J' jr. 
 
 Theological Seminary 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 4X 5150 .R623 1838 
 
 Roberts, William, 1767-1849 
 The call upon the church 
 considered in two essays 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/calluponchurchcoOOrobe 
 
THE CALL UPON THE CHURCH. 
 
y 
 
 THE CALL UPON THE CHURCH 
 
 CONSIDERED 
 
 IN TWO ESSAYS 
 
 BY W. ROBERTS, Esq, M. A. 
 AND THE REV. W. NICHOLSON, M. A. 
 
 TO WHICH THE PRIZE OP TWO HUNDRED GUINEAS WAS 
 AWARDED BY THE CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE SOCIETY. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE; 
 AND SOLD BY L. AND G. SEELEY, 
 FLEET STREET, LONDON. 
 MDCCCXXXVin. 
 
The Committee of the Christian Influence 
 Society having, in the Autumn of 1837, offered 
 a prize of Two Hundred Guineas for the best 
 Essay " On the Character, Qualifications, and 
 Conduct requisite in the Ministers of Religion, as 
 pointed out in the Holy Scriptures (whether by 
 express precept or necessary implication) with 
 reference especially to the offices of Bishop, 
 Priest, and Deacon, in the Established Church 
 of England and Ireland ; — the high duties and 
 weighty responsibiUties attaching both to the per- 
 sons who appoint and to those who are appointed 
 
vi 
 
 to these holy offices ; — the great evils arising 
 from unsuitable appointments, which all who love 
 Grod and desire the best interests of their fellow- 
 countrymen have in many instances to deplore ; 
 and the plans in accordance with the spirit of 
 our Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitution, whereby, 
 under the Divine blessing, these evils might be 
 obviated, and the benefit of a faithful, zealous, 
 and spiritually-minded ministry be obtained for 
 every parish throughout the land ; " 
 
 And having requested the Rev. Henry Raikes, 
 A. M. Chancellor of Chester, and the Venerable 
 George Hodson, A. M. Archdeacon of Stafford, 
 to be Arbitrators as to the respective merits of the 
 works offered for such Prize ; the said Arbitra- 
 trators did on the 11th of April 1838, report to 
 the effect, — 
 
 " That the two Essays inscribed respectively 
 
 ' Jachin,' and ' Ziroi/'Sao'Oj' o-eaUTov 8oV(^ov irapaarr/a'ai 
 ru Beu ipyar'/jy aveTcaia-xwrcy — 2 Tim. ii. 15,' posseSS, 
 in their judgment, each, very superior excel- 
 lences, and conjointly exhibit — the former by an 
 energetic inculcation of principles, the latter by 
 
vii 
 
 the copiousness of its practical details — very just 
 and impressive views of the Christian ministry, 
 of the impediments to its effective exercise in the 
 existing state of the United Church of England 
 and Ireland, and of the means whereby those 
 impediments may, without innovation, and with- 
 out any disorganization of our Ecclesiastical sys- 
 tem, be safely and effectually removed. 
 
 " They recommend, therefore, that the prize 
 be divided equally between the two Essays first 
 specified, and that they be published together in 
 one volume, in the order in which they stand in 
 the preceding paragraph." 
 
 In pursuance of which award, the prize was 
 declared to belong to the Authors of the said 
 two Essays, conjointly, and their productions now 
 appear, as recommended by the Arbitrators, in 
 the present volume. 
 
 July 31, 1838. 
 
JACHIN. 
 
JACHIN. 
 
 THE RIGHT-HAND PILLAR OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 CHRON. III. 
 
 " Kai «7Ttj<7e Tui ?'<j'>^ifi Kara ic^oauvov i/a&, eVa e 
 BefiSv, Kcu Tov eva, ef ivuvvfA.uy, Kcu (Ka,X€<T( to ifof/.a is e 
 eeiSi/ KATOPenSlS, KB. ro ovo/^areef a(.,,-«f«>' I2XTS, 
 
 LXX. 
 
SYLLABUS. 
 
 SECTION 
 
 I . Circularity of cause and effect in the things of 
 
 the natural and moral world — vain there- 
 fore to postpone the work of improvement 
 until the point at which to begin it can be 
 precisely ascertained. . - Page 1 
 
 II. Influence of pubUc opinion, and duty conse- 
 
 quent upon it, attaching to every individual, 
 and especially to the clergy. Page 5 
 
 III. Vanity of all the researches of the ancient 
 
 philosophers after truth. — Clear exposition of 
 what truth is, by the divine aphorism " I am 
 the way, the truth, and the life." — This the 
 proper foundation of all spiritual teaching. 
 
 Page 9 
 
 IV. Great opportunities of the clergy. Page 15 
 
vi 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION 
 
 V. Our church estabhshment contains within itself the 
 
 seeds of its own ameUoration - Page 1 6 
 
 VI. Public opinion to be raised and regulated by 
 
 the clergy. — Importance in this view, of 
 catechetical instruction.— Necessity of turning 
 to a good account the impulse given to the 
 poor by general education, and by the circu- 
 lation of the scriptures. - Page 33 
 
 VII. Securities of the church — not dependent upon 
 
 its alliance with the state— its antiquity— or its 
 estate, but on the support derived from its 
 character and the spirit and sincerity of its 
 prayers. - - Page 44 
 
 VIII. Requirements of the church from her ministers 
 as to the manner of reading her liturgy and 
 preaching. - - Page 55 
 
 IX. The worth and efficiency of our church estab- 
 
 lishment. - - Page 79 
 
 X. How it is menaced — by the encroachments of 
 
 the Roman reUgion — by the combination of 
 dissenters — by those who would divorce her 
 from the state — by the extravagant preten- 
 sions of some of her professed advocates — by 
 the latitudinarianism of others — by the scanti- 
 ness of her accommodation — by our contact 
 with foreign countries— by the desecration of 
 the Sabbath — by the unworthy portion of her 
 ministers. - - Page 86 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 vii 
 
 SECTION 
 
 XI. How it is challenged— by the plan now in 
 
 progress for the commutation of tithes — by 
 the provisions now making for the increase 
 of church accommodation — by the spread of 
 education— by the increased circulation of the 
 Bible. - - Page 108 
 
 XII. Patronage— the duties which this privilege im- 
 
 poses on private individuals, on the state, and 
 on the bishops. - - Page 114 
 
 XIII. Our Bishops— great importance and dignity of 
 
 their office— opportunities which are afforded 
 to them by their place in parliament, and by 
 their access to the throne. - Page 1 1 9 
 
 XIV. What the advocates of the church establishment 
 
 have to contend for. - Page 133 
 
JACHIN. 
 
 §1. 
 
 When we set about the work of effecting a 
 change or modification of our condition, either 
 in our physical or moral state, the proper 
 point at which the operation should begin, is 
 generally a question of doubt and perplexity. 
 The things of the natural, moral, and intel- 
 lectual world, have, among themselves respectively, 
 such a correspondence and reciprocity, and cause 
 and effect are so interchangeable, when practi- 
 cally considered, that to find the clue of the 
 labyrinth is often impossible. ' With an infinity 
 before and behind him, every scheme or system of 
 man's contrivance which is to act upon and affect 
 tlie state of his own humanity, necessarily con- 
 sists of broken expedients, unadjusted by his own 
 prudence to that mysterious order by which all 
 things are overruled and conducted. The parts 
 and organs which compose our bodily frame, and 
 
WHERE TO BEGIN 
 
 minister to life, are reciprocally necessary to each 
 other. If we assume any one in particular, as 
 imparting the first impulse ; on a further investi- 
 gation, we find that what it seems to produce, is 
 pre-required to its own existence. In the world 
 of matter without us, the same circularity presents 
 itself, ' a wheel, as it were, in the middle of a 
 wheel.' • Nor is it less observable in the moral 
 scene of our duties and responsibilities, and the 
 general economy of social life. 
 
 Where then to begin the great and vital 
 work of improvement is a difficult problem. 
 Shall we begin with our schools ? these seem 
 to be the fountain at which the streams com- 
 mence. But these must have their sources of 
 supply. They require to be replenished by the 
 returns of elementary moisture, and to be nou- 
 rished by their own exhalations. As the preacher 
 reminds us, " the wind goeth forth towards the 
 south, and turneth about unto the north, it 
 whirleth about continually, and the wind return- 
 eth again according to his circuits. All the rivers 
 run into the sea, yet the sea is not full ; into the 
 place from whence the rivers come, thither they 
 return again."- Pastors and teachers are an ema- 
 nation from our schools, and our schools owe their 
 
 ' Ezek. i. 16. 
 
 - Eccles. i. 6, 7. 
 
THE WORK OF AMELIORATION. 
 
 3 
 
 virtual existence to our pastors and teachers. The 
 clergy of the land are prepared and formed in our 
 colleges, andour colleges are conductedby our cler- 
 gy. Of the clergy our bishops and ecclesiastical 
 rulers are made, and again from our bishops and 
 ecclesiastical rulers, the body of the clergy receive 
 their character as well as their commission. By the 
 administrators of our church our secular polity in 
 its highest departments is materially influenced, 
 and again the efficiency of these instruments 
 depends upon the choice and appointment of 
 them by the rulers of the state. 
 
 From this involution in the bearings and affini- 
 ties of our moral condition, we must look without 
 us for the great first Mover. Instead of wearying 
 ourselves in a vain search after remote causes and 
 first principles, if each in his own department will 
 but put forth his individual strength, the great 
 Disposer will settle for us the question of priorities 
 and the order of procedure. Meanwhile a reno- 
 vation of strength and efiect will be seen and felt 
 in the various parts of the entire economy. We 
 systematize, we philosophize, we set about re- 
 forming our practical state by a priori plans, 
 grounded on favourite theories, and still end 
 where we began ; the fundamental error of our 
 schemes being generally this, that they leave out 
 of calculation our own infirmity. 
 
 In speculative plans of reform, not knowing 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 WHERE TO BEGIN 
 
 where to begin, we generally begin by disturb- 
 ance ; loosening or removing parts which have come 
 together by a fitness which time, and exigency, 
 and concurring events, as much beyond human 
 foresight, as above human control, have matured 
 and confirmed. In our own nation, the truth of 
 these remarks has been often exemplified. A 
 great deal of time has been wasted in examina- 
 tions into the evils of our system, rather in the 
 spirit of scientific research, than with the serious 
 and sober purpose of specific correction. It has 
 been more a matter of philosophy than feeling. 
 
 In whatever class improvement is effected, the 
 voice of public feehng is, instrumentally con- 
 sidered, generally entitled to the credit of pro- 
 ducing it. He must know little of what are called 
 the signs of the times, who does not perceive 
 this, — who does not recognize in the preponder- 
 ancy of opinion, whichever way it tends, a force 
 which neither prescription, nor legitimacy, nor 
 law, can long successfully oppose. 
 
 Among practical expedients therefore for ac- 
 comphshing the substantial improvement of any 
 institution of man, or any order of society, the most 
 efficacious is that which brings a rectified public 
 opinion to bear upon it, and lay it imder a 
 strong and urgent requisition. It is the action of 
 this secret momentum, which has wrought a 
 
THE WORK OF AMELIORATION. 5 
 
 reformation in the plan of instruction pursued in 
 our universities ; and to the same influence we 
 are to look for a Christian revolution in the man- 
 agement of our chartered schools, and the general 
 maxims of popular education. 
 
 §11. 
 
 Whatever may be thought respecting the source 
 and origin of political power ; that the people 
 in the aggregate are the repositories of moral 
 power in a country of free institutions, can- 
 not reasonably be doubted. From which clear pro- 
 position an inference is deducible, that points out 
 to every man a sphere of activity in which he may 
 benefit his country, and contribute in a degree, 
 small or great, to the advancement of the common 
 good. Nor can a higher lesson be taught an in- 
 dividual than that which awakens him, in the critical 
 conjuncture to which events have brought us, 
 to the obligation of endowing his country with 
 some part of the patrimony of his mind, and 
 adding to the stock of her cherished examples. 
 
 But the great area of moral discipline lies spread 
 before the clergy. Humanly speaking, the country 
 leans upon them. They carry on its commerce 
 between earth and heaven, between time and eter- 
 nity. To them the business of the soul is com- 
 mitted, and a power which, if it be not well 
 
6 
 
 WHERE TO BEGIN 
 
 employed, will turn fatally against themselves ; for 
 fatal indeed must be the liability of one who 
 voluntarily places himself between God and his 
 creatures, to intercept rather than to communicate 
 the light of his saving knowledge. 
 
 All our inquiries concerning the great affair of 
 man's immortal interest, bring the clergy of the 
 land before us as our best dependence under 
 heaven. To those among them, whose breasts are 
 callous to the call of the present crisis, the appeal 
 is vain ; it is only a divine influence that can make 
 them forestal their fearful account. But to the 
 large proportion of the clerical body who feel 
 the superiority of the religious principle over 
 every other motive that determines human action, 
 the special need in which their country stands at 
 the present moment, of their best exertions, vriU. 
 be answered by a zeal proportioned to the danger. 
 
 It is a waste of time to address those who have 
 no sensibility that responds to the application. 
 Nor is it sufficient to put the case broadly as in- 
 volving the character and demanding the efforts of 
 an entire class. Where a duty presents itself as a 
 general concern, it is apt to take a weak hold 
 upon individuals ; it assumes a sort of abstract 
 form, and is received with the cold assent with 
 which propositions, involving truths in which the 
 many share, are by the many received. The object 
 
THE WORK OF AMELIORATION. 7 
 
 of this essay is to call each minister of God to 
 the separate consideration of his personal respon- 
 sibility, and a solitary reckoning with his own 
 conscience : to summon him to hold an inquest 
 upon himself in the silent court of his own breast, 
 and there to anticipate his day of trial before the . 
 judge of the world in the audience of men and 
 angels. 
 
 Did we not feel the force of that humiliating 
 sentence which pronounces us to be all unprofit- 
 able servants, we might be disposed to speak of 
 the British clergy \vitli the homage of sincere 
 approval ; but it would of necessity be with such 
 applause as men bestow on each other, " measur- 
 ing themselves by themselves." When we com- 
 pare their performance with the vows which are 
 upon them, we dare not interpose our weak com- 
 mendation in a matter of special contract between 
 God and his immediate servants. The Lord best 
 knows how to estimate and recompense the dili- 
 gence exerted in his service. 
 
 One thing all thinking men ftiustperceive, — that 
 it has pleased the Lord of the vineyard to multi- 
 ply, in these our days, the duties, responsibilities, 
 and difficulties of his labourers, and to put their 
 fidelity to an awful test. The enemies of the 
 truth are, in number and power, a more danger- 
 ous combination than heretofore ; better armed, 
 
8 
 
 WHERE TO BEGIN 
 
 better disciplined, better arrayed for tbeir war- 
 fare. That inert mass of negative infidelity which 
 half a century ago, lay almost concealed in the mist 
 of its own speculations, has been quickened into 
 life, and has propagated through the land its living 
 mischiefs. The teeming time has come, and from 
 its holes and corners a hissing brood has been 
 thrown upon the community too well disposed to 
 lodge them in its bosom. " They hatch cockatrice' 
 eggs, and weave the spider's web : he that eateth 
 of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed, 
 breaketh out into a viper."' In such circum- 
 stances, the watchmen of our Israel can have no 
 release from their active labour, but such as sol- 
 diers may look for with the camp of their enemies 
 in view ; and besides these visible assailants, they 
 have to wrestle vnth " the principahties and 
 powers " of a dark and sightless kingdom. "VVe 
 may be upon the crisis of a great victory. We 
 cannot tell. But of this we may be sure, victory 
 will not be vouchsafed to the idle. 
 
 It is a waste of effort to seek by argument to 
 charge the evil of the day on any class of men. 
 Where dependence is reciprocal, the blame will 
 be always shifting its place. When every Chris- 
 tian shall take blame to himself, and the clergy 
 
 ' Isaiah lix. 5. 
 
THE WORK OF AMELIORATION. 9 
 
 more especially shall, with the humility of the 
 apostle, proclaim themselves the chief of sinners 
 with respect to their oiEce, and all shall go on in 
 this spirit, the great work of blessedness will be 
 in manifest progress, and the kingdom of the 
 Saviour will exhibit a sensible enlargement. 
 Where each thus appropriates the blame, each 
 will give his hand to the labour of reparation 
 under the great repairer of the breach. " They 
 shall build the old wastes ; they shall raise up the 
 former desolations." ' It is that one great work 
 into which all may intrude themselves, and no 
 confusion result from unrestricted intermeddling. 
 The wall of our Jerusalem will become the monu- 
 ment of the subdivided labour of each contributory 
 workman before his own door. 
 
 §111. 
 
 We do not purpose in this inquiry to advocate the 
 truth, but consistency in the professors of the truth. 
 We do not write to make converts to Christianity, 
 but to put Christians in mind of the true principles 
 they profess, and especially those deeply commit- 
 ted men, wlio compose the visible ministry of 
 Christ's kingdom upon earth. " What is truth?". 
 This question of the benighted Roman, might well 
 
 ' Isaiah Ixi. 4. 
 B 5 
 
]0 PUBLIC OPINION AND EXPECTATION 
 
 be asked by him as the representative of a hea- 
 then world, whose inquiries after truth had tended 
 only to immerse them in fathomless error ; and it 
 was put with a carelessness that did not deserve 
 an answer, to one who was alone on the earth 
 qualified to answer it. This answer our Saviour 
 did not, upon that occasion, throw away. But his 
 answer to Thomas was virtually an answer to 
 Pilate's question — " I am the way, the truth, and 
 the life." And here at once is furnished the 
 matter of all teaching to every faithful minister of 
 the word, — the sum and substance of evangelical 
 instruction — the practice, the doctrine, and the 
 reward. Wherever our teachers have deviated 
 from this course, by showing the truth with- 
 out the way, or the way wthout the truth, or 
 either or both without the promise which reflects 
 upon them their light and glory, the means have 
 been inadequate to the end proposed, and the 
 sophistry of the proud heart has successfully re- 
 sisted the aggression. It is not, in such case, the 
 Lord's controversy with man, but the controversy 
 of man with man, in which the rhetoric of the 
 flesh debates on equal terms with unsanctified 
 reason. 
 
 If public opinion is to be raised, and raised it 
 must be to act with imperative effect upon all the 
 functional parts of our polity in church or state, 
 
TO BE RAISED BY THE CLERGY. 11 
 
 it must be by the efforts of the national clergy, — 
 animated by a zeal that courts a re-action upon its 
 own body ; raising an expectation which calls upon 
 the teacher to graduate higher in his own school ; 
 and creating a rebound between the agent and 
 recipient. Thus the cause of the gospel conde- 
 scends to the course and manner of human pro- 
 gression. 
 
 But in vain will a national clergy exert itself in 
 this great cause if it keep not constantly in its 
 \dew the holy aphorism above quoted — " I am 
 the way, the truth, and the life." Until the 
 epoch of this blessed promulgation of light and 
 leading in the path of salvation, the mind of man 
 had tried all its resources of self-generated wisdom, 
 in the search after speculative and practical truth ; 
 till their reveries fell into contempt, even with 
 philosophers themselves. Weai^y of " walking" 
 in these " vain shadows," they found relief and 
 refi'eshment in the retreat of universal scepticism. 
 
 Two general opinions, under various modi- 
 fications, had long divided the disputers of this 
 world. Man was either degraded to the level 
 of the brute, and deity dismissed to an eter- 
 nity of voluptuous abstraction from the earth and 
 its interests ; or, in order to contract the distance 
 between gods and men, the soul was dressed out 
 in the attributes of divinity. The history of this 
 
12 
 
 WHAT IS TRUTH ? 
 
 dark dynasty of error, which so long enslaved the 
 heart and intellect of man, should be kept full in 
 our retrospect to enable us to appreciate what we 
 have gained by that single sentence, " I am the 
 way, the truth, and the life." 
 
 No such pregnant words have ever met the ear 
 or addressed the understanding. All the devices 
 of man have done homage to their mysterious 
 efficacy. Philosophy, with all its pomp of ethics, 
 has been put to the blush by them, and has seen 
 all its centuries of gathered wisdom dispersed by 
 a breath, " Where is the wise ? where is the 
 scribe ? where is the disputer of this world ? Hath 
 not God made foolish the wisdom of this world ? 
 For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by 
 wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the 
 fooUshness of preaching, to save them that beHeve." 
 But to what conclusion does this bring us ? Is it 
 not to this ? — that as there is no other name un- 
 der heaven whereby we can be saved, so there is 
 no other name whereby we can be safely governed, 
 influenced, and sustained. Of that great name 
 which is above every name, the words wliich have 
 been cited are only an expansion. In the pro- 
 portion in which our clergy acknowledge and feel 
 the sanctityof this name, and follow out its plenary 
 import as " the way, the truth, and the life," will 
 be the success of their attempts to elevate public 
 
HOW ANSWERED, AND BY WHOM. 13 
 
 opinion. For this task, fidelity is a better qualifi- 
 cation than ingenuity. In imparting knowledge 
 we confer power, but often irregular, equivocal, 
 or selfish power, acting by means and ministers 
 which make it doubly mischievous. But there is 
 a "power by the Spirit of the Lord"i which 
 accompanies that word which " when it goeth 
 forth giveth light and understanding unto the 
 simple." With that power, both to exercise and 
 impart it, must our clergy go forth, if the great 
 multitude is to be moved onward in the march of 
 real improvement. It takes no less a lever than 
 this to give to the mass an inch in advance in the 
 moral scale. No other teaching can be made to 
 bear with effect upon the people but that whicli 
 has been first taught by the Great Teacher. 
 And the process must be regular. It is through 
 Him only who is " the power of God, and the 
 wisdom of God," that unclean lips are made 
 capable of conveying the divine message, and that 
 the clay of those who receive it is changed into 
 tempered mortar for " the edifying of the body 
 of Christ." 
 
 " I am the way, the truth, and the life," are 
 words of universal challenge. They admit neither 
 partnership nor competition. They charge all 
 
 ' Micah iii. 8. 
 
14 THE TRUE SPIRIT OF TEACHING, 
 
 other systems with folly. They claim to be all or 
 nothing; and when they have reduced the mu- 
 tinous into captivity, they call upon the rebel to 
 glory in his chains. Words they are " more to 
 be desired than gold ; " nor are there any words 
 whereby men can be better taught, or in the keep- 
 ing whereof there is greater reward. It is the 
 lesson comprehended in these words which turned 
 philosophy from the idols of the schools to seek 
 " the supreme good" in the testimony of the true 
 God and the discoveries of his word. 
 
 Insisting upon this great truth may our clergy 
 go with courage and confidence among the people, 
 little solicitous about other aid than the aid of 
 Him " in whom are hid all the treasm-es of wis- 
 dom and knowledge." Let them keep in the old 
 paths, adhering to the simplicity of the gospel, 
 and suppressing the spirit of adventure and curi- 
 osity ; which, if it multiplies topics to suit the 
 demands of the pulpit, and to serve as materials 
 for display, tends assuredly to dissipate uiiity, dis- 
 sever force, and increase exposure to attack by 
 widening the area of dispute. 
 
 These remarks are designed principally to draw 
 attention to the importance of that humble but 
 firm posture of mind which a clergyman should 
 bring with him to his ministrations, and of that 
 faithful simplicity to which he is pledged in the 
 
AND ITS PRACTICAL COURSE, 15 
 
 subject matter of his teaching. Awful is the 
 responsibility attaching upon each one of a class 
 of persons who alone among men have the autho- 
 ritative means committed to them, of awakening, 
 alarming, and. persuading the conscience and the 
 heart, by the terrors and invitations of the glo- 
 rious gospel. 
 
 §IV. 
 
 The clergy are large debtors to the state — 
 not indeed for the provision made for them, for 
 that is scanty enough ; but for the stock of moral 
 power entrusted to their hands. They have 
 weekly opportunities of exhibiting the truth to 
 passive auditories. The ark and the testimony 
 are in the midst of" them ; holiness is on their 
 right hand, and honour on their left. They ask 
 no sufferance, for they have the warrant of God 
 and man for the function they discharge. Their 
 character and occupation open to them the pas- 
 sages of the heart by private counsel. Every 
 office of the church brings them into spiritual 
 intercourse with their neighbours, and affords 
 occasion for warning, consolation, or encourage- 
 ment. In the house of mourning, and by the bed 
 of the dying sinner, the season of salutary im- 
 pression is theirs to improve to the purposes of 
 godly profit. And to these commanding oppor- 
 
16 THE TRUE SPIRIT OF TEACHING, 
 
 tunities is to be added that which our church has 
 made tlie duty and privilege of its ministers — the 
 woi'k of catechising their flocks, to prepare them 
 for a lively and intelligent participation of the 
 public worship and service of God. 
 
 These opportunities are clamorous. They have 
 a trumpet-sound. They lay upon the conscience 
 of every minister of Christ an unceasing obligation 
 to put in exercise means so well adapted to op- 
 pose the march of evil. They call on him to com- 
 bat practices of an anti-christian tendency, and to 
 bring common opinion under the yoke of reli- 
 gious fear, and godly convictions. But " who is 
 sufficient for these things ? " — Only he who can 
 bear to be reminded of them, and who feels his 
 sufficiency to be of God. 
 
 §V. 
 
 There is a little way of looking at all esta- 
 blishments. To seize upon defects is easy. ' Few- 
 there are of so weak capacity but that public 
 evils they easily espy ; fewer so patient -as not to 
 complain, when the grievous inconveniences there- 
 of work sensible smart.' ' But to distinguish be- 
 tween inherent and consequential defects — be- 
 tween errors of abuse and errors of principle — 
 between those which belong to an infirm agency, 
 ' Hooker's Eccles. Pol. Lib. v.§ 1. 
 
AND ITS PRACTICAL COURSE. 
 
 17 
 
 and those which belong to the system itself, is 
 only within the competency of a sound discern- 
 ment, and patient observation. Innovating and nar- 
 row minds never look to the resources of a system, 
 nor stay to consider whether the evils which they 
 see in it are constitutional or occasional, perma- 
 nent or contingent. They never look deep enough 
 into it to discern the mutual action of its com- 
 ponent parts, its latent means of self-restoration, 
 or its balancing compensations. They know- 
 neither where to fix the censure, or where to look 
 for correction. 
 
 The church has done her part. It remains for her 
 members, and especially her ministers, to do theirs. 
 The sacred machinery is in preparation. Mind and 
 principle are only wanting to impart impulse and 
 action. It is true that all its primitive efficiency 
 may not be capable of revival. ' If there be any 
 conscience in men touching that which they write 
 or speak, let them consider as well what the pre- 
 sent condition of all things doth now suffer, as 
 what the ordinances of former ages did appoint ; as 
 well the weight of those causes for which our 
 affairs have altered, as the reasons in regard where- 
 of our fathers and predecessors did sometime 
 strictly and severely keep that which for us to 
 observe now is neither meet nor always possible.' ^ 
 ' Hooker's Eccles. Pol. Lib. v. § 80, 
 
18 THE MEANS AND RESOURCES 
 
 Much however may be done in the way of moral 
 change and amelioration, but that only which can 
 be done will be done by a general stir, and 
 godly commotion in every parish and ecclesiastical 
 district, where happily a minister olRciates who 
 is not afraid of a raised expectation in the people. 
 The Church of England would fain provoke a mu- 
 tual challenge. Her offices are all contrived to 
 engage the hearts of her congregations and her min- 
 isters in an amicable conflict. She encourages a 
 holy emulation, that so the Christian, exercised by 
 the collision, may grow in his character and 
 attainments, until he reaches " the measure of the 
 stature of the fulness of Christ." 
 
 Ministers sometimes avow an objection to do- 
 miciliary intrusions upon the poor. They think 
 it behoves them to wait till they are called for. 
 We stay not to examine the grounds of this ob- 
 jection. Let them turn the whole poor into 
 catechumens, and the church will furnish the 
 apology for their visits. Catechising and lecturing 
 will soon fill up the chasm between nunister and 
 people, and mix them together in profitable com- 
 munion. Every office may be turned into a 
 Homily. The church has, in all her services per- 
 formed a mother's part. By the beautiful and 
 solemn prayers which accompany each of her 
 celebrations, she seeks to interest the attendants, 
 
OF OUR ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 19 
 
 and win a soul by surprise. With this collateral 
 aim all her services are calculated for public par- 
 ticipation, and suppose the presence of a sympa- 
 thizing congregation. That must needs be ac- 
 credited as a wise economy in which things are so 
 ordered, that the interest and exigence of each 
 individual are made conducive to the great end 
 and purpose in which all are ultimately concerned. 
 And this is the catholic and holy design of our 
 church; but alas! it languishes in the letter of 
 the rubric. Were ' the spirit of ghostly strength ' 
 to be vouchsafed to it as the reward of a simul- 
 taneous effort of prayer and supplication, the 
 most essential reform that any constitutional 
 polity ever exhibited would suddenly manifest 
 itself in this country, with not a single organic 
 change. No dream of philanthropy has ever 
 imagined so fair an Utopia as would then be 
 realized. To lift the great mass of our church 
 communicants out of a formal concurrence with 
 her several institutions into a close sacramental 
 union with all her liturgical offices, ordinary, 
 occasional, and special, is the object to which 
 every Christian patriot must, at this moment, if 
 he is honest and consistent, direct his efforts : but 
 the minister of God, of the Holy God, where is 
 he ? and what is he doing ? May the answer be — 
 not, that he is at the festive board or leading the 
 
20 THE MEANS AND RESOURCES 
 
 dance ; but that " the watchman of Ephraim is 
 with his God ; " ^ that he is ministering in the 
 sanctuary, or standing between the living and 
 the dead ! 
 
 If our church is in danger, she is not without 
 defence. She has a rich arsenal ; she wants only 
 brave sons who will draw out the means of her 
 protection from her own magazines. Her formu- 
 laries are among her best safe-guards, but their 
 efficiency depends upon the manner of using 
 them. It is only for the sake of souls that she 
 deserves our care. To be the object of our 
 solicitude, she must be in function and operation. 
 It is in the luminous circuit of her ministerial 
 charge that she " lives, and moves, and has 
 her being." Her glory is in her travail. She 
 presses on from strength to strength in the pre- 
 paration and exercise of her children. Her rites 
 form so many successive lessons and grades in the 
 furtherance of Christian proficiency. Tcf make 
 her ser^-ices tell, and turn to their proper account, 
 in impressiveness and in effect, is the true policy 
 of those who love her cause. All her offices are 
 made for permanence ; but the want of a due 
 application and connection has rendered them as 
 evanescent as the dew upon the rose. 
 
 1 Hosea is, 8. 
 
OF OUR ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 
 
 21 
 
 They were designed to conduct the Christian in 
 a gradual, experimental progression through the 
 several stages of his discipleship in the gospel ; 
 but how soon is the continuity broken by the dis- 
 orderly scene which ensues ! and how often has 
 the service of the dying hour the work of instruc- 
 tion to begin, without any preparative aid from 
 preceding rites ! After the heir of natural corrup- 
 tion has been taken from the font — a new subject 
 of the kingdom of grace, the ritual of our church 
 considers him as having entered upon a consecu- 
 tive course, and prepares him for a succession of 
 solemnities whereby the inception of his Christian 
 career may be followed out in a gradual develop- 
 ment, through a series of fresh acts of communion, 
 and new pledges of obedience : all wliich is suf- 
 fered to come fearfully short of its intention and 
 pui-pose. How brief is the impression of a rite by 
 which an immortal soul is dedicated to God 
 through the only Reconciler ! It rests upon the 
 memory of the parents and sponsors as a thing 
 done, and done with ; registered for some possible 
 temporal use — to be recalled, it may be, as a fact, 
 a date, or a testimony ; but the soul's part in the 
 ceremony, the undertaking it implies, its obliga- 
 tion, its privilege, its grace, how soon do they 
 perish out of remembrance, without a vestige or 
 savour of them left — nothing left to give them any 
 
22 THE OPPORTUNITIES AFFORDED 
 
 reflex existence in prayer or meditation. The 
 nurture and education whicli succeed, have, in 
 general, no tendency to keep in its strength and 
 freshness the unction of the ceremony. Confir- 
 ation and the holy sacrament of the commu- 
 nion succeed ; but the church expects from her 
 ministers — is it not often in vain ? — an inter- 
 mediate instruction to make them a proper 
 sequel of the great initiatory rite ; and to 
 link them together in vital connection. The 
 beautiful coherence and harmony of all the parts 
 composing our book of Common Prayer — their 
 correct portraiture of gospel truth — their display 
 of the rich provisions of pardoning grace, and their 
 suitableness to every self-accusing sinner's case, 
 commend them to the believer's adoption, as 
 opening for him a door of utterance and a way 
 of access. He reads in them the ruin, the re- 
 covery, and the regeneration of man. He recog- 
 nizes in them the precious privileges of adoption 
 and sanctification, and feels in them those vital 
 airs which invigorate and refresh him in his way 
 to God's holy hill, that moimt of assurance from 
 which eternity is brought within the prospect, and 
 the soul is bathed in the region of upper day. Not 
 only is this beautiful composition an authentic 
 repertory of topics for the minister of the word — 
 not only is it that arm of the church on which he 
 may place a main reliance in the conflict in which 
 
BY THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH. 23 
 
 he is engaged; but it is his monitor also; it 
 keeps him within barriers which coerce his steps, 
 and restrain the rovings of a dangerous self-con- 
 fidence. It is a full directoi'y. It teaches him 
 how to teach, how to pray, and how to per- 
 suade. 
 
 In the view here taken of our church eco- 
 nomy and its system of edification, the writer has 
 no new plan to propose. The whole object of 
 this essay is to enforce the necessity of mak- 
 ing an actual operative beginning. To him it 
 seems that no new plan is wanted. He goes 
 further. He thinks our plans are our hin- 
 drances. When men are so bent upon improve- 
 ment that they overlook their existing resources, 
 they may be said to outrun their speed. And 
 tliis is one of the bad habits of the present day. 
 A great deal of valuable time is lost in desultory 
 aims. Projects take the place of action. We 
 are mending when we should be moving, contriv- 
 ing when we ought to be executing. 
 
 Lord Bacon writes of an eminent statesman, 
 that he was great in operatione, but little in 
 opere ; and this is precisely the case with those 
 who consider it to be their duty and their pro- 
 vince to suggest improvements of the organization 
 of our national church. It is not a new organ- 
 ization that it wants. It is the practical and 
 
24 THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH CONTAINS 
 
 efficient application of its present means. When 
 the Spanish armada was threatening our country, 
 it would have been a foolish and fatal waste of 
 time to have set about building the same floating 
 castles to meet the enemy, before we began to act. 
 The wiser method was that which was adopted, of 
 sending to the combat all the vessels which could 
 immediately be furnished for the occasion. So 
 let the aggression upon our national church be 
 met by faithfully employing the resources we 
 possess. 
 
 If in any establishment, civil or ecclesiastical, 
 there exists a principle of amelioration ; the true 
 art and secret of reform consist in giving to the 
 principle its proper developement, in a wholesome 
 and practical operation. Conventional changes, 
 if they reach their mark, generally defeat them- 
 selves by going beyond it. One effect they 
 are sure to produce, — the dislocation of things 
 already settled, and the disruption of pre- 
 scriptive holds. It is seldom their principle or 
 their wisdom to consider what can be done in the 
 present circumstances ; but rather, what might be 
 done if things were otherwise ordered. The sen- 
 sibility to tangible inconvenience, generally blinds 
 us to remoter consequences. Few feel the verity 
 of the proposition, which seems, nevertheless, to 
 be founded on all historical experience, that where 
 
THE SEEDS OF ITS OWN AMELIORATION, '^i) 
 
 the motive for the alteration of any standing- 
 arrangement, is the simple perception of evil, 
 abstracted from a due comparison with proposed 
 or possible substitutes, such motive can seldom 
 accomplish anything beyond plausible mischief. 
 ' As for arbitrary alterations, when laws, in them- 
 selves not simply bad, or unmeet, are changed for 
 better and more expedient, if the benefit of that 
 which is newly better devised, be but small, sith 
 the ciistom of easiness to alter and change is so 
 evil, no doubt but to bear a tolerable sore, is 
 better than to venture on a dangerous remedy.' ' 
 
 When the principles of a system are so clear 
 and defined, as to be susceptible of a new and 
 extended application, without alteration of its 
 organic structure, it may be said to contain the 
 seeds of its own amelioration ; and this is truly 
 descriptive of our ecclesiastical, as well as secular 
 polity. If we carry out its principles in a right 
 course of progression, ' in what we improve we 
 shall never be wholly new, and in what we retain 
 we shall never be wholly obsolete.' This method 
 of procedure is without innovation, dislocation, or 
 disorder. We might pursue the idea still further : 
 A system framed in subserviency to our need, may 
 possess a power of self-enlargement and expansion, 
 
 ' Hooker. Eccl. Pol. lib. iv. 14. 
 
 c 
 
26 INTERNAL RESOURCES OF THE CHURCH 
 
 to keep pace with the increasing amount of that 
 need, — a capacity of being acted upon by the 
 urgency of the objects for which it was designed, 
 so as to be impelled to the production of extraor- 
 dinary means and substitutes, to supply the defi- 
 ciency or failure of its ordinary and regular instru- 
 ments. It is so with organic life ; it possesses a 
 fund, out of which its losses are repaired or com- 
 pensated. Where there is an extraordinary de- 
 mand, spontaneous efforts are put in exercise to 
 answer it. Thus too has the church in this 
 day of her difficulty, risen to meet it with a 
 further developement of her resources. The in- 
 stitutions set on foot within her pale, for aiding 
 her in her pastoral duties, are an increase of her 
 strength which may be considered as self-pro- 
 duced ; and the zeal which animates them, may 
 be said in a certain sense to be a creature of her 
 own. It brings her the succours of filial grati- 
 tude. 
 
 Thus the Scripture readings, the lay assistance, 
 and the augmentation of clerical labour which have 
 been brought to the aid of the Estabhshment by 
 the societies lately instituted for those objects, are 
 among our greatest encouragements in the present 
 crisis. They accelerate the existing force, without 
 any change of principle, or the substitution of any 
 new springs. They repay with a pious usury, 
 
HOW TO BE PRACTICALLY DRAWN FORTH. 27 
 
 what has been borrowed from the treasury of the 
 sanctuary. 
 
 So legitimately do these expansive methods 
 spring from the constitution of the Church Esta- 
 blishment, and so adapted are they to put her 
 resources in operation, that they may be con- 
 sidered as well illustrating that internal principle 
 of self-restoration which has above been noticed, 
 and on that account as entiUed to be somewhat 
 specially dwelt upon. 
 
 It is the part of a paralyzing prudence to reject 
 assistance on the ground of possible injury from 
 the miscarriages or mistakes to which it may be 
 liable. Some degree of risk accompanies the 
 admission of every alliance, and every co-operation. 
 But if remote possibilities of evil are suffered to 
 outweigh proximate benefits, and certainties to 
 give way to surmises, nothing extensively great or 
 useful can ever be accomplished. There is even a 
 temerity in these timorous counsels ; a precipita- 
 tion of choice which doubles the danger it would 
 avoid. 
 
 The plans and purposes of the institution call- 
 ing itself the ' Church Pastoral Aid Society,' 
 appear to be tempered by that " right judgment " 
 which, in company with Christian fervour, affords 
 the best security for a correct and efficacious 
 course of procedure. We have thus help brought 
 c 2 
 
28 LAY AGENCIES 
 
 US " from the sanctuary," and are " strengthened 
 out of Zion." ' In large and populous parishes, 
 under the superintendance of a single minister, 
 sometimes broken down with his parish duties, 
 sometimes ill in health, sometimes worn with 
 years and cares, always, or nearly always, most 
 inadequately maintained, the great majority never 
 come within the sound of the gospel, and the 
 spiritual wants of a great proportion of the people, 
 never reach the ear of him who is appointed 
 to minister to them. These cases of destitution 
 and misery, the arm of the church is too short to 
 reach. More labourers are necessary ; and if these 
 labourers are, to some extent, supplied out of the 
 funds of private and pious liberality, who is he 
 that can find a plausible objection ? The dire 
 necessity of the case has, for some time been 
 forcing into existence a small accession of lay 
 agency, and the object of the Society is to give it 
 greater activity with greater authority; to bring 
 it in an augmented and more efficient form within 
 the constitutional control and discipline of our 
 church ; that something like a proportion may be 
 created between the multitude now abandoned to 
 sin, and the publication and ministration of the 
 word of life. 
 
 ' Psalm XX. 2. 
 
AND COLLATERAL HELPS. 
 
 20 
 
 To assist a minister where his parish is too 
 populous or too extensive for the possible discharge 
 of his duties, but whose ecclesiastical income is 
 insufficient to allow him to employ the requisite 
 co-operation, is a part of this godly undertak- 
 ing. It is an object deserving of the greatest 
 praise and encouragement, no less for its zeal than 
 for its humanity. It is clear, too, of all objection, 
 even from the most scrupulous, on the ground of 
 innovation. And if something of solemnity is 
 sacrificed by the performance of divine service in 
 places ordinarily used for other purposes, until 
 our church accommodation shall be more upon a 
 level with the spiritual wants of the people, surely 
 the sacrifice is outweighed by the worth of the 
 soul. The stress of the occasion consecrates the 
 deviation ; and the beauty of holiness is, to the 
 pious heart, a worthy substitute for the furniture 
 of the sanctuary. The first Christians held their 
 assemblies in an upper chamber ; and from the 
 deck of a ship, or the drum-head of a barrack, 
 prayers have sometimes ascended to the throne of 
 grace, not, we may presume, less acceptable than 
 incense from golden altars. The right of the 
 bishop to authorize such extra service in any place 
 convenient for the purpose, under the circum- 
 stances above supposed, seems no longer to be 
 controverted. 
 
30 
 
 LAY AGENCY 
 
 We cannot leave this subject without direct- 
 ing attention to the great advantages obtained 
 by the employment of those who are intended for 
 the Church, and are waiting for the age at which 
 their regular office is to begin, in works of prepa- 
 ratory exercise under the parochial minister. They 
 are thus made to serve a holy and instructive 
 apprenticeship. They walk the hospital of spiri- 
 tual maladies ; they are sent to the chambers of 
 sorrow, where " the whole head is sick, and the 
 whole heart faint ;" where there is " no soundness, 
 but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores," — 
 to apply " the balm of Gilead ;" or, if it must be, 
 the cautery and the knife. They are sent to the 
 lazar-house of the soul's diseases, where ' despair 
 tendeth the sick, busiest from couch to couch,' to 
 interpose, ' while death delays to strike,' with their 
 ' chief good and final hope,' not in the poet's 
 sense, but in the saving sense of the gospel of 
 comfort. 
 
 We may advert here to the use which a wise 
 minister may generally make of one or two of his 
 parishioners less able than others to support them- 
 selves by labour, from the feeble state of their bo- 
 dily strength. Such are often, from the softening 
 effects of sympathy, best qualified to administer 
 help and consolation to the dying sinner. 
 
AND COLLATERAL HELPS. 
 
 31 
 
 '• O youth and joy, your airy tread 
 Too lightly springs by sorrow's bed ! 
 Your keen eye-glances are too bright, 
 Too restless for a sick man's sight. 
 Farewell ! for one short life we part ; 
 I rather woo the soothing art 
 Which only souls in sufferings tried 
 Bear to their suffering brethren's side." 
 
 .In the business of teaching, too, those who are 
 in tender health would often be found the most 
 efficient. A minister would generally obtain from 
 among this class the persons most vigorous in 
 gospel strength. Those are the best soldiers of 
 Christ whose " strength is made perfect in weak- 
 ness." They have been themselves taught in a 
 school which fits them for the mastership of the 
 schools of the poor, if, peradventure, they have 
 learned in that school the best lesson, — to "possess 
 their souls in patience." May God prosper the 
 undertaking of " the Church Pastoral Aid Society," 
 and may his fallen creatures feel its value ! In its 
 failure, if fail it shall, the Church of England will 
 receive a severe warning. 
 
 To the " Pastoral Aid Society"' another kindred 
 institution has been added, which, as it emanates 
 from the ministerial part of our Establishment, 
 is restricted to the object of multiplying clerical 
 assistance. The terms used in speaking of this 
 object as being within the plan of the. society 
 
32 
 
 LAY AGENCY 
 
 already noticed, are expressive of the writer's 
 sense of the value of such a provision : nor ought 
 he to omit another purpose of this last-mentioned 
 institution, for which the gratitude of the country 
 is particularly due, — the addition it proposes to 
 grant in aid of endowments offered by the patrons 
 of livings, or to the gratuitous donations of others 
 for a similar purpose. Where plans so wisely 
 contrived to meet the difficulties of the present 
 c6njuncture, and to defeat the purposes of the 
 enemies of our Establishment, are by our subject 
 brought so conspicuously before us, such particu- 
 lars will not be thought to be minute or tedious. 
 Both these institutions are worthy of all admira- 
 tion. The one founded on its secular basis, and 
 the other liaving the testimony of its sacred accre- 
 ditation, join hands, or ought to join hands, in 
 administering that succour to our Church wliich, 
 it is trusted, will soon be visible in its character 
 and efficiency. They exhibit the concord of our 
 social with our sacred polity, on which, under 
 God, the continuance of both depends — a concord 
 involving a mutual pledge, an identicalness of 
 interest and a consolidation of strength. 
 
 Of " the Christian Influence Society," which is 
 another daughter of our Established Church, it 
 will be enough to say that it contemplates and 
 seeks to promote those objects of spiritual im- 
 
AND COLLATERAL HELPS. 
 
 33 
 
 provement which it is the humble purpose of these 
 pages to place conspicuously before the reader. 
 
 To the excellence of "the Prayer-Book and 
 Homily Society," the passages of this paper in 
 which the value of the sacred documents of our 
 Church and all her offices and expositions has 
 been attempted to be set forth, bear their testi- 
 mony. For the annexation of the Ordination 
 Services to the Book of Common Prayer they are 
 entitled to the nation's gratitude ; as is also the 
 venerable "Society for Pi'omoting Christian Know- 
 ledge," which has followed its example. 
 
 § VI. 
 
 In the gi'eat work of spiritual edification, one 
 thing, at least, is clear, — that none but willing 
 minds will stir. Some are adverse to all move- 
 ment in this concern, and deem the Church to be 
 in danger from the activity of its members. Others, 
 like Gallio, " care for none of these things." Minis- 
 ters of either of these descriptions can only be 
 reached by a circuity of operation. It is only by 
 many intermediate undulations that the trumpet 
 can be made audible within their camp. The 
 medium through which the percussion must be 
 conveyed to them is the intelligence of the people. 
 The public must be made to rise in their demand 
 for spiritual benefits at the hands of their clergy— 
 c 5 
 
34 CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 to rise, at the same time, in their veneration for a 
 laborious ministry, and their appreciation of the 
 value of their services. But this elevating effect on 
 the public mind and opinion can only be the result 
 of an immediate stir among the godly portion of 
 the clergy, who, like the better part of a crew 
 when their vessel is in distress, lend themselves 
 wholly to the exigence of the moment, without 
 giving themselves time to complain of others. 
 
 The means of all moral improvement lie semi- 
 nally scattered among the great multitude, ready 
 to reward the labour of right cultivation. If 
 by the efforts of those who have the disposition 
 to work, a maturer sense of the soul's interest in 
 the character and qualifications of the clergy can 
 be imparted to the people, it will soon be found 
 to multiply the blessings of our church by work- 
 ing upwards till it awakens the responsibilities of 
 patronage and ordination. This is v/hat may be 
 looked for from that part of our national clergy to 
 whom the term evangelical is properly applicable. 
 We want them to come among us more in the 
 character of catechists — catechists upon a large 
 scale of intrusiveness ; not only amongst those 
 whose ignorance, excused by their disadvantages, 
 gives them a priority in this respect, but also 
 among the unhappy great, and those ' who make 
 themselves rich, yet have nothing.' 
 
CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION. 35 
 
 His own vows are upon every minister with 
 a weight of fearful accountability. If an ag- 
 gregate good is to be done, and the public 
 mind is to be quickened by a new impulse which 
 has its virtue from above, it will come in the 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ac- 
 companying the simultaneous movement of those 
 who are amenable to the call of the crisis; — 
 who, taking up their parable, go forth at once 
 among the people, fearlessly to deliver their mes- 
 sage, and to spread out the word of wisdom in 
 familiar and attractive details of catechetical expo- 
 sition. O for a more operative and diffusive em- 
 plojonent of this last instrument of instruction ! 
 that the people may emerge from their gross 
 inability to profit by the services of the church — 
 that the waters of the sanctuary may no longer 
 stagnate in ignorance and indifference. This 
 happier state of things seems to wait only for a 
 more sincere and decided invitation : but come it 
 cannot till the near relation of catechist and cate- 
 chumen form a stricter bond of union between 
 ministers and their flocks ; until the church in her 
 practice is made to bring her ordinances within 
 the reach and touch of the people, and to realize 
 to their hearts and capacities the gifts and graces 
 which are proffered to them in her services and 
 sacraments. 
 
36 
 
 THE STANDARD OF PUBLIC 
 
 We are not unconscious that we are open to the 
 imputation of arguing in a circle. We call upon 
 the clergy to raise the standard of public opinion, 
 and we look for the improvement of the clergy as 
 the result of the raised expectation of the people. 
 But such we have stated to be the complex condi- 
 tion of all moral movements which affect the 
 character of nations. Cause and effect are in a 
 state of continual interchange, and the celerity 
 and certainty of the progression are always the 
 result of the vibratory impulses of action and 
 reaction. But a begiiming must be made, and 
 it is always best made where there is most amena- 
 bility to the force applied. 
 
 It is obvious, too, that in speaking of the clergy 
 as the instrument of improving the people, we are 
 supposing a part to act upon the whole ; since by 
 ' people ' we must understand that great commu- 
 nity which includes all the orders of the state. 
 Yet in an abstract sense, and as a moral entity, it 
 may be considered in separation from any of the 
 classes contained under it. To improve the mass 
 is to improve the subject of all politic institu- 
 tions and denominations secular and sacred ; but 
 it may be viewed as the repository of what is called 
 ' opinion ' in a large sense, — an agent which, if 
 not met by some extraordinary counteraction, 
 makes the most important characteristics and eon- 
 
OPINION TO BE RAISED. 
 
 37 
 
 cerns of society sooner or later submit to its 
 modifications. 
 
 There is an accidental fashion of thinking, or 
 posture of the public mind, which usually carries 
 disturbance in its train, and which often calls for 
 the restraints of law ; but there is also a determi- 
 nation of thought and sentiment which, acquiring 
 by degrees the permanence of habit, is too strong 
 either on the side of right or wrong to be defeated, 
 unless possibly by its own excess, or the slow pro- 
 cess of an insensible reaction. It is a mighty 
 author of moral mischief, or an efficient organ af 
 salutary reform. Those only may safely direct it 
 whose hearts and heads have been prepared for the 
 work by the lessons of a divine philosophy. It may 
 be turned to very beneficial account by those who 
 have learned the art of using it in the schools of 
 heavenly wisdom. Men of prayer, and such as have 
 gone to the fountain of pure instruction, know how 
 to make it conducive to the best interests of man, 
 by turning the tide of the great ocean into channels 
 on which the gifts of an unerring beneficence may 
 be borne and dispensed. It may, in such hands, 
 be made the origin of new efforts and new princi- 
 ples ; imposing on our clergy of the establishment 
 new sentiments of duty, on our bishops a more 
 watchful superintendence, on our government 
 more salutary caution in the disposal of dignities, 
 
38 
 
 THE TRUE PRINCIPLE 
 
 and on our men of estate, a deeper sense of their 
 accountability in the dispensation of their 
 patronage. 
 
 The special duties belonging to government, to 
 bishops, to the clergy in general, and to private 
 patrons, are obvious. The great desideratum is 
 to initiate the work of improvement with the 
 means we possess. And with this view it has 
 been our object to point to the most practicable 
 beginning of the process, and to show the quarter 
 to which our hope of effective aid in this hour of 
 national exigence may most reasonably be directed. 
 
 But why do we dwell upon the expediency of 
 raising the tone of public opinion ? is it not in 
 manifest progress ? does it not appear almost daily 
 to receive intellectual accession and enlargement ? 
 All this is true. But it is also true that, unless these 
 accessions and this enlargement have a legitimate 
 origin, they may operate with a force producing 
 more of dislocation than of salutary change. 
 What we have considered as their legitimate 
 origin is the stirring acti%dty of our parochial clergy 
 eliciting those healing virtues of the pool which 
 would otherwise stagnate into torpid barrenness. 
 On such an elevation of public feeling, bringing 
 with it to the church dignity, strength, and beauty, 
 every true member of her communion will turn his 
 eye with complacency and confidence. 
 
OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. 
 
 39 
 
 A dangerous conceit has gone forth that human 
 happiness is to be advanced by a secular and 
 general education of the people ; a dogma well- 
 pleasing to a revolutionary taste, and agreeable 
 to the spirit of a false philanthrophy ; which would 
 persuade us that to prepare the intellect for the 
 apprehension of religious truth, an infusion of 
 knowledge must first distil from the vapoury ele- 
 ment of human learning. Instead of a disciphne of 
 principles and duties — instead of an instruction of 
 which the tendency, under the Divine blessing, 
 is to elevate the thoughts, to chasten the affections, 
 and to keep the practice steady, the public gra- 
 tuitous education proposed by vain imaginations, 
 and heartless theories is, to say the best of it, 
 calculated rather for the vanities than for the 
 verities of existence. For extricating the great 
 masses of our population from their ignorance 
 and depression, we are captivated by the boastful 
 project of carrying instruction to the doors of 
 the people ; but not instruction of a Divine ten- 
 dency — not that which looks to the happiness of 
 man through the medium of holy practice and 
 vital godliness ; but that which puffs up instead 
 of building up — which fosters conceit and the 
 vanity of self-dependence. In this bustle and stir 
 in the business of popular education, the cause of 
 the people is neither correctly understood nor 
 
40 
 
 THE TRUE PRINCIPLE 
 
 honestly undertaken. A splendid cheat is passed 
 upon the community, and a self-sufficient nume- 
 rical majority is arrayed against the standing secu- 
 rities of religion, authority, and order. 
 
 Neither are we sure that in our National 
 Schools, or schools of the establishment, as they 
 are in most instances conducted, an efficacious 
 barrier is raised against the consequences of this 
 unsanctified system. Occasion ma}' be ministered 
 to latent ability in scattered instances by these 
 modes of organical instruction : but a mind well 
 versed in the nature and necessities of ordinary 
 life, as well as in its infirmities and obliquities, 
 will know how to value, above any artificial sys- 
 tem or stimulating process of cultivation, a plan 
 of less shew and apparatus : — he will know how 
 to value the plain, antiquated, parental procedure 
 of simply and scripturally teaching the heart- 
 humbling truths of the blessed gospel, and the 
 sti-ong foundations of the sinner's hope. 
 
 Even in our Sunday Schools, excellent as is 
 their constitution and design, religion may be 
 taught very irreligiously ; and it is so when blend- 
 ed with any secular teaching. It claims to stand 
 alone — to be the solitary learning of a solemn 
 consecrated day, whose grand proprietor will en- 
 dure neither partnership nor competition. 
 
 Institutions for general education are means of 
 
OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. 
 
 41 
 
 potent efficiency whichever way they bend. They 
 may be neutrahzed, or rendered noxious, or turned 
 to the soul's account according to the side on 
 wliich their service is engaged. Unless the in- 
 truction of the poor in all its forms is pre-occupied 
 and engrossed by our parochial clergy, it will be of 
 equivocal tendency. It will be like a meteor whose 
 luminous path appears among the lights of the 
 firmament, but whose real place is in the region 
 of mist and vapour. In the keeping of a sound 
 evangeUcal pastor, whatever enlarges the bounds 
 of man's understanding is made promotive of his 
 real progression in godliness by a skill which those 
 only possess with whom " the secret of the Lord 
 is," — who have " the spirit of love and of a sound 
 mind." It behoves a minister of the gospel to be 
 very jealous for the gospel ; to take care that all 
 the lessons which the poor receive may be under 
 the pure dictation of its spirit. The province of 
 instruction is within the active jurisdiction of him 
 who has the cure of souls. If he suffers any 
 school of charitable foundation which lies under 
 his spiritual controul to be " spoiled through 
 philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments 
 of the world, and not after Christ," he himself 
 has never felt internally the deep imperative sum- 
 mons of his holy office. 
 
 This ambiguous teaching takes no permanent 
 
42 
 
 SPIRITUAL WANT 
 
 hold of the mind. It leaves it an unappropriated 
 territory : and happy is that minister of the gos- 
 pel wlio can annex it by occupancy to the do- 
 minion of his master. Happy that devoted servant 
 of Christ, who lays hold courageously of every 
 occasion of enlarging liis blessed kingdom ! — 
 Happy tliat parish pastor who is prompt to apply 
 fuid appropriate every instrument that can be made 
 subserA-ient to the spiritual good of his people ! 
 It is in this charitable spirit of conquest that the 
 church should strive to extend her bounds. But 
 her opportunities, if unimproved, will inultiply her 
 dangers. When we look at the various institu- 
 tions which have had their birth in this active and 
 adventurous age, for extending the range of human 
 intelligence, especially in the things of eternity, 
 we see the need of a correspondent activity in our 
 National Church to place her upon a par with 
 this progression, and to satisfy the growing im- 
 portunity of spiritual want. 
 
 By the difiusion of the word of truth, through 
 the means and exertions of the Bible Society , a 
 great portion of the people of this laud has been 
 taken out of a neutral state. Those who formerly 
 cared little or nothing for creeds and communions, 
 have begun to think them both of importance. 
 The Bible has raised, and must continue to raise, 
 a great proportion of the population from the 
 
44 THE OLD SECURITIES OF THE CHURCH 
 
 it must be considered as a force acting upon it 
 from without : which, if it provoke a strenuous re- 
 action, may be greatly contributory to its safety. 
 
 § VII. 
 
 When we superadd to all these extraneous 
 influences which act with various effect upon 
 the religious state of our country, and the well- 
 being of our National Church, the avowed hos- 
 tility of large bodies of separatists from its com- 
 munion, we must admit its present condition to 
 be one of difficulty and danger, and we naturally 
 look around to find comfort in the consideration 
 of its securities. We turn our eyes upon its 
 venerable formularies, simple worship, pure creed, 
 sound ordinances, and pastoral discipUne ; but all 
 these, while they rest in the letter, are of no more 
 avail to us than were the cedar and gold of the 
 temple to the holy city when the Assyrian was at 
 its gates. If we trust to the union of the Church 
 tvith the State — an union founded in similarity of 
 temperament and character, correspondence of 
 principle, reciprocity of good offices, long com- 
 panionship and close affinity, how painful is the 
 discovery that these ties seem every day to be 
 losing something of their sacredness, and to be 
 almost as much a cause of irritation and obloquy 
 as of respect and obedience ! Do we look to the 
 
WEAKENED IN THEIR EFFICACY. 45 
 
 antiquity of our church as casting on its grey 
 battlements the awe of a prescriptive diuturnity ? 
 the charm is ah-eady vanishing at the touch of 
 modern liberalism, and its monumental glory is 
 fast fading away. If, perceiving these securities 
 to fail, we turn ourselves to the durable estate of 
 the church, not left to depend on a precarious 
 benevolence, but, in the words of a great states- 
 man, ' upon a provision identified with the mass 
 of private property, and as stable as the earth on 
 which it stands,' we perceive this support also to 
 be gradually disappearing. The tithe of predial 
 produce, which, from the nature of the heredita- 
 ment, seemed to possess a character of sempiter- 
 nity, and to be out of the reach of revolutionary 
 confiscation, is found to be as weak a pledge of 
 durability as the other supports to which reference 
 has been made. From these failures and muta- 
 tions the predicament in which our church 
 establishment at this moment stands is that of 
 being almost wholly thrown upon its character. 
 It is a predicament full of alarm, wliich, if it affect 
 us as it ought to do, must shake the bosom of 
 every member, (and with how much stronger con- 
 cussion that of every minister !) of its communion 
 who has hitherto sat at his ease under its shade, 
 beside the margin of its still waters. 
 
 It is by no means meant to be maintained that 
 
46 
 
 THE CHURCH DEPENDENT 
 
 the establishment of the church exists in its 
 character. The abuses and corruptions of a 
 church are no part of its establishment. Nei- 
 ther do ministers of the establishment make the 
 establishment, although they may grievously mar 
 it. It exists truly in its confession of faith di- 
 gested and settled by wise and holy men, under 
 the auspices and authority of the sovereign state — 
 in its ordinances, sanctioned and confirmed by the 
 same authority as being in accordance with the 
 written testimony of God — and in its sound pre- 
 paratives for the solemn celebration of divine 
 worship, and the true edification of the people. 
 In this view of our church, we have the assurance 
 of its essential continuance. In its Articles, 
 its Homilies, its Liturgy, its apostolical doctrines 
 and spiritual prayers, it will, we trust, always be 
 found subsisting, recorded, and recognized amidst 
 all the accumulations and forms of error. But it is 
 not the less important to consider that, to common 
 observation, the institution of our church is em- 
 bodied in its official agents, and is appreciated only 
 by the use which is made of it in the hands to 
 which it is committed. 
 
 The character of our Established Church must 
 evidently sink into disesteem unless it keep pace 
 with the general progression of mind in the coun- 
 try. It must brave the scrutiny of this inquisitive 
 
UPON ITS CHARACTER. 
 
 47 
 
 era ; and, while the authority of Scripture is ad- 
 mitted to be decisive, it must build only upon that 
 foundation its title to the homage of a discei'ning 
 people. In truth, all the offices, rite's, and cere- 
 monies of our Church suppose the spiritual pro- 
 gress of her children under a due pastoral care and 
 holy teaching ; and are so framed as to borrow 
 fresh illustration and effect from every successive 
 gradation in Christian attainment. This is the 
 hypothesis on which her services proceed, from 
 the sign of regeneration and the seal of the cove- 
 nant of grace in the rite of baptism, to the last 
 office which deposits in the clay out of which it 
 was formed the empty tabernacle of flesh. 
 
 Under the provocation of these numerous and 
 pressing calls, and with his ordination vows upon 
 him, there can be no specimen of grosser insensi- 
 bility than an indolent clergyman of the establish- 
 ment. He who wears the livery and receives the 
 wages of his Divine Master, yet makes little 
 account of his duty, may bear at least to hear 
 what that duty is. His duty is, not to perform 
 with spiritless regularity, a stated service, not to 
 deliver sermons of cold preceptive divinity, not to 
 contend for immunities and exemptions, not to shut 
 out intrusive zeal, not to censure an activity which 
 it might be troublesome to imitate ; but to " do the 
 work of an evangelist," " to prepare the way of 
 
48 THE DEMAMD FOR MINISTERIAL LABOUR. 
 
 the people," to " cast up the high way," not by mere 
 stipulated or statute labour, but as one who 
 laboureth for him " whose reward is with him, and 
 his work before him," always regretting the little 
 he can do, and deeming it impossible to do enough; 
 remembering what has been done for him, and in 
 the awful immensity of that obligation, to view 
 the extent of his heavenly calling ; in a word, to 
 consider himself a trustee of human souls with a 
 responsibility stretcliing through endless ages. 
 
 It behoves the Church of England to be a stirr- 
 ing church in these stirring times. It cannot rest 
 on its claims to veneration. The wisdom of its 
 founders and the blood of its martyrs are topics of 
 defence that may be worn out. It is a capital so 
 drawn upon as to be unequal to the increasing de- 
 mand. All, at this time, is in movement, and 
 there is much of irregular movement round and 
 about the church — a movement which should put 
 all its watchmen upon the alert. It is for the 
 church a busy moment : a new aera has begun : a 
 circulation has been given to the word of God 
 unknown and unimagined before the opening of 
 this century. Topics commensurate with immor- 
 tality, touching the extremes of human happiness 
 and misery, involving the loss and re-purchase of 
 the soul, comprising the sentence of wrath, the 
 covenant of mercy, " the means of grace, and hope 
 
SOCIAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. 49 
 
 of glory," have found their way to intelligences 
 hitherto impervious to all saving knowledge, or 
 even to the dawnings of religious inquiry. The 
 text is everywhere, and so must the teacher be : 
 the Lord has "given the word," and "great" 
 must be " the company of the preachers." Thus 
 " an ensign shall be set up for the people," and they 
 shall see in the Shulamite* the strength of the 
 Mahanaim — a double camp of faithful soldiers. 
 
 But the stir without and within the church must 
 be the stir of those that are valiant in prayer. 
 The moment calls upon the faithful in this manner 
 to evince their sincerity. Prayer for our country's 
 spiritual health and wealth at this crisis is Chris- 
 tian patriotism. Why then in all the families 
 gathered under the wing of our maternal church, 
 is there not blended in the morning and evening 
 worship, a supplication to the throne on high for 
 the special healing of this disordered nation ? 
 would it not kindle a fresh blaze on the altar, and 
 fill the air with the fragrance of the sacrifice ? 
 
 But chiefly within the sanctuary let the voice 
 of the primitive church be heard again importuning 
 the throne above for the throne below, and the 
 council gathered around it. Nor let the responses 
 be muffled and suppressed, but rather let them 
 
 ' Cant. vi. 13. 
 D 
 
50 SOCIAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. 
 
 rise in mutiny against the tyranny of a heartless 
 reserve. Happy the time, if ever that time arrive, 
 when the language of general accord and fearless 
 loyalty shall proclaim God in his own temple, and 
 the chain of our liturgy be no longer dispersed in 
 broken links by the refusal of the people to take 
 their part in the series of a connected service. 
 
 It is better to be in storms than to be thus be- 
 calmed. The inanimate world aromid us declare 
 the glory of God, though " they have neither 
 speech'nor language " yet " their voices are heard 
 among them." The congregations of our national 
 church have speech and language, but their voices 
 are not heard among them. Their energies belong 
 to the business, the pleasures, or the riot of the 
 week. That must svirely be an evil of some mag- 
 nitude which destroys the integrity and constitu- 
 tion of our ritual, cutting down the beautiful 
 liturgy of our church to a mere interlocution be- 
 tween the minister and his clerk. Prayer is the 
 business as it is the life of the church, and if we 
 bestow on her the endearing title of ' mother ' it 
 is because she breathes and speaks in her offices 
 the spirit of love and the language of comfort. 
 
 . § VIII. 
 
 But the service of the church, to have its due 
 effect, and to engage the sympathies of the con- 
 
OFFICES OF THE CHURCH. 51 
 
 gregation, must have due utterance given to it. 
 It asks with importunity for the voice and elocu- 
 tion of the minister. If in theological learning 
 we must not report the clergy deficient (though 
 perhaps, in this respect, their education may not 
 be sufficiently specific) for the great and essential 
 objects of enunciation, intonation, and a just and 
 impressive delivery, their ordinary education makes 
 no provision. It is the first business of a public 
 teacher to be heard, and next, to be heard with 
 attention. The loss of the church by organical 
 deficiencies in her ministers, and a lame perform- 
 ance of her services is ill made up by the display 
 of theological learning. It is on her daily worJj- 
 men and her ordinary agents and interpreters that 
 she must depend for her substantial influence, 
 rather than on her critics, her scholars, and her 
 apologists, important as they are to her honour 
 and safety. With respect to these more me- 
 chanical requisites, dissent has perhaps some ad- 
 vantages over the church. Not that the ministers 
 of dissenting communions are better models of 
 correct reading than those of our own church, but 
 where neither of two persons whose profession it is 
 to instruct and persuade as ministers of the gos- 
 pel possesses the talent of graceful elocution, he 
 whose mistakes are most on the side of excess, 
 will have the common mind most under his in- 
 
52 OFFICES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 fluence. To give a proper effect to the liturgy of 
 our church, a minister must have his heart in the 
 service ; but every day's experience evinces the 
 necessity of something beyond mere sincerity of 
 feehng to hold it forth to the people in its majesty 
 and beauty. A good ear and a good understand- 
 ing must doubtless lie at the bottom of the attain- 
 ment ; but nothing but a due sense of its great 
 importance can provoke the degree of effort neces- 
 sary to the acquisition of a talent which can only 
 be the fruit of assiduous cultivation. It is indeed 
 most melancholy to see the liturgy of our church 
 lying under the feet of one who is unconsciously 
 treading upon pearls. How great was the effect 
 produced by the delivery of the word of God in 
 that memorable day when " they read in the book 
 of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, 
 and caused them to understand the reading!" 
 Upon which Matthew Henry observes, ' Let those 
 that read and preach the word, learn also to deUver 
 themselves distinctly, as those that understand 
 what they say, and are affected with if, themselves ; 
 and who desire that those they speak to may under- 
 stand it, retain it, and be affected with it likewise.' 
 
 Such is the difficult and important duty which 
 a clergyman has to perform with respect to tliat 
 part of his momentous occupation — the utterance 
 and conduct of the prayers of the church. His 
 
MANNER AND MATTER OF PREACHING. 53 
 
 ministry in the office of preacher, though it can 
 "hardly be esteemed more important, is still more 
 arduous in its execution. We know that God 
 can bring to pass all his will and good pleasure 
 without the agency or instrumentality of any 
 human being or thing ; but if we may affirm any 
 thing of his plans from the observable course of 
 his proceedings, we may presume to say that 
 he sees fit to deal with man through man ; 
 and to impress his truths, his lessons, and his 
 commands more sensibly and emphatically on 
 the minds of his rational creatures by making 
 man himself the medium of his communication, 
 as well as the recipient of his message. It 
 is thus that he sends it with a swift circulation 
 through all the vital channels of social intercourse. 
 The message with which the ministers of the Most 
 High are charged, is indeed one of infinite and 
 ineffable importance ; no less than a summons out 
 of darkness into light, a vocation from misery to 
 happiness, a proclamation of pardon with a clear 
 statement of the conditions of the grant. This is 
 the title and preamble of the message : but, as the 
 scroll is developed, our predicament under the 
 second dispensation lies extended before us. And 
 what is this mysterious case in which we are 
 placed ? Is it not that the method of salvation 
 promulged by the gospel is exclusive of every 
 
54 MANNER AND MATTER OF PREACHING. 
 
 other ? And, if so, does it not follow tliat this 
 only method must be kept by the minister always 
 before the eyes of the people ? Surely every pro- 
 position of his discourses, whether of doctrine or 
 duty, must have reference to the wiU of God in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. All must stand and rest 
 upon gospel reasons, gospel injunctions, and gos- 
 pel rewards. The fii'st and fimdamental point to 
 be insisted on is, that man is a criminal before his 
 God. Until this truth is wrought into the con- 
 viction and conscience, nothing is done — no be- 
 ginning is made in the work of edification. \Mien 
 this point is obtained, the rest follows. When 
 men see themselves to be deHnquents, and to 
 deserve only punishment at the hand of God, they 
 are prepared to comprehend the sequel of the 
 argument : — that the justice of God, like his other 
 attributes, is absolutely perfect, and incapable 
 therefore of falling short of its accomplishment ; 
 that it must have satisfaction ; and that to satisfy 
 this perfect justice consistently with, the full ex- 
 ercise of the coimter attribute of mercy, and to 
 give full scope to his mercy without detriment to 
 his justice, thereby presersdng the harmony of his 
 divine character. He has by his wisdom and good- 
 ness instituted a method whereby not only the 
 attributes, of justice and mercy may be reconciled, 
 but joined in operation — each of them being 
 
MANNER AND MATTER OF PREACHING. 55 
 
 carried out into the utmost plenitude of perfection, 
 and made reciprocally the measure of each other. 
 
 Thus the key to the mystery of the gospel is 
 the depravity and degradation of the natural man, 
 lying in sin, and under the penalty of the broken 
 law; whom to bring again within the operation 
 of grace and pardon, required the stupendous 
 sacrifice and ransom recorded in the gospel. And, 
 admitting this truth, it is a perverse folly to sup- 
 pose that any other way of redemption is open to 
 man. Still however, this truth, which was to the 
 Greeks foolishness, continues to be so to those 
 who admit the great facts of Christianity, while 
 they know nothing of its divine characteristics of 
 grace and mercy, and the mysterious peculiarity 
 of its method of reconciliation. To such persons 
 it may and will appear foolishness ; for to them it 
 must present itself as a scheme of operose con- 
 trivance for an object very plain and direct. To 
 overturn an absurd mythological system going to 
 decay of itself, and to lay down new rules, how- 
 ever excellent, for the guidance of moral conduct, 
 or to elevate the mind to higher and more spiri- 
 tual objects, or to accomplish any other more 
 general purpose of benefit or blessing to man, 
 suggests no adequate cause for the marvellous 
 and mysterious transaction of the suffering and 
 death of the Son of God in the flesh. Now to 
 
56 MANNER AND MATTER OF PREACHING. 
 
 combat this carnal prejudice — to give the appro- 
 priate explication of this work of infinite love — to 
 shew the necessity of a satisfaction, and the abso- 
 lute inability of man to make it — to exhibit the 
 restoration wrought by -the satisfaction made, and 
 the righteousness imputed to us through faith in 
 its efficacy — to lead us to the contemplation of the 
 unapproachable holiness of the divine character, 
 attributes, and laws — and to display the deity and 
 ofiices of the Holy Spirit in His regenerating and 
 sanctifying power, together with the virtues flow- 
 ing from His operation on the heart and life — these 
 are the ends and aims which form the true design 
 of preaching, the proper subjects of our daily 
 supplications, and the common ground of commu- 
 nion and sympathy between pastors and their 
 flocks. When the pious minister sees the awful 
 enumeration of his duties and difiiculties extended 
 before him, and is conscious that he can " do 
 nothing of himself to help himself," much less to 
 help others ; and that his preaching, however 
 splendid, cannot be operative unless God works 
 with him ; he feels liis own to be a special case for 
 prayer — prayer excited and impelled by the deep 
 conviction of the utter fruitlessness of all attempts 
 to gain for gospel truths an entrance into the 
 bosom, unless he brings a warrant from the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
MANNER AND MATTER OF PREACHING. 57 
 
 Deity dying in the flesh as the commutation for 
 man's eternal punishment — Oh, how great a mys- 
 tery ! Only to be brought into proportion with 
 its object, by unfolding sin in all its dimensions : 
 deep as hell, high as heaven ; covering with its 
 breadth the circuit of the world, and stretching its 
 line through all its successive generations. But 
 to carry the sense of this depravity home to its 
 seat in the bosom, is the great difficulty ; and yet, 
 unless this be done, the first stone of Christian 
 edification cannot be laid. It is for want of this 
 bottom, that so many fair and specious edifices 
 are unstable and vacillating. Their foundations 
 are too shallow. They are in their proper place 
 amongst the palaces of the worms. "Thy pomp 
 is brought down to the ground, and the noise 
 of thy viols ; the worm is spread under thee and 
 the worms cover thee." 
 
 How difficult, and near to impossibility, is it to 
 get men to measure themselves by the standard of 
 the gospel ! Blessed indeed is that ministry by 
 which this has, in any degree, been brought about 
 among those who are under it. We cling to the 
 folly of " measuring ourselves by ourselves," and 
 in so doing, we put ourselves in a state of revolt 
 from the sovereign of the universe, who has de- 
 clared " his ways" to be " not as our ways," and 
 has pronounced his will, and published his charter 
 
58 FALSE ESTIMATES AND IMPRESSIONS 
 
 authoritatively and plainly. This propensity to 
 settle a rule for ourselves in deciding the moral 
 quality of actions independently of Scripture, and 
 the immutable rescripts of our great judge and 
 legislator, manifests itself throughout all the grades 
 and classes of society. Its branching influence 
 casts an unholy shade between the creator and the 
 creature, deeper and darker as moral character 
 descends ; but hiding, more or less, from the view 
 of the best and wisest among the moral, and even 
 religious, the pure irradiation of divine goodness. 
 
 This fatal security is exemplified in desperate 
 forms of resistance to the humbHng requisitions of 
 the gospel, whithersoever we turn our regards. 
 All humanity reels under the intoxicating delu- 
 sion. Because we walk erect among our own 
 species, we trust we can walk upright before God. 
 The fallacious rule by which we thus take the 
 measure of ourselves speaks " peace where there 
 is no peace," and reconciles man to his ruin. 
 Even among the outcasts of society, this decep- 
 tious measurement of ourselves with ourselves, 
 affords the same treacherous solace — a scale of 
 value where no value is. The world which is at 
 enmity with God, and no better, with respect to 
 him, than a band of transgressors against his 
 government, violators of his laws, and contemners 
 of his authority, set up among themselves stand- 
 
TO BE MET AND CONFUTED. 59 
 
 ards of worth and character, founded on recipro- 
 cities of service or benevolence to each other, with 
 little or no regard to Him who is the source of all 
 good, working what is good in their own eyes for 
 the sake of themselves, and founding upon these 
 interchanges of benefit high claims to excellence, 
 independently of that which alone infuses good- 
 ness into any action — the devotedness of the 
 heart to God in doing it, and the derivation of its 
 motive from pure allegiance to his holy will. 
 
 Now the character above drawn is applicable to 
 the great mass of nominal Christians, and men of 
 virtue in the common estimation of their fellows. 
 And it is applicable also to a very large class who 
 have a show of piety, recommended by an ele- 
 gance and pathos by which the world is de- 
 luded and misled. They frame to themselves 
 an image of an indulgent deity overlooking, 
 out of pure consideration for our infirmities, our 
 violations of his holy will. They have a theism of 
 their own making. Under an illusory representa- 
 tion of a God, whom they crown vdth an unscrip- 
 tural mercy, they proceed with much allowance 
 for others, and much complacency with them- 
 selves, to dress up a sentimental creed : expatia- 
 ting largely upon the advantage of a cheerful 
 rehgion, and devout feelings, founded on principles 
 of nature, and confirmed by the testimony of the 
 
60 FALSE ESTIMATES AND IMPRESSIONS 
 
 lieart. They not only measure themselves by 
 themselves, but by themselves also, and their own 
 standard of goodness, they measure the attributes 
 of God. " Thou thoughtest that I was altogether 
 such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, 
 and set them in order before thine eyes." 
 
 "What makes the dealing with this large de- 
 scription of aliens from the Gospel so difficult, is 
 this : that they have a great deal to say for them- 
 selves. Profligate men and gross sinners have no 
 defence to bring forward; but these have the wis- 
 dom of this world on their side. The decent phi- 
 losopher and the sober infidel have often at their 
 command the resources of secular learning, and 
 the provinces of genius and fancy. Still, however, 
 the faithful minister may safely go forth against all 
 these apparent advantages. But he must carry 
 the Gospel with him. His battle-cry must be, 
 " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon !" and an 
 invisible weapon, furnished from heaven's arsenal, 
 will make it of little comparative importance what 
 may be the amount of his human means. He 
 must keep close by the side of Scripture ; and the 
 Captain of our salvation, who has " trodden the 
 wine-press alone, and who has the stains of victory 
 on his raiment," will be with him in the conflict. 
 The more subtle and plausible the arguments of 
 the world, the more exact and correct must be 
 
TO BE MET AND CONFUTED. 
 
 61 
 
 his exhibition of the Gospel, that the opposition 
 between the two systems may be nakedly appa- 
 rent. His single resource is the preaching of 
 Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and the teaching 
 through Him and Him crucified, of every truth 
 and precept, doctrinal and practical, however mo- 
 dified or applied, in expansion or in detail. 
 
 Notvdthstanding this necessary circumscription 
 within the bounds of the blessed Gospel, the 
 spiritual minister will find his " feet set in a large 
 room." The Gospel is no contracted space. Christ 
 Himself has shewed how various and specific are 
 its bearings on all the relations of life. Though 
 all the lines must radiate from a common centre, 
 the circumference is co-extensive with the utmost 
 range of charity and duty. There must, never- 
 theless, in all evangelical preaching, be an unity 
 of design, a leading subject of attention, a prevail- 
 ing tenor in every discourse from the lips of a 
 faithful minister ; otherwise the salt will lose its 
 proper savour. The motive, the means, the pur- 
 pose, the crown of every argument, threat, pro- 
 mise, and persuasion, must be — Christ Jesus our 
 Lord, His blood. His expiation, His righteousness, 
 made ours by faith, which is the product of grace, 
 and the spring of holiness. Now when all this is 
 made properly to bear upon the false estimate of 
 ourselves to which allusion has above been made, 
 
62 EFFICACY OF SOUND PREACHING. 
 
 and brought into correct contrast with our natural 
 delinquency and the salutary terrors of an uncom- 
 promising law, stout indeed must be the heart of 
 him who can, under the perpetual pressure of 
 these topics, continue to take into his own hands 
 the adjustment of his claims to pardon or reward, 
 independently of the revealed method of grace 
 and salvation ; or who can, with greater hardiness, 
 presume to settle the balance of Divine mercy and 
 justice, by bringing both to a measiure below per- 
 fection ; or who, with greater hardiness still, by 
 his own arbitrary scale of measurement, can bring 
 himself within the grade of an accepted sinner, by 
 comparing himself with a lower rate of character ; 
 or take comfort from the consideration of the 
 average character of those by whom he is sur- 
 rounded, and in whose general worth he shares. 
 
 When, by the holy art of the preacher and the 
 pure administration of the Word, a proselyte is 
 made from these idols to the God of the Scrip- 
 tures, a new life is opened to the soul, and a new 
 scenery is spread out before the chastened ima- 
 gination : the world's homage and its arbitrary 
 standards, the shrines of human praise, and the 
 columns raised to virtue irrespective of the wiU 
 of Jehovah, — all that intercepts His glory, or pre- 
 tends to a partnership with Him in goodness, 
 falls :o the ground. " The day of the Lord of 
 
EFFICACY OF SOUND PREACHING. 63 
 
 Hosts is upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are 
 high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of 
 Bashan and upon all high mountains, and upon 
 all the hills that are lifted up ; and upon every 
 high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon 
 all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant 
 pictures. And the loftiness of man is bowed 
 down, and the haughtiness of man is made low." A 
 vista is thus opened into eternity; and the " holy 
 mountain," where God has " made Himself an 
 everlasting name," where " righteousness goeth 
 forth as brightness, and salvation as a lamp that 
 burneth," — bursts upon the view. 
 
 The privilege with which our Church invests its 
 ministers of addressing the people twice on every 
 Lord's day from the pulpit, carries with it a great 
 weight of responsibility. It gives them an exten- 
 sive jurisdiction over mind and character, and 
 makes them the stewards and dispensers of ines- 
 timable treasures. According as the power is 
 used or abused, it conveys or intercepts the best 
 gifts of God to man. If rightly and profitably 
 exercised, it may be efficacious in promoting and 
 securing the spiritual and moral health of the 
 country. Nor is it easy to imagine, while our 
 ecclesiastical constitution lasts, a declension of the 
 mind and spirit of the nation, without a deficiency 
 of strength or will in the clergy to avail themselves 
 
64 EFFICACY OF SOUND PREACHING. 
 
 of their advantages and opportunities. If error, 
 schism, and dissent are fearfully extending them- 
 selves, it well behoves the ministers of our Esta- 
 blishment to consider such a posture of the Church 
 as calling upon them to question themselves seri- 
 ously concerning the follovring particulars : — Whe- 
 ther, in their discourses from the pulpit, they have 
 kept sufficiently close to the record in the matter 
 and the spirit of their teaching ; always presenting 
 the plan of the Gospel in its integrity, without 
 allowing any single doctrine, especially of the 
 more speculative kind, to stand out in undue pro- 
 portion and relief; whether they have been suffi- 
 ciently careful to avoid all over-statements or 
 unqualified propositions, either for the sake of 
 I'hetorical effect, or for the sake of giving an 
 exaggerated importance to a • favourite tenet ; 
 whether their instructions have been drawn purely 
 from Holy Writ, without any admixture of tra- 
 ditional dogmas or the insulated positions of human 
 authority ; whether the sinner's way to Christ, and 
 the willingness and sufficiency of the Saviour, have 
 been made very plain and attractive to their hear- 
 ers, and set forth in all the fulness and sweetness 
 and freeness of the Gospel invitation, without 
 suffering it to be forgotten that to rest in sin is 
 the ruin of the soul ; whether instant resort to 
 Christ, without waiting for self-preparation, but 
 
EFFICACY OF SOUND PREACHING. 65 
 
 with tearful and prayerful contrition have been 
 enough insisted upon ; whether, where the hap- 
 piness of heaven has been the theme, a constant 
 reference to Christ as the way thither has imparted 
 substance and reality to the vision ; whether tlie 
 doctrine of salvation by Christ has been, with 
 sufficient constancy, coupled in statement with 
 the defilement, power, and forfeiture of sin ; 
 whether union with Christ has been duly con- 
 trasted with worldliness of spirit; whether our 
 sins imputed to the Saviour, and the Saviour's 
 righteousness imputed to the sinner, have been 
 set forth as the sum, substance, and compendium 
 of the mysterious scheme of our redemption ; 
 whether the office of the Holy Spirit, and His 
 whole work in regenerating, sanctifying, succoiu-- 
 ing, solacing, and strengthening the inward man, 
 and especially in revealing Christ to the heart of a 
 sinner till the edifice of faith, hope, and divine 
 love has been built up and established within him, 
 has had due and distinct consideration ; whether 
 principles, duties, and motives have been defined, 
 compared, and described as they ought to be in 
 the exhibition of Christian practice ; whether in 
 their discourses they have, by applicatory, special, 
 and searclung appeals to individual cases, and the 
 secret convictions of conscience, brought the reli- 
 gion of the Gospel sufficiently close to the hearts 
 
66 THE preacher's advantages 
 
 of their hearers. All these inquiries, in this hour 
 of spiritual vacillation, the ministers of the Esta- 
 blishment are strongly invited to put seriously £ind 
 impartially to their own hearts, as they hope to 
 pass their accounts at the great day of reckoning. 
 The heart of man is very prone to curiosity and 
 wonder ; but he passes over the greatest of all 
 wonders, his own insensibility to the awful predi- 
 cament in which he stands. Is it not wonderful 
 that, notwithstanding the powerful means of im- 
 pression and persuasion with which the ministers 
 of the Gospel are furnished, and the warnings and 
 arguments which every passing day bears along 
 with it ; notwithstanding the long retinue of pain, 
 bereavement, disappointment, anguish, sorrow, 
 and death which come in the train of almost all 
 our movements and arrangements ; that, notwith- 
 standing all this, the oracles of God concerning 
 us, and the eternity into which we are so quickly 
 passing, neither attract nor ternfy, nor in any man- 
 ner influence the far greater part of us ! Yet so it 
 is. Pass through our parishes on the day set apart 
 by the ordinances of God and man for the worship 
 of the great Creator, and observe how little of the 
 holy commandment is legible in the countenance, 
 the talk, and walk, of professing Christians, and 
 what an utter unconsciousness of the claims of the 
 day prevails among the vast and vain majority. 
 
AND TEMPTATIONS. 
 
 67 
 
 Now if all this may be explained by referring 
 it to the enmity of the carnal mind, still that the 
 carnal mind should continue so unamenable to the 
 preacher's faculty, with all the advantages and 
 opportunities that favour him, and with God's 
 blessing promised to faithful ministrations, remains 
 to be accounted for. It is a fact which forces the 
 mind upon doubting whether there may not be in 
 the general character of pulpit discourses some 
 prevailing defect which hinders their efficacy. It 
 is a difficult and perhaps a delicate subject ; and 
 certainly one upon which it is becoming to speak 
 with much self-distrust ; but it has sometimes 
 occurred to the writer of these pages that one at 
 least of the obstructions to the success of preaching 
 is an unseemly effort to acquire fame by discourses 
 distinguished by their eloquence. The periodical 
 publication of sermons as examples of fine compo- 
 sition, exhibited for the sake of entertainment or 
 imitation, has created an excitement ensnaring to 
 the clergy of the establishment, and a most ungodly 
 perversion of the proper end and aim of preaching. 
 The people also are spoiled for recipients of in- 
 struction. They are taught to consider themselves 
 as arbiters in a literary contest rather than as 
 / scholars and catechumens, whose place it is to 
 listen to instructors and interpreters. Pulpit 
 eloquence is not a phrase of correct sound in the 
 
68 
 
 SIMPLICITY IN PREACHING. 
 
 ear of a real Christian. The only ambition 
 proper for a preacher is to make the words of 
 inspiration shine and burn through his own simple 
 and transparent elocution. It is honour enough 
 to wait upon the Gospel, and to be the medium of 
 transmitting its sacred effulgence. 
 
 It is no exaggerated statement to say that the 
 greater number of the discourses preached to the 
 people of this land on every Lord's day in our 
 churches are not understood by more than one 
 fourth of the hearers assembled. It is indeed a 
 great refinement of skiU to reduce a subject of the 
 highest dignity within the compass of a plain 
 intelligence, without subtracting from its just ele- 
 vation ; but if to save the substance a sacrifice 
 must be made in the mode of conveying it, 
 necessity must decide the judgment ; as where a 
 life may be saved by swimming, the mariner hesi- 
 tates not to cast his garments into the sea. But a 
 compromise like this is seldom required in dealing 
 with this great subject ; for those who have sounded 
 the secrets of a language well know that the com- 
 monest phraseology may under skilful management 
 afford materials for new and happy combinations. 
 It has been observed of Athanasius, that in his 
 discourses he was every where clear, succinct, and 
 simple ; but nevertheless penetrating and lofty. 
 In truth, the two fundamental objects of arresting 
 
SIMPLICITY IN PREACHING, 69 
 
 the attention and informing the intellect are of 
 necessity inseparable. Admiration may be pur- 
 chased at the cheap expence of sounding syllables 
 and polished periods, but the heart is only to be 
 won through the understanding by thoughts that 
 flow from unsophisticated springs, taking no foreign 
 tinge from the medium through which they pass — 
 the offspring of godly emotion in the dress of artless 
 expression. The younger ministers will perhaps 
 excuse the remark that sermons often suffer detri- 
 ment from excess of ornament. Divine topics will 
 not bear to be ambitiously treated ; they perish by 
 too much human handUng. They are plants 
 brought from a far country, which flourish most in 
 their native mould. Man's curiosity and inter- 
 meddling often intercept their grand and simple 
 impression. As long as we are true to Scripture, 
 it matters not what becomes of system. The 
 practical excellence of the minister is to enunciate 
 the great verities of religion distinctly, yet loosely, 
 as they lie in Scripture ; to exhibit them in com- 
 pany with each other, without attempting to coerce 
 them into agreement ; — which is God's, and not 
 man's business. 
 
 Not only is plainness of language, sentiment, 
 and exposition necessary to profitable preaching, 
 but plainness also in the subject. Topics very 
 proper for discussion in proper places and on 
 
70 
 
 SIMPLICITY IN PREACHING. 
 
 proper occasions, may be unsuitable to tbe pulpit. 
 Criticism, suggestions of improvement of our trans- 
 lation, metaphysical discussions, learned doubts 
 and cavils, are always unprofitable, sometimes dan- 
 gerous, in discourses before congregations where 
 the greater part are illiterate, or little advanced in 
 Scriptural knowledge. They may be proper sub- 
 jects for private communication, and sometimes for 
 domestic instruction, but can never be trusted 
 abroad. Their tendency is to engender " strifes of 
 words " and vain disputations, and to scatter equi- 
 vocal seeds to be blown about by every wind till 
 they settle on congenial soils, and vegetate with 
 unwholesome luxuriance. 
 
 It is truly affirmed to be the duty of a minister 
 of the'Gospel to preach the whole counsel of God ; 
 but there is danger in vmderstanding the proposi- 
 tion in too wide a sense. As far as the counsel of 
 God is clearly revealed in Scripture, it must un- 
 dergo no defalcation in its passage through the 
 preacher's lips. But beyond what is clearly 
 revealed, we are not admitted to the mind 
 and counsel of God. The proposition which 
 assumes any article of belief beyond this, is 
 to be considered as based on human authority. 
 There are points of speculative difficulty which 
 may be said to be intimated rather than declared 
 in Holy Writ ; respecting which much controversy 
 
SIMPLICITY IN PREACHING. 
 
 71 
 
 is abroad ; and whicli are accepted and understood 
 differently by different persons, and with various 
 degrees of latitude and limitation. It is spiritual 
 prudence to leave these in their sacred repository, 
 rather than to shape them into dogmas, or to bring 
 them forward before the multitude to exercise and 
 inflame contention, and to lead off the mind 
 from the plain and urgent truths which should be 
 bound up in the behef of the humble Christian, 
 and regulate his life and conversation. 
 
 The pure well-spring of God's everlasting de- 
 crees lies in the deep recesses of uncommunicated 
 wisdom, there to be visited, if visited they must 
 be, with prostrate and adoring awe ; but let it not 
 be drawn from for popular use to cause the com- 
 mon channels of instruction to overflow their mar- 
 gins, and pom" their excess upon the saturated soil. 
 Happy it is for the welfare of souls that what are 
 to many minds propositions of difficult digestion, 
 are not necessarily connected with the reception 
 of those truths wliich are essential to the believer's 
 hope, comfort, and assurance. They may neither 
 involve the terms of our salvation, nor supply any 
 new motives to the love of God, or to the practice 
 of Christian duties. 
 
 That seems to be the best preaching which best 
 acquaints us with our diseases and their proper 
 remedies ; — which first puts the corruption of our 
 
72 
 
 SIMPLICITY IN PREACHING. 
 
 nature full in our sight, and then directs our eyes 
 to " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of 
 the world ; " — which makes our faith in him and 
 him crucified our justification whereby we have 
 peace with God ; — which helps forward the com- 
 merce of the believer's soul with the Sanctifier and 
 Comforter ; and which dissipates every dependence, 
 but a dependence on the Cross of Christ. 
 
 Though all teaching from the pulpit should be 
 plain, it must not be plain by keeping from view 
 the mysteries of our redemption. It must not be 
 plain by representing the Saviour's only or chief 
 design, in taking upon himself ' our form and 
 flesh, to have been the introduction of a purer 
 code of morals ; neither must it be plain by incul- 
 cating moraUty independently of the principle of 
 Christian obedience, and the love of God in the 
 soul ; but plain by a simple adherence to Scrip- 
 ture divinity distinctly revealed, and by the adop- 
 tion of a pure and unpretending diction, such as 
 the homilies of our church have so well exem- 
 plified : plain, by making the Bible its own expo- 
 sitor as far as may be, by means of its parallelism 
 with itself, and the analogy of its texts, and by 
 pointedly applying its contents so as to make it 
 " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, and for 
 instruction in righteousness." Plainness in this 
 sense and acceptation, is the hinge on which the 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE WEEK-DAY's LECTURE. 73 
 
 success of the preacher turns, where the ordinary 
 mind is bi-ought under his instruction. 
 
 But if plainness is necessary in discourses from 
 the pulpit on the Lord's day, it is still more neces- 
 sary to the useful effect of the week-day's lecture. 
 It has often occurred to the writer of these pages, 
 that if those lectures condescended more than is 
 usually the case, to the proficiency and capacities 
 of the audience assembled to hear them, they 
 would probably bear more abundant fruit. The 
 week-day's lecture is a most important feature of 
 pastoral ministration. But there is a notable 
 deficiency in the conduct of it. It is too de- 
 tached from that general train and consecutive 
 order which are so agreeable to the spirit and 
 character of our church-services. It is not enough 
 considered as part and parcel of a system of ex- 
 position and instruction. By these lectures the 
 fasts and festivals, and other holy seasons of special 
 commemoration appointed by our church, Ijnng 
 under practical neglect, might be substantially 
 recognised, and converted into new means of 
 grace and spiritual edification. Perhaps, too, 
 nothing would tend more directly and effec- 
 tually to render the Lord's day service a pro- 
 gressive step in the Christian walk, than the dedi- 
 cation by the parochial minister of one morning or 
 evening in every week to a preparatory lecture on 
 
 E 
 
74 PROPER USE OF THE WEEK-DAY's LECTURE. 
 
 the Lessons and Psalms of the ensuing Sunday. 
 If any human means can avail to give the congre- 
 gation an interest in these parts of the service, 
 the practice here recommended appears to be 
 excellently adapted to promote that most desi- 
 rable object. Who that delights in the sympathy 
 of worship, has not, with much sadness of feeling, 
 observed, as he casts a look around during the 
 recitation of the Psalms, while the lips of the less 
 instructed part of the assembly have been moving 
 in decent conformity to the rubric, the vacant 
 look, the vagrant eye, the attention divided among 
 the crowd, not knowing where to rest ; there being 
 in truth, no points of contact between these holy 
 compositions, and the minds of the persons en- 
 gaged in the recitation of them. And yet in this 
 beautiful portion of the sacred volume is con- 
 tained, partly within, and partly \vithout its mystic 
 veil, the moral of life, the mystery of redeeming 
 grace, the spiritual history of the world, the travel 
 of Jehovah through the wonders of his creation, 
 perfect lessons of vvisdom, breathing sentiments of 
 divine love, reflections full of experience on the 
 vanity of human cares and human counsels, all that 
 can alarm the wicked, revive the penitent, console 
 the afflicted, and confirm the faithful. Sometimes, 
 from within the shell of the holy minstrel, oracu- 
 lar sounds attract the ear ; sometimes beneath the 
 
PROPER USE OF THE WEEK-DAY's LECTURE. 75 
 
 shining surface of its poetical beauties, we catch a 
 glance into the recesses of its sacred interior ; 
 sometimes, by sudden transition from earthly to 
 heavenly things, we are carried to the border of 
 the invisible world, following the footsteps of the 
 Messiah, and the dawning anticipations of the 
 gospel. Surely such things as these are proper 
 subjects of special teaching, and caU loudly for the 
 catechist and the weekly lecturer. In other parts 
 of the sacred record, the subject is usually com- 
 pleted, and the sense single and entire. But if we 
 read the Psalms without a view to their double 
 sense and expectant accomplishment, we cannot be 
 said to understand them as we ought. Nor is it 
 forgotten, in this recommendation, that, in carrying 
 it into exercise, caution is necessary. Evil is every 
 where. Human infirmity accompanies human agency 
 in its best things. Spiritual refinement is one thing, 
 and spiritual discernment another. When we pur- 
 sue parallels between earthly and heavenly things 
 with the zeal which is apt to accompany such 
 discoveries, we are sometimes led on to a littleness 
 and fancifulness of detail unsuited to the majesty 
 of Scriptural truths. 
 
