable situation, and settling a perpetuity of 
 poverty upon the Church, was not much more 
 prejudicial than fire and faggot — ■s\hether de- 
 stroying BISHOPRICS is not a much greater hard- 
 ship than destroying Bishops? because this 
 severity affects succession, and reaches down to 
 future ages ; and lastly, whether, as the world 
 goes, it is not more easy to recruit Bishops than 
 the revenues to support them?" 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXV 
 
 In other words, the hanging a Bishop is onl}' 
 hanging a John or a Thomas, but the extinction 
 of a l)ishopric is a large massacre, the wliole 
 breed of Bishops in that diocese extirpated for 
 ever; a crime of huge iniquity — an act of most 
 blood-thirsty and barbarous cruelty. But if crimes 
 like these are perpetrated by the friends of the 
 Establishment, what will its enemies do? If the 
 lovers of " time-hallowed" institutions give us 
 this deadly hug in the way of affection, what will 
 the great Boa-constrictor, Radical Reform, effect, 
 when it comes to squeeze the Church in its 
 voluminous embrace ? 
 
 My Lord, these thoughts are somewhat of a 
 melancholy strain, and indeed what Churchman 
 in these days can be very jocund when he looks 
 at the prospect before the Church ? Tliat per- 
 nicious method of arguing with Churchmen on 
 first principles is now so common, and so universal 
 is the cry to try the prelacy by the Gospel, that 
 we are already condemned in every town and 
 village, and held up as deceivers in every parish. 
 They compare the Church and the clergy with 
 the Church and the clergy of the New Testament, 
 and will hearken to none of our exceptions, alle- 
 gories, and metaphors. They declare that our 
 ghostly authority is all a trick ; they laugh at tlie 
 white sheet, the turnip, and the tallow candle. 
 
xxvi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and are come to that point which Strabo* never 
 anticipated — to ridicule all contrivances of super- 
 stition, and yet to adhere more than ever to solid 
 piety. 
 
 Against this spirit it is most difficult to con- 
 tend ; if the quarrel were in the old style about a 
 heresy, a point in metaphysics, a vowel, or a 
 diphthong — if it were about the precedence of me- 
 tropolitans, the proper days to keep a festival, or 
 the orthodox way of breaking an egg, one might 
 have some hope of getting out of the difficultj-j 
 but when. they attack the very foundation, and 
 boldly assert that the Gospel doth not allow such 
 a thing as a Priest, it shows that the old Quaker 
 leaven hath leavened the whole lump, and that 
 the candle of priesthood is in danger of being 
 ovenvhelmed with a broad-brim extinguisher. 
 
 My Lord, I finish these remarks, by earnestly re- 
 questing your Lordship to bestir yourself ; for the 
 voluntary system is at the door, loudly knocking 
 for admittance. If ever that monster should pass 
 
 * " Women," says Strabo, " and the promiscuous crowd 
 cannot be actuated by the lessons of philosophy, nor by 
 these be led to religion, sanctity, and faith. They must 
 be urged by superstitions, and this cannot be done without 
 legends and miracles. The thunder, the iegis, the trident, 
 the torches, and the serpents ; the ivy- circled spears and 
 the fabled arms of the Gods, were used by the founders of 
 politics as hobgoblins for infantile minds." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xxvii 
 
 the threshold, we are all undone — ruined horse 
 and foot, root and branch. A Gospel Reforma- 
 tion will be inexpressibly horrible ; it will be like 
 the entrance of the Medes into Babylon to sweep 
 all clean " with the besom of destruction." The 
 Bishops will have to leave their palaces, the 
 chapters must quit the cathedrals, the clergy their 
 pluralities ; no more tithes great or small ; no 
 agistment, valuation, dilapidations, fines, or fees ; 
 no sale of livings ; no knocking down of immortal 
 souls by the auctioneer's hammer ; no translations ; 
 no letters demissory, licenses, or certificates : 
 farewell glebes and parsonage houses ! farewell 
 •warrants, policemen, and soldiers ! farewell mitres 
 and titles ! farewell grants of Parliament ! We 
 shall be left to our own resources, our corks will 
 be taken away from us, and we must either sink 
 or swim ; and then indeed shall we at last be 
 compelled " to watch in all things, to endure 
 afflictions, to do the work of Evangelists, and to 
 give full proof of our ministry." 
 
 I have the honour to be. 
 Your Lordship's, 
 Obedient humble Servant, 
 
 The Editor. 
 
 March, 1835. 
 
XXVIU 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 After tlie above prefatory address had been 
 written and put into the printer's hands, the 
 Editor heard with amazement that " ^ly Lord of 
 London" had sung his pahnody on the subject of 
 the letters of L.S. E. 
 
 His Lordship's first recommendation was in 
 these words : — -" Other instances (of Dissenters' 
 delinquencies) are given ia a publication which I 
 RECOMMEND as Containing a great deal of useful 
 
 INFORMATION and SOUND REASONING, SCt foTth 
 
 with a little too much warmth of invective against 
 the Dissenters, entitled, ' Letters to a Dissenting 
 Minister of the Congregational Denomination, by 
 L. S. E.' " 
 
 Li the second edition of the Charge in which 
 this recommendation had appeared, and after the 
 publication of " A Remonstrance addressed to the 
 Lord Bishop of London by Charles Lushington, 
 Esq.," liis Loidship — quantum mutatus ah illo 
 Hcctore .'^utters this lamentable strain : — " In 
 the first edition of this charge reference was made 
 to a publication which contains some other instances 
 of the disingenuous proceedings of the Society in 
 
I'OSTSCRIPT. xxix 
 
 question. Upon a close examination of the work 
 alluded to, I have thought it right to suj)press mi/ 
 reference to it on account of the controversial 
 bitterness with which it is disfigured" ! ! ! AVho 
 could have thought that such a valiant ciiauge 
 would have ended in this inglorious flight, and 
 that a renowned Prelate would thus have scam- 
 pered out of the field of battle after the heroic dis- 
 play of his first onset? " I protest by them that 
 fell at Marathon" this is worse than a Persian 
 overthrow. And behold the results ! those mon- 
 sters, those ruffians, those brigands, the Dissenters, 
 have already erected a trophy to our durable dis- 
 grace, and even the person Binneij has been 
 enabled to triumph over us with a most afflicting 
 scorn. Thus says that person : 
 
 " When any man ' recommends' a book with 
 which most other men are disgusted, the following 
 alternative and train of reflection instantly present 
 themselves to a thoughtful observer : ' lie either 
 read this book or he did not ; if he did, it is a 
 question of taste ; if he did not, it is one of in- 
 tegrity. The first in a Christian would be dis- 
 grace; the second in a gentleman dishonour." 
 Tliis I think would be as natural as it is just. If, 
 however, it were to be supposed that the latter 
 was the case of a Christian Prelate writing to his 
 clergy, and writing for the public, there are perhaps 
 
XXX 
 
 rOSTSCRIPT. 
 
 no words in any language that could express either 
 the feelings of an honourable mind towards such 
 delinquency, or the extent and magnitude of the 
 delinquency itself. So strongly do I perceive this, 
 that when I have heard it stated, by way of apo- 
 logy {as I have oflen) that his Lordship could 
 not have read the book in question, but had 
 been misled by depending on the opinion, 
 and taking the word, of some injudicious friend, 
 I have always expressed my hope that such 
 was not the case, as it would certainly be 
 rather an aggravation than an apology. What! 
 books to be "recommended" from the Episcopal 
 bench — a character of them, and a description of 
 their contents deliberately penned and sent forth 
 to the public as a Bishop's personal judgment — 
 which books he had not personally read! The 
 thing is too monstrous to be thought of, or to be 
 admitted for a moment as within the compass of 
 possibility. No! times of controversy may tfar^^ 
 the judgment and destroy the taste for a while 
 even of a Christian ; but surely this should never 
 be attempted to be palliated by what would be a 
 violation of principle itself. I have always thought, 
 therefore, that it ought to be admitted by all, 
 whether the personal friends and apologists, or 
 the ecclesiastical adversaries, of the Bishop of 
 London, that he could not but have read the 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 book of which he gave an account, and to which 
 he attached his open and voluntary " I recom- 
 MENU," from the very circumstance of w hat would 
 be involved in his conduct if he had not. 
 
 But I beg to ask, if any man, who had seen 
 nothing but his Lordship's " note," would ever 
 dream that what he twice gently terms " a refe- 
 rence^^ to a publication was actually a distinct and 
 emphatic recommendation of it, with a statement 
 of the reasons oi that recommendation ? "A pub- 
 lication which / recommend as containing a great 
 deal of useful information," &c., is thus to be sup- 
 pressed — softly put out of the way as a reference — 
 a sort of passing allusion, that may be made one 
 moment and forgotten the next." [Dissent not 
 Schism, a Discourse delivered in the Poultry 
 Chapel, by T. Binney, Dec. 12, 1834.] 
 
 In conclusion, the Editor of this volume has to 
 complain of tlic treatment which L. S. E. has 
 received in various high places ; for, besides the 
 Bishop of London's " recommendation" made by 
 that learned Prelate a synonyme with " reference" 
 — the Editor of the British Magazine has also 
 vacillated in his opinions on the merit of this 
 valuable coUectiftn of letters. The January Num- 
 ber of the British Magazine abused Mr. Gather- 
 cole (not the true Gathercoo/), in very plain lan- 
 guage, for his violence and "rampant stolidity," 
 
xxxii 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 and said some very coarse and unhandsome things 
 of his clerical coadjutors. The Number for March 
 (XXXIX, p. 320) has, however, tried to make 
 amends for its previous rudeness in these soothing 
 words : " Mr. G. will, if he will control his ex- 
 pressions, be able to render signal service to 
 the Church." This is as it should be ; and it is 
 to be hoped that the Bishop of London will, 
 in a third edition of his Charge, return to his 
 RECOMMEND.^TioNS, and explain away his re- 
 ferenxes. 
 
 Editor. 
 
POSTHUIMOUS LETTERS, 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Tlic Reverend Rabshakeh Gatiiercoal, 
 to L. S. E. 
 My dear Brother, 
 
 I HAVE this day taken possession of the 
 Vicarage of Tuddington, where I hope to he of 
 eminent service to that apostoUcal Church of 
 which I am an unworthy Priest. You desire to 
 know all the particulars of my new pastoral 
 charge. First then touching the fleece, which I 
 hold to be a very essential part of the true Church 
 of Christ according to apostolical tradition. The 
 living I find for the last seven years produced 
 about 450/. to the last Vicar ; but Mr. Screw, a 
 very pious attorney of this place, assures me that 
 I may easily make 600/. per annum by com- 
 pelling all the small gardeners, who are very 
 numerous, to pay their dues without allowing any 
 deduction. The late Vicar, a nuin of loose princi- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 pies, who had no regard for the welfare of his suc- 
 cessors, has never pressed his demands on the 
 gardeners; but I feel it a duty I owe to the 
 Church to gather to the utmost farthing, and I 
 have already given directions to the excellent 
 and orthodox Mr. Screw to take the proper 
 steps in this business. You know, my dear 
 Brother, that " the ox which treadeth out the 
 corn is not to be muzzled :" we who are suc- 
 cessors of the Apostles, have we not power to eat 
 and drink? for who feedeth a flock and eateth 
 not of the milk of the flock ? I intend to get all 
 the corn I can, and all the milk I can; would 
 that I could indeed eat of the great tithes ! But, 
 alas ! the impiety of a generation which hated the 
 Church has robbed the clergy of their dues, and 
 the great tithes are in the hands of the Duke of 
 
 . Something, however, still remains worth 
 
 eating, and I will take care that no muzzle is put 
 on the mouth of your dutifid brother Rab- 
 shakeh. 
 
 The vicarage is a good house ; it wants, how- 
 ever, a bath-room and a conservatory; and I 
 intend to make Mrs. Thompson, the late Vicar's 
 widow, pay my bill for these desiderata, in the 
 form of dilapidations, which we estimated as high 
 as 470/. Mrs. Thompson pleads her nine chil- 
 dren, but she has done too much mischief in the 
 parish to find any mercy fiom me. 
 
 The spiritual state of the parish is deplorable. . 
 
LETTER I. 
 
 3 
 
 Ttie population of the town is about 6,000 souls. 
 The Independent Chapel has a congregation of 
 500 ; the Baptists, 300 ; the Wesleyan Metho- 
 dists, 800; the Ranters, 400; the Roman Ca- 
 thoUcs, 100; the Quakers, 50. All this pesti- 
 lential swarm of Dissenters is owing to the lax 
 discipline and bad principles of the late Vicar. 
 
 Thompson was one of your Evangelicals, a 
 canting hypocrite, whose maxims were foil of 
 mischief. Dear Screw says he was always 
 preaching justification by faith, and that he 
 taught false doctrine about the true Church by 
 totally omitting to show that in the Church 
 of England only is there salvatiqn. He never 
 said a word about the sin of schism and dis- 
 sent, and l)y this method the parish church 
 Avas crowded in the morning service — but by what 
 sorts of persons ? Why, one-half of his con- 
 gregation, at the very least, were Dissenters; 
 for there was a general feeling amongst the 
 schismatics to go to Church once on Sundays. 
 Their phrase was, " they wished to show respect 
 to Mr. Thompson, who was a very good man, and 
 preached the Gospel." 
 
 You will be shocked to hear that the Vicar 
 went so far as to ask the Dissenting Ministers to 
 dine at the Vicarage, two or three times every 
 year. Really this was too bad : it has made the 
 parlour smell of schism, so that I have been 
 obliged to have it new painted and coloured, to 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 get rid of the puritanical odour. Thompson often 
 drank tea with the Independent teacher, who in- 
 structed him in Hebrew; and he in return 
 taught the teacher's eldest lad algebra, and the 
 elements of methematics. 
 
 The effect of this system you may easily con- 
 ceive. All things are topsyturvy. The Chiircli 
 of England has lost all that dignity and pre-emi- 
 nence which are due by apostolical constitution ; 
 and the Church people, if Church people they can 
 be called, care nothing for Bishops, Archdeacons, 
 and tithes. 
 
 There is not a tract of the Society for Pro- 
 moting Christian Knowledge in the whole parish ; 
 Thompson denounced them from the pulpit, but 
 the Tract Society's poison is in every house in the 
 town. The people seem to me either decided 
 Calvinists, or fanatical Arminians, and every old 
 woman talks of her " experience," and praises 
 " good Mr. Thompson." In short, I find myself 
 amongst a perverse and crooked generation, 
 strangers to the scriptural authority of the Clergy, 
 and nursed in the ignorance of dissent and 
 schism. By all this you may judge there is 
 much work on my hands, but the greater the ob- 
 stacles the greater shall be my zeal ; and guiding 
 myself by those glorious doctrines so ably advo- 
 cated in the fourteen letters of L. S. E., I hope 
 shortly to bring about a complete reformation in 
 this dark and heathenish town. 
 
LETTER I. 
 
 5 
 
 My next will, I hojie, let 5-011 fully into niy 
 plans, which I intend to put into operation with- 
 out delay ; for no time must be lost in resisting 
 the encroachment of those swarming locusts the 
 Dissenters, who will soon eat up every green 
 thing in the earth, or what is worse, prevent the 
 clergy from eating that verdure and fatness of the 
 land which is theirs by apostolical right. 
 
 I am, 
 'Sly dear Brother, 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 Rabshakeh Gathercoai,. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 Tha Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoai. to tne 
 Reverend Julius Scrope, Reckn- of Amber- 
 rvell. 
 
 Reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 I have received yoiir flattering and kind 
 letter, and hasten to reply to its contents. Allow 
 me, however, to remark, that the compliments 
 which you hestow on my zeal and abilities are 
 wholly undeserved ; the merit of my exertions 
 must be attribxxted to the influence of L. S. E., 
 whose letters have hitherto been the oracle of my 
 actions and the guide of my counsels. 
 
 You wish to hear the process of my conversion 
 from the powers of darkness unto light, from 
 Dissenting conventicles to the communion of the 
 Church of England. You will have alreadv 
 learned from the letters of my elder brother, 
 L. S. E., that my parents were " rigid Dissenters, 
 of the Congregational Independent denomination." 
 My honoured father was a tallow chandler, and 
 under the paternal roof I was educated in the 
 odour of sanctity and of boiling tallow. Like my 
 dear brother, I was what he calls " a Dissenter 
 on principle ;" that is, I railed against the Church 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 7 
 
 of England, and called its members Papists and 
 idolaters. My father used often to rebuke my 
 violence, and though he was a rigid Dissenter, 
 he frequently advised me to hold my tongue, to 
 read and meditate much more, to study the 
 Scriptures with prayer and humility, and not enter 
 into controversy, for which I was in every way 
 unprepared. " The Established Church," he 
 used to say, " is certainly, in many respects, open 
 to animadversion, and its Church government is 
 a relic of Popery, which cannot be defended by 
 Scripture warranty ; but I had much rather see 
 such a stripling as thee lay in a greater store of 
 information, and study history, sacred and pro- 
 fane, than thus prate about matters of which thou 
 knowest nothing. Let thy principles, Rab, be 
 better grounded and settled before thou goest 
 about to attack the creed of thy neighbours. 
 This sort of zeal is likely to blaze out very soon, 
 and to leave nothing but ashes. When reli- 
 gion is only controversy, it often finishes in 
 apostacy ; get thy heart humbled, and learn 
 first before thou teaclwst. Besides, Rab, our busi- 
 ness will be at a stand-still. Go and draw the 
 dips." 
 
 When I had come to ripe manhood I was very 
 much vexed to see my dear elder brother give up 
 his principles and the business of our shop, and 
 I was quite mad against him when people said 
 
8 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 he was certainly turning Churchman. One day 
 we came to high words on tlie subject, for the 
 Bishop had been in the town confirming children 
 in the parish church, and I, being then in dark- 
 ness, made some profane jokes on his venerable wig 
 and apron. I asked my brother, if the Bishop's 
 apron was to shovel in the good things of the 
 land, for people had been talking of a great fine 
 he had lately pocketed, not less than £' 30,000. 
 " St. Paul," I said, " did not wear aprons, because 
 he had no fines to carry off. ' On this my bro- 
 ther flew into a rage, and called me " a canting 
 schismatical jackanapes," which I answered by 
 a smart and stinging repartee. With this pre- 
 lusion of theological skill we proceeded to blows, 
 and, I must confess, that L. S. E. came off vic- 
 torious, for who can resist this Goliah ? 
 
 After this controversy, I reflected that the 
 weight of the argument was certainly with my 
 brother, and that the chastisement I had received 
 was a very convincing arcjiimcntum ad homhicin. 
 I made up my mind, from this time, to keep my 
 temper in his presence, and not to rail against 
 Church people and Bishops, though it was a 
 bitter pill for me to see him take orders and 
 become a clergyman. 
 
 One day, not long after his ordination, he was 
 sitting in our back parlour, reading a huge folio 
 Prayer Book, and explaining to us the excellency 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 9 
 
 of the services for all occasions, particularly the 
 ordination of Priests and Deacons, and conse- 
 cration of Bishops. From this he proceeded in 
 his usual way to attack the Dissenters, asserting 
 that the Church of England had a right " to conv- 
 mand compliance with her rites and ceremonies,"* 
 and that " the petty sects of Dissenters were 
 bound to obey that if anything was wrong 
 no man had any authority to find fault with what 
 the clergy commanded,! but " must wait until the 
 Lord come," when all matters would be set right, 
 and they who had obeyed tlie parsons would go 
 to Paradise. He said that Korah, Dathan and 
 AbiramJ were Dissenters of the Congregational 
 Independent order, — that Korah was the Minis- 
 ter, and Dathan and Abiram were the Deacons, 
 and that they were swallowed up in a flaming 
 gulf for dissenting from the Church as by law 
 established. This comment I could not bear, 
 and, quite forgetting our former controversy, I 
 threw the ink-bottle full at his face, spoiling his 
 Reverence's white neckcloth and bands, which he 
 had been arranging at the looking-glass. His 
 Reverence, however, had a tremendous weapon in 
 his hands, the folio Prayer Book, a yard long, 
 and very ponderous : with this he inflicted such 
 a blow on my head that I fell senseless at 
 his feet : a fair representative of Dissenters 
 
 * Letter vii. p. 212. \ vii. p. 217. 
 
 X Letters of L, S. E. jiassiin. 
 
10 
 
 l?;tter ii. 
 
 under the aim of the clerg}'. I did not recover 
 from this controversy for six months, and to 
 this day I see specks and dancing spots in the 
 field of vision whenever my angry feelings are 
 excited, as they always are when I meet a Dis- 
 senter. 
 
 This quarrel, ha\vever, was made up at last in 
 an amicable way, and my reverend brother, as a 
 token of reconciliation, gave me a copy of his Let- 
 ters, which had just appeared from the press. 
 He begged me to take it with me into Bucking- 
 hamshire, where I was going to look after some 
 house property that had fallen to my share by my 
 father's will, and as we parted from one another 
 he made this remark, "Think what you like, 
 Rab, about the Church and Dissent, but this is 
 certain, that such plebeians as you and I have no 
 chance of becoming gentlemen but by turning 
 parsons. The Bishops are hard pushed just now, 
 and are glad enough to encourage bold and des- 
 perate Dissenters in joining the Establishment." 
 I could not but see the sound sense of this remark, 
 and it had its impression on me in due time. 
 
 In the course of my joiu-ney I had to spend 
 two or three days at Windsor, and there, one 
 Sunday, curiosity led me to attend the service at 
 St. George's Chapel Royal. My principal object 
 was to see the King and Queen. The whole 
 service greatly delighted and surprised me. The 
 clergy looked amazingly smart in their white 
 
LETTER 11. 
 
 11 
 
 sheets, with black silk round their necks, and 
 red silk at their backs. The two rows of j'oung 
 gentlemen in white sheets singing prayers against 
 one another on the opposite sides of the chapel 
 produced a powerfiil effect ; I never before had 
 heard a confession of sins chanted, nor an abso- 
 lution warl)led ; and I need not say how gTeatly 
 I was delighted to hear the Apostle's creed in 
 crotchets and quavers. The frequent repetition 
 of the Pater Noster tended to impress on my 
 attention that important formulary : when they 
 had sung it five times I wished they would sing it 
 five times more ; da capo say I, in spite of the 
 Dissenters. When the officiating priest gave out 
 in a solemn chant " God save our most gi-acious 
 Majesty King William the Sovereign, and all the 
 knights commanders of the most honourable order 
 of the garter," and when the whole choir responded 
 " Amen," all my dissenting prejudices gave way, 
 and I burst into a flood of tears. They were the 
 tears of repentance, which never were fully wiped 
 away but by the surplice of the vicarage of 
 Tuddington. 
 
 The service, not like " the lazy worship of 
 conventicles," was two long hours in performance, 
 and was followed, after a due performance of 
 minuets on the organ, by a sermon from the Bishop 
 
 of . I never had heard such a sermon 
 
 before ; it was all on justification by good works. 
 
12 
 
 LETTER ir. 
 
 against Calvinism, and in praise of a standing 
 army. His text was from Romans v. 1. The 
 right reverend prelate gave so sweet a meta- 
 phorical sense to the llth article of the Church of 
 England, and showed so clearly the necessity of 
 introducing the allegorical mode of interpreting 
 all the grace articles— he paid such pretty com- 
 pliments to the Queen, and looked so well in his 
 wig and lawn sleeves, that I acknowledged, long 
 before the sermon was over, the sin and iniquity 
 of dissenting from the Church of England. I 
 now saw the beauty of order and of a State 
 Church. The presence of their Majesties, the 
 glittering show of the courtiers, the splendid 
 uniforms of the guards, and the brocade of the 
 maids of honour, seemed to me to fulfil this pro- 
 phecy : " Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and 
 queens thy nursing mothers and when I com- 
 pared the pomp and grandeur before me with the 
 paltry and plebeian worship of a Dissenting con- 
 venticle, I felt absolutely ashamed to think I was 
 a schismatic. The parting words of my brother 
 were in my ears during the whole sermon. 
 
 The only thing that discomposed me in this 
 magnificent ritual was the frequent use of the 
 opera glass by the ladies ; they seemed to me 
 to direct their attentions more to the guardsmen 
 than to the bishop; but I doubt not that this 
 arose from their anxiety to ascertain that these 
 
LETTER 11. 
 
 13 
 
 brave men were -wide awake, and ready to protect 
 their Majesties in case of an attack upon the 
 court by schismatics and radicals. 
 
 When I returned to the inn my first act was to 
 take up the letters of L. S. E., v. hich I did not put 
 down till I had finished ; and when I had finished 
 them, my next act was to stir up the fire, into the 
 midst of which I consigned Dr. Watts's Hymn 
 Book, with all the satisfaction that ever a Spanish 
 Inquisitor experienced in baking a Protestant or 
 roasting a Jew. 
 
 I made what haste I could home, and there, 
 dear Sir, I must leave you to picture the interview 
 between two brothers, both heretofore in the pit 
 of schism, but now in the smiling pasturage of an 
 Estabhshed Church. We mingled our tears, and 
 rejoiced with such joy as is felt by those who have 
 escaped from slavery. The rest of my story 
 you know. By my brother's interest with our 
 diocesan I was ordained a clergyman of the Esta- 
 blishment, and partly by your interest as an 
 admirer of the letters of L. S. E., I am now vicar 
 of Tuddiiinton, \\lu'rc I hope to show my gratitude 
 to the Clunch by rooting out dissent from my 
 parish. 
 
 I am. 
 
 Reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 Rabshakeh Gathekcoal. 
 
 Vicarage, Tmldirgton. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 The Reverend Rabshakkh Gathercoal 
 toh. S. E. 
 
 My bear Brother, 
 
 My lest letter gave you a short account of 
 iny parish, and the state in which I found it ; I 
 described, as it were, the field of battle ; this des- 
 patch will give you an account of the battle itself. 
 
 I had hardly sealed my last letter, when, lo and 
 behold ! the Independent, Baptist, and Wesleyan 
 teachers* came to pay me a visit. This is pretty 
 familiar,t thinks I to myself, but I'll dissemble a 
 little till I have you within shot of my great gun. 
 The Independent teacher, Edward Mervyn by 
 name, (for I cannot bear to call these fellows 
 "Mister," and I would sooner be hanged than 
 call them " Reverend,") was tlie spokesman of the 
 party. He said they had come to congratulate 
 me on my appointment to the vicarage of Tud- 
 dington, and they hoped that my coming amongst 
 them would be a blessing to altclcnominations of 
 
 * The Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoal copies the ex- 
 cellent style of his brother, and never is found guilty of the 
 gross error of allowing the Dissenting teachers to be 
 ministers or pastors. 
 
 ■f- The Gathercoal family are addicted to a sort of Doric 
 dialect, which the Bishop of Loudon particularly admires. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 15 
 
 Christians in the parish. (The rasctil said not a 
 word about the Church as by law established.) I 
 should find the parish, he assured me, in a very 
 peacealjle and friendly state, all questions about 
 Church government were kept in the background ; 
 and though he supposed that members of other 
 sects were as much attached to their discipline as 
 he was to the discipline of his sect, yet it was 
 generally agreed in the parish, to avoid all disputes 
 on the subject, to discourse of them only amongst 
 members of their own churches, and to study by 
 all means to establish harmony and Christian con- 
 cord amongst the whole body of believers. With 
 this view they («'. e. Dissenters and Church 
 people !) had interchange of prayer meetings and 
 expositions of the Scripture, and they all sub- 
 scribed to one another's Missionary fimds. The 
 late vicar, " good Mr. Thompson," promoted all 
 plans of union, and never seemed happier than 
 when tlie Dissenters and Church people were 
 hand in hand in some kind office of love and 
 charity. " The dear gentleman" made it a rule 
 to preach a sermon on Christian love the first 
 " Sabbath of every year," (N.B. Schismatics 
 always nickname Sunday thus,) and it so hap- 
 pened that the last sermon he preached was from 
 this text : " Finally, be ye all of one mind, having 
 compassion one of another ; love as brethren ; be 
 pitiful, be courteous." It was a sermon never to 
 be forgotten by the inhabitants of Tuddiugton. 
 
16 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 He then went on to say that I should find the 
 Dissenters fully disposed to fall in with any 
 measures of mine which might tend to the interests 
 of our common faith, and that he was commis- 
 sioned by his "Brothers" (<. c. all the teachers of 
 schism in the parish) to assure ine of the good 
 will and respect of their people, as I should expe- 
 rience, he hoped, to my entire satisfaction. 
 
 Having said much more to the same purpose, it 
 was at last incumbent on me to make some reply, 
 and in doing so I took good care not to conmiit 
 myself. I said I was glad to hear professions of 
 respect to the clergyman of the parish, for though 
 I personally put in no claim to respect, yet as the 
 lawfully-constituted teacher of Tuddington I looked 
 for such dutiful acknowledgments, and received 
 them gladly. Peace and harmony on a proper 
 footing was my earnest desire, and I doubted not 
 that my endeavours to establish order would be 
 crowned with success ; for the present, however, 
 I could only return my comphments to them for 
 paying mc this visit. I had hardly time to 
 arrange anything, but next Sunday morning it 
 was my intention to preach my " commencement" 
 sermon, in which my views on some important 
 points would be stated with clearness, and I hojied 
 on that occasion they would do me the favour to 
 attend and hear for themselves. This they readily 
 promised, and as I did not ask them to sit down, 
 nor show any disposition to continue the conver- 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 17 
 
 sation, they all withdrew. It was no Htt(c plea- 
 sure to me to bow them out of the house and shut 
 the hall-door upon them. I do not expect soon 
 again to see their " Reverences" under my roof.] 
 
 This visit was on Monday. The day before a 
 neighbouring clergyman had officiated for me, and 
 I was busy all the week in writing my sermon, 
 or, as I may say, priming the " monster mortar " 
 which I intended to open upon them next " Sab- 
 bath." The Puritan camp has not felt such a 
 shock since the days of Prince Rupert. 
 
 Dr. Birch, a clergyman of the right stamp, 
 came by appointment from his rectorj', six miles 
 off, on Saturday. He slept at the vicarage, and, 
 I assure you, he entered into my views with all 
 the zeal imaginable. He had engaged the help 
 of three other clergymen, besides his curate, so 
 that we marched six in a row to church on 
 Sunday morning, the clerk going before. As it 
 was a gaudy day at Cambridge, the Doctor, to 
 honor me, put on his scarlet robes, fur tippet and 
 cap, and looked wonderfully well, I assure you, 
 for his face was as red as his robes, and his portly 
 person resembled much the pictures of Cardinal 
 Wolsey. When we came to the church door the 
 churchwardens met us at the porch, hat in hand, 
 for I had arranged all this before ; and thus, 
 whilst the bells were firing salutes, and the 
 organ playing " See the conquering Hero comes," 
 we entered the church in grand style, which was 
 c 
 
IS 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 crammed from one end to the other, so that we 
 could hardly reach the vicar's pew. They 
 made a lane for us, however ; and, as we v. alked 
 through this gi'eat congregation, (upwards of two 
 thousand persons,) it was evident we produced a 
 wonderful effect. The people were all rising up 
 in their pews to look at the procession. 
 
 Dr. Birch's chaplain read the service in cathe- 
 dral style up to the Litany, for which he made 
 way in favour of the Doctor, who went to a desk 
 w hich I had ordered to he placed in the middle of 
 the aisle, and there read " that excellent and 
 pathetic specimen of the piety of our ancestors" 
 with wonderful effect. 
 
 The Lessons would be wormwood to the 
 schismatics, for the first was from the Ajwcrypha, 
 which those vermin never read. It was the 
 sixth chapter of Tohit, and I observed the Bap- 
 tist ilinister take a pinch of snuff and look very 
 much vexed when the reader came to " broiUng 
 the fish's liver to drive away the devil." The 
 second lesson was the Epistle of Jude, from which 
 I had chosen my text. We gave them, also, the 
 Athanasian Creed, introduced the churching of a 
 woman, and chanted all the responses in the 
 Communion Service. 
 
 Before sermon I gave standing, in the jnilpit, 
 the form of prayer appointed by the Canon, and 
 then I fired off my monster mortar to this effect : — 
 
 Te.i t. Jude 8. — " These filthy dreamers defile 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 19 
 
 the flesh, despse dominions, and speak evil of 
 dignities." — I began with showing the true nature 
 of Christ's Church, that it consisted of Archbishops, 
 Bishops, Canons, Prebends, Vicars choral, Deans, 
 Subdeacons, Archdeacons, Rural Deans, Sub- 
 deans, Rectors, Vicars, Perpetual Curates, and 
 Curates, all which were appointed by our 
 Lord himself, Avhen he sent forth the seventy 
 Ministers of his Church. The Apostles conti- 
 nued this form of Church government, consecrated 
 Timothy Lord Bishop of Ephesus, James Lord 
 Bishop of Jerusalem, &c. &c. &c. The blessed 
 St. Paid instituted the support of the clergy by 
 tithes, when he said, " Do ye not know that they 
 which minister about holy things live of the 
 things of the temple and if it was pious in the 
 Jews to pay tithes and present offerings to their 
 Priests, much more must it be pious in Christians, 
 under a more glorious Ministry, to pay their tithes 
 to " the delegated servants of Christ." 
 
 Having proved this at large by ample quota- 
 tions from the Epistle of the blessed Ignatius to 
 the Trallians, I concluded this part of my dis- 
 course thus : — " No mode, therefore, of Church 
 government, except the Episcopal, and no mode of 
 Ordination, except by a Bishop, have any claim 
 whatever to the sanction of the Primitive Churches 
 of Christ, or the Word of God, or any claim what- 
 ever upon the consciences or the obedience of 
 Christians. As the Episcopal is the. only form of 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 Government instituted hy God, through the me- 
 dium of his inspired Apostles, for the regulation 
 of his Church, no other ought to be obeyed, or can 
 be obeyed, without great wickedness."* (v. 175.) 
 
 I next showed how the Church of England 
 existed, in a riddle, in the time of Closes ; for as 
 the great mark of the Church of England is the 
 three orders, Bishop, Priest, and Deacon, so were 
 the three orders then established. " If we turn," 
 said I, " to the Church of Christ, as it existed in 
 the Old Testament economy, before his incarna- 
 tion, we there find Christ did himself appoint three 
 ranks of those who ministered in his Holy Temple, 
 the High Priests, the Priests of the Second Order, 
 and the Levites ; and as he is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever, what was right in the Chris- 
 tian Church then, cannot be wrong in the same 
 Church noil-:' (138.) 
 
 Having thus proved that the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury is the representative " and lawfully 
 appointed successor " of Aaron, and that Aaron 
 was type of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 himself Archbishop of the Diocese of Stony 
 Arabia, I said, " I would hope that every Chris- 
 tian knows and believes that the Church of Eng- 
 land, or, what is the same thing, the Church of 
 Christ, has existed in every age of the world, 
 
 * N.B All these quotations are from the Letters of 
 
 L. S. K., and the figures refer to the pages of the work. 
 Second Ed;tion. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 21 
 
 from the days of Adam to the present moment, 
 and that it will exist to the very end of the -world, 
 in spite of all the efforts of schismatics to destroy 
 it. The gates of Hell, that is, the different paths 
 of heresy and schism, which the Devil has opened 
 to lead to Hell, shall never prevail against the 
 Church. Adam and Eve, with Abel, Enoch, 
 Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Moses, 
 Samuel, and all the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, 
 and holy men, of whom we read in the Old Testa- 
 ment, and thousands of others, during the period 
 of the Jewish economy, belonged to the true Chris- 
 tian Church ; i. e., the Church of England — they 
 all died in the faith." (142.) 
 
 I then showed the origin of Dissent. "The 
 principles of Independency," I said, " are the 
 principles of depraved human nature, instilled 
 into man, and fostered in him by his great enemy 
 the Devil — the first Dissenter. It was with the 
 promise of their being Independents, that he 
 deceived our first parents, and brought death into 
 the world and all our woe. ' Ye shall be as Gods,' 
 says he, meaning they shall be Independents. 
 And they believed him, and all their degenerate 
 oflfepring have been imbued with the same prin- 
 ciples of pride, dissent, and licentiousness, and 
 beguiled by the same promise of the Devil in some 
 Way or other. ' Ye shall be as Gods,' says he 
 to our modern Dissenters ; and puffed up with the 
 idea, they immediately respond, ' "\Vc will be as 
 
22 LETTER III. 
 
 Gods' — we will enjoy full liberty of conscience — 
 we will do as we please — no man has any right to 
 exercise any authority over us — we will choose our 
 own teachers." (29.) 
 
 "The Devil, therefore, having made the first 
 church of Congregational Independents, consisting 
 of himself, Adam, and Eve,* it was quite natural 
 that Cain, their first-born, should become a notorious 
 Dissenter. He rejected the rites, institutions, and 
 ordinances of the Church, would be worshipping 
 to his own fancy, and, therefore, was an Indepen- 
 dent. He was a thorough-paced Dissenter ; and. to 
 show that he was ' a Dissenter on principle,' he 
 murdered a Bishop of the Church of England — for 
 such Abel was ; and thus to show their principles, 
 also, did the Independents murder Archbishop 
 Laud, and send twelve Bishops to the Tower. 
 
 " Dissent made its appearance again in the bat- 
 tle of the four kings against five. Chedorlaomer 
 King of Elam, Tidal King of Nations, Amra- 
 phel King of Shinar, and Arioch King of 
 Ellasar, were all Dissenters and schismatics, 
 for they were notorious enemies of Lot and Abra- 
 * The learned and pious Rabshekah has not here suffi- 
 ciently explained his raeaninj; ; for as he had formerly 
 said that .4dam and Eve were members of the Chinch of 
 England, it seems an inconsistency to pronounce tliem 
 afterwards Congrej^ational Ijidependents. They probably 
 came back to the Church before they died, sii;ned the 
 Thirty-nine .\rticles, and submitted to the true form of 
 Church government, under tlie three orders of Bishop, 
 Priest, and Deacon ; without which there never was, never 
 is, nor ever can be, a true Church. — Ed. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 23 
 
 ham, the tnie sons of the Church. Of this there 
 can be no doubt, for Abraham paid tithes to Mel- 
 chisedek, and who are enemies of tithe-payers 
 but the Dissenters ? The four kings, therefore, 
 Avere Congregational Independents. 
 
 " Again, we see the sin of schism in the case of 
 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (30.) ; their case was 
 ' the Case of the Dissenters." A whole congre- 
 gation of Independents, Minister, Deacons, and 
 people, were swallowed up on that memorable 
 occasion: but, the warning, alas ! goes for nothing 
 with modern schismatics. 
 
 " ' The whole sin of dissent consists in exercising 
 a right of conscience : it is all nonsense to talk 
 about conscience and conscience : when a man 
 begins to talk to me about his conscience, and say 
 how conscientious he is, I imniediateli/ suspect 
 him of having some sinister end in view. The 
 judgment of the duly-authorized Minister of the 
 Church is a far safe?- guide than a man's own 
 conscience ; for in addition to that consciousness 
 ■which they possess in common with private Cliris- 
 tians, they have, in virtue of their office, Christ al- 
 ways present with, assisting and guiding them in 
 their deliberations. (225, 226.) But, heedless of 
 these considerations, ' the Dissenters, with all the 
 spiritual pride imaginable, set up conscience and 
 private judgment, or rather pener/e(Z judgment, 
 above the commands and precepts of Christ, and all 
 the word of God. Talk of the Pope and Popery ! 
 
24 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Why every Dissenter carries a Pope about with 
 him, and is himself thus as* veriiable a Pope as 
 ever existed. (351.) Urimkenness, adultery, toIj- 
 bery, and murder, and every species of iniquity 
 and vice proceed from these infernal principles of 
 licentiousness and libertinism, for which dissenting 
 teachers contend, under the specious names of 
 liberty of conscience liberalism. (31.) Would 
 the ' canting schismatics,' instead of listening to 
 conscience, and taking the Scriptures as their 
 guide, listen to the Bishops and Clergy, sin would 
 soon disappear out of the world. For what sin is 
 so great as disobeying the lawfully-constituted suc- 
 cessors of the Apostles, who, as I said, always have 
 and must have peculiar privileges with them to the 
 end of the world ? Wlien, therefore, we see their 
 Graces the Archbishops, and their Lordships the 
 Bishops, voting against the Reform Bill, or amass- 
 ing enormous private fortunes, or heaping bene- 
 fices on their families, or, in short, doing anything 
 else which ignorant people disapprove, we must 
 hold our tongue, and not question the actions of 
 the solemnly-consecrated and duly-appointed re- 
 presentatives of the Holy Apostles. ' Should 
 they, in short, do anything which we humbly 
 think is not right, we as private Christians are 
 not to judge them, but to leave them till the 
 Lord, whose servants they are, calls them to give 
 an account of their stewardship. No private 
 * A Doricisra of the Gathercoal family. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 25 
 
 Christian can take upon liim to find fault with 
 God's Ministers, without great arrogance, pre- 
 sumption, and pride. It ought to he concluded 
 that as they have more learning, have had more 
 experience, and have the presence of ... . w ith 
 them, they are far better capable of judging with 
 respect to spiritual things than private Christians.' 
 (217.) " Every true Christian, for the sake of 
 union and the peace of God's Churcli, w ill submit 
 himself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's 
 sake. When he sees anything wrong, he ought to 
 submit, rather than produce schism and discord : 
 he had better be a little uneasy himself, than dis- 
 obey those who have the rule over him.' (221.) 
 ' Had the Church, indeed, twice as many evils as 
 she appears to have to the jaundiced eyes of Dis- 
 senters, no one would be justified in separating 
 from her.' (230.) 
 
 " Thus is it seen how ' spiritual pride is at the 
 bottom of dissent," (260.) for, indeed, ' Dissent 
 altogether re'sults from spiritual pride, and a self- 
 righteous spirit;' (261.) 'not at the same time 
 forgetting that a love of money is with the 
 Teachers of schismatics the cause of their zeal,' 
 (276.) whilst the people whom they teach have 
 no other motive for their dissent than spiritual 
 pride under the cloke of ' conscience.' If you 
 ask me the secret of the wickedness of the 
 schismatical Teachers in separating from the 
 Church of Christ, ' and their deceit in dealing 
 
26 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 v,-ith immortal souls,' I answer, ' the reason is, 
 money, money, money, simply to get money,' 
 {2'J6.) for one thing is obvious, on a careful survey 
 of these ' extempore praying schismatics,' (262.) 
 that ' if a person attends a Dissenting Meeting- 
 house, hires a pew, and pays the rent, and sul> 
 scribes pretty freely to any scheme which has for 
 its object the putting money into the pocket of the 
 Teacher, in spite of all professions, consistency, 
 and conscience, the pious Teacher will send him 
 to Heaven, die when he may, and say a rare long 
 Dissenting mass for him into the bargain. Profes- 
 sions here, or professions there : consistency here, 
 or consistency there : tender consciences here, or 
 tender consciences there : money, money, money, 
 is the object : to get money they break their pro- 
 fessions, abandon consistency, violate their con- 
 sciences, and make Heaven itself an object of 
 
 traffic' (277.) ' And what right, I 
 
 should like to know, have the Home Missionary 
 Society to send their Preachers up anS down the 
 country, to creep into houses, leading captive silly 
 women, and poor incautious men, under the loose 
 pretence of preaching the Gospel, but in reahty 
 to propagate their own unscriptural and wicked 
 notions, and thus to serve their own belly.' "(321.) 
 
 I then showed how merciful it was in the 
 state to tolerate even the existence of Dissenters 
 in the country, " for Dissenters cannot reasonably 
 expect to enjoy the immunities and privileges of a 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 27 
 
 society to which they, by their very dissent, avow 
 they do not belong. And should the society, com- 
 munity, or state, relax their laws, as, upon certain 
 conditions, to permit Dissenters even to dwell 
 amongst them, it is a boon and an indulgence to 
 which they have no manner of right, and for which, 
 therefore, they ought to l)e exceedingly thankful." 
 (280.) " A Dissenter can have neither a national 
 nor an acquired right to anything that belongs to 
 the Commonwealth of England." (282.) 
 
 This is of course but a sketch of the leading 
 points of my discourse, which I concluded with a 
 more close reference to the text. " The Apostle 
 Jude, (I said,) here rightly calls Dissenters filthy 
 dreamers ; for Dissenters are like persons who 
 having got dead drunk, fall asleep and dream of 
 such filthy things ' as their tender consciences,' and 
 ' the Scripture being the rule of faith.' " 
 
 " To despise dominion, and speak evil of digni- 
 ties, is the substance of the great dissenting de- 
 lusion, called by the blessed Jude " a dream be- 
 cause, in a dream, men do not make a right use of 
 their reason. The dominion of Archbishops and 
 Bishops, and the dignities of the great Prelates was 
 established by the Author of our religion ; he 
 made them spiritual Barons, and the Apostles de- 
 creed, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, 
 that they should be called " Graces," " Lords," 
 " Most Reverend," " Right Reverend," and "Very 
 Reverend." All the four Evangelists unanimously 
 
28 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 declare that they should live in palaces, have pre- 
 cedence of barons, be settled in dioceses, hold 
 spiritual courts, wear purple coats and aprons, 
 have purple coaches, and purple footmen, sit in 
 Parliament, and possess immense incomes. They 
 are the oxen that tread out the corn, and their 
 mouths must not be muzzled. Right reason consists 
 in obeying, loving, and cherishing the Bishops and 
 the Clergy : they that speak evil of them dream ; 
 therefore, Dissenters, schismatics, and sectarians 
 of all grades, awake out of your dream ! be filthy 
 no longer! Come to the Church, submit to her 
 ordinances, leave off your evil practices, repent of 
 your iniquity ; yea, awake, before the gulf opens, 
 and ye be swallowed up in the fiery flaming fissure, 
 with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all their 
 company. Amen." 
 
 This letter is very long ; I cannot add any 
 more at present, except that I delivered the whole 
 Sermon with a voice of thunder. The effect it 
 produced you shall hear in my next. 
 
 Your loving Brother, 
 
 Rabsh.\keh G.\thercoal. 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 I CAN imagine your joy, my dear Brother, 
 when you read my last letter, but I do not wait 
 for an answer to give you my second despatch from 
 head-quarters, for I know how impatient you 
 must he to hear the result of my sermon. The 
 effect of the morning service was throughout 
 perfect. The schismatics (and I calculate that 
 two-thirds of my congregation were of that sort) 
 seemed perfectly astounded. I saw all the schis- 
 matical teachers in one pew together. The effect 
 of our procession and of Doctor Birch's scarlet 
 gown seemed so to discompose them, that they did 
 not get into a tolerably listening posture for the 
 first hour. In short, the whole congregation 
 seemed stricken with astonishment, and every one 
 looked as if he were ready to ask " What next?" 
 But when I began my sermon their surprise 
 seemed heightened into consternation, and all 
 were in breathless silence, catching the words as 
 they came from my lips. The schismatical teachers 
 looked at one another in mute distress, and I per- 
 ceived Mervyn the Independent wiping his eyes 
 
30 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 repeatedly when I had got half through my 
 sermon. 
 
 There is an old man in the parish, Othniel 
 Prynne by name, but called familiarly by the 
 people old Father Oddy. The old fellow says he 
 is descended from the brother of that Prynne 
 whose ears were most righteously cut off by the 
 blessed Archbishop Laud. I know not whether 
 the genealogy be correct, but Dr. Birch, who 
 studies these matters, says it is, and old Oddy is 
 mortally offended if any one doubts it. The old 
 fellow seems to know the Scriptures by heart, for 
 he never meets me without giving me a sermon 
 made up all together of texts. He is, as you may 
 suppose, a great oracle amongst the schismatics, 
 and as he is now retired from his trade, which 
 was that of a gardener, and as he is in comfortable 
 circumstances, he seems to have little else to do 
 but to preach and cant all day long. Oddy being 
 somewhat deaf (for he is eighty-three years old) 
 stationed himself directly in front of the pulpit, so 
 that I fired all my red hot shot frill into his trum- 
 pet. His large lilue eyes and silver hair and aged 
 face made a delightful mark for my guns, and by 
 the gaping of his mouth I perceived that every 
 discharge of my batteries took effect. When I 
 finished my sermon I heard him audibly say, as if 
 tliinking aloud, " Lord have mercy upon us !" 
 
