CHURCH PAPERS. 
 
 SUNDRY ESSAYS 
 
 ON SUBJECTS RELATING TO 
 
 THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 BY 
 
 LEOIf ARD WOOLSET BACOIf. 
 
 GENEVA, {Switzerland.) 
 
 NEW YORK! LONDON) 
 
 G P. PUTNAM'S SOXS. TRUBNER & CO. 
 
 \3VV. 
 
 BV 
 600 
 
 .Al 
 B3 
 
 1877 
 
 L^ _. 
 
CO 
 CO 
 
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CHURCH PAPERS. 
 
 aV 1 - 132i 
 
 v^ 
 
 SUNDRY ESSAYS 
 
 ON SUBJECTS RELATING TO 
 
 THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY 
 
 BY 
 
 LEOHARD WOOLSEY BACOH. 
 
 G ENJK VA , ( Switzerland) . 
 
 NEW YORK: LONDON! 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. rRtrBNP:R & CO. 
 
 187 7- 
 
IN PREPARATION 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 THEOLOGICAL PAPERS. 
 
 INCLUDING AMONG OTHBKS : 
 
 A Method of Theology. 
 
 An Inductive Study of the Inspiration of the Scriptures. 
 False Definitions of Faiths and the True Definition. 
 Effects of a false Definition of Faith in Religious and 
 
 Dogmatic History, 
 Prayer , Miracle and Natural Law : — A Metaphysical 
 
 answer to a Physical Objection. 
 The Natural Theology of the Spleen : or the Doctrine 
 
 OF God in the Methods of Science. 
 
 TOGETHEK WITH SUNDKY 
 
 SERMONS OF AN UNSUCCESSFUL PREACHER. 
 
TO 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL AND HOLY MEMORY 
 
 OF MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 George Blagden Bacon, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE VALLEY CHURCH 
 
 who, prom his successful labors in the service of 
 Christ's whole church, 
 
 entered into his master's joy 
 
 SEPTEMBER 15, 
 
 1876. 
 
 [.WITHDRAWN 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ARTICLES PERTAINING TO THE NATURE 
 OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 I. The Fundamental Fallacy of Current Congrega- 
 tionalism 1 
 
 II. Five Theories of the Church 18 
 
 III. Church, Parish and Benevolent Society 42 
 
 IV. Confessions of a High Churchman 73 
 
 IRENICAL LETTERS. 
 
 V. Is Schism a Necessity? An Open Letter to the Right 
 Rev. A. C. Coxe, D.D., Bishop in Western New- 
 York 101 
 
 VI. How to Avert a Schism. A Letter addressed to the 
 
 Archbishop ot Canterbury, at his Grace's request. 12(5 
 
 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 
 CONTROVERSY. 
 
 VII. How the Rev. Dr. Stone Bettered his Situation. An 
 Examination of the Assurance of Salvation and 
 Certainty of Belief to which we are affectionately 
 invited by His Holiness the Pope 134 
 
Vi CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAYS IN CONTEMPORARY ECCLESIASTICAL 
 HISTORY. 
 
 VIII. The Catholic Reformation in Switzerland .... 169 
 
 IX. Catholic Reform in Northern Switzerland .... 204 
 
 X. The Fourth Old Catholic Congress ; Freiburg, 1874 224 
 
 XL Christian Union at Bonn 230 
 
 ARTICLES PERTAINING TO THE RELATION OF THE 
 CHURCH WITH MODERN SOCIETY. 
 
 XXL CHURCH AND CIVIL LAW. 
 
 On Forcing Jesus to be King: A Sermon against 
 State Interference with Religion, and in favor 
 of the Sundaj' Laws 237 
 
 XIII. CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 A Sermon on Theatres and Theatre-going . . . 255 
 
 XIV. CHURCH AND TEMPERANCE. 
 
 The Mistakes and Failures ot the Temperance 
 Reformation 275 
 
 XV. THE OPPROBRIUM OP ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 A Sermon against the Public Crime of the Dere- 
 liction of Legislation for the Protection of the 
 Family 327 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is neither the request of friends nor the demand of the public 
 that induces me to print these Church Papers in a volume. The 
 public has taken a transient interest in some of them, as they 
 have appeared in various periodicals, and has promptly forgotten 
 them. As for ray friends, I must do them the justice to believe 
 that if they had been consulted they would general!}^ have agreed 
 in advising me to save my money for some better use than printing 
 a book which nobody will buy, which very few will read, and 
 which hardly any one will approve. 
 
 I may as well confess to myself that it is these very consi- 
 derations that induce this publication. With a most willing 
 heart for any the humblest work that may present itself to 
 rae as a minister of Jesus Christ, I find no way of service open 
 to me, nor any near likelihood of any. In my unwilling seclusion, 
 therefore, I have decided to put some of my thoughts on the social 
 relations of Christianity into such a shape that they may reach 
 the eye, not of the public — that is beyond my hopes — but of some 
 of those whose high privilege it is to speak to the public and 
 be heard. 
 
 As I glance over the file of proof-sheets, I regret the things 
 left out. I wish I could add a page or two to Article II, concerning 
 the Historic Unity of the Church, and the Succession of Authority in 
 its Ministry. I wish that, out of the depth of a very painful experience, 
 I could add something of tender earnestness to the appeal, in 
 Article Y, against the wickedness — the unconscious wickedness — 
 of a policy of wanton schism. I wish I could re-state the substantial 
 arguments of Articles IV and YII in a more plain and sober form, 
 for the benefit of those who cannot see a grave thought under a 
 
nil 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 satiric surface. And I wish I could give, in a postscript to the articles 
 on the Old Catholic movement, a fuller statement of reasons for 
 giving up my earlier hopes of some useful religious result from 
 that enterprise. 
 
 I wish withal that I could have added some guards, here and 
 there, against being misunderstood. But it is vain to hope against 
 that misfortune. And who knows but the papers may do as much 
 good taken in a wrong sense as in a right one ? (think of the 
 edification that has been got out of Bible texts by false exegesis !) 
 And perhaps, after all, the book is not of as much consequence, 
 any way, as I love to imagine. Only it seems to me that I have 
 here some grains of good seed of the kingdom of God ; and I may 
 not hide it longer in my bosom. So, lest it abide alone, I cast it 
 abroad to die; and the Lord shall give it a body, as it may 
 please him. 
 
 Leonard Woolsey Bacon. 
 
 Genev'tj January, 1877, 
 
CHUECH PAPEES. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE RADICAL FALLACY OF CURRENT 
 CONGREGATIONALISM* 
 
 The Congregational Board of Publication is rendering 
 a useful service to the public b}^ discouraging the circulation 
 of the writings of the late Dr. Emmons. If the ponderous 
 heritage of the stereotype plates of his works had fallen 
 to the lot of an unscrupulous private publisher^ we can 
 not precisely estimate at present the mischief which they 
 might have done. Such a one might have used with his con- 
 science the argument " I must live ; therefore this stock 
 must be worked off." In such hands the sluggish flow of 
 
 * From the Congregational Quarterly for October, 18G3. It is proper to say that 
 the exordium of this article, on the true function of publishing- societies, was 
 omitted by the Editors of tlie Quarterly, and that the article, as thus retrenched 
 was accompanied by a disclaimer of editorial approbation. But the publication, 
 even on such terms, in a denominational or<yan, of an essay in purposed 
 refutation of the fundamental tenet of the denomination, seems to me such an act 
 of liberality as would bo found in few religious communions besides that of the 
 American Congregationalists. 
 
 1 
 
2 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 this heavy literature would have been facilitated by a 
 hundred appliances. The stout octavos would have stood 
 " on sale " in the stock of country book-stores ; they 
 would have been swapped off among booksellers at trade- 
 sales ; they would have been cheerfully thrown in to eke 
 out the balance of many a doubtful bargain ; in the spirit 
 of disinterested benevolence, they would have been pre- 
 sented by the philanthropic publisher to ministers' 
 libraries and to Western Colleges; and so the stock would 
 have been Worked Off; — off the publisher's hands and on 
 the public's. And then there would have been clanger — 
 how much, we are not prepared to say, but certainly more 
 or less danger — that the books would be read. 
 
 Now to avoid so undesirable a result, it is impossible 
 to conceive a more beautiful contrivance, than what is 
 called (in our inexact popular phrase) a '^ publishing 
 society." Without anything of the jar of controversy, 
 without damage to any publisher's investments, without 
 irritation, — yea, rather with much emollient lubrication — 
 to the feelings of descendants or surviving friends, the 
 exceptionable author is quietly but effectually laid on the 
 shelf. That which might otherwise have continued to be 
 talked over with ^reproach or derision in the streets of 
 Ashkelon, is gradually hushed up within the denomination. 
 A posthumous influence which might have infected other 
 regions and generations is quarantined within its own 
 county, — save as successive classes of theological students^ 
 in the enthusiasm of " middle year," are led into making 
 a disproportionate and too permanent investment of the 
 money they have earned in school-teaching, in the works of 
 the medieval and pmdo-post medieval divines of New 
 England. 
 
OF CURRENT CONGREGATIONALISM. 3 
 
 One good service for which we are sometimes indebted 
 to writers not otherwise useful, is that of reducing the 
 fallacies of better men to an absurdity by their own 
 wrong-headed consistency; or of taking up the defense of 
 a fallacy which has lurked vaguely and covertly in men's 
 minds, and setting it fair and square before us, within 
 good striking distance. This is the good work wrought in 
 a sermon of Dr. Emmons, " printed not published " by the 
 Congregational Board of Publication under the following 
 title:— 
 
 '^ Doctrinal Tract, No. 46. Scriptural Platform 
 OF Church Government. B}^ Nathaniel Emmons, D.D. 
 Boston : Congregational Board of Publication." 
 
 It is a Sermon on Matthew xviii : 15-17. It is written 
 in a style rude without being simple, and slovenly without 
 being easy. Coming from the pen of a practised writer 
 for the press, it is disgraced from page to page wdth 
 grammatical blunders that would be shameful in a school- 
 boy, and are honorable to the "Congregational Board of 
 Publication,'' only as evidence of their scrupulosit}^ against 
 tampering Avith the author's text. It is careless in state- 
 ment, almost to the point of self-contradiction. It assumes, 
 as axioms, points chiefly contested by the opposing 
 theories of church-order, and propositions abandoned by 
 all parties as fictitious. But it shows this evidence of a 
 logical mind, that having started from false premises, it 
 comes out at last, after whatever flying leaps of incon- 
 sequent argument, with a good degree of uniformity, 
 upon false conclusions. The whole document, with all its 
 assumptions and assertions, is pitched in that key of 
 oracular infallibility which is apt to characterize the 
 undisputed great man of a small country town. 
 
4 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 We might justify these strictures by two or three pages 
 of citations ; but it is sufficient to cite the whole tract 
 " by its title only." In its twenty duodecimo pages^ the 
 critic can hardl}'- go amiss of blunders logical, rhetorical 
 or grammatical.^ 
 
 Nevertheless, with all its faults, the little pamphlet has 
 the great merit of bringing a common fallacy in church- 
 polity out into the plainest view. By assuming this fallacy 
 as his logical base, and pushing ahead from it, without 
 looking either to the right hand or to the left, and with 
 utter disregard of the cutting of his line of communica- 
 
 1. We make room for a few specimen sentences, in justification of what we have 
 said of the literary style of the tract before us. Its logical deliquencies cannot 
 be fairly displayed without too large encroachments on the space allotted for 
 this article. 
 
 " A church has a right to watch over and reprove one another in private. This 
 right they have voluntarily given to each other, by their mutual covenant." p. 7. 
 
 " No modern minister is a bishop, (Jure Divino,) but a mere creature of the 
 State, and destitute of all divine authai'ity to exercise dominion over any regular 
 Gospel minister." p. 10. 
 
 " The elders of Ephesus, whom the Apostle calls bishops, were mere ministers 
 of churches, who had no right to watch over one another, but only over the 
 particular church and congregation over which God had made each of them a 
 distinct pastor." p. 10, 
 
 Does this last sentence mean anything? If so, it probably means that tfte 
 church in Ephesus whose eldGrs,— the Jiock whose bishops— Paul called to him at 
 Miletus, was not one church, but several churches, each with its " distinct pas- 
 tor," and so remarkably independent that one minister had no right to watch over 
 another! A convenient interpretation to support the lawfulness of schism and 
 the favorite notion that a church never means a larger number than can get into 
 one meeting-house; but an interpretation which, at the same tin\e, with delight- 
 fully unconscious simplicity, upsets that most sound and truly important maxim 
 of Congregationalism, that the word chrirch never means a collection of 
 churches. Thus may such exegesis ever come to grief! 
 
 "If every cliureh be formed by confederation, and has an independent right to 
 exercise all ecclesiastical power, then they have a right to dismiss their own 
 
 minister The cliurch either puts their ministers into oflice, or delegate 
 
 power to neighl)oring ministers to do it for them." " Therefore as neighboring 
 
 ministers could not place a pastor over them without their consent; so they 
 cannot put away or dismiss their pastor withoiit their consent." pp. 11, 12. 
 
 " An Episcopalian church has no indepeinlence; the government of it is in the 
 hands of archbishops, bishops, and other inferior clergy. You know that 
 all the Protestant world have loudly complained of the eeelesiastical tyranny of 
 the Church of Rome; and Justly, whicli has destroyed the independence of all 
 the churches of the Popish "relig'ion." p. 1«. 
 
OF CURRENT CONGREGATIONALISM. 5 
 
 tion, the writer comes out at results which, in 
 theraselveSj go far to disprove his premises. To many 
 minds the tract is its own recluctio ad absardiim, and to 
 such minds it can safely be recommended. 
 
 The radical fallacy to which we allude may be summarily 
 stated thus : — 
 
 THAT A CHURCH IS A CLUB. 
 
 More at length, it is unfolded in the following passage 
 from the tract, p. 4. 
 
 '^ What is it that constitutes a number of visible saints 
 a proper church ? I answer, a mutual covenant. It is 
 by confederation, that a number of individual Christians 
 become a visible church of Christ. A number of professing 
 Christians cannot be formed into a church without their 
 freely and mutually covenanting to walk together in all 
 the duties and ordinances of the (xospel. They may be real 
 and visible saints while they remain unconnected and 
 separate ; but they cannot be a proper church, without 
 entering into covenant, and lajang themselves under 
 certain obligations to each other, to live and act like 
 Christians." p. 4. 
 
 This view of the origin of the churh is not peculiar to 
 the tract before us ; on the contrary, it is clearly 
 expressed in the most authoritative standards of Congrega- 
 tional church order, (Cambridge Platform, iv. 3.)^ and in 
 
 1. It is su^j^pstcd to mr; by very hi^Ii authority, that the fraraers of the 
 Cambridu;e and Saybrook Platforms never'intended the construction which has 
 been put up.jn their words by nearly all their modern expounders; but that they 
 rather intended to }?uard against it, by the words of qualifieation with which 
 they surround their stat'ments concerning the origin of the church. It is an 
 interesting historical question, and the view thus suggested certainly has much 
 to confirm it, both in the internal evidence of the documents, and in the history 
 of the times. If it could be made to appear that Ecclesiastical Jacobinism was 
 contemporaneous in its origin with political .Jacobinism, the result would be 
 honorable to the Forefathers whom we delight to honor. But the meaning of the 
 language of Dr. Emmons, and of other modern writers, in their treatment of the 
 theoi-y of the church, docs not admit even of a eliaritable doubt. 
 
6 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 other writings it is contained by implication. But in the 
 case before ns it is stated with the least possible qualifica- 
 tion, and its evil consequences accepted with the most 
 unhesitating simplicity 
 
 We have three things to allege against the proposi- 
 tion : — 
 
 I. It rests ox false axd ixadequate Arguments. 
 
 II. It leads to absurd Conclusions 
 
 III. It results in vicious Practices. 
 
 I. The first argument^ brought to the support of this 
 proposition is stated in the tract, as follows : — 
 
 " 1. Confederation is the band of union among civil 
 societies ; [sic] and analogy requires the same band of 
 union in a religious society. Civil government is founded 
 in compact. Individuals are not a civil society, until they 
 have fijrmed themselves into one, by an explicit or implicit 
 compact, agreement, or covenant. Before they have laid 
 themselves under a mutual engagement, they are uncon- 
 nected individuals, and have no power or authority over 
 one another. But after they have freely and voluntarily 
 entered into a compact, or covenant, to live and conduct 
 towards one another, according to certain laws, rules, and 
 
 1. Another argument is hinted at in limine, but a little shyly, as itit were not of 
 anature to hear close inspection — I mean the historical and Scriptural argument. 
 See p. 4. 
 
 " It was certainly so iii» the days of the apostles. Tliey prepared materials 
 before they erected churches. They went from place to place and preached the 
 Gospel, and as many as professed to believe the Gospel and were baptized, an^Z 
 ftemigr of a comi)etent number, [s/cf they formed into a distinct church. But how 
 did THEY form churches ? . . . . I answer, A mitial Covenant." 
 
 It would hardly be suspected, from the neat way in which these matter-of- 
 course remarks are slipped in at the outset of the discussion, that tlicy can stand 
 only as an inference, and a very difticult and doubtful inftn-ence at that, from the 
 very tlieory wliich the writer is pcoinp^ about to prove; — that this is a point at 
 which that tlicory laltors fearfully,— tlie total absence of any vestis^' of liistorical 
 testimony that the apostles, or their converts, ever did any such thing as is here 
 imputed to tliem. 
 
OF CLTRRENT CONGREUATIONALISM. 7 
 
 regulations, they become a civil society, vested with civil 
 power and authority. And [therefore ?] it is only by 
 confederation that individual Christians can form them- 
 selves into a church, and bind themselves to walk together 
 according to the rules of the Gospel." p. 4. 
 
 A beautiful bit of reasoning to set before the public, in 
 the middle of the nineteenth century ! Surely it ought to 
 need no refutation — this attempt to found an explosive 
 theory of the church on an exploded theory of the State. 
 But how then shall we deal with it, coming from such an 
 author, and indorsed w^ith such and imprimatur ? If we 
 had found it in Jefferson, we should know what to 
 think of it. But was not Emmons that heroic con- 
 servative who preached the famous philippic on " Jero- 
 boam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin," 
 wherein he renounced Tom Jefferson, and all his works ? 
 And how comes he to be flourishing this shabby scrap of 
 cheap second-hand Jacobinism ? We are curious to know 
 the date at which this precious argument was drawn up. 
 If it was written in the author's j^ounger days, before the 
 French Revolution had reduced its premiss to a tragical 
 absurdity, he might plead the fact in mitigation. But what 
 shall we say for the Board of Publication ? 
 
 2. The second argument in favor of this theory that the 
 church is formed by a " social compact," is the identical 
 argument which is used to establish the origin of the 
 Stateindi "social compact," the names only being changed. 
 It is briefly this : the church has certain powers over its 
 members. It could not have acquired those powers except 
 by a mutual agreement among the members, ceding some 
 of their individual rights to the body ecclesiastic. There- 
 
8 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 fore the church is formed by a compact; is a "voluntary 
 association." p. 5. 
 
 This also needs no refatation^ its exact parallel in civil 
 polity being universally renounced as a fallacy. 
 
 3. The final proof that a church is a " voluntary 
 association " is little more than a reiteration of the last 
 mentioned argument, with particulars. " Nothing besides 
 a covenant can give form to a church, or be a sufficient 
 bond of union." (Scr. Platform, p. 5.) Mere Christian 
 affection cannot; nor " cohabitation," even when the co- 
 habitants habitually meet for worship, — nor baptism. 
 
 This enumeration (borrowed from the Cambridge Plat- 
 form, chap. iv. §5.) even if we admit the particulars, 
 scarcely exhausts all possible theories of the church. It 
 makes no mention of the organizing power of Christian 
 duty and an imperative law of Christ, or of the force of 
 traditionary Christian usage originating in apostolic 
 example and authority, and gaining gradually by antiquity 
 of prescription all the force which it loses by remoteness 
 from the source of authority. Especially, it takes no 
 account of this, that two or three of the conditions named 
 might together constitute a church, when each of them 
 separately would fail to do so. Long before the " Scrip- 
 tural Platform " was written, a body of men who were 
 not fools named as the essentials of church-life just those 
 conditions, jointly, which Dr. Emmons rejects, seriatim: 
 (1) "a congregation, (2) of faithful men, (3) in the which 
 the pure word of Grod is preached and the sacraments be 
 duly administered." Their definition of a church may or 
 may not have been complete. But it is not necessarily an 
 absurdity because Dr. Emmons says so. 
 
OF CURRENT CONGREf4ATiONALI8M. 9 
 
 II. The theory of the origin of the church in a 
 
 SOCIAL compact LEADS TO ABSURD CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 Here again we are relieved of the necessity of extended 
 argument, by the analogy, already claimed in defense of 
 this theory, between the church and the civil state. The 
 notion, long abandoned by wise men, but prevailing still 
 among shallow demagogues — that it is the constitution 
 that creates the nation, and not the nation that makes the 
 constitution, runs parallel, in its whole length, with the 
 notion that it is the covenant which makes the church, and 
 not the church that makes the covenant. But not to pass 
 this point by without the compliment of an argument, we 
 venture briefly to trace a line of reasoning which is 
 familiar alread}^ to all who have studied the elements of 
 political philosophy. 
 
 1. If the church is simply a voluntary association, 
 subsisting by virtue of a compact between its members, 
 then the church is ipso facto dissolved, whenever the 
 mutual compact is violated. 
 
 2. If the church has no other power than what is 
 derived from the covenant of its members, then it has no 
 further sanction for its authority than the ordinary 
 obligation of its members to veracity and fidelity. 
 
 3. The terms of the social compact can bind none but 
 the original confederators. The theory might serve in 
 some measure for a Baptist church ; but it is incompatible 
 with any view of infant church-membership. 
 
 4. Neither is the theory compatible with the duty 
 (which is nevertheless universally insisted on by the 
 advocates of this theory) of individual Christians to join 
 the church. For it is essential to the nature of such 
 " voluntary associations " and this is much vaunted in 
 
10 THE RADICAL FALL AC V 
 
 Tintlication of this polity — that iiieniber.s of the society 
 are, so far as the society is concerned, all equals or fellows. 
 (See Wayland's Moral Philosophy, p. 335.) Now if the 
 church, or club, one year after its formation, shall 
 approach an individual Christian in its neighborhood with 
 j£i claim of moral obligation that he shall join it, he is 
 -certainly entitled to claim, on his part, to be placed on 
 terms of perfect equality with the original corporators. 
 If he is to enter freely and equitably into covenant, 
 be has a right to demand that the dictation "of the terms 
 of the covenant shall not be wholly on one side. But 
 it will be impossible to modify the covenant for his 
 case only ; for then there will be a different set of 
 reciprocal rights and duties with respect to him, from 
 those which subsist with respect to the other members. 
 The only course possible to be pursued in such a case is 
 to dissolve the church and take a new start. If he is 
 bound to join the church, the church is bound to join him. 
 5. But to relieve this difficulty, it is now claimed that 
 the terms of the mutual obligation, like the duty of 
 mutually entering into obligation at all, are not subject 
 to be determined by the will of the corporators, but are 
 imposed in advance by a superior authority. In this case, 
 Avhat becomes of the voluntary convention as the source 
 of ecclesiastical rights and duties ? A covenant Avhich is 
 only the expression of duties previously binding, in a 
 community in which membership is a duty of itself, 
 anterior to the act of initiation, is certainly not the source 
 of a great deal of authority. The "voluntary association" 
 is one of that peculiar sort into which the members are 
 ^' compelled to volunteer."' Such a "social c<mipact" is 
 jiot very useful, even to stop a gap in. an ecclesiastical 
 
OF CURRENT CONGREGATIONALISM. 11 
 
 theory. And as this is the only service it was ever supposed 
 to be good for, let us hope that the preposterous and 
 antiquated fiction will quit the stage. Strange, that having 
 so long been scouted from civil polity, it should have 
 lingered to this day in ecclesiastical polity ! 
 
 6. Finally, in the attempt to escape this reticulation of 
 absurdities, the theory of the social-compact church takes 
 to itself one absurdity more. The individual believer, in 
 any community, is bound to join the church (Cambridge 
 Platform, ch. iv. §G. Saybrook Platform, ch. i. §8,) but 
 the church is not bound to receive him. " It is essential 
 to every voluntary society to admit ^vhom they please into 
 their number." So declare Dr. Emmons and the Con- 
 gregational Board of Publication (Scriptural Platform, 
 p. 6;) and although it immediately appears that this 
 liberty' of the church, essential to its very nature as a 
 voluntary society, is restricted to admissions hi conformity 
 ivitli the rules of the Gospel, it does not distinctly appear 
 in the writings, still less in the practice, of these theorizers, 
 that the inalienable rights of a voluntary society are thus 
 restricted with regard to the exclusion of persons from 
 their communion. One work of acknowledged authority, 
 indeed, leans to the open communion view, as we judge 
 from such expressions as these: " Him that is weak in the 
 faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations;" "Whoso 
 shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, 
 it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about 
 his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the 
 sea." But the recent works generall}^, and the recent 
 usage almost universally, carry the " social compact " 
 theory to practical conclusions as consistent as may be. 
 If the only conditions of the existence of a church are that 
 
12 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 certain Christians (" being of a competent number," which 
 number nobody undertakes to define) should " covenant 
 to walk together according to the gospel," it is obviously 
 to be inferred that certain of their Christian neighbors 
 (being of a number more or less competent) may be left 
 (to use a phrase not classical but expressive) " out in the 
 cold." These residuary Christians, being severally under 
 obligation to " join themselves to some particular church," 
 are constrained therefore to set up an opposition church 
 in the same village! This, forsooth, is the church polity 
 of the apostles! A theory of the church, indeed! — say 
 rather a theory of infinitesimal and endless schism — a 
 theory which, disseminated through Christian communities 
 of many different ways of thinking and modes of adminis- 
 tration, has already borne fruit after its kind throughout 
 the one Church of Christ which in in all the world. 
 
 III. The club theory of the Church results in^ 
 VICIOUS practices. 
 
 If any are content with the present aspect of the 
 churches, even of the Congregational churches, as entirely 
 normal and right, we have little to say to them on this 
 head. But to those otherwise-minded we would briefly 
 indicate some of the existing abuses and abnormities 
 which are directly traceable to this fnndaniental faUaci/ of 
 current Congregationalism. 
 
 1. TJie indignities lyractised and tolerated against the 
 autJiority oj the church. — When the church itself declares 
 that it receives its " powers from the consent of the 
 governed," is it strange that whenever these powers begin 
 to press hardly on any one, he should forthwith '' better 
 the instruction," and claim the right to retract a promise 
 given without consideration, and without a distinct 
 
OF CURRENT CONGREGATIONALISM. 13 
 
 appreciation of its bearings ? Will it be denied that this 
 " right of secession " is both claimed and freely exercised 
 by members of our churches^ and that too, sometimes, 
 with (jpen insult to the church, and ostentatious scorn put 
 upon their own plighted word ? Nay, is it doubted that 
 this right is substantially conceded in the administration 
 of the churches? A deliberate violation of a secular 
 contract, a flagrant perfidy to the terms of a business 
 copartnership, would be commonly deemed matters justify- 
 ing the extreme discipline of Christ's house. But the case 
 of one who in some freak of admiration for a surplice, or 
 under some burden of scrupulosity concerning baptism, 
 openly renounces and breaks the solemn compact to which 
 he has freely made himself a party, and which he has 
 confirmed with the public oath Avhich our churches are 
 accustomed to administer at the initiation of their mem- 
 bers — is such a case as this commonly held to involve any 
 moral elements, or to be worthy of discipline as perjury? 
 In fact this covenant is commonly assumed, both by 
 churches and by candidates for membership, with the 
 slightest and vaguest possible expectation that it will be 
 kept. In a country church of three hundred members, 
 not only the church as a body b}^ votes, but each 
 individual member rising for himself, promises to watch 
 over and care for the young candidate ; and the candidate 
 in turn promises the like to the members. Does he know 
 who they are with whom he has exchanged these vows? 
 He knows the minister and deacons, but the names of the 
 rest of the three hundred are scattered over a confused 
 chronicle reaching back through generations of church 
 clerks, more or less accomplished and accurate. Do the 
 other parties to the contract know him? If he is diffident 
 
14 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 and retiring, their knowledge of him extends to this, that 
 he has lately come to town, and perhaps " works in the 
 factory." In the course of time he moves to the West^ 
 and is lost sight of, until at the accession of a new pastor 
 the records of the church are everhauled, and his name 
 being discovered, and nothing being known of his where- 
 abouts, it is moved, seconded, and unanimously voted^ 
 that his name be dropped from the catalogue. 
 
 Is this an exaggeration, or is it a fair specimen of the 
 procedure of an average New England church ? Unless 
 our personal experience has been a very peculiar one, it 
 is the ordinary usage of these churches to have from time 
 to time a " dropping season," at which coolly, deliberately^ 
 and without a thought of perfidy or vow-breach, they 
 renounce their solemn promises of watch and care towards 
 the very persons who, as wanderers, most need their 
 churchly faithfulness ; and the " compact " is held to be 
 dissolved by mutual consent. And, further, this " purging 
 of the catalogue" is commended and approved on all hands 
 as a token of activity and fidelity. 
 
 2. We name, as the second class of abuses arising from 
 the radical fallaci/y the itsmyation of tuulue ecclesiastical 
 authority over the individual conscience. 
 
 It has come to be deemed a fine expedient for carrying 
 certain points of conduct or of doctrine with young dis- 
 ciples, to incorporafe in the ceremonies of initiation into 
 church fellowship, professions and promises which at the 
 time they will not be able to refuse without extreme 
 embarrassment, perhaps not without the forfeiture of 
 church communion, but which once assented to will hold 
 them thenceforward. Thus it comes to pass that we may 
 not unfrequently find a church-covenant with a total- 
 
OF CURRKNr COlN'UREGATiOXALISM. 15 
 
 abstinence pledge, or an anti-slavery resolution, or a tract 
 against dancing, or a gloss upon the fourth commandment, 
 in its belly. The design of such specifications is to re- 
 inforce doubtful points of discipline ; so that in cases 
 where the majority of the church are not quite assured of 
 the decisiveness of scriptural authorit}' on their" side, they 
 may have the matter " nominated in the bond "' of mutual 
 compact. If the Bible does not cover the case, the 
 covenant must. Partl}^ in this category, also, and partly 
 in the next, are to be reckoned the codes of dogmatic 
 theology imposed by churches upon the conscience of the 
 novice, under the misnomer of Confessions of Faith. They 
 are not confessions of faith, but professions of opinion. 
 They do not say " I believe ouy' but " You believe that.'' 
 They are universally understood to be, not the spon- 
 taneous expression of the candidate's opinions, but the 
 church's view of what ought to be his opinions, to which 
 he is compelled to assent. It grows doubtless out of a 
 just sense of the importance of scriptural views, that these,, 
 according to the " social compact '* theory of the church,, 
 are made a matter of contract between the church and its 
 catechumen, and attached to its covenant of initiation. 
 SomehoAv, nevertheless, the contract for opinions is apt to 
 fail of a due observance. 
 
 3. The final and most fatal charge against the club 
 theory of the church is this : that it results in the rending 
 of the body of Christ, It deliberately accepts the separa- 
 tion of the people of God into sects and schisms, as the 
 normal and permanent order of the church. Any volun- 
 tary association of '' visible saints," under a compact of 
 mutual fidelity in the Gospel, is a church, no matter what 
 principles of exclusion they may adopt toward other 
 
16 THE RADICAL FALLACY 
 
 visible saints about them. The " platform " of their 
 mutual compact may prescribe whatever arbitrary condi- 
 tions of admission^ in addition to " visible sanctity/*' the 
 convenience or the caprice of the first squatter-sovereigns 
 of the congregation may suggest. 
 
 A great many pleasing sentiments of Christian love, 
 and of the proper oneness of Christ's church must be 
 sacrificed to the advantage of having a snug, homogeneous, 
 peaceable little Zion of our own. It shall be held that 
 the stumbling of one weak in faith upon doubtful disputa- 
 tions — that the offending of a few of the little ones, 
 ignorant or ill-indoctrinated, and their falling for lack of 
 recognition and brotherly care, — are minor evils compared 
 with that of tolerating men of '^ dangerous tendencies." 
 80, instead of a church of Christ in an^^ community, you 
 shall have a Calvinistic church, a Total Abstinence church, 
 an Anti-Slavery church, a Congregational church. All 
 this is designed for the discouragement of error, in forget- 
 fulness that the very organization of the exclusive and 
 immaculate church necessitates the organization of errorist 
 churches whenever and wherever there are Christian 
 errorists. A grand system for the discouragement 
 of error, this, which compels error to organize and 
 perpetuate itself in a corporation ! A splendid success, 
 the New England experiment for the suppression of 
 Methodism, Anabaptism, and Episcopalianism, by inserting 
 a vow of Calvinism, Pa^do-Baptism and Social Compact in 
 the Congregational church-creeds ! 
 
 Against this Law of Schism, abhorrent to the Christian 
 heart, and at enmity with the law of Christ, the reaction 
 has begun. May Grod speed it ! 
 
OF CURRENT CONGREGATIONALISM. 17 
 
 There was a time when, to many earnest minds, the 
 maintenance of the principles of free and popular civil 
 government seemed to be identified with the defense of 
 the fallacious and now obsolete theory of the origin of 
 society in a Social Compact. The theory perished in the 
 lapse of two generations, but Civil Liberty, instead of 
 perishing with it, now disencumbered of the body of its 
 death, makes freer progress every year, and wider con- 
 quests. 
 
 There may be those now, who will tremble at any attack 
 on the figment of Ecclesiastical Social Compact, fearing 
 lest, if that theory should be overthrown, the foundations 
 of freedom in the church would be destroyed, and the best 
 thoughts and hopes of the founders of Christ's church in 
 New England perish together. The fear betokens no 
 worthy confidence in the' truth of the principles of church 
 liberty. The truth cannot suffer by its riddance of such 
 an incubus of falsehood. Long after men shall have 
 learned to think of the " Platform " of Dr. Emmons, as 
 they now think of the " Contrat Social " of Rousseau, the 
 principles of church liberty, better administered and 
 understood than now, will still be found leading the 
 advance of the gospel and of Christian civilization. 
 
18 f-IVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 II. 
 
 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH.* 
 
 The author of the " Thirteen Historical Discourses, on 
 the First Church in New Haven/' ^ vindicates the authority 
 of that church, organized by mutual agreement in a 
 meeting of the Christian people of the colony, by analogy 
 with the civil government of the colony, organized in like 
 manner, about the same time. After describing the 
 " plantation-covenant," under which as a provisional 
 government the colonists lived for fourteen months, the 
 author records the meeting in Mr. Newman's barn, the 
 framing of the church and of the state, the choosing of the 
 " seven pillars," and finally the election and ordination of 
 the church officers. He then proceeds as follows : — 
 
 " The question doubtless arises with some — Could such 
 an ordination have any validity, or confer on the pastor 
 thus ordained any authority? Can men, by a voluntary 
 compact, form themselves into a church? and can the 
 
 * From the Congregational Quarterly, January, 18G4. 
 
 1. Thirteen Historical UiscourKos on the completion of Two Hunarcd Years 
 from the Beginning of the First Church in New Haven. By Leonard Bacon. 
 New Haven, 183». 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 19 
 
 church thus formed impart to its own officers the power of 
 administering ordinances? If Davenport had not been 
 previously ordained in England, would not his administra- 
 tion of ordinances have been sacrilege? Answer me 
 another question: How could the meeting which convened 
 in Mr. Newman's barn, originate a commonwealth ? How 
 could the commonwealth thus originated impart the 
 divine authority and dignity of magistrates to officers of 
 its own election ? How could a few men coming 
 together here in the wilderness, without commission 
 from king or parliament, by a mere voluntary 
 compact among themselves, give being to a state ? How 
 can the state thus instituted have power to make laws 
 that shall bind the minority ? What right had they to 
 erect tribunals of justice ? What right to wield the 
 sword ? What right to inflict punishment, even to death, 
 upon offenders ? Is not civil government a divine institu- 
 tion, as really as baptism and the Lord's supper? Is not 
 the '■ duly constituted ' magistrate as truly the minister of 
 Grod, as he who presides over the church, and labors in 
 word and doctrine ? Whence then came the authority 
 with which that self-constituted state, meeting in 
 Mr. Newman's barn, invested its elected magistrates ? It 
 came directly from Grod, the only fountain of authority. 
 Just as directly from the same God, came the authority 
 with which the equall}'- self-constituted church, meeting in 
 the same place, invested its elected pastor. Could the one 
 give to its magistrates power to hang a murderer in the 
 name of God, — and could not the other give to its elders 
 power to administer baptism." ^ 
 
 The argument thus popularly stated is sharply conclusive 
 ad homiiieni against those who hold the popular statement 
 as to the sanction of civil government. The American 
 idea of the state implies the American idea of the church. 
 The parity of reasoning the betwixt the two is perfect. 
 
 1. Bacon's Historical Discourses, pp. 41, 42. 
 
20 i'lVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 But the analogy here drawn is good for much more than 
 this. It has only to be cleared of expressions which point 
 its immediate application to a particular class of gain- 
 sayers, to furnish a theorem by which, reasoning from 
 sound principles in civil polity, we may discover fallacies, 
 and establish the truth, in ecclesiastical polity. For 
 several reasons, let us take the particular instance quoted 
 above as the text of our whole discussion. First, because 
 the argument will be clearer if stated in relation to a 
 particular instance ; secondly, because almost the only 
 cases in which history distinctly discloses, side by side, 
 the origin and earliest processes of civil and of eccle- 
 siastical government, are this and like cases in early 
 American history; thirdly, because the passage quoted 
 has actually been, in the mind of the present writer, the 
 germ out of which his argument has grown. 
 
 At the outset, let us guard against one source of mis- 
 apprehension which will be more effectually obviated as 
 the discussion proceeds. The church and commonwealth 
 of New Haven Colony did not originate in the meeting in 
 Mr. Newman's barn. They had existed at least fourteen 
 months already. The " Two Hundred Years from the 
 Beginning of the First Church in New Haven," which are 
 commemorated in these discourses, date from the landing 
 of the colonists, not from the mutual compact. And the 
 civil state was coBval with the church. So that when it 
 comes to strictness of speech, the question, Can men by 
 voluntary compact form themselves into a church ? — and 
 the other question. Could the meeting in Mr. Newman's 
 barn originate a commonwealth ? are to be answered (so 
 far as the present instance shows) in the negative. That 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 21 
 
 meeting could not create what was already in existence.* 
 What the meeting did was to organize both the church 
 and the State. According to " Congregational usage " 
 this is the same thing with originating them ; hut accord- 
 ing to the exact use of the English language it is some- 
 thing different. 
 
 Coming now to the question, What was the origin of 
 the New Haven Colony Commonwealth and Church ? and 
 What were the source and channel of their authority, if 
 any they had ? — there is room for five different answers, 
 according as the respondent holds one or another of five 
 different theories of polity, civil and ecclesiastical. Let us 
 name them : 
 
 I. The Papal Theory. 
 
 II. The Bourbon Theory. 
 
 III. The Formal Theory. 
 
 IV. The jAComN Theory. 
 
 Y The Rational and Scriptural Theory. 
 
 I. The Papal Theory. 
 
 It is a " fundamental principle of the papal canon law, 
 that the Roman pontiff is the sovereign lord of the whole 
 world ; and that all other rulers in church and state have 
 so much power as he sees fit to allow them to have." 
 Under this principle, the popes have claimed the power 
 " not only of conferring benefices, but also of giving away 
 empires, and likewise of divesting kings and princes of 
 their crowns and authority." ^ 
 
 The theory thus set forth is a very simple and intelligible 
 
 1. That this is the view accepted by the author of the " Discourses " is 
 sxxfficiently implied both in the title-page and in the preface of the volume. 
 
 2. Murdock's Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 3i0. 
 
22 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 one, and its application to the case in hand is nowise 
 doubtful. The heathen territory of New England had 
 been disposed of long before the Puritan migration by the 
 gift of a pope to a Catholic prince/ and therefore whatever 
 claim of jurisdiction should be set up within that territory 
 by any body of colonists, whether in the name of a charter 
 from a heretic power, or under color of a purchase from 
 the barbarous tribes in possession, or under pretense of a 
 so-called inherent right of self-government, must be simply 
 an intrusion and a usurpation. It would be not only 
 devoid of right in itself, but a violation of the divine right 
 of the pope's grantee. 
 
 In like manner, any assumption of the functions of the 
 church or ministry in this colony, otherwise than through 
 the ways appointed by the head of the church, would be 
 void and invalid, and therefore sacrilegious. Furthermore, 
 it would be schismatic, as intruding a separate church 
 authority within a territory and population already placed 
 under the special spiritual jurisdiction of some bishop, 
 or if not so placed, then remaining under the immediate 
 pastoral care of the bishop of Rome. 
 
 Obviously, according to this theor}^, the first step for 
 the colonists to take to secure a regular and valid govern- 
 ment, in church and state, is to become reconciled to the 
 Catholic church. 
 
 II. The Bourbon Theory. This theory agrees with 
 the first mentioned in declaring all lawful authority, civil 
 and ecclesiastical, to be derived from God through a con- 
 tinuous succession of men. It difi:ers from it in this : that 
 whereas the former holds that there is but one line of this 
 
 1. Bancroft's U. S., vol i, p. 10. 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 23 
 
 succession — the line of the popes — and that to all rightful 
 secular and spiritual rulers, in any generation, their 
 authority flows through the pope for the time being; — 
 the present theory holds that the lines of succession are 
 not one, but several ; that from the original conferment, 
 authority and '' validity " descend along these lines in 
 secular matters through an hereditary succession ; in 
 spiritual matters through a tactual succession ; that the 
 power of the sceptre and sword, or the power of the keys, 
 as it is not derivable from the subjects thereof, so is not 
 defeasible by them ; and that the question of title to 
 authority, civil or ecclesiastical, is a simple question of 
 pedigree. ^ According to this theory, the powers of the 
 state center in the sovereign. The king, not the pope, is 
 " the fountain of honor." " L^etat, c'est moiy^ says the 
 Bourbon ; " Ecclesia in Ejnscopo/' responds the high- 
 churchman. 
 
 In its two applications, to church and to state, the lines 
 of argument by which this theory is sustained are very 
 nearly equal and parallel. The state is a divine institu- 
 tion, and so is the church. The ministers of the one are 
 divinely commissioned, and so of the other. There are 
 difficulties objected in either case to any other external 
 credentials of the divine commission than the credentials 
 of succession from former ministers. Those whose claims 
 to authority have been founded, exclusively or mainly, 
 on hereditary or tactual relation to their predecessors, 
 have been in a multitude of cases, and for many centuries 
 almost universally, approved as lawful rulers and bishops. 
 The two applications of the theory are analogous, not 
 only by parity of reasoning, but by parity of unreason- 
 
 1. See Macaulay's History of England, Chap. I. 
 
24 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ableness : for in either case it is easier to show the several 
 links of the succession than it is to demonstrate any law 
 of cohesion by which they become a chain^ or, the chain 
 being completed, to hitch it fast to the original divine 
 commission. It may fairly enough be admitted that the 
 warrant for ecclesiastical power in Apostolic succession, 
 is as well accredited, on the whole, as the warrant of the 
 hereditary divine right of kings. 
 
 Applying this theory to the case in hand, we find that 
 the only right for the exercise of government which the 
 settlers of New England generally possessed, was such as 
 was conferred on them by charter from the king of 
 England. Under such charter, if it was broad enough, 
 all the functions of government might be exercised by the 
 the local magistrates in the name of the king. For lack 
 of such authority, the legislative and judicial acts of the 
 New Haven colonists were null and void. The only way 
 in which regular and valid independent government could 
 be set up in the little province of Quinipiac, would be for 
 the colonists to import the regularly descended heir of 
 some Lord's Anointed, — an Otho, or a grand duke 
 Maximilian — and graft their wild olive with a slip of a 
 Stuart or a Bourbon. 
 
 Likewise in spiritual matters, Davenport and Hooke 
 might exercise suc^ spiritual functions as their ordination 
 to the priesthood by English bishops would authorize, but 
 could acquire no new prerogative from any act of a self- 
 constituted church. The way of maintaining the functions 
 of the church from generation to generation, was to obtain 
 other priests and deacons from the ordaining hands of the 
 Bishop of London, (whose modest diocese was understood 
 by a mild fiction of law to includealarge partof the Western 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 25 
 
 hemisphere ;) or to secure, either from the lords spiritual 
 of England, or from the cracked succession of the Scotch 
 episcopate, the gift of a bishop with a pedigree sixteen 
 hundred years long, whose should be all the rights of 
 ecclesiastical sovereignty, to have and to hold, and to 
 transmit to his assigns forever. Both these methods were 
 practised successively by a few dissidents in the sub- 
 sequent days of New Haven ; by virtue of which they 
 became the real church of the colony, having the only 
 " valid " and authorized ministry. For neglect of these, 
 the body of Christian people in the commonwealth became 
 schismatics and aliens from the church, and their so-called 
 ministers became guilty (so we are assured,) of the sin of 
 Korah and of Dathan and Abiram. 
 
 III. The Formal Theory. — This theory appears under 
 very different phases of development, and is held by very 
 different parties of civil and ecclesiastical politicians. It 
 is that the legitimacy, validity, or authority of a church 
 or of a state are determined by the form of its structure. 
 There are jure-divino monarchists, jnre-divino republicans, 
 and jure-divino democrats. So also, there are jnre-divino 
 tri-ordinary episcopalians, jure-divilio presbyterians, and 
 jure-divino congregationalists. 
 
 According to the first classes in these two lists, the 
 state-government in the Colony of New Haven was hope- 
 lessly vitiated because it did not constitute Mr. Eaton 
 ruler during his life, and the head of an hereditary 
 dynasty : the church polity was ruined, because the 
 pastor, the teacher, and the ruling elder, instead of being 
 in tliree ranks in a line of promotion, were all in one rank. 
 And so, to the other classes, the colonial church and state 
 
26 tlVE THEORIES OF THE CHI'RCH. 
 
 must stand or fall, in respect to their divine sanction, 
 -according as they agree with or vary from a supposed 
 " pattern showed to Moses in the mount.'" They came 
 into being, as divine institutions, in the act of conforming 
 themselves to the Scriptural model ; or if not so conformed, 
 they never did come into existence at all.^ 
 
 IV. The Jacobix Theoey. — This theory represents the 
 hody politic or ecclesiastic, to originate out of the 
 unorganized and unassociated materials of human society, 
 by a " social compact " or " covenant," in which all the 
 individuals agree, for the common advantage, to surrender 
 to the new organization — the vState, or the church — 
 sundry of their individual rights and powers, to form the 
 common stock of authority for the corporation. " The 
 whole body is supposed, in the first place, to have 
 imanimously consented to be bound by the resolutions of 
 the majority ; that majority, in the next place, to have 
 fixed certain fundamental regulations ; and then to have 
 constituted, either in one person, or in an assembly, a 
 standing legislature."^ 
 
 According to this theory, the colonists of New Haven, 
 from the time when they came out from under the 
 authority of the ship's captain, at least until the close of 
 their first day of fasting and prayer, when they formed 
 their provisional " plantation covenant," were " in a state 
 of nature." They were not a community, but only the 
 
 1. PV^r some severe animadversions aj?ainst this test of chureh-hood — against 
 " the whims of theoretic Biblists" and their " Text-made ehnrohes," see Isaac 
 Taylor's Wesley and Methodism, pp. 19y-202. 
 
 2. Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, Book VI. chapter ;i. See also 
 Emmons's Scriptural Platform of C'hvrch Govervmint, reviewed in tlie previous 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 27 
 
 individuals who might become a community whenever 
 they should agree to act in common. They were not 
 society, but only the raw materials of society. There was 
 neither a commonwealth nor a church among them, but 
 only the possibility of these. By-and-by they concluded 
 to have a State and a Church, and so they got together in 
 a barn and created them, appointing officers with divine 
 authority for administering the functions of the two 
 institutions — authority which up to that time had not 
 existed in the colony. Before that, the execution of a 
 malefactor would have been an act of murder, — either of 
 private revenge or of mob-violence. Defensive hostilities 
 against the Indians would have been simply the fighting 
 of every man " on his own hook,'" except so far as 
 individuals might have chosen to club together according 
 to their preference for leaders. But any exercise of 
 command on the part of him to whom the instincts of the 
 people should turn as their natural military leader, or 
 any attempt to coerce the shirks and the cowards into the 
 common defence, would have been an act of t3^ranny and 
 usurpation, there having been no unanimous mutual 
 agreement of the colonists to concede their individual 
 rights to this extent. And when, after experiencing the 
 inconveniences of the " state of nature," the colonists 
 began to frame their covenant, there was no right among 
 them to compel into the arrangement any individual who 
 preferred, at his own risk, to live among them but not of 
 them, as a quiet and peaceable outlaw. The uncovenanted 
 citizen might be derelict of a moral duty in thus standing 
 aloof from the mutual engagements of the rest, but the 
 powers arising out of these mutual agreements of ninety- 
 
28 ^^IVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 nine of the population could not extend over the one- 
 hundredth man who had declined to be a party to the 
 compact. 
 
 Just so the Christian people of the colony were not a 
 church; but only Christian individuals. The administration 
 of baptism or the Lord's Supper, before the covenant^, 
 would have been, if not sacrilegious, at least a grave 
 irregularity, and an infraction of Congregational order.. 
 The endeavor of them that were spiritual to restore by 
 remonstrance and admonition a wandering brother, would 
 have been the meddling of individuals in that which thejr 
 had nothing to do with. The individual would not have 
 been bound to submit to it ; for ^^ the obligation to submit 
 arises from the bond of the covenant," ^ and he had never 
 made any such contract with his Christian neighbors. Any 
 attempt to report the recusant in the weekly meeting of 
 believers would have been both impertinent and futile ;. 
 for the man never agreed to suffer any such use of his 
 name, and the stated meeting of Christians is not a churchy 
 to " tell it to," because the members of it have not formed 
 a social compact. The exclusion of an obstinate offender 
 from the communion of saints is a sheer impossibility, 
 because the saints do not have any communion. They 
 are men of grace in a " state of nature." If, at length, 
 the colonists hold a meeting in Mr. Newman's barn to 
 arrange the terms of an association for mutual care, and 
 contrive a covenant which should confer on the members 
 and officers of the institution the divine right of enforcing 
 a contract, it is optional with those who find themselves 
 incommoded by too much " watch-care," whether they 
 
 1. See Emmons, who is beautifully explicit on this point. So: Platforms 
 pp. 5, 7. 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 29 
 
 « 
 
 will enter into this covenant, or whether they Avill remain 
 as lookers on, or whether they will form a little separate 
 mutual covenant among themselves. 
 
 V. The Rational axd Scriptural Theory. — This 
 theory, as applied to the civil state, avoids encountering 
 the hypothetical difficulties suggested in what w^e have 
 called the Jacobin theory, by simply recognizing the facts 
 of human nature. The questions whether an aggregation 
 of human beings living together without any mutual 
 interests or intercourse is a community or commonwealth ; 
 — whether " individuals are a civil societ}^ before they 
 have formed themselves into one," — whether " unconnected 
 individuals, before they have laid themselves under a 
 mutual engagement "' ^ are the subjects of any common 
 authority — are futile questions : as if one should ask 
 whether a pile of quicksilver globules would constitute a 
 pool of quicksilver before being flattened down ; knowing 
 that it is the nature of globules of quicksilver, not to stand 
 in a pile like cannon-balls, but to flow together upon con- 
 tact. A battae of lions in an inclosure is not a herd of 
 lions, no matter what discipline you may put them under, 
 for the lion is not a gregarious animal. But a collection 
 of horses or of sheep is a herd, or a flock, at once, without 
 w^aiting to adjust the terms of an agreement, or to secure 
 the valid investiture or ascertain the pedigree of the 
 bellwether, because horses and sheep are gregarious. 
 You do not have constitute them a herd, — they are a 
 herd. Just so, if you gather human beings together in a 
 separate population, you do not have to make society out 
 
 1. Emmons, Script. Platform, p. 4. 
 
30 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 of them. They are society; because man is a social animal. 
 And wherever human society is, there are to be found, 
 either potentially or in actual exercise, all the divine 
 power and authority of the State. 
 
 And all the questions that are raised among the other 
 conflicting theories of the State, as to the conditions, channel 
 and credentials of divine authority residing in the rulers 
 of the State, are shortly disposed of, according to the 
 rational and Scriptural view, by recurring to that fun- 
 damental maxim, " The powers that be are ordained of 
 G-od." The government de facto, by virtue of its being 
 the potver, is charged by the Divine ruler with the respon- 
 sibility of administering justice in the land, and is entitled 
 to be respected and obeyed accordingly. This is the sole 
 condition on which divine authority is conferred on the 
 government of any country — that it he the government. 
 With this agrees the maxim, in its only true meaning, 
 that "all governments derive their just powers from the 
 consent of the governed ; " since if this consent, whether 
 voluntary or coerced, active or passive, is withdrawn, the 
 power that was is no longer the power, and (rod does not 
 ordain the impotencies. Without the actual possession 
 of the power, no degree of de jure " validity " amounts to 
 a divine commission ; — not bulls from a pope, nor pedi- 
 grees running back to King David himself, nor any degree 
 of ideal perfection tn the structure of constitution, nor 
 any certificates of a social compact in a mass-meeting. 
 But, the power being present, not the absence of any or 
 all of these conditions can discharge the de facto govern- 
 ment of its responsibility, nor release the individual from 
 his duty of subjection and obedience. Of course this 
 statement is not to be interpreted to mean that all methods 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF -^IHE CHURCH. 31 
 
 of acquiring civil power are right, nor that ther# is no 
 preference among forms of government ; neither is it to 
 be applied to the exclusion of the duty of disobedience to 
 laws requiring sin, or of the right of revolution. But 
 properly interpreted and applied, this view of civil duty 
 and authority is the settled result of Christian ethics. 
 
 Moreover, there always is an " existing power," residing 
 in every community of men, latent if not active, which, 
 whenever on any emergency it is called into exercise fur 
 the punishment of crime or the protection of innocence, 
 carries with it the sanction of God. 
 
 Applying these principles to the case of the New Haven 
 Colony, we find that before the " constituent assembly " 
 in the barn, before the "plantation-covenant," the colony 
 was already a state ^; and so any malefactor who should 
 have presumed upon prevalent social theories to violate 
 public or private rights or religious duties at that early 
 period, would summarily have found it to be. His judg- 
 ment would not a long time have lingered, nor his con- 
 demnation have slumbered, waiting for a social compact 
 to confer the authority of a magistrate. 
 
 1 " If a ship at sea shoulii lose all its officers, or a shipwrecked crew be cast 
 upon a desert island^ this little community would then stand in the condition of 
 a State. The whole would have the right to restrain and constrain each one for 
 the freedom of all." — Hickok's Moral Science, p. 2HK 
 
 It is necessary to guard against a confusion, which seems not unlikely, at the 
 present juncture (1864), to work some damage in our public atfaiis, between a 
 State, and a State government. The State govei'nment is the outgrowth or 
 ordinance of the State. But by a natural metonymy, tlie word State is often 
 used to mean the government. 
 
 P. S. The students of " the judicious Hooker" will remember a passage in 
 the " Ecclesiastical Polity " strikingly parallel to the above from President 
 Hickok. It may seriously be doubted whether Hooker, if he had found himself 
 in New England, would have felt that his principles allowed of the course of 
 noncontormity and schism, which has been pursued by those who call themselves 
 his disciples and justify their practices by quoting his book. 
 
32 FIVE TllEORICS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The divine right of government residing in the little 
 commonwealth, might have come into exercise and mani- 
 festation, in various ways. Successive emergencies might 
 have occasioned successive acts of authority, uemine 
 obstante, which might have become precedents for others, 
 and so a body of common law, and a sort of British Con- 
 stitution, have grown up, without one act of deliberate 
 legislation or foundation. The deference towards Eaton 
 might, either explicitly or by the general acquiescence, 
 have committed to him the supreme government of the 
 colony, and at his death have transferred it to his son 
 Or the long continued pressure of military exigencies 
 might have habituated the people to martial law and 
 settled their military leader into the seat of general 
 authority. All these modes of the origin of governmental 
 institutions in the colony are imaginable; and in any of 
 them might have been inaugurated the power ordained of 
 (rod. The method of sitting down consciously and delibe- 
 Tately to contrive the institutions under which the inherent 
 authority of the State should express itself, is doubtless a 
 nobler way ; a way worthier of such matured and reflective 
 minds as set up the pillars of the New Haven Colonj^ — a 
 way which has since become so exclusively the typical 
 American way of organizing government that we are 
 tempted to think it the only way ; but it is not one whit 
 more valid in conferring divine authority than the way 
 practised in the insurrection on the slaver Amistad, when 
 the tallest, nimblest and smartest negro in the lot elected 
 himself captain and king, and exacted and received the 
 obedience of the rest. 
 
 Now bringing the force of this extended analogy to 
 bear on our main subject of the origin and authority of 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 33 
 
 the church, we see at once the futility of those questions 
 whether a neighborhood of " visible saints " " living 
 members of Christ," while " separate and unconnected," 
 constitute a church of Christ;^ whether " a number of 
 Christians merely living in the same city, town or 
 parish,"'- but having no common interests, no mutual 
 affections, no stated meetings, and holding themselves 
 aloof from mutual intercourse, are a church. The ques- 
 tions are predicated on an unsupposable hypothesis. That 
 is not the way in which " visible saints " live. AYhen 
 they try to live so, their sanctity becomes invisible at 
 once. They are no more, " visible saints," but visibly 
 un sanctified. " By this we know that we have passed 
 from death unto life, because we love the brethren." The 
 problem in theology that begins with supposing a neigh- 
 borhood of Christians without mutual love and intercourse 
 under the law of Christ, is as rational as a problem in 
 magnetism which should be founded on the supposition of 
 a collection of steel magnets having attraction towards 
 the pole, but no attraction for each other. If, under the 
 laws of human nature, human neighborhood implies 
 human society, and human society implies the state ; then 
 a fortiori, under the laws of the regenerated nature. 
 Christian neighborhood implies Christian society, and 
 Christian society implies the church. The law of Christ 
 concerning common and mutual Christian duties is already 
 in force, and the authority of administering its earthly 
 sanctions resides with the community of Christians.^ 
 
 1. Scr. Platform, p. 3. 
 
 2. Idem. p. :'>, and pa.ssim. 
 
 3. It is amazinpf to see Dr. Emmons walkin-;- strai^lit forward, with his oyes 
 open, into tho absurdity that th(! law of Christ bej?ins to be binding on Christian 
 disciples only wluui thoy have mutually a;;rc<'d to be bound by it; and, by 
 
 3 
 
34 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 As touching the credentials of government in the 
 church, it is hard to see wherein the principle to be 
 applied differs from that which obtains respecting civil 
 government. Under the latter, the individual is required 
 to " submit himself to the powers that be." Under the 
 former, he is required to " obej^ them that have the rule 
 over him." In either case, the wide generality of the 
 command, interpreted b)^ the inspired absence of express 
 instruction as to the method of appointing and inducting 
 valid officers, points to a like conclusion : — that, under 
 the necessary and obvious limitations, a de facto govern- 
 ment, in church as in state, is entitled to the allegiance 
 of its subjects. 
 
 The illustration of this view by the instance of the 
 New Haven colony is so obvious that it is needful only to 
 hint the main points of it. The church which, according 
 to the uniform laws of the Christian life, had crystallized 
 out of the ship's company during the voyage, having only 
 such slight, informal organization as the circumstances of 
 that temporary mode of life required, was not dissolved 
 when the colonists landed. It was the church authority 
 subsisting among them already, which was expressed in 
 the " plantation-covenant." When, afterwards, the town 
 was " cast into several private meetings wherein they 
 that dwelt most together gave their accounts one to an- 
 other of Clod's gracious work upon them, and prayed 
 
 implication that it is binding then only within the bodies that may be formed by 
 " elective affinity." pp. 4, .5. 
 
 Quite in aeeordaiice with the Doctor's exegesis of Matthew xviii, 15-17, is the 
 common construction of the same passage, which holds it to be a sin to report an 
 offending brother in the Iccture-i'oom of the church until after the " first and 
 second steps," but holds it permissible to advertise him " at sight " in the reli- 
 gious newspapers, or in a " Result of Council." 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 35 
 
 together, and conferred to mutual edification,"' and thus 
 " had knowledge, one of another," and of the fitness of 
 individuals for their several places, in the foundation- 
 work, or in the superstructure,^ — it is possible that they 
 supposed they were preparing to orujiimte the church ; 
 but it is plain to the looker-on that the very act of 
 " casting the town into meetings " was an act of the 
 church. And the action of the " constituent assembly " 
 in the barn was, like the adoption of our present national 
 constitution, not the founding of a new church or state, 
 but the peaceful revolution of one already in being. 
 
 If, within the territory occupied by the colony, a knot 
 of theorizers on politics had conspired to form a separate 
 mutual compact for civil government among themselves, 
 to use a different code of laws upon their members, and 
 to secure a purer democracy or a legitimately descended 
 ruler, the proper name for the act would have been 
 sedition. Precisely so, when dissenters from the colonial 
 Church (lid, for no grievance put upon their conscience, 
 but simply in the prosecution of their Church theories or 
 prejudices, split themselves from the congregation, and 
 refuse obedience to the existing government — " to them 
 that had the rule" — and insist on importing for their 
 special use a hierarch in the regular succession, the proper 
 name for their act was schism. 
 
 But on the other hand, let it be confessed that if the 
 colonial Church had undertaken to exclude from its 
 fellowship Christian disciples, for causes not demanding 
 the censure of the Church, nor discrediting the profession 
 of a Christian faith — if they had reversed the gospel 
 
 1. Bacoir.s Historical Discourses, p. 15». 
 
3<) FIVE THEORIES OF THE cIllTROH. 
 
 principle, and proceeded on the notion that it is better 
 that ten weak disciples should be excluded than that one 
 deceiver should be admitted — if thus they liad created 
 outside of their communion a party of Christians whose 
 only opportunity of fellowship was in a separate organ- 
 ization ; then the sin of schism would liave rested on the 
 heads not of the few, but of the many. The Church itself 
 would have become schismatic. But it is fair to say that 
 this does not seem to have been the sin of the churches of 
 the first nor of the second generation. The general pre- 
 valence of it is comparatively modern. 
 
 Objections to this Theory of the Ciiurch. — The 
 objections to be levied against what we have called the 
 national and Scriptural Theory of the Church will exactly 
 correspond with those which have been raised, to no 
 eft'ect, against the analogous theory of civil polity. They 
 may be treated with great brevity. 
 
 Ohjed'ton 1. The principle proposed, of the duty of 
 deference to the cle facto government of the Christian 
 community, cannot be accompanied with any distinct and 
 dehnite limitation, by which the occasional exceptions in 
 favor of disobedience or revolution can be determined. 
 
 The answer to this is to be found, not only in the 
 parallel doctrine and objection in civil polity, but ^ in 
 alniost every part of ethical science." So rarely is the 
 exact boundary between right and wrong to be distinctly 
 detined in a fonuula — so generally are the hnal t^uestions 
 on the application of moral rules left open for the decision 
 of tlu' individual conscience — that there is a irv'tma facie 
 presumption against any attempt to iix the course of right 
 action on a ])oint of morals by a fonuula of permanent 
 
VIVK THEORIES OE THE CHURCH. 37 
 
 and universal application.' The objection is a clear 
 argument in our favor. 
 
 Ohjectlon 2. Under the doctrine here laid down, it will 
 be impossible to justify the Puritan separations from the 
 Church of England. 
 
 The first answer which we would make to this is that 
 it is a small matter to answer it at all. The second, that a 
 true judgment on those acts of separation must depend on 
 the circumstances surrounding each act ; on the character 
 of the parish church from which the separatists withdrew — 
 whether it was Christian or unchristian ; on the nature of 
 the grievances under which they labored, whether mere 
 annoyances or actual burdens on the conscience ; on the 
 probability of bringing the bodj^ of the Christian disciples 
 in that community into union under a purer rule. The 
 third answer is that if it does condemn the secession of 
 dissenters from the Church of England, it therebody 
 honors and confirms the judgment of our Puritan fore- 
 fathers oi the best and earliest age, almost all of whom, 
 except the Pilgrims of Plymouth, abhorred the schism of 
 the separatists with a holy horror. The fourth answer 
 will be conclusive in many minds, — that the doubt which it 
 throws over the Puritan separations in England is more 
 than compensated by the discredit which it puts upon 
 many of the Baptist, Episcopalian, and Methodist schisms 
 in New England. 
 
 Ohjectlon 3. This view discredits many of the local 
 efforts for the propagation of Congregational institutions 
 at the West and elsewhere, as schismatic. 
 
 Answer. Very likely. 
 
 1. See the ample illustration of this matter, in its political bearing, in 
 Macaulay's History of Enj^^land, Vol. ii., pp. lo.s o, Harper's l2mo. edition. 
 
38 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Ohjection 4. This view brings in practical difficulty and 
 confusion, by making it often a matter of doubt what is 
 the Church of Christ in any community, an I where its 
 government resides. 
 
 Ansu-er. This difficulty is not peculiar to the ecclesias- 
 tical application of the theory. It is of frequent occurrence 
 in civil politics. Hardly ever is there a revolution or a 
 considerable attempt at revolution, in which it does not 
 become a very important and very perplexing question to 
 some consciences — Which are " the powers that be ?" It 
 is a question not only for the passive and indiff'erent, but 
 for the active leaders of revolution — first whether there is 
 ground and need for revolution, and then whether the dis- 
 satisfaction of the people, the incapacity of the adminis- 
 tration, and the combination of favoring circumstances 
 have or have not charged them with the power, and with a 
 trust for the redress of intolerable grievances, to the dis- 
 charge of which they are ordained of Grod. Not to allude 
 to very recent questions of personal dut}^ which may have 
 perplexed honest consciences, the history of the mission 
 of Dudley Mann to Hungary, in quest of a government to 
 recognize, is one case in point Another is the amusing 
 story of Mr. John L. Stephens, whose Travel was never so 
 full of Incidents as when, with a diplomatic commission 
 in his pocket, he explored the various factions of a Spanish 
 American republic^ in search of the right government to 
 which to present it.^ 
 
 It cannot invalidate the principle which we, have enun- 
 ciated, that such difficulties are more frequent in eccle- 
 siastical politics than in civil. In secular matters, the 
 
 1. Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan. By John 
 L. Stephens. 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 39 
 
 necessities of society are such that the rival pretensions 
 of different claimants to the supreme government within 
 the same territory become a nuisance so odious as to be 
 intolerable for an indetinitel}^ protracted period ; and as 
 for the settlement of these claims by allowing each 
 claimant tu govern its OAvn partisans according to its own 
 laws, the plan is so unnatiiralj so inimical to the peace of 
 the community; that history has shown no disposition to 
 repeat the solitary instance of it which is found in the 
 present constitution of the Turkish empire, tempered 
 though it is, in that instance, by the beneticent rigors of 
 a supervising despotism. 
 
 But the union and communion of all the Christian dis- 
 ciples of any community, instead of being, like political 
 union, a necessity, is only a duty. Consequently when 
 once factions have established themselves in the Christian 
 commonwealth, there is no necessary limit to their con- 
 tinuance from year to year, and from generation to 
 generation. In the course of time tlje Christian mind 
 becomes so wonted, and the Christian conscience so seared, 
 to the wrong and evil of schism, that the doctrine of the 
 perpetuity of schism is accepted as an integral part of the 
 " evangelical scheme," and the sacred name of the Church 
 loses its proper meaning, of the commonwealth of Grod's 
 people, and becomes synonymous with its old opposite, a 
 'alpediq or sect. The " problem of Christian union," 
 which in the beginning no one ever thought of calling a 
 problem, is held to be soluble only by diplomatic dealings 
 between these churches, (which are not churches,) or else 
 by setting up in the vacant place formerly held by the 
 church, a new institution — a Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation, or a Catholic Basis City Tract Society — that shall 
 
40 FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 be the center of Catholic affection and the means of the 
 communion of saints. 
 
 In this state of a Christian neighborhood, doubtless the 
 question, Where is the church, is a difficult one. One 
 thing about it is plain, that it is not to be settled by 
 applying worn-out tests, such as papal authority, apostolic 
 succession, structural perfection, or democratic origin to 
 any fragment of the schism, and determining that to be 
 the Church. In some cases it will appear that there is a 
 Catholic church in the place, from which seditious spirits 
 have torn themselves away in wanton schism. Sometimes, 
 that the different churches, separate in name and form, 
 are united in substance and spirit, that their several pas- 
 tors, co-operating in every good word and work, are 
 really a presbytery or college of ministers for the one 
 Church of Christ in the town. Sometimes it will appear 
 that the Catholic Tract Society has become a sort of 
 church without ordinances, and that the president of the 
 Society is actual bishop of the town. But more commonly 
 the most that can be said is that the church in such a 
 community is existing in a state of schism ; as, in the 
 Home of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the authority 
 of the state might properly be described as dispersed 
 among a number of families and factions. And the best 
 that any one can do in such a case, is, while joining him- 
 self in special folbtwship where he will lend himself least* 
 to the encouragement of faction, always to hold his 
 supreme allegiance to be due to the interests and authority 
 of the irliole family that is named of Christ. 
 
