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A UTHOR: HALL, ROBERT TITLE: THE WORKS OF ROBERT HALL PLACE: LONDON DATE: 1858 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHT RM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Master Negative # ..( .^ -. • . ■^ ?r Restrictions on Use: •^fi: ^T^ .,£. —'^''j K.r . -•«:>* /, 240 H2 ..+ ■ 4 r . ^°'''''' -^'^^ <^ "^^"^o'*- of '^'•s liU , a critical t 3 i>//^ TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: /AV FILM SIZE: IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA J^ffi HB E;ATE FILMED: ^T/m^^^ INITIALS ^£ FILMED BY: IH^^^T^.l^^ ^^^ GUIDE TO CONTENTS for THE WORKS OF ROBERT HALL REEL MASTER NEGATIVE # DATE VOLUME 93-81570 1858 V. 1-3 93-81571 1858 V. 4-6 REEL 1 of 2 VOLUMES 1 3 J c Association for Information and image IManagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 L im iiiiiiiiii MT Inches MU 4 iliiiiliiii I I I I i 5 6 7 8 1 JTTTl 1.0 IIJ 10 I.I 1.25 1*5 ISO 2.8 1^ IIIIIM 1^ 13.6 4.0 1.4 11 2,5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 12 13 14 15 mm iUlUliUlUlUiilMUi^ TTTI I I I 5 ^ i * MRNUFflCTURED TO flllM STRNDRRDS BY RPPLIED IMRGE, INC. VOLUME 1 1858 Sl^^M': -msr^mi!^Sft S35»U5csi:« mi ifc #,.^^^«^ fj!^^i^ i|r > sF'\ *^' 5 ^ ff i"j^> k'I '^^^ 1- ^' ?' S- ' i 1: 1 BEtT^ Tir?^ ■".a fsl ■:^4 HH^K^ .,«J oCX^* IJ?-N>4 '«\i5 I iM? r.s ■I' -^1 •fm- Zii'^i^ '7^:. .!.:-^-t^-^ 'Mi -*« 3SK'^*"W ul|5t! •Vh iii 3 J, ' ^ : il m y i m j1 I : It "" |te ■■ , i It 1 •? ; - > , M^^-^W^. ^^^B- -' S y^^^^^^^Bi Sf^^s ^^^P'' ^^ ^•-J^^^Rf > ^M I^^^Bi'U ' ^^9 *H' ■ M ''^i ■•^ft;-i«>■i''^ ;»';"■ ;!;'?•} ;..;:'; fvVii; Class 24-0 B00.H2 Columbia College Library I Madison Av. and 49tli St. New York. BOUGHT, MAY 6, 1887, FROM THE LIBRARY OF CHARLES SHORT, M.A., LL.D, Professor of Latin in Columbia College /%«>«., i ^868 to his death, i886. This book is due two weeks from the last date stamped below, and if not returned at or before that time a fine of five cents a day will be incurred. J%^.U X ■» —— ^ THE WORKS OP THE REV. ROBERT HALL, A. M. I VOL. I. BRIEF MEMOIR BV DR. GREGORY. M-PMATE OF HIS CHARACTER AND WRITINGS, BY JOHN FOSTER LETTERS. AND CIRCULAR LETTERS. I ' Lap«v-' ^ ''^^C-<^ .Mmmm T— ^-,r",fH' .^'- ?■■■] -^ ili Ijjj„ ... xtiVX* D WRITINGS. F.R.A.S. ■ADXMT. .RK. ■ I* i-/ flpll ., GARDEN I TUK > WORKS 09 ROBERT HALL, A.M. «riTH M i A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE, * AND A CRITICAL ESTIMATE OF HIP CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. Originally published m Six Volumes, 8vo. CNDBR THB SCraRIMTCNDENCE OF OLINTHUS GREGORY, LL.D., F.R.A.S. I.\TE PROFESfOR OF UATHCM.VTICS IS THE POT.lt MrUTART ACADEMT. VOL. L MEMOIR, LETTERS, AND CIRCULAR LETTERS. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHX, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 1858 LOXDOK : IIArDOS, BROTHSRS. ASO CO prim*vds <<.c>i»w •»ivo. aau CO., PRUTTISRS ClOTtK STRBKT. FIJISBURT. » CONTENTS OF VOL. I. A Brief AIemoir of the Rev. Robert Hall, A.M., by Dr. Grkgory . . . , , 1 Appendix. Note A. — Miscellaneous Gleanings from Mr. Hall's Con- versational Remarks . . .159 B. — Quotations from the Writings of Sir James Mackintosh and Dr. Parr . . 178 C. — Character of Mr. Hall as a Preacher. By Mr. John Scott , . , .186 D. — Extract of a Letter from Dr. Prichard . 190 E.— Sketches of Mr. Hall'-s character, especially in Private Life . . . .191 Observations on Mr. Hall's Character as a Preacher. Bv John Foster . . , ... 201 Letter to the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society 256 Note. — Serampore Missionaries. — Letter of Mr. Foster to Dr. Gregory . . . .259 LETTERS. I. To the Baptist Church, Broadmead, Bristol , 265 II. To the Rev. Isaiah Birt, Plymouth . . 266 III Accepting the Pastoral Charge of the Baptist Church at Cambridge . . . 268 ^ O :r /-> A i rJ Q'JU IT CONTENl^. \ IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XJ. XII. XIII. XIV XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXL XXII. XXIIL XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVIL XXVIII. XXIX. Page. To Miss VVilkins, afterwards ]\lrs. Fysh, of Cam berwell . . . . .268 To Mrs. Fysh, of Camberwell, on the death of her Sister, Mrs. Parsoos . . .271 To the Rev. James Phillips, Haverfordwest . 273 To tlie Rev. James Phillips . . 275 To the Rev. James Phillips . . . 277 To Mrs. Tucker, Plymouth Dock . . 279 To Mrs. Tucker . . . .281 To Mr. Hewitt Fysh, Camberwell, on the Death of Mrs. Fysh .... 282 To Dr. Gregory. — Origin and Object of the Eclec- tic Review ... . 285 To William Hollick, Esq. of Whittlesford, near Cambridge. — On his own recovery from a se- vere IMalady . . . ib. To Dr. Gregory.— Ou the Certainty attending Religious Knowledge . 287 To William HoUick, Uf\, — On his Recovery from a second Atiucic .... 289 To the Rev. James Phillips . • 291 To the Church of Christ, of the Baptist Persua- sion, in Cambridge. — On resigning the Pastoral Charge . . . . .292 The Baptist Church at Cambridge to the Rev. Robert Hall. — In Reply to the preceding . 293 To Mr. Newton Bosworth, Cambridge . . 295 To the Rev. James Phillips . . .297 To the Rev. Dr. Cox . . . 299 To the Rev. Dr. Ryland . . 300 To the Rev. James Phillips . . 302 To a Friend in Perplexity as to his Religious State ib. To the same ..... 304 To the Rev. James Phillips . . . 305 To Ebenezer Foster, E«q., Cambridge . . 307 To the Rev. Josiah Hill . . . 308 To William Hollick, Esq.— On the Death of Mrs. Hollick • • • . 309 .1 XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLL XLIL XLIIL XLIV. XLV. XLVL XLVIL XLVIIL XLIX. L. LL LII. LIIL LIV. LV. LVL CONTENTS. T Page. To R. Foster, jun., Esq., Cambridge . . 31* To Joseph Gutteridge, Esq., Denmark Hill, Cam- berwell ..... 312 From Mr. Gutteridge to Mr. Hall.— Proposing that he should preach a Series of Lectures in London . , . , .16. To Joseph Gutteridge, Esq. — In reply to the pre- ceding . . . . .314 To Joseph Gutteridge, Esq.— On the same Sub- ject 316 To the Rev. James Phillips . . .317 Extract of a Letter to Mrs. Angas, Newcastle- upon-Tyne . . . .319 To Mr. Newton Bosworth, Cambridge . , 320 To my young Friends of Mr. Edmonds's Con- gregation 321 Extract from a Letter to the Rev. W. Button . 322 To the Rev. James Phillips, Clapham. — On Occasion of the Death of his own Son . 323 To the Rev. W. Button . . .324 To the Rev. Dr. Fletcher, of Blackburn, now of Stepney . . . . .325 To the Rev. Dr. Fletcher ... .326 To Dr. Ryland .... 328 To Mr. Josiah Conder , , . 329 To the Rev. W. Chaplin, Bishop Stortford . 330 To Dr. Ryland .... 332 Extract from a Letter to the Rev. W. Button . 333 To the Rev. Thomas Grinfield, Clifton . ib. To Dr. Ryland. — On Public Missionary Meet- ings ... . 334 To Dr. Ryland .... 33o To Dr. Ryland.— (Extract.) . . .337 To the Rev. James Phillips . . ib. To Dr. Gregory, on the death of Mr. Boswell Brandon Beddome .... 339 To the Rev. Thomas Langdon, I^eds . . 340 To Dr. Ryland . 342 fi CONTENTS. CONTENTS. Til LVII. LVIII. LIX. LX. LXI. LXII. LXIII. LXIV. LXV. LXVI. LXVII. LXVIU. LXIX. LXX. LXXI. LXXII. LXXIII. LXXIV. LXXV. LXXVI. LXXVII. LXXVIII. LXXIX. LXXX. LXXXI. LXXXII. LXXXIIL LXXXIV. Page To William Hollick, E?q. . . , 343 Extract from a Letter to the Rev. W. Button 345 To the Rev. James Phillips. — (Extract.) . lU, To the Rev. Thomas Grinfield. Clifton. — What Doctrines are Fundamental ? . 346 To the Rev. Joseph Ivimey, London . 348 To Mrs. Tucker . . . . 34i To the Rev. Thomas Langdon . . 351 To a Gentleman at Trinity College, Cambridge. On Future Punishment . . . 352 To Richard Foster, Jun. Esq. . . 354 To the Rev. Isaiah Birt . . . 355 To the Rev. Thomas Langdon, of Leeds. — On the death of his Daughter . . . 356 To the Rev. Thomas Grinfield, Clifton.— On Hutchinsoniaaisra .... 357 ' To the Rev. . In Reply to a Request to write a Review . . . . 358 To. Mr. J. E. Ryland.— (Extract.) . . 360 To Mrs. Langdon. — On the Death of her Hus- band . . . . 361 To J. B. Williams, Esq. Shrewsbury . 362 To Mr. J. E. Ryland . . . 363 To Mr. J. E. Ryland.— On Dr. Ryland's Deatli 365 To Mrs. RylaniJ. — On the same . . ib. To Mr. Arthur Tozer, Bristol. — In reference to Mr. Hall's removal to Broadmead . , 366 To the same . • • , . 368 To the same . • . , . 370 To the same ..... 372 To the Church of Christ assembling in Broad- mead, Bristol .... 373 To the Rev. P. J. Saffery, of Salisbury . 374 To the Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith, Homerton . 375 To W. B. Gumey, Esq.— On the Death of Mrs. Gurney . , . . .377 To Ebeaezer Foster, Esq. , . 373 Page LXXXV. To Jaines Nutter, Esq. Shelf?rd, near Cam- bridge 3^^ LXXXVL To Ebenezer Foster, Esq. Cambridge . . 382 CIRCULAR LETTERS. On the Excellency of the Clxristian Dibpens^^on On the Work of the Holy Spirit . . Oq Hearing Uie Word • 385 397 419 ( A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE REV. ROBERT HALL, A.M. BY OLINTHUS GREGORY, LL.D. \\ 1 i ? VOL. I m f B A BRIEF MEMOIR 1: OF THE REV. ROBERT HALL, A. M. Robert Hall, whose Works are collected in the Tolumes now published, was bom at Amsbj, a viUa^e about eight miles from Leicester, on the 2d of M^- 1764. His father was descended from a respectable tamily of yeomanry in Northumberland, whence he removed to Amsby in 1753, on being chosen the pastor ot a iJajptist congregation in that place. He was not a man ot learning, but a man of correct judgement and solid piety, an eloquent and successful preacher of the ffospeL and one of the first among the modem Baptists in our villages who aimed to bring them down from the heights ot ultra-Calvmism to those views of religious trath which ^e sound, devotional, and practical. He was the author ot several useful publications, of which one, the " Help to Zions Travellers," has gone through several editions, and is still much and beneficially read, on account of its tendency to remove various frequently-urged objections agamst swne momentous points of evangelical tmth We was often appointed to draw up the " Circular Let- ters from the ministers and messengers of the North- ampton Association. One of these letters, published in i' ' 7 P^'^s^^ts^ in small compass, so able a defence of the doctnne of the Trinity, that it might be advantage- ously repubhshed for more general circulation. This excellent man died in March, 179L His character has been beautifully sketched by his son, who, in one sen- tmce, while portraying his father, with equal accuracy B 2 / 4 MeMom OF Robert hall. depicted himself: — " He appeared to the greatest advan- '• tage upon subjects where the faculties of most men *■' fail them ; for the natural element of his mind was "' greatness," The wife of this valuable individual was a woman of sterling sense and distinguished piety. She died in December, 1776. Robert was the youngest of fourteen children, six of whom survived their parents. Four of these were daughters, of whom three are still living ; the other son, John, settled as a farmer at Arnsby, and died in 180^. Robert, while an infant, was so delicate and feeble, that it was scarcely expected he would reach maturity. Until he was two years of age he could neither walk nor tiilk. He was carried about in the arms of a nurse, who was kept for him alone, and who was directed to take biiu close after the plough in the field, and at other times to the sheep-pen, from a persuasion, very prevalent in the midland counties, that the exhalations fi-om newly ploughed land, and from sheep in the fold, are salubrious and strengthening. Adjacent to his Withers dwelling Jiouse was a burial ground ; and the nurse, a woman of integrity and intelligence, judging from his actions that lie was desirous to learn the meaning of the inscriptions on the grave-stones, and of the various figures carved upon them, managed, by the aid of those inscriptions, to teach him the letters of the alphabet, then to group them into syllables and words, and thus, at length, to read and speak. No sooner was his tongue loosed by this unusual but efiicient process, than his advance became constantly marked. Having acquired the ability to speak, his constitutional ardour at once appeared. He was inces- santly asking questions, and bectune a great and a rapirl talker. One day, when he was about three years old, on his expressing his disapprobation of some person who spoke quickly, his mother reminded him that he spoke very fast. "■ No" said he, " / o«/y keep at it" Like many others who were bom in villages, he received his first regular instructions (after he left his nuri»e's arms) at a dajue's school Dame ScoUon had the EARLY INSTRUCTION. 5 honour of being his first professional instructor. From her he was transferred to a Mrs. hyley^ in the same vil- lage. While under their care he evinced an extraordi- nary thirst for knowledge, and became a collector of books. In the summer season, after the school hours were over, he would put his richly prized library, among which was an Entick's Dictionary, into his pinafore, steal into the grave yard, (which, from an early and fixed association, he regarded as his study,) lie down upon the grass, spread his books around him, and there remain until the deepening shades of evening compelled him to retire into the house. At about six years of age he was placed, as a day- scholar, under the charge of a Mr. Simmons^ of Wigston, a village about four miles from Arnsby. At first, lie walked to school in the mornings and home again in the evenings. But the severe pain in his back, from which he suffered so much through life, had even then begun to distress him ; so that he was often obliged to lie down upon the road, and sometimes his brother John and his other school-fellows carried him, in turn, he repaying them during their labour b;^ relating some amusing story, or detailing some of the interesting results of his reading. On his father's ascertaining his inability to walk so far daily, he took l>dgings for him and his brother at the house of a friend in the village : after this arrangement was made they went to Wigston on the Monday morn- ings, and returned to Arnsby on the Saturday afternoons. The course of instruction at Mr. Simmons's school was not very extensive : and Robert was not likely to restrict himself, as a student, to its limits. On starting fix>m home on the Monday, it was his practice to take with him two or three books from his fathers library, that he might read them in the intervals between the school hours. The books he selected were not those of mere amusement, but such as required deep and serious thought. The works of Jonathan Edwards, for example, were among his favourites ; and it is an ascertained fact, that before he was nine years of age, he had perused and rcperused, with intense interest, the treatises of that pro- n MEMOIR OF BOBEliT HALL. F found and extraordinary thinker, on the " Affections,* and on the " Will." About the same time, also, he read " Butler s Analogy" with considerable aridity. He used to ascribe his early predilection for this class of studies, in great measure, to his intimate association, in mere childhood, with a tailor, one of his father s congregation, a very shrewd, well-informed man, and an acute meta- physician. Before he was ten years old, he had written many essays, principally on religious subjects ; and often invited his brother and sisters to hear him preach. About this time, too, in one of those anticipatory distri- butions of a fathers property, which, I apprehend, are not unusual with boys, he proposed that his brother should have the cows, sheep, and pigs, on their father's death, and leave him ** all the booKs." He remained at Mr. Simmons's school until he was eleven years of age, when this conscientious master informed the father that he was quite unable to keep pace with his pupil, declaring that he had been often obliged to sit up all night to prepare the lessons for the morning; a practice he could no longer continue, and must therefore relinquish his favourite scholar. The proofs of extraordinary talent and devotional feeling, which Robert had now for some time exhibited, not only gratified his excellent parents, but seemed to mark the expediency and propriety of devoting him to the sacred office ; but the delicate health of his son, and the narrow means of the father, occasioned some per- plexity. Mr. Hall, therefore, took his son to Kettenng, in order that he might avail himself of the advice of an influential and valued friend residing there, Mr. Beeby Wallis. Their interview soon led to the choice of a suit- able boarding school ; but the pallid and sickly appear- ance of the boy exciting Mr. Wallis's S3rmpathy, he pre- vailed upon his father to leave him at his hoiKe for a few weeks, in the hope that change of air would improve his health. This gentleman was so greatly astonished at the precocity of talent of his youthful visitor, that he several times requested him to deliver a short address to « select auditory invited for the purpose. He often AT MR. RYLANDS. 7 afterwards adverted to the injury that he suffered from this incongruous elevation. " Mr. Wallis," said he, " was " one whom every body loved. He belonged to a family " in which probity, candour, and benevolence, consti- " tuted the general likeness : but conceive. Sir, if you " can, the egregious impropriety of setting a boy of eleven " to preach to a company of grave gentlemen, ftdl half " of whom wore wigs. I never call the circumstance to " mind but with grief at the vanity it inspired ; nor, " when I think of auch mistakes of good men, am I •^' inclined to question the correctness of Baxter's lan- " guage, strong as it is, where he says, ' Nor should men " turn preachers as the river Nilus breeds frogs (saith " Herodotus), when one half movetk before the other is " made, and while it is yet but plain mud /'"* Robert's health appearing much improved from his short residence at Kettering, he was placed by his father as a boarder, at the school of the Rev. John Ryland^ in the neighbouring town of Northampton. Mr. Ryland was a very extraordinary man, whose excellencies and eccentricities were strangely balanced. In him were blended the ardour and vehemence of Whitfield, with the intrepidity of Luther. His pulpit oratory was of the boldest character, and singularly impressive, when he did not overstep the proprieties of the ministerial function. In his school he was both loved and feared ; his prevailing kindness and benevolence exciting affec- tion, while his stern determination to do what was right, as well as to require what he thought right, too often kept alive among his pupils a sentiment of appre- hension and alarm. So far as I can learn, from several who had been under his care, he taught Greek better than Latin, and the rudiments of mathematical sci- ence with more success than those of grammar and the languages. His pupils never forgot his manner of explaining the doctrine and application of ratios and proportions ; and they who had ever formed a part of his " "^"g orrery," by which he incorporated the elements of the solar system among the amusements of the play- ♦ Salnfg Rest. Preface to Part II oripnal f dition. 8 MFJVfOlU OF ROHEllT HALL. AT THE BRISTOL INSTITUTIOX, \\ ground, obtained a knowledge of that class of facts which they seldom, if ever, lost. They were strenuously encou- raged to engage in the several athletic exercises in which school-boys delight. These seem, in a degree, to hare improyed the constitution of the subject of this naira- tiye. He gave himself to them most heartily ; and it was uniformly found that in those which required a strong effort for a short time, he was the most successfiil : thus, when he contended with the swiftest runners, though they got m advance of him on, level ground, he was ^\w^y% first when they ran up a hill. Our youthful student remained under Mr. Ryland's c^e but little more than a year and a half; durin*» which, however, according to his father s testimony, « he made great progress in Latin and Greek ;" while, in his own ludgement, the principle of emulation was called into hiU activity, the habit of composition was brought into usefiil exercise, the leading principles of abstract science were collected, and a thirst for knowledge of every kind acquired. It should also be mentioned here, that It was during the time Robert was Mr. Rylands pupil, that he heard a sermon preached at Northampton, t»y Mr. Robins, of Daventry, whose religious instruction, conveyed « m language of the most classic purity," at once " impressive and delightful," excited his early relish lor chaste and elegant composition.* From the time he quitted Northampton until he entered the " Bristol Education Society,'' or academy, tor the mstruction of young men preparing for the minis- tenal office among the Baptists, he studied divinity, and some collateral subjects, principally under the gm^dance ot his father, with occasional hints from his acute meta- physical fnend, still residing in the same village. It is recorded m the « Church Book" that in "1778, On ^^ Lord s day Aug 2.3d, Robert Hall, youngest son of our ,, Paftor, Robert Hall, gave a very distinct account of his ^^ being the subject of special grace. He was but four- ^ teen years of age last May ; has appeared to be serious tiom his early childhood. He was baptized on Lord's • See the Memoir of i\lr. Tolles, in a subsequent volume. 9 \ (4 (( ** day, Sept. 6th, and the same day was added to the " church.** Having thus given satisfactory proofs of his piety, and evinced a strong predilection for the pastoral office, he was placed at the Bristol Institution, upon Dr. Ward's foundation, in October, 1778, being then in his fifteenth year. He remained there until the autumn of 1781, when the president of the institution reported to the general meeting of subscribers and friends, that " two " pupils, Messrs. Stennett and Hall, had been continued " upon Dr. Ward's exhibition, but were now preparing to set out for Scotland, according to the Doctor's will" The Bristol Academy, when Mr. Hall first joined it, was under the superintendence of the Rev. Hugh Evans, who was shortly afterwards succeeded by his son. Dr. Caleb Evans, both as president of the institution, and is pastor of the Baptist church in Broadmead. The Rer. James Newton was the classical tutor. Under these able men he pursued his studies with great ardour ^nd perse- verance. He became an early riser; and it was remarked in consequence, that he was often ready to attend the tutor for the morning lessons, before some of his fellow- students had commenced their preparation. His sentiments at this time respecting his theological tutor, and the importance of his studies in general, may be gathered from the subjoined extracts from two letters to his father, both written before July 1780. " Dr. Evans is a most amiable person in every respect : as a man, generous and open-hearted; as a christian, lively and spiritual ; as a preacher, pathetic and fervent ; and as a tutor, gentle, meek, and condescending. I can truly say that he has, on all occasions, behaved to me with the tender- ness and affection of a parent, whom I am bound by the most endearing ties to hold in everlasting honour and esteem. " Through the goodness of God, of whom in all things I ff !!? ^^ ^^ continually mindful, ray pursuits of knowled^» afford me increasing pleasure, and lay open fresh sources of improvement and entertainment. That branch of wisdom in which, above all others, I wish and crave your assistance 18 divinity, of all others the most interesting and important. b3 10 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. It la the height of my ambition, that in some happy period of my hfe, my lot may be cast near you, when I may have the unspeakable pleasure of consulting, on different subjects, you, whose judgment I esteem not less than an oracle. "We, poor, short-sighted creatures, are ready to appre- hend that we know all thin^, before we know anythinff • whereas it is a great part of knowledge to know that we know nothing. Could we behold the vast depths of un- fathomed science, or glance into the dark recesses of hidden knowledge, we should be ready to tremble at the precipice, and cry out— 'Who is sufficient for these things }'**^ The system of instruction at Bristol, comprebended not merely the learned languages and the rudiments of science, but a specific course of preparation for the min- wtenal office, including the habit of public speaking. Essays and theses on appropriate topics, were ^vritten under the direction of the tutors : religious exercises were carefully attended to; and the students were appointed, in turn, to speak or preach upon subjects se- lected by the president. Among the books first put into Mr. Hall's hands to prepare him for these exercises, was Gibbons's Rhetoric, which he read with the utmost avid- ity, and often mentioned in after life, as rekindling the emotion excited by Mr. Robins's preaching, improving his sensibility to the utility as well as be^iuty of fine writing, and creating an intense solicitude to acquire an elegant as well as a perspicuous style. He was, there- fore, more diligent in this department of academical labour than many of his fellow-students. Usually, however, after his written compositions had answered the purpose for which they were prepared, he made no effort to preserve them ; but either carelessly threw them aside, or gave them to such of his associates as expressed any desire to possess them. Some of these early productions are still extant ; but the only one which I have been able to obtain is an essay on ** Ambition," in which there is more of the tumultuary flourish of the mere orator, than he would ever have approved after he reached his twen- tieth year. Nor was it correct in sentiment. The sole species of excellence recommended to be pursued was •uperiority of intellect; all moral qualities, as well as AT THE BRISTOL INSTITUTION. II actions, directed to the promotion of human welfare bemg entirely overlooked. ' r^^-^^v^ *^^'"® is reason to apprehend that at this period of his hfe, Mr. Hall, notwithstanding the correctness and excellence of his general principles, and the regularity of his devotional habits, had set too high an estimate on merely mtellectual attainments, and valued himself, not more perhaps than was natural to youth, yet too much, on the extent of his mental possessions. No wonder' A^ t^^* ^^' ^^°^^^ experience salutary mortification! And thus it happened. On one of the occasions when he was appomted, agreeably to the arrangement already mentioned, to deliver an address in the vestrjr of Broad- mead meeting-house, the passage selected for him by the tutor was 1 Tim. iv. 10:—" Therefore, we both labour ^^ and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, ^' who IS the Saviour of all men ; specially of those who believe." After proceeding, for a short time, much to the gratification of his auditory, he suddenly paused, covered his face with his hands, exclaimed, " Oh ! I T-j-^^^r?^* ^ ™^ ^^^^'' ^^ ^* <^^wn, his hands still Indmg his face. The failure, however, painfiil as it was to his tutors, and humiliating to himself, was such as rather augmented than diminished their persuasion of what he could accomplish, if he once acquired self- possession. He was, therefore, appointed to speak again on the same subject, at the same place, the ensuing week. Ihis second attempt was accompanied by a second failure, stiU more painful to witness, and still more grievous to bear. He hastened from the vestry, and on retiring to hLs room, exclaimed, " If this does not humble me, the devil must have me !" Such was the result of one of the early efforts of him whose humility afterwards be- came as conspicuous as his talents, and who, for nearly half a century, excited universal attention and admiration by the splendour of his pulpit eloquence. Our student spent the first summer vacation after his entenng the Bristol institution, under the paternal roof at Amsby ; and, m the course of that residence at home uccompamed his father to some public religious services 12 MEMOm OF ROBERT HALL. SET APART FOR THE JIINISTRY. 13 /I at Clipstone, a village in Northamptonshire. Mr. IlalL ^nior, and Mr. Beddome,of Bourton, well known by his Hymns, and his truly valuable Sermons, wer- i>oth en^ed to preach. But, the latter, being much struck with the appearance, and some of the remarks, of the son of his friend, was exceedingly anxious tliat /<6' should preach m the evening, and proposed to relinouish his own engagement, rather thfm be disappointed. To tliis injudicious proposal, after resisting every importunity for some time, he at length yielded ; and entered the pulpit to address an auditory of minuters, many of whom he had been acc\;stomed from his inftmcy to regard with the utmost reverence. He selected for his text, 1 John i. 5, Crod IS light, and m Him is no darkness at all ;" and it IS affirmed, treated this mysterious and awful subject with such metaphysical acumen, and drew from it such an impressive application, as excited the deepest interest. On the amval of the summer vacation, in 1780, he again visited Amsby ; and during the period he then remained at home, his father became fully satisfied that his piety was genuine, as weU as that his qualifications tor the office of a preacher were of a high order. He therefore exjM-essed to many of his friends his desire that he should be « set apart to the sacred work." Yet sohcitous not to be led aside from a correct iudge- ment by the partiality of a father, he resolved that the church over which he was pastor, should judge of his sons ^ess, and recognise their conviction by a solemn act. Ihe members of the church, after cautious and deliberate inquiry, ratified the decision of the anxious parent, and earnestly and unanimously requested « that „ itobert Hall, jun., might be set apart to public em- rv," ^'^^^^^i'^glj'" .? ^^^ following extract fix)m ' the Church-book testifies, on the 13th of August, 1780 ^he was examined by his father before the church! ^ respecting his inclination, motives, and end, in refer- ence to the mmistiy, and was likewise desired to make a declaration of his rehgious sentiments. AU which bemg done to the entire satisfaction of the " c^Y^c^* they therefore set him apart by lifting up their " right hands, and by solemn prayer. *c o^^^ ^^^^^'^ ^y^r ^^^^^^ed a discourse to him fix)m J A"n u 1. ^ Thou, therefore, my son, he strong in tJie grace that ts m Christ Jesw,: Being thus sent forth u r^?'"r f "l "" *^^ afternoon from 2 Thess. i. 7, a IJm Lord Jesus shall he revealed from heaven, mth his mighty angels, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them * As the words church, deacon, 8rc. when used by conereffatfonal d,Hsenters. whether baptist, or psdobaptist, are employed inSs^^ ermg from what are current among episcopalians, £ annex debrief note to prevent misconception. ° f i- * '^^ ""» onei Among tlie orfhodox dissenters of the class fust specified, a distlnc aon IS a ways made between a ch..rch and a congregatW kconT^t Uon mcludes the ^v hole of an assembly coUectSd ^ Z^ p ac^TX ship, and may therefore comprehend not merely real christians bni nonunal christians, and it may be, unbelievers, whoXm various' m^ portion of these, who, after cautious investigation, are believed in the exercise of judgement and charity, to be real chris'tians. t i^ r^ded as the duty of such to unite themselves in fellowship with a churc^rand conform to its rules; and the admission is by the suffrage of he mem- bers of the respective cAwrcA: its connecte^d congregaSon hannTno society into which the members are incorporated under the anthoritv m^rr? ^ ^^ "V'*"r improvement of tliose who compose it. fcy an ^d^etf ;r.3 r''^"'" '^^'^^'^"^ of bringing other^to the knU° nde^ndin^ • ; u""^'^ «"ch church of Christ is considered as an ts «^ nfS ^""^ ^' ^^"^? * '■'^^' *? *'"J°y '^ «^^° sentiments, to choose tm^n "; "'^' •**'° '? "'"" ^is^pline, admit members, or expel wU out hj^n^? .^ m conduct unworttiy of the christian p^ofessio'^ ; sZ . k^ <^«ntrolIed or caUed to an account i,y any others whatever. " rf n '^V"''^*!.' f a christian community, observes the Sacrament, or JSTnZfu\ ^J «nd blood of Christ." at stated seasons ; 1^ m'X s nLlnr '^"''^''' ^^^ a^'" ^'^ible, with the consent of the T fl? ' "" *"y specificoc^asiou. ..Jt ^ r^ •'^ ^'^'^^ ^ ""^'^^^^ *'on»'st or bishops or presbyters (i e T Irrhn '""IP'^'^P*^'""!* ^"°'"^^'" ""^^^ ^^^'^y' but are laymen n'^s^s^' frr^uT.rfr.'''^T'"b^'"^ ^^^^^^ church,and their busi- the table IfZ • '• J^V^'*'*' "f- *i^ ^'^^ *^^ ^^^'^ «»' ^^ P^o^^ «nd cem^o 'thlil "1° "'^' t^ jopplied." They attend to the secular con- ofZ sii^l. "'■'*'r^' ^ body and to all that relates to the convenience iS^c!^Zi V^?- P^'*""" !° b'^ ^*'"*^^' superintendence. Thev nsualk jS7e.lent T.n!,:^'"°l ""r '"^?^' ^^ the episcopalians, but both, in my cm.M TZ^ '«*II«cious y, from Ac s vi. 1 -& I suspect that neithir dea y MEMOIR OF ROBERT BALL. AT ABERDEEN. " that know not God^ and that obey not the gospd of our " Lord Jesus Christ,' — May the Lord bless him, and " grant him great success !' It is worthy of observation that, on this solemn occa- sion, as well as when he preached at Clipstone, Mr. Hall selected texts of the class most calculated to elicit those peculiar powers for which he was through life dis- tinguished. In little more than a year after Mr. Hall had been thus publicly designated a preacher of the gospel, having pursued his studies at Bristol with great assiduity and corresponding success, he was, as aheac^ hinted, appointed to King's College, Aberdeen, on Dr. Ward's foundation. In his journey thither, he was accompanied by Mr. Joseph Stennett, the son of the late Rev. Dr. Stennett, and another student, Mr. John Pownall, still living. The two former of these had letters to the venerable Dr. John Erskine of Edinburgh ; and he again supplied them with introductions to two eminent individuals at Aberdeen. This appears from a letter sent by the doctor, 2d Nov] 1781, to Mr. Ryland of Northampton ; from which, as it exhibits his view of the state of things at Aberdeen, at that period, I present a brief extract. "I had the pleasure of your letter by Messrs. Stennett and Hall last week. Thej appear to me pleasant young men, and I should have been happy to have had further opportu- nities of showing my regard to the children of so worthv parents, than their short stay here allowed. Though there are many excellent teachers at Aberdeen, and both they and the ministers are remarkable for purity of morals, I have some fears, from different accounts, that the general strain of preaching there is less evangelical than in several pulpits in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Principal Campbell and Dr. Beattie are, in my opinion, able and worthy njen ; and my difference with the first, as to the American War and the Popish Bill, has not impaired our mutual esteem. I wioto letters to introduce the young gentlemen to both." Mr. Hall, for many years afterwards, used often to speak of the affectionate attentions of Dr. Erskine, on this occasion ; and of his own feelings, when, on taking leave, the venerable man of (iod exhorted him to seli- 15 vigilance, kissed him, laid his hand upon his head, bless- ing him, and commending him to the watchful care of the great Head of the Cuurch. At the time when he went to Aberdeen, the reputa- tion of the two colleges. King's and Marischal CoUege was almost equaUy balanced. At the latter. Principal Campbell and Dr. Beattie, Professor of Moral Philo- sophy, had attained a high and merited celebrity, both OTi account of their lectures and their writings : while at Kings CoUege, the Divinity lectures of Dr. Gerard were much and greatly esteemed ; and some of the other pro- fessors were men of eminence. Many, therefore, espe- cially of the divinity students, attended the appropriate lectures at the two colleges.* Mr. Hall, in a letter addressed to his deservedly prized friend, the late Dr. Ryland, towards the end of this first session at college, speaks thus of his studies and of two of the professors : — "We entered the Greek class under Mr. Leslie, who though a man of no apparent brightness of parts, is, notwith- standing, well fitted for his office, being a gooH grammarian, and attentive to the interests of his pupils. We have been employed m the class in going over, more accurately, the principles of the Greek language, and reading select pas- sages m Xenophon and Homer: and I have privately read through Xenophon's Anabasis, and Memorabilia of Socrates, several books of Homer, and some of the Greek Testament • and am now reading Longini de Sublimate iiber, which I nope to finish next week." In the same letter he mentions his reading with Pro- fessor Ogilvie, whose versions of the Latin poets he cha- racterizes as "extremely elegant." He laments the I *r'^* King's College, during Mr. Hall'u studies there. Mr. Jafca Leslie was Professor of Greek ; JNIr, Roderick Macleod. Prolessor of Philosophy, incladmg Mathematics; Mr. W. Ogilvie, Prolessor ui' Homanity; Mr James Dunbar, Professor of Moral Philosophy; and Dr AlexanderGerard, Professor of Divinity. Though some of these Mere highly distiuguished men, Dr. Gerard was most known to the V orld oj English literature. Among his works are « An Essay on Uenius,*' An Lssay on Taste," t^vo volumes of valuable Sermons,and his Lectorrs on the Pastoral Care/' published in 1799 by his son.Dr Ijrilbert Uerard. 16 MEMOIR OF ROBERT UALL. want of religious advantages in this seat of learning, and deplores the profanity and profligacy of many of the students ; one of whom, he assures his friend, afl&rmcd that he knew no use even in the word " God," except to give point to an oath ! To make up for this sad defi- ciency, he adds, " we have found some agreeable acquaint- ances in the New Town, and among them the sister of Mr. Cruden, the author of the Concordance !" The same letter contains evidence that he did not con- fine his attention solely to classical and mathematical studies. After expressing his admimtion of the devo- tional as well as rational spirit that " lives and breathes in every page of Edwards,' he adds : " My thoughts are at present too much immersed in lite- rary exercises to admit of lor^or close application of thought to any thing else. I have, however, been thinking a Uttle on the distinction of natural and moral ability^ and have in my mind an objection, upon which I should be glad to have your thoughts. It is briefly this : If, according to Edwards, the will always follows the last dictate of the understanding, and if it be determined, directed, and biassed by the view of the understanding, what room tlien is left for any notion of moral ability, as distinct from natural ? or how can there, in this case, be any depravity of the will, without supposing a prior defect in the understanding? Since the will, if it be wrong in its bias, is first led to that bias by the understand- ing ; and where then the possibility of a moral inability con- sisting with a natural ability ? This 1 hope to have some conversation with you upon, when I have the happiness of seeing you. I have with me Edwards on the Will, and have lately perused it often ; and the more I read it, the more I admire.* The lamented death of Sir James Mackintosh has left a blank which none can adequately fill, with regard to Mr. Hall's character, habits, and the developement of his intellectual powers at this period. On application, however, to an esteemed friend, the late Professor Paul, he kindly communicated a few particulars, which I shall give in his own language. " What I now transmit is drawn from the Collesre records, from the recollection of Or. Jack, Principal of King's Col- AT ABERDEEN. 17 lege, and formerly for three years a class-fellow of Mr. Hall, and from my own knowledge ; for I, also, was a contempo- rary of Mr. Hall, having commenced my first year's studies when he commenced his fourth. It appears from the album that Mr. Hall entered college in the beginning of November, 1781. His first year was spent principally under the tuition of Mr. Professor Leslie, in the acquisition of the Greek lan- Ijuage ; his second, third, and fourth years under that of Mr. Professor Macleod, when he studied mathematics, natural philosophy, and moral philosophy. He took his degree in arts (i. e. *A. M. degree) on the 30th of March, 1785. Prin- cipal Jack says that he attended the Professor of Humanity, Mr. Ogilvie, during the four years he was at college, both for Latin and Natural History ; but, as there is no record of the students of the humanity and natural history classes, this fact depends wholly on the Principal's recollection. I learn from the same source that Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Hall, while at college, read a great deal of Greek in pri- vate, and that their reputation was high among their fellow- students for their attainments in that language. Principal Jack also bears testimony to Mr. Hall's great success in his mathematical and philosophical studies, and affirms that he was the first scholar of his class, in the various branches of education taught at college. During one of the sessions the Principal was member of a select literary society, con- sisting of only eight or ten students, of which society Sir James and Mr. Hall were the distinguished ornaments. None of Mr. Hall's college exercises are now to be found in this place ; but my impressions correspond with those of the Principal, that his acquirements were of the very first order ; and as Sir James had left college before I entered, having received his A. M. degree 30th March, 1784, there was no one at college in my time who could be at all put in compe- tition with Mr. Hall. But it was not as a scholar alone that Mr. Hall's reputation was great at college. He was consi- dered by all the students as a model of correct and regular deportment, of religious and moral habits, of friendly and benevolent affections." To this concise summary, I subjoin the few particulars which I gathered from Sir James Mackintosh himself. When these two eminent men first became acquainted, Sr James was in his eighteenth year, Mr. Hall about a year older. Sir James described Mr. Hall, as attracting TOL. I. c <^f:1 (' 18 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. notice by a most ingenuous and intelligent countenance, by the liyeliness of his manner, and by such indications of mental activity as could not be niisinterpreted. Ilia appearance was that of health, yet not of robust health ; and he often suffered from paroxysms of pain, during which he would roll about on the carpet, in the utmost agony; but no sooner had the pain subsided than he would resume his part in conversation with as much cheerfulness and vivacity as before he had been thus interrupted. Sir James said he became attached to Mr. Hall, " because he could not help it." There wanted many of the sup- posed constituents of friendship. Their tastes at the commencement of their intercourse, were widely dif- ferent ; and upon most of the important topics of inqmry, there was no congeniality of sentiment: yet notwith- standing this, the tubstratum of their minds seemed of the same cast, and upon this, Sir James thought, the edifice of their mutual regard first rested. Yet he, ere long, became fascinated by his brilliancy and acumen, in love with his cordiality and ardour, and " awe-struck* (I think that was the term employed) by the transpa- rency of his conduct and the purity of his principles. They read together ; they sat together at lecture, if pos- sible; they walked together. In theur joint studies, they read much of Xenophon and Herodotus, and more of Flato ; and so well was all this known, exciting admi- ration in some, in others envy, that it was not unusual, as they went along, for their class-fellows to point at them and say, *' There go Plato and Herodotus." But the arena in which they met most frequently was that of morals and metaphysics ; furnishing topics of inces- sant disputation. After having sharpened their weapons by readmg, they often repaired to the spacious sands upon the sea shore, and still more frequently to the pic- turesque scenery on the banks of the Don, above the old town, to discuss with eagerness the various subjects to which their attention had been directed. There was scarcely an important position in Berkeley's Minute Phi- losopher, in Butler s Analogy, or in Edwards on the Will, over which they had not thus debated with the utmost AT ABERDEEN. 19 intensity. Night after night, nay, month after month, for two sessions, they met only to study or to dispute ; yt't no unkindly feeling ensued. The process seemed rather, Uke blows in that of welding iron, to knit them closer together. Sir James said, that his companion as well as himself often contended for victory, yet never, so far as he could then judge, did either of them make a voluntary sacrifice of truth, or stoop to draw to and fro the serra KoyofLcc^iag^ as is too often the case with ordinary controvertists. From these discussions and from subse- quent meditation upon them, Sir James learnt more as to principles (such, at least, he assured me, was his delibe- rate conviction) than from all the books he ever read. On the other hand, Mr. Hall through life reiterated his per- suasion, that his friend possessed an intellect more ana- logous to that of Bacon than any person of modem times ; and that if he had devoted his powerful understanding to metaphysics, instead of law and politics, he would liave thro^vn an imusual light upon that intricate but valuable region of inquiry. Such was the cordial, reci- procal testimony of these two distinguished men. And, in many respects — latterly, I hope and believe, in a// the most essential — it might be truly said of both, " As face answereth to face in a glass, so does the heart of a man to his friend." It will be seen, from the first of a series of letters in- serted in this volume, that, shortly after Mr. Hall's return to Aberdeen in November, 1783, he received an iuAdtation from the church at Broadmead, to associate himself with Dr. Caleb Evans, as the assistant pastor ; an invitation which he accepted with much doubt and diffidence. After some correspondence it was arranged that Mr. Hall should reside at Bristol, in the interval (of nearly six months) between the college sessions of 1784 and 1785, and then return to Aberdeen to com- plete his course. In this important session, from the beginning of November 1784 to May 1785, he seems to have devoted himself most sedulously to his studies; especially the Greek language, with moral and inteUec- tual philosophy, and those other departments of inquiry c2 pll » tf 20 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. ^hicli are most intimately related to theobgy During the session, too, he attended Dr. ^ampWls lectnr^^^^ Marisohal CoUege, and frequently profited hy the Doctor s expository discourses, delivered once each fortnight while he generally attended pubUc worship at the chinrch where M? . AberLmby anl Mr. Peters, both regarded as holding correct sentiments, were the a^*^™**^?™": He had now lost his chosen companion, the sharpener of his faculties, by animated yet friendly debate ; and he sought for no substitute in society, but resolved to turn the deprivation into a benefit by a more arduous app i- cation to his literair pursuits, and by.cultiva^mg habits of meditation. " 1 now,-* said he, m a lettf *« ^^ father, " find retirement prodigiously sweet, Mid here 1 am ^' entirely uninterrupted and left to my o^vn thoughts. In this disposition he commenced and concluded the session. By the time Mr. Hall had thus completed his acade- mici course, his mental powers, originally strong, had attained an extraordinary vigour ; and, mth tbe excep- tion of the Hebrew language, of which he then knew nothing, he had become rich in literary intellectual, and biblical acquisition. On resuming his labours at Broad- mead, in conjunction with Dr. Evans, his preaching excited an unusual attention, the place of worship was often crowded to excess, and many of the most distin- guished men in Bristol, including several clergymen, were among his occasional auditors. , , ^ . , This popularity not only continued, but mcrej^ed, until he removed to another sphere of action, ihe bril- liancy and force of his eloquence were universally aclmow- ledged, while, in private life, his instructive and fasa- natmg conversation drew equal admiration. Yet it ought not to be concealed (for I simply announce his own del, berate conviction, frequently expressed m after-life) that at this time he was very inadequately qualified for the duties of a minister of the gospel. He had it is trae, firmly embraced and cordially rehed upon those funda- mental truths which are comprehended m the declaration, '' He that cometh unto God must believe that He w, and '^ that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek BEITLED AT BRISTOL. 21 « him :" and he often expatiated, with much originality and beauty, upon the divine attributes, and constantly exhorted men to adhere closely to the path of duty ; yet» not often from the higher, namely, the evangeUcal mo- tives, to pure, and benevolent, and holy conduct. His knowledge of Christianity, as a system of restoration and reconciliation, was comparatively defective and obscure ; and he felt but little alive to those peculiarities of the new dispensation, upon which, in maturer life, he loved to dwell In his preaching he dealt too much in gene- ralities, or enlarged upon topics which, though m a cer- tain sense noble and inspiring, and thus calculated to elevate the mind, did not immediately flow from the great scheme of redemption, which it was his especial office to disclose. The extent of God's matchless love and mercy— the depth of the mystery of his designs— the inexhaustible treasury of his blessings and graces— the wonderftil benefits flowing from the incarnation, humiliation, and sacrifice of the Son of God— the delight- ful privileges of the saints,— were themes to which he recurred far less frequently than in latter days ; and he persuaded himself that this was not eery wrong, because his coUeague, Dr. Evans, who had " the care of the church," adverted so incessantly to the doctrines of our Lord's divinity and atonement, of spiritual influence and regeneration, as to leave room for him to explore other regions of instruction and interest. It is possible that Mr. Hall, from his habit of self-de- preciation, may have a little overcharged this picture : yet the notes of several of his sermons, preached from 1785 to 1789, taken down by one of the congregation, and which are now in my possession, confirm, to a con- siderable extent, the existence of the serious defect which he subsequently so much deplored. Considering his early age, twenty-one, it was mani- festly unfavourable to the correct developement of his character at a preacher, that in August 1785, only three months after his quitting Aberdeen, he was appointed classical tutor in the Bristol Academy, on the resignation of Mr. Newton. That additional appointment he held /T' p ^'ll MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. for more tlian fire years, and discharged its duties with marked zeal and activity, and with commensurate suc- cess. At this period of his life he was celebrated as a satirist, and would overwhelm such of his associates as tempted him to the use of those formidable weapons, with wit and raillery, not always playful. Aware, how- ever, that this propensity was calculated to render him unamiable, and to give permanent pain to others, (a re- sult which the generosity of his disposition made him anxious to avoid,) he endeavoured to impose a restraint upon himself, by writing the Essay on the " Character of Oleander ;"* in which he exposes, with just severity, that species of sarcasm to which he beUeved himself most prone, and thus, by its publication, gave to others the opportunity, when he slid into this practice, of reproving him in his own language. It seems to have been remarkably, and doubtless, mer- cifully, overruled, that, during this period of Mr. Hall's history, though his more judicious and wise friends were often grieved by the free and daring speculations which he advanced in private, he never promulgated direct and positive error from the pulpit. Aid thus they who were filled with apprehension on account of sallies in conver- sation, would listen with delight to his public addresses. This will be evinced by a few extracts from the Journals of two of his constant friends. Mr. FuUer writes. " 1784, May 7.' Heard Mr. Rooert Hall, jun., from * He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.* Felt very solemn ia hearing some parts. — The Lord keep that young man !" Again, " 1785, June 14. Taken up with the company of Mr. Kobert Hall, jun. ; feel much pain for him. The Lord, in mercy to him and his churches hi this country, keep him in the path of truth and righteousness." In like manner, Dr. Ryland. " June 8, 1786. Robert Hall, jun., preached wonderfully from Rom. viii. 18, * For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.' I * Might Mr. Hall have been ttimalated to this nndertakiog by the recollection of Sir Richard Steele, who wrote and published Us * Christian Herq" as % pheck QQ hi* own irregularities? AT BRISTOL. 23 i| admire many things m this young man exceedingly, though there are others that make me fear for him. that the Lord may keep him humble, and make him prudent ! " A?ain, "June 15. Rode to Clipstone to attend the ministers' meeting. R. Hall, jun., preached a glorious ser- mon on the immutability of God, from James i. 17, ' The Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.' " „« . .v Again, " 1786, July 11. Wrote to Robert Hall, jun., this day, respecting his conversation at Birmingham, on his last journey to Bristol. Endeavoured to be as close as ever I could, but I hope with much tenderness. His father sends me word that he has been ill : I hope God means to do him good by thin complaint in his aide" Again, " 1786, June 13. Sent off a letter to Robert Hall, jun., which I wrote chiefly in answer to one of his some months ago, wherein he replied to mine concerning some disagreeable reports from Birmingham: added some new hints respecting another matter lately reported. that God may keep that young man in the way of truth and holiness !" It hence appears that Dr. Ryland, who was nearly twelve years older than Mr. Hall, and had known him from his childhood, did not rest satisfied with silent lamentations. This excellent man, fearing that his young friend was about to precipitate himself into a very dangerous course, sought by kind but strong expostula- tion to rescue him from the peril ; and thus addressed him. " My very dear Friend, " The fullest consciousness that I have a right to call you 80, as really feeling an earnest and tender concern for your welfare, and the recollection that you apparently allowed it when I last saw you, encourages me to write to you ; though I may as well tell you at once that 1 am going to write to you m the same strain of complaint and censure which I have been constrained to use before. And indeed my fears and grief were never excited to such a degree concerning you as they now are. I still hope, however, you have much love to God ; and I trust so much conviction of my sincere friendship, that you will not say of me as one said of Micaiah, • I hate him, for he is always saying evil of me.* Indeed, the things that grieve me I shall industriously conceal from •very body us long as I can; but I fear they will spread fast 22 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. for more tlian fire years, and discharged its duties with marked zeal and activity, and with commensurate suc- cess. At this period of his life he was celebrated as a satirist, and would overwhelm such of his associates as tempt^ him to the use of those formidable weapons, with wit and raillery, not always playful. Aware, how- ever, that this propensity was calculated to render him unamiable, and to give permanent pain to others, (a re- sult which the generosity of his disposition made him anxious to avoid,) he endeavoured to impose a restraint upon himself, by writing the Essay on the " Character of Oleander ;"* in which he exposes, with just severity, that species of sarcasm to which he believed himself most prone, and thus, by its publication, gave to others the opportunity, when he slid into this practice, of reproving him in his o>vn language. It seems to have been remarkably, and doubtless, mer- cifully, overruled, that, during this period of Mr. Hall's history, though his more judicious and wise friends were often grieved by the free and daring speculations which he advanced in private, he never promulgated direct and positive error from the pulpit. And thus they who were filled with apprehension on account of sallies in conver- sation, would listen with delight to his public addresses. This will be evinced by a few extracts from the Journals of two of his constant friends. Mr. Fuller writes. " 17B4, May 7.* Heard Mr. Rooert Hall, jun., from * He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.* Felt very solemn in hearing some parts. — The Lord keep that young man I" A^io, " 1785, June 14. Taken up with the company of Mr. Robert Hall, jun. ; feel much pam for him. The Lord, in mercy to him and his churches in this country, keep him in the path of truth and righteousness." In like manner, Dr. Ryland. " June 8, 1786. Robert Hall, jun., preached wonderfully from Rom. viii. 18, * For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.' 1 * MiRht Mr. Hall have been itimalated to this nndertakiDfr by the recollection of Sir Richard Steele, who wrote and publisDed hii * Chrifltku) HerQ" M ^ pheck QQ hi« owa irregularities? AT BRISTOL. 23 admire many things in this young man exceedingly, though there are others that make me fear for him. that the Lord may keep him humble, and make him prudent ! " A^ciin, "June 15. Rode to Clipstone to attend the ministers' meeting. R. Hall, inn., preached a glorious ser- mon on the immutability of God, from James i. 17, *' The Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.' " Again, " 1785, July 11. Wrote to Robert Hall, jun., this day, respecting his conversation at Birmingham, on his last journey to Bristol. Endeavoured to be as close as ever I could, but I hope with much tenderness. His father sends me word that he has been ill : I hope God means to do him good by this complaint in his side." Again, " 1786, June 13. Sent off a letter to Robert Hall, jun., which I wrote chiefly in answer to one of his some months ago, wherein he replied to mine concerning some disagreeable reports from Birmingham : added some new hints respecting another matter hitely reported. that God may keep that young man in the way of truth and holiness !" It hence appears that Dr. Ryland, who was nearly twelve years older than Mr. HaU, and had known him from his childhood, did not rest satisfied with silent lamentations. This excellent man, fearing that his young friend was about to precipitate himself into a very dangerous course, sought by kind but strong expostula- tion to rescue him from the peril ; and thus addressed him. " My very bear Friend, " The fullest consciousness that I have a right to call you 80, as really feeling an earnest and tender concern for your welfare, and the recollection that you apparently allowed it when 1 last saw you, encourages me to write to you ; though I may as well tell you at once that 1 am going to write to you m the same strain of complaint and censure which I have been constrained to use before. And indeed my fears and grief were never excited to such a degree concerning you as they now are. I still hope, however, you have much love to God ; and I trust so much conviction of my sincere friendship, that you will not say of me as one said of Micaiah, ' I hate him, for he is always saying evil of me.* Indeed, the things that grieve me I shall mdustriously conceal from tvery hodj as long as I can; but I fear they will spread fast \< M MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. AT BRISTOL. 25 cnou^li : for if you openly utter all your mmd, there are not many who will mourn in secret over the report. « It gave me extreme uneasiness to hear, this week, ot the :Teneral disffust vou have given to your former friends at Bir- mingham, on youi last visit. Verily 1 wish that neither you, nor I, nor others, may fight for the truth with mfemal wea- pons. 1 would wish to feel in my inmost soul the tenderest pity for the most erroneous men in the world, and to show all proper respect to men of science, and men who are regu- lar in t^cir outward conduct. Nor should I at aU approve of violent or harsh language, or like to speak my opmion of the state of individuals. But at the same time I cannot but think that the lusts of the mind may as effectually ruin a man as Uhe lusts of the flesh." And I must get a good way toward Socin ianism myself before I can have any strong hope that a Socinian, living and dying such, will see the kingdom of God. When the merciful Jesus declared. He that be- lieveth shall be saved,' &c., I cannot believe that he meant simply, that he shall be saved who believes that Jesus was not an impostor, and who believes the Doctrine of the Resur- rection. But these two articles are, 1 beUeve, the ^nole of Dr. Priestley's Christianity ; and if once 1 were to think thw Christianity enough to carry a man to heaven, I should not, I fear, be very strenuous in my endeavours to convince men of the danger of self-righteousness, and the necessity of a reliance on the Atonement. Oh ! my dear friend, can I con- ceive that your mind was deeply impressed with a sense of the divine purity and the justice of God's law, when you could utter so vain and vile a speech as this f The Doctor tlien cites the language imputed to Mr. HaU. It implied that if he were the Judge of all, he could not condemn Dr. Priestley. After animadverting strongly upon the phrase which he understood was actusdly employed, he proceeds thus : — « It is, I am sure, not malevolence, but sincere love, that makes me jealous of you. May the Lord keep you ! I wish you would look over afresh the Epistle to the Galatians, and examine whether your charity is as chaste as Pauls. I allude to a proverb you have doubtless heard—* Chanty is an angel, while she rejoiceth in the truth, a harlot when she rejoiceth in iniquity ;'— embracing those whom she should lather pity and weep over. ^ ^ , t. « -•. " Study to enter mto the very spint of Paul s discourse. ii 1 Cor. 1. 18—51, or Gal. ii. 15—21 ; and if this is consistent with supposing it would be unfair for God to punish any man for rejecting the Gospel, who understood chemistry and philosophy, why, then, retam your favourable opinion of the ssiety of Socinians .'' _ . ., , . , t « Receive this as a proof of the affection with which 1 am " Your faithful friend, ^ " J. Ryland." Many high-spirited young men, we can readily ima- gine, would have treated such a letter as this with con- tempt; while others would have replied to it in a lofty tone of surprise and indignation. But Dr. Rylands Voun«r friend, notwithstanding the errors into which his impe^osity had hurried him, had too much generosity to regard as insulting what he knew was dictated by affection ; and, therefore, anxious to show that he could bear reproof, and he thankful for it, he promptly repUed : " My dear Friend, ,,.,..- v « I HAVE just received your letter, and think it of so much importance as to deserve an immediate answer. Accord- ingly, without the least delay, I have set myself to reply to it. I am exceedingly obliged to you for your friendly expos- tulation, because I know it is the effusion of a pious and benevolent heart that wishes me well. With respect to the conversation at Birmingham, to which you allude, I shall conceal nothing." He then, at the same time that he denies the precise language that was imputed to him, states what he did really say, and aims to justify the sentiment which he had maintained : disclaiming, however, any approxima- tion to Socinian doctrine. " You seem to suspect I am far gone in Socinianism ; but in this, my dear friend, give me leave to say, you are utterly mistaken Since I first be^an to reflect, I do not recollect a time when I was less inclmed to Socinianism than at pre- sent. I can truly say, it would remove from me all my sal- vation and all my desire." Again reverting to the expression he employed, he adds: — « Allowing it to be improper or too strong, I can only say, it does not belong to all to speak equally temperately ; 26 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT BRISTOL. 27 I tLat tlie crime of expression can only be judged from the feelings, and that I am certain I did not uttei' it with any lightness of heart, but with deep feelings of earnestness and sincerity. Your chaise of imprudence I cordially admit ; and now see, with more clearness than I formerly did, that the imprudent should never come into company with the malicious. " I had more to say ; but have no room. I sincerely thank you for your letter, and shall always be extremely grateful for your correspondence, your good wishes, &nd j'our prayers. " Believe me, as ever, affectionately yours, " R. Hall, junior." These letters would not have been inserted after the lapse of fifty years, but for the salutary lesson which they supply. If christian friendship always manifested itself in such fidelity as is here evinced, and uniformly expe- rienced so kind and ingenuous a reception, what a different aspect, in a few years, would the chnstian world assume ! When Mr. Hall was about twenty-three years of age, he had an opportunity of hearing Mr. Robinson, his pre- decessor at Cambridge, preach ; and was so fascinated with his manner as to resolve to imitate it. But, aft«r a few trials, he relinquished the attempt. The circum- stance being afterwards alluded to, he observed, " Why, " Sir, I was too proud to remain an imitator. After my *' second trial at ^ as I was walking home, I " heard one of the congregation say to another, * Really, " Mr. Hall did remind us of Mr. Robinson !' That, Sir, ** was a knock-down blow to my vanity ; and I at once ^' resolved that if ever I did acquire reputation, it should " be my own reputation, belong to my own character, " and not be that of a likeness. Besides, Sir,* if I had " not been a foolish young man, I should have seen how " ridiculous it was to imitate such a preacher as Mr. " Robinson. He had a musical voice, and was master " of all its intonations ; he had wonderful self-possession, *' and could say what he pleased, when he pleased, and ** how he pleased ; while my voice and manner were ♦ Mr. Ha'l very fireqnently repeated the word. Sir, io hia converwi tion ; especially if he became animated. lil " naturally bad ; and far from having self command, I " never entered the pulpit, without omitting to say some- " thii^ that I wished to say, and saying something that " I wished unsaid: and, beside all this, I ought to" have " known that for me to speak slow was ruin*' ' Why " so ?' "I wonder that you, a student of philosophy, '^ should ask such a question. You know. Sir, that " force, or momentum, is conjointly as the body and "velocity; therefore, as my voice is feeble, what is " wanted, in body must be made up in velocity, or there " will not be, cannot be, any impression." This remark, though thrown off hastily, in unreserved conversation, presents the theory of me important cause of the success of his rapid eloquence. Shortly after this, Mr. Hall was, for the first time, in Mr. Robinson's society; I believe in London. Mr. Robinson was affluent m flatteries for those who wor- shipped him, while Mr. Hall neither courted flattery, nor scattered its incense upon others. In speaking of the Socinian controversy, the elder indulged in sarcasm upon "juvenile defenders of the faith," and made various efforts to " set the young man down," which tempted Mr. Hall to reply that " if he ever rode into the field of public " controversy, he should not borrow Dr. Abbadie's hoour This enigmatical retort* Mr. Robinson understood, and probably /^/^ more than Mr. Hall had anticipated ; for he had about that time quitted the field, put off " the boots," and passed to the verge of Sorinianism. In the course of some discussions that followed, Mr. Hall, as most of those who were present thought, completely exposed the dangerous sophistry by which Mr. Robinson endeavoured to explain away some very momentous truths. Mr. Robinson, perceiving that the stream- of opmion fell in with the argunients of his young opponent, and vexed at being thus foiled, lost his usual placidity and courtesy, and suddenly changed the topic of conver- I- r T*?* «''asion was to the defence of the divinitv of onr Lord, pob- ished in French by Dr. Abbadie, in his "Vindication of the Truth o/ the Christian Religion ;" a work from which Mr. Hobinson was thought •Jll''? sorrowed many of bis arguments in his "'Plea for the Divi- nity," &c., without acknowledgement. v^ MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. sation, saying, " the company may be much better em- " ployed than by listening to a raw school-boy, whose " head is crammed with Scotch metaphysics." Nothing but a consciousness that the " raw school-boy" had defeated him, would have thus thrown him off his guard. In 1788, Mr. Hall, weary of the solitude to which he was often subjected, as a mere lodger, and anticipating marriage in the course of a few months (an anticipation, however, which was not realized), hired a house ; his sister Jane, afterwards Mrs. James, kindly consenting to superintend his domestic concerns. From a letter which he then wrote to his father, I extract a few passages. Feb. Wth, 1788. " We have a ffreat deal of talk here about the slave-trade ; as I understand from your letter you have had too. A peti- tion has been sent from hence to Parliament for the abolish- ing it ; and a committee is formed to co-operate with that in London, in any measure that may be taken to promote their purpose. At Bristol much opposition is made by the merchants and their dependents, who are many, perhaps most of them, engaged m it. Our petition was signed by eight hundred, or upwards; which, considering that no ap- plication has been made to any, we think a great number. Many things have been written in the papers on both sides : some pieces I have written myself, under the signature Britannicus* which I purpose to get printed in a few pam- phlets, and shall send one of them to you. The injustice and inhumanity of the trade are glanng, and upon this ground I mainly proceed : upon the policy of aboUshinff it I treat lightly, because I am dubious about it ; nor can it be of great consequence to the q^uestion in hand : for, if it be proved cruel and unjust, it is impious to defend it ... . *' I am afraid the abolition will not take place speedily, if at all. The trading and mercantile interest will make great outcry ; the scheme will be thought chimerical, and, after producing a few warm speed es, will, I fear, die away." ♦ ♦««♦♦ " My own temper, I know, needs some correction, and it will be my daily endeavour to mend it : it wants gentlenes*t, • Thete I have not been able to procnre. It would be cnrioos ^o compare them with his more mature sentiments ou the subject, »o ad- Birwly exhibited in some of bia later Essays. ▲T BRISTOL. ^ Mr. M has done me much good by convincing me, from his own example, to what perfection a temper naturally keen and lofty may be carried." " So far, I am happy that my duty and my gratification lie in the same direction : so that every step I take towards improvement, may be a step towards real pleasure. One inconvenience, indeed, I labour under with respect to my temper, by being connected with my sister, and that is, she never tries it," A serious trial of another kind, however, awaited Mr. Hall — a painful misunderstanding between him and his friend and colleague. Dr. Evans. It continued not only to disturb the minds of both, but, as might be expected, to create partisans among their respective friends, and indeed to endanger the peace of the church at Broad- mead, for more than two years. I have read various written papers, and some pamphlets, which relate to this painful affair ; and cannot but conclude that, like many others, it originated in such trifling misconceptions as, in more felicitous circumstances, neither party would have suffered to disturb his thoughts for an hour. A few hasty expressions, retorted by others both hasty and strong, tempted the Doctor and his friends to accuse Mr. Hall of ingratitude, and a want of deference to his superior in age and station ; he, in his turn, repelled the accusation, in language too natural to a young man glow- ing with a lofty spirit of independence ; and thus, new charges and fresh recriminations arose. The interposi- tion of friends availed but little ; for their unhallowed pas- sions became ignited too. After many months spent in this imseemly strife, a meeting between the parties opposed was held, in the presence of two friends of each, at the Mansion House, Mr. Harris, the Mayor of Bristol, at that time the senior deacon of the church at Broad- mead, being one of the persons chosen by Dr. Evans. Xo beneficial effects resulted from this meeting ; the in dividuals, who hoped by their interposition to ensure the restoration of amity, having long before ceased to be impartial judges in the aflEair. The friends on both sides. 30 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT BRISTOL, 31 who were convened on this occasion, published their respective statements ; from which it appears that those who had taken one part thought Mr. Hall justifiable, and censured Dr. Evans; while those on the other approved of the Doctor's conduct, and condemned that of Mr. Hall. It will not, then, be expected, that I should draw from the obscurity which time has cast over them, more par- ticulars relating to this unhappy collision. Nor, indeed, should I have adverted to it, had it not operated strongly in preparing Mr. Hall for his removal from Bristol. Whatever regret it might occasion him, on subsequent meditation, it excited no self-reproach, nor left any male- volent feeling. On the decease of Dr. Evans, which took place in 1791, his former colleague prepared an inscrip- tion for his monument ; and he wrote the following letter to his brother-in-law, Mr. Isaac James, in reply to that which announced the Doctor's death. " Dear Brother, " Cambridge, Aug. 12, J 791. " The contents of your letter received this day have aflbcted me more than almost any thinjr of the kind I ever met with in my life. 1 1 is in all points of view a most solemn event : but, from obvious circumstances, to me it cannot fail of being peculiarly so. It is truly affecting to recollect the friendship that so long subsisted betwixt us, and that it should end so unhappily in a breach that admits of no repair, no remedy ! ! Yet, though I feel most pungently upon this occasion, I am happy to be able to join with you in declar- uig that my conscience is not loaded with guilt. Abating too much of an unhappy violence, I have the mens coriscia recti. Were the circumstances to occur ai;ain, a breach would, as before, be inevitable. But though, in justice to myself, I say thus much, there is no one more disposed to lament the deceased than myself, or who has a truer sensi- bility of the real virtues of his character. I have written to Mr. Higgs, and therefore I need sav the less to vou upon these melancholy topics. The chief purpose, indeed, of my troublmg you at present, is to request you will be so kind as to give me the earliest and most particular account of every thing that passes at his funeral; the persons present, the sermon, the impression of the event, deep no doubt and awful, the whole state of things at Bristol, their future pro- spects and mtentions, every thing relating to these matters that you know The situation of the familv and the Smrc" hough I doubt not I am the object of their>int abhorrence I most sincerely compassionate. May God guide and com! fort them! thmk you and all myVriends^ ought no w to iter t '^^^ '' P Mf' "°^ .'^°^^ ^ coLeyi^or. with the cCreh^ rf the^ temper mil pennit you. My friends will most obZe mLlf Tf^ '' respectfully to the Doctor's family and ZT^\ V "^"^"^ ^"^7 g-la^ce into the bosom of a wTse man, but it rests only in the bosom of fools/ and our best « T^ Tijr T r ^**".' affectionate Brother, 10 Mr. Isaac James." «. jj jj^j^^^ » Mr^H«n'/^'%- '""%'* J^f ^"''""^"^^ apprehended that Mr. HaUs sentiments had, on some momentous points deviated considerably from the accredited standards of even moderate orthodoxy ; and he had given much pain to some of his Baptist friends on account of his view^ tTi^'lT ^"^ :^-^^P^i^i?g- Some correspondence took place between him and the Broadmead Church on these subjects : and, as weU that the sentiments he then reaUy held may be kno^-n, as that the extent of his declension mto positive error may be judged of from his o^n Ian- guage, 1 shall here insert the frank exposition of his opinions which he addressed to the church when he was on tue eve v>f dissolving his connexion with it. « Mv nr..n Ti " I^Awr^rfay, Dec, 9th, 1790. MY DEAR Brethren, aff-ecte m7. ItfL""^ ^ T '""P"^^ ^"^ attachment sensiblv anects me, and as you have requested me to explain myseif ZuTfwTr''^ '^ r^^^"^ ^' "^^^^ ^« r^ason^s of sepaif von'Jl fl,^ 'I r ^^^^ ? ^^" ^^ "^y^^^^ and to you, to ffWe you all the satisfaction in my power. ^ h;!L^!^* r° T^^ ^'S; P^^®' I am a firJn believer in the proner tZnl^LlT'"'. ^^'^?' ' i"" ^^"^^"^ «^ C^-i«^ as th^eToL work, fn I o P^''°^\"' ^^^ ^'^^^ «^G«d^ without admitting don W • fK"""^ '^^'-^ ^° '^^ S''^^ ^"^i^ess of Justifica? tion, and m the necessity of Divine influence to reffcnemL 'm^r^^% '!'^,.^^^^f «very man, in order to Kecom! mg a real Christian. Thus far in the affirmative. ^1 32 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. AT BRISTOL. 33 I •' 2ndly. In the second place, I am not a Calvinist, in the strict and proper sense of that term. I do not maintain the federal headship of Adam, as it is called, or the imputation of his sin to his posterity; and this doctrine I have always considered, and do still consider, as the foundation of that system. I believe we have received from our first parents, together with various outward ills, a corrupt and irregular bias of mind ; but, at the same time, it is my firm opinion that we are liable to condemnation only for our own actions, and that guilt is a personal and individual thing. I believe in the doctrine of the Divine Decrees, and of course in the predestination of all events, of which the number of the finally saved is one. But this appears to me a different thing from the doctrine of absolute election and reprobation, as it has ever been explained by Calvinists, which does not meet mv approbation. Without going into a large field of metaphy- sical discussion, this is all I think it requisite to say respect- ing my orthodoxy ; but there are two other points which have occasioned a good deal of conversation, and from some quarters a good deal of censure ; upon which I shall there- fore beg leave to explain myself in a few words. " 3rdly. I am, and have been for a long time, a materialist, though I have never drawn your attention to this subject in my preaching ; because I have always considered it myself, and wished you to consider it, as a mere metaphysical specu- lation. My opinion, however, upon this head is, that the nature of man is simple and uniform ; that the thinking powers and faculties are the result of a certain organization of matter ; and that after death he ceases to be conscious until the resurrection, " Much has been said upon my opinions respecting Bap- tism, and I am happy to have this opportunity of explaining my sentiments on that subject in particular, as it affects not only the propriety of my former relation to this church, but of any future connexion I may form with any other Chris- tian society. On this point much mistake, much misrepre- sentation, I hope not voluntary, has taken place ; and on this account I trust you will excuse my dvvelUng upon it a little more particularly than its importance in other respects might seem to justify. It has been held out to the world by some, that I aui not a Baptist. I am, both in respect to the subject and to the mode of this institution, a Baptist. To apply tliis ordinance to infants appears tome a perversion of the intention of the sacred institution ; and the primitive. .'. !• f it he regular, and proper mode of administration, I take to be immersion. Still it appears to me that sprinkling, though an innovation, does not deprive Baptism of its essential validity, so as to put the person that has been sprinkled in adult age upon a footing with the unbaptized. The whole of my sen- timents amounts to this : — I would not myself baptize in any other manner than by immersion, because I look upon im- mersion as the ancient mode, that it best represents the meaning of the original term employed, and the substantial mi port of this institution ; and because I should think it right to guard against the spirit of innovation, which in positive rites is always dangerous and progressive : but I should not think myself authorized to re-baptize anyone who has been sprinkled in adult age. I shall only remark, in addition to what I have already said upon this point, that if it be a sufficient objec- tion to my union with a Baptist congregation, then, as all Christendom is composed of Baptists or Peedobaptists, it amounts to my exclusion, as a minister, from every Christian society throughout the whole earth: an interdict equally absurd and inhuman, founded upon a conduct merely ne 34 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. am persuaded, trace the superintending hand on this occasion. Mr. Robinson, the pastor of the church at Cambridge, with which Mr. Hall was now about to be connected, was a man of extensive powers, of some genius, and of considerable industry and research. Fascinating as a preacher, delightful as a companion, perseveringly skilful m the insinuation of his sentiments^ his influence could not but be great. From the profession of orthodox opinions, he had passed by a rather rapid transition, not to Socinianism, but far beyond, to the very borders of infidelity ; such, at least, was the substance of his decla- ration to Dr. Priestley, whom he thanked for preserving him from that awfiil gulf. Vain speculation was substi- tuted for knowledge, faith, and experience ; confession, and prayer, but seldom made a part of the public wor- ship which he conducted, his effusions before sermon consisting almost altogether of ascriptions of praise ; and the congregation became so transfoiined and deteriorated, in consequence, that, among the more intelligent classes, •with only two or three exceptions, " he was esteemed the best Christian who was most skilled in disputation," not he who evinced most of " the spirit of Christ." The majority of the poorer members, however, escaped the contagion, and were ready to co-operate with the late ]VIr. Foster, who was then the senior deacon, and another of the deacons, who equally deplored the evils which had fallen upon them. Cordially attached to those doctrines which they regarded as fundamental, and therefore as constituting the basis of church union, they were prepar- ing to call upon the whole body to consider the expedi- ency of requesting Mr. Kobinson to resign, when his sudden death at Birmingham, just after he had been preaching in Dr. Priestley's pulpit, rendered such a mea- sure unneces«?ary. On the news of this event reaching Cambridge, Mr. Foster, who was then on his death-bed, made it his last request to some of the most influential men in the church, that they would never consent to the appointment of a Socinian as Mr. Robinson s successor. From this account of the state of the church at Mr. AT CAMBRIDGE. 35 Robinson s decease, it will appear how difficult it was to select a successor who would be approved by all ; how diflicult, also, for that successor to walk steadily in the path of duty. Mr. Hall, who by this time had attained a high repu- tation as a preacher, was invited, in June or July, 1790, to preach at Cambridge for one month ; after which the invitation was renewed for a longer term. In July the following year, he was invited to take the pastoral charge ; the letter, announcing his acceptance of the im- portant trust, will appear in tlie collection which follows this memoir. In these transactions and their consequences still un- folding, the wisdom and mercy of God are strikingly manifested. There was at that time no man of eminence 1^ among the Baptists, besides Mr. Hall, who could for a moment have been thought of by the church at Cambridge as a fit successor to IVIr. Robinson ; nor was there any Bap- tist church and congregation with which he could be- come connected, with the same prospect of being useful and happy, according to the views he then entertained. Had Mr. Hall's religious principles and feelings been such in 1790 and 1791, as they became a few years afterwards, not even his talents would have made them palatable ; and a connexion, had it been formed, would soon have been dissolved : on the other hand, had the church been de- cidedly and entirely socinianized, he could not conscien- tiously have become its pastor. The providential corre- lation soon began to show itself. Their looseness of sentiment on many points, which even then he thought momentous, led him to enforce them frequently with the utmost energy ; while his known freedom of opinion on other points, which they also had been led to canvass freely, preserved him from the odium of orthodoxy. Thmking themselves liberal and unshackled, they could not but congratulate one another that their new pastor, a man of splendid talents, was almost as liberal and un- shackled as they were. Then again, their want of devo- tional seriousness, by the force of contrast, heightened his estimate of the value of true piety ; and this produced d2 36 IfEMOm OF ROBERT HALL. an augmented earnestness and fidelity, which they first learnt to tolerate, and afterwards to admire. Thus, by the operation of an incessant action and re-action, con- tinued for years, each party exerted a salutary influence on the other ; and at length both church and pastor bo- came so distinguished for piety, harmony, and affection, that they, who had known and lamented their former state, were compelled to exclaim, " This hath God wrought." * The death of Mr. Hall's father, which occurred in March, 1791? had indeed tended greatly to carry his mind back to the state of serious thought with which he entered upon the pastoral office. Meditating, with the deepest veneration, upon the unusual excellencies of a parent now for ever lost to him, he was led to investigate, with renewed earnestness, the truth as well as value of those high and sacred principles, from which his eminent piety and admirable consistency so evidently flowed. He called to mind, too, several occasions on which his father, partly by the force of reason, partly by that of tender expostulation, had exhorted him to abandon the vague and dangerous speculations to which he was prone. Some important changes in Mr. Hall's sentiments result- ed from an inquiry conducted under such solemn im- pressions ; and among these may be mentioned his re- nunciation of materialism^ which he often declared he " buried in his father's grave." Attentive to the voice of heavenly admonition, thus addressing him from various quarters, he entered upon his new duties with earnest desires that he might be able • Though such waa the happy issue, I am inclined to think that Me. Hal! found himself in very perilous circumstances, which he had not forgotten when he thus expressed himself in his Memo rs of Mr. Toller: — The reciprocal influence of a minister and a congregation on each other is so incessant and so powerful, that I would earnestly dis- suade an inexperienced youth from connecting himself with a people whose doctrine is erroneous, or whose piety is doubtful, lest he should he tempted to consult his ease by choosing to yield to a current he would find it difficult to resist. To root up error, and reclaim a people from inveterate habits of vice and irreligion, is unquestionably a splendid achievement ; but it requires a hardihood of character and decision of ]W:uiciple not often found in young persons.*^ AT CAMBRIDGE. 3y ** to commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Feeling that to him was consigned the charge of transforming, with God's assistance, a cold and sterile soil into a fruitful field, he determined not to satis- fy himself with half measures, but proceeded to expose error, and defend what he regarded as essential truth. The first sermon, therefore, which he delivered at Cam- bridge, after he had assumed the ofiice of pastor, was on the doctrine of the atonement, and its practical tenden- cies. Immediately after the conclusion of the service, one of the congregation, who had followed poor Mr. Ro- binson through all his changes of sentiment, went into the vestry, and said, 'Mr. Hall, this preaching won't do for us : it will only suit a congregation of old women.' " Do you mean my sermon, Sir, or the doctrine ? " ' Your doctrine:^ "'Why is it that the reaching twice before Xsm Long! ess. 38 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT CAMBRIDGE. 39 Ws expulsion from it, drew away his attention from tlie little band of seceders. Mr. Hall's ministerial labours, at this interesting pe- riod of his life, were blessed with the happiest results, when the benefit seemed likely to be for a while suspend- ed, by tlie intrusion of violent political discussion. The impression made throughout Europe by the French re- volution of 1789, was such, that not merely here and there an individual indulged in political speculation, but almost every man threw himself into the vortex of poli- tical controversy. The clergy of every order and station, the laity of every rank and class, yielded alike to the im- pulsion ; and he who did not declare his decided and cordial adhesion to one or other of the contending parties, might expect the censure of both, for his want of spirit or of principle. Cambridge, hitherto characterized as the whig university, was, at this epoch, split into the most violent party divisions, and the public was deluged with sermons from the pulpit, and pamphlets from the press, in which the respective advocates of '' things as they are," and of « things as they should be," defended their opposite views with the utmost zejd, and too often with the most unbecoming rancour. At such a season, Mr. Hall, then under thirty years of age, was not Kkely to maintain an entire silence. When a man's quiescence was sufficient to render his principles equivocal, he was certainly not one who would make a secret of his opinions. He thought that political ethics had almost ceased to be referable to any principle of pure ethics. Pie hesitated not to avow that the grand object of all good government must be to promote the happiness of the governed, to assist eveiy individual in its attain- ment and security. He regarded a government chiefly anxious about the emoluments of office, or aiming to consolidate its own power at home and to aid the effi)rts of despots abroad, while it neglected the comfort and welfare of individuals in middle or lower life, whose bur- dens it augmented by a mistaken course, as a government that should be constUuiimally opposed by every lawful means. ' He gave to such subjects, also, more than political considerations. He looked upon those European govern- ments which were foimded on oppression, and trampled on the natural rights of man, as operating most fatally in the extinction of light and virtue. He regarded the conditions of those who tyrannize, and of those who are the objects of tjranny, as each productive of a nu merous and distinct class of vices ; and thought that the consequent darkness, ignorance, and criminality of the general mass imder despotic govenmients, in great mea- sure, if not entirely, incapacitated them for the pure and elevated enjoyments of heaven. It was hence a perma- nent conviction of his mind, " that he who is instrumental " in perpetuating a corrupt and wicked government, is *' also instrumental in unfitting his fellow-men for the •' felicity of the celestial mansions." Could it then be matter of surprise that, believing and feeling all this, he should exult when " the empire of darkness and of des- potism had been smitten with a stroke which sounded through the universe ;*" or, when other ministers of the gospel were signalizing themselves by opposing this view of thmgs, that he should, for a short interval, be drawn aside from pursuits more congenial with his prevailing tastes, and in many important respects, I think, more compatible with his holy calling, and ac once endeavour to prove that "Christianity is consistent with a love of freedom," and that true Christianity will prevail most where genuine freedom is most diflPused and best under- stood? Cordial, however, as was Mr. Hall's attachment to a cause in which he conceived man's best interests to be closely interwoven, and strong as was his hatred of des- potic measures, or what he regarded as such, either at home or abroad, I do not think that even their joint ope- ration would have overcome his repugnance to writing, had it not been for skilful abettors^ who first worked his feelings, and then extorted from him the promise of preparing a work for the publip. Such, if I have not ♦ See the «pjendid passage towards the end of his " Christianity coo- iisteoi with a love of freedom.' ;/ 40 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT CAMBRIDGE. 41 I ■ been misinformed, was the origin of his firet political pamphlet; and such, I know, from his own declaration, often repeated, was the origin of the eloquent and pow- erful Apology for the Freedom of the Press." The ^y^^g alter the event occurred, to which he alludes in the " Apology," with respect to Mr. Musgrave, he attend- ed a periodiail meeting of a book-society, constituted principally of members of his own congregation, and of Mr. fcjimeon's, and usually denominated Alderman Indts Uub, that distinguished ornament of Mr. Simeon's con- gregation bemg the treasurer. Every person present ex- pressed himself in terms of the strongest indignation at the m^^ult offered to Mr. Musgrave; every one thought It highly desuBble that some man of talent at Cambruiae should advocate the pnnciples maintained by the friends ot liberty, especially of those who avowed evangelical sentiments, and the necessity for their united activity in the present state of the country and of Europe. Mr Hall spoke as decidedly as any of them with regard to the urgent necessities of the case ; when they all, havmr. Priestley, a gentleman who held the Doctors theological opmions, tapping Mr. Hall upon the shoulder with an indelicate freedom°from whicK recoded, said,^Ah! Sir, we shall have ^/ou amont u^ soon, I see.' Mr. Hall, startled and offended bX ?ad^ tone of exultation in which this was uttered, hastily re! plied Me amongst you, Sir ! me amongst you ! Why "In K .T^/r' *^^ ^^^' ^ '^^^^^ ^^^^^r^e to be tied " the t/r *.' ^''* ''^ ^^"'^^^ ^"^ ^^'^^ iPP^d round the nethermost regions to all eternity'" Notwithstanding the reasons Mr. Ha'l thus had for S oThU r-f TT r f *^'^^' - - eveo' other period of his life, he displayed a remarkable relish for ^al intercourse He did not court the society of lie- duir^r.nT r fi ''^'^^'-" "^ ^^ ^^i^'^^^ = he had ac- quired enough of both to value them greatly: yet he desired to regard them principally as suWrvie^nt C the higher purposes of his profession. Besides this the philosophy of mind, in wfiich he took extreme LtJst was then but little cultivated at Cambridge. Happffy however, the leading individuals in his conJegationTeTe very mtelligent and weU-infbrmed, able to appre^te his powers mto fu I action. With one or other of these he usually spent his evenings, selecting most frequen%thos' who possessed he enjoyments of domestic life, and often toke hfsThif r *^"l^^ ""^ fP^^*^^ that'^mlS He was, but only for a short time, an imitator of Dr. AT CAMBRIDGE. 43 Johnson. Some years afterwards, when reminded oi this, he replied — "Yes, Sir: I aped Johnson, and I " preached Johnson ; and I am afraid with little more ot " evangelical sentiment than is to be foimd in his Essays : " but it was youthful folly, and it was very great folly. •* I might as well have attempted to dance a hornpipe " in the cumbrous costume of Gog and Magog. My •* puny thoughts could not sustain the load of the words " in which 1 tried to clothe them." There needed not, m truth, the principle of imitation, to produce great similarity in some important respects between these two extraordinary men. They manifested the physical differences between a melancholic and a cheerful temperament ; in consequence of which, the one was slow and measured in utterance, the other rapid and urgent. But, in conversation, both evinced a ready com- prehension of the whole subject, a quick and decisive accuracy in answering, and a perfect self-dependence. They both disliked a protracted debate, and would some- times terminate a discussion, when it was growing tire- some, by a strong and pointed observation which it was difficult to encounter. Both were alike in exhibiting a rather more than ordinary degree of faith in things of a preternatural or mysterious description. In both, too, there were the similarities of acute intellect united with splendid imagination ; and of a natural majesty of mental and moral genius which commanded veneration. But, in the correction of his faults, and the improvement of his virtues, Mr. Hall possessed, in his superior piety, an immense advantage over Dr. Johnson. In argument he was impetuous, and sometimes over- bearing; but if he lost his temper he was deeply hum- bled, and would often acknowledge himself to blame. On one of these occasions, when a discussion had become warm, and he had evinced imusual agitation, he suddenly closed the debate, quitted his seat, and, retiring to a re- mote part of the room, was overheard by a lady who was just entering, to ejaculate with deep feeling, "Lamb of *' God ! Lamb of God ! calm my perturbed spirit." Mr. Hall's personal habits, not only at the time of 44 MEMOIR OF ROBERT IIALt. AT CAUBRIDOE. 4S which 1 am now speaking, but in a certain degree throuffh hfe, though not precisely those of an absent man, were those of one whose mental occupations kept his thoughts at a distance from various matters of ordinary observance and made hun regardless of a thousand things which most persons never forget. Thus, on his retuii' fr»m an evemng visit, if not watched, he would take a wrong hat or great coat;_if not sought after by some of the con- gregation, he would mistake the proper eveninn- of a week-day service, having in such cases been so absorbed m study as to lose a day in his reckoniiig; for the same reason, he often mistook the day or the hoSr of an apport! ^^JT^^T °° '^l °f ^" >"™^« to I^^don he en- gaged o take up the letters of his friends, it was not ^osual, after his return, to find them all in his portmL teau, or in his great coat pocket. These, or similar in- thr««.n/- ^"'Sf^*^^ occmred daily; but, exciting the attention of his aflFectionate and watchfiil friendZ they seldom exposed him to serious inconvenience JNone of diese peculiarities sprung from an affectation fMn!^^'^' -^'^ '™P'J' ""'^^'l «" inattention to thmgs of minor importance. Nor was there united with them a regardlessness of the proprieties of society a disdain of such civilities and attentions as were usuaf i^ the classes with whom he most associated. He had never genteel life; but he had a native ease and grace, which was obviously distinguishable from any acquired habit ft was a grace that could neither be bought nor boVrow- whir 1 ^'T' •^^i"?^ heightened by the dignity wWh naturally comported with his character and office^ and uniformly blended with that genuine simplicU; which often accompanies intellectualVeatness, !nd7s al^ys. If I mistake not, an attribute of moral Latnes Several particular m the preceding account of ifr ILdls first years at Cambridge will be illustrated by 7e following bnef sketch, which I have received from a gen lemM who had the most favourable opportunities, ^ rL"mtnr:ii^r'^-~''^'<>--- " I had but a slight acquaintance with Robert Hall from 1790 to 1793 : from thence to the end of 1796, I knew him intimately. At that period his creed was imperfect, wanting the personality of the Holy Spirit, and wavering between the terrors of Calvin and the plausibilities of Baxter.* His infirmities, wliicli were increasing, he concealed with dexte- rity, opposed with vigour, and sustained with uncommon pa- tience. In his ministerial situation he was far from easy; and he was vehemently severe upon Robinson for leaving his church a wilderness, and bequeathing his successor a bed of thorns. " His religious conversation in company was not frequent, and for the most part doctrinal ; but, in private, his experi- mental communications were, in beauty, elevation, and compass, beyond all I ever heard. The memory of a man of seventy-three will not afford particulars ; and the general impression can neither be obliterated nor expressed. •'In his manners he was a close imitator of Dr. Johnson ; fond of tea-table talk, and of the society of cultivated fe- males, who had the taste to lend him an ear, and the ability requisite to make attention a favour. He has confessed to me the taking thirty cups of tea in an afternoon, and told me his method was to visit four families and drink seven or eight cups at each. " He knew, as well as any man, what bad men were, and what good men should be ; yet was often wrong in his judg- ment of individuals. From this deficiencj^ in the knowledge of mankind, he sometimes trusted his false, and abused his true, friends : when he perceived his error he changed his conduct, but, I suspect, very seldom confessed his mistake. " He did not, then, read much ; but was probably more hindered by pain than by indolence. A page, indeed, was to him more serviceable than a volume to many. Hints from reading or discourse, passing through his great mind, ex- panded into treatises and systems, until the adopted was lost in the begotten ; so much so, that the whole appeared original. I am persuaded, however, that when 1 knew him he had not, by many degrees, attained his meridian. I should regret my incapacity to do him justice, and give you assistance, were I not persuaded that only the bud was ex- hibited to me, while the bloom and the fruit were reserved for those more deserving to be happy." I had the privilege of becoming first knoT^ii to Mr. * This phraveology will mark Uie bias of my tmly respected cone- •pondent. f MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. Hall in Janimiy 1797. ' During that year we dined daily at the same table : the next year we met almost every morning to read together : and for some years afterwards ^cely a week passed in which I was not three or four times in his society. When I first became acquainted with hira I was young, and ignorant of nearly ererv thing but the most rudimental knowledge of language and science; of which I possessed just enou-h to em- ploy as instruments of inquiry. I was eager to acquire information; but ran some risk of turning my mind to that which was useless, or merely showy, instead of di- recting Its best energy to that which was truly valuable, m such circumstances to be allowed the friendship and enjoy the advice and assistance of such a man, was amonir my richest blessings. There was scarcely a thou«rht worth preserving, scarcely a principle of action worth reducing to practice, scarcely a source of true enjoyment but 1 denved from him, or I was led to receive or to ap- preciate more correctly through his agency. If, then, tor some pages, my name should occur more often i^i im- mediate association with that of my beloved and revered Inend, than may seem consistent with ordinary rules, may I be freed from the charge of egotism? especially. It I assure the reader, that, while nothing affords nie more pleasure, nothing awakens more gratitude to the leather of Mercies, than the retrospect of the intellectual and higher than intellectual delights which were then mme, few things more humble me than the conviction that, though I enjoyed them so long, I suffered them fa pass away without commensurate improvement. Mr. Hall kindly admitted me to the privacy of his study, in addition to the advantage of frequent inter- course with him in the society of his friends. Desirous to assist others in forming their estimate of this extraoi - dmary individual, I shall not merely speak of his cha- racter, habits, and pursuits, but occasionally introduce some of his conversational remarks ; confining myself however, to such as from their brevity always occur to my thoughts m the ipsisshna mrha originally employed. It 1 do not succeed in depicting the man, which, indeed AT CAMBRIDGE. 4*f I feel conscious is far beyond my powers, I may at least attempt to describe him as he then appeared to me. When I first saw Mr. Hall, I was struck with his well-proportioned athletic figure, the unassuming dignity of his deportment, the winning frankness which marked all that he uttered, and the peculiarities of the most speaking countenance I ever contemplated, animated by eyes radiating with the brilliancy imparted to them by benevolence, wit, and intellectual energy. When he spoke, except in the most ordinary chit-chat, to which, however, he seldom descended, he seemed not merely to communicate his words, but himself: and I then first learnt the difference between one who feels while he is speaking, and whose communicative features tell you tliat he does, and one who, after he has spoken lon^^ and with apparent earnestness, still does not feel. I°then learnt also, that, though talents may convey their results to others, and activity may carry on others in its stream ; yet there is something distinct in the structure of a great mmd which never can be so transferred to another as to become its native characteristic. Mr. Hall had a buoy- ancy and playfulness when among his select friends, which were remarkably captivating. Among strangers there was a reserve for a short time, but it was soon sha- ken off, especially if he found that they were pious or intelligent. The presence of a man who gave himself airs of condescension usually induced him to remain si- lent or to retire. He could enjoy the society of men of moderate information ; and it was interesting to observe how, by a few apt questions, he would ascertain in what du-ection their pursuits lay, and then so draw them out as to give them the pleasure of feeling that they were contributing to his stock of that kind of knowledge which they could not but think useful. He was emi- nently alive to the emotions of pity, an affection always calculated to inspire attachment, but which in a man of abstract habits is, I fear, very unusual. He was gene- rous by nature, as well as upon principle, and in seasons of affliction would remarkably identify himself with those who most needed sympathy. He rather avoided, than \ r 48 MEMOm OP ROBERT HALL. I i I sought expressions of thankfulness; and sometime. «2Zh-^? ?"'' ??";/"" '■"^^ «^d more th^ enough ; remember, God has sent into the world a For some years, be made it a rule to pay a nastoral He dM T' """"Y' "'■';'' •^''"'^h, once^Lh ^^ He did the same, also, with regard to such of bfs ordi- nary hearers as he thought willing to receive him a, » mmister of religion. These wer^ not cllls but IL and usually paid on evenings, that he mi^ht meeltt whole assembled family. Imong the lower cte^s Z make them quite at their ease, he%vouId rdoC ^ith them at supper; and, that this might involve thm i^no and prayer, going "from house'o house." These we^ held once a fortnight, I think in thp .■.™,^ J^ once a week durin|the winte. ' lie idT^rp'oinr:^ official duty to attend them frequently; and rS,^ them, with the weekly meetings in the /ekrT as Sw thennometer for ascert^i„g fhe religioriLi" *'^ ts' Proceeding thus, it/was not surprising tliAf 1.^ « -r ration of the pious; that he extended ami.nH Jl growmg conviction of his excellency, a^dc^^i^™" in the stream of his ment^d and moral po^ "^ "^ ""^^ In him aU was at the utmost remove from „l^^ moroseness. Even the raillery in which he fl7T 7 showed his good nature, and U e^SL^/j^rX"^ two, and wa.s seldom disappointed OnZr^ • '^'^I'S'^"* '"st'uc- ever favourite repast of ^« hw^s hL^ f "^*V««<^f«'«"s he selected liis ^ith him, takin^^special care ilZ^titl 'should t"""' "^fu"^^ »°««^ possibly be needed, and askmg perri'onfn *?*''* ^"^ '^««'''J Uiud him. ^ * "" ^'^^ 'o '*^a^e the remainder be- AT CAMBRIDGE. m and, notwithstanding the avowed and lamented impetu- osity in argument to which he was prone, nothing, so far as I ever saw, but conceit, engrafted upon stupidity, pro- voked his impatience, and called forth a severity which he scarcely knew how to restrain.* With regard to dis- position, the predominant features were kindness and cheerfulness. He never deliberately gave pain to any one, except in those few extreme cases, where there ap- peared a moral necessity of " rebuking sharply" for the good of the offender. His kindness to children, to ser- vants, to the indigent, nay, to animals, was uniformly manifest. And such was his prevailing cheerfulness that he seemed to move and breathe in an atmosphere of hi- larity ; which, indeed, his countenance alwavs indicated, except when the pain in his back affected hi^^s spirits, and caused his imagination to dwell upon the evils of Cam- bridgeshire scenery. This was, in his case, far from a hypothetical grievance It senously diminished his happiness at Cambridge and at length, was the main cause of his quitting it. In one of my early interviews m ith him, before I had been a nionth at that place, he said to me, " What do you think of Cambridge, Sir?" 'It is a very interesting place/ ^ res, the place where Bacon and Barrow, and Newton studied, and where Jeremy Taylor was bom, caimot but be interesting. But that is not what 1 mean : what do you say to the scenery, Sir ?" ' Some of the public buildmgs are very striking, and the college walks verv ^Aff^l y^^ ^^^ *^^^^ ^ hesitated: he immediately added-- but there is nothing else to be said. ^Yhat ,, ra themselves ! and that I am " sorry to say is a permanent feeling with me." I ques- ♦ On Mr. Ilairs last visit to Cambridge, one of his friends took him mi for a momingr's ride, and showed him the improvements as to cul- tivation, by means of new incloaares, &c. " True," said he, " but still " tiiere is that odious llatness, thp.t insipid sameness of srenerj- all "around ; there is no variety, no beauty." Mis friend, anxious that he should at least admire something, said, ' Look at these fields, with the crops of com so smooth and so abundant; are not fAey pleasant ' And do they not excite the idea of plenty?' He rejoined with his ns'al Komptness, "Oh I yes : and so does a large meal-tub, filled to the brim. ut I was not thinking of plenty, but of beauty." At another time, when indulging the same strain of remark, he said, •• Iteyond the College precincts there is not a tree for a man to hang himself upon when he is weary of the barrenness of the place." A gentleman present reminded him that there were some trees in the way to Grantchester, a village about two miles from Cambridge. Mr. Hall rephed, "Yes, Sir, I recollect. Willows, I believe. Sir:-Nature haoging out signals of distress, Sir." AT CAMBRIDGE, 51 tioned the correctness of this impression, but he imme- diately rejoined, '^ Shocking place for the spirits, Sir ; I " wish you may not find it so ; it must be the very focus " of suicides. Were you ever at Bristol, Sir ? there is " scenery, scenery worth looking upon, and worth think- " ing of: and so there is even at Aberdeen, with all its "• surrounding barrenness. The trees on the banks of the " Don are as fine as those on the banks of the Cam ; and " the river is alive, Sir ; it falls over precipices, and foams " and dashes, so as to invigorate and inspire those who " witness it. The Don is a river., Sir, and the Severn is ^"^ a river; but not even a poet would so designate M^..l ^ i-_i-L -. /. - from of ** rirtKlo c.^««- ' ""' V"/ "^i-»" iiicii, aifiiui, lor anoiner « foble specimen, and abnost all crood old Saxon-En^Ush : J>urely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days „ of m;r bfe ; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Shortly after this I was reading the original edition of Dod- dridge s Pneumatology, and asked Mr. HaU to lend me Aippis s edition, in which the references to other autbori- H?tolVmp'TK?K ^Ta' ^'^^"««*^d^ «'« S:reatly increased. t«L ?• Ts.^^''^ ^^ ^'^ "^'^ P^^s^ss Kippiss edi.ion, in a tone which then surprised me a little, as it showed that he f^L ^v'^^'^ ?f^T'^^^^^'PP•^^'^ authority. I therefore asked, Was not Dr. Kippis a clever man .? * « He miabt be a very clever man by nature, for aught 1 know, but he laid ^LT^^ T^^^ "P'^'' *''' ^^^^ t^'^*t ^'^ ^^'^^ could not move. This was to me, who at that period devoted leTson"^*^'^ ^"^ ^^^^""^ '^^" '"^ thinking, an admirable i.t^LM?^^'*'" M ^t^^o- ^^^^r Arminian or a Calvin- "frh A • • ^'^''^f' ^;'' ^"^ ^ ^^^^^« I recede farther « hTJ/^T'^A'^ than from Calvinism. If a man profess « f msetf a decided Armmian, I infer from it that he is not a good lo^cian ; but. Sir, it does not interfere with his ^^ personal piety : look at good Mr. Benson, for example. I re^ird the question more as metaphysical than religious." VVhat do you thmk, Mr. Hall, of the preaching of Mr. "' I can scarcely say. His sermons have no if \ 1 , ', -, -v^"..^^ij ^a,j. HIS sermons nave no nooks; they take no hold of the mind." • Yet Sir he I J AAV '* often introduces thougbts that are very pretty : ' " Very «* pretty ! Why, Sir, a row of tea-caddies in a shop of Tun- " hridge ware is very pretty. But, what then? They are ** only empty tea-caddies." A lady who had been speaking of the Supreme Being with OTcat familiarity, but in religious phraseology, having retired, he said, " I wish I knew how to cure that good lady of her " bad habit. I have tried, but as j'et in vain. It is a great " mistake to affect this kind of familiarity with the King of ** kings, and speak of him as though he were a next-door ** neighbour, from the pretence of love. Mr. Boyle's well- " known habit was infinitely to be commended. And one *' of our old divines, I forget which, well remarks, that ' No- •* thing but ignorance can be guilty of this boldness ; that " there is no divinity but in a humble fear, no philosophy " but shows itself in silent admiration.' " When two or tliree gentlemen were discussing the ques- tion, whether a man of no religion can be a successful min- ister of the gospel, surprise was expressed that Mr. Hall re- mained silent. " Sir, (said he, in reply,) I would not deny " that a sermon from a bad man may sometimes do good ; " but the general question does not admit of an argument. " Is it at all probable, that one who is a willing servant of " Satan (and that you know. Sir, is the hypothesis you " assume), will fight against him with all bis might, and if not, what success can be rationally expected?'** Mr. Hall did not permit his sedulous cultivation of the mind to draw him aside from the cultivation of th ^ heart. The evidences were, indeed, very strong, tha his preparation for ministerial duty was devotional as well as intellectual. Thus, his public services, by a strik- ing gradation, for months and years, evinced an obvious growth, in mental power, in literary acquisition, and in the seriousness, affection, and ardour of a man of piety. His usefulness and his popularity increased ; the church and congregation became considerably augmented ; and in 1798 it was found necessary to enlarge the place of worship, to accommodate about two hundred more per- sons. Early in the year 1799, a severe fever, which brought * Several more miscellaneous gleaniosfs from Mr. Hall's remarks id eooversatioD are inserted in Appendix, Note A. ' 62 MEMOIR OF ROBERT H4LL. AT CAMBRIDGE. 63 I i km, m lis own apprehension, and that of his frienris, to the bnnk of the grave, gave him an opportunity of ex- penencing the support yielded by the doctrines of the cross in the near >iew of death and judgement/' He never before felt Iiis mind so calm and happy" The impression was not only sidutciry, but abiding ; and it agam prompted him to the investigation of one or two points, with regard to which he had long felt himself floating m uncertainty. Thus, although he had for some years steadily and earnestly enforced the necessity of dmne influence m the transformation of character and m perseverance in a course of consistent, holy obedience yet he spoke of it as " the influence of the Spirit of God " and never m express terms, as " the influence of the HolV Spirit. The reason was, that though he fully believed the necessity of spiritual agency in commencing and con- tinuing the spiritual life, he doubted the doctrine of the distinct personality of the Holy Spirit. But about this time he was struck >vith the fact, that whenever in pri- vate prayer he was in the most deeply devotional frame , most overwhelmed .vith the sense that he was nothing' •and God was all in all," he always felt himself inclined to adopt a tnnitanan doxology. This circumstance oc- cumng frequently, and more frequently meditated upon n a persuasion that the Holy Spirit is really and tm\v ip'Jw^ ^1 ""f "^ emanation. It was not, however, mitii JfcOO, that he publicly included the personality of the Mue ^ statements of the doctrine of spiritual In attempting to give some idea of the general charac- ter and style of Mr. Hall's public service!, while S the privilege of heanng him at Cambridge, I feel that I shall neither adequately describe what his preaching reafly was, nor even do justice to my own conceptions of it - His manner of reading the Scriptures at the beginning ot the service was not generally interesting; nor did the portion read always bear an obWous reference to the text Lt« •^fl^'^f '^'*^' ^'^"^^* ^^"^^^- ^^* when pas. sages of bcnpture were quoted in the sermon, they were so delivered as to give to their true meaning the most intelligible prominence and force. His prayers were remarkable for their simplicity, and their devotional feeling. No person could listen to them without being persuaded that he who uttered them was really engajjed in prayer, was holding communion with his God and Father in Jesus Christ. His tones and hLs countenance throughout these exercises were those of ofte most deeply imbued with a sense of his unworthi- ness, and throwing himself at the feet of the Great Eter- nal, conscious that he could present no claim for a single blessing but the blood of atonement, yet animated by the cheering hope that the voice of that blood would prevail. The structure of these prayers never indicated any pre- conceived plan. They were the genuine effusions of a truly devotional spirit, animated by a vivid recollection of what, in his own state, in that of the congregation, of the town and vicinity, needed most ardently to be laid before the Father of Mercies. Thus they were remark- ably comprehensive, and furnished a far greater variety on the successive occasions of public worship, than those of any other minister whom I have ever known. The portions which were devoted to intercession, operated most happily in drawing the affections of his people to- wards himself: since they showed how completely his christian sympathy had prepared him to make their re- spective cases his own. The commencement of his sermons did not excite much expectation in strangers, except they were such as recol- lected how the mental agitation, produced by diffidence, chnracterized the first sentences of some of the orators of antiquity. He began with hesitation, and often in a very low and feeble tone, coughing frequently, as though he were oppressed by asthmatic obstructions. As he proceoded his manner became easy, graceful, and at length highly impassioned ; his voice also acquired more flexibility, body, and sweetness, and, in all his happier and more successful efforts, swelled into a stream of the most touching and impressive melody. The farther he advanced, the more spontaneous natural, and free fiom 64 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. labour, seemed the progression of thought. He announ- ced the results of the most extensive reading, of the most patient mvestigation, or of the piofoundest thinking, with such unassummg simphcty, yet set them in such a posi- tion of obvious and lucd reality, that the auditors won- dered how thmgs so simple and manifest should hare escaped them. Throughout his sermons he kept his subject thoroughly in view, and so incessantly bTough forward new arguments, or new illustrations, to confirtn or to explain U, that with him amplification was aZZ mranably accumulative in its tendency. One thought was succeeded by another, and that byinother, and S- other each more weighty than the preceding, each more osculated to deepen and render pemanent the ultimate impression. He could at pleasure adopt the umidomei the ornamental, or the energetic ; and indeed combine them m every diyereity of modulation. In his higher flights, what he said of Rurke might, with the slightest laid all nature under tribute, and collected nches from „n7T.f ^°^ °^ *^ '"■*^'''"'' =""1 «^<''y ^^alk of art:- and at the same time, that could be affirmed of Mr. HaU which could not be affirmed of Mr. Burke, that he neror fehgued and oppressed by gaudy and superfluous imagery. Whenever the subject obviously justified it, he would y^eld the rems to an eloquence more diffiisiv; and mag- ^pf™?H * ^'^ °"'"^y '^'^ °f P"'P'' instruction seemed to requu-e j yet so exquisite was his perception oL T/^'. '"'• '?. T''^ ^'' J»%«™ent, that not the coldest taste, provided it were real taste, could ever wish an image omitted which Mr. HaU had introduced His inexhaustible variety augmented the general effect The same unages, the same illustrations, scarcely eve^ recurred. So ample were his stores, that repetition of every kind wm usually avoided ; while in his illustrt tions he would connect and contrast what was disjoined and opposed, or distinctly unfold what was abstijted or o^r'r/""ii -T' ^!iT^ 8™^""'y intelligible, not only to the well-mformed, but to the meanest capacity. As he advanced to his practical applications, la W. AT CAMBRIDGE. ^5 montnl powers were shown in the most palpable but finely balanced exercise. His mind would, if 1 may so speak, collect itself and come forth with a luminous activity, proving, as he advanced, how vast, and, in some important senses, how next to irresistible those powers were. In such seasons his preaching communicated uni- versal animation : his congregation would seem to par- take of his spirit, to think and feel as he did, to be fully influenced by the presence of the objects which he had placed before them, fully actuated by the motives which he had enforced with such energy and pathos. All was doubtless heightened by his singular rapidity of utterance,— by the rhythmical structure of his sen- tences, calculated at once for the transmission of the most momentous truths, for the powers of his voice, and for the convenience of breathing freely at measured in- tervals—and more than all, by the unequivocal earnest- ness and sincerity which pervaded the whole, and by the eloquence of his most speaking countenance and pene- trating eye. In his sublimer strains, not only was every fiiculty of the soul enkindled and in entire operation, but his very features seemed fully to sympathize with the spirit, and to give out, nay, to throrv out, thought, and sentiment, and feeling. From the commencement of his discourse an almost breathless silence prevailed, deeply impressive and so- lemnizing from its singular intenseness. Not a sound was heard but that of the preacher s voice— scarcely an eye but was fixed upon him — not a countenance that he did not watch, and read, and interpret, as he surveyed them again and again with his rapid, ever-excursive glance. As he advanced and increased in animation, nve or six of the auditors would be seen to rise and lean forward over the front of their pews, still keeping their eyes upon him. Some new or striking sentiment or ex- j.ression would, in a few minutes, cause others to rise in like manner: shortly afterwards stiU more, and so on, until long before the close of the sermon, it often hap- pened that a considerable portion of the congregation wt re seen standing,— every eye directed to the preacher, Vol, I p I I ' i MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. ret now and then for a moment glancing from one to another, thus transraittincr and reciprocating thouirht and feeling :--Mr. Hall himself, thougt maniflstlv absorbei^ m his siibject^ conscious of the whole, receiving new ani- mation from what he thus witnessed, reflecting it back upon those who were aheady alive to the inspiration, until all that were susceptible of thought and emotion ■eemed wound up to the utmost limit of elevation on mm,^^yhen he would close, and they reluctantly and alowljr resume their seats.* ^ Scenes like this I have witnessed repeatedly, so pro- ductive of intense and hallowed feeling, that, after an in- terval of nearly forty years, they present themselves to my mmd with a more vivid influence than many of the transactions of the last month. . - And surely the dehghtful retrospection may be safely indulged, when it is considered that these sublime exei^- tions were made for the promotion of mans best interests —to warn the impenitent~to show to the sinner the fatal error of his way-to invite the self-condemned to the only the all-effectual remedy-to console and en- courage the faithful—to distribute the bread of life among * Striking evidences of the roost stimnfatinj? immediate iroDreMinn 7n°?S 9^ *T;j""tf u ^ r^'fi' «»'y *^" example. *' '"Prewio- In 1812, Mr. Hall, who then resided at Uicester oaid on^ nf K:- penodjcal visit, to Bristol, and as as„al, often prel^h 'dTt Broadmead He dehvered a most solemn and impressive sermon on the teir'nld .n trespasses and s.os ; " of which the concluding appeals were remaS ably subhme and awful. The moment he had delivered ^hril^tn tence. Dr. Ry and, then the pastor of the churctSetd part ofX' way up the pulp.t stmrs, and, while the tears trickled down Ws vene" able iace, exc aimed w,th a vehemence whidi astonished both S^ preacher and the congregation,-" Let all that are alive in JerZilI™ pray for the dead that they may live ! " Jerusalem In 1814, Mr. Hall, while preaching among his old friends at Pun. bridge, just before he commenced the application of hi sermon utVerTd a short, but very fervent ejacul.tory prayer, during which the whole con gregation arose from their seats. Mr. Hall seemed surpri^d for a mil tnent and but for a moment, and remained in prayeT "raK^? fivt maiutes He then res.uned his sermon, and contmJed preachTn/for more than twenty minutes, in such a strain of n.agSeTa, d over who m.„^ eloquence, as the extraordinary incident nSglU be expected III III 1 AT CAMBRIDGE. QJ those who must otherwise perish — ^to " build up the « church in her most holy faith ;" when it is known also, that while men of taste and intellect were both gratified and instructed, the uncultivated rustic heard, and under- stood, and « received the Word of Life," and went on his way rejoicing. Numerous and diversified as were the feelings excited by this extraordinary preacher, none were more prevailing than surprise that one so richlv endowed should seem so utteriv unconscious of it, and gratitude that the Great Head of the church should have called such a man to his service, and placed him in sf> important a station as Cambridge, when his intellectuid powers seemed to have nearly attained their full maturity and vigour. I must not, I perceive, allow myself to sketch the difference between his sermons and his expositions, or between his preaching at Cambridge and in the neicrh- bounng villages : nor must I dwell upon the weekly evening services, when he met a few of his people, chiefly of the poorer classes, in the vestry of his place of wor- ship, and, m a strain of the most chaste and simple elo- quence, comforted and instructed them in iho " thing's, portaining to the kingdom of God."* The diversity of his powers, the sincerity of his character, the warmth of his love to God and man, were in aU alike apparent : and no one that was not the victim of prejudice, or the slave of sm. could have seen him engaged in the service ot God, without bemg ready to testify, " this man must have read much, thought much, and prayed much," to be thus admirably furnished for his ^eat work. It would be highly instructive and gratifying to know by what process so finished a preacher, so exquisite and tasteful a writer, as Mr. Hall, prepared his respective i;v!J^'*!i*T' "* ®^ *^^^^ evening lectures were often biographical. The „ "?.; "^"'?'» «^>7ere briefly delineated, and made the basis of some r 1 J , fl"'^• '''^^^^'^^' Whenever the subject would fairly allow JL 1- 'f flections had an appropriate bearing upon the duties, the "John^iflffTb''*'^' of persons in hamble I,fe. The sermon on JiH Jn hi K *"f conrse," inserted in th s collection, is very ana lo- '.^o^J t;haracterto the discourses to whi. h I nere refer ; but iU « onunencement 18 more elj^bornte. 68 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. f compositions for the pulpit and the press. But the re-' Juctance with which he spoke either of himself or of his occupations, deprives us of much of this desirable infor- mation. At the time when our intercourse was most trequent and unrestrained, I have often been with him while he was preparing for the pulpit, and have occiision- a ly ventured to ask him a few questions; his answers, always frank and elucidatory, however concise, enabled ni^ by means, also, of frequent reference to his notes on different sermons which I heard delivered, to form toler- ably satisfactory conjectures as to the course pursued He then stated, as he since has to different friends, that he never proce^eded even to think of adopting a specific text as fitted for a sermon, until the matter it presented stood out m the form of a particular, distinct, and pre- cise topic ; he could then take it up and lay it dowA as he pleased. Of his extraordinary power of abstraction I have spoken m another place.* By its means he could, at pleasure, insulate, nay, in a manner enclose himself from every thmg around him ; and thus pursue his mental operations. It was usual with him to have five or SIX subjects under simultaneous training ; to either of which he could direct his attention as inclination or ne- cessity required. The grand division of thought, the heads of a sermon, for example, he would trace out with the most prominent lines of demarcation ; and these for some years supplied all the hints that he needed in the pulpit, except on extraordinary occasions. t To these grand divisions he referred, and upon them suspended all the subordinate trains of thought. The latter, again, ap- pear to have been of two classes altogether distinct ; outi bne trains of thought, and trains into which much of the detail was mterwoven. In the outhne train, the whole plan was earned out and completed as to the argument : • In a note that precedes his sermon on Modern Infidelity. nrLi;l*° "■^mple both of comprehensive miniature ontlipe, and of ^^ShclZZ^" "?"' *^' ?*^^r^"'P'"*^^^°"' ^^'^^" he wished to sLe m^^tots^lnrl'iir' H** u.^'" ^^"""^^^ sentiments on a mo«t mc^ S "S -.ff k ' . ^'' «"" »„^^vn «n«'y«8 « f the sermon on John i, ^^, 36, and the language actually employed in the sermon itaelf. AT CAMBRIDGE. 69 I in that of detail, the illustrations, images, and subordi- nate proofs, were selected and classified ; and in those instances where the force of an argument, or the probable success of a general application, would mainly depend upon the language, even that was selected and appropri- ated, sometimes to tlie precise collocation of the words. Of some sermons, no portions whatever were wrought out thus minutely ; the language employed in preaching being that which spontaneously occun-ed at the time : of others, this minute attention was paid to the verbal struc^ ture of nearly half: of a few, the entire train of prepara- tion, almost from the beginning to the end, extended to the very sentences. Yet the marked peculiarity con- sisted in this, that the process, even when thus directed to minutiaB in his more elaborate efforts, did not require the use of the pen ; at least at the time to which these remarks principally apply.* For, Mr. Hall had a sin- gular faculty for continuous mental composition, apart from the aid which writing supplies. Words were so disciplined to his use, that the more he thought on any subject, the more closely were the topics of thought asso- ciated with appropriate terms and phrases ; and it was manifest that he had carefully disciplined his mind to this as an independent exercise, probably to avoid the pain and fatigue which always attended the process of writing. Whenever he pleased he could thus pursue the consecution to a great extent, in sentences, many of them perfectly formed and elaborately finished, as he w<«nt along, and easily called up again by memory, as occasion required ; not, however, in their separate charac- ter, as elements of language, but because of their being fully worked into the substance of thought. It hence happened that the excellence which other persons often * Mr. Hall doubtless varied his manner of preparation in different periods. For three or four years after his settlement at Leicester, he wrote down nearly a third of the sermon, and left all the rest to flow from the outhne plan while he was preaching. But for some years alterwards he seldom allowed his notes to exceed two pages, and is thought to have indulijed himself more than at any other period of his I lie m entirely extemixiraneous eloquence. At that time his sermons were especially distinguished by simplicity and pathos. ^\ 70 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT CAMBRIDGE, 71 •1 » attam as to style, from the use of the pen, in written, nsible composition, (employing the eye upon words, in- stead of fixing the memory upon substantial mental pro- duct, and. It may be, diminishing the intellectual power by substituting for one of its faculties a mechanical re- sult,) he more successfully and uniformly attained by a purely meditative process. And I am persuaded that if he could hare instantly impressed his trains of thought upon paper, with the incorporated words, and mth the hving spirit m which they were conceived, hundreds if not thousands of passages would have been preserved, as chaste and polished in diction, as elastic and energetic in tone, as can be selected from any part of his works. Wha^ however, could not thus be accomplished by the pen, has been achieved, as to immediate impressioii, in the pulpit; and hence his celebrity, unequallei in modem tunes, as a sacred orator. In preparing for the press, the process was in many respects essentially different. There was, from the out- set, a struggle to overcome the reluctance to write, aris- ing from the anticipation of increased pain, which he knew must be endured so long as he was engaged in the mechanical act, and at every return to the labour he had a new reluctance to surmount. Tiiere was, moreover, the constimt effort to restrain a mind naturally active, ardent, and rapid in all its movements, to a slow pro- gression ; nay, a farther effort, and, to a mind so consti- tuted, a very irksome one, to bring the thoughts back from the ultimate issue to which they were incessantly hastenmg, and cause them to pass and repass, again and agam, hy a comparatively sluggish course, the siccessive links m a long chain. Nor was this aU. He had formed tor himself, as a writer, an ideal standard of excellence, which could not be reached:* his perception of beauty in ^imposition was so delicate and refined, that in regard to his own productions it engendered perhaps a fastidious taste ; and, deep and prevailing as was his humility, he was not insensible to the value of a high reputation,* and, theretore, cautiously guarded against the risk of dimi- • * I aw tormented with the Oeaire of writing better thaa I caa.'» nishing his usefulness among certain classes of readers, by consigning any production to the world that had not been thoroughly subjected to the labor limw. Hence the extreme slowness with which he composed for the press ; writing, improving, rejecting the improvement ; seeking another, rejecting it ; recasting whole sentences and pages ; often recurring precisely to the original {)hraseology ; and still offcener repenting, when it was too ate, that ne had not done so. All this he lamented as a serious defect, declaring that it gave, in his own view, to his written compositions an air of stiffness and formality which deprived him of all complacency in them. And I cannot but feel persuaded that, notwithstanding the ex- quisite harmony and beauty which characterize every thing that he has published, they were, even in point of felicity of diction, and the majestic current and force of language, inferior to the " winged words" that often es- caped from his lips, when " his soul was enlarged* in the discharge of ministerial duty. May we not suggest a probahle reason for this, by ob- serving that when Mr. Hall stood forth as the minister of the sanctuary, he placed the fire upon the altar in the humble confidence that it would be kept alive by the communication of grace and spirit from on high ; but that, when he came before the public as an author, he sometimes extinguished his own flame, pure and ethereal as it notwithstanding was, in his efforts to ornament the vase in which he held it up to view.* But I must not dwell longer on these topics. In the beginning of the year 1 799, Mr. Hall had the happiness of renewing personal intercourse with his early friend. Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Mackintosh, being about to deliver a course of lectures on the Law of Na- ture and Nations, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, deemed it expe- • That Mr. Hall did not always reqaire much time for the prodoc- tion of elegant and spirited wriling, interspersed with passages of re- markable beauty, ana the most elaborate polish, is manifest from hi» two earlv political publications, both composed currente ealamo, and each yielding as powerful and ^nished specimeus of style and thooghl ai can be drawn from bif VVoka, 72 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. AT CAMBRIDGE. 73 iJ^ dient, for the completion of some of the extensive re- searches which that important undertaking required, to reside for a few months at Cambridge, that he might consult tlie more valuable of the college libraries, as well as the public library belonging to the University gener- ally. Another distinguished indiWdual, the late Dr. Samuel Parr, spent several weeks at Cambridge at the same time, for the pur[*ose of visiting some of his old friends, of associating with Mr. Mackintosh, and of be- coming personally acquainted with Mr. Hall, whose character he had long known and highly valued. Mr. Hall, pleased to refresh his spirits in the society of his beloved fellow-student, and by no means unwilling to glean something from the stores of so profound a scholar as Dr. Parr, often spent his evenings with these two eminent men, and a few members of the University, who were invited to their select parties, and with whom fix>m that time he cultivated an intimacy. This circumstance led to the formation of Mr. Hall's most inveterate habit — that of smoking. Previously to this period he had always censured tlie practice in the strongest terms ; but, on associating with Dr. Parr, his aversion to what he used to denominate " an odious cus- tom," soon passed away. The Doctor was always en- veloped in a dense cloud of smoke, from sun-rise until midnight ; and no person could remain in his company long without great inconvenience, unless he learnt to smoke in self-defence. Mr. Hall, therefore, made the attempt, and quickly overcame every obstacle. I well recollect entering his apartment just as he had acquired this happy art ; and seeing him sit at ease, the smoke rising above his head in lurid, spiral volumes, he inhal- ing and apparently enjoying its fiBgrance, I could not suppress my astonishment. " O Sir, (said he) I am " only qualifying myself for the society of a Doctor of ** Divinity ; and this, holding up the pipe, is my test of " admission." Mr. Hall's Cambridge friends were divided in their feelings and wishes with regard to this new practice. The majority approved it, from a belief that the narcotic in fluence of tobacco would mitigate the pain which he had 80 long endured. Others, apprehending that his habit of converting ever^ thing into a source of enjoyment would transform him into an unremitting smoker, and that in- iury to his health would ensue, ventured to expostulate with him. I belonged to the latter class, and put into his hands Dr. Adam Clarke's pamphlet on " The Use and Abuse of Tobacco," with a request that he would read it. In a few days he returned it, and at once, as if to preclude discussion, " Thank you. Sir, for Adam *' Clarke's pamphlet. I can't refiite his arguments, and " I can't give up smoking." We now approach the time when Mr. Hall had ac- quired a signal extension of celebrity. Many who had hailed the French Revolution of 17B9 as an event pro- ductive of extensive benefit, were compelled to admit, after a few years, that the great leaders in that Revolu- tion, and stiil more their followers, committed grievous blunders, and grosser crimes, from the want of higher than political principles to control their actions. Yet, in the false security which some felt, and others insi- diously aimed to inspire, it was suspected but by few, that much of our periodic literature had, under the plea of encouraging free discussion, become irreligious in its tendency, and that various unprincipled demagogues in London, and the large manufacturing towns, not only held up to admiration the conduct of the detestable actors in " the reign of terror," but were constantly exert- ing themselves to disseminate democracy and atheism conjointly. Such, however, was the fact. From 17i^5 to 1799, debating rooms were opened in various parts of the metropolis, in which the most barefiiced infidelity was taught, and to which the lower classes were invited, often on Sunday evenings, by a variety of specious allure- ments. Mr. Hall was no sooner convinced of the exist- ence of these sources of evil, and of the mischief they produced, than he began to use the voice of warning, in his private intercoiu^e among his people, and to impress upon such of the young as he feared had received a scep- tical bias, that of all fanaticism, the fanaticism of infi- iti 74 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. AT CAMBRIDGE. 75 ' .1 delity then preyalent was at once the most preposterous and the most destnictiye. Mi. Hall's persuasion of the continuance and growth of this infidel spirit, induced him to preach and publish his celebrated sermon on " Modem Infidelity ;* which was not, therefore, as many afiirmed, a hasty production, written under excited feelings and false alarms, but the deliberate result of a confirmed belief, that the most strenuous efforts were required to repel mischief so awfully and insidiously diffused. Before the publication of this sermon, its author had fully " counted the cost" as to the obloquy which it would bring upon him from various quarters ; but he did not at all anticipate its extraordinary success, and the cor- responding extension of his reputation. As repeated editions were called for, he yielded his assent with great hesitation, from a fear that the copies would remain \m- sold ; and he was the last to see, what every one else perceived, that it had carried his celebrity as a profound thinker and elegant writer far beyond the limits of the denomination to which he was so bright an ornament. Immediately after this sermon issued from the press, the consistency and integrity of the author were vehe- mently attacked in several letters which appeared in the " Cambridge Intelligencer," then a popular and widely circulated newspaper. Its editor, Mr. Flower, had re- ceived in an ill spirit Mr. Hall's advice that he would repress the violent tone of his political disquisitions, and liad, from other causes which need not now be developed, become much disposed to misinterpret his motives and depreciate his character. He, therefore, managed to keep alive the controversy for some months, occasionally aiding, by his own remarks, those of his correspondents who opposed Mr. Hall, and as often casting illiberal in sinuations upon the individual who had stepped forward in defence of the sermon and its author. A few months afler this discussion subsided, Mr. Flower, who had been summoned before the House of Lords, and iinprisoned in Newgate for a libel on Bishop Watson, published an exculpatory pamphlet ; in which, with a view to draw the attention of the public as speedily as possible from his own unmanly and disingenuous conduct, while at the bar of the House, he soon passed from his personal defence to a virulent attack upon Mr. Hall, his former pastor. Shortly afterwards, another controvertist, a Mr. An- thony Robinson, unwilling that Mr. Flower and his coadjutors should gather all the laurels in so noble a conflict, hastened into the field; and, it must be admitted, left them far behind. He published, in a pamphlet of more than sixty pages, " An Examina- tion of Mr. Hall's Sermon." He did not bring against the preacher the positive charge of apostasy, having dis- crimination enough to see that it was one thing to refer the atrocities of the reign of terror to the political prin- ciples of the perpetrators, and quite another to ascribe them to their avowed and unblushing atheism. But the crimes that he imputed to Mr. Hall, were, that he was " an imitator of Mr. Burke," that he was " fierce and even savage in expression," that his "charges against atheism are unfounded," and that he taught " that it was excusable, if not meritorious, to punish men for errors in religious opinions!" For himself, he main- tained, that " all men are essentially alike in moral con- duct ;* that the sum of all the morality of religionists is, *' do good unto the household of faith, and to them only ; kill, plunder, calumniate the heretics ;" that " all public religions are opposed to all private morality;" that " atheism (on the contrary) tends but little to alter our moral sentiments ;" and that " all religions except the belief that rewards are to be conferred upon the benefi- cent, and for that service exclusively, are not merely as bad, but infinitely worse than any kind or degree of scep" ticism ;" because " atheism leaves every human present motive in fuU force^ whilst every religion or mode of faith different from what is above expressed, changes the name and the nature of morality, saps the foundations of all benevolence, and introduces malice, hostility, and murder, under the pretext of love to God" *" This being • Since the first pnblication of this Memoir, I have learnt, what ja»- tice to Mr. Anthony Robinson requires me to state, that, after a few 76 MEMOIR OF ROBERT II ALL. AT CAMBRIDGE. IT i a fair specimen of the shameless impiety with which the press then teemed, we need not wonder at the applauses bestowed upon Mr. Hall, for advancing with such sin- gular talent and ahility to stem the torrent. With the exception of a few letters from private friends, who disapproved of his denominating the Roman Ca- tholic clergy " the Christiim priesthood," every commu- nication he received was highly gratifying, especially as it did justice to his motives. The most distinguished members of the University were loud in his praises: numerous passages in the sermon which were profound in reasoning, or touching and beautiful in expression, were read and eulogized in every college and almost every company ; and the whole composition was recom- mended in the charges and sermons of the dignified and otlier clergy in terms of the warmest praise. The *' Monthly Review" (then the leading critical journal), the " British Critic" (at that time under the able super- intendence of Dr. Nares), and other Reviews, gave to the sermon the highest commendation. Kett in his " Ele- ments of General Kno»vledge," William Belsham in his " History of Great Britain,*^ Dr. Parr in the notes to his years, his sentiments underwent some important changes, and he bit- terlj; lamented his acriraonioiw attack upon Mr. Hall and his principles. He invariably expressed himself in the warmest terms of admiration of his talents as a preacher and author, and of veneration of his excellen- cies as a man. He characterized him as the most eloquent man in Bri- tain after the death of Burke: and, on one occasion, when speaking to Mr. S, J. Button, a son of the late Rev. W. Button, of Mr. Hall, on advertmg to his own treatment of him, he burst into tears, and ex- claimed, " Robert Hall is not only one of the greatest, but the best of men." lu a letter to the same gentleman, dated January, 1818, he says, " amongst writers in the class of divines, Bishop Jeremy Taylor is tlie only man, who is at all. in the constituents of true eloquence, to be com- pared to Mr. Hall." '* Why is he not placed in the most conspicuous situation that the Dissenters have to give ? Do they not know that his equal in public qualifications exists not iu the kingdom ? And amongst their numerous ministers, there is not oue of severer virtue. He has had dre^adful sutferings ; may God grant that uninterrupted comfort may attend him to the close of life, and that every blessing may be the por- tion of his family." Mr. Hall, I understand, was informed of this change, and expressed much gratification that the most aromfnl and contemptuous ot his opponents, hnd seen his error, and become his fnend. " VVhen a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even hi$ enemies to be at peace with him.** celehrated " Spital Sermon," and many others, were pro- fuse in their expressions of panegyric. From that time ]^Ir. Hall's reputation was placed upon an eminence, which it will probably retain as long as purity and ele- vation of style, deeply philosophical views of the springs and motives of action, and correct theological sentiments, are duly appreciated in the world.* Of the letters received by Mr. Hall on this occasion, the follo>ving from the pen of his friend Mackintosh, has escaped the ravages of time. " Serle Street, Lincoln s Inn, « 26 March, 1800. " Dear Hall, . . " From the enclosed letter, jou will see the opinion " which the Bishop of Londont has formed of your sermon, • That the reader may be put in possession of what was most in- teresting in the panegyrical notices to which I have above alluded, I shall insert the substance of two reviews written by Sir Jas. Mackintosh, and of the often-cited note of Dr. Parr, neither of which is now easily attainable, in a note atthe end of this Memoir. See Note B. Appendix. On the publication of Dr. Parr's " Spital Sermon," I took a copy of it to Mr. Hall ; and sat down at his table while he hastily turned over the leaves. He was greatly amused bv the cursory examination, but had evidently no expectation that any of the notes referred to himself. " What a profusion of Greek, Sir! Why, if 1 were to write so, they *• would call me a pedant ; but it is all natural in Parr." " What a " strange medley,Sir. The gownsmen will call him Farrago Parr."^ At length 1 saw his eye glance upon the notes which relate to himself. His countenance underwent the most rapid changes, indicating surprise, regret, and pity : in a very few minutes he threw down the book, and exclaimed, " Poor man ! poor man ! I am very sorry for him ! He is •' certainly insane, Sir ! VV here were his friends. Sir "i Was there n(^ " body to sift the folly out of his notes, and prevent its publication ? "Prorman!" , If Dr. Parr's admira'ion of Mr. Hall indicated insanity, it continued in show itself until his death ; for in his Will he says, * I bequeath a mourning ring to the Rev. Robert Hall, as a mark of my reverence for his exemplary virtues, and of my admiration of his sublime and hallowed f Dr. Porteus. This enclosure is not now extant. A few months afterwards, Mr. Hall visited the bishop at Fulham, and shortly alter his return to Cambridge, he received a copy of Kennicott's Hebrevr Bible, two vols., folio, in the first of which the bishop had inscribed this testimony in his own hand : *' These volumes are presented as an appropriate intimation of that applause, veneration, and gratitude, that are due to the acute detector, perspicuous impugner, and victonous an- tagonist, of the sceptical, infidel, and anti- christian sophists of the pr©- wot times." !il M ft. )■ i 78 MEMOIR OF ROBERT HALL. (( (( ft tt u ** and you "will observe that he does some justice to your " merit. Mr. Archdeacon Eaton, to whom tlie letter was written, has allowed me to send it to you ; and I thought it might not be disagreeable to you to have it, as the opinion of a man, not indeed of very vigorous understand- ing, but an elegant writer, a man of taste and virtue, not to mention his high station in the church. " I last night had a conversation about tlie sermon with a man of much greater talents, at a place where theological, or even littrary discussions, are seldom heard. It was with Mr. Windham, at the Durhess of Gordons rout. I asked him whether he had read it. He told me that he had, that he had recommended it to every body ; and, among others, on that very day, to the new Bishop of Bangor,* who had dined with him. He said that he was exceedingly struck with the style, but still more with the matter. He particularly praised the passage on vanity as an admirable commentary on Mr. Burke's observations on vanity in his character of Rousseau. He did not like it the worse, he said, for being taken from the source of all good, as he considered Mr. Burke's works to be. He thought, however, that you had carried your attack on vanity rather too far. He had reconnnended the sermon to Lord Grenville, who seemed sceptical about any thing good coming from the pastor of a Baptist congregation, especially at Cambridge. ** This, you see, is the imhnppy impression which Priest- ley has made, and which, if you j^roceed as you have so nobly begun, you will assuredly efface. But you will never do all the good which it is in your power to do, unless you assert your own importance, and call to mind that as the Dissenters have no man comparable to you, it is your province to guide them, and not to be guided by their ignorance and big\>try. 1 am almost sorry you thought any apology due to those senseless bigots who blamed you for compassion [towards] the clergy of France, as innocent sufferers and as martyrs to the Christian faith during the most barbarous persecution that has fallen upon Christianity, perhaps since its origin, but certainly since its establishment by Constantine. * * ♦ ***** I own I thought well of Horsley when I found him, in his charge, call these unhappy men *our Christian Brethren :* the bishops and clergy of the persecuted church of France ! This is the language of truth. This is the spirit of Christianity, * Dr. Cleaver. AT CAMBRIDGE. 79 it *( ti €i ti tt " I met with a combination in Ovid, the other day, which would have suited your sermon. Speaking of the humau descendants of the giants, he says— " Sed et ilia propago ** Contemptrix supenim, saevaeque avidissima caediti •* £t violfeDta tuit. Scires e sanguine uatos." Met. I. 160. " The union of ferocity with irreliglon is agreeable to yout reasonmg. I am going to send copies of my third edition* to Paley and Watson, to Fox and the Lord Chancellor.t I should like to send copies of your sermon with them. If you will direct six copies to be sent here, I shall distribute them in such a manner as will, I think, not be hurtful. " Mrs. Mackintosh joins me in the most kind and respect- ful remembrance. Believe me ever, " Dear Hall, " Your affectionate friend, ** James Mackintosh." Mr, Mackintosh continued to evince both the steadi- ness of his friendship for Mr. Hall, and the high value which he set upon this Sermon, by frequently quoting it and applying it to the elucidation of the Lectures which he was then delivering in Lincoln s-Inn. Seveml of his auditors were, in consequence, induced sometimes to spend their Sundays at Cambridge, that they might listen to the pulpit instructions of the individual of whom they had heard so much. Many also of the members of the University, including not merely under-graduates, but college fellows an«l tutors, were often seen at the Baptist place of worship. These sometimes amounted to fifty or sixty : and a few of them attended so con- stantly upon the afternoon service that they became almost regarded as regular hearers. Among the latter, some have since become distinguished men, and occupy important stations either in the church or in the public service, as statesmen or senators. The attendance of so many university students upon the services of a Dissenting Minister, at length began to * Of the Disconrse on the Study of the Law of Nature and Nations, f 1 he Earl ol Uosslyn. 80 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT CAMBRfDOft. ii 'I excite alarm among the " Heads of Houses ;" of whom a meeting was summoned to consider the expediency ot intirposing some authoritative measure to prevent this irregularity. But Dr. Mansel. then niiister of the largest college, Trinity, and afterwards Bishop of 'Bristol, " de- clared that he could not be a party in such a measure : he admired and revered Mr. Hall, both for his talents and for his genuine liberality ; he had ascertained that his preaching was not that of a partisan, but of an en- lightened minister of Christ ; and therefore if he were not the Master of Trinity he sliould certainly often attend liimself ; and that even now he had experienced a severe struggle before he could make up his mind to relinquish so great a benefit." Shortly after this he personally thanked Mr. Hall, not only for his sermon, but for his general efforts in the Christian cause.; and through the medium of a common friend, endeavoured to induce him to enter the established church. This, I believe, waa the only direct attempt to persuade Mr. Hall to conform. None of these circumstances were permitted to draw Mr. Hall aside from his ordinary course. His studies, his public duties, his pastoral visits, were each assigned their natural place, as before. If there were any change, it was manifest in his increased watchfulness over him- self, and perhaps, in giving a rather more critical com- plexion than before to certain portions of his morning expositions, and in always concluding them with such strong practical appeals as might be suited to a congre- gation of mixed character.* If I do not greatly mistake, however, his sentiments with regard to controversy in general were considerably modified from this period. The language of the preface to his sermon, on the advantages of union, was in truth the language of his heart and conduct; so that he * By this time Mr. Hall's character for orthodoxy had become 80 completely established, that he was invited, on his visits to London, to preach tor the Rev. Abraham Booth, a rigid investigator of the claims of all whom he admitted to his pulpit On these occasions, the excel- lent fohn Newton, Mr. Gnnn, and other pious clergymen residing iu London, gladly availed themaelvea of the opportunity of hearing him preach. I \ abstained from public discussions except on questions that seemed of vital importance, either in regard to fun- damental, truth, or the essential privileges of christians. Having leamt that one of the severest trials of human virtue is the trial of controversy, he resolved, on occasions when silence became inexpedient or censurable, not to repel even injustice and misrepresentation in an angry spirit Thus when he undertook the refutation of Bishop Horsley's charge, that village preachers among methodista and dissenters were teachers of insubordination and se- dition, indignant as he doubtless felt at so unjust an m- sinuation, he opposed it in a manner as remarkable for the conciliatory spirit which it exhibits, as for the sin- gular train of original thought, and cogent argument, which runs through that interesting fragment.* In little more than two years after the publication of the sermon on Modem Infidelity, Mr. Hall again appear- ed before the public as an author. The transient peace of Amiens was celebrated by a general thanksgiving throughout England on the 1st of June, 1802. In the sermon preached by Mr. Hall on that occasion, he en- deavoured first to awaken the gratitude of his auditors by a most touching picture of the horrors of war, firom which Europe had just escaped ; and then to apply the gratitude so excited, to acts of benevolence. I have ad- verted in another place to Mr. Hall's reasons for preach- ing that sermon memoriter, vrithout deviation, firom his own written copy. I recur to it for a moment, merely to state that though it was delivered with a most impress- ive dignity, and with less rapidity than that to which he usually yielded himself, yet, in one or two parts, he ob- viously felt great difficulty in checking his inclination either to modify his language, or to expatiate more at large. This was especially observable at the passage commencing with " Conceive but for a moment the con- " stemation which the approach of an invading army *' would impress on the peaceful villages in this neigh- *' bourhood." He mentioned afterwards, that the strug- *Thaton Village preaching, commenced in 1801, and published in Vol.VL of this collection. VOL. I. O I l! I; ■; 82 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. gle between his desire to correct what he, just then, saw was " a conftision in the groupmg," and his determination •* not to deviate from his lesson," was snch as rendered it almost impossible for him to proceed. To this kind of perplexity he never again exposed himself. The nation had scarcely tasted the blessings of peace, when a dispute on one of the articles of the treaty of Amiens involved us in a fresh war with the French. Buonaparte, then First Consul, aware of the British as^ cendency at sea, resolved first to attack our continental dominions. He, also, seized on the persons and proper- ty of the numerous EngUsh who had visited France du- ring the brief interval of peace, detaining them as prison- ers of war ; and then menaced this country with invasion. So strange, and in some respects, so atrocious a com- mencement of hostilities, had a singular effect in melting down dissension, and diffusing a spirit of ahnost unex- ampled unanimity, among all ranks and classes of the community. To adopt Mr. Hall's emphatic language on that occasion : " It was a struggle for existence, not " for empire. It must STu-ely be regarded as a happy *' circumstance that the contest did not take this shape "at an earlier period, while many were deceived by cer- " tain specious pretences of liberty into a favourable opin- " ion of our enemy's designs. The popular delusion had *' passed ; the most unexampled prodigies of guilt had dis- " pelled it ; and, after a series of rapine and cruelty, had " torn fromevery heart theiagt fibres of mistaJcenpartialUi/.'" At this momentous period Air, Hall's love of his countrr was again signally evinced. The same high appreciation of the value of liberty, which in early life led him to defend the British constitution from the evils to which he then thought it exposed, led him on this occasion to ex- cite his countrymen to oppose the assaults of one whom he regarded as the greatest despot of modem times, and to imprint on their minds " a deep abhorrence of his per- fidy and cruelty." On the fast day, 19th October, 1803, he preached at Bristol, where he was then on a visit, a sermon afterwards published, ^'The Sentiments proper to the Present Crisis," which had the happiest effect in AT CAMBRIDGE. 83 wikindling the flame of generous, active patriotism. This sermon, perhaps, excited more general admiration than any of the author s former productions ; on account of its masterly exposure of prevailing errors, its original and philosophical defence of some momentous truths, and its remarkable appropriateness to the exigencies of the crisis. The last ten pages were thought by many (and by Mr. Pitt, among the number) to be fully equal in genuine eloquence to any passage of the same length that can be selected from either ancient or modem ora- tors. They were reprinted in various periodical publica- tions, and widely circulated in every direction. Some exceptions were taken by a few persons, to a phrase or two, which were thought of a heathenisb tendency ; these he endeavoured to remove by a few explanatory remarks, inserted in the preface to the second and subsequent edi- tions of the sermon. In an old manuscript f)f Mr. Hall's, containing outline notes of semions preached by him in 1801, 1802, anvn adorable Son, * who died, the just for the unjust, to bring them to God,' and that ' him that cometh to him he will in no- wise cast out,' I do most huml>ly prostrate myself at the footstool of his cross, and through him enter into thy covenant. I disclaim all right to myself from henceforth, to my soul, my body, my time, my health, my reputation, my talents, or any thing that belongs to me. I confess myself to be the property of the glorious Redeemer, as one whom I humbly hope he has redeemed by his blood to be part of ' the first fruits of his creatures.' " I do most cheeifiilly and cordially receive him in all his offices, as my Priest, my Prophet, and my King. I dedicate myself to him, to serve, love, and trust in him as my life and my salvation to my life's end. " I renoimce the Devil and all his works, the flesh, imd the world, with heartfelt regret that I should have been enslaved by them so long. I do solemnly and deliberately take thee to be my full and satisfying good, and eternal portion, in and through thine ador- able Son the Redeemer, and by the assistance of the blessed Spirit of all grace, the third person in the triune God, whom I take to be my Sanctifier and Comforter to the end of time, and through a happy eternity ; praying that the Holy Spirit may deign to take perpetual possession of my heart, and fix his abod.e tliere. " I do most solemnly devote and give up myself to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, agreeably to the tenns of the Gospel covenant, and in humble expecta- MEMOm OF ROBERT HALL. u u C4 U u ii (.( (6 tion of the blessings it ascertains to sincere believen. I caU thee to witness, O God ! the truth and reality of this surrender of aU I have, and all I am, to thee ; Ld, conscious of the unspeakable deceitfulness of my heart, I humbly and earnestly implore the influence of thy bpint to enable me to stand stedfast in this covenant, as well as an interest in the blood of thy Son, that I may be foraven m those instances (alas ! that such an Idea should be possible,) in which I may, in any de- gree, swerve from it. ■" ^ " IPr" ""^ P^ •'^^ "^^''y^ ^^' ««^en o'clock in the evenmg, Leicester. " Robert Hall." m„nVi; "^ *"l?^' 7"?*"^' '^■" ^- CoA spent some Tt J^rT ''»/!''»trf ^d ««nd^ in Leicestershire. At Amsby he retraced the scenes of his youth, often visited the giave-yard, which would naturJIy awaken many interesting recollections of his early life, and on ^^^.T^;r J"" *"" """'^ ^"^ "»<=« •'««» «^en kneel- ing at his fathers grave engaged in earnest prayer. He afterwards resided, for a time, at Enderby a pleasant and sequestered village, five miles from Lei^esterf ~ by the united influence of calm retirement and gentle ira?th"wlfh""'T"""' ''? f^^"«".V regained his bodily liealth, with great mental tranquillity, and a renewed capacity for usefulness in the cl.irch. " " " ""*"*''* .K K T"l^ ^^- "y''""^ •'"•' *''• F"l'«-, persuaded of Ae benehte that would flow from drawing his attention to a specific object, requested him to iny^tigate the cri- tical peculianties of some diflicult texts in tlfe New Tes taraent, respecting which Dr. Marshman had asked the opmion of his friends in England. This judicious appli- ^tion directed his thoughts to some of "his old anffa- Tounte mqumes, and produced the most salutary effects.* • For morr than two yean he employed mnch time in > ,.riii™I hrd^^iiw tr*'^.*' ^*^ 'mportaot, with short rea.sons ihr nis aeviating Irom the authorized version ; intending to uiibliNh th« inis work, he. tor the frst time, s iw Mack night's new transla- AT LEICESTER. 97 From this he passed to other literary occupations, (which he resumed with all the ardour and freshness of rejuve- niscence) thence to closer biblical study, and, in due time, when his strength and self-possession were so re- stored as to permit the exertion without injury, he returned to the delightful work of " proclaiming the good tidings of peace." He was thus enabled to give ample evidence that " the splendour of his mind was wholly unimpaired ; but, that, instead of bursting forth so frequently as before, like the lightning flash, it glowed with a mild and sober radiance, and gradually diffused around it the serenity of that peace which passeth under- standing." He first preached in some of the villages around him ; and then, occasionally, to a small congregation assem- bling at a chapel in Harvey Lane, Leicester, which had several years before l)een under the care of that eminent man. Dr. Carey, of Serampore. The congregation had been diminishing for some years, and at this time did not exceed two hundred and fifty ; the church consisted of seventy-six members. After having preached to them a few months, he accepted an invitation to become their stated pastor ; and his ministerial labours were soon fol- lowed by tokens of good. " The people," said he, in a letter to Dr. Ryland, " are a simple-hearted, affectionate, " praying people, to whom I preach with more pleasure " than to the more refined audience at Cambridge. We " have had, through mercy, some small addition and " hope for more. Our meetings in general, our prayer " meetings in particular, are well attended." tion of the Apostolic Epistles ; and finding himself anticipated in some of the corrections which he thoue^ht most valuable, destroyed his manu- script. This I mach regret, for in such ot these notes as he read to rne, he seemed, though often merely bv slight changes in the version, suggested by a careful comparison of the synonyms in the Greek, to have thrown great light upon the sacred text. His pursuits at this time rendering it desirable that he should pos- sess copies of Walton's Polyglott, and of various other expensive workit ill different departments of biblical research, they were procured and sent to him by his relative and friend, the late Mr. Button, of l*atei noster Row, with the assurance that he would not be expected to pa * for them, until an improvement in his pecuniary circumstances made it perfectly convenient. VOL. I. H 98 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HilLL. /i I. With this church he continued connected nearly twenty years. The church and congregation steadily increased during that long interval, and scarcely any thing of moment occurred to interrupt their internal peace. The place of worship, which, when Mr. Hall first settled there, would not conveniently hold four hundred per- sons, was enlarged in 1809 for the reception of ahout eight hundred ; and in 1817 a second enlargement ren- dered It capahle of accommodating a thousand persons In 1826, at the close of Mr. Hall's labours there, the place was comfortably filled, and the members of the church, besides the members of the mixt-communion church, hereafter mentioned, and those who it is believed had gone to their eternal reward, amounted to nearly three hundred ; of whom about two hundred and fiftV had been baptized by Mr. Hall. More than a hundred of those who constituted the evening congregation were pious members of the church of England ; and some of the neighbouring clergy frequently attended.* * There are those who are so exclusively attached to their own cere- ^nnJn: I^ adjuncts and results as to think that churchmen should conscientious y avoid entering a dissenting place of worship, aud that it IS especiallv censurable for a clergyman " to indulee even a «»<..,» S'Tenri^en Ts ^^^1'- ^^^ «' hearing^he STrn^nTrJ excellent men. (See Christian Observer, Feb. 1833, p. 101 .) I have also met w.h a very few individuals who have condemned Mr. Hall for frequently listening to the pulpit instructions of Mr Simeon, when l.e resided at Cambridge, and of Mr. Robinson, after he removed to Leicester. Persons with souls of this very slender calibre, with regard to genuine liberality of sentiment, have for some years been rapidly diminishing amongst the well-informed classes of pious men ; anj are riif ^^^' ?^*"um"^' notwithstanding the violent collisions in the Chris , an world. Where the intellectual contraction is not so constZ tionally fixed that cure is hopeless, I would venture to recommend serT X^f!j If" "i^" the two following passages from the writings of the elevated and noble-minded Jo/m Howe. 'i " XP^^?^^' ^"^^^ frequently to attend on that which you find to be - Zt «"^ "">^e ordinary diet that best agrees with you. And that way, therefore, you must ^^ most constantly adhere to. which is most grateful and savou^to yiu because yon cannot so much edify by what you less relish, fiut you; judgement and latUade may well allow you sometimes to frequent ^^ the assemblies with which you hold not constant communion. And ^ It so, it will also direct you thereto for a valuable end ; as that you may signify you ordinarily decline them, not as no CArisiimui or Al LEICESTER. 99 In March 1808, during Mr. Hall's residence at En- derby, his marriage, which had been in contemplation nearly twelve months, took place. This event gave great and sincere satisfaction to his old and intimate friends, most of whom had long regretted that one so evidently '* their worship as no worship ; but as more defective or less edifying ; " and that you may maintain love, and both express and beget a dispo- " sition to nearer union. For which, and all things that tend to make " us a happier people, we must wait upon Him in whose hands are the ** hearts of all iwe/i."— Humble Request to Conformists and Noncon- formists. " This may occasion some idle people to cry out, ' What ! at church " in the forenoon, and at meeting house in the aflernoon ? This is " fine ! What will now become of our religion ? ' A nd what is already " become of his religion who so exclaims'? Do the religion of the " church and of the [orthodox] meeting-house make two religions ? " Wherein do they differ? The substance of the same religion is coni- " mon to them both. Therefore the modes and accidents wherein " only they differ, are this man's religion. And can any man be the '* better for such a religion, that consists of modes and accidents ? 'I'is ** true, that religion may possibly be so ludicrously disguised and mis- '* represented, as scarcely to be fitly owned for any religion at all. But *• this cannot be said of most of the congregations of England, of either " sect And they that have any thing of charity, or the fear of God, " about them, will be very wary how, for a misplaced word, or in- *' decent action, or expression, they censure one or another of these " two sorts of solemn worshipping assemblies, as having nothing of God, " or of true religion among i\iem."— Considerations, 8fc., relating to Occasional Conformity. The spirit of this admirable writer, with regard to the more intimate association nf protestants of different persuasions, seems to be far better comprehended and manifested in tlie American States, than by the writer whose cautionary remarks have occasioned this note : such, at least, appears a fair inference from the following facts. *' During my residence in the United States, I was frequently wit- " ness to the good understanding which generally, though, doubtless, " not universally, prevails among clergymen professing different opinions " on church forms, &c The two following I have preserved : — " The corner-stone of a new Baptist church was laid at Savannah in * Georgia, and the ceremonial services were performed by the clergy- *' men of the Methodist, German, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, " ..nd Baptist churches The sacrament of tlie Lord's Supper was "administered in the Rev. Mr. Past's church (Presbyterian church at " Washington), and, as usual, all members of other churches in re- " gular standing, were invited to unite with the members of that church, " in testifying their faith in, and love to, their Lord and Saviour. The *' invited guests assembled round the table ; and it so happened, that " Mr. Grundy, a senator from Tenessee, and two Cherokee Indians, " were seated side by side."— Stuart's Three Years in Sorth Amt- rica, Vol. L p. 130. H 2 100 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT LEICESTER. 101 « ' /?l formed for domestic enjoyments, should for so many years have lived without attaining them ; and had no doubt, indeed, that an earlier marriage wouM, by check- ing his propensity to incessant retirement and mental al)straction, have preserved him from the heavy afflictions which had befallen him. As Mrs. Hall still lives to mourn the loss of her incomparable husband, I must not permit myself more than to testify how highly he esti- mated her kindness and affection, and how often, in his conversation, as well as in his letters, he expressed his gratitude to God for giving him so pious, prudent, and devoted a w ife."* Of their five children, three daughters and one son survived. Another son died in 1814.1 A few months after his marriage he removed to Leicester, the gradual increase in tlie number of his congregation, rendering it desirable that he should dwell amongst them, and associate with them as their pastor. Mr. Hall's residence at Leicester was not only of longer continuance than at any other place, but I doubt not that it was the period in which he was the most happy, active, and useful. His domestic comfort at once contributed to a more uniform flow of spirits than he had for some time experienced, and greatly to the regularity of his habits. The increase both of attentive hearers, and of the number among them who were admitted to church-fellowship, supplied constant reason for encou- ragement and thankfulness. He was also ^vithin the reach of ministers and otiicrs, of different persuasions, men of decided piety, and some of them of considerable attainments, who knew how to appreciate the extraor- dinary advantages of frequent intercourse with such an individual ; thus yielding him the delight of an inter- ♦ The late Mr. Morris, in that section of his " Biographical Recol- lections" which relates to this period, has, for want of correct informa- tion, tkllen into great inaccuracies on some essential points. Yet, hh the detail of facts can only be j?iven by a total disregard of the feelinijs vzsm^tvuift, II iiirtv ^uujce, II t auirra, ironi an acqiiiiintance with cir- cnraatances and motives (at this period) more intimate than that of ai»v otlier individual, that Mr. Hail, with reference to his marriage, pro ceeded iu a manner fully consistent with the sentiments of honour, if- fiiiement, and delicacy, which unifo miy characterised his conduct. t See his letter to Mr. Phillips, No. 40 in this volume. change of soul and sentiment, besides that fruit of friend- ship so aptly characterized by Lord Bacon : — " Whoso- ever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and break up in the com- municating and discoursing with another — he tosseth his thoughts more easily— he marshalleth them more orderly he seeth how they look when they are turned into words — and he waxeth wiser than himself; often more by an hour's discourse than by a da3^'s meditation." * Leicester, from its situation in the heart of the mid- land counties, as well as from its importance in a lead- ing inland manufacture, was the centre of influence and operation to a considerable distance around; and the concurrence of many favourable circumstances had ren- dered it the centre also of a religious influence, and of religious operations, diffusing themselves incessantly with a new and growing impulse. To this the zeal and acti- vity of the late Rev. Thomas Robinson, of Leicester, and of Mr. Hall's father, had greatly contributed; and many clergymen and dissenting ministers in Leicestershire and the neighbouring counties, were in their respective fields of labour, instrumental in producing the most cheering and successfiil results. The attention of the Christian world had been recently invited, or, I might perhaps say, summoned^ to promote the noble objects of Missionary Societies, Bible Societies, Sunday and other Schools for the instruction of the poor; and the summons had been obeyed in a universality and cordiality of vigorous Chris- tian effort, and in a spirit of conciliation and harmony, such as the world had not yet known- Placed in the * Mr. Hall, however, from the midwray position of Leicester between London and the large towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire, was much exposed to interruptions. (See Letter, No. 77.) Many persons who had but u slight acquaintance with him, would invariably spend a day at Leicester, in their way from London to Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, &c., or from either of those places to London, that they might, durine the greater part of it, enjoy his society ; and, though he orten found this to be a real annoyance, yet such was his feeling of what was due to strangers in point of courtesy, that it was not until he had siistained the inconvenience for almost twenty years, thnt he would con- sent that this class of visitors should be informed that he would not be at leisure to see them until evening. 102 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL AT LEICESTER. 103 H 1 )i> II (I 'li midst of so extensive a sphere of benevolent and sacred influence, Mr. Hall was soon roused to a measure of ^tivity and a diversity of employment to which he had hitherto been a stranger. The Bible Society at Leicester, Missionary Societies there and all around, asked and re^ ceived his aid; and these, with the different public ser- vices of frequent occurrence among orthodox dissenters, tjave occasion to the happiest exercise of his varied powers. His religious character thus became correctly estimated by a much larger portion of the community. lastead of being known chiefly to men of reading and taste, as an author who had appeared before the world on a few mo- mentous occasions, and, after a striking exhibition of in- tellectual and moral energy, had hastened back to his retirement, he now became much more known and revered as the correct and eloquent interpreter of the Christian faith, the intrepid asserter of its infinite supe- riority to all human systems of philosophy or morals. Long had he been admired by the intelligent as a great man ; the circumstances in which he now moved with so much philanthropic ardour, caused him to be regarded, not merely by these, but by pious men of every persua- sion, as a good man, rejoicing to consecrate his best facul- ties to the specific objects of the Christian ministry, and such purposes of enlarged exertion as were fully compa- tible with bis holy calling. Nor were these efforts, and this high estimate of their value, confined to the field of activity he thus occupied He had, on quitting Bristol, in 1791, consented to spend a few weeks with his friends there, every two years. He had, also made a similar arrangement for visiting Cambndge, where the members of his former conffreffa- tion had peculiar claims upon him. Although his inva- nable dread of notoriety, and his dislike of the bustle of the metropolis, caused his visits there to be " few and far between,"* yet they occurred sufficiently often to excite • In 1812, several of Mr. Hall's oW and valued friends, in conjnnction wiUi some men of rank and influence, who said " Mr. Hall must he •ought out and brought .out," laid a plan for his permanent setUemen almost universally the highest admiration of his singular qualities as a preacher, and to convince many who pre- viously had contemplated the evangelical system of reli- gion with great disrelish, that it was the ordy foundation of elevated morality, and that its cordial adoption was not necessarily repugnant to genius, learning, and mtel- lectual cultivation. Wherever he went, he was called to address overflow- ing congregations, and commonly of a remarkably mixed character. Churchmen and dissenters ; men of rank and influence; individuals in lower stations ; men of simple piety, and others of deep theological knowledge ; men who admired Christianity as a beautiful system, and those who received it into the heart by faith ; men m doubt, others involved in unbelief :— all resorted to the place where he was announced as the preacher. Fre- quently he was apprised of this peculiarity in the struc- ture of his auditory, and, whenever that was the case, the striking appropriation of the sermons to the assem- bly was always manifest. Of this the reader will have ample evidence in the sermons inserted in the sixth volume of his Works, many of which were delivered on public occasions.