 If sermons should particularize, in order to 
 reach and affect the heart and conscience, it seems 
 to follow that a minister should preach his own. 
 The matter of this applicatory style of preaching 
 E 2 
 
76 INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PULPIT 
 
 should come from the observation, fresh and local, 
 of passing events and existing characters, having 
 the raciness of the hour, and the bloom of unbor- 
 rowed thoughts ; nor does it seem to go beyond 
 the exigence to affirm that he who is incapable of 
 composing a sermon answering the occasions as 
 they arise, has mistaken his proper destination in 
 entering into the service of the church. It might 
 not be for the benefit of the church, to put every 
 actual minister under the necessity of making his 
 own sermons ; but it might be well for the church 
 and its sacred cause, if the incapacity of so doing 
 were to operate as a barrier to future ordinations. 
 
 General discourses, which touch principles and 
 manners in many points, press with an equable 
 bearing, and unfelt impression. They distribute 
 their weight so as to press nowhere. The indivi- 
 dual escapes in the crowd, and in the effort of a 
 corporate resistance, avoids all personal exposure. 
 But this is not as it should be. The individual 
 should feel the preacher's hand ; not in the touch 
 of personal contact, but in the discomposure, if 
 not the laceration, of that subtile web which the 
 sophistry of egotism has spun around him. His 
 particular, if not his individual case, should be 
 laid bare to his own cognizance and silent con- 
 viction. He should feel himself, in his own view 
 of his own character, sequestered and set apart, to 
 
SHOULD HAVE A PERSONAL BEARING; 77 
 
 abide the trial of a solemn intro-spection. In the 
 solitude of his separate accountabihty, he must be 
 compelled to enter into controversy with himself. 
 He must be driven to face the storm of his guilty 
 recollections, and that too without any hope but 
 in the single resource of a lost sinner. Thus it is 
 the proper business of the preacher who is true to 
 his great undertaking, to make each man think of 
 himself, according to what he knows of himself; 
 and to give him, in that knowledge of his sinful 
 self, the true dimensions of his Saviour's love. 
 
 The above seem to be the great ends of a gospel 
 ministry, and to promote those ends no human 
 collateral means appear to be more conducive than 
 frequent periodical meetings among the zealous 
 clergy of the Establishment, to confer and resolve 
 upon the course most expedient to be pursued in 
 carrying on the work of their common ministry. 
 By communicating the results of their several 
 experiences, and ascertaining the comparative 
 magnitudes of prevaihng vices in their respective 
 parishes and neighbourhoods, a combination of 
 effort may be dii-ected towards this or that quar- 
 ter, where hostihty to the cause of vital religion 
 is principally gathering its strength ; that so the 
 glory of the Redeemer, and the extension of his 
 kingdom, may be efficaciously forwarded. 
 
 But although the most effectual use of the 
 
78 BUT SHOULD BE GROUNDED 
 
 preacher's privilege is to make very near ap- 
 proaches to the individual bosom by displaying 
 before the consciences of men their ovra likenesses, 
 a more general exhibition of our duties towards 
 God and man, with large and abstract expositions 
 of the qualities, motives, and consequences of hu- 
 man actions, constitutes a very material part of 
 the business of the evangelical preacher. We 
 have said the more of his doctrinal province (al- 
 though we have chiefly, in this Essay, objects of 
 practical reform in contemplation) from the strong 
 assurance which we feel, that no sermon can be 
 profitable or safe, wherein the Saviour, either in 
 his character, his cross, or his glory, is not kept 
 prominently in view, and wherein every thing re- 
 lating to him is not immediately borrowed from 
 Holy Scripture unwarped by the traditions or pre- 
 tensions of fallible human interpreters. 
 
 In this general exaction of duties, moderation, 
 in the best sense of that term, and a kind of 
 spiritual policy should characterize the zeal of the 
 preacher. The serious call which our Christian 
 profession makes upon us must be fearlessly and 
 faithfully enforced ; but the character of our re- 
 ligion need not, and ought not to be brought into 
 conflict and collision with the cheerfuhiess of life 
 in all its forms, without regard to seasons or cir- 
 cumstances ; nor should gaiety, simply as gaiety, 
 
ON MOTIVES OF DIVINE LOVE. 
 
 79 
 
 be put under the ban of an austere and inflexible 
 interdict. When this is done the heart droops ; 
 the resolution falters; a gloom overspreads the 
 temper and deportment ; heaven appears to frown 
 upon human happiness and to delight in the sor- 
 row of the creature. By thus dealing with the 
 subject, rehgion is wronged, and the heart estranged 
 from its charities and comforts. Christ's religion 
 is a religion of love. If we are made sensible of 
 the sanctity and serenity which it is its tendency 
 to introduce into our duties and employments, 
 correcting and purifying all the purposes and pro- 
 pensities of the heart, shaping all our delights so 
 as to point them to God and eternity, making 
 sensuaHty distasteful, multiplying innocent joys, 
 facilitating self-conquest, attenuating care, disarm- 
 ing disappointment, and taking out the sting of our 
 daily vexations, we are then on a principle of 
 calculation convinced how greatly we are gainers 
 every way by following Christ, and forsaking what 
 he forbids. It is then that we understand his 
 saying *' M/yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
 To take the Christian by the hand and lead him, 
 by the lamp of the gospel, through the labyrinths 
 of Hfe and its multiform duties and relations, so 
 often perplexing to the conscience ; to shew him 
 the method whereby his sacred obligations are to 
 be reconciled with his worldly business and social 
 
80 THE BEAUTY AND SANCTITY 
 
 duties ; to teach him to bring religion home to his 
 hearth and his bosom, and make it speak out in his 
 ordinary deportment, is that task of the Christian 
 instructor, in which he experiences the greatest dif- 
 ficulty, the severest conflict, and the sweetest reward. 
 
 §IX. 
 
 When the mind of the Chi-istian philanthropist 
 expatiates among the fields and prospects of re- 
 ligious privileges and pleasures, the eye turns 
 naturally towards the spires and towers of our 
 national church with affection and veneration. It 
 is in the arms of this venerable mother that all the 
 opportunities, means, and advantages which have 
 been above discoursed upon, are folded, cherished, 
 and for the present, secured. If the day is to ar- 
 rive when she must surrender them, where then is 
 the system or communion upon earth which can 
 give them entertainment or effect. The winds that 
 blow where they list will scatter them abroad — the 
 sport of every blast of vain doctrine — tossed to and 
 fro in the vortices of the voluntary tuhiult. Take 
 away a regular and independent church ministry and 
 you take away the very life and purpose of preach- 
 ing. When the people choose their instructors, 
 the instructor must receive instruction, and give 
 it back to the source of its emanation with the 
 circularity of a garden-fountain. The system in- 
 
OF OUR CHURCH-ESTABLISHMENT. 81 
 
 volves an absurdity, if system it can be called, and 
 not rather an * arrangement for general confusion.' 
 
 Thus has our argument brought us to the 
 vestibule of the sanctuary, — its " beautiful gate," 
 and its pillars of brass on the right hand and on 
 the left — the 'Jachin' and the ' Boaz' of our 
 temple. Before these it is hardly possible to stand 
 without a sentiment of awe. The constitutional 
 establishment of our church is, at this hour, a 
 spectacle of extraordinary interest. When we 
 look back through our history to the date of its 
 commencement, its coincidence with the birth of 
 our constitutional liberties, and its agency in the 
 developement of the national spirit, character, and 
 greatness, it is at once surprising and humbling 
 to observe the weak hold of these arguments 
 against the fickleness, conceit, and ambition which 
 adhere to our nature, and defy all the lessons of 
 experience. The church is menaced, though 
 every principle of permanence which human in- 
 telUgence could devise has entered into its com- 
 position ; — incorporated with the state ; fixed into 
 the soil ; wrought into the frame and substance of 
 our laws ; majestic in its aspect ; mild in its ordi- 
 nances; spiritual in its oftices ; sober in its zeal; 
 sound and circumspect in its doctrines ; in stature, 
 stabiHty, and beauty, pre-eminent among the 
 congregations of the devout upon earth. 
 
 E 5 
 
82 THE BEAUTY AND SANCTITY 
 
 This church, the nurse of conservative pru- 
 dence, and the meet companion of good government, 
 is, in this favoured country, in strict union with 
 the secular pohty. " Our church is Protestant ; 
 our state is Protestant ; our government is Pro- 
 testant in all its parts." They have the same 
 spirit ; the same counsel ; the same fear. They 
 have had the same beginning, and \vill have the 
 same end. They have been " lovely and pleasant 
 in their lives, and in their deaths they will not be 
 divided." Their union does not stand on a prin- 
 ciple of mercenary dependence, official decorum, 
 or political expediency ; but on an identicalness 
 of views, and a deep-seated correspondence of 
 character, temper and habit. Looking no further 
 than to the visible agency of man, we may presume 
 to say that the features of liberty, their common 
 parent, mark and identify their origin. The con- 
 tract of their solemn partnership has the seal of 
 nature and of truth. 
 
 Wliere are we to look for the principle of this 
 connexion between church and state ? Is it not in 
 the nature of the individual man ? Is not religion 
 tfce founder of his character — the source of his 
 actions, habits, and impressions ? And is he not 
 a compound being related to two worlds ? And 
 are his afiairs ever rightly managed here without 
 respect to an hereafter ? Can he be safely left. 
 
OF OUR CHURCH-ESTABLISHMENT. 83 
 
 without a formulary of faith or worship, to himself 
 and his mis-directed reason ? Man, the solitary, 
 the social, or the political man — man in his indi- 
 vidual, his aggregate, or his corporate capacity, can 
 neither be understood nor estimated in separa- 
 tion from religion. The union of his moral 
 and pohtical, with his religious state, is so far 
 from being the result of human contrivance, that 
 no human contrivance can make it otherwise than 
 it is. We do not say that there may not be a 
 state without a state-religion ; but we contend 
 that, in such a case, the propensities of the heart 
 towards religion, being excluded from their due 
 working in such a system, the laws are without 
 their proper force, society without its proper ce- 
 ment, the government without its proper support ; 
 and discord, discontent, and dismemberment must 
 be the speedy consequence, unless something pecu- 
 liar in the circumstances of such a people should 
 be strong enough to take off the pressure from its 
 internal springs, and give its energies a determina- 
 tion to exterior objects. 
 
 " Religion and its fruits," says Hooker, " cannot 
 be planted without a spiritual ministry, nor grow 
 of its own accord." But a spiritual ministry must 
 be a body of persons separated from the cares and 
 concerns of the world, and devoted to the study 
 of divine wisdom, and the dissemination of Chris- 
 
84 THE BEAUTY AND SANCTITY 
 
 tian truth ; and it is difficult to conceive how such 
 can be maintained but by a provision made for 
 them independently of secular labour, and in pure 
 recompence of their religious duties ; or how the 
 dignity, efficiency, learning, and freedom of such 
 an order of persons can be made to flourish under 
 an elective, popular, and eleemosynarj' system. 
 
 That there is a necessity for an outward, visible 
 church in every political community, with its 
 established ordinances, doctrines, and discipline, 
 to uphold the uniform exercise of social worship, 
 a correspondence of religious principle, and a 
 standard of moral opinion, is a truth which has its 
 testimony in every man's bosom, and is confirmed 
 by the voice of all antiquity. The religions of the 
 heathen world were religions of. rites and cere- 
 monies in which there was little or nothing of a 
 dogmatic theology. They freely allowed an inter- 
 community of worship to the gods of other na- 
 tions, so long as the established divinities were 
 not denied by those who claimed this adoption 
 and allowance for their own. StiU the local, na- 
 tional, and tutelary deities of the heathens were 
 held entitled to the honours of state worship ; 
 which worship was protected by the magistrate, 
 and formed the established religion of each com- 
 monwealth. If then for the creeds and forms of 
 a false system, religious orders and a privileged 
 
OF OUR CHURCH-ESTABLISHMENT. 85 
 
 priesthood were established, shall not we, the dis- 
 ciples of a perfect teacher, uphold the ministry of 
 his saving truths, to hand down the mysteries 
 " once delivered to the saints," and to preserve 
 the records of that dispensation, and the treasures 
 of that grace whereby " we are made heirs ac- 
 cording to the hope of eternal life ? " 
 
 If in their general application these arguments 
 are good, surely in the case of our own church 
 they lose none of their weight. It calls upon us 
 for our fostering care. As well as our civil con- 
 stitution, it is the acquisition of long struggle and 
 heroic sacrifice. It is a glorious Christian con- 
 quest for which good, wise, and faithful men have 
 been profuse of their blood. It is the prize, the 
 greatest in human annals, of meek courage^and 
 intrepid moderation. 
 
 A conquest so gained is worth preserving. And 
 this can only be done by faithful watchmen well 
 selected for the duty and prepared for its defence 
 by " the armour of righteousness on the right 
 hand and on the left." Still, blessed be the 
 church's true Patron, it has been brought down, 
 on the surface of a troubled stream to the times 
 in which we live, with all its creeds doctrines, and 
 ordinances entire. Still the majority of believers 
 in the gospel agree in the importance of a common 
 worship, without which a church would be a jum- 
 
86 BY WHAT OUR CHURCH IS MENACED : 
 
 ble of conflicting creeds and discordant liturgies. 
 Still they agree that an establishment impUes 
 community of worship, and community of worship 
 an uniformity of belief, at least in fundamental 
 points ; and that to preserve this uniformity of 
 belief, the teachers must be of the same house- 
 hold of faith. They agree that the church must 
 have an adequate provision for the maintenance of 
 its ministers : that, if they are precluded from 
 follo\ving other professions or businesses, their 
 own ought, in justice, to yield them a support. 
 And perhaps, as yet, a majority may agree that 
 such support ought to be permanent and certain : 
 that if the duties of the clerical office were left to 
 depend upon voluntary remuneration, the manner 
 of the performance would soon correspond with 
 such an irregular impulse ; and that, amidst the 
 disorders that would ensue from such a venal, 
 precarious, and degrading system, the Church of 
 Christ would be a prey to disorders of every kind, 
 and covered with spots and wrinkles. 
 
 §X. 
 
 But the greatest efforts are, at this moment, in 
 operation to reduce this numerical majority, and 
 turn the scale against the Church of England. 
 The Church is menaced on all sides.; it is menaced 
 from without and from within. 
 
BY PAPAL ROME. 
 
 87 
 
 It is menaced by her old enemy, who, rising 
 from defeat and discomfiture, is taking her full 
 advantage from the mutability of the human mind, 
 which never long ' continues in one stay,' but 
 which, after a long secure enjoyment of the truth, 
 (it matters not what truth,) must have novelty at 
 any cost, — with truth, if it may be, but, if not, 
 novelty with error. The superstitions and idola- 
 tries of Papal Rome have come round again upon 
 this wheel of restless change. She presents her- 
 self again, rendered wiser by experience — no 
 longer wth the terrors of the Inquisition on her 
 brow, but vsdth a placid mien. She lays aside, for 
 the present, her more offensive tenets, and seeks 
 to bring back her children by the language of 
 affection and charity. She comes with the sym- 
 bols of her pride and sounding titles, but without 
 her excommunicating edicts, her penances, her 
 tortures, or her fires. She comes attended with 
 solemn music, and all that gives attraction to an 
 imposing ceremonial. She claims to be acquitted 
 of the charge of persecution, on the strength of 
 her hberal association with all anomalies in reli- 
 gion — with all but the Church of England, with 
 whom she has a quarrel not to be made up but by 
 exchanging places. 
 
 It has long been the habit of persons of reputed 
 wisdom to deem lightly of this menace of the 
 
88 
 
 BY THE VARIOUS SECTS 
 
 Church of Rome ; but the melancholy fact has 
 been geographically proclaimed through the land. 
 It is echoed from chapel to chapel, from district 
 to district, that the Roman Church is recovering 
 her ancient domain. The shade of her apostasy, 
 which overcasts her new acquisitions, marks them 
 as hers on our country's map. The dark spots are 
 spreading over the land with terrifying progress. 
 Nor does she lack encouragement from quarters 
 where the disposition to favour her was least to be 
 expected. Out of the bosom of our own Establish- 
 ment, and out of the midst of oux academic bowers, 
 have men arisen speaking the same "perverse 
 things," the same " great swelhng words of 
 vanity." 
 
 The Church of oar nation is further menaced 
 by a confederacy of heterogeneous sects, who have 
 forgotten their mutual diflPerences in the league 
 they have formed against the National Establish- 
 ment. Animosity, exasperated by the security of 
 that which it seeks to destroy, is apt to defeat 
 itself by its excess, and to suffer seriously from its 
 own recoil. So the menaces from this quarter 
 may, by Him who alone knows how to educe good 
 from evil, be made to redound to the general 
 benefit of religion. They may inculcate caution 
 where they designed to fix reproach, and their 
 mischief may expire in their shame. " Surely 
 
OF PROTESTANT SEPARATISTS. 89 
 
 tlie wrath of man shall praise Thee. The remain- 
 der of wrath shalt Thou restrain." 
 
 Those who differ from our Church on essential 
 points are consistent in their hostility; but the 
 orthodox portion of those who refuse her commu- 
 nion would be acting with a tenderness towards 
 their own souls, would they but carefully for once 
 examine themselves concerning the grounds of 
 their separation, in order to discover how much of 
 their dissent is the product of a pure conscience, and 
 what proportion had its source in contradictoriness, 
 egotism, and a sectarian spirit. Whatever may 
 be their motive, the conduct becoming the Church 
 is clear. She prays, in her Litany, that God will 
 ' forgive her enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, 
 and turn their hearts.' Let her act in the spirit 
 of that prayer ; above all things, abstaining from 
 vituperative language, and the low, uncharitable 
 practice of calling names. It is the tendency of 
 this practice to mingle together characters and 
 classes of very different colours and descriptions. 
 Our Church is never more unjust to herself than 
 when she commits her cause to men who quarrel 
 with whatever exceeds the temperature of their 
 own piety — to men who see nothing in zeal but 
 enthusiasm, and in labour nothing but intermed- 
 dhng and excess. These are the persons most 
 apt to call names, and confound distinctions 
 
90 ATTEMPTS TO DISUNITE HER FROM THE STATE, 
 
 plainly apprehended by good sense and com- 
 mon honesty. 
 
 Our church is menaced by those whose direct 
 undisguised endeavour it is to divorce her from the 
 state, and then to take advantage from her unpro- 
 tected condition to destroy her worship, her ordi- 
 nances, and the whole structure of her pure and 
 holy ritual. This confederacy against her has, in 
 the midst of all our institutions of religious phi- 
 lanthrophy, spread its influence over the land. 
 On the same floor where the settlement of the 
 constitution on its protestant basis seemed to have 
 eternized the union of church and state, the prin- 
 ciple has been coldly and drily discussed. Nor 
 can we wonder that this infidel strength should be 
 numericaUy great, swelled, as it needs must be, by 
 continual accessions from the godless and lawless 
 part of the population. " They have consulted 
 together with one consent, and are confederate 
 against thee ; the tabernacles of Edom and the 
 Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagarenes ; Gebal, 
 and Ammon, and Amalek ; the Philistines with 
 the inhabitants of Tyre ; Assur also is joined with 
 them, they have holpen the children of Lot." 
 Against these and such as these, the church has no 
 resource but in the faithful use of her internal 
 means, expanded by a re-action proportioned to 
 the pressure from without, carrjdng with her this 
 
BY LAXITY IN URGING HER CLAIMS. 91 
 
 consolation, that a league against her so anoma- 
 lously composed bears a testimony the most une- 
 quivocal to her character and worth. 
 
 Again, the church is menaced by those within 
 her pale, who are for pushing her claims beyond 
 legitimate and sober bounds ; who bring her too 
 near in her pretensions to that apostate church 
 which interposes its spiritual sovereignty between 
 God's word and God's people ; which assumes a 
 power collateral to the holy record, whereby it is 
 made of none effect by traditions, or of what effect 
 it chooses by authoritative interpretations. There 
 are among her sons those who, with unnatural 
 effort, appear to be desirous of removing her from 
 her Scriptural basis. They would fain invert the 
 order and destroy the proportion between human 
 and divine things. They would disfigure that 
 authentic succession, which is the ornament of 
 our church, by engrafting upon it the pretensions 
 of a dark, superstitious, and corrupt communion. 
 
 And, on the other hand, she is menaced by a 
 latitudinarian spirit which deems but lightly of her 
 discipline, and those instituted forms and regula- 
 tions which compose the system of her ecclesiasti- 
 cal government ; Hghtly too of her derivative 
 authority delivered down, by the successive impo- 
 sition of hands, — the symbol of her rule and ordi- 
 nation. Between these opposite perils it is cheer- 
 
92 BY WANT OF CHURCH-ROOM. 
 
 fully hoped she will be guided by the same spirit of 
 moderation with which, by God's especial grace, her 
 course was shaped in the outset of her career, amidst 
 contumely, calumny, and conflicting extremes. 
 
 ' Thou Framer of the light and dark 
 Steer through the tempest thine own ark : 
 Amidst the howling wintry sea 
 We are in port if we have thee.' 
 
 The church is menaced by the scantiness of her 
 room and accommodation, very inadequate stiU to 
 the growing wants of the nation. To meet even 
 the existing exigence, and much more to profit 
 by the present stir of intelligence, the area of 
 the Gospel had need to be doubled. We are 
 extending our spia-itual commerce over the world, 
 while the emporium of our faith is comparatively 
 contracted, and the number of effective labourers 
 are insufficient for the multifarious work. If our 
 national church is to be fed and nourished by the 
 present system of national education, it must be 
 commensurate with it in extent. Otherwise, when 
 education has done its work, and prepared a mem- 
 ber of that church to receive the benefit of her 
 ordinances, he finds liis entrance within her walls 
 virtually interdicted. He may be told that in 
 another quarter of a century there will be accom- 
 modation for him ; but is his piety to be in abey- 
 ance till the promised period shall arrive? AU 
 
BY WANT OF CHURCH-ROOM. 
 
 93 
 
 this is only to mock the understanding and to 
 trifle with the soul. If the great numerical majo- 
 rity now shut out of the church should, by the 
 force of a diffused education, become a moral 
 majority, the national church will in vain insist 
 upon her pure and holy ritual, and her sound and 
 Scriptural doctrines. She will encounter every 
 where a chilling apathy and an alienated mind. A 
 Christian government, if ours be such, must prove 
 its title to that appellation and distinction by mak- 
 ing a further provision for this great and transcend- 
 ant exigence. It should give itself no rest until it 
 finds out places for the temples of the Lord and 
 habitations for the mighty God of Jacob. 
 
 Wherever the want of church room has long 
 existed, it has produced its natural consequence 
 — a great secession from the pale of the establish- 
 ment, and an over-ruling majority against its in- 
 terests. We have legislators disposed to deal with 
 the religion of Christ as with a commodity of the 
 market, by leaving it to the simple operation of de- 
 mand and supply. Whereas, so far from being in 
 analogy, the things are in contradiction the one to 
 the other. For articles of commerce nature and ani- 
 mal propensities create the demand ; for Christian 
 principles and rules nature, so far from creating a 
 demand, has implanted an universal distaste. The 
 maxim of trade is inverted. The supply must 
 
94 BY CONTINENTAL COMMUNICATION 
 
 precede the demand. This is too obvious to 
 need the illustration of facts; or abundant in- 
 stances might be produced in support of the pro- 
 position. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the relief that has been 
 afforded, we have still to deplore the case of an 
 excommunicated half of the people. It is true 
 that the larger half of this half may not care for 
 the blessing ; but their wants plead better for them 
 than their wishes. There is a tongue in their 
 indifference of louder acclaim than the thunder of 
 a thousand petitions. 
 
 The church is menaced by the close communi- 
 cation into which the travelling habits of this 
 country are bringing us with the continent in 
 general, and with France in particular. The man- 
 ners of the capital of that kingdom are not only 
 such as the religious mind must view with dismay, 
 but such as threaten the absorption of the better 
 in the baser parts of oui- nature — the triumph of 
 the animal over the spiritual man, and the utter 
 extinction of aU trace of the Divine Hkeness in the 
 soul. There the children of Britain receive, under 
 the deceptions name of education, the seeds of 
 moral and religious error, to vegetate and expand, 
 on their return to their own shores, in fatal luxu- 
 riance. There vice, in multiplied forms, crosses 
 them in every path. There sin has no Sabbaths ; 
 
TOO CLOSE AND FREQUENT. 95 
 
 her work is incessant ; and there ungodliness 
 rejoices in her privilege of uninterrupted pro- 
 fanity. 
 
 And this leads to the consideration of another 
 call upon our clergy in the danger with which our 
 church is menaced in her strongest hold ; the sanc- 
 tity, serenity, and blessed appropriation of the day 
 consecrated to the services of the Lord. The day 
 concerning which God has declared his will, and 
 in which he has reserved a special property in 
 terms not to be mistaken, is disputed vnth him by 
 the great majority of his creatures ; and if human 
 suffrage could decide whether it should belong to 
 Him or to man's sensuality and abuse. His dominion 
 of the day would no longer be left with him. His 
 name and seal would be torn from the charter, and 
 the creator would be voted out of his creation. 
 Among those who pay their accustomed visit to 
 the Lord's house how reluctant are many to be 
 seen upon their knees ! How little is recognized 
 the glory of him of whom it is said, " to him be 
 glory in the church," and who, by the coming of 
 the messenger of the covenant to his temple, filled 
 his house with glory ! how sparingly is the tribute 
 paid of praise and thanksgiving! and after the 
 ostensible devotion within the walls is over, how 
 sudden is the re-plunge into the world and its 
 vanities ! 
 
96 BY SABBATH DESECRATION. 
 
 In this hour of her distress our church calls 
 upon her ministers with unutterable importunity to 
 uphold the honour of the Sabbath. The Sunday 
 is in their hands to defend or to betray ; and 
 unless they surround it with the dignity and energy 
 of their own examples and talents, covetousness 
 and dissipation will soon share it between them. 
 He must be blind who does not perceive that the 
 part of the day not covered by the stated offices 
 of the church is distinguished from other days, by 
 greater insobriety, and that the Romish church is, 
 in this instance, through our laxity and indifference, 
 recovering the best part of her lost ground. 
 
 Of all robberies, to rob Jehovah of any part of 
 his own peculiar day is the most to be condemned. 
 He solemnly reserved one day in seven out of the 
 life interest which he granted to us in the works 
 of his hands ; and by choosing it for the celebra- 
 tion of tlie close of the two great achievements of 
 his goodness, the creation and redemption of man, 
 he sealed it with a double sanctLfication. He has 
 reserved it not for his own sake, but as a peculiar 
 blessing to his rational creatures whom he has 
 called to a partnership in it with liimself. He has 
 made it a day for renewing with us his covenant 
 of grace, and for the recapitulation of his mercies 
 and lais promises. He designed it as a most beau- 
 tiful and benign season of intermission and refresh- 
 
BY CLERICAL MISCONDUCT. 97 
 
 ment : casing the wearied shoulder of its burthen, 
 and the harassed mind of its cares : and it has 
 pleased him to stamp his own image and memorial 
 upon this sacred gift of leisure, that the special 
 recollection of himself might be associated with 
 the sense of enjoyment. 
 
 Alas ! that notwithstanding all these considera- 
 tions, the tides of business and pleasure should 
 still flow in upon the devoted Sabbath, washing 
 away by degrees the shores of its sacred territory. 
 Only a narrow insulated portion remains to God. 
 There his sanctuary stands, and there his wor- 
 shippers still assemble ; but if both his day and 
 his temples are to be dishonoured and forsaken, 
 we know that there is yet an invisible Zion, whose 
 gates the Lord loveth too well to suffer them to be 
 carried away by any flood ; — whose " foundations 
 are upon the holy hills ;" and that he that deli- 
 vered Israel and made a " wall for them on the 
 right hand and on the left," can bring his own 
 again " as he did sometime from the deep of the 
 sea." 
 
 The church is menaced, —more than menaced, 
 by those of her own ministers, who, forget- 
 ting whom they serve, maintain an unspiritual 
 and unclerical commerce with the world. In 
 arguing with such persons, we may begin by 
 assuming a very low ground. We may make our 
 
 F 
 
98 BY CLERICAL MISCONDUCT. 
 
 appeal to the primary principles of sound discern- 
 ment in character. We may ask of common 
 sense whether a clergyman does not incur the 
 contempt of men of the world, by his appear- 
 ance at the race-course, the theatre, or the ball- 
 room, or at any pastimes, or scenes of boisterous 
 or noisy conviviality ? Do not they place him in 
 a degrading contrast with himself, when seen in the 
 performance of the solemn offices in which his 
 duty engages him ? Is there not a logic in the 
 claims of external consistency which summarily 
 decides the question of decorum as to such an 
 oscillating course between the pastoral care, and 
 those vain and ensnaring amusements ? But some 
 may think we are laying too great a stress upon 
 human instrumentality. They may think we 
 should leave confidingly the cause of God to God 
 himself, who wiU turn the hearts of men in his 
 own good time as it pleaseth him. And true it is 
 he may do so. The Holy Spirit can take out of 
 his own treasury all the excellencies of know- 
 ledge, and the things which are of Christ Jesus : 
 but the power of God is not always the index 
 or the measure of his will. He does not do 
 concerning the things of this world, what he has 
 ability to do, but what in his wdsdom he judgeth 
 meet to be done. It is according to the analogy 
 of his dispensations, to make man the instrument 
 
BY CLERICAL MISCONDUCT. 99 
 
 of his dealings with man. In the natural world, 
 every comfort and commodity is conveyed through 
 a great diversity of agencies ; it may be in order 
 that our dependencies upon himself may thus be 
 multiplied. The supply of our necessities being 
 brought to us through so many intermediate chan- 
 nels, we are hourly reminded of our indigence, and 
 are made to perceive how much the walk of humi- 
 lity becomes us. The righteous God has commit- 
 ted the communication of his word and will to 
 humble instruments ; and for this purpose has 
 fitted and framed his gospel for such an agency. 
 By these provisions occasions are multiplied 
 for trying the spirits in various ways. The 
 duty both of dispenser and receiver, presses 
 awfully and urgently upon the conscience of each, 
 and a relation of reciprocity is established between 
 the people and those who minister in sacred 
 things, to which society is indebted for some of 
 its best cements. Engaged in so great a work, 
 the minister of the gospel has to answer for the 
 use he has made of his opportunities of service, 
 and of an access to the seat of motives and affec- 
 tions far beyond the privileges of other men. 
 
 By the great diversity of administrations in the 
 dispensation of God's mercy to his creatures, the 
 moral world has been enriched and beautified, and 
 made the scene of various gifts and graces. Hon- 
 F 2 
 
100 THE minister's LIFE MUST PREACH, 
 
 oured above all with a delegation of supreme im- 
 portance, it is for the minister of the sanctuarj' to 
 exercise an unceasing watchfulness over himself, 
 that he may be, so to express it, in keeping with his 
 office. For since the ministerial function is one of 
 so much dignity, what must be thought of him 
 who intrudes upon such an office, without the ne- 
 cessary qualifications ; who handles the word of 
 God, without discerning in it the mind of God, 
 but makes it, like the word of man, ineffectual to 
 reach the heart, or trouble the conscience ? 
 
 The clergy of the land are, officially considered, 
 great men ; for great is the post and command of 
 him who has it in his power conspicuously to 
 adorn the doctrine of Jesus Christ, — to com- 
 mend it in the sight of men, — and to make it 
 lovely. Christ is said to have taught with autho- 
 rity : it could not be otherwise : he practised the 
 things he taught: unlike the scribes and phari- 
 sees, whose inconsistency displayed their hypo- 
 crisy. He only whose life preaches, can expect to 
 do good by his discourses. Then are the arrows 
 in the liand of a giant : they reach the conscience 
 in its farthest retreat, and convulse the very set- 
 tlements of sin. How can a man, defective in 
 spiritual endowments, engage in such an under- 
 taking as this ? Who can venture to touch this 
 ark with unsanctified hands? who may be per- 
 
AND HIS FAITH MUST ACT. 101 
 
 mitted to approach it, but those who by their 
 living precepts " adorn the doctrine of God their 
 Saviour in all things ? " Who but those who can 
 commend it by the power of their examples to the 
 hearts and consciences of men ? Let but a few 
 plain words come from the mouth of a true man 
 of God, — let such an one only tell us that " Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and 
 we shall find in them a virtue beyond the best 
 rhetoric of others who seem to be " wise in this 
 world," but are not wise in Christ. 
 
 None can approach the ministerial office with 
 any prospect of success in it, but he whom that 
 Spirit accompanies, by whom he was inwardly 
 moved at his ordination, if the persuasion of his 
 mind was grounded on a self-searching inquiry. 
 " A royal priesthood" must bring with them a 
 princely revenue of faith and love; of spiritual 
 wisdom and knowledge ; of patience and practical 
 virtue ; a treasury and stock, out of which they 
 may minister to the surrounding destitution. They 
 have, it is true, an unfailing fund in the gospel, 
 but they need besides " a right judgment in all 
 things." If the apostles themselves were directed 
 to remain at Jerusalem " until they were endued 
 with power from on high," surely the baptism of 
 the Holy Ghost is equally essential to qualify for 
 their work the men of this day. Their sayings 
 
102 CONSPICUOUS POSITION OF THE CLERGY, 
 
 and doings must exceed in value the sayings and 
 doings of other men, or they will say and do little 
 that is effectual in the way of sound edification. 
 They teach, they threaten, they exhort, but the 
 world stirs not — and why ? It waits for the work- 
 ing faith and the believing walk. Ministers must 
 live above the line and level of other men. They 
 must act their faith before men. They must 
 make demonstration of it in the power of the 
 Spirit. The Holy Ghost must go before them tra- 
 velling in the greatness of His strength. They have 
 entered upon a work commensurate with the high- 
 est reach and elevation to which man has ever 
 attained. And thus they have been truly charac- 
 terized in the language of one of our writers, 
 whose words have a virtue and bravery in them 
 seldom elsewhere found, as "great, separate, busy, 
 eminent, and profitable," equalled by none in 
 " rule, and care, and honour." 
 
 Of the great numerical aggregate of life, the 
 clergy morally considered, constitute no part. 
 They must stand alone, separated from the world, 
 the friends of him with whom the world is at 
 enmity ; separated by an appointment which has 
 called them out from the great forest of men, to 
 have their dweUing in the Lord's house. " The 
 God of Israel hath separated them from the con- 
 gregation of Israel to bring them near to himself. 
 
AND GREAT IMPORTANCE OF THEIR EXAMPLE. 103 
 
 to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, 
 and to stand before the congregation to minister 
 unto them." We speak of the men furnished and 
 fitted for the ministry by those gifts and prepara- 
 tives which the church pre-supposes in the ser- 
 vants of her ordination. As such, they are called 
 upon to reverence themselves for the Lord's sake ; 
 men of God, having the " vs'hite stone " in their 
 hands, and " the hidden manna" in their hearts; 
 mediators, in a lower sense, between God and 
 man ; having an angel's commission. Such is the 
 eminent station of a minister of God, who has 
 received a real call, and been, in sober serious 
 verity, moved inwardly by the Holy Ghost to 
 enter into the service of the church ; whose " soul 
 is as a watered garden " in the vicinity of heaven, 
 bearing " fruit unto holiness," and where charity 
 flourishes in essence and in flower. If this be not 
 so, and if, though a minister of the sanctuary, he has 
 no vocation thither, is he not an intruder ? and is not 
 his a case of awful peril who stands in this nominal 
 relation to his Maker, vdthout having once be- 
 stowed a thought upon his actual predicament ? 
 If, after having at his ordination declared himself 
 to trust that he was " inwardly moved by the 
 Holy Ghost," he has scarcely ' so much as heard 
 whether there be any Holy Ghost,' what is his 
 fidelity or honesty before God or man ? 
 
104 AMUSEMENTS UNSUITED TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 It cannot be doubted by any serious Christian 
 who is at all observant of the " signs of the times'" 
 in reference to our church establishment, or who 
 inquires into the prevailing state of our parishes, 
 and counts in any district of considei-able extent 
 the number of real pastoral ministers, and at the 
 same time duly estimates the importance to a 
 neighbourhood of a diligent, exemplar)-, and con- 
 scientious parish priest, that the chiu-ch is less in 
 danger from the want of orthodoxy of opinions in 
 her ministers, than from the want of a spirituality 
 substantiated in a holy consistency of behaviour. 
 Other evils there are, and other eiTors require the 
 vigilance of our spiritual overseers and guardians : 
 against the invaders of her forms and doctrines, the 
 church has some strong defences, if they are judi- 
 ciously made use of ; but against the heresy of in- 
 consistency, against the betrayers of her character, 
 against those who live down her dignity, and 
 loosen the ligatures on which she depends for her 
 hold on human opinion, her only security is in the 
 faithfulness of those who superintend her disci- 
 pline, dispense her patronage, and prepare her 
 servants for her proper business. 
 
 A day passed at any countrj'' village, without 
 particular enquiry, will usually let the stranger, 
 if he is an observer of these things, into the secret 
 of the real state of the cure. If the pastoral func- 
 
THE TITHE SYSTEM. 
 
 105 
 
 tion is in abeyance, the misery, pollution, and 
 blasphemy which meet him at every turn, will 
 speedily inform him of that fact ; and how well 
 the authorized dispenser of God's word and sacra- 
 ments hunts, shoots, dances, and denounces me- 
 thodism and sainfcship. 
 
 It is unnecessary to specify the sports or 
 amusements which are unseemly in our pastors 
 and teachers. When a Christian man in name 
 becomes a Christian in principle, vicious or silly 
 amusements are no longer gaieties to him, but 
 are transformed into dull and wearisome occupa- 
 tions. A devout clergyman has a tenderness for 
 the character and office with which he is invested 
 that gives him a distinguishing taste in all that 
 concerns it. It is a taste wholly of spiritual 
 origin and growth ; without which the mind is as 
 insensible ta the graces of the ministerial charac- 
 ter as the deaf ear to the melody of sounds. 
 
 Tithes have long been a stumbling-block be- 
 tween the parish pastor and his flock, and may be 
 reckoned among the things whereby the church 
 has been menaced. It has before been observed 
 that no better method of making the provision for 
 the clergy permanent could have been devised. 
 But as the greatest objection to any institution is 
 its tendency to defeat the ultimate end for which 
 it was established, however well it may answer 
 
 F 5 
 
106 ADVANTAGES TO THE MINISTRY 
 
 intermediate purposes, the tithe system cannot 
 be defended if it lessens or opposes the very ends 
 of a clergy, and the very design of a church. That 
 this has been the effect of tithes and their collec- 
 tion, can hardly be questioned. "We may there- 
 fore hope that the commutation which is taking 
 place will increase the efficiency of the clergy, 
 and add to the dignity and moral weight of the 
 national church. The tithe system has always 
 been pregnant with disputes, engaging in a con- 
 test about things temporal those between whom 
 the things eternal are the only proper business. 
 It is by no means a difficult undertaking to prove 
 the right of the clergy to their tithes ; but it is 
 absolutely impossible to reconcile the occupier of 
 land to another's claim to participate in the pro- 
 duct of his skill and toil. He sees not the force 
 of analogy, or the substantial likeness of the tithe- 
 owner to the land-owner, both of whose demands 
 are equally original and paramount, and who both 
 follow the improvements of the tenant wth a pro- 
 portionate increase in their demands ; but he sees 
 and deprecates the hand that fastens upon the 
 fruit of his labom-, " taking up that which it laid 
 not down, and reaping that which it did not sow." 
 The prejudice is invincible, the feeling natural, 
 and the consequence inevitable. No man can be 
 listened to while there is a prejudice against the 
 
FROM THE COMMUTATION OF TITHES. 107 
 
 disinterestedness of his conduct, or while the wants 
 and passions of those whom he addresses are in 
 mutiny against his reproof and persuasions. Even 
 with the gospel on his side, he is no match for such 
 hostility. In such an atmosphere the rod of the 
 priest can " bring forth no buds;" " the rose of 
 Sharon" withers on its stem ; the vine can yield no 
 " tender grapes." Vain is the ministry of him who 
 at once is the plaintiff and the priest, the prosecutor 
 and the pastor, the guardian of the flock, and a 
 sharer in the fleece. There are associations im- 
 planted in the human breast which may be modi- 
 fied to good purposes, but which can never be 
 reasoned into silence : they belong to certain pre- 
 judices leading often to practical mistakes, and 
 crossing the best-laid plans of a particular economy, 
 but which help, on the whole, to incline the scale 
 to the virtuous side, and to keep up in the great 
 mass of human beings a diffusive sympathy of 
 moral feelings and predilections. Among these 
 is that prejudice which associates with the sacred 
 service of the gospel habits of a higher order than 
 those which are necessarily brought into exercise 
 in the contentions about rights and dues, and little 
 things of vulgar sound and illiberal concern. It 
 is hard for him who has spent the week, or any 
 part of it, in making bai-gains, or (which is indeed 
 "by far the more frequent case) in resisting impo- 
 
108 
 
 FROM THE EXTENSION 
 
 sitions, or in discussing questions of right and 
 compromise, or in disputing about half-crowns and 
 shillings, or the produce of the field or the garden, 
 to rise with dignity and effect on the Lord's day 
 to the serene summit of his high and heavenly 
 duty : and still harder for uneducated minds to 
 forget their grudges and complaints, and accept 
 from him whom they deem their oppressor, how- 
 ever erroneously, the lessons of peace and love ; 
 but hardest of all for a pastor of a parish to blend 
 with his adverse dealings in these temporal mat- 
 ters that weekly intercourse of spiritual affection 
 and comfort in which the language of Christ and 
 his gospel should alone be heard, healing the sore- 
 ness of irritation, and un-neighbourly strife, with 
 the power of its " new commandment" to " love 
 one another." 
 
 §XI. 
 
 We may consider therefore the discontinuance 
 of the tithe system a great advantage to the clergy 
 of the establishment in reference to the momen- 
 tous ends of their ministry. But this kind of ad- 
 vantage is of little value unless it operates as a 
 challenge. They will now stand before the people, 
 practically and operatively, at least, in the only 
 character in which for the soul's sake they ought 
 ever to appear, as watchmen and shepherds, and 
 
OF CHURCH ACCOMMODATION. 109 
 
 the publishers of glad tidings ; and let it not be 
 forgotten that their responsibilities will rise with 
 their opportunities. 
 
 Other advantages to which these later times 
 have given birth carry the same stirring appeal to 
 the clergy, and by multiplying their means, bring 
 public expectation to bear upon them with a more 
 imperative call; to say nothing of the voice of 
 conscience and the vow which is upon them. 
 Let us advert to these challenges. The supply of 
 church accommodation is still far short of the exist- 
 ing necessity, but the deep cry of spiritual want has 
 not been unheard by the legislature. The area of 
 God's household has been enlarged, and thereby the 
 religious character of the country greatly redeemed. 
 Still however, unless what has been done be felt as 
 a fresh call upon the zeal of the clergy, the boon Jo 
 the country will mock its expectation. It is as 
 if the trumpet were sounding its summons from 
 the battlements of our augmented Sion to the 
 champions of her cause ; and unless this sum- 
 mons be answered, however large may be the 
 acquisitions of the church in brick, and masonry, 
 and consecrated space ; however increased in nomi- 
 nal and numerical strength, her spiritual bounds 
 will remain the same. If no new impulse is 
 felt by the clergy from this extension of the 
 range of possible usefulness, the additional room 
 
110 THE DIFFUSION OF EDUCATION 
 
 will be nothing but an expansion of weakness 
 and an extended proof of the nation's degeneracy. 
 
 The wide spread, in these days, of education over 
 the land has added also to the opportunities, duties, 
 and responsibiUties of the clergy of the establish- 
 ment. It is also matter of serious cAaZZew^^e. Anew 
 and strange moral power is put in activity. The 
 multitude and mass is awakened from dormancy 
 into a new and energetic state of being. Their 
 eyes are opened upon their teachers, and the 
 parish-priest can do nothing unobser^^ed : in 
 nothing is he neutral : in his walk as well as his 
 work he must be doing or undoing, whether it is 
 by his example, his teaching, or his inaction. 
 Every thing about him tells one way or other. 
 Whether the people are the better for the educa- 
 tion they receive, is not the point. We are look- 
 ing to its consequences with respect to the clergy. 
 If the people are not made better in practice, nor 
 improved in the essentials of conduct, they are, at 
 least, advanced in the theoi'y of morals, and made 
 shrewder judges of propriety in others. If without 
 any new infusion of pure principle or sentiment, 
 they must, at least, come out from all this teaching 
 better qualified for the task of exposing their su- 
 periors, and discerning their inconsistencies of be- 
 haviour and conversation. 
 
 The national church cannot, under these circum- 
 
AN ADDITIONAL CALL UPON THE CHURCH. Ill 
 
 stances, afford any expense of character. It must 
 rely on its living strength for its security — not on 
 its prescriptive grandeur. Nor will mere caution 
 suffice. Its safety lies in its action as well as in its 
 circumspection. Knowledge is power, and the 
 power of knowledge is a busy, fiery principle, 
 which, when not pre-engaged on the side of utility, 
 lends itself to mischief, decomposition, and dis- 
 order. And precisely in this moral position 
 stands the church of England. Destruction hovers 
 over all our estabUshraents, to be averted only by 
 a diligent and honest use of such means of influ- 
 encing opinion, and giving it a conservative direc- 
 tion as are vested in individuals by the gifts of 
 God, or the ordinances of man. The present of 
 universal education is offered to the people — to 
 make the boon a blessing is the proper work of 
 the clergy. They are to take care that the know- 
 ledge which has been thus diffused may not turn 
 to that which " exalteth itself against the know- 
 ledge of God," — that it may not expire or explode 
 in vain generalities, in presumptuous conceits, or 
 more positive mischiefs, — that it may not put the 
 stimulated thoughts upon enquiries which neither 
 opportunities nor duties will allow ; — that it may 
 not warp, or unsettle, or disturb, but rather cause 
 all the appointments of civil and social life to range 
 in better order round a common and commanding 
 
112 THE CHURCH CALLED UPON 
 
 centre ; — that the instruction given may tend less 
 to excite genius than to illustrate duties ; less to 
 raise curiosity than to regulate opinion ; point less 
 to possible attainments than to practical good, 
 and instead of teaching many things superficially 
 may teach deeply and well the one thing needful ; 
 and thus urge on the life of religion in the soul, x 
 The increased circulation of the word of God in 
 these latter times may be reckoned among the advan- 
 tages which give a sort of challenge to our clergy. 
 It puts upon them very special obligations. It does 
 not become the Church of England to be afraid of 
 this book. If, howevei-, it is not felt that by its 
 unlimited diffusion the general population of the 
 country is thereby taken out of a neutral state in 
 respect of religion, and excited to a new curiosity 
 and interest in the subject ; if it is not felt that 
 the church ought to lend itself to this new state of 
 things so as to profit by the crisis, it may be 
 doubted whether Bible societies are friendly to the 
 Church of England. But if our national church 
 considers the wide dispersion of the scriptures as 
 extending the field of her own exertions, as aug- 
 menting her means and multiplying her proper 
 business, then will the distributors of the Bible, 
 and the Bible only, be amongst her best friends, 
 in opening the channels of access and instruction, 
 and laying the foundation of a more profitable cor- 
 
TO EXERT ITSELF AGGRESSIVELY. 113 
 
 respondence between herself and her commu- 
 nicants. 
 