 After the sermon our party retired to the vestry. 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 31 
 
 Dr. Birch was ready to jump for joy. Stiibts, the 
 orthodox diurchwarden, a rosy-faced lover of the 
 bottle, and of the " successors of the apostles," had 
 prepared a glorious bumper of parish wine to 
 refresh me after my labours. — " In the name of 
 the parish of Tuddington," said this honest fellow, 
 after all the clergy present were duly helped to a 
 glass — " in the name of the parish of Tuddington, 
 I drink the health of the Reverend Rabshakeh 
 Gathercoal, and thank him for his excellent ser- 
 mon ; and as senior churchwarden I recpiest him 
 to print that noble discourse we have had the 
 privilege to hear to-day." 
 
 " And I second the motion," shouted Dr. Birch, 
 filling another bumper. 
 
 " Amen," responded the clergy, helping tliem- 
 selves to a second glass. 
 
 " My reverend brethren," said I, " and you, 
 Mr. Churchwarden, I am highly flattered with 
 your warm approbation of my sermon delivered 
 this day. These are dangerous times we live in. 
 The Church is hard pushed by those gaping bulls 
 of Bashan the Dissenters ; Church-rates are re- 
 fused ; Irish bishopricks are abolished ; Church 
 Reform is threatened ; the bishops are pelted, and 
 the nation is filled with pestilential publications 
 against the ' faith once delivered to the saints ;'* 
 no man therefore who prays for the prosperity of 
 
 * This faith, in the doctrine of L. S. E., consists in a 
 hnmhle obedience to bishop., priest, and deacon. 
 
32 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Jerusalem can now refuse to come forward in the 
 battles of righteousness, and to combat ' the wicked 
 principles of Dissent, which have a direct tendency 
 to destroy Christianity itself, and to abolish true 
 religion from the face of the earth I therefore 
 shall comply with your request, and will send my 
 sermon to the press to-morrow." 
 
 " Huzza!" shouted Dr. Birch, brimfiill with 
 joy, " Huzza ! Mother Church for ever ! Long 
 live tlie noble vicar of Tuddington !" 
 
 My friends began now to show so much excite- 
 ment, that I thought it prudent to bring our con- 
 ference to an end ; and it having been settled 
 that Dr. Birch's curate should read the afternoon 
 service without any sermon, we all adjourned to 
 the vicarage to an orthodox dinner of roast beef, 
 plum-pudding, and capons, to which, by particular 
 desire of Dr. Birch, Churchwarden Stubbs was 
 invited. — " He is an honest, merry fellow," whis- 
 pered the doctor ; " he hates the schismatics, and 
 they hate him. There are not many such in your 
 parish ; you must encourage him." 
 
 The whole congregation had assembled in the 
 churchyard, and were waiting to see us come out, 
 though we had been a long time in the vestry. 
 This was quite unexpected, and though they made 
 way for us to pass to the vicarage, we had to walk 
 through a brood of adders, if I may judge by the 
 
 * Letters of L. S. E, page 33. 
 
LETTF.H IV, 
 
 33 
 
 hissing with which some of tlic liuls and appren- 
 tices lionoured us in our journey liomcwards. 
 " Make way for the successors of the apostles," 
 said a jackanapes in derision. — " Make way for 
 Judas Iscariot!" shouted another. — "Fall down 
 and worship the heast," said a third. — " Hats off 
 to Ur. Babylon," was the insulting expression of a 
 tall journeyman mason us Dr. Birch passed in his 
 scarlet robe ; and lie made the boys take off their 
 hats, " and show a proper respect to the Whore of 
 Rome." 
 
 AVe got safe through this jiersecution ; and as 
 they did not pelt or jostle us, as I feared they would, 
 we were not much the worse wlien we readied the 
 vicarage. The doctor was in the highest spirits. 
 " He was heartily glad that the blister had drawn ; 
 they had a doctor in the parisli that knew how to 
 cure the Thompsonian disease." 
 
 We dined early, as some of the party had to 
 ride home many miles after dinner. Mr. Screw 
 and Stubbs were tlic hiymen, tlie rest of the party 
 was clerical. I will not enter into details of our 
 symposium ; you may easily suppose that it was 
 orthodox and refresliing. Tlie clergy paid me 
 very high compliments, and said tliat I was raised 
 lip to lie the ruin of Dissent. Dr. Birch, full of 
 glee, said he would give me a title, " Schismatico- 
 niastix," or the Scoiirtjc of the Dissenters, which 
 was much approved by my learned and reverend 
 brothers, and my health was drunk in bumpers 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 with this new addition. I was somewhat per- 
 plexed what to do with Stubhs, for it must be 
 confessed he got too much wine, and he had to tra- 
 verse all the town before he could reach liis house. 
 There was, liowever, no helping it, so I sent him 
 home in the evening in the care of my man John ; 
 but at the fishmonger's corner in the Market-place, 
 where there is generally a collection of idle people, 
 Stubbs fell down, and rolled into the gutter before 
 they could fairly get him on his legs again, not 
 without the laughter and ridicule of the spectators, 
 who, when they saw Stubbs rolling home covered 
 with mud, cried out " There goes Mr. Gatherdirt, 
 prime minister of ^Ir. Gathercoal !" 
 
 Doctor Birch, as is too often the case with him, 
 did not retire to rest in full possession of his mas- 
 terly intellects. We had to put him to bed without 
 much assistance from himself. 
 
 Thus ended this great day, and here I must 
 conclude this letter. 
 
 Your affectionate Brother, &c. 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 From the Samis to the Same. 
 
 On Monday mornmg I was very anxious to 
 learn the effect protluced by my sermon. As soon, 
 therefore, as breakfast was over, and Dr. Birch 
 was fairly on bis nag on his way home, I went into 
 the town to Timson, the bookseller, whose shop is 
 the bazaar of all our local politicians. I had, how- 
 ever, scarcely closed the iron gate of my front gar- 
 den, when lo ! and behold, up started Father Oddy 
 from the stone bench, which is on the outer side of 
 my wall. The old man is generally to be seen here 
 every fine day enjoying the sunshine, aird giving a 
 Puritanical lecture to any one that will listen to 
 him. On this occasion, however, I am sure he 
 was watching me, for the weather was cloudy, and 
 he pounced on me as soon as I had shut the gate. 
 He had his staff in his hand, and he took off his 
 old-fashioned broad-brimmed hat, as he always 
 does when he speaks to me. "Put on your hat, 
 Master Prynne," said I, "put on your hat; it 
 does not suit grey hairs to be uncovered." — " If 
 you were speaking of grey hairs, Mr. Vicar," 
 began Oddy, with a most determined Conventicle 
 aspect, — " if you were talking of grey hairs, the 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Scripture telleth us in a certain place of an old 
 man, who said, ' Ye shall bring down my grey 
 hairs with sorrow to the grave,' and you seem 
 inclined, Sir, to try what you can do to bring me 
 to my coffin ; for if grief can kill a man, I might 
 have received my death-blow yesterday. I have 
 had many afflictions in my time. Master Vicar, 
 but none like this, I assure you. All night long 
 have I been tossing on my bed, without once clos- 
 ing mine eyes for grief, and for thinking of the 
 mischief which has come upon us. Well-a-day ! 
 well-a-day ! to think that good Mr. Thompson 
 should have been so short a time in his grave, and 
 that this sorrow should have come from liis pulpit, 
 where, for twenty years, there has been heard 
 the Word of the truth of the Gospel, and the 
 declaration of the great mystery of godUness to 
 the consolation of many of Zion's pilgrims. Oh, 
 Master Gathercoal, if you had said your lesson 
 any where but in that pulpit — it's this which 
 cuts my heart when I think of it ; but, however, 
 there is nothing certain in this world but death 
 and sorrow, and I may say with the Psalmist, ' I 
 have seen an end of all perfection, but thy com- 
 mandment is exceeding broad.' Well, well! 
 we are caught in a net, and are doubtless re- 
 proved for our sins ; and so the wild boar is sent 
 to root up our vineyard, and the locust to consume 
 our green fields. There is much wailing in Tud- 
 dington, Mr. Vicar ; the saints are in tribulation ; 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 37 
 
 and it would have been better for us that the old 
 steeple-house should have follen down than it 
 should have witnessed yesterday's work. Aye, 
 dear heart, it was enough to make our old Vicar 
 rise up from his vault in the chancel to scare you 
 all away, when you were braying at your Popish 
 mummery, like a company of Romish priests. It 
 is a sad pity you don't conform to Rome at once ; 
 and if you will make such a din about ' schism' 
 as you call it, why don't you lay aside the sin of 
 schism yourself, and go back in a white sheet to 
 do penance to the Pope, who considers you to be 
 a Dissenter ? I ken w ell enough, Mr. Vicar, that 
 your steeple-house was built and endowed by 
 Papists, and was meant for the mass ; therefore, 
 if you will talk so big about the Church and 
 Bishops, how dare you, in your conscience, leave 
 that Church and that Bishop from which your 
 Church and your Bishops are as much sprung 
 as a chicken is from the hen's egg ? We scliis- 
 matics, as you call us, deny all your trumpery doc- 
 trine of Bishops, Parsons, and Tithes ; we know 
 that they are the Devil's sowing in the good 
 field — an enemy hath done this ; but you who 
 bluster about Apostolical succession, as you call 
 it, cannot be allowed to rebel against the Bishops 
 that made you, and the Church that reared you, and 
 the Pope who made you what you are ; so take care, 
 Sir, that you don't go to join Korah, Dathan, and 
 Abiram, and all their company. You are playing 
 
38 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 with edged tools, which «ill cut your fingers 
 much deeper than ours. 
 
 " One would think by your sermon, Sir, that 
 salvation of sinners is by faith in Bishops, and 
 that we are redeemed by the parsons taking of 
 tithe, such blasphemous stuff did you utter yes- 
 terday 1 Well, Sir, you and I must have ven;- 
 different Bibles ; for, though I have been reacUng 
 the Scriptures these seventy years, I never coidd 
 find one word of what you have been kind enough 
 to teach us. I suppose it is in the Greek, for 
 certain it is not in the English. However, Mr. 
 Thompson, who was judged to be a great scholar 
 all the country round, seemed to read the Scripture 
 as we simple folks do ; and it is not a year ago 
 since he preached a sermon on schism, from 
 Hebrews, second chapter, twelfth verse : ' I will 
 declare thy name unto my brethren ; in the midst 
 of the church vdW I sing praise \mto thee ; ' — and 
 in that wholesome discourse he said that the Ca- 
 tholic Church was the company of all faithfid 
 believers, men and women, who hold Christ the 
 head, are justified by his righteousness, and sanc- 
 tified by his Spirit. From this Church were 
 excluded, — 1. 'All wicked and profane persons 
 who die in their sins, and have no faith in Christ 
 nor love to the Saints.' 2. ' All ignorant persons, 
 into whose hearts God hath not shined, and who 
 love the darkness of the natural man.' 3. ' All 
 hypocritical self-justiciaries, who seek for righteous- 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 39 
 
 iiess as it were by tlie works of the law.' 4. ' All 
 idolators, or spiritual fornicators, who set up any 
 will-worship of men's inventions, -and teach for 
 doctrines the commandments of men.' 5. 'AH 
 that \\ orship the Beast set up by the Dragon, and 
 that receive his mark in their hands or foreheads.' 
 And I well remember that he said by these rules 
 multitudes of Popes, Princes, Prelates, Clergy, 
 and their votaries, men and women, greatly 
 esteemed in the world, would enter into con- 
 demnation, and so be found ui the day of judg- 
 ment ; and he made us very clearly to understand 
 that he did not except some Protestant Bishops : 
 for though he did not say so in the very words, 
 we all knew his meaning " 
 
 To hear " good Mr. Thompson's " sermons was 
 too much for my patience ; so finding there was 
 no way of escape, and that old Oddy seemed dis- 
 posed to lecture me for a good hour, I walked 
 away at a quick pace, and left him preaching to 
 my stone wall. 
 
 After this to the bookseller's. — Timson was 
 behind his counter, and the Independent and 
 Baptist teachers were in the shop. They were 
 not a little disconcerted by my appearance, and 
 left the shop as soon as I entered it : no sign of 
 recognition took place between us. I desired a 
 private interview with Timson ; he showed me into 
 the room behind the shop, and there I began my 
 business with him. 
 
40 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 "Mr. Tinison," said I, "the clerg}- of this 
 neighbourhood liave expressed a desire to see 
 my sermon of } esterday in print ; I have acceded 
 to the request, and have selected you as my 
 j)rinter and pubhsher." — Timson coloured up to 
 the roots of his hair on hearing this proposition, 
 and replied very quickly, " You must excuse me, 
 Mr. Gathercoal; I must decline the honour of 
 printing your sermon." — "Mr. Timson," said I, 
 " you surprise me ! You printed !Mr. Scrope's 
 Visitation Sermon last summer, and I saw it on 
 your counter as I passed through the shop."^ — 
 " I could have no objection to print Mr. Scrope's 
 sermon," answered Timson, " for there was 
 nothing particular in that gentleman's sermon." 
 " Parfirvlar, Mr. Timson, particular .' pray, 
 what may that word mean in your vocabulary?" 
 — "Why, Sir, it means 7wt calculated to give 
 offence, and to stir up strife on subjects where we 
 ought all to labour for peace." — "Mr. Timson, I 
 am sorry to hear such language fi-om you — I 
 thought you were a Churchman ; I have been so 
 informed, but perhaps the information lias been 
 erroneous." Timson, who is somewhat warm in 
 temper, gixw red as a burning coal, and replied 
 with a very rapid utterance, " Mr. Vicar, I be- 
 lieve I am as good a Churchman as you are ; but I 
 do not think it my duty, as a Churchman, to be 
 an instrument of raising angry feelings in a town 
 which has hitherto been remarkable for its peace 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 41 
 
 and quietness. The Dissenting Tvlinisters here 
 are all my personal friends ; I am on very inti- 
 mate terms with them, and though I am an Epis- 
 copalian, an unkind word has never yet passed 
 between us. I have been a bookseller in Tud- 
 dington eighteen years, and all that time have 
 been a constant attendant on the ministry of good 
 Mr. Thompson. I have seen the blessed eftects 
 of Christian charity and mutual forbearance by 
 the good precepts and example of your worthy 
 predecessor, and sooner than print your sermon, 
 I am bold to say, I would see my shop burnt 
 down about my ears, and all my slock in trade 
 destroyed. God forbid, Mr. Gatliercoal, God 
 forbid, that Nathaniel Timson's name should be 
 seen on the title-page of the Sermon preached in 
 St. Mary's church yesterday morning ! I sup- 
 pose it will be printed somewhere, and when it 
 is printed there will be an end to the peace 
 of Tuddington; but that firebrand shall never 
 be lighted at my shop." 
 
 Here the good man took out his pocket handker- 
 chief, wiped his forehead, blew his nose, fidgeted 
 about, and buttoned up his coat to his very chin ; 
 and whilst I was thinking what to say, to allay 
 this tempest, the shop-boy summoned him to at- 
 tend Lady Lambert, who was sitting in her car- 
 riage, waiting to speak to him. Thinking this a 
 good opportunity of withdrawing, I went from 
 Timson to Screw's office. Screw was delighted 
 
42 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 to see me ; he told me that my sermon had set all 
 Tuddnigton in an uproar. The Dissenting Minis- 
 ters had agreed to meet this evening together, to 
 see what was to he done : " But," said he, " they 
 can do nothing ; you have them all under your 
 feet, and, unless I am mistaken, you will soon ruin 
 the dissenting interest in Tuddington, for it has 
 been thriving liitherto, entirely by the lax prin- 
 ciples of your predecessor, who never would preach 
 about the Church of England, but was continually 
 prosing about justification by faith, the election of 
 grace, and all the cant of that party. People here 
 never knew their duty, till Mr. Gathercoal taught 
 it them ; and now we may be sure that fools will 
 not be flocking to the schism shops, for want of 
 some one to teach them the rH,ht road to salva- 
 tion." 
 
 Further particulars in my ne.xt. 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 The Dissenting Ministers of Tudclington to the 
 Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoal, Vicar. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, 
 
 " We whose names are undersigned heard 
 you, last Sunday morning, preach a sermon in St. 
 Mary's Church, from Jude, Sth verse ; and in con- 
 sequence of tliat sermon, we venture to address 
 you l)y letter, fearing that a personal interview 
 might only increase the unhappy difference be- 
 tween us. 
 
 " We deem it superfluous here to express our sur- 
 prise and regret, caused by the sentiments of your 
 Sermon. Wc presume you meant to surprise the 
 parish, and therefore we say no more on the sub- 
 ject ; but as we are willing to believe that you, 
 Sir, are under the influence of a mistaken zeal, 
 we are anxious to heal the breach which has been 
 made, and to avert the evil consequences of your 
 rash and ill-advised conduct. We do not wish to 
 dictate any line of preaching to any clergyman, 
 and we cannot object to the Vicar of Tuddington 
 defending the Church government to which he is 
 attached ; but we beg you. Sir, to take into 
 
44 
 
 LETTER \1. 
 
 consideration that Tt;e have not begiin the strife; 
 we have never on any occasion spoken a disrespect- 
 ful word against the Church of England ; we have 
 never thwarted the clergyman of this or any 
 neighbouring parish ; we have always enjoined 
 our people to pursue a dutiful and respectful line 
 of conduct towards the Vicar, and on all occasions 
 have endeavoured to promote that union which 
 your predecessor desired above all things. The 
 good effects of mutual forbearance are open for all 
 men's inspection ; and we boldly challenge a com- 
 parison of the town of Tuddingtou with any other 
 town of England of the same size. We particu- 
 larly advert to the sobriety and decent behaviour of 
 the inhabitants ; the spirit of religious inquiry ; the 
 education of the poor in Sunday and day schools, so 
 that scarcely a cliild in the parish is not well taught ; 
 the sums of money raised annually for local 
 charities, and to support religious institutions ; the 
 care and attention shown to the sick and infirm ; 
 and other like proofs of a population advancing in 
 Christian and intellectual culture. One would 
 think that no gentleman, ])rofessing himself a 
 Christian Minister, would wish to disturb such a 
 town ; and if it be evident that the happy condi- 
 tion of Tuddington, as left on the death of the 
 much -esteemed Sir. Thompson, is wholly owing to 
 a free and kindly union between Church people 
 and Dissenters, is it not, to say the least of it, a 
 
LETTini VI. 
 
 45 
 
 very dangerous experiment to introduce a new 
 system, which avowedly is hostile to the last 
 degree to that already established, and can- 
 not be admitted without violent opposition and 
 strife ? 
 
 " We, therefore, beg you, Sir, attentively to con- 
 sider the present state of the parish ; and we feel 
 confident that when you shall have fully under- 
 stood our actual position, you will not be so far 
 misled by a theory, as to raise up a determined 
 but hopeless opposition against a numerous body 
 of people, disposed to be your friends and coad- 
 jutors in all matters where Christians of varied 
 denominations can unite without sacrificing their 
 principles. 
 
 " Whatever the sin of dissent, Sir, may be in 
 your eyes, you may rest assured that you caimot 
 prevent or check it in the smallest degree : nay, 
 we feel confident that a perseverance in the line of 
 conduct threatened in your sermon will only in- 
 crease the evil you deplore ; and will materially 
 injure the interests of the Church of England for 
 many miles round. 
 
 " We, therefore, express our most anxious wisli 
 that your future line of conduct may be directed 
 according to the dictates of Christian charity — or, 
 if you please, of prudence and discretion ; and we, 
 on our parts, profess ourselves quite ready to forget 
 the sermon of last Sunday ; and, if we can see any 
 
46 
 
 LETTEK VI. 
 
 signs of forbearance on your part, to repress the 
 unpleasant feelings of our respective conffrega- 
 tions. " " 
 
 " We are, Sir, 
 " Your humble servants, 
 " Edward Mervyn, Independent Minister. 
 " John Tickill, Baptist Minister. 
 " Elish.\ Drance, Wesleyan Superintendent. 
 " William Bowles, Wesleyan Minister. 
 William Stringer, Primitive Methodist." 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 The Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoal to the 
 Dissentinc/ Ministers of Tuddington. 
 
 Vicarage. 
 
 Sirs, 
 
 I HAVE received your letter, and am glad 
 that it has been written, as it affords me an 
 opportunity of declaring my intentions and opinions 
 in so clear a manner as to make any further 
 correspondence between us unnecessary; You 
 will please, however, to take notice that by answer- 
 ing this letter I do not recognise your assumed 
 characters of ministers, for as there is no order of 
 ministers but that which was appointed by our 
 Lord, and has come down to our days in an 
 unbroken line of succession from the apostolical 
 times, it would be sinful in me to recognise any 
 leaders of schism as Christian Ministers or Pastors. 
 
 The sermon which you heard on Sunday morn- 
 ing last in the Church of the blessed Saint Mary 
 is to be considered as the irrevocable declaration of 
 that Gospel which I have been appointed to preach 
 by his Grace the Archbishop of York by laying on 
 of the hands of the Presbytery according to the rites 
 and ceremonies of the Church of England ; and 
 you may depend upon it that I never will, in the 
 
4? 
 
 LETTER VI!. 
 
 smallest degree, relax from those principles, on 
 which I am persuaded depends the salvation of 
 immortal souls. My sermon will be j)ublished in 
 a few days, and by that sermon I intend to direct 
 all my actions in my government of the people 
 pixt imder my care by apostolical commission and 
 the laws of the land. If I did not know the judi- 
 cial blindness always attending the schismatical 
 delusion, I would conjure you, now that the true 
 Church of Christ has been faithfully explained in 
 your hearing, to shut up your conventicles, and to 
 seek as penitent sinners pardon for your wicked- 
 ness by humbly submitting yourselves to " the 
 delegated authority of the Head of the Church*," 
 for you must in your consciences be fully aware 
 that your conventicles " have not the slight- 
 est pretence to be considered Clnirches," for 
 as " the episcopal is the only form of government 
 instituted by God through the medium of his in- 
 spired apostles for the regulation of his Church, 
 no other ought to be obeyed or can be obeyed 
 without great wickedness : obedience to any other 
 amounts in fact to the rejection of Christ, as King 
 and Head of the Church ; and I am at a loss to 
 imagine what claim persons who will not submit 
 to that particular mode of government and disci- 
 pline laid down by the Saviour can have to the 
 title of Christians. A Christian is one who bows 
 to the authority, mstitutions, and commands of 
 * L. S. E. r- 187. 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 49 
 
 Christ, ami he who does not do so cannot be a 
 Christian. Church discipUne cannot be settled 
 according to the wild notions and vagaries of any 
 hot-headed fanatical pretender to inspiration, hav- 
 ing nothing in view but his own selfish ends*." 
 But the true authority which " Christ committed 
 to his apostles has been transmitted down from 
 one bishop to another in regular succession to the 
 present time; and the clergy of the apostolical 
 Church of England, having received their autho- 
 rity in this way — in a direct line of succession from 
 Christ, the fountain of all authority to his Church, 
 they are the only legitimate and authorised minis- 
 ters amongst us, and he who despiseth them 
 despiseth Christ, and he who despiseth Christ 
 despiseth Him that sent hiinf." 
 
 " Truth therefore constrains me to tell you that 
 you are not ministers of the Gospel, but ministers 
 of heresy and schism — you are not the servants 
 of Christ chosen by him, but the servants and 
 hirelings of your hearers, chosen and paid by 
 them — you have received no commission or autho- 
 rity from Christ, but from your people, who scrip- 
 tually have none to give, and you are equally 
 wicked as they for submitting to mob government, 
 in direct opposition to truth, in direct opposition 
 to reason, and in direct opposition to the dictates 
 of your conscience]; in short, you are " a club 
 of unordained ministers, a union of ignorant, 
 
 * L. S. E. p. 175. t lb. p. 17fi. + II). p. 18G. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 LETTER ^11. 
 
 upstart religious funr/uses*," who have " pre- 
 sumed to tletlirone Christ, and snatch the crown 
 from his headf." 
 
 Such, therefore, being the dreadful state of sin 
 in which your rebellious principles have phmged 
 you, I conjure you to see yourselves as you really 
 are, " false prophets, and false teachers, wolves in 
 sheep's clothing, but still wolves by nature, for 
 though you may have put on the appearance of 
 being very pious and holy men, and may have 
 transformed yourselves into ministers of righteous- 
 ness, and made such pretensions to deceive, if it 
 were possible, even the very elect, j'et still you 
 are ministers of Satan," " and are under the 
 heavy curse of Godt." 
 
 I have endeavoured to be explicit in this letter ; 
 if, however, any thing further is wanting to make 
 you understand my views, I desire you to take 
 notice that I shall lay the axe to the root of the 
 tree of Dissent, hew it down, and cast it into the 
 fire. Whatever opposition you may make to my 
 " delegated authority," I shall be able to crush it, 
 and though it may make some stir in an ill- 
 managed, ill-governed towTi, yet it will be but the 
 writhings of a patient losing a mortified limb. 
 Your appointed Superior and Pastor, 
 
 Rabshakeh G.^thercoal. 
 
 * L. S. E., p. 187. t lb. p. 187. * lb. pp. ISJ, 185. 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 From the Reverend Augustus O'Neil, Catholic 
 Priest of Tuddington, to the Reverend Rab- 
 
 SHAKEH GaTHERCOAL. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I HAVE just finished reading your sermon 
 on Jude, 8th verse, which you have printed and 
 pubhshed, and I hope you will not be offended at ' 
 my offering some few remarks thereon for your 
 consideration. 
 
 You are, I perceive, on the confines of the 
 truth, and may, I trust, be finally led to the only 
 means of salvation of which you seem to have 
 some glimpses. You are quite right in your doc- 
 trine concerning the true Chiu-ch of Christ, and 
 have well said that there is none other Church 
 than that which is in obedience to episcopal 
 government, as it was first instituted by Christ 
 himself, and as it has come down to our days in 
 an unbroken line of succession. I am, however, 
 somewhat surprised to find you winking at the 
 evident and unavoidable deduction from this argu- 
 ment, that as this line of episcopal succession has 
 cume down through the holy Roman Catholic and 
 Apostolic Church, and as all the archbishops of 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 England before the unhappy times of Luther's 
 reformation received the pall from the Popes, 
 swore fealty to him, and were his servants and 
 children, so it must be manifest that your Church 
 has fallen into schism by dissenting from the 
 Church of Rome, to \\ hich exclusively you owe 
 your existence. 
 
 I agree with you also in your eloquent and in- 
 dignant denunciations against a free use of con- 
 science, and I cannot too much applaud this 
 golden sentence of your sermon, " the judgment of 
 the duly authorized minister of the Church is a 
 far safer guide than a man's conscience for, as 
 you say, all schism has arisen and must arise 
 from the audacity of private individuals presuming 
 to interpret the Scriptures according to their con- 
 science, a licence which has been constantly re- 
 sisted by the Catholic Church, as contrary to that 
 submission due to the only lawful interpreters. 
 " The Catholic Christian," says the Bishop of 
 Meaux, " forms not his faith by reading the 
 Scriptures ; his faith is always formed before he 
 begins to read ; reading only serves to confirm 
 what he before believed, that is, to confirm the 
 doctrine which the Church had delivered to him." 
 (Conference avec M. Claude, p. 330.) 
 
 But on the most important point of debate 
 between us, I must not omit to remark that, accord- 
 ing to the grounds of the Protestant Episcopalians 
 themselves, they can neither pretend persoual 
 
X.ETTER VIII. 
 
 53 
 
 succession of bishops nor succession of doctrine. 
 For since a succession of bishops signifies a never- 
 interrupted hne of persons endued with an iii- 
 deHble quahty wliich divines call a rJinractcr, and 
 which cannot be taken away liy deposition or 
 degradation— and since tliey are in this character 
 endued with authority to teacli, preach, and govern 
 the Church, by laws, precepts, and censures, 
 Protestants cannot pretend succession to either of 
 these. For besides that there never was a Pro- 
 testant bishop before the schism of Luther, and 
 that there can be no continuance of succession 
 where there is no beginning to succeed, they com- 
 monly acknowledge no character, and conse- 
 quently must affirm that, when their pretended 
 bishops or priests are deprived of jurisdiction or 
 degraded, they remain merely lay persons as before 
 their jurisdiction, fulfilling what TertuUian says 
 of heretics, " to-day a priest, and to-morrow a 
 layman." Now this is evidently matter of fact, 
 history, and law ; for we know that an act of par- 
 liament could totally destroy a Protc^lant bishop 
 or priest's character, and utterly deprive him of 
 all his jurisdiction and epheiiieral authority. Thus 
 in the reign of Edward VI., the first Protestant 
 head of your church, and the first maker of any 
 genuine Protestant bishop, the patents for epis- 
 copal avithority contained this clause, " So long as 
 they shall behave themselves properly," quamdiu 
 
54 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 se bene (jesscrint ; by which very clause Queeu 
 Mary most properly ousted these mushroom 
 bishops. And in the reign of WiUiam III. nearly 
 half the bench of bishops were ousted and turned 
 into laymen, for refusing to abjure King James. 
 From these ousted prelates sprang the sect of 
 Nonjurors, a sect that existed not very long ago ; 
 for such is the perplexed and disordered state of 
 yom- Church, and so weak are its foundations, that 
 members of the Church of England were on this 
 question divided into two parties; the majority 
 holding that the king and the law make and 
 unmake bishops, — the minority, that bishops are 
 made by divine authority, and that nothing but 
 the same authority, manifest in the stroke of death, 
 can unmake them. This minority constituted the 
 sect of Nonjurors, who, by the strange position of 
 a bad-constituted Church, were thus turned into 
 Dissenters for adhering to a principle which is 
 right in the abstract. Such perplexities as these 
 can never arise in the Roman Cath >lic Church. 
 
 No one will venture to deny, for it is a matter 
 of history, that your first bishops were made by 
 authority of the Pope, and derived their jurisdic- 
 tion immediately from him; and it is a well- 
 known fact, that Cranmer, yoiir first Protestant 
 Archbishop, (if, indeed, he can be called a Pro- 
 testant, seeing he recanted the Protestant heresies 
 before he died,) was not only consecrated in the 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 55 
 
 Papal -way, swore obedience to the Pope, and 
 was elevated to the throne of Canterbury by (en* 
 Bulls from the Roman Chancery, but did himself 
 ordainf priests and deacons in the rites of the 
 Roman Church, with chrism, incense, bowing, 
 ringing of bell, and holy water, and all other 
 proper ceremonies, according to the ritual pre- 
 scribed by the Popes. How, then, can he, your 
 first Protestant Archbishop, be any thing less 
 than a schismatic, when he dissented from the 
 Church of Rome, unless you can show that he 
 had authority from the Pope to oppose the Roman 
 Church ? and how can the subsequent Protestant 
 bishops claim any thing more than a schismatical 
 consecration? Your bishops, therefore, are no 
 bishops, but ringleaders and teachers of schism, 
 as much as any preachers amongst the Indepen- 
 dents or Baptists. 
 
 But you will say, perhaps, that Cranmer, at his 
 consecration, first protested that he would not 
 
 • First Bull was directed to the Kiutc ; second, to Cran- 
 mer ; third, a Bull of Absolution to Cranmer; fourth, to 
 the Suffragans of Canterbury ; fifth, to the City and 
 Diocese of Canterbury ; sixth, to the Chapter ; seventh, 
 to the Vassals of the Church; eighth, conferring the 
 Pall ; ninth, the Destination of the Pall ; tenth, to the 
 People of Canterbury. 
 
 f By the Bull of the Deslination of the Pall, it seems 
 that Cranmer's pall came from Rome, de corpure B. Petri, 
 " from the body of the blessed Peter." What this means 
 1 know not, unless it had been placed first on the body of 
 the great image of Peter, or on the liody of the Pope him- 
 self, who sometimes, in ecclesiastical language, is called 
 Peter.— Ed. 
 
56 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 obey the Po])e beyond what the Scri])tures au- 
 thorised. This is, indeed, one of the darkest 
 parts of the character of that unfortunate Prelate ; 
 for if this secret protestation and reservation be 
 admitted, there is an end of truth on the face of 
 the earth, and perjury becomes a holy thing. 
 Cranmer, therefore, in first protesting, and then 
 swearing obedience to the Pope, committed an 
 enormous sin, which even honest Protestants 
 have condemned. But supposing it were no sin, 
 what would you say to a Protestant bishop, who 
 having been consecrated by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, according to the rite of your Prayer 
 Book, should, after his consecration, set up a new 
 Church, with a new Prayer Book, and a new form 
 of government, and new Articles of Belief — and 
 not content with this, should himself consecrate 
 other bishops to perpetuate the schism — and when 
 reproved for his perjury and wickedness, should 
 answer that he was persuaded in his conscience 
 that a great reform was requisite, and that his 
 views were according to Scripture, and that he 
 had at his consecration first protested that all his 
 oaths of obedience to the King, as Supreme 
 Head, and to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury, 
 were not in any way to be interpreted as binding 
 him to that which the Scripture did not warrant ? 
 Woidd you not say that this man was not only a 
 schismatic, and a ringleader of schism, but also a 
 perjured liar and a scoundrel ? and would you not 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 r.7 
 
 most justly condemn all his Church, to the latest 
 generation, as guilty of rebellion and schism ? 
 
 This is your case, and this is your sin, Sir, as 
 long as you cleave to the schismatical Church of 
 which you are a teacher. 
 
 Having, therefore, by an unlawful schism re- 
 jected the authority of that head of the Church, 
 to whom Christ himself gave the power of the 
 keys, and delegated all the pastoral care — and 
 having rebelled against the successors of the 
 blessed Apostle Peter, whom for fifteen centuries 
 the whole Christian Church reverenced and obeyed 
 — you have now set up that anomaly of human 
 invention, a lay-head of the Church of Christ in 
 the person of your King; for which fancy it 
 would, indeed, be a vain thing to seek for any 
 warranty in the Scriptures, the boasted founda- 
 tion of the Church of England. 
 
 Now, of this monster — a lay-head of a clerical 
 body — I first notice that he is called Dt- fender of 
 the Faith ; and from whom, I pray you, got he 
 that title ? Was it not from Pope Leo X. ? and 
 was not that title given to Henry VHI., then a 
 Roman Catholic Prince, to reward him for having 
 written against the Lutheran schism, by which 
 very schism your Kings and Queens have ven- 
 tured now to declare themselves heads of the 
 Church ? And yet what a prodigy is this head of 
 your Church ! for it seems he has power to con- 
 
58 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 vey to others the ijower of doing those things 
 which he cannot do himself, and confers attri- 
 butes which he himself does not profess. This 
 is, indeed, a monster in the moral and physical 
 world, which required the wits of Edward VI., or 
 of some of his father's schismatical bishops to in- 
 vent ; for the head of your Church can neither 
 himself consecrate, nor bless, nor excommunicate, 
 nor administer the Sacraments, nor pray, nor 
 preach, nor absolve from sin, though he can give 
 authority to others to do these things ! Whence 
 derived he this nondescript power of transmitting 
 from himself a virtue which he himself possesses 
 not? and how comes it, that though he can do 
 none of these things himself, yet he could any day 
 curtail, alter, erase, or add to any extent that 
 book on which all your religion depends, the 
 Prayer Book of the Church of England ? The 
 head of your Church, King George IV., forbade 
 the Church of Christ to pray for his wife. TVlience 
 got he that tremendous power of silencing the failh- 
 ful, the Lord's chosen people, as you call your- 
 selves in your Prayer Book ? Who endowed him 
 with this authority of thus arresting the devotions 
 of the Church of Christ ? What Scripture can you 
 show for this strange and ungodly dominion of a 
 laic in thhigs spiritual ? or how can you prove, by 
 the New Testament, tjiat the head of your Church, 
 not being himself a bishop, can ordain the conse- 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 59 
 
 cration of bishops, and that the very existence of 
 your pretended priesthood rests on his will and 
 pleasure ? 
 
 Consider, moreover, what a strange creature is 
 one of your bishops. The King cannot of him- 
 self make a bishop, nor the bishops of themselves, 
 but the temporal magistrate must unite with the 
 spiritual pastor to confer the episcopal dignity ! 
 And when a bishop is thus made by the united 
 efforts of the temporal magistrate and the spiritual 
 body, he can any day be unmade by an Act of 
 Parliament ! And all this is Scriptural ! and this 
 you call your Apostolical Church ! Oh, Sir, what 
 absurdities and impieties are you compelled to 
 admit, in your vain endeavours to give a plausible 
 appearance to your schism ! Let me, therefore, 
 beseech you patiently to investigate the testimony 
 of the Fathers, and that unbroken line of tradir- 
 tion, whereby it is niost clearly seen that the 
 Catholic, or Universal Church has always, from 
 the first, obeyed the successors of St. Peter, and 
 submitted to the authority of the See of Rome. 
 I am glad, however, to find by your sermon, by 
 the Oxford Tracts, and the British Magazine, that 
 the English Clergy are beginning to quote the 
 Fathers and Councils against the Puritans ; for 
 there is good ground of hope, that, when these 
 venerable sources of information shall be duly 
 examined, the Protestant Episcopalians will them- 
 selves see their own error, and be led to ackuow 
 
60 
 
 LETTER Vlir. 
 
 ledge the weak foundations of their heterogeneous 
 system, which has all the sinfulness of the 
 Puritanical delusion without any of its sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 We are not without a warm expectation of some 
 great change in this way : Mr. Spencer's conver- 
 sion is prominent amongst some others of less 
 importance, and many signs of a leaning to the 
 true Church are visible in many quarters. That 
 the Bishop of London should have recommended 
 the letters of L. S. E. is in itself a good sign of a 
 more healthy tone of mind amongst your leading 
 Clergy : for those letters bear ample testimony 
 against the right of private judgment, and the 
 exercise of conscience in things spiritual; and 
 declare uncompromising war against the doctrines 
 of the Reformers and all the Puritans. When 
 Protestant Episcopalians leave the Scripture, and 
 refer to tradition and the authority of the Fathers, 
 there is every reason to anticipate a happy result ; 
 and to hope that as they have put themselves into 
 the regions of the true light, they will at last find 
 the road of truth. 
 
 In conclusion, Sir, let me assure you that the 
 suffrages of the faithful in these parts shall be es- 
 pecially engaged for your conversion ; and humbly 
 do I pray that Our Lady and the blessed Peter and 
 Paul and Cosmo and Damian, and all the com- 
 pany of Saints, may effectually intercede for the 
 salvation of your soul ; and that those seeds of 
 
LETTER VIIl. 61 
 
 truth which I hope are sown in your mind may 
 1)6 matured into the vigour of Evangelical faith- 
 fulness. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your sincere well-wisher and friend, 
 
 Ai'GUSTLS O'Neil. 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 The Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoal to the 
 Reverend Augustus O'Neil. 
 
 Reverend and Dear Sir, 
 
 It is a pleasme to correspond witli a 
 clergyman who, though unfortunately not in com- 
 munion with the Church of England, has unde- 
 niable claims to respect in his clerical character, 
 and whose ordination has been by laying on of 
 hands by the Bishops, the undoubted successors 
 of the Apostles. Our Church acknowledges your 
 ordination as valid : it is, therefore, my duty, as 
 well as my pleasure, to address you as a clerg}-- 
 man, and to reply with candour to your well-in- 
 tentioned letter. The error of your argument is to 
 1)6 found in the idea that the Church of England 
 was not established before the days of Augustine, 
 " and, indeed, it is too generally thought that the 
 Church of England had no existence in this coun- 
 try previously to the time of Augustine, whom 
 Gregory the Great, then Pope of Rome, sent into 
 this country to propagate the Christian faith."* And 
 this idea forms the basis of your argument used in 
 support of the notion, that the Roman Catholic 
 * Letters of L. S. E. 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 G3 
 
 religion was the first form of the Christian religion 
 introduced into this covmtry ; and that at the 
 glorious Reformation the Church of England se- 
 parated or dissented from the Church of Rome. 
 " But all this is as far from the truth as the poles 
 from each other; for the Church of England 
 existed in Britain hundreds of years before St. 
 Augustine set his foot in this country. Every one 
 knows that Pelagius, the father of the Pelagian 
 heresy, was a native of Britain, and lived two 
 hundred years before the arrival of the Popish 
 missionary. Hume, the great historian, when in- 
 troducing the mission of Augustine to the idolatrous 
 Saxons, says, ' that the constant hostihties which 
 the Saxons maintained against the Britons would 
 naturally indispose them for receiving the Chris- 
 tian faith, when preached to them by such in- 
 veterate enemies ; and perhaps the Britons, as is 
 objected to them by Gildas and Bede, were not over 
 fond of communicating to their cruel invaders the 
 doctrine of eternal life and salvation !' Hume 
 also mentions a battle which ' was fought at 
 Chester between the Saxons and the native Britons, 
 at which were present twelve hundred monks, 
 and fifty British monks from a large monastery at 
 Bangor, which contained no less than 2100, who 
 there maintained themselves by their own labour. 
 Thus it is evident that the Church of England 
 existed in Britain long before the times of Saint 
 Augustine, entirely independent of the See of 
 
64 
 
 LETTER IX, 
 
 Rome.' You, therefore, will perceive that our 
 pious and venerable Reformers, in -whom church- 
 men so justly glory, were not, as Dissenters dili- 
 gently endeavour to inculcate, the founders, but 
 the Reformers, the purifiers of the Church. She 
 
 WAS THE VERY SAME ChURCH AFTER THE REFOR- 
 MATION AS SHE WAS BEFORE J just as a man is 
 the very same person after he has washed his face 
 as he was before. The Reformers merely cleared 
 away the rubbish of Popery which was obstr\icting 
 her utility, and obscuring her glory, and restored 
 her to her pristine purity and perfection ; and thus 
 left her to us, their children, a rich and glorious 
 inheritance. As our Church is constituted ac- 
 cording to the Apostolic model, and as our Bishops 
 and Clergy have been regularly and projierly 
 ordained by the laying on of the hands of those 
 who received their connnission and authority in a 
 direct and unbroken line of succession from the 
 Apostles and our Lord, she is a true branch of 
 the one Catholic and Apostolic Church ; for there 
 is not a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon amongst us, who 
 cannot, if lie please, trace his own spiritual descent 
 from Saint Peter and Saint Paul*." These re- 
 marks I think a sufficient reply to your letter, 
 and subscribe myself. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 Rabsh.\keh Gathercoal. 
 ■; * Letters of L. S. E., p. 98—100. 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 The Reverend Augustus O'Neil to the 
 Reverend Rabshakeh Gathekcoal. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your aiiswei- to my letter is as little satis- 
 factory to me, as I am persuaded it must be to 
 jourself ; for what, after all, is your reply to my 
 arguments ? — Tliat the Church of England existed 
 in Britain before the mission of Augustine ; and 
 that afterwards, being freed from the additions to 
 Popery, " she was the very same Church after the 
 Reformation she was before." 
 
 Had I not been acquainted with the fact that 
 some of your Clergy, to avoid the charge of schism, 
 have had recourse to this preposterous theory, I 
 should not easily have credited that men of cha- 
 racter would have ventured on such a mode of 
 defence. It certainly proves one thing, that they 
 suppose the pviblic to be sunk in excessive 
 ignorance and credulity, otherwise they would not 
 have hazarded so desperate a fable. 
 
 If, however, your present Established Church 
 existed before the mission of Augustine, where, I 
 pray you, was your Prayer Book ; and v here your 
 Thirty-nine Articles ; your homilies ; your temporal 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 head of the Church ; your tithes ; and your Par- 
 liamentary Prelates ? If all these things were 
 taken away, the Church of England would l)e 
 taken away ; but who will be so hardy as to say 
 that any one of these things existed amongst the 
 British tribes, before the mission of Augustine ? 
 Is not a very important part of your Prayer Book 
 translated from the Roman missal and breviary ? 
 Were the missal and breviary in use amongst the 
 Britons? If you answer yes, then it is clear that 
 they were Roman Catholics : if you answer no, 
 then it is clear that your Prayer Book is not de- 
 rived from your British Churches, but from the 
 manufactory of Rome. By either answer you are 
 in a dilemma ; either your British Churches were 
 Roman Catholic, and you are schismatics for de- 
 parting from their faith, or you are schismatics for 
 dissenting from the Church of Rome. 
 
 I observe, however, that you famish me with 
 abundant proof that the British Church then exist- 
 ing was not what your Established Church now is; 
 for you tell me, that, in these primitive days of your 
 establishment, long before the coming of Au- 
 gustine, there were 2100 monks in a monastery at 
 Bangor ! Where are these monks in your Church 
 now ? What has the Bishop of Bangor done with 
 them ? What ! had your Church ever monasteries 
 and monks and nuns, and that long before Popery 
 came to the island ? Truly this is a droll proof 
 furnished by yourself of the existence of your 
 
LEITER X. 
 
 6: 
 
 Protestant religion ! Give us back then our two 
 thousand monks, and I will let you retain your 
 Thirty-nine Articles. 
 
 Let me, however, remind you that in the Pela- 
 gian controversy, to which you refer, in this 
 imaginary era of your fabled Church, the British 
 bishops invoked the aid of the French bishops to 
 settle the differences which that controversy ori- 
 ginated ; and that in consequence Germanus, 
 Bishop of Auxerre, ivith the concurrence of Pope 
 Cclestine, twice visited Britain ; once in 429, in 
 company with Lupus of Troyes, and again in 446 
 with Severus of Treves, and succeeded in putting 
 an end to the controversy. Here we have foreign 
 Bishops coming to Britain with the concurrence of 
 a Pope, to settle religious dispiites, and that too in 
 Protestant days ; according to your agi-eeable 
 theory, many years before Popery had been known 
 in the island ! 
 
 "Who, moreover, I ask you, was the first Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury ? Was it not this very 
 Augustine, a Popish Missionary from Pope 
 Gregory the Great, who, by the Pope's desire, 
 received Archiepiscopal consecration for Cau- 
 terbuiy from the Archbishop of Aries ? So, 
 though any of your parsons may, according to 
 your assertion, trace, " if they please," their spi- 
 ritual descent from Peter or Paul, yet assuredly 
 this descent must come through Augustine and 
 the Archbishop of Aries, and thus approach much 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 nearer the Roman Cliancery tliau would siiit 
 your theory. 
 
 There is, however, no doubt at all that the 
 Roman Catholic religion existed in Britain be- 
 fore the mission of Augustine, whose mission was 
 to the Saxons, and not to the Britons, in this 
 island. The Britons were Catholics, the Saxons, 
 for the most part. Heathens, and to the Heathens 
 did Gregory send a mission, which was eminently 
 successful. In fact, there was a meeting between 
 the British Bishops and these missionaries, and 
 the only points in dispute between them were the 
 proper day for keeping Easter, and the proper 
 mode of administering Baptism — an abundant 
 proof that the two parties considered themselves 
 essentially of the same religion. The fact that 
 Augustine required the British Bishops to assist 
 him in converting the Saxons, which they refused 
 to do, is another ])roof tliat this " Popish Mission- 
 ary " considered tlie British Churches Catholic ; 
 for most certainly he never would liave invited 
 clergymen of your Church to help him in the task. 
 