* • t • x Mr. Hall's writings during his residence at Leicester, in London. The first step in the execution of this plan, his invitation to deliver a series of lectures in the metropolis, failed, partly m consequence of his ill health, and pardy through his reluctance to appear m a pro- minent situation. See the letters 32, 33, 34. . ♦ That the reader may not suspect I over-rate the impression made bv Mr. Hall upon those who were not his intimates, nor bad tully adopted his scheme of theology, I insert with otliers m Appendix, Note C, the late Mr. John Scotfs elegant and diicnmmating sketch of his powers i.s a preacher and writer. j * ii r „j While this sheet was going through the press, I accidentally found among some old letters, one from a friend residing in France, m which ?h^ e was the folloving allusion to Mr. Hall, by a F.ench protestant cler^man, who was visiting Bristol in Sept. 1822. In a letter addressed to another protestant minister, Mr. Kerpezdron. of Aulnay, he says, •* I heard Mr. Robert Hall, of Leicester, last Tuesday mornii^ ; but " his sermon was so great, so good, so eloquent, so simple, so P'OfS; '«; •• a word, so complete a piece of pulpit oratory, that I cannot tell you « anything about it, except that it has made an indelible impression on " m/ mind. 1 thought when I came out, that I never could preach ** again. '^ A i I :,i 104 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. though by no means numerous, tended greatly to augment his mfluence upon society. The first of these was published anonymously in the l^lectic Review, but left no room for hesitation as to its author. It was a critique upon a pamphlet entitled Zeal without Innovation," which he undertook at the earnest entreaty of the late Mr. Robinson of Leicester " who in common with all the serious clergy in those parts, disapproved the pamphlet highly."* As it is no part of my intention to present elaborate accounts of Mr. Halls successive publications, it may suffice for me to remark, with regard to this critique, that while it places the controversy between the puritans and their oppo- nents m a flood of light, and exhibits the essential im- portance of religious liberty to the growth, if not in some cases, to the existence, of genuine, devotional Chris- tianity ; It presents a more admirable picture of the cha- racter of the Evangelical Clergy,t a more powerful, liberal, and successful defence of their object and con- duct, than has been, as yet, exhibited by any other per- son. Many regard it as among the most instructive and useful, as well as among the most masterly, of Mr. Hall's productions. It abounds in keen satire, in that dignified mvective m which he so remarkably excelled, in irre- tragable argument, in touching description, in tasteful imagery, m vehement and powerful appeals, and in sen- timents of a weight and worth only to be fully estimated by men whose minds are elevated above the prejudices which tie us down to sects and parties, and can rejoice at the extension of true religion, among persons of any per- suasion, or through the instrumentality of whomsoever the Great Head of the Church may employ. The value set by the pubKc upon this disquisition, was evinced in the rapid sale of three editions, in a separate pamphlet, independently of its circulation in the Review. Of the sermons published by Mr. HaU during his resi- dence at Leicester, the first was preached in behalf of ♦ See letter 2.1 •«J ir?ffi^!! **"^ ^"^ '^y°'^^ * pe.iphrasl.sand because it is intelligibU Via strictly char cteristic. / AT LEICESTER. 105 the Sunday School connected with his own congregation, and appeared under the title of " The Advantages of Knowledge to the Lower Classes." The subject is not so adapted as many others to the decorations of eloquence ; for the deplorable effects of ignorance and the blessings of knowledge are perhaps best exhibited in the de- tail of facts which scarcely admit of embellishment. Yet Mr. Hall's desire to enlarge the capaxiity for enjoyment among the lower classes, as well as to promote their highest welfare, tempted him to enter this region of com- mon-places, and thus gave a fresh opportunity of showing how an original thinker can communicate an air of fresh- ness to a worn-out topic, bring up to the surface argu- ments and illustrations that lie far below the reach of ordinary reasoners, and enforce them with a warmth and energy calculated equally to impress and to convince.* The two next sermons are of a much higher order. One of them, on " The Discouragements and Supports of the Christian Minister," was addressed to the Rev. James Robertson, on his ordination over the Independent Church at Stretton, Warwickshire; the other, whicli portrays the duties, discouragements, and supports " of the Christian Missionary," was addressed to the Rev. Eustace Carey, on his designation as a missionary to India. In these the author traces with a master hand the various sources of discouragement and consolation, which appertain to the respective offices of the minister and the missionary. Like one intimately acquainted with comparative anatomy, he exhibits the points of * This Sermon, as well as his two able pamphlets on the "Frame, work Knitter's Fund," and in " lleply to Cobbett and others," should be regarded as flowing entirely from his benevolence. This, with him, had never been a fleeting sentiment in occasional operation, bat one that was permanently fed by Christian principles. It was however, greatly extended, to adopt his own language, *• by those impressions of ** tenderness gratitude, and sympathy, which the endearments of domes " tic life supply," and led him to investigate the actual circumstances of the neighhouring poor, and constantly to aim at the alleviation of their dis- tress. Not long after his marriage, when his own pecuniary resources were much restricted, he proposed to fast on certain days that he might have it in his power to distribute more among the needy ; and he thought it wrong to have more than two coats when so many persons around him were clothed in mere rags. 104 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT LEICESTER. 105 i though by no means numerous, tended greatly to augment his influence upon society. The first of these was published anonymously in the Eclectic Review, but left no room for hesitation as to its author. It was a critique upon a pamphlet entitled " Zeal without Innovation," which he undertook at the earnest entreaty of the late Mr. Robinson of Leicester, " who in common with all the serious clergy in those parts, disapproved the pamphlet highly."* As it is no part of my intention to present elaborate accounts of Mr. Hall's successive publications, it may suffice for me to remark, with regard to this critique, that while it places the controversy between the puritans and their oppo- nents in a flood of light, and exhibits the essential im- portance of religious liberty to the gro>vth, if not in some cases, to the existence, of genuine, devotional Chris- tianity ; it presents a more admirable picture of the cha- racter of the Evangelical Clergy,t a more powerful, liberal, and successful defence of their object and con- duct, than has been, as yet, exhibited by any other per- son. Many regard it as among the most instructive and useful, as well as among the most masterly, of Mr. Hall's productions. It abounds in keen satire, in that dignified invective in which he so remarkably excelled, in irre- fragable argument, in touching description, in tasteful imagery, in vehement and powerful appeals, and in sen- timents of a weight and worth only to be fully estimated by men whose minds are elevated above the prejudices which tie us down to sects and parties, and can rejoice at the extension of true religion, among persons of any per- suasion, or through the instrumentality of whomsoever the Great Head of the Church may employ. The value set by the public upon this disquisition, was evinced in the rapid sale of three editions, in a separate pamphlet, independently of its circulation in the Review. Of the sermons published by Mr. Hall during his resi- dence at Leicester, the first was preached in behalf of * See letter 23 + I use thia term to avoid a peiiphras:s,and becaase it u intellicibU Vaa strictly char cteristic. I the Sunday School connected with his own congregation. and appeared under the title of " The Advantages of Knowledge to the Ix)wer Classes." The subject is not so adapted as many others to the decorations of eloquence ; for the deplorable effects of ignorance and the blessings of knowledge are perhaps best exhibited m the de- tail of facts which scarcely admit of embellishment . Yet Mr. Hall's desire to enlarge the capacity for enjoyment among the lower classes, as well as to promote their highest welfare, tempted him to enter this region of com- mon-places, and thus gave a fresh opportunity of showing how an original thinker can communicate an air ot tresh- ness to a worn-out topic, bring up to the surface argu- ments and illustrations that lie far below the reach ot ordinary reasoners, and enforce them with a warmth and energy calculated equally to impress and to convince. The two next sermons are of a much higher order. One of them, on '' The Discouragements and Supports of the Christian Minister," was addressed to the Rev. James Robertson, on his ordination over the Independent Church at Stretton, Warwickshire; the other, which portrays the duties, discouragements, and supports "of the Christian Missionary," was addressed to the Rev. Eustace Carey, on his designation as a missionary to India. In these the author traces with a master hand the various sources of discouragement and consolation, which appertain to the respective offices of the minister and the missionary. Like one intimately acquainted with comparative anatomy, he exhibits the points of » This Sermon, as well as his two able pamphlets on the " Frame- work Knitter's Fund," and in" Reply to Cobbettand others," should be regarded as flowing entirely from his benevolence. This, with him. had never been a fleeting sentiment in occasional operation, but one that was permanently fed bv Christian principles. It was however, greatly extended, to adopt his own language, *• by those impressions o/ " tenderness gratitude, and sympathy, which the endearments of domes " tic life supply," and led him to investigate the actual circumstances of the neighhouring poor, andconstantly toaim at the alleviation of their dis- tress. Not long after his marriage, when his own pecuniary resources were much restricted, he proposed to fast on certain days that he mi^t have it in his power to distribute more among the needy ; and he thought it wrong to have more than two coats when so many persons around him were clothed in mere rags. 106 MEMOIR OP ROBERT BALL. agreement, as well as tliose of diversity in the different subjects, \vith the most convincing discrimination ; while conversant, as well with the morbid as the healthy ana- tomy of the subjects before him, he explores to its inmost recess, that universal moral disease which calls forth the efforts of both ministers and missionaries, and then (where the analogy must drop) he reveals the principles and the origin of an infallible cure. Both these addresses are re- markable for their originality and variety ; every topic successively advanced is irradiated with eloquence, and glows with feeling; and so skilfully are both the dis- courses conducted, that, while they are avowedly directed to the minister and the missionary, and abound in the most valuable instructions to them respectively, the pri- vate Christian, who reads with devout attention, may derive from them as rich instruction for himself and as many directions for his own religious improvement, as though they were specifically addressed to him alone. This, indeed, was a decided characteristic of Mr. Hall's sermons. He who heard, or he who read, would find his astonishment and admiration strongly excited ; but often, if not always, the more his emotion was enkindled by the preacher, the more forcibly was he compelled to retire into himself, and examine his own heart. The sudden and untimely death of the Princess Char- lotte of Wales, was an event calculated to make the deepest impression upon a mind constituted like Mr. Hall's. The illustrious rank of the victim, her youth and recent marriage, the affecting natm-e of the catas- trophe, its probable influence upon the reigning prince, upon the succession to the throne, and the welfare of the nation even to distant ages ; all presented themselves to his thoughts with the most heart -stirring energy. He preached three sermons on the occasion, of which many of the auditors affirm, the one published was by no means the best. It, however, by universal acknowledge- ment, bore the palm above all the numerous valuable sermons that were then published. Stately, ornate, and solemn, it most strikingly accords with the event which called it forth. It embraces the various topics that would AT LEICESTER. 107 occur to a man of piety, feeling, and excursive thought, on the contemplation of such an event, — the mysterious- ness of God's providence, the vicissitudes of empires, the aggravated poignancy of sudden calamity to individuals of elevated station, " the uncertainty of life, the frailty " of youth, the evanescence of beauty, the nothingness of " woridly greatness," the blindness of man to futurity, " the human race itself withering" away, and the per- petuity of God's promises as the great and noble contrast to imiversal fragility ;— these are touched in succession with the utmost tenderness, beauty, and sublimity. In felicity of diction, in delicacy and pathos, in the rich variety of most exquisite and instructive trains of thought, in their cogent application to truths of the utmost moment, in the skilful combination of what in eloquence, philosophy, and religion, was best calculated to make a permanent and salutary impression, this sermon probably stands unrivalled. I have alluded thus concisely to a few of the ser- mons published by Mr. Hall while he was at Leicester, (and may also refer to most of those that are inserted in these Works) with a view of inviting the reader to con- sider what may be the probable influence of such a man in raising the standard of preaching in England ; and to inquire next, whether it is not necessary that the standard should be raised, that ministers of every persuasion may be ready to meet the exigencies of the times in which we are thrown. I am well aware that some still remain among us who regard every thing beyond the common places and technicalities of theology, as a departure from " the simplicity that is in Christ ;" and seem to appre- hend even the truths of the gospel in danger, if he who advances them from the pulpit does not suppress all manifestations of intellectual greatness or cultivated taste. Yet, assuredly, the Apostle Paul, though speaking and writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, did not hesitate to reason with extraordinary profundity and acumen, to embellish his compositions with quotations which proved his reading, and to excite emotion, in those 108 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT LEICESTER. lOil wliom ho addressed, by the most exquisite touches of tenderness and pathos. Both his epistles and oral addresses exhibit as remarkable as appropriate a variety m the manner of discussion and of application; and neither of them are ever dull, formal, or systematic Let me not be misunderstood to recommend any com- promise with men of the world, by a partial concealment 1 nf I i-J^'""' ^ST >^ '"PP^«^^ *^ ^ouht that the ^mplc^t exhibition of Christ as "the a-iviour of sinners" from the guilt and thraldom of sin, has, during the whole previous history of the Christian dispensation, brought many from the power of Satan unto God." Far fiSm danng to question this, I delight in acknowleddng it • and I rejoice that it has pleased God in such a multitude of instances, " by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beheve." Yet, if I mistake not, we are \^Z in a state of the church and of the world, in which the truth, to be defended efficaciously, must be defended by persons of deep thinking, of extensive knowledge, of sound discnmination, of warm and active spirits nchlv endowed with grace and wisdom from on high. Even political discussions, and the business of the legislature, become often so intimately blended with the concerns of religion, and so often involve the rights of men who make «nwf !f M i ^''%?^^^' different modifications, that upnght legislators, to discharge their duty conscientiously 7!!^i'T.^'?''^^ ""^^ important theological questions! to which their attention may have been hitherto scarcely ever caUed. In other directions, too, the current has evidently set m, and men of elevated intellect, and men ot exalted station, as well as others, whether they wish it or wish to escape it, will feel tliemselves compelled to decide either to - kiss the Son ' while he is oif.red to them or to reject him once for all, and suffer the won- derful machinery of God's eternal purposes to pursue its course and leave them for ever behind Is it quite consistent with the arrangements of ineffa- ble wisdom and mercy, that the souls of such men shall never be touched by appropriate instruments, and that the repulsiveness of the gospel to the natural mind, / should, V • necessity, be augmented by the incompeten- ( y of its ministers to engage attention ? The time too, if I mistake not again, luis amved wheu Christianity receives more serious injury fiora its friends than from its enemies, at least, in this country. The ac- tive, restless mind of man, ever seeking after something new, falls into the temptation, with regard to religion, of being ** wise beyonrl what is written." Hence, the w^orld is required to receive forced interpretations of scripture, absurd and untenable dogmas, hasty and sweeping infer- ences from the most obscure passages ; that is made most prorainont of which scripture says the least, and the analogy of faith is perpetually violated. All this is done with an air of authority, and in a tone of discovery : some of the propounders of these crudities demand for them a cordial reception as a test for scriptural faith, and too often evince in their pr )mulgation a spirit of intole- rrnce, to which the protestant world has long been a stranger, and which, if pursued to its natural issue, w^ould either sever the church into a number of infinitesimal sections, idly brandishing tlieir weapons at each other, and of no force against the common enemy, or would re- duce the exercise of private judgement to a nullity. To prevent the farther growth of these monstrous evils, there must be brought into existence and operation, the clear results of discriminating research as to the essential truths in a system of reconciliation and restoration to the Divine image ; they must be placed in a strong relief, so as to be at once distinguishable from fanciftil speculation and from bold innovation, as well as to check the pro- pensity to overstatement, which is the constant symbol of a raw theology. For these the wise and thoughtful look to an augmentation, among ministers of the gospel, of men " thoroughly furnished,' by endowments human and divine ; and I have an entire persuasion, that in in- finite mercy, such will be vouchsafed to the world, and each rightly placed, and efficiently employed, in that mighty transformation which shall make " the wilderness blossom as the rose." But I must not dwell longer upon this subject. 110 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. Mi Mr. HaUs known approbation of Sunday schools, and the excellency of his judgement as to matters of detail, when he gave his mmd thoroughly to them, led to his often bemg consulted on points of difficulty. His sen- timents on one of these points richly deserve general at- 1! 1^* .A^'u^^^^'T^'^^^^gy^^'* having been urged to allow that the art of writing should be taught in his parish Sunday school, intreated Mr. Hall to rive him his deliberate judgement on the question. This, in a short time, he returned in the foUowing terms. " INEXPEDIENCY OF TEACHINO TO WRITE IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS. " In considering this question, the obligation of a re- hgious observance of the Lord's day must be assumed, as It IS a principle not disputed among the parties whom this discussion concerns. I know n?t how a religious observance of the Lord's day can be defined but by^s^^ t?Ll '' f^'.^^^^'^Vtion of it from every employment not fxcepfed ^^''''' '"''"^ ^^ ^' ^""^ ^^^^^^*y ^^^ ^^^^r "Now Tvriiin^^ it is undeniable, is not a religious em- ftef'.r' r ^''T'^ *^, ^*^ ^' ^^ denominated. It seem^ therefore to be excluded by the definition we have laid down. It is altogether a Lular emphZent which may occasionally be made subservient t! ihTZl poses of piety as may eveiy other attainment; but it partakes not of the nature of relicrion "Once break down the barrier between the sacred and eml employment of time, and the sanctity of the ^^ 1 nrinol^f '• 1 ' ^ '' '' ^^"^^^^ '' know^where to sfop^ A principle is broken m upon which is plain and dete? mmable ; nor .vill it be possible to assi> ar,y rnsistent i^ason for res sting a second or third enc^KiLnTS v^not equaUy prohibit the first. If the qualifying of persons for civil departments be alhcred, other branches ducd^'f 1r arithmetic for exanipg, mus beTt^o^ duced; for there are abundance of situations where the ♦ The r.ev. Edward Morgau, Vicar of Syston. AT LEICESTER. Ill art of computation would not be less useful than that of ■writing. Thus Sunday-schools would become schools of gener^ instruction, and the sanctification of the sabbath be completely lost sight of. • '* When young persons have been sanctioned by their superiors in devoting a part of the sabbath to exercises of a purely secular nature, what shall restrain the more studious part of them, at a subsequent period, from pur- suing grammar, geography, or arithmetic, on the Lord's day, which are as much connected with religion as the acquisition pleaded for ? and when we recollect the te- nacity of early impressions, and the tendency of depraved nature to a progressive deviation from rectitude, these and much greater evils may be expected to ensue. " The relaxation of the rule contended for in the pre- sent instance, 'will naturally destroy in youthful minds a reverence for the sabbath ; and thus one of the elements of impiety will be imbibed in a seminary established for religious mstruction. The rules of duty are never suc- cessfully inculcated on children except in an absolute form ; the limitations and occasional exceptions to which they are liable, are best left to be learned by subsequent experience and inquiry. Children are utterly incapable of comprehending nice and subtle distinctions ; and a very refined one indeed is necessary to ascertain the dif- ference in a moral view, betwixt teaching the art of writ- ing and other branches of knowledge. " I am aware of but one objection to which this rea- soning is liable. It may be said that learning to read is no more a part of religion, than learning to write. But here lies an important difference. Though reading is not, in itself considered, a part of religion, it is a neces- sary instrument of religion. The word of God is not ac- cessible without it. It is unquestionably the will of the Supreme Being that the sacred oracles should be penised, or they need not to have been imparted ; but they can- not be perused by such as are ignorant of the art of read- ing ; and the ordination of the end is always supposed to include the appointment of what is absolutely necessary to that end. Writing may be rendered subservient to 112 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. . the promotion of piety; but it possesses this property M m^2^t«/ to any considerable acquaintance with the S^ilS- '' '^ *"^ '^^^ ^'^^^ -'-'^^ ^'•e '~ " AJl pioi^ persons would be shocked to read an aH vertisement from a ,mting master, mformbg theZbt that his seminary would be open on the LordVdav^ But surely the circumstance of his receivinr. a peSr re sons^~4^^;i^i^^^^ to do under the stimulus of a recompcnce, ca^ot bS nght m consequence of its being done volun^iilvTd spontaneously. If the action £ question be riri.tk carnes its own indication with it, on both suppoXns if It be wong, the criminality of it is always suonosed to be palliated, rather than a/gravated by thfst^ZTh „f the motive. It is sufficient to decide the quesSrith those who suppose the fourth commandmenrtoTe TtU m force, to recollect that God has said, 'Thou shalt t member the sabbath day to keep it holy.'* " R. H." Besides the various sermons and reviews which Mr Hal wrote and published, during hisresid nc atW ter, he composed for circulation among the assodaTed Baptist churches in the counties of Northampton, Lel- ces er, and Warwick, two tracts on the Work ;f the Holy Spmt, and on Hearing the Word • hr.th a i imbued with simple evangelical f^Kd rfch t^ cellent practical remarks, fitted for the' benefiSaJ ~I of all classes. There were also other compoSns which he executed Tvith singular felicity. I „?Z T biographical sketches. Thejare, excepfthe S'b' exquisite sketches of Brainerd,Fletche?of Ma5^f;y,a„d to Harvey Lane.l certaia po'tio" ^f U,';iS,„lar" ^2' '^^■«'"« a weeMay evening." »t.noiars are taught wnting on AT LEICESTER. 113 Henry Martyn, the delineations of a friend; and, per- haps, in a few particulars, need a slight allowance for the high colouring to which the warmth of friendship tempts us when meditating upon departed excellence ; yet they are, on the whole, exact in the resemblance, and finely exemplify the author's varied powers, especially his delicate and accurate discrimination of the degrees and shades of human character. One of these, the character of the Rev. John Sutcliff, IS an unfinished portrait ; Mr. Hall, after a few unsa- tisfactory trials, relinquishing the attempt. The follow- ing letter to Mr. Fuller, on the occasion of this failure, will be read with interest, as an example both of his dif- fidence and of his sense of the obligation of a promise. " My Dear Brother, "I AM truly concerned to tell you that I cannot succeed at aU m my attempts to draw the character of our dear '• and venerable brother SutclifF. I have made several ef- " forts, and have sketched, as well as I could, the outlines of ^^ what I conceive to be his character; but have failed in ^ producmg such a portrait as appears to me fit for the pub- • he eye. I am perfectly convinced that your intimacy with him, and your power of discrimination, will enable you ta present to posterity a much juster and more impressive idea of him than I can. I am heartily sorry I promised It. But promises I hold sacred; and, therefore, if vou insist upon it, and are not wilhng to release me from my ,, c^ngagement, I will accomplish the task as well as I can. liut, if you will let the matter pass sub silentio, without ,^ reproaching, me, you will oblige me considerably. It ap- ^ pears to me that, if I ever possessed a faculty of character- ' f'^'^^^g, I have lost it, probably for want of use ; as I am ^^ far from tiiking any delight in a minute criticism on cha- u ^^li^^: ^? "^II'^^ ^" ^y younger days, I was excessively ^^ addicted. Both our tastes and talents change with the ^^ progress of years. The purport of these lines, however. u V \^ request you to absolve me from my promise, in which light I shall interpret your silence ; holding myself ready. however, to comply with your injunctions, " I am, my dear Sir, „ ,,„-,, " Your affectio ate Brother, f'Pf'^^l^^' . "R.HALL."* me of the most delightful of these pi lure.s-. as those of Toller, • VOL. I. J ' Ill 114 MKMOm OP ROBERT HALL. For several years, about this time, Mr Hall's tTionrrT.*. wtimacy, will recollect how Xrth~P «^^ " "* «» principle Which made so many churches T>niTifQ />r erii, and often deplored it in language similar to that wh^h commences hi3 first prod^ct^n on thT ubjoct The discussion, indeed, is neither of sli-rht norof tem SdlTnf ° *''"«'*!°^'»°. 'Whether estaSished, orin- SMI be preserved, without an infringement of the nrin sfc"?'" -'^K,*" ""i^* "^ "^^'-^^ « portion of ^1^; Sted of "I^n *l' """''l^' *« "^'>"'* Universal," ^T ^^f/ ^^ ?.*'"'•*'" of Christ's mystical body ^pidly approaching, as we seem to be to tSUf- «f things, when all churches, national as w;iaroth^.i iW t^'fi '}' '^^r-y^ if not the necS rf rere^^ mg to first pnnciples in modifvino- «n^ ™£' ^_!T^" «g to fi.t principi^-;^' -aTf;,;;- -f^;y^^^^^^^ mmnt.es, the controve^y on « Terms of Com- )rceg Itself upon the att<.ntmn „= rZ ■ several communities, .„c ^uuooverey on " Terras of Tom niunion- forces itself upon the attention asTne of Pri' Te^/iSon • """ *^"' '^^'^ *''« P«T«>^« »f the in- ■ » .r2£ s^,.r £"?s,pt is^A« AT LEICESTER. J]^ « Jn its eftects. There is no position in the whole com- piss of theology of the truth of which he feels a stronc- ^^ er persuasion, than that no man, or set of men, are entitled to prescribe, as an indispensable condition of ^^ communion, wluit the New Testament has not enjoined ^^ as a condition of salvation. To establish this position «!t *^^^ P^P^^^P'-^l object of the following work; and ^^ though It IS more immediately occupied in the discus- ^^ sion of a case which respects the Baptists and Pedo- ^^ baptists, that case, as attempted to be decided upon the « Prmciple now mentioned, is no more than the applica- tion ot it to a particular instance.*' In this discussion more perhaps than in any in whicli Mr. Hall engaged, he manifested his power of " breath- ing a soul into the driest hones of controversy." At the same time, while he contended for that true Christian liberty which many have sacrificed from mistaken notions of what « unity of spirit" really requires, he sedulously guarded against the deduction of latitudinarian notions and practices from the principles which he so earnestly and successfully advocated. ^ ^ " He who contends," says Mr. Hall, « that no agree- ^^ ment m doctrine is essential to communion, must, if he ^^ understands himself, either mean to assert that Christ- ianity contains no fundamental truths, or that it is not ^necessary that a member of a church should be a ^'^t'^lT J^lffif «f t^^^se positions sets aside the ^^ necessity of faith altogether ; the last is a contradiction m terms. ^1" ri" *°.°*'?T *i= "Rreement, creeds, and summa- «* " '^,?^g^ tb^se summaries of Christian doctrine fre- ^^ quently contain article^., which, admitting them to be « !!7I' r^r* ^ru"^?""^"*"^' ^^^y ^^'^'•^ originaHy deemed such by their fabncators, or supposed at least to be ac- companied with such a plenitude of evidence as no smcere inquirer could resist ; and they are continued under the same persuasion." The inefficacy of such terms of communion, except* I f ' ll/i F • 116 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. they are reiy simple and confined strictly to fundament- ais IS fully confirmed by experience, if it thus become evident that they are altogether unavaihng in producine iinifomiity of sentiment with regard to the points they comprehend; that is, if it be manifest that they fail as a test And if, in addition to this, they are made the sub- stitute for discipline, by superseding the necessity of moral gualtficatiom, they become scnpturally nnUwful mdepeiidontly of their violation of the apostolic injunc- tion (m Kom. XIV. xv. &c.) to tolerate a diversity of sen- timent on pomts avowedly not fundamental. It; then, an apparent uniformity mav be confounded with real unity of spirit," if the spirit of the Gospel be lost sight of m pursuing ihe phantom instead of the substance, audit that causeless or unnecessary separation of one part of the church of Christ from another, which is es- sentially « 5c/a^m, has resulted from the mistake, it is more than time that some judicious, strenuous efforts were made to expose and remove the evil; and such are those of Mr. Hall. - All attempts (says he) to urge men ,, torward, even m the right path, beyond the measure of „ t^eir light, are impracticable, if they were lawful; and ^ unJawtuI, if they were practicable. Augment their • light, conciliate their afiections, and they will follow of their own accord." I have thus, though but for a moment, adverted to this controversy, that the general reader may not be in- duced to undervalue it. It occupies the third volume of the present edition of the Works. Of the different writers who opposed Mr. Hall on this occasion, Mr Ivinghorn was, unquestionably, the most acute and learn- tU. His volume should be read, in connexion with Mi llaJl s, by such as wish to view the question in all its bearmgs.^ Mr. Hall's part of the controversy is con- ducted with his characteristic frankness and decision- and evinces the same clearness, copiousness, strength, and majesty of language, as he uniformly displayed upon SJ}^ ^ipRhorn studied under Mr. Hall at Bristol, and died about a jr V ■ ""'• ^^^ '?*i '""*^^ h^\os^^ by the church and congregatiou EibTtri'of'r cii;:'''' ^' "'-^ ^^^^'^^ ^^"^ ^^^^^^ '^'^^''^ 'y '^^ '•»• AT LEICESTER. 117 every subject to which he bent his mind with all its power. He proceeds in the argument with remarkable acumen, and employs the most convincing logic. He very successfully exposes the false reasoning of his oppo- nent, showing not only that it is indefensible, but that it often leads to consequences which are self-contradictory and absurd. Much of this work is written in Mr. Hall's most animated style, and it frequently exhibits flashes of wit which remind the reader of those of Pascal in his Provincial Letters. Sometimes when a narrow, illiberal sentiment, calculated to check the spirit of christian union and affection, excites his indignation, he rebukes with a cutting severity: and I feel no inclination to deny, that in a few cases, he has suffered himself to indulge in terms of sarcasm, if not of contempt, that add nothing to his argument, and had been better spared. Yet, as one of his bitterest opponents has declared, "it was seldom that his thunder was heard, but the bolt was felt ; and both were exercised on the side of truth and virtue." In these, as in others of his controversial pieces, the reader may safely reckon upon much that is eloquent and impressive, apart from what immediately relates to the questions under debate. Among which may be specified his severe but just strictures on Antinomianism, the fine remarks on excommunieation, the beautiful delineation of the conduct of our Lord, the passages distinguishing between conditions of salvation and meritorious condi- tions, and those in which he discriminates between the atonement contemplated as a fact, and as a doctrine, and thence infers " the peculiar glory of the gospel in contra- distinction from the law of Moses."* About this timet Mr. Hall had a correspondence with * See Vol. III., in various places, t Nearly at this time, also, viz , in September, 1817, the faculty of Manschal College, Aberdeen, at the instance oftheir late learned prin- cipal. Dr. VV. L. Hrown, conferred upon Mr. Hall the degree of D. D. in testimony of their high admiration of his talents and character. He felt much gratified by this mark of their good opinion ; bnt, having a conscientious objection to the title of Doctor of Divinity, he never adopted it. 118 MEMOIR OP ROBERT UALL. IS ri a friend on a kindred subject, that of occasional comnm- nion. That individual, though a decided Baptist, in re- ference both to the mode of baptism, and the character of chose who are entitled to it, and long a member of a dissenting church was m the habit of occasional commu- nion mth an episcopalian chapel in his neighbourhood, ot which the mmister held evangelical sentiments. Mr Hall expressed a desire to be acquainted ^vith. hii H^^rH' . i" !l!'' ^^f'^- ^^ ^^^P'3^' ^« i^^«™«d Mr. Hall that he thought those reasons flowed obviously from the principles for which he himself was so earnestly and successfully contending ; that one of the highest enjoy- ments of a man who humbly hoped he constituted apart ot the church universal, was to testifv his feeling of bro- therhood ^ylth other assemblies of orthodox Christians than that with which he was immediately connected, by holding communion with them at convenient seasons • that m this respect, as the political grounds of dissent were of very little value in his esteem, he made no men- tal distinction between established and separate churches • that, having no conscientious objection to kneeliu'rat the sacrament, and having resolved never to comm^icate even occasionally but where he had reason to believe the Milk of those who partook of the sacrament were real Ohnstifms, he felt no hesitation as to the propriety, while he could speak decidedly as to the comfort, of the course he had pursued. He stated, farther, that, with Richard Baxter he disowned the principle of many who think ^^ their presence maketh them guilty of all that is faulty u *^/*^®, P"^"c worship and ministration: for this dis- ^^ solveth aU worshipping churches on earth without ex- ception ; that he considered Baxter s refutation of Dr Owens arguments against occasional communion as com- plete : and that he would rather err m the spirit of Baxter and Howe, on such a question, than be right according to the narrow measures by which too mSiy would enforce a contrary practice. Mr. Hall's reply which is subjoined, exemplifies his usual manner of guarding against a misapprehension of the real extent of his agreement with another, upon any disputed point. ▲T LEICESTER. 119 *€ <( (( t( tt " 6 March, 1818. ' My dear Friknd. " I am much obliged to you for the frankness with which you have answered my mquiries. Perhaps I may not be quite prepared to go with you the full extent of your mo- deration ; though on this I have by no means made up my " mind. I admire the spirit with which you are actuated, ** and esteem you more than ever for the part you have *' acted. I perfectly agree with you that the old grounds of dissent are the true ones, and that our recent apologists have mixed up too much of a political cast in their reason- ings upon this subject. Though I should deprecate " the founding of anj/ established church, in the popular " sense of that term, I think it very injudicious to lay that " as the comer stone of dissent. We have much stronger *' ground in the specific corruptions of the church of Eng- " land, ground which our pious ancestors occupied, and " which may safely defy every attempt of the most powerful ** and acute minds to subvert. With respect to occasional " conformity, I by no means think it involves an abandon- " ment of dissent ; and I am inclined to think that were I " in a private station, (not a minister, I mean,) I should, *' under certain circumstances, and in certain situations, be " disposed to practise it ; though nothing would induce me " to acknowledge myself a permanent member of the church " of England. " In regard to episcopacy, it appears to me entirely a " human, though, certainly, a very early invention. It waa " unknown, I believe, in the apostolical times ; with the ex- ••' ception, probably, of the latter part of John's time. But, *' as it was practised in the second and third centuries, I " should have no conscientious objection to it. As it subsists at present among us, I am sorry to say I can scarcely con- ceive a greater Labuse]. It subverts equally the rights of pastors and of people, and is nothing less than one of the worst relics of the papal hierarchy. Were every thing '* else what it ought to be in the established church, prelacy, " as it now subsists, would make me a decided dissenter. if it if * " I remain*, my dear/ Sir, with great esteem, " Yours most affectionately, '* R. Hall."^ * It may not be impmper to add now (October 1838), in order simply to prevent misnppreiiension, that the above letter was addressed to the author of this memoir. Ni 'fiv If f 120 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. Mr. Halls engagements for the press, numerous and heavy as they were, to one who ^vrote with so much dif- tnf /^? P^'""' ^^ T* ^"^ ^^"^ ^'^^ fi«°i pastoral watchfulness over his church and congregation ; nor were thej permitted to shorten those hours of retirement in which he sought " converse with God." Nothing on the contrary, was more evident than his increased spirit of devotion as he advanced in life About the year 1812 he commenced the practice of setting apart one day in a month for especial prayer and fasting. On these occa. sions he retured mto his study immediately after the morning domestic worship, and remained thereuntil the evening. Finding this eminently conducive to his own comfort, at the end of about two years he recommended the church to hold quarterly fasts. They at once adopted the reconimendation; and some of the members often speak of the first meetmg for this purpose, as a most extra- ordmary season of devout and solemn feeling. About the same time, or somewhat earlier, he an- nounced his opinion of the disadvantage arising from the presence of others besides the communicants on sacra- mental occasions. In a short address he explained the customs of the early Christians with regard to the Lord's fc>upper, and showed that the admission of spectators, who were not members of the church, during the cele- bratiori, was, comparatively, a modem innovation. He pointed out the inconclusiveness of the ordinary aimi- ments,— that spectators often receive benefit from the ad- dresses of the ministers, mid that therefore their exclu- sion was cuttmg them off from good, and that such exclu- sion was an infrmgement of religious liberty. He also stated that the presence of such spectators deprived him ot much comfort during the communion service, and that he should regard their keeping away as a personal kind- ness to himself. His address was received with affec- tionate respect ; and from that time those who had previously remained to witness the administration dis- contmued the custom. Some time after the conclusion of his part of the con- troversy on " Terms of Communion," he made an effort AT LEICESTER. 121 to persuade the church at Harvey Lane to adopt the practice of "mixed communion;" but finding that it would disturb the peace which had so long subsisted in the society, he relinquished his intention, and recommended the formation of a distinct church on the mixed commu- nion principle, its sacramental service being held on the morning of the same sabbath on which the " strict com- munion" church held its corresponding service in the afternoon. This plan was adopted and followed durincr Mr. Hall's continuance at Leicester, without causing any interruption of the harmony which prevailed among the different classes of worshippers. Having frequently noticed the difficulty with w^hich some pious individuals introduce religious conversation, and after lamenting, indeed, his own deficiencies in this respect, it occurred to him, in conversation with some in- telligent friends, that the difficulty might be greatly dimi- nished, by publishing a selection of texts for every day in the year, for the use of the members of his church and congregation. By this expedient it was hoped that each, when meditating upon one of the portions of Scripture thus recommended, might be led to reflect that several of his religious associates had their thoughts employed simul- taneously upon the same passage, and that this conviction would prepare the way for free and beneficial conversa- tion. He therefore published in a very cheap form, " A Collection of References to Scripture Passages, doctrinal, practical and experimental, for the furtherance of know- ledge and grace in all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, For every day in the year;" to which he prefixed the fol- lowing remarks : — tt ft u tc fe tf tt " That the word of Clirist dwell in us richly is an apos- tolical injunction, which no sincere Christian will permit himself to neglect. It has been Judged however, that some benefit might result from selectmg a particular passage of Scripture as the special subject of meditation for the day, by which the difficulty of choice might be obviated, and'a certain rallying point be presented to the tlioughts. It is also conjectured that it is desirable that a number of Chris- tians be invited to make the same passage the subject of 122 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. (Ml i\i it t( Ies and meditate on the passage referred to for each day, it is surely no presumption to hope that they will be sensible of the benefit derived from it in the cultivation of ., devotional feehng and the increase of fraternal affection. 1 he texts are only referred to, and not printed at lar^e. partly on the ground of economy, and partly because it has been supposed that the act of turning to the Bible in order to peruse the text, may have the effect of engravino- It more deeply on the mind, as well as of inviting attention to the context. ^^ " That this little manual may be productive of spiritual unprovement, is the sincere and ardent prayer of the per- sons engaged m its compilation. ^ "Robert Hall." In the year 1823, the minister of a Unitarian congrega- tion at Leicester, having delivered a series of what are usually denominated " Challenge Lectures," in defence of his own opinions, to ! ear which indinduals of other per- suasions were publicly invited, Mr. Hall felt if to be his duty to offer a timely antidote to the evil. He, therefore preached twelve lectures on the points at issue, and had the happiness to know that they were serviceable in checking the diffusion of Socinian error. His concise outline of these lectures, as well as fuller notes of two or three, are inserted in the fifth volume of the Works He was strongly urged by several members of his con- giegation and by various neighbouring ministers, to PuUish the whole ; but uniformly replied, that though ha beheved they had been beneficial, he was conscio^ tt tt ft t( AT LEICESTER. 123 they contained nothing that could be regained as really new m the controversy; and that Dr. Wardlaw had so admurably occupied, the ground in his sermons, aheady before the public, that any thing which he could offer in pnnt would only be regarded as an impertinent intrusion. Throughout the whole of Mr. HaU's residence at Lei- cester, he suffered much from his constitutional com- plaint ; and neither his habit of smoking nor that of taking laudanum,"- seemed effectually to alleviate his sufferings. Exercise, of every kind, lost its pleasure and he, who through life grew in the delightful art of drawing happiness from the circumstances in which he found himself, was now often heard to say, " No; don't let us go yet ; the present place is the best place." It was truly surprising that his constant severe pain, and the means adopted to mitigate it, did not in any mea.«ure dimmish his mental energy. A little difference, was perhaps, discernible in the vivacity of his conversation • but his preachmg had, as yet, lost nothing of its force. In letters to his fru nds he expressed a hope that " a greater *' savour of Jesus Christ accompanied his mmistry ;" and remarked, that " his strain of preaching was much less *^^ elegant, but more intended for instruction, for awaken- " ing conviction, and canying home truth with power to *' the heart." ^ There can, indeed, be no question, as to the general and constantly increasing excellency of his preaching during his residence at Leicester. " I am persuaded," remarks a brother minister, who knew him long and in- timately, " that there, more than any where, he bent the '' whole force of his mind to prevail on sinners to be re- " conciled to God. He had incessant recourse to every I' topic of w aming and encouragement, that his know- " ledge, genius, and piety could suggest, to raise souls to " heaven." " And such," says an old and valuable mem- ber of his church, " was often the universality and depth of the impression, that every thing seemed moved and agitated but the materials of which the building was idLII ^*^^ *!5 *^^/f:o™ fi% ♦« a hundred drops every night 1826 tilt quantity had increased to a thousand drops. Before 124 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HAH. AT LEICESTER. composed. It was the frequent remark of another founded upon the cogency of his appeals to tlTo con- sciences of his hearers:-" They that will not eare off Mnnmg, „„,t, I am sure, leave off coming to meefef for they can have no quiet there." And thus it Zm ^1: t " f?r^ > y^'"^' "'°»gh tl'«rc m Ke a Srituaffll''"''"™'"'"/"'* r^^^' '^'^^^ was more of !rjcS.oe ,< 'm P""«f "7/ application to the heart and conscience, which resulted from an enlarged acauaintinc^ twl'Too^^^TrV?.*^ -i-'^^P^^ knoVleSof ^b^ camgs ot trod. That the diWne blessinff accomniTi,V.l me death of Dr. Ryland in 1825 led to Mr Hall's in citation to take the pastoral office over the church at Broadmead, Bristol, an office which hafbecn Sand honoumbly sustained by that excellent individua ^After wkh'vT'"' JP'"* ,'° ^"'""^ deliberation, ?n ad WsW ZstZrflf^ r^^^ ^°"«^' from .above, from the dread he felt lest he " should rush into a sphere f action to which he was not called, and off^d'ood 1 v solveTs'"L'lT;r P°^*'" ""^ "* '"^"^ decMedrd r Srces er ^r^ 1 P''/ ''°°"'^'°" "'* t^e church at he duties witj/Lio 1 through the ordinary pub- lic duties ^Mth tolemhle composure ;t but at tlie sacri- mental semce he strove in vain to conceal I) is emotion In one of his addresses to the members of the chuTch o,; thil vdut^e'' '^' ''"^" ''""''^ P^^^^ «» '^^ occasion are inserted i„ 4hfUi"settirli^^^ of the congregation sermons for the Baptist MissiZ^-TLnn »l "^'^^•'' ''^- P'^^^^^l'^d two 8 : " Unto me, who am less ?ha n 'the L.i f n '"•''7'"?^ '""" ^P^es. iii . tliat 1 «l.o„ld preacramoni tL GentiL^^^ f '""^ '" '^''F'''' S'*^"' Christ- That in the evening, from Svi O-'Trr'''"^' "'^'' "^ . On the ensuing day be preached a farewdl vermin' thn^^l'*" f ^'"^•" ...aated, to tl.e neighbouring nunisters. aTA^Tbi; naZe pla'/e" '" 125 adverting to the pain of separation, he was so much affected that he sat do\vn, covered his face mth his hands, and wept ; they sharing in his distress, gave un- equivocal signs of the deepest feeling. Mr. Eustace Carey, who was present, continued the devotional part of the service, until Mr. Hall was sufficiently recovered to proceed. At the close of the solemnity the weeping be- came again universal, and they parted " sorrowing most of all that they should see his face no more." Very shortly afterwards the church received from Mr. Hall the following letter of resignation : TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST MEETING IN HAR- VEY-LANE, LEICESTER. " 3d April, 1826. " My dear Brethren and Sisters, " I TAKE tliis opportunity of solemnly and affectionately " resigning the pastoral charge which l" have long sustained " among you, and of expressing, at the same time, the deep " sense I shall ever retain of the marks of affection and " esteem, with which, both collectively and individually, " you have honoured me. '*' Though the providence of Gpd has, as I conceive, called me to labour in another part of his vineyard, my solicitude for your spiritual welfare will ever remain unimpaired ; nor will any thing give me more joy than to hear of your growth in grace, peace, and prosperity. My prayer will *| never cease to ascend to the God of all comfort, that he will *' establish your hearts in love, unite you more and more in " the fellowship of saints, and make you fruitful in every *' good work. ** Let me earnestly intreat you to guard most anxiouslv " aspainst whatever may tend to weaken your union, dimi- " nish your affection, or embitter yoursp'irits against each "other. « Let brotherly love continue;' 'Seek peace and " pursue it :' and ' may the God of peace, who brought again ** from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ, that Great Shepherd " of the sheep, estabhsh, strengthen, settle, and make you perfect.' " I hope that, in the choice of a successor, you will ear- nestly and anxiously seek divine direction : prefer the useful to the splendid; the solid to the glittering and showy; and be supplied with a pastor who will, in doc- trine, exhibit ' uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, and sound tt t( It K «( tt tt tt tt tt 126 MEMOm OP BOBERT HALL. r» speech which cannot be condemned/ and be in mnnncr and behaviour a pattern to believers. ^ " Pennit me, on this occasion, to return you my sincere ^^ acknowledg-ements for the uniform kindness with which you have treated me, the respectful attention, you have paid to my ministry, and the candour with Which you have borne my infirmities. ^^ " With my most earnest prayers for your spiritual and eternal welfare, I remnin, my dear Brethren and Sisters, " Your obliged and affectionate " Friend and Brother, " Robert Hall." At the same time lie addressed a letter to the mixed- communion church over which he presided ; ^nd which it is equally desirable to preserve. TO THE OPEN COMMUNION CHURCH, MEETING IN HARVEY LANE, LEICESTER. *' My dear Brethren and Sisters, " I TAKE this opportunity of expressing my warmest ac- ^^ knowledgements for the uniform kindness and attention I have received at your hands, at the same time that I re- sign my pastoral charge among you. ^ " Let me hope, my dear friends,"that you will still continue your communion, smce you may rest assured that the con- ^^ gre^tion and church at Harvey Lane will never make choice of a pastor who will scniple the communion of pious Pedobaptists ; and I have little doubt that in a short " time ' the middle wall of partition' will be broken down • *' an event which I well know would give great pleasure to " a vast majority of tlie Baptist Society. " Be assured, my dear friends, that the difference of sen- ^^ timent between us, on one point of very inferior import- " ance, has never, for a moment, abated any thing of my " esteem for your character, or my sense of your kindness ^^ " I have had my trials, but I must in justice say, they liave !f J? °° '=«»' «»r* " Yours affectionately, " Robert Hall." TO THE REV. JOHN DYER, 8ECRETARY OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. fSoliciting an Annuity for the Widow of Dr. Rylani] "DEARSm, "'BrUtot.Jan.m.lSZ;. Mrs "ptli^nT '?,"°">'e ?ou r'* " f--'^ lines on behalf of ^n^n^^^f „ Her situation is such, that without the con- tinuance of the aid allowed by the Society last year, she hote^^K-'ll""* •"?''P»'>Ie of reinaining'in her present habir.Vlnn"^^'-"""""^'""'' "'»" ••'<''==^"' comfortable nabitation, and in no respect superior to what everv feel- jng mmd would judge suitable to the widow of Dr. Ryland fnv 1 ';r.''''"°''"=^ ""''" '^ e^*^"' ''-'^'^e. incapable of and one of them has long been so seriously ill. as to be a source of continual expense. I say nothing of he c W trJike N„"'- ° ^'- ^^^'f' ^'"'^' "« f«' -bovc ny ZJ^r\- \ " ""^-'^"y f"' me to remind the commit- tlie second father, his devotion to its interests, which min- gled w.th the last pulsations of his heart, and his laborTo". exertions m its service, without fee or reward. On all these accounts I cannot but conceive the request of Mrs Ryland, for the continuance of the allowance of the lit 11?^' T' ■ '«.^°°«hle, and such as cannot be denied wuhout onnging great discredit on the Society. Any sLghr put UDon Dr. Ryland in the persons of th«e m^^ t( U tt €t •' dear to him, will be found to be a miserable policy ; nor •* can I conceive of any thing more likely to disgust the " friends of the mission, not only in this city and vicinity, " but throughout the nation at large. Surely a religious and philanthropic society will never allow itself to incur the censure of ingratitude to its warmest supporters, or of neglecting the sorrows of the fatherless and the widow. " I am extremely sorry it is found necessary to solicit " the aid of the Society on her behalf; but as it is necessary, •' I know none to whom I can apply with equal propriety " to recommend her case to the committee, with yourself ; " nor can I doubt that an application so enforced would " prove successful. All that Mrs. Ryland presumes to hope " is, that the committee will be so kind as to continue the " disbursement they were so good to make the last year. " By an early attention to this business, you will confer a " lasting obligation on, dear Sir, " Your obhged Friend and Brother, " Robert Hall.** Mr. Hall was in his sixty-second year when he re- moved to Bristol, the scene of his first continuous labours, and now to become the scene of his closing ministry. Some of the friends of his early life still survived to wel- come his return among them ; and many others, who had profited by his pulpit exertions on his periodical visits to Bristol, congratulated themselves that he to whom, under God, they owed so much, had become their pastor. All things indeed, except his infirm state of health, seemed to conspire in promoting his own happiness as well as the prosperity of the Church with which he had again connected himself. The church and congregation soon received numerous accessions. In vniting to a friend, early in 1829, he says, " I continue to be very happy with my people, from ** whom I daily receive every demonstration of affection " and respect. Our attendance is as good as I could " wish ; and we have added to the Baptist church, during " the last year, twenty-seven, and six are standing can- " didates for baptism. For these tokens of the divine " presence I desire to be thankful." His heavenly Father during the concluding years of his life, made a rich provision for his social enjoyments, VOL. I. K 130 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT BRISTOL. 131 III both in his family, and among his friends. Besides the comfort of frequent association with many of his own flock, his pleasures were greatly heightened by intercourse with Mr. Foster, and the tutors of the Baptist Academy, as well as with several clergymen and other ministers, and laymen, residing in Bristol and its vicinity. It is true, that wherever he went, or in whatever he engaged, he carried with him the complaint from which he had suffered so much and so long. It had become, as his es- teemed friend Mr. Addington termed it, "an internal apparatus of torture," accompanied frequently by a sen- sation designated by himself in describing his symptoms to an eminent physician, as " a living dissolution ;" yet, such was the peculiar structure of his mind, doubtless fortified and prepared for patient endurance bv an ener- gy imparted from above, that though his appointment by day and by night was incessant pain, yet high enjoyment was, notwithstanding, the law of his existence. Between his final removal to Bristol and his death, he Tisited his friends at Cambridge twice, namely, in 1827 and 1829. These visits were imdertaken with the sense of responsibility of one who had formerly been their pastor : and he made it a rule so to arrange his time while there as to see, converse with, and exhort, every member of the church, and a great proportion of the con- gregation. He paid also one visit to his recently quitted flock at Leicester ; and two to his friends in London. On these occasions the anxiety to hear him preach was lis great as it had ever been; while his sermons were characterized in a high degree by the qualities that had long distinguished them,— with the addition of a strong- er manifestation of religious and benevolent affections, a still more touching persuasiveness of manner, continued with an increasing intensity of feeling, mth deeper and deeper solemnity of appeal ; the entire effect being great- ly augmented by the sudden introduction, just as the last sentence seemed dropping from his lips, of some new topic of application or of caution, most urgently pressed ; as though he could not cease to invite, to warn, to ex- postulate, untn the " Great Master of Assemblies" vouch- I) safed to him the assurance that he had not been pleading his cause in vain."* Mr. Hall's increasing infirmities did not extinguish his literary ardour, or abate his love of reading. Except during the first years of his residence at Cambridge, reading, and the thinking it called forth, were his inces- sant occupation to the very close of life ; and both the pursuit and its application to the benefit of, others, yield- ed him the highest delight. In hia early life, as I have already mentioned, it was common with him to carry on five or six different courses of study, simultaneously. But for the last ten or twelve years, he mostly confined himself to one book at a time, and read it to the end. His reading continued to be very extensive and varied (for it was his decided opinion that every species of knowledge might be rendered subservient to religion), but his predilection, next to the scriptures, was for works of clear, strong, and conclusive reasoning, though con- veyed in language far from elevated, and sometimes per- haps obscure. Thus he, for sixty years, read Jonathan Edwards's writings with undiminished pleasure. And of Chillingworth's " Religion of Protestants," he has often been known to say, " It is just like reading a novel :* which, indeed, was his usual expression of commenda- tion, with regard to such works of a dry or abstract na- ture, as discovered subtlety, depth, or vigour of thought. In this class he placed the works of Jeremy Bentham, for whom he entertained the highest estimation, as an original, profoimd, and accurate thinker ; observing often, that in the particular province of his speculations, the science of legislation, he had advanced to the Hmits of reason ; and that if he were compelled to legislate for the world upon uninspired principles, " he should take Ben- " tham, and go from state to state with as firm a step as ♦ It wa8 seldom that the friends who attempted to take down Mr. Hall's sermons did not anconsciou^ly relinquish writing as he approach- ed tlie close. The reader, however, who never had the privilege of hearing him preach, will be able to form some conception of his im- pressive terminations, from the last ten pages of the sermon on "the Cilery of God in concealing." See, also, the last three pages of ihe sermon on " the Glory of Christ's Kingdom f and porti ns of that ou " die Lamb of God." K 2 132 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. PI II il I Wan^twV "Pm '^ P^^"™«°' »f adamant- that eo^tituQ' no i^pfdi^e^t " Shortrb^^n'' qmtted Leicester, a friend found him on^ZrS Jv riS;?,SrE t^ - I^Kan ^ietio^-J n^m^^he said, « ^''stdoX ^^uitriltaf! •* paiio-J.f *k« :4* ^ "^cu biuaying Italian. I have "rel^ fhl w' ""'* ^"^ '««'li"g Dante >vith welt relish . though I cannot yet say, with MUton, ^ 'Now my tusk is smoothly done. I can fly or i caa run.' " 1 .'i^t "1^:.^^'^^' "'«' «f ^^'- Hall's mSeuL^; Wster friends, m reference to his course oTrXg ".rilr" ''^''V"""* "•*» might think desultory but >: tWh he held the averagSsu^ S 1^^ estunation. Poeby he seldom read, nor did he s^ " excSfJl^^k "'"/P"'?"' ^htly of poets, with few " h^,?^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^^'^ ^y "» n-eans what mi-ht " si^ po,.m, he would read itS'lf^'se^'ll^-'^:;: -«d,umoi bi. elegant F.«choUJ:nr;iv,M.''D'„°Zlr "'""*" "" AT BRISTOL. 133 (( " parently with the deepest interest, and then abuse it. ** With the exception of Milton, who is, in fact, an " antique, he preferred the ancient to the modern poets. " Of the poetry of our own day he spoke with a con- " tempt, which an accurate or extensive acquaintance " with it would have compelled him to relinquish. He *' had jiot, I think, made history a distinct and conse " cutive study, though he had read many of the ori " ginal historians. He seemed to feel this of Lite years, " and gave much of his time to the subject." His enjoyment of the writings of the illustrious men of Greece and Rome remained unimpaired to the last. Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, suggested to him many uoble arguments in favour of an internal spring of morality, which he employed with his wonted skill in support of the religion of pure motive and devotedness of spirit. Virgil's Georgics he characterized as the most finished of liuman compositions; and he continued to prefer Virgil to Homer. He greatly admired the copiousness, grace, and harmony, of Cicero's diction ; but considered . Demosthenes by far the most powerful orator the worie are recorded for onr instruction, does it not seem as if the " Lord himself weie speaking to us, and calling heaven and earth to " witness against us, that life and death, blessing and cursing, are, even " in this world, most manifestly set before us ? " — Britiek CrUie, •* April, 1833. ti <( V' AT BRISTOL- 137 Mr. Hall, having previously assembled his own family for worship, commonly retired to rest a little before eleven o'clock ; but, after his first sleep, which lasted about two hours, he quitted his bed to obtain an easier position on the floor, or upon three chairs ; and would then employ himself in reading the book on which he had been engaged during the day. Sometimes, indeed often, the laudanum, large as the doses had become, did not sufficiently neutralize his pain, to remove the neces- sity for quitting his bed a second time.* In these cases he would again put on the dress prepared to keep him adequately warm, and resume his reading. On Sunday morning, as soon as he awoke, it was usual with him- to say, " This is the Lord's day. This is the day^ the Lord '' hath made ; let us rejoice and be glad in it." And he often impressed it on his family, that they ought " not to " think their own thoughts," or " to find their own plea- " sure," on that day. He did not pursue any plan of training, or of disci- pline, with his children. He was remarkably affec- tionate and indulgent; but he did nothing systemati- caUy to correct defects, to guide or excite their minds. Now and then he recommended his daughters to read some particular book ; one, perhaps, that he had himself read with peculiar satisfaction : but beyond this there do not appear to liave been any direct, specific en- deavours to impart knowledge, or, in any uniform man- ner, to inculcate religious principles. When, however, any of his children were about to quit home for a short time, it was his practice to summon them to his study, exhort them, and pray with them. One of his daughters, on writing to a friend after his death, says, " Well I remember that, when I was a child, on leaving home for a few days, or on going to school, he would call me into the study, give me the tenderest advice, make me kneel down by him at the same chair, '' and then, both bathed in tears, would he fervently sup- * For more than twenty years he had not been able to pass a whole night in bed. When this is borne in mind, it is indeed astonishing that he wrote and published so much ; nay, that he did not smk mto dotage before he was fifty years of ag» (( u u i I? i 138 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. plicate the divine protection for me. This, I believe, « vln -""' T J'^"^ !? ^" °^ r ^^ ^*^^^^"g ^«°^«> ^*»i»e young. 1 heir minds were also often deeply impressed, by hearmg him, as they passed his study door, coramend- iDg them, by name, with the utmost fervency, to God, and entreatmg those blessings for each, which, in his ju^ement, each most needed.* He was not in the habit of keeping a regular journal, nor, generally speaking, did he approve of it, from a per- suasion that it tempted to an artificial tone of expression which did not accord with the actual state of the heart ±iut on some solemn occasions he made a short note in one of his memorandum books, containing hints of texts, &c. ° Thus : " New-year's day, Janunry 1st, 1826. I have be- gun the year with a sincere resolution, in the strenffth of divme gmce, to devote myself wholly and entirely to God : but, knowing my extreme weakness and corruption, I dare place no dependence whatever on my own resolutions. I have on many occasions, found them unstable as water c?« only cast myself on the mercy of my God, and cry with the I>salmist, ' Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe? U thou most holy and merciful Lord God, I beseecli Thee to take up thine abode in my heart, and shape me entirely anew. Amen. Amen." "^ J^F^;i''"rr^fuV''^^ "^^^^ ^^-^- "This day I commence my &4th [65th] year. What reason liave I to look with shame and humiliation on so long a tract of years spent to so httle purpose ! Alas ! I am ashamed of my bairen- nessand unprofitableness. Assist me, Lord, by Thy grace, that I may spend the short residue of my days in a more entire devotion to Thy service. It is my purpose, in the strength of divine grace, to take a more minute inspec- tion into the state of my heart, and the tenour of my ac- tions, and to make such observations and memorandums as circumstances may suggest. But to Thee, Lord, do I Th wiir ^^'^ strength, to keep Thy way, and to do ill ?k"**'*i"*?'^ **"*^' *"'^'**'*^' P"''^*^ P^y^""' ^^"^^^ "PO° tJ'e con VIC UjMi, that silent prayer waa apt to degenerate into meditaUon : while, from our compound nature, a man cannot but be affected by the sound 01 tua own voice, wlwii adequately expressing what is really felt I 4* t€ (t ft fi *t it €( €€ u tt it (t *e (i. it it ft (t it it AT BRISTOL. 139 Mr. Hall still evinced a peculiar solicitude for the welfare of the pooier members of his flock, and greatly lamented his incapacity, from the loss of locomotive energy, to seek them out in their own habitations, and associate with them frequently, as he had done with the poor at Cambridge and Leicester. He publicly expressed his concern that some plan was not arranged for his meeting them in small parties at specified times, and as- sured them of the cordial readiness with which his part of such a plan should be executed. This, I believe, was not accomplished. The indications of infirm age now rapidly exhibited themselves, but happily were unaccompanied by a decay- ing mind, or a querulous spirit. The language of his conduct, and of his heart, corresponded with that of the pious ancient, " Lord, give me patience now, and ease hereafter !" If tempests come they will not last long, but soon will be hushed into an eternal cahn. His inability to take exercise, on account of the grad- ual increase of his complaint, gave rise, about six years before his death, to another disorder, formidable in its nature and fatal in its issue. The results of a plethonc habit became more and more apparent. " Thus," adopt- ing the language of Mr. Addington, "the system of the blood-vessels had a laborious duty to perform in circu- lating their fluid, which, for want of the full aid of muscular exertion, could not be equally distributed. The smaller ones on the surface of the body, and in the extremities, never appeared to derive a suflicient quantity of blood to furnish the usual proportion of animal heat, while the large trunks in the interior be- came overioaded. The natural consequence was, that the heart, on whose power the propulsion of the blood to the extremities depends, being over stimulated and oppressed by the condition of the large vessels, became weakened ; and, occasionally failing in the regular and equable transmission of the blood, would produce a sen- sation of distress in the region of the chest." The malady thus produced, manifested itself in paroxysms, which recurred at intervals of a few weeks, sometimes. •ii M ', ! M H " / 140 MEMOIR OP BOBEBT HALt. of only a few days ; they were usually severe ani t.^, aoihc^trng the lo^ of their revered pastor at af ve^ distant period resolved, on his recoverv from one of Aese^vere attacks, to urge upon him with eamestneL and affection the publicati.m of a volume of his sermonf The foUowag letter, signed by seventv members ™ the w^i^H^ /°°l'^* attendants upon Mr. Halls ministry, J^lsf "^ ^ * "viction of the uncertain tenure by w uch we hold what we iustly reckon among the nrs"of oS^ rel mous advantages, tfie opportunity of "recei vi^o- vZ pub jc mstruct, ons. We woulS, therefore, with al SecZ- iDg deference, but very enrnestlv, request liat as a folcVn .^^ vour re«.rd for our spiritual and'etcln:! Ve t^ ^ZZm fufanT i?: I httle sample of those most beautiftd, power- ful, and truly evangelical discourses that we are constantlv hearing from your gps. We are very sensible that we make t^M^!.,'T*'"' ^"''^""Idbe to those of r.s who may «-ach the tune when the voice cannot any more convey to a^eorf ofTsri ^'^"7 r-^l**! JratiBcation toL ^ a record of a small part of what we have listened to with so much pleasure, and we trust edi6cation, to read ou^elve, nwrache",^ to our cMdren, and propos'easamodeUoou; rising teachers. While we enterta n a lively sense of f\^^ great and varied merits of the discourses thafyrhave given to the pubhc. It may be permitted us to saf that having been delivered on public Occasions, they haT^^ot L ge"e? lal apphcation to the interior exercises of the christiaS Ufe AT BRISTOL. 141 which has distinguished many of those that we have heard in the ordinary course of your instruction. If our earnest desires should induce the publication of & few of those discourses that have been preached for our spiritual improvement, and characterized by such clearness and force of reason, such simplicity, streng^th, and beauty of language, such an union of doctrine tending to piety and virtue, and of morality enforced and Jinimated by the pecu- liar doctrines of Christianity, we shall feel that we have pro- moted an important service to vast numbers beyond the limits of our particular connexion, as well as to multitudes in tlie next generation. That you may be long spared as a blessing among us, and indulged with all the supports and comforts of the true re- ligion^ is the fervent prayer of Your affectionate Hearers. Mr. Hall was deeply affected by this proof of his people's regard, and promised to take their request into his most serious consideration; but his reluctance to writing naturally increasing with his infirmities, he never found himself able to make the preparations for the press so anxiously desired. In 1828, having some public engagements which took him to London, he was persuaded by his friends to take the advice of the late Dr. Armstrong; from which, however, no permanent good resulted. By the summer of 1830 the disorder had increased so seriously, that his medical friends at Bristol recommended a suspen- sion of his pastoral duties for a few weeks, that he might try the effect of a total change of air and scene- He, therefore, spent some time at Coleford, in the forest of Dean, where, in consequence of a previous arrange- ment, he met his old and valued friend, the Rev. Isaiah Birt, and enjoyed much happiness in his society. He also spent a few weeks at Cheltenham. At both these places he preached with his accustomed talent ; and his general appearance, too clearly indicating that the close of his ministerial labours was at hand, gave a deeper im- pression to his instructions and exhortations. His own feelings with respect to the state of his health, as well as his undiminished susceptibility of enjoyment of new 142 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. Sngton"^ ^ ^*''^ ^™'" '^ '«"" '^^^^i to M,. « Mv DEAR Sm «'*«"«-«««. TM Ocioier. 1830. letterHn^rh vt^^e "Sd T." *" '''"' ^'"^ '^'■"' citude .especti., ^^ej^c^i::,} :a\TS.Xir'- (f if if pastor afti his o^ heart "' ^ ^^ ^""'^ '^"^ ^^^"^ ^ • , * • • " I remain, my dear Sir, « V " ^^^^ ™"^^ esteem. Your ob%ed and affectionate Friend " R. Hall/' men absent from home, Mr. Hall vvas in the hahit C'f ™ting to his children. My narrow limil^ W pt- (C (< tf f( .( (( i( ts it it it a it it ft it AT BRISTOL. 143 rented my giving extracts from any of those letters ; but I am induced to insert part of one, written at this time to his son, who had been placed with a respectable che- mist and druggist at Bristol, in the hope that it may be useful to other youths in similar circumstances. 15M October, 1830. " My dear Robert, ** I HAVE long designed to write to you, that I might com- municate to you some hints of advice, which I could con- vey more easily, and perhaps more effectually, than by speaking. " I need not tell you, my dear bo}^, how solicitous I am for your welfare in both worlds, and how often I have borne you on my heart in my secret addresses to that Father which is in heaven. But, alas ! the prayers of parents for their children will avail nothing, if they are not mduced to pray for themselves, * for every one must give an account of himself to God/ I hope, my dear child, you do not live in the entire neglect of this most important duty : let me entreat you to attend to it constantly, and never to begin or end a day without it. Daily entreat the pardon of your sins, for the sake of the Redeemer, and earnestly implore the assistance of his grace, to enable you to resist temptation, and to live in such a manner as shall prepare you for a blessed immortahty. Pray do not ne- glect, at the same time, to read a portion, longer or shorter, of the word of God. ' Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his ways, but by taking heed thereto according to thy word } * " I hope, my dear Robert, you will continue in your pre- sent situation. On the supposition of your doing so (and I can do nothing better for you), let me entreat you to make it your constant care to conciliate the esteem of Mr. C », which you will certainly do, if you cheerfully com- ply with his orders, and make his interest your own. No- thing injures the character of a young man more than restlessness and fickleness; nothing, on the contrary, se- cures his credit and comfort hke a steady and persevering attention to the duties of his station. Every situation has its inconveniences and its difficulties ; but time and perse- verance will surmount the one, and make you almost in- sensible of the other. The consciousness of having over- come difficulties, and combaited trials successfully, will ( C( a it it a it *( (( it it it it it it it tl it t. it it (( it it it if ii it ii It ft tf t f 144 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. AT BRISTOL. 145 (f ik $€ « it afford Tou, in the issue, a far hif^her satisfaction than you can ever hope to obtain by recoiling from them. " Combat idleness in all its forms ; nothing is so destruc- tive as idle habits, nothing so useful as habits of industry. ♦ • • • • -^ " Never demean yourself by contending about trifles ; yield in things of small moment to the inclinations and humours of your companions. In a word, my dear bov, make yourself amiable. " Fear God, and love your fullow-crcaturcs, and be assur- ed you will find ' Wisdom's ways, ways of pleasantness, and her paths, paths of peace/ "To say all in one word, * If you are wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.' " I am, *' Your affectionate Father, "Robert Hall/'* On Mr. Hall 8 return to Bristol towards the end of October, hopes were enteitained that his health was im- proved, and his strength recruited ; but they were only of short duration. The spasmodic affection of the chest occurred with increasing frequency, and in a more alarm- ing character. In one instance, on the first of January 1831, the attack was so severe as to threaten immediate dissolution. It passed off, however, as former attacks had done, on taking blood from the arm ; and soon after- wards he returned to spend the remamder of the even- ing with the friends whom he had left when the paroxysm came on ; and, in his usual cheerful and happy spirit, took his ordinary share, and evinced an undiminished interest, in the conversation. The morning of that day had been signalized by the extraordinary pathos which he imparted to the religious services, at a prayer-meeting, held, according to annual custom, in the vestry at Broadmead. The intensity of his devotional feelings, and the fervour of his supplica- tions in behalf of the assembled congregation ; as well as the glowing affection and deep solemnity with which he • The voath to whom this letter was adrlressed went abroad soon liter the decease of his father, and intelhgeoce of his death was re- .•►•i\ecl lu the followiag December. addressed them, as he reviewed the past dispensations of Providence, and anticipated some of the probable events of the year now opening upon them, both in relation to them and himself, excited the strongest emotion, and, in connexion with the events that immediately followed, made an indelible impression upon their minds ; nearly all his subsequent addresses, whether on the Sunday oi the week-day evening services, partook, more or less, of the same pathetic and solemnly anticipatory character One of the most impressive of these, of which many of the congregation retain a vivid recollection, was deliver- ed on the morning of Sunday, January 16th. The text from which he preached was, Deuteronomy xxxiii. 25 : " Thy shoes shall be iron and brass : and as thy days, so shall thy strength be." In this discourse he seemed to be preparing his people and himself, for that event by which they were to be de- prived of their invaluable pastor, and he to be freed from anguish and sorrow ! when his soul, liberated from its chain, and clothed in the Redeemer s righteousness, was to go forth, " first into liberty, then into glory." A highly valued correspondent,* whose communica- tions greatly enrich this work, enables me to present the following summary of Mr. Hall's application or improve- ment : which, from its occasion, as well as its excellence, cannot but be read with lively interest. (( tc if tt it it tt « n " Improvement. 1. Take no thought, no anxious, dis- tressing, harassing, thought, for the morrow; suffer not your minds to be torn asunder by doubt or apprehension. Consider, rather, what is the present will of God, and rest satisfied and content, without anticipating evils which may never arrive. " Do not heighten your present sorrows by a morbid ima- gination. You know not what a day may bring forth. The future is likely to be better than you expect, as well as worse. The real victory of Christians arises from atten- tion to present duty. This carries them from strength to strength. " Some are alarmed at the thought of death ; they sa}-, ♦ The Rev, Thomas Grinfield, A,M,, of Cliftim, near Bristol. VOL. I. L I \i h i. 146 MEMOUl OF ROBERT UALL. AT BRISTOL. 147 How shall I meet the agonies of dissolution ? But when you are called to die, } ou will, if among God's children^ receive dying consolation. Be satisfied if you have the strength to five to God, and God will support you when you come to die. Some fear persecution, lest, at such a season, they should * make shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience : * * As thy day is, such shall thy strength be.' " 2. Consider to what it is we owe our success. If we are nearer our salvation than when we believed, let us not ascribe it to ourselves, to our own arm, but to the grace of God : * Not I, but the grace of God with me,* enabling me to sustain, and to conquer. If we continue, it is * because wejiave obtained help of God :' we are * kept by his mighty power unto salvation/ In all our sufferings, if Christians, we are perpetually indebted to divine succour. " 3. Let us habitually look up to God, in the exercise of faith and prayer. Instead of yieldincr ourselves to dejec- tion, let us plead the promises, and flee to the Divine Word. He has been accustomed to sustain the faithful : and He is * the same yesterday, to*day, and for ever.' He is never weary : Look to Him : * They that wait on Him shall mount up with eagles' win^s ; run, and not be weary, walk, and not faint.' Go to Him in prayer — cling to His strength — lay hold of His arm. You have a powerful Re- deemer : * be strong in the power of His might !' Draw down the succours of His grace, which will enable you to go on, * from strength to strength,* until you appear before God in Zion." It was mercifully otdered, both for Mr. Hall's own comfort, and the gratification and advantage of his flock, that, instead of being long laid aside from public duty (as he sometimes apprehended might be the case), he was enabled to go through the services of the sanctuary almost to the very close of life, without any evident di- minution of mental power, and with the benevolent and devotional ardour of spirit which was best calculated, by the divine blessing, to give them their accustomed effi- cacy. On February 6th, the last Sunday on which he conducted the public worship at Broadmead, he preached two sermons, with the view of enforcing collections in aid of a new chapel that had recently been erected in a part of the city where there was a dense and indigent popu- €€ i t € t t €i tt *C tt tt 9t tt %t tt tt ft tt t% if tt it tt tt U lation, for whose religious instruction there had been hitherto no adequate provision. Mr. Hall's own notes of one of those sermons are inserted in the fifth volume. Of the evening sermon I have received an accoimt, which, though it is, avowedly, very imperfect, will, I am per- suaded, be regarded as valuable, not only by those whom it will remind of the last instructions of their inestimable pastor, but by many others, who will readily identify the elevated tone of thought and expression of the richly en dowed saint, the devoted servant of God, to whose im pressive accents they can listen no more. The text was Luke xii. 15, " Take heed^ and, heware Oj covetousness ;'* in considering which Mr. Hall first endea- voured to show in what covetousness consists ; and, se- condly, to trace its baneful influence. Covetousness, he remarked, consists not in the possession of wealth, nor simply in the desire to possess it. " A desire to possess " wealth with a view to provide for our wants, and those " of our families who are dependent upon us for support, " if kept within due limits, is not only not covetousness, " not criminal, but is natural and right." — " If there " were no desire for wealth, there wotild be no need of it. ** It would soon cease to exist at all ; and society would " go back into a state of actual barbarism.** — " Cove- *' tousness is, properly speaking, the love of money or *' other property ^r its own sake, in distinction from the " love of money on account of those necessary things " which it may procure for us." A man may desire money for the purpose of maintaining himself in arms, or for the purpose of extending his pleasures ; but in these cases it is subordinate emotion. There is always risk, however, that a subordinate emotion may hecome a con- trolling one ; and, therefore, if that to which the posses- sion of money is made subsidiary is not absolutely cri- minal, this tendency of our nature must be carefolly guarded against, lest, " by the infatuation of sin, men *' should go farther than they at first intend, settle down *' into the love of money for its own sake, and indulge " the sordid passion of which our Lord exhorts his dis- " ciples to beware." I 2 J48 MEMOIR OP ROBERT BALL. In considering the baleful influence of covetousness on the character, Mr. Hall dwelt upon its tendency to harden the heart, to contract the understanding, to diminish the sense of responsibility, to ruin our happiness by cutting us oflP from the best gratifications of our nature, and ren- dering man in great measure a solitary being here, while it unfitted him for bliss hereafter. In speaking of its tendency to harden the heart, he thus expressed himself : €< t{ t( tt '< €t *t *t (I n It «. ji When Dr. Prichard was invited to join Mr. Chandler and Mr. Addington in consultation, on his arrival Mr. Hall arose and received him so much in his wonted cor- dial, courteous manner, as, at the first moment, almost to check the apprehension of danger. On the evening of the same day he expatiated on the mercy of God m bringing him to close his life at Bristol. His prevailing kindness was evinced throughout, in his solicitude for the comfort of those who sat up with him at night, or who remained in the house, to be call- ed to his assistance, if necessary. He also exhorted the members of his family, and others occasionally pre- sent, to make religion the chief, the incessant concern; urging, especially upon some of the young among his friends, the duty of openly professing their attachment to Christ and his cause. When he was a little recovered from one of his severe paroxysms, 'I asked him (says Mr. Chandler) whether he felt much pain.' He replied that his sufferings wwe great: " but what (he added) are my sufferings to the sufferings of « Christ? His sufferings were infinitely greater: his suffer- « ings were complicated ; God has been very merciful to "me— very merciful: I am a poor creature— an unworthv « creature ; but God has been very kind— very merciful. He then alluded to the character of the sufferings of cruci- fixion, remarking how intense and insufferable they must have been, and asked many mmute questions on vvhat 1 might suppose was the process by which cmcifixion broi^ht about death. He particularly inquired respecting the efiect of pain, the nervous irritation, the thirst, the oppression of breathing, the disturbance of the circulation, and the hur- ried action of the heart, tUl the conversation gradually brought him to a consideration of his own distress ; when he again reverted to the lightness of his sufferings when contrasted with those of Christ. He spoke of our Lord s " enduring the contradiction of sinners agamst himself; of 154 MEMOIR OP ROBERT HALL. LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 155 the ingratitude and unkindness he received from those fop whom he went about doing good; of the combination of the mental and corporeal agonies sustained on the cross • the length of time during which our Lord hung ; the ex- haustion occasioned, &c. He then remarked how differ- ently he had been situated; that though he had endured as much or more than fell to the lot of most men, yet all had been in mercy. I here remarked to him, that with most persons the daj^s of ease and comfort were far more numerous than those of pain and sorrow. He replied " But I have been a great sufferer in my time ; it is how- *| ever, generally true : the dispensations of God have been "merciful to me." He then observed, that a contemplation of the suffenngs of Christ was the best antidote against im- patience under any troubles we might experience ; and re- commended me to reflect much on this subject when in pain or distress, or in expectation of death.* During the whole of this severe illness he read much in Campbell's translation of the Gospels ; and at intervals one of his daughters read to him from this version, his favourite to the last. On the morning of the 21st, the day on which he died, he had it laid before him, as usual, and read it himself in his ordinary recumbent attitude. Mrs. Hall, in the course of this morning, remarking to him that he appeared better, and expressing her hopes that he would recover; he replied, "Ah! my " dear, let us hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. He then stated his opinion that this day would be critical. When his medical attendants met in consultation, a little after noon, he seemed rather better; and Mr. Chandler left him, between one and two, reclining on the sofa, leaning on his elbow with as much muscular energy as ever. * Before leaving him (he remarks) I explained to him the plan of proceeding to be observed; on which he bowed saying, that whatever we wished he would comply with he would do whatever we desired ; begging that he might not mterfere with my duties to other patients, and addSiff that he thought he should be very comfortable till my retura. * Chandler's Aalhentic Acconnf, p. 38. ' In a very short time, and before I reached home, I waa mimmoned to behold the last agonizing scene of this great and extraordinary man. His difficulty of breathing had suddenly increased to a dreadful and final paroxysm. It seems, this last paroxysm came on more gradually than was usual with those which preceded. Mr. Hall finding his breathing become much worse, first rose more on his elbow, then raised his body, supporting himself with his hand, till the increasing agitation obliged him to rise completely on the sofa, and to place his feet in hot water— the usual means he resorted to for relief in every paroxysm. Mrs. Hall observ- ing a fixation of his eyes, and an unusual expression on his co'imtenance, and indeed in his whole manner, became alarmed by the sudden impression that he was dying ; and exclaimed in great agitation, '* This can t be dying ! " when - .ute to his memoiy. im APPENDIX. NOTE A.— (See page 61.) MISCELLANEOUS GLEANlNOS VROM MR. HALl's CONVERSATIONH REMARKS. I AM perfectly well aware that no memoranda can convey an adequate idea of the vivacity, originality, and brilliancy of Mr. Hall's conversational powers. It was usually easy to remember the sentiments which he expressed, and some- times the images, whether sportive or tasteful, by which he illustrated them ; but his wit and fancy always lost some- thing of their bloom and freshness on passing through the hands of others, and the beautiful language in which his re- marks in conversation were clothed could seldom be recalled, except when he fully communicated his meaning in a very short, but happily turned phrase. This note, therefore, while it may serve to record some of his sentiments and opinions on interesting topics, must be understood as giving a very faint notion of his manner of ex- pressing himself, except in those cases where the language, at once brief, clear, and characteristic, fixed itself indelibly upon the memory. The connected series, first presented, has been kindly transmitted by the Rev. Robert Balmer, of Berwick-upon- Tweed, and is selected from his recollection of the substance of three or four conversations which he had with Mr. Hall in the years 1819 and 1823. In the course of some remarks on various theological writers of our own times, he said, " Dr. Smith is the best " Biblical critic with whom I am personally acquainted ; " and I should think him one of the most learned theologians "now alive." On my asking, if he did not consider Arch- bishop Magee superior in ability, and equal in learning, to Dr. Smith ? he replied, with his usual decision, " Not nearly 160 APPENDIX. — NOTE A. CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS. 161 tf t( t{ tf equal in learnings, Sir; I do not suppose that Archbislior ' Magee knows any tbin» about the German critics, with " whom Dr. Smith is intimately acquainted, and from whom, ' notwithstanding all their absurdity and impiety, much may " ^questionably be learned. There is one thing," he added, *' in Dr. Smith's work much to be lamented ; and that is, ** the tone of excessive lenity maintained towards his oppo- " nents. In consequence of this, his reasonings will not " produce an effect proportioned to their intrinsic force ; and " his readers are tempted to regard the opinions which he *^ refutes with far less horror than thejr deserve. The pro- " per tone in theological controversy is, I imagine, some- where between Bishop Horsley's intolerable arrogance and asperity, and Dr. Smith's unwarrantable softness and urbanity." On informing him, that I had been perplexed with doubts as to the extent of the death of Christ, and expressing a wish to know liis opinion, he repUed, " There, Sir, my sentiments " give me the advantage of you ; for on that pomt I entertain " no doubts whatever : I believe firmly in ' general redemp- "tion:* I often preach it, and I consider the fact that " * Christ died for all men' as the only basis that can sup- " port the universal offer of the Gospel ?"— * But you admit the doctrme of election, which necessarily implies limitation. Do you not think that election and particular redemption are inseparably connected ?'— " I believe firmly," he rejoined, " in election, but I do not think it involves particular re- " demption ; I consider the sacrifice of Christ as a remedy, " not only adapted, but intended, for all, and as placing all in a salvable state ; as removing all barriers to their salva- tion, except such as arise from their own perversity and depravity. But God knew that none would accept the remedy, merely of themselves, and therefore, by what may *'be regarded as a separate arrangement, he resolved to »' glorify his mercy, by effectually applying salvation to a " certain number of our race, through the agency of his *' P**^Z Spirit. I apprehend, then, that the hmitmg clause " implied in election refers not, to the purchase, but to the '* application of redemption." This representation seemed to nae at the time to be encumbered with considerable diffi- culties ; and I was not sure that I correctly apprehended it. Not choosing, however, to request Mr. H. to repeat or elu- cidate his statements, I asked him if he could refer me to anjr book where I should find what he regarded as the Scnpture doctrine on the subject, stated and illustrated. « €( tf (f tt He referred me to a book to which Dr. Smith, of Homerton, had, not many days before, referred, in answer to a similar question : " Bellamy's True Religion Delineated." • In the course of our conversation respecting the extent of Christ's death, Mr. Hall expatiated at considerable length on tlie number and variety of the Scripture expressions, in which it seems to be either explicitly asserted or necessarily im- plied, that it was intended not for the elect exclusively, but for mankmd generally, such as " the world," " all," " all men," " every man," *&c. He made some striking remarks on the danger of twisting such expressions from their natural and obvious import, and on the absurdity of the interpreta- tions put on them by some of the advocates of particular redemption. He mentioned, especially, the absurdity of explaining "the world," John iii. 16, to signify the elect world, as the text would then teach that some of the elect may Dot believe. He noticed farther, that the doctrine of general redemption was not only asserted expressly in many texts, but pro-supposed in others, such as " Destroy not with thy meat," &c. and " Denying the Lord that bought them ; " and that it was incorporated with other parts of the Chris- tian system, particularly with the universal offers and invi- tations of the Gospel. On the question of church government, Mr. H.*s sentiments seemed to me undecided and somewhat inconsistent : and ly many they would have been regarded as latitudinarian. He expressed his doubts whether any one form or model was delineated in the New Testament, as obligatory in all ages and in all circumstances ;t and said, that he was much * This work was published in America in 1750, with a recommen- dation from Jonathan Edwards, and in this country in 1806 (a third edition in 1809) under the recommendation of Mr. Fuller. It is now, I regret to say, oat of print. ■j^ Mr. Hall held this sentiment in common with many eminent men of ditlerent communions ; as Archbishops Cranmer and VVhitgifl; Bishops Bxidges and Stillingfleet ; Doctors Cosins, Law, Maclaine ; Mar- tin Bucer, Zanchy, Brightman, and Hales ; and amongst the congrega- tionalistsof the present times, that distinguished biblical scholai. Pro- fessor Stuart, of Andover, United States, who, in his admirable reply to Channing on religions liberty, says, " We are congregationalists, as we profess to be. We have no prejudices, indeed, against the presby. terian or other forms of church government which our brethren of orthodox denominations in this commonwealth, or in any part of our country, see fit to adopt. It is our belief that the gospel has not pre- »crihed exclusively ^ny particular form of church government; but tliat this is left to expediency, as times and circumstances may require." If this were aniversally admitted, how much would tlie true unity of VOL. I. M 162 APPENDIX. — ^NOTB ▲. CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS. 1^3 disposed to adopt the maxim, " Whatever is best adminiAtef- ed is best." ui another conversation, when mention was made of a church, which, along with its mmister, had been ijuilty of a scandalous irregularity in a matter of discipline, I stated what would be done in such circumstances among Presbyterians, and put the question. Will the neighbouring churches tmd ministers not interfere ? Mr. H. intimated that they ought to remonstrate and advise ; but that any claim to jurisdiction would, in his apprehension, be altogether mi- Warrantable ; adding that the independence of churches ap- peared to liim a principle expressly sanctioned by the word of God. With regard to the question of " lerms of Communion,* we had repeated conversations. On this subject he spoke with uncommon interest and animation ; and seemed sur- prised at the arguments of tliose who were opposed to his views. I recollect, in particular, the effect produced on him, when I stated that I had heard Dr. Lawson, of Selkirk, a man eminent for talents and piety, and still more eminent for his humility and sanctity, declare that he would not admit a Roman Catholic, not even Fenelon or Pascal, to the table of the Lord. Mr. H., who had been previously reclining on three chairs, instantly raised himself on his elbow, and spoke without intermission and with great rapidity for nearly a quarter of an hour ; expatiating on the arajizing absurdity and presumption of rej-fcting those whom Christ receives, and of- refusing to hold communion on earth with those with whom we hope to a>!S0ciate in heaven. During all this time his manner was exceedingly vehement, his other arm was in continual motion, and his eyes, naturally most piercing, were lighted up with unusual brilliancy. It was interesting and amusing to observe how Mr. Hall's exquisite sensibility to literary beauty, intermingled with, and qualified the operation of his principles and leanings, both as a Christian and a Dissenter. Of this, I recollect various instances ; but shall give only one. While convers- ing respecting Archbishop Magee, his talents, sentiment, conduct, &c., I quoted, as a proof of his high-church prin- ciples, a remark from a charge then newly published : it was to this effects That the Ik>man Catholics have a church without a religion ; the Dissenters have a religion without the charch, notwithstaDding diversity of sentiment on minor jpoinbi, be promoted, and wifh it the un'versal diffusion and reception of Christian troth! SeeJohDiivii.21.23. a church ; but the Establishment has both a church aiid a religion Mr. Hall had never heard the remark before, and was exceedingly struck with it. '» That, Sir," he exclaimed, smiling, " is a beautiful saying. I have not heard so fine au " observation for a long time. It is admirable, Sir." ' You admire it, I presume, for its point, not for its truth/ H, ** I admire i^ Sir, for its plausibility and cleverness. It is " false, and yet it seems to contain a mass of truth. It is an ** excellent stone for a churchman to pelt with." After speaking of Antinomians, of whom it appeared there were then several in the neighbourhood of Leicester: *^Pray, " Sir," said he, " have you got any Antinomians in Scotland ? '' ' None,' I replied, ' who avow themselves such. There are individuals in our congregations who have what I consider a morbid aversion to practical preaching, and to a minute en- forcement of duty ; but almost all our people who know and care any thing about religion will tell you that, although the l)eliever js delivered from the law as a covenant of works he is subject to it as a rule of life.' " that," said Mr. H.^ ** is precisely what I expected. Your ministers and your *^ people have too much information to be ensnared by such " impieties. Antinomianism is a monster which can live " only in darkness ; bring light on it and it expires." The following opinions were expressed by Mr. H. respect- ing various writers in theology. I give them in the form of a dialogue, inserting, of course, such questions and remarks of my own as led to his observations. Let it be remembered at the same time, that they are only fragments, as, in many instances, I do not now recollect more than a third or fourth jvirt of what was said. B.J May I ask. Sir, what writers vou would most recom- mend to a young minister.' H. *' WIiv, Sir, I feel very in- * competent to give directions on that head ; I can only say ^^ that I have learned far more from John Howe than from ,, '»iiy other author I ever read. There is an astonishing ^^ magnifacence in his conceptions. He had not the same ^ perception of the beautiful as of the sublime; and hence ' his endless subdivisions." B, ' That was the fault of his ^Pc X, " P*^' ^^^' ^^^ ^® ^^ ^^^^ o^ it than many ^^ ot the writers of that period ; than Barrow, for example, ^^ who was somewhat eariier. There was, 1 think, an innate ^ inaptitude m Howe's mind for discerning minute graces ^^ and proprieties, and hence his sentences are often Ion? and cumbersome. Still he was unquestionably the greatest of the puritan divines." -^ 5 m2 164 APPENDIX. — NOTE A. I I nt After adverting to several of Howe s works, Mr. H. said, in reference to his * Blessedness of the Riditeous:' " Per- CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS. l()5 "haps, Baxter's 'Saint's Rest' is fitted to make a deeper " impression on the majority of readers. Baxter enforces a " particular idea with extraordinary clearness, force, and " earnestness. His appeals to the conscience are irresisti- " bie. Howe, again, is distinguished by calmness, self-pos- " session, majesty, and comprehensiveness ; and, for my own " part, I decidedly prefer him to Baxter. I admire, exceed- " ingly, his 'Living Temple,' his sermon on the 'Redeemer's " Tears,' &c. ; but in my opinion, the best thing he ever *' wrote, is his defence of the sincerity of the Gospel offer. •' I refer to the treatise called, the ' Reconcilableness of God's •* Prescience of the Sins of Men, with his Counsels, Exhorta- " tlons, and whatever other Means he used to prevent them.' " This I regard as the most profound, the most philosophi- ** cal, and the most valuable of all Howe's writin" B. * I did.' i/. " I admire your patience more and more. Sir." He added that he had looked into Madame de Stael's Germany ; that on finding some philosopher, a well-known idealist, (I cannot at this moment recollect who it was,) spoken of as an opponent to the ideal theory, he had thrown aside the book in disgust ; supposing that very little could be learned from a writer so ill informed as to be capable of such a blunder. He seemed very reluctant to allow that many of her remarks were acute and ingenious ; and when somethino^ was said about the flights of her fancy, he said, " that, fo^ " his part, he could not admire her flights, for to him she was generally invisible; not because she ascended to a great height above the earth, but because she invariably selected a foggy atmosphere." « tc ti It To the preceding selections from Mr. Balmer's communi- cation, may be added a few of Mr. Hall's remarks, rapidly thrown off on various occasions, some occurring in my own hearing, others taken from the letters of different friends. It may be scarcely necessary to observe that I have not been guided, in my selection, by a desire to exhibit sentiments that coincide with my own, but by a desire still farther to illustrate Mr. Hall's character and manner. On the return of the Bourbons to France, in 1814, a gen- tleman called upon Mr. Hall, in the expectation that he would express himself in terms of the utmost delight on account of that signal event. Mr. Hall said, " I am sorry for " it. Sir. ^ The cause of knowledge, science, freedom, and pure religion, on the Continent, will be thrown back half a century ; the intrigues of the Jesuits will be revived ; and popery will be resumed in France with all its mum- naery, but with no power, except the power of persecu- tion. This opinion was expressed about six weeks before the issuing of the Pope's bull for the revival of the order of Jesuits in Europe, 7th August, 1814. (i a a tt (( ^ '\ 170 APPENDIX. — NOTE A. M (( Don't you think they ought to be put down ?' " I don't know I' enough of their conduct to say that. What do they do? *' Do they inculcate Antinomianism, or do thev exhibit im- to sing hymns, and they go on singmg until thev collect a number of people about them, on the village green, or in some neighbouring field, and then they preach. ** WeU ; '* whether that may be prudent or expedient, or not, depends "upon circumstances; but, as yet, I see no cruninalitv." * But you must admit, Mr. Hall, that it is very irregular: " And suppose I do admit that, what follows? Was not '* our Lord s rebuking the Scribes and Pharisees, and driving " the buyers and sellers out of the temple, very irregular ¥ seems to be regarded, by a writer in the Christian Observer ( Sov. 1833), as a very inconsiderate attack, not resting in fact, upon Lhe heads of Uie Anghcan church. 'I'o this I simply reply that before I published the anecdofe I ascertained the existence of the practice, by i».quirj- ot several clergyrot-n, all of whom admUted it, and some cou- denining it, while others dvlended it aa only a proper ceremonial uo Mtate occasions. N CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS. 173 u t. a *' Was not almost all that he did in his public ministry very " irregular ? Was not the course of the Apostles and of *' Stephen, and of many of the Evangelists, very irregular? " Were not the proceedings of Calvin, Luther, and of their * fellow- workers in the Reformation, very irregular f — a '* complete and shocking innovation upon all the quiescent " doings of the papists } And were not the whole lives of ** Whitfield and Wesley very irregular lives, as j'ou view " such things } Yet how infinitely is the world indebted to " all of these } No, Sir : there must be somethmg widely ** different from mere irregularity before I can condemn." Mr. Hall, being asked his opinion of the French popular preachers, said, " Many of them have great talent ; but they " are all too rhetorical and artificial, and artifice in the pul- " pit is most odious." * What is your opinion, Sir, of Sau- rin .'*' " He is decidedly inferior to Massillon and Bossuet, both in the general structure of his sermons, and in all the higher flights of oratory. His sermons are too fine, have too much display, and scarcely ever give due prominence to ' Christ and the Cross.' A page of Pascal's thoughts, *' is worth more in my estimation than a volume of Saurin's " Sermons." " The scheme may not seem at first sight to promise much success ; but in my opinion. Missionary Societies should * be formed in churches ; every church, possessing the ' means, shoidd feel itself bound, not merely to maintain " religious teaching and worship internally, but, also, as a " churchf to promote the dissemination of religion around. " I think that a church ought to maintain not only a pastor " for itself; but, at the same time, an evangelist to preach ** the gospel where it is not known. This would in a few " years, banish heathenism from christian countries, teach " us the best mode of attacking it in foreign countries, and " would be promoting religion in a religious way." Being led to speak of Mrs. Hannah More, he said, '* Her * style in early life was always suited to the subject and to " the occasion ; as in her Thoughts on the Manners of the Great, and her Cheap Repository Tracts ; and her writings have, doubtless, done much good. But in her later works her style has become exceedingly faulty : it exhibits a constant affectation of point. She fatigues one with per- petual antithesis, and that, not of ideas, but of words. I consider Miss Edgeworth's style as far superior. She is simple and elegant ; content to convey her thoughts in their moat plain and natural form. This is, indeed, the (C (( (( u « tt 174 CONVERSATIONAL UEMARKS. €f perfection of style. As tliat piece of ^lass is tlie most perfect, through which objects are seen so clearly, that the " medium, the glass itself, is not perceived ; so, that style is " most perfect which makes itself forgotten. Such is the * character of Miss Edgeworth's style.* He was asked his opmion of the moral tendency of Miss Edgeworth*s works. " In point of tendency, 1 should class * her writings among the most irreligious I ever read. Not " from any desire she evinces to do mischief, or to unsettle '* the mind, like some of the insidious infidels of the last cen- tury ; not so much from any direct attack she makes upon reunion, as from a universal and studied omission of the subject. In her writings a very high strain of morality is " assumed: she delineates the most virtuous characters, and represents them in the most affecting circumstances of life, — in sickness, in distress, even in the immediate pros- pect of eternity, and finally sends them off the stage with their virtue unsullied : — and all this without the remotest " allusion to Christianity, the only true religion. Thus, she '' does not attack religion, or inveigh against it, but makes * it appear unnecessary, by exhibiting perfect virtue without it. No works ever produced so bad an effect on my own " mind as hers. I did not expect any irrehgion there : I was " off my guard ; their moral chamctcr beguiled me ; I read " volume after volume with eagerness, and the evil effect of " them I experienced for weeks. I have been told that she " was once asked her motive for delineating a merely ideal " morality without reference to religion. She rephed, that '* if she had written for the lower classes she shoidd have " recommended religion ; but that she wrote for a class for " whom this was less necessary. She seemed to think that " the virtues of the higher orders of society were so exalted ** as to need no assistance from religion, which was only de- " signed as a curb or muzzle for the lower brutes who could " not be managed without it. Happily for the world, Mrs. " More never fell into that grievous mistake." Sonae questions were asked of him as to Mrs. More's con- versation. He said, " So far as I can judge, she talks but " little on ordinary occasions ; and when slie speaks, it is ** generally to utter some sententious remark." A lady pre- " sent inquired, if there was anything particularly striking in Mrs. More's manners. " Nothing striking, Ma'am, cer- ** tainly not. Her manners are too perfectly proper to be " strikmg. Striking manners are bad manners you know. Ma'am. She is a perfect lady, and studiously avoids those f< it t( ft it ft ft u M CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS. 175 *« peculiarities and eccentricities which constitute striking '< manners." ^ , . .., /r *• More than once have I heard him, with affectionate respect, mention Dr. Ryder, the bishop of Lichfield, whc»m he had known as a pious aud useful parish clergyman m the neighbourhood of Leicester. " He has not been injured, said Mr. Hall. '' by promotion ; he .s the same man as a " bishop, that he was as the laborious parish priest ; to such « a bishop we may apply the apocalyptic title, ' an angel of " the church.* We may say of him what St. John saj^s ot « Demetrius, that he ' has good report of all men, and of the " truth itself.' " « , t> i ^ t»- i,^ « What did you think, Sir, of Mr. Scott's Reply to Bishop Tomline's Refutation of Calvinism V '* I thought it com- « plete in its kind. He razed the bishop's arguments to « their very foundations ; and would have ploughed oyer « them, so that no vestige of them should afterwards be dis- « covered, had not he found something better to do. ' What is your opinion of his Commentary ? ^^-J^^' ** ler used to say that it had more of the mind of the Sptrtt " than any other; and though I cannot go quite so tar as « that, I think it very valuable as a book of reference, free « from fancies, and abounding with good sense and sound " instruction. Matthew Henry's has more genius and beau- " tv, and is very popular and delightful for daily reading. * But is not Scott's prolix ?' " It may be so Yet 1 cannot " say I ever found it so. There is no displav m it ; and " that always has a great charm with me. But you seem inclined to admit that it is void of taste, if not rude in struc- ture.' "Why, as to that, Mr. Scott set before you fine « blocks of marble. He did not stop to polish any of them, " or to chisel them down into ornamental forms, but went " off again to the quarry to hew out another block. He did not like Dr. Gill as an author. When Mr Christ- mas Evans was in Bristol, he was talking to Mr. Hall about the Welsh language, which he said was very copious and expressive. 'How I wish, Mr. Hall, that Dr. Gill s works had been written in Welsh.' " 1 wish they had. Sir ; 1 wish " they had, with all my heart ; for then I should never have " read them. They are a continent of mud. Sir. « Jonathan Edwards unites comprehensiveness of view, " with minuteness of investigation, beyond any writer 1 am acquainted with. He was the greatest of the sons ot men. He has none of the graces of writing, 1 admit : nc was acquainted with no grace, but divine. ft tf 176 CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS. CfONVEBSATIONAL REMARKS. 177 [I it ft tt A gentleman, speaking of the kte Andrew Fuller, remark- ed that though he had written very strongly against Ultra- Calvmism, he had scarcely ever heard him exhort sinners with any degree of earnestness from the pulpit. Mr Hall observed, that when he did make appeals of the kind advert- ed to, they were so deeply impressive as to excite regret that they were not more frequent. ^ How do you account, bir, for their occurnng so seldom ?* Mr. Hall seemed disin- clined to enter seriously upon the subject; but replied, VVhy, Sir, I suppose that occasionally he had to struff<>le with the feelings of an assassin. He knew that he bid murdered Antinomianism, and at such times he was haunt- ed by its ghost. A popular divine being engaged to preach at Bristol, Mr. liall intended to hear him, but was prevented by indispo- sition. A gentleman, however, who had attended the ser- vice, called upon Mr. Hall in his way home, and told him he had been greatly deliglited and edified. « I have no doubt of that, fe.r (said Mr. Hall) ; but pray what was the doc- tor s text ? < It was Heb. ii. 3 : How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation T "A very fine subject. Sir • "how did the doctor treat it?" 'Why, Sir, he began bv saying he should consider, first. Why it was called a great salvation ? And, in the first place, it was called a great sal- vation because God was the Author of it: " Impossible, bir, impossible ! You must have misunderstood the doc- tor. Sir ; he could not have said that. Sir. God is the Au- thor of the minutest and meanest insects : He is the Author even of a flea, you know. Sir." John Wesley having been mentioned, he said, " The most extrjiordmary tlung about him was, that while he set all in motion, he was himself perfectly cahn and phlegmatic; he was the quiescence of turbulence." He spoke of Whitfield as presenting a contrast in the me- diocrity of his writings to the wonderful power of his preach- mg: of the latter there could be no doubt, however ; but it was of a kind not to be represented in writing; "it is im- *' possible to paint eloquence." Speaking of Mr. 's composition : " Yes, it is very " elegant, but very cold ; it is the beauty of frost." Some one observing to Mr. Hall that his animation in- creased with his years— " Indeed; then I am like touch- " wood ; the more decayed, the easier fired." J'!i^?^«U^"It^^'- "/V" ^^^ ^^^^°^«' '^^° just pubUshed, entitled, " The Natural History of Enthusiasm." I hade^ it tt €t tt tt tt pected that he would be delighted by so acute and ori^nal an essay. But he disappointed me here. On my mquiring how he liked it ; " Not much, Sir/' he answered. ' Why, Sir, it is considered a very clever book.' " Oh, yes. Sir, it is « clever enough in its way; but there is no re]^se m it : 1 " found it only fret and harass my mind to read much of it. The style is not natural to the author, but is assumed, I suspect, to keep up his disguise ; and there is, in conse- quence, a want of clearness in it, as well as m the tram of " Uiought. The author does not settle my mmd. He is right, « however, in his definition of enthusiasm, as a word which *• is now always to be taken in a bad sense, as denoting an " extravagant view of the subject. 'Have you read Pollok's Course of Time, Mr. HaU.? " Only some portions of it, Sir. It is not at all to my taste. " The author^ age and circumstances excite sympathy, but " that should not be confounded with admiration. * But some of the reviewers. Sir, compare Pollok with Milton. **I have no patience with such absurdity. Pollok is no •' more to be compared with Milton than the manners of a " clown vnth those of a prince." , ^u -u Lord Byron was mentioned. " I tried to read Childe " Harold, but could not get on, and gave it up. —'Have you read the fourth canio. Sir, which is by far the best ? " Oh no. Sir, I shall never think of trying." ' But, Sir, in- dependently of the mere poetry, it must be interesting to contemplate such a remarkable mind as Lord Byron s. " It « is well enough to have a general acquaintance with such " a character; but I know not why we should take plea- " sure in miuutelv investigating deformity." In reply to some observations from a gentleman who had erroneously inferred the inutility of all forms and modes of religious worship, from the fact that worship too often sunk into mere formality, Mr. Hall expressed himself neariy as £Jrv||Q-n7C • lit " You seem to think, Sir, because we often see the fonn " of religion without the power, that it would be better to " be without forms altogether. But that is a great uustake. *• Where there is a power there will be a form : and while « we axe in the present embodied state religion requires a " form, a something by which it may become visible to " others, and so extend its influence. Every state of mind, »* you know. Sir, shows itself. Gratitude shows itself m "the language and actions of praise ; benevolence in out- « ward acts of kindness ; affection in indications of love ; VOL. I. N l?8 AFFENDIX. — ^NOTB B. t€ K €€ it €t f< t( it it t <( tt it tt it tt i( tt tt t( ft tt H tt a thizst for knowledge by search and inquiry ; and in aH these, and many others, while the soul remains in the body, the eye, the tongue, the voice, tlie hand, the body indeed, must be the minister of its actions. Besides, Sir, as we are by our very constitution social creatures, our principles and our feelings must exhibit themselves in our social intercourse, must assume a social form ; and so, therefore, must our religious principles and feelings. In all deep and strong feeling we naturally seek participants, and its outward form manifests its existence. So if reli- gion have a principle in society, it must, it will, take an outward form ; and public worship becomes necessary, that they who fear God may give evidence of that fear, by frequenting the holy assembly. No, Sir; the public ceremonial of religion may degenerate into mere pom- posity and pageantry, or may fail in its object, from ap- pealing to the senses instead of the understanding and the heart ; it may bewilder by its complexity, or fatigue by its length ; but this only serves to show that the best things are liable to abuse and perversion. Forms are ne- cessary, notwithstanding; and they most fully answer their purpose, as means of grace hot such they really are), when they are constructed witn a direct view to our nature as men^ and our wants as Christians." NOTE B.— [See page 77.] Quotations ?rom the Writings of Sir James Mackinto6ii AND Do. Parr, relative to Mr. Hall. 1. Extracts from a Review of Mr. Hall's Sermon .on Mo~ dem Infidelity, written by Sir James Mackintosh. Fub^ Hshed in the Monthly Review for February y 1800. As far as philosophy and eloquence can make a publica- tion importiint, and as far as very peculiar circumstances can render it interesting, certainly no sermon of our times merits a more elaboKite criticism than that of Mr. Hall. A new set of Infidels has arisen in this age, who, with a EXTRACTS FROM MACKINTOSH. 17& boldness unknown to their predecessors, not only reject religion as /a/»c, but condemn it as pernicious. The great majority of former Unbelievers were so far from denying its us( fulness, that they represented it as an invention of states- men, for the very purpose of giving aid to mornhty and efficacy to the laws ; but some of our modern infidels de- clare open war against every principle and form of religion, natural as well as revealed, as hostile to morality, and there- fore destructive of the happiness of the human race. This extravagant and detestable paradox, which lon^ lay neglect- ed m the forsrotten volumes of Cardan and Spmoza, is now revived and disseminated by men who possess the dangerous art of making paradoxes popular. Notwithstanding its evi- dent and monstrous absurdity, it has gained many proselytes on the continent of Europe ; and a few, we fear, even in this fortunate island; which, as it was the first country that was seized with the disease of infidelity, was the first also which was completely cured of that pestilential malady. Against this new sect a most vigorous and formidable attack islnade in the sermon before us, by Mr. Hall, the pastor t>f a dissenting congregation at Cambridge ; who, in his pre- face, most earnestly deprecates all contentions between dif- ferent sects of Christians in the presence of the common enemy; and who speaks of his being a dissenter only as a motive for generous emulation, and for vying with the church in zeal and vigour in defence of our common Chris- lianity, in imitation of the ablest and most virtuous dissen- ters of former times. . '* When, at the distance of more than half a century, Chns- '* tianity was assaulted by a Woolston, a Tindul, and a Mor- " gan, it was ably supported both by clergymen of the ^* estabhshed church, and writers among: Protestant dissen- " ters. The labours of a Clarke and a Butler were associ- *' ated with those of a Doddridge, a Leland, and a Lardner, " with such equal reputation and success, as to make it " evident that the intrinsic excellence of religion needs not *' the aid of external appendages ; but that, with or with- " out a dowry, her charms are of sufficient power to fix " and engage the heart." Happy will it be if this passage shall produce its proper effects both on the dissenters and on the clergy of the esta- blishment; if it shall animate the former to a noble rival- ship of exertion in the general cause of religion ; and if it shall dispose the latter to view the dissenters no longer with suspicion on account of theological diffijrences of inferior ( 180 APPENDIX, — NOTE B. IM moment, and of supposed political differences, but to re^rd them with the affection which is due to fellow-christians, and fellow-soldiers in the arniy of reliction and of truth. Unfortunate animosities and fatal suspicions have arisen between them, from causes which were, perhaps, irresis- tible. Neither party, probably, is entirely blameless. If the dissenters, following the example of Mr. Hall, will sacri- fice the pride of a sect to the cause of religion, they will at least have the merit of making a fair exj>eriment on the temper of the church ; and it will be ascertained whether the established clergy of our days will receive the successors of Leland and Lardner, as these illustrious men were re- ceived by the most distinguished prelates of their times. We have no doubt that the experiment would be successful, and that the result of such an amicable struggle would be a new triumph for Christianity, both in the defeat of her enemies, and in the closer union of all her children, in the establishment of christian truth, and in the diffusion of christian charity : so that infidelity may at length not only be exposed, but shamed and silenced, and those sects which continue to differ in inferior questions of opinion and disci- pline, may at least agree in forbearance and mutual kind- ness. ]VIr. Hall lias shown the example to his brethren, and held out the invitation to those from whom he dissents. He lias done his duty to his country and to his religion, and he has done it nobly. Let us liope that he has not sown his seed in a barren soil. Though Mr. Hall, however, in our opinion, has victori- ously established his principle with respect to this part of the subject [the power of religion in producing the higher class of virtues], he is with reason convinced that the twrfi- rect influence of religion, as it enters into our sentiments and forms our character, is much more extensive and im- portant than its direct influence, as arising from a delibe- rate regard to the happiness or misery of another life, and from its fitness to fill up that chasm that is founded merely on the utility of virtue in the present world. It is on the subject of the indirect influence of religion, that he has chiefly dis}»layed all the powers of his vigorous understanding, and all the stores of his richly endowed mind. It is here that he exhibits an union of compre- hensive philosophy with animated and splendid eloquence, of which few other examples are to be found. It is here, on a subject which has been discussed and (it might have been thought) exhausted by the greatest men of many sue • U EXTRAC?rS FROM MACKINTOSH. 181 ecssive ages, that Mr. Hall has given the most decisive proof of his genius, by many arguments and reflections which are at once original, just, and profound. Those who are fami- liar with moral discussions know the extreme difficulty of [•reducing even a new paradox, on subjects which have so often and so long employed all the powers of the human understanding. It is easy for men of sense to deliver very important moral truths, if they will content themselves with repeating and enforcing what has been often said before ; which we are far from denying to be very useful, and indeed absolutely necessary. It is possible, though not easy, for men of ingenuit}^ if they merely seek singularity, and throw off all regard to truth and the interests of mankind, to discover some new path in the wilderness of error which no former hunter of paradoxes had explored. To be origi- nal and just, however, is on all subjects very difficult ; and it is a mark of the highest superiority of understanding, when displayed on a subject which seemed so nearly ex- hausted as the connexion between morality and religion. If we were to indulge our own feelings without regard to the limits of our review, we should scarcely know when to finish our extracts, or how to bound our praises. This ser- mon, indeed, is in every respect entitled to rank among the first productions of the age. It is distinguished by solid and profound philosophy ; the very reverse of that sorry and shallow sophistry which has of late usurped the name. It breathes a spirit ot humility, piety, and charity ; worthy of that pure and divine religion, to the defence of which the author has consecrated his taionts. His eloquence is not a puny and gaudy bauble, fashioned by the tools and tricks of a mechanical rhetorician ; it is the natural effusion of a fertile imagination, of an ardent mind, and of a heart glow- ing with zeal for truth, with reverence for God, and with love for men. His style is easy, various, and animated ; not free, indeed, from those petty incorrectnesses which seem to be scarcely separable from natural composition, but perfectly exempt from affectation, a blemish far more un- pardonable than negligence, and into which those who too studiously avoid carelessness have in general been too liable to fall. On a review of all his various excellences, we can- not but expect with confidence that the name of Mr. Hall will be placed by posterity, with the illustrious names of Paley and of Watson, among the best writers of the age, as well as the most vigorous defenders of religious truth and the brightest examples of Christian charity. i f 182 APPENDIX. — ^NOTE B. 2, From Sir James Mackinto.sh's Review of Proceedings in the Case of Benjamin Flower, British Critic, August 1800. He tells us in his preface, "There is no one living more •' guarded in brinp^ing unsubstantial charges than myself." p. 17. He also observes, that " the mere change of senti- *' ment is not in itself criminal, it is sometimes virtuous." p. 22. After these declarations, we should of course have expected that he would not have applied the most contu- melious and opprobrious language to virtuous men, on no better pretext than that of a *' mere change of sentiment." As this " change" might be " virtuous, ' all " charges" founded only upon it must be "unsubstantiated." Now mark the conduct of this man, and let him be tried by his own principles. Mr. Hall, his townsman, and, as we under- stand, formerly his pastor, is well known to have lately published a most admirable Sermon, in which he employed all the powers of reason, and all the vigour and splendour of eloquence, in displaying the abominable consequences of Atheism. ** The very head and front of his offending hath *' this extent y no farther.'* His whole guilt consisted in this: that, being a minister of Christianity, he had the illi- berality and cruelty to attack poor Atheism, and its meek and unbloody apostles, the amiable French republicans. For this great crime this miserable scribbler attempts to raise a louder clamour against Mr. Hall than has been raised against other dissenting' ministers for renouncinor their belief in God. Bishops may be libelled, kings may be slandered, all laws, human and divine, may be insulteid and reviled ; but France and Atheism are sacred things, which it seems no Englishman, or at least no dissenting minister, is to at- tack with impunity ; which he cannot reason against with- out having his character stigmatized as a time-server ; the warm language of his youth cited against his more mature opinions : and all the prdudices of his sect, or even of his congregation, artfully inflamed against his good name, his professional usefulness, and perhaps his professional exist- ence. The black and fell malignity which pervades this man's attack on Mr. Hall raises it to a sort of diabolical im- portance, of which its folly, and ignorance, and vulgarity, cannot entirely deprive it. This must be our excuse for stooping so low as to examine it. His first charge is, that Mr. Hall now speaks of the French I EXTAACTS FROM M4CKIN10SH. 183 Revolution in difl^rent language from that which he used in 1793. How many men have retained the same opinions on that subject? There may be some, and Mr. Benjamm Flower may be one ; for there are men who have hearts too hard to be moved by crimes, or heads too stupid to be in- structed by experience. The second accusation agamst Mr. HaU is, that he has imputed a great part of the horrors of the last ten years to the immoral, antisocial, and barbarismg spirit of Atheism. Will this man deny, on principles of reason, that Atheism has such a tendency ? If he does, what becomes of his pretended zeal for religion? Or wiU he, on the authority of experience, deny that Atheism has actually produced such effects? If he does, we refer hini, not to Professor Robison, or the Abb6 Barruel, of whose labours he as might be expected, speaks with real rancour and attected contempt ; but to the works of Atheists and anarchists them- selves, which he will think much better authority. Has he read the correspondence of Voltaire, of Diderot, of D Alem- bert ? Has he consulted any of the publications which have issued during the last ten years from the Paris press ? Does he know that all the fanatical Atheists of Europe (and Eng- land is not free from this pest) almost pubUcly boast that m thirty years no man in a civilized country wdl believe m God ? Has he never heard that the miners of Cornwall were instigated to sell their clothes in order to purchase the ina- pious ravings of Tom Paine ; or that they were gratuitously distributed among the people of Scotland, with such tatel effects, that a large body of that once religious people made a bonfire of their Bibles, in honour of the new apostle ? Has he been informed that the London Corresponding Society (enUghtened by the SysUme de la Nature, of which the translation was hawked in penny numbers at every stall m the MetropoUs) deliberated whether they ou^ht not to un- citizen Tom Pame, for superstitiously professing some beliet in the existence of God? Does he know that the same SOCIKTY RESOLVED, THAT THE BELIEF OF A GoD WAS SO PERNICI- OUS AN OPINION, AS TO BE AN EXCEPTION TO THE GENERAL PRIN- CIPLE OF TOLERATION Y Docs he pcrccivc the mischievous and infernal art with which only Deism is preached to the de- luded peasantry of Scotland, while Atheism is reserved tor the more illuminated ruffians of London ? All this, and pro- bably MUCH MORE, WE FEAR HE KNOWS BUT TOO WELL ! Y Ct it is in the midst of these symptoms of a meditated revolt against all religion, and of bloody persecution practised wlier- ever Atheists are strong, and projected where they are weak, 184 APPENDIX. — ^NOTE B. I agunst the Christian worship, and all its ministers of all sects and persuasions, that this man has the effrontery to make it a matter of accusation against Mr. Hall, that he ex- horted nonconformists, not to abandon their dissent^ but merely to unite their efforts with those of the church, in re- sisting the proo^ress of Atheism. He, it seems, hates the churcn more than he loves religion. He has more zeal for dissent than for the belief of the existence of a Deity. His pious zeal would prefer slavery, under the disciples of Con^ dorcet and Volney^ to a temporary co-operation with the church which produced Taylor and Barrow ! That such should be the sentiments of an obscure scribbler, is a matter of small moment ; though, notwithstanding his complaints of the state of the press, this is the first time, since England was a nation, that any man would have dared to publish them. But tl^t such should be the sentiments of a numer- ous sect continuing to call themselves Christians, would indeed be a matter of very serious consideration. But it cannot be. The body of Dissenters will hasten to disavow such detestible sentiments. They will acknowledge as their representative, not this libeller, but the eloquent and philosophical preacher whom he has so foully slandered ; whom no dissenting min- ister has surpassed in talents, and whom none has equalled or even nearly approached in taste and elegance of composi- tion. 3. From the Notes to Dr. Parvus Spital Sermon. Easter, 1800. After defending Mr. Hall from the censures of those who blamed him for styling Hooker " great and judicious," he proceeds thus : In common with all men of letters, I read with exquisite delight Mr. Hall's sermon, lately published. As compo- sitions, his former works are replete with excellence; but his last aporoaches to perfection, fura rov otfivov rriv x^P^*' lx«. He apologizes for its length, but the apology was unnecessary : for every man of taste and virtue will apply to this publication, what Photiiis said upon tlie Xeiftiavapiov of Joannes Moschus, i| iivavraiv to x/o^"?e ; and at the present crisis, I must further confess, that they appear to me not only unjust, but indiscreet, and even in- human. Let me remind the accusers of Mr. Hall, that, in the estimation of Lord Bacon, " divisions in religion, if they 186 APPENDIX. — NOTE C. tllABACTER AS A PREACHER. 1«7 li • be mtiny, introduce Atheism ;" — " tliat there is a supersti- tion in avoidmg superstition, when men think they do best by going farthest from what they think the superstition for- merly received ; and, therefore, care should be had that the good be not taken away witli the bad, which commonly is done when the people is the reformer." Among those who censure Mr. Hall, there may be thoughtless and injudicious persons, who often repeat tlie witty and decisive answer of Sir Henrjr Wotton to the priest, wlio asked, *' Where was your religion to be found before Luther } " Let me then re- call to their memory the advice which Sir Henry gave to one, whose earnestness exceeded his knowledge, and who was perpetually raihng against the Papists : ** Pray, Sir, for- bear, till you have studied the points better; for the wise Italians have this proverb, ' He that understandeth amiss con- eludes worse;* and take heed of thinking, the farther you go from the Church of Rome, the nearer you are to God." To men of sounder judgement and more candid dispositions, I would recommend the serious perusal of " Cassandri Con- sultatio," of Grotius's notes upon it, and his three replies to Rivetus. When they read the " Syllabus Librorum et Epis- tolarum doctorum aliquot et priorum virorum," in the third volume of Grotius's works, they may cease to think Mr. Hall singular, when he remarks, in his preface, " How trivial, for ** the most part, are the controversies of Christians with each '* other ! " They may be disposed to join him in his prayer, that '* Ephraim may no longer vex Judah, nor Judah Ephraim ;" and they may be converted to the wise and salu- tary opinion of Grotius, " Quam non sit difficilis in Religione Conciliatio, si controvertendi studium vitetur ! " NOTE C— [See page 102.] Character or Mr, Hall as a Preacher. From the London Magazine, No. XIV, Feb. 1, 1821. Written by the Editor, Mr. John Scott, Author of " Visits to Paris," olize ; before him all forgot their denominations, as he ap- peared to forget his own in the comprehensive idea of the Church of Christ. In recollecting the moral features of his character, it is impossible to forget the consummate truth and sincerity, which left its unequivocal stamp on all he said, of which a suspicion never occurred to any one, and which gave to hia discourses a solidity and an impressiveness, which, other- wise, their argument and eloquence could never have com- manded. Never has there been a stronger, a more universal confidence in the sacred orator, as one whose eloquence was kindled in his own heart ; never were the testimony of faith, and the rapture of hope, exhibited in a more manifestly genuine, unaffected, and consequently in a more convincing form. His was truly the " gencroso incoctum pectus Honesto." This added to his ministry a singular and ines- timable charm. Hence, more than any other advocate of evangehcal principles, he was revered, even by the irreli- gious. His peculiar ascendancy over such was not accjuired by any degree of compromise in his exhibition of spuritual religion; it was the involuntary result of their conviction tliat his earnestness was as perfect as his eloquence. Never can there have been a preacher more strikingly characterized by a dignified simplicity, a majesty unalloyed by pomp ; never was there a finer combination of the utmost manliness and grandeur with the utmost delicacy and pathos. No wonder that such qualities, combined in such perfection, should have produced so strong and so extensive an en- chantment. It must be acknowledged that the moral graces of his cha- racter derived a peculiar and accidental advantage from the intellectual power and splendour with which they were united; a remark particularly applicable to that child-like simplicity by which he was distinguished, and to that delicate and re- fined modesty, which was the natural indication of an in- terior and inwrought humility. " Be clothed with Humi- lity," was the subject of his last lecture pre}>aratory to the communion, the last entire address which I heard from his lips ; (Jan. 1831) and as I returned in company with some other members of the Clmrch of England, who privileged themselves with hearing him on these monthly opportuni- ties, we were all impressed by the force which his pathetic exhortation acquired from his own conspicuous example of the grace he had recommended. His humility gave a charm to his character and to his preaching, which all his more brilliant qualities, without it, could not have supplied ; while it served as a dark back-ground, from which their brilliant contrast rose the more impressive and sublime. In thus slightly ghmcing at some of the more retired graces with which he was adorned, I cannot dismiss the hasty and unfinished sketch without referring to that sweet sunshine of serenity, cheerfulness, and bland good nature, which, unobscured by so much acute or wearing pain, habi- tually beamed in his noble aspect, and diffused its genial influence alike over his converse and his preaching. A friend, subject to constitutional depression of spirits, assured me that, on several occasions, he has found his sadness soothed by the balm of a visit or a sermon, for which he had resorted to Mr. Hall. Nothing morose, nothing gloorny, either in his natural temper, or in his religious views, im- paired the fascination of his presence, or the benefit of his ministry. The remembrance of such a man, especially as it is now embalmed and sanctified b^' death, (and his death was alto- gether in harmony with his character,) cannot leave any other than a beneficial influence, ennobling and elevating to the mind and heart The name of ''Robert Hall" is rich in sacred, as well as splendid, associations; a memento 200 APPENDIX. — NOTE ML of consecrated intellect and energy ; an inspiring watch- word for the cultivation of Christian graces and of hea- venly affections; an antidote to all that is unworthy in principle or practice ; an attraction to whatever, in the mtellectual or moral system, bears the stamp of unaffected excellence; whatever qualifies for the fruition of spiritual and eternal blessings ; whatever is alUed to the love of Christ and God. I OBSERVATIONS mt MR. HALL'S CHARACTER AS A PREACHER. BY JOHN FOSTER. OBSERVATIONS ON i I MR. HALL'S CHARACTER AS A PREACHER. The biographical and literary illustrations of Mr. HalTs character and performances, expected from the highly qualified Editor of his works, and from the eminent person who has engaged for a part of that tribute to his memory,* may render any formal attempt in addition liable to be regarded as both superfluous and intrusive ; the public, besides, have been extensively and very long m possession of their own means of forming that judge- ment which has pronounced him the first preacher of the age : and again, so soon after the removal of such a man, while the sentiments of friendship and admiration are finding their natural expression m the language of unrestrained eulooy, it is hardly permitted to assume a judicial impartiality. From these considerations it has been with very great reluctance that I have consented, in compliance with the wishes of some of Mr. Hall's friends, to attempt a short description of what he was in tlie special capacity of a preacher ; a subject which must » These observations were written and transmitted to the publishers, a considerable time before the lamented and unexpected decease of Sir James Mackintosh. It is, perhaps worth mentioning, that the writer had felt it a propriety to abstain from any attempt at a compa- rison between Mr. Hall and the most celebrated English and French preachers, or ancient and modem orators of other classes; confidently expecting (besides being r.onscio'fs of deficient qualifications,) that thia would be a fa\ ourite eiercise of Sir James's consamraate critical jndge^ taeiit. 204 MR. HALLS CHARACTER AS A PREACHER. 205 «( M indeed be of chief account in any memorial of him • but may also admit of being taken in some degree sepa^ ratelv from the general view of his life, character, and writings. For more reasons than that it must be one cause, add- ed to others, of an imperfect competence to describe him m that capacity, I have to regret the disadvantage of not having been more than very occasionally, perhaps hardly ten times in all, a hearer of Mr. Hall till within the last tew years of his life. It appears to be the opinion of all those attendants on his late ministrations, who had also been his hearers in former times, (and, from recollection ot the few sermons which I heard many years since my own impression would be the same,) that advancing W/ together with the severe and almost continual pressurTof pam, had produced a sensible effect on his preachiujr perceptible m an abatement of the energy and splendour of his eloquence. He was less apt to be excited to that intense ardour of emotion and utterance which so often, animating to the extreme emphasis a train of sentiments impressive by their intrinsic force, had held dominion over every faculty of thought and feeUng in a lai^e as- sembly. It IS not meant, however, that a considerable degree of this ancient fire did not frequently appear glowing and shining again. Within the course of a mo- derate number of scnnons there would be one or more which brought back the preacher of the times long past, to the view of those who had heard him in those times. I have reason to believe, that this representation of his diminished energy should be nearly hraited to a very late period, the period when an increased, but reluctant, use of opiates became absolutely necessary, to enable him to endure the pain which he had suffered throues in a special manner to pray for when alone. Such observations are, under small hmitation, appli- cable to Mr. Hall's public pra,yer. The succession of sentences appeared almost casual, or in a connexion too slight to hold the hearer's mind distinctly, for a time, to a certain object. A very large proportion of the series consisted of texts of Scripture ; and, as many of these were figurative, often requiring, in order to apprehend their plain sense, an act of thought for which there was not time, the mind was led on with a very defective con- ception of the exact import of much of the phraseology. He did not avail himself of the portion of Scripture he had just read, as a guiding suggestion of subjects for the prayer ; and very seldom made it bear any particular re- lation to what was to follow as the subject of the dis- course. One could wish that, with the exception of very pecu- liar cases, personalities^ when they must be introduced, should be as brief as possible in public prayer ; especial- ly such as point to individuals who are present, and whose own feelings, one should think, would earnestly deprecate their being made conspicuous objects of the prolonged attention of the congregation. Mr. Halls con- sideration for individuals standing officially, or brought incidentally, in association with an assembly, often led him to a length and particularity in personal references, which one could not help regretting, as an encroachment on the time and more proper concerns of the exercise, and as a sanction lent by an example of such high autho- rity to a practice which leads the thoughts quite away from the interests in common ; tempting the auditors into an impertinence of imagination about the persons so placed in exhibition, their characters, domestic circum- stances, and so forth ; with possibly a silent criticism, not much in harmony with devotion, on some flaw of con- sistency between the terms which the speaker is now em- ploying, and those which he may be heard, or may have been heard, to use in other times and places respecting the same individuals. In the laudatory tone and epithets into which he inevitably glides (for he never adverts to any faults of the persons thus prominently held in view, with prayer for their correction), it is hardly possible for him, while the matter is kept long under operation, to avoid its changing colour, from that of reverence to- wards God, into that of compliment to a fellow-mortal and fellow-sinner. If there was a defect of concentration, an mdetermi- nateness in the direction of thought, in Mr. Hall's public prayers, the reverse was conspicuous in his preaching. He was inferior to no preacher of any period in the capital excellence of having a definite purpose, a distmct assignable subject, in each sermon. Sometimes, mdeed, as when intruders had robbed him of all his time for study, or when his spirits had been consumed by a pro- longed excess of pain, lie was reduced to take the license of discoursing with less definite scope, on the common subjects of religion. But he was never pleased with any scheme of a sermon in which he could not, at the outset, say exactly what it was he meant to do. He told his friends that he always felt " he could do nothing with" a text or subject till it resolved and shaped itself into a topic of which he could see the form and outline, and which he could take out both from the extensive system of religious truth, and, substantially, from its connexion with the more immediately related parts of that system ; at the same time not failing to indicate that connexion, by a few brief clear remarks to show the consistency and mutual corroboration of the portions thus taken apart for sepai-ate discussion. This method insured to bun and his hearers the advantage of an ample vanety. Some of them remember instances in which he preached, with but a short interval, two sermons on what would have appeared, to common apprehension, but one subject, a verv limited section of doctrine, or duty ; yet the sermons Wo^nt on quite dififerent tracks of thought, presenting se- p >rate views of the subject, related to each other only by ^ p 2 \ li 212 MR. HALLS CHARACTER a general consistency. His survey of the extended field of religion was in the manner of a topopirapher, who fixes for a while on one separate district, and then on another, finding in each, though it were of very confined dimen- sions, many curious matters of research, and many inter- esting objects ; while yet he shaU possess the Avide in- fonnation which keeps the country at large so compre- hensively ^Wthin his view, that he can notice and iUus- tmte, as he proceeds, all the characters of the relation of the parts to one another and to the whole. The preacher uniformly began his sermons in a low voice, and with sentences of tlie utmost plainness both of thought and language. It was not, I believe, in obser- vance of any precept of the rhetoricians, or with any con- scious intention, that he did so ; it was simply the manner in which his mind naturally set in for the consideration of an important subject. ITiis perfect plainness of the introduction, quietly delivered in a voice deficient in tone and force, and difficult to be heard at first by a large part of the congregation, occasioned surprise and disappoint- ment sometitnes to strangers drawn by curiosity to hear '■ the celebrated orator," in the expectation, perhaps, of his going oif in powerful sallies, flourishes, and fulmma- tions. " Can this be he?" has been the question whis- pered between some two such expectants, seated together. A short conmient on the facts in Scripture history found in connexion with the text, or which had been the occa- sion of the words ; or on circumstances in the condition of the primitive church ; or on some ancient or modern error relating to the subject to be proposed ; would give, within the space of five or ten minutes, the condensed and perspicuous result of much reading and study. Some- times he would go immediately to his subject, after a very few introductory sentences. And the attentive hearer was certain to apprehend what that subject was. It was stated precisely, yet in so simple a manner as to preclude all appearance of elaborate definition. The distribution was always perfectly inartificial, cast in an order of the least formality of division that could mark an intelligible succession of parts, very seldom ex- AS A PREACHER. 213 ceeding the number of three or four ; which set forth the elements of the subject in the merest natural form, if I may express it so, of their subsistence. Generally, each of these parts was illustrated in two or three particulars, noted as first, second, and perhaps third. He never at- tempted, never thought of, those schemes of arrangement in which parts are ingeniously placed in antithesis, or in such other disposition as to reflect cross-lights on one an- other, producing surprise and curious expectation, with a passing glance of thought at the dexterity of the preacher who can work them in their contrasted positions to one ultimate effect It is not denied that such ingenious and somewhat quaint devices of arrangement have had their advantage, in the hands of men who made them the vehi- cles of serious and important sentiment, really desirous not to amuse but to attract and instruct. They catch attention, make the progress and stages of the discourse more sensible by the transitions between points apparent- ly so abruptly asunder, and leave more durable traces in the memory than, it was often complained, could be pre- served by Mr. Hall's sermons. But such a mode was entirely foreign to the constitution and action of his mind. He never came on his subject by any thing like man- oeuvre ; never approached it sideways ; never sought to secure himself resources in particular parts, comers, and adjuncts, against the effects of a failure in the main sul>- stance ; never threw out the force of a subject in off' sets ; never expended it in dispersed varieties. He had it in one full single view before him, the parts lying in natural contiguity as a whole ; and advanced straight forward in pursuance of a plain leading principle ; looking to the right and the left just so far as to preserve the due breadth of the illustration. This is meant as a description generally applicable to the earlier and middle portions of the discourse, which were often, as regarded in a purely intellectual view, much the most valuable.* It was highly interesting, • There was a remission of strict connexion of ihought towards tlie inclusion, where he threw himself loose into a strain of declamation, ilways earnest, and often fervid. This was of gieat effect m securjng 214 MB. HALLS CHARACTER even as a mere affair of mental operation, independently of the religious object, to accompany this part of his pro- gress ; from the announcement of bis subject (sometimes in the form of a general proposition founded on the text, oftener in a more free exposition), onward through a series of statements, illustrations, and distinctions, till an important doctrine became unfolded to view, fiill in its explication, and strong in its evidence. In this progress he would take account of any objections which he deemed it of consequence to obviate, meeting them without eva- sion, with acuteness and exact knowledge, available to the point. Every mode and resource of argument was at his command ; but he was singularly successful in that which is technically denominated reduetio ad absurdum. Many a specious notion and cavil was convicted of being not only erroneous, but foolish. He displayed, in a most eminent degree, the rare ex- cellence of a perfect conception and expression of every thought, however rapid the succession. There were no half-forraed ideas, no misty semblances of a meaning, no momentary lapses of intellect into an utterance at hazard, no sentences without a distinct object, and serving merely tor the continuity of speaking ; every sentiment had at once a palpable shape, and an appropriateness to the im- mediate purpose. If now and then, which was seldom, a word, or a part of a sentence, slightly failed to denote precisely the thing he intended, it was curious to observe how perfectly he was aware of it, and how he would in- stantly throw in an additional clause, which did signify it precisely. Another thing for curious observation was, that sometimes, in the middle of a sentence, or just as it came to an end, there would suddenly occur to him some required point of discrimination, some exception perhaps, or limitation, to the assertion he was in the act of mak- a degree of favoar with many, to whom so intellectaftl a preacher would not otherwise have been acceptable ; it was this that reconciled persona of simple pietv and little cultivated underetanding. Many who might follow him witn very imperfect apprehension and satisfaction throngh the preceding parts, conld reckon on being warmly interested at the latter end. in that part his utterance acquired a remarkable change of iaCooation, expressive of tiia own excited feelings. AS A PREACHER. 215 ing ; or at another time, a circumstance of reinforcement extianeously suggested, a transient ray, as it were, from a foreign and distant object ; and then he would, at the prompting of the moment, intimate the qualifying refer- ence in abrief parenthesis in the sentence, or by a revert- ing glance at the end of it.— In these last lines of the description, I have in view the more closely intellectual parts of his public exercises, the parts employed in the ascertainment and elucidation of truth. There will be occasion, towards the close of these notices, to attribute some defect of discrimination and caution to other parts or qualities of his sermons. It were superfluous to say that Mr. Hall's powerful reasoning faculty, and his love and habit of reasoning, went into his preaching ; but I may be allowed to ob- serve, that the argumentative tenour thence prevailing through it, was of a somewhat different modification from the reasoning process exhibited in the composition of some of the most distinguished sermon miters. To say that he had much, very much, of the essence and effect of reasoning without its forms, will perhaps be considered as unqualified praise. Certainly we have a good riddance in the obsoleteness of the cumbrous and barbarous tech- nicalities of logic in use among schoolmen, and of which traces remain in the works of some of our old divines, especially of the polemic class. But, divested of every sort of technicality, a natural and easy logic (easy, I mean, for the hearers' or readers' apprehension) may per- vade a discourse in such manner, that it shall have more of the consistence of a contexture than of an accumula- tion. The train of thinking may preserve a link of con- nexion by the dependence of the foUowing thought on the foregoing ; that succeeding thought not only bemg just in itself and pertinent to the matter in hand, but being so still more specially in virtue of resulting, by obvious deduction, or necessary continuation, from the preceding ; thus at once giving and receiving force bv the connexion. It is of great advantage for the strength of a discourse, when it is so conceived as to require the not unfrequent recurrence of the signs, " for," " because," 216 MR. HALLS CHARACFER :.i. I 1: it I " if— then,** " consequently," " so that," and the other familiar logical marks of conjunction and dependence in the series of ideas. This will not be mistaken to mean any thing like a long iminteinipted process, as in a mathematical demon- stration, carried on in a rigorous strictness of method and with a dependence of the validity of some one final result on the correctness of each and every movement in the long operation. No lengthened courses of deduction are required or admissible in popular instruction ; the discourse must, at no distant intervals, come to pauses and changes, introducing matters of argument and illus- tration which are chosen by the preacher for their general pertinence and effectiveness to the subject, rather than by any strict logical rule of continuity ; and he is not re- quired to answer a captious question of a disciple of the schools whether this topic, and this again, be in the most exact line of sequence with the foregoing. It is sufficient that there be an obvious general relation, connecting the successive portions of the discourse ; so that each in the succession shall take along with it the substantial tjffect of the preceding. But through the extent of each ot these portions, the course of thinking might be conducted in a certain order of consecutive dependence, which should make the thoughts not merely to coincide, but to verify and authenticate one another while they coincide, in bearing on the proposed object. And such a mode of working them into evidence and application, would give them a closer grapple on the mind. There will be testimony to this from the experience of readers conversant with the best examples ; for instance, the sermons of South, which, glaringly censurable as many of them are on very grave accounts, are admirable for this linked succession, this passing to a further idea by consequence fiom the preceding, and not merely by that principle of relation between them, that they both tend to the same effect. Yet, at the aapie time, so far is he from exhibiting a cold dry argument, like Clarke in his sermons, that his ratiocination is abundantly charged with what may be called the matter of passion ; oltea AS A PREACHER. 217 indeed malicious and fierce, sometimes solemnly impres- Bive ; at all events servihg to show that strong argument may be worked in fire as well as in frost.* It has always appeared to me, that Mr. Hall's discourses would have had one more ingredient of excellence, if the rich and strong production of thought, while pressing, as it always did, with an united impulse toward the point in view, had been drawn out in a sequence of more express and palpable dependence and concatenation. The conjunc- tion of the ideas would sometimes appear to be rather that of contiguity than of implication. The successive sentences would come like separate independent dictates of intellect, the absence of which woiild indeed have been a loss to the general force, but not a breach of con- nexion. It must be observed, however, that when spe- cial occasions required it, he would bring into exercise the most severe logic in the most explicit form. Many tine examples of this are found in his controversy on Terms of Communion. And such would, at times, occur in his sermons. Every cultivated hearer must have been struck with admiration of the preacher s mastery of language, a re- fractory servant to many who have made no small efforts to command it. I know not whether he sometimes pain- fully felt its deficiency and untowardness for his purpose ; but it seemed to answer all his requirements, whether for cutting nice discriminations, or presenting abstractions in a tangible form, or investing grand subjects with splen- dour, or imparting a pathetic tone to expostulation, or inflaming the force of invective, or treating common topics without the insipidity of common -place diction. His language in the pulpit was hardly ever colloquial, but neither was it of an artificial cast. It was generally as little bookish as might consist with an uniformly sus- tam<^ and serious style. Now and then there would be a scholastic term beyond the popular understanding, so ♦ Among others, T might name Stillingfleet's sermons, as exemplify- ing this manner of connexion in the series of ideas. If reference were made to ancient eloquence, Demosthenes would be cited as the trans- ceodent example uf tliis excellence. 218 MR. hall's CHARACIEK familiar to himself, from his study of philosophers and old divines, as to be the first word occurring to him in his rapid delivery. Some conventional phrases which he was in the habit of using (for instance, " to usher in," ** to give birth to," &c.), might better have been ex- changed for plain unfigurative verbs. His language in preaching, as in conversation, was in one considerable point better than in his well-known and elaborately com- posed sermons, in being more natural and flexible. >VTien he set in reluctant.y upon that operose employ- ment, his style was apt to assume a certain processional stateliness of march, a rhetorical rounding of periods, a too frequent inversion of the natural order of the sen- tence, with a morbid dread of degrading it to end in a particle or other small looking word ; a structure in which 1 doubt whether the augmented appearance of strength and dignity be a compensation for the sacrifice of a natu- ral, livmg, and variable freedom of composition. A re- markable difierence will be perceived between the high- ly-wrought sermons long since pubhshed, and the short ones mserted in the fifth volume, which were written without a thought of the press ; a ditference to the ad- vantage of the latter in the grace of simplicity.* Both in his conversation and his public speaking, there was often, besides and beyond the merit of clearness, precision, and brevity, a certain felicity of diction; something which, had it not been common in his discourse, would have appeared the special good luck of falling without care of selection on the aptest words, cast in elegant combination, and producing an effect of beauty even when there was nothing expressly ornamental. From the pleasure there is in causing and feeling sur- prise by the exaggeration of what is extraordinary into something absolutely marvellous, persons of Mr. Hall's acquaintance, especially in his earlier life, have taken great license of fiction in stories of his extemporaneous eloquence. It was not uncommon to have an admired *f*J ^1 T^*""' °^' ^ *^® reported 9^xxtiovi% given iu the sixth voIoim •II? ^f ?' *'.*** "'*°y ^^ ^^"*^^ *"^ observant hearer of Mr. Hail will testiiy, though he should not have beard those particular sennon., that they very faithfully repre«Mitthe preacher's extemporaneous diction. AS A pr?:aciier. 219 sermon asserted to have been thrown off in an emergen- cy on the strength of an hour's previous study, fhis matter has been set right in Dr. Gregory's curious and interesting note (prefixed to the sermon on Modem Infi- delity) describing the preacher's usual manner of prepa- ration ; and showing that it was generally made with de- liberate care.* But whatever proportion of the discourse was from premeditation, the hearer could not distinguish that from what was extemporaneous. There were no periods betraying, by a mechanical utterance, a mere re- citation. Every sentence had so much the spirit and significance of present immediate thinking, as to prove it a living dictate of the speakers mind, whether it came in the way of recollection, or in the fresh production of the moment. And in most of his sermons, the more animated ones especially, a very large proportion of what he spoke must have been of this immediate origination ; it was impossible that less than this should be the effect of the excited state of a mind so powerful in thinking, so extremely prompt in the use of that power, and in possession of such copious materials. Some of his discourses were of a calm temperament nearly throughout ; even these, however, never tailing to end with a pressing enforcement of the subject. But in a considerable portion of them (a large one, it is said, during all but a late period of his life) he warmed into emotion before he had advanced through what might be called the discussion. The intellectual process, the ex- plications, arguments, and exemplifications, would then be animated, without being confused, obscured, or too much dilated, by that more vital element which we de- nominate sentiment ; while striking figures, at intervals, emitted a momentary brightness; so that the under- standing, the passions, and the imagination of the hear- ♦ Once, iu a conversation with a few friends who had led him to talk of his preaching, and to answer, among other questions, one respecting this supposed and reported extemporaneous production ot the most striking parts of his seimons in the early perio leave room for those often beautiful wild flowers which spring spontaneously in a fertile half-WTought soil. His avowed indifference to poetry might be taken as one indication of a mind more adapted to converse with the substimtialities of truth, than to raise phan- toms of invention. Perhaps the most striking feature of his originidity was seen in his talent (like the che- a2 228 mh. halls character mistry which brings a latent power into manifestation and action) of drawing from some admitted principle a hitherto rnithouffht-of inference, which affects tlie wliole argument of a question, and leads to a conclu- sion either new or by a new road. While he avjiiled himself in his sermons of the powers and means of reason, he constantly referred, I beliere with an increased explicitness in the more advanced periods of his ministry, to Revelation as the supreme and final authority. No preach^^r, or writer on subjects of divinity, was ever more faithful to the principle that all doctrines professing to be christian, must, both in their statement and proof, be founded on the Scriptures, whatever I'urther light or corroboration they may admit from independent reason, or from matter of fact. It is understood that it cost him, at an early season of his life, a great effort, with respect to some particular opi- nions, to subdue his speculative disposition to such an uncompromising submission to that authority, as to re- nounce not only the presumptions which place them- selves in contravention to the Scriptures, but all the expedients of a forced or evasive interpretation of them. But the submission became absolute and perpetual ; and in this spirit he maintained through life so assiduous a practice of studying the Bible, that he acquired a re- markable facility for citing from every part of it, in the course of his preaching, the passages most pertinent for evidence or enforcement of whatever he was advancing. It would often strike the hearers that probably no texts could have been found in the whole book more exactly to the purpose. Though he studied the Scriptures criti- cally, he was sparing of learned criticism in the pulpit ; never resorted to it but when he saw a question of some importance involved in a right or wrong construction or interpretation ; and then with the greatest possible bre- vity. In some few of the instances he might seem to rest too much of the weight of an argument on the ac- ceptation of a single insulated expression ; for he was not, from his ability to bring a copious induction of texts in proof of a doctrine, the less tenacious of any and AS A PREACHEE. 229 every one which he thought could be vindicated for an assertion or implication of it by a correct interpreta- tion. In his choice of subjects, a prevailing desire to do good directed him most frequently to those, or to select parts and views of those, that present themselves as of chief importance on the common field of Christianity. When he took what appeared an insulated subject, of a peculiar and perhaps somewhat curious cast, he would seldom fail, while illustrating it in a manner appropriate to itself^ to bring it at last, and by an unforced inci- dence, to coalesce with or merge in some grand gene- rality or cardinal doctrine of christian faith. This me- thod contributed to maintain a consistency in the doctrine and tendency of his diversified ministrations. He insisted with the utmost emphasis on the principle that Christianity, instead of being merely a circumstan- tial modification, or clearer expopition, or augmented sanction, or supplemental adjunct of religion, conceived as in its original subsistence in the relation between the Creator and a race not involved in moral evil, is an ab- solutely distinct and peculiar economy, appointed for a race that is in that disastrous condition, and constituted upon the essentially altered relation, the relation be- tween man as a depraved guilty being and his Maker. In his judgment, any theory which does not acknowledge Christianity in this express character, positively rejects it ; with the guilt, to him who dares this rejection, of insulting the Almighty, and the calamity of being self- doomed to meet the righteous Judge on an interdicted ground, a fatal ground, therefore, where justice will be apart from mercy From his conriction of the import- ance of this principle of the peculiarity of the christian economy, he brought continually in view the doctrines which constittUe its peculiarity. The scheme of media- tion ; the Mediator s character, in the various views and lights in which it can be displayed, of dignity and humi- liation, of majesty and benignity ; his vicarious sacrifice for the atonement of sin ; were the subjects of his very marked and habitual preference. On the last of them ■n 230 MR. HALLS CHARACTER he enlarged in such extent and frequency, tliat, with the same perfect conviction as himself of its* vital and trans- cendent importance, I sometimes thought there was hardly a due proportion yielded to the correlative suh- jects— to that extent and pereraptoriness of the require- ments of the divine law, that condition of the human nature, that actual existence and stupendous amount of guilt, which are the catm that there is a mcessitu for an atonement. His practice, just noticed, of prosecuting the discussion of particular subjects, while in a maimer strictly appro- pnate to each as a separate theme, yet also with a bearinfr toward an ultimate combination with some essential prin- ciple of Christianity, conduced to keep ahnost constant v m view the evangelical principles, those which are pecu- liarly characteristic of the mediatorial economy ; for these were very commonly the points to which the various courses of thought running through his different sermons were made to tend, and where they fell in confluence. His system of theological tenets {creed is an ill-fevour- ed term) was strictly orthodox, on the model of what has come to be denominated Moderate Calvinism. With the other conspicuous points, the doctrine of the Trinity,* the dmmty of Christ, the atonement, and justification by faith alone, he held the more distinctively Calvinistic doctrme of predestination ; though I cannot answer for the precise terms in which he would have stated it ; but I presume he would have accepted those employed in the articles of the Church of England. In preaching he very rarely made any express reference to that doctrine , and his recognition of it by implication was too indistinct for toleration from the rigidly Calvinistic hearers of any preacher not privileged by talents and public favour to b "J one of his leter-, I think, named by l.im Vuaksm, bat surrendered long before the decline of his life. Thai Z^v T«i'.l r* r*"^ Holy Spirit is to be regarded as a diune ewrgy, «i AS A PREACHER, 231 ance of all but the general purpose of the Almighty in the promulgation of the gospel, he considered that men are to be addressed as rational beings, on subjects of which, unless they will practically renounce that pro- perty of their nature, they must apprehend the vast im- portance ; subjects which, as well as appealing to their coolest reason, ought to be of mighty force to press on the conscience and the passions ; to which it were, con- sequently, the last absurdity to decline summoning that reason, and arousing those passions. He was therefore exempt from all those restrictions, in respect to the mode of presenting and urging the overtures of redemption, which have been imposed on some good men of the Cal- vinistic faith by a concern for systematic consistency. He took the utmost liberty in this strain of inculcation ; ex- horting, inviting, entreating, expostulating, remonstrat- ing ; in language of nearly the same tenour as that which might be employed by an Arminian preacher ; with the exception, of course, of that notion of free-will, which recurs with such laborious iteration in the preaching of that order, and which was excluded from his faith equally by theological and philosophical reasons. This non-ad- vertence in his sermons to the Calvinistic tenet, was not from any secret consciousness that the belief of it is es- sentially incongruous with an unrestrained freedom of inculcation ; it was not that he might enjoy a license for inconsistency through the device of keeping one or two incompatible things out of sight ; but he judged that neither the doctrine itself, nor the process of reasoning to prove the belief of it consistent with the most unrestrict- ed language of exhortation, could be made a profitable part of popular instruction. He deemed it authority enough for his practice, independently of all abstracted reasoning on the subject, that he had the example of the divinely inspired preachers urging the demands of the gospel on the unbelievers and the wicked, in the most unmeasured terms of exhortation, the predestinating de- crees of heaven set out of the question; and that in modem experience it is a notorious fact, that those preachers of the Calvinistic school (for one memorable 232 MR. HALLS CHARACTER example, Whitfield) who have nevertheless availed them- selves of this freedom to the utmost extent, have been tar beyond all comparison more successful in effectin"- tl?* great object of preaching, than those who have, ^me- what presumptuously, charged themselves with so much responsibility respecting the unknown determination of the AlmijThty, that they must not call men indiscrimin- ately to faith and repentance lest they should contravene his sovereign purposes ;— I might sav, rather, forfeit the dignity of coinciding with them. Perhaps it would not have been expected from Mr, Hall's great capacity, that he should be habitually indis-' posed to dwell or expatiate long near the borders of the remoter, darker tracts, of the regions of religious con- templation. Such, however, appears to have been the fact. If the cause were inquired, imdoubtedly one thina that withheld or withdrew him was, a consideration of usefulness, a preference for what was most adapted to be beneficial to his own religious discipline and to the best interests of others. He was amply informed and warned, by his knowledge of the history of philosophy and the- ology, of the mischiefs of a restless, presumptuous, inter- minable speculation, a projection of thought, beyond the limits of ascertainable truth. But there was a cause more radical in his mental constitution. That constitu- tion was not predominantly either imaginative or con- templative ; it was intellectual, in the strictest sense ; in the (perhaps arbitrary) sense, that the matter of his spe- culations must be what he could distinctly understand, what he could survey in such form and order as to admit of propositions and reasons ; so that the speculative pro- cess lost its interest with him if carried into a direction, or if exceeding the limit, where it could no longer bJ subjected to the methods of proof; in other words, 'where It ceased to comprehend and reason, and turned into con. jecture, sentiment, and fa^cy. He seemed to have no ambition to stretch out his intellectual domain to an ex- tent which he could not occupy and traverse, with some COTtainty of his movements and measurements. His sphere was very wide, expanded to one circle beyond an- AS A PREACHER. 