 In these days it is manifest that the cause ot 
 religion and the soul suffers injury from the defect 
 of that species of service which has been properly 
 called ' aggressive,' — and this is the service which 
 the lukewarm delight to repudiate. There is a 
 vast out-lying population in whose ears the gospel 
 sound of grace and mercy never rings, and to 
 whom the fear and hope of unseen things are quite 
 unintelligible. For these miserable brethren, the 
 heathenish and heartless care nothing. They love 
 to cast discredit upon that extra-labour which 
 pushes the landmarks of the church into the terri- 
 tory where wretchedness appears in its horridest 
 forms, and where humanity knows nothing of it- 
 self beyond the appetite of the hour. It is un- 
 happy for the church that sometimes the least 
 symptom of this spiritual stir, the smallest move- 
 ment of zeal on the part of a parish minister, 
 brings his orthodoxy into question. There are 
 many who never think the citadel of our Sion safe 
 but when the region about her presents a dead 
 level. Even the ramparts which environ her are 
 sometimes mistaken for the enemy's works ; and 
 should the head of an unhappy man appear above 
 the trenches, the artillery of his own commander 
 may chance to punish his temerity. The truth seems 
 
114 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 to be that ministers must be busy in the church, 
 or the people are too busy out of the church to 
 suffer it to be at peace ; and perhaps the quarrel 
 with certain ministers of the national church, 
 which seems to relate to their tenets, is, in truth 
 rather moral than doctrinal ; or, in other words, if 
 they would do no more than others do, their theo- 
 logy would be unreproved. 
 
 Against schism and dissent the church has no 
 effectual or legitimate weapon, but efficiency in 
 her own work ; and for this she will do wisely in 
 borrowing as much supplementary strength as 
 may be had from her surrounding resources. Let 
 her not spin the thread of her orthodoxy so fine, 
 that the only security against doing what is wrong 
 may consist in doing nothing. If she is too sus- 
 picious of her children, she may create the danger 
 she deprecates, and make a chill around her in 
 which the best flowers of her border may sicken 
 and decay. 
 
 §XII. 
 
 If what has been said of the importance of the 
 clergy and their ministrations is not considered as 
 over-stated, what terms can adequately express the 
 responsibility which accompanies the exercise of 
 patronage. If it be too much to say that here 
 the stream receives its first salutary or poisonous 
 
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PATRONAGE. 115 
 
 infusion ; at least, it may be said that patronage 
 is the soil from which the stream in its passage 
 takes a strong impregnation. It is among the 
 greatest anomalies of the moral predicament of this 
 country, that while all acknowledge the value of 
 whatever tends to the improvement of mind, the 
 conviction imposes little or no check on the patro- 
 nage of the church. Surely it is a cardinal mis- 
 take in human policy, putting out of consideration 
 the awful accountability which attends every ap- 
 pointment of the guardian of souls, to neglect this 
 natural course and appointed order for the just 
 and efficient flow of national instruction. It may 
 be safely affirmed, that the whole success, under 
 God, of the present widely-extended plan of edu- 
 cation, depends upon the character of our paro- 
 chial clergy. Human intelligence is said to be in 
 quick progress, but human intelligence must travel 
 much in the night ; and along the highway of 
 national improvement, there are numberless pits 
 and precipices which require the stationary public 
 lights to be kept burning and bright. He who, 
 having the patronage of a benefice, consults the 
 safety of his own soul, by setting over the souls of 
 others a minister of godly sufficiency for his spiri- 
 tual charge, does more for the public happiness 
 and improvement, than would result from the 
 establishment of many schools, useful as, under 
 
116 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 good management, such institutions undoubtedly 
 are. Parish schools produce their specific benefit 
 only under the superintending genius of a wise 
 and zealous parish priest. On the right use of 
 patronage therefore in the appointment of such a 
 superintendant, the character, the peace, and the 
 happiness of a neighbourhood depends ; and can a 
 man, with any right feelings in his bosom, enjoy 
 any peace there, after putting an' entire vineyard 
 of the Lord out of due cultivation ? 
 
 That private persons, to whose estate the right 
 of patronage is annexed, should exercise it with a 
 single view to their worldly gain or family ad- 
 vancement, is in accordance with ordinary human- 
 ity ; but it is pitiable to see the guardians of the 
 state affected hy no larger motives in a matter of 
 such deep concernment to the well-being of society 
 and the dignity of the national character. By 
 every appointment of a weak, or worldly, or pre- 
 judiced, or indolent functionary to the service of 
 the church, they lay whole districts barren in the 
 Lord's heritage, and wither the growth of grace in 
 the country. Every patron, from the sovereign 
 downwards, holds his power as a trust from God ; 
 and, in every exercise of it, is doing an act more 
 extensively affecting the prosperity of souls, and 
 " the perfecting of the saints," and " the work of 
 the ministry," than any of which any individual is 
 
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PATRONAGE. 117 
 
 singly capable : and the higher the patronage, the 
 more destructive is the abuse. To send overseers 
 into the vineyard of God, who care not whether it 
 bring forth grapes or " wild grapes;" who, with 
 the frost of their academical learning and con- 
 stringent orthodoxy, interdict its productiveness 
 and starve the soil : who conceive their own dig- 
 nity to consist in doing nothing, and checking all 
 extra-doings in others ; or who mistake all la- 
 bours of love and unbought service in the work of 
 the gospel for extravagance or defect of prudence, 
 and rest satisfied with a clergy, however lax or 
 Laodicean in character, so long as the letter of the 
 rubric remains inviolate, — to commit to such per- 
 sons, from respect to family connexion or political 
 interest, the difficult and momentous administra- 
 tion of a portion of our Christian Protestant 
 establishment in its present conjuncture, is to 
 make void the dispensations of divine mercy in the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ by the most efficacious of 
 human means, and upon the widest scale of ope- 
 ration, which the enemy of souls has it in his 
 power to suggest. 
 
 What moral improvement of the people, what 
 sound cultivation of principle, what effective edu- 
 tion can have its spring and origin in any govern- 
 ment which can avow the appointment to high 
 stations in our church, to be made in subserviency 
 
118 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 to party objects and political expedience ? and has 
 not this been avowed in parliament by ministers, 
 and echoed by their opponents ? These things are 
 far from being in their true position, and in a 
 healthy state. Until God and his laws are more 
 openly recognized, and reverenced among our 
 statesmen and legislators, with a manly scorn of 
 infidel derision, the exercise of patronage, the 
 provisions for public education, and the charac- 
 ter of the Protestant Church of England, will 
 continue to be at variance with the spirit of our 
 laws, and the ancient frame of our ecclesiastical 
 polity. But what organ or oracle of truth will 
 avail to alter this state of things, until by the vigo- 
 rous ' putting in ure,' as the lawyers express it, of 
 the means with which good men are furnished, in 
 the actual and standing state of our moral machi- 
 nery, public opinion, or the general tendency of 
 thinking and feeling, is brought to such a gravity 
 of religious and virtuous bearing upon aU the 
 departments of official duty, as may insensibly 
 work a reform, to which all our other boasted 
 reforms may blush to be compared. 
 
 Of the dispensation of the patronage vested in 
 the episcopal bench, it becomes us to speak with 
 great reverence. It must be supposed that when 
 they promote to the pastoral charge they are 
 guided by a scrupulous and devout regard to the 
 
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PATRONAGE. 119 
 
 good of souls, and the glory of the gospel of God 
 our Savioui-. If this be not always so ; if it will 
 sometimes occur that he in whom the people ex- 
 pect to find religion represented, and the gospel 
 character exemplified, is the author of a mis- 
 chief of the extent of which none can assign the 
 limit, by a hasty or partial disposition of a pre- 
 ferment in the church, let a feeling for human 
 infirmity throw a veil over the act, with a char- 
 itable hope that it is a case as rare as it is 
 awful. ' The sum of all this is, says Bishop Bur- 
 net, that patrons ought to look on themselves as 
 bound to have a sacred regard to this trust that is 
 vested in them ; and to consider, very carefully, 
 what the nature of the benefice which they give is, 
 and what are the qualifications of the persons 
 they present to it ; otherwise the souls that may 
 be lost by a bad nomination, whatsoever may have 
 been their motive to it, will be required at their 
 hands.' ' 
 
 § XIII. 
 
 But the exercise of patronage is only a part, 
 and not the larger part, of a Bishop's care and 
 responsibility. To guard the accesses to the 
 church by due inquiry into the qualifications of 
 
 ' Burnet's Pastoral Care, chap. 10. 
 
120 EPISCOPAL RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 each candidate for ordination, — to fix the standard 
 of those qualifications, and to make them known, 
 so as to excite such as are intended for the minis- 
 try, to enter upon the necessary course of prepara- 
 tion, — to make, as far as in him lies, the ordination 
 office of our church to do its proper work upon the 
 conscience, — to take cognizance of all that con- 
 cerns the conduct and success of the parochial 
 ministrations within his diocese, whether it be in 
 respect of catechetical instruction, or \'isits to the 
 ■poor and sick, or the initiatory preparation for the 
 profitable hearing of the word and partaking of the 
 services of the Lord's day, or other the daily 
 duties of the pastor, — to have his eye and mind 
 upon all these things encouragingly, feeUngly, and 
 in detail, is so anxious a labour, and yet so exigent, 
 that a Bishop answering all the requisitions of his 
 undertaking, and compassing the full extent of 
 his practical duties, is the man of hardest work 
 among hard-working men in the country, at least 
 in the field of its philanthropy. 
 
 To an oflSce importing such a charge, all honour 
 is due. Even where the charge is inefficiently 
 performed, still as to the crown so to the mitre, 
 whoever may happen to be the wearer, he who 
 feels the force of the precept which tells him to 
 give " honour to whom honour is due," and un- 
 derstands what are the habits on which the per- 
 
THE OBLIGATION ON EVERY CLERGYMAN. 121 
 
 manence of establisliments depends, will pay his 
 willing tribute of homage and respect. It is by 
 honouring the office that we call upon those to 
 whom its duties are intrusted to honour it too by 
 their performance. In the present state of the 
 church it may not be too much to say that the 
 office is entitled to honour through those in whose 
 persons it is presented to the people ; and it would 
 be presumptuous and uncandid to qualify this tes- 
 timony by any distinctions. It is only necessary 
 further to remark, that the episcopal office is one 
 in which the crown has a constitutional interest 
 only for the conservation and perpetuation of the 
 ministry in its more exalted functions : no inte- 
 rest, certainly, which can, without a most profli- 
 gate scandal and abuse, be made use of by the 
 state for any political or secular objects. 
 
 But whatever obliquity may have belonged to 
 the motives which have influenced, or to those 
 which may continue to influence the appointments 
 of our clergy, the duty of the clergy themselves 
 with regard to the present extremity of the church 
 is plainly written in the forehead of the times. 
 
 A great effort is required to be made by them 
 to save the purity and practice of our faith. Is 
 there a question, Who is to begin ? Let it be 
 answered through all the grades and ranks of 
 church ministry and membership, I will begin. 
 
 G 
 
122 REFERENCE TO THE ORDINATION SERVICE. 
 
 " Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 
 Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? " 
 Then said I, *' Here am I ; send me ! " May he 
 who has this answer ready be forthwith at his 
 work. In this procedure there is no order of 
 priorities ; it is vain to look for a primum mobile. 
 The motion is like that of the wheel ; wherever 
 the impulse is given the whole partakes of it. 
 The struggle for precedence is, in this case, a con- 
 tention to be first in the order of self-accusation 
 and the work of amendment. Were every clergy- 
 man to peruse attentively the ordination ofBces 
 of the church, and especially, more than once, the 
 simple, solemn, and affecting admonition appointed 
 to be given by the Bishop to the candidate for 
 priest's orders, it might be an auspicious prelude 
 to the proposed general movement. 
 
 The ofRce for the ordination of Bishops is also 
 very solemn and instructive ; and the writer of 
 this Essay will perhaps be pardoned, if, with un- 
 feigned respect, he ventures to suggest to the 
 Prelates themselves a frequent and attentive re- 
 perusal of the form of their own consecration to 
 the work of a Bishop. 
 
 There is, in the history of this country, one fact 
 which has no parallel in the destinies of any other 
 nation — the elasticity, so to express it, with which 
 affairs have recovered their usual postvu-e after a 
 
PROTESTANT BASIS OF OUR POLITY. 123 
 
 long and complete revolutionary period. In the 
 histories of other nations a revolution has been a 
 dissolution. The frame and structure of its polity 
 has never been brought back when the violence of 
 the agitation has settled down into its results. In 
 the ruins of the convulsion the elements of a new 
 political state have been formed, as things have 
 been disposed by the current of events or the 
 controul of commanding minds ; but for the in- 
 stance of a sound and vigorous restoration of the 
 old constitution, with its genius unimpaired, or 
 with alterations in accordance with its ancient 
 analogies and principles, we look in vain into any 
 history but our own. The civil war ended in the 
 suspension of the episcopal order and the temporary 
 destruction of church and state. A partial re- 
 covery took place under the interregnum which 
 succeeded, and the return to the former state was 
 complete in about eighteen years after the eom- 
 mencement of the troubles. 
 
 Two things were principally taught us by this 
 course of events. We had full experience of the 
 miseries which befal a people whose intemperate 
 spirits, under great accidental excitement, have 
 thrown them into the agitation of a disorganized 
 state ; while the revival of those institutions which 
 came again into existence as integral parts of the 
 restored system, was a clear proof of their virtual 
 G 2 
 
124! ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 necessity. These things were lessons to this coun- 
 try in practical wisdom. They instructed our 
 forefathers in the conduct of that second revolu- 
 tion, if revolution it could be called, which settled 
 the Protestant basis of our government; and 
 shewed to the world how deeply grounded in the 
 necessities of our nature is the alliance between 
 church and state. 
 
 No minister can safely proceed a step in the 
 domestic management of the country, without a 
 frequent and close review of both these great 
 events. They furnish to the men of sound hearts 
 and heads, so many beacons and signals set on 
 high hills : they are, in their hands, when properly 
 used, the best confutation of the low conceptions 
 or artful designs, of the projectors of subversive 
 changes. Now it is observable that these men, 
 who have been the same in all periods and places, 
 have generally aimed their first blow at that part 
 of the constitution which has stood most promi- 
 nently in their way. As long as our church main- 
 tains its integrity, the state maintains its conse- 
 crated character. To remove the bishops from 
 their seats in parliament, as spiritual lords, has 
 been therefore the great purpose of the agents of 
 destruction. Knowing that in their integral union 
 with the legislature, consists the incorporation of 
 the church with the state, and that the dissolution 
 
VALUE OF THE EPISCOPAL FUNCTION. 125 
 
 of that union would be a complete organic 
 dispersion of the elements of our constitution, 
 their hostility has always proposed to itself this 
 laudable commencement. Here lies the stress of 
 the conflict maintained between the men of prin- 
 ciple and the men of mischief in this country. 
 Nor can there be imagined a weightier argument 
 to substantiate the worth and importance of the 
 episcopal order, than that it is the first of our state 
 bulwarks against which revolutionary activity 
 directs its vengeance. 
 
 It is from these circumstances, that our bishops 
 have always stood, as it were, in the foreground 
 in all our revolutionary scenes. No great trans- 
 action has proceeded without a full display of 
 their characters before the nation as actors or 
 sufferers. We are deeply and variously their 
 debtors. As much from them as from any of our 
 forefathers we have derived the fair inheritance 
 of our tempered liberties ; and to them, as the 
 master-builders under God, we owe that beautiful 
 structure of worship, of doctrine, and of discipline 
 which is so offensive to the enemies of order and 
 proportion. They are made out of the common 
 clay of our corrupt nature. They are clothed with 
 its infirmities. The motives which have influ- 
 enced their appointment have sometimes had no 
 reference to aptitude or ability. They too are 
 
126 IMPORTANCE OF THE BISHOPS 
 
 specimens of our fallen humanity ; but still it is 
 humanity in communion and contact with divine 
 things. They must pass thi'ough the grades of 
 the highest human instruction ; they have the vows 
 of a most impressive ordination service upon them ; 
 opinion and public tespect place them under a 
 strong requisition, and perhaps we may safely say 
 that the average character of our countrymen 
 under these guarantees has produced, in a corre- 
 spondent proportion, the dignity and the virtues 
 which belong to the station. 
 
 But above all this, the mitred head is admo- 
 nished and challenged by its responsibility to the 
 Great Head of the church. Under the weight of 
 this responsibility the only relief is in prayer. Of 
 devout prayer the specific accomplishment is grace. 
 And the result is the transformation of the inner 
 man, and the life of the spirit. Thus to these 
 venerable overseers of God's heritage we look for 
 the fullest developement of the Christian char- 
 acter. 
 
 They are an essential part of our general polity. 
 Leaving to others the concerns of temporal and 
 transient interests, they are to sit in council as the 
 ministers of God, to maintain his honour, and to 
 stand before the ark and the testimony. Religion 
 is committed to their care, and that " right judg- 
 ment in all things " which is the gift of the Spirit, 
 
IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 127 
 
 and will be the fruit of their prayers, will endow 
 them with a holy valour, and an ability far above 
 the standard of natural men in the defence of it. 
 Every measure which however welcome by its 
 seeming expedience or temporary advantage, 
 touches the cause of God, or the safety of the soul, 
 comes within and demands their vigilant jurisdic- 
 tion. And while the wealth of a nation wherein 
 its estate and strength are displayed, and which 
 depends upon uncertain calculations, engages the 
 solicitude and study of others, that wealth which 
 we pray for in our Liturgy, and which is the tacit 
 instrument of the only true and durable greatness, 
 is principally in the keeping of these spiritual 
 lords to guard, improve, and dispense. 
 
 But chiefly at this conjuncture are the counsels 
 of our Bishops important. Nothing in the things 
 around us presents an aspect of stability. What- 
 ever good we may think we see in the recent politi- 
 cal reform, — whatever means of popular improve- 
 ment may be in operation, the piety of the nation, 
 if it has been increased by the dilFusion of educa- 
 tion, has not as yet so entered into its politics as 
 to find its way where it would be most prevailing 
 and exemplary. In parliament it still blushes and 
 retires before the shallow daring of flippant 
 reasoning and scornful ignorance ; nor can obtain 
 a single recognition of its claims against Sabbatli- 
 
128 IMPORTANCE OF THE BISHOPS 
 
 breaking covetousness. That engagement which we 
 have been accustomed to regard as a mysterious and 
 lioly union, and as laying the very foundations of 
 society in the heart and the conscience, is degraded 
 to the level of a trading transaction ; and this may 
 be the beginning of separations between heaven 
 and human concerns. These things are calls 
 enough upon the protectors of our vital interests 
 in parliament. 
 
 Before the nation can dispense with the bishops 
 as a constituent part of the legislature, it must 
 have parted with its honour, its character, and its 
 place in Christendom ; and, after such a proceed- 
 ing, we must expect religious disorder to be suc- 
 ceeded by general confusion. Thus another inter- 
 val of blood and confiscation will probably reward 
 the labours of the agents of discord, who have no 
 hope but in watching for the chances of a general 
 collision, and for what the scattered elements of 
 society may throw in their way. Ere such a 
 calamity may befal us, may we not look to our 
 bishops as the defenders of their own dignity, and 
 of that of the state of which they are the grace 
 and support ? 
 
 ' Grey-headed men and grave with (nobles) mixt.' 
 
 May we not look to them for recalling those with 
 wliom they are so mixed to the open recognition 
 
IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. I;i9 
 
 of Gospel authority which has lately appeared to 
 be discountenanced, if not despised ? References 
 to the word of God are so sparingly made in either 
 house of parliament that they seem always to be 
 heard with a sort of surprise as belonging to the 
 customs or superstitions of a distant country. 
 They might be made too frequently or too fami- 
 liarly ; but if they are to be treated as under an 
 interdict, it would seem to be going but a little 
 further to consider them as under a stigma ; till the 
 morality of political men will have no better bot- 
 tom than expediency, and become entirely discon- 
 nected from its only legitimate source. It is thus 
 that Hooker expresses himself on the points above 
 insisted on — ' The French king Philip Valois in 
 his time made an ordinance that all prelates and 
 bishops should be clean excluded from parliaments, 
 where the affairs of the kingdom were handled, 
 pretending that a king with good conscience can- 
 not draw pastors having cure of souls from so 
 weighty a business, to trouble their heads with 
 consultations of state. But irreligious intents are 
 not able to hide themselves, no, not when holiness 
 is made their cloak. This is plain and simple 
 truth, that the counsels of wicked men hate always 
 the presence of them whose virtue, though it 
 should not be able to prevail against their pur- 
 poses, would notwithstanding be unto their minds 
 
130 THE BISHOPS CHARGED WITH AN EMBASSY 
 
 a secret corrosive ; and therefore, till either by one 
 shift or another they can bring all things to their 
 own hands alone, they are not secure. Ordi- 
 nances holier and better there stand as yet in force 
 by the grace of Almighty God, and the works of 
 his providence, amongst us. Let not envy so far 
 prevail as to make us account that a blemish 
 which, if there be in us any spark of sound judg- 
 ment or of religious conscience, we must of neces- 
 sity acknowledge to be one of the chiefest orna- 
 ments unto this land : by the ancient laws whereof 
 the clergy being held for the chief of those three 
 estates which together make up the entire body of 
 this commonwealth, under one supreme head and 
 governor, it hath all this time ever borne a sway 
 jjroportionable in the weighty affairs of the land ; 
 wise and virtuous kings condescending most wil- 
 lingly thereunto, even of reverence to the Most 
 High ; with the flower of whose sanctified inheri- 
 tance, as it were with a kind of divine presence ; 
 unless their chiefest civil assemblies were so far 
 forth beautified as might be, without any notable 
 impediment unto their heavenly functions, they 
 could not satisfy themselves as having shewed 
 towards God an affection most dutiful.' ' 
 
 We do not forget that there have been occasions 
 
 1 Hook. Lib. VII, § 15. 
 
TO THE SOVEREIGN STATE. 131 
 
 in which the seasonable and unflinching interposi- 
 tion of episcopal advice has saved the Lord's day 
 from desecration in the highest quarters. And if a 
 crisis can be imagined in which the spiritual coun- 
 sellors of the crown are more imperatively bound 
 by their consciences to display before royalty the 
 majesty of truth, that crisis seems now to have 
 overtaken us. Of the court of our young and 
 gracious sovereign the splendid floor is covered 
 with embassies from far and near ; but is there not 
 room for that embassy which borrows nothing 
 from earthly pomp, but brings a message from tlie 
 King of kings ? It proposes a treaty which, if ac- 
 cepted, will place the throne in pre-eminent secu- 
 rity above its enemies secret or avowed, and build 
 tip church and state on one foundation, as " a city 
 which is at unity with itself," to be " the glory of 
 the whole earth." There are certain matters of 
 indispensable requisition included in this sacred 
 embassy, and which it behoves God's ambassadors, 
 if they are faithful in the delivery of their message 
 strenuously to insist upon. There is a church, a 
 protestant and reformed communion, which holy 
 and highly-gifted men have founded in this coun- 
 try, and rescued from the tyranny of Antichrist ; 
 and that church must be maintained in its purity 
 and integrity. There is a record which contains 
 the promulgation of truths and ordinances of divine 
 
132 
 
 THE church's activity: 
 
 authority which must be kept entire, and preserved 
 from being broken into parts or selections to serve 
 any subordinate purpose of man ; and there is a 
 day of peculiar sanctity, which has the seal and 
 signature of the King of kings to attest his exclu- 
 sive property in it, and on which he will not suffer 
 the foot of pride, or pomp, or pleasure, or business 
 to intrude with impunity. A refusal to comply 
 with these requisitions and stipulations, or a denial 
 of the prerogatives and claims which form the sub- 
 ject of this awful embassy will bring upon this 
 kingdom a sore visitation, under which all its pre- 
 sent grandeur will speedily wither away, and " Icha- 
 bod " be inscribed on all its palaces and temples. 
 
 These suggestions are not intended to convey 
 any insinuation to the prejudice of any class of 
 official persons. They issue from an earnest desire 
 to be the humble means of giving some stir to that 
 great movement which the national church is 
 called upon to begin towards its own protection. 
 It can have but one true and righteous defence. 
 What is sometimes called a revival seems properly 
 to express the demonstration which should now be 
 made of the pure profession of " the faith once 
 delivered to the saints," according to the formula- 
 ries of the reformed church of this nation for 
 which its holy founders freely gave their bodies to 
 be burned. 
 
HOW TO BE DIRECTED AND MODIFIED. 133 
 
 §XIV. 
 
 It is only in such a revival that we can look for 
 safety to our establishment. The forms of our 
 church must be substantiated and her lines filled 
 up. The dry bones must have their sinews and 
 their flesh laid upon them, and be made to breathe 
 and live. Institutions which can be rendered ope- 
 rative and useful must no longer remain mere ad- 
 umbrations of the godly purposes for which they 
 were designed. The household of God, its spiritual 
 economy, and its sacred appointments should be 
 reviewed and set in order. But let it be the 
 church of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, which 
 was proclaimed by them in prison and in flames, 
 and to which they gave the Bible as the charter of 
 its foundation, and as the trophy of their own 
 passive triumphs. At a time when heated brains 
 were every where teeming with excessive births, 
 those wise and moderate men framed for us that 
 model of doctrine, disciphne, and worship which 
 we now hold by a tenure by many regarded as 
 precarious, in adverting to the multitudes of its 
 assailants. But as long as our church can retreat 
 upon Scripture, she has a fortress from which she 
 cannot easily be expelled. Her moderation in 
 which in truth her safety lies, presents the aspect 
 of continual danger to superficial observers. Placed 
 
134 DANGER OF EXTREME OPINIONS. 
 
 between violent and excessive dogmas, she seems 
 ready to become the victim of the fury and fanat- 
 icism by which she is on either side threatened. 
 But the extremes between which she moves only 
 the more distinctly mark out for her that middle 
 course in which there is, proverbially, the greatest 
 safety, and preserves her from vacillation. Her 
 moderation may not save her from her enemies ; 
 but her moderation is not the cause of her weak- 
 ness or danger. She cannot be enervated by 
 keeping steady to the life-giving doctrines of the 
 Gospel, with the gloomy terrors of the law on the 
 one side, and the liberty which is a cloak of 
 maliciousness " on the other ; for truth is always 
 strong, and victory is the sure reward of righteous 
 perseverance. But if the pure doctrines with whicli 
 the church was nourished at the Reformation, and 
 which have brought her to her present growth and 
 perfection, shall be stained or diluted by any 
 intermixture of modern introduction, flowing in 
 upon them from the teaching of men of her own 
 household, having authority and the power of per- 
 suasion, then will the church be in that state of 
 internal weakness which will render her unequal 
 to maintain the struggle against her assailants 
 from without. 
 
 It is expedient that those who are rallying 
 round the church in this moment of her conflict. 
 
DANGER OF EXTREME OPINIONS. 135 
 
 should have a distinct notion of what they have to 
 contend for. Unless they are contending for the 
 identical church for which the martyrs of Queen 
 Mary suffered, they are not truly contending for 
 the Church of England. If, to place her at the 
 farthest distance from Protestant dissent, they 
 contend for a church standing on the verge of that 
 superstition, from whose vortex it was snatched 
 at the Reformation, they are endangering the 
 abric of that famous era ; and if, to avoid such an 
 approximation, they adopt the error of deprecia- 
 ting her discipline, and disregarding lier sacerdotal 
 succession, and traditional authority, they are not 
 contending for the pure inheritance which belongs 
 to us. In either of these cases our zeal is in great 
 part thrown away. Neither let us contend for a 
 state of church discipline above control or change 
 in its exterior condition. There is a lethargic 
 maxim which would under all circumstances keep 
 things as they are. This cannot be ; things must 
 not and cannot remain altogether as they are. A 
 moral revolution is in progress. The church must 
 keep pace with it. All its capacities must be 
 awake. If a new influence, the offspring of intel- 
 lect or talent, or time or accident is at work, deter- 
 mining the actions and opinions of men, our eccle- 
 siastical polity must have its hold upon this influ- 
 ence for maintaining its own standing and station. 
 
136 URGENCY OF THE PRESENT CRISIS. 
 
 Public education, which is a mighty organ of 
 moral change and social modification, if it acts 
 independently of the church, will soon turn against 
 it, with the press for an ally, standing, like 
 Briareus, with its hundred hands uplifted against 
 heaven. 
 
 There is a large party in the country who would 
 fain content the general craving after knowledge 
 by giving it instruction, without religion, or with 
 a religion secularized and generalized into theory, 
 and made matter of science. To counteract all 
 this is the proper business of an estabhshed reli- 
 gion, provided with its various means and minis- 
 trations. But it cannot be the work of an indolent 
 or stagnant religion ; neither will a flimsy display 
 of spectacular worship, or pulpit oratory, or all 
 the vanities which the creature obtrudes upon the 
 Creator, be of any avail in the present conjunc- 
 ture. It is in the simple discharge of the pastoral 
 office that the secret of our preservation consists. 
 To a real, efficient, and stationary clergy — the 
 guardians and instructors of the poor, the firm 
 expostulators with the rich, the decided promul- 
 gators of evangelical truth, the rural patterns of 
 probity and sanctity, the great work of popular 
 instruction and Christian defence belongs. The 
 mind of the country is theirs. They have only to 
 make a fuU use of their opportunities. They are 
 
CALL UPON THE MINISTRY FOR SPECIAL PRAYER. 137 
 
 summoned to a simultaneous effort, and to put on 
 their spiritual armour. It is not the time for the 
 friends of our Zion to mark her bulwarks and to 
 tell her towers, but to listen to the trumpet which 
 sounds from her battlements, proclaiming the 
 approach of her besiegers, and the stress of her 
 tribulation. 
 
 If the ministers of our church are sincere men, 
 as doubtless for the most part they are, the most 
 effectual of all means whereby it may be strength- 
 ened is that which has been already stated as the 
 greatest security of the church ; and to which we 
 return, in concluding this Essay, as deserving to be 
 last impressed on the mind of the reader. It was 
 said by an ecclesiastical writer of the fourth cen- 
 tury, that the world itself has been kept from 
 dissolution by the prayers of the saints ; ' a suppo- 
 sition not without support from Scriptural analogy. 
 Certain it is that whatever we ask in prayer, being 
 asked of Omnipotence, cannot be excessive; it 
 needs only to be tempered to his will. This is the 
 only measure necessary to be observed. 
 
 In praying for the church of this nation we seeni 
 to be on safe ground. We are entreating a sove- 
 reign in behalf of his own prerogatives. In pray- 
 ing for the establishment, we pray only to have the 
 means of praying with the due solemnity secured 
 
 1 Quis dnbitet mundum stare precibus sanctoram.— Rufix. 
 
138 CALL UPON THE MINISTRY FOR SPECIAL PRAYER. 
 
 to US. We pray that our Jerusalem may be 
 " builded as a city whicb is at unity with itself ; " 
 that " thither the tribes may go up, the tribes of 
 the Lord, to the testimony of Israel; to give 
 thanks unto the name of the Lord; for there are 
 the seats of judgment, even the thrones of the 
 house of David." 
 
 To pray especially for the Church of England 
 seems to be, at this moment, the duty of aU its 
 members ; but more emphatically of those to whom 
 its ministrations are committed. But it should 
 be a national act. Prayers for an object of general 
 concern should collectively go up to the throne of 
 grace. There is a holy violence in simultaneous 
 supplication that lays siege to heaven itself. Un- 
 less there is heart enough in the cause to draw its 
 supporters together in an embodied effort, the 
 establishment of our ecclesiastical polity is drawing 
 near to its dissolution. Faith is the stamina of 
 prayer, and if our church is strong in this stamina 
 she will not long be without a demonstration of it 
 in a general movement among her spiritual mem- 
 bers. We shall see assemblages of her saints 
 uniting in prayer in every diocese, or rather in 
 every district and neighbourhood to the great 
 head of the church universal, to impart his blessing, 
 his unction, and his grace, to the distinct portion 
 of it established in this country. Such special 
 
CALL UPON THE MINISTRY FOR SPECIAL PRAYER. 139 
 
 societies of praying men will be the best hope of 
 our national establishment. Their echoes will re- 
 verberate through the land ; and as those which 
 reached from Smyrna to Antioch, and procured 
 the peace of the church, so may the supplications 
 for the churches of England and Ireland connect 
 the two countries together in a firmer sympathy of 
 sisterhood on a protestant basis. In every family, 
 in either nation where pure religion has found a 
 home, and schism has gained no footing, the 
 morning and evening prayer should at this hour 
 put the church's cause in the front of their peti- 
 tions. And in the prayer which precedes the ser- 
 mon of the minister, which the rubric has left to 
 his discretion, he will shew that our beautiful 
 system of doctrines and formiilaries is precious in 
 his sight by remembering its claim, -in tliis period 
 of its conflict, to be made the special subject of the 
 soul's entreaty. But " there must be fire in the 
 sacrifice," otherwise it ascends not. There is no 
 sacrifice without incense, and no incense without 
 fire. Our remiss dead hearts are not likely to do 
 much for the church of God, nor for ourselves. 
 "\^^le^e are those strong cries that should pierce the 
 heavens? 'His ear is open to their cry.' He 
 hears the faintest coldest prayer, but not with that 
 delight and propenseness to grant it. He takes no 
 pleasure in hearing it ; but cries, heart — cries — Oh ! 
 
140 CALLUPON THE MINISTRY FOR SPECIAL PR AVER. 
 
 those take his ear and move his bowels ; for these 
 are the voice, the cries of his own children. A 
 strange word of encouragement to importunity — 
 " Give him no rest." (Isaiah Ixii. 7.) Suffer him 
 not to be in quiet, " till he make Jerusalem a praise 
 in the earth." A few such suitors in these times 
 were worth a thousand such as we are. Our 
 prayers stick in our breasts, scarce come forth, 
 Imuch less do they go up and ciscend with that 
 piercing force, that would open up the way for 
 deliverances to come down. ^ 
 
 ' Leighton, 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE PURITY OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
THE 
 
 PURITY OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 THE 
 
 STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 BY WILLIAM! NICHOLSON, M. A. 
 
 RECTOR OF ST. MAVRICE, WrXCHESTER. 
 
 ayevaia-xvyrov." — 2 Tim. ii. 15. 
 
 ' A priest, the like of whom, 
 If niukiplied, and in their stations set, 
 Would o'er the bosom of a jo}-ful land 
 Spread true religion, and hor genuine fruits.'" 
 
 Wordsworth— TA* Excursion, Book vi. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The writer of this Essay will not be chargeable 
 with an ostentation of humility, in expressuig his 
 deep conviction of the deficiencies of his work. He 
 is probably conscious of more imperfections, than 
 the most critical of his readers will point out. The 
 subjects widi which he has had to deal, it will be 
 readOy admitted, present no ordinary difficulties : 
 and it would be arrogant to pretend that he has 
 mastered them. In all probability he would not 
 have appeared before the public as " an adviser 
 for the common good," if the circumstances ex- 
 plained at the commencement of this volume had 
 not laid upon him a kind of necessity. Most gladly 
 would he have devoted much additional study and 
 thought to this production of his leisure hours in 
 a rural parish ; but if weightier duties, now de- 
 volved upon him, did not forbid it, he would be 
 prevented by another consideration. The essay, in 
 its present form, having received the sanction of 
 those to whom it was submitted, the writer feels 
 that he is scarcely warranted in introducing any 
 substantial alterations. The only material change. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 which he has allowed hhnself to make, is a conden- 
 sation of the matter contained in the earlier chap- 
 ters. He has done this, under the impression that 
 the subjects there discussed have probably received 
 a more full consideration in the accompanying 
 essay. 
 
 In treating of the important subjects contained 
 in the last two chapters, the writer trusts that he 
 will not be chargeable with ' accusing laws, for 
 men's oversights, or imputing evils, gro\vn through 
 personal defects, unto that which is not evil ; ' 
 although perhaps, he may justly incur the censure 
 of ' framing unto some sores unwholesome plasters, 
 and applying other some where no sore is.' ' He 
 sends forth this essay to the world, with the ear- 
 nest hope, that it may lead the minds of serious 
 and reflecting men, to bend their thoughts to the 
 solution of the important problem, how the Church 
 of England may be restored to its due efficiency, 
 and become the means, under God, of more widely 
 extending the blessing of pure and undefiled reh- 
 gion in our land. 
 
 Winchester, July 2, 1838. 
 
 1 Hooker. Eecl. Pol. V. 1. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. The importance of the Ministerial Office. 1 
 
 II. The efficiency of the Minister depends, under 
 
 God, upon his due qualifications. 9 
 
 III. The qualifications of the Christian Minister. 21 
 
 1. Of Nature 
 
 2. Of Grace 
 
 IV. The deplorable consequences of defective quali- 
 
 fications. - - - - - 47 
 
 1. Contempt of the office. 
 
 2. Schism in the Church. 
 
 3. Loss of souls. 
 
 V. The Ministry of the Church of England. 59 
 
 1. Orders Scriptural and Catholic. 
 
 2. The parochial distribution of its Ministers. 
 
 3. Efficiency impaired by defective admin- 
 istration. 
 
vii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI. The causes of unsuitable appointments to the 
 
 ministry in the Church of England. 78 
 
 1. Erroneous views of the responsibilities of 
 
 the ministry. - - - 81 
 
 2. Neglect of existing precautions against 
 
 the intrusion of unfit persons into the 
 ministrj'. - - - 89 
 
 3. Abuse of Church Patronage. - 107 
 
 VII. Tlie means most likely to be effectual in remov- 
 - ing or modifj'ing the evil of an imqualified 
 
 ministry - - - - - 130 
 
 1 . Awakening of the public mind. 1 34 
 
 2. Stricter maintenance of existing pre- 
 
 cautions. - - - - 138 
 
 3. More prompt and unfettered exercise of 
 
 episcopal jurisdiction . - 140 
 
 4. Modification of Church Patronage. 146 
 
 Concluding remarks 
 
 168 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 In order to form a correct estimate of the dig- 
 nity and importance of the Christian ministry, it 
 is necessary that a right judgment be entertained 
 respecting those things with which it is conversant. 
 It possesses a derived importance, arising from 
 the grandeur of the theme which it is commis- 
 sioned to declare, and the vastness of the interests 
 which are involved in its due administration. That 
 theme is the gospel of Christ, and those interests 
 the temporal and eternal welfare of the human 
 family. If the knowledge of this gospel be im- 
 perfect or erroneous, if its high claims upon the 
 attention be slighted, and if the future destinies 
 of man, dependent upon its reception, be un- 
 heeded, then it can be no matter of surprise, that 
 the importance of the ministry by which it is pro- 
 pagated and maintained, should be underrated or 
 despised. 
 
 B 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 The gospel is in itself transcendently glorious. 
 It is the brightest and most illustrious manifesta- 
 tion of Himself, which God has ever vouchsafed to 
 man. All his divine perfections, are traced in 
 heavenly characters on this his last and clearest 
 revelation. The glory of God indeed is every 
 where displayed. It is proclaimed throughout 
 the universe by countless heralds appointed for 
 the purpose. But although heaven and earth de- 
 clare the glory of God, yet has it a brighter dis- 
 play, and a more distinct and emphatic proclama- 
 tion. The gospel affords a wider platform for its 
 manifestation than even the visible creation itself, 
 and presents a grander and more overwhelming 
 exhibition of the divine perfections, than all the 
 splendour which the eye beholds. It is, in a 
 word, ' the glorious gospel of the blessed God." * 
 
 And if we turn away our thoughts from its in- 
 trinsic excellence, to the effects which it has pro- 
 duced upon mankind ; if we contemplate the 
 moral revolutions which it has accompUshed in the 
 world, and the blessings, temporal and eternal, 
 which it has diffused, its importance becomes still 
 more apparent. It may be doubted by the scep- 
 tic or denied by the unbeUever, but we hold it to 
 be a fact, capable of the most rigid demonstration, 
 that even in a worldly point of view, Christianity 
 ' rh ivayy(\tov t^s 5o{5s : 1 Tim. i. 11. 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 3 
 
 has been the bearer of incalculable benefits to 
 mankind. And if those beneficial effects be not 
 so numerous or so apparent, as might have been 
 expected from its nature and tendency ; if eighteen 
 centuries have passed away, and it be found still 
 only struggUng for the mastery ; let us bear in 
 mind the difiiculties which it had to encounter, 
 and the obstacles by which its progress has been 
 impeded. True it is, that its salutary influence 
 has hitherto been partial and hmited in extent. 
 Still it would be difficult to appreciate the obliga- 
 tions, under which society lies to Christianity. 
 Even when its spiritual power is not experienced 
 in the heart, its outward forms are a public recog- 
 nition of God's authority, a standing memento of 
 man's responsibility, and its laws and sanctions a 
 wholesome restraint upon the violent outbreakings 
 of wickedness. In short, like some of those 
 mighty agents in the kingdom of nature, whose 
 secret influence pervades all matter, Christianity, 
 entering into the constitution of society, and pene- 
 trating to the very elements of the social system, 
 exercises in every part of it a potent and beneficial 
 influence. Let but this influence be weakened or 
 destroyed, and the effects will be apparent in the 
 disruption of those joints and bands, the compact- 
 ness of which constitutes the strength and stability 
 of the body politic. 
 
 6 2 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 We have dwelt longer upon this point perhaps 
 than the argument demands. But in these days, 
 when there exists so strong a disposition in certain 
 quarters, to divorce religion from all questions 
 affecting the economy of a state, we seem to be 
 imperatively called upon to vindicate the prin- 
 ciple, that a community can only then be happy 
 or prosperous, when the influence of the gospel 
 pervades the great mass of its population. 
 
 We arrive now at the point, to which the pre- 
 ceding remarks have been tending. It has already 
 been stated, that the importance of the office of 
 the Christian ministry is derived solely from the 
 dignity and importance of the work assigned to it. 
 If this latter point therefore be established, the 
 other will necessarily follow. The divine author 
 of the gospel has appointed it to be diffused and 
 perpetuated throughout the world, by hxunan 
 agency. He has ordained and commissioned a 
 body of men, in all ages, to be set apart from the 
 secularities of life, and to be engaged in scattering 
 far and wide around them the know-ledge of his 
 holy religion. The apostles, receiving their high 
 commission immediately from the hands of Christ 
 himself, went forth into distant lands, as his 
 accredited ambassadors. The power of the Holy 
 Ghost accompanied their ministrations; and 
 whithersoever they went, they left behind them 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 5 
 
 trophies of the victories, which, through their in- 
 strumentahty, divine grace had achieved. 
 
 The triumphs of the Gospel were not intended 
 to be transitory. The Apostles and early minis- 
 ters of Christ were commissioned, not merely to 
 propagate, but to estabhsh and perpetuate his 
 rehgion. Like prudent generals, they were to be 
 intent upon securing their past, as well as upon 
 acquiring fresh, triumphs. They were to leave, as 
 it were, a garrison in every place behind them, 
 wliile they continued their aggressive movements 
 upon the still unsubdued dominions of Satan. This 
 they did by founding churches by ordaining their 
 appointed officers, and by entrusting the ministry, 
 which they had received from the Lord, to the hands 
 of men duly qualified to execute it. Thus they pro- 
 vided for the perpetuity and continued exten- 
 sion of the Gospel. Each church was sup- 
 plied with an internal organization, adapted, not 
 only for its own maintenance, but also for its 
 progressive expansion. The world could never 
 have been evangelized by any other system of 
 operation. The apostles and earliest missionaries 
 of the Gospel were soon removed by death. If, 
 therefore, the several churches which they founded 
 had not been thus constituted, the fruit of their 
 labours must soon, humanly speaking, have disap- 
 peared from the earth. But, guided by the Spirit 
 
6 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 of God, they delegated their functions to others, 
 who should carry on the work of the Lord, when 
 their lips should be silent in the grave. They 
 were ' put in trust' with the Gospel, for the benefit 
 of future generations ; and since ' they were not 
 suffered to continue by reason of death,' it was 
 necessary that this trust should be perpetuated 
 in the persons and ministry of others. Thus was 
 provision made for a continual succession of 
 ' faithful men,' who, as each generation should 
 finish its course, might hand down the word of 
 life to that which followed it. Thus the Gospel 
 struck its roots into every soil, where the Apostles 
 planted it ; and until the withering blight of error 
 in doctrine and corruption in practice swept over 
 the churches, they continued to flourish and ex- 
 pand, under the genial influences of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 God has thus, in his infinite wdsdom, linked the 
 establishment and extension of Christianity in the 
 world with the institution of the ministry. He 
 has appointed that office to be the medium of 
 communication between himself and the souls of 
 men — the chaimel, by which he is pleased to dis- 
 tribute throughout the world the blessings of his 
 Gospel.* 
 
 In every point of view, therefore, this ministry 
 J Ephesians iv. 11, 12. 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 7 
 
 appears unspeakably important. When we can 
 duly estimate the value of salvation — when we can 
 measure the worth of innumerable millions of im- 
 mortal beings, rescued from perdition, then only 
 shall we be able 'to form an adequate idea of the 
 importance of this holy office. 
 
 We need not further continue the discussion of 
 this point. If we admit the value of the Gos- 
 pel, we cannot doubt the necessity of a stand- 
 ing ministry in the Church, as the means of its 
 establishment and extension. Doubtless God can 
 dispense with these, and with all other means, and 
 work by his own immediate hand his purposes of 
 grace. He could, if so it seemed good to Him, 
 train up souls for glory, and people heaven with 
 the redeemed spirits of men, without any subor- 
 dinate agency whatever. But we can perceive 
 sufficient reasons for believing, that this, his 
 chosen method, is the best and most fitted for the 
 accomplishment of his purposes ; that it tends most 
 illustriously to display his glory, and is, upon the 
 whole, most conducive to the welfare of mankind. 
 
 O that this ministry had never so far failed in 
 the execution of its high functions, as to leave the 
 shadow of a doubt upon the question, whether it 
 be essential to the well-being of mankind ! Would 
 that every one, to whom this holy office has been 
 entrusted, had faithfully performed the part 
 
8 IMPORTANCE OF MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 assigned to him ! Then should we want no other 
 answer to the ca%'ils of the unbeliever, than to point 
 to the visible effects of liis ministry, to souls won 
 ' from darkness to light, and from the power of 
 Satan unto God,' and to the blessed fruits of 
 peace and order and sobriety and righteousness, 
 which are at once the glory and the strength of a 
 people. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE EFFICIENCY OF THE MINISTER DEPENDS, 
 UNDER GOD, UPON HIS DUE QUALIFI- 
 CATIONS FOR THE OFFICE. 
 
 God usually works by the agency of means, 
 adapted and subordinated to the purposes, to 
 which they are to be appHed. According to this 
 system, one condition is obviously necessary, in 
 order to the full accomplishment of the intended 
 result, namely, that the means employed be, in 
 their nature and quality, fitted for the purpose. 
 It is also obvious, that the efficiency of those 
 means, in ordinary cases, will be in direct propor- 
 tion to the degree of their adaptation to the end ; 
 and that any defect in such adaptation will neces- 
 sarily be apparent, in the partial or entire failure 
 of the result. "We need not bring forward illus- 
 trations of truths so obvious as these. The law 
 above stated pervades every department of nature ; 
 B 5 
 
10 
 
 THE MINISTER MUST 
 
 and in the business of life, that man would be 
 counted destitute of reason, who should expect 
 his designs to be accomplished, by the intervention 
 of means, in their nature disqualified from effect- 
 ing them. In his purposes of mercy towards his 
 creatures, God has not deviated from this his 
 usual mode of proceeding. 
 