 It is much in favor of any theory on such a subject as 
 the one which we have in hand, that its chief difficulties 
 lie in matters of application and detail.. In these matters 
 
FIVE THEORIES OF THE CHURCH. 41 
 
 we would not speak with too much confidence. We may 
 have wrought unsuccessfully in developing and applying 
 the analogy which is the theme of our article. But we 
 reach the close of the discussion with increased confidence 
 that in the just treatment of this analogy lies the only 
 hope of solving the problem of ecclesiastical polity. 
 
 — >$aii>o.?«te3^^ 
 
42 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY 
 
 11. 
 
 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT 
 SOCIETY* 
 
 The term Home Evangelization has come into recent 
 use as the title of an enterprise in some respects novel, 
 and has thus acquired a conventional and limited sense- 
 In this use,, it may be defined as the work of hringing 
 iincler Christian care and instruction the entire population 
 of a region occupied hy Christian clmrclies. 
 
 It is one of the three grand natural divisions of the 
 aggressive work of the Church. The first is Foreign 
 Missions, or the planting of the Ciospel and the Church in 
 
 * Published in The Congregational Quarterly for April, 1862, under the title 
 '• Home Evangelization." -fThe writer was at the time '' Missionary at Large ' ' 
 for the State of Connecticuf, under appointment of the General Association of 
 the State; and his chief thought was to induce the Congregational churches of 
 that State to accept the position of the parish churches of the State, leaving to 
 other sects the works of specialists in religion, to gather tlieir congregations 
 here or there by "elective affinity." In pursuance of this idea, he effected a 
 Moral and Religiotis Census of a large part of the State, the results of which , 
 cmbodi(!d in an octavo volume of statistics, formed the basis of a great deal 
 of good work. But the sectarian idea, as the normal conception of the church, 
 is too deeply imbedded in the Cliristian mind of America to be easily dislodged 
 And wliere the sectarian idea pr.'vails, tlie parish-idea is imi)ossible. 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT tiOCIETV. 43 
 
 heathen lands. The second is Home Missions, or the 
 establishment and sustentation of Christian institutions by 
 the Churches of a Christian country in destitute regions of 
 the same. And the third is Home Evangelizations. 
 
 The name is less convenient and determinate than 
 might be desired. The term " Thorough Cliristianization'" 
 has been recommended in place of it; and, again, the 
 title of "The Home Home Missions" has been aptly 
 suggested. But the thing signified under these various 
 titles is quite distinct and specific. 
 
 The Avork of Home Evangelization differs more in its 
 methods and agencies from Home and from Foreign 
 Missions, than either of these differs from the other. The 
 main agency of Home Evangelization is the Church. In 
 the Mission work, on the other hand, the Church is not so 
 much a means as an end; the mission-work proper 
 terminating, for a particular region, in the establishment 
 therein of pure and faithful churches. In estimating the 
 progress of a mission-work, we reckon by the number 
 of preachers commissioned, of stations established, of 
 catechumens and converts gained, of churches gathered ; 
 and in planning mission operations it is at once a right 
 principle and an apostolic usage, to aim at main centers 
 of influence, and beyond this to be guided by spiritual 
 indications and providential opportunities. On the other 
 hand, we estimate the progress of Home Evangelization 
 inversely by the number of households and souls in a 
 given region yet unreached by Christian influence and 
 instruction ; and in planning the work, we make no dis- 
 crimination in favor of one community or neighborhood to 
 the exclusion of another; but so lay out the work, by a 
 division of the territory, as that every soul of the 
 
44 CHURCH, >»ARI8i[, AND BKXEVOLEXT SOCIETY. 
 
 unevangelized population shall come at once under 
 responsible and actual oversight. In this respect, Home 
 Evangelization differs from any existing enterprise of 
 denominational ^^ extension." Reports of General As- 
 semblies and General Associations, "Conventions" and 
 " Convocations/' agree in this, that instead of giving 
 account of progress made toward the Christianization of 
 the territories which they represent, they report only 
 progress in sectarian aggrandizement or decline. Their 
 '* Narratives of the State of Religion" give no intimations 
 of the State of Irreligion. Their accounts of the state of 
 the churches afford no information of the state of tJie 
 peopl<\ The absolute progress which is reported of the 
 several denominations, or of all together, may be a 
 relative loss; and while the churches "sit secure and 
 sing" of their prosperity, the gates of hell may be 
 rejoicing that, whatever may be the growth of Christ's 
 kingdom, it is overmatched by the growth of theirs. 
 
 Having now defined Home Evangelization, and dis- 
 tinguished it from the missionary work, whether abroad 
 or at home, and from the work ordinarily taken in charge 
 by the provincial bodies, clerical or ecclesiastical, of 
 different denominations, — having also indicated, incident- 
 ally, that the main agency for Home Evangelization is to 
 be the CImrcli — we propose to discuss the subject further 
 in the following order : 
 
 I. In its relation to the irulividual Church; 
 
 II. In its relation to the mutual organization of the 
 
 churches of a given province ; 
 
 III. In its relation to Societies external to the organi- 
 
 zation of the churches. 
 
CHURCH. PARISH, AXl) BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 45 
 
 I. Home Evangelization hi 'ds relation to the individual 
 Churrh. 
 
 When the fact has been successfully pressed on the 
 attention of a New England village or country town, that 
 there is present in their ])opulation a very large irreligious 
 element, outside of all ordinary Church influences and 
 " means of grace," one of the first remarks to be expected 
 from among the more earnest of the people, is that " we 
 ought to form a Society to inquire into and attend to this 
 matter." Some recommend, at once, to form a local Bible 
 or Tract Society, ("Auxiliary," &c. ; ) to which the 
 objection is obvious that as neither Bible nor tract 
 circulation is going to accomplish the whole of the work 
 proposed, nor even any considerable part of it ; and as 
 the Society, if organized, could not afford to limit itself to 
 these modes of operation, it would not he a Tract Society, 
 and had better not call itself one. A " Young Men's 
 Christian Association" is suggested, which is incompetent 
 to the work for like reasons. There is no reason in 
 excluding aged or middle-aged Christians, or Christian 
 w^omen, from a share in the Avork, and there are some 
 parts of it that cannot be well done, except by women. If 
 it were further considered what sort of a Society it should 
 be which could advantageously undertake the evangeliza- 
 tion of the township, it would be found desirable to have 
 it organized for permanence; constituted of all classes of 
 good Cliristians, with as little mixture as possible of 
 unbelievers ; equipped witli all necessary officers and 
 ministers, but able to accommodate itself readily in this 
 to the exigencies of the work ; having arrangements and 
 accommodations for frequent stated meetings, where plans 
 may be laid and reports received, and labor may be kept 
 
46 CHLKCH, PARISH. AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 in the closest possible relation to prayer^ and worship^ 
 and the study of the Divine Will. In short, v^e should 
 have described to us a Churcli. And in any community 
 occupied by a Church, to establish a separate " Society " 
 for the evangelization of the neighborhood, would be 
 simply to erect a rival to the Church, assuming to itself 
 some of the most important functions belonging to the 
 Church by virtue of its divine constitution, — functions 
 vv^ithout the exercise of which the Church decays. 
 
 There is one notable argument urged in favor of 
 depending on a Society for Systematic Home Evangeliza- 
 tion, rather than on a Church ; to wit, that it is " good 
 and pleasant, like the precious ointment upon the head ; " 
 that in a work like this, of common interest to all 
 Christians, believers of different sentiments and denomina- 
 tions should have the opportunity of openly uniting. 
 
 The argument is suggested by a right and truly 
 Christian impulse, and founded on a misconception as to 
 the sphere and organ of Christian fellowship, too generally 
 prevalent, and too tenaciously rooted in prejudices and 
 institutions to be here refuted in a few words, but which 
 it is essential to the subject in hand distinctly to indicate. 
 The impulse is that yearning for the unity of the Church 
 and that love of all the brethren, which (notwithstanding 
 all apologies for sects, and pleas for perpetual schism put 
 forth in the name of catholicity,) are ever among ''■ the 
 distinguishing traits of Christian character." The mis- 
 conception consists in believing that a Church is, and 
 ought to be, the embodiment of a schism, the repre- 
 sentative of a party, the fractional part of " a denomina- 
 tion;" and that the proper and divinely intended sphere 
 of Christian fellowship, of " the communion of saints " on 
 
CHURCH. I'AHISH- AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. . 47 
 
 the simple basis of the one faith, is not the Church, but — 
 the Tract Society. If you desire Christian anion in the 
 evangelization of your town, (and you ought to desire it,) 
 seek it by making your Church a catholic Church, instead 
 of a schismatic one. Take down your diplomatic statement 
 of theological dogmas from where it now stands, as a bar 
 to membership, and receive henceforth, " whosoever 
 will," for the evidence that they believe on Christ, and 
 not for their profession of what they believe ahout him. 
 Then you will have- '^ Christian union," not only in this, 
 but in every other proper work of the Church ; and if 
 after that your Calvi^ists or your Arminians, your 
 Episcopalians or your Baptists, or your Congregationalists, 
 desire scope for their various peculiarities of belief/ 
 commend them to their respective tract societies and 
 '^ benevolent institutions." 
 
 One highly practical objection to substituting a Society 
 for a Church, in the work now under consideration, is 
 this : that the Society is a temporary institution, the 
 Church a permanent one. Let interest in the work decay, 
 and the Society intermits its meetings, and by and by 
 expires. But however remiss in particular duties the 
 Church may become for the time, it continues in being, 
 ready for the return of the poiver. The Church is built on 
 a rock. The " auxiliary tract society " is not. 
 
 How the Church should conduct the work of thoroughly 
 evangelizing its own parish, is a large question. It 
 includes almost the Avhole subject of the administration of 
 an American church, parish, and " ecclesiastical society." 
 The literature of this subject is singularly meagre, 
 considering its importance, and the fact that it is the field 
 
48 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 of a distinct professorship in so many theological 
 seminaries. On the conduct of a family, of a school, of a 
 Binging-school, of a Sunday-school, we have methodical 
 and systematic treatises in abundance, giving useful 
 directions in full detail. But when an inexperienced 
 young man, about to enter on the work of a pastor, asks 
 to be referred to a convenient and judicious manual 
 for his guidance, what book have we to recommend to 
 him ? 
 
 Of course there is no room fur us in this Article to 
 state more than the merest outline of the work of a 
 church in its parish. 
 
 First, Have a Parish. That man will deserve well of 
 American Christianity who shall restore to its vocabulary 
 the lost word paydsli, in its proper use and meaning. In 
 our time and countr}^, a minister's parish consists of the 
 families who take pews in the meeting-house, or in some 
 such way voluntarily connect themselves with the 
 congregation. When a minister speaks of the size of his 
 parish, he means the number of families who thus put 
 themselves expressly under his charge, or perhaps the 
 extent of the area within which they reside. When he has 
 gone the round of these families, he has visited his whole 
 parish. There are other families within the same area, 
 that belong to the Baptist or Episcopalian or Eoman- 
 catholic parish, and a large number that belong to no 
 parish at all. 
 
 Now in the original and proper use of the word,^ it 
 means a territorial precinct allotted to a particular church 
 
 1. Wo likeb(!8t the dtti-ivation of this word from the low Latin pa7*oc7im, and 
 Greek '^'y.^'-iy-'-y—dwellinq near, i. (\, aU the people who live near cnouj?h to a 
 4ihurcli tu receive its influence. 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 49 
 
 as its field of missionary labor, within which that church 
 shall be responsible that no family is left without Christian 
 care and instruction.^ 
 
 Without assuming a circumscribed territory as its 
 field, no church can do anything effective and systematic 
 in the way of Home Evangelization. Without a parish, it 
 may do mission-work, selecting the best points for new 
 stations and centres of usefulness, and aiming at great 
 achievements in the propagation of the faith ; but it 
 cannot labor, distinctly and determinately, for the 
 evangelization of tlie tohole population, since tlw ivliole 
 is an indefinite quantity. 
 
 Consequently, the imrish is one of the earliest of 
 Christian institutions, being next in order of time to the 
 Church. Without taking time and space here to hunt up 
 authorities to sustain the remark, we may safely assert 
 that one of the earliest steps after the general establish- 
 ment of churches throughout the earlier lands of the 
 gospel, must have been the more or less formal recognition 
 by neighboring pastors and churches of the bounds of 
 their respective dioceses or parishes, whereby the special 
 responsibility of each for the thorough dissemination of 
 religious truth should be defined. To this day, in countries 
 of early, or of medieval Christianity, the parish-system — 
 hindered and stunted indeed by the overgrowth of corrup- 
 tions — is extant and useful. 
 
 In England, for instance, where this system has had 
 
 1. Doubtless many other ideas are associated with this word parish, — as, for 
 instance, the idea of prerogative and exclusive spiritual jurisdiction, and the 
 idea of taxation for the support of the parish minister ; and doubtless these 
 associations have had much to do in excluding' the word from its proper dse. But 
 it is used in this article, simply with reference to missionary or evangelizing 
 operations. It docs not necessarily include more. 
 
50 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 much to contend with, in the deficiencies of the parish 
 clergy, and the withdrawal of great masses of the people 
 into a position of dissent, it is still the chief defense of 
 great tracts and populations from barbarism and utter 
 heathenism; — it has provided some sort of responsible 
 care — in name at least — for every household in the king- 
 dom. It is not without reason that thd Edinhurgh Revieiv,^ 
 not wont to be lenient toward public abuses, has 
 pronounced " the parochial system to be one of the greatest 
 and most beneficent of our national institutions." 
 
 The idea of the parish as a practical necessity to the 
 church, was clearly conceived and fitly appreciated by the 
 fathers of New England. We may be permitted to speak 
 more specifically of Connecticut, where the definite 
 responsibility of every church for its own neighborhood — 
 its duty of providing Christian instruction and care for all 
 within the fixed boundaries of its parish, were recognized 
 in the legislation of the State. The whole territory of the 
 State was divided and allotted to difi'erent churches. 
 There was no hovel so lonely or remote, no wanderer so 
 friendless, no man so outcast and degraded, as to be 
 unprovided with a pastor. And not only this, but every 
 church was provided with a charge — a mission-field.^ 
 There was no opportunity for any church in that great 
 fellowship of churches which then as now occupied the 
 surface of the State — eased of its responsibility for the 
 soil on which it stood — forgetful of the heathen at its 
 doors — to say to itself, " Soul, take thine ease ; thou art 
 
 1. Edinburgh Review, April 1853. Article on " The Church of England in the 
 Mountains." 
 
 2. There were early exceptions to this, but they were so rare as to " prove the 
 rule." The South Church in Hartford was organized, in 1669, without delinite 
 parochial limits. 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 51 
 
 rich and increased in goods ; thy services are edifying ; 
 thy congregations are fall and devout: thy brotherhood of 
 communicants is increasing; thy pews are all rented and 
 occupied ; thy pewholders' families are all visited by the 
 pastor; thy pewholders' children all attend the Sunday- 
 school ; soul; take thine ease ! " The poor were always 
 with them; and not only the poor of the church, but the 
 poor of " the society" or parish.^ Not for the souls of 
 their church-goers only, but also for the souls of those 
 who ought to have been fellow-worshippers with them, but 
 were not worshippers at all, the church was made to feel 
 that it was specially accountable to God and to its sister 
 churches, — accountable, not for a congregation only, but 
 for a parish.^ 
 
 1. It is almost unaccountable that our fathers, so intelligently holding on to 
 the idea of the parish, should have rejected tVe loord, and substituted for it, in its 
 application to a territorial precinct the awkward phrase, " Ecclesiastical 
 Society." They used the word parish malo sensu. Perhaps they though it 
 easier to use a new name, and an awkward one, than to recover the old one 
 from unpleasant associations. 
 
 2. The ditferenee between a parish ministbr and the minister of a congregation, 
 in the English Church, is thus delineated by Conybeare, in the famous article in 
 the Edinburgh Review, (Oct. 1853,) entitled "Parties in the Church of England." 
 The sketch requires but trifling modification to adapt it to our own meridian. 
 
 Their theory [i.e. that of the " Recordite" or ultra-Evangelieal clergy] 
 naturally leads them to neglect the mass of their parishioners, and confine their 
 
 attention to the few whom they regard as the elect But, in truth, a 
 
 Recordite clergyman is out of his element in a parish. When he has one, 
 indeed, he often labors most conscientiously among his parishioners; but 
 the parochial system, with its practical recognition of the brotherhood 
 of all Christians, cannot be made to square Avith his theological 
 exclusiveness. What he likes is, not a parish, but a congregation. The 
 possession of a chapel in a large town, which he may till with his own 
 
 disciples, is his ideal of clerical usefulness In fact, few positions are, in a 
 
 worldly point of view, more enviable that of a popular incumbent of a town 
 chapeL No vestry patriots vex his meditative moments ; no squabbles with tithe- 
 abhorring farmers disturb his sleep. When he looks round from his pulpit, his 
 glance is not met, like that of the parochial clergyman, by the stare of 
 stolidity or indifference; but he beholds a throng of fervent worshipers, who 
 hang upon his lips, and whose very presence as voluntary members of his 
 congrej^ation is a pledge of their personal attachment to himself. There is 
 something not merely soothing to vanity, but animating to the better parts of 
 his nature, in such a spectacle. 'J'he zealous man must feel his zeal quickened, 
 the pious, his piety warmed, by such evidence of sympathy; and among the 
 Recordite clergy, men of zeal and piety are not lacking. But besides these 
 
52 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 Under the next division of this article, we shall mention 
 again the obvious necessity of division into parishes, for 
 the evangelization of a province, by the concurrent labors 
 of many churches. The point of the present argument is 
 that the recognition of definite territorial limits to its 
 field of labor is essential to systematic, hopeful and 
 efi'ective labor for "home evangelization" in an individual 
 Church. 
 
 Secondly, having "first got a parish," understand the 
 
 CONDITION OF IT. 
 
 Among the points to be inquired after, are 
 
 1. The population of the parish. 
 
 2. The number of church-going families in it. 
 
 3. The number of non-church-going families. 
 
 4. The total" number of church-sittings. 
 
 5. The total church attendance, counted on two or 
 three successive fair Sundays. 
 
 6. The total church membership of the parish, of all 
 denominations. 
 
 7. The number of children in the parish, as officially 
 reported to the State. 
 
 8. The proportion of these in the Sunday Schools. 
 
 advantag-es, he is exempted from all the more burdensome responsibilities of the 
 pastoral charge. His flock consists exclusively of the wealthy or easy classes, 
 so tliat tl)e painful task of attempting- to enlighten brutal ignorance, and to raise 
 dcfjraded pauperism is not among his duties. Even if a local district has been 
 nominally attached to his chapel, its poor inhabitants form no part of his 
 congregation, or, at most, only a straggling representative of their class lurks 
 liere and there, behind tlie pulpit or beneath the organ. The duties of such a 
 district, if there be any. are performed l)y the curate, wlio reads the prayers, and 
 la kept to "s(!rve tables," while the incumbent devotes himself to "the ministry 
 of the Word." 
 
 His ministry consists essentially in preaching two extempore sermons on the 
 Sunday. But there are other duties incidentally pertaining to his office. One of 
 the most important is that of attending the evening parties of his wealthier 
 adherents,. . . 
 
 Undoubtedly there is a strain of caricature in the above, and still more in 
 some of the succeeding paragraphs of that lively article. But the force of the 
 caricature lies in the large element of truthful delineation which it contaittS. 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 53 
 
 9. What are the efforts already in operation to reach 
 the unevangelized ? And with what success have they 
 been attended ? 
 
 10. What influences are operating against the gospel ? 
 To what extent, and with what success are they engaged ? 
 For example, dram-shops, gambling " saloons," houses of 
 ill-fame, infidel lectures and clubs, demoralizing amuse- 
 ments. 
 
 1 1 . What are the resources of the church for its work ? 
 The town must be one of unusual sanctity, or the 
 
 church one of unusual intelligence, in which the answers 
 to some of these questions are not found startling and 
 awakening in a high degree. And simply for this end, as 
 a stimulus to exertion, and as itself an earnest of thorough 
 work to come, the thorough exploration of the parish will 
 be worth all that it costs. Ordinarily it will not cost 
 much, either in money or in labor. In country towns and 
 small villages each family knows all about its neighbors, 
 for a considerable distance, in every direction ; and the 
 information furnished at second-hand is often more 
 detailed and more trustworthy, than could be got by 
 inquiries from house to house. In cities, the labor is far 
 greater, to be sure, but then the resources of the city 
 churches are every way superior. 
 
 But the great value of such inquiries to stimulate and 
 arouse the church, is not their highest value. They are 
 needed, not only in their gross results, but in full detail, 
 in making out the plan of operations of the church. 
 Thorough inquiry is essential to intelligent and effective 
 operations. The church, or at least the pastor, must 
 have before the eye a minute map of the field, and work 
 by it. 
 
54 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 Thirdly, Active operations. 
 
 The powers of the Church, in its conflict with the 
 kingdom of darkness, are (according to the classification of 
 Dr. Chalmers,) Attractive and Aggressive. Our subject 
 is concerned with both classes, but chieflv with the latter. 
 
 What particular measures shall be adopted by a 
 particular church in a paracular parish, must be deter- 
 mined, in great measure, in view of the results of the 
 inquiry which has just been recommended. To insist on a 
 routine of operations for all parishes alike, would be 
 quackery. 
 
 But there is one measure recommended by primitive 
 and apostolic usage, which must underlie all others, and 
 that measure is Systematic Visitation from house to house. 
 Whether among the other means of the church's activity, 
 one or the other is to have the greater prominence, — 
 whether the Sunday School, or Bible reading, or Tract 
 distribution, or Mission- chap els, or open-air preaching, 
 they must all depend, for their best efficiency, on labor 
 from house to house. Undoubtedly, at the same time, 
 for its hest efficiency, systematic visitation depends, in 
 turn, on its connection with some or all of these other 
 forms of labor, and its relation to the church and its 
 ministry. 
 
 This measure of Systematic Visitation has become the 
 subject of a literature of its own, and need not, therefore, 
 be described at length here. 
 
 Fourthly, Organization of the Church for the 
 WORK OF Home Evangelization. 
 
 One way of organizing for this work would be to luxve 
 a Society within the Church, specially devoted to it. But 
 inasmuch as the work devolves, as a duty, on all the 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 55 
 
 members of the church, according to their several gifts, 
 such a society would be substantially an " ecclesiola in 
 ecdesia,'" and might tend to schism. Nevertheless, where 
 the mass of the church is indolent or unfaithful, it might 
 be necessary for those willing to work to get together by 
 themselves. An example of this sort of organization is 
 to be found in the " church-guilds " of some Episcopalian 
 churches. 
 
 But the normal and best method, is, doubtless, that the 
 church, as such, should enter the work. It is divinely 
 organized for this already. It would be difficult to suggest 
 a form of institution for local evangelization, better fitted 
 for all possible exigencies of the work, than the no-form 
 of the primitive church. What officers it needs, it takes. 
 If there is extra service of " daily ministration," it " looks 
 out " for a committee of deacons. For all other uses, it 
 has officers to correspond : " first, apostles ; secondarily, 
 prophets ; thirdly, teachers ; after that, miracles ; then 
 gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of 
 tongues," — not only tJi^^ee orders of ministers, but four — 
 five — a dozen, if there is occasion for them. The one 
 constant thing in the constitution of the primitive 
 churches, is that it is constantly flexible and variable, 
 •according to the exigencies of time, place and need. It 
 would be impossible more strictly, at this hour, to define, 
 a priori, the form of the best organization for Home 
 Evangelization. 
 
 II. Home Evangelization in its relation to the 
 
 MUTUAL organization. OF THE CHURCHES OF A GIVEN 
 PROVINCE. 
 
 It is obvious that when a certain province is to be 
 
56 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 evangelized by the joint labors of several churches within 
 it, these labors must be prosecuted by the individual 
 churches, not only in general sympathy and in pursuit of 
 a common end, but with explicit concert, and stated 
 mutual consultation. Such consultation is necessary in 
 order to a distribution of the field into parishes, without 
 which some parts of the field will be disproportionately 
 tended, and other parts neglected ; in order to the incite- 
 ment of mutual responsibility, without which the parishes 
 of some churches will be like the field of the sluggard, 
 and there will be no provision for "giving them unto 
 other husbandmen;" and in order to free mutual com- 
 munication and public report of means used, and results 
 attained, the use of which will tend to give stability to 
 the work. . 
 
 That such alliance of churches for this object may be 
 joined between churches of diff'erent denominations, is 
 proved by a happy experiment in the city of Brooklyn^ 
 And this alliance is not liable to the objection to 
 confederations on the " Catholic basis, '^ inasmuch as it 
 implies no compromise of individual convictions, and no 
 pledge of neutrality. But the parties to such an under- 
 standing come into it as churches, and not as parts of a 
 " denomination." Any diplomacy between the repre- 
 sentatives of diff'erent sects, would inevitably wind up in a 
 quarrel. 
 
 But there are a few cases in which the whole territory 
 of a State is fairly occupied by the churches of a single 
 denomination.^ In such cases, arrangements for the 
 
 1. It is remarkable that the only instances of this, in the United States, are the 
 cases of the general prevalence of Congregationalism, in the New England 
 States. All the early Church establishments of other denominations in onr 
 country have been supplanted on the soil which they once occupied. Episcopacy 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 57 
 
 thorough Evangelization of the State, need not depend on 
 the success of any negotiation between churches of 
 different sentiments. The arrangements can be made, and 
 ought to be made, by " the standing order." They ought 
 to assume, not the honors or prerogatives, but the duties, 
 which belong to parish churches. 
 
 These duties were the birthright of the Puritan churches 
 of New England. But they show a willingness to sell this 
 birthright without getting so much as a mess of pottage 
 in exchange for it. When the territorial charge of each 
 church ceased to be marked out, for purposes of taxation, 
 by the Legislature, it ought to have been designated for 
 purposes of evangelization, by the council or conference 
 of churches. If that had constantly been done, the mission- 
 field of each church would have been distinct; the whole 
 territory would have been parcelled out to the responsible 
 care of the churches. The charge of each church would 
 have been separated from that of its neighbor by cleancut 
 lines, instead, as now, of broad, vague bands of neutral 
 territory, liable to be ravaged by local or sectarian 
 rivalry, or (more commonly) to fall under neglect, and be 
 given over to ignorance, under the plea of a lack of 
 special responsibility, and the fear of trenching on the 
 field of one's neighbor. The authentic returns made to 
 the Connecticut Home Evangelization Committee, show 
 that the worst desolations of that State lie in these neutral 
 regions midway between the country churches. 
 
 There are sundry objections suggested against the plan 
 of an union of the Congregational churches, say of a 
 
 has at times almost died out in Maryland, Virj?inia, and the Carolinas. 
 Congregationalism only lias shown the qualities of stability and tenacity of life. 
 For authorities and figures, see the "Report of Connecticut Home Evangelization 
 Committee for 1860." 
 
58 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 county or half-county, for the common interests of their 
 local aggressive vv^ork : 
 
 1. That it would be exclusive and sectarian. 
 
 As Congregational churches are actually organized and 
 administered, on a schismatic basis, v^^ith a " cunningly 
 devised" formula of admission to keep out from their 
 membership all but the eligible sort of Christians, — the 
 objection is not Avithout force. But it is to be obviated, 
 not by a compact between one order of schismatic 
 churches and another, by which mutual toleration shall 
 be secured, and schism be recognized as a Christian 
 institution 5 but by making the parif^h church themselves 
 catholic or " union" bodies, and leaving no excuse for 
 schism. This remark opens into a large subject, for which 
 we have no room at present. 
 
 2. That people will not be governed by any parish 
 lines in deciding to what churches they will belong. 
 
 Of course not ; and as this division is not proposed to 
 affect the relation of a church to the church-going 
 people, but only to aid in its mission-work among the 
 non-church-goers, the parish lines will not interfere with 
 the largest liberty of any worshipper. 
 
 3. That it Avould be imposssible to restrain any church 
 from doing good as it has. opportunity, whether in its own 
 parish or in that of another church; or, if possible, it 
 would be wrong. 
 
 And here, again, the objection grows out of a miscon- 
 ception of the proposal; the plan is simply that each 
 church shall have a distinct field for which to be specially 
 responsible, without suffering any restraint on its surplus 
 activity on other fields. 
 
 4. That you could not compel a church to enter into 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 59 
 
 this arrangement, or to undertake and prosecute the work 
 in its appointed parish. 
 
 Which is true. The church could be Invited by its 
 neighbors to co-operate in a work of common importance 
 to all the churches and to their Head. The boundaries of 
 its field could be arranged by agreement among its 
 neighbors. If a church declined to report the progress of 
 its parish-work, the neighbor churches might send thither 
 and inquire into the facts — we have no law, yet, (in 
 Connecticut) against asking questions — and report the 
 result. If a church was remiss in its work, the fact might 
 appear in the annual report on the progress of religion in 
 the district. If a church should obstinately refuse to labor 
 for the unevangelized in its parish, the vineyard might be 
 taken from it, and neighboring churches might agree to care 
 for it as a mission-field. In an extreme case, if a church 
 should seem actually to renounce its essential duty of 
 preaching to the poor, the neighbor churches aggrieved 
 by such a scandal might refuse its fellowship. But it 
 would not be possible, and probably not desirable, to use 
 compulsion. 
 
 5. That such an agreement between neighboring- 
 churches is unsuited to the genius of the Congregational 
 order. 
 
 If this objection is valid — if the Congregational polity 
 can indeed plead incompetency to the systematic care of 
 the population of a district or province, the confession is 
 a weighty argument against that order of church govern- 
 ment. That it is not valid, the whole history of 
 Congregationalism, both in the Apostolic age, and in the 
 earlier periods of New England, sufficiently proves. 
 
 The exigencies of the Home Evangelization work, if 
 
60 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 they do not find, will certainly create, an arrangement of 
 District and State " Conferences." And this is one of the 
 admirable incidental benefits of the work to the churches. 
 Such arrangements for mutual coiiasel and correspondence 
 as grow out of the necessities of the common aggressive 
 work of the churches are the best possible arrangements 
 for that purpose. Such meetings as they would con^ 
 template, being directed to a specific object, and that 
 object not the internal administration and prosperity, but 
 the outward and aggressive action, of the church, would 
 avoid the objections commonly alleged against " standing 
 councils." Thej^ would be preferable to those church- 
 conferences which are called simply for the purposes of 
 edification and devotion; for they would propose as their 
 main subject, a matter of the greatest moment to the 
 church and to the people — one which appeals most deeply 
 to the religious afi'ections, and which compels the sense of 
 human inadequacy and dependence on God. The worship 
 and the mutual counsel of a meeting engaged in such a 
 work would be full of the mind of Christ. They would be 
 all the more fervent in spirit, as they were not slothful in 
 business. 
 
 The annual report of a State conference fully and 
 earnestly engaged in the work of Home Evangelization, 
 would be something quite unprecedented in value to all 
 who love the kingdom of Christ. It would be very 
 different from the brief bit of rhetoric annually exhibited 
 in many States under the title of a " Narrative of the 
 state of Religion"; — very diff'erent, also, from the 
 elaborate and useful statistics published by various bodies, 
 from year to year, of the condition of " our denomination." 
 It would contain an account of the religious condition and 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 61 
 
 wants of the population of the State. It would exhibit 
 the resources of the kingdom of Christ, in the churches^ 
 not of one, but of all denominations, to supply these 
 wants. It would show what Avas doing in each parish to 
 reach the unevangelized, first by the parish church, then 
 by the various churches of other denominations operating 
 within the parish. It would describe the various methods 
 of labor used by the different churches, and the com- 
 parative success that had attended them. And each year 
 it would afford a complete strategic map of the campaign 
 for the year to come. Such a report as this would 
 stimulate and sustain the efforts of each church in its own 
 parish, of each district-conference in its own district. The 
 cost of it, thus expended, would secure more of eft'ective 
 missionary work, than vastly larger sums spent in hiring 
 missionaries, or in any other way. And the cost of it 
 need not be much. The reports of district conferences, 
 made out after a concerted form, and uniformly printed, 
 if stitched together, with the doings of the General 
 Conference, would make the general report which would 
 be. needed by pastors and others who desired to know the 
 work in its general relations, but could be used, each 
 district report by itself, for ordinary local circulation. 
 
 A work so conducted by the Congregational churches 
 of any New England State, (except lihode Island,) would 
 more elevate and assert the dignity of those churches than 
 s,nj other. At the same time, it would be clearly relieved 
 of all embarrassments that attend compacts and alHances 
 between different denominations. Not depending on the 
 outward consent of these, it would go forward constantly 
 with their unintended co-operation. 
 
 And yet — and therefore — this work would be more 
 
62 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 truly and largely catholic than any proposed form of 
 stipulated co-operation. It would recognize the Christian 
 labors of all Christian churches in their due relation to 
 the one work of Christ; and this, ever, without recognizing 
 the popular " evangelical " principle of the perpetuity of 
 schism as the normal condition of the Church. 
 
 III. Home Evangelization in its relation to 
 Societies external to the organization of the 
 churches. ^ 
 
 The various Societies with which Home Evangelization, 
 in a New England State, has apparent relations, may be 
 classified as follows : 
 
 1. Home Missionary Societies, e. g. The American Home 
 Missionary Society ; The Congregational Union ; The 
 Sunday School Union. 
 
 2. Societies for the evangelization of particular classes of 
 People, e. g. The American Christian Union ; the Society 
 for " meliorating " the Jews ; the Seamen's Friend 
 Society. 
 
 3. Societies for the development and enforcement of 
 particular ideas hi morals and religion, e. g. Temperance, 
 Anti-Tobacco, Anti-Slavery, Sabbath, and Systematic 
 Beneficence Societies. 
 
 4. Piihlishing Societies, e. g. Bible, Tract, and Sunday 
 School Societies. 
 
 1. From the definition of the subject at the outset of this article, it wiU be 
 seen that its arguments can have but a modified application to those States 
 which are as yet incompletely furnished with churches, and are therefore the 
 field rather of Home Missions than of Home Evangelization. The remarks 
 under this third head are specially applicable to those New England States 
 which are fairly occupied, through their whole territory, by Congregational 
 churches willing to co-operate for the entire evangelization of the people. 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 63 
 
 5. Pliilanthropic Societies^ e. g. Children's Aid, Coloniza- 
 tion, Female Guardian, City Relief Societies. 
 
 1. The American Home Missionary Society does not 
 interfere in any way with the work of the Gospel in the 
 old New England States. It leaves the work to be 
 administered, as it ought to be, by the churches or pastors 
 of those States in council, and stands related to them only 
 as the recipient of their surplus revenue. This is well. 
 
 Neither the Congregational Union nor the Sunday 
 School Union undertakes to accomplish a complete Home 
 Missionary work, and yet they each do a work without 
 which that of the Home Missionary Society is incomplete. 
 And each of these two Societies does some of its work in 
 New England. The work of the American Sunday School 
 Union in Connecticut, for a few years past, has been great 
 and excellent. 
 
 But if it is well that the Home Mission work within 
 these States should be directed, not by a National Board 
 in New York, but from within the State itself, would it 
 not be likewise well if the Church-building and Sunday 
 School work within these States should be arranged in 
 like relations to the National Work ? There has never 
 been any clash between the Sunday School and Church- 
 building movements in New England, on the one hand, 
 and the Home Mission and Home Evangelization work, on 
 the other, and it is desirable there never should be ; and 
 to this end these several courses of evangelical labor, 
 which are so palpably parts of the same general work^ 
 should be included in some comprehensive plan, and 
 prosecuted not without concert. 
 
64 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 2. Societies for the evangelization of particular classes of 
 27eople. 
 
 There is reasonable ground for doubt whether Societies 
 of this class have any proper relation to the work of the 
 gospel in a Christian State. They seem to be founded on 
 a misapplication of the economical principle of the division 
 of labor. Given a certain province to be evangelized, 
 occupied by different classes and professions of people, it 
 seems to be imagined that the highest economical 
 advantage requires that one Board should undertake the 
 conversion of one class of people, another Board of another 
 class, and so on until the whole community is provided 
 for. If this policy were carried out, instead of a union 
 of the churches of any State for carrying forward the 
 work of the gospel in their several parishes, and thus in 
 the whole State, we should have one Board and set of 
 missionaries for converting Romanists, another for 
 " meliorating" Jews, another for disenchanting Spiritists ; 
 — one mission to Irish, one to Grermans, one to negroes, 
 one to Yankees, one to sailors, one to tailors, and one to 
 hatters. The fact is — the general fact, to which, doubtless, 
 there are exceptions — that the proper main division of the 
 work of the gospel, is the geographical division of the 
 field. In any community, among all its classes, the work 
 of evangelization is essentially one work, and the means 
 to be used are the game — the gospel and the church. If 
 there are large and peculiar classes of population in the 
 community or the State, they may well be made subjects 
 of special report to the church, or to the council of 
 churches. But to have different sets and systems of 
 national missions to these different classes, is not only to 
 commit a grievous waste of resources, but to intersect and 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 65 
 
 discompose any plans of systematic Home Evangelization 
 which maj^ have been entered on by the churches of any 
 particular province, or State. 
 
 3. Societies Jor the enforcement ami i)ropagation of 
 particular ideas in morals and religion. 
 
 In special emergencies, societies of this class have been 
 mightily ejBFective of useful reforms. Of this a reference to 
 the list of them gives sufficient evidence. But the same 
 reference will show that they lack powers of endurance. 
 They sometimes run for a while, but by and by Satan 
 hinders them, and the gates of hell prevail against them. 
 They cannot be relied on for a long fight with wickedness. 
 When the emergency is past for which they were 
 providentially designed, their influence becomes small, 
 their field of operations small, their legitimate expenses 
 small, and commonly their men become very small 
 indeed, and the character of the Society itself tends to 
 become narrow, querulous and vicious. 
 
 The duty of a great enterprise like that of Home 
 Evangelization towards one-idea Societies, is to use them 
 when, and while, they are useful, and to avoid entangling 
 alliances. 
 
 4. Publishing Societies. 
 
 These institutions have two departments of labor, 
 entirely distinct in idea, but more or less confounded in 
 practical operation ; — the Manufacturing and Mercantile 
 department, and the Charitable and Missionary depart- 
 ment. Some of these institutions, as, for instance, the 
 Sunday School Union and the Boston American Tract 
 Society, attempt in good faith to keep these two depart- 
 ments quite separate in administration ; but with very 
 
66 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 partial success. Nevertheless, the distinction is clear 
 enough for us to follow in this discussion. 
 
 (1.) The relation which the conductors of the Home 
 Evangelization enterprise bear to publishing Societies 
 considered as manufacturing and mercantile corporations, 
 is simply that which they bear to other parties in the 
 same line of business ; — that of customers for such goods 
 as we want to buy, and as they can sell us to the best 
 advantage. It is highly important to churches and 
 missionary societies as purchasers, that they should not 
 be exclusively the customers of any one or two parties. 
 And this, not only for economical reasons, but because 
 they thus shut themselves up to a comparatively narrow 
 range of selection, instead of entering the whole market, 
 and the whole field of Christian literature. By confining 
 themselves to the issues of " Catholic basis " societies, in 
 all large operations by means of books, our churches have 
 needlessly shut themselves out from many of tJie best books 
 for popular use — including many books whose only fault 
 is that they are not silent on important truths assailed 
 from tvithin the Church. 
 
 (2.) In their capacity as missionary institutions, it does 
 not appear that the Publishing Societies can advantage- 
 ously aid the work of Home Evangelization. 
 
 The missionary operations of the Bible and Tract 
 Societies are included under two heads : 
 
 a. Making grants of money and books for missionary 
 purposes. 
 
 h. Employing agents to sell and distribute books, and 
 (incidentally to this work) to preach the gospel. 
 
 a. Under the first head, the relation of Home 
 Evangelization in the old States to these Societies may 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 67 
 
 be defined very shortly and decisively. Considering that 
 the current contributions of the churches of those States 
 are much inore than enough to pay for all that they want 
 in the way of books, it is neither needful nor desirable 
 that they should be beholden to these Societies for 
 gratuities. It is better that from the money by them 
 contributed, should first be drawn whatever may be 
 wanted for home us^, and expended for the best books 
 wherever they can be got cheapest, by no means refusing 
 to circulate books that vindicate truth that has been 
 assailed. 
 
 As to the question whether the surplus should go to the 
 publishing societies at all, that is a question on which 
 there is a great deal to be said, but it does not immediately 
 pertain to the subject of this article. 
 
 I). Can these Societies help the work of Home 
 Evangelization through " Colportage " operations ? 
 
 No : for several reasons. 
 
 First, A manufacturing and trading corporation is 
 constitutionally unfitted for conducting missionary opera- 
 tions Its eye is not single. It has goods to sell, as well 
 as souls to save. With the fairest intentions in the 
 world, its managers cannot help seeing, whenever any- 
 thing needs to be done, in city or country, in army or 
 navy, that the only thing to do it with is a bunch of their 
 cheap and beautiful publications. The wonders which 
 were formerly wrought by " the printed page" are now 
 promised through the agency of "the flexible cover.'' 
 Each of these corporations claims to be the " old, original 
 Dr. Jacob Townsend," that its own list of remedies forms 
 the only panacea, and that all othsrs are counterfeits. Is 
 a company, pre-committed to such convictions as these. 
 
68 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 bound to them by its constitution and antecedents and by 
 grave financial and commercial interests, the best 
 directory of a system of Christian missions ? 
 
 Secondly, If there is to be a band of itinerant 
 missionaries employed in any of the older States; they 
 ought to be directed from within the State, and by the 
 churches and pastors of the State, and not by a 
 " National " committee from outside. A general good- 
 will and fraternal disposition on the part of the outsiders 
 is not enough. It will not save them from intersecting 
 with cross purposes any plans which the allied churches 
 of the State may attempt to pursue for Home Evangeliza- 
 tion. The work which these Societies propose to do 
 through their " colporters," is only a part of the general 
 work of the gospel which belongs to the churches. It 
 ought to be included in any comprehensive system of 
 evangelization. 
 
 Thirdly, If we are to have a system of Lay-missionaries 
 (and a great deal may be said in favor of such a system, 
 for certain uses,) it is better to have missionaries who 
 shall circulate Bibles and tracts incidentally to the work 
 of preaching the gospel, rather than hook-agents, salaried 
 by the churches, who shall preach the gospel incidentally 
 to the work of peddling books. 
 
 Fou7ihly, The principles of economy enunciated above, 
 in speaking of "'Societies for the evangelization of 
 particular classes of people," apply in general to all 
 Societies which propose to employ sets of missionaries to 
 do a petty or fractional work, instead of doing the whole 
 work of the gospel. What gain is there, in the case of a 
 particular town or county, in having one man to traverse 
 the whole field to circulate Bibles, another to scatter 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 69 
 
 tracts and books^ another to found Sunday-Schools and 
 gather the children into them, and another yet to preach 
 the gospel, instead of letting the man that preaches the 
 gospel, himself do these other things, which are properly 
 part of his work ? 
 
 Fifthly y The missionary labors of the Book-concerns, in 
 fields of Home Evangelization, are not only prosecuted at 
 an economical disadvantage — they are an actual hindrance 
 to thorough and earnest parochial labor on the part of the 
 churches. Every intelligent and diligent pastor or lay- 
 evangelist reckons the judicious distribution of good books 
 as among his best helps in the work of the gospel. The 
 interference of the " colporter," or Bible agent, cripples 
 him in this arm of his power. Before, he might have 
 established a tie of gratitude and affection between 
 himself or the Church, and some neglected family, by the 
 gift of a Bible or of some other good book. And the good 
 seed thus planted he might have watched and tended and 
 watered from time to time. But the Bible agent comes, 
 hurries from house to house, drops a Bible here and a 
 Bible there, gathers up a few choice cases of " Alarming 
 Destitution " for the Annual Report, and goes on his way 
 rejoicing. The Directors in the grand room in Astor Place 
 read his letters and give devout thanks (it has been 
 decided to be not unconstitutional for them to give thanks,) 
 for the good that has been done. They never hear of the 
 good that has been hindered.^ 
 
 1. Our attention was first attracted to this evil during a visit to the Syrian 
 Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreijyn Missions. Our 
 missionaries were f?rievously complaining- of the mischief wrouj^ht by the well- 
 intended labors of an ajjent of the British and Foreij^n Bible Society. For the 
 space of a fjeneration they had been laboring to train the people to value the 
 Bible ; to make sacrifices in order to own it ; to buy it ; to treasure it and kee p 
 it; in some measure they were succeeding, when the British and Foreign 
 
70 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 The conclusion, then, to which we come, is that 
 according to their present modes of working, the Bible 
 and Tract Societies can render no other service to the 
 Home Evangelization work than that which is rendered 
 by publishers of good literature generally. There may be 
 other methods — we believe that there are — in which a 
 Society for Promoting the Circulation of Grood Books 
 could accomplish greater and most desirable ends, by 
 means liable to none of the above mentioned objections.^ 
 
 6. Philwithrojnc Societies. 
 
 The proper relation of the Home Evangelization work 
 to Societies of this class may best be defined by the 
 statement of certain general principles. 
 
 (1.) The practice of works of mercy is declared by 
 divine example and command to be the proper accom- 
 paniment and adjuvant of the preaching of the gospel It 
 
 gentleman an-ives with a big packing-ease of books, which he gives away right 
 and left, plenis manibus, and writes home to the Bible Society in London of his 
 Glorious Work. For some months thereafter our missionaries were gathering 
 in the fruits of his labors, in the shape of liighly scriptural wrappers to successive 
 bars of soap, chops of mutton, and other vendibles from the hucksters of Beirflt. 
 
 1. The subject, but not the limits, of this article, would justify us in discussing 
 at length a graver charge against the Bible Society's policy, which we are pre- 
 pared to substantiate by evidence, but which we kave room only to state. 
 
 It is this, tliat the Bible Society, by sedulously discouraging the trade in 
 Bibles, has driven them out of the ordinary market, and made them purchaseable 
 only through its own stipendiaries, or those of its auxiliaries. In attempting the 
 circulation of the Scripturoe by sale, it defiantly overrides tlie Laws of Trade 
 which are as much God's laws as the law of gravitation is, and affects to 
 substitute for them its inefficient apparatus of Auxiliaries and agents. 
 
 Whatever be the cause, tiic effect is un(iuestionable. The llci)ort of the 
 Connecticut Home Evangelization Committee for 1860, made up from actual 
 canvass of the State, reports that in the country towns, generally, there are no 
 Bibles kppt for sale. Is this true of any other article of general houseliold use 
 and demand V Would it be true of the Bible, if the circulation of it by sale wore 
 entrusted to free trade and not to a monopoly ? And cian the Bible Society do a 
 better service for the circulation of the Word of God, tlian to "stand out of its 
 sunshine" and let it " have/ree course and be glorified y " 
 
CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 71 
 
 is a proof of the presence of the Christ, that " the deaf 
 hear, the lepers are cleansed, the lame walk, the poor 
 have the gospel preached unto them." And these good 
 works ought to be performed, not simply for their 
 relation to the success of preaching, but for the love of 
 them, and as accomplishing in themselves an ultimate, 
 though inferior, good. When we do good to men's 
 bodies, simply for the sake of reaching their souls, we are 
 apt to be found out in our device, and thus to lose the 
 very thing we are aiming at. 
 
 (2.) All public arrangements for doing good to the 
 community, inasmuch as they spring from the prevalence 
 of the gospel, ought to be outwardly, as they are in fact, 
 associated with the gospel, that Christ may have the 
 glory. 
 
 (3.) A plan of evangelization, whether for a parish or 
 a State, ought to comprehend, as far as may be, arrange- 
 ments for promoting the bodily welfare of the people. 
 And it is desirable that the Church and the minister of 
 the gospel should undertake as much as possible of this 
 work, leaving as little as possible for the civil authorities 
 and for merely secular associations. 
 
 (4.) But there are certain methods of doing good which 
 require larger organizations than churches to conduct 
 them, and different organizations. Such, for example, are 
 the establishment of Hospitals and Orphan Asylums, and 
 the conducting of systems of emigration, as in the case of 
 the Children's Aid and Colonization Societies. As far as 
 possible the churches should be imtrons rather than 
 beneficiaries of such institutions ; encouraging them by 
 making use of their accommodations at a fair price for 
 what they receive, and assisting them otherwise, as by 
 
7 2 CHURCH, PARISH, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 contribution. It would be well if churches and 
 Evangelization Unions should own the right of J)resentation 
 to Hospitals and Orphan Asylums, and if benevolent men 
 wishing to render service to such institutions, should do 
 it by purchasing for the Church the privilege of sending 
 the poor to them. But the work from house to house — the 
 friendly and Christian work connected with these 
 institutions — ought to be performed, as far as possible, by 
 the Church and Evangelist, in the name of Christ, so as to 
 leave as little as possible to be done by the philanthropic 
 society, in the name of humanity. 
 
 We rest the discussion here, having traversed the 
 subject, not exhausted it. If we seem in anything to have 
 spoken curtly and dogmatically, it is because the limits 
 of space forbade circumlocution and apology, and our 
 conviction of the truth and importance of many of the 
 thoughts above set forth, demanded at least the attempt 
 to express them. If we have seemed radical^ will not our 
 readers at least ask, before condemning, whether the 
 blame of it ought not to be laid on radical errors in 
 existing usages and institutions ? 
 
 ►>5&ioo<^es^- 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 73 
 
 lY. 
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN* 
 
 Bryan Maurice, or The Seeker. By Eev. Walter 
 Mitchell. Philadelphia: Lippincott. 12mo. 
 
 This is a volume of Episcopalian polemics under the 
 form of a novel. It makes "the epic plunge" at once in 
 mediae res, with a discussion on the Pentateuch, and 
 winds up with a wedding, and red fire, and " the solemn 
 cares of a Missionary Bishopric," with a handsome Grothic 
 church and parsonage for the back scene. The story is 
 entirely subordinate to the theological intent of the 
 author, and serves mainly as a setting for his brilliants of 
 controversial divinity; so that the book takes place in 
 literature with a class of school-books once in vogue, 
 such as " Conversations on Chemistry between a Mother 
 and three Daughters," or "Uncle Peter's Talks upon 
 English Grammar with his Little Friends," in which it 
 was conceived that the driest studies might be capable of 
 a certain dramatic fascination; or rather with that large 
 
 * From the New Englander for October, 1867. 
 
74 CONFEvSSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 and still growing class of popular discussions, the latest 
 representative of which we see advertised under the title 
 " Dialogues on Ritualism between a Layman and his 
 Rector," and the advantage of which is that therein the 
 ill-favored opponent of the writer's pet doctrines can be 
 made, in spite of himself, to defend sentiments which he 
 Avould abhor, with weak arguments which he would 
 despise, and then be overwhelmed with sudden and quick- 
 witted rejoinders which the author had dreamed of for a 
 week, wishing that some one would only say such foolish 
 things, that he might seize his chance to make such bright 
 replies. This sort of controversy is conceived to have 
 many of the advantages of actual tug-of-war, with none 
 of its perils. The intellectual satisfaction of it to the 
 writer, if not quite like 
 
 "the joy which warriors feel 
 In foemeii worthy of their steel," 
 
 may at least be likened to the martial glory of a sham- 
 iight at a militia training; or to the excitement of the 
 €ombat in a Punch-and-Judy show, when the left-hand 
 puppet is so horribly banged with that frightful club by 
 the right-hand puppet, or to the fierce joys of the gaming- 
 table^ as realized by the Marchioness in " The Old 
 Curiosity Shop," when she played at cribbage over her 
 orange-peel-and-water in the solitude of Sampson Brass's 
 back-kitchen, and kept tally for the right hand against 
 the left. 
 
 Of course, then, it would not be fair to criticise " Bryan 
 Maurice " as a novel. Not but that there are points of 
 interest about it in this aspect. We regard the adventure 
 which is the hinge of the story as one of the boldest 
 strokes of the pen in recent fiction. The two lovers go 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 75 
 
 down on the same plank in the wreck of the Arctic, 
 paddle off in different directions under water, and come 
 up, one in N'antucket and one in Halifax, never to hear of 
 each other again until they are both whistled up by the 
 call-boy in time for the wedding-scene in the last act. 
 There is nothing quite equal to this, we think, either in 
 Scott or in Bulwer. 
 
 And yet it would be equally unreasonable to criticise 
 the book as an argument. There is a serious, though 
 unsuccessful, purpose of argument in it; a number of the 
 old stock defenses of the high-church faction in the 
 Episcopal Church are neatly stated, and several fair hits, 
 together with some foul ones, are made at his antagonists ; 
 but, as a general thing, the writer " fights as one that 
 beateth the air," when he strikes out against the com- 
 munion of Christian believers outside of his sect, in 
 consequence of his ignorance of their relative position and 
 views. 
 
 But "Bryan Maurice" has, nevertheless, a certain 
 ponderable and mensurable value, of a sort which its 
 author, perhaps, did not think of in the first rapture of 
 publication. It is worth something as Confessions. For 
 the book is, plainly enough, autobiographical. The scenes 
 of it, described with pre-Raphaelite minuteness, when not 
 openly named, are recognized, and meant to be recognized, 
 as the places of the writer's residence ; and at Boston and 
 Cambridge, at Norowam, which is Stamford, and at the 
 Cranmer Divinity School, Broadwater, which is the 
 Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Connecticut, the 
 writer takes the portraits of various acquaintances in 
 public and in private stations, which he designates by the 
 most transparent pseudonyms, and hangs out along his 
 
76 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 pages for the public entertainment, His style of art isf 
 literal rather than imaginative, and his pictures oftea 
 depend for recognition rather on strongly marked 
 peculiarities in the cut of the whiskers or the curl of the 
 hair, or on the names or official titles written up under 
 them, than on any lively delineation of character. But the 
 most marked trait of his style is the constancy with which 
 his portraits are flattered up towards his highest ideal of 
 manly and womanly beauty just in proportion as the 
 sitter coincides with him in his theological position. For 
 this, as well as for some other reasons, we are inclined to 
 class his efforts at character-painting among his acquaint- 
 ances in successive dwelling-places, with the works, not so 
 much of the painters, and sculptors, as of those humbler 
 " artists," whose studios trundle upon wheels from 
 village to village as the exigencies of business demand. 
 Good likenesses are promised, and satisfaction guaranteed, 
 only to those who come within the narrow range and focus 
 of his camera. If none but Episcopalians of the right grade 
 are portrayed to the last hair with a noble distinctness,, 
 — if Congregationalists are blurred into phantoms, and 
 Unitarians distorted into monsters, is it Ids fault, quotha,, 
 that they would stay in their absurd positions, instead 
 of coming up upon his platform and inserting their heads, 
 between the prongs of his standard of orthodoxy ? 
 
 It is an incidental disadvantage of the author's free- 
 and-easy method of dealing with the persons of his various 
 acquaintances, that it necessarily brings his own 
 personality strongly into view. If a late student at 
 Cambridge College and Middletown Theological School ^ 
 and convert from Unitarianism to the Episcopal Churchy 
 leads his hero in the character of a Unitarian '' seeker '' 
 
COXFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 77 
 
 of the Episcopalian ministry, through his own old haunts 
 and experiences, with free comments on his old instructors 
 and neighbors from the author's point of view, it is all 
 very well to call him " Bryan Maurice," or Childe 
 Harold, if he choose, but it will be impossible thereby to 
 avert the universal inference that the book is an Ai^ologia 
 l)ro Vita Sua, and that the paragon with the romantic 
 name and history is a more or less idealized " portrait of 
 the author." 
 
 It is this consideration to which Mr. Mitchell owes his 
 title to the honor of a special Article in the Neiv Englander. 
 We would not unduly disparage the value of his opinions 
 and arguments. But his testlmomj concerning himself, 
 the representative of a class, especially when it is given 
 unconsciously, and most of all when it inclines against 
 the witness and his sect or set, is of more importance still. 
 Let us glance, then, at the story of Bryan Maurice. 
 
 He is introduced as a recent graduate of Harvard 
 College, a Unitarian, twenty-three years old, making the 
 grand tour. On the way to Rome he falls in with 
 Gardiner, an Episcopalian minister of magnificent personal 
 appearance, wdth " white and very handsome hands," and 
 " high and ample forehead," and to him he opens some of 
 his sceptical difficulties. At E-ome, he is present at the 
 death-bed of a college classmate, when Gardiner admi- 
 nisters the Lord's Supper. Maurice looks on, never 
 before having seen this ordinance, as much interested as 
 an intelligent Pagan might have been in the absolute 
 novelty of it. He discovers, to his amazement, the 
 indications of there having been an ancient Christian 
 church in Rome, and is becoming interested in 
 Gardiner's explanations of the facts in a " Protestant 
 
78 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH CHURCHMAN. 
 
 Episcopalian" sense, when he is drawn insidiously into 
 an ambuscade, through a mysterious letter, by that 
 dreadful, though somewhat familiar character, the "Jesuit 
 in disguise." Snatched by Gardiner from this Scylla, he 
 steers easily clear of the Charybdis of the American 
 chapel, where he finds incompatible contradictions in the 
 preaching, on successive Sundays, of Christian ministers 
 of different denominations. Just at this juncture he meets, 
 under interesting circumstances, with an altogether 
 bewitching little Quakeress turned Episcopalian, from 
 Philadelphia, who goes through and through his affections 
 by the insidious but irresistible process of asking his advice 
 and guidance, at their first meeting, on a question of duty 
 concerning her baptism. He goes to church with her at 
 the English chapel, where he is deeply impressed (of all 
 things in the world ! ) with the solemnity of the Com- 
 mination Service ! and Avhen, after church, in answer to his 
 declaration, "but I am not an Episcopalian," she looks 
 up with her lovely eyes, and says, " You will be ; nothing 
 else will satisfy you; something tells me that you will" 
 — the reader with half an eye, discerns that it is all up 
 with poor Maurice, and that " fate and metaphysical aid" 
 will do the business for him by the time he gets to the 
 last chapter. On the homeward trip, he has the charming 
 creature for a fellow-passenger aboard the " Mystic " 
 (Arctic), and when the unhappy steamer is about going 
 down after a collision, she has a fresh presentiment, and 
 assures him that " something tells her'' that he will come 
 out right after all. 
 
 When the hero finds himself ashore, safe and thankful, 
 he goes with earnest and serious purposes to Cambridge 
 Divinity School, to prepare for the Unitarian ministry. 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 79 
 
 He finds the institution swamped with scepticism and 
 utter infidelity; and all his classmates (excepting one^ 
 who ultimately turns Episcopalian) are men without faith, 
 earnestness, or common honesty, and some of them with- 
 out decent morality. Nevertheless, his hopes of a Church 
 of the Future, and the wily managing of politic old foxes 
 of the Unitarian clergy, keep him fur the present, and he 
 goes to ISTorowam, filled with nameless longings for valid 
 ordination, and yet resolved to take charge of the 
 Universalist Church in that village. Here he becomes 
 a fellow boarder at the hotel with the young Episcopalian 
 minister. Rev. Alfred Winthrop, and the Rev. Augustine 
 Ralston, pastor of the Congregational Church. The 
 former was 
 
 " Evidently young, quite young. His hair, quite long and with 
 something of a wave, Avas very fi le and silken and brushed back 
 from his brow. It fell round the smooth oval of a face whose 
 perfect features, in their almost womanish perfection, had a 
 marked likeness to that beautiful ideal which the Italian painters 
 have chosen for St. John the Divine." He sung church-music 
 " with a voice evidently of high culture and great natural 
 sweetness." 
 
 The representative Congregationalist, however unable 
 to stand in comparison with this Adonis, is nevertheless 
 remarkable among Mr. Maurice's non-Episcopalian 
 acquaintances for possessing some redeeming qualities. 
 He was " a keen, wary, yet genial man, very fond of art, 
 with an uncultivated indiscriminate fondness," — " well, 
 but diffusely read, extraordinarily independent in his 
 views, and loving to air them in controversy ;" — 3^et "not 
 quarrelsome, far from it; — gentlemanly, kindly, and 
 thoroughly even-tempered." Per contra, he had those 
 
80 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 dark, insidious traits, that insincerity of opinion, and that 
 feline craftiness with a selfish view to personal or sectarian 
 aggrandizement, which seem to Mr. Mitchell's generous 
 observation to be the characteristic traits of the ministers 
 of Christ in Congregational churches. He had " grown up 
 in a school which regards all opinions rather as the foils 
 with which you show your skill in fence, than as the 
 sword with which one fights for life and death." "He was 
 an honest and Christian man in his waj^, but had been 
 educated into a morality in religious politics not unworthy 
 of Liguori. It is the result of that utter absorption of 
 religion into a pure technicality and formalism, which is 
 the proper sequence of an attempt at a bodiless 
 spirituality. This is the cardinal mischief of New England 
 Puritanism." 
 
 Under the winning influence of the saintly example of 
 Winthrop, who is a model of religious devotedness to his 
 work, and under the influence of a large number of 
 fascinating and delightful girls, who are represented as 
 holding the key to good society fn Norowam, and as 
 using it with a single view to the interests of the 
 Episcopal denomination, and who have a singular habit 
 of " reading his very soul" by moonlight, and saying to 
 him in portentous tones, ^^ Sometlwig tells ^)ie, Mr. Maurice, 
 that you will j^ot kneel at that altar" — it is no wonder 
 that the young man at last succumbs to the force of 
 circumstances. Gardiner comes in opportunely at the last 
 of these oracular utterances, clinches his resolutions with 
 a few common-place arguments, a hundred times refuted, 
 and the upshot of the story is that Maurice is off" for 
 Broadwater in a twinkling, to get his theology rectified 
 and his ordination " validated." Once more he has a turn 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 81 
 
 of hesitation, but at the opportune moment another lovely 
 woman appears upon the scene, exclaiming, " 0, 
 Mr. Maurice, do ! 1 am sure you ought. I know you will 
 never feel contented till you do;" — this last argument 
 settles him, and " he takes the morning train for Broad- 
 water." The pretty Quakeress miraculously reappears to 
 him, at the chancel of a love of a stone church in 
 Philadelphia, all stone, outside and in, and they are 
 married and live in a love of a parsonage built for Maurice 
 by one of those very Norowam girls who used to assure 
 him that " something told them " he would preach in a 
 gown and bands before he died. And as for the only 
 decent man among his Cambridge theological classmates, 
 he comes out at the same result by way of the Roman 
 Catholic church, and goes slsp into a first-class city 
 parish, with a first-rate chance for " the solemn cares — 
 the dread responsibilities of a Missionary Bishopric.'' 
 With which climax the book concludes. 
 
 We need not speak particularly of the subordinate 
 -characters ; they may be briefly described as follows : — 
 
 Sundry Episcopalian ministers, all of the very finest 
 personal appearance, sweet voices, superior intellectual 
 and spiritual qualities, and costumes regardless of 
 expense. 
 
 Several Episcopalian laymen, also of noble appearance 
 and superior virtue. 
 
 Chorus of Episcopalian young ladies, all of remarkable 
 personal beauty, the very highest fashion, and the sweetest 
 piety, devoted to good works, Easter lilies, and altar- 
 cloths, and young non-Episcopalian ministers in an 
 interesting state of mind. 
 
 Certain ministers of other denominations, all of them 
 
82 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 self-seekers, without religious sincerity or earnestness, or 
 any personal beauty, or voices, or fine clothes, worth 
 mentioning. 
 
 A number of young ladies, not Episcopalians, commonly 
 not of good social position nor good looks, and with 
 serious blemishes of character. 
 
 '^ Citizens generally," male and female, outside of the 
 Episcopal church, mostly illiterate, and of the grade of 
 " trades-people." 
 
 Jesuits (in disguise). 
 
 To come to the main points of instruction in Mr. Mitch- 
 ell's express or implied confessions, we note : 
 
 I. How ignorant a Boston-bred and Harvard-graduated 
 man may be probably supposed to be, of everything 
 outside of the Unitarian sect in Massachusetts. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell, who is an accepted contributor to the 
 Atlantic, and by no means to be reckoned an uncultivated 
 man, represents his double, an accomplished young 
 gentleman, with a taste for biblical study, at the mature 
 age of twenty-three, finishing his education by foreign 
 travel. In the midst of Italy he does not know a word 
 of Italian — a point which is confirmed by the fact that 
 the book rarely ventures a quotation in a foreign tongue 
 without coming to grief with it. He is absolutely ignorant 
 of English politics and theology, and when " the talk is of 
 Newman, and Gladstone, and Mr. Ward, and the Bishop 
 of Exeter, and the Gorham case," it is "pure Sanscrit to 
 the young New Englander." He has never seen the 
 administration of the Lord's Supper; submits without a 
 murmur to be referred to the " original Latin " of the 
 New Testament ; discovers, after protracted studv, that 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 83 
 
 the New Testament consists of books of different dates. 
 
 and after a long period of exegetical research at 
 Cambridge, comes, much to his surprise, upon the recondite 
 fact that our Lord's ascension did not occur immediately 
 upon his resurrection, but forty days afterwards. He hears 
 the Magnificat chanted, and on inquiring the source of so 
 fine a lyric, he is quite amazed and incredulous at being 
 told that it is in the gospel according to Luke. He is 
 driven to his wits' end in conversation, in consequence of 
 not knowing the meaning of the word " catholic." No 
 wonder, then, that knowing so little about what concerns 
 his own religion, he should suffer even to the end from 
 the most amazing ignorance about other people's. Having 
 attended high mass at St. Peter's on Christmas day, he 
 thinks " the elevation of the Host was very fine, but what 
 meaning is there in it all ? What is- the Host? I'm sure 
 I don't know." He doesn't know what is the ecclesiastical 
 meaning of '' confirmation." He is told, as a piece of rare 
 and exquisite erudition, that the Athanasian creed is not 
 the authentic work of AthanaSius. Of course he and the 
 Rev. Mr. Mitchell both believe the raw-head-and-bloody- 
 bones representation of Calvinism, and suppose that 
 Christian congregations are taught by Evangelical 
 preachers, that Christ did not die for infants or the non- 
 elect, and that one " will be converted, if he is to be, 
 when his time comes, and won't be before that for all his 
 trying ; and that until that, he can't make things worse 
 or better." 
 
 Is it possible — Mr. Mitchell assures us that it is, and 
 he ought to know — that Unitarian young gentlemen, of 
 the first families in Massachusetts, are tumbled out from 
 the nest of their Dura Mater at Cambridge, in such a 
 
84 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 painfully callow and unfledged condition ? Are they really 
 undefended, except as they carry about upon their heads 
 the broken egg-shell of early prejudice against orthodoxy 
 as something vulgar, from the attacks of the first " Jesuit 
 in disguise," who quotes at them the New Testament from 
 " the original Latin," or the first Episcopalian who 
 " startles" them with his notions of English church 
 histor}^ ? And are they wont to be dumb-foundered, in 
 foreign society, at the commonest words and allusions in 
 English literature and politics? Can it be that local 
 antipathy to the unabridged and illustrated edition of 
 Webster's Dictionary has led to such results ? These are 
 questions for Mr. Mitchell to settle with his old instructors 
 and college friends; and we acknowledge that, between 
 the two parties, there is a very considerable presumption 
 in favor of the college. But if we are driven to accept 
 his representations as against himself, it does much to 
 clear up the story of Bryan Maurice's conversion to high 
 churchism, and sheds light upon the second point of his 
 confessions, to wit : 
 
 II. Into what narrowness of feeling it is possible for a 
 somewhat intelligent and Christian gentleman to be 
 trained, in the High-Church faction of the Episcopal 
 denomination. 
 
 The real argument of " Bryan Maurice," and we do not' 
 doubt the sincerity with which it is ofi'ered, is, that holiness 
 of life, intelligent faith, pastoral fidelity and self-denial, 
 devout and imposing worship, gentlemanly culture and 
 female loveliness, are found in the Episcopal Church, and 
 therefore stand in some relation of necessary sequence with 
 Apostolical succession. The critical point of Maurice's 
 conversion is, when, being called to the remorseful bedside 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 85 
 
 of a bad man, he finds that his Unitarianism gives him 
 nothing to say which can relieve the conscience and save 
 the sinner. His Episcopalian friend is called in, and 
 delivers to the wretched man the gospel — with a stift' 
 churchiness ol manner, but the same good news, neverthe- 
 less, of an almighty Saviour, which comforts the souls of 
 true believers in every land and age, — and on the Saviour 
 thus set forth the sick man trusts, to the saving of his 
 soul. Maurice is touched and impressed, as well he may 
 be ; and at once, with an induction worthy of Mrs. Mck- 
 leby's best moods, he infers that it " must be something 
 in the leather,'* — that it w^as the " authority" of a "valid 
 ordination" with which the thing was done, which made 
 the main difference between himself and his neighbor. 
 And at this da}', preaching the gospel with great sincerity 
 and fidelit}^, and with good success, we have no doubt that 
 he really believes in his heart that he owes that success 
 to the " authority " of his " valid ordination," and that 
 he is honoring the divinely appointed means of the 
 world's salvation, when he trains himself, and tries to 
 train others, into the belief that that vast body of prayer- 
 ful and self-denying ministers of Jesus Christ, which lies 
 outside of his pin-fold, are mere talkers of unfruitful talk, 
 mere " technicalists and formalists," and that the true 
 followers of the Saviour are pretty much all Protestant 
 Episcopalians. 
 