233 other, at each of which in succession he left other men behind him, arrested by the impassable line ; but he was willing to perceive, and even desirous to verify, his own ultimate boundary; and Mhen he came to the barrier where it was signified to him, " Thus far, and no further," be stopped, with ap})arently much less of an impulse than might have been expected in so strong a spirit, to seek an outlet, and attempt an irruption into the dubious realms beyond. With a mind so constituted and governed, he was less given than many other men of genius have been to those visionary modes of thought ; those musings exempt from all regulation ; that impatience of aspiration to reach the vast and remote ; that fascination of the mysterious, cap- tivating by the very circumstance of eluding ; that fear- ful adventuring on the dark, the unknown, the awful ; " those thoughts that wander through eternity,'' which have often been at once the luxury and the pain of ima- ginative and higldy endowed spirits, discontented with their assigned lot in this tenebrious world. No doubt, in his case, piety would have interfered to restrain such impatience of curiosity, or audacity of ambitious think- ing, or indignant strife against the confines of our present allotment, as would have risen to a spirit of insubordina- tion to the divine appointment. And possibly there were times when this interference was required ; but still the structure of his faculties, and the manner of employing them to which it determined him, contributed much to exempt him from that passion to go beyond the mortal sphere which would irreligiously murmur at the limita- tion. His acquiescence did not seem at least to cost him a strong effort of repression. This distinction of his intellectual character was ob- vious in his preaching. He was eminently successful on subjects of an elevated order, which he would expand and illustrate in a manner which sustained them to the high level of their dignity. This earned him near some point of the border of that awful darkness which encom- passes, on all sides, our little glimmering field of know- ledge ; and then it might be seen how aware he was of J 234 MR. HALLS CHARACTER his approach, how cautiously, or shall I siiy instinctively ? he was held aloof, how sure not to abandon the ground of evidence, by a hazardous incursion of conjecture or Imagination into the unknown. He would indicate how near, and in what direction, lay the shaded frontier ; but dared not, did not seem eren tempted, to invade its " ma- jesty of darkness/' This procedure, in whatever proportion owing to his intellectual temperament, or to the ascendancy of religion, will be pronounced wise for a general practice. If, how- ever, he could have allowed himself in some degree of exception, it would have been gratifying to a portion of his hearers. There are certain mysterious phenomena in the moral economy of our world, which compel, and w ill not release, the attention of a thoughtful mind, especially if of a gloomy constitutional tendency. Wherever it turns, it still encounters their portentous aspect ; often feels arrested and fixed by them as under some potent spell ; making an eifort, still renewed and still unavail- ing, to escape from the appalling presence of the vision. Now it was conceived, that a strenuous deliberate exer- tion of a power of thought like his, after he had been so deeply conversant with important and difficult specula- tions, might perhaps have contributed som^-thing to alle- viate this oppression. Not, of course, that it should be dreamed that his, or any still stronger human intelligence, should be able to penetrate with light, the black clouds which overshadow our system. But it was imagined possible for such force of reason to impart somewhat of an extenuating quality to the medium through which they are beheld, and through which they might then he beheld with a less painful and total prostration of spirit It might have been an invaluable service, it was thought, if his whole strength and resources had been applied to display comprehensively the nature, the extent, the soli- dity, of the ground on which faith may rest with a firm confidence in the goodness of the sovereign Governor, notwithstanding all the strange and awful phenomena of our economy.* * It may be mentioned, in further expbuatioo of the indispositiou AS A PREACHER. 235 This disinclination to adventure into the twilight of speculation was shown in respect to subjt^cts of less for- midable mystery, of solemn indeed, but rather attractive than overawing character. For instance, the mode, the condition, of that conscious existence after death, of which, as a fact, he was so zealous an assertor against the dreary dogma which consigns the soul to insensibility in the separate state ; if indeed it he any existent state of an intelligence when all we know of its attributes is abolished. It would have been gratifying, and might have been beneficial for serious impression, to see some gleams of his vigorous thought thrown upon the border of that scene of our destiny, so obscure, but at the same time so near, and of tmnscendent interest ; to see the re- served and scattered intimations of the sacred oracles brought into combination, and attempted to be reduced to something approaching to the form of a theory ; to see how far any conjectural imaginations could be accom- panied by reasons from analogy, and any other principle of probability ; with a citation, perhaps, of certain of the least arbitrary and fanciful of the visions of other inqui- sitive speculators, commented on as he would have com- mented. But he did not appear to partake of the intense curiosity with which the inquiries and poetical musings of some pious men have been carried into the subject. He seemed, beyond what might have been expected in relation to a matter which lies across the whole breadth of our prospect, and so closely at hand, content to let it remain a terra incognita till the hour that puts an end to conjecture. It will be understood that this is mentioned, not with any meaning of animadversion, but as exempli- fying thiit peculiarity of his mental character by which he appeared disinclined to pursue any inquiries beyond noted above, that io spite of the long and often severe persecution of bodily pain, his temperament was cheerful and buoyant. He had a le- markable tacilitv of finding or making sources and occasions of plea- surable fcelipg, and averting his uiind from gloomy subjects ; insomuch t .at be appeared to be, even on the mere strength of this temperament, much less subgect than miRht have been exi)ected of so enlarged a capa- city of thought, to be invaded by the dark and fearful forms which thosr •ttbjects can assume. I I t 11 I I « \ \ 7 ) 236 MR. HALLS CHARACTER AS A PREACHER. 2:37 the point where substantial evidence fails. The recret of some of his hearers was, that he should not oftener be pomt be really fixed where it appears and is assumed to be They would have been gratified to see him under- taking sometimes the discussion of subjects, which thev would have deprecated any attempt upon by men of or- dmaiy ability. AV hile so superior a mental engine, if I may be allowed the expression, was in their hands, thev wished they could make the most of its powers. 1 have deferred to the last some additional observa. tions, which I shall attempt with consideral)le difficulty • thr/.^"'^''''!"'F^^"' ^"^ partly from apprehension Mr. Hall ; of whose talents, however, no man's admira- tion was higher than mine. The general purport of what I would say is this, that while his preaching was superlatively excellent in many ot Its qualities it was not, from a defect in certain im- pormnt ones, the best adapted for salutary efficacy. A wrtnnt''*'^ I ""^7^ ^ ^^"^^^ ^"^^^ ^'«'»I^^ b-' that it was too general and theoretic, neglectful too often of the requu-ed cm^Uwns 0/ application, the distinctions, excep- t^^ans, qualifications ; 111 other words, of the casuistry h^ which every subject of a practical nature is involved; that It presented thmgs too much in unbroken breadth and mnss ; that it was apt to exceed, in the most eloquent pariS the allowed license of exaggerations ; that it was not kept m due relation to the realities of life: that while It was most excellent in the discrimination of topics, sentiments, arguments, it did not discriminate and individualize human characters; that therefore it did not maintain an intimate commerce with the actual condition of the hearers. It were superfluous to repeat how pre-eminently he aisplayed, m the perspicuous and convincing statement, deveopement, and confirmation of truth, the primary excellence of preaching, as it is of all instruction; or how earnestly the practical interest of the doctrine, in its ^«n^ra/ bearing, at least, was often enforced toward the conclusion of his sermons. The defect, which, never- theless, I am wishing to mark as not excluded by such rare merit, was, that (as a general fact, and with excep- tions) his preaching did not bring and keep the people under a closely disciplinary process. It allowed them too much of the privilege of the spectators of a fine and well ordered series of representation, of such a nature that they can look on at ease from any similar disturb- ance to that of the king in Hamlet, at the sight of the acted garden scene. A consideration of the whole design of preaching might suggest something approaching to a model of what would seem the most probably calculated to attain its several ends, m combination to one grand purpose. We may regard the preacher as holding a kind of compre- hensive jurisdiction over the spiritual and moral condi- tion of the congregation, who are a mingled assemblage of aU varieties of that condition. Should not then, the best mode of ministration, for beneficial effect, be that which applies itself to this condition, not only either generally in the mass, or as viewed in the two divisions of religious and irreligious, but also with a special recog- nition of those varieties ? There needs not here be said so self-evident a thing as that the great primary truths, forming, if I may express it so, the constitution of religion, should be carefully and amply set forth ; that, in a word, the theory of Chris- tianity as a whole, and in its principal branches, should be kept conspicuous in the peoples view. But while the principles of which the Christian fiiith consists are to be often stated and C(mstantly recognised, as the general ground-work of all that belongs to religion, what a large account there is of more special matters, on which, and on each of which, it is most important to call men's rea- son and conscience into exercise. There are the various causes, distinguishable and assignable ones, which fins- trate the exhibition of religious truth, and may be so commented on as to show how they frustrate it. Therf» IS the sad catalogue of the perversities and deceits of the 238 MR. HALLS CHARACTER heart ; there are the distortions and presumptions of pre- judice ; the principles which, in disguised form perhaps, and afraid of audacious avowal, but of malignant essence, react against the divine authority ; the subterfuges of in- sincerity ; the various ways in which men evade convic- tion, falsify in effect the truth to which they assent in terms, or delude themselves in their estimates of their own spirit and conduct. There is the estrangement from reflection, the extreme reluctance to honest self-examina- tion. There is also, in the majority of any large con- gregation, many of those who make a direct profession of personal religion not excepted, an indistinct apprehension, and a lax application, of the principles and rules of Christian morality. These last, together with the state of men's notions and habits in relation to them, are within the province of the religious instructor; unless the universally, cogently, and even minutely perceptive character of revelation be a grand impertinence. It is of the utmost importance that things like these should occupy a large space in the ministration. They claim to be made the subject of the preacher's best exer- tion, to show what they are, by illustrations verified upon the actual state of human beings, and how they interfere with religion in all its doctrines and applications. Any one of these here noted comprehends a whole class of particulars, important enough to be, each of them sepa- rately, a matter of tlie most useful discussion for the longest sermon. And if this be true, tlie majority of the evangelical teachers of our congregations seem very fur from being aware (in respect especially to what belongs to the moral department of the great Christian school) of the extent of either the resources or the duties of their office. But besides the propriety of discoursing on such things formally and at large, there is a valuable use to be made of them in a secondary and more incidental way, by adverting to them, any of them, as the case may suggest, in short and pointed reference, when any lesson of the re- ligious discipline can by means of them be more strongly fastened on men's minds; on minds, which will phy ▲S A PREACHER. 239 !oovith a note of admonition respecting such of its causes as require that reproof be mixed with encouragement ? all the while keeping in view that condition of our exis- tence on earth, which renders it inevitable that the happiness created even by religion, for the men most faithfully devoted to it, should not be otherwise than greatly incomplete ?" These observations have gro>vn to a length beyond my intention or expectation ; and I should have been better pleased if I could have felt assured, that a far less pro- tracted criticism might suffice for an intelligible descri|>- tion of the nature and operation of certain things, in the character of Mr. Hall's ministration, which I had pre- sumed to think not adapted, in the proportion of its emi- nent intellectual superiority, to practical effect. It is not to be exacted of the greatest talents that they Lave an equal aptitude to two ^Wdely different modes of operation. Nor is any invidious comparison to be made between the respective merits of excelling in the one and in the other. But, indeed, it were impossible to make any comparative estimate that should be invidious to Mr. Hall, if the question were of intellect, considered jPMr^/y as a general element of strength. To attain high excel- lence in the manner of preaching which I have indicated as what might be a more useful one than his, though it require a clear-sighted faculty disciplined in vigilant and various exercise, is within the comjietence of a mind of much more limited energy and reach than Mr. Halls power and range of speculative thought. At the same time it is not to be denied, that such a mode of conduct- mg the ministration, whatever were the talents employed, were they even of the highest order, would demand a much more laborious and complicated process than it cost our great preacher to produce his luminous expositions of christian doctrine, with those eloquent, but too general, practical applications into which the discussion changed AS A PKEACIIER. 2'a toward the close. Indeed, there is reason to believe that, besidtis the circumstances which I have noted as indis- posing and partly unfitting him to adapt his preaching discrimiuatively to the states and characters of men as Jiey are, another preventing cause Wiis a repugnance to the kind and degree of labour required in such an ope- ration. For some passages found in his writings appear to prove that his conception of the most effective man- ner of preaching was very considerably different from his general practice.* I repeat, his genercd practice ; * Several parapjaphs might be cited from his sermon on the " Dis- couragements and Supports of the Christian Minister." I will tran- scribe two or three sentences. " The epidemic mahidy of onr nature assumes so many shapes, and ** appears under such a variety of symptoms, that these may be consi- " dered as so many distinct diseases, which demand a proportionate va- " riety in the method of treatment Without descending tosucii " a minute specification of circumstances as shall make our addresses ** personal, they ought unquestionably to be characteristic ; that the " conscience of the audience may feel the hand of the preacher search- " ing it, and every indiNidual know where to class himself. The " preacher who aims at doing good, will endeavour, above all things, to ** insulate his hearers, to place each of them apart, and render it im- *' possible for him to escape by losing himself in the crowd It " is ihus the Christian Minister should endeavour to prepare the tribu- ** nal of conscience, and turn the eyes of every one of his hearers on •* himself." To the same effect, there are several pages of advice to preachers, in the *' Fragment on Village Preaching." Tlie value of the whole section will be but partially apprehended from the following extracts. *' A notion prevails among some, that to preach the Gospel includes ** nothing more than a recital or recapitulation of the peculiar doctrmes " of Christianity. If these are firmly believed and zealously embraced, ** they are ready to believe the work is done, and tnat a'l the virtues of •* the christian character will follow by neressarv consequence. Hence " thev satisfy themselves with recommending holiness in general terms, *' without entering into its particular duties ; and this, in such a manner, ** as rather lo predict it as the re-ult of certain opinio s, than to enforce " it on the ground of moral obligation The conscience is not *' likely to be touched by general declamations on the evil of sin, and ** the beauty of holiness, without delineation of character He ** must know little of human nature, who perceives not the calloasness " of the human heart, and the perfect inditi'erence with which it can " contemplate the most alarming truths when they are presented in a ** general abstract form. It is not in this way that religious instruction ** can be made permanently interesting. Ft is when particular vices are *' displayed as they appear in real life, when the arts of sell-deception ** are detected, and the vain excuses by which a sinner palliates his ** guilt, evades the conviction of conscience, and secures a delusive 252 MR. hall's character o«VnwJ^ lTu°^i.^/^'°^'^ *^^^ comments with- out obsemng that he d.d, sometimes, discuss and illu*. trate a topic m a special and continued application to An^T^'Tr. *^^P*^^^ '"^^''y «^ menV condition wid^ whlw i ^^y'^«t««<^e, ne.er foi^et the admiration with which I heard a sermon, chiefly addressed to the young, from the text, « For eveiy thiig there is a time ' Nothing could exceed the accuracy of delineation, a^d mll'lr!^'''^'''^^^^ °^ language, with which he Tf^Ll 1 1' T'''"''^''?' conjunctures, and temptations ot real life; the specific mterests, duties, dangers, vices • the consequences in futurity of early wisdom^ or follyi iS • /tuf r ' ^^^ ^ inculcation of which, con- 1.! Ii '5 !^'**^*^^ appropriateness to the preceding topics, he closed m an effiision of what merited to be irrLstihle patnos. feermons of a tenour to class them with this, were heard at intervals, not so iride but that the number might be somewhat considerable within the space of two or three years. It should be oI)served, however, that their construction was still not wholly diverse from his general manner. The style of address was not marked by nses and falls ; did not alternate between familiarity and magistenal dignity ; was not modiHi d by varyin^r im- pulses into a strain which, as was said of Chathim'^ elo- quence, was of every kind by turns. It was sustained, unintermitted, of unrelaxing gravity, in one order of language, and, after a short progress from the commence- ment, constantly rapid in deliveiy. But still those ser- mons were cast in the liest imaginable compromise be- tween, on the one hand, the theoretic speculation and " [ranqaniity : in a word, it is when theJieart is forced to see in itself fl " Lr'"^* 1 -i?{.v " ^^^"^ "^%"'«''^ •"«°'f^«t' ^^ f«l'« down, and - k^lTn aK^"^ u- ""T*^ V "*^.* ^"*^- 'r»'« '^P'^f which awa. We. innied not on tlie general evil ol sin, hut on the pecuHar circiin- " S!!' f "«»"*'»'»«»' ■tt"'sential prin- ciple of Christianity, were attracted and arrested by a ucid and convincing exhibition of divine truth. Men of literature and talents, and men of the world who were not utterly abandoned to impiety and protiigacy, beheld religion set forth with a rigour and a lustre, and with an earnest siiicetity infinitely foreign to all mere professmicU display, which once more showed religion worthy to com- mand, and fitted to elevate the most powerful minds • which augmented the zeal of the faithful among those superior spirits, and sometimes constrained the others to «ay, 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a christian " Men of sectarian spirit were cheated of a portion of their bigotry, or forced into a consciousness that they ought to be ashamed of it. And, as a good of a more diffusive Kind, numbers of people of the common order were Held under a habitual impression of the importance of religion ; and the enumeration would, I believe, be very considerable, if it could be made, of individuals indebted to his ministry for those effectual convictions which have resulted m their devotement to God, and their happineaa m life and death. '^^ It is very possible, that the latter part of these obser- rations may be deemed erroneous or exaggerated by some pereons, on a mere general presumption that, in such pre- eminent excellence, so universally acknowledged, there could not be any considerable defects. But at all events and whatever the just exception may be to an unquali- Hed eulogy, it is exactly by those whose discernment the least permitted them to be undiscriminating in their ad- niu^tion, that the deepest regret is felt for the departure of that great and enlightened spirit. The crude admira- lion which can make no distinctions, never renders jus- AS A PREACHER. 2.55 tice to what is really great. The colossal form is seen through a mist, dilated perhaps, but obscured and unde- fined, instead of standing forth conspicuous in its nia.s- sive solidity and determinate lineaments and dimensions ITie less confused apprehension of the object verifies its magnitude while perceiving its clear line of circumscrip- tion. The persons who could see where Mr. Hall's rare excellence had a limit short of the ideal perfection of a preacher, would, by the samejudgement, form the justest and the highest estimate of the offerings which, in his person, reason and genius consecrated to religion— of the force of evidence with which he maintained its doc- tnnes, of the solemn energy with which he urged its obligations, and of the sublimity with which he dis- played its relations and prospects. By those persons, the loss is reflected on with a sen- tmient peculiar to the event, never experienced before, nor to be expected in any future instance. The removal of any worthy minister, while in full possession and ac- tivity of his faculties, is a mournful occun-ence; but there is the consideration that many such remain,' and that perhaps an equal may follow where the esteemed instructor is withdrawn. But the feeling in the present instance is of a loss altogether irreparable. The culti- vated portion of the hearers have a sense of privation partaking of desolateness. An anunating influence that pervaded, and enlarged, and raised their minds, is ex- tinct. While ready to give due honour to all valuable preachers, and knowing that the lights of religious in- struction will still shine with useful lustre, and new ones continually rise, they involuntarily and pensively imn to look at the last fading colours in the distance where the greater luminary is set. 256 LETTER THE COMMITTEE OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. To the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society, convened in London on the 15th instant. Bristol, March 12, 1827. Gentlemen, It is with much diffidence that I presume to address you on the prestmt occasion, nor am I certain whether I am perfectly in order in so doing ; but conceiving this to be a crisis in the mission, and not being able to be present at the meeting, I could not satisfy myself with- out communicating the result of my reflections on the important business which has called you together. Dr. Marshman, it seems, as the representative of the brethren at Serampore, has instituted a demand of ono- Bixth of all the money collected or subscribed towards the society, to be paid annually in aid of the missionary operations going on there. It must strike every one as strange, that this demand should almost immediately follow a preceding one which was acceded to, which he then professed to consider as perfectly satisfactory, and as putting a final termination to all dispute or discussion on the subject of pecuniary claims — that, notwithstanding this, he should now bring forward a fresh requisition of one-sixth of the same amount, ao- LETTER TO THE COMMITTEE, &c. 257 nCble' Z^ "^ infonned, by an intimation, that it TeeC L Jl r^"""* ^" his ultimatum. This pri tet se^^rr* "^ *' ?^^"^* *^ ^' enLacCi yieuXZ^^^^^^^ fixture requisitions if we* J « tu me present r What reason to sunnose our r^a/lir Zered ^%^2^%''^:!\'^* ^detyhas always co^: Vll Xe^S ^* \'°1*° ""de^tand on what prmci- Aev W r.?^^°l'"**^^"' ^ *•■« position m Xch on aJ Lftftfc^'r t'' 4- clain. whatet« renonLI^ A ^'?*y ^'«>=« authority they have ^menf'of '' ^PP-^Pri^ti^g to themselves the Ta- con^L W^h J.°' ''™°> *« ™^«st interference or CeS; I^^i ^erting to former grounds of con- en,^ we'harr^ T'^ ^ ^•^'*'"<* *''' the indepeud- and tl,^? °" "g''' *o '* " not less than theirs thr^'o-setof^rizr^-^ '^'^ -^-^--^ ^ taons, regulated by the state of ouTfiZl^rd"^ .ttenhon necessary to other objects ; but ^rretea! 258 LETTER TO THE COMMITTEE OF tially different from absolutely engSL^ng to pay an an- nual sum, which would, in my humble opinion, be equally inconsistent ^vith the interests and the honour of this society. As our brethren of Serampore have chiefly exerted themselves in translations, and are con- fessedly in possession of great pecuniary resources, there seems no imperious necessity for regularly diverting those funds to their aid, which are unequal to the de- mand which Bengal alone would create, were our mis- sion (a most desirable event) concentrated within that province. Calcutta, to say nothing of other stations, cries aloud for more labourers, but cries in vain. It has been said that we are indebted for our suc- cess to the celebrity attached to the names of Carey, Marshman, and Ward ; and that but for the unboimded confidence of the religious public in these men, our funds would nevei have been realized. Supposing this to be the case, to take advantage of such a circumstance in order to bring the society into subjection, would not be to make a very generous use of their influence. But T believe it is a mistake ; it is my firm conviction that the Baptist mission, like other kindred institutions, rests on the basis of its own merits, and that it will not fail to secure the confidence of the public, in proportion to the purity of its motives, the wisdom of its councils, and the utility of its objects. If it cannot sustain the ordeal of public opinion on these principles, let it sink, rather than owe its support to the illusion of a name. To contemplate the possibility of being compelled to an open rupture with our brethren of Serampore is un- questionably painful ; it is their knowledge alone of our extreme reluctance to hazard that consequence which emboldens them to advance these exorbitant claims. If we can avoid it by a consistent and dignified mode of procedure, let it be avoided ; but if peace can only be purchased by an ignominious surrender of our rights as a society, — by a tame submission to imreasonable de- mands, — and by subjecting it to a sort of feudal de- pendence, in all time to come, on persons we know not whom, whose character we cannot ascertain, and whose TUE BAFTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 2r>g actions we cannot control,^the purchase is, in my hum- ble opmion, too dear. The treatment of the Serampore brethren has not been such that we need shrink from its most ample exposure to the public ; nor have we an> other censure to fear on that head, except it be for ^ishmg upon them a too overweening confidence. We have no such secrets to conceal, that it should cost us a large annual payment to secure their suiv- pression. ^ Of the three brethren with whom we were lately m treaty, one is already gone into eternity, and the remaining two are advancing to that period of life which ought to make us pause ere we enter into en- gagements, which will give to persons of whom we know little or nothing a permanent right of interfer- ence M'lth our funds. TTie crisis is most solemn; and a hasty compliance with the present requisition may, when it is too late, make matter for bitter and unavailing repentance.—. 1 hat you may be indulged on this, and on every other occasion, with "the wisdom which is from above/' i*. the smcere prayer of, Gentlemen, Your obedient humble servant, Robert Hall. NOTE. SERAMPORE MISSIONARIES. In this collection of Mr. Hall's Works, every thing is in- serted that was published with his sanction, and that is known to have been written by him, with the exception of u "Single letter which he many years ago engaged to Suppress. But on inserting the letter in reference to the Serampore Missionaries (Vol. IV. p. 416.) * I inadvertently omitted to mention, that it received a place in virtue of the general rule thus adopted, and without asking the concurrence of jv'"**r^^*^'*?.*^^? '° }^[^ *"^ ^^^ following article are to the 8vo. editioo of Mr. Hail*i Works. 82 200 8ERAMP0RE MISSIONARIES. Mr. Foster. I therefore tliink it right to insert a letter which Mr. Foster has addressed tome inconsequence of that omis- sion. The controversy between the London Committee and the Serampore Missionaries I have always deeply deplored ; yet I have jin entire persuasion that the Committee did every thing in their power to avoid it, and abstained from making it public until they were compelled to do so by a feeling of duty to the Society with the management of whose concerns they are entrusted. O LI NTH us GrEOORT. TO DR. GREGORY. My Dear Sir, I observe you have admitted into the fourth volume of Mr. Hall's Works, very possibly without having had time, amidst your various and important engagements, for a deli- berate consideration, a letter written by Mr. Hall to the "Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society/' in March, 1827, on the occasion of a request from the Serampore Mis- sionaries, for a certain annual grant of money from that Society. As that letter is calculated to injure the character of those Missionaries in the estimation of the readers of Mr. Hall's Works in times to come, allow me to submit to you whether it be not a claim of justice that you should give a place, in the concluding volume, to an observation or two which I have to offer. Some of the points alluded to with implied censure in that letter, (those respecting the constitutional terms or the relation which had subsisted between the Society and those Missionaries) will be matters of small account in the view of the future generation of readers. But the main purport and effect of that letter must be, in the apprehension of those readers, to fix a dishonourable imputation on personal character. It is charged upon the Serampore fraternity (as well collectively as in their representative, Dr. Marshman) that they were rapacious of money ; that they w^cre appa- rently practising to see how much of it they could extort, on the strength of their reputation, as presumed by them to be of essential importance to that of the Society ; that they were already exceeding the utmost pardonable advance of encroachment ; that they were likely to be progressive and insatiable in their exactions ; and that their possession, at tlie very same time, of " an extensive revenue," " large pe- cimiary resources," renderiiur needless to them the assist- 8ERAMP0RE MISSIONARIES. 261 ance applied for, stamped a peculiar character of arrogance on that attempt at ev action. Suppose a reader at some distant time to form his judo-e- m^t exclusively on this representation, as an authentic a'nd sutlicient evidence ; and what can he think of those men Imt that they must have been, to say no more, some of the most unreasonable of mankind .?— that though they did per- form thmgs which remain memorable in religious historv they w*»ro Tinf -nr^.t^i... ^e *!.„:_ i-;_-L i- ® « , y merit ness - ^ ^ — »^w , ^.j>o .-•lAppMr.iLnjii, mill/ tne document m question may have on the judgement of readirs an effect inimical to the memory of those origirial Missionaries, W after they are dead, is authorized by the probability that Mr. Hall's writings will retain a place in public attention and favour, long after the occasional pro- ductions of the present time, in explanation and defence of the conduct of those Missionaries, shall have gone out of knowledge. Now, my dear Sir, let me appeal to your sense of justice whether it be right, that this unqualified invective, written for a temporary purpose, without probably the least thought of publication, and written, as I shall prove to you, under extreme error, should be perpetuated in a standard work, as a stigma on the character of those men, without the admis- sion also into the same work, for equal permanence, of a brief notice adapted to correct the wrong. The wrono. is no less than this— that the charge, such as I have described it m plain conformity to the document, is made on men who, having prosecuted a course of indefatigable exertions in the Christian cause, one of them for more than a quarter of a cen- tury, and another a much longer time, during more than twenty years of which they have not received or asked any share of the Society's income— having supported themselves, and performed their great literary, and their other missionary operations gratuitously— having, besides this, expended in the Qiristian service, during a long period, several thousand pounds a-;^ear from resources created bv their own diligence —and having also contributed very largely by their high re- putation to the public credit and success of the Society itself — could not, after all this, conceive it to be an xmreasonable " exaction," or " extortion," to request the aid of a sixth {)art of the Society's annual income, when at last their own lad become greatly duninished, chiefly in consequence of 262 8ERAMP0RE MISSIONARIES. *f the establishment of other printing offices and schools in the nejffhbouring city. But the case being so, it may be asked, with some sur- prise, how Mr. Hall could be betrayed to write such a letter. I can assign what must have been the chief cause. He be- heved he had reason to place implicit confidence in testi- mony, wliich assured him, that the Serampore Missionaries were at that very time in the possession of superabundant wealth ; and he happened not to be in communication with Informants, who could have proved to him that the contrary was the fact, to the painful extreme. It is from my own mimediate knowledge that I make this statement. In a long conversation, just about the time that the letter to the Com- mittee was written, he affirmed to me and several other J^v^^l 1**" *^'® authority of testimony which he assigned, and held to be unquestionable, that these Missionaries had the command of what might truly be called (speaking in re- lative proportion to such a concern) an immense capital and income. I could give you the sums in figures, but forbear, purely in consideration of their extmvagance. Suffice it to say that the amount was most palpably and enormously beyond any alleged or conceivable necessities of such an establish- naent. Entirely confident in this belief, he thought, of course, that an apphcation to the Society for aid was a most unrea- sonable claim ; whereas, the fact was, as Dr. Marshman re- presented, and as Dr. Carey soon after con firmed, that it was made from the pressure of pecuniary difficulty, which was lorcmg the brethren at Serampore to the alternative of either obtaming assistance in this country, or abandoning several of their missionary stations. Had Mr. Hall been aware of the real state of the case, he would not have written a single sentence of that letter. It was unfortunate that he should have been so credulous to delusive representations. Again appeaUng to your justice for the insertion of thii note ot explanation somewhere in the concluding volume I remain^ ' My dear Sir, Yours, with the greatest regard J. FOSTER. LETTERS. LETTERS. r '•![ \l It TO THE BAPTIST CHURCH, BROADMEAD, BRISTOL. Old Aberdeen, Kinr/'s College, Dec. 4, 1783.* Dear and honoured Brethren, I DULY received your affectionate letter, in which you expressed your desire of engaging my labours as an assistant minister. Your request does me honour, and confers upon me an obligation which no efforts of mine can fully discharge. Yet, young and inexperienced as I anj, I tremble to think of engaging in so arduous a work, especially in a situation where all my incapacity will be doubly felt. I cannot but think a few years would be necessary to enable me to gratify the lowest expectations. To plunge into the midst of life at so tender an age, with 80 little experience and so small a stock of knowledge, almost terrifies me. Your candid judgement of my past services I acknowledge with a mixture of pleasure and suTjprise, — ^pleased to attain the approbation of the wise and good, and surprised I in any measure have attained it ; which I can attribute to nothing but the tenderness and forbearance which have ever strongly marked your conduct. A retired and private sphere would indeed be more upon a level with my abilities, and congenial to my tem- per ; yet I woxdd willingly sacrifice my private inclina- tions to more important views, and lose sight of my- self, if I could benefit others. My reluctance, there- fore, to obey your call, arises merely from a feeling * Mr. Hall was at this time in his twentieth year. 266 IBTTEM. I of my weakness, and my secret fear lest yon shonM here- after have occasion to repent it. If you could have di». Phased w,th my labours till the final close of my 8tudie^ I might then have hoped to have been more able to serve •you; but if not, I submit L t .1 r . «« ,«^, Robert Hall. Camhri(^je,July'i3, 1791: IV. TO MISS WILKIN8, AFTERWARDS MRS. FYSII, OP CAMBBRWELL. Dear Madam, I hope you will excuse the liberty that friendship dic- tates, of sending you these lines.. The interest you pos- sess in the affections of your friends, and their solicitude letters. 269 for your happiness, render it impossible they should heal of your aflfliction, without deeply sympathizing with you. Among these I beg leave to have the honour of classing myself; and though least, not last. I was the other day at Mr. W ^'s, and was informed you still continued extremely indisposed. I immediately detennined to take the liberty of writing, to express my esteem and sym- pathy. I upbraid myself heavily, for not having snatched an opportunity of seeing you before I left Bristol ; and had I foreseen the prolongation of your illness, I certain- ly would not have omitted it. From me, who have suf- fered so much, it would be unpardonable, if distress of every kind did not extort a tear ; much more, when the sufferer is a friend, whose virtues and talents I respect and admire. This world is, indeed, a scene of suffering ; and it ought, in some measure, to reconcile us to our lot, that, in feeling distress, we strike chords in unison with the whole universe. Adversity is capricious in its times and seasons; but its visitations, sooner or later, never fail. In some, it overwhehns the first hopes of life, so that they no sooner begin to taste felicity in prospect, than they are crossed with hopeless disappointment: others it permits to advance farther, waits till they spread the foundations of happiness deep and wide, that, just when they have nearly finished the superstructure, it may overwhelm them with a more extensive desolation. Some are racked with pains and agonies of body ; and others are preys to disappointed passions and blasted hopes, wasted with devouring regrets, and sick at heart with melancholy retrospects ; wishing in vain they could arrest the wings of time, and put the current of life back. Of all these classes, every individual thinks his misfor- tunes the greatest. For the same reason, we are never at a loss to hear our own voice, be it ever so slender : the cry of a pierced heart sounds shrill in the solitary ear of the sufferer. Since* we cannot essentially meliorate, let us endeavour to allay, our anguish by moderating our expectations. I am persuaded, all we can reasonably hope for, on this side the grave, is tranquillity; not the insensibility of a statue, but the placidity of a well-in- 270 LETTERS. formed mind, relying on the promises and the cheering prospects of immortalitj. But why do I thus address one who is as well acquainted with every subject of Christian consolation as I can pretend to [he] ? I am persuaded you will edify your friends as much by your patience in affliction, as you have enlivened them in better days by the exercise of your sprightlier powers. Virtue is always consistent; and, guided by its dictates, you will never fail to be an example. This scene of suifering will not always last ; nor do we suffer "• as those without hope." It is, indeed, the night of nature,* a short night, and not utterly dark : it will soon pass away, and be succeeded by a bright and endless day. ^neas com- forts his companions in the midst of distress, by telling them that the retrospect of their sufferings will hereafter be delightful to them. Whether we shall, in this world, be indulged with such a satisfaction, I know not ; but surely it will be a soOice of the most pleasing reflection in a happier world. Of Bishop Leighton, whose sermons I wish you to read. Bishop Burnet declares, that during a strict inti- macy of many years, he never saw him, for one moment, in any other temper than that in which he should wish to live and die : and if any human composition could form such a character, it must be his own. Full of the richest imagery, and breathing a spirit of the most sublime and unaffected devotion, the reading hini is a truce to all human cares and human passions ; and I can compare it to nothing but the beautiful representation in the twenty-third Psahn — it is like "lying down in green pastures, and by the side of still waters." * ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ • ♦*♦♦»• Cambrixige i79l. LETTERS. V. 271 TO MRS. PYSH, op CAMBERWELL, ON THE DEATH OF HER SISTEH MRS. PARSONS. - - , _ . , Cambridge, August 14, 179& My dear Fnend, Permit me to express the deep interest I take in your distress, from the loss of the best of friends, and the best of sisters, in the loss of dear Mrs. Parsons. How many losses are united ! She has left a husband to lament the most lovely of wives ; you, the most endeared of sisters ; the church of Christ, one of its brightest ornaments ; and the worid, one of its fairest examples : all, all have fallen a victim in this most excellent woman. I have not met with {my event, for many years, that has affected me at all equally. Had I been permitted to draw aside the mysterious veil that hides futurity ; could I have had any presentiments I saw her at for the last time, how solemn would have been the moments, how awfully in- teresting my emotions ! I pity her husband— I pity her sisters ; this is a stroke which must be severely felt in the tenderest manner. I know the heart, when recently wounded, must be indulged in the luxury of grief; and, if there ever was an occasion which could justify the most poignant regret, it is the present, in which we la- ment the loss of so much excellence. But I hope you will, by degrees, inure your imagination to dwell less on your loss, and more on her happiness. What a glorious display of the power of Christianity ! what a triumphant departure ! O, that I may die the death of Mrs. Parsons, and that my last end may be like hers ! Her life was an ornament to Christianity — a pattern to her sex. Immor- tality dawned on her enraptured mind, even before it quitted its earthly abode ; and her pure and elevated soul made an easy transit to the society of the blessed. Her career was short, but illustrious ; and she crowded into her little sphere the virtues of a long life. Short as her continuance was upon earth, she was permitted to exem- plify the duties of every character, and to imprint, in indelible [traces], on the memories of all who were 272 LETTEBS. honoured with her acquaintance, the perfections of a friend, a sister, a mother, and a wife. U is true she has slept the sleep of death ; but she sleeps in Jesus : she has gone before you into the holy of holies : she will meet you at the great rendezYous of being, the assembly of the just ; and, in the mean time, instead of being an object of your pity, probably looks down upon you with ineffa- ble tenderness and compassion. I have seen, besides your letter, one from Mrs. Gutteridge ; and I must say, 1 never heard, on the whole, of so calm, so triumphant a death : it seemed as if she had been permitted to ste]) into heaven before her final departure, that she might thence address herself to her friends with more serenity, dignity, and effect. What, my dear friend, besides Christianity, can thus scatter the horrors of the soul ? What else could enable a young lady in the bloom of life, with a prosperous fortune, beloved by a husband, endeared to her friends, and esteemed by the whole world, to triumph in the thoughts of dissolution ? Divine Christianity ! it is thine only to comfort and support the languishing and dying. I hope all Mrs. Parsons' numerous acquaintance will be properly impressed with this singular dispensation of Providence. Let them ask themselves whether the loose sceptical principles of the age are at all adapted to such a scene ; whether they have any thing in them that will enable them to exert the calm heroism displayed in the most trying moment by this departed excellence. Let me hope some one, at least, will be impressed by this wonderful example of the power of religion. Death has made frequent visits to your family ; the youngest is now snatched away. Mr. Beddome, poor Kichard Beddome, and now Mrs. Parsons ; in how short a time they have followed each other I I find, your dear deceased sister expressed her anxiety at the progress of deism with her last breath. To a serious mind it affords a most melancholy prospect ; but, you must observe, it does not seize the mind at once : it advances by the progressive stages of socinianism and dissipation. Men first lose their relish for >vhat is vital LETTERS. 273 and distinguishing in Christianity, before they dispute its evidences, or renounce its authority. Lax notions of the person of Christ, a forgetfulness of his mediation, place the mind in a deistical state, and prepare it for the most licentious opinions. The consolations of your dear deceased sister did not result from a general belief of the doctrine of immortal- ity, in which the socinians place the whole of revelation ; but in specific views of Christ as a Saviour, and the prospect of being for ever with him. My dear friend, let us hold fast this kind of Christianity^ without waver- ing, as the antidote of death. Excuse this freedom, which results not, from any sus- picion of your own defection, but from a friendly concern for some for whom we both retain the sincerest regards. My paper forbids me to add more. Present my most affectionate respects to Mr. Fysh, and accvrought into the whole habit of the mmd ! I have not yet been at Amsby, but shall go there m a day or two, and propose to spend about ten days there ; and shall probably visit Cambridge in httle more than a fortnight. My spirits are rather low, but my mmd is composed, and in some measure re- signed to the leading and conduct of Divine Providence. The narrow bounds of my experience have furnished me with such a conviction of the vanity of this worid and the illusion of its prospects, that I indulge no eager Hopes. If God enables me to do some little good Mid preserves me from great calamities, it will be eiiougk and mfinitely more than I deserve ; for I have been in the most emphatic sense of the word, " an unprofitable servant. ^ **♦♦♦• I am, my dear Sir, Yours affectionately, Robert Hall. \ \ LETTERS. 287 XIV. TO DR. GREGORY. OH THE CERTAINTY ATTENDING RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE. ,, , T. . , Foulmire, Sept. 4, 1805. My dear Fnend, Let me beg you will not impute my long silence to a diminution of esteem or affection. It arose simply from my being conscious of my utter inability to make any such reply to your letter as should be in the least degree satisfactory. The subject on which you have touched m your last is so unspeakably intricate, that the more I have reflected upon it the more I have seemed to feel myself lost and perplexed. Of all the problems pro- posed to the human understanding, the inquiiy respect- ing the certainty of the objects of human knowledge seems the most difficult of solution. If the ideal theory of Locke be true, and there be no resemblance between the impressions made on the senses and the inherent qualities of external objects, we cannot be said to have any absolute knowledge of things without us. In things of an abstract nature, such as the relations of quantity, the consciousness of a distinct agreement and disagree- ment of our ideas lays a sufficient basis of science, though the objects themselves to which the science is referred bo supposed to have no existence. It matters not whe- ther there be a circle in the worid, in regard to the cer- tainty with which we accede to the propositions which explain its properties. It is entirely an affair of the mind— an arrangement of its internal conceptions. When we transfer our ideas to religion, they appear to attain as niuch certainty at least as satisfies us in the common affairs of life. We must at once abandon all reasoning, or admit the proofs of design in the works of nature ; and design necessarily implies a designing agent. Thus the being of a God appears to rest on the firmest basis, though it may be impossible to determine, from the light of reason, rv/iat that being is. When we advance to revelation, the evidence of testimony is as clearly 288 LETTERS LETTERS. 289 applicaLle to the supernatural facts of scripture as to any other species of facts whatsoever ; and we seem capable of Imowing as much of God in his works and wajrs, as of any other subject. I concur with you en- tirely, that the phenomena of religion are perfectly on a level, in this respect, with any other phenomena ; and cannot but think that there is a very exact analogy sub- sisting betwixt grace and force, together with other prin- ciples whose existence we are obliged to admit, though we know nothing of them but in their effects. "We can never penetrate beyond effects ; we can never contem- plate causes in themselves^ at least in our present dark and benighted condition ; so that the sceptical tendency of metaphysical science ought to come in aid of our re- ligious belief, by showing that religion labours under no other difficulties than those which envelope all the fun- damental principles of knowledge. The profoundest metaphysician will, in my opinion, (ccateris paribus,) be always the humblest christian. Superficial minds will be apt to start at the obscurities of religion, and to conceive that every thing is plain which relates to the objects of science and the affairs of common life. But the profound thinker will perceive the fallacy of this ; and when he observes the utter impossibility of tracing the real relations of impressions and phenomena to the objects out of ourselves^ together with the necessity of be- lieving a First Cause, he will be ready to conclude that the Deity is, in a manner, the only reality, and the truths relating to him the most certain, as well as the most im- portant. Common minds mistake the deep impression of the phenomena of worldly affairs for clearness of evi- dence with respect to the objects themselves, than which nothing can be more distinct. You perceive I can do nothing more on this subject than echo back your own sentiments, which are such as I have long maintained. I wish it were in my power to throw some additional light on these intricate points, but I am utterly unablo to do it. How far you can introduce any speculations of this sort into your philosophical works vrith advantage, you are most competent to determine. It may probably have the good effect of admonishing sciolists that the pursuits of science, when conducted with a proper spirit, •ire not inimical to religious belief. My health is, through unspeakable mercy, perfectly restored, excepting a good deal of the pain in my back. It will give me much pleasure to see you at Foulmire. Please to remember me affectionately to Mrs. Gregory. I am, my dear friend, with ardent wishes for your temporal and eternal welfare. Your affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. XV. TO WILLIAM HOLLICK, ESQ. ON HIS RECOVERY FROM A SKCOND ATTACK. My dear Friend, Accept my sincere thanks for your kind letter. Every assurance of respect from old friends, and especially from one whose friendship has been so long tried, and evinced on so many occasions, must afford much satisfaction to a person in my situation. Though Providence has pro- duced a separation, which will probably be of long con- tinuance (and in one sense final), nothing, I am certain, can efface from my mind those impressions of gratitude and esteem with which I shall ever look back on my connexions at Cambridge and its vicinity. With the deepest submission, I wish to bow to the mandate of that awful, yet, I trust, paternal power, which, when it pleases, confounds all human hopes, and lays us pros- trate in the dust. It is for Him to dispose of his crea- tures as he pleases ; and, if they be willing and obedient, to work out their happiness, though by methods the most painful and afflictive. His plans are infimtel/ VOL. L V 2go LETTERS. LETTERS. 291 extended, and his measures determined by riews of that ultimate issue, that final result, which transcends our comprehension. It is with the sincerest gratitude I would acknowledge the goodness of God in restoring me. I am, as far as I can judge, as [[remote] from any thing mid and irregular in the state of my mind as I ever was in my life ; though I think, owing probably to the former increased excitation, I feel some abatement of vigour. My mind seems inert. During my affliction I have n(^t been entirely forsaken of God, nor left desti- tute of that calm trust in his providence which was requisite to support me ; yet I have not been favoured with that intimate communion and that delightful sense of his love which I have enjoyed on former occasions. I have seldom been without a degree of composure, though I have had little consolation or joy. Sucn, with little variation, has been my mental state, very nearly from the time of my coming to the Fishponds ; for I had not been here more than a fortnight, before I found myself perfectly recovered, though my pulse con- ^ tinned too high. It has long subsided, and exhibits, the doctor assures me, every indication of confirmed health. With respect to my future prospects and plans, they are necessarily in a state of great imcertainty. I am fully convinced of the propriety of relinquishing my pas- toral charge at Cambridge, which I shall do, in an official letter to the clmrch, as soon as I leave Dr. Cox, which, I believe, will be at the expiration of the quarter from my coming. My return to Cambridgeshire was, I am convinced, extremely ill judged ; nor had I the smallest intention of doing it, until I was acquainted with the generous interposition of my friends, to which it appeared to me that my declining to live among them would ap- pear a mf)st uuCTateful return. I most earnestly request that they will do me the justice to believe, the intention I have named, of declining the pastoral charge, does not proceed from jmy such motive, but from the exigencies of my situation, and a sense of duty. I propose to lay fside preaching for at least a twelvemonth. Please to remember me affectionately and respectfully to your cousin, and all inquiring friends, as if named. I am, my dear Sir, Your affectionate and obliged Friend, Robert Hall. P. S. Please to present my best respects to Mrs. Hollick and your daughter. XVI. TO THE REV. JAMES PQILLIPS. Fishponds, Feb. 15, 1806. Since I have been here, another stroke has befallen me, under which my heart is bleeding. This is the death of my dear and only brother two years older than myself, who died about ten days since, without a mo- ment's warning. He was reaching something from the chimney-piece, and instantly dropped down, and ex- pired. He had been for some years truly religious, so that I entertain pleasing views respecting his eternal state, which is my only consolation. I feel poignant regret at not having treated him with more tenderness. I longed to have an opportunity of convincing him of the ardour of my affection ; which makes me feel most pain- fully, that in losing him, I have lost the human being, of all others, the most detir to my heart. I hear a voice, in this most affecting providence, speaking to me aloud, "Be thou also ready." I follow the dear deceased in his mysterious journey, and seem to stand on the very boundary that divides two worlds from each other, [while the] emptiness and vanity of every thing besides [God], is deeply impressed on my heart. My hopes, of an earthly kind, are extinguished. I feel my emptiness . but, O, I long to be filled. To be convinced of the vanity of the creature is, I know, the first step to happiness : but what can this avail, unjess it be succeeded by a satisfying sense of the fulness and all-sufficiency of God ! Through mercy my health is perfectly restored. u 2 292 LETTERS* XVII. TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, OP THE BAPTIST PERSUASION, IN CAMBRIDGE. ON RESIGNING THE PASTORAL CHARGE. ,- , -, , Leicester, March 4, 1806. My dear Brethren, A succession of afflictive dispensations lias broufrlit me to the resolution of resigning the pastoral office, which I hare for a considerable number of years exer- cised among you, I cannot reflect on the numberless and decisive proofs you have afforded me of your attachment during that penod, without the warmest gratitude ; nor think of a tinal separation without regret. No people ever received the ministerial services of their pastor with more can- dour ; or evinced, on every occasion, a greater solicitude to contribute to his happiness. It is not necessary to dwell at large on the circumstances which have deter- mined me to relinquish the situation I have so long held. They are partly local, in the strictest sense of the word, and in part arise from my recent ilkess, which suggests the propriety of suspending the ministerial functions for the present. The dissolution of that union, which has subsisted with such uninterrupted harmony, is the work of Pro- vidence, whose operations are often mysterious, but always infinitely ^ise and gracious. Permit me, my dear brethren, at parting with you, to express the deep and unalterable sense I shall ever feel of the candour, kindness, and generosity, I have uniformly experienced at your hands. You will ever have a distinguished place in my affections and my prayers. It is my earnest prayer, that the truth it has been my humble endeavour to incul- ^te among you may take deeper and deeper root in your hearts and lives ; that your may obey from the heart that form of doctrine into which you have been delivered. May our separation not be final and eternal ; but may we be so preserved and sanctified, by the influence of dinne grace, that, when the transitory days of our mortal pil- LETTERS. 293 grimage are concluded, we may be permitted to spend a blissful eternity together ! Le*t me make it my earnest request, that you will be careful to choose a minister whose heart is truly devoted to God, and who is deter- mined, like the great apostle, " to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." That your faith may increase exceedingly, and youi love one towards another abound more and more, till you arrive J' at the fulness of the stature of perfect men in Christ," and are " presented before him unblamable in holiness,'* is the habitual and earnest prayer of Your late unworthy Pastor, And affectionate Friend, Robert Hall. XVIII. THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT CAMBRIDGE TO THE REV. ROBERT HALL. IN REPLY TO THE PRECEDING. Dear Brother, Though your letter, containing your resignation of the pastoral oftice amongst us, had been expected, in conse- quence of an intimation previously communicated by you, it was received by us with deep regret; yet, we trust, in the spirit of humble submission to that all-wise Providence, which has seen fit to dissolve the union that has so long and so happily subsisted between us. Be assured, you will ever hold a distinguished place in our most affectionate remembrances; nor shall we forget you in our mingled supplications at the footstool of divine mercy. We hope ever to preserve a gi*atefiil re- collection of your long and faithful service. We bear you witness, that the prevailing desire of your heart, and the constant object of your labours, was to dis- seminate amongst us the knowledge of the true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent ; and to fit us, by divine grace, for the enjoyment of a future II 294 LETTERS. world. And we pray, that the important truths which you have so repeatedly and energetically inculcated, "aay constantly be adhered to by us. In the loss of such a pastor, we have sustained a deprivation of no common magnitude ; but, while we lament the painful separation which has taken place, we desire to mingle, with feelings of sorrow on our own account, those of sincere thanks- giving on yours. We rejoice that God has restored you; and we pray that your health and strength may lon^r be preserved ; and that He, who appoints the bounds of^'our habitation, will direct you to whatever place may l»e most conducive to your permanent health and happiness. As frequently as possible, we hope you will fkvour u-i with your friendly visits. The real and ardent friend- ship which subsists betwixt us. it is our sincere desire, should continue through our mortal existence, and gatlit^ fresh strength by every future interview ; and we feel no hesitation in beheving, that it will survive the grave, and he perpetuated to immortal ages. In the choice of your successor, we wish to be guided by the motives you recommend, and the principles you have so frequently inculcated ; and we entreat an interest m your prayers, that the great Head of the Church will supply us with one zealous for his honour, and qualified to teed the people of his charge with the bread of ini- mortjd life. Now, dear brother, with the greatest affection, " we commend you to God, and to the good word of his grace. Sigiied at the desire, and on behalf, of the whole church, this l(jth day of JVWch, 1806. William Hollick.* ♦ '''hese. and the two preceding letters to Mr. VV. Hollick will sprv^ tocorrect tie mkstatement which has appeared in tu"o tt^rper^d. cal and other publications : " The intervention of malady separated him from a congregatjon which he l.ad „ ipHed in nur,£,^S elevated III character; and when he unexpectedly recove ed he Voui.d t Iri^. office wa.s filled by another.- ^ot^i,/can he mo;e in^^^^^^^^^^ tins assertion ;nothmg m re unjust The church and cougegatim during xMr. Hall's separation from them in conseqaen.e of hi ind^po" ' t..>n evincedthe utmost solicitude on his account Thern^^ d^arXt -.enisto receive weekly commuiucations as to b.. prog?e« ZvI2Z LETTERS. XIX. 295 TO MR. NEWTON BOSWORTH, CAMBRIDGE. Ijeicester, Augtist 26, 1806. My dear Friend, My long silence will naturally surprise you till you hear the reason of it. The box which contained your letter has remained at Bristol, unopened, till last week ; nor did I receive your very kind favour until a few days since. This is the true state of the case, and must plead my apology for a silence which must otherwise appear so unkind and unnatural. Permit me to express ray acknowledgements for the expressions of regard contained in your letter, of the reality and warmth of which 1 cannot entertain a mo- ment's hesitation, as they are so perfectly in unison with every part of your conduct during all the years I have had the happiness of knowing you. Your congratula- tions on my recovery affect and humble me, as I am per- fectly conscious of my not deserving the hundreth part of the esteem they imply. If my ministry has been at all blessed, as the means of spiritual good to your soul, God alone is entitled to the praise. I have been, in every sense of the word, an unprofitable servant. When I consider the value of souls, the preciousness of the blood of Christ, and the weight of eternal things, I am ashamed covery ; which were read publicly to the assembled congregation every Sunday. On the permanent dissolution of their connexion, to which the above letters so affectingly allude, they did not content themselves with bewailing his loss ; but they exerted themselves most actively and Huccessfully in raising a sufficient sum to purchase for him a handsome annuity, and otherwise contribute etfectually to his comfort During the quarter of a century which inter\ened between his removal from Cambiidge and his death, they continued to manifest for him the most cordial atfection, and the highest veneration. His periodical visits to them were seasons of real delight, difi'u>ing (shall I say ?) a gleam of pious hilarity and intellectual and spiritual refreshment over all. And more than once has Mr. Hall assmed me, that every such visit pro- duced the most unequivocal proofs of their undiminished esteem and friendship. I feel it due to my o.d and valued friends at Cambridge, a sense of whose kindness, intelligence, and excellence, the lapse of nearly thirty years nas not effaced, to record this my humble testimony, to their delicately grateful and generous conduct towards tlieir former iovaluable pastor.— Ep* 296 LETTERS. l| I I and astonished to think I could hare spoken of gnoh subjects with so little impression, and that^I did not to- vail in birth more, till Christ was formed in my h™ I have no plea for my negligence, no hope of pidon, but what IS founded on that atonement and iut^essira I to X« Pvl 'f T^'' '" ^^"^ '■''""^' *° ^commend to others. Everr fresh experience of life convinces me more and more, of the truth and importance of the doc- trmes I have preached ; and, blessed be God ' I am sometimes favoured with some experimental taste "f their sweetness. As often as I look back on such sea- sons, I am ready to exclaim, "Where can snch sweetness be. As I have tasted in thy love. As I have fouud in thee ?" my dear friend, let us press towards the mark r ^"jV^^^t ^^ l>appi"ess is to be fomid. « Let the dead bury their dead;" but let us follow Christ, a^d aspire with an mtense and increasing ardour, to the h^- venly kingdom. Happy shall we befif we Zblh^. Wen ^ "°™^* ^^"^ '"^'' ^^ •"" a few steps from 1 rejoice in your domestic felicity. May it lone be ^vr^"."*^'.^^/ P"^'"'' increased; without beiTLr! muted (and God can attemper all things) to abaTlyol ardour after heavenly enjoyments ^ boI°1 'X^JT ^^ ^- '■"'"P*''"* »f Mr. Gregory's book on Mechanics, nves me great pleasure. 4 * ♦ » Itt^n^5w °^ " ^^«"'"=t™ti''n ««»t the highest scientific attainments are, by no means, incompatible with the simpbcity of the gospel. Please to remember me aff^! rdia'iT"''"^'"''^"'- M^^GoOWP-e^e I thank you sincerely for your proffered assistance in packmg up my books, which /shaU probabl^hTrti; neert , tor 1 am tired of wandering, and propose soon IS mT '""' ^"^ "^"* ' ^^ haveTy boT * LETTERS. 2^7 Remember me to Mrs. Bosworth, and all other friends, as if named. Pray let me hear from you soon and often. I am, dear Sir, Yours most aflfectionately, •Robert Hall. XX. TO THE REV. JAMES PHILLIPS. Ttr J XL- J T5U-11- Leicester, Jan. 2, 1007, My dear friend Philhps, I ought long since, to have written to you, but you know what a poor correspondent I am, and how reluc- tant to write letters. I feel myself much obliged by your kind favour. Your letter, like many other things else in human life, contained a mixture of what excited me- lancholy, with what produced pleasing emotions. The succession of calamitous accidents which befel our friends in your neighbourhood, is truly singular and affecting. I am happy to hear every one of the sufferers is doing well. I hope it will have the right impression on their minds, by bringing them nearer [to God j ; and they i\411 have abundant occasion for thankfulness, even if their respective calamities had been worse. Present my kind and sympathizing respects to each of them, the first opportunity. Your account of Ireland interested me much. The state of the class of inhabitants you describe, is truly deplorable. I am afraid any attempts to remove their ignorance will have little success, unless some methods coidd be adopted, at the same time, to re- lieve their excessive poverty. There is a close connexion betwixt the two. I suppose their poverty must be as- cribed to the want of encouragement to industry afforded by the landed proprietors, and, perhaps, in some measure to the hardihood of their constitution, which enables the Irish peasantry to subsist and multiply, where a more feeble race would absolutely perish. You give no ac- count of the Lakes of Killamey, which, I underotand, are singularly sublime and beautiful. '! t 298 LETTERfi. You are desirous of some information respecting mv situation and intentions. I have not yet taken posse&^ sion of my apartments at Enderby, having been detained at Leicester hy the affliction of my sister and neice ; the former is nearly recovered, the Jatter is not worse, and 1 intend to go to Enderby to-morrow, or Monday at far- thest. Enderby is a very pleasant village, about five miles from Leicester ; it stands upon a hill, and com- mands a very pleasant and beautiful view. I am ex- tremely pleased at the prospect of seeing you there in ^e spring. I hope nothing will occur to disappoint me. Be assured I shall do every thing in my power to make your visit pleasant. I have no immediate intention of coming to London : there are some friends there, and in the vicinity, it would give me much pleasure to see ; but the bustle and hurry of London are little suited to my taste. *♦♦♦•* But my times are in the hand of God ; and my chief solicitude, if I do not greatly deceive myself, is to please him in all things, who is [entitled] to all my love, and mfinitely more than all, if possible ; and who is, indeed, my ^' covenant God and Father, in Christ Jesus." I do not at all regret my past afflictions, severe as they have been, but am persuaded [they] were wisely and merci- fully ordered. I preach most sabbaths, though at no one place statedly, and have found considerable pleasure in my work. I have little or no plan for the future, but en- deavour to abandon myself entirely to the divine direc- tion. All I have to lament is the want of more nearness to God, and a heart more entirely filled with his love, and devoted to his service. Pray let me hear from you often : a letter from you never fails to give me a high degree of pleasure. Please to remember me affection- ately and respectfully to Miss Wilkinson, and to Mr. Wilberforce, should you see him, and to Mr. Beddome s family, in all its branches. I am, dear Sir, Yours most affectionately, Robert Hall Present my kind respects to Mrs. Phillips. LETTERS. 299 JlL^l.. TO THE REV. DR. COX. Dear Sir, Enderby, April 26, 1807. • * • The lukewammess of a part, the genteeler part of con- gregations, with respect to vital religion, is matter of grief to me. Many have the form of religion, while they are in a great measure destitute of the power of it. With respect to the excuses that this class are ready to make for neglecting private meetings, it might not be amiss to urge them to inquire, whence the indisposition to devote a small portion of their time to religious ex- ercises arises. If it spring from a secret alienation of heart from devotional exercises, or from a preference to the world, it affords a most melancholy indication of the state of the mind. It is surely a most pitiful apology for declining such services, that they are not commanded by the letter of the New Testament. Whoever says this, vir- tually declares that he would never give any time to re- ligion, unless he were compelled. The New Testament is sparing in its injunctions of external or instrumental duties. But does it not warn, in a most awful manner, against the love of the world ; enjoin fervour of spirit, deadness to the present state, and the directing all our actions solely to the glory of God ? How these disposi- tions and principles can consist with an habitual reluc- tance to all social exercises of religion, except such as are absolutely and universally enjoined, I am at a loss to de- termine. If the real source and spring of the neglect of devotional exercises, whether social or private, be an es- trangement from God, an attachment to the world, the pretences by which it is attempted to be justified only enhance its guilt. With respect to the doctrine of election, I would state it in scripture terms, and obviate the antinomian in- terpretation, by remarking that man, as man, is said to be chosen to obedience, to be conformed to the image of ♦i I|i 300 tETTEHS. Bis Son, &c., and not on a foresight of his faith or ol)e- dience ; as also that the distinction betwixt true believ- ers and others is often expressly ascribed to God. " Thou hast hid these things." — " To you it h given not only to believe," &c. " As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." As the doctrine of election, however, oc- cupies but a small part of the New Testament revelation, it should not, in my opinion, be made a prominent point in the christian ministry. It is well to reserve it for the contemplation of christians, as matter of humiliation and of awful joy; but in addressing an audience on the ge- nend topics of religion, it is best perhaps to speak in a general strain. The gospel affords ample encouragement to all : its generous spirit and large invitations should not be cramped and fettered by the scrupulosity of system. The medium observed by Baxter and Howe is, in my opinion, far the most eligible on these points. On the other sulject you mention,* I perceive no diffi- cdty ; none, I mean, to emhairass the mind of a minister. On a subject so awiiil and mysterious, what remains for us but to use the language of scripture, without attempt- ing to enter into any metaphysical subtleties, or daring to lower what appears to be its natural import ? A faith- ful exhibition of the scripture declarations on this subject must be adapted, under a divine blessing, to produce the most awful and salutary effects. With best wishes for your welfare, I am, dear Sir, Yours affectionately and sincerely, Robert Hah,. XXII. TO THE REV. DR. RYLAND. Leicester, Dec. 28, 1808. ; I hope you continue to enjoy much religious prospirity. The only comfortable reflection, in the pre- • That of fatare punishment, I presume. —Ed. LETTERS. 301 sent state of the world, is the apparent increase of the kingdom of Christ. His glory, his gospel, his grace, are, I hope, considerably advancing : and how little are all the revolutions of kingdoms, when compared to this ! We should rejoice in every event which seems to tend to that issue ; and, on this accoimt, I am more than reconciled to the recent intelligence from Spain. I long to see the strong-holds demolished, and " every thing that exalteth, brought into subjection to Christ. How deep an infatu- ation blinds the counsels of Great Britain ! How fatal, may we fear, the intimate alliance of this country with the papal power, which the vengeance of God has marked out for destruction I May the Lord bring good out of evil, and " fill the whole earth with his glory !" 1 am now removed to Leicester, and &id my situation, on the whole, very comfortable. The people are a sim- ple-hearted, affectionate, praying people, to whom I preach with more pleasure than to the more refined audience at Cambridge. We have had, through great mercy, some small addition, and hope for more. Our meetings in general, our prayer-meetings in particular, are well attended. For myself, my mind and body are both much out of order; awfiil doubt and darkness hanging on the former, and much affliction and pain in the latter : let me, dear brother, entreat an interest in your prayers. I am, my dear brother, Yours affectionately, Robert Hall. P. S. — In gratitude to God, and to my dear com- panion, I must add, that marriage has added (a Httle to my cares,) much to my comfort, and that I am in- dulged with one of the best of wives. 302 LETTERS. XXIII. TO fPS REV. JAMES PHILLIPS. Leicester^ Feb. 16, 1809. ♦ *♦♦♦♦ ♦ * * Rogers I liave not yet found time to read through. I thank you for it, and am much pleased with the piety and spirit of it, as far as I have gone. I have read Zeal without Innovation with extreme disgust , it is written with shrewdness and ability, but is, in my esteem, a base, malicious, time- serving publication. It was lent me by Mr. Robinson, who, m common with all the serious clergy in these parts, disapproves it highly. I suppose the author wrote it to curry favour with such men as the and to procure a living. His poverty is to be pitied ; but I hope I would rather starve in a workhouse than be the author of such a book. I am afraid there is a party rising among the evangelical clergy, that will ruin the reformation which has been going on in the established church during the last forty or fifty years. * • XXIY. TO A FRIEND IN PERPLEXITY AS TO HIS RELIGIOUS STATE. Leicester, April 20, 1809. Dear Sir, I am much concerned to learn the unhappy state of your mind respecting religion. You may depend upon no one seeing the letter but myself; and I wish it were in my power to say any thing that might be of use. Of this I have very little hope ; for the adage might, in too great a degree, be applied to me — " Physician, heal thy- self;" as I labour much under darkness and despond- ency respecting my religious prospects, through the prevalence of indwelling corruptions. What then, my dear sir, can I say to you or to any other ? I would LETTERS^ 303 recommend you, above all things, to have recourse to J na ver — to fervent, importunate, persevering prayer. Take no denial : if you cannot pray long, pray often. Take the utmost pains in preparing your heart, and in the exercises of the closet ; for, surely, an assurance of the forgiveness of sin, the light of God's Spirit, and the animating hope of glory, are worth all the labour, and infinitely more than all, we are capable of using to at- tain them. They are heaven upon earth. From what I knf>w by experience, though it is not with me now as in months past, the enjoyment of God throws every other enjoyment that can be realized or conceived at an infinite distance. Fix it on your mind, my dear friend, as a most certain truth, that there is nothing deserves to be pursued for a moment but in subordination to God and for God, and then act accordingly, and you will probably soon find a strange change for the better. Ex- posed, as you necessarily are, to the society of many who have either no religion or feel but little of its vital power, you are in peculiar danger of forming sliflfht ideas of its importance ; of being taught to look upon it as a secondary thing, an occasional law, whose authority is to be interposed, like the law of the land, to regulate other things, instead of looking upon it as a vital, pre- vailing principle of the heart and life. Many, it is to be feared, never attain the blessings of religion, because they never form that estimate of its dignity which is consonant with the oracles of God. Did it not seem like presumption, I should earnestly recommend the daily perusal, besides the Scriptures (which I take it for granted you cannot omit), of some practical and ex- perimental divinity. We have great store of it : — Dod- dridge's Rise and Progress ; his and Watts's Sermons ; and, above all, if I may speak from my own experi- ence, the wonderful Howe — ^particularly his Blessedness of the Righteous, his Living Temple (the latter part), his Treatise on Delighting in God. Perhaps you will say you have not titne for this : but here the question recurs again — What is of the most importance for a creature that is to live for ever; — to be rich in this m L :»i' I i •jU4 LETTERS. world, or to be rich towards God ? I hope you will pardon the liberty I have taken, from a regard to the motive ; which, you will do me the justice to believe, is pure and disinterested. I remain, my dear Sir, . Yours affectionately, Robert Hall. XXV. TO THE SAME. Leicester, July 17, 1809. My dear Sir, I duly received yours. Be assured I sympathize with you in your spiritual trials, having had a large share of them myself. I wish I could adopt the language of Dido to the Trojans throughout — " Haud ignara mali miseris mccurrere disco," The " liaud ignara mail* is fully applicable to myself; but I am afraid I have not yet learned the art of suggesting what may be useful to others in similar circumstances. I want " the tongue of the learned, that I may be able to speak a word in season to him that is weary." I congratulate you on your retaining your religious sensibility : the most dangerous spiritual symptom is apathy, or a stupid indifference to our real situation. While we have feel- ing enough to complain, we give unequivocal indica- tions of life ; however disordered its functions or languid its actions may be. What advice, my dear sir, can I possibly give you, but what your own good sense will suggest — that of giving all diligence^ and following on ? *' Then," says the prophet, " shall ye know, if you follow on to know the Lord." Set a firm resolution against the indulgence of sin in any form. I know you too well to sus[)ect external irregularities ; but we are both fully convinced "the commandment is ex- ceeding broad," and that, if we would walk in the light of God's blessed countenance, we must keep the heart with all diligence, or, as the expression signifies, " above all keeping." You will doubtless find your account ia LETTEPS. 305 the serious, punctual, undeviating attention to private pra\'er, and reading of the Scriptures. I feel a pleasing confidence that you are too much impressed with the importance of religion to suffer these exercises to be superseded by any worldly enjoy- ments, or to be attended to in a slight, perfunctory manner, resting in the opus operatum, instead of im- proving them as means of nearness to God, and growth in grace. Would it not be advisable for you to give yourself up publicly to the Lord?* Might not your solemn engagement to be his, in the ties of a christian profession, have a happy influence on the train of your sentiments and conduct ; not to say, that if you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, you must necessarily feel a desire to keep his commandments ? ♦ ♦♦•♦* I am, dear Sir, With great respect, yours, &c. Robert Hall. XXVL TO THE REV. JAMES PHILLIPS. Leicester, Sept. 1, 1809. My dear Friend, Whether I owe you a letter, or you me, I cannot sav ; but this I know, that it seems a long time since I heard from you. My affection for you renders me imeasy under so long a silence, and makes me anxious to hear how you go on. The last letter you favoured me with gave me a pleasing account of your religious prosperity : your prospects, in this respect, are, I hope, brighter tmd brighter. Among the very elegant and polite part of your audience, you are too well acquainted with human nature to flatter yourself with much suc- cess ; but you have been honoured as the instrument of • This phrase implies, among dissenters, uniting in fellowsliip \vit!» the church, as distinguished from merely constituting one of a congre^ gat ion. — Ed. VOL. I. X i: 306 LlilTEllS. drawing a considerable number of the poor and of the middling classes to a place where they had no thought of attending before. Here you will, in all probability, find your most fevourable soil. I am sure you will cultivate it with care; and hope you will, under the blessing of God, reap an abundant harvest. Were we but more strongly and abidingly impressed with the value of immortal souls, with what godly simplicity, what earnestness, and what irresistible pathos, should we address them ! Perhaps the inequality of the effect produced by different preachers, is to be ascribed more to the different degrees of benevolent and devotional feeling, than to any other cause. Job Orton remarks, in his Letters, that he knew a good man of very slen- der abilities who was eminently useful in the conver- sion of souls ; which was, in his opinion, to be ascribed chiefly to the peculiarly solemn manner in which he was accustomed to speak of divine things. I had hoped to have seen you during the summer at Leicester, which would have been a very high gratifi- cation, as I know not when I shall reach London. I have no spirits for such an undertaking : my complicated afflictions have left me but half a man. The apprehen- sion of mingled society, of being exposed to various sorts of company, is too formidable for me at present to suiinount. I am severely and habitually afflicted with my old complaint : but have I any room to murmur ? * * * * ♦ ♦ I am happy in my domestic connexion, being blessed with an affectionate, amiable woman, and a lovely little girl, about five months old. My dear wife enjoys a better state of health than for some time past, and the dear infant is quite well. "We have lately enlarged our place of worship, and have the prospect of its being well filled. I hope we experience some little of the presence of the Lord in the midst of us* I beg to be most respectfully remembered to Miss Wilkinson, and to thank her for her very kind congratulations and good wishes on my marriage. Remember me also most LETTERS. 307 affectionately to dear Mrs. P , and to all inquiring friends ; and pray let me hear from you very soon. I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. XXVIIL TO EBENEZER FOSTER^ ESQ., CAMBRIDGE. Manchester, Nov. 4, 1809. Dear Sir, I write this from Manchester, to which your letter was sent from Leicester. I am obliged to you for it. It gives me much pleasure to hear of the very flourish- ing state of the congregation ; though I am concerned at the poor accoimt you give me of Mr. Chase's health. I hope he will be speedily restored, and be continued as an extensive blessing among you. The prosperity of the kingdom of Christ is the most delightful object a real christian can contemplate. May he speedily take "upon himself his great power and reign. I cannot but indulge the belief, that real Christianity is increas- ing in the world ; and that what we perceive of this kind at present, is but the dawn of a more glorious era which will shortly arrive. The convulsed state of the world, and the limitation of popish power, announce the speedy accomplishment of prophecy, in the trium- phant establishment of the kingdom of Christ. Where- ever the gospel is preached, there is a disposition, un- known in former times, to attend upon it. Poor M ! he has finished his career. When we look back upon those who have been too much addicted to the love of the world, what a dream, what a vanity does it appear ; how unworthy the supreme pursuit of a creature who is hastening to his final ac- count ! May we, my dear Sir, be preserved from this fatal snare, and possess as though we possessed not. » ♦ -K- » ♦ k2 308 LETTERS. XXVIU. TO THE REV. JOSIAH HILL. Leicester, Jan. 33, 18I0L Dear Sir, I thank you for your kind letter. I am happy to heai you are so comfortahly settled, and that God has pro- vided you with a suitable companion, with whom I wish you may enjoy many years of felicity. As to the pro- posal you are so good as to urge, of my \'isiting Pem- brokeshire next summer, it will be quite impracticable. I have one summer excursion in view already ; and a visit to so remote a part would occupy far more time than it would be proper for me to be absent from Leicester. I have had, in a manner, a new congregation to form ; so that any considerable absence is attended with serious inconvenience, as the people are, as yet, by no meanr, compacted and consolidated. 1 consider it as the first duty of my life well to cultivate my own field, which is such, at present, as demands tdl my care ; which, I may say, with humble gratitude, it rewards, the Lord having, in various instances, set his seal to my poor labours. The congregation which I serve consists mostly of the poor, many of whom are, however, " rich in faith;" so that I can truly say I never found so much encouragement in my work as since I have been here. The effect of time, and of spirits broken by a series of afflictions, has been to make me very reluctant to travelling. Nothing but the claims of absolute duty can surmount that reluctance, ^ly ambition is to spread the savour of the knowledge of Christ in the connexion where I lun placed, content to have the more enterprising and brilliant career of an evangelist to persons of more active and ardent minds. It would give me much satisfaction to meet my dear fiiend Phillips anywhere, and more especially under your hospitable roof. That pleasure, however, I must post- pone till I go to London, or until he will favour me with a visit in Leicestershire. I shall be always happy to see you, and to hear of your success and prosperity in your great work. Of this you say you can speak nothing at LETTERS. 309 present. The congregation, I fear, from the character of its former pastor, has sunk into a very lethargic state. It will be your study and ambition, I am persuaded, to awaken them, and to roc.-ill them to the power of that religion which " makes all things new." Whatever spe- culative difficulties you may have felt, or may still feel, you can be at no loss to discover, that the warm and affectionate preaching of Christ crucified is the grand in- strument of forming lively Christians. May you, in this glorious attempt, be abundantly honoured and blessed. I return you my warmest thanks for every expression of esteem and affection with which you have honoured me, and remain, ^vith sentiments of high esteem, dear Sir, Your affectionate Brother, Robert Hall. XXIX. TO WILLIAM HOLLICK, ESQ. ON THE DEATH OF MRS. HOLLICK. Leicester, July 6, 1810. My dear Friend, I sincerely sympathize with you, in the heavy stroke with which your heavenly Father has seen fit to visit you in the removal of your dear partner, with whom you have so long trod the paths of this weary pilgrimage, I hope she has gone to eternal rest ; and you, my dear friend, will, I trust, meet her in that world where no se- paration, no sorrow or sin, will ever enter. ^ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in him." I have endeavoured already, and often shall, " to spread your case before the Lord," and to entreat him to support you under, and sanctify you by, this dispensation. You have learnt, my dear friend, the terms on which all earth- ly imions are formed ; the ties on earth are not perpe- tual, and must be dissolved ; and every enjoyment, but If 310 LETTERS. that which is spiritual, — erery life, but that which is *•' hid mth Christ in God,*' — is of short duration. No- thing here is given with an ultimate view to enjoyment, hut for the purpose of trial, to prove us, and *' to know what is in our hearts, and, if we are upright before God, to do us good in the latter end." You had, no doubt, often anticipated such an event as the inevitable removal of one from the other ; and I hope neither of you were wanting in making a due improvement of the solemn re- flection, and laying up cordial for such an hour. Still, I am well aware that the actual entrance of death into the domestic circle is unutterably solemn, and places things in a different light from what we ever saw them in be- fore. You seem, and it is with much pleasure I perceive it, fully aware, — thoroughly apprised of the true improve- ment to be made of this heavy blow, which is undoubt- edly intended to quicken your preparation for a future world. It loudly says to you, and to all, " Be ye also ready ; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." God grant it may be eminently sancti- fied, by weaning you more completely from this world, and " setting your affections" more entirely and habitually " on the tilings that are above." You will then, in the midst of that deep regret such a loss has necessarily in- spired, have cause to bless God that you were afflicted. We have been, for some time, in expectation of a visit from you. I hope you \rill not disappoint us, nor delay it long, as my dear wife expects in a very few months to be confined. We shall rejoice to see you, and shall be happy to contribute, in some measure, to }'our solace and relief. My wife, whose health is extremely delicate at best, and very often interrupted, desires to be most re- spectfully and affectionately remembered to you. Please to present my kindest and most sympathizing regards to your daughter, and love to inquiring friends. I remain, dear Sir, with best wishes and prayers, your affectionate and sympathizing friend and brother, RoBEiiT Hall. LETTERS. 311 XXX. TO R. FOSTER, JUN., ESQ., CAMBRIDGE. Leicester, July 12, 1811. My dear Sir, . , . i t,* r. I thank you for your fevour, mclosmg a draught tor £75. 2s. 9d:; and am highly gratified with the genmne sentiments of piety contained in your letter. It has been a pecuhar satisfaction to me, for a long time past, to hear of your decided attachment to the cause of God; and it is my earnest prayer that the life of God, which his grace has commence^ may flourish more, till it issues, as it m- fallibly will, in the fruit of eternal Ufe. Go on, my dear Sir, in the course you have begun ; dare to be smgularly gorox>ortion to my opportunities of LETTBR& 339 acquainting myself with your character. I hope you will forget and overlook this impleasant business, and permit me again to class you amongst my dearest friends. LIV TO DR. GREGORY. OM THE DEATH OF MK. BOSWELL BRANDON BEDDOMC Leicester, Nov. 2, 1816. My very dear Friend, I have just received your letter, and cannot lose a moment in expressing the deep sympathy I take in the aflOiiction arising from the melancholy tidings it announces. Alas ! my dear friend, Boswell Beddome ! My eyes will see thee no more ! The place which once knew thee shall know thee no more ! How many delightful hours have I spent in thy society — ^hours never more to return ! ITiat countenance, beaming with benevolence and friend- ship, will be beheld no more imtil the resurrection mom, when it will rise to shine radiant ynth. immortal bright- ness and beauty. How thick and solemn the vicissi- tudes of death and calamity in that amiable and respect- able family, the Beddomes 1 What awful reverses and catastrophes ! Surely their heavenly Father must have d«-stined them to some distinguished station in the eter- nal edifice, with whom he has taken such pains in hew- ing, cutting, and polishing. The dealings of God towards our dear Boswell have been at once severe and tender; • and never, perhaps, were the preparations of mercy to be traced more distinctly, than in the events which have re- cently befallen him : the faculties extinguished for a while, to be restored; an antedated resurrection; as though God had determined to recast his whole nature into a crucible, previous to its being poured into the mould of eternity. I have been delighted to hear from various quarters, and particularly from Mr. Alexander, of the sweet, tranquil, and devotional state of his mind, z2 340 LErrERs. iubsequent to his first attack ; and had flatte/?d myself with the hope of life being protracted to a distant period. But God's ways are not as our ways ; nor his thoughts as our thoughts. After purifying our dear fiiend in^'the furnace of affliction, he judged it fit to cut short his work in righteousness. Be assured, my dear Sir, I deeply sympathize with you, and dear Mrs. G., both in yoii sorrow and your joy, on the present occasion. You have to smg of mercy and of judgement. The loss of such a I arent must be long and deeply regretted ; but there is so luuch to console and to elevate in this event, taken in all Its bearmgs, that the tears you shed partake of a tender tnumph. Our dear friend has reached the goal and gamed the prize, which we are still doomed to pursue AMth anxiety and toil. May we, my dear friend, be quickened m our progress, by this most impressive event, and learn more effectually than ever to secure the one thing needful. Your company at Leicester, and that of Mrs. G., would afford me the most exquisite pleasure : pray let me have It the first opportunity. My health, through mercy, and that of my family, are, at present, good ; though I have, during the past year, met with awful memeutos of my latter end. ^ **#♦«# I beg to be most affectionately remembered to Mrs. Gregory, and every branch of the Beddome family, in which Mrs. Hall joins me ; and remain, invariably, Yours most affectionately, Robert Hall. LV. TO REV. THOMAS LANGDON, LEEDS. ^ . r^ . , Leicester, March 12, 1817. My dear Fnend, I am extremely concerned to hear of the ill state of your health, which, I fear, from what I have occasion- LBTTBRfl. 341 ally heard, has been declining for some time : it is my earnest prayer and hope the Lord may restore it, and s|)are you many years, for the good of your family and of the church. It is a great mortification to me that I am situated at such a distance as renders it impracticable for oie to see you often ; but I retain, and ever shall retain, the strongest sentiments of friendship and esteem, and the remembrance of innumerable acts of kindness and attention from you in my early days. Those days are ^ed, and we are both now far nearer to eternity than chen ; both, I hope, nearer to consummate blessedness. For yourself, I feel a full persuasion that your removal (may it be at a distant period!) will be unspeakable gain. To come to the business of your letter, I believe I am expected this year at Hull, and that it is wished to col- lect for the mission. As far as I can judge, it will pro- bably be about the time you mention, in August ; but this remains to be settled with Mr. Birt, from whom I have not yet heard. When I hear from him, and the time is fixed, I will let you know ; and I hope I shall be able to comply with your wishes, by taking Leeds in my way home, as I expect to proceed thither from Cam- bridge. It will considerably facilitate my executing this plan, if your service is on a week-day, as I fear it will be quite out of my power to add another sabbath to my excursion. It will give me very high satisfaction to see you once more in the flesh, if it be only for a day or two ; the time, I am afraid, must be very short. I am far advanced in my answer to Mr. Kinghorn, and expect it will be in the press in a very few weeks. I am afraid it will be a more hasty performance than I wish. It is exactly as you say : there is more difficulty in disentangling his arguments, than in replying to them. He is unquestionably a clever man. I hope, however, that I have succeeded in showing the utter fallacy of the far greater part of his reasoning ; but the public must judge. III 342 LETTERS. LETTERS. 343 1:' I desire to be aflfectionately remeiiliered to Mrs. Liingdoi), and remain, Your most affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. LVI. TO DR. RYLAND. Leicester, Aug. 8, 1817. _ You are the best judge, but I am quite at a loss to perceive the utility of having all the mis- sionary sei-mons preached at one season. Such a method ot procedure makes more noise and parade than if ther were preached at separate times, it is true; and this is probably the chief motive for preferring it, with those who appear studious of ostentation in religious exertions : but to a person of your disposition, I presume it would tather be repulsive. There is something 1 do not like m these perpetual suggestions of Mr , respecting the deficiency of your collections for the Baptist Mil sions. If annual collections are made in each conffrega- tion, and such individuals are solicited to subscribe who are able jmd disposed, what can with propriety be done more ? This perpetual struggle who shall get most money, and the theatrical and abominable arts exerted to procure It, prognosticate ill to the real interests of re- ligion. There is one simple and effectual mode, in my opmi^ of promoting the mission, which has never yet WW '''' ^^^tensive scale; namely, an annual col- lec on m every baptist congregation which is attached to Its mterests. It such a measure were resolved upon in your association, it would soon spread to others, and would shortly become a standing practice in all our'con- gregations: and their number is such that with thA «.ms which would incidentally fall i^ from kefqu^! tore, the pecumary resources of the society would be as great as we ought to aspire to. As to collecting a ^re^ number of mmisters together, for the purpose oi'maTbg a collection, nothing, in my opinion, can be more inju- dicious. Besides, why should more assemble than are wanted ? and what a waste of money attendant on the travelling of so many from distant parts! I do most earnestly wish, my dear brother, you would set yourself in earnest towards promoting annual collections, and making them imiversal. I feel extremely concerned for the uneasiness you have felt. My poor prayers will not be wanting in your be- half : but, alas! how far am I from having power with God ! Do not, my dear brother, let your spirits sink ; you are dear to God, and he will, I am persuaded, sup- port you, and bring forth your "righteousness as the tight, and your judgement as the noon- day." LVII. TO WILLIAM HOLLICK, ESQ. Leicester, August 11, 1817. My dear Friend, It is -with great concern I have heard of your illness. Mr. Edmonds informed me [^some time ago that] you were very poorly ; but I have been much concerned to hear that you have since been much worse, and that you suffer much from your complaint. Mrs. Hall and myself have been long anticipating the pleasure of seeing you shortly at Cambridge, and of re- newing the pleasure we derived from our former visit. But, alas ! how uncertain are all human prospects ! how vain to depend upon any thing short of the promises of " Him who cannot lie !" I hope, my dear friend, you enjoy the consolations of that religion you have been so long acquainted with, and the value of which is never more sensibly felt than under the pressure of affliction. How empty and delusive does the world then appear ; and how unspeakably cheering that " good hope through grace," which the gospel in- spires ! To look up to God as a reconciled and compas- ^\ ll 344 LETTERS. Monate Father,-.to know that " He is touched with a feeling of our mfinnities," and that he " made an ever^ lasting covenant with us, well ordered in aU things, and mire —these are wells of everlasting consolation. You my dear friend, are, I trust, no stranger to these sure cordials and supports ; and, with these, should you be called to pass through " the vaUey of the shadow of death you will fear no evil; his rod and staflF will comfort your mind, with which you are not already acquainted : but, might I be permitted to advert to my own experi- ^ce I should say that I have found nothing so salutary as to turn the mmd immediately to the Saviour : " Wh^ soever calleth upon the name of "the Lord, shall be saved." ro pray immediately to Christ, to cast ourselves inces- santly upon his power and grace, as revealed in the gospel, appears to be the best antidote to every tendencv to despondency. I have no doubt that we are much I^ ?^^ *«;^oyKelves, in not having more direct dealings Z^tt^^Tl' ""' ""^^ addressing him now in the sA^e XTo 1^'*"^ ^^ was applied to for the relief of bodily t^^' "" '' 'li-^^ ""^^^^ "g^* ^^^ ^^ CJod, for thi Kniyr?"^ of dispensing pardon, peace, and eternal life to all that humbly seek his aid ; and, wonderful con- descension ! he has (feclared " he will in no wise cast out whomsoever cometh unto him." «w? I ^^ not been particularly occupied with my an- T li"" ^l .^^'^g^^™' ^^^ich is now in the prel.! M^ H To ^ ^^ A. ^r? ^* ^^^^^^^ge befoi-e this. Mrs. H. has suspended all thoughts of coming under pre- set circumstances ; but if it 'would be Jy partTcSS gratification to you to see me, I will give up every en- gagement m order to see you; though it can be but for a few days. I desire to bless and adore the grace of God m the signal change which has been wrought in the mind !lv • '1 '^.*''*"i ^ "^^^ ^^ y^^ daughter, Mrs. H. imites with me m aflFectionate remembrances. I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate and sympathizing Friend, Robert Hall. LETTESS. 345 LVIIL EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO THE REV. W. BUTTON. Jan. 5, 1818. I am much surprised at the rapid sale of my sermon ; which I impute, not so much to its intrinsic merit, (for I think I have printed better,) as to the occasion. Mr. Combe proposes to publish two editions more, making seven in the whole, as speedily as possible. I am afraid he will overdo it : if you are of that opinion, do stop him.* You mil have an opportunity of judging while the fifth and sixth are selling. ♦ ♦ ♦ # ♦ LIX. TO THE REV. JAMES PHILLIPS. (EXTRACT.) Leicenter, March 6, 1818. « # # ♦ « What a loss would dear Mr. Hughes be to the Bible Society, and to the religious world in general ! I beg to be most affectionately and respectfully remembered to him. Please to inform him, when you see him, how ardent is my desire, and that of thousands, that his most valuable life may be spared and protracted to a distant period. I rejoice to hear he is better, and hope he will be spared to the prayers of the religious public. I am quite of opinion, with you, that the admirable temper and prudence of Mr. Hughes have been as serviceable as the more brilliant talents of Mr. Owen : both admirable men, — par nohile frairum. • The Sermon here alluded to, was that oo the death of the Princen Charlotte of Wales. Mr. Combe's anticipations as to its sale seem to have been more accurate than those of the aatbor, for it has gone through sixteen editions.— En. I 346 uen-ERs. LX. TO THE BEV. THOMAS GRINPIELD, CLIFTON. WHAT DOCTRINES ARE FUNDAMENTAL? Dear Sir, ^^'"""' ^"^- *' '«'«• In reply to your favour of July 2d, which ought to have been answered sooner, you will not expect me to enter deeply into the subject in the compass of a letter A^ery few, and possibly very superficial remarks, must I. Whatever opinion may be formed about fimda- mentel^ it cannot affect the solidity of mv reasoning, which ,s directed to this .--that no church has a rigfi (m/oro comcieMue) to demand more, as a term of com- jmanion, than that church deems essential to salvation. Tie evidence of this proposition is quite independent of *e question, what is essential to salvation. vnn),!^'" """"^ !^''" ^^ fundamental, besides those you have enumerated appears to me sufficiently manifest fi^m the word of God. If Christ is set forth as aZpi- Sri""" ™'^.'-7-.«'at-'>^«<^^f'«^) through faith in hi, blood, then, fiuth in his blood is fundamentol ; and as the apostle is speaking of him as a propitiation, faith in his blood must mean a trust in him, under that character ilut how can this consist with his being a mere pronhet or martyr^ or with the denial of his atonlment ? T£ &c w5n '?"* "P *' ''T^°* >" the wildemess,- &c. iivery orthodox interpreter supposes this is intend^ to represent Christ crucified, or lifted up on the crTt a divinely-appomted source of cure to our spiritual mala- dies, mi consequently an expectation of sp&itual benefit ^e"lH rVt'T'l^''- ^"* '•'"^ ^°'' this consist ^A Ws d^^il ' r*-' ""/ "''■^ circumstance confirming his doctrine, exclusive of any proper influence it is m^ STf ^V^f'^.^'.Ae pardon of sin ? He is said t^ L the end of the law for righteousness to everv one that beheveth ;" then justificatiol^ or acceptance Jh Goi ^ the consequence of faith in him as theVeat antity^rand completion of the legal sacrifices and cerem3 We LETTERS. 347 are everywhere affirmed to be justified by that faith of which he is the object ; and if the conceptions enter- tained by the socinians of that object are essentially dif- ferent from ours, then must their faith in that object be equally so, and one or other of them essentially defective or erroneous. I am aware I have transgressed the canon you have laid down, which excludes a reference to par- ticular texts. I have done so, because I am by no means satisfied respecting the justness of that canon. I am at a loss how general reasoning can ascertain the point in question, exclusive of an immediate appeal to the words of scripture. It is with God to determine what is essential to be believed, in order to salvation ; and his determinations on this subject can only be ascer- tained by attentively weighing the sense of scripture. It is true, different parties interpret particular passages dif- ferently : to quote these, or similar passages, to a soci- nian, would, it is confessed, be to little purpose. But 1/ou, my dear Sir, profess not to be a socinian : with i/ou^ therefore, the only question ought to be, Is the proposi- tion, which affirms faith in the atonement to be funda- mental to salvation, a legitimate inference from the com- monly-received, or orthodox interpretation, of these pas- sages ? If it is, we must either renounce our orthodoxy, or admit (however painful it may be) that inference. If the revealed method of salvation— revealed (I say) fully after the completion of the canon — is a cordial accep- tance of Christ as the propitiation for the sins of the world, they who reject, deliberately and habitually, every idea of vicarious atonement, cannot be in that way. The behef of the messiahship. of Christ was unquestionably held by the ancient heretics, or they could have made no pretension to be considered as christians in any sense ; yet we know in what light they were regarded by the primitive christians : and why should they who deny the miraculous conception, the incarnation, and the atone- ment of the Son of God, be considered in a more favour-, able light ? You yourself, not satisfied with the general proposition— the messiahship of Christ, descend to parti- cular doctrines, e. g. the resurrection of the dead. But I 348 LETTERS. ta me it appears, that tlie collective moment of the doc- trines I have mentioned is far more than that of the re- surrection of the body, considered apart from the doctrine of immortality or a future life. In short, I can see no possible medium between giving up the doctrines already [mentioned], and asserting their fundamental import- ance ; since, supposing us to interpret aright the passages on which we found them, their belief is everywhere con- joined with saving benefits. Whether we interpret these passages aright, is in no degree the question before us ; but, solely supposing our interpretation correct, whether the fundamental nature of the doctrines in question is not a necessary consequence. I return you my most sincere thanks for the favour- able opinion you express of my performance ; and that you may be guided into the midst of the paths of judge- ment is the sincere prayer of Your obliged Friend and Servant, Robert Hall. LXI. TO THE REV. JOSEPH 1VI»IEY, LONDON. Leicester, Feb. 20, 18l9. My dear Sir, I had intended, long since, to thank you very sincerely for your veiy valuable present of your two volumes of the History of the Baptists. I thmk it is highly credit- able to yourself, and to the denomination to which you belong. I read them both with much interest and de- light, and have seldom derived equal information and pleasure from any similar work. It will be a permanent monument of your talent, and devotedness to the cause of religious truth and liberty. You have brought for- ward a great deal of curious information with which the public were little, if at all previously acquainted. I was much pleased with your style of narration : it is perspi- cuous, lively, and perfectly* unaffected. With respect to reviewing it in the Baptist Magazine, I am sorry to be LETTERS. 349 obliged to put a negative on your wishes. I have the tUmost aversion to the whole business of reviewing, which I have long considered, in the manner in which it is con- ducted, a nefarious and unprincipled proceeding, and one of the greatest plagues of modem times. It was "infi- nitely better for the interests of religion and literature when books had fair play, and were left to the unbiassed suffrages of the public. As it is, we are now doomed to receive our first impression and opinion of books from some of the wickedest, and others of the stupidest of men ; men, some of whom have not sense to write on any subject, nor others honesty to read what they pre- tend to criticise, yet sit in judgement upon all perform- ances, and issue their insolent and foolish oracles to the public. To abolish the practice of reviewing would be the greatest benefit a single man could confer on the pub- lic. At the same time, while such things are^ the support of one like the Eclectic, upon sound principles, becomes a necessary evil. Your work wants no such artificial props. Earnestly wishing your valuable life and labour may long be spared, I remain, with much esteem, dear Sir, Your obliged Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. LXII. to MRS. TUCKER. Leicester, April 16, 1819. Dear Madam, I feel myself much gratified and honoured by your kind and affectionate expressions of remembrance of an old friend ; who, though long detained by circimistances from personal intercourse and correspondence, will never hear the name of Mrs. Tucker with indifference. I am delighted to hear from you ; and to learn that, with all the changes effected by time, to which you so affectingly allude, the ardour of mind and warmth of sensibility, by which you were formerly distinguished, remain imim 350 LETTERa. paired. How wonderful, how complicated, the mazes of Pro\'idence through which we are conducted in our pil- grimage to eternity ! Could we foresee the trials which await us, the agonies and vicissitudes we are called to pass through, life would be insupportable ; but we are led, like the blind, by a way that we know not ; and strength is dealt out just in proportion to our day. Let us, my dear friend, look forward, and remember that our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Let us hope that the fiercest part of our mortal warfare is passed, and that the evening of life will be more tranquil than the morn- ing and the noon. May our deep experience of the inutability and vanity of the present shadowy state be improved into a perpetual motive for cultivating that heavenly -mindedness which is the only effectual antidote to the miseries of life. With respect to my visiting Plymouth, 1 have heard nothing of it from any quarter ; and, should I be invited on the occasion you mention, it will be utterly out of my power this summer to comply with it. My engagements are already too numerous. But of this, my dear Madam, be assured, that should my steps be directed to Plymouth at any time during your life, I shall never for a moment think of taking my abode ))Ut at your house, with your permission, should I be in- vited by a prince. You little know me, if you suppose that rank and fashion would have the smallest influence in inducing a forgetfulness of ancient friendship. My chief inducement to visit Plymouth would be the plea- sure of once more seeing and conversing with Mrs. Tucker. • With my kindest remembrances to 3Ir. Tucker, I remain. Dear Madam, Your affectionate Friend, Robert Hall LETrERS. 351 LXIIL TO THE REV. THOMAS LAN'GDON. Leicester, Jan. 11, 1820. My dear Friend, As Mr. Ryland is passing through Leeds, I take the liberty of troubling you with a few lines, just to let you know how I and ray family are, and to express my undi- minished affection and attachment to one of my oldest and best friends. I look back with renewed pleasure on the scenes through which we have passed, and deeply regret that Providence has placed us at such a distance from each other, that our opportunities of intercourse are so few. I hope the period will arrive when we shall spend an eternity together, and look back with mingled wonder and gratitude on all the way the Lord God has led us. What a scene will that present, when the mys- terious drama shall come to a close, and all the objects of this dark and sublunary state shall be contemplated in the light of eternity ! " O, could we make our doubts remove, Those gloomy douiDts that rise ; And see the Canaan that we love With unbeclouded eyes !" I am very sorry to hear that you have been so much afflicted with your asthmatic complaint. It is high time you retired from your school, and procured a house nearer your meeting. I am persuaded your long evening walks are extremely prejudicial. Do, my dear friend, be prevailed upon to give up your evening lectures. It is what you owe to your family, to be as attentive aa possible to your health. " Do thyself no harm," is an apostolic injunction. I was much affected to hear of the death of dear Mr. Robert Spear. It must have been peculiarly distressing to the amiable youth I saw at your house. He was a most excellent man, and has. no doubt, had an abundant entrance into the joy of his Lord. May we be followers of those who thus inherit the promises. My health is, through mercy, very good. Mrs. Hall is at present very 362 LETTERS. much indisposed by a bad cold and oppression of the lungs ; but, through blistering and bleeding, is, through mercy, better. Let me indulge the hope, that next sum- mer you and Mrs. Langdon will visit me at Leicester. Be assured that the company of no friend would give me more pleasure. Please to remember me affectionately to Mrs. Lang- don, to your family, and to all inquiring friends, as if named. I am, Your affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. LXIV. TO A GENTfXMAN AT TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE Leicester, April 30, 1821. Dear Sir, I am considerably at a loss how to answer your letter. I sincerely sympathize with you in the perplexity you experience on a very high and awful subject. For my own part, I acquiesce in the usual and popular inter- pretation of the passages which treat on the future doom of the finally impenitent. My reasons, in brief, axe a» follows : — I assume it as a maxim, that we are utterly incompetent to determine, d ptiori, what is the amount of guilt incurred by such as reject the overtures of the gospel, any further than God has been pleased to make it the subject of express revelation ; that the terms ex- pressive of the duration of future misery are as forcible as the Greek language supplies; that the same term is applied to the duration of misery as to the duration of happiness, or even the eternity of God himself (Matt, XXV. 46 ; Rev. xix. 3) ; that the exclusion of the im penitent from happiness is asserted in the most positiv< terms — " they shall not see life," &c. &c., that " thei\ worm dieth not, and their fire is not extinguished ;" that positive terms may be understood in different degrees of latitude, but this is impossible respecting negative terms, since a negation admits of no degrees. LETTERS). 353 If the eternal misery of a certain number can be ren- dered conducive to a greater amount of good, in relation to the universe at large, than any other plan of action, then the attribute of goodness requires it : for I take it tor granted, that the Supreme Being will adopt that scheme, whatever it be, which will produce the greatest quantity of happiness on the whole. But our faculties are too limited, and our knowledge of the laws of the mcfral world, and of the relation which one part of the universe bears to another, too imperfect, to enable us to say that this is impossible. For aught we know, there- fore, the existence of eternal misery may not only consist with, but be the necessary effect of supreme goodness. At all events, it is a subject of pure revelation, on the interpretation Qof which] every one must be left to form his own judgement. If the milder interpretation can be sustained by a preponderating evidence, I shall most sincerely rejoice ; but I have yet seen nothing to satisfy me that this is the case. I would only add, that, in my humble opinion, the doctrine of the eternal duration of future misery, meta- physically considered, is not an essential article of faith, nor is the belief of it ever proposed as a term of salva- tion ; that if we really flee from the wrath to come, by truly repenting of our sins, and laying hold of the mercy of God through Christ, by a lively feith, our salvation is perfectly secure, whichever h}^othesis we embrace on this most mysterious subject. The evidence accompany- ing the popular interpretation is by no means to be com- pared to that which establishes our common Christianity ; and therefore the fate of the christian religion is not to be considered as implicated in the beUef or disbelief of the popular doctrine. Earnestly wishing you may be relieved from all pain- ful solicitude on the question, and be guided by the Spi- rit of God into the paths of truth and holiness, I remain, Your obedient humble Servant, Robert Hall. I If 'I 1 VOL. I. •A A 354 ' r LETIERS. TO RICHARD FOSTER, JUN. ESQ. LETTEUS. 356 Leic'Mer, July 21,1821. Dear Sir, , . , t i i j I thank you for your kind fayour, (which I should have acknowledged sooner, hut was not at home,) in- cluding a draught for 77^-i and odd. With respect to my sermon on the Trinity, I entered into no metaphysical disquisition whatever, I merely confined myself to the adducing passages which go to prove a plurality of persons in the blessed Godhead : such as the plural name of God in the Hebrew, the use of plural pronouns, the injection of plurals in the name of God coupled with singular verbs, the use of the terms. Makers, Creators, &c. I adduced Isaiah, saying, " The Lord hath sent me and his Spirit," &c. From the New Testament, I mentioned the baptismal form, the saluta- tion to the Corinthians. To these I added the principal passages usually adduced in proof of the divinity of Christ and the personality of the Spirit. In short, it was a mere appeal to the letter of Scripture, without the smallest attempt at metaphysical refinement. I consi- dered that doctrine continually as a doctrine of pure re- velation, to which reasoning can add nothing but dark- ness and uncertainty. It appears, however, to me replete with practical improvement, being adapted to exhibit the part which each person in the blessed Trinity sustained in the economy of redemption, in the most engaging light, and to excite the utmost ardour of gratitude. The time was when I maintained the dual system, supposing the Holy Spirit to be an energy ; but I have long found abundant reason to renounce that doctrine, and novv find much complacency in the ancient doctrine of the Trinity. As you mention the [meeting-housel being shut up, I hope it is to heighten it. I have no doubt that the ex- treme heat and closeness of the place must have a very injurious effect on the health both of the minister and people. I hope you continue comfortable, and that the Lord is giving testimony to the word of his grace. The interest of religion, in a church which I served so long and so happily, will ever lie near my heart. ♦♦♦♦♦« I am your afiectionate Brother, Robert Hall, LXVI. TO THE REV. ISAIAH BIRT. «, , ^. Leicester, May 29, 1822. My dear Sir, I am much obliged to you, for your very cheerful compliance with my proposal respecting supplying and preaching for our school during my visit to Kiddermins- ter. It is an arrangement which gives high satisfaction to our people. The prospect of spending a little time with my dear and honoured friend, is, I confess, my chief inducement for proposing it. I should be very unhappy if I did not spend a little time with you, at least once a year ; and as Providence has happily placed us in the same general vicinity, I shall always eagerly embrace the opportunity it affords. Friendship is the balm of life ; and the thought that time must dissolve, ere long, the tie that has so long united us, would be melancholy indeed, were it not for the consoling recollection of a reunion in a better world : " Let us love one another, for love is of (rod ;" and I hourly hope we are both training up for a worid of perfect love. I am certain of it respecting you. O that I had as great an assurance respecting mvself ! But I have a feeble hope, which I would not exchange for a world ! With respect to the other part of the arrangement having heard nothing fi-om Tamworth as yet, it seems premature to say any thmg of it But 1 must say, that I can by no means comply with it. My lecture is on Wednesday, to which I justly attach a great im- portance ; and the arrangement you mention would oc- casion my absence two Wednesdays, which I would not incur for any ordination whatever. Ordination services. A A 2 I I 355 LETTERS. as they are now conducted, I consider as of more show than use. The presence of one or two ministers, along with the church, accompanied with prayer, and laying on of hands, and a few serious exhortations, would be a genume scriptural ordination. Nothing can be more distant from this, than the manner in which these things are at present conducted. Suffice it to say, that I can by no means consent to be absent two lectures for such a purpose. You may, therefore, expect to see me on Friday at Birmingham. I beg to be most affec- tionately remembered to dear Mrs. But, and to dear Mrs. Tucker and her husband. I am your affectionate Brother, Robert Hall. LXVII. to the rev. THOMAS LAXGDON OP LEEDS. ON THB DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTEK. Leicester t January 9, 1823. My dear Friend, ^ , , , I am much concerned to hear of the heavy bereave- ment Avith which it has pleased God to afflict you and dear Mrs. Langdon, by the unexpected removal of your most amiable daughter. I never saw a young female whose character impressed me with higher esteem. 1 can- not wonder for a moment that your tears flow freely on her account. It is, indeed, a most severe and ^ctive stroke, which none but a parent, and the parent of such a child, can duly appreciate. I feel myself highly honoured and gratified in the recollection of having possessed any share in her esteem. • i j Still, my dear friend, there is much mercy mingled with the severity of the dispensation. It is an unspeak- able mercy to be able to reflect on the decided piety of the dear deceased, which so eminently prepared her ihr the event you so deeply deplore. Nor is it a small alleviation of the anguish resulting from such a stroke, LETTERS. 357 JO reflect that the time is short, and the end of all things is at hand. Painful as is the thought to all your friends, to you, my dear friend, it must be fa- miliar, that, in all probability, her separation from you will be but of short duration ; and that she has en- tered, a Uttle while before you, into that blessed eter- nity for which you have long been waiting. LXVIII. TO THE REV. THOMAS GRINFIELD, CLIFTON. ON HUTCHINSONIANISM. Leicester, March 4, 1823. Dear Sir, I must beg your pardon for not sooner replying to your fiivour, in which you condescend to inquire my opinion on the subject of Hutchinsonianism. The rea- son of my delay was my conscious inabiUty to give an opinion entitled to any degree of weight. I have been in the habit of considering Hutchinsonianism as a tissue of fancies, unsupported by reason or scripture ; and all that has occurred to me to read on that system, has confirmed that impression. I have attentively perused Parkhurst's Dissertation on the Cherubic Figures in the Temple : it appears to me a most confused and unsa- tisfactory disquisition ; nor is he able to answer, in any tolerable degree, the objection arising from their being represented in the attitude of worshippers. He attempts to get over this by observing, that though the divine persons whom they represent could not without absurd- ity be represented in the character of worshippers, their sjrmbols might : but this is to me utterly unintelligible. He is evidently much embarmssed with the four faces ; a most unlikely symbol ^f a Trinity. I am equally dissatisfied with his notion of the three elements of air, light, and fire, being intended as natural types and symbols of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For this there appears to me not a shadow of proof. The me- M 358 LETTERS. tapliors of Scripture afford none whatever ; as is CTident from this one consideration, that the figurative language of scripture is interpreted as naturallj and as easily, without the aid of the Hutchinsonian hypothesis, as with it. What is that sort of typical instruction which never instructed? And where is the people to be found, where the individual, who learned the doctrine of the Trinity from the works of nature ? I cannot suppose it would ever have suggested itself to a single mind, had it not been communicated, probably among the earhest revelations of God. My utter despair of deriving any solid benefit from these speculations, must plead my excuse for not oc- cupying my attention in any attempt to investigate the merits of the system more closely ; and I am truly con- cerned to hear that Mr. B. designs to write upon the sub- ject. I am afi-aid it will have no other effect than to strengthen existing prejudices against evangelical doc- trine. I am, dear Sir, with much esteem, Yours most respectfully, Robert Hall. LXIX. TO THE RLV. IN REPLY TO A REQUEST TO WRITE A REVIEW. Leicester, Nov. 16, 1833. My dear Friend, You have put me on a most irksome task ; and were the request to come from almost any other quau^er, I should refuse to comply, without a moment's hesitation. I find it difficult to deny you any thing ; but, really, you could scarcely have proposed any thing to me more disagreeable. I think very highly of your son's publi- cation ; so that my objections arise, in no degree, from that quarter. But, in the first place, I am far from oeing satisfied of the propriety of suffering the senti- LETTERS. 359 ments of private fiiendship to prevail in a review. A reviewer professes to be a literary judge ; and his sen- tence ought to be as unbiassed as that of any magis- trate whatever. But what should we think of a judge, who permitted himself to be tampered with by either party concerned, with a view to procure a favourable decision ? In the exercise of his censorial office, a re- viewer ought to have neither friends nor enemies. It is an adherence to this maxim which can alone secure the dignified impartiality of criticism, or entitle it to the smallest degree of credit. A work like your son's does not need artificial support ; and one of an opposite de- scription does not deserve it. Your son should rest calm- ly on his own merits, with a becoming confidence that an enlightened public will not fail to do him justice. There was never a period in my life when I would have stooped to solicit a review. I speak on the supposition of the application originating with him. In the next place, when it is known I have complied in this instance, I shall be harassed with innumerable applications. , in particular, will have the just- est reason to complain : for he has, at different times, most vehemently importuned me to review particular works, which I have steadily refused ; and the only me- thod I have found, to shield myself from his importuni- ties, has been to renounce reviewing altogether. I think it probable he would not admit my review ; I am sure he ought not, for the reasons I have assigned, and I have laid him imder no such obligation as to induce him to depart from the straight-forward path. I do not suppose I could bring myself to speak higher of the work than an impartial reader would do ; and what advantage, then, could be derived from my reviewing it ? But supposing I did, where would be the justice to the pubhc ? You j>erceive, my dear friend, the difficulties which surround me, and the reasons why, in my humble opinion, the in- terference of friendship should not be allowed in such eases. I write altogether in the dark. You have not in- formed me in what Review you would wish me to write ; HI I f 1 y f 360 if LETTERS. LETTERS. 361 nor do I know whether it has been reviewed akeady. I am not at all in the habit of l-eading either the Eclectic, or any other Review : indeed, I wish the whole tribe could be put an end to. * * * * * * LXX. TO MR. J. E. RYLAND. (EXTRACT.) Leicester, 1824. -; I cannot write but upon some specified subject ; and that subject must be something which sug- gests itself spontaneously to my thoughts. I feel an insu- perable repugnance to the bending of my mind to the sug- gestion of others ; it must be free as air, or I cannot move to any purpose : whatever I write must or^'wafe entirely with myself. Though I have no objection to gaining money, yet my love of it is not sufiiciently strong for it to have any sensible influence in directing my literary exertions. There are several subjects which I have re- volved in my mind, to which I feel a decided preference ; and if I present myself to the public at all, it must be in the discussion of these. As to Pascal, few admire him more than myself: but, in writing an introduction, I should feel myself quite out at sea ; I should float, with- out any determinate direction ; my mind would have no determinate object ; and, not having a distinct idea of what I wished to do, I should do nothing to any purpose. For elegant and specious declamation, 1 have no sort of talent. I must have a brief; I must have something like a fixed thesis, some proposition I wish to establish or illustrate, or I feel perfectly cold and indifferent. For my part, I let every man pursue his own plans : how it is that I am doomed to be the perpetual object of advice, admonition, expostulation, &c. &c., as a writer, I know not. I am sure it does not arise from any proofs I have given of superior docility. I know myself so well. as to be aware that importunities of this kind have always the efl^ect of indisposing me to their object. I should have written more had I been urged less ; and when the public cease to dictate to me, I shall feel myself my own master. LXXI. TO MRS. LANGDOX, ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND. Leicester, Oct. 23, 1824. My dear Madam, The melancholy intelligence of the death of dear Mr. Langdon has deeply affected me : and most happy should I deem myself were it in my power to administer effec- tual consolation under such a stroke. I refrained from addressing you immediately, waiting for the first trans- ports of grief to subside ; because I well know, that pre- mature attempts to console only irritate the sorrows thev are meant to heal. Let me indulge the hope, that by this time reason and religion are come to your aid, and that you are prepared to say with the greatest and most illustrious of suff*erers, " Even so, Father ; for so it seemeth good in thy sight." The remarkable combination of the most lovely quali- ties with the most fervent piety, which distinguished the character of our dear friend, while they enhance the sense of your loss, will, I hope, mitigate its bitterness in another view, by assuring you, that " great is his reward in heaven." Death to him is, undoubtedly, " exceeding great gain ;" nor would you, in your best moments, msh to draw him down from his elevated abode, to this vale of sorrow and aflfliction. The stroke was not entirely sudden and unexpected : a long series of attacks and in- firmities must, no doubt, have contributed to familiarize your mind to the event. Remember, my dear Madam, that the separation is but for a season ; our dear friend is not lost, but preferred to an infinitely higher state, ^ 962 LETTERS. where he is awaiting yonr arrival. To me, his removal will long be a source of deep regret ; for where shall I find a &iend equally amiable, tender, and constant ? * I beg to be most affectionately remembered to each of your dear children, earnestly praying that their father s God may be their God. Wishing and praying that you may be favoured with the richest consolations of religion^ I remain, my dearest Madam, 1 our affectionate Friend, Robert Hall, LXXII. TO J. B. WILLIAMS, ESQ., SHREWSBURY. Leicester, March 29, 1825. Dear Sir, Some apology is necessary for not having sooner acknowledged your very kind present of your new and highly-improved edition of the admirable Philip Henry, whom you have the honour, I iind, of enumerating among your ancestors. It is a descent vrith which you have more reason to be satisfied, than if you could trace your pedigree from the Plantagenets. I waited only until I had time to renew my acquaintance with the Life of that amiable man, and to form an estimate of the im- provements it has derived from diligent researches. I have not yet entirely completed the volume ; but I am now busy in doing so, and have read enough to satisfy myself of the great obligations you have conferred on the public, by this excellent work. The additional docu- ments and letters, by which you have enriched and en- larged the original narrative, constitute a treasure of wis- dom and piety, for which you are entitled to the warm • Mr. Lanjjdon and Mr. Hall had been fellow^tiidents at B istol ; and ever after cherished for each other the wannest e-steem and affec- tion.— Ed. LETTERS. 363 acknowledgements of every christian reader, and espe- cially of every dissenter. May a double portion of his spirit descend on the rising generation of ministers ! The labour and research requisite for furnishing, such a repast, must have been great ; but not more so, I dare say, than the pleasure you derived from the conscious- ness of conferring so important a benefit on the public. Permit me to thank you, most sincerely, for the favour you have done me, by the bestowment of so valuable a present. It were highly desirable, that more such bio- graphies of the illustrious dead, improved and enlarged as this, might be given to the public ; if it had no other fruit, than to "withdraw their attention a little from that farrago of periodical trifles by which the public mind is dissipated, and its taste corrupted. • ♦•♦•♦ I remain, dear Sir, Your highly obliged Friend and Servant, Robert Hall. i LXXIII. TO MR. J. E. RYLAND. Leicester, May 31, 1825. My dear Sir, I am extremely concerned to hear the melancholy ac- count your letter contains, of the situation of your dear and honoured father, at the same time that I feel grate- ful to you for the communication. I had heard pre- viously that he was supposed to be in a declining state ; but, little imagining he was so ill, your letter gave me a violent shock. With God all things are possible ; and who can tell but the Lord may yet raise him up, and assign him more work to do before he is taken to his eternal reward ? It is my earnest wish and prayer, that such may be the result. His loss will be most deeply felt, not only by his afflicted family, but by a very numerous circle of friends, and by the church of God at large. For him- self, all is and will be well ; nothing can possibly be^ li fl 364 LETTERS. him, but what will be highly to his advantage. A man of a more eminently holy and devoted spirit than that of your dear father, it has never been my lot to witness, and very, very few, who made any approach to him. I feel in the prospect of his removal, much for the family, the academy, and the church. You, my dear Sir, to- gether \Vith your very excellent mother and sisters, will be the objects of a deep and extensive sympathy : but God, whose ways, though mysterious, are always gra- cious and merciful towards them that fear him, will, I doubt not, sustain and support you imder this afflicting stroke, and cause it afterward to work the peaceable fruits of righteousness. His prayers will draw down in- numerable blessings on those who were nearest and dearest to him ; for who can doubt that the prayers of such a man must avail much ? The impression of his example, and the memory of his virtues, will suggest a most powerful motive to constancy, patience, and perse- verance, in the ways of God. You will never cease to bless Gt)d for having bestowed upon you such a parent. His humility, his meekness, tenderness, devoteduess to God, and zeal for the interests of truth and holiness, will long endear him to the christian world, and make his name like the odour of precious ointment. What, in the event of your dear father's removal, will become of the academy and the church ? I tremble to think of the consequences : never, surely, could he have been spared with more serious injury to the most important interests ! May the eyes of all of us be QumedJ to God for his direction and blessing! I should have written to your dear father himself, but feared it might agitate and dis- turb him. I beg you to remember me to him in the most earnest, respectful, and affectionate terms, and assure him of a deep interest in my feeble prayers. I beg, also, to be most affectionately remembered to your dear mother, sisters, and every part of the fEunily. That the Gk)d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, may take your dear &ther under the cover of his wings, — and should he walk through the vaUey and shadow of death, afford him his rod and his stafi^ — and that this most affecting LETTERS. 365 visitation may be sanctified for the eternal benefit of all the parties concerned, — is, my dear Sir, the earnest pKiyer of Your most affectionate and sympathizing Friend, Robert Hall LXXIV. TO MR. J. E. RYLAND. (EXTRACT.) Leicester, May 29, 1826. It gives me much pleasure, but no sur- prise, to hear that the end of your dear father was em- phatically peace. What else, or what less, could be expected from such a life ? As he was one of the brightest examples of holiness on earth, no doubt great is his reward in heaven. May it be your happiness, my dear Sir, and mine, to follow, though at a humble dis- tance, so bright a pattern. May we not be slothful, but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. I need not repeat how much I feel for your dear mother, and the whole bereaved family. It is, indeed, an irreparable loss ; but such is the tenure of all earthly bliss. May we be enabled to lay hold on eternal life. LXXV. TO MRS. RYLAND. ON THE DEATH OF DR, RYLAND. ■ Permit me, my dear 3Iadam, to express the deep sympathy I, in common with innumerable others, feel for you under your irreparable loss. The magnitude of it none can adequately estimate but yourself : but it is consoling to reflect, that you are not called to so^^o^v as those that have no hope ; that, on the contrary, our loss is his unspeakable gain. And the time is short : a very few years will put an end to all our sorrows ; and, if we are the Lord's, will reunite us to all those whom we have most loved upon earth. Ni ! I * I 366 LETTERS. As you have been highly distinguished by the bless- ing of possessing such a companion for life, so it is no inconsiderable honour to have contributed so essentially and so long to the felicity of the best of men. All who know you will ever respect you, not only as the relict of Dr. Ryland, but as the distinguished individual who en- titled herself to his gratitude by such a series of unremit- ting attentions and kind offices (the remembnince of which must be a source of melancholy pleasure) as will doubtless driiw down a blessing from Him to whom he was dear. It is my earnest prayer, that the God who reveals himself as the father of the fatherless, and the husband of the widow, may take you under his especial protection, and supply you with those rich and ineifable consolations which are neither few nor small. We have the word of Him that cannot lie, to assure us that " all thin^ shall work together for good to them that love God." That you may feel more of his sustaining hand, and of his blissful presence, is, dear Madam, the earnest prayer of Your affectionate and sympathizing Friend, Robert Hall. LXXVI. h TO MR. ARTHUR TOZER,* BRISTOL. IH REFERENCE TO MR. HALL's REMOVAL TO BROADMEAD. n, J T^ , ^^cester, July \9, 1826. My dear Fnend, I am very sony your kind letters have remained un- answered so long : it was the consequence of their arriv- ing while I was absent from home. I did not arrive at I^icester till last Saturday, having stayed at Kettering, m order to preach for the mission, which I did mominff and evening. ** The letters from you ought, in all reason, to have been sent forward; but this was impracticable, because my • Mr. Toan was one of the deacons of the charch at Broadmead. LETTERS. 367 whole family were, at the same time, on an excursion for their health. I hope you will be so good as to accept this as a sufficient apology for my apparent neglect. Had I been guilty of any voluntary one, towards a friend whom I so highly esteem, I should never forgive myself. It is impossible for me to hear the fevourable opinion which you and the rest of my friends entertain of me, without being deeply sensible of their kindness. I feel myself most unworthy of such an expression of their re- gard ; the consciousness of which, while it enhances my gratitude, impairs my pleasure. Could I see my way clear to leave Leicester, I should still tremble at the thought of being placed in a situation in which I must necessarily sustain a comparison with your late beloved and lamented pastor. In an affiiir of so much magnitude, I should wish to avoid whatever might wear the appearance of precipi- tance ; and, on that account, should the church at Broad- mead see fit to give me an invitation to the pastoral office, I should wish to be allowed some time, before I f've a decisive answer. On some very obvious accounts, should prefer Bristol, perhaps, to any other situation ; and the state of the church at Leicester is far from being precisely as I could wish. Still the aspect of things is brightening ; the clouds, I trust, are beginning to dis- perse; and an important step has already been taken towards the restoration of mutual confidence and affec- tion. I feel at present inclined to believe it is my duty to stay at Leicester. I wish most earnestly to be direct- ed fix)m above, and that the few remaining years of my life (if any are allotted me) may be passed where they inay best subserve the best of causes. I am not at all given to change : I have long fixed it in my mind that it was the design of heaven that I shall finish my days Jiere ; and, had nothing occurred to disturb our tranquil- lity, I should not have indulged a thought to the con- trary. I do most earnestly bespeak an interest in your prayers, that my way may be directed of the Lord ; and that " for me to live may be Christ and to die gain." Pecuniary considerations, as you suspect, will have ^■i 368 LETTERS. LETTERS. ?> f little influence in guiding my determination. I beg to be most affectionately remembered to all inquiring friends, and remain, dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. 369 LXXVIL TO THE SAME. __ , ^. , l^icesler, August n,\m5. My very dear Fnend, I should have sooner written to you, but on two ac- counts : first, the almost ceaseless interruptions I have met with since my return from London, which have kept me in a perpetual hurry ; and, second, my inabiUty, even at present, to give you the satisfaction you wish by a de- cisive answer. Sensible, as I deeply am, of the unmerit- ed tokens of respect shown me by my Bristol friends, and soHcitous, if possible, to comply with all their wishes, I still feel difficulties in the way, which I know not how to surmount. The church at Leicester is much agitated on the occasion, and have evinced great unanimity in their resdlution to adopt the speediest and most effectual measiires, in order to remove the principal source of my uneasiness. There appears to be but one feeling pervad- i!ig the church and congregation. What success may attend their efforts to restore peace, God only knows ; but, should they be successfiil, I shall find it very diffi- cult to separate myself from them. To inflict the pain it would occasion to many excellent persons and kind friends, would cost me a conflict for which I feel myself little prepared. In truth, the motives for staying in my pre- sent situation, and the motives for relinquishing it, are so equally balanced, that I am kept still in a state of sus- pense ; and-am habitually under some apprehension, that, whatever choice I make, I shall be apt to repent not having made an opposite one. It is certainly a humbling consideration not to be able to come to a speedier deci- sion ; but I feel the weight of the affair, and that the consequences of it, both to myself and others, will pro- bably be greater than can result fix)m any future step in my life. I earnestly implore an interest in your prayers, that the Lord would be pleased to direct me, and that' wherever the bounds of my habitation may be fixed^ "Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by my life or my death." The greatest annoyance of my life, for some years past, has arisen from not being able to command my time, particularly in the morning; and could I be assured of my possessing this inestimable pri- vilege, the poorest and most neglected village would pos- sess irresistible charms for me. The afternoon and even- mg I have always been willing to abandon to the use of others ; but to have no time I can call my own,— to be liable to have the most precious hours of reading and meditation snatched from me,— is an evil, to one of my temperament, almost insupportable. Now, I greatly fear this evil would be increased at Bristol. One advantage I should enjoy at Bristol (the want of which I severely feel here) is, access to books ; but what will this avail me, it I have no time to read them ? I have carefully inspected the documents relating to lemls deeds, brought by Messrs. Shening and Phillips. It IS my decided opinion, that the pastor of Broadmead IS under no obligation to prepare young men for the mmistry, unless they are presented to him for that pur- pose ; a thing most unlikely to happen, when such ample means of eduqation are already provided. Should it occur, however, he has only to make his election, either to comply with the demand, or to relinquish his interest m the establishment. As to the fear of incurring penal- ties, it is too ridiculous to be thought of. All this, how- ever, I most cheerfiilly leave to the determination of the trustees ; for if ever I was sincere in any thing, it is when I declare, that pecuniary considerations will have no in- fluence in my decision. To deteriorate my situation would be injustice to my family : beyond that, I have no sohcitude. I beg to be most affectionately remembered VOL. L B B i i 370 lETTERS. to Mr. James and my sisters, and all friends, as if named. I remain, dear Sir, Yolu- affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. LXXVIII. TO THE BAMB. Leicester, Oct Z, 1835. My very dear Friend, I am as much ashamed as any of my friends can be, to keep them so long in suspense respecting my deter- mination in regard to removing to Bristol. 1 feel it to be of so much importance to my own happiness, and in the relation it bears to the spiritual interests of a large body of people, both here and at Bristol, that I tremble at the thought of coming to a final decision. My in- clination, I confess, stands towards Bristol. The reasons are obvious : two sisters, justly dear to me, residing there ; a place dear to me from ancient recollections, and from the most enchanting scenery; access to books, a want which I most grievously feel here ; many old friends, or the families of old friends, whom I much love and esteem ; a superior description of society ; and, I may add, equal, if not superior, prospects of usefalness. These, it must be acknowledged, are weighty considerations, and I feel them in their full force, insomuch that I feel my- self incapable of relinquishing the thought of Bristol without a pang. On the other hand, I most sensibly feel the difficulty of leaving a people who are most affec- tionately attached, and a congregation which I have, through mercy, been the instrument of raising from a very low to a very flourishing state. The certainty of giving great imeasiness to many excellent and worthy friends, and of being accessary to the injury of an in- terest which ought ever to be dear to me, presses much upon my mind ; it is, indeed, the grand difficulty I feel in the way of leaving Leicester. I tremble at the thought of destroying what I have been the means of building up. LETTERS. 371 I tremble at the thought of rushing into a sphere of ac- tion, to which I am not called, and, it may be, of offend- ing God by deserting my proper post. As it is the last remove, in all probability, I shall ever be tempted to make before I am conveyed to the " house appointed for all living," I feel extremely anxious that it may be made with the divine approbation, conscious that my times are in the Lord's hands. I desire most sincerely to acknow- ledge him in all my ways. O that I might hear a voice belund me, saying, " This is the way, walk thou in it !" My mind is much perplexed, my resolution not decided. I feel a conflict between opposite motives, and am drawn by contrary attractions; though, were I to consult my inclinations alone, I should certainly decide for Bristol : ray advanced period of life, and the apprehension of its possible, if not probable effects on the interests of reli- gion, form the grand objections. One thing I must beg leave to mention, that, were I to settle with you, I should decline taking any share in the monthly lecture. In the united prayer-meeting I should engage with pleasure. I have but little opinion of the utihty of the first of those meetings. On the whole, I must request one month more, and at the end of that time (if my life is spared), you may reckon upon my giving you a decisive answer. During that interval I will again seek divine guidance, and I humbly hope I shall receive it. At all events, I will not keep you longer in suspense, and am truly concerned at having exercised your patience so long. I beg to be most affectionately remembered to Mr. Holden, and thank him sincerely for his kind letter. My best regards await all inquiring friends. My love to dear Mr. and Mrs. James, and my sister. 1 remain, my dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Halu BB 2 H f 1 n fm It II \t < ii 372 LETTERS. LXXIX. TO THE SAME. Leicester, Dec. 6, 182iK My dear Friend, I have just time at present to infonn you, that I have come to a determination to accept the invitation the church and congregation of Broadmead have thought fit to give me, on the following terms : that I make trial of the situation for one year, and that at the termination of it, if it should not answer our mutual purposes, each, party, i. e, the church and myself, shall be at liberty to separate. I do not say this from the smallest desire that the union may not be permanent ; I earnestly hope and pray that it may ; but futurities are in the hand of God; and if the change of situation should be foimd materi- ally to aflfect my health, which at my stage of existence is equivalent to life,— or if the ends we propose are not answered,— I may be at liberty, sifter a fair trial, to dis- solve the connexion, without incurring the charge of levity or inconstancy. If I shall be spared to come, it will be with the hope and intention of living and dying among you, nor shall I cherish any expectation of change ; but imperious reasons, connected with my happiness and usefulness, may arise to determine me to the contrary, of which I shall probably be able by that time to forma judgement. . I write this in haste, as I expect Mr. Darnell every mo- ment, who is setting out at two o'clock. I shall address a letter to the church in a few days ; I purpose to direct it to you ; when you will be so good as to forward it, or read it to the church. I have only one thing to request, and that is of great importance ; that you will grant me an interest in your prayers, that my way may be pros- pered, that I may be kept from falling, and that my removal to Bristol may be instrumental to the conversion of sinners, and to the building up the church in faith and holiness. Let me beg you, my dear and honoured friend, not to forget me at a throne of grace. My assu- lETTERS. 373 ranee of this on your part, and on the part of my friends in general, would add unspeakably to the comfort of, My dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend and Brother, RobERT Hall. P. S. I beg my love to Mr. and Mrs. James, and sis- ter Mary. Kind remembrances to all friends. LXXX. TO THE CHURCH OP CHRIST ASSEMBLING IN BROADMEAD, BRISTOL. ON ACCEPTING THE PASTORAL OFFICE. Leicester, Dec. 21, 1825. My dear Brethren, After long and mature deliberation and earnest prayer, I write these lines to inform you that I accept the invi- tation you have been pleased to give me to the pastoral office. That it may become a mutual blessing, and that you and myself may reap the fruit of it, in the glory of Grod, the spiritual improvement of each other, and the conversion of sinners from the error of their way, will I trust continue to be, as it has already been, the object of your frequent and fervent supplication to the throne of grace. Be assured I feel deeply my utter inability for the adequate discharge of the weighty duties which de- volve upon me, and particularly my unfitness to walk in the steps of your late venerable pastor. My only hope, amidst the discouragement arising from this quarter, is placed in " your prayers, and the supply of the spirit of Christ Jesus." Conscious as I am of innumerable im- perfections, I must rely on your candour for a favourable construction of my conduct, and reception of my labours. Permit me, my dear brethren, to conclude, by " recom- mending you to God, and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified by the faith of Jesus." I remain, dear Brethren, Your affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert Hall. ,1' i' 374 LETTERS. LXXXI. TO THE REV. P. J, 8AFFERY, OP SALISBURY. Leicester, Jan. 16, 1826. I duly received your favour, and cannot be insensible to tbe honour you have done me, in wishing me to assist at your approaching ordination by delivering a charge. I am sorry you appear to lay so much strefc upon it, because it makes me the more uneasy in putting that nejrative on your wishes which my judgement and my inclination dictate. As I intend to avoid engagements out of Bristol as much as possible, and very rarely, if ever, to officiate at ordmations, I can by no means consent to begin my career there by an engagement of that nature, which would at once, by giving erroneous expec- tations, be productive of much inconvenience. I^ early all the spare time I can command from my proper station will necessarily be occupied in visitmg the connexions among which I have lived, and where I have numerous old and tried friends, who must be ever dear to my heart. As to ordinations, it has long been my opinion that they are best conducted by the presbyters or elders of the immediate vicinity of the party ; and that to step beyond that circle is to sacrifice or impair the chief benefit of that practice, which is the putting a wholesome check on the abuse of the popular sufirage, by making it impossible for a minister to establish himself at the head of a con- gregation, without the approbation and sanction of the circle of pastors with whom he is to act. It is an afiair in which the church are chiefly or solely concerned ; and though the calling in a stranger on such occasions may attract a greater audience, it is, in my humble opinion, at the expense of more important objects. For these, and other reasons that might be adduced, you must allow me firndy^ though most respectfully, to decline the ser- vice you have been pleased to assign me ; and, to cut off any occasion of fdiscussion], I must request the favour of [your j accepting this reply as find. LETTERS. 375 I cannot close these lines, however, without expressing the pleasure it affords me to find you are likely to succeed your excellent father. That a double portion of his spirit may rest upon you, is, dear Sir, the sincere desire and prayer of Your sincere Friend and humble Servant, Robert Hall. P. S. I beg to be respectfully remembered to your excellent mother, though personally unknown. LXXXII. TO THE REV. DR. J. P. SMITH, HOMERTON. Bristol, Nov. 3, 1826. Rev. and dear Sir, I have to complain of a good deal of misrepresentation in what is stated in your letter, as having passed in my interview with Dr. Malan. The conversations (for they were two) passed at my house, not at Clifton. He was insisting much on the absolute necessity of the full assu- rance of our personal salvation, which, as he appeared to carry it to a great extent, led me to remark, that it seemed to me a most desirable attainment, and what every sin- cere christian ought to seek after with diligence, rather than as essential to the very [existence] of religion ; ana in the course of conversation I confessed that I had it not myself. At this he expressed his surprise, and began with emphasis to recite that passage in Johns epistle, " He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is bom of God." His discourse to me on this subject was not satisfactory. Part of it was not very intelligible ; and part, as far as I did understand it, was injudicious, and bordering on enthusiasm. I certainly was extremely struck with the indications of exalted piety and love exhibited by his whole deportment, and particularly his countenance. I must confess there was something in Lis looks that reminded me more of the ideal picture I have formed of the Saviour, than I ever saw before in ■ 376 LETTERS. any human being ; and, as I am too prone to express myself in the style of hyperbole, it is to that part of his character that the expression yonr letter quoted must be understood to allude. Though I am certain I never used some of the words imputed to me, particularly those in which I am represented as saying, " All other men were brutes and beasts compared to him." I am equally a stranger to the words and the ideas, you may depend on it. 1 never acknowledged the little success of my ser- mons arose from my ministry not being accompanied with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He observed, that my printed discourses (of these only he spoke) wanted simplicity : nor was I at all concerned or surprised at that; for he found much fault with Maclaurin's, on " Glorying in the Cross of Christ," which he accused of the same defect, observing, that it exhibited the truth, but did not exhibit his Master; a remark which ap- peared to me (as I observed to him) very unintelligible. I never gave thanks aloud, that Dr. Malan was brought to Bristol ; nothing of the kind ever passed from me. I probably did (indeed, I know I did,) express myself much gratified in having an opportunity of a personal interview ; and I parted fix)m him with much esteem and affection on my part. I thought him, on the whole, a very extraordinary man ; though much more to be ad- mired for his ardent piety and lively imagination, than for judgement or profundity. Even on his favourite topic of assurance he seemed sometimes to retract all that he had asserted. I did not hear him [[preachj ; but I learnt afterwards, that his hearers generally went away with the impression of their having heard very new doctrine. If Dr. Malan has given the statement you have copied, I am heartily sorry for it, because it is extremely inaccurate, and must necessarily diminish the high regard in which I held him. Thus I have given you, my dear Sir, a brief outline of what passed ; and most earnestly wish you every degree of success in your labours to maintain the truth as it is in Jesus. I am, dear and Rev. Sir, With yeiy high esteem, your affectionate Friend, Robert Hall. LETTERS. 377 N. B. — Permit me to return my most sincere thanks for your admirable defence of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, against Belsham : it will benefit the church, I trust, as long as the English language lasts. LXXXIII. TO W. B. GURNEY, ESQ. ON THE DEATH OF MRS. GURNEY. Bristol, August 25, 1827 My dear Friend, It is a very few days since I heard the very melan- choly intelligence of the removal of dear Mrs. Gumey ; and I was not willing to obtrude on the sacred privacy of grief till its first agitation was in some measure sub- sided. Most deeply is this stroke felt, and long will continue to be so, by that very large circle of which she was the ornament and delight; but how much more severe the stroke on him who was united to her by the tenderest of earthly ties ! To me the informa- tion was like a thunderclap : it was so sudden and so unexpected, that I could scarcely persuade myself it was a reality ; it seems now like one of those frightful visions of the night which vanish at the return of dawn. Alas ! how fresh in my mind is the figure of the dear deceased, presiding in the social circle with that inimita- ble ease, elegance, and grace, which captivated every heart: — changed now, and clouded for ever with the shades of death ! Never was a victim snatched by the great destroyer, more beldved, or more lamented. But why should I dwell on what is so distressing to remember, rather than advert to the brighter side of this melancholy picture ? You, my dear friend, have lost the richest of earthly blessings in a most admirable and amiable wife \ but grace has completed its triumph in adding to the celestial choir one more spirit of " the just made perfect." Bright as she shone in her earthly sphere, her light was dim and obscure, compared to that which 1 I ri 378 LETTERS. now invests lier. Her pure and celestial spirit has as- cended to its native seat, where she " bears the name of her God on her forehead, and serves him day and night in his temple." Your loss, my dear friend, is her un- speakable gain ; and your mind is too generous, in your calmest moments, to wish her hurled from her celestial elevation. Let a few more months and years revolve, and you will be reunited, to part no more ; the days of your mourning will be ended ; the Lord will be to you (as he is akeady to the dear deceased) '' your everlasting light, and vour God your glory.* - . - I hope you will not su^r the excess of gnef so to ab- sorb your mind as to shut out the consolations of piety, or the claims of duty. It is my earnest prayer that God himself may comfort you, and that he may be pleased so to sanctify this most heavy trial, that, though '' fainC you may be " still pursuing ;" and that, though you " sow in tears," you may " reap in joy." I beg to be most aflfectionately remembered to every branch of your family, as well as to all inquiring friends ; and remain, with deep concern. Your affectionate and sympathizing Friend, Robert Hall. LXXXIV. TO EBENEZER FOSTER, ESQ. Bristol, Jan. 29, 1829. Mv dear Sir, , I safely received your favour of the 20th mstant. It gives me great pleasure to infer, from your letter, that the health of your family, and particularly of your elder brother, is in a tolerable state. The death of Mrs. must have been felt very se- verely by your excellent consort, to whom 1 beg to ex- press a deep and sincere sympathy. I was greatly affected when I heard of it, and shall ever carry with me a grate- ful and affectionate sense of the uniform kindness with which she treated me, as well as of the many amiabln LETTERS. 379 and interesting traits of her character. It would have given me pleasure to have been informed what were her views and feelings in the prospect of eternity : I hope she exhibited that state of mind, on the approach of that awftil crisis, which must prevent surviving friends from " sorrowing as those who have no hope." I have lately heard, with much concern, of the alarming illness of my dear friend QNutter ?] ; — but have rejoiced to learn sub- sequently, that considerable hopes are entertained of his recovery. While events of this nature present a striking commentary on the solemn declaration that " all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the field," it is consoling to remember that " the word of the Lord endureth for ever ;" and that, by the preaching of the gospel, it is more extensively promulgated than ever. "The intelligence you have just given me of the rapid extension of evangelical religion in Cambridge, is highly gratifying ; nor can I entertain any serious apprehension of ultimate injury resulting from thence to the dissenting interest. If something like competition should have the effect of giving increased momentum to the exertions of both parties, the public may be benefitted, and both improved. With respect to my health, I can say little that I could wish to say. Some small abatement of the violence and frequency of my old complaint has, I think, of late, been experienced : but it is very inconsiderable ; and the last night it prevented me getting a wink of sleep until after seven o'clock this morning. On this account, I can speak with no sort of confidence of my intended visit to Cam- bridge, further than this, that I feel a most anxious de- sire of enjoying it, and that nothing but absolute necessity will prevent me from making the attempt ; and, as tra- velling on the outside is much the easiest to me, it will not be prudent to undertake it till the summer is tolera- bly advanced. I have little intelligence to communicate worthy of your attention. I continue to be very happy with my people, from whom I daily receive every demons- tration of affection and respect. Our attendance is as good as I could wish ; and we have added to the Baptitt i i 380 LETTEKS. LETTERSi 381 1^ Church,* during the last year, twenty-seven, and six are standing candidates for baptism. For these tokens of divine presence I desire to be thankful. Mrs. Hall and my family are, through mercy, as well as usual ; and join with me in most affectionate regards to every branch of your family, and to the Cambridge circle of friends in general. I beg to be most affectionately remembered to dear Mr. , and to assure him of my deep sympathy with him under his heavy and irreparable loss. It is my fervent and sincere prayer it may be sanctified. I remain, my dear Sir, Your obliged and affectionate Friend, Robert Hall. LXXXV. TO JAMES NUTTER, ESQ., SHELFORD, NEAR CAMBRIDGE. Bristol, Feb. 16, 1829. My very dear Friend, I heard with much concern of your late alarming ill- ness, and, with a proportionate degree of joy, of your partial recovery, and of the pleasing prospect presented of your yet surviving for years, to be a blessing to your family and connexions. It grieves me much to learn from Mr. Price, tliat you have experienced something like a relapse, and that your situation is considered still critical and precarious. However the Lord may dispose of you, (though it is my earnest prayer that yoxir days may be prolonged to a distant period,) I cannot adequately ex- press my satisfaction at finding you are favoured with such an experience of the consolations of religion, as to enable you to comfort your sorrowing friends, and to bear so glorious a testimony to the power and grace of the * To render this phrase intelligible to some readers, it may be proper to observe, that in the congregation at Broadinead there are two class- es of persons who are associated in church-iellowship : one consists of those only who have been baptized in adult age, on a confession of laith; while the other consists jointly of such and of pedobaptists. The fonnf r are " strict communion baptists,*^ and constitute the baptist ekurch : the latter furnish an example of " mixed communion.'^— £o. Redeemer. 0, my dear friend, how precious is a merci- ful Saviour in the eyes of a dying smner ! When the heart and flesh fail, he can adopt the triumphant lan- guage of Simeon, and say, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." You will never, my dear friend, to all eternity, be able suflSciently to magnify the riches of divine grace, in adopting you into the family of the Redeemer, and mak- mg you " an heir of glory." I earnestly hope the spectacle they have witnessed will have a most beneficial effect upon the younger branches of your family, in confinning pious resolutions, and con- vincing of the emptiness, the nothingness, of all which the world admires, compared to an interest in Christ, and a preparation for heaven. In the prospect of life there are many things which are adapted to animate and sup- port; in the near approach of death, there is but "the hope of glory." It is my earnest prayer, that this hope may shed its brightest beams on the mind of my dear and highly esteemed friend. As to myself, my health is in such a state that I can say nothing of the future : but your wishes will be with me so far a law, that, if my complaint will permit me during the early part of the summer, I shall accede to Mr. Price's request, by offici- ating at the opening of the meeting-house.* ♦ ♦ ♦ * ♦ Earnestly praying that every blessing may be commu- nicated to you, which a covenant God has to bestow, I remain, Your most affectionate Friend and Brother, Robert HALL.t * Mr. Price married a daughter of Mr. Nutter. + This letter did not reach Shelford until the day after the death % tbe excellent individual to whom it was addressed.— En. < I , ' 382 LETTERS. LXXXYI. TO EBENEZER FOSTER, ESQ., CAMBRIDGE. Bristol, Ftb. 5, 1831 My dear Sir, I acknowledge not sooner answering yours. ♦ ♦*♦♦* I hare little or no intelligence to communicate, farther tlian that our city is much agitated by political discussion and the strife of parties. A meeting was lately held of the friends of reform, to petition on its behalf; but it was most stormy and tempestuous. Though all concur- red in the general object, violent disputes arose on minor points, which distracted the discussion, and rendered it a scene of tumult and uproar. Such, of late, has been the general character of public meetings at Bristol. For my part, I never attend them. Indeed, the complaint in my back renders it imnossible for me to stand ; and to he down would neither be decent nor practicable. Conversation is almost entirely occupied by the all- absorbing theme of politics ; nor is it to be wondered at, when we consider the equivocal and anomalous state ot this and of almost all other countries. Some great crisis appears to be approaching, which wiU probably shake Europe to its centre, and produce some entire new wder of things. Shall we ultimately escape a war ? I have great confidence in the pacific views of our present min- istry, but less in their continuing in power ; nor do 1 perceive what measures they can adopt, that will mate- rially alleviate the distress of the lower orders ; and, un- less this can be done, a [great convulsion] is, I fear, in- evitable. At all events, one great source of consolation remains: "the Lord reigneth; and blessed are all they that put their trust in him." By the way, it gives me pleasure to find that attempts are making in London to dissolve the union between the orthodox and the socinian [dissenters.] I most heartily wish them success.* It is a most unnatural and prepos- ♦ Mr Hall here allades to the union of what are called the " three deuominations" of dissenters. J'his union (which, however, is »• v*i LETTERS. 383 terous union, and tends, above any thing else, to give an imposing air of importance to the socinian [party], which, but for this coalition, would sink into insignifi- cance. It is odious in the eyes of pious churchmen, and tends to throw a disguise over the real state of the dis- senters, in relation to their religious tenets. But I must close, and am afraid I have ahready occupied too much of your valuable time. Mrs. Hall and my family are in tolerable health, and desire to unite with me in most affectionate regards to you and your family, and to your dear brother and his family, Mr. and his lady, &c. &c. I would just add, that I [derived] considerable benefit, in relation tti the determination of blood to the lungs, [firom] my visit to Cheltenham. I remain, my dear Sir, Your most affectionate and obliged Friend, Robert Hall.* pretended to be religious) commenced at a time when the Presbyterians, most of whom are now Arians, or Socinians, were almost universally Caivinists. Some persons have supposed, on account of Mr. Hall's strong language in this case, that he would have joined those who wish to exclude all but the orthodox from the British and Foreign Bible So- ciety, and have aimed to introduce an extra-scriptural phrase as a bond of union in a benevolent institution. But they who have thus fancied, neither duly meditate upon the essential diflFerence of the two cases, nor upon Mr. Hall's principles of action with regard to the Bible Socie- ty, so forcibly depicted in his speech delivered at the second Anniver- sary Meeting of the Leicester Auxiliary Bible Society. See Vol. IV. —Ed. ♦ This letter was written only four days before Mr. Hall's last illnesF, und sixteen before his death, — £d. f i OP TH£ lEBrstern ISlssociatton* (Wbhtsn iJf 1787] I'l ,i :^ ON THE EXCELLENCY OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION :. THE CIRCULAR LETTER FROM TlIK MINISTERS AND MESSENGERS OP THE BAPTIST CHURCHES VOL I. c r THE EXCELLENCY OP THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. ; Dear Brethren, We are happy to be able to address you on the present occasion. We have many and great thanks to render to our common God and Father, for preserving us through another year, and permitting us once moie to assemble ourselves together. We have too often experienced yom: candour and good will to doubt of your l>earinff with us, whilst we exhort you with all earnestness and smcenty. You will remember, brethren, the dignity of the dis- pensation under which you Kve ; that it is not the insti- tution of man, but the wise and gracious plan of God to make you happy. With this view he raised up the peo- pie of the Jews, kept them distinct from all others, and gave them such a portion of knowledge as might, in due tune, prepare for the display of the gospel With this view, a succession of priests was kept up, the eye of pro- phecy was enlightened, and the hand of Omnipotence stretched forth. After thus preparing the way, our grejit Kedeemer himself appeared upon the earth, lived in hu- miliation and sorrow, and died in agony and disgrac e. Dunng the time of his personal ministry, he had every attestation of Deity in his favour, and the power of God was often exerted in a most signal manner. After his ascension, a larger measure of knowledge and power was grren to his disciples than had been afforded them before rhey asserted his character, and affirmed that he had ■Bl 333 THE EXCELLENCY OP risen ftora tl.e dead, in the Tery p^e « ^^ch he had been crucified. They were endued with a m'^culous skU in tongues, for the yery pur™)se of spreadmg the ^spel through the different parts of the world ; aid with ^^Lsuccess'they did it, and how, in the ^^e of danger and of death, they maintained their cause, whilst many :? them peri'shed'in their suffermgs, ?^w