 We have traced in the last chapter, the insti- 
 tution of the Christian ministry, the purposes it 
 was intended to subserve, and the benefits which 
 it is calculated to confer upon mankind. We 
 considered the agency which it has pleased the 
 infinite wisdom of God to employ, for the propa- 
 gation and perpetuity of his gospel in the world. 
 Now since he is fettered by no laws, and bound to 
 adhere to no system, God, unquestionably, might 
 have rendered success altogether independent of the 
 qualifications of those, whom he has condescended 
 to employ ; he might have so ordained, that there 
 should be no necessary connexion between the 
 characters of those who minister in holy things, 
 and the efficiency of their ministrations, although 
 his mode of acting in this case would certainly 
 have appeared anomalous and extraordinary. But 
 so far is this from being the case, that in no 
 department of his dealings with men, has he more 
 closely connected the accomplishment of the end 
 with the adaptation of the means. Christ com- 
 
BE DULY QUALIFIED. 
 
 11 
 
 raitted the ministry of his gospel, in the first 
 instance, to men duly qualified to execute it; not 
 indeed to men, whom he found previously endued 
 with qualities, which rendered them sufficient for 
 their work, but to men whom he singled out, in 
 order that they might he qualified by endow- 
 ments and capabilities proceeding from himself. 
 Assuredly, the apostles and their fellow-helpers in 
 the ministry, for the most part, had no natural or 
 acquired endowments, which peculiarly fitted them 
 for their high vocation ; no vigorous grasp of intel- 
 lect, no rich and varied stores of learning, no 
 widely extended influence. Yet were they quali- 
 fied, in the best possible manner, for their work ; 
 and it may safely be asserted, that had they not 
 been thus qualified, their ministry would have 
 been ineflfectual. 
 
 It would be anticipating a future part of the 
 subject, were we to enter at large upon the ques- 
 tion of qualifications, at the present stage of our 
 inquiry. We are now dealing with the general 
 principle, that God has so united the success of 
 the ministration with the personal qualifications 
 of the minister, that, in ordinary cases, the one is 
 accompanied by, and dependent upon, the other. 
 And when we speak of success in the ministry, let 
 it be remembered, that we do not so much allude 
 to the collateral and subordinate advantages which 
 
12 
 
 THE MINISTER MUST 
 
 result fi-om it, as to the attainment of the one 
 great and paramount object, which it contemplates, 
 the salvation of souls. 
 
 Nor again let it be supposed, that in the state- 
 ment of this general principle it is implied, that 
 there is any proportion between the means em- 
 ployed, and the results eiFected. On the con- 
 trary it must be admitted, that there is an infinite 
 disproportioji subsisting between them. "We can- 
 not for a moment compare the magnitude of the 
 effects produced, by the preaching of the gospel, 
 with the apparent sufficiency of the means to pro- 
 duce them. They are utterly incommensurable. 
 When we think of the salvation of innumerable 
 souls, of heaven peopled with rejoicing spirits, 
 once the heirs of misery and the slaves of sin : 
 when we reflect upon the scene which will be 
 disclosed at the day of judgment, " the great mul- 
 titude which no man can number, of all nations, 
 and kindreds, and people, and tongues," and 
 remember, that this great multitude will ascribe 
 its blessedness to the ministration of the gospel, 
 who does not feel, that in the result there is a 
 rastness wliich baffles our conception, while there 
 is in the instrumentality a meanness, amounting to 
 utter insignificance ? 
 
 And this view of the subject is consonant with 
 the word of God. It is " by the foolishness of 
 
BE DULY QUALIFIED. 
 
 13 
 
 preaching," that God is pleased " to save them 
 that believe." " God hath chosen the foolish 
 things of the world, to confound the wise ; and 
 God hath chosen the weak things of the world, 
 to confound the things which are mighty ; 
 and base things of the world, and things 
 which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and 
 things which are not, to bring to nought things 
 that are ; that no flesh should glory in his pre- 
 sence." * The treasure of the gospel is depo- 
 sited in earthen vessels, that " the excellency 
 of the power may be of God and not of men." 
 And none is so ready to admit the native insuffi- 
 ciency of the minister, as the great apostle, of 
 whom, less than of all the apostles, that insuffi- 
 ciency can be predicated. " Not that we are 
 sufficient of ourselves, (says St. Paul,) to think 
 any thing, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of 
 God : who hath also made us able ministers ^ of the 
 New Testament." 
 
 With regard to the principle for which we are 
 contending, it may be observed, that there is a 
 vast difference between sufficiency and qualifica- 
 tion for the ministerial work. The minister, who 
 may be endowed with most of the requisite qualifi- 
 cations, is after all, in himself, wholly insufficient. 
 
 ' 1 Cor. 27—29. 
 
 2 U Udnuffev ^jttos— " who hath fitted us to be ministers." 2 
 Cor. iii. 5, 6. 
 
14 
 
 THE MINISTER MUST 
 
 " For who is sufficient for these things?" The 
 fact, which we wish to establish, is simply this, 
 that by the appointment of God, certain quali- 
 fications are necessary, in the main, for a right 
 discharge of the ministerial functions ; and that in 
 default of these, a partial or entire failure of suc- 
 cess must be the issue. 
 
 It has been already observed, that the analogy 
 of God's other operations would necessarily lead us 
 to this conclusion. He has ordained certain means 
 for the accomplishment of certain ends ; and we 
 perceive the attainment of those ends to be more 
 or less complete, in proportion to the suitableness 
 of the instrumentality employed. But this general 
 analogy in itself, would be no conclusive argu- 
 ment in our favour. For it does not necessarily 
 follow, that God should adopt the same order 
 in the spiritual, as in the natural and moral 
 worlds. His purposes, for ought that we can 
 determine, might have been as effectually accom- 
 plished by a different arrangement. 
 
 But if we bring the question, which we are con- 
 sidering, to the test of actual obsers'ation, we shall 
 find this view of it fully established. Do we not 
 perceive the ministerial work to prosper, by the 
 blessing of God, in the hands of those endued with 
 the requisite qualifications ? and on the contrary, 
 do we not observe it to languish, where those qua- 
 lifications are defective ? Sinners are not usually 
 
BE DULY QUALIFIED. 
 
 15 
 
 converted from " the error of their ways, to the 
 wisdom of the just," by a careless and unenlight- 
 ened ministry. The strong holds of Satan are not 
 usually assaulted with success, by weapons of any 
 other than of heavenly and spiritual temper. The 
 brightest times of the church of Christ have not 
 been those, when the fire upon her altar has been 
 fed by a secular and worldly-minded priesthood ; 
 nor has the flock of Christ been most numerous or 
 most beautiful, when the "pastoral staff" has 
 been feebly wielded by the hands of slumbering 
 and self-indulgent shepherds. In reviewing the 
 annals of the church, we cannot fail to observe, 
 that its general prosperity has been intimately 
 connected with the high standard of personal qua- 
 lifications, which has prevailed amongst its minis- 
 ters. When the ranks of the clergy have been 
 filled by pure, and heavenly-minded, and " faithful 
 men," then has the church " put on her beauti- 
 ful garments" of holiness, and faith, and zeal, and 
 love ; then has she " shaken herself from the dust," 
 and arisen, and shone forth in majesty, the light 
 of a dark world. We can point, alas ! to but few 
 such bright epochs in her history, but those few 
 are suflicient to furnish an argument for the truth 
 of our statement. We see, that the times of her 
 brightest lustre have been those, when her minis- 
 try has been purest and holiest ; and that, when 
 
16 
 
 THE MINISTER MUST 
 
 that ministry has been morally and spiritually 
 degraded, then has her light been quenched, and 
 her glory departed. Can we have a clearer evi- 
 dence of the fact, that God has connected the 
 prosperity of his church, with the due qualifica- 
 tions of her appointed functionaries ? 
 
 It is not however necessary to appeal to the 
 records of the church in former times, for facts 
 illustrative of this truth ; our own personal obser- 
 vation will suffice. Let us look abroad over the 
 parishes of our native land, and see if we can gather 
 from the survey no proof of the connexion, subsist- 
 ing between the efficiency of the ministerial office, 
 and the due qualifications of those who bear it. 
 Do we find the blessing of God usually attendant 
 upon an incompetent ministry of his word ? Can 
 we trace therein the operation of the Spirit, in the 
 awakening of the careless, the conversion of the 
 profligate, the instruction of the ignorant, the con- 
 solation of the mourner, and the edification of the 
 body of Christ ? We must admit, that, for the most 
 part, we look in vain, under such circumstances, for 
 these blessed effects ; that we find no shaking 
 among the dry bones, no breathing of the Spirit 
 into the Hfeless forms of religion, no resurrection 
 from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. 
 
 It may be thought perhaps, that we have carried 
 out this general principle, beyond the limits of its 
 
BE DVLY QUALIFIED. 
 
 17 
 
 just application. That certain qualifications are 
 essential to tlie due execution of the Christian 
 ministry, can be doubted by none. But it may 
 perhaps be objected, that we have too much 
 referred success to the possession of these qualifi- 
 cations, and too much lost sight of the diWne 
 commission, with which the office is invested, and 
 which is alike the foundation of its authority, and 
 the warrant for its success. It may be said, that 
 we have attributed more to the skill of the sower, 
 than to the di^•ine nature and inherent %-irtue of 
 the seed. It may be said, that the ministry of a 
 Balaam, under the old dispensation, and of a Judas, 
 under the new, are instances of apparently unqua- 
 lified agents employed in eflfecting the purposes of 
 God. But let it be remembered, that we are 
 dealing ' with a general principle, unquestionably 
 admitting of exceptions. It is not afiirmed, that 
 in the work of the ministry, God never deviates 
 from his usual and established mode of operation. 
 AU that is contended for is the fact, that he has 
 established that mode, and, in ordinary cases, is 
 pleased to adhere to it. He is a sovereign God, 
 and works after the counsels of his own wiE ; and 
 it is certain, that he often accomplishes his pur- 
 poses of mercy, by instruments, not only insuffi- 
 cient in themselves, but in appearance totally 
 unfitted to efiect them. He can, and doubtless 
 
18 
 
 THE MINISTER MUST 
 
 does, occasionally make use of ministers destitute of 
 the qualifications, which he himself has appointed, 
 as generally necessary. * But these are plainly 
 exceptions to the ordinary method, which he 
 employs, and cannot be considered as in any mea- 
 sure affecting the force of the preceding argu- 
 ments. 
 
 It may be objected, moreover, that, in support- 
 ing this principle, we are inconsistent with the tenor 
 of the XXVIth Article of the church. « But this 
 inconsistency is in appearance only. It has not 
 been said, that the want of due qualifications in 
 the minister invalidates the word and sacraments, 
 ministered by him to the church of God. This 
 doctrine, if admitted, must lead to manifold absur- 
 dities, and leave a cloud of gloomy uncertainty 
 upon the mind of a Christian, as to the validity of 
 every office of the church, in which he has parti- 
 cipated. The prayers and praises of the congre- 
 gation cannot be hindered from reaching the throne 
 of God, and returning with a blessing upon the 
 
 1 " What he can do extraordinarily (Archbishop Leighton well 
 observes) who doth always what he wills in heaven and earth, we 
 question not. He can convey grace by those, to whom he gives 
 none. He can cause them to carry this treasure, and have no 
 share in it ; carry the letter, and not know what is in it, and make 
 them, so to speak, equivocal causes of conversion.' ' — Sermon on 
 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 
 - " Of the unworthiness of the ministers, which hinders not the 
 effect of the sacrament." 
 
BE DULY QUALIFIED. 
 
 19 
 
 faithful worshipper, by the unworthy lips of him, 
 by whom they are presented. " The sword of the 
 Spirit, which is the word of God," is " quick and 
 powerful," though wielded by an unskilful or 
 unworthy hand ; nor can the efficacy of a sacra- 
 ment be nullified, to the devout recipient, by the 
 unworthiness of him, upon whom the honor of 
 ministering at the altar of God should never have 
 been conferred. 
 
 But how do these acknowledged truths inter- 
 fere with the principle, which we have been con- 
 sidering ? If qualifications be required of those 
 who undertake the office of the ministry ; if they 
 be described and insisted upon in Scripture ; if 
 Apostles and Bishops be directed to appoint those 
 only, in whom they are found, then it must be 
 manifest, that important consequences depend 
 upon the possession of these qualifications. But 
 if men, destitute of them, should have intruded 
 themselves into the sacred office, however much 
 the ministry by this means may be impeded, it is 
 going too far to assert, that God will never make 
 them the channels of communicating gifts to his 
 church. At the same time, since he has instituted 
 a system of means, in their nature fitted for his 
 purposes, it cannot be a matter of indifference, 
 whether this fitness be possessed or not. It is 
 obvious, that, in ordinary cases, the due execution 
 
20 MINISTER MUST BE DULY QUALIFIED. 
 
 of the work assigned, will depend, instrumentally, 
 upon the suitableness of the agency employed. 
 
 If the arguments wliich have been adduced be 
 conclusive, and the general principle which we 
 have sought to establish be admitted, what an 
 awful view of ministerial responsibility is presented 
 to the mind ! How overwhelming is the thought, 
 that the work of the Lord may be impeded by the 
 ministry of those, upon whom has been laid the office 
 of promoting and establishing it ! That the very 
 watchmen upon the towers of Zion, may be the 
 cause of her danger ; the very shepherds of Christ's 
 flock, the cause of its wanderings ; and that spiri- 
 tual death may be perpetuated by those, who are 
 appointed to be the ministers of the word of life ! 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 A VERY important question naturally arises out 
 of the argument of the preceding chapter. Let 
 it be admitted, that an intimate connexion sub- 
 sists between the eflSciency of the ministry and the 
 qualifications of the minister, and it becomes a 
 matter of the deepest interest, to ascertain pre- 
 cisely the nature of those qualifications, and the 
 extent, to which any partial deficiency of them will 
 deprive the minister of success. 
 
 If we wei-e to include all the qualifications, 
 which it is desirable that the Christian minister 
 should possess, we should draw the portrait of 
 more than human perfection. For what high 
 endowments are there, which may not be advan- 
 tageously employed in this great work? The 
 sagacity of mind, which can penetrate most deeply 
 into the arcana of moral or physical science, will 
 find in it subjects, which will tax its powers 
 
22 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 to the utmost. The imagination, which can ex- 
 patiate most freely in the world of poetry and 
 feeling, will find ample room for its most discur- 
 sive flights. The sanguine energy of mind, which 
 can grapple with the most arduous difficulties, 
 and persevere undaunted amidst the most try- 
 ing discouragements, will not unfrequently find 
 itself severely tested. The largest stores of learn- 
 ing, which laborious industry can accumulate, will 
 often be brought into most useful requisition. 
 The lips of eloquence can be touched by no purer 
 or holier fire, than that wliich is taken from the 
 altar of God. There can be no theme, more cal- 
 culated to inspire its most winning and persuasive 
 efforts, than the love of Christ; and no oppor- 
 tunity more fitted to display its powers, than when 
 it is called upon, " in Christ's stead" to pray men 
 to be " reconciled to God." In a word, we may 
 safely assert, that the noblest endowments of na- 
 ture, and the largest acquirements of learning, 
 will find ample room for their exercise and de- 
 velopment in the church of God. Let them be 
 brought into his temple, and placed at his altar, 
 and consecrated to his sei-vice, and he will make 
 them minister to his glory : he will find for them 
 employment, which shall at once be honourable to 
 them, and serviceable to himself. 
 
 But these talents are not entrusted to all: 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 23 
 
 they are the rare possession of a favoured few ; 
 and if none but those, so liighly gifted, were to be 
 admitted to the ministry, the church would be 
 scantily furnished with teachers. We must 
 thei-efore make a broad distinction, between the 
 desirable and the essential qualifications of the 
 Christian minister ; between that, which may be 
 advantageously employed in God's service, and 
 that, which cannot be dispensed with, without more 
 or less frustrating the efficiency of the work. 
 Regard must also be had to the several depart- 
 ments of the ministry, and the several orders, 
 which it has pleased God to institute in his 
 church. For as there are different functions to be 
 performed, so there are required different specific 
 qualifications, for the due performance of them. 
 The Bishop, who is appointed to rule the house 
 of God, should be endued with qualities, which 
 can be partially dispensed with in him, who sus- 
 tains the subordinate office of a teacher. There 
 are, however, certain general characteristic qualifi- 
 cations, without which no man can be said to 
 possess a proper degree of fitness, for any depart- 
 ment of the ministerial office. 
 
 The qualifications of the Christian minister, 
 may perhaps be conveniently arranged under the 
 two general divisions of natural and spiritual. And 
 here it must be acknowledged, that there is not 
 
24 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 a little difficulty in treating a subject, wWcli has 
 been so often and so ably treated by others. It is 
 ho easy task, to say any thing more, or any thing 
 better, than has been already said by the ablest 
 writers of the church in every age. 
 
 1. We begin with what we have termed the 
 natural qualifications for the ministry; and as 
 these consist chiefly of the endo\vments of mind or 
 intellect, we may perhaps more properly term 
 them the mental or intellectual quahfications. 
 These are to be classed among the quaUties desi- 
 rable, not absolutely essential, for the ministry. 
 They certainly cannot be considered so essential, 
 as that the absence of them, when the others are 
 possessed, should in ordinary cases materially 
 interfere with success. For this reason, we place 
 them first in the order, which has been adopted. 
 It is a grand mistake, to suppose that a scanty mea- 
 sure of intellectual furniture is generally required, 
 for an effectual discharge of the ministerial office. 
 For a perfunctory performance of its duties, indeed, 
 a moderate capacity wiU assuredly suffice. There 
 can be but little strain upon the intellectual 
 faculty, in going through a formal routine of 
 ecclesiastical duties. But the great ends of the 
 ministry will not thus be answered ; the glory of 
 God vdU not thus be promoted; the church of 
 God will not thus be "built up in its most holy 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER, 25 
 
 faith." Nor again is it contended, that for the 
 salvation of souls much vigour of thought or 
 grasp of intellect are necessary. So far is this 
 from being the case, that we hold it to be an 
 indisputable fact, that multitudes of souls are 
 continually trained up into " meetness for the 
 inheritance of the saints in light," under a min- 
 istry of the word palpably deficient in this respect. 
 The simple statement of evangelical truth, en- 
 forced with the earnestness of sincerity, and 
 seconded by the cogent influence of a consistent 
 life, are mighty through God in accomplishing 
 the great design of the ministry. And it cannot be 
 doubted, that there is now, and ever has been in 
 the Church of Christy many an humble and faith- 
 ful pastor, indifferently furnished with intellectual 
 gifts, who will be found at the day of judgment, 
 to have possessed the noblest of all wisdom, that 
 of being " wise to win souls ; " many a one, whose 
 heart will be cheered by those gracious words of 
 his master, " well done good and faithful servant, 
 thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
 make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 But there are departments in the church of 
 Christ, which demand the services of the highest 
 order of mind. There is not unfrequently work 
 to be done for God in his church, which in the 
 c 
 
26 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 absence of miraculous gifts, cannot be done with- 
 out more than an ordinary share of mental en- 
 dowments. There is indeed no department, where 
 a sanctified intellect may not be productive of 
 manifold and great advantages. The village pas- 
 tor will find his ministrations among the untu- 
 tored swains of his parish, by no means impeded, 
 and frequently much assisted by the possession of 
 the rich and varied stores of a well cultivated 
 mind. But there are not a few positions, in which 
 a Christian minister may be placed, where to be 
 destitute of such advantages will weaken his influ- 
 ence, and in such proportion obstruct his use- 
 fulness. In an age of cultivation and refinement 
 like the present, when the force of mental supe- 
 riority is more generally appreciated, the ministry, 
 in order to be respected, must not betray a 
 poverty of intellect. It must lead and not foUow 
 in the train of the general improvement. It must 
 give an impulse and a direction to the public 
 mind. The times are past away, it is to be 
 hoped, for ever, when an ignorant and unlettered 
 priesthood ^could wield a despotic authority over 
 the minds of a benighted people. We want a 
 ministry, spiritually and intellectually superior to 
 the mass of those, to whom they are appointed to 
 minister. The church requires, in those who 
 attend at her altars, such mental qualifications, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 27 
 
 and such stores of solid and useful attainments, 
 that their ministrations shall not be contemptible, 
 even in the eyes of her most cultivated laity. 
 
 And let it not be said, that we are requiring 
 more than God has required, and investing that 
 with importance, which he esteems insignificant. 
 Most assuredly, God has in his word poured con- 
 tempt upon the false philosophy of this world. 
 " For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of 
 the wise, and will bring to nothing the under- 
 standing of the prudent. Where is the wise ? 
 Where is the scribe ? Where is the disputer of 
 this world ? Hath not God made foolish the 
 wisdom of this world ? " i But it should be borne 
 in mind, that it is iUe wise man and the disputer 
 of this tvorld that God despises. He requires not 
 these in his service. He repudiates their un- 
 hallowed wisdom. But he has no where declared, 
 that he cannot, and will not, use the mental powers 
 with which he has endued his creatures, as instru- 
 ments for the promotion of his glory. He has 
 never informed us, that the offering of a sanctified 
 intellect, devoted to his service, is an unacceptable 
 gift, or one which he will not condescend to 
 employ. We attribute no inherent efficacy to 
 these high endowments of mind ; we regard them 
 
 ' 1 Cor. i. 19, 20. 
 C 2 
 
28 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 in no other light, than as fit instruments in the 
 hand of an omnipotent God, to work his purposes 
 of grace. He needs them not, though he conde- 
 scends to use them. But if the weakness and the 
 foolishness of man can be made subservient to his 
 glory, surely it is not unreasonable to suppose, 
 that the vigour and the energy of a masculine 
 understanding can be employed by him, with 
 increased advantage to his church. 
 
 We cannot too strongly deprecate the tone of 
 feeling, which frequently prevails, respecting the 
 point we are now considering. It is an opinion 
 at once dishonourable to God, and ruinous in its 
 effects upon the church, that in the ministrj', a 
 smaller demand is made upon the energy of 
 character, and the powers of mind, than in other 
 professions. And the lamentable efiect of this 
 delusion is apparent, in the designation to holy 
 orders of persons obviously defective in those 
 qualities, simply on account of such deficiency. 
 More than an ordinary share of talent, combined 
 with untiring perseverance, are absolutely essen- 
 tial to any great success in other walks of hfe. 
 But is it not a painful fact, that the church is too 
 frequently regarded as a safe refuge for those, 
 whose supineness of character and mediocrity of 
 talent debar them from any prospect of other\vise 
 rising to distinction? Setting aside the awfully 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 29 
 
 defective view of ministerial responsibility, upon 
 which such an opinion is founded, does it not also 
 imply a complete mis-conception of the nature of 
 the work, and the qualities of mind which it 
 requires ? To say nothing of the spiritual dis- 
 quahfication, which in such cases usually exists, is 
 not the very notion, that an inferior measure of 
 natural abiUty is demanded, a libel upon God's 
 holy ministry, and a dishonour to himself ? Is it 
 not practically saying, ' Let Mammon have the 
 best, and give to God what Mammon refuses to 
 employ in his service ? ' It has been justly re- 
 marked by the wise and holy Leighton, * Are 
 there not divers pretenders to it, (the ministry,) 
 who being, and possibly finding themselves, insuf- 
 ficient for all other employments, have their 
 recourse to this, making no doubt of their suffi- 
 ciency for it ? Yea, such there are, too many ; 
 their worldly friends being guilty either of beget- 
 ting in them, or of fomenting their presumption. 
 On the other side be there not others, who, 
 having some advantage of outward rank, or in- 
 ward endovvonents, would think themselves, and 
 be thought by those who have interest in them, 
 to be exceedingly disparaged, if this calling were 
 mentioned to them, and who would count it a 
 great abasing, yea, a losing of themselves to 
 embrace it? Against these two gross mistakes 
 
30 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 may very appositely be opposed this — " We are 
 ambassadors for Christ." From which expression 
 it is most evident, that the ministry both requires 
 the best and ablest, and deserves them ; that the 
 refuse and abjects of men cannot be worthy of it, 
 nor it unworthy of the choicest. It requires able 
 men, because they are to be ambassadors; and 
 this vnll follow of itself. Again, consider whose 
 ambassadors, and in what business. The ambas- 
 sadors of the King of kings in the weighty matter 
 of treating peace betwixt him and mankind.' ' 
 
 It is high time that this ruinous delusion should 
 be banished for ever from the church. Let it no 
 longer be thought, that " the blind and the 
 maimed," are fit offerings for the Lord's accept- 
 ance. ' It is a piece of God's prerogative,' again 
 remarks the same admirable writer whom we have 
 just quoted, ' to use unlikely means without disad- 
 vantage. Any thing is a fit instrument in his 
 hands ; but we are to choose the fittest and best 
 means, both in our own afiairs, and in his service ; 
 and if in any, this eminent service of embassy 
 requires a special choice.' It is most devoutly to be 
 wished, that the public mind were more generally 
 ahve to the unspeakable importance of the ministry 
 of the gospel. Then would it be universally ad- 
 
 ' Sermon to the clergy. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 31 
 
 mitted, and the admission would be carried out into 
 practice, that God's service demands the consecra- 
 tion of all the high endowments, and all the varied 
 capacities, which he has been pleased to bestow 
 upon his creatures. "We should then no longer 
 hear the profane lamentation, that a youth of high 
 intellectual promise had thrown away his talents, 
 (there is something impious in the very phrase) by 
 enlisting them in the service of his God. It 
 would not then be said, that the candle which 
 might have shone brightly and usefully at the bar 
 or in the senate, is hidden under a bushel, when 
 set in the candlestick of the Church of Christ. 
 The coronet of earthly distinction, which often in 
 our land of freedom adorns the brow of genius, 
 would not then be counted a fairer prize than the 
 crown of glory, which is reserved for the faithful 
 minister of the gospel. 
 
 2. Having dwelt at some length upon this 
 subordinate but not unimportant part of our sub- 
 ject, we proceed to the second class of qualifi- 
 cations, which we have termed the spiritual, or 
 quahfications of grace. These must be considered 
 as so essential, that without them, the grand 
 design of the ministry will be partially or entirely 
 frustrated. Natural endowments may be dispensed 
 with ; but for the right discharge of spiritual func- 
 tions, a certain measure of spiritual endowments 
 
32 
 
 LAY AGENCY 
 
 already noticed, are expressive of the writer's 
 sense of the value of such a provision : nor ought 
 he to omit another purpose of this last-mentioned 
 institution, for which the gratitude of the country 
 is particularly due, — the addition it proposes to 
 grant in aid of endowments offered by the patrons 
 of livings, or to the gratuitous donations of others 
 for a similar purpose. Where plans so wisely 
 contrived to meet the difficulties of the present 
 c6njuncture, and to defeat the purposes of the 
 enemies of our Establishment, are by our subject 
 brought so conspicuously before us, such particu- 
 lars will not be thought to be minute or tedious. 
 Both these institutions are worthy of all admira- 
 tion. The one founded on its secular basis, and 
 the other having the testimony of its sacred accre- 
 ditation, join hands, or ought to join hands, in 
 administering that succour to our Church which, 
 it is trusted, will soon be \asible in its character 
 and efficiency. They exhibit the concord of our 
 social with our sacred polity, on which, under 
 God, the continuance of both depends — a concord 
 involving a mutual pledge, an identicalness of 
 interest and a consolidation of strength. 
 
 Of " the Christian Influence Society," which is 
 another daughter of our Established Chuixh, it 
 will be enough to say that it contemplates and 
 seeks to promote those objects of spiritual im- 
 
AND COLLATERAL HELPS. 
 
 33 
 
 provement which it is the humble purpose of these 
 pages to place conspicuously before the reader. 
 
 To the excellence of " the Prayer-Book and 
 Homily Society," the passages of this paper in 
 which the value of the sacred documents of our 
 Church and all her offices and expositions has 
 been attempted to be set forth, bear their testi- 
 mony. For the annexation of the Ordination 
 Services to the Book of Common Prayer they are 
 entitled to the nation's gratitude ; as is also the 
 venerable " Society for Promoting Christian Know- 
 ledge," which has followed its example. 
 
 § VI. 
 
 In the great work of spiritual edification, one 
 thing, at least, is clear, — that none but willing 
 minds will stir. Some are adverse to all move- 
 ment in this concern, and deem the Church to be 
 in danger from the activity of its members. Others, 
 like Gallio, " care for none of these things." Minis- 
 ters of either of these descriptions can only be 
 reached by a circuity of operation. It is only by 
 many intermediate undulations that the trumpet 
 can be made audible within their camp. The 
 medium through which the percussion must be 
 conveyed to them is the intelligence of the people. 
 The public must be made to rise in their demand 
 for spiritual benefits at the hands of their clergy— 
 c 5 
 
34 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 " minding the things of the flesh or of the spirit." 
 Now it is the distinctive mark of the spiritual man, 
 that he minds heavenly things — that his thoughts, 
 affections, and desires, are habitually of a heavenly 
 and spiritual nature. This we expect to find 
 in every Cliristian, because his very profession of 
 Christianity implies no less than this. But we 
 expect to find it more prominently conspicuous in 
 the Christian minister. He is emphatically a 
 spiritual person. A heavenly frame of mind, and 
 an habitual engagement of his afiections on 
 spiritual objects, seem not only proper, but abso- 
 lutely essential to the character of one, whose 
 occupation is in its very nature spiritual and 
 heavenly. ' No man (says Jeremy Taylor^) is fit 
 for that ofiice, but he that is spiritual in his per- 
 son, as well as his oflice. He must be a despiser 
 of the world — a light to others — an example to the 
 flock — a great denier of himself — of a celestial 
 mind ; he must mind heavenly things.' In order to 
 a right discharge of his ofiice, he must be continu- 
 ally occupied in the contemplation of eternal 
 realities. They must be ever prominently before 
 his eyes : they must be influential upon his heart. 
 To these his mind must, so to speak, turn in- 
 stinctively, when it is left free to follow the bias 
 
 Vol. xi.471. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 35 
 
 of its own inclination ; and be withdrawn from 
 them, only so far as the necessary business of life 
 requires. He must " meditate on these things, 
 he must give himself wholly to them." ' 
 
 It can hardly be objected, that this is making 
 too large a demand. Reason tells us, that an order 
 of men severed by the institution of Christ from 
 the secularities of the world, and consecrated 
 entirely to spiritual employments, should have 
 their minds habitually occupied with spiritual 
 things. It cannot surely be too much to expect 
 of those, whose office it is to enforce the necessity 
 of godliness, that they themselves should be under 
 its constraining influence ; that those, who are ap- 
 pointed to present before God the offerings of 
 prayer and praise in behalf of his church, should 
 themselves be men of deep personal piety and de- 
 votional spirit ; and that those who stand, as it 
 were, intermediate between God and man, should 
 hold with Him something more than a mere 
 official intercourse. 
 
 Amongst the most important qualifications of 
 character for the Christian ministry, must be 
 reckoned the existence of spiritual motives for 
 undertaking the work. We can have no hesita- 
 tion in insisting upon this, as an absolutely essen- 
 tial qualification. A spiritual oflice cannot rightly 
 > ITim.iv. 15. 
 
36 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 be entered upon from any other than spiritual 
 motives. The only motives which can be con- 
 sidered, strictly speaking, legitimate, are a single 
 eye to tlie glory of God, and a sincere desire 
 for the salvation of men. Whatever inferior 
 considerations may be mixed up with these, 
 must partake more or less of an earthly, if not 
 sinful, character. Without entering into an ana- 
 lysis of the various complicated motives, by which 
 a man may be influenced, it is suflicient to ob- 
 serve, that those two considerations, which we 
 have mentioned, must have so decided and para- 
 mount an influence in determining the choice, that 
 all inferior ones may be said virtually to have no 
 existence. This is no exaggerated demand. It 
 is not only practicable and reasonable ; it is in- 
 dispensable. The grand design of the gospel is, 
 unquestionably, to save souls, and by that means 
 to bring glory to God. Consequently, the legiti- 
 mate motive for undertaking the ministry of the 
 gospel, must be the accomplishment of that design. 
 ' The work of the calling (to use the words of 
 Jeremy Taylor) being principally and immediately 
 for the good of souls, and for the glory of God, it 
 cannot be pursued as the nature of the work re- 
 quires, if that be not principally intended which 
 is principally to be procured.'^ Hence, whatever 
 ' Ductor Dubitantium, vol. xi. 472. — Heber's Ed. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 37 
 
 inferior motives may partially influence the de- 
 cision, when that superior and overpowering mo- 
 tive is wanting, all fitness for the ministerial 
 office must be wanting also. 
 
 It is no easy matter, for the most sincere and 
 conscientious mind to detect all the latent motives, 
 by which the conduct may be powerfully, though 
 secretly, influenced. But no man can be said 
 rightly to aspire to the holy office of the ministry, 
 whose conscience cannot bear an humble yet 
 decided testimony to the pure, and heavenly, and 
 disinterested feelings by which he is actuated. It 
 is needless to enter upon any detail of the various 
 selfish and worldly motives, by which, it is to be 
 feared, too many are influenced to intrude them- 
 selves into this high vocation. It is sufficient to 
 observe, that whatever motive vdll not bear to be 
 tried by the test which we have just laid down, is 
 essentially defective and unworthy. St. Paul has 
 given us, in his own ministry, a beautiful example 
 of the feehngs by which the Christian pastor 
 should be animated. " I seek not your's, but 
 you." ' And St. Peter exhorts the elders that they 
 " feed the flock of God. . . .taking the oversight 
 thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for 
 filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." ^ 
 
 ' 2 Cor. xii, 14. 
 - irpo9iiu<ei — with that alacrity and willingness which arise 
 from delight in the employment. — 1 Peter v. 2. 
 
38 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 Spiritual wisdom is another essential branch of 
 the qualifications of grace. And by this we under- 
 stand, not merely the knowledge of spiritual 
 things, attained by the diligent use of the appointed 
 means, by the word of God and prayer, but also 
 that peculiar wisdom and discernment, which are 
 the result of deep personal experience of the power 
 of religion. 
 
 These are important faculties to the minister of 
 Christ, without which he cannot be accounted 
 "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works."' It is manifest, that a teacher should 
 be perfectly acquainted with the subjects, 
 which he professes to expound to others : with- 
 out this he must frequently lay himself open 
 to contempt. He must have an accurate and 
 well-digested view of the truths, which he wishes 
 to convey' intelligibly to his hearers. He must 
 have examined his principles, and viewed them 
 repeatedly in their various bearings and aspects. 
 He must, by frequent meditation, have wrought 
 them, as it were, into the very texture of his mind ; 
 and if they be truths which affect the feelings of 
 the heart, then he must have personally expe- 
 rienced their power, before he can rightly explain 
 or enforce them. Now such a teacher is the 
 
 ' 2 Tim. iii. 17- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 39 
 
 minister of Christ, and such are the subjects whicli 
 he is commissioned to make known. His office is, 
 to expound the great truths of the gospel, to set 
 forth in a lucid and perspicuous manner the mys- 
 tery of Christ. And this it is impossible for him 
 to do, unless he have a clear and accurate and 
 well defined understanding of those truths, and a 
 competent insight into that mystery. Distinctness 
 of spiritual vision must surely be necessary in him, 
 who is to be a "leader of the blind," if both are 
 not to fall into the ditch. A partial and incom- 
 plete knowledge of scriptural truth, on the part of 
 the minister, will usually be the cause of defec- 
 tive attainments in the people to whom he minis- 
 ters. For how can the unskilful workman build 
 up the beautiful edifice of Christian faith and 
 holiness, of whose perfect symmetry and nice pro- 
 portions he is partially ignorant ? He may build 
 most sedulously, and devote himself unweariedly 
 to the work, but the building which he rears will 
 usually betray marks of the unskilfulness of his 
 hand, in the want of perfect conformity to the 
 scriptural design. He must study to "shew him- 
 self approved unto God, a workman that needeth 
 not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of 
 truth." 1 
 
 1 2 Tim. ii. 15. 
 
40 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 This spiritual wisdom, which consists in clear 
 and comprehensive views of the truths revealed in 
 Scripture, is evidently essential to the due execu- 
 tion of the ministerial office. And this, we have 
 already stated, must be combined with that wis- 
 dom, which consists in sound judgment and discri- 
 mination. The exercise of this will often be 
 demanded in the practical details of the ministry. 
 In dealing with the consciences of men, and in pre- 
 senting the truths of the Gospel to the ever varying 
 phases of the human mind and character, this spi- 
 ritual faculty will be brought into frequent and 
 important requisition. And he will scarcely be 
 able to " make full proof of his ministry," who is 
 materially defective in this particular. 
 
 It is most deeply to be deplored, that the sacred 
 ministry of God's word should be the only pro- 
 fession, in which ignorance of its very first princi- 
 ples is tolerated. The consequences of unskilful- 
 uess in any other profession are often most serious, 
 but in this they are ruinous. The interests in- 
 volved in the due discharge of its holy functions 
 are too deeply important to be trifled with. 
 
 One point only now remains to be considered — 
 the conduct essential to the Christian minister. 
 Since this is moulded by the character, in other 
 words, by the inward state of the heart and affec- 
 tions, the consideration of it naturally follows from 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 41 
 
 the subject, which we have just been discussing. 
 If the character be spiritual, then the conduct will 
 partake of its spirituality. "Ye shall know them 
 by their fruits," is a maxim of universal applica- 
 tion, but our Lord applied it in the first instance 
 to false prophets. And most assuredly, the spiri- 
 tual qualifications for the ministry, which have been 
 stated above, will have their developement in a life 
 and conduct corresponding therewith. Spirituality 
 of mind and holy affections must produce the 
 fruits of holiness in the life ; and right motives 
 for entering upon the ministry will necessarily 
 lead a man diligently to practise whatever tends to 
 promote, and scrupulously to avoid whatever tends 
 to neutralize the beneficial effects of his ministry. 
 If therefore the necessity of the above qualifica- 
 tions be acknowledged, it will be needless to enlarge 
 upon this branch of the subject. Words would 
 be idly spent in attempting to prove, that the 
 Christian minister must be generally coi-rect and 
 moral in his deportment. There is a universal 
 feeling, that a higher standard of morality should 
 be maintained by the ministers of religion, than by 
 its ordinary professors. This is a point, which we 
 believe will be generally admitted, and may there- 
 fore be taken for granted. But when we come to 
 examine the notions which usually prevail upon 
 the subject, we find that the superiority demanded 
 
42 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 is of no very elevated description. And it is not 
 to be wondered at, where the general standard of 
 Christian conduct is depressed so far below the 
 Scriptural level, that the higher standard required 
 from the minister should still be defective. 
 
 The apostolic injunctions of St. Paul, addressed 
 to Timothy and Titus, will point out to us the 
 conduct requisite in the Christian minister. In 
 the first place he must be blameless. It is worthy 
 of remark, how frequently St. Paul enforces the 
 the necessity of this, as a qualification for every 
 department of the ministry. Is a bishop to be 
 ordained ? Let us hear the Apostle's description 
 of the person whom he would wish to be selected 
 for this " good work." He "must be blameless." 
 He must " have a good report of them which are 
 without."! And in addressing Titus, whom he 
 had left in Crete to ordain elders in every city, 
 he repeats the same admonition. Upon whom he 
 is exhorted to confer the gift of apostolical ordi- 
 nation. We find the same qualification placed at 
 the very beginning of the description. " If any 
 be blameless. . . . For a bishop must be blameless 
 as the steward of God." * Titus liimseLf is com- 
 manded to be such, that " he that is of the con- 
 trary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing 
 
 ' 1 Tim. iii. 2. 7- " Titus i. 6. 7- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 43 
 
 to say of you."' Or are tlie inferior offices of 
 the church to he suppUed ? Still we meet with the 
 same limitation. " Let these (the deacons) first 
 be proved ; then let them use the office of a deacon, 
 being found blameless." ^ 
 
 This then we may reckon an essential charac- 
 teristic of the Christian minister's conduct. It 
 must be unblemished. It must manifestly and 
 undeniably be free from every breath of suspicion.'' 
 There must not only be no evil in it, but no 
 appearance of evil ; not only no stepping beyond 
 the verge of propriety, but not even an approach 
 to its very confines. If there be dehateahle 
 ground between the territories of the church and 
 the world, that ground is not the place where the 
 Christian minister should take his stand. If there 
 be pleasures and occupations of a doubtful char- 
 acter, those are not the pleasures and occupations 
 which the ministering servant of God should 
 select. The world must receive no countenance 
 in its questionable practices from his example. If 
 the rule, " touch not, taste not, handle not," be 
 applicable to any, it is peculiarly so to him. We 
 may go even further than this. Let an amuse- 
 
 ' Titns ii. 8. • 1 Tim. iii. 10. 
 
 3 The two words which are rendered " blameless," avevlKriir^os, 
 and dv(yK\7iTos, both sig;nify, not merely free from crime, hut free 
 from the charge of criminality. 
 
44 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 inent or an occupation be intrinsically innocent, 
 yet, if it offend weak consciences, if it '* cast a 
 stumbling-block in a brother's way," it is to be 
 repudiated. The Christian minister should be a 
 man living for one object, and whatever in any 
 degree interferes with that object, must be sacri- 
 ficed. Jeremy Taylor has well observed, * In a 
 minister of the gospel, every inordination of care- 
 fulness, and every excess of attendance to secular 
 affairs, and every unnecessary avocation from, or 
 neglect of, his great work, is . criminal : and many 
 things are excesses in them, which are not in 
 others, because the ministerial office requires more 
 attendance and conversation with spiritual things 
 than that of others."^ 
 
 But the minister is not only to be blameless in 
 his conduct. This is a negative quality. There 
 must be something positive, something beyond the 
 mere negation of evil. He must be exemplary. 
 " Be thou (says St. Paul to Timothy,) an exam- 
 ple (two;) of the believers in word, in conversa- 
 tion, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 
 And so also to Titus. " In all things shew 
 thyself a pattern (t^Vov) of good works."* The 
 Christian minister is to be an example not merely 
 to the world, but to the church ; an example 
 
 » Vol. xi. 474. ' 1 Tim. iv. 12. 3 j{^s ii. 7- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 45 
 
 of holiness and purity among the holy and the 
 pure. His life and conduct ought not only to 
 be good and holy, but preeminently good and 
 holy. For this is evidently implied in the 
 very idea of being a pattern. He is to shew,^ 
 that is, to exhibit himself as an example. To 
 place his conduct before their eyes as a model 
 of superior sanctity. If Christians in general are 
 to be refined from the dross of sin, he should be as 
 gold seven times purified in the fire. If they are 
 " to shine as lights in the world," he is to be *' a 
 burning and a shining light." In short, like the 
 chief shepherd of the sheep, the pastor is to go 
 before his flock, that they may follow him. 
 
 Such is the standard of conduct required of him, 
 who undertakes the holy office of the Christian 
 ministry. We have traced the high endowments, and 
 the varied gifts, and the heavenly character, which 
 form the qualifications of *' the man of God." 
 And who does not sigh with a feeling of regret, 
 that this picture of ministerial excellence should 
 ever fail of being realized ? Who does not breathe 
 a deeply fervent petition to the great Head of the 
 church, that so may all his ministers be qualified ? 
 O ! that he would send forth abundantly such 
 laboiurers into his vineyard, men of deep humility, 
 
 * atavrhv Trap^x6^ivos rv-KOV KaKut/ fpyajf," Titus ii. 7. 
 
46 QUALIFICATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 
 
 of burning zeal, of unblemished holiness ; men 
 taught of God, that they may teach others with 
 their lips, and enforce their doctrine by the silent 
 yet persuasive eloquence of a blameless life ! Then 
 might we look for bright and glorious and blessed 
 days for his church ; then might we reasonably 
 expect to behold her " enlarging the place of her 
 tent, and stretching forth the curtain of her habi- 
 tation." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES OF DEFECTIVE 
 QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 If it be true, that God has appointed certain 
 qualifications, as generally necessary for the minis- 
 terial office, it e\idently cannot he a matter of 
 indifference, whether they be possessed or not. 
 Evil consequences, greater or less in degree, must 
 plainly result from the deficiency. This may 
 fairly be inferred from the general principle, vrhich 
 was established in a former chapter. We shaU now 
 proceed to point out some of the most prominent 
 and most serious among those evil consequences. 
 It is indeed utterly impossible duly to appreciate 
 the full extent of the mischief; but we can see 
 enough of the evils to make us most deeply de- 
 plore their existence, and most fervently pray for 
 their extinction. 
 
 Contempt of the office will obviously be one of 
 
48 DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES 
 
 the miserable results of a disqualified ministry, 
 and it will be the parent of many more. This, 
 we admit, by no means ought to be the result 
 but unquestionably, as men are generally consti- 
 tuted, it will be the natural, and we may almost 
 say, the necessary consequence. If indeed men 
 judged rightly, they would be able to separate 
 " the precious from the vile ; " they would detach 
 the sanctity of the office from the person of the 
 bearer, and under the most disadvantageous cir- 
 cumstances, would perceive the glory and dignity 
 of the one to be independent of the inferiority of 
 the other. But this is too much to expect from 
 the generality of mankind. Their judgment is 
 hasty and superficial. Their opinions are formed 
 from what is presented in a tangible shape before 
 their eyes, rather than from inward reflexion upon 
 the reality of things. The world at large will 
 judge of the utUity and importance of an institu- 
 tion, by its practical working, rather than by its 
 theoretical capabilities. If they perceive bene- 
 ficial efiects resulting from it, they are ready at 
 once to admit its excellence ; but if, on the other 
 hand, they look in vain for fruits corresponding 
 with its professed design, they are equally ready 
 to undervalue or despise it. It can scarcely be ex- 
 pected, therefore, that the holy office of the minis- 
 try should be otherwise treated. "We may justly 
 
OF DEFECTIVE QUALIFICATIONS. 49 
 
 blame the children of Israel for " abhorring the 
 offering of the Lord," when the sons of Eli 
 " made themselves vile," but we can hardly won- 
 der at the fact. It was a result naturally to be 
 expected under such circumstances. We are in- 
 deed very far from supposing, that this will be the 
 effect produced upon the mind of the enlightened 
 Christian. Whatever blemishes or deficiencies he 
 may perceive in the minister, will be the cause of 
 deep and heartfelt sorrow ; but they cannot in the 
 smallest degree diminish his reverence for God's 
 holy institution itself. He will indeed be greatly 
 discouraged, when there is a radical defect of 
 qualification ; and if the hfe and conduct of the 
 minister be unworthy of his high calling, he will 
 probably derive but little comfort from the ordi- 
 nances of religion, administered under such^unpro- 
 pitious circumstances. But he knows too well 
 the unspeakable value of the sacred office, to 
 despise or undervalue it, even though its vest- 
 ments be stained with the pollutions of earth. 
 Such however will not be the case with the 
 worldly man. A priesthood scandalous in life, or 
 slenderly qualified for the execution of its func- 
 tions, will not only be contemptible in itself to the 
 irrehgious, but will transfer a portion of its own 
 not unmerited odium to the office, with which it is 
 invested. The transition from the one to the 
 
 D 
 
50 DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES 
 
 Other will be easy and natural. And if the sins 
 of religious professors are in all cases a scan- 
 dal and a reproach to religion, and give great 
 occasion to the enemy to blaspheme, surely 
 when the ministers of religion themselves are 
 found defective in those moral or spiritual qualifi- 
 cations, which are required by their ofiice, a foider 
 repi-oach must be cast upon religion, inasmuch as 
 its very ordinances are thereby exposed to the 
 danger of contempt. It should not be forgotten 
 also, that the danger is increased by the con- 
 spicuous station in the church, which is assigned 
 to the clergy. They are necessarily exposed to a 
 severer scrutinj^, and their blemishes are thereby 
 placed in a stronger and a clearer light. " A city 
 that is set on an hill cannot be hid." They have 
 been not more beautifully than truly compared 
 with the sun, ' which has more and closer ob- 
 servers, when he is eclipsed, than when he is in 
 his beauty.' 
 