 I deem it, however, unnecessary to fight any 
 more against your phantom, and therefore must 
 dismiss the subject, requesting you to peruse a 
 little tract (oiitlosed with this letter), in which I 
 have endeavoured to show, in a clear and po- 
 pular manner, that our Lord appointed Peter 
 head of the Church, and that the Bishops of 
 Rome are the successors of Peter's authority. 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 G9 
 
 This tract I shall distribute largely in Tiukling- 
 ton ; for as you have preached and published on 
 the rpiestion of Apostolical succession, I think it 
 right that the good people of tliis town should 
 know the u-holu truth connected with this im- 
 portant subject. 
 
 Your faithful Servant, 
 
 Augustus O'Neil. 
 
 [Here the correspondence betvveen the Vicar 
 and the Catholic Priest seems to have terminated, 
 for I cannot find that Rabshakeh ever wrote a 
 rei)ly to tlie letter No. X. There is, however, on 
 the back of this letter a short sentence, in 
 pencil, in the Vicar's handwriting, which may 
 perhaps account for this silence, "N.B. — It is 
 easier to abuse the Dissenters than to answer the 
 Catholics." — In fact, this great Divine had a very 
 great respect for the Roman Catholics, and ahvays 
 wished to be on good terms with them — Ed.] 
 
LETTER XI. 
 
 From the Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoal 
 to L. S. E. 
 
 Dear Brother, 
 
 The battle is raging in Tuddingtou ; it 
 begins to be very hot work, and I must expect my 
 buffets and blows, according to the lot of war. My 
 sermon, which Dr. Birch calls ray golden sermon, 
 and which he says entitles me to the honourable 
 name of Chrysostom, or golden mouth;' I sent 
 to be printed in London— a large edition of 1500 
 copies, which I have distributed gratis— for that 
 obstinate fellow Timson will have nothing to do 
 with it. It is, however, to be purchased at the 
 brandy vaults of my prime minister Stubbs, and 
 the neighbouring clergj- have sent for it by dozens. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that I have remained 
 silent after my first song ; I assure you I have 
 followed up the " golden sermon " with repeated 
 blows of the same sort, always preaching the 
 Gospel from L. S. E., the best expositor of the 
 truth I can anywhere find. Last Sunday I 
 preached on the subject of Death on the Pale 
 Horse, which I proved was the system of dis- 
 sent " killing the fourth part of the earth ^\ ith 
 
LETTER XI. 
 
 71 
 
 beasts." The beasts I showed were the various 
 forms of schism ; and so having noticed various 
 beasts, I came to foxes and other vermin, and 
 declared how, in Canticles, " the little foxes that 
 spoil our grapes " were the Dissenters nibbling 
 at our tithes. Then apostrophising the whole 
 body of schismatics I said, " You hate tithes I 
 know, probably for the same reason for which the 
 fox disliked the grapes ; but you woidd be glad 
 of the tenth of the tithe of such decisive evidence 
 in support of your unscriptural system, as we 
 can show for Episcopal authority-* I have 
 shown, beyond the power of contradiction, that no 
 such system as that you advocate has any foun- 
 dation in the word of God. You may, indeed, 
 just as easily prove from the Holy Scriptures, 
 that all the metamorphoses, or all the nonsensical 
 fables of the Heathen Mythologies are true, as your 
 new fancied system of Dissent." (L.S.E.pp. 174.) 
 
 The schismatics, of course, are furious, and 
 have bestirred themselves to let me know that 
 ■\vasps can sting. The first annoyance I have 
 experienced is in the diminution of the congre- 
 gations ; last Sunday Stubbs counted only 200, 
 which looked a small company in our large church. 
 I am, however, going to preach a sermon against 
 
 * The wit of the Gathercoal family is of the most 
 refilled order ; the Bishop of Loudon pronounces it to be 
 pure Auic salt. 
 
72 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 the sin of not coming to church, and I intend to 
 make no small stir on this head. Tliey have, 
 however, vexed me far more by sending for hales 
 of Beverley's pamphlets, not one of which had 
 ever yet heen read in my parish. I have, how- 
 ever, seen them in many of the cottages within 
 the last few days, and much mischief, I fear, will 
 he done in consequence. They tell me that a rich 
 Dissenter of London has sent 500 of each of these 
 pamphlets to the Baptist teacher, who sells them 
 for 2d., and that the greater part are sold already ! 
 Will no one crush this noxious writer ? He it 
 was that began the mischief, but wlio shall say 
 where it is to stop ? W'e live in evil days, dear 
 Brother. 
 
 The teachers of schism have further agreed, 
 according to what I hear, to deliver each a course 
 of lectures in their chapels in defence of schism. 
 The first lecture will be delivered at the conven- 
 ticle of the Independent Sectarians next Wednes- 
 day evening ; and when ]\Iervyn has finished 
 his lectures, which are to be fovn' in number, the 
 Baptist teacher is to glean any remnants of ini- 
 quity let fall from the bosom of his " dear Brother," 
 so that nothing may be lost to the Devil's harvest. 
 
 Dear Mr. Screw tells me that his notices of 
 taking all tithe, to the last farthing, of the gar- 
 deners, and of all others in the parish, have put 
 the town in a still greater ferment. Here, how- 
 
LETTKR XI. 
 
 ever, I am sure of victory, find the more yells tlie 
 beasts set up the better. I will sell every bed 
 and table in Tuddington sooner than give up a 
 six])enny\vorth of my rights. I owe this to my 
 " successors," and to the Apostolical church of 
 which I am an unworthy priest. " Muzzle not 
 the ox that treadeth out the corn." 
 
 As for more private coneerns, the thorn in the 
 flesh is not removed, nor likely to be ; Jane* con- 
 tinues as obstinate as ever. She has told me 
 point blank, that she finds my sermons so little 
 profitable to her soul, and the Church service so 
 tedious and objectionable, that she cannot go to 
 church any more. She says, however, that she 
 has no inclination to frequent any of the chapels 
 in Tuddington, for she dreads hearing controver- 
 sial sermons, in which it is very probable I may 
 be mentioned with no great respect ; and besides, 
 she wishes, as long as possible, to keep up ap- 
 pearances in the eyes of the parish. I have put 
 into her hands all the sound books I can think 
 
 * Mrs. Gatlierco.'il, here first mentioned, w;is a Dis- 
 senter whrn she marrii'il Ral)shalceh ; her parents were 
 Baptists, anil slie herself an a'.tendant at the Baptist 
 chapel at Leeds, Rabslia];eli hiniselt' was a nominal Inde- 
 pendent at the time of their mavria-e. 
 
 These great men, L. S. 1'^. ami his liruther, seem each to 
 liave had the same domestic afflictiun, for we read in the 
 Letters of L. S. E., p. 18.'), the foUowiiii^ melancholy sen- 
 tence: "When it is coirsidered that tliose who are vearesl 
 anddiarcsl to me upon earth are at this moment Dissenters, 
 it must he supposed that my own feelings are in no trithng 
 degree interested." — E». 
 
74 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 of— first, the Letters of L. S. E., then Southey's 
 Book of the Church, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 
 and the warmest tracts of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society, besides various others recommended by 
 friends — ^but she seems to me a more rigorous 
 Dissenter after reading works written in defence 
 of our Scriptural church than she was before ; 
 indeed, she begs me to torment her no more with 
 the Church controversy, for she assures me she 
 knows all the Episcopalian arguments perfectly, 
 and that all the libraries in the world never can 
 persuade her that the Church of England is the 
 Church of Christians seen in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, or in any part of the New Testament. To 
 do her justice, I do not believe she has ever read 
 any of the Dissenters' books on Church Govern- 
 ment ; the Bible is her library in this contro- 
 versy, and whenever we argue on these subjects, 
 she quotes the Scriptxires and nothing else. I 
 never can get her to listen to the evidence of the 
 Fathers and tradition ; she turns a deaf ear to all 
 my rhetoric when I read to her passages from 
 Ignatius and Ambrose. 
 
 Here, however, is the weak part of my fortress. 
 When I see Jane looking cold or melancholy in 
 the midst of my zeal, it makes me furious, and I 
 say and do things in my wrath which I am sorry 
 for aftenvards ; particularly when I see she has 
 been weeping in private, for she never sheds a 
 tear before me, and is silent and submissive in the 
 
LETTER XI. 
 
 75 
 
 midst of our disagi-eements. I am fearful that 
 sooner or later she will join the Baptists, and be 
 baptized in their way. I have told her that if she 
 ever should take this step I will shut my doors 
 against her, and send her and her child back to 
 her parents. She gives me no answer, and by 
 this silence I dread the worst. So you see, my 
 dear brother, I have much to perplex me. 
 
 I have received a flattering letter from the 
 
 Bishop of L , thanking me for my " golden" 
 
 sennon ; he styles me " a pillar of the Church 
 this letter is going the round of the neighbouring 
 clergy, and its contents are so well known, that the 
 schismatics here have printed handbills, pretend- 
 ing to give a correct copy of the letter, but changing 
 the word ■pillar into caterpillar. Thus you see 
 the malice of these rascals ! 
 
 In my next I hope to give you some account of 
 Mervyn's Lecture on Dissent. Screw has pro- 
 mised me an exact transcript of all the fellow will 
 say by sending to the chapel one of his clerks, 
 who can take the whole lecture down in short 
 handwTiting. 
 
 Your aifectionate Brother, 
 
 R.4.B. 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 From Mrs. Thompson to the Rercrend Rab- 
 
 SHAKEH GaTHERCOAL. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 The subject matter of my letter nuist be 
 my apology for writing to you with whom I liave 
 not tlie honour to be personally acquainted ; and 
 if I express myself in very plain language without 
 the help of that eloquence of wliich my case stands 
 much in need, I trust I shall find the deficiency of 
 my letter, in regard to proper arguments, made up 
 by the kind and merciful disposition of your own 
 heart. 
 
 I am the widow of the late Vicar of Tuddington, 
 to whom I bore nine children, the eldest being 
 nearly eighteen, and the youngest an infant at the 
 breast. To educate and support so large a family 
 on 550/. a-year, whicli was the utmost we ever 
 had by uniting the proceeds of the vicarage to my 
 own little fortune, required the utmost economy 
 and management ; and when you take into con- 
 sideration also my dear husband's liberal care of 
 the poor and subscription to religious institutions, 
 I trust we may be freed from all charge of extra- 
 vagance ; for though we always w ere able to show 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 77 
 
 proper hospitality to a friend, I am happy to say 
 that, vntlt one exception, all debts are paid, and 
 that my husband died creditor and not debtor to 
 his parish. 
 
 My eldest boy, nearly eighteen years old, is, in 
 the eyes of his perhaps doating mother, a very pro- 
 mising youth, and likely to do credit to the edu- 
 cation bestowed on him by his dear futlu r. Friends 
 who are capable of judging pronounce him a su- 
 perior Greek and Latin scholar, with considerable 
 mathematical acquirements. That he is pleasing 
 and gentlemanly in his manners, kind, obliging, 
 and afi'ectionate in his disposition, and a most 
 dutiful son, I must be allowed myself to testify'. 
 My husband was extremely anxious that this son 
 (whose Christian names are John Calvin) should 
 take a degree at the university of Cambridge, and 
 afterwards proceed as a candidate to holy orders. 
 For this we have all been looking, and for this 
 purpose out of our smull incinne have been able 
 to lay aside 500/., which, tliouj^h little enough for 
 a University education, would I believe be in- 
 creased by the kindness of a friend, one of the 
 
 Fellows of • College, and a schoolfellow of 
 
 my dear husband ; at least that good gentleman, 
 knowing the circumstances of the case, has pro- 
 mised that if John Calvin applies himself closely 
 to his studies at the University, and does credit 
 to the excellent education given him by his father, 
 he shall not miss a degree for want of funds. 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 I now come to the trying part of my letter. 
 Mr. Screw has sent me information by letter that 
 the dilapidations on the vicarage are valued at 
 473/. 14.y. 9c/., and that I am debtor to you to 
 that amount. This astounding intelligence has 
 quite overpowered me ; by some oversight of my 
 dear husband we had never contemplated tliis 
 demand, for though he once did mention dilapi- 
 dations it was in some passing conversation which 
 failed to fix my attention. I am quite a stranger 
 to these matters, and take it for granted that it is 
 all right in law, but I need not tell you liow 
 serious a prospect this debt opens to me in my 
 present circumstances. I do not conceal that I 
 am able to pay the sum of money, but when paid 
 all my hopes of sending my son to Cambridge 
 must be renounced, to my unspeakable grief, and 
 his most bitter disappointment. 
 
 I am therefore made so bold by the hard posi- 
 tion in which I find myself as to petition you to 
 relinquish this demand, for though I doubt not it 
 is correct in law, yet I am sure its equity is ques- 
 tionable, for if you take into consideration that we 
 built a new kitchen ard wash-house with a niu-sery 
 over them, and, to my apprehension, always kept 
 the vicarage very clean and neat, and the roof in 
 good repair, it seems wonderful that the valuers 
 can make me your debtor to the amount of a 
 sixpence. 
 
 I must, however, entirely cast myself upon your 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 79 
 
 mercy ; mine is tlie distress of a \vido\v, and 
 whether you grant my petition or refuse it, you 
 shall always have the widow's prayer. Tliat your 
 ministry may be made abundantly useful in Tud- 
 dington, and that you may be a bright light of the 
 Gospel, is the most earnest wish of, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 Your obedient, humble Servant, 
 
 Charlotte Thompson.* 
 
 * N. B. The date of this letter precedes the publication 
 of the " Golden" sermon. 
 
LETTER XIII. 
 
 The Reverend Rabshakeh Gathercoal to 
 Mrs. Thompson. 
 
 Madam, 
 
 I HAVE duly received your favour of the 
 
 ■ of this month, and without any phrases, 
 
 reply that I do not think it expedient to forego 
 my lawful claim for dilapidations. I have no 
 right or even -wish to interfere in your concerns ; 
 but I cannot help remarking that, with your small 
 income, it seems to me out of place to run into the 
 expense of a University education for your son. 
 
 My ministry will doubtless be useful in Tud- 
 dington, though the labour is not small ; for where 
 so much has to be done and so much to be undone, 
 the task is greater than usually falls to clergj-men 
 in these days. 
 
 I am. Madam, 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 Rabshakeh Gathercoai,. 
 
LETTER XIV. 
 
 From Obadiah Crabtree to the Reverend 
 Rabshakeh Gathercoal. 
 
 Rabshakeh Gathercoal, 
 
 I am of the Society of Friends, and there- 
 fore use very plain language. I have seen a copy 
 of the letter written to thee by Charlotte Thomp- 
 son, widow of thy predecessor, touching the dila- 
 pidations of the vicarage house ; I have seen thy 
 reply to Charlotte Thompson, and am much gxieved 
 at the spirit displayed in thy reply, as well as in 
 thy published sermon. The devil seems to be 
 sifting thee thoroughly, and it so happens that we 
 have as yet seen nothing but the chaff. Thou 
 must be in a great delusion to think that thy pre- 
 sent conduct can make the people of Tuddington 
 embrace thy foolish notions about Apostolical suc- 
 cession, for if the Apostles were like thee, it would 
 be very tempting for all thy parishioners to turn 
 Turks or Jews sooner than belong to such a reli- 
 gion as thine. I have, however, read mucli, and 
 know full well that priests, when once they give 
 way to high notions about their order, are the 
 most foolish as well as the most mischievous crea- 
 tures upon eartli. "William Laud, the Archbishop 
 
82 
 
 LETTKR XIV. 
 
 of Canterbiiry, was exactly one of thy sort, and 
 perliaps more than half the Bishops now on the 
 Bench have the like creed, and persuade them- 
 selves that all their arrogant usurpations of power 
 and riches are for the glory of God. Ignorance, 
 however, is no excuse for sin, neither shall it be 
 an excuse to such furious bigots as Pope Gregory 
 the Great, William Laud, and Rabshakeh Gather- 
 coal, that " the God of this world had blinded the 
 eyes of them that believe not." Thy case is very 
 bad, for thou art not only a bigot but an apostate, 
 and having knowm the truth hast wilfully entangled 
 thyself in the nets of Satan. To argue with a 
 priest who could publish a sermon like thine on 
 Jude, Bth verse, is quite hopeless ; nevertheless it 
 is one's duty to reprove and warn such a one of 
 his iniquity. 
 
 For the matter between thee and Charlotte 
 Thompson, I inform thee that some of her late 
 husband's friends, amongst whom the writer of this 
 letter is to be reckoned as one, having become ac- 
 quainted with the hardships of the case, and having 
 heard that she has paid thee the sum of 473/. 14^. 
 9f^ in full discharge of all thy demands upon her, 
 have entered into a subscription to relieve her dis- 
 tress, and to enable her to send her son John 
 Calvin to Cambridge, according to her good hus- 
 band's desire when he was alive. This subscrip- 
 tion has been confined exclusively to the inha- 
 bitants of Tuddington, and has raised the sum of 
 
LETTER XIV. 
 
 83 
 
 1200/. ; of which 900/. has heen contrlhuted by 
 the " schismatics;" who, according to thy opinion, 
 have no claim to be considered Christians, hc-cause 
 thev have separated themselves from the govern- 
 ment of archbishops and bishops. 
 
 I think it right to let thee know the progress 
 of this business ; for as thou hast proved that 
 " drunkenness, adultery, robbery, and murder, 
 and every species of vice and iniquity proceed from 
 the principles of dissent," thou shouldest be 
 furnished with another of our sins for the second 
 edition of thy sermon ; namely, " a relief of the 
 fatherless and the widows." 
 
 I hear that thou art preparing a strict inquisition 
 for priest's wages ; and that all tithes are to be 
 paid to the uttermost farthing. In this case thou 
 wilt be able to gratify thy propensities by seizing 
 some of the property of 
 
 Ob.\diah Cr-^vbtree. 
 
 g2 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 From the Rt'i crcnd Rabshakeh Gathercoal 
 to L. S. E. 
 
 Ever dear Brother, 
 
 According to the promise of my last letter, 
 I send you by parcel (for it is too bulky to send as a 
 letter), the lecture of Edward Mervyn in defence 
 of his darling sin of schism, -which he has now so 
 fastened round his neck, that it will be found at 
 last to sink him like a millstone in that gulf of 
 perdition, which long ago swallowed up the cele- 
 brated Church of Dissenters, Korah, Dathan, and 
 Abiram. Owing to the excitement in Tuddington, 
 the lecture, though it was delivered on the evening 
 of a week day, was attended by immense crowds; 
 many persons, unable to pqueeze themselves into 
 the chapel, were mounted up on the window-sills 
 outside ; and the doors were thrown wide open, 
 that as many as could stand in the street and 
 hear, might catch a sight of the pulpit. All this 
 is somewhat trying to one's nerves, and might 
 alarm any other clergyman ; but I feel certain 
 that when the novelty of this opposition is worn ofl', 
 the people will return to their right senses, and 
 like wandering pigeons, come back at last to their 
 
I.ETIER XV. 
 
 85 
 
 original dovecote. I shall add no comment on 
 the matter of the lecture, but leave it for your own 
 private consideration. I say nothing further in this 
 leltfr, except that the afl'air of Mrs. Thompson's 
 subscription has grievously vexed me. Obadiah 
 Crahtree gave 500/. ; but I intend to pounce on 
 tlie old Quaker's sheep for tithes, in a very short 
 lime. 
 
 Your sincere 
 
 Rab. 
 
 KDW.\RD MERVYN-S LFXTURE ON 
 NON-CONFORMITY. 
 
 " Cukisttan Friends, 
 
 "If you see me occupying my pulpit for 
 the first time as a decided controversialist, and 
 hear me for the first time discussing the question 
 of Church government, a question which has lately 
 been agitated with great heats in the kingdom, but 
 has never, till within these few weeks, found a foot- 
 ing in the town of Tuddington, you must not 
 blame me for this change from peace to war : for 
 you all know who is the cause of this strife ; and 
 that wc Dissenters are unwillingly driven to stand 
 up in our own defence. 
 
 " The Reverend llabshakeh Gatliercoal has been 
 pleased to publish a sermon preached by him in 
 St. Mary's Church, which sermon I take it for 
 
86 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 granted you all either heard delivered, or have 
 seen in print. Tliat sermon, in the most un- 
 measured language, charges Dissenters ^sith every 
 sijecies of wickedness ; declares that they are a 
 portion of the Church of Korah, Dathan, and 
 Abiram ; and that the whole secret of dissent con- 
 sists in spiritual pride, and listening to the sug- 
 gestions of the devil. The Church of England is 
 set forth as the only true Church imder heaven ; 
 and all who withdraw from its communion are de- 
 nounced as filthy dreamers, who defile the flesh, 
 and speak evil of dignities. In short, whatever the 
 most railing tongue can utter, or the most malig- 
 nant hatred invent, is heaped on us, not only in this 
 printed sermon, but in every sermon which the 
 Vicar preaches ; and we are every Sunday libelled 
 and slandered, and doomed to hell ; and persecuted 
 with such unmitigated scurrility, that it is mani- 
 fest we have much cause to thank Providence that 
 we are not now living in the days of the faggot, the 
 san-benito, and the stake. 
 
 " This unprovoked attack upon peaceable Chris- 
 tians (though, indeed, our Vicar will not allow 
 that we are Christians*) has filled us all with 
 deep sorrow ; we have done all we can to avert 
 the mischief, but all our efforts at reconciliation 
 seem only to increase the blind rage of our adver- 
 sary ; and we, therefore, have deemed it right no 
 longer to sit still, lest some of our friends should 
 * Letters ofL. S. E., p. 183. 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 SI 
 
 really thiuk there is some foundation for the 
 Vicar's railing accusations, aud interpret our si- 
 lence into an impossibility of making any reply. 
 We are, moreover, driven to reprisals by the ap- 
 probation shown to our enemy in quarters where 
 we should have expected more prudence ; for it is 
 no secret to you that not only do the Clergy highly 
 applaud our raghig Vicar — but that the Bishop of 
 London has publicly recommended the letters of 
 L. S. E., (from which our Vicar takes every 
 syllable of his abuse of us,) as an able defence of 
 the Established Church, and a most faithful por- 
 traiture of dissent. 
 
 " The question, therefore, between us is simply 
 this, — Is the Church of England the Churchxvhkh 
 Christ established ? For if this be not proved, if 
 it cannot be shown that the Established Church of 
 England is the very Church which our Lord insti- 
 tuted, aud which has come down to our days 
 exactly as it was moulded by the care of the 
 Apostles, according to the direction of the Head of 
 the Church, then does all this fine system of our 
 Vicar fall down with a ridiculous overthrow, (like 
 a house built by a child v/ith a pack of cards,) and 
 this celebrated controversialist is seen in his true 
 character of a slanderer and a bully. 
 
 " First then to the question oi Apostolical succes- 
 sion of the Bishops of England : — The Vicar 
 makes this the great turning point of his salvation, 
 and ovr damnation ; and out of this has he even 
 
88 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 fabricated all his crackers, which he mistakes for 
 thunder ; and which he hurls right hand and left 
 as he gallops over the pons asinorum, a second 
 Salmoneus of imposture and noise. 
 
 " In slightly handling this question, I may first 
 congratulate Dissenters that Mr. O'Neil, the Ca- 
 tholic Priest, has here taken the Vicar to task ; and 
 has accused him of the very sin of schism of which 
 he accuses us. The Correspondence between Mr. 
 O'Neil and the Vicar, by the kindness of the 
 former gentleman, I am enabled to lay before 
 you J and as it speaks more to the point than any- 
 thing I can say, with your permission I will now 
 read it." 
 
 [Here the lecturer read aloud copies of letters 
 No. viii. ix. x.] 
 
 " In addition to these letters, Mr. O'Neil has 
 circulated a tract on the supremacy of Saint Peter, 
 so that the poor Vicar has now to act on the de- 
 fensive, and, coming down from the usurped chair 
 of authority, to undergo the wholesome stripes 
 of the Head Master. We see, therefore, by this 
 correspondence, that the doctrine of the Apo- 
 stolical succession of the English bishops compels 
 the Clergy to trace their spiritual birth through the 
 fingers of the Popish bishops, an origin of which 
 no Protestant ^Minister can be very proud , though 
 there is, as you know, no accounting for tastes : at 
 least, I, for one, on consideration of this pedigree, 
 feel heartily rejoiced to say for the Dissenters, 
 
lETTER XV. 
 
 89 
 
 vix ca nostra voco. The Church of England her- 
 self has spoken so very plainly about the Church 
 of Rome, that the Clergy are reduced to a pretty 
 dilemma by the doctrine of succession. The 
 homily against peril of idolatry calls the Church of 
 Rome " a foul, filthy, old withered harlot," from 
 whence we gather that the English bishops are 
 sons of a harlot, a dignity which would no where 
 be coveted but on a bench of bishops ; for what is 
 considered a grosser insult than to call a man 
 
 ' the son of a :' and yet this is the very 
 
 title in which the Successionists are compelled to 
 glory ! 
 
 " But again ; the homily of the Church of Eng- 
 land declares that ' the bishops of Rome and their 
 adherents are not the true Church of Christ :' 
 now that which is not the true Church is no 
 Church at all ; for by the Vicar's doctrine there is 
 but one Church : so then the ' spiritual descent of 
 the English bishops ' comes from nothing — is in 
 fact a nonentity ■ — a Tohu and Bohu of Popish 
 darkness. 
 
 " But again ; when the English Prayer Book 
 was first published in the reign of Edward VI., the 
 act of Parliament declared it to have been ananged 
 by the bishops, through ' the inspiration of the 
 Holy Ghost.' In this book, composed by Divine 
 assistance, was this sentence in the Litany. ' From 
 the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enor- 
 mities, good Lord, deliver us,' and yet through the 
 
90 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities 
 are the English bishops engendered ! 
 
 " Now only consider the infamy of this pedigree ; 
 a whore, a false Church, a detestable enormity ! 
 The Church of England has not, however, said a 
 word too much against the Church of Rome, for 
 it is Antichrist, the mother of abominations, and 
 the throne of sin, and truly since the world began 
 there never has been any thing so iniquitous as 
 Popery. Bad however as it is, the Successionists 
 are compelled to trace their origin through ten 
 centuries, at least, of superstition, blasphemy, false 
 doctrine, idolatry, and lies ; in short, whatever is 
 wicked in Popery, whatever is ' detestable' and 
 ' enormous' is the hot-bed from which they 
 spring — whatever bears the mark of the Beast, 
 and of the paws of the Dragon, is the soil of that 
 nursery wherein our Parliamentary^ prelates were 
 planted as shps and offsets from the tree of evil. 
 
 " I will not, however, deal in these hard words 
 against the Roman Catholic superstition, -trusting 
 only in the authority and copying the example of 
 the Church of England, but will quote to you the 
 words of Baronius, a most celebrated Catholic 
 writer, and whose name always carries great weight 
 in controversy. Speaking of the tenth age of the 
 Church, he says, ' What was then the face of the 
 Roman Church ! how deformed ! what whores,* 
 
 * Alluding to that infamous woman JIarozia, who placed 
 her gallants in St. Peter's chair. 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 91 
 
 no less powerful than vile, bore the chief sway at 
 Rome, and at their pleasure changed sees, ap~ 
 pointed bishops, and, what is more horrible to 
 mention, thrust into St. Peter's See their own 
 gallants, false Popes, who would not have been 
 mentioned in the catalogue of the Roman Popes 
 but only for the more distinct recordintj of so 
 long a succession of times' In fact Baronius 
 was compelled to record these monsters of ini- 
 quity to show that the succession had never been 
 broken, and this is the succession on which the 
 Roman Catholic and Protestant prelates depend 
 for the pedigree ; so that if these infamous demons 
 of the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries 
 were not recorded, then behold the chain would 
 be interrupted, and the poor bishops would not be 
 able to trace their genealogy ! 
 
 " What then does this succession theory amount 
 to ? — that for eighteen centuries the bishops' heads 
 have been touched by the hands of their prede- 
 cessors, and that an enormous majority of these 
 bishops have been bad men, idolaters, ignorant 
 and superstitious bigots, corrupt and avaricious, 
 too often polluted with a horrid sensuality, and 
 stained with the blood of the Martyrs, Will 
 any one who knows the least of history pretend to 
 say that this touching of the head has conveyed 
 grace through the dark ages ? Did bloody Arch- 
 bishop Arundel, who burnt the Lollards, and 
 bloody Bishop Bonner, or sensual Cardinal Wolsey, 
 
92 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Archbishop of York, convey the divine gift wheh 
 they consecrated bishops ? Nay, I would ask if 
 a hnk of this chain was unbroken in the conse- 
 cration of a late Bishop of Clogher, or of Bishop 
 Atherton, who was hanged at Dublin in the reign 
 of Charles I.? If then the fingering of the head 
 fails in doing that to which it pretends, it does 
 nothing at all for the argument; or rather it 
 materially injures it, for it acts a bold lie, inas- 
 much as this is jiart of the ceremony of conse- 
 crating bishops. 
 
 " ' Rubric — Then the Arclibishop and Bishops 
 present shall lay their hands upon the head of the 
 elected bishop, kneeling before them upon his 
 knees, the Archbishop saying, ' Recpive l/ie Holi/ 
 Ghost for the office and work of a bishop now- 
 committed unto thee by the imposition of our 
 hands, in the name of the Trinity, Amen ; and 
 remember that thou stir up the grace of God ichich 
 is given thee bij this imposition of our hands.' 
 
 " A right view, therefore, of the succession 
 doctrine makes it of not so much value in the eyes 
 of a Christian as the mysterj- of carnal reproduc- 
 tion ; for it proves nothing but this, that he who is 
 a bishop is a man, and that his head has been 
 touched by the hand of another man who can boast 
 the like privilege before him, and so on through 
 the wars of the Crusaders, and the dark ages — 
 through the sanguinary strifes of the Arians and 
 Athanasians — through all the various heretics that 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 93 
 
 have ever swarmed in the Church up to the first 
 touch where your theory commences. If I see a 
 new-born infant or a little child, he is indeed a 
 child of wrath, and original sin has made him 
 guilty at the bar of divine justice ; but his mould 
 has been curiously wrought by the hand of tlie 
 Great Artificer, and he is a production of tlie wisdom 
 of omnipotence, and culture may make him wise, 
 and a holy educatinn may train him up in the 
 fear of the Lord, and thus finally he may become 
 Aviser than the ancients, because he keeps God's 
 statutes ; but what is there divine in a bishoj), 
 viewing him as a bishop and not as a mere man ? 
 and what is there to admire in him, or how is he, 
 in his episcopal attributes, anv way to be deemed 
 holy, or as a production of omnipotent wisdom ? 
 All I know of him is this, that on a certain day 
 the King ordered the Archbishop and Bishops to 
 consecrate him, to put their hands on his head, 
 and to say that they gave him that wliich most 
 assuredly they cannot give, and which he has not 
 received from them. I sec in him, therefore, 
 nothing but a solemn deception decorated in lawn ; 
 and I neither love him nor reverence him, whether 
 he be making speeches in parliament, or smiling 
 at the levee, or sitting on his throne ; and I as 
 little believe that he has pow er to give grace by 
 his finger-ends as to raise the dead by his voice, 
 nor will I believe the one till I see him do the 
 other. 
 
94 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 " But they who are genuine Episcopalian Suc- 
 cessionists are bound to beheve, that on a cer- 
 tain day the King, in compUance with the wishes 
 of his prime minister, named a Dr. Phillpotts, a 
 Dr. Maltby, or a Dr. Allen, to receive the mys- 
 tical influence from the hands of the prelates— and 
 that vmst he so, for if the bishops refuse to 
 exert their inherent virtue they will incur the 
 penalties of a Praemunire, be prosecuted by the 
 Attorney-General and ousted of their bishoprics : 
 moreover this their virtue mvst emanate upon the 
 bishop elect, be he who he may, be he Wiig or 
 Tory, Arminian or Calvinist, Trinitarian or So- 
 cinian ; whoever the King commands to he con- 
 secrated must be consecrated— no question can 
 be asked, no difficulty started ; the Archbishop 
 must impart grace to any one the prime minister 
 of the day sends to him, for the King is the head 
 of the Church, and there is no appeal from Caesar. 
 What monstrous, yea, profane deductions are 
 inevitable from this idle notion ! This profane- 
 ness, however, is not to be charged to the account 
 of those persons who expose the delusion, but to 
 those who seek to perpetuate it and to profit by it. 
 
 " Can any one, then, deny this consequence of 
 the succession theory, or rather, does not the 
 Vicar openly assert it, that any clerg}-man, 
 whether they have the fit qualifications or not for 
 the Christian ministry— whether they have any 
 design or no to pursue the ends of the solemn 
 
LETTEU XV. 
 
 95 
 
 oflSce -which they take upon them in consecration 
 — whether tlieir consecration be for love or money — 
 to manifest the power of a cabinet minister or to 
 fill their own pockets — yet all is one, being any 
 way prelatically ordained bishops they may or- 
 dain others, and so the successive ordination is 
 preserved and the Church of Christ glorified. 
 
 " And whilst these violent clerg)-mcn are thus 
 ranting about their ' succession,' what do they not 
 say, on the other hand, against those who reject 
 their system ? For let a Dissenting minister be 
 ever so godly — let him be eminently blessed in 
 the conversion of sinners — let his sermons be 
 judicious, eloquent, and full of the Gospel — let 
 the people unanimously express their affection for 
 him as a minister and a man — let him fulfil 
 all the requisites prescribed by the Apostle Paul, 
 such as being blameless, the steward of God, 
 not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, 
 no striker, nor given to filthy lucre, but a lover of 
 hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, 
 temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he 
 has been taught, that he may be able, by sound 
 doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gain- 
 sayers — yet all this would go for nothing with the 
 Vicar of Tuddington ; he would call him only a 
 ' teacher of schism declare ' he had no pretension 
 to be called a Christian denounce him as the 
 fautor of 'wickedness, licentiousness, and rebel- 
 lion,' and, finally, find no better place for him than 
 
96 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 the company of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram : and all 
 for what ? because he had not had his head touched 
 by a Parliamentary Prelate, and had not, on a 
 certain day, according to the King's mandate, 
 sworn a solemn oath on his knees to obey ' the 
 Archbishop and Metropolitical Church of Canter- 
 bury though of a truth it would puzzle all the 
 bishops in Christendom to find in Scripture any 
 allusion to an Archbishop or a Aletropolitan See, 
 and though it be most certain that the iletropoli- 
 tan Sees of York and Canterbury were invented 
 by the Church of Rome, which the Homilies of 
 the Church of England have somewhat uncivilly 
 termed ' a foul, filthy, old withered harlot.' 
 
 "If, then, it be true, as Bishop Burnet justly 
 remarks, that ' the spirit of Antichrist is a con- 
 spirity to exalt the power of the clerg}-, even by 
 subjecting the most sacred truths of religion 
 to contrivances for raising their authority, and 
 by offering the world another method of being 
 saved besides that prescribed in the Gospel,' 
 what must we say to the Gathercoaliaus who 
 thus rattle their stage-thunder about Bishops and 
 Apostolical Succession, the King's mandate and 
 obedience to Canterbury, as if men could not 
 possibly be saved who are not under the jurisdic- 
 tion of a Parliamentary Prelate ? In what part 
 of Scripture will they find this doctrine ? How will 
 they churn this venom out of the sincere milk of 
 the word ? 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 97 
 
 " Our Vicar has (juoted tlie ' vencrahlc re- 
 formers ' and tlic venerable prelates of the 
 Established Church, as if they were all of his 
 way of thinking; and, indeed, such ignorance 
 exists, or is counterfeited by the modern clergy in 
 all Clnirch history, that they scruple not now-a- 
 days to assert any thing to suit their purposes ; 
 taking it for granted, I suppose, that the world in 
 general knows still less of these matters than they 
 do, and that, therefore, anything may be asserted 
 with safety. Let us then see what tlie ' vene- 
 rable prelates' have said on the point in contro- 
 versy. I find in Strype's J^ife of Archbishop 
 Cranmer the following document, 'Articles con- 
 
 * cerning the Christian Religion, given by the Re- 
 
 * verend Father in Christ, John Hooper, Bishop of 
 ' Gloucester, unto all and singular Deans, Parsons, 
 ' Prebendaries, Vicars, Curates, and otlier cccle- 
 ' siastical ministers, within the Diocese of Glouces- 
 ' ter, to be had and retained of them for unity 
 ' of agreement. ... 4. That tliey teach 
 ' that tlie Churcli of God is the congregation of 
 ' the faithful, wherein the Word of God is truly 
 ' preached, and the Sacraments justly ministered, 
 ' according to the institution of Christ ; and the 
 
 * Church of God is not, by God's "Word, taken for 
 ' the multitude or company of men, as of Bishops, 
 ' Priests, and such other, but that it is the com- 
 ' pany of all men hearing God's word and obeving 
 
 n 
 
95 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 ' the same — lest that any man should he seduced, 
 ' believing himself to be bound unto an ordinary 
 ' succession of Bishops or Priests, but only unto 
 ' the Word of God, and the right use of the Sacra- 
 ' meats. 5. That though the true Church cannot 
 ' err from the faith, yet, nevertlieless, forasmuch 
 ' as no man is free from sin and from lies, there 
 ' is, nor can be, any church knowTi, be it never so 
 ' perfect or holy, but it may err.' 
 
 " This astounding broadside of ' schism,' com- 
 ing from a regularly appointed Bishop of the 
 genuine Apostolical Church, must blow the crazy 
 timber of our Vicar all to pieces ; I do not, there- 
 fore, think it requisite to add to these words anv 
 comment of my own, nor will I say any more on 
 the topic, except to add, that the niiietcentli 
 article of the Church of England exactly agrees 
 with the fourth article of Bishop Hooper : for as 
 the nineteenth article never once names arch- 
 bishops, bishops, priests, and deacons as a part 
 of the Church of Christ, so does the fourth article 
 of Bishop Hooper carry out that silence into a 
 corollary, by plainly saying that no man need be 
 bmmd to believe ' an ordinary succession of 
 bishops,' for such a belief is a seduction ! 
 
 " Having thus briefly noticed the delusion of 
 the Successionists, we must now consider the office 
 of Bishop itself ; concerning which, the Protes- 
 tant Episcopalians utter every possible falsehood, 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 99 
 
 short of that only falsehood wliicli can make their 
 theorj' plausible — a submission to the popes as 
 successors of St. Peter. 
 
 "It is very well known that the word Bishop is 
 to be found in our English Bible, that v,ord 
 being in the Greek Episcopus ; and what is tliere 
 said of that office is to be found at large in the 
 Apostle Paul's Epistles to Timothy and to Titus, 
 where any one may judge by comparison with the 
 realities before our eyes, whether the Episcopus 
 described by Paul can be taken as a faithful por- 
 trait of an Episcopus in the sees of Canterbury 
 and York. 
 
 " Supposing a stranger to our customs and reli- 
 gion were to ask for certain marks whereljy to 
 find out an Episcopus, and we were to turn him 
 loose in the land with the following directions : 
 ' Go and seek through the land for persons who 
 are blameless, the husbands of one wife, vigilantj 
 sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt 
 to teach, not given to wine, no strikers, nor greedy' 
 of filthy lucre, but patient, not brawlers, nor cove- 
 tous — men that rule well their own houses, hav- 
 ing their children in subjection with gravity ; no 
 novices, lest being lifted up with pride they should 
 fall into condemnation of the Devil, having a good 
 report of them which are without, free from the 
 reproach of the Devil — moreover, they preach the 
 word, are instant in season and out of season — they 
 reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suflfering and 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 doctrine ; they -watch in all things, endure afflic- 
 tions, do the work of Evangelists, give full proof 
 of their ministry' — Woidd it, I ask, he fair to 
 furnish our stranger with these directions ? Would 
 they be of any use to him ? Would they not 
 giievously deceive him ? and, instead of leading 
 him to fix upon one of our mitred prelates — the 
 only genuine Episcopi — rather direct his atten- 
 tion to some hated ' teacher of scliism :' a Mr. 
 James of Birmingliam, a Mr. Parsons of York, 
 a Mr. Scales of Leeds ? Well, then, if these 
 directions would be of no avail to our stranger in 
 finding out one of the succession Episcopi of Par- 
 liament, how ought the Apostle to have wTitten 
 his description, so as that strangers really might 
 be able to discover these wonderful men, in the 
 palms of whose hands, and on the tips of whose 
 fingers are hung all the glories, nay, the very 
 existence, of the Christian Church ? Ought not 
 the indication to be rather in this language ? 
 • This is a true saj-ing, if a canonically ordained 
 priest desire the oiBce of a Bishop he desireth a 
 good job. A Bishop, then, must be in priest's 
 orders, and a doctor of divinity ; one who hatli 
 taken a degree at one of the universities, for- 
 merly a tutor of a great nobleman, a scion of a 
 noble family, a creature of a cabinet minister, au 
 editor of Greek tragedies, or a writer in a minis- 
 terial review. He must be elected by the King's 
 conge d'elire, directed to the dean and chapter of 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 101 
 
 a catlicdial cluircli, whicli electors must needs 
 elect liim or be prosecuted liy the king's attorney- 
 general. He must wear a rochet, lawn sleeves, 
 cope, tippet, bands, and wig; keep a coach 
 painted purple, dress his valets in violet-coloured 
 coats, and have armorial bearings with a mitre. 
 The whole body of the faithful must call him 
 " Mij Lord," and " Rujht Reverend Father," ac- 
 cording to the express command in the New Tes- 
 tament (Matt, xxiii. 9) ; he must be a baron in 
 Parliament, ordain priests and deacons, give canou- 
 ries and livings to his sons and nephews, receive 
 many thousand pounds sterling every year, and 
 have precedence next to viscounts, and above 
 barons. If he like to preach, he may ; and if he 
 like not, he may let it alone. He must have a 
 diocese according to the Scriptures, and always 
 sit in a throne when he is worshipping in his 
 cathedral, and he may be promoted from one 
 diocese to another, and finally become an Arch- 
 bishop.' If we had been furnished with a por- 
 trait like this, then it would have been an easy 
 task for our stranger to discover an Episcopus of 
 the English or Irish Church ; he might with 
 this index have recognized the Archbisliop of 
 Armagh, or embraced the Bishop of London, as a 
 true successor of the Apostles, and our Vicar tlien 
 might have had some foundation for all his rail- 
 ing accusation of Dissenters; but as matters arc 
 
102 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 not SO, we may safely conclude that a Bishop of 
 ■an Enghsh or Irish diocese bears no sort of resem- 
 blance to an Episcopus described by Paul. 
 
 " Now, I have made these remarks prefatory to 
 a closer inquiry on the subject, that you may not 
 be misled by mere words ; for so easily are some 
 persons perplexed by words and letters, that, ac- 
 cording to their mode of reasoning, a single phrase 
 is quite sufficient to make them admit a falsehood 
 as an indisputable and established truth. And on 
 this very topic there may be found multitudes of 
 unsound logicians, who, because they find the word 
 Bishop in the English Bible, and see a man called 
 a Bishop sitting in the House of Lords, immedi- 
 ately jump to the conclusion that the Church of 
 England is a &riptural Church, to the solace and 
 strengthening of their most frivolous faith. 
 
 " As, however, there is, as we have seen, an 
 Episcopus in Scripture, what is such an officer 
 amongst Christians ? He is the same as Pres- 
 byter, an elder, an overseer, a person in whom the 
 Church has reposed confidence, according to judg- 
 ment formed by observation, and ratified by elec- 
 tion. The Church saw in their Elders or Bishops 
 signs of sanctification through the operation of 
 the Holy Spirit, and such were set apart by 
 solemn prayer to the charge of the flock. There 
 were many, that is, there Mas a plurality of such 
 persons at Pliilippi. ' Paul and Timotlieus, the 
 servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 ]03 
 
 Jesus, which are at Philijipi, ivith the bishops 
 and deacons.' What can the Episcopalians, who 
 would portion out salvation into dioceses, make of 
 these many bishops at Philippi? Half-a-dozen, 
 perhaps, or ten, or a dozen 'Bishops' all in one 
 town ! How can diocesan Episcopality be recon- 
 ciled with the state of the Church at Philippi as 
 made manifest by this address? The truth is 
 often discovered by a very short sentence, and in 
 this one text, without going any farther, there is 
 quite enough for us to ascertain that the Church of 
 England rests on Popery and not on the Scriptures. 
 
 " Scott, an Episcopalian, in commenting on this 
 passage, has the candour to make the following 
 remarks : ' Paul addressed himself to the Saints 
 at Philippi with the bishops and deacons : hence 
 we learn that the distinction between presbyters 
 and deacons was not then rjenerallij esta- 
 hlished, but that the pastors of the Church 
 were distinguished from the deacons who ma- 
 naged the secular matters of the charities of the 
 Church.' This, in other words, is acknowledg- 
 ing that the three orders of Bishop, Priest, and 
 Deacon were not then invented ; that diocesan 
 Episcopacy, wliich is the dominion of one Bishop 
 over many, was unknown, but that the Churches 
 were managed much as Independent Churches 
 jiow are, by pastors and deacons. Scott goes on 
 to say, ' Much labour and learning have indeed 
 been employed to set aside this conclusion, but 
 
104 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 with little success, even by the allowance of 
 decided Episcopalians.' Wliy have this party 
 brought labour and learning to bear against the 
 direct testimony of the Scriptures ? Why have 
 these erudite and laborious persons thus endea- 
 voured to put dark for light, and to pervert the 
 plain meaning of words ? Is it not to raise a 
 stumbling block in the path of Christians, and to 
 make them believe a lie ; they in their consciences 
 knowing all the time that their system is indeed 
 a lie, and that it requires ingen\iity and manage- 
 ment to make it appear otherwise ? 
 
 "(In Acts XX. 18—27.) The Apostle Paul 
 being at Miletus, sent for the Elders or Bishops of 
 the Church of Ephesus ; ' he called the Elders of 
 the Church,' and he said to them (28), ' Take 
 lieed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, 
 over which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, 
 to feed the Church of God, which he hatli pur- 
 chased with his own blood.' This passage is of 
 great importance, because the way in which it has 
 been managed by our translators renders it very 
 suspicious that tlie word of God has been, by 
 design, made to episcopize, and that the whole 
 truth has not been allowed to appear. To under- 
 stand this perfectly, you will observe that the 
 translators in this text have rendered Episcopus 
 ' Overseer;' and the reason of this management is 
 obvious, for had they rendered Episcopus in this 
 text ' Bishop,' then behold ! it would have ap- 
 
LETTER Xy. 
 
 105 
 
 peared that the Elders or Presbyters of the Church 
 of Ephesus were Bishops, and consequently that 
 the office of Elder and Bishop were the same, 
 whereby the whole dream about the three degrees 
 would have been dissipated. We take the text, 
 however, as it stands, and not as the translators 
 pervert it, and by this passage we know that 
 the Holy Ghost had made the Elders or Presbyters 
 of the Church of Ephesus ' Bishops,' and that 
 their duty was to feed the Church and to take cure 
 of it, which is all that a diocesan Bisliop can 
 do, and nuich more than many of them ever luivc 
 done. 
 
 " Before we quit this passage, we will deduce 
 from it the following argument; 1. Either these 
 Elders here spoken of were Elders only and not 
 Bishops ; 2. Or Bishops only and not Elders ; 3. Or, 
 which we plead, and what the text affirms, the 
 same persons were Elders and Bishops. Now if 
 the first be asserted, then there was no Bishop at 
 Ephesus, because the Elders had the oversight of 
 the flock, and no Bishop came to meet Paul. If 
 the second, then there were no Elders at all at 
 Ephesus, which is a strange interpretation of the 
 words that Paul ' called to him the Elders of the 
 Church.' If the third be granted, which indeed 
 is inevitable, then it is an extinguisher for the 
 lovers of the three degrees, and proves that an 
 Elder was called an overseer because he had over- 
 siglit of the flock, and that we have so managed the 
 
106 LETTER XV. 
 
 simple word ' overseer' hy fraudulent translations 
 as to make thereby an overseer a Bishop, and a 
 Bishop a priest with a mitre on his head ; so that 
 the minds of thousands are thereby deceived, and 
 led to pay adoration to this idol of man's hands. 
 