n what tenns -« ^^^ '"^ hi^T and what expectations '^^ ""^y f ™ ^°^,]"r-^^ sober reflecting man could scarcely feel himselt at ease, ^llhe Ittaini to some certainty in points of so much consequence; and y.t how little information we can de- nCfrom^n i/inquiries of this nature, may be seen "ZxZe e:«perience of past ages, and those the most er^ n^htened and refined; which, after all their rese^l"^ hSve not been able to come to any '^j'^Xlilt ofT- any satisfaction. We may discorer, by the hght of na- ture the eii:*tence of a being who is possessed of al pos- s^e- peXtion. The wo^ of God^-^;^-"'!? f J^? his gLness, wisdom, and power ; but with ««Ilf *« the appUcation of these, in any i«rticular "Stance, it leares us entirely at a loss. We have no measure which «e r ipl/to the operations of an -fn^e mmd^ani therefoie, though we may be assured that the Uivine S ^3sesses":.ll the attributes which compose supreme 3ence, it is impossible for us to say, m par icular i^,^n^ what path of conduct may best consist with Tose p^rfectio,^ in their most "tensive ope^hon. Indeed, to discover not only the leadmg attributes ot the THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 389 Divine Nature, but to be acquamted beforehand with every direction they will take, would be fiilly to com- prehend the Most High. When, therefore, without the "Ir.i? "r . i""* "^^ ^'^<^^Vt to foreteU the dispensations of the Almighty, we are lost in a maze, and are obliged to rest m vague and uncertain conjectures. This holds true, more especiaUy, when appUed to the conduct of 1 rovidence with respect to only a small part of creation, in this case our uncertainty is doubled, since we know that all the works of God form one vast system, and that the reflation of the parts must be subservient to the admnustration of the whole. But this situation is ours. Oonhned to a pomt in our existence, and limited in our Ideas, we cannot tell what relation we bear to other beings, or how it may seem fit to Divine Providence to dispose of us, in relation to those higher and more ulti- mate designs which are continually carrying on. Our meamng may be illustrated by the foUowiig Ltance :— It IS certain that the Divine Being is, in thi greatest de- pee, compassionate and good; but, if a number of crea- ^^!^ JT^"" themselves unhappy by a wilfid rebeUion against him a singular instance would arise. It would be impossible to say whether the exercise of compassion here would best comport with the highest goodnJL and the greatest happiness, in the general adi^inistration of wkIIw?**' ^T* "" ?"* '^"'<* ^'^ ^"^^ relation which the parts bear to the whole. tJa-^ T "''1 ^■"'T^ is a case entirely to the point": tor disorder and sm have entered into the world. It is evident^ thmp are turned out of their natural and ori- ginal channel-that they are not what they Aave been, nor what they ouffk to be. Men have comipted their ^^, • ""^^ *° singular in the creation— a situation so striking, and jio little to be apprehended under the government of a holy and perfect Being, naturaUy leads us to look for a revolution in the dispensations of Provi- ^nn'^^^k V"^^ \ '*^i*' """^ "^"^ ^^ awfiil inteiposi- tion of the Dmne hand might well be expected. Thwe is ^tI5 ."i?^'/' ?"* "^e time, in the idea of having pro- voked the displeasure of Gcd, when seriously thou|ht o^ 390 THE EXCELLENCY OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 391 too heavy for the heart of man to hear. We cannot leave his presence, we cannot resist his power, we cannot evade his stroke. Hence mankind, m all ages, have had their fears awakened, and have taken a glery nation, and tongue, and people, his elect shall be gathered, he shall give up the kingdom to his God, and God shall be all in all. Aliis ! the voice of individual praise is weak and fV'eble; but how will our hearts swell with adomtion and delight, when, while we are praising him, he shall receive from millions of beings, and millions of worlds, tiie same incense' ¥ I 1 OK THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT I THE CIRCULAR LETTER jnOM THE MINISTERS AND MESSENGERS OF THE SEVERAl BAPTIST CHURCHES OF TriE ^ortftampfonsfitre awodatiott. I: -at : 1 1. ■ (WRmE.s IN IWjy.J ON THE I WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. ( Dear Brethren, The subject to which we wonld invite yuur attention on the present occasion, is the Influence of the Spirit; which it is not our design to discuss in a doctrinal manner, (takipg it for granted you are already established in the belief of a divine agency on the soul, and have a compe- tent acquaintance with its nature and effects,) but rather with a view to assist you in making a suitable improve- ment of what you already acknowledge and believe. As- suming it on the ground of revelation for an undoubted fact, that there is an operation of the Holy Ghost, to which the regeneration and growth in holiness of every Christian is to be primarily imputed, and that without it nothing can be done or attained to any important pur- pose in religion ; we request your candid attention to a few hints respecting the most likely method of securing and perpetuating that blessed influence. To this we are the more encouraged, by remarking the numerous cau- tions, warnings, and advices, with which the mention of this subject is joined in the sacred writings ; sufficient to how that the doctrine of which it treats is a practical doctrine, not designed to supersede the use of means, or the exercise of our rational powers ; but rather to stimu- late us to exertion, and teach us how to exert them aright. If ye live in the Spirit^ walk in the Spirit. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, by which ye are sealed to the day of redemption. r 400 ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 401 •* 1 I The Spirit, we must remember, is a most free a^ent, and though he will not utterly forsake the work of his hands, he may be expected to withdraw himself, ma great measure, on being slighted, neglected, or opposed ; and as our holiness and comfort depend entirely upon him it is important for us to know, what deportment is calculated to invite, and what to repel his presence. 1 If we would wish for much of tbe presence ot (jod hv his Spirit, we must learn to set a high value upon it, the first communication of spiritual influence, is, indeed, imparted without this requisite ; for it cannot be pos- sessed in any adequate degree except by those who have fcisted that the Lord is gracious. / am found of ihmi that soiwht me not. But in subsequent donations, the Lord seems very much to regulate his conduct by a rule, that of bestowing his richest favours where he knows they are most coveted, and will be most pnzed. Ihe principle whence divine communications flow, is tree, unmerited benignity ; but in the mode of dispens'^ig its fruits, it is worthy of the supreme Ruler to consult his majesty, by withholding a copious supply, till he has ex- cited in the heart a profound estimation of his gifts. No words are adequate to express the excellence and diimity of the gift of the divine Spirit. While Solomon was dedicating the temple, his great soul appeai-s to have been put into a rapture at the very idea, that he whom the heaven of heavens could not contain, should deign to dwell with man upon the earth. How much more should each of us be transported when he finds the idea realised, by his own heart having become the seat of the divme presence ! There are two considerations drawn from scripture, which assist us in forming a conception of the magnitude of this blessing. ^ . The first is, that it is the great promise of the Chris- tian dispensation, and stands in nearly the same relation to us, that the coming of the Messiah did to Pi«^s Jews. They waited for the consolation of Israel m the birth ot Christ ; and now that event is past, we are waiting in a similar manner, for the promise of the Spint, of which, the church has hitherto enjoyed but the first trmts. lo this the Saviour, af^er his resurrection, pointed the ex- th^ fIT i!- ^P.?*^"'' ^ ^"^Pt«ti<^a"y the promise of .IIa ' ""^"f" they were to receive at the distance of a tew days ; and when it was accomplished at the day of fZtT r/^^ ^'''' '"^'"''^^ ^" i* ^^ *^^ ^^stninZ tnous proof of his ascension, as well as the chief fruit btntir^'p T' !? r? ^^"^ '^'''' repentance and baptism. Repent and he baptized, said he, every one of S '"" fT""^ '^^T' 9^^'^M the remusion of Shi and ye sJiall receive tt^ gift of tice Holy Gimt : for the promise (that is, the promise of the Spirit) is t^ you and yojMen, and to all that are af/rof even LZany as the Lord your God shall call Tlie apostle Paul placed urn a similar light wh.. he tells us, cUt ha. r£Z vf. that thsUessing of Abraham might com^ upon the Gen^ I AA^^ m what that blessing consists, he inforaisTs hi f^a^'n .T- "^'^^^ '''^*^' ^^ ^'•^'^^^ of the Spiru byfauh On this account, probably, he is styled the Spiru of promm, that is, ths Spirit so often promised - m the communication of whom, the promCs of God s^ Z'''' f1^ 1 "^^-^ ^? ^^on^^^red. as the sum and sub stance of all the promises. . Another consideration, which evinces the supreme im- " portar.ce of th.s gift, is, that, in the esteem of our I^rd Lr'f T^'l*^? ^ compensation to his disciples, for the T/n ^:i' ^^^'> P^"^^"^^ ^ «« "^^^^^ ^^Perior to' it, that be tells them, it was expedient he should leave th^m n order to make way for it. // / go not away, m/S Crreat as the advantages were they derived from his sc>c.ety, they yet remained in a state of minority ;. the r views were contracted, their hearts full of earthly adhe- sions, and a degree of carnality and prejudice attended them, which It was the office of the Spirit only to remove l^rom his more ample and efiectual teachin- a great in^ crease cf knowledge was to accrue, to qualify them for their work of bearing witness to Christ, and 1 powerful energy to go forth, which was to render their ministry though in themselves so much inferior, far more success-' VOL. r. j[> p ■■s^' ■A 402 ON THE WOEK OP THE HOLY SPIRIT. ful than the personal ministry of our Lord. In conse- quenceof his^gency, the apostles were to become en- lightened and intrepid, and the world convmced / have mmv thing, to say to you, but ye cannot hear them mn> BTfvhmthe SpirU of truth is come he will had you ^nU alltZth. He will conmnce the world of sm, ofpghUmAS^ Z^and of judgem^iU Accordingly, after Lis descent wTfind the apostles strangely translormed : an unction Tfervour, a boldness, marked their character, to which they had hitherto been strangers; and such conviction attended their preaching, that in a short time a great part of the world sink under the weapons of their l^oly war- tare Nor is there any pretence hx alleging that this communication was confined to miraculous gifts, since it 'r^erted to be that Spirit which should abide m them for ever, and by which the church should be distinguished ZL the world. He is styled, the SpirU of truth, whcm. the w him to seal us to the day of redemp- 40.'^ hon; to put that mark and character upon us, wliich distinguishes the children of God, as well^ to afford a forefciste and an earnest of the future inheritance. And Aerely, saith an apostle, we know that we are of God, hy the Sptru which he hath given us. It is his office to sub- due the corruption of our nature, not by leaving us inac- hve spectators ot the combat, but by engagin| us to a determined resistance to every sinful propenlty, by teach- mg our hands to war, and our fingers to fight, so that the pctory shall be ours and the praise his To help the iZ firm of saints, who know not what to pray for as they oug/U by making intercession for them wUh groaninm which cannot he vuered, is an important branch of his th.fi 1 ^^T V^^^' ^^^''^^^ g^^^^ ^^^^ a glimpse of the fulness of God, that all-comprehending good ; and by excitmg a rehsh of the beauties of holinessf and the in- ettable pleasure which springs fi-om nearness to God, dis- av^nlh "" ^^ *^/ H^'""^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ P^J^r which availeth much. In short, as Christ is the way to the i^^i ull ^VT'^"^/""*^'^' ^^^^ *^« Spirit is the foun- tain of all the light and strength which enable us to walk m that way. Lest it should be suspected that in ascrib- ng so much to the agency of the Spirit, we diminish the obligations we owe to the Redeemer, it may not be im- proper to remark, that the tendency of what we have advanced rightly understood, will be just the contrary, since the Scriptures constantly remind us that the gih of t' ^^^ ^}T' !f *^.' ^"^'^ ^^ ^'« mediarion, ani the purchase of his death. It was his interposing as Em-^ »^nml God wuh us, to repair the breach betwixt man aad God that prevailed upon the Father to communicate the bpmt to such as beheve on him, and to intrust the whole agency of it to his hands. As the reward of his suffermgs, he ascended on high, and received ffifts for men ; of which, the right of bestowing the Spirit is the principal, that the Lord God might dwell among them. I he donation, m every instance, through the successive periods of the church, looks back to the death of the Re- deemer, as the root and principle whence it takes its rise and consequ'^ntly is calculated to enlarge our conception^ dd2 * \ k r '^T 404 ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 405 » of his office and character, as the copiousness »of the streams evinces the exuberance of the fountain. To him the Spirit was given above measure ; in him it resides as in an inexhaustible spring, to be imparted in the dispen- Scition of his gospel to every member of his mystical body, in pursuance of the purpose of his grace, and the ends of his death. It is hus Spirit : hence we read of the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus, not only by reason of the essential union wliich subsists between the persons of the Godhead, but because the right of bestowing it was as- certained to him in the covenant of redemption. 2. If we would wish to enjoy much of the light and iiit1u( nee of the Spirit, we must seek it by fervent prayer. Tlure are peculiar encouragements held out in the word ot God to this p^irpose. Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall he opened unto you. To illustrate the readiness of our heavenly Father to be- stow this blessing, our Lord borrows a comparison from the ins inct of parental affection, which prompts a parent to give with alacrity good things to his cliildren. He will not merely supply his wants, which benevolence might prompt him to do with respect to a stranger, but he will do it with feelings peculiar to the parental rela- tion, and will experience as much pleasure in conferring, as the child in receiving, his favours. It is thus with- our heavenly Father : he delights in exercising kindness to his children, and especially in promoting their spiritual welfare. He gives not merely with the liberality of a prince, but witii the ht art of a father. It is worth re- marking, that in relating the preceding discourse, while one evimgelist makes express mention of the Spirit, an- other speaks only of good things, intimating that the com- munications of the Spirit comprehend whatever is good. Other things may, or may not, be ultimately beneficial : they are either of a doubtful nature in themselves, or are rendered so by the propensity our cormption gives us to abuse them. But the influence of the Spirit, by its efficacy in subduing that corruption, must he invariably beneficial ; it is such an immediate emanation from God the fountain of blessedness, that it can never fail of being intrinsically, essentially, and eternally good. It is a].o deserving our attention, that the injunction of seekinffk by pmyer, is prefaced by a parabl'e constructed ZL. pose to tea^b us the propriety of urging our suit with^m- portiimty. In imploring other gifts (which Ve are^t liberty to do with submission), it is still a g^earpoTnt of duty to moderate our desires, and to be prepareTfor disappointment; because, as we have alread/remarked lc?tote ll' *^T;^T "^ ^^^^'^^^^ may n'eithert'- fn. " \ , S^^ryofGod, nor to our ultimate benefit- of thl'l ' ^"^^'7%^^'' ^' ^^^^^ f-^ ^ nian all the davs of this his mzn hfe ? ' But when we present our requests for a larger measure of his gr^e, we labour under no such uncertainty we may safely let forth all thellur^rid vehemence of our spirits, since our desires are fixed ^^^^^^^^ what IS the very knot and juncture, where the honour o 2ed" D.^' '"T'' '^ ^' ^"^^^^^ -- indissoTubly united. Desires after grace are, in fact, desires after God • and how IS It possible they can be too vehement or in' tense, when directed to such an object ? hTs ^Ldou^ presenc^ ,s not like the limited goocis of thi" ifrfiX^ to a particular crisis, or adapted to a special eWncv in a fluctuating scene of things ; it is alike sS to^aH times and seasons, the foo.i of soul., the propt Jod of man, under every aspect of providence, and even fhe ex- change of worlds. My soul, said D.lvid, pantJhalr God, yea. for the Iwiny God. My soul/olloMZ^n^ thse : thy rtght hand upJuyldeth nu. The most trnfne^ effusions of the Spirit we read of in scrip tre~o on^v afforded to prayer, but appear to have ITn Hace at the very time that exercise was performed. I^e de wK-1 J'l ""^^ ^^^^'' ^* '^' d'y -f Pen ecost was" while the disc.ples were with one accord in one place and after the imprisonmer.t of Peter and John, whj bemg dismissed, went to their own company. While Tu prayed, the pla.e r.here they r^ere osseLlIl^c^ZlT^n Ghost. Wh.n a new heart and a new spirit are promised n Lzekiel, I is ^^}^^\I will yH for th^ he inqJZT^^^ the house of Israel, to do it for them. ^ ^ ' 406 ON TlIE WORK OP THE HOLY SPIRIT. 407 3. Habitual dependence on divine influence is an im- portant duty. This may be considered as opposed to two things; first, to depending on ourselves, to the neglect of divine agency; next, to despondency and distrust. When the Holy Spirit has condescended to take the conduct of souls, it is unquestionably great presumption to enter upon duty in the same manner as if no such assistance were needed, or to be expected ; and the result will be as with Samson, who said, / will go forth and shake mysdf as in tirne past^ while he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. It is one thing to acknowledge a dependence on heavenly influ- ence in speculation, and another thing so to realise and to feel it as to say from the heart, / will go in the strength of the Lord God. A mere assent to this pro- position, that the Spirit must concur in the production of every good work, (an assent not easily withheld with- out rejecting the Scriptures,) falls very short of the practical homage due from feeble worms to so great an Agent ; and a most solemn and explicit acknowledgment of entire dependence, may reasonably be expected. When you engage in prayer, or in any other duty, en- deavour to enter upon it with a serious and deliberate recollection of your need of the Spirit. Let the con- sciousness of your weakness and insufficiency for every good work be a sentiment rendered familiar to your minds, and deeply impressed on your hearts. But while we recommend this, there is another ex- treme against which we think it our duty to guard you, and that is, a disposition to despondency and distrust. We are most ready to acknowledge that the assistance you need is most free and gratuitous, neither given to our deservings, nor flowing from any natuml connexion subsisting betwixt our endeavours and the exertion of diHne agency. The Spirit of God is a free Spirit ; and it is impossible to conceive how either faith or prayer should have an intrinsic efficacy in drawing down influ- ence from heaven. There is, liowever, a connexion estabUshed by divine vouchsafement, which entitles believers to expect, in the use of means, such measure* of gracious assistance as are requisite to sustain and sup- port them in their religious coiu^e. The Spirit is spoken of as the matter of promise to which every christian is encouraged to look : the promise is to you and to your children^ and to as many as the Lord your God shall call. Agreeable to this, it is represented as the express purpose of Christ's becoming a curse for us, that the pro- mise of the Spirit might come on the Gentile through faiih. The same expectation is justified by the Saviour's o^vn declaration, when on the last and great day of the feast he stood and cried. Whoever is athirst, let him come unto me and drink ; for he that believeth on me^ oiU of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, This^ says the evangelist, he spoke of the Spirit^ which they that believe on him should receive. The readiness of the Holy Ghost to communicate him- self to true believers, is also evinced by the tenour of evangelical precepts : he ye strong in the Lord^ and in tlie pmver of his might. To command a person to be stron^^ seems strange and unusual language, but is sufficiently explained when we reflect that a portion of spiritual power is ready to be communicated to those who duly seek it : he ye filled with the Spirit^ which is the exhor- tation of the same apostle, takes it for granted that a copious supply is at hand, sufficient to satiate the desires of the saints. We are at a loss to account for such pre- cepts, without supposing an established connexion be- twixt the condition of believers and the further commu- nication of divine influence. To the same purpose Paul speaks with apostolic authority, this I say., walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil tlie lusts of the flesh; and Jude inculcates the duty of praying in the Spirit, which would be strange if no assistance were to be obtained ; and as prayer is a duty of daily occurrence, the injunc- tion implies that it is ready to be imparted to christians, ^ not by fits and starts, or at distant intervals, but in a stated, regular course. For this reason, when we hear christians complaining of the habitual withdrawment of the divine presence, we are under the necessity of ascribing it to their own 408 ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 409 fault : not that we mean to deny there is much of sove- reignty in this affair, or that the Spirit, like t/ie wind^ hlnweth where it listeth. But it should be lemembend, we are now adverting to the situation of real believers, who are entitled to the promise ; and though it is pro- bable there is much of sovereignty exercised even with respect to them, we apprehend it rather concerns those influences which are conso'atory, than such as are sanc- tifying ; though th^Te is a degree of satisfaction inter- mingled with every exercise of genuine piety, yet it is manifest some influences of the Spirit tend moie imme- diately to comfort, others to purification. By some we are engaged in the fisied contemplation of olyects which exist out of ourselves, the perfections of God, the excel- lency of Christ, the admirable constitution of the gospel, accompanied with a delightful conviction of a personal interest in whatever comes under our view ; the natural fruit of which is joy unspeakable^ and fall of glory. By others, we are more immediately impressed with a last- ing sense of our extreme unworthiness, and made to mourn over remaining corruption, and the criminal de- fects inherent in our best services. In the midst of such exercises, it is possible hope may languish, and comfort be reduced to a low ebb, yet the divine life may be still advancing, and the soul growing in humility, deadness to the world, and the mortification of her own will, as the sap during winter retires to the root of the plant, ready to ascend and produce verdure and beauty on the return of spring. This is the will of God^ even our sanctijlcation ; and though he delights in comforting his people at proper seasons, he is much less intent on this than in promoting their spiritual improve- ment, to which, in this their probationary state, every thing is made subservient. Let us not then confound the decay of consolation with the decay of piety, nor imagine we can want the aids necessary to prevent the latter, unless we have forfited them by presumption, negligence, and sloth. Whenever christians sensibly decline in religion, they ought to charge themselves with the guilt of having grieved the Spirit ; they should take the alarm, repent and do their first works ; they are suffering under the rebukes of that paternal justice which God exercises in his o\vn family. Such a mea- sure of gracious assistance in the use of means, bein<' by the tenour of the new covenant ascertained to real christians, as is requisite for their comfortable walk with Grod, to find it withheld should engage them in deep searchings of heart; and make them fear lest a promise beinj left them of entering into rest, they should appear to come short of it. But this leads us to observe, in the L|| last place, that f ' 4. If we wish to enjoy the light of the Spirit, we must take care to maintain a deportment suited to the character of that divine agent. When the apostle ex- horts us not to grieve the Spirit of God, by which we are sealed to the day of redemption, it is forcibly implied that lie is susceptible of offence, and that to offend him in- volves heinous ingratitude and folly: ingratitude, for what a requital is this for being sealed to the day of redemption ! and folly, inasmuch as we may fitly say on this, as Paul did on a different occasion, IVho is he that maketh us glad, hut the same that is made sorry by us? Have we any other comforter when he is withdrawn ? Is there a single ray of light can visit us in his absence, or can we be safe for a moment without his guidance and support ? If the immense and infinite Spirit, by a mysterious condescension, deigns to undertake the con- duct of a worm, ought it not to yield the most implicit submission ? The appropriate duty owing to a faithful and experienced guide is a ready compliance ^vith his dictates ; and how much more may this be expected, when the disparity betwixt the parties in question is no less than infinite i The language of the Holy Ghost, in describing the manners of the ancient Israelites, is aw- fully monitory to professors of religion in every age; they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit, therefore he turned to be tJieir enemy, and fought against them. As we wish to avoid whatever is more curious than usefiil, we shall not stay to inquire precisely on what occasions, or to what extent, the Spirit is capable of being resisted : it may be sufficient to observe, it is evident from melan- choly experience, that it is very possible to neglect what 1 1 Il I 410 ON THE WORK OF is the obvious tendency of his motions, which is invari- ably to produce universal holiness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, jot/, peace, hng- suffering, goodness, meek- ness, gentleness, temperance, faith: whatever is contrary to these involves an opposition to the Spirit, and is di- rectly calculated to quench his sacred influence. From his descending on Christ in the form of a dove, as well as from many express declarations of scripture, we may with certainty conclude the indulgence of all the irascible and malignant passions to be peculiarly repugnant to his nature , and it is remarkable, that the injunction of not grieving the Holy Spirit is immedi- ately followed by a particular caution against cherisli- int a good num, when he feels a more than ordinary soft- ness of mind ; the frost of selfishness dissolves, and his heart flows forth in love to God and his feUow-creatures. How careful should we be to cherish such a frame, and to einbrace the opportmiity of subduing resentments, and of healing those sore wounds which it is scarcely pu^ible to avoid in passing through this unquiet worid. There is a holy skill in turning the several parts of christian experience to account, analogous to what the votaries of the world display in the improvement of every conjuncture from which it is possible to derive any emo- lument ; and though the end they propose is mean and contemptible, the steadiness with wliich they pursue it, and their dexterity in the choice of means, deserve imi- tation. In these respects they are wiser in their genera- tion tlian the children of light. Do not allow yourselves to indulge in religious sloth, or to give way to the solicitations of the tempter, from a confidence in the safety of your state, or in your spiritual immmiities as christians. The habitual prevalence of buch a disposition will afford a much stronger proof of 414 ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 41; insincerity than any arguments which can be adduced for the contrary ; and admitting your pretensions to piety to be ever so valid, a little reflection may convince you that a careless and negligent course will lay you open to the severest rebukes. You only have I known (says the Lord by the Prophet), amon^ all the families of the earthy therefore will I visit you for all your iniquities. Remember, dear brethren, we profess a peculiar rela- tion to God as his children, his witnesses, his people, liis temple ; the character of that glorious Being, and of his religion, will be contemplated by the world, chiefly through the medium of our spirit and conduct, which ought to display, as in a mirror, the virtues of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. It is strictly appropriate to the subject of our present meditations, to remind you that you are temples. For y«, says the apostle, are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall he my people. What purity, sanctity, and dignity may be expected in persons who bear such a character ! A christian should look upon himself as something sacred and devoted, so that what involves but an ordinary degree of criminality in others, in him partakes of the nature of sacrilege ; what is a breach of trust in others, is in him the profa- nation of a temple. Let us, dear brethren, watch and pray that nothing may be allowed a place in our hearts, that is not suitable to the residence of the holy and blessed God. Finally, having such great and precious promises^ dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all fiUhimss of jksh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord, * Having thus endeavoured to lay before you the most likely methods of obtaming the communications of the Spirit, as well as to show the great importance of this ♦ When Mr. Hall consented to the publication of this CircMlar Letter as a Tract, he annexed a few sentences of pointed application. I hese escaped the notice of the Editor, in the first edition, but are BOW tMibjoiued. gift, we might now dismiss the subject, were we not de- Stfous of first guarding you against a dangerous mistake. Ihe mistake to which we refer, is that of taking convic- tion for conversion, certain impressions of the guilt and danger of sin made upon the conscience, for the saving operations of the Spirit. These convictions are impor- tant : It IS highly desirable and necessary to have a settled persuasion of the established connexion betwixt sin and punishment, and as a natural consequence to feel uneasi- ness and alarm, in proportion as we have reason to be- heve our sins are yet unpardoned. Until we see our- selves lost, we shall never truly come to Christ for salva- tion. Until we feel our malady, and dread its conse- quences, we shall never have recourse to the Physician, or be willing to comply with his prescription. We adjure you, therefore, as you value your eternal interests, not ttf trifle with convictions, or to endeavour to wear off reU- gious concern and uneasiness, by the vanities of life, and the stupefactions of pleasure. Regard and cherish them as the sacred visitations of heaven ; look upon them as mercifully designed to rouse and awaken you from a fatal stupor. They are often the harbingers of mercy. Wherever the Spirit of God is in reahty, he will con- vince of sin ; but conviction is produced in thousands who stiU remam destitute of saving grace.— That influ- ence of the Spu-it by which a change of heart is efiected, is essentially difierent from the distress and alarm which may be resolved into the exercise of mere natural con- science. For a man to be convinced that he is a sinner, and to tremble at the apprehension of wrath to come, is certainly something very distinct from becoming a new creature. Real christians have not only perceived their danger, but have fled for refuge ; have not only been less or more troubled with a sense of guilt, but, in conse- quence of coming to Christ, have found rest for their souls. On a review of your past life, you perceive in- numerable transgressions, it may be, and are perfectly convinced that you have been " walking according to the course of this worid, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the n 416 ON TOE WORK OP THE nOLY SPIRIT. 417 children of disobedience.- So far it is well : your ap- prehensions are just, and well founded ; and your situa- tion more replete with danger than you have ever con- ceived it to be. Do not however rest here. Let the views you entertain excite you the more earnestly to press into the kingdom of God. Let them engage you to a more diligent use of the means of grace, and, above all, let them lead you to fix your hope and trust on the Redeemer, whose blood alone can cleanse you from all sin, and whose intercession is able to save " to the utter- most all that come unto God by him." Heb. vii. 25. Apply to him with humble faith and ardent prayer, and thouirh you may be tt^mpted to cherish doubts of the ex- tent of his power and grace, say with him of old, " Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief." Lay aside, as far as possible, every other concern ; postpone your attention to every other object, till you have reason to believe you have obtained mercy, and are renewed in the spirit of your mind. Address the throne of grace with increasing importunity, remembering who hath said, " Ask, and ye shtdl receive ; seek, and ye shall find." " Him that Cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." In all your addresses to God, make use of the name and intercession of Christ, plead the efficacy of his blood, and the en- couragement he hath afforded sinners in his gospel to re- turn to God. Keep a continual watch over your words, thoughts, and actions : keep your heart with all diligence. Guard, with the utmost care, against levity and sloth, two of the most dangerous snares that can entangle the souls of men. If you ask how you may know whether you are par- takers of the special grace of God ? we reply. This will be best ascertained by its fruits. When you feel a fiixed hatred of sin, an intense thirst after holiness and perfec- tion, and a delight in the word and ways of God, when you are habitually disposed to dwell on the thoughts of Christ and heaven, when the Saviour appears unspeak- ably precious, as the pearl of great price, and you are habitually ready to part with every thing for his sake, you may be certain that you are born of God. These are the fruits of the Spirit, which sufficiently demonstrate the influence and presence of that blessed Agent. Till you have experienced effects of this kind, you are in a wretched state, though surrounded with all the brightest earthly prospects, because you are estranged from God, and exposea to his eternal wrath and displeasure. VOL. L £JS ON HEARING THE WOiStO : THIt CIRCULAR LETTER rXOM THK MINISTERS AND MESSENGERS OF THE BAPTIOT CHURCHES OK THK Northamptonshire 9sdortatton. [Wrhtiw IK 1C13,] 2 B 3 ON HEARING THE WORD. Dear Brethren, The subject on which we addressed you, at our last anniversary, was the proper method of Reading the Word of God ; as a natural sequel to which, we beg leave, on the present occasion, to suggest a few hints of advice respecting the duty of Hearing it. Preaching is an ordinance of God not entirely confined to the christian dispensation. From the Old Testament history, it appears that Ezra, upon the return of the Jews from Babylon, assembled them in the streets of Jeru- salem, and ascending a stage, or pulpit, for the advantage of being better seen and heard, read the law in the ears of the people, and gave the interpretation thereof. It is j)robable that he did little more than, agreeable to the natural import of the phrase interpretation^ translate, pa- ragraph by paragraph, the Hebrew original into the Syriac, or Chaldee, which had become, during a captivity of forty years, the vernacular language of the Jews. From that time, however, synagogues were erected in all the cities throughout Judea, and regular officers appointed to read, first the Pentateuch, and, after the persecution by An- tiochus, the Prophets, and explain them in ample para- phrases or comments. Such was the origin of preaching. When the fulness of time was come for God, in his in- finite mercy, to send forth his Son, his appearance was first announced by John's proclaiming in the wilderness. Prepare ye the voay of the Lord; which, after a short time, was succeeded by the personal ministry of Christ and his apostles, with whom the dispensation of the gospel, properly speaking, commenced. After his resur- 422 ON HEARING THE WORD. ON HEARING THE WORD. 423 rection, our Lord extended the commission of the apostles to all nations, saying, Go and teach all natiom, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; or, as you have it in Mark, Go ye inlo all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Upon the formation of christian churches, an order of men was appointed in each society for the express pur- pose of preaching the Word and administering the sacra- ments : wherein the wisdom and kindness of the Great Head of the church is emmently conspicuous ; for such are the necessary avocations of life, so Httle leisure most christians possess for the acquisition of knowledge, and such the deficiency of many in the elementary parts of education, that they will always, under God, he chiefly indebted to this appointment for any extensive acquaint- ance with divine truth. The privilege of reading the Scriptures in our native language is of mestimable value ; but, were it much more universal than it is, it would not supersede the necessity of hearing the Word : for there are not only difficulties in the Bible which require to be elucidated, and seeming contradictions to be solved, but the living voice of a preacher is admirably adapted to awaken attention, and to excite an interest, as well as to apply the general truths of revelation to the various cases of christian experience, and the regulation of human conduct. When an impoitant subject is presented to an audience, with an ample illustration of its several parts, its practical improvement enforced, and its relation to the conscience and the heart insisted upon with serious- ness, copiousness, and fervour, it is adapted, in the na- ture of things, to produce a more deep and lasting im- pression than can usually be expected from reading. He who knows how forcible are right words, and how apt man is to be moved by man, has consulted the constitu- tion of our frame, by appointing an order of men, whose office it is to address their fellow-creatures on their eter- nal concerns. Strong feeling is naturally contagious ; and if, as the Wise Man o )8erves, at iron sharpeneih iron, to doth the countenance of a man hit friend ; the com* bined effect of countenance, gesture, and voice, accom- panying a powerful appeal to the understanding and the heart, on subjects of everlasting moment, can scarcely fail of being great. But, independently of the natural tendency of the christian ministry to promote spiritual improvement, it derives a peculiar efficacy from its being a divine ap- pointment. It is not merely a natural, it is also an in- ttituted means of good ; and whatever God appoints, by special authority, he graciously engages to bless, provided it be attended to with right dispositions, and from right motives. The means of grace are, as the words import, the consecrated channels in which his spiritual mercies flow ; and, as the communication of spiritual blessings always implies an exertion of divine power, so these be- come the stated instrument, or occasion of its exercise. These are emphatically his ways, in which he is wont to walk with his people. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways* Though the Spirit bloweth wheie it listeth, where the gospel is not preached the effects of his ope- ration are rarely to be discerned, and we witness few or no indications of a renewed character out of the bounds of Christendom. From the history of religion, in all ages, it appears that the Spirit is accustomed to follow in the footsteps of his revealed Word ; and that, wher- ever his work lies, he prepares his way by first commu- nicating the Oracles of God. When he proposed to take out a people for his name from among the Gentiles, the first step he took was to commission the apostles to preach the gospel to every creature. To this St. Paul most solemnly directs our attention, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, as the grand instrument of human salva- tion : — When, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased him,, by the foolishness of preach- ing, to save them thai believe. So intimate by divine ap- pointment, is the connexion betwixt the salvation of man and the ministry of the Word, that the method of salva- tion, under the gospel, derives from the latter its distin- guishing appellation, being denominated the hearing o) * Isaiah kiv. 5. 424 ON HEARINa THE WORD. fmth, St. Jude, in like manner, asserts it to be tlie in strumental cause of our regeneration. Of hit onm mill legat he us^ by the Word of Truth. And to the same pur- pose St. Peter reminds the christians, whom he was ad- dressing, that they mere horriy not of corruptible seed^ but of mcorruptiUe^ by the word of God ; which word, he adds, it by the gospel preached unto you. The written Word, we are told, indeed, from the highest authority, is able to make us wise unto salration, and many pleasing instances of its saving efficacy might be produced to confirm thii position ; but, as the gospel was preached before it wat penned, it is certain that most of the passages which speak on this subject are to be referred to its public ministry, and that, in subsequent ages, Gh)d has put a distinguishing honour upon it, by employing it as the principal means of accomplishing his saving purposes. There is every reason to suppose that the far greater part of those who have been truly sanctified and enlightened, will ascribe the change they have experienced principally to the hearing of faith. What a powerful motive results from thence to take heed how we hear ! If we feel any concern for a share in the great salvation, how careful should we be not to neglect the principal means of obtaining it ! If there be a class from whom the spiritual beauty and glory of the gospel remain concealed, it consists of a description of persons the very mention of whom ought to make us tremble. If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Let no man allow himself to neglect the hearing of the Word, or hear it in a careless or irreverent man- ner, under the pretence of his having an opportunity of reading it in private ; since the pubhc ministry possesses, with respect to its tendency to excite the attention and interest the heart, many unquestionable advantages. Besides, such a pretence will generally be found to be hollow and disingenuous. li you observe a person habitually inattentive under an awakening, searching ministry, follow him into his retirement, and, it may be confidently predicted, you will seldom see the Bible in his hands; or, if he oyercome his aversion to religion so I ■ ■ ■■ ON HEARING THE WORD. 425 for as occasionally to peruse a chapter, it will be in the siwne spirit in which he hears : he will satisfy himself with having completed his task, and straightway go his way and forget what manner of man lie was. If the gene- ral course of the world were as favourdble to religion as it is the contrary ; if an intercourse with mankind were a school of piety ; the state of such persons would be less hopeless, and there would be a greater probability of their being gained without the Word ; but while every thing around us conspires to render the mind earthly and sensual, and the world is continually moulding and transfoi-ming its votaries, the situation of such as attend the means of grace in a careless manner is unspeakably dangerous, since they are continually exposing themselves to influences which corrupt, while they render themselves inaccessible to such as are of a salutary operation. What can be expected but the death of that patient who takes a course which is continually inflaming his disease, while he despises and neglects the remedy ? When we see men attentive under the ministry of the Word, and evi- dently anxious to comprehend its truths, we cannot but entertain hopes of their salvation ; for ^' faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." It is ob- served of the Jews at Berea, that they were more noble than those of Thessalonica, because they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things rcere so ; and the result was such as might be expected — a great multitude of them believed. Candid and attentive hearers place themselves, so to speak, in the way of the Spirit : while those who cannot be prevailed upon to give it serious attention may most justly be said to pmt the kingdom of God far from them, and judge themselves unworthy ofeter- nal life. To such the awfiil threatenings recorded in the Proverbs are most applicable : — Because I have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cmneth. In such cases, the ministers of the gospel can do little more, than like Jeremiah, retire to weep in secret placus for their pride. I ^ V II M 426 ON HEARING THE WORD. But as we, who are assembled on the present occasion, consist of ministers and delegates from a number of asso- ciated churches, which we consider oiu^elves as address- ing in these our circular epistles, we shall confine our- selves, in our subsequent remarks, to such heads of advice on the duty of hearing the Word, as are appropriate to the character of professing christians. We will consider ourselves as addressing such, and such only, as must be supposed, in a judgement of charity, to have an experi- mental acquaintance with divine truth. First. Previous to your entering into the house of God, seek a prepared heart, and implore the blessing of God on the ministry of his Word. It may be presumed that no real christian will neglect to preface his at- tendance on social worship with secret prayer. But let the acquisition of a devout and serious frame, freed from the cares, vanities, and pollutions of the world, accompanied with earnest desires after God, and the communications of his grace, form a principal subject of your private devotions. Forget not to implore a blessing on the public ministry, that it may accom- plish in yourselves, and to others, the great purposes it is designed to answer; and that those measures of assistance may be aflTorded to your ministers which shall replenish them with light, love, and liberty, that they may speak the mystery of the gospel as it ought to be spoken. Pastors and people would both derive eminent advantages from such a practice ; they, in their capacity of exhibiting, you, in your preparation for receiving, the mysteries of the gospel. As the duties of the closet have the happiest tendency, by solemnizing and elevating the mind, to prepare for those of the sanc- tuary, so the conviction of your having borne your minis- ter on your heart before the throne of grace would, apart from every^ other consideration, dispose him to address you vrith augmented zeal and tenderness. We should consider it as such a token for good, as well as such an unequivocal proof of your attachment, as would greatly animate and support us under all our discouragements. Secondly. Establish in jrour minds the highest reve^ ON HEARING THE WORD. 427 rence and esteem of the g^lorious gospel. Recollect the miracles wrought to confirm it ; the sanction, the awful sanction, by which a due reception of it is enforced, and the infinite value of that blood by which its blessings were ratified and procured. Recollect that on its ac- ceptance or rejection, on the effects wliich it produces on the heart and life, depends our state for eternity; since there is no other mean devised for our recovery, no other name given under heaven by which we can be saved, besides that which it exhibits. It is not merely the incorruptible seed of regeneration ; it is also the mould in which our souls must be cast, agreeable to the apostle's beautiful metaphor: — You have obeyed from the Jieart that form (or mould) of doctrine into which ye were delivered. In order to our bearing the image of Christ, who is the firstborn among many bre- thren, it is necessary to receive its impress in every j)art ; nor is there any thing in us what it ought to be, any thing ti-uly excellent, but in proportion to its conformity to that pattern. Its operation is not to be confined to time or place ; it is the very element in which the christian is appointed to live, and to receive continual accessions of spiritual strength and purity, until he is presented faultless in the presence of the divine glory. The more you esteem the gospel, the more will you be attached to that ministry in which its doctrines are developed, and its duties explained and inculcated ; because, in the present state of the world, it is the chief, though not the only means, of possess- ing yourselves of its advantages. To tremble at God's Word is also mentioned as one of the most essential features in the character of him to whom God will look with approbation. Thirdly. Hear the Word with attention. If you are convinced of the justice of the preceding remarks, nothing further is requisite to convince you of the pro- priety of this advice, since they all combine to enforce it. We would only remark, in general, that the know- ledge derived from a discourse depends entirely upon attention, in exact proportion to which will be the pro- I II \ I 428 ON HEARING THE WORD. gress made by a mind of a giren capacity Not to listen with attention is the same thing as to have ears which hear not, and eyes which see not. While you are hearing, whatever trains of thought of a foreign and extraneous nature obtrude themselves, should be resolutely repelled. In the power of fixing the atten- tion, the most precious of the intellectual habits, man- kind differ greatly; but every man possesses some, and It will increase the more it is exerted. He who exer- cises no discipline over himself in this respect, acquires such a volatility of mind, such a vagrancy of imagina- tiouy as dooms him to be the sport of every mental vanity: it is impossible such a man should attain to tnie wisdom. If we cultivate, on the contrary, a habit of attention, it will become natural, thought will strike Its roots deep, and we shall, by degrees, experience no difficulty m following the track of the longest connected discourse. As we find it easy to attend to what interests the heart, and the thoughts naturally follow the course of the affections, the best antidote to habitual inatten- tion to religious instruction is the love of the truth. " Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly," and to hear it attentively will be a pleasure, not a task. The practice of sleeping in places of worship, a prac- tice we believe not prevalent in any other places of pub- lic resort, is not only a gross violation of the advice we are giving, but most distressing to ministers, and most disgraceful to those who indulge it. If the apostle in- dignantly inquires of the Corinthians whether they had not houses to eat and drink in, may we not, with equal propriety, ask those who indulge in this practice, whether they have not beds to sleep in, that they convert the house of God into a dormitory ? A little self-denial, a very gentle restraint on the appetite, would, in most cases, put a stop to this abomination ; and with what propriety can he pretend to desire the sincere milk of the Word, who cannot be prevailed upon, one day out of seven, to refrain from the glutting which absolutely dis- qualifies him for receiving it ? Fourthly. Hear the Word of God with impartiality. ON HEARINO THE WOHD. 42S> To be paitial in the law was a crime formerly charged upon the Jewish priests ; nor is it less sinful in the pro- fessors of Christianity. There is a class of hearers who have their favourite topics, to which they are so immo- derately attached, that they are offended if they are not brought forward on all occasions ; while there are others, of at least equal importance, which they can seldom be prevailed upon to listen to with patience. Some are never pleased but with doctrinal statements ; they are in raptures while the preacher is insisting on the doctrines of grace, and tlie privileges of Gt)d's people ; but when he proceeds to inculcate the practical improvement of these doctrines, and the necessity of adorning the profes- sion of them by the virtues of a holy life, their counte- nances fall, and they make no secret of their disgust. Others are all for practical preaching, while they have no relish for that truth which can alone sanctify the heart. But as it is a symptom of a diseased state of body to be able to relish only one sort of food, it is not less of the mind to have a taste for only one sort of instruction. It is difficult to suppose that such persons love the Word of (rod, as the Word of God ; for, if they did, every part of it, in its due proportion, and its proper place, would be acceptable. It is possible, in consequence of the various exigencies of the christian life, that there may be sea- sons to which some views of divine truth may be peculi- arly suited, and on that account heard with superior advantage and delight ; but this is perfectly consistent with an impartial attachment to the whole of revelation. But to feel an habitual distaste to instruction, the most solid and scriptural, unless it be confined to a few fa- vourite topics, is an infallible indication of a wrong state of mind. It is only by 3rielding the soul to the impres- sion of every divine commimication and discovery, that the several graces which enter into the composition of the new creature are nourished and sustained. As the per- fection of the christian system results from the symmetry of its several parts, in which there is nothing redundant, nothing disproportioned, and nothing defective ; so the beauty of the christian character consists in its exhibiting 430 ON HEARING THB WORD. an adequate impress and representation of the whole If there be any particular branch of the Word of Grod to which we are habitually indisposed, we may generally conclude that is precisely the part which we most need ; and, instead of indulging our distaste, we ought seriously to set ourselves to correct the mental disease which has given occasion to it. In some instances, the partiality to certain views of truth, to the exclusion of others of which we are com- plaining, may arise, not so much from mond disorder, as from a deficiency of religious knowledge, and that con- traction of mind which is its usual consequence. We would earnestly exhort persons of this description not to make themselves tbe standard, nor attempt to confine their ministers to the first principles of the Oracles of God. There are in most assemblies some who are capable of digesting strong meat, whose improvement ought to be consulted ; and it behoves such as are not, instead of abridging the provisions of the family, to endeavour to enlarge their knowledge, and extend their inquiries. A christian minister is compared by our Ix>rd to an householder, who brings out of his treasure things new and old. Fifthly. Hear the Word with constant self-applica- tion. Hear not for others, but for yourselves. What should we think of a person who, after accepting an invitation to a feast, and taking his place at the table, instead of partaking of the repast, amused himself with speculating on the nature of the provisions, or the man- ner in which they were prepared, and their adaptation to the temperament of the several guests, without tasting a single article ? Such, however, is the conduct of those who hear the Word without applying it to themselves, or considering the aspect it bears on their individual character. Go to the house of God with a serious ex- pectation and desire of meeting with something suited to your particular state; something that shall lay the axe to the root of your corruptions ; mortify your easily - besetting sin, and confirm the graces in which you are most deficient. A Uttle attention will be sufficient to V ON HEARING THE WORD. 431 give you that insight into your character which will teach what you need ; what the peculiar temptations to which you are exposed, and on what account you feel most sname and humiliation before God. Every one may know, if he pleases, the plague of his own heart. Keep your eye upon it while you are hearing, and eagerly lay hold upon what is best adapted to heal and correct it. Remember that rehgion is a personal thing, an individual concern ; for every one of us must give an account of himself to God, and every man bear his own burden. Is not my word as afire,, saith the Lord, and as a hammer thai hreaJceth the rock in pieces ? If such be its power and efficacy, lay your hearts open to it, and expose them fully to the stroke of the hammer, and the action of the fire. Do not imagine, because you are tolerably well acquainted with the system of the gospel, that you have therefore nothing to learn ; and that your only obligation to attend its ministry arises from the necessity of setting an example. It is probable your knowledge is much more limited than you suppose ; but if it be not, it is a great mistake to imagine the only advantage derived from hearing is the acquisition of new truths. There is a spiritual perception, infinitely more important than the knowledge which is merely speculative. The latter is at most but a means to the former, and this perception is not confined to new pro- positions. It is frequently, nay, most frequently, at- tached to truths already known; and, when they are faithfully and affectionately exhibited, they are the principal means of calling into action, and strengthening the habits of internal grace. Love, joy, humility, hea- venly-mindedness, godly sorrow for sin, and holy reso- lutions against it, are not promoted so much by novel speculations, as by placing in a just and affecting light the acknowledged truths of the gospel, and thereby stir- ring up the mind by way of remembrance. Whilst I am in this tabernacle^ said Peter, / will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye kmno them^ and are established in the present truth. We ap- peal to the experience of every real christian, whethtr r i f 432 ON HEABINU rfi£ WORD. the sweetest and most profitable seasons he has enjoyed have not been those in which he is conscious of having learned no new truth, stricTtlj speaking, but was indulged with spiritual and transforming views of the plain, un- questionable discoveries of the gospel As the Word of God is the food of souls, so it corresponds to that cha- racter in this respect among others — that the strength and refreshment it imparts depend not upon its noveltj, but upon the nutritious properties it possesses. It is a sickly appetite only which craves incessant variety. SictAly. Hear with candour. The indulgence of a nice and fastidious taste is as adverse to the improvement of the hearer as it is to the comfort of the minister. Con- wdering the variety of oiur avocations, the necessity we are under of addressing you in all states of mind, and sometimes on the most unexpected occasions, if we could not rely on your candour, our situation would be scarcely tolerable. Where the general tendency of a discourse is good, and the instruction delivered is weighty and solid, it is the part of candour to overlook imperfections in the composition, manner, or elocution of the speaker; imi- tating, in this respect, the example of the Galatians, of whom Paul testifies that they did not despise his temp- tation, which was in the flesh — some unhappy peculiarity in his speech or countenance, we may suppose, which exposed him to the derision of the unfeeling. The Lord, by the mouth of Isaiah, severely censures such as make a fium an offender for a foord, a fault too prevalent in many of our churches, especially among such as are the least informed and judicious; for the disposition to sit in judgement upon the orthodoxy of ministers is usually in an inverse proportion to the ability. Be not hasty in concluding that a preacher is erroneous because he may chance to use a word, or a phrase, not exactly suited to your taste and comprehension. It is very possible the idea it is intended to convey, may perfectly accord with your own sentiments ; but, if it should not, it is equally possible the propriety of it may be vindicated by consi- derations with which you arc not acquainted. Be not many mattert, many teachers, saith St. James, knoreing ON HEARING THE WORD. 43;^ f'e shall receive the greater condemnation. Hear the word of God less in the spirit of judges than of those who shall be judged by it. If you are not conscious of your need of religious instruction, why elect pastors and teachers for that purpose ? but, if ye are, how inconsistent is it to indulge that spirit of cavil and censure which can have no other effect than to deter your ministers from the faithful discharge of their office, from declaring the whole counsel of God ! In most dissenting congregations, there are a few persons who value themselves on their skill in detecting the unsoundness of ministers ; and who, when they hear a stranger, attend less with a view to spiritual improvement than to pdss their verdict, which they ex- pect shall be received as decisive. It is almost unneces- sary to add, that they usually consist of the most ignorant, conceited, and irreligious part of the society. Such a disposition should, as much as possible, be discouraged and suppressed. Receive with meekness the engrafted Word., which is able to save your souls. Despise not men of plain talents, who preach the truth, and appear to have your eternal welfare at heart. If you choose to converse with your fellow- christians on what you have been hearing, a practice which, if rightly conducted, may be very edifying, let your conversation turn more upon the tendency, the spiritual beauty and glory, of ihose great things of God which have engaged your attention, than on the merit of the preacher. We may readily suppose that Cornelius and his friends, after hearing Peter, employed very few words in discussing the oratorical talents of that great apostle ; any more than the three thousand, who at the day of Pentecost were pricked to the heart : their minds were too much occupied by the momentous truths they had been listening to, to leave room for such reflections. Yet this is the only kind of religious conversation (if it deserve the appellation) in which too many professors engage. '* Give me (says the incomparable t enelon) the preacher who imbues ray mind with such a love of the Word of God, as makes rae desirous of hearing it from any mouth." VOL. I. F F f 434 ON HEARING THE WORD. ON HEARING THE WORD. 435 When your ministers are exposing a particular vice, and endeavouring to deter from it by the motives which reason and revelation supply, guard against a suspicion of their being personal. That they ought not to be so we readily admit ; that is, that they ought not to descend to such a minute specification of circiunstances, as shall necessarily direct the attention to one or more individuals : but if they are not at liberty to point their arrows against particular vices among them, or are expected, lest they should wound, to make a courteous apology, by assuring the audience of their hope and conviction that none among them are implicated, they had better seal up their lips in perpetual silfSice. It is a most indispensable part of our ofl&ce to warn sinners of every description ; and, that we may " not beat the air," to attack particular sins, as well as sin in the abstract ; and if, ^vithout our intend- ing it, an individual suspects he is personally ainied at, he merely bears an in voluntary testimony to our fidelity and skill. Seventhly. Hear the Word with a sincere resolution of obeying it. If ye know these things, said our Lord, happy are ye if ye do them,-^He that heareth tltese sayings of mine, and doeth them, 1 will liken him to a man whx> buiU his house upon a.rock. To be a forgetful hearer of the AVord, and not a doer, is to forfeit all the advantages of the Christian dispensation, which is imparted solely with a view to practice. The doctrme of faith is published wirh a design to produce the obedience of faith in all nations. The doctrine of repentance is nothing more or less than the command of God, that all men every where should repent If we are reminded that he who in timss past spoke to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, it is that we may be ad- monished not to refuse him that speaketh. If we are taught the supreme dignity and exaltation of Christ as a Mediator, it is that every knee may bow, and every tongue cmfess that he is Lord. If the apostles, having the mind of Christ, faithfully imparted it, it was that the same mind may be in us, to purify our passions, and regulate our conduct We can scarcely imagine a greater imperti- nence than to hear the Word with apparent seriousness, without intending to comply with its directions. It is a solemn mockery, concealing, under an air of reverence and submission, a determination to rebel, and, in the lan- guage of the prophet, a heart bent on backsliding. To suppose the Supreme Being pleased with such a mode of attendance, is to impute to him a conduct which it would be an insult to ascribe to a fellow-creature ; for who, but the weakest of mortals, under the character of a master or a sovereign, would be gratified with the profound and respectful attention with which his commands were heard, while there existed a fixed resolution not to obey ? Re- member, dear brethren, the practical tendency of every Christian doctrine : remember that the ministry of the gospel is the appointed instrument of forming the spirits of men to faith and obedience ; and that, consequently, the utmost attention and assiduity in hearing it is fruit- less and unavailing, which fails to produce that effect Finally. Be careful, after you have heard the Word, to retain and perpetuate its impressions. Meditate, retire, and digest it in your thoughts ; turn it into prayer ; in a word, spare no pains to fasten it upon your hearts. You have read, dear brethren, of those to whom the gospel was preached, as well as to us, but the Word did not profit tJiem, not being mixed with faith in them tliat Jieard it. Endea- vour to exert upon it distinct and vigorous acts of faith, and thereby to mingle and incorporate it with all the powers of the mind, and all the springs of action. But this you can never accomplish without deep and serious reflection ; for want of which it is too often left loose and exposed, like uncovered seed, which the fowls of heaven easily pick up and devour. Then cometh that wicked one, says our Lord, and taketh it out of his heart, and he be- cometh unfruitful. How many hearers, by engaging in worldly conversation, or giving way to a vain and unpro- fitable train of thought, when they leave the sanctuary, lose the impressions they had received, instead of con- ducting themselves like persons who have just been put in possession of a treasure which they are anxious to se- cure from depredation ! If Satan watches for an oppor- 436 ON HEARING THE WORD. tunit V of taking the Word out of our hearts, what renmins hut that we oppose vigilance to vigi ance, and effort to effort ? and since the prize contended for, hy the power* of darkness, is our souls, what a melancholy reflection it will be if the disinterested malice of our enemies renders them Reliant and active in seeking their destruction, while we are careless and negligent m seeking their sa - vation ! Satan, conscious that the W ord of God is capable of elevating us to that pinnacle of happmess whence he fell, contemplates its success with alarm, aiul spares no artifice or stratagem, which his capacious mteUect can suggest, to obstruct its progress ; and if we, by our cnminal nelgence, turn his ally against ourselves, we shall be gi^lty of that prodig)- of folly and infotuation which i« equally condemned by the councils ol heaven and the machinations of hell. END OP VOL. 1. ^i; HAODOJI. BE0TI15M. AND CO-, PRINT1R8, CA8TL1 8TRB»T. nSSBTHT. 1 I • // 0032l46lif3 / / ^i^^m Wvmmswm^mwmim: - -*:«i*,:'»*-tt >>.*,-*?.--'• r ' ;(;. H, ■ !>' i«. 1 J -t •» ; 4: t" 1' ' •- (• ) i< , l!3l !«**l m iS- *^- iii^^ li :?X ^^^ Ic- p|»a*^f';l^roH-«sit-.M/T'i-! VOLUME 2 1858 Mi t I '-5-, n 1-*!^ ite)»' p»lil im .rtr i '&• f i^u i^- ml 1** I hQ-^SttJ' i jS^j. 3»fe' -lie 'wH lis IHl. Ml!*' « SI -sir il 1 i * ■* , * 1 :■■''! ? , "" ; . '^S I m 1*1 wm: IliillllM (iiWlPiKrJin *li" Hf ^E - il i-a s ■^' ^ S!,> 3. ' ^ i :*|s«Sife|s#»^?!f?^*».:.s»t'«-fiy««^^*«^^ •- -? f,.i^^*strf *«?Tf7?^tH!^^^ Class 240 BoolcX^ Columbia College Library g Madison Av. and 49th St. New York. BOUGHT, MAY 6, 1887, FROM THE LIBRARY OF CHARLES SHORT, M.A., LL.D, Professor of Latin in Columbia College 1868 to his death, 1886. V This book is due two weeks from the last date stamped below, and if not returned at or before that time a fine of five cents a day will be incurred. AUG 14 t 1934 OS. .s. EN". ) THE WORKS ov ROBERT HALL, A.M. WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE, AND A CEITICAL ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTEE AND WEITIN08. Originally published in Six Volnmes, 8vo. ONDIK THI SVnUMTSNSBNCX OF OLINTHUS GREGORY, LL.D., F.R.AS. LATl PROFESSOB OF HATBEK1TIC8 IK THE BOTAL MIUTABT ACADEMY. VOL. II. I I* A^ { SERMONS, CHARGES, AND REVIEWS. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1854. I CONTENTS OF VOL. II. SERMONS AND CHARGES. Modern Infidelity Considered Preface Note by the Editor • Sermon . • Note . • Page 1 3 . 9 . 13 . 59 J. UADOOM AJiB SOM, PftlSTBBS, CASTLE STKBET, ri.NSBtRI. Reflections on War , Preface . . • . Sermon . • • ■ Account of the Cambridge Benevole&t Society TiiE Sentiments proper to the Present Crisis Advertisement . . . Preface to the Second Edition Sermon . . • . . 61 . 63 . 65 . 91 . 95 . 97 . 98 . 103 Th2 Advantages of Knowledge to the Lower Classes . 145 Advertisement . . • . .147 Sermon . . •• . . .149 On the DisoouRAGE.MtNTs and Support* of the CHRunAN Minister . , , , , 1G5 Preface . . .... 167 Discourse . . . • . .171 An A.r.uRK5B to the Rev. Eustace Carey, on his Designation A6 A Christian Mis ionary to Indu . . 203 o ^'^ r> i i ?:: O \J J CONTENTS. ARTICLES FROM THE ECLECTIC REVIIW. Foster's Essays •••••• 235 Custance on the Constitution • • • . 259 Zed without Innovation . • • • • 266 Gisborne's Sermons ••§•«. 321 Gregory's Letters •••••. 334 Eelsham's Memoirs of Lindsey • • '• • 865 Birt on Popery • • • • • 301 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED WITH RESPECT TO ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY : IK A SERMON, TREACHED AT THE BAPTIST MEETING, CAMBRIDGE, IN NOVEMBBR, 1799. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Sunt qui in fortunae jam casibus omnia ponant, Et nuilo credant mundam rectore moveri, Natura volveute vices et lucis et anni ; Atiiue ideo iptrepidi quaccunqae altaria tangunt. St Paul. /tw. VOL. II. B PREFACE. The author knows not whether it he necessary to apologize for the extraordinary length of this sermon, which so much exceeds the usual limits of puhlic dis- courses ; for it is only for the reader to conceive (hy a fiction of the imagination, if he pleases so to consider it) that the patience of his audience indulged him with their attention during its delivery. The fact is, not heing in the hahit of writing his sermons, this discourse was not committed to paper till after it was delivered : so that the phraseology may probably vary, and the hulk he somewhat extended : hut the substance is cer- tainly retained. He must crave the indulgence of the religious public, for having blended so little theology Avith it. He is fully aware that the chief attention of a christian minis- ter should be occupied in explaining the doctrines, and enforcing the duties, of genuine Christianity. Nor is he chargeable, he hopes, in the exercise of his public func- tions, with any remarkable deviation from this rule of conduct: yet he is equally convinced, excursions inta, B 2 4 PREFACE. other 'topics are sometimes both lawful and necessary. The yersatility of error demands a correspondent variety in the methods of defending truth: and from whom have the public more right to expect its defence, in oppo- sition to the encroachments of error and infidelity, than from those who profess to devote their studies and their lives to the advancement of virtue and religion ? Accord- ingly, a multitude of publications on these subjects, equally powerful in argument, and impressive in manner, have issued from divines of different persuasions, which must be allowed to have done the utmost honour to the clerical profession. The most luminous statements of the evidences of Christianity, on historical grounds, have been made ; the petulant cavils of infidels satisfactorily refuted; and their ignorance, if not put to shame, at least amply exposed : so that revelation, as far as truth and reason can prevail, is on all sides triumphant. There is one point of view, however, in which the respective systems remain to be examined, which, though hitherto little considered, is forced upon our attention by the present conduct of our adversaries ; that is, their influence on societi/. The controversy appears to have taken a new turn. The advocates of infidelity, baffled in the field of argument, though unwilling to relinquish the contest, have changed their mode of attack ; and seem less disposed to impugn the authority, than to supersede the use, of revealed religion, by giving such representations of man and of society as are calculated to make its sanctions appear unreasonable and unneces- saiy. Their aim is not so much to discredit the preten- PREFACE. sions of any particular religion as to set aside the prin- ciples common to all. To obliterate the sense of Deity, of moral sanctions, and a future world ; and by these means to prepare the way for the total subversion of every institution, both social and religious, which men have been hitherto accus- tomed to revere, is evidently the principal object of modem sceptics ; the first sophists who have avowed an attempt to govern the world, without inculcating the persuasion of a superior power. It might well excite our surprise to behold an efibrt to shake off the yoke of religion, which was totally unknown during the prevalence of gross superstition, reserved for a period of the world distinguished from every other by the possession of a revelation more pure, more perfect, and better authen- ticated, than the enlightened sages of antiquity ever ven- tured to anticipate, were we not fully persuaded the immaculate holiness of this revelation is precisely that which renders it disgusting to men who are determined at all events to retain their vices. Our Saviour fiimishes the solution : — Thet/ love darkness rather than lights because their deeds are evil ; neither will they come to the light, lest their deeds should he reproved. While all the religions, the Jewish excepted, which, previous to the promulgation of Christianity, prevailed in the world, partly the contrivance of human policy, partly the offspring of ignorant fear, mixed with the mutilated remains of traditionary revelation, were favourable to the indulgence of some vices, and but feebly restrained the practice of others ; betwixt vice of every sort and in every iaiiiiliiiiU. 6 PREFACE, degree, and the religion of Jesus, there subsists an irre- concilable enmity, an eternal discord. The dominion of Christianity being, in the very essence of it, the dominion of virtue, we need look no further for the sources of hos- tility in any who oppose it, than their attachment to vice and disorder. This view of the controversy, if it be just, demonstrates its supreme importance ; and furnishes the strongest plea, with every one with whom it is not a matter of indiflPer- ence whether vice or vMtie, delusion or truth, govern the world, to exert his talents, in whatever proportion they are possessed, in contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. In such a crisis, is it not best for christians of all denominations, that they may better concentrate their forces against the common adversary, to suspend for the present their internal disputes ; imi- tating the policy of wise states, who have never failed to consider the invasion of an enemy as a signal for termi- nating the contests of party ? Internal peace is the best iruit we can reap from external danger. The momentous contest at issue betwixt the christian church and infidels may instruct us how trivial, for the most part, are the controversies of its members with each other ; and that the different ceremonies, opinions, and practices, by which they are distinguished, correspond to the variety of feature and complexion discernible in the offspring of the same parent, among whom there subsists the greatest family likeness. May it please God so to dispose the minds of christians of every visible church and commu- nity, thai Ephraim may no longer vex Judahy nor Judah PREFACE. *7 i Ephraim ; that the only rivalry felt in future may be, who shall most advance the interests of our common Christianity ; and the only provocation sustained, that of provoking each other to love and good works ! When, at the distance of more than half a century, Christianity was assaulted by a Woolston^ a Tindal, and a Morgan, it was ably supported, both by clergymen of the established church, and vrriters among protestant dissenters. The labours of a Clarke and a Builer were associated with those of a Doddridge, a Leland^ and a Lardner, with such equal reputation and success, as to make it evi- dent that the intrinsic excellence of religion needs not the aid of external appendages ; but that, with or with- out a dowry, her charms are of sufficient power to fix and engage the heart. The ^vriter of this discourse will feel himself happy, should his example stimulate any of his brethren, of superior abilities, to contribute their exertions in so good a cause. His apology for not entering more at large into the proofs of the being of a God,* and the evidences of Christianity,t is, that these subjects have been ahready • See an excellent sermon on Atheism, by the Rev. Mr. Estlin, of Bristol, at whose meeting the substance of this discourse was first preached. In the sermon referred to, the arpiment for the existence of a Deity is stated with the utmost clearness and precision ; and the sophistry of Dapuis, a French infidel, refuted in a very satisfactory manner. f It is almost superfluous to name a work so universally known as Dr. Paley's View of the Evidences of Christianity, which is probably, without exception, the most clear and satisfactory statement of the bis> torical proofs of the christian religion ever exhibited in any age or conntry. 8 PREFACE. handled with great ahilitj by yarious writers ; and that he wished rather to confine himself to one view of the subject — ^The total incompatibility of sceptical principles with the existence of society. Should his life be spared, he may probably, at some future time, enter into a fuller and more particular examination of the infidel philosophy, both with respect to its speculative principles, and its practical effects ; its influence on society, and on the individual. In the mean time he humbly consecrates this discourse to the honour of that Saviour, who, when the means of a more liberal offering are wanting, com- mends the widow's mite. January 18, 1800. NOTE BY THE EDITOR. NoimNG can be more erroneous than the idea, enter- tained by a few persons, that Mr. Hall recited his sennons memoriter, from the study of a previously written compo- sition. His eloquence was the spontaneous result of his vigorous and richly stored intellect, and needed not the aid of the usual expedients of men of ordinary mind. There is great reason to believe that, during the entire extent of his ministry, he only committed one sermon to memory from a previously composed manuscript, and that was the second in this volume, " Reflections on War." It was preached on a day of thanksgiving, at the termination of a long and dreadful war ; it was a publicly announced sermon, to aid the fimds cf a benevolent society; persons of different religious and political sentiments were expected to be assem- bled, at fl time when the violent party-feelings excited by the French devolution of 1789 had been but little subsided ; and Mr. Hall, afraid of yielding to his own emotions on such an occasion, and perhaps of disturbing the feelings of har- mony which it was hoped would prevail, thought it advisable for once to deviate from his usual course. That course was, very briefly to sketch, commonly upon a sheet of letter paper, (in some cases rather more fully,) the plan of the proposed discourse, marking the divisions, specifying a few texts, and sometimes writing the first sentence ; or, occa- sionally, a few other sentences, especially in those parts where an argument could not be adequately stated without {freat technical correctness of language. This he regarded B^ 10 NOTE BY THE EDITOR. NOTE BY TOE EDITOR. II i as " diggingf a channel for liis thougLts to flow in." Then, calling into exercise the power of abstraction, which he pos- sessed in a degree I never saw equalled, he would, whether alone or not, pursue his trains of thought, retrace and extend them, until the whole were engraven on his mind; and, when once so fixed in their entire connexion, they were never after obliterated. The result was on all occasions the same ; so that without recurring to the ordinary expedients, or loading his memory with words and phrases, he uniformly brought his mind, with an unburdened vigour and elasticity, to bear upon its immediate purpose, recalling the selected train of thought, and communicating it to others, in diction the most felicitous, appropriate, and impressive. This was uniformly the case with regard to the tenour and substance of his discourses ; but the most striking and impressive pas- sages were often, strictly speaking, extemporaneous. On various occasions I have ascertained the correctness of his recollection as to trains of thought and matters of arrangement. Thus, on drawing his attention fully to an interesting conversation which occurred nearly thirty years before, he has given as vivid and graphic a sketch of the persons present, their positions in the room, and of the main topics discussed, as though all had occurred in the preceding week. So again, with respect to sermons preached early in the present century, and which seemed to have entirely escaped from his recollection; when a reference to some illustration, or the mode of treating some subsidiary topic, has supplied the adequate clew, he has accurately described the plan, the reasoning, the object of the discourse, the illus- trations employed, the principal texts adduced, &c., dwelling especially, as was always most natural to him, upon the parts that he regarded as defective. The history of the following sermon, on " Modem Infide- ility," may serve still further to illustrate the peculiar strac- Iture of Mr. Hall's intellect. He preached it first at Bristol, tin October, 1799, and again at Cambridge early in the month of November. Having yielded to the solicitations of his friends, and consented to its publication, there remained two difficulties, that of writing down the sermon (of which not a suigle sentence was upon paper), and that of superin- tending the press. I, who then resided at Cambridge, offered to undertake both these, provided he would engage not to go farther than ten miles from Cambridge, and allow me to follow him, wherever he went, to obtain " copy," as it should be needed. He acceded to that part of the arrange- ment which related to the printing ; but would not consent that I should be his amanuensis on that occasion. The writing, therefore, he undertook himself, but with great reluctance, on account of the severe pain which even then (and, indeed, much earlier) he experienced when remaining long in a sitting posture. The work, in consequence, pro- ceeded slowly, and with many interruptions. At first I obtained from him eight pages, and took them to the printer ; after a few days, four pages more ; then two or three pages ; then a more violent attack of his distressing pam in the back compelled him to write two or three pages while lying on the foor ; and soon afterwards a still more violent paroxysm occasioned a longer suspension of his labour. After an in- terval of a week, the work was renewed at the joint entreaty of myself and other friends. It was pursued in the same manner, two or three pages being obtained for the printer at one time, a similar portion after a day or two, until, at the end of seven weeks, the task was completed. During the whole time of the composition, thus conducted, Mr. Hall never saw a single page of the printer's work. When I applied for more " copy," he asked what it was that he had written last, and then proceeded. Very often, after he had given me a small portion, he would inquire if he had written it nearly in the words which he had employed in delivering the sermon orally. After he had written down the striking apostrophe which occurs at page 52, of the present edition— " Eternal God ! on what are thine enemies mtent ! what are 12 NOTE BY THE EDITOR. those enterprises of guilt and horror, that, for the safety of their performers, require to be enveloped in a darkness which the eye of Heaven must not penetrate ! "—he asked, " Did I say penetrate^ Sir, when I preached it? " " Yes." " Do you think. Sir, I may venture to alter it ? for no man who considered the force of the English language would use a word of three syllables there, but from absolute necessity." " You are doubtless at liberty to alter it, if you think well." *' Then be so good. Sir, to take your pencil, and for penetrate put pierce; pierce is the word. Sir, and the only word to be used there." I have now the evidence of this before me, in the entire manuscript, which I carefully preserve among my richest literary treasures. At the end of seven weeks Mr. Hall's labour, thus con- ducted, being, greatly to his delight, brought to a close, I presented him with a complete copy of his printed sermon, not one word of which he had seen in its progress. During this interval, he had preached at least twenty times, had paid his pastoral visits, as usual, had been often in the society of the literary men with whom he then asso- ciated, and had, with all his characteristic ardour, carried on, simultaneously, two distinct courses of readino-. I mistake greatly, if, after the perusal of this simple nar- rative, the reader will not turn to the sermon with additional relish, and meditate with augmented pleasure upon the pecu- liarities of this most valuable production, and the sinonlar character of its author's mind. Olinthus Gregory, RoTAL Military Academy. June 1, 1831. A SERMON. Ephes. ii. 12. Without God in the world. As the christian ministry is established for the instruc- tion of men, throughout every age, in truth and holiness, it must adapt itself to the ever-shifting scenes of the moral world, and stand ready to repel the attacks of im- piety and error, under whatever form they may appear. The church and the world constitute two societies so dis- tinct, and are governed by such opposite principles and maxims, that, as well from this contrariety, as from the // express warnings of scripture, true christians must look for a state of warfare, with this consoling assurance, that the church, like the burning bush beheld by Moses in the land of Midian, may be encompassed with flames, but will never be consumed. — i When she was delivered from the persecuting power ] of Rome, she only experienced a change of trials. The oppression of external violence was followed by the more dangerous and insidious attacks of internal enemies. The freedom of inquiry claimed and asserted at the reformation, degenerated, in the hands of men who pro- fessed the principles without possessing the spirit of the reformers, into a fondness for speculative refinements; and consequently into a source of dispute, faction, and heresy. While protestants attended more to the points on which they differed than to those on which they agreed ; while more zeal was employed in settling cere- monies and defending subtleties, than in enforcing plain revealed truths ; the lovely fruits of peace and charity/ perished under the storms of controversy. 14 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. u In this disjointed and disordered state of the christian church, they who never looked into the interior of Chris- tianity were apt to suspect, that to a suhject so fruitful in particular disputes must attach a general uncertainty ; and that a religion founded on revelation could never have occasioned such discordancy of principle and prac- tice among its disciples. Thus infidehty is the joint offspring of an irreligious temper, and unholy speculation, employed, not in examining the evidences of Christianity, hut in detecting the vices and imperfections of professing christians. It has passed through various stages, each distinguished hy higher gradations of impiety ; for ^vhen men arrogantly ahandon their guide, and wilfully shut their eyes on the light of heaven, it is wisely ordained that their errors shall multiply at every step, until their extravagance confutes itself, and the mischief of their principles works its own antidote. That such has been the progress of infidelity will be obvious from a slight surrey of its history. Lord Herbert, the first and purest of our English free-thinkers, who flourished in the beginning of the reign of Charles the First, did not so much impugn the doctrine or the morality of the Scriptures, as attempt to supersede their necessity, by endeavouring to show that the great principles of the unity of God — a moral government, and a future world — are taught with suffi- cient clearness by the light of nature. Bolingbroke, and some of his successors, advanced much farther, and attempted to invalidate the proofs of the moral charac- ter of the Deity, and consequently all expectations of rewards and punishments ; leaving the Supreme Being no other perfections than those which belong to a first cause, or almighty contriver. After him, at a consider- able distance, followed Hume, the most subtle, if not the most philosophical of the deists ; who, by perplex- ing the relations of cause and effect, boldly aimed to introduce an universal scepticism, and to pour a more than Egyptian darkness into the whole region of morals. Since his time sceptical writers have sprung up in abun- [dance, and infidelity has allured multitudes to its standard : the young and the superficial by its dexterous sophistry, the vain by the literary reputation of its cham- pions, and the profligate by the licentiousness of its prin- ciples. Atheism, the most undisguised, has at length begun to make its appearance. Animated by numbers, and emboldened by success, the infidels of the present day have given a new direc- tion to their efforts, and impressed a new character on the ever-growing mass of their impious speculations. By uniting more closely with each other, by giving a sprinkling of irreligion to all their literary productions, they aim to engross the formation of the public mind ; and, amidst the warmest professions of attachment to virtue, to effect an entire disruption of morality from religion. Pretending to be the teachers of virtue, and the guides of life, they propose to revolutionize the morals of mankind ; to regenerate the world by a pro- cess entirely new ; and to rear the temple of virtue, not merely without the aid of religion, but on the renimcia- tion of its principles, and the derision of its sanctions. ^ Their party has derived a great accession of nimibers and strength from events the most momentous and astonish- ing in the political world, which have divided the senti- ments of Europe betwixt hope and terror ; and which, however they may issue, have, for the present, swelled the ranks of infidelity. So rapidly, indeed, has it ad- vanced since this crisis, that a great majority on the con- tinent, and in England a considerable proportion of those who pursue literature as a profession,* may justly be considered as the open or disguised abettors of atheism. " With respect to the sceptical and religious systems, the inquiry at present is not so much which is the truest in speculation, as which is the most useful in practice ; or, in other words, whether morality will be best promoted by considering it as a part of a great and comprehensive law, emanating from the will of a supreme, omnipotent legislator ; or as a mere expedient, adapted to our pre- ] * Bv those who porsae literature as a profession, the author wonld be anderstood to mean that numeroas class of literary men who dmw their principal sabsiatence from their writings. 16 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODEJRN rNFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 17 sent situation, enforced by no other motives tlian those which arise from the prospects and interests of the pre- sent state. The absurdity of atheism having been de- monstrated so often and so clearly by many eminent men, that this part of the subject is exhausted, I should hasten immediately to what I have more particularly in yiew, were I not apprehensive a discourse of this kind may be expected to contain some statement of the argu- ment in proof of a Deity ; which, therefore, I shall pre- sent in as few and plain words as possible. When we examine a watch, or any other piece of ma- chinery, we instantly perceive marks of design. The arrangement of its several parts, and the adaptation of its movements to one result, show it to be a contrivance ; nor do we ever imagine the faculty of contriving to be in the watch itself, but in a separate agent. If we turn from art to nature, we behold a vast magazine of con- trivances ; we see innumerable objects replete with the most exquisite design. The human eye, for example, is formed with admirable sldll for the purpose of sight, the ear for the function of hearing. As in the productions of art we never think of ascribing the power of contrivance to the machine itself, so we are certain the skill displayed in the human structure is not a property of man, since he is very imperfectly acquainted with his own formation. If there be an inseparable relation betwixt the ideas of a contrivance and a contriver ; and it be evident, in regard to the human structure, the designing agent is not man himself, there must undeniably be some separate invisible being, who is his former. This great Being we mean to indicate by the appellation of Deity. This reasoning admits but of one reply. Why, it will be said, may we not suppose the world has been alwayi continued as it is ; that is, that there has been a constant succession of finite beings, appearing and disappearing on the earth from all eternity ? I answer, Whatever is sup- posed to have occasioned this constant succession, exclu- sive of an intelligent cause, vnW never account for the imdeniable marks of design visible in all finite beings. Nor is the absurdity of supposing a contrivance without a contriver diminished by tliis imaginary succession ; but rather increased, by being repeated at every step of the series. Besides, an eternal succession of finite beings involves in it a contradiction, and is therefore plainly impossible. As the supposition is made to get quit of the idea of any ^ one having existed from eternity, each of the beings in the succession must have begun in time : but the succes- sion itself is eternal. We have then the succession of beings infinitely earlier than any being in the succession ; or, in other words, a series of beings running on, ad in- finitum^ before it reached any particular being, which is absurd. From these considerations it is manifest there must be some eternal Beinsf, or nothing could ever have existed : and since the beings which we behold bear in their whole structure evident marks of wisdom and design, it is equally certain that he who formed them is a wise and inteUigent agent. To prove the imity of this great Being, in opposition to a plurality of gods, it is not necessary to have recourse to metaphysical abstractions. It is sufficient to observe, that the notion of more than one author of nature is in- consistent with that harmony of design which pervades her works ; that it explains no appearances, is supported by no evidence, and serves no purpose but to embarrass and perplex our conceptions. Such are the proofs of the existence of that great and glorious Being whom we denominate God ; and it is not presumption to say, it is impossible to find another truth in the whole compass of morals, which, according to the justest laws of reasoning, admits of such strict and rigorous demonstration. But I proceed to the more immediate object of this discourse, which, as has been already intimated, is not so much to evince the falsehood of scepticism as a theory, as to display its mischievous effects, contrasted with those which result from the beUef of a Deity, and a ftiture state. The subject, viewed in this light, may be considered under two aspects; the influence of the VOL II. c i ^iW 18 MODERN INTIDELITT CONSIDERED. opposite systems on the principles of morals, ffjn&e t tion of character. The tot may be styled Aeu direct, the latter then- equally miportant, but mctoct consequence and tendency. I. The sceptical, or irreligious system, subverts the whole foundation of morals. It may be assumed^ a maxim, that no person can be required to act contranly to his Neatest good, or his highest mterest, compAen- sively ^ewed ^ relation to the whole duration of his being. It is often our duty to forego our o^vn mterest paJaUy, to sacrifice a smaller pleasure for the sake rfa Later, to incur a present evil in pursuit of a distant lood of more consequence. In a .vord, .*<> "titrate Imongst interfering claims of inclination is th£_^ „^,1, °.ri. nf human life. But to risk the happiness of the whole duration of our being m any case whatever, were it possible, would be fooUsh ; because the sacrifice must, by the nature of it, be so great as to preclude the possibility of compensation. • • i . :„ *i,» As the present world, on sceptical prmciples, is the only place of rccompence, whenever the practice of virtue fails to promise the greatest sum of present good, (cases which often occur in reality, and much oftener m app^- ance,) every motive to virtuous conduct is supei^eded ; a de^tion from rectitude becomes the part of wisdom ; and should the path of virtue, m addition to this, he obs^cted by diigrace, tonnent, or death, to FJ^vere would be madness and foUy, and a violation of the tet and most essential law of nature. Vu^ue, on these prm- ciples, being in numberless instances at >var ^'th self- pr^e^tion, never can, or ought to become, a fixed habit of the mind. , . ii^„iy„,^ The system of infidelity is not only mcapahle of arm- incr virtue for great and trying occasions, but leaves it luTsupported in the most ordinary occurrences. In vam will its advocates appeal to a moral sense, to benevolence Tnd sympathy; for it is undeniable that these impulses may be overcome. In vain will they expatiate on^e tam^uiUity and pleasure attendant on a virtuous course : MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 19 for though you may remind the offender that in disre- garding them he has violated his nature, and that a con- duct consistent with them is productive of much internal satisfaction ; yet if he reply that his taste is of a different sort, that there are other gratifications which he values more, and that every man must choose his own pleasures, the argument is at an end. Rewards and pimishments, assigned by infinite power, afford a palpable and pressing motive which can never be neglected without renoxmcing the character of a rational creature : but tastes and relishes are not to be prescribed. A motive in which the reason of man shall acquiesce, enforcing the practice of virtue at all times and seasons, enters into the very essence of moral obligation. Modem infideUty supplies no such motives : it is therefore essen- tially and infallibly a system of enervation, turpitude, and vice. This chasm in the construction of morals can only be supplied by the firm belief of a rewarding and avenging Deity, who bmds duty and happiness, though they may seem distant, in an indissoluble chain ; without which whatever usurps the name of virtue, is not a principle, but a feeling ; not a determinate rule, but a fluctuating expedient, varying with the tastes of individuals, and changing with the scenes of life. Nor is this the only way in which infidelity subverts the foundation of morals. All reasoning on morals pre- supposes a distinction between inclinations and duties, affections and rules. The former prompt, the latter pre- scribe. The former supply motives to action ; the latter regulate and control it. Hence it is evident, if virtue have any just claun to authority, it must be under the latter of these notions, that is, under the character of a law. It is under this notion, in fad, that its dominion has ever been acknowledged to be paramount and supreme. But without the intervention of a superior will, it is impossible there should be any moral laws, except in the lax metaphorical sense in which we speak of the laws of matter and motion. Men being essentially equal, moridity c 2 20 MODERN mPIDELlTY COUSIDtllBa). is, on these principles, only a stipulation, or silent com- SXmto w£ch eW individual ^^^F^^^^^fli as for as suits his convenience, and for the breach oi vhlct he is accountable to nothing .l""* ^^ °-^ "^ '^ HL« own mind is his law, his tribunal, and his judge ! •xl consequences, the most dif«t™'»« *» «°t'5' inevitably follow the general prevalence "^ ^'^p?,^" '-J the frequent perpetration of great crimes, and the total ahsence of ffreat virtues. . . 1 In thfse conjunctures which tempt avance or in- flame Ibition, when a crime flatters with the prospect TZZity, a^d the certainty of immense advantag^ whatLo Strain an atheist from its commi^ion? Jo say that remorse will deter him is absurd ; for rem^e, ^isfaa^shed.from pity, is the sole qgg^^|^; gious^f, the extinction of which is the greui purpose of the infidel philosophy. 41. „ i,:„ f„iinw The dread of punishment or infemy, from his feUmv- creatures, will be an equaUy ineffectual barrier ; 1>ecause crimes are only committed under such circumstances as surest the hope of concealment : not to fV^^'F^ thmselves wiU soon lose their infamy and their horror under the influence of that system -''"^ ^JtlS o^ sanctity of virtue, by convertmg it into a low calcu^tion Tf worldly interest. Here th^enseof ^.evcr:He^t Ru^iLoLan^vengin£.Judge, is_o05^it» I^ rr...es W all Tri i^s tMchagcteroJm^iig^^ ^-„L .^A ;nt;;;^n every instance comcide, and tj^the r.Jt. prnspero u" "—- "*' -"-- t^e most 'ri l lm n t SUC- . ^,.J\.t Lmin^.litv. are but »" n^<:umulatwn of wrath As the frequent pei^etration of great cnmes is an in- evitable consequence of the diffusion of sceptica prin- ciples : 80, to understand this consequence in its tuU ItZi we must look beyond their immediate effects, :;d consTd^r the disruptio^ of social *-, the destrucnon of confidence, the terror, suspicion, .^^^ hatred, which must prevail in that state of society m which barbaroiM deeds are famiUar. The tranquillity which pervades a MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 21 well-ordered commimlty, and the mutual good offices which bind its members together, are founded on an implied confidence in the indisposition to annoy ; in the justice, humanity, and moderation of those among whom we dwell. So that the worst consequence of crimes is, that they impair the stock of public charity and general tenderness. The dread and hatred of our species would infallibly be grafted on a conviction that we were exposed every moment to the surges of an unbridled ferocity, and that nothing but the power of the magistrate stood between us and the daggers of assassins. In such a state, laws, deriving no support from public manners, are un- equal to the task of curbing the fiiry of the passions ; which, from being concentrated into selfishness, fear, and revenge, acquire new force. Terror and suspicion beget cruelty, and inflict injuries by way of prevention. Pity is extinguished in the stronger impulse of self-preserva- tion. The tender and generous afifections are crushed ; and nothing is seen but the retaliation of wrongs, and the fierce and mimitigated struggle for superiority. This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we be so unfortunate as ever to witness the triumph of modem infidelity. 2. This system is a soil as barren of great and sublime virtues as it is prolific in crimes. By great and sublime virtues are meant, those which are called into action on great and trying occasions, which demand the sacrifice of the dearest interests and prospects of human life, and sometimes of life itself: the virtues, in a word, which, by their rarity and splendour, draw admiration, and have rendered illustrious the character of patriots, martyrs, and confessors. It requires but little reflection to perceive, that whatever veils a future world, and contracts the limits of existence within the present life, must tend, in a proportionable degree, to diminish the grandeur and narrow the sphere of human agency. ^ As well might you expect exalted sentiments of jus- tice from a professed gamester, as look for noble prin- ciples in the man whose hopes and fears are all suspended on the present moment, and who stakes the whole hap- II ?i! :i MODERN INFIDELrrY CONSIDERED. piness of his being on the events of this vain and fleeting fife If he be ever impelled to the performance of great achievements in a good cause, it must be solely by the Ihope of fame ; a motive which, besides that it makes kdrtue the servant of opinion, usually grows weaker at the approach of death ; and which, however it may sur- nount the love of existence in the heat of battle, or m he moment of public observation, can seldom be ex- pected to operate with much force on the retired duties »f a private station. • , , x xi. In affirming that infidelity is unfavourable to the higher class of virtues, we are supported as weU by tacts as by reasonmg. We should be sorry to load our adver- saries with unmerited reproach : but to what history, to what record >vill they appeal for the traits of moral great- ness exhibited by their disciples ? Where shall we look for the trophies of infidel magnanimity, or atheistical virtue ? Not that we mean to accuse them of inactivity : they have recently fiUed the world with the fame of their exploits ; exploits of a different kind indeed, but of im- perishable memory, and disastrous lustre. Though it is confessed f rreat and spl endid actions are not the ordinary emplo\Tnent of life, but must, irom their natur e , be reserved for high and eminent occasions ; vet that system is essentially defective which leaves no room for their production. They are important, both from their immediate advantage and their remoter influ- ence. They often save, and always illustrate, the age and nation in which they appear- They raise the standard of morals ; they arrest the progress of degene- racy ; they diffuse a lustre over the path of life : monu- ments of the greatness of the human soul, they present to the world the august image of virtue in her sublimest form, from which streams of light and glory issue to re- mote times and ages ; while their commemoration, by the pens of historians and poets, awakens m distant bosoms the sparks of kindred excellence. Combine the frequent and familiar perpetration ot atrocious deeds with the dearth of great ^d generous actions, and you have the exact picture of that condition MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 23 of society which completes the degradation of the species the frightful contrast of dwarfish virtues and gigantic vices, where every thing good is mean and little, and every thing evil is rank and luxuriant : a dead and sick- ening imiformity prevails, broken only at intervals by volcanic eruptions of anarchy and crime. IT. Hitherto we have considered the influence of scepticism on the principles of virtue ; and have endea- voured to show that it despoils it of its dignity, and lavs its authority in the dust. Its influence on the formation of character remains to be examined. The actions of men are oftener detennined by their character than their interest ; their conduct takes its colour more from their acquired taste, inclinations, and habits, than from a deli- berate regard to their greatest good. It is only on great occasions the mind awakes to take an extended survey of her whole course, and that she suffers the dictates of reason to impress a new bias upon her movements. The actions of each day are, for the most part, links wEic b follow each other in the chain of custom. Hence the great effort of practical wisdom is to imbue the mind with right tastes, affections, and habits ; the elements of character, and masters of action. I. The exclusion of a supreme Being, and of a super- intending Providence, tends directly to the destruction of moral taste. It robs the universe of all finished and consummate excellence, even in idea. The admiration of perfect wisdom and goodness for which we are formed, and which kindles such unspeakable raptures in the soul, finding in the regions of scepticism nothing to which it corresponds, droops and languishes. In a world which presents a fair spectacle of order and beauty, of a vast family nourished and supported by an almighty Parent : in a world which leads the devout mind, step by step, to the contemplation of the first fair and the first good , the sceptic is encompassed with nothing but obscurity, mean- ness, and disorder. When we reflect on the manner in which the idea of Deity is fonued, we must be convinced that such an ideaJ ll 24 MODEIIN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 25 intimately present to the mind, must have a most powerful effect in refining the moral taste. Composed of the richest elements, it embraces in the character of a bene- ficent Parent and almighty Ruler, whatever is venerable in wisdom, whatever is awful in authority, whatever is touching in goodness. Human excellence is blended with many imperfec- tions, and seen under many limitations. It is beheld only in detached and separate portions, nor ever appears in any one character whole and entire. So that when, in imitation of the Stoics, we wish to form out of these fragments the notion of a perfectly wise and good man, we know it is a mere fiction of the mind, without any real being in whom it is embodied and realized. In the belief of a Deity, these conceptions are reduced to reahty : the scattered rays of an ideal excellence are concentrated, and become the real attributes of that Being with whom we stand in the nearest relation, who sits supreme at the head of the universe, is armed with infinite power, and pervades all nature with his presence. The efficacy of these views in producing and augment- ing a virtuous taste, will indeed be proportioned to the vividness with which they are formed, and the frequency with which they recur ; yet some benefit wiU not fail to result from them even in their lowest degree. The idea of the Supreme Being has this peculiar pro- perty ; that, as it admits of no substitute, so from the first moment it is formed, it is capable of continual growth and enlargement. God himself is immutable ; but our conception of his character is continually receiving fresh accessions, is continually growing more extended and refulgent, by having transferred to it new elements of beauty and goodness ; by attracting to itself, as a centre, whatever bears the impress of dignity, order, or happi- ness. It borrows splendour from all that is fair, subor- dinates to itself all that is great, and sits enthroned on the riches of the universe. As the object of worship will always be, in a degree, the object of imitation, hence arises a fixed standard of moral excellence ; by the contemplation of which the tendencies to corruption are counteracted, the contagiorJ of bad example is checked, and human nature nse^ above its natural level. . When the knowledge of God was lost m the world, iust ideas of virtue and moral obligation disappeared along with it. How is it to be otherwise accounted torJ that in the polished nations, and in the enlightened times, of pagan antiquity, the most unnatural lusts an detestable impurities were not only tolerated m pnvat life,* but entered into religion, and formed a materia part of public worship ;t whUe among the Jews, people so much inferior in every other branch of know ledge, the same vices were regarded with horror ? The reason is this : The true character of God was unknown to the former, which by the light of dmne reve- lation was displayed to the latter. The former c^t their deities in the mould of their own imagmations, in consequence of which they partook of the vices and de- fects of their worshippers. To the latter no scope was left for the wanderings of fancy ; but a pure and perfect model was prescribed. . r*i,J^ False and corrupt, however, as was the rehgion ot ttie^ pagans (if it deserve the name), and defective, and otten| vicious, as was the character of their imaginary deities, it was still better for the world that the void should h filled up with these than abandoned to a total scepticism for if both systems are equally false, they are not equall * It is worthy of observabon, that the elegant and philosophk Xenophon, in delineating the model of a perfect prince fa the character of Cyrus, introduces a Mede who had formed au nnnatural passion for his hero and relates the incident in a ively, festive humour, w^out being in the least conscious of any indelicacy attached to it. What must be the state of manners in a country where a circumstance of tins kind, feigned, no doubt, by way of ornament, finds a place m such a work? Cvrilnstit. Wb.i. . ,, •' Deinde nobis, qui, concedenfihus phthsophs anttquis, adolescen tnlis delectmSr, etL; vitia s*pe jucundasunt." Cicero De Nat. Det, J. « Namquononprostatfoeminatemplo?^ Juv. The impurities practised in the worship of 1 sis, an Egyptian deity, rose to suc^a height in the reign of Tiberius, that that profligate prince Mfitto'prlbither^ the same time -A-f jf- ^er prieTts the punishment of crucifixion. Joseph. Antiq. Judaic. Ub. xviu. 26 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERBP. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 27 pernicious. When the fictions of heathenism consecrated the memory of its legislators and heroes, it invested then; for the most part with those quaHties which were in the greatest repute. They were supposed to possess in the highest degree the virtues in which it was most honourable to excel ; and to be the witnesses, approvers, and patrons of those perfections in others, by which their own cha- racter was chiefly distinguished. Men saw, or rather fancied they saw, in these supposed deities, th'e qualities they most admired, dilated to a larger size, moving in a higher sphere, and associated with the power, dignity, and happiness of superior natures. With such ideal models before them, and conceiving themselves con- tinually acting imder the eye of such spectators and judges, they felt a real elevation ; their eloquence be- came more impassioned, their patriotism inflamed, and their courage exalted. Revelation, by displaying the true character of God, affords a pure and perfect standard of virtue; heathenism, one in many respects defective and vicious ; the fashion- able scepticism of the present day, which excludes the belief of all superior powers, affords no standard at all. Human nature knows nothing better or higher than itself. All above and aroimd it being shrouded in dark- ness, and the prospect confined to the tame realities of life, virtue has no room upwards to expand ; nor are any excursions permitted into that unseen world, the true element of the great and good, by which it is fortified with motives equally calculated to satisfy the reason, to delight the fancy, and to impress the heart. 2. Modern infidelity not only tends to corrupt the moral taste ; it also promotes the growth of those vices which are the most hostile to social happiness. Of all the vices incident to human nature, the most destructive to society are vanity, ferocity, and unbridled sensuality ; and these are precisely the vices which infidelity is cal- culated to cherish. That the love, fear, and habitual contemplation of a Being infinitely exalted, or, in other words, devotion, is adapted to promote a sober and moderate estimate of our own excellencies, is incontestable ; nor is it less evident tliat the exclusion of such sentiments must be favourable to pride. The criminality of pride will, perhaps, be less readily admitted ; for though there is no vice so opposite to tlie' spirit of Christianity, yet there is none which, even in the christian world, has, under various pretences, been treated ^vith so much indulgence. There is, it wiU be confessed, a delicate sensibility to character, a sober desire of reputation, a wish to possess the esteem of the wise and good, felt by the purest minds, which is at the farthest remove from arrogance or vanity. The humility of a noble mind scarcely dares to approve of itself, until it has secured the approbation of others. Very different is that restless desire of distinction, that passion for theatrical display, which inflames the heart and occupies the whole attention of vain men. This, of all the passions, is the most unsocial, avarice itself not excepted. The reason is plain. Property is a kind of good which may be more easily attained, and is capable of more minute subdivisions than fame. In the pursuit of wealth, men are led by an attention to their own in- terest to promote the welfare of each other ; their advan- tages are reciprocal ; the benefits which each is anxious to acquire for himself he reaps in the greatest abundance from the union • and conjunction of society. The pur- suits of vanity are quite contrary. The portion of time and attention mankind are willing to spare from their avocations and pleasures to devote to the admiration of each other is so small, that every successful adventurer is felt to have impaired the common stock. The success of one is the disappointment of multitudes. For though there be many rich, many virtuous, many vdse men, fame must necessarily be the portion of but few. Hence every vain man, every man in whom vanity is the ruling passion, regarding his rival as his enemy, is strongly tempted to rejoice in his miscarriage, and repine at his success. Besides, as the passions are seldom seen in a simple, unmixed state, so vanity, when it succeeds, degenerates into arrogance ; when it is disappointed, (and it is often disappointed,) it is exasperated into malignity, and cor- 28 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 29 rupted into envy. In this stage the vain man commences a detennined misanthropist. He detests that excellence which he cannot reach. He detests his species, and longs to be revenged for the unpardonable injustice he has sustained in their insensibility to his merits. He lives upon the calamities of the world ; the vices and miseries of men are his element and his food. Virtues, talents, and genius, are his natural enemies, which he persecutes with instinctive eaffemess and unrelenting hostility. There are who doubt the existence of such a disposition ; but it certainly issues out of the dregs of disappointed vanity : a disease which taints and vitiates the whole character wherever it prevails. It forms the heart to such a profound indifference to the welfare of others, that, whatever appearances he may assume, or however wide the circle of his seeming virtues may ex- tend, you will infallibly find the vain man is his own centre. Attentive only to himself, absorbed in the con- templation of his own perfections, instead of feeling ten- derness for his fellow-creatures as members of the same family, as beings with whom he is appointed to act, to suffer, and to sjmipathize ; he considers life as a stage on which he is performing a part, and mankind in no other light than spectators. Whether he smiles or frowns, whether his path is adorned with the rays of beneficence, or his steps are dyed in blood, an attention to self is the spring of every movement, and the motive to which every action is referred. His apparent good qualities lose all their worth, by losing all that is simple, genuine, and natural ; they are even pressed into the service of vanity, and become the means of enlarging its power. The truly good man is jealous over himself lest the notoriety of his best actions, by blending itself with their motive, should diminish their yalue ; the vain man perforins the same actions for the sake of that notoriety. The good man quietly discharges his duty, and shuns ostentation; the vain man considers every good deed lost that is not publicly displayed. The one is intent upon realities, the other upon semblances : the one aims to be virtuous, the other to appear so. Nor is a mind inflated with vanity more disquali- fied for right action than just speculation, or better disposed to the pursuit of truth than the practice of virtue. To such a mind the simplicity of truth is dis- gusting. Careless of the improvement of mankind, and intent only upon astonishing with the appearance of novelty, tb^ glare of parado x will be preferred to the light of truth ; opinions will be embraced, not because they are just, but because they are new : the more flagi- tious, the more subversive of morals, the more alarming to the wise and good, the more welcome to men who estimate their literary powers by the mischief they pro- duce, and who consider the anxiety and terror they im- press as the measure of their renown. Truth is simple and uniform, while error may be infinitely varied : and as it is one thing to start paradoxes, and another to make discoveries, we need the less wonder at the prodigious increase of modem philosophers. We have been so much accustomed to consider extra- vagant self-estimation merely as a ridkulom quality, that many will be surprised to find it treated as a vice preg- nant with serious mischief to society. But to form a judgment of its mfluence on the manners and happiness of a nation, it is necessary only to look at its effects in a family ; for bodies of men are only collections of indivi- duals, and the greatest nation is nothing more than an aggregate of a number of families. Conceive of a domestic circle, in which each member is elated with a most extravagant opinion of himself, and a proportion- able contempt of every other ; is full of little contrivances to catch applause, and whenever he is not praised is sullen and disappointed. What a picture of disunion, disgust, and animosity would such a family present! How utterly would domestic affection be extinguished, and all the purposes of domestic society be defeated ! The general prevalence of such dispositions must be accompanied by an equal proportion of general misery. The tendency of pride to produce strife and hatred, is sufficiently apparent from the pains men have been at to construct a system of p oliteness which is nothing more 90 MODERN rNFIDELITY CONSIDERED. than a sort of mimic humility, in which the sentimentg of an offensive self-estimati on are s o far disguise d and su ppressed as to make them compatible with the spirit of society ; such a mode of behaviour as would naturally result from an attention to the apostolic injunction: Let nothing he done through strife or tain glory ; hut, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other hetter tlian them- telves. But if the semblance be of such importance, how much more useful the reality! If the mere garb of humility be of such indispensable necessity that without it society could not subsist, how much better still would the harmony of the world be preserved, were the conde- scension, deference, and respect, so studiously displayed, a true picture of the heart ! The same restless and eager vanity which disturbs a family, when it is permitted in a great national crisis to mingle Avith political affairs, distracts a kingdom ; infus- ing into those intrusted with the enaction of laws, a spirit of rash innovation and daring empiricism, a disdain of the established usages of mankind, a foolish desire to dazzle the world with new and untried systems of policy, in which the precedents of antiquity and the experience of ages are only consulted to be trodden under foot ; and into the executive department of government, a fierce contention for pre-eminence, an incessant struggle to supplant and destroy, with a propensity to calumny and suspicion, proscription and massacre. We shall suffer the most eventful season ever wit- nessed in the affairs of men to pass over our heads to Tery little purpose, if we foil to leara from it some useful lessons on the nature and progress of the passions. The true light in which the French revolution ought .to be contemplated is that of a grand experiment on human nature. Among the various passions which that revolu- tion has so strikingly displayed, none is more conspicuous than vanity ; nor is it less difficult, without adverting to the national character of the people, to accoimt for its extraordinary predominance. Political power, the most seducing object of ambition, never before circulated through so many hands ; the prospect of possessing it MODERN DfPIDELITY CONSIDERED. 31 was never before presented to many minds. Multitudes, who, by their birth and education, and not unfrequently by their talents, seemed destined to perpetual obscurity, were, by the alternate rise and fall of parties, elevated into distinction, and shared in the functions of govern- ment. The short-lived forms of power and office glided with such rapidity through successive ranks of degrada- tion, from the court to the very dregs of the populace, *hat t hey seemed rather to solicit acceptance than to b ft, a prize contended for.* Yet, as it was still impossible for all to possess authority, though none were willing to obey, a general impatience to break the ranks and rush into the foremost ground, maddened and inftiriated the nation, and overwhelmed law, order, and civilization, >vith the violence of a torrent. If such be the mischiefs both in public and privatei life resulting from an excessive self-estimation, it remains next to be considered whether Providence has supplied any medicine to correct it ; for as the reflection on excel- lencies, whether real or imaginary, is always attended with pleasure to the possessor, it is a disease deeply seated in our nature. Suppose there were a great and glorious Being always present vnth us, who had given us existence, with num- berless other blessings, and on whom we depended each mstant, as well for every present enjoyment as for every future good : suppose, again, we had incurred the just displeasure of such a Being by ingratitude and disobe- dience, yet that in great mercy he had not cast us off, but had assured us he was willing to pardon and restore us on our humble entreaty and sincere repentance ; say, would not an habitual sense of the presence of this Beino-, self-reproach for having displeased him, and an anxiety to recover his favour, be the most effectual antidote to P"" Y . But such are the leading discoveries made bv the christian revelation, and such the dispositions which a practical belief of it inspires. Humility is the first fruit of religion. In the mouth * Z " ^q"o pnlsat pede pauperuxn tabernas Kegunique turres." ffor. IfODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. of our Lord there is no maxim so frequent as the follow- ing : Whosoever exalleth himself shall be abased^ and he that humhleth himself shall he evoked. Religion, and that alone, teaches aosolide humility ; hy which I mean a sense of our ahsolvte nothingness in the view of infinite greatness and excellence. That sense of inferiority which results from the comparison of men with each other is often a disagreeahle sentiment forced upon the mind, which may rather embitter the temper than soften it : that which devotion impresses is soothing and delightful. The devout man loves to lie low at the footstool of his Creator, because it is then he attains the most lively per- ceptions of the divine excellence, and the most tranquil confidence in the divine favour. In so august a presence he sees all distinctions lost, and all beings reduced to the same level. He looks at his superiors without envy, and his inferiors without contempt : and when from this ele- vation he descends to mix in society, the conviction of MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 33 superiority, which must in many instances be felt, is a calm inference of the imderstanaing, and~no longe r a busy, importunate passion of the heart . The wicked (says the Psalmist) through the pride of their countenance^ will not seek after God : God is not in all their thoughts. When we consider the incredible vanity of the atheistical sect, together with the settled malignity and unrelenting rancour with which they pursue eveiy vestige of religion, is it uncandid to sup- pose that its humbling tendency is one principal cause of their enmity ; that they are eager to displace a Deity from the minds of men, that they may occupy the void ; to crumble the throne of the Eternal into dust, that they may elevate themselves on its ruins ; and that, as their licentiousness is impatient of restraint, so their pride dis- dains a superior ? We mentioned a ferocity of character as one efiect oi sceptical impiety. It is an inconvenience attending a con- troversy with those with whom we have few principles in common, that we are often in danger of reasoning incon- clusively, for the want of its being clearly known and settled what our opponents admit, and what they deny. The persons, for example, with whom we are at present engaged, have discarded humility and modesty from the catalogue of virtues ; on which account we have employed the more time in evincing their importance : but what- ever may be thought of humility as a virtue, it surely will not be denied that inhumanity is a most detestable vice ^ a vice, however, which scepticism has a most powerfol tendency to inflame. As we have already shown that pride hardens the heart, and that religion is the only effectual antidote, the Connexion between irreligion and inhumanity is in this view obvious. But there is another light in which this part of the subject may be viewed, in my himible opinion, much more important, though seldom adverted to. The supposition that man is a moral and accountable being, destined to survive the stroke of death, and to live in a ftiture world in a never-ending state of happiness or misery, makes him a creatxire of incomparably more con- seguen/;e than the opposite supposition. When we con- sider him as placed here by an Ahnighty Ruler in a state of probation, and that the present life is his period of trial, the first link in a vast and interminable chain which stretches into eternity, he assumes a dignified character in our eyes. Every thing which relates to him becomes interesting ; and to trifle with his happiness is felt to be the most unpardonable levity. If such be the destination of man, it is evident that in the qualities which fit him for it, his principal dignity consists : his moral greatness is his true greatness. Let the sceptical principles be admitted, which represent him, on the contrary, as the offspring of chance, connected with no superior power,* and sinking into annihilation at death, and he is a con- temptible creature, whose existence and happiness are insignificant. The character! stic difference is lost betwixt him and the brute creation, from which he is no longer distinguished, except by the vividness and multiplicity of his perceptions. If we reflect on that part of our nature which disposes us to humanity, we shall find that, where we have no particular attachment, our sympathy with the sufferings. VOL. n. D I* I 34 MODERN INPIDELITY CONSIDERED. and concern for tlie destraction, of sensitive beings, are in proportion to their supposed importance in the general scale ; or, in other words, to their supposed capacity of enjoyment. We feel, for example, much more at wit- nessing the destruction of a man than of an inferior animal, because we consider it as involving the extinction of a much greater simi of happiness. For the same rea- son, he who would shudder at the slaughter of a large animal, will see a thousand insects perish without a. pang. Our sympathy with the calamities of our fellow- creatures is adjusted to the same proportions ; for we feel more powerfully affected with the distress of fallen greatness than vrith equal or greater distresses sustained by persons of inferior rank ; fecause, having been accus- tomed to associate with an elevated station, the idea of superior happiness, the loss appears the greater, and the wreck more extensive. But the disproportion in import- ance betwixt man and the meanest insect, is not so great as that which subsists betwixt man considered as mortal and as immortal ; that is, betwixt man as he is repre- sented by the system of scepticism, and that of divine revelation : for the enjoyment of the meanest insect bears some proportion, though a very small one, to the present happiness of man; but the happiness of time bears none at all to that of eternity. The sceptical system, therefore, sinks the importance of human existence to an incon- ceivable degree. From these principles results the following important inference— that to extinguish human life by the hand of violence, must be quite a different thing in the eyes of a sceptic from what it is in those of a christian. With the sceptic it is nothing more than diverting the course of a little red fluid, called blood ; it is merely lessening the number by one of many millions of fugitive contemptible creatures. The christian sees in the same event an accountable being cut off from a state of probation, and hurried, perhaps unprepared, into the presence of his Judge, to hear that final, that irrevocable sentence, which is to fix him for ever in an unalterable condition of felicity or woe. The former perceives in death nothing A MODERN INFIDELITY CiONSIDERED. 35 but its physical circumstances; the latter is impressed with the magnitude of its moral consequences. It is the moral relation which man is supposed to bear to a supe- rior power, the awful idea of accountability, the influence which his present dispositions and actions are conceived ^ to have upon his eternal destiny, more than any supe- j riority of intellectual powers abstracted from these con- I fiiderations, which invest him with such mysterious t grandeur, and constitute the firmest guard on the sanc- j tuaiy of human life. This reasoning, it is true, serves I more immediateli/ to show how the disbelief of a future I state endangers the security of life ; but, though this be its direct consequence, it extends by analogy much further, since he who has learned to sport with the lives 1 of his fellow-creatures will feel but little solicitude for j their welfare in any other instance ; but, as the greater mcludes the less, will easily pass from this to all the in- ferior gradations of barbarity. As the advantage of the armed over the unarmed is not seen till the moment of attack, so in that tranquil state of society in which law and order maintain their ascendency, it is not perceived, perhaps not even sus- pected, to what an alarming degree the principles of modem infidelity leave us naked and defenceless. But let the state be convulsed, let the mounds of regular authority be once overflowed, and the still smaU voice of law drowned in the tempest of popular fiiry (events which recent experience shows to be possible), it will then be seen that atheism is a school of ferocity ; and that, having taught its disciples to consider mankind as little better than a nest of insects, they wiU be prepared in the fierce conflicts of party to trample upon them without pity, and extinguish them without remorse. It was late* before the atheism of Epicurus gained tootmg at Rome ; but its prevalence was soon followed by such scenes of proscription, confiscation, and blood, as were then unparaUeled in the history of the world ; from e^J^^^''^ ^"1"* assentior iis qui Aac nuper disserere coepernot, com T^nhit^ ^'""'°' '"'""'" "'^"^ ^"'"^^ "»«^ ^^^^"•** ^^«^ 36 MODERN INPIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. ^ich the republic, being never able to recorer itself, after m^ij unsuccessful struggles, exchanged liberty for repose, by submission to absolute power. Such were the effects of atheism at Rome. An attempt has been re- cently made to establish a similar system in France the consequences of which are too well knoivn to render it requisite for me to shock your feeUngs by a recital. The only doubt that can arise is, whether the barbarities which have stained the revolution in that unhappy country are justly chargeable on the prevalence of atheism. Let those who doubt of this, recollect that the men who, by their activity and talents, prepared the miiids fjte people for that great change-lro/^,>,, UAlembert, Diderot, Rousseau, and others, were avowed enemies of revelation ; that in all their v^-ritings the dif- fusion of scepticism and revolutionary principles went hand m hand ; that the fury of the most sanguinary par- ties was especially pointed against the christian priesl. hood and religious institutions, without once pretending like other persecutors, to execute the vengeance of God Cwhose name they never mentioned) upon his enemies • that their atrocities were committed with a wanton levity and bmtal merriment ; that the reign of atheism W£w avowedly and expressly the reign of terror; that in the fiiU madness of their career, in the highest climax of their horrors, they shut up the temples of God, abolished his worship, and proclaimed death to be an eternal sleen • as i£ by pointing to the silence of the sepulchre, and the sleep ot the dead, these ferocious barbarians meant to apolo- gize for leavmg neither sleep, quiet, nor repose to th« As the infidels fabled that Minerva issued full armed |trom the head of Jupiter, no sooner were the specula- itions of atheistical philosophy matured, than they gave birth to a ferocity which converted the most polished [people m Europe into a horde of assassins ; the seat of voluptuous refinement, of pleasure, and of arts, into a theatre of blood. Having already shown that the principles'of infidelity focihtate the commission of crimes, by removing the 37 restraints of fear ; and that they foster the arrogance of the individual, while they inculcate the most despicable opinion of the species ; the inevitable result is, that a haughty self-confidence, a contempt of mankind, together with a daring defiance of religious restraints, are the natural ingredients of the atheistical character ; nor is it less evident that these are, of all others, the dispositions which most forcibly stimulate to violence and cruelty. Settle it therefore in your minds, as a maxim never to be effaced or forgotten, that atheism is an inhuman, bloody, ferocious system, equally hostile to every useful restraint, and to every virtuous affection ; that leaving nothing above us to excite awe, nor roimd us to awaken tenderness, it wages war vrith heaven and earth : its fij^t object is to dethrone God, its next to destroy man.* There is a third vice, not less destructive to society than either of those which have been already mentioned, to which the system of modem infidelity is favourable ; that is, unbridled sensuality, the licentious and unre- strained indulgence of those passions which are essential to the continuation of the species. The magnitude of these passions, and their supreme importance to the existence as well as the peace and welfare of society, have rendered it one of the first objects of solicitude with every wise legislator, to restrain them by such laws, and to confine their indulgence within such limits, as shall best promote the great ends for which they were implanted. The benevolence and wisdom of the Author of Chris- tianity are eminently conspicuous in the laws he has enacted on this branch of morals ; for, while he author- izes marriage, he restrains the vagrancy and caprice of the passions, by forbidding polygamy and divorce ; and, well knowing that offences against the laws of chastity usually spring from an ill-regulated imagination, he in- * As human natnre is the same in all ages, it is not surprising to find flie same moral systems, even in the most dissimilar circnmstancespr<»- dnce corres|K)ndin?r effects. Josephus remarks that the Sadducees, a kind of Jewish infidels, whose tenets were the denial of amoral govern- ment and a future state, were distinguished from the other sects by their ferocity. De Bell. Jitd lib. ii. He elsewhere remarks, that they were eminent for their inhumanity in their judicial capacity. 38 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. || culcates purity of heart. Among innumerable benefits which the world has derived from the christian religion, a superior refinement in the sexual sentiments, a more equal and respectful treatment of women, greater dignity and permanence conferred on the institution of marriage, are not the least considerable ; in consequence of which the purest aflfections, and the most sacred duties, are grafted on the stock of the strongest instincts. The aim of all the leading champions of infidelity is to rob mankind of these benefits, and throw them back into a state of gross and brutal sensuality. In this spirit, Mr. Hume represents the private conduct of the profligate Charles, whose debaucheries polluted the age, as a just subject of panegyric. A disciple in the siime school has lately had the unblushing eflrontery to stigmatize marriage as the worst of all monopolies ; and, in a narrative of his licentious amours, to make a formal apology for departing from his principles, by submitting to its restraints. The popular productions on the conti- nent, which issue from the atheistical school, are inces- santly directed to the same purpose. Under every possible aspect in which infidelity can he viewed, it extends the dominion of sensuality: it repeals and abrogates every law by which divine reve- lation has, under such awful sanctions, restrained the indulgence of the passions. The disbelief of a supreme, omniscient Being, which it inculcates, releases its disci- ples from an attention to the hearty from every care but the preservation of outward decorum : and the exclusion of the devout affections, and an imseen world, leaves the mind inmiersed in visible, sensible objects. There are two sorts of pleasures, corporeal and mental Thouj]^ we are indebted to the s enses for all our pp r- ceptions originally, yet tho se which are at the farthe st remove from their immediate impressims confer th e most elevation on the character : since, in proportion a s they are multip lied a nd augmented, the slavish suhjp c tion to the senses is subdued . Hence the true and only antidote to debasing sensuality is the possession of a fund of that kind of enjoyment which is independent of *^ modern INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 30 the corporeal appetites. Inferior in the perfection of several of his senses to different parts of the brute creation, the superiority of man over them all consists in his superior power of multiplying by new combina- tions his mental perceptions, and thereby of creating to himself resources of happiness separate from external sensation. In the scale of enjoyment, at the first re- move from sense are the pleasures of reason and society; at the next are the pleasures of devotion and religion. The former, though totally distinct from those of sense, are yet less perfectly adapted to moderate their excesses than the last, as they are in a great measure conversant with visible and sensible objects. — ^The religious affec- tions and sentiments are, in fact, and were intended to be, the proper antagonist of sensuality : the great deli- verer from the thraldom of the appetites, by opening a spiritual world, and inspiring hopes and fears, and con- solations and joys, which bear no relation to the material and sensible universe. The criminal indulgence of sensual passions admits but of two modes of prevention ; the establishment of such laws and maxims in society as shall render lewd profligacy impracticable or infamous, or the inftision of such principles and habits as shall render it distasteful. Human legislatures have encoun- tered the disease in the first, the truths and sanctions of revealed religion in the last, of these methods : to both of which the advocates of modem infidelity are equally hostile. So much has been said by many able writers to evince the inconceivable benefit of the marriage institution, that to hear it seriously attacked by men who style themselves philosophers, at the close of the eighteenth century, must awadcen indignation and surprise. The object of this discourse leads us to direct our attention particularly to the influence of this institution on the civilization of the world. From the records of revelation we learn that marriage, or the permanent union of the sexes, was ordained by God, and existed, imdcr different modifications, in the early infancy of mankind, without which they could 40 MOVERS mPIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 41 !i never have emerged from barbarism. For, conceive only what eternal discord, jealousy, and violence would ensue, were the objects of the teiiderest affections se- cured to their possessor by no law or tie of moral obli- gation : were domestic enjoyments disturbed by inces- sant fear, and licentiousness inflamed by hope. Who could find sufficient tranquillity of mind to enable him to plan or execute any continued scheme of action, or what room for arts, or sciences, or religion, or virtue, in that state in which the chief earthly happiness was exposed to every lawless invader; where one was racked with an incessant anxiety to keep what the other was equally eager to acquire ? It is not probable in itself, independent of the light of Scripture, that the benevolent Author of the human race ever placed them in so wretched a condition at first : it is certain they could not remain in it long, without being exterminated. Marriage, by shutting out these evils, and enabling every man to rest secure in his enjoyments, is the great civi- lizer of the world : with this security the mind is at liberty to expand in generous affections, and has leisure to look abroad, and engage in the pursuits of knowledge, science, and virtue. Nor is it in this way only that marriage institutions are essential to the welfare of mankind. They are sources of tenderness, as well as the guardians of peace. Without the permanent union of the sexes, there can be no permanent families : the dissolution of nuptial ties involves the dissolution of domestic society. But domestic society is the seminary of social affections, the cradle of sensibility, where the first elements are ac- quired of that tenderness and humanity Avhich cement mankind together; and, were they entirely extinguished, the whole ^bric of social institutions would be dis- solved. Families are so many centres of attraction, which preserve mankind from being scattered and dissipated by the repulsive powers of selfishness. The order of nature is evermore from particulars to generals. As in the operations of intellect we proceed from the contem- plation of individuals to the formation of general ab- stractions, so in the development of the passions in like manner, we advance from private to public affections ; from the love of parents, brothers, and sisters, to those more expanded regards which embrace the immense society of human kind.* In order to render men benevolent, they must first be made tender : for benevolent affections are not the off- spring of reasoning; they result from that culture of the heart, from those early impressions of tenderness, gratitude, and sympathy, which the endearments of domestic life are sure to supply, and for the formation of which it is the best possible school. The advocates of infidelity invert this eternal order of nature. Instead of inculcating the private affections, as a discipline by which the mind is prepared for those of a more public nature, they set them in direct oppo- sition to each other, they propose to build general bene- volence on the destruction of individual tenderness, and to make us love the whole species more by loving every particular part of it less. In pursuit of this chimerical project, gratitude, humility, conjugal, parental, and filial affection, together with every other social disposition, are reprobated — virtue is limited to a passionate attach - ment to the general good. Is it not natural to ask, when aU the tenderness of life is extinguished, and all the bands of society are imtwisted, from whence this ardent affection for the general good is to spring ? When this savage philosophy has completed its work, when it has taught its disciple to look with perfect indifference on the offspring of his body, and the wife of his bosom, to estrange himself from his friends, insult his benefactors, and silence the pleadings of gra- titude and pity ; will he, by thus divesting himself of all that is human, be better prepared for the disinterested * ** Arctior vero colligatio est societatis propinqaornm : ab ilia enim immensa societate humani generis, in exigaarn angastumque coi>- claditor. Nam cum sit hoc natura commane animantinm, at nabeant lubi^'Wem procreaadi, prima societas in ipso conjuiiio est ; proxima in liberis ; deinde una domus, conimnnia omnia. Id autem est principi nn:|. nrbia. et quasi Beminarium reipublicae.'* — Cic. de Off. lib. i. cap. 17 |f MB^ \ 42 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. I love of his species ? Will he hecome a philanthropist only because he has ceased to be a man ? Rather, in this total exemption from all the feelings which human- ize and soften, in this chilling frost of universal indif- ference, may we not be certain that selfishness, un- mingled and uncontrolled, will assume the empire of his heart; and that, under pretence of advancing the general good, an object to which the fancy may give innumerable shapes, he will be prepared for the violation of every duty, and the perpetration of every crime? Extended benevolence is the last and most perfect fruit of the private affections ; so that to expect to reap the former from the extinction of the latter, is to oppose the means to the end ; is as absurd as to attempt to reach the summit of the highest mountain ^vithout passing through the intermediate spaces, or to hope to attain the heights of science by forgetting the first elements of knowledge. These absurdities have sprung, however, in the advocates of infidelity, from an ignorance of human nature, sufficient to disgrace even those who did mot style themselves philosophers. Presuming, contrary to the experience of every moment, that the affections are awakened by reasoninffy and perceiving that the general good is an incomparably greater object in itself than the happiness of any limited number of indivi- iuals, they inferred nothing more was necessary than to exhibit it in its just dimensions, to draw the affections towards it ; as though the fact of the superior populous- ness of China to Great Britain needed but to be known, to render us indifferent to our domestic concerns, and lead us to direct all our anxiety to the prosperity of that vast but remote empire. It is not the province of reason to awaken new passions, or open new sources of sensibility; but to direct us in the attainment of those objects which nature has aheady rendered pleasing, or to determine, among the interfering inclinations and passions which sway the Imind, which are the fittest to be preferred j Is a regard to the general good, then, you will reply, [to be excluded from the motives of action ? Nothing MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 4B is more remote from my intention : but as the nature of this motive has, in my opinion, been much misimder- stood by some good men, and abused by others, of a different description, to the worst of purposes, permit me to declare, in a few words, what appears to me to be the truth on this subject. The welfare of the whole system of being, must be allowed to be, in itself, the object of all others the most worthy of being pursued ; so that, could the mind dis- tinctly embrace it, and discern at every step what action would infallibly promote it, we should be furnished with a sure criterion of right and wrong, an unerring guide, which would supersede the use and necessity ot all inferior rules, laws, and principles. But this being impossible, since the good of the whole is a motive so loose and indeterminate, and embraces such an infinity of relations, that before we could be certain what action it prescribed, the season of action would be past; to weak, short-sighted mortals. Provi- dence has assigned a sphere of agency, less grand and extensive indeed, but better suited to their limited powers, by implanting certain affections which it is their duty to cultivate, and suggesting particular rules to which they are bound to coi3brm. By these provisions the boundaries of virtue are easily ascertained, at the same time that its ultimate object, the good of the whole, is secured ; for, since the happiness of the entire system results from the happiness of the several parts, the affections, which confine the attention immediately to the latter, conspire in the end to the promotion of the former ; as the labourer, whose industry is limited to a comer of a large building, performs his part towards rearing the structure much more effectually than if he extended his care to the whole. As the interest, however, of any limited number of persons may not only not contribute, but may possibly be directly opposed to the general good (the interest of a family, for example, to that of a province, or of a nation to that of the world), Providence has so ordered it, that in a well-regulated mind, there springs up, as we haye' 44 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY C»NSIDERED. 43 already seen, besides particular attachments, an fxtmded rtgard to the species, whose office is two-fold : not to des- troy and extinguish the more private affections, which is mental parricide ; but first, as far as is consistent with the claims of those who are immediately committed to our care, to do good to all men ; secondly, to exercise a jurisdiction and control over the private affections, so as to prohibit their indulgence, whenever it would be at- tended with manifest detriment to the whole. Thus every part of our nature is brought into action ; all the I practical principles of the human heart find an element to move in, each in its different sort and manne r con- spiring, without mutual collisions, to maintain the har- mony of the world and the happiness of the universe.* ^^ * It is somewhat sJnpikr, that many of the fashionable infidels have hit upon a definition of virtue which perfectly coincides witli that of cer- tain metaphysical divines in America, first invented and defended bj t hat most acnte reasoner, Jonathan Edwar ds. They both place vifi- tne exclasivelv in a passion lor the general Rood ; or, ns Mr. Edwards expresses it, love to being in general ; so that our love is always to be proportioned to the magnitude of its object in the scale of being : which IS liable to the objections I have already stated, as well as to many others which the limits of this note will not permit me to enumerate. Let it suffice to remark, (1.) That virtue, on these principles, is an utter impossibility : for the system of being, comprehending the great Supreme, is tnfinite^—anA tlierelbre, io maintain the proi>er proportion, the force of particular attachment must be infinitely less tliau tiie passion for the general good ; but the limits of the human mind are not capable of any emotion so infinitely different in degree. (2.) Since our views of the extent of the universe are caoable of perpetual enlajgement, admitting the sum of existence is ever the same, we must return back at each step to diminish the strength of particular atfections, or they will become disproportionate; and consequently, on these principles, vicious; so that the balance must be continually fluctuating, by the weights being taken out of one scale and put into the other. (3.) If virtue consist excluswely m love to being in general, or attachment to the general good, the particular affections are, to every purpose of virtue, useless, and even pernicious ; for their immediate, nay, their necessary tendency IS to attract to their objects a proportion of attention which far exceeds their comparative value in the general scale. To allege that the ge- neral good is promoted by them, will be of no advantage to the defence ofthis system, but the contrary, by confessing that a greater sum of happiness is attained by a deviation from, than an adherence to, its principles; unless its advocates mean by the love of being in general Uie same tiling as the private affections, which is to confound all the I Jf**"*^**ons of language, as well as all the operations of mind. Let it I be remembered, we have no dispute respecting what is the ultimate end Before I close this discourse, I cannot oinit to men- tion three circimistances attending the propagation of infidelity by its present abettors, equally new and alann- ing. 1. It is the first attempt which has been ever witness- ed, on an extensive scale, to establish the principles of atheism ; the first effort which history has recorded to disannul and extinguish the belief of all superior powers ; the consequence of which, should it succeed, would be to place mankind in a situation never before experienced, not even during the ages of pagan darkness. The sys- tem of polytheism was as remote from modem infidelity as from true religion. Amidst that rubbish of supersti- tion, the product of fear, ignorance, and vice, which had been accumulating for ages, some faint embers of sacred truth remained unextinguished ; the interposition of un- seen powers in the affairs of men was believed and re- vered, the sanctity of oaths was maintained, the idea of revelatmi and of tradition^ as a source of religious know- ledge, was familiar ; a useful persuasion of the existence of virtue, which is allowed on both sides to be the greatest sum of hap- piness in the universe. The question is merely what is virtue itself: or, in other words, what are tne means appointed for tlie attainment of that end ? Theie is little doubt, from some parts of Mr. God vein's work, en- titled, "Political Justice," as well as from his early habits of reading, that be wiis indebted to Mr. Edwards for his principal arguments against the private affections ; though, with a daring consistency, he has pursued his principles to an extreme from which that most excellent man would have revolted with horror. The fundamental error of the whole system arose, as I conceive, from a mistaken pursuit of simpli city: from a wish to construct a moral system, without leaving suffi- cient scrpe for tlie infinite variety of moral phenomena and mental Combination ; in consequence of which its advocates were induced to place virtue exclusively in some one disposition of mind : and since the passion for the general good is undeniably the noblest and most ex- tensive of all others, when it was once resolved to place virtue in any one thin^, there remained In tie room to hesitate which should be pre- ferred. It might have been worth while to reflect, that in the natural world there are two kinds of attraction ; one, which holds the several parts of individual bodi s in contact; another, which maintains the union of bodies themselves with the general system: and that, though the union in the former case is more intimate than in the latter, each 18 equally essential to the order of the world. Similar to this is the relation which the public and private affections bear to each other, andl their use in the moral system. ' -»!■■■ M MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 47 \ of a future world was kept alive, and the greater gjods were looked up to as the guardians of the public welfare, the patrons of those virtues which promote the prosperity of states, and the avengers of injustice, peAdy, and fraud,* • The testimony of Polybius to the beneficial effects which resnited from the system of pagan superstition, in fortifying the sentiments of moral obligation, and supporting the sanctity of oaths, is so weighty and decisive, that it would be an injustice to the subject not to insert it ; more especially as it is impossible to attribute it to the influence of cre- dulity on the author himself, who was evidently a sceptic. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that all the benefits which might in any way flow from superstition, are secured to an incomparably greater de. tree by the belief of trne religion. « , . • x *, ^ , " But among all the useful institutions (says Polybius) that demon- strate the superior excellence of the Roman government, the most con- siderable, perhaps is the opinion which people are taught to hold con- cerning the gods : and that which other men regard as an object ot disgrace, appears, in my judgment, to be the very thing by which th s republic is chiefly sustained. 1 mean superstition, which is impressed wrth all its terrors, and influences the private actions of the citizens and the public administration of the state, to a degree that can scarcely be exceeded. , , „ -zt * j "The ancients, therefore, acted not absurdly, nor without good rea- son, when they inculcated the notions concerning the gods, and the be- lief of infernal punishments; but much rather are those qf' the present age to be charged with rashness and absurdity, in endeA\ommg to ex- tirpate these opinions; for, not to mention other effects that flow from gach an institution, if among the Greeks, for example, a single talent only be entrusted to those who have the management of any of the pub- lie money, though thev give ten written sureties, with as many seals, and twice as many witnesses, they are unable to discharge the trust re- posed in them with integrity . But the Romans, on the other hand, who in the course of their magistracies and in embassies disburse the great- est sums, are prevailed on, by the single obbgation of an oath, to per- form their duty with inviolable honesty And, as m other states, a man is rarely to be found whose bands are pure from public robbery, so among the Romans it is no less rare to discover one Uiat is tainted with this crime."— Hamo/on'jf Polybius, Vol. III. book vi. Though tlie system of paganism is justly condemned by reason and icripture, yet it assumed as true several principles of the first import- ance to the preservation of public manners ; such as a persuasion of invisible power, of the folly of incurring the divine vengeance for the attainment of any present advantage, and the divine approbation of virtue : so that, strictiy speaking, it was the mixture of t.uth in it which gave it aH its utility, which is well stated by the great and judtaota Hooker in treating on this subject. " Seemg, therefore, it doth thus Wppear, (says that venerable author,) that the safety of all states depend- ttTupon religion: that religion, unfeignedly loved, perfecteth mens Ebilities unto ull kinds of virtuou*; services m the commonwealth ; that Of whatever benefit superstition might formerly be productive, by the scattered particles of truth which it contained, these advantages can now only be reaped from the soil of true religion ; nor is there any other alterna- tive left than the belief of Christianity, or absolute athe- I n the revolutions of the human mind, explode d ism. opinions are often revived ; but an exploded superstition never recovers its credit . The pretension to divine reve- lation is so august and commanding, that when its false- hood is once discerned, it is covered with all the ignominy of detected imposture ; it faQs from such a height (to change the figure), that it is inevitably crumbled into atoms. Religions, whether false or true, are not crea- tures of arbitrary institution. After discrediting the principles of piety, should our modem free-thinkers find it necessary, in order to restrain the excesses of fero- city, to seek for a substitute in some popular superstition, it will prove a vain and impracticable attempt : they may recall the names, restore the altars, and revive the cere- monies ; but to rekindle the spirit of heathenism will exceed their power ; because it is impossible to enac t ignorance by law, or to repeal by legislative authorit y the dictates of reason and the light of science . 2. The efibrts of infidels to difiuse the principles of infidelity among the common people, is another alarming sjrmptom peculiar to the present time. Hume, Boling- BROKE, and Gibbon, addressed themselves solely to the more polished classes of the commimity, and would have thought their refined speculations debased by an attempt to enlist disciples from among the populace. Infidelity has lately grown condescending; bred in the speculations of a daring philosophy, immured at first ia the cloisters men's desire is, in general, to hold no religion but the tme ; and that whatever good effects do grow out of their religion, who embrace, in- stead of the true, a false, tlie roots thereof are certain sparks of th e light of t ruth inteni iugled with the darkness of error : because no religion c an wholly and only consist of untruths, we have reason to think tliat all true virtues are to honour true religion as their parent, and all well ordered commonweals to love her as their chiefest stay." ^Eccles. Pol, book v. 48 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 49 of the learned, and afterwards nursed in the lap of vo- luptuousness and of courts ; having at lencrth reached its fiill maturity, it boldly ventures to challenge the sufira- ges of the people, solicits the acquaintance of peasants and mechanics, and seeks to draw whole nations to its standard. It is not difficult to account for this new state of things. While infidelity was rare, it was employed as the instrument of literary vanity; its wide diffusion having disquaUfied it for answering that purpose, it is now adopted as the organ of political convulsion. Literary distinction is conferred by the approbation of a few ; but the total subversion and overthrow of society demand the concurrence of millions. 3. The infidels of the present day are the first sophists who have presumed to innovate in the very substance of morals. The disputes on moral questions, hitherto agi- tated amongst philosophers, have respected the grounds of duty, not the nature of duty itself ; or they have been merely metaphysical, and related to the history of moral sentiments in the mind, the sources and principles from which they were most easily deduced ; they never turned on the quality of those dispositions and actions which were to be denominated virtuous. In the firm persuasion that the love and fear of the Supreme Being, the sacred observation of promises and oaths, reverence to magis- trates, obedience to parents, gratitude to benefactors, conjugal fidelity, and parental tenderness, were primary virtues, and the chief support of every commonwealth, they were unanimous. The curse denounced upon such as remove ancient land-marks, upon those who call good evil, and evil good, put light for darkness, and darkness for light, who employ their faculties to subvert the eternal distinctions of right and wrong, and thus to poison the streams of virtue at their source, falls with accumulated weight on the advocates of modem infidelity, and on them alone. Permit me to close this discourse with a few serious reflections. — ^There is much, it must be confessed, in the I apostacy of multitudes, and the rapid progress of infi- delity, to awaken our fears for the virtue of the rising generation; but nothing to shake our faith; nothing which scripture itself does not give us room to expect. The features which compose the character of apostates, their profaneness, presumption, lewdness, impatience/^ of subordination, restless appetite for change, vain pretensions to freedom and to emancipate the world, while themselves are the slaves of lust, the weapons with which they attack Christianity, and the snares they spread for the unwary, are depicted in the clearest colours by the pencil of prophecy : Knowing this first (says Peter), that there shall come in the last days scoffers^ walking after their own lusts* In the same epistle he more fully describes the persons he alludes to ; as chiefly them which walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government ; presumptuous are they, sdf willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of digni- ties ; sporting themselves in their own deceivings, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; be- guiling unstable souls : for when they speak great swell- ing words of vanity, they allure through the litsis of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean es- caped from them who live in error ; while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruptions^ Of the same characters Jude admonishes us to remember that they were foretold as mockers, who should be in the last time, w/io should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they (he adds) who separate themselves (by apos- tasy), sensual, not having the Spirit. Infidelity is an evil of short duration. " It has (as a judicious writer observes) no individual subsistence given it in the system of prophecy. It is not a beast ; but a mere putrid ex- crescence of the papal beast : an excrescence which though it may diffuse death through every vein of the body on which it grew, yet shall die along with it."i Its enormi- ties will hasten its overthrow. It is impossible that a * 2 Pet. iii. 3. f 2 Pet \\. 10, &c. t See an excellent work, by the Rev. Andrew Fuller, entitled, '* The Gospel its own Witness.** This valuable piece is reprinted in VOL. II. JE :i If I MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. tystem which, by vilifying every virtne, and embracing the patronage of ahnost every vice and crime, wages war with all the order and civilization of the world ; which, equal to the establishment of nothing, is armed only with the ene^ries of destruction, can long retain an ascend- ency. It is in no shape formed for perpetuity. Sudden in its rise, and impetuous in its progress, it resembles a mountain torrent, which is loud, filthy, and desolating : but, being fed by no perennial spring, is soon drained off, and disappears. By permitting to a certain extent the prevalence of infidelity. Providence is preparing new triumphs for religion. In asserting its authority, the preachers of the gospel have hitherto found it necessary to weigh the prospects of immortality against the inter- ests of time ; to strip the world of its charms, to insist on the deceitfulness of pleasure, the unsatisfying nature of riches, the emptiness of grandeur, and the nothing- ness of a mere worldly life. Topics of this nature will always have their use; but it is not by such repre- sentations alone that the importance of religion is evinc- ed. The prevalence of impiety has armed us with new weapons in its defence. Religion being primarily intended to make men wise unto salvation, the support it ministers to social order, the stability it confers on government and laws, is a subordinate species of advantage which we should have continued to enjoy, without reflecting on its cause, but for the development of deistical principles, and the experiment which has been made of their effects in a neighbouring country. It had been the constant boast of infidels, that their system, more liberal and generous than Christianity, needed but to be tried to pro- duce au immense accession of himian happiness; and christian nations, careless and supine, retaining little of religion but the profession, and disgusted with its restraints, lent a favourable ear to these pretensions. God permitted the trial to be made. In one country, and that the centre of Christendom, revelation under- vol. i. of the aniform edition of Mr, Faller's Works, now poblishing by his son, Mr. A. G. fuller.— Ed. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDEIIED. 51 went a total eclipse,* wliile atheism, performing on a darkened theatre its strange and fearful tragedy, con- founded the first elements of society, blended every age, rank, and sex, in indiscriminate proscription and massacre, and convulsed all Europe to' its centre ; that the imperishable memorial of these events might teach the last generations of mankind to consider religion as the pillar of society, the safeguard of nations, the pa- rent of social order, which alone has power to curb the fury of the passions, and secure to every one his rights; to the laborious the reward of their industry, to the rich the enjoyment of their wealth, to nobles the preservation of their honours, and to princes the stability of their thrones. ' We might ask the patrons of infidelity what iiiry impels them to attempt the subversion of Christianity ? Is it that they have discovered a better system ? To what virtues are their principles favourable? Or is there one which Christians have not carried to a higher perfection than any of which their party can bofist? Have they discovered a more excellent rule of life, or a better hope in death, than that which the Scriptures suggest ? Above all, what are the pre- tensions on which they rest their claims to be the guides of mankind ; or which embolden them to ex- pect we should trample upon the experience of ages, and abandon a religion which has been attested by a train of miracles and prophecies, in which millions of our forefathers have found a refuge in every trouble, and consolation in the hour of death : a religion which has been adorned with the highest sanctity of cha- racter and splendor of talents, which enrols amongst its disciples the names of Bacon, Newton, and Locke, the glory of their species, and to which these illus- * It Js worthy of attention that Mercier, a warm advocate of the French ReyoUition, and a professed deist, in his recent work, entitled, New Pans," acknowledges and laments the extinction of religion in . "*^ J „" ^*. ^^^^'' *"y* ^^' " *" proscribing superstition, de- stroyed all reltyious smttment; but this is not the way to regenerate the world " See Appendix to the 30th vol. of the MonthJir Keview. . i^i» " 52 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. !f trious men were proud to dedicate the last and best fruits of their immortal genius ? If the question at issue is to be decided by argu- ment, nothing can be added to the triumph of Chris- tianity ; if by an appeal to authority, what have our adversaries to oppose to these great names? Where are the infidels of such pure, uncontaminated morals, unshaken probity, and extended benevolence, that we should be in danger of being seduced into impiety by their example ? Into what obscure recesses of misery, into what dungeons, have their philanthropists pene- trated, to lighten the fetters and relieve the sorrows of the helpless captive ? What barbarous tribes have their apostles visited : what distant climes have they explored, encompassed with cold, nakedness, and want, to diflFiise principles of virtue, and the blessings of civilization? Or will they rather choose to waive their pretensions to this extraordinary, and in their eyes, eccentric species of benevolence, (for infidels, we know, are sworn enemies to enthusiasm of every sort,) and rest their character on their political ex- l)loits; on their efibrts to reanimate the virtue of a sinking state, to restrain licentiousness, to calm the tumult of popular fury ; and, by inculcating the spirit of justice, moderation, and pity for fallen greatness, to mitigate the inevitable horrors of revolution? our adversaries Avill at least have the discretion, if not the modesty, to recede from the test. More than all, their infatuated eagerness, their par- ricidal zeal to extinguish a sense of Deity, must ex- cite astonishment and horror. Is the idea of an al- mighty and perfect Ruler unfriendly to any passion which is consistent with innocence, or an obstruction to any design which it is not shameful to avow? Eternal God, on what are thine enemies intent ! What are those enterprises of guilt and horror, that, for the safety of their performers, require to be enveloped in a darkness which the eye of heaven must not pierce ! Miserable men ! Proud of being the ofi*spring of chance; in love with universal disorder; whose happinon is MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 53 fl involved in the belief of there being no witness to their designs, and who are at ease only because they suppose themselves inhabitants of a forsaken and fa- therless world ! Having been led by the nature of the subject to consider chiefly the manner in which sceptical impiety afi*ects the welfare of states, it is the more requisite to warn you against that most fatal mistake of regarding religion as an engine of policy; and to recall to your recollection that t he concern we have in it is much more as indimduals than as collective bodies^ and far less temporal than eternal. The happiaess which it confers in the present life comprehends the blessings which it scatters by the way in its march to inamor- tality. That future condition of being which it ascer- tains, and for which its promises and truths are meant to prepare us, is the ultimate end of human societies, the final scope and object of present existence, in com- parison of which all the revolutions of nations, and all the vicissitudes of time, are light and transitory. God- liness Am, it is true, the promise of the life thai now is ; but chiefly of that which is to come. Other acquisitions may be requisite to make men great ; but, be assured, the religion of Jesus is alone si&cient to make them good and happy. Powerful sources of consolation in sorrow, unshaken fortitude amidst the changes and per- turbations of the world, humility remote from mean- ness, and dignity unstained by pride, contentment in every station, passions pure and calm, with habitual serenity, the full enjoyment of life, undisturbed by the dread of dissolution or the fear of an hereafter, are its invaluable gifts. To these enjoyments, how- ever, you will necessarily continue strangers, unless you resign yourselves wholly to its power; for the conso- lations of religion are reserved to reward, to sweeten, and to stimulate obedience. Many, without renouncing the profession of Christianity, without formally reject- ing its distinguishing doctrines, live in such an habi- tual violation of its laws, and contradiction to its spirit, that, conscious they have more to fear than to hop^ 54 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 55 from its truth, they are never aLle to contemplate it without terror. It haunts their imagination, instead of tranquillizing their hearts, and hangs with depress- ing weight on all their enjoyments and pursuits. Their religion, instead of comforting them under their trou- bles, is itself their greatest trouble, from which they seek refuge in the dissipation and vanity of the world, until the throbs and tumults of conscience force them back upon religion. Thus suspended betwixt opposite powers, the sport of contradictory influences, they are disqualified for the happiness of both worlds ; and neither enjoy the pleasures of sin, nor the peace of piety. Is it surprising to find a mind thus bewilder- ed in uncertainty, and dissatisfied with itself, courting deception, and embracing with eagerness every pretext to mutilate the claims and enervate the authority of Christianity : forgetting that i t is of the very essen ce of the religious principle to pre side and control, an d that it is impossible to serve God gyid mammon ? It is this class of professors who are chiefly in danger of being entangled in the snares of infidelity. The champions of infidelity have much more reason to be ashamed than to boast of such converts. For what can be a stronger presumption of the falsehood of a sys- tem, than that it is the opiate of a restless conscience ; that it prevails with minds of a certain description, not because they find it true, but because they feel it neces- sary ; and that in adopting it they consult less with their reason than with their vices and their fears ? It requires but little sagacity to foresee that speculations which ori- ginate in guilt must end in ruin. Infidels are not them- selves satisfied with the truth of their system : for had they any settled assurance of its principles, in consequence of calm dispassionate investigation, they would never dis- turb the quiet of the world by their attempts to prose- lyte ; but would lament their own infelicity, in not being able to perceive suflicient evidence for the truth of reli- gion, which furnishes such incentives to virtue, and in- spires such exalted hope«. Having nothing to substitute in the place of religion, it is absurd to suppose that, in opposition to the collective voice of every country, age, and time, proclaiming its necessity, solicitude for the welfare of mankind impels them to destroy it. To very difterent motives must their conduct be ina- puted. More like conspirators than philosophers, in spite of the darkness with which they endeavour to sur- round themselves, some rays of unwelcome conviction will penetrate, some secret apprehensions that all is not right >vill make themselves felt, which they find nothing so effectual to quell as an attempt to enlist fresh disciples, who, in exchange for new principles, impart confidence, and diminish fear. For the same reason it is seldom they attack Christianity by argument : their favourite weapons are ridicule, obscenity, and blasphemy ; as the most miserable outcasts of society are, of all men, found most to deUght in vulgar merriment and senseless riot. Jesus Christ seems to have his fan in his hand^ to he thoroughly purging his floor ; and nominal christians will probably be scattered like chaff*. But has real Chris- tianity any thing to fear? Have not the degenerate manners and corrupt lives of multitudes in the visible church, been, on the contrary, the principal occasion of scandal and off*ence ? Infidelity, without intending it, is gradually removing this reproach : possessing the pro- perty of attracting to itself the morbid humours which pervade the church, until the christian profession, on the one hand, is reduced to a sound and healthy state, and scepticism, on the other, exhibits nothing but a mass of putridity and disease. In a view of the final issue of the contest, we should find little cause to lament the astonishing prevalence of infidelity, but for a solicitude for the rising generation, to whom its principles are recommended by two motives, with young minds the most persuasive ; the love of in- dependence, and the love of pleasure. With respect to the first, we would earnestly entreat the young to remem- ber that, by the unanimous consent of all ages, modesty, docility, and reverence to superior years, and to parents above all, have been considered as their appropriate mr- tue^, a guard assigned by the immutable laws of God anc 511 MODEliN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. nature on the inexperience of youth ; and with respect to the second, that Christianity prohibits no pleasures that are innocent, lays no restraints that are capricious ; but that the sobriety and purity which it enjoins, by itren^hening the intellectual powers, and preserving the faculties of mind and body in undiminished vigour, lay the surest foundation of present peace and future emi- nence. At such a season as this, it becomes an urgent duty on parents, guardians, and tutors, to watch, not only over the morals, but the principles of those com- mitted to their care ; to make it appear that a concern for their eternal welfare is their cliief concern ; and to imbue them early with that knowledge of the evidences of Christianity, and that profound reverence for the Scrip- tures, that, with the blessing of God (which, mth sub- mission, they may then expect), may keep them from this hour o/tempiation that has come upon all the world, to try , them that dwell on the earth. To an attentive observer of the signs of the times, it will appear one of the most extraordiniuy phenomena of this eventful crisis, that, amidst the ravages of atheism and infidelity, real religion is evidently on the increase. T/ie kingdom of God, we know, cometh not with observa- tion ; but still there are not wanting manifest tokens of its approach. The personal appearance of the Son of God was announced by the shaking of nations ; his spi- ritual kingdom, in aU probability, wiU be established in the midst of similar convulsions and disorders. The blasphemous impiety of the enemies of God, as well as the zealous efforts of his sincere worshippers, will doubt- less be overruled to accompKsh the purposes of his un- emng providence : while, in inflicting the chastisements ?f 5^^nded Deity on corrupt communities and nations, infidelity marks its progress bv devastation and ruin, by the prostration of thrones and concussion of kingdoms • thus appalling the inhabitants of the w^orid, and com- peUmg them to take refuge in the church of God, the true sanctuary ; the stream of divine know ledge, unob- served, is flowing in new channels, winding its course among humble vaUeys, refreshing thirsty deserts, and MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. 57 enriching vrith far other and higher blessings than those of commerce, the most distant climes and nations, until, agreeably to the prediction of prophecy, the kmwledge of the Lord shall fill and cover the whole earth. Within the limits of this discourse it would he impraxj- ticable to exhibit the evidences of Christianity ; nor is it my design ; but there is one consideration, resulting im- mediately from my text, which is entitled to great weight with all who believe in the one living and true God as the sole object of worship. The Ephesians, in common with other Gentiles, are described in the text as being, previous to their conversion, without God in the world ; that is, without any just and solid acquaintance with his character, destitute of the knowledge of his vrill, the in- stitutes of his worship, and the hopes of his favour ; to the truth of which representation whoever possesses the slightest acquaintance with pagan antiquity must assent. Nor is it a fact less incontestable, that, while human ph i- losophy w^as never able to abolish idolatry in a single vi l- lage, the promulgation of the gospel overthrew it in a great part Tand that the most emigntened) of the wor ld. If our belief in the unity and perfections of God, together with his moral government, and exclusive right to the worship of mankind, be founded in truth, they cannot reasonably be denied to be truths of the first importance, and infinitely to outweigh the greatest discoveries in science ; because they turn the hopes, fears, and interests of man into a totally different channel from that in which they must otherwise flow. Wherever these principles are first admitted, there a new dominion is erected, and a new system of laws established. But since all events are under divine direction, is it reasonable to suppose that the great Parent, after suffer- ing his creatures to continue for ages ignorant of his true character, should at length in the course of his provi- dence, fix upon falsehood, and that alone, as the effectual method of making himself known ; and that what the virtuous exercise of reason in the best and vrisest men was never permitted to accomplish, he should confer on fraud and delusion the honour of effecting? It ill 1 i 58 MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. comports With the majesty of truth, or the chairicter of Cxod, to beheve that he has built the noblest superstruc- ture on the weakest fomidation ; or reduced mankind to the miserable alternatire either of remaining destitute of he knowledge of himself, or of deriving it from the pol- luted source of impious imposture. We therefore feel ourselves justified on this occasion, in adopting the triumphant boast of the great apostle : Where u t/tewhe Hath not God made foolwh the wisdom of this world ^ jor after thai tn the wisdom of God, the world hy wisdom knew not God, ^^ pleased God by the foolishness of preach- tng to save them that believe. ^ MODERN INFIDELITY C30NSIDERED 59 NOTE TO PAGE 36. The fury of the most sanguinary parties was especially pointed against the christian priesthood, S^c. — The author finds he has given great offence to some friends whom he highly esteems, by applying the term christian priesthood to the popish clergy. He begs leave to make a remark or two by way of apology. 1. It is admitted by all candid protestants that salvation is attainable in the Roman-catholic church ; but he should be glad to be infonned what part of the christian covenant en- titles us to expect the salvation of those (where the gospel is promulgated) who are not even a branch of the visible church of Christ The papistical tenets are either funda- mentally erroneous, on which supposition it is certain no papist can be saved ; or their errors must be consistent with christian faith, and consequently, cannot be a valid reason for excluding those who maintain them from being a part (a most corrupt i>art, if you please, but still a part) of the chris- tian church. 2. The popish clergy were persecuted under the character of christians, not under the notion of heretics and schisma- tics. They who were the subjects of persecution were cer- tainly the best judges of its aun and direction; and when the Archbishop of Paris and others endeavoured to screen themselves from its effects by a recantation, what did they recant? Was it popery . J* No; but the profession of Chris- tianity. These apostates, doubtless, meant to remove the ground of offence, which, in their opinion, was the christian profession. If the soundest ecclesiastical historians liave IHI I I GO MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED. not refused the honours of martyrdom to such as suffered m the cause of truth amongst the Gnostics, it ill becomes the liberahty of the present age to contemplate, with sullen in- difference, or malicious joy, the sufferings of conscientious Catholics. 