 It may be said, indeed, that as worldly men do 
 not, and cannot appreciate the spiritual qualifica- 
 tions of the ministerial character, so neither can 
 they clearly discern the absence or defect of them ; 
 and that, in such cases, the office is in no dan- 
 ger of dishonour. But it may, we think, be fairly 
 doubted, whether worldly and irreligious men are 
 quite so blind to the qualities, which should be 
 
OP DEFECTIVE QUALIFICATIONS. 51 
 
 found in the minister of Christ. At any rate, they 
 are sufficiently acute in detecting, and sufficiently 
 severe in animadverting upon, the inconsistencies 
 of his character and conduct. They may dis- 
 like the spiritually-minded and faithful reprover 
 of their sins, but they will secretly in their hearts 
 respect him. On the other hand, they will usually 
 be found to think lightly of him, whose worldliness 
 of mind, and negligence of life, they feel to be in- 
 consistent with the high character which he sus- 
 tains. Though their notions of the requisite 
 qualifications of the Christian minister may be 
 vague and undefined, yet they do not expect to 
 find his standard of religion no higher than their 
 own ; they do not expect, nor, if the real state of 
 their feelings were candidly expressed, do they 
 generally wish, that he should be altogether such 
 an one as themselves. And when they find, that 
 neither by his doctrine nor his life he produces 
 any visible efiect upon the community ; when they 
 can point to no very distinct and tangible benefit 
 resulting from his ministry, can we wonder, that 
 they should often come to the conclusion, that the 
 office itself is one of little practical utility ? They 
 may be induced, from various motives, to uphold 
 and maintain its worldly emoluments and immu- 
 nities, but it is practically dishonoured in their 
 estimation. 
 
52 DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES 
 
 Schism in the Church is another deplorable effect, 
 resulting from the want of due qualification in its 
 ministers. We may trace this evil indeed to 
 other sources. It has often sprung up, where no 
 such cause has existed. It reared its monstrous 
 head in the church of Corinth, amidst the la- 
 bours of the chiefest of all the apostles. And it has 
 not unfrequently, down to the present period, 
 grown up simultaneously with the most faithful 
 and most laborious ministration of the Gospel. 
 We must look for its primary cause too often in 
 the pride and the selfishness of an evil heart; 
 and for its author, in that Being, whose constant 
 endeavour it is to sow tares amongst the wheat in 
 the field of Christ. But if an iU-quahfied ministry 
 be not the cause, we may safely affirm that it is 
 the most frequent occasion of schism. A garden 
 may be productive of noxious weeds, from the 
 natural property of the soil, but the want of dili- 
 gence or skill, on the part of the cultivator, is 
 usually the occasion of their increase. 
 
 In reviewing the history of our own church 
 since the Reformation, we shall find abundant proof 
 of the above statement. Previously to that period, 
 when priest and people were ahke debased by 
 ignorance and superstition, there could be but 
 little to disturb the unity of error in the church. 
 The existence of schism implies a spirit of inquiry. 
 
OF DEFECTIVE QUALIFICATIONS. 53 
 
 and a measure of light, and a freedom of thought 
 on the part of the people, which up to that time 
 were comparatively unknown. But when the 
 public mind was awakened from its lethargy by the 
 stirring spirit which was abroad, it could no longer 
 brook the domination of a secularized and degraded 
 priesthood. It began to canvass freely the quali- 
 fications for the ministerial office ; and when they 
 were manifestly deficient, was not backward in 
 refusing to yield a blind allegiance. The growth 
 of schisms in the church from this time was rapid 
 almost beyond beUef. It seemed as if the minds 
 of men, suddenly let loose from their long bon- 
 dage, could not moderately use their newly 
 acquired freedom. It degenerated into licence 
 and self-will. 
 
 All contemporary history justifies the conclu- 
 sion, that the low standard of the ministry, at 
 and after the Reformation, was one main cause 
 or occasion of the innumerable rents, which 
 were tTien made in the unity of the church. 
 The clergy were too often ignorant and scan- 
 dalous in their lives ; and the people, eager for 
 the bread of life, were ready to receive it with 
 thankfulness from unauthorized but purer hands. 
 The fire that was kindled throughout England, at 
 the funeral piles of her martyred reformers, could 
 not suddenly be extinguished ; and if not fed by 
 
54 DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES 
 
 the priesthood upon her consecrated altars, was 
 sure to be kept alive by zealous but irregular 
 exertions. 
 
 Here was " the beginning of sorrows." Schism 
 after schism distracted the church ; and unhappily, 
 there were too many tempting occasions afforded 
 by the state of the ministry, for the efforts of tur- 
 bulent and ambitious sectaries. And it cannot 
 be denied, that in many instances the pious and 
 sincere chmxhman must have found his attach- 
 ment to the church put to a severe trial, when he 
 saw a purer doctrine, and a holier life, and a 
 stricter discipline prevailing amongst those, who 
 had severed themselves from her communion. We 
 need not travel through succeeding periods for 
 proof of our argument. Illustrious and venerable 
 names — names to be had in everlasting honour — 
 adorn the pages of her history ; but the general 
 standard of ministerial character, throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land, seems to have 
 been of no very elevated description. TheTiigher 
 and more dignified ecclesiastical stations were 
 occasionally filled by eminent and holy men ; but 
 great as must have been their influence for good, 
 the moral power of the church over the people 
 will ever dep.end mainly upon the quaUfications of 
 her parochial clergy. And if coldness, and negli- 
 gence, and heterodoxy, and worldliness of Hfe, be 
 
OF DEFECTIVE QUALIFICATIONS. 55 
 
 their prevailing characteristics, we cannot wonder 
 at the growth and multiplication of heresy and 
 schism. 
 
 The arguments against separation from the 
 church, imder such circumstances, however satis- 
 factory in themselves, are not easily appreciated 
 by the vulgar mind. If there be sincere piety in 
 an individual, the ardent desire for spiritual in- 
 struction will outweigh a thousand abstract argu- 
 ments. And it will not be found an easy thing 
 to convince him, that he is doing wrong in seek- 
 ing that out of the church, which he looks for in 
 vain within its precincts. Thanks be to God, that 
 the plea of a supposed necessity for separation 
 now less frequently exists. And we hail it as a 
 token of brighter and happier days, and a blessed 
 omen of God's favour to his church, that in the 
 time of her trial, when she has to sustain the bit- 
 ter and unprovoked assaults of her enemies. He 
 has raised up a faithful ministry, who, by their 
 purer doctrine and their holier lives have " cut 
 off occasion from them who desire occasion " of 
 reproaching her. 
 
 We may add one more evil consequence to the 
 above, and that of such tremendous magnitude, 
 that it throws all inferior ones into the shade. A 
 ministry, essentially defective in qualifications, in- 
 volves the loss of souls, and thereby a frustration 
 
56 DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES 
 
 of the grand design of its institution. This point 
 requires but little proof or illustration. God has 
 appointed the preaching of the gospel to be the 
 instrument of '* saving those that believe." He 
 has intimately connected the success of the work 
 ■with the fitness of the agents ; and therefore the 
 want of a certain measure of fitness must materially 
 affect the due accompUshment of the result. 
 Since God has, in his infinite wisdom, instituted an 
 order of means for the attainment of his purposes, 
 it cannot be expected that He should depart from 
 his ordinary method. This however is not a 
 matter of mere speculation and conjecture ; it is 
 susceptible of proof. Experience plainly shews 
 us, that there is an essential difference in the actual 
 effects produced by the ministry of the gospel, in 
 the hands of different individuals. In some in- 
 stances we find it productive, in various degrees, of 
 the blessed fruits, which its Divine author intended 
 it to produce ; in others we look in vain for any 
 substantial results. Where the pastoral ofiice is 
 faithfully discharged, there Christ's wandering 
 sheep are usually brought home to his fold ; 
 where the flock is feebly and negligently tended, 
 there we behold them wandering on to their de- 
 struction. It is an unquestionable fact, that, for 
 the most part, sinners remain unconverted and un- 
 enlightened, and therefore unsaved, under a minis- 
 
OF DEFECTIVE QUALIFICATIONS. 57 
 
 try of the word, defective with regard to its funda- 
 mental qualifications. If therefore the souls of 
 men perish for lack of that knowledge, which alone 
 can "make them wise unto salvation," surely it 
 is not too much to assert, that the loss of those 
 souls is in a manner chargeable upon those, who 
 had solemnly pledged themselves " to feed the 
 flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost had 
 made them overseers." If the people starve for 
 lack of the bread of life, surely this effect may 
 justly be attributed to those, whose office it was, 
 as good stewards, to dispense it liberally to the 
 household of God. " If the wicked man die " 
 unwarned " in his iniquity," it cannot be but that 
 his blood will be required at the slumbering 
 watchman's hand. If the wall be rent and broken 
 down, this can be traced to no others than to those, 
 who had *' daubed it with imtempered mortar." 
 
 We are not therefore putting the case too 
 strongly, when we assert, that the loss of souls is 
 the dreadful consequence of an unqualified and 
 unfaithful ministry. For if, by an abuse of his 
 Christian liberty, a man may be said to " destroy 
 one for whom Christ died," ^ how much more by 
 negligence and ignorance, in a matter of such 
 unspeakable importance as the cure of souls ? 
 
 ' Rom. xiv 15. 
 D 5 
 
58 DEFECTIVE QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 These may perhaps be considered the chief ot 
 the many awful consequences, resulting from the 
 defective qualifications of the ministers of Christ. 
 We might enumerate others, but it may be ques- 
 tioned whether a stronger case would be made out. 
 If the above be the inevitable results of an ineffi- 
 cient priesthood, they are enough to impress the 
 inind with the awfulness of ministerial responsibility. 
 And Oh! how tremendous will be the doom of that 
 faithless " steward of the mysteries of God," upon 
 whom it will be charged at the day of judgment, 
 that through his inconsistencies of life, the holy 
 office which he sustained was made contemptible in 
 the eyes of the world ; that through his slothfulness 
 and negligence, the flock committed by the chief 
 Shepherd to his charge was drawn away from 
 " the green pastures and quiet waters " of his ordi- 
 nances ; and that through his unfaithfulness to his 
 trust, the souls have perished for which Christ 
 died ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE IN THE CHURCH OF 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Hitherto we have spoken in general terms upon 
 the subject of the Christian ministry. "We have 
 made only incidental allusions to the office, as it is 
 constituted in that particular section of the Catho- 
 lic church, established in this land. It now^ 
 becomes necessary to take a more limited view of 
 the subject, and to direct our remarks with more 
 pointed application to the ministerial office in the 
 Church of England. And here a wide field for 
 discussion is opened. In the foregoing chapters 
 little perhaps has been said, calculated to meet 
 with opposition. In most of the arguments em- 
 ployed, we have probably carried along with us 
 the assent of the serious reader. The case will 
 now be different. We are entering upon debated 
 ground, upon ground which has been the field of 
 theological warfare for above two centuries, and 
 
60 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 which, it is to be feared, will be the field of many 
 a contest still. 
 
 It would lead us too far away from our imme- 
 diate object, and too much interfere with that 
 unity of design which we wish to maintain, if we 
 were to follow out the various topics included 
 under this division of the subject. It will be 
 sufficient, perhaps, if we establish the two follow- 
 ing points ; First — That there is a general suita- 
 bleness in the economy of the Church of England 
 for promoting the ends of the Gospel. And, 
 Secondly — That its inefficiency (where such exists) 
 is to be traced mainly to its defective administra- 
 tion, with reference to the appointment of the 
 clergy. In other words, that the machinery is 
 calculated to be effectual, if duly and conscien- 
 tiously worked. 
 
 And first, let us attend to the constitution of the 
 ministry in the Church of England. It cannot be 
 expected, that we should travel over the oft- 
 repeated arguments by which the legitimacy and 
 apostolical authority of her episcopal regimen are 
 established. It were vain to hope, that by any 
 arguments we can urge, we should be able to bring 
 conviction to the minds of those, who have not 
 been convinced by the powerful treatises which 
 already exist. If any subject may be considered 
 fairly exhausted, that subject is Episcopacy. It 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 61 
 
 would be difficult to bring forward any arguments, 
 on either side of the question, which have not been 
 repeatedly urged by the respective disputants. And 
 we may be permitted to add, that there are few 
 subjects, which to a candid and unprejudiced mind, 
 might more easily be set at rest. It is to be feared, 
 that many who impugn the episcopal form of 
 church government, have never duly weighed the 
 force of argument by which is is supported. With- 
 out pretending to discuss the subject, it may be 
 well to give a general statement of the question, 
 for the purpose of provoking, not controversy, but 
 investigation. And in conducting this investiga- 
 tion, it would be desirable to divest the episcopal 
 office of all that is not, strictly speaking, essential to 
 its being ; and to regard it in its simple character, 
 independently of the accidents of worldly rank 
 and splendour, with which in some cases it happens 
 to be invested. 
 
 The argument for episcopacy is of a two-fold 
 nature ; derived from Scripture and from Catholic 
 antiquity. 
 
 The scriptural argument lies within a narrow- 
 compass. It is admitted on all hands, that the 
 terms bishop and presbyter are used in the aposto- 
 lical writings in a convertible manner. But if this 
 be considered decisive in favour of the identity of 
 bishops and presbyters, then by the same mode of 
 
62 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 reasoning it might be made to appear, that a dea- 
 con, as well as a presbyter, is identical with an 
 apostleJ It is idle thus to quibble about words, 
 when the argument is respecting things. The 
 question is simply this, Can we find any thing to 
 justify the conclusion, that episcopal power was 
 exercised over the churches in the apostolical 
 times ? And we point at once to the powers delega- 
 ted to Timothy in the church of Ephesus, and to 
 Titus in that of Crete. And it is incumbent upon 
 our opponents to prove, that this was an authority, 
 which was not intended to be perpetuated in the 
 church, but merely to answer an immediate and 
 urgent necessity. Until this be done, we may be 
 permitted to appeal to Scripture, as a warrant for 
 the episcopal office. We may be allowed to place 
 Timothy and Titus first in the list of the early 
 bishops of the Church of Christ. 
 
 But the argument from Scripture cannot be 
 considered as absolutely decisive of the question. - 
 It is vain to look for a scheme of Church pohty, 
 clearly and definitely laid down in Holy Writ. 
 We cannot, from the writings of the apostles 
 alone, gather up, with any degree of certainty, the 
 
 > See Eph. iii. 7. Col. i. 23, 25 ; where St. Panl calls himself 
 iiiKovos ToS €ua77cXfoi;— and 1 Pet. v. 1, and 2 John 1. where 
 the writers style themselves 7rp€(r/8i/Tepoi. 
 
 " See Hooker, Eccl. Pol, iii. 2. 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 63 
 
 disjointed portions of a complete ecclesiastical 
 regimen, and arrange them so as to form a perfect 
 and harmonious whole. In none of his writings 
 does St. Paul draw up distinctly the model of a 
 church. In fact, the churches of Christ cannot be 
 considered as settled in discipline, while the apos- 
 tles exercised over them their extraordinary and 
 temporary authority. While " the care of all the 
 churches " devolved upon St. Paul, their regimen 
 was evidently in an unsettled condition ; it was, as 
 it were, under the process of formation and ad- 
 justment. If however we can find, from the gene- 
 ral tenor of primitive antiquity, the state of the 
 churches immediately after the decease of the 
 apostles, we can then form a more correct judg- 
 ment of the government, which they instituted 
 and intended to be perpetuated. And this we are 
 enabled to do. We may say without the fear of 
 contradiction, that the early records of the church 
 are entirely in favour of the episcopal form of 
 government. There cannot be found one dissen- 
 tient voice amongst the early fathei's ; not a state- 
 ment in their writings which seems to imply, that 
 there existed, in their time, a parity of ecclesias- 
 tical authority among the ministers of the gospel. 
 In the fourth century, indeed, St. Jerome doubted 
 the primitive superiority of the bishop above the 
 presbyter; but the actual superiority, he tacitly 
 
64 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 admits, was of such remote antiquity, that he could 
 not trace its commencement.^ 
 
 The fact is unquestionable, that the episcopal 
 office, as distinct from and superior to that of the 
 presbyter, has existed from time immemorial in 
 the church. If it date its commencement after 
 the times of the apostles, we vainly search the 
 records of antiquity for any indication of the 
 period of its introduction. A revolution so great, 
 so pregnant with important consequences, so sub- 
 versive of the institutions of Christ and his apos- 
 tles, could not have crept stealthily into the 
 church, unheeded and unopposed. No ambitious 
 presbyter could have awed his equals in dignity 
 and authority into meek submission to his usurped 
 ascendancy. It is not to be believed for a moment, 
 that the great body of the clergy in every Chris- 
 tian land, from Britain to the shores of India, 
 sliould have quietly and simultaneously surrendered 
 their rights, and yielded to the unlawful domina- 
 tion of an individual of their own fraternity. 
 Could such a mighty innovation have been effected, 
 and yet no trace be left upon the pages of the 
 church's history ? — no monument have been reared 
 to perpetuate the memory of an event so strange 
 
 ' See St. Jerome's words fully discussed by Bp. Jeremy Taylor 
 in his " Episcopacy asserted." Sect. XXI. Vol. VII, 77. and by 
 Hooker, Ecc. Pol. vii. 5, 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 65 
 
 and so unheard of? How is such a supposition 
 consistent with the reverence of the early Chris- 
 tians for apostolical customs and traditions ? "Was 
 there no burning zeal to protest against the guilty 
 assumption ; no spirit, zealous for the honour of 
 the Lord Jesus, ready to denounce the base attempt 
 upon the hberty of his church ? 
 
 But we need not prosecute the argument fur- 
 ther. Episcopacy, undeniably, has existed uni- 
 versally and without interruption, from the earliest 
 ages of the church until the period of the reforma- 
 tion. And it is surely incumbent upon those, who 
 deny its apostolical antiquity, to give us some- 
 thing more than a mere unfounded conjecture, 
 respecting the date of its commencement. We 
 have a right to demand of them the time, the 
 place, and the circumstances of its birth. And if 
 they cannot point to these, we must be permitted 
 to maintain, that its existence is coeval with the 
 appointment, or at least the final settlement of the 
 ministry. In such a case as this, a peradventure 
 is not to be admitted. We must have something 
 definite and tangible in an objection, which goes to 
 set aside an institution, sanctioned by the unin- 
 terrupted testimony of the universal church. 
 
 Upon the second order of ministers in the 
 Church of England, little need be said. The 
 degree of the preshyterate has not been the sub- 
 
66 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 ject of much controversy. All are agreed upon 
 the scriptural and apostolical authority of the 
 order of presbyters or elders. Nor is there any 
 diversity of opinion respecting their legitimate 
 functions, excepting only the power of ordina- 
 tion and church discipline. Unto them is 
 committed principally the office of feeding the 
 church of God with the bread of life. They are 
 the constituted teachers and expositors of the 
 word, upon whom, in their respective parishes and 
 congregations, devolves the duty of preaching the 
 gospel, and administering the holy sacraments. 
 
 Respecting the third order of ministers in the 
 Church of England, that of deacons, there has 
 been much controversy, but with little reason. 
 For even granting, for the sake of argument, that 
 the first deacons, ordained by the apostles, were 
 appointed to " serve tables," and nothing more, 
 yet there can be no reasonable objection to the 
 employment of this office, as introductory to the 
 higher orders of the ministry. And since among 
 those seven, who were first set apart to the dia- 
 conal office, some were evidently empowered to 
 preach and to baptize, it is difficult to discover 
 why there may not be a like combination of offices 
 in the present day.' Whether they executed those 
 
 > See Hooker. Eccl. Pol. V. 78, 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 67 
 
 ofHces as deacons, or as evangelists, or in any other 
 character, is a matter of indifference. The fact is 
 clear, that the duties were then combined in the per- 
 son of one individual, and it is difficult to conceive 
 what reason can be alleged, why the same may 
 not now be permitted. It would be idle in this 
 case, to quarrel with the name, which merely 
 expresses the idea of a servant or assistant.^ 
 
 It were indeed greatly to be desired, that in the 
 Church of England, a parochial charge were never 
 entrusted to a deacon alone. There is an incon- 
 sistency in appointing to the sole spiritual super- 
 intendence of a parish, one who is in all cases a 
 novice, and is moreover not qualified to administer 
 some of the ordinances of the church. And most 
 desirable would it be, (were it practicable,) and 
 most beneficial to the cause of religion, if in our 
 wide and populous parishes, the presbyter enjoyed 
 the co-operation of several assistant deacons. 
 
 Thus far we have considered the ministerial 
 office in the Church of England, the scriptural 
 character of its orders, and its general accordance 
 with the model of apostolical and primitive anti- 
 quity. We are well aware, that many of the 
 arguments, which have been urged, are vehemently 
 controverted. It does not however consist with 
 
 1 ^iClKWO^, 
 
68 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 our design, to enter upon any more elaborate dis- 
 cussion of the points at issue between the Church 
 of England and its opponents. But, in considering 
 the ministry of that church, it seemed to be neces- 
 sary, to point out its scriptural [character, and its 
 consequent fitness to accomplish the great design 
 of its original institution. For if it were wanting 
 in this respect ; if it were a device of man's inven- 
 tion ; or if it were essentially unlike the ministry, 
 as constituted by the apostles, then it might with 
 reason be expected, that such a ministry would be 
 ineffectual and nugatory. 
 
 The parochial distribution of the ministry, in the 
 Church of England, is another point which demands 
 our attention. And next to the purity and Scrip- 
 tural soundness of its constitution, this may be 
 considered one principal feature of its suitableness 
 to promote the cause of Christ and his Gospel in 
 the land. This forms an integral part of the 
 general question of rehgious establishments ; a 
 question which, we think, as far as argument is 
 concerned, may fairly be considered as decided. 
 It has perhaps during the last few years undergone 
 a more thorough and more sifting examination, 
 than it had ever before received. Every argu- 
 ment, which had been urged in its favour, has been 
 exposed to a severer scrutiny ; and not even its 
 warmest advocates perhaps had deemed, that it 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 69 
 
 occupied so impregnable a position, as the unsuc- 
 cessful assaults of its opponents have at length 
 demonstrated. 
 
 Since these pages are especially addressed to 
 the members of the Church of England, it appears 
 unnecessary to argue a point which, it may be 
 presumed, is fully admitted by them all. 
 
 We can best estimate the advantage of a paro- 
 chial ministry throughout the land, by suffering 
 ourselves to reflect upon the consequences, which 
 would follow upon its extinction. The blessings, 
 which result to a parish from the constant and 
 unwearied labours of a faithful minister of Christ, 
 are apparent in the altered habits, and improved 
 character, and sanctified Uves of its population. 
 There is peace, and order, and civilization, and 
 above all there is holiness, in the train of a well- 
 ordered and duly qualified ministry. These effects 
 are palpable to our senses. But the effects which 
 would follow, and at no distant interval, from a 
 breaking vip of parochial organization, are not 
 perhaps sufficiently appreciated. Let us suppose, 
 that full play were given to what is called the 
 Voluntary Principle, that every vestige of the 
 present system were abolished, the whole machi- 
 nery of the church swept away, and that the 
 several districts of the land were left to seek, as 
 best they could, the means of religious instruction. 
 
70 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 It must be manifest, that, under such an arrange- 
 ment, large portions of the coimtry would be 
 either destitute entirely of the word of life, or 
 dependent upon means utterly inadequate to the 
 necessity. The ordinances of religion woiild in 
 too many cases quietly sink into contemptuous 
 oblivion ; the Lord's day would lose its sanctity in 
 the frivolities of a worldly festival, or the secula- 
 rities of worldly business ; and practical heathen- 
 ism, or vain superstition, would ere long spread 
 their deadly influence over large portions of our 
 rural population. It is impossible to contemplate 
 the bare probability of this picture being ever 
 reaUzed, without being amazed that any, who call 
 themselves Christians, should lend their aid in 
 promoting consequences so disastrous to the cause 
 of religion. 
 
 It is not easy, duly to estimate the benefit re- 
 sulting to a community from the labours of a 
 parochial minister. His efforts are circumscribed 
 within the compass of an assigned district of 
 Christ's vineyard, and this district has all the 
 benefit of his concentrated energies. His labours 
 are not divided and diffused over an area, too wide 
 for his spiritual superintendence. His flock is not 
 too numerous to be counted, and yet sufliciently 
 numerous to engross his undivided attention. 
 Such is, theoretically, the parochial system of our 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 71 
 
 church ; and it is most deeply to be deplored, that 
 the fluctuations of a populous community, and the 
 changes incidental to commercial and manufactur- 
 ing prosperity, have so augmented the sphere of 
 duty in some of our parishes, as practically to frus- 
 trate the benevolent design of the chm-ch. The 
 evil is great indeed, but the remedy is obvious. 
 We call upon the legislature, for the moral and 
 spiritual welfare of the people, to lend their aid in 
 a cause so holy. We call upon them, for the sake 
 of sobriety, and good order, and loyalty, and na- 
 tional prosperity, to second, with no niggardly and 
 mistaken economy, the efforts which are made 
 within the bosom of the church herself, " to 
 lengthen her cords, and strengthen her stakes." 
 Let churches be reared, and ministers be located, 
 in places where of old the heart of the faithful 
 pastor was discouraged, and his hands enfeebled 
 by the thought, that, though willing " to spend 
 and be spent" in God's service, he could not, 
 single-handed, overtake the spiritual necessities of 
 his parishioners. 
 
 We trust, that the general adaptation of the 
 economy of the Church of England to promote the 
 design of the gospel is sufficiently apparent. A 
 system so scriptural in its character, and theo- 
 retically possessed of such extensive capabilities, 
 can want only a vigorous and conscientious ad- 
 
72 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 ministration, to render it effective. And if it 
 should seem, in some instances, to have failed in 
 the accomplishment of its ends, its inefhciency will 
 be found, in most cases, to have arisen from a defect 
 in the practical working of its machinery. There 
 would be little difficulty, in making good the 
 assertion, that the greatest evil, under which the 
 church has groaned, has been the want of a 
 spiritually-minded and devoted clergy in all her 
 parishes — a clergy sound in doctrine, pure in life, 
 unworldly in spirit, and respectable, if not dis- 
 tinguished, for intellect and learning. The Church 
 of England has indeed been the strong-hold of 
 protestant orthodoxy, the faithful depository of 
 the word of life, the firm and unpelding witness 
 for God, against the countless errors of the age. 
 In the ranks of her clergy, of every degree, have 
 been numbered men, to whom the universal 
 church owes a weighty debt of gratitude, — men 
 whose briUiant endowments, and varied learning, 
 and devoted piety, received their highest honour, 
 by being successfully employed in the ser^^ce of 
 God. But still it must be admitted, the cause of 
 truth demands the admission, that a very different 
 class of men has found too easy entrance into the 
 orders of her ministry ; that too often the wolf has 
 entered into the fold, not so completely disguised 
 in sheep's clothing, but that his native character 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 73 
 
 and propensities might have been detected. It 
 cannot be denied, that the secular, the thought- 
 less, the indolent, have too often been numbered 
 among the shepherds of the flock. 
 
 We do not think, that the true interest of the 
 Church of England lies in concealment or denial 
 of the painful truth. If we shut our eyes to facts, 
 there are others who will stedfastly gaze at them : 
 if we do not examine, for the purpose of removing 
 them, there are others who will do so, with an 
 eagerness to expose them. Our wisest course is, 
 openly to face, and manfully to grapple with the 
 evil. We should look to the weak and defenceless 
 parts of our bulwarks, in order to strengthen them, 
 before the assailant takes advantage of our oversight. 
 It is difficult indeed to conceive, what beneficial 
 result can follow from a studious concealment (if 
 concealment were possible) of occasional mal-ad- 
 ministration in the economy of the church. There 
 certainly cannot be a more effectual method of 
 perpetuating the grievance. Many of the evils, to 
 which we are alluding, arise from the unhealthy 
 state of the public mind ; and we see not how a 
 remedy can be apphed, unless there be a thorough 
 investigation. 
 
 The opponents of the Church of England will 
 perhaps triumph at such an admission. But it 
 would be well for them first to prove their own 
 E 
 
*74 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 systems to be immaculate. And we hesitate not 
 to say, that if the great body of the English 
 clergy were compared with an equal number of 
 ministers of any other Christian community, they 
 would not suffer by the comparison. At all 
 events, instead of raising an unseemly note of 
 triumph, it would be more in accordance with 
 Christian charity and Christian humility, if the 
 enemies of the church were to lay aside their 
 enmity, and bend all their efforts to a removal of 
 the existing evils. 
 
 We would strongly deprecate, in an argument 
 like the present, the use of all party names of dis- . 
 tinction within the church. In speaking of the 
 qualifications for the ministry, it is hoped, that we 
 have lost sight of all such inferior considerations, 
 and have thought only of the broad, general, and 
 indispensable properties, belonging to the minister 
 of Christ. The church does not stand in need of 
 partizans, but of faithful, pious, and spiritually- 
 minded men ; who with humble, unobtrusive dili- 
 gence, will fulfil the solemn trust committed to 
 their hands. When therefore we speak of un- 
 suitable appointments to the ministerial office, as 
 destroying the efficiency of the church, it should 
 l)e remembered, that we refer to the defect of those 
 radical qualities, without which a man may indeed 
 be recognized among his fellow-men as a pastor of 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 75 
 
 the flock, but " when the chief shepherd shall 
 appear," will receive only the hireling's reward. 
 
 And whether it be to the episcopal, or any 
 inferior office in the church, that an unsuitable 
 person is appointed, we maintain, that in propor- 
 tion to the degree of disqualification, will usually 
 be the magnitude of the evils, resulting from his 
 appointment. The superior and more extended 
 influence of the bishop, while it increases his per- 
 sonal responsibility, will of course materially aug- 
 ment the evil consequences of his defective qualifi- 
 cations. The worldly-minded and negligent 
 prelate will necessarily exercise a most pernicious 
 influence over the diocese, the government of 
 which he administers. For, not to speak of the 
 patronage, with which his office usually invests 
 him, the church will be deprived of the benefits, 
 which result from the spiritual supervision of a 
 holy and venerable father in Christ. The clergy 
 will be paralysed in their exertions, by the ab- 
 sence of that wise counsel and encouraging sym- 
 pathy, the advantage of which it is difficult fully 
 to appreciate. 
 
 Again, the appointment of an unqualified in- 
 dividual to the duties of a parochial charge will 
 evidently frustrate the beneficial provisions of the 
 national church. It is the obvious design of her 
 institutions, to supply the whole mass of the 
 E 2 
 
76 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE 
 
 population with fit and adequate means of instruc- 
 tion ; to bring to the very doors of every class in 
 the community the "bread of life;" to place 
 within reach of the inhabitants of the remotest 
 districts in the land, a spiritual friend and coun- 
 sellor ; one whose whole life shall be devoted to 
 the work of " guiding their feet into the way of 
 peace." Now this benevolent design must be 
 hindered, if not entirely frustrated, when the person' 
 appointed to perform these offices is incompetent 
 or unworthy. If he be ignorant of the gospel 
 himself, how can he duly explain it to others ? 
 If he be indifferent and careless himself, how can 
 he excite others to " strive to enter in at the 
 strait gate " ? If he be unimpressed with the 
 value of his own soul, how can he impress others 
 with the value of theirs ? If his mind be absorbed 
 in the frivolities of the world, how can he exhort 
 others to " set their affections upon things above, 
 not on things on the earth ? " In short, if his own 
 life and character be not a bright exemplar of his 
 teaching, how can it with any reason be expected, 
 that the people should blindly follow him as their 
 guide to heaven ? It is manifest, that under such 
 circumstances the pious intentions of the church 
 are practically frustrated. 
 
 Thanks be to God, this evil is, we trust, gra- 
 dually retreating from our land. A higher order 
 
IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 77 
 
 of men — of men holier in life, more spiritually- 
 minded, more devoted to God, and in every re- 
 spect better qualified for their vpork, is to be found 
 in the ranks of the clergy. And never, perhaps, has 
 the church presented a more encouraging aspect ; 
 never has she bid so fair to recover those sheep, 
 which had strayed from her fold, when so many of 
 her shepherds were " hirelings, and cared not for 
 the sheep." Oh that God would finish the work 
 which he has begun; that he would produce a 
 simultaneous movement in every department of 
 the church ; that he would remove out of her 
 every scandal, and purge out all her dross ! Great 
 as is the improvement, which we have vdtnessed, 
 much yet remains to be accomplished. There 
 are still within her communion too many minis- 
 ters, upon whose fitness for the sacred ofiice even 
 charity herself would hesitate to pronounce a 
 favourable verdict ; too many, by the fruit of 
 whose life and doctrine it may be known, that 
 they are essentially unqualified for the work, 
 which they have rashly undertaken. Let not the 
 faithful members of the church cease to pray for 
 her peace and purity ; let them, to use the pro- 
 phet's emphatic language, " give the Lord no rest, 
 till he has established, and made her a praise in 
 the earth."* While there is one careless, or un- 
 ' Isaiah Ixii. 7. 
 
78 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 enlightened, or unholy minister within her sacred 
 precincts, let us not deem, that she can dispense 
 with the prayerful and persevering eflforts of all 
 " who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." 
 And however difficult may be the situation in 
 which she is placed, however paralysing may be 
 the effect of secular interference in her adminis- 
 tration, let us not despair of seeing that blessed 
 time, when all her rulers shall be men, not only 
 eminent for their scholastic accomplishments, but 
 still more for their exalted piety, and their entire 
 devotedness to God ; when " her priests shall 
 be clothed with righteousness," and animated by 
 one constraining principle, the desire of saving 
 souls. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CAUSES TO WHICH UNSUITABLE APPOINT- 
 MENTS TO THE MINISTRY IN THE CHURCH OF 
 ENGLAND ARE TO BE TRACED. 
 
 It has been candidly admitted in the preceding 
 chapter, that the economy of the Church of 
 England, scriptural as it is in itself, and well 
 calculated to be effectual, is nevertheless not with- 
 out some grievous blemishes in its administration. 
 The existence of unqualified ministers within her- 
 pale has neither been denied nor palliated. It 
 is idle to suppose, that her cause can be best 
 advocated by the denial of abuses; nor do we 
 think that palliation is either justifiable or expe- 
 dient. Instead of seeking how much can be said 
 in extenuation of an evil, would it not be wiser to 
 set vigorously about the work of reformation ? 
 By such a course, we believe, that the enemies of 
 the church would be so far from gaining an ad- 
 vantage, that they would be even disarmed of some 
 
80 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 of their most effective weapons. If an evil exist, 
 let it be boldly avowed, let it be cordially la- 
 mented, let it be speedily removed. When its 
 existence is once admitted, the first step towards 
 amendment is a thorough investigation of the 
 sources in which it originates. The rudiments, 
 from which it sprang, are to be carefully ex- 
 amined ; and all the varied causes, proximate or 
 remote, to which it owes its existence or its in- 
 crease, are to be impartially considered. When 
 once this is done, it will be a matter of less difii- 
 culty, to suggest sound and] practicable and suffi- 
 cient remedies. Without this, all the schemes for 
 improvement which may be proposed, will be found 
 to be the worse than futile attempts of ecclesias- 
 tial empiricism. And it must be acknowledged, 
 that, in these days of reckless innovation, it is 
 doubly necessary to guard most diligently against 
 crude and ill-advised attempts at improvement. 
 
 The present chapter will be devoted to the con- 
 sideration of the principal causes, to which the 
 appointment of unsuitable persons to the minis- 
 terial office is to be attributed. And here it is 
 necessary to tread softly and warily. Hitherto the 
 topics, which have fallen under our notice, have 
 presented little practical difficulty. But we are 
 now entering upon a subject, which confessedly 
 requires no small measure of sound judgment and 
 
WRONG VIEWS OF THE MINISTRY, 81 
 
 discrimination. And we would, at the very outset, 
 disclaim all harsh and invidious censures upon any 
 individuals or bodies of indvividuals, convinced that 
 nothing is less likely to be effectual, in promoting 
 a sound and judicious reformation, than a tone of 
 bitter and angry invective. At the same time, the 
 cause of truth, of God, and of his church, demands, 
 that with all candour and " in the spirit of meek- 
 ness," we endeavour to point out abuses, and to 
 trace them without respect of persons to their origin. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF MINISTERIAL DUTV AND RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 In conducting this investigation, we must en- 
 deavour to analyse the several parts of our 
 ecclesiastical macliinery, in which the evils we 
 have pointed out may be thought to take their 
 beginning. But it will be necessary to carry our 
 views beyond the defective administration of our 
 own, or of any other ecclesiastical regimen what- 
 ever, if we wish to discover the primary cause of 
 the disorder. It will be readily admitted, that 
 the fundamental cause of all unsuitable appoint- 
 ments to the ministry, lies in erroneous views of 
 the nature and obligations of the sacred office. 
 This may without doubt be considered the prolific 
 
82 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 parent of all other mischiefs. If this had no ex- 
 istence, all other subordinate causes would cease 
 to operate. For, if right views of ministerial 
 responsibility were universally prevalent, in every 
 class of society, then neither would disqualified 
 individuals put themselves for\vard as candidates 
 for the office, nor, if they should venture to do so, 
 would they be admitted. We should hear no 
 more of a worldly-minded, or ignorant, or scan- 
 dalous minister of the gospel, if the public mind 
 were thoroughly imbued with a sense of the awful- 
 ness of the trust, which is committed by the Great 
 Head of the Church to his stewardship. Men 
 would tremble at the thought of incurring the guilt 
 of trifling with holy things ; or if any should be 
 found hardy enough to attempt it, a barrier would 
 be thrown across the path to eccclesiastical ofiices by 
 the jealous vigilance of their appointed guardians, 
 which neither the careless worldHng nor the plau- 
 sible hypocrite would be able easily to surmount. 
 
 Here then, we think, lies the root of the evil, 
 which afflicts the church. The nature and re- 
 sponsibilities of this holy office are imperfectly 
 understood. A veiy slight intercourse with 
 general society %vill afford a painful corrobo- 
 ration of this statement. The tone of remark, 
 which frequently prevails when the ministerial 
 office is the subject of discussion, shews the 
 
WRONG VIEWS OP THE MINISTRY. 83 
 
 low estimation in which it is held, and the erro- 
 neous ideas which are entertained respecting its 
 duties and obligations. It is truly a melancholy 
 thing, to hear the heedless and unprincipled ob- 
 servations, which are too often made, even by per- 
 sons who would scornfully fling away from them 
 the imputation of contempt of religion or the 
 ministry. But those observations, nevertheless, 
 indicate a fundamental misconception of the de- 
 sign of the pastoral office. We hear it spoken of 
 as a reputable profession, as a source of mainte- 
 nance, the adoption of which involves no sacrifice 
 of worldly rank, and implies no degradation in the 
 scale of society. It seems to be regarded, as afford- 
 ing a most conveniently intermediate position be- 
 tween the drudgery of a lucrative profession, and the 
 ease of aristocratic independence. The perform^ 
 ance of its holy duties is regarded as the tenure, 
 by which its revenues are enjoyed, in a manner 
 not very dissimilar to that, in which in feudal 
 times a barony was held in fief from the crown. 
 And the value of a benefice is, in the estimation 
 of such persons, considerably enhanced by the 
 small amount of labour which it demands. Its 
 desirableness is reckoned to be in inverse propor- 
 tion to its importance ; and that man is accounted 
 best provided for in the church, who enjoys the 
 largest revenue with the smallest cure of souls. 
 
84 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 It is using language too mild and lenient 
 to say, that such feelings arise from imper- 
 fect views of the obhgations of the ministr)\ 
 They spring from an awfully degrading miscon- 
 ception of its very nature and design. Is it not 
 dishonourable and insulting to God, to put the 
 office of his ambassador from heaven in com- 
 petition with the places, and professions, and 
 emoluments of earth ? — to reckon, as the main 
 inducements for undertaking it, the secular advan- 
 tages which it olFers, and to count it most desi- 
 rable, when least is required to be done for the 
 glory of him who instituted it ? 
 
 And this is not the only form in w^hich the evil 
 exists. We discover it elsewhere in a shape, less 
 revolting indeed to the serious mind, but not less 
 subversive of the great design of the ministry. 
 The ministerial office is naturally associated in our 
 ideas with a certain measure of learning. In all 
 ages of the church, erudition has been reckoned a 
 most desirable accomplishment in the minister of 
 Christ ; and in some periods of its history, the 
 clergy have been almost the sole depositories of 
 the stores of sacred and profane literature. We 
 would not disparage these endowments. We 
 most earnestly desire, that the church may ever 
 continue to number in the ranks of her ministry, 
 men of sound and manly learning — men, whose 
 
WRONG VIEWS OF THE MINISTRY. 85 
 
 minds have been disciplined to vigorous thought, 
 and richly furnished with the intellectual trea- 
 sures, bequeathed by former generations. These 
 things are useful in their proper place, and 
 may in no small degree be made subservient to 
 the glory of God, and the good of his church. 
 But if we exalt them out of their proper place, if 
 we unduly magnify their importance, we are 
 inflicting a grievous injury upon religion. Never 
 may the time arrive, when the church shall be 
 encumbered and disgraced by an illiterate priest- 
 hood ; but we would that the time were come, 
 when learning alone should no longer be considered 
 suflicient quahfication for her service, and the 
 best stepping stone to her high places. It is right, 
 indeed, that theological learning should find its 
 due reward within the bosom of the church. It 
 is right, that men who have stood forward to put 
 to silence the ignorance of heretics and unbeliev- 
 ers, should be placed in situations of dignity and 
 emolument: and that mind must be singularly 
 constituted, which would object to an arrange- 
 ment at once so equitable in itself, and so advan- 
 tageous to the church. Let honour be given to 
 whom honour is due. Those highly-gifted men, 
 who have manfully come forth in behalf of the 
 church of Christ, who have sustained and repulsed 
 the onset of her enemies, deserve all the honour 
 
86 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 which she has it in her power to bestow. But it 
 is high time, that secular learning should take its 
 proper station in the church. Valuable as it un- 
 questionably is, as a handmaid to theology, it can 
 of itself constitute no proper fitness or recom- 
 mendation for the ministerial office. There are 
 other and higher quahties, without which a very 
 giant in literature cannot wield the spiritual wea- 
 pons of the gospel. The church should be no 
 sheltered retreat for lettered indolence ; her se- 
 questered parishes should afford no quiet resting 
 place for the literary trifler ; her dignified posts 
 should be no prizes for successful competition in 
 the race of worldly fame. 
 
 We trust that the scope of the above remarks 
 will not be misunderstood. Let the ministry be 
 styled a learned profession, for so it ought to be 
 esteemed ; but let it not be placed on the same 
 level with other professions, for which learning 
 alone is a sufficient qualification. The lawyer or 
 physician can qualify themselves, by persevering 
 industry, for their respective vocations ; but the 
 minister of Christ must receive his primary quali- 
 fication from above. He who instituted the office, 
 can alone enable a man to discharge it. The 
 possession of learning, important as it really is, in 
 combination with other and higher quaHfications, 
 is worthless without them. A perfect mastery of 
 
WRONG VIEWS OF THE MINISTRY. 87 
 
 polemical theology, a thorough acquaintance with 
 biblical criticism, and a deep research into eccle- 
 siastical antiquity, may be possessed, and yet 
 their possessor may be in other respects essen- 
 tially unfit for the ministry. And there must be 
 a fundamentally erroneous idea of the objects 
 which it contemplates in the mind of him, who 
 regards these as the primary qualifications for the 
 office. 
 
 But perhaps the most frequent and most plau- 
 sible manner, in which mistaken views of the min- 
 istry are apparent, remains to be mentioned. It 
 is generally imagined, even by the more serious 
 and thinking part of the community, that a cor- 
 rect moral deportment, and a general sobriety and 
 steadiness of character, are sufficient indications 
 that a youth is not unfitted for the service of the 
 church. It is forgotten, that a spiritual office 
 requires something more than the proprieties of a 
 decent morality, something over and above the 
 possession of right intentions, and a naturally 
 amiable disposition. An elevated character, and 
 heavenly affections, and holiness of heart and life, 
 and all that is included in the idea of spirituality 
 of mind, are required in a person, whose sole 
 business it is to deal with spiritual things. To 
 judge therefore a man to be duly quaUfied for the 
 ministerial office, whose life and character shew no 
 
88 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 marks of spirituality, betrays a lamentably defect- 
 ive estimate of the real nature and end of that 
 holy institution. 
 
 We might follow out tliis argument further; 
 but it must be sufficiently apparent, that, what- 
 ever inferior causes may exist, the grand produ- 
 cing cause of all unsuitable appointments to the 
 ministry lies in the inadequate idea, too generally 
 entertained, of its awful responsibility. Let this 
 be removed, and the very fountain head of the 
 evil is dried up. Let the pubHc mind be gene- 
 rally awakened, to perceive the infinite import- 
 ance of the ministry of the gospel, and the heaven- 
 bestowed qualities, which are required in those to 
 whom it is entrusted, and the church will no 
 longer groan under the intolerable burden of an 
 unqualified and inefficient priesthood. The ranks 
 of her clergy will be filled with the choicest and 
 best of all her sons — with men, whose hearts are 
 warmed with zeal for God's glory, and for the 
 salvation of their fellow-sinners — with men, who, 
 possessing all the desirable endowments of intel- 
 lect and erudition, think them devoted to the 
 noblest purpose, when employed in the service of 
 Christ. None will then be thought too good for 
 an office, for which, without divine endowments, 
 the best is as incompetent as the worst. 
 
>IEGLECT OF PRECAUTIONS. 
 
 89 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 NEGLECT OF PRECAUTIONS AGAINST THE ADMISSION OF UNFIT 
 MINISTERS. 
 
 We must now proceed to consider the secondary 
 causes, to which the evil of an unqualified min- 
 istry is to be traced. And foremost amongst these 
 must be placed, neglect of the precautions expressly 
 appointed to prevent the intrusion of unfit persons 
 into Holy Orders. The church is manifestly jealous 
 of the sanctity of her ministry, and has erected 
 various outworks, as it were, to guard it from 
 surprisal. • It is plainly the design of all the 
 documents, which are required from candidates 
 for ordination, to place impediments in the way of 
 unqualified persons, who may aspire to the priest- 
 hood. They are all constructed on the supposi- 
 tion, that the church is in the wilderness, exposed 
 to the assaults of " grievous wolves," who if they 
 can but gain admittance within her fold, will not 
 " spare the sheep." The church feels her danger, 
 and, as far as possible, guards against it. She has 
 drawn around the offices of the ministry certain 
 lines of defence, which, if duly guarded by her 
 appointed watchmen, could not easily be overleapt 
 by the worldling or the hypocrite. It cannot be 
 said, that in theory the admission of an unworthy 
 candidate to the ministerial office in the Church 
 
90 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 of England is an easy thing. Would that it had 
 not been so easy in practice ! But the fact is too 
 plain to be denied, that those prudent safeguards 
 have been negligently kept. The precautionary 
 measures, which the wisdom of our church has 
 appointed, are practically rendered of httle avail, 
 by the laxity with which they are enforced. 
 In this, as well as in other departments of our 
 ecclesiastical system, it will be found, that there is 
 a suitable machinery already existing, which is 
 ineffectual, simply because it is neghgently 
 worked. Let the institutions and appointments 
 of the church be faithfully adhered to, and con- 
 scientiously enforced, according to their original 
 design, and little else is required to work within 
 her a sound and substantial reformation. 
 
 But we must not treat this part of the subject 
 in too general terms. The evil is of no small 
 dimensions, and requires to be dealt with plainly 
 and fearlessly. We must therefore descend to 
 particulars, and consider more in detail the nature 
 of those precautions, to the neglect of which so 
 large a share in producing the mischief has been 
 attributed. 
 
 Out of several documents, which are usually 
 required by our bishops from the candidate for 
 holy orders, we may select the following as most 
 worthy of observation. He is required to exhibit 
 
COLLEGE TESTIMONIALS, 
 
 91 
 
 ' letters testimonial of his good life and conversa- 
 tion ' during academical residence, from the supe- 
 riors of his college ; and, if any considerable time 
 should have elapsed since his departure from col- 
 lege, a similar testimonial under the signature of 
 three beneficed clergymen. When to this is 
 added a personal examination by the bishop and 
 his assistant chaplain, which examination embraces 
 as wide an extent of theological reading as may 
 be deemed requisite, it will be readily admitted, 
 that, in theory, all due precautions are taken for 
 securing an efficient and well-quahfied clergy. 
 And if these defences were strictly guarded, it is 
 difficult to conceive, how any considerable number 
 of unsuitable persons could gain admittance into 
 the ministry. 
 
 College testimonials would present the first bar- 
 rier. Here the thoughtless and unworthy would 
 receive the first check, in their presumptuous 
 approach to the altar of God. Here their path 
 would be traversed by an insurmountable obsta- 
 cle. Here the appointed guardians of the purity 
 of Christ's church would meet them with a stern 
 and uncompromising refusal. And many would 
 thus be induced for ever to give up the thought of 
 polluting things sacred by their unhallowed touch. 
 The difficulties interposed would be too great, the 
 self-denial too rigid, to be encountered by their 
 
92 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 feeble resolution. But it must with sorrow be 
 confessed, that this barrier is in too many cases 
 practically abandoned. Testimonials, which were 
 intended to be bona fide certificates of Christian 
 purity of conduct, are in too many instances 
 degraded into formal and unmeaning documents, 
 testifying merely their own dishonesty. When 
 almost indiscriminately given, they can be of little 
 moral weight, as evidences of character. To 
 answer any good purpose, they should reflect the 
 real character of the indi\ddual, without partiality 
 and without disguise. They should be " for the 
 punishment of e\dl doers, and for the praise of 
 them that do well." 
 
 We are well aware, that some considerable diffi- 
 culties lie in the way of an efficient administration 
 of this part of college discipline. But there are 
 none, which ought for a moment to interfere with 
 a scrupulously faithful discharge of the high duty, 
 which is owed to the church of Christ — none, which 
 would not vanish before a conscientious desire for 
 her peace and prosperity. The guardians of the 
 church's portals should be swayed in this matter 
 by no other motives than a fervent wish, that all 
 " her priests should be clothed with righteousness.'' 
 True, the rule, if rigidly enforced in one or more 
 colleges only, might, in the first instance, thin 
 their ranks, and lessen their emoluments. But 
 
COLLEGE TESTIMONIALS. 93 
 
 surely this inconvenience is not, for a moment, 
 to be placed in competition with the ruinous 
 effects, which result to the church from a lax and 
 temporizing policy. Besides, we would demand, 
 that the precautions of the church should be 
 faithfully adhered to in every college of our 
 venerable universities. We would earnestly 
 desire, that our academical rulers should cause it 
 to be generally and distinctly understood by all 
 whom they admit into their respective societies, 
 that college testimonials shall present clear and 
 faithful portraitures of the character and conduct 
 of those, whom the university sends forth from her 
 bosom into the church. Let them be like the 
 " <Tv<rratiKa) {iria-ToXai," ^ the "letters of commenda- 
 tion " of the ancient churches, honest and trust- 
 worthy witnesses of the sober life and religious 
 conversation of the individual, to whom they refer. 
 And let them be laid before the bishop as docu- 
 ments, upon the credibility of which he may confi- 
 dently rely. Let him be able to infer from them, 
 with all the certainty that the case admits of, that 
 the candidate, whom he is about to separate for 
 the work of the ministry, " has lived piously, and 
 soberly, and honestly, and diligently applied him- 
 self to his studies ; " and that he is really a per- 
 
 ' 2 Cor. iii. 1. 
 - See ' Fonn of Letters Testimonial.' 
 
94 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 son " worthy to be admitted to the sacred office 
 of a deacon." 
 
 There cannot, we think, be a reasonable doubt, 
 that this carrying out of the principle recognized 
 by the church, would be attended with most happy 
 and beneficial consequences to the purity of the 
 ministry. If it were generally known, that no 
 earthly consideration could induce the heads of a 
 college to swerve from their high duty, surely the 
 effect would be, that many unworthy aspirants to 
 the ministry would find themselves baffled in their 
 very first attempt to gain admittance. And let 
 it not be objected, that this would be a harsh and 
 uncharitable procedure ; that it would go far to 
 blight the prospects and ruin the hopes of an 
 aspiring youth ; and, by the disgrace which it 
 would inflict, send a gloom and a sadness into the 
 bosom of a happy family. We do not deny that 
 it might so happen. But is the sanctity of the 
 ministry to be invaded fi'om such considerations as 
 these ? Is individual disappointment to be weighed 
 in the balance against the peace and purity of the 
 Church of Christ ? Is any private consideration 
 whatever worthy of a thought, when the dearest 
 interests of men are at stake ? And surely, if 
 kindness and mercy can be shewn by one human 
 being to another, that person must be kind and 
 merciful, who would prevent his brother from rush- 
 
LETTERS TESTIMONIAL. . 95 
 
 ing heedlessly to his own destruction ; who would 
 forcibly hold back the arm, which is stretched for- 
 ■ward to grasp with unhallowed touch the ark of 
 God. 
 
 When this barrier is past, there is another 
 which immediately presents itself. Letters tes- 
 timonial of precisely the same nature as the 
 above, signed by three beneficed clergymen, 
 are required by the ordaining bishop. Little 
 need be added to the preceding remarks, as this 
 second document is essentially the same as the 
 former. But we may observe, how rigidly the 
 church has fenced her ministry ; how careful she 
 is, lest an unworthy person should thrust himself 
 unheeded into its ranks. She will not leave the 
 interval, between departure from the university 
 and the time of ordination, unguarded. She must 
 have the best evidence that can be obtained, of 
 holiness of life and general fitness of character, up 
 to the very time, when the individual is to be 
 admitted to minister in holy things. 
 
 And this is not only a wise precaution, as afford- 
 ing a double security against the intrusion of unfit 
 persons into the ministry ; but it is moreover a 
 just and merciful appointment. It affords an 
 opportunity to the most careless and most profli- 
 gate of retrieving their lost character. It would 
 be indeed most unreasonable, and most inconsistent 
 
96 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 with the merciful Spirit of the Gospel, if an irre- 
 ligious life, during academical residence, were for 
 ever an insuperable barrier to ordination. How- 
 ever rigidly therefore college testimonials were 
 refused to unworthy characters, this second testi- 
 monial would come in most seasonably, enabling 
 the once dissolute, but now converted, prodigal to 
 give himself to the service of the Lord. We 
 believe, that instances are not rare of men who 
 have first experienced the power of true religion, 
 when immediately looking forward to the holy 
 office of the ministry. The most thoughtless have 
 been brought to solemn reflection. They have 
 been startled by the awful vows which are required 
 of them ; they have paused and trembled, and 
 been converted; and have afterwards been emi- 
 nently blessed by God as instruments of saving 
 souls. Now if this be no unfrequent case, when 
 college testimonials are heedlessly dispensed, it 
 might, we think, be well calculated to impress the 
 minds of many with serious thoughts, to have 
 those testimonials denied to them. It would 
 remind them, that the office to which they had 
 rashly aspired is a holy ofllce, and requires holi- 
 ness of heart and life in those who bear it. And, 
 by the blessing of God, they might thus be led to 
 pray for that converting and sanctifj^ng grace, 
 which is denied to none who earnestly desire it. 
 
LETTERS TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 97 
 
 Then let them become probationers for the minis- 
 try ; and let the honest and faithful report of thi-ce 
 ministers of Christ, who, it is presumed, are 
 actuated by a single desire for his glory, be pre- 
 sented to the bishop. 
 
 It would sm'ely be a punishment, at once just 
 and merciful, that the thoughtless and irreligious 
 youth should be forbidden, for a definite period, 
 eiien to present himself as a candidate for holy 
 orders. Let space be allowed him to repent of 
 his wickedness and presumption : let his hopes of 
 immediate preferment be frustrated ; and let the 
 parish, which was awaiting his unhallowed minis- 
 try, be delivered from so awful an infliction. Let 
 three years of strict probation pass over his head, 
 and then, being found blameless," let him be 
 admitted to wait at the altar, VKhich before he 
 would have dishonoured. 
 
 It will readily be admitted, that the point which 
 we are now considering is one of no slight im- 
 portance to the cause of religion. Few, it is pre- 
 sumed, will deny, that the abandonment of these 
 outworks is one main cause of the intrusion of 
 unqualified persons into the holy office of the 
 ministry. And if these pages should fall under 
 the notice of any, to whom the church has en- 
 trusted the defence of these her bulwarks, (and to 
 every beneficed clergyman she has in a measure 
 
 F 
 
98 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 entrusted it) we would most solemnly entreat 
 them to consider the ruinous effects, which 
 are produced by retreating from their post of 
 duty. We would beseech them by all that is, or 
 ought to be, dear to them, to ponder well the 
 dishonour which is done to God, and the mischief 
 to his church, by their mistaken and misappKed 
 leniency. 
 
 "We must now proceed to consider the last of tie 
 defences, which the church has erected around the 
 ministerial oflBce. It would not be becoming, and 
 might perhaps savour too much of presumption, 
 were we to comment at large upon the duties of 
 bishops in the matter of ordmation. It is not for 
 a private individual to administer instruction or 
 reproof to those, in whom Divine Providence has 
 reposed the sacred trust of the government of the 
 church. And let it not be supposed, that the 
 following remarks are made in a censorious spirit, 
 or in any other than " a spirit of meekness " and 
 humility. The writer would utterly disclaim any, 
 even the slightest approach to, disrespectful in- 
 terference with the prerogatives and duties of 
 those, whom God has raised to this high dignity. 
 Regarding them as the legitimate successors of the 
 apostles, and the scripturally constituted governors 
 of the church, he would not breathe one word 
 derogatory to their honour. Theirs is indeed a 
 
EPISCOPAL EXAMINATION. 99 
 
 solemn trust, and an awful responsibility — a trust 
 so solemn, and a responsibility so awful, that we 
 cannot wonder at the ' nolo episcopari,' with 
 which many have declined an office fraught with 
 so much difficulty and danger. 
 
 "When every legal document has been duly pro- 
 cured and presented to the bishop, then follows 
 an examination of the attainments and capabilities 
 of the candidates for the ministry. The nature 
 and extent of this examination is necessarily left 
 to the discretion of the bishop himself. Its 
 strictness therefore, and the subjects which it 
 embraces, must vary considerably according to 
 his spiritual and intellectual character. If the 
 standard of personal religion and ministerial 
 qualifications, recognized by him, be defective, 
 then it will follow, that the order of men, 
 whom he admits into the priesthood, may hap- 
 pen to be slenderly qualified for their office. 
 Should he frown with jealousy and disapprobation 
 upon a doctrinal system, which he unjustly sus- 
 pects to be inimical to the cause of good morals ; 
 or should he discountenance an elevated tone of 
 spirituaUty of mind, which he deems too closely 
 allied with enthusiasm, he will probably throw 
 impediments in the way of candidates of this 
 description, and affiard facilities to others of an 
 opposite character. If theological learning be in 
 F 2 
 
100 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 his opinion the main qualification for the ministry, 
 his examination will be well calculated to put to 
 the test the attainments of his candidates; and 
 there will be little perhaps, by which their spiritual 
 character may be discerned. He will inquire into 
 their acquaintance with the subtle controversies 
 of scholastic theology ; with the almost numberless 
 forms of heresy, by which the peace of the church 
 has been broken ; with the important results of 
 Biblical criticism ; and with the history and an- 
 tiquities of the church of Christ : but there may 
 be little or nothing, to prove their personal ac- 
 quaintance with the spiritualities of religion, 
 their aptness to teach, their zeal and devotedness 
 to God's service. 
 
 It is manifest, therefore, that the general purity 
 and spirituality of the ministry will ever materially 
 depend, under God, upon the views and character 
 of the bishop. He is the appointed defender of 
 the last and main bulwark of the ministry. With 
 him rests the final decision upon the fitness or 
 unfitness of every individual who presents himself; 
 and none can by any possibility gain admittance, 
 who has not received the full and explicit sanction 
 of episcopal authority. He comes forth from the 
 ordination, bearing the credentials of his acknow- 
 ledged fitness for the office, which he is about to 
 undertake. Most solemn and most important, 
 
EPISCOPAL EXAMINATION. 
 
 101 
 
 therefore, is the duty, which the Church demands 
 from those whom God has invested with this 
 supreme authority ; and if this strongest defence 
 of her priesthood be neghgently guarded, most 
 disastrous must be the consequences to religion. 
 
 The difficulties attending the due discharge of 
 this solemn trust must indeed be overwhelming. 
 To steer a middle course between an undue seve- 
 rity on the one hand, which might discourage 
 some humble and devoted candidate, and a laxity 
 on the other, which might too freely admit the 
 secular and interested, is a task, the difficulty of 
 which cannot easily be appreciated. ^ We can 
 well understand the painful perplexity, in which a 
 conscientious prelate must often be placed, when 
 he is reduced to the necessity of admitting a can- 
 didate, of whose fitness he entertains a doubt, but 
 whose unfitness is not so apparent as to justify 
 his unquahfied rejection. And we would recom- 
 mend those, who are perhaps too ready to pro- 
 nounce indiscriminate censure, to reflect upon the 
 real difficulty of the case ; to consider the circum- 
 stances in which a bishop is placed, and the wis- 
 dom, almost more than human, which is required 
 for a just and temperate exercise of the episcopal 
 
 • ' There is an episcopal act,' said the holy Leighton, upou 
 laying down his bishopric, ' that is above all others formidable 
 tome, — the ordaining of ministers.' — Life by Peabsox. 
 
102 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 power, in the matter of ordination. If, indeed, 
 the previous safeguards, already noticed, had been 
 carefully and resolutely defended, the bishop would 
 be relieved of a weighty responsibility ; he would 
 then have little else to do than to admit the can- 
 didate by the solemn imposition of hands. All 
 manifestly improper persons would have received 
 their merited repulse, before it could be possible 
 for them to appear before him in the character of 
 aspirants to the ministry. He would have, indeed, 
 to certify himself, by personal conference, of the 
 actual fitness of the individuals presented to him ; 
 but cases of positive and decided disqualification 
 would seldom fall under his notice. As things are 
 now constituted, however, it must be admitted 
 that an undue onus is thrown upon the bishop. 
 It is not fair to cast upon him the whole of that 
 vast responsibiUty, a large portion of which ought 
 to have been shared in common with others. It 
 is not just that he alone should bear the odium of 
 excluding those, whom others, competent to decide 
 upon the matter, have pronounced ' worthy to be 
 admitted into the ministry.' 
 
 The above remarks have been made, under the 
 impression, that the public mind is little aware of the 
 disadvantageous circumstances, in which a bishop 
 is placed by the previous negligence of the ap- 
 pointed guardians of the ministry : and we would 
 
EPISCOPAL EXAMINATION, 103 
 
 soften the asperity, with which too often episcopal 
 examinations are unjustly animadverted upon. 
 Still it must be admitted, that the neghgence of 
 otjiier functionaries can by no means justify or 
 palUate an undue laxity on the part of bishops, in 
 granting admittance to holy orders, but rather 
 demands from them a double measure of vigilance. 
 If the outposts have been heedlessly abandoned, 
 it becomes the keepers of the citadel itself to put 
 forth a nobler spirit in its defence. Without 
 stretching their prerogative too far, or laying 
 themselv%s open to the charge of excessive rigour, 
 we think that in many cases the door might be 
 closed against the ignorant or careless, with mani- 
 fold advantage to the Church. And surely not a 
 murmur of disapprobation would be breathed, by 
 a reflecting person, against that high-minded and 
 conscientious prelate, who should kindly yet firmly 
 refuse to lay hands upon one, who betrayed a 
 general want of qualification for the work of the 
 ministry. 
 
 The sacredness of the trust committed to the 
 episcopal order, the important results dependent 
 upon a right or wrong exercise of their authority, 
 the peace of their own consciences, and the pros- 
 perity of the Church of Christ, demand that with 
 the most inflexible justice, tempered by the most 
 fatherly compassion, they refuse to consecrate to 
 
104 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 the service of God those who are unworthy of the 
 high calhng. Let them * lay hands suddenly on 
 no man.' Let their examinations be such as to 
 elicit, not merely the information, with which tljje 
 study of a few months may furnish any man of 
 ordinary abilities, but more especially to prove his 
 acquaintance with the saving truths of the Gospel, 
 his personal experience of the power of religion, 
 and his general aptitude to guide the souls of men 
 into the ways of peace. Let them duly impress 
 upon the minds of the candidates, that they have 
 come to no scene of worldly emulation, to no 
 theatre for the display of their literary attain- 
 ments ; that admission to the ministry is another 
 and a different thing fi-om admission to an acade- 
 mical degree ; in short, that they have come to be 
 proved, as in the sight of God, whether they be fit 
 to execute an office, at once the noblest and the 
 most awful which man can sustain. 
 
 It is greatly to be feared, that, in the minds of 
 some youthful candidates for the ministry, there 
 is too little distinction drawn between the rivalry 
 of the schools and an examination for holy orders. 
 They bring with them the feelings and the 
 thoughts, which are still fresh in their minds from 
 the scenes in which they have but recently been 
 engaged : and the broad and palpable difference, 
 which exists between competition for an earthly 
 
EPISCOPAL EXAMINATION. 
 
 105 
 
 honour, and probation for a heavenly office, is 
 almost entirely overlooked. The spiritually- 
 minded bishop will guard against this fearful 
 mistake. He will solemnly admonish those, whose 
 capabilities he is about to put to the test, that 
 they are gathered together, not before a frail and 
 faUible mortal, but in the presence of Him whose 
 sole prerogative it is, to " search the hearts and 
 try the reins of the children of men." 
 
 It is hoped, that in the above observations we 
 have justified the disclaimer, with which they were 
 commenced. Without shrinking from the duty, 
 which we owe to God and his church, we have 
 endeavoui-ed to keep aloof from a presumptuous 
 and censorious spirit, which would ill become 
 in dealing with the subject under consideration. 
 We are free to confess, that in some instances we 
 suspect admission to holy orders to be granted with 
 too indiscriminate laxity. When we see deplo- 
 rable ignorance of the fundamental truths of the 
 gospel, and a tone of ministrations directly and 
 palpably at variance with the formularies and 
 articles of the church, we are naturally led to in- 
 quire how such a state of things can exist, with- 
 out negligence on the part of some, whose office 
 it is to preserve the purity and efficiency of the 
 ministry. We cannot therefore but come to the 
 conclusion, that the episcopal prerogative of 
 
 F 5 
 
106 CAUSES OP UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 ordination is in some instances exercised with too 
 lenient a hand. And we would respectfully invite 
 the most serious attention to the subject. The 
 admirable Hooker did not hesitate, in his meek 
 and gentle manner, to point out sundry crying 
 grievances which existed in his day ; and he intro- 
 duces them to our notice, with words so character- 
 istic of himself, and so apt to our purpose, that 
 we cannot forbear quoting them. " Wherefore, 
 notvdthstanding mine own inferior state and 
 calUng in God's church, the consideration whereof 
 assureth me, that in this kind the sweetest sacri- 
 fice which I can offer unto Christ, is meek obe- 
 dience, reverence, and awe, unto the prelates 
 which He hath placed in seats of higher authority 
 over me, emboldened I am, so far as may con- 
 veniently stand with that duty of humble subjec- 
 tion, meekly to crave, my good Lords, your favour- 
 able pardon, if it shall seem a fault, thus far to 
 presume : or if otherwise, your wonted courteous 
 acceptance.* " 
 
 There would be but little reason for complaint, 
 if all who are appointed to ecclesiastical dignity 
 were indeed men of God, men devoted to the one 
 object of promoting the welfare of the church of 
 Christ. " They would do good (as Hooker ob- 
 
 ' Eccl. Pol. Book vii. 24. 
 
CHURCH PATRONAGE. 
 
 107 
 
 serves) in ten thousand ways more than any man 
 knows how to set down." But if the bishops of 
 the church be secular in their minds and habits, 
 if the purity and efficiency of the ministry hold 
 not the chief place in their affections, what won- 
 der, if they open wide the door of admission to 
 persons ill qualified to execute the holy office ? 
 What can hinder the existence of a corrupt and 
 worldly-minded priesthood, if the constituted 
 guardians of the church desert their posts in the 
 hour of her greatest necessity ? 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 CHURCH PATRONAGE. 
 
 It remains to consider another cause, to which 
 the appointment of unsuitable persons to the 
 ministry may be attributed. And though it has 
 fallen last under consideration, we hold it to be 
 second to none in the importance of its results. 
 That cause is the abuse of Church patronage. 
 Few subjects, connected with the economy of our 
 ecclesiastical establishments, have occupied a larger 
 share of the public attention than this ; and few 
 perhaps have more deserved or demanded it. It 
 must be obvious to every one who gives the sub- 
 ject a moment's reflection, how exceedingly the 
 
108 CAUSES or UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 welfare of the church, as it is at present consti- 
 tuted, must depend upon a right or wrong exer- 
 cise of this sacred privilege. The importance of 
 the subject has challenged investigation ; and in 
 these days of ecclesiastical controversy, it has 
 been the frequent theme of amicable, as well as 
 hostile discussion. We feel therefore as if we 
 were attempting an almost exhausted argument. 
 The evils are sufficiently manifest, so manifest 
 indeed, that they require but little exposition ; 
 while the remedies, which lie within the range of 
 a probable accomplishment, are so few, that we 
 despair of suggesting any feasible plan of amelio- 
 ration, which has not already been debated almost 
 to satiety. But we are not without hope of 
 attaining a considerable modification, if not re- 
 moval of these giievances. And the fairest and 
 likeliest prospect of amendment seems to be 
 afforded, by a candid and impartial discussion of 
 the subject, and by presenting it frequently and 
 forcibly before the attention of those whom it 
 concerns. 
 
 The history of church patronage is easily told. 
 Its existence was probably to a certain extent 
 coeval with the introduction of Christianity into 
 the land. At any rate it may safely be affirmed, 
 that it was coeval with its general establishment. 
 As soon as our untutored forefathers were re- 
 
ORIGIN OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 109 
 
 deemed from their barbarism and idolatry, it 
 became a matter of importance by all means to 
 encourage the building of churches, and the main- 
 tenance of a settled ministry of the gospel. This 
 could hardly be done without the consent and 
 assistance of the lords and proprietors of the soil. 
 To encourage this co-operation, it was natural and 
 reasonable, to assign the right of appointing the 
 officiating minister to the individual, by whose 
 private liberality the church had been built and 
 endowed, for the population amidst which he resi- 
 ded. ' The building of churches, (says Hooker,') 
 and consequently the assigning of either parishes 
 or benefices, was a thing impossible without the 
 consent of such as were principal owners of land ; 
 in which consideration, for their more encourage- 
 ment hereunto, they which did so far benefit the 
 church had by common consent granted, (as great 
 equity and reason was) a right for them and their 
 heirs till the world's end, to nominate in those 
 benefices men whose quality the bishop allowing 
 might admit thereunto.' " 
 
 > Eccles. Pol. Book V. 80. 
 - ' And here we must look for the true origin of what is called 
 the right of patronage, which was introduced among Christians 
 with no other view, than to encourage the opulent to erect a great 
 number of churches, by giving them the privilege of appointing 
 the ministers that were to officiate in them.' — Mosheim, Eccles. 
 Hist. Century IV, Chap. 4. 
 
110 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 Such is a simple and obvious view of the origin 
 of this important privilege. And nothing can be 
 conceived more equitable in itself, or more likely 
 to draw forth in so blessed a work the cheerful 
 assistance of the great and powerful. The right 
 of patronage was subject to a limitation, essentially 
 necessary for preserving the purity of the minis- 
 try. The patron's choice of an individual to fill 
 his benefice was always subject to the condition of 
 the bishop's approbation. He could appoint none, 
 who had not previously been admitted by episco- 
 pal ordination to the holy ministry ; and his choice 
 was in all cases to be confirmed and ratified by the 
 highest ecclesiastical authority. Under such cir- 
 cumstances, there could be little danger of an 
 appointment essentially improper, provided that 
 there were no previous negligence on the part of 
 the bishops of the church. The proprietor of the 
 soil, and of the benefice attached to it, had no 
 arbitrary and irresponsible right to thrust in whom 
 he pleased, qualified or unqualified ; there was a 
 power at hand, ready to lay an immediate inter- 
 dict upon the appointment of an unsuitable per- 
 son. The bishop of the diocese could, by his sole 
 authority, refuse to institute an individual, against 
 whose fitness he entertained a well-founded ex- 
 ception. So that the patron's power, which might 
 otherwise have seemed prejudicial to the interests 
 
LIMITATION OF PATRONAGE. Ill 
 
 of the church, was simply Hmited to the nomina- 
 tion of one out of several ministers, whom the 
 rulers of the church had already decided to be 
 competent to the charge. 
 
 Such, in theory, still remains the system of 
 patronage in the Church of England. The right 
 of nomination to a benefice is recognized by the 
 law of the realm, as belonging to, and transferable 
 with, the property or office to which it was origi- 
 nally annexed. In some cases it is independent 
 and separable. This however appears to be a 
 perversion of the original privilege. It is indeed 
 most heartily to be deplored, that the law has 
 ever allowed it to be dealt with as, in itself, an 
 independent and marketable property. Had the 
 privilege been always inseparably annexed to the 
 proprietorship of the soil, from which at first it 
 derived its existence, subject to the necessary 
 limitation of episcopal sanction, it would probably 
 in a great measure have escaped the manifold 
 abuses, with which it is now encumbered. But 
 we shall have occasion to recur to this point here- 
 after. Our object has been, to shew that patron- 
 age, as it was originally constituted, was neither 
 so unreasonable in itself, nor so injurious in its 
 effects, as many have represented. And we think 
 it may be demonstrated, that, even in the present 
 day, the machinery wliich it provides requires 
 
112 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 only a due application, to make it productive of a 
 greater aggregate of good, than any scheme which 
 may be proposed to supersede it could ac- 
 complish. 
 
 Let us attend only to the real state of the case, 
 supposing the privilege to be limited, as the spirit 
 of the Church of England evidently requires it to 
 be. The nomination to a living is vested in one 
 or more individuals, either in a public or private 
 capacity; but the minister is selected from a 
 certain number of persons, all of whom must have 
 passed an episcopal examination, before they were 
 qualified to execute any ecclesiastical office what- 
 ever. Moreover, the patron has merely the power 
 of nominating one, who must be presented to a 
 higher authority for approval. It is the prero- 
 gative of the bishop alone to institute the person 
 presented. And hy the laws of the church, he is 
 empowered to refuse admission to those, who may 
 be incompetent or unworthy. The thirty-ninth 
 Canon is explicit on this point. ' No bishop 
 shall institute any to a benefice, who hath been 
 ordained by any other bishop, except he first shew 
 unto him his Letters of Orders, and bring him a 
 suflScient testimony of his former good life and 
 behaviour, if the bishop shall require it ; and 
 lastly, shall appear upon due examination to be 
 worthy of his ministry.' Here, in the first place, 
 
LIMITATION OF PATRONAGE. 113 
 
 is demanded a certificate from the bishop, by 
 whom the person presented was ordained, testi- 
 fying that he was legally admitted to the ministry, 
 and that he was then considered not unworthy of 
 the office; here again is required a testimonial 
 of his virtuous life and character, up to the very 
 time of his presentation ; and here is also another 
 personal examination of his capabilities before the 
 bishop of the diocese, in which the benefice is 
 situated. 
 
 In considering the question of patronage, it is 
 exceedingly unfair to lose sight of these restric- 
 tions upon the patron's authority — restrictions 
 which, if duly and conscientiously enforced, would 
 go far to render the appointment of a deci- 
 dedly unqualified person in the highest degree im- 
 probable. According to this view, there is no unli- 
 mited and irresponsible power vested in the patron 
 of obtruding upon a parish one, who may be utterly 
 unfit to be its pastor. The utmost that he can 
 do, is to place before the bishop a candidate for his 
 acceptance and approbation. And the question 
 whether that person shall or shall not be the 
 recognized minister of the charge, to which the 
 patron has appointed him, rests, according to the 
 tenor of the canon law, with the supreme eccle- 
 siastical authority of the diocese. Here then is 
 all the necessary apparatus for interposing an 
 
114 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 effectual veto upon every unsuitable appointment. 
 Here is a check, which if carried out into practice, 
 would so modify the evils to which any system of 
 private or official patronage is necessarily liable, 
 that virtually they might be said to have no exist- 
 ence. But here the secular power steps in with 
 its uncalled for and obtrusive interference. The 
 authority of the bishop is in the present day, to a 
 certain extent, fettered or neutralized by the 
 stronger arm of the civil magistrate. It does not 
 lie within his power, in all cases, to put in force the 
 plenary authority with which the church has 
 invested him. He might perhaps find himself 
 placed in opposition to the code of national law, if 
 he were to attempt to enforce his just and scrip- 
 tural prerogative. A writ of ' quare impedit ' 
 might be issued, which would place the decision 
 of the matter beyond his control, and probably 
 hand it over to others, who might be little quali- 
 fied to decide upon the spiritual fitness of the 
 individual in question. Certain it is, that a bishop, 
 who should conscientiously refuse to institute an 
 improper person to a benefice, would find his 
 intentions not unfrequently thwarted, and his 
 decision reversed in a temporal court; and the 
 authority, which was expressly assigned to him for 
 the protection of the church, would practically be 
 rendered of no avail, by the intermeddHng of 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 115 
 
 worldly policy in matters of purely spiritual juris- 
 diction. It is a most lamentable circumstance, 
 that the "godly discipline" of the church, which, 
 were it left to itself, would be capable of remedy- 
 ing innumerable disorders, should thus be frus- 
 trated. And there could not dawn a brighter or 
 more auspicious day upon the church of England, 
 than that wherein her rights and privileges should 
 be delivered from this usurped domination. 
 
 We have wandered in some measure from the 
 subject immediately before us. But it can scarcely 
 be deemed irrelevant to point out the existence, 
 within the bosom of the church, of a well-organized 
 machinery, the parts of which are so nicely ad- 
 justed, that one shall act as a corrective of the 
 deviations of another. There is a natural liability 
 to abuse in one part of the system of patronage ; 
 but there is a power at hand prepared to check and 
 control it. Let this machinery be left free to 
 produce its proper results, and let it be faithfully 
 and conscientiously worked, and the evils of patro- 
 nage as they now exist, would well nigh be extin- 
 guished. 
 
 But patronage is abused and perverted. We 
 cannot turn to any department of the church with- 
 out meeting with indubitable proofs of the fact. 
 Whether we look at her dignified hierarchy, or her 
 collegiate foundations, or her parochial endow- 
 
116 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 ments, we cannot help beholding the baneful 
 effects of a practically unrestricted and irresponsi- 
 ble patronage. The evil pervades every part of 
 her constitution. On every side she lies exposed 
 to, and almost defenceless against, the encroach- 
 ments of a secularizing and a deteriorating 
 influence. Her barriers, which ought to have 
 shielded her from the inroads of worldly policy, 
 are broken down ; and the crown, and the states- 
 man, and the noble, and the landowner, and the 
 civil corporation, and, in a word, any persons to 
 whom by any means the right of patronage may 
 appertain, have it in their power to exercise a 
 privilege, which, without a sufBcient restraint, must 
 work most disadvantageously for the purity of the 
 ministry. And although the Church has provided 
 a sufBcient restraint, by lodging the power of a 
 ■veto upon every appointment in the hands of her 
 Bishops, yet is this restraint practically rendered 
 nugatory by the liberty of appeal to a court of 
 civil judicature. We do not say, that there should 
 be no appeal from an episcopal decision, for that 
 might possibly open the door to other abuses ; but 
 there should be no appeal to a secular tribunal. 
 A matter of this description, relating to the fitness 
 or unfitness of ministers, is one which, from its 
 very nature, should not be cognizable by any 
 extra-ecclesiastical authority. 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 117 
 
 It has been asserted that patronage is abused ; 
 and to this abuse has been referred the appoint- 
 ment of unworthy and unqualified ministers. It 
 remains to point out, more in detail, the manner 
 in which the evil is connected with the cause. In 
 the first place, it may be observed, that the nature 
 and responsibility of the privilege is not sufficiently 
 understood. This is the fountain-head of the 
 evil. What was originally granted as a solemn 
 and responsible trust, has in the lapse of ages come 
 to be regarded merely as a property, liable, with 
 some limitations, to be dealt with according to the 
 rules by which ordinary property is regulated. 
 The spiritual is subordinated to the secular. The 
 temporalities of the benefice are looked upon as a 
 source of revenue, transferable at the will of the 
 patron, for a limited or unlimited period, by a 
 legal act of conveyance ; and are subject, under cer- 
 tain circumstances, to the same contingencies as any 
 other source of revenue. In case of the insolvency 
 of the patron, for example, the right of presentation 
 may be sold for the satisfaction of the creditors. 
 In fact it is, in almost every respect, treated as a 
 subject of legal transfer, for pecuniary considera- 
 tions; liable only to certain restrictions, for the 
 prevention of simoniacal abuses. It would be 
 unreasonable indeed to pass an unqualified cen- 
 sure upon this treatment ; for, in a civilized coun- 
 
118 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 try, all property must be subject to certain general 
 regulations; and we see not how ecclesiastical 
 property could or ought to be exempted from the 
 cognizance of the law. But it is much to be 
 lamented, that the spiritual trust, connected with 
 the property, should ever be dissociated from it, 
 or disregarded when it is dealt with. The law, 
 indeed, can do no more than guard the privilege 
 from flagrant abuse. It cannot provide, that it 
 shall be always exercised in a manner most calcu- 
 lated to fiirther the design of its original institu- 
 tion. This evidently lies beyond the province of 
 law, and must be left to the conscience of the 
 patron and the authority of the bishop. 
 
 Our present remarks are directed against the 
 erroneous views, too generally entertained by 
 patrons themselves, respecting the responsibihty 
 which attaches to their office. The fact that they 
 are merely trustees of a privilege, involving the 
 most important consequences to the welfare of the 
 Church, is in too many instances overlooked. The 
 duties which they owe to God, as His stewards, 
 are but little understood or regarded ; and the 
 extent, to which a right or wrong distribution of 
 their patronage may affect a diocese, or a parish, 
 does not enter into their consideration. It matters 
 little what be the motives by which they are 
 actuated, if the paramount motive be not the 
 
DUTIES OF PATRONS. 
 
 119 
 
 spiritual welfare of the people, whose interests are 
 involved in their choice. To promote that was the 
 original design of granting to them the privilege ; 
 and it must be perverted and abused, where that 
 design is not mainly and steadily kept in view. 
 We fear that those patrons are still in an incon- 
 siderable minority, whose single aim, in the exer- 
 cise of their trust, is to bring glory to God by the 
 salvation of souls. And yet this is the legitimate 
 motive by which mainly a patron's choice should 
 be guided.i Other considerations may lawfully 
 bias him. Ties of consanguinity, or friendship, 
 or gratitude, need not be disregarded ; but if the 
 one prevaihng motive which, as it were, absorbs 
 all others, be not the welfare of the Church of 
 Christ, the patron must be considered regardless 
 of his solemn responsibility. 
 
 It would be tedious, to enumerate all the va- 
 ' ' 1 am bound to remember, in the disposal of any living,' 
 Wilberforce remarks, ' that the interest the parishioners have in 
 the nomination is that of as many persons as the parish consists 
 of, and is of an everlasting, infinite value ; that which the 
 clergyman to be presented to it has in it, is the temporal interest 
 of one individual. It follows, of course, that I must attend to the 
 two following principles in my recommendations to Church pre- 
 ferment : 1st, That of naming the man, whom in my conscience I 
 believe, on the whole, likely to do most good in the station to be 
 filled ; and, 2dly, That of endeavouring to employ my influence, 
 so as that any given measure of it may be productive of the utmost 
 possible benefit.' — Life, vol. ii. 289. 
 
120 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 rious cases of abused or misdirected patronage, 
 arising from the prolific souixe of evil, which we 
 have been considering. When the mind of the 
 patron is uninfluenced by lofty and disinterested 
 motives, we do not wonder at great and grievous 
 perversions of his power. If he value not the 
 pure doctrines and blessed privileges of the gospel 
 himself, it can hardly be expected that he should 
 be anxious to communicate them to others. If 
 he look upon his patronage as a portion of his 
 estate, and thereby as a legitimate source of emo- 
 lument to himself or his family, or as the means 
 of wielding a more extended influence over others, 
 we cannot be surprised if he so dispense it, as may 
 most further his worldly and selfish ends. And 
 it matters not, whether it be the statesman, whose 
 main object it is to reward or to purchase political 
 adherents : or the dignitary of the church, whose 
 prevailing motive is to provide a liberal mainte- 
 nance for his kindred ; or the collegiate body, 
 whose learned members are presented simply on 
 account of seniority ; or the private patron, who 
 is actuated by pecuniaiy considerations ; one and 
 all of them are under the influence of motives, in 
 themselves essentially defective ; and the appoint- 
 ments, resulting from them, are too generally 
 ruinous to the integrity of the ministry, and the 
 spiritual well-being of the church. 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 121 
 
 Tlie cases of misdirected patronage, which 
 usually occur, may perhaps be generally traced to 
 one or other of the following motives, which, for 
 the sake of convenience, we may term the po- 
 litical — the FAMILY — the literary — and the 
 
 MERCENARY. 
 
 1. And first we are to trace the effects of 
 POLITICAL MOTIVES. We are almost ashamed of 
 quoting from an author, whose eloquent pages 
 have been liberally transferred into every treatise 
 upon the subject which we are considering : and 
 we would rather refer the reader to the whole of 
 his admirable discussion, from which it is difficult 
 to make selection. Speaking of the mistaken 
 distribution of state patronage, Dr. Chalmers re- 
 marks, " "We believe there is no one subject on 
 which our statesmen are more woefully in the dark, 
 than the right exercise of church patronage. 
 They apprehend not its bearings upon the political 
 welfare of the country."' It is indeed a most 
 melancholy thing, that the power and influence 
 with which they are entrusted, which rightly 
 exercised might be so beneficial, and which 
 abused is so fatal to the cause of religion, should 
 ever be debased to secular and selfish purposes. 
 Most sad it is, that state policy should ever form 
 
 Christian and civic economy of large towns. Chap. v. 
 
122 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 an element in the consideration, when an ecclesias- 
 tical appointment is to be made. What, we would 
 ask, have worldly politics to do with the fitness or 
 unfitness of an individual for a heavenly office ? 
 If a bishop is to be appointed, why should his 
 political bias be accounted by the dominant party 
 in the state a matter of such transcendent im- 
 portance ? If the interests of the church of Christ 
 were nearest to the statesman's heart, he would 
 not ask, with what aspect an individual regards the 
 rivalry of contending factions ; he would simply 
 ask, what capabilities he has for ruling with dis- 
 cretion the house of God. He would select the 
 wisest and the best, whom he could find amongst 
 the clergy — the man of greatest repute in the 
 church for holiness and learning, and confessedly 
 most calculated to promote the spiritual welfare 
 of the population. Such alas ! are too seldom the 
 motives, by which preferments to the highest offices 
 of the church are regulated. " Devotion and the 
 feeling sense of religion (says Hooker^) are not 
 usual in the noblest, wisest, and chiefest person- 
 ages of state, by reason their wits are so much 
 employed another way, and their minds so seldom 
 conversant in heavenly things." Our statesmen 
 have not only lost sight of the spiritual welfare of 
 
 Eccl. Pol. Book vii. 24. 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 123 
 
 the chm'ch, but also of the moral and social im- 
 provement of the people. They know not how 
 powerful an engine of good government they have 
 spoiled of its efficiency. They have crippled and 
 paralysed an arm, which, properly directed, might 
 have wielded a mighty influence for good over the 
 whole commmiity. 
 
 The evil will not stop with the mere ap- 
 pointment of the bishop. He himself becomes 
 the centre of a wide spreading and commanding 
 influence. He is invested by his office with as 
 much power to do harm, as to do good : and the 
 probability is great, that if morally and spiritually 
 unqualified himself, he will be the cause of many 
 unsuitable appointments to inferior oflices. There 
 will not be wanting abundant and plausible pre- 
 tences, for filling up the vacancies in a diocese 
 from the number of his kindred or dependents : 
 and conscience will perhaps be easily satisfied, 
 if there be not, on the part of these individuals, 
 any thing which can fairly be construed into 
 positive and decided disqualification. Thus the 
 evil will propagate and extend itself ; and it be- 
 comes utterly beyond the powers of human calcu- 
 lation, to determine the amount of mischief to 
 the cause of God and his church, of which the 
 appointment of one single unsuitable individual 
 may be the occasion. 
 
 G 2 
 
124 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 2. A second order of motives, to which a mis- 
 direction of patronage is frequently to be attri- 
 buted, is that which we have styled family mo- 
 tives. And by this we mean, motives arising from 
 the ties of consangmnity and domestic relationship. 
 There is perhaps no more plentiful source of 
 corruption than this : it pervades every descrip- 
 tion of preferment, which the church possesses : 
 and there is something in the motive, which so 
 closely touches the warmest feelings of the heart, 
 and something, moreover, so calculated to blind the 
 judgment, and warp the rectitude of its decisions, 
 that we can scarcely wonder at the extent, to 
 which its influence is felt in appointments to the 
 ministry. A family living is often a family curse. 
 It is looked upon as the patrimonial estate of a 
 junior member, who from his very birth is des- 
 tined, qualified or unqualified, to enjoy its tempting 
 emoluments ; and thus a parish is encumbered 
 with a pastor, all whose likings and habits may be 
 alien from the work of the ministry, and who 
 sighs in vain for that liberty, which he would 
 gladly have sought in some more congenial em- 
 ployment. 
 
 And again, official patronage is liable to the 
 same abuse. A civil or ecclesiastical functionary 
 may be invested with an extensive right of 
 patronage. And here the motive of providing for 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 135 
 
 his kindred will operate most powerfully, in di- 
 recting the preferments, of which he is the dis- 
 penser, into a wrong, or at least not into the best 
 channel. That man must possess a mind, braced 
 by the constraining influence of vital religion up 
 to a high pitch of disinterestedness, who can turn 
 a deaf ear to the appeals of natural affection, 
 and pass by one, who has no very decided claim 
 upon his selection but his affinity, in favour of a 
 stranger better qualified for the ministry. This 
 spirit of nepotism has been a crying grievance in 
 the Church of England ; and we fear that the 
 evil has sprung up too frequently within her own 
 bosom, and amongst those, who should have set an 
 example of lofty principle and disinterested zeal 
 for her purity. "We would not argue in favour of 
 the utter exclusion of family considerations ; for 
 nature pleads strongly in their behalf ; and re- 
 ligion does not condemn a partiality for those, 
 who being duly qualified for the ministry, have 
 also the advantage of relationship to the patron. 
 And no reasonable person would censure an ap- 
 pointment of this kind, where the individual is 
 manifestly endued with the requisite qualifications 
 for the discharge of his holy functions. But it is 
 evident, that there is danger of abuse; and the 
 probability is great, that the voice of conscience 
 should be overborne by the stronger pleadings of 
 
126 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 consanguinity or friendship, or by the still stronger 
 yearnings of paternal affection. 
 
 3. The next in order are those which we have 
 called the literary motives, or such as have 
 respect to mere literary and scholastic attainments. 
 To this source is frequently to be attributed the 
 appointment of persons, to responsible and im- 
 portant offices in the church, whose capabilities 
 are by no means equal to the efficient discharge 
 of their duties. A man is not necessarily quahfied 
 for the office of a bishop, who stands preemi- 
 nent for learning ; whose previous life has been 
 spent in literary seclusion within the cloisters of a 
 college ; who has never known the difficulties or 
 the pleasures of a parochial ministry ; and who, 
 from his entire ignorance of their trials, can have 
 little sympathy with his clergy, and can be little 
 qualified to admonish or encourage them in their 
 arduous work. Such a man may be a learned and 
 a dignified bishop, he may grace his exalted station 
 by the amiability of his character, or the splendour 
 of his literary fame ; but he can hardly be one, 
 who will administer tlie affairs of his diocese with 
 discretion — one, to whom his clergy will look up 
 with confidence, as their wise counsellor, their 
 faithful friend, their spiritual father. 
 
 And the evil will scarcely be less, though more 
 limited in its operation, when the preferment is to 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 127 
 
 a parochial charge. A merely literary clergy- 
 man is not such as the church requires for her 
 parishes. If a powerful influence is to be brought 
 to bear upon the moral and religious improvement 
 of our population, an energetic, pains-taking 
 ministry is imperatively demanded. Our beneficed 
 clergy must be men trained and disciplined by 
 experience to parochial ministrations. The feel- 
 ings and the habits, contracted by long-continued 
 residence within the walls of a college, are not 
 such as best suit the incumbent of a parish. And 
 here we cannot help observing, that, whatever 
 may have been the wisdom of the original institu- 
 tion, the present mode of dispensing our academi- 
 cal patronage is by no means calculated to further 
 the spiritual welfare of the parishes affected by it. 
 College livings are usually bestowed upon the 
 Fellows according to seniority ; and are regarded 
 as the merited rewai'ds of a patient and protracted 
 endurance of collegiate restraints. The meridian 
 of life is generally past, the vigour and energy of 
 youth are evaporated, and the habits of mind 
 settled into inflexible rigidity, before the period 
 arrives, when the expected benefice becomes 
 vacant: and the individual presented is plunged 
 into scenes and employments, altogether alien 
 from his disposition, and for which his previous 
 life had as much as possible unfitted him. He 
 
128 CAUSES OF UNSUITABLE APPOINTMEN'lb. 
 
 consequently spends his declining years either in 
 dignified repose, or in literary indolence. An 
 arrangement, less calculated to promote the effi- 
 ciency of the ministry, can scarcely be conceived. 
 
 4. Much need not be added upon the last order 
 of motives which was mentioned, the mercenary 
 or PECUNIARY. Where such motives exist, they 
 are worthy of indignant reprobation. The patron, 
 who can put up his privilege for sale, regardless 
 of the qualifications of him whom he presents, 
 must be dead to every feeling which ought to 
 actuate a Christian's mind — he must be indifferent 
 alike to the glory of God, and the salvation of 
 men. And it is a most grievous thing, that cus- 
 tom, and law, and the prescription of many gene- 
 rations, should have thrown their sanction around 
 a practice, which otherwise would meet with uni- 
 versal condemnation. We do not indeed complain 
 of the legitimate transfer of a right, contingent to 
 property, but we could wish that there were 
 devised a prompt and powerful restraint, which 
 would check this reckless desecration of things 
 sacred. For a spiritual privilege to be subjected 
 to the rude traffickings of the market and the 
 auction, is a degradation and a scandal, which we 
 pray God may soon cease to be heard of in the 
 church. 
 
 We need not further prosecute this part of our 
 
ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 129 
 
 argument, — especially as we shall have occasion 
 hereafter to recur to it. It would not be diffi- 
 cult to swell these pages, by a more lengthened 
 detail of the abuses of misdirected patronage. 
 Sufficient however has been said, to shew tliat not 
 a few of the evils, which afflict the church, are 
 chargeable upon this cause. Our immediate 
 object in this chapter has simply been, to trace 
 the existence of an unqualified and inefficient 
 ministry to some of the most obvious and prolific 
 causes. And this we have done, preparatory to 
 the suggestion of safe and sufficient remedies : 
 for it were vain to expect a cure, until we have 
 traced the disorder to its seat, and detected the 
 cause or causes which may have contributed to 
 produce it. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE MEANS MOST LIKELY TO BE EFFECTUAL IN- 
 REMOVING OR MODIFYING THE EVIL OF AN 
 UNQUALIFIED MINISTRY. 
 
 If there was difficulty in treating the subjects 
 discussed in the last chapter, the difficulty will be 
 tenfold greater in that, which we are now com- 
 mencing. It is an easy thing to detect and de- 
 claim against abuses. It is not so easy, perhaps, 
 to investigate the sources from which they spring, 
 and to analyse the several parts of the system in 
 which they originate. But the most difficult part 
 of the matter still remains, — to take a comprehen- 
 sive view of the evil in all its bearings, and then to 
 apply those remedial measures, which, without 
 deranging the system, or giving birth to new, and 
 perhaps greater evils, may remove those which 
 already exist. " Few there are, (observes Hooker, 
 with his usual acuteness,) of so weak capacity, but 
 
DIFFICULTY OF THE SUBJECT. 131 
 
 public evils they can easily espy : few so patient, 
 as not to complain when the grievous inconveni- 
 ences thereof work sensibly smart. Howbeit, to 
 see wherein the harm which they feel consisteth 
 the seeds from which it sprang, and the method of 
 curing it, belongeth to a skill, the study whereof 
 is so full of toil, and the practice so beset with 
 difficulties, that wary and respective men had 
 rather seek quietly their own, and wish that the 
 world may go well, so it be not long of them, than 
 with pain and hazard make themselves advisers 
 for the common good."' 
 
 Here then lies the main difficulty of the sub- 
 ject. We do not want acrimonious invectives 
 against existing abuses. We do not want the aid 
 of those, who with eagle-eye are always keenly on 
 the look out for corruptions, and ever watching 
 their opportunity to drag them forth, and hold 
 them up to public reprobation. But, in the pre- 
 sent state of the church, we want the aid of those 
 who look with no friendly aspect upon abuses, 
 who with discriminating judgment can detect 
 them, and having traced them to their respective 
 sources, are quick to discern, and prompt to apply 
 the remedies most suited to the case. 
 