 It requires an effort to adjust the vision of ordinary 
 readers to a focus at which they can fairly see the 
 microscopic narrowness of mind and feeling implied in the 
 Mitchell-Maurice position. Stating it, we fear lest we 
 shall seem to be caricaturing it, or lest it shall be inferred 
 
86 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CaURCHMAN. 
 
 to be not the actual position of the author's mind, but the 
 position of attack upon others into which he rushes, for a 
 moment; in the heat of controversy. But simply and 
 soberly, it is this : that the usage of worship and the 
 church organization of a portion of the population of the 
 southern part of one of the islands off the coast of Western 
 Europe, has a divine and exclusive claim to be accepted 
 and followed by the entire population of America ! The 
 Act of Parliament, commonl}' known as the " Book of 
 Common Prayer,"' is a divine " pattern given in the 
 mount," and so far as any act of worship deviates from 
 this, it loses in beauty, and majesty, and spirituality. 
 The rites of the Koman Church he finds to be " tedious " 
 and " ludicrous;" and in the simplicity of outward form 
 with which the overwhelming majority of his fellow- 
 Christians in America earnestl)^ worship God, he can see 
 nothing but absurdities on which he may practice his 
 cleverish little sarcasms. Even the ritual variations and 
 " beautiful garments " with which some of his brethren 
 pardonably seek to diversify the endless repetition of their 
 " Dearly-beloved-brethren," are repudiated by him, and 
 nothing is trul)^ impressive but a pied gown, black and 
 white, and the Dearly-beloved-brethren straight, three 
 times a day. All immigrants to this country, whatever 
 their national and ecclesiastical antecedents, become de 
 jure members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and are 
 bound by its laws and ritual. The Moravian must 
 abandon the exquisite litanies of his fathers, and the 
 German must forsake the hymns of Luther and of 
 Gerhardt, that they may learn the provincial ways of 
 another European tribe, and recite the Dearly-beloved- 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 87 
 
 brethren, and sing the exhilarating psalms of Nahum 
 Tate, or must sufter the pains and penalties of 
 schism.' 
 
 This hair's-breadth narrowness on ritual questions is 
 commensurate with the writer's breadth of view on 
 questions of theology and practical religion. He sincerely 
 believes that true theology on the Trinity, on the origin 
 of evil, and on the relation of predestination to respon- 
 sibility is found alone in what he, in common with the 
 infinitesimal sect of a sect, believes to be the doctrine of 
 the Anglican church. So, also he thinks that Christian 
 self-sacrifice and beneficence are a peculium of episcopally- 
 ordained ministers. Witness the following: 
 
 " There had been more or less of epidemic disease hanging about 
 Norowam. A drought in summer had been followed by warm, 
 sultry days, and then by a sudden chill with sea fogs and the raw 
 easterly airs. Maurice noticed that Winthrop's handsome faco 
 looked very grave as he came to his meals, that he ate them 
 hurriedly and was soon oif. 
 
 "Maurice hesitated to ask the cause, but -another of the hotel 
 boarders called out across the table at dinner, 'Many sick in the 
 parish ?' 'Several very sick,' was the answer. ' Keeps you pretty 
 busy, eh?' The young clergyman nodded assent. 'What is the 
 matter? ' asked Maurice, in a lower tone. ' Oh, this horrible 
 dysentery. It is the most treacherous thing we have, worse than 
 typhoid, I think — except scarlet fever among the children, there is 
 nothing I dread so much." 
 
 " ' Well, but do you have to go where it is ? ' said Maurice. 
 
 " ' Go ! why to be sure. I was not speaking of myself, when I 
 said I dreaded it, — in fact, I haven't thought of that — it is in the 
 parish that I dread it. " 
 
 1. Since this article was written, Mr. Mitcliell's sect has relaxed a little the 
 austere rigor of its demands, and the singing of Tate and Brady is no longer 
 exacted as a condition of admittance to the covenants of promise. 
 
88 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 " 'Why,' said the other, who had put the first question, 'won't 
 dysentery kill you parsons as quick as it will the rest of us ? ' 
 
 " The young man smiled slightly, and then said, ' The killing is 
 not in the account. We have something else to think of. I have 
 not found ever in my short experience that men live longest who 
 are most afraid ot dying. When I first began to go about among 
 the sick, one of the Doctors told me not to suppose that anything 
 could kill me — and then half the danger was over. So I have just 
 acted on that principle ever since — that is, not to worry about 
 myself at all, which comes to the same end.' 
 
 " Maurice looked at him with admiration.'^ pp. 207, 208. 
 
 We also admire ; but are at a loss at which to wonder 
 most, whether at the acquaintance with Christian ministers 
 which persuades our author that it is a rare and dis- 
 tinguishing virtue among them not to shirk duty in a 
 dysentery season ; or at the narrowness of view which 
 convinces him that this most moderate allowance of 
 official virtue is an Episcopalian quality, which a 
 Presbyterian can scarcely attain unto, and which a 
 Unitarian (to use his own words) " feels to be far beyond 
 his own mark." For our part, we can conceive of a 
 minister who would run away from his duty in an epidemic 
 as something to be despised and kicked out of the pro- 
 fession ; but it would hardly occur to us, from the 
 ministers we have happened to know, to signalize one's 
 attendance on dysenter^^ patients as anything exceptionally 
 heroic, or even " beyond the mark" of an average 
 Unitarian. 
 
 One cannot refrain from remarking how far more 
 contracted and illiberal are the habits of thinking of a 
 High-Churchman in Mr. Mitchell's position, than those of 
 an intelligent Roman Catholic. Those who have read the 
 Article in the Catholic Worldj which was reviewed in the 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 89 
 
 last Number of the New Englander, will have marked how 
 much better it is, in point of courtes}'-, of candid effort to 
 appreciate an antagonist's position, of Christian love and 
 respect towards fellow-disciples of Christ from whom he 
 is sundered, than it would have been possible for the 
 author to write when he was still lingering, in mid- 
 progress, among the Anglicans. The Romanist makes no 
 claim to Catholicity which he does not back up with 
 earnest effort, on a scale commensurate with his claims, 
 to subdue the entire world, Christian and Pagan, to the 
 papal obedience. He does not attempt to enforce the 
 provincial traditions of a petty region like southeastern 
 Britain, upon the adoption of all mankind ; but accepts 
 the only principle on which his idea of an external 
 catholicity could possibly be realized — the principle of 
 " E iiHiiribus lumm.''' Holding fast by certain great 
 fixtures in discipline and worship— ttie authority of popes 
 and councils, and the forms of celebrating the mass, other 
 things are subject to necessary change to adapt them to 
 varying times and peoples ; and the traditions of diocesan 
 sovereignt}^, which have long been extinguished in the 
 Episcopal Church by the exorbitant authority of Parlia- 
 ment or triennial synod, still linger in the Papal Church, 
 giving vitality in all its parts, and reminding one of the 
 lost independency of churches in the primitive age. A 
 Roman Catholic missionary in Connecticut may, ijermissii 
 su'perioriSj draw upon all the resources of Protestant 
 hymnology, old and new, and bid his proselytes worship 
 God in the wonted strains of Watts, and Wesley, and 
 Toplady, and Bonar, and Eay Palmer ; he may put on his 
 black coat, and talk to them from his improvised pulpit 
 with as close and familiar appeal as Finney or Beecher. 
 
90 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCIIMAN. 
 
 But his next-of-kin has one unvarying song for Morning 
 Prayer, for Evening Prayer, for Sundays, for week-days, 
 for fasts, for feasts, the same excerpt from John Calvin, 
 (of whom he hates the very name), the " Dearly beloved 
 brethren, the Scripture moveth us," with its long sequel; 
 and cannot travel into the unevangelized regions of 
 Puritanism without a band-box, a basket of prayer-books, 
 and a clerk to start the responses. He is doomed by the 
 inexorable necessity of his position to stand upon trifles, 
 and to look on his own things and not on the things of 
 others. We are bound to make due allowance for this, 
 in observing the little arrogances and misconceptions and 
 misrepresentations of gentlemen in that position, and not 
 to conclude too hastily that they proceed from any inward 
 deficiency of good manners or good feeling. 
 
 It is worth while to make a brief excursus here on the 
 practical question. How shall we deal with well-intending 
 gentlemen who are betra3^ed into incivilities to their 
 neighbors by the necessity of their sacerdotal position ? 
 The best answer may perhaps be found in the experience 
 of the Rev. Augustine Ralston, as we have learned it 
 from himself. 
 
 The Rev. Walter Mitchell gives his conception of what 
 would have been a first encounter between the Rev. Mr. 
 Ralston and the Episcopalian minister of Norowam, as 
 follows : 
 
 " Provoking? as he [Ralston] could be, when you came to know 
 him it was impossible to quarrel with him. He was provoking, 
 however. He took advantage of a silence at the dinner-table to 
 address Winthrop so pointedly as to draw the attention of all upon 
 him. 'Brother Winthrop, when shall we have the pleasure of an 
 exchange ? ' 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 91 
 
 " ' Thank you, Mr. Ralston, I shall be engaged till after 
 Christmas, and then I shall probably leave.' 
 
 " Ralston bit his lip and resumed. * * * * ' Come, now, that 
 is mere fencing with the question. Would you exchange with me if 
 you had the power ? ' 
 
 " 'No, I would not,' said Winthrop, tired ot this badgering, 'or 
 with any other other who tried to tease me into it.' 
 
 " 'Oh ! that is not the reason. I am not pressing you to do the 
 thing, only to say why you are unwilling. Now, be frank ; say it 
 is because you do not hold my orders to be valid.' 
 
 " 'Very well, Mr. Ralston, you knew, before you asked me, that 
 no Episcopal clergyman in this Diocese would exchange with you, 
 or consider you to be a lawful minister. * * * * 'I do not 
 consider you, in any sense, a validly ordained minister, and, unless 
 you are in a different position from most Congregationalists, you 
 are a teacher of heresy.' " pp. 187, 188. 
 
 Of course^ in the discussion that follows, the unhappy 
 Congregationalist is showed to have pulled down over- 
 whelming arguments and repartees upon his head. Being 
 curious to know what sort of a picture might be made of 
 the affair, if the lion should turn painter, we asked 
 Mr. Kalston, the other day, what sort of talks he used to 
 have with his Episcopalian neighbor at Korowam, and 
 received an answer which, being translated into the 
 romantic style of Mr. Mitchell's novel, would run some- 
 what as follows : 
 
 The youthful but heroic Ralston came back from the exploration 
 of his new field, wearied, yet not discouraged. But so great a 
 draft upon his exquisitely tender sympathies had quite exhausted 
 him, and as he sank into his study chair, his classic head — with its 
 Hyperion curls still surmounted by a delicate Panama hat, like th(^ 
 gold-foil glory which constitutes the coiffure of a pre-Raphaelite 
 fiaint — dropped upon his marble hand in an attitude of graceful but 
 unaffected languor. 
 
92 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 Augustine had not rested long, when a tap was heard at his; 
 door and a card was laid on his table, inscribed in minute black- 
 letter characters, thus : — 
 
 The Hector of the Episcopal Church (which was one of several 
 sectarian organizations that had grown up about the old parish 
 church of the town) soon followed his card, on a visit of courtesy 
 to the new comer. He was evidently a gentleman. This was 
 obvious not only from his clothes, and from the way in which his 
 hair was cut, but from that partial paralysis of the facial muscles 
 which is cultivated by the first families of Boston under the title ot 
 " the Beacon street air." And yet, with all this, there was a certain 
 professional style pricking out at all points. As to his costume, 
 he had the appearance of having put himself into the hands of a 
 "clerical tailor" of extreme views; and in accordance with the 
 theory of the great Tftufelsdrockh, the consciousness of peculiar 
 clothes, both on Aveek days and on Sundays, had done more than 
 the doctrine of Apostolic succession to ingrain into his mind the 
 pleasing conviction that he stood above the general mass of men 
 and ministers in a position of authority. It was an amusing study 
 to Mr. llalston to observe the struggle which was always going on 
 in his visitor's mind, between the natural modesty and courtesy of 
 a well-bred gentleman, and the professional habit of feeling and 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGIi-ClIURCHMAN. 93 
 
 acting with an air of superiority and condescension. Ralston was 
 quite too good-natured to disturb tor a moment the harmless little 
 pompousness of this assumption on the part of his new friend ; but 
 when he observed how embarrassed the latter was in the continual 
 collision between his respectfulness and almost timid deference, 
 and his professional loftiness, it seemed a mere act of humanity to 
 relieve him. 
 
 Accordingly, when the Reverend Mr. Winthrop, after a long and 
 lively conversation, buttoned the perpendicular row of buttons to 
 his chin and stood gazing for a moment upon his clerical hat, as if 
 momentarily expecting it to bifurcate into a mitre, Ralston 
 responded cordially to his " Good evening," and added an 
 expression of pleasure at the new acquaintance, — "although," said 
 he, "I feel bound to say, at the outset, that these social relations 
 must not be understood as implying any mutual relations whatever 
 of an official character." 
 
 " 0. certainly," quickly replied the other, " we can't, of course, 
 you know a " 
 
 " Of course we cannot, Mr. Winthrop, said Ralston, kindly, but 
 sternly; "it is out ot the question for me to recognize the validity 
 of your ordination." 
 
 " Why, but Mr. Ralston, you do not understand, perhaps, that 1 
 am the rector of St. Bardolph's church, and have had the imposition 
 of hands from Bishop Gardiner." 
 
 " 'My dear sir, I do not question for a moment the impositions 
 you have undergone. But a very little attention to the Greek 
 Testament will show you that the essence of ordination is not in 
 the yjipo^iaLU^ or laying on of hands, but in the yjiporovia, or 
 holding up of hands of the assembly of believers in the election of 
 the elder or bishop, which ever he may be called. I do not doubt, 
 at all, that you have been attentive enough to the forms and 
 accidents of ordination; what you lack is the very substance of the 
 thing. These impositions that you speak of are all well enough as 
 between yourself and Bishop Gardiner, and the separatists Avho 
 consort with him; but is plainly impossible that they should fulfill 
 the requirements of the Scriptures, or confer upon you any standing 
 in the Church Catholic." 
 
 "However," continued Ralston, as he saw a look of dejection 
 
94 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 creep over Wintlirop's feminine features, and a rosy flush suffusing 
 his fine complexion, up to the very roots of his silken and wavy 
 hair, " you must not feel entirely cast down. We are not disposed 
 to insist unreasonably upon points like this, when we see a man 
 really trying to be useful, as I hear from all quarters that you are.'^ 
 —here Winthrop boAved with an evident expression of relief— "but 
 you will acknowledge, yourself, that we could not entirely overlook 
 defects and irregularities such as I have pointed out to you." 
 
 Notwithstanding the benignant look that beamed, as he spoke, 
 from Kalston's face, Winthrop shrunk timidly toward the threshold, 
 and all that was heard in reply before he 
 
 plunj^od all noiseless into the dark night,' 
 
 was, " Well, I'm sure a — a — I never thought a — a — but I 
 
 don't see a — a — Good night." 
 
 As Ralston turned to his self-denying labors, a faint smile might 
 have been seen to steal over his noble but melancholy features. 
 
 Nothing could have been happier than the effect of this timely 
 explanation ; for Winthrop, who had never before been able to 
 keep up any sort of terms of amity with his clerical neighbors, 
 found himself thenceforth relieved, in Ralston 's society, from his 
 most besetting embarrassments, and cultivated a friendship for him 
 which was cordially reciprocated. (From ^'Augustine Ralston; or 
 The Hero of the Faith," an unwritten novel.) 
 
 III. It will do us all good to learn from these 
 Confessions of Mr. Mitchell, how it is possible for a man 
 to be led into a narrow schismatic position, in relation to 
 the Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, by truly- 
 generous considerations. It may seem paradoxical, and 
 yet we believe that Mr. Mitchell might justly claim, if he 
 knew the real history of his own mind, that he was drawn 
 towards that noisy little secession from the general 
 communion of believers which now holds his allegiance, 
 by a true love for the whole body of Christ's disciples, 
 and a hatred of divisions. There is really touching 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A IIIGH-CIIURCHMAN. 95- 
 
 evidence of the working of this influence in the warm- 
 hearted, though unpractical eloquence with which Bishop 
 Cleveland Coxe, on a " Christian Union " platform, urges 
 upon brethren of other bodies of clergy the acceptance of 
 a free grant of apostolic succession, as the one hope of a 
 reunited Christendom, and the one deliverance from that 
 frightful bugbear, the Pope. It is the mark of a true 
 Christian heart, to be disgusted with the " Evangelical " 
 cant which vindicates the scandal and nuisance of our 
 modern schisms as being ordered by an all-wise Providence, 
 and as contributing to the total effectiveness of Christianit}^. 
 We cannot, therefore, but respect the motives which 
 hurry some impatient souls to seek a solution of this 
 trouble in High-Churchism — that is, in declaring that 
 their sect is the Church, and in intense, conscientious 
 making-believe that there are no Christians (except 
 " after a sort") outside. The noblest example of this 
 method of restoring church-unity is that of the little 
 handful of Samaritans who to this day live in the city of 
 Sychar and kill their yearly passover on Gerizim. That 
 little remnant, of fortj' families, hold that " in this 
 mountain men ought to worship," and that all outside of 
 their fellowship are " strangers to the covenants of 
 promise," and when taunted with their feeble numbers^ 
 declare with confidence that somewhere beyond the 
 Sabbatical river, which flows impassably for six days in 
 the week, and runs dry only on the seventh, are hosts 
 and nations of good Samaritans, who are hindered by 
 nothing but a rigid Sabbatarianism from marching forth 
 to manifest their fellowship with their feeble brethren. In 
 like manner our little knot of High-Churchmen having 
 solved the difficulty of the division of the church by 
 
96 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 declaring their fragment to be the church, are accustomed 
 to keep up each others' spirits by promising one another 
 that some time or other, when the Sabbatical river of 
 Greek and Armenian exclusiveness shall be dried up on a 
 week-da}^, we shall see what we shall see. " Expectant 
 dum defluit amnis." 
 
 We have a very considerable measure of respect for 
 the exclusiveness of the High-Churchman. It is no very 
 long time since w^e have ourselves been arguing that to 
 make a truce and open diplomatic relations with seceders 
 w^as no way to national unity; and we have no disposition 
 to flinch from the parity of reasoning which concludes 
 that the unity of the Church of Christ is not be gained by 
 the organizing of its factions into several confederated 
 and mutually militant parties, picketed against each other 
 from village to Adllage through the land, but " recognizing" 
 each other, and having certain diplomatic relations, as of 
 pulpit exchange, and so forth. This is the ideal church 
 unity to which the Tract Society bears its cautious 
 witness, and after which the heterogeneous leaders of 
 Mr. Kimball's " Christian Union Society " led one 
 another such a pretty chase some two years ago, and 
 came out nowhere. We believe that a generation is 
 growing up which will see the folly of all such Eirenica 
 as these, and which will candidly acknowledge, to the 
 honor of the little' squad of High-Church Episcopalians, 
 that, in their ridiculous way, they did nevertheless bear 
 unconscious witness, in a perverse age, to the principle 
 and duty of Christian Union, and by the obstinacy of 
 their schismatic practices did testify against schism 
 tolerated and approved. And we tender them a certain 
 amount of qualified sympathy, in view, of the aggravating 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 97 
 
 behavior of the recusant Thrall, Cotton Smith, and Tyng, 
 Jr., whose notorious latitude of exchange with Presbyterian 
 and Congregational neighbors no episcopal or canonical 
 authority has thus far been able to restrain. 
 
 It is superfluous to point out how absurd a contrivance 
 for healing the wounds of Christendom is the Mitchell 
 prescription of a little more apostolic succession. 
 Mr. Bryan Maurice sneers at the American chapel at Rome 
 as a "funny compound. One week it was Presb)^terian, 
 the next New School Taylorite, the third Dutch 
 Reformed;" — the hymn that is sung "says that ^The 
 voice of Free Grace cries Escape to the mountain ; ' and 
 then the Doctor prayed that the elect might be speedily 
 brought to a sense of the truth ; and then Mr. Adams 
 told us that we had only to will to be converted, by 
 calculating the advantages of the step, and we should be 
 converted." His biographer will not pretend that the 
 theological variations here caricatured are wider in range 
 than those which prevail among the ministers of Episcopal 
 Churches, all the way around from Pusey to Samuel 
 Clark the Arian, by way of Thomas Scott and Frederick 
 Robertson. The absurdity which his sarcasm cuts upon 
 so keenly is that of seeing Christians of these various 
 opinions coming together in a foreign land for common 
 worship, with no more of a basis of union than their 
 mutual love, and common trust for salvation upon the 
 same almighty Saviour. If only the flux of valid orders 
 had been thrown in, and the incantation of the Dearly- 
 beloved-brethren pronounced, how sweetly they might 
 have flowed together! Not all the family feuds and bitter- 
 nesses and back-bitings that have vexed " The Protestant- 
 Episcopal-Church-in-the-United-States-of- America," could 
 
 7 
 
98 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 make it less than heavenly in its unity, if only this 
 healing branch of priestly pedigree could be introduced. 
 Only accept this boon, which comes begging to be taken, 
 — so we have been assured many a time, not only from 
 Episcopalian, but from Episcopal lips — and you come 
 right in at once. New School or Old, Calvinist or 
 Arminian, and no questions asked, and the Church is one 
 again. Their principle of Christian union is derived, 
 evidently enough, from misapprehension of a patristic 
 maxim, which they inversely read " in necessariis, 
 libertas ; in non-necessariis, unitasf' and where the caritas 
 comes in, it is not always easy to discover. 
 
 We cheerfully concede to this High-Church party the 
 advantage incident to conscientious narrowness of position^ 
 in giving energy to proselyting operations. It was the 
 remark of the great Henri lY., that so long as the 
 Huguenot conceded the salvability of the Catholic, while 
 the Catholic refused to concede the salvability of the 
 Huguenot, nothing could be expected of the controversy 
 but that the Huguenot should go to the wall. We must 
 make up our minds to yield this advantage to our High- 
 Church Episcopalian friends, just as they, in turn, will 
 have to give it up when their approaching contest with 
 the Komanist comes on. But so long as they continue to 
 hold it, it gives a certain air of dignity and religious duty 
 to the electioneering and wheedling, as well as to the 
 argument and authority, by which sea and land are com- 
 passed to get a man out of one Christian sect and into 
 another. We can have a genuine respect for the home 
 propagandism of our Episcopal brother, who rejoices over 
 every new proselyte brought over from a godly Methodist 
 or Presbyterian family as over a brand snatched from the 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 99 
 
 burnings when if our Congregational or Presbyterian 
 brother should be caught mousing about in the same way, 
 we should be very much ashamed of him. This conviction 
 of an exclusive divine privilege conferred upon the 
 ecclesiastical corporation, is a very good and energizing 
 thing for the sect, but a very, very bad and demoralizing 
 thing for the members of it. And yet it is the only thing 
 which can give respectability or substantial vigor to that 
 pushing and elbowing effort for self-advancement which 
 characterizes the dissenting sects in England, and the 
 Episcopal denomination in this country. " There is some- 
 thing peculiar about your American Episcopalians " — 
 this was a remark which we once heard from an accom- 
 plished lady, a devout member of the English Established 
 Church — " they seem so very much like our English 
 dissenters." 
 
 In conclusion, we gladly take the opportunity to testify 
 that it would be altogether unjust to judge JMr. Mitchell 
 by his book. From the admiring descriptions of his 
 favorite heroes, it is much to be feared that his readers 
 will conceive of him as a sentimental goose, taking vast 
 pride in his " white and very handsome hands," his 
 " silken and wavy hair," and his " feminine beauty " of 
 face ; choosing his religion mainly for architectural 
 considerations, and under the guidance of delightful girls, 
 whose " Oh, do, Mr. Mitchell ; something tells me that 
 you will ! " it is impossible to resist. On the contrary, 
 he is a very diligent and faithful Christian pastor, 
 eminently useful and practical, a thoughful student of the 
 Scriptures, and as liberal in his views and dealings as is 
 compatible with his unfortunate position. In literary 
 merit, this book is far inferior to other efforts of his pen, 
 
100 CONFESSIONS OF A HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 
 
 in prose and verse : so that we are disposed to accept the 
 apology, if it should be offered, that the author has 
 purposely written it doivn both in style and argument, to 
 the taste and capacity of the class of young people whom 
 he considers most hopeful subjects of his zeal. We 
 strongly recommend it to Episcopalian ministers, for 
 lending to susceptible young people in their neighbors' 
 congregations, of inferior intelligence, but ardent longings 
 after the first society. 
 
 ►^^«^*cOs&?<- 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 101 
 
 Y. 
 
 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY?* 
 
 AN OPEN LETTER TO THE RIGHT REVEREND A. C. COXE, D.D., 
 BISHOP IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
 
 My Dear Sir : 
 
 I cannot plead, in apology for addressing you thus 
 publicly, that I am moved to it by the reading of your 
 recent volume entitled ApoUoSy or the Way of God. It is 
 my misfortune, and I feel it seriousl}?-, that I have not yet 
 had the opportunity of reading the book, for I doubt not 
 tliat it throws light on the subject on which I would 
 speak to you, and answers in advance many of the 
 questions which I wish to put. But as a matter of fact, 
 I had already begun to put my thoughts and questions 
 into the form of a letter to you, when I saw the announce- 
 ment of your book. And my reason for this use of your 
 name was that I knew you, through both public and 
 private acquaintance, as the man who more than any 
 other in the Episcopal Church in America cherishes an 
 
 * From the New Englander Quarterly, for April, 1874. 
 
102 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY? 
 
 intelligent conviction of " High Church" principles, in con- 
 junction with a warm love for all Christian believers, and 
 a " continual sorrow of heart " over the schisms by which 
 they are divided from each other and miserably weakened 
 in their work " for the whole estate of Christ's Church 
 militant." 
 
 AVhat is the subject upon my mind you have already 
 conjectured. According to the direction from which it is 
 viewed, it might be stated either as the restoration of the 
 Episcopal Church to the communion of the Church 
 Catholic ; or, (in an aspect more obvious from your own 
 point of view) as the facilitating of the communion of 
 Christians generally with the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church. But instead of attempting to define or discuss 
 the subject in a general way, I beg jouv attention to it in 
 the most practical form, as illustrated in a very needless 
 and useless schism lately effected in the little community 
 of American Christians residing at Geneva. There is 
 nothing unprecedented or even unusual in the facts of 
 this case. I mention them simply in order to bring the 
 subject fairly into view. 
 
 There has long existed among the American Christians 
 at Greneva the desire for a church where they could unite 
 in common worship. Of late, this desire has taken the 
 form of a practical resolution. The movers in the enter- 
 prise were of various denominations ; but so cordial was 
 the good-will that the majority deferred to the preferences 
 of the Episcopalians among them, and measures were 
 taken to procure an Episcopalian minister and organize the 
 congregation according to the forms of that denomination. 
 These measures having failed, they proceeded at a later 
 period, with the same fraternal spirit, to organize a 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 103 
 
 church indepeadently of any question of sect. The 
 preferences of the Episcopalian brethren were still con- 
 sulted in the order of public worship adopted. A convenient 
 place of worship was engaged ; the services of a diligent, 
 earnest, and able pastor were secured and his support 
 pledged ; regular services were begun ; and plans were at 
 once laid for building an American church-edifice. 
 
 These arrangements had been completed only a few 
 weeks, when a zealous Episcopal minister, who was 
 residing at the time in Italy as a missionary for the pro- 
 motion of Christian union, hastened to (xeneva, got out 
 his posters announcing a separate series of services, 
 organized a separate congregation, started his opposition 
 building-subscription, and seems now in a fair way, unless 
 some good influence should interfere, to accomplish a 
 permanent schism in the little population of American 
 Christians in Geneva. 
 
 The most mischievous results of this schism were not 
 obvious when it was first effected. It was during the 
 brief season of summer travel, when, for a few weeks, 
 Geneva is full of Americans passing to and fro, or 
 sojourning for a short time. Accordingly, both services 
 were well attended and well supported for the time. To 
 be sure, as a matter of taste, it was not pleasant to see 
 the less honorable features of American church-life so 
 distinctl}^ protruded before the observation of people 
 abroad ; — the " running" of rival churches on the principle 
 that "competition is the life of business;" — the rival 
 show-bills displayed in public places side by side, the new 
 one quite eclipsing the old in dimensions, with an air of 
 " no-connection-with-the-shop-o ver-the- way ; " — the busi- 
 ness-like cards in circulation at hotels and boarding 
 
104 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 houses ; — the gentle bragging and " touting " on the part 
 of the friends of the respective enterprises, mingled with 
 faint praises, almost fading into civil disparagements, of 
 the rival undertaking — all this is sufficiently astonishing 
 to the European mind, which is just now very earnestly 
 intent in studying the American method of conducting 
 religious institutions , and it is not gratifying to the 
 pride or the conscience of all Americans. 
 
 But now that the summer torrent of travel has run 
 by, the mischiefs of this schism become more apparent. 
 The congregations are dwindled to a few meagre dozens 
 a-piece, each comforting itself in its scantiness with the 
 probability that the other is still smaller. Contributions 
 and subscriptions decline — the zeal of some to give for 
 strife's sake being balanced by the disgust of others at 
 the wanton waste, and worse than waste, of money 
 requiring for sustaining the schism. Of course, the 
 temptation (however successfully it may have been, thus 
 far, resisted) to the ill feelings commonly attendant upon 
 schism, is increased, i^nd if this is so now, what will it 
 be when the tug of building begins? — when the monu- 
 ments which are to perpetuate this scandal, and hold it 
 continually in public view, begin to rise painfully from 
 their foundations? — when each party begins to feel in its 
 pocket the inconvenience of the existence of the other 
 party ? — when over every stranger of uncertain allegiance 
 and large means there arises a contention as over the 
 body of Moses, and the fancy-fairs and pious lotteries 
 begin to flourish, to the glory of God and the edification 
 of the Church ? 
 
 It will be alleged that this state of things is compelled, 
 in the circumstances, as the inexorable result of the 
 
IS 8CH1SM A NECESSITY ? 105 
 
 conscientious principles of the dominant party in the 
 Episcopal Church. If this is so, there is nothing more to 
 he said in the hope of accommodation. We cannot ask 
 for a sacrifice of principle. We must respect, how much 
 soever we may lament it, a schism for conscience' sake, 
 in which there is no schismatic spirit, and m,ust make up 
 our minds to the suspension of all religious intercourse 
 and common worship between Protestant Episcopalians 
 and the rest of the Church Catholic, imputing it to their 
 principles and not to themselves, and viewing it as the 
 reduction of those principles ad ctbsiirclum. 
 
 But is such non-intercourse necessarily a matter of 
 principle ? Is there no possible modus Vivendi according 
 to which the American Episcopalians in one of these 
 transatlantic colonies may without sin join in common 
 worship Avith their fellow-Christians of the same country 
 and language ? It seems to me that the inquiry has never 
 been thoroughly and candidly made, unless, peradventure, 
 it has been made in your recent volume entitled " Apollos." 
 The attempts at solving it seem to me to have been made 
 with no adequate understanding of the differences 
 involved, or else with no respect for them. Permit me to 
 say for myself, in apology for this new Eirenikon, that I 
 have no disrespect even for the exclusivism of High 
 Church Episcopalians. I regard it as the only effective 
 practical protest extant against the prevailing " evan- 
 gelical " heresy that the normal state of the Church 
 universal is schism ; that sects are a good thing, so that 
 the more sects you can have (within reasonable 
 limits) the better; and that the Holy Catholic Church, 
 the communion of saints, consists properly of a series 
 of strenuously competing denominations, maintaining 
 
IQQ IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 diplomatic relations and exchange of pulpits ; " sinking 
 their differences" in a Tract Society that agrees to 
 be mum on all controverted points ; and meeting 
 occasionally in an " Alliance." So long as this con- 
 tinues to be the highest prevalent conception of 
 Christian fellowship, we need the protest of High 
 Churchism, in its most uncompromising form, in favor ol 
 the organic unity of the Christian Church. I would not 
 have that protest made one whit less effective. I do not 
 believe that a protest against schism is less effective for 
 not being made in a schismatic spirit. I do not believe 
 that the usefulness or the dignity of the Episcopal Church 
 (as represented in its dominant party) would be in the 
 least impaired by its asserting its principles courteously 
 and affectionately towards other Christians, with some 
 expression of regret when diflPerence of principle seems to 
 involve the necessity of separation ; and by its doing its 
 best to free itself from the reproach of being the most 
 pushing, elbowing, scrambling, and unscrupulous of all 
 the sects. I believe that its best mission, that of asserting 
 the necessity of appointed forms of permanent Christian 
 fellowship, can be fulfilled in such wise as not to offend 
 the sinrit of Christian fellowship. I have often found 
 much of the poetry and theory of Christian communion 
 -among Episcopalians, and always a great deal more of 
 the practical spirit of it among non-Episcopalians. The 
 former have so worthy a desire for fellowship with the 
 Church of the Fourth Century that they are ready, for the 
 sake of it, to live in practical isolation from the actual 
 Church of the Nineteenth Century. They are so earnestly 
 (though hitherto vainly) desirous to open some special 
 relations of communion with Old Catholics, or Greeks, or 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 107 
 
 ArmeniaDS, three or four thousand miles away, that they 
 tear themselves asunder with alacrity from their own 
 fellow-conntr3anen and fellow-Protestants. 
 
 The things which hinder Episcopalians from common 
 worship with their fellow-Christians generally^ luay be 
 summed up under three heads: 1. Conditions of Com- 
 munion. 2. Ritual. 3. Authority of the Ministry. 
 
 1. In respect to the conditions of communion^ the only 
 thing of the nature of a principle that need be waived by 
 Episcopalians is waived already, in their actual practice. 
 I refer to that expressed in the rubric at the end of the 
 Confirmation-service, to the effect that " there shall none 
 be admitted to the Holy Communion until such time as he 
 be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed." 
 The efi*ect of this rubric, if followed, would be to make 
 the Episcopal Church a close-communion corporation, 
 like the American Baptists. By a happy inconsistencj^, 
 which shows how easy it is to find a way through a rule, 
 if there is only a will, this rubric is commonly, not to say 
 generally, set aside whenever it is found to work incon- 
 veniently. On the other hand, the pernicious use of 
 formularies of dogma as a ritual for receiving candidates 
 for the Lord's Supper, which has spread from the Con- 
 gregationalists iuto so many of the Evangelical commu- 
 nions of America, is practicallj^ abandoned by them 
 whenever occasion requires. 
 
 2. The subject of ritual might seem to be one of great 
 difficulty. If Episcopalians can not agree about it among 
 themselves, how can they hope to agree with the rest of 
 the Church ? But I believe that practically there is no 
 serious difficulty about it. There was once a diff'erence 
 of principle between the parties. That was when it was 
 
108 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 held by all Puritan churches that human compositions in 
 divine worship were forbidden. The contest over this 
 tenet was fought out for American Christendom a hundred 
 years ago, on the question of using Watts' Hymns. It 
 lingers among us to-day only in a dwindling sect of 
 Scotchmen, and in a few feeble minds which are capable 
 of believing that what is tolerable and even edifying in 
 verse, becomes an offense in prose. 
 
 On the other hand, is there anything of the nature of 
 principle to forbid Episcopalians from joining in worship 
 otherwise than in their own forms ? A canon (i, 20) 
 indeed forbids Episcopal ministers ever to preach or to 
 conduct worship except with the use of the Common 
 Prayer without interpolation. But it does not appear 
 that even the letter of this regulation, far less anything 
 worthy to be called a principle, forbids the use of other 
 acts of worship after the " Common Prayer " is ended. 
 The only thing which excludes these, is the excessive 
 length of the three services in one which are prescribed 
 for every Lord's Day ; and the ingenuity of Episcopalian 
 ministers has not been employed in vain in discovering 
 ways of keeping the law and shortening the service at the 
 same time. Doubtless there are Episcopalians who with- 
 out due reflection have adopted the notion that the 
 Prayer-Book, as they have become accustomed to it, 
 together with the pattern of a black and white gown, was 
 showed to Moses in the Mount. But happily, in the case 
 of congregations of Americans abroad, it is not with 
 minds of this class that one has chiefly to do. The 
 travelled or travelling Christian is ordinarily of a more 
 liberal mind than the average domestic parishioner 
 Christians of the non-liturgical denominations have shown 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 109 
 
 a cordial disposition to use liturgical forms, not, as I 
 think, from a mere willingness to humor the preferences 
 of others, but in part from a hearty appreciation of the 
 good that is to be found in such means of worship. It is 
 not too much to hope that, in assemblies for common 
 worship with other Christians, Episcopalians, although 
 trained habitually to look too exclusively on their own 
 things, and not on the things of others, might learn to 
 appreciate what it is in other modes of worship which so 
 holds the affection of the vast majority of American 
 Christians, including multitudes of those honored for the 
 highest culture, the deepest learning, the most fervid and 
 apostolic piety. I do not believe that any wider modifica- 
 tions of the Prayer-Book order of worship would be 
 needed to unite the prayers and praises of the great 
 multitude of American Christian travellers or sojourners 
 in Europe, as they find themselves together for a longer 
 or shorter time, than such modifications as are already 
 allowed and practiced in Episcopalian congregations, 
 together with such as you would yourself acknowledge to 
 be desirable for their own sake, or in view of the peculiar 
 circumstances and character of the congregations, to be 
 provided for. What these might be I will indicate by- 
 and-by. 
 
 3. We come now to the only real difficulty in the case. 
 It is, of course, the claim, made in behalf of episcopally- 
 ordained ministers, of exclusive authority to administer 
 the word and sacraments of the New Testament. This 
 difficulty is real and great. It is not to be evaded by 
 pretending not to see it, or treating it otherwise than as 
 a serious and conscientious conviction in the minds of 
 many by whom it is alleged. Not the slightest progress 
 
110 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 towards the solution of it is made by means of occasional 
 departures from the ordinary Episcopalian usage on this 
 point by persons who do not feel the difficulty in their 
 own minds. But there is certainly no hope of solving it 
 by the process of persuading American Christians 
 generally to agree in putting any kind of slight or affront 
 upon the great body of the most beloved and honored of 
 American ministers of the gospel, and to enter into 
 arrangements by which they are to be forbidden to 
 minister in the congregations of their fellow-countrymen 
 abroad. The successful reconciliation must guard from 
 infraction the principles held by many Episcopalians, 
 without excluding from a share in the services of these 
 mingled congregations of sojourners the approved ministers 
 of other denominations. Such a reconciliation, if only 
 there is a will for it, is not impossible. 
 
 There are two suggestions, familiar already to thought- 
 ful minds in the Episcopal Church, which bear upon the 
 problem : (1) That the functions of teaching and leading 
 the worship of Christian assemblies are not necessarily a 
 l)eculium of the priesthood. (2) That it may be possible 
 to confer the authority implied in Episcopal ordination 
 upon ministers of other communions. I may add to these 
 (3) that it might be possible for ministers of other com- 
 munions, in some circumstances, to accept episcopal 
 ordination, becorping loyally responsible to the bishop for 
 all such acts as they should perform by virtue of it, if 
 they were not thereby to be cut off from the general 
 fellowship of the Christian ministry ; and (4) that the 
 importance, especially in these foreign congregations, of 
 having some better guard against the intrusion of unfit 
 persons into sacred functions than is afforded by the 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY? Ill 
 
 ordinary constitution of a " Union Church " would be 
 cordially appreciated by wise men of all the uniting con- 
 fessions, and most of all, I venture to say, by the foreign 
 chaplains themselves. 
 
 To bring all this down to practical details, let us take 
 the case of this little community of American Christians 
 in Geneva which it is proposed to split into two fragments,, 
 competing, striving, advertising, bragging, quarrelling, — 
 for it is not easy to have two churches, in a community 
 which is barely large enough for one, without these 
 results. Let me sketch the outline of a practicable 
 union among them which would involve no sacrifice of 
 principle. 
 
 1. Let there be no " organizing of a church," according 
 to a practice very commonly followed. This useless pro- 
 cedure raises a great many questions which need not to be 
 raised at all — questions both dogmatic and ecclesiastical. 
 All that is needful, practically, is a house of worship and 
 a pastor for this group of travellers and sojourners. The 
 effort to bring the various Christians together for common 
 worship will be all the more fruitful if it is contented 
 with this one object, and seeks for nothing beside, except 
 what comes freely of itself. It is enough, to begin with,, 
 that the congregation of believers meet every Lord's day 
 for the worship of God and the hearing of his gospel. If 
 that is all that they can agree upon, let us be thankful 
 for so much as that. It is not a small thing that they 
 should look one another in the face as fellow-Christians, 
 and join their voices in common praise and prayer. If 
 for all the rest they must separate — if the old painful 
 experience of the Church through all the ages of its 
 captivity must be renewed, and that rite which should 
 
112 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY? 
 
 have expressed the general fellowship of the Church — its 
 holy communion — must needs be used again as the occasion 
 and symbol of its dissensions — if when all the rest come 
 with one accord into one place to eat the Lord's Supper, 
 Episcopalians and Baptists must for conscience' sake 
 refrain, and assemble for their separate rites, — then let 
 us be thankful for so much of fellowship as we can attain 
 unto, and greatly honor the conscientious fidelity which, 
 having gladly conceded all it can to Christian love, 
 pauses where it must in obedience to Christian duty. 
 
 If a way be found by which the fellow-worshipers can 
 also, with a safe conscience, be fellow-communicants, 
 there need be no provision or local rule for " admitting to 
 the church " by public rite. If penitent believers be 
 invited, any penitent believer msij come to the Lord's 
 table. And nothing need hinder any new communicant 
 from seeking preparatory counsel from ministers of his 
 /)wn preference, or confirmation from a bishop when 
 opportunity should off'er. 
 
 All subordinate organization — for Sunday school, for 
 charitable work, etc.; might be left to grow up of itself, 
 allowing perfect freedom and every facility for division 
 whenever it was found difficult to work together. With 
 such freedom, divisions would rarely occur, and when 
 they did occur would not necessarily iuA^olve a general 
 split of the whole community. 
 
 2. In the matter of Ritual, something would have to be 
 conceded by Episcopalians, I do not say to the prejudice 
 or preference, but to the cowscie^ce of Christians generally. 
 As a matter of conscience, these would not ordinarily be 
 contented with forms which, compiled in an age before 
 the awakening of the missionary spirit among Protestants, 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 113 
 
 make no adequate provision for prayer for the extension 
 of the Church, and the conversion of the world to Christ ; 
 and which interdict the congregation from " praying the 
 Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers 
 into his harvest." I do not think that they would do right 
 to be satisfied without the privilege of praying for the 
 supreme civil authority of their own country. The 
 mistake made by the American editors of the Common 
 Prayer^ of substituting for the prayer for the King a 
 prayer for the President, as if that were equivalent, 
 would have to be rectified in some way. Por especially 
 at those times of solemn election at which the power 
 delegated for awhile to temporary functionaries reverts 
 to the hands of the supreme People, and great issues, 
 involving even the interests of the kingdom of Christ, may 
 be hanging upon their imperial decision, the conscience of 
 a Christian citizen craves the privilege of praying, 
 according to the spirit of the apostle's injunction, for the 
 People " as supreme, as well as for presidents and 
 governors who are sent by '' the People. I might cite 
 another instance of the need of larger liberty of prayer, — 
 I mean the case of times of financial anxiety and distress, 
 which are to modern society what drought and famine 
 were to the old world. But for all these and other like 
 cases no other provision would perhaps be necessary than 
 such a provision for time, as is already available even 
 under the strictest letter of your law. 
 
 The principal change necessary in order to give full 
 scope to all needful accommodation, is that already author- 
 ized by a multitude of precedents in the Episcopal Church, 
 both yVmerican and English, — to have the Litany, or the 
 
114: ^^ SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 Ante-commiinion service, or both, at a different hour from 
 the Morning Prayer and Sermon. 
 
 Some changes would commend themseh^es, I am sure, 
 to your own mind, as desirable in view either of the 
 Jiiictnating character, or of the mixed character of such a 
 congregation. 
 
 For instance, in a fluctuating congregation, the com- 
 pensating advantages of a systematic lectionary, which 
 gives to a stable company of regular church-goers the 
 substance of the Bible in the course of a year's morning 
 and evening lessons, entirely disappear, leaving only the 
 serious inconveniences of it. Furthermore, in a com- 
 munity in which (as often in these American communities 
 in Europe) more than one formal service on the Lord's 
 day may seem inexpedient, it would be mere servitude to 
 some people's usage to take half the psalms in the Psalter 
 at hap-hazard, and read these to the exclusion of the 
 others. It would be equally " decent and in order " and 
 much more "to the edification" of all parties, in the 
 circumstances, to leave the selection of lessons and of 
 psalms to the discretion of the minister. 
 
 And so in view of the mixed character of the congrega- 
 tion, could the highest " churchmanship " imagine a reason 
 why the Psalter should be read in the quaint old " Bishops' 
 Bible" version, familiar only to Episcopalians, instead 
 of in the version .which is both familiar and dear to all 
 English-speaking Christians? — or why it should be read 
 in alternate verses, instead of in responsive parallelisms? 
 Or is there any divine authority in the new Hynmal of 
 the Episcopal Church which would make it binding on 
 a congregation made up in large part or members of 
 other communions, in case that congregation, on the whole^ 
 
IS SCHISM A NF.CESSITY ? 115 
 
 should find it too great a departure from their customary 
 hymnody ? 
 
 These are some of the amendments which suggest them- 
 selves when the question is how to adapt the Anglo- 
 American order of worship to the best edification of 
 such a mixed and fluctuating congregation as that of an 
 American colony in Europe. They are certainly nothing 
 very startling. If assented to by the proper authority 
 in the Episcopal Church, would they sacrifice one atom 
 of principle held by Episcopalians, or let go any thing 
 that intelligent Episcopalians hold dear? They would 
 make barely difl^erence enough to show that the congre- 
 gation was not a parish of the Episcopal Church in the 
 United States; and this is just the fact which it would be 
 important to have distinctly understood, on all hands. 
 
 3. The difficulties growing out of the claim of exclusive 
 authority for episcopally ordained ministers are of two 
 sorts : they relate either (1) to the stated pastorate, or 
 (2) to occasional services. 
 
 (I.) With a umvete which alwsijs wins my aff'ectionate 
 admiration, some Episcopalian clergymen suggest that the 
 difficulty touching the pastorate may be completely solved 
 by always giving that office to an Episcopalian — " He is 
 acceptable to every one, you know, and nobody else 
 would be acceptable to our people." I need hardly 
 explain to you why this solution does not strike all minds 
 as completely satisfactory. 
 
 A more complete solution may be sought in the sug- 
 gestion, made long ago in the Episcopal Church apropos 
 of a certain " Memorial," and repeated almost impor- 
 tunately since, in behalf of the Episcopal Church, in the 
 interest of Christian Union — that the element of apostolic 
 
116 I-^ HOUlSxM A NECESSITY? 
 
 authority derived from succession should be introduced 
 into the ordination of ministers of other communions. In 
 the form in which this was first suggested — the grafting 
 upon the stock of the American Episcopal Church of vast 
 branches, bigger than the stock itself — it was doubtless 
 open to practical objections from both sides. But to the 
 plan of extending this offer of ordination to " godly and 
 well learned men/' designated to the exceptional duty of 
 foreign chaplaincy, in order that they might be enabled 
 to minister orderly and to edification to Episcopalian 
 travellers and sojourners, as well as to others, there 
 could be few objections from your side which would not 
 also be objections to every act of Christian comity. 
 
 And the difficulties from the other side, which were 
 obvious in the case of the " Memorial " proposals, would 
 not prevail in the present case supposed. It was an un- 
 likely thing that a great religious body, like the Methodist 
 Church, for instance, after negotiation, deliberation, 
 discussion, and vote, should come bending to its little 
 sister consenting to have its illegitimate ministry 
 validated by an improved mode of ordination. But it 
 is not in the least unlikely that individual clergymen, 
 and those of the highest worth, might gladly receive a 
 special ordination for a special work. There are some 
 few, indeed, who hold to a theory of apostolical succession 
 through the presbyterial line, and to these few the proposal 
 of an Episcopal ordination would seem like a disparage- 
 ment of their former commission. But for my part, to 
 receive the benediction of one of the chief pastors of 
 another communion, with his commission to care for 
 members of his own flock scattered abroad, would seem 
 to me no more sacrilegious than for Paul and l^arnabas, 
 
IS SCHISM A NKCESKITY? ' 117 
 
 after years of apostolic and prophetic ministry, to 
 receive the laying on of hands of their brethren when 
 sent to the Jews of the dispersion. 
 
 It has never been claimed that helief ni the special 
 validity of Episcopal ordination was necessary as a con- 
 dition of receiving such ordination. 
 
 Will you not explain to me wherein consists the good 
 faith of those urgent invitations and expostulations 
 repeated by high representatives of the Episcopal Church, 
 yourself among others, to their hrethren of other 
 ministries, to remove the one great hindrance to Christian 
 Union by accepting the free gift of the laying on of 
 apostolic hands, which would make it right in conscience 
 to recognize them as belonging to the true ministry of 
 Christ's Church ? I . am persuaded that there was an 
 honest meaning in it. as in everything that I hear or read 
 from you. It is impoi^sible to think that all that was 
 intended in that affectionate appeal in behalf of Christian 
 Union was simply an invitation to come out of Babylon, 
 pass a year's quarantine, and then reappear as one of the 
 " inferior clergy " in search of an Episcopal parish. I am 
 bound to presume that it contemplated some way in 
 which one could share the fellowship of the ministry of 
 the Episcopal Church without renouncing that of the 
 Church Catholic. 
 
 I would fall back on this for a solution of the difficulty. 
 Let the person designated as pastor of a foreign American 
 congregation, when he happens to be of some other 
 ministry than that of the Episcopal Church, on giving 
 satisfactory evidence of his fitness, and satisfactory 
 evidence that his special commission will be exercised in 
 a generous and loyal spirit, be ordained — be reordained. 
 
118 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 if you like (the word need not scare any one) — to his 
 S2)ecial mission in the Episcopalian part of his flock. 
 
 (2.) The difficulty which relates to the occasional 
 services of ministers of various Christian confessions, who 
 from time to time may be sojourners at the place of the 
 chaplaincy, is one not less important than that which 
 relates to the pastorate. To you it is not necessary to 
 explain the importance of it. No man feels it more 
 distinctly. But I have no doubt that there are those in 
 your denomination who in all simplicity and sincerity 
 fail to understand why any should refuse to be satisfied 
 with an arrangement on this basis : that the Reverend 
 Mr. Cream Cheese, stopping over upon the grand tour, 
 should be recognized as a clergyman, and that the most 
 illustrious saints and teachers of the American Church — a 
 Stoddard or a Schauffler on his return from apostolic toils 
 and triumphs in the mission-field, a Woolsey, or a Hodge, 
 a Simpson or a John Hall, rich from the exploration of 
 Christian truth, or glowing with the joy of successful 
 preaching — should be required to sit dumb, as not being 
 validly ordained. If there be such, they ought to be 
 made to understand that, even if it were an easy and 
 graceful thing for their Christian brethren to repudiate 
 beloved and venerated preachers of the Gospel for others 
 just as good, the actual question would he on repudiating 
 them for others admitted to be inferior. For on this 
 point, although 1 purposel}'' refrain from pressing it 
 invidiously, I suppose that there is really no doubt what- 
 ever. It has been remarked on to me, not long ago, with 
 great emphasis, by each of two of the most eminent 
 dignitaries of the Church of England : The importance of 
 this question, then, is clear. Happily, the solution of it 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 119 
 
 is not far to seek. It lies in recognizing these two 
 points : 
 
 First : That ordination to office in one church does not 
 make a man minister of another church. Our principles 
 do not differ with regard to this. When you and I were 
 neighbor pastors in New York and Brooklyn, if I had 
 come into your church, I should have been a layman 
 there ; and if you had come into my church you would 
 have been a laymen with us, — only I should have been at 
 liberty, in accordance Avith the general and graceful usage 
 of American churches, to recognize your official position 
 in another church with acts of courtesy which you W' ould 
 have been forbidden by rules to reciprocate. 
 
 The inference from this principle is that no person, 
 however ordained, would have any right to officiate in 
 such a congregation as we are supposing, without being 
 duly invited. 
 
 Secondly : That the functions of preaching and leading 
 in public worship are not regarded as exclusively priestly 
 functions, even by those who hold most strenuously that 
 there is such a thing as a " changeable priesthood" in the 
 Christian Church. Among such, it is a matter of rule and 
 usage and good order that, in ordinary circumstances, 
 these functions be discharged by those whom they 
 recognize as priests. But the question is how to provide, 
 not for ordinary circumstances, but for extraordinary ; 
 and it is very certain that in the Episcopal Church, under 
 the most scrupulous administration, persons having no 
 <ilaim to sacerdotal character are invited, when occasion 
 requires, to address religious congregations and to offer 
 prayers. 
 
 But I do not think that any would desire that in a 
 
120 IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 congregation so peculiarly situated the pulpit-door should 
 be carelessly left open to any person presenting himself 
 in a white cravat or with a claim to apostolic succession. 
 I think it Avould be found a general convenience, in the 
 circumstances, if it were understood that the chaplain's 
 f/eneral rule, on this point, to be departed from only for 
 good reason, was to invite into his place onl}^ persons 
 furnished with recommendations from a Committee in 
 America in which the government of the Episcopal Church 
 would naturally be represented. 
 
 I trust that I have said enough to show that no lyrincipJe 
 stands in the way of the healing of such a poor, pitiable 
 little schism as the Episcopal Church, through its repre- 
 sentative and missionary, has effected in the American 
 community at Geneva. And yet I have not written with 
 sanguine hopes of a practical result. Eor I fear that the 
 ready answer to all such suggestions will be — must be^ 
 perhaps — a non jwssunms ; that the Episcopal Church, and 
 each of its bishops and ministers, are so bound by rules 
 to one narrow and invariable method of operation, that 
 with the best will in the world it is impossible for them 
 to depart from it.^ I am afraid this is so. I am afraid 
 that the dominant part)^ in the Church has bound itself as 
 under a doom to hold its " high" pretensions in connection 
 with a policy which impeaches them of holding those 
 pretensions, I will not say with conscious insincerity, but 
 with dubious conviction and palpable unfaithfulness. For 
 
 1. This proved to be literally the case. The answer of B.shop Coxe published, 
 in the same (iuartoily iu October of the same year, was overflowing with 
 expressions of kindness and respect, but the upshot of it all was "we have a 
 law, and by that law" we must make a schism wherever j,we can get a 
 foothold. JjCX dura sed lex. Of course I do not olfer this summary of Dr. Coxo's 
 article as one wliich he would accept as complete, but only as the reading of it 
 from our catholic point of view. 
 
IS KCHISM A NECESSITY ? 121 
 
 " high " principles can not be held in righteousness, 
 except in connection with a broad policy. The claim to 
 be the one Catholic Church for America, to which the 
 allegiance of every baptized American is due, implies the 
 duty of putting no wanton or arbitrary hindrance in the 
 way of such allegiance. The pretension to be trustees of 
 a grand deposit of sacramental grace, on which the 
 salvation of the souls of the whole people largely depends, 
 carries with it an awful responsibility for making this 
 grace freely accessible to all, — for opening conduits in all 
 directions, that it may flow forth without hin'drance to 
 every soul that will receive it. The "Evangelical," w^ho 
 holds that there is a legitimate way to heaven through 
 the Presbyterian or Methodist Church, and that no one is 
 bound to be an Episcopalian unless he prefers it, might 
 innocently enough insist on rigid and narrow laws within 
 his church concerning non-essential matters, — that there 
 shall be one set of prayers, one hymn-book, one cut of 
 gown, one code of dogma, one school of preachers — and 
 that those who do not like these may seek some other 
 fold. But the High-Churchman, who believes that there 
 is no true fold but his pin-fold, can not act thus without 
 condemning himself of horrible sin, against God and 
 against humanity. And yet it is thus that he does act — 
 for it is he who controls the policy and makes the laws of 
 his Church. He calls to all his fellow-countrymen to 
 come into the ark of safety, but stands himself in the 
 door-wa}^ to see to it that none get in except on condition 
 of conforming to his own notions of etiquette. Of all 
 the religious bodies that claim to be nothing but parts of 
 the Church, do j^ou know of any which pursues a policy 
 so rigidly narrow with regard to mere circumstantials and 
 
122 IS 8CHISM A NECESSITY ? 
 
 non-essentials as that body which claims to be itself the 
 €hiirch Catholic for the United States ? 
 
 It would be wrong to infer from this policy that the 
 notions with which it is associated are held insincerely. 
 But it can not be unjust to infer that they are not held, in 
 general, with any great depth or thoroughness of con- 
 viction. 
 
 And after all, is the divisive, schismatic course so often 
 pursued in the name of the Episcopal Church, really a 
 matter of principle at all ? Is it a sort of thing that is 
 amenable to serious argument ? Is there not reasonable 
 ground to fear that the course of action in that Church has 
 been controlled, to an extent of which its best men have 
 been unconscious, by a ver}^ different class of people, 
 whose influence tends to oppose any acts of accommoda- 
 tion or courtesy towards other Christians, however wise 
 or right. These are people who have a keen relish for 
 schism for its oi\''n sake. They like a select and exclusive 
 church, and are willing to pay smartl}^ for it, much in the 
 same way in which they like a first-class car on a German 
 railroad — not because it is any better or more respectable 
 than the second class car, but because it keeps somebody 
 else out, and so inspires in the person within a transient 
 but pleasing sense of being a distinguished individual. It 
 is from this class of our fellow-citizens (they abound in 
 Europe) that Ave hear the frequent longing for established 
 class distinctions in American society — a longing not un- 
 mixed with happy and assured convictions as to the grade 
 to which, in that case, one would find one's self assigned. 
 To such aspiring souls the distinctive privilege of being a 
 fellow-communicant with my lord Tomnoddy, and of 
 having a minute but indefeasible personal interest in the 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY? 123 
 
 archbishop of Canterbury, brings tender feelings of 
 gratitude for the mercy that has so lifted them up, at 
 least on Sundays, above the common lot of their fellow- 
 republicans. Is there not reasonable ground to fear that 
 there are enough of such people in the Episcopal Cliurch 
 to have insensibly affected its policy, and in some instances 
 to have effected schisms for vanity's sake, or for schism's 
 own sake, that never would have been begun for the sake 
 of any serious principle. If there be a disproportionately 
 large element ol this sort in the Episcopal Church, I am 
 well aware that the shame and blame of it must be borne 
 in part by other denominations, from whose fold they 
 have in many cases come forth. But I am unwilling to 
 think that such feelings can be allowed to hold any lasting 
 influence upon the policy of a considerable and respectable 
 religious organization. I will not believe, except under 
 the compulsion of facts, that the Episcopal Church is 
 hopelessly committed to the policy of fomenting or 
 maintaining such schisms as this which has occasioned the 
 present letter. 
 
 If some solution of the question in hand could be 
 reached, it would be a matter of great satisfaction and 
 joy to the multitude of Christians of every name in 
 America. It would confer vast additional power on the 
 growing influence of American Christianity in Europe. 
 But can there be a doubt that the chief gainer would 
 be the Episcopal Church itself ? In one view it would 
 be a loser. These mingled congregations of American 
 travellers and sojourners could not be added up into the 
 statistics of sectarian growth. They could not be used 
 as proselyting traps to catch wayfarers. They would 
 a^fford no opportunity either to priest or to people of the 
 
124 IS 8CHI.SM A NECESSITY? 
 
 Episcopalian sort for loftily making-believe that there 
 are no other sorts of Christians in the world. There are 
 minds doubtless to whom these will be fatal objections. 
 But over against these might be set the blessings, both 
 to the heart and to the intellect, which spring from " the 
 communion of saints " It is impossible to read a "Church"^ 
 newspaper, or frequent the conversation of "Church" 
 circles in America, without feeling how hungrily that 
 whole region of religious society needs to be liberalized 
 by some actual fellowship with the Church universal. 
 I do not doubt that you feel it more deeply than I do. 
 The adjustment of terms of agreement for common wor- 
 ship among Christian travellers abroad would be a safe and 
 practicable beginning of such fellowship ; and from this 
 beginning what good things might possibly grow? 
 
 Do not think me insincere in arguing for the good of 
 the Episcopal Church. Among its members and especially 
 in its ministry are some of my most cherished friends. 
 For my brethren and my companions' sakes, ma)^ peace 
 be within its Avails. Because of the house of the Lord 
 our God, I will seek its good. 
 
 I do not speak as representing any party. For some 
 year^ it lias been my fixed purpose to belong to no sect, 
 and not to be counted on either side in a schism, I come 
 witli my family to reside near this venerable city, and 
 find that the congregation which should have been our 
 spiritual home lias been desolated by this wanton schism. 
 There is nothing for me to do but to show, with every 
 opportunity, that I count my brethren on both sides, and 
 that my paramount love and allegiance is due to the 
 whole and not to either fragment; to pray for the peace 
 of Jerusalem; and at the same time to send forth this 
 
IS SCHISM A NECESSITY ? 125 
 
 appeal to the qnarter in which I am sure of a sympathetic 
 hearings and from Avhich I do not despair of an infiaential 
 response. Perhaps it will be deemed too late to heal this 
 "hurt of Zion"' Perhaps the mischiet' xAW have to go on 
 aggravating itself with time, and be perpetuated and 
 displayed in stone as a monumental scandal of American 
 Christianity before the annual throng of European travel- 
 lers. Perhaps there will have to be a race and scuffle of 
 sects for the first foothold in the various frequented capi- 
 tals of Europe, and a repetition of this edifying exhibition 
 before the scorn of a ^vider audience. But I do not believe 
 you will suffer it to be by your fault; and I know it will 
 not be by mine. I have delivered my soul. 
 
 « Eraternall}^ and truly yours, 
 
 Leonard AVoolsev Bacon. 
 
 Petit Saconiiex, Geneva, December, 10, 1873. 
 
 --=s&vO>«sc 0--S^- 
 
126 HOW TO AVERT A SCHI8M. 
 
 VI. 
 
 HOW TO AVERT A SCHISM. 
 
 Geneva, October 1, 1875. 
 My lord Archbishop : 
 
 I can not better show my appreciation of your g^reat 
 courtesy in inviting me to write to you concerning the 
 provision for English worship on the continent of Europe, 
 than by using the greatest simplicity and brevity in pre- 
 senting my views. 
 
 The substance of what I would say is this: 1. There 
 is impending a separation between English and American 
 travellers in their arrangements for worship. 2. Such a 
 
 * It was after the substance of these pa>?es had been presented to the Arch- 
 bishop ill conversation, tliat liis Grace very kintlly proposed that the case should 
 be fully stated in \vritin>? and sent to him, to be broujjfht to tlic attention of the 
 Bishop of London. On receiving it, he further requested that copies shonhl be 
 sent to certain of tlie Eii;;lish bishops, whose addresses he furnislied; and later 
 it was mad:; the text of a discussion in a private meetiuf? of the bishops. I have to 
 acknowledge the cordial expressions of interest and approval which it drew 
 
HOW TO AVERT A WCllISM. 127 
 
 separation is earnestly to be deprecated. 3. It may be 
 averted by a wise and generous policy, involving no com- 
 promise of principle, on the part of those representing the 
 interests of the Church of England. 
 
 1. When I speak of an impending separation between 
 English and American Christians in their arrangements 
 for worship, I speak partly from my personal knowledge 
 of the feelings and plans of my fellow-countrymen. But 
 there is no need of personal witness. A moment's con- 
 sideration of the case is enough. It is generall}^ declared 
 by those whose business connects them with the travelling- 
 public, that the English on the Continent are now out- 
 numbered by the Americans ; and this disproportion 
 increases annuall}^ Up to the present time, except in a 
 few of the chief centres of concourse, American Christians 
 of every name have gracefully accepted and generously 
 requited the hospitality of the English Chapels, rendering 
 them, in some oases (I speak by the highest authority) 
 much more than half their support. But it is in itself 
 unlikely that they will long be content with this relation 
 to chapels governed and served exclusively by English- 
 men, under forms rigorously, nationally, and even 
 politically English, throughout which (with the exception 
 of one brief interpolation) one-half the congregation, or 
 more, are recognized onl}^ as spectators of the worship of 
 others. 
 
 2. Such a division between English and American 
 
 forth in private letters from several of the most eminent bishops and other 
 dignitaries of the Chnrch of Elngland. Indeed the only expressions of dissatis- 
 faction I have heard from any (jnarter, have been from some of my friends in the 
 American Protestant Episcopal Cliurch, who have shown a certain coy and 
 sraee'.ul reluctance to accept tlie praise which it so justly awards to their enter- 
 prisiu}^ and industrious denomination. 
 
128 now TO AVERT A SCHISM. 
 
 travellers would be an evil that ought to be prevented. 
 The first evil consequence of it would be felt in the 
 embarrassment of many of the existing English chapels. 
 It was publicly declared, not long ago, by the rector of 
 the English church in Geneva, that before the organization 
 of the church of which I am in charge, three-fourths of 
 the income of the English church had been derived from 
 American worshippers. One of the secretaries of the 
 Colonial and Continental Church Society has expressed 
 the conviction tliat " the withdrawal of American support 
 would sadly endanger the eiHciency of man}^ of their 
 chaplaincies.'* But this inconvenience, although no 
 trifling matter, is a far less serious one than the scandals 
 almost inevitably incident to such a separation — the 
 emulations, the irritations and the visible divisions, 
 countervailing, in most observers, all proofs of a spiritual 
 and real unity. And a greater evil still would be the loss 
 of a sacred bond of fellowship between the kindred nations 
 — a bond which ever}^ friend of the kingdom of God on 
 earth must desire to see strengthened rather than 
 abolished. 
 
 3. The impending separation may be averted by a wise 
 policy on the part of those charged with the interests of 
 the Church of England on this continent. The movement 
 which might already have been in progress for the organ- 
 ization of a system of American chapels in Europe, has 
 been postponed by the present financial disturbances. It 
 Avill probably be further postponed by the festivities of 
 the c(.ming year in the United States. I am certain that 
 it will be postponed indefinitely, if, on the part of the 
 Church of En^-land there shall meanwhile be made some 
 generous provision for the common " worship of mixed 
 
HOW TO AVERT A SCHISM. 129 
 
 congTegations, made up out of two nations and of many 
 different communions. To such provision (if I rightly 
 understand the bearing of the legal opinion lately rend- 
 ered in the case submitted by the Bishop of London and 
 Mr. Fremantle) there is no legal hindrance. Neither, as 
 will shortly appear, can there be any theological objection 
 to it, from any quarter. Nor yet, on the other hand, 
 would any moral obstruction stand in the way of its being 
 cordiall}^ accepted by American Christians, whose kindly 
 feeling of affection and deference towards the Church of 
 England, which is, in so just a sense, "the mother of us 
 all " has survived many generations of separation, and 
 many causes of alienation. There is no religious organi- 
 zation in America to which American Christians generally 
 would be so well content to commit their interests in such 
 arrangements, as to their brethren of the English Church, 
 acting with a generous regard for the whole English- 
 speaking community on this Continent. 
 
 If, noAV, it is asked what changes would be needed in 
 the existing arraugements for English worship on the 
 Continent, I answer, in general: Whatever is necessary 
 to fit them to the obvious wants of congregations of double 
 nationality and diverse ecclesiastical relations. The need- 
 ful changes might, perhaps, all be included under these 
 two heads, (1) Order of worship; (2) Spirit of adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 (1) Beside certain obvious modifications, as in the 
 forms of prayer for rulers, the necessary liturgic changes 
 would include some accommodations in the interest of 
 brevity and the avoidance of repetition, such as are reck- 
 oned desirable, though unattainable, in England itself, but 
 would be indispensable elsewhere. 
 
130 HOW TO AVERT A SCHISM. 
 
 (2) The Spirit of the Administration of these Chapels 
 should be that of the largest Christian fellowship.. 
 Especially it should make cordial and practical recog- 
 nition of those Ordines Predicatonim which are extant 
 and active throughout all English-speaking Christendom^ 
 making no claim to sacerdotal functions, but universally 
 approved as "apt to teach'' and as qualified to lead their 
 fellow Christians in the ordinary offices of common prayer 
 and praise. 
 
 It will be objected that I stop here, just where the 
 difficulties of the case begin. That is just where I meant 
 to stop. " Whereto, then, we have already attained, let 
 us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." 
 
 When we come to the matter of the administration of 
 the sacraments, there are serious divergences. The great 
 body of American Christians would have grave objection 
 to the forms used in the administration of baptism in the 
 Church of England ; and an earnest and important party 
 in the English Church would object not less strenuously 
 to any administration whatever of the Lord's Supper by 
 the great multitude of the American Clergy. These differ- 
 ences are not to be trifled with, for they are matters of 
 conscience. But I fail to find in them any reason why^ 
 lip to the point of divergence, the companies of travellers 
 of diff'erent nations but of the same language and the same 
 Christian faith should separate from each other in their 
 acts of ordinary and common worship. 
 