 " Again : Peter writes to the Elders of the 
 Church that they shoidd feed the flock, ( 1 Peter, 
 V. 1 — 3,) taking the oversight, or exercising the 
 ofiice and functions of a Bishop over them, 
 €-KiaKo-!rovvTt^, and that, not us lords, but as sam- 
 ples (of humility, obedience, and holiness) to the 
 whole flock. On this passage good Mr. Scott the 
 commentator makes the following remarks : — 
 ' This must be allowed a decisive testimony that 
 ' no express distinction between Presbyters and 
 ' Bishops was at that time, when the Apostle wrote, 
 ' established in the Church.' At every turn, there- 
 fore, do we find the Successionists and the Trigra- 
 dists discomfited by the Scriptures ; there is nothing 
 to help their Popish theory ; and though there is 
 indeed an Episcopus or Bishop in Scripture, yet he 
 is quite another thing from an Enghsh or Irish 
 prelate : for a prelate is an arch-pastor, or a lord 
 over many score churches in his diocese, for which 
 there is no more authority in Scripture than there 
 is for an arch-prophet, or an arch-deacon, an arch- 
 gravedigger, or an arch-baptist. 
 
 "Now it is well known by those who have 
 studied ecclesiastical history that the identity of 
 Bishops and Presbyters is either asserted by some 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 107 
 
 of the Fathers, or so stated as to make it quite 
 impossible to reconcile the statement with the 
 high notions now once again in fasliion. Jerome, 
 in a passage which has often been quoted, says that 
 the distinction between Bishop and Presbyter was 
 unknown at the first, and was an invention of 
 later days. Theodoret, commenting on the third 
 chapter of the Epistle to Timothy, has these words : 
 ' Formerly Elders and Bishops were the same name 
 'or designation, and those whom they now call 
 * Apostles they used to call Bishops ; but in process 
 ' of time they left the name of Apostle to those who 
 ' really were Apostles, and gave the name of Bishop 
 ' to those who were formerly called Apostles.' Here 
 Theodoret testifies that the words had been 
 changed, which is quite sufficient to destroy the 
 idle theory of the three degrees, and in fact we find 
 repeated testimony that Apostle, Elder, or Bishop, 
 Bishop, Elder, or A])ostle, were indilTerently 
 used in the Apostles' days, which it could not be 
 by any means allowed amongst Episcopalians in 
 these days. Thus we find Peter (i. v. 1) saying, 
 ' The elders which are among you I exhort, who 
 am also a fellow-elder,' eru[XTrpEiTpv-cpoc ; and John 
 the Evangelist begins his second and third Epistles 
 by styling himself a Presbyter or Elder. Rightly 
 to apply these examples, we need only suppose 
 the case of a clergyman (who is called in the 
 Church of England a Presbyter) writing to the 
 Archbishop of York or the Bishop of London, and 
 
108 
 
 LETTEll XV. 
 
 giving to those prelates the title of Presbyter and 
 Elder ! In these days such a designation would 
 he considered a gross insult, because an English 
 Bishop conceits himself to be something immensely 
 above a Presbyter or an Elder, and he would most 
 certainly reprove the clergyman, who had thus 
 written to him, as gviilty of an unwarrantable 
 liberty, and would charge him with introducing 
 confusion and sedition into the Church of Christ. 
 The Apostles and Episcopi of the Scriptures have 
 different views from the prelates of the Established 
 Church. 
 
 "Again : Chrysostom, in his first homily on the 
 Epistle to the Philippians, teaches that Presbyters, 
 or Elders and Bishops, were names of the same 
 order; and again in the eleventh homily of 
 Timotliy lie uses these words: — 'Why does Paul, 
 omitting the order of Presbyter or Elder, pass 
 from the Bishops to the Deacons ? for this reason, 
 because the difference between Bishop and Pres- 
 byter was scarcely any, for the Elders had received 
 the power of teaching and presiding over the 
 Churches, and whatever things he had said about 
 the Bishops agree perfectly with the office of 
 Elder also.' 
 
 " Now I do not quote these testimonies of the 
 Fathers as carrying weight in the argument, for I 
 know full well that any bad thing may be proved 
 from these contentious, violent, and unscriptural 
 w riters, who hesitate not to utter any calumny to 
 
I.ETTEll XV. 
 
 109 
 
 blacken theii- enemies, or to exalt tlie power of 
 the clergy : my only motive for bringing them 
 forward here is, to show the clergy that their 
 favourite theory of tradition may be turned against 
 thenibelves ; that ' a liltle learning is a dangerous 
 thing;' and that they had better really examine 
 what may not be proved by tradition and by the 
 Fathers before they Ijrowbeat Dissenters with 
 high-sounding authorities. 
 
 " To finish, therefore, these evidences, I shall 
 quote the words of Archbishop Crannier, tlie 
 Father of the Church of England, preserved in 
 Bishop Burnet's Records, appended to the His- 
 tory of the Reformation. The record is entitled, 
 'Some Questions concerning the Sacrament.' Qu. 
 Whether Bishops or Priests were first ? and if the 
 Priests were first, then the priests made the 
 Bishops. Cranmer answered, ' The Bishops and 
 Priests were at one time, and were no two 
 THINGS, Bu r BOTH ONE OFFICE, in tlic language 
 of Christ's religion.' Qu. Wliether the Apostles, 
 lacking a higher power, as not having a Christian 
 King among them, made Bishops by that necessity 
 or by the authority of God ? The answer is very 
 long, but towards the end, says, ' The ministers of 
 God's word under his flTd/cshf be the Bishops, 
 Parsons, Vicars, or such other priests as be ap- 
 pointed hy his Majesty to such ministration. In 
 the admission to many of these offices be divers 
 comely ceremonies and solemnities used, for if 
 such offices and ministrations were comnntted 
 
110 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 without such solemnity they were nevertheless 
 truly committed ; and there is no more promise of 
 God that grace is given in the committing of an 
 ecclesiastical office than in the committing of a 
 civil office in the Apostles' time, for as much as 
 the Christian people had no sword nor governor 
 among them, they were constrained of necessity to 
 take such curates and priests as either they knew 
 themselves to be meet thereunto, or else as were 
 recommended mito them by others, that were re- 
 plete with the spirit of God and so some- 
 times the Apostles and others vmto whom God had 
 given abundantly his spirit, sent or appointed 
 ministers of God's word. Sometimes the people 
 did choose such as they thought meet thereunto ; 
 and when any were appointed or sent by tlie 
 Apostles or others, the people of their own Tohni- 
 tary will ^\ith thanks did accept them, not for the 
 supremity, empire, or dominion that the Apostles 
 had over them to command as her princes and 
 masters, but as good people ready to obey the 
 advice of good counsellors, and to accept any- 
 thing that was necessary for edification and 
 benefit.' 
 
 " Thus, Christian fi-iends, have you heard 
 enough from this Lectm-e to convince you that we 
 have abundant reason for denying that form of 
 Episcopal authority, lordship, and power, which yoa 
 now unfortunately ?ee in the Established Church, 
 but which is wholly tmscriptural and contrary to 
 the Spirit of the Gospel ? By what I have said, I 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 Ill 
 
 hope you will now clearly understand what is an 
 Episcopus of the New Testament ; and you also 
 know hetter than I can tell you what an English 
 or Irish Episcopus is, hy their eloiuus in tlic husi- 
 ness of the Reform Bill, and by their unwearied 
 stiTiggles for tithes and Church property. 
 
 " It is, therefore, for these reasons that we Dis- 
 senters constantly and holily refuse to sliow the 
 smallest obedience to a Bisliup of the Established 
 Church ; to acknowledge his jurisdiction, or seek 
 the miraculous touch of liis hand ; to listen to his 
 pretensions, or heed his anathemas. Ephraim is 
 joined to idols, let him alone. The Bisliops, whom 
 our Vicar loveth, have got what this w orld can give 
 them, and what this world also seems much dis- 
 posed to take away from them. They have chosen 
 an inheritance corrupted, defiled, and fading avvay. 
 We leave them to their diocese, which is the 
 kingdom of this world and alj its glory ; hut as 
 for ourselves, having our own Episcopi, our own 
 pastors, our own overseers, who are apostles, we 
 trust, not of men, neither by men — having through 
 their means the faithful preaching of the word, 
 and the administration of the Sacraments ; we care 
 not for all the threats and browbeating of an im- 
 potent Clergy, who in these days can indeed show 
 their teeth, but have lost the power of biting ; and 
 who have been deprived of the only argmnents 
 wherewith they ever could meet the Dissenters, 
 namely, the dungeon, the pillory, tlie stocks, and 
 the gibbet." 
 
LETTER XYI. 
 
 From the Reverend Rabsiiakeh Gathercoal 
 to L. S. E. 
 
 Dear Brother, 
 
 We are getting into the very thick of the 
 battle now — Mervyn's Lecture lias excited the 
 schismatics to a high degi-ee of impvidence. Tim- 
 son the bookseller told me yesterday that if I can- 
 not answer it, and that very satisfactorily, he shall 
 be obliged to turn Non-conformist ; for as I insist 
 now on communion with the Church on these high 
 grounds, fl«f/ u- 'ill not let matters alone, (a phrase 
 with this sort of people,) he must make up his 
 mind to a decision whether these high grounds are 
 tenable ; and for the present he thinks the argu- 
 ment all against me. 
 
 ■Widow Braithwaite, who has made a handsome 
 fortune liy carrying on her husband's business of 
 draper, and is now retiring from trade, has taken 
 a pew in Mervyn's ]\Ieeting House. I called on 
 her to ask her reasons for leaving the Church, and 
 hoped she was not so weak as to mind the shallow 
 arguments of a schismatical lecture : she replied 
 that my sermon had made her a Dissenter ; that 
 she did not hear Mervyn's lecture ; but now that 
 she had seen it in print, it had confirmed her in her 
 
LETTER XVI. 
 
 113 
 
 tleterminution. I saw Beverley's letter to tlie 
 Archbishup of York on her table, but I made no 
 remarks. 
 
 Jane is daily more melancholy : we scarcely 
 ever speak a word to one another. Some sad thing- 
 will turn out here, I am certain. In addition to 
 this, I have received of late many letters ft-om my 
 Nephew* Frank, which show^ that his mind is 
 taking a wrong turn. It appears to me that all the 
 evil spirits of Beelzebub are let loose in the land ; 
 every one now seems inquiring about these mat- 
 ters, and seeking for arguments to leave our Apo- 
 stolical Church. Frank's letters 1 send for your 
 perusal, they will speak for themselves. I insisted 
 on his being confirmed by the Bishop of Ely, and 
 he did at last unwillingly obey me. Indeed I told 
 him plainly that we would remove him from the 
 University if he did not please me on this point ; 
 and as I know he is very ambitious to distinguish 
 himself, this was a blow at his favourite hope 
 which he could not resist. If it was not for this 
 miserable tendency to schism, we might rejoice in 
 the lad, for they tell me at Cambridge he is sure to 
 get high honours. On the other hand, however, 
 as a set-ofF against these untoward circumstances, 
 I have the applause of the Clergy, and the promises 
 
 • This young gentleman, son of Rabshakeh's bister, was 
 sentto Athanasian College, Cambridge, by liistwo uncles,who 
 paid for his education, on condition that he should renounce 
 dissent, and in due time take Deacon's orders. The senti- 
 ments of this youth will be seen by what follows. liis fa- 
 ther was a churchman, and his mother a dissenter. — Kd. 
 
 I - 
 
114 
 
 LETTER XM. 
 
 of tlie Bishop of L , and the assurance from 
 
 his lordship that my sermon contains much ' sound 
 reasoning.' I am daily receiving letters from 
 clergymen wholly unknown to me in various parts 
 of the kingdom ; they tell me I have given a blow 
 to the hydra of schism from which it will never 
 recover. 
 
 One or two in this neighbourhood deprecate my 
 system, and predict nothing but e\il from the 
 course I am pmsuing ; but Dr. Birch tells me not 
 to mind their croaking, or, if I feel any misgivings, 
 to keep before my ej'es the example of Archbishop 
 Parker, who, sooner than renounce his detennina- 
 tion of enforcing the necessity of pontifical dresses, 
 saw unmoved the whole Church of England de- 
 prived of the most learned and pious Clerg}- then 
 existing — that great Prelate cleared the Church 
 and Universities of all "tender consciences;" 
 and though for a long time England was thereby 
 deprived of the best preachers, yet his determined 
 and unflinching conduct preserved us the surjilice, 
 which as you know is an emblem of the " righte- 
 ousness of the Saints." In short, dear brother, 
 you and I have long since agreed that half mea- 
 sures have well nigh ruined the Church of Eng- 
 land, and that the system of concession has 
 brought us into the predicament in which we are 
 now involved, and from which the Duke of Wel- 
 lington will scarcely deliver us, with all his energy 
 and brilliant talents. The repeal of the Test 
 
LETTER XVI. 
 
 115 
 
 and Corporation Act opened the floodgates of licen- 
 tiousness, and from the time of that fatal measm-e 
 the waters have been pouring in upon us — the 
 Catholic Emancipation and the Reform Bill were 
 the breaking down of two great banks, acce- 
 lerating our total ruin. Nevertheless, the case 
 is not perhaps yet hopeless, at least it is our duty to 
 believe so ; and as long as we hold the high station 
 of the pastors of the flock, we must not only feed 
 the lambs, but, like Peter, " kill and eat." 
 
 This puts me in mind of Obadiah Crabtree's 
 sheep. I had a demand of tithes against him, to the 
 amount of 13/., and I am determined to seize some 
 of liis stock, for he has a small farm in which he 
 takes great delight. " Good Mr. Thompson " 
 would never take tithes of the few Quakers in the 
 parish, though his liberality has in fact been only 
 money put out at interest, seeing that the broad- 
 brims have subscribed very large sums to his 
 widow. 
 
 I ordered the constable to seize the black-faced 
 sheep on Obadiah's lawn, and sure enough the 
 "vvhole company of the bleating brethren are in my 
 paddocks, waiting for a purchaser; for we have 
 not yet been able to raise the money by auction. 
 • The Dissenters exerted themselves to prevent any 
 one coming forward to make an offer, and have 
 hitherto succeeded ; but we shall put up the sheep 
 to sale again to-morrow, which is market-day ; 
 and if no one should make a bid, Stubbs declares 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 he will himself purchase them at ten shillings a- 
 head. la all these matters I am acting under the 
 advice of Mr. Scrope, the Rector of Amberwell, 
 the leading magistrate of these parts, -who is well 
 read in Ecclesiastical as well as in statute law, 
 and who tells us to go on with the great work 
 zealously, for he assures me that if every clergy- 
 man in England would pursue my plan schism 
 would be extirpated in three years. 
 
 I should not forget to inform you that we expect 
 a great stir at the sale next market-day, for my 
 servant has just brought me in a handbill, which 
 he says is in every one's hands. I judge by the 
 Latin motto, and the style, that ]Mervyn is the 
 author. 
 
 " Tithe Sale. — ArosTOLiCAL Church. 
 
 " Die mihi, Damaetas, cujimi pecus, an Jltliboei 
 Nou; verum A-gonis, luiper malus abslulit jEgou."' 
 
 " Whereas Rabskakeh Gathercoal has been prc- 
 latically ordained by touch of the Parliamentary 
 Bishops, and has sworn fealty to the metropolitical 
 See of York, according to Act of Parliament, 
 whereby he is a priest in the right line of succes- 
 sion from the Apostles ; and through them is also 
 descended from the sons of Aaron, Archbishop of 
 Stony Arabia, so that he has thus full right and 
 
l.ETTUR XVI. 
 
 117 
 
 title to all the tithes, first-fruits, oblations, heave - 
 ottcrings, and wave-offerings ever claimed by the 
 Levitcs ; and that too in a much more ample and 
 glorious way, because the Christian Priesthood has 
 greater emohunents than that of the law ; this is 
 to give notice that the aforesaid Rabshakeh, in 
 exercise of his spiritual heritage, has seized 
 thirty black-faced sheep belonging to Obadiah 
 Crabtree, Quaker, who being one of tin; sons of 
 Korah will pay no tithes to the son nf Aarcm ; 
 and that the said black-faced sheej) ■\^ ill lie put up 
 to auction next market-day, in the parisli of Tud- 
 dington, to pay the aforesaid Vicar his tithe debt, 
 amounting to thirteen povnidsone shilling and two- 
 pence. At which sale all good Christians are re- 
 quired to attend, to show their love and respect to 
 the new Aaronical Priesthood, which has the profit 
 and pleasure of tithes without the inconveicnce of 
 circumcision ; and this respect must be shown 
 by three cheers to Apostolical Church and Suc- 
 cession Priests*, ' not for their own sakes, they arc 
 hut earthen vessels, but for their work's sake, on 
 which account the people are cxprei^sly and uncon- 
 ditionally commanded to obey them.' 
 
 " Given under the Fisherman's Seal, 
 in the Year of Succession 
 3325. 
 
 T„dd,n^lon:' 
 * \'icar's Sermons ; and letters of L. S. E., p.G5. 
 
118 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 I must not close this letter without telling you 
 that Mr. Prebendary Walford has called upon 
 me to pay his respects to the brother of L. S. E., 
 and to the author of the sermon on Jude viii. 
 This gentleman is a very learned scholar and 
 a deep thinker ; but, to tell you the truth, he is 
 beyond my depth ; for when he favours me with 
 his conversation about the Church (and he talks 
 of little else), it is in such mystical language that 
 I cannot guess at his meaning. He says much 
 about " the idea of the Church antecedent to its 
 visi))le state," and then he descants about a " re- 
 served nationality," and a " universal clerisy form- 
 ing all the units of tlie state in their up-growing 
 tendencies," with a great deal more of this meta- 
 physical mystery, of which I can make neither 
 head nor tail. He is, however, quite contented if 
 I listen to his harangues, and this I do with a show 
 of attention which seems to win his heart. They 
 say he is a mighty opium-eater, but sure I am he 
 drinks a vast deal of brandy with as much com- 
 posure as if it were water. — And now I must close 
 this rambling epistle. 
 
 Your sincere brother, 
 
 Rab. 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 Dearest Brother, 
 
 This must be a long letter, but I will first 
 dispatch the affiiir of Crabtree's tithe-debt. The 
 hand-bill, of which I gave you a copy in my last, 
 was posted in all the neighbouring villages, and 
 drew an immense crowd to the market-place. It 
 was really a serious business, and when I saw the 
 preparations making by the mob I began to be 
 much alarmed. Mr. Scrope doubted whether he 
 should not send a messenger to Leeds for a detach- 
 ment of military from the barracks ; I strongly 
 urged him to this precautionary measure, but Dr. 
 Birch dissuaded it : he said we had better let 
 them begin with violence — we had but to leave 
 the rascals to their own machinations, and they 
 would be sure to break the law — our policy miist 
 be forbearance for the present, by which we should 
 be sure to get an advantage over the schismatics. 
 Tlie Dissenting teachers, however, with their cha- 
 racteristic cunning, had been very busy in per- 
 suading the people to keep quiet, and Mervyn had 
 issued a hand-bill, signed with his name, beseech- 
 
120 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 ing all persons to keep the peace, and not to raise 
 a little finger to violate the law. There -were, 
 nevertheless, some fiery s]nrits, who determined 
 to make a great business of this sale, and for this 
 puqjose they held previous meetings to make a 
 show of what they call " popular indignation." 
 When all was arranged and the constable brought 
 the sheep out of my paddocks, there were ready 
 standing at the gate not less than five hundred 
 countiy-people, arm in arm together, in files of 
 six, with tri-coloured ribbons in their hats or but- 
 ton-holes. Before them was a band of music and 
 a large black flag, with these words painted in 
 white letters, " The wicked principles of Dissent 
 have a tendency to destroy Christianity itself, and 
 to aliolish religion from the face of the earth,"* 
 and the procession was closed with a lad carrying 
 a board on a pole, bearing this inscription, " ^ly 
 kingdom is not of this world." The thirty sheep 
 came forth loudly bleating, and the rebels gave a 
 dismal groan to greet them. As the procession 
 advanced to the market-place, distant about half- 
 a-mile, the crowd increased to a dense multitude, 
 and Avhen all was ready, Stubbs assured me it was 
 a very imposing sight. The people made a great 
 circle, and kept quiet till the sale began. The 
 auctioneer wisely said very little ; but having 
 vaited some time to see if any one would make a 
 * Letters of L. S. H., p. 33, and Vicar's Sermon. 
 
LETTER. XVn. 
 
 121 
 
 bill, lie begged somebody to name any price, for 
 the sheep must be sold. After a little silence a 
 country-fellow said, " There is not a man twenty 
 miles round Tuddington big villain enough to offer 
 a penny for the parson's comfort." This was re- 
 ceived with a loud cheer from the multitude, the 
 music struck np, hats were waved, and then all 
 present began clapping their hands. At last 
 Stubbs summoned courage to offer 10^. per head 
 for the sheep, and at that price they were knocked 
 down to him. The mob groaned and hissed, and 
 threatened to pump him ; but Crabtree and Mer- 
 vyn came forward, and making short speeches to 
 the people, persuaded them to do no violence to 
 any man for that day's work. The business 
 ended with the procession following the sheep to 
 Stubbs's field, the band all the while playing the 
 Dead March in Saul. 
 
 Nothing further was done till night-time, when 
 tliey all assembled ag^ain in the market-place to 
 burn a bishop in effigy. They brought the figure 
 into my court-yard with an escort of torches and 
 a flaming tar-barrel. The effect was very curious ; 
 for besides the effigy of the bishop, with silver- 
 papered sleeves, which imitated the lawn very 
 well, they had hoisted a young man on a shutter, 
 who was dressed like a clergyman in full canoni- 
 cals, a portly personage, wearing a shovel-hat, 
 who gave out some doggerel verses at intervals, 
 with a ludicrous air of swaggering importance. 
 
122 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 These verses were a parody of parts of my ser- 
 mon. Having amused themselves in this way for 
 half an hour with much laughter and merriment, 
 they gave " three groans for the Vicar," and went 
 their way to the market-place ; there they kindled 
 a fire of straw, and with gi-otesque ceremony con- 
 signed the effigy to the flames, amidst a discharge 
 of squibs and crackers and a volley of sky-rockets. 
 Thus ended this day, and thankfiil I am that all 
 has ended so quietly. They will be tired of this 
 work ere long, and I shall for the future get my 
 tithes without any ti-ouble. 
 
 Strange, however, it is to me, when I reflect on 
 these things, to see the sad contempt into which 
 our order is now fallen. Who could ever have 
 believed that, in the lapse of so few years, we, 
 who were standing on the pinnacle of dominion, 
 and had the people beneath our feet, should be 
 compelled to hear and see the tilings now said 
 and done against both the Bishops and Clergy ? 
 Who could have believed, ten years ago, that it 
 would be so soon not only a question whether the 
 Prelates should keep their place in Parliament, 
 but whether the Church itself should be any longer 
 supported by the State? Wliat shall we have 
 next in this acra of changes ? 
 
 On the Monday following this aifaii' was the 
 clerical dinner at Scarborough's Hotel, in Leeds. 
 I received intimation beforehand that tliis meet- 
 ing was in fact to honor me, though no parti- 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 123 
 
 cular purpose was named in the invitation. We 
 met about fifty in number, the party was en- 
 tirely clerical, and, but for the folly of one man 
 and the mahce of another, it might have been a 
 day of great things to the Church ; as it turned 
 out, it was only a source of vexation and bitter dis- 
 appointment. Dr. Birch was in the chair ; the 
 dinner and wines were excellent, the conversation 
 was sprightly and interesting, and when the cloth 
 was drawn w^e drank some jovial healths to the 
 King — the Queen — the Duke of Cumberland — 
 and " the Duke of Wellington, the gi'cat defender 
 of Christianity." 
 
 Mr. Scrope then proposed my health in a very 
 flattering speech, and paid some high compliments 
 also to the author of the Letters signed L. S. E. 
 My speech I will not trouble you with, for you know 
 my sentiments sufficiently to make a speech for me. 
 
 Prebendary Walford rose next to propose the 
 health of the Archdeacon, but, without the slight- 
 est allusion to that which ought to have been his 
 theme, he began all at once with his mysticism. 
 He lectured us about " the Church and the State 
 in the idea of each." He said, " that in the spi- 
 ritual purpose of the word, and as understood by 
 reference to a future state, and to the abiding 
 essential interest of the individual as a person, and 
 not as a citizen, neighbour, or subject, religion 
 may be an indispensable atlij, but is not the 
 
12-1 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 essential constitutive end of that national institute 
 which is properly a Church in the idea of Church." 
 "The national clergj', or clerisy of the nation, in 
 its primary acceptation, comprehended the learned 
 of all denominations, the sages and professors of 
 the law and jurisprudence, of medicine and phy- 
 siology, of music, of militai-y and civil architecture, 
 of the physical sciences, with the mathematical, as 
 the common organ of the preceding ; in short, all 
 the liberal arts and sciences, as well as the theo- 
 logical. Under the name theology, or divinity, 
 were contained the interpretation of languages, the 
 tradition of past events, logic and ethics, and 
 lastly, philosophy, or the doctrine and discipline 
 <if ideas." "This," he said, "was the Church 
 in the idea of Church, and the idea," he said, 
 " was the most real of all realities, and of all 
 operative powers the most actual." 
 
 Here the learned gentleman seemed to mount 
 into the clouds, and continued some time a strain 
 beyond my powers of recording ; at last he came 
 to this passage : — " During the dark times when 
 the incubus of superstition lay heavy across the 
 breast of the living and the dying, and when all 
 the familiar tricksy spirits in behalf of an anti- 
 national priesthood were at work in all forms and 
 in all directions to aggrandize and enrich a king- 
 dom of this world, large masses were alienated 
 from the heritable proprieties of the realm under 
 
LETTER X\ir. 
 
 125 
 
 the name of Church property. Had every rood, 
 every peppercorn, every stone, brick, and beam 
 been re-transformed and made heritable at the 
 Reformation, no right would have been invaded, 
 no principle of justice violated. What the state 
 by law can do or suffer to be done, that the state 
 hy laio can undo or inhibit," S;c.* 
 
 Here the murmur, which liad been audible for 
 some time, burst forth into a vehement expression 
 of anger. Half a dozen clergymen rose at the 
 same time, and at last Mr. Scrope made himself 
 heard by raising his voice louder than the rest : 
 he jumped on the table, and protested against the 
 doctrine that the State could touch Church pro- 
 perty ; " they had not met together for such a 
 mischievous harangue as this, and if the reverend 
 gentleman thought tliat his mysticism should be 
 allowed to poison the sincere milk of the word 
 he was grossly mistaken ; all the clergy were now 
 inianimous in their opinion that Church property 
 was coeval with the creation, and that tithes great 
 and small, oblations, and Easter offerings stood on 
 an unrecorded revelation of God to Adam ;'\ it 
 was madness in these days to take a lower ground ; 
 if once it should be conceded that Church property 
 Avas a human institution, then it would follow that 
 what man had established man might destroy; 
 
 * See " On the ConsUfulion of the Church and State in 
 the Idea of Kach,'' by S. T. Colendi,'e, Esq. 1830. 
 
 f See Dr. Cove on Tithes, a very sound and orthodox 
 vohinie, — Euitou. 
 
126 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 the law had nothing whatever to do with Cluirch 
 property, wliich was divine, holy, iiiahenable, un- 
 alterable — it was the property of Heaven and not 
 of earth, and Parliament had no more power to 
 touch tithes or cathedral endowments than they 
 had power to touch the crystal firmament." 
 
 This speech was loudly applauded. Dr. Birch, 
 our chairman, here interposed with his good 
 humour, and restored order. He said that, Mr. 
 Prebendary Walford had a learned and subtile 
 way of thinking, which was not understood by the 
 ordinary breed of parsons ; he himself was free to 
 confess that he never could comprehend any idea 
 of a Chvrch, antecedent to chaos itself, consisting 
 of a universal clerisy, and the most real of all 
 realities. These universal teachers of mathe- 
 matics, music, divinity, dancing, logic, singing, 
 arithmetic, history, and fencing, might some time 
 have existed, perhaps in Plato's great island of 
 the West, or in extreme Taprabone ; but never 
 had he (Dr. Birch) seen or heard of such 
 a clerisy. " The clerisy, gentlemen, that I have 
 seen is a company of goodnatured priests, with a 
 very ample creed from high Cahinism down to 
 the lowest Socinianism, and enjoying themselves i 
 in all possible ways, from fox-hunting down to | 
 reading lithographed sermons. If the Dissenters I 
 would let us alone, pay tithes and Church rates, j 
 and not stir up the nation against us, by telhng 
 people that we are the spawn of Babylon, I have 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 127 
 
 no doubt we should let them alone. My creed is 
 ' live and let live ; ' a good fat living, a bottle of 
 old port, and a few old friends, give me a very 
 good idea of the Church ; and when I receive, as 
 I do, 800/. per annimi in the shape of tithes, I 
 ■ think it the most real of all realities. But if 
 Mr. Walford should set us, who are the clerisy, 
 to teach the nation all the fine things he talks of, 
 I shall think this a very poor ' manifestation of 
 the Eternal Church in the idea of it.' Gentle- 
 men, it appears to me, therefore, that Lord 
 Henley's idea of the Church, namely, a minimum 
 .of 400/. per annum to every parson in Great 
 Britain, with a maximum of 1600/. per annum, is 
 a much better idea of the Church than Mr. 
 Walford's ; and with your permission, therefore, I 
 will give you a toast — ' Lord Henleifs idea of 
 the primitive Church.^ " 
 
 This toast we drank with much laughter, to the 
 no small annoyance of the mystical prebendary. 
 When order had thus been restored, after a time, 
 up rose the Honourable and Reverend Mr. Arden, 
 second son of the Earl of Birmingham. It had 
 been a matter of surprise to many of us, before 
 we sat down to dinner, to see this young gentleman 
 amongst the party, for he is known amongst us as 
 a very unaccommodating evangelical, who keeps 
 aloof from the clergy, and lives by himself, deeply 
 immersed in study, and altogether of a somljre 
 and melancholy temperament. I should not forget 
 
128 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 to tell you that his curacy is only two miles from 
 Tuddington, that he was a great friend of " good 
 Mr. Thompson," but never once has condescended 
 to pay me a visit. When you read all he said 
 you will be amazed that we let him go on, seeing 
 that we had tolerated so nmch less from Pre- 
 bendary Walford ; and indeed I can only account 
 for it by the respect paid to his rank, and by his 
 commanding and ■prince-like air. He is very 
 tall, has a remarkably elegant person, a pale face, 
 with large black eyes and black hair ; and I must 
 confess that it is impossible to hear him speak 
 without involuntarily paying him deep attention. 
 He spoke as follows : — 
 
 " The object of this meeting, Mr. Chairman, 
 having never yet been fairly stated, I have been 
 endeavouring ever since we have been in this room 
 to ascertain the motives of those who have been 
 pleased to call us together. The invitation which 
 I received was orally delivered by a friend, who 
 begged me to attend a meeting of the clergy, 
 which, he believed, might be of importance in tlie 
 present crisis. As no jiroposition has, however, 
 yet been brought forward, and as no gentleman 
 present seems to have anything to propose, I 
 presume that the convokers of this meeting had 
 no otlier object in view than to pay a compliment 
 to the Vicar of Tuddington, which ha\ing been 
 paid in the usual style, it would seem that no 
 other labour is now imposed on us than to settle 
 
LETTliR XVII. 
 
 129 
 
 the tavern bill, and return to our respective 
 homes. I am anxious, Mr. Cliiiirnian, that this 
 meeting should not terminate with results so 
 unimportant, and I therefore beg leave to bring 
 forward a proposition for the consideration of my 
 reverend brethren, which I nuist preface with 
 a few necessary remarks. If we should sepa- 
 rate without having performed any thing more 
 efficient than the compliment of a toast to the 
 Reverend Vicar of Tuddington, it would appear 
 to me that our enemies, who are not less observing 
 than numerous, might accuse us of congregating 
 for a most frivolous ol)icct ; and these, Mr. Chair- 
 man, are not d;iys when wc can incur any addi- 
 tional ridicule with impunity. I am sorry that 
 the health of that reverend gentleman has been 
 drunk at all, and should wish, if it were possible, 
 that we might wash it away with the waters of 
 oblivion ; but the word, having escaped llic licilgc 
 of It'c'th, cannot be recalled ; and as the Vicar of 
 Tuddington has now received the wishes of his 
 brethren for an increase of health, it only remains 
 for us to add thereto a prayer that he may hence- 
 forward employ it in purposes honourable to him- 
 self, and to the Church of which he is a minister. 
 
 " I am, however, sorry that this health has been 
 drunk, because it has been coupled by the proposer 
 with a eulogy on the Vicar of Tuddington, as the 
 preacher of a published sermon, and as the brother 
 and imitator of L. S. E. To me, Sir, it appears 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 that neither the preacher of that sermon nor 
 L. S. E. are entitled to the thanks of the clergy. 
 I would have added, Sir, that they have merited 
 •nothing but our confempt, had I not this day, for 
 the first time, heard the sentiments of the Bishop 
 of L on the merits of these brothers, senti- 
 ments at -which I am amazed beyond description. 
 That a prelate of so much pretension to scholar- 
 ship and to discernment — that a gentleman so 
 w ell versed in courtly manners, and in that species 
 of sagacious prudence which is the boast of the 
 Jesuits — that a politician of so much manacjement 
 as the Bishop of L should have recom- 
 mended the Letters of L. S. E. to the clergy — 
 should have given it as his opinion that they 
 ' contain much useful information and sound 
 reasoninij' — is a matter of deep regret to every 
 clergyman who is not content to grovel in the 
 lowest grade of stupid and brutal bigotry. 
 
 " I have performed. Sir, the painfal task of 
 reading these said Letters of L. S. E., and for some 
 time was disposed to consider the book a clumsy 
 and exaggerated caricature, written by a Dissenter 
 to make the sect of bigots in our Church look 
 ridiculous ; but when I heard all around me the 
 serious applauses of my brethren, and observed 
 how the Vicar of Tuddington was extolled for his 
 l^rinted sermon, I was compelled to open my eyes, 
 and to look on these Letters as the bona fide pro- 
 duction of real malevolence, the undoubted labours 
 of geniiiiie clerical spite. 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 131 
 
 " As tlie Bishop of L has only pronounced 
 
 a general approbation, we must be at a loss to 
 know in what part of the book to find this sound 
 rcnsoning ; for to me every page seems replete 
 with such foolish rant, such violent perversion of 
 Scripture, and such desperate bhmders, tliat I 
 marvel much how even the least instructed of all 
 the great army of our priesthood could accept this 
 miserable volume ^^■ith approbation. We must, Sir, 
 I fear have fallen into a very low estate indeed to 
 admire, or even to tolerate, these Letters, though 
 stamped witli the approbation of a notorious pre- 
 late ; and I know not what excuse to find for our 
 order in thus having committed ourselves, unless 
 indeed we may plead that the political excitement 
 of the times, or the alarm of an .approaching down- 
 fall, have so bewildered our reason as to make us 
 say and do things of which we should l)e ashamed 
 in a more tranquil season. 
 
 "It does, however, apjjear to me a most im- 
 prudent, I had almost said a most insane, stroke 
 of policy, in this turning point of our future 
 destiny, to come forward with the old rusty sword 
 of Archbishop Laud in order to frighten the Dis- 
 senters into obedience. It is a scheme full of 
 folly, and worthy only of ridicule in these days to 
 dress ourselves in the worm-eaten garments of 
 Popish precedence, and to strut once more on the 
 stage as the bullies and monopolists of the Christian 
 religion. In darker days than these — in the heats 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 and violence of the Restoration, and under the 
 sway of the cursed* house of Stuart, we gained 
 nothing by our arrogant assertions of exclusive 
 privileges ; and the uproar of Sacheverel agitations 
 was of no permanent benefit to our cause ; but 
 now in these days, with the Reform Bill bearing 
 upon us in full force — with the notorious dis- 
 affection of the people, and the dying state of our 
 sister Church in Ireland to call us to repentance — 
 to set up again our idle claims of inherent apo- 
 stolical rights, and to denounce the vast body of 
 Dissenters as schismatics and atheists, who ought 
 not to he allowed even to abide in the country (for 
 such is the doctrine of L. S. E.) — this I say, Mr. 
 Chairman, is an incredible degree of fatuity, and 
 fully verifies the old adage, that Jupiter first de- 
 prives of reason those whom he wishes to destroy. 
 
 " I look round, Sir, on this assembly, and I cal- 
 culate that there are now seated round this table 
 not fewer than twenty clergymen professing serious 
 views of religion, and much am I grieved that not 
 one of these gentlemen should have entered his 
 protest against the vote of thanks to the Vicar of 
 Tuddington, and that the task should have fallen 
 on me as the only dissentient. To the consciences 
 of these gentlemen I must appeal, and ask them if 
 
 * The reverend speaker applied the word riirsfl to the 
 House of Stuart as designatinij the manifestation of Pro- 
 vidence in their fortunes. The curse of God to punish 
 ac.uraulatinj; wickedness is seen in the ulter ruiu of the 
 Houses of Stuart and of Bourbon. 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 133 
 
 they can, witli complacency, or even with patience, 
 sufi'or it to be recorded, that this day's meeting 
 has liad no other object than to register a vote of 
 thanks to the author of such sentiments as we see 
 in the Letters of L. S. E. ? Gentlemen, I turn to 
 you who are called Evangelical clergymen, and I 
 demand of you how you can justify your conduct 
 in thus declaring a brutal war against a large por- 
 tion of the Church of Christ ? I repeat my words, 
 (I large 'portion of the Church of Christ; for I 
 deem him an unworthy brotlier who shall dare to 
 pronounce a universal lian of cxconmiunication on 
 the great multitude of Nun-conformists, many, very 
 many, of whom, we must believe to be amongst 
 the redeemed and chosen tribes of Israel. The • 
 Non-conformists are numerous, powerful, intelli- 
 gent, and religious mcmljcrs uf the body politic ; 
 their pulpits are occupied in most of the great 
 towns by very able preachers, very diligent 
 pastors, and very pious Christians. Their chapels 
 are large and well attended, their congregations 
 are in many places overflowing ; they have their 
 own colleges, their own INIissionary Societies, and 
 their own institutions, religious and literary, sup- 
 ported by the voluntary contributions of their own 
 body. I have ascertained that some of the Dis- 
 senting chapels in London raise annually no less 
 a sum than 1 400/. for the support of the minister, 
 and in aid of the religious institutions which'de- 
 pcnd on their liberality — and we have only to look 
 
134 
 
 LETTER XVI r. 
 
 attentively at these things, which cannot be denied, 
 to convince ourselves of the folly of raving against 
 them as atheists and as wretches, who ought 
 barely to be tolerated in the nation, or who ought, 
 at any rate, to be branded as schismatics, and 
 treated as enemies of the Divine Redeemer. 
 
 "But, again, I must appeal to my Evangelical bre- 
 thren present,— is it not notorious that the verj- best 
 divinity is to be found in the school of the Non-con- 
 formists ? What a brilliant constellation do we be- 
 hold when we turn our eyes to this part of the Chris- 
 tian firmament ! and the stars here are not only 
 numerous but of the first order — such as Dr. John 
 Owen, the prince of divines, Howe, Charnock, Bax- 
 ter, Bunyan, Goodwin, Calamy, Edwards, Hcnrv, 
 Fuller, Watts, Doddridge, Gill, Flavell, together 
 with a long list of other venerable writers, whose 
 works must everbe precious to the Chiu-ch of Christ, 
 unless Popery or Socinianism should drive the 
 truth into the wilderness — a catastrophe which 
 never can be brought about but by the predomi- 
 nance of a political rehgion. And are we not com- 
 pelled to draw largely from the Non-conformist 
 writers for our best divinity ? Are we not con- 
 stantly quoting their sentiments, and enriching 
 ourselves with their doctrine ? Let me but refer 
 you to the publications of the Tract Society, two- 
 thirds of which are writings of these ' execrable 
 schismatics,' republished by our funds in a cheap 
 form, and largely distributed in various parts of 
 
LETTER XVn. 
 
 135 
 
 tlic kingdom by many of the Evangelical clergy — 
 and yet these Non-conformists are the men whom 
 we seek this day to brand as schismatics and apo- 
 states, infidels and atheists I 
 
 " If we come to names of living Dissenters, we 
 shall find Dr. Pye Smith and Dr. Wardlaw, whom 
 to praise I consider superfluous ; or if we wish to 
 ascertain who are their celebrated preachers, there 
 are ]VIr. James of Birmingham, ^Ir. Stratton of 
 Paddington, Mr. Binney, Mr. Evans of Gray's- 
 inn-lane. Dr. Fletcher of Stepney, Dr. Andrew 
 Reed, Dr. Redford of Worcester, Mr. Blackburne 
 of Pentonville, Mr. Lichfield of Craven Chapel, 
 and many others : men whose successful proof of 
 the ministry cannot be denied. 
 
 " The Vicar of Tuddington and his elder bro- 
 ther have, indeed, been pleased to use opprobrious 
 terms of the lowest scurrility against some emi- 
 nent Dissenting ministers now living — scurrility, 
 in which, as Christians and gentlemen, we are 
 called on to declare that we take no part ; for how 
 can we expect the least mercy at the bar of the 
 nation, when we shall be called up for judgment, 
 if, not content with the disreputable character of 
 too many of our clergy, we endeavour to make our 
 offence the greater, by insulting and calumniating 
 those who are better than ourselves ? Therefore, 
 gentlemen, I say we are called on to repudiate the 
 calumnious railings of the Gathercoal family, and 
 to convince the world, that, whatever the views of 
 
135 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 the Bishop of London may be, we are not com- 
 pelled, as a matter of course, to follow his ex- 
 ample, merely because we are Episcopalians. Let 
 us hope that Dr. Blomfield may see his error and 
 liave the candour to confess it, for the door of re- 
 pentance is opened as much for a Bishop as fur a 
 ' Publican,' though it is to be feared that more 
 publicans than Bishops care to pass through that 
 door. 
 
 " If, however, some persons think that we in- 
 deed are entitled to take this high ground, and to 
 assert these pretensions, which received a severe 
 blow in the decapitation of Archbishop Laud, their 
 inventor, and which I had hoped were buried in 
 the grave of the last non-juring parson — what a 
 different aspect should our Church present to the 
 world Ijefore we bring these pretensions forward ? 
 
 " We do, indeed, seem determined to pelt the 
 Dissenters ; and the Author of the Letters of L. S. E. 
 has prepared some pellets of filth, on which the 
 Bishop of London has bestowed his blessing ; but 
 we forget our own glass heads, which cannot but 
 be cracked in this pelting match. Let it, for ar- 
 gument's sake, be conceded that the Dissenters have 
 no pretensions to be called Christians*, and that they 
 are branches cut off from ' the true vine,' yet what 
 manner of persons ought we to be in all holy con- 
 
 * Lettcvs of L. S. E., pi-. 106— 1S3, et passim: that 
 '•' all Dissenters are and must be schismatics and heretic," 
 is proveil satisfactorily by L. S. E. — Kd. _ 
 
I.F.TTEU XVII. 
 
 137 
 
 versation and godliness before we take the Ajiosto- 
 lical chair, and sit down to judge and condemn all 
 tliose who have withdrawn themselves from our 
 discipline ! But what, Sir, is the real state of the 
 Church of England? what sort of men are its 
 Prelates ? and how have they attained their prela- 
 tical dignities ? It is commonly said by the Evan- 
 gelical Clergy, that there are three rjood Bishops 
 at present on the bench ; this is a very delicate 
 way of putting it. Nor will I alter this mode of 
 expressing a painful truth, the deduction from 
 which is evident ; but -what serious reflections 
 ought it to give rise to in our bosoms that we are 
 compelled to extol these tliree good Bishops, that 
 is, three wlio preach and encourage the Gospel I 
 Is there no Bishop now on the bench who is 
 accused at least of holding Socinian tenets? For 
 this accusation I must refer you to a review of 
 Dr. Maltby's sermons in the Christian Observer. 
 I myself express no opinion on the svd)ject, for I 
 consider it superfluous. Then we have Bishops 
 opposed to Bishops, or, at any rate, opposed to a 
 large portion of the Clergy : for if there be no 
 Bishops professing Calvinistic tenets, at this pre- 
 sent moment, are there not hundreds of the Clergy 
 who do i)rofess them ? and is it not notorious that 
 all we Evangelical Clergymen look to the Bishops, 
 or the great majority of them, as persons ignorant 
 of the Gospel, or directly opposing it? What do 
 we not say against Bishop Tomline's despicable 
 
138 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 theology? Have not some, of our body written 
 sharply against his erroneous views of the faith ; 
 and yet his Elements of Christian Theologj-, and 
 his Refutation of Calvinism, are text-books with a 
 majority of our priesthood, and with two-thirds of 
 the Bishops. It is no secret that Bishops Tomline, 
 and Pelham, and Herbert Marsh, repressed the 
 Evangehcal Clergy ; it is no secret that these Armi- 
 nian Prelates have gone great lengths in endea- 
 vouring to root out Calvinism from their dioceses ; 
 there are now living amongst us clergymen who 
 have been chased out of their dioceses, and hunted 
 from one diocese to another by letters diniissory. 
 The Reverend W. Dodsworth, now a popular 
 preacher in London, was followed by episcopal 
 hatred through three dioceses, threatened, in- 
 sulted, and silenced ; and such cases are very nu- 
 merous. If then the creed of our body is thus un- 
 fixed and uncertain, and if the Bishops are opposed 
 to the Evangelical Clergy, we have little reason at 
 present to claim the prescriptive office of teaching 
 the nation ; for how can the nation decide which 
 of us is in the right ? And until this be decided, 
 it seems to me very natural that the people should 
 flock to the Methodists and Independents ; where 
 they can choose Arminian or Calvinistic tenets 
 without being disturbed by a Bishop on the one 
 hand, or an Evangelical Clergyman on the other. 
 
 " It is an invidious thing. Sir, to speak against 
 individuals ; but if I were so disposed, I might, per- 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 139 
 
 ha])s, name some of the Prelates now living, who, 
 to say the least of it, come very far short of the 
 description of a Bishop to be found in the Scrip- 
 tures. I could trace the secret elevations of many 
 of them, and show how little the glory of God is 
 considered in the consecrating of our courtly pre- 
 lates ; but I pass over the political intrigues of 
 some, and the avarice of others — I omit naming 
 the tragedians and reviewers, the courtiers, and 
 the tutors of noblemen who now perpetuate 
 our boasted line of Apostolical succession, and I 
 come at (jnce to the great body of the clergy. 
 Here, Sir, I am treading on ground considered 
 holy, and I must walk delicately — but this may 
 be said without giving offence, that we are noto- 
 riously divided into two great bodies. Evangelical 
 and non-Evangelical ; that the non-Evangelical 
 constitute an immense majority; and that the 
 Evangelical party accuse this majority of not 
 preaching the Gospel! Not to preach the 
 Gospel, Sir, is a very serious thing in a professed 
 Minister of the Gospel ; it is as if a soldier would 
 not fight, or a husbandman would not till the 
 ground, or a sailor would not manage the ship — 
 nay, Sir, it is as if the sun would not shine in the 
 Heavens, for we are the light of the world, and if 
 ■we do not shine, the world must be in darkness. 
 But supposing the Evangelical party are wrong in 
 this accusation, — then it must follow that they 
 themselves do not preach the Gospel, and that 
 
140 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 they calumniate and defame their brethren : so 
 that v. e are on the horns of a dilemma, and, either 
 way, seem to have small pretensions to those high 
 and inherent qualities which Mr. Gathercoal has 
 ascribed to our body. 
 