 That serious evils do exist in the administration 
 of our ecclesiastical system, is almost universally 
 ' Eccl. Pol. V. 1. 
 
132 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 admitted. There are comparatively few, who are 
 hardy enougli to stand forward as the champions 
 of those things, which all serious and disinterested 
 persons admit to be abuses. We must confess, that 
 we have no sympathy with those who would perpe- 
 tuate an evil, on account of some inferior and contin- 
 gent advantage which may happen to result from it. 
 That abuse must be glaring indeed, in behalf of 
 which nothing whatever can be alleged, no apo- 
 logy be made, no palliation be admitted, and from 
 which no indirect and incidental and occasional 
 benefit can be shewn to result. But we must 
 beware, how for the sake of such inferior conside- 
 rations, we overlook the number and magnitude of 
 the real evils which it occasions. 
 
 We must bear in mind, in this part of our dis- 
 cussion, that our business is not to construct an 
 ecclesiastical system, but to promote the efficiency 
 of one which already exists ; not to remodel it after 
 a new design, but simply to suggest the removal of 
 abuses, with which the lapse of ages seldom fails 
 to encumber institutions, handed down from re- 
 mote antiquity. There is in the Church of Eng- 
 land a mechanism, sufficiently adapted in itself 
 for all the purposes for which it was originally de- 
 signed. And our object is to point out the mode, 
 by which its operation may be rendered most 
 effectual, the impediments to its efliciency may be 
 
ORGANIC CHANGE NOT REQUIRED. 133 
 
 best removed, and the greatest amount of good 
 may be wrought by its instrumentality. We need 
 not therefore occupy ourselves with schemes, 
 which are built upon the hypothesis of a complete 
 and fundamental change in the present edifice of 
 the church. For it were futile to propose plans 
 of amelioration, which are utterly impracticable, 
 unless the whole existing framework were swept 
 away, and the ground were left clear for raising a 
 completely remodelled edifice. We would take the 
 church as it now stands, venerable and stately, not- 
 withstanding the unseemly excrescences which time 
 has accumulated around it, and set about the work 
 of improvement, with a confident expectation that 
 it shall come forth a nobler and godlier structure, 
 than the best efforts of modern innovation would 
 be able to erect. Our object then, in this chapter, 
 will be, to point out the mode by which our eccle- 
 siastical system may be restored to its efficiency, 
 and to suggest the means, by which, under the 
 Divine blessing, the evils of an unqualified ministry 
 may be modified, if not entirely removed. And 
 here we shall be compelled, by the very nature of 
 the subject, to go over much of the same ground 
 which was traversed in the preceding chapter. 
 
134 
 
 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 AWAKENING Oy THE PUBLIC MIND TO THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 
 SUBJECT. 
 
 The first and most obvious remedy which pre- 
 sents itself, that indeed without which all others 
 are likely to prove ineffectual, is to awaken the 
 public mind to a just view of the Christian minis- 
 try. We have already dwelt largely upon the 
 erroneous and defective estimate, too generally 
 entertained, of its importance and obligations. 
 This we considered as the primary and fundamental 
 cause of all unsuitable appointments to holy offices. 
 By calling attention therefore to the subject, and 
 by impressing right views and opinions upon the 
 )ninds of the people at large, we are laying the 
 axe at the very root, and are taking the most 
 effectual steps to promote a mitigation, and we 
 trust eventually, an eradication of the evil. Every 
 treatise which is sent forth, calculated to arouse 
 the spirit of inquiry, and to lead the public to 
 more correct and exalted views of ministerial re- 
 sponsibility, must, witliin the range of its influence, 
 have a tendency to promote the work of reforma- 
 tion. It may assuredly be taken for granted, that 
 at present the subject is imperfectly understood, 
 and its importance woefully underrated, by a large 
 
AWAKENING OF THE PUBLIC MIND. 135 
 
 majority of those whom it most concerns. We 
 want therefore to bring to bear upon all classes of 
 the community, and especially upon those who in 
 any measure are invested with power in ecclesias- 
 tical matters, an influence which shall tend to 
 promote the purity and efficiency of the priest- 
 Q-od. We would hail with satisfaction whatever 
 is calculated to produce a deep moral impression 
 upon the nation, and to turn the tide of popular 
 opinion strongly in favour of a more spiritual and 
 enlightened ministry. Unless this be done, no- 
 thing will be done effectually. Laws may be 
 enacted, and restrictions imposed, but they will in 
 numerous instances be evaded or infringed. The 
 only sure preservative against mal-administration 
 is the influence of Christian integrity and up- 
 rightness of heart. Let this one point be gained, 
 and we have a sufficient guarantee for the right 
 discharge of every duty and every trust, upon 
 which the well-being of the church depends. In 
 their deahngs with ecclesiastical matters, men 
 would be animated by one spirit, the desire of 
 locating in every parish throughout the land, a 
 laborious, and faithful, and spiritually-minded 
 minister of Christ. It must be acknowledged, 
 that before this blessed state of things can be 
 reahzed, a great moral revolution must have taken 
 place in the views and sentiments of our men of 
 
136 
 
 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT, 
 
 influence and authority. Our civil and ecclesias- 
 tical rulers, and the great mass of our patrons, 
 must be men of another stamp, men of more 
 genuine piety, and more single and entire devo- 
 tedness to God. There must be another spirit 
 pervading the cabinet and the senate. And all 
 the sources, from which proceeds any commanding 
 influence upon the church, must be purified from 
 that spirit of worldliness vrhich has too long para- 
 lysed her efibrts, and impeded her efficiency. This 
 will not be a sudden and violent revolution; it 
 will be the product of principles, slowly and silently 
 leavening the whole lump of the community. And 
 we know not how it is, instrumentally, to be 
 brought about, otherwise than by presenting the 
 subject frequently and forcibly before the atten- 
 tion of the public, and by urging upon patrons of 
 every description the solemn responsibiUty with 
 which their privilege invests them. It is most 
 earnestly to be desired, that the whole community 
 should be aroused from its insensibility to spiri- 
 tual matters ; that the restless spirit of innovation, 
 which is abroad, should be diverted from its 
 course, and be bent upon the accomplishment of 
 nobler purposes. Instead of the senseless craving 
 for experimental reform, which leads men to think 
 that every change must be improvement, we 
 would rather that the nation, with cabn but 
 
AWAKENING OF THE PUBLIC MIND. 137 
 
 determined resolution, should demand, that right 
 principles already recognized be carried out into 
 practice, and that the ecclesiastical machinery 
 already existing be cleared of all impediments to 
 its efficiency. 
 
 And let us not be discouraged by the apparently 
 hopeless difficulty of eiFecting this change. Let 
 us bear in mind, that every individual, who may 
 thus be aw^akened to the importance of the sub- 
 ject, constitutes one step in the general progress 
 of amelioration ; that every patron, who is induced 
 by spiritual motives to nominate a faithful pastor 
 to the charge of a parish, is one unit in the aggre- 
 gate of national improvement. And unimportant 
 as a few solitary instances of well-directed influ- 
 ence may seem, yet to the eye of faith, each 
 one of them is fraught with consequences, which 
 the day of judgment alone will be able to reveal ; 
 upon each one of them depends, under God, the 
 spiritual welfare of a section of our population, 
 and each one may become a centre, from which 
 there shall go forth on every side a renovating 
 influence upon society. In this view of the sub- 
 ject nothing can be unimportant which is in any 
 measure calculated to promote even one solitary 
 instance of improvement. 
 
138 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 STRICTER MAINTENANCE OF EXISTING PRECAUTIONS. 
 
 Neglect of the precautions, appointed to pre- 
 serve the purity of the ministry, was mentioned 
 above as a fertile source of evil to the church. 
 Here the very mention of the cause at once 
 suggests the remedy. Let those precautions be 
 maintained with a jealous and uncompromising 
 vigilance. Let the sacred altar be rigidly defended 
 from the approach of the unworthy aspirant to the 
 ministry. We would most respectfully, but most 
 earnestly entreat those, to whom the church 
 has entrusted the moral and intellectual culture 
 of her candidates for Holy Orders, to give full 
 effect to the powers with which they are invested; 
 and with firm but parental authority to put in 
 force the discipline, which they are commissioned 
 to exercise. Let them remember, that they are 
 the keepers of the first outwork, by which the 
 sanctuary is defended from invasion ; that neglect 
 on their part involves consequences detrimental to 
 the prosperity of Christ's church, and practically 
 impedes the exercise of episcopal authority in the 
 matter of ordination. 
 
 We would that our colleges and haUs were 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 139 
 
 literally places of rigid probation for the ministry ; 
 and that all who enter their venerable walls, with 
 the expectation of becoming hereafter candidates 
 for Holy Orders, were impressed with the fact, 
 that there is resting upon them a jealous super- 
 intendence ; that their conduct and character are 
 subjected to a never ceasing observation ; and that 
 the tenor of their lives will be accurately de- 
 lineated in the testimonials, which they are to 
 receive at the termination of their academical 
 course. If this principle were fully carried out in 
 every college throughout the land, it must be 
 obvious, that multitudes of unqualified individuals 
 would at once be debarred from the fi.rst entrance 
 upon the ministry, and would probably be in- 
 duced to devote themselves to pursuits, more con- 
 genial with their habits and dispositions. 
 
 The same remark will apply to every other 
 testimonial, which is required to be laid be- 
 fore the bishop, previous to ordination. Let them 
 all be credible witnesses of a holy life, and virtuous 
 demeanour, and competent learning. Let them 
 cease to be considered as pro forma documents, to 
 refuse a signature to which would argue incivility 
 and want of ordinary courtesy ; but let them be 
 accounted things of too serious a nature to be 
 trifled with, — as involving interests too important 
 to be sacrificed to the rules of worldly compliment. 
 
140 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 and the maxims of worldly expediency. The 
 clergy have it in their power to do much, tow- 
 ards checking the progress of the evil. And if 
 the bishop were to require either personal know- 
 ledge of his candidates, or a bond fide and satisfac- 
 tory evidence of their general fitness, it would be 
 no easy matter to overcome the impediments, 
 which would thus be thrown across the ap- 
 proach of an unsuitable person to the ministerial 
 office. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 MORE PROMPT AND U.VFETTERED EXERCISE OF EPISCOPAL 
 JURISDICTION. 
 
 In the preceding observations, we have referred 
 to the means of preventing improper persons from 
 introducing themselves into the ministry. But in 
 this imperfect world, it is not to be expected that 
 any precautions, however wisely planned, or any 
 defences, however vigorously maintained, should 
 in all cases be successful in preventing " the evil 
 from mingHng with the good."' This is one of 
 the inconveniences, to which the church, in her 
 militant state, must patiently submit. It is not 
 
 XXVIth Article. 
 
EPISCOPAL JURISDICTION. 141 
 
 sufficient, therefore, to guard the portals of the 
 Church of God. There must be an internal or- 
 ganization, for the purpose of removing out of her, 
 as far as possible, all things that offend. There 
 should be a principle of self-purification in her 
 economy, which will not tolerate the existence of 
 evil within her precincts. This does actually ex- 
 ist, in theory, in the Church of England. Her 
 episcopal regimen has undoubtedly the capabilities 
 for the exercise of a prompt and effectual dis- 
 cipline. But its operation is impeded, and in 
 some cases neutrahzed, by an undue interference 
 from without. We would therefore suggest, as 
 an important means of promoting a pure and 
 consistent ministry, that there should be a more 
 vigorous and unfettered exercise of episcopal con- 
 trol over the clergy. We would not require the 
 bishops to be armed with new and extraordinary 
 powers. The authority, with which they are at 
 present invested, is abundantly sufficient for the 
 purpose, if it were not in many cases subjected to 
 an extra-ecclesiastical limitation. The power to 
 which we are referring is of a judicial nature, the 
 power of taking cognizance of clerical delinquency, 
 and of inflicting summary punishment, either by 
 suspension or degradation from the ministerial 
 office. This authority has ever belonged to the 
 highest order of ministers in every age of the 
 
142 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 church.^ It is part of their lawful and scriptural 
 prerogative.^ And to a certain extent, it remains 
 with them to the present day. But the exercise 
 of this authority, in the Church of England, is 
 encumbered with legal and technical difhculties, 
 of such a nature as practically to frustrate its 
 utility. And a bishop, who should desire to in- 
 flict the censures of the church upon a dehnquent 
 clergyman, would find himself most grievously 
 hindered by the tedious process of the ecclesias- 
 tical courts. A protracted and costly suit, or per- 
 haps a series of suits, must be engaged in, and 
 years may elapse before the matter is finally 
 settled, and the offender degraded from the oflice, 
 which he desecrates. This is a state of things, 
 which ought not to be tolerated in a Christian 
 land, and in a church, to uphold the authority of 
 which the state professes to lend its powerful 
 assistance. And it is most earnestly to be desired, 
 that a speedy and effectual remedy should be pro- 
 vided, which might put an end to the crying 
 grievance. Let all needless impediments be re- 
 moved from a due exercise of the authority, 
 which is implied in the very name of bishop or 
 overseer. Let not the rulers of our church have 
 a nominal power, while, in matters most intimately 
 
 ' See Bishop Jeremy Taylor's " Episcopacy Asserted," Sect. 
 36. vol. yii. 159. =1 Tim v. 19. 
 
EPISCOPAL JURISDICTION. 143 
 
 connected with her spiritual welfare, their au- 
 thority is practically rendered almost nugatory. 
 
 We would strongly urge upon our government 
 the importance of facilitating, by every possible 
 means, a prompt and decisive degradation of an 
 immoral and scandalous minister. The Church 
 would be greatly benefited, if the tedious and 
 complicated machinery of our Ecclesiastical Courts 
 were entirely broken up, and the purely ecclesias- 
 tical part of their functions transferred to the legi- 
 timate seat of Church discipline. Let the external 
 and temporal affairs of the Church be still admi- 
 nistered by the existing authorities ; but let the 
 exercise of episcopal animadversion be set free 
 from the trammels of secular interference, and 
 forensic delay ; and let the bishop, assisted by his 
 presbyters, constitute a court, before which all 
 charges of heresy or immorality may be fairly and 
 openly tried. Let the bishop sit as judge in his 
 consistory, and a definite number of presbyters, 
 the peers of the delinquent, act as a jury of asses- 
 sors ; and let their verdict be held decisive of the 
 cause at issue. Or if an appeal be necessary, let 
 it be made to the archbishop and a council of 
 bishops ; and beyond this court let there be no 
 fui-ther appeal. In matters relating to the inte- 
 grity of the ministry, to soundness in the faith, 
 and purity of life, none can be so qualified to 
 
lii MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 decide as the appointed overseers of the Church 
 of Christ. To carry causes of this description 
 before a temporal court, (for such virtually are our 
 present ecclesiastical tribunals,) is to surrender the 
 liberty of the Church, and to set aside the legiti- 
 mate authority of its constituted rulers. 
 
 If human nature could be safely trusted with 
 such plenary authority, it might be a more speedy 
 and effectual method to vest the judicial power 
 in the bishop alone. But it may be doubted 
 whether this would be altogether expedient. 
 Power is always liable to abuse, and when unU- 
 mited has a natural tendency to degenerate into 
 tyranny. It would be safer, therefore, in matters 
 of ecclesiastical censure, to assign some Hmitation 
 to the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction, by ap- 
 pointing a co-ordinate authority, without which 
 the bishop shall be incapable of acting. The con- 
 stitution of our civil courts of judicature sup- 
 plies a model, which might be safely transferred 
 to our ecclesiastical consistories. Let a jury of 
 presbyters sit upon every case of ministerial delin- 
 quency, and let the episcopal censure be pro- 
 nounced according to their impartial decision. 
 The sentence thus delivered would be free from 
 the suspicion of autocratical and despotic rigour, 
 and the individual under the censures of the 
 Church would have no reason to complain of iujus- 
 
EPISCOPAL JURISDICTION. 
 
 145 
 
 tice, when a majority of his peers, impartially 
 selected, had concurred in his degradation. By 
 this method, many great and crying evils might be 
 speedily and effectually removed. Bishops would 
 not be deterred, by the difficulty and delay of 
 ecclesiastical suits, from proceeding against minis- 
 ters, whose lives and doctrines are a scandal to the 
 Church and to religion. They would at once cite 
 them before their tribunal, and by a summary but 
 impartial process, either suspend them for a time, 
 or degrade them for ever, from their unhallowed 
 and unprofitable ministry. 
 
 Such a discipline existed in the purer and holier 
 days of the Church of Christ ; and we see not why 
 it should be now restrained. The time is not 
 far distant, we trust, when the subject shall be 
 brought before the notice of our legislature. The 
 minds of reflecting men are gradually awaking 
 to the fact, that the Church has been too much 
 stripped of her rightful authority by the over- 
 bearing influence of the secular power : that her 
 arras have been tied by the trammels of worldly 
 legislation; and that she only requires to beset 
 free from this unnatural restraint, to re-assert her 
 rights, and to carry into effect her wholesome 
 regulations. Let those who wish for her pros- 
 perity exert their influence in this holy cause, and 
 let it be their united and manly endeavour, to 
 
 H 
 
146 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 obtain for her a restitution of that liberty and 
 those privileges, which the intermeddling of this 
 world's policy has so long withheld. 
 
 But let not the tendency of these observations 
 be mistaken. It is not for the dissociation of 
 Church and State that we are pleading. It will 
 be a woeful day for our country, if ever such an 
 event should be realized. May the ark of God 
 ever remain within our borders, at once our glory 
 and our defence ! We are simply pleading for 
 the liberty of the Church in matters of spiritual 
 jurisdiction; that she should be left free to exer- 
 cise her legitimate authority, unawed and unre- 
 strained by any superior power from vdthout. 
 This is entirely foreign to the question of national 
 religious establishments ; and the most zealous 
 advocate of the • connexion between Church and 
 State, may be a no less zealous defender of the 
 independent and supreme authority of the Church, 
 in things pertaining to her internal discipline and 
 organization. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 MODIFICATION OF CHURCH PATRONAGE. 
 
 The next remedy, which we would propose, is 
 a modification of the present system of patronage 
 in the Church of England. We say a modification 
 of the system ; for abolition, under existing cir- 
 
MODIFICATION OF PATRONAGE. 147 
 
 cumstances, is neither pvacCicable nor desirable. 
 Were it proposed to draw up the model of a new 
 ecclesiastical system, it might be a question, whe- 
 ther private patronage should constitute an ele- 
 ment of that system. It might reasonably be 
 doubted, whether some safer and more advanta- 
 geous plan of nomination to the ministry might 
 not be substituted in its room. But this is not 
 the question now before us. We are not called 
 to decide upon the comparative merits of the 
 different modes, by which the allocation of minis- 
 ters may be arranged. Our business is with 
 existing, not with hypothetical systems ; not to 
 point out the best schemes that can be imagined, 
 but the best that are practicable. Church patro- 
 nage in this empire has, by the prescription of ages, 
 become so bound up with the rights of property, 
 that the two may be regarded as inseparable, 
 without a subversion of the present framework of 
 our constitution. The overthrow and abolition of 
 the system could scarcely be produced by anything 
 short of an entire revolution in the laws, by which 
 property is regulated and controlled : and however 
 desirable it might be that it should be superseded, 
 still it were beyond the bounds of probability that 
 our senators, deeply interested as for the most 
 part they are in its continuance, should consent 
 to its destruction. But even if the thought of its 
 
 H 2 
 
148 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 overthrow were not*So chimerical, we would that 
 those who clamour for a change would suggest 
 something, which, upon the whole, would be less 
 liable to objection. Whatever may be the abuses 
 attendant upon the present system of patronage, 
 it may be more than doubted, whether a vastly 
 larger amount of evil would not ensue, from any 
 system which could be adopted in its stead. It 
 would lead us into a wide field of irrelevant dis- 
 cussion, were we to argue this point. The precise 
 subject upon which we wish to fix attention, is 
 this, — that we are to look to the modification, 
 not to the abolition, of Church patronage for an 
 increased efficiency in our ministry. There is 
 much truth in the remarks of Dr. Chalmers upon 
 this point : — ' "When we think for what essential 
 purposes this right may be acquired; and how 
 faii'ly it may be appropriated and handed down in 
 famihes, from one generation to another, we are 
 led to look to its guidance, and not to its over- 
 throw, for any great Christian reformation of the 
 Churches in our land. The holders of this im- 
 portant right will at length participate in the 
 growing spirit and illumination of the age ; and 
 while others regard patronage as the great instru- 
 ment of the corruption and decline of Christianity, 
 we trust, that under the- impulse of better prin- 
 ciples, it will at length become the instrument of 
 
MODIFICATION OF PATRONAGE. 149 
 
 its revival.' Most entirely concurring in these 
 sentiments, we would now endeavour to point out 
 some methods, by which the system of Chuixh 
 patronage may be so modified, as to be productive, 
 upon the whole, of a greater amount of good than 
 could be expected to arise from its abolition. 
 
 It has been freely admitted, that in its very 
 nature the system has a liability to abuse, unless 
 there exist somewhere a competent check upon 
 its administration. In acknowledging this, we are 
 only acknowledging, what may be predicated of 
 every human institution, that it shares in human 
 fi'ailty and imperfection. If then a restraining 
 power upon church patronage be essentially neces- 
 sary, for the preservation of its purity, it becomes 
 an important question, where this power is to be 
 lodged, and how, and with what limitations it is to 
 be exercised. Various have been the modes, which 
 have been suggested, of accomplishing this object. 
 Against many of them there lies the insuperable 
 objection of a manifest impracticability. They 
 imply organic changes in our ecclesiastical system, 
 which, supposing them to be desirable, no reason- 
 able person can expect to be realized. Others, 
 again, partake too much of the nature of experi- 
 ments, which might eventually be found to pro- 
 duce more and greater evils, than those which 
 they are intended to remedy ; and it were the 
 
150 
 
 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 extreme of foUy, in curing one, to lay the founda- 
 tion of another, and perhaps a severer malady. It 
 were surely better to apply palliatives to the 
 existing evil, than to subject the church to such 
 empirical treatment. 
 
 "Where then is the necessary restraint upon 
 patronage to be deposited ? Few persons would 
 advocate the plan of an absolute popular veto 
 upon the appointment of the clergy. The mis- 
 chiefs, which would result from such an arrange- 
 ment, are too obvious and too serious to allow it 
 for a moment to be entertained. Undoubtedly 
 it would be an effectual check upon patronage, 
 but it might be fully as effectual in impeding a 
 right, as a wrong exercise of the privilege : it 
 might exclude from a benefice the faithful, and 
 therefore obnoxious minister, as well as the more 
 pliant and worldly-minded ; and a patron's consci- 
 entious nomination might thus be quashed, by a 
 majority of the careless and ungodly inhabitants of 
 a parish. Besides, we would most strongly depre- 
 cate a system, which would bring \vith it all the 
 evils of popular election, and make the appoint- 
 ment of a minister the occasion of those imholy 
 scenes of faction and disorder, which sometimes in 
 dissenting congregations are a scandal and disgrace 
 to religion. 
 
 But this plan is susceptible of limitation and 
 
MODIFICATION OF PATRONAGE. 151 
 
 improvement. It may be proposed to confine 
 the power of a veto to the householders of a 
 parish, who are communicants, and therefore pro- 
 fessedly men of piety and Christian character. This 
 is the plan, which has recently been adopted 
 or revived in the Church of Scotland.* What 
 measure of success may have attended its intro- 
 duction, we are unable to declare. It may, for all 
 we know, operate most beneficially in that quarter 
 of the empire, where the mass of the population is 
 generally more enlightened, and more capable 
 perhaps of forming a correct judgment upon ques- 
 tions of religion, than in the southern portion of 
 the land. But it may be doubted whether it 
 would work advantageously in the Church of 
 England, and especially in her rural parishes. It 
 pre-supposes the existence of right judgment and 
 Christian feeling, on the part of the parishioners, 
 wliich would not generally be found. It would 
 have a tendency to perpetuate a low standard of 
 religion, in parishes where the gospel had previ- 
 ously been imperfectly preached, and might occa- 
 sionally present an insurmountable obstacle to the 
 appointment of a spiritually-minded and devoted 
 
 ' Since this was written, the decision of the General Assembly 
 has been declared illegal, by a majority of the Civil Judges of 
 Scotland, and the question remains to be decided by a superior 
 tribunal. 
 
152 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 clergyman. Let there be in a parish a decided ma- 
 jority of enlightened and sincere Christians, and 
 such a plan would undoubtedly prevent the ap- 
 pointment of an unsuitable individual to the min- 
 istry : but otherwise it might, as in the former 
 case, interfere with a conscientious, as well as an 
 improper exercise of the right of patronage. Be- 
 sides, no reflecting person would wish to establish, 
 as it were, a court of judicature in e\ery parish, 
 before which the capabilities of every newly- 
 appointed minister should be tried : it would not 
 be beneficial to the cause of religion, nor to the 
 parishioners themselves, to make them the supreme 
 and arbitrary judges of their ministers. And in 
 many of our country parishes it would often hap- 
 pen, that one wealthy and influential inhabitant 
 would, by his authority over his inferiors and 
 dependents, virtually transfer to himself the rights 
 and privileges of the lawful pati'on, and become, as 
 it were, the sole arbiter of the spiritual instruction 
 of the people. In many points of view, therefore, 
 it is evident that matters would be little amended, 
 if a plan of this description were brought into 
 general operation. 
 
 But why should any new apparatus be devised, 
 for effecting the object which we are contempla- 
 ting? It has been stated in a former chapter, 
 that there is one already existing, sufficient in 
 
MODIFICATION OF PATRONAGE. 153 
 
 itself, with some slight alteration, for every pur- 
 pose of practical reformation. By the consti- 
 tution of our church, thei-e exists a check upon 
 every exercise of church patronage. Two things 
 are in all cases requisite, for the legal possession 
 of an incumbency ; first, the formal deed of pre- 
 sentation from the lawful patron ; and, secondly, 
 the ratification of the appointment by the bishop 
 of the diocese. The one without the other is null 
 and void. When an individual is presented to 
 the bishop for institution, he is virtually placed 
 before him in the capacity of a candidate for his 
 approbation. This is evidently implied in the 
 process, which is to be undergone. The presentee 
 must bring a certificate of his virtuous life, and 
 general fitness for the ministry ; he must sub- 
 scribes the formularies and articles of the church, 
 in proof of his soundness in the faith ; and, if it be 
 required, he must submit to a personal examina- 
 tion of his capabilities. These requirements 
 plainly shew, that, according to the spirit of our 
 ecclesiastical constitution, there rests with the 
 bishop the right of a veto upon every nomination 
 of the patron. All that we want therefore, in 
 order to restrain a reckless distribution of patro- 
 nage, is to give full effect to this reasonable autho- 
 rity ; to remove the impediments to its legitimate 
 exercise, and to enable the bishop, fearless of 
 
 H 5 
 
154 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 ulterior proceedings in a civil court, to consult the 
 best interests of the Church of Christ. 
 
 It might perhaps be advantageous to facilitate, 
 as much as possible, a reasonable accommodation 
 to the wishes and inclinations of the people, over 
 whom a pastor is about to be appointed : and if there 
 should exist, on the part of the parisliioners, a 
 strong and decided, and not groundless and fan- 
 tastic, alienation of mind and affection from him, 
 it might be well that this should form an element 
 in the question of his fitness for the charge. It 
 would be worse than useless, to indulge the whims 
 and fancies of censorious religionists ; but assu- 
 redly that person can have but little prospect of 
 usefulness in his ministerial labours, from whom a 
 serious and sober-minded people turn away, with a 
 feeling of dissatisfaction and disHke. And if the 
 good of the church be the primary consideration, 
 as it unquestionably ought to be, and the wish of 
 the patron one of only secondary importance, then 
 it is clear, that, under the circumstances we are 
 supposing, the inferior should give place to the 
 superior, and the nomination of the patron be 
 subject to revision and amendment. If the re- 
 spectable and serious inhabitants of a parish can 
 produce reasonable grounds of complaint, if they 
 can specify any definite and tangible objection to 
 the appointment of the patron, if, after full ex- 
 
MODIFICATION OF PATRONAGE. 155 
 
 amination and mature reflection on the part of 
 the bishop, he find suiRcient reason to conclude, 
 that the ministry of the individual presented will 
 be obnoxious and unprofitable, we see not what, 
 in reason or equity, should hinder him from set- 
 ting aside the appointment, and calling upon the 
 patron to nominate an individual more calculated, 
 by God's blessing, to minister to the edification of 
 the people. For surely it is a strong ground of 
 objection against the institution of a minister to a 
 parish, that it sends a general feeling of disap- 
 pointment and sorrow into the hearts of the best 
 and most enlightened inhabitants ; and that his 
 character and ministrations are of such a nature, 
 as to afford no reasonable prospect of usefulness 
 and success. This would be altogether a different 
 thing, from giving to the people the unqualified 
 and irresponsible right of a veto upon the appoint- 
 ment of their minister; a privilege with which 
 they could not safely be entrusted. It would not 
 be yielding an undue deference to their puerile 
 conceits and frivolous partialities. No power 
 would be granted to the parishioners, but the 
 power of representing to the bishop the objections, 
 which they may entertain against an individual, 
 about to be set over them as their spiritual guide ; 
 and it would remain with him to decide what 
 weight should be attached to those objections, and 
 
156 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 how far they ought to go in thwarting the nomi- 
 nation of the patron. 
 
 Exceptions will be made, we are aware, against 
 this, as well as against every other scheme, which 
 may be proposed. For where is the plan, which 
 can be pronounced perfectly unexceptionable? 
 The occasional inconveniences however, which 
 might arise from adopting the proposed restriction 
 upon the power of the patron, would, we think, 
 be vastly less considerable, than those resulting 
 from the present irresponsible mode in which it is 
 exercised. According to this plan, no organic 
 change is introduced, no new power called into 
 being, no new tribunal erected, no new principles 
 recognized. It confers no power upon the bishop, 
 which he does not at present nominally, and which 
 he ought not really to possess ; but merely 
 enables him to put in force the authority, with 
 which the church and the church's Lord have right- 
 fully invested him. It gives no power to the 
 people, but the liberty of appeal and remonstrance ; 
 and deprives the patron of no power, but that 
 which he ought never to have enjoyed, and which 
 he possesses only by a kind of usurpation and 
 encroachment upon the liberty of the church. 
 
 Here then is a machinery already prepared, for 
 interposing an effectual restraint upon the perver- 
 sion of the sacred trust of patronage. Without 
 
MODIFICATION OF PATRONAGE. 157 
 
 deranging our ecclesiastical system, or subjecting 
 it to a questionable process of innovation, we have 
 the means of placing a decisive veto upon the 
 presentation of an improper and unqualified per- 
 son. And we would strongly urge it upon the 
 attention of the legislature of our land, at once to 
 sweep away the impediments, which itself has 
 created, to the rightful exercise of ecclesiastical 
 authority ; to cease from its undue interference 
 with the spiritual affairs of the Church of Christ ; 
 and to suffer her godly discipline to be enforced, 
 without fear of clashing with the stronger and 
 weightier arm of the civil power. Let patrons be 
 taught by the law of man, if they will not listen to 
 the voice of God, that power is given to them, not 
 for their own aggrandisement, nor for the promo- 
 tion of their own worldly ends, but for the welfare 
 of the church of Christ, and for the promotion of 
 vital godliness and true religion in the land. 
 
 We shall now be led to consider, somewhat 
 more in detail, the several kinds of patronage 
 which exist in the Church of England, and to 
 suggest some modes, by which the administration 
 of them may be amended. The restriction, which 
 we have just been engaged in considering, is ap- 
 plicable to every kind of parochial preferments, 
 from whatever quarter the patronage may proceed. 
 But the subject would be imperfectly treated, if we 
 
158 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT, 
 
 were to prosecute it no further. There are several 
 parts of the system, not yet noticed, which are 
 susceptible of improvement. 
 
 Patronage in the Church of England is of a 
 three-fold nature — crown, corporate and private. 
 The most important and influential is the crown 
 patronage, or that which is nominally dispensed 
 by the sovereign. This comprises all the episco- 
 pal sees, together with the principal dignities of 
 the church, and about one tenth of the parochial 
 endowments. Here, then, is a mighty mass of 
 influence, the right or wrong direction of which 
 must have a prodigious influence upon the well- 
 being of the chmxh : and here it must with sorrow 
 be admitted, that the appointment of bishops has 
 hitherto been subjected to an influence, which has 
 tended most fatally to wither up the spirituality 
 of the church. "When by a mighty effort she had 
 shaken off" the baneful domination of the Papacy, 
 she too tamely surrendered her liberty to the 
 civil magistrate : the power of nominating her 
 supreme rulers was either feebly given up in the 
 hour of her weakness, or forcibly wrested from 
 her by the arm of tyranny. Wliatever may have 
 been the cause, she was deprived of the rightful 
 power of controlling the appointment of her 
 bishops, and was left to the mercy of the crown, 
 and its political advisers. The mockery of election 
 
CROWN PATRONAGE. 
 
 159 
 
 and the semblance of choice were indeed retained, 
 but the reality was no more. Here is an appa- 
 ratus, most completely adapted to secularize the 
 church. It opens wide the door to incalculable 
 abuses. Under such an arrangement, the ap- 
 pointment of a bishop virtually rests with the 
 prime minister of the day ; and who does not 
 perceive, how frail a security is thus provided for 
 the righteous exercise of the trust? Political 
 partizanship, or aristocratic influence, or family 
 connexion, will too frequently determine the nomi- 
 nation ; and thus it is dreadful to contemplate the 
 amount of mischief, which the cause of religion has 
 sustained, by this intermeddling of the world with 
 the spiritualities of the church. Her hand has been 
 grievously wounded by the staff, upon which, in 
 the time of trial, she too confidingly ventured to 
 lean for support. 
 
 We see not how a remedy is to be provided, 
 otherwise than by completely severing the ap- 
 pointment of bishops from all connexion with 
 worldly politics, and by preventing the minister 
 of state from at aU interfering in the decision. It 
 would be of no practical utility, to discuss the 
 various schemes, which have been suggested, for 
 remodelling the present system. The prerogative 
 of the crown has been so long established, that it 
 were hopeless to thing of any fundamental altera- 
 
160 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 tion. And moreover, it is very questionable, 
 whether such alteration, if effected, would be im- 
 provement. Still, it must be admitted, that the 
 royal prerogative in this respect is too unHmited. 
 Some restriction is obviously necessary, for pre- 
 serving the purity of the episcopal order. At 
 present, a sovereign, hostile to the interests of the 
 church, would be able to bring it into supreme 
 contempt in the eyes of the nation, by a wilful 
 degradation of its chief ministers.^ And this is 
 a power, which assuredly no earthly sovereign 
 ought to possess. Nominally, indeed, the chapter 
 is empowered to object to an appointment of the 
 crown ; but this power is reduced to a nullity, by 
 the fear of a ' prcemunire.' To contest the point 
 with the sovereign, as matters now stand, would 
 be to battle with the wind : and although the 
 consciences of the clergy concerned might be de- 
 livered, yet the church would gain nothing by the 
 opposition. We would therefore, in the first place, 
 recommend, that instead of being guided by the 
 
 ' ' Herod and Archelaus are noted to have sought out pur- 
 posely the dullest and most ignoble that could be found amongst 
 the people, preferring such to the High Priest's office, thereby to 
 abate the great opinion which the multitude had of that Order, 
 and to procure a more expedite course for their own wicked coun- 
 sels, whereunto they saw the High Priests were no small impedi- 
 ment, as long as the common sort did much depend upon them.' — 
 Hooker's Eccles. Pol. Vll. 24. 
 
CROWN PATRONAGE. 
 
 161 
 
 ministers of state in the selection of bishops, the 
 crown should be advised by an exclusively Ec- 
 clesiastical privy council, consisting of the arch- 
 bishops and a given number of bishops. Let the 
 pohtical influence be entirely set aside ; and let the 
 fittest among the clergy, the wisest, and holiest, 
 and most respected, be pointed out to the sovereign 
 for approval ; and let the decision be guided by 
 no other motive, than the welfare of the church. 
 
 "We would moreover recommend for considera- 
 tion, that there should be devised some effectual 
 mode of restraining a reckless appointment of 
 unqualified bishops. Let the voices of the clergy 
 of a diocese be heard in the matter. Let a re- 
 spectful petition and a temperate remonstrance, 
 from the parochial clergy, be considered of some 
 weight in arresting the consecration. If the ab- 
 solute power of a veto be not granted, at any rate, 
 let the decided voice of a diocesan synod be em- 
 powered to check the appointment, at least for a 
 time, until the merits of the case shall have been 
 investigated before the archbishops and bishops of 
 the church. It would not frequently happen, that 
 such a power would be called into exercise : nor 
 do we think that it would be frequently necessary. 
 The clergy would not be too forward in objecting 
 to a nomination. The case must be one of ob- 
 vious and glaring impropriety, to call forth so 
 
162 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 distinct, and tmanimous, and emphatic an ex- 
 pression of dissatisfaction. But the very existence 
 of such a controlling power, at all times ready to 
 check an act of aggression upon the church, would 
 have a salutary effect upon the purity of ecclesias- 
 tical preferments. 
 
 But whatever may be the plans of amelioration 
 which may be desirable, one method lies open to 
 all the pious members of the Church of England. 
 Let them unite in fervent prayer, that God would 
 powerfully influence the minds of those, upon 
 whom instrumentally the prosperity of the church 
 so materially depends. And Oh that he woidd, by 
 his Holy Spirit, "so dispose and govern the heart" 
 of our youthful and beloved Queen, that she may 
 rise superior to the solicitations of time-serving 
 politicians and worldly-minded statesmen ; that 
 she may sink politics in religion, and the support 
 of part)'^ in the promotion of the cause of God; 
 and single out the best and fittest men, whom 
 she can find to fill the highest and most influ- 
 ential stations in the church ! Oh that she may 
 feel, that a pure and holy priesthood through- 
 out her dominions would be the choicest gem in 
 her crown, and the strongest security of her throne ! 
 May she feel, that the prosperity of the church of 
 Christ will occupy a brighter page in the annals of 
 her reign, than the splendour of military achieve- 
 
CROWN PATRONAGE. 
 
 163 
 
 nients, or the more real but less dazzling glory of 
 wise and beneficial legislation ! May her name go 
 down to posterity, like that of her still more 
 youthful predecessor, ^ of blessed memory, asso- 
 ciated with a bright epoch in the history of the 
 Protestant church of England ! And unlike him, 
 too quickly removed from an earthly to a heavenly 
 kingdom^ may she be long spared to preside over 
 its destinies, and to behold its increased and in- 
 creasing purity and peace ! Hers will be then 
 indeed a more glorious reign than has ever yet 
 been recorded in our national history. 
 
 We cannot leave this part of our subject, without 
 throwing out a brief observation upon the paro- 
 chial patronage at the disposal of the crown. This 
 has hitherto been dispensed at the discretion of 
 the Lord Chancellor ; and perhaps no patronage, 
 upon the whole, has been subjected to a worse 
 management than this, or has been productive of 
 greater injury to the church. This extensive right 
 originated probably in times, when the office of 
 Chancellor was invariably filled by ecclesiastics. 
 The influence of secular and political motives, in 
 appointments proceeding from this source, is too 
 obvious to require explanation. The probability 
 is great, amounting almost to certainty, that state 
 
 Edward VI. 
 
164 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 policy and parliamentary influence will in most 
 cases regulate the disposal of this patronage. 
 From no quarter therefore is the church more 
 exposed to injm-y than from this. Nearly a thou- 
 sand parishes in our country depend, for the 
 purity of their ministry, upon the right exercise 
 of this commanding influence. We know not 
 whether there be any thing in our constitution, 
 which of necessity attaches this privilege to the 
 highest legal functionary in the land ; or whether 
 it be not altogether accidental to, and therefore 
 separable from, his office. If the Lord Chancellor 
 be, as we suspect, only the agent or steward for 
 the crown in this matter, we would strongly 
 recommend that another and a more suitable 
 agency and stewardship be established. Let this 
 patronage be entirely removed from a quarter, 
 where it is necessarily subjected to grievous 
 abuses ; and let it be dispensed by the Crown itself, 
 with the advice of the respective bishops, in 
 whose dioceses the benefices may happen to be 
 situated. And we would moreover suggest, that 
 it should in all cases be bestowed, as the merited 
 reward of faithful and laborious services to the 
 church, within those dioceses. Let the bishop be 
 consulted with on the matter, upon the explicit 
 understanding, that his recommendation shall in 
 all cases be for the furtherance of that object. 
 
SALE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 165 
 
 Little need be added upon the subject of corpo- 
 rate and private patronage. We know not that 
 any security for its right exercise can be suggest- 
 ed, which has not ah-eady, directly or indirectly, 
 fallen under our notice. The power of a veto, 
 deposited with the bishop, and the liberty of re- 
 monstrance on the part of the parishioners, backed 
 and sujjported by the force of public opinion, form, 
 it is thought, the best and most practicable method 
 of restraining an undue exercise of this privilege. 
 But there is one point, connected with private 
 patronage, which must not be left unnoticed : the 
 sale of advowsons is an evil which certainly de- 
 mands an attentive consideration. The subject 
 has already been alluded to ; but its importance 
 i-equires that we again advert to it. It is difficult 
 indeed to suggest any mode, by which an effectual 
 restraint can be imposed upon the pi'actice. The 
 system has been too long tolerated to be easily 
 removed. It has struck its roots, as it were, so 
 deeply, and interwoven itself so closely with the 
 foundations upon which the rights of property 
 rest, that it cannot at once with safety be eradi- 
 cated. The transfer of advowsons, for pecuniary 
 considerations, independently of manorial posses- 
 sions, has so long been legalized, that the difficul- 
 ties in the way of its immediate abolition appear 
 almost insuperable. The law has so long allowed 
 
166 MEANS OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 ecclesiastical property to be bought and sold, that 
 to abolish the system at once might, in some cases, 
 be an act of injustice to individuals. Something, 
 however, may be done immediately, and still more 
 may eventually be accomplished, to restrain the 
 progress of the evil. We see no reason why a 
 prospective arrangement should not be made, by 
 which benefices, as a distinct and separate pro- 
 perty, shall hereafter be no longer subject to the 
 unholy competition of the auction mart. With a 
 transfer of landed property, indeed, the privileges, 
 as well as the encumbrances, annexed to it, must 
 be transmissible ; but, after a definite time, let it 
 be no longer possible to put up the independent 
 privilege of Church patronage for sale. 
 
 After all, however, the practical evil perhaps is 
 not intrinsically of such magnitude, as at first sight 
 may appear ; for, supposing the privilege to be limit- 
 ed to the appointmentof an approved person, it be- 
 comes a matter comparatively of little real moment, 
 upon whom the right of appointing devolves. And 
 the case is not materially dilFerent from that of a 
 chapel, the endowment of which arises from the 
 pew-rents, and which, of coui'se, like other pro- 
 perty, must ever be the subject of legal transfer, 
 by sale or otherwise. A spiritual trust, with pecu- 
 niary emolument, is equally transferred in both 
 cases; and whatever objections lie against the 
 
SALE OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 167 
 
 one are, to a certain extent, valid against the 
 other. But nevertheless there is something, from 
 whiqji the serious mind revolts, in allowing so 
 sacred a privilege to be treated, even indirectly, 
 as a marketable commodity. And were it only 
 for the sake of appearance, and decency, and 
 Reverence for things sacred, it is most earnest!}' 
 to be wished that some effectual restraint or mo- 
 dification were applied to the practice.^ 
 
 ' It is well known, that during the last half century, several 
 attached members of jthe Church of England have devoted a 
 considerable portion of their energies and property to the pur- 
 chase of various important benefices throughout the land, solely 
 for the purpose of insuring in them, as far as possible, a faith- 
 ful and efficient ministry. The plan has been assailed with 
 reproach and disapprobation ; but with what justice or pro- 
 priety, it is difficult to determine. We do not say that, in 
 itself, the scheme was desirable ; for whatever objection lies 
 against the sale of Church patronage in general, is, of course, 
 fully applicable to the particular case in question ; but under 
 ejristing circumstances, and in the present unhealthy state of 
 the system, we must consider the plan at once wise and 
 commendable. If advowsons be a legitimate subject of merchan- 
 dize, it is surely better that they should fall into the hands of 
 conscientious than of worldly-minded patrons. And if the tran- 
 saction be not in itself sinful or dishonourable, which can hardly 
 be alleged, then it must be regarded as patriotic and beneficial. 
 
168 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 We must now bring the subject, which we have 
 been considering, to a conclusion. It has been 
 the main design of this essay, which, we trust, has 
 been uniformly and steadily kept in view, to pro- 
 mote the spirituahty and efficiency of the Church 
 of England. ' We honestly believe (to adopt the 
 language of Dr. Chalmers vdth respect to the 
 Church of Scotland) that there is not a better 
 range of Christian usefulness to be found, over 
 the whole face of the country, than within her 
 walls, and that a man of principle and zeal, when 
 backed by the independence she confers, and 
 shielded about by the amplitude of her securities 
 and her power, stands on the highest of all van- 
 tage ground for the work of honest and faithful 
 ministrations.' We regard the established church 
 as the only apparatus, at present existing, for the 
 moral and religious amehoration of the people. 
 It is impossible to predict, what the power and 
 goodness of God might raise up from the ruins of 
 its overthrow, if such an event should be per- 
 mitted ; but judging from what has been accom- 
 plished by the united efforts of all our sectaries 
 together, we have little reason to desire, that the 
 voluntary theory should be put to the test of a 
 
CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 169 
 
 general experiment. There can be no doubt in 
 the mind, which is not blinded by party zeal, that 
 the destruction of the church establishment would 
 cause the spiritual destitution of large sections of 
 our land, and leave considerable masses of our fel- 
 low-countrymen to the precarious supply of itine- 
 rant and incompetent instructors : our more seques- 
 tered parishes would virtually be restored to their 
 pi-imitive heathenism; and ere long we should 
 have to begin again amongst them the process of 
 missionary operations. 
 
 ■ But it would be foreign to our immediate pur- 
 pose, to follow out this argument. Most firmly 
 convinced, that the present constitution of the 
 Church of England has the capabilities of wielding 
 a more powerful and more extensive influence 
 over the people, for their spiritual good, than 
 could be possessed by any substitute that can be 
 devised, we are bound to direct our most vigorous 
 efforts towards promoting her purity and 
 efficiency. 
 
 There must be a marvellous principle of vitality 
 in her system, or she could scarcely have survived 
 the rude treatment, which she has received from 
 without, and have endured the protracted con- 
 tinuance of an unhealthy state of things within. 
 It is a most remarkable fact, and a proof of God's 
 favour to his church, that under propitious circum- 
 I 
 
170 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 stances, she so quickly recovers her vigour and her 
 spirituality. Though the fire may have sunk 
 upon her altar, and to outward observation may 
 seem to be extinguished, yet it requires only the 
 breathing of another spirit upon it, and its dying 
 embers are at once resuscitated. Let a parish have 
 been subjected, for a long series of years, to the 
 deadening influence of an incompetent and un- 
 scriptural ministry, yet when this obstacle is re- 
 moved, and an enlightened pastor begins his 
 labours of love amongst the people, we behold a 
 change coming over them, and that portion of the 
 church, which before was lying in the stillness and 
 the lethargy of spiritual death, by the blessing of 
 God becomes instinct with spiritual life and energy. 
 
 The course, then, which ought to be pursued, 
 is sufficiently clear. Let the church only be 
 'rightly extended and rightly patronized;' let 
 manifest abuses in her administration be rectified ; 
 and let every impediment be removed out of the 
 way of her operations ; and we shall see her deeply 
 rooted in the affections of the people ; we shall 
 see her ministers penetrating, with the message 
 of the gospel, into the dense masses of our outcast 
 and abandoned population, and guiding into the 
 moral wilderness around them the fertilizing streams 
 of the water of life. This is a consummation, which 
 we devoutly desire may be speedily accomplished : 
 
CONCLUDING REMARKS. 171 
 
 for this would we exhort all those who love the 
 cause of God, and desire the prosperity of his 
 church, most earnestly to pray, and most assidu- 
 ously to labour. " Pray for the peace of Jerusa- 
 lem : they, shall prosper that love thee. Peace be 
 within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 
 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will 
 now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the 
 house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy 
 good." ' 
 
 > Psalm cxxii. 6— 9. 
 
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