 One mistake it seems necessary to guard against — not 
 I am aware, in the mind of your Grrace, but in less informed 
 minds — the mistake of supposing that the desired relations 
 with the American Church can be eff'ected by means of 
 a league formed with one of the parties qr sects of American 
 
HOW TO AVERT A SCHISM. 131 
 
 Christians, to the exclusion of the general commonwealth 
 of believers in that land. Natnrally enough, the American 
 relations of the English clergy have been chiefly with 
 members and ministers of the American Protestant 
 Episcopal church; insomuch that some Englishmen have 
 certainly got the impression that, aside from the fact of 
 State establishment, this highly respectable body stands 
 in some such relation to the American people as the 
 English church does to the English people — a mistake 
 that would wofully mislead in dealing with the question. 
 The American Episcopal Church has eminent claims to 
 respect. It bears a striking resemblance to the very best 
 of the dissenting sects of England — a resemblance of 
 which it may be justly proud. No one can duly honor 
 its prosperity and increase who does not know the dis- 
 advantages under which they have been won. The remark 
 made some thirty years ago by the Westminster Review 
 holds true to this day — that no standard work in American 
 literature has ever come from the pen of an Episcopalian 
 minister. The splendid contributions of the American 
 Church to the sum of theological science in its every 
 department owe nothing of importance to Episcopalian 
 scholars. I am told by an eminent dignitary of the 
 English Church that, when the commission on Bible 
 Revision was organizing a corresponding- Board of Ameri- 
 can scholars, there was an embarrassing difficulty in 
 finding competent men in the Episcopal Church to give 
 that body a proportionate representation. And yet, not- 
 withstanding this inferiority and the inferiority of 
 numbers, the American Episcopalians, by dint of vigorous 
 self-assertion (which is not in the least inconsistent with 
 a sincere inward humility) and by dint of faithful, 
 
132 HOW TO AVERT A SCHISM. 
 
 conscientious pushing and proselj^ting, aided in no slight 
 degree by the prestige of their relation to your venerable 
 body, have raised themselves to a position among the 
 very foremost in the second rank of the Christian sects of 
 America. It is with no reluctance, but with unaffected 
 pleasure, that I bear this testimony in their praise. With 
 the exception of the Wesleyans and the Eoman Catholics, 
 I doubt whether any body of British dissenters can show 
 a better record of successful propagandism than the 
 American Episcopalians. But we should not allow our 
 admiration to blind us to the facts in the case. It is right 
 to remember that a proposal on the part of the English 
 Church to meet the wants of Americans in general by an 
 exclusive arrangement with one of the minor sects in 
 America, however respectable, would not be, in the nature 
 of things, a hopeful one. The authority or influence of 
 " the mother of us all " can not be delegated to one of the 
 smaller children with any reasonable prospect of advant- 
 age to the family peace. The deference of American 
 Christians toward the old Church of England is sincere 
 and lasting, and with a wise and generous policy it may 
 be turned to a noble use in the interest of Christian 
 fellowship all over the world. Or it may be put to a very 
 poor and unworthy use in abetting the pretensions of one 
 party of American Christians against all the rest, and so 
 perish in the using. 
 
 I have written this whole letter on the presumption 
 that, under the late opinion of eminent counsel, the English 
 clergy, of all degrees, are free, in their relation to the 
 work of the gospel in foreign parts, from the rig(Trou8 
 legal restrictions that bind them within the realm. I trust 
 that I am not mistaken. Certainly I cannot have mis- 
 
HOW TO AVERT A SCHISM. 133 
 
 understood the generous spirit of your Grace, in listening 
 so earnestly to the statement of this subject from me, a 
 stranger, and in inviting this written communication. 
 I leave the matter confidently and very gratefully in your 
 hands. 
 
 I remain, in the ministry of the gospel, your lordship's 
 obedient servant, 
 
 Leonard Woolsey Bacon, 
 
 American Pastor, Greneva. 
 
 To his Grace, 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth. 
 
 ->e^^:>*cC^^ 
 
134 HOW THE RE v.. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 YII. 
 
 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED 
 HIS SITUATION.* 
 
 AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION, 
 AND THE CERTAINTY OF BELIEF, TO WHICH WE ARE 
 AFFECTIONATELY INVITED BY HIS HOLINESS THE POPE. 
 
 Note. — This Article, first published in the Nao Enqlander Quarterly, of 
 July, 1870, was reissued as a pamphlet by the "American and Foreign Christian 
 Union " with the following 
 
 For many generations it has been a standing accusation against 
 the Roman Catholic Church that it has a tendency to demoralize 
 society and the individual^ by issuing certificates, written or oral, 
 of the forgiveness of sins, and of the remission of the penalties of 
 them, both in this world and the world to come, on the performance 
 of rites, or the payment of money, or on other conditions different 
 from those required in the gospel — repentance and faith. 
 
 In answer to this accusation, the apologists of the Roman 
 Church have constantly averred, sometimes with a great show of 
 
 * The Invitation Heeded : Reasons for a Return to Catholic Unity. By 
 James Kent Stone, late President of Kcnyon College, (xambier ; and of Hobavt 
 College, Geneva, New York; and S. T. D. Catholic Publication Society. 1870. 
 12mo. pp. 341. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 135 
 
 indif^nation, thaf these certi6caies of forgiveness of sin and remis- 
 sion of ponalty and assurance of salvation do not mean, and are 
 well understood not to mean, what their terms imjjort ; — that the 
 Tinderstanding is distinct and explicit between the Church and its 
 devotees, that. when the priest says, " I absolve thee," he does not 
 in fact absolve at all, and that the forgiveness of the " penitent," 
 to whom these words have been pronounced in the confessional, is 
 just as entirely contingent on his true repentance, as the forgiveness 
 of any sinner outside of the Church can bo ; that the promise given 
 in an " indulgence " of the remission of purgatorial torment, 
 notwithstanding it may be absolute in form, is really subject to 
 similar conditions ; and that the grace to be conferretl, opere 
 operato, by the sacraments generally, is in like manner dependent 
 on such and so many contingencies, as to preclude the danger that 
 any person will be tempted into sin by assurance of safety ; that if 
 at any time impenitent persons have been induced by the agents of 
 the Church to purchase indulgences promising to remit the penalties 
 of their sins, these promises, given by her agents in her name, are 
 indignantly disavowed and repudiated by the Church— although 
 there is no recorded instance of the money being refunded. 
 
 On the other hand, however, an opposite style of address is 
 sometimes taken up by this Church and its advocates, — a style of 
 address calculated to assure those who have thought themselves 
 shut up to the gospel promises of forgiveness on condition of 
 repentance and faith — that there is something a great deal more 
 certain and assured to be had in the Church of Rome ; — that her 
 clergy have a peculiar power of binding and loosing, which other 
 clergymen do not possess ; — that there is a gracious virtue in her 
 sacraments, which cannot be found in others ; — that her pope, 
 especially, has control over the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
 There is much in the tone of her teachings, in the language of her 
 sacraments, and in the terms of her indulgences and other docu- 
 ments that corresponds with these pretensions. They are summed 
 up in the persuasive language of Pope Pius IX., in his letter of 
 September 13th, 1868, addressed to Protestant Christians, in 
 which he implores them to " rescue themselves from a state in 
 which they cannot be assured of their own salvation," and come 
 into his fold, where, as he implies, they can be assured of it. 
 
136 HOW THE REV. DK. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION, 
 
 These two " Phases of Catholicity," contradictory as they are, 
 do, nevertheless, belong to the same system. And many a luckless 
 polemic, reasoning from one set of the utterances of the Church of 
 Rome, has been suddenly overwhelmed with the Virtuous Indigna- 
 tion and Injured Innocence with which his antagonists have 
 confronted him with the other set of utterances, crying out upon 
 him, " Is IT Honest to say thus and so, when here are passages in 
 our books or facts in our American practice which say just the 
 contrary?" 
 
 If the Church of Rome could be driven up to choose between its- 
 two contradictory doctrines, the remaining controversy would be 
 a short one. But this is hopeless. It clings inexpugnably to the 
 fence, ready to drop on either side, for the time, as the exigency of 
 controversy may require. It moves to and fro in its double-corner 
 on the checker-board, and challenges defeat. 
 
 The following pages discuss the pretensions of the Roman 
 Catholic Church in that aspect in which they have been less 
 frequently and thoroughly canvassed. The representations herein 
 contained of the teaching of that Church have been made with 
 scrupulous care from the most trustworthy sources, to which 
 copious references are given in the margin. But I am not so 
 sanguine as to suppose that I shall be credited by the apologists of 
 Romanism, even with honesty and good faith. I have no reason 
 to doubt that the old trick will be played again — that books 
 universally allowed and approved by the authorities of that de- 
 nomination will be repudiated as of no authority, — that contrary 
 teachings will be cited from other Roman Catholic authors, — (it is 
 easy to find such on each side of almost any important question) — 
 and that these most evasive and slippery antagonists will wind up 
 their reply with shrieks of Is it Honest ? 
 
 Before concludin'g this Preface, I desire to record one more 
 disclaimer concerning the gentleman whose book suggested this 
 discussion, and whose theological position I have shown to bo 
 absurd. I have no knowledge of the Rev. Dr. Stone, except by his 
 book, and by the highly honorable family antecedents which his 
 name suggests. But it is my strong impression that, whatever 
 may be said of his theological position, there is nothing else about 
 him that is not eminently worthy of respect.; and that by virtue 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. 8T0NE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 137 
 
 both of his Christian sincerity and of his talents and scholarship^ 
 he is a convert of whom the Roman Catholic Church in America 
 may most reasonably be proud. 
 
 This is one of the most interesting specimens of a very- 
 interesting class of books — those written by converts to 
 or from Romanism in vindication of their change of views ; 
 and when that good day comes when we all have time 
 for every thing, we shall count it well worth while to 
 criticize it in detail. At present, we undertake no more 
 than rapidly to state the upshot of the Rev. Dr. Stone's 
 religious change, as it appears to us, and to foot up the 
 balance of spiritual advantage which he seems to have 
 gained by it. 
 
 A year ago last October, the Rev. James Kent Stone, 
 D.D., a minister of excellent standing in the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church, received, in common with the rest of 
 us, a copy of a letter from the pope of Rome, in which he 
 was affectionately invited to " rescue himself from a state 
 in which he could not be assured of his own salvation," 
 by becoming a member of the Roman Catholic Church, — 
 which teaches, by the way, that as soon as a man becomes 
 " assured of his own salvation" it is a dead certainty that 
 he will be damned.^ 
 
 Accordingly, the Rev. Dr. Stone, deeply conscious how 
 uncertain and perilous is the position of those Avho merely 
 commit themselves in well doing, with simplicity and 
 sincerity, to the keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ according 
 to his promises, "hastens to rescue himself from that 
 
 1. Act. Cone. Trid., Scss. VI., Cap. IX., XII., XIII. 
 
138 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 state, in which he cannot be assured of his own salvation," 
 and betters himself wonderfully, as follows: 
 
 I. His first step is to make sure of his regeneration 
 and entrance into the true church by the door of the church, 
 which is, according to his new teachers, not Christ, but 
 baptism.^ To be sure he has once been baptized, and the 
 Council of Trent warns him not to dare affirm that baptism 
 administered by a heretic (like his good old father) is not 
 true baptism.- But as all his everlasting interests are now 
 pending on a question which no mortal can answer, to wit, 
 whether at the time of the baptism of little James, being 
 then of tender age, the interior intention of old Doctor 
 Stone corresponded with a certain doubtful and variously 
 interpreted requirement of the Council of Trent — that he 
 should " intend to do what the church does"^ — it is well 
 to make his " assurance of salvation " doubl}^ sure, by 
 a " hypothetical baptism" from the hands of a Roman 
 Catholic priest, with some accompaniments which although 
 " not of absolute necessity to his salvation, are of great 
 importance " — such as a little salt in his mouth to excite 
 " a relish fur good works," a little of the priest's spittle 
 smeared upon his ears and nostrils to " open him into an 
 odor of sweetness," a little of the essential " oil of 
 catechumens" on his breast and between his shoulders, 
 and of the " oil of chrism" on the crown of his head, with 
 a " white garment '' on, outside of his coat and pantaloons, 
 and a lighted candle in his hand in the daytime.* If there 
 is a way of meriting heaven by a process of mortification, 
 we have little doubt that it must be for a respectable 
 
 1. Concil. Florent., '■'vitae spiritualis jamca." 
 
 2. Concil. Trid., Canon 4, Dc Bapt. 
 
 3. Cone. Trid., Soss. VII., Can. ll. 
 
 4. See the Roman Catechism. 
 
HOW THE REV. DK. STONE BETTERED HIS SITL'ATIOX. 139 
 
 middle-aged gentleman who has learned, by being president 
 of two colleges, the importance of preserving his personal 
 tlignity, to be operated upon in just this way. Nothing, 
 we should imagine, could add to the poignancy of his 
 distress, and consequent merit, unless it should be to have 
 the members of the Sophomore class present while he was 
 having his nose " opened into the odor of sweetness."' 
 
 Doubtless the object to be gained is amply worth the 
 sacrifice, ^ince it is to " rescue oneself from that state in 
 which he cannot be assured of his own salvation," and 
 avoid that "eternal misery and everlasting destruction," 
 which, according to the authoritative catechism of the 
 Homan Catholic church is the alternative of valid baptism. 
 This second ceremony, be it remembered, is only a hypo- 
 thetical one, calculated to hit him if he is unbaptized, but, 
 in case it should appear in the judgment of the last day 
 that old Dr. Stone had intended to " do what the church 
 does (it being, at present, not infallibly settled what such 
 an intention is) then this latter and merely hypothetical 
 ceremonial is to be held to have been no baptism at all, but 
 null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever. But 
 considering that the issues of eternity are pending on the 
 insoluble question as to the validity of the first baptism, 
 considering that a defect here can never be supplied to all 
 eternity, whether by years of fidelity in other sacraments, 
 or by eeons of torture in purgatorial fire, since it is only 
 by baptism that "the right of partaking of the other sacra- 
 ments is acquired,"^ it is nothing more than common 
 prudence to adopt a course that diminishes by at least one- 
 half the chances of a fatal defect. It must be admitted 
 that there still remains a possibility of the defect of 
 
 1. Dens, De Bapt. Tractat. 
 
140 HOW THE KKV. DR. STONE HETTEUED Ills SlTrATlON. 
 
 intentiouinthe second act as well as in the first; such things 
 having been known in ecclesiastical history as the purposed 
 'Svithholding of the intention "' in multitudes of sacramen- 
 tal acts on the part of an nnlaithful priest. Still, it may 
 be held, perhaps, by the Rev. Dr. Stone, that the hypothe- 
 tical transaction makes the matter nearly enough certain 
 for all his practical purposes (as the old arithmetics used 
 to say) although it falls a good deal short of that " assur- 
 ance of his own salvation" to which he was invited in the 
 pope's letter.^ 
 
 But presuming that between his two baptisms Dr. Stone 
 is validly entered into the lloman Catholic Church, may 
 we not now congratulate him on the (hypothetical) assur- 
 ance of his own salvation ? Not quite yet. To be sure^ 
 he has received the remission of all his j^ins, up to that 
 time, both original an<l actual, and the remission of the 
 punishment of them, both temporal and eternal, and has 
 been (as the Holy Father promised in his 1 etter of a year 
 
 ^ 1. It is very pleasant, from time to time, as one fravorscs the dreary waste of 
 "commamlmentseoiUainetl iiiordinauees' whieh make up the Romish system, 
 to eome upon some atlmission or proviso whieh fairly interpreted nullities all the 
 rest. The Council of Trent, for instance, declares that "without the wa shin- 
 of re}?eueralion(meanin{.- baptism) or the deshr of if, there can be no jnstitica" 
 tion,"aml teaches that an unbeliever brouf«ht to embrace Christianity, not bavin-.- 
 the opportunity of baptism but yet desiriuf.- to receive it, is " baptized in desire ' 
 —the desire supplyin- the place of the actual sacrament. [See ConciL Trident 
 Sess. Vl.,Can.-l;Sess. VII., Can. l, Also Bishop's Hay's "Sincere Christian," 
 Vol. I., Chap. XX]. It ij obvious enouyli tliat tlie.just interpretation and appli- 
 cation of these very Christian teachin-s would blow the "doctrine of intention" 
 ami of the "^ opus operatum " to pieces. But the thorou-h-oin- Romanizers 
 scorn to take advanta-e of such weak concessions. Cardinal I'allavicini say* 
 decidedly, " there is nothin- repu-nant in tlie idea that no person in particular, 
 after all possible reseaiches, can eome to be perfectly sure of his baptisu). No- 
 body eaa complain tliat be surters this evil without bavin- deserve.l it. God, by 
 aj-oodness purely arbitrary, delivers the one without deliverintf the other." 
 [Quoted in Bun-ener's History of the Council of Trent, p. LWJ. This line <.f 
 ar}-ument will be ofno small comfort to Dr. Stone in his disappointment about 
 the "assurauce of his own salvation. " 
 
HOW THE REV. IJR. STONE BETTERED HI8 .SITUATION. 141 
 
 ago last September) " enriched with unexhausted trea- 
 sures" of divine grace. ^ But it is damnable heresy not to 
 acknowledge that "he may lose the grace," or to hold 
 "that it is possible for him to avoid all sins — unless ])y 
 special privilege from (iod, such as trie church holds to 
 have l^een granted to the blessed Virgin."^ (t race may 
 fjome and go, but orthodoxy agrees with experience in 
 teaching that " concupiscence which is the fuel of sin 
 remains.""^ It is damnable, therefore, to afiirm that the 
 rest of the seven sacraments are not necessary to Dr. 
 >St(me's salvation;* and especially to affirm that "it is 
 possible for him if he shall fall" [as he inevitably will] 
 •'after baptism, to recover his lost righteousness without 
 the sacrament of penance,"'' which is "rightly called a 
 second 2'danlt after sJujnureck ;'^ '' Sind equally damnable to 
 " deny that sacramental confession is necessary to salva- 
 tion;"" or to "affirm that in order to receive remission of 
 sins in the sacrament of penance it is not necessary, jure 
 divinOj for him to confess all and every mortal sin which 
 occurs to his memory after due and diligent prenieditation 
 — even his secret sins."^ 
 
 We find, therefore, that our estimable friend is very, 
 very far indeed, up to this point, from having got what he 
 went for. He thought he was stepping upon something 
 solid, but finds himself all at once in great waters, 
 and making a clutch at the " second plank after shipwreck." 
 
 1. Catech. Roman., 1.52-10'.). 
 
 2. Concil. Trident., Scss. vi., Can. 22. 
 
 3. Catech. Roman., ubi supra 
 
 4. Concil 'iViV/er't., Se88. vii., Cau. 4. 
 
 5. Ibid., Se88. vi-, Can. 29. De Justif. 
 
 6. Ibid., 8es8. xiv,, Can. 2. 
 
 7. Ibid., Sess. xiv., Can. G. 
 
 8. Ibid., S(iS8, xiv., Can. 7. 
 
142 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 A certain embarrassment attends him at his first 
 approach to the sacrament of penance. He has a distinct 
 understanding with the church that all sins incurred before 
 baptism, both original sin and actual sins, and all the 
 punishment of them, both eternal punishment in hell, and 
 temporal punishments in this world or in purgatory, are 
 absolutely and entirely remitted in that sacrament, and 
 that no confession or penance is due on their account.^ 
 
 But now the painful question arises, when was he 
 baptized ? He may well hope that the transaction of his 
 good old heretic of a father and of his sponsors in baptism, 
 when they called him M. or N., was only an idle 
 ceremony ; for in that case the long score of his acts and 
 deeds of heresy and schism all his life through is wiped 
 out by the hypothetical baptism, and he may begin his 
 confessions from a very recent date. But if his father had 
 the right sort of intention, then this hypothetical baptism 
 is no baptism at all, and he is to begin at the beginning 
 with his penances. Inasmuch as neither man nor angel 
 can settle the question, he will act wisely to follow the 
 safe example of St. Augustine, and begin his confessions 
 with owning up frankly to the indiscretions (to use the 
 mildest term) with which, in early infancy, he aggravated 
 the temper of his nurse, and peradventure disturbed the 
 serenity of his reverend parent. Doubtless it will make 
 a long story, but vthat is that, when one is seeking for 
 the " assurance of his own salvation ?" — and the joy — 
 the calm, serene peace when he shall hear at last from 
 the lips of the duly accredited representative of the church 
 the operative sacramental words, Ego ahsolvo te, and knoiVy 
 at last, after all these forty or fifty years of painful 
 
 1. C'atecli. Roman,, nbi svx>ra. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR- STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 143 
 
 uncertainty, that at least for this little moment, he is in a 
 state of forgiveness and peace with God ! 
 
 But softly ! We are on the very verge, before we think 
 of it, of repeating that wicked calumny upon the Roman 
 Catholic church against which Father Hecker so 
 indignantly protests, saying: 
 
 "Is IT Honest to persist in saying that CatJwlics believe their 
 sins are forgiven, merely by the confession of them to the priest^ 
 ivithout a true sorroiv for tfiem, or a true purpose to quit them — 
 when eveiy child finds the contrary distinctly and clearly stated in 
 the catechism, which he is obliged to learn before he is admitted 
 to the sacraments?"* 
 
 Of course it is not honest ! We have not examined the 
 catechism in question, for the reason that if we were to 
 quote it against the church of Rome we should be told that 
 it was not authoritative, and be scornfully snubbed for 
 pretending to refer to what was not one of their standards 
 — but of course it is conclusive against our honesty when 
 they quote it. To be sure, the priest says in so many 
 words, " I absolve thee from thy sins, in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Grhost ; " and 
 Bishop Hay, in a volume commended by the proper 
 authorities to the confidence of the faithful, declares that 
 " JesQS Christ has passed his sacred word that when they 
 [the priests] forgive a penitent's sins by pronouncing the 
 sentence of absolution upon him, they are actually for- 
 given." ^ But then nothing is better established than that 
 these authorized books oi religious instruction may be 
 repudiated at discretion as of no authority at all, when- 
 ever the exigency requires it. Then the Catechism of the 
 
 1. Tract of tha Catholic Publication Society. 
 
 2. Sincere Christian, Vol. II., p. 69. 
 
144 HOW THE KEV. DR. STONE BE TTEllED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 Council of Trent says in terms, " Our sins are forgiven by 
 the absolution of the priest ;*' ^ " the absolution of the 
 priest, which is expressed in words, seals the remission of 
 sins, frJiicli it acconiplislies in tlie soul;"- " unlike the 
 authority given to the priests of the old law, to declare 
 the leper cleansed from his leprosy, the power with which 
 the priests of the new law are invested is not simply to 
 declare that sins are forgiven, but as the ministers of God, 
 really to absolve from sin."^ Thus the Catechism of the 
 Council of Trent ; but bless your simple soul ! it is not 
 the Catechism of the Council that is infallible, but only 
 the decrees of the Council ; and although these do, in their 
 obvious meaning, seem to say the same thing, nevertheless 
 Dr. Stone will lind, when he comes to search anu)ng them 
 in hopes to " read his title clear" to divine forgiveness, 
 on the ground of having received absolution from the 
 priest, that what they say is qualified by so many saving 
 clauses, and modified by so many counter-statements, that 
 the seeker for the assurance of his own salvation is as far 
 as ever from being able to 
 
 " bid farewell to every fear, 
 
 And ^A'ipe liis weeping eyes." 
 
 Only one thing is absolutely certain ; and that is that it 
 is impossible for him to be forgiven without absolution,'^ 
 but whether he i« forgiven, or is going to be, now that 
 he has received his absolution, does not by any means so 
 distinctly appear. For " if he denies that in order to the 
 entire and perfect forgiveness of sins, tJiree acts are 
 
 1. Catcch. Komaii, p. 2;j'.t. 
 
 2. Ibid., i». 240. 
 
 3. /6»i., See tho various Canons of Sessions vi. and xiv., of the Council of 
 Trent, abovc-iiuoted. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 145 
 
 required in the penltenty to wit, Contrition, Confession, 
 and Satisfaction, he is to be Anathema," ^ which, if we 
 understand it correctly, is quite another thing from being 
 forgiven and assured of his salvation. Xow Contrition, 
 according to the same infallible authority, " is the distress 
 and horror of the mind on account of sin committed, with 
 the purpose to sin no more." " It includes not only the 
 ceasing from sin, but the purpose and commencement of a 
 new life and hatred of the old." ^ It is " produced by the 
 scrutiny, summing up, and detestation of sins, with which 
 one recounts his past years in the bitterness of his soul, 
 with pondering the weight, multitude, and baseness of his 
 sins, the loss of eternal happiness, and the incurring of 
 eternal damnation, together with the purpose of a better 
 life."^ Now it is important for Dr. Stone to understand 
 (as doubtless he has been told, by this time) that although 
 this will be of no avail to him without the absolution, or 
 at least the desire for the absolution,^ nevertheless the 
 absolution will be of none effect unless the contrition 
 shall have been adequately performed. 
 
 Furthermore, a second part of the sacrament is confes- 
 sion, and there is an awful margin of uncertainty about 
 this act ; for it is damnable to deny that " it is necessary, 
 jure divino, in order to forgiveness of sins, to confess all 
 and every mortal sin Avhich may be remembered after due 
 and diligCiit premeditation."'^ But which of his sins are 
 mortal and which venial, it is simply impossible for the 
 Rev. Dr. Stone to know by tliis time, for it is a life's labor 
 
 1. Cone. Trid,, Sess. xiv., Can. 4. 
 
 2. Ibid., Sess. xiv., Cap. 4. 
 
 3. md., Sess. xiv., Can. 5. 
 
 4. Ibid-, Sess. xiv., Cap. 4. 
 
 5. Ibid., Sess. xiv.. Can. 7. 
 
 10 
 
146 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 to learn the distinctions between them from the theolo- 
 gians, and when you have learned the distinctions^ 
 you have no certainty about them, for they never 
 have been infallibly defined, and the doctors disagree. 
 It may be tedious, but it is obviously necessary, in 
 order to the assurance of his salvation, for the Doctor 
 to make a clean breast of all the sins, big and little, that 
 he can remember " after due and diligent premeditation.'^ 
 But what degree of premeditation is "due" and 
 " diligent,'* is painfully vague, considering how much is 
 depending on it. It Avere well he should give his whole 
 time and attention to it. Bat even then he would be 
 unable to judge with exactness when it was accom- 
 plished. 
 
 " Exactly so ! " doubtless the Eev. Dr, Stone would 
 say ; " and herein consists the happiness of us who have 
 ^rescued ourselves from the state in which we could not 
 be assured of our own salvation' — that we have the 
 advantage of a divinely authorized priest, with power of 
 binding and loosing, who shall guard us from self- 
 deception and mistake, and certify us with sacramental 
 words that all these uncertain conditions are adequately 
 fulfilled, and assure us, in so many words, that our sins 
 are remitted. the comfort of this distinct assurance 
 from the Church ! — this blessed sacrament of penance ! — 
 this second plank! after shipwreck!" 
 
 Poor man ! He has learned by this time that his priest 
 does not undertake to certify him of anything of the sort 
 — that the absolution is pronounced on the presum^ptiou 
 that his own part of the business has been fully attended 
 to, but that if his contrition or his confession has been 
 defective, that is his own look out, and he must suffer the 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 147 
 
 consequences, even be they everlasting perdition. The 
 absolution, in that case does not count at all.^ 
 
 " But," thinks the Rev. Dr. Stone, a little concerned 
 about the assurance of his salvation, " if all the issues of 
 eternal life are to turn on a question of my own con- 
 ciousness, of which no one is to judge but myself, I do not 
 see how I am so much better off on the point of assurance 
 than when I was a Protestant, and had the distinct, 
 undoubted promise of the Lord Jesus Christ himself of 
 salvation on condition of Repentance and Faith." We 
 feel for the honest man's disappointment, but can only 
 recommend to him, in his present situation, to carry his 
 trouble to his new advisers. The best advice they can 
 give him will perhaps be that which certain other high 
 ecclesiastics, of unquestionable regularity of succession 
 and validity of ordination once gave to a distressed 
 inquirer — " What is that to us ? see thou to that ! " 
 
 • It begins to look extremely doubtful whether we shall 
 be able to get the Rev. James Kent Stone to heaven at 
 
 1. "As the Church may sometimes err with respect to persons, it may happen 
 that such an one who shall have been loosed in the eyes of the Church, may 
 be bound before God, and that he whom the Church shall have bound may be 
 loosed when he shall appear before Him who knoweth all things," Pope Inno- 
 cent III., Epistle ii., quoted in Bungener's History of the Council of Trent, We 
 beg pardon for citing the language of a pope as authority, since it is recognized 
 on all hands tliat hardly anything is more unauthorized and fallible than the 
 sayings of a pope, excepting only on those occasions when he speaks tx cathedra, 
 — and precisely when that is, no mortal can tell with certainty. 
 
 Let us try wliat a cardinal will say : '• Without a deep and earnest grief, and 
 a determination not to sin again, no absolution of the priest has the slightest 
 worth or avail in the sight of God; on the contrary, any one Avho asks or obtains 
 absolutiftn, without that sorrow, instead of thereby obtaining forgiveness of his 
 sins, commits an enormous sacrilege, and adds to the weight of his guilt, and 
 goes away from the feet of liis confessor, still more heavily laden thi.n when he 
 approached him. — Wiseman on the Docti'ines of the Church, vol. ii., p. 10. 
 
 There woultl seem to be nearly the same amount and quality of comfort for 
 tender consciences, and " assurance of salvation " here, as may be found (for 
 example) in " Edwards on the Artections." 
 
148 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 all^ on this course^ notwithstanding he has come so far out 
 of his way to make absolutely sure of it. But supposing 
 all these difficulties obviated, and that by a special 
 revelation (it is impossible to conceive of any other means 
 of coming at it) he discovers that his baptism, and contri- 
 tion and confession are all right, and furthermore that the 
 priest has had the necessary " intention " in pronouncing 
 the absolution, and supposing a number of other 
 uncertainties incident to this way of salvation, but which 
 we have no time to attend to, to be entirely obviated, how 
 happy he must be, 2}0st tot discrimina tutus, assured of the 
 forgiveness of all his sins, and how delightful the prospect 
 set before him ! 
 
 " Sweet fields arrayed in living green, 
 And rivers of delight ! " 
 
 Alas, no ! If the Rev. Dr. Stone has any such idea as 
 this, it is only a remnant of the crude notions which he 
 picked up in the days of his heresy, b}^ the private inter- 
 pretation of the Scriptures. Let him now understand that 
 it is damnable error to hold " that when Grod forgives sins 
 he always remits the whole punishment of them." ^ The 
 eternal punishment, indeed, is remitted ; but the temporal 
 punishment which remains to be executed maj'' reach so far 
 into the world to come that it is impossible to predict the 
 end of it. In fact the characteristic vagueness in which 
 all the most ifnportant matters that pertain to one's 
 salvation are studiously involved in the Roman Catholic 
 Church is remarkably illustrated in this matter of purga- 
 torial torment. The nature of it is doubtful. The majority 
 of theologians hold that it is effected by means of literal, 
 material fire — but that is only " a pious opinion," and will 
 
 1. Concil. Ti-idcut. Sess. xiv., Can. 12. Sec also Sess. vi., can. 30. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 149 
 
 not be known for certain until the next time the Pope 
 speaks ^^ out of his chair." The degree of it is doubtful. 
 St. Thomas Aquinas thinks that it exceeds any pain 
 known in his life ; Bonaventura and Bellarmine guess 
 that the greatest pains in purgatory are greater than the 
 greatest in this world ; but they are inclined to think that 
 the least of the pains is not greater than the greatest in 
 this world. ^ But the duration of purgatorial torment is 
 the most uncertain thing of all. Some think it will last 
 only a little while ; others that it Avill endure for years 
 and ages. The Church either don't know or won't tell. 
 The most distinctly settled thing about the Avhole business 
 seems to be this : that no one was ever yet known to be 
 delivered from purgatory so long as there was any more 
 money to be got out of his family by keeping him in. 
 
 Is it not, now, rather a rough disappointment to a man 
 who has done so much, and travelled so far, on the pro- 
 mise of a clear and " assured" view of his future happiness, 
 to bring him through all those perils to the top of his 
 
 Mount Pisgah, and bid him look off on a lake of fire 
 
 and brimstone ? We put it to the pope, in behalf of 
 our deceived and injured fellow citizen — is it the fair 
 thing ? 
 
 Well, after all, ten thousand years of purgatory, more 
 or less, will not so much matter to our friend, so long as 
 he is " assured of his own salvation" from eternal perdi- 
 tion. Ay ; there's the rub. He is not assured. Supposing 
 it is all right thus far, with his baptism and confirmation 
 and penance (and we have not stated a half of the 
 difficulties of this supposition) he is now indeed in a state 
 of grace, and all his sins are forgiven, albeit part of the 
 
 1. Dens, De Purgatorio. 
 
1 50 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 punishment of them is liable still to be inflicted, in 
 purgatuiy. If he dies now, happy man ! for (always 
 supposing as above) he is sure of being saved, sooner or 
 later. But he has no certainty of remaining in this state of 
 grace for an hour. And the Church (kind mother!) has 
 provided for the security of her children hj other sacra- 
 ments, notably by the sacrament of the Eucharist. Dr. Stone 
 had undoubtedl)^, in his heretic days, read the sixth 
 chapter of John, with the query, What if the Roman 
 interpretation of these promises is the true one, and in 
 order to have eternal life, I am required to eat the flesh 
 and drink the blood of the Son of man, literally, in the 
 transubstantiated bread and wine ; and he now recalls the 
 Lord's promise, " if any man eat of this bread he shall live 
 forever?'*^ — "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my 
 blood hath eternal life;"^ and he finds no small comfort 
 in it. It is not pleasant to discover, indeed, that the 
 Church, even granting the interpretation of the passage, 
 declares it of none efi'ect, giving it to be understood that 
 thousands upon thousands have eaten the veritable " body 
 and blood, soul and divinity" of the Lord, and gone 
 nevertheless into eternal death. But yet your " anxious 
 inquirer " does seem to come nearer now to what he was 
 looking for — a sacrament that shall do its saving work on 
 him independently of the presence of that, the necessity 
 of which casts si»ch a doubt on all Protestant hopes, — 
 faith on the part of the partaker. This is the satisfaction 
 of the doctrine of the opus operatum, that it makes the 
 saving virtue of the sacrament to depend, not on what it 
 is so difiicult for the recipient to ascertain — his own 
 
 1. John vi., 51, also 58. 
 
 2. Ibid., vi., 54, 
 
now THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 1 51 
 
 faith ; but on what it is absolutely impossible for him to 
 ascertain — the intention of the priest. And not this 
 alone. Before the priest, even with the best of inten- 
 tions, has an}?- power to consecrate the bread, and trans- 
 form it into " the body and blood, soul and divinity " of 
 the Lord, he must have been ordained by a bishop who 
 should, at the time of ordaining, have had " the intention 
 of doing what the Church does," and who in turn should 
 have been ordained with a good intention by another 
 bishop with a good attention, and so on ad infinitum, or 
 at least ad Pet ram. And when we bear in mind that the 
 validity of the ?>«_27^^s»^ of each of these depends just as 
 absolutely on so many unknown and unknowable " inten- 
 tions," and that in case of the invalidity of their baptism j 
 which is " the gate of the sacraments," they were 
 incapable of receiving ordination themselves, and so 
 incapable of conferring it, the chance of poor Dr. Stone's 
 ever getting a morsel of genuine, certainly attested 
 '' body and blood, soul and di\inity " between his lips, 
 becomes, to a mathematical mind, infinitesimal. There 
 have been cases of ecclesiastics who in their death-bed 
 confessions have acknowledged the withholding of 
 multitudes of " intentions." Who can gaess what 
 multitudes besides have been withheld with never a con- 
 fession, or with a confession which has never been heard 
 of. But the wilful withholding need not be supposed. 
 " The smallest mistake, even though made involuntarily, 
 nullifies the whole act." ^ 
 
 1. Pope Innocent III., Ep. ix. "The Council of Florence had pronounced the 
 same opinion . . . Let an infidel or a dreamy priest baptize a child Avith out 
 having seriously the idea of baptizing? it, tliat child, if it die, is lost; let a bishop 
 ordain a priest, without having actually and formally, from absence of mind or 
 any oilier cause, the idea of conferring the priesthood, and behold, we have a 
 
152 HOW THE REV. UR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 The hope of salvation through the sacraments of the 
 Church grows dimmer and dimmer. It is well for our 
 neophyte to cast ahout him and see if there he found no 
 adjuvants that may reinforce in some measure that 
 " assurance of his salvation/' to which the Holy Father 
 has somewhat inconsiderately invited him." " It is a 
 good and useful thing/' says the Council of Trent^ 
 " suppliantly to invoke the saints, and ... to flee for 
 refuge to their prayers, help and assistance." It is com- 
 monly represented to Protestants that this is a mere 
 recommendation, and that nohody is required to invoke 
 the saints ; hut Dr. Stone has by this time been long 
 
 priest AA'ho is not a priest, and those whom he shall baptize, marry or absolve, 
 will not he baptized, married or absolved. The pope himself without suspecting 
 it, might have been ordained in this manner ; and as it is from him that every- 
 thing flows, all the bishops of the Church might some day find tliemselves to be 
 false bishops, and all the priests false priests, without there being any possibility 
 of restoring the broken link "' Bangeuer, Hist, of the Council of Trent, pp. 158, 
 159. The author evidently mistakes in making the validity of baptism to depend 
 on priestly ordination. That alone of the sacraments is valid if administered 
 (with intention) by a "Jew, pagan, or heretic." 
 
 Bimgcner need not have put the case hypothetically. Writing at the period 
 of the great Western Schism, "the papal secretary, Coluccio Salutato, paints in 
 strong colors the universal uncertainty and anguish of conscience produced by 
 the schism, and his own conclusion as a Papalist is that as all ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction is derived from the pope, and as a pope invalidly elected cannot 
 give what he does not himself possess, no bishops or priests ordained since the 
 death of Gregory XI. could guarantee the validity of the sacraments they ad- 
 ministered. It followed according to him, tiiat any one who adored the eucharist, 
 consecrated by a priest ordained in schism, worshipped an idol. Such was the 
 condition of Western Christendom."— TAe Pope and the Council, by Janus, 
 p, 240 • 
 
 It is, doubtless, with reference to difficulties like these that saving clauses are 
 introduced into the utterances of the Church:— " Without the sacraments or the 
 desire for them;" "if any man ivilfuUy separate from the communion of the Holy 
 See," &c. But if these clauses save the difficulties of the Church's doctrine, then 
 they destroy the doctrine itself. If the good intentions of the penitent are what 
 secure to him the grace of the sacraments, then that grace does not depend on 
 the intention of the priest; and the provision which so many souls are yearning 
 for, of a througli ticket to heaven that does not depend on their own interior 
 character, is miserably cut off. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 15^ 
 
 enough under discipline to have found out that that is 
 nothing bat a polite pretence, and to be convinced that if 
 there is anything to be gained by saint-worship, he had 
 better be about it, for "help and assistance" are what he 
 IS sadly in need of. But which of the saints shall he take 
 refuge to ? — for there is an emharras cle richesses here. As 
 to some of them, there is a serious and painful uncertainty, 
 as in the case of Mrs. Harris, as to whether there is " any 
 sich a person.*' As to others, there is strong human 
 probability that, in the " unpleasantness " that prevailed 
 between heathen and Christian in the early times, they 
 were on the wrong side. And in general, the Church fails 
 to give certain assurance, as de fide, concerning them, 
 that they are yet in a position to act effectively as inter- 
 cessors — whether, in fact, they are not to this day 
 roasting in purgatory, and in sorer need of our inter- 
 cession than we of theirs. The Church, we say, has not 
 pronounced assuredly and defide on this point ; and what 
 Dr. Stone is invited to by the Holy Father, and what 
 doubtless he means to get, is assurance, not " pious 
 opinion." 
 
 It will be ^^ safer'' for Dr. Stone "to seek the salvation 
 through the Virgin Mary than directly from Jesus." So 
 at least he is taught in books authorized and indorsed by 
 the Church. But this is a very slender gain, for the same 
 books assure him that without the intercession of Mary 
 there is no safety at all — that " the intercession is not 
 only useful but necessary" — that "to no one is the door 
 of salvation open except through her" — that " our 
 salvation is in her hands " — that " Mary is all the hope of 
 our salvation;"^ so that the amount of this assurance (if 
 
 1. See "The Glories of Mary/' by St- Alphonsus Liguori, approved by fJolin^ 
 
1 54 HOW THE REV. Dll. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 one could be assured of its authority) is only this, that it 
 it is better than nothing at all. 
 
 Undoubted^, the Eev. Dr. Stone Avould do well to get 
 him a scapular. "About the year 1251, the Holy Virgin 
 appeared to the blessed St. Simon Stock, an Englishman, 
 -and giving him her scapular, said to him that those who 
 wore it should be safe from eternal damnation." Further- 
 more, " Mar}^ appeared at another time to Pope 
 John XXII., and directed him to declare to those who 
 wore the above-mentioned scapular, that they should be 
 released from purgatory on the Saturday after death ; this 
 the same pontiff announced in his bull, which was after- 
 wards confirmed by " several other popes." ^ This, 
 declared in a book which is guaranteed by a pope to 
 contain no false doctrine, is really the nearest that we can 
 find in the entire Homan system to an assurance of 
 salvation. But to the utter dismay of poor Dr. Stone, just 
 as he is on the point of closing his hand on what the pope 
 had invited him to, — " laying hold," as an old writer 
 expresses it, " on eternal life " in the form of a scapular, 
 — he discovers not onl}^ that Pope Paul Y., in 1612, 
 added a sort of codicil to the Virgin's promise, which 
 makes it of doubtful value, but in general, that the 
 
 Archbishop of New York; chapter v., on '*tlie need we have of the intercession 
 of Mary for our salvation." It has been certitied by the pope in the act of 
 canonization that the Writings of St. Alphonsus contain nothing worthy of cen- 
 sure. But as it is, up to tliis present writing, impossible to sa.v certainly whether 
 this was one of the pope's infallible utterances or one of liis fallible ones — there 
 we are again, in an uncertainty. 
 
 For a full collection of autliorized Roman Catholic teachings, to the effect that 
 *'it is impos.sil)le for any to hi' saved who turns away from Mary, or is disre- 
 garded by her," see Tusey's Eirenicon, pp. St9, seqq. — bearing in mind, however, 
 the claim of the ilefenders of the Roman Catholic system, that their Church is 
 not to be considered responsible for its own authorized teachings. 
 
 1. Glories of Mary, pp. 271, 272, CGO. 
 
HOW TPIE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 155 
 
 inerrant author of the Grlories of Mary " protests that he 
 does not intend to attribute any other than purely human 
 authority to all the miracles, revelations and incidents 
 contained in this book." ^ But " purely human authority " 
 is not exactl}^ what we care to risk our everlasting 
 salvation on ; is it, Dr. 8tone ? 
 
 Nothing seems to remain for our bewildered friend, but 
 to apply for indulgences. To be sure he does not yet 
 knoAv that he has ever been effectually loosed from mortal 
 sin, or if he has been, that he will not relapse into it and 
 die in it; and in either case indulgences will do him no 
 good. He will go down quick into hell — and not get his 
 money back either. But supposing him to have escaped 
 eternal perdition, it will be well worth while to have 
 secured indulgences, — which may be had of assorted 
 lengths, from twenty-five day indulgences for " naming 
 reverently the name of Jesus or the name of Mary," up 
 to twenty-five thousand and thirty-thousand year indul- 
 gences, granted for weightier consideration. But inasmuch 
 as Dr. Stone has not the slightest idea how many millions 
 of years he may have to stay in purgatory, if he ever has 
 the happiness to get there, it will be best for him to go in 
 for plenary indulgences, and save all mistakes. There are 
 various ways of securing them ; and it may well employ 
 all Dr. Stone's unquestionable talents to decide how he 
 shall get the amplest indulgence at the least cost of time 
 and labor. On a superficial examination, we are disposed 
 to think that there is nothing better to recommend than 
 the wearing of scapulars. Says St. Alphonsus de Ligugri: 
 ^' The indulgences that are attached to this scapular of our 
 Lady of Mt. Carmel, as well as to the others of the Dolors 
 
 1. Glories ol" Mary, Protest of the author, p. 4. 
 
156 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 of Mary, of Mary of Mercy, and particularly to that of 
 the Conception, are innumerable, daily, and plenary, in 
 life and at the article of death. For myself, I have taken 
 all the above scapulars. And let it be particularly made 
 known that besides many particular indulgences, there 
 are annexed to the scapular of the Immaculate Conception^ 
 Avhich is blessed by the Theatine Fathers, all the indul- 
 gences which are granted to any religious order, pious 
 place or person. And particularly by reciting ^Our 
 Father,' ^ Hail Mary,' and ^Grlorybeto the Father,' six 
 times in honor of the most holy Trinity and of the 
 immaculate Mary, are gained each time all the indulgences 
 of Rome, Portmncula, Jerusalem, Grallicia, which reach 
 the number of four hundred and thirty-three plenary 
 indulgences, besides the temporal, which are innumerable. 
 All this is transcribed from a sheet printed by the same 
 Theatine Fathers."^ if the Theatine Fathers were only 
 infallible, or if we could be sure that indulgences were 
 absolute and not conditional upon sundry uncertainties, 
 how happy we might be ! B.ut a great theologian, after- 
 ward a pope,^ declared that " the effects of the indulgence 
 purchased or acquired, are not absolute, but more or less 
 good, more or less complete, according to the dispositions 
 of the penitent, and the manner in which he performs the 
 work to which the indulgence is attached." And one has 
 only to glance* through the pages of some approved 
 theologian, like Dr. Peter Dens, to find that this whole 
 doctrines of indulgences is so contrived as to be, on the 
 0E|^ hand, indefinitely corrupting and depraving to the 
 
 1 , Glories of Mary, p. 661. 
 
 2. Pope Adrian VI., Comm. on the Fourth Book of The Sentences, quoted by 
 Bungener, Council of Trent, p. 4. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 157 
 
 common crowd of sinners, and on the other hand to give 
 the least possible of solid comfort to fearful consciences. 
 With every promise of remission that the Church gives — 
 for a consideration — she reserves to herself a dozen 
 qualifications and evasions, which make it of none effect.^ 
 
 In the dismal uncertaint}^ which besets everj^ expedient 
 for securing one's salvation which we have thus far 
 considered, our friend will devote himself in sheer des- 
 peration to works of mortification, which are alleged by 
 his advisers to have a good tendency to " appease the 
 wrath of God." Fastings and abstinences are good ; but 
 a hair shirt is far more effective, if his skin is tender; and 
 we cannot doubt that flagellation is more serviceable than 
 either. A good scourge is not expensive, but it should 
 have bits of wire in the lashes for a more rapid 
 diminution of purgatorial pains. Sundry contrivances 
 applied to one's bed, or to the soles of one's shoes, are 
 recommended by the experience of some eminent saints, 
 as of great efficacy in securing one against future torment. 
 It would not be well for Dr. Stone, in his quest for 
 assurance, to omit any of them. But alas ! when he has 
 done all, he is in the same dreary, dismal darkness as 
 before. 
 
 Through such dim and doubtful ways the poor Doctor 
 treads halting and hesitating till he comes toward the end 
 of this weary life. Of all his friends Avho have departed 
 
 1. Dens, Ti-actat. de Iudul<?. passim. Notab. 3i, 37, 38, 39. Says Cardiual 
 Wiseman: 'For you, my Catholic brethren, know, that without a penitent con- 
 fession of your sins, and the worthy partieipation of the blessed Eucharist, no 
 indul{?ence is anything worth." Doctrines of the Church, vol, ii, p. 76. This, 
 however, is said in a course of Lectures designed to commend the doctrines of the 
 Church to Protestants ; when the object has been to comfort the devotee, or to 
 raise revenue for the Roman treasury, the tone of the authorized representatives 
 of the Church has sometimes been far more assuring. 
 
158 HOW THE REV. DR, STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 this life before him, he has no confident assurance that 
 they are not in hell ; but he cherishes a hope that they 
 may be roasting in the fires of purgatory, though he is 
 aware that there is even a faint chance that they may be 
 in heaven; but he pays for daily masses and indulgences 
 in their behalf, being assured by theologians that if these 
 do not help his friends, they may in all probability be of 
 service to some on else.^ The nearest to certainty that he 
 comes, on any such question, is in the belief that his godly 
 parents and friends that have lived and died in simple faith 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, are suffering everlasting 
 damnation — and even this is doubtful. As the hour of 
 death draws near, he feels for his various scapulars, and 
 finds them right , he sends for his confessor, and makes 
 one more confession which is subject to all the doubtful 
 conditions of those that have gone before, receives once 
 more an absolution which is absolute in its terms, but 
 conditional in its meaning, and receives the half of a 
 eucharist the efficiency of which depends on an uncertain 
 combination of conditions in his own soul and history 
 complicated with an utterly unascertainable series of facts 
 in the hidden intention of every one of a series of priests 
 and bishops back to Simon Peter himself. This done, the 
 church approaches him with a final sacrament which pro- 
 mises once more to do what it thereby acknowledges that 
 the other sacrameiits have failed to accomplish — to " wipe 
 away offenses, if any remain, and the remains of sin " — 
 to " confer grace and remit sins." ^ But it is entirely 
 unsettled among theologians what this promise means. It 
 cannot be the remitting of mortal sin, for if the penitent 
 
 1 Dens. Tract, de Indulg. No. 10. 
 2. Cone. Trid., Sess. xiv., Can, 2, 
 
HOW THE REV, DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 159 
 
 have any sacli unforgiven, he is not allowed to receive 
 the unction ; and it cannot refer to venial sins for a good 
 many reasons that are laid down ; and it cannot mean 
 " proneness or habit left from past sin," for " it often 
 happens that the}^ who recover after the sacrament feel 
 the same proneness to sin as before." ^ In fact, at the 
 conclusion of the sacrament, Dr. Stone will send for his 
 lawyer, and if any thing remains of his property after his 
 lieavy expenditure in masses and indulgences for the 
 benefit of his deceased friends, he will leave it by will to 
 be given for masses to shorten up .the torments which after 
 all these labors and prayers to Mary, and mortifications, 
 and sacraments, he still perceives to be inevitable.^ But 
 even in this, he bethinks himself of the uncertainty 
 whether masses paid for in advance will ever be actually 
 said or sung.^ But, poor soul, it is the best he can do, 
 
 1. Bellarmine, De Extv. Unet, i. 9, T. ii., p. 1198. 9, Quoted in Puscy's 
 Eirenicon, 209-211. 
 
 2. A most sti-ikiiift- instance of this is veoovtletl in one of the most interesting and 
 recent records of Roman Catholic piety— the Life of the Cure d'Ars. The old 
 cure of Ars, had lived a life of preeminent holiness, in which his acts of self 
 mortification had been so austere and cruel as to have broken down his health — 
 such that others could not hear them described without a slmddcr. As his death 
 drew near, he "desired to be fortified by the grace of the last sacraments; " and 
 the Abbe Vianney then heard liis confession, and administered to him the last 
 
 rites of the Church The following day the Abbe Vianney celebrated 
 
 a mass for his revered master, at which all the villagers were present. When 
 this service was concluded, M.Bailey requested a private interview with his 
 vicar. During this last and solemn conversation, the dying man placed in his 
 hands the instruments of his penitence [scourges, &c.] 'Take care my poor 
 Vianney,' he said, 'to hide these things; if they find theni after my death they 
 will tliink I have done something during my life for the expiation of my sins, 
 and they will leave me in Purgatory to the end of the ivorld.'" The Cure d'Ars : 
 A Memoir of Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney. By Gcorgina Molyneux. 
 London : 1869. 
 
 3. There will hartlly fail to occur to him the scandalous cause celebre trie d a. 
 few months since, in Paris,— the case of a large brokerage in masses for the dead 
 which undertook to get the masses performed by country priests at a lower 
 
160 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 and so he gets them to give him a blessed taper to hold, 
 and gives up the ghost while it burns out, and they 
 sprinkle his body with holy water and bury it in 
 consecrated ground to keep it safe from the demons, and 
 his children give their money to get him out of purgatory 
 (in case he is there) and down to the latest generation 
 never know (unless their money gives out) whether they 
 have succeeded, or whether in fact he has not all the while 
 been hopelessly in hell along Avith his good old father and 
 mother. 
 
 We cannot better wind up this exhibition of the way 
 in which the church of Rome fulfils her promise of giving 
 assurance of salvation, than by quoting the language of a 
 most competent witness, the Rev. J. Blanco White, once 
 a Roman Catholic theologian in high standing in Spain, 
 afterwards a Protestant, whose trustworthiness is vouched 
 for by Eather Newman, from intimate personal acquaint- 
 ance. ^ Mr. AVhite says : 
 
 « The Catholic who firmly believes in the absolving power of his 
 church, and never indulges in thought^ easily allays all fears 
 connected with the invisible world. Is there a priest at hand to 
 bestow absolution at tho last moment of life, he is sure of a place 
 in Heaven, however sharp the burnings may be which are appointed 
 for him in Purgatory. 
 
 " But alas, for the sensitive, the consistent, the delicate mind 
 that takes the infallible church for its refuge ! That church offers 
 indeed certainty in every thing that concerns our souls; but. Thou, 
 God, who hast witnessed my misery and that of my nearest 
 
 figure than the ruling city prices, but was detected in retaining tlie money with- 
 out securing the saying of the masses at all. 
 
 1. "1 have the fullest confidence in his word when he witnesses to facts, and 
 facts whicli lie knew." He was one "who had special means of knowing a 
 Catholic country, and a man yon can trust." Lecijiircs on the present Position of 
 Catholics in England, hy John Henry Newman, D.D. 1851. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 161 
 
 relations — my mother and my two sisters, knowest that the 
 promised certainty is a bitter mockery. The Catholic pledges of 
 spiritual safety are the most agonizing sources of doubt.'' ^ 
 
 " The Sacraments intended for pardon of sins could not (accord- 
 ing to the common notions) fail in producing the desired effect. 
 For, if, as was subsequently given out, all those divinely-instituted 
 Rites demanded such a spiritual state in the recipient, as without 
 any external addition would produce the desired effect, what 
 advantage would be offered to the believer? If absolution 
 demanded true repentance to deliver from sin, this was leaving the 
 sinner exactly in the same condition as he was in before even the 
 name of the pretended Sacrament of Penance was heard of in the 
 world. But if these conditions alone can give security, no thinking 
 person, and especially no anxious, timid person, can find certainty 
 in the use of the Sacraments. And none but the naturally bold 
 and confident do find it. To these, the Sacraments, instead of 
 being means of virtue, are encouragements of vice and iniquity. 
 
 " God ! if Thou couldst hate any thing thou hast made, what 
 weight of indignation would have fallen upon a Constantine, and 
 an Alva ! And yet the former having put off baptism till the last 
 opportunity of sinning should be on the point of vanishing with the 
 last breath of life, declares the heavenly happiness which filled his 
 soul from the moment he came out of the baptismal water : the 
 latter, that cold-blooded butcher of thousands, declares that he dies 
 without the least remorse. On the other hand, have I not seen the 
 most innocent among Thy worshippers live and die in a maddening 
 fear of Hell ! They trembled at the Sacraments themselves, lest, 
 from want ot a fit preparation, they should increase their spiritual 
 danger." • 
 
 It might be very tedious to read, but it would certainly 
 be very easy to present, like proofs to show that in 
 " heeding the invitation " of the pope to come to him for 
 infallible teaching in matters of belief, Dr. Stone has come 
 onl}^ to like grief and anxious uncertainty. He has stated 
 
 1. Life of the Rev. Joseph Blanco AVhitc, written by himself. Edited by Joliu 
 Hamilton Thorn. London : 1815: Vol. IIL, pp. 256-258, 
 
1 62 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 very neatly the fallacy of those who have sought for an 
 infallible interpreter of Scripture in the writings of the 
 Fathers. " They do not see that in place of acting upon 
 a new rule, they have only increased the difficulties of the 
 old ; that instead of obtaining an interpreter, they have 
 only multiplied the number of the documents which they 
 must themselves interpret or have interpreted for them;" 
 and " are in fact resorting to what has been aptly called 
 ^ the most ingenious of all Protestant contrivances for 
 submitting to nothing and nobody.'"'^ Marvellous ! that 
 a man who is so shrewd to perceive this fallacy in the 
 system he has just left, should be so blind to the same 
 fallacy in the system he has just adopted ! He had 
 
 "jumped into a bramble bush 
 
 And scratched out both his eyes ; 
 
 " And ^hen he saw his eyes were out, 
 With all his might and main, 
 He jumped into another bush 
 To scratch them in again." 
 
 By just so far as his new teacher is infallible, it is 
 simply documentary — paper and printer's ink — Fathers, 
 Councils, Bulls, Briefs, more Bulls, more Briefs, and 
 another Council again, documents upon documents, all in 
 the Latin tongue (which, happily. Dr. Stone is able to 
 read) imtil the world cannot hold the books that have 
 been written. But, on the other hand, just so far as he 
 has access to his new teacher as a living teacher — a 
 representative of the Catholic hierarchy — he finds him 
 confessedly fallible — an uninspired priest or bishop^ 
 likely enough an unconvicted heretic, and at least liable^ 
 
 1. The Invitation Hcetled, pp. 158, I5y. 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERI:D HIS SITUATION. 1 63 
 
 to all human blunders and endless "variations"' in 
 expounding and applying the faith of the church. If; 
 disgusted with these miserable comforters, he carries his 
 doubts to the apostolic threshold, and receives a solution 
 of them from the successor of Peter himself; it is a poor 
 reward for his pilgrimage when he learns that the words 
 of the Pontiff spoken in his capacity as a private teacher 
 are no more infallible than those of any Protestant 
 minister. So that the certainty of poor Dr. Stone's faith, 
 unless he chooses the alternate risk of going to the docu- 
 ments himself and taking his chance of being " saved by 
 scholarship," or by " private interpretation," is resolved 
 into the mere '•^ fides impUcita,'' — of being willing to 
 believe the truth if he only knew Avhat it was — and that, 
 if we understand him, is just what he had before he got 
 the Pope's letter, with the exception that at that time 
 there were fewer elements of uncertainty in his mind. 
 
 And just as with questions of truth, so is it with 
 questions of duty. In search of definiteness and certainty 
 he has gone voyaging upon a waste of dreary casuitry, 
 upon whose fluctuating surface he lies becalmed, tossed 
 to and fro between " probabilism" and " probabiliorism," 
 and 0, how sea-sick ! There is nothing for him but to 
 "do as they do in Spain;" and how that is we learn from 
 Father Newman's friend, Blanco White: 
 
 " In a country where every person's conscience is in the keeping- 
 of another, in an interminable succession of moral trusts, the 
 individual conscience cannot be under the steady discipline of self- 
 governing principle ; all that is practised is obedience to the 
 opinions of others, and even that obedience is inseparably connected 
 with the idea of a dispensing power. If you can obtain an opinion 
 favorable to your wishes, the responsibility falls on the adviser, 
 and you may enjoy yourself with safety. The adviser, on the 
 
1 04 now THE REV. DR. STONE HETTKKEl) HIS SlTriATION. 
 
 other hand, having no consciousness of the action, has no sense ot 
 remorse ; and thus the whole morality of the country, except in 
 very peculiar cases, wants tiie steady ground of individual 
 responsibility." ' 
 
 The sum of the whole matter seems to be this : that the 
 certainty and confidence of the disciple of the Church of 
 Rome, whether regarding matter of belief or matter of 
 practice, consists in putting his head in a l)ag, and giving 
 the string to his confessor. 
 
 The "invitation lieeded" by Dr. Stone contains other 
 seductive promises which it would ])e well for us to 
 consider, if there were time. W^e can only allude, with a 
 word, to the excellent things which his Holiness offers, in 
 this invitation, to society and government in Protestant 
 countries, in pity of the misfortunes under which he 
 perceives them now to be suffering. 
 
 " Whoever recognizes religion as the foundation of human society 
 cannot but perceive and acknowledge what disastrous effect this 
 division of principles, this opposition, this strife of religious sects 
 among themselves, has had upon civil society, and how powerfully 
 this denial of the authority established by God to determine the 
 belief of the human mind, and to direct the actions of men as well 
 in private as in social life, has excited, spread, and fostered those 
 deplorable ui>heavals, those commotions by which almost all 
 peoi)les are grievously disturbed and afflicted." " On this longed 
 for r(!turn to the tfufh and unity of the Catholic church depends the 
 salvation not only of individuals, but also of all (Jhristian society ; 
 and never can the world enjoy true peace, unless there shall be one 
 Fold and one Shepherd."-' 
 
 We see here the value of an infallible teacher ! If it 
 had not been revealed to us thus from heaven, we never 
 
 1. Life of J. Blanco Whlto,I.,p. 38. 
 
 2. L(!tt(!r of l»o|)c Tins IX., St'|i(. i;(tli, IHCH. 
 
now THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 165 
 
 should have guessed that what secured national tranquillity 
 was national adherence to the Holy See. But now we see 
 it — by the eye of faith. Poor England, racked with 
 intestine commotions! — if she could but learn the secret 
 of Spanish order and tranquillity and prosperity! Unhappy 
 Scotland, the prey of social anarchy, and devoured by 
 thriftless indolence ! Will she not cast one glance across 
 the sea, and lay to heart the lesson of Irish serenity and 
 peace and wealth? Poor Protestant Prussia, and Den- 
 mark, and Scandinavia " grievously disturbed and 
 afflicted"' by ''those deplorable upheavals and com- 
 motions'' Avhich his Holiness talks about, and yet so 
 pitifully unconscious of them all ! How slight the price, 
 — a mere "Fall down and worship me" — with which they 
 might purchase to themselves the sweet calmness and 
 good order and unbroken quiet that have characterized 
 the history of Catholic France and Italy, and even the 
 ineffable beatitude of those happy States of the Church, 
 Avhich, ungrateful for their unparalleled blessings, have 
 been waiting for twenty years for a good chance to put 
 the pope (in his temporal capacity) into the Tiber ! Nay, 
 nay ! Let us not refuse to bring home the teaching of our 
 Shepherd to our own bosoms. What land has been more 
 the victim of ''this division of ])rinciples, this opposition, 
 this strife of religious sects ailiong themselves,'' than our 
 own unhappy country ? Ah ! were the people wise ! Do 
 they not feel the "disastrous effects" of their refusal to 
 submit to the Holy See — the " deplorable upheavals and 
 commotions," and all ? Can they resist the allurements 
 of those examples of national happiness which fill the 
 whole Western Hemisphere, save the two pitiable 
 exceptions of Canada and the United States? Speak, dear 
 
1 06 HOW THE REV. DR. 8T0XE BETTERED HIS .SITUATION. 
 
 Dr. 8tone, speak once more to your infatuated fellow 
 countrymen, and persuade them, if you can, to end this 
 hundred years' history of commotion and revolution and 
 disastrous change which they have nearly completed, by 
 substituting the majestic stability of Mexico, and 
 (Guatemala and Colombia, and all the Catholic continent 
 down to the Straits of Magellan! ^ Already a ray of hope 
 shines in upon the darkness of the Protestant land. One 
 bright spot is irradiated with the triumph — the partial 
 triumph — of Roman principles of government. Can it be 
 irrational to hope that when these principles prevail in 
 the same degree throughout the land, we shall have every- 
 where, under State and general governments, the same 
 placid order, the same security for life and property, the 
 same freedom from turl)ulence and riot, the same purity 
 of election^j, the same integrity in the discharge of public 
 trusts, the same awfulness of judicial virtue, as prevail in 
 the Catholic city and county of New York? 
 
 We have left ourselves very little space to express as 
 we would like the real respect which, after all, we feel 
 for this book, and still more for this author. With here 
 
 1. Father Hyacinthe does not seem to come up to the standard of Roman 
 doctrine on this i)oint. "Ah, well I know— and many a time have I tfroaned 
 within niysolf to think wfit— theso nations of tin; Latin race and of the Catholic 
 rcIif;;ion have hcen of la'te the most griovonsly tried of all ! Not only hy intijstiue 
 fncH, by the (juakin;? of the earth, by the inrushin;;' of the sea. liook with 
 imiiartial eye, with the fearless serenity of trnth, with that assnranee of faith 
 which fears not to accejjt the revelations of experience, and then tell me— where 
 it is that the moral foundations (juake most violently? Whcsre does tiie current 
 of a formidable electricity ffive tlie severest, the most incessant shocks to repub- 
 lics as well as monarchic^sV Among tlie Latin races; among the Catholic nations. 
 Yes, by some inscrutable desif^n of I'rovidimce, they, more than others, have 
 had to 'drink of the eup deep and larfJTC ;' they have wet their lips more deeply 
 in Die chalice in which are mingled 'the wine, the lightning, and the spirit of 
 the storm;' and they have become possessed with the madness of the drunkard." 
 Discourses of Fatlier Hyaeinthe, Vol. I., \). 1.5.'). 
 
HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 167 
 
 hml there a slip in graniinar or diction, and with no more 
 of pedantry than can easily be pardoned to the author's 
 vocation, the work is beautifully written ; and if there 
 does seem to be a dreadful gap between what the author 
 intended when he started, and what he found where he 
 stopped, it must be acknowledged that he passed from 
 starting point to goal with consecutive steps along an 
 intelligible path. His argument, although encumbered 
 with mistakes, is, nevertheless, good against any opponent 
 who accepts his premiss, — that the Church Universal is a 
 visible corporation. His appeal to all Protestants to 
 examine with candor the grounds of their belief, and 
 bravely and sincerely accept the consequences, is earnest, 
 tender and touching — all the more so, as the unhappy 
 author in his very exhortation, evidently looks back upon 
 those generous moments when he himself was practising 
 these virtues, as Adam might have looked back upon 
 Paradise. Those hours can never return. Never more 
 may he exercise the manly virtue which he now commends 
 to others, and which we doubt not he faithfully practised 
 until it became a prohibited good. Let him iioiv attempt 
 to look into the writings of those who differ from him, 
 with a view to " examining candidly the grounds of his 
 faith," and the thunderbolt of the excommunication latce 
 sententice breaks forth upon him from the Bull In Ccena 
 Domini.^ We are so affected by the honest Doctor's 
 exhortation to candid inquiry, that we shrink from putting 
 ourselves, like him, in a situation in which if we candidly 
 inquire we are damned. 
 
 The little volume will reasonably be expected to be 
 more effective as a fact and a testimony than as an 
 
 1. higorii Thc'ol. Moral. 63, 735. 
 
1 68 HOW THE REV. DR. STONE BETTERED HIS SITUATION. 
 
 argument. As a testimony, its precise value is this : 
 Until- two 3^ears ago, the author, believing himself to be 
 entirely sincere and candid, held, as the result of private 
 judgment, a system (according to his own statement) 
 wildly inconsistent, illogical and self- destructive, which 
 he vindicated to himself and others by arguments plausible 
 and satisfactory. Within two years, after candid but 
 astonishingly brief examination, in the exercise of the 
 same private judgment, he has dropped that system and 
 adopted another, also with entire sincerity, and vindicated 
 by plausible arguments, which he is not permitted 
 candidly to re-examine. It is solely by the use of the same 
 private judgment that played him so false before, that he 
 has come to embrace this other system. 
 
 Qu.: — What is the probability that he has got the 
 truth now ? 
 
 This is what he may never know. 
 
 One thing alone he holds intelligently — that the Roman 
 church is the true church of Christ ; and this he knows 
 only by his poor private judgment, which he is not 
 permitted to revise. Every thing else he takes on the 
 authority of this. And this, being known only by private 
 judgment, may be a mistake ! 
 
 Poor man ! 
 
 ►;^^0oOCCcSt<3<- 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 169 
 
 YIII. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION 
 IN SWITZERLAND.* 
 
 Switzerland may be called the Palestine of modern 
 geography. It bears relations to the great powers of contem- 
 porary civilization, in some respects, even more remarkable 
 than those which the little strip of soil along the Jordan, 
 at the meeting of three continents, bore to the civilizations 
 of antiquity. Like that of Palestine, its situation, while 
 affording it small temptation to aggression upon its neigh- 
 bors, is supremely advantageous for defense, for isolation 
 from foreign influence, and yet at the same time for the 
 exercise of effective influence outward upon other nations. 
 To these advantages, it adds another in its polyglot facility 
 of communication with the most important nations of 
 
 1. From the International Review for July, 1874. 
 
 La Question Catholiqne a Geneve, de 1815 a 1873. Expose Historique. Par 
 Aniedt^e Roj?et. Geneva, 1874. 
 
 La Lil)crte Religieusc et les Evcnemcnts de Genfevc, 1815-1873. Par A. de 
 Richecour, doetenr en droit, avocat a la Cour de Paris. Paris, 1873. 
 
 La Liturj^ie d(! I'Ej^lise Catholiqne de Geneve, k T usage des fideles. Geneva, 
 1873. 
 
 De la Refornie Catholiqne. Par le Pere Hyacinthe. Paris, 1872. 
 
170 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 Europe. That long-persistent division of the Swiss people 
 into Grerman, French, and Italian, necessitating the tri- 
 lingual publication of the Federal laws, which stands in 
 such striking contrast, on the one hand, with the thorough 
 unity of the nation, and on the other hand, with the rapid 
 -assimilation and extinction of diverse languages in the 
 American republic, opens " an effectual door of utterance'* 
 for the nation toward its neighbors on every side. There 
 is something of history, but still more of prophecy, written 
 in the very map of Switzerland. It is a land of yet un- 
 fulfilled destiny. The eye traces its great watercourses 
 into the most important lands of civilized Europe, and 
 recognizes the lines down which potent influences, social 
 and religious, are to descend. 
 