 " But again. Sir, I fear the lives of very many 
 of us are anything but clerical. I see some here 
 present who are much addicted to field-sports, — 
 some go out with Lord Harewood's hounds*, — 
 some are excellent shots, — some are fine dancers, — 
 some play beautifully on the flute or fiddle, — 
 some flirt with the ladies, — some play at cricket, — 
 some are scientific anglers, — we are to be found in 
 the ball-room, the stables, and the dog-kennel, — 
 all this may conduce to our health, and may be 
 very agreeable, but it is not clerical ; and if it is 
 not clerical, we are condemned — for this is again 
 as if a soldier were not military, a sailor not naval, 
 or a husbandman not agricultiiral. 
 
 " And the consideration of what we really are, 
 and how little we can bear a close inspection, 
 makes me deeply deplore the extreme imprudence 
 of L. S. E. in endeavouring to injure the dissentuig 
 body, by recording scandalous stories against some 
 dissenting Ministers or members of dissenting 
 Churches. Mr. Gathercoal's ill will against the 
 Non-conformists has not, with the utmost anxiety 
 
 * The Reverend and Right Hbnouraule Lord Scar- 
 borouj>h was lately killed by a fall from his horse in the 
 fo.\-chase. 
 
I.liTTER XVII. 
 
 141 
 
 to make the case appear as bad as possible, re- 
 corded a dozen cases of reprehensible conduct in 
 that body of Christians from which he is a fugitive, 
 and wliich he has had means of contemplating all 
 his life ; but we, Sir, are in such a moral condition 
 that I know not the size of that volume which, 
 with the closest jjrinting, would be able to contain 
 the scandalous stories of our numerous clergy. 
 Let us suppose that the reformed Parliament were 
 to copy the precedent of the Long Parliament, and 
 were to appoint a commission to incpiire into tlie 
 cases of ' scandalous Ministers ' in every county ; 
 with orders to publish a report, containing the re- 
 sult of their labours ; who amongst us would not 
 tremble at the ditclnsuretf ? wh.) would not vvish 
 that we had never entered into the controversy, 
 and that we had allowed our Church to be reformed 
 without provoking the Dissenters to reprisals ? 
 
 " But for other reasons still more important do 
 I lament our apparent approbation of the Letters 
 of L. S. E., since, to identify ourselves with the 
 sentiments which they proclaim, is clearly to reveal 
 to the world the secret wish of our hearts, and the 
 tendency of our system — unlimited persecution : 
 for who that has read those vulgar and violent Let- 
 ters must not sec that they attribute enormous 
 power to our Clergy ; and without disguise assert 
 the privilege of restraining all opposition, and even 
 of banishing Dissenters out of the kingdom ? The 
 spirit that animated Archbishop Laud and Arch 
 
142 
 
 LETTER XVir. 
 
 bishop Sheldon ; the spirit that raged against the 
 Puritans from the days of Queen Elizabeth down to 
 the passing of the Toleration Act, breathes through 
 these Epistles ; and indeed whenever a priesthood 
 is fully persuaded of the divine right of its own re- 
 ligious monopoly, whenever it takes the high ground 
 of inherentsuperiority, then must all who deny this 
 monopoly be looked on as criminals of the worst 
 sort, whom it is a virtue to deliver over to the 
 secular arm. History has not been written in 
 vain. A caste of privileged priests is in- 
 evitably cruel and persecuting, and certainly our 
 clergy never have been renowned for mercy. It is 
 a painful, but very instructive task, Mr. Chairman, 
 to read our Church History, and to trace the 
 bloody footsteps of our now superannuated and 
 decrepit authority. Considering our origin, and 
 how we ourselves have escaped out of the fangs of 
 Popery, with ' the skin of our teeth,' our persecu- 
 tion of the Dissenters has been the most wicked 
 I know of. To watch the Ehzabethan Bishops, 
 themselves but hardly saved from the stake, filling 
 the gaols with Non-conformists, and ruining count- 
 less families by penal extortions, or hanging men 
 for writing against the Prayer Book ; — to see the 
 fury which animated our Clergy after the Restora- 
 tion, and to notice all the bloody persecutions of 
 the Dissenters, from the landing of Charles II., 
 down to the passing of the Toleration Act, will 
 furnish abundant proofs of the tendency and 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 143 
 
 propensity of our priesthood, when not restrained 
 by the superior mercy of the laity. It is cal- 
 culated that not less than 5000 Dissenters pe- 
 rished for non-conformity in the reigns of the 
 Stuarts ; and we all know with what extreme in- 
 dignation the Toleration Act was received by the 
 clerical body. In fact the high Church party, from 
 the reign of William III. up to this present hour, 
 have only been restrained from acts of violence 
 against the Dissenters by the barrier of the law ; 
 and it is clear, by the writings and sermons of all 
 that party, and by the flatteringreception with which 
 we have honoured L. S. E., what we would do if we 
 had the power to indulge our inclinations. I, Sir, 
 for one, should be sorry to see our hands untied ; 
 and if the Conventicle and Five-Mile Acts were re- 
 vived, and the power of bin-ning heretics restored 
 to us by law, I feel convinced that, in spite of the 
 spirit of the times, we should vigorously attack the 
 Dissenters with the priestly arguments of the 
 gaol, the gibbet, and the stake. 
 
 " Can we, Mr. Chairman, remembering all that 
 we have done when we had the power to work 
 mischief, can we be surprised to hear the Dis- 
 senters now calling out for the humiliation of us 
 Episcopalians ? We did all we could to extermi- 
 nate them when the sword was in our hand, and 
 we thought we did God a service in persecuting 
 them — but now when they only require that we 
 should be made, what they ire — Dissenters — when 
 
144 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 the)", and the nation with them, demand an equa- 
 lization of Christian sects, we cry out that religion 
 is at an end, and that faith must he driven from the 
 face of the earth if we lose our tithes. The tree 
 which we cut down, but could not root out of the 
 earth, has sprung up again into luxuriance,aud out 
 of its timber they have made an axe to cut us down 
 in our turn. 
 
 Kudf, caper, vitem ; tamen hinc. quum stabis ad aram. 
 In tua quod fundi cornua pjssit, erit. 
 
 " Let us then for the time that remains be more 
 prudent ; let us take warning by the history of all 
 established Churches, and not make our downfall 
 more complete by thus putting forth ridiculous 
 claims and frivolous pretensions with all the pride 
 of a Hildebrand, and the folly of a Laud. It is a 
 most vain idea to suppose that we ever can by any 
 position of circumstances, by any political change, 
 or by the policy of any Cabinet, ever attain to what 
 we desire, a monopo/i/ of religion. Dissenters 
 have increased, are increasing, and will constantly 
 increase. Ours is the religion of the aristocracy, 
 a body that has passed its meridian, and is evi- 
 dently declining ; the whole tide of society is flow- 
 ing strong against the Established Church ; and 
 however grand may be our ideas, and however in- 
 tolerant our language, it seems to me utterly im- 
 possible that we can long delay our destiny— that 
 we can long prevent ourselves from falling into the 
 humiliation of an unprivileged sect. If I did not 
 
i.i;ttek XVII. 
 
 145 
 
 hope and believe that the Church of England 
 would be separated from the state, if I did not ex- 
 pect before many years shall have passed over our 
 lieads, to see our fabric based on the voluntary 
 system, I should quit the Established Church and 
 become a Dissenter; but having, on conviction, 
 adopted Episcopalian views, (though not such 
 episcopacy as the Gathercoals and the Bishop of 
 London dream of,) I still cling to our superannuated 
 and tottering Church, because I believe she will 
 soon be compelled to die to the world that she mav 
 live to Christ. I anticipate her resurrection, I 
 look forward to her new life of righteousness, and 
 lier regeneration from the rudiments of the world. 
 I am in prophetical vision (I trust I may so call 
 it) beholding, and that not far off, the ruin of her 
 wealth, and her irremediable abscission fi-om the 
 state ; and then, when there shall be no more pa- 
 laces for titled Prelates, when the Church of Eng- 
 land shall be for ever freed of courtly Bishops, who 
 spend half the year in Parliamentary intrigues and 
 the other half in amassing money ; when tithe-car- 
 nage shall cease in Ireland, and Church-rate strifes 
 in England — when hvings shall cease to be bought 
 and sold, and to be advertised in the Auction Mart 
 — when the whole rout of fox-hunters, card-])layers, 
 and money-hoarders shall be driven from the Mi- 
 nistry — when the Universities shall not be the 
 schools and the corrupters of future Evangelists — 
 then shall I rejoice to call myself a Clergyman of 
 
146 LETTER XVII. 
 
 the Cluircli of England, a title which I now hold 
 not without some feelings of compunction, feelino-s 
 to which I know for a certainty several of my Re- 
 verend Brethren are no strangers. I, therefore, 
 Mr. Chairman, propose the following resolution : — 
 
 " The Clergy assembled at this present meeting 
 have drunk the health of the Vicar of Tud- 
 dington, as of a private gentleman — hut in so 
 doing, they totally disclaim any jjarticipation in the 
 sentiments contained in his published sermon, or 
 in the Letters of L. S. E." 
 
 This speech I have given you as I copy it from 
 the notes of a friend present— it was in reality 
 much longer, and was dehvered with terrible 
 energy. I did not hear above half of it myself, for 
 I was too confiised and perplexed to understand 
 what he was saying. I was revolving a thousand 
 plans in my mind, and thinking what I should say 
 or do when he had finished. Arden's pov, er was so 
 great over the meeting, that no one attempted to 
 stop him. I once rose up to protest against some- 
 thing which fell from him, but with a stern voice, 
 he said, " Sir, I will not be interrupted — when I 
 have finished what I mean to say, you can answer 
 me at your leisure;" and the Chairman, who 
 seemed overawed, desired me to keep my seat, and 
 to wait till :Mr. Arden had concluded. 
 
 Thus did I sit miserable and abashed till the 
 harangue was ended, when Mr. Andrews rose to 
 second Arden's resolution. They all then called 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 147 
 
 on me by name, but wlien I got up to speak, all 
 my ideas left me ; and after stammering out a few 
 words about " schism, and Apostolical succession," 
 my feelings so overpowered me, that I was obliged 
 to sit down, and I believe I should have fainted 
 but for the timely relief of tears. 
 
 Oh, dear brother, what did I not endure ! You 
 must pity me indeed, for I was in a most mise- 
 rable plight. My tears, however, roused some 
 sound-hearted friends to protect me, and Dr, Birch 
 at last found his tongue. I know not what he 
 said, for all then became an uproar ; several got 
 up to speak together ; one or two jumped on the 
 table. Some cried out, " Divide, divide," others 
 " No division." Dr. Birch roared out like a 
 lion, "The Church is in danger;" but after a 
 great deal of shouting and calling to order, Arden 
 and his party left the room, about a score alto- 
 gether as well as I coidd make ovit, and thus it 
 came to pass that nothing was determined, for 
 the party broke up in confusion, bringing to a 
 close the most disagreeable day of my life. 
 
 Yours ever, &c. 
 
LETTER XVIII. 
 
 From Francis Emerson to the Reverend 
 Rabshakeh Gatiiercoal. 
 
 Atliaaasian College, Cambriiljje. 
 
 My DEAR Uncle, 
 
 Your letter received by me last :Mondav 
 has been very acceptable, for it gives me full 
 permission to imburthen my mind on subjects 
 which are to me of paramount importance ; and 
 you will perceive that I shall avail myself of the 
 permission without reserve, by freely stating all 
 those doubts that have arisen in my mind respect- 
 ing the Church of England. If in making these 
 remarks I should use great plainness of speech, I 
 am sure you will forgive me, for my object is to 
 tell the truth as far as I know it, and to ascertain 
 it where I know it not. It is my hope that vou 
 and my uncle Lucifer will as freely answer all 
 my objections, and that your answers may be 
 more duly weighed. I propose to confine my 
 remarks to one subject in each letter, wherebv 
 we shall be able fully to consider each question 
 separately without confiision. 
 
 Your question about the real state of the morals 
 of this university I will now ansv. er before I pro- 
 
LETTER XVIII. 
 
 149 
 
 cceJ to more interesting matters. I find tliat tlie 
 society amongst the young men here requires a 
 very close inspection before any one can give an 
 opinion respecting it. There are many parties, 
 if I may so term themj that is, the habits of the 
 Gownsmen vary according to their inclinations ; 
 and so distinct are these parties, that I am per- 
 suaded many young men here of serious and 
 studious dispositions have not the slightest know- 
 ledge of what is going on all around them. The 
 idle and the profligate constitute the majority ; 
 eating and drinking, riding out on horseback, 
 lounging in the streets, and Jtilling time, are 
 the occupations of the idle. Then there is a 
 party of readiiitj men, the majority of whom are 
 very sober and temperate in their habits, and 
 indeed many of them are decidedly religious and 
 sincere Christians. Some, however, of the read- 
 ing men are sons of pleasure, only they manage 
 their immorality in a more prudent and secret 
 manner than the spendthrifts and the profligates 
 who seek to figure in conspicuous intemperance. 
 There is a party of cleganis, gentlemen who 
 study to be very refined in their manners, and 
 who carefully avoid every excess, because it 
 is supposed to taint that aristocratical dignity 
 which is their idol. These youths arc very luxu- 
 rious in their habits, very exclusive in their 
 friendships, and very proud and contemptuous in 
 their demeanour. Their expenditure is great, and 
 
150 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 their debts frequently much gieater than their 
 exj)encliiure. 
 
 The Simeonites are, generally speaking, studious 
 men, and make open profession of serious religion ; 
 their religion does not always bear an amiable 
 aspect, nor is it always sincere, but there are 
 many good men amongst them. 
 
 There is another party of rehgious gownsmen 
 who keep aloof from the Simeonites, and who 
 have their own private meetings, for they do not 
 approve of all they see in the general body of the 
 Simeonites. To this party, if to any, I belong. 
 Our meetings vary from a dozen to near thirty. 
 The tendency of this party is certainly to Non- 
 conformity. 
 
 There are a few professed Dissenters, who keep 
 quite secluded. I do not know one of them except- 
 ing by report. This is a tolerably correct sketch 
 of the society of Cambridge. I hear very terrible 
 stories of the icorst gownsmen, for I often make 
 inquiries about their proceedings, but with my 
 own eyes I have as yet seen nothing beyond 
 nightly uproars in the streets, and sincerely hope 
 I never may. One or two of my schoolfellows 
 are amongst the worst, and from them I receive 
 such accounts of nocturnal proceedings as I wish 
 not to believe. That any one should deny the 
 existence of much disorder in the moral state 
 of this University is quite surprising, and I do not 
 see how it could possibly be otherwise than it is. 
 
LETTER X\'in. 
 
 151 
 
 seeing all the temptations which are tliiowii in 
 the way of the young men ; but I will not un- 
 dertake to confirm all that is stated in B.'s 
 pamphlet, indeed I think he has written with too 
 nuicl'. acrimony, and I feel persuaded that his 
 provoking style has driven some people to deny 
 a great deal which they would not liave denied had 
 he put forth his statements in a different form. 
 
 Perhaps the best evidence of the real state of 
 morals amongst the gownsmen would be by gain- 
 ing access to the tradesmen's books, the expendi- 
 ture and debts of the young gentlemen would then 
 be seen in a way not to be denied ; but this I 
 presume is a sort of evidence that not even an 
 act of Parliament would venture to demand. 
 
 The external and surface view of Cambridge 
 is much better than I expected to find it, and the 
 reading men are certainly a numerous body. 
 
 Having thus given an impartial account of the 
 morals of the University, I must finish this letter 
 by expressing my very great repugnance to the 
 system of worship enforced here ; and on this sub- 
 ject I suppose it is lawful to speak freely, since 
 Lord Stanley himself has in the House of Commons 
 spoken of the University worship with unmeasured 
 reprobation. We are compelled here to go four 
 mornings and four evenings to chapel every week, 
 but what a profanation of God's worship are these 
 shameful meetings ! Only conceive two or three 
 hundred young men forced uu\^•illingly to chape! 
 
152 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 in our college at an early hour in the moiuing ! 
 Conceive the unfinished state of their toilet — the 
 gabbling of the prayers by the hard-worked chap- 
 lain — the inattention of all present — the anxiety 
 manifested in all to depart — and the total absence 
 of every appearance of piety or even decency. 
 Consider all the circumstances of the case, my 
 dear uncle, and ask yourself if it could be well 
 otherwise J and then remember how it is written, 
 " God is a spirit, and they that worship him must 
 worship him in spirit and in truth and must it 
 not be confessed that chapel here is a mere pro- 
 fanation, and that it would be better to shut the 
 chapel-doors altogether than thus to enforce a 
 worship so scandalous as this ? 
 
 Supposing the attendance at chapel were voluii- 
 tar'j, how many do you think would come? But 
 I forget that the Church of England is opposed to 
 the voluntary system, and that her religion is now 
 declared to be one of force. 
 
 The wearing of the surplice is to me and to a 
 few others a very great trial. This Popish gar- 
 ment we are compelled to wear every Saturday 
 evening, every Sunday, every Saint's day, and 
 every vigil of the festivals. We know so well the 
 history of the surplice, that it is impossible to deny 
 its Popish birth. The question of wearing or re- 
 jecting this absurd sheet is the well-known origin 
 of Non-conformity, and if the surplice was opposed 
 by some of the first Bishops of the Protestant 
 
LETTER XVIir. 
 
 153 
 
 Cluirdi — if tli2 great and venerable Nou-coii- 
 formists were content to die in prison sooner than 
 carry about with them this badge of superstition, 
 — how can we justify ourselves in assuming the 
 Papist's masquerade dress ? 
 
 Many of my friends laugh at my scruples, and ask 
 me, " What does it signify ? — shall I be any v> orsc ? 
 — what harm does it do ?" &c., but by this mode of 
 arguing any wickedness may be introduced. A cru- 
 cifix could do no harm — incense could do no harm. 
 If tiic fellows of our college were to come to chapel 
 dressed like Poiii^li Priests in cloth of gold, and 
 were to carry incense pots and banners, it could do 
 no harm; — if we gownsmen were to carry palms, 
 and were to wear garlands, it could do no harm. 
 But in reality the harm is very great ; it is intro- 
 ducing into the worship of God that which is not 
 appointed ; it is adding to the work of Christ ; it 
 is yielding to the principle on which Popery de- 
 pends ; it is keeping up a friendship witli the 
 Beast; it is carrying his mark on our foreheads; 
 it is adhering to the rudiments of the world ; it is 
 not worshipping God in spirit and in trutli. 
 
 I protest I am perfectly ashamed of myself 
 whenever I put on the surplice, for I never am 
 dressed in this fdthy thing without seeing in ima- 
 gination the blood of the Non-conformists on its 
 skirts, and nothing but the fear of expulsion would 
 prevent mc going into chapel in plain clothes. 
 And yet this is a very shameful motive to obedience, 
 
134 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 for ^vllich I can offer no excuse. How my con- 
 science is to get clear of this stumbling-block I 
 do not at present see. I know my duty, but do 
 not follow it. 
 
 I find I have written as far as the limits of mv 
 letter will allow; in my next I will state my 
 scruples on other subjects. 
 
 Your dutiful Nephew, 
 
 Francis Emerson. 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 My eear Uncle, 
 
 Your answer to my scruples about the 
 surplice is indeed not satisfactory ; you tell me 
 that " white linen is the righteousness of the 
 Saints," and that wearing surplices "encourages 
 the linen trade." The earthly reason I shall leave 
 untouched, for I am in no wise concerned in it ; 
 but for the spiritual reason I may be allowed to 
 offer a reply. 
 
 It is very true, that, in the mystical language of 
 the Apocalypse, white linen is called the righ- 
 teousness of the Saints ; but if that weje any 
 argument for the Clergy or the young gentlemen 
 of Cambridge putting on a white sheet, I should 
 require, first, that the Clergy and the gownsmen 
 of the Universities were really Saints, which is cer- 
 tainly not the case ; secondly, that all the Saints, 
 all the spiritual believers of all countries, and of 
 both sexes, should be dressed in surplices at all 
 times. But if this symbolical mode of ornament 
 is admitted, then do we at once concede the point 
 to the Church of Rome, that w e may worship, 
 
156 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 not always in spirit and in truth, but sometimes 
 by emblems and figures and theatrical representa- 
 tion. In this way we may keep candles burning all 
 day in the churches, because Clirist is " a light to 
 lighten the Gentiles or we may offer up incense, 
 because « Christ gave himself for us as an offer- 
 ing and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling 
 savour;'' or we might mix water in the Sacra- 
 mental wine, because blood and water flowed out 
 of the wound in our Saviour's side ; or, in short, 
 whatever we can invent to gratify our fancy and 
 to excite our languid imagination, may be resorted 
 to in the adoration of the living and triie God. The 
 very smallest approach towards a sensual worship, 
 the coming of any rite or ceremony not enjoined 
 in the Gospel, is, according to my belief, a black 
 and enormous crime, and it is "by laxity on this 
 subject that all the corruptions of the Church liave 
 commenced and been matured. To finish, there- 
 fore, this subject, as you have quoted Scripture for 
 the surplice, I must also make my references. 
 " They shall walk with me in white, for they are 
 worthy: he that overcometh the same shall be 
 clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out 
 liis name out of the book of life." (Rev. iii. 5.) 
 This, in prophetical language, is very appropriate 
 and solemn, but when put into practice in the 
 persons of the Cambridge gownsmen is not only 
 ridiculous but ijrofaue and impious; for not only 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 157 
 
 are m?.ny of these white-robed youths not vic- 
 torious Saints, but are unreclaimed sinners carried 
 captive in the thraldom of their passions. 
 
 I shall now ofr'er a few remarks on tlie Churcli 
 of En^-land compared v, ith the Church of Cliris- 
 tians, as seen in the Acts of tlie Apostles ; and in 
 the remainder of this letter shall adhere to this 
 one subject. 
 
 In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles 
 we find " the disciples " electing an Apostle. Novi-, 
 according to the doctrine of the Church of England, 
 the Apostles appointed Bishops, and Bishops ruled 
 the Churcli v. ith monarchical sway ; but here the 
 disciples, one hundred and twenty in number, 
 elect an Apostle, " from whom all Episcopal au- 
 thority flows," whereby it is clear that the Church 
 elected its own overseers, or Bishops — nay, that 
 the very first act of the Church, as a body, was to 
 do this very thing. The whole scheme of Pre- 
 lacy seems to me to be overthrown by this one 
 example, and in what way any writer, liowever 
 ingenious, can reconcile the mode of elevating an 
 English Prelate to the Episcopal throne with the 
 narrative contained in this chapter I know not. 
 In our English Church, the Prime Minister names 
 the Bishop, the King issues the co7}gd -iPelire to 
 the Dean and Chapter of a cathedral, and they, 
 by law, are compelled to elect the person whom 
 the King appoints. I need not say, that this is 
 
158 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 not the way of electing Bishops according to the 
 narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 Again, in the sixth chapter of Acts, I find the 
 w hole multitude of the disciples employed in elect- 
 ing Deacons or Ministers of the Church. " Then 
 the twelve called the multitude of the disciples 
 unto them, and said, it is not reason that we 
 should leave the word of God and serve tables ; 
 wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven 
 men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and 
 wisdom, whom we may appoint over this busi- 
 ness . . . ; and the saying pleased the whole 
 multitude, and they chose Stephen." Here, again, 
 the Church of Christians, in its collective body, men 
 and women, " the multitude of disciples," elect the 
 Deacons to attend to the widows in the daily mi- 
 nistrations — a process unknown in the Church 
 of England, and which, as the Church of England 
 is now constituted, is impossible, for the govern- 
 ment of that Church is monarchical ; one Prelate 
 issues his commands in his diocese, no other autho- 
 rity but his exists or is known, and the multitude 
 of believers are no more consulted, and have no 
 more power, than the men of the Antipodes. This, 
 therefore, to me is another proof that the Chvircli 
 of England is a Popish and not a Christian Church. 
 
 Again, when Peter received Cornelius, a hea- 
 then centurion, into the faith, he gave an account 
 of it to all the Church. " Then they that were of 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 159 
 
 the circumcision contended with him, saying, thou 
 wcntest in unto men uncircumcised and didst eat 
 with them : but Peter rehearsed the matter from 
 the beginning." (Acts xi. 3.) Peter, a maker 
 of Bishops, according to the Prelatical theory, 
 stands up and exculpates himself before the mul- 
 titude of believers in Jerusalem ; he thinks himself 
 bound so to do, because he never dreamed of exer- 
 cising a lordship over his brethren. The dignity 
 and authority of a Diocesan Prelate he knew no- 
 thing of ; he was a believer, and so were those to 
 wlium he addressed liimself ; he had not the most 
 distant idea of writing a stately letter only to the 
 Priests of the Churcb (for, indeed, no Priests did 
 then exist) ; he never supposed he had any au- 
 thority to issue his commands to them, styling 
 them " My Reverend Brethren," and signing 
 himself " Peter Babylon," or " Peter Rome" 
 (whichever his diocese might be), but believing 
 the whole body of the faithful to have an equal 
 authority with himself, he, as one of their loved 
 preachers, stood up, and, in a fiiendly way, ex- 
 plained the motives of his conduct to his brethren 
 in the Lord, " and when they heard these things 
 they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, 
 then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repent- 
 ance unto faith." They were satisfied with the 
 explanation, and fully acquitted Peter of having 
 done anything contrary to the will of God. Here, 
 therefore, I find again that the Church, that is, the 
 
160 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 multitude of believers, was totally dilTerent in its 
 constitution from the Church of England. 
 
 Again, the Church of Jerusalem, in its collective 
 form of all believers, sent Barnabas to Antioch. 
 " Then the tidings of these things came unto the 
 ears of the Church which was in Jerusalem, and 
 they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far 
 as Antioch, who, when he came and had seen the 
 grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, 
 that, with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto 
 the Lord." (Acts xi. 22.) The behevcrs at Jeru- 
 salem took upon themselves an office which none 
 but a Prelate is supposed capable of executing in 
 the Church of England ; for if letters of union 
 were to be sent to some foreign Church from the 
 Church of England, the matter would of course be 
 arranged and commanded by the Bishops : the 
 Bishops would cry out " treason " if any one pro- 
 ))osed to send the mission without consulting them, 
 and the believers in York or in Canterbury would 
 be no more consulted than if they existed not. In 
 the Church of Jerusalem, I can find the Saints 
 acting with unquestioned authority ; in the Church 
 of England, the Saints are unknown, unheeded, 
 and unconsulted. The Prelates command every 
 thing. The law knows no authority but theirs ; 
 the Priests rule the people and the Bishops rule 
 the Priests, which is, in fact, having the supreme 
 authority, and there is no authority above the Pre- 
 late's, excepting an Act of Parliament ; and all 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 IGl 
 
 this, again ami again, my dear Uncle, convinces 
 iiie tliat the Prelatical and Sacerdotal power is a 
 usurpation, and that the Church of England is a 
 Popish fabric, and is not the Church of Christ. 
 
 In a similar way the Church of Antioch, di- 
 rected by the Holy Spirit, sends forth Barnabas 
 and Saul to the Gentiles (Acts xiii.) ; and in the 
 14th Chapter we find, when this mission had been 
 executed, that Paul and Barnabas gave an account 
 of the result of their labours to all the believers, 
 ■svho had sent them forth ; not to any Bishops or 
 Priests, not to a Chancellor's Court — to Surro- 
 gates, Proctors, or Grand Vicars — but to the be- 
 lievers : " And when they were come and had 
 gathered the Church together, they rehearsed all 
 that God had done with them, and how he had 
 opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles : and 
 there they abode long time with the disciples." 
 
 Thus, also, in the celebrated council held at 
 Jerusalem to settle the disputed q\iestion of cir- 
 cumcision, we see clearly that the matter was 
 settled by the whole Church collectively. (Chap. 
 XV.) "Then pleased it the Apostles and Elders, 
 icitli the whole Church, to send chosen men of 
 their own company to Antioch with Paul and 
 Barnabas, and wrote letters by them after this 
 manner : ' The Apostles and Elders, mul hretlircn 
 send greeting unto the brethren which are of the 
 Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia ; for- 
 asmuch as we have heard .... it seemed 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 good unto US, being assembled ivith one accord, 
 to send chosen men unto you, &c.' " 
 
 Now, suppose a question should arise about any 
 doctrine, or any rite, in the Church of England — 
 supposing some were anxious to alter the Prayer 
 Book — would " the whole Church " be consulted ? 
 would the Saints in any way be questioned as to 
 their opinion or wishes ? would not the matter be 
 determined in the Palace at Lambeth ? and, hav- 
 ing been so determined, would it not pass into a 
 command by the sign manual of the King, as 
 Supreme Head of the Church ? In vain, there- 
 fore, do I seek for the smallest trace of the 
 Church of England in the Scriptures : excepting 
 the word " Bishop," excepting those six letters, 
 I cannot, by anxious investigation, discover any 
 thing that bears the smallest resemblance to any- 
 thing in the Established Church ; nay, I know 
 not how the ingenuity of man could well have 
 invented a system more unlike the Church Gro- 
 vernment discoverable in the Acts of the Apostles 
 and in their Epistles, than that fabric of Prelacy 
 which is now established in England. 
 
 I have but one more passage to quote from 
 Scripture relating to the Church of Christ. It is 
 from the 1 8th of Matthew :— " If thy brother shall 
 trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault 
 between thee and him alone : if he shall hear 
 thee, thou hast gained thy brother : but if he will 
 not hear thee, then take with thee one or two 
 
X-ETTER XIX. 163 
 
 more, that in tlie mouth of two or three witnesses 
 every word may be established ; and if he shall 
 neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church ; 
 but if lie neglect to hear the Church, let him be 
 unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." 
 (15 — 17.) Any one on reading this passage, 
 who had not a theory to defend, or a party to sup- 
 port, would naturally determine, if asked, that the 
 Church here mentioned meant the body of l^e- 
 lievers, who, having received a believer into their 
 body, were the fit persons to judge of his conduct, 
 and to rebuke him. This is so evident, that no- 
 thing but dishonesty could well dare to deny it ; 
 and yet if this interpretation be allowed, it is fatal 
 to the diocesan Establishment, for then it would 
 follow that the believers, as a body, had the power 
 of excommunication ; and that Bishops' and Chan- 
 cellors' Courts, who now usurp this right, are an 
 invention of Popery, — that our Lord says nothing 
 of Prelates and their power ; and that the autho- 
 rity of rebuke and excision is vested solely with 
 the whole company of the faithful. As this con- 
 clusion has been foreseen, some persons have en- 
 deavoured to give any meaning to our Lord's 
 words but that which is the true one. Thus some 
 say that the command — " tell it unto the Church," 
 means, " tell it unto the Diocesan Bishop," — " tell 
 it to the Archbishop," — " tell it to the Arch- 
 deacon," — " tell it to the Proctors of the Eccle - 
 siastical Court," — " tell it to tlie Pope," — tell it, 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 in short, to any person or persons, excepting those 
 •whom our Lord would indicate. Dr. Owen ap- 
 pears to me to have spoken well on this passage : — 
 " There have been so many contests about the 
 sense of these words, and the interpretation of 
 them ; so many reasons and opposite opinions 
 about them, and those debated in such long and 
 operose discourses, that some would take an argu- 
 ment from thence, that nothing can be directly 
 proved from them, nor any certain account of the 
 state and duty of the Church be thence collected. 
 But nothing can be insinuated more false and ab- 
 surd, nor which more directly tendeth to the over- 
 throw of the whole authority of the Scripture : for 
 if when men are seduced by their interests, or 
 otherwise, to multiply false expositions of any place 
 of Scripture, and to contend earnestly about them, 
 making them thereby lose unto us their instructive 
 power and certain determination of truth, we 
 should quickly have no bottom or foundation for 
 our faith in the most important articles of religion, 
 nor could have so at this day. But all the various 
 pretences of men, some whereof would have the 
 Pope, others a general council, some the civil ma- 
 gistrates, some the Jewish Synagogue, some a 
 company of arbitrators, are nothing but so many 
 instances of what interest, prejudice, corrupt lusts, 
 ambitious designs, with a dislike of the truth, will 
 bring forward. To me it seems strange that any 
 impartial man, reading this context, can take the 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 165 
 
 Church in this place in any other sense but for 
 such a society, as whereunto an offending and of- 
 fended brother or disciple of Christ might and 
 ought to belong, to the body whereof they might 
 address themselves for relief and remedy, or the 
 removal of offences, by virtue of the authority and 
 appointment of Jesus Christ." 
 
 You will, therefore, observe that, in this letter, 
 I confine my objections generally to the misappli- 
 cation of Church authority. In the Establishment 
 the authority is with the King, or the Parliament, 
 or the Bishops : in the Scriptures, the whole mul- 
 titude of believers are called on to deliberate and 
 to decide; and this appears to me so plain, that I 
 despair of ever seeing those arguments whereby 
 the true Church of England shall be proved to be 
 the Church wherein the faith was first nursed. 
 I am, &c. 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 My dear Uncle, 
 
 After I had dispatched my last letter to 
 you, I found I had omitted some things connected 
 with the subject of Church authority, which are in 
 my apprehension of too much importance to be 
 passed over altogether ; I must, therefore, send 
 you the gleanings of my observations in this 
 sheet ; and though I fear you must think my letters 
 very long and tedious, yet believe me I find it dif- 
 ficult to give you my objections in the compass of 
 a letter, so much have I to say on these topics. 
 
 In the New Testament the admonitions of the 
 Holy Spirit are all directed to behevers, to the ge- 
 neral body of the faithful, not to diocesan Bishops 
 or Archdeacons, not to Archbishops or their 
 officers. This being so, it follows of a certainty 
 that the prelatical authority, or, in other words, 
 that power whereby one man rules some hun- 
 dred Churches .with absolute sway, being styled 
 their " Lord," and treated as their master, did not 
 then e.xist. 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 167 
 
 Paul begins his Epistle to the Romans thus • 
 " To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called 
 to be Saints, grace to you and peace," &c. ; not 
 mentioning in the remotest manner any of those 
 high dignitaries and stately officials who bear the 
 whole authority in the Church of England. It is 
 perfectly certain, therefore, that the Church of 
 Rome was not the least like the Church of Eng- 
 land when he wrote his Epistle, for had there been 
 the body of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Arch- 
 deacons, Canons, Rectors, Vicars, and Curates, he 
 certainly would have noticed them ; but as such 
 priestly dignitaries did not then exist, he could not 
 mention them, excepting by the spirit of prophecy, 
 which I think he has done in the Second Chapter of 
 the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, when he 
 says, " Let no man deceive you by any means, for 
 tlie day of Christ shall not come except there come 
 a falling away _^Vy<, and that man of sin be re- 
 vealed, the son of perdition." The man of sin was 
 the mystery of inicpiity in the Roman Catholic 
 Church, from which, I believe, the Church of 
 England has received these things and cherished 
 them, though they are a most pernicious and un- 
 godly heritage. 
 
 The other Epistles of Paul begin with similar 
 salutations : " Unto the Church of God which is at 
 Corinth ; to them that are sanctified, in Christ 
 Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every 
 place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
1G8 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 " Paul unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth, 
 with all the saints which are in Achaia." " Paul an 
 Apostle, and all ihe brethren which are with wie, 
 unto the Churches of Galatia." " Paul to the 
 saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in 
 Christ Jesus and so of the rest j but never once 
 does he direct his letters to a diocesan Bishop, as 
 he ought to have done, had he been a true member 
 of the Church of England, w hich my uncle Lucifer 
 sa3's he was. Now supposing the Church of 
 Corinth had been like the Established Church, 
 Paul would have thus written the salutation : — 
 " Paul to the Right Reverend Father in God the 
 Lord Bishop of Corinth. My Lord, inasmuch as 
 your lordship has been consecrated Bishop of the 
 diocese of Corinth, I direct this Epistle to your 
 lordship," &c. &c. This is the style in these days : 
 it therefore either was extremely incorrect in 
 Paul to neglect the Episcopal authority, and to 
 write to the whole body of believers about the state 
 of their Churches ; or else the Prelates of the 
 establishment are usurpers and tyrants, part of 
 the man of sin, " whose coming has been, after 
 the working of Satan, with all power and lying 
 wonders." 
 
 The testimony of Scripture is always sufficient 
 for me, nor do I covet any assistance from the 
 Fathers, or Ecclesiastical tradition; nevertheless, 
 as you and my uncle Lucifer often press this sort 
 of authority upon my consideration, allow me to 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 169 
 
 remind you, that Clemens Romanus, whoso 
 Epistle to the Corinthians has great authority with 
 some, owing to its antiquity, and the simplicity of 
 its j)rimitivc spirit, knew of no other Church go- 
 vernment than that which Paul recognised. His 
 Epistle hegins thus, — " The Church of God which 
 dwelleth at Rome, to the Church of God which 
 dwelleth at Corinth." The believers in one city 
 write to the believers in another, in the same way 
 that the brethren of the Church of Antioch deter- 
 mined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others, 
 should go up to Jerusalem and consult the Apostles 
 and Elders. 
 
 From the Epistle of Ignatius to the Phil- 
 adclphians (supposing it to be really written by 
 Ignatius, which is very doubtful) we learn that 
 the whole Church had the power to elect the over- 
 seers, w ho are now called " Bishops," in Popish 
 language. " It becometh you as the Church of 
 God to clioose an overseer, who may perform the 
 embassy of God, that it may be granted unto them 
 to be gatliered together in one place, and to 
 glorify the name of God* ; " for the more I read 
 the records of primitive Christianity, the more do 
 I meet with proofs of an authority vested in the 
 whole body of believers, which is quite unknown 
 in the Established Church. 
 
 The testimonies to this truth are superabundantly 
 
 ii5 TO T^iffZiutrut £x£j ©£ffy ^^£^Ce/«v £/; TO ffv'y;^ttip-/]^v}vo;i avTovi 
 It; TO avro yivofjLivovs, xat ^o%ottrett to ovofjt,a tou &iov. 
 
no 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 numerous, and indeed it seems conceded that the 
 body of Christians for a long time exercised the 
 privilege of electing the Church officers — even 
 after the time when something like diocesan Epis- 
 copacy had come into fashion. One passage to 
 this effect I will quote from Cyprian, because, 
 though the writings of this father use a very 
 lordly and prelatical language, yet they still bear 
 testimony to the primitive power of the body of be- 
 lievers — " nor* let the people {plebs, all the faith- 
 ful, called in Greek 7r\);9oc,) flatter themselves as 
 though they could be free from the taint of sin 
 when they communicate with a priest who is a 
 sinner, and when they give their consent to the 
 authority of an unjust and lawless overseer ; be- 
 cause the people, obeying the precepts of our Lord, 
 and fearing God, ought to separate themselves 
 from a sinful overseer, nor have anything to do 
 with the sacrifices of an impious priest ; since 
 they, the people, have especially the power either 
 of electing ivorthy priests, or rejecting those uho 
 are unworthy : which privilege we see has de- 
 scended from Divine authority." 
 
 * Nec sibi plebs blaiidiatur, quasi immunis esse a con- 
 tai>i() delicti possit cum sacerdote peccatore communicans. et 
 ad injustum et illicitum pra;positi sui episcopatum con- 
 sensuin suum comniodaus. Propter quod plebs obsequeas 
 pisDceptis dominicis et Deura metuens a peccatore praeposito 
 separare scdebet, nec ad saerilegi sacerdotis sacrificia mis- 
 cere, quando ipsa maxime habeat potestatera vel eligendi 
 dignos sacerdotes vel indignos recessandi, quod et ij sum 
 videmus de Divina auctoritate desceudere ! 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 171 
 
 This specimen of the sentiments which may be 
 brought forward by referring to the Fathers, ouglit 
 to keep all the Clergyof theEstablishedChurch close 
 to the Scriptures ; for though the Fathers were very 
 fond of enlarging the power of the newly-invented 
 Priesthood, yet they had no idea of such a Church 
 as we have in England ; so that I am sure more 
 harm than good will come to the prelatical party by 
 sending down to Egypt for help. The Scriptures 
 are against the Church of EngLnd ; but the 
 Fathers still more so. The Scriptures whip the 
 Establishment with whips, but the Fathers with 
 scorpions. 
 
 I am sorry, my dear uncle, that my uncle 
 Lucifer, the renowned author of the Letters of 
 L. S. E., should have committed himself in some 
 passages of his immortal epistles. I beg you to 
 compare some of his words in the Seventh of his 
 Letters with those words which I have just 
 quoted from Cyprian. My uncle says, " Should 
 they, the Clergy, do anything v.hich we humbly 
 think is not right, we, as private Christians, are 
 not to judge them, but leave them till the I^ord, 
 whose servants they arc, calls them to give an 
 account of their stewardship. No private Chris- 
 tian can take upon him to find fault with God's 
 Ministers without great arrogance, presumption, 
 and spiritual pride. It ought to be concluded, 
 that as they have more learning — have had more 
 experience, and have the presence of Christ with 
 
172 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 them, according to the promise he made them, 
 * Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world,' that they are far better capable of 
 judging with respect to spiritual things than pri- 
 vate Christians*," &c. " When a private Chris- 
 tian sees anything wrong in a Priest he ought to 
 submit — he had better be a little uneasy himself 
 than disobey those who have the rule over himf." 
 So says my illustrious uncle ; but Cyprian says it 
 is sinful to communicate with a sinner-priest ; that 
 the people (plebs) have the power of electing and 
 ousting the Clergy, and that this power has de- 
 scended to the people from Divine authority I It 
 is very painful to me to see Cyprian pitted against 
 iny uncle, for, in such a jostle, it is evident that 
 the weaker must go to the wall. 
 
 Th\is, in taking a general view of the Church of 
 England, and in comparing it with the first 
 Churches of Christianity, I can find nothing but 
 dissimilarity. In the early churches there was 
 a spiritual union among behevers, who were per- 
 sons admitted into the company of the faithful by 
 a general consent of the whole Church approving 
 their faith, and accepting their signs of godly re- 
 pentance. The Church consisted of " the Elect, 
 tlie Saints, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called 
 the holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly call- 
 ing — heirs of God by adoption and grace — sons 
 
 * Letters of L. S. E. p. 217. + Ibid. 221. 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 173 
 
 of God by faith in Jesus Christ — men who had 
 escaped the pollution of the world by the linow- 
 ledge of Christ — a chosen generation, a royal 
 Priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people — 
 childii;n of light — not many wise men after the 
 flesh, not many mighty, not many noble — men 
 of prayer, faith, patience, joy and peace in believ- 
 ing." The union of the brethren in the bonds of 
 redeeming love was what the Apostles aimed at : 
 all their monitions were about spiritual matters ; 
 they toiled and preached among them to keej) them 
 in a holy, simple, patient frame of mind, and we 
 hear nothing in the Gospel days of all those 
 wretched and disgraceful clamours about tithes 
 and money, in which the Church of England 
 is now mainly occupied. 
 
 In the Church of England all is coldness, 
 formality, exterior profession, and revolting world- 
 liness. As for Church union, or the communion 
 of Saints, it cannot be said to exist. Every 
 canonically baptized individual in the country, not 
 openly professing Dissent, is considered a rege- 
 nerated Christian, a member of the Church of 
 England. All Mayors and Aldermen, and all 
 Magistrates (not professed Dissenters) are the 
 shining Saints of the Established Church ; they 
 often take the Sacrament, and are very zealous 
 about the Church as by law established. Soldiers 
 are marched in platoons to church ; every man 
 and woman, however infamous their lives, are 
 
174 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 members, if they choose it, of tliis Church : there 
 is no disciphne, no distinction, no separation. The 
 Church is loved by angry pohticians, by Orange- 
 men, by furious Tories, by all the sons of dark- 
 ness, by all the admirers of Don Miguel and of 
 Charles X. The Duke of Wellington, the Duke 
 of Cumberland, and the Marquess of Londonderry, 
 are "the dear brethren" of this Church. It is 
 defended by squadrons of lancers, regiments of 
 foot soldiers, and detachments of the pohce. The 
 preachers of its Gospel violently take money from 
 their flock in pitch battles, with all the implements 
 of war — bugles, Ijayonets, and bullets. We hear* 
 of fourteen men killed, and twenty wounded, in a 
 tithe-battle ; we hear of a whole province up in 
 arms to combat him who comes to publish the 
 glad tidings of salvation. In short, the Church of 
 England is a public calamity, a breeder of strife 
 and tumult, an instrument of rapacity and merci- 
 less oppression. Its wealth is as enormous as it 
 is disproportionate. Five millions per annimi, 
 amongst sixteen thousand Priests, are so distri- 
 buted as to leave three or four thousand in abject 
 poverty. Thus, in taking a general view of the 
 Established Church, it is almost impossible for any 
 person, seriously and honestly, to come to the 
 conclusion that it is indeed the Church of Christ ; 
 or if, indeed, any man should, after much reading 
 
 " The battle of Rathcormac, fought for an Archdeacon's 
 tithes. 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 175 
 
 and consideration, profess to come to the conclu- 
 sion, then must he be considered as a victim of 
 (huk superstition, and as much under a delusion 
 as those members of the Romish persuasion who 
 can wink at idolatry, and even admire the cruelties 
 of the Inquisition. 
 
 I have thus fieely expressed my opinion of the 
 Established Cliurch on a general view of its work- 
 ings, and have come to the conclusion, that it is an 
 invention of men, which can claim no respect from 
 true believers. In my next, I hope to proceed to 
 some minor matters, and to handle them in that 
 plain way which you have kindly permitted 
 
 Your dutiful Nephew. 
 
LETTER XXI. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 ISlv DEAR UnCI.E, 
 
 Perhaps it is superfluous now to express 
 my sentiments respecting Confirmation, seeing 
 that, in obedience to your positive and reiterated 
 commands, I have submitted to that Popish cere- 
 mony ; but, as it is a rite contained in the 
 Prayer-Book, and as I intend now to bring for- 
 ward my scruples regarding many things con- 
 tained in the Prayer-Book, I will begin with the 
 subject of Confirmation. 
 
 My first objection to Confirmation is the solemn 
 mockery and nonsense of the ceremony. Let me 
 quote from the Prayer-Book : " Then shall the 
 Bishop say. Do ye here, in the presence of God, 
 and of this congregation, renew the solemn promise 
 and vow that was made in your name at your 
 baptism, ratifying and confirming the same in 
 your own persons, and acknowledging yourselves 
 bound to believe and do all those things which 
 your (jodfathcrs and godmofliers then undertook 
 for you ?" This, of course, takes me back to my 
 baptism, when I, a little baby, was sprinkled with 
 water, not knowing what they were doing to me. 
 
LETTER XXr. 
 
 177 
 
 Here the Prayer-Book tells me that the Priest put 
 this question to my godfathers, — " Dost thou, in the 
 name of this child, renounce the Devil and all his 
 works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with 
 all covetous desires of them, and the carnal desires 
 of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow nor be led 
 by them ? Ans. — / renounce them all." 
 
 Now, in the first ])lace, I would ask, in what 
 part of Scripture this institution of godfathers and 
 godmothers is to be found ? Who can prove to 
 me from the Bible that adults are to stand proxy 
 for babies against Satan ? Who can, by any 
 thing like a Protestant argument, show that A is 
 to promise for B, that B shall not be a sinner ? 
 Surely, no honest man can defend such manifest 
 nonsense by any reasoning worth listening to; 
 for, on the very face of it, the whole fabric of 
 proxy-regeneration and subsequent Confirmation 
 is a mere invention of superstitious persons, en- 
 deavouring to escape a difficulty of their own 
 creating. 
 
 But, I ask, did my godfathers and godmothers 
 renounce "the Devil, and the vain pomps and 
 glories of the world, with all the covetous desires 
 of them, and the carnal desires of the flesh," for 
 themselves or for me ? but, if they themselves had 
 not renounced the Devil and the world, could their 
 promise be acceptable as a sort of a deposit, whilst 
 they themselves were notoriously not doing what 
 they promised I should do ? I do not wish to say 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 anything disrespectful of my godfathers and god- 
 mothers, but you know very well, my dear uncle, 
 
 that my godfather, Mr. D , is one of the greatest 
 
 misers in the county ; he, therefore, certainly has 
 not renounced " the covetous desires of the world 
 neither has my godmother, Mrs. B , re- 
 nounced the pomps and vanities, for she has 
 come into possession of a large fortune from a 
 distant relation, and is one of the most pompous 
 and vain ladies I ever saw. She certainly has 
 been very kind to me, and has sent me 20/. to 
 purchase books at Cambridge ; but you know 
 better than I do how completely tliis great lady 
 is eaten up with vanity, and how she studies the 
 fashions in her dress, furniture, carriages, and 
 equipages. What, then, has become of my soid 
 
 in the keeping of Mr. D and Mrs. B ■ 
 
 till I came to the Bishop for my confirmation? 
 These questions, and many more of the same sort, 
 I might press upon you ; but I refrain, for there is 
 an appearance of irreverence in drawing these 
 conclusions, which, however, are inevitable ou 
 closely examining this foolish institution. 
 
 I must, however, further remark, that my 
 baptism professed to make me so complete, that 
 this proxy-righteousness must be wholly unneces- 
 sary. The Thanksgiving, after I was baptized, 
 was thus : " We yield thee hearty thanks, most 
 merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to 
 regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, and 
 
LETTER XXI. 
 
 179 
 
 to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and 
 to incorporate him in thy lioly Church." Surely, 
 these privileges are all that are known in the 
 faith of Christians ; for regeneration, adoption, and 
 incorporation are the whole sum of those distin- 
 guishing graces whereby the elect are separated 
 from the world? It seems, however, that the 
 Bishop thought he could do something more for 
 me at my Confirmation, for he laid his hands upon 
 my head, "to certify to me by that sign of the 
 favor and gracious goodness of God towards me 
 for, in fact, the ceremony of Confirmation is taken 
 from the Popish ritual, and is supposed to confer 
 " the seven (jif'is of the Holtj Ghost ;" and it cannot 
 be denied that, according to the Prayer-Book, the 
 Bishops can confer the Holy Spirit by the touch 
 of their hands, as is evident by the form of ordain- 
 ing Priests and Deacons and consecrating Bishops. 
 
 The question of Confirmation was solemnly pro- 
 posed to the Bishops in the reign of Henry YIII., 
 and it is much owing to their decision that we 
 have this Popish ritual in our Prayer Book. Thus 
 was the question put : " Whether Confirmation, 
 aim chrismate, of them that be baptized be found 
 in Scripture ?" Now, this c/imwi was the anointing 
 the person confirmed with cream ; and much do 
 I marvel that the Church of England has rejected 
 " the cream of the matter for unquestionably 
 cream had as good a right to keep its place as any 
 tiling else which we have to bear in Confirmation. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 LETTER XXr. 
 
 The then Bishop of London thus answered the 
 question — and I prefer selecting his answer, be- 
 cause the Bishops of London must ever be dear to 
 the Gathercoal family, — " I find, in Scripture, im- 
 sition of hands in many places, whicli I think, 
 considering the usage commonly and so long 
 withal used, to be Confirmation, and that with 
 CHRISM to supply the visible appearance of the 
 * * *, which * * * was so visibly seen in 
 the primitive Church*." 
 
 The Bishop of Carlisle answered to the same 
 effect. " Tlie imposition of hands, the holy 
 Doctors take for the same which we call Con- 
 firmation, done upon them which were christened 
 before, whereof is written in the Acts. And as 
 for chrism, it should seem by Cyprian, both as 
 touching the confection and usage thereof, that it 
 hath great tjround to be derived out of Scripture, 
 though it be not manifestly spoken therein." 
 
 The Archbishop of York answered, " The out- 
 ward sign is the imposition of hands done by the 
 Bishop, and the graces conferred be the graces 
 called the seven gifts of the * * *." 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury (Cranmer) saw 
 farther than his superstitious brethren, and gave 
 such an answer as clearly indicated his contempt 
 of the whole ritual. " The Bishop, in the name 
 of the Churcli, doth invocate the * * *, so 
 that the efficacy of this Sacrament is of such value 
 * See CuUifi's and Burnet's Records. 
 
LETTER XXI. 
 
 181 
 
 as is the prayer of the Bishop in the name of the 
 Church." In other words, if the Bishop liked to 
 pray for grace on those confirmed he might, and 
 wliat his prayers could effect woidd follow, ajid 
 nothinci more. 
 
 In the Popish ritual, from which our service is 
 slightly altered, there is this form of words : " I 
 sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I con- 
 firm thee in the name of the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost;" after which, cream is poured forth 
 as an unction on the person confirmed, and un- 
 questionably this chrism is a very ancient symbol, 
 for Augustin says of it, " that the Sacrament of 
 chrism amongst visible Sacraments is holy, as 
 Baptism is."* 
 
 Thus it is clear, my dear uncle, what Confirma- 
 tion really is — a Popish ceremony, invented to 
 help a theory, and to save appearances ; a mere 
 idle figment of men, which may indeed add to the 
 power of the Prelates, by making young people 
 look up to them as givers of grace ; but is unworthy 
 of respect from those who admit the Scriptures as 
 their only rule of faith. 
 
 You will say, perhaps, that Confirmation is a 
 slight matter; and contemptible enough it is, I 
 grant : but still it is found in the Prayer Book ; 
 and, in theory, all who communicate at the Lord's 
 Supper are supposed to have been previously 
 
 * Sacrament um Chrismatis in f^enere visiliilium Sacra- 
 meutoruin, est Sacrosanctum, sicut tt biii)tisma. 
 
182 
 
 LETTER XXi; 
 
 confirmed ; so that it is impossible to evade tire 
 difficulty by thus slightly passing it over as a mat- 
 ter of no consequence. For if I were ever to be a 
 Clergyman, I must swear before God that I heartily 
 accept, and uufeignedly believe, everything in the 
 Prayer Book ; that I give my unfeigned assent, 
 and consent, to everything therein contained ; 
 which I could not do as long as I entertained any 
 doubts about any one page ; nay, any one sentence 
 in that volume. There are, however, many parts 
 of the Prayer Book which seem to me highly ob- 
 jectionable ; and the office for Confirmation is one ; 
 on which, having now offered you my observations, 
 I shall conclude this letter. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
letti:r xxii. 
 
 Fkom the Same to the Same. 
 
 The position in which the Clergy of the Esta- 
 bhshment are placed, with regard to the people, 
 is such as cannot be assumed in the Church of 
 Christ. The Clergy are Priests, having derived 
 their office and functions and title from the 
 Church of Rome ; but for this office, function, and 
 title there is no authority in Scripture ; which no 
 where teacheth that the preachers of the Gospel 
 should inherit by metastasis the name and privi- 
 leges of the Levitical caste. 
 
 There is amongst members of the Church of 
 England a confused and uncertain opinion on the 
 sacerdotal character of the Clergy, which would be 
 surprising if we did not trace it to its right source, 
 ■ — the struggles made by common sense against the 
 barriers of superstition and the decrees of the 
 Prayer Book. The High Church prelatical Clergy 
 are pretty generally agreed amongst themselves 
 that they are in the fullest sense of the word 
 Priests; in which opinion they are also joined by 
 the Evangtlical clergy. 
 
 It matters not, however, what they thinlv or do 
 
184 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 not think on the subject; for the Prayer Book, 
 to which they are chained down by many oaths, 
 speaks too plainly to be misunderstood on the 
 subject. The pious Clergy may gloss over these 
 things, as they do also some other stumbling- 
 blocks — such as baptismal regeneration ; but after 
 all they say and write on these topics, they can- 
 not persuade disinterested persons to agree with 
 their forced interpretations, until the English 
 language shall be altered, and new meaning given 
 to words. 
 
 A clergyman then is, by the Prayer Book, a 
 Priest ; a new-coined Levite from the Mint of 
 Rome, and has, by the Pope's institute, full power 
 of remitting sin, as is manifest in his Ordination 
 Service ; which directs the Bishop to say to the 
 Priest at his ordination, " Receive the Holy Ghost 
 for the office and work of a Priest in the Church 
 of God, now committed unto thee by the inspira- 
 tion of our hands : whose sins thou dost forgive, 
 they are forgiven ; and whose sins thou dostretain, 
 they are retained." 
 
 A Priest is a person consecrated and set apart, 
 by peculiar ceremonies and ordinations, to perform 
 atoning services for the people in the worship of 
 God, which service none but a Priest can per- 
 form. 
 
 This being the true and pure idea of a Priest, I 
 say that in the Church of Christ there is no Priest 
 but Christ himself, who is a Priest for ever, after 
 
LETTER XXII. 
 
 195 
 
 the order of Melcliisedek ; and wlio is passed into 
 the Heavens, into that true tabernacle which the 
 Lord pitched, and not man : and the Gospel names 
 110 other Priest but Him ; therefore it is a daring 
 act of usurpation and deception for any set of 
 men calling themselves Christians to take upon 
 themselves this abolished office. 
 
 The Book of Leviticus is a code of sacerdotal 
 fiinctions, describing chiefly the duties of the 
 Priests, which they were to perform for the 
 people, and in thci?- stead ; " the Priest shall burn 
 all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice and 
 oflering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the 
 Lord," — " the Priest shall make an atonement for 
 the people," — " the Priest shall offer every man's 
 burnt offering," — " the Priest shall minister in 
 the Sanctuary," &c., is the language of this book 
 throughout. 
 
 Now it requires but a very slight knowledge of 
 Christian theology to know that a Priesthood, in 
 the Levitical sense, was never instituted by our 
 Lord or the Apostles ; not one word has been 
 dropped by the Founder of the Christian religion 
 whereby it could be surmised that he wished the 
 preachers of the Gospel to be Priests ; or that he 
 gave them the exclusive privilege of administering 
 the Sacraments, — of standing at an altar in white 
 robes, — of helping themselves first to the Eucha- 
 ristic elements, — of standing with the elements in 
 his hands whilst the people kneeled, — of absolving 
 
186 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 from sin, — and of reijeating certain prayers which 
 the Deacon and people have no right to repeat. 
 
 Our Lord never intimated liis desire that the 
 preachers of the Gospel should be called " Re- 
 verend," " Right Reverend," " Very Reverend," 
 " Reverend and Venerable," " Most Reverend," 
 &c. He never taught us that we were to make a 
 distinction betw'een the " Clergy, " and " the 
 Laity and that the term " spiritual persons," 
 in the sense we technically understand it, should 
 be a; plied to a caste of priests. He ordered not 
 any set of men to take the name of " Clergy," 
 and to remit sin ; in short, he never directed the 
 Church to have a Priesthood, a sacerdotal caste, 
 takers of tithes, and priesting it for the people : if 
 therefore we do in any supposed Christian Church 
 find such institutions, we find a rank heresy, an 
 enormous defection from the purity of the Gospel, 
 over which all good men ought to lament, and from 
 wliich all good men should escape, lest they be 
 plagued with the plagues of the beast. 
 
 To Eay anything about the Roman Catholic 
 Priesthood is superfluous, for the pretensions of 
 that corporation are notorious ; without a Priest 
 nothing can be done in the Popish worship ; the 
 Priest says and does everything ; he prays ; he 
 supplicates ; he fumigates ; he deprecates ; he 
 absolves from sin ; he changes the bread into 
 the real presence ; he averts divine wrath ; he 
 blesses, and he curses. The office of mediator is his 
 
LETTER XXir. 
 
 18*7 
 
 w ithout disguise or circumlocution ; for iiistani^;>, 
 in the confiteor of the mass, where the people say 
 these words : — " Therefore, I beseech Mary, al- 
 ways a Virgin, the blessed Michael the Archangel, 
 the blessed John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles 
 Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, and thee, O 
 Father (addresshig themselves to the Priest) to 
 pray for me to our Lord God." 
 
 The English Prayer Book has thrown overboard 
 the Saints, but kept the Priest, as in this Rubric 
 of the morning and evening service, " the absolu- 
 tion or remission of sins to be pronounced by the 
 Priest alone, standing ; the people kneeling." 
 The people are to be on their knees Avhilst the 
 Priest absolves them from sin in the attitude of a 
 superior, — a gross institution of Popish usurpation, 
 and a part of that tree of evil, the ripe fruit of 
 "which is to be seen in the elevation of the Host. 
 It should moreover be noticed that if the officiating 
 clergyman should happen not to be in Priests' 
 orders, as they call it, he must not presume to 
 pronounce the absolution, but must content him- 
 self with a collect in its place. 
 
 Some persons wish to do away with the force of 
 this superstition by pleading, that the absolution 
 is, after all, only a declaration of a Gospel doctrine ; 
 but if this be the ivhole truth in the matter, why 
 then may not the Deacon declare a simple G.)spel 
 truth as well as a Priest ? And what mean the 
 words addressed to the Priest at his ordination, 
 
18S 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 " whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven, 
 and -whose sins thou dost retain, they are re- 
 tained ?" 
 
 There is, however, a grosser superstition still in 
 the Prayer Book ; for in the Visitation of the Sick, 
 the Priest is directed to absolve tlie sick person in 
 this form of words : — " By the authority of Jesus 
 Christ, committed to me, I absolve thee from all 
 sins, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
 If a clergyman believes he has this power, he 
 certainly ought to seek orders in the Roman 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 I know very well that the Evangelical Clergy 
 plead that they never use this formulary. " We 
 disapprove of it," they say ; " we never think of 
 pronouncing these words to the sick whom we 
 visit : unless it can be proved that we do, it is 
 unhandsome to charge us with a doctrine which 
 we reject." 
 
 The answer to this subterfuge is obvious ; for if 
 the Evangelical clergy disapprove of this formulary 
 and never use it, then must they be guilty of a 
 gross falsehood ; for besides the subscription to the 
 three articles before ordination, wherein they so- 
 lemnly promised never to use any other form of 
 prayer than that which the Prayer Book prescribes, 
 they did also make this declaration on taking 
 possession of their benefices, — " I, A. B., do hereby 
 declare mi/ unfeigned assent and consent to all 
 
LETTER XXir. 
 
 189 
 
 and evert/ thinrj contained and prescribed in the 
 Book of Common Prayer, and administration of 
 sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the 
 Chnrch of England." The words of this decla- 
 ration are so strictly drawn, that it is impossible 
 by any ingenuity to evade them ; the persons 
 who framed it knew what thev were about ; their 
 object was to make a trap from v hich no con- 
 science, however slippery, shovild be able to escape : 
 if, therefore, a clergyman do not approve and use 
 the rites prescribed in the Prayer Book, he is un- 
 questionably practising a deceit ; he shows by his 
 conduct that he rejects that which he solemnly 
 declared lie received with rmfeigned assent and 
 consent ; and in truth every clergyman who thus 
 sets aside the Prayer Book not only is a Dissenter 
 but a traitor to his Church, and should be ejected 
 from the priesthood, and deprived of his benefices. 
 I may have more to say in another letter on this 
 " Declaration," but my present business is only 
 with the absolution prerogative, that great test of 
 the mediatorial character with which our clergy 
 are invested. 
 
 I have said that there is no authority for the 
 term " spiritual persons" as applied to a Christian 
 caste of Priests ; no term, however, is more in 
 vogue amongst us, though the origin of the phrase 
 is to be found in the court of Rome, and not in 
 the word of God. By Scripture testimony, those 
 and those only are spiritual persons who are 
 
190 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 " born of the Spirit," and who are taught of God 
 to walk in tlie Spirit, that they may not fulfil the 
 " lusts of the flesh " for as many as are led by 
 the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," and 
 " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is 
 none of his ;" and Peter, speaking generally to 
 believers says, " Ye are built up a spiritual house." 
 Thus in numerous passages of Scripture it is 
 declared that all believers are spiritual persons, 
 but not the most remote hint is given us that there 
 is to be a clergy called " spiritual persons," as 
 distinguished from the laity. In fact, the words 
 clergy and laity, in the sense we use them, are 
 Popish and Brahminical terms, full of darkness 
 and lies. 
 
 Thus, in a similar manner, whilst I can find that 
 believers are the only spiritual persons recognised 
 in Scripture, so also can I see no other priesthood 
 in the Gospel than such as is attributed to the 
 whole company of the faithful. The Apostle Peter 
 says to the Church generally, " Ye are built uji a 
 spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up 
 spiritual sacrifices ;" and so of the Church trium- 
 phant we read in the book of Revelations the 
 following testimony, — " Blessed and holy is he that 
 hath part in the first resurrection, on such the 
 second death hath no power, but they shall be 
 Priests of God and of Christ." In vain shall a 
 man look for any other priesthood than this in the 
 Gospel; so that whilst the Scriptures declare that 
 
LETTFR XX!I. 
 
 191 
 
 all believers are Priests by spiritual designation, 
 and never once teach us anything about the clergy 
 and their priestly prerogatives, is it not amazing 
 to see men in these days who profess to derive 
 their creed from the Bible not only settnig aside 
 the true priesthood recognised in Scripture, but 
 submitting themselves to another caste of Priests 
 invented by superstitious men in the days of 
 darkness and ignorance? 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews is mainly written 
 on the subject of the priesthood, but keeps a pro- 
 found silence about Priest's orders, absolution 
 from sin, and a priestly administration of sacra- 
 ments. How strange then is this omission ! who 
 can account for it ? \^^len the matter in hand was 
 the true priesthood of the Church, how -wonderful 
 to pass over entirely our priests, with their oaths 
 of canonical obedience and prelatical consecration ! 
 With us and the Papists, the clergy conduct the 
 w hole worship of God ; but in the inspired book 
 which treats of the priesthood they are never once 
 mentioned — never once thought of — not so nmch 
 as a passing word in their favour ! 
 
 The Apostle Paul says, "for the priesthood 
 being changed, there is made of necessity a 
 change also of the law." Here one w^oukl think 
 our clergy arc sure to be mentioned, for if the 
 levitical priesthood is changed, it follows of neces- 
 sity that the priesthood uow in fashion must be 
 brought forward, otherwise they cannot be a true 
 
192 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 priesthood. They are not, however, noticed, for 
 this is the change spoken of, " for lie of whom 
 these things are spoken pertaineth to another 
 tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the 
 altar, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of 
 Judah and again, " they truly were many 
 Priests, because they were not suffered to continue 
 by reason of death ; but this man (Christ), because 
 lie continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priest- 
 hood." — Heb. vii. 
 
 Now the Church, the whole body of believers 
 being united to the Lord, being one spirit with 
 him, are Priests ; they are " a chosen generation — 
 a royal priesthood — an holy nation — a peculiar 
 people — that they might show forth the praises 
 of Him who hath called them out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light." — 1 Pet. ii. 
 
 Archbishop Leighton, the author of the cele- 
 brated commentary on Peter's first Epistle, is bold 
 enough to use these words, — " All believers are 
 God's clergy," which not only is sound and pure 
 doctrine, but is a condemnation of that caste of 
 Priests who now usurp and appropriate privileges 
 to which they can make out no better title than is 
 given them by the mass-book, the canon law, and 
 the Prayer Book. 
 
 It is therefore clear to me that all the functions 
 of priestly authority now claimed and exercised 
 by the clergy of the Established Church are un- 
 sciiptural and superstitious. I deny the right of 
 
LETTER XXII. 
 
 193 
 
 any Christian to call himself a Priest in distinction 
 from his believing brethren ; I deny his exclusive 
 right of administering the sacraments — his po^ver 
 of absolution* — his claim to tithes — his title to 
 reverend, and every other part and parcel of his 
 privileges now unhappily visible amongst us. I 
 look upon his office as a figment and an imposture, 
 and in one word I totally deny, reject, and repu- 
 diate the priesthood of the Church of England. 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 * The form " Absolvo te" was not introduced till tlie 
 time of Thomas Aquinas; before his day the form of 
 absoljition was nearly in the form of a prayer or a decla- 
 rution of doctrine. 
 
 O 
 
LETTER XXin. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 The eulogies bestowed on the Prayer Book 
 miglit almost prevent me from venturing to say 
 anything against a volume which " sitteth in the 
 temple of God, showing itself that it is God 
 but though the sect of its idolaters are very nume- 
 rous, and some of them very devout, yet this shall 
 not prevent me from investigating the merits of 
 their image, in which I see a great deal that is 
 not only human but anti-christian and profane. 
 It is indeed well gilded, but I know that it is only 
 an idol in spite of its solemn and imposing ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 The praises liberally bestowed on the language 
 and composition of the Prayer Book I may be 
 inclined to let pass ; for the purity of its idiom, 
 the harmony of its cadences, and the dignity of its 
 expressions concern me not at all, and that for 
 three reasons. 1 . Language in itself has no claim 
 to our religious respect ; we are not like the Maho- 
 metans, who appeal to the language of the Koran 
 as a proof of its inspiration ; let the style of the 
 Prayer Book be what it may, it cannot in that 
 respect have more claim to our reverence than the 
 
LETTER XXIII. 
 
 195 
 
 style of Shakspeare, or of Milton's prose works, or 
 than the style of any of our older writers who wrote 
 in a more terse and vigorous idiom than is now 
 used. 2. Much of the beauty of the Prayer 
 Book language depends on the Latin prayers com- 
 posed by Popes and Cardinals ; a literal transla- 
 tion of a nervous and condensed Latin must 
 needs produce a nervous and condensed English. 
 3. Most of the writers of the age when the Prayer 
 Book was composed wrote pure English ; the Saxon 
 words in those days prevailed over the Roman. 
 
 With these passing remarks I will let the 
 " excellent language" of the Prayer Book pass, 
 only noticing that this language is best where it 
 keeps close to the Latin ; in the few passages 
 where the Prayer Book has left the Mass-book or 
 Breviary the style is not so good ; as, for instance, 
 in the opening exhortation of the morning and 
 evening service we have a continued tautology in 
 every sentence which no sound critic could re- 
 commend; "to acknowledge and confess," "sins 
 and wickednesses," " dissemble and cloke," 
 " assemble and meet together," " requisite and 
 necessary," "pray and beseech," &c. But I pass 
 on to more important matters. 
 
 The Prayer Book is notoriously compiled from 
 the Mass-book and Breviary ; and indeed it was 
 the avowed intention of those who constructed this 
 volume to keep so near the formularies then in 
 vogue that the Catholics might be tempted to 
 
196 
 
 LETTEK XXIII. 
 
 acquiesce in the new Church of England. Bishop 
 Hall has thus spoken on the subject: " If any 
 man •nill now say that our Prayer Book is taken 
 out of the mass, let him know rather that the 
 mass was cast out of the Prayer Book, into which 
 it was injuriously and impiously intruded. The 
 good of those prayers are ours in the right of 
 Christians, the evil that was in them let them take 
 as their own ; if a piece of gold be offered to us, 
 will we not take it because it was taken out of the 
 channel These words I quote for the acknow- 
 ledgment they contain of the Prayer Book's origin ; 
 the argument of the good Bishop is indeed a 
 sophism, and the assertion that the mass was cast 
 out of the Prayer Book, if meant as anything but 
 a flourish of words, is a mere fable ; all the ])arts 
 of the Prayer Book not found in Roman Catholic 
 authorities are modern inventions, the oldest not 
 more than two hundred and fifty years, and many 
 of them younger by a century. That which is the 
 continent cannot be cast out of that which it 
 contains. 
 
 Bishop Stillingfleet in his Irenicum speaks to 
 this purpose : " The great reason why our first 
 reformers did so far comply -with the Pajiists was 
 to gain and lay a bait for them, though I hope 
 it was never intended as a hook for the Protes- 
 tants." 
 
 We have the acknowledgment and grant of two 
 kings, James I. and Charles II., that the public 
 
LETTER XXIII. 
 
 197 
 
 worship and service of the Protestant Church of 
 EiigUuul contained in the English Litvirgy is the 
 same in tlie main body and essentials, ciiief mate- 
 rials, frame and order, with that of the Popish 
 worship - and whoever will take the trouble to 
 search into the Popish Breviary, Ritual, Missal, 
 and Pontiiicial, which four comprehend their whole 
 liturgy, will find, though there are some variations 
 and alterations, yet the substance, chief material, 
 and order are the same, and that our Prayer Book 
 is taken from the Roman Catholic service — collects, 
 matins, even-songs, epistles, gospels, creeds, 
 litanies, consecration, administration of sacra- 
 ments, baptism of infants, with godfathers and 
 godmothers, kneeling at the altar ; confiteor, abso- 
 lution, burial, matrimony, visitation of the sick, 
 ordination of Priests and Deacons, consecration 
 of Archbishops, Bishops, &c. 
 
 These six canticles are word for word from the 
 mass-book : " Benedicite opera omnia," " Bene- 
 dictus Dominus Deus Israel," " Magnificat anima 
 mea," " Nunc dimitis," " Quicunque vult," "Te 
 Deum laudamus," with "Gloria Patri," directed 
 to be repeated frequently and after every psalm ; 
 besides the "Pater Nosier" to be five times re- 
 peated before the service of the Lord's day is 
 completed*. 
 
 * Woul<l if not be Ix tter to repeat the Lord's prayer five 
 times coiiseculwe/i/ ? It woukl come nearer to the Popish 
 paUern of saying In-ails, and on that account would probably 
 be more acceptable. — Kditou, 
 
198 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Now in the canticle " Benedicite opera omnia" 
 are some very strange things ; " 0 ye frost and 
 cold, bless ye the Lord, praise him and magnify 
 his name for ever " 0 ye wells, bless the Lord 
 " O ye whales," " O ye green things," " stars 
 and moon," " showers and dew and then, to 
 finish this odd assortment, "Ananias, Azarias, 
 and Misael," for in fact the whole of the song is 
 apocryj.hal ; but whatever is its origin, and what- 
 ever its spirit, such as it is, every clergyman has 
 sworn that he receives it with " unfeigned assent 
 and consent." 
 
 The Prayer Book follows the Popish worship in 
 numerous ceremonies ; kneeling at confession and 
 absolution, whilst "the Priest" is standing— re- 
 ]ieating the sentences of " Fater Noster" after 
 the Priest — standing up at " Gloria Patri" — 
 standing whilst the Apostles' creed is repeated — 
 repeating after the Priest, " Kyrie Elcison, Christe 
 Eleison, Kyrie Eleison"* — reading or singing 
 " Quicunque vult," /. e. Athanasian creed— say- 
 ing or singing litanies, with responses from the 
 choir — kneeling at the altar during communion — 
 reading the Ten Commandments by the Priest 
 standing — whilst the peojile on their knees iterate 
 the same prayer after each commandment — the 
 alternate reading of the Psalm verses by Priest 
 and people — sitting at the lessons — rising up again 
 
 * Lord have mercy upon us — Christ hiive mercj- upon 
 us — Lord hnve mtrcv upon us. 
 
■LETTER XXm. 
 
 199 
 
 at canticles — 'bowiiig at the name of Jesus — turn- 
 ing to the East — singing antliems and solos — per- 
 forming voluntaries on organs — wearing surplices, 
 rochets, hoods, scarfs, square caps, and other 
 trumpery prescribed to the clergy, either in the 
 rubrics of the Prayer Book or in the canons. 
 Now all this elaborate trifling and voluntary 
 humility comes direct from the Church of Rome, 
 which was many centuries in perfecting that 
 Lexicon of superstitions which we have copied 
 and translated in our Prayer Books. 
 
 Pope Gregory I. made that form of service 
 which they call the Mass, and added many cere- 
 monies unknown before. There was another mass 
 called the Mass of Ambrose, and as much dispute 
 had arisen about their respective merits, Pope 
 Adrian, (about the year 800,) pretending to be 
 divinely directed, decided for the Mass of Gregory. 
 He prescribed the singing of Psalms in alternate 
 parts as we have them in our Cathedrals. He 
 commanded the singing Kyrie Eleison, or,' as w-e 
 have it, " Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have 
 mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us that 
 " bowing and ducking of three Popish masquers 
 to one another," as Milton calls it. 
 
 The prescript number of Psalms and lessons 
 came from the hand of Gregory VH. a.d. 1073. 
 
 The Absolution by the Priest from Thomas 
 Aquinas, in the thirteenth centin-y, who also has 
 
200 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 decided that the same honour is to be paid to an 
 image in a Church as to Christ himself. 
 
 Peter Gnapheus, Bisliop of Aiitioch, a. d. 500, 
 recommended the repetition of the Creed every 
 time divine service was performed in public. The 
 Popes took the hint, and we have obeyed the Popes. 
 The Epistles and Gospels were by Pope Damasus ; 
 and Pope Anastasius ordered standing at the 
 Gospel ; and thus every part of the Prayer Book 
 has been concocted by Popes or Popish Doctors, 
 and all that we have in our public worship has 
 received the impress of the Fisherman's seal. 
 
 From Rome also we have our Prayer Book 
 calendar — Saint Prisca, 18th January; Bishop 
 Fabian, 20th ; Saint Agatha, 5th February ; Va- 
 lentine, 14th February ; Saint Chad, Sd March ; 
 Abbot Benedict, Ambrose, Saint George, Saint 
 Dunstan, and the Invention of the Cross, with 
 many other such days, kept as holidays at Cam- 
 bridge, and celebrated with surplices and addi- 
 tional cerenVonies. 
 
 As you may not, my dear uncle, have a bre- 
 viary at hand, I will here give you one of our 
 prayers as it stands in the Popish service. " 0 God 
 from whom all holy desires," &c. " Deus, a quo 
 sancta desideria, recta consilia, et justa sunt opera ; 
 da servis tuis illam quam mundus dare iion potest 
 pacem, ut et corda nostra mandatis tuis dedita, et 
 hostium sublata formidine, tempora sint tua pro- 
 
LETTER XXm. 
 
 201 
 
 tectione tvanquilla per Dominum nostrum Jesiim 
 Christum." Ad vesperas. 
 
 One specimen of the collects as they are in the 
 breviary may also be instructive, for the collects 
 are generally said to be the best part of the Prayer 
 Book. Collect for the seventh Sunday after 
 Trinity : — " Deus, virtutum cujus est totum (|uod 
 est optimum, insere pectoribus nostris amorem tui 
 nominis, et prsesta in nobis religionis augmentum, 
 ut quoe sint bona nutrias, et, pietatis studio, quse 
 sunt nutrita custodias, per J. C. D. N." 
 
 We thus find that we owe the very best of our 
 scraps of prayers to the Popes, who, though they 
 made unceasing war against the Lamb, could 
 occasionally talk the language of Zion, that they 
 might thus, if it were possible, deceive the very 
 elect. Allow me to add now one of those collects 
 which we have ungraciously rejected : — " O Lord 
 God Almighty, who for the salvation of immortal 
 souls didst ordain that the blessed Francis of 
 Sales should make himself all things to all men, 
 grant, we beseech thee, that we being endowed 
 with the excellencies of thy love, may, through the 
 direction of his counsels and the suffrage of his 
 merits, attain unto everlasting life through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." 
 
 If, however, we have escaped from prayers of 
 this sort, and that not without difficulty, we have 
 taken good care to follow the Popish service in 
 other passages without altering a syllabic. 
 
202 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 " Priest. — 0 Lord save the King. 
 
 " People. — And mercifully hear us Avhen we 
 call upon thee." 
 
 Who could have anticipated such a confusion of 
 petitions? and who hut the Popes would thus 
 have thrown all things together fell-mell, as if 
 anything was fish that came into their nets ? In 
 the same way we might couple the Queen's name 
 with our spiritual wants, and if it were in the 
 Prayer Book it would meet with warm approbation 
 from some people. 
 
 The last prayer of the morning service is headed 
 thus — " A prayer of Saint Chrj sostom," which is 
 in fact subscribing a hearty assent and consent to 
 the canonizations of the Roman Chancery without 
 the least authority from Scripture. Chrysostom 
 may be a Saint at Rome and at Lambeth, for he 
 has written with all his might to exalt the priest- 
 hood, but this same Saint also approved of oS'ering 
 for the dead ahns with oblations ; he preached up 
 pilgiimages to Job's dunghill, and talked all sorts 
 of nonsense about holy water and other supersti- 
 tious absurdities wliich I cannot stop here to 
 recount. 
 
 Tlie authorized prayers for the King are very 
 offensive ; for it is highly presumptuous in the 
 humble act of prayer thus to make a display of 
 worldly greatness, and, under the pretence of piety, 
 to introduce an unconstitutional and slavish tone 
 of politics. " O Lord our heavenly Father .... 
 
LETTER SXIir. 
 
 203 
 
 the only Ruler of Princes," as a fact, in the go- 
 vernment of Providence, is indeed true, as it is 
 with every individual in the world; but in the 
 sense here intended, that is to say, that no mortal 
 man can rule a King, is not true ; for we know 
 very well that our Parliaments have not only 
 ruled, but dethroned ; not only dethroned, but be- 
 headed reigning princes ; they have ruled in a 
 very masterly manner Edward II., Richard II., 
 Mary Queen of Scots, Charles I., and James II. 
 What they have done they can do again ; uay, we 
 have seen with our own eyes a King over-ruled 
 in the matter of a Reform Bill and a reforming 
 Ministry ; and the instances are very frequent 
 where Parliament has refused the wishes of reign- 
 ing sovereigns. This language does not, there- 
 fore, suit the atmosphere of England ; it suits only 
 the hot-houses in which Prelates live, who have 
 ideas and feelings, politics, and religion unknown 
 to the rest of the nation. 
 
 The Prayer Book calls the King "our most 
 gracious Sovereign Lord, King William," — " our 
 most gracious King and Governor," — " most re- 
 ligious and giacious,"— and prays that he may 
 " vanquish and overcome all his enemies." These 
 swelling oriental titles and belligerent petitions are 
 exceptionable anywhere, but in the worship of God 
 they are profane ; for in the House of Prayer the 
 King is only a miserable sinner, who, with his 
 peojile, must some day stand before the universal 
 
204 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 judgment-seat in an awful equality witli the 
 lowest of liis subjects ; and if we should search 
 Scripture for a precedent, we should find indeed 
 prayers relating to kings, but in a very different 
 strain : as thus in the Prophet Daniel : — " 0 
 
 Lord, the gi-eat and dreadful God we 
 
 have siinied and have committed iniquity, and 
 have done wickedly, and have rebelled even by de- 
 parting from thy precepts and judgments : neither 
 have we hearkened unto thy servants the Prophets, 
 who spake in thy name to our kings, to our princes, 
 and our fathers, and to all the people of the land ! 
 0 Lord to us belongeth confusion of face, to our 
 kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because 
 w e have sinned against Thee." 
 
 The service for the thirtieth of January, " being 
 the martyrdom of the blessed King Charles the 
 First," is an outrageous stretch of impiety and 
 sei-vility. No language can be used against it too 
 severe. There is nothing in the Masc-book or 
 Breviary half so bad ; for though the Mass-book 
 and Breviary do indeed exalt the merits of the 
 Saints, yet they never have presumed to appro- 
 priate the atoning attributes and merits of Christ 
 to a mortal, as is done w ithout compunction in our 
 Protestant Prayer Book. " Form of prayer, loitk 
 fastinri, to be used yearly, upon the thirtieth of 
 January, being the day of the Martyrdom of the 
 blessed King Charles the First : to implore the 
 mercy of God that that sacred and innocent blood 
 
LETTER XXIII. 
 
 205 
 
 may never at any time hereafter be visited upon 
 us, or ovir posterity." 
 
 Thus do we see a very had King, wlio, above 
 all his contemporaries, Avas famed for false- 
 hood and treachery; who was by painful ex- 
 perience so universally suspected of dissimula- 
 tion, that no party dared trust him ; who made 
 no scruples to break the law of the land, and 
 to commit acts of the grossest oppression without 
 the least shame or remorse — converted into a 
 mnrtyr, that is, one who has sealed the truth of 
 the faitli of Christians by his death ; one who has 
 died for the truth ; and thus are we commanded 
 to keep the anniversary of his execution with a 
 piacular fast, lest peradventure the blood of this 
 tyrant should be visited on our children to the 
 uttermost generation ! 
 
 But the order of the service is far more scanda- 
 lous than the title. Instead of the " Venite exul- 
 temus," the Priest and people read alternately a 
 patcli-work of verses culled from various parts of 
 the word of God, and from tlie Ajiocrypha : the 
 greater part of the selections from Scripture alhide 
 to Christ : as thus, " The people stood up, and the 
 rulers took council together against the Lord and 
 against his anointed," — " the man of thy right 
 hand, the son of man whom thou hadst made so 
 strong for thyself," &c. &c. The second lesson is 
 the twenty-seventh of Matthew, which details the 
 sufferings of ovir Lord. The Gospel for the Cum- 
 
206 
 
 LETTER XSIII. 
 
 munion Service is from Matthew xxi. 33 : — " There 
 was a certain householder;" the well-known pa- 
 rable which our Lord gave to his disciples to point 
 out the death he should die ; and amongst the im- 
 pious prayers for this occasion, one of the sentences 
 runs thus : — " We magnify thy name for thine 
 abundant gi'ace bestowed upon our martyred So- 
 vereign, by which he was enabled so cheerfully to 
 follow the steps of his blessed Master and Saviour 
 in a constant meek suffering," &c. 
 
 Now if all the rest of the Prayer Book were 
 free from the sad defects which abound in it every- 
 where, yet still this one service would be sufficient 
 utterly to condemn it ; and they who praise our 
 " Scriptural Liturgy," as if it were a volume taken 
 out of the Ark of the Covenant, are bound to re- 
 member " the form of prayer, with fasting, for 
 King Charles the Martyr;" and if they cannot 
 perceive the impious strain of that ritual, and if 
 they do not shrink under its weight, then must 
 they indeed be blinded by the errors of a supersti- 
 tious darkness. 
 
 In vain is it for a clergyman to say that he 
 knows not this service ; for not only is he com- 
 manded to use it on the thirtieth of January every 
 year, but he has thus made this solemn declaration, 
 — " I, A. B., do hereby declare my unfeigned assent 
 and consent to all and everi/thing contained and 
 prescribed in and by the book intituled the Book 
 of Common Prayer." He may indeed profess 
 
LETTER XXIII. 
 
 207 
 
 Ignorance of this service, and thus he never uses 
 it ; but this only proves him to be a deceiver, and 
 that he is ready to swear to anything, or to make 
 any decUiration in order to become possessed of a 
 benefice. 
 
 So mucli for the present : I shall have more to 
 say about the Prayer Book in my next. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 The three Creeds, that called the Apostles', the 
 Athanasian, and the Nicene, have been justly 
 objected to from many quarters. 
 
 First, then, I notice that the Apostles' Creed, 
 as it is called, (though it might just as well be 
 called the Angels' Creed, if any matter of fact is 
 intended by the title,) is a patch-work of man's 
 invention, and that it is the accumulated gather- 
 ings of many centuries. Aboxit the fourth cen- 
 tury a part of this Creed was used in the Churches, 
 but it was not admitted into the Roman Church, 
 complete, till the eighth century. " This Creed," 
 says the learned Witsius, " was not the work of 
 one man, or of one council, but in a course of ages 
 several additions were made to it by different per- 
 sons on various occasions." 
 
 Archbishop Usher, that diligent searcher of an- 
 tiquity, has given us an account of the various 
 additions which have at last been collected into 
 one piece, such as we now read it : " Maker 
 of heaven and earth" is a new addition — " con- 
 ceived" is an addition, for in the old copies it 
 stands " born of the Holy Ghost" — " dead" is 
 
LETTKll XXIV. 
 
 209 
 
 added — the words " Father Almighty " are added 
 to " right hand" — " Cathohc" is an ^addition to 
 the word " Church," and so also " communion of 
 Saints and life everlasting" are tacked on to the 
 more ancient form. 
 
 Bishop Burnet testifies " that every one of the 
 first writers gives an abstract of his faith in words 
 that differ both from one another and from this form. 
 Hence, it is clear that there was no common form 
 delivered to all the Churches. The first apologists 
 for Christianity, when they delivered a short ab- 
 stract of the Christian faith, do all vary from one 
 another, both as to the order and as to the words 
 themselves, which they would not have done if the 
 Churches had received one settled form from the 
 Apostles." 
 
 This Creed is, in fact, like one of our modern 
 acts of Parliament, a heap of additions piled one 
 upon another to amend previous acts, which were 
 previously amended by others that did themselves 
 require amendment by antecedent acts, as the 
 cunning of the la^^7ers discovered flaws in that 
 which the legislators meant to be without fault. 
 
 Episcopius says, that the Apostolical Creed 
 originally consisted merely of these words, " I 
 bcUeve in God the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost ;" not that the Apostles, or those whom 
 they had taught, did indeed draw up any set form 
 of a Creed, but this was the faith which they taught 
 and insisted on when preaching the Gospel. 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Basnage saj-s, the first clause of the Creed was 
 put forth to oppose the Gnostics, who taught there 
 were two Creators, or two demiiu-gical powers in 
 the universe; " the remission of sins" was, ac- 
 cording to this writer, meant to combat the No- 
 vatians, and the " descent into hell" the Arians ; 
 and so other clauses were added to oppose new 
 heresies and to confound new sects. 
 
 Hence, we see the falsehood of the title, " the 
 Apostles' Creed," which is a mere deception, 
 meant to mislead the unlearned, and to persuade 
 them that this meagre and heartless formulary 
 was composed by the Apostles. They who know 
 the unction and fervour with which the Apostles 
 testify of the grace of God in Christ to sinners 
 could never be brought to believe that they would 
 have left this miserable legacy of faith to the 
 Lord's people. A committee of the House of 
 Commons, or the King's Attorney-General, would 
 compose, a creed like this ; not so the Apostles, 
 nor any man who enjoyed an interior view of the 
 faith : it is a fit creed for a Church that has a 
 mortal sinner for its supreme head. When, 
 therefore, we read this rubric in the Prayer 
 Book, " Then shall be sung or said the Apostles' 
 Creed by the Minister and people standing," 
 we read an untruth, and are directed to perform 
 an act of childish superstition. 
 
 The article concerning " the descent into hell" 
 has greatly perplexed the Protestants, and all sorts 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 211 
 
 of interpretations liave been put forth, not one of 
 wliicli is satisfactory, or can be considered as con- 
 veyin<>- any intelligible information. Bishop Pear- 
 sou has laboured hard at it, and much has he 
 toiled to bring- light out of darkness, and, after 
 reciting a number of different interpretations and 
 refuting them by turn, has given us what he calls 
 " a safe account," but which, in fact, exactly 
 leaves the inquirer where he was before, "that 
 the soul of Christ separated from his body by 
 death, went to the place where the souls of men 
 are kept for their sins, and did wholly undergo 
 the law of death ;" but if we ask what this place 
 is, the answer will be it is hell, which tells us 
 nothing, excepting that hell is the place where the 
 souls of sinners are, and tliis every body knew 
 before. 
 
 Beza has given a totally different interpretation 
 — and he stands in the highest place amongst di- 
 ^•ines — but none of the Protestant theologians who 
 have discussed the subject are considered as having 
 cleared up the mystery; and all this perplexity 
 and error is the portion of the Church of England, 
 because she has been pleased to insert in her 
 service-book a profitless formulary of unknown 
 ^vriters, which has nothing but a supposed anti- 
 quity to recommend it. The truth seems to be, 
 that this clause of the Creed is an invention of the 
 fourth or fifth century, when the Church was far 
 gone in superstition ; for there is good evidence of an 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 old tradition, much believed amongst the Papists, 
 that the soul of Christ walked down into hell, 
 somewhere helow the earth — that he was, indeed, 
 in the place of torments, and preached the Gospel 
 to the souls there confined — and that, by his 
 preaching, the souls of many believed, were set 
 at liberty, and went to heaven. 
 
 In the Gospel of Nicomedus, a forgery of the 
 second century, it is asserted that Jesus having 
 collected all the souls of the just, which were kept 
 prisoners in hell till he went to preach to them, 
 baptized them all in the holy river Jordan, as a 
 necessary pm-ification before they could enter into 
 Paradise. 
 
 Theodore Albucara, a writer of the ninth cen- 
 tury, holding that no one could be saved without 
 baptism, and inquiring " how the dead, whom 
 Jesus delivered from the prison of hell," could 
 have been baptized, supposes that the water 
 which flowed from the Saviour's side on the 
 cross being resolved into its primarj' elements, 
 baptized the elect Saints, who were waiting in 
 prison the arrival of Christ, and that the state 
 of their bodies was fitted for such a baptism.* 
 
 Now, these testimonies are suiScient to prove 
 the existence of the tradition ; so that, knowing 
 the origin of the Creed, and how it has been 
 built up by superstitious men, we can readily 
 perceive that " the descent into hell" is a tra- 
 * See Cuteltiiu-', and Fabrlcius, B. G. ix. ^7G. 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 213 
 
 dition of purgatory. We need not, with tliis very 
 ])lain interpretation, now wonder at the perplexity 
 of our Protestant Episcopalians, who, finding the 
 Creed on their hands, are bound to support it ; 
 though, sooner than make confession of purgatory, 
 they would naturally give the clause any other 
 interpretation, or, if no interpretation can be 
 found, leave it in such doubt as if it could not 
 be explained at all. 
 
 The third of the Thirty-nine Articles lias riveted 
 another chain to this dark clause, as if the founders 
 of the Church of England had been fearful lest, 
 peradventure, their favourite should slip out of 
 tlicir hands ; for, not content with the assurance 
 of the Creed, the article selects this clause out of 
 all the others, and gives it a double validity, " As 
 Christ died for us and was buried, so also is it to 
 be believed that he went down into hell." — Having 
 propounded the riddle, and left it as a legacy to 
 the Church of England for ever, they very pru- 
 dently abstain from offering any explanation ; 
 and we may be quite sure that, to the end of 
 time, no explanation ever will be agreed upon 
 by Protestants, till they admit that the doctrine of 
 purgatory is intended in this clause, in which case 
 they must either renounce their religion or give 
 up the Prayer Book. 
 
 Now, we must remember, that whetlier the 
 disputed clause is taken as superstitious or as 
 unintelligible, yet, such as it is, it forms a part 
 
214 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 of the daily service of the Church of England — 
 that sick and dying persons are questioned if they 
 unfeignedly believe the Creed,* that it is taught 
 children in the Catechism, and that all clergymen 
 have given their "unfeigned assent and consent" 
 to it, though neither dying man nor woman, neither 
 Bishop nor child, neither Priest nor Deacon, can 
 clearly explain what they believe when they come 
 to this clause ! Thus, without inquiry, do we 
 follow the traditions which we have received 
 from our fathers. 
 