3. At the period to which the author refers, christian wor- ship of every kind was prohibited ; while in solemn mockery of religion, adoration was paid to a strumpet, under the title [of the Goddess of Reason. Is it necessary to prove that men who were thus abandoned, must be hostile to true reli- gion under every form ? Or, if there be any gradations in their abhorrence, to that most which is the most pure and perfect } Are atheism and obscenity more congenial to the protestant than to the popish profession } To have incurred the hatred of the ruling party of France at the season alluded to, is an honour which the author would be sorry to resign, as the exclusive boast of the church of Rome. To have been the object of the partiality of such bloody and in- human monsters, would have been a stain upon protesianis which the virtue of ages could not obliterate. REFLECTIONS ON WAR A SERMON, I'REACIIEU AT THE BAPTIST MEETING, CAMBRIDGE, On Tuesday, Jone ], 1802. BEING THE DAY OP THANKSGIVING FOR A GENERAL PEACE. • I PREFACE. ' i I I „i " '" |i The writer is not aware that the sentiments contained in this discourse require apology, though he is con- vinced he needs the candour of the public with respect to the imperfect manner in which they are exhibited. If it be deemed an impropriety to introduce political reflec- tions in a discourse from the pulpit, he wishes it to be remembered that these are of a general nature, and such as, rising out of the subject and the occasion, he can- not suppose it improper for a christian minister to im- press. With party politics he is determined to have as little to do as possible, and, in the exercise of his profes- sional duties, nothing at all. Conscious that what is here advanced was meant neither to flatter nor ofiend any party, he is not very solicitous about those misconstruc- tions or misrepresentations to which the purest intentions are exposed. It will probably be objected, that he has dwelt too much on the horrors of wax for a Thanksgiving Sermon ; in answer to which he begs it may be remem- bered, that, as the pleasure of rest is relative to fatigue, and that of ease to pain, so the blessing of peace, consi- dered merely a$ peace, is exactly proportioned to the PREFACE. i calamity of war. As this, whenever it is justifiable, arises out of a necessUt/, not a desire of acquisition, its natural and proper effect is merely to replace a nation in the state it was in before that necessity was incurred, or, in other words, to recover what was lost, and secure what was endangered. The writer intended to add something more on the moral effects of war, (a subject which he should be glad to see undertaken by some superior hand,) but found it would not be compatible with the limits he determined to assign himself. The sermon having been preached for the benefit of a Bene- volent Society, instituted at Cambridge, will sufficiently account for the observations on charity to the poor, in- troduced towards the close. Tlie good which has ahready arisen from the exertions of that society is more than equal to its most sanguine expectiitions ; and should this publication contribute in the smallest degree to the for- mation of similar ones in other parts, the author will think himself abundantly compensated for the little trouble it has cost him. Cambridge, June 19, 1802. A SERMON. Psalm xlvi. 8, 9. Conw, and hehddthe works of the Lord^ what desolations he hath made in tJie earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth ; he breaketh the bow, and cmteth the spear in sunder ; he bumeth the chariot in thejire. To the merciful interposition of Providence we owe it that our native land has been exempted for nearly sixty vears from being the seat of war ; our insular situation having preserved us, under God, from foreign invasion ; the admirable balance of our constitution from internal discord. We have heard indeed of the ravages of armies, and the depopulation of countries, but they have merely suppUed a topic of discourse, and have occasioned no serious alarm. The military system, as far as it has ap- peared in England, has been seen only on the side of its gaiety and pomp, a pleasing show, without imparting any idea of its horrors ; and the rumours of battles and slaughter conveyed from afar have rather amused our leisure, than disturbed our repose. While we cannot be too thankful for our security, it has placed us under a disadvantage in one respect, which is, that we have learned to contemplate war with too much indifference, and to feel for the imhappy countries immediately in- volved in it too Uttle compassion. Had we ever expe- rienced its calamities, we should celebrate the restoration ot peace on this occasion with warmer emotions than there is room to apprehend are at present felt. To awaken those sentiments of gratitude which we are this day assembled to express, it will be proper briefly to VOL. II. Y ^ ^ '' I ee REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 67 recall to your attention some of the dreadfiil effects of hos- tihty. Eeal war, my brethren, is a very different thing from that painted image of it, which you see on a parade or at a review : it is the most awful scourge that Provi- dence employs for the chastisement of man. It is the garaaent of vengeance with which the Deity arrays him- self, when he comes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth. It is the day of the Lord, cruel both with fm-aih and fierce anger. It is thus described by the sub- hmest of prophets : Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; tt shall come as a destruction from the Almighty - therefore shall aU hands he faint, and every man's heart shall melt ; pangs and sorrows shall take hold on them ; th^y shall he in pain as a woman that travaileth ; they shall he amazed one at another ; their faces shall he as name. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel hoth with fvrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate ; and he shall destroy the sinners out of it. For tU stars of Iieaven, and the constellations thereof shaU not give their light; the Sim shall he darkened in his going forth, and the moon shaLi not give her light. War may be considered in two views, as it affects the happmess, and as it affects the virtue of mankind ; as a source of misery, and as a source of crimes. 1. Though we must all die, as the woman of Tekoa said, flw»ap Tfl (ilpnvn) ol traiCli^ rovq tran^a^ Ba,7rrova-r iv is rS {voKifAaf^ • "^"Tifif Tout vaXiaq. Cap. 87. Ed, ^ 68 REFLECTIONS ON WAR, REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 69 I from those lingering diseases and slow torments to which others are liable. We cannot see an individual expire, though a stranger or an enemy, without being sensibly moved, and prompted by compassion to lend him every assistance in our power. Every trace of resentment vanishes in a moment : every other emotion gives way to pity and terror. In these last extremities, we re- member nothing but the respect and tenderness due to our common nature. What a scene, then, must a field of battle present, where thousands are left without assistance, and without pity, with their wounds exposed to the piercing air, while the blood, freezing as it flows, binds them to the earth, amidst the trampling of horses, and the insults of an enraged foe ! If they ^e spared by the humanity of the enemy, and carried from the field, it is but a prolongation of torment. Conveyed in uneasy vehicles, often to a remote distance, through roads almost impassable, they are lodged in iU-prepaxed recep- tacles for the wounded and the sick, where the vane y of distress baffles all the efforts of humanity and skill, and renders it impossible to give to each the attention he demands. Fai- from their native home, no tender assiduities of friendship, no well-kno™ voice, no wite, or mother, or sister, is near to soothe their sorrows, relieve their thirst, or close their eyes in death. U n- happy man! and must you be swept into the grave unnoticed and unnumbered, and no friendly tear be shed for your sufferings, or mingled with your dust f We must remember, however, that as a very small proportion of a military life is spent in actual combat, so it is a very small part of its misenes which must be ascribed to this source. More are consumed by the rust of inactivity than by the edge of the sword ; con- fined to a scanty or unwholesome diet, exposed m sickly climates, harassed with tiresome marches and perpetual alarms, their life is a continual scene of hardships and dangers. They grow familiar with hunger, cold, and watchfulness. Crowded into hospitals and prisons, con- tagion spreads among their ranks, till the ravages of disease exceed those of the enemy. • ) f» ■■■iiiiiiti We have hitherto only adverted to the sufferings of those who are engaged in the profession of arms, with- out taking into our account the situation of the coun- tries which are the scene of hostilities. How dreadful to liold every thing at the mercy of an enemy, and to receive life itself as a boon dependent on the sword. How boundless the fears which such a situation must inspire, where the issues of life and death are deter- mined by no known laws, principles, or customs, and no conception can be formed of our destiny, except as far as it is dimly deciphered in characters of blood, in the dictates of revenge, and the caprices of power. Conceive but for a moment the consternation which the approach of an invading army would impress on the peaceful villages in this neighbourhood. When you have placed yourselves for an instant in that situation, you will learn to sympathize with those unhappy coun- tries which have sustained the ravages of arms. But how is it possible to give you an idea of these horrors ? Here you behold rich harvests, the bounty of heaven and the reward of industry, consumed in a moment, or trampled under foot, while famine and pestilence follow the steps of desolation. There the cottages of peasants given up to the flames, mothers expiring through fear, not for themselves but their infants ; the inhabitants flying with their helpless babes in all directions, miser- able fugitives on their native soil ! In another part you witness opulent cities taken by storm ; the streets, where no sounds were heard but those of peaceful industry, filled on a sudden with slaughter and blood, resounding with the cries of the pursuing and the pursued; the palaces of nobles demolished, the houses of the rich pillaged, the chastity of virgins and of matrons violated, and every age, sex, and rank, mingled in promiscuous massacre and ruin. If we consider the maxims of war which prevailed in the ancient world, and which still prevail in many barbarous nations, we perceive that those who survived the fury of battle and the insolence of victory, were only reserved for more durable calamities ; swept into 70 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 71 ( f hopeless captiyity, exposed in markets, or plunged in mines, with the melancholy distinction bestowed on princes and warriors, after appearing in the triumphal procession of the conqueror, of being conducted to in- stant death. The contemplation of such scenes as these forces on us this awful reflection, that neither the fury of wild beasts, the concussions of the earth, nor the violence of tempests, are to be compared to the ravages of arms : and that nature in her utmost extent, or, more properly, divine justice in its utmost severity, has sup- plied no enemy to man so terrible as man. Still, however, it would be happy for mankind if the effects of national hostility terminated here ; but the fiEict is, that they who are farthest removed from its immediate desolations, share largely in the calamity. They are drained of the most precious part of their population, their youth, to repair the waste made by the sword. They are drained of their wealth, by the prodigious expense incurred in the equipment of fleets, and the subsistence of armies in remote parts. The accumulation of debt and taxes diminishes the public strength, and depresses private industry. An augmen- tation in the price of the necessaries of Ufe, inconvenient to all classes, falls with peculiar weight on the labouring poor, who must carry their industry to market every day, and therefore cannot wait for that advance of price which gradually attaches to every other article. Of all people, the poor are, on this account, the greatest sufi«r- ers by war, and have the most reason to rejoice in the restoration of peace. As it is the farthest from my purpose to awaken unpleasing reflections, or to taint the pure satisfaction of this day, by the smallest infusion of political acrimony, it will not be expected I should apply these remarl^ to the peculiar circumstances of this country, though it would be unpardonable in us to forget (for to forget our dangers is to forget our mercies) how nearly we have been reduced to famine, principally, it is true, through a failure in the crops, but greatly aggravated, no doubt, in its pressure, by our being engaged in a war of unexampled expenditure and extent. In commercial states, (of which Europe principally consists,) whatever interrupts their intercourse is a tatal blow to national prosperity. Such states, having a mutual dependence on ea^h other, the effects ot their hostility extend far beyond the parties engaged m the contest. If there be a country highly eomnierci^, which has a decided superiority in wealth and mdustry, together with a fleet which enables it to protect its trade, the commerce of such a country may survive the shock, but it is at the expense of the commerce of all other nations ; a painful reflection to a generous mmd Even there, the usual channels of trade being closed, it is some time before it can force a new passage for itselt : previous to which, an almost total stagnation takes place, by which multitudes are impoverished, and thousands ot the industrious poor, being thrown out of employment, are plunged into wretchedness and beggary. Who can calculate the number of industrious famihes in different parts of the world, to say nothmg of our own country, who have been reduced to poverty, from this cause, since the peace of Europe was interrupted ? The plague of a widely extended war possesses, in fact, a sort of omnipresence, by which it makes itself every where felt; for while it ^ves up mynads to slaughter in one part of the globe, it is busily employed in s^ttering over countries, exempt from its immediate desolations, the seeds of famine, pestilence, and death. If statesmen, if christian statesmen, at least, had a proper feeling on this subject, and would open their hearts to the reflections which such scenes must inspire, instead of rushing eagerly to arms from the thirst ot conquest, or the thirst of gain, would they not hesitate long, would they not try every expedient, every lenient art consistent with national honour, before they ven- tured on this desperate remedy, or rather, betore they plunged into this gulf of horror? It is time to proceed to another view of the subject, which is, the influence of national warfare on the morals of mankind: a topic on which I must be very bneh but which it would be wrong to omit, as it suppUes an Si' 1 t i! It , I ' i ' 1 1 n ! 1 i ^ 1 '■ ! J3 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. additional reason to eyery good man for tlie lore of peace. The contests of nations are both the offspring and the parent of injustice. The word of God ascribes the existence of war to the disorderly passions of men. Whence come wars and fighting among you ? saith the apostle James ; come they not from your lusts, that war in your members? It is certain two nations cannot engage in hostilities, but one party must be guilty of injustice; and if the magnitude of crimes is to be estimated by a regard to their consequences, it is difficult to conceiye an action of equal guilt with the wanton riolation of peace. Though something must generally be allowed for the complexness and intricacy of national claims, and the consequent liability to deception, yet where the guilt of an unjust war is clear and manifest, it sinks every other crime into insignificance. If the existence of war always implies injustice, in one at least of the parties concerned, it is also the fi-uitful parent of crimes. It reverses, with respect to its objects, all the rules of morality. It is nothing less than a temporary repeal of the principles of virtue. It is a system out of which almost all the virtues are excluded, and in which nearly all the vices are incorporated. Whatever renders human nature amiable or respectable, whatever engages love or confidence, is sacrificed at its shrine. In instructing us to consider a portion of our fellow-creatures as the proper objects of enmity, it re- moves, as far as they are concerned, the basis of all society, of all civilization and virtue ; for the basis of these is the good- will due to every individual of the species, as being a part of ourselves. From this princi- ple all the rules of social virtue emanate. Justice and humanity in their utmost extent are nothing more than the practical application of this great law. The sword, and that alone, cuts asunder the bond of consanguinity which unites man to man. As it inmiediately aims at the extinction of life, it is next to impossible, u|)on the principle that every thing may be lawmlly done to him whom we have a right to kill, to set limits to military REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 73 license ; for, when men pass from the dominion of reason to that of force, whatever restraints are attempted to be laid on the passions will be feeble and fluctuating. Though we must applaud, therefore, the attempts of the humane Grotius, to blend maxims of humanity with military operations, it is to be feared they vdll never coalesce, since the former imply the subsistence of those ties which the latter suppose to be dissolved. Hence the morality of peaceful times is directly opposite to the maxims of war. The fundamental rule of the first is to do good ; of the latter, to mflict injuries. The former commands us to succour the oppressed; the latter to overwhelm the defenceless. The former teaches men to love their enemies ; the latter to make themselves ter- rible even to strangers. The rules of morality will not suffer us to promote the dearest interest by falsehood ; the maxims of war applaud it when employed in the destruction of others. That a familiarity with such maxims must tend to harden the heart, as well as to pervert the moral sentiments, is too obvious to need illustration. The natural consequence of their preva- lence is an unfeeling and unprincipled ambition, with an idolatry of talents, and a contempt of virtue ; whence the esteem of mankind is turned from the humble, the beneficent, and the good, to men who are qualified by a genius fertile in expedients, a courage that is never appalled, and a heart that never pities, to become the destroyers of the earth. While the philanthropist is devising means to mitigate the evils and augment the happiness of the world, a fellow worker together with God, in exploring and giving effect to the benevolent tendencies of nature, the warrior is revolving, in the gloomy recesses of his capacious mind, plans of future devastation and ruin. Prisons crowded with captives, cities emptied of their inhabitants, fields desolate and waste, are among his proudest trophies. The fabric of his fame is cemented with tears and blood ; and if his name is wafted to the ends of the earth, it is in the shrill cry of suffering humanity ; in the curses and impre- cations of those whom his sword has reduced to despair. »« jl 74 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 75 Let me not be understood to involye in tKis guilt every man who engages in war, or to assert that war itself is in jdl cases unlawful. The injustice of mankind, hitherto incurable, renders it in some instances necessary, and therefore lawful; but unquestionably, these instances are much more rare than the practice of the world and its loose casuistry would lead us to suppose. Detesting war, considered as a trade or profession, and conceiving conquerors to be the enemies of their species, it appears* to me that nothing is more suitable to the office of a christian minister, than an attempt, however feeble, to take off the colours from fake greatness, and to show the deformity which its delusive splendour too often conceals. This is perhaps one of the best services religion can do to society. Nor is there any more neces- sary. For, dominion affording a plain and palpable dis- tinction, and every man feeling the effects of power, however incompetent he may be to judge of wisdom and goodness, the character of a hero, there is reason to fear, will always be too dazzling. The sense of his injustice will be too often lost in the admiration of his success. In contemplating the influence of war on public morals^ it would be unpardonable not to remark the effects it never fails to produce in those parts of the world which are its immediate seat. The injury which the morals of a people sustain from an invading army is prodigious. The agitation and suspense universally prevalent are in- compatible with every thing which requires calm thought or serious reflection. In such a situation is it any won- der the duties of piety fall into neglect, the sanctuary of God is forsaken, and the gates of Zion mourn and are desolate? Familiarized to the sight of rapine and slaughter, the people must acquire a hard and unfeeling character. The precarious tenure by which every thing is held during the absence of laws, must impair confi- dence ; the sudden revolutions of fortune must be infi- nitely favourable to fraud and injustice. He who reflects ♦ ** Non est inter artificia bellum, imo res est tam horrenda, at earn nisi 8omma necessith<), aut vera caritas, hoDestam efficere queat Augtistinojadice, militare dod est delictum, sed propter (Mrsedam mili- tere peccatmn est." Grot, de Jure Bell. lib. ii. c. 35. on these consequences, will not think it too much to affirm, that the injury the virtue of a people sustains from invasion is greater than that which affects their property or their lives. He will perceive, that by such a ciamity the seeds of order, virtue, and piety, which it is the first care of education to implant and mature, are swept away as by a hurricane. w • i? ITiough the sketch which I have attempted to give of the miseries which ensue, when nation lifts up arms against nation, is faint and imperfect, it is yet sufficient to imprint on our minds, a salutary horror of such scenes, and a gratitude, warm, I trust, and sincere, to that gra- cious Providence which has brought them to a close. To acknowledge the hand of God is a duty indeed at all times ; but there are seasons when it is made so bare, that it is next to impossible, and therefore signally cn- minal, to overlook it. It is ahnost unnecessary to add that the present is one of those seasons. If ever we ^e expected to he ttill, and know that he is God, it is on the present occasion, after a crisis so unexampled m the annals of the world ; during which scenes have been dis- closed, and events have arisen, so much more astomshmg than any that historv had recorded or romance had feigned, that we are compelled to lose sight of human agency, and to behold the Deity acting as it were apart and alone. , , _ , . The contest in which we have been lately engaged is distinguished from all others in modem times by the number of nations it embraced, and the ammosity with which it was conducted. Making its first appearance in the centre of the civiUzed worid, like a fire kmdled m the thickest part of a forest, it spread during ten yeare on every side ; it burnt in all directions, gathermg fresh fury in its progress, till it enwrapped the whole of Europe in its flames ; an awful spectacle, not only to the inhar- bijtants of the earth, but in the eyes of superior beings ! What place can we point out to which its effects have not extended ? Where is the nation, the famUy, the in- dividual I might almost say, who has not felt its influ- ence ? It is not, my brethren, the tennmation of an "i 7U REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLBCrnONS ON WAR. 77 i ordinary contest which we are assembled this day to commemorate ; it is an event which includes for the pre- sent (may it long perpetuate) the tranquillity of Europe and the pacification of the world. We are met to ex- press our deyout gratitude to God for putting a period to a war, the most eventful perhaps that has been witnessed for a thousand years, a war which has transformed the face of Europe, removed the land-marks of nations and limits of empire. The spirit of animosity with which it has been con- ducted is another circumstance which has eminently dis- tinguished the recent contest. As it would be highly improper to enter, on this occasion, (were my abilities equal to the task,) into a discussion of those principles which have divided, and probably will long divide, the sentiments of men, it may be sufficient to observe, in general, that what principally contributed to make the con- test so peculiarly violent, was a discordancy betwixt the opinions and the institutions of society. A daring spirit of speculation, untempered, alas! by humility and devo- tion, has been the distinguishing feature of the present times. While it confined itself to the exposure of the corruptions of religion and the abuses of power, it met with some degree of countenance from the wise and good in all countries, who were ready to hope it was the in- strument destined by Providence to meliorate the condi*. tion of mankind. How great was their disappointment when they perceived that pretensions to philanthropy were, with many, only a mask assumed for the more successful propagation of impiety and anarchy! From the prevalence of this spirit, however, a schism was gradually formed between the adherents of those, who, styling themselves philosophers, were intent on some great change, which they were Kttle careful to ex- plain, and the patrons of the ancient order of things. The pretensions of each were plausible. The accumula- tion of abuses and the corruptions of religion furnished weapons to the philosophers ; the dangerous tendency of the speculations of these latter, together with their im- piety, which became every day more manifest, gave an advantage not less considerable to their opponents, which they did not fail to improve. In this situation the breach grew wider and wider ; nothing temperate or conciliat- ing was admitted. Every attempt at purifying religion without impairing its authority, and at improving the condition of society, without shaking its foundation, was crushed and annihilated in the encounter of two hostile forces. By this means the way was prepared, first for internal dissension, and then for wars the most bloody and extensive. The war in which so great a part of the world was lately engaged has been frequently styled a war of prin- ciple. Hiis was indeed its exact character ; and it was this which rendered it so violent and obstinate. Disputes which are founded merely on passion or on interest, are comparatively of short duration. They are, at least, not calculated to spread. However they may inflame the principals, they are but little adapted to gain partizans. To render them durable, there must be an infusion of speculative opinions. For, corrupt as men are, they are yet so much the creatures of reflection, and so strongly addicted to sentiments of right and wrong, that their attachment to a public cause can rarely be secured, or their animosity kept alive, unless their understandings are engaged by some appearances of truth and rectitude. Hence speculative differences in religion and politics become rallying points to the passions. Whoever reflects on the civil wars between the Guelphs and Ghibbelines, or the adherents .of the pope and emperor, which dis- tracted Italy and Germany in the middle ages ; or those betwixt the houses of York and Lancaster, in the fif- teenth century, will find abundant confirmation of this remark. This is well understood by the leaders of par- ties in all nations ; who, though they frequently aim at nothing more than the attainment of power, yet always contrive to cement the attachment of their followers, by mixing some speculative opinion with their contests, well knowing that what depends for support merely on the irascible passions soon subsides. Then does party animosity reach its height, when, to n of in- Ul. 78 REFLECTIONS ON WAR, REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 79 terests sufficient to kindle resentment, is superadded a persuasion of rectitude, a conviction of truth, an apprehen- sion in each party that they are contending for principles of the last importance, on the success of which the hap- piness of millions depends. Under these impressions men are apt to indulge the most selfish and vindictive passions without suspicion or control. The understand- ing, indeed, in that state, instead of controlling the pas- sions, often serves only to give steadiness to their impulse, to ratify and consecrate, so to speak, all their movements. When we apply these remarks to the late contest, we can he at no loss to discover the source of the impa- ralleled animosity which inflamed it. Never before were so many opposing interests, passions, and principles committed to such a decision. On one side an attach- ment to the ancient order of things, on the other a pas- sionate desire of change ; a wish in some to perpetuate, in others to destroy every thing ; every abuse sacred in the eyes of the former, every foundation attempted to be demolished by the latter ; a jealousy of power shrinking from the slightest innovation, pretensions to freedom pushed to madness and anarchy ; superstition in all its dotage, impiety in all its fury : whatever, in short, could be found most discordant in the principles, or violent in the passions of men, were the fearftd ingredients which the hand of divine justice selected to mingle in this fur- nace of wrath. Can we any longer wonder at the deso- lations it made in the earth ? Great as they are, they are no more than might be expected from the peculiar nature of the warfare. When we take this into our con- sideration, we are no longer surprised to find that the variety of its battles burdens the memory, that the ima- gination is perfectly fatigued in travelling over its scenes of slaughter, and that falling, like the mystic star in the Apocalypse, upon the streams and the rivers, it turned the third part of their maters into blood,* * The anthor has inserted some reflection* here, which were not in< eluded in the discourse as delivered from the pulpit. He wished to explain himself somewhat more fully on certain points, on which his sentiments in a former publication have been much misunderstood or misrepresented. But this is a circumstance with which, as it has not troabied himself, he wishes not any farther to trouble the reader. Whether the foundations of lasting tranquillity are laid, or a respite only afforded to the nations of the earth, in the present auspicious event, is a question, the discussion of which would only damp the satisfaction of this day. Whatever may be the future determinations of Providence, let no gloomy forebodmg depress our gra- titude for its gracious interposition in our favour. While we feel sentiments of respectful acknowledgment to the human instruments employed, let us remember they are but instruments, and that it is our duty to look through them to Him who is the author of every good and per- fect gift. Let us now turn to the pleasing part of our subject, which invites us to contemplate the reasons for gratitude and joy suggested by the restoration of peace. Permit me to express my hope, that along with peace the spirit of peace will return. How can we better imi- tate our heavenly Father, than, when he is pleased to compose the animosities of nations, to open our hearts to every milder influence ? Let us hope, more mutual for- bearance, a more candid construction of each others views and sentiments, will prevail. No end can now be answered by the revival of party disputes. The specula- tions which gave occasion to them have yielded to the ar- bitration of the sword, and neither the fortune of war, noi the present condition of Europe, is such as affords to any party room for high exultation. Our public and private affections are no longer at variance. That benevolence which embraces the world, is now m perfect harmony with the tenderness that endears our country. Burying in oblivion, therefore, all national antipathies, together with those cruel jealousies and suspicions which have too much marred the pleasures of mutual intercourse, let our hearts correspond to the blessmg we celebrate, and keep pace, as far as possible, with the movements of divine beneficence. A most important benefit has already followed the re- turn of peace, a reduction of the price of bread; and though other necessaries of life have not fallen in propor- tion, this is a circumstance which can hardly fail to fol- m REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 81 low. We trust the circumstances of the poor and the lahouring classes will be much improved, and that there will shortly be no complaining in our streets. Every cottager, we hope, will feel that there is peace ; com- merce return to its ancient channels, the public burdens be lightened, the national debt diminished, and harmony and plenty again gladden the land. In enumerating the motives to national gratitude, which the retrospect of the past supplies, it would be unpardonable not to reckon among the most cogent, the preservation of our excellent constitution; nor can I doubt of the concurrence of all who hear me when I add, it is a pleasing reflection, that at a period when the spirit of giddiness and revolt has been so prevalfent, we have preferred the blessings of order to a phantom of liberty, and have not been so mad as to wade through the horrors of a revolution to make way for a military despot. If the constitution has sustained serious injury, either during the war, or at any preceding period, as there is great room to apprehend, we shall have leisure (may we but have virtue !) to apply temperate and effec- tual reforms. In the mean time, let us love it sincerely, cherish it tenderly, and secure it as far as possible, on all sides, watching with impartial solicitude against every thing that may impair its spirit, or endanger its form. But above all, let us cherish the spirit of religion. When we wish to open our hearts on this subject, and to represent to you the vanity, the nothingness of eveiy thing else in comparison, we feel ourselves checked by an apprehension you will consider it merely as professional language, and consequently entitled to little regard. If, however, you will only turn your eyes to the awful scenes before you, our voice may be spared. They will speak loud enough of themselves. On this subject they will furnish the most awful and momentous instruction. From them you will learn, that the safety of nations is not to be sought in arts or in arms ; that science may flourish amidst the decay of humanity ; that the utmost barbarity may be blended with the utmost refinement ; that a passion for speculation, unrestrained by the fear of God and a deep sense of human imperfection, merely hardens the heart ; and that, as religion, in short, is the great tiuner of the breast, the source of tranquillity and order, so the -crimes of voluptuousness and impiety inevitably conduct a people, before they are aware, to the brink of desolation and anarchy. If you had wished to figure to yom^elves a country which tad reached the utmost pinnacle of prosperity, you would undoubtedly have turned your eyes to France, as she appeared a few years before the revolution; illustrious in learning and genius ; the favourite abode of the arts, and the mirror of fashion, whither the flower of the nobi- lity from all coimtries resorted, to acquire the last polish of which the human character is susceptible. Lulled in voluptuous repose, and dreaming of a philosophical millennium, without dependence upon God, Uke the generation before the flood, thet/ ate, they drank^ thep married^ they were given in marriage. In that exuberant soil every thing seemed to flourish, but religion and vir- tue. The season however was at length arrived, when God was resolved to punish their impiety, as well as to avenge the blood of his servants, whose souls had for a century been incessantly crying to him from under the altar. j\nd what method did he employ for this pur- pose ? When He to whom vengeance belongs, when He whose ways are unsearchable, and whose wisdom is inexhaustible, proceeded to the execution of this strange work, he drew from his treasures a weapon he had never employed before. Resolving to make their punishment as signal as their crimes, he neither let loose an inunda- tion of barbarous nations, nor the desolating powers of the universe : he neither overwhelmed them with earth- quakes, nor visited them with pestilence. He sum- moned from among themselves a ferocity more ter- rible than either; a ferocity which, mingling in the struggle for liberty, and borrowing aid from that very re- finement to which it seemed to be opposed, turned every man's hand against his neighbour, sparing no age, nor sex, nor rank, till, satiated with the ruin of greatness, the distresses of innocence, and the tears of beauty, it VOL. II. G 82 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 8a teiminated its career in the most unrelenting despotism. Thou art righteous^ Lord, which art, and which watt, and which shall he, because thou hast judged thus ; for' they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou Aast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. If the weakness of humanity wiU not pennit us to keep pace with the movements of divine justice ; if, from the deep commiseration excited hy the view of so much woe, our tongue falters in expressing those sublime senti«- ments of triumph which revelation suggests on this occa- sion, we shall be pardoned by the Being who knows our frame ; while nothing can prevent us, at least, from adoring this illustrious vindication of his own reUgion, whose divinity we see is not less apparent in the bless- ings it bestows, than in the calamities which mark its departure. Our only security against similar calamities is a steady adherence to this religion ; not the rehgion of mere form and profession, but that which has a seat in the heart ; not as it is mutilated and debased by the refinements of a false philosophy, but as it exists in all its simpUcity and extent in the sacred Scriptures ; consisting in sorrow for sin, in the love of God, and in faith in a crucified Re- deemer. If this religion revives and flourishes amongst us, we may still sunnount all our difficulties, and no weapon formed against us will prosper : if we despise or neglect it, no human power can afford us protection. Instead of showing our love to our country, therefore, by engaging eagerly in the strife of parties, let us choose to signdize it rather by beneficence, by piety, by aa exem- plary discharge of the duties of private life, imder a per- suasion that that man, in the final issue of things, will be seen to have been the best patriot, who is the best chris- tian. He who diffuses the most happiness, and mitigates the most distress within his own circle, is undoubtedly the best friend to his country and the world, since nothing more is necessary than for all men to imitate his conduct, to make the greatest part of the misery of the world cease in a moment. While the passion, then, of some is to ahine, of some to govern, and of others to accumulate, let one great passion alone inflame our breasts, let the passion which reason ratifies, which conscience ap- proves, which heaven inspires, that of being and of doing good. ITiere is no vanity, I trust, in supposing that the re- flections which this Discourse has presented to your view, have awakened those sentiments of gratitude to the Father of mercies for his gracious interposition in the restoration of peace, which you are impatient to express by stronger evidence than words. Should this be the case, a plam p^th is before you. While the eminence of the divine perfections renders it impossible for us to contri- bute to the happiness, or augment the glory of the Creator, he has lefb amongst us, for the exercise of our virtue, the indigent and the afflicted, whom he has in an especial manner committed to our care, and appointed to represent himself. The objects of the institution, for which I have this day the honour to plead, are those of whom the very mention is sufficient to excite compassion in every feeling mind, the sick and the aged poor* To be scantily provided mth the necessaries of life, to en- dure cold, hunger, and nakedness, is a great calamity at all seasons; it is almost unnecessary to observe how much these evils are aggravated by the pressure of dis- ease, when exhausted nature demands whatever the most tender assiduity can supply to cheer its languor and sup- port its suff*e|ings. It is the peculiar misfortune of the afflicted poor, that the very circumstance which increases their wants, cuts off, by disqualifying them for labour, the means of their supply. Bodily affliction, therefore, * It may be proper to remind the reader that this discourse was preached lor the benefit of a Benevolent Society, recently instituted at Cambridge, for the relief of the sick and aged poor ; and that one prin- cipal motive with the author for complying with the request of the Society in publishing it, was a desire to evcite the attention of the be- nevolent to the fo tnation of similar societies in other {>arts. For th« local information of such as nay be desirous of contributing to this In- stitution, the writer has the pleasure to add, that Mr. Alderman Ind. with that benignity which marks his character, has been so kind as to undertake the office of treasurer to the society, to whom the benevo- lent are requested to send \hf\\ annual subscriptions oi donations. A turtlier accoimt of the institution will be found at the end of the Sermon. 84 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. t '■■ falls upon them with an accumulated weight. Poor, at best, when seized with sickness they become utterly des- titute. Incapable even of presenting themselves to the eye of pity, nothing remains for them, but silently to yield themselves up to sorrow and despair. The second dass of objects, which it is the design of this society to relieve, are the aged poor. Here it is quite unnecessary for me to attempt to paint to you the sorrows of old age ; ii period indeed which, by a strange inconsistency, we all wish to reach, while we shrink with a sort of horror from the infirmities and sufferings inseparable from- that me- hmcholy season. What can be a more pitiable object than decrepitude, sinking under the accumulated load of vears and of penury ? Arrived at that period when the inost fortunate confess they have no pleasure, how forlorn is his situation, who, destitute of the means of subsist- ence, has survived his last child, or his last friend. Soli- tary and neglected, without comfort and without hope, depending for every thing on a kindness he has no means of concUiating, he finds himself left alone in a world to wliich he has ceased to belong, and is only felt m society as a burden it is impatient to shake off. Such are the objects to which this institution solicits your regard. It is, in my humble opinion, a most excellent part of the plan of the Society, in whose behalf I address you, that no relief is administered without first personally visiting the objects in their own abode. By such means the precise circumstances of each case are clearly ascer- tained, and imposture is sure to be detected. Where charity is administered without this precaution, as it is impossible to discriminate real from pretended distress, the most disinterested benevolence often fails of its pur- pose ; and that is yielded to clamorous importunity, which is withheld from lonely want. The mischief ex- tends much farther. From the frequency of such unpo- sition, the best minds are in danger of becoming dis- gusted with the exercise of pecuniary charity, till, from a mistaken persuasion that it is impossible to guard against deception, they treat the most abandoned and the most deserving with the same neglect. Thus the REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 85 heart contracts into selfishness, and those delicious emo- tions which the benevolent Author of Nature implanted to prompt us to relieve distress, become extinct ; a loss greater to ourselves than to the objects to whom we deny our comp^sion. To prevent a degradation of character so fatal, allow me to urge on all whom Providence has blessed with the means of doing good, on those especially who are indulged with affluence and leisure, the import- ance of employing some portion of their time in inspect- ing^ as well as of their property in relieving^ the distresses of the time. By this means an habitual tenderness will be cherished, which will heighten inexpressibly the happiness of life, at the same time that it will most effectually counteract that selfishness which a continual addictedness to the pursuits of avarice and ambition never fails to produce. As selfishness is a principle of continual operation, it needs to be opposed by some other principle, whose ope-, ration is equally uniform and steady ; but the casual impulse of compassion, excited by occasional applications for relief, is by no means equal to this purpose. Then only will benevolence become a prevailing habit of mind, when its exertion enters into the system of life, and occu- pies some stated portion of the time and attention. In addition to this, it is worth while to reflect how much consolation the poor must derive from finding they are the objects of personal attention to their more opulent neighbours ; that they are acknowledged as brethren of the same family; and that, should they be overtaken with affliction or calamity, they are in no danger of perishing unpitied and unnoticed. With all the pride that wealth is apt to inspire, how seldom are the opulent truly aware of their high destination. Placed by the Lord of all, on an eminence, and intrusted with a superior portion of his goods, to them it belongs to be the dis- pensers of his boimty, to succour distress, to draw merit from obscurity, to behold oppression and want vanish before them, and, accompanied wherever they move with perpetual benedictions, to present an image of Plim, who, at the close of time, in the kina:dom of the redeemed. m ?ii REFL|:CriONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 87 II' will rvipe away tears from all faces. It is surely unne- cessary to remark how insipid are the pleasures of volup^ tuousness and ambition, compared to what such a lijfe must afford, whether we compare them with respect to the present, the review of the past, or the prospect of the future. It is probable some may object that such exertions, however amiable in themselves, are rendered unnecessary by the system of parochial relief established in this coun- try. To which it is obvious to reply, that however use- ful this institution may be, there must always be a great deal of distress, which it can never relieve. Like all national institutions, it is incapable of bending from the rigour of general rules, so as to adapt itself to the precise circumstance of each respective case. Besides that it would be vain to expect much tenderness in the execution of a legal office, the machine itself, though it may be well suited to the general purpose it is intended to answer, is too large and unwieldy to touch those minute points of difference, those distinct kinds and gradations of distress, to which the operation of personal benevo- lence will easily adapt itself. In addition to which it will occur to those who reflect, that on account of the increasing demands of the poor, the parochial system, which presses hard upon many ill able to bear it, is already strained to the utmost. Although the Society in whose behalf I address you is but recently established, it has been enabled painfiilly to ascertain the vast proportion of its objects of the female sex, — a melancholy circumstance, deserving the serious attention of the public on more accoimts than one. Of the cases which have occurred to their notice, since the commencement of their labours, more than three -fourths have been of that description. The situation of females without fortune in this country is indeed deeply affect- ing. Excluded from aU the active employments in which they might engage with the utmost propriety, by men, who to Sie injury of one sex, add the disgrace of making the other effeminate and ridiculous, an indigent female, tiie object probably of love and tenderness in her youth, af a more advanced age a withered flower ! has nothmg to do but to retire and die. Thus it comes to pass, that the most amiable part of our species, by a detestable combination in those who ought to be their protectors, are pushed off the stage, as though they were no longer wortly to live, when they ceased to be the objects of passion. How strongly on this account this society is entitled to your attention (as words would fail) I leave to the pensive reflection ot your own bosoms. .• i . To descant on the evils of poverty might seem entu-ely unnecessary, (for what with most is the great business of life, but to remove it to the greatest possible distance were it not, that besides its being the most common ot all evils, there are circumstances peculiar to itselt, whicH expose it to neglect. The seat of its sufferings are the appetites, not the passions ; appetites which are common to aU, and which, being capable of no peculiar combina- tions, confer no distinction. There are kinds of distress founded on the passions, which, if not applauded, are at least admired in their excess, as implying a pecuhar re- finement of sensibility in the mind of the sufferer. Em- bellished by taste, and wrought by the magic ot genius into innumerable forms, they turn grief into a luxury, and draw from the eyes of millions delicious tears. But no muse ever ventiied to adorn the distresses of poverty or the sorrows of hunger. Disgusting taste and delicacy, and presenting nothing pleasing to the imagination, they are mere misery in all its nakedness and deformity. Hence, shame in the sufferer, contempt in the beholder, and an obscurity of station, which frequently removes them from the view, are their inseparable portion. Nor can 1 reckon it on this account amongst the improvements ot the present age, that, by the multiplication of works ot fiction, the attention is diverted from scenes of real to those of imaginary distress; from the distress which de- mands reUef, to that which admits of embellishment : in consequence of which the understanding is enervated, the heart is corrupted, and those feelings which were de- signed to stimulate to active benevolence are employed 88 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. REFLECTIONS ON WAR. 89 in noTirisliing a sickly sensibility. To a most impnie and whimsicfi writer,* whose very humanity is unnatural, we are considerably indebted for this innovation. Though it cannot be denied, that by diffusing a wanner colouring over the visions of fancy, sensibility is often a source of exquisite pleasures to others, if not to the possessor, yet it should never be confounded with benevolence ; since it constitutes at best rather the ornament of a fine, than the virtue of a good, mind. A good man may have nothing of it, a bad man may have it in abundance. Leaving therefore these amusements of the imagina- tion to the vain and indolent, let us awake to nature and truth ; and in a world from which we must so shortly be summoned, a world abounding with so many real scenes of heart-rending distress, as well as of vice and impiety, employ all our powers in relieving the one and in correct- ing the other ; that when we have arrived at the borders of eternity, we may not be tormented with the awful re- flection of having lived in vain. If ever there was a period when poverty made a more forcible appeal than usual to the heart, it is unquestion- ably that which we have lately witnessed ; the calamities of which, though greatly diminished by the auspicious event which we now celebrate, are far from being en- tirely removed. Poverty used in happier times to be discerned in a superior meanness of apparel and the total absence of ornament. We have seen its ravages reach the man^ proclaiming themselves in the trembling step, in the dejected countenance, and the faded form. We hare seen emaciated infants, no ruddiness in their cheeks, no sprightliness in their motions, while the eager and imploring looks of their mothers, reduced below the loud expressions of grief, have announced unutterable anguish and silent despair. From the reflections which have been made on the peculiar nature of poverty, you will easily account for the prodigious stress which is laid on the duty of pecuniary * The author allades to Sterne, the whole tendency of whose writ- ing8 is to degrade human natare, by resolving all oar passions into a mere animal instinct, and that of the grossest sort. It was perfectly natoral for sach a writer to employ his powers in panegyrising an ass. bene olence in the Old and New Testaments In he fomer God delighted in assumins *he rl.aracter of the Xn of the pc^r and needy ; in the latter, the short SSion of the religion which he approves, «»«»;'" tt:ZrU He ^vho knew what was ni man, well knew trs^ce the entrance of sin, selfishness was become the ep demic disease of human nature ; a malady which abnonvery thing tends to inflame, and the conquest of Su aWlutefv necessarjs before we can be prepared for the felicity of heaven ; that whatever leads us out of ourseWet whatever unites us to him ai.d his creatures m pure bvt is an important step towards the recovery of U iXe and finely, that his church would consist for he SarTof th.^ of thU reorU, rkh inffh,a«A *"n^ 'cir'O^ ^1'°"' ^^ ^^^ resolved to shield _ Cm L contempt of all who respect his ^^^}°^y^^. Siting them from the imiumerable miUio^ of mankind tr, Kp the neculiar representatives ot hunselt. Hapov^e they wLse lives correspond to these bene- voKtentions^; who, looking bevond the trai^itory ^tinctions which prevail here, and will ^^'^ f *f first approach of eternity, honour God in his children, !^t cEin his imagef How much, on the contrary, ^e tCe to be pitiel in whatever sphere they move, who liv?to themselves, unmindful of the commg of the^ Lord ! When U Ml come mid shaU not keep silence, tvhen afire ,haU de„our before him, and a shall be «ry t^» round abota him, every thmg, it is to^e w.11 combine to fill them with consternation ; M n^^^^k' neither the voice of the archangel, northe brump oi God nor the dissolution of the elements, nor the face of the Judge itself, from which the heavens wiU flee away, will be S> dismaVing and terrible to these men as the sight of the^o^ members of Christ ; whom »J?ving spurned and neglected in the days of their humihation, they mlUhen beSold with amazement united to their Lo^^. «°^««^ with his glorv, and seated on his throne How mil thej be astonShei to see them ^■^'>"^'^^ .^'\Z^^t majesty ! How wiU they cast down their eyes m then: I 90 BEI'LECTIONS ON WAR. presence ! How will they curse that gold, which will then eat their flesh as with fire, and that avarice, that indolence, that voluptuousness, which will entitle them to so much misery ! You will then learn that the imitation of Christ is the only wisdom : you will then be convinced it is better to be endeared to the cottage, than admired in the palace ; when to have wiped away the tears of the afflicted, and inherited the prayers of the ividow and the fatherless, shall be found a ncher patrimony than the favour of princes. li ACCOUNT OP THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, FOR THE RELIEF OF THE SICK AND AGED POOR, Instituted at CAMBRmoE, 1801. Blessed is he that cotmdereth the poor. Psalm xlL 1. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my bre- thren, ye have done it unto me. Matt. xxv. 40. That benevolence is an habitual ^iuty, arising out of our constitution as rational and social creatures, and enforced upon us by the most powerful motives as Christians, no one will deny. The various exertions of the humane and the pious, in private circles and in public institutions, are so many proofs of the truth of this sentiment ; but notwith- standing those exertions, there is still ample room for en- largement. Those persons who are in the habit of visiting the cottages or the chambers of the poor, are too frequently the melancholy witnesses of that extreme poverty, pining sickness, and poignant distress, which energetically call for relief. With the design of administering, in some degree, such relief, a number of persons have formed themselves into a Society, the nature and objects of which are such, that it i 92 ACCOUNT OP THE BENEVOLENT SOaETY. may, with the greatest tmth, be said to deservf>, and it can scarcely be doubted but it wiU'me^^ with such encourage- ment as may render it a blessing to the poor of the town of Cambridge. It is likewise ardently hoped, that the Society will meet with such farther encouragement, that its benevo- lent exertions may not be confined to the town, but extended to the neighbouring villages. The FIRST object of the Society is to afford pecuniary as- sistance to the SICK and the aged Poor. To select proper objects, and guard against the abuses attending indiscrimi- nate relief, visitors will be appointed to examine and judge of the nature of every case, and report the same to a Com- mittee of the Society. The SECOND object of the Society is-The moral and religious improvement of the objects relieved. A word spoken in season, (says the wise man,) how good is it f The hour of affliction, the bed of sickness, afford the most sea- sonable opportunities for usefulness; and it is hoped, that the heart may in a more pecuhar manner be open to the best of impressions at such a season, and when under a sense of obligation for relief already administered. In a Society like the present, all distinctions of sects and parties are lost in the one general design of doing good • and the success which has attended societies, nearly similar' m different parts of this kingdom, and more particularly in' the metropolis, in reUeving the distress and amehoratinc the condition of thousands and tens of thousands of our feUow- creatures, affords reason to hope, that under the divine blessing, similar success will attend the Society established in this town. RULES. I. Any person, of whatever denomination, age, or sex disposed to assist this benevolent undertaking, may be' ACCOUNT OF THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 93 admitted a Subscriber; each Subscriber, on admission, to pay not less than one shilling, and from two-pence per week to any sum such Subscriber may think proper. II. That the business of the Society be managed by a Committee of fourteen persons, including the Treasurer and Secretary; five of whom shall be competent to transact business : — that the Committee be open to any member of the Society, who may think proper to attend. In case of any vacancy in the Committee, by death, or resignation, the remaining members of the Committee be empowered to fill up such vacancy. III. That the Committee meet monthly, at each others' houses, to receive reports, consider of cases, appoint visitors, and audit their accounts. IV. That there be an annual general meeting, of which due notice will be given, when the state of the Society shall be reported, and the Treasurer, Secretary, and Com- mittee appointed, to manage the concerns thereof. V. That the sick and the aged be esteemed the only objects of the compassion of this Society; and when the fund is reduced to the sum of five pounds, the cases of the sick alone shall be attended to. VI. That no member be allowed to recommend a case, until three months after his or her subscription has com- menced, nor, if four months in arrears, until such arrears be discharged, provided he or she has received notice of the same. VII. That no case be received but from a Subscriber, who is expected to be well acquainted with the case recommended, and to report the particulars to one of the visitors. VIII. That the Visitors be appointed to administer relief, and not the person who recommends the case. 94 ACCOUNT OP THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. IX. That no Subscribers^ while they continue such^ shall receive any relief from this Society, nor shall any of those who conduct the business thereof, receive any gratuity for their services. The Committee consists of an equal number of Ladies and Gentlemen ; and persons of both sex'^s are appointed as visitors in rotation. Subscriptions and Donations are received by the Trea- surer, Secretary, or any Member of the Committee. At a General Meeting of the Society, held, agreeably to public notice, at Mr. Alderman Ind's, on Monday, May 3, 1802 : — It was resolved. That when the Annual Subscrip- tions of the Society amount to Sixty Pounds, and the Fund to Thirty Pounds, the Committee be empowered to extend relief to other distressed objects besides the sick and the AGBO. THE SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS A SERMON, PREACHED AT BRIDGE STREET, BRISTOL, ; OCTOBBR 19, 1803; BEING THE DAY APPOINTED FOR A GENERAL FAST. Uter esset, noa utcr imperaret. Cicero, ADVERTISEMENT. i t Some apology is due to the public for this discouise appearing so long after it was preached. The fact is, the writer was engaged on an exchange of services for a month with his highly esteemed friend, the Rev. Mr. Lowell, of Bristol, author of an excellent volume of Sermons on Practical Subjects, at the time it was deli- vered, and had no opportunity of writing it till he re- turned. As it touches entirely on permanent topics, except what relates to the threatened invasion, still impending over us, he knows not but it may be as suit^ able now as if it had appeared earlier. As it is, he commits it to the candour of the public He has only to add, that the allusion to the effects of the tragic muse* should have been marked as a quotation, though the author knows not with certainty to whom to ascribe it. He believes it fell from the elegant pen of an illustrious female, Mrs. More. • Page lid. Shelford, Nov, 30, 1803. ▼OL u. 08 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS. 99 i PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. In this edition, the author has corrected those errors of the press, which in the former were very consider- able. The Monthly Reyiewers have founded a criticism entirely on one of them. The author had remarked, that infidelity was bred in the stagnant marshes of corrupted Christianity. The printer having omitted the word corrupted^ the reviewers remark that they never found in their map of Christianity any stagnant marshes. Having mentioned the Monthly Reviewers, he must be permitted to notice a most singular error into which they have been betrayed; that of supposing the author had confounded Aristotle with Mrs. More. It is well known to every one who has the smallest tinctiure of learning, that the great critic of antiquity represents the design of tragedy to be that of purifying the heart by pity and terror. It appeared to the author that infide- lity, by the crimes and disorders it has produced in society, was not incapable of answering a similar pur- pose. He accordingly availed himself of the comparison ; but it having occurred to him afterwards that he had read a similar passage in Mrs. More, he thought it right to notice this circumstance in an advertisement; in which he says, he apprehends the allusion to the tragic muse to belong to Mrs. More. It was not the opinion of its being the purpose of tragedy to purify the heart by pity and terror, that he ascribed to that celebrated female ; but solelt/ the allusion to that opmion as illus- trating the effect of infidelity. It is on this slender foundation, however, that the writer in the Monthly Review, with what design is best known to himself, has thought fit to represent him as ascribing to Mrs. More, as its author, a critical opinion which has been current for more than two thousand years. He is certain his words will not support any such construction, though he will not contend that he has expressed himself with all the clearness that might be wished. He is sorry to find some passages towards the close of the sermon have given offence to persons whom he nighly esteems. It has l.eeu objected, that the author has admitted to heaven a crowd of legislators, patriots, and heroes, whose title to that honour, on christian principles, is very equivocal. In reply to which, he begs it to be remembered that the New Testament teaches, that God is no respecter of persons ; that in every natimi, he thai feareth God and worketh righteous- ness^ is accepted of him ; that we may be certain there will not be wanting in the innumerable assembly around the throne, some of the highest rank and of the most illustrious talents ; and that the writer has qualified the character of those legislators and patriots, whom he has represented as being in heaven, with the epithet of virtuous; and this, after he had been at some pains to explain what he comprehended in his idea of virtue. He has been censured for attemptmg to animate the defend- ers of their country, by holding out the prospect of 100 PREFACE : — SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS. 101 I i immortaHtj, should they fall in the contest ; and it has heen asked ^hy, instead of amusing them with this phantom, not endeaTour to convince them of the neces- sity of religious preparation for death, when he must he aware it is very possible for men to die fighting in defence of their coimtry, and yet fall short of future happiness. The writer is, indeed, fully persuaded, that in the concerns of salvation, no reliance ought to be placed on a detached instance of virtuous conduct ; that a solid piety is indispensably necessary, and that without holiness no man can see the Lord, But, after having employed great part of the preceding discourse in urging the necessity of repentance, he may surely be allowed for a moment to take it for granted that his admonitions have been attended to ; and, without tread- bg over the same ground, in an address to men who are supposed to be just entering the field, to advert to topics more immediately connected with military prowess. It was never his intention to place worldly on a level with religious considerations, or to confound the senti- ments of honour with the dictates of duty. But, as the fear of death, and the love of fame, are both natural, and both innocent within certain limits, he was not aware there could be any impropriety, when he had already dwelt krgely on religious topics, to oppose one natural sentiment to another. He who confines himself to such considerations, violates the character of the christian minister; he who neglects them entirely, is wanting to the duties of the present crisis. The writer has only to add on this head, that, in the addresses on - similar occasions in the Scriptures, there is rarely a greater mixture of religious topics, or more reserve in appealing to other motives, than is found here ; so that, if he has erred, his error is countenanced by the highest, that is, by inspired, authority. Finally, he has been censured for expressing, in such strong terms, his detestation of the character of Buona- parte. It has been said, that however just his repre- sentation may be, it is losing sight of the true design of a national fast, which is to confess and bewail our own sins, instead of inveighing against the sins of others. That this is the true end of a public fast, the writer is convinced ; on which account he has expressly cautioned his readers against placing reliance on their supposed superiority in virtue to their enemies. What he has said of the character of Buonaparte is with an entirely difierent view ; it is urged, not as a ground of security, but as a motive to the most vigorous resistance. In this view, it is impossible for it to be too deeply im- pressed. When a people are threatened with invasion, will it be affirmed that the personal character of the invader is of no consequence ; and that it is not worth a moment's consideration whether he possess the vir- tuous moderation of a Washington, or the restless and insatiable ambition of a Buonaparte ? Though hostile invasion is an unspeakable calamity in any situation, and under any circumstances, yet it is capable of as many modifications as the dispositions and designs of the invaders ; and if in the present instance the crimes of our enemy supply the most cogent motives to resist- n I 102 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS. ance, can it he wrong to turn his vices against himself; and, hy imprinting a deep abhorrence of his perfidy and cruelty on the hearts of the people, to put them more thoroughly on their guard against their efiects ? It may be thought a sermon on a fast-day should have comprehended a fiiller enumeration of our national sins, and this was the author's design when he first turned his attention to the subject : but he was diverted from it by observing that these themes, from the press at least, seem to make no kind of impression ; and that whatever the most skilful preacher can advance, is fas- tidiously repelled as stale and professional declamation. The people in general are settled iuto an indifference so profoimd, with nspect to a^ such subjects, that the preacher who aiTaigns their vices in the most vehement manner, has no reason to be afraid of exciting their displeasure ; but it is well, if, long before he has finished his reproofs, he has not lulled them to sleep. From a due consideration of the temper of the times, he there- fore thought it expedient to direct the attention to what appeared to him the chief source of public degeneracy, rather than insist at large on particular vices. He has in this edition, in some places, expanded the illustration where it appeared defective, as well as corrected the gross errors of the press which disfigured the discourse ; being desirous, ere it descends to that oblivion which is the natural exit of such publications, of presenting it for once in an amended form, that it may at least be decently interred. 103 A SERMON. Jeremiah viii. 6. / Imrkmed and heard, hut they spake not arighi: n^ man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done'? ecery one turned to his course, as t/M horse rusheth into the battle. Though we are well assured the Divine Being is atten- tive to the conduct of men at all times, yet it is but reasonable to believe he is peculiarly so whilst they are under his correcting hand. As he does not wUlmgLy afflict the children of men, he is wont to do it slowly, and at intervals, waiting, if we may so speak, to see whether the preceding chastisement will produce the sentiments which shall appease his anger, or those which shall confirm his resolution to punish. When sincere humiliation and sorrow for past offences takes place, his displeasure subsides, he relents and repents himself of tf^ evil. Thus he speaks by the mouth of Jeremiah. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and con- cerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pro^ nounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the ecU that I thought to do unto them. We are this day assembled at the call of our Sove- reign, to humble ourselves in the presence of Ahnighty God, under a sense of our sins, and to implore his interposition, that we may not be delivered into the hands of our enemies, nor fall a prey to the maUce of those who hate us. It is surely, then, of the utmost consequence to see to it, that our humiliation be deep, our repentance sincere, and the dispositions we cherish. i 104 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO i M well as the resolutions we form, suitable to the nature of the cnsis, and the solemnity of the occasion; such, in a word, as Omniscience will approve. In the words of the text, the Lord reproaches the people of Israel with not speaking aright, and complains that, while he was waiting to hear the lan'^uacre of penitential sorrow and humiliation, he witnessed nothin«T but an insensibility to his reproofs, an obstinate perse- jerance m guilt, with a fatal eagemoss to rush to their former courses. He hearkened and heard, hut they spake **^'fHi '' r^ ^^^ repented himself of his iniquity, nor satd, fV/iat have I done ? But every one rushed to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. , As the principles of the divine administration are myanable, and the situation of Great Britain, at this moment, not altogether unlike that of Israel at the time this portion of prophecy was penned, perhaps we cannot better improve the present solemnity, than by taking occasion, from the words before us, to point out some^* those sentiments and views which appear in the present cnsis not to be ri^ht; and, after exploding these, to endeavour to substitute more correct ones in their stead. I. They who content themselves with tracing national judgments to their national causes, without lookin^r iugher, entertain a view of the subject very inadequat? to the demands of the present season. When you have imputed to the effects of an unparaUeled convulsion on the continent, to the relative situation of foreign powers, to the turbulent passions and insatiable ambition of m individual, the evils which threaten us, what have you done to mitigate those evils ? What alleviation have you afforded to perplexity and distress ? They still exist in aU their force. Far be it from me to attempt to dis- courage political inquiry. An inquiry into the sources ot great events, an attempt to develope the more hidden ^oses which influence, under God, the destiny of na- taons, IS an exercise of the mental powers more noble thaai almost any other, inasmuch as it embraces the widest field, and grasps a chain whose links are the most numerous, compUcated, and subtle. The most profound TEffi PRESENT CRISIS. 105 political speculations, however, the most refined theories of government, though they establish the fame of their authors, will be found, perhaps, to have had very little influence on the happiness of nations. As the art of criticism never made an orator or a poet, though it ena- bles us to judge of their merits, so the comprehensive speculation of modem times, which has reviewed and compared the manners and institutions of every age and country, has never formed a wise government or a happy people. It arrives too late for that purpose, since it owes its existence to an extensive survey of mankind, under a vast variety of forms, through all those periods of national improvement and decay, in which the hap- piest efforts of wisdom and policy have been already made. The welfare of a nation depends much less on the refined ^visdom of the few, than on the manners and character of the many; and as moral and religious principles have the chief influence in forming that cha- racter, so an acknowledgment of the hand of God, a deep sense of his dominion, is amongst the first of those principles. While we attend to the operation of second causes, let us never forget that there is a Being placed above them, who can move and arrange them at plea- sure, and in whose hands they neverfeil to accomplish the purposes of his unerring counseL The honour of the Supreme Ruler requires that his supremacy should be aclmowledged, his agency confessed; nor is there any thing which he more intends by his chastisements than to extort this confession, or any thing he more highly resents than an attempt to exclude him from the concerns of his own world. Woe unto them (saith Isaiah) that rise up early in the morning, that they inay follow strong drink ; thai continue until night, till wins ' inflame them ! And the harp, and the. viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts : but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.* The same prophet complains, that while the hand of Jehovah was lifted up they would not see ; but he adds, they shall see. If lighter chastisements * Isaiah V. 11, 12. I i 106 8ENT1ME>'TS PROPER TO Will not suffice, he has heavier in reserve; if they despise his reproofs, he will render his anger with fury hts rebukes with Jlames of fire. He is resolved to over- come ; and what must be the issue of a contest with Omnipotence, it is as easy to foresee as it is painful to contemplate. 2. They speak not aright, who, instead of placing their reliance on God for safety, repose only on an arm ot flesh.— The perfect unanimity which prevails, the ardour to defend every thing dear to us, which is ex- pressed by all classes ; the sacrifices cheerfidly made, the labours sustained, and the mighty preparations by sea and land, which the vigUance of government has set on foot to repel the enemy from our coasts, or insure his discomfiture should he arrive, must be highly satisfactory to every weU-disposed mind. They afford, as far L human means can afford, a well-founded prospect of success Though there is, on this account, no room to despond, but much, on the contrary, to lead us to anti- cipate a favourable issue to the contest ; yet nothmrr surely, can justify that language of extravagant boast tHat proud confidence in our national force, without a dependence upon God, which, however fashionable it may be, is as remote froiii the dictates of true courage as of true piety. True courage is finn and unassumiS- true piety, serious and humble. In the midst of all our preparations, we shall, if we are wise, repose our chief confidence m Him who has every element at his dis- posal; who can easily disconcert the wisest councils confound the mightiest projects, and save, when he pleases, by many or by few. While the vanity of such a pretended reliance on Providence as supersedes the use of means is readily confessed, it is to be feared we are not sufficiently careful to guard against a contrary extreme, m its ultimate effects not less dangerous It to depend on the interposition of Providence without human exertion, be to tempt God ; to confide in an arm ot flesh, without seeking his aid, is to deny him ; the tormer is to be pitied for its weakness, the latter to be censured for its impiety; nor is it easy to say which THE PRESENT CRISIS. 107 affords the worst omen of success. Let us avoid both these extremes ; availing ourselves of all the resources which wisdom can suggest, or energy produce, let us still feel and acknowledge our absolute dependence upon God. With humble and contrite hearts, with filial con- fidence and affection, let us flee to his arms, that thus we may enjoy the united supports of reason and religion; and every principle, human and divine, may concur to assure us of our safety. Thus shall we effectually shim the denunciations so frequent and so terrible, contained in his holy word, against the vanity of human confi- dences. Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and makethjlesh his arm. 3. Their conduct is not to be approved, who, in the present crisis, indulge in wanton and indiscriminate cen- siu-e of the measures of our rulers. I say wanton and indiscriminaie, because the privilege of censuring, with moderation and decency, the measures of government, is essential to a free constitution ; a privilege which can never lose its value in the eyes of the public, till it is licentiously abused. The temperate exercise of this privilege is a most useAil restraint on those errors and excesses, to which the possession of power supplies a temptation. The free expression of the public voice is capable of overawing those who have nothing beside to apprehend ; and the tribunal of public opinion is one whose decisions it is not easy for men in the most ele- vated stations to despise. To this we may add, that the unrestrained discussion of national afiairs not only gives weight to the sentiments, but is eminently adapted to enlighten the minds, of a people ; and, consequently, to increase that general fund of talent and information, from which the accomplishments, even of statesmen themselves, must be ultimately derived. While, there- fore, we maintain this privilege with jealous care, let us be equally careful not to abuse it. There is a respect, m my apprehension, due to civil governors on account of their office, which we are not permitted to violate, even when we are under the necessity of blaming their mea- sures. When the apostle Paul was betrayed into an i 108 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS. 109 mtemperate expression of anger against the Jewisli High Priest, from an ignorance of the station he occu- pied, he was no sooner informed of this, than he apolo- gized, and quoted a precept of the Mosaic law, which says, Thou shaU not revile tha gods^ nor curse the ruler of thy people. In agreement with which, the New Testa- ment subjoins to the duty of fearing God, that of honouring the king; and frequently and emphatically mculcates submission to civil rulers, not so much from a fear of their power, as from a respect for their office. OJe ancient prophets, it is true, in the immediate discharge of their functions, appear to have treated kings and pnnces with no sort of ceremony. But before we establish their style into a precedent, let us recollect they were privileged persons, speaking expressly in the name of the Most High, who gave them his words, and invested them, for the moment, with a por- tion of his majesty. ^ Apart from the personal character of rulers, which are fluctuating and variable, you will find the apostles continually enjoin respect to government, a» ^oi?^r/im^, as a permanent ordinance of God, susceptible of various modihcaiions from human wisdom, but essential, under swne form or other, to the existence of society; and affording a representation, faint and inadequate, it is true, but still a representation, of the dominion of God over the earth. The wisdom of resting the duty of subimssion on this ground is obvious. The possession ot oflice forms a plain and palpable distinction, liable to no ambiguity or dispute. Personal merits, on the con- trary, are easily contested, so that if the obligation of obedience were founded on these, it would have no kind of force, nor retain any sort of hold on the conscience; the bonds of social order might be dissolved by an epigram or a song. The more libenU sentiments of respect for institutions being destroyed, nothing would remain to insure tranquillity, but a servile fear of men In the absence of those sentiments, as the mildest exer- tion of authority would be felt as an injury, authority would soon cease to be mild ; and princes would have no alternative but that of governing their subjects with the severe jealousy of a master over slaves impatient of revolt: so narrow is the boundary which separates a licentious freedom from a ferocious tyranny ! How in- comparably more noble, salutary, and just, are the max- ims the apostles lay down on this subject. Lest every soul be subject unto the higher powers : for there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God: whosoever resisteth, therefore^ the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good Tvorks, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of th£ power? Do thai which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. We shall do well to guard against any system which would with- draw the duties we owe to our rulers and to society from the jurisdiction of conscience; that principle of the mind, whose prerogative it is to prescribe to every other, and to pronounce that definitive sentence from which there is no appeal. A good man is accustomed to acquiesce in the idea of his duties as an ultimate object, without inquiring at every step why he should perform them, or amusing himself with imagining cases and situations in which they would be liable to limita- tions and exceptions. Instead of being curious after these, (for I do not deny that such exceptions exist,) let the great general duty of submission to civil autho- rity be engraven on our hearts, wrought into the very habit of the mind, and make a part of our elementary morahty. At this season especially, when unanimity is so requi- site, every endeavour to excite discontent, by reviling the character, or depreciating the talents, of those who we intrusted with the administration, is highly criminal. Without suspicion of flattery, we may be permitted to add, that then- zeal in the service of their country cannot be questioned ; that the vast preparations they have made for our defence claim our gratitude; and 110 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS. that if, in a situation so arduous, and in the management of affairs so complicated and difficult, tliej have com- mitted mistakes, they are amply entitled to a candid construction of their measures. Having been detained by these reflections somewhat longer than was intended, it is high time to return to those religious considerations which are more imme- diately appropriate to the present season. I therefore proceed to add, 4. ITiat they appear to entertain mistaken sentiments, who rely with too much confidence for success on our supposed superiority in virtue to our enemies. Such a TOnhdence betrays inattention to the actual conduct of l^ovidence. Wherever there is conscious guilt, there is room to apprehend punishment; nor is it for the crimi- nal to decide where the merited punishment shall fim tall. 1 he cup of divme displeasure is, indeed, presented successively to guilty nations, but it by no means inva- nably begins with those who have run the neatest ^eer in guilt. On the contrary, judg^rmit often hemm at the house of God; and he frequently chastises his servants with severity before he proceeds to the destruc- tion of his enemies. He assured Abraham, his seed should be afflicted in Egypt for four hundred years, and 1 fl . T ^^Piration, the nation that afflicted them he rcouLd judge. The Assyrian monarchsf blind and impious idolaters, were permitted for a long period to oppress his chosen people; after which, to use his own words, A^ punuhed the fruU of the proud heart of the icing of Babylon ; and having accomplished liis design in their correction, cast the rod into the fire. His con- duct, on such occasions, resembles that of a parent Who, tuU of solicitude for the welfare of his children, animadverts upon faults in them, which he suffers to pass without notice in persons for whom he is less in- terested Let us adore both the goodness and severity of • J.\ Punishments Avhich are designed to amend, are inflicted with comparative vigiLmce and speed; those Which are meant to destroy are usually long suspended, while the devoted victims pass on with seeming impunity. Ill But, independent of this consideration, that supe- nonty in vu-tue which is claimed, may be neither so great, nor so certain, as we are ready at first to suppose, lo decide on the comparative guilt of two individuals much more of two nations, demands a more compre- hensive knowledge of circumstances than we are usually able to obtain. To settle a question of this sort, it is not enough barely to inspect the manners of each : for the quality of actions, considered in themselves, is one thing; and the comparative guilt of the persons to whom they belong, is another. Before we can deter- mme such a question, it is necessary to weigh and esti- mate the compliciited influences to which they are exposed, the tendency of all their institutions, their respective degrees of information, and the comparative advantages anvisdom to relinquish this plea ; and instead ot boasting our superior virtue, to lie low in humiliation and repentimce. 5. General lamentations mid acknowledgments of the THE PRESENT CRISIS. 113 corruptions of the age, be they erer so weU founded. not difficult, however painful to a good mind, to descL^t on he luxury the venality, the impiety of the a7e X iireligion of the rich, the immoraUty of the poof and the gene^ forgetfulness of God which peSs alt classes. Such topics it would be utterly improper to exclude : but to dwell on these alone, answers veTlitt e purpose. The sentimente they excite are too rSe^l nation Tt^u'^^'uV ^^^^te^» to represent the nation to which we belong, and combining into one ra nt ZTJ *^? ^^^' '' ^"^^ ^^^d la^entatio^ or violent mrectives, is an easy task. But this, whatever it be, is not* repentance After bewa.hng m this manner the sins of other«,1tTpo^e to contmue qmte unconcerned about our own. fc who part , uttenng confessions iu which he never meant to take a p«sonal share. He would be mSfyXded^ peAaps to have it suspected that he himselffl be^ ft kT ""^ ?f *" ''"« J'e !>«» been deplorinsor £n th^"^ contnbuted in the smaUest degrl tolaw down the judgments he so solemnly deprecates All has been tran««^ under a feigned iara^ter l^st^ ''^epmmg hivmlf of hi, iniguity, orm^„a ^ SwT/ *■' V'y.Pri''- hii^'self onSxemt^ derivS^L^'f T^ f.^?' ™"* "*" *he advantage L ^ZZ^^.1 hum.hat.ons and confessions, is to be- W su^l. I -P^ enamoured of the perfections of what vou «?/ ^ "^ T^ character. To such I would ear you are under a dangerous delusion; and the nMim« vm^*!, ! • "^f '^"'°- Your repentance, your feigned your theatncal repentance, tends to fix ;«« in mS trCni^r '"^^*'°° *" inakeyo/proud. X - brS off v^ '^'"'^™ '? ^ ^°'°«- When you have woken off your own sms by righteousness, you may. VOL n ^ *" P™^"''^' ^"f^"^" ^^"^^ of the 114 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO THE PRESENT CRISIS, i I' i m lit nation ; you may intercede for it in your prayers, and, within the limits of your sphere, edify it by your exam- ple ; but till you have taken this first, this necessary step, you have done nothing; and should the whole nation follow your example, and copy the spirit of your devotion, we should, after all, remain an impenitent, and finally a ruined people. Allow me here, though it may be a digression, to en deavour the correction of a mistake, which appears to me to have greatly peiplexed, as well as abridged, the duties of similar seasons to the present. The mistake to which I allude respects the true idea of national sin. Many seem to take it for granted that nothing can justly be deemed a nat%07ial sin, but what has the sanction of the legisla- ture, or is committed under public authority. When they hear, therefore, of national sins, they instantly re- volve in their minds something which they apprehend to be criminal in the conduct of public affairs. That ini- quity when established by law is more conspicuous, that it tends to a more general corruption, and by poisoning the streams of justice at their source, produces more ex- tensive mischief than under any other circumstances, it is impossible to deny. In a country, moreover, where the people have a voice in the government, the corruption of their laws must first have inhered, and become inveterate in their manners. Such corruption is therefore not so much an instance as a monument of national degeneracy; but it by no means follows that this is the only just idea of national sins. National sins are the sins of the nation. The system which teaches us to consider a people as acting merely through the medium of its prince or legislature, however useful or necessary to adjust the intercourse of nations with each other, is too technical, too artificial, too much of a compromise with the imperfection essential to human affairs, to enter into the views, or regulate the conduct, of the Supreme Being. He sees things as they are ; and as the greater part of the crimes committed in every country are perpetrated by its inhabitants in their individual character, it is these, though not to the 115 ^S'^'^ln^s "^^ ^*^^'^^' ^^'*^^ ^^^^^ provoke the divine To consider national sins as merely comprehendimr the vices of rulers, or the iniquities tolerated by law, is to place the duties of such a season as this in a very invi^ dwus and a very inadequate light. It is to render them mvidious : for upon this principle our chief business on such occasions is, to single out for attack those whom 7^aT ,^^J5^^^^^ t« ^^ey, to descant on pubUc abuses, and to hold up to detestation and abhorrence the sup- posed delinquencies of the government under which we ^e placed. How far such a conduct tends to promote that broken and contrite heart which is heavens best sacrifice, it reqmres no great sagacity to discover. It IS, moreover, to exhibit a most inadequate view of the duties of this season. It confines humiliation and confession to a mere scantling of the sins which pollute a nation. Under the worst governments (to say nothing of our own) the chief perversions of right are not found in courts of justice, nor the chief outrages on virtue in tne laws, nor the greatest number of atrocities in the public a(hninistration. Civil government, the great an- tidote which the Avisdom of man has applied to the cnmes and disorders that spring up in society, can scarcely ever become, m no free country at least is it possible for It to become, itsdf the chief crime and disorder. It may on occasion, prescribe particular things that are wronff and sometimes reward where it ought to punish ; but unless It bent its force, for the most part, to the encou- ragement of virtue and the suppression of vice; unless tne general spirit of its laws were in unison with the dic- tates ot conscience, it would soon fall to pieces from in- testme weakness and disorder. A last appeal, in all moral questions, lies to the Scrip- tures, where you will invariably find the prophets, m iieir boldest paintings of national vice, in their severest oenunciations of divine anger, are so far from confining ttieu: representation to the conduct of rulers, that they are seldom mentioned in comparison of the people, ineir attention is chiefly occupied in depicting the cor- 116 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO !»' If I h> II ! ruphons which prevailed in the several classes of th. commimity, among which the crimes of princes emd ^r^f'w "«'l««Tl'y '^P^^hendod, not asVrSent t.ves, but as parts of the whole. They knew nothing of that refinement by which a people are at liberty to t^^ fer Aeir vices to their rulera. To confirm this remrk by adducing aU the mstances the prophecies afford, would be to quote a great part of the Old festameut: it'is sS! pZIL f^^ ^r *" *^^ twenty-second chapter of Ezekiel, where, after portraying the manners of the a^e with ae peculiar vehemence of style which distinguishfd that holy prophet, he closes his description wi.rthe^ remarkable words : A„4 I ^ughtf^ a imn amLS^ Ma< *Ao«W ^ up the hedge, aJ^nd in thea^iTe mefar the land, that I should not deHroy it ; hm Ifo^ Let us not deceive ourselves with vain words. The just displeasure of God, as it will by no means spare the peat, when they are criminal and impenitent, so neither ^ It excited by then- wickedness alone. It is a fire su^ phed from innumerable sources, to which every crime viScT '' "^ '""''' '^ '"™ "'* augme^d Having thus endeavoured to expose those grounds of confidence which appear replete with danger. It will not be uecessan. to dweU long on the remaining 'part^ °he subject. To be a,vare of the several wrong ^1^ into St ont ^^ ' "'•' '' '^""^ ** *™« ^d The first duty to which our situation summons us is t^!r"' t'^"^?"''^""* °*" *« •'""d of God. To this, whatever be the instruments employed, religion instruct us ultimately to refer nationaf calamities'^ wdT^ national blessings. That the Lord rehn>,if> one "f th,^ truths which lie at the very basl^ of ^fetyTnor a ^ht impression of it, ,vith a cheerful hope, ^d nn- ruflTed tianqudhty, amidst the changes and triads of THE PRESENT CRISLS. 117 life, which we shaU look for in viun from any other quarter It is this chiefly which formed and d"s! tmguished the character of those who are emphatically saul to hayemdhed with God. Important as tL disp^ sition IS, under aU circumstances, it is what more eX cially suits the present crisis, and which the events we have witnessed are so eminently calculated to impre^ The Psahnwt accounts for the wicked's refusing to seek after God, fi-om their having no changes; and certaiidy an uninterrupted series of p^sperity iino; favoum^tj piety. But if we forget God, we cannot plead even this shght extenuation; for the times that a/e pa^silg Z- m m the solemn phrase of Scripture, are eventful beyond iTnnhT*! ^T"^^^ "r .'^""^''Ption- The fearful c^tas- oft . fyajage vicissitudes, the sudden revolutions of fortune, which, thmly scattered heretofore over a lone trac of ages, poets and historians have collected, and ex- hibited to the tertor and the commiseration of InTj^d, have crowded upon us with so strange a rapidity, and thickened so fast, that they have becoSe pereLtlyfe^- iiar, and are ahnost numbered among ordinary events Astonishment has exhausted itself; an! whatevcT ^c^ ve cea^ (o be suiprised. In short, everjr thing areund ^t fW ! l°r^ i ? '■^^ y^*"^ '* ^» changedTthat did not the stabibty of the material, form a contrit to the fluchiations of the moral and political world, we might state ^f.f ° ,?Pr'' T! ^^ •>«*« removed to anotfer w\f •n^*-'^ those things that have happened were ^t the Illusions of fancy, and the visions of the night How consoling, at such a season, to look up U> that .^15V « " " ''^yP^'*^ M.p in trouble, the dmeUina- ihZjr '^ 3em'-<^vm> : who changes all things, and is himself unchanged ! And, independent of its impiety wLdW "*'""' 5^ H^-^ ^ "^ *"^ ««ource, ^an Zl "t ^^^^^ ^ '^" *»^'''"g« "f '^ tempestuous wean, without comjass, without solace, and without But besides this acknowledgment of the eeneral ad- nnnutration of the Deity, it b^oves us to feeTlTc^- i(il m lift SENTIMENTS PROPER TO i^ in national calamities, the tokens of his displeasure, ^e evils which overtake nations are the just judgements of the Almightv. I am perfectly aware of the disadvan- tages under which we labour, when we insist on this topic, from its being so trite and familiar. Instead ot troubling you with a general, and, I fear, unavailim? descant on the manners of the a^e, I shall, therefor^ content myself with calling your attention to a very few of what appear to me the most alarming symptoms of national degeneracy. Here we shall not insist so much on the progress of infidelity (though much to be de- plored), as on an evil, to which, if we are not greatly mistaken, that progress is chiefly to be ascribed : I meaJi a ^^ual departure from the peculiar truths, maxims and spirit of Christianity. Christianity, issuing perfect and entire from the hands of its Author, wiU admit of no mutilations nor improvements ; it stands most secure on Its own basis ; and without being indebted to foreign aids, supports itself best by its own intemd vicrour. VV^en, under the pretence of simplifying it, we attempt to force it mto a closer alliance with the most approved systems of philosophy, we are sure to contract its bounds, and to dimmish its force and authority over the consci- ences of men. It is dogmatic ; not capable of being advanced with the progress of science, but fixed and im - mutable. We may not be able to perceive the use or necessity of some of its discoveries, but they are not on this account the less binding on our faith ; just as there are many parts of nature,* whose purposes we are at a loss to explore, of which if any person were bold enough « ** „.hm,#^ ^H ^ ^T^* j^ 5"^** ^«'^^" *« ^t^^""?* ^ «Jraw down or submit the mysteries of God to our reason; buf, on the contrary, to raibe and advance our reason to the divine truth. In this part of know- ledge, touchmgdivme philosophy, I am so far from noting any defici- ofThP^P^^""*"'?*!}^ an excess; whereto I have digress^ becaus^ rpivpSfr'""*'^"^"" '"'!,'''• ^f^' religion and philosophy have re- ceived from being comrmxed together, as that which undoubtedly will make an heretical religion and a fabulous plHlosophy." ^ This observation appears to me to deserve the most profound medi- ta^ion ; and lest tlie remarks on this subject should appeaV presumptuous TUE PRESENT CRISIS. lid to arraign the propriety, it would be sufficient to reply that God made them. They are both equally the works of Gk)d, and both equally partake of the mysteriousness of their Author. This integrity of the Christian faith has been insensibly impaired ; and the simplicity of mind with which it should be embraced, gradually diminished. While the outworks of the sanctuary have been defended with the utmost ability, its interior has been too much neglected, and the fire upon the altar suffered to languish and decay. The truths and mysteries which distinguished the christian from all other religions, have been little attended to by some, totally denied by others ; and while infinite efibrts have been made, by the utmost subtlety of argumentation, to establish the truth and authenticity of revelation, few have been exerted in comparison to show what it really contains. The doctrines of the fall and of redemption, which are the two grand points on which the Christian dispensation hinges, have been too much neglected. Though it has not yet become the fashion (God forbid it ever should !) to deny them, we have been •too much accustomed to confine the mention of them to oblique hints, and distant allusions. They are too often reluctantly conceded rather than warmly inculcated, as though they were the weaker or less honourable parts of Christianity, from which we were in haste to turn away our eyes, although it is in reality these very truths which have in every age inspired the devotion of the church, and the rapture of the redeemed. This alienation from the distinguishing truths of our holy religion accounts for a portentous peculiarity among christians, their being ashamed of a book which they profess to receive as the word of God. The votaries of all other religions regard their supposed sacred books with a devotion which con- secrates their errors, and makes their very absurdities renerable in their eyes. They glory in that which is their shame : we are ashamed of that which is our glory. Indifference and inattention to the truths and mysteries of revelation, have led, by an easy transition, to a dislike and neglect of the book which contains them ; so that, in a christian country, nothing is thought so vulgar as a 120 SENTIAfENTO PROPER TO £nJ!n- l^ *^-' Scriptures; and the candidate for fashionable distinction would rather betrav a fwr 2Si I, *^^* some should declare themselvp^ i^ maintain thrhonoL ofihe '^v^f "*' "* *'" ^""^ ^^ prised at seeing Zeatt"°^,rfwr °f ^ ^- ^n s„!h as'mightTexpeSd,^ ^^r of^"" ^i?««?. '"^fflorality, and i^eligio^^ ^ "^ P'"" -.o5;vrreS^rnS:^jrr "-^ popular publications, from he";* ESre „f r nant mashes of corrupted christiCy. *' '*^- rehg.on, xs made to cherish L lov^ oftW^fS'^ ^ meZfet h^ta'/rd S'^f ^T"fr''»'» '"""^ti- of these THE PRESENT CRISIS. 121 the heart more effectually against the approaches of piety. Here I cannot forbear remarking a great change which has taken place in the whole manner of reasoning on the topics of morality and religion, from what prevailed in the last century, and, as far as my information extends, in any preceding age. This, which is an age of revolu- tions, has also produced a strange revolution in the method of viewing these subjects, the most important by far that can engage the attention of man. The simplicity of our ancestors, nourished by " the sincere milk of the word," rather than by the tenets of a disputatious philosophy, was content to let morality remain on the firm basis of the dictates of conscience and the will of God They considered virtue as something uhimate, as bounding the mental prospect. They never supposed for a moment there was an3rthing to which it stood merely in the rela- tion of a fneans, or, that mthin the narrow confines of this momentary state any thing great enough could be found to be its end or object. It never occurred to their imagination, that that religion which professes to render us superior to the world, is in reality nothing more than an instrument to procure the temporal, the physical good of individuals, or of society. In their view, it had a nobler destination ; it looked forward to eternity : and if ever they appear to have assigned it any end or object beyond itself, it was a union with its Author, in the per- petual fruition of God. They arranged these things in the following order : — Religion, comprehending the love, fear, and service of the Author of our being, they placed first ; social morality, founded on its dictates, confirmed by its sanctions, next ; and the mere physical good of society they contemplated as subordinate to both. Every thing is now reversed. The pyramid is inverted : the first is last, and the last first. Religion is degraded from its pre-eminence, into the mere hand-maid of social mo- rality ; social morality into an instrument of advancing the welfare of society ; and the world is all in all. Nor have we deviated less from the example of antiquity than from that of our pious forefathers. The philosophers of 122 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO antiquity, m the absence of superior light, consulted with reverence the permanent prmciples of nature, the dic- tates of conscience, and the best feelings of the heart which thej employed aU the powers of reason and elo- quence to unfold, to adorn, to enforce ; and thereby tormed a luminous commentary on the law written on th^ heart. The virtue which they inculcated grew out ot the stock of human nature : it was a warm and livinrr virtue. It was the moral man, possessing in every limb and feature, m all its figure and movements, the hannony dignity, and variety which belong to the human form : an effort of unassisted nature to restore that image of Cxod, which sm had mutilated and defaced. Imperfect as might be expected, their morality was often erroneous • but m Its great outlines it had all the stability of the human constitution, and its fundamental principles were coeval and coexistent with human nature. There could be nothmg fluctuating and arbitrary in its more weighty decisions since it appealed every moment to the Tnan wUMn the breast ; it pretended to nothing more than to gve voice and articulation to the inward sentiments of the heart, and conscience echoed to its oracles. This nought into different systems, and under various modes ot Illustration, was the general mode which morality ex- hibited from the creation of the worid till our time. In this state revelation found it ; and, correcting what was erroneous, supplying what was defective, and confirming what was nght by its peculiar sanctions, superadded a number of supernatural truths and holy mysteries. How Js it, that on a subject on which men have thought deeply from the moment they began to think, and where, con- sequently, whatever is entirely and fundamentally new, must be fundamentally false ; how is it, that in contempt of the experience of past ages, and of all precedents human and diyme, we have ventured into a perilous path IJ'^T ^^^ ^ explored, no foot has trod, and Lve underteken, after the lapse of six thousand years, to manu/aaure a moTahty of our own, to decide by a cold calculation of interest, by a ledger-book of profit and of loss, the preference of truth to falsehood, of piety to THE PRESENT CRISIS. 123 blasphemy, and of humanity and justice to treachery and blood ? In the science of morals we are taught by this system to consider nothing as yet done ; we are invited to erect a fresh fabric on a fresh foundation. All the elements and sentiments which entered into the essence of virtue before, are melted down and cast into a new mould. Instead of appealing to any internal principle, every thing is left to calculation, and determined by expediency. In executing this plan, the jurisdiction of conscience is abolished, her decisions are classed with those of a superannuated judge, and the determination of moral causes is adjourned from the interior tribunal to the noisy forum of speculative debate. Every thing, without ex- ception, is made an affair of calculation, under which are comprehended, not merely the duties we owe to our fellow-creatures, but even the love and adoration which the Supreme Being claims at our hands. His claims are set aside, or suffered to lie in abeyance, until it can be determined how far they can be admitted on the princi- ples of expediency, and in what respect they may inter- fere with the acquisition of temporal advantages. Even here, nothing is yielded to the suggestions of conscience, nothing to the movements of the heart : all is dealt out with a sparing hand, under the stint and measure of calculation. Instead of being allowed to "love God with all our heart, and all our strength, the first and great commandment," the portion of love assigned him is weighed out with the utmost scrupulosity, and the sup- posed excess more severely censured than the real de- ficiency. Thus, by a strange inversion, the indirect infiuenee of Christianity, in promoting the temporal good of mankind, is mistaken for its principal end ; the skirts of her robe are confounded with her body, and the powers of th^ tcorld to come, instead of raising our thoughts and con- templations firom earth to heaven, from the creature to the Creator, are made subservient to the advancement of secular interests and passions. How far these sentiments accord with the dictates of inspiration, the most unlettered 124 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO chnstian may easily decide. Love not the world, said the disciple who leaned on the breast of his Lord, neUh^r the thmga thai are in the world; for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And the world ptmeth away, and the ImU thereof; but he that doeth tJie rcUL of God abideth for ever. Such was the idea enter- tained by an inspired apostle of christian virtue. Let us now turn to the modem philosopher. Virtue, he will inform us (including the whole sum of our duties) is merely an expedient for promoting the interests and Ad- vantages of the present world ; of that world, which in the eyes of John, was passing away, and whose value' he so solemnly depreciates. What admirable consistency ' What elevated theology ! If we can suppose this holv apostle acquainted with what passes on earth, what plea- sure it must afford his glorified spirit, to find his senti- ments so well understood, and so faithfully interpreted ! In former times it was supposed that one of the most effectual means of improvement in virtue was, the moral culture of the heart ; and to keep it with aU dUioence, be- muse out of it are the issues of life, was thought an advice deserving the most serious attention. To examine fre- quently the state of the conscience, and to check the first nsmgs of disorder there, was judged to be of the last importance. It is easy to see how this moral discipline must fare under the doctrine of expediency, a doctrine which teaches man to be looking continually abroad : a doc- trine which not only justifies, but enjoins, a distrust of the suggestions of the inward monitor ; wliich will not pemut the best feelings of the heart, its clearest dictates. Its fanest emotions, to have the smallest influence over the conduct ; and, instead of yielding any thing to their di- rection, cites them at its bar. . As this fashion of reducing every mond question to a calculation of expedience is a most important innovation It would be strange if it had not produced a change iiJ the manners of society. In fact, it has produced an en- tirely new cast of character, equally remote from the li- centious gaiety of high life, and the low profligacy which THE PRESENT CRISIS. 125 falls under the lash of the law : a race of men distin- guished by a calm and terrible ferocity, resembling Csesar in this only, that, as it was said of him, they have come with sobriety to the ruin of their country. The greatest crimes no longer issue from the strongest passions, but fh)m the coolest head. Vice and impiety have made a new conquest, and have added the regions of speculation to their dominion. The patrons of impurity and licen- tiousness have put on the cloak of the philosopher: maxims the most licentious have found their way into books of pretended morality, and have been inculcated with the airs of a moral sage.'"" The new doctrine having withdrawn the attention from all internal sentiments, as well as destroyed their authority, the distinction between right and wrong was easily lost sight of, the boundaries of vice and virtue confounded, and the whole substance of morals fell a prey to contending disputants. Nor is this the only or the worst consequence which has follow- ed. A callous indifference to all moral distinctions is an almost inseparable effect of the familiar application of this theory. Virtue is no longer contemplated as the object of any particular sentiment or feeling, but solely with regard to its effects on society : it is wliat it produ- ces, not what it is, that is alone considered, just as an accountant is indifferent to the shape and appearance of the figures, and attends simply to their amount. Crimes and virtues are equally candidates for approbation, nor must the heart betray the least preference, which would be to prejudge the cause ; but must maintain a sacred neutrality, till Expedience, whose hattid never trembles in the midst of the greatest horrors, has weighed in her impartial balance their consequences and effects. In the mean time, they are equally candidates, we assert it again, for our approbation, and equally entitled to it, provided the passions can be deceived into an opinion, and this is not difficult, that they will come to the same thing at the foot of the account. Hence that intrepidity in guilt, which has cased the hearts of the greatest adepts in this * The unholy sperrnlations of Mr. Godwin were foimded entirely on titis basia. 1 i' 126 SENTIMENTS PROPEll TO THE PRESENT CRISIS. 127 system, as with triple brass. Its seeds were sown by some of these with an unsparing 'hand in France, a con- geniid soil, where they produced a thick vegetation. The consequences were soon felt. The fabric of society tottered to its base, the earth shook under their feet ; the hearens were involved in darkness, and a voice more audible than thunder called upon them to desist. But, unmoved amidst the uproar of elements, imdismayed by that voice which astonishes nature and appals the guilty, these men continued absorbed in their calculations. In- stead of revering the judgements, or confessing the finger of God, they only made more haste (still on the principle of expediency) to desolate his works, and destroy his image, as if they were apprehensive the shades of a pre- mature night might fall and cover their victims ! But it is time to conclude this discussion, which has, perhaps, already fatigued by its length. I cannot help expressing my apprehension, that this desecration of virtue, this incessant domination of physical over moral ideas, of ideas of expedience over those of right, having already detlironed religion, and displaced virtue from her ancient basis, will, if it is suffered to proceed, ere long shake the foundation of states, and endanger the exis- tence of the civilized world. Should it ever become popular ; should it ever descend from speculation into common life, and become the practical morality of the age, we may apply to such a period the awfrd words of Balaam ; Who shall live when God doth this ? No imag- ination can portray, no mind can grasp its horrors ; nor, when the angel in the Apocalypse, to whom the keys are intrusted, shall be commissioned to open the bottomless pit, will it send forth a thicker cloud of pestilential va- pour. If the apparent simpUcity of this system be al- leged in its favour, I would say, it is the simphcity of meanness, a simplicity which is its shame, a daylight which reveals its beggary. If an air of obscurity, on the contrary, is objected against that of better times, let it be remembered that every science has its ultimate questions, boundaries which cannot be passed ; and that if these occur earlier in morals than in other inquiries, it is the natural result of the immensity of the subject, which touching human nature in every point, and sur- rounding it on all sides, renders it difficult, or rather im- possible, to trace it in all its relations, and view it in all its extent. Meanwhile, the shades which envelope, and will perhaps always envelope it in some measure, are not without their use, since they teach the two most impor- tant lessons we can learn, — the vanity of our reason, and the grandeur of our destiny. It is not improbable some may be offended at the warmth and freedom of these remarks : my apology, however, rests on the infinite importance of the subject^ my extreme solicitude to impress what appear to me right sentiments respecting it, together with the consideration, that the confidence which ill becomes the innovators of yesterday, however able, may be pardoned in the defend- ers, however weak, of a system which has stood the test and sustained the virtue of two thousand years.* Let ♦ The system which founds morality on utility, an utility, let it be always remembered, confined to the purposes of the present world, is- sued with ill omen from the school of infidelity. It was first broached I believe, certamly first brought into general notice, by Mr. Hume, in his I reatise on Morals, which he himself pronounced incomparably tlte best he ever ^"-ote. It was incomparably the best for his purpose ; »»or *, J u *^*y. *® '"aagine a mind so acute as his did not see the eflect it would have m setting morality and religion afloat, and substituting for the stabdity of principle the looseness of speculation and opinion. It has smce been rendered popular by a succession of eminent writers ; |>y one especially (1 doubt not with intentions very foreign from those of Mr. HumeJ, whose great services to religion in other respects, tog©- ther with toy high reverence for his talents, prevent me from naming him. This venerable author, it is probable, little suspected to what lengths the principle wouH be carried, or to what purposes it would be applied m other hands. Had he foreseen this, I cannot but imagine he w Pf^"?™^^ tion more than ever, since we have ^^ *« 'XH^ mistakes, as well as serious disasters, of those mysttcs 01 I y f 136 SENIIMENTS PROPER TO impiety who chose rather to walk by an internal light than enjoy the benefit of its illumination. They hayt edified us much, without intending it : they have had the efiect which the great critic of antiquity assigns as the purpose of the Tragic Muse, that of purifying the heart by pity and terror. Their zeal has excited an equal degree of ardour in a better cause, and their efforts to extirpate religion have been opposed by contrary efforts, to diffiise its influence, at home and abroad, to a degiee unexampled in modem times. A growing unani- mity has prevailed among the good in different parties, who, finding a centre of union in the great truths of re- velation, and in a solicitude for its interests, are willing to merge their smaller differences in a common cause. The number of the sincerely pious, we trust, is increasing among us, whose zeal, so far from suffering abatement firora the confidence of infidelity, has glowed with a purer and more steady flame than ever. These are pleasing in- dications that the presence of the Holi/ One of Israel is still in the midst of us. How it may please the Ruler of the universe to dispose the destinies of the two most powerful nations of the earth, which are, at this moment, laid in the balance to- gether, it is impossible for us with certainty to predict. But when we consider how many of his sincere wor- shippers, how large a portion of his church, together with how rich a fund of wisdom, of talents, and of all those elements of social order and happiness which he must approve, are enclosed within the limits of this highly- favoured land, we cannot believe he intends to give it up a prey to his enemies. Our insular situation is favour- able, our resources prodigious, and the preparations which have long been making, apparently every way equal to the danger of the crisis : but still we would place our ultimate reliance on Him who abases the proud, and exalts the lowly. It would be presumption to imagine it in my power to add any thing to those con- siderations which have already produced such a general movement in defence of our liberties. The cause speaks for itself: it excites feelings which words are ill able to \ THE PRESENT CRISIS. 137 express ; involving every object and motive which can engage the solicitude, affect the interests, or inflame the hear^ of man. After a series of provocations and in- juries, reciprocally sustained and retaliated, the dispute betwixt us and our enemies is brought to a short issue ; it is no longer which of the two nations shall have the ascendant, but which shall continue a nation : it is a struggle for existence, not for empire. It must surely be regarded as a happy circumstance that the contest did not take this shape at an earlier period, while many were deceived by certain specious pretences of liberty into a favourable opinion of our enemies' designs. The popular delusion is passed; the most unexampled prodigies of guilt have dispelled it ; and, after a series of rapine and cruelty, have torn from every heart the last fibres of mistaken partiality. The crimes of those mth whom we have to contend are legible in every part of Europe. There is scarcely a man to be found who is not most per- fectly acquainted with the meaning of that freedom they profess to bestow ; that it is a freedom from the dominion of laws to pass under the yoke of slavery, and from the fear of God to plunge into crimes and impiety ; an im- pious barter of all that is good for all that is ill, through the utmost range and limits of moral destiny. Nor is it less easy to develope the character of our principal enemy. A man bred in the school of ferocity, amidst the din of arms, and the tumult of camps ; his element war and confusion ; who has changed his religion with his uni- form, and has not spared the assassination of his own troops ; it is easy to foresee what treatment such a man will give to his enemies should they fall into his power ; to those enemies, especially, who, saved from the ship- wreck of nations, are preserving as in an ark the precious remains of civilization and order ; and whom, after des- troying the liberties of every other country, he envies the melancholy distinction of being the only people he has not enslaved. Engaged with such an enemy, no weak hopes of moderation or clemency can tempt us for a moment to relax in our resistance to his power ; and the only alternative which remains is, to conquer or to die. 1^ 1 138 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO Hence that unexampled unanimity which distinguishes the present season. In other wars we have been a di- vided people : the effect of our external operations has been in some measure weakened by intestine dissension. When peace has returned, the breach has widened, while parties have been formed on the merits of particular men, or of particular measures. These have all disappeared ; we have buried our mutual animosities in a regard to the common safety. The sentiment of self-preservation, the first law which nature has impressed, has absorbed every other feeling ; and the fire of liberty has melted down the discordant sentiments and minds of the British Em- pire into one mass, and propelled them in one direction. Partial interests and feelings are suspended, the spirits of the body are collected at the heart, and we are await- ing with anxiety, but without dismay, the discharge of that mighty tempest which hangs upon the skirts of the horizon, and to which the eyes of Europe and of the world are tinned in silent and awful expectation. While we feel solicitude, let us not betray dejection, nor be alarmed at the past successes of our enemy, which are more dangerous to himself than to us, since they have raised him firom obscurity to an elevation which has made him giddy, and tempted him to suppose every thing within his power. The intoxication of his success is the omen of his fall. What, though he has carried the flames of war throughout Europe, and gathered as a nesi tlie riches of the nations, while none peeped^ mr mut- tered, nor moved the wing ; he has yet to try his fortune in another field ; he has yet to contend on a soil filled with the monuments of freedom, enriched with the blood of its defenders ; with a people who, animated with one soul, and inflamed with zeal for their laws and for their prince, are armed in defence of all that is dear or vener- able ; their wives, their parents, their children, the sanc- tuary of God, and the sepulchre of their fathers. We will not suppose there is one who will be deterred firom exerting himself in such a cause, by a pusillanimous re- gard to his safety, when he reflects that he has already lived too long who has survived the ruin of his country ; 7 ' THE PRESENT CRISIS. 139 and that he who can enjoy life after such an event, de- serves not to have lived at all. It will suffice us, if our mortal existence, which is at most but a span, be co-ex- tended with that of the nation which gave us birth. We will gladly quit the scene, with all that is noble and augiist, innocent and holy ; and instead of wishing to survive the oppression of weakness, the violation of beauty, and the extinction of every thing on which the heart can repose, welcome the shades which will hide from our view such horrors. From the most fixed principles of human nature, as well as from the examples of all history, we may be cer- tain the conquest of this country, should it be permitted to take place, will not terminate in any ordinary catas- trophe, in any much less calamitous than utter exter- mination. Our present elevation will be the exact mea- sure of our fiiture depression, as it will measure the fears and jealousies of those who subdue us. While the smallest vestige remains of our former greatness, while any trace or memorial exists of our having been once a flourishing and independent empire, while the nation breathes, they will be afraid of its recovering its strength, and never think themselves secure of their conquest till our navy is consumed, our wealth dissipated, our com- merce extinguished, every liberal institution abolished, our nobles extirpated ; whatever in rank, character, and talents gives distinction in society, called out and destroy- ed, and the refuse which remains swept together into a putrifying heap by the besom of destruction. The enemy will not need to proclaim his triumph ; it will be felt in the more expressive silence of extended desolation. Recollect for a moment his invasion of Egypt, a coun- try which had never given him the slightest provocation ; a country so remote from the scene of his crimes, that it probably did not know there was such a man in exis- tence (happy ignorance, could it have lasted!); but while he was looking around him, like a vulture perched on an eminence, for objects on which he might gratify his insatiable thirst of rapine, he no sooner beheld the defenceless condition of that imhappy country, than he I Iwipn' ■ H l ' ll m 1li " HIWiii < ■ l!i 140 SENTIMENTS PROPER TO alfpted upon it in a moment. In vain did it struggle, flap its wings, and rend the air with its shrieks : the cruel enemy, deaf to its cries, had infixed his talons, and was busy in sucking its blood, when the interference of a superior power forced him to relinquish his prey, and betake himself to flight. Will that vulture, think you, ever forget his disappointment on that occasion, or the numerous wounds, blows, and concussions he received in a ten years' struggle ? It is impossible. It were folly to expect it. He meditates, no doubt, the deepest re- venge. He who saw nothing in the simple manners and blood-bought liberties of the Swiss to engage his for- bearance, nothing in proclaiming himself a Mahometan to revolt his conscience, nothing in the condition of de- fenceless prisoners to excite his pity, nor in that of the companions of his w^arfare, sick and wounded in a foreign land, to prevent him from despatching them by poison, will treat in a manner worthy of the impiety and inhu- nianity of his character, a nation which he naturally dis- likes as being free, dreads as the rivals of his power, and abhors as the authors of his digrace. Though these are imdoubted truths, and ought to be seriously considered, yet I would rather choose to ap- peal to sentiments more elevated than such topics can inspire. To form an adequate idea of the duties of this crisis, it will be necessary to raise your minds to a level with your station, to extend your views to a distant fiiturity, and to consequences the most certain, though I most remote. JBy a series of criminal enterprises, by the successes oTguilty ambition, the liberties of Europe have been gradually extinguished: the subjugation of Holland, Switzerland, and the free towns of Germany has completed that catastrophe ; and we are the only people in the eastern hemisphere who are in possession of equal laws and a free constitution. Freedom, driven from every spot on the continent, has sought an asylum in a country which she always chose for her favourite abode; but she is pursued even here, and threatened with destruction. The inundation of lawless power, after covering the whole earth, threatens to follow us THE PRESENT CRISIS. 141 here ; and we are most exactly, most critically placed, m the only aperture where it can be successfully repell led, m the Thermopylae of the universe. As fi as the interests of freedom are concerned, the most important by far of sublunary mterests, you, my countrymen, stand m the capacity of the foederal representatives of the human race ; for with you it is to determine (under God) m what condition the latest posterity shall be bom • their fortunes are intrusted to your care, and on you^ conduct at this moment depends the colour and com- plexion of their destiny. If liberty, after being extin- guished on the continent, is suffered to expire here ntZW^ ?,fi:t^^rTr^^*^^ midst of that thick mght that will mvest it ? It remains with you then to decide whether that freedom, at whose voice the kingdoms ot Europe awoke from the sleep of ages, to nm a career ft.TT' ^T^t*'^,? i^, every thing great and good; the freedom which dispelled the mists of superstition and mvited the nations to behold their God: whose magic touch kindled the rays of genius, the enthusiasm of poetry, and the flame of eloquence; the freedom H^wu ITf^ .'?*? '^'^'^P opulence and arts, and em- bellished hfe with innumerable institutions and improve- ments, till It became a theatre of wonders ; it is for you to decide whether this freedom shall yet survive or be covered with a funeral pall, and wrapt in eternal 'doom. It is not necessary to await your determination. In the solicitude you feel to approve yourselves worthy of such a trust, every thought of what is afflicting in warfare every apprehension of danger must vanish, and you are impatient to mingle in the battles of the civiHzed world ixo then, ye defenders of your country,* accompanied witli every auspicious omen ; advance with alacrity into T, r • ^. "^^^""^ ^""^ ^^"^^elf musters the hosts to war Keligion IS too much interested in your success not to lend you h.r aid ; she will shed over this enterprise her selectest influence. While you are engaged in the field 142 SENTIMESTS PROPER TO many will repair to the closet, many to the sanctuary ; the faithful of every name wiH employ that prayer whicn has power with God ; the feehle hands which are un- equal to any other weapon wiU grasp the sword ot tne Spirit ; and from myriads of humble, contrite hearts, the voice of intercession, supplication, and weeping, vnll mingle in its ascent to heaven with the shouts of battle and the shock of arms. While you have every thing to fear from the success of the enemy, you have every means of preventing that success, so that it is next to impossible for victory not to crown your exertions. The extent of your resources, under God, is equal to the justice of your cause. But should Providence determine otherwise, should you tall in this struggle, should the nation fall, you will have the satisfaction (the purest aUotted to man) of having performed your part ; your names will be enrolled with the most illustrious dead, while posterity, to the end ot time, as often as they revolve the events of this period (and they will incessantly revolve them), wiU turn to you a reverential eye, while they mourn over the treedom which is entombed in your sepulchre. I cannot but imagine the virtuous heroes, legislators, and patriots, ot eveTy ace and country, are bending from their elevated seats to witness this contest, as if they were incapable, till it be brought to a favourable issue, of enjoymg their eternal repose. Enjoy that repose, illustrious immortals! Your mantle feU when you ascended ; and thousands inflamed with your spirit, and impatient to tread m your steps, are ready to swear by Him thai methupm the thrme, and limth for ecer and ever, they will protect freedom in her last asylum, and never desert that cause which you sustained by your labours, and ceniented with your blood. And thou, sole Ruler among the children of men, to whom the shields of the earth belong, pird on thy sword, thou Most Mighty : go forth with our hosts in the day of battle ! Impart, in addition to their hereditary valour, that confidence of success which springs from thy presence \ Pour into their hearts the spirit of departed heroes ! Inspire them with thine own ; and. THE PRESENT CRISIS. 143 while led by thine hand, and fighting under thy banners, open thou their eyes to behold in every valley, and in every plain, what the prophet beheld by the same illu- mination—chariots of fire, and horses of lire ! Then shall the strong man be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark : and they shall both bum togetJier, and none shaU quench them. n ' » I THE ADVANTAGES OP KNOWLEDGE TO It W THE LOWER CLASSES : A SERMON, rREACHED AT HERVEY LANE, LEICESTER, FOR THE BENEFIT OP A SUNDAY SCHOOL. fPuBlOSIIED IN I8IO.3 VOL. n. I If '•Ipiii"" lUHumtfkmif- \4\ r •1 ADVERTISEMENT- To attempt to disarm the severity of criticism by hum,hat.on or entreaty, would be a hopeless task. War- mg every apology, the author, therefore, has only to remark, that the motives of a writer must ever remain a secret, but the tendency of what he writes is capable of bemg ascertained, and is in reality the only considera- tion m which the public are interested. The author is concerned at an unexpected coincidence in the text betwixt this and a very excellent discourse, delivered on a similar occasion, and published by his much esteemed friend the Rev. Francis Cox. The coincidence was entirely accidental, and the text in each instance bein« ^niployed veiy much in the m.mner of a motto, it is hoped the train of thought will be found sufficiently TT 1 , ''"""' '""•^'"''•^ "■*""' recommending peitTf I'k ■'":' *° *' ^"""s '''""'''y^ *'- «-«« perusal of the above-mentioned animated and impres- sive discourse. ^ iiS >i#-lj.--!!liii iiiiuiiji*'' tj liiii i- »| ■ • ■ I' I r'' ii A SERMON. Proverbs xix. 2. That the soul he without Jcnomledge^ it is not good. Throughout every part of this book the author is copious, and even profuse, in the praises of knowledge. To stimulate to the acquisition of it, and to assist in the pursuit, is the professed design with which it was pen- ned. To know wisdom and instruction ; to perceive the words of understanding ; to receive the instruction of wis- dom, justice, judgment, and equity ; to give subtlety to the simple, to the young mm knowledge and discretion. Though it is evident from many passages, that in the encomiums to which we have referred, the author had prmcipaUy m view divine knowledge, yet from other parts It IS equally certain he by no means intended to exclude from these commendations knowledge in gene- ral ; and as we propose this afternoon to recommend to your attention the Sabbath-day School established in this place, a few reflections on the utility of knowledge at large and of religious knowledge in particular, will not be deemed unseasonable. I. Let me request your attention to a few remarks on the utility of knowledge in general. It must strike us, m the hrst place, that the extent to which we have the faculty of acquiring it, forms the most obvious distinc- tion of our species. In inferior animals it subsists in so small a degree, that we are wont to deny it to them alto- gether ; the range of their knowledge, if it deserve the name, is so extremely limited, and their ideas so few tmi am* Y\. 150 THE ADVANTAGES OP KNOWLEDGE and simple. Whatever is most exquisite in their opera- tions is referred to an instinct, which, working within a narrow compass, though with undeviating uniformity, supplies the place, and supersedes the necessity, of rea- son In inferior animals, the knowledge of the whole species is possessed hy each individual of the species, while man is distinguished by numberless diversities in the scale of mental improvement. Now, to be destitute, in a remarkable degree, of an acquisition which forms the appropriate possession of human nature, is degrading to that nature, and must proportionably disquaUfy it for reaching the end of its creation. As the power of acquiring knowledge is to be ascribed to reason, so the attainment of it mightily strengthens and improves it, and thereby enables it to enrich itself with further acquisitions. Knowledge, in general, ex- pands the mind, exalts the facidties, refines the taste of pleasure, and opens numerous sources of intellectual enjoyment. By means of it we become less dependent for satisfaction upon the sensitive appetites, the gross pleasures of sense are more easily despised, and we are made to feel the superiority of the spiritual to the mate- rial part of our nature. Instead of being continually solicited by the influence and irritation of sensible ob- jects, the mind can retire within herself, and expatiate in the cool and quiet walks of contemplation. The Author of nature has wisely annexed a pleasure to the exercise of our active powers, and particularly to the pursuit of truth, which, if it be in some instances less intense, is far more durable than the gratifications of sense, and is, on that account, incomparably more valu- able. Its duration, to say nothing of its other proper- ties, renders it more valuable. It may be repeated without satiety, and pleases afiresh on every reflection upon it. These are self-created satisfactions, always within our reach, not dependent upon events, not re- quiring a peculiar combination of circumstances to pro- duce or maintain them ; they rise from the mind itself, and inhere, so to speak, in its very substance, Let the mind but retain its proper functions, and they spring TO THE LOWER CLASSES. 151 up spontaneously, unsolicited, unborrowed, and imbought. Even the difficulties and impediments which obstruct the pursuit of truth, serve, according to the economy under which we are placed, to render it more interesting. The labour of intellectual search resembles and exceeds the tumultuous pleasures of the chase ; and the con- sciousness of overcoming a formidable obstacle, or of lighting on some happy discovery, gives all the enjoyment of a conquest, without those corroding reflections by which the latter must be impaired. Can we doubt that Archimedes, who was so absorbed in his contemplations as not to be diverted by the sacking of his native city, and was killed in the very act of meditating a mathe- matical problem, did not, when he exclaimed Ev^rixa ! iuprixa ! I have found it ! I have found it ! feel a trans- port as genuine as was ever experienced after the most brilliant victory ? But to letum to the moral good which results Irora the acquisition of knowledge : it is chiefly this, that by multiplying the mental resources, it has a tendf.'ncy to exalt the character, and, in some measure, to correct and subdue the taste for gross sensuality. It enables the possessor to beguile his leisure moments (and every man has such) in an innocent, at least, if not in a useful, manner. The poor man who can read, and ^vho pos- sesses a taste for reading, can find entertainment at home, without being tempted to repair to the public house for that purpose. His mind can find him employ- ment when his body is at rest ; he does not lie prostrate and afloat on the current of incidents, liable to be carried whithersoever the impulse of appetite may direct. There is in the mind of such a man an intellectual spring urging him to the pursuit of mental good ; and if the minds of his family also are a little cultivated, conver- sation becomes the more interesting, and the sphere of domestic enjoyment enlarged. The calm satisfaction which books afford, puts him into a disposition to relish more exquisitely the tranquil delight inseparable from the indulgence of conjugjJ and parental affection ; and as he will be more respectable in the eyes of his family 152 THE ADVANTAGES OP KNOWLEDGE than he who can teach them nothing, he will be natu- rally induced to cultivate whatever may preserve, and to shun whatever would impair, that respect. He wlio is inured to reflection will carry his views beyond the present hour; he will extend his prospect a little into futurity, and be disposed to make some provision for his approaching wants; whence will result an increased motive to industry, together with a care to husband his earnings, and to avoid unnecessary expense. The poor man who has gained a taste for good books will in all likelihood become thoughtful ; and when you have given the poor a habit of thinking, you have conferred on them a much greater favour .than by the gift of a large sum of money, since you have put them in possession of the principle of all legitimate prosperity. I am persuaded that the extreme profligacy, improvi- dence, and misery, which are so prevalent among the labouring classes in many countries, are chiefly to be ascribed to the want of education. In proof of this we need only cast our eyes on the condition of the Irish, compared with that of the peasantry in Scotland. Among the former you behold nothing but beggary, wretched- ness, and sloth : in Scotland, on the contrary, under the disadvantages of a worse climate and more unproductive soil, a degree of decency and comfort, the fruit of sobriety and industry, are conspicuous among the lower classes. And to what is this disparity in their situation to be ascribed, except to the influence of education? In Ireland, the education of the poor is miserably neglected ; very few of them can read, and they grow up in a total ignorance of what it most befits a rational creature to understand : while in Scotland the establishment of free schools* in every parish, an essential branch of the ♦ In the " Edinbargh Christian Instructor" for 1816, the slight mistake which occars above, in reference to " free schools" in North Britain is thus corrected. "The troth is, that free schools conid never have etlected that improvement in the manners and intelligence of the lower orders in Scotland, for which they are so remarkable ; and we have reason to bless the jadicioas liberality of our ancestors, who contented themselves with bnngmg education within the reach of the lower orders by allowing limited salaries to the schoolmasters, in aid of the school wages, instead of going to the hurtful extreme which tends to render teachers careless and parents indiflerent."— Ed. TO THE LOWER CLASSES. 153 ecclesiastical constitution of the country, brings the means of instruction within the reach of the poorest, who are there inured to decency, industry, and order. Some have objected to the instruction of the lower classes, from an apprehension that it would lift them above their sphere, make them dissatisfied with their station in life, and, by impairing the habits of subordi- nation, endanger the tranquillity of the state ; an objec- tion devoid surely of all force and validity. It is not easy to conceive in what manner instructing men in their duties can prompt them to neglect those duties, or how that enlargement of reason which enables them to com- prehend the true grounds of authority and the obligation to obedience, should indispose them to obey. The admi- rable mechanism of society, together with that subordi- nation of ranks which is essential to its subsistence, is surely not an elaborate imposture, which the exercise of reason will detect and expose. The objection we have stated, implies a reflection on the social order, equally impolitic, invidious, and unjust. Nothing in reality renders legitimate governments so insecure as extreme ignorance in the people. It is this which yields them an easy prey to seduction, makes them the victims of pre- judices and false alarms, and so ferocious withal, that their interference in a time of public commotion, is more to be dreaded than the eruption of a volcano. The true prop of good government is the opinion, the perception, on the part of the subject of benefits result- ing from it ; a settled conviction, in other words, of its being a public good. Now nothing can produce or maintain that opinion but knowledge, since opinion is a form of knowledge. Of tyrannical and unlawful govern- ments, indeed, the support is fear, to which ignorance is as congenial as it is abhorrent from the genius of a free people. Look at the popular insurrections and massacres in France : of what description of persons were those ruffians composed, who, breaking forth hke a torrent, overwhelmed the mounds of lawful authority? Who were the cannibals that sported with the mangled carcases and palpitating limbs of their murdered victims, and dragged them about with their teeth in the gardens of 154 THE ADTANTAGES OP KNOWLEDGE the Tuilleries ? Were they refined and elaborated into these barbarities by the efibrts of a too polished educa- tion? No: they were the very scum of the people, destitute of all moral culture, whose atrocity was only equalled by their ignorance, as might well be expected, when the one was the legitimate parent of the other. Who are the persons who, in every country, are most disposed to outrage and violence, but the most ignorant and uneducated of the poor ? to which class also chiefly belong those unhappy beings who are doomed to expiate their crimes at the fatal tree ; few of whom, it has re- cently been ascertained, on accurate inquiry, are able to read, and the greater part utterly destitute of all moral or religious principle. Ignorance gives a sort of eternity to prejudice, and perpetuity to error. When a- baleful superstition, like that of the church of llome, has once got footing among a people in this situation, it becomes next to impossible to eradicate it ; for it can only be assailed, with success, by the weapons of reason and argument, and to these weapons it is impassive. The sword of ethereal temper loses its edge, when tried on the scaly hide of this levia- than. No wonder the church of Rome is such a friend to ignorance ; it is but paying the arrears of gratitude in which she is deeply indebted. How is it possible for her not to hate that light which would unveil her impos- tures, and detect her enormities ? If we survey the genius of Christianity, we shall find it to be just the reverse. It was ushered into the world with the injunction, Go and teach all nations, and every step of its progress is to be ascribed to instruction. With a condescension worthy of its Author, it offers in- formation to the meanest and most illiterate ; but extreme ignorance is not a state of mind favourable to it. The first churches were planted in cities (and those the most celebrated and enlightened), drawn neither from the very highest nor the very lowest classes ; the former, too often the victims of luxury and pride, the latter, sunk in ex- treme stupidity ; but from the middle orders, where the lairgest portion of virtue and good sense has usually re- TO THE LOWER CLASSES. 155 Bided. In remote villages, its progress was extremely slow, owing, unquestionably, to that want of mental cul- tivation, which rendered them the last retreats of super- stition ; insomuch that in the fifth century, the abettors of the ancient idolatry began to be denominated Pa^ani, which properly denotes the inhabitants of the country in distinction from those who reside in towns. At the Reformation, the progress of the reformed faith went hand in hand with the advancement of letters ; it had every where the same friends and the same enemies, and, next to its agreement with the Holy Scriptures, its success is chiefly to be ascribed, under God, to the art of printing, the revival of classical learning, and the illustrious patrons of science attached to its cause. In the representation of that glorious period, usually styled the Millennium, when religion shall universally prevail, it is mentioned as a conspicuous feature, that men shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall he increased. That period will not be distinguished from the preceding, by men s minds being more torpid and inactive, but rather by the consecration of every power to the service of the Most High. It will be a period of remarkable illumination, during which the light of the moon shall he as the light of the sun, and t/ie ligfii of the sun as that of seven days. Every useful talent will be cultivated, every art subservient to the in- terests of man, be improved and perfected ; learning will amtiss her stores, and genius emit her splendour ; but the former will be displayed without ostentation, and the latter shine with the softened eflFulgence of humility and love. II. We have hitherto spoken of the advantages of knowledge in general ; we proceed to notice the utility of religious knowledge in particular. Religion, on account of its intimate relation to a future state, is every man's proper business, and should be his chief care. Of know- ledge in general, there are branches which it would be preposterous in the bulk of mankind to attempt to acquire, because they have no immediate connexion with their duties, and demand talents which nature has denied, or M 1 156 THE ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE opportunities which Providence has withheld. But with respect to the primary truths of religion, the case is dift'erent ; they are of such daily use and necessity, that they form not the materials of mental luxury, so properly, as the food of the mind. In improving the character, the influence of general knowledge is often feeblfe and always indirect ; of religious knowledge the tendency to purify the heart is immediate, and forms its professed scope and design. This is life eternal, to know thee the vill bethink lumselt of the true refuge, and implore the Spirit of grace to aid his weakness, and subdue his corruptions. Sound rehgious mstruction is a perpetual counterpoise to the force of depravity The law of the Lord is perfect, con- rertiy the sou ; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making fvue the simpU; the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, endur- ing for ever; the judgements of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. ' While we insist on the absolute necessity of an ac- quaintance with the word of God, we are equally con- vmced It is but an instrument, which, like every other requn-es a hand to wield it ; and that, important as it is ,> iff^ r r ""i means, the Spirit of Christ only can make It effec ual, which ought therefore to be earnestly and in- ^tf^l^ '^^h^^ ^^^ *^^* P^T'^^^- Open mine eyes, saith the Psalmist and I shall behold wonderful things out of thy law We trust it will be your care, who hafe tne conduct of the school we are recommendinff to the patronage of this audience, to impress on these children a deep conviction of their radical corruption, and of the }^aT2 ^^'' ^^'""'^ ^^ *^^ ^^'''^^ ^^ ^^"der the know- ledge they acquire practical and experimental. In the morning sow your seed, in the evening withhold not your hand; but remember thai neither he that soweth, nor he rlTV' !' «^.^/%^- it is God that giveth the in- crease. Be not satisfied with making them read a lesson, or repeat a prayer. By every thing tender and solemn * OL. 1I« u 162 THE ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE TO THE LOWER CLASSES. 1G3 in religion, by a due admixture of the awful considera- tions <£awn from the prospects of death and judgement, with others of a more pleasing nature, aim to fix serious impressions on their hearts. Aim to produce a religious concern, carefully watch its progress, and endeavour to conduct it to a prosperous issue. Lead them to the foot- stool of the Saviour ; teach them to rely, as guilty crea- tures, on his merits alone, and to commit their eternal interests entirely into his hands. Let the salvation of these children be the object, to which every word of your instructions, every exertion of your authority, is directed. Despise the profane-clamour which would deter you from attempting to render them serious, from an apprehension of its making them melancholy, not doubting for a mo- ment, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis- dom, and that the path to true happiness lies through purity, huraihty, and devotion. Meditate the worth of souls : meditate deeply the lessons the Scriptures aiford on their inconceivable value and eternal duration. AVhile the philosopher wearies himself with endless speculations on their physical properties and nature, while the politi- cian only contemplates the social arrangements of man- kind and the shifting forms of policy, fix your attention on the individual importance of man, as the creature of God, and a candidate for immortality. Let it be your highest ambition to train up these children for an un- changing condition of being. Spare no pains to recover them to the image of God ; render familiar to their minds, in all its extent, the various branches of that hoUness without which none shall see the Lord. Inculcate the obligation, and endeavour to inspire the love of that rec- titude, that eternal rectitude, which was with God before time began, was embodied in the person of his Son, and in its lower communications, will survive every sublunary change, emerge in the dissolution of all things, and be impressed, in refulgent characters, on the new heavens and the new earth, in which drvelleth riffhteousness. Pray often with them, and for them, and remind them of the inconceivable advantages attaclied to that exercise. Ac- custom them to a punctual and reverential attendance at the house of God : insist on the sanctification of the Sab- bath, by such a disposal of time, as is suitable to a day of rest and devotion. Survey them with a vigilant and tender eye, checking every appearance of an evil and de- praved disposition the moment it springs up, and encou- raging the dawn of piety and virtue. By thus training them up in the rcay they should go^ you may reasonably hope that rclmn old^ they will not depart from. k. We congratulate the nation, on the extent of the efforts employed, and the means set on foot, for the improve- ment of the lower classes, and especially the children of the poor, in moral and religious knowledge, from which we hope much good will accrue, not only to the parties concerned, but to the kingdom at large. These are the likeliest, or rather, the only expedients that can be adopted, for forming a sound and virtuous populace ; Jind if there be any truth in the figure, by which society is compared to a pyramid, it is on them its stability chiefly depends : the elaborate ornament at the top will be a MTetched compensation for the want of solidity in the lower parts of the structure. These are not the times in which it is safe for a nation to repose on the lap of ignorance. If there ever were a season, when public tranquillity was ensured by the absence of know- ledge, that season is past. The com^ilsed state of the world will not permit unthinking stupidity to sleep, without being appalled by phantoms, and shaken by terrors, to which reason, which defines her objects, and limits her apprehension, by the reality of things is a stranger. Every thing in the condition of mankind an- nounces the approach of some great crisis, for which nothing can prepare us but the diffusion of knowledge, probity, and the fear of the Lord. While the world is im])elled, with such \4olence, in opposite directions ; while a spirit of giddiness and revolt is shed upon the nations, and the seeds of mutation are so thickly sown, the improvement of the mass of the people will be our grand security ; in the neglect of which, the poUteness, m2 ( 164 THE ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE. the refinement, and the knowledge accumulated in the higher orders, weak and unprotected, will he exposed to imminent danger, and perish hke a garland in the grasp of popular fury. Wisdom and knordedge shall he the sta- bility of thy times, and strength of salvation ; the fear of the Lord is his treasure. ON THE DlfiCOtRAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS OP TIJE CHRISTIAN MINISTER: A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED TO THE REV. JAMES ROBERTSON, AT HIS ORDINATION OVER THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH, AT STRETTON, WARWICKSHIRE. [tiT.MlfHED IN Ifliia.] X I PREFACE. The following Discourse would sooner have made its appearance, but for circumstances in which the public are too little interested, to render it necessary or proper for me to explain : nor should I have adverted to the time of its publication, did it not seem strange that, having been preached on a public occasion, it should be committed to the press more than a twelvemonth after the delivery. With respect to the Sermon itself, the author begs leave to bespeak the indulgence of his readers for intro- ducing sentiments with which they must be perfectly familiar, requesting them to recollect that, on practical subjects, the most common thoughts are usually the most important, and that originality is the last quality we seek for in advice. If it have any tendency to do good beyond the occasion of its delivery, by reminding my highly-esteemed brethren in the niinistry of the duties and obligation attached to their sacred function, the end proposed will be answered. The worthy person to whom it was addressed, gave a specimen of his liberality, in engaging me to take so leading a part in his ordina- tion, when our difference of sentiment on the subject of Baptism was well known ; a subject which has, unhap- pily, been a frequent occasion of alienating the minds of christians from each other. How much is it to be lamented, that the christian world should be so violently agitated by disputes, and divided into factions, on points, which, it is allowed, in whatever way they are decided, do not enter into the essentials of Christianity ! When will the time arrive, when the disciples of Christ shall cordially join hand and heart with all who kold the head. . * 1l M m i I \ 168 PREFACE. ^ °o Other tenn, of communion he insisted upon in cSshW^rf ':,'"" "■■' "fe^^ary to constitute ^ red reliSL™ .^ departure from a principle so directly resutmg from the genius of christiimity, and so evidently mculcated and implied in the sacred iripti^s, hS my apprehension, been productive of infinite mSjP- nor ,s there room to anticipate the period of thf u^Vver- sal diffusion and triumph of the christian reli^on w «»*r one shepherd, than the present aspect 'o^cSn- iZkT "'"' ^^T\^^ '"'^'''« communion^ frZ ing defiance on each other, where each erects it^lf urn party pnnc,pte», and selects its respective watch-worTnf contention, ^ though the epithet ofPrnilitanSenrpli^' ^nSL -.w'l ''""^ ^"^^^^ '» announce, not a state rf confl ct with the powers of darkness, but of irrecondlab?e TuU iTubTf "k?".'^ tPP°f '""■ But it is nee™ to quit a subiect which, though painliiUy interestine' «m,M substoce ^f r/'V*n *''•' PT*^ *" '^""k, that the substance of the following discourse was delivered in London, at the anniversary of an academical Sfio^ recently estabhshed in the neighbourhood of th™ Z' K^ f "*"^';"^ n".? •"«" <■»' *« minist^J iuThe' iiaptist denoraina lon. The institution to which we Wml™'^^*' '""^ T"!^'"*^ superintendence of the C William Newman.* I cannot let the present occasion g«s, of earnestly and respectfully recommending thkn- W semmaiy to the patronage of the religiou! publTc There was a tune, we are aware, when doubts weVe en tertained, m some serious minds, of the elimS of course ot study. These scruples, we believe have lonir since subsided, and a conviction felt by i^Xent m^ of all denominations, of the e^pediencefiS the „ece^ * W. H. March, D. D, is now the tutw, 1838. PREFACE. 169 sity, of instructing candidates for the ministry in the principles of science and literature. Learning is no longer dreaded as the enemy of piety; nor is it supposed that the orthodoxy of a public teacher of religion derives any security from his professed ignorance on every other subject. Along with this revolution in the sentiments of a certain class of christians, circumstances have arisen, connected with the more general diffusion of knowledge and the state of society, which render a higher degree of mental cultivation than was heretofore needed, indis- pensably requisite. The Baptist denomination, in com- mon with other christians, have not failed to advert to this urgent and increasing demand for cultivated talent in their ministers, although they have long had occasion to lament the scantiness and inadequacy of their means of supplying it. To the Bristol Academy, the only semmary they possessed till within these few years, they feel the highest obligations, for supplying them with a succession of able and faithful pastors, who have done honour to their churches : and few things would give the patrons and founders of the seminary, for which I am pleading, more concern, than the suspicion of entertain- ing views unfavourable to that academy. They respect its claim of seniority ; they revere the character of its excellent President ; they contemplate, with the highest satisfaction, the beneficial result of its operations, con- spicuous in most parts of the kingdom :— but they are too well acquainted with the disinterested motives of its friends and benefactors, to suspect them of wishing to monopolize the education of ministers connected with the denomination. They feel as little jealousy of the seminary recently established in Yorkshire, which has akeady produced good fruits, under the culture and superintendence of the excellent Mr. Steadmau. Con- vinced, however, of there being still occasion for the en- largement of the means of instruction, and having, by the munificence of a generous individual, been presented with a house and premises well adapted to academical purposes, they could feel no hesitation in accepting so noble a gift, or in seconding the pious and benevolent ' I 170 PREFACE, tanc^ and subsists on a small scale. They look to the miles of heaven and to the liberality of a /hristian pub! feL';;^,-'"^^ \*^ P'^'y »<» opulence of t^e^^ wS. L tJ^*"" \" *' ""^t^Po"'. ^vho hare never been W^otf Lt? '^'r.^ T^T' "f institutions tending to promote the glory of God and the best interests of man- ^iSed I'^hTlTr''?' °'*^'!: f""*^^ ^' ~'- a , seconded by the efforts of its worthy tutor, shall render It a permanent and extensive blessing. Leicester, December 31, 18IL r .11 A DISCOURSE. 2 Corinthians iv. 1. Thereforey seeing we have this ministry^ as rve have received mercy y we faint not. As you have requested me to address you upon the {)resent occasion, I am persuaded you will deem no apo- ogy necessary for the use of that freedom which the nature of the service to which you have invited me de- mands, combined with those sentiments of high esteem which your character will always inspire. Having with the accustomed solemnities, been invested with the pas- toral office over this church, you will permit me to re- mind you of the discouragements on the one hand, and the supports on the other, which you may reasonably look for in your ministerial warfare, as far as they are naturally suggested to us by the passage of scripture selected for the basis of our present discourse. If it is necessary for the private christian, before ho assumes a religious profession, to count the cost ; to the minister it cannot be less so, that he may not be surprised by unexpected trials, nor dismayed at the encounter of dif- ficulties for which he has made no preparation. A just estimate of the nature and magnitude is an important qualification for the proper discharge of whatever fimc- tions we are called to exert. As you are neither a novice in the ministry, nor have failed to reflect deeply on the consequences of your present engagements, you will not suspect me of attempting, by the hints which may be sug- gested, to give you information, but merely to stir up youvpure mind hy way of remembrance, I. Let me request your attention to the sources of « P^* £^ tr"„^f 1^ *'•'" ,r ^?»f tn,ri r^ £ ^ce uf he dfficuhi^^rt^"""' '^ *"°"g'' *° «»- »^tude, anft trr Sa^^^Sf "° "^'""T^ cep?orofti'"^r "xriSFr *° *^^ -- their I:™ t£K 'trf '"•%'", "'•^''^ *" ^'-"'^ against which ^7 sZnV^r^X^::^^ ^f'^'j'^-^r' excited, naturallr Dro«» n^e by the'TiX ofS:L'"oT&Jr^^^ nuseiy. They wiU readil^Vr^nf *u '"'*' ^'^t and innocint or ff ss tCT/*'^ ^« "»' perfectly weU as others, bS/5t"l*T™P«rf«t''°"^ "^ -v4AhysJtt^rei'':,Si-S^^^^^^ OP THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. J 73 actions against their bad ones, contrive to adjust their account in such a manner as leaves a considerable balance in their favour. On the mercj of God thej feel no objection to profess their reliance ; deeming it more de- cent, and even more safe, than to challenge his justice ; but it is easy to perceive that the mercy of which they speak is of such a nature, that they would look upon it as an absurdity to suppose it could be withheld. In short, they are the whole who need no physician. The gospel presupposes a charge of guilt ; it assumes, as an indubitable fact, the universal apostasy of our race, and its consequent liability to perish under the stroke of the divine anger ; nor can you acquit yourself of the im- putation of handling the word of God deceitfully, if, from false delicacy or mistaken tenderness, you neglect the frequent inculcation of this momentous truth. You will find it, however, no easy matter to fasten the charge on the conscience ; which, when it seems to be admitted, will often amount to nothing more than a vague and general acknowledgement, which leaves the heSxt quite unaffected. To convince effectually is, indeed, the work of a superior agent. The very attempt to produce that humiliating sense of unworthmess and weakness, which is essential to a due reception of the gospel, will frequently excite disgust, should it terminate in no worse consequences. You will be reproached as the messenger of evil tidings, and suspected of taking a pleasure in overwhelming the soul with dark and melancholy forebodings. By a part of your hearers you will possibly be regarded as an unna- tural character, and as having in your religion a tincture ot what IS savage and inhuman ; in consequence of which, they who refuse to profit by your admonitions, will be apt to apply to you the language of the king of Israel, 1 fi4Ue him, for he always prophesieth evil of me, and not good Of the common apostasy, one of the most distin- guishmg features is, a stupefaction and insensibility in relation to whatever is of aspiritml nature, together with ^JT^^^ 1 ,<^ar^lessness which it reqmres the utmost ettort of the christian ministry to dispel. iii 174 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS If you should be successful in awakening a salutary concern in the breasts of your hearers, and exciting them to inquire what they must do to be saved, fresh difficul- ties await you. The enemy will leave no artifice untried to divert it, and to wear it oft; by such a succession of cares and vanities, that as much attention and address will be requisite to maintain it till it issues in a saving effect, as to produce it at first. There are many, who, after appearing for the time earnestly engaged in the pursuit of salvation, have, in consequence of stifling con- victions, become more callous and insensible than ever, as iron is hardened in the fire. The grand scope of the christian ministry is to bring men home to Christ ; but ere they arrive thither, there are numerous by-paths into which those who are awakened are in danger of divert- ing, and of finding a delusive repose, without coming, as humble penitents, to the foot of the cross. They are equally in danger of catching at premature consolation, and of sinking into listless despondency. Withhold thy throat frcmi thirsty said the prophet Jeremiah, and thy foot from being unshod; hut thou saidst, there is no hope^far I have loved strangers, and after them I must go. In the pursuit of eternal good, the heart is extremely inconstant and irresolute ; easily prevailed on, when the peace it is in quest of is delayed, to desist from further seeking. During the first serious impressions, the light which unveils futurity often shines with too feeble a ray to produce that perfect and plenary conviction which permits the mind no longer to vacillate ; and the fascina- tion of sensible objects eclipses the powers of the world to come. Nor is there less to be apprehended from any other quarter. The conscience, roused to a just sense of the danger to which tlie sinner is exposed by his viola- tion of the laws of God, is apt to derive consolation from this very uneasiness ; by Avhich means it is possible that the alarm, which is chiefly valuable on account of its ten- dency to produce a consent to the overtures of the gospel, may ultimately lull the mind into a deceitful repose. The number, we fear, is not small, of those, who, though they have never experienced a saving change, are yet OP TIIE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 175 under no apprehensions respecting their state, merely because they can remember the time when they felt poignant convictions. Mistaking what are usually the preliminary steps to conversion, for conversion itself, they deduce from their former apprehensions an antidote against present fears ; and from past prognostics of dan- ger, an omen of their future safety. With persons of this description, the flashes of a superficial joy, arising from a presumption of being" already -pardoned, ac(;ora- panied with some slight and transient relishes of the word of God, are substituted for that new birth, and that lively trust in the Redeemer, to which the promise of salvation inseparably belongs. Such were those who re- ceived the seed into stony ground, and who, having heard the word of God, anon with joy received it, but having no depth ofeatih, it soon withered away. Others endeavour to soothe the anguish of their minds by a punctual per- formance of certain religious exercises, and a partial re- formation of conduct ; in consequence of which they sink into mere formalists ; and confoimding the instruments of religion with the end, their apparent melioration of cha- racter diverts their attention from their real wants, and, by making them insensible of the extent of their malady, obstructs their cure. Instead of imploring the assistance of the great Physician, and implicitly complying with his prescriptions, they have recourse to palliatives, which assuage the anguish and the smart, without reaching the seat, or touching the core, of the disorder. Were the change, which the gospel proposes to effect, less fundamental and extensive than it is, we might the more easily flatter oiKselves with being able to carry its designs into execution. Did it aim merely to polish the exterior, to tame the wildness, and prune the luxuriance of nature, without the implanting of a new principle, the undertaking would be less arduous. But its scope is much higher ; it proposes not merely to reform, but to renew; not so much to repair the moral edifice, as to build it afresh; not merely, by the remonstrances of reason, and the dictates of prudence, to engage men to lay a restraint upon their vices, but, by the inspiration of 'tS i 176 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS OP THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 1 J I P, tmtli, to become new creatures. The effects of the gospel on the heart are compared, by the prophet, to the Slanting of a wilderness, where what was barrenness and esolation before, is replenished with new productions. / will plant in the wilderness the cedar-tree, the shittah- tree, and the myrtle-tree ; I will set in the desert the fir- tree^ the pim-tree^ and the box-tree togetJier^ that they may hiow, and consider, and understand, that the hand of the Lord hath done this. Although the change is frequently slow, and the Spirit of God, in effecting it, may proceed by- imperceptible steps and gentle insinuations, the issue is invariably the same ; nor can any representation do justice to its dignity. How great the skill requisite in those who are to be the instruments of producing it ! To arrest the attention of the careless, to subdue the pride and soften the obduracy of the human heart, so that It shall stoop to the authority of an imseen Saviour, is a task which surpasses the utmost efforts of human ability, unaided by a superior power. In attempting to realize the design of the christian ministry, we are proposing to call the attention of men from the things which are seen and teraporal, to things unseen and eternal ; to conduct them from a life of sense to a life of faith ; to subdue, or weaken at least, the influence of a world, which, being always present, is incessantly appealing to the senses, and soliciting the heart, in favour of a state, whose very existence is ascertained only by testimony. We call upon them to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, to deny the strongest and most inveterate propensities, and to renounce the enjoyments which they have tasted and felt, for the sake of a happiness to which they have no relish. We must charge t/iem, as they value their salvation, not to love the world, who have been accus- tomed to make it the sole object of their attachment, and to return to their allegiance to that almighty and invi- sible Ruler from whom they have deeply revolted. We present to them, it is true, a /east of fat things, of nine on the lees well refined; we invite them to entertiiinments more ample and exquisite, than, but for the gospel, it had entered mto the heart of ip >n to conceive; but w«» 177 address our invitations to minds fataUy indisnosed alienated from the life of God, with little^enseTthe value of his favour, and no delight in his converse. The souls we address, though originally formed for these en- joyments, and utterly incapable of being happy without them, have lost through the fall, that rifht tTe ^d ap- prehension of things, which is requisite for the due^ppre- ciation of these blessings; and, likeEzekiel, we prophecy to dry bones in the vaUey of Vision, which will never wnere It listeth. This indisposition to the things of God. so radical and mcurable by human power, as it^h^ Wn a frequent source of discouragement to the faithfiill^^! ter, so It would prove an invincible obstacleTsu^^ss did that success depend upon human agency! '' 2 To these difficulties, which arise from the nature tho ^ r^ ^^«^^^,^i^% considered, must be S those which are modified by a variety of circumstances' and which result from that diversity of tempeTcTamctS' and situation, which prevails in our audito^ To the several classes of which it consists, it is necesS;y M to d,v.de the word of truth, and gUe to e.eryZlh7S- y of meat ^n dm season. The epidemic m^Xo^^ tom^Uljr^^'^'' *^^V^^^^" ^^^ b« considered as vSi th. TT'^ ^^^'^ ^^"^'^'^d ^ proportionate variety m the method of treatment ; nor will the sam*^ ts to beTt 1" "^?.^^^^^« ^« r^q^i^ite to rouse the care- ^tbs, to beat down the arrogance of a self-iustifyinff snirit S:\:tart '^^^--^^ *o --fort the hU7e"aldTn: tnte m heart ; nor is it easy to say which we should mnsf inflaming the wounds which we ou/rht to heal A Ws.^ bTSJv ^"'"'^."f *te Spirit of its edge, than adopt- hler L^ •*' ?'*'"r^''P'"^«"*^''°°' ^Wch leaves its nearer „othu^ to apply, presents no incentire to self-ei- K 178 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS OP THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. Id 11 179 amination, and, besides its utter inefficiency, disgusts by the ignorance of human nature, or the disregard to its best interests, it infallibly betrays. Without descending to such a minute specification of circumstances, as shall make our addresses personal, they ought unquestionably to be characteristic, that the conscience of the audience may feel the hand of the preacher searching it, and every individual know where to class himself. The preacher who aims at doing good will endeavour, above all things, to insulate his hearers, to place each of them apart, and render it impossible for him to escape by losing himself in the crowd. At the day of judgement, the attention excited by the surrounding scene, the strange aspect of nature, the dissolution of the elements, and the last trump, will have no other effect than to cause the reflec- tions of the sinner to return with a more overwhelming tide on his own character, his sentence, his unchanging destiny ; and amid the innumerable millions who sur- round him, he will mourn apart. It is thus the christian minister should endeavour to prepare the tribunal of con- icience, and turn the eyes of every one of his hearers on himself. To men of different casts and complexions, it is ob- vious, a corresponding difference in the selection of topics, and the method of appeal, is requisite. Some are only capable of digesting the first principles of religion, on whom it is necessary often to inculcate the same lessons, with the reiteration of parental solicitude : there are others of a wider grasp of comprehension, who must be indulged with an ampler variety, and to whom views of religion less obvious, less obtrusive, and demanding a more vigorous exercise of the imderstanding, are pecu- liarly adapted. Some are accustomed to contemplate every subject in a light so cool and argumentative, that they are not easily impressed with any thing which is not presented in the garb of reasoning ; nor apt, though firm believers in Revelation, to be strongly moved by naked assertions, even from that quarter. There are others of a softer temperament, who are more easily won by tender itrokes of pathos. Minds of an obdurate m^e, and which have been rendered callous by long habits of vice, must be appalled and subdued by the terrors of the Lord ; while others are capable of being drawn with the cords of love, and with the bands of a man. Soma we must save with fear^ plucking them out of the fire ; on others we must have compoMion^ making a difference. You will re- collect that he who spake as never man spake, mild, gentle, insinuating in his addresses to the multitude, re- served the thunder of his denunciations for sanctimonious hypocrites. In this part of our ministerial ftmction, we shall do well to imitate St. Paul, who became " all things to all men, that he might win some;" combining, in his efforts for the salvation of souls, the utmost simplicity of intention with the utmost versatility of address. May I be permitted to remark, though it seem a di- gression, that in the mode of conducting our public mi- nistrations, we are, perhaps, too formal and mechanical ; that in the distribution of the matter of our sermons, we indulge too little variety, and, exposing our plan in all its parts, abate the edge of curiosity, by enabling the hearer to anticipate what we intend to advance ? Why should that force which surprise gives to every emotion derived from just and affecting sentiments, be banished from the pulpit, when it is found of such moment in every other kind of public address ? I cannot but imagine the first preachers of the gospel appeared before their audience with a more free and unfettered air than is consistent with the narrow trammels to which, in these latter ages, discourses from the pulpit are confined. The sublime emotions with which they were fraught, would have ren- dered them impatient of such restrictions; nor could they suffer the impetuous stream of argument, expostu- lation, and pathos, to be weakened, by diverting it into the artificial reservoirs, prepared in the heads and parti- culars of a modem sermon. Method, we are aware, is an essential ingredient in every discourse designed for the instruction of mankind, but it ought never to force itself on the attention as an object apart ; never appear to be an end, instead of an instrument ; or beget a suspicion of the sentiments being introduced for the sake of the n2 I i 180 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS method, not the method for the sentiments. Let the experiment be tried on some of the best specimens of ancient eloquence ; let an oration of Cicero or Demos- thenes be stretched upon a Procrustes' bed of this sort, and, if I am not greatly mistaken, the flame and enthu- siasm which have excited admiration in all ages, will in- stantly evaporate ; yet no one perceives a want of method in these immortal compositions, nor can any thing be conceived more remote from incoherent rhapsody. To return to the subject : whatever the mode of ad- dress, or whatever the choice of topics, these are two qualities inseparable from religious instruction ; these are 9€riou»ness and aff^ection. In the most awful denuncia- tions of the divine displeasure, an air of unaffected tender- ness should be preserved, that while with unsparing fidelity we declare the whole counsel of God, it may appear we are actuated by a genuine spirit of compas- sion. A hard and unfeeling manner of denouncing the threatenings of the word of God, is not only barbarous and inhuman, but calculated, by inspiring disgust, to rob them of all their efficacy. If the awful part of our mes- sage, which may be styled the burden of the Lord, ever fall with due weight on our hearers, it will be when it is delivered with a trembling hand and faltering lips ; and we may then expect them to realize its solemn import, when they perceive that we ourselves are ready to sink under it. " Of whom I l»ave told you before," said St. Paul, and "now tell you weeping^ that they are the enemies of the cross of Clirist." What force does that affecting declaration derive from those t juts ! An affec- tionate manner insinuates itself into the lioart, renders it soft and pliable, and disposes it to imbibe the sentiments and follow the impulse of the speaker. Whoever hiis attended to the effect of addresses from the pul] it, must have perceived how much of their impression depends upon this quality, which gives to sentiments compara- tively trite, a power over the mind beyond what the most striking and original conceptions possess without it. Near akin to this, and not inferior in importance, is the second quality we have mentioned, seriousness- It OF THE CHRISTIAN JUINISTER. 