 If Switzerland is the Palestine of Europe, the Jerusalem 
 of Switzerland is Geneva. "The theological city,*' as it 
 has been called by one of its famous historians, seems to 
 be pervaded by an endemic influence, inciting to religious 
 discussion and agitation. The eager, irrepressible spirit 
 of John Calvin walks abroad from his unknown sepulchre 
 -as the genius loci. That austere and melancholic soul 
 ought to find comfort for the wide apostasy of Geneva 
 from the doctrines which he taught, and those grim linea- 
 ments to relax-a little upon the canvas, in view of the 
 renewal of his OAvn story after a lapse of ten generations. 
 It seems like the running-title of a Life of Calvin, when 
 we propose to sketch the stor}^ of a religious reformation 
 from the Roman Catholic Church, incited by the growth 
 of abuses at Rome, inaugurated in the Catholic universities 
 of Germany, transplanted for a completer and more vigorous 
 growth into the soil of Geneva, and there, under the 
 guidance of an exiled Frenchman, taking on the logical, 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IX SWITZERLAND. 171 
 
 consistent, and organized form by which it becomes fitted 
 for wide propagation and success. If a movement, which 
 shows in its early stages such curious points of undesigned 
 coincidence with the great Reformation of the sixteenth 
 century, should by-and-b}?- be developed in like proportions, 
 an International Review could not excuse itself for 
 having neglected the opening scenes of the play on account 
 of the narrowness of the stage on which the}^ were 
 produced. 
 
 In attempting a sketch of the ecclesiastical and 
 religious changes of the last twelve months in Switzerland, 
 there is every reason for narrowing the field of view in 
 general to the little Canton of Cleneva, turning aside, from 
 time to time, to remark the like movements, parallel or 
 divergent, in other States of the Confederation. 
 
 The Catholic Reformation is constituted of two veiy 
 distinct factors — the religious and political — neither of 
 which, in the actual circumstances, could have amounted 
 to much without the other. The managers of the Vatican 
 Council had counted not unreasonably on the power of 
 hierarchical organization, reinforced by a certain amount 
 of intelligent theological conviction (which Protestant 
 observers are little disposed to recognize) in some of the 
 clergy, and by the fanaticism of the devout fraction of 
 the laity, to bear down, in the long run, either the anger 
 of the governments and peoples, irritated by the exaltation 
 of the Syllabus of 1864 to a level with the canonical 
 Scriptures, or the protests against false doctrine which 
 might emanate from the Catholic universities, or from 
 individual consciences among the priesthood or the 
 instructed lait3\ They could bow their heads for the 
 storm of political indignation to blow over; or they might 
 
172 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 wait, with a confidence warranted by repeated experience^ 
 for the reaction of the individual intellect and conscience-- 
 to work itself off in the shape of sundry secessions to 
 Protestantism, of here and there a local schism, or of an 
 uncertain increment to the vast but indefinite multitude^ 
 prevailing in every Catholic country, of defunct priests> 
 and indifi'erentist laymen. 
 
 In fact, for a long time after the suspension of the* 
 Vatican Council, aff'airs seemed to march much according 
 t ) this programme. However disastrous the outbreak of 
 war may have been, in some of its results, to the Roman 
 Curia, it is questionable whether, in the occupation which. 
 it afforded, at that juncture, to monarchs, cabinets, and 
 parliaments, it did not yield a clear balance of advantage 
 in their favor. Certainly the political after-clap of the 
 Council seemed to have been averted. As for the moral 
 and religious revolt that had been anticipated, few signs^ 
 of it appeared except in German}^, and there it was and 
 still continues to be a movement of the universities rather 
 than of the clergy or people. In France, the splendid 
 little party of Liberal Ultramontanes^ was extinguished^ 
 
 1. No mistake can be more mislealing than to suppose that the French 
 Liberal Catliolic party of a few years ago — the party of Lc Correspondant — was 
 the repres^'ntative of poZZeca>? principles. On tlie contrary, the brief career of 
 his party was a bra^-e, earnest, and dashinj^-, but utterly futile attempt to 
 combine Ultramontane notions in relif^ious matters with broadly liberal views 
 in politics. The "strn;^^le for existence" within the Church which this party 
 made was gallant, but n<» completer failure is recorded in history. The famous 
 bull Quanta CV/ra, and some parts of the Syllabus, are not to be understood with- 
 out some knowled{.?e of the Liberal Catholic party, at which they were especially 
 aimed. After that blow had fallen, the party began by-aud-by to lift up its- 
 head again ; whereupon the Council of the Vatican gave it the coup de grace by 
 erecting those two famous documents into authoritative standards of fsiith. This 
 was th(^ chief pending practical ([uestion settled .by the Vatican Council— the 
 question wliether a Liberal party was to be tolerated within the Roman Church. 
 
 The i»arty,as a jiarty, died instantaneously. Its organ, Le CorreKpomlnif, 
 submitted to the decree of the Council. Tlie n«»l)lest of its leaders, Montalembert, 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 173 
 
 In Switzerland, here and there a recalcitrant cure refused 
 his neck to the new yoke, and associations of Liberal 
 Catholics were formed in some of the cities, but no sign 
 indicated that the reaction against the new dogma and its 
 implications would be extensive or permanent. In Geneva, 
 the Old Catholic Association, although embracing a large 
 part of the most respectable and influential of the Catholic 
 laity, led a languishing life, and after a few months 
 seemed ready to vanish away. To all appearance the 
 storm which had been portended was blowing over. 
 
 But just now supervened the combination which was 
 most formidable to the Roman power — the combination 
 of religious conviction with political interest and patriotic 
 feeling. To explain this takes us back to the starting- 
 point of all contemporary history — to the Treaties 
 of 1815. 
 
 With these treaties, the existence of Roman Catholicism 
 under the government of Protestant Geneva commenced, 
 by the annexation of a considerable tract of Savoyard 
 territory to the little State. The new Catholic population, 
 constituting a little more than one-third of the total 
 population of the enlarged canton, came in under treaty 
 stipulations for protection in their religious rights. They 
 were confessedly inferior in education and intelligence, 
 and although the old Protestant supremacy of the 
 republic took reasonable alarm, feeling itself near its end, 
 
 Gratry, Foisset, Cochin, died in rapid succession, Felix Dupanloup, Bishop of 
 Orleans, hand felix opporfunitate mortis, survives in open recreancy to his 
 principles, and Messrs. De Falloux and De Brof?lie have thought better of the 
 vow which, in conjunction with the aforementioned, they registered on a tablet 
 in the chapel at Roche-en-Brcnil, to " devote the remainder of their lives to God 
 and liberty." Only one of the brilliant coterie of Liberal Catholics now remains 
 faithful to the principles which they lield in common ; and him the rest of the 
 survivors are reproachinj? with recreancy and apostasy ! 
 
174 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 nevertheless the new citizens did not, for a long time^ 
 attempt to make themselves directly felt in politics. The 
 course of events from that time down on this tiny stage 
 has presented most curious points of resemblance to the 
 exactly contemporaneous history of the great republic 
 across the ocean. The Protestant and Old Genevese 
 jealousy waxed warm in view of the continual growth of 
 the uncongenial Eomish population within and around 
 the walls of the city of Calvin. Anti-popery propagandas 
 and lodges were organized, and there was annual exulta- 
 tion over scores — in one year, upward of a hundred at 
 once — of proselytes publicly renouncing in the old 
 cathedral their allegiance to the Pope. But notes of alarm 
 and foreboding blended with these paeans ; for notwith- 
 standing large defections, of which the array of public 
 proselytes was but a small proportion, and which were 
 offset by few or no conversions in the other direction, the 
 proportion of the Catholic population continued to grow 
 with formidable rapidity, both in city and in canton. It 
 was to be explained by two constant facts of universal 
 observation : first, that the current of emigration, the 
 world over, generally sets away from Catholic States and 
 toward Protestant ones ; second, that the unskilled labor 
 upon great public works generally assembles masses of 
 Catholic rather than Protestant laborers. In 1843, the 
 cantonal census showed, in a population of 61,000, a 
 Protestant majority of only (3,(500. In 18()0, there was a 
 Catholic majority of 2,000 ; and in 1870, of more than 
 5,000. In the city of Oeneva there are now about 20,000 
 Catholics to 25,000 Protestants. 
 
 Politicians of course were not idle iu view of the large 
 accession of voting material which was supposed to be 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 175 
 
 largely affected by religious considerations and clerical 
 intiuence. Each party did something to conciliate the 
 Catholic vote by grants of land for church buildings, by 
 accommodations of the school system, by bestowals of 
 office, b}^ compliments to the clergy, etc. ; and each party 
 denounced the other for such compliances. Meanwhile the 
 clergy grew excessively exacting and insolent. Boasts 
 were publicly made of their expectation to say mass in 
 the old cathedral — the mother-church of the Reformed 
 Churches of the world ; and the erection of the magnificent 
 church of Notre Dame cle Geneve — itself, in size and style, 
 a cathedral — upon land given by the State, gave point 
 and prominence to these defiances flung into the face of 
 Protestantism in its ancient stronghold. The clergy now 
 ventured on a conflict with the political authorities of the 
 canton, timing their attack, in their insane over- 
 confidence, to coincide with the reaction among the Catholic 
 laity, against the Vatican decrees. 
 
 It was brought about on this wise : By a distinct 
 understanding between the Holy See and the Geneva 
 Government in 1819, this city was to form part of the 
 Diocese of Lausanne, whose bishop sits at Fribourg. 
 The understanding, however, prot^ed to be subject to the 
 disadvantages incident to all contracts, one party to 
 which is sole judge of right and wrong, with unlimited 
 power to give itself dispensations from its promise. 
 In 1864, the clever, ambitious Abbe Mermillod was 
 appointed Cure of Geneva, with the consent of the State, 
 and according to the local usage was appointed, by the 
 bishop at Fribourg, vicar-general of the diocese. Not long 
 after, he receives from the Pope the honorary title of 
 Bishop of Hebron in partihus infidelium, and assumes to 
 
176 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 himselfj as fast or faster than discretion would permit, the 
 state and functions of Bishop of Greneva. Certain parishes 
 falling vacant, the Ciovernment notifies the Bishop of 
 Lausanne of the fact, and invites him to nominate, but is 
 referred to " Bishop Mermiilod " as the person to whom 
 the Holy See has committed the aff'airs of Greneva. On 
 this point the issue is joined — Mermiilod refusing to 
 abate his pretensions, and the G-overnment refusing to 
 tolerate them. The Bishop of Lausanne tries to solve the 
 difficulty by formally abdicating the charge of Greneva, 
 and thus shutting up the Grovernment to the choice 
 between Bishop Mermiilod, now made vicar apostolic by 
 the Pope, and no bishop at all. The State is not slow in 
 accepting the latter alternative, and enunciates to the 
 people its programme of a new " law for the organization 
 of Catholic worship," by which, according to a precedent 
 which has prevailed from time immemorial in some of the 
 Swiss dioceses, the Catholic parishes themselves should 
 choose their own priests. 
 
 Meanwhile, as this contest was coming to its height, 
 the Catholic managers, with astonishing infelicity, took 
 occasion, at a pending election, to express their dis- 
 satisfaction with the treatment which they had received 
 from their then; allies, by carrying over their vote and 
 adding it (in a sort of coalition curiously common in the 
 history of both sides of the ocean) to the reddest radical 
 democratic part}^. But by this time, both political parties 
 had grown tired of being played with in this game of fast 
 and loose. The overtures of the " Independents " were 
 accepted by the " Radicals," and the two parties 
 combined to give the clerical party, in November, 1872, 
 one of the most complete and righteous whippings known 
 
THE CATHOLIC KEFORMATIOX IN SWITZERLAND. 177 
 
 111 the history of republican government. Natu rally , the 
 war with the insolent and disloj^al Merinillod took on a 
 sharper aspect. He treated the Government with open 
 defiance, until, in February, 1873, by an act which went 
 to the extreme boundary of lawful authority, but in the 
 opinion of the highest Swiss authorities did not overstep 
 it, he was put over the frontier of Switzerland and 
 warned not to return. The projected law providing for 
 the election of Catholic pastors by their own flocks was 
 accepted b\" the people by a tremendous vote, in March, 
 1873 ; and so the political part of the revolution was 
 mainly accomplished. 
 
 About this time the "Old Catholic" Association of 
 Geneva, which had become nearly defunct, was waked up 
 into liveh^ activity, and resolved boldly to send for that 
 man in the Catholic Church whose name was most 
 abhorred by the Ultramontane clergy, and whose course 
 (especially his marriage) pledged him most irrevocably to 
 open and perpetual war with Home. Father Hyacinthe 
 arrived at Geneva just about the time of the popular vote 
 upon the Law for the Organization of Catholic Worship. 
 The arrangements for his addressing the public were in 
 the hands of a committee of Cathdic la3^men, and in the 
 issue of gratuitous tickets of admission to the hall where 
 he was to speak, preference was always given to Catholics 
 who might wish to hear an exposition of the principles of 
 the Catholic Reformation. The necessity of some such 
 precaution had not been miscalculated. The total number 
 of sitting and standing places in the vast room was 
 disposed of within half an hour from the beginning of the 
 distribution. For upward of three thousand tickets there 
 were thirty thousand applications. The impression 
 
178 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 produced by the indescribable eloquence of the great 
 preacher, in this and subsequent discourses, was pro- 
 digious. But the power of eloquence has been less 
 illustrated, in the progress of this movement from that 
 time, than the power of a great, sincere, and simple 
 character. Few men have ever been at the same time 
 the object of such deadly hate from their antagonists, and 
 of so warm a personal love from all besides who know 
 them, as Father Hyacinthe. Alongside of his fiery 
 indignation against falsehood, and against timid com- 
 pliance with falsehood, there was a singular lack of 
 asperity, either of language or of feeling, toward those 
 who were daily tasking their invention for new forms of 
 public abuse of himself and his wife. In contrast with 
 his flat refusal to accept the dogmatic degree, which he 
 held to be a modern falsehood imposed by an enslaved 
 council and episcopate, men marked the child-like faith 
 with which he received every thing which bore, to his- 
 view, the mark of an authentic tradition of the Churchy 
 and the steadiness with which he refused the slightest 
 compliance toward the great mass of rationalist free- 
 thinkers among the Catholic laity, who were all too ready 
 to applaud him^ and whom it was his heart's desire to 
 recover to the Christian faith. It was not strange that 
 under the influence of his inspiring words and example, 
 the Catholic Reform movement in Geneva should take 
 very much the form of a personal following of H3^acinthe. 
 At the request of the Old Catholics, a temporary chapel 
 was fitted up in the library of the Old College, known as 
 Calvin's Library, and there, in May, 1873, mass was said 
 for the first time in the French language. The protest 
 against new dogmas and hierarchical usurpations grew 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 179 
 
 into a positive organized religious power. One or two 
 priests of great dignity of character resigned their livings 
 in French dioceses, in order to join themselves to so hope- 
 ful a reform. These have been followed by others in 
 increasing numbers, among whom are men eminent 
 among the French clergy for eloquence and spiritual use- 
 fulness in the ministry. The current of these defections 
 seems still to grow, '^ like the letting out of water." 
 
 The first application or the new cantonal law for the 
 election of parish priests was in the city of (xeneva, itself, 
 on Sunda}^, October 12, 1873. The adoiition of the law 
 was by the vote of the Avhole body of citizens, but the 
 election under it was to be made by the vote of the 
 Catholic citizens only ; and the trial of strength between 
 the two parties. Liberal and Ultramontane, Avas naturally 
 looked forward to with interest. The policy of abstention 
 was adopted by the Ultramontanes, and the severest 
 spiritual penalties were publicly denounced b}^ their 
 clerg}^ against an/ Catholic who should dare to vote on 
 either side. It Avould be easy for them, in case of a light 
 vote (the election being uncontested), to claim as their 
 own all the Catholic votes not actually cast. On the 
 counting uf the vote, it appeared that all the votes cast 
 were for Father Hyacinthe and his colleagues, and that 
 they amounted to nearly one-half of the registered 
 Catholic vote of the city — enough to prove that on any 
 actual trial of strength it would be found that a powerful 
 majority of the Catholic citizens had identified themselves 
 with the most advanced reform of abuses in their hereditary 
 church, and with the organized religious opposition to the 
 Ultramontane hierarchy. 
 
 The election seated Father Hyacinthe and his colleagues 
 
180 THF CATllOLK' REFOUMAriOX IX SWI TZEULAN I). 
 
 as cures of the Catholic Church of the city of Creneva, 
 established by law. The old parish church of St. Germain 
 was placed at their disposal, and is thronged every Sunday 
 with suffocating crowds of worshipers. The great and 
 costly church of Notre Dame will doubtless pass to the 
 use of the legally recognizeil Catholic parish of Geneva, 
 as soon as, in the constant growth of its numbers, this 
 parish hnds it necessar}' to demand the use of it. 
 
 But this was in the city of Cieneva, Avhere, it may 
 perhaps be said, allowance ought to be made for the 
 Protestant influences with which the Catholic population 
 is surrounded. On the last Sunday in December a much 
 more significant election was to take place in the old 
 Savoyard Catholic c\ty of Carouge. It is a city of 8,000 
 souls, 6,000 of whom were Catholic. Both priesthood 
 and population were notorious for their fanatical zeal, so 
 that the Reformed Catholic priests had been able to go 
 thither, on their occasional duties, only at the risk of 
 personal violence. In fact, it was the disloyal mob- 
 provoking fury of the preaching in the great parish church 
 which had hastened the arrangements for the election here. 
 The issue of the election was not doubtful, indeed, for the 
 policy of abstention was still enjoined by the Ultramontane 
 clergy; but th<? utmost pressure, spiritual, social, domestic, 
 and commercial, was brought to bear to dissuade men of 
 liberal inclinations from voting, and so cut down the 
 moral effect of the election. Out of tlie Catholic popula- 
 tion of 0,000, there were 510 registered Catholic voters. 
 The onl}'" candidate for the place of cure was the Abbe 
 Marchal, one of the most emineut an<l elot^uent of the 
 French mission-preachers.^ Of the 501 registered voters, 
 
 1. M. MiircliJil is tlu- antlior of st-veral vt'r\ widrlv cirtnlatt'il rcli^i-ious boi.k^- 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 181 
 
 281 actually cast their ballots for the Liberal priest. The 
 state of the case was now clear to a demonstration. The 
 Catholic population of the Canton of Geneva, even in the 
 ancient and undisputed seats of Catholicism, freely 
 rejected the Ultramontane system and its ministers. 
 
 The Reformed Catholic Church is now organized in 
 only four of the great centres of population of the canton. 
 In the little agricultural parishes, ideas of reformation 
 naturally make slower progress ; and the leaders in the 
 present movement, confident in the steady advance which 
 their principles are maldng, are not disposed to hurry 
 these parishes in the work of reorganization. 
 
 The movement of reformation elsewhere in Switzerland 
 varies from that in Geneva in certain respects. It is older 
 by a few months. It has been led, in some instances, by 
 the clergy actually in charge of the parishes. It has been 
 marked more distinctly by the interference of the civil 
 government. 
 
 It hrst began to attract attention in i^ovember, 1871, 
 when Professor Herzog, of Olten, and Cure Gschwind, of 
 Starrkirch, both in the thoroughly Roman Catholic 
 Canton of Soleure, in German Switzerland, stoutly 
 refused to give in their adhesion to the doctrine of 
 infallibility. In the Canton of Lucerne, also, the Abbe 
 Egli enunciated in no mild terms his resolution to adhere 
 to the Old Catholic faith rather than the new faith of the 
 Vatican. A canvass of the clergy of that canton showed, 
 it was said, the names of fifty-three ecclesiastics who 
 rejected infallibility. In sundry towns where the clergy 
 
 anil of an autobiography, just published under the title Souvenirs d'un 
 Mmionnairi'. This Ixiok is well worth rt^adinf? for its lively illustrations of 
 recent history, and especially its picture of life in the French priesthood. 
 
182 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IX SWITZERLAND. 
 
 were Ultramontane, there were movements for the organ- 
 ization of Old Catholic associations ; sometimes with the 
 establishment of separate worship. Evidently there was 
 dangerous progress of demoralization in ecclesiastical 
 discipline, and a prudent bishop (and most bishops, 
 except Dupanloup, mean to be prudent) might well 
 hesitate as to the best course to be taken. To enforce 
 discipline might precipitate rebellion ; to neglect it might 
 permit demoralization to spread indefinitely. Bishop 
 Eugenius Lachat, of Bale, took a cautious middle course. 
 He first waited till the rebellion was well under way, and 
 then clapped on all the spiritual censures at his disposal. 
 It was not until late in the year 1872 that he ventured to 
 suspend the Cure Gschwind. But this time the whole 
 village had identified themselves with the quarrel of their 
 pastor, and the neighboring parishes, including the city of 
 Olten, interested themselves on the same side. Appeal 
 was made to the government of the canton — the Catholic 
 government of the Catholic Canton of Soleure — which 
 resolved to sustain the suspended pastor in his rights 
 against the new dogmas; to petition the canton to prohibit 
 the teaching of them in the schools and churches ; and in 
 general to stand by Gschwind. The agitation involved 
 the neighboring cantons, especiall}^ those that were 
 associated in the Diocese of Bale. For this most important 
 of the Swiss Catholic dioceses is made up of scA^en cantons, 
 confederated for the purpose, and meeting for state 
 business relating to the diocese in " a diocesan conference." 
 This body was convened in November, 1872, and called 
 upon the bishop to give account of himself for excom- 
 municating and deposing pastors Egli and Uschwind. The 
 bishop declined to answer, and the diocesan conference, 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 18o 
 
 at an adjourned meeting, January, 1873, withdrew the 
 act of approbation under Avhich Bishop Lachat had taken 
 his see, declared the bishopric to be vacant, and took 
 effectual measures to make their declaration valid. 
 
 The Canton of Berne, a part of the Diocese of Bale, 
 took measures still more energetic. This Protestant 
 canton, like that of Geneva, had had annexed to it by the 
 Congress of Vienna, in 1815, a considerable tract of 
 Catholic territory, now known as the Bernese Jura. The 
 sixty-nine parish priests of this region having, more or 
 less against the will of their own flock, refused to submit 
 to the decision of the (lovernment relative to the bishop 
 of the diocese, and to obey the authority of the State in 
 other matters, the cantonal government, in March, 1873, 
 withdrew their salaries, suspended them from their 
 functions, and cited them before the Court of Appeal and 
 Cassation to show cause why their authorization should 
 not be revoked ; then, looking upon these flocks in the 
 mountains as sheep without a shepherd, it undertook, in 
 its own rough but doubtless well-intentioned way, the 
 cure of souls and the functions of bishop. It is one of the 
 constant surprises of this movement what a multitude of 
 priests of good standing in the Boman Catholic hierarchy 
 are on hand to step into openings made after this irregular 
 fashion. The fact stands in curious contrast, on the one 
 hand, with the solid and beautiful discipline with which 
 the deprived clergy give up flock, salary, and parsonage, 
 rather than yield one point of allegiance to their 
 constituted bishop. ; on the other hand, with the long, 
 unenterprising, and hopeless silence of the deserters under 
 the Ultramontane yoke, until the favorable hour arrived 
 for coming out from under it. These State appointees are, 
 
184 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IX SWITZERLAND. 
 
 of course, fiercely attacked at every vulnerable point by 
 the Ultramontane press, but it does not appear that they 
 are one whit inferior in personal qualities to the adherents 
 of the bishop; and some of them, to judge from their 
 former positions, their academic titles, and their occasional 
 printed discourses, are men of character and dignity,^ 
 
 It ought to be said that this appointment of parish 
 priests by the State Council of Berne was only intended 
 to be provisional. A general law, applicable alike to 
 Protestant and Catholic parishes, was submitted to the 
 popular vote of the canton in January, 1874, and adopted 
 by an immense majority. It provides for the election of 
 pastors and cures, for the organization of a cantonal 
 synod for each denomination, and for a considerable 
 degree of parochial independence; and withal for perfect 
 liberty to all persons to dissent from the National Churches 
 and organize separate congregations. 
 
 The extent to which the Reformation has proceeded 
 elsewhere in Switzerland can now be statistically exhibited 
 in this article. But the importance of the movement 
 must not be inferred from figures, unless they are con- 
 sidered in reference to the time in which the movement 
 has been in progress. They should represent the work, 
 not of three yeS-rs, or even of one year, but the work of a 
 few months. At the time of the Swiss convention of Old 
 Catholics at Olten, August, 23, 1873, only five Catholic 
 parishes had adopted the Reformed service; in hve others, 
 separate Old Catholic services, had been organized, and 
 in some two or three score there were Old Catholic 
 
 1. A more thorough acquaintance with the personnel of the new clerfj:y fails to 
 Justify the favorable rcniai'ks about their character; excepting in some 
 honorable instances. 
 
TFIE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 185 
 
 societies. It is partly on the great initial velocity of this 
 movement that we found our computations of its probable 
 range. 
 
 Certain questions will arise in the minds of intelligent 
 and critical readers of the foregoing statements, which we 
 wish to furnish all available materials for answering. 
 
 I. Is this reformation a movement, bond fide, of Roman 
 Catholics ; or is it mainly a demonstration carried on by 
 old enemies of the Catholic Church, who seize npon an 
 inconsiderable disaffection among the faithful to impose 
 upon the public by using the Catholic name ? 
 
 The answer will depend entirely on the definition given 
 to the word Catholic. For, as all persons know who have 
 had any experience of the Romanist controversy, the 
 polemics of that faith have two definitions, and two 
 corresponding sets of statistics, one for assault, and the 
 other for defense. Under one, they boast of their 
 300,000,000 of Catholics in the world, of their voting 
 strength in the republic, of their vast proportionate 
 growth, of their claim upon public moneys, of their right 
 to the chaplaincy of reformatories and poor-houses. Under 
 the other, they protest against the unfairness of the 
 statistics of Catholic crime, ignorance, and pauperism ; 
 they petition for Protestant subscriptions for church- 
 building funds for their feeble little flock ; they contradict 
 reports of variation and dissension in the Church by 
 declaring all dissentients from their own views to be no 
 Catholics at all, or only '^ half-C'atholics ;" they repudiate 
 the association of useful, but unsavory supporters ; they 
 wash their hands of responsibility for corruptions, 
 fanaticisms, and abuses. According to the former defini- 
 tion, the Catholic Church is glorious for its numbers and 
 
186 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 ecumenicity, but a monstrously heterogenous and inco- 
 herent mass, in which disorders, heresies, immoralities, 
 and schisms, by their own statement, are horribly 
 prevalent. According to the latter view, the Catholic 
 Church is an exquisitely select, pure, and homogeneous 
 sect, but far from overwhelming in point of numbers. 
 
 In the latter sense of the word, doubtless the Swiss 
 reform is not, to a very large extent, a movement of 
 Catholics. The majority of the steady-going " good 
 Catholics,'* who go frequently to confession and 
 occasionally on pilgrimages, have stuck b}^ their parish 
 priests, and the priests with few exceptions have stuck by 
 the bishops, and the bishops have stuck by one another 
 and the Pope. The reformers are mainly recruited from 
 the late followers of that brilliant and earnest Liberal 
 party in the Catholic Church to which American Catholic 
 writers used to point triumphantly in proof of the com- 
 patibility of Catht)lic faith with liberal views in politics, 
 but which was extinguished at the Vatican Council, and 
 whose illustrious leader, Montalembert, was stigmatized 
 in his coffin by the Pope as a " half-Catholic." Doubtless, 
 the most of these have not been assiduous in attendance 
 on the ministrations of Ultramontane pastors, by Avhom 
 they have been djBtested with the bitterness of a family 
 quarrel. Probably, also, there is justice in the allegation 
 made against the " Swiss Catholic" Church that it owes 
 its establishment and support in part to freethinkers — to 
 men who, in their reaction from the excesses of Ultra- 
 montanism, have become alienated more or less remotel}' 
 from the very substance of the Christian religion. 
 Certainly, in a division between Liberal and Ultramontane 
 
THE CATIIOMC REP^ORMATIOX IX SWITZEllLAXD. 187 
 
 Catholics, the sympathies of this class of people would not 
 be found to be with the latter party. 
 
 But if the word Catholic is to be used in its larger, 
 looser, and more usual sense, the Swiss Reformation is 
 unimpeachably a spontaneous movement among the 
 Catholics themselves. Witness, for example, the Canton 
 of Soleure, where the movement has been most rapid and 
 successful. It is a Catholic canton, with Catholic churches, 
 schools, magistrates, institutions, usages, and traditions, 
 and a population of 60,000 Catholics to 10,000 Protestants 
 Yet this is the region where the Catholics are getting, 
 perhaps, more grievously " persecuted '" than any where 
 else. In the Canton of (leneva, where the charge is 
 constantly reiterated that the organization of the Catholic 
 Church has been revolutionized by Protestants, the 
 Catholic population is also considerably in the majority. 
 But the law " for the organization of Catholic worship," 
 though voted for by the Protestants as well as Catholics, 
 is drawn with scrupulous care to secure to the Catholics 
 alone the control of their parish elections. The interference 
 of Protestant voters is prevented by the thorough system 
 of electoral registration here in use. No person can be a 
 voter in the election of more than one denomination, and 
 no person registered as a Protestant can have his name 
 entered as a voter on the Catholic list until ttuo years after 
 it has been erased from the former list. 
 
 On the whole, it is matter of demonstration that the 
 vast majority of the voting citizens of Roman Catholic 
 descent and association is decisively alienated from that 
 system which is represented as the only true Catholicism, 
 and from the clergy who sustain it. The interesting- 
 historical pamphlet of M. Roget, La Qaestion Catholiqm 
 
188 THE CATHOLIC IIEF0R:\IAT10X IX SWITZERLAND. 
 
 d Geneve, shows clearly, from a careful scrutiny into the 
 course of popular elections from 1815 to 1873, that it 
 never has been otherwise ; that during the long period of 
 apparent aggrandizement of the Romish party, the period 
 of panic among Protestant alarmists, of priestly swagger 
 and prophecy, of political trading in ^^ the Catholic vote,"' 
 there has never been any " Catholic \ote,'* of any extent^ 
 to trade in ; and that, with all their promises and threats^ 
 the clergy have been equally harmless as political enemies^ 
 and useless as friends. 
 
 II. To what extent is this a spiritually religious move- 
 ment, and in what measure is it impelled b}^ lower and 
 secular motives ? 
 
 One who looks to find in the Catholic Reformation of 
 the nineteenth century a complete parallel to the 
 Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth, with its profound 
 awakening of the religious nature, and its earnest^ 
 thorough, and enthusiastic studies in theology, will be 
 disappointed. If he looks further, for a display on the 
 part of the reformers, of the rancorous and sometimes 
 malignant passions which frightfully deform the records of 
 three centuries ago, he will be happily disappointed. The 
 haggard dyspeptic faces of the old ( reneva reformers, as 
 they look down from the walls of the city library, are not 
 more in contrast with the serene and humane though 
 earnest countenances of the Reformed Catholic pastors^ 
 than the temper of the former with that of the latter. 
 Happily, it is not permitted to infer a lack of religious 
 zeal and fervor from a lack of acrimony in dispute. So 
 far as one may judge from the words and acts of the new 
 Catholic clergy of Ceneva, the religious spirit of their 
 work is pure, affectionate, fervent. Every one who has. 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 189 
 
 known the preaching of the illustrious chief of this 
 company^ as well before as after his rupture with the 
 Roman hierarchy, knows what is his poAver to inspire the 
 great articulated osseous structure of the Latin theologj^ 
 with the breath of evangelic life, so using the terms of 
 that wonderful system as that good and holy men of every 
 confession should find them to come very near the 
 expression of their own religious thought and feeling. 
 This unction is upon him still, and the spirit of his own 
 preaching is that of his colleagues. And if the substance 
 of their doctrine tends to be too Protestant (in the 
 etymological meaning of the word) — if it deals at present 
 more in negation of error and abuse, than in foundation 
 and construction, the fact is necessarily incident' to the 
 present stage of the reform. 
 
 But if one could explore the motives which have 
 prevailed in the minds of this great mass of Eoman 
 Catholic laymen to cooperate in the reorganization of their 
 Church, it is impossible to see that other considerations 
 have had their influence, as well as simple religious feeling 
 and' conviction. In particular, the honorable pride of 
 ♦Swiss patriotism, jealous of any attempt from abroad to 
 infrige upon the independent sovereignty of the little 
 republic, has been sorely wounded by the defiant assertion 
 on the part of the clergy of a paramount allegiance to a 
 foreign power, and their insolent infractions of the laws 
 of the land to which they have sworn fidelity. Their not 
 infrequent hints of a possible recourse to the interference 
 of France to enforce the observance of the rights of Swiss 
 Catholics have won them no friends even in their own 
 confession ; and the recent discovery of a plot to organize 
 an " Appeal of the Swiss Catholics to Foreign Powers," 
 
190 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 has excited in the Swiss people of every creed an 
 indignation which not even the comical absurdity of the 
 whole affair is sufficient to assuage. No doubt, the 
 pressure of patriotic and political considerations has 
 affected the Catholic laity, as well as their honest disgust 
 at the new dogmas and measures of the Ultramontane 
 clergy ; and yet, in the number of worshippers in their 
 churches, and the number of communicants at their 
 sacraments, the new clergy find a sort of encouragement 
 Avhich the number of votes at an election by no means 
 furnishes. 
 
 III. AVhat are the tendencies and prospects of the 
 movement ? 
 
 On one point, anxious Protestants may be reassured. 
 The chances of a reunion of the Swiss Catholics to the 
 See of Rome are exceedingly slender. What may take 
 place, when the long-delayed departure of Pius the Ninth 
 shall at last touch the spring of ecclesiastico-political 
 changes in every part of Christendom, it is, of course, 
 impossible definitely to predict. It is possible to imagine 
 that the conclave may find themselves, by mistake, as in 
 1846, with a Liberal Pope on their hands. But this mistake 
 is not likely to be made twice in succession. The con- 
 tingency of a plurality of Popes, as m the days of the 
 (treat Schism, is far more probable. The event of a 
 second Council of Constance is hardly conceivable in our 
 days. Meanwhile, the Swiss Reformers are among the 
 most sincere well-wishers for the good health and long 
 life of the present Pope. To those Avho, in their haste to 
 see the denouement of the present singular complications, 
 express the wish that History would hurry itself a little, 
 they answer with unaffected deprecations of any change 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 191 
 
 ill the Papacy. His present Holiness is doing their work 
 fur them as well as it could possibly be done. A little 
 abatement of fanaticism, a little show of liberality^ 
 or even of discretion, at Rome, would be a serious 
 obstacle in what not seems to them the only hopeful way 
 of Catholic Eeform. To the thoughtful leaders among 
 them, the union of the Universal Church about the see of 
 one primatial bishop, the first among his peers, is still the 
 cherished ideal of Christian order — cherished the more 
 fondly in their hopes for the future, by as much as their 
 dream of its present realization has been dashed, by as 
 much as they see the ideal centre of universal love and 
 loyalty transformed into an actual seat of despotic power, 
 the spring of unnumbered schisms, instead of the nucleus 
 of union. But among the mass of the Catholic laity of 
 Switzerland the predominant feeling in view of the 
 rupture with Rome is manifestly that of unmixed relief at 
 being rid of the incubus of a foreign yoke. They are too 
 near to Rome, and too well informed of its affairs, to 
 enjo}^ the thought of being governed in all their most 
 sacredly personal affairs by the edicts of a knot of 
 intriguing Italians. Even if the temper of the Swiss were 
 less indisposed than it is to invite foreign intervention 
 from any quarter, they might be excused for declining to 
 recognize their trans-Alpine next-neighbors as the chosen 
 people, holding by divine appointment the control of the 
 destinies of Christendom. The mood of the popular 
 Catholic mind might be inferred from the murmur of 
 approval which ran through the crowd in the great 
 church of Carouge when the Abbe Marchal, in his 
 inaugural sermon, declared : " I bear about with me a 
 double title to your affection and fidelity ; first, as elected 
 
192 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 by the suffrages of the Christian people; secondl}^, as 
 excommunicated b}' the Vatican.'" 
 
 But the attitude of the Swiss Catholics is not one of mere 
 protest against the last innovations and of severance from 
 E-ome. The}^ have ceased to be an " Old Catholic" party^ 
 in the sense which those words were originall}^ meant to 
 convey. The first idea of the Munich and Bonn professors 
 was to call a halt, and make a fixed stand at the point 
 which the Church had reached before the Vatican decrees 
 of July, 1870 ; and it was a little odd to see the eager- 
 ness with Avhich many of the extremest Protestants 
 rushed forward to tender them the right hand of fellow- 
 ship on the platform of the doctrine and discipline of the 
 Council of Trent. But both in German}^ and in Switzer- 
 land, and especially in the latter, they have found that 
 there is no level place to stand on at that point, and that 
 their choice is between sliding downward and climbing 
 back. On questions of discipline they have no difliculty 
 in saj^ing that this is a matter which the Church has 
 always held to be variable and " reformable ;" and that 
 until the Swiss Church is reorganized with its due 
 authorities of bishops and synod to reform the discipline, 
 there must be provisional reform of manifest abuses. On 
 questions of doctrine there is more difficulty. " Once a 
 doctrine, always a doctrine,*' is the principle both of old 
 Catholics and new. And while the Keformers, with 
 undoubted sincerity, profess their submission to all 
 authentic doctrinal traditions of the Church Catholic, and 
 all decrees of councils truly ecumenical, the}^ declare that 
 the time is at hand when the discrimination should begin 
 to be made, under some just authority, between the real 
 dognuis of the Church and the '' dogmas which are not 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 193 
 
 dogmas, but modern superfetations '" — between genuinely 
 free and ecumenical councils, and the latrocinia and 
 hid'ibria which claim to be councils. 
 
 The position of the Swiss Catholics as it was a few 
 months since is distinctly defined in the Resolutions of the 
 convention at Olten, August 31, 1873. After projecting 
 the reconstitution of the Svviss Church in conformity alike 
 with apostolic usage and with the republican usages of 
 the country, the convention declared : 
 
 "Finally, that the meaning, tendencies, and bearing of the 
 Syllabus of 1861, and of the decrees of 1870 upon papal infallibility, 
 are sufticientl}^ known and understood ; and that the moment is 
 come for entering resolutely upon the practical business of 
 reformation. 
 
 " But it seems best that reformation should begin in matters of 
 outward worship : and in this field, to destroy the abuses which are 
 in direct opposition to the teaching of Jesus and his apostles — 
 abuses which stand in the way of religious tolerance, of good 
 feeling between different religious communions, and of the 
 providential union of the great family of mankind. 
 
 " The assembly therefore expresses the hope that in Old Catholic 
 towns, the authorities and the faithful will at once endeavor to 
 effect the following reforms : 
 
 " 1. The adoption of the language of the people for all parts of 
 divine service, whether in the church or out of it, except the mass, 
 the language and ritual of which are to be determined by a future 
 diocesan synod. 
 
 " 2. The simplification and improvement of public worship and 
 divine service. 
 
 " 3. The suppression of all fees, taxes, gratifications, etc., paid 
 for religious services, whether in the church or out of it, including 
 charges made for masses. Annual masses for the dead wil 
 continue to be celebrated, but the cost of them will be charged to 
 the income of the church. On the other hand, there should be a 
 suitable increase in the salary of the ecclesiastics and other 
 servants of the church. 
 
 13 
 
194 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 " 4. The suppression of all payment for dispensations, of whatever 
 sort. 
 
 " 5. The prohibition of all levying of Peter's pence, and trading- 
 in indulgences and like matters, and all collections for the 
 Propaganda. 
 
 " 6. The utmost possible reduction of confraternities, pilgrimagesy 
 penances, and of the adoration of images. 
 
 " 7. The restriction of processions and other like ceremonies to 
 the interior ot the church, and its immediate surroundings. The 
 suppression of processions to a distance. 
 
 " 8. The regulation by law of whatever concerns the hindrances 
 to marriage established by the Catholic Church, in so far as these 
 hindrances are made the occasion of dispensations to be paid for 
 in money. 
 
 " 9. The mitigation of the conditions and guarantees required of 
 ecclesiastics for the celebration of mixed marriages. 
 
 " 10. The obligation of priests to give their benediction to 
 marriages celebrated civilly, whenever it is demanded. 
 
 " 11. The admission, at baptism, of sponsors belonging to other 
 Christian communions. 
 
 " 12. The secularization of cemeteries. 
 
 " 13. The obligation of priests to perform the rites of the Church 
 at all burials, without distinction, if the family of the deceased 
 desire it. 
 
 " 14. That the religious ceremonies shall be the same at all 
 funerals, whether of rich or poor, strong or weak. 
 
 " 15. The establishment of undenominational schools. 
 
 " 16. The aiding, of students in theology who intend to undertake 
 the cure of souls ift Old Catholic towns." 
 
 This has not quite the ring of Luther's Wittenberg 
 Theses, certainly ; but is good as far as it goes. We find 
 an indication not only of the difference of place and 
 person, but of the lapse of a few months of time, to compare 
 the foregoing manifest with the four points under which 
 Father Hyacinthe, in a familiar discourse, recently 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IX SWITZERLAND. 195 
 
 introduced the work of the reformation of Catholic 
 discipline to the congregation of a country church : 
 
 1 . The suppression of compulsory confession ; 2. The 
 liberation of the clergy from enforced celibacy ; 3. The 
 election of pastors by the people ; 4. The emancipation 
 of the Church from its bondage to dead languages by the 
 use of the language of the people in a liturgy in which 
 they speak to God, and in a translation of the Bible in 
 which God may speak to them. 
 
 The French Liturgy of the Mass now in use in (reneva 
 is full of suggestions as to the tendencies of the 
 reorganized churches. It is, as the preface declares, 
 simply a translation from the various Catholic liturgies, 
 and more particularly from those of Rome and Paris, and 
 from the Ritual of Bishop Wessemberg, which is used in 
 many parishes of (ierman Switzerland. An historical 
 introduction, translated from a work of Prof. Priedrich of 
 Munich, insists upon several points of interest : 
 
 " In all the ancient liturgies the real presence of the body and 
 blood of Jesus Christ is enunciated most clearly and explicitly. . . . 
 As to the manner in which this presence is effected, whether, for 
 example, it is by means of transubstantiation, there is nothing said 
 whatever, either in the ancient or in the present liturgies. The same 
 silence prevails as to the nature of the sacrifice of the body and blood 
 of Jesus Christ. . . . It even seems doubtful, if we confine ourselves 
 to the precise words of the Roman mass, as they stand to-day, 
 whether the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ are 
 designated in it as a sacrifice; for the expression "oblation" 
 relates really to the (unconsecrated) gifts of bread and ivine offered 
 to the church by the faithful. ' Let these offerings become for us 
 the body and blood of Jesus Christ ' is said before the consecration ; 
 and the ' pure, holy, and spotless victim' of the offertory is, after 
 the consecration, 'the holy bread of everlasting life, and the cup of 
 eternal salvation.'" 
 
196 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 Obviously, the most advanced party in the English 
 Church and the advanced party in the Swiss Catholic 
 Church — advancing in opposite directions — have met and 
 passed each other, some time ago. 
 
 The introduction shows further that the present practice 
 of the Roman Church concerning the use of dead 
 languages, private masses, the communion under one 
 kind, and of unfermented wafers, is contrary to the 
 authority of Catholic antiquity. 
 
 But the foot-notes appended to the text of the liturgy, 
 to guard the mind of the worshiper from error, are even 
 more significant. For example, the following, under the 
 words of the confession : " I confess to Grod Almight}^, to 
 the blessed Virgin Mary, to Saint Michael the Archangel, 
 etc., etc., to all the saints, and you to my brethren." 
 
 " Sin is an offense against the holiness of the Christian com- 
 munity as well as against God's holiness : therefore it is that the 
 confession of sins is not addressed exclusively to God, but also to 
 the whole church, in heaven as well as on earth." 
 
 And upon the prayer of the priest when he kisses the 
 altar — " We pray thee, Lord, by the merits of thy 
 saints" : 
 
 " The priest here affirms the intimate fellowship which unites all 
 the members of Christ's body the Church. The merits of the saints, 
 that is of all true Christians, are the merits of Jesus Christ himself, 
 ' who liveth in them,' as Saint Paul says. They are all of grace, 
 so that, in the words of the Catholic Liturgy according to 
 St. Augustine, Mn crowning our merits God crowneth his own 
 gifts.' " 
 
 And on the Filioqiie in the Creed : 
 
 " The addition of these words and from the Son undoubtedly 
 expresses a great doctrinal truth. But this addition was not made 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 197 
 
 by competent authority, that of an ecumenical council, and has 
 consequently been a potent cause of division between the churches 
 of the East and West. This point is one of those which demands 
 attention in the future revision of our liturgy." 
 
 And at the elevation of the host : 
 
 " It is important to remark that the adoration which takes place 
 after the consecration is addressed, not to the bread and the wine, 
 but to Jesus Christ, who has become thenceforth mysteriously and 
 really present in the sacrament." 
 
 Wherein the doctrine above expressed differs from that 
 doctrine of 'Hhe mystical presence" which was formulated 
 in (xeneva by John Calvin three hundred years ago, we 
 are at a loss to say. 
 
 There need be no doubt, then, that the leaders in the 
 Swiss Catholic Church are in earnest in their purposes of 
 reform, and that in a right direction. A more doubtful 
 question, which gives just anxiety to some friendly 
 observers, is whether the spirit of reform, carrying these 
 churches away from their ancient moorings, may not 
 sweep them away to just such disastrous shipwreck as 
 has in many instances befallen the national Protestant 
 Churches of Switzerland, in some of which the resurrection 
 of Christ, and the life of the world to come, are said to be 
 openly denied. The fervid piety of such a man as 
 Hyacinthe, whose personal influence is supreme over the 
 framing of the churches of the Canton of Greneva, is a 
 sufficient guarantee of their soundness so long as he lives. 
 But a man dcj^s not live so long as an institution ; and 
 it is not to be denied that there is something in the form of 
 this reorganization of the Swiss Catholic churches, in their 
 relation to State patronage, their present emancipation 
 
198 THF CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 from hierarchical oversight, their emphatic assertion of 
 parochial autonomy, which may justify grave doubts of 
 their future stability in the Christian faith. One finds 
 among them no recognition of that Puritan principle of 
 committing the control of the spiritualities of the church 
 to the brotherhood of spiritual men, as distinguished from 
 the merely nominal Christians, with which ecclesiastical 
 independency has always been associated, and which 
 is probably essential to its safe working. If the 
 reform shall fail, it will probably be in consequence 
 of the remitting of religious questions to the universal 
 suffrage of the nominally Catholic population. But 
 as to the seriousness of this peril, it is premature to 
 pronounce until the organization of the Swiss hierarchy is 
 completed by the consecration of its bishops, and the 
 complete framework of the reconstituted church is open 
 to view.^ 
 
 lY. One question remains, not inferior in practical 
 interest to the foregoing : To what extent can we compute 
 the future of Homan Catholic institutions in the United 
 States, from the course which they have taken in 
 Switzerland ? 
 
 On many superficial points, as we have alreadj^ hinted, 
 the historical analogy between the two countries is very 
 striking. The epoch (1815) at which a sudden accession 
 of Catholic population was acquired to the Protestant 
 republics of Berne and Greneva coincides with the 
 
 1. The perils here indicated were stated with f?reat force by M. Ernest 
 Naville, the eminent writer and pliilosopher, in a memorial to the Government 
 of Geneva ajjainst tlic (istahlishuient ot the Liberal Catliolic Church by law. 
 I am un>ler great obligation to M. Naville for tha opportunity of reading his 
 argument in manuscript. 
 
 P.S.— The subsequent history has fully Justilied his worst misgivings. 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATIOX IX SWITZERLAND. 199 
 
 beginning of the Catholic migration to America, On both 
 sides of the water has been the same anti-popery 
 agitation, the same organization of Orange and Know- 
 Nothing hjdges and of proselyting societies, the same 
 concessions and cajoleries of politicians toward ^' the 
 Catholic vote/' the same boastful predictions on the part 
 of the Eomish clergy of the speedy conquest of the 
 country to the obedience of the Pope. In Switzerland, in 
 the very height of these most sanguine hopes, the towering 
 structure that was in building by the Ultramontane 
 hierarchy has suddenly fallen, and on inspection we find 
 that it never had foundation nor strength of walls. Does 
 this justify us in prognosticating a like fate for plans and 
 hopes in the United States ? 
 
 M. Amedee Eoget, in the capital historical pamphlet 
 which we have already quoted, and the title of which 
 -stands at the beginning of this article, asserts, and goes 
 far toward proving, that the present result is the natural 
 and inevitable consequence, which might have been 
 predicted and was predicted, of exposing Catholic people 
 and institutions to the influence of light and liberty in a 
 free republic. Every facility was given to the priesthood 
 to train their flocks in the way in Avhich they should go. 
 Religious schools, under the conduct of the secular priests, 
 and under the teaching brotherhoods and sisterhoods, 
 have been tolerated or sustained by the State ; demor- 
 alizing influences have been warded off from their sheep- 
 folds by treaty stipulations forbidding Protestant churches 
 in the Catholic towns ; and yet out of their clerical 
 schools have graduated the civil leaders of the Catholic 
 Reform, and their Catholic communes give majorities 
 against their own clergymen ! 
 
200 THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 One diiference between the two situations lies in the 
 fact that in Switzerland there has been legal and govern- 
 mental recognition of the church relations of the citizen, 
 so that one born a Catholic has been counted a Catholic 
 until by some formal act he has abandoned or transferred 
 his church-allegiance. As of old, Peter has been using 
 one of his " two swords '' — the one he has borrowed of 
 the civil magistrate — a little more freely than is good for 
 him. This bulk of Catholic believers, thus given over to 
 the training of the clergy, and imputed to them in the 
 census returns, was extremely glorious to tell of, but 
 inconvenient to the last degree when it was allowed to 
 vote. Better have disowned it long before as " free- 
 thinking,"' or freemason, or " half-Catholic," than have 
 boasted of it for fifty years to be voted down by it on the 
 fifty-first ! One result of the absolute ignoring of religious 
 distinctions on the part of the United States Grovernmenty 
 so that one becoming indifferent or disaff'ected toward his 
 religious communion comes off" from it without fuss or 
 violence, has doubtless been the loss to the Eoman 
 Catholic Church in the United States of millions of souls 
 that Avere hers by birth or inheritance, but over whom her 
 pastors have mourned as given up to Protestantism or 
 some other form! of perdition. But it has left under the 
 charge of the priesthood a picked and tried and still 
 formidably numerous company, who stay in their Church 
 for conviction's sake and conscience' sake, or for something 
 much like these, and in which the elements of disaffection 
 do not stay long enough to accumulate and become 
 dangerous. Even if there were ever opportunity for voting- 
 in the Koman Catholic Church in America, there need 
 be little fear of an anti-clerical party in a community so 
 
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 201 
 
 composed. But, thanks to the generosity of the American 
 States, in granting to the Catholic bishops such an 
 absolute control over all church property as is unheard of 
 in all the lands of Catholic Christendom, the last suspicion 
 of peril from the action of a disaffected laity is completely 
 extinguished. Men are sure not to vote wrong if they are 
 not allowed to vote at all. In Switzerland, the voice of 
 the strong majority of the Catholic laity has prevailed 
 against the almost unanimous resolution of the hierarchy. 
 In America, to such a degree do the laws on the one hand, 
 and the absence of legislation on the other, favor the 
 practice of absolute personal government on the part of 
 the bishop, that the unanimous protest of all the priests 
 and all the people would have no more influence against 
 the decision of his lordship than the whistling of the wind. 
 He could lock the doors of his churches against clergy and 
 people alike, and turn to the stones of the street to raise 
 up children to Abraham. In Switzerland, as elsewhere 
 in Europe, the necessity of permission from the State, 
 either for the installing or for the removal of pastor or 
 bishop, imposes something like a constitutional limitation 
 on the absolution of hierarchical government, making 
 possible a certain degree of liberty. In the United States, 
 the absolute influence of the bishop over every clerk and 
 layman in his diocese, is limited only by his own fear of 
 the bowstring which, being amovibilis ad nntiim, he is 
 liable any moment to have sent to him from the Sublime 
 Porte of the Propaganda College. The narrowest 
 uniformity can be enforced through all ranks of the 
 Church. This is the explanation of the puzzling paradox 
 that in the freest and most enlightened country in the 
 world, the Catholic Church should be more Ultramontane 
 
202 THE CATHOLIC IIEFORMATIOX IN .SWITZERLAND. 
 
 than any where else in Christendom. It is because the 
 Italian Pontiff is absolutely free to enforce his policy in 
 America, by all spiritual penalties, and by pecuniar}- 
 sanctions up to the entire value of the church property, 
 and because all Catholics of liberal leanings, who might 
 otherwise be a leaven of liberalism in the lump, are 
 absolutely free to leave the Church if they do not like it, 
 and free to do nothing else under heaven. And the more 
 the}^ leave it the more unanimously and intensely anti- 
 liberal becomes the residuum. 
 
 This continued wasting and dribbling at the safety- 
 valve saves much of the danger of a future revolution of 
 the Roman Church in America, or a splitting into two 
 sects. But it also prevents it from ever being any thing 
 more than a sect itself ; a sect formidable, no doubt, for 
 numbers, for organization, for the concentration of its 
 enormous real estate under the power of a single Italian 
 prelate, and for its curious and perilous facility of 
 coalition with all manner of Jacobinism and demagogy, 
 but still a sect; for it is sheer impossibility that an 
 institution which is not broad enough to contain two 
 parties should ever succeed in holding within its pale any 
 large fraction of a free people. From time to time, the 
 possessors of unlimited power will be tempted, despite 
 their habitual prudence, to make injudicious use of it, and 
 there will result defections, more or less numerous, of 
 laymen, or of priests. But the corporation will continue, 
 preserved by the peculiar structure of American laws 
 from any danger of subversion ; and although it may 
 fluctuate in numbers, its corporate weMth can not but go 
 (m steadily and rapidly increasing. 
 
 One more point of difference between the United 
 
THE CATHOLIC KEFORMATIOX IN SWITZERLAND. 203 
 
 States and Switzerland^ which has favored the development 
 of the Catholic Reformation in the latter country, is 
 worth mentioning for the salutary and Christian lesson 
 which it conve3^s. Despite the violence of some anti- 
 popery zealots, and the social exclusiveness encouraged 
 by the Ultramontane priests, there have subsisted between 
 the citizens of the two communions relations, on the 
 whole, of personal and social good-fellowship. Not but 
 that there has been some natural disposition on the part 
 of the old citizens to look down on the palpabl)^ inferior 
 intelligence, culture, and prosperity of the new — and some 
 sense of injury on the part of the latter toward the 
 former ; but that, on the whole, the differences of religious 
 belief have been forgotten in the mutual relations of 
 citizen and neighbor. Doubtless, this is easier between 
 people of like lineage and antecedents than between alien 
 races. But in the United States, the causes Avhich once 
 enforced a wide social separation between the Catholic 
 Irish and the Protestant American dwindle in the second 
 generation, and vanish in the third. It is not onl}^ a sin, 
 it is a woful folly, if the effect is suffered to outlive the 
 causes. For that free, kindly, equal intermingling with 
 Protestants, in school, in business, in politics, in society, 
 and especially in acts of charity, which it is the effort of 
 Ultramontane policy to prevent, is the most potent of all 
 influences to produce, we need not say proselytes, but 
 liberal Catholics ; and liberal Catholic, according to the 
 definitions of the Vatican, is equivalent, for all practical 
 ends, to no Catholic at all. Certainly, for all the purposes 
 of good citizenship in the republic, it is much more than 
 equivalent to illiberal Protestant. 
 
204 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 IX. 
 
 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 THREE LETTERS IN THE " CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Swidai/, April 26, 1874. 
 
 SaIGNELEGIER, IN THE BeRNESE JuRA, 
 
 Your '^ own co-respondent" has spent a strange Sunday 
 in search of the truth touching the so-called Catholic 
 Reformation in Switzerland. The way of reaching this 
 secluded corner of the earth is to go to Neuchatel, and 
 from that charming, quaint old town — the New Castle of 
 which is thirteen centuries old, and shows the mark of 
 each of them, down to the superb- restorations of the 
 present — and to take the new switch-back railroad, 
 unknown to tourists, which zig-zags up the flank of the 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IX NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 205 
 
 Jura. The fair lake spreads out beneath you as you rise ; 
 the apparently high mountains on the other side shrink 
 and dwindle, and the really high ones go towering higher 
 and higher, till all the eastern and southern horizon is 
 walled around with snowy peaks, and the remotest 
 perspective is closed at last by the white pyramid of 
 Mont Blanc. You go tunneling through many dismal cliffs 
 of " Jurassic limestone," and come out presently at 
 Chaux-de-Fonds, most prosaic and unpicturesque of 
 factory-villages, where every third house is a watch- 
 factory, or if not, then a factory of watchmakers' tools, 
 and where, my dear sir, your (ieneva watch was probably 
 made before being sent down to G^eneva to be marked with 
 the name of an eminent firm. Here you reach the limit 
 of railroading (the sphere of the guide-books had been 
 passed before), and have recourse to the historic and 
 obsolescent diligence. It is over-full already, but for a 
 consideration the conducteiir will vacate his lofty seat and 
 admit you to be adsessor to the 2)ostillon. That man has 
 not trul}^ traveled who has not sometime made acquaint- 
 ance with the postilion — with his glazed hat, his red 
 jacket, his cruel whip and its tremendous snapper, with 
 his hi-hi ! his hia I his allez-houge ! and (in extreme 
 emergencies) his honcJie ! I regret to add, also, his sacr-r-e, 
 and his gr-r-and yiom de dieii 1 We pass thrifty, neat, 
 new-looking villages, with well-kept churches and school- 
 houses — they are in the Protestant canton of Neuchatel. 
 We come to slovenly farms and Irish-looking hamlets ; it 
 is a sign that we have passed the boundary and are in the 
 Catholic part of the canton of Berne. It is an open 
 question still whether Protestantism makes people rich, 
 or whether it is the deceitfulness of riches that makes a 
 
206 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 people Protestant ; but all the statisticians of Europe are 
 agreed that in the present state of society the Catholic 
 style of godliness is no longer profitable to all things, 
 having completely yielded to Protestantism the promise 
 of the life that now is, leaving that of the life to come still 
 in dispute. 
 
 Saignelegier (you will find the name only in the verj- 
 largest gazetteers) is one of the Irishest of these villages. 
 I had selected it at my first objective point for two 
 reasons : first, it is reputed to be one of the most 
 turbulent and intractable of all the parishes under the 
 new regime ; and secondly, I had been much attracted by 
 Avhat I heard of the new cure. He was mentioned in the 
 newspapers as from Alabama, in America, and had given 
 proof that he had not studied in vain the principles of 
 liberty in that favored region, by announcing in the news- 
 papers that if the police could not protect him from insult 
 and attack he should take the matter into his own hands ; 
 and further, that if he caught any more of the Ultra- 
 montanes roidant round his premises at untimely hours of 
 the night, he should shoot them on sight, not in his 
 capacit)^ as a minister of the gospel, but in his capacity as 
 an American citizen. You can easily believe that upon 
 minds accustomed only to the effete civilizations of the old 
 world this energetic proceeding must have made a lively 
 impression. 
 
 In consequence either of this demonstration or of some- 
 thing else, the village was quiet enough when I arrived 
 on Saturday afternoon. I strolled about the treeless 
 streets, though the bare churchyard, into the empty 
 church. The vestibule was paved with monuments of 
 village worthies, and the crosses and banners for funeral 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTH ERX SWITZERLAND. 207 
 
 processions stood along the aisle. On either side of the 
 chancel, enthroned conspicuously upon an altar, was a 
 handsome glass show-case, containing an elaborately 
 dressed recumbent skeleton. Spangles, gold-lace and 
 beads covered the waist and skirts, the bony feet were 
 cased in embroidered slippers, and the hands in silk gloves, 
 outside of which cheap rings hung loose about the fingers. 
 Each of them held a pasteboard palm branch, and by the 
 side of each lay a wooden sword. One was labeled 
 St. Vemishis martyr, and the other St. Faustina, maiiyr, 
 and they ought to be genuine, for it cost this poor little 
 village, I am told, about 15,000 francs to get them from 
 Rome. 
 
 My American brother serves two or three contiguous 
 parishes, and after an early low mass in the church (at 
 which he told me there would be nobody present) he had 
 to leave for high mass and sermon at the next village. 
 When I left my inn, at 8Y2 a.m., I found a crowd dressed 
 in black preparing for an important funeral. But their 
 old priest having been expelled from the country, and the 
 new cure being held in horror, they were to bury their 
 dead with a " civil interment," without religious rites. 
 Parties of villagers in their Sunday array were straggling 
 along the pleasant road that leads towards the French 
 frontier. It was not easy to pity them their forced 
 exchange of the village church, with its dismal pictures 
 and grizzly old skeletons, for the bright April woods, 
 lighted up with all manner of blossoming trees, and 
 carpeted with tender grass sprinkled with cowslips, 
 daisies and primroses, and fragrant with the incense of 
 violets. And when I reached the rendezvous, where 
 perhaps a hundred of the village folk were assembled, 
 
20^ CATHOLIC REFORM IX NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 with their brass band, waiting for the prayers to begin 
 which thej^ were not permitted to have in the village, 
 I thought I had never seen a more cheerful, not to say 
 jolly, company of martyrs. So far as concerns the appear- 
 ance of happy resignation, there was not one of them but 
 deserved to have his skeleton done up in spangles and 
 gilt paper and set up in the church alongside of 
 Sis. Yenustus and Faustina. 
 
 I could not stay to witness the worship. In fact, 
 I lingered quite too long observing the people and the 
 magnificent view that opened suddenly from the brow of 
 of the precipice where they were gathered. We looked 
 down a sheer cliff of a thousand feet and saw the little 
 river Doubs — a ribbon of bright water — and on its 
 further bank the little French village and church of 
 Groumois, where mass was to be said by some of the exiled 
 Swiss priests for the benefit of such of their late flock as 
 might come to them. I made all haste down the steep 
 foot-path and reached the church in the midst of the mass. 
 It was said by a handsome young priest, the " revoked " 
 vicar of Saignelegier, and the singing was by a choir of 
 young children that had come from Les Pommerats, 
 another Swiss village, to make their first communion. 
 When mass was ended, their "revoked" pastor, an infirm 
 old man of seventy, climbed slowly up into the high 
 pulpit on the side-wall of the church to preach the sermon. 
 He stood for a moment wiping his spectacles, and you 
 would not have supposed, looking into his dull, blank 
 face, that he was about to burst forth with a torrent of 
 thoughtful and impassioned eloquence — and in point of 
 fact he was not going to do anything of the kind. He took 
 for his theme the vanity of life and the importance of 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 209 
 
 eternity, and for half an hour droned and dawdled a 
 stream of commonplaces broken only by occasional pauses 
 in the attempt to remember his piece. But when he had 
 finished, to his own evident relief, the old man fumbled 
 awhile in the pocket of his cassock for a bit of note- 
 paper on which were Avritten a few words of warning to 
 his late flock, now left without a shepherd, to beware of 
 the perils of schism and irreligion. And in the attempt to 
 read this, the tears gathered on his wrinkled cheeks, his 
 voice faltered and failed, and he tottered down the pulpit 
 «tairs weeping aloud. 1 forgave him for his dull sermon. 
 The crowd in the church dispersed in all directions, and 
 the mountain paths leading towards various neighboring 
 8wiss villages were enlivened with groups of wayfarers. 
 I joined myself to a group of peasant children. They 
 belonged in a village eight miles from Groumois, and two 
 little boj^s who were among the new communicants had 
 walked thither and back four times that week to attend 
 the catechism by way of preparation. " Wasn't it rather 
 hard ?" they asked ; " and to think that they should have 
 sent off their good pastors and sent this canaille in the 
 place of them ! But the boys had harried the intniSj the 
 aiwstat, well at Saignelegier, hadn't they ? And do you 
 know that they have arrested one of the revoked cures, 
 who had come back to his parish to minister to the sick, 
 and have got him in prison?" I did not know it at the 
 time, but have learned of it since through the papers. He 
 was searched by the rjens cVarmeSy and the only sign of 
 sedition about him was that he had got his snuff-box full 
 of consecrated wafers. Considering what the consecrated 
 wafer is defined by the Eoman Church to be, it does seem 
 
210 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 like horribly bad taste to pack a dozen of them into a 
 snuff-box ! 
 
 I passed the evening at the " presbyter e " or parsonage 
 with my Alabama brother and an elderly Italian priest 
 just installed in the next parish. Our talk was naturally 
 of the state and prospects of the " Liberal Catholic *' 
 Church in Switzerland. It was idle to disguise that in this 
 parish it had a bad lookout. In the other parishes which 
 he served the new cure had friends and adherents. In one 
 he had seventeen catechumens. But there, where he lived, 
 he was almost isolated from intercourse. The insult and 
 assault which he had met with at first had ceased. The 
 old clergy, having used their influence to provoke breaches 
 of the peace, had been ordered away. The right of 
 meeting for separate worship, which was distinctly 
 guaranteed to the Ultramontanes by the new law, had 
 been suppressed as a measure of police, when it was 
 found that the congregations attacked and annoyed those 
 who frequented the parish church. Order was completely 
 restored by the temporary billeting of troops on the town. 
 Everything is quiet now, and it needs only patience and 
 pluck to bring about a good result. 
 
 So seemed to think my Alabama brother. And I have 
 no doubt that !if patience and pluck are the virtues 
 needed, he is just the man for the place. His preparation 
 for the work is singular and providential. Having been 
 once a Jesuit, he is now a presbyter of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in regular standing, but saying Latin 
 masses ad interim in a Catholic parish. I mention this to 
 the honor of the Episcopal Church, .which is sometimes 
 accused of an exclusive policy toward other denomi- 
 nations. 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 211 
 
 To sum up my own first impressions from a single day's 
 observations in the Catholic Jura, the allegation of danger 
 to the public peace, by the Bernese (xovernment, as a 
 reason for banishing nearly one hundred parish priests, 
 and afterwards interdicting their adherents from meeting 
 for worship, seems to me either a shameful confession of 
 weakness or a dishonest pretext for persecution ; and the 
 attempt to set up a new church without members promises 
 no better result than to awaken and intensify a fanatical 
 devotion to the proscribed church. The whole affair looks, 
 at first sight, like own cousin to the legal establishment 
 and propagation of Protestantism in Ireland, and likely to 
 reach the same illustrious success. 
 
 But since I began this letter I have seen this matter in 
 some other aspects, which I will report in my next. 
 
 LETTER II 
 
 (teneva, May 5, 1874. 
 
 I came away from Saignelegier by the diligence on 
 Monday noon, with very unfavorable impressions of the 
 " Old Catholic '' movement as carried on by order of 
 legislature. But that evening I arrived at Delemont, a 
 notable little city which is just shedding its cincture of 
 walls, and getting ready for the railroad that is expected 
 there in the course of a twelve-month. The conspicuous 
 building of Delemont is a huge quadrangular palace, once 
 the summer residence of the mighty prince-bishops of 
 
212 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 Bale, now labeled, in big letters, COLLEGrE, and devoted 
 to education in all grades up to that of grammar-school. 
 Near the palace stands the large and fine church, built 
 about the middle of the last centur}^, and near this the 
 spacious " presbytery " or parsonage. 
 
 Delemont, like the little country parish which I last 
 described, was included in the sweep of those edicts which 
 revoked the commissions of ninety-seven parish-priests, 
 and finally expelled them from residing near their former 
 churches, supplying their places with government 
 appointees. But in this little city, according to the best 
 information I could get, a good half of the Catholic 
 population approve the change and sustain the new pastor. 
 Here, too, although there is bitterness of feeling enough 
 between the two parties, there has been no violence 
 ofi'ered to the new pastor and his adherents b}^ the Ultra- 
 montane congregation, and consequently their liberty of 
 meeting for separate worship has not been interfered with. 
 In fact this extreme measure has not been applied except 
 in four places, where (according to the averment to me of 
 a leading member of the government) the meetings of the 
 Ultramontanes for the pretense of worship were really 
 nothing but centers of conspiracy against public peace 
 and order. * 
 
 I called twice upon the Abbe Portaz, the new Cure. He 
 is a prepossessing gentleman, of dignity, culture and 
 learning — of eloquence, too, I am told. When I asked 
 him whether he was acquainted with Hyacinthe, he told 
 me that he had once met him at the table of Mermillod, 
 the would-be Bishop of Geneva, • before the days of 
 infallibility and schism, when Hyacinthe Avas preaching 
 Conferences at Carouge in a white woolen gown and a 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 213 
 
 shaven head, and Portaz, a bishop's chaplain from Savoy, 
 had come to preach in Mermillod's new cathedral of Xotre 
 Dame. Things are changed since them. 
 
 The Cure took me over to the great church. In a dark, 
 high niche in the chancel, b<ihind a plate of clear glass 
 reclined a skeleton, said to be that of 8t. Germain, who 
 in the seventh century had been founder of the neighboring 
 Abbey of (irandval, now extinct. In the sacristy 
 guarded by five successive locks with different keys, was 
 the treasury of relics — the sandals of St. (lermain, his 
 tihiaUa, or stockings, his paten and chalice, of antique 
 pattern and of virgin gold, and his bishop's staff ; item, a 
 jaw-bone of some anonymous worthy ; and with these, 
 brilliant with gilding and imitation jewels, the most 
 costly '^ properties *' of the church — pyxes and festal 
 banners. The old oaken w^ardrobes which surrounded the 
 large room on three sides were stored with the accumula- 
 tion of centuries in priestly vestments, and one drawer 
 was piled with broad, stiff chasubles of various dates, 
 embroidered with silk, with silver and with gold, and 
 some of them, most richly and curiously, with straw — the 
 pious work of nnns in ancient time. 
 
 But all this, though curious enough, was much less to 
 my purpose than to know the contents and materials of 
 the spiritual edifice. The Cure of Delemont has no 
 occasion, like his rural brother, to lament the lack of a 
 congregation. On the contrary, he finds a goodly assembly 
 every Sunday, composed in large part of men ; and 
 at Easter the Church was fairly filled with the crowd of 
 worshipers. But he acknowledges that the Liberal Catholic 
 population is ordinarily much more attentive at elections 
 than it is at sermons and sacraments. They have been 
 
214 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 revolted from the old church not half so much by reaction 
 against novelties in theology, or even by corruptions in 
 worship and discipline, as by indignation at finding the 
 church and pulpit turned into political machines, and 
 especially into machines adverse to their politics. 
 
 The great hindrance to the immediate spread of the 
 Liberal Catholic organization, — this is the common 
 testimony of its representatives — is the lack of clergy. 
 People, parishes, churches, salaries, are all read3^ But 
 the right men for the work are hard to find. The discipline 
 which holds the ranks of the Koman priesthood unbroken 
 against the combination of influences now bearing upon 
 them is one of the most splendid things in history. " My 
 clergy is a regiment, and it has to march," said the 
 Cardinal-Bishop Bonnechose not long ago in the French 
 Imperial Senate. In all that great army only here and 
 there a priest, and not one single bishop of unquestioned 
 standing is seen to fall out of line. 
 
 I turned from Delemont through a passage of scenery 
 wonderfully refreshing after the dull undulations of the 
 table-land where I had been spending these three or four 
 days, and not without a certain majesty even to one 
 whose eyes have been accustomed for months to the huge 
 granite masses of the great Alps of Savoj^. The Gorge 
 of Moutier is not granite indeed ; but whatever Nature 
 can do in limestone is done there ; and in some of the 
 elements of sublimity there can be no dispute that the 
 limestone cliff's of the Jura surpass the Alps. The twisted 
 and tormented strata seem to be writhing still in the 
 agony of that great convulsion in which they were cloven 
 asunder to make way for the little river that is sawing its 
 way annually deeper at the bottom. Weather-stained, 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IX NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 215 
 
 rifted^ cavernous, the opposing cliffs look each other in the 
 face at a distance so narrow that the road notched into the 
 precipice leaps from side to side a hundred feet above the 
 stream, in bridges of a single span. The cuttings and 
 multitudinous tunnels of the expected railroad — a miracle 
 of engineering — come constantly into view, and at last, 
 from under the arch of an ancient Roman tunnel, known 
 as "the Peter-gate," decorated with a still legible 
 inscription, '^to the divine Augustus,'' I looked down upon 
 a village dressed out in gay flags and evergreen arches, 
 celebrating the inauguration of part of the road com- 
 pleted. 
 
 Do not think this paragraph about the new railroad to 
 be quite out of place in a letter on the Church Eeform. 
 I assure you that the projected net-work of Jura railroads 
 is considered by all concerned, on all sides, as having a 
 very important part to play in the propagation and 
 perpetuation of Liberalism. 
 
 I stopped a few hours at the interesting and most 
 Catholic city of Soleure (in German, Solothurn), capital 
 of the Catholic canton of the same name. There is nothing 
 to see there but churches of unusual splendor and wealth, 
 and a double cincture of magnificent towers, walls and 
 moat, hardly inferior to those of famous Nuremburg. Gro 
 quick, if you would see them. They are gone already on 
 the side next the railroad station; and those of Nuremburg 
 are going too. Some paltry considerations touching the 
 reduction of the death-rate are said to conspire with the 
 hope of eligible building-lots to bring about the destruc- 
 tion of these noble monuments ; and the tourist world is 
 indignant at the burghers for not being willing to spare 
 an average of a few months off the ends of their sordid 
 
216 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 lives, for the benefit of lovers of the picturesque and 
 historic. Over the filled-up moat, and through the awful 
 gap in its ancient ramparts, Liberal opinions have invaded 
 Catholic Soleure, and hold it, in spite of Church and 
 clergy. Whenever election-day comes round, the formid- 
 able fact becomes apparent that three-fourths of the 
 people, though Catholics born and bred, are Liberals at 
 heart and in politics, and mean to bear with their present 
 pastors only so long as it is impossible for them to find 
 others to take their place. 
 
 But my errand this day was not to the capital, but to 
 Olten, a chief town of this Catholic canton. Hard by Olten, 
 a dusty walk of twenty minutes from the station, lies 
 little Starrkirch, unknown till lately in ecclesiastical 
 history, now famous for its resolute rector (whose very 
 name, with its seven consonants to one vowel, bespeaks a 
 prophet that will not utter smooth things) and his stead- 
 fastly adhering parishioners. In Starrkirch one sees Old 
 Catholicism in its typical aspect : the old parish church 
 imaltered, the same old congregation, undiminished by 
 desertion, the same pastor saying the same Latin masses, 
 and preaching the same Tridentine theology — nothing 
 changed, except that the Pope and the Bishop and all the 
 rest of the clergy have pushed on, shouting excommunica- 
 tions backwards as they go, and left this little parish quite 
 alone in the forsaken camp where they had rested for three 
 hundred years. I walked through the little church-yard, 
 in the center of which a great crucifix spreads its arms in 
 benediction over the graves. In one corner of the yard 
 was a strange spectacle — a niche of masonry with shelves 
 of wood, on which I counted sixty-two human skulls of 
 various antiquity. In the crowded cemetery, whenever 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN .SWITZERLAND. 217 
 
 an old grave has to be evacuated to make way for a new 
 tenant, the skull of the former occupant is identified by 
 his surviving friends, and laid away in this more 
 conspicuous resting-place. 
 
 I had much and interesting conversation with Cure 
 (xschwind, in his quiet country parsonage, and with 
 Professor Herzog, the new Old Catholic Cure of Olten. 
 How different the sober gravity of these scholarlike and 
 thoughtful Germans, from the quick apprehensiveness and 
 graceful facility of the priests in French Switzerland ! 
 Sustained as they are by the strong and intelligent 
 adhesion of an almost unanimous population, they look 
 with misgivings upon the rough measures of the Bernese 
 Grovernment in exiling old pastors and installing new 
 over unwilling flocks, and distinctly decline all solidarity 
 with the "mixed lot'' of priests who have been swept 
 together hastily to fill the sudden vacancies in the Bernese 
 Jura, among whom, it is more than hinted, are men whose- 
 character it would be charitable to speak of as doubtful. 
 Of Hyacinthe and his colleagues they speak with deep 
 personal respect and kindness — it is impossible to do 
 otherwise; but they themselves are not reformers — at 
 least not on their own hook — and Hyacinthe is. They are 
 simple conservatives, holding without variation to the 
 Catholic Church as it was up to July 18, 1870, and 
 patiently waiting for a Bishop to be consecrated and a 
 Synod to be called that can undertake the reform of 
 discijyline (doctrine being irreformable) with due authority. 
 
 Since my visit to the Old Catholic churches and pastors, 
 1 have been to Berne and talked Avith leading statesmen 
 there. Yon will be interested to get the political and Pro- 
 testant view of these remarkable affairs in another letter. 
 
218 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORIHEUX SWITZERLAND. 
 
 LETTER III 
 
 (teneva, May 27th, 1874. 
 
 lu all fairness, 1 have felt compelled to report pretty 
 unfavorable impressions of the ecclesiastical operations 
 which have been carried on by the government of the 
 Canton of Berne in the Roman Catholic districts of that 
 Protestant Canton. I found there shepherds without 
 sheep, saying masses in empty churches ; and sheep without 
 a shepherd, interdicted even from meeting for worship, 
 and compelled to cross the frontier of a foreign country 
 for the privilege of worshiping according to their 
 consciences and of receiving instruction from their 
 banished priests. In the larger towns, where " liberal," 
 or free-thinking, opinions have made progress, things wear 
 a better aspect, for there often a majority — sometimes an 
 overwhelming majority — of the Catholic population gives 
 its hearty consent to the discharge of the old pastor and 
 the installation of the new. But even there, while the 
 majority of voters is all one way, the majority of 
 worshipers is all the other ; and even in some of these 
 large towns, too far distant from the Erench frontier to 
 admit of weekly pilgrimages thither for worship, the 
 liberty of separate worshi]) for the Ultramontanes has 
 been suppressed " as a precautionary measure,"' to prevent 
 breaches of the peace. 
 
 Now, 1 do not find anything of the nature of religious 
 persecution in the disestahlishment of the old clergy. If 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 219 
 
 the State owns certain meeting-houses and parsonages, 
 and has certain salaries to bestow for pastoral service, it 
 is certainly entitled to say who shall have the use of these, 
 and is not altogether to blame for saying that they shall 
 not be used by disloyal and disobedient persons to 
 promote disloyalty and disobedience to the laws in others. 
 Consequently, when the Supreme Court of the canton 
 declared ninety-seven parish priests, on the occasion of 
 their signing a manifesto adhering to the disloj^al and 
 deposed bishop, to be deprived of their commissions for 
 malfeasance in office, it was evidently not unjust and 
 presumptively not illegal, for we may take it for granted 
 that Swiss Courts understand Swiss laws. But when it 
 came to forbidding the late clergy to remain among their 
 old parishioners, and to interdicting the latter from, 
 meeting for worship at their own charges, in order to 
 provide against breaches of the peace, it did seem to me 
 t) be either a discreditable confession of weakness in the 
 government, or else a persecution under false pretenses. 
 It looked to me, too, like a most futile policy, fitted to 
 bring about reaction and its own defeat; and meanwhile 
 to train the Ultramontane church to habits of self-support 
 which will give it a grand advantage in that period of the 
 total separation of church and state which the Swiss 
 people, with singular unanimity, perceive to be nigh at 
 hand. 
 
 1 have been interested in inquiring in all quarters, 
 up to the highest stations of political leadership at 
 Berne, to see what would be said to this view of the case. 
 
 One thing suggests itself to every traveler at the 
 outset — the question whether it is the duty of the civil 
 government to show itself absolutely indifferent in the 
 
220 CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 case of a form of religion which blights the prosperity of 
 the region where it prevails ; which sterilizes the farms, 
 makes the villages mean and foul, breaks down the 
 schools, dries up the resources, and dwindles the popula- 
 tion. These are matters that concern the dearest interests 
 of secular government , and one cannot altogether blame 
 the fathers of the state at Berne for at least wishing to do 
 something for the relief of their pitiable Roman Catholic 
 provinces. 
 
 Then, I found the sentiment generally expressed by the 
 friends of the government policy, that it only required 
 time and perseverance to bring the whole people round to 
 it. The people of the Catholic districts have been trained 
 by their own priests to the habit of submitting to authority 
 without asking questions. It is only a question of waiting 
 till the personal influence of the old priests has faded out 
 and been forgotten, and the new generation will quietly 
 accomodate themselves to established facts. Everything 
 tends in this direction. The Protestant pastor at Delemont 
 pointed out to me from his window sundry fresh mounds 
 of earth here and there on the hill-side that marked the 
 opening of iron-mines newly discovered, and then showed 
 me the long embankment on which, in the course of a few 
 months the railroad-trains were expected in that secluded 
 little mediaeval city. These were among the influences 
 that were expected mightily to help the government in its 
 fight against Ultramontanism. They bring liberal ideas 
 with them. For old-fashioned Romanism is not more the 
 deadly foe of material progress and prosperity, than 
 prosperit}'', in its turn, is the foe of Romanism. 
 
 The pastor, whose duty, in that Catholic town, was to 
 minister to the few Protestant families who had come in 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERX SWITZERLAND. 221 
 
 from other regions, gave good reasons for being satisfied 
 himself with the change of regime. He had been subjected 
 to the arrogant insults of the clergy now expelled. He had 
 seen the families of his flock forced to carry their dead 
 long leagues away for burial by the intolerance which 
 refused them any resting-place in Catholic soil ; and it was 
 no wonder that he should take satisfaction in seeing such 
 pride followed by a fall. But if the question was on tlie 
 priesthood and ritual, the doctrine and practice, that had 
 been substituted for the old, he did not believe there was 
 much to choose. If the new priests meant reform, why 
 did they not begin it, instead of mumbling over the same 
 old Latin masses, and inflicting the same yoke of 
 ceremonials ? 
 
 As I started to come away from the Catholic Jura, 
 I had a capital opportunity of taking the gauge of public 
 sentiment on the church question. It was a high day in 
 that region ; for there was to be in a neighboring valley 
 an inauguration of one line of that reticulation of railroads 
 which is soon to interlace the whole Jura ; and the great 
 open carriage in which I had taken passage was filled with 
 a crowd of good-humored, well-to-do people, talking 
 alternately and indifferently in German (and such 
 German!) and French. It was not difficult to lead the 
 talk toward church matters. AVhen 1 asked what sort of 
 men the new clergy seemed to be, the answer was a 
 general sneer — " Oh ! they B^re 2)riesfSj and I suppose you 
 know what that is!" " But how are they liked by the 
 people? " " Well, we don't see much of them. Dubois, 
 over there in the corner, tried going to church for a while, 
 ask him." M. Dubois smiled sheepishly at the soft 
 impeachment, and confessed that he had found the 
 
222 CATHOLIC KEFORIM IN N0RTHP:RN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 unwonted exercise of hearing sermons too much for his 
 constitution, and had relapsed into the usual habits of the 
 adult male Catholic with regard to church-going. By-and- 
 by I was asked if I had seen the new cure of their village. 
 Was happy to say that I had. And had he introduced me 
 to his sister ? Yqs, I had seen the lady. " Spiritual 
 sister, you know, eh ?" No, indeed, I did not know it at 
 all. " Oh ! yes ; it is perfectly understood ; and the tall 
 young gentleman is his spiritual nephew !"' 
 
 Scandals of this sort are rife concerning the new cures, 
 not only among their ultramontane antagonists, but in 
 Protestant and even in Liberal Catholic circles. And the 
 only answer to them that I have heard is in the shape of 
 the most tremendous tii quoqiie allegation against their 
 ultramontane predecessors. One of the most eminent 
 statesmen at Berne assured me that nothing which was 
 alleged against the character of the new clergy was one 
 half as bad as what was absolutely demonstrated against 
 the character of the old ; and instanced the fact that 
 within a single year, out of ninety-seven Catholic cures in 
 that canton, not less than Jive had been arraigned before 
 the criminal courts for crimes against morality and 
 decency ! 
 
 The same gentlejman presented me with the documents 
 illustrating the insolence and disloyalty of the ex-bishop 
 and his clergy, which led to their expulsion. He assured 
 me that the actual or threatened disturbances of the peace 
 which had led to the billeting of soldiers in a few 
 turbulent villages, and the temporary suppression of the 
 right of worship there, were serious and aggravated ; 
 that the pretended separate worship was merely the 
 pretext for organized resistance to the law, and that just 
 
CATHOLIC REFORM IN NORTHERN SWITZERLAND. 223 
 
 as fast as these places made up their minds to behave 
 peaceably, all these precautionary measures were removed. 
 The recusant priests are allowed to return to their old 
 parishes at once, on retracting their signatures to the 
 insolent defiance of the government, and promising 
 submission; on these terms some have already returned. 
 
 Whatever pity we may have for the deprived clergy 
 and sect is of mere grace to them and not of merit. One 
 of the bitterest complaints of the ex-bishop and his adhe- 
 rents is that they are not permitted to practice against 
 the Old Catholics the very acts which they find so unplea- 
 sant when practiced against themselves. It was one of 
 their earliest grievances, that they were not permitted to 
 excommunicate and expel good Cure Gschwind, against 
 the unanimous remonstrance of his parish, and impose an 
 unwelcome intruder there. 
 
 But after all is said, there is a prevalent feeling that the 
 civil government have attempted too much; that it would 
 have been better for it to stop with revoking the civil 
 commissions and salaries of the disloyal priests, and not 
 try to make a bishop of itself and institute new ones. It 
 IS not felt that the expeditions into neighboring or distant 
 countries to drum up Catholic priests to fill the vacancies 
 have gathered a very choice company ; and the serious 
 Catholic reformers are a little shy of the fellowship of 
 these associates. Such men as Herzog and Hyacinthe are 
 fully aware that the main peril of their work is that 
 unworthy men, and especially unworthy priests, wdll try 
 to attach themselves to it. And with their best efforts, 
 this peril has not been wholly avoided. 
 
224 THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC 
 
 CONGliESS.* 
 
 Freiburg^ Badeii, Septeni>er 8^ 1874. 
 
 The Cxermau Old Catholic Congress has this evening 
 closed its sessions with a solemn smoke and beer-drinking 
 in the Harmonie-halle. It began on Sunday, and although 
 I arrived on Monday night, business was all over, and 
 nothing remained to be witnessed but the show-meeting 
 for speech-making this afternoon, and the beer and 
 tobacco after supper. You will infer, perhaps, that there 
 was not a great deal of business to do ; and therein 
 I suspect that yoK will be more than half right. I shall 
 inform myself carefully and give the practical and 
 statistical results of the meeting in another letter. Mean- 
 while, let me sum up my personal impressions of the 
 meeting. 
 
 Comparing it with the imposing assembly at Cologne 
 two years ago, it was impossible to help seeing some 
 evidences of a falling-off. Professor von Schulte now, as 
 
 * From the L'hristian Union. 
 
THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 225 
 
 before^ President of the Congress^ was present — a 
 magnificent figure-head of the movement. Reinkens, the 
 great popular orator of two years ago, was here also; but 
 he is now a bishop, and the v alidity of his episcopal 
 consecration is to be presumed from the fact that it has 
 taken most of the fun out of him, and superinduced a 
 disposition to take on fat. Professor Hilber was also here 
 from Munich, and Doctor Michelis from his parish at 
 Zurich. But the wrinkled face of Dollinger was not to be 
 seen, nor the enthusiastic Schiller-like head of Friedrich, 
 nor yet the form of Professor von Maassen of Vienna, 
 who vies with von Schulte in his special branch of learning 
 — two thunderbolts of canon-law. The company of 
 distinguished visitors from outside has suffered a like 
 diminution. Sundry Frenchmen came to fraternize, but 
 the flags and patriotic inscriptions in the reception-hall 
 were too much for them. One glance, and they bolted 
 incontinently and were no more seen. Of course, the 
 Protestant Episcopalian was here, humbly longing for a 
 chance to recognize somebody ecclesiastically, who would 
 recognize him in return, and getting scant comfort. But 
 he came not multitudinous as at Cologne, where one end 
 of the platform was dark with Anglican uniforms. The 
 exemplary snubbing inflicted by von Schulte on Bishop 
 Christopher Wordsworth, of Lincoln, after his beautiful 
 Latin speech, so full of condensed unwisdom, so pregnant 
 with bad advice unasked-for, had not been in vain, and 
 the good man only sent his Ciceronian periods by mail ; 
 neither did his brother of Winchester appear except by 
 letter. Only one Protestant bishop adorned the occasion, 
 and he only an American. But it was impossible not to 
 admire the tact and shrewdness with which this mission, to 
 
 15 
 
226 THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 
 
 prevent further accidents, had been entrusted to a 
 gentleman whose innocence of the German tongue 
 guaranteed him against indiscretions, and restricted him 
 to the safe course of sitting on the platform and looking 
 dignified — a function which was fulfilled with great 
 success. 
 
 The reason of this apparent falling-off in the interest of 
 the Old Catholic Congress may lie partly in the fact that 
 the movement has lost the charm of novelty; and that the 
 intense expectation that kept great crowds on tiptoe for 
 hours, at Munich and Cologne, is a little chilled by the 
 failure of any such great popular developments as have 
 formerly been prophesied and anticipated. But a greater 
 part of the reason lies, doubtless, in the fact that the chief 
 responsibility which rested on the earlier Congresses is 
 now discharged by the completion of the Old Catholic 
 church-organization. The burning questions which, in 
 spite of all the repressive force of von Schulte's chairman- 
 ship, icoiild flame up, every now and then, in the former 
 meetings — the questions especially of celibacy and the 
 confessional — now belong to the bishop and synod ; and 
 the "' Congress "' is mainly a popular meeting for good 
 cheer and mutual acquaintance and public impression. 
 Naturally, being intended for impression, it ceases to be 
 impressive. 
 
 And yet the crowd that thronged the Festsaal of Frei- 
 burg this afternoon wa^ a fine and stirring sight. It was 
 a great hall, with theatrical scenery, stage and decorations 
 at one end. Deep galleries stretch from one end of it to 
 the other, hung with garlands and flags and patriotic 
 inscriptions, indicating the heart and spring of this move- 
 ment — that it is German a good deal more than it is 
 
THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 227 
 
 theological or religious. I do not wonder that the French 
 brethren found the atmosphere of the room uncomfortable. 
 In the centre of the hall had been built a temporary plat- 
 form and pulpit, and into the latter all the speakers went 
 up successively. 
 
 The speaking, of course, cannot here be reported in 
 detail. Almost every one of the speakers was, or had 
 been, a University professor. Here lies the strength, and 
 here also the weakness, of the Old Catholic movement. 
 It is thus far a University movement and not a popular 
 one. All the great church reformations have begun in the 
 universities ; but the really great ones have not stopped 
 there. The tone of the speaking was completely and 
 thoroughly Protestant. The uppermost topics were : the 
 inalienable responsibility of the individual conscience ; the 
 duty of Bible-reading and of private judgment ; the sole 
 and sufficient Mediatorship of Christ between man and 
 God. Besides these was a certain amount of buncombe 
 and brag, and too much of acrimony and personality. But 
 as for "Catholicity," in the sense of apostolical succession, 
 orders in the ministry, " historical churches," and valid 
 sacraments, you will hear more of it in any five minutes^ 
 talk of the Anglican lobby that hangs habitually about 
 these (xerman meetings, hankering after '^ recognition," 
 than you will in three hours on a stretch of solid speech- 
 making in an Old Catholic Congress. 
 
 The three days' doings were wound up by a closing 
 speech from Professor von Schulte, which gave a summary 
 of the work of the Congress. One paragraph was to our 
 present point. It was an acknowledgment of the salutations 
 which the Congress had received from other communions 
 — letters from the bishops of Lincoln and Wincliester, a 
 
228 THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 
 
 letter from a Grreek priest (applause), the presence of the 
 bishop of Pittsburgh in America (cheering, and the bishop, 
 being nudged, bowed his acknowledgments), and a letter 
 in behalf of the Grerman Evangelicals (cheering renewed 
 and continued). Somebody certainly ought to explain to 
 Herr von Schulte and his colleagues that the sort of recog- 
 nition which his Anglo-American friends are after is some- 
 thing different from being lumped in the same sentence 
 with the Grerman Presbyterians. Or else somebody ought 
 to explain to Episcopalians generally at home, what they 
 might fail to gather from their official correspondents, the 
 exact amount and quality of the recognition thus far 
 accorded to their special pretensions on the part of their 
 Old Catholic brethren. 
 
 I must own that the impression made on my mind by 
 the grand and animated assembly at the closing session at 
 the Festsaal was weakened by two other meetings which 
 I had already attended this same day. Strolling through 
 the quaint old town, I stopped in the Franciskanerplatz, 
 where an expressive statue of St. Francis looks down upon 
 the fountain and the strange costumes of the market-women 
 and the crowd of comers and goers, and where a row of 
 beautifully traceried windows invites one to pace the 
 length of the old tonvent cloister. Before us was a church 
 door, and the sound of choir and organ made us pause and 
 look in for a moment. There was high mass, and the large 
 church was fairly filled with a congregation of rich and 
 poor, men, women and children, in solemn Avorship. After 
 observing for a moment we quietly withdrew and went on 
 looking for the cathedral. We passed along the serried 
 gables of the Kaiserstrasse till, glancing around a certain 
 corner, suddenly that wonderful spire — nigh 300 feet of 
 
THE FOURTH OLD CATHOLIC CONGRESS. 229 
 
 delicate lacework in stone — seemed to shoot up like a 
 rocket into the sky. No cathedral I have yet seen makes 
 on me such an impression of complete, harmonious beauty 
 as that of Freiburg. It is almost the onlj^ one in Europe 
 that has come down to us both finished and undamaged 
 from its original builders. But it had to-day a special and 
 excelling glory. As we drew near the great portal we 
 could hear the gush of the organ, the thunderous roar of 
 the kettle-drums, and the strings and brass of an orchestra, 
 and above these a sweet, harmonious multitude of chanting 
 voices. And when we entered, I saw, what I never yet 
 had seen in any other cathedral, the whole vast area, 
 choir, transepts, nave, filled with worshipers upon their 
 knees. It is obvious that this cit}^ that has been chosen 
 as the seat of the Liberal Catholic Congress is the seat of 
 unusual earnestness and religious vitality among the 
 Roman Catholics also. And as comparing the two, I could 
 not but feel that the promise of the future was quite as 
 likely to be with the multitude of these praying folk in 
 the churches as with the speeches of the professors and 
 the plaudits of the crowd at the Festsaal. 
 
 But let your readers remark the general fact that where 
 the Roman system is purest and best, as in (lermany, 
 there the impulse for its reform is strongest ; and that 
 where it was most degraded, as in Italy, Spain and 
 Spanish America, there all practical thought or hope of 
 reforming it ceases from among its followers. 
 
230 CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 
 
 XI. 
 
 CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN.* 
 
 G-ENEVA, September 25^ 1874. 
 
 The prevailing idea of Christian Union is that of uniting 
 certain classes of Christians against certain other classes of 
 Christians, — generally with the ulterior idea that if only 
 such league can be made large enough and strong enough 
 the Christians left outside can be either brought in or put 
 down. I have my own reasons for doubting whether 
 Catholic Unity will ever be arrived at by that road ; 
 which was a good reason for not going on to Bonn to see 
 what was visible to the public of Dr. Dollinger's pocket 
 convention for " tHe re-union of the churches." But then 
 I have a great respect for all honest efforts for the healing 
 of schism ; which is reason enough for informing myself 
 and the Christian Union as to the proceedings and results 
 of the Bonn meeting. 
 
 The meeting was held simply on the invitation of 
 Dr. Dollinger, addressed to certain individuals of his 
 acquaintance in the Old CatholiC; Creek, and Protestant 
 
 * From the Christian Union. 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 231 
 
 Episcopalian churches. The object was to talk over the 
 theological differences between these sects, and see 
 whether a basis could be found, not for consolidation or 
 confederation, but for mutual recognition. It is only just 
 to the venerable Dullinger to say that his interest in this 
 question of the possible bringing together of the fragments 
 of divided Christendom is no new thing. It has been 
 much in his thought and writings throughout his long and 
 splendid career as a theologian. And yet one can not but 
 see that his interest in it has been intensified and made 
 practical by his new position as leader in a very circum- 
 scribed and not very numerous secession from the Roman 
 •Catholic Church. From that vast communion within 
 which his whole life has revolved he finds himself and his 
 colleagues excluded. It is both natural and right that 
 they should reach out with craving for fellowship in some 
 other direction. 
 
 Happily, the)^ have not to reach very far toward the 
 West to find another considerable sect, the Protestant 
 Episcopalians, in just the same state of mind. These can 
 hold no fellowship with their Protestant neighbors ; and 
 yet the}^ have thus far miserably failed in their attempts 
 to open relations of communion with anybody else. 
 Naturally, these two bodies, — though representing schools 
 of doctrine which have denounced each other for three 
 centuries as heretic and Antichrisij and though pledged 
 respectively to formularies each of which was expressly 
 intended to contradict the other on points declared to be 
 ¥ital, — have no serious difficulty in coming to a good 
 understanding. But when it is desired to add strength 
 and dignity to the alliance by bringing in the seventy -five 
 millions of the venerable and orthodox Grreek Church, 
 
232 CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 
 
 who are not in the least conscious of needing fellowship 
 from outside, a serious difficulty at once arises. For (tell 
 it not in Princeton ; publish it not in the streets of 
 Andover and New Haven ; lest the daughters of the 
 Presbyterian rejoice ; lest the daughters of the Puritan 
 triumph !) the Grreek Church does not consider the 
 Protestant Episcopalian to have any valid ordination ! It 
 allows he may be a very estimable sort of person, in his 
 way, and may even be useful as a lay preacher, according 
 to his light. But as for the genuine succession and valid 
 sacraments — bless you ! he has no more conception of 
 these spiritual blessings than the most benighted Methodist 
 or Quaker ! This is the view which the G^reeks generally 
 take of the Protestant Episcopalian, whether English or 
 American ; and I submit that considering how much love 
 has been spent by Episcopalians on the Grreek hierarchy, 
 and the honest pride with which they have so long 
 boasted of their "organic connection" with the Eastern 
 churches, it is not at all kind in the latter to disavow the 
 relationship. At the same time it is a beautiful study in 
 human nature to observe how Protestant Episcopalian 
 clergymen take it, when told that they may be very good 
 men but have no right to call themselves ministers. 
 I judge from a slightly exasperated remark of Bishop 
 Kerfoot that he did not like it ; but I may be mistaken. 
 In general, the English and American brethren seem to 
 have shown praiseworthy meekness, when the Eastern 
 clergymen, on being invited by Dr. Dollinger to adopt his 
 proposition affirming the validity of the Anglican ordina- 
 tions, replied that they would take it home and think about 
 it. So then, the most vital question to the English and 
 American Episcopal churches in this matter of the 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 23o 
 
 intercommunion of churches, — the question whether they 
 themselves are churches at all — lies over till another year. 
 Dr. Dollinger feels very sure that they are churches, and 
 have, if not a first-rate, at least a pretty fair article of 
 apostolical succession. But some of the most eminent of 
 the Old Catholics have expressed to me, privately, their 
 serious doubts on that score, and quite derided the idea of 
 resorting to the Anglicans for the consecration of a 
 bishop. It is very desirable that this question, on which 
 the hope of salvation of many of our fellow-citizens turns, 
 should be authoritatively settled. It is a great pity, and 
 excessively annoying to the High Church party, to have 
 it lying so at loose ends for a Avhole year to come. 
 
 Another of the subjects brought forward by Dr. 
 Dollinger was that of the new Roman doctrine of the 
 Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. This he 
 proposed to condemn, not merety as unauthoritative, but 
 as false. A young Roman Catholic from England, who 
 was present by some accident which it will be well for 
 him to explain the next time he goes to confession, begged 
 in vain that such a declaration, tending to hinder any 
 future fellowship with conscientious Ultramontane 
 Christians, might not be made. It was obvious that he did 
 not understand the true nature of a Christian Union 
 platform — that it is a contrivance to exclude certain sorts 
 of Christians ; and the brethren intended to be shut out 
 by this little arrangement are Ultramontane Catholics and 
 non-Episcopalian Protestants. 
 
 I need not dwell in detail on the course which the rest 
 of the twelve propositions followed. It is clear enough 
 that the discussion was mainly a renewal of that old 
 theological game in which doctors holding opposite views 
 
234 CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 
 
 amuse themselves with contriving forms of language in 
 which they can unite without agreeing. For instance, on 
 the capital point of the JiUoque in the Creed — the proces- 
 sion of the Holy Spirit " from the Son " — there were two 
 parties present, those who belie v^ed it to be a true doctrine 
 but inserted in the Creed without authority, and those 
 who believed it to be both unauthorized and a flat heresy. 
 The proposition declaring the insertion of the phrase to 
 have been unauthorized, without disparagement to the 
 truth contained in it, was made acceptable to all by 
 amending it to the effect — " the truth which may he 
 contained in it," or may not be. Other topics presented 
 were : the authority of the Scriptures and of tradition ; 
 justification by faith ; works of supererogation ; the 
 sacraments ; confession ; prayers for the dead ; and the 
 sacrifice in the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Doubtless such consultations as this at Bonn are not 
 altogether useless, when carried on, as this seems to have 
 been, in a good spirit. But I cannot attach to this 
 meeting the importance which some of my friends who 
 were there attribute to it. And this for several reasons, 
 in brief : 
 
 1. Because the agreement attained is onl}^ apparent. 
 
 2. Because even^this result, attained by a few select 
 members of several sects, cannot carry their sects with 
 them — as Bishop Kerfoot would doubtless find if he were 
 to tr}^ introducing the Bonn theses as a series of 
 resolutions in his (general Convention. 
 
 3. Doctrinal variations have been only a part, and 
 perhaps not the largest part, of the causes producing and 
 maintaining the schisms. 
 
CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 235 
 
 4. If Christian Union, on the favorite plan of uniting 
 certain Christians to the exclusion of certain other 
 Christians, were carried to its highest conceivable success, 
 and Christendom were consolidated at last into two 
 mutually exclusive sects, we should be worse off and 
 farther away from real Christian union than we are 
 now. 
 
 5. The basis of Catholic unity — the platform, or rather 
 the rock, on which the Church Catholic, the communion 
 of saints, is built — is not dogma, but faith. 
 
 6. The hopeful way out of the practical difficulties of 
 schism, especially in America, is not that of diplomacy 
 among doctors of divinity of various sects, but that which 
 begins at the other end with seeking a way of reconciling 
 local sectarian divisions in little villages. I believe that 
 the Episcopal church in America, if it only knew its own 
 mission, has some grand advantages for this work. If it 
 could rid itself of sundry canons that bind it hand and 
 foot, abate a little of that high and and mighty tone 
 which is so apt to make people smile, and apply to such a 
 ministry of reconciliation one half of the energy now 
 expended in fomenting local schisms at home, and in 
 begging for recognition and Christian union at the ends 
 of the earth, it might do a great thing for itself, and a 
 greater thing for American Christianity, and make all 
 other Christian communions grateful to it in spite of 
 themselves. 
 
 The personnel of the meeting was respectable. The 
 only notable representatives of Anglican theology were 
 Bishop Harold Browne, Dean Howson, and Canon 
 Liddon, but these were certainly enough. But the 
 meeting mainly consisted of Dr. Dollinger, whose 
 
236 CHRISTIAN UNION AT BONN. 
 
 octogenarian vigor, complete command of every con-^ 
 troversy involved, and polyglot readiness in acting both 
 as chairman and as interpreter for discussion between 
 speakers of different languages, were the theme of every- 
 body's wonder. 
 
 '>^^s:fyy^>oos^^ 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 237 
 
 XII. 
 
 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING 
 
 AND IN FAVOR OF THE SUNDAY LAWS. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 At a meeting in the Maryland Institute, Baltimore, March 11, 
 1872, which was "attended by an immense concourse," the 
 following resolutions, having been read in the German and English 
 languages, "were adopted without a dissenting vote : " 
 
 Eesolved, That we consider Sunday as a day of rest and 
 restoration — of rest from all work not absolutely necessary, and of 
 restoration of body and mind from six days' labor. 
 
 Resolved, That in the country in which religious liberty is 
 constitutionally warranted, every man must be allowed to keep his 
 own mind and heart. 
 
238 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 Besolved, That the application of force against a large number 
 of citizens who consider Sunday as a day of restoration is a 
 violation of rights warranted by the Constitution of the land which 
 ought to be abolished without hesitation. 
 
 Besolved, That we, in consideration of prevailing prejudice, 
 consent to a closing of places of entertainment until 1 o'clock p.m. 
 on Sunday, but that from that hour we claim our indisputable right 
 of keeping our day of restoration according to our own inclinations, 
 for we wish neither to disturb nor be disturbed. 
 
 Besolved therefore, That according to our views, at 1 p.m. on 
 Sunday every place of amusement may be opened, and that by the 
 term "place of amusement" we mean to signify inns, restaurants, 
 concert gardens and saloons, cigars and confectionery stores, 
 mineral water stands, theatres and the like. 
 
 Besolved, That in order to enhance public morals the person 
 who is intoxicated or conducts \\\mQQ\{ improperly, should be subject 
 to the punishment, and not the licensed man of business whose 
 interest it naturally is to do as extensive a business as possible. 
 "Punish the slave of passion, not the business!" this principle, 
 acknowledged by the French and German Legislatures, ought to 
 be introduced into this country. 
 
 Besolved, That the observation of Sunday is a social institution 
 which is connected with religion by sheer accident. As a religious 
 institution Sunday is a despotic measure, which imposes an ob- 
 servance also upon the Israelite, who observes the seventh day, 
 and to the Mohammedan, who celebrates Friday as his day of rest, 
 while by the Constitution of the United States no religious sect 
 has a right to impose its religious tenets upon society at large. 
 
 Berolved, That the'Je resolutions be laid before the present 
 Legislature of Maryland with a petition that said body modify the 
 Sunday laws so as to grant that all places of amusement be allowed 
 to be opened on Sunday from and after 1 o'clock p.m. 
 
 The above resolutions provoked replies from many of 
 the Baltimore pulpits and among them the follovring 
 Sermon, preached in the Congregational Church on 
 March 17th, and published at the time in a pamphlet. 
 
ON FORC'lN(; .IESL'8 TO BE KING. 239 
 
 John VI, 15. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would 
 come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again 
 into a mountain himself alone. 
 
 At the outset of all our inquiries on the question now 
 pending before the public of the State of Maryland, let us 
 lay down this axiom, that Law cannot enforce Religion; — 
 not ought not, or had better not, but, absolutely and 
 utterly, cannot- It may compel conformity and uniformity 
 in outward rites. It may offer inducements which shall 
 persuade men to hypocrisy. But religion is a thing 
 beyond the sphere not only of its proper action, but of its 
 possible action. All the help which it can offer to religion 
 by the exhibition of rewards and penalties is only a 
 hindrance and a hurt, and no help at all. Therefore it is 
 in the name of religioii, and for the sake of its purity and 
 true prosperity, that we protest against all meddling by 
 the State, however well intended, with pure questions of 
 religious faith and worship. It hurts true religion to be 
 assisted by force. 
 
 I do not deny that there are other valid grounds on 
 which to object to such interference. It is perfectly 
 competent for citizens in their political assemblies and 
 through their political organs to object to it on principles 
 of political philosophy, as being detrimental to the State. 
 But here I am speaking as a Christian, and I have a far 
 graver protest against it, as being detrimental to the 
 Church and Kingdom of Jesus Christ. His Kingdom is 
 not of this world ; else would his servants fight for it — 
 else would they caucus and intrigue and vote and legislate 
 for it — acts which have no significance except as they 
 imply enforcement by fighting m the last resort. The 
 *' kingdom which is not of this world,"" is sustained by far 
 
240 ON FORClNt^ JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 other influences. That kingdom is realized when " they 
 that are of the truth hear the voice" of him who is The 
 Truth, and freely T)bey and follow him. But when men 
 would " come and take Jesus by force and make him 
 king," before they are aware of it he has departed from 
 among them. It has been tried often enough, and has 
 there ever been any other result ? 
 
 The principle applies without limitation to all methods 
 of legislation — that is, application of public force — for the 
 advancement of religion, whether in the gross old- 
 fashioned form of the establishment of a sect or church, 
 or the more absurd modern European form of the 
 establishment of many sects at once, or the newer device 
 of a religious amendment to the Constitution, not intended 
 for practical use, but only to look well ; or the method of 
 subsidies to promote religious education by certain sects ; 
 or the enforcement of a modicum of religious education by 
 the State in its own schools. It is perfectly competent for 
 statesmen and publicists to argue that such things are 
 good for the- State, that they add to its dignity and 
 stability, that they improve the qualifications of the 
 citizen both as subject of law and as maker and sustainer 
 of law. But when all this has been said, the conclusive 
 answer remains t£at however good such a course may be 
 for the State, it is bad for the Church. The Church of 
 Christ cannot afford to grant to the State the privilege of 
 patronizing it. 
 
 The same axiom, already applied so far, applies still 
 further and conspicuously to laws intended to procure the 
 sanctification (mark the word !) of a Sabbath-day. " Force 
 •cannot make a day holy. Acts of legislatures and of 
 -connnon councils may make a day silent, and keep it 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 241 
 
 quiet; but they cannot keep it holy; and perhaps they 
 will discover that they can keep it quiet only for a little 
 while. Holiness is a thing of liberty, not a thing of force. 
 If the observance of the Lord's day is to be a holy 
 observance it must be a free observance. If men 'come 
 to take Jesus by force and make him a king, ' he will 
 withdraw himself alone. The service which is acceptable 
 in his sight must be a reasonable service, a willing 
 ■service." ^ Without this, all that the law can do, is to 
 produce, under the garb of a constrained decorum, such 
 " new moons, and Sabbaths, and appointed feasts " as 
 God's " soul hateth; they are a trouble to him; he is 
 weary to bear them." 
 
 Let us come, then, promptly, unshrinkingly, not as if 
 dragged along at the heels of a hostile argument, to the 
 only conclusion to which our principles can possibly lead, 
 that comidered as a religious institution — a quasi-sacrament 
 — the keeping of a Sabbatical day cannot, in the nature 
 of the case, be enforced by law; and that attempted 
 legislation to compel the santification of such a day is 
 necessarily futile and impertinent, and worse. It is of a 
 piece with other legislation for the enforcement of 
 religious rites — with compulsory baptism, and the eating 
 of the Lord's Supper as a condition of holding office 
 - — things which it is shocking so much as to name. 
 
 Now all this would be true of the relation of secular 
 law to the sanctification of a Sabbath-day as a religious 
 act, even if it were admitted to be a religious duty by 
 the universal consent of all religions. But much more 
 than this is true when we consider that the particular 
 
 1. Semions ou the Sabbath Question; by Gborqe B, Bacon. New York, 
 Scribner & Co. 
 
242 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 Sabbatical observance in question is the characteristic of 
 the Christian religion — that it is expressly intended to 
 commemorate an event and a doctrine which some good 
 citizens (alas !) deny and abhor, and to which some others 
 (more pity still!) are indifferent. In what essential respect 
 does the compelling of the Jew to keep holy — to pay 
 religious honor to — the memorial day of the resurrection 
 of Jesus of Nazareth, differ in iniquity from the compelling 
 of the Protestant to uncover and kneel in the street at the 
 passing of the Host? When we reflect, further, that 
 Christians themselves are not unanimous in regarding the 
 observance of this day at all as a duty enjoined by divine 
 law, but that a great portion of them, including some of 
 the best, most devout and most learned, regard it only as 
 an excellent custom and tradition,^ it becomes not indeed 
 more true, but more obvious and palpable, that there are 
 no principles acknowledged in our government, or justly 
 acknowledged in any government, which can justify the 
 legal enforcement of the religious observance of the day, 
 or authorize the legislature to deal with the secularization 
 of the day as being of itself, and independently of positive 
 law, an immorality. 
 
 This is the end of that argument. Until we are prepared 
 to advocate the esttiblishment of religion, and not only of 
 religion but of Christianity, and not only of Christianity 
 but of certain forms and sects of Christianity, we cannot 
 advocate the enforcement of the religious observance of a 
 Sabbath as a matter of public morality. 
 
 II. We come, then, to consider another ground on 
 
 1. Thoso who would inform themselves as to the history of Cliristian theology 
 on this point, as indeed on all points related to the present subject, are referred to 
 that exhaustive work. Cox's " Literature of the Habbath Question." 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 243 
 
 which the interference of law is claimed in behalf of the 
 Lord's Day as a religious institution. If the law may not 
 be summoned to enforce a religious observance, may it not 
 be called on to j()rotect it? Undoubtedly, yes. The principles 
 of religious equity, or liberty, not only do not forbid this, 
 they require it. If an Arab traveler should spread his 
 carpet down in Monument Square at the hour of noon, and 
 finding the direction of Mecca, should begin his curious 
 ritual of prostrations and crouchings, it would be the duty 
 of the police to protect him from molestation and 
 annoyance. If there were a company of such, they would 
 have an equal right to be protected in their devotions, a 
 right limited only by their duty not to perform them in 
 such places as to incommode the honest business of others, 
 or to disturb the public peace and order. If. this were a 
 heathen city, amid which the Christian people were but a 
 little flock, marked among the multitude for their regular 
 habit of gathering on the first day of the week for their 
 acts of worship, it woud be their right to be protected in 
 this religious usage; and to molest them in their quiet 
 Sunday meditation and worship and abstinence from 
 work would be religious persecution. And now that they 
 are the great dominant religion of the city, they have the 
 same right, no more and no less — the right to be protected 
 in the fulfilment of their religious duties. The fact that 
 they are more numerous and stronger does not add to their 
 rights, it only makes it easier for them to secure the 
 rights they had before. Might does not make Right. 
 
 The claim is perfectly good as far as it goes, but when 
 it is stretched beyond this point it is good for nothing. 
 When you undertake to make this right to \iQ protected in 
 religious observances the ground and basis of the Sabbath 
 
244 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 laws, you have got your basis quite too small for your 
 superstructure. When you set up the claim that in order 
 that you may worship tiod in spirit and in truth, your 
 Jewish neighbor on one side, and your Rationalist 
 neighbor on the other, must both be compelled by law to 
 suspend their secular avocations, you stretch your claim 
 of protection till it breaks. You make a law of 
 religious liberty which is singularly akin to religious 
 persecution. It is worthy of note that almost the 
 only wanton public obstructions and interruptions of 
 the liberty of Christian worship in this country have 
 proceeded, not from an unchristian or anti- christian 
 quarter, but from the arrogance of one of the Christian 
 sects, conscious of a political influence which enables it to 
 defy the law, and not ashamed to obstruct the doors of 
 other churches by its processions, and drown the voice of 
 prayer with the din of shouts and brazen music beneath 
 their windows. This is an invasion of religious liberty. 
 But the pretense that shops and billiard rooms must be 
 closed in order to secure liberty of worship to Christians, 
 is so thin that it is transparent. 
 
 Do we then give up the whole system of the Sunday 
 laws, and yield to the demand that is now so boldly 
 pressed upon the Xiegislature of the State for the repeal 
 of all that makes them effective ? God forbid ! Yea, we 
 establish the law. Nothing has so imperiled it as the false 
 and insincere and inconclusive arguments by which it has 
 been attempted to maintain it. Its enemies have not done 
 it half the harm that its defenders have. It is only the 
 beginning of a successful defense to abandon an untenable 
 line of works and fall back, or move forward, rather, 
 u])on an impregnable one. It is by far the most important 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 245 
 
 thing to be done in protection of our Sabbath institution, 
 to eliminate from the pending discussion the irrelevances 
 and impertinences with which it has been cumbered. We 
 are free, now, to come to a sober argument upon the duty 
 of the Legislature. 
 
 III. The question before the Legislature, and therefore 
 before the public, their constituents, is upon the main- 
 tenance, not of a religious institution; — the church (that 
 is, the Christian people) will take care of this; the 
 legislature has nothing to do with it ; — but of a civil and 
 " social institution." " I thank thee, Jew, for teaching 
 me that word ! " It is the one useful truth that appears, 
 clumsily enough stated, in all that series of self-stultified 
 resolutions which were passed a week ago in the Anti- 
 Sabbath meeting, '^ Resolved that the observation of 
 Sunday is a social institution, which is connected with 
 religion," / will not say " by sheer accident," but by no 
 necessary connection. If G od were to smite the earth 
 with a curse, and all religion were to perish out of the 
 land to-morrow, this legal institution would still remain, 
 though probably it would not remain long. But what 
 word would have to be altered in all the present Sunday 
 law of the State, if religion were utterly to cease? What 
 word is there in all that statute, that is inconsistent, I will 
 not say with the principle of religious liberty as we 
 have here enunciated them, but even with the principles 
 enunciated in the resolutions of that Monday Meeting ? 
 
 Now how is this civil and social day of weekly rest to 
 be procured. Every body wants it ; nobody thinks of 
 giving it up. Even that, curiously mingled meeting 
 gathered to clamor for a repeal of the existing law, 
 resolved " without a dissenting voice" that " we consider 
 
246 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 Sunday as a day of rest." It does not appear that any, 
 Christian or Heathen, Jew or Gentile, is willing to give 
 up a weekly day of rest, and make all days alike before 
 the law. Nay it does not appear but that society is 
 absolutely unanimous in agreeing upon the first day of 
 the week as the only day which, in the present state of our 
 society can be secured for that purpose. We do not hear, 
 even from our Hebrew fellow- citizens — a class of citizens 
 who have many a peculiar claim on the public respect, for 
 many admirable virtues, and for a noble record in some 
 points of civil duty — a class, withal, to whom the adoption 
 of the first day of the week instead of the seventh as the 
 civil Sabbath, involves a special disadvantage — we do not 
 hear even from these any suggestion that any day but 
 Sunday should be set apart by law as a day of rest. 
 Society seems unanimously resolved that it will have its 
 Sunday. 
 
 And no wonder. On the institution of the civil Sabbath, 
 reinforced as it is by the religious feeling of the mass of 
 the community, depends no man can tell how much of our 
 material prosperity, our social order, our prevailing 
 culture, to say nothing of our religious worship and our 
 public charity and humanity. It is on the institution of 
 the public Sabbathjr planting its frequent waymarks along 
 the course of time, that we depend for the division of time 
 into weeks ; and how much of the general thrift, activity 
 and regularity of business depends on this, no man can 
 guess, that has not seen, in lands without a Sabbath, how 
 business drags on its dull, unbroken, interminable course, 
 never resting, and therefore never speeding. So interlaced 
 are the roots of this "social institution" with the whole 
 fabric of our American society, that it could not be torn 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 247 
 
 up without disturbing the entire structure. Thoughtful 
 foreigners acknowledge the advantages of this institution 
 in words which those men would do well to ponder, who 
 are in a hurry to tamper with its safeguards. The 
 illustrious Count de Mcuitalembert, the glory of the 
 Catholic Church of France in his generation, in advocating 
 in the French Legislative Body, some twenty years since, 
 -B bill to secure the better observance of the Lord's Day, 
 answered the cavils of the materialists and economists 
 that the nation could not afford to suspend all productive 
 labor for one seventh part of the year, by pointing to 
 (xreat Britain and the United States of America, the two 
 countries of all the world in which the Sabbath rest is 
 most rigorously enforced, and the two in which all 
 productive industries are most prosperous.* 
 
 Society is agreed then that it will have its Sunday of 
 rest. But how is Society to get it? A¥ill it come of 
 itself? Will the unanimous consent of the people that 
 the day should be kept free from the encroachments of 
 business, be a sufficient security for it, without law ? Just 
 as much as the unanimous agreement of the property 
 owners on Baltimore Street would, without law, preserve 
 the line of the street from encroachments — ^just so much 
 -and no more. It is the general interest of the whole 
 property and every part of it, on both sides of the way, 
 that the width of that street should not be reduced. You 
 could get a unanimous remonstrance from every person in 
 the city against an act making it possible for the owners 
 
 1. I quote from my memory of the debate as reported in the French newspapers 
 of the time. The only answer made to this argument of the Catholic Count wa» 
 a cry from the opposite benches "These are two Protestant countries,"— which 
 was undoubtedly true, and perhaps embarrassing' to the speaker, but, after all, 
 not much to the purpose. 
 
248 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING, 
 
 of frontage on that street to build out on it a single yard. 
 What is the need of law, then, to protect the line of that 
 street ? And yet is there any one so dull as not to know 
 that it is only by the force of law that the object of the 
 unanimous desire can be secured ? — that but for the law, 
 encroachment would follow encroachment, the encroach- 
 ment of one excusing and necessitating the encroachment 
 of his neighbor, until the great thoroughfare was choked, 
 and the interest of the whole had been defeated by the- 
 selfishness of the individuals ? It is so with the great 
 common rest opened in the midst of the toil of the week,^ 
 like the village green reserved for public refreshment and 
 delight amid the bustling streets of a New England 
 village, sacred from the invasion of business, where the 
 children of the rich and poor msiy play alike, where the 
 sacred graves of other generations wake tender thoughts 
 and holy memories, and amongst them the church of 
 Christ invites to prayer and praise, '* and points with taper 
 spire to heaven." The whole people wants it ; ev^erybody 
 is willing to reserve it, on condition that the rest shall be 
 required to reserve it too. Only, if there is to be no law 
 about it, and these immemorial rights of the public are to 
 be left open to a general scramble, in which the earliest 
 squatter on the pul^lic privilege will get the biggest share, 
 then it is too much* to hope from human nature that the 
 scramble will not begin. 
 
 We reach, then, this clear and unmistakable principle 
 — that THE LiHERTY OF Rest for each man depends upon 
 A Law of Rest for all. 
 
 It has been found, in the course of the agitations of 
 " the Sunday question" which have prevailed so sharply 
 of late in England that there is rarely any difficulty in 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 249 
 
 getting the general petition of the men of any business — 
 the barbers for instance — that all the shops of their own 
 business may be closed on Sunday by law. Why by law ? 
 If nearly all the barbers in London want their shops 
 closed, why don't they close them ? Simply because the 
 opening of any half-dozen of them almost necessitates the 
 opening of the rest. There is no Liberty of Rest without 
 a Law of Rest. It is for the State to say whether it is 
 consistent with the public good to grant the privilege of 
 rest, by law, to this vocation, or whether, like the 
 business of physicians, or of the employees of the city 
 rail-road, it is of such a nature as to require to be 
 excepted from this privilege. 
 
 This ''■ social institution,*' then, of a public day of rest, 
 which we are all agreed that vv^e want and will have, is 
 the creature of positive law. And what the law creates 
 the law can regulate. The moment that the authors of 
 these resolutions admit that they want any Sunday rest at 
 all, that they are not in favor of sweeping the statute- 
 book clean of all distinction of days and making every 
 day, alike, they give up their whole case. 
 
 If it is right, and just, and constitutional, and consistent 
 with religious liberty to have any Sunday at all, it is right 
 to have a whole Sunday, If it is constitutional to shut 
 up a dry-goods store, it is constitutional to shut up a 
 grog-shop. If it is right to shut up a broker's office, or a 
 bank, it is right to shut up a theatre. If it is right to 
 close a book-store, it is right to close a billiard room. If 
 it is right to shut any of these till one o'clock, it is right 
 to keep them shut till midnight. 
 
 Why, look for at moment at the blockhead impudence 
 of these resolutions. It appears that they were translated 
 
250 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 into English for the benefit of those in that meeting that 
 were acquainted with the English tongue. The translation 
 was not well done. Let rae render them into a little 
 plainer English : 
 
 1. Resolved, That this meeting being largely composed 
 of aliens and foreign-born citizens more or less 
 unacquainted with the language in which the Constitutions 
 and Laws are written are unanimously agreed that the 
 immemorial laws made by the people who made the 
 Constitution are unconstitutional. 
 
 2. Resolved J That since these laws are unconstitutional, 
 and therefore null and void, and incapable of being 
 enforced, it is very important to our liberty that they 
 should be repealed by the legislature. 
 
 3. Resolved, That although is it grossly unjust, 
 oppressive, unconstitutional, and inconsistent with religious 
 liberty to make any man shut up his store at all; never- 
 theless we advocate a law requiring that stores, shops and 
 places of business of every sort shall be closed every 
 Sunday until one o'clock p.m. 
 
 4. Resolved, That although we hold it to be unjust and 
 unconstitutional, we are further in favor of interdicting by 
 law the exercise of all ordinary honest and useful trades 
 and employments from one o'clock p.m., till midnight. 
 But— 
 
 5. Resolved, That in view of the strong claims upon the 
 special and exceptional favor of the State, presented by 
 liquor-shops, theatres, bar-rooms, concert-saloons, dance- 
 houses, and the like, as promoters of sound morality, 
 material prosperity, public intelligence, domestic 
 happiness, and peace and good order in society, they 
 ought to be specially privileged by Act of Legislature 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 251 
 
 above all other forms of business, by having the time from 
 one P.M. till midnight on Sunday of each week set apart 
 for their exclusive advantage and behoof, no commercial 
 business within those hours being lawful, excepting the 
 retail trade in beer, whisky and cigars. 
 
 Pah ! the whole movement smells of its birth-place ! It 
 has the stale bar-room odor of bad whisky and tobacco. 
 
 But glance for an instant at the proposition in another 
 aspect. Have the employees of all these privileged forms 
 of business no rights of rest which we are bound to 
 respect ? Is there to be do respite to their wasting, 
 dissipating labor ? To permit one theatre to open is, as 
 we have seen, to compel them all to open, and to make 
 this privileged day the busiest day, for them, of all the 
 week? Have we no mercy on the toilsome profession of 
 the stage, that we should forbid to its jaded followers the 
 common privilege of the public ? 
 
 These be brave reformers, protesting against arbitrary 
 distinctions ! What law have we now so arbitrary, 
 capricious, despotic, as this which they present to us in 
 the name of equal rights ? By what principle do they 
 discriminate ? If beer-shops may open, why not fancy 
 stores ? If the shop-boy must have his billiards and his 
 cigars, may not the shop-girl have her ribbon, and her 
 brooch, and the dear delight of shopping V By what 
 tyrannical distinction do your forbid our Hebrew fellow- 
 citizens, now bearing with such honorable fidelity the 
 burden of a double Sabbath, to open their shops of fancy 
 wares ? and if these, why not others ? and why not turn 
 our tranquil Sunday, the glory of Baltimore among the 
 cities of the land, into a universal market day? 
 
 No, gentlemen of the Legislature! If you accept this 
 
252 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 petition, call your enactment by its true name! Let it be 
 an act entitled An Act to give Special Privilege and 
 Encouragement to the Sale of Intoxicating Li'juors, and 
 Special Advantages in Business to those who have no 
 religious regard for the Christian Sabbath. 
 
 A public holiday is a public peril. A necessity it may 
 be, — it is; but the history of all nations shows it to be a 
 dangerous necessity. The State which by positive 
 enactment institutes this dangerous blessing, striking off 
 all the common restraints of regular industry, is bound to 
 guard it to the utmost from abuse. It has no right with 
 one hand to lock the door of the factory against honest 
 industry, and turn the artisan population into the street, 
 and with the other hand to fling wide all the enticing 
 portals of temptation. Wives and mothers who tremble 
 now when J^ ew Year's morning dawns, in fear lest at night 
 those whom they love shall be tumbled in upon them 
 through the street door, drunk — have a righteous claim 
 upon the State that it shall not make fifty-two such holidays 
 in the year, nor loose the iron band of industry without 
 tightening the rein of salutary law. The great productive 
 and commercial industries of the State have rights in this 
 matter. They know the finan'cial loss there is in a 
 disordered Sabbath; and they may well take their resolute 
 stand at the door of the State-house, and demand, in a tone- 
 not to be disregarded, that if the State interferes to take 
 their employees out of business on Saturday night, it shall 
 also interfere to save them from being returned to business 
 on Monday morning, exhausted, demoralized, debauched. 
 
 In pointing out the duty of the State in this matter^ 
 we need not go beyond the fonniila of the merest 
 
ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 253 
 
 Benthamite utilitarianism: the State must consult the 
 Greatest Good of the Greatest Number. 
 
 Where shall it find the people's Greatest (iood? In 
 frolic and gaiety — in concerts, dancing and theatricals — 
 in unrestricted beer, whisky and billiards? We would 
 refer these profound students of the Constitution to the 
 clauses in which that instrument shows in what esteem 
 the State holds Religion as a public good. Here is all 
 that Religion asks of the State — to give her a fair chance 
 — ^just an opportunity; and this is all that the State can 
 d.0 for her. She stands beside the State as Paul, the 
 chained ApostlQ, stood beside the Roman governor upon 
 the castle stairs, while underneath the people cried " Away 
 with him," — and said to the chief captain " I beseech 
 thee, suffer me to speak to the people." She asks for an 
 interval of silence, amid the tumult and roar of this busy 
 throng, that people may hear in their own tongue the 
 wonderful works of God; for one quiet day of sober 
 thought, in which men may, if they will, hear the voice 
 of wisdom lifted in the streets, and crying to the simple 
 ones. She asks no privilege above infidelity and error. 
 She bids them welcome to the same opportunity, — to 
 open their halls and circles, and bring forth their strong 
 reasons before the public. Religion does not fear the 
 r<5sult. The thoughtful verdict of a sober people on that 
 issue never has been doubtful. For shame. Infidelity ! 
 You dare not meet the Church of God before a sober 
 people on a quiet Sunday ! You are skulking from the 
 encounter behind this rabble-rout of greedy rum-sellers 
 and showmen ! You have appealed from Philip sober to 
 Philip drunk — if you can make him drunk ! 
 
 And the good of the (rreatest Number — how is this to 
 
254 ON FORCING JESUS TO BE KING. 
 
 be attained ? Would you have an example of how to 
 deal with this question in the spirit of the broadest 
 republican equality ? Seek it in the terms of that ancient 
 statute-book, which from an antiquity of more than three 
 thousand years before the Declaration of Independence, 
 presents to us still the fairest pages in the history of 
 jurisprudence : — "In it thou shall not do any work, thou^ 
 nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor 
 thy maidservant nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy 
 cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; that thj 
 manservant and maidservant may rest as ivell as thou.'" In 
 the very spirit of this just and equal law is that existing 
 law of Maryland which provides a Sabbath for the whole 
 people ; — which interferes with no man's religious 
 convictions, either to violate them or to enforce them ; but 
 without respect of persons imposes for a few sacred hours 
 on all the stormy competitions of the week, — on its 
 grinding toil, its heady passions, its noisy amusements, 
 the blessed Truce of (rod. 
 
 It is the remark of no religious zealot, but of one of the 
 coolest and shrewdest observers of practical politics, 
 Horace (Ireeley, in one of his letters from Europe, that 
 we are shut up to the choice between the Puritan Sabbath 
 and the Parisian Sdbbath. Shall we halt long between 
 the two ? Is the legislature sitting in Annapolis, or 
 likely to sit there any time this century, that will venture 
 to vote away the birthright of this people — the universal 
 equal privilege of rich and poor — and substitute for it that 
 miserable French delusion, a Parisian holiday, through 
 which half the people are condemned to toil, that the 
 (tther half may frolic ? 
 
 Let us watch, and see ! 
 
CHURCH AND THEA TRE. 255 
 
 XII. 
 
 CHURCH AND THEATRE.* 
 
 A SERMON ON THEATRES AND THEATRErGOING. 
 
 Romans, XIV., 5. Let every man be fully persuaded in his 
 own mind. 
 
 A recent incident in the city of New York, occasioned 
 by the funeral of an aged actor, has given rise to a great 
 deal of talk in all parts of the country, and made a certain 
 'kittle church around the corner" of Twenty-Ninth Street 
 and Fifth Avenue, New York, famous in all the newspapers. 
 
 ♦Preached in Baltimore, January 22, 1871, and published iu a pamphlet with 
 the following Prefatory Note. 
 
 The author of the following sermon apologizes to the public for the absence,^ 
 on this page, of the customary letter from eminent citizens asking a copy of tlie 
 "able and interesting discourse" for the press, and the customary reply 
 assuring them that it was "hastily prepared without the slightest view to 
 publication." Not having been preached with the hope that anybody would be 
 pleased with it, it is natural enough that the sermon should have to be printed 
 without anybody's having requested it. It was written for the purpose of 
 administering certain richly and long-deserved rebukes to many classes of 
 persons both inside of the church and outside ; and for the same purpose it is 
 printed. Of coarse it would be idle for one who volunteers for such a task to 
 grumble if his work is not welcomed. The author will be content not to be 
 thanked, if only he may be heeded. 
 
256 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 The incident is chiefly interesting to us as bringing into 
 court again that old case of the Pulpit ?\'^\ the Stage, — the 
 Church against the Theatre, which has been litigated now 
 for nearly eighteen hundred years, and does not seem, even 
 yet, to have been fully adjudicated. And here, having 
 taken advantage of an incident of no lasting interest to 
 introduce a subject of constant and general importance, we 
 might be content to say nothing of the merits of the 
 incident. But if any are interested to hear an opinion of 
 them, it is soon given. The friends of an aged aotor, 
 deceased, against whom I hear nothing alleged but that 
 he ivas an actor, applied to the rector of a certain church 
 to conduct funeral services for the old man, at the church. 
 He declined on the sole ground, as I understand, of the 
 dead man's profession, and referred the applicants to the 
 rector of a " little church around the corner," by whom, 
 and at whose church, the funeral was attended. The 
 consequence is, that the minister who shirked his duty is^ 
 thoroughly roasted in all the newspapers, at which I am 
 very glad; and the minister who did not shirk his duty is 
 made the object of testimonials in all the theatres, to 
 which I certainl}'^ have not any objection — if he has not. 
 He is said to be so good and faithful a man that one can't 
 think of grudging him overpraise and overpay, for a duty 
 So obvious and simple that it is almost incredible that 
 any Christian minister could have refused it. As for the 
 unfortunate person in the pillory, there seems nothing to 
 be said in mitigation of the public judgment against him 
 — that is, supposing the facts to be as represented. He 
 appears before the public as one perfectly willing that the 
 scandal against the church (if it be one) should be 
 enacted, provided it is done by his brother around the 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 257 
 
 corner, and his name rloes not get mixed up with it. He 
 stands, not only as one "judging another's servant," but 
 as enforcing against an individual a sweeping condem- 
 nation which he has passed in his own mind, upon a 
 profession which he would not dare deliberately to say 
 was necessarily a criminal one. He seems to shut out from 
 his church a solemn religious service, on the ground that 
 it will be attended by a throng of ungodl}^ and unbelieving 
 people — as if he had come to call the righteous to 
 repentance. If he feels some burden of warning and 
 reproof for the people who seek his ministrations, why, 
 in (lod's name, doesn't he speak it out to them, like a 
 man, and like a good, kind, loving man, instead of 
 running away like Jonah? If he pleads that he is shut 
 up, by the rules of his denomination, to a burial service 
 which he cannot conscientiously use except over the 
 graves of the truly penitent and believing, that is a matter 
 for him to see to as promptly as may be ; but meanwhile, 
 it were better he should practice his scruples on his own 
 pewholders, whose sins he knows about, before putting 
 them in force in the case of an old man not well befriended 
 within the church, and belonging to a profession whom it 
 is easy and safe for a clergyman to dislike. Let him deny 
 the full honors of Christian burial, if he has the courage, 
 to those who patronize and sustain, for their sheer 
 amusement, that profession in which he cannot endure 
 that others should labor toilsomely, even for their daily 
 bread. And withal, it were not amiss that he should 
 consider with what grace this little spurt of zeal for (jod's 
 house comes from a clergy which is so constantly and 
 assiduously, and without one word of protest, courting 
 recognition and fellowship from a National Church whose 
 
 17 
 
258 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 ''■ sole head under Christ " is the public and official 
 patroness of the theatre ; whose cathedrals are paved with 
 the grave-stones of actors, and whose Westminster Abbey 
 insults or corrupts the moral sense of successive genera- 
 tions by displaying, among its saints and heroes, the 
 monument of one of the filthiest of the filthy dramatists 
 of the Kestoration, with an eulogy upon his virtues 
 (forsooth !) which should make the very marble on which 
 it is carved to blush ! 
 
 So, if you want my opinion on this reported trans- 
 action, I do not at all undertake to decide on the truth of 
 the report, neither do 1 judge the motives of the parties 
 involved, but separating the act from the actor, it seems 
 to me a disgusting piece of Pharisaism — what Frederick 
 Robertson was wont to stigmatize as " the dastardly 
 condemnation of the weak for sins that are venial in the 
 strong ; " what a greater than Robertson — his Master and 
 mine — used to denounce with woe upon woe ; and what, 
 as I would be faithful to my Lord's example, I hope to 
 strike at with such strength as I have, as often as it shall 
 come within striking distance. 
 
 To come back now to my main subject — the duty of the 
 church and of Christian people with reference to the 
 theatre — this tex^, " let every man be fully persuaded in 
 his own mind,'^ is the very text that fits the case. For on 
 this question*of duty, people are the furthest possible from 
 being clearly convinced in their own reason. Whether 
 the course^of action commonly agreed upon be right or 
 wrong, it is true that most of us do not see the right and 
 wrong of it. The^ church is living in this matter on 
 certain traditions of the elders, and just in proportion as 
 it is inwardly conscious how much its canons of duty lack 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 259 
 
 authority, it proceeds to enforce obedience to them by 
 mutual censoriousness — a sort of government of Mrs. 
 Grundy. In exactly the same proportion, it grows 
 Pharisaic, its members themselves evading the traditionary 
 canons, in the authority of which they only half believe, 
 and combining to bind heavy burdens for other men's 
 shoulders, which they themselves will not touch with one 
 of their fingers. These transgressions of the conventional 
 rule of chnrch-memberly virtue are not talked of much 
 among the brotherhood ; they are held to be of very 
 doubtful propriety themselves, but on one point there is 
 felt to be m) doubt, and that is, that it is eminently 
 desirable to keep the facts hushed up, so that the salutary 
 but somewhat vague impression in the religious community 
 that going to theatres is wicked may be kept up to the 
 utmost. The whole subject is in the worst possible 
 position. It is just in the position in which men are 
 most apt to be tempted into doing "doubtful things, in the 
 doing of which they are condemned before God and their 
 own consciences, because they do them doubting. I do not 
 believe the theatre could be one half so demoralizing, at 
 its worst estate, if all men were going to it without thought 
 of scruple, as it is now when men are only half deterred 
 from it by a doubtful scruple, founded on the tradition of 
 the elders, into the right or wrong of which few persons 
 trouble themselves deliberately to inquire, and then 
 conscientiously to determine, and frankly, openly, man- 
 fully to act. Set this down at the outset as one point 
 settled by the word of God beyond all reopening or appeal 
 — that however the general question may be settled, your 
 theatre-going, my Christian brother, which you only do 
 now and then when 3^0 u are away from home, and which 
 
260 CHURCH AND THEATRE 
 
 you would be very sorry indeed to have talked about, is a 
 sin agamst Grod, and you ought to be ashamed of it, and 
 I have no doubt you are. 
 