 The opinion now generally entertained amongst 
 the clergy is, that "Hell" in the clause means 
 Hades, which, as it makes obscurity more obscure, 
 is gladly embraced by them. Hades, they say, 
 is the place of departed spirits, the unseen world ; 
 or they sometimes decline giving any definition, 
 assuring us merely that Hades is Hades. If we 
 inquire what " the unseen world" is, or where it 
 is, or how it is described in Scripture, or on what 
 authority we are called on to beheve in any place 
 for spirits but Hell or Heaven, we can receive 
 no information, and there the matter must rest. 
 Some, however, think that Hades means Para- 
 dise, and, if that be true, then are we come to this 
 strange discovery, that Hell and Paradise are the 
 
 * " Here the Minister shall rehearse the articles of the 
 faith, sayinp; thus, ' Dost thou believe in God the Father 
 Almighty,' &c. &c. [goinjjj throui^h the whole Creed.] 
 The sick person shall answer, 'All this I stedf.vstj.y 
 BELIEVE.'" — Visitation of the Sick. 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 215 
 
 same thing, for the clause in question says, " He 
 descended into Hell," which we are told is Para- 
 dise ! Supposing, then, that Hell means Paradise, 
 how did tlie compilers of the prayer discover that 
 tlic way to Paradise is downwards, when the 
 Ajiostle says he was caught up into Paradise ? 
 Let the clergy extricate themselves out of these 
 absurdities as they can. 
 
 The attachment to this clause is nevertheless 
 very great ; for in the year 1785, the representa- 
 tives of the American Episcopal Church being 
 desirous to have some elect Bishops consecrated 
 by those who were supposed to be the legitimate 
 successors of the Apostles, applied to the dignita- 
 ries of the Establishment for that purpose. The 
 English Bishops complained that the Nicene and 
 Athanasian Creeds were excluded from the Ame- 
 rican Prayer Books ; and the descent into hell 
 from the Apostles' Creed. This remonstrance 
 was so far attended to by the American Clergy, 
 that the Nicene Creed was restored, and the 
 descent was by a considerable majority readmitted 
 into its former situation, but the Athanasian Creed 
 was permanently rejected. 
 
 The Athanasian Creed, which the Episcojjalians 
 of America could not digest, is now a great favou- 
 rite in certain quarters, and for this reason appa- 
 rently, that it is written in a wrathful, dictatorial, 
 and disputatious style; exactly suited to the 
 clerical mind, which loves to dogmatise and 
 
216 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 threaten in the same hreath. " Whoever wdll be 
 saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold 
 the Catholic faith ; which faith, except everj^ one 
 do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he 
 shall perish everlastinglj ." What swelling and 
 contumelious words ! What blustering and bully- 
 ing of a petulant controversialist ! This threat, 
 however, might have been expressed more briefly 
 thus : — " Whoever does not belong to the Athana- 
 sian party shall be damned.'' 
 
 I must observe here that Pearson, Usher, 
 Hammond, L'Estrange, Cave, Pagi, Du Pin, and 
 others, are all agreed that xVthanasius was not the 
 author of this Creed ; it was composed at the 
 close of the fifth century, and the first person who 
 called it Athanasian was Theodulphus Aurelianen- 
 sis, A. D. 794. The Council of Autun ordered it to 
 be read a.d. 670. 
 
 It is, therefore, a production of dark and super- 
 stitious times, when all was confusion and violence 
 in the Church, and when faction and party spirit 
 drowned ^vith their clamom- the mild but persuasive 
 voice of Gospel truth. 
 
 This ferocious Creed never once makes an ap- 
 peal to the word of God — the Scriptures are con- 
 temptible in its eyes — it spins its spider web out of 
 its own bowels. How different is the language and 
 spirit of the Scriptures : — " Him that is weak in 
 the faith receive ye, but not to doubtfiil disputa- 
 tions." Where can we find the least resemblance 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 217 
 
 to the angry and perplexing tone of this Creed in 
 any part of the New Testament ? Where can we 
 find even its sentiments ? For though it be true 
 that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, 
 the God Jehovah, yet never do we find the God of 
 our faith thus displayed in the intricate propositions 
 of Scholastic subtilty. 
 
 The doctrine intended to be conveyed in this 
 Creed is never stated in Scripture as a mere spe- 
 culative dogma, but in connexion with our faith 
 and obedience (as in Eph. ii. 18) ; and in every 
 respect the Athanasian Creed must be considered 
 not an elucidation and a defence, but a caricature 
 and distortion of the truth : for though it under- 
 takes to define the truth with marvellous accuracy, 
 and to hedge it in with a barrier of curses, yet it 
 is totally silent about repentance, and the sure 
 hope of a trembling sinner : it says not a syllable 
 concerning justification by faith, — nor of the new 
 covenant ; but having talked loudly about a hard 
 mystery, leaves the unconsoled inquirer to tremble 
 before an inaccessible God. 
 
 And yet see the inconsistency of the compilers 
 of the Prayer Book ! They have insisted on the 
 Athanasian Creed as a part of Christian worship, 
 but have omitted to give it a place in the most im- 
 portant passage of all, the Visitation of the Sick and 
 the Dying. The faith required of a dying man by the 
 Prayer Book is the faith contained in the Apostles' 
 Crci'd, in which the doctrines of the Trinity and 
 
218 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 the Atonement are totally omitted; and in order 
 to secure a certainty on the subject, the Apostles' 
 Creed is broken up into an interrogator)' form, and 
 put as a question to the dpng man. Hence it is 
 clear that the dying man is not required to believe 
 in the Trinity ; and yet, behold, the Athanasian 
 Creed loudly declares, that if a man does not be- 
 lieve rightly and exactly about the Trinity, " with- 
 out doubt he shall perish everlastingly !" 
 
 From these considerations we are led to the 
 conclusion that the Athanasian Creed is merely 
 the symbol of a party ; and as it attacks none of 
 the strongholds of Satan in a sinner's heart, as it 
 is without any searching application of the truth, 
 and without any practical consequences, we need 
 not wonder to see it in high favour with sundry 
 violent churchmen*, who find in it a passport for 
 their orthodoxy, and a shield for their sins. 
 
 I conclude with what I have to say on the sub- 
 ject by quoting the words of Mr. Riland : " so 
 that we have three Creeds containing nothing 
 
 * April 29, 1721, Lord Willoughby de Broke, Dean of 
 Windsor, a Priest and a Peer, brought in a bill for " the 
 more effectnal suppressing of blasphemy and jirofaneness." 
 comprehendinn; under that description a denialof the Trinity 
 as set forth by the Thirty-nine Articles. Persons con- 
 victed under this bill were to suffer perpetual imprisonment, 
 unless they professed " that in the unity of the Godhead, 
 there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity, 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." This bill was 
 countenanced by Archbishop Wake, and the bishops of 
 London, Winchester, and Coventry. The bill was rejected 
 by sixty against thirty -one. 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 219 
 
 whatever on original sin, the existence and effects 
 of wliicli are the cause why an atonement is 
 needed; and with regard to the atonement itself, 
 furnishing only a few desultory assertions, with no 
 distinct application, and in two of the instances 
 forraally separating the ' forgiveness of sins from 
 the only source of pardon.' " (Decus et Tutamen, 
 p. 160.) 
 
 Having thus stated my objections to tlie matter 
 of the Creeds, let me add a word on the manner 
 in which they are to appear in the Churches. 
 The rubric says that the Creeds are to be " sung 
 or said ;" " singing " has the precedence of 
 " saying so that if the Church hath no fiddles, 
 nor organs, nor bagpipes, nor sackbuts, no sing- 
 ing men, nor singing women, then the faithful may 
 "say" what they cannot "sing." This makes 
 the matter complete ; for I can hardly imagine 
 Christians in a more unseemly act of worship than 
 when they are warbling the Athanasian Creed. 
 
 The cerem.ony of singing the Creeds was intro- 
 duced by the Popes in the tenth century. 
 
 I am, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
LETTER XXV. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 Amongst the many " excellencies " of the 
 Prayer Book, the Burial Sernce holds a conspi- 
 cuous place. Rubric. " Then while the earth shall 
 be cast upon the body, the Priest shall say : — 
 ' Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of 
 his gTeat mercy to take unto himself the soul of 
 our dear brother here departed, we commit his 
 body to the ground in sure and certain hope of the 
 resurrection to eternal life;'" — and part of the 
 prayer following is thus : — " We give thee hearty 
 thanks for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this 
 our brother out of the miseries of this sinful 
 world, beseeching thee that it may please thee 
 shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect." 
 
 The design of all this is too plain to be mis- 
 taken : the burial service declares that all who are 
 buried are buried in a sure and certain hope of 
 eternal life, and that they are of the number of the 
 elect ; and this is a compliment paid to even,- man, 
 woman, and child, laid in our cluirchyards, with- 
 out any discrimination or attempt at inquiry. Mr. 
 Riland thus shows the difficulty of the service : — 
 "If one of my parishioners should be killed in a 
 
LETTER XXV. 
 
 221 
 
 drunken quarrel, I shall be compelled in a few 
 days verbally to include my own gratitude to God 
 with that of the drunkard's family and friends, in 
 
 these words, &c., but in jioint of fact I am 
 
 astounded at the terrible reality that the man was 
 cut off in a moment, in the very act of sin ; that 
 he was hurried away from the miseries and guilt 
 of a wicked life, into miseries yet greater ; that he 
 died without the possibility of repentance; and I 
 found, on such a death, a prayer that God would 
 complete the number of the elect." (130.) 
 
 It is very important to connect the Burial Ser- 
 vice (though I fear it never is connected) with the 
 Athanasian Creed ; for since that symbol declares 
 that whosoever does not believe in the prescribed 
 way concerning the Trinity shall without doubt 
 perish everlastingly — how incumbent it is on 
 every clergyman to ascertain before the funeral 
 service is performed, whether the person to be 
 buried did, during his lifetime, understand and 
 keep whole and undefiled the Athanasian Creed ! 
 
 Allow me, my dear uncle, to ask of you if you ever 
 ascertain this point when an opportunity occurs ? 
 Did old Gaffer Jones and old Goody Brownriog 
 believe the consubstantiality and coequality of the 
 three hypostases ? Did they, in fact, " keep whole 
 and undefiled the Catholic faith?" for if they did 
 not, the Prayer Book tells us they must without 
 doubt perish everlastingly ■ and how shocking in 
 
222 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 such a case to think that you did at their funerals 
 number tliem amongst the elect, and in the face 
 of the whole parish declare they •« ere buried in a 
 sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection. 
 The rubric of the Burial Service orders that "no 
 persons excommunicate, or unbaptized," shall be 
 buried vvith Christian burial. Now who are per- 
 sons excommunicate ? Why those who are so pro- 
 nounced in the Bishop's Court, persons who have 
 not paid the fees to the Proctors, or w ho have been 
 declared excommunicate by canonical law. 
 
 The Canons of the Cliurch of England are very 
 fond of excommunicating people, as for instance, 
 " Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the Church 
 of England, by law established under the King's 
 Majesty, is not a true and Apostolical Church, 
 teaching and maintaining the doctrine of the 
 Apostles . . . that the form of God's worship 
 in the Church of England estabHshed by law, and 
 contained in the Book of Common Prayer, is a 
 conui)t, and superstitious, and unlawful worship 
 of God, or containeth anything in it repugnant to 
 the Scriptures— that any of the Thirty-nine Ar- 
 ticles are in any part superstitious or erroneous, 
 or such as he may not, with a good conscience, 
 subscribe unto, let him be excommunicated, ipso 
 facto, and not restored but only by the Arch- 
 bishop, after his repentance and public revocation 
 of such his wicked errors.'"' 
 
LETTER XXV. 223 
 
 Such wicked wretches as these and unbaptized 
 babies cannot be buried " in a sure and certain 
 hope of a blessed resurrection;" in fact, they are 
 not in the number of the elect ; they are cut off and 
 cast away as abominable bi-anches, wliilst all the 
 drunkards and prostitutes, the thieves and the 
 rogues, are buried with better hopes and more 
 splendid privilec;es. 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
LETTER XXVI. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 Before the clergy of the Establishment 
 are allowed to regale themselves with the pro- 
 vender of tithes, they are well yoked and har- 
 nessed with numerous protestations * abjurations, 
 declarations, and oaths — a heavy weight, indeed, 
 for any but clerical shoulders — and it is this con- 
 sciousness of these trajipings, I presume, which 
 emboldens them to assume the bovine character, 
 by preaching against the " sin of muzzling the ox 
 that treadeth out the corn." Part of this harness 
 is the following declaration openly read before the 
 congregation, after the Morning and Evening Ser- 
 vice, on some Lord's day within two months after 
 the possession of a benefice : " I, A. B., do hereby 
 declare my imfeigiied assent and consent to all 
 and everything contained and prescribed in and 
 by the Book of Common Prayer and Adminis- 
 tration of Sacraments, and other rites and cere- 
 
 - A Vicar makes at least twelve solemn attestations be- 
 fore he is duly settled in his vicarage ; should he have 
 been previously licensed to a cuiacy, he will, in the whole, 
 have made sixteen declarations. A Bishop, gradually raised 
 to the bench through minor degrees, will be found to have 
 taken at least thirty oaths. 
 
LETTER XXVI. 
 
 225 
 
 mo7iics of the Church, according to tlie use of the 
 Ciuirch of England, together with the Psalter or 
 Pealnis of David, pointed as ihey arc io be sinifj 
 or said in the Churrhes, and the form or manner 
 of making, ordaining, and consecrating of Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons. ' 
 
 There is something quite droll in the tyranny 
 of this attestation ; for, besides " the imfeigncd 
 assent and consent," — a terrible two-edged sword 
 that must wound every clergyman's conscience 
 somewhere, if he has any conscience at all, — it is, 
 as it were, putting a fool's cap on the victim by 
 making him swear to accept the Psalms " as they 
 are pointed in the Prayer Book to be sung or 
 said." The object of this ridiculous oath is, I 
 believe, to secure two points — first, singing of 
 Psalms in cathedral fashion, and secondly, an ap- 
 probation of the vicious translation of the Psalms 
 found in the Prayer Book. 
 
 Now, on turning to these Psalms, as they are 
 " pointed to be sung or said" in the Prayer Boole, 
 I find two black spots in the middle of every verse ; 
 tiiese are singing points, or fjabblinfj stops, if I 
 may so term them, to check the chaunters when 
 they are gabbling full drive, and to make them 
 wind up in that place with a cadence. Thus, 
 Psalm xxxii., " Beati quorum," verse 10, " Be ye 
 not like to horse and mule, which have no under- 
 standing : whose mouths must be held with bit and 
 Ijridle, lest they fall upon thee." At the ominous 
 
226 
 
 Lr.TTER XXVI. 
 
 words " no understanding," the chanters are to 
 make a cadence, and having done that, to gabble 
 on to the words "upon thee," when another 
 cadence takes place, and so on through every 
 Psalm ; and so important is this arrangement in 
 the eyes of the Church of England, that it is made 
 matter of solemn engagement to every beneficed 
 clergj'man within the kingdom . 
 
 This engagement, moreover, secures the appro- 
 bation and use of the Prayer-Book Psalter, and 
 prevents the poor clergyman and his parish 
 from turning to the word of God for the Psalms. 
 Thus, the vicious translation of the Prayer Book is 
 tied like a mill-stone round the neck of the Church 
 of England, and thus are its worshippers com- 
 pelled to make use of that which is not Scripture, 
 but Scripture garbled. The Psalms in the Prayer 
 Book were printed as they were first translated 
 fi-om the Vulgate in the reign of Henry VIII.; and 
 as it was supposed that the people had become 
 accustomed to them, the Bishops dechned insert- 
 ing the corrected translation of our authorised 
 .Bible published in the reign of James I. Hence, 
 the Prayer-Book version of the Psalms is doubly 
 vicious, for not only is it taken from the Vulgate 
 and Septuagint, and not from the Hebrew, but the 
 Vulgate translation is itself not by the hand of 
 Jerome ; for when he translated the Scrijitures, he 
 did not think it safe to change the old popular 
 version of the Psalms already in use, and therefore 
 left this part of the Scriptures as he found it. 
 
LETTER XXVI. 
 
 227 
 
 It ought, however, to be declared by tlic 
 Bishops, plainly, and without circumlocution, 
 whether or no the Psalms in the Bible version 
 are spurious ; if they are spurious, then farewell 
 the authorised Bible ! if they are not spurious, 
 then the version in the Prayer Book must be 
 s])urious : it is impossible that two translations 
 of one book, greatly differing from one another, 
 can e-ich be correct — let the Bishops make up 
 their minds and decide accordingly. 
 
 Amongst the multitude of errors in the Psalms, 
 printed in the Prayer Book, I shall here notice only 
 two. We read the first verse of the twenty-ninth 
 Psalm in the Bible thus : — " Give unto the 
 Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and 
 strength." But the Prayer Book favours us with 
 this extraordinary version : — " Bring unto the Lord, 
 O ye mighty, bring young rams unto the Lord : 
 ascribe unto the Lord worship and strength :" a 
 very wide variation, indeed, and as far as possible 
 from Scripture. Again in Psalm cv. 28, we find 
 the Bible and Prayer Book giving precisely oppo- 
 site accounts of a matter of fact. Bible : " And 
 they rebelled not against his word." Prayer Book : 
 "And they were not obedient unto his word?" 
 Which of these must I believe ? But what be- 
 comes of the Church of England if I cannot trust 
 the Prayer Book ? 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Q 2 
 
LETTER XXVII. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 I HAVE thus, my dear uncle, given you a slight 
 sketch of some imperfections in the Prayer 
 Book, and though for brevity's sake it is hut a 
 sketch, and though I have omitted many things, 
 yet you will perceive the difficulties which press 
 on my mind in the question of conformity with 
 the Established Church. Believe me, however, 
 I do not confine my objections merely to the 
 Prajer Book and Ceremonies, for I see in the 
 workings of the Church of England enormous cor- 
 ruptions and gigantic evils — an absence of what 
 one would wish, and, in lieu thereof, the presence 
 of much which is pernicious and scandalous. 
 
 I will say nothing here of the union of Church 
 and- State; for, though I believe such a union 
 must ever be sinful and produce sin, my business 
 at present is with facts, and not with abstract 
 principles. Wealth and power have done their 
 usual mischief in the Established Church, and, if 
 that be true which we read in Scripture, that 
 " the love of money is the root of all tvil," what 
 an incalculable degree of evil must there be in the 
 opulent and avaricious Establishment ! The great 
 
LETTER XXVII. 
 
 229 
 
 body of the Bishops ever have been, and ever 
 must be, men of worldly habits and inclinations ; 
 cither given to avarice, or living a life of political 
 intrigne, or magnificent luxury. Of course, in 
 every generation there always have been excep- 
 tions, and some good men have always been 
 amongst them, but I speak of the constant ma- 
 joriti/, and I cannot help coming to the conclu- 
 sion, that the Episcopal bench has been, and ever 
 will be, till the Church shall be separated from 
 the State, corrupt. 
 
 To begin with the beginning of the Church of 
 England, in those days when manners were more 
 simple, and the tone of morals amongst Church- 
 men more austere than at present ; yet, even then, 
 the Prelates indulged in the exhibition of secular 
 grandeur and worldly state ill becoming their situa- 
 tion. They had had, indeed, their gossips*, who for 
 them had renounced " the pomps and vanities of this 
 wicked world," but it produced no effect in their 
 conduct; for, in the reign of Elizabeth, they drew 
 the attention of Beza, who himself saw their pro- 
 ceedings, and has left his testimony against the 
 Church of England and its great Prelates. He 
 notices with disapprobation the pomp of the 
 Church worship, the sound of the organs witliout 
 any meaning, the voluntaries, the gay and quirk- 
 ing music of the cathedrals, and adds, " Moreover, 
 the Primate, the Bishops, and other such officers 
 * Godfathers and godmothtvs in bai>tisiii. 
 
230 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 of the Church, are accompanied by pages, lacqueys, 
 estaffiers, and other followers, up to twenty, 
 thirty, forty, or a hundred, nay, even two hundred 
 horses;" and then he complains generally of the 
 debauchery and vanity of the court, the luxury of 
 the Prelates, and the pride of the nobles. 
 
 Again we hear from another witness similar 
 testimony : — " Archbishop Whitgift's train some- 
 times consisted of one thousand horse. The Arch- 
 bishop being once at Dover attended by five 
 hundred horse, one hundred of which were his 
 servants, many of them wearing chains of gold, a 
 person of distinction then arriving from Rome 
 greatly wondered to see an English Archbishop 
 with so splendid a retinue; but seeing him the 
 following Sabbath in the Cathedral of Canterbury 
 attended by the above magnificent train, ■with the 
 Dean, Prebendaries, and preachers in their sur- 
 plices and scarlet hoods, and hearing the music 
 of organs, cornets, and sacbuts, he was seized 
 with admiration, and said that the people of Rome 
 were led in blindness, being made to believe that 
 in England there were neither Archbishop, Bishop, 
 nor Cathedral, nor any ecclesiastical government, 
 but that all were pulled down. But he protested 
 that, unless it were in the Pope's chapel, he had 
 never seen a more solemn sight, nor heard a more 
 solemn sound." (Panic's Life of "VMiitgift.) 
 
 Thus gorgeous and glittering was the Church 
 of England in times when hundreds of pious 
 
LETTER XXVII. 
 
 231 
 
 servants of Christ were dying in jails for de- 
 cliiiina; to wear the surpHce — for refusing to put 
 oil a Popish habiliment, which even the Bishops 
 confessed was a matter of indifTerciice ! 
 
 I could in every generation, by referring to 
 biography, bring forward similar testimony of the 
 wealth, grandeur, and vanity of the Protestant 
 Prelates. But, besides the effects of powers and 
 riches, there has always been another canker worm 
 eating into the vitals of the Church — political in- 
 fluence. Bishop Newton, in the memoir of his 
 own life, tells us that George II. had encouraged 
 Dr. Tliomas to expect preferment from the crown, 
 and to consult with the secretary then attending 
 on the King, who would inform him of his wishes, 
 and that the next time he saw the Doctor, he 
 said — " My Lord Harrington informs me that you 
 desire to have one of the royal prebends, but it is 
 not in my power to get you any such thing ; my 
 ministers lay their hands upon them all as neccs- 
 snry for my service." From the same life of 
 Newton it appears that when Green, an old inti- 
 mate friend of Newton, was made Bishop of Lin- 
 coln, " Newton reminded him of a common friend 
 of theirs, Mr. Seward of Lichfield, whom he knew 
 that the other was well disposed to serve, and 
 hoped that he would collate him to a prebend in 
 his Church of Lincoln. The Bishop replied that 
 he should always bear him in memory, and if ever 
 an opportunity offered he would certainly give him 
 
232 
 
 LETTER XXVlr. 
 
 a prebend ; Init at present he stood engaged eleven 
 deep to the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Hardwicke, 
 and their friends." I will not waste time by 
 commenting on these anecdotes, — they speak for 
 themselves without any assistance from me ; but, 
 alas 1 they are only specimens of what always is 
 going on in the Establishment, and ever must it be 
 so till the Church is separated from the State ; for 
 it is a moral certainty that Prelates who are ele- 
 vated by the influence of the great nobles must 
 give away their preferment to suit the wishes of 
 their patrons; so that in fact Episcopacy is a 
 perennial fountain of bitter waters to the nation, 
 the source of a corrupt priesthood, the origin of a 
 gieat spiritual evil. 
 
 Dr. King, master of a college at Oxford, who 
 died in IT 63, has spoken out ])lainly concerning 
 what he saw and knew in his generation : — " To 
 speak freely, I know nothing that has brought so 
 great a reproach on the Church of England as the 
 avarice and ambition of the Bishops. Ciiandler, 
 Bishop of Durham; Willis, Bishop of Winchester; 
 Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury; Gibson, and 
 Sherlock, all died shamefully rich, some of them 
 worth more than one hundred thousand pounds. 
 I must add to these my old antagonist Gilbert, 
 predecessor to Drummond, the present Archbishop 
 of York : some of these Prelates were esteemed 
 great Divines, hut theij could not be called (]ood 
 Christians. The great wealth which they had 
 
LETTER XXVn. 
 
 heaped up, the fruits of their bishoprics, and 
 which they left to enrich their famihes, \\ as not 
 tlielr own; it was due" to God, to the Churcli, to 
 their poor brethren." 
 
 All this may be said of this generation in which 
 we are now living. Look, for instance, to Bishop 
 Tomline and other Prelates who have died within 
 our memories enormously rich ; see the account of 
 the Bishop of Limerick,* who died in 1826 with 
 vast possessions, though he began life as the son 
 of a strolling beggar ; and take a glance at the 
 Bishops now wearing the mitre, to ascertain how 
 they dispose of their preferment, and what they 
 are doing with their wealth. What did the Bishop 
 of Durham do with his seventy thousand pounds 
 fine for the renewal of the lease of Mrs. Beau- 
 mont's lead mines ? What has tlie Archbishop 
 of York done with thirty-five thousand pounds 
 which he received no long time ago? They will 
 tell us it has all been laid out in heavenly purposes, 
 which I care not to question ; or they will say that 
 Prelates ought to be rich gentlemen, and to keep 
 up their station in a lordly way, which would be 
 quite true if Jesus Christ of the seed of David 
 had not been crucified at Jerusalem, and if that 
 Gospel had not been preached by which men 
 shall some day all be judged. 
 
 A foreign nobleman, Prince Muskau Pucklin, 
 
 * Beverley's Letter to the Archbishop of York,, p. 14. 
 Eighteeuth i-dition. 
 
234 
 
 I,ETTER XXVII. 
 
 has lately visited England, and has published his 
 observations on what he saw in ecclesiastical as 
 well as in civil matters. The impression left on 
 his mind evidently is that the Church of England 
 is an establishment of vast wealth, and that its 
 ministers are men of pleasure ; for he, moving 
 amongst the aristocracy, saw only Bishops, Deans, 
 and Prebendaries, and opulent pluralists. He 
 tells us of the fine things he saw at Bishopsthorjje 
 in Yorkshire ; he talks of the Archbishop's superb 
 hot-houses and green-houses, and all the luxuries 
 of that Prelate's palace ; he comments on the wig 
 and apron, the costume and the drapery, the cere- 
 monies and the equi])age : in short, he talks of 
 the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, but 
 of the cross of Christ he says nothing, for he saw- 
 none of its effects at Bishopsthorpe, and therefore 
 he has not recorded that whicli he did not see. 
 
 From Bishopsthorpe let us pass on to Lambeth, 
 and there we shall behold a grander palace, and a 
 more glittering show. The whole of that stately 
 edifice has lately been refurbished and made com- 
 plete at a great cost ; but I must leave a descrip- 
 tion of its apartments, corridors, galleries, ban- 
 queting halls, and library to architects and ujv 
 holsterers ; and the sumptuous feasts wliich are 
 placed on the metropolitan tables on pubhc davs 
 let the clergy describe who are invited to those 
 high solemnities : fur it ill becomes me with a 
 
LETTER XXVII. 
 
 235 
 
 Non-conforming stomach to attempt the lofty 
 theme. 
 
 The Irish Primate Beresford is not behind the 
 English metropolitans in state and expenditure ; 
 liis table and all the et-cetera of his episcopal 
 magnificence are qnoted as an example of what a 
 noble Prelate ought to do : for wherever we turn 
 amongst the Bishops we hear chiefly of their gran- 
 deur, their luxuries, and their palaces ; all is 
 imposing on the senses, all is laid out for the best 
 advantage to secure the reverence of sinfiil man, 
 who in his fallen state pays respect to these things. 
 It is not in vain that we see Bishops riding in 
 purple coaches in St. James's Park, with two 
 stalwart footmen standing behind, dressed in 
 violet-tinted habiliments, and carrying two huge 
 canes ; — it is not in vain that " my lord" is driven 
 by a fat purple coachman, with a cocked hat and 
 a flaxen wig ; — it is not in vain that a gold mitre 
 is blazing on the panels of the coach, and on the 
 hammer-cloth ; — it is not in vain that "his grace" 
 or " my lord" carries some yards of muslin 
 for his sleeves, for all these things help to rule 
 men by deception, as turkeys are ruled by a long 
 pole and a bit of red rag. 
 
 From the pride and luxury of the higher clergy 
 I pass on to say a word respecting their titles 
 against which our Lord has left us an express 
 prohibition, which not only is conclusive on the sub- 
 
236 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 ject, but destroys the whole system of prelacy. " Be 
 uot ye called Rabbi ; for one is your Master, even 
 Christ ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man 
 your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, 
 which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters ; 
 for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is 
 gieatest among you shall be your servant." Now, 
 after this prohibition, to give a Bishop the swelhng 
 title of " Right Reverend Father in God," is doing 
 the very thing which we are expressly commanded 
 not to do; and, as if we wished to show our 
 studied contempt of Christ, we have selected the 
 identical titles which he forbade us to use ! 
 
 History, however, records one instance of an 
 Archbishop whose eyes were opened to see these 
 things, which indeed are so plain that it is wonder- 
 ful how any person can help seeing them. Burnet 
 says of the excellent Archbishop Leighton, " he 
 hated all the appearances of vanity ; he would not 
 have the title of ' Lord' given him by his friends, 
 and was not easy when others forced it on him. 
 He went round his diocese every year preaching 
 and catechising from parish to parish, and gave 
 all his income, save the small expense of his own 
 person, to the poor." 
 
 Having thus brought forward my objections to 
 the visible state of the Church of England, and 
 more particularly amongst its dignitaries, I cannot 
 find a better conclusion to this letter than in the 
 words of the great ^Milton : — " There be those in 
 
LETTER XXVII. 237 
 
 the world, and I among those, who nothing admire 
 the idol of a bishopric, and hold that it wants so 
 much to be a blessing, as that I deem it the 
 merest, the falsest, the most unfortunate gift of 
 fortune ; and were the punishment and misery of 
 being a Bishop to be terminated only in the person, 
 and did not extend to the affliction of the whole 
 diocese, if I could wish anything in the bitterness 
 of my soul to an enemy, I should wish him the 
 biggest and fattest bishopric." 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 The highest digiiitaries in the Church Establish- 
 ment, namely, the Archbishops, must share ui 
 the same commendation with the minor ofi&cials ; 
 that their offices are not of Apostolical institution, 
 and were utterly unknown in the first century. 
 
 This is so generally conceded, that hardly any 
 clergyman, however furious his prejudices, could 
 now be found to deny it : nothing but a spirit of 
 desperate lying could tempt any churchman to say 
 that the offices of Archbishop, Archdeacon, Dean, 
 Prebend, Canon, Chancellor, Subdean, Vicar 
 Choral, Grand Vicar, Rural Dean, Residentiary, 
 Rector, Vicar, or Curate, were instituted in the 
 Apostolical age. 
 
 Many contend that the three orders. Bishop, 
 Priest, and Deacon, are Apostolical and Scrip- 
 tural ; but no one is hardy enough to put in the 
 same plea for the above-named ecclesiastical 
 offices. Now this consideration alone ought to 
 make a churchman ponder deeply on the strange 
 state of that church to which he belongs, and 
 which is thus, from the highest offices down to the 
 
LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 239 
 
 lowest, ruled by a set of men whose titles and pre- 
 rogatives are of a spurious and superstitious 
 origin. 
 
 The title " Metropolitan," that title which helps 
 to swell out the high-sounding additions of our 
 Archbishops, does not occur till mentioned by the 
 Council of Nice. The Council of Chalcedon, 
 A.D. 451, conferred the honour of the metropolitan 
 dignity on its Bishop; and from that time the 
 Bishop of Chalcethm styled himself Archbishop of 
 Bithynia. The Church in those days was mainly 
 occupied in increasing the power of the Clergy ; 
 and, therefore, gladly embraced this new " Duke- 
 dom " of the clerical aristocracy : the title of 
 Archbishop became a general favourite, and was 
 admitted in various parts of the world wliere the 
 bastard Christianity of that age prevailed. In 
 Ireland there are four Archl)ishops, in France 
 a much larger number, and so in other parts of 
 Christendom. And yet it is to an Archbishop, " to 
 the Metropolitan See," that all our Bishops swear 
 obedience. 
 
 As for the foohsh office of Archdeacon, it also 
 sprung up in those dark times ; but he that held 
 it was chosen by the Deacons : so says Jerome. 
 " Diaconi elegant de se, quern industriura noverint, 
 et Archidiaconum vocent." 
 
 The Popish Council of Trent, which showed a 
 particular liking for any institution not to be 
 
240 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 found in Scripture, called the Archdeacon the eye 
 of the Bishop. 
 
 There was another officer called Arch-Pres- 
 byter, considered one step below the Archdeacon ; 
 and this office was by election of the Presbyters. 
 The Church of England has let slip this precious 
 gem, as indeed it has another office, which might 
 have been highly serviceable by judicious ma- 
 nagement in these days of opposition and dissent, 
 — I mean the Archdeaconess ; concerning whose 
 duties much is said in Church History, and in the 
 decrees of Councils. 
 
 The laws of Theodosius order that the lady who 
 holds this office shall be sixty years old ; but Jus- 
 tinian and the Council of Chalcedon, with greater 
 gallantry, open the door fur the ladies when they 
 are forty years old. The Archdeaconess was re- 
 gularly and canonically ordained with imposition 
 of hands, unction, robes, holy water, and probably 
 a holy kiss : for this we read in history, that 
 Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, ordained 
 a young widow before she had attained the cano- 
 nical age, to the great scandal of the orthodox, 
 who boldly declared that there was a flirtation 
 between the Archbishop and Archdeaconess ! 
 
 The Council of Orange, a.d. 441, with marked 
 incivility to the ladies, passed a decree against 
 the office altogether, which was gradually discon- 
 tinued in the Western Churches ; but the Greek 
 
LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 241 
 
 Church clung to it a long time after. Now it may 
 be observed that this office is unquestionably of 
 prior date to that of an Archbishop ; for Tertul- 
 Hau mentions it, and many of the Fathers before 
 the fifth century ; so that I cannot see by what 
 right the Church of England has extinguished the 
 Archdeaconess, but only snuffed the Archbishop. 
 
 But let us suppose, my dear uncle, that tlie 
 office were now in being, and that the consecration 
 of the Archdeaconess were in the Prayer Book, 
 and that the Crown had the disposal of this Eccle- 
 siastical honour ; can we doubt that the Clergy, one 
 and all, Evangelical and non-Evangelical, would 
 hesitate to swear " their unfeigned assent and 
 consent to it" ? Can we doubt of its being greatly 
 admired and praised as a gluriuus distinction of our 
 excellent" Church as by law established" ? And 
 would not the whole clerical body, from the Bishop 
 of Ijondon down to my \mc\e Lucifer, preach and 
 teach in its defence ? — yes ; I ask, would not tlie 
 immortal L. S. E. declare that it was Scriptural — 
 that it was a part of the eternal Church— that it 
 was in the Wdderness forty years — and that Mi- 
 riam the prophetess was unquestionably an Arch- 
 deaconess ? And would not all the Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons loudly echo " Amen" ? 
 
 Then consider again the advantage to Church 
 and State if the Prayer Book w ould restore tliis 
 deliglitful dignity ! Think of the great help it 
 would be to the Peeresses, and all the high-born 
 
 K 
 
242 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 dames, who now turn their thoughts to the pension 
 list ! Think of Mrs. Arbuthnot, the Duchess of 
 Northumberland, or Lady Beresford, set off with 
 the Archediaconal hat and cap ! — Surely this 
 " primitive institution" ought to be restored to us; 
 and then, if it be true, according to the decree of 
 the Council of Trent, that an Archdeacon is " the 
 eye of the Bishop," how much more [deasant 
 would it be for the Archbishop of York to ogle his 
 diocese with these fair dames, than with his pre- 
 sent Archdeacons, who, compared with the ladies, 
 can rank no higher than green spectacles. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 From the Same to the Same. 
 
 My dear Uncle, 
 
 The letters you have lately received from 
 me must have prepared you to expect the catas- 
 trophe. It must have been manifest to you that 
 in every essential point I am a Non-conformist ; 
 and that I consider the Church of England a 
 legacy of Popery ; an institution of sinful men ; 
 and very far distant indeed from what the Church 
 of Christ should be. 
 
 You will remember that in one of my letters I 
 gave you some information of a small society of 
 under-graduates in this University, who meet toge- 
 ther for mutual edification and social prayer. 
 These meetings, I said, varied from about a dozen 
 in number to nearly thirty. All the members of 
 this society entertain views more or less tending 
 to Non-conformity. We had meetings this term 
 to consider the question of Conformity with the 
 rites and ceremonies of the Church of England. 
 We discussed the various points separately ; and 
 most of our decisions were such as professed Dis- 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 senters would have acquiesced in. The topics for 
 our consideration were, — 1. Diocesan Episcopac)'. 
 2. The three orders of Bishop, Priest, and 
 Deacon. 3. The union of Church and State. 
 4. A secular head of the Church of Christ. 5. A 
 Liturgy in the abstract. 6. The Liturgy' of the 
 Church of England. 7. The institution of Deans, 
 Chapters, and all the titular Priests of the 
 Church. 8. The parish form of the Church of 
 Christ. 9. Parhamentary Prelates. 10. Com- 
 munion with a corrupt Church. 11. Rites and 
 ceremonies, and pontifical habits in the worship of 
 God. 12. The worship exacted in the University 
 of Cambridge. 13. Subscription of articles, oaths, 
 abjurations, and declarations. 
 
 The subject of our last discussion but one, 
 namely, " the worship exacted in the University," 
 put our principles to the test ; and as the conse- 
 quences of this debate were anticipated, only 
 thirteen attended. In the previous debates v,-e 
 never had numbered fewer than twenty. It was 
 agreed l)y a majority of eleven to two, " that con- 
 formity with the worship exacted in the colleges 
 was sinful, and that it is an act of adhesion to the 
 Cluirch of Rome to wear the surplice." 
 
 We met the next evening to consider in what 
 respect we should act upon our decision. Only 
 nine attended, but we agTeed unanimously to de- 
 cline wearing the surplice ; to refuse taking part 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 245 
 
 in declamations* ; and to refuse the Lord's 
 Supper, as administered in the college. We saw 
 very clearly that our trial must first be on the 
 question of the surplice ; because we have to wear 
 it here twice a week at least, and sometimes oftener ; 
 so that it was requisite to prepare ourselves for the 
 struggle very soon. We had only five days be- 
 fore us, in which time the question must be de- 
 cided ; and we agreed that it was not only the line 
 of duty, but of wisdom, to meet the difficulty 
 without any further delay. As it was a very se- 
 rious matter to every one of us, we met twice 
 every day, to consider how we should act with the 
 most prudence ; and various were the plans pro- 
 posed and rejected. In these meetings we endea- 
 voured to anticipate every argument which could 
 be brought against us, either by our friends or 
 our enemies. We appointed one of our party to 
 take the opponents' side, and to urge everything 
 possible against our views. la this way we not 
 only were fortified with arguments, but in some 
 some sort got over the alarm of discussing these 
 matters with our superiors. I should tell you, 
 however, that before the day of trial came, two of 
 our party withdrew from us : they pleaded " the 
 anger of their parents ; and though they professed 
 to agree with our views entirely, yet they said they 
 could not see their way clear before them in 
 
 * Disimtations on subjects of profane history, in Latin 
 or ill English, which take place in (he middle of the 
 evening service in the Cliapels of the Colleges. 
 
246 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 oflFending their parents on a point of this sort ; — 
 if it had been a question of denying the faith, they 
 would gladly have gone to the stake," &c. &c. &c. 
 
 We afterwards discovered that one of the 
 seceders was an orphan : that the other had only 
 a father living; and that he had been for five 
 years shut up in a lunatic asylum. 
 
 A deputation of three first waited on the senior 
 Dean, in whose department is the control of the 
 chapel affau-s. John Calvin Thompson (son of 
 your predecessor) was the spokesman; I need 
 not tell you what he said, but, in my opinion, he 
 spoke very well, with proper respect, and yet with 
 sufficient firmness. The Dean was sitting over a 
 bottle of claret with one of the Fellows ; they heard 
 our story to the end without saying a word, but 
 when Jolin Calvin had finished speaking, they 
 stared at one another and seemed quite amazed. 
 " Pray, Sir," said the Dean, " how many of vou 
 are there that have come to this strange reso- 
 luton ?" " Seven, Sir ; but many more agree 
 with us in our views of this subject, though they 
 decline taking part in our proceedings." " Seven ! 
 seven !" said the Dean, apparently deeply musing, 
 " I cannot suppose that seven men would all go 
 mad together on one point — that is impossible ; I 
 must, therefore, suppose that the Puritanical fever 
 is once more reviving in Cambridge, after a repose 
 of a century and a half." We stood silent, waiting 
 for an answer to our petition. The Dean seemed 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 247 
 
 SO perplexed, that his fiiend stepped ia to the con- 
 troversy to his assistance, but, as he is a gentle- 
 man of very choleric temperament, he had hardly 
 spoken three sentences without falhng into a most 
 furious passion. Much and vehemently did he 
 abuse us ; we were " canting roundheads," " shri- 
 velled up with sin," "sneaking Puritans," and I 
 know not what besides. Having gone on in this 
 strain for about five minutes, not witliout an occa- 
 sional oath, the Dean stopped him, and brought 
 the interview to a close, — " Gentlemen, you know 
 the discipline of the college ; the statutes require 
 you both to wear the surplice and to take part in 
 the declamations in chapel, and to communicate 
 on the stated days : there is no instance of any 
 relaxation in this discipline, in the two first points 
 at least, though perhaps we are now less strict in 
 the third than the statute enjoins : I can, therefore, 
 do nothing for you ; I have no power to give you 
 a dispensation, you must conform or take the con- 
 sequences." We then quitted the Dean's cham- 
 bers, having first left with him a written protes- 
 tation, signed with all our names, and in this pro- 
 testation we had briefly inserted our arguments 
 for non-conformity with the college worship. From 
 the Dean's chambers we went to the Master's 
 lodge ; he was at dinner with the Heads of the 
 Houses, whom he was that day entertaining with 
 a smnptuous feast in hououi- of one of the Prayer- 
 Book Saints (St. George, the Arian Bishop of 
 
248 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Alexandria, as wcW as I remember) : it was a 
 very great day with these dignitaries, and it was 
 no easy matter to procure an interview even with 
 the Butler ; having stood in the hall a full quarter 
 of an hour, at last the great gentleman came : we 
 put our document into his hands, begged him to 
 deliver it to the Master, and retired. 
 
 AVe agreed to keep away from a surplice-worship 
 till Sunday ; but on Sunday morning, having first 
 met together in my rooms to join in social prayer, 
 we all went to chapel in a body together, and 
 marched into the choir without our suqilices, in 
 spite of the chapel-clerk, who stood at the entrance 
 of the choir with his wand, and in vain cried out, 
 " Gentlemen ! your surplices ! Getitlemen ! this 
 is a surplice-morning !" Not a word did we say 
 in reply, but walked up the aisle and took our 
 seats at the upper end. The chapel-clerk fol- 
 lowed us, and singling me out, he said with great 
 vehemence, " Mr. Emerson, you must put on 
 your surplice ; you cannot sit here without your 
 surphce." I replied, " Don't trouble yourself, I 
 do not intend to put it on, or to go from my seat 
 till the service is over." The chapel-clerk said 
 that I must, and long did he stand expostulating 
 and arguing the point with me as a matter of 
 necessity; but as I answered nothing, he then 
 went to John Calvin, but could make no impres- 
 sion there. This scene of course drew the atten- 
 tion of the whole chapel, every one was staring at 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 249 
 
 US ; those who were at the lower end, and could 
 not see us where they stood, got upon the benches 
 — there was a general commotion — and the Dean 
 and tutors put their heads together to take wise 
 coiuisel in such an emergency. After numerous 
 messages from the Dean to our party, the Dean 
 himself at last descended into the arena from his 
 stall, and walking up to John Calvin bade him go 
 out of the chapel immediately. Calvin refused, 
 and so did we all. The Dean at last returned to 
 his seat, chafing, and his wrath was not a little 
 increased by the very audible laugh amongst the 
 white-robed multitude of under-graduates. 
 
 When service was at last over we walked out 
 with the rest, though not without many an idle 
 question from o\ir acquaintances, who were anxious 
 to understand that which to them was a mystery. 
 The under-graduates formed in groups on the grass 
 plot, and had they understood our motives, I have 
 no doubt we should have been most roughly handled 
 by them ; for there is just now amongst these poor 
 misguided* creatures a rancorous hatred against 
 what they call " the Puritans." For the present, 
 they thought it was a mere prank of disobedience, 
 and were rather amused at it : had they known 
 that our conscience was concerned in this day's 
 
 * Alliidinf:^, also, to the animosity exhibited against the 
 Dissenters at the installation of the Duke of Wellini;ton in 
 the office of Chancellor in the University of Oxford. The 
 under-gradiiutes on that occasion gave a " godly groau 
 against the Puritans"' in the theatre. — Ed. 
 
250 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 trial — and a very severe trial it was — there is no 
 saying to what extremities they would not have 
 proceeded. But all passed off very quietly. About 
 an hour afterwards the Master sent us a positive 
 order to stay away from chapel in the evening, and 
 to attend a meeting of the Seniority the next fore- 
 noon at eleven o'clock. We obeyed both orders, 
 and next day at the hour appointed went to the 
 Master's lodge. 
 
 The Master and the eight Seniors were all 
 seated in the Council Chamber in their caps and 
 gowns ; and it was easy to see by their countenances 
 that they felt httle disposed to take a favourable 
 view of Non-conformity that day. The senior 
 Dean, tutors, and chapel-clerk made their com- 
 plaint, andj when the accusation was ended, the 
 Master said, "Gentlemen, what have you to say 
 for yourselves ?" 
 
 J. C. Thompson. — " Our reasons. Master, for 
 declining to wear the surplice in the worship of 
 God have already been stated in a paper which we 
 left at the lodge on St. George's day ; but we have 
 no objections to repeat our reasons here or else- 
 where. We decline wearing the surplice because 
 it is a Popish habit, called in the Roman Catholic 
 ritual ' superpelhceum ' — because, according to 
 the vicious system of the Church of Rome, it pre- 
 tends, by an outward type, to set forth a grace of 
 God, the righteousness of the Saints — because we 
 are not authorized in the New Testament to wor- 
 
LKTTKR XXIX. 
 
 251 
 
 ship in Gospel light with symbols and types — be- 
 cause our Lord never instituted habits of ceremony 
 for his people, nor desired them to dress in a pre- 
 scribed fashion when they said their prayers — be- 
 cause it is certain that the Apostles, and the 
 Churches mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, 
 did not wear surplices — because the wearing of 
 ceremonious garments in prayer is giving up the 
 great principle on which the Reformation is based, 
 namely, the yielding or not yielding to the inven- 
 tions and traditions of men — because, if this be 
 allowed, all the trumpery of Popish superstitions 
 may be lawful also, such as lawn sleeves, rochets, 
 hoods, square caps, pluvials, dalmaticas, cha- 
 sibules, maniples, and other gear of that sort — 
 and, finally, because we read in the Scriptures 
 that God is a Spirit, and all they that worship him 
 must worship him in spirit and in truth, not in 
 beggarly elements of types and visible represen- 
 tations." 
 
 blaster. — " Don't you know that every student 
 in the University must conform to the rites and 
 ceremonies of the Church of England ?" 
 
 J. C. Thompson. — " We are not commanded by 
 the Prayer Book to wear surplices, the order is 
 only to be found in the Canons, which are not law 
 even with ecclesiastics : if the Canons were pressed 
 on the clergy as you press them upon us, then 
 would the Master and Seniors, and every Priest, 
 be obliged to wear a skull-cap all day long, to ride 
 
252 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 out in a cassock, and to do many strange things, 
 as ridiculous as they would he superstitious. But 
 it matters not to us what the Prayer Book, Canons, 
 or College statutes command ; our rule of conduct 
 is in the Bible and in the Bible only." 
 
 Master. — 'W}\y, then, did you come to Cam- 
 bridge, if you had made up your minds to resist 
 the established order of things ?" 
 
 J. C. Thompson. — " I can only answer for 
 myself. I came to the University in a state of 
 indifference on these subjects ; my opinions have 
 been formed since I have been here, for I cannot 
 say I had any opinions at all on the points in dis- 
 jKite when I matriculated." 
 
 Master. — " How can you reconcile it to your 
 consciences to make this stir about a matter so 
 indifferent as the wearing of a surplice ? What 
 harm can it do you? Is any under-gi-aduate the 
 worse for conforming to this long-estabhshed and 
 harmless custom ?" 
 
 J. C. Thompson. — " Nothing can be indifferent 
 that relates to the worship of God and the Gospel. 
 If the doctrine of yielding to matters 'indifferent' 
 be once allowed, then by the same argument the 
 Master of this college might put on cloth of gold 
 and elevate the host; for what does it signify 
 whether the bread be handed around or first lifted 
 up by a Priest ? Is the bread any worse for under- 
 going such a lifting ? or will it do us any harm to 
 communicate under such a ceremonv ? Whv not 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 253 
 
 conform in such trifles, and thus sliow our cliarity 
 to the Papists ? And in the same way every su- 
 perstition may be introduced, for the spirit of 
 indifference in tlie worsliip of God is the spirit of 
 hbcrtinism, the spirit wliich animates an atheist 
 as well as a Pope. The atheist will %jicld all 
 trifles of this sort to the Pope, who insists on 
 them. He that cares not what is done in rehgion, 
 but will do anything for the sake of peace, is a 
 right-hand man of the Devil, an instrument of 
 superstition ; and superstition is nothing but an 
 epitome of hell itself 
 
 " We therefore consider it sinful to conform to 
 any heathen or Popish custom, however harmless 
 it may appear, for we are fully convinced that all 
 coiTuptions of religion have come into the world 
 by bad men indulging their fancies in matters of 
 religion, and by better men giving way to them as 
 to trifles against which it was not worth while 
 combating. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, made 
 Israel to sin by such arguments as are used for 
 our conformity to things ' indifferent.' He did 
 but alter a few particulars, as, for instance, the 
 place; he said they should worship in Dan and 
 Bethel instead of Jerusalem, and what rational 
 man could see the difference, since one place is as 
 good as another to worship in ? — Then, he did but 
 change the signs of the Divine Presence, golden 
 calves instead of golden cherubim, and the calves 
 were more intelligible than tlie mysterious figures 
 
254 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 of the cherubim, which no man could well com 
 prehend. And then, for the time of his festivals, 
 he fixed the fifteenth day of the eighth month 
 instead of the seventh; and what did it matter? 
 One day was as good as another ; it was a matter 
 of perfect indifference, and people ought to obey 
 their superiors in things indifferent. By argu- 
 ments like these the Church of England upholds 
 the surplice, and other inheritances of the man 
 of sin." 
 
 Master. — " It is impossible to prove from Scrip- 
 ture that wearing the surplice is unlawful. Show 
 me that it is forbidden in the Bible, and I will 
 then yield to your most imreasonable scruples; 
 but when it is most certain that you have no 
 authority of Scripture on your side, then it is 
 evident that your duty is to obey your superiors, 
 and to submit to their commands when they do 
 not command unlawful things. Bishop Stilling- 
 fleet's words I consider unanswerable : ' All things 
 are lawful which are not forbidden, and upon this 
 single point stands the whole controversy of sepa- 
 ration, as to the constitution of our Church.'" 
 
 J. C. Thompson. — " If the Master will allow 
 me to refer to Bishop Stillingfleet, I will answer 
 him by his own words — (Here the servant was 
 ordered to bring Stillingfleet's works.) — Thus says 
 the Bishop in writing against the Papists : — ' But 
 wc, knowing them (?'. e. Papists) so experimentally, 
 are not to be compassed by needless symbolizing 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 255 
 
 with them in anything, for I conceive our best 
 pohcy is studiously to imitate them in nothing, 
 but for all indifi'erent things to think the worse of 
 them for using them. As no person of honour 
 would M'illingly go in the known garb of any lewd 
 and infamous person, whatsoever we court them 
 in, they do but turn it to our scorn and contempt, 
 and are more hardened in their wickedness ; 
 wherefore seeing that needless symbolizing with 
 them does them no good, but hurt, we should 
 account ourselves in all things indifferent, perfectly 
 free to satisfy and please, in the most universal 
 manner we can, those of our own party, not caring 
 what opinions, or customs, or outward formalities 
 the Romanists or others have, or may have had, 
 from the first degeneracy of the Church, which 
 we ought rather to account the more hideously 
 soiled by the Romanists using them ; but, sup- 
 porting ourselves upon plain Scripture and solid 
 reason, to use and profess such things as will be 
 most agreeable to us all, and make most for the 
 welfare and safety of the kingdom of Christ.' 
 (Dial. III.) Now these are exactly our senti- 
 ments, and therefore we leave Bishop Stillingfieet 
 to confute Bishop Stillingfieet. 
 
 " I would, however, ask the Master how the 
 surplice can be considered a thing indifferent, 
 when it is made by the Church of England an 
 absolute requisite for an officiating Priest, and 
 when it is forced upon us against our consci- 
 
256 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 ences ? Would it not be a great act of tyranny 
 if the King were to compel the Master of this 
 college to wear a fool's cap ; and would the tyranny 
 be alleviated if the Master were reminded that 
 the wearing- of a fool's cap is indiiferent, that it is 
 not forbidden in Scripture — that whatever is not 
 forbidden is lawful, and that it is a sin to disoliey 
 our superiors in things indifferent ? 
 
 " But if the surplice is a thing indifferent, how 
 comes it that the worship of God cannot go on 
 without this dress ? And how is it to be accounted 
 for, that though a most godly minister would be 
 driven out of the Church if he attempted to engage 
 in prayer without this white robe, yet a notorious 
 Socinian, a deist, a drunkard, an adulterer, might 
 officiate undisturbed to the day of judgment?" 
 
 Master. — " The custom of the Church hath 
 been all along to have a grave and sober ritual. 
 The Established Church has purged away the 
 dross of the Romanists, and has retained only 
 that which is for edification. The Apostle says, 
 let all (kings be done decently and in order." 
 
 J. C. Thompson. — " Custom is a rule of faith 
 unknown in the Gospel ; we do not follow ' a vain 
 conversation received by tradition from our fathers,' 
 but we follow this truth : what is the truth ? it is 
 Christ ; it is taking up our cross, and following 
 him in all things. He is King, Priest, and Pro- 
 phet, and in all these his offices we must look up 
 to him in hearty obedience and sincere faith ; but 
 
LETTER XXIX. 257 
 
 as for these weak and beggarly elements of white 
 linen and all other Popish types, they arc nothing 
 but the lumber of voluntary humility, and we 
 cannot in our consciences find anything like an 
 argument for conformity with such idle traditions. 
 ' Custom' is the Trojan horse of the Church ; 
 within the belly of this capacious monster, Custom, 
 were hid Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, Arch- 
 bishops and Cardinals, Deans and Popes, canons 
 and decretals, acts of supremacy and lawn sleeves, 
 prayer books and surplices, tithes and monks' 
 cowls, doctors' degrees and oaths of abjuration, 
 w ith all the other treasures of a state Church, too 
 long to mention. Custom has spread midnight 
 over all the earth, but of this source of mischief 
 Tertullian hath well spoken : — ' Consuctudo ab 
 aliqua ignorantiil vel simplicitate initium sortita in 
 usum per successionem corroboratur, et ita ad- 
 versus veritatem vindicatur ; sed Dominus noster 
 Jesus Christus veritatem se non consuetudinem 
 cognominavit. Hsereses non tam novitas quam 
 Veritas revincit ; quodcunque adversus veritatem 
 sapit, erit hscresis, etiam vetus consuetudo.'* As 
 for the custom of the surplice, I would remind the 
 Master that the Protestant Salmasius and his 
 
 • " Custom, takiiif; its oiii^in from some ii^norance or 
 foolisbuess, beco'.iies strcn^'thtiK' J into a fixed law by tra- 
 ditional use, and thus is set up aji;ainst the truth ; hut our 
 Lord Jesus Christ said he was Ike Init/i, he did not say he 
 was citslom. Heresy is not sj much convicted by its 
 novelty as by the truth ; whatever is against the trutli will 
 be lieresy, a'.thougli it should be a very ancient custom." 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 LETTER XJSIX. 
 
 learned opponent Petavius both agree that, at first, 
 the Christian proselytes wore no distinctive dress 
 in their worship; the surplice was brought into 
 the Church a. d. 'i96 by Pope Adrian; it was 
 copied from the dress of the mystics of Mithras, 
 from the Persic fire-worshippers, and the Priests 
 of Isis, for the Priests of Isis wore both the tonsure 
 and the surplice ; and the monks of Egypt, charmed 
 with this white robe, adopted it, taught it to other 
 Priests, and so spread the edifying ' custom' all 
 over Cliristendom. With such an origin, and 
 after such a lileaching, who but a superstitious 
 person will deck himself out in this unmeaning 
 robe ? And what Church but a corrupt one will 
 make it a matter of importance that her wor- 
 shippers should submit to this superstition ?" 
 
 Master.—" I fear it is hopeless arguing with 
 persons who take such pen-erse views; but I 
 would ask you if it does not, even to yourselves, 
 appear very wrong thus to create a confusion by 
 appearing in the chapel contrary to the statutes ? 
 Why select this eccentric mode of marti,Tdom ? 
 If you are Dissenters, you ought to quit the Uni- 
 versity without rxinning your heads against a wall 
 of your own rearing. I attribute this act of in- 
 subordination entirely to a love of notoriety ; the 
 question never till nov.- was moved in the Uni- 
 versity." 
 
 J. C. Thompson.— " The Master is mistaken. 
 In the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and of King 
 
I.ETTEK XXIX. 
 
 259 
 
 James, the surplice was vehemently opposed in 
 Cambridge, and all the scholars of St. John's 
 unanimously refused to wear it, in which deter- 
 mination they were countenanced by some of their 
 superiors*. Tlie power of the Prelates forced them 
 into submission, but not without much difficulty, 
 and many acts of gross oppression. We are aware 
 of the sing\\larity of our conduct, and are prepared 
 to find its effects anything but agreeable ; we 
 know that we make ourselves the subjects of 
 much ridicule, and that this affair will probably 
 terminate greatly to our disadvantage. But we 
 trust that, by thus following out a pure principle 
 in early life, w^e shall be better able to be faithful 
 in all things which the word of God, speaking to 
 our consciences, shall hereafter point out to us. 
 The life of man is a life of trials : it is a narrow 
 and a strait path, and a firm attachment to prin- 
 ciple is by no means common in these days. It 
 is better to see one's prospects in life overclouded, 
 and to bear ' the cruel mockings' of ill-natured 
 calumniators, than to cast away principle, which is 
 a strong anchor, and so make shipwreck of faith; 
 it is better to bear afi3iction with the people of 
 God than to endure the i)leasures of sin for a 
 season. 
 
 " The notoriety gained by this contest is far 
 from being so tempting as the Master seems to 
 
 * The M.ibt«-s of Triniiy and St. Jolui's Colli'^-es in par- 
 ticular. Sec- tlieir remonstrance ill Strvje. 
 
 s 2 
 
2G0 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 think ; but, to bring the matter to a conclusion, 
 we would \entuie to suggest to this Reverend 
 Seniority that, as it has been conceded to us that 
 the wearing of a surplice is a thing in itself in- 
 different, we ought therefore to be permitted to 
 worship God according to the dictates of our con- 
 science ; for we are fully determined never again 
 to put on the Popish dress, never again to l)e 
 present at the profane farce of declamations, and 
 never again to communicate at the college altar. 
 
 " Much is said in these days about the propriety 
 of admitting Dissenters to the University ; here is 
 a case before you, on which, by passing a righteous 
 decree, you might justly get rid of that accusation 
 of bigotry and intolerance under which you now 
 labour. We are Dissenters ; but excepting in 
 the matter of conformity with your mode of wor- 
 ship, what worse is the College for harbouring us? 
 We confidently appeal to our conduct and cha- 
 racters as being blameless, and the prizes that 
 some of us have gained must sufficiently testify of 
 our diligence in our studies. Neither are we 
 ' Atheists,' according to the opinion of the Chan- 
 cellor of Oxford, pronounced against Dissenters in 
 the House of Lords. We invite inquiry into our 
 religious practices ; we have social prayer — mu- 
 tual exposition of the Scriptures — and class 
 meetings — for comforting one another in the 
 faith. We praise God in psalms, and hymns, 
 and spiritual songs, — we attend the sick, and pray 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 2G1 
 
 with the dying— we go to the prisons and give 
 words of instruction to the poor prisoners, — we 
 have a little Sunday School of our own institu- 
 tion ; we lay up of our substance to distribute to 
 the necessities of the poor ; we visit the widows 
 and the fatherless in their affliction; and we 
 keep ourselves unspotted from the world. There- 
 fore our objections to your mode of worship are 
 not founded in any libertine or irreligious views." 
 
 Master. — ■" I will do you the justice to say that I 
 believe you are good young men, but you are la- 
 bouring under a delusion ; — and now let me, as a 
 well-wisher and a friend to your interests in life, be- 
 seech you not to be carried away by an overstrained 
 piety. Remember that the Dissenters say nothing 
 about the surplice in these days ; it was a contro- 
 versy of ferocious times, but a more liberal spirit 
 has now prevailed amongst us, and we seem agreed 
 to forget our differences." 
 
 J. C.Thompson. — "lam deeply impressed with 
 the kind w;\y in wliich the Master addresses our 
 little society ; and feel myself fortified against 
 every argument but this friendly and parental 
 tone. But still. Sir, I must not forget that truth, 
 like its master, is the same to-day, yesterday, and 
 for ever, — and if our holy and martyred ancestors 
 preferred imprisonment, banishment, and death, 
 sooner than conform with the superstitious rem- 
 nants of an ill-disguised Popery, — if they have 
 left testimonies in their writings against this sin 
 to which you would now persuade us to submit, 
 
2G2 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 tlien must we judge that the silence of the Dis- 
 senters in these days is to he accounted for hy a 
 more worldly spirit of conformity, and hy yielding 
 too much to the general fashion of their genera- 
 tion. There are a few Dissenters now amongst 
 the under-graduates, who conform to all the cere- 
 monies ; but this is only proof to us of the laxity 
 of their princi])les, and of the apathy of their pa- 
 rents and teachers, who have never warned them 
 of the danger of yielding in little points to the 
 principle of evil. We trust that a better spirit 
 will revive amongst Dissenters, and that they wiU 
 ' ask for the old jjaths, where is the good way , and 
 walk therein ; that they may find rest to their 
 soids.' We pity Dissenters who do so conform, 
 and we cannot help looking forward to a day w hen 
 it will be revealed that such persons have had no 
 rehgion at all. 
 
 " We beg, however, to assure the Master that 
 our conduct is not contumacious and rebellious: 
 we have had many anxious debates how to act in 
 this business, and we trust we have taken the 
 right course. If any sentence should be pro- 
 nounced against us, then it will be solemnly re- 
 corded that no piety, — no zeal in the prosecution of 
 the appointed studics,^ — no moral propriety, — no 
 manifestation of talent will avail a Dissenter in 
 the venerable University of Cambridge ; — that 
 whatever is a virtue in a churchman is a vice in a 
 Dissenter ; and unless he will conform to a wor- 
 ship, and to the authority of a Church from which 
 
LETTER XXIX. 
 
 263 
 
 his conscience revolts, he must share the fate of 
 those who are expelled for flagitious and disre- 
 putable conduct. We leave the odium of such a 
 sentence on the Seniority of this celebrated Col- 
 lege." 
 
 The conversation now terminated, but I must 
 do justice to the Master by recording his kind and 
 courteous deportment throughout the whole of this 
 interview. 
 
 The members of the Seniority said very little ; 
 and it was intimated that we must withdraw till 
 the Board had come to a determination. 
 
 We were summoned in the evening again to 
 the lodge, though in the interval the tutors had 
 paid us a visit, vainly endeavouring to make us 
 give up the points iir question. 
 
 At our second appearing before the Board, the 
 Master expressed a wish that we woidd leave the 
 University quietly, and in case of our acceding to 
 the proposal, he promised that we each should 
 have a " Bene dcccssit." We declined this fa- 
 vour, and told the Master that, as we were standing 
 forth advocates for the cause of Dissent, we could 
 not give up our case in this manner ; and that as 
 the commencement of this controversy was public, 
 so must the termination be public also. 
 
 We were then ordered once more to withdraw, 
 and in about an hour afterwards were re-admitted 
 to the Council Chamber. 
 
 The Master read our sentence : after detailing 
 
2G4 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 the case in terms to which we did not much ob- 
 ject, the decree pronounced upon us was,—" that 
 we were no longer members of the College of the 
 Holy Athanasius in the University of Cambridge." 
 I am, 
 My dear Uncle, 
 Your affectionate Nephew, 
 
 Francis Emerson.* 
 
 * It may perhaps be interesting to the reader to hear 
 something further of this little body of expelled Non-cou- 
 foimists.' 
 
 Fiancis Emerson joined the Baptist Church at Cam- 
 biiJge, received a<lLiIt baptism, and offered liimself as a 
 Jlisbionary for the East Indies. After due inquiry, the 
 offer was accepted, and he, with three other Missionaries, 
 sailed for Calcutta fiom Liveipuol. 
 
 John Calvin Thompson became a member of an Inde- 
 pendent Church at Pentonville, and occasionally exercised 
 himself in preaching in tbevillaj^es round about London. 
 He was invited to sup])ly a pulpit in a Dissenting Chapel in 
 Kent ; and proving very acceptable to the people, was 
 finally invited to take the pastoral charge, by a unanimous 
 call. His congregation is rapidly increasing, and Mrs. 
 Thompson, his mother, has lately become a member of his 
 Church. 
 
 The other young gentlemen have all become professed 
 Dissenters, and are variously emp.loyed in the trying 
 pilgrimage of human life. The contagion of Non-con- 
 formity has not made any open jirogress in the University 
 of Cambridge. Surplices, and "the wisdom of ancestors," 
 are the order of the day there still, and are likely to be. 
 Oxford, Camlridge, and Benares are the three most en- 
 lightened Universities in the world. — Euitcr. 
 
LETTER XXX. 
 
 From the Reverend RAi3SH.\KEn Gathercoal 
 to L. S. E. 
 
 My dear Brother, 
 
 Disasters are coming upon me as thick as 
 hail : the defection of Frank, and the Dissenting 
 uproar he caused at Cambridge, did indeed greatly 
 distress me ; but on this subject I have written* so 
 much to you, that I shall add no more. If this 
 vexation, liowcver, was great from a nephew, what 
 must a Dissenting blow be from the wife of my 
 bosom ? 
 
 About a month since, as I told yon, Jane went 
 to pay a visit to her aunt at Leeds ; I not only 
 authorized but encouraged her to go, hoping that a 
 change of scene would raise her spirits. The day 
 before yesterday I received a long letter from her, 
 in which, after a tiresome preface about " con- 
 science," (a word which ought to be erased from 
 all languages,) she comes to this conclusion, that she 
 has made up her mind to join the Baptists, and to 
 be baptized by immersion. Her reasons were such 
 
 * AUiuling to various letters, not here published, which 
 Rabshakeh had written to his brother on the painful sub- 
 ject of yoini^ Emerson's lapse into Non-conformity. — Ed, 
 
2G3 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 as liave often been urged in our stormy controver- 
 sies, " the unprofitableness, yea, the positive mis- 
 chief of my ministry — the pain that she felt on 
 hearing the Dissenters abused and insulted from 
 my pulpit every Sunday— the excited and angry 
 state of the public mind in the parish— the impos- 
 sibility of her attending the parish church any 
 longer— her predilection for the Dissenting scheme 
 — her conscientious conviction of the errors, super- 
 stitions, and corruptions of the Church of England 
 —her great dislike of the loose hfe of Dr. Birch 
 and some otiiers, my prime friends — the worldly 
 manners of several clergymen who visit at the 
 vicarage— her desire to join a church of poor and 
 humble Cliristians, whose communion would profit 
 her soul — her thirst after righteousness, which 
 never has received so much as one drop of comfort 
 from any of my sermons — and, finally, her firm 
 persuasion that the baptism of believers is the only 
 baptism mentioned in Scripture." She told me 
 that she preferred undergoing the rite of immersion 
 far away from home, because it would be less talked 
 of and less known ; but she was resolved, when she 
 returned to Tuddington, to attend regularly the 
 Dissenting chapel. To all this was added a very 
 long and very urgent expostulation about my mxis- 
 guided and " mischievous zeal in a false and bad 
 cause," which, she avers, has turned a peaceable 
 and religious parish into " a nest of hornets." She 
 entreats me to retrace my steps, and assures me 
 
LETTER XXX. 
 
 267 
 
 that, even now, the Dissenters will forgive all I have 
 done, if I will only engage to abstain for the future 
 from all active and offensive warfare. My answer 
 has been very short ; I merely desired her to stay 
 amongst her friends till further orders, " for I 
 could not think of receiving her at home for a long 
 time to come — if ever I could bring myself to take 
 a schismatic to my bosom." Jane's letter occupied 
 three sheets closely written, so that I only here 
 mention the heads of her discourse. You may 
 well suppose how greatly I am distressed by this 
 wretched business, but I forbear to add more at 
 present, for I have to record my public calamities. 
 
 The Dissenting chapels have been crowded of 
 late — Mervyn's chapel particularly so ; 'for the con- 
 spicuous part he has taken in opposing me has 
 made him an especial favourite with the people. 
 His Deacons, (Deacons, forsooth ! not ordained by 
 a Bishop!) finding the chapel far too small, have 
 proposed to enlarge the building, by opening a 
 side recess or aisle, capable, with a gallerj', of 
 holding three hundred persons. The plan has met 
 with general approbation ; the building is nearly 
 complete, and is to be opened next Tuesday with 
 sermons for collections to defray the expenses. 
 J of Birmingham, and Dr. B 1, are ex- 
 pected to preach on this occasion ; and the people, 
 I understand, are determined to pay off every 
 farthing of the debt before the day closes, "to 
 show the advocates of force what the voluntary 
 
268 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 principle can do." Where will all these things 
 end ? I begin to feel doubts arising in my mind, 
 and am sometimes disposed to give up all further 
 exertions for the Church, to let things take their 
 course, and to leave the victory with these exe- 
 crable schismatics. But my hopes with the Bishop 
 of L buoy me up ; if it were not for this con- 
 sideration, and for the honour of L. S. E., I believe 
 I should retire from the field. 
 
 Dr. Birch has been pressing m.e much to make 
 a diversion in the enemy's camp, by joining com- 
 mon cause with the Wesleyan Methodists. He 
 has said so much on this subject, and has urged 
 me with so much earnestness to follow up the ad- 
 vice of the Bishop of Exeter, that I have at last 
 written a letter of good will to Drance, the Wes- 
 leyan superintendent, assuring him that I never 
 meant to include the Methodists in my animad- 
 versions on Dissenters — that I consider them allies 
 and friends of the Established Church, and that it 
 is my hearty wish to enter into bonds of closer 
 union with them. I must confess it has gone much 
 against the grain to write this letter, for I never 
 could understand how the INIethodists are to be 
 considered better friends of the Establishment now 
 than they were at the first ; if they were pelted 
 then, why should they be praised now ? if we 
 hunted them down like vermin at first, why should 
 we coax and flatter them now ? if Lavingtou, Bishop 
 of Exeter, wrote a most savage book against these 
 
LETTER XXX. 
 
 2G9 
 
 creatures when they first left the egg-slicll, why 
 should Phil^wtts, Bisho}) of Exeter, seek in these 
 clays to take them under his wing? It seems to 
 me nothing more nor less than an acknow ledgment 
 of w eakness on our part, and, if they are hut half as 
 shrew d as I take them to be, they must perceive it. 
 But Birch says, if w e can gain them over to our 
 side, or jiersuade them to keep a strict neutrality, 
 it docs not matter what they may say or think oir 
 the business — the wisest maxim with politicians 
 is " divide et impera." So I have written the let- 
 ter, and am w aiting an answer. 
 
 We are to have a meeting next week for a 
 Church-rate. We shall carry it hy a small ma- 
 jority, and we cannot get on without it : the roof of 
 the church, and the organ, are sadly out of repair, 
 and many things must be done in various parts of 
 the edifice if we wish the fabric to hold together. 
 
 !My next will give you a further account of our 
 proceedings, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
LETTER XXXI. 
 
 FaoM Eltsha Drance, Wcsleyai) Siinerin- 
 tendcni, to the -Reverend Rabshakeh Ga- 
 
 THEUCOAL. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 I HAVE duly received your letter, and, if 
 I have not answered it sooner, you must attribute 
 the delay to the difficulty I have felt in making a 
 proper reply. I had not expected the honour of 
 any communication from the Vicar of Tuddiiigton, 
 by whose published sermon the Wesleyau Metho- 
 dists are necessarily included in the company of 
 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram : for, as we have ma- 
 nifestly declined Episcopal jurisdiction ; as we have 
 our own form of Church government, and have 
 made such arrangements, that as our people are 
 virtually lost to the Established Church, it is clear 
 Ave can put in no claim to exception from the ban 
 of excommunication pronounced against Xon-con- 
 formists by the Vicar of Tuddington and the Let- 
 ters of L. S. E. 
 
 To prevent the continuance of this correspond- 
 ence, I am anxious. Sir, to make you understand, 
 in the clearest manner possible, that there is not 
 the slightest hope of your bringing back the Wes- 
 
LETTER XXXI. 
 
 211 
 
 leyan Methodists to the Church of England. We 
 understand our interests too well ever to hearken 
 to such a scheme ; and we are fiilly aware that the 
 proposal originates in the alarm of your Bishops 
 and their adherents, who, finding the Dissenters 
 too strong for them, and taking alarm at the spirit 
 of the age, have, in the hour of danger, bethought 
 themselves of sending down to us for assistance, 
 which we certainly must decline affording them. 
 All that we can promise your party is, that we do 
 not intend, as a body, to take any active part in 
 the separation of Church and State ; the Confer- 
 ence is determined to keep aloof from that question, 
 and that for various reasons : 1 . Our aid is not 
 wanted in accelerating the spirit of the times ; the 
 activity of the Dissenters, and the unpopularity 
 of the Clergy, render our exertions unnecessary. 
 
 2. We wish before all things to keep in view the 
 interests of Wesleyan Methodism, which is best 
 done by steering clear of all political movements. 
 
 3. We expect, in due time, to take that position in 
 the kingdom which the Church of England now 
 occupies, (saving the union of Church and State,) 
 and the prospect of such an event warns us of the 
 impolicy of joining your party. 4. We believe the 
 Church of England to be so much opposed to the 
 popular liberty, and so adverse to all reform, that 
 we fear it may ultimately be destroyed with great 
 violence, in which case, if we were to unite our in- 
 
272 
 
 LETTER XXSI. 
 
 terests with those of the Establishment, w e also 
 might be overthrown in the general confusion. 
 
 With these reasons for keeping an apparent 
 neutrality, you must remember that our not openly 
 attacking the Establishment is in reality no gain 
 to your party, for every day brings a large acces- 
 sion to our numbers in these kingdoms, and every 
 individual who joins the Wesleyan ISIethodists is 
 in fact lost to the Church of England. A Wesleyan 
 does not attend the Church worship — he commu- 
 nicates not at the parish altar — he is not under the 
 guidance or control of the Clergy — he feels no in- 
 terest in the welfare of the Church — and no sym- 
 pathy with the alarms of the Bishops. 
 
 Our body would not only not be injured by the 
 downfall of the Establishment, but would be ma- 
 terially benefited by such an event ; and as the in- 
 terests of Wesleyan ^lethodism are the object of 
 my daily care and anxiety, I for one do not con- 
 ceal my desire to see the reduction of the Esta- 
 blished Church. 
 
 My advice. Sir, therefore, to your party is, that 
 you should seek to join our body, and to put your- 
 selves under our protection by taking quarterly 
 tickets, and submitting to the discipline of Confer- 
 ence. Our body is in no danger, the EstabUshed 
 Church is apparently in great peril. We certainly 
 will not come to you for assistance, though we will 
 not reject even the Bishop of Exeter, if he should 
 
LETTER XXXI. 
 
 273 
 
 knock at our door and declare that he was "a 
 seeker " according to the plan of John Wesley. 
 
 I subscribe, for your consideration, the authentic 
 and official record of our sentiments on Church 
 government, by wliich you will at once perceive 
 the wide and impas^sablc gulf there is between the 
 Weslcyan ^Nletliodists and tlie Church of England ; 
 and until vour Church shall be pleased to renounce 
 all ideas of diocesan Episcopacy, and to give up all 
 the privileges of the Clergv as the authorized and 
 exclusive teachers of an established religion, it 
 must be most hopeless to expect that there can be 
 any cordial union between us. 
 
 The following are the decisions of our early 
 conferences : — 
 
 Q. " Does a Church, in the Xew Testament, 
 always mean a single congregation ? 
 
 A. " We believe it does ; we do not recollect 
 any instance to the contrary. 
 
 Q. " What instance or ground is there then in 
 the New Testament of a National Church* ? 
 
 A. " We know none at all ; we apprehend it 
 to be a MERELY POLITICAL institution. 
 
 Q. " Are the three orders of Bishops, Priests, 
 and Deacons, described in ihc Ncv,- Testament? 
 
 * This (nu'stion ami answer cmne Im a decision flatly con- 
 tradictliif^ the tliirty-lbuith article nf tho Clnu'ch of KiiL^land 
 — '■ ICvery liarlic\ilrir or wo/(0««/ Cluuch hath authuiity to 
 ordain, i-hanf^o, and abolisli coicmonii's, or rites of the 
 Cliinch." Tlie article speaks of the " national '' Church, 
 and knows no other; Coiilierencc denies that there is such 
 a tiling as a national Church. 
 
274 LKTTER XSXI. 
 
 A. "We think there are*; and belies'c they 
 generally obtained in the Church of the Apo- 
 stolic age. 
 
 Q. " But are you sure that God designed the 
 same plan should obtain in all Churches, through- 
 out all ages ? 
 
 A. " We are not assured of it, because \vc do 
 not know it is inserted in Holy Writ. 
 
 Q. " If the plan were essential to a Christian 
 Church, what must become of all foreign reformed 
 Churches ? 
 
 A. "It would follow they are no part of the 
 Church of Christ ; a consequence full of shocking 
 absurdity. 
 
 Q. " In what age was the Divine right of Epis- 
 copacy first asserted in England ? 
 
 A. " About the middle of Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign; till then all the Bishops and Clergy in 
 England continually allowed and joined in the 
 ministrations of those who were not episcopally 
 ordained. 
 
 Q. " Must there not be numberless acci- 
 dental variations in the government of various 
 Churches ? 
 
 * Thi^ members of the Co:iference which passed this de- 
 cree were chiefly clergyin^ii of the Establisheil Church ; it 
 is, therefore, not to wondered that they should take this 
 view of the three orders, fjr all their prejudices lead them to 
 it. Ti\e fjreat Wesley himself was educated in the highest 
 notions of Episcopal (lOwer, and gave them up very slowly. 
 He did, however, at last, clearly see and confess that they 
 were prejudices. 
 
LETTER XXXI. 
 
 A. " There must in the nature of things ; as 
 God variously dispenses his gifts of nature, provi- 
 dence, and grace, both the offices themselves, and 
 tlie officers in each, ought to be varied from time 
 to time. 
 
 Q. " Why is it that there is no determinate 
 plan of Church government appointed in Scrip- 
 ture ? 
 
 A. " Without doubt, because the -wisdom of 
 God had a regard to that necessary variety. 
 
 Q. " Was there any thought of uniformity in the 
 government of all Churches until the time of Con- 
 stantine ? 
 
 A. " It is certain there was not, nor would 
 there have been then, had men consulted the 
 word of God." 
 
 This decree of Conference does in fact set aside 
 the whole polity of the Established Church, and 
 puts the Wesleyan Methodists in such a position, 
 that they are condemned beyond remedy by the 
 Letters of L. S. E., and all the lovers of prelatical 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 Mr. Wesley himself made this declaration on 
 another occasion : — " I firmly believe that I am a 
 Scriptural tTLCKoiroc as much as any man in 
 England, or in Europe; for the uninterrupted 
 succession I know to be a fable, which no man 
 ever did or can prove and in a letter to Dr. 
 Coke from Bristol, in the year 1184, he said, — 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 " Lord King's account of the primitive Church 
 convinced me, many years ago, that Bishops and 
 Presbyters are the same order*;" sentiments 
 which L. S. E. and many of the publications of 
 the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge, the 
 Canons of the Established Church, and the 
 charges of many Bishops, denounce as heretical 
 and impious. 
 
 Turn us then which ever way you will, I fear 
 you will find that we are only Dissenters, and that 
 we stand condemned by your Church with a thou- 
 sand irrevocable condemnations as a nest of schis- 
 matics " left to the uncovenanted mercies of God.f" 
 The Eleventh Canon of your Church says " none 
 of the maintainers of conventicles may rightly 
 challenge to themselves the name of true and law- 
 ful Churches;" so that I do not see how the 
 Bishops can make overtures to us without running 
 into the sin of heresy, and without slighting the 
 la^\ s of their own Church. 
 
 You are pleased to say " that there are indi- 
 viduals amongst our preachers of the highest order 
 of talent, and who entertain such correct views of 
 the duty of submission to superiors, that your 
 Church would be much strengthened by placing 
 such men in her high stations, and that more 
 unlikely things have happened than that Jabez 
 
 * See Watson's Life of Wesley, rp. 284—286. 
 
 ■}■ Archdeacon Daubeny's Sentence upon Methodist;, 
 Independents, &c. 
 
LETTER XXXI. 
 
 277 
 
 Bunting should ultimately be called to take one 
 of the highest dignities of the Established Church." 
 
 I would reply to this insinuation or hojie, that 
 I believe the leading ^fcthodist preachers are too 
 much attached to tlieir system to be bribed into 
 your Church, and that, knowing how useful they 
 can be as members of Conference, and buw use- 
 less they must be as Deans or Bishops, they would 
 decline these honours even if they were offered 
 to them. 
 
 Jabez Bunting may have his own views, in 
 which I do not wish to inquire or interfere, but I 
 take him to be too wise a man ever to think of a 
 mitre, and that for two reasons. 1 . The power, 
 wealth, and dignity of your Prelates arc a pre- 
 carious tenure at present, and therefore a wise 
 man will think a bird in tli-- /niiid iroiili lico in 
 ilie hush. 2. Jabez Bunting has power enough 
 already in Conference to satisfy a reasonable man; 
 and although he is an aristocrat amongst our 
 people, he would be nol)u(ly amongst your aristo- 
 cracy : it is far pleasanter, I sliould suppose, to 
 be worshipped and obeyed in Conference than to 
 be sneered at in the House of Lords. But I do 
 not think the day will ever come when they will 
 propose to elevate Dr. Bunting to the bench — at 
 least, if they do, I am sure the bench must be 
 breaking down ; in which case nobody would wish 
 to take a seat on it. 
 
 Allow mc, Sir, to say, in conclusion, that I had 
 
278 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 not expected the honour of a letter from vou on 
 this or any other subject, for the last letter I 
 wrote to you, in conjunction with the Dissenting 
 ministers of Tuddington, was answered with re- 
 pulsive haughtiness, scorn, and contumely. 
 
 In other matters you must allow me to assure 
 you that I cordially sympathize with the Dis- 
 senters of this parish. 
 
 I am, Reverend Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 Elisha Draxce, 
 (Wesleyan Superintendent J 
 
LETTER XXXIL 
 
 From the Reverend Rabshakeh Gatuercoai. 
 io L. S. E. 
 
 Oh, my dear brother! the plot tliickens, 
 the tragedy is drawing to a conclusion, and I 
 begin to wish for Medea's chariot to escape from 
 the catastrophe. But to clear the stage first of 
 minor calamities, my letter to the Wesleyau Su- 
 perintendent has proved a total failure; the fellow 
 declines a coahtion, and has written a saucy reply, 
 in which he takes the tone of a superior, ])ities 
 the fallen state of our Church, and reconnnends 
 the Bishops to become Methodists, and to take 
 quarterly tickets! One advantage, however, I 
 have got by writing to him — a proof indisputable 
 that this odious sect is as dangerous as our Clergy 
 declared it would be when John Wesley first 
 began tramping about the country. For niy part, 
 I believe the Methodists have done more real 
 harm to us than the Independents, for the Metho- 
 dists are sapping and mining under the Inilwarks, 
 whilst the Independents are laying close siege to 
 us above ground. We know how to oppose the 
 one, but we cannot tell where to meet the other. 
 But to pass on to matters of greater moment — we 
 
280 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 have had our meeting for the Church rate, and 
 are defeated ! I ! 
 
 Before I went to tlie meeting I was closeted 
 with Dr. Birch and Mr. Scrope. Mi. Scrope, 
 wlio is not so sanguine as the Doctor, liad serious 
 apprehensions of the result of this struggle, and 
 hegged to know my reasons for calculating on a 
 majority. Churchwarden Stubbs was with us, 
 and h\id before us his list of votes, by which he 
 said he was sure of a majority of near thirty. 
 " But," said he, " if we have a majority of one it 
 will be sufficient." When Stubbs left us, Mr. 
 Scrope said I was very imprudent to take any 
 calculation from such a sot as Stubbs, who was 
 always drunk, and did not know what he was 
 about. It would have been much better to have 
 had tlic opinion of lawyer Squeeze. I assured 
 him tliat I should have applied to Squeeze if he 
 had been at home, but he had gone to Cornwall, 
 to take possession of property left him there by a 
 distant relation ; that I did not know his direc- 
 tion, nor when to expect him again; but I had 
 heard him say that the i)roperty of the parish was 
 with the Established Church, and that we could 
 outvote the Dissenters. To this Scrope rephed 
 very significantly — " This opinion was pronounced 
 before you had sold the Quaker's sheep." 
 
 There was, however, no time for a change of 
 policy ; we had gone too far to recede ; I had 
 mustered all the friends of the Church, and we 
 
lETTER XXXII. 
 
 nnist go on with tlie business as well as we 
 could. 
 
 When \vc went into the C'liurcli, we found a 
 vast crowd already asscmhlcd tlu'rc, and tilling 
 every part of the building. The Dissenting 
 miiiisters were all seated together, and I could 
 clearly see that we should have a stormy debate. 
 
 1 took the chair, ex officio, and Dr. Birch, who 
 had house property in the town, sat at my elbow. 
 Tliere was no disturbance at the commencement, 
 but rather, I should say, an awful stillness. I 
 began the business, by explaining the actual con- 
 dition of the church fabric, and the absolute ne- 
 cessity of raising funds to keep it in repair : all 
 the details and estimates I laid before them. I 
 proved the decay of the timbers in the roof, the 
 deficiency of the lead, the want of new spouts, the 
 crazy state of the organ, and the want of a drain 
 to take away the water from the churchyard. We 
 had put the estimates as low as possible, and I 
 took good care to avoid every topic which could 
 give offence. 
 
 The Churchwardens then proposed a rate to 
 defray the expenses of repairing the church and 
 organ, and draining the churchyard. 
 
 IMervyn, the Independent Minister, then got up 
 and made a long harangue about the voluntary prin- 
 ciple and the rights of conscience — such stufl' as the 
 schismatics usually talk — and, therefore, I leave 
 you to imagine what he said. Ilis speech, which 
 
282 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 was an hour long, was concluded hy moving an 
 amendment, " that the meeting adjourn to that 
 day six months." When he had finished, all the 
 people present seemed to rise up together from 
 their seats and join in one long-continued loud 
 huzza. The silence they had kept till then made 
 this burst of applause the more surprising ; I was 
 quite startled with it, and could not conceal my 
 astonishment. 
 
 Dr. Birch rose to answer Mervyn, but for a long 
 time he could not get a hearing ; they cried out, 
 " Down with Cardinal Birch," " Down with Par- 
 son Falstaff," and other jeers of that sort. Mer- 
 vyn at last persuaded them to hsten to the argu- 
 ments of their opponents with patience. The 
 Doctor spoke, as he always does, very well ; 
 there was much humour in his speech, which 
 made the people laugh frequently, and, by that 
 means, he was gaining some power over them. 
 At last, however, he got into a scrape, from which 
 he could not extricate himself He was showing 
 how the clergy, in all times, and in all nations, 
 had been supported by the payment of tithes ; he 
 showed that the custom existed even amongst the 
 heathen — that Apollo took tithes of the Siphnians 
 — that the Delians paid tithes, &c. — and that He- 
 rodotus, in the Second Book of his History, records 
 " the piety of Rhodopis, the Thracian, who made a 
 great fortune in Egypt as a courtezan. She pre- 
 sented tithes to the Delphic temple, or, as the 
 
LETTER XXXII. 
 
 283 
 
 father of history says, ' she ordered the I cnth part 
 of her property to be expended in making a num- 
 ber of silver spits, each large enough to roast an 
 ox :' they were sent to Delphi, and were in the 
 sanctuary when Herodotus wrote." This strange 
 story raised such a roar of laughter that the Doctor 
 could not go on. A fellow cried out from the 
 galleries, " Oh, Doctor ! how thou must be longing 
 to be at those spits !" and, in short, there was no 
 possibility of saying a word afterwards. 
 
 We had now a complete uproar ; at last I per- 
 suaded them to hear me, and to come to a decision. 
 As many as were for the rate were to hold up 
 their hands. I did not count them ; for they were 
 not worth counting, — perhaps fifty — not more. I 
 then desired those who were against the rate to 
 hold up their hands, — several hundreds w ere 
 lifted up. 
 
 The churchwardens demanded a poll ; but I 
 followed Scrope's advice, and told them I should 
 not press the matter. 
 
 The rate was refused accordingly. 
 
 The shout which followed I leave you to ima- 
 gine: they gave " Three groans for the Bishops," 
 " Three groans for the silver spits," — " Three groans 
 for Rathcormac," — and " Three cheers for schism.'' 
 
 I add no more ; and indeed this is enough. 
 Your miserable 
 
 Rabsiiakeh, 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 The temper of tlie noble Rabshakeh seems, 
 after this defeat, to have been greatly ruffled. His 
 letters written to his friends subsequent to the 
 refusal of the Church-rates display so unhappy a 
 state of mind, that I forbear publishing them. 
 
 Dr. Birch died shortly afterwards of an apoplexy, 
 after eating too hearty a supper of oysters, at the 
 Vicarage. Churchwarden Stubbs was carried off 
 in an attack of the Asiatic cholera. 
 
 Mr. Scrope, the Rector of Amberwell, and tiie 
 leading magistrate of the district, hastily left the 
 country, having taken away* with him the deposits 
 out of the Savings' Bank of Tuddington, whereby 
 many poor families were utterly ruined. 
 
 Another clergyman, a great friend and admirer 
 of Rabshakeh, broke his neck a fox-hunting. 
 This accumulation of misfortunes made Rab- 
 shakeh very desirous to quit Tuddington, and he 
 wrote many urgent letters to a great friend, ask- 
 ing for preferment, but apparently without suc- 
 cess. 
 
 In the mean time, the quarrel between the 
 
 * The Reverend Henry Small, of St. Albans, has lately 
 committee] this act of robbery. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 285 
 
 Vicar and the parish daily increased ; every de- 
 mand made hy the Vicar was resisted, and lie 
 was constantly in litigation witli his parishioners. 
 The whole parish at last nnnnimously rcf\iscd tu 
 pay titlies any more ; the greater part determined 
 to follow the plan of the Quakers, hy passive non- 
 resistance, hnt several swore tliey would resist the 
 sale of their goods htj force. The Vicar, on his 
 part, being fortified by Mr. Screw's opinion, deter- 
 mined to secure his rights, whatever the conse- 
 quence might be. The constables, in seizing the 
 furniture of a poor widow for tithe, were repelled 
 and cruelly beaten ; and when they returned with 
 fresh force, under the comniand of the niagisti ates, 
 after a very severe fiuht, in which a constable was 
 killed, they were all driven back, and compelled 
 to take refuge in the Vicarage. The Vicarage was 
 stormed, and the Vicar, magistrates, and constables 
 driven out of the parish. 
 
 The next day the magistrates and the Vicar re- 
 turned into Tuddington with an imposing display 
 of military force, from the barracks at Leeds, two 
 field-pieces, and a large detachment of yeomanry. 
 The people of Tuddington were not disposed to 
 yield even to superior force ; blood had been shed 
 in the parish, one of their young men had died of 
 the wounds received from the constables' staves, 
 and his death seemed to have excited the whole 
 population to madness. The Dissenting ministers 
 
286 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 in vain endeavoured to calm the parish ; the insur- 
 gents would listen to no advice, and, at last, became 
 so angry at this interference, that they threatened 
 to hang any man who should advise them to sxib- 
 mit to their enemies. In this spirit they made 
 barricades across the streets, and planted a tri- 
 coloured flag on the market-cross. The Riot Act 
 was read, and, after the time appointed by law, the 
 military, not without much difficulty, stormed the 
 barricades, and fired amongst the people. It is 
 said that eleven were killed at the first discharge 
 of the rriuskets and thirty wounded. The people 
 were driven out of the market-place, but annoyed 
 the soldiers by firing from the house-tops, or 
 hurling heavy weights xxpon them. Seven tlragoons 
 were killed, and nearly a score badly wounded — 
 several horses were killed. At last the superior 
 skill of the military gained the victory, and the 
 majesty of the laws was respected. 
 
 Whilst the battle was going on in the market- 
 place, a detachment of the most detenniued mal- 
 contents had gone round by a back lane and sur- 
 rounded the Vicarage, which was left totally un- 
 protected. The poor Vicar was taken prisoner : 
 the rebels did not agree what to do with him ; some 
 proposed to hang him up on the bacon-hooks in 
 the kitchen ; others, averse to taking life, proposed 
 binding him by an oath to quit the parish, to re- 
 sign his charge, and never again to come into the 
 
CONXLUSION. 
 
 287 
 
 county ; but the more unrelenting party said they 
 could not believe him on his oath. 
 
 In the midst of this awful parley, word came 
 that a party of soldiers was at the bottom of the 
 street, marching towards the Vicarage. The rebels 
 gagged the Vicar, and dragged him out of the 
 Vicarage by the back door; they hurried him 
 along the footpath which leads to the Ferry over 
 the river Tud. Having forced him into the ferry- 
 boat, which they rowed into the middle of the 
 stream, tlic-y threw him into the water, pasrsed over 
 to the other side oftlie river, and ran away. The 
 Vicar it was said could not swim, and he was car- 
 ried down the stream, then swollen with a consider- 
 able flood, and never again was seen in the parish 
 of Tuddington. 
 
 But " Lycidas is not dead :" at least it is confi- 
 dently asserted by his friends that he is riow alive, 
 and is residhig at Rome, where he has taken 
 Priest's orders, at the fountain head of succession. 
 He was seen performing mass in a side chapel of 
 St. Peter's Cathedral last spring, and is said to be 
 writing a book against the Church of England ; a 
 very luminous display of the Anglican heresy, " ad- 
 dressed, in a series of unanswerable letters, to the 
 Bishop ofLnndoii, hy E. S. L.'' 
 
 The Vicarage was luuut down to the ground, — 
 the magistrates escaped unh\n-t, whilst the rioters 
 were engaged with the Vicar, — the Vicar's house- 
 
2SS 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 keeper, seeing the house in flames, saved her mas- 
 ter's strong-box, containing his letters, papers, and 
 will ; and thus have been preserved those valuable 
 documents which enable the Editor to lay before 
 the public a sketch of the life and sentiments of 
 the great Protestant Thomas a Becket. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by Wii.lum CioirES, Dui.e-stieet, Lambeth. 
 
i 
 
BOUND aY"\ 
 VESTLEV. SON,!