181 is scarcely necessary to remark, how offensive and unna- tural IS every violation of it in a religious discourse, which IS, however, of wider extent than is generally imagined mcludmgnot merely jesting, buffoonery, and undislaised levity of every sort, but also whatsoever, in composition or manner, is mconsistent with the supposition of the speaker being deeply in earnest ; such as sparkling orna- ments, far-fetched images, and that exuberance of flowere which seems evidently designed to gratify the fancv rather than to touch the heart. When St Paul recom- mends to Timothy that sound speech which cannot be co7i- dmined, it is probable he refers as much to the proprietv of the vehicle, as to the purity of the instruction. There is, permit me to remind you, a sober dignity both of lan- guage and of sentiment, suited to the representations of religion m all its variety of topics, from which the in- spired WTiters never depart, and which it wiU be our \yisdom to imitate. In describing the pleasures of devo- tion, or the joys of heaven, there is nothing w^eak, sickly W effeminate : a chaste severity pervades their delinea- tions, and whatever they say appears to emanate from' a senous nund, accustom( d to the contemplation of great objects, without ever sinking under them from imbecility or attempting to supply a deficiency of interest, by puerile exaggerations and feeble ornaments. The exquisite pro- priety of their representations is chiefly to be ascribed to theu- habitual seriousness ; and the latter to their seeing things as they are. ^ ^ 3. Having touched on the principal difficulties attend- ing the public exercise of the ministry, it may be expect- ed something will be said on its more private functions. To affirm it to be the duty of a pastor to visit his people often^ is, perhaps, affirming too much; the more fre- quently he converses with them, however, provided his conversation be properiy conducted, the more will his person be endeared, and his ministry acceptable. The seasonable introduction of religious topics is often of sucli admirable use, that there are few qualities more enviable than the talent of "teaching from house to house;* though the modern state of manners, I am aware, has i 1 .1 fb ti 182 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS rendered this branch of the pastoral office much more difficult than in former times. In a country village, where there is more simplicity, less dissipation, and less hurry of business than in large towns, prudent exertions of this kind may be considered as eminently proper and beneficial. The extent to which they should be carried must be determined by circumstances, without attempting to prescribe any other rule than this, that the conversa- tion of a christian minister should be always such as is adapted to strengthen, not impair, the impression of his public instructions. Though it is not necess>«'-«-> he is prSasan' inaweuing principle, an ever-present Deity who m,T,«I mtes the hearts of the faithfid^o be his SeS S ^Z on SIT" 1 ^? "« not'dTpendentIo; success on the force of moral suasion ; not merely the teachers of an external religion, including Whs thl most momentous, and duties%f 'the higheS mI^O^u; they are also the instruments through whom a superna- tural agency is exerted. And hence, in the conversion of souls, we are not to compare the difficulties to be surmounted with the feeble resources of human power, but with his, ^vith whom nothing is impossible. To this the inspired historian every where directs our atten- tion, as alone sufficient to account for the signal success which crowned the labours of the first preachers. If a great multitude at Antioch turned to the Lord, it was because the hand of the Lord was with them ; if Lydia believed, in consequence of giving attention to the things that were spoken, it was because the Lord opened her heart; if Paul planted and ApoUos watered >vith suc- cess, it was the Lord who gave the iiicrease ; and highly as they were endowed, and though invested with such extensive authority, they did not presume to count upon any thing from themselves ; their sufficiency was of God. As the possibility of such an influence can be doubted by none who believe in a Deity, so the peculiar consola- tion derived from the doctrine that asserts it seems to be this, that it renders what was merely possible, certain ; what was before vague and undetermined, fixed, by re- ducing the interposition of the Almighty, in the concerns of salvation, to a stated method and a settled law. The communication of the Spirit, to render the gospel effica- cious, l)ecomes a standing orrlinaiice of heaven, and a full security for its final triumph over every opposing force. My word^ said the Lord by the prophet, shall not return unto me void^ but sJiall accomplish the thing whereunto I sent it. At the same time, connected as it is by the very tenour of the promise, with the publica- tion of an external revelation, and professing to set its seal only to the testimony of Jesus, it precludes, as far as possible, every enthusiastic pretension, by leaving tlie appeal to scripture as full and uncontrolled as if no such agency were supposed. It is strange that any should be found to deny a doctrine so consolatory, under the pre- tence of its derogating from the sufficiency of Revela- tion, when it not only ascribes to it all the efficac}' that can belong to an instrument, or external meiuis, but im DISOOURAOEAIENTS AND SUPPORTS OP THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 191 ) I 'I confers the highest honour upon it, hy marking it out b» the only fountain of instruction to which the agency of the Deity is inseparably attached. The idea of his im- mediate interposition must necessarily increase our vene- ration for whatever is connected with it ; and let it ever be remembered, that the internal illumination of th# Spirit is merely intended to qualify the mind for dis- tinctly perceiving, and cordially embracing those objects, and no other, which are exhibited in the written word. To dispel prejudice, to excite a disposition for inquiry, and to infuse that love of the truth, without which we can neither be transformed by its power nor bow to its dictates, is the grand scope of spiritual agency ; and how this should derogate from the dignity of the truth itself, it is not easy to conceive. The inseparable alli- ance between the Spirit and the Word secures the har- mony of the divine dispensations ; and since that Spirit of truth can never contradict himself, whatever impulse he may give, whatever disposition he may communicate, it involves no irreverence towards that divine agent to compare his operations with that standing revelation, which, equally claiming him for its author, he has ex- pressly appointed for the trial of the spirits. Let me earnestly entreat you, by keeping close to the fountain of grace, to secure a large measure of its influ- ence. In your private studies, and in your public per- formances, remember your absolute dependence on su- perior aid ; let your conviction of this dependence become so deep and practical as to prevent your attempting any thing in your own strength, after the example of St. Paul, who, when he had occasion to advert to his labours in the gospel, checks himself by adding, with ineffable modesty, yet not /, bid the^race of God that was with we. From that vivid perception of truth, that fiill assurance of faith, which is its ioseparable attendant, you will derive imspeakable advantage in addressing your hearers ; a seriousness, tenderness, and majesty, will pervade your discourses, beyond what the greatest unassisted talent can command. In the choice of your subjects it will lead you to what is most solid and useful, while it enables you to handle them in a manner the most efficacious and im- pressive. Possessed of this celestial unction, you will not be under the temptation of neglecting a plain gospel in quest of amusing speculations, or unprofitable novel- ties ; the most ordinary topics will open themselves with a freshness and interest, as though you had never consi- dered them before : and the things of the Spirit will dis- play their inexhaustible variety and depth. You will pierce the invisible world ; you will look, so to speak, into eternity, and present the essence and core of religion, while too many preachers, for want of spiritual discern- ment, rest satisfied with the surface and the shell. It will not allow us to throw one grain of incense on the altar of vanity ; it will make us forget ourselves so com- pletely as to convince our hearers we do so ; and, displa- cing every thing else from the attention, leave nothing to be felt or thought of, but the majesty of truth, and the realities of eternity. In proportion to the degree in which you possess this sacred influence, will be the earnestness with which you implore it in behalf of your hearers. Often will you how the knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christy thai he will grant unto them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him^ the eyes of their understanding being enlightened^ that they m^y know what ia the hope of their calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among them that believe. On the one hand, it deserves attention, that the most eminent and successful preachers of the gospel in diffe- rent communities, a Brainerd, a Baxter, and a Schwartz, have been the most conspicuous for a simple dependence upon spiritual aid ; and, on the other, that no success whatever has attended the ministrations of those by whom this doctrine has been either neglected or denied. They have met with such a rebuke of their presumption, in the total failure of their efforts, that none will contend for the reality of divine interposition, as far as they are concerned ; for when has " the arm of the Lord been revealed" to those pretended teachers of Christianity, who believe there is no such arm ? "We must leave them to 192 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS OP THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 193 i labour in a field, respectinor which God has commanded the clouds not to rain upon it. As it' conscious of this, of late they have turned their efforts into a new channel, and, despairing of the conversion of sinners, have con- fined themselves to the seduction of the faithful; in which, it must he confessed, they have acted in a maimer perfectly consistent^with their principles ; the propagation of heresy requiring, at least, no divins assistance. 4. Let me request you to consider the dignity and im- portance of the profession which you have assumed. I am aware that the bare mention of these, as attributes of the christian ministry (especially when exercised among Protestant dissenters), may provoke a smile : we contend, however, that if the dignity of an employment is to be estimated, not by the glitter of external appear- ances, but by the magnitude and duration of the conse- quences involved in its success, the ministerial function is a high and honourable one. Though it is not permitted us to magnify ourselves, we may be allowed to magnify our office ; and, indeed, the juster the apprehensions we entertain of what belongs to it, the deeper the conviction we shall feel of our defects. Independently of every other consideration, that office cannot be mean which the Son of God condescended to sustain; for the word which we preach Jirst began to he spoken hy the Lord; and, while he sojourned upon earth, that Prince of life was chiefly employed in publishing his own religion. Thrit office cannot be mean, whose end is the recovery of man to his original purity and happiness — the illumination of the understanding — the communication of truth — and the production of principles which will bring forth fruit unto everlasting life. As the material part of the creation was formed for the sake of the immaterial ; and of the latter the most momentous characteristic is its moral and accountable nature, or, in other words, its capacity o!* virtue and vice ; that labour cannot want dignity, which is exerted in improving man in his highest character, and fitting him for his eternal destination. Here alone is certainty and durability : for, however highly we mav esteem the arts and sciences, which polish oui specit s and promote the welfare of society; whatever reverence we may feel, and ouffht to feel, for those laws and insti- tutions whence it derives the security necessary for enabling it to enlarge its resources and develope its energies, we cannot forget that these are but the embel- lishments of a scene we must shortly quit-the decorations 1 ^r?'^^^ ^^^"^ ^^cJi *Iie eager ^ectators and ap- plauded actors must soon retire Th^ end of all thiL u at hand. Vamty is mscnbed on every earthly purs Jt on all sublunary labour; its materials, its instruments,' and Its objects will alike perish. An incurable taint of mortahtv has seized upon, and will consume them ere long. Ihe acqmsitions derived from religion, the graces ot a renovated mmd, are alone permanent. This is the E^ ?v ''I';!' T^T^^T *^^ ^^P^^« of change and death ; this is the field which the Lord has blessed; and this word of the kmgdom the seed, which alone produces immortal fiiut, ihe very bread of life, with which, under a higher economy, the Lamb, in the midst of the throne wiU feed his flock, and replenish his elect, through eter- nal ages. How high and awful a function is that which proposes to estabhsh in the soul an interior dominion^ to illummate its powers by a celestial light— and intro- duce It to an mtimate, ineffable, and unchangina aUiance with the Father of spirits ! What an honorto beTm! ployed as the instrument of conducting that mysterious process by which men are bom of God; to exp 1 from the heart the venom of the old serpent; to purge th^ conscience from mvisible stains of guilt; to rele^e th! passions from the bondage of corruption,'aiid invitTthem to soar aloft into the regions of uncreated light an^ beauty; tosaytoth^prUoners, Go forth; to them that are^n darings, Show yourselves f 4ese are the fru ? which arise from the successful discharge of the christian ministry; these the eff-ects of the gofpel, wher^erl becomes the power of God unto salvltion: and the in! terests which they create, the joy which they diffTe are felt m other worlds. ^ amuse, offile 'kt' f/r r *^' ^'^''^ ""^^^^^ *^ *^« ministerial vol II. ""^ ""* o ^^^'^ *° '^PP^>' ^"^1 *^ ^^% I X 194 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS or suggest such ideas of yourself as shall tempt you to *' lord it over God's heritage." Let the importance of your station be rather felt and acknowledged in its bene- ficial results, than ostentatiously displayed ; and the con- sciousness of it, instead of being suffered to evaporate io authoritative airs and pompous pretensions, produce a concentration of your powers. If the great apostle was content to be a helper of the joy, without claiming dominion over the faith, of his converts, how far should we be from adrancing such a claim ! If he served the < Lord with humihty and many tears; if he appeared among tlie churches which he planted, " in fear, and in weakness, and with much trembling," we may learn how possible it is to combine, with true dignity, the most un- assuming deportment, and the deepest conviction of our weakness and un worthiness, with a vigorous discharge of whatever belongs to the apostoUc, much more to the pastoral, office. The proper use to be made of such considerations as have now been suggested is, to stir up the gift which is in us^ to apply ourselves to our work with becoming resolution, an ' iiuticipate, in dependence on ihe divine blessing, important effects. The moment we permit ourselves to think lightly of the christian ministry, our rigiit ann is withered ; nothing but imbe- cility and relaxation remains. For no man ever excelled in a profession to which he did not feel an attachment bordering on enthusiasm; though what in other pro- fessions is enthusiasm, is, in ours, the dictate of sobriety and truth. 5. Recollect, for your encouragement, the reward that awaits the faithful minister. ISuch is the mysterious condescension of divine grace, that although it reserves to itself the exclusive honour of being the fountain of all, yet, by the employment of human agency in the completion of its designs, it contrives to multiply its gifts, and to lay a foundation for eternal rewards. When the church, in the perfection of beauty, shall be presented to Christ, as a bride adorned for her husband, the faiths ful pastor will appear as the friend of the bridegroom, who ffreaUy rejoices because of the bridegrovith- out an intimate acquaintance with the inward man — I 200 DISCOURAGEMENTS AND STPPORTS I vatiiout tracing the jiecret operations of nature and ol ffi^Z^r-"r'^'°'P^"=^'2Stl.e causes of revival, Md of decay, in the spiritual life, and detecting the most »«^t sprmgs and plausible artifices of temptltionTb a^l which we diall be successful, just in proportion to Ae degree of devout attention we bestow on L move- ments ot our own minds. "«"»c- Men itfe ruined in their eternal interests by living as though they were their own, and neglecting tJreSth^ certamty of a future account. ButftmSehM^uS z^l:t:' '°. 'ir °" ."«^'"*''° from ZTr^ ^^ wuc nave not only the same interest in it with others, but, .n consequence of the care of souls, po^^ » r^ sponsibiHty of a distinct and awinl char;ct'rrTlce n"; one of those to whom that care extends, can faU short of salvation through our neglect or default, but hUbZvMl heregu^red at cur hand.. Where, iu short, c^tT^ What part of the sacred function can we touch, which will not remind us of the beauty of holiness, the evil of sm and the emptiness of all sublunary good; or where sh^ we not find ourselves in a temple' fesouitog^A awfiU voices, and fiUed with holy ii^pbations ? ^ Ifeelapleasmg conviction, that, in consequence of denvin^ from your ministry that spiritual aid ft is Z adapte£to impart, both your piety Ld usefub s wm ^^^ ^ ""i^f' "I'* ^y ^^S intimately incor- porated, aid and strengthen each other; so that yoi profiung sbJl appear unto aU men, and while you Z ot God Thus will you be enabled to adopt the lan- guage of the beloved apostle, That which JhaTh^i fohu^h v^have nm with cur eye., which we ZZ Zm ujxm, and cur hand, ha^ handled cf the wc^Tcfm Mare weurUo ycu. Thus will you^possess that u'nction from which your hearers cannot fai( under the S Weeing, to reap the highest benefit; for whUe wel^ erp lormg the mines of reveladon, fo^ the pi^Tf e^ hibiting to mankmd the unsearchable rid^Chr^ . we are not m the situation of those unhappy men ^^ OP THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER. 201 merely toil for the advantage of others, and dare not ap- propriate to themselves an atom of that precious ore, on which their labour is employed : we are permitted and invited, first to enrich ourselves, and the more we appro- priate, the more shall we impart. It is my earnest prayer, my dear brother, that you may feed the church oftlte Lord which he hm purchmed with his own hhod; that you may make full proof of your ministry ; he instant in season and out of season ; teach^ exhort^ and rebuke^ with all long- fuffering^ and authority. Then, should you be spared to your flock, you will witness the fruit of your labours in a spiritual plantation, growing under your hand, adorned with trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may he ghrifM ; and while neglecting worldly con- siderations, you are intent on the high ends of your call- ing, inferior satisfactions will not be wanting, but you will meet among the seals of your ministry, with fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. Or should your career be prematurely cut short, you will have lived long enough to answer the purposes of your being, and to leave a record in the consciences of your hearers, which will not suffer you soon to be forgotten. Though dead, you will still speak; you will speak from the tomb; it may be, m accents more powerful and persuasive, than your living voice could command.* 1 ** £^ *^'' ^® *^^^ * striking instance in the premature death of the late Mr. fcjpencer, of LiverpooL The sensation excited by the sudden removal of that extraordinary yoangman, accompanied with such affect- ing circumstances, has not subsided, nor abated, as we are informed, much of its force. The event, which has drawn so great a degree of attention, has been well improved in several excellent discourses on the occasion. The unequalled admiration he excited while living, and the deep and universal concern expressed at his death, demonstrate him to have been no ordinary character ; but one of those rare specimens of Unman nature, which the great Author of it produces at distant intervals, and exhibits lor a moment, while he is hastening to make them up amongst hts jewels. The hiffh hopes entertained of this admirabl*' youUi, and the shock, approaching to consternation, occasioned by his f IT- ♦ M ' P»'ODably, remind the classical reader of the inimitable line« of Yirgil on Alarcellus. O nate, ingentem luctum ne quaere tuoram Ostendent terris hunc tantum feta, neque altm esse sinent. Hi 202 'I* NOTE. The wnterof this deeply regrets his never having hadanopportunitv 1 hlT'^'J^ his extraordinary powers ; but from afl he has Ed from the best judges he can entertain no doubt, that his talents in the nS were unnvalled, and that, had his life been s^red he wo„^^ ^" « E^rtt^o^fc ^^ ""'' 1 ^"•^f ^'"^^ ^'' mi^e ""'stolid, tl! elorence^^a^^^^^^^ it ever atra.ned. at least, in this kingdom. H.s eloquence appears to have been ot the purest stamp eftectixe not o« tentations. consisting less in the striking preponderance of' aovonJ quahty. reqtns.te to fonn a public speaker' tU 'n t elui^ te cL^^^^ nation of them all ; whence resultedanextraordinary pXrof imZ^- sum which vvas greatly aided by a natural and majestfcdo'oiirTo these eminent endowments, he added, from the oniiimous feSmony of tJiose who knew him best, a humility and modesty, wS wtr thev concealed a great part of his excellencies from hinl^^r rendered them the more er.gaging and attractive. When we reflet o^.re^ecircum stances we need the less wonder at the passionut. co.?ce n exci ed by' his death. For It may truly he said of Kim. as of St Meuhen M // aevmit men made great lamentatinn over him. May the impress' ts prcxhrced bv the event never be effaced ; and, above all may'^TthaTe ''i AN ADDRESS, TO THE REV. EUSTACE CAREY, Javuaiiy 19, 1814. ox HW DBSIONATION AS A OHRIdTIAX MISiSlONARY TO LNDFA. i AN ADDRESS. As it has been usual, in the designation of a Mission- ary, after solemnly commending him to God by prayer, to deliver a short address ; in compliance vrith a custom, not perhaps improper, or illaudable, I shall request your attention to a few hints of advice, without attempting a regular charge, which I neither judge myself equal to, nor deem necessary, since on your arrival in India you will receive from your venerable relative, Dr. Carey, in- struction more ample and appropriate than it is in my power to communicate. When the first Missionaries who visited these western parts were sent out, their designation was accompanied with prayer and fasting ; whence we may infer that fer- vent supplication ought to form the distinguishing fea- ture in the exercises appropriated to these occasions. An eflfusion of the spirit of prayer on the church of Christ is a surer pledge of success in the establishment of Missions, than the most splendid exhibitions of talent. As there is no engagement more entirely spiritual in its nature, nor whose success is more immediately dependent on God than that on which you are entering ; to none is that spiritual aid more indispensably necessary, which is chiefly awarded to the prayers of the faithful. Separate to me^ said the Holy Ghost to the disciples assembled at Antioch, separate to me Barnabas and Saul^ to the work whereunto I have called them. When the omniscient Searcher of hearts separates a christian minis- ter from his brethren, and assigns him a distinct work, it implies the previous perception of certain qualifications for its successftd discharge not generally possessed ; for though none can give the increase but God, much of his wisdom is to be traced in the selection of instruments fitted to his purpose. The first and most essential quali- fication for a Missionary is a decided predilection for the office ; not the efiect of sudden impulse, but of serious. U. 206 ADDRESS TO THE ;i deep consideration ; a predilection strengthened and ma- tured bj deliberately counting the cost. Eveiy man has his proper calling ; and while the greater part of christian teachers are perfectly satisfied with attempting to do all the good m their power in their native land, there are others of a more enterprising character, inflamed with the holy ambition of carrying the glad tidings beyond the bounds of Chnstendom ; like the great apostle of the Orentiles, who was determined not to build on another mans foundation, but if possible to preach Christ in re- gions where his name was not known. The circum- stoces which contribute to such a resolution are various, often too subtle and complicated to admit of a distinct analysis : a constitutional ardour of mind, a natural ne- glect of difficulties and dangers, an impatience of being confined within the trammels of ordinary duties, together with many accidental associations and impressions, may combine to form a missionary spirit ; nor is it so neces- sary minutely to investigate the causes which have led to a given determination, as the legitimacy of the object and the purity of the motive. ' We adore the prolific Source of all good, in the variety and discrimination of his gifts, by which he imparts a se- parate character and allots a distinct sphere of operation to the general and essential principles which form the christian and the minister. He gave some apostles, and tome evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the per- fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. The sacred impulse to which we have adverted, I am certain you have felt in no common degree, and that it has been your ardent wish to be employed as a messenger to the heathen, from the time you devoted yourself to the ministry. Of your possessing this most essential pre- requisite for the office you have undertaken, it is impos- sible for those who know you to entertain a doubt. The next qualification of whose necessity I must be allowed to remind you, is singular self-devotemeni, with- out a degree of which it is not possible to be a christian •till less to any useful purpose a minister, least of all a I) f REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 207 missionary. In resolving to quit your native coimtry, and to relinquish your nearest connexions, with little expec- tation of beholding them again in the flesh, you have given decisive indications of this spirit : nor to a mind like yours, exquisitely alive to the sensibilities of nature and friendship, can the sacrifice you have already made be deemed inconsiderable. But as it is still impossible for you to conjecture the extent of the privations and trials to which, in the pursuit of your object, you may be exposed, your situation is not unlike that of Abraham, who, being commanded to leave his own country, and his fathers house, went out not knowing whither he. went. As you are entering on an untried scene, where difficulties may arise to exercise your patience and forti- tude, of which you can form but a very inadequate con- ception, you will do well to contemplate the example, and meditate the words of St. Paul, in circumstances not very dissimilar : And now I go up bound in spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing/ what shall befall m^ there, save that in every city the Holy Ghost witnesseth that bonds and affliction await me : but none of these things move me ; neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry I have received ofth^ Lord to fulfil it. The love of ease, or the indulgence of secular ambition, would be fatal to the object you are pursuing ; nor, in your situation, is there any thing so much to be dreaded as a divided heart, a spirit which hesitates betvrixt the calls of duty and the attractions of the world. To arm yourself with the same mind that was in Christ, who himself suffered, leaving us an example that we should walk in his steps, is a most indispensable part of your duty. In proportion as you feel yourself a stranger upon the earth, eagerly attached to none of its enjoyments or pursuits, prepared without repining to relinquish what- ever Providence may demand, and suffer whatever it may inflict ; in a word, in proportion to the degree in which you abandon all right in yourself, will you be qualified for the work of an evangelist. Purged from earthly con- cretions, and worldly passions, you Avill become a vessel of honour fitted fbr the Masters use. He who is not pos- i 'R 208 ADDRESS TO THE REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 209 P 'I r,l 'f| I It ♦II sessed of a considerable portion of a self-denying spirit, which was eminently the spirit of him who pleased not himself, can engage in no employment more irksome and intolerable than that of a Missionary; for what pleasure can he expect, what advantage can he hope to reap, in- dependent of the consciousness or the hope of doing good ? By th§ nature of your undertaking, all the avenues to secular reputation and emolument are shut against you ; on the brilliant illusions with which the children of this world are enchanted, youhaveclosed youreyes, and nothing is left but the severe and sublime satisfaction of following in the steps of those apostles and prophets, who in the midst of the derision of the world, exhausted themselves in a series of efforts to enlighten and to save it. You have chosen, it is true, the better part ; but it is a part which you must not hope to sustain but by the perfect subjection and mortification of every rival passion. You must be content to derive your satisfaction from yourself, or rather from your consciousness of the Divine approba- tion, since you will meet ^vith few disposed to sympathize in your sorrows or rejoice in your success. The next qualification necessary for a teacher of Chris- tianity among heathens, is the spirit of faith, by which I intend, not merely that cordial belief of the truth which is essential to a christian, but that unshaken persuasion of the promises of God respecting the triumph and en- largement of his kingdom, which is sufficient to deno- minate its possessor strong in faith. It is impossible that the mind of a Missionary should be too much impressed irith the beauty, glory, and grandeur of the kingdom of Christ, as it is unfolded in the oracles of the Old and New Testament ; or ^rith the certainty of the final accomplish- ment of those oracles, founded on the faithfulness and omnipotence of their Author. To those parts of scrip- ture his attention should be especially directed, in which the Holy Ghost employs and exhausts, so to speak, the whole force and splendour of inspiration in depicting the future reign of the Messiah, together with that astonish- ing spectacle of dignity, purity, and peace which his church will exhibit, when, having the glory of God, her boimds shall be commensurate with those of the habitable globe ; when every object on which the eye shall rest, will remind the spectator of the conunencement of a new age, in which the tabernacle of God is with men, and he dwells amongst them. His spirit should be imbued with that sweet and tender awe which such anticipations will infallibly produce, whence will spring a generous con- tempt of the world, and an ardour bordering on impa- tience to be employed, though in the humblest sphere, as the instrument of accelerating such a period. For com- pared to this destiny in reserve for the children of men, compared to this glory, invisible at present, and hid be- hind the clouds which envelope this dark and troubled scene, the brightest day that has hitherto shone upon the world, is midnight, and the highest splendours that have invested it, the shadow of death. Independent of these assurances, the idea of convert- ing pagan nations to the christian faith must appear chimerical. The attempt to persuade them to relinquish their ancient mode of thinking, corroborated by habit, by example, by interest, and to adopt a new system of opinions and feelings, and enter on a new course of life, will ever be deemed by the worldly-wise, impracti- cable and visionary. Pa^s over the isles of Chittim and see, said the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there he such a thing. Hath a nation changed tlieir gods ? For a nation to change their gods, is represented by the highest authority as an event almost unparalleled : and if it be so difficult to induce them to change the mode of their idola- try, how much more to persuade them to abandon it al- together ! Idolatry is not to be looked upon as a mere speculative error respecting the object of worship, of little or no practical efficacy. Its hold upon the mind of a fellen creature is most tenacious, its operation most ex- tensive. It is a corrupt practical institution, involving a whole system of sentiments and manners which per- fectly moulds and transforms its votaries. It modifies human nature, in every aspect under which it can be contemplated, being intimately blended and incorporated TOL. II. p ^4 ifi 210 ADDRESS TO THB with all its perceptions of good and evil, with all its infir- mities, passions, and fears. In a country like India, where it has been established for ages, its ramifications are so extended as to come into contact with every mode, and every incident of life. Scarce a day, or an hour, passes with an Hindoo, in which, by the abstinencies it enjoins, and the ceremonies it prescribes, he is not re- minded of his religion. It meets him at every turn, presses like the atmosphere on all sides, and holds him by a thousand invisible chains. By incessantly admonish- ing him of something which he must do, or something which he must forbear, it becomes the strongest of his active habits ; while the multiplicity of objects of wor- ship, distinguished by an infinite variety in their character and exploits, is sufficient to fill the whole sphere of his imagination. In the indolent repose which his constitu- tion and cHmate incline him to indulge, he suffers his fancy to wander, without limit, amidst scenes of vo- luptuous enjoyment, or objects of terror and dismay ; while, revolving the history of his gods, he conceives himself absorbed in holy contemplations. There is not a vicious passion he can be disposed to cherish, not a crime he can be tempted to commit, for which he may not find a sanction and an example in the legends of his gods. Though the system of polytheism established in India, considered in an argumentative light, is beneath contempt, being destitute of the least shadow of proof, as well as of all coherence in its principles ; yet, viewed as an instrument of establishing a despotic empire over the mind, nothing, it must be acknowledged, was ever more artfully contrived; not to mention the distinction of castes which is obviously adapted to fix and perpetuate every other institution. That the true religion should degenerate into idolatry is easily to be accounted for from the known principles of human nature, because such de- terioration is aided by its corruption, flatters its strongest propensities, and artfully adapts itself to whatever is feeble, sensitive, and voluptuous in the character of the species. •Mt**.. Facilis descensos Averni. \ REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 211 As it is easy to descend from an elevation which it is difficult to climb, to fall from the adoration of the Supreme Being to the worship of idols, demands no effort. Idola- tiy is. strongly intrenched in the corruptions, and fortified by the weakness, of human nature. Hence we find all nations have sunk into it in succession, frequently in opposition to the strongest remonstrances of inspired prophets ; while we have no example in the history of the world, of a single city, family, or individual, who has renounced it through the mere operation of unassisted reason : such is the fatal propensity of mankind to that enormity. It is the veil of the covering, cast over all flesh, which nothing but the efiulgence of Revelation has pierced. The trae religion satisfies and enlarges the reason, but militates against the inclinations of men. Resting on a few sublime truths, addressed to the under- standing and conscience, affording few distinct images to the fancy, and no indulgence to the passions, it can only be planted and preserved by a continual efflux from its Divine Author, of whose spirituahty and elevation it so largely partakes. But however difficult it may be to prevail upon men to relinquish the practice of idolatry, the accomplishment of this is not the whole, perhaps not the most arduous part of your work, since you are too well acquainted with the genius of Christianity to permit yourself to rest satis- fied with any external profession, which is destitute of the fiiiits of the Spirit. The change you wish to realize, and which you will alone contemplate with satisfaction, is the effectual conversion of the soul from sin to holi- ness, and from the world to God ; and how much the necessity of this increases the difficulty of propagating the gospel among heathens with success, is so obvious that I need not insist upon it at large. The valley of vision in Ezekiel, filled with bones which are very dry, is no exaggerated picture of the state of the heathen world ; and what less than an Almighty power can clothe them with sinews, cover them with flesh and breathe into them the breath of life ? Hence the absolute necessity of a vigorous faith in the p 2 912 ADDRESe TO TIHS s promises of God, respecting the future renovation of mankind, which will support you amidst the greatest dis- couragements, prompt you to hope against hope, and in- spire you with unshaken perseverance and resolution ; besides that, on account of the glory it gives to God, it imparts by divine appointment to its possessor, an in- terest in his all-sufficiency and power. It is a myste- rious link in the chain of moral causes and effects which connects the weakness of the creature with the almighti- ness of God. Be it unto tkee^ said our Lord on a certain occasion, he U unto thee according to thy faith. Faith, considered as a mere speculative assent to the truth of a divine testimony, may be looked upon as imiform or sta- tionary ; but when we consider it as a practical principle, as one of the graces of the Spirit, we perceive it to be, in common with others, susceptible of continual enlarge- ment and increase. In the degree of power which future and invisible realities exert over the mind, in the prac- tical energy of what men profess to believe, in the promp- titude and certainty with which it determines them to a correspondent conduct, there is the utmost diversity even among those who believe with the heart. The faith to which the Scriptures attach such momentous conse- quences, and ascribe such glorious exploits, is a practical habit, which, like every other, is strengthened and in- creased by continual exercise. It is nourished by medi- tation, by prayer, and the devout perusal of the Scrip- tures ; and the light which it diffuses becomes stronger and clearer by an unintercepted converse with its object, and a faithful compliance with its dictates ; as on the contrary it is weakened and obscured by whatever wounds the conscience, or impairs the purity and spiri- tuality of the mind. This is tne shield which will cover you from every assault ; the chief part of that defensive armour which it behoves you to put on. Reposing on the word of Him with whom all things are possible, of Him who cannot lie ; in the formidable bulwarks of ido- latry, in the invincible rampart of prejudice and super- stition, which the great adversary of mankind has cast vp to obstruct the progress of truth, you will see nothing REV. EUSTACE CARET. 213 to appal you : you wiU feel the battle not to be yours, but the Lord's, who, determined to subdue his enemies under his feet, condescends to employ you as an humble instrument of his victories ; and instead of smkmg under the consciousness of weakness, you will glory m your m- firmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon you. Allow me to remind you of the absolute necessity of cultivating a mild, conciHating, affectionate temper, in the discharge of your office. If an uninterested spectator after a careful perusal of the New Testament were asked what he conceived to be its distinguishing charajtenstic, he would reply, without hesitation, that wonderfiU spmt of philanthropy by which it is distinguished. It is a perpetual commentary on that sublime aphonsm, hod u lovl As the christian religion is an exhibition of the in- comprehensible mercy of God to a guilty race, so it is dispensed in a manner perfectly congemal with its na- ture • and the book which contains it is replete with such unaffected strokes of tenderness and goodness, as are to be found in no other volume. The benign spmt of the gospel infused itself into the breast of its first Mis- sionaries. In St. Paul for example, we behold the most heroic resolution, the most lofty supenonty to ^ the modes of intimidation and danger, a spirit which rose with its difficulties, and exulted in the midst of the most dismaying objects ; yet when we look more narrowly into his character, and investigate his motives, we per- ceive it was his attachment to mankind that inspired him with this intrepidity, and urged him to conflicts more painful and arduous than the votaries of glory have ever sustained. Who would have supposed it possible for the same breast to be the seat of so much energy and so much softness ? that he who changed the face of the world by his preaching, and while a prisoner made his judge tremble on the tribunal, could stoop to embrace a fugitive slave, and to employ the most exquisite address to effect his reconciliation with his master? The con- version of Onesimus afforded him a joy like the py of harvest^ and as mm rejoice when they divide the spoil. When the spiritual interests of mankind were concerned. ff 'Li I i f 214 ADDRESS TO THE «1 I 'l| ¥ no difficulties so formidable as to shake his resolution, no details so insignificant as to escape his notice. To the utmost inflexibility of principle, he joined the gentlest condescension to human infirmity, becoming all things to all men^ that he might vnn some : to the Jews he became a Jew, that he might gain the Jetos, to them that were toith- out law, as tmthout law, adapting on all occasions his modes of address to the character and disposition of those with whom he conversed. It was the love of Christ and of souls that produced and harmonized those apparent discordances. Such is the example you must propose for your imita- tion, if you would realize to any considerable extent the object of your mission to the heathen. By a mild and unassuming deportment, by an attention to their worldly, as well as to their spiritual, interests ; by adopting, as far as you have ability, whatever may contribute to their happiness and improvement, convince them that you are the friend of man. When you have established yourself in their afi"ections, you have gained an important point ; you have possessed yourself of a signal advantage for the successfiil prosecution of your work. Your business is to persuade men, and how can you expect to succeed unless you conciliate their regard ? which is more necessary on account of the seeming severity which attaches to some part of the doctrine of Christ. Were you permitted to inculcate a self- pleasing doctrine, the want of suavity and gentleness of manner might easily be dispensed with ; the laxity of the pre- cept would compensate for the austerity of the teacher. But when you are called on to insist on the state of man as a fallen and guilty creature, to enforce the necessity of self-denial, to impose the most powerful restraints on the indulgence of criminal passions; when you must de- nounce the wrath of Grod against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, great mildness and aficction are re- quisite to prevent such representations fi-om exciting dis- gust. What is awfiil and alarming in Christianity, should be softened and tempered by a persuasive tenderness of address. Let it be your care to divest reUgion of what- RET. EUSTACE CABBY. 215 ever is unlovely and repulsive, that it may appear not only pure, but gentle ; not only majestic but amiable ; equally favourable to the enjoyment and the communication of happiness. But I have dwelt longer on this head than was necessary, when I recollect that the person I am addressing is distmguished by a temper which will render the mild condescensions I am recommending not more his duty than his delight. The affectionate and conciliatory disposition we have been enforcing must be combined with prudence, and the diligent study of human nature, which you will find abso- lutely necessary to conduct you through intricate and imbeaten paths. St. Paul frequently reminds the Thes- salonians of the manner of his entran/x amongst them. In the first introduction of the gospel amongst a people, it is of great importance that every step be well weighed, that nothing be done which is rash, offensive, or inde- corous ; but every precaution employed, consistent with godly simplicity, to disarm prejudice, and conciliate re- spect : nor is there any thing in the conduct of the first ministers of the gospel more to be admired than the ex- quisite propriety with which they conducted themselves in the most delicate situations. Their zeal was exempt from indecorum, their caution firom timidity or art. In the commencement of every great and hazardous under- taking, the first measures are usually decisive, at least in those instances in which success is dependent, under God, on the voluntary co-operation of mankind. A single act of imprudence is sufficient to blast the imder- taking of a Missionary, which in the situation of an ordi- nary minister, would scarcely be felt. The best method of securing yourself from errors in this quarter, is to en-' deavour to acquire as large a measure as possible of the graces of the Spirit, to be deeply imbued with the wis- dom which is from above. Nothing subtle or refined should enter into the views of a christian Missionary. Let him be continually elevating his principles, arid puri- fying his motives ; let him be clothed with humility, and actuated on all occasions with love to God and the souls of men, and his character caimot fiul of being marked^ 216 ADDRESS TO THE RBV. EUSTACE CAREY. 217 with a propriety and beauty which will ultimately com- mand universal esteem. lliese were the only arts which a Schwartz in the east, and a Brainerd in the west, con- descended to cultivate. It must be remembered, however, that the functioiM of a Missionary connect him more with mankind than ordinary ministers, and less admit of an entire abstrac- tion jfrom the world ; on which account he will some- times be exposed to difficulties from which nothing can extricate him but a considerable acquaintance with men and things. He will probably be called to transact affairs of considerable moment with persons of superior stations, with men of dissimilar characters and habits, of different nations and religions, who possess no- thing in common but the epidemic selfishness of human nature; in an intercourse with whom, he will need the wisdom of the serpent, combined with the in- nocence of the dove. The prudence, however, which it is desirable a missionary should possess, is not a timid, calculating pohcy; it is manly and heroic, ope- rating with promptitude and vigour on an extensive fond of knowledge acquired by habits of acute and vigilant observation. Of many functions of life it is possible to foresee the duties they] comprise, and to ascertain before- hand the extent of their demand on our time and talents. In the office of a Missionary it is impossible. His en- gagements must be in a great degree fortuitous, arising out of circumstances which he could neither foresee nor control ; and hence, unless he possess a prompt and en- lightened judgement, he will often feel himself embar- rassed and perplexed. There is much in the situation of a Missionary calcu- lated to keep him awake and attentive to his duties. To a stated pastor, it is confessed, there are not wanting powerfol motives to diligence and exertion, at the same time that it is equally obvious there are considerable temptations to indolence and formality. Since the ser- vices he is engaged to perform admit of little variety, and are easily reducible to a system, they are in no small danger of being performed rather from the mechanism of habit than the impulse of feeling ; and much ardour of mind is requisite to infose freshness and novelty into a series of operations so uniform. In the performance of duties which proceed in a settled routine, it is equally difficult to feel and to impart an interest. With the Missionary it is quite the reverse. Incapable, as he is, of forming a conception of the situation in which he may be placed, or of the difficulties with which he may be surrounded, he must be conscious his undertaking inyolres a character of enterprise and hazard. He is re- quired to explore new paths, and, leaving the footsteps of the flock, to go in quest of the lost sheep, on whatever mountain it may have wandered, or in whatever valley it may be hid. He must be prepared to encounter pre- judice and error in strange and unwonted shapes, to trace the aberrations of reason, and the deviations from recti- tude, through all the diversified mazes of superstition and idolatry. He is engaged in a series of offensive ope- rations; he is in the field of battle, wielding weapom which are not carnal^ hui mighty^ through God^ to the pulling down the strong holds of Satan.^ When not in action, he is yet encamped in an enemy's country, where nothing can secure his acquisitions, or preserve him from surprise, but incessant vigilance. The voluntary exile from his native country to which he submits, is sufficient to remind him continually of his important embassy, and to induce a solicitude that so many sacrifices may not be made, so many privations undergone in vain. He holds the lamp of instruction to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death ; and while there remains a par- ticle of ignorance not expelled, a single prejudice not vanquished, a sinfal or idolatrous custom not relinquished, his task is left unfinished. It is not enough for him, oii a stated day, to address an audience on the concerns of eternity : he must teach from house to house, and be in- stant in season and out of season, embracing every opportunity which offers of inculcating the principles of a new religion, as well as of confirming the souls of his disciples. He must consider himself as the moutb, and interpreter of that wisdom, which crieth without, which 218 ADDRESS TO THE utterethher voice in the streets, which crieth in the chief places of concourse, "^ Under these impressions, you will peruse the Acts of the Apostles, which record the methods by which the gospel was first propagated, with deep attention, where you will trace precedents the most instructiye, as weU as diihculties surmounted and trials endured, exactly similar to your own; nor wUl you fail to feel a sympathy of spirit with those holy men in their labours and sufferrngs, which other ministers can but very imperfectly possess! iimcompassed with such a cloud of witnesses, you wiU esteem it no mconsiderable honour to share in the same combat, encounter the same enemies, and accomplish the share aUotted you of those sufferings which remain to Chnsts mystical body. I scarcely need recommend to your attention the letters of St. kul to Timothy and litus, where the office of an evangelist (for such you must consider yourself) is delineated with such precision and fidehty. While you peruse his inspired directions, you are entitled to consider yourself as addressed, inas- much as the Spirit under whose direction they were wntten, unquestionably intended them for the instruc- tion ot all who are in similar circumstances. In du-ecting your yiew to apostolical precedents, attend If "^r^?^ *° ^^^"^ ^^ ^' ^ *^^^^ 'P^^ • investigate carefully the circumstances in which they were placed • compare them with your own with respect to the parti^ culars in which they coincide, and in which they differ, tuat you may follow them, not as a servile copyist, but as a judicious and enlightened imitator. Be strortg in the grace that is in the Lord Jesus Among the nations which will be the scene of your future labours, you wiU witness a state of things es- sentiaUy different from that which prevails here, where tL^^"" f^.^^^ >^ ^""^^ ^^ ^^^«^«°««' the principal doctrmes of his religion speculatively acknowledged, ^d the institutes of worship widely extended and &ed. i kf T ^^.«^s*ia^ Pi^ty has spread itself in innu- merable directions, modified public opinion, improved the state of society, and given birth to many adiiirable REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 219 institutions unknown to pagan countries. The autho- rity of the Saviour is recognised, his injunctions in some instances obeyed, and the outrages of impiety restrained by law, by custom, and above all, by the silent counteraction of piety in its sincere professors. Hence, in combating the vices and irreligion of the age, so many principles are conceded, and so much ground already won from the adversary, that little remains but to urge him with the legitimate conse- quences of his own opinions, and to rouse the dormant energies of conscience by the exhibition of acknow- ledged truth. Ministers of the gospel in this quarter of the globe resemble the commanders of an army stationed in a conquered coxmtry, whose inhabitants, overawed and subdued, yield a partial obedience; they have sufficient employment in attempting to conciliate the affections of the natives, and in carrying into exe- cution the orders and regulations of their Prince ; since there is much latent disaffection, though no open rebel- lion, a strong partiality to their former rulers, with few attempts to erect the standard of revolt. ^ In India, Satan maintains an almost undisputed em- pire, and the powers of darkness, secure of their domi- nion, riot and revel at their pleasure, sporting themselves with the misery of their vassals, whom they incessantly agitate with delusive hopes and fantastic terrors, leading them captive at their will, while few efforts have been made to despoil them of their usurped authority. Par- tial invasions have been attempted, and a few captives disenthralled; but the strength and sinews of empire remain entire, and that dense and palpable darkness which invests it has scarcely felt the impression of a few feeble and scattered rays. In India you will witness the predominance of a system which provides for the worship of gods many, and lords many, while it excludes the adoration of the Supreme Being, legitimates cruelty, polygamy, and lust, debases the standard of morals, oppresses with ceremonies those whom it deprives of instruction, and suggests no solid hopes of happiness beyond the grave. 220 ADDRESS TO THE ni You will witness with indignation tbat monstrous alliance betwixt impurity and devotion, obscenity and religion, which characterises the popular idolatry of all nations, and which, in opposition to the palliating sophis- tay of infidels, sufficiently evinces it to be what the Scnphires assert— the worship of devils, not of God. When we consider that moral causes operate on free agents, we shaU not be surprised to find their efiects are less uniform than those which result from the action of matenal and physical powers, and that human minds are susceptible of opposite impressions from the same ob- jects. On such as have neither been established in the evi- dences, nor felt the efficacy of revealed religion, a resi- dence in a pagan country has usually a most pernicious effect, and matures latent irreligion into open impiety. The absence of christian institutions and christian ex- amples leaves them at liberty- to gratify their sensual inclinations without control, and the familiar contem- plation of pagan manners and customs gradually wears out every trace and vestige of the religion in which they were educated, and imboldens them to consider it in the light of a local superstition. They are no further converts to the brahminical faith than to prefer it to their own ; that is, they prefer the religion they can despise with impunity, to one that afflicts their consciences, that which leaves them free, to that which restrains them. As the secret language of their heart had always been, cautetU Holy One of Israd to cease from amongst us, in the absence of God, of his institutes and his worship, they iind a congenial element, nor are they at all dis- pleased at perceiving the void filled with innumerable fentastic shapes and chimeras ; for they contemplate religion with great composure, providing it be sufficiently ndiculous. -^ You, I am persuaded, wiU view the condition of mil- lions who are involved in the shades of idolatry, origi- naUy formed in the image of God, now totally estranged ftom their great Parent, and reposing their trust on things which cannot profit, with different emotions, and wiU be anxious to recall them to the Bishop and Shep. REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 221 herd of their souls. Instead of considering the most detestable species of idolatry as so many different modes of worshipping the One Supreme, agreeable to the jar- gon of intidels, you will not hesitate to regard them as an impious attempt to share his incommunicable honours; as composing that image of jealousy which he is engaged to smite, confound, and destroy. When you compare the incoherence, extravagance, and absurdity which per- vade the systems of polytheism, with the simple and sublime truths of the gospel, the result will be an in- creased attachment to that mystery of godliness. When you observe the anxiety of the Hindoo devotee to obtain the pardon of sin, and the incredible labours and suffer- ings which he cheerfully undergoes to quiet the pertur- bations of conscience, the doctrine of the cross will rise, if possible, still higher in your esteem, and you will long for an opportunity of crying in his ears. Behold the Lamh of God which taketh away the sins of the world. When you witness the immolation of females on the funeral pile of their husbands, and the barbarous treat- ment of aged parents, left by their children to perish on the banks of the Ganges, you will recognise the footsteps of him who was a murderer from the beginnmg, and will be impatient to communicate the mild and benevolent maxims of the gospel. When you behold an immense population held in chains by that detestable institution the caste, as well as bowed down under an intolerable weight of brahminical superstitions, you will long to impart the liberty which Christ confers, where there is neitlier Jew nor Greek, Barbarian^' Scythian^ ' h(md nor free, hut Christ is all and in all. The cultivation of a wilderness, however, reqmres a more robust and vigorous industry than is necessary to preserve in a good condition the ground which is akeady reclaimed. The noxious produce of a long tract of time must be extirpated, the stubborn and intractable soil broken up, marshes drained, irregularities levelled, and much persevering labour employed, ere the ordinary operations of agriculture can commence, or the seed be cast into the earth. In attempting to evangelize tht- inhabitants of pagan countries, you must expect io 222 ADDRESS TO THE i I I encounter peculiar difficulties; vou will meet in the BBtijes with the Ignorance and mental imbecility of children, ;^thout the candour, simpUcitj, and freedom from prejudice which are among the charms of that tender age. To efface erroneous impressions, to eradi- ate false principles and reduce them eren to a natural state, defective and corrupt as that state is, wiU be no ^nT^ r i^n^^' T'^ ^^T '' °^* onlj an immense Toid to be filled and great deficiencies to be supplied, but prmciples and prejudices to contend with, capable of the most active resistance. > i' c m In recommending the principles of Christianity to a pagan nation, 1 would by no means advise the adoption of a refined and circuitous course of instruction, com- mencmg with an argumentative exposition of the prin- ciples of natural reHgion, and from thence advanciL to the peculiar doctrmes of revelation ; nor would I advise you to devote much time to an elaborate confutation of ftL fKL""' ^i^T^^ '^'*^°^^- The former of these methods would be far too subtle and intricate for popular use ; the latter calculated to irritate. Great practical effects on the populace are never produced bv profound argumentation ; and every thing which tends to imtation and disgust should be carefully avoided Let vour mstruction be in the form of a testimony : lei It, with respect to the mode of exhibiting it, thouih not to the spirit of the teacher, he dogmatic, Tesl/y re- E''%.^''^^^^ and faith in our Lord Jesus Ohnst. It might become a Socrates, who was left to the light of nature, to express himself with diffidence, and to affinn that he had spared no pains in acting up to the * character of a philosopher, in other words, a dUigent mquirer after truth : but whether he had philosophized anght, or attamed the object of his inquiries, he faiew not, but left it to be ascertained in thatVorld on S he was entering. In him, such indications of modest distrust were graceful and affecting: but would little become the disciple of revelation, or the chi^t an mi! iT^5 ""h"" '"'A^'^*? ^^ ^*^ «*• ^^^^^ ^ know tM the foAole world Iteth tn mckednm, and thai the Son REV. EUSTACE CAREY, 223 of God is come, and. hath given us an understanding to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. After reminding them of their state as guilty and pol- luted creatures, which the ceremonies of their religion teach them to confess, exhibit to the inhabitants of Hin- dostan the cross of Christ as their only refiige. Acquaint them with his incarnation, his character as the Son of God and the Son of man, his offices, and the design of his appearance ; not with the air of a disputer of this world, but of him who is conscious to himself of his possessing the medicine of life, the treasure of immor- tality, which he is anxious to impart to guilty men. Insist fearlessly on the futility and vanity of all human methods of expiation, on the impotence of idols, and the command of God to all men evejry where to repent, inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he wiU iudge the world in righteousness. Display the sufferings of Christ like one who was an eye witness of those suf- ferings, and hold up the blood, the precious blood of atonement, as issuing warm from the cross. It is a pe- culiar excellence of the gospel, that in its wonderful adaptation to the state and condition of mankind, as fallen creatures, it bears intrinsic marks of its divinity, and is supported not less by internal than by external evidence. By a powerful appeal to the conscience, by a faithful delmeation of man in his grandeur, and in his weakness, in his original capacity for happiness, and his present misery and guilt, present this branch of its evi- dence in all its force. Seize on every occasion those features of Christianity which render it interesting ; and by awakening the fears, and exciting the hopes, of your hearers, endeavour to annihilate every other object, and make it appear, what it really is, the pearl of great price, the sovereign balm, the cure of every ill, the antidote of death, the precursor of immortality. In such a mi- nistry, fear not to give loose to all the ardour of your soul, to call into action every emotion and every faculty which can exalt or adorn it. You will find ample scope for all its force and tenderness; and should you be 224 ADDRESS TO THE REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 225 It f caUed to pour your life as a libation on the offering of the Gentiles, you will only haye the more occasion to exult and rejoice. In order to qualify yourself for the performance of these duties, it is above all things necessaiy for you to acquamt yourself with the general doctrines of Christi- anity in then- full extent ; but it will be neither ne- cessary nor expedient to initiate your converts into those controversies which, through a long course of tmie, have grown up amongst christians. Endeavour to acquire as extensive and perfect a knowledge as possible of the dictates of inspiration, and by establish- mg your hearers in these, preclude the entrance of error, rather than confute it. Be always prepared to answer every modest inquiry into the grounds of youi" taith and practice ; and that you may be more cai^abJe of entenng into their difficulties, and anticipating thei.^ objections, place yourself as much as possible in the situation of those whom you are called to instruct When we consider the permanent consequences likely to result from first impressions on the minds of pagans, the few advantages tliey possess for religious d^us- sion, and the extreme confidence they are likely to repose in their spiritual guides, yon must be conscious how important it is to plant wholly a right seed. Your defective representations of truth will not soon be sup- plied, nor the errors you plant extirpated, since we lind societies of chnstians in these parts of the worid where discussion and controversy abound, retain from generation to generation the distinguishing tenets of then- leaders. In forming the plan, and laying the foundation of an edifice which it is proposed shall last for ever it is desnable that no materials should be admitted but such as are solid and durable, and no ornaments introduced but such as are chaste and noble As It would be too much to expect you should per- fectly succeed in imparting the mind of Christ, might I be penmtted to advise, you mil lean rather to the side ot de/ea than excess, and in points of inferior mag- nitude omit what is true, rather than inculcate w^it is doubtful, since the influence of religion on the heart depends not on the multiplicity, but on the quality of its objects. The unnecessary multiplication of articles of faith gives a character of littleness to Christianity, and tends in no small degree to impress a similar character on its profes- sors. The grandeur and efficacy of the gospel residts not from an immense accumulation of little things, but fi-om its powerfiil exhibition of a few great ones. If you are determined to initiate your hearers into the subtleties and disputes which have prevailed in the Western world, I would recommend you, in imitation of the church of Rome, to dispense with the New Testament as the basis of instruction, and to betake yourself to the writings of the schoolmen; for that divine volume, rightly inter- preted, supplies no aliment to a disputatious humour, which has never ceased, since it was first introduced, to be the scoff of infidels, and the plague of the church. Among the indirect benefits which may be expected to arise from missions, we may be allowed to anticipate a more pure, simple, apostolical mode of presenting the gospel, which it may be doubted whether any of the various denominations, under which the followers of Christ have been classed, have exhibited precisely as he and his apostles taught it. In consequence of the colli- sion of disputes, and the hostile aspect which rival sects bear to each other, they are scarcely in a situation to in- vestigate truth with perfect impartiality. Few or none of them have derived their sentiments purely from the sacred oracles, as the result of independent inquiry ; but almost universally from some distinguished leader, who at the commencement of the Reformation formed his faith, and planned his discipline, amidst the heat and fury of theological combat. Terms have been invented for the purpose of excluding error, or more accurately defin- ing the truth, to which the New Testament is a stranger, and on those terms associations and impressions ingraft- ed, which in some instances, perhaps, little correspond with the divine simplicity of the gospel. It is far from my intention to insinuate that serious and fundamental VOL. II. Q i#> m*mmm '(. 226 ADDRESS TO THE errors may justly he imputed to tlie classes of cbiistians to whom I refer ; I am ftilly convinced of the contrary : — but it may be worth while to inquire whether we have not all in our turn receded somewhat from the standard, if not by the adoption of positive error, yet by a dispro- portionate attention to some parts of revelation, to the neglect of others equally important, in consequence of an undue partiality to our respective peculiarities. The situation of a Missionary retired from the scene of debate and controversy, who has continually before his eyes the objects which presented themselves to the atten- tion of the apostles, is favoiurable to an emancipation from prejudice of every sort, and to the acquisition of just and enlarged conceptions of Christianity. It will be your lot to walk the same wards in this great hospital, and to prescribe to the same class of patients that first experienced the salutary and renovating power of the gospel. The gods which are worshipped at this time in India are supposed by Sir William Jones to be the very same, under different names, with those who shared the adoration of Italy and Greece when the gospel was first published in those regions ; so that you will be an eye- witness of the very evils and enormities which then pre- vailed in the Western hemisphere, and which the sword of the Spirit so effectually subdued. You will be under great advantages for ascending to first principles, for tracing the stream to its head and spring, by having in- cessantly to contemplate the state of things in a moral view, of which every page of scripture assumes the exist- but of which the inhabitants of Europe have no ence. living experience. It is with great satisfaction accord- ingly I have observed the harmony of doctrine, the iden- tity of instruction, which has pervaded the ministry of protestant missionaries, who have been employed under the auspices of different denominations of christians. If to survey mankind in different situations, and under the influence of opposite institutions, civil and religious, tends to elevate the mind above vulgar prejudice, by none is this advantage more eminently possessed than by chris- tian missionaries. In addition to the advantages usually i REV. EUSTACE CAREY. 227 anticipated fi-om foreign travel, their attention is directly turned to man in the most interesting light in which he can be viewed. An intelligent missionary, in conse- quence of daily conversing with the natives on the most momentous subjects, and at the most affecting moments, has opportunities of becoming acquainted, not merely with the surface of manners, but with the interior of the character, which can rarely fall to the lot of any other person ; besides, that Christianity, it may be justly affirm- ed, is the best decipherer of the human heart, and is that alone which can solve its contradictions and explain its anomalies. Hence it may be fairly expected, nor will the expectation disappoint us, that an experienced Mis- sionary, possessed of the talent and habit of observation, will, in every country, deserve to be classed amongst the most enlightened of its inhabitants. Few things more powerfully tend to enlarge the mind than conversing with great objects, and engaging in great pursuits. That the object you are pursuing is entitled to that appellation, will not be questioned by him who reflects on the infinite advantages derived from Chris- tianity, to every nation and clime where it has prevailed m its purity, and that the prodigious superiority which Europe possesses over Asia and Africa, is chiefly to be ascribed to this cause. It is the possession of relioion which comprehends the seeds of endless improvem*ent, which maintains an incessant struggle with whatever is barbarous, selfish, or inhuman, which, by unveihng fu- turity, clothes morality with the sanction of a divine law, and harmonizes utihty and virtue in every combination of events, and in every stage of existence; a reli;:£i; rn r^r 'cr^"" ^^ which have been amUtJ Z^l \ Controversies, 3a tilt" ""^^-^^^^^^^^^^ upon tT N *^.?^Pf t.'^« partisans have been prevailed ance of the dictlte, n?. }^" '^f ""P"'*" 1° ^efi- iZ ^fsth i It ""^ '"'•^"""'y of devotional tZ- ^hZlA! t *7 '""'" *° consecrate eveiy thil mm wluch they have been connected • and a, tiLT .? of pious people have reoMve-l n,l- i' • ?^ "® ''""' W tae|n.orS;lfcte^^ tarln*sni-n-f ^T ""% "'^^•^^^ *^^ contentious and sec- t^an spint of modem times, which has f^^^lf ?if different parties of christmnc L i i ^^'^^ ^^^ invent, each for itself , /,t * ^ ''*"*'^' *"<* to in the main, with MrTril- ?• ' "'"'^ "^^ ''°°<^, to think iStTehfearH^^ t'" '"''•'""*' "^ ^'^ ^''PO^ both with respect to ThTl •/T^?"^*^°"^ *°° ^r, and the probK ivant^f^K^r^ *! ^^^^ 'tself -novaL The re^tZTof^.Z^ ^ d! Z £ ^t '^il .'! 252 REVIEW OP t ■ vJi unenlightened state, to the peculiarities of the christian doctrine, is such, that we have little hope of its yielding to the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. Till it is touched and humbled by grace, we are appre- hensive that it will retain its aversion, and not suffer itself to be cheated into an approbation of the gospel by any artifice of words. Exhibit evangelical religion in what colours you will, the worldly-minded and the careless will shrink from the obtrusion of unwelcome ideas. Cowper has become, in spite of his religion, a popular poet, but his success has not been such as to make religion popular; nor have the gigantic genius and fame of Milton shielded from the ridicule and contempt of his admirers, that system of religion which he beheld mth awful adoration. In treating subjects properly theological, we appre- hend great caution should be used not to deviate wan- tonly and unnecessarily from tho phraseology of scripture. The apostle tells us, that in preaching the gospel he did not use the enticing words of man s wisdom, but such words as the Holy Ghost taught him. We do not, in- deed, contend, that in the choice of every particular word or phrase he was immediately inspired ; but we think it reasonable to beUeve that the imction which was on his heart, and the perfect illumination that he possessed, led him to employ such terms in the state- ment of the mysteries of Christianity, as were better adapted than any others to convey their real import, which we are the more inclined to conclude, from ob- serving the sameness of phraseology which pervades the "ivritings of the apostles, when they are treating on the same subject. As the truths which the revelation of the New Testament unfolds are perfectly original, and transcendently important, it might nahirally be expected that the communication of them would give birth to an original cast of phraseology, or, in other words, a steady adherence to certain terms, in order to render the ideas which they convey fixed, precise, and unchangeable. In teaching the principles of every science, it is found accessary to select or invent terms, which, though origi- FOSTERS ESSAYS. 2r»3 «. J^ ft i'^'^' ^'^'^"^^^^ou, are afterwards restricted and confined to one peculiar modi/kation o/tho^rlud constitute the technical language of that scierf Sue terms are always capable of being defined (L mere dTfiir 7 r'"^, *^ *'^ t^ ^^^ to t&uT: aennition m their place would be tedious circumlocu- tion, and to exchange the tenn itself for a diffe~ne wrjuld frequently lead to dangerous mistakes ' are in . ''T^'f "'^"^^^*^ P^^s of a language, there nrln^ ^^^^h, few or no synonymes; for that should a word that neither conveyed any new idea, nor enabled c.sion ^ In the progress of refinement, indeed reeard to 2^7.1' ^"^,.^?™^-y has enriched l^agT^^ many exotics, which are merely those words in a L^;^ rit.;^! n f t ^W^nees, celestial for kea^,enly, and a iZ- such, that no two terms are exactly of the sa Je W and import (except in the case last WntonedTwe can! resuftor;:.^'."^^ ^"^^^^^^ consequenL ;o2 result trom a studied attempt to vary from th^ B+ar,^o^^ SrJtKtw r ^^^4"' of Sr^eVrs Xs m^lht K« I '^''^fg^e terms, the ideas them- selves might be changed or mutilated. In teachim? i religion designed for the use and benefit of Si mSd ' t ,s certainly desirable that the technical worfT the T u f "Pi»^«d in a peculiar and appropriate seiLe should be few ; but to fix and perpetuate the Weas^d capnces of fancy, and the dangers of innoVation it seems necessary that there shoufd be some We 'are inclmed to thmk, that in inculcating christian moralir and m appeals and addresses to the heart, a much 3^ ot guitar doannes ; and that a more bold and varied diction, with a wider range of illustration aSal[ul„ than u usuaUy employed, would often be attended with the happiest effect. Mr. Foster has given, in ma^y ^, 'J' 4 i 254 REVIEW OP FOSTER S ESSAYS. f \k li of tliese volumes, beautiful specimens of what we in- tend. With respect to the copious use of scripture language, which Mr. F. condemns, (in our opinion with too much severity,) as giving an uncouth and barbarous air to theological books, we prefer a middle course; mthout applauding the excess to which it is carried by many pious writers, on the one hand ; or wishing it to be kept so entirely apart as Mr. F. contends for, on the other. To say nothing of the inimitable beauties of the Bible, considered in a literary view, which are universally ac- knowledged, it is the book which every devout man is accustomed to consult as the oracle of God ; it is the companion of his best moments, and the vehicle of his strongest consolations. Intimately associated in his mind with every thing dear and valuable, its diction more powerfully excites devotional feelings than any other ; and when temperately and soberly used, imparts an unction to a religious discourse, which nothing else can supply. Besides, is there not room to apprehend, that a studied avoidance of the scripture phraseology, and a C£u-e to express all that it is supposed to contain in the forms of classical diction, might ultimately lead to a neglect of the Scriptures themselves, and a habit of sub- stituting flashy and superficial declamation in the room of the saving truths of the gospel ? Such an apprehen- sion is but too much verified by the most celebrated sermons of the French ; and still more by some modem compositions in our own language, which usurp that title. For devotional impression, we conceive that a very considerable tincture of the language of the scrip- tures, or at least such a colouring as shall discover an intimate acquaintance with those inimitable models, will generally succeed best. It is impossible to establish an universal rule, since different methods are equally adapted to different pur- poses ; and, therefore, we are willing to allow with Ur. F. that, where the fashionable and the gay are addressed, and the prejudices arising from a false refinement are to be conciliated, whatever in the diction might repel by an 255 appearance of singularity, should be carefully shunned prm of Rel^im, by Dr. Doddridge, and in Th^ Rural Phv^sophy of Mr. Bates, the dextfri'ty with whTchlheTe exceUent .vriters have suited their composition to their respective classes of readers. On the wMe, leth once for aU be reniembered, that men of taste form a verv smdl part of the community, of no greater consequence m the eyes of their Creator than othL ; that the^end of to a mmd which justly estimates the weight of eternal tlungs, iMviU appear a greater honour to h^ave converTed fla^S Ciel' Demosthenes, or to have kindled the We hasten to close this article, by making a few observations on the last cause which^our author has assigned, for the general distaste that persons of polke and rIS'' Tr-"*:."^"^^!^ discover'towaxd eZ^l religion. This is, the neglect and contempt with thich ft ^''? v'^'''^ constantly treated by our fine writers ^ide and extensive survey, exposing their criminality with a force of eloquence that has perhaps never beforl been exerted on this subject. Though his atlentLn is v^t i.h''''*v '" *]?\i"fl^ence of Ldern literatur^ rlTl. ^ TT^' ^^ *^" ^^^^"^«' ^«d especiaUy of th^ poets, have had a powerful operation in forking the taste Ws notTr..'^^""".'T^ ^^'^^^^^^^-^ ^^ has^extended his notice to these, and has made some most striking aTdTatXi; Z te~ ^"'^^^ ^' ''' ^^^^^^ ' attllk tC^Hnl" rt'/^ ^^ intrepidity in ventmring to fai^PrlVn f ""Ku^ "'^"''"^^ '^^^^^^ '• ^«r can he hive failed to foresee the manner in which it would be J- laXne r of Tf'^' ^^^^ ^^^" ''^"^^ ^-' ^^^ ' the question , that the one m which Homer s heroes were engaged, was not only just, but meritorious, being under! taken to avenge a most signal afl^ont and injuJy ; that if 256 RETIEW OP poster's essays. ■ ? i \t 1; «!!l no subject could be more suited to the epic muse, either on account of its magnitude, or the deep interest it ex- cited ; that having chosen it, the poet is to be com- mended for throwing into it all the fire of which it was susceptible ; that to cherish in the breasts of youth a gallant and warlike spirit, is the surest defence of na- tions ; and that this spirit, under proper regulations, con- stitutes that dufjkosidng which Plato extols so highly in his Republic, as the basis of a manly, heroic character. This, and much more than this, will be said : but when our Grecians have spent all their arrows, it will remain an incontestable fact, that an enthusiastic admiration of the Iliad of Homer is but a bad preparation for relishing the beauties of the New Testament. What then is to be done ? Shall we abandon the classics, and devote ourselves solely to the perusal of modem ^mters, where the maxims inculcated, and the principles taught, are little, if at all, more in unison with those of Christianity f — a fact, which Mr. F. acknowledges and deplores. While things continue as they are, we are apprehensive, therefore, that we should gain nothing by neglecting the unrivalled productions of genius left us by the ancients, but a deterioration of taste, without any improvement in religion. The evil is not to be corrected by any partia innovation of this kind. Until a more christian spiri pervades the world, we are inclined to think that th« study of the classics is, on the whole, advantageous t« public morals, l)y inspiring an elegance of sentiment, an« an elevation of soul, which we should in vain seek fo elsewhere. The total inattention of the great majority of our fin writers, to all the distinguishing features of the religion they profess, affords a most melancholy reflection. It has no doubt excited the notice of many, and has been deeply lamented ; but it has never been placed in a liuht so serious and affecting as in the volumes before us. In the observations which our author makes on the Essay on Man, we are delighted and surprised to find at once so much philosophical truth and poetical beauty. His critique on the writings of Addison and Johnson, evinces 257 deep penetration ; and, as it resnerfa +Ln f commonly in,pressive Ld iz^pXI ^" ^'"^''^ ^' ^'^- Fo^L'tngui Irwh^ch t t:' '''''. ^™ -^-^-- the subject iust be ou Tpot Th^i T ''^'^'^ as with a traveller who IfZ^'f}. \^ ^^^'^ ^^^ ^s, country, where he meets itTsoma^^^^^^^^ r^""*'"^'^ so many striking obiects w».,V.ri.^^ beautiful views and loiters till the IZofZ^'f ^' '' ^^.f ? *^ ^^'t' ^^at he We are far, howeve froTrZ '^^^"^j.^^^ ^^^» «Pon him. as faultless.' Mr! iVwrkTrT'^^'"^ '^''' ^^^^^"-« power of genius, than aTpeeil^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ '^- It lies open in manv r^omttf^f^ ^^^^ composition : critics, fvho, byTeTse^;^^^^^^^ ^^.^^^^^ ^^^^or may easily ^void its fauK^i .^ ^«^*^<^l^nical rules, beauties. \heauthoS;^^^^^^^ '^' «f its construction of his senteneerVheV^^^^^^^^^ '^ *'^ too long, sometimes involved in L^iJl*^^"^^'*?^^^ loaded with redundancer Th '\^ '^^^'''*^' ^^^ ^^'ten looseness of an h~, aK lUtl^fT^ '' *^^ elegance of regular coniDosiHnn 1 ""^ *^^ ^^^^^P^^t rity pervades sfme p^rlZf te^orf ^S""'!,-^^- >vnter seems at times to struaZ '\i. ^ '^'''^ ^^ *^e eighty for his ffrrr an/ m^^ "^'^^ conceptions too ratSer than distiSLitat ^nfo^^^^ T^"^^^^ ^^^^^«' ever, is to be imputed to^l! ?^ ^^?^^^- ^his, how- ness, of his DO v^^ Th^ he onginahty, not the weak- vast; and thr^ioTit 5^^^^^^^ "^-^^^^^ ^^^''^^ ^^ «o tended, that they frequ ntlv eaiS ^^ -' beaten track, and imoT^r Ii • / ? '''*^ ^^^ ^^st un- glances in an'an^ o2 wi&V J^ •'' ? ^-^ ^^ ^^^^' whole. On or.li;arv"oDicT^f '^''"'''- '^''^^ ^^^^ S^e -\ the highest ^S''^^^^^^^ wishes to present fn such aflAT ^ , \ '^^"^ ''hieh he merely visible its If but it seern^f 'fi ^'^^'' '^''' '' ^' "^t He paints metaph v^ics and h^.^ '^"^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ it. what in other hVnds ^o J^,t ' ^?P^ ^* ^^ ^^^^'"g abstractions, in the w^rmil ^f"^ '""i"^^ conifo.desf the least affectatLrof frivot^ "' ^^^^- ^^'^^hout quitting his argument ^ IZtZ *?^"^^^^'^^?'. without VOL. II. "^ ^ P"J^'"'* ^^ imagery, his imagi- ^!i 1' 258 REriEW OP FOSTERS ESSAYS. i II nation becomes the perfect handmaid of his reason, ready at every moment to spread her canvass, and present her pencil. But what pleases us most, and affords us the highest satisfaction, is to find such talents enlisted on the side of true Christianity ; nor can we help indulging a benevolent triumph at the accession of powers to the cause of evangeUcal piety, which its most distinguished opponents would be proud to possess. t* HEVIEW or CUSTANCE Ox\ THE CONSTITUTION. 1808. ^''^^'- ^^'^^o" '' -LongmaD and Co. Hatched the privileires we nroDoS^ f n\w ax ^^*^^''^' ^^ state, it is natum^fortW r ^''^- ^^ ^ t)TannicaI , ins udcurai tor the rulms: power to rliPnoK ^^i-i.- cal Ignorance, which can alone ?econdIe men to A.^t surrender of their natural riffht, Tt-f j"J • I *^'"« andknowled^e is ver^unSkK ilf foZlel '^'" tensions of every sort, but to none Ire than th ^'^ croaehments of arbitrary power^dTwIess If '"' The Romans were so consrioii« f^£ i\.^ ' ^ Setbi:s1vertSed*t:' ''' -"^-'^ o'^thf one of the fct'eCr fpnUi^'S"' '"^"^ were sensible that what lays bJld of thTS':" "so 1^2 -J: * n y'l 2G0 RETIEW OP till ', i| a period, is not only likely to be long remembered, but is almost sure to command veneration and respect. We are not aware tbat similar attempts have been made to render the British youth acquainted with the principles of our admirable constitution, not inferior surely to that of the Roman lepublic ; a defect in the system of educa- tion, which the circumstances of the present crisis loudly call upon us to supply. When our existence as an in- dependent nation is threatened, when unexampled sacri- fices must be made, and, perhaps, the utmost efforts of patience and of persevering cournge exerted for our pre- servation, an attachment to that constitution which is the basis of all our prosperity, cannot be too zealously pro- moted or too deeply felt. It is a just and enlightened estimate of the invaluable blessings that constitution secures, which alone can make us sustain our present burdens without repining, as well as prepare us for greater privations and severer struggles. For this reason we cannot but look upon the performance before us as a most seasonable publication. One cause of the attention of youth being so little directed to our national laws and constitution, in schools, is probably the want of suitable books. We have an abundance of learned and able writers on these subjects ; but few, if any, that are quite adapted to the purpose we are now^ speaking of. Millar's IS a very profound and original work ; but it supposes a great deal of previous knowledjre, without which it can be scarcely understood, and is in every view better adapted to aid the researches of an antiquarv, or the speculations of a philosopher, than to answer the end of an elementary treatise. De Lolme's perfonnance may be deemed more suitable ; yet, able and ingenious as it is, It labours under some essential deficiencies, considered m the light of an elementary work. There ig in it a spmt of refined speculation, an eagerness to detect and display latent, unthought-of excellencies, in the frame of government, which is very remote from the simplicity requisite in the lessons of youth. Of Blackstone's Com- mentanes it would be presumptuous in us to attempt an eulogium, after Sir William Jones has pronounced it to CUSTTANCE ON THE CONSTITUTION. 261 be the rmstheavtiful outline that was ever riven of anv science x\othing can exceed the luminous Socmen t the vast comprehension, and, we may venture "to add from the best authorities, the 'legal accL^^of thi w^^^^^ d,V n P?t!?^r''' ^^'*^^' ^^ ''y^^ ^d composi ton I distmguished by an unaflPected gface,- a maieftic limvXi City which can only be eclipsed by'the sp£L of s' taries ai e, it is obvious that they are much too voluminous and elaborate, to answer the purpose of an inTrodTtLn to the study of the English consfitution. ^YXXZ fore, most sincerely congmtulate the public on the an. sTructlon *2,,^^PPl3^, V^^asm in our system of public in- struction The book before us is, in every view well i^nti^'at'' 'r "^*'^" '' ^^^^^^ •• *^^ ^lear -d i rate information i ocmveys upon a most important subject ciples, axe well calculated to enlarge the understanding and improve the heart. We beg^eave partkuMf ^^^ recommend it to the attention of schools, in whidi we conceive, a general acquaintance with the laws and con! stitution of the country might be cultivated w' th muTh scenes ot hte. Legal provisions for the security of the best temporal interests of mankind, are the resuh of so nuch coUective wisdom and experi;nce, and are so coii^ t nually conversant with human affairs, hat we kiTow no study more adapted to invigorate the undei^tanc^^' a^d tions. The close cohesion of its parts tends to make the mind severely argumentative, while its continual re! ^tion to he state of society and its successive revolurions SLts thrril^'^lirt f -f^P^^-al abstraction and useless theones. What we look upon (for the reasons study at aU times, we would earnestly recommend as an indispensable duty at the present crisis. ^ fnJ^ c ""•"]' ""^ *^^ "^""'^ ^^^^^^ ^ *^e public may form some judgement, when we infonn them that it 2C2 REVIEW OP k 4 m confams whnterer is most interesting to the eeneial reader in Blackstone, together with much useful infor- mation denred from Professor Christian, De Lolme, and Tonous other eminent authors. Some wiU be ready to accuse the writer of having carried his partiality to4rd whatcTer is established too far; nor dare we say the charge is entirely unfounded. We are not disposed, however, to be severe upon him on this account. We >nsh to see the mmds of our youth preoccupied with a strong bias m favour of our national institutions We would wish to see them animated by a warm and gene- rous enthusiasm, and to defer the business of det^tine taults, and exposing imperfections, to a future period J.et us only be allowed to remark, that this policy should be temperately employed : lest the mind should suflFer a revulsion, and pass, perhaps rather abruptly, from implicit admuatK.n to the contra^ extreme j lest, indignS at havmg been misled, it substitute general censurl for un- aistinguishing applause. exilir^i't*"? ^""•""i '"!''' in^common with Blackstone, expressed his disapprobation of the severity of our cri- shalfalwf '■ The "nultiplicity of capital punishments we tS ^' "'"""'"' '^ " ^"^^"'"'^ *° »•»« English nation ; to w^^t f ""«">"« ?ltJ'ey are, they bear no proportion "J„^„t**'"y7°"'^ be, were the law permitted t^ take kw «!*• • ^u "^''"'^ ^"^"""^ '^P"^! ^y the common hZ », M '■ *! ^g-r-^ """Ple^^ion of the criminal ^mnpHnl"T,K*"i"*^ i^" '^*" &•"» t''^ injudicious t.,mpeTing of the legislature. To us it appears evident ^at the eeramty of punishment will res^in off^ndm more than its severity ; and that, when men are teS to tonsgress, they do not weigh the emolument theyC n view against the penalty awarded by law, but simply the probability of detection and punishment agaii^tX JinZT^- ^l*** punishments be moder^I,^d tht ^be the most effectual means of rendering them ce" tarn. While nothing can exceed the trial by jury and ^e dignified impartklity with which justiceV^i^^ with very ditferent emotions, and earnestly to wish i; CUBTAJICE ON THE CONSTITUTION, 263 Td'S."^ "^•"'^ ^"^ "^« -- ''— , simple. tbA'J'"^ T ""* ''°'"^' "^^^ *« author before us, in *ne^,^r;h:rr*.rP "^ *' "^''"''*'''° °f pensions^nS sinecures^ where there are no pretensions of personal merit or honourable services, standing quite alwf from ^r^:^ ""' T* ^T' *•"* to\\atever ext^ such a practice exists, exactly in the same proportion is a souree of public calamity and disgrace. ^Tfcok a 1^ as our author does, only L a pecSSary view is to neglect the principal consideration!^ It is^orm«X or chiefly as a waste of public money, that th™ti2 of sm«=ures and pensions to the undeserving offto^ be condemned ; the venality and corruption ft in£es and F<^uces IS Its worst feature, and I infalliSe s^^m al^™^^'^"!.'*^*'-. ^''^ **«« exceptions, -Tw^ ^IT^ \ author with almost uninterrupted plel! Z'e^tr- ^'" 't^'"'^ ^^^"^ ^'h the lod sense, the extensive information, and the unaffected piety he cnurchman himself, he manifests a truly christian spirit tow^ the Protestant dissenters ; and is^so f^f^^ E- ing with an evil eye on the large toleration they enjov that he contemplates with evident satisfaction the E on which that toleration is founded. Of the stjrje of this work, it is but justice to say, that wUhout aspinng to any high degree 'of ornament T^ oHhlh f/™""'' f°"*e°"«=t, weU suited to the subject on winch it is employed. •' wel!./. '^^ fPf 'nf n of Mr. C.'s manner of thinking, we beg leave to lay before our readers the following iuft and appropriate remarks on dueUinff :— ^ '' "m^;f '!'*'^^i"f '"« A"" »»<'" the head of «™r<», "^^?' T^ '-l'"'^ °^ ^"S'™i III' N' 264 REVIEW OP cc cc iC f« "^ fL^ K -^ •^"^"''.f ^'•'* «• emmently distinguish an English jury on aU other occasions. '' Th'p »nr^ must not appeal to the pistol iid swoid ? « ^^ • ' ^°"°? 8'''^ " """"6 indisputable proof of « S'^f T'^^V"'^. ''y ""^''"'g '^ ft^"'' aeknowledge- •' ^r?^ n " S""' r** f ''•"g fc'-giveness of the injuL "E.V h ^Vt"^, ''^'^' 'f '■« haye received Z •'&„ 'f«^^'^*'^ .*,° '■"^g'^''' »« ^'^ hopes to b^ •'Xr™n»r^l''^'''"'^'?g ^ challenge to fight, the "tai^ thT.l * ''"V^ ^ challenge, if he would maii- «fende™!f 7'^'y^''.g°"'^^«"^« °f *!•« '>'«^e de- "mustTiolLet'h''''^ *° '"""g^"* that they of all men "Snt b»» T V° ^^^'^'^^ *"' honour; since the " ff an !ffi^ gj' ^'*"^'' "P"" pain of being cashiered, "f iTn fr^ ^^^ i '^'''^S corporal punishment, if «o„X «'"'°"' °*=«^' «^ Pn^ate soldier? Nor tusmg a challenge, whom his Maiestv nosiH™l„ j„„i„-l mav be atta/l,:;^"* ^"^ ^J''"'^ °* ™y disgrace that » ^rv .. • **^ '".*"' conduct.* Besides what neces- "an^Tf k- ,,'^^^'«'^ perdition of his neichbour « WyeL „?t^ "* ? "^r ^ "^""hat, and the pS "rebellion of I74<: v.* t '^^on i-ans, m the oeiuon ot J 745. Yet he once refused a challenge, *"8tt article! of War kc. 7." CPSTANCB ON THE CONSTITOTION. 265 With this dignified remark : ' I fear sinning, though I do not feax fighting.'* The fact is, that figh^g t « duel IS so far from being a proof of a man's pfssessi^ I'true courage that it is an infallible mXof Sf anrarAc. For he is influenced by ' the fear of m.n ' whose pra.se he loveth more than the praise of G^d' * ** •'£iSXX-^^j^j;:£s.s.-s,is£^. I 'if • '11 ^j u . n REVIEW or ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. thit n^^r^'!^''''' ^f '^™^ ^^"*^^^« friends of religion frT^i!- 1. !t ^^'^''^ quarters, where the literary iouilal in which they first appeared mav nossiKlv ^^l ^^^^^ tended TkI «,^v„ ^^r A^ ^ possibly not hare ex- to advance their personal ^terestT^rr ""1^^ the expense of tAith ^.d fustice H„ 1 ^u ^'^l^^ here a^LimadTerted upTfilk l^nlrfV^ ^ •*? ""*'"" be left to the decisir^f^irptS^i^'Tr^^ thought that more commendation ™,X . i, i ^ given in the following sWctures to^!^!*^ t^^%^V Zt re",? "r'^f^-'^r^fpt^^tMe^Th; tit must be allowed to remark th^t flL ««r V' r r^"?"^ truth as only serves to ffive a safpr £n^ -j ^}^^^^. ^^ to misrepresWion ^Ifd^eWd ^ "'^'^ '^"^^^^^^ It has been deemed a capital omission in ♦l,^ r n • antique, that no notice is tlen of tr aShnX '^^^^ treatment of the puritans TT^;«\ • authors illiberal from a wish to avS^ ^xitf ^dTaXf "'''' ^^^^^ tension it would lead to J' ^ ^^ ^ ^'"^"^ ^ ^PP'"^- wouia leaa to a discussion not perfectly ) ZEAL WlTHOirr INNOVATION- 287 with th; limi^ r^hioh :?r confiH' "7°^'^*^"' should brha^^ tfsetfor'ereltSSr t'^'' ""^ a right, ought thesrS tfc^ K'^CUiel o^X°Tk'"''"'"'''^''«« *° t-" i-differe^t, ^dThe pa^v on whom they are enjoined look upon as sinfo?? l{ "H^tLfirttStelt^^"^'^^^^^^^ to doubtM^'v^LtSr %&!:rad^d' ''"' "r n.4 naWowerinretStfon 41°- '"""""'"" "^ there wereS on^XsSrilri^ir/* ''"'' Ti^rth^e'^'n "^^ *^ headstf thtSonlS" fi«t M ^ tbe r gmlt as aggressors, because they were the we Je Si7; '' ''•*^^"S '\' ^"^^t'°° ''t issue Xfore we are entitled to cnmmate them on tbi« h^^A •* .^^^^ impugn the opposite error. Thev who^n7 *t ",* *" aggrieved are neces«iril^ tK. «/^ ,. *bemselves claim to unLerabliy;;^^^,!:" S^f :^^^ I 11 t; N 'ill 268 REVIEW OP ZEAL WITHOCT INNOVATION. to the mean and slavislx maxims inculcated by this wri- "der tuf for an' '"°"> "^ *'''"' ^''"B ^^""^ »« hard " he affl^, "." PPf "^ '■'^<"'- "It would be who'oppos^aMis ecS^^-r.^r'" "•■"°«'- '^°^ or that authoritTttfct^^r ^ ^°: *'""^ indifferent, abate nothW fi the Jk? 1/*"T ''°.*''*""' ^ if nn«^ ^ * l :Sm' %T\i^' "' f-g'^''^>"-"^th\retm;'of criticism. I- or this reason, the utility of periodical criti csm mm-, in a hterary view, be fairly questioned ^ ft seems like an attempt to anticipate the decision rf the wmch If left to Itself, it vaW be sure to adjust in timp w.th the most perfect impartiality. A riviewer ray give a momentary popularity to what deserves to be ft»^ Kotten, but he can neither withhold nor bestow a £til T- A^r^"'' ''^ ^'' ^""t"'" *° ^y> i« not thT esf admired because the Critical Reyi,.w with its Ju^ good taste and discernment, could discover in hi^ no traces of poetic genius. ° There are other works, which owe their importance more to the subjects on which they treat. andZ"r '^n dencyto mflame the prejudices, and strike intith^h; humour, of the pubhc, than to any extraordinary abih^y 1 270 REVIEW OP Their infectioii renders them fomidaWe. They are ciT rmfnf^f?,. '^°°'^"'° ""6''' °°' to "^e slighted on ac- Sinf tf : ^* '*" """7 1" ^ "^^'^ the necessity of ctesing the performance before us with works of that nature ; but our conviction of its deservinHhat charai ter must be our apology for besto,ving a dl-ee of n?^ tion upon It to which it is not other^vise eiStled Thl author's professed design is to presenTiview She s2e ^e &Xl?°t'^ and to'suggest such rem^'iell ;:r twtr i irot,etdt?;-t etf «es aJ^-L;^ j;.S-y^ r uS^dtsri tion, we are firmly convinced, that had Ms Jten S ttrStStreisTf-,eS^;£^"^^^^ InZ'Z ^^Tt^Se and a discriminatbg-' judgement thfmelnS 'pt: 1h7t?oSr '"'"f { '''^^^^ le absolutely blfnd/he* if qSll^:^^^^^^^ off. His remarks are oftei shrewdj such L LK^ passed before hira. He is sometimes acute, never com Se"^ X^rer"sz'tS?;"h! *vrP to expect his Mention wo;fd^lt ^yX'Sf th^^ 2;^ »^;.. which he is :i Vr:^;Srs-x- advance. There is a complication inlis 4ws, a rcM ZEAL WrrilOUT IXNOVATION. 271 Sl''a„r&t4TfiLf '•^r««ty of too much r4on to regard hinTiran f;fA?\'"^ ^?P**" I'^orr^^r^I-rlJaSSii^Cd conJained'L'Z'sfnllU'S '''"'"'"'^ "''* ^""'^^ reh^o^ tt:ir/Sichr""^ °" *« ^*« °f depforable: in proof oZ'thTs he ^^n'*""''"*' ^ ^'^ fec^ the violation „f thi iT^ a« ^""'e 1^^ « Dew, M L Officiating mmister has not half-emptv « on hists^Arhethe''*b' ""'^'"^^ '""*'*'"7 'hanS « us wo «^!ll fl^ ^^'■' '"'"■ever, in what is now belbri great truth m some instances,) many a profligate has 11 272 RETIET(r OF « ^™ reclaimed, and much good in other yravo 1.>. been done among the lower ^orders, by the Si^f 'th«rmp>sters. From these circum/ances,1^rthe « ShoutTeTT/ '*'«^°'?'«"«^' of the ti^erma^y! « "tlbrsld'ohS'hC tlr- 'r *'°"V °" oucu cuurcn, n.ive, m the simplicitv of thr^ii- « sStisTT'. T '""^••'^i"« ^l"' ^de^voL o nhe separatists. And hence it is, that, in all the morp populous parts of the country we see that m^S « SfsSulSr ^^"'^ "''"^ ^^"" "" ^'^^^' " To some good men. free from all prejudice aeainst the church of England, it is matter of no re^eftha! tAT*^^ of separatists increases, providcdXre b^ ;; - * tbs -cumst,nce,an increasiilg^egarrtfc ristil " Hmodl^f s«ch persons, all consideration of forms, •' ^ce^f In? • r-^/P' 'I '?"'' « ""^ g^««ter import^ " tt: thl^hroTsS ;lr th.??Li' ^-'^^ "'' •" «' fh^. f'^t'^i'-'y operate to the production of some! Uung hereafter of a very different nature. Now such ^^ we conceive to be the nature of the case before 4 « ;nl~.c^ '^''^''" ° apprehend ill consequences from « Tt tnZ ^P«rat'sm, with whatever zeal for impoX « TJll^' ■?** '"* "''^*''^^'- ^<^<=«^ « propagating them. It be at present accompanied. ^ l" S "'g „ A™ "."*' 1' may be observed that it ffoes to the institution. The bulk of every newly-raised congre- ^ tion of separatists is composed of p^ersons educS^ within the pale of the church of England. Of the.7 « h/w? u"" dissenters, they, and their postoritv « Jwch Th P'f ; r ^'''^'"' "^ fro™ the nationk^ "^W^n Z '^l*«o''T'"' ^'""the establishment, sequently, increase the number of those who prefer a differently constituted church ; and these m^v in " tune amount to «ich a m-iinr;t„ „ . j • • . uuui w wicn a majority, as to render it again ZEAt WITHOUT INNOVATION. gJS ''?l,^"estion with those in Dower wK^ti, ^i. . " England shall anv Ion J^rT' '^T'"*'' *''e chnich of " state."_Pp. 14^^ '""S^' ^^« *« support of the caS\^a"pE.1iri*"**'^' ? *-^/ -^''^ churchman, is^S S^'^Tif- *^ %fonscientious means to say, he Jks v^y idl *"l^,^' *''« '"'*or evidently is, whether fi.^ j ^' . '^^ *^"e question of disseL« I a li^;°iTT^ fr""" '^^'^^^^ ^ugh it may be aSded wil"'*^^ "'^''Sra*^**'"". '^- quence, an increased "eparat on fr ' "Ju"'''"^ '^''^ church. In a word i« ri.» .. "" *''o established tianity, or the SceiS '"? °^ P"'^^ '^^^ tke object Primarirto be p^idt'S^ communion, lence may be ascribed ir. 1.^ !^ , "^atever excel- its warmest adS s^l^ "^"T"^ establishment by an institution to S T. fi« ta^eS tLT'*f °"- stnmgers, to which christianitySL*'!"''"':''/^ ed for Its original success, JAiCZ^tt^^^ ?«'«'"- be brought to the test of ntUitv n • ° T^"^ """* means. As an expedient deWsedbvtV' '"• ^Y ""*« "f ancestow for promoting tn,e*Ii<^nn 1'^'^°"? °*" "^ support just aTfarasiti^'SsTta end ' tI' '** ^ however, is found, in some instant.. 1 u^" ^^'^ ^^^ by means which ire of a d fe^?!j*" ^ ^complished which threatem, imLdi^te fc* .'*"^."I!''0"- ^ ««• pished before it Kd tim^ "^ >« happily extin- but it is extinguish^ by pe^T^'^h^T'l ''^ .^'-ages ; their services, without^waS for th^^'^ yolmiteered act under the direction Tfthf Z^t T°""'' "'"' but, unforlunatelv acconinW J -I .^^^ is «ea^ which our autW is^^^f^** ^^\ »»»<'^«'«, a has he copied the exIL^ 1^ f^'''; ^ow densely that ChristVas prichTthoulf ^''"'' ^^"^ '^JO'o^d tion ! With him t\T^ ^''ough from envy and conten- an object so C'ch atKt Hf ^r' ^"^^ *™* ^^ accomplished, even from th^'f ''■' '^''^ S''»<^ *» see it by th/most un::x int;ren,:'";^lr"^«^r•* the dissemination of the <^ wi. T ""^ """"or, best of men, and from tL^^ truth, by some of the vou ir. "'* ^"^^ """"es. is matter of il !^ » '< 274 BEYIEW OF VI lamentation and regret It requires little attention to perceive he has been taught in a different school from theapostle, and studied under a difiFerent master. The eternal interests of mankind are either mere chi- mseras, or they are matters of infinite importance ; corn- iced with which, the success of any party, the increase ot any external communion whatever, is mere dust in the balaice; and for this plain reason, that the promo- bon of these interests is the yeiy end of Christianity itself. Howerer divided good men may have been with respect to the propnety of legislative interference in the a&iis of religion, the arguments by which they have supported toeir respective opinions have been uniformly drawn Jrom the supposed tendency of such interference, or the contrary, to advance the moral improvement of mankind • ^d, supposing this to be ascertained, the superior merit of the system to which that tendency belongs was con- sidered as decided. Viewed in this Ught, tie problem »h.f fr''\*^'"^'^S scope for much investigation ; while the authority of religion remains ununpair^ and the disputante on each side are left at liberty to indulge the most enlarged sentiments of candour towards each ffc. Vi ""'■l!'?''* *^^ principles on which Hooker and f i!l- f *l°^.^'^™*''*^"'" '"^^^ *•>«"• defence of the ^bhshed chureh The high chureh party, of which ^ Daubeny may be looked upon as the present leader, hare taken different grounds. Their system is neithe^ more nor less than popery faintly disguised, and adapted to the meridian of England. The writer before us, vi^th- out avowmg the sentiments of Daubeny, displays nearly the same intolenmce and bigotry,_under this peculi^ disadvantage, that his views want the cohesion of system h|s bigotey the support of principle. This formal ^ara^ tion of the interests of the church from those of true reli- gion, must mevitably produce the most deplorable conse- quences WiU the serious and conscientious part ofX pubhc be led to fonn a favourable opinion of a reU- gious community, by hearing it avowed ty her champions, that men had better be suffered eternally to perish thS to find salvation out of her pale? WiU they not na^irauj ^BAl WITHOUT DWOVATION. SchtetralSfce^far ^' ^ -"Parison^f creatures is deemed TIIVT IT*'"" "fo^ur feHo„. supposed genemlly prevSent in ^"^1 '"^^ "» ^PWt be hshed church, it would at oLr ,*^ "f^ "^ *e esfab! their eyes, and be looked udo„ V ^' *^* ^ «**ed in fiaw.possession of pow^ a^5 ^ ^,^ ""^^ combination to of religion. We J^e mTst^enT'™?'*' """-^^^ P^ete" ^ already accrued fromTe t^" ""'^'"■''='•i«f ias n^ l|as envenomed the ill „!.=?»• ^^"'^ '^ *his spirit It the domination of a partT 'n\°'*^!/^ S^ntS^ C junr to the church, bSoH^ni "" ^'''^"'^ "^ous in- defence who bring nothS^lf.^^ ""^^ *° ^PP^ in C C^'r'i^ cCS•^^l\7^7-^«t^5: Jence. Haughty, contemptuo\S „^^' ^"^.^Pnestly inso- thescruples of tender consSsa^/f """^'^^^'»in of Jtself, except under one J,K j', °? frequent y of nietv peralJy turned by jift^'* ^?^'''°°. havebee^too Save given inexpreSbfe i/r*- '^^"'^ ^'^^^ •nmds; hurt, as thev well SL \ 1"°"^ and candid community, however numlusL' *" ''" ^ «hgio„s Ij vaunting itself, layiT'eXTve'^^*""^' """'""a"- orthodoxy, and seemL to conSr ^ """' *° Parity and descension to suffer JyotbT^''-'^ ^ P'^''^ »f con- They cannot dismiss it from 1 .''®"?™"'at.on to subsist a ^ue proper to fte chureh at" T*^' '''^' i^^U^L ^d that ecclesiastical pride m^A*" =«*»«» individ^f «ve to heaven as pride of any^olfe" '? ">« =« "fen- of Rome these qualities haKen .""'• ^° *« chureh finding nothing of this so^ L " J" '',TP'<="°"« ' h"t otter Protestant communion Z^ ''??' ^'S^' ^ any lofty looks of men shall be L-Tm ^^''/^ting that « th^ S^ «ay eventuJlVp^vety''°'r *^' their suc- He pretends to f^ST^^SX ^''^''lishmert 2-2 ®» * continual I' I. 'I.' 276 REVIEW OP I ^^er of hearers from the church to the conrenHcle. We heg leave to ask the writer, how such a consequence can ensue but from the superior zeal and piety of sec- tanes ? To suppose, that with only an eqad share of these qualities, they will be able to make successful in- road on the church, is to abandon the defence of the hierarchy altogether ; since this is acknowledging a radical defect m the system, which operates as a dead weight on ite exertions, and disquali_fies it for maintaining its ^ound a^t nrals ; that, m short, instead of being thf most efficacious mode of exhibiting and impressing revealed truth. It is mtnnsically weak and ineffectual. For that f^fAr'^'i 'T*^ ^^ acknowledged to be so, which is incapable of interesting the people, and which, by ren- dering public worship less attractive, produces a general preference of a different mode. To suppose this^ toX the case IS to suppose something essentially wTong, which should be immediately examined and corrected. On this supposition the men are acquitted, the system is arraigned. author, the conclusion returns with irresistible force, that a permanent mcrease of dissenters can only arise from their supenor piety and zeal. Now, these are really, in our opmion, qualities too valuable to be dispensed with whatever mterest they may obstruct. Regretting, deeplv as we may, in comn^on with our author, that they should have formed an alhance so unfortunate, we must still think it better, not only for their possessors, but for the world at large, for them to be found even here than to have no existence at all ; and it is upon this point we are at issue with this conscientious reformer. For our ^ T ^^f/^^fe old-fashioned and puritanical, that we had rather behold men awakened and converted among dissenters and methodists, than see them sleep the sleep of death m the arms of an establishment. But our author, it seems, is filled with pious alarm for Ae cause of orthodoxy, from the incre Jing separation W the church. " B^ the sound doctrine its iLitu^ ^™«^?Fess, ^t will,'^ he tells us, "as long as it stands, be a witness to the truth, in periods the most barren ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 277 « ctSll^"^^^^^ ' ^ ^y^S point to aU truly cure the perm4ence of truth but ^f n " 5'°^ *° '*" and extent r,f /k! / , °''* ^ ^^^ ^^t the nature been to establish very gJZlyttg^ror^J'^ evenrweek with m.Wi T^^ f ^J"^ ^^^^ '« teeming desSpTfot -i^y ;Sed°'churchr* '"'"'~ sons who have incn^pV/^L ''?"'^'™™ against per- attachment to these^lcle*^' rT''^ ""r^'-*' ^^ *«'^ doctrines they exSbi^t. ,1 "j ""'. ", ^^*' '^^at the part of the rlpr^nr «.i.^ -L^Aetnoaist i and that that eve^the di "et ^ AemSl ^^'^ ''^''^^^ *''- efiontery that t»-U Inf^^ ■ • . ^' '* """^ P'^'"'''^ ^^esi atffidLTet^t;rr" ssr *•* instruction, when if ;« +1.^ ^ r f P^."^y ot religious to recall hik contL'Jo^L^ trth'S'' ff^^ '''"'' that the « voucher" he ioe^nft,^ \ ^^^^ "^^* cause it is credited, he ttnir T T" "' ^7^^ ''^ f ill 27S BEVBEW OF ^ I tables of the heart" Tk!--.', •""»'» the "fleshly quainted with ecclesiast!™! v f " hoerer is ac- public creeds Id^nSo^, h ""^ "?'' '™°^' ti"** trovemes than they We !^.. 1 occasioned more con- ceased to be the ™hW* T5?'^' «"<• that when they antiquat^ aid obi'' of d.spute they have become teis of the present darhr.M ^^'.""?J«n- are feithfuUy pr"chV-7ut tW * u''"^"'^*^ '^I'^'e they of their being suSed win „t-tV ""''" <=ircumsta„ci preached nor believS ' **' "'"^^ ^^^^ being : ^^r^r : WtTif^is- -^-/-;>^- « bve o Wation, be able to loZ^,7^ b,ff ' V**"" « foresight can ascertain w4 Tt wfll t h!. T^" : Jey wiU not bie'&^^o^Csr ll^ ^"^^ the licentious teacher ^et i f^4^ "eresj. Here, if whole system of ^i^tt^lTt ^ "'""''^^ *'' prayer, not a psalm, not a form"d^,Tf <:^ri^rb'„C ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 279 •'in this case, will become tlie vehicle of error."— Pp. 17, How far, in creatures so liable to mistake, a fixed and perpetual character is an enviable attribute, we shaU not stay to inquire; with what right it is claimed on this occasion, it is not very difficult to determine. The Thirty- nme Articles will unquestionably always remain the same ; that is, they will always be the lliirty-nine Ar- ticles : but It is not quite so certain that they are univer- sally beheved ; much less, that they will always continue to be so ; and least of all, that, after having ceased to be believed, they will receive the sanction of every succes- sive legislature. For our parts, such is our simplicity, that when we read of a fixed and perpetual character T.?-*^!^*"^^ is/^ways wandering to men, to some mode ot thinking or feeling to which such perpetuity belongs • instead of resting in the useful contemplation of pen, ink and paper. With every disposition, however, to do the author justice, we have some fear for the success of his argument ; suspecting the dissenters will be ready to reply ^ Our pastors cordially embrace the doctrine con- tained m your articles ; and as this cannot be affirmed of the majonty of yours, the question of perpetuity is re- duced to this amusing theorem,— In which of two given situations will a doctrine last the longest— where it is believed without being subscribed, or where it is sub- scnbed without being believed V The equal justice it is our duty to maintain, obliges us to notice another aspersion which the author casts upon dissenters. . ^ ^^ " Every addition Separatism makes to its supporters, ^'^ alters the proportion existing in this country between u * if- f °"^chical and the democratic spirit ; either of ^^ which, preponderating to a considera])le degree, might ^^ be productive of the most serious consequences. For ^ It IS certain, that, as our church- establishment is ^^ favourable to monarchy, so is the constitution of our dissentmg congregations to democracy. The latter prmciple is cherished in all communities, where the power resides not in one, or a few, but is shared, in u u 200 RETIEW OF is "tlbTr^'^"'^'''',' ^"'"'S "" *« members; which i. « in^fJS" • »!.• ' ^ refembered, then, that if religion « w^r ".*'f- ^y' ^^^ '« *"* increasing witH Which 19 of a different nature, and which ^^U lesml ■•itnTS "•:^arS XS^^IntheTl & beent[;r "^ '^ '" P-'f of this pointlsTL? „r ''«« written on purpose to establish it. The tiansfrr £«o, a spintual republic, subsisting in the midst of tho lloman empire, on which it was completely i^Cendent- Se'lfrSd^^^f""" -e^direiedt^^^'X suirrage. JNor did it m this state, either Pxr»ifo fL ,• W or endanger the repose of the dWl maris"sC the distinction betwixt the concerns of this Sa^d ZZ &:fa'a?t""^'"•"*"i•^ ''^ Locke,ru^hft"e efe structf^^ ^M PT *^ ^'"g^ *■«" =^8 God's. In- ^cted to yield obedience to princes for conscience' *t STtH* -'/'^^ °"'*''' *" submissive bTc^^e CT^r „t *hf ? u ">'e*';«°=e in the suppression of Tr?Kl u !uP"?'^'""*"* "f ecclesiastical delinquencv V ^^^ WITHOUT INNOVATION. 28J St*': S-.hT^' -'?^- ^^ of the tnow- of the candir^Sh Tor'^T" 1 °^ *«^« ««•«; hmn^mity which fi^tL ocSw*'""'- "' ^^ '^^ low-christians in what e«^:!!fir °^,?«P«"^">g his fel- persecutors ! * ^'^P''* *^« mahgnitj of heathen the habit of consTd:i"Ae Teonu'"'"' '".r^''''^' *!«'' pngnant to its spirftaL tha? J ^i • ^ ,°°""°g «"« «- and that.to.esrrh\"K«|.t-«77tW person, without check or mntll? • ^ ^^^ °^ °ne genius of the Turklh Aa^ of Ti'^^ru '"^'^'^ *» *!•« And to this retort, it mtTbf cS^Sd Ir^'?"'^"'; the high-church partv wlm 1,,^^ ij ' '"^ conduct of n^ulgate maxims ^ut^^^'LerdrrShlTP'*'* ,^ P™" ? reiy colourable supoort Thl 7 V^^y, would lend is iuTidious, absurd Zd„eS '"^'f '°P''=' '•O'^^^er. since the co^stiS of thnhn^.^"'['*"*l*? ™«'«^ the will of its Founderfthe dSes^ftrK ^ ^^'^ ^y at liberty to accommodate w bend tnl^*''' ^^ '"'« "<>* policy. The dispute respectwl.•^r^"f*"™^ of a worse heart. After tb^ «,!! ' °' * had cause and already had of the autWstilT:^-r '\^^" ^^^ ed to find that he is not nn?f?^ they will not be surpris- tion Act, which he compld^wl''^ ^* *« ^^"^ ^ purpose of afforZZS I'tenT ^"'^'"^''^ fr"™ that oiraakini, dissented. WetenotLT""""*-'"' *"> comprehend this distinction w I ^f*"® «no"gh to that it was the inten "on of tb^f ^•T.^'^^y^ s«Pposed to enable protestalrdL„te« iS"^'^*^?' ^r th^t act, pleased, affer giving nZl " /• 7'"''.'? ^''«^« they how their availfngtfemseCsofr r K *'"' "'^^'rate: .trued into an abSse of fcfif ^^ - ^ - * 282 RRVIEW 6V ceive. This writer would tolerate dissenters, but not allow them to propagate their sentiments ; that is, he would permit them the liberty of thinking which none can restrain, but not of speaking and acting, which are alone subject to the operation of law. It is quite of a piece with the narrow prejudices of such a man, to complain of it as an intolerable hardship, that a minister of the establishment is sometimes in dan- ger, through the undistinguishing spirit of hospitality, of being invited to sit down with religionists of different descriptions : and he avows his manly resolution of going without his dinner rather than expose himself to such an indignity. It is certainly a most lamentable thing to reflect, that a regular clergyman may possibly lose caste by mixing at the hospitable board with some of those who will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. When Burke was informed that Mr. Godwin held gra- titude to be a crime, he replied, " I will take care not to be accessory to his committing that crime." We hope the lovers of hospitality will take the hint, and never in- sult the author of " Zeal without Innovation" by expos- ing him to the touch of the ceremonially unclean. Although we have already trespassed on the patience of our readers, we cannot dismiss this part of the subject without craving their indulgence a little longer. We are much concerned to witness the spirit of intolerance that pervades many recent publications. If the uniform course of experience can prove any thing, it is, that the extension of any particular frame of church government will of itself contribute Uttle to the interests of vital Chris- tianity. Suppose every inhabitant of the kingdom were to return to the bosom of the establishment to-morrow; what real accession would be gained to the kingdom of Christ ? Is there any magic in the change of a name, which can convert careless, profane, irreligious dissenters into devout and pious churchmen ? The virtuous part of them do honour to the christian profession in the situation they occupy at present ; and for the vicious, they could only infect and disgrace the community with which they pro- posed to associate. What means this incessant struggle ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 283 ^on of mfaUibihty, and the clamorous demand for tie r.,TTfK '^ '^' legislature, which we so often wit! fnn i ^ "^'"^"^ *^ ^*^^"^ we a"«de wiU honestly ^.L? ^^ ^n Wrehensive of their " craft" being ii d^ger we will give them credit for sincerity; but to attempt to cover their bi,.otry under a mask of piety, Z ZTT ^'"'P'^""- ^^^^ '^' "^^^^^res adopted^for which these men are so violent, they would scarcely the established church ; to which the accession of nui^. bera would be no compensation for the loss of Sat actmty and spirit which are kept alive by the neighboi^! hood of nval sec s. She would suffer rapid encroach- ments from infidelity ; and the indolence and secularity doW^] A ' •If'''^ establishments would hasten her .].r 1,-^'^'^'*/^^ increasing degeneracy of the dergy, which must be the inevitable effect of destroying the necessity of vigilance and exertion, the people th^? now crowd the conventicle would not repaid to the church: they would be scattered and dissfpaLj 1 ke water no longer confined within its banks. In a ver^ short time, we have not the smallest doubt, the attenS- ance at church would be much less than it is now A ateent'"'' Y "'^^^^"^ "V^^^^^' ^^ P-"-e n^ attachment,_a religion invested with the stern rigour of law, and associated in the public mind, and iSuc practice with prisons and pillories and gibbets,lwouId be a noble match, to be sure, for the subtle spirit oTTm- S^£' T. • ^'^^^^^s a^d increasing corruption of the times. It IS amusing to reflect what Imple elbow-room the worthy rector would possess ; how freely he m^^ expatiate lu his wide domain; and how mul SieTffS of his denunciations against schism would be heighten^ by echoing through so large a void. eigntenea " Hie vasto rex JEoha antro ^.Wl" ♦^""'T "u^''^ "° ^°"'"' looked upon it as a signal tnumph, when she prerailed on Louu the Foux- ^< A f 284 REVIEW OP I ?h teenth to repeal the edict of Nantes, and to suppress the protestant religion. But what was the consequence? Where shall we look, after this period, for her Fenelons and her Pascals — where for the distinguished monuments of piety and learning which were the glory of her better days ? As for piety, she perceived she had no occasion for it, when there was no lustre of christian holiness sur- rounding her ; nor for learning, when she had no longer any opponents to confute, or any controversies to m^^ tain. She felt herself at liberty to become as ignorant, as secular, as irreligious as she pleased ; and, amidst the silence and darkness she had created around her, she drew the curtains and retired to rest. The accession of numbers she gained by suppressing her opponents, was like the small extension of length a body acquires by death : the feeble remains of life were extinguished, and she lay a putrid corpse, a public nuisance, filling the air with pestilential exhalations. Such, there is every rea- son to believe, would be the effect of similar measures in England. That union among christians, which it is so desirable to recover, must, we are persuaded, be the re- sult of something more heavenly and divine than legal restraints or angry controversies. Unless an angel were to descend for that purpose, the spirit of division is a dis- ease which will never be healed by troubling the waters. We must expect the cure from the increasing prevalence of religion, and from a copious communication of the Spirit, to produce that event. A more extensive diffu- sion of piety, among all sects and parties, will be the best and only preparation for a cordial union. Christians will then be disposed to appreciate their differences more equitably ; to turn their chief attention to points on which they agree ; and, in consequence of loving each other more, to make every concession consistent with a good conscience. Instead of wishing to vanquish others, eveiy one will be desirous of being vanquished by the truth. An a^vful fear of God, and an exclusive desire of discovering his mind, will hold a torch before them in their inquiries, which will strangely illuminate the path in which they are to tread. In the room of being repelled ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 285 by mutual antipathy, they will be insensibly drawn nearer to each other by the ties of mutual attachment. A larger measure of the spirit of Christ would prevent them from converting every incidental variation into an impassable boundary ; or from condemning the most in- nocent and laudable usages lor fear of symbolizing with another class of christians— an odious spirit with which the wnter under consideration is strongly impregnated The general prevalence of piety in different communities, would inspire that mutual respect, that heartfelt homage lor the virtues conspicuous in the character of their re- spective members, which would urge us to ask with astonishment and regret, Why cannot we be one ? What IS it^that obstructs our union ? Instead of mamtainins the bamer which separates us from each other, and em- ploying ourselves in fortifying the frontiers of hostile communities, we should be anxiously devising the means of narrowing the grounds of dispute, by drawing the at- tention of all parties to those fundamental and cathoKc prmciples, in which all concur. To this we may add, that a more perfect subjection to the authority of the great Head of the church would ^tram men from inventing new terras of communion, irom lordmg it over conscience, or from exactin?e persons now living," he says, "can remember ^^ tue time, when absence from church was far from ^^ bemg so common as it is now become. Then, thf more considerable heads of families were generaU^ « !^^\^ the house of God, with their servants as well « ?« children. This visible acknowledgement of the ^^ importance of religion had a good effect on families of ^^ mfenor condition: the presence of the merchant and u ^ f^ousehold brought the tradesman and his famUy • ^^ and the example of the latter induced his joumevmen ^^ and out-door servants to come to church. But this is not a description of modern habits. In many pews « T^ IT^""'^! ^"^^ ^^ *^^ ^"*^^« household to which ^^ they belonged, it is now common to see only a small portion of the family, and often not an indiWdual .. T ? .r f ""^ *^^ younger branches, from the female side of the house, occasionally attend, with, perhaps, ^^ the mother, but without the father and the sons : the ^^ father, wearied with business, wants a little relaxa- ^^ tion ; and to the young men, not suspecting their want of mstruction, a rural excursion offers some- ^^ thmg mterestmg, while the tranquil service of a church ^^ IS too tame an occupation for their unexhausted spirits. Nor among the few who attend public worship are they always the same individuals that we see in the house of God. So that it does not appear to be from steady pnnciple, and stiU less from the influ- (( il i 288 REVIEW OF ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 289 ** ence of parental authority, that some of the family " are occasionally there. The children are left to them- •* selves ; they may go to church if they choose to do " so ; they incur no displeasure from the father, they " excite no grief in his hosom, if they stay away. " There is no disreputation attaching to absence. It " falls rather upon the contrary conduct ; any uniform " attendance on divine worship being frequently consi- " dered a mark of imbecility or demureness. " To account for the thinness of our parochial con- " gregations, some allege that there is not a sufficient " quantity of naturally attractive circumstances in the " ordinary service of the church. But it is observable, " that where our liturgy is used in its grandest form, *' the attendance is as far from being numerous as it is " elsewhere. It might be expected, and e<:pecially in " an age in which a taste for music so generally prevails, ** that in a metropolis containing near a million of inha- " bitants, there might be more persons drawn by the " grandeur of cathedral worship to the place where it is " performed, than could well be accommodated in one *' church. The cathedral of London, however, pre- " sents no such scene. With a numerous attendance of " ministers, the finest specimens of church-music, " and these performed with that effect which profes- " sional qualificjition gives to such compositions, the *' seats of 8t. Paul's cathedral are seldom half fiUed." — Pp. 2—4. Though we acknowledge the truth of his statement in a great measure, we are far from drawing from it the inference he wishes to impress. "Whenever places of woiship are thinly attended, at least in the established church, we have uniformly found it to proceed from a cause very distinct from the general decay of piety ; it results from the absence of that sort of instruction which naturally engages the attention and fixes the heart. In one view, we are fully aware a great alteration has taken place : an attachment to the mere forms of religion has much subsided; the superstitious reverence formerly paid to consecrated places and a pompous ceremonial has waxed old ; so that nothing wiU now command a lull attendance at places set apart for divine worship but the preachmg of the gospel, or of something, at least, that may be mistaken for it. Instead of concurring with the author m considering this as evincing the low state ot Christianity amongst us, we are disposed to look upon It m a contrary light, being fully convinced that a readi- ness to acquiesce in the mere forms and ceremonies of religion, to the neglect of that truth which sanctifies the church, IS one of the most dangerous errors to which men can be exposed. There is something in the con- stitution of human nature so abhorrent fi-om the absence ot all religion, that we are inclined to believe more are mined by embracing some counterfeit instead of the true than by the rejection of true and false altogether. We are not sorry, therefore, to learn, that the music at St. Paul s is not found a sufficient substitute for " the joyful sound, nor a numerous show of ministers accepted bv the people, in the room of " Christ crucified set forth before them. Let the truths which concern men's eter- nal salvation be faithfully taught in that noble edifice and the complaint of slender attendance will soon cease! In the mean time, of that part of the citizens who mi^ht be expected to frequent the cathedral, some are too lay and fashionable not to prefer the music of the theatre and the opera; and some are serious christians, whose hunger for the bread of life will not be satisfied or di- verted by the symphonies of an organ, or the splendour ot canonical dresses. He who is resolved to see nothing but what grows in his own mclosure, may report that " all is barren," though the fields around him bloom like the garden of Men ; and such is the strength of this writer's preju- dices, that it IS morally impossible for him to ffive a iust representation of facts. In forming his estimate of the state of religion, he is resolved to look only where he toows nothing is to be seen ; and absurdly complains of the want of a crop where he is conscious the soil has never been cultivated. Effects must be looked for from theu- natural causes : men do not gather grapes of thorns, VOL. n. u 290 REVIEW OP ',Ki where the go^el is pilached in jL mu titude of places disposition t7atten^r*K "l P""'^' ^^^ general schU the*°ci.:So,^''^!^«h hS'^S' f-^""'"' jaWe tracts, the translation oftheg^^.S ilo'T"""?"" languages, and their more extensi^Tco™™., !°'^'^ aU nations, the formation of Sonarnr'? '"" u'" powing unanimity among chrisS ,!,Lr"'"!?'.*« mcrea«, of faithfi minifte,^"f trestebl sheS'^l'^T We presume these facts may be alWed t^ """^ weight, sufficient to overbalanLtK ®"°T«** ^ degree of St Paul 8. It Is not a KltU ! • *••"" f t^^dance at who p^fesses to eS bft a c rrecT'iZ'^f ''l"' ^ r*^'' rtate of the nation, should Z no ltltL^\u^'^°^' the extXri:sitr"anT'thr;7- ^^-^ which the efforts of s rfous iis£.s"*f d';' ^"*«'^ neiions have produced -,. „ "'f"' « different con- entitled to beWi^;^T„^"°°*^''™'' article, not worth, he repre^nteT''r *'"' "',',"""**' »' °" ^O"^ doth and povrwrshlSTH"^ T^ '" 'P'"'"^ that attempts wire making t),"*™ '^J" "■'" '^•^*«' of Christianity ; tLTSlation^f r'S!" P'-°P''g«'ion going on in m^eL7^t^Zl^^_,f^P'r/ ''''"' conversion of paeans hanTl^? ' j "' * ^^' f""" th« at home, by Sudn^ ^ff^'""!^ .^ P"^*"*^ ^'X'tion toward <4r^f tte ZtT'*? .''u*'.'^° unexampled, the kingd^ We sfnT '°'° "" *'"''^' cornera of his workf rat any materi^ ""^r suspect, from reading within the last fifty r^tl^T""" ,^^*^^^^ Placi fused into the profeSn^rM K ""^''^had been in- ZEAL WrraOUT INNOVATION. 291 trate state of religion, upon no better ground than the neglect of places of worship where the gospel is not preached, and where there is little to attract attention beside the privilege of hearing Jine music and seeing Jine ministers for nothing. It is a consolation to us to be convinced that the state of things is much otherwise than he represents ; that more persons are brought ac- quainted with the glad tidings of the gospel, and more minds penetrated with the concerns of eternity, than at any period since the Reformation. Thus far we dispute the justice of this author s state- ment, and are disposed to question the truth of the in- ference he has drawn from some insulated facts. But this is not the only fault we have to find with this part of his work. He has not only, in our opinion, been be- trayed into erroneous conclusions, but has utterly failed in catching the distinguishing features in the aspect of the times ; so that his picture bears no sort of resem- blance to the original. He has painted nothing ; he has only given an account of a particular distortion or two ; so that a foreigner would no more be able, by reading his work, to form an idea of the state of religion in Eng- land, than of a countenance he had never seen, by being told its chin was too long, or its nostrils were too wide. It must be evident to every one, that the most striking characteristic of the present times, is the violent, the out- rageous opposition that is made to religion by multitudes, and the general disposition in the members of the com- munity to take a decided part. To this circumstance the writer has never adverted. It is impossible to sup- pose it could escape his attention : we must therefore impute his silence to the well-weighed dictates of pru- dence, which admonished him of the possibility of be- traying himself into inconveniences by such a discussion : nor need we be surprised, notwithstanding his boasted magnanimity, at his yielding to these suggestions ; since his magnanimity is of that sort, which makes a man very eady to insult his brethren, but very careful not to dis- gust his superiors. As we are happily exempt from :hese scruples, we shall endeavour, in as few words as u2 292 REVIEW OP l! siderable influence in the nrartiVal nr^,.i; J "^ ^ , tneated and disengaged from erro/with wfiS^^" f^P^'^W ^"'1 P'"'«°'«<' i» » blaze of ligh/S tonned the basis of our national <.i»«J a '[^^ , pushing them to their legiS cXuences tWth^ Reformers were enabled to aehie^Tr^I . * popery, they were for a wh"le retLteed in fuT^K"^ ■ «voItT'^i^"''*'°" ^^'"" *•>- d~tl a« meS^a revolt to the enemy. The ArtiVIi^. «f t\Z u "v'^'ng » real transcript of the prinllf the R J "^''"'^ '"''^ " soKcitous to inculcate^3 K • ^^'^^^'^ ^^ most ghty i..pu.:^r ;r^il"f Cf= „ ";£ Sf^t^fh ^* r"' Ti'"""'" ^''^.^ eonstkuted t£ izv^::^r)^' f'^"^^ tho^f'^rsYome? nnt »1i;*.i ^?'\I^^f'> tne way for a change, which was not a httle aided and advanced by the unboilnded L^ housness and profligacy which overspreTth^ CdZ £^1:^'TT- '"' " '»"'* ^ remembeWS ZT ?.«" '"'""ate connexion between the perceDtkm and rehsh of truth and a right disposition of mbd -^tC hey have a r^iprocal influence on each other ^^d ^ the mysteiy of fiuth can only be placed with^^^ ^1 &cv°tir:H "?.*" ^'"^"^ profeneneJT^db! Md partly to gaw the mfidels, who then began to S ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 293 their appearance, introduced a new sort of preaching, in which the doctrines of the Refonnation, as they are usually styled, were supplanted by copious and elaborate disquisitions on points of morality. Their fame and ability imboldened their successors to improve upon their pattern, by consigning the Articles of the church to a still more perfect oblivion, by losing sight still more entirely of the peculiarities of the gospel, guarding more anxiously against every sentiment or expression that could agitate or alarm, and by shortening the length, and adding as much as possible to the dryness, of their moral lucubrations. From that time, the idea commonly enter- tamed in England of a perfect sermon, was that of a dis- course upon some moral topic, clear, correct, and argu- mentative, in the delivery of which the preacher must be free from all suspicion of being moved himself, or of in- tending to produce emotions in his hearers ; or in a word, as remote as possible from such a mode of reasoning on' righteousness, temperance, and judgement, as should make a Felix tremble. This idea was very successfully realized, this singular model of pulpit eloquence carried to the utmost perfection; so that, while the bar, the parliament, and the theatre, frequently agitated and in- flamed their respective auditories, the church was the only place where the most feverish sensibility was sure of being laid to rest. This inimitable apathy in the mode of imparting religious instruction, combined with the utter neglect of whatever is most touching or alarm- ing in the discoveries of the gospel, produced their natural effect of extinguishing devotion in the estab- lished church, and of lea^g it to be possessed by the dissenters ; of whom it was considered as the distin- guishing badge, and from that circumstance derived ar additional degree of unpopularity. From these causes the people gradually became utterly alienated from the Articles of the church, eternal concerns dropped out of the mind, and what remained of religion was confined to an attention to a few forms and ceremonies. If any ex- ception can be made to the justice of these observations, it respects the doctrines of the Trinity and the atone- 291 RKVIEW OP ment, winch were often defended witli ability, thoujrh in a dry and scholastic manner, and the discussion of whicli served to mark the return of the principal festivals of the church ; while other points not less important,— such as the corruption of human nature, the necessity of the new birth and justification by faith,— were either abandoned to oblivion, or held up to ridicule and contempt. The consequence was, that the creed established by law had , no sort of influence m forming the sentiments of the people; the pulpit completely vanquished the desk • piety and puritanism were confounded in one common reproach ; an almost pagtm darkness in the concerns of salvation prevailed ; and the English became the most irrehgious people upon earth. Such was the situati(m of things, when Whitfield and vvesley made their appearance; who, whatever failings the severest cnticism can discover in their character, will be hailed by posterity as the second Reformers of Encr. land. Nothing was farther from the views of these ex- cellent men, than to innovate in the established relidon of then- country ; their sole aim was to recall the people to the good old way, and to imprint the doctrine of the Articles and Homilies on the spirits of men. But this doctrine had been confined so long to a dead letter, and so completely obhterated from the mind bv contrary in- struction, that the attempt to revive it met with aU the opposition which innovation is sure to encounter, in addition to what naturally results from the nature of the doctrine Itself, which has to contend with the whole torce of human corruption. The revival of the old ap- peared like the introduction of a new religion ; and the hostility It excited was less sanguinary, but scarcely less Yirulent than that which signalized the first publi^tion of Christianity. Ihe gospel of Christ, or thai system of truth whicli was laid as the foundation of the Reforma- tion has since made rapid advances ; and, in every step ?L . ^nT^'"' has sustained the most furious assault. Great Britain exhibits the singular spectacle of two parties contending, not whether Christianity shall be re- ceived or rejected, but whether it shall be allowed to ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION, 295 retain any thing spiritual : not whether the Articles and Homilies shall be repealed, but whether they shall be laid as the basis of public instruction. Infidelity being too much discredited by the atrocities in France, to hope for public countenance, the enemies of religion, instead of attacking the outworks of Christianity, are obliged to content themselves with vilifying and misrepresenting its distinguishing doctrines. They are willing to retain the christian religion, providing it continue inefficient ; and are wont to boast of their attachment to the established church, when it is manifest there is little in it they ad- mire, except its splendour and its emoluments. The clerical order, we are sony to say, first set the example ; and, since evangelical principles have been more widely difliised, have generally appeared in the foremost ranks of opposition. This is nothing more than might be naturally looked for. "With all the respect we feel for the clergy, on account of their learning and talents, it is impossible not to know that many of them are mere men of the world, who have consequently the same obj'ections to the gospel as others, together with some peculiar to themselves. As the very attempt of reviving doctrines which have been obliterated through their neglect, im- plies a tacit censure of their measures, so, wherever that attempt succeeds, it diminishes the weight of their eccle- siastical character. Deserted by the people, and eclipsed in the public esteem by many much their inferiors in literary attainments, they feel indignant : and if, as we will suppose, they sometimes suspect their being neglect- ed has arisen from their inattention to important truths and indispensable duties, this increases their uneasiness, which, if it fails to reform, will inevitably exasperate them still more against those who are the innocent occa- sions of it. It is but fair to acknowledge, that, in con- ducting the controversy, they have generally kept within decent bounds, have often reasoned where others have railed, and have usually abstained firom topics hackneyed by infidels and scoffers. But they cannot be vindicated from the charge of having, by a formal opposition to the gospel, inflamed the irrehgious prejudices of the age, ob- i 296 REVIEW OP structed the wnrV ♦!!«•, 3tn«nb, to out^e S iel? rl^''. '^P'«' °^ '«- from his month such a flLJ f u ^^^ **"'=«»" has cast Egypt, in the worn of heSl.r^ »d mischief, that wore loathsome abom na^on,^^ T "°* ''"^"^ ^th not suspect to hav^TxttT^i. ^'''«'»«''. ^hich we did «treats,%ome »^ri„?tto thf" '°'"' ^"^"^ fr"™ ""eir ^gorous pinions, o"hL "mwKLT''^^ "^ '""P'"'^ »"» slow and sluffniih m„»- ''™!'"''g on the earth with a filtV shmf ffttrLTnS*" feeT^ '''"'^^'^^ of ereiy order, from tlie P„ltnl,« ^*^® ^° "^'e" the contemptible dwa.^ of °MSV' • '"' ""'* *» erery partj, infidels, churehmen ^^ r*"" ' "'^'' °'" mo ley crew, who ha;e not one th^^? ''■ssenters, _ a their antipathy to reli^; vl^'^J'a cnmmally arerse to his duty, he e,uali;nt^S^'^^ ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 299 As adapted to such a situation, much of the New Testa- ment is employed in displapng the character and unfold- ing the offices of both, with a view of engaging him to embrace that scheme of mercy which the divine benignity has thought fit to exhibit in the gospel. The intention of St. John, in composing the evangelical history, coincides with the entire purpose and scope of revelation : " These things are written," said he, " tliat ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name." Whoever considers that, upon every hypothesis except the socinian, Christianity is a provision of mercy for an apostate and sinful world, through a divine Mediator, will ackno>>ledge that some- thing more is included in the idea of preaching the gospel, than the inculcation of moral duties ; and that he who confines his attention to these, exchanges the character of a christian pastor for that of a fashionable declaimer, or a philosophical moralist. If we turn our eyes to the ministry of the apostles, we perceive it to have consisted in *' testifying repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ:" repentance, which is natural religion modified by the circumstances of a fallen creature, including a return to the path of duty ; and faith, which is a practical compliance with the christian dispensation, by receiving the Saviour as " the way, the truth, and the life.** Faith and repentance being the pnmary duties enjoined under the gospel, and the production of these the professed end of the inspired writers, we need not wonder that those who are ambitious to tread in their steps, insist much, in the course of their ministry, on the topics which supply the principal motives to these duties ; the evil of sin, the extent of human corruption, together with the dignity, power, and grace of the Redeemer. Remembering that the object of repentance is God, they do not, in treating of sin, satisfy themselves with displaying its mischievous effects in society : they expatiate on its contrariety to the divine nature ; they speak of it chiefly as an affront offc ;d to the authority of the Supreme Ruler ; and represent no repentance as genuine which springs not from godly 300 REVIEW OF which requires the hIwJ.^ /.i^" ?^ '''^ """^ la*^, failing obiiiere!;frro LnhSi^r^""' r conscience and to convince men th«f " ^ i /'T® *« no flesh liringcan beTustiS tt .uV^" <*««''» °f it must be stopnid a J fhT C, *''^' ^"^^"y mouth Wore OoJ'-krlitnttrl'tr ^"^ ^rbr„:d:tr Ari^ih: t^^ ^"^^^^^^^ and the promise of nL .1: J^^^er of the Saviour, « Christ thV inTsar;S;eI^^^^^ ^^^^ tibitiiig the evidences of chrisSv l ^''^^•^ ^^- which upon historical Jou^ ^ndeniaHW ^''."' *^ merable inst^inces n€ ^Jr:^ - ""^^^niablj fails, m innu- uniforml yTsS\o tW ^^^ ^^^^h are neither oCo^L^^^^^^^^^ ^" the New Testament! nor inducing neZ^^m' TU^^Tet? ^ '^^ ^^f^ the external evideTir.p« nf .k 1, • ?^ *"^^ ^^ opmion that of importance of™ 't^''^'' ^« ^^^iefly attention orChKe^rin^- r'r *'"^T^ *^ ^^ t^e ^pensation; a^f the K ,t^^^^^ - that ^ n^uch stress, and connect wit^^ such tel^!?fl'^^^^^^^ sion to his authorit; Auf^'f "^'^ ^ T^^^ «^bmis. tuml faith, in a g;ndtnc^^^^^^^ ':^.^''.^''^' '^' ^"P" (without ^vhichtheXstmpln«^nu*^' "^'^'"^ ^^^^^^^g, dweU much on the di'niWK u' "^^^^^^^sfiil,) they God, the admLble coffion ^f t"""'"'' "^ '^' ^^ ^^ nuel, God with uT' the Iffi^^^^^^ ""It' ^^""^"^ "^"^"^a- gracious tenour^f his &.' ^ ^' atonement, and the ^encyoftCLiritwlvr- ''!''' *T^^^ ^th the Mediator, to betpL^^^^^^ ZTT^ *? .^^^ ^ the hody. In their ve^^^^^^ Christ; they perceive tKtfi^^^^^ ^r', tun ; and while thev imhih^ flof -T • ^"^ ^"^ ^'^ ^^ replete, they feel a sSi ^H^^^^^^^ '' '' of his name in every place." """^^^^^tuse the savour ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 301 I^t it not be inferred from hence, that they are inat- tentive to the interests of practical religion, or that their ministry is merely occupied in explaining and enforcing a doctrinal system. None lay more stress on the duties of a holy life, or urge with more constancy the necessity of their hearers showing their faith by their works ; and they are incessantly affirming, with St. James, that the former without the latter " is dead, being alone." Though, m common with the inspired writers, they ascribe their transition from a state of death to a state of justification solely to faith in Christ previous to good works actually performed, yet they equally insist upon a performance of those works as the evidence of justifying faith ; and, supposing life to be spared, as the indispensable con- dition ot final happiness. The law, not altered in its requirements, (for what was once duty they conceive to be duty still,) but attempered in its sanctions to the circumstances of a fallen creature, they exhibit as the perpetual standard of rectitude, as the sceptre of majesty by which the Saviour rules his disciple. They conceive It to demand the same things, though not with the same ngour, under the gospel dispensation as before. The matter of duty they look upon as unalterable, and the only difference to be this; that, whereas, under the covenant of works, the condition of life was sinless obe- dience, under the new covenant, an obedience sincere and affectionate, though imperfect, is accepted for the sake of the Redeemer. At the same time they do not cease to maintain, that the faith which they hold to be justifying comprehends in it the seminal principle of every virtue • that if genuine, it will not fail to be fruitful ; and that a chnstian has it in his power to show his faith " by his n^rks,*' and by no other means. Under a full conviction ot the fallen state of man, together with his moral in- capacity to do what is pleasing to God, they copiously insist on the agency of the Spirit, and affectionately urge their hearers to implore his gracious assistance. From no class of men will you hear more solemn warnings agamst sm, more earnest calls to repentance, or more full and distinct delineations of the duties resulting from every Hi 302 REVIEW OP relation in life, accompanied with a peculiar advantage of drawing from the mysteries of the gospel the strongeat motives to strengthen the abhoirence of the one, and enfwce the practice of the other. In their hands, moral- ity loses notliing but the pngan air with which it is too often mvested. The morahty which they enjoin is of heavenly origin, the pure emanation of truth and love, spnnkled with atoning blood, and baptized into an ele- ment of christian sanctity. That they are not indifferent to the interests of virtue is sufficiently apparent, from the warm approbation they uniformly express of the excellent ^ork of Mr. Wilberforce, which is not more conspicuous for the orthodoxy of its tenets than for the purity and energy of its moral instruction. If we look at the effects produced from the ministry of these men, they are such as might be expected to result from a faithful exhibition of the truth of God. Wherever they labour, careless sinners are awakened, profligate transgressors are re- claimed, the mere form of religion is succeeded by the power, and fruits of genuine piety appear in the holy and exemplary Hves of their adherents. A visible re- formation in society at large, and, in many instances, unequivocal proofs of solid conversion, attest the purity J^^^ LJJ.^^ I m :;! i ^ It 310 REVIEW OP a <,i '* auditory, associated witli such meanness, imbecility, or " absurdity, as to afford a complete triumph to those who " are adverse to their propagation. We are disgusted by the violation of all the rules, which the common sense of mankind teaches them to expect the observ- " ance of on the occasion. It is true, indeed, that some- " thing is heard about Christ, about faith and repentance, " about sin and grace ; but in vain we look for argument, •* or persuasion, or suavity, or reverential demeanour ; " qualities wh^^h ought never to be absent, where it is " of the utmost importance that the judgement be con- " vinced, and the affections gained.** — P. 158. Unfair and illiberal in the extreme as this represen- tation is, it contains an important concession, — that the lowest preachers among them have the wisdom to make a right selection of topics, and to bring forward truths of great importance ; a circumstance sufficient of itself to give them an infinite superiority over the " apes of Epic- tetus."* A great diversity of talents must be expected to be found amongst them ; but it has not been our lot to hear of any, whose labours a good man would think it right to treat with indiscriminate contempt. As they are called, for the most part, to address the middle and lower classes of society, their language is plain and simple : speaking in the presence of God, their address is solemn ; and, as becomes "the ambassadors of Christ," their appeals to the conscience are close and cogent. Few, if any, among them, aspire to the praise of consummate orators — a character which we despair of ever seeing associated, in high perfection, with that of a christian teacher. The minister of the gospel is called " to declare the testimony of God," which is always weakened by a profuse employment of the ornaments of secular eloquence. Those exquisite paintings and nice touches of art, in which the sermons of the French preachers excel so much, excite a kind of attention, and produce a species of pleasure, not in perfect accordance with devotional feeling. The imagination is too much excited and em- ployed, not to interfere with the more awful functions of * Horaley. ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 311 conscience ; the hearer is absorbed in admiration ; and the exercise which ought to be an instrument of con- viction, becomes a feast of taste. In the hand of a Massillon, the subject of death itself is blended with so many associations of the most delicate kind, and calls up so many sentiments of natural tenderness, as to become a source of theatrical amusement, rather than of religious sensibility. Without being insensible to the charms of eloquence, it is our decided opinion that a sermon of Mr. Gisbome's is more calculated to " convert a sinner from the error of his way," than one of Massillon's. It is a strong objection to a studied attempt at oratory in the pulpit, that it usually induces a neglect of the peculiar doctrines of christian verity, where the preacher feels himself restrained, and is under the necessity of explain- ing texts, of obviating objections, and elucidating diffi- culties, which limits the excursions of imagination, and confines it within narrow bounds. He is, therefore, eager to escape from these fetters ; and, instead of " rea- toning out of the Scriptures" expatiates in the flowery fields of declamation. It would be strange, however, if the evangelical clergy did not excel their contemporaries in the art of preaching, to which they devote so mucli more of their attention. While others are accustomed to describe it under the very appropriate phrase of " doing duty,'* it is their business and their delight. They engage in it under many advantages. Possessed of the same education with their brethren, they usually speak to crowded auditories; the truths they deliver command attention ; and they are accustomed to ascend the pulpit Under an awful sense of the weight and importance of their charge. Under such circumstances, it is next to impossible for them not to become powerfiil and impres- sive. Were it not indelicate to mention names, we could easily confirm our observations by numerous living ex- amples. Suffice it to say, that perhaps no denomination of christians ever produced so many excellent preax;hers ; and that it is entirely owing to them, that the ordinance of preaching has not fallen, in the established church, into utter contempt m l:i Li. p. 312 REVIEW OF With respect to tlie remarks the author makes on the " hypochondriacal cast of preaching heard among them," of their '* holding their hearers by details of conflicts and experiences/' and of their ''^ prosings on the hidings of Grod's face/'* we need not detain our readers. To good men it will be matter of serious regret, to find a writer, from whom different things were to be expected, treat the concerns of the spiritual warfare in so light and ludicrous a manner ; while the irreligious will heartily join in the laugh. It should be remembered that he is performing quarantine, purging himself firom the suspicion of methodism, and that nothing can answer this purpose so well as a spice of profaneness. After expressing his contempt of the erangelical clergy Bs preackersy he proceeds to characterise them in the following manner as mriters : — ** Here," says he, " I can with great truth affirm, that " many included in that description of clergymen now "under consideration are sorely grieved, by much of " what comes out as the produce of authorship on their " side. And well they may be ; to see, as is frequently " the case, the blessed truths of the gospel degraded, by " being associated with newspaper bombast, with impu- " dence, with invective, with dotage, with drivelling cant, " with buffoonery, and scurrility ! Who can read these "despicable publications, without thinking contempt- " uously of all who abet them ? But let not every one, " in whom an occasional coincidence of opinion may be " recognised, be included in this number. For it is a " certain truth, that the writings of avowed infidels are " not more offensive to several of the clergy in question, " than are some of the publications here alluded to. " Let them not, therefore, be judged of by that which " they condemn ; by productions which they consider as " an abuse of the liberty of the press, and a disgrace to " the cause which their authors profess to serve." — P. 179. Whoever remembers that the most learned interpreter of prophecy now living ranks with the evangelical clergy, * In the second edition, the aathor has changed tiie tenn " pro$ingif into •' discowsittgs.** ""••^m ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 313 whoever recalls to his recollection the names of Scott, Robinson, Gisbome, and a multitude of others of the same description, will not easily be induced to form a contemptuous opinion of their literary talents, or to sus- pect them of being a whit behind the rest of the clergy in mental cultivation or intellectual vigour. In a subse- quent edition, the author has explained his meaning, by restricting the censure to all who have ranged themselves on the side of the clergy imder consideration. But as fer as the most explicit avowal of the same tenets can indi- cate any thing, have not each of the respectable persons before mentioned ranged themselves on their side ? Or if he will insist upon limiting the phrase to such as have defended them in controversy, what will he say of Over- ton, whose work, for a luminous statement of facts, an accurate arrangement of multifarious articles, and a close deduction of proofs, would do honour to the first polemic of the age ? In affecting a contempt of this most able writer, he has contradicted himself, having, in another part of his work, borne a reluctant testimony to his talents. He closes his animadversions on the clergy usually styled evangelical, with the following important concessions ;— " We are ready to own, though there have been a few instances to the contrary, that the moral conduct of the men in question is consistent with their calling; and that though the faults above detailed are found among " them, yet that, as a body, they are more than free from " immoialities.'' — P. 162. llie men to whom their accuser ascribes an assemblage of virtues, so rare and so important, must unquestionably be " the excellent of the earth," and deserve a very differ- ent treatment from what they have received at his hands. Before we put a final period to this article, we must beg the readers patience to a few remarks on the general tendency of the work imder examination. For the freedom of censure the author has assumed, he cannot plead the privilege of reproof. He has vio- lated every law by which it is regulated. In administer- 'Ag reproof, we are not wont to call in a third party, least t( 314 REVIEW OP (( ic a (( of all tlie party to whom the persons reproved are direct- ly opposed. Besides, if reproof is intended to have any effect, it must be accompanied with the indications of a friendly mind ; since none ever succeeded in reclaiming the person he did not appear to love. The spirit this writer displays toward the objects of his censure, is de- cidedly hostile ; no expressions of esteem, no attempt to conciliate ; all is rudeness, asperity, and contempt. He tells us in his preface, " It is difficult to find an apology " for disrespectful language imder any circumstances : if " it can be at all excused, it is when he who utters lets us know from whence it comes ; but he who dares to use it, and yet dares not to put his name to the abuse, gives us reason to conclude that his cowardice is equal to his insolence.** (Pref. p. iv.) In violation of his own canon, he seems to have assumed a disguise for the very purpose of giving an unbridled indulgence to the in- solence he condemns. If we consider him the light of a public Censor, he will appear to have equally neglected the proprieties of that character. He vho undertakes that office ought, in all reason, to direct his chief attention to vice and im- piety ; which, as the common foes of human nature, give every one the privilege of attack : but, though his sub- ject naturally led him to it, we find little or nothing of the kind. In his eagerness to expose the aberrations of goodness, the most deadly sins, and the most destructive errors, are scarcely noticed. In surveying the state of morals, the eccentricities of a pious zeal, a hairbreadth deviation from ecclesiastical etiquette, a momentary feel- ing of tenderness towards dissenters, are the things which excite his indignation ; while the secularity, the indol- ence, the ambition, and dissipation, too prevalent in the church, almost escape his observation. We do not mean to assert, that it is always improper to animadvert on the errors and mistakes of good men ; we are convinced of the contrary. But, whenever it is attempted, it ought to he accompanied with such expressions of tenderness and esteem, as shall mark our sense of their superiority to persons of an opposite description. In the moral de- ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. 3 5 llneations with which the New Testament abounds, when the imperfections of christians are faithfully reprehended, we are never tempted to lose sight of the infinite dispar- ity betwixt the friends and the enemies of the gospel. Our reverence for good men is not impaired by contem- plating their infirmities : while those who are strangers to vital religion, with whatever amiable qualities they may be invested, appear objects of pity. The impression made by the present performance is just the reverse. The character of the unquestionably good is placed in so invidious a light on the one hand, and the bad quahties of their opponents so artfully disguised and extenuated on the other, that the reader feels himself at a loss which to prefer. Its obvious tendency is to obliterate every distinctive mark and characteristic by which genuine re- ligion is ascertained. The WTiter of this work cannot have intended the re- formation of the party on which he has animadverted ; for, independently of his having, by the rudeness of his attack, forfeited every claim to their esteem, he has so conducted it, that there is not one in fifty guilty of the faults he has laid to their charge. Instead of being in- duced to alter their conduct, they can only feel for him those sentiments which unfounded calumny is apt to in- spire. The very persons to whom his censures apply, will be more likely to feel their resentment rise at the bitterness and rancour which accompanies them, than to profit by his admonitions. As we are fully convinced that the controversy agitated between the evangelical party and their opponents, in- volves the essential interests of the gospel, and whatever renders Christianity worth contending for, we cannot but look with jealousy on the person who offers himself as an umpire ; especially when we perceive a leaning to- wards the party which we consider in the wrong. This partiality may be traced almost through every page of the present work. "Were we to look only to speculative points, we might be tempted to think otherwise. It is not, however, in the cool, argumentative parts of a work, that the bias of an author is so much to be perceived, as «p ■HKPHVSH ]' t It \ It r i 316 REVIEW OP in the declamatory parts, when lie gives a freer scope to his feelings. It is in the choice of the epithets applied to the respective parties, in the expression of contemptu- ous or respectful feeling, in the solicitude apparent to please the one, combined with the carelessness of offend- ing the other, that he betrays the state of his heart. Judged by this criterion, this author must be pronounced an enemt/ to the evangelical party. We hope this un- natural alienation from the servants of Christ will not prove contagious, or it will soon completely overthrow that reformation which the established church has ex- perienced within the last fifty years. When Samson was brought into the house of Dagon to make sport for the Philistines, it was by the Philis- tines themselves : had it been done by an Israelite, it would have betrayed a blindness much more deplorable than that of Samson. Great as were the irregularities and disorders which deformed the church at Corinth, and severely as they were reprehended, it is easy to con- ceive, but impossible to express, the indignation Paul would have felt, had a christian held up those disorders to the view and the derision of the heathen world. It is well known that the conduct of Luther, of Carlostadt, and of many other reformers, furnished matter of merited censure, and even of plausible invective ; but he who had employed himself in emblazoning and magnifying their faults, would have been deemed a foe to the Reformation. Aware that it will be replied to this, the cases are differ- ent, and neither the truth of Christianity, nor the doc- trines of the Reformation are involved in the issue of the present controversy ; we answer, without hesitation, that the controversy now on foot does involve nearly all that renders it important for Christianity to be true, and most precisely the doctrines of the Reformation, to which the papists are not more inimical (in some points they are less so) than the opponents of the evangelical clergy. It is the old enmity to the gospel, imder a new form ; an enmity as deadly and inveterate as that which animated the breast of Porphyry or of Julian. The impression of character on the public mind is ZEAL WITUOUT INNOVATION. 317 closely connected with that of principles ; so that, in the mixed questions more especially which regard religion and morals:, it is vain to expect men will condescend to be instructed by those whom they are taught to despise. Let it be generally supposed that the patrons of orthodox piety are weak, ignorant, and enthusiastic, despicable as a body, with the exception of a few individuals ; after being inured to such representations from their enemies, let the public be told this by one who was formerly their friend and associate, — and is it possible to conceive a cir- cumstance more calculated to obstruct the efficacy of their principles ? Will the prejudices of an irreligious world against the gospel be mitigated, by being inspired with contempt for its abettors ? Will it be won to the love of piety, by being schooled in the scorn and derision of its most serious professors ? We can readily suppose, that, stimg with the re- proaches cast upon his party, he is weary of bearing the cross : if this be the case, let him at once renounce his principles, and not attempt, by mean concessions, and a temporizing policy, to form an impracticable coalition be- twixt the world and the church. We apprehend the ground he has taken is untenable, and that he will be likely to please neither party. By the friends of the gospel he will be in danger of being shimned as an " ac- cuser of the brethren ;" while his new associates regard him with the contempt due to a sycophant. It must give the enlightened friends of religion con- cern, to witness a spirit gaining ground amongst us, which, to speak of it in the most favourable terms, is calculated to sow the seeds of discord. The vivid atten- tion to moral discrimination, the vigilance which seizes on what is deemed reprehensible, is unhappily turned to the supposed failings of good men, much to the satisfac- tion, no doubt, of an ungodly world. The practice of caricaturing the most illustrious men has grovm fashion- able amongst us. With grief and indignation we lately witnessed an attempt of this kind on the character of Mr. Whitfield, made, if our information be correct, by the present author ; in which e7«ry shade of imperfection. jj I ( If I i I I M 320 REVIEW OP ZEAL WITHOUT INNOVATION. Overton, by a copious detail of facts, and by a series of irrefragable arguments, establishes their innocence : this writer assents to their condemnation, entreating only that execution may be respited till an inquiry is made into the degrees of delinquency. The author of The True Churchman Ascertained, clothes himself with the light of truth : the author of Zeal without Innovation hides himself in the thickest gloom of equivocation. Before we close this article, we must entreat our reader's patience, while we make one observation relat- ing to the permanence of the ecclesiastical establishment It is possible the dignitaries of the church may be at a loss to decide whether the services of the evangelical class shall be accepted or rejected ; but we are persuaded the people will feel no difficulty in determining whether or not to continue their attendance at the places from whence they are banished. Teachers of the opposite description have already lost their hold on the public mind ; and they will lose it more and more. Should the secession from the established church become so general, as that its services are no longer the objects of popular suifrago, it will be deprived of its firmest support. For the author of the Alliance acknowledges that the com- pact betwixt church and state, which he allows to be a virtual rather thim a formal one, rests mainly upon the circumstance of the established religion being that of the majority, without which it becomes incapable of render- ing those services to the state, for the sake of which its privileges and emoluments were conferred. Nothing but an extreme infatuation can accelerate such an event. But if pious and orthodox men be prevented from enter- ing into the church, or compelled to retire from it, the people will retire with them ; and the apprehension of the church being in danger, which has so often been the watchword of party, will become, for once, well founded. / kvL REVIEW GISBORNE'S SERMONa Sermons, principally designed to illustrate and to enforce Christian Morality. By the Rev. T. GiSBORNE, A.M. 8vo. pp. 430. 1809. We have read these sermons with so much satisfaction, that, were it in our power to aid their circulation by any testimony of our approbation, we should be almost at a loss for terms sufficiently strong and emphatic. Though the excellent author is possessed already of a large share of the public esteem, we are persuaded these discourses will make a great accession to his celebrity. Less dis- tinguished by any predominant quality than by an as- semblage of the chief excellencies in pulpit composition, they turn on subjects not very commonly handled, and discuss them with a copiousness, delicacy, and force, which evince the powers of a master. They are almost entirely upon moral subjects, yet equally remote from the superhciality and dryness with which these subjects are too often treated. The morality of Mr. Gisbome is arrayed in all the majesty of truth and all the beauties of holiness. In perusing these sermons, the reader is continually reminded of real life, and beholds human nature under its most unsophisticated aspect, without ever being tempted to suppose himself in the schools of pagan philosophy. We cannot better explain the pro- fessed scope and object of the author, than by copying a few sentences from his preface. " Of late years it has been loudly asserted, that, *' among clergymen who have showed themselves very VOL. II. Y i^ 1^ li 322 REVIEW OF " earnest in doctrinal points, adequate regard lias not " been evinced to moral instruction. The charge has " perhaps been urged with the greatest vehemence by " persons who have employed little trouble in examining •* into its truth. In many cases it has been groundless,^ " in many, exaggerated. In some instances there has " been reason, 1 fear, for a degree of complaint ; and in " more, a colourable pretext for the imputation. I be- " lieve that some preachers, shocked on beholding exam- " pies, real or supposed, of congregations starving on " mere morality, substituted for the bread of life ; eager " to lay broad and deep the foundations of the gospel, " and ultimately apprehensive lest their own hearers " should suspect them of reverting towards legality^ have " not given to morals, as fruits of faith, the station and " the ampUtude to which they have a scriptural claim. " Anxious lest others should mistake, or lest they should " themselves be deemed to mistake, the branch for the " root ; not satisfied with proclaiming to the branch, as *' they were bound habitually to proclaim. Thou beareM " not the root, hut the root thee, they have shnmk from the " need^ office of tracing the ramifications. They have " not left morality out of their discourses, but they have " kept it too much in the back-groimd. They have no- " ticed it shortly, generally, incidentally ; in a manner " which, while perhaps they were eminent as private " patterns of moral duties, might not sufficiently guard " an unwary hearer against a reduced estimate of prac- " tical holiness, nor exempt themselves from the sus- " picion of undervaluing moral obedience." Pref. pp. ▼ii., viii. To the truth of these remarks we cordially assent, as they point to a defect in the ministration of some excel- lent men, which the judicious part of the public have long lamented, and which Mr. Gisbome, in his present work, has taught his contemporaries how to remedy. Extremes nati^ly lead to each other. The peculiar doctrines of the gospel had been so long neglected by the most celebrated preachers, and the pernicious conse- quences of that neglect, in wearing out every trace of GISBORNE'S SERMONS. 323 genuine religion, had been so deeply felt, that it is not to be wondered at if the first attempts to correct the evil were accompanied with a tendency to the contrary ex- treme. In many situations, those who attempted to revive doctrines which had long been considered as obsolete, found themselves much in the same circum- stances as missionaries, having intelligence to impart before unknown, and exposed to all the contempt and obloquy which assailed the first preachers of Christianity. While they were engaged in such an undertaking, it is not at all surprising that they confined their attention almost entirely to the doctrines peculiar to the christian religion, with less care to inculcate and display the moral precepts which it includes in common with other sys- tems than their intrinsic importance demanded. They were too much occupied in removing the rubbish and laying the foundations, to permit them to carry their superstructure very high. They insisted, in general terms, on the performance of moral dutie&> urged the necessity of that holiness without which "none shall see the Lord ;" and, by a forcible application of truth to the conscience, produced in many instances the most surprising, as well as the most happy efiects. But still, in consequence of limiting their ministry too much to the first elements of the gospel, and dwelling chiefly on topics calculated to alarm the careless and console the faithful, a wrong taste began to prevail amongst their hearers — a disrelish of moral discussions, a propensity to contemplate Christianity under one aspect alone, — that of a system of relief for the guilty, instead of a continual discipline of the heart. Those wished for stimulants and cordials, whose situation required alteratives and correctives. Preachers and hearers have a reciprocal influence on each other ; and the fear of being reproached as " legal" deterred some good men from insisting so much on moral and practical subjects as their own good sense would have dictated. By this means the malady became more inveterate, till the inherent corruption of human nature converted the doctrine of the gospel, in a greater or less degree, into the leaven of antinomianism. y2 324 REVIEW OP An error, which at first appeared trivial, at length proved serious ; and thus it came to pass that the fabric of sa- cred truth was almost universally reared in such a man- ner as to deviate sensibly from the primitive model. When we look at cliristianity in the New Testament, we see a set of discoveries, promises, and precepts, adapt- ed to influence the whole character : it presents an object of incessant solicitude, in the pursuit of which new efforts are to be exerted, and new victories accomplished, in a continued course of well-doing, till we reach the heaven- ly mansions. There is scarce a spring in the human frame and constitution it is not calculated to touch, nor any portion of human agency which is exempted from its control. Its resources are inexhaustible ; and the considerations by which it challenges attention embrace whatever is most awful or alluring in the whole range of possible existence. Instead of being allowed to repose on his past attainments, or to flatter himself with the hope of success without the exercise of diligence and watchfulness, the christian is commanded to work out his salvation with fear and trembling. In the actual exhibi- tion of religion, the solicitude of serious minds has been made to turn too much on a particular crisis, which has been presented in a manner so insulated, that nothing in the order of means seemed instrumental to its produc- tion. In short, things have been represented in such a manner as was too apt to produce despondency before conversion, and presumption after it. It must be allowed, the judicious management of prac- tical subjects is more difficult than the discussion of doc- trinal points ; which may also account, in part, for the prevalence of the evil we are now speaking of. In treat- ing a point of doctrine, the habit of belief almost super- sedes the necessity of proof : the mind of the hearer is usually pre-occupied in favour of the conclusions to b« established ; nor is much address or ingenuity necessary to conduct him in a path in which he has long been ac- customed to tread. The materials are prepared to the preacher s hands ; a set of texts, with their received in- terpretations, stand ready for his use; the compass of GISBORNES SERMONS. 325 thought which is required is very limited ; and this little circle has been beaten so often, that an ordinary imder- standing moves through it with mechanical facility. To discuss a doctrinal position to the satisfaction of a com- mon audience requires the smallest possible exertion of intellect. The tritest arguments are, in fact, the best : the most powerful considerations to enforce assent are rendered, by that very quality, the most conspicuous, as the sun announces himself by his superior splendour. In delineating the duties of life the task is very different. To render these topics interesting, it is necessary to look abroad, to contemplate the principles of himian nature, and the diversified modes of human feeling and action. The preacher has not to do with a few rigid and unbend- ing propositions : he is to contemplate and portray a real state of things — a state which is continually changing its aspect, while it preserves its essential character, and the p£uiiculars of which mock the powers of enumeration. If he does not think with great originality, he must at least think for himself: he must use his own eyes, though he may report nothing but what has been ob- served before. As there lies an appeal, on these occa- sions, to the unbiassed good sense and observation of un- lettered minds, the deficiencies of an injudicious instruc- tor are sure to be detected. His principles will fail of interesting for want of exemplification, or his details will be devoid of dignity, and his delineations of human life disgust by their deviation from nature and from truth. In points of casuistry, difficulties will occur which can only be solved and disentangled by nice discrimination, combined with extensive knowledge. The general pre- cepts, for example, of justice and humanity, may be faith- fidly inculcated, and earnestly insisted on, without aflbrd- ing a ray of useful direction to a doubting conscience. While all men acknowledge the indispensable obligation of these precepts, it is not always easy to discover what is the precise line of action they enforce. In the appli- cation of general rules to particular cases of conduct, many relations must be surveyed, opposing claims must be reconciled and adjusted, and the comparative value of 1 l\ u\ (I i i 326 REVIEW OF different species of virtue establishecl upon just and solid principles. These difficulties have heen evaded, rather than over- come, by the greater part of moralizing preachers ; who have contented themselves with retailing extracts from the works of their celebrated predecessors, or \idth throw- ing together a few loose and undigested thoughts on a moral duty, without order and arrangement, or the small- est effort to impress its obligation upon the conscience, or to deduce it from its proper sources. To the total want of unction, to the cold, pagan, anti-christian cast of these compositions, joined to their extreme superficiality, must be ascribed, in a great measure, the disgust which many serious minds have contracted against the introduc- tion of moral topics into the pulpit. Our readers wall not suspect we mean to apply this censure indiscrimin- ately, or that we are insensible to the extraordinary merits of a Barrow or of a Tillotson, who have cultivated chris- tian morals with so universal an applause of the English public. We admire, as much as it is possible for our readers to admire, the rich invention, the masculine sense, the exuberantly copious, yet precise and energetic diction, which distinguish the first of these writers, who, by a rare felicity of genius, united in himself the most distin- guishing qualities of the mathematician and of the orator. We are astonished at perceiving, in the same person, and in the same composition, the close logic of Aristotle com- bined with the amplifying powers of Plato. The can- dour, the good sense, the natural arrangement, the un- premeditated graces of Tillotson, if they excite less ad- miration, give us almost equal pleasure. It is, indeed, the peculiar boast of the English nation, to have produced a set of divines, who, being equally acquainted with classical antiquity and inspired writ, and capable of join- ing, to the deepest results of unassisted reason, the ad- vantages of a superior illumination, have delivered down to posterity a body of moral instruction more pure, copious, and exact, than subsists amongst any other people; and had they appealed more ftequentlv to th. peculiar principles of the gospel, had thejr infused a more gisbori^e's sermons. 327 eyaneeUcal spirit into their discourses, inst^ of repre- 3g Christianity too much as a mere code of morals, they would have left us nothing to wish or to regret Their decision of moral questions was for the most part unquestionably just; but they contemplatedmoral duUes too much apart, neglecting to blend them sufficiently with the motives and principles of pure revelation, after the manner of the inspired miters ; and supposing them to beUeve, they forgot to inculcate, the fundamental truth- that " bv ddmUofthe law no Jksh Uvi-ng >hM be jmtt- Aed " Those internal dispositions, whence right conduct •^'alone flow, were too little insisted on; the agency of the Spirit was not sufficiently honoured or acknowledged ; and the subordination of the duties of the second to those of the first table not enough kept m view. The virtues they recommended and enforced were too often considered as the native growth "f *«.l"^"/^,^'=^^ ^H stead of being represented as prmU of the SpzrO. Jesus Christ was not laid as the foundation of morahty ; and a very sparing use was made of the motives to its practice deduced from his promises, his example, and his Lrifice. Add to this, that the labours of these great men were employed ahnost entirely in illustratmg and enforcing the obligation of particular duties, while the doctrine of the cross engaged little of their attention, ex- cept so far as it was impugned by the objections of m- fidels, or mutilated by the sophistry of papists. From the perusal of their writings, the impression naturally results, that a belief of the evidences ot revealed rehgio^ Joined to a correct deportment m socid hfe, is adequate to aU the demands of Christianity. For these reasons, much as we admire, we cannot recommend them m an unqualified manner, nor consider them as safe guides m B^rThese remarks, we intend no offence to any chiss of christians. That the celebrated authore we have men- tioned, with others of a similar stamp, have ^ fi^«d *« style Li improved the taste of the English piJpit, wWe they have poured a copious stream of knowledge on the public min^ we are as ready to acknowledge as their 328 REVIEW OF warmest admirers ; but we will not disguise our convic- tion, that, for the just delineation of the " truth as it is in Jesus," we must look to the Baxters, the Howes, and the Ushers of an earlier period. He who wishes to catch the flame of devotion by listening to the words " which are spirit and are life," will have recourse to the writings of the latter, notwithstanding their intricacy of method and proUxity of style. It is with peculiar satisfaction we call the attention of our readers to a work which imites, in a considerable degree, the excellencies of each class of divines alluded to, without their defects. The discourses are on the fol- lowing subjects : Our Lord Jesus Christ the Foundation of Morality ; on the Evils resulting from false Principles of Morality ; on the Changes produced, by the Coming of Christ, in the Situation of Men as to the Divine Law ; Justification not attainable by Acts of Morality; on Living after the Flesh or after the Spirit ; the Love of Grod an Inducement to strict Morality; on Brotherly Love ; on the Love of Money ; on the Sacrifice of Worldly Interest to Duty ; on Christian Bounty ; on Dis- content ; on Worldly Anxiety ; on Christian Obedience to Civil Rulers ; Christian Patriotism illustrated by the Character of Nehemiah ; on quiet Diligence in our Proper Concerns ; on Partiality ; on Suspicion ; on doing Evil to produce Good ; on the Superiority of Moral Conduct required of Christians. The reader will perceive it was not the authors design to make a systematic arrange- ment of christian duties, and that there are many vices and virtues not comprehended within the plan of his present work. In the discussion of the subjects which he has selected, he has evinced much observation of human life, a deep insight into the true principles of morals, and an intimate acquaintance with the genius of the christian religion. He has erected his edifice upon a solid basis ; in the choice of his materials, he has care- fully excluded the wood, hay, and stubble, and admitted no ornaments but such as are fitted to grace the temple of God. The intelligent reader will discover, in these discourses, OISBORNES SERMONS. 