 I propose that we shall know our own reasons in this 
 matter, by re-examining the grounds of the traditionary 
 argument under which the church at large are professing 
 to act. 
 
 1. We must acknowledge in the first place that some of 
 the objections to the theatre which prevailed two 
 generations, or even one generation ago, are now in some 
 cases either entirely done away or very much modified. 
 The abominable accessories of the theatre which old 
 writers, and recent writers who depend on the old for 
 their ideas, inveigh against as inseparable from the 
 theatre itself, have been separated from it. I mean the 
 solicitations to drunkenness on the premises of the theatre, 
 the deliberate provision for the admission of lewd women 
 to certain parts of tbe house, the arrangement of the 
 building to encourage and facilitate vice ; all these have 
 been done away, at least in many cases. Dr. Vaughan, 
 a recent eminent English traveller in the United States, 
 remarks on the difference of construction of an American 
 theatre in this respect from an English one. A veteran 
 off'icer of the 'New York police, who had known the 
 theatres of that city before and behind the scenes from 
 his boyhood, assured me of the marked change that had 
 taken place in the administration of theatres in his own 
 day, and that in almost all, if not in all, of the theatres 
 of that city it was as diff'icult for improper characters to 
 gain admisssion as in any places of amusement whatever. 
 
 The universally infamous character of the plays 
 represented, and of the actors representing them, was 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 261 
 
 one of the counts in the old indictment against the stage; 
 
 and it was one on which it was impossible to help 
 
 convicting. Down almost till within the memory of 
 
 men now living, the collection of the stock acting plays 
 
 of the English stage was an absolute dung-hill of filth 
 
 and wickedness. If you would get some idea of it, consult 
 
 Sir Walter Scott's History of the Drama/ or Lord 
 
 Macaulay's criticism of the dramatists of the Restoration, 
 
 or his remarks on the polite literature of that period in 
 
 the second volume of the History of England. But, no ! 
 
 you can get no idea of it from description. You would 
 
 have to turn over the reeking pages of some series of 
 
 volumes labelled " Old Plays," and the knowledge you 
 
 would get would not pay you for the defiling of your 
 
 hands. And this, with some mitigations in favor — I will 
 
 not say of virtue, but of conventional decency — has 
 
 continued to be the prevailing tone of stage literature 
 
 down, almost, to our own day. But is there any justice 
 
 in applying to the acting drama of our day the epithets 
 
 which were perfectly just so lately as when William 
 
 Wilberforce wrote his "Practical View?'' Have we no 
 
 language but that of denunciation and contempt for a 
 
 literature to which Sir Edward Lytton has contributed 
 
 his superb historical picture of Richelieu, and that great 
 
 scholar, the late Dean Milman of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 
 his drama of the Italian Wife, and which, by translation 
 
 or adaptation, has been enriched from the master-pieces 
 
 of Schiller and Dickens and Charles Reade '? By personal 
 
 knowledge I know almost nothing — less perhaps, than, 
 
 as a public instructor, I ought to know — of the stage. 
 
 But, for ten years past, I have been a pretty constant 
 
 ]. Eiicyclopjedia Britaunica, e. v. Drama. 
 
262 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 observer of theatrical advertisements and dramatic 
 criticisms in the New York press, and I recogniJ:e; with 
 thankful satisfaction, that, alongside of another tendency, 
 which I will speak of by-and-by, there has been a 
 growing tendency to the production of a class of plays of 
 domestic interest and faultless purity — like those derived 
 from the stories of Charles Dickens. How far these may 
 be deformed by bad acting, I have no knowlege ; but it 
 must take a very ingeniouslj^ vicious pla)^er to make the 
 representation of " Little Nell " and the " Cricket on the 
 Hearth" anything but wholesome and humanizing — and 
 Christianizing. 
 
 I have shown that some of the traditionary objections 
 to the theatre are either obsolete or very much modified. 
 
 2. I propose now to show that some of the traditionary 
 arguments concerning the theatre are fallacious. 
 
 Some of these it is well to touch lightly, as being too 
 frail to bear severer handling. The argument, for instance, 
 that the drama is instrinsically unfitted to please a superior 
 mind, is best advanced by those who have never known of 
 such earnest admirers of the stage as (for example) 
 Walter Scott and Sergeant Talfourd. The complaint 
 that the general run of acting is sad ranting and fustian 
 is as true now as ^er, I am afraid — and is likely to 
 continue so. The common run of any sort of human 
 work will always be very poor as compared with the best. 
 7Vnd it is to l)e feared that the best acting will never be 
 the most popular with the crowd. It is so in literature. 
 Mr. Everett had no sort of success in the ^''Ledger"' 
 compared with Mr. Sylvanus Cobb. And some of us 
 preachers, whose congregations are not large, have been 
 known to comfort ourselves with the thought that it is 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 263 
 
 somewhat thus with preaching, too, and that the best 
 preacher does not always have the largest audience. It 
 is obvious enough that these little side arguments have 
 no force at all. Let us come at once to the main 
 argument in the case, as it is earnestly pressed on the 
 consciences of the Christian public by some of the best 
 and worthiest writers on Christian morality. It stands 
 in this wise: theatrical amusements are apt to do great 
 harm, and they are not necessary to us: therefore, we 
 ought totally to abstain from them. Now there is no 
 doubt that, at the time when good men first put forth this 
 argument, the condiibion was perfectly just — the only 
 conclusion to which any decent Christian man in those 
 times could possibly have come. But it concerns us a 
 good deal, when the same argument is presented to us in 
 other circumstances, to look, not only at the conclusion, 
 but at the process by which it is reached. Now, will 
 anybody coolly make himself responsible to maintain the 
 major premise in this argument — to wit: that it is an 
 invariable duty to abstain from every unnecesary act that 
 has a tendency to do harm? Is it never right to ask 
 whether the abstinence will or will not tend to avert the 
 harm? or whether the abstaining may not do more harm 
 than the act would have done? There is danger in any 
 course of action that one may follow, about anything. 
 The Son of man came eating bread and drinking wine. 
 Why could he not have abstained? It was not necessary 
 to him; and see what harm it did ! " Behold! a gluttonous 
 man and a wine-bibber." But John the Baptist practiced 
 total abstinence, and men said: ^' He hath a devil.'' 
 
 It is obvious that we are in the presence of a different 
 
2(34 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 set of facts from our grandfathers, and that we need a 
 more accurate logic in dealing with them. 
 
 What, then, is the present situation ? 
 
 We find ourselves confronted with a wide-spread 
 institution, singularly tenacious of life, and intrenched in 
 vested interests as well as in the universal public taste, 
 which has come down to us burdened with an infamy 
 which, in former times, at least, was most richly deserved. 
 It must be admitted, furthermore, that its antecedents 
 continue to infect its character. The Nen' York Tribune^ 
 within a very few years, complained that there was not a 
 stage in all that city from which the actors did not insult 
 the audience by gratuitous and supererogatory profaneness. 
 
 An old stigma, as old as the Roman civilization, rests 
 upon the profession of the stage-player; and notwith- 
 standing many very honorable examples of character, it 
 remains true to this day that the profession, as a whole, 
 has failed to recover the public respect, through the 
 prevailing faults of so many of its members. 
 
 But then, on the other hand, w^e are bound in the merest 
 justice to acknowledge a rapidly increasing tendency to 
 improvement in the whole conduct Jof the stage and 
 theatre, and in the character of the theatrical profession. 
 There was a time \vhen to take the name of actress as a 
 synonym for infamy was a most sad necessity. To-day, 
 the man who makes such a presumption as that against a 
 lady devoted to this tr^ang and perilous profession, is 
 guilty of a wicked calumny. Tlie profession is indeed 
 most perilous and trying to the virtue of those who enter 
 it. But for that very cause, there are those in it whose 
 fidelity to duty shines the more brightly. And there are 
 certain traits of most excellent virtue — a srenerous 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 265 
 
 overflow of kindness towards the unfortunate, a quick 
 sympathy with noble acts and public causes, which we 
 can hardly look to find more honorably exemplified than 
 in the guild of actors. We haven't all the virtues in the 
 church ; they cannot claim a monopoly of sins in the 
 green room. A very little while ago, my attention was 
 called as a pastor to an aged and suffering woman, found 
 by one of our city missionaries in Brooklyn, alone and 
 almost friendless in a garret, suffering for lack of fire, in 
 the cold of a northern winter. It seemed a case of strange 
 and unnatural cruelty, for she had nourished and brought 
 up children, and they had neglected her. 8he was a 
 member of a Presbyterian church in New York, which 
 I could name. Her sons, in various places, were members 
 in good and regular standing of Evangelical churches ; 
 one of them, doing a thrifty business as a photographer in 
 that very city of Brooklyn, was a Sunda}^ School Super- 
 intendent, i^ut out of all her children, one only shewed 
 her some natural affection, crossing the ferry from time 
 to time to bring her such relief as he could spare out c>f 
 her scanty salary — and she was an actress in the Bowery 
 Theatre. And when I learned this story, I concluded that 
 I would not be in a great hurry to denounce the sins of 
 the theatre, until I had first done my duty by the sins of 
 the church. 
 
 Alongside of this tendency to improve, we must observe, 
 if we would take in the whole situation, another movement 
 in the opposite direction. Tliere has been what looks 
 almost like a concerted reaction towards the worst days of 
 dramatic corruption. When the ballet was first introduced 
 into New York, less than forty years ago, it shocked the 
 nerves of that not too fastidious and puritanical city, and 
 
286 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 called forth a protest from the secnlar press in the name 
 of morality and decency. Now^ the ballet is, I will not 
 say an incidental attraction, it .seems to be the grand 
 attraction which swallows np all others in most theatres 
 of New York and other cities, so that actors who have 
 studied their profession as an art, complain bitterly that 
 they are crowded from the stage and out of their living by 
 bevies of nude and shameless women, whose livelihood is 
 in their immodesty. Alongside of the pure and blameless 
 dramatization of Dickens, and Mrs. Stowe, and Wash- 
 ington Irving, one sees announced the scoundrelly plays 
 of the French Opera — as much more corrupting than the 
 ribaldry of the old comedies as their indecency is less 
 gross and nauseating — plays which the respectable secular 
 press of the metropolis denounced unanimously for their 
 wickedness, and to which the more they were denounced, 
 the more the " very best society" flocked to see them. 
 
 8uch, with this double tendency, is the present position 
 of the theatre. 
 
 What is the attitude of society with reference to it? It 
 may be defined in these three particulars : 
 
 1. Indiscriminate condemnation of the theatre as a 
 whole. 
 
 2. By an inevitable consequence, indiscriminate vindica- 
 tion of the theatre as a whole. 
 
 3. Indiscriminate evasion of traditionary formulas of 
 duty, half believed and half mistrusted ; acts of doubtful 
 and therefore guilty consciences ; and the furtive and 
 coward 1}^ attendance upon all sorts of theatrical 
 entertainments, the best and the vilest, by people who 
 hypocritically pr(>fess to he governed by principles which 
 forbid it. 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 261 
 
 Ah ! Let me repeat and emphasize this, for it is the 
 plainest thing in the word of (xod concerning this whole 
 business. Whatever may be the abstract right or wrong 
 of theatre-going, ?/o?f, who have your scruples and doubts 
 about the matter, who think it had better be done very 
 quietly and so as not to excite remark, you are verily 
 guilty before (xod in every act. Don't affect to defend 
 yourselves, when you are brought to book for your trans- 
 gression of rules which you affect to approve, by citing the 
 respectability of some theatres and the excellence of some 
 plays. It is the very nature of this evasive transgression 
 that it sticks at no such distinction ; it has not dared to 
 look its conscience in the face long enough to apprehend 
 such distinctions. I do not believe there is any playgoing 
 more unprincipled and undiscriminating than your 
 Evangelical Christian plaj^going. No, no, my dear 
 Christian brother or sister, it is all very well for you to 
 talk about the innocence of Mr. Jefferson's Bi2) Van Winkle 
 and the beauty of Liicia di Larnmermoor, but these are not 
 what you went to see the last time you were in New 
 York ! You went to be delighted with the chaste 
 elegance of the latest and nudest ballet ! You spent half 
 the night in rapture over the charms of the scurrilous 
 ojjera houffe. Decent, upright men of the world have some 
 standards of distinction here, some principles of right and 
 wrong. My friend, Mr. De Cordova, who should thank 
 no one for calling him a Christian, spoke to me of Barhe 
 BJeue as an innocent blameless play, but said " I would 
 as soon spit in the face of a lady as ask to see Genevieve 
 de Brahant."" Your pious playgoer who slips into the 
 theatre when he won't be noticed, who goes with a friend 
 from the country, or who has a visitor who has set his 
 
268 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 heart upon going and must not be allowed to go without 
 protection, knows no such distinctions. A theatre is a 
 theatre. His scruples about going, instead of being the 
 conviction of an enlightened conscience, are a tradition of 
 the elders, and when he breaks over them he may as well 
 die for a sheep as for a lamb. 0, my devout friends, 
 think what you do — if ever you do think at all — when, by 
 your presence and patronage, you encourage the ballet. 
 You vaunt the superior virtue and tenderness of our 
 Christian civilization, when you hear with a shudder of 
 fair women and gay gentlemen, in the days of the Roman 
 empire, looking down from the seats in the Coliseum at 
 the dying agonies of struggling gladiators or of martyred 
 Christians, 
 
 "Butchered to make a lioman holiday." 
 
 Know then that Christendom has found out a cruelty 
 more exquisite. The master of the Roman sports when 
 he had slain the body had no more that he could do. 
 Christian civilization has armed itself with the awful 
 facts of the life to come. It has cunningly contrived a 
 sport so destructive to the modesty, so depraving to the 
 womanly virtue of those who are employed in it, that for 
 one of them to escape perdition of body and soul is 
 accepted as a miracle or commonly scouted as incredible ; 
 and Christian men and women suffer themselves to be 
 enticed to the exquisite pleasure of seeing their sister, for 
 whom Christ died, suffering, not the brief anguish of 
 bodily death, but making night by night the sure perdition 
 of her soul. O shame ! Shame upon you! Woe unto 
 you, Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 
 No, no ! If any timid, cautious brother appeals to me 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 269 
 
 not to deal so freely with this subject, and asks me if I am 
 not afraid of doing more harm than good by disturbing 
 people's established opinions, I tell him No. The state of 
 this question now is just the worst possible, the most 
 demoralizing, the most destructive to the conscience both 
 of church and of society. You cannot make it worse by 
 stirring it. 
 
 But what course, then, shall we recommend with 
 reference to this greatly important question of duty ? 
 
 I would sum up my answer mainly in this one Avord, 
 DISCRIMINATION, — a word most irksome and disagreeable 
 to the ordinary rough-and-ready reformer, who always 
 loves to do his condemning and his approving in the bulk 
 instead of in particular. It is so much easier and more 
 slashing when one has seen the mischiefs of excessive 
 frivolity and dissipation and lewd dances, to levy a 
 sweeping edict against dancing, instead of showing 
 distinctly what you do object to. It is so much more easy 
 and compendious to denounce games of chance, and 
 especially to get up a prejudice against playing-cards, than 
 to sits down patiently and show intelligently wherein 
 consists the sinfulness of gambling — that it is obtaining 
 another's property without rendering him an equivalent. 
 This sort of slapdash, hit-or-miss denunciation is the pest 
 and hinderance of every healthy reform ; it was the one 
 fault that hindered the anti-slavery agitation from being 
 a moral success. It has been a perpetual drag upon the 
 wheels of the temperance reformation. It is the fatal 
 defect in all this crusade against the corruptions of the 
 stage. 
 
 Let us see if we cannot, in this business, lay aside this 
 easily besetting sin of moral reformers ; let us learn, in all 
 
270 OHUKCH AND THEATPtE. 
 
 OUT Strictures on that which is so defencelessly open to 
 stricture, to say just what we mean, and mean just what- 
 we say. Let us find exactly what those things are which 
 we object to, and then deal with them explicitly — faith- 
 fully — and we shall not deal with them the less effectively 
 if we abstain from including in the same censure, perfectly 
 innocent things with which they are associated. If we 
 object that there are multitudes of bad men and women in 
 the profession of the stage, let us learn how to spare those 
 who, for that very reason, are the more honorably and 
 illustriously virtuous, while we smite the guilty. If we 
 condemn bad theatres, why should we find any advantage 
 in bringing here and there the good theatres, if there be 
 such, under the same condemnation ? If you abhor and 
 denounce corrupt plays, why should you pretend to 
 denounce dramatic literature, the evil and the good 
 together ? Why should you not say what you mean ? 
 and if you will not say what you mean, can you very 
 reasonably complain if, by and by, people begin to doubt 
 whether you mean what you say ? 
 
 I know there are honest people here that are trembling 
 at the peril involved in admitting such distinctions. 
 '' What ! would you have my son get the idea that it 
 is not wicked to gf> to the theatre ? Think of the danger ! " 
 My dear sir, or madam, 1 have thought of it, earnestly. 
 Have not I sons to care for as well as you? It will be 
 safer for your sons and mine to know the whole right and 
 wrong of this matter, with the facts and the reasons, than 
 to trust them, fur their protection against the unquestion- 
 able temptations and corruptions attending on theatrical 
 (iutertainments, to the vain defense of an irrational, tradi- 
 tionary prejudice, which they will break through when 
 
CHlIRCii AND THEATRE. 271 
 
 they are come to years of liberty and discretion, almost as 
 certainly as the chicken chips the egg-shell. 1 will not 
 rest the morals of my children on au}^ such broken reed. 
 I will not take any such venture as to trust for their 
 security from the blinding, captivating sin of gambling, to 
 a mere vague feeling of dislike to playing-cards and 
 billiard-tables: nor for their safety from drunkenness t<> 
 the incantation of a children's temperance pledge sworn 
 to by a Sunday. School in bulk. 1 desire that they may 
 feel from their earliest days the great sanction of all 
 Christian duty in the love of their Saviour, and that they 
 may know^ the w^arrant of all particular duties in 
 reason and the word of God. It is just hecause I know^ 
 what the peril of a young man is, under the practice of 
 indiscriminate and unintelligent denunciation of certain 
 attractive forms of amusement, that I seek to put this 
 w^hole department of casuistry on a higher and firmer 
 ground. 
 
 Is there, then, an}^ hope for the elevation of the theatre 
 from its depressed moral and social position? Two 
 thousand years of history present, it must be confessed, a 
 formidable discouragement to all such expectations. But 
 we cannot willingly despair of reform ; we look with interest 
 towards every door of hope, and observe every token ot 
 improvement, not with churlish" contempt and suspicion, 
 as if it were mask for new temptations, but with sincere 
 satisfaction. 
 
 1. The theatrical profession have the whole matter in 
 their own hands. There is no disguising the fact — their 
 own complaints are sufficient proof of it — the profession are 
 under the disfavor of society, even of worldly society. It 
 is in their own power to change all this, and to be respected, 
 
272 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 by being respectable. I know no one class of society so 
 much interested in the reform of the theatre as the profes- 
 sion of the stage. Why should they not reform it ? The 
 manager who should feel that he could " afford to keep a 
 conscience" in his business might find^ in the long run, 
 that it i)ays to keep a conscience, especially to one who 
 does not keep it for the sake of pay. The manager who 
 should say : " Such and such pieces would undoubtedly 
 run through the whole season, and draw the house full 
 every night, but they are corrupting and demoralizing in 
 their influence, and they cannot come upon my boards ; ' 
 the actor who should take the position : " In such a part 
 I could win applause and reputation and money ; if 
 I decline it I forfeit my engagement ; but it is vile and 
 debasing to the public, and, come what may, I will not 
 appear in it ; " the community of actors who should 
 resolutely refuse to be associated with persons of known 
 infamous character ; such as these could do more for the 
 reforming and ennobling of the stage than all the preachers 
 in Christendom. But how often do we hear of such 
 managers and such players ? There have been those, in 
 every generation since David Grarrick, whose private 
 character has done something towards redeeming the 
 character of the profession. There are more such to-day, 
 doubtless, than ever before since the beginning of history. 
 To speak only of the lyric stage — towards which my tastes 
 have more particularly directed my attention — what 
 whisper of disrespect was ever breathed against such 
 names as those of Miss Kellogg and Madame Parepa-llosa ? 
 O that some one of these great artists would have the 
 bravery to resist the bad traditions of her art ! The whole 
 world of criticism must acknowledge that Don Giovanni 
 
CHURCH AND THEATRE. 273 
 
 is the very master-piece of the lyric drama. Such affluence 
 of melody, such largeness of dramatic conception and 
 treatment, such mastery of the resources of the orchestra. 
 — in one word, such worthiness of the great Mozart — set 
 it clear of rivalry. Have courage, now, and self-denial, 
 for virtue's sake and Grod's, and say : ^' I will not sing in 
 Don Giovanni, for it is licentious and foul!" Ah! if 
 actors and singers had but the courage and virtue for such 
 acts as this, they would not have to ask permission of 
 churches and ministers and tract societies to be respected; 
 they would hold the respect of the public in their own 
 right, despite all gainsayers. But, so long as they freely 
 choose the other course, let us hear no more whimpering 
 from them about the ban of society which they thereby 
 incur. 
 
 2. I have no more than time to hint at the help that 
 might be given to such a reform by the discriminating, 
 faithful criticisms of the newspaper press. How faithful 
 the best of the great New York dailies have lately been, 
 in criticising the moral tone as well as the literary and 
 artistic character of the metropolitan theatres, those who 
 habitually read them know. How much this has helped 
 the efforts of those who are honestly laboring, from 
 behind the scenes, for the improvement of the theatre, 
 cannot be estimated. Doubtless, the best men of the 
 theatrical profession here would be the most eager to 
 welcome an advance of the press of this city, to a higher 
 and more faithful sort of criticism than the country- 
 newspaper style of measuring out his finger's length of 
 " first-rate notice " to whoever sends to the office an 
 advertisement and a complimentary ticket. 
 
 3. But have the Christian public anything to do with 
 
274 CHURCH AND THEATRE. 
 
 reference to possible reform in the theatre — with reference 
 to the actual diverging tendencies now visible in the 
 progress of theatrical events ? Have we anything to do^ 
 except look on until the question is decided ? Can we 
 innocently enjoy the good and refuse the evil ? Can we 
 usefully give countenance to the better party against the 
 worse ? . 
 
 I only ask these questions ; I do not mean to answer 
 them. They are questions for every man to answer for 
 himself. " Let every man be fully persuaded in his own 
 mind.'' 
 
 It is no ordinance of Cxod that men should get all their 
 open questions of duty answered for them by others ; but 
 rather that they should be pressed^ urged^ perplexed, even, 
 by doubts for the right decision of which they must answer 
 at the judgment. Is not this a nobler discipline for 
 Christian manhood than any mill of formulas — " touch 
 not, taste not, handle not, which perish in the using " — 
 such as the grandly liberal mind of Paul rejected with 
 scorn, such as Christian society often attempts to substitute 
 for the broad principles of the gospel and the responsible 
 liberty of the individual conscience ! 
 
 " Each man in Ids own mind." If ever there is to be a 
 true and wholesome public sentiment, it will come, not by 
 the servile deference of the individual to what he guesses 
 to be the opinion of the rest, but by every man's freely 
 determining and frankly acting out liis own conviction. Is 
 it not a small matter to be judged of man's judgment ? 
 God is your judge, not man. 
 
 But remember Grod is your judge ; and for all your 
 dealing with questions like these you must give account 
 to Him ! 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. • 275 
 
 xiy. 
 
 MISTAKES AND FAILURES OF THE 
 TEMPERANCE REFORMATION.* 
 
 It is not necessarily a reproach against the Temperance 
 Reformation that now, decaying and waxing old, it is 
 ready to vanish away. Many a good thing, before this has 
 had its day and its decline, and has entered gracefully 
 into its worthy place in history. The symptoms of decline 
 in that great movement which is to be known hereafter 
 as the Temperance Reformation of the Nineteenth Centur}^, 
 are not only perceptible to cool observers ; even the 
 affection of devoted partisans is not so blind as not to see 
 them. 
 
 Whatever hopes its friends and supporters may have 
 of its future revival or resurrection, they will hardly 
 deny that, in the present course of things, we are getting 
 rapidly toward the time when its epitaph and history 
 will have to be written. Considered as a great popular 
 movement, it passed its culmination many years ago, and 
 like all such agitations in their decline, is making feeble 
 efforts to repeat itself. Vain efforts — for it would be out 
 
 * Published as an anonymous pamphlet, New York : 1864. 
 
276 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 of accord with historj^, if the world should be put back to 
 the old point in its course, and run this tweny-five years 
 of agitation over again in the same groove. 
 
 And what profit, if it could be? (iiven the same 
 starting point and the same course, the world could not 
 but bring up at last at the same result; and is this the 
 thing we are to desire, in the name of philanthropy and 
 public morality? We may have a new Temperance 
 Reformation, but the old one over again — hardly. The 
 old soldiers of the late war will continue to " fight their 
 battles o'er again !w — to " shoulder the crutch and show- 
 how fields were won," and its surviving stipendiaries will 
 continue to draw their well-earned pensions from the 
 dwindling current of public benefaction. These are the 
 usual sequelcB of a great public movement. But as to the 
 movement itself — actum est. What remains is, first and 
 most important, to make a careful autopsy, in the interest 
 of humanity and science, to discover the cause of this 
 untimely demise; and then for the historian to build a 
 monument and write an epitaph worthy of the real 
 dignity and grandeur of the deceased. Only let the 
 post-mortem come first, and the funeral and the eulogy 
 afterward. 
 
 We have undertaken the examination — an ungracious 
 task. The Egyptians were wont to employ the embalmer 
 to fit their dead for honorable burial and then to pelt him 
 with mud for desecrating the body with an incision. Let 
 him who wields his scalpel over the cadaver of the 
 Temperance Reform, look out for like treatment. 
 
 There is no doubt that the eulogist of the Temperance 
 Reformation, whenever it shall be his turn, will find 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 277 
 
 abundant materials for his work. It is a fair question, 
 even, on which we cannot pronounce — so near are we to 
 the event — whether the best years of that reform will not 
 be reckoned among" the noblest in the annals of Christian 
 heroism. 
 
 Consider it. It was in the fulfillment of Christian duty 
 in its highest grade of attainment, that the expedient of 
 abstinence Ijy the temperate^ which was the initial and 
 characteristic expedient of this Reformation, was 
 inaugurated. It was grounded on the duty — so indefinable 
 in its application that it must be left to the judgment of 
 each man's conscience — so easy, therefore, to be evaded 
 — the duty of waiving one's liberty in lawful things, in 
 favor of the morbid weakness or error of other men. 
 It was on this sole ground that the best men in the 
 country came, about the j^ear 1836, to a wonderfully 
 unanimous and simultaneous agreement to renounce 
 entirely the use, not only of ardent spirits, but of all malt 
 and fermented liquors. A greater triumph of Christian 
 principle the world has rarely seen in all its history. 
 There have been individual acts more heroic; but such a 
 movement of general self-renunciation, in face of social 
 usage, in face of natural tastes and desires — a movement 
 of the mass of the Christian public in all its ranks, as of 
 a cloud " which moveth altogether if it move at all" — a 
 movement, nevertheless, in which each soul proceeded on 
 its own individual will, without constraint, to renounce 
 for humanity's sake an innocent, a lawful, in frequent 
 instances a very useful indulgence — such a movement is 
 characterized hy a moral dignity which is hardly rivaled 
 in the history of the church universal. It is a great part 
 of the glory of the early abstinence movement, that 
 
278 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 it was a movement for abstinence from lawfiil things. 
 If abstinence conld have been enforced as a duty 
 by absolute and independent sanctions, it would 
 have been less an honor to the abstainers than now. 
 It is another part of that glory (if we may so speak, 
 without too bold a paradox), that the sacrifice which 
 it involved was so small a one. To rescue the land 
 from drunkenness, those early reformers were willing 
 not only to do some great thing ; they were willing 
 <i^y ^7 day to do little things, which is harder and more 
 heroic. They were willing to practice little self-denials, 
 to withstand petty oppositions and suffer paltry annoy- 
 ances ; to be sneered at by the frivolous, and denounced 
 by the selfish, and coldly approved b}^ the self-sufficient, 
 until by-and-by the meek inherited the land. Those 
 advocates of the " Temperance Cause " who seek to honor 
 it by magnifying the "sin of moderate drinking" and 
 exalting the arduous heroism of the reformer, really defeat 
 their own purpose, and disparage what they would extol. 
 We shall not go far in this discussion without finding 
 other instances in which the Temperance Keformation has 
 been wounded by the awkward and superfluous activity of 
 its friends. 
 
 The early Abs^nence movement as we haA^e described 
 it, founded on a* true principle of Christian ethics, and 
 marked by the grandeur of a free, spontaneous movement 
 of public philanthropy, was justified hy the emergency in 
 which it arose, and, after all allowances which any man 
 will claim, has been s.p2)roved hy the issue. 
 
 It was justified hy the emergency. Judging from 
 unquestionable statements and descriptions, the state of 
 American society fifty years ago was such as we do not 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 279 
 
 commonly conceive at this day. " All tables were full of 
 vomit and filthiness — there was no place clean." Old 
 persons now living, who in their youth had large 
 acquaintance with public men, can tell us how many 
 eminent citizens, how man}^ honorable judges,. how many 
 beloved physicians, passed in their latter days under a 
 cloud which rested at last upon their graves ; and the 
 ecclesiastical and clerical records of every denomination 
 show how common a thing it used to be for an aged and 
 venerable minister of the gospel, as his natural force 
 abated, to decline into habits which demanded his seclusion 
 from the ministry.^ 
 
 1. A letter from the Rev. Ur. Woods, of Andover, published so loii^ ago as 
 1836, in the Annual Report of the American Temperance Society for that year, 
 contains the folio win--- testimony : 
 
 " I remember that at a particular period, before the Temperance Reformation 
 commenced, I was able to count up nearly forty ministers of the gospel, and none 
 of them at a very great distance, wlio -were either drunkards, or so far addicted 
 to intemperate drinking that their reputation and usefulness were greatly 
 injured, if not utterly ruined. And I could meutiou an ordination that took place 
 about twenty years ago, at which I myself was ashamed and grieved to see two 
 aged ministers literally drunk, and a third indecently excited with strong 
 drink." Report, p. 50. 
 
 This testimony coincides with that of "an aged divine in Albany" to Mr 
 Edward C. Delavan, quoted by the latter in a letter to Governor King of this 
 State in 1857. This anonymous witness "found that fifty percent, of the clergy 
 within a circuit of fift}- miles, died drunkarks ! " 
 
 Such irresponsible talk as this is of course to be taken with large allowance. 
 But the fact that such a statement could be made at all, without palpable 
 absurdity, proves a state of society to have existed Avhich it is ditficull for us to 
 conceive of at present. 
 
 There are many anecdotes of leading professional men of this city in the past 
 generation, current in family and professional circles, which confirm the 
 representation we have given of the state of society in their day. It would be a 
 needless paiu to draw them out of the obscurity of tradition, in order to prove e 
 point whicli will hardly be diniied by any one. 
 
 Notice, here, the date, under which Dr. Woods speaks of general drunkenness 
 as cliaracteristic of a j^ast state of society. It would appear from this, and from 
 sundry otlier documentary indications, that the great conquest of the Temperance 
 Reformation was achieved during its tirst decade, from 1826 to 1836, before th 
 
280 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 We are prepared to say, further, that the right and 
 expediency of the early abstinence movement has been 
 apjnvved hy the result. With all the pitiable features of 
 the present aspect of society in respect to intemperance, 
 and all the deformities and opprohria of the Temperance 
 Keformation in full view, we have nevertheless no 
 hesitation in repeating this conviction. We shall use 
 great plainness of speech when we come by-and-by to say 
 what the Temperance Reformation has failed to do, and 
 what it has done amiss. But thus much it has done, and 
 that in main reliance on its leading expedient of the total 
 abstinence of temperate men : 
 
 It has rescued many individuals from drunkenness. 
 
 It has doubtless held back many persons from perilous 
 beginnings of temptation that would otherwise have 
 proved their ruin. 
 
 It has broken, so that they can never be repaired, the 
 pernicious and despotic drinking usages of society. 
 
 It has taught (by a transient and unstable experiment) 
 that social influences, organized in the interest of vice, 
 may be successfully combated by social organizations in 
 behalf of virtue. 
 
 It has contributed something to the sound literature of 
 social reform. 
 
 If it has settl'ed no principles, it has ^//isettled a great 
 many convictions, and has opened — not closed — important 
 discussions. 
 
 Saying nothing now of what it has undone, misdone, 
 and failed to do, these things it has done; they are among 
 the triumphs of the Christian expedient of renouncing an 
 
 present pledge, forbiddiiifr init only distilled hut icrni.Mited litiuors, was 
 introduced. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 281 
 
 innocent thing for the sake of other men's consciences. 
 For, in the golden age of the Temperance Reformation, it 
 was a mere expedienty not a principle ; and this (as we 
 Lave said) was the glory of it, that when it could be 
 enforced by no law, the sacrifice was cheerfully assumed 
 for love's sake. ^ 
 
 We have spoken with some particularity of the earl^ 
 abstinence movement, as if there were something dis- 
 tinguishing about it as compared with the more recent 
 " Temperance Reformation." We believe this to be the fact. 
 We believe, and are ready to prove, that this reformation 
 has departed from sound Scriptural principles and right 
 measures, and is now prosecuted on fallacious principles 
 and by means of measures the unfitness and wrongness of 
 which are witnessed by their constant failure. 
 
 The revolution in the Temperance Reformation has 
 been on this wise. Not long after the first flush of its 
 vigor, it passed its period of highest vitality, and from 
 that moment its decay was rapid. ^ It passed from a 
 movement into an institution. It passed out of the control 
 and management of zealous and philanthropic men, who 
 gave to it the judgment that had been ripened, the 
 influence that had been earned, and the vigor that had 
 been trained in various pursuits — men whose zeal was 
 
 1. For a summary of the results of the Temperance Refoi-m, see the letter of 
 Mr. Dolavan to Governor King, in the Appendix to " Nott's Temperance 
 Lectures," p. 207. Also the successive Annual Reports of the American 
 Temperance Union. 
 
 2. The rudiments of the change described above as coming over the spirit of 
 the Temperance movement, are to be discerned very early in the history of it. 
 No point of time is to be indicated as the point of transition from its success to 
 its decadence. These rudiments of corruption infected the speech of some of its 
 earliest advocates. A seimon (from which we shall hereafter quote) by the 
 Rev. Mr. Kirk, about the year 1837, anticipates many of the fallacies in sustaining 
 which a great proportion of the energies of the reform has since been wasted. 
 
282 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 tempered, not cooled, by the neeessity of holding this 
 particular subject constantly in relation and comparison 
 with other practical matters ; and it passed under the 
 control of specialists, of professional reformers, of 
 stipendiar}^ agitators, of men who, bringing to the 
 exclusive consideration of a somewhat exciting subject 
 the sort of mental predisposition which is common to the 
 riders of hobbies, gradually develop a monomania more or 
 less gentle according to the natural temper of the subject, 
 and aggravated constantly by the unremitted pressure of 
 the exciting cause. 
 
 Now when the original movement began to cool off into 
 an institution, it is no wonder that its loss of inward vital 
 force should begin to be supplemented with artificial 
 stimulants, and that its spontaneous expedients of Christian 
 affection should begin to petrify into forms of social law. 
 By just so much as the genuine spirit of Christian zeal 
 declined among the reformers or their successors, it left 
 behind it a half-animated body of formalism or asceticism. 
 The institution has now its corporate interests and a 
 corporate spirit, besides the spirit of the reform which it 
 espouses. The vice which it opposes is now doubly 
 guilty, first, as a sin against God and man, secondly, as a 
 lese-majesty agaiiist the Temperance Society. So the 
 institution settles its formulas, erects its codes, affixes its 
 penalties, enforces them. The course which, to meet the 
 emergency of the time, had at the outset been urged on 
 the ground of Christian expediency, liberty, and love, is 
 now enjoined on the ground of ahsohite duty. 
 
 It requires no great acuteness of mind to see that the 
 change thus wrought is a radical one. Every man can see 
 3ind feel the difference between an appeal to him to waive 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 283 
 
 his lawful libert)'-, lest it should harm his brother, and a 
 demand that he shall give up what he knows to be 
 indifferent in itself, because it is denounced as a sin in 
 itself, and because his liberty is to be held subject to 
 another man's conscience. This is the thirty-second 
 degree of the thermometer — the freezing point, where the 
 free act of brotherly love congeals into a form of law, and 
 becomes a yoke of tradition from the elders. 
 
 This, then, is the fundamental falsehood which infects 
 the " Temperance Reformation " as now prosecuted (if 
 that ma}^ be called ijvosecution which consists mainly in a 
 fussy routine without progress) — that the temperate use 
 of drinks that might intoxicate is a sin, not for its 
 probable consequences in the particular instance, but in 
 itself. It will be obvious, in the course of this discussion, 
 that it was not the force of mistaken argument that led to 
 the adoption of this false position, but, plainly enough, 
 that the false position has led to the adoption of a train of 
 fallacious arguments wherewith to sustain it. The chief 
 of these fallacies it is worth while rapidly to recapitulate. 
 We may name them : 
 
 1. The Biblical fallacy ; 
 
 2. The Physiological and Chemical fallacy ; 
 
 3. The Progressive- Approach fallacy ; 
 
 4. The Moral fallacy. 
 
 1 . TheBihlical fallacy: in which it is assumed or asserted 
 that the duty of total abstinence from all fermented drinks 
 is inculcated on mankind in the Holy Scriptures. The 
 argument with which this position is defended, whatever 
 may be its repute among scholars, is a mighty one ad 
 captanckmi vulguSj for it is black, and angular, and 
 
284 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 formidable with quotations of the Hebrew text, or 
 asthmatic with li^s^ and lih^s, and Ws, and cJi'Sy and other 
 vain Occidental imitations of Oriental gutturals. It is 
 dealt in most lavishly by lecturers of the unlearned rank, 
 and is undoubtedly effective, in a measure, with audiences 
 of like capacity. And yet it does not need a scholar to 
 see through its sophistries. The argument goes limping 
 through the Old Testament, leaning on pedantic quotations 
 of the various Hebrew words for wine — tirosJi, and yayin, 
 and mesech, and shechar — and at last breaks down suddenly 
 when it gets to the New Testament, where there is only 
 one word for wine, and that means precisely ivme.^ Some 
 biblical scholars have been misled into this argument, and 
 a great many others have been bullied or persuaded into 
 not denying it nor (publicly) laughing at it.- 
 
 The gist of the biblical argument is this : there are 
 several words in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, which 
 
 1. It is said to be a standing joke with the American missionaries in Syria to 
 offer their traveler guests "some of Professor Stuart's best-wine-of-Lebanon," 
 which, on trial, proves to be dibs, an inspissated grape syrup used by the natives 
 in their cookery. It is not an easy article to swallow under any such name as 
 the temperance expositors have dignified it with. 
 
 2. The grand authority and tliesaurus of the total abstinence men, in the 
 biblical argumenr, is the " Temperance Lectures '" of President Nott, edited, with 
 a learned appendix on the philological aspects of the question, by a 
 " Professor " McCoy. TMe critical labors of tliis philologist leave on his readers 
 the profound impression that he does not know the Greek alphabet. On a hasty 
 count we lind, in a table of 137 Greek words whieli he gives, GG mistakes of 
 orthography. And yet this imposture comes before the public witli no less 
 respectable an indorsement than that of Professor Tayler Lewis. 
 
 It is amusing to see that even tlie tolerably stitf statements of Dr. Nott fall 
 below tlie best standards (if total abstinence orthodoxy. An unguarded expression 
 in one of his lectures, that the Avine iiermitted in the Scriptures might not have 
 beiin " always unalfected by fermentation, but only slightly and insensibly 
 affected by it," gave " offense to many sincere friends of the cause," who 
 consecjuently felt it their duty to repudiate and condemn it." Tlie learned McCoy 
 aiiologizes for, but does not undertake to defend, the old doctor's " gratuitous 
 anil unfortunate admission." — NoWs Lectures, pp. 110-119. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE KEFORMATION. 285 
 
 are translated wine in the English version. When wine 
 is spoken of with conimendaiion or allowance, it is com- 
 monly under that name which should be translated sirup or 
 nnfermented grape juice : when fermented wine is meant it 
 is always spoken of with reprobation. The New Testament 
 being interpreted by the Old, they infer that the wine 
 made, or used, or tolerated bj^ the Saviour was nnfer- 
 mented. 
 
 Of course the reasoning will not hold water — nor wine. 
 When the deacons (1 Tim. iii. 8) are required to be " not 
 given to much wine," are they warned against hurting 
 their stomachs with too much molasses, or against an 
 intoxicating drink? and if the latter, does not the warning 
 against tmicli imply the permission of a little ? 
 
 2. The Physiological fallacf/ : "Alcohol is a poison, and 
 therefore all use of fermented drinks is, so far as it goes, 
 an act of suicide." It would be easy to admit the premise 
 of this precious bit of reasoning without admitting the 
 conclusion. Doubtless, extracted and isolated^ alcohol 
 would be a poison, if any one should drink it. But this 
 does not convict all those articles of being poisons from 
 which it can be extracted. The lactucariura is a poison, 
 if any one should try to feed on it; but it is not therefore 
 a sin to eat lettuce. Oxalic acid is "an energetic poison;" 
 but we need not therefore abandon the use of the garden 
 rhubarb. Acetic acid is decidedly a poison ; but no one 
 has yet demanded, on moral grounds, a total abstinence 
 from pickles. Citric acid would be very bad for a man if 
 he should take too ipuch of it ; but lemonade has not yet 
 been placed on the Index Expitrgatorius of the Temperance 
 Society. Common salt is a poison, in poisonous doses ; 
 
286 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 but let us not on that account be over hasty in adopting 
 the present usage of the people of the rebel States, 
 regarding that favorite condiment and antiseptic. One of 
 the deadliest of known poisons is the hydrocyanic acid ; 
 but must the peach leaves and the bitter almonds be 
 therefore hunted out of the kitchen pantry? 
 
 The evidence as to the true position of alcoholic liquors 
 in the Materia Medica and in the Materia Alimentaria, 
 has been so much cooked and garbled by partisan writers, 
 that it is difficult for those outside of the circle of 
 professional students of physiology, to find the materials 
 for a candid opinion. The arguments of the abstinence 
 men are of three sorts : 1 . Arguments derived from 
 speculations in organic chemistry. Of these it is sufficient 
 for those who are )wt adepts, to say that the opinions of 
 those who mx, are too contradictory and unsettled to 
 afford a basis of judgment. We can refer to numerous 
 sermons and speeches that have been delivered from texts 
 in Liebig, which the progress of his own science has 
 shown to be false. 2. Arguments from medical experi- 
 ment, whether in corpore vili of some miserable victim 
 who submits to be alcoholized for the benefit of science, 
 or on the bodies of dogs who are tricked into making 
 beasts of themselv^ that the experimenter, opening their 
 bodies Jiarjrante delicto^ may see how the liquor works 
 upon the system. Of both these two sorts of argument it 
 is safe to say that, unsupported by practical experience, 
 they are always looked upon with distrust by wise 
 physicians. 8. The argument from induction, — which is 
 the only one of the real importance. , And as for this 
 argument, after allowing for all the difficulties whicli 
 embarras it in consequence of years of partisan discussion, 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATiON. 287 
 
 — after giving full credit to the weighty name of Carpenter 
 the physiologist, and to the still weightier facts and 
 instances which he adduces in favor of the physiological 
 doctrine of total abstinence, — after putting into the scale 
 the cogent though ungrammatical testimony of two 
 thousand members of the medical profession in England, 
 including some very eminent and judicious men, to the 
 proposition (which nobody denies), that "the most perfect 
 health is compatible with total abstinence," — after all 
 these allowances, the balance of opinion and facts is 
 decidedly against the dogma that the moderate dietetic 
 use of malt and fermented drinks is unwholesome or not 
 useful. ^ 
 
 The following propositions would perhaps be accepted 
 by physicians generally as expressing some of the results 
 of medical science in its bearing on the total abstinence 
 question. 
 
 1. The doctrine that alcohol serves as a " respiratory 
 food," being oxydized in the lungs, is discredited by recent 
 experiments. 
 
 2. The fact remains, that when, either from privation, 
 or loss of appetite, or other cause, the system receives a 
 reduced supply of food, the use of alcohol does, for 
 
 1. Of couiso no account need be taken of the summaries of medical opinion 
 jiresented in the tracts of professional reformers. In scientific value, and in 
 lairness of citation, these medical works belong in the same rank with the 
 medical almanacs of Dr. Brandrcth and Dr. Ayer. 
 
 We have refrained, with some self-denial, from commenting on some of the 
 livelier physiological extravagances of the abstinence party; such as the 
 assertion of Dr. Mussey, that the Materia Medica would be no loser if the use of 
 alcohol for tinctures was abolished (Dr. Mussey's Prize Essay); or the awful 
 warning deduced by Dr. Pierson trom the death of Dr. Holyoke at the untimely 
 age of one hundred years, in consequence of his fatal habit of taking every day 
 after dinner, witli his pipe, " a preparation consisting of one tablespoontul of 
 Jamaica rum, and one tablespoonful of cider, diluted with water." 
 
288 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 protracted periods, sustain the strength and prevent 
 emaciation. 
 
 6. The action of alcohol after distillation, on the human 
 system, is different in important respects from its action 
 when taken in the form of fermented drinks. For instance, 
 a pint of brandy and water, containing a certain amount 
 of alcohol, will intoxicate, when a pint of wine or beer, 
 containing the same amount of alcohol in its natural com- 
 bination, will not. 
 
 4. Perfect health may be compatible either with the 
 moderate use of fermented drinks, or with entire 
 abstinence from them. 
 
 5 There are " modifications of the bodily condition, 
 short of actual disease, in which the occasional or 
 habitual use of alcoholic liquors may be necessary or 
 beneficial." 
 
 The last proposition is in the words of Dr. Capenter, 
 the highest authority of the total abstinence party. For 
 it, he informs us, his " Prize Essay " has been denounced 
 by some of the temperance reformers themselves, as 
 " doing as much harm as good to the cause of temperance." ^ 
 
 1, See a Letter from Dr. Carpenter to the Editor of the Westminster Review, 
 published ia that quarterly for January, 1856. 
 
 Dr. Carpenter's Prize Essay on " The Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors," has 
 been repul)lisheil by lUanchard & Lea, Philadelphia. An answer to it was 
 printed in the Westminster iieview for July, 1855. 
 
 It is a curious illustration of the uncertainty of organic chemistry as a rule of 
 medical or hyt^ienie practice, that the chemical theories on which Dr. Carpenter 
 and his antaj^onist fou;?ht oat the discussion less than ten years ago, are now 
 abandoned by both jtarties in consequeD33 of more recent experiments. 
 
 A series of popular articles on the question, "Is Alcohol Food, Medicine, or 
 Poison?" have been produced within two or three years in the Cornhill 
 Ma(iaz!ne,y\\\\(i\\ take into view the most recent experiments bearing on the 
 subject. 
 
 For a temi)erate statement of the dietetic value of the various alcoholic 
 liquors, see Pereira on " Food and Diet," pp. 2(j, 27 ; 7G-80. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 289 
 
 3. The Progressive- Aiyproach fallacy : " If one drop of 
 wine does not make drunk^ then two will not, and if not 
 two, then not three, and if not three, then (by progressive 
 approach) not three hundred, nor three thousand, nor three 
 millions. And on the contrary, if a quart of wine makes 
 drunk, a drop of wine does, in its degree." 
 
 When we hear men resorting to this form of argument 
 — the Sorites — we do well to be suspicious of them, for of 
 all the figures of logic, it is the most notoriously tricky 
 and untrustworthy. To exhibit just where the catch of 
 the fallacy lies would be more appropriate to a tract on 
 logic than to one on Temperance. It is enough to say 
 that the argument proves an absurdity ; for it is just as 
 effective to break down most other moral distinctions, 
 as to break down the distinction between temperance 
 and excess in the use of wine or cider. You cannot define 
 exactly where a praise worth}'- thrift begins to turn into a 
 censurable parsimony ; but, for all that, we are not going 
 to take a monastic " vow of poverty," nor enact the 
 Spartan " prohibitory law " against the accumulation of 
 money. You cannot tell where good taste in dress 
 becomes extravagance ; but, for all that, we shall hardly 
 join the Quakers in a pledge of total abstinence from 
 ornament. You cannot draw the line at which a holy 
 resistance to tyranny degenerates into faction and 
 sedition ; but for all that, we are not doing to renounce 
 or deny the right of revolution. There are some questions 
 of duty that are, and must be, left for each conscience to 
 settle for itself, as it shall answer to its own Master.^ 
 
 1. See a lively passage in Macaulaj 's History of England (chap. ix. at the 
 beginning), showing the ethical absurdities into which this sort of reasoning 
 leads. 
 
 The abstinence men, by the way, do not seem to have suspected that this 
 
 19 
 
290 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 4. Tlie Moral fallacy — so called by courtesy. It would 
 be better to say the immoral and demoralizing argument ; 
 for probably there is no one mistake of the Temperance 
 Societies which more than this has caused the Temperance 
 Reformation to " send forth a stinking savor " into the 
 nostrils of good men. It lies in asserting that the 
 temptation and passion which lead to drunkenness are 
 uncontrolla,ble — a most pernicious and corrupting asser- 
 tion, the vicious consequences of which are felt in all the 
 relations of the Temperance Reformation. We shall have 
 to speak of it again and again, before we have done with 
 this discussion. 
 
 Note the genesis of this pitiable mistake. It is not a 
 false premise, which has misled the Temperance reformers 
 to wrong conclusions. It is a false argument, to which 
 they have resorted from the necessity of defending a false 
 position. The point to be achieved was to compel every- 
 body, everywhere and always, to adopt the total abstinence 
 practice. The thesis to be proved was that the temperate 
 use of wine, beer and cider was a sin. Accordingly, 
 when the Biblical and Scientific arguments, and the 
 " Progressive-Approach " quibble, fell somewhat short of 
 producing conviction, the Moral argument became a 
 necessity of the situation. The rhetorical capabilities of 
 the argument were superior. It was to be supported 
 mainly by confident assertion and frequent reiteration, 
 together with intense descriptions and the narration of 
 horrible "experiences." Withal, it commended itself to 
 the complacency of the scurrilous army of ditch-delivered 
 lecturing reformed drunkards (whose glory was in their 
 
 argument may be used just as effectively to prove that a quart of brandy will 
 not intoxicate, as to prove tliat a teaspoonful of cider will. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 291 
 
 shame), inasmuch as it mitigated or excused their crimes, 
 at the same time that it cast a slur on decent people. 
 
 It was a two-edged weapon. It claimed that the passion 
 for intoxication excited by moderate drinking is over- 
 whelming — irresistible ; that the point of responsibility 
 for drunkenness is, therefore, not where temperance 
 verges toward excess, but at the first violation of the 
 total abstinence principle. In its zeal against " moderate 
 drinking " its mild censures against drunkenness lost all 
 their emphasis. It was so fierce to make temperance a 
 crime, that it made out intemperance to be only a mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 We shall see, soon, how this piece of sophistry has 
 infected all the various measures of recent Temperance 
 Reform. 
 
 Just here, doubtless, a question of expediency will arise 
 in many minds, whether, after all, the diff'usion of these 
 fallacies is not doing so much good that it is better not to 
 try to expose them, but rather let them go on and 
 accomplish what good they can. The question, is not of 
 the sort which weighs much in ingenuous minds; but some 
 minds are not ingenuous, and it must needs be answered 
 for the benefit of such. 
 
 And the answer is — promptly and decisively — it is not 
 expedient to conceal and abet the fallacies of the recent 
 Temperance Reformers ; and the fact that it is manifestly 
 inexpedient, completes the evidence that their fallacies 
 are fallacies. It is inexpedient to propagate falsehoods, 
 and those sentiments are falsehoods which it is inexpedient 
 to propagate. 
 
 Witness some of the evil results incidental to the 
 
292 .THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 prosecution of the Temperance E-eformation on delusive 
 principles : 
 
 1. It brings down a great and noble reformation of 
 morals into the category of those petty and impotent 
 crusades against vice, which proceed on the supposition 
 that the proper antidote for laxit}^ is austerity and 
 superstition, — on the strange policy which thinks more 
 effectually to rebuke an evil, not by rebuking the evil 
 itself, but by denouncing it in common with innocent or 
 useful things with which it is associated. Social dissipa- 
 tion needs to be checked, and indelicate and lascivious 
 dances to be discountenanced, and so the wise people 
 institute a raid against innocent cotillions. Gambling is 
 a prevalent vice, the wickedness of which really needs to 
 be exposed, and to be intelligibly impressed on the 
 conscience of society. But instead of doing this, it is held 
 to be better to try to breed a superstitious horror of 
 colored cards, a fear of billiard tables, and a reverential 
 dread of the lot.^ Doubtless many a devout person 
 mourns, because ten-pin alleys could not be permanently 
 sequestered to purposes of iniquity, under the same con- 
 demnation. Twenty years ago, profaneness, mustaches, 
 smoking, soft hats and dissipation were pretty much 
 confounded under the sweep of public censure. Consider- 
 able discriminatron has been learned since that time, and 
 yet the force of the protest against profaneness and 
 
 1. Witness the protest of sundry clergymen of this city, last winter, against 
 the proposed introduction of raffling at the Metropolitan Sanitary Fair. It was 
 a timely protest against the intended desecration of a noble charity by a 
 mischievous abuse. But instead of being predicated on the strong and simple 
 reasons tliat forbid gambling in general, to av hat {i pitiful superstition did it 
 make appeal ! 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 293 
 
 dissipation has not been much weakened by it — not very 
 much. 
 
 2. The prosecution of the Temperance Reformation on 
 these fallacious grounds tends to create a factitious 
 conscience in those who are persuaded by it. (We pass 
 over the consideration of its effect on those who are 
 repelled from it at the start by the evidently unscriptural 
 and unreasonable nature of its demands.) What the result 
 of such an artificial conscience is, in weakening and 
 perverting the true moral sense, is evident by a multitude 
 of instances drawn from every system of " will-worship " 
 that has been brought into the world, from the days of 
 Cain till now. (iod's law is fitted to man's capacity. By 
 as much as you superadd to it human traditions and 
 ordinances, you drive out judgment and the love of God. 
 Increase forms without sanction, and you starve the 
 spirit. Multiply saints' days, and you lose the Sabbath. 
 Introduce penance, and you expel repentance. If you 
 would see the natural result of this sort of training, find 
 it in the case of your servants, who steal eggs to keep 
 Lent on : or in the case of that eminent Christian of the 
 Greek Church, who, in pursuing his lawful calling of 
 piracy, was much shocked and troubled in conscience to 
 get blood in his mouth on a Frida}'. The late talk of the 
 Temperance Reformers, with its sharply-defined and 
 formulated rules of duty, is the very Pharisaism of the 
 Christian dispensation, and its Pharisaic nature shows out 
 in its developments. 
 
 3. By this treatment, the new temperance dogmas 
 prepare for finally breaking down the conscience with a 
 crash. This is the natural result of multiplying artificial 
 enactments of morality. 
 
294 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 It is no very difficult matter to institute these conven- 
 tional laws, and give them the show of authority, especially 
 with very young and very ignorant persons. You can 
 train your bo)^ so that he will grow up to j'-ears of 
 discretion with a profound religious conviction that hall- 
 Ijlaying is a sin against God, and you can train yourself 
 at the same time into a thankful assurance that you have 
 thereby secured him against many perils of evil company. 
 But there will be, finall}^, one of two results : (1.) The 
 boy, by unusual obedience, and self-denial, and faith in 
 his parents, may perhaps refrain from the innocent play, 
 with an upright conscience, until, being come to years of 
 discretion, he observes and reasons for himself, and then 
 discovers that he has been imposed upon by the fraud or 
 superstition or ignorance of his parents. AVhat then ? Is 
 it only his views on ball playing that are disturbed ? 
 Nay ! the foundations are destro3'ed, and what shall the 
 righteous do ? Ever3^thing is unsettled ; and it shall be 
 well, for him and for others if he do not rash to the 
 conclusion, that if this is not wrung, then nothing is 
 wrong. Eaith in his parents and Christian teachers ought 
 to have been the round in the ladder by which he should 
 rise to faith in Grod ; he rested his weight on this round 
 and it broke under his foot. (2.) But more likely the 
 mere word of his parents will not be enough to hold him 
 back from the common practice and amusement of his 
 comrades. " With a vague, secret sense of transgression," 
 he will be tempted into the innocent game — innocent 
 except for him. He will go into it with a doubtful con- 
 science, and therefore with a guilty one, and this artifice 
 of over-righteousness shall become the very "snare of the 
 fowler" to his soul. Undoubtedly, it is true, as temperance 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION". 295 
 
 orators claim — oftener true now than it used to be — that 
 many a young criminal can refer to his first glass of cider 
 as the beginning of his career of crime. ^ So evil a thing 
 is it for the conscience, to turn the kingdom of Grod into 
 meat and drink ! So penlous a business is the inventing 
 of new sins ! 
 
 4. But the most pitiable effect of the shuffle by which 
 this fallacy has been slipped into the substructure of the 
 Temperance Eeformation is this : that it is dehaucldng the 
 conscience of the Temjjerance Eejormers themselves^ and of 
 the Church of Christ. 
 
 Eead the list of eminent citizens which monthly 
 decorates the head of that more or less amusing periodical, 
 the " Journal of the American Temperance Uyiionj' — the 
 list of officers of the society. There are thirty-seven of 
 them, all in a row. We are an obscure individual, and 
 these are illustrious generals, admirals, honorables, and 
 doctors of divinity; consequently our personal acquaint- 
 ance with them is limited. Will some one who knows tell 
 us bow many of them even defend the principles (in 
 private) which their names are annually and monthly 
 paraded to sustain ? Also, how many of the stanchest 
 Abdiels of them all " animiim mutant cum tracts mare 
 currant ? " 
 
 The executive committee of the American Tract Society, 
 Nassau Street, New York, is composed of gentlemen of a 
 character for all the private virtues, which is more than 
 fair — it is refulgent. By way of issuing what shall approve 
 itself to all evangelical Christians, they have set forth a 
 series of controversial pamphlets on the total abstinence 
 
 1. See an instructive passage in F. W. Robertson's Sermons, Second series, 
 pp. 20a, 210. 
 
296 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 question, which would not get a majority vote of appro- 
 bation from any Church in Christendom outside of America 
 and the American missions. How many of these gentlemen 
 personally advocate the rule of total abstinence? how 
 many of them ostensibly practice it ? how many really 
 do ? how many of them take their wine regularly ? how 
 many of them only occasionally ? how many of them (to 
 use the standard phase) " put their bottle to their 
 neighbors' lips" at dinners and evening parties ? Does 
 
 Mr. ? — but it would be cruel to call names. 
 
 Questions like these were propounded one day at the 
 Academy of Music, in the presence of these gentlemen, 
 but received no response, except a flourish of the excellent 
 Dr. Spring's tobacco-box, and a general wincing all round 
 the stage. 
 
 " Shame ! " says the Christian public, " this is only the 
 slanderous innuendo of an anonymous writer against some 
 of the best and most consistent people." Dear public, 
 Christian public, credulous public, you are mistaken. 
 This code of Christian duties, which is set forth with such 
 most unctuous unction, is meant for the lower classes. It 
 is esteemed a good thing for the rural districts. It will 
 be voted through unanimously in synods and other mixed 
 meetings, out of consideration to weak consciences and 
 country members ; but when you come down to matters 
 of practical importance, as at the dinner-table, there is a 
 good deal to be said on the other side of the question. 
 You supposed, dear public, that this code was meant to 
 apply in Madison Square and on Murray Hill ? Bless 
 your simple soul ! 
 
 We cannot jest about this matter ; it is too painful a 
 business. This total-abstinence movement may have done 
 
THE TEMPERANCE llEFORMATION. 297 
 
 a great deal of good. We confidently believe that it 
 has. Grod be thanked for all that is to be reckoned to that 
 side of the account. But if it has cost the Church of Christ 
 its good conscience before its Lord, it has cost too much. 
 These officers, let it be remembered, are not peculiar 
 members of the community. "Like people like priest." 
 The churches are full, in pulpit and pews, of fluent talkers 
 in the cant of the total-abstinence movement, who, whether 
 overtly or covertly, are living in habitual violation of its 
 principles. This is so common — so common among the 
 best men — that it calls oat not even remark, much less 
 the exercise of Christian rebuke or discipline. Our Temper- 
 ance Reformation has cost too much. For there are some 
 things that are worse than drunkenness. The Pharisaism 
 which binds heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and 
 lays them on other men's shoulders, but will not touch 
 them with one of its fingers, is worse than drunkenness. 
 The "dastardly condemnation of the weak, for sins which 
 are venial in the strong," is worse than drunkenness. The 
 breaking of the simple, transparent integrity of the 
 conscience of the Christian Church and ministry, is worse 
 than drunkenness. It was a pitiable sight, fifty years ago, 
 at an ordination, to see " two aged ministers literall}'- 
 drunk, and a third indecently excited with strong drink." ^ 
 It was a sadder sight, notwithstanding all that there was of 
 ludicrous about it, five years ago, at a great meeting of 
 a great Christian society, to see the board of its officers, when 
 charged with publishing sentiments and precepts which 
 privately they did not pretend to hold nor practice, nudging 
 one another round the platform.'^ Wo unto yoUy Jiypocrites I 
 
 1. See letter of the Rev. Dr. Woods, above quoted. 
 
 2. Sco the New York daily papers of May, 1859. 
 
298 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 Do we, then, oppose total abstinence? By no means, 
 it has been, in its day, a most useful expedient. It may 
 often be such again. What we do is this: We abandon 
 the commandments of men and come back to something 
 better and safer — to the principle of Christian liberty and 
 love. " If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no 
 meat while the world standeth;" that is, I will abstain if 
 1 can do any good by it. Only mark here two things: 
 1. On the question whether or not abstinence is expedient 
 in any particular case, the decision is left to each man's 
 conscience in the sight of God; and, in deciding it, if he is 
 a man, he is not to be bullied nor dictated to by all the 
 force of the Temperance Union, with all the sanctity of 
 the Tract Societ}^ to back it. 2. Further, however 
 cheerfully we may give up a lawful thing to help our 
 weak brother, we do not undertake an}^ obligation to say 
 to him that the lawful thing is unlawful. We won't tell 
 lies for anybody's Aveak brother. 
 
 There are two wa3^s of approaching a person who is in 
 danger of excess in Avine. One way is to tell him that 
 wine is poisonous;, that it never does anybody good, but 
 -always harm; that the Bible forbids all use of it; that 
 those who use it at all have no security against being 
 drunkards; that therefore it is wicked ever to drink wine 
 and 5^ou never do.* To all which, if he is a tolerably 
 intelligent man, he will probably answer "j90o/i/" The 
 other way is to tell him the truth; to assure him, with 
 such proofs as you can show, that he is in personal peril; 
 to point out the personal im])ortance to him of a rigorous 
 abstinence, and to offer to him, if it will be of any help to 
 him in such a course, that you will give up for Jiis sake 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 299 
 
 the daily glass of wine or ale which is important to your 
 comfort or your health. 
 
 It is because this latter method is founded in truth and 
 godly sincerity that we believe it to be effective and 
 expedient; and because it is so evidently the effective 
 and expedient wa}^, that we are reassured that it is true. 
 
 But let all temperance reasoners bear in mind, what 
 almost all of them have forgotten, that if this argument 
 from Christian liberty is to be used, then the argument 
 from the absolute duty of abstinence must be renounced; 
 and vice versa. The two are incompatible. It is not 
 competent to urge a man, on the ground of lawful 
 expediency, to refrain from the use of a slow poison and 
 from the practice of gradual suicide; nor to forbid as a 
 sin 2'>6r se the " lawful thing which is not expedient." 
 Some of the abstinence orators seem to have seen how the 
 rest have stultified themselves with two inconsistent 
 arguments, and in making their own election between the 
 two have decided with great unanimity to appeal to law 
 rather than love, to physiology and organic chemistry 
 rather than to the gospel, to Liebig rather than to Paul. 
 A sad mistake ! 
 
 It must be quite unnecessary to show that the false 
 position and fallacious arguments of the Temperance 
 Reformation, which we have now exhibited, are not mere 
 mistakes of theory, having no practical bearings or 
 consequences. The monstrous mistakes of action which 
 have characterized all its declining years, and of which 
 we have now to speak, are distinctly traceable to its tirst 
 falsehood. 
 
300 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 It would seem that the obvious line of operation of a 
 society for suppressing the crime of drunkenness should 
 be something like this: 1. As towards society — to fasten 
 public attention firmly upon the main subject; to inform 
 the public mind thoroughly of the substantial facts and 
 unquestionable principles of the case ; to quicken the 
 public conscience to a healthful sensitiveness on the 
 subject of the great sin to be opposed ; to consolidate 
 society, to the utmost, in opposition to drunkenness ; to 
 bind itself in the closest possible alliance with the church 
 of Christ. 2. As towards the criminals themselves — to 
 strengthen the moral power of motives for refraining from 
 crime ; to increase the restraints of law to deter from it. 
 3. As towards the antecedents of drunkenness — to 
 demonstrate, by every just argument, the wickedness of 
 enticing, to drunkenness ; to discourage, by all just 
 considerations, such temperate use of liquors capable of 
 producing intoxication, as is likely to do harm. This is 
 the course which the Temperance Keformation mainly 
 followed in its best days. 
 
 The complaint which we have to make against the 
 Temperance Reformation as now conducted, a complaint 
 which we are willing to " give bonds to prosecute," is 
 this, that in all tlyese points it has departed from its 
 obvious duty, and 'gone, wittingly or unwittingly, in the 
 opposite direction. Dealing with society, it has diverted the 
 public attention from the subject of drunkenness; it has 
 confused the public mind with fanciful theories and 
 unsubstantiated allegations and chimerical plans; it has 
 demoralized the conscience of st)cifcty concerning the guilt 
 of drunkenness; it has divi<led and alienated the good-will 
 of the people; it has sundered the natural alliance of its 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 301 
 
 work of moral and social reform with the Christian 
 church. Dealing with the victim of this sin, it has 
 weakened the force of motives over him, and cut the 
 sinews of his will; it has diverted from his crime the 
 reprobation of public sentiment, and the effective force of 
 punitive law. Dealing with the enticements and antecedents 
 to drunkenness, it has, indirectly and unconsciously, 
 palliated the guilt of enticing to drunkenness ; it has taken 
 from the consciences of the unwary the safeguards 
 against the dangerous temperate use of drinks that might 
 intoxicate. 
 
 This is a long indictment, and the limits of space within 
 which we propose to restrict ourselves forbid a long 
 argument. We can do little more than " open the case." 
 Perhaps we maj^ have more to say, when we have heard 
 from the defense. For the present, let us say, briefly, 
 that the Temperance Reformers have achieved these 
 untoward results: 
 
 1. By insisting, as the fundamental maxim of their 
 argument, on the " total-abstinence " theory, that 
 temperance is intemperance (this is hardly an exaggeration, 
 even of their language), that moderation in the use of 
 wine or beer is excess in the same, that the sin of 
 drunkenness inheres in all " use of intoxicating liquors 
 as a beverage. " ^ 
 
 1. The citations made by the late Rev. W. J. Conybeave in his very candid 
 article on " Aj?itation and Lej?islation a.^'aiust Intemperance" (Ed. Rev. 
 .July, 185i), are a fair exhibition of the " state of the ar<?unient " on either side 
 of the Atlantic. Tlie folloAvin'jr is from the report, in a Temperance paper, of a 
 teetotal tea party at Birminj^ham Town Hall : 
 
 " After tea, the cliairman proceeded to address the meeting : and so far 
 
 forgot his position as to contend that a glass of ale would do a man no harm, and 
 that it was not poison (!}. He was followed by the two Messrs. Cadbury, who 
 both ably refuted the strange assertions of the chairman. * * * 
 
 We anderstand that the chairman has since resigned his position, if not his 
 
302 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 Notice how the influence of this mistake has run along 
 through the whole course of proper reformatory effort, to 
 vitiate or thwart it. The crime of drunkenness was a 
 simple, clear object on which the attention of the public 
 might have been fastened. It would have been prone 
 enough, doubtless, to wander ofl" upon related topics, 
 towards which those interested in the maintenance of 
 vice would have been glad enough to divert it. But 
 there could have been no great difficulty in permanently 
 fastening the public gaze upon it as 
 
 " The direful spring 
 Of woes unnumbered," 
 
 in exhibiting the simple and undeniable but appalling 
 facts which illustrate it, and the admitted principles which 
 underlie the subject of the vice and its reform. Thus the 
 conscience of the community might have been quickened 
 to a healthful horror of the sin. Thus it was quickened, 
 when the Temperance Eeformation was younger and 
 stronger than it now is. 
 
 How is it now? The arguments of the temperance men 
 are scattered, and the attention of the public frittered 
 away, and the whole flank of the reformation laid open to 
 attack, by the policy of following out protracted and 
 attenuated lines of argument, starting, often, from fanciful 
 
 membership, in the society. Indeed it appeared to be full time. He is either a 
 very silly person, or was actinj^ a very di's<jraccfnl part." — Quoted in 
 Comjbeare'n Essays p. 382. 
 
 " The motive wliich leads the zealots to insist so obstinately on this doctrine 
 of poi80« is their desire to prevent even the smallest indul^^ence in fermented 
 liquors. * * * They assert moderate drinking to be an expression 
 
 as self-contradictory as moderate lying, or moderate stealing. Indeed, the more 
 zealous members of the sect show far greater abhorrence for moderate drinkers 
 than for actual drunkards. The latter are represented as victims, the former as 
 seducers."— /d. 383. 
 
thp: temperance reformation. 303 
 
 theories as a base. The whole decision of the question 
 has been made to turn, sometimes, upon matters in the 
 occult and imperfect sciences of physiology and organic 
 chemistry, or on the slenderest evidence in Biblical 
 archaeology or Shemitic philology.^ 
 
 But not only is the strength of the Temperance cause 
 with the reason of men damaged by postulating it on such 
 weak assumptions, or at best such refined achievements 
 of science — its strength with the popular conscience is 
 still more pitiably reduced. There would doubtless be a 
 certain apparent gain forthereform, if, without compensating 
 loss, the public heart could be made to feel that the 
 temperate use of wine or ale in the diet was a sin differing 
 only in the degree of turpitude from the sin of debauchery. 
 But how evident it is, that when it is attempted to force 
 the public conscience to this position, all the opprobrium 
 that is put upon temperate drinking is so much deducted 
 from the disgrace of drunkenness! Once impress it on the 
 general conscience that the liev. Dr. A, with his daily 
 bottle of Philadelphia ale, or old Judge B, who has never 
 reformed his early habit of taking a thimblefnll of sherry 
 with his dinner, are just as guilty as the sots that get 
 drunk daily at the corner-grocery, and if anything a 
 little more so, — and the result may be extremely 
 
 1. As an instance of the way in which the whole temperance cause has been 
 staked by its advocates on unessential and doubtful questions, wc quote from a 
 sermon by one of the best of American preachers, the Rev. Dr. Kirk, of Boston. 
 It is pr(jper to say that this sermon was preached more than a quarter of a 
 century a;?o. 
 
 " I will .say (to bej^in) that, if I can tind that my blessed Redeemer made and 
 gave an intoxicating drink, I drop my stronj? arj^umcnt. x- * * i give 
 Vf TUE TE.MrEU\NCE CAUSE, bccausc I advocate it on the belief that intoxicating 
 drink (or alcohol rather), is a poison, and I do not believe Jesus Christ ever made 
 poison to if ive to a man in hoaltli." 
 
304 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 annojnng to A and B, doubtless (which we concede to be a 
 good point gained) but not half so much so as it must be 
 comforting to the grocer and his customers, and demorali- 
 zing to the conscience of the community. No doubt, the 
 Temperance men have everything their own way for a 
 time, by this process. But when the tide of their 
 agitation ebbs a little, and the steady weight of character 
 of the old judge and the reverend doctor (" those 
 incorrigible rum-suckers," as they used to be called by the 
 elequent reformed drunkard from the next village) is felt 
 as of old among the people, the general conviction is that 
 after all that has been said, drunkenness is not so bad a 
 thing if two such nice old gentlemen practice it every 
 day. 
 
 On simple, admitted,- undeniable principles, the whole 
 moral force of societ}^ might easily have been concentrated 
 against the prevalence of drunkenness. But instead of 
 offering a broad platform, on which good men could 
 gather, the Temperance Societies have preferred, in their 
 fanatical confidence in their favorite notions of physiology 
 and organic chemistry, their novel specialties in ethics, and 
 their " private interpretations " of the Scriptures, to 
 organize a faction and a sect. There was to be omnipotent 
 virtue in a total abstinence pledge ; and the Temperance 
 Society, founded on a fleeting excitement and a congeries 
 of exaggerated theories, was supposed to be builded on a 
 rock, and proof against tlie gates of hell. We remember 
 that it used to be the favorite apology of ministers of a 
 certain stripe, when dodging the demand that they should 
 lend their aid in resisting the prodigious evils of 
 drunkenness, — that they need not join the Temperance 
 Society, because The Church was the best society for 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 305 
 
 moral reform. Their efforts ivithin the church, in behalf 
 of temperance, were so generally inappreciable, that they 
 got little credit for good faith. But, speaking " wiser 
 than they knew," they enunciated a principle of which 
 time has taught us the truth. It was an evil hour for the 
 Temperance cause, when it broke alliance with the church 
 of Christ, and set up its own sacrament, or pledge, of 
 teetotalism, and its mystical child's play of "Rechabites " 
 and "Templars," instead of the Christian ministry and 
 ordinances. At this day the most effective Temperance 
 Union is a vigorous Home Missionary Society; the most 
 powerful corps of Temperance lecturers is the Christian 
 ministry in the prosecution of their regular duties: and the 
 most successful local Temperance Society, anywhere, is a 
 faithful and diligent parish church. Mr. (Jough, the 
 greatest and wisest man of the Temperance movement, 
 has put an irreversible judgment on this part of the policy 
 of that movement, in the remark that he has known few 
 instances of lasting reform from habits of drunkenness, 
 except such as were connected with a radical, religious 
 renewal of the heart. 
 
 The Temperance Reformation has brought its own 
 cause to ruin, 
 
 2, \^Y countenancing the assertion that the temptation 
 to drunkenness, once awakened by " moderate drinking," 
 is irresistible. 
 
 This assertion, there is internal reason to believe, was 
 
 introduced into the methods of the Reformation, by the 
 
 agency of the lecturing reformed-drunkards and their 
 
 friends. It is easy to see that there was an " irresistible 
 
 temptation " to this class of people to seize on an assertion 
 
 which, while it magnified the total-abstinence dogma, 
 
 so 
 
306 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 either absolutely excused, or palliated down to the very 
 borders of a virtue, the infamy of their own past lives. 
 Temperate drinking was the mark of a sordid soul. " The 
 man who squeezes his sixpence till it squeals, before he 
 will pay it out for liquor, will never be a drunkard. 
 No, no ! it is your generous I whole-souled ! ! 
 NO-0-OBLE ! ! ! " etc. eto.^ This sort of talk, imported 
 from bar-rooms and groggeries into the pulpit and temper- 
 ance meeting, repeated as the apology for crime, and as 
 the ground of shifting blame from the criminal to his 
 accessory, was well calculated to weaken the force of 
 those motives which, in the long run, must be mainly 
 relied on for the prevention and cure of drunkenness. 
 Could the ignominy of that crime be so deep, which was 
 so nearly an accident — which was the proof of the most 
 splendid and noble qualities of character, and the narration 
 of which excited such touching expressions of interest, or 
 such roars of laughter, and the reputation of which 
 seemed a free ticket to popularity and fame ? Above all, 
 if the devil had desired to cut the vital nerve of all effort 
 on the part of the tempted and the fallen, could he have 
 invented a more effective process than this, of representing 
 to such that temptation was irresistible, that effort was 
 useless, that ruin was a sure thing, but that of the 
 responsibility of it they were relieved ; that Grod and man 
 would hold them guiltless, and cast the blame where it 
 belonged, upon the tempter? 
 
 1. The intelligent admirers of Mr. Goujjh will recognize this strain as one 
 which occurs in almost all liis speeches, and which forms tlie chief blemish of 
 his advocacy of temperate reform. We wish that labors so full of wisdom, as 
 well as of zeal and eloquence, might be freed from the taint of tliis pernicious 
 mistake. So far as we remember, the late .)ohn Hawkins never spoke of bis 
 former life in any other tone than that of the most humble and penitent 
 confession of personal guilt. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 307 
 
 It is evident, without remark, that the next step after 
 thus reducing the moral power of motives over the 
 drunkard, must be to remove from him the restraints of 
 civil l^w to prevent or punish his crime. And in this 
 direction the Temperance Reformation has not been afraid 
 to venture. 
 
 It is an inevitable corollary from the last position, and 
 one which we have already anticipated, that the Temper- 
 ance Reformation thwarts and vitiates its own work, 
 
 3, By the habit of referring the sin of drunkenness to 
 temptation as its efficient cause, and attempting to direct 
 against the temptation and the tempter the condemnation 
 and punishment which ought to be aimed at the criminal 
 and his crime. This is not a peculiar vice of the 
 Temperance Reformation; it is onlj^ one of the most flagrant 
 illustrations of a prevalent habit of the public mind. It 
 was pointed out, eighteen years ago, by a writer in the 
 New Englander Quarterly, in language so pertinent and 
 clear, that we can do no better than to copy his words : 
 
 " The time was, when drunkenness was deemed a dreadful sin, 
 a base and beastly crime on the part of the drunkard, against his 
 own nature, and against all his duties to his family, to society, and 
 to his Maker ; and some of us are of the same opinion still. In 
 those days we had laws to punish a man for being drunk— laws 
 which are not yet entirely effaced Irora our statute-books. In those 
 days a man was held responsible, not only for the fact of having 
 made himself drunk, but for all the natural consequences of his 
 having done so ; and if an intoxicated man committed theft, arson 
 or murder, the intoxication did not excuse him, but was deemed to 
 be an aggravation rather than a mitigation of his guilt. But for 
 these few years past, a great eftbrt has been in progress, to advance 
 the welfare of society by suppressing all commerce in the means of 
 intoxication. We do not here deny or question the legitimacy of 
 the movement. But we ask whether in connection with this 
 
308 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 movement, there has not arisen in all quarters a habit of over- 
 looking the guilt of the drunkard, and exaggerating the guilt of the 
 traffic and the trafficker. The drunkard, we have been often told, 
 is less to blame than tha man who sold him the liquor ; .and the 
 liquor seller, we are sometimes told, is less to blame than his 
 temperance customers, who, if they would combine to lay him 
 under an interdict, might compel him to come into their views ; 
 and in the same style of reasoning, those customers are less to 
 blame than the town that permits that vender to have a license ; 
 and the town is less to blame than the state which might prohibit 
 the traffic absolutely ; — and wh}^ not go straight through with this 
 kind of logic, and say that the state is after all less to blame than 
 God, who might have excluded the principle of fermentation from 
 the universe, and thus have saved us all this trouble ? No ! no ! 
 the drunkard himself, first of all and chief of all, bears the guilt of 
 his own drunkenness. The temptations that surrounded him, he 
 ought to have resisted ; and had he resisted them, he would have 
 gained a blessed victory : but with his destiny in his own hands, 
 he wickedly bartered away his birth-right. And all the rhetoric 
 and reasoning which would present that base, guilty, self-degraded 
 wretch to our sympathies as a poor victim, overcome and borne 
 away by the resistless power of circumstances and temptations, is 
 of the nature of those evil communications that corrupt good 
 morals." * 
 
 How the sort of talk here rebuked operates to weaken 
 the force of moral and legal motives over the mind of the 
 drunkard himSelf, has already been sufficiently indicated. 
 The Temperance Reformers, so far as they are rational 
 beings, must have at least some indistinct notion of it. 
 But that it can have any tendency to palliate the guilt of 
 the temjyter to drunkenness, they will be surprised to be 
 told. The fact is, that the ordinary temperance declaimer, 
 by the very vice of his position and dogmas, is disqualified 
 
 1. New Englandei\ October, 1846. Article, " Shall Punishment be Abolished f ' 
 [The Article quoted was from th<i pen of my father.] 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 309 
 
 for adequately appreciating the guilt of the sin of seducing 
 to drunkenness. The judgment of God and of the healthy 
 human conscience is that if anything is a crime, this more. 
 And this not because the drunkard is a helpless, irres- 
 ponsible creature, incapable of self-control, whose 
 drunkenness is a misfortune, not a fault — at least not Ms 
 fault; but just because drunkenness is itself a crime, and 
 the drunkard a free agent, able to sin and able to forbear. 
 The crime of the seducer to drunkenness is not aggravated, 
 it is rather mitigated, by describing the resistless passion, 
 the helpless infatuation, the irresponsible monomania of 
 his victim. This is the aggravation of his offense, that he 
 draws in his victim to be a willing and guilty accomplice 
 in the two-fold crime, and loads the soul of each with 
 something of the guilt of both. If drunkenness were a 
 mere calamity, and not a sin — if it were only an accidental 
 ruin and disgrace, falling on the drunkard and his house- 
 hold — if it were only poverty and squalor and wretchedness 
 — if it were only public scorn, and a name cast out as vile 
 — if it were only inflamed and blighted features, and a 
 diseased body, and premature decay — if it were only 
 parental anxiety or filial distress, and despair and bitter- 
 ness of soul kept secret — if it were only bereavement — if 
 it were only death — then the sin of seducing to drunkenness 
 might be ranked with crimes against property and life — 
 with theft and swindling and incendiarism, with arson, 
 and the obstructing of railroad tracks and the poisoning 
 of wells. But since drunkenness is not only these things, 
 but more, a wilful sin against Clod — therefore the sin of 
 enticing to drunkenness is brought besides into another 
 category, that of sins against men's souls; and the enticera 
 themselves, however delicate their smug gentility 
 
310 .THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 however covered the apparatus of their gins and snares 
 with the show of respectability^ or the pretense of 
 legitimate and honorable business, are associated, in just 
 minds, with those classes of criminals that excite not only 
 our dread, but our detestation and disgust, with suborners, 
 and pimps, and seducers. The mark on their foreheads is 
 not the mark of Cain who slew his brother, but the 
 serpent mark of Satan. 
 
 It is easy to see that the excessive zeal of the temper- 
 ance men in seeking to aggravate the guilt of the tempter 
 to drunkenness, in comparison with that of the drunkard, 
 has overleaped itself. It is the opprobrium of the business 
 of liquor-dealing, as commonly practiced, that it is 
 accessory to the crime of drunkenness. Mitigate and 
 palliate the principal crime, and you palliate the 
 accessory. 
 
 We have taken no pains to exhibit proofs of this 
 degeneracy of the Temperance Reformation, because the 
 facts are patent and notorious. If you doubt that this 
 great reform has decayed at the root — has come toho'd 
 that the drunkard is a victim, not a criminal — to ba 
 coddled in an " Asylum," not punished in a prison ; that 
 that which is secondary is primary, and that the accessory 
 is the principal ; that it has degenerated from a sober 
 preacher of righteousness and repentance to the guilty, 
 into a mere enforcer of novel and unsubstantial dogmas 
 on the temperate, and a crusader against the existence of 
 temptation in the world — read thp back volumes of a 
 Temperance paper.* 
 
 1. If any are disposed to undertake, tlio task proposed above, we would 
 recommend, as by far the least scurrilous, and anion}? the most amusin«f, of those 
 sheets, the " Journal of the Amnricm Temperance Union.'' If space permitted we 
 
THK TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 311 
 
 The course of the discussion has brought us very close 
 alongside of the subject of Temperance Legislation. This 
 forms the very climax of the Temperance lleformation ; 
 it is the head in which it has " gone to seed," and into 
 which, as it has ripened, it has concentrated all its 
 characteristic flavors, its bland or acrid humors, and its 
 supposed medicinal virtues. It is here that its whole 
 vitality is absorbed, its blunders summed up, and its 
 failures illustrated ; for its successes have been failures, 
 
 and its failures have been failures likewise. Here, 
 
 therefore, we may, very properly sum up and conclude 
 our discussion. 
 
 should be glad to print a series of elegant extracts from its files, to show how 
 much rational entertainment may bo got from the judisious reading of it. 
 
 As a specimen of the "evil communications which corrupt good morals '' by 
 palliating the guilt of drunkenness , we beg attention to the following letter from 
 an amiable rural minister in Connecticut, lie is speaking of a peculiarly flagrant 
 case of persistent and repeated debauchery, complicated with an uncommon 
 variety of other public and private crimes. The oft'ender presents himself to the 
 Temperance Union, so far as appears, without a particle of acknowledgment of 
 personal guilt ; sets up business without delay as a teacher of public morals, and 
 a denouncer of the sin of temperate drinking and of prescribing alcoholic 
 stimulants as medicines ; and is received and officially recommended to the 
 public, in this capacity, with no more intimation that there has been anything 
 wrong in l)is career than if he had just recovered from an attack of small pox 
 complicated with measles and whooping-cough : 
 
 " Dr. has addressed our people most happily. He takes the true 
 
 Temperance ground, Total Abstinence. His experience, observation and know- 
 ledge, and power as an orator give to his eloquent, soul-stirring appeals a 
 marked eti'cct. He has seen and felt the evils of intemperance to the extent that 
 by the grace of God he is now a sworn enemy to all that can intoxicate— rum, 
 wine, beer, cider— and is arming himself fully to do battle against the hydra- 
 headed monster. You know Dr. 's sad history. As a minister we none of us 
 
 now recognize him. Xor has he been for years. He does not pretend now to be 
 one. He is a lawyer, having first studied law, and being, 1 think, a member of 
 the Bar. 
 
 " You and I feel for such a man, of eminent, noble parentage, of splendid 
 talents, who is now contending both for self-protection and the safety of others. 
 I love to help a man in such circumstances. I have done it before. If he can 
 be reclaimed and put to service, and kept as lie now is, and daily more strong 
 and earnest for tt^mperance and the cause, let him have countenance and 
 support." — Amer. Temp. Jour., Dec, 1863. 
 
 Every one familiar with the common style of total-abstinence writers and 
 speech makers, will recognize this entire absence of censure on the " poor 
 victims " as its constant characteristic. 
 
31 2 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 1. In the " Maine Law," the "consummate flower" and 
 matured fruit of the Temperance Reformation, we see 
 developed, at last, the reason of that grand characteristic 
 of the " reformers," almost from the beginning, — that they 
 have been perpetually busy in fussing over new laws 
 instead of executing old ones. They have lacked tenacity 
 of purpose. They have not had the patient endurance 
 needful for a long fight with sin ; and their institutions, 
 instead of being founded on a rock, have been built upon 
 the sand. Vaguely conscious, doubtless, that their "time 
 was short," they have been in a hurry to abolish 
 intemperance, not by establishing temperance {iyy.od'.tioL z= 
 self-control) but by exterminating temptation — forgetful 
 that, by this process, in the same degree that they abolish 
 vice, they abolish virtue also. Not only this, but 
 temptation must be extirpated with a single stroke of 
 legislation. They " stand ready to smite once and smite 
 no more ; " so the important thing is to have a law that 
 will go of itself. The old laws were pretty good laws, i*^ 
 they had been executed. " Go to, now. Let us build us^ 
 a law that will not need executing. Public virtue is 
 expensive. Let us have a patent moral reform that will 
 run without it." 
 
 2. Well, the «ibsolute extermination of ardent spirits 
 being resolved on, together with the stern discouragement 
 of fermentation, the question is, how to carry out these 
 measures in the most offensive way consistent with the 
 enactment of the law.^ In some States, a special provision 
 
 1, The suspicion has been seriously suj;k< sted (and we understand that there 
 is other than internal evidcnec to sustain it) that, In some States at least, the 
 passajfe of the Maine Law has been due to a coalition between the Abstinence 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 313 
 
 is put in purposely to annoy and alienate the (Termans ; 
 and generally, provisions for domiciliary visitation, and 
 like measures abhorrent to the genius both of American 
 and English law, are contrived for worrying those special 
 objects of the detestation of the true reformer, the 
 ^ moderate (!) drinker," and the ^^ respectable (? ) dealer." 
 It is slanderously reported of the Puritan crusade against 
 the cruel amusement of bear-baiting, that it was under- 
 taken not so much out of pity toward the bear, as out of 
 spite tow^ard the people. There is much stronger evidence 
 of a spirit of "malignant philanthropy" among the Maine 
 Law agitators, than among the Puritans. 
 
 8. In the matter of legislation, as elsewhere, the 
 Temperance party has followed its besetting lust of 
 classifying criminal and innocent things together, under 
 some generic name under which the two may be denounced 
 with the same opprobrium, and interdicted by the same 
 formula of law. It has been willing thus to weaken the 
 force of censure and the power of law over what is really 
 wrong, for the sake of a good relishable insult and damage 
 to something that is most palpably right. 
 
 " The Liquor-traffic " is a convenient word. It means, 
 to the popular ear, the keeping of " bars " and " saloons "' 
 and tippling houses. Who would sustain " the Li^juor- 
 traffic ? " Who would not vote to crush " the Liquor- 
 traffic ? " By the constant use of this expression in an 
 evil sense, many a man is led to vote to punish " the liquor- 
 traffic," who means simply to punish the infamous crime 
 of the seducer or accessory to drunkenness. He discovers, 
 
 and the Anti-temperance parties; tHe latter encouraginf? and assisting the 
 former so to ciiciimher their bill with impracticable and intolerable provision! 
 as to make it inoperative. 
 
314 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 by and by, that he has voted to put under disgrace and 
 penalty, at the same time, the agents o^' a useful and 
 honorable trade, without which the ordinary functions of 
 civilized society in any community must very soon become 
 disordered or suspended. The public mind loves a rapid 
 generalization, and so it is easier and more popular to 
 preach or legislate against games than against gambling ; 
 against lots than against lotteries ; against dancing than 
 against dissipation ; against drinking than against 
 drunkenness ; against " the liquor traffic " than against 
 the improper sale of liquor. Cool argument, and fair 
 discrimination, and iyzpazeioL, are no part of the modern 
 idea of a temperance man. 
 
 4. The policy being thus determined, the next thing 
 was for the temperance party to burn the bridges behind 
 them, by adopting the principle that no bread is better 
 than half a loaf, — the cry " the whole or nothing." As 
 in previous movements it was their delight to repel from, 
 cooperation, and classify (in their elegant terminology) 
 among " the rummies," all who refused to accept in the 
 gross their dogmas, ethical, theological, physiological and 
 political ; so now every attempt to draw distinctions or 
 make exceptions was repudiated as a tampering with the 
 unclean thing. The advocates of " regulation " as opposed 
 to " prohibition " were openly stigmatized with the 
 dreadful reproach of being friends of " the Liquor-traffic." 
 The whole cause was staked on this experiment. The 
 bills which inaugurated " prohibition" contained sections 
 repealing former statutes. They meant to have one line of 
 battle and no reserve. It was to be everything or nothing. 
 And since it has turned out to be nothing, there is a much 
 more complacent acquiescence in the result, on the part of 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION .^ 315 
 
 the Temperance orj^ans, than there used to be in the old 
 state of affairs, when the liquor trade was in some measure 
 regulated, and its abuses in some measure hindered or 
 punished. 
 
 5. So far as we know, the clamor of the professional 
 reformers and their followers has not yet succeeded in 
 procuring the rescission of the laws providing pains and 
 penalties for the crime of drunkenness. The tendency of 
 their legislative contrivances towards such an end, how- 
 ever, is unmistakable. It is a leading feature of the " Maine 
 Law," that it deals with drunkenness as accessory to 
 liquor-selling, — not with liquor-selling as accessory to 
 drunkenness. The drunkard is to be arrested and 
 imprisoned, but is to be released at once on his turning 
 State's evidence against his principal.^ 
 
 The main influence, however, of the Temperance 
 Keformation in preventing the punishment of the crime of 
 drunkenness, has been (as we have elsewhere indicated) 
 in drawing disproportionate attention to the fact of 
 temptation, and in engendering a morbid sympathy with 
 the criminal. 
 
 What then is the condition of laws to which we are 
 "brought, wherever the Temperance faction is politically 
 successful ? 
 
 This, nominally : that all ordinary trade in distilled 
 
 1. This provision formed no part, we believe, of the orij>inal law enacted in 
 Maine in 13")!, but was introduced in other States in the following- year, and is 
 now part of the idea of a prohibitory law. 
 
 We would suggest that if this provision were reversed it would be brought 
 into better accordance with the common sense of justico : — that is, if it were 
 provided that the dealer in intoxicating drinks should be released from penalty 
 on condition of his testifying against those who had abused the liquors 
 purcliased of him, to purposes of intoxication. 
 
316 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 and fermented liquors is prohibited as a crime, the limited 
 sale of the same, for certain specified uses, being assumed 
 by the Government through its agents. Drunkenness and 
 moderate drinking are abolished. 
 
 Actually, this : the laws punishing drunkenness are 
 disused or repealed : the restrictions upon the sale of 
 liquors are done away ; the crime of keeping common 
 tippling houses is elevated by public enactment to the 
 same level of respectability with the business of the 
 apothecary, or with any other honorable and useful trade in 
 liquors ; the contrivance of the abstinence-party stands on 
 the statute-book, that demoralizing and disloyalizing; 
 thing, a dead letter ; and the reformers themselves, when- 
 ever the exigencies of civilized life, and the obstinate 
 laws of health and disease come athwart their favorite 
 theories, are habitually violating the very statute which 
 they themselves have contrived. -— ^ 
 
 This is the situation. 
 
 Looking over the course of our discussion, we are 
 unwilling to leave it in this entirely negative form. It is 
 an ungracious thing to stand in the position of mere 
 objectors to the efforts of well-intending people toward* 
 a good end ; and we are not mere objectors. This critical 
 review of a great and sad failure has been undertaken by 
 us, not out of cynical moroseness, nor out of mere 
 historical curiosity, but with the conviction that such a 
 review must be the only safe basis of a future Temperance 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 317 
 
 Reformation, which shall be a reformation indeed. The 
 question on which we have meant that every page should 
 have a bearing, is this : What shall be done in future ? 
 It is impossible that we should have any interest in this 
 labor but truth and humanity. Certainly popularity and 
 peace do not lie this waj'' — nothing but organized 
 tinnoyance from either party, and the scourge of tongues. 
 Probably the abstinence-men, in their chaste style of 
 controversy, will insinuate that we have written in the 
 interest of the Liquor-dealers' Association. They might 
 save their evil words. It is impossible that shrewd 
 liquor-dealers can desire any more convenient state of 
 things than this which the Temperance men have prepared 
 to their hands. 
 
 But what shall we do ? The men under whose pilotage 
 the temperance reform has been wrecked are not more 
 free in acknowledging that all their work is to be done 
 anew, than they are prompt in proposing the next 
 measure, to wit, to do the same thing over again ; — to 
 start from the same point, on the same course, and see 
 whether or not they will split on the same rock.^ Surely 
 
 1. See an article by the Rev. T. li. Ciiyler, iu The Independent of September or 
 October last, entitled "-^1 Plain Word with Temperance Men." 
 
 See also a recent pamplct entitled " The Temperance Cause, or, Why we are 
 where we are. By Charles Jewett, M. D." 
 
 The remarks and plans of these and other old-line temperance reformers 
 indicate a conviction on their part that a chronic ajjilation on the temperance 
 question is the normal condition of society ; that every village and ward should 
 have its regular weeklj or monthly temperanec mftctin<i:, with the public 
 administration of its saeramcnial pledj-e of withliolding the cup from the laity; 
 tliat the temperauce society and the temperance lecturer are required by the 
 constant wants of human nahirc, like the church and the ministry. Indeed, the 
 one prescription l)y Wiiich Dr. Jewett would heal all the inlirmities and renew 
 the youth of the moribund Reformation is— a provision for a regular income out 
 of which to pay tlie salaries of himself and his fellow laborers ! 
 
318 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 this recommendation does not require prolonged con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The answer which we would give to this practical 
 question may be guessed from what has gone before ; but 
 it is well to sum it up in a few paragraphs. 
 
 1. Let future efforts be settled on acknowledged 
 principles of right and wrong, and on admitted and incon- 
 testable facts. Whatever may be the confidence of 
 individuals in certain hypotheses in organic chemistry or 
 physiology, or in certain novel points of scriptural inter- 
 pretation or casuistry, let the reformation henceforth 
 proceed upon principles and facts in which good men and 
 candid men are agreed ; not on those which the majority 
 of good men, the world over, reject. Thus much being 
 determined, there will be less temptation to the agents of 
 this reform to deal in feeble arguments, in fanciful 
 theories, in exaggerated statements, and in garbled and 
 one-sided citations, than there now is ; and the existing 
 necessity for opprobrium upon those who hold the common 
 opinions of Christendom will be removed.* 
 
 Having got back thus upon a basis of facts, the 
 Temperance Reformers would, it is hoped, begin to see 
 
 1. For a fVank statement *ancl striking- examplo, of the poUcy of the Temper- 
 ance r(^formation in this matter, see the following? from the Journal of the Am. 
 Temp. Union, for December, 18(j3:— " We have our fears that tliere is no adequate 
 conception of the extent of liostility in ministers at tlie altar and comnuinieants 
 at the table of Christ, to the strict total abstinence principle, of the derision that 
 is made of it in family and even in ministerial circles, and of unbelief in it as 
 scriptural. The arj^unicnt in its favor, however, is so perfect that all opposition 
 to it is silenced. Many prefer to let total abstainers have their way than contend 
 with them, especially when, in so doiiuj, they expose themselves to opprobrium ; 
 and as no Maine law forbids their gaining; access to the means of iudiUgence, and 
 no civil or ecclesiastical law forbids such indulgence, and the circles of fashion 
 in which they ever move without reproaeli or any difBdence, are suflieiently 
 larjfc and very inviting, they are satisfied." 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 319 
 
 things truly and proportionately. They would see^ 
 especially, that the iwiniary object of their opposition is 
 drunkenness ; and would not, as heretofore, forget or 
 justify the primary thing in their zeal concerning the 
 accessories. 
 
 2. In dealing with the sin and disgrace of drunkenness, 
 let the main reliance be upon motives and means worthy, 
 and adequate, and abiding. When the devil of intemper- 
 ance has been joked out, or wheedled out, or juggled out, 
 or scared out, or coaxed out of a man, he does not wander 
 long in dry places without rest. It will be as easy for 
 him to be coaxed, or scared, or juggled, or wheedled back 
 again. And it will go hard with him, but he will take 
 back to his empty room some worse devils than himself. 
 When intemperance is driven out by the " expulsive 
 force " of another and over-mastering selfish passion, as 
 avarice, or ambition, it may be a more permanent change, 
 and in its social aspects a beneficial one ; but after all, it 
 is only a casting out of devils by Beelzebub. The motives 
 to be mainly used must be the sovereign and infinite 
 considerations of the Christian religion ; the effective 
 power that must be relied on is the power of God ; and 
 (^let us add) instead of futile pledges, and evanescent 
 societies, and childish " orders " and " lodges^" should be 
 substituted the sacraments and the enduring institution of 
 the Christian church. 
 
 8. In the application of legal measures to the work of 
 temperance reform, it is needful, still, to keep in mind 
 what is the primary object of the reformation, — the 
 prevention of the sin of drunkenness. To be prevented,, 
 it must be punished ; and this is the obvious, natural, 
 effective course which the Temperance Reformers have 
 
320 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 never adopted^ but have steadily more and more dis- 
 couraged. 
 
 We can easil/ anticipate the fondness with which the 
 abstinence men will linger over their feeble objections to 
 the cruelty of punishing the "poor victim/' and the 
 reluctance with which they will part with them, before 
 they come back to the position of common sense, that the 
 best way to discourage a crime is not to excuse its guilt 
 and remove its penalties. And it is worth while to 
 anticipate the answers with which these objections must 
 be met. 
 
 " The drunkard — the x>007' drunkard — is not the worst 
 sinner in the case. Poor man ! he is 'beguiled by the evil 
 influence of others. The tempter is a worse siuner than 
 the drunkard. Punish the tempter." 
 
 Certainly, if you say so, punish the tempter. But why 
 not punish the criminal too ? 
 
 (1.) Suppose that you are right, and that the drunkard 
 is not so great a sinner. Will you refrain from punishing 
 one criminal until you have measured off and inflicted a 
 proportionate allotment of penalty on all his superiors in 
 guilt? If this must be, then human government may as 
 well be aband(ined ; for all criminal legislation and 
 administration has to proceed with the expectation that 
 it will leave untouched many worse men than it punishes. 
 There always are, and always will be, worse rogues out 
 of prison than in it. Defaulters and swindlers will ride 
 in carriages, while pickpockets travel on the treadmill. 
 But is this a good reason for not punishing pickpockets? 
 
 (2.) Suppose that the tempter is a guiltier sinner than 
 tlie other party, he is not guilty of the same sin. The guilt 
 of the receiver of st^jlen goods is v^ery commonly greater 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 321 
 
 than that of the burglar, but it is not burglary. The 
 suborner to perjury is doubtless a worse man, often, than 
 the perjurer. But was it ever held, in any legislature, 
 that the existence of severe enactments against suborna- 
 tion was a good reason for letting the perjurer go free ? 
 
 (3.) All these discussions of the comparative degree of 
 guilt of accomplices in crime, are of doubtful profit. But 
 if we were disposed to defend the case of the shopkeeper 
 as against his customer, there is a good deal to be said on 
 his side of the question. The whole question depends on 
 circumstances. It depends partly on the comparative 
 intelligence of the parties. If the drunkard is an 
 intelligent American citizen, trained in the church, the 
 religious family and the common school, to a knowledge 
 of his duty, and the vender is an illiterate and outcast 
 negro, or an Irishman that never heard of Father Mathew, 
 and knows nothing of the Temperance cause, except that 
 he has been told by an eminent citizen to vote against 
 the Maine law, the chances are that the guiltier party is 
 the drunkard himself. It depends partly on their know- 
 ledge of the consequences of their respective acts. The 
 drunkard cannot but know the ruin he is bringing thereby 
 on himself, and on his family, and on society ; the seller 
 doesn't need to know — doesn't want to know — takes 
 pains not to know, nor think. It depends partly on the 
 motives of the parties. The seller may be moved by the 
 necessity of daily bread for himself and for his house- 
 hold ; the drunkard can have no motive but the mere 
 gratification of a selfish passion, reckless of the misery 
 which he inflicts upon those whom he ought to love most 
 dearly. 
 
 (4.) But inasmuch as it is too much to hope that the 
 
322 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 fallacies that are bound up in the hearts of old professional 
 '^reformers" will ever be driven out by counter-argument, 
 it may be well enough to help them complete the circle of 
 their vicious reasoning, and thus get back to their point 
 of departure. If the crime of tempting to drunkenness is 
 so odious as to have become the exclusive object of public 
 vengeance, what shall we say of the guilt of those who 
 deliberately tempt their neighbor into the crime of liquor- 
 selling ? If the drunkard cannot be punished for 
 debauchery, because he is a " poor victim," is not the 
 grog-seller a " poor victim " too ? and may we not, 
 peradventnre, punish the wretch who deliberately and 
 repeatedly approaches his neighbor with sixpences and 
 shillings, to awaken within him the " accursed greed of 
 gold," and lure him on to the crime of liquor-dealing ? 
 
 But "the poor drunkard!" He is not to be easily 
 mulcted or imprisoned " without the meed of some 
 melodious tear" from his temperance friends. Don't punish 
 the poor drunkard ! his passions are so strong, and his 
 power of resistance so weak. Punish somebody else; do! " 
 They adopt the foolish fallacy, which is a good deal 
 broader than the Temperance Reformation, — so broad that 
 it under-runs a great deal of general legislation .and law 
 logic, — the fallacy that the weaker a man's will and the 
 wilder his passions, the less he needs the control of law. 
 If drunkenness is a mere disease (as reformed drunkards 
 are fain to insinuate), — if will and conscience have 
 absolutely no concern with it, why there is no more to be 
 said nor done but to send the patients to a hospital and 
 physic it out of them. But the reformed drunkards them- 
 selves who suggest the idea are a living refutation of it. 
 The fact that they do abstain shows that they might have 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 323 
 
 abstained before. Tbe}^ are a living proof that the treat- 
 ment which their '^ disease " needed was the most heroic 
 moral treatment, — the plainest exhibition of their 
 criminality, and the kindest encouragement to reform, 
 mingled with warnings, not to be trifled with, of the most 
 stern and inexorable punishment in case of persistence in 
 crime. The kindest thing for the weak and irresolute, and 
 " morally insane," is to stiffen their moral nature with 
 the strength of law. The cruel and fatal thing is to remove 
 from them alike the fear of punishment and the hope of 
 amendment, and, by telling them that they are impotent 
 and helpless, to make them so. And this is what the 
 Temperance Reformation has done. ^ 
 
 4. In applying legal measures to the matter of liquor- 
 selling, let the new Temperance Reformation still 
 remember that it is only as accessory to the crime of 
 drunkenness, in a nearer or more remote degree, that the 
 liquor trade becomes properly amenable to the criminal 
 law. It will thus avoid the mischievous confounding of 
 right and wrong, which has been wont hitherto to frustrate 
 both argument and law. It will be, not " the liquor 
 traffic," both right and wrong, useful and mischievous, 
 
 1. We have no intention, in anythin;? we have here or elsewhere sai , of dis- 
 para^inff the Inebriate Asylums in their proper use ; nor of disj?uising the fact 
 that tin; thirst fur intoxicating- li(iuors docs sometimes grow to such a morbid 
 intensity tliat the best and wisest thing for the snlyect of it may be, for a time, to 
 seclude him from the possibility of indulging it. But when exceptional cases of 
 so-called "moral insanity" are taken as the basis of public reform or legislation, 
 or when the principle is accepted that people generally are more or less insane, 
 "^rid therefore irresponsible, it is time for the sane people to look out for tliem- 
 selves. 
 
 In every well-regulated mad-house a stringent system of rewards and punish- 
 ments is deemed essential, and is found to be effective. If society generally is 
 full of maniacs, liable constantly to acute attacks of criminal impulse, is it good 
 " treatment " to inform them, through legislative acts, and Jury verdicts, and 
 judicial charges, that if they misbehave they shall not be hurt for it V 
 
324 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 which it will be attempted to crush, but the wicked and 
 hurtful traffic in liquor. To come more to matters of 
 detail, the coming Reformation must keep in mind, in all 
 its restrictions on trade : 
 
 (1.) That the Christian law of liberty and love, under 
 which a good man waives his lawful privileges for the 
 benefit of weak consciences, cannot be enforced hy act of 
 legislature or church, nor by edicts of the Temperance 
 and Tract Societies. The moment you enforce it you 
 kill it. 
 
 (2.) That there are some things that " the law cannot 
 do, in that it is weak through the flesh ; " and that when 
 the law has suppressed the evil which it can conveniently 
 reach it has not thereby sanctione<l the offences which it 
 cannot reach. 
 
 Look now at the trade in those articles that are liable 
 to be perverted into the means of intoxication. It may be 
 classified, for the present purpose, in three categories, 
 according to the guilt or innocence of the dealer : 
 
 (1.) Those sales which are plainly right. 
 
 (2.) Those sales which, by their probable consequences, 
 are obviously wrong. 
 
 (3.) Those sales the consequences of which are doubtful* 
 
 As for the first class of dealings in liquor, a wise and 
 good law will be studiously careful to interfere with them 
 as little as possible. If it were a mere matter ol personal 
 liberty of the " pursuit of happiness" through an innocent 
 calling, this course would be required by the spirit of our 
 constitutions. But this part of " the liquor traffic " is 
 not merely innocent, it is beneficent, — it is necessary. 
 And what an intolerable annoyance to the public as well 
 
THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 325 
 
 as to individuals is the interdiction of it or the confine- 
 ment of it to a government monopoly, is witnessed by the 
 general disregard of the " Maine Law," even in the most 
 law-abiding communities and by the best citizens. 
 
 As for the second class of dealings, they must be 
 prevented and punished just so far as they can be defined 
 and reached by legislation. And this is what the old 
 laws, which have been denounced with so much contumely, 
 were honestly careful to do. They forbade tippling- 
 houses, high and low, great and small ; they interdicted 
 Sunday liquor-selling; and they prohibited all sales of 
 liquor to minors, to apprentices and students, and to 
 common drunkards, as being sales evidently liable to be 
 turned to an evil use. And these prohibitions commended 
 themselves to every conscience as wise and right. ^ 
 
 " But is this all that we can do ? " 
 
 Well, suppose you try to do this first, before you ask. 
 What next ? This is more than you are doing now, or 
 have ever been able to do heretofore, for any considerable 
 extent of time or space, by prohibitory laws. Try this 
 first. 
 
 The measures we have described are such as will unite 
 'the cooperation of the mass of society, both of good men 
 and of bad. For society and government, in the main, are 
 always on the side of sound morals. Even under the 
 
 1. The perpetual protest of the temperance orators against the prohibition of 
 the sale of liquor to drunkards, illustrates a great many of our positions at once. 
 The rciason for this prohibition in the oUl laws was not that the sale of liquor to 
 temperate men m^lit not sometimes be more hurtful than the sale of it to 
 drunkards, but tliat tlie latter might confidently be presumed to have a bad 
 result; while, as to the former, the presumption, in individual eases, was 
 uncertain. 
 
 The old laws of some of tin; Puritan colonies on this subject — Blue Laws, if 
 you like to call them so — were models of wise, humane legislation, which the 
 reformers who sneer at them would do well to studv. 
 
326 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 corrupt despotism of Nero, the magistrate was on the 
 whole a terror to evil doers and a praise to those that did 
 well. The only way of effectively protecting from public 
 justice the evident sin of the enticer to drunkenness, is the 
 way adopted by the Temperance Reformation, of 
 perplexing and bewildering the public mind by confounding 
 this evident sin with other things, which are as evidently 
 innocent and honorable. 
 
 These two classes of dealings in intoxicating liquors 
 having been disposed of, the question will still remain : 
 What shall be done respecting that third class, lying on 
 the doubtful ground between the two ? Into the large 
 discussion of this question we shall not enter here. We 
 will venture only one suggestion. If, with regard to 
 these, the state should conclude that much needs be left 
 to the discretion of the dealer, that therefore the dealer 
 ought to be a person of special prudence, and that the 
 ordinary trade in intoxicating liquors ought not 
 to be left open indiscriminately to all ; and if the state, 
 accordingly, should enact that none should engage in it 
 without the special permission of the authorities, nor 
 without binding themselves from the abuse of the trust, — 
 the state would i!ot, by such provisions, be sanctioning a 
 crime, nor making itself responsible for abuses which it 
 had labored to prevent. 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM 0¥ ENGLISH LAW. 327 
 
 XV. 
 
 THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW 
 
 A SERMON AGAINST THE PUBLIC CRIME OF THE DERELICTION 
 OF LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE FAMILY.^ 
 
 " He that judgeth his brother, judgeth the law." James, iv, 11 
 
 For a week past the whole State of Maryland has been 
 witnessing, through the newspapers, a capital trial of 
 extraordinary interest and of very peculiar character. A 
 young homicide is on trial for his life. A jury is empanelled 
 and sworn to render a verdict according to law and facts. 
 The instructions of the Bench and its rulings on questions 
 of evidence are faithfully conformed to the accepted 
 principles of evidence and of law so as to confine the 
 investigation to the one question of the prisoner's innocence 
 
 1. Preaclied in Baltimore, Sunday evening?, April 23, 1871. The substance of 
 the argument had previously been delivered and published, on a like occasion, 
 in New Vork. 
 
328 THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 or guilt. The course of counsel for the prosecution and 
 for the defence is ostensibly directed to the same end — 
 the State attempting to establish the fact of homicide, 
 with its implication of malice ; the traverser making a 
 show of proving : first, that the act was done in self- 
 defence ; and, secondly, that it was done in a moment of 
 irresponsible insanity. 
 
 All this is plain and straightforward enough. All this, 
 if such offences must needs come, is very right and honor- 
 able to the administration of justice in the State. But as 
 we observe the progress of the trial, it becomes perfectly 
 obvious, even to a stranger, that the real defence is one 
 which it is forbidden to introduce, and which, neverthe- 
 less, is introduced : which it is forbidden to rebut, and 
 which, nevertheless, is rebutted by the prosecution ; which 
 the jury are sworn not to take into consideration, and 
 which, nevertheless, they are universally expected to 
 consider, and unanimously do consider, and on which with 
 what is commonly 'accepted as a sort of pious perjury, 
 amid the irrepressible applauses of the crowd, they render 
 their verdict. It is clearly enough not the manslayer who 
 is on trial, but the man slain. The defence of the homicide 
 in the forum of public opinion, the real defence of it — not 
 the legal fiction *of a defence — in the criminal court is 
 that the victim had been guilty of seduction — the crime of 
 seduction I was about to say : but seduction is no crime 
 under Maryland law. The Court are trying not an 
 assassin, but a dead man, and an absent woman. The sham 
 defence of the prisoner at the bar is only set up to be 
 dropped again. 
 
 The jury having considered the case of the corpse, bring 
 in a speedy verdict of served him rights and the prisoner 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 329 
 
 at the bar, being acquitted on the pretext of his having 
 been a temporary maniac, or of his having been assaulted 
 with deadly weapons and forced into an unwilling homi- 
 cide, instead of being tenderly committed to the charge of 
 physicians or condoled with for the painful accident that 
 had befallen him, is hailed with shouts and cheers, and 
 carried aloft on the shoulders of the crowd as a hero, a 
 deliverer of society from the presence of a criminal so 
 heinous that it is not fit that he should live. 
 
 A case of peculiar character I have called this. It 
 belongs to a peculiar class, but in its class there is nothing 
 peculiar in it at all. It varies in names, and scene, and 
 circumstances, but in no essential respect, from the general 
 course of judicial dealing in many of the United States 
 with cases of the assassination of seducers and adulterers. 
 This fact is supposed to mark, and really does mark, the 
 abhorrence of the people of those States for the crimes 
 that provoked the bloody deed. 
 
 But pause a moment. What is the measure of the 
 abhorrence of these States towards crimes against domestic 
 purity and honor ? Suppose that the accusation uttered by 
 the lips of the y<mng assassin over the body of his victim 
 writhing in the death-agony were true without qualifica- 
 tion or mitigation : suppose the latter was the shameless 
 seducer he is declared to be, wherein has he off'ended 
 against the State V What crime has he committed ? 
 Search the statute book and see ! It is not named upon 
 it. Look through the criminal code. For any hint which 
 the people of Maryland have ever given in any form of 
 law as to the heinousness of his act, the seducer jnay stand 
 before the whole connnunity, may sit with the wisest and 
 most honored of her counsellors in high seats of dignity, a 
 
330 THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 blameless man. If he could be convicted of the deed under 
 even' imaginable aggravation, it would subject him to no 
 penalty, it would disqualify him from no honor or 
 emolument in the people's gift. But he cannot be convicted 
 of seduction, for that crime is not named as a crime in the 
 laws of this Commonwealth. There is provision, indeed, 
 for civil process by which any differences arising between 
 man and man on account of it may be adjusted by an 
 assessment of damages, but nothing more. 
 
 And now is not your public sentiment a little absurd 
 which roars so fiercely around the steps of the seducer, 
 putting a Cain's mark upon him " that every one that 
 findeth him may slay him," defending the murder of him 
 by the authority of judicial precedents, on the ground that 
 he is a criminal so flagitious that it is not fit that he 
 should live, and yet when you are asked to name the 
 crime of which he is guilty, you are at a non-plus, and 
 search the statute-book and criminal code and digest of 
 decisions from title-page to tail-piece in vain. Plainly 
 either public sentiment is wrong, or the laws are wrong. 
 If the honorable instinct which rises to vindicate the 
 violated sanctity of the family is not a depraved and 
 malignant passion — if the loathing .with which society 
 yearns and retches to vomit out the adulterer is not 
 merely a morbid squeamishness — if the worthy indignation 
 which burns against him in the breasts of honest men, and 
 seethes in the public heart on any flagrant occasion until 
 it endangers the barriers of public order, is not a whim- 
 sical and mock-chivalrous notion, then the law of this 
 State is an insult to the law which (iod has written in his 
 Word and on the heart of every man. 
 
 That which is true concerning the sin of seduction, is 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 331 
 
 also true concerning the graver, more definable and 
 cognizable sin of adultery. In most nations, civilized 
 or barbarous, the crime against the sanctity of the family 
 has been counted among flagitious felonies. Commonly 
 the fit penalty measured out to it has been the penalty of 
 death. There are exceptional States in our Union in 
 which adultery is still recognized as a crime and punished 
 with grave and infamous penalties. Such is the State of 
 Louisiana, whose penal law is modelled upon the Code 
 NaxJoUon. Such are those States of the northernmost 
 zone whose traditions of law have been affected by that 
 wisest and most splendid stroke of juridical reform in 
 modern history, by which the Puritan colonies of New 
 England cast behind them into the ocean the whole body 
 of English traditions and statutes, both secular and 
 ecclesiastical, and reverted to the divine model of legisla- 
 tion in the code of Moses as the pattern according to which 
 their jurisprudence should be framed.^ But concerning the 
 
 1. The sag^acious act of the New Haven colonists by which they determined 
 that the Code of their infant republic should be that contained in the books of 
 Moses, so far as this was neither local nor ceremonial, until the colonists should 
 have time to apply the principles of the same in laws more exactly suited to 
 their circumstances — has been travestied in " Knickerbocker's Histor}' " as a 
 resolution "to be governed by the laws of God until they could make better for 
 themselves." And it has been both ignorantly and malignantly denounced as 
 the act of narrow-minded fanatics going back from the attainments of Christian 
 civilization to a barbarous and sanguinary code which the world had long out- 
 grown. It is the highest possible vindication both of the character of the Puritan 
 colonists, and of the divine wisdom of the Mosaic law, to compare the code of 
 New Haven colony as provisionally fixed by that act, with any code then 
 existing in Europe, and especially with the whole complex system of English 
 law which they thereby deliberately, pui'posely and expressly repudiated. 
 Their " sanguinai-y code " was the most humane body of laws then extant in 
 Christendom. Their simplicity of procedure, disembarrassed by a stroke of the 
 pen from the incumbrances of many generations, became a model and incite- 
 ment to law-reformers of other States. And, as the argument of this sermon 
 shows, their penal legislation had a dignity of moral tone to which the most 
 Advanced improvements in law-reform have not yet in all respects attained. A» 
 
332 THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW 
 
 majority of our States it must be said that, following the 
 base and demoralizing tradition of English law, they 
 know no such crime as adultery. Before the State it is 
 innocent. It may give rise to disagreements between 
 citizens, in which the aggrieved party may assess the 
 value in cash of the grievance which he has suffered, and 
 the affair may be equitably settled by the award of a 
 
 The law of Maryland differs from that of most of the 
 States ; for here there is a law against adultery. And the 
 penal law of any State may be taken as the gauge of the 
 moral sentiment of the public towards the crimes therein 
 specified and prohibited. According to our code, the 
 penalty for murder in the first degree is death ; for murder 
 in the second degree, imprisonment for not less than five 
 years ; for forgery and fatal duelling the penalty is not 
 less than five years' imprisonment; for larceny of property 
 more in amount than five dollars there is a penalty of 
 from one to fifteen years' imprisonment; for the crime of 
 adultery the penalty is a fine of teii dollars. 0, stern and 
 faithful government ! 0, magnanimous legislation ! O, 
 chivalrous people, that know the comparative value of 
 property and of Jwnor — that punish the thief with fifteen 
 years' imprisonment, and the adulterer with a ten dollar 
 fine ! 
 
 It is pertinent to the business in hand to remark, 
 incidentally, that American legislation generally on this 
 
 to the often refuted but continually renowed calumny about " the Blue Laws of 
 Conneciicur," it is a little aside from our present purpose to remark upon the 
 injustice; of fixinj? tlie odium of impertinent aivd intrusive laws upon a State 
 whose statut(-l)ooli. was to be distinguished among those of the rest of the 
 world at tliat period for its comparative freedom from the then universal fault of 
 »uinptuaiy legislation. 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 333 
 
 whole subject of crimes of lewdness seems to have been 
 affected by that vile and corrupting theory of government, 
 that its sole function is the protection of person and 
 property, and that accordingly it has no concern for the 
 care of morality. So long as one does not offend the 
 fastidiousness of his neighbors, or hurt the value of 
 property, b}^ public indecencies, it is the general disposition 
 of the law to protect the libertine in his lawful right of 
 debauehary, just as it protects an}^ other citizen in his 
 lawful pursuit of happiness. Against the less destructive 
 and ruinous sins of lewdness, most countries, even though 
 they do not pretend to suppress them, nevertheless record 
 their reprobation in laws which may be enforced under 
 favorable circumstances and against flagitious offenders. 
 But in this State, and in most States besides those in which 
 the precedents of the Puritan legislation have been 
 followed, neither prostitution nor its correlated vice is 
 punishable under any circumstances whatever. Our States 
 commonly have abdicated this whole department of govern- 
 ment, leaving this entire class of crimes free of all prohibi- 
 tion, except when they interfere with the value of property. 
 
 Let me illustrate to you the effects of this shameless 
 dereliction of the State to its divine trust of government, 
 as exemplified in two facts which occurred to my personal 
 knowledge as a pastor in the city of Brooklyn, and which 
 might have occurred, for all the law there was to hinder, 
 in this city of Baltimore. 
 
 The first is that of an affectionate mother, a Christian 
 woman, who had learned by an experience which I pray 
 that you may never have to suffer — 
 
 " How sharper than a sorpent's tooth it is 
 To have a thankless child." 
 
334 ''HE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 Once the wayward girl was rescued by aid of the law 
 for a brief time from her wilful infamy, for she lacked 
 yet a few months of eighteen years, and the law is zealous 
 to protect property, and the mother has a pecuniary 
 interest in the daughter's services till she comes of age. 
 But the few months pass, and she is eighteen years old, 
 and the law strikes off from her the hand of maternal 
 authority and lays on her no compulsion of its own, 
 and from the tears of her mother, and from the 
 entreaties of the Church of Christ she goes forth under 
 the encouraging protection of the laws to walk the way 
 whose steps take hold on hell. She has a legal right to 
 abandon herself to infamy and wretchedness ; a legal right 
 to put herself in training as a professional corrupter of 
 mankind ; a legal right to acquire and exercise the arts of 
 seduction on your suns and brothers and on mine; a legal 
 right to enter that ghastly procession that is marching 
 nightly through your streets towards misery and rotten- 
 ness and death and hell ; and what has the law to do in 
 such a case but to turn its austere front towards the 
 mother with her tears, and towards Christian charity with 
 her hands of love, that would fain reach forth and snatch 
 her as from the fire, and shout Hands off. Shame on the 
 recreant State that will not reinforce the pleading of 
 domestic love and Christian pity towards this wretched 
 one so much as with one authoritative word or threat ! 
 Shame, that you will not give the help of penal sanction 
 to the better resolution of any tempted creature that is 
 struggling with besetting lust! Go blush, virtuous 
 citizens and tribunes of the people, for your ostentatious 
 horror against the licensing of prostitution, when you 
 
THE Oi'PKOBlllUM OF ENUI.ISII LAW. 535 
 
 have no word of protest against laws like these that 
 proclaim universal license, and turn cities into brothels ! 
 The other case is this : A poor woman came to me, 
 sick, downcast, heartbroken, under the shadow of a great 
 impending crime, to ask for counsel. Her husband, whose 
 unfaithfulness she long had known, had just sent word to 
 her that she should mend and make ready his linen, and 
 pack his trunk, and that at a certain hour he would call for 
 it, as he was intending to live with a woman whom he 
 had selected for his mistress. All day she had sat among 
 her children, working through her tears at such a task as 
 was ever a wife set upon before ? and now she had come 
 .to me to ask if there was no law to hinder this awful 
 calamity. I was obliged to tell her No ! If she had lived 
 in Connecticut, in Massachusetts, in Ohio, if she had lived 
 almost anywhere on the face of the earth, except in 
 England, or under these traditions of English jurisprudence, 
 the law would have laid its hand on the shoulder of this 
 wretch at the first thought of such a deed, and warned 
 him that he could venture on it only at the expense of the 
 penalties and pains of felony. But there we had a revised 
 code, and an advanced civilization, and adultery is lawful 
 — not even punishable by a fine of ten dollars. And so 
 i counselled her to go home again and finish the mending 
 and the packing, and meekly and gently and without 
 upbraiding, to say good-bye to the husband of her youth, 
 and make up her mind to labor on alone in her sickness 
 to support her worse than orphaned child^-en, and put her 
 trust in that (lod who, though kings are false and states 
 may cowardly and meanly betray the cause of the help- 
 less, has declared himself to be the father of the fatherless, 
 and the widow's judge. That was New York law. 
 
-336 THE OPPROBRIUM OB' ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 Maryland law is worse, by as much as it adds insult to 
 injustice. 
 
 I have now stated to you the facts concerning the con- 
 dition of law touching crimes against the family. By- 
 and-by^ if there be time, I may say something concerning 
 the causes that have led to the origination and perpetuation 
 of such a monstrous series of legislative abuses.^ But 
 just now 1 ask 3^0 ur attention to the results , immediate 
 and indirect, of such a condition of the laws. 
 
 1. I will not insult your intelligence by citing facts to 
 prove, what no one will doubt, that the abrogation of the 
 law against such crimes is attended with vast increase of 
 them. 
 
 2. Neither will 1 argue with you to show that the 
 withdrawal of the protest of the penal law against this 
 whole class of offences, and the lowering of them to the 
 
 1, The cause of them is to be found in the character of the English Reforma- 
 tion which conserved the medieval tradition that, marria<>:e being a sacrament, 
 olfences against it should be punished by church-discipline. In other European 
 countries, the Reformation was commonly followed by stringent penal legisla- 
 tion against adultery, and also (a correlative enactment) by legal provision for 
 divorce. In England, until lately, there has been neither the one nor the other. 
 Now, there is the second without the first. 
 
 The legislative purity, from amid wliicli Roman Catholic countries look out 
 with horror on the divorce laws of Protestant States, is explained in this way. It 
 is only where the vh^uluin matrimonii actually binds in law, under penal 
 sanctions, that it l)eeoTnes a grave necessity to provide, in some cases, for 
 loosing not from its moral, but from its penal obligations. 
 
 The outcry made in tlic name of the Church against all civil divorce what- 
 ever, is not only against the very letter of the Bible, but it is against the spirit 
 of it. It is founded on that general notion, so foreign to the spirit of both 
 Testaments, that civil laws must be conformed to absolute morality instead of 
 to the exigencies of time and place. The rebuke of divorce is no novelty of the 
 Cliristian dispensation. " The Lord hated putting away " trom of old. And yet 
 he provided for i , by a civil law which, for the time, was a good law. The 
 divorce provisions of the Mosaic code, like the mixim " Eye tor eye and tooth 
 for tooth," did not cease to be right when tliey were " not destroyed but filled 
 out" by Christ; they never were riglit, considered as a standard of personal 
 morality. 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENfJLISH LAW 337 
 
 category of personal difterences, tends to the demoralization 
 of society, the vitiating of the consciences of the people. 
 Will any one tell me what is the prevalent tone of public 
 comment in this community upon these base and dreadful 
 and infectious crimes ? Can any one inform me how much 
 of the staple evening reading of our families is made up 
 of the daily infamies that are transacted in the community 
 drolly travestied into humorous adventures by the small 
 newspaper wits who exercise their ribaldry therein — fooU 
 who make a mock at sin ? But consider, citizens who 
 groan and grumble at this nuisance, what excuse they 
 have, to whom the majesty of the State itself has set so 
 eminent an example, and whether it is altogether strange 
 that they should better the instruction. 
 
 3. But the most miserable consequence of the derelic- 
 tion of the State in its duty of punishing crime, is that 
 which is exemplified in that great class of bloody assassi- 
 nations to which a new case has just been added in this 
 State. The sure and infallible result of the abdication by 
 society of the duty of punishing criminals is not that 
 crime becomes innocence, and that the consciences and 
 hearts of men are revolutionized by a stroke of reform- 
 atory legislation, and the abhorrence of the guilt abolished 
 — but the result is this, that the exercise of punishment, 
 which should be firmly and temperately held by the hand 
 of orderly and impartial justice, is delivered over to the 
 wild justice of the mob or of the lynch court, or to the 
 more frantic hand of private vengeance. Where, tell me, 
 lies the safeguard of public order in times of great public 
 indignation against atrocious crime, or of the wild stirring 
 of revenge for the righting of a personal grievance ? Does 
 it lie in the batons of a drilled constabulary? in the 
 
 28 
 
338 THE OPPROBRIUM OP" ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 bayonets of an organized militia? in the squadrons and 
 batteries of a standing army ? No ! Back of all these lies 
 the conviction deep in men's minds that the Government 
 may be trusted to avenge the innocent, to punish the 
 guilt}", and to vindicate justice. This it is which suffers 
 the accused criminal to sleep in safety in the jail, without 
 fear of the mob which would otherwise tear him from the 
 impotent and untrustworthy hands of the law. This 
 speaks to the hasty and heady passion of revenge, and 
 says : " Put up thy sword into its sheath, for they who take 
 the sword shall perish by the sword." Even Grod himself 
 the great Law-giver, deigns to make appeal to this con- 
 fidence in his administration of justice, in order to restrain 
 the passions of his subjects, saying in Paul, " Dearly 
 beloved, avenge not yourselves but rather give place to 
 wrath ; " — stand aside and let the wrath of Grod have 
 course; — "for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, 
 saith the Lord." ^ And when human government cannot 
 make like appeal, armies and constabularies are of no 
 avail. The instinct of a wild justice flings aside police 
 clubs like grass, and bayonets like rotten wood, and leaps 
 with an irresistible fury upon its victim. Who has ever 
 known lynch law to prevail, and private revenge and 
 assassination to abound, in communities where strong and 
 faithful government is quick to follow crime with 
 thorough trial and adequate penalty ? Such acts as these 
 are the opprobrium of any government, as it is written, 
 " Whosoever judgeth his brother judgeth the law." The 
 murder of every assassinated malefactor, of every victim 
 of the hasty sentence of the lynch court, is recorded to 
 the shame of a derelict State. The (xovernraent, tlie 
 
 1. Romans, xii, 19. 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM OK EN(4LISH LAW. 339 
 
 citizens^ you, by your derelictions, are become accomplices 
 with the assassin in these deeds of blood ! 
 
 What now has the State of Maryland to say for the 
 security of public order against the instincts of private 
 revenge and public justice outraged by the infamous 
 -crime of the seducer or adulterer ? When forgery has 
 been tampering with your bank account, she rebukes your 
 headlimg revenge, saying This is iiy business. She lays 
 her hand upon the culprit, and flings him into a felon's 
 dungeon, and clothes him in disgrace and casts him forth 
 from the honors of the citizen. When murder has broken 
 into your dwelling, or, raging in the streets, has made the 
 very stones to cry out with the voice of a brother's blood, 
 •she stretches out her sword to suppress the tumult of the 
 outraged citizens, and points to the gallows and the- 
 executioner, saying " Vengeance is mine." But when lust 
 and adultery are neighing at your door, and defiling the 
 sanctuary of your home, despoiling you of treasures which 
 cannot be valued with gold, and embittering your life with 
 a bereavement such as the clumsy arts of the murderer 
 could never have accomplished — what has the majesty of 
 this sovereign State to say to her suffering subject whose 
 bosom is boiling with grief and just revenge? What, but 
 to pat him on the shoulder and tell him " be quiet, now ; 
 be cool ! There may be money in this thing if you will 
 manage it right." foolish people, hear the word of Grod, 
 if you will not regard the voice of your brother's blood, 
 " Jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore he will not 
 spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any 
 ransom, neither will he rest content though thou givest 
 many gifts." * 
 
 1. Proverbs, vi, 34, 35. 
 
340 THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH F^AW. 
 
 No! No! Let not the State that attempts to abrogate 
 the law of God and erect adultery into a lawful act, think 
 that thereby it protects the criminal from hurt. It puts 
 him under a law more sanguinary than the code of Draco. 
 It initiates from that moment a common law stronger than 
 any statute, which does more than authorize assassination — 
 which invites scorn upon all law and all authority — Avhich 
 implies that the law shall be affronted, and insulted in 
 its own courts, misinterpreted by its own expounders, 
 and that juries are to kiss the book to solemn oaths, in 
 open expectation that they shall perjure themselves before 
 they leave the box, and march forth under the applause 
 of the people. 
 
 With great clearness of statement the acute and able 
 Attorney General of the State, in the late trial, thus 
 defined, in the form of an imaginary statute, the principle 
 under which it have must been obvious to him that the 
 prisoner against whom he appeared was about to be 
 acquitted. Enacted into the form of a law it would read 
 thus : " Every person, upon being informed that his wife, 
 daughter or sister has been seduced into criminal inter- 
 course with any man, shall be and he is hereby constituted 
 grand jury, court^ petit jury, sheriff and executioner, fully 
 authorized and empowered upon such information as he 
 may choose to believe, to condemn, and at his convenience, 
 and by any means or instrument or weapon of death he 
 may choose, to put such man to death, without a moment's 
 notice or warning, and this shall be deemed and held 
 justifiable homicide." Against such an enactment, he said, 
 common sense and common reason would protest. 
 
 Yes ; but, Mr. Attorney General and citizens of Mary- 
 land, tJiat is tJia law. It has not been engrossed on 
 
THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 341 
 
 parchment ; it has not been codified and printed ; it has 
 perhaps not yet been enunciated from the Bench — but it is 
 the law; and while the rest of the statute and the common 
 law continues as it is, you may argue in vain to break the 
 uninterrupted series, if not of judicial decisions, at least 
 of jury verdicts, by which it is sustained. It is a fierce 
 and cruel law. It is a law that makes no discrimination,, 
 as the Mosaic law does, between the grades of these crimes 
 of impurity which it punishes. It is a most ineffective law, 
 atoning for the general impunity of the worst crimes that 
 infest societ}^ by now and then an outburst of ferocious 
 and deadly fury. But it is the laiVj for all this, and will 
 continue to be, so long as the only alternative that you 
 have to offer for it is the more monstrous absurdity of 
 such a law than this : 
 
 '' Any person committing adultery shall on conviction 
 be punished only by a fine of not more than ten dollars. 
 Seduction, prostitution and all other crimes against chastity 
 and against the peace, purity and honor of the family shall 
 be free of all punishment, and any person committing thenj 
 shall be protected by the power of the State from all 
 violence, damage or annoyance which may be attempted 
 in consequence against his person or estate, whether by 
 personal or by public vengeance, and shall be eligible as 
 before to all offices of honor and emolument." 
 
 The learned Attorney (xeneral is right. The existence 
 of a common law such that, the moment he frames it coolly 
 into the form of a statute, it is recognized as abhorrent 
 to common sense and natural equity, is possible only 
 where its non-existence would imply a fouler scandal, a 
 more crying injustice. 
 
 I do not undertake to say whether or not the existence 
 
342 THE OPPROBRIUM OF ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 of the private vendetta is the rig-ht course for the individual 
 in such cases. I leave that an open question. It is an 
 open question whether, when Grovernment abdicates its 
 function of the punishment of crime, society is not re- 
 manded, of necessity, to the old savage Law of the 
 Wilderness, by which the next of kin is appointed to the 
 solemn office of Goel or blood-avenger — plaintiff, witness, 
 judge, jury, sheriff, executioner all in one; whether by 
 the constitutional law of all human society, older than all 
 statutes and precedents, paramount to all written charters 
 and constitutions, the aggrieved person, blinded as he is 
 by frantic rage, does not, nevertheless, carry in his hand 
 a death-warrant signed and sealed by the hand of God : 
 whether you have not gone back, I do not say to the 
 Mosaic code, with its humane and just provisions of the 
 right of sanctuary, but to the law of the heathen Moabite 
 and Amorite. 
 
 But my concern at present is not with the duty of the 
 individual, but with the duty of the State — of you, fellow 
 citizens, who are the State. This is a political sermon y and 
 nothing else, in the sense in which that is not a contra- 
 diction in terms. It is intended to set forth the law of God, 
 not destroyed, biit restored and completed in the Gospel, 
 in its application to you in j^our duty as Christian citizens. 
 1 will not affect to force a spiritual application of the 
 subject as an apology for bringing it into the pulpit. It 
 needs no apology. The subject belongs here by divine right. 
 
 I must cease, leaving many important things unsaid. 
 I wish there were time to recite that curious passage in 
 the history of English and American jurisprudence which 
 furnishes an explanation, and in some measure an apology, 
 for the strange disorganization of law concerning this 
 
THE OPPROBKU^M OF ENGLISH r>AW. 343 
 
 matter. Eiit 1 find that I must be satisfied with having 
 set before you the considerations of present fact and present 
 duty. Suffer me only^ in conclusion, to repeat, what I trust 
 you will lay to heart and conscience, that before (xod tho 
 responsibility for all these accumulating assassinations 
 rests upon the State and the body of its citizens, and that 
 by just so far as you fail in the execution of that royal 
 trust with which God has invested you, the trust of 
 righteous government, your brothers' blood will be upon 
 your heads and upon your children's. 
 
Geneva 
 
 CONTINENT AND SWISS TIMES " PKESS 
 
 1877.