329 the advantage resulting fi-om studying morality as a science. It will yield him great satisfaction to find the writer ascending on all occasions to first principles, form- ing his decision on comprehensive views, separating what is specious from what is solid, and enforcing morality by no motives which are suspicious or equivocal. He will not see vanity or ambition pressed into the service of virtue, or any approach to the adoption of that dangerous policy which proposes to expel one vice by encouraging another. He will meet with no flattering encomiums on the purity and dignity of our nature, none of those appeals to the innate goodness of the human heart, which are either utterly ineffectual, or, if they restrain from open profligacy, difiuse, at the same time, the more subtle poison of pride and self-righteousness. Mr. Gisbome never confounds the functions of morality with the offices of the Saviour, nor ascribes to human virtue, polluted and imperfect at best, any part of those transcendent eff*ects which the New Testament teaches us to impute to the mediation of Christ. He considers the whole com- pass of moral duties as branches of religion, as prescribed by the will of God, and no farther acceptable to him than as they proceed from religious motives. The disposition in mankind to seek justification by the works of the law has been so much flattered and eji- couraged by the light in which moral duties have been usually placed, that Mr. Gisbome has shown his judge- ment by counteracting this error at the outset. We re- commend to the serious attention of our readers, with this view, the fourth sermon, on Justification not attain- able by Acts of Morality. We have never seen a publi- cation in which that important argimient is set in a more clear and convincing light. • Though Mr. Gisbome for a series of years has distin- guished hiraselt as the able opponent of the doctrine of expediency, yet on no occasion has he exerted more abi- lity in this cause than in his present work. We recom- mend it to the thinking part of the public to forget for a moment that they are reading a sermon, and conceive themselves attending to the arguments of a sober and I 330 BEVIEW OF GISBORNES SERMONS. 331 ij II I It ' ' enligliteiiedpliilosoplier. To punfy the sources of mo^ and to detect the principles of a theory, which enables us to err by system and be depraved by rule, is to do good of the highest sort ; as he »ho diminishes the mass of human calamity by striking one from the list of dis- eases, is a neater benefactor to mankind than the physi- cian who performs the greatest number of cures. It is in this Uffht we look upon the labours of the present author • to whom we are more indebted than to any other individual for discrediting a doctrine, which threatens to annihilate religion, to loosen the foundation of morals, and to debase the character of the nation. We recom- mend to universal perusal the admirable discourse, on the Evils resulting from false Principles of Morality. The two discourses which propose to illustrate tne Character of Nehemiah contain the most valuable in- struction, adapted, in particular, to the use of those who occupy the higher ranks, or who possess stations of com- manding influence and authority. They eymce just and enlarged views of the duties attached to elevated situa- tions, and breathe the purest spirit of chnstian benevo- lence. The Sermon on the Love of Money displays, perhaps, most of the powers of the orator, and demon- Lates in how masterly a manner the author is capable, when he pleases, of enforcing " the terrors of the Lord. It contams some awful passages, in which, by a kmd ot repeated asseveration of the same truth, and the happy reiteration of the same words, an effect is produced re- sembling that of repeated claps of thunder. We shall present our readers with the following specimen. " Fourthly. Meditate on tlie final condition to which « the lover of money is hastening. The covdous, the " man who is under the dominion of the love of money, « ' shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' In the pre- "• sent life he has a foretaste of the fruits of his sm. He « is restless, anxious, dissatisfied ; at one time harassed *' by uncertainty as to the probable result of his pro- «* jects ; at another, soured by the failure of them ; at an- " other, disappointed in the midst of success, by dis^rn- ing too late, that the same exertions employed in u " some other line of advantage would have been more " productive. But suppose him to have been, through " life, as free from the effects of these sources of vexation " as the most favourable picture could represent him, " ' he shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' He may " not have been a miser ; but he was a lover of money. " He may not have been an extortioner ; but he was a " lover of money. He may not have been fraudulent ; " but he was a lover of money. ' He shall not inherit " the kingdom of God.' He has had his day and his " object. He has sought, and he may have accumu- " lated, earthly possessions. By their instrumentality he " may have gratified many other appetites and desires. " But he did not seek first the kingdom of God ; there- " fore he shall not obtain it. He ' loved the world ;* '' therefore he ' shall perish ^ ith the world.' He has " wilfully bartered his soul for money. In vain is he " now aghast at his former madness. In vain does he " now detest the idol which he worshipped. The gate " of salvation is closed against him. He inherits the *' bitterness of unavailing remorse, the horrors of eternal " death."— Pp. 145, 14t). If we w ere called to specify the discourse in the pre- sent volume that appeared to us the most ingenious and original, we should be inclined to point to the eighteenth, on Suspicion. Having expressed our warm approbation of this per- formance, justice compels us to notice what appear to us its principal blemishes ; which, however, are so overba- lanced by the merit of the whole, that we should scarcely deem them worthy of remark, were it not requisite to vindicate our claim to impartiality. Against the senti- ments or the arrangement of these discourses we have nothing to object : the former are almost invariably just and important, often striking and original ; the latter is natural and easy, preserving the spirit of method even where it may seem to neglect the form ; equally remote from the looseness of an harangue, and the ostentation of logical exactness. With the style of this work we cannot say that we are quite so much satisfied. Per- I *.' 1*'^ * II ■» • ) I 332 IIEVIEW OF spicuous, dignified, and correct, it yet wants sometlnnjg more of amenity, variety, and ease. Instead of that flexi- biUty which bends to accommodate itself to the different conceptions which occur, it preservesasort of uniform state- liness. The art of transposition, carried, in our opinion, to excess, together with the preference of learned to plain Saxon words, give it an air of Latinity, which must necessarily render it less intelligible and acceptable to unlettered minds. It is, indeed, but fair to remark, that the discourses appear to have been chiefly designed for the use of the higher classes. But while we allow this apology its just weight, we are still of opinion that the composition might have assumed a more easy and natural air, without losmg any thing of its force or beauty. Ad- dresses from the pulpit should, in our apprehension, always make some approach to the character of being plain and popular. Another blemish which strikes us in this work, is the frequent use of interrogations, introduced, not only in the warm and impassioned parts, where they are grace- ful, but in the midst of argumentative discussion. We have been struck with the prevalence of this practice in the more recent works of clergymen, beyond those of any other order of men. With Demosthenes, we know in- terrogation was a very favourite fig^e ; but we recollect, at the same time, it was chiefly confined to the more vehe- ment parts of his speeches, in which, like the eruptions of a furnace, he broke out upon, and consumed his opponents. In him it was the natural expression of triumphant in- dignation : after he had subdued and laid them prostrate by the force of his arguments, by his abrupt and terrible interrogations he trampled them in the mire. In calm and dispassionate discussion, the frequent use of ques- tions appears to us unnatural : it discomposes the atten- tion by a sort of starting and irregular motion, and is a violation of dignity, by affecting to be lively where it is sufficient praise to be cogent and convincing. In a word, when, instead of being used to give additional vehemence to a discourse, they are interspersed in a series of argu- ments, as an expedient for enlivening the attention and GISBORNES SERMONS. 333 vaiying the style, they have an air of undignified flip- pancy- We should scarcely have noticed these little cir- cumstances in an inferior work ; but we could not satisfy ourselves to let them pass without observation in an author who, to merits of a more substantial nature, joins so many and such just pretensions to the character of a fine wnter. \ i REVIEW OF GREGORY'S LETTERS. Letters to a Friend on the Evidences, ^^^^^^^'^''^ % Christian Eelioion. By Olin-thus Gregory, LL.D. of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwtch. 1812. As this is a work of no ordinary merit and written upon a subject which all must conte^ss to be of the last importance we shall endeavour, after bemg mdulged Zli a few preliminary remarks, to give a pretty copious I^alysis of its contents ; not doubting the greater part of ^r readers will be solicitous to avail themselves of the rich entertainment and instruction which its perusal w 11 Suquestionably afford. The fet volume is employed m the discussion of a subject which has engaged the powers of the wisest of men through a series of ages ; ^^^ mmds of every size, and of every diversity of acquisition havmg contributed their quota towards its elucidation, the accu- mulation of materials is such, that it has become more necessary, perhaps more difficult, to arrange tban to in- y^t. In the conduct of so extensive an argument, the talents of the writer will chiefly appear, in giving the due degree of relief and prominence to the different branches of the subject,-in determining what shodd be placed in a strong and brilliant light, and what shodd L more slightly sketched,-^and disposmg tl^e whok m such a manner as shall give it the most impressive effect If there is little room for the display of mvention, other powers are requisite, not less rare or less useftil ; a nice Ld discriminating judgement, a true logical taste, and a REVIEW OP GREGORYS LETTERS. 335 talent of extensive combination. An ordinary thinker feels himself lost in so wide a field ; is incapable of clas- sifying the objects it presents ; and wastes his attention on such as are trite and common, instead of directing it to those which are great and interesting. If there are subjects which it is difficult to discuss for want of data to proceed upon — and, while they allure by their appearance of abstract grandeur, are soon found to lose themselves in fruitless logomachies and unmeaning sub- tleties, such as the greater part of the discussions on time, space, and necessary existence,— there are others whose difficulty springs from an opposite cause, from the immense variety of distinct topics and considera- tions involved in their discussion, of which the divine origination of Christianity is a striking specimen ; which it has become difficult to treat as it ought to be treated, merely in consequence of the variety and super-abun- dance of its proofs. On this account, we suspect that this great cause has been not a little injured by the injudicious conduct of a certain class of preachers and writers, who, in just des- pair of being able to handle a single topic of religion to advantage, for want of having paid a devout attention to the Scriptures, fly like harpies to the evidences of Chris- tianity, on which they are certain of meeting with some- thing prepared to their hands, which they can tear, and soil, and mangle at their pleasure. Diripiuntque dapes, contactuque omnia fcedant The famine also, with which their prototypes in Virgil threatened the followers of ^neas, is not more dismal than that which prevails among their hearers and readers. The folly we are adverting to did not escape the obser- vation nor the ridicule of Swift, who remarked in his days, that the practice of mooting, on every occasion, the question of the origin of Christianity was much more likely to unsettle the faith of the simple, than to counteract the progress of infidelity. It is dangerous to familiarize every promiscuous audience to consider religion as a thing which yet remains to be proved. I 336 BEYIEW OF to acquaint them with eyery sophism and cavil which a perverse and petulant ingenuity has found out, unaccom- panied, as is too often the case, with a satisfactory an- swer ; thus leaving the poison to operate, without the antidote, in minds which ought to be strongly unhued with the principles, and awed by the sanctions, ot the gospel. It is degrading to the dignity of a revelation, established through a succession of ages by indubitable proofs, to be adverting every moment to the hypothesis of its being an imposture, and to be inviting every in- solent sophist to wrangle with us about the title, when we should be cultivating the possession. The practice we are now censuring is productive of another incon- venience. The argument of the truth of chnstiamty being an argument of accumulation, or, in other words, of that nature, that the force of it results less from any separate consideration than from an ahnost infinite variety of circumstances, conspiring toward one point, and ter- minating in one conclusion; this concentration of evi- dence is broken to pieces when an attempt is made to present it in superficial descants ; than which nothing can be conceived better calculated to make what is great appear little, and what is ponderous, light. The tnte observation, that a cause is injured by the adoption of feeble arguments, rests on a basis not often considered, perhaps by those who most readily assent to its truth. We never think of estimating the powers of the imagina- tion on a given subject, by the actual performance ot the poet ; but if he disappoint us, we immediately ascribe his failure to the poverty of his genius, without accusing his subject or his art. The regions of fiction we naturally conceive to be boundless ; but, when an attempt is made to convince us of the truth of a proposition respecting a matter of fact or a branch of morals, we take it tor granted, that he who proposes it has made himself per- fectly master of his argument ; and that, as no considera- tion has been neglected that would favour his opmion, we shall not err in taking our impression of the cause from the defence of its advocate. If that cause happen to be such as involves the dearest interests of mankind. GREGORY S LETTERS. 3^7 we need not remark how much injury it is capable of sustaining from this quarter. Let us not be supposed, by these remarks, to compre- liend within our censure the writer, who amidst the mul- tifarious proofs of revelation, selects a single topic, with ft view to its more elaborate discussion, provided it be of such a nature that it will support an independent train of thought ; such, for example, as Paley has pursued in his tiorae Paulina, to which a peculiar value ought to be attached, as a clear addition to the body of christian evi- dences. All we mean to assert is, that it is incomparably better to be silent on the evidences of Christianity, than to be perpetually adverting to them in a slight and super- ticial maimer; and that a question so awful and momen- tous as that relating to the origin of the christian relimon, oi^ht not to be debased into a trivial commonplace. Let It be tonnally discussed, at proper intervals, by such men, and such only, as are capable of bringing to it the time talents, and information, requisite to place it in a com- mandmg attitude. That the author of the present per- formance IS possessed of these qualifications to a very great degree, wiU sufficiently appear from the analysis we propose to give of the work, and the specimens we shall occasionally exhibit of its execution. It is usherc d in by a modest and dignified dedication to Colonel Mudge, lieutenant-governor of that royal military institution, of which the author is so disthi- guished an ornament. The whole is cast into the form of Letters to a Friend; and the first volume, we are given to understand, formed the subject of an actual cor- respondence. As much of the epistolaiy style is pre- served as is consistent with the nature of a serious and prota^cted argument, without ill-judged attempts at re- freshing the attention of the reader by strokes of gaiety and humour. The mind of the writer appears to have been too deeply impressed with his theme to admit of such excursions, the absence of which will not, we are persuaded, be felt or regretted. Before he proceeds to state the direct proofs of the divinity of the christian rehgion, he shows, in a veiy \i 538 REVIEW OF Striking manner, the absurdities which mnst of necessity be embraced by those who deny all pretences to revela- tion ; enumerating, in the form of a creed, the yanous strange and untenable positions which form the subject of sceptical beUef. In this part of the work, that disease in the intellectual temperament of infidels is placed m S stronger and juster Ught than we remember to have seen it which may not improperly be denominated the credu- lity of unbelievers. This representation forms the con- tents of the first letter. The necessity of revelation is still more indisputably evinced by an appeal to facts, and a survey of the opinions which prevailed among the most enlightened heathens, respecting God, moral duty, and a future state. Under each of these heads, our author has selected, with great judgement, numerous instances of the flagnmt and perni- cious errors entertained by the most celebrated pagan legislators, poets, and philosophers ; sufficient to demon- strate, beyond all contradiction, the inability of unassist- ed reason, in its most improved and perfect state, to conduct man to virtue and happiness, and the necessity, thence resulting, of superior aid. Much diligence of re- search, and much felicity of arrangement, are displayed in the management of this complicated topic, where the reader will find exhibited, in a condensed form, the most material facts adduced in Leland's voluminous work on this subject. All along, the author holds the balance with a firm and steady hand, without betraying a dispo- sition either to depreciate the value of those discoveries and improvements to which reason really attained, or to charge the picture of its aberrations and defects with deeper shades than justly belong to it. The most emi- nent among the pagans themselves, it ought to be re- membered, who, having no other resource, were best acquainted with its weakness and its power, never dreamed of denying the necessity of revelation: this they asserted in the most explicit terms ; and on some occasions seem to have expected and anticipated the communication of such a benefit. We make no apology for citing, from the present work, the following remark- Ji GREGORYS LETTERS. 339 able passage out of Plato, tending both to confirm the fact of a revelation being anticipated, and to evince, sup- posing nothing supernatural in the case, the profound sagacity of that great author. He says, " This just per- ,6on (the inspired teacher of whom he had been speaking) niust be poor, and void of all qualifications but thoseof vu^ue alone ; that a wicked world would not bear his in- structions and reproofs; and therefore, that within three or four years after he began to preach he should be per- secuted, imprisoned, scourged, and at last be put to death. * In whatever light we consider it, this must be allowed to be a most remarkable passage ; whether we regard it as merely the conjecture of a highly enlightened mind, or as the fi-uit of prophetic suggestion : nor are we aware of any absurdity in supposing that the prolific bpint scattered, on certain occasions, some seeds of truth amidst that mass of corruption and darkness which op- pressed the pagan world. The opinion we have ventured to advance, is asserted in the most positive terms, in several parts of Justin Martyr s Second Apology. With- out pursuing this inquiry farther, we shall content our- selves with remarking, that, as the sufficiency of mere reason, as the guide to truth, never entered into the con- ception of pagans, so it could never have been thus ad- duced at all, but in consequence of confounding its results with the dictates of revelation, which since its publica- tion, has never ceased to modify the speculations, and aid the mqumes of those who are least disposed to bow to its authonty. On all questions of morality and reli- gion, the streams of thought have flowed through channels enriched with a celestial ore, whence they have derived the tmcture to which they are indebted for their rarest and most salutary qualities. Before we dismiss the subject, we would just observe, that the mefticacy of unassisted reason in religious con- cerns appears undeniably in two points : the doubtful manner in which the wisest pagans were accustomed to express themsdyes respecting a future state, the exist- ence of which Warburton is confident none of the philo- *DeRepDbHca,Lib.ii. z2 / 3^ REVIEW -OP sopliers believed ; and their proud rebance on tbeir own virtue, which was such as left no room for repejitance. Of a future state, Socrates, in the near prospect of death, is represented by Plato as expressing a hope accompa- nied with the greatest imcertainty ; and with respect to the second pomt, the lofty confidence in their own virtue, which we have imputed to them, the lan^age of Cicero, in one of his familiar letters, is awfully decisive : Nee enim dum ero, angor ulla re, cum ^'JJ^f^.^'^'^/Xr T et si non ero, sensu omni carebo." ^' While I exist, I shall be troubled at nothing, since I have no fault what- ever : and if I shall not exist, I shall be devoid of all feehn tained some celebrity, but is now qaite furgotten. £d. 342 EEVIEW OP glad to find lie has availed himself of the profound and original reasoning of Hartley, which he has fortified all along with ingenious reflections of his own, and crowned by an appeal to the principal testimonies of christian and pagan antiquity. The Letter devoted to this subject is long, but not more so than the occasion demanded, and is replete with varied and extensive information. To the whole he has annexed a very accurate and particular account of the researches and discoveries of Dr. Bucha- nan, made during his visit to the Syrian churches in India ; nor are we aware that there is a single conside- ration of moment, tending to confirm the genuineness and integrity of the Scriptures in their present state, which, in the course of our author s extended investiga- tion, has escaped his notice. By some he will be blamed for placing the proofs of the authenticity of the sacred records before the argument from prophecy and miracles: but we think he is right in adopting such an arrange- ment ; since the reasoning on this part not only stands independent of the sequel, but greatly abridges his sub- sequent labour, by enabling him to appeal on every occa- sion to the testimony of scripture, not indeed as inspired, but as an authentic document, that point having been previously established ; while it is in perfect unison with that solicitude he every where evinces to imbue the mind of his readers with a serious and devotional spirit. Here is a book of a singular character, and of high antiquity, from which christians profess to derive the whole of their information on religion ; and it comes do^vn to us under such circumstances, that every thing relating to it is capable of being investigated, apart from the considera- tion of prophecies and miracles, except its claim to inspi- ration. Why, then, should not the pretensions of this book be examined at the very outset, as far as they are susceptible of an independent examination ; since the proof of its being genuine and authentic will extend its consequences so tar into the subsequent matter of discus- sion, as well as exert a great and salutary influence on the mind of the inquirer ? The next Letter is devoted to the subject of prophecy ; Gregory's letters. 343 in which, after noticing a few of the more remarkable predictions relating to the revolutions of power and em- pire, he descends to a more particular investigation of the prophecies relating to the Messiah, which he ar- ranges under three heads : such as respect the time and place of his appearance ; his character, doctrine, rejec- tion, and final triumph ; and the exact correspondence betwixt his contemptuous treatment and suff'erings, and the representations of the ancient oracles. Under the last, he embraces the opportunity of rescuing the proof from the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, from the cavils of the Jews, as well as from the insinuation of certain infi- dels, that the prophecy was written after the event ; which he triumphantly refutes by an appeal to a remark- able passage in the books of Origen against Celsus. In confirming the inference fi-om prophecy, we again meet with a judicious application of the authors mathema- tical skill, by which he demonstrates, from the doctrine of chances, the almost infinite improbability of the occurrence of even a small number of contingent events predicted of any one individual ; and the absolute im- possibility, consequently, of accounting for the accom- plishment of such numerous predictions as were accom- plished in the person of the Messiah, without ascribing it to the power and wisdom of the Deity. From the consideration of prophecy, he proceeds to the evidence of miracles, and the credibility of human testimony. He begins with stating, in few and simple terms, but w4th much precision, the just idea of a miracle, which, he remarks, has oftener been obscured than elucidated by definition; while the sentiments entertained by good men upon the subject have been almost uniformly correct, when they4iave not been en- tangled or heated by controversy. This branch of the evidences of revelation is certainly very little indebted to the introduction of subtle refinements. In resting the evidence of the Jewish and christian revelations on the ground of miracles, the author restricts his pro- position to uncontrolled miracles; on the propriety ot which, different judgements will probably be formed REVIEW OP by his readers. We believe him to be right: since, admitting the limitation to be unnecessary, it is but an extreme of caution, a leaning to the safe side ; for who will deny that it is much easier to prore it to be inconsistent with the wisdom and goodness of the Deity, to permit an uncontrolled miracle to be per- formed in support of error, than to demonstrate, from a metaphysical consideration of the powers and capa- cities of spiritual agents of a high order, their inca- pacity of accomplishing what, to our apprehensions, must appear supernatural ? The writer of this, at least, must confess for himself, he could never find any satis- faction in such speculations, not even in those of Far- mer, ingenious as they are ; which always appeared to him to be like advancing to an object by a circuitous and intricate path, rather than taking the nearest road. But to return to the present performance. After ex- hibiting the most approved answers to the flimsy sophis- try of Hume, intended to evince the incredibility of miracles, — and corroborating them by a copious illustra- tion of the four criteria of miraculous facts, suggested by Leslie, in his admirable work, entitled, A Short Method with the Deists, he reduces the only suppo- sitions which can be formed respecting the miracles recorded in the New Testament, to the four following heads, which we shall give in the words of the author :— " Either, first, the recorded accounts of those miracles " were absolute fictions, wickedly invented by some who " had a wish to impose upon mankind. " Or, secondly, Jesus did not work any true miracles ; " but the senses of the people were, in some way or " other, deluded, so that they believed he really did per- " form miracles, when, in fact, he did not. " Or, thirdly, that the spectators were not in any way " deluded, but knew very well he wrought no miracles ; " yet were all (both enemies and friends, the Jews them- " selves not excepted, though they daily ' sought occa- ** sion s^ainst him,') imited in a close -sonfederacy, to " persuade the world he wrought the most surprising " things. So that, while some actively circulated reports OREGtORYS LETTERS. 345 ** of those amazing occurrences, the rest kept their coun- " sel, never offering to unmask the fraud, but managing *' the matter with so much dexterity and cunning, and *| such an exact harmony and correspondence, that the '' story of Jesus Christ's performing miracles should be- " come current, should obtain ahnost universal credit, " and not a single person be able to disprove it. ^^ "Or, fourthly, that he did actually perform those as- *' tonishing works ; and that the accounts given of them * by the christian writers in the New Testament are " authentic and correct. u "•?^ *^^* ^^^^ ^^* ^*^^P* *^® ^^* ^^ *^®se conclusions mil find It a matter of very small consequence which * of the otherthree he chooses ; for that the stories can- • not be Jictiom, is evident from the reasonings of Les- " lie, ah-eady adduced ; and it will be seen farther, from II a moment's consideration, that the denial of the mira- " ^i^^ ^j ^'^^^^ Christ, in any rcay^ leads necessarily to " the admission of a series of real miracles of another " kind." He closes this part of his disquisition with an elabo- rate confutation of the notion too generally admitted by the advocates of revelation, that the evidence of miracu- lous facts necessarily grows weaker in proportion to the distance of the time at which they were performed ; and in no part does the vigour of his understanding appear to more advantage than in his reasonings on this point, where, among many excellent, we meet with the follow- ing profoimd remark : — " It is only," he observes, " with regard to the facts " recorded in the Bible, that men ever talk of the daily 'I diminution of credibility. Who complains of a decay " of evidence in relation to the actions of Alexander, " Hannibal, Pompey, or Caesar ? How many fewer of *| the events recorded by Plutarch, or Polybius, or Livy, " are believed now, (on account of a diminution of evi- I' dence,) than were believed by Mr. Addison, or Lord " Clarendon, or Geoffrey Chaucer ? We never hear per- " sons wishing they had lived ages earlier, that they might have had better proofs that Cyrus was the con- u ■ I S46 HBVIBW OF » aueror of Babylon, that Darius was beaten in sereral .» Ss by TleLtr, that Titus destroyed Jerusalem «thatHj„Mw.^nti.^r^^^^^^ " ?aSd Sri^ing -nds exclaiming, ' O £ » I tod Uved and been present, when such splendid " eve^s o c^ed, how livlly an interest ^^P-^^l^^ « t'lken in such scenes, how much concern m their ter- " ^S- And, indeed, it is the frequent hearing of " rh exclamation^ that causes men toc<^aund ^jM ^^ of evidence mkh narmth or depth of feding. and to " USkof7he essential difference Uwemred W^, « Tt/^trJbasis of Idief fn history, and the sensible .m- " ^^iTorhtfluLe Sich such history '»«y ""^ »^ "te^We only to remark, before we dUmiss £ W ^f ™i«« e Jence, this d-'i-V"-' ^JP^^ to Ae miracles of the gospel, must "A?'^ .^^ 5^'.^. altogether, or admitted with a caut.on -^"^^'^^^^ff ^ led bv the ambiguous use of words. Ihe en<»e?ef' "J tSslse isnot ^be confounded for a '".-""e"^*^^ S a report transmitted through successive ages to the present time, since the record which confcuns the jn.ra- K facts Urries us back to the apostolic ^e ; sojha^ admitting its antiquity to be what u P^'^^^s, f Tic^ there isthe most Satisfactory evidence the on^y link m the succession is that which separates the perfo™?" ?^ spectators of the miracles from their ""j;^^"' j''^'^, the case before us, however, are frequently the same ^'Wder to give that conspicuous place ^W* ^s ^ue to the greatest and most n««n^°t<">^/ ^^.""jiLfe well as to do iustice to the independent train of proofs Ty Ihich itis'supported, DrG has assigned a se]^te litter to the Resurrection of Chnst, in "'hich he has placed this great fact in the clearest light ; and, *» K^"'^ evTiTshadow of hesitation arising from the «n">»te yana- Sin the account given of it by the evangehsts. has Gregory's letters. 347 taken the pains to digest from their separate narratives a distinct statement of the whole transaction, which, as far as we have had time to examine it, appears very satis- factory. To this succeeds an ample illustration of the argument for the truth of Christianity, drawn from its early and extensive propagation ; where the fact is placed beyond all contradiction, by numerous and decisive testimonies, adduced from the ancient apologists and pagan writers. The dates of the ten successive persecutions are accu- rately assigned; and the most striking circumstances attending the last, in particular, are distinctly and forcibly exhibited. This forms the subject of the Ninth Letter, which closes with some admirable observations on the intrinsic excellence of the religion of Jesus, tending to show that it corresponds to all the characters, and fulfils all the indications, which a revelation from heaven mi^ht be expected to possess. ^ The remaining Letters which compose this volume are employed in proving the inspiration of the Scriptures, and answering various miscellaneous objections and cavils advanced against the Bible. Although we have already adduced some specimens of the author's style and compo- sition, and shall have occasion to produce more in the course of our strictiu-es on the second volume, yet we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of laying before our readers the following highly beautiful and eloquent pas- sage. Speaking of the analogy betwixt the difficulties offered in the sciences and the mysteries of religion, he observes — ^^ " Philosophers, notwithstanding all these difficulties, " recommend the cultivation and diffusion of the sciences, " because of their tendency to sharpen the intellectual " faculties of man, and meliorate his condition in society. " With how much greater reason and earnestness, then, "should christians recommend the dissemination and " adoption of ' pure and undefiled religion,' considering " its direct tendency to enlarge the understanding, and " yet fill it with the contemplation of Deity ; to purify " and harmonize the passions, to refine the moral sense, ( 348 REVIEW OP « to qualify and st^ngthen fo-^^^^TXS 00^^- « sustain under the pressure "^ f^^" '"^^ph in death ! « solation in sickness, and ^'^"^'^^f ^Ltension to "What other ^^^-^to*^"! J,S^1 t J'exclude ^ar. « dethrone oppression, * V • l! vi nU-nce to reviTC the "to extirpate fraud, to ^^^ ^^'X^'are the preten- » withered blossoms <>f P'"™*!^/ .|^^t[y • ani wher- « sions and Wessings of genume chnst.anity , « erer genuine christ.an.ty prevads, they a^«P^^ j^ «^4 accompVUhes U^ro-se^^^^^^ ^^^^pSen. "alone has «!'««^. '* ^V,"". Here, indeed, its "in heaven, where >t«/'X„ Se • for how shall he » advocate must K reduced to s^^n^e t , ^^^^ "display the meanmg of >« ffj^r" .^ ^o brilliant! « describe dignity so vast, or Pi^*"'*' r^^^a eannot "How shall language :l«y."f.*^. J^'^^o^rpuny and " imagine ! And where .s t^ ^"^J^t^ tL thick « ephmeral creatures, that ^?f , J«''*7*erfect know- "oLure; that can d^nbe *e hgh^^ Pf^ ,1^^ ^an I'^^nrJ-i^t: ttine^r-voi. i. pp. 'UVceed to notice ^^:^::^::r:rst^t reasonings contained .n *« ^'"""^j ^^^ a^ctrines and author has devoted *» » ^^yj^g that many will duties of Christianity. ,%"? ^!TLZ.,,n.ent to his suspect him of a partial and ^'got^^^^/^^ifests owi opinions, in consequence <^ *e^™5f Christianity, to communicate ?»* support those v^ews^ ^ sSistiaS-n^ f'-rmCpiSnt ;:rthi that he ^i.-^-^'^r^Xt.Z^^^^- -"'' ^y modem divines, that he ^as accomp I^^T^gU Sd-s^^nec:si^ to spend some tion from God. He J*^":";' . , ■ ^/i^^ n i, that is Gregory's letters. 349 think it strange that such an anxiety should he evinced to rest the truth of Christianity on the firmest possible basis, along with such a profound indiflFerence to every attempt to investigate its import. Some wonderful charm, it seems, is contained in a bare avowal that Christianity is a revelation from God, apart from any distinct percep- tions of its truths, or any solemn advertence to its genuine scope and tendency. Embalmed and preserved, like some Egyptian monarch, in the form of a venerable and anti- quated docimient, it is to be carefully kept, and always approached with respect, but never allowed to take its place among the living, nor supposed to be useful to mankind according to any known law of operation. The most magnificent appellations are applied to it : it is the light of the world, the true riches, the treasure hid in the field, and the pearl of great price. All these, and a thousand other encomiums, are lavished on the Scrip- tures, by men, who at the same time feel no scruple in insinuating that this boasted communication from heaven contains no truths beyond the limits of reason, and that what the bulk of christians in our age have deemed such, are the distempered visions of enthusiasm, if they are not, in some instances, to be ascribed to the erroneous conceptions, entertained by the apostles, of the religion they were appointed to propagate. It is the possession of a revelation, not the use, which these men are accus- tomed to contemplate and to value. As the miser con- ceives himself rich by the treasure which he never employs, so the persons to whom we allude suppose themselves enlightened by a book from which they profess to derive no information, and saved by a religion which is allowed to engage little or none of their attention. This is one of the most distinguished features in the character of those, who with exemplary modesty style themselves rational christians. In this spirit a distinguished prelate of the present age * has published a collection of tracts for the benefit of the junior clergy, in which not a single treatise is admitted, which professes to exhibit a view of christian doctrine ; and has introduced it with a preface, * Bishop Watsoa. Ill 350 BKVIEW OF ingeniously calculated, under pretence of decrying dogmas, to bring all such inquiries into contempt. It certainly is not difficult to perceive whence this manner of thinking proceeds, nor whither it tends. It proceeds from a rooted aversion to the genuine truths of revelation ; and had it not received a timely check, would have terminated in the general prevalence of scepticism. It presents a neutfal ground, on which professed christians and infidels may meet, and proceed to assail with their joint force the substantial truth of our religion. There is nothing in such views of Christianity to appal the infidel ; nothing to mortify the pride, nothing to check or control the exorbitancies, of that " carnal mind" which is " enmity against God." In stripping the religion of Christ of all that is spiritual, they render it weak and inefficacious as an instrument of renovating the mind ; and, by fostering its pride and sparing its corruption, prepare it for shaking off the restraints of religion altogether. It gives us, however, unfeigned satisfaction to perceive, that the evil we so much deprecate appears to have met with a fatal check ; and that the present times are distinguished by two things, which we cannot but consider as most favour- able prognostics, — an increased attention to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, and a growing unanimity with respect to the modes in which those doctrines are enter- tained. There is less disposition on the one hand, to receive for Christianity a system of pngan ethics, and on the other to confound points of doubtful speculation with its fundamental doctrines. The religious zeal of the present day is more open and catholic than in former times, partaking less of the acrimony of party, and more of the inspiration of truth and charity. The line of de- marcation betwixt sound doctrines and heresy is better ascertarned than it has ever been before ; and the christian world are equally averse from whatever approaches to socinian impiety, and from the mooting of interminable questions. In the statements of the peculiar doctrines of Christ- ianity, there are two extremes to be avoided. The one is, that of pusillanimously shrinking from their bold GREGORYS LETTERS, 351 originality, and attempting to recommend them to the acceptance of proud and woridly-minded men by the artifices of palliation and disgmse ; of which, in our opinion, the Bishop of Lincohi has given an egregious specimen in his late work.* The other extreme is that of stating them in a metaphysical form, mixing doubtful deductions with plain assertions, and thereby incumbering them with needless subtleties and refinements. We should neither be ashamed of the dictates of the Spirit, noT " add to his words, lest we be reproved." They will always appear with the most advantage, and carry the most conviction, when they are exhibited in their native simplicity, without being mixed with heterogeneous matter, or with positions of doubtful authority. In our apprehension, the true way of contemplating the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, is to consider them as facts believed on the authority of the Supreme Being; not to be proved by reason, since their truth does not result from any perceptible relations in our ideas, but they owe their existence entirely to the will and counsel of the Almighty Potentate. On this account, we never con- sider it safe to rest their truth on a philosophical basis, nor imagine it is possible to add to their evidence by an elaborate train of reasoning. Let the fair grammatical import of scripture language be investigated ; and what- ever propositions are, by an easy and natural interpreta- tion, deducible from thence, let them be received as the dictates of infinite wisdom, whatever aspect they bear, or whatever difficulties they present. Repugnant to rea^ son they never can be, because they spring from the Author of it ; but superior to reason, whose limits they will infinitely surpass, we must expect to find them, since they are a communication of such matters of fact, respecting the spiritual and eternal worid, as need not have been communicated, if the knowledge of them could have been acquired from any other quarter. The facts with which we have become acquainted in the natural worid would appear stupendous, were they com- municated merely on the evidence of testimony ; they * Entitled, "A Refutation of Calvinism." ■f'l :1 352 REVIEW OF Ml to astonish ^ chiefly '>---f/iSji^*to'rr?>S ^L?''PLV%eCrc«^e^^nreby a Sow ceding one. ^e have ciun -^j^asUy widened as ing to afford other proui . ^ Yien we con- irlrtL''Srr pfcLS^ubl^errelationBajd sider that tms irui j ^^^ matenal world, i^^PTi t^scends our perfect comprehension ? To a ^ these, which, in his estimation, entitle it to the appel ''''l^uC:r:::£'^&iion U, end so perfect a con- «?ence"in thSTsel^ments, on the part of oiK auAor : rfind them stated and illustrated m «>,''"« f^"""^' !^ VhTv^e throuehout this work, is a still greater. Ihe t^ZZ^ inThis%olume is devoted to a genera^ view of ^ c^Sdoctrines, designed to obviate certampr^^U" £;td to prepare the mind for t^-- «Xd?r t: their nature and import, wlucn ct to he a believer in one God ? — ^which is neither more nor less than to identify the term imitarian with a believer in one God, and the term trinitarian with a be- liever in three. Let the intelligent public judge whether it is not high time to withhold from these men an appel- lati(^ which assmnes the question at issue, and which cannot be bestowed without being converted into an occa- sion of insult and triumph over their opponents. There was a time when the learning and moderation of Lardner, and the fame and science of Priestley, combined to throw a transitory splendour over their system, and to procure from the christian world a forbearance and complaisance to which they were ill entitled. That time is past. Such rational christians as they are, should have (fiscermnent to perceive that it is not with them as in months past, when the candle of their leader shone around them : it becomes them to bow their spirit to the humbled state of their fortunes. They should learn at last to know themselves. The world is perfectly aware, whether they li I 362 REVIEW OF perceive it or not, that socinianism is now a headless trunk, bleeding at every veio, and exhibiting no other symptoms of life but its frightful convulsions. But why should they be offended at being styled soci - nians, when it is undeniable that they agree with Socinrs in his fundamental position, (the simple humauity of Christ,) which is all the agreement that subsists between the followers of Calvin or Arminius, and those eminen*: persons ? The calvinists are far from concurring in every particular with Calvin, — the arminians, with Arminius ; yet neither of them have violently disclaimed these ap- pellations, or considered them as terms of reproach. Why are the socinians only offended at being denominated after Socinus ? Is it because they differ in the nature of Christ's person from that celebrated heresiarch ? This they will not pretend. But they differ from him in many respects ! In what respects ? Is it in those respects in which his sentiments gave most offence to the chris- tian world ? Is it that they have receded from him in that direction which brings them nearer to the generally received doctrine of the church ? Just the reverse. In the esteem of all but themselves they have descended many degrees lower in the scale of error, have plunged many fathoms deeper in the gulf of impiety ; yet, with an assurance of which they have furnished the only ex- ample, they affect to consider themselves injured by being styled socinians, when they know, in their own con- sciences, that they differ from Socinus only in pushing the degradation of the Saviour to a much greater length — and that, in the view of the christian world, their reli- gious delinquencies differ from his, only as treason differs BPom sedition, or sacrilege from theft. The appellation of socinian, as applied to them, is a term of forbearance, calculated, if they would suffer it, not to expose, but to hide, a part of their shame. Let them assume any de- nomination they please, provided it be such as will fairly represent their sentiments. Let them be styled anti- scripturalists, humanitarians, semideists, priestleians, or socinians. But let them not be designated by a term which is merelv coveted by them for the purpose of chi- cane and imposture. GREGORYS LETTERS. 363 Our readers will perceive that the system which Dr. Gregory strenuously abets is orthodoxy; but it is mode- rate and catholic ; it is the orthodoxy of the three first centuries; it is that system which, communicated by Christ and his apostles, pervaded the chiu-ch long before the conftision of modem sects arose, or even the distinc- tion between protestants and catholics was heard of: it is the orthodoxy which has nourished the root of piety in every age, warmed the breasts of saints and martyrs, and will continue to subsist in the church till the hea- vens and the earth are no more. We congratulate the public on the accession of Dr. Gregory to such a cause; and sincerely rejoice that, Mnidst his multifarious scientific pursuits, he has found time and inclination to meditate so deeply, and to exhi- bit so successftilly, " the truth as it is in Jesus." We hope his example will stimulate other men of science and genius to pursue so noble a career. We will venture to assure them, that, upon a dying bed, it will occasion no regret to reflect upon their having enrolled their names with such illustrious laymen as Boyle, Newton, and Locke, in the defence of Christianity. In a beautiftj passage of Euripides, Medea is intro- duced, expressing her surprise, that, amidst such a mul- titude of inventions and inquiries, the art of persuasion, the mistress of human volition, should alone have been neglected. This neglect cannot be imputed to Dr. Gre- gory. He has united, with extraordinary attainments in the severer sciences, the art of recommending his senti- ments with the most impressive effect ; and though he is above a solicitude respecting the minuter graces of finish- ed composition, he exhibits, in an eminent degree, the most important ingredients of good writing. He is cor- rect and luminous, and often rises to the tone of the most impassioned feeling. His language is eminently easy, flowing, and idiomatic. The abstractions of science have not in him exerted the influence often imputed to them, of chilling the heart, and impairing the vigour of the imagination. While he reasons with the compre- hension and depth which distinguish the philosopher, he I till I' 364 REVIEW OF GREGORYS LETTERS. feels with ardour, and paints witli force. He is often inspired and transported with his theme. In the midst of pursuits which are not always found to have a pro- pitious effect on the religious character of their votaries, he has found the means of preserving his devotion in its warmth, his feith in its purity, and his sensibility in its infantine freshness and vigour. We must conclude with earnestly recommending this work to the attentive perusal of young persons whose minds have been cultivated by science and letters ; and must be permitted to add, that we are acquainted with no book, in the circle of English literature, which is equally calculated to give persons of that description just views of the evidence, the nature, and the importance of revealed religion. -«ppaM •I REVIEW or BELSHAM'S MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. Memoirs of the late Rev. TheopMlm Lindsey, A.M., including a briqf Analysis of his Works ; together with Anecdotes and Let- ters of eminent Persons, his Friends and Correspondents : also a general View of the Progress of the Unitarian Doctrine in Eng- land and America, By Thomas Belsham, Minister of the Cha- pel in Essex'sireet. 8vo. Pp. xxiv. 644. 1812. As the life of Mr. Lindsey is evidently adopted as a vehicle for the propagation of socinian sentiments, we shall be excused for being more copious in our remarks upon it, than the biography of a man of such extreme mediocrity of talents could otherwise possibly justify. If a zealous attachment to any system of opinions, can be supposed to be aided by its association vrith personal reputation, we cannot wonder at finding Mr. Lindsey's fondness for socinianism so ardent and so persevering, inasmuch as the annals of religion scarcely furnish an instance of a celebrity acquired so entirely by the adop- tion of a particular creed. Luther and Calvin would have risen to distinction, in all probability, if the Refor- mation had never been heard of; while the existence of such a man as Mr. Lindsey would not have been known beyond the precincts of his parish, had he not, under a peculiar combination of circumstances, embraced the tenets of Socinus. His reputation is altogether accidental and factitious. Though the leading events of his life, with one excep- tion, are marked by no striking pecuUarities, yet, by the help of a great deal of adventitious matter, Mr. B. has ! I i m I » 366 REVIEW OP contrived to make it tlie groundwork of a bulky, and not unentertaining volume ; disfigured, however, throughout, by that languid and inelegant verbosity which characte- rizes all his compositions. It must be confessed, Mr. Belsham has taken care in this work to exhibit himself as no ascetic, no religious enthusiast, but quite a man of the world ; not by a Hvely delineation of its manners and foibles, still less by a developement of the principles by which mankind are actuated, but by such a profusion of compliments bestowed on men of rank and title, and so perfecta prostration before secular grandeur, as has never been paralleled, we suspect, in a christian divine. At the " pomp and circumstance" of human life, this philo- sopher appears awed and planet-struck, and utterly in- capable of exercising that small portion of discrimination with which nature has endowed him. Every nobleman or statesman he has occasion to introduce, is uniformly ushered in with a splendid retinue of gorgeous epithets, in which there are as little taste and variety as if thejr had been copied verbatim from the rolls at the heralds office. Orators of pre-eminent powers, together with virtuous and enlightened noblemen, meet us at every turn ; and we are not a Httle surprised at finding so much of the decoration and splendour of this mortal scene, in so close contact with the historical details of unitarianism. We have long remarked the eagerness of socinians to emblazon their system by associations with learning, rank, and fashion ; but on no other occasion have we seen this humour carried so far as in these Memoirs. , ,.^ ^ ^, The leading events of Mr. Lindseys hfe are the fol- lowing. He was bom, June 20, 1723, at Middlewich in Cheshire, where his father was a mercer in respect- able circumstances, but was afterwards reduced by mis- fortunes. His mother, whose maiden name was Spencer, was distantly related to the Marlborough family ; and previously to her marriage, lived twenty years in the family of Frances, Countess of Huntingdon ; a circum- stance which led to considerable intimacy, that conti- nued for some years, with the celebrated Selina, Countess BELSHAM S MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 367 of Huntingdon, who married the son of that lady. Under the patronage of Lady Betty and Lady Ann Hastings, Mr. Lindsey was educated first at a school in the neighbourhood of Middlewich, whence he was removed, and placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. Barnard, master of the free grammar-school in that town, who is represented as a gentleman of distin- guished learning and piety. His vacations were usually spent at the mansion of his noble patroness, in the vicinity of Leeds, during the life of Lady Betty Has- tings ; and, after her decease, at Ashby Place, near Ashby de la Zouch, in Leicestershire, where Lady Ann then fixed her residence. In the eighteenth year of his age. May 21, 1741, he was admitted a student at St. John's, Cambridge, where he acquitted himself with credit in his academical exercises, and behaved with such exemplary propriety as to attract the attention of Dr. Reynolds, Bishop of Lincoln, who thought fit to intrust him with the care of his grandson, a youth of fifteen. He was elected fellow of St. John's College in April, 1747* Having been ordained by Bishop Gibson, he was, at the recommendation of Lady Ann Hastings, presented to a chapel in Spital Square, by Sir George Wheler. In a short time after his settlement in London, the Duke of Somerset received him into his house in the capacity of domestic chaplain. He continued, after the decease of that nobleman, to reside some time with the duchess dowager, better known by the title of Coun- tess of Hertford ; and, at her request, he accompanied her grandson, the present Duke of Northumberland, then about nine years of age, and in a delicate state of health, to the Continent, where he continued two years; at the expiration of which time he brought back his noble pupil, improved both in his health and learning. From this distinguished personage he continued to re- ceive attentions and favours as long as he lived. Imme- diately after his return from the Continent, he was pre- sented by the Earl of Northumberland to the valuable rectory of Kirkby Whiske, in the north riding of York- shire; at first, under condition to resign it when the I 1H< M I *fi 368 REVIEW OP person for whom it was intended should come of age ; but this young man dying a short time afterwards, it was given to Mr. Lindsev unconditionally, in the usual form. In this very retired situation Mr. Lindsey conti- nued about three years ; and, during his residence in Yorkshire, he became acquainted with the celebrated Archdeacon Blackbume, at Richmond ; a circumstance which led to important consequences, and to which he was indebted, under Providence, for the most important blessing of his life. In the year 1 756, at the request of the Huntingdon family, he resigned the living of Kirkby Whiske for the living of Piddletown, in Dorsetshire, which was in the gift of the Earl of Hxmtingdon. In this place he lived seven years ; and, in 1760, married Miss Elsworth, the stepdaughter of Archdeacon Blackbume, — a lady whose principles were congenial with his own, and who is represented as possessed of a superior understanding and of exalted virtue. It was during his residence in that situation, that he first began to entertain scruples con- cerning the lawfiikess of trinitarian worship, and of his continuing to officiate in the established church. It appears he had, firom his early youth, disapproved of some thmgs in the thirty-nine articles. Some years afterwards these doubts were matured into a full conviction that the divinity of Christ was an erroneous tenet, and that the Father was the sole object of worship ; in consequence of which, while in Dorsetshire, he took some previous steps with a view to quitting his preferment in the church. In the year 1 762, upon the appointment of the late Duke of Northumberland to be lord lieutenant of Ireland, he was strongly urged to accept the place of chaplain to his grace ; which, from the preference he gave to a retired situation, he declined. An opportimity occurring, the year following, of exchanging his living for that ol Cat- terick in Yorkshire, he made the exchange, for the sake of enjoying the society of Archdeacon Blackbume and his family, who lived in that neighbourhood. On this occasion, Mr. Belsham justly remarks, " It may appear belsham's memoirs op lindsey. 369 smgular that Mr. Lindsey could submit to that renewed '' subscription which was requisite in order to his induc- *' tion to a new living. ^^ " And the case," he adds, " appears the more extra- " ordinary, as many clergymen, who, in consequence of ' a revolution in then- opinions, had become dissatisfied *' with the Articles, would never, for the sake of obtain- " ing the most valuable preferment, subscribe them " again, though, while they were permitted to remain un- " molested, they did not perceive it to be their duty to " retire from the church."— P. I?. The extreme want of candour and sincerity evinced by such conduct, is very unsatisfactorily apologized for by Mr. Lindsey, and is very gently reproved by Mr. Bel- shMi. The principal plea alleged by Mr. L. in defence of himself is, that as he continued to officiate in the forms of the liturgy, his renewed subscription gave him httle concem, since he considered himself, as virtually re- peating his subscription. At length, he brought himself, he says, to consider the trinitarian forms in the liturgy, and the invocations at the entrance of the htany, as " A threefold representation of the one God, the " Father, governing all things by himself and by his Son ^' and Spirit; and as a threefold way of addressing him *' as a Creator, and original benevolent cause of all " things, as Redeemer of mankind by his Son, and their " Sanctifier by his Holy Spirit."— -P. 23. How far he was influenced by mercenary considera- tions in retaining his station under such circumstances, it is impossible to say ; but that he was guilty of much collusion and impious prevarication in this afiair, cannot be reasonably doubted. Nor is there any species of simulation or dissimulation in religion, which might not be justified on pretences equally plausible ; and when we recollect that Mr. L. persisted in that conduct for a series of years, we shall find it difficult to conceive of him as that prodigy of virtue which Mr. Belsham represents him. " He must be a severe morahst," says Mr. B. " whom such a concession does not satisfy." And what is this VOL. II. B B il I 3*T0 REVIEW OP concession, that is to stop every moutli, and to convert censure into praise ? We will give it in Mr. L. s own words : it is this : . .^ ii» xt. • « Not," says he, " that I now justify myself therein ; « yea, rather I condemn myself. But as I have humble *' hope of the divine forgiveness, let not men be too rigid " in their censures." — P. 24. It is impossible to conceive a confession of conduct extremely criminal, in terms of lighter reprehension ; but, agreeably to the theory of Mr. B., the merit of re- pentance so much exceeds the moral turpitude of trans- gression, that the faintest indications of it transport hun with admiration. For our parts, were we not aware of the tendency of socinianism to produce a most attenuated conception of the evil of sin, we should have expected to find such insincerity and impiety deplored m the strongest language of penitential sorrow. As we wish, however, to do ample justice to tbe rea virtues of Mr L., we feel a pleasure in quoting the following account of the manner in which he conducted himself while he was rector of Catterick. , . , • i. « • " No sooner was he settled," says his biographer, in his new situation, than he applied himself with great - assiduity, in his extensive and populous parish, to per- -' form the duties of a parochial minister. He regularly " officiated twice on the Sunday in his pansh church, " and in the interval between the services he catechised " young people. He visited the sick, he relieved the " poor, he established and supported chanty schools tor " the children, he spent considerable sums of money in '• feeding the hungry, in clothing the naked, m provid- " ing medicines for the diseased, and m purchasing and « distributing books for the instruction of the ignorant. " In his domestic arrangements the greatest economy « was observed, that he and his excellent lady might *• have the greater surplus to expend in liberahty and " charity ; for it was a rule with him to lay up nothing " from the income of his living."— P. 26. . , , This is unquestionably a pleasing picture of the cha- racter of an exemplary christian pastor. It does not (( BELSHA3iS MEMOIRS OP LINDSET. 371 appear that any considerable success attended his labours. On this head he contents himself with expressing a faint hope, that some of the seed he had sowed might not be lost. In this situation he continued ten years, till a danger- ous fit of sickness roused his conscience, and rendered his continuance in the discharge of his ecclesiastical functions insupportable. We are far from wishing to depreciate the value of that sacrifice which Mr. Lindsey tardily and reluctantly made to the claims of conscience; but we cannot conceal our surprise, that a measure to which he was forced, in order to quell the apprehen- sions he most justly entertained of the displeasure of the Ahnighty, after a system of prevarication persisted m for upwards of ten years, should be extolled in terms which can only be applied with propriety to instances of heroic virtue. To prefer the surrender of certain worldly advantages to a perseverance in conduct highly criminal, evinces a mind not utterly insensible to the force of moral obligation, —and nothing more. Our admiration must be reserved for a higher species of excellence ; for an adherence to the side of delicacy and honour, where many plausibilities might be urged to the contrary; or a resolute pursuit of the path of virtue, when it is obstructed by the last extremities of evil. Mr. Lindsey renounced, it is true, a respectable and lucrative situation in the church, rather than con- tinue any longer in the practice of what he considered as^ idolatry. But he was unincumbered with a family ; he possessed some personal property ; and enjoyed the fiiendship of several great and noble personages, who were never likely to suffer him to sink into absolute poverty. He merely descended to the level where many of the best, and some of the greatest of men, have chosen to place themselves, and where his friend Dr. Priestley, whose talents would have commanded any preferment in the church, chose, fh)m an attach- ment to the same principles, to remain for life. We approve his resignation of his living; but we confess we are more disposed to wonder that he could reconcile him- bb2 I t^' 372 BEVIEW OP self to continue in his situation so long, than that lie should feel himself compelled to quit it at last. This event took place in the year 1773 ; after which he came to London, and a plan was set on foot tor opening a chapel for him in the metropolis, where, re- tmning the use of a liturgy modihed agreeably to his views, he might promulgate the tenets of Socinus Many persons, Mr? B. informs us, both of the establishment Ld among the dissenters, aided the undertaking ; among whom are particularly enumerated Dr. Priestley, and Dr. Price, Samuel Shore, Esq. of Norton Hall, in York- shire, and Robert Newton, Esq. of Norton House, m the same Tillage. . ..1. xi. ^ a These gentlemen, in conjunction with others, entered into a subscription, to indemnify him for the necessary expenses incurred in procuring and fittmg up his chapel. The place fixed upon for this grand experiment was a room in Essex House, Essex Street, which having before been used as an auction-room, was capable, at a mode- rate expense, of being turned into a convement place ot worship. Here Mr. L. introduced his improved lituigy, formed very much upon the plan of Dr. Clarke s, but with such variations as corresponded to the difference ot his views from those of that celebrated divine. From this period the life of Mr. L. proceeds in a veiy equable and uniform course, with little worthy of remark, be- sides the various publications to which the system he had adopted gave birth ; and over the congregation formed in Essex Street he continued to preside Ull l^s seventieth year, when he thought fit to retnre from a public station : after which he lived sixteen year^ when he was attacked with a disease which was judged to be a pressure on the brain, and expired in the eighty-sixth year of his age. Such are the outhnes of a narrative which Mr. Belsham has contrived to extend to upwards of five hundred octavo pages. It is by no means our intention to follow the biographer through his boundless excursions, or to criticise every remark which appears to us justly obnoxious to censure. We shall content our- selves with selecting a few passages, and making a tew BELSHAM 8 MEMOIRS OF LINDSET. 373 observations, which may serve to illustrate the genius and progress of socinianism, the promotion of which evidently appears to be the sole object of the writer of these Memoirs. iv t j The secession of Mr. Lindsey from the established church produced much less impression than might have been expected ; nor does it appear that his example was followed by one individual among the clergy, until Mr. Disney, his brother-in-law, after the lapse of some years, adopted the same measure, and afterwards became his colleague in the ministry. The establishment of a soci- ninian chapel with a reformed hturgy in the metropolis, is narrated by our biographer with the utmost pomp, as forming a distinguished epoch in the annals of religion ; and, undoubtedly, great hopes were entertained of its producing a memorable revolution among the episcopa- lians : but these expectations were frustrated. The auditory, composed chiefly of persons of opulence, (among whom the Duke of Grafton made the principal figure,) was at no time very numerous ; and no similar society was formed from among the members of the established church in any part of the United Kingdom. The ut- most that the efforts of Lindsey, Priestley, and others, effected, was to convert the teachers of arianism among the dissenters into socinians, who exerted themselves vrith tolerable success to disseminate their principles in their respective congregations: so that the boasted tn- umphs of socinianism consisted in sinking that section of the dissenting body, which had aheady departed from the faith, a few degrees lower in the gulf of error. From these very Memoirs under consideration, we derive the most convincing evidence that the tenets of Socinus, with respect to the nation at large, have lost ground, and that the people of England are by no means so favourably disposed to them as formerly. They also present us a very frill and particular account of the association of a part of the clergy at the Feathers Tavern, to procure relief in the matter of subscription ; for which purpose, agreeably to a resolution of the general body, on the 6th of February, 1772, a petition was presented to the house (.; 374 REVIEW OP of commons. The number of the petitioners amounted to nearly two hundred and fifty, among whom, the names of the celebrated Archdeacon Blackbume, and Law, bishop of Carlisle, were the most distinguished. Of the state of the public mind in the metropolis, we hare a striking picture in a letter from John Lee, after- wards solicitor-general, a zealous friend of the discon- tented clergy. " It will surprise you who live in the country," says he, "and consequently have not been informed of the discoveries of the metropolis, that the christian religion is not thought to be an object worthy of the least regard; and that it is not only the most prudent, but the most virtuous and benevolent thing in the world, to divert men's minds from such frivolous subjects with all the dexterity that can be. This is no exaggeration, I assure you ; on the contrary, it seems to be the opinion (and their conduct will show it) of nine- tenths of both houses of parliament!" Allowing for some slight exaggeration arising from the chagrin and vexation of the writer, it is still impossible not to per- ceive, if any credit is due to his statement, that parlia- ment were not in a disposition to feel any conscientious objections to the repeal of the Articles, and that if thej opposed such a measure, that opposition originated sim- ply from the fear of innovation, common to politicians. The manner in which the debate was conducted when the affair came actually under the consideration of the house, confirms this conclusion. There was not one member who expressed his belief in the Articles : it was treated entirely as a political question, without once adverting to its intrinsic merits, as mvolving a religious coniroversy ; and Mr. Hans Stanley opposed the bringing up of the petition, as it tended to disturb the peace of the country, which, in his opinion, ought to be the subject of a fortieth Article, which would be well worth all the thirty-nine.* With such levity and contempt was the national creed treated at that time. Will the sturdiest champion of socinianism ajaarm that ♦ See pages 54, 55, of these Memoirs. BELSHAMS MEMOIRS OF LINDSEY. 375 a similar discussion in the house of commons, or in the upper house, would be conducted in a similar manner at present ? or that there would be one member who would contend for the continuance of the Articles on the ground of their intrinsic excellence and verity ? The fact is, that through the secularity and irreligion of the clergy, evangelical truth was nearly efiaced from the minds of the members of the establishment in the higher ranks, and that an indolent acquiescence in established formu- laries, had succeeded to the ardour with which the great principles of religion were embraced at the Reformation. Such was the state of the public mind, that in a contest between orthodoxy and heresy, the former proved trium- phant, merely because it was already established, and had the plea of antiquity and prescription in its favour. Since that period, vital religion has revived in the national church ; the flame of controversy has been widely spread ; the inconsistency of socinianism with the Scriptures, together with its genuine tendency and character, have been fully developed ; it has lost the attraction of novelty ; it has revolted the minds of men by its impiety ; and, having been weighed in the balance, it has been found wanting. If among the clergy there still subsist a small remnant who are attached to those imscriptural tenets, they are content with being connived at, and nothing could now urge them to the imprudence of presenting their claims for legal security to the legislature. We hear nothing of an intention to renew the scenes which took place at the Feathers Tavern in 1772. We consider this as a decisive proof that socinianism has lost ground in the nation, notwithstanding its preva- lence in societies of a certain description among the dissenters. Those who never formally renoimced the orthodox doctrine, have, in consequence of recent dis- cussions, become more than ever attached to it : while that class of dissenters who were aheady moving in an heretical direction, have reposed in socinianism as their natural centre of gravity. From several other circum- stances recorded in these Memoirs, the same inference may be drawn with respect to the discredit under which 376 BEVIEW OF this system lies at present, compared with the comitenance and indulgence with which it was received thirty or forty years hack. While Mr. Lindsey was deliberating on the propriety of quitting his living, it was suggested to him by Dr. Priestley, that he might continue to officiate, by making such alterations in the public offices of devotion as would accord with his peculiar views. " Nor was there any ground to suspect," says Mr. B., " that he would have met with any molestation from his superiors." Mr. Chambers, who held the living of Oundle, in North- amptonshire, Mr. Disney, for many years, and others, ^ so, without being called to account for their conduct We should be sorry to express ourselves with an im- proper degree of confidence ; but we may venture to express a firm persuasion, that such a silent repeal of the doctrine of the church by the mere authority of a parochial minister, would not now be permitted to pass unnoticed, or uncensured, in any part of the kingdom. The dignitaries of the church are alive to the importance of the distinguishing truths of Christianity, and would show themselves prompt and eager, as appears from recent instances, to discourage the open disavowal of them. We have no hesitation in asserting, that the hope of rendering the tenets of the Polish heresiarch popular and prevalent throughout this nation, was at no period so completely extinguished as at the present ; and from a certain air of despondency which the memorialist of lindsey betrays, amidst all his gasconades, we are con- Tinced he is of the same opinion. The disposition on all occasions to vaunt of their success, and to predict, with great confidence, the speedy triumph of their principles, is a peculiar feature in the character of modem socinians ; and the absurd and exaggerated statements of matters of feet into which this propensity betrays them, are truly ludicrous. All other sorts of enthusiasts of whom we have either heard or read, are, in this respect, cold and phlegmatic compared with them. In various extracts from the letters of Mr. Lindsey s correspondents, and of others, representations are made of numerous and rapid conversions to socinianism, which Mr. B., from a belsham's memoirs of lindsey. 377 regard to truth and decency, finds it necessaiy to correct and apologize for, as the effusiou of well-intended but mtmperate zeal. The boast of success is ahnost in- variably the precursor of a statement on the part of Mr B., m which It IS either repealed or quaUfied ; and it is but domg him justice to say, that his judgement and experience have exempted him from those iUusions and deceptions of which his party have become the easy dupes. We had been confidently informed, for instance, that almost aU the people of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts, were becoming socinians, and that the ministers, with the exception of one or two, had already declared themselves such ; when it appears, from the unimpeachable authority of Mr. Wells, himself a socinian, and an inhabitant of that city, that there is butone professedly unitarian chapel throughout New England • and so little sanguine is he with respect to the spread of that doctnne, that he strongly deprecates its discussion, from a conviction that it wiU issue in producing, among the body of the people, a more confirmed attachment to orthodoxy.* It is also worthy of remark, that these extravagant boasts of success, are not accompanied with the slightest advertence to the moral or spiritual effects which the socinian doctrine produces on the character ; this IS a consideration which rarely, if ever, enters into themind of its most zealous abettors, who appear to be perfectly satisfied if they can but accomplish a change of sentiment, however inefficacious to aU practical purposes. Iheu- converts are merely proselyted to an opinion, with- out pretending to be converted to God : and if they are not as much injured by the change as the proselytes made by the phansees of old, it must be ascribed to causes totally distinct from, the superior excellence of the tenets which they have embraced. They have been taught to discard the worship of Christ, and to abjure all dependence upon him as a Saviour— an admirable pre- paration. It must be confessed, for a devout and holy life. Let the abettors of these doctrines produce, if they can, a smgle instance of a person, who, in consequence of ♦ See his Letter in the Appendix of the MemoifB. m 378 REVIEW OP embracing tliem, was reclaimed from a vicious to a virtuous life, from a neglect of serious piety to an ex- emplary discharge of its obligations and duties ; and their success, to whatever extent it has been realized, woidd suggest an argument* in their favour deserving some attention. But who is ignorant that among the endless fluctuations of fashions and opinions recorded in the annals of religion, the most absurd and pernicious systems have flourished for a while; and that arianism, for instance, which these men profess to abhor almost as much as orthodoxy, prevailed to such a degree, for years, as to threaten to become the prevalent religion of Christ- endom?* Socinianism can boast but few converts compared with infidelity ; in England, of late, they have gone hand in hand, and their progress has been simulta- neous, derived from the same causes, and productive of the same effects. Shall we therefore affirm that infidelity is to be rejected with less confidence, because it possesses in reality that to which socinianism only pretends? When we reflect on the inert and torpid character of socinianism, it is surprising any serious expectation should be entertained of its final triumph. From innumerable passages in these Memoirs, it appears that the far greater number, of those who have embraced it in the established church, have been content to retain their situation ; and it is certain that of the two hundred and fifty who joined in the petition for relief in the matter of subscription, Mr. Lindsey was the only person who made any sacrifice of emolument to principle. We find both Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Belsham incessantly reproaching unitarians with timidity, in declining the avowal of their sentiments ; and the former remarking, with just indignation, that, amidst the multitudes that concurred in his views, there was but one member of the established church that afforded him any pecuniary aid towards defraying the necessary expenses attendant on the opening of his chapel. The avowal of socinianism among dissenters has rarely been followed by worldly privations ; and in the church * See the Second Book of Siilpicias Severus, chap. 35. " Turn haeresis Aiii prorapit totumque oroem invecto errore turbaveraL*' belsham's memoirs op lindsey. 379 i> W^ f' r ''^ '""t ^^^'^seq^ences must have ensued, Tin^? ^«/ been made. Except in the instances 7f Lindsey, Jebb, and a veiy few others, the converts to socinianism have stooped to the mean'est prevaric^tio J thl w "^a! '^^^"^g^^^s hypocrisy, rather than sacrifice ^eir worldly emolument and honours. Compare this Mth the conduct of the puritans, in the reign of Charles of^voT^ '"^"^g ^^ insignificant, chose, to the number ot two housand to encounter every species of obloquy ^d itt'fh "fi'' '^^& ^"^^^^^ *^ *^^^ conscience^ and learn the difference between the heroism inspired by chnstian principle, and the base and pusillanimoL spirit ?vhl?- ^' • ^^^^^ '''^ infatuation to expect that a system which inspires its votaries with no better sentiments and teelmgs than are evmced by these decisive facts, will ever become the prevailing belief; a system which while it ditates against every page of revelation, is betrayed by ^e selfish timidity of its followers! The system of Socinus IS a cold negation : the whole secret of it con- sists m thmking meanly of Christ; and what tendency such a mode of thmkmg can have to inspire elevation or ardour, it is not easy to comprehend. If it is calculated to reheve the conscience of a weight, which the prin- ciples of orthodoxy render it difficult to shake off, iVith- out complying with the conditions of the gospel, infi- delity answers the same purpose still better, and possesses a stiU higher degree of simplicity,-^meaning by that term what socmians generally mean—the total absence of mystery. Great part of these Memoirs is occupied in giving a copious analysis of Mr. L.'s publications; which possess- ing no intrinsic merit, nor having excited more than a temporary mterest, it would be trifling with the patience ot our readers, to suppose they could derive either enter- tamment or mstniction from seeing them abridged. Of Mr. Lindsey considered as a >mter, it is sufficient to ob- serve, that the measure of inteUect he displayed was the most ordinary, and that he was not possessed of the power, in its lowest degree, of either inventing what was 380 REVIEW OP rare, or embeUishing wtat was common. He was per- gpicuous, because he contented himself, on all occasions, mth the most commonplace thoughts ; he was smiple, because he aspired to nothing more than to conyey his meaning in intelligible terms, without the least concep- tion of force, elegance, or harmony. Though his writings are replete with professions of unbounded liberality and ocindour, it is evident, from his treatment of Mr. Robin- son of Cambridge, that he was indulgent only towards those who approached nearer to infidehty than himself. Nothing can be conceived more splenetic and acrimonious than his examination of that ingenious author s Plea for the Divinity of Christ, who, in return for compliments and condescensions, which however unworthy of the cause he was defending, were sufficient to soften a Cer- berus, met with nothing but rudeness and insolence. It was truly amusing to see the imbecihty of a Lindsey as- suming the airs of a Warburton. Throughout the whole of that publication, he affects to consider Mr. Robmson as a mere superficial declaimer ; although his fnend, Archdeacon Blackburne, Mr. B. informs us, always spoke of the Plea as a most able and unanswerable performance. So much for the modesty of this heretical confessor! But it is time to leave Mr. L. to that oblmon which is the infallibfe destiny of him and of his works, and to proceed to make a few remarks on the narrative, and the miscellaneous strictures of his biographer. In the first place, we congratulate him on his abatement of that tone of arrogance which so strikingly characterised his former pubUcations. Not that we ever expect him to exhibit himself in the light of an amiable or unassummg wnter, which would be for the Ethiopian to change his skm ; but it is with pleasure we remark less insolence and dog- matism than he has displayed on other occasions. He writes like a person who is conscious he is supporting a sinking cause ; an air of despondency may be detected amidst his efforts to appear gay and cheerful. He knows perfectly well that he is celebrating the obseqmes, not the triumph of socinianism ; and from the little advan- tage it has derived from its former efforts, his vanity will BELSHAMS MEMOIRS OP LUvdSEY. 381 not prevent him from suspecting that he is giving ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. In this, as in all his former publications, he Evinces a total ignorance of human nature, together with that pro- pensity to overrate the practical effect of metaphysical theories, which almost invariably attaches to metaphysi- cians of an inferior order. He who invents a metaphysi- cal system, which possesses the least claim to public re- gard, must have paid a profound attention to the actual constitution of human nature. He must have explored the most dehcate and intricate processes of the mind, and kept a vigilant eye on the various phenomena which it presents. He is necessarily above his theory, having been conducted to it by an independent effort of thought. He has not adjusted his observations to his hypothesis, but his hypothesis to his observations. The humble disciple, the implicit admirer, proceeds too often in a directly op^ posite manner. All he knows of the mental constitu- tion, in its more intricate movements, he derives from the system prepared to his hand, which he adopts with all its crudities, and confidently employs as the key which is to unlock all the recesses of nature. Having been ac- customed to contemplate the human mind with a con- stant view to the technical arrangements to which he has devoted himself, he estimates the practical importance of metaphysical theories by what has passed in his own mind. We are fully convinced that the bulk of mankind are very little influenced by metaphysical theories ; and that even in minds which are more prone to speculation, metaphysical dogmas are seldom so firmly embraced, or so deeply realized, as to be productive of important prac- tical effects. The advocate of necessity, and the cham- pion of liberty, will, in the same state of moral proficiency, act precisely the same part, in similar circumstances. Mr. Belsham, however, in the plenitude of his enthu- siasm for the doctrine of philosophical necessity, ascribes, without hesitation, the ruin of multitudes of young per sons to their embracing the opposite tenet. It is truly surprising, that he, who was so quick-sighted as to per- ceive the tendency of the notion of liberty to promote 382 REVIEW OP m immoral conduct, should entertain no suspicion of a simi-^ lar tendency in the doctrine of Gods being the author of sin, which Mr. B. repeatedly asserts. « The true solution of the first difficulty, says Mr. B., « whether God be the author of sin, appears to be this : « that God is, strictly speaking, the author of evil ; but " that, in the first place, he never ordains or permits e\^l « but with the view to the production of a greater good, « which could not have existed without it. And, second- « Iv, that though God is the author of evi , both natural « md moral, he is not the approver of evil ; he does not " dehght in it for its own sake ; it must be the object ot " his aversion, and what he would never permit or en- " dure, if the good he intends could have been accom- "plished without it. With respect to the justice of « punishment, the best and only philosophical solution " of it is, that, under the divine government, all punish- « ment is remedial. Moral evil is the disease, pumsh- « ment is the process of cure, of greater or less mtensity, " and of longer or shorter duration, in proportion to the " malignity Sid inveteracy of the malady, but, ultimate- « ly, of sovereign efficacy, under the divme government, « to operate a perfect cure; so that those whose vices « have been the means of proving, purifying, mid exalt- « ing the virtues of others, shall, in the end share with " thlm in their virtue and their triumph and M « Christ, and be well satisfied with the general evidence ** of the divine legation of Moses, while he at the same *' time may entertain, very serious doubts, whether the ** books commonly attributed to Moses were really written " throughout by him, and whether either the narrative or ** the institute exist at present exactly in the form in « which he delivered them."— P. 408. But, supposing the narrative to be in certain points Mae, the institution misrepresented and disguised, and the books which we term the Pentateuch the production of some unknown author, — who does not see the impos- mbility of separating the truth from the falsehood, and of attaching, on any consistent principles, to any part of it, the credit due to a divine communication ? The spirit of infidelity evinced in these passages is little different from that which pervades the pages of Bolingbroke and Voltaire. But such is the genuine progress of soci- nianism: it begins with denying some of the clearest propositions in the New Testament, in order to which its claims to inspiration must be weakened or annulled; whence it proceeds to dispute the authority of the Old, till the whole Bible is virtually set aside as the umpire of controversy. Among the other sublime discoveries to which Mr. B. has been led by a critical investigation of the writings of the New Testament, one is, that the Lord Jesus Christ possesses no authority whatever ; or to use a term of his own invention, no external authority. Speaking of the Duke of Grafton, he says — " In a paper dated Jan. 1, 1792, the duke expressed a " beUef that the exaltation of Christ to dominion and " authority was the consequence of his submission to " those sufferings which ' were so efficacious, perhaps so " necessary, to his own glory, and to the future happi- " ness of mankind.' His mind seems at this time to " have been perplexed with some obscure notion of the " unscriptural doctrines of meritorious sufferings, and of ** the external authority of Jesus Christ ; which, how- ** ever, he regards as a mystery, which ' it will probably " never be given to man in the present state' to under- " stand, and which therefore * must consequently be BELSHAMS MEMOIRs"'op LINDSEY. 385 « w^t! "^ ^"''"''^ *^^'^ ^^^^^^' *^e belief of which can not be necessary to salvation.'"—? 327 ^' Ihough the apostles have affirmed the exaltation nf the Saviour to the govemmpnf nf +1.^ • exaltation of a specimen of that theological au^^?t;Sfoi th"^ cz ff r " '^' f "^'^^--'^ chi:racte?lrUh ^appily can hare no other effect than to insnire a rom ' plete abhorrence of the system which rende^ such\ Z" cedure necessary We iheerfolly ac epj wtrZ concession implied in these daring positions that the doctnne of the meritorious suffering of Chris" is insLIr ably connected with his exaltation: and a the 1?^" cannot, without the utmost indecency be denied "he former follows of course. We can ann^i n^ «ft ' might be more clearly expressed by the tern personal ■ or, m other words, 3Ir. B.'s intention is to ^rt ftat m/r c'StZ:Th"" ^."^-'^-J'ate-r, ap^lrom t^ cremt due to his mission and to his doctnne • and t).»f the christian church is in no other sense governed by by Moses after his decease. It must be obvious hTw ever, to eveiy one, that this is not to expC but boldT^ and unequivocally to contradict, the S^hinrof the apostles on this important subject. ° ^^^ We shall close these strictures on Mr. Belsham bv nr T I"'^^" '"'''' ''^^'^ illustrates at orchis insufferable arrogance aad his servile deference to autho- "dlT^f k'!'"'''* ^™pK"ty and ignorance," says he, does It betray in some, to feign or to feel Varied a 386 REVIEW OP belsham's memoirs op lindsey. 387 " the tendency of those doctrines which are arowed by "such men as Lindsey, Priestley, Hartley, aud Jebb, "and which are represented by them as lying at the "foundation of all right views of the divine govem- " ment, of all rational piety and virtuous practice, and * of all rational and substantial consolation ! And yet " such persons feel no alarm at the vulgar notion of phi- " losophical liberty, or the power of acting differently in "circumstances precisely similar; a notion, the fond " persuasion of which encourages men to venture into "circumstances of moral danger, and to which thou- " sands of the young and inexperienced especially are " daily falling victims."— P. 394. The arrogance, folly, and absurdity of this passage, are scarcely to be paralleled, even in the writings of its inimitable author. The most celebrated metaphysicians and reasoners in every age and in every country — Male- branche, Cudworth, Clarke, Butler, Chillingworth, Reid, and innumerable others, who have avowed the strongest apprehensions of the inmioral tendency of the doctrine of fatalism, or, as it has been styled, philosophical neces- sity, are consigned by a writer who has not capacity sufficient to appreciate their powers, much less to rival their productions, to the reproach of childish simplicity and ignorance ; and this for no other reason than their presuming to differ in opinion from Lindsey, Priestley, Hartley, and Jebb ! What is this but to enjoin implicit faith ? And why might not a Roman Catholic, with equal propriety, accuse of childish simplicity and igno- rance, those who should suspect the pernicious tendency of sentiments held by Pascal, Fenelon, and Bossuet ? We must be permitted to remind Mr. B. that we hold his pretensions to a liberal and independent turn of thought extremelycheap; that, possessing nothing original even in his opinions, to say nothing of his genius, his most vigorous efforts have terminated in his becoming a mere trainbearer in a very insignificant procession. Having akeady detained our readers looger on this article than we ought, we shoiild now put a period to our remarks, but that there is one particular connected with the history of Mr. Lindsey, which we conceive has been too often set in such a light as is calculated to pro- duce erroneous impressions. We refer to the resignation of his living, in deference to his religious scruples. He is, on this account, everywhere designated by Mr.^ Bel- sham by the title of "the venerable confessor;" and what is more to be wondered at, the late excellent Job Orton, in a letter to his friend, the late Rev. Mr. Pahner, of Hackney, speaks of him in the following terms : "*Were I to publish an account of silenced and " ejected ministers, I should be strongly tempted to insert "]\Ir. Lindsey in the list he mentions in his Apology " with so much veneration. He certainly deserves as " much respect and honour as any of them for the part " he has acted. Perhaps few of them exceeded hun m " learning and piety. I venerate him as I would any of " yom- confessors. As to his particular sentiments, they " are nothing to me. An honest, pious man, who makes " such a sacrifice to truth and conscience as he has done, " is a glorious character, and deserves the respect, esteem, "and veneration of every true christian.' " We have no scruple in asserting that this unqualified encomium is repugnant to reason, to scripture, and to the sentiments of the best and purest ages of the christ- ian church. To pass over the absurdity of denominating Mr. L. a silenced and ejected minister, merely on account of his voluntary withdravkTnent from a community whose distinguishing tenets he had abandoned, we are far from conceiving that the merit attached to his conduct on this occasion was of such an order as to entitle him for a moment to rank with confessors and martyrs. To the praise of manly integrity, for quitting a situation he could no longer conscientiously retain, we are ready to acknowledge Mr. L. fully entitled. We are cordially disposed to admire integrity wherever we perceive it; and we admire it the more in the present instance, be- cause such examples of it, among beneficed ecclesiastics, have been rare. But we cannot permit ourselves to place sacrifices to error on the same footing as sacrifices to truth, without annihilating their distinction. If re- cc2 388 REVIEW OP vealed trutli possess any thing of sanctity and importance, the profession of it must be more meritorious than the profession of its opposite ; and, by consequence, sacrifices made to that profession must be more estimable. He who suffers in the cause of truth is entitled to our admi- ration ; he who suffers in the defence of error and delu- sion, to our commiseration : which are unquestionably very different sentiments. If truth is calculated to ele- vate and sanctify the character, he who cheerfully sacri- fices his worldly emolument to itspursuit, must be supposed to have partaken in no conmion degree of its salutary operation. He who suffers equal privations in the pro- pagation of error, evinces, it is confessed, his possession of moral honesty ; but unless persuasion could convert error into truth, it is impossible it should impart to error the effects of truth. Previous to the profession of any tenets whatever, there lies an obhgation on all, to whom the light of the gospel extends, to believe the truth. We are bound to confess Christ before men, only because we are bound to believe on him. But if, instead of believ- ing on him, we deny him in his essential characters, which is the case with socinians, the sincerity of that denial will indeed rescue us fi-om the guilt of prevarica- tion, but not fi"om that of unbelief. It is possible, at least, since some sort of faith in Christ is positively asserted to be essential to salvation, that the tenets of the socinians may be such as to exclude that faith : that . it does exclude it, no orthodox man can consistently deny ; and how absurd it were to suppose a man should be entitled to the reward of a christian confessor, merely for denying, honafide^ the doctrine which is essential to salvation! The sincerity which accompanies his pro- fession entitles him to the reward of a confessor : the error of the doctrine which he professes exposes him at the same time to the sentence of condemnation as an imbeliever ! If we lose sight of socinianism for a mo- ment, and suppose an unbehever in Christianity, in toto, to suffer for the voluntary and sincere promulgation of his tenets, we would ask Mr. Orton in what rank he would be inclined to place his infidel confessor. Is he BELSHAMS MEMOmS OF LINDSET. 389 entitled to rank with any of the confessors ? If he is, our Saviour's terms of salvation are essentially altered ; and though he pronounces an anathema on him who shall deny him before men, the sturdy and unshaken denial of him in the face of worldly discouragement, would answer, it seems, as well as a similar confession. Men are left at their liberty in this respect ; and they are equally secure of eternal happiness, whether they deny or whether they confess the Saviour, providing they do it firmly and sincerely. If these consequences appear shocking, and he be forced to assert the negative, then it is admitted that the truth of the doctrine con- fessed enters essentially into the inquiry, whether he who suffers for his opinions, is to be, ipso facto, classed with christian confessors. Let it be remembered that we are not denying, that he who hazards his worldly interest rather than conceal or dissemble his tenets, how false or dangerous soever they may be, is an honest man, and, quoad hoc, acts a virtuous part, — ^but that he is entitled to the same kind of approbation with the champion of truth. That the view we have taken of the subject is consonant to the Scriptures, will not be doubted by those who recollect that St. John rests his attachment to Gaius and to the elect Lady, on the truth which dwelt in them ; that he professed no christian attachment but for the truth's sake ; and that he forbade christians to exercise hospitality, or to show the least indication of friendship, to those who taught any other doctrine than that which he and his fellow-apostles had taught. The source of the confusion and absurdity which necessarily attach to the opinions of Mr. Orton and others, here expressed on this subject, consists in their confounding together moral sincerity and christian piety. We are perfectly willing to admit that the latter cannot subsist without the former ; but we are equally certain that the former is by no means so comprehensive as necessarily to include the latter. We should have imagined it unnecessary to enter into an elaborate defence of so plain a position as this, that it is one thing to be what the world styles an honest TTian^ and another to be a christian — a distinction, obvious 'I 390 REVIEW OF BELSHAM S MEMOIRS OP UNDSE Y. as it is, suflScient to solve the whole mjrstery, and to ac- count for the conduct of Mr. L., without adopting the unmeaning jargon of his biographer, who styles him, in innumerable places, the venerable amjmor. How repug- nant the language we have been endeavouring to expose, is to that which was held in the purest and best ages of the church, must be obvious to all who are competently acquainted with ecclesiastical history. The Marcionites, we are informed by Eusebius, boasted of their having furnished a multitude of martyrs ; but they were not the less on that account considered as deniers of Christ. Hence, when orthodox christians happened occasionally to meet at the places of martyrdom with Montanists and Manichaeans, they refused to hold the least communion with them, lest they should be supposed to consent to their errors.* In a word, the nature of the doctrine professed must be taken into consideration, before we (^ determine that profession to be a christian profes- sion ; nor is martyrdom entitled to the high veneration justly bestowed on acts of heroic piety, on any other ground than its being, what the term imports, an aUesta- tion of the truth. It is the saint which makes the martyr, not the martyr the saint ♦Eii8eb.lib.5,c.l4. REVIEW OF BIRT ON POPERY. A Summary of the Principles and History of Popery y in Five Lee- tureSf on the Pretensions and Abuses of the Church of Rome. By John Birt. 8to. pp. 176. 1823. At a time when popery is making rapid strides, and protestants in general have lost the zeal which once animated them, we consider the publication we have just announced as peculiarly seasonable. "What may be the ultimate effect of the efforts made by the adherents of the church of Rome to propagate its tenets, aided by the apathy of the opposite party, it is not for us to conjecture. Certain it is, there never was a period when the members of the papal community were so active and enterprising, or protestants so torpid and in- different. Innumerable sjrmptoms appear of a prevailing disposition to contemplate the doctrines of popery with less disgust, and to witness their progress with less alarm, than has ever been known since the Reformation- All the zeal and activity are on one side ; and, while every absurdity is retained, and every pretension de- fended, which formerly drew upon popery the indignation and abhorrence of all enlightened christians, we should be ready to conclude, from the altered state of public feeling, that a system once so obnoxious had under- gone some momentous revolution. We seem, on this occasion, to have interpreted, in its most literal sense, the injunction of " hoping all things, and believing all things." We persist in maintaining that the adherents 392 RETIEW OF to poperr are matenally chMged, in contradiction to therexprcM disavowal: and while they make Thmt nature of their rehgion, we persist in the beUef of its harmg experienced we know^ot what meUoration aid ceired, it is the effect of art and contrivance on th7 part of those who delude them; in this/th? decent on ongmates with ourselves; and, instead of bearing ^X ^Z^T ''"^rg'^bour =uch is the excesTV^ ^ndour that we refuse to credit the unfavourable testi- mony which he bears of himself. '""rawe testi- *!,• t!!'® '^ '° *''^ ™«^ *™e, nothing recinrocal in wS'otT'"^ °';?'--«li-g= -e pipe to tr?but in^aTd Z it^'"- ^"^ «°"fessions, instead of soften- Jhfm^l "'°'Wymg, seem to have no other effect upon Aem^ than to elate their pride and augment their X „l,,^* equal change in the state of feeling towards an object which has itself undergone no altfratil wha? ever and where the party by ^hich it is d'S^d pi' ^cult to specify. To inquire into the causrof tbk angular phenomenon, would lead to discS foreit to our present puipose. Let it suffice to remark that^ may part y be ascribed to the length of tim^ which hi elapsed since we have had actual experience oAheenor ZZ^^*"'' "^ *^ f^P"^ 'y^'^^^ and t?Ae fa^Xd Ae^tJ' ^T^ "gainst their recurrence; partly to the agitation of a great political question, which seem^ ^ir Aat1.f*' fr °f ¥-tif A the cLuse "f p"'"' Z naS Lf •P"'*"'*^* dissenters. The impression 7f t^e past has m a manner spent itself; and in minv iV. place IS occupied by an eaginess to g^at^rS^^'a^ i^^"''^^^-"'}'''^ " ■««»" ^d timid policy ^ mposed. The mfluence of these circumstanceT h^ been much aided by that indifference to relirioTtruS dour . and to such an extent has this humour l^n BIRT ON POPEKY. 393 earned, that distinguished leaders in noj;„«, » i not.scrupled to rep^sent thfcont^ove^sy b^^l^Z pap^ts and the protestants as turning ol obscure i ^teUimble pomts of doctrine, scarcely worth The Tt cwJd for^t.'rP"* *•" "PP^U^tio" of papist is ex- of ^! chSch of r'~" ""rf^'"" T*'''=^' the^adherents lo^tW to uL^ort'^nf J^°^ ^"^ *" '?P'°^«' =« Ihis revolution in the feelings of a great portion nf Sth'e^'cSuSf ^¥h'''"^ •'"" -°* ' litCoCeTby tbSed Z;.. ^ ^^''\ *™^« "« eminently diZ Sefiln^ the efforts employed for the extension of 1^ stitiof ^n^ r^L t^or^tion of christians has taken ite station and conhibuted its part towards the difiusion that fbT '"f ^""ti^fts. The consequence ha^^en that the professors of serious piety arl multiplied and form at present a vei^ conspicuo'us b';anch of Sru^ ti,?;ublic ,-,T.' "^'^^ '^'y """^"Py i'' *!>« ">i°ds of tlie public, IS not merely proportioned to their numerical importance, still less to tfieir rank in society "t h in 1 ^at measure derived from the publicity ^f the^ pr<^ ceedmgs, and the nmnerous associations for the promotion nLSr^^"* benevolent objects, which they have oriri- tinl drtl-r^P"''*!-. , ^y *«^« "'«'^S their discriZl kno^^d I'^fi '.""i?"*"" piety, have become better Known and more fiiUy discussed than heretofore. How- Zir T'' ''I *" "' g«"^^' ^ff^^t'. =«ch a state of fZ^t^% ^T ^'\ °"" 'onsequence,'which might be eSf'.r r'" '^^ 'r^'- ^« "PPOsition of the enemies of rehgion has become more virulent, their 3d4 REVIEW OP '! la hatred more heated and inflamed ; and they have turned with no small complacency to the contemplation of a system which forms a striking contrast to the object of their detestation. Popery, in the ordin^y state of its profession, combines the "form of godliness" with a total denial of its power. A heap of unmeaning cere- monies, adapted to fascinate the imagination and engage the senses,— implicit faith in human authority, combined with an utter neglect of divine teaching, — ignorance the most profound, joined to dogmatism the most presump- tuous, — a vigilant exclusion of biblical knowledge, together with a total extinction of free inquiry, — present the spectacle of religion lying in state, surrounded with the silent pomp of death. The very absurdities of such a religion render it less unacceptable to men whose de- cided hostility to truth inclines them to view with com- placency whatever obscures its beauty or impedes its operation. Of all the corruptions of Christianity which have prevailed to any considerable extent, popery presents the most numerous points of contrast to the simple doc- trines of the gospel ; and just in proportion as it gains ground, the religion of Christ must decline. On these accounts, though we are fer from supposing that popery, were it triumphant, would allow toleration to any denomination of protestants, we have the utmost confidence that the professors of evangelical piety would be its first victims. The party most opposed to them look to papists as their natural ally, on whose assistance, in the suppression of what they are pleased to denomi- nate fanaticism and enthusiasm, they may always depend : they may, therefore, without presumption, promise thenaselves the distinction conferred on Ulysses — that of being last devoured. Whether popery will ever be permitted, in the inscru- table counsels of heaven, agam to darken and over- spread the land, is an inquiry in which it is foreign from our province to engage. It is certain that the members of the Romish community are at this moment on the tip-toe of expectation, indulging the most sanguine hopes, suggested by the temper of the times, of soon BIRT ox POPERY. S95 recovering aU that they have lo«f ^r.A r ^ pretended rights of thei ch^eh ^^^^^^^^^^ *^t splendour. If anv fbiT^r /»o« « i" ^^^^7®^ ^ their full >vhich the tenets of & Gsh chtr.h "^ ^^^^^ uut nigmy satistactory maimer. On this part of the Vv ii 396 BEYIEW OF BIRT ON POPERY. 397 argument, he very acutely remarks, that "no chuich, " which is not coeval with Christianity itself, ought to " pretend to he the universal christian church. " The contrary sentiment is evidently unreasonahle anci " ahsurd; for it supposes, that something which has *' already a distinct and complete existence, may he a ** part of something else which is not to come into being " until a future period ; or, which is equivalent to this, " that what is entirely the creation of to-day, may include " that which was created yesterday. This would be in " opposition to all analogy ; and, therefore, if the church " of Rome had not an earlier commencement than all " other christian churches, — if the origin of that church " be not coincident and simultaneous with the first mo- " ment of Christianity, — then the pretension of the " church of Rome to be the ' catholic church ' is alto- " gether vain. Now, it is clear, from the Acts of the " Apostles, that many christian churches flourished in the " East, before the gospei was even preached at Rome. " It was enjoined on the apostles, that their ministry " should begin at Jerusalem ; and in that city the first " christian church was actually constituted. Until the " persecution which arose about the stoning of Stephen, " Christ was not preached beyond the borders of Pales- " tine, and even then, with a scrupulous discrimination, " ' to the Jews only.' In fact, churches were formed in " Jerusalem and Judea, at Damascus and Antioch, and " the gospel was sent even into Ethiopia, before there is " any evidence of its being known at Rome." — Fp. 10, 11. The second Lecture is an historical exposition of the principal events which led to the elevation of the church of Rome to supremacy : in tracing these, much acumen is evinced, as well as an intimate acquaintance mth ecclesiastical history. The third Lecture consists of a masterly delineation of the genius and characteristics of the papal ascendancy. In this part of the work, the judicious author enters deeply into the interior spirit of popery. After setting in a striking light the seeming impossibilities it had to encounter ere it could accompUsh its object, he enume- mtes the expedients employed for this purpose, under ceeded : 1. By enslaving the mental faculties to human authonty -2. By givmg to superstition the semblance ^d saiiction of religion.-3. By administering the afiairs ot their government on the corruptest principles of worldly pohcy. Each of these topics is iUistrated with £ea,t judgement, and a copious induction of facts. On the last of these heads, we beg leave to present to our readers the followmg extract, as a specimen of the style and spint of this writer. ^ « !Vf^l kingdom is not of this world,' saith our Lord : My kmgdom is of this world,' is truly the sentiment ^^ ot the pope ; and here Kes the difi-erence. The only u ^^°1\^*?^^ ^iew of this church, is that of a poKticd ^^ establishment, employing, indeed, religious terms and ^^ denominations, but only as the pretext and colour of ^ inordinate pursuit of secular and temporal objects. « u\, ^''*'^'7 as that of a christian church/ you « stumble at every step, and every period shocks you ^^ with the grossest incongruities : read the same history ^^ as one of the kingdoms of this worid; all is naturd ^^ and easy, and the various proceedings and events are ^^ just what you are prepared to expect. The papal ^^ supremacy was conceded by an earthly monarch ; aU Its interests have varied with the fluctuations of human attairs ; and when the princes of this worid shaU with- u f^\^^'^'^^^^VVort, it will fall, and ' great will be the u i tnereof. The bishops of Rome have ever pursued, under the guise of religion, some earthly advantage ; and thus Pope Leo the Tenth exclaimed most appro- pnately, ' O, how profitable has this fable of Jesus " been unto us ! " The first object of these subtle politicians, was to provide a revenue, ample and permanent. Kings and ^^ nations were accordingly laid under tribute ; and to the »; ^^^^ ^^*^°* ^^ P^P^^ influence, the treasures of ^^ Christendom flowed into the exchequer of Rome. On every hand, art, fraud, and intimidation, were equally (( 396 REVIEW OF «* and successfully employed, in transferring the wealth " of the world to the coffers of the church. " This was effected partly by regular ecclesiastical " taxes, but principally by selling erery thing the church " of Rome had to bestow, and by perpetually inventing " new articles of bargain and sole. Hence the multiply- " ing of sacraments ; hence the sale of pardons, in- " diSgences, benefices, dignities, and of prayers for the " living and the dead. Every thing was prostituted ; " and under the pretence of being the ' bride, the Lamb's " wife,' this church became the ' mother of harlots.' In " the same spirit, the death-beds of the rich were be- ** sieged, that they might bequeath their property to the " clergy ; and the consciences of opulent criminals were ** appeased, in return for liberal donations to ecclesiastical " funds. Thus an amount of riches almost incredible " accrued to the papal treasury." — Pp. 94 — 96. The fourth Lecture is occupied by giving a rapid sketch of the most interesting events in the past history of the Romish community. We have seldom, if ever, seen so large a body of facts exhibited with perfect per- spicuity within so small a compass : the author s com- plete mastery of the subject appears from the ease with which he has condensed an immense mass of historical matter, without the least indication of disorder or con- fusion. The last of these lectures presents an animated and in- structive view of the prospects which are opening on the christian church, and the probable issue of the causes and events which are in present operation. The notice we have taken of this publication will, we trust, induce our readers to avail themselves of the instruction and the pleasure which an attentive perusal cannot fail to bestow. It is distinguished for preci- sion and comprehension of thought, energy of diction, and the most enlarged and enlightened principles of civil and religious freedom ; nor should we find it easy to name a publication, which contains, within the same compass, so much information on the subject which it professes to treat A little redundance of ornament, BIRT ON POPERY. 399 and excess in the employment of figurative lanffuage are excrescences very pardonable in I young ^ef'^d K ":" rr T ^^ ^^P~^ maT t safdj worlr W^ ^''- i^^ "^^^^"^ ^^ ^^^ot dismiss thi Z^n r.'l'' "^^^^^^ '^"^^^^^7 congratulating the miLatL? ^?. H^^ combination of philosophical dlcri! mmauon with chnstian piety, which it throughout END OF VOL. n. /. HADDON AM) SON, PRINTBR8, CASTLK STREET, FIKSBUKT. -» r I n } *■ 24 H.? iiSS^SMp«i»fe**^teS^ i i .t^'t^ 1 m mm 1 11 m i iul \M %^,:.. ^ftfWifW iiwi^<»»rt»i.t»«f*»'i»» •fi,r^.-,-ft.-^m»:<^f^^^y% VOLUME 3 1858 ti?5^?Jfcitj1^fe«lf»lH«<^^f^!*^^ itf h * ^1 [f . a^ f'-, ji it % j'ii 3'ik Class 24-0 ^^'}{i Columbia College Library 3 Madison Av. and 49th St. New York. BOUGHT, MAY 6, 1887, FROM THE LIBRARY OF L/HARLiES oHORT, jyi.A., L^Lj.l). Professor of Latin in Columbia College 1868 to his death, 1886. TUB WORKS ov ROBERT HALL, A.M. WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE, AND A CRITICAL ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTEK ANU WRITINGS. Originally published in Six Volumes, 8vo. OXOIB THE SrPSRINTENDBNCB Or OLINTHUS GREGORY, LL.D., F.R.A.S. UTB raomtoB or hatbbmatics im tbe botal miutakt ac&obht. VOL. in. WORKS ON TERMS OF COMMUNION. LONDON: HEXRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1854. CONTENTS OF VOL. III. J. 0ADDON ARD ION, PBINTBRS, CAITLB STRBBT, VIMIBVRT* Oh Terms of Commumion . . . i Preface • • ... Introductory Remarks .... PART I. Ai^^uments for Strict Communion considered . , SECTION I. The Argument from the Order of Time in which Baptism and the Lord Supper are supposed to have been in- stituted • ...•. BEcnoN n. The Argument for Strict Communion, from the Order of Words in the Apostlic Commission, considered . SECTION ra. The Ai^iment from Apostolic Precedent, and from the different Significations oi the two Institutions, con- sidered • ... . • 8SCTT0N IV. Our supposed Opposition to the Universal Suffrages of the Church, considered .... n r: o o Pagfl 1 3 7 14 7050 ib. 31 30 50 IV CONTENTS. OONTENTO. PART II. \ Page The Positive Grounds on which we justify the Practice of Mixed Communion . , .58 SECTION I. Fr^ Communion urged, from the obligation of Brotherly Iiove • . . • . j6. 8£CTI0N n. The Practice of Open Communion argued, from the ex- press Injunction of Scripture respecting the Conduct to be maintained by sincere Christians who differ in flieir Religious Sentiments , . .63 SECTION m. P«dobaptist3 a part of the true Church, and their Ezclu- •ion on that account Unlawful , , ,74 sicnoN rv. The Exclusion of Paedobaptists from the Lord's Table considered as a Punishment ... SECTION V. On the Impossibility of reducing the Practice of Strict Communion to any general Principle . SECTION VI. The Impolicy of the Practice of Strict Communion considered , . , Postscript .... <3 93 104 119 On the Essential Difference between Christian Baptism AND THE Baptism of John . . . ,123 P^^^ace ..'.... 125 A Reply to the Rev. Joseph Kinghorn, beino a further Vindication of the Practice of Free Communion Pretuce . . . - ^ 165 167 PART I. The Fundamental Position ; or, the suppoMd necessary Connexion between the two positive Institutes of Chris- tianity, examined . . . , .178 CHAP. I. Remarks on Mr. Kinghorn's Statement of the Contro- ▼ersy ne CHAP. n. His Attempt to establish the Connexion contended for, from the Apostolic Commission and Primitive Prece- dent ...... CHAP. III. The supposed necessary Connexion betwixt the two po- sitive Institutes farther discussed, wherein other Argu- ments are examined ..... CHAP. IV. 186 212 PART II. The Collateral Topics introduced by Mr. Kinghom, con- sidered ...... 232 The Charge of dispensing with a Christiaa Ordinance, considered ...... t6. CHAP. V, An Inquiry how far the Practice of mixed Communion affects the Grounds of Dissent from the Church of England, and from the Church of Rome 242 CHAP. VI. The Propriety of appealing, in this Controversy, to the peculiar Principles of tlie Paedobaptists, briefly ex- amined and discussed 2^ n CONTESTS. CHAP. XI. PART III. ^*«' In which the Insufliciency of the Reply Mr. Kinghorn has made to the principal Arguments urged for mixed Communion 13 exposed . , ^ ofis CHAP. vn. His Reply to the Argument deduced from the Scriptural Injunction of Mutual Forbearance and Brotherly Love, considered • . . * « • • • to. CHAP, vnu On the Argument for Mixed Communion, founded on the Pffidobaptists being a part of the true Church . 266 CHAP. rx. The Injustice of theJExclusion of other Denominations considered as H Punishment ... 392 CHAP. X. On the Contrariety of the Maxims and Sentiments of the Advocates of Stnct Communion, to those which prevailed in the early Ages ; in which the Innovation imputed to them by the Author is vindicated from the Charge of Misrepresentation , Conclusion A Short Statement of the Reasons tor CHRimAN iw Orposmox to Party Communion • • • Prefece ... 303 321 341 343 " What charter hath Chnst given the church to bind men up to, more than himself hath done ? or to exclude those from her society who may be admitted into heaven ? Will Christ ever thank men at the great day for keeping such out from communion with his church, whom he will vouchsafe not only crowns of glory to, but it may be mireoUe too, if there be any such things there 1 The grand com- mission the apostles were sent out with, was only to teach what Christ had annmamied tht>7n. Not the least intimation of any power given them to impose or require any thing beyond what himself had spoken to them, or they were directed to by the immediate guidance of the Spirit of God," — Stilung fleet ; Irenicum. I * ON TERMS OF COMMUNION, WITH A PARTICULAR VIEW TO THE CASE OF THE BAPTISTS AND P^DOBAPTISTS. [POBLISHED IN 1815] VOL. m. Il i I I i PREFACE. The lore of controversy was in no degree the motive for writing the following sheets. Controversy the writer considers as an evil, though often a necessary one. It is to be deprecated when it is directed to minute or frivo- lous objects, or when it is managed in such a manner as to call forth malevolent passions He hopes the ensuing treatise will be found free from both these objections, and that, as the subject must be allowed to be of some importance, so the spirit in which it is handled is not chargeable with any material departure from the chris- tian temper. If the author has expressed himself on some occasions with considerable confidence, he trusts the reader will impute it, not to a forgetfulness of his personal deficiencies, but to the cause he has undertaken to support. The divided state of the christian worid has long been the subject of painftil reflection ; and if his feeble efforts might be the means of uniting a small portion only of it in closer ties, he will feel himself am- ply rewarded. The practice of incorporating private opinions and human inventions with the constitution of a church, and with the terms of communion, has long appeared to him untenable in its principle, and pernicious in its effects. There is no position in the whole compass of theology, of the truth of which he feels a stronger persuasion, than that no man, or set of men, are entitled to prescribe, as an indispensable condition of communion, what the New Testament has not enjoined as a condition of salvation. To establish this position is the principal object of the lollowmg work ; and though it is more immediately occupied in the discussion of a case which respects the b2 * PREFACE. Baptists and paedobaptists, that case is attempted to be decided entirely upon the principle now mentioned, and IS no more than the application of it to a particular in- stance. The ^Titer is persuaded that a departure from this principle, in the denomination to which he belongs, has been extremely injurious, not only to the credit ' and prosperity of that particular body, (which is a very sub- ordmate consideration,) but to the general interests of truth ; and that, but for the obstruction arising from that quarter, the views they entertain of one of the sa- craments would have obtained a more extensive preva- lence. By keeping themselves in a state of separation and seclusion from other christians, they have not only evinced an inattention to some of the most important mjunctions of scripture, but have raised up an invincible barrier to the propagation of their sentiments beyond the precincts of their own party. It has been insinuated that the author has taken an unfair advantage of his opponents, by choosing to bring forward this disquisition just at the moment when we have to lament the loss of a person whose judgement would have disposed, and his abilities enabled him to do ample justice to the opposite side of the question. He can assure his readers, that none entertained a hifrher veneration for Mr. Fuller than himself, notwithstanding then- difference of sentiment on this subject; and that when he entered on this discussion, it was with the full- est expectation of having his opposition to encounter. At that time his state of health, though not good, Kas such as suggested a hope that the event was very distant which we all deplore. Having been led to mention this affecting circum- stance, I cannot refrain from expressing in a few words the sentiments of affectionate veneration with which I also regarded that excellent person while living, and cherish his memory now that he is no more : a man whose sagacity enabled him to penetrate to the depth of every subject he explored, whose conceptions were so powerful and luminous, that what was recondite and PEEFACE. d orioinal appeared familiar ; what was intricate, easy and perepicuous in his hands ; equally successful in enforcing the practical, in stating the theoretical, and discussing the polemical branches of theology : without the advan- tage of early education, he rose to high distinction amongst the religious writers of his day, and, in the midst of a most active and laborious life, left monuments of his piety and genius which will survive to distant posterity. Were I making his eulogium, I should ne- cessarily dwell on the spotless integrity of his private life, his fidelity in friendship, his neglect of self-interest, his ardent attachment to truth, and especially the series of unceasing labours and exertions in superintending the mission to India, to which he most probably fell a vic- tim. He had nothing feeble or undecisive in his charac- ter, but to every undertaking in which he engaged, he brought all the powers of his understanding; all the energies of his heart ; and if he were less distinguished by the comprehension, than the acumen and solidity of his thoughts ; less eminent for the gentler graces, than for stem integrity and native grandeur of mind, we have only to remember the necessary limitations of human excellence. While he endeared himself to his denomi- nation by a long course of most useful labour ; by his excellent works on the socinian and deistical controver- sies, as well as his devotion to the cause of missions, he laid the world under lasting obligations. Though he was knowTi to profess different views from the writer on the subject under present discussion, it may be inferred from a decisive fact, which it is not necessary to record, that his attachment to them was not very strong, nor his conviction probably very powerful. Be this as it may, his sanction of the practice of exclusive commimion has no doubt contributed, in no small degree, to recommend it to the denomination of which he was so distinguished an ornament. They who are the first to disclaim human authority in the affairs of religion, are not always least susceptible of its influence. • It is observable also, that bodies of men are very slow in changing their opinions ; which, with some inconve- 6 PREFACE. niencies, is productive of this advantage, that truth undergoes a severer investigation, and her conquests are the more permanent for being graduaUv acquired. On this account, the writer is not so sangiiine as to expect Ins performance wiU occasion anj sudden revolution in the sentimente and practice of the class of christians more immediately concerned ; if, along with other causes. It ultimately contribute to so desirable an end, he wiU be satisned. It inay not be improper to assign the reason for not noticing the treatise of the celebrated Mr. Robin- son, ot Cambndge, on the same subject. It is not because he is insensible to the ingenuity and beauty ot that performauee, as well as of the other works of that onginal and extraordinary >vriter ; but because it rests on pnnciples more lax and latitudinarian than it IS in ills power conscientiously to adopt; Mr. R. not havmg adverted, as far as he perceives, to the distinc- tion ot fundamentals, but constructed his plea for tole- ?1^^ "V"''?.^.^ "^?"°er. ^ to comprehend all the vaneties of rehgious beUef. The only author I have professed to answer is the late venerable Booth, his treatise being generally con- sidered by our opponents as the ablest defence of their hypothesis. I have only to add, that I commit the following treatise to the candour of the public, and the blessing of God ; hoping that, as it is designed not to excite but to allay animosities, not to widen but to heal the breaches among christians, it will meet with the indulgence due to good mtentions, however feebly executed. *The intelligent reader will understand me to refer, not to civil toleration by the state, bat to that which is exercised by Vdi^ous iol ON TERMS OF COMMUNION. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Whoever forms his ideas of the Church of Christ from an attentive perusal of the New Testament, will per- ceive that unity is one of its most essential characteris- tics ; and that, though it be branched out into many distinct societies, it is still but one. "The Church," says Cyprian, " is one, which by reason of its fecundity is extended into a multitude, in the same manner as the rays of the sun, however numerous, constitute but one light ; and the branches of a tree, however many, are attached to one trunk, which is supported by its tena- cious root ; and when various rivers flow from the same fountain, though number is diffused by the redundant supply of waters, unity is preserved in their origin." Nothing more abhorrent from the principles and maxims of the sacred oracles can be conceived, than the idea of a plurality of true churches, neither in actual communion with each other, nor in a capacity for such communion. Though this rending of the seamless garment of our Saviour, this schism in the members of his mystical body, is by far the greatest calamity which has befallen the christian interest, and one of the most fatal effects of the great apostasy foretold by the sacred penmen, we have been so long familiarized to it as to be scarcely sensible of its enormity ; nor does it excite surprise or concern, in any degree proportioned to what would be felt by one who had contemplated the church in the first ages. Christian societies, regarding each other with the jealousies of rival empires, each aiming to raise itself on the ruin of all others, making extravagant boasts of superior purity, generally in exact proportion to their departures from it, and scarcely deigning to 8 TERMS OF COMMUNION. aclmowledge the possibility of obtaining salvation out of their pale, fonn the odious and disgusting spectacle which modem Christianity presents. The bond of cha- rity, which unites the genuine followers of Christ in distinction from the worid, is dissolved, and the very terms by which it was wont to be denoted, exclusively employed to express a predilection for a sect. The evils which result from this state of division are incalculable: It supplies infidels with their most plausible topics of invective ; it hardens the consciences of the irreligious, weakens the hands of the good, impedes the efficacy of prayer, and is probably the principal obstruction to that ample diffusion of the Spirit which is essential to the renovation of the world. It is easier, however, it is confessed, to deplore the malady, than to prescribe the cure : for, however im- portant the preservation of harmony and peace, the interests of truth and holiness are still more so ; nor must we forget the order in which the graces of the Spirit are arranged. "The wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceabk." Peace should be anxiously sought, but always in subordination to purity; and therefore every attempt to reconcile the differences among christians which involves the sacrifice of truth, or the least deliberate deviation from the revealed will of Christ, is spurious in its origin, and dangerous in its tendency. If commimion with a christian society can- not be had without a compliance with rites and usages which we deem idolatrous or superstitious, or without a surrender of that liberty in which we are commanded to stand fast, we must, as we value our allegiance, forego, however reluctantly, the advantages of such a union. Wherever purity and simplicity of worship are violated by the heterogeneous mixture of human inventions, we are not at liberty to comply with them for the sake of peace, because the first consideration, in every act of worship, is its correspondence ^4th the revealed will of God, which will often justify us in declining the exter- nal communion of a church with which we cease not to cultivate a communion in spirit It is one thing to de- TERMS OF COMMUNIO.T. 9 cline a connexion with the members of a community ahmltUeli/y or simply because they belong to such a com- munity, and another to join with them in practices which we deem superstitious and erroneous. In the latter instance, we cannot be said absolutely to refuse a con- nexion ^vith the pious part of such societies, we decline it merely because it is clogged ^vith conditions which render it impracticable. It is impossible for a protestant dissenter, for example, without manifest inconsistency, to become a member of the established church ; but to admit the members of that community to participate at the Lord's table, without demanding a formal renuncia- tion of their peculiar sentiments, includes nothing con- tradictory or repugnant. The cases are totally distinct, and the reasons which would apply forcibly against the former, would be irrelevant to the latter. In the first supposition, the dissenter, by an active concurrence in what he professes to disapprove, ceases to dissent ; in the last, no principle is violated, no practice is altered, no innovation is introduced. Hence arises a question, how far we are justified in repelling from our communion those from whom we differ on matters confessedly not essential to salvation, when that communion is accompanied with no innova- tion in the rites of worship, merely on account of a diversity of sentiment on other subjects. In other words, are we at liberty, or are we not, to walk with our chris- tian brethren, as far as we are agreed, or must we re- nounce their fellowship on account of error allowed not to be fundamental, although nothing is proposed to be done, or omitted, in such acts of communion, which would not equally be done, or omitted, on the suppo- sition of their absence. Such is the precise state of the question which it is my intention to discuss in these pages ; and it may possibly contribute to its elucidation to observe, that the true idea of christian communion is by no means confined to a joint participation of the Lords supper. He who, in the words of the apostles creed, expresses his belief in the communion of saints^ adverts to much more than is comprehended in one par TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERMS OF COMMUNION. 11 li: ticiilar act. In an intelligent assent to that article, is comprehended the total of that sympathy and affection, with all its natural expressions and effects, hy which the followers of Christ are united, in consequence of their union with their Head, and their joint share in the com- mon salvation. The lass of charity in the apostolic age, the right hand of fellowship, a share in the ohlations of the church, a commendatory epistle attesting the exem- plary character of the bearer, uniting in social prayer, the employment of the term brother or sister to denote spiri- tual consanguinity, were all considered in the purest a^es as tokens of communion ; a term which is never ap- plied in the New Testament exclusively to the Lord's supper. When it is used in connexion with that rite, it is employed, not to denote the fellowship of christians, but the spiritual participation of the body and blood of Christ.* When we engage a christian brother to present suppli- cations to God in our behalf, it cannot be doubted that we have fellowship with him, not less real or spiritual than at the Lord's table. From these considerations it is natural to infer, that no scruple ought to be entertained respecting the lawfulness of uniting to commemorate our Saviour's death, with those with whom we feel ourselves at liberty to join in every other branch of religious wor- ship. Where no attempt is made to obscure its import, or impair its simplicity, by the introduction of human ceremonies, but it is proposed to be celebrated in the maimer which we apprehend to be perfectly consonant to the mind of Christ, it would seem less reasonable to refuse to co-operate in this branch of religion than in any other, because it is appointed to be a memorial of the greatest instance of love that was ever exhibited, as well as the principal pledge of christian fraternity. It must appear surprismg that the rite, which, of all others, is most adapted to cement mutual attachment, and which is in a great measure appointed for that purpose, should be fixed upon as the line of demarcation, the impassable barrier, to separate and disjoin the followers of Christ * 1 Cor. X. 16. He who admits his fellow-christian to share in every other spiritual privilege, while he prohibits his approach to the Lord's table, entertains a view of that institution diametrically opposite to what has usually prevailed ; he must consider it, not so much in the light of a comme- moration of his Saviour's death and passion, as a reli- gious test, designed to ascertain and establish an agree- ment in points not fundamental. According to this notion of it, it is no longer a symbol of our common Christianity, it is the badge and criterion of a party, a mark of discrimination applied to distinguish the nicer shades of difference among christians. How far either scripture or reason can be adduced in support of such a view of the subject, it will be the business of the follow- ing pages to inquire. In the mean while, it will be necessary, in order to render the argument perfectly intelligible, to premise a few words respecting the particular controversy on which the ensuing observations are meant especially to bear. Few of my readers probably require to be informed, that there is a class of christians pretty widely diffused through, these realms, who deny the validity of infant baptism, considering it as a human invention, not countenanced by the Scriptures, nor by the practice of the first and purest ages. Besides their denial of the right of infants to baptism, they also contend for the exclusive validity of immersion in that ordinance, in distinction from the sprinkling or pouring of water. In support of the former, they allege the total silence of scripture, respecting the baptism of infants, together with their incompetence to comprehend the truths, or sustain the engagements, which they conceive it designed to exhibit. For the latter, they urge the well-known import of the original word employed to express the baptismal rite, which they allege cannot, without the most unnatural violence, be understood to command any thing less than an immersion of the whole body. The class of christians whose senti- ments I am relating, are usually known by the appella- tion of baptists; in contradistinction from whom, all other christians may properly be denominated poedohap- 12 TERMS OF COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 13 this. It is not my intention to enter into the defence of their peculiar tenets, though they hare my unqualifieU approbation ; but merely to state them for the informa- tion of my readers. It must be obvious that in the judgement of the baptists, such as have only received the baptismal rite in their infancy must be deemed in reality unhaptized : for this is only a different mode of express- ing their conviction of the invalidity of infant sprinkling. On this ground they have for the most part confined their communion to persons of their own persuasion, in which, illiberal as it may appear, they are supported by the general practice of the christian world, which, what- ever diversities of opinion may have prevailed, has gener- ally concurred in insisting upon baptism as an indispen- sable prerequisite to the Lord's table. The effect which has resulted in this particular case has indeed been sin- gular, but it has arisen from a rigid adherence to a prin- ciple, almost universally adopted, that baptism is, under all circumstances, a necessary prerequisite to the Lord's supper. The practice we are now specifying has usually been termed strict communion^ while the opposite prac- tice of admitting sincere christians to the eucharist, though in our judgement not baptized, is styled free communion. Strict communion is the general practice of our churches, though the abettors of the opposite opinion are rapidly increasing both in numbers and in respectability. The humble hope of casting some addi- tional light on a subject which appears to me of no trivial importance, is my only motive for composing this treatise, in which it will be necessary to attempt the establish- ment of principles suflficiently comprehensive to decide other questions in ecclesiastical polity, besides those which concern the present controversy. I am greatly mistaken if it be possible to bring it to a satisfactory issue, without adverting to topics in which the christian world are not less interested than the baptists. If the conclusions we shall endeavour to establish, appear on impartial inquiry to be well founded, it will follow that serious errors respecting terms of communion have pre- vailed to a wide extent in the christian church. It will be my anxious endeavour, in the progress of this discus- sion, to avoid whatever is calculated to irritate ; and in- stead of acting the part of a pleader, to advance no argu- ment which has not been well weighed, and of whose validity I am not perfectly convinced. The inquiry will be pursued under two parts ; in the first, I shall consider the arguments in favour of strict communion ; in the second, state, with all possible brevity, the evidence by which we attempt to sustain the opposite practice. H PART I. ARGUMENTS FOE STRICT COMMUNION CONSIDERED. In reviewing the arguments which are usually urged for the practice of strict communion^ or the exclusion of unhaptized persons from the Lord's table, I shall chiefly confine myself to the examination of such as are adduced by the venerable Mr. Booth, in his treatise styled " Ah Apology for the Baptists," because he is not only held in the highest esteem by the whole denomination, but is allowed by his partisans to have exhibited the full force of their cause. He writes on the subject under discus- sion with all his constitutional ardour and confidence ; which, supported by the spotless integrity and elevated sanctity of the man, have contributed, more perhaps than any other cause, to fortify the baptists in their prevailing practice. I trust the free strictures which it will be ne- cessary to make on his performance, will not be deemed inconsistent with a sincere veneration for his character, which I should be sorry to see treated with the unspar- ing ridicule and banter with which he has assailed Mr. Bunyan, a name equally dear to genius and to piety. The reader will not expect me to follow him in his de- clamatory excursions, or in those miscellaneous quota- tions, often irrelevant, which the extent of his reading has supplied : it will suffice if I carefully examine his arguments, without omitting a single consideration on which he could be supposed to lay a stress. Section I. The Argument from the Order of Time in which Baptism and the Lord's Supper are supposed to have been insti- tuted. One of the principal pleas in favour of strict com- munion is derived from the supposed priority of the in- TERMS OP COMMUNION. 15 stitution of baptism to the Lord's supper. " That bap- tism was an ordinance of God," say our opponents, " that submission to it was required, that it was administered to multitudes before the sacred supper was heard of, are undeniable facts. There never was a time since the ministiy of our Lord's successors, in which it was not the duty 01 repenting and believing sinners to be baptized. The venerable John, the twelve apostles, and the Son of God incarnate, all united in commanding baptism, at a time when it would have been impious to have eaten bread, and drank wine, as an ordinance of divine wor- ship. Baptism, therefore, had the priority in point of institution, which is a presiunptive evidence that it has, and ever will have, a prior claim to our obedience. So under the ancient economy, sacrifices and circumcision were appointed and practised in the patriarchal ages : in the time of Moses, the paschal feast, and burning incense in the holy place, were appointed by the God of Israel. But the two former being prior in point of institution, always had the priority in point of administration."* As this is a leading argument, and will go far towards determining the point at issue, the reader will excuse the examination of it being extended to some length. It pro- ceeds, obviously, entirely on a matter of fact, which it as- sumes as undeniable, the priority in point of time of the in- stitution of christian baptism, to that of the Lord's supper; and this again rests on another assiunption, which is, the identity of John's baptism with that of our Lord. If it should clearly appear that these were two distinct insti- tutes, the argument will be reversed, and it will be evi- dent that the eucharist was appointed and celebrated before christian baptism existed. Let me request the reader not to be startled at the paradoxical air of this as- sertion, but to lend an impartial attention to the follow- ing reasons : 1. The commission to baptize all nations, which was executed by the apostles after our Saviour's resurrection, originated in his express command; John's baptism, it is evident, had no such origin. John had baptized for * Booth's Apology, paj^e 4L 16 TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 17 I some time before he knew him ; it is certain, then, that he did not receive his commission from him. " And I knew him not," saith he, " but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water." If the manifesting Christ to Israel was the end and design of John s mission, he must have been in a previous state of obscurity ; not in a situation to act the 5 art of a legislator by enacting laws or establishing rites, ohn uniformly ascribes his commission, not to Christ, but the Father, so that to assert his baptism to be a christian institute, is not to interpret, but to contradict him. " And I knew him not," is his language, " but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear record, that this is the Son of God." It was not till he had accre- dited his mission, by many miracleS; and other demon- strations of a preternatural power and wisdom, that our Lord proceeded to modify religion by new institutions, of which the eucharist is the first example. But a chris- tian ordinance not founded on the authority of Christ, not the effect, but the means of his manifestation, and which was first executed by one who knew him not, is to me an incomprehensible mystery. 2. The baptism of John was the baptism of repentance^ or reformation, as a preparation for the approaching kingdom of God : the institute of Christ included an explicit profession of faith in a particular person, as the Lord of that kingdom. The ministry of John was the voice of one crjring in the wilderness, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." All he demanded of such as repaired to him, was to declare their conviction that the Messiah was shortly to appear, to repent of their sins, and resolve to frame their Hves in a manner agreeable to such an expectation, without requiring a belief in any existing individual as the Messiah. They were merely to express their readiness to believe on him who was to come* on the reasonable * Acts xix. 4. supposition that his actual appearance would not fail to be accompanied with attestations sufficient to establish his pretensions. The profession required in a candidate for christian hdq^thxxL, involved an historical faith, a belief in a certain individual, an illustrious personage, who had wrought miracles, declared himself the Son of God, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and rose again the third day. As the conviction demanded in the two cases was totally distinct^ it was possible for him who sincerely avowed the one, to be destitute of the other ; and though the rejection of Christ by John's converts would have been criminal and destructive of salvation, it would not have been self- contradictory, or absurd, since he might sincerely believe on his testimony, that the Christ was shortly to appear, and make some preparations for his approach, who was not satisfied with his character when he was actually manifested. That such was the real situation of the great body of the Jewish people, at our Lord's advent, is evident from the evangelical records. In short, the profession demanded in the baptism of John was nothing more than a solemn recognition of that great article of the Jewish faith, the appearance of the Messiah, accompanied, indeed, with this ^ditional circumstance, that it was nigh at hand. Ihe faith required by the apostles included a persuasion ot all the miraculous facts which they attested, compre- hending the preternatural conception, the deity, incarna- tion, and atonement, the miracles, the death, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In the one, was contained a general expectation of the speedy appearance of an lUustnous person under the character of the Messiah • m the other, an explicit declaration that Jesus of Nazareth' whose hfe and death are recorded in the evangelists, was the Identical person. But in order to constitute an identity m religious ntes, two things are requisite, a sameness in tHe corporeal action, and a sameness in the import The a^wnm^y be the same, yet the rites totally different, or chnstian baptism must be confounded with legal Jewish punhcations, the greater part of which consisted in a total immersion of the body in water. The diversity of VOL. HI. Q 18 fERMS OF COMMUNION. TERMS OF COMMUNION. 19 iy signification, the distinct uses to which they were applied, constitute their only difference, but quite sufficient to render it absurd to consider them as one and the same. And surely he is guilty of a similar mistake, who, misled by the exact resemblance of the actions physically con- sidered, confounds the rite intended to announce the future, though speedy appearance of the Messiah, with- out defining his person, and the ceremony expressive of a firm belief in an identical person, as akeady manifested under that illustrious character. 3. Christian baptism was invariably administered in the name of Jesus ; while there is sufficient evidence that John's was not performed in that name. That it was not during the first stage of his ministry is certain, because we learn from his own declaration, that when he first executed his conmiission he did not know him, but was previously apprised of a miraculous sign, which should serve to identify him when he appeared. In order to obviate the suspicion of collusion or conspiracy, circum- stances were so arranged that John remained ignorant of the person of the Saviour, and possessed, at the com- mencement of his career, that knowledge only of the Messiah which was common to enlightened Jews. If we suppose him at a subsequent period to have incorporated the name of Jesus with his institute, an alteration so striking would unquestionably have been noticed by the evangelists, as it must have occasioned among the people much speculation and surprise, of which, however, no traces are perceptible. Besides, it is impossible to peruse the gospels with attention, without remarking the extreme reserve maintained by our Lord, with respect to his claim to the character of Messiah ; that he studiously avoided, until his arraignment before the high priest, the public declaration of that fact; that he wrought his principal miracles in the obscure province of Galilee, often accompanied with strict injunctions of secresy ; and that the whole course of his ministry, till its concluding scene, was so conducted as at once to afford sincere inquirers sufficient evidence of his mission, and to elude the malice of his enemies. In descending from the mount of trans- jguratlon, where he had been proclaimed the Son of God from th& inost excellent ghry^ he strictly charged the disciples who accompanied him to tell no man of it, till he was raised from the dead. The appellation he con- stantly assumed was that of the Son of Man, which, whatever be its precise import, could by no construction become the ground of a criminal charge. "When at the feast of dedication, " the Jews came around him in the temple, saying, How long dost thou keep us in suspense ? if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly :" he replied, " I have told you, and ye believe not : the works which I do in my Father s name they bear ^vitness of me."* From this passage it is evident that our Lord had not, hitherto, publicly and explicitly affirmed himself to be the Messiah, or there would have been no foundation for the complaint of these Jews ; nor does he on this occasion expressly affirm it, but refers them to the testimony of his works, without specifying the precise import of that attestation. In the progress of his discourse, however, he advances nearer to an open declaration of his Messiahship than on any former occasion, affirming his Father and himself to be one, in consequence of which the people attempt to stone him, as guilty of blasphemy, in making himself the Son of God. As his time was not yet come, he still maintains a degree of his wonted caution, and vindicates his assumption of that honour, upon principles far inferior to what he might justly have urged. Yet such was the effect of this discourse, that in order to screen himself from the fury of his enemies, he found it necessary im- mediately to retire beyond Jordan. In an advanced stage of his ministry, we find him inquiring of his disci- ples the prevailing opinions entertained respecting him- self ; on which they reply, " Some say thou art John the Baptist, others Elias, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." That he w^as the Messiah, was not, it is evident, the opinion generally entertained at that time, by such as were most favourably disposed towards his character and pretensions, which it could not fail to have been, had this title been publicly proclaimed : but this * John X. 24, 25. c2 20 TERMS OF COMMUNION. M was so far from his intention, that when Peter, in the name of the rest of the apostles, uttered that glorious confession, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," our Lord immediately enjoins secrecy. What he enjoined his disciples not to publish, he certainly did not publish himself, nor for the same reason suffer 'it to be indiscriminately proclaimed by his foremnner. But if we suppose John to baptize in iiis name, we must suppose what is equivalent to an exphcit dechiration of his being the Messiah ; for since he on all occasions predicted the speedy appearance of that great personage, the people could not fail to identify with him, the individual whose name was thus employed, and all the precautions main- tained by our Saviour would have been utterly defeated. For what possible purpose could he forbid his disci|>les to publish, what John is supposed to have promul"Tited as often as he administered the baptismal rite ? and^how shall we account, on this hypothesis, for the diversity of opinion which prevailed respecting his character, among those who were thoroughly convinced of the divine mission of that great Prophet ? From these considerations, in addition to the total silence of scripture, the judicious reader, I presume, will conclude without hesitation that John did noi baptize in the name of Jesus, which is an essential ingredient in christian baptism ; nnd though it is administered, in fact, in the name of each person of the blessed Godhead, not in that of the Son only, this, instead of impairing, strengthens the tirgument, by enlarging still farther the difftrence betwixt the two ordinances in question ; for none will contend that John immersed his disciples in the name of the Holy Trinitv. 4. The baptism instituted by our Lord, is in scripture distinguished from that of the forerunner, by the superior effects with which it was accompanied ; so tliat, instead of being confounded, they are contrast. -d, in the sacred historians. " I indeed,** said John, " baptize you with water unto repentance, but there cometh one after me who is mightier than I ; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost, and in fire." The rite administered by John was a mere immer:,ion in water, unaccompaided with that TERMS OF COMMUNION. 21 efliision of the Spirit, that redundant supply of super- natural gifts and graces which distinguished the subjects of the christian institute. On the passage just quoted, St. Chrysostom has the following comment : — '* Having agitated their minds with the fear of future judgement, and the expectation of punishment, and the mention of the axe, and the rejection of their ancestors, and the substitution of a new race, together with the double menace of excision and burning, and by all these means softened their obduracy, and disposed them to a desire of deliverance from these evils, he then introduces the mention of Christ, not in a simple manner, but with much elevation ; in exhibiting his own disparity, lest he should appear to be using the language of compliment, he commences by stating a comparison betwixt the benefit bestowed by each. For he did not immediately say, I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of his shoes ; but having first stated the insignijkance of his own baptism, and shown that it had no effect beyond bringing them to repentance, (for he did not style it the water of remission, but of repentance,) he proceeds to the baptism ordained by Christ, which was replete with an ineffahle ,gift."* This eminent father, we perceive, insists on the prodigious inferiority of the ceremony performed by John to the christian sacrament, from its being merely a symbol of repentance, Mdthout comprehending the remission of 8ins,t or the donation of the Spirit. The evangelists, Mark and Luke, it is true, affirm that John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, whence we are entitled to infer that the rite which he adminis- tered, when accompanied with suitable dispositions, was important in the order of preparation, not that it was accompanied vnth the immediate or actual collation of that benefit. Such Q& repented at his call, stood fair candidates for the blessings of the approaching dispensation, among which, an assurance of pardon, the adoption of children, and the gift of the Spirit, held the most conspicuous ♦ Homily xi. ou Matthew. f Mark i. 4. Luke iii. 3. il f If 22 TERMS OF C03IMUNI0N. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 23 place ; blessings of which it was the office of John to excite the expectation, but of Christ to bestow. The effusion of the Spirit, indeed, in the multifarious forms of his miraculous and sanctifying operation, may be con- sidered as equivalent to them all ; and this, we are dis- tinctly told, was not given (save in a very scanty manner) during our Lord's abode upon earth, because he was not yet glorified. Reserved to adorn the triumph of the ascended Saviour, the apostles were commanded to wait at Jerusalem until it was bestowed, which was on the day of Pentecost, when *' a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind, filled the place where they were assembled, and cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost." This was the first example of that baptism of the Spirit, as the author of which, John asserts the immense superiority of the Messiah, not to himself only, but to all preceding prophets. In the subsequent history, we perceive that this gift was, on all ordinary occasions, conferred in connexion with baptism. In this connexion, it is exhibited by St. Peter, in his address on the day of Pentecost ; " Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Thus it was also in the case of Saul of Tarsus. Agree- able to our Lord's prediction of the signs which should accompany them that believe, there is reason to suppose a greater or less measure of these supernatural endow- ments regularly accompanied the imposition of the hands of the apostles on primitive converts, immediately sub- sequent to their baptism ; which affords an easy solution to the surprise Paul appears to have felt, in finding certain disciples at Ephesus, who, though they had been baptized, were yet unacquainted with these commimica- tions. " Into what then," he asks, " were ye baptized ?* and upon being informed " into John's baptism," the difficulty vanished. Since the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or the copious effusion of spiritual influences, in which primitive chris- tians were, so to speak, immersed, was appointed to fol- low the sacramental use of water, under the christian economy, while the same corporeal action performed by John was a naked ceremony, not accompanied by any such effects, this difference betwixt them is sufficient to account for their being contrasted in scripture, and ought ever to have prevented their being confoimded as one and the same institute. 5. The case of the disciples at Ephesus, to which we have just adverted, affords a demonstrative proof of the position for which we are contending; for if John's baptism was the same with our Lord's, upon what prin- ciples could St. Paul proceed in administering the latter to such as had already received the former ? As I am aware that some have attempted to deny so plain a fact, I shall beg leave to quote the whole passage, which, I am persuaded, will leave no doubt on the mind of an impartial reader : — " It came to pass while ApoUos was at Corinth, Paul, passing through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus : and finding certain disciples, said unto them. Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye be- lieved ? but they replied, We have not even heard that there is an Holy Ghost. He said unto them, Into what then were ye baptized ? they said. Into John's baptism. Paul replied, John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should be- lieve on him who was to come, that is, on Jesus Christ. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus : and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied." I am conscious that there are not wanting some who contend that the fifth verse* is to be interpreted as the language of St. Paul, affirming that at the command of John, the people were baptized in the name of Jesus. But not to repeat what has already been advanced to show that this is contrary to fact, (for who, I might ask, were the people, who at his instigation were baptized in that name, or what traces are there in the evangelical history of such * " When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.'' Acts xix. 5. , I ii" I f* 24 TERMS OP COMMUNION. a practice, during the period of his ministry ?) not to in- sist further on this, it is obvious that this interpretation of the passage contradicts itself: for if John told the people that they were to believe on him who rvas to come, this was equivalent to declaring that he had not yet manifested himself; while the baptizing in his name as an existing individual, would have been to affirn\ the contraiy. Besides, we must remark, that the persons on whom Paul is asserted to have laid his hands, were un- questionably the identical persons who are affirmed in the preceding verse to have been baptized ; for there is no other antecedent ; so that if the meaning of the pas- sage be what some contend for, the sacred historian must be supposed to assert that he laid his hands, not on the twelve disciples at Ephesus, but on John's converts in general, that the Holy Ghost came upon them, and that they spake with tongues and prophesied ; which is in- effably absurd. Either this must be supposed, or the words, which in their original structure are most closely combined, must be conceived to consist of two parts, the first relating to John's converts in general, the second to the twelve dis- ciples at Ephesus ; and the relative pronoun, expressive of the latter description of persons^ instead of being con- joined to the preceding clause, must be referred to an antecedent, removed at the distance of three verses. In the whole compass of theological controversy, it would be difficult to assijsjn a stronger instance of the force of prejudice in obscuring a plain matter of fact ; nor is it easy to conjecture what could be the temptation to do such violence to the language of scripture, and to every principle of sober criticism, unless it were the horror which certain divines have conceived, against every thing which bore the shadow of countenancing anabaptistical error. The ancient commentators appear to have felt no such apprehensions, but to have followed, without scruple, the natural import of the passage.* ♦ The intelligent reader will not be displeaned to see the opinion of St. AnstiD on this point. It is almost unnecessary to say that it is de- cisively in our favour; nor does it appear that any of the fathers enter- TER^IS OP COMMUNION. 25 6. Independently of this decisive fact, whoever con- siders the extreme popularity of John, and the multitude, of all descriptions, who flocked to his baptism, will find it difficult to believe, that there A^ere not many in the same situation with these twelve disciples. The annun- ciation of the speedy appearance of their Messiah was the most welcome of all intelligence to the Jewish people, and did not fail, for a time, to produce prodigious effects. The reader is requested to notice the terms employed to describe the effects of John's ministry, arid compare tained a doubt on the subject. In confuting the opinion of those wbp contended that such as were reclaimed from heresy ought to be rebap- tized, he represents them as arguing, that if the converts of John re- quired to be rebaptized, much more those who were converted from heresy. Since they who had the baptism of John were commanded by Paul to be baptized, not having the baptism of Christ, why do you extol the met it of John, and reprobate the misery of heretics ? *' I concede to you," says St. Austin, " the misery of heretics : but heretics give the baptism of Christ, which John did not give." The comment of Cnrysostom, on the passage under consideration, is equally decisive. ** He ^Paul) did not say to them that the baptism of John was nothing, but that it was incomplete ; nor docs he say this simply, or without having a further purpose in view, but that he might teach and persuade them to be baptized in the name of Jesus, which they were, and received the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of Paul's hands.'* In the couise of his exposition, he solves the difficulty attend- ing the supposition of disciples at Ephesus. a place so remote from .ludaea, having received baptism from John. " Perhaps," says he " they were then on a journey, and went out> and were baptized." But even when they were baptized, they knew not Jesus. Nor does he ask them, Do ye believe on Jesus? but, '* Have ye received the Holy Ghost ?" He knew that they had not received it, but is desirous of speak- ing to them, that on learning that they were destitute of it, they might be induced to seek it. A little afterwards he adds, " Well did he ( Paul) denominate the baptism of John, the baptism of repentance, and not of remission ; instructing and persuading tiiem tliat it was destitute of that advantage : but the effect of that which was given afterwards was re- mission." Homily in ioco, vol. iv. Etonae. I am aware that very learned men have doubted the authenticity of Chrysostom's Commen- tary on the Acts, on account of the supposed inferioi ity of it to his other expository works. But without having recourse to so violent a suppo- sition, its inferiority, should it be admitted, may be easily accounted for by tlie negligence, ignorance, or inattent.on of his amanuensis ; supposing (which is not improbable) that his discourses were taken from his lips. From the time he was sixty years of age, he permitted his discouraes to be takendown in short-hand, just as he delivered them. — Euseb, lib. vi. c. 26. 26 TERMS OP COmUNION. TERMS OF COMMUNION. 27 I I them with the lan^age of the historian, in depictincr the most prosperous stiite of the church. " Then vrent out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaa, and all the coast round about Jordan, and were baptized in Jordan, confessing their sms. Where is such language employed to re- present the success of the apostles ? Their converts are numericalfy stated, and, at some distance from our Lord's ascension, appear to have amounted to about five thou- sand, while a great majority of the nation continued im- penitent and incredulous. We read of no party formed against the son of Zechariah, no persecution raised against Ills tollowers; and such was the reverence in which he continued to be held after his death, that the scribes and phansees, those determined enemies to the gospel, dared not avow their disbelief of his mission, because all the people considered him as a prophet. The historian Josephus who IS generally supposed by the learned to liave made no mention of our Saviour, bears decisive tes- timony to John's merits, and imputes the misfortunes to deaTh ♦ *^ ^^* ^^ contracted by putting him to From these considerations, I infer, that if we suppose the converts made by the apostles to have been umver- salJy baptized, on their admission into the church, (a fact not doubted by our opponents,) multitudes of them must have been m the same situation with the disciples at Jl^phesus. How is it possible it should have been other- wise < When the number of his converts was so prodi- gious when the submission to his institute appears to have been almost national, when of so small a number as twelve, two at least of the apostles were of his disciples who can doubt, for a moment, that some, at least, of the multitudes who were converted on or after the day of Fentecost, consisted of such as had previously submitted to the baptism of John ? Is it possi ble that the ministry of the forerunner, and of the apostles of our lx)rd, should both have been productive of such great effects among the same people, at the distance of a few years, without operatmg, m a single instance, in the same* direction, and • Antiq. Jud. lib. viii. Colon. 1691. upon the same persons ? Amongst the converts at the day of Pentecost, and at subsequent periods, there niust have been no inconsiderable number who had for a time been sufficiently awakened by the ministry of John to comply with this ordinance ; yet it is evident, from the narrative in the Acts, as well as admitted by our oppo- nents, that Peter enjoined on them all, without exception, the duty of being immersed in the name of Christ. That such a description of persons should need to be converted by the apostles, will easily be conceived, if we allow our- selves to reflect on the circumstances of the times. " He was a burning and a shining light," said our Lord, speaking of his forerunner, " and ye were willing for a time to re- joice in his light." This implies that their attachment was transient, their repentance superficial, and that the greater part of such as appeared, for a while, most de- termined to press into the kingdom of God, afterwards sunk into a state of apathy. The singular spectacle of a prophet arising, after a long cessation of prophetical gifts, his severe sanctity, his bold and alarming address, coin- ciding with the general expectation of the Messiah, made a powerful impression on the spirits of men, and dis- posed them to pay a profound attention to his ministry ; and from their attachment to every thing ritual and ceremonial, they would feel no hesitation in submitting to the ceremony enjoined. But when the kingdom, which they eagerly anticipated, appeared to be altogether of a spiritual nature, divested of secular pomp and gran- deur ; when the sublimer mysteries of the gospel began to be unfolded, and the necessity inculcated of eating the flesh, and drinking the blood, of the Son of Man, the people were offended ; and even of the professed disciples of our Lord, " many walked no more with him." A general declension succeeded, so that of the multitudes who once appeared to be much moved by his ministry, and that of his forerunner, the number which persevered was so inconsiderable, that all that could be mustered to witness his resurrection amounted to little more than five hundred,* a number which may be considered as consti- ♦ 1 Cor. XV. 6. T^aiMS OP COMMUNION. tntmg the whole hody of the churcli, till the day of Pen- tecost. The parable of the house forsaken for a time by an evil spirit, swept and gurnished, to which he returned with seven more wicked than himself, it is generally ad- mitted was designed to represent this temporary reforma- tion of the Jemsh nation, together with its subsequent apostasy. The day of Pentecost changed the scene, the power of the ascended Saviour beg;m to be developed ; and three thousand were converted at one time. Nor did it cease here ; for soon after, we are informed of a great multitude of priests who became obedient to the laith; and at a subsequent period, St. James reminds the apostle of the gentiles of many myriads of converted Jews, all zealous for the law. Let me ask again, is it possible to suppose that none of these myriads consisted of such as had been baptized by John ? Were they aU, without exception, of that im- pious class which uniformly held his mission in con- tempt ? It is impossible to suppose it ; it is contradicted by the express testimony of scripture, which affirms two or the apostles to have been his disciples and companions.* But if such as professed their faith in Christ, under the ministry of the apostles, were baptized on that profession without any consideration of their having been previously immersed by John, or not, what stronger proof can be desired, that the institutes in question were totally dis- tinct? Were we satisfied with an argumentum ad hommem, with the sort of proof sufficient to silence our opponents, here the matter might siifely rest. But, in- dependent of their concession, I must add that it is mani- test from the whole tenour of the Acts, that the baptismal nte was universaUy administered to the converts to Chris- tianity subsequent to the day of Pentecost. " Peter said unto them. Repent and be baptized, every one of you •" it IS added, ahnost immediately, " Then they that dadlv received his word were baptized." It will possibly be asked, if the rite which the fore- runner of our Lord administered is not to be considered * John i. 35—37. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 29 as a christian institute, to what dispensation are we to assign it, since it is, manifestly, no part of the economy of Moses. We reply, that it was the symbol of a pecu- Uar dispensation, which was neither entirely legal nor evangelical, but occupied an intermediate station, pos- sessing something of the character and attributes of both ; a kind of twilight, equally removed from the obscurity of the first, and the splendour of the last and perfect eco- nomy of religion. The law and prophets wero until John ; his mission constituted a distinct aera, and ]»laced the na- tion, to which he was sent, in circumstances materially different from its preceding or subsequent state. It was the sera of preparation ; it was a voice which, breaking through a long silence, announced the immediate approach of the desire of all natims^ the messenger of tlie covenant^ in whom they delighted. In announcing this event as at hand, and establishing a rite unknown to the law, expressive of that purity of heart, and reformation of life, which were the only suitable preparations for his reception, he stood alone, equally severed from the choir of the prophets, and the company of the apostles ; and the light which he emitted, though it greatly surpassed every preceding illu- mination, was of short duration, being soon eclipsed and extinguished by that ineffable effulgence, before which nothing can retain its splendour. The wisdom of God in the arrangement of successive dispensations, seems averse to sudden and violent inno- vations, rarely introducing new rites, without incorporat- ing something of the old. As by the introduction of the Mosaic, the simple ritual of the patriarchal dispensation was not so properly abolished, as amplified and extended into a regular system of prefigurations of good things to come, in which the worship by sacrifices, and the distinc- tion of animals into clean and unclean, reappeared under a new form ; so the sera of immediate preparation was distinguished by a ceremony not entirely new, but de- rived from the purifications of the law, applied to a special purpose.* Our Lord incorporated the same rite * The principal part of these consisted in bathing the body in »vater. i 30 TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 31 into his religion, newly modified, and adapted to the peculiar views and objects of the christian economy, in conjunction with another positive institution, the rudi- ments of which are perceptible in the passover. It seemed suitable to his wisdom, by such gentle gradations to conduct his church from an infantine state, to a state of maturity and perfection. Before I dismiss this part of the subject, which has perhaps already detained the reader too long, I must beg leave to hazard one conjecture. Since it is manifest that the baptism of John did not supersede the christian ordinance, they being perfectly distinct, it is natural to mquire, who baptized the apostles and the hundred and twenty disciples assembled with them at the day of Pen- tecost? My deliberate opinion is, that, in the christian sense of the term, they were not baptized at all. From the total silence of scripture, and from other circum- stances which might be adduced, it is difficult to suppose they submitted to that rite after our Saviour s resurrec- tion ; and previous to it, it has been sufficiently proved that it was not in force. It is ahnost certain that some probably most of them, had been baptized by John, but,' for reasons which have been already amply assigned' this will not account for their not submitting to the christian ordinance. The true account seems to be, that the precept of baptism had no retrospective bearing; and that, consequently, its obligation extended only to such as were converted to Christianity subsequently to the time of its promulgation. Such as had professed their faith m Christ from the period of his first manifestation, could not, without palpable incongruity, recommence that profession, which would have been to cancel and annul their former religious pretensions. With what propriety could the apostles of the Lord, tcko had continued with him in his temptatiofis, place themselves on a level with that multitude, which, however penitent at present, had recently demanded his blood with clamorous importu- nity ? not to insist that they had already received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, of which the sacramental use of water was but a figure. They were not converted to the christian religion subsequently to their Lord s ^suiTection, nor did the avowal of their attachment to Ihe Messiah commence from that period ; and therefore they were not comprehended under the bap ismal law vhfch was propounded for the regulation of the conduct of persons in essentially different circumstances. When St Paul says, " As many of us as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ," his language seems to inti- mTthat there were a class of christians to whom this "Cgprt"et?tt^^^ reader, that baptism, considered as a christian institution had no existence during the personal ."^^f ^ f ^^^ Saviour, the plea of our opponents, founded on the sup- T^ed priorky of that ordinance to the Lords supper, is Lmple^ely ov^erruled ; whatever weight it might possess supposing^t were valid, must be wholly f^^^^^-f ^^ the opposite side, and it must be -f know^^^g^^'J^^^^^ that they have reasoned inconclusively, or have produced a demonstration in our favour. It now appears that th^ original communicants at the Lords table at the time therpartook of it, were, mth respect to christian bap- tism, p^cisely in Jhe same situation with the persons they exclude. Section II. The Argument for Strict Communim, from the Order of Word! in the Apostolic Cominissim, considered The commission which the apostles received after our Lord's resurrection, was in the following words :--- AU Dower is given to me in heaven and in earth. Uo ye, therefore, Ld teach all natioi^ baptizing them m the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you" From baptism being mentioned/rrf after teaching, it is urged that it ought mvariably to be * Kom. vi. 3» 33 TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERMS OF CiOMMlTNION. 33 administered immediately after effectual instruction is imparted, and consequently before an approach to the Lord's table. Whence it is concluded, that to commu- nicate with such as are unbaptized, is a violation of divine order.* It may assist the reader to form a judgement of the force of the argument adduced on this occasion, if we reduce it to the following syllogism : The persons who are to be taught to observe all things given in charge to the apostle, are the baptized alone. But the Lord's supper is one of these things. Therefore tlie ordinance of the Lord's supper ought to be enjoined on the baptized alone. Here it is obvious that the conclusion rests entirely upon this principle, that nothing which the apostles were commissioned to enjoin on believers, is to be recom- mended to the attention of persons not baptized ; since, as far as this arjmment is concerned, the observation of the Ix,rd-s supper is supposed not to belong to them, merely because it forms a part of those precepts. It is obvious, if the reasoning of our opponents be valid, it militates irresistibly against the inculcation of every branch of christian duty, on persons who in their judge- * "Teach," says Mr. Booth, '* is the hi^h commission, and such the express command of him who is Lord of alt, when addressing those who are called to preach his word ana administpr his institutions. Hence it is manifest the commission and command are tirst of all to teach : what then 1— to baptize, or to administer the Lord's supper ? I leave common sense to judge, and being persuaded that she will give her verdict in mv favour, I will venture to add, a limited commission imphes a prohibition of such things as are not contained in it; and positive laws imply their negative. " For instance, when God commanded Abraham to circumcise all his males, he readily concluded thtt neither circumcision, nor any rite of a similar nature, was to be administered to his females. And as our brethren themselves maintain, when Christ commanded believers should be baptized, without mentioning any others, he tacitly prohib- ited that ordinaiice fiom being administered to ir^ants — so, by parity of reason, if the same sovereign Lord commanded that believers should be baptized — baptized immediately alter they made a profession of faith, then he must intend that the administration of baptism should be prior to a reception of the Lord's supper, and, consequently, tacitly prohibits every unbaptized person having communion at his table." — Boot/'is Apology, p. 34. ment have not partaken of the baptismal sacrament : it excludes them not merely from the Lord's supper, but from every species of instruction appropriate to chris- tians ; nor can they exhort paedobaptists to walk worthy of then- high calling, to adorn their christian profession, to cultivate brotherly love, or to the performance of any duty resulting from their actual relation to Christ, with- out a palpable violation of their own principles. In all such instances they would be teaching them to observe injunctions which Christ gave in charge to the apostles for the regulation of christian conduct, while they deem it necessary to repel them from the sacrament, merely on account of its forming a part of those injunctions. Nor can they avoid the force of this reasoning, by objecting that though it may be their duty to enjoin on unbaptized believers some parts of the mind of Christ respecting the conduct of his mystical members, it will not follow that they are to be admitted to the Lord's table ; and that their meaning is, that it is only subsequently to baptism, that all things ought to be enforced on the consciences of christians. For if it be once admitted that the clause on which so much stress is laid, is not to be interpreted so as absolutely to exclude unbaptized christians from the whole of its import, to what purpose is it alleged against their admission to the eucharist ? or how does it appear that this may not be one of the parts in which they are comprehended ? . • j When the advocates for strict communion remind us of the order in which the two positive institutions ^of Christianity are enjoined, they appear to assume it for granted that we are desirous of inverting that order, and that we are contending for the celebration of the euchar- rist previous to baptism, in the case of a clear compre- hension of the nature and obUgation of each. We plead for nothing of the kind. Supposing a convert to Christi- anity convinced of the ordinance of baptism, in the light in which we contemplate it, we should urge his obliga- tion to comply with it, previous to his reception of the sacrament, with as little hesitation as the most rigid ot our opponents ; nor should we be more disposed than VOL, lU. n dt TERMS OF COMMUNIOX. TERMS OF COMMUNION. 3^ themselves to countenance a neglect of known duty, or a wanton inversion of the order of christian appointments. Whether in such circumstances the attention of a candi- date for christian communion should first he directed to baptism, is not the question at issue ; but what conduct ought to be maintained towards sincere christians, who, after serious examination, profess their conviction of being baptized akeady, or who, in any manner whatever, are withheld by motives purely conscientious, from comply- ing with what we conceive to be a christian ordinance. To justify the exclusion of such from the Lord's table, it is not sufficient to allege the prescribed order of the in- stitutions ; it is necessary also to evince such a depend- ence of one upon the other, that a neglect of the first from involuntary mistake, annuls the obligation of the second. Let this dependence be once clearly pointed out^ and we give up the cause. It has been asserted, indeed, with much confidence, that we have the same authority for confining our communion to baptized persons, as the ancient Jews for admitting none but such as had been circumcised, to the passover ; a simple recital, however, of the words of the law, with respect to that ancient rit«, will be sufficient to demonstrate the contrary : " When a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep his pass- over to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come and keep it, and he shall be as one that is bom in the land ; for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." But where, let me ask, is it asserted in the New Testament that no unbaptized person shall partake of the eucharist ? * So far from this, it has been, I trust, satisfactorily shown, that, of the original communicants at its first institution, not one was thus qualified. I presume it will be acknowledged that the Jewish law *** Wasit thednty, think yon, of an ancient Israelite to worship at the MDctnarjr, or to partake of the paschal feast, hefore he was circumcised? Or was it the auty ofthe Jewish priests to bum incense in the holy place, before they offered the morninj^ or evening sacrifice ? Tlie ap- pointments of God must be adniiotstered in his own way, and in that order which he has fixed.*' — Booth's Apology ^ p. 143. was so clear and express in insisting on circumcision as a necessary preparation for partaking of the paschal lamb, that none could mistake it, or approach that feast in an uncircumcised state, without being guilty of wilftd im- piety ; and if it is intended to insinuate the same chfu^e against paedobaptists, let it be alleged without disguise, that it may be fairly met and refuted. But if it be ac- knowledged that nothing but such involuntary mistakes, such unintentional errors as are incident to some of the wisest and best of men, are imputable in the present instance, we are at a loss to conceive upon what prin- ciple they are compared to wilful prevarication and rebel- lion. The degree of blame which attaches to the con- duct of those who mistake the will of Christ with respect to the sacramental use of water, we shall not pretend to determine ; but we feel no hesitation in affirming, that the practice of comparing it to a presumptuous violation and contempt of divine law, is equally repugnant to the dictates of propriety and of candour. Among the innu- merable descendants of Abraham, it is impossible to find one, since their departure from Egypt, who has doubted of the obligation of circumcision, of the proper subjects of that rite, or of its being an indispensable prerequisite to the privileges of the Mosaic covenant. Among chris- tians, on the contrary, of unexceptionable character and exalted piety, it cannot be denied that the subject, the mode, and the perpetuity of baptism, have each supplied occasion for controversy ; which can only be ascribed to the minute particularity with which the ceremonies of the law were enjoined, compared to the precise brevity which characterises the history of evangelical institutes. We are far, however, from insinuating a doubt on the obligation of believers to submit to the ordinance of baptism, or of its being exclusively appropriated to such; but we affirm that in no part of scripture is it inculcated as ^preparative to the Lord's supper^ and that this view of it is a mere fiction of the imagination. When duties are enjoined in a certain series, each of them, on the authority in which they originate, become obligatory ; nor are we excused from performing those d2 36 TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 37 wMch stand later in the series, on account of our haTing, firom misconception of their meaning, or from any other cause, omitted the first. To exemphty this by a ramiliar instance : It will be admitted that the law of nature en- forces the following duties, resulting from the relation of children to their parents : first, to yield implicit obedi- ence in the state of nonage ; next, in maturer age to pay respectful deference to their advice, and a prompt atten- tion to their wants ; lastly, after they are deceased, affec- tionately to cherish their memory, and defend their good name. None will deny that each of these branches of conduct is obligatory, and that this is the order in which they are recommended to our attention. But will it be contended that he who has neglected the first, ought not to perform the second ; or that he who has failed in the second, ought to omit the third ? To such an absurd pretence we should immediately reply that they are all independently obligatory, as respective dictates of the divine will ; and that for him who has violated one oi them, to urge his past delinquencies as an apology for the present, would only prove an aggravation of his guilt. It is true that some duties are so situated, as parts or appendages of preceding ones, that their obligation may be said to result from them ; as, for example, the duty of confessing Christ before men arises from the pre- vious duty of believing on him ; and that of joining a christian society, presupposes the obligation of becom- ing a christian. In such cases, however, as the con- nexion betwixt the respective branches of practice is founded on the nature of things, it is easily perceived, and rarely, if ever, the subject of controversy. In a series of positive precepts, this principle has no place ; as they originate merely in arbitmiy appointment, their mutual relation can only be the result of clear and ex- press command; and as reason could never have dis- covered their obligation, so it is as little able to ascer- tain their intrinsic connexion and dependence, which, wherever it subsists, must be the eftects of the same positive prescription which gave them birth. It cannot be pretended that an unbaptized believer is intrinsically disqualified for a suitable attendance at the Lord's table, or that it is so essentially connected with baptism, as to render the act of communion, in itself, absurd or impro- per. The communion has no retrospective reference to baptism, nor is baptism an anticipation of communion. Enjoined at different times, and appointed for different purposes, they are capable, without the least inconveni- ence, of being contemplated apart ; and on no occasion are they mentioned in such a connexion as to imply, much less to assert, that the one is enjoined with a view to the other. Such a connexion, we acknoNvledge, sub- sisted betwixt the rites of circumcision and the passover ; and all we demand of the advocates of strict communion is, that instead of amusing us with fanciful analogies drawn from an antiquated law, they would point us to some clause in the New Testament which asserts a simi- lar relation betwixt baptism and the Lord's supper. But here, where the very hinge of the controversy turns, the Scriptures are silent. They direct us to be baptized, and they dkect us to commemorate the Saviour s death ; but not a syllable do they utter to inform us of the insepa- rable connexion betwixt these two ordinances. This deficiency is ill supplied by fervid declamation on the perspicuity of our Lord's commission, and the inexcusable inattention or prejudice which has led to a misconcep- tion of its meaning ; for let the persons whom these charges may concern be as guilty as they may, since they are still acknowledged to be christians, the questions return, why are they debarred from the communion of samts, and, while entitled to all other spiritual privileges, supposed to be incapacitated from partaking of the sym- bols of a crucified Saviour ? How came the deteriorating effects of their error respecting baptism to affect them but in one point, that of their eligibility as candidates for communion, without spreading farther? That it just amounts to a forfeiture of this privilege, and of no other, is a conclusion to which, as it is certain it cannot be established by reason, we ask to be conducted by revela- tion ; and we entreat our opponents for information on that head again and again, but entreat in vain. 38 TERMS OF COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 39 Were we to judge from the ardent attachment which the abettors of strict communion, on all occasions, pro- fess to the positive institutes of the gospel, we should suppose that the object of their efforts was to raise them to theu- just estunation, and to rescue them from desue- tude and neglect. We shoidd conjecture that they arose ftom a solicitude to revive certain practices which had prevailed in the purest ages of the church, but were afterwards laid aside, just as the ordinance of preaching was, during the triumph of the papacy, almost consigned to oblivion ; and that the consequence of complying with their suggestions, would be a more complete exhibition of Christianity in all its parts. But their zeal operates in quite a contrary direction. The success of their scheme tends not to extend the practice of baptism, no, not in a single instance, but merely to exclude the Lord's supper. Leaving the former appointment unaltered and imtouched, it merely proposes to abolish the latter ; and, as far as it is practicable, to lay the christian world under an interdict. The real state of the case is as follows : On the subject of baptism, and particularly whether it is applicable to infants, opinions are divided, and the ma- jority have come, as we conceive, to an erroneous con- clusion. How do they propose to remedy this evil ? By throwing all manner of obstacles in the way of an ap- proach to the Lord's table, and, as far as their power extends, rendering it impracticable, by clogging it with a condition at which conscience revolts. They propose to punish men for the involuntary neglect of one ordi- nance, by compelhng them to abandon the other ; and because they are uneasy at perceiving them perform but one half of their duty, oblige them, as far as lies in then: power, to omit the whole. I must confess I feel no par- tiaUty for those violent remedies, which, under the pre- tence of reforming, destroy ; or for that passion for order which would rather witness the entire desolation of the sanctuary, than a defalcation of its rites ; and in spite of all the efforts of Sophistry, I must be permitted to believe that our Lord's express injunction on his followers, *' do this in remembrance of me," is a better reason for the celebration of the communion than can be adduced for its neglect Section III. Ths Argument from Apostolical PrecederU, and fromtU difJerU Si/nijicaiions of the two InstUutims, corm- dered. In vindication of their practice, onr opponents are wont to urge the order of administration in the primitive Td a^s^c practice. They remind us that the mem- ber o{ the primitive church were universally bapt^ed; 4^ if we acknowledge its constitution in that respect tot expressive of the'mind of Christ we are bound to foUow that precedent, and that to deviate from it, in this Sular, is virtually to impeach e ther the wisdom of iur Lord, or the fidelity of his apostles. With respect to the univermltty of the practice of christian baptism, having already stated »'«J' J''^'^' not necessary to repeat what has ''>'«t!^y, ^«*" r.^T^fl orto recapitulate the reasons on which we » our :;inion, tLt it was not extended to such ^ -^^^J"- verted previous to our Lord's resurrection. S«''^^2^*";'y to that period, we admit, without hesitation, that the Iverl^o the'christian faith submitted to that ordinance prior to their reception into the christian chiuxh. As Lie are we disposW to deny that >t '«.-* F^^ 2 duty of the sincere beUever to follow their example, and . "The order of administration," ja,8 Mr. Booth, "in A'P;™;'-^" and apostolic pracUce, now demands our ""^•«jJ'';yi'„X te when endued with power from »°,H''- ""XSTis qnite evident. Mnse for which we plead, and praeUsed a««'-'»^W',"Xiited to the Then they that gladly rece.yedV. » word «««• ^'^ „,e„ „„reaM- Lord, table? ^\^^^^^''*A-^ff.a^dZ^l,li^etZipr^- rJtas'T-^^^^sivMp'nVofChn^^^^^^^^^ Itr—Booth's Apology, pp. 47. 48. 11 \ 40 TERMS OP COMMUNION. that, supposing him to be clearly convinced of the nature and import of baptism, he would be guilty of a criminal irregularity who neglected to attend to it, previous to his entering into christian fellowship. On the obligation of both the positive rites enjoined in the New Testament, and the prior claim of baptism to the attention of such as are properly enlightened on the subject, we have no dispute. All we contend for is, that they do not so de- pend one upon the other that the conscientious omission of the first forfeits the privilege, or cancels the duty, of observing the second ; nor are we able to perceive that what, in the present instance, is styled apostolic prece- dent, at all decides the question. To attempt to deter- mine under what circumstances the highest precedent possesses the form of law, involves a difficult and deli- cate inquiry ; for, while it is acknowledged that much deference is due to primitive example, there were certain usages in apostolical times, which few would attempt to revive. There is one general rule, however, applicable to the subject, which is, that no matter of fact is entitled to be considered as an authoritative precedent, which necessarily arose out of existing circumstances, so that in the then present state of things, it could not fail to have occurred. The foundation of this rule is obvious. No- thing is of the nature of law but what emanates firom the will of the legislator ; but when a particular fact, recorded in an historical narration, is so situated, that the contrary would have appeared incongruous or absurd ; in other words, when it could not fail to be the result of previous occurrences, such a fact is destitute of the essen- tial characteristic of a law ; it has no apparent depend- ence upon a superior will. Hence many practices occur in the history of the apos- toUc transactions, which it is universally admitted we are not obliged to imitate. It is an imquestionable fact, that the eucharist was first celebrated with unleavened bread, on the evening, in an upper room, and to Jews only ; but as we distinctly perceive that these particulars originated in the peculiiu* circumstances of the time, we are far firom considering them as binding. On the same principle, we TERMS OP COMMUNION. 41 account for the members of the primitive church consist- ing only of such as were baptized, without erecting that circumstance into an invariable rule of action. When we recollect that no error or mistake subsisted, or could subsist, among christians at that period, we are compelled to regard it as the necessary consequence of the state of opinions then prevalent. While all the faithful concur- red in their interpretation of the law which enjoins it, how is it possible to suppose it neglected ? or whence could rebaptized communicants have been drawn? Is this circumstance, to which so much importance is at- tached, of such a nature that no accoimt can be given of it, but upon the principle of our opponents ? or is it the necessary consequence of the then actual situation of the church ? IF the latter be admitted, it ceases, for the rea- son already alleged, to be a precedent, or a rule for the direction of future times. We are willing to go a step further, and to acknow- ledge that he who, convinced of the divine origin of Christianity by the ministry of the apostles, had refused to be baptized, would, at that period, have been justly debarred from receiving the sacramental elements. While the apostles were yet living, and daily exemplify- ing the import of their commission before the eyes of the people, it would have been impossible to pretend ignorance ; nor could that sincerity fiail to be suspected, which was not accompanied with an implicit submission to their authority. " He that receiveth you," saith our Lord, " receiveth me ; he that rejecteth you, rejecteth me." Agreeably to which we find that the disciple whom Jesus loved did not scruple to use the following language : — " By this ye know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error ; he that is of God heareth us ; he that is not of God heareth not us." Such a conduct was perfectly proper. As there can be but two guides in religion, reason and authority, and every man must form his belief, either by followmg the light of his own mind, or the information and in- struction he derives from others : so, it is equally evi- dent, it is only by the last of these methods that the ii; I 42 TERMS OP COMMUNION. benefit of a new revelation can be diffused. Either we must suppose an infinite multitude of miracles performed on the minds of individuals to convey the knowledge of supernatural truths, or that one or more are thus preter- naturallj enlightened, and invested with a commission to speak in the name of God to others ; endowed at the same time, with such peculiar powers, such a control over nature, or such a foresight of future contingencies, as shall be sufficient to accredit and establish his mission. He who refuses to submit to the guidance of persons thus attested and accredited, must be considered as vir- tually renouncing the revelation imparted, and, as the necessary consequence, forfeiting his interest in its bless- ings. On these grounds it is not difficult to perceive that a primitive convert, or rather pretended convert, who, without doubting that baptism, in the way in which we practise it, formed a part of the apostolic commission, had refused compliance, would have been deemed un- worthy christian communion, not on account of any spe- cific connexion betwixt the two ordinances, but on ac- count of his evincing a spirit totally repugnant to the mind of Christ. By rejecting the only authority estab- lished upon earth for tl^ direction of conscience, and the termination of doubts and controversies, he would, un- doubtedly, have been repelled as a contimiacious schis- matic. But what imaginable resemblance is there be- twixt such a mode of procedure, and the conduct of our paedobaptist brethren, who oppose no legitimate authority, impeach no part of the apostolic testimony, but mistak- ing (in our judgement at least) its import in one parti- cular, decline a practice which many of them would be the first to comply mth, were they once convinced it was the dictate of duty, and the will of heaven ? In the one case, we perceive open rebellion, in the other, involun- tary error ; in the one, the pride which opposes itself to the dictates of inspired wisdom, in the other, a specimen (an humbling one it is true) of that infirmity, in conse- quence of which we all "• see but in part, and know but in part." Since, whatever degree of prejudice or inatten- tion we may be disposed to impute to the abetters of in- TERM8 OP COMMUNION, 43 font sprinkling, the principles on which they proceed are essentially different firom those which could alone have occasioned the introduction of that practice in apostolic times, we are at a loss to conceive the propriety of class- ing them together, or of animadverting upon them with equal severity. The apostles would have repelled from their communion men, who, while they professed to be followers of Christ, refused submission to his inspired messengers ; in other words, they would have rejected some of the worst of men : therefore, say our opponents, we feel ourselves justified in excluding multitudes whom we acknowledge to be the best. I am at a loss whether most to admire the logic, the equity, or the modesty of such a conclusion. n .1 1 Besides, this reasoning fi:om precedent is of so flexible a nature, that it may with equal ease be employed in a contrary direction, and be turned to the annoyance of our opponents. As it is an acknowledged fact, that in pri- mitive times all the faithful were admitted to an equality of participation in every christian privilege ; to repel the great majority of them on account of an error, acknow- ledged not to be fimdamental, is at once a wide depar- ture fi-om the apostolic example, and a palpable contra- diction to the very words employed in its first institution j " drink ve all of it ; do this in remembrance of me :" words addressed, as has already been proved, to persons who had not received christian baptism. If it be replied, that though all christians originally commimicated, yet fi-om the period of the Pentecost, at least, they were all previously initiated by immersion, the inquiry returns, were they baptized on account of the necessary connexion of that appointment with the eucharist, or purely in de- ference to the apostolic injunction ? To assert the for- mer would be palpably begging the question ; and if the latter is affirmed, we reply, that as they practised as they did, in deference to the will of God, so our paedobaptist brethren, in declining the practice which we adopt, re- gulate their conduct by the same principle. The show of conformity to apostolic precedent is with the advocates of strict communion, and nothing more ; i«^<ed mankind by casting new light on the positive institutions of Jesus Christ, and by placing baptism among things of little importance in the christian religion, of which no ancient theologian ever dreamed— none we have reason to think that ever loved the Lord Redeemer." A little after he adds, ** The practical claim of dispensing power by Jesse and Bunyan, made way for the inglorious liberty of treating positive institutions in the house of God just as pro- fessors please " 48 TERMS OF COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 49 , charge of claiming a dispensing power, with which we are frequently accused, — a power which I presume no protestant ever dreamed of usurping, and the assumption of which implies such impiety as ought to render a christian reluctant to urge such a charge. To remind us of " the destruction of Nadab and Abihu by fire from heaven, the breach that was made upon Uzzah, the stigma fixed, and the curses denounced upon Jerusalem, together with the fall and ruin of all mankind, by our first father s disobedience to a positive command," is more calculated to inflame the passions, than to elicit truth, or conduct the controversy to a satis- factory issue. When the sole inquiry is, what is the law of Christ, and we are fully persuaded that our interpre- tation of it is more natural and reasonable than that of our opponents, it is not a little absurd, to charge us with assuming a claim of dispensing with its authority. We know that he commanded his followers to be baptized ; we know also that he commanded them to show forth his death till he came : but where shall we look for a tittle of his law which forbids such as sincerely, though erroneously, believe themselves to have complied with the first, to attend to the last of these injunctions? Where is the scriptural authority for resting the obligation of the eucha- rist, not on the precept that enjoins it, but on the previous reception of baptism ^ As the scripture is totally silent on this point, we are not disposed to accept the officious assistance of our brethren in supplying its deficiency ; and beg permission to remind them, that to add to the word of God, is equally criminal with taking away from it. Do we neglect the administration of that rite to any class of persons, whose state of mind is such as would render it acceptable to God ? Do we neglect to illustrate and enforce it in our public ministrations? Are we accustomed to insinuate that serious inquiry into the mind of Christ on this subject, is of little or no importance ? Are we found to decline its administration in any case whatever, in which our accusers would not equally de- cline it ? Nothing of this can be alleged. Do they argue from the language of the original institute, from the examples of scripture, and the precedent of the early ages, that it is the duty of believers, without exception, to be immersed in the name of Jesus? So do we. Are they disposed to look upon such as have neglected, whether from inattention or prejudice, to perform this duty, as mistaken christians ? We also consider them in the same light. In what respect then are we guilty of dispensing with divine laws ? Merely because we are in- capable of perceiving that an involuntary mistake on this subject, disqualifies for christian communion. But how extremely unjust to load us, on that accoimt, with the charge of assuming a dispensing power, when the only ground on which we maintain our opinion, whether true or false, is our conviction that it is founded on a legitimate interpretation of the oracles of God. The dispute is not concerning their authority, but their meaning ; and we dispense with bapti>m in no other sense, than that of denying it to be in all cases essential to communion ; in which whether we are mistaken or not, is a point open to controversy ; but to be guilty first of a misnomer in defining our sentiments, and afterwards to convert an odious and erroneous appellation into an argument is the height of injustice. With whf^t propriety our practice is compared to that of the church of Rome, in confining the communion to one kind, the intelligent reader will be at no loss to per- ceive.* In that, as in various other instances, that church, in order to raise the dignity of the priesthood, assumes a power of mutilating a divine ordinance. We are • •* It mast, 1 think, be acknowledged," says Mr. Booth, " even by oar brethren themselves, tiiat we have as good a warrant for omitting an essential branch of an ordinance, or to reverse the order in which the constitucHt parts of an ordinance were originally administered, as we have to lay aside a divine institution, or to change the order in which two diflferent appointments were first fixed. And if so, were a reformed and converted catholic, still retaining the popish error of communion in one kind only J desirous of having fellowsliip with our brethren at the Lord 8 tiible, they must, if they would act consistently, on their present hypothesis, admit him to partake of the bread, though, from a principle of conscience, he absolutely refused the wine in that sacred iostiti^ tion."— /iooM'#4po/uyy, p. 51. VOL. m. B 1i 50 TERMS OF COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 51 cbaigeable with no mutilation, nor presume in the smallest particular to innovate in the celebration of either sacra- ments ; we merely refuse to acknowledge that dependence, one upon the other, on which the confidence of our oppo- nents is so ill sustained by the silence of scripture. We will close this part of the discussion by remarking, that there is a happy equivocation in the word dispense^ which has contributed not 9 Kttle to its introduction into the present controversy. It may either mean that we do not msist upon baptism as an indispensable condition of communion, in which sense the charge is true, but nothing to the purpose, since it is a mere statement, in other words, of our actual practice : or it may intend that we knowingly and deliberately deviate from the injimctions of scripture ; a serious accusation, which requires not to be asserted, but proved. Section IV. Our supposed Opposition to the Universal Suffrages of the Churchy considered. In admitting to our communion those whom we esteem unhaptizedj we are accused of a presumptuous departure from the sentiments of all parties and denominations throughout the christian world, who, however they may have differed upon other subjects, have unanimously concurred in considering baptism as a necessary prelim- inary to conmiunion.* * This charge is urged with mach declamatory vehemence by Mr. Booth, in his Apology: — " A sentiment so pecuhar, and a conduct so uncommon,'* he says, " in regard to this institution, ought to be well supported by the te.8timonv of the Holy Ghost. For were all the christian churches now in the world asked, except those few who plead for free communion, whether they thought it lawlul to admit unbaptixed believers to fellowship at the Lord's table, there is reason to believe they would readily unite in the declaration of Paul, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God thai were before us. Yes, con- sidering the novelty of their sfntimenls and conduct, and what a con- tradiction they are to the faith and order of the whole christian chnrch; considering that it aever was disputed* as far as I can leamu prior to ITie first remark which occurs on this mode of reason- ing is, that it is merely an argummtum ad verecundiamy an attempt to overawe by the weight of authority, with- out pretending to enter into the merits of the controversy. It assumes for its basis the impossibility of the universai prevalence of error, which if it be once admitted, all hopes of extending the boundaries of knowledge must be relinquished. My next observation is, that il; comes with peculiar infelicity from the members of a sect, who upon a subject of much greater moment have presumed to relmquish the precedent, and arraign the practice of the whole christian world, as far at least as they have been exhibited in these later ages. (f Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes ?*» After setting an example of revolt, it is too late for them to inculcate the duty of submission. The question of the necessary dependence of commu- nion on baptism, being of no practical moment whatever in any other circumstances than our ovra, it is not to be wondered at, if it has never been subjected to scrutiny ; since cases of conscience, among which this inquiry may be classed, are rarely if ever investigated until circum- stances occur which render their discussion necessary. But as infimt sprinkling is vahd in the esteem of all but the papists, and there is no pretence for considering the latter as unbaptized, it is not easy to conceive what motive could exist for making it an object of serious attention. That crude and erroneous conceptions should prevail upon questions, the decision of which could have no influence on practice, will not surprise those who reflect, that truth has been usually elicited by controversy, and that on subjects of too great importance to be entirely the sixteenth century, by orthodox or heterodox, bv papist or protestant. ^clhex unbaptized believers should be admittecl to the Lord's table I ^' agreeing m the contrary practice, however much thev differed in matters ot equal importance ; it may be reasonably expecte'd. and it is j)y us justly demanded, that the truth of their sentiment, and the recti- «deot their conduct, should be proved, fully proved, from the records of inspiration."— fiyoM'» Apology, p. 43. e2 52 TERMS OP COMMUNION. orerlooked, opinions have prevailed to a great extent, which are now universally exploded. Though the em- ployment of coercion in the affairs of conscience, is equally repugnant to the dictates of reason and of scrip- ture, it was for ages successively resorted to by every party in its turn ,* nor was it till towards the close of the seventeenth century that the principle of toleration was established on a broad and scientific basis, by the immortal writings of Milton and I^ocke. These reflections are obvious ; but there are others which tend more immedi- ately to annihilate the objection under consideration. It is well known that from a very early period the most extravagant notions prevailed in the church with respect to the etficacy of baptism, and its absolute necessity in order to attain salvation. The descent of the human mind from the spirit to the letter, from what is vital and intellectual, to what is ritual and external in religion, is the true source of idolatry and superstition in all the multifarious forms they have assumed ; and as it began early to corrupt the religion of nature, or more properly of patriarchal tradition, so it soon obscured the lustre, and destroyed the simplicity of the christian institute. In proportion as genuine devotion declined, the love of pomp and ceremony increased ; the few and simple rites of Christianity were extolled beyond all reasonable bounds; new ones were invented, to which mysterious meanings were attached, till the religion of the New Testament became, in process of time, as insupportable a yoke as the Mosaic law. The first effects of this spirit are dis- cernible in the ideas entertained of the ordinance, so closely connected with the subject of the present treatise. From an erroneous interpretation of the figurative lan- guage of a few passages in scripture, in which the sign is identified with the thing signified, very similar to the mistake which afterwards led to transubstantiation, it was universally supposed that baptism was invariablv accompanied with a supernatural effect, which totally changed the state and character of the candidate, and constituted him a child of God, and an heir of the king- dom of heaven. Hence it was almost constantly denoted TERMS OF COMMUNION. 53 by the terms illuminatioriy regeneration^ and others, ex- pressive of the highest operations of the Spirit ; and as it was believed to obtain the plenary remission of all past sins, it was often, in order to insure that benefit, purposely deferred to the latest period of life. Thus Eusebius informs us that the Emperor Constantine, " finding his end fast approaching, judged it a fit season for purifying himself from his offences, and cleansing his soul from that guilt which, in common with other mortals, he had contracted, which he believed was to be effected by the power of mysterious words, and the saving laver." " This,* said he, addressing the surrounding bishops, " is the period I have so long hoped and prayed for, the period of obtaining the salvation of God." Passing with the utmost rapidity through the preparatory stage, that of a catechu- men, he hastened to what he regarded as his consumma- tion ; and no sooner was the ceremony completed, than he arrayed himself in white garments, and laid aside the imperial purple, in token of his bidding adieu to all secular concerns.* We have here a fair specimen of the sentiments which were universally adopted upon this subject in ancient times. Even Justin Martyr, who flourished about the middle of the second century, con- founds baptism with regeneration. " Whoever," says he, " believe the things which are affirmed by us to be true, and promise to live accordingly, are afterwards conducted to a place where there is water, and are regenerated by the same method of regeneration which we have experi- enced.' t Theophilus, a contemporary writer, and the sixth bishop of Antioch, holds the same language. Ter- tullian, the earliest and most learned of the Latin fathers, exclaims with rapture, " O happy sacrament, by which, being Washed from the former sins of our blindness, we are delivered unto eternal life." J And agreeable to the fantastic style of imagery which characterizes his writings, he appears to be particularly delighted with denominating christians, little fishes, who are bom in water, and are * Easebios in Vltft Constantini, lib. iv. c. 61, 62. + Apol. p. 159, Ed. 1651. X De Baptismo, Ed. 1676, p. 224. M TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 55 safe only in that element. Were we to attempt accurately to trace the progress of these opinions, in the first ages, and adequately to represent the extent of their prevalence, we should be under the necessity, by numberless quotations trom the fathers, of extending this inquiry to a most unreasonable length. Suffice it to remark, that there is scarcely a writer in the three first centuries, to descend no lower, who has not spoken upon this subject in a manner, which the adrocates for strict communion, at least, would deem imscnptural and improper : scarcely one, from whom we should not be taught to infer that baptism was absolutely necessary to salvation. That this is the doctrine which pervades the formularies of the church of England, is too evident to require to be insisted on ; nor is it less so, that smiilar sentiments on this head, are exhibited, to a greater or less extent, in the creeds of most, if not all established churches. Is it surprising then, that those who contend for baptism as essential to salvation, should cwisider it as an essential prerequisite to communion ? Or is it not a much juster occasion for surprise, that our opponents should urge us with an inference which it is acknowledged was deduced from erroneous premises, as though we were under the necessity of admitting a con- clusion, while the only argument by which it is supported is given up ? * For our parts, we must be permitted to look with sus- picion on the genuine product of error ; no more expect- ing to derive truth from erroneous premises, than grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles. In the present instance, there is no doubt that the opinion of the absolute neces- sity of baptism, previous to communion, sprang from those lofty and superstitious ideas repecting its efficacy, • Considering the firm hold which these nnscriptaral Ideas respecting Imptisin had taken of the minds of men, throughout all parts of the christian world, at an early period, and recollecting the confidence with which ancient writers assert the impossibility even of infants being saved without baptism, the practice of infant sprinkling seems an almost necessary result. Who, with such a conviction, possessed of the com- mon feelings of a parent, could fail to secure to Iiia oflspring such infi- Bite benefits ? *^ which our opponents would be the first to disclaim. Ask a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran, or a member of the church of England, on what ground he rests the absolute necessity of the baptismal rite, as a qualification for the eucharist ; and each of them will concur in reminding vou that it is by that ordinance we become the children of God, and heirs of his kingdom. The Augsburg Con- fession, to which all the Lutheran churches are supposed to assent, and which was solemnly presented to Charles the Fifth at the imperial diet, as the authentic exhibition of their sentiments, expresses itself in the following terms :— " Concerning baptism, they (the followers of Luther), teach that it is necessary to scUvalion; that by baptism is offered the grace of God ; and that children are to be baptized, who, being presented to God by baptism, are received into the grace of God. They condemn the anabaptists, who disapprove of the baptism of children and affirm that children are saved without baptism." * Some of the most learned divines of the church of England have contended that baptism is not only regeneration, but justification ; and have made ela- borate attempts to explode every other notion of, that blessinff.'t* Such are the principles whence this vaunted unanimity is derived ; principles which our brethren reprobate on all occasions, while with a strange inconsistency, they accuse us of presumption in refusing our assent to their legitimate consequences. Let it be recollected also, that the points in which they, in common with ourselves, dis- sent from a vast majority of the professors of Christianity, are of incomparably more importance than the particulars in which they agree; for whether baptism be, on all occasions, a necessary preliminary to communion, is a trivial question, compared to that which respects the identity of baptism with regeneration. The argument from authority, however, when fairly stated, is entirely in our favour ; nor would it be easy to assign an example of bolder deviation from the umversal * Angsbarg Confession, Article IX. f Sec Wat«5rland's Sermon on that subject m 1XRM8 OP COMMUNION. practice of the christian church, than the conduct of our opponents suppHes. They are the only persons in the world of whom we hare either heard or read, who con- tend for the exclusion of genuine christians from the l^rds table; who ever attempted to distinguish them mto classes, such as are entitled to commemorate their fcaviours death, and such as are excluded from that pri- Tilege. In what page of the voluminous records of the church is such a distinction to be traced ? Or what inti- mation shall we find in scripture of an intention to create such aninvidious disparity among the members of the iame body ? Did it ever enter the conception of any but baptists, that a right to the sign could be separated from the thmg signified; or that there could be a description ot persons interested in all the blessings of the christian covenant, yet not entitled to partake of its sacraments and seals ? In the judgement of all religious communities besides and m every period of the church, excommunication or exclusion has been considered as a stigma, never to be inflicted but on men of ill lives, or on the abettors of heresy and schism; and though innumerable instances have occurred, in which the best of men have, in fact been excluded they were either accused of fimdamental error, or adjudged, on account of their obstinate resist- ^ce to the authority of the church, to have forf-eited the pnvileges of christians. They were not excom- municated under the character of mistaken brethren, which IS the bght in which we profess to conside^ paedobaptists, but as incurable heretics and schismatics. Ihe puritans were expelled the church of Endand on the same prmciple ; and although at the restora- tion, a vmdictive spirit was unquestionably the chief rn/nf"! r" m did not attach to the separatists, but to that spirit of imposition which ren- dered separation requisite. In each instance, it was an act of self preservation, rendered unavoidable by the higliest necessity, that of declining to concur in practices at which their conscience revolted. But what similarity to this is discernible in the conduct of the advocates of strict communion ? They are not engaged in preserving tin ir own liberty, but in an attack on the liberty of others : their object is not to preserve the worship in which they join, pure from contnmination ; but to sit in judgement on the consciences of their brethren, and to deny them the privileges of the visible church on ac- count of a difference of opinion, which is neither im- posed on tliemselves, nor deemed fundamental. They propose to build a church, upon the principle of an absolute exclusion of a multitude of societies, which they must either acknowledge to be true churches, or be convicted, as we have seen, of the greatest absurdity ; while, for a conduct so monstrous and unnatural, they are precluded from the plea of necessity, because no at- tempt is made by paedobaptists to modify their worship, or to control the most enlarged exercise of private judge- ment. Upon the principle for which I am contending, they are not called to renounce their peculiar tenets on the subject of baptism, nor to express their approbation of a contrary practice ; but simply not to sever them- selves from the body of Christ, nor refuse to unite with his church. * Rey. xviii. 4. TERMS OF COMMUNION. 79 However familiar the spectacle of christian societies WHO have no fellowship or intercourse with each other lias become, he who consults the New Testament wiH instantly perceive, that nothing more repugnant to the dictates of inspiration, or to the practice of the first and purest ages, can be conceived. When we turn our eves to the primitive times, we behold one church of Chnst and one only, m which, when new assemblies of christ- ians arose, they were considered not as niultiplyinaiml sm this the epidemic evil, as widely diffused as the existence of paedobapfist communities : and if it be of such a nature as to attach a portion of guilt to whatever comes mto cont^t with it, it must, considering its exten- , sive prevalence be one of the most ciying enofmfties It IS an evil which has spread much wider than the sacrifice of &e mass; it ,sa pdlution which (with the exceptbn of one sect only) attaches to all flesh, and is unblushing v avowed by the professors of Christianity in everv pan of the universe And, what is most su^rising, the on°v V^m who have discovered it, instead of lifting „p their voice, maintain a profound silence; and, while^they are sufliciently hberal m their censures on the popular emr respecting baptism, are not heard to breathe a murmur against this erroneous abuse. In truth they are so little ^pressed with t, that they decline ui^ng it, even whe e flie mention of it would seem unavoidable. When they .W f '^•' "^ "J **' J"'"'"? ^■^"^ <""• P»dobaptist brethren to WMt the due qualifications, it is not their presump- tion m approachmg, on which they insist, as might be reasonably expected; on that subject they are^Xnt while they vehemently inveigh a^inst the ima4na°y ^untonancewe afford to the Segle?t of baptism. ^S ^ZU^^^^ ^ construing our conduct, not into an ap- bS A f^f communion in which we are engaged, S^t whIS J«lniission of the validity of infant baptism ZTo A^ ""^"^ ■'"""" *" remonstrate. In short* th^ are disposed to attack our practice in any pohit vnJnerable, that of its being an expression o? our appro- S^rslfwrt*' celebrating^he eucharist. I^Z same spmt, when they have once procured the exclusion \i *1 TERMS OP COMMUNION. 93 of the obnoxious parf j from their asseml)lies, they are completely satisfied; their commimion elsewhere gives them no concern, though it must be allowed, on the sup- position of the pretended disqualification, that the evil re- mains in its fiill force. Nor are they ever known to remon- strate with them on this irregularity during its continu- ance ; nor, should they afterwards become converts to our doctrine, to recall it to their attention, with a view to excite compunction and remorse ; iso that this is perhaps the only sin for which men are never called to repentance, and of which no man has been known to repent. When our Lord dismissed the woman taken in adultery, though he did not proceed to judge her, he solemnly charged her to sin no more; the advocates for strict communion, when they dismiss psedobaptists, give them no such charge; their language seems to be,—" Go, sin by your- selves, and we are satisfied." The inference I would deduce from these remarkable facts is, that they possess an intenial conviction that the class of christians whom they proscribe, would be guilty of a great impropriety in declining to communicate in the sacramental elements ; and that the union of baptists with them in that solemnity, so far from being liable to the imputation of " partaking in other men s sins," is not only lawful, but commendable. Section V. On th£ ImpossiUUty of reducing the Practice of Strict Communion to any general Principle, When a particular branch of conduct is so circum- stanced as to be incapable of being deduced from some general rule, or of being resolved into some comprehen- sive principle, founded on reason or revelation, we may be perfectly assured it is not obligatory. Whatever is matter of duty, is a part of some whole, the relation of which is susceptible of proof, either by the express deci- 94 TERMS OF C0MMUNI02«. sion of scripture, or by general reasoning ; and a point of practice perfectly insulated, and disjointed from the general system of duties, whatever support it may derive &om prejudice, custom, or caprice, can never be satisfac- torily vindicated. From want of attention to tliis axiom, both the world and the church have, in different periods, been overrun with, innumerable forms of superstition and folly ; to which the only effectual antidote is, an appeal to principles. Unless I am much mistaken, the question under discussion will aflford a striking exemplification of the justness of this remark. If it be found impossible to fix a medium betwixt the toleration of all opinions in re- ligion, and the restriction of it to eiTors not fundamental^ the practice of exclusive communion must be abandoned, because it is neither more nor less than an attempt to establish such a medium. By errors not fundamental^ I mean such as are admitted to consist with a state of grace and salvation ; such as are not supposed to prevent their abettors from being accepted of God. With such ag contend for the indiscriminate admission of all doctrines on the one hand, or with the abettors of rigid uniformity, who allow no latitude of sentiment on the other, we have no concern ; since we concur with our opponents in de- precating both these extremes ; and while we are tena- cious of the " truth as it is in Jesus," we both admit that some indulgence to the mistakes and imperfections of the truly pious is due, from a regard to the dictates of inspi- ration, and the nature of man. The only subject of con* troversy is, how far that forbearance is to be extended : we assert, to every diversity of judgement, not incompa- tible with salvation; they contend that a difference of opinion on baptism is an excepted case. If the word of God had clearly and unequivocally made this exception, we should feel ourselves bound to admit it, upon the same principle on which we maintain the infallible certainty of revelation ; but when we press for this decision, and re- quest to be directed to the part of scripture which for ever prohibits unbaptized persons from approaching the sacrament, in the same manner as the Jews were prohi- bited from celebrating the passover, who had not sub* f TERMS OP COMMUNION. 95 mitted to circumcision, we meet with no reply but pre- carious inferences and general reasoning. However plausible their mode of arguing may appear, the impartial reader will easily perceive it fails in the main point, which is, to establish that specific difference betwixt the case they except out of their list of tolerated errors, and those which they admit, which shall justify this opposite treatment. Thus, when they ask whether God has not " commanded baptism ; whether it is not the believer s duty to be found in it ;" * it is manifest that the same reasons might be urged against bearing with any imperfection in our fellow-christian whatever ; for which of these, we ask, is not inconsistent with some command, and a violation, in a greater or less degree, of some duty ? with this difference, indeed, that many of the imperfections which christian churches are neces- sitated to bear with, are seated in the will, while the case before us involves merely an unintentional mistake. " It is not every one," says Mr. Booth, " that is received of Jesus Christ, who is entitled to commimion at his table ; but such, and only such, as revere his authority, submit to his ordinances, and obey the laws of his house." This is the most formal attempt which that writer has made to specify the difference betwixt the case of the abettors of infant baptism, and others ; for which reason the reader will excuse my directing his attention to it for a few moments. We are indebted to him, in the first place, for a new discovery in theology. We should not have suspected, but for his assertion, that there could be a description of persons whom Christ has received, who neither revere his authority, submit to his ordinances, nor obey his laws. How Mr. Booth acquired this informa- tion we know not ; but certainly in our Saviour s time it was otherwise, " Then are ye my disciples," said he, " if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you." I con- gratulate the prudence evinced by the venerable author, in not publishing the names of those highly privileged individuals, who have proved their title to heaven to his satisfaction, without reverence, submission, or obedience ; * Booth's Apology, p. 128. 96 TERMS OP COMMUKION. I wishing his example had heen imitated, in this parti- cular, by the authors of the wonderful conversions of malefactors, many of whom, I fear, belong to this new sect. This singular description, however, I scarcely need re- mind the reader, is designed to characterize baptists in opposition to psedobaptists ; and were it not the produc- tion of a man whom I highly revere, I should comment upon it with the severity it deserves. Suffice it to re- mark, that to mistake the meaning of a statute is one thing, not to reverence the legislator, another ; that he cannot submit with a good conscience to an ordinance, who is not apprised of its existence ; and that a blind obedience, even to divine laws, would be far from consti- tuting a reasonable service. Every conscientious ad- herent to infant baptism reveres the authority of Christ not less than a baptist, and is distinguished by a spirit of submission and obedience to every known part of his wiU ; and as this is all to which a baptist can pretend, and far more than many who, mthout scruple, are tolerated in our churches, can boast, we are as far as ever from ascer- taining the specific difference betwixt the case of the paedobaptist, and other instances of error supposed to be entitled to indulgence. In spite of Mr. Booth's marvel- lous definition, reverence, submission, and obedience, are such essential features in the character of a christian, that he who was judged to be destitute of them in their substance and reality would instantly forieit that char- acter ; while to possess them in perfection is among the brightest acquisitions of eternity. It should be remem- bered, too, that the general principles of morality are not less the laws of Christ than positive rites, and, if we credit prophets and apostles, much to be preferred in comparison ; so that it must be acknowledged that he who is deficient in attention to these, while he is more exemplary in discharging the former than a baptized christian, (a very frequent case,) stands higher in the scale of obedience. JSo equivociJ is the line of separa- tion here attempted. When the necessity of tolerating imperfection is once TERMS OP C0MMX7NI0N. ^ admitted, there remains no point at which it can consis- tently stop, till it is extended to every gradation of error, the habitual maintenance of which is compatible with a state of salvation. The reason is, that it is absolutely impossible to define that species of error which is so situated as not to preclude its possessor from divine ac- ceptance, although it forfeits his title to the full exercise of christian charity. The baptists who contend for con- fining the Lord's supper to themselves, imagine they have found such an error in the practice of initiating infants into the christian church. But it is observable that thev can reduce it to no class^ nor define it by any general idea : and when we urge them, with the apostolic injunc- tion, to bear with each other's infirmities, they have no- thing to reply, but merely that St. Paul is not speaking of baptism, which is true, because one thing is not an- other ; but it behoves them to show that the principle he establishes does not incltide this case, and here they are silent. If we impartially examine the reasons on which we rest the toleration of any supposed error, we shall find they invariably coincide with the idea of its not being fundamental. If it be aUeged, for example, that the error m question relates to a subject less cleariy revealed than sonie others, what is this but to insinuate the ease >vith which an honest inquirer may mistake respecting It ? If the little practical influence it is likely to exert, IS alleged as a plea for forbearance, the force of such a remark rests entirely on the assumption of an indissolu- ble connexion betwixt a state of salvation and a certain character, which the opinion in question is supposed not to destroy. If we allege the example of eminently pious men, who have embraced it, we infer from analogy the actual safety of the person by whom it is held ; and, in short, it is impossible to construct an argument for the exercise of mutual forbearance, but what proceeds upon this principle ; a principle which pervades the reasoning of our opponents on every other occasion, except this of strict communion, which they make an insulated case, capriciously exempting it from the arbitration of aU the VOL. ni. w I. If 98 TERMS OP COMMUNION. ^ TERMS OF COMMUNION, 99 general rules of scripture, as well as from the maxims to which, in all other instances, they are attached. Reluctant as I feel to trespass on the patience of the reader, by unnecessarily prolonging the discussion, I am anxious, if possible, to set the present argument in a still stronger light. I observe, therefore, that if it be contended that a certain opinion is so obnoxious as to justify the exclusion of its abettors from the priyilege of christian fellowship, it must be either on account of its inyolving a contradiction to the saving truth of the gospel, or on account of its injurious effects on the character. As tliose of our brethren to whom this reasoning is ad- dressed, positively disclaim considering infant baptism in the former light, they will not attempt to vindicate the Exclusion of paedobaptists on that ground. In vindica- tion of such a measure, they must allege the injurious effects it produces on the character of its abettors. Here, liowever, they have precluded themselves from the possi- bility of urging that the injury sustained is fatal^ by the firevious concession that it does not involve a contradic- tion to saving truth. Could they, without cancelling that concession, urge the fatal nature of the influence in question, they would present an object to the mind suffi- ciently precise and determinate ; an object which may be easily conceived, and accurately defined. But, as things are now situated, they can, at most, only insist on such a kind and degree of deteriorating effect as is consistent with the spiritual safety of the party concerned ; and as they are among the first to contend that every species of error is productive of injurious effects, it is incumbent upon them to point out some consequences worse in their kind, or more aggravated in degree, resulting from this particular erroTy than what may be fairly ascribed to the worst of those erroneous or defective views, which they are accustomed to tolerate. These injurious conse- quences must also occupy an intermediate place between two extremes ; they must, on the one hand, be decidedly more serious than can be supposed to result from the most crude, undigested, or discordant views, tolerated in regular baptist churches, yet not of such a nature, on the J. other, as to involve the danger of eternal perdition. Let them specify, if it be in their power, that ill influence on the character which is the natural consequence of the tenet of infant sprinkling, considered per se^ or indepen- dent of adventitious circumstances, and the operation of accidental causes, which justifies a treatment of its patrons, so different from what is given to the abettors of other errors. This malignant influence must, I repeat it, be the natural or necessary product of the practice of paedobaptism ; because the simple avowal of this is deemed sufficient to incur the forfeiture of church pri- vileges, without further time or inquiry. However vehe- mently the supporters of such a measure may declaim against it, or however triumphantly expose the principles on which it is founded, they have done nothing towards accomplishing their object — the vindication of strict com- munion, since the same mode of proceeding might be adopted towards any other misconception or erroneous opinion ; and if it may be forcibl}" expelled, as soon as it is confuted, there is an end of toleration. Toleration has no place but in the presence of acknowledged imperfec- tion. It is absolutely necessary for them, as they would vindicate their conduct to the satisfaction of reasonable men, to proves that some specific deteriorating effect re- sults from the practice of infant baptism, distinct from the malignant influence of error in general, and of those imperfections, in particular, which are not inconsistent with salvation. Though the opposition betwixt truth and error is equal in all cases, and the former always susceptible of proof as well as the latter of confutation, all error is not op- posed to the same truth ; and hence arises a distinction betwixt such erroneous and imperfect views of religion as, however they may, in their remoter consequences, impair, do not contradict, the gospel testimony, and such as do. We lay this distinction as the basis of that for- bearance towards the mistakes and imperfections of good men for which we plead ; and, as the case of our paedo- baptist brethren is clearly comprehended within that dis- tinction, feel no scruple in admitting them to christian h2 100 TERMS OF COMMUNION. fellowship. We are attached to that distinction because it is both scriptUTdl and inteUigible; while the hypo- thesis of the strict baptists, as they style themselves, is 80 replete with perplexity and confusion, that, for my part, I absolutely despair of comprehending: it. It pro- ceeds upon the supposition of a certain medium between two extremes, which they have not even attempted to fix ; and as the necessary consequence of this, their rea- soning, if we choose to term it such, floats and undulates in such a manner, that it is extremely diflicult to grasp it. On the pernicious influence of error in general we entertain no doubt, but we demand, again and again, to have the precise injurious effect of infant sprinkling pointed out and evinced, which is more to be deprecated than the probable result of those acknowledged imper^ fections to which they extend their indulgence. This must surely be deemed a reasonable requisition, though it is one with which they hare not hitherto thought fit to comply. The operation of speculative error on the mind is one nf the profoundest secrets in nature ; and to determine the precise quantity of evil resulting from it in any given case, (except the single one of its involving a denial of fundamental truth,) transcends the capapity of human nature. We must, in order to form a correct judgement, be not only perfectly acquainted with the nature and ten- dency of the error in question, but also with the portion of attention it occupies, as well as the degree of zeal and attachment with which it is embraced. We must deter- mine the force of the counteracting principles, and how far it bears an affinity to the predominant failings of him who maintains it ; how far it coalesces with the weaker parts of his moral constitution. These particulars, how- ever, it is next to impossible to explore, when the inquiry respects ourselves ; how much more to establish a scale which shall mark, by just gradations, the malignant in- fluence of erroneous conceptions on others ! On the sup- position of a formal denial of saving, essential, truth, we feel no difficulty ; we may determine, without hesitation, on the testimony of God, that it incurs a forfeiture of I TERBIS OP COMMUNION. 10' the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant, among which the communion of saints holds a distinguished place. But such a supposition is foreign to the present inquiry. Instead of losing ourselves in a lab^Tuith of metaphy- sical subtleties, our only safe guide is an appeal to facts ; and here we find, from experience, that the sentiments of the paedobaptist may consist with the highest attain- ments of piety exhibited in modern times ; with the most varied and elevated forms of moral grandeur, with- out impairing the zeal of missionaries, without impeding the march of confessors to their prisons, or of martyrs to the flames. We are willing to acknowledge these tenets have produced much mischief in communities and na- tions, who have confounded baptism with regeneration ; but the mere belief of the title of infants to that ordi- nance, is a misconception respecting a positive institute, much less injurious than if it affected the vital parts of Christianity. But, be it what it may, we contend that it IS impossible, without a total disregard of truth and de- cency, to assert, that it is intrinsimlli/ and essentially more pernicious in its effects than the numerous errors and imperfections which the advocates of strict commu- nion feel no scruple in tolerating in the best organized churches. It is but justice to add, that few or none have attempted to prove that it is so ; but have satisfied them- selves with a certain vague and loose declamation, better adapted to inflame prejudice, than to produce light or conviction. In the government of the church, there is a choice of three modes of procedure, each consistent vrith itself, though not equally compatible with the dictates of rea- son or scripture. We may either open the doors to persons of all sentiments and persuasions who maintain the messiahship of Christ; or insist upon an absolute uniformity of belief ; or limit the necessity of agreement to articles deemed fundamental, leaving subordinate points to the exercise of private judgement. The strict baptists have feigned to themselves a fourth, of which it IS not less difficult to form a clear and consistent concep- 102 TEEMS OF COMMUNION. TERMS OP COMMUNION. 103 tion, than of a fourth dimension. They hare pursued the clew by which other inquirers have been conducted, till they arrived at a certain point, when they refused to proceed a step farther, without being able to assign a single reason for stopping, which would not equally prove they had aheady proceeded too far. They have attempted an incongruous mixture of liberal principles with a particular act of intolerance ; and these, hke the iron and clay in the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's image, will not mix. Hence all that want of coherence and system in their mode of reasoning, which might be ex- pected in a defence not of a theory, so properly, as of a capricious sally of prejudice. Before I close this part of the subject, I must just remark the sensible chagrin which the venerable Booth betrays at our insisting on the distinction betwixt fun- damentals and non-fundamentals in religion, and the singular manner in which he attempts to evade its force. After observing that we are wont, in defence of our practice, to plead that the points at issue are not funda- mental — " Not fundamental !" he indignantly exclaims, " not essential ! But in what sense is submission to bap- tism not essential ? To our justifying righteousness, our acceptance with God, or our interest in his favour ? So is the Lord's supper, and so is evert/ part of our obedience. They (the friends of open communion) will readily allow that an interest in the divine favour is not obtained by miserable sinners, but granted by the eternal Sovereign : and that acceptance with the High and Holy God is not on conditions performed by us,* but in consideration of the vicarious obedience, and propitiatory sufferings of the great Emanuel." " To the pure, all things are pure." In the mind of Mr. Booth, nothing was associated with this language, I am persuaded, but impressions of piety and devotion : though its unguarded texture and ambiguous tendency are too manifest. For my own part, I am at a loss to put any other construction upon it than this ; either that faith and repentiince are in no respect conditions of sal- vation, or that adult baptism is of equal necessity and \ i importance. When it is asked— What is essential to salvation? the gospel constitution is presupposed, the great facts in Christianity assumed ; and the true import of the inquiry is — What is essential to a personal inte- rest in the blessings secured by the former, in the felicity of which the latter are the basis ? in which light, to reply — The atonement and righteousness of Christ, is egregious trifling, because being things out of ourselves^ though the only preliminary basis of human hope, it is absurd to confound them with the characteristic differ- ence betwixt such as are saved, and such as perish. When, in like manner, an inquiry arises — What is fim- damental in religion ? as we must be supposed by reli- gion to intend a system of doctrines to be believed, and of duties to be performed, to direct us to the vicarious obedience of Christ, not as a necessary object of belief, but as a transaction absolute and complete in itself, and to pass over in silence the inherent distinction of charac- ter, the faith with its renovating influence to which the promise of life is attached, is, to speak in the mildest terms, to reply in a manner quite irrelevant ; and when to this is joined, even by implication, a denial of the existence of such a distinction, we are conducted to the brink of a precipice. The denial of this is the very core of antinomianism, to which it is painful to see so able a writer, and so excellent a man as Mr. Booth, make the slightest approach. We would seriously ask whether it be intended to deny that the belief of any doctrines, or the infusion of any principles or dispositions whatever, is essential to future happiness ; if this be in- tended, it supersedes the use and necessity of every branch of internal religion. If it is not, we ask. Are correct views on the subject of baptism to be classed among those doctrines ? Had we been contending for an indulgence towards such as are convinced of the obligation of believers' bap- tism, but refuse to act up to their convictions, and shrink from the cross, some parts of the expostulation we have quoted might be considered as pertinent ; but to attempt to explain away a distinction, the most important in the- % I 1(H TERMS OF COMMUNION. ology, the only centre of harmony, the only basis of peace and concord, and the grand bulwark opposed Ip the so- phistry of the church of Rome, is a humiliating instance of the temerity and imprudence incident to the best ol men. The Jesuit Twiss, in that controversy with the protestants which gare occasion to the inimitable defence of their principles by the immortal Chilliugworth, be- trayed the same impatience with our author at this dis- tinction, though in perfect consistence with the doctrines of a church which pretends, by an appeal to an infallible tribunal, to decide every controversy, and to preclude every doubt. Nothing but an absolute despair of giving a satisfac- tory reply to the arguments drawn from this quarter, could have tempted Mr. Booth to quarrel with a dis- tinction so justly dear to all protestants; and it is no small presumption of the justness of our sentiments, that the attempt to refute them is found to require that subversion of the most received axioms in the- ology, together with the strange paradox, that while much more than we suppose is necessary to commu- nion, nothing is essential to salvation. In considera- tion, however, of the embarrassment of our opponents, we feel it easy to overlook the effusions of their dis- content; but as it is not usual to consult the enemy on the choice of weapons, we shall continue to em- ploy such as we find most efficacious, though they may not be the most pleasant to the touch. Section VI. The Impolicy of the Practice of Strict Communion con- sidered. In the affairs of religion and morality, where a divine authority is interposed, the first and chief attention is due to its dictates, which we are not permitted to violate in the least instance, though we proposed, by such viola- tion, to promote the interests of religion itself. She TERMS OP COMMUNION. 105 i scorns to be indebted, even for conquest, to a foreign force : " the weapons of her warfare are not carnal. We have, on this account, carefully abstained from urging the imprudence of the measure we have ventured to propose, from an apprehension that we might be sus- pected of attempting to bias the suffrage of our readers, by considerations and motives disproportioned to the majesty of revealed truth. But having, as I trust, suf- ficiently shown that the practice of strict communion derives no support from that quarter, the way is open ior the introduction of a few remarks on the natural ten- dency and effect of the two opposite systems. I would just premise that I hope no offence will be given to pffidobaptists, by denominating their sentiments on the subject of baptism erroneous, as though it were expected that our assertion should be accepted for proof. It is de- signed as a simple statement of my opinion, and is assumed as the basis of my reasoning with my stricter brethren. Truth and error, as they are essentially opposite m their nature, so the causes to which they are indebted for their perpetuity and triumph are not less so. What- ever retards a spirit of inquiry, is favourable to error ; whatever promotes it, to truth. But nothing, it will be acknowledged, has a greater tendency to obstruct the exercise of free inquiry, than the spirit and feelmg of a party. Let a doctrine, however erroneous, become a party distinction, and it is at once intrenched in interests and attachments which make it extremely difficult for the most powerful artillery of reason to dislodge it. It becomes a point of honour in the leaders of such parties, which is from thence communicated to their followers, to defend and support their respective peculiarities to the last ; and, as a natural consequence, to shut their ears against all the pleas and remonstrances by which they are assailed. Even the wisest and best of men are sel- dom aware how much they are susceptible of this sort of influence; and while the offer of a world would be insufficient to engage them to recant a known truth, or to subscribe an acknowledged error, they are often re- tained in a willing captivity to prejudices and opinions 106 4 TERMS OF COMMUNION. which hare no other support, and which, if they could lose sight of party feelings, they would almost instantly ahandon. To what other cause can we ascribe the at- tachment of Fenelon and of Pascal, men of exalted genius and undoubted piety, to the doctrine of transub- stantiation, and other innumerable absurdities of the church of Rome ? It is this alone which has ensured a sort of immortality to those hideous productions of the human mind, the shapeless abortions of night and dark- ness, which reason, left to itself, would have crushed in the moment of their birth. It is observable that scientific truths make their way in the world with much more ease and rapidity than reli- gious. No sooner is a philosophical opinion promul- gated, than it undergoes at first a severe and rigorous scrutiny ; and if it is found to coincide with the results of experiment, it is speedily adopted, and quietly takes its place among the improvements of the age. Every acquisition of this kind is considered as a common pro- perty; as an accession to the general stores of mental opulence. Thus the knowledge of nature, the further it advances from its head, not only enlarges its channel, by the accession of tributary streams, but gradually puri- fies itself from the mixture of error. If we search for the reason of the facility with which scientific improve- ments established themselves in preference to religious, we shall find it in the absence of combination, in there being no class of men closely united who have an inte- rest, real or imaginary, in obstructing their progress. We hear, it is true, of parties in the republic of letters ; but if such language is not to be considered as entirely allusive and metaphorical, the ties which unite them are so slight and feeble, compared to those which attach to religious societies, as scarcely to deserve the name. The spirit of party was much more sensibly felt in the ancient schools of philosophy than in the modern, on account o£ philosophical inquiries embracing a class of subjects which are now considered as no longer belonging to its province. Before revelation appeared, whatever is most deeply interesting in the contemplation of God, of man, TERMS OP COMMUNION. 107 or of a future state, fell under the cognizance of philoso- phy ; and hence it was cultivated with no inconsiderable portion of that moral sensibility, that solicitude and alter- nation of hope and fear, respecting an invisible state, which are now absorbed by the gospel. From that time the departments of theology and philosophy have become totally distinct, and the genius of the former free and unfettered. In religious inquiries, few feel themselves at liberty to follow without restraint, the light of evidence, and the guidance of truth, in consequence of some previous en- gagement with a party ; and, though the attachment to it might originally be purely voluntary, and still continues such, the natural love of consistency, the fear of shame, together with other motives sufficiently obvious, power- fully contribute to perpetuate and confirm it. When an attachment to the fundamental truths of religion is the basis of the alliance, the steadiness, constancy, and per- severance it produces, are of the utmost advantage ; and hence we admire the wisdom of Christ in employing and consecrating the social nature of man in the formation of a church. It is utterly impossible to calculate the bene- fits of the publicity and support which Christianity derives from that source ; nor will it be doubted that the intre- pidity evinced in confessing the most obnoxious truths, and enduring all the indignities and sufferings which re- sult from their promulgation, is, in a great measure, to be ascribed to the same cause. The concentration of the wills and efforts of christians rendered the church a powerfxd antagonist to the world. But when the chris- tian profession became split and divided into separate communities, each of which along with certain funda- mental truths, retained a portion of error, its refonnation became difficult just in proportion to the strength of these combinations. Religious parties imply a tacit compact not merely to sustain the fundamental truths of revela- tion, (which was the original design of the constitution of a church,) but also to uphold the incidental peculiari- ties by which they are distinguished. They are so many ramparts or fortifications, erected in order to give a seen- fl !t I Pl 108 TERMS OF COMMUNION. lity and support to certain systems of doctrine and disci- pline, beyond what they derive from their native force and evidence. The difficulty of reforming the corruptions of chris- ^ty is great, m a state of things where the fear of being echpsed, and the anxiety in each denomination to extend itself as much as possible, engage, in spite of the personal piety of its members, all the solicitude and ardour which are not immediately devoted to the most essential truths ; where correct conceptions on subordi- nate subjects are scarcely aimed at, but the particular yiew^ which the party has adopted, are either objects of indolent acquiescence, or zealous attachment. In such a state, opinions are no otherwise regarded, than as they affect the mterest of a party ; whatever conduces to aug- ment Its members, or its credit, must be supported at 2l events; whatever is of a contrary tendency, discoun- tenanced and suppressed. How often do we find much zeal expended m the defence of sentiments, recommended neither by their evidence nor their importance, which, could their incorporation with an estabUshed creed be lorgotten, would be quietly consigned to oblivion. Thus the waters of life, instead of that unobstructed circulation which would difiuse health, fertility, and beauty, are di- verted from their channels, and drawn into pools and reservoirs, where, from their stagnant state, they acquire feculence and pollution. ^ ^, ^}.l inference we would deduce from these facts is, tHat It we wish to revive an exploded truth, or to restore an obsolete practice, it is of the greatest moment to pre- sent It to the public in a manner least likely to prociuce the collision of party. But this may appear equivalent to saying, m other words, that it ought not to be made the basis of a sect ; for the prejudices of party are always reciprocal, and m no instance is that great law of motion more applicable, that " re-action is always equal to action, and contrary thereto." While it is maintained as a private opinion, by which I mean one not charac- teristic of a sect It stands upon its proper merits, mingles with facihty m different societies, and in proportion to 1.."*] TERMS OF COMMUNION. 109 its e^-idence, and the attention it excites, insinuates itself like leaven, till the whole is leavened. Such, it should seem, was the conduct of the baptists before the time of Luther. It appears, from the testi- mony of ecclesiastical historians, that their sentiments prevailed to a considerable extent among the Waldenses and Albigenses, the precursors of the Reformation, to whom the crime of anabaptism is frequently ascribed amongst other heresies : it is probable, however, that it did not prevail universally; nor is there the smallest trace to be discovered of its being made a term of com- munion. When the same opinions on this subject were publicly revived in the sixteenth century, under the most unfavourable auspices, and allied with turbulence, anarchy, and blood, no wonder they met with an unwel- come reception, and that, contemplated through such a medium, they incurred the reprobation of the wise and good. Whether the English baptists held at first any part of the wild and seditious sentiments of the German fanatics, it is difficult to say: supposing they did, (of which I am not aware there is the smallest evidence,) it is certain they soon abandoned them, and adopted the same system of religion with other nonconformists, ex- cept on the article of baptism. But it is much to be lamented that they continued to insist on that article as a term of communion, by which they excited the resent- ment of other denominations, and facilitated the means of confounding them with the German anabaptists, with whom they possessed nothing in common besides an opinion on one particular rite. One feature of resem- blance, however, joined to an identity of name, was suf- ficient to surmount, in the public feeling, the impression of all the points of discrepancy or of contrast, and to sub- ject them to a portion of the infamy attached to the fero- cious insurgents of Munster. From that period, the success of the baptist sentiments became identified with the growth of a sect, which, rising under the most un- favourable auspices, was entirely destitute of the resources of worldly influence, and the means of popular attrac- tion ; and an opinion which, by its native simplicity and 110 TERMS OP COMMUNION. TERAIS OF COMMUNION. Ill I evidence, is entitled to command the suffrages of the world, was pent up and confined within the narrow pre- cincts of a party, where it laboured under an insupport- able weight of prejudice. It was seldom examined by an impartial appeal to the sacred oracles, or regarded in any other light than as the whimsical appendage of a sect, who disgraced themselves at the outset by the most criminal excesses, and were at no subsequent period suf- ficiently distinguished by talents or numbers to command general attention. Nothing is more common than for zeal to overshoot its mark. If a determined enemy of the baptists had been consulted on the most effectual method of rendering their principles unpopular, there is little doubt but that he would have recommended the very measures we have pursued : the first and most obvious effect of which has been to generate an inconceivable mass of prejudice in other denominations. To proclaim to the world our de- termination to treat " as heathen men and publicans," all who are not immediately prepared to concur with our views of baptism, what is it less than the language of hostility and defiance ; admirably adapted to discredit the party which exhibits, and the principles which have occasioned such a conduct ? By thus investing these principles with an importance which does not belong to them, by making them co-extensive with the existence of a church, they have indisposed men to listen to the evidence by which they are supported ; and attempting to estabUsh by authority the unanimity which should be the fruit of conviction, have deprived themselves of the most effectual means of producing it. To say that such a mode of proceeding is not adapted to convince, that re- fusing psedobaptists the right of communion has no ten- dency to produce a change of views, is to employ most inadequate language : it has a powerful tendency to the contrary ; it can scarcely fail to produce impres- sions most unfavourable to the system with which it is connected, impressions which the gentlest minds find it difficult to distinguish from the effects of insult and de- gradation. It is not, however, merely by this sort of re-action, that prejudice is excited unfavourable to the extension of our principles ; but by the instinctive feelings of self-defence. Upon the system of strict commimion, the moment a member of a paedobaptist church becomes convinced of the invalidity of his infant baptism, he must deem it obligatory upon him to relinquish his station, and dissolve his connexion with the church ; and as superiority of ministerial talents and character is a mere matter of prefe- rence, but duty a matter of necessity, he must at all events connect himself with a baptist congregation, whatever sacrifice it may cost him, whatever loss he may incur. Though his pastor should possess the profundity and imction of an Edwards, or the eloquence of a Spencer, he must quit him for the most superficial declaimer, rather than be guilty of spiritual fornication. How is it possible for principles fraught with such a corollary, not to be contemplated with anxiety by our paedobap- tist brethren, who, however they might be disposed to exercise candour towards our sentiments, considered in themselves, cannot fail to perceive the most dis- organizing tendency in this their usual appendage. Viewed in such a connexion, their prevalence is a blow at the very root of paedobaptist societies, since, the moment we succeed in making a convert, we disqualify him for continuing a member. We deposit a seed of alienation and discord, which threatens their dissolution, so that we need not be surprised if other denominations should be tempted to compare us to the Euphratean horsemen in the Apocalypse, who are described as " having tails like scorpions, and with them they did hurt.' To these causes we must undoubtedly impute the superior degree of prejudice displayed by that class of christians, to whom we make the nearest approach, com- pared to such as are separated from us by a wider inter- val. A disposition to fair and liberal concession on the points at issue, is almost confined to the members of the established churches ; and while the most celebrated episcopal divines, both popish and protestant, as well as the Scotch church, feel no hesitation in acknowledging i I tit 112 I TERMS OP COMMUNION. the import of the word haptize is to immerse^ that such was the primitive mode of baptism, and that the right of infants to that ordinance is rather to be sustained on the ground of ancient usage than the authority of scripture, our dissenting brethren are displeased with these conces- sions, deny there is any proof that immersion was ever used in primitive times, and speak of the extension of baptism to infants with as much confidence as though it were amongst the plainest and most undeniable dictates of revelation.* To such a height has this animosity been carried, that tLere are not waiting persons ^ho seem anxious to rWye the recollection of Munster, and by republishing the narrative of the enormities perpetrated there, under the * Campbell, speaking of the aathors of the vulgar version, observes, — " Some words they have transferred from the original into their lan> giidge ; others they have translated. But it would not be always easy to find their reason for making this difference. Thus the word TTtpirofii^ they have translated circumcisio, which exactly corresponds in etymology) but the word ^irrifffia they have retained, changing only the letters from Greek to Roman. Yet the latter was just as sus- ceptible of a literal version into Latin as tlie former. Immersio, tinctio, answers as exactly in one case, as circumcisio does in the other." A little after he observes, — " I should think the word immersion (which though of Latin origin, is an English noun, regularly formed from the word to immerse) a better English name than baptism, wer« we now at liberty to make a choice : but we are not." — Preliminary Disserta- tions to the Translation of the Gospels, pp. 354, 335. 4to Ed. — He elsewhere mentions it as one of the strongest inst-^nces of prejudice, that he has known some persons of piety who have deniea that tlie word baptize signifies to immerse. With respect to the subject, it is worthy of observation that the authors of the celebrated scheme of Popish doctrine and discipline called the Interim, enumerate the baptism of infants among traditions, and that in the most emphatic manner. For, having stated that the church hautwo rules of faith, scripture and tradition, they observe, after treating of the first, *^ ecclesia nabet quoque traditiones, inter alia baptismus parvulorum" &c. They mention, however, no other; from whence it is natural to infer that they considered this as the strongest instance of that species of rules. The total silence of scripture bas induced not a few of the most illustrious scholars to consider infant baptism not of divine right; amongst whom, were we disposed to boast of great names, we might mention Salmasius, Suicer, and above all, Sir Isaac Newton, who, if we may believe the honest VVhiston, frequently declared to him his conviction that the baptists were the only christians who had not sjmbolized with the church of Rome.— See W^ton't Memoirs of his oivn Life. r TERMS OF COMMUNION. 113 title of the History of the Baptists, to implicate us in the infamy and guilt of those transactions. While we must reprobate such a spirit, we are compelled to acknowledge that the practice of exclusive communion is admirably adapted to excite it, in minds of a certain order. That practice is not less objectionable on another ground. By discouraging paedobaptists from frequenting our assemblies, it militates against the most effectual means of diffusing the sentiments which we consider most consonant to the sacred oracles. It cannot be expected that pious worshippers will attend, except from absolute necessity, where they are detained, if we may so speak, in the court of the Gentiles, and denied access to the interior privileges of the sanctuary. The congregations, accordingly, where this practice prevails, are almost entirely composed of persons of our own persuasion, who are so far from requiring an addi- tional stimulus, that it is much oftener necessary to re- strain than to excite their ardour ; while the only descrip- tion of persons who could he possibly henefitted by instruction are out of its reach ; compelled by this into- lerant practice to join societies, where they will hear nothing but what is adapted to confirm them in their ancient prejudices. Thus an impassable harrier is erected betwixt the baptists and other denominations, in conse- quence of which, few opportunities are afforded of trying tne effect of calm and serious argumentation, in situations where alone it could prove effectual. In those baptist churches in which an opposite plan has been adopted, the attendance of such as are not of our sentiments, meeting with no discouragement, is often extensive; baptists and paedobaptists, by participating in the same privileges, become closely imited in the ties of friendship ; of which the effect is uniformly found to be a perpetual increase in the number of the former, compared to the latter, till, in some societies, the opposite sentiments have nearly subsided and disappeared. Nor is this more than might he expected from the nature of things, supposing us to have truth on our side. For admitting this to be the case, what can give perma- YOL. IlL I 114 TERMS OP COMMUNION. ) TERMS OP COMMUNION. 115 < : 1: nence to the sentiments to which we are opposed, except a recumbent indolence, or an active prejudice ? And is it not evident that the practice of exclusive communion has the strongest tendency to foster both those evils, the fonner by withdrawing, I might say repelhng, the erroneous from the best means of instruction, the latter by the apparent harshness and severity of such a proceed- ing ? It is not by keeping at a distance from mankind that we must expect to acquire an ascendency over them, but by approaching, by conciliating them, and securing a passage to their understanding through the medium of their heaorts. Truth will gUde into the mind through the channel of the aflTections, which, were it to approach in the naked majesty of evidence, would meet with a cer- tain repulse. Betraying a total ignorance or forgetfukess of these indubitable facts, what is the conduct of our opponents ? They assume a menacing aspect, proclaim themselves the only true church, and assert that they alone are entitled to the christian sacraments. None are alarmed at this lang- iiage,none are induced to submit; but turning, with a smile or a frown, to gentler leaders, they leave us to triumph without a combat, and to dispute without an opponent. If we consider the way in which men are led to form just conclusions on the principal subjects of controversy, we shall not often find that it is the fruit of an indepen- dent effort of mind, determined to search for truth in he) most hidden recesses, and discover her imder every dis guise. The number of such elevated spirits is small and though evidence is the only source of rational con viction, a variety of favourable circumstances usuall^ contributes to bring it into contact with the mind, suej as frequent intercourse, a favourable disposition toward the party which maintains it, habits of djeference ant respect, and gratitude for benefits received. The practici of confining the communion to our own denomination seems studiously contrived to preclude us from thest advantages, and to transfer them to the opposite side. The policy of intolerance is exactly proportioned U the capacity of iuspiring fear. The church of Rome foi many ages practised it, with infinite advantage, because she possessed ample means of intimidation. Her pride grew with her success, her intolerance with her pride ; ind she did not aspire to the lofty pretension of being the only true church, till she saw monarchs at her feet, and held kingdoms in chains ; till she was flushed with victory, giddy with her elevation, and drunk with the blood of saints. But what was policy in her, would be the height of infatuation in us, who are neither entitled by our situation, nor by our crimes, to aspire to this guilty preeminence. I am fully persuaded that few of our brethren have duly reflected on the strong resemblance which subsists betwixt the pretensions of the church of Itome, and the principles implied in strict communion ; both equally intolerant ; the one armed with pains and penalties, the other, I trust, disdaining such aid ; the one the intolerance of power, the other of weakness. From a full conviction that our views as a denomina- tion correspond with the dictates of scripture, it is im- possible for me to entertain a doubt of their ultimate prevalence ; but, unless we retrace our steps, and culti- vate a cordial imion with our fellow-christians, I greatly question whether their success will, in any degree, be as- cribable to our own efforts. It is much more probable that the light will arise in another quarter, from persons by whom we are unknown, but who, in consequence of an unction from the Holy One, are led to examine the scripture with perfect impartiality, and, in the ardour of their pursuit after truth, alike to overlook the misconduct of those who have opposed, and of thos« who have main- tained it. Happily, the final triumph of truth is not dependent on human modes of exhibition. Man is the recipient, not the author of it ; it partakes of the nature of the Deity ; it is his offspring, its indissoluble relation to whom is a surer pledge of its perpetuity and support than finite power or policy. While we are at a certainty respecting the final issue, " the times and the seasons God hath put in his own power ;" nor are we ever more liable to err, than when, in surveying the purposes of God, we descend i2 In 116 TERMS OP COMAnJNIOX I' < ,< 'f the church through the medium of a^party^ msmodt of procedure has been already suffici^tiv tried l^J- found utterly ineffectual. ""^wenfy tned, and is The labour bestowed upon these «}».<.*<. !,„= „ ^ • fiom an indifference to thriSteresT, of i .'Tu fZ™*" Having omitted nothing which appeared e««„f;oii connected irith the subject I hasten tn!r ^?*'^'y quisition; p«5viously to wh^h it mav ,^^t f'-*^" ''"- briefly to re'kll the attentfon to thfprindil ^ *'. ^JU"' ^^^ fndeavoured tsC'fi thTp"n.c tice of stnct communion derives nn «»».«^r ^ . that ,t IS not couhtenanced by the tenour of the I^X- commission, nor by apostolic precedent Ae sjl „^J^l '^ IS m our feTOur, pideding on pS« t^S " h?! ^^^^ to the case under discussion ; SThe oSe r^'" ' |S enforce^ by the obligations' of chTtiZStr^at It s mdubitably comprehended within the a^n wM 1 etooms forbearance towards mistaken brethiTthS ^em of our opponents uncAurcAe, everTpsdot J.W commmuty; that it rests on no general pXflS-* attempts to establish an impossible mediSStinflf^ a punishment which is capricious and r^T^i'£^ TERMS OP COMMUNION. 117 that, by fomenting prejudice, and precluding the most effectual means of conviction, it defeats its own purpose. Should the reasoning imder any one of these heads be found to be conclusive, however it may fail in others, it will go far towards establishing our leading position, that no church has a right to establish terms of communion, which are not terms of salivation. With high considera- tion of the talents of many of my brethren who differ from me, I have yet no apprehension that the sum total of the argument admits a satisfactory reply. A tender consideration of human imperfection is not merely the dictate of revelation, but the law of nature, exemplified in the most striking manner, in the conduct of Him whom we all profess to follow. How vride the interval which separated his religious knowledge and attainments from that of his disciples ; he, the fountain of illumination, they encompassed with infirmities ! But did he recede from them on that account ? No : he drew the bond of union closer, imparted successive streams of effulgence, till he incorporated his spirits with theirs, and elevated them into a nearer resemblance of himself. In imitating by our conduct towards our mistaken brethren this great exemplar, we cannot err. By walking together with them, as far as we are agreed, our agreement will extend, our differences lessen, and love, which rejoiceth in the truth, will gradually open our hearts to higher and nobler inspirations. Might we indulge a hope that not only our denomina- tion, but every other description of christians, would act upon these principles, we should hail the dawn of a brighter day, and consider it as a nearer approach to the ultimate triumph of the church than the annals of time have yet recorded. In the accomplishment of our Saviour's prayer, we should behold a demonstration of the divinity of his mission, which the most impious could not resist ; we should behold in the church a peaceful haven, inviting us to retire from the tossings and perils of this unquiet ocean, to a sacred inclosure, a sequestered spot, which the storms and tempests of the world were not permitted to invade. t ■ 118 TERMS OF C50MMUNION. "•K?*°* ?**"* dulces, vivoqne sedilia saxo : IJynipharum doinus. Hie fessas non vincala naves tllla tenent: unco non adiigat anchora morsu."— Fir^Y. The genius of the gospel, let it once for aU be remem- bered, IS not ceremonial, but spiritual, consisting, not in meats or drmks, or outward observances, but, in the cul- tiyation of such interior graces, as compose the essence of virtue, perfect the character, and purify the heart. Ihese form the soul of religion; all the rest are but her terrestrial attire, which she will lay aside when she passes the threshold of eternity. When, therefore, the obHga- tions ot humility and love come into competition with a punctual observance of external rites, the genius of reli- gion will easily determine to which we should incline • but when the question is not whether we shall attend to them ourselves, but whether we shaU enforce them on othere, the answer is still more ready. All attempts to urge men forward, even in the right path, beyond themeasiJe ot their light, are impracticable in our situation, if they were lawM ; and unlawful, if they were practicable. Augment their light, concQiate their affections, and they will follow of their own accord. I V POSTSCRIPT. An objection to the hypothesis which assigns the origin of christian baptism to the commission which the apostles received at our Lord's resurrection, may possibly be urged from the baptisms performed by his disciples during his personal ministry ; and, as no notice is taken of that cir- cumstance in the body of the work, I beg leave to submit the following observations to the reader: — ^We are informed by one of the evangelists, that Christ, by the instrumentality of his disciples, at one period " made and baptized more disciples than John."* The following remarks may possibly cast some light on this subject : — 1. A divine commission was given to the son of Zechariah, to announce the speedy manifestation of the Messiah; or, which is equivalent, to declare that " the kingdom of God was at hand," with an injunction solemnly to immerse in water, as many as, in conse- quence of that intelligence, professed repentance and reformation of life ; and as he was the only person who had been known to initiate his disciples by that rite, it was natural for him to be distinguished by the appella- tion of the Baptist, or the immerser. The Scriptures are totally silent respecting any mission to b^tize apart from his. It is by no means certain, however, that he was the only person who performed that ceremony ; in- deed, when we consider the prodigious multitudes who flocked to him, the " inhabitants of Jerusalem, Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan," it seems scarcely practicable ; he most probably employed coadjutors ^ * John iv. 1. 120 TERMS OP COMMUNION. t'^i. ^^P"^*'*^ ha^? Originated with him, it was eSri! ''"P"^ "' *^ ^^-Selists to notice Z estVe" Kst£ tr'^ e-nced the profound- r'krngd";ro tod iTai t;:.""' p"p^^'"°° ^°^ bran<-h nf rt,» i- • ' !? . "'"'*'' ^"'^ i"" important S^test nronnV?iT? K^'" ""'S"'"'^' " ^"^ ^^^ the Stf h.l'^rr ^ that he not only submitted to it him- seU, but authorised his disciples to perform it Th;» me or ordinance ; and since it was not accompanied with a distinct signification, it could not be c^^E^Tri gmatmg a new constitution, but as a mere co-operation <» hy^Wunner in one and the same work! ^ diff™ bet'^^rft ^T" ?* ""S" *•■»* *''« principal «T.^!ff * ^"^^ baptism, and that which the Si:n"'conr':j""'r*'.*°P«rf°™ after ouil^w: re^'oTjesus ""B^t'i"™ • ' "?-' ^'^ <^^^-^r^ied in in supposi^^fperfoSlit^^^^^ C^C^^Sl W fptrJ^l!" ^"^ ^> "^^ forfrunner ?t 3 close hat vey secret to the mixed multitude, ITJten^ they baptized; nor could the use of his na.^ i" d,^ orinance be separated from such a disclosilie 4. In addition to this, it must be remembered thaf John and our Lord (by the hands of hiSS Wh I' ■I '" I TERMS OP COMMUNION. 121 it I obligation to beKeve one thing as the disciples of Jolin, and another as the disciples of Christ. But this it is impossible to admit. There is unquestionably, at all seasons, a perfect harmony in the economies of religion, so that two different ones are never in force at one and the same time. The first ceases when the second suc- ceeds, just as Judaism was abolished by Christianity, and the patriarchial dispensation superseded by Judaism. Unless we are prepared to assert that the dispensations of rehgion are not obligatory, one light in which they must be considered is that of different laws, or codes of law ; but it is essential to the nature of laws, that the new one, except it be merely declaratory, invariably re- peals the old. In whatever particular it differs, it neces- sarily abolishes or annuls the former. But as John con- tinued to baptize by divine authority, at the same time with the disciples of our Saviour, it is evident his insti- tution was not superseded ; consequently, it was of such a nature that it could subsist in conjunction with the baptism performed by our Lord, through the hands of his apostles. But for the reason already alleged, this could not have been the case, unless it had been one and the same thing. The inference I wish to deduce from the whole is, that the baptism celebrated by Christ's dis- ciples, during his personal ministry, in no respect differ- ed from John s, either in the action itself, or in the im- port, but were merely a joint execution of the same work ; agreeably to which, we find a perfect identity in the language which our Saviour enjoined his disciples to use, and in the preaching of John : " Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand." Whatever information our Lord imparted to his disciples beyond that which was communicated by his forerunner, (which we all know was much,) was given in detached portions, at distinct intervals, and was never embodied or incorporated with any positive institution, till after his ascension, which may be considered as the commencement of the christian dispensation in its strictest sense. TIIB ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWBBN CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, AND THE BAPTISM OF JOHN, MORE FULLY STATED AND CONFIRMED; IN RKPLY TO A PAMPHLET, ENTITLED " A PLEA FOR PRIMITIVE COMMUNION." [POBUSHBD IK ISlC] PREFACE. ^ WHEraER the writer of the Mowing pages has acted judiciously in noticing the anonymous author of the Plea. fc. it is not for him to determine. He was certainly not induced to reply hy any apprehension that the arguments of his opponent would produce much effect on candid and enlightened minds : but he recollected that what is not answered, is often deemed unanswerable. He has con- fined himself, as the reader wiU perceive, to that branch of the controversy which relates to the baptism of John • the consideration of the remaining parts, wiU more pro- perly occur in reply to a work which is ah-eady announced to the public by a person of distinguished reputation. With an answer to that publication, it is the decided re- solution of this author to terminate his part of the con- troversy. liEICESTER, February 14, 1816. fl THI ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWIXT CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 4ND TUB BAPTISM OF JOHN. Though the author of the " Plea for Primitiye Com- mimion" has not thought fit to annex his name to that pubhcation, as truth alone is the legitimate object of con- troversy, his claim to attention may be justly considered as little, if at all, impaired by that omission. Religious inquuy is an affair of principles, not of persons ; and under whatever shape an author chooses to present him- self to the public, he is entitled to notice in proportion to the force of his conceptions, and the candour of his spirit. How far the author under present consideration is pos- sessed of these quaUties, must be left to the judgement of an impartial public. As he has confined nearly his whole attention to the question of the identity of John's baptism with the ordi- nance now in force, without pretending to enter into the g^eral merits of the controversy, and this is a question wluch admits of separate discussion, and is in itself of some moment, the foUowing pages will be devoted to a defence of the sentiments which have been aheady ad- vanced on that subject. 128 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM is SSff fo/t^^"^--' *« patience of the reader clearly to state the feTnwTf^v' '"'"'"• "* '^^^'^^onr troversy with which k 7^? f ' ^"^'"o" »■> ^e con- deference to thTsentime'^ ofT "'""'"'"^- ^' ^'^ i" his own, that the authT^ li "Pr"*?*^ "^'her than attention upon it k Us f~ ^1 " ^-'"-/o ™„ch IS, that its connexion withThI .'*'f f' persuaded as he and incident.^ rXrThtl .P*'""^'-'" ''^''**« " <^ual only possible ^^i^^t ^^ Zi'lfT ''/'"'' '"^^ nion resulting from its derkinn "^x, """^ commu- ar^ent mo^st feS,i; consSd ' %IZ'''"'°^ "' ^ this, it s only nece,«r^7„ , ^'^ ^ convinced o. sion of what on? o^Snt^ clT^w' "«* *« ««^^Iy Jnining a question of dutvTp^nlfln T ^"' "" ^«*«- the era of Aeir promS;^^ ?^ '^"".", P^^'^'^e laws, foreign; we hare'^Creh- to .'' ?/°»«^««»'ion totally and to what descriDtirjf "•''"' ""^ " *«/«»4 tion applies, yrfthout Zl?'''"°' "V'"'''?' *« reguS the clionobgTil X °f1 '°^ T''""' *° inquire ir^to of civil life, nrm^thteW ''*'?«'?'• ^" *•"« ^etaUs an appeal to thT resSl I f «"'f' ?g his actions by hut iolely by TreZltZt^'f- "'^ "^"''"g 'a^s^ were it ^ncl admfi L * " S lTt*"«o°; and law latest enacted mn,f : ""F'""' that the particular would be the highest n,. I "*° ''"^'" confusion. It so far into the bS oTthXiXtt^n" V° ^''"^'^ state, as to form a conjectwe fn tt» ' "* '"*? ""^'"'^ "f ance of our duties, or the "sDectfve T.P"'*'^ ^P^^- h^ to each other by an apSo th« ^"- '?"' ""^'"^ *W which the laws wei« nr«3 /? thedistmct periods in -^ty in supp'olTiSfct"? V""''? ™y '»'>- poses, the law which ;,S Ti ^°' *^^ ^"^est pnr- perfonnance of ^ttZ^t^^^.^l^^-^^the ^^ and p^haps i^ r^oKriii ^-"eT-Uf AND THAT OP JOHN 129 immemorial customs, which it would baffle the profound- denftS'^ •" T"-*" '^"^ °'^ ; ^>>«°ce it is e4- den^ that the principle m question is necessarily excluded from the widest department of legal obligation. It is a prmciple as repugnant to the nat^e of Ivine as it if t^ human legislation. It appears from the hS of thi patriarchs, that sacrificial rites were ordaL J much earlier than circumcision, but no sooner wrthe h"ter thSi*^ " ^rr^'^ *« «"li««t ''"cation ILl the offenngs prescribed on the birth of a child did 7ot precede, but were subsequent to the ceremony of t^oZl In the case of moral obligations, no one pretends that heir reciprocal relation an3 dep^dence is to b"r- tamed by an appeal to the distinct periods ot" theSl tuhon: hejr co-existence with huian nature precSs the possibility of applying such a test; and he who co^ suts impartially the dictates of conscience, conWdld enhghtened by revelation, will seldom feel h°m™lf em- oSdutir;.'' "^^"' ^'*" '" *^* -*-« - *^-^« In the case of positive duties, that is, such as result entirely from the revealed wiU of God, 4d w?trr~ to which the voice of nature is silent,' how fi theT^e so inseparably linked together as to fo'nn a m"ra^ whoT^ m such a mamier that the omission of one part rrde™ an attention to the other a nuUity, must depend en&ely on the language of the institute. To attempt to esteS any conclusion where that is silent, is at onc^ to incur tw'r",! J"f' ^ ^"'"^''^d «» theVplicltiorof h^" St?on« intelligible I?^ r i' *° ^"^ f . •■"«' ■' ^ P<»«We some particu- laramay be presented in a clearer light. ^ 1., ^''5 .?"/n''Te reader of the New Testament wiU not W felled to remark that the rite perfonned by John is rarely, if ever, introduced without the addition of some d^^^if^' °' ^P'***' '"t-^-ded apparentl^o dMtingmsh It from erery preceding or subs^uent reU- tCC^^^rr v^"* '' '' «>">etimes delominSed the baptism, of John, on other occasions baptism in water, aid the baptism of repentance, but is nerS expressed m the absolute form*in which the LS ^s:STt&r"^"'*'''^,°^'^- When the twelve aisciples at Ephesus were asked into what (i e intn what profession) they were baptized, they repUed, kto IT^ ?u^? ''y. ®*- ^''"'' ^« «ad of no such expres- Stl^tl thi^^*^V^ ^''^■' "^ *« contrary, re K^ * i^ Conntbans, he expresses a sort of pious honor at the very idea of such a supposition. Wh^^ considers the extreme precision which the ii^S historians maintain in the choice of the tels emp 3to represent rehgious ordinances, wiU perceive this ri^,™ •bmce to possess considerable weight ^^' Jlc^^Zrrt .^^'>^''?°^. 't^ngth, however, fiom J^co^^T.^ fvangehcal narratives, but that he him- sett contrasts it with a superior one. which he ^.r^AfTilj. iZ""V^^.''' theW of'hrM^i^S! deed, said he, « baptize you in water, but th^e standeA one among you whose shoe-latchets I am noTw,X S AND THAT OP JOHN. 131 r^^:.h./ A^- ""^" Thai t^;^^;^- ^^^^^^^^^^^ Lidte iii. 15, AND THAT OF JOHN. 133 was to come. The epithet, b l^x^f^mg, he roho is coming. It IS generally admitted, was the usual appellation appuld to the Messiah at that period, which, while it expresses the certainty and near approach of the event of his coming, intimates, not less clearly, its futurity. At the time when the son of Zechariah entered on his ministry nothing could be more accurate than the idea conveyed by that phraseology— the Messiah was not yet manifest to Israel; John was sent before him to announce his speedy appearance : he was as yet coming, not actually come, on which account the language which the fore- mnner held was precise and appropriate; it was not a demand of present faith in any kno>vn individual, but was limited to a future faith on a certain personacre who was about to evince his title to the character he assumed, by his personal appearance and miracles. He said to the people that they should believe in him that was to come. Could the same person, let me ask, at the same moment be descnbed by terms expressive of the present and of the future tense, at once as an existing individual, a person historically known, and as one that was to come ? In a word, if John expressed the act of faith which he required, in the future tense,+ it unquestionably respected a future act; and if he described its object under the term £§x^^mg, he that is to come, he did not immerse m the name of Jesus, which would have been a palpable contradiction. Again, the spiritual import of christian baptism, as asserted by St. Paul, transcends incomparably the mea- sure of religious knowledge possessed during the ministry ot John. "Know ye not," is his appeal to christians, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death ; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."f We have here an appeal to the conscience of all baptized persons respectmg the spiritual signification of that ordi - Acts xix. 4. + 7ri(Tr£«"*» Christ. bK Wr& T^ 7'" T "^P'^'d into (the belief of) to_death. Therefore they were not baptized i^to as Se isti rffc"'"'''''' •"/ *'•'""«' *'««««'' that aa ine mmistiy ot John commenced previouslv to thnt nf the Messmh, which succeeded his ba^tisCn^ rife cell ♦ Mark ix. 10. AND THAT OF JOHN. 135 brated at that time is entitled to a place amongst christian sacraments, since they did not commence with the christ- ian dispensation, nor issue from the authority of Christ, as Head of the church. The sacraments properly christ- ian, imdoubtedly belong to the kingdom of God; a phrase which is constantly employed in scripture to denote that state of things which is placed under the avowed admin- istration of the Messiah, and which consequently could not precede his personal appearance. But during his residence on earth, until his resurrection, this kingdom is uniformly represented as fiiture, though near at hand. Even after John's imprisonment, the language which he held respecting that object is the same : " The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand ; repent ye, and believe the gospel ;"* which is also the precise intel- ligence he commanded the seventy disciples to proclaim,t a little before his decease. He was inaugurated into his office at his baptism, till which period he remained in the obscurity of private life, at the utmost remove from assuming a legislative character. An attention to the general history of the period to which these transactions refer, will conduct us to the same conclusion. When we consider the great popularity attached to the ministry of the forerunner, and the gen- eral submission of the Jewish people to his doctrine, it is in the highest degree improbable, that of the three thou- sand who were added by St. Peter to the church on one day, there were none who had been previously his disci- ples : this incredible supposition is reduced to an impos- sibiHty, when we recollect, that of the twelve apostles, two are actually affirmed by an evangelist to have been of that number. But as it is universally admitted, that they who were savingly convinced of the truth of Christ- ianity after the Pentecost, were baptized on that occasion, what conclusion can be more inevitable, than that the rite administered by the harbinger of our Lord, was essentially distinct from the christian ordinance ? To conclude this branch of the subject ; the Acts of the Apostles furnish us with a decisive instance of an * Mark i. 15. f Luke x. 9. 136 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM apostle's rebaptizing certain disciples of John at Ephesus , but, as we shall have occasion hereafter to examine that incident more fullj, in reply to the evasions of the author of the Plea^ I shall content myself at present with barely referring to it. Such are the principal grounds on which we have yentured to assert the fundamental disparity betwixt the baptism of John and the christian institute. We now proceed to notice the manner in which the author of the Plea for Primitive Communion attempts to evade these arguments. I. He endeavours to invalidate the assertion that John's commission did not originate in the command of Christ, or that he, on any occasion, ascribes his mission to the Father, in distinction from the Son. The author of Terms of Communion is charged with representing "John as uniformly doing that of which tliere is no de- cisive evidence he ever did at all ; that is, ascribe his commission to the Father, in distinction from the Son,"* We should have supposed that when the origin of a certain proceeding is constantly assigned to one agent, and no notice is taken of another, there is no impropriety in affirming that the proceeding in question is ascribed to him who is mentioned, in distinction from him who is not. But let the scripture speak for itself, and let the reader judge whether John did, or did not, ascribe his commission to the Father, in distinction from any other person. " He who sent me to baptize," said he, " the same said unto me. He on whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, He it is who shall baptize in the Holy Ghost and in fire."t Here the personage speaking distinguishes himself from the Mes- siah, as clearly as words can distinguish him, for he speaks of Christ in the third person, while he himself is denoted by the first : and so uniform is the hmguage of scripture on this subject, that not a syllable is to be found in which the mission of John is ascribed to any other person than the Father. * Plea for Primitive Commanion,p. 21 -f Juiui i. 33. See the original. AND THAT OF JOHN. 137 \i But to ascribe any operation whatever to the Father in distinction from the Son, this writer contends, is in- consistent with the belief of the ineffable union which subsists betwixt those divine personages.* " Will those,** he asks, " who believe the ineffable union of the Father and the Son, be disposed to conclude from this text that John derived his authority from the Father, to the ex- clusion of the Son ?" To which I reply, that, believing firmly as himself, that there is such a union subsisting betwixt the personages in the blessed Godhead as con- stitutes them one living and true God, instead of infer- ring from thence, the impropriety of distinguishing their operations, it has always appeared to me, that the chief advantage resulting from the doctrine of the Trinity is, that it facilitates our conception of the plan of redemp- tion, in which each of these glorious persons is repre- sented as assuming distinct, though harmonious, offices and functions ; the Father originating, so to speak, the Son executing, and the Spirit applying the several parts of that stupendous scheme. The Father, accordingly, is uniformly asserted to have sent the Son, the Son to have assumed the office of Mediator, and the Spirit to be im- parted by both, to enlighten and sanctify the elect people of God. If we suffer ourselves to lose sight of such an application of the doctrine, it subsides into barren and useless speculation. And are we to be told that such is the ineffable imion betwixt the Father and the Son, that the distinct exercise of these functions is an impossibility? We should have supposed that the act of sending^ at least, might be safely ascribed to the Father, in distinc- tion from the Son ; unless, perhaps, this author, in the plenitude of his subtlety, has discovered a method by which a person may send himself. In spite of attempts to bewilder the plain reader by unmeaning abstractions, it will remain a palpable fact, that John's commission is ascribed to the Father, and to him alone ; and that hav- ing originated before our Saviour assumed the legislative function, it is in no respect entitled to be considered as * Plea for Primitive Communion, n. 31* f Il I r: 138 CHRISTIAN BAPIIfiaC m christian institute. In addition to which we hare only to remark, that to insist upon derivinff John's mission from our Lord, is to implicate him in the charge of em- ploying a collusive mode of reasoning. In reproring the unbelief of the Jews, he observes that "he did not bear witness of himself;" for had he done so, "his witness had not been true," in other words, not entitled to credit: but he adds, " there is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bore witness to the truth."* But if the person to whose testimony he appeals in proof of his mission, was sent by himself, where is the force of this reasoning:, or what difference in point of credibility is there, betwixt his bearing witness of himself, and his prompting another to do it for him ? II. The author of the Plea next endeavours to show the identity/ of the qualifications demanded by the fore- runner of our Lord, with those which were demanded by his apostles after the day of Pentecost. After ob- jecting to the accuracy of my statement on that article, without attempting to point out in what its incorrectness consists, he proceeds to remark, that, allowing it to be unexceptionably just, it will prove that the requisitions which were supposed to be different, coalesce into one and the same thing. The reason he adduces is the fol- lowing: "As both John and the apostles are described as demanding faith, so that faith is to have the same object, and to be connected with the same facts in rela- tion to that object, only some of these facts John's dis- ciples were to view as approaching ; while the faith of those baptized by the apostles, embraced them as having actually occurred; for the great events respecting the Messiah, as boldly appealed to faith when only occupy- ing the prophetic page, as they do now they are become interesting details in the evangelical history." f It will be freely admitted that the Saviour of the world is, in every period, and under every economy, the ♦Johnv. 31— 33. f Plea for Primitive Communion, p. 33. AND THAT OP JOHN. 139 sole object of saving faith ; but to infer from hence, that the profession which John demanded was an appendage of the dispensation introduced on the day of Pentecost, would equally demonstrate the Levitical ceremonies to belong to it, and would thus carry back the christian dispensation to the time of Moses. The next assertion, " that the belief of the same facts was required in the former instance as in the latter," is palpably absurd, as well as the reason assigned, which is, that they were foretold by the ancient prophets, and " that prophecy as boldly appealed to faith as the narrative of the evange- list." Every one must perceive, that if there is any force in this argument, it will prove that whatever was' pre- dicted of the Messiah must have been distinctly under- stood and firmly embraced by the disciples of the fore- runner, as an essential prerequisite to the reception of baptism ; since whatever was thus predicted was imques- tionably presented as the object of faith ; the place of his birth, his vicarious suffering, his resurrection, the spiritual nature of his kingdom, his rejection by the Jews, and the triumphant progress of the gospel amongst the Gentiles, with an infinite number of other particulars, were attested by the prophets. But vrill this author contend that all these curcumstances were imderstood by John's converts, at a time when the immediate disciples of our Lord were intoxicated with the hopes of an earthly kingdom, and totally imapprised of their Master's death? Or will he condescend to iiiform us on what principle so much more was requisite to constitute a disciple of John than an apostle of the Lord ? Had it been a question of duty, instead of an inquiry into matter of fact, no diffi- culty would have been felt in acknowledging the justice of the rebuke which the apostles received for their hard- ness of heart, in not opening their minds more freely to the true interpretation of scripture. A cloud of carnal prejudices undoubtedly eclipsed a considerable portion of revealed truth ; though, with the best dispositions, much must have remained obscure till the ancient prophecies were fulfilled. Previous to that period, if we listen to the inspured writers, instead of the author of the Flea^ I 140 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM I ( i neither the prophets understood their o>vii predictions, nor the apostles their true interpretation. To appi v revelation m its utmost extent, without the smallest allowance for the meyitable involutions of prophecy, as a cntenon of the portion of knowledge actually pos- sessed by the successive generations of the faithfid, is a mode of reasonmg peculiar to this writer. We possess in the Apocalypse, a series of prophecies extendinff to the consummation of all things, a large portion of which IS confessedly involved in obscurity ; but what opinion should we entertain of the sagacity o£ him, whof at a period subsequent to their accomplishment, should con- tend that we of this age must necessarily have been apposed of the events which they foretold, solely on the ground of their being the subject of prophecy ? Such a reasoner will be the properest person to write a sequel to the Plea for Primitive Communion. The author has been betrayed into these absurdities by confounding together two things totally distinct-^ smcere belief m the truth of inspiration, with an explicit baowledge of its contents. The prophets were invested mth credentials which entitled them to the profound submission of mankmd ; but to receive their predictions thirll 1 ^f' ?' "^" *^&' ^'"^ «« to penetrate their scope and intention as to be in possession of pre- cisely the same facts, and acquainted with the same t^ths, with those who lived to'witness their accompHsT ment, is another. All good men equally possessing the }^ !f T' *^^ 'i**^*^^^ ^f *^^ ^^e^ers of the prophets under the law, and of the apostohc converts unTrthe gospel, was most dissimilar. It is certain, from the eidojums bestowed upon John, that his attainments in religious knowledge surpassed the highest of those of his predecessors; yet we are informed from the same authonty, that the least in the kingdom of heaveTis greater than he But in what is this superiority ^ imiversally ascribed to christians, to be plLd eL^ IJ^/TT^"^'^ "l'^^ i^" ^^*« ^**^sted iter the vith the supposed knowledge of that medium, it is not easy to discover. The habitual reserve on this subject maintained by the writers of the Old Testament, compared to its constant inculcation in the New, forms the grand distinction betwixt these respective portions of revelation ; clearly evincing the truth of the apostle's assertion, that " the way into the holiest was not made manifest" while the ancient sanctuary subsisted. It will perhaps be replied — Are we then to renounce the notion of the typical nature of sacrificial rites, and, in contradiction to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to assert that they bore no reference to the great propitiation ? Nothing is more foreign from the purpose of these remarks. That the ceremonial law was a prefiguration of good things to come, and owed its validity and efficacy entirely to the analogy which it bore to the true sacrifice, is placed beyond aU reasonable controversy. AU that is contended for IS, that the reference which it bore was not understood durmg the subsistence of that economy; that it is not to be considered as an interpretation of the doctrine of the atonenaent, so much as a sort of temporary substitute for that discovery, and that it was a system of ciphers, or symbols, the true interpretation of which was reserved to a future period. It is no more essential to the existence ot a type that its import be understood before it is veri- fied, than It is essential to prophecy that its just inter- pretation be comprehended before it is fulfilled. If we consider the benefit derived to the ancient church, from prophecy in its strictest sense, we shall find it consisted not m making men prophets, or enabling them to foretel future events, but rather in maintaining high and conso- latory views of the providence and the attributes of God accompanied with a firm but humble assurance of his gracious mterposition in their concerns. A general expectation of the Messiah's advent, as of some glorious and divine personage, who would bestow the highest spiritual and temporal felicity, without descending to details, or foreseeing the precise method by which "his interposition was to become effectual, appears to have nearly bounded the views of such as " waited for the consolation of Israel." Thus vague and general at least, were the expectations of the faithful at the time of disappearance: to suppose they were ever materially 1-00^^*' *^ a gratuitous supposition, totaUy devoid of In discussing this point, it is expedient to distinguish Detwixt the fm, and the doctrine of the atonement. lUe aspect of the atonement of God considered as a iramtactmn is towards God ; considered as a dx)ctrine, towards man. Viewed in the former light, its operation IS essential, unchangeable, eternal—" He was the Lamb 1.2 148 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM dain from tlie foundation of the world." Considered in the latter, its operation is moral, and therefore subject to all the yaneties incident to human nature. The cross, considered as the meritorious basis of acceptance, the only real satisfaction for sin, is the centre around which aU the purposes of mercy to fallen man have continued to revolve : fixed and determined in the council of God, it operated as the grand consideration in the divine mini on which salvation was awarded to penitent believers in the earbest ages, as it will continue to operate in the same manner to the latest boundaries of time. Hence it is manifest that this great transaction could admit of no substitute. But that discovery of it, which constitutes the dodpne of the atonement, though highly important, IS not of equal necessity. Its moral impression, its bene^ hcial effects on the misd, were capable of being secured by the institution of sacrifice, though in an inferior degree; while the offender, by confessing his sins over the head of the victim, which he afterwards slew, dis- tmctly recogmsed his guilt, his just exposure to destruc- tion, and his exclusive reliance on divine mercy. By such elements of penitential sorrow, and humble submisfflon, accompanied with a general expectation of a 31essi^ devout worshippers were prepared for the recep- tion of the subhmer mysteries of the gospel; and thus wi. became a schoohnaster to lead them to Christ." When St. Paul asserts that the same law was a sha- dow of;* good thmgs to come, and not the very image of those thmgs, he clearly intimates an essential difference between the two economies, and that the Mosaic did not aliord that acquaintance with the method of pardon and reconcilement, which constitutes the distmguishing dory of the gospel. But if the Levitical saciiles instructed the pious Jew in the doctrine of vicarious atonement as It IS now exhibited, they were already possessed of the substance, and the law could with no propriety be styled a schoohnaster mtended to lead them to Christ who had aheady amved thither. The passage to which we have aheady adverted, which affirms that the way into the hoUest of all was not made AND THAT OP JOHN. 149 manifest during the continuance of the first tabernacle, merits attentive consideration. From this and other sim- ilar passages, many of the fathert were led to infer that the souls of departed saints were not immediately re- ceived at death into the beatific vision, but waited for their future crowns till the general resurrection, while some of them were permitted to accompany our Saviour at his ascension, as trophies of his victory over the last enemy. As this is a notion which, it is probable, few at present will be disposed to embrace, so it was the neces- sary result of interpreting the words in too absolute a sense, and of transferring to the objects themselves what may with more propriety be referred to the conception entertained of those objects. Chrysostom paraphrases the text by remarking, that the way into the holiest, or into heaven, was (dSarog) inaccessible : St. Paul merely affirms that it was not made manifest. Distinct from these two interpretations it seems impossible to find a third : the words must either intend that the way itself was not opened, or that the knowledge of it was not communicated, which is equivalent to asserting that the doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ was reserved to be developed in a ftiture day. If the justice of these observations be admitted, the situation of Jewish believers will appear indeed to have been far removed from that of christians, and the gospel dispensation will derive a prodigious accession of splen- dour from the comparison. It will be seen that they were " shut up," to use the language of inspiration, imto the feith to be revealed, that their state was compara- tively gloomy, though not hopeless ; and that they were upheld by general assurances of divine mercy, confirmed by the acceptance of their offerings ; while they possessed no clear and distinct conception of the way in which it would be displayed, or by what expedient its exercise could be rendered consistent with the immutable holiness and justice of the divine nature. " Ibant obscuri sola sab nocte per umbras.'' Led by a way that they knew not, the obscurity with 150 .CHRISTU.V BAPTISM which they were surrounded must often have dismayed them; while the perturbations of conscience, on every recurrence of guilt, w^uld clothe the last enemy with new terrors, and deepen the shades which invest the sepulchre. Hence arose that lansuage of despondency uttered by Hezekiah, David, and others in the prosp^I of dissolution together with the gloomy pictures which they frequently draw of the regions beyond the grave natmal to such as were "all their life, through flarof , A r, ••*;'' *° bondage." Exposed to daSger from which th«y knew no definite mode of escape, and placed on the confines of an eternity feebly and faintly illumi- nated, they had no other resource besides an implicU conlidence m mysterious mercy. But notwithstanding the extreme imperfection of their Tiews^ inasmuch as they cordially embraced the promises ot God m the proportion in which they were tfien pro- pounded, ajQd cherished the expectatioi of a great De- spmt of faith. Genuine faith, considerei L a principle vh?^t k''' ""' '".""?'='' ^y *''« P^'^O"!^ tnrths effects m^TV ^l "^°"e'°' '*' "^t"''. ^d its effects. When St. Paul describes the feith by which the *!^r °f tr*"* " ^°^ "P""^ ••« ^ef«" not to the mys- teries of the gospel, but specifies the persuasion that the worlds were made, or created, by the word of God in opposition to the oj.inion that they were formed out of preexistent matter, which universally prevailed in pagM philosophy. He also enumerates, among its legitiS ejects, the behef "that God is, U thit he is tW warder of such as diligently seek him ;" and whoey^ examines with attention the various examples which he adduces of the operation of that principle, must be con! Tinced that the idea of a vicarious propitiation is not absolutely e^ential to its nature, however necessary to £':? fhauLTre!'" ~"^"*'"'^ °'*^ *="- -- <,lil"f 1''^"' '" ^^^ probability, consists the peculiar glory of the gospel, m contradistinction from trie eco" omy ot Moses, that it deciphers the figures of the kw i(i AND THAT OF JOHN. 151 accomplishes and absorbs every purpose of its sacrifices, and dispels the obscurity which concealed eternal real- ities, by placing in a reftilgent light that great mystery, hid from ages and generations, " by which God can be just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." Thus the rigour and reserve which, under the ancient economy, generated a spirit of bondage, is ex- changed for the glorious liberty of the sons of God. But it is time to return from this digression, which, though not totally irrelevant to the subject, has diverted the author s attention longer than he intended from the wri- ter of the Plea. III. In my former treatise, the omission of the name of Christ in the baptism of John was urged in proof of its being distinct from the christian ordinance ; on the contrary, in the total absence of scriptural evidence, my 0})ponent contends that he not only baptized in the name of Jesus, but also in that of the Holy Trinity. Suppo- sing such to have been the fact, upon what principle can we account for the silence of the sacred \ATiter on so im- portant a particular? for that it was important, and would have contributed more to elucidate the nature and extent of his mission than all the circumstances combined which they have thought fit to record, will scarcely be denied. What similar example occurs in the whole series of scripture history, of a minute and detailed accoimt of a religious ceremony, in which the mention of its most essential feature is suppressed; or who will believe, that while the minutest particulars respecting John were deemed worthy of being recorded, one so remarkable and unprecedented as that of his baptizing in the name of the Trinity was too trivial to be mentioned ? a circumstance of much greater moment, surely, than his subsisting on locusts, or his being clothed with a girdle. But beside the silence of scripture, which might of itself be deemed sufficiently decisive, the incon- sistency of such a proceeding, with the known reserve our Lord uniformly maintained respecting his Messiah- ship, and his repeated charges to his disciples not to publish that fact, demonstrate the extreme improbability f If i 152 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM of his suffering himself to become the arowed object of a rehgious rite. The employment of his name for iueh a purpose, it is obvious, was equivalent to a public decla- ration of his being the Messiah, and must have defeated his known intention. In the publication On Terms of Communion, this argument was repeatedly insisted on, and pursued to such an extent of illustration, that we should have supposed it impossible it could either be misunderstood or misrepresented. What is the reply of the author of the Plea to this argument ? One of the most extraordinary in the annals of controversy : it is neither more nor less than this, that though our Lord frequently enjomed secrecy as to the dignity of his divine character and the immediate object of his mission, there IS not a smgle instance in which he manifested any deli- cacy as to his name.* He afterwards proceeds to tell lis, with great gravity, that his name Jesus was as well known as that of Peter and John, and that he was ad- dressed under that name equaUy by friends, enemies, and strangers. My reluctance to inflame this contro- versy with the language of exacerbation, reduces me, on this occasion, to a perplexity how to express myself Is It possible, let me ask, he could so far mistake the scope Md beanng of the reasoning, as to confound the use of the tenn Jesus, as the proper name by which he was ad- dressed m the ordinary intercourse of life, with the em- ployment of It, with that of the Father and the Holy Ohost, in a holy sacrament ? Or will he contend, that to caJl a person by the name of Jesus, or by any other appellation whatever, is precisely the same thing as to baptize in his name ? He who is capable of confound- mg things so essentially distinct, is beyond the reach of reasoning : and if he did not confound them, but wished to put ^e change upon his readers, from a despair of bemg able to answer the argument, he has evinced a want of candour and good faith that merits the severest animadversion. Had his pubhcation been a tissue of nonsense and stupidity throughout, we should have been strongly mclined to the former supposition ; but when ♦ Plea for Primitive Communion, p. 27. AND THAT OP JOHN. 153 we reflect on the shrewdness which it occasionally dis- plays, joined to his care not to glance, in the slightest manner, at the true hinge of the controversy, it is diffi- cult not to suspect the latter. It may be questioned whether another person could have been found, ac- quainted with the English language, but would have instantly perceived that it was not the author s intention to insinuate a reluctance in our Lord to divulge his name, but the fact of his being the Messiah ; and that it was the inseparable connexion of that fact with the practice of baptizing in his name, which was the ground of my objection. As he has not made the slightest at- tempt to solve the difficulty, it would be trifling with the patience of the reader to attempt to re-enforce it. IV. The different effects which accompanied baptism, when performed by the apostles, and by John, were urged as a decisive proof that the two baptisms were essentially distinct, and characteristic of separate econo- mies. To such a distinction our attention is invited by the forerunner, who affirmed himself to baptize in water only, but that "he that came after him should baptize in the Holy Ghost, and in fire." To this the author of the Plea replies, by remarking, " that the argument pro- ceeds on incorrect data : it appears to assume that water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Ghost are the same ; or that the latter invariably followed the former. It will no doubt be regarded as a remarkable incident, that, in the midst of a zealous effort to separate between what is substantially the same, an attempt should be made to identify what is essentially different."* After describing the baptism of the Holy Ghost as an effect which ordinarily accompanied immersion in the name of Christ, it will be deemed much more remark- able that the author should be accused of confounding them, or that he should be affirmed to have identified two things which stand to each other in the relation of cause and effect. If it be a fact that the commimication of the Spirit usually accompanied the administration of baptism m the apostolic age, while no such communica- * Plea for Primitive Commanion, p. 39. CHRISTIAN BAPTISM tion was annexed to the ceremony of John, the author's position is correct. In proof of this fact, we have only to consult the Acts of the Apostles, which record the histoiy of the first promulgation of the gospel. We there perceiye that St. Peter held out the promise of the Spirit to the people, as a principal inducement to submit to the baptismal sacrament ; and that when St. Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, who, though bap- tized, had not heard of those supernatural endowments, he expressed his surprise, saying, " Into what then were ye baptized ?" a question totally irrelevant, but upon the supposition that the reception of miraculous gifts was the stated appendage to that ordinance. The only inquiry which can possibly arise on this subject is, whether John, in foretelling that the Messiah should baptize with the Holy Ghost, intended to allude to the sacramental water, or whether his attention was directed solely to the eflfusion of the Spirit, without refer- ence to the external rite. This question, however, admits of easy decision, when we recollect that the corporeal rite was the usual preparative for the reception of spiri- tual gifts, that they were announced in immediate con- nexion with the act of baptizing, and that, though the ancient prophets almost universally foretold the abundant effusion of spiritual gifts and graces, which succeeded the advent of the Messiah, none before John made use of a figure, which, viewed apart from the visible action with which it was associated, would have been scarcely intelligible. His suppression of the mention of water is m perfect accordance with the genius of oriental speech, which, in the exhibition of a complex object, is wont to represent it only by its boldest and most impressive fea- ture. It is not necessary to the support of this reasoning, to assert that the communication of miraculous gifts invari- My accompanied baptism : it is quite suflScient to ac- count for the language of John, as well as to sustain the inference deduced from it, that such was the ^tofec/ order. The instance of the Samaritans recorded in the eighth of the Acts, is urged as an exception, but when attentively AND THAT OP JOHN. 155 examined, it is none. We are informed, indeed, that though they were already baptized, " the Holy Ghost was fallen upon none of them ;" not, however, because the gift of the Spirit did not usually accompany the ad- ministration of that rite, but because the apostles, to whom alone the power of conferring it belonged, were not present. The case of the apostles themselves, and of Cornelius, it is admitted, may be considered as excep- tions. In the former instance the outward ceremony was superseded, as we apprehend, partly by the previous baptism of the Spirit, and partly by their having been converted to Christianity before the institution of that rite. In the latter, there was merely an inversion of the usual order : the Spirit was given prior to the adminis- tration of baptism, instead of succeeding it ; but still they were closely conjoined in point of time, and suffi- ciently connected to justify the language of John. To relieve the tediousness of the present discussion, let me here present the reader with a sample of the author's logic : " If these supernatural effects," he triumphantly remarks, " are invariably to follow immersion in water, in order to demonstrate that this is really christian bap- tism, how is it they were copiously enjoyed by some who are supposed never to have received tlus institution ?"* By an argument precisely similar, it were easy to de- monstrate that the possession of reason is no essential ingredient in the constitution of human nature. For it might with equal propriety be urged, if such a principle enters necessarily into the definition of human nature, how is it that it is copiously enjoyed by beings (angels for example) who are supposed never to have received such a nature ? This reply may be deemed amply suffi- cient for such a mode of reasoning : but in addition to this, let it be observed, that it was neither asserted nor insinuated, that miraculous gifts are invariably requisite to constitute christian baptism ; but simply that the fact of their accompanying it, when performed by the apostles, was held up by John as a striking feature in * Plea for Primitive Communion, p. 30. 156 CBRISrrUN BAPTISM 11 the new dispensation. And where is the absurdity of admitting that, without contending for its perpetmtv miraculous gifts sufficiently marked the transitiL from one economy to another ; or that it is a peculiarity wor- thy of mention among the characteristics of a period denominated m distinction from eYery preceding one, the dispensation of the Spirit ? ^ ^ y. Apprehensive of fatiguing the attention of the reader, we hasten to the last particular connected with ^Jfnf Ti ^ !u^ controyersy, which is the decisive C *w!^ ^^^ ?^ my hypothesis, resulting from the tac^ that the disciples of John were baptized by St. Paul. contradict It, It will be proper to quote the whole pas- sage, as It stands in the common translation, the accu- lacy of which no critic has impeached .—And it came to pass, that while ApoUos was at Corinth, Paul having pa^ed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, HaVe ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether ^ere be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto Johns baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized riffK T'fT^!'i repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come aftei him, that 19, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they T^re baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues Ld pro- phesied. ♦ In examining tliis passage, with a view to me inquiry whether these men were baptized by St. ^f,r^.r l^^ '*^**'^ ^^ ^'^" ""^'^ ^«P^«^"^ claims our attention. The question turns entirely on the inter- pretation of the foUowing words :—" When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus - ^^e words must be miderstood either as the language of St Paul, or of Luke the historian. Our opponent* ♦ Act« xix. J— 6. AND THAT OP JOHN. 157 contend that they are to be understood as a continuance of St. Paul's address, in which he describes the nature and effects of John's baptism. Upon this interpretation the passage last quoted has no relation to the disciples at Ephesus, except as it was intended for their instruction ; it is descriptive, not of what befell those disciples, but of the general submission of the Jewish people to the rite administered by John. And as it is asserted in the next verse that St. Paul laid his hands upon them^ and they received the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, we are led to a most extraordinary paradox, the assertion that St. Paul actually laid his hands, not on the persons mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, but, on that part of the Jewish people at large, who had been baptized by John, to whom he also communicated prophetic gifts. But as this proposition is too hard even for the powerftd diges- tion of our opponents, they are compelled to adopt an- other expedient, which is to separate the relative pro- nouns in the last verse, and refer them, not to their immediate antecedent, but to a very remote one, at the distance of several verses. The only apology they m^e for this strange perversion of the language of inspiration is, that such interruptions of continuity are not imcom- mon, whereas we challenge them to produce a single instance of such a construction, not merely in the New Testament, but in the whole compass of Greek litera- ture. Examples may possibly be adduced, where the relative pronoun is connected with an antecedent equally remote, but none, most assuredly, where its relation to an immediate antecedent is so obvious, and so natural, that the true interpretation in opposition to that which presents itself at first sight becomes a perfect enigma. Were there difficulties arising on each side, we might be induced to acquiesce in a construction, which, however unnatural or unusual, suggested the only consistent sense; but to have recourse to such a contrivance merely to avoid that construction, which is recommended by every rule of grammar, and against which not a shadow of objection lies, except its repugnance to hypothesis, is a proceeding at which liberal criticism must blush. If 158 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM such a mode of expounding scripture were adopted on other occasions, it is difl&cult to say what absurdity might not be obtruded on the sacred Yolume. The manner in which the author of the Plea criticises the passage, is such as might be expected from the advocate of so hope- less a cause. He neither ventures to quote it, nor to make the slightest remark on its principal clauses ; but contents himself with putting a speech into the mouth of St. Paul, in which every thing runs perfectly smooth and easy ; and since it is much easier to make speeches* than to elucidate difficulties, or establish paradoxes, we commend his policy. His only remaining effort is con- fined to the introduction of a parallel passage ; but im- fortunately it turns out that his pretended parallel affords an example of as plain and obvious a construction of words as is to be found in the sacred pages. It is a passage which, instead of presenting a choice of difficul- ties, difficulties oihis kind I mean, where grammar is on one side, and hypothesis on the other, suggests a sense in which all mankind have acquiesced— a sense which no degree of stupidity can miss, or artifice evade.^ The only resemblance it bears to the portion of history under consideration is, that it relates a similar incident, where certain persons who had been baptized had not yet re- ceived the gifts of the Holy Ghost. To attempt the defence of a most unnatural interpretation of Greek words, not by an appeal to a passage which exhibits a similar peculiarity of construction, but merely a simila- rity of occurrence, is egregious trifling. To the argument founded on the extreme improba- bihty that none of the numerous converts on the day of Pentecost were previously disciples of John, no reply is attempted. I cannot dismiss this subject mthout noticing the ex- •This wonder-working passage is as follows; "Now when the apostles which were at Jerasalem heard tliat Samaria had received the word of »od, they sent unto them Peter and John : who. when thev were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Uhost : (for as yet he was fallen ijpon none of them : only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hand» on them, and they received the Holy Gho8t.'» Acts viii 14—17 AND THAT OP JOHir. 159 treme defiaency of information respecting the history of religious opinions this author evinces, when he stigma- tizes the sentiments advanced, as a modem theory. They are so far from meriting that reproach, that they boast the suffrages of all the fathers, without exception, who have touched upon the subject ; nor would it be easy to discover a single divine, previous to the reformation, by whom they were not embraced ; and, since that period, they have received the sanction of Grotius, Hammond, Whitby, Doddridge, Chillingworth, and a multitude of other names of nearly equal celebrity. On an accurate inquiry, it will probably be found that the absurd inter- pretation of the passage we have just been considering, which is so necessary to the support of the opposite hy- pothesis, originated in the horror excited at the conduct of the anabaptists at Munster, by which certain divines of the reformation felt themselves strongly disposed to shun whatever might bear the semblance or colour of anabaptism ; that, in short, the doctrine here advanced is the revival of an ancient, rather than the invention of a new opinion. To the sincere inquirer, the antiquity or the novelty of a doctrine vrill appear a consideration of little moment, compared to the evidence by which it is supported ; yet, as a natural prejudice exists against violent departures from the ancient course of interpretation, it is but just to endeavour, as much as possible, to disengage the cause of truth from this incumbrance. The author of the Plea expresses a sort of horror at the thought of a plurality of baptisms, forgetting, it should seem, that the doctrine of baptisms, in the plural number, is placed by St. Paul amongst the first principles of the oracles of God. It is difficult to conceive to what baptisms he could refer, except those which are the sub- ject of the present discussion. The baptism of the Spirit, which was the highest gift of God, could with Httle pro- priety be termed a doctrine, much less emmierated among the first principles of Christianity ; and the Jewish wash- ings constituted no part of that system. Having presented the reasons on which the baptism of ]60 CHBISTIAN BAPTISM AND THAT OP JOIIX. 1 John was affirmed to be essentially ^tinct from the christian ordinance, at so much length, it is high time to relieve the attention of the reader, by dismissing the subject There is one more observation, and one only, to which the author requests his attention. If we admit that the Jewish people were baptized in the name of Christ, con- sidering the prodigious multitudes who repaired to John for that purpose, the conduct of a great part of that na- tion must be viewed in a new light ; and instead of being chargeable with a uniform rejection of the Mes- siah, they must be considered as apostates; upon this supposition, they violated the most sacred engagements, and impiously crucified their Prince, after consecrating themselves to his service by the most awful solemnities. The evangelist informs us that " he came to his own, but his own received him not ; " but the more accurate state- ment would have been, that they first received and after- wards rejected him ; received him on the testimony of the forerunner, and rejected him after witnessing the immaculate purity of his life, the wisdom of his dis- courses, and the splendour of his miracles. There is attached to apostacy a character of perfidy and baseness peculiar to itself— a species of guilt which the inspired writers frequently paint in the darkest colours : yet, strange to tell ! though they had no motives to conceal or palliate the conduct of their countrymen in their treatment of the Messiah, but many motives to the contrary, not a syllable escapes them of the charge of apostacy. What terrible energy would that accusation have lent to St. Peter s address ! What unspeakable advantage for alarming their consciences would he have derived from reminding them of their baptismal vows, and of their unspeakable impiety in crucifying the divine person to whom they had previously dedicated them- selves in solemn rites of religion. When St. Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, gives loose to one of his finest bursts of indignant feeling and rapid eloquence, in a brief portraiture of the character of his countrymen, the circumstance which would have given incredible 161 force to the picture is suppressed ; and not having perused the author oi^ePlea he seems to entertain nofu^p^ on ot their having been baptized in the name of Jesus It IS not less unaccountable, that the ancient prophets con- tain no allusion to this event, but describe the future '""^TlT. .f '^^ ^?'''^^ ^ ^^^^^1 ^it*^ Ws appearance • ^d that the most singular fact in sacred history is neithe; for tT.-^Itl-'^'^f ir ^"' "^ P^^P^^^^^' ^^^ ^^ reserved tor the detection of the nineteenth century Havmg replied to this anonymous writer on every par- ticular connected with the baptism of John, it is iiie- cessary to trouble the reader by animadverting oHie nlnf!-^ l-l^'' performance: the few observltions it Zt^L7^'"\ T r^'^"'^' *" '^' ^^^J^^*' ^'^ t«o loose and superficial to deserve attention, especially since a work IS announced by a writer, who will probably discuss the remammg topics with superior ability. We shall notice only two circumstances, illustrative of the authors management of the controversy. He devotes his first section to a synopsis of the principles advanced in the treatise On Terms of Communion, which he has extended by a little variety of language, are identically the fame : noTlrfr f ^^^^T'u'^'H' ^^^ ^" ^^ *^^^ expressed not in the terms of the author, but in such as are adap- ted to give them as much of the air of paradox as possi- ble It IS obvious that he who wishes to judge of them fairiy, must view them in their proper place, ac!ompanie™ mth their respective proofs and illustrations ; and that f ,; w /"" ^'T ^^^'"^ connexion, and exhibit them in a naked form, though they had been expressed in the author s own terms, is a direct appeal to prejudice. The obvious design is to deter the reader at the outset and to dispose him to prejudge the cause before it is hea^d. To S! '"^ u^ ^T^^ ""^ ^ controversy insinuations and nuendos which have no other tendency than to impair the ^partiality of the reader, is too common an artifi^ce; but such an open barefaced appeal to popular prejudice L. ^f occurrence. It is an expedient to which no YO^i '^''^^^^^^''^ ^1^0 is conscious of possessing su- r • 1 1 I ' ii ! ; lf^2 CHIUSTIAN BAPTISM perior resonrces. To this part of his performaQce no reply will he expected ; for though the author feels hun- self fully equal to the task of answering his opponent, he confesses himself quite at a loss to answer himself. Like a certain animal in the eastern part of the world, who is reported to he extremely fond of climbing a tree for that purpose, he merely pelts the author with his own produce.* ,, , i. Another charge, however, is adduced, of more senous import. For presuming to speak of conditions of salva- tion, he is accused of employing anti-evangelical lan- guage, and suspicions of his orthodoxy are pretty broadly msinuated. When the term conditions of salvation, or words of similar import, are employed, he wishes it once for all to be clearly understood, that he utterly disclaims the notion of meritorious conditions, and that he intends by that term only what is necessary in the estabhshed order of means, a sine qua non, that without which an- other thing cannot take place. When thus defined, to deny there are conditions of salvation, is not to approach to antinomianism merely, it is to fall into the gult. It is nothing less than a repeal of all the sanctions of reve- lation, of all the principles of moral government. I^t the idea of conditional salvation, in the sense ahready explained, be steadily rejected along with the term, and the patrons of the worst of heresies will have nothing further to demand. That repentance, faith, and their fruits in a holy Ufe, supposing life to be continued, are essential prerequisites to eternal happiness, is a doctnne inscribed, as with a sunbeam, in every page of revela- tion ; and must we, in deference to the propagators of an epidemic pestilence, be doomed to express, by obscure and feeble circumlocutions, a truth which one w-ord vnU convey, especially when that word, or others of a pre- cisely similar meaning, has been current in the produc- tions of unquestionable orthodoxy and piety in every » As this allasion has been mnch misrepresented, I may be wr- nitted to remark, that it is simply to the practice of monkeys adroiUy to catch and throw back igain, the sUcks, stones, and other substances that are cast at them.— £i>- AND THAT OP JOHN. 163 age ? The author is at a loss to conceive on what prin- ciple, or for what reason, dangerous concessions are due to antinomianism ; that thick-skinned monster of the ooze and the mire, which no weapon can pierce, no dis- cipline can tame. If it be replied, why adhere to an offensive term, when its meaning may be expressed in other words, or at least, by a more circuitous mode of expression ? the obvious answer is, that words and ideas are closely associated ; and that, though ideas give birth to terms, appropriate terms become, in their turn, the surest safeguard of ideas ; insomuch that a truth, which is never aimounced but in a circuitous and circumlocutory form, will either have no hold, or a very feeble one, on the public mind. The anxiety with which the precise, the appropriate term is avoided, bespeaks a shrinking, a timidity, a distrust, with relation to the idea conveyed by it, which will be interpreted as equivalent to its disa- vowal. While antinomianism is making such rapid strides through the land, and has already convulsed and disorganized so many of our churches, it is not the sea- son for half measures ; danger is to be repelled by intre- pid resistance, by stem defiance, not by compliances and concessions ; it is to be opposed, if opposed successfully, by a return to the wholesome dialect of purer times. Such is the intimate alliance betwixt words and things, that the solicitude with which the term condition, and others of similar import, have been avoided by some ex- cellent men, has contributed, more than a little, to the growth of this wide-spreading pestilence. As almost every age of the church is marked by its appropriate visitation of error, so, Httle penetration is requisite to perceive that antinomianism is the epidemic malady of the present, and that it is an evil of gigantic size and deadly malignity. It is qualified for mischief by the very properties which might seem to render it merely an object of contempt — its vulgarity of conception, its paucity of ideas, its determined hostility to taste, science, and let- ters. It includes, within a compass which every head can contain, and every tongue can utter, a system which cancels every moral tie, consigns the whole human race ir2 I' I I 4i 164 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM AND THAT OF JOHN. to the extremes of presumption or despair, erects religion on the rains of morality, and imparts to the dregs of stu- pidity all the powers of the most active poison. The author will ever feel himself honoured by whatever censures he may incur through his determined oppo- sition to such a system. ' A REPLY TO THE REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN BEING k FURTHER VINDICATION OF THE PRACTICE OF FREE COMMUNION. ••Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he (Vu\ unto ns wtin believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I should uitlistand God ?" —Acts xi. 17. (fuslished in 1818.] ul 4 PREFACE. After announcing an intention of replying to Mr. Kinghorn, the public seem entitled to some account of the causes which hare delayed the reply so long. Various conjectures have probably arisen on the subject. By many, no doubt, it has been suspected that the delay was occasioned by a perception of the difficulty of con- structing an answer which would be deemed satisfactory, and that the engagement to reply was made, without anticipating so formidable an opposition. That the author was, to a certain extent, deterred by a feeling of difficulty, it is impossible to deny; but the reader is probably not aware in what the difficulty lay. It had no relation to the argumentative force of Mr. Kinghorn s production, in whatever degree it may be supposed to possess that attribute, but solely to the manner in which he has chosen to conduct the debate. The perpetual recurrence of the same matter, the paucity of distinct and intelligible topics of argument, together with an obvious want of coherence, and of dependence of one part on another, give to the whole the air of a series of skirmishing and desultory attacks, rather than of regular combat; rendering it difficult to impart that order and continuity to a reply, in the absence of which, argu- mentative discussions are insufferably tedious. With the eagerness of a professed pleader, he has availed him- self of every topic which could afford the slightest colour of support to his cause, with little scrupulosity, apparently, respecting the soundness of the principles from which he argues. In a word, he has conducted his share of the warfare in a manner which renders him 168 PUKFACE. !,*! m more formidable from the irregularity and quickness of his movements, than from the steady pressure of his columns. Though he has adyanced some new, and as they appear to me, paradoxical positions, the space which they occupy is so small, compared to that which he has allotted to arguments and objections distinctly noticed and replied to in my former treatise, that it seemed almost impracticable to answer the greater part of the work, without a frequent recurrence to what had been already advanced. But a writer is never more certain of disgusting than when he is the echo of himself. On these accounts, had my private conviction dictated the course which it seemed proper to pursue, the fol- lowing work, instead of swelling to its present bulk, would have been limited to some short strictures on those parts of his reply in which my respectable oppo- nent has quitted the track of his predecessors. But to this there were serious objections. In the estimation of multitudes, little qualified to appreciate the weight of an argument, to be brief and to be superficial, are one and the same thing : no publication is admitted to be solidly answered, except the reply bears a certain propor- tion to it in size and extent ; and whatever is not dis- tinctly noticed and discussed, however irrelevant, or how- ever trivial, is instantly proclaimed unanswerable. These considerations determined me rather to hazard the impu- tation of tediousness, than to attempt a very concise reply, which, however cogent, would be construed by many into a tacit acknowledgement of my incapacity to combat the reasoning of my opponent. Having, there- fore, only a choice of evils, and necessitated either to make a large demand on the patience of the reader, or to inciu" the suspicion of evading what could not be suc- cessfully encountered, I preferred the former; endeavour- ing at the same time to shun, as much as possible, a tiresome repetition of the same topics; with what suc- cess, the public will determine. The preceding remarks will explain one cause of delay : to which may be added, a strong disinclination PREFACE. 169 to controversy, the want of a habit of composition, re- peated attacks of illness at one period, and various avocations and engagements at another, too unimportant to be obtruded on the attention of the reader. It may also be remarked, in extenuation of the charge of procrastination, that the subject is just as interestino- and important as when the controversy commenced! The evil in which it originates is not local, nor of an ephemeral or transitory nature : it will continue to sub- sist, there is reason to fear, after the present generation is consigned to the dust ; and even the delay may not be altogether without its advantages. Both 'parties will have had leisure to reflect, the reasoning on each side of the question time to settle, and to find its level in the public mind, undisturbed by that disposition extrava- gantly to depreciate and to extol respectively the per- formances it has given rise to, which almost* invariably distinguishes the outset of a controversy. Whatever appears in the present stage, it is but justice to consider as the result of more matured observation and inquiry, compensating in pertinence and solidity what it may want in vivacity and ardour. It is remarkable that without any previous knowledge or concert, a discussion on the subject of communion commenced nearly at the same time on both sides the Atlantic ; and the celebrated Dr. Mason, of New York, justly regarded as one of the brightest ornaments of the western hemisphere, was exerting the energies of his most powerful mind in establishing the fundamental position of the treatise On Terms of Communion almost at the very moment that treatise appeared. A coinci- dence so rare, a movement so simultaneous, yet so unpre- meditated, we cannot but look upon as a token for good, as an indication of the approach of that period, so ardently desired by every enlightened christian, when genuine believers will again be of " one heart and of one mind." Let us hope that America, the land of freedom, where our pious ancestors found an asylum from the oppression of intolerance, will exert, under the auspices of such men as Dr. Mason, a powerful reaction on the '1 II '\ 170 PBEFACE. parent state, and aid her emancipation from the relics of that pestilential evil, still cherished and retained in too many British churches. Independent of other considerations, that inraluable person possesses one obvious advantage over the author of the following performance. Disengaged from the spurious refinements and perplexing subtleties Mrhich arise fi^)m the subject of baptism, by which our opponents attempt to evade the application of his general principle, his movements are in consequence more free and un- fettered, and his force operates in a more simple direction than is compatible with the state of the question, as it respects the views of the baptist denomination. He fearlessly spreads his sails to the winds, and triumphs on the element which is congenial to the amplitude and grandeur of his mind. Mine is a coasting voyage, in which the author feels himself necessitated to creep along the shore, and to comply with all its irregularities, in the midst of flats and shoals, and exposed to perpetual annoyance from the innumerable small craft which infest these shallow waters. The effect of the different situa- tions in which we are placed, is to give a luminous sim- plicity to his mode of conducting the argument, which forms a striking contrast, not only to the tedious logo- machies which I have been compelled to encounter,* but to the manner in which I have attempted to confute them. It belongs to a Pascal, and perhaps to a few others of the same order of genius, to invest the severest logic with the charms of the most beautiful composition, and to render the most profound argumentation as enter- taining as a romance. The author makes no such pre- tension : having confined his endeavours to an attempt to establish his assertions by sufficient proof, and to expose the sophistry of his opponent, he must be allowed to remind his readers that no quality will be found more * Though Dr. Mason was not led bjr the coarse of his argument to treat of the question of mixed communion, in the nsaal import of that phrase, his general principle not only necessarily infers it, bnt I have Lad the satisfaction of learning from nis own lipa his entire approbation of Uie doctrine advanced in Terms of Communion* REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 171 necessary than patience. Truth, as far as he knows himself, is his sole object ; and if they are actuated by the same disposition, though they will find little to amuse, it is possible they may meet vdth something to instruct them. It is surprising how little attention an inquiiy into the principles which ought to regulate our intercourse with other denominations, (a question of considerable moment, in whatever Ught it be viewed,) has excited. Though it has given birth to a few publications, at very distant intervals, none, as far as my information extends, have produced any deep impression, or any extensive and permanent effects. On this subject, a spirit of slumber seems to have oppressed our faculties, from which we have hardly ever completely awoke. From the appear- ance of Mr. Bunyan's treatise, entitled Water Baptism no Bar to Communion, to the publication of the cele- brated Mr. Robinson, a whole century elapsed, with few or no efforts to check the progress of the prevailing system, which had gained so firm a footing previous to Mr. Booth's writing, that he felt no scruple in entitling his defence of that practice. An Apology for the Baptists, The majority appear to have carried it with so high a hand, that the few churches who ventured to depart firom the established usage were very equivocally acknow- ledged to belong to the general body, and seem to have been content to purchase peace at the price of silence and submission. The most virulent reproaches were cast upon the admirable Bunyan, during his own time, for presuming to break the yoke ; and whoever impar- tially examines the spirit of Mr. Booth's Apology, will perceive that its venerable author regards him, together with his coadjutors and successors, much in the Ught of rebels and insurgents ; or, to use the mildest terms, as contumacious despisers of legitimate authority. Mr. lunghom, m the same spmt, evinces an eagerness, at every turn, to dispute our title to be considered as com- plete baptists. In short, whether it is to be ascribed to mtimidation, or to some other cause, the fact is notorious that the zeal evinced on the side of free communion, has . HI! "it 172 PREFACE. hitherto home no proportion to that which impels the advocates of the opposite system, whose treatment of their opponents, in most instances, bears no very remote resemblance to that which moderate churchmen are accustomed to receive at the hands of their high church brethren. Another cause has probably cooperated towards the same result. Some, whose character commands the highest respect, are known to deprecate the agitation of the present controversy, from an apprehension of the in- jury the denomination may sustain, by the exposure of its intestine dissensions. For my own part, I am at a loss to conceive the grounds on which such a policy can be justified. Could the fact, that we are at variance among ourselves on the subject under discussion, be con- cealed, something might be urged in favour of the pru- dence of such a measure ; nothing, certainly for its magnanimity. But since that is impossible, and whoever is acquainted with tlie state of the denomination, is aware of the diversity which subsists in the constitution of our churches in this particular, the true state of the question is, whether that article of the Apostles' Creed which asserts the communion of "saints^ is to be merged in an exclusive zeal for baptism, and its systematic violation, in our judgement at least, to remain unnoticed and unchecked, in deference to party feelings and interests. We are at a loss to conceive how the association of truth with error is capable of benefiting the former ; or how it can be eventually injured by an attempt (conducted in a christian spirit) to dis-olve an alliance which resembles the junction of the hviiig with the dead. While the pre- servation of peace is dear to us, the interests of truth are still more so; and we would fix our eyes on the order in which the attributes of that celestial wisdom are enumerated, which is "/r«e pure, then peaceable." Before closing this Preface, I must be allowed to advert to a circumstance intimately connected with the eventual success of the cause in which I am embarked. It is the general practice of our churches, whatever may be the sentiments of the majority, to continue the prac- REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 173 tice of stiict communion, In almost every instance where the opposite system is incapable of being introduced with a perfect unanimity ; in consequence of which, it frequently happens that the constitution of the church continues to sanction strict communion, while the senti- ments of a vast majority of its members are decidedly in favour of a contrary system ; and, in opposition to the usage which obtains on other occasions, the private sentiments of the few, are made to regulate and control the conduct of the many. Where, it may be asked, is the propriety, where the justice, of such a mode of pro- ceeding ? Whatever respect may be due to the consci- entious, though erroneous, scruples of an upright mind, it is not easy to perceive why these should be permitted to prescribe to the better judgement of those whom we must necessarily consider as more enlightened. As the majority, convinced, as they are supposed to be, of the right of all genuine christians to communion, must necessarily regard the dissentients as being in error, it deserves to be considered in what manner error ought to be treated. Ought it to be the object of tolera- tion, or should it be invested with dominion? Surely all it can reasonably claim is the former ; but when, in deference to it, the far greater part of a society re&ain from acting agreeably to their avowed principles, and consent to withhold, from another class of their fellow- christians, what they consider as their undoubted right, they cannot be said merely to tolerate the error in ques- tion ; no, they in reality place it on the throne — ^they prostrate themselves before it. Yet, strange as it may appear, such is at present the conduct of the baptist societies. While there remains the smallest scantling of members averse to open communion, the doors, in com- pliance with their scruples, continue shut, and paedo- baptist candidates, however excellent, or however num^ rous, are excluded. Thus the intolerance of one class of christians is not only indulged, but pampered and caressed, while the religious profession of another is treated as a nullity. The incongruity of this mode of proceeding is abo ex- r-' I !l I 172 PREFACE. hitherto borne no proportion to that which impels the advocates of the opposite system, whose treatment of their opponents, in most instances, bears no veiy remote resemblance to that which moderate churchmen are accustomed to receive at the hands of their high church brethren. Another cause has probably cooperated towards the same result. Some, whose character commands the highest respect, are known to deprecate the agitation of the present controversy, from an apprehension of the in- jury the denomination may sustain, by the exposure of its intestine dissensions. For my own part, I am at a loss to conceive the grounds on which such a policy can be justified. Could the fact, that we are at variance among ourselves on the subject under discussion, be con- cealed, something might be urged in favour of the pru- dence of such a measure; nothing, certainly for its magnanimity. But since that is impossible, and whoever is acquainted with the state of the denomination, is aware of the diversity which subsists in the constitution of oitt churches in this particular, the true state of the question is, whether that article of the Apostles' Creed which asserts the communion of saints^ is to be merged Ih an exclusive zeal for baptism, and its systematic violation, in our judgement at least, to remain unnoticed and unchecked, in deference to party feelings and interests. We are at a loss to conceive how the association of truth with error is capable of benefiting the former ; or how it can be eventually injured by an attempt (conducted in a christian spirit) to dissolve an alliance which resembles the junction of the living with the dead. While the pr^ serration of peace is dear to us, the interests of truth are still more so ; and we would fix our eyes on the order in which the attributes of that celestial wisdom are enumerated, which is ''JirH pure, then peaceable." Before closing this Preface, I must be allowed to advert to a circumstance intimately connected with the eventual success of the cause in which I am embarked. It is the general practice of our churches, whatever may be the sentiments of the majority, to continue the prac- REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 173 tice of stiict communion, in almost every instance where the opposite system is incapable of being introduced with a perfect unanimity ; in consequence of which, it frequently happens that the constitution of the church continues to simction strict communion, while the senti- ments of a vast majority of its members are decidedly in favour of a contrary system ; and, in opposition to the usage which obtains on other occasions, the private sentiments of the few, are made to regulate and control the conduct of the many. Where, it may be asked, is the propriety, where the justice, of such a mode of pro- ceeding ? Whatever respect may be due to the consci- entious, though erroneous, scruples of an upright mind, it is not easy to perceive why these should be permitted to prescribe to the better judgement of those whom we must necessarily consider as more enlightened. As the majority, convinced, as they are supposed to be, of the right of all genuine christians to communion, must necessarily regard the dissentients as being in error, it deserves to be considered in what manner error ought to be treated. Ought it to be the object of tolera- tion, or should it be invested with dominion ? Surely all it can reasonably claim is the former ; but when, in deference to it, the far greater part of a society refrain from acting agreeably to their avowed principles, and consent to withhold, from another class of their fellow- christians, what they consider as their undoubted right, they cannot be said merely to tolerate the error in ques- tion ; no, they in reality place it on the throne — they prostrate themselves before it. Yet, strange as it may appear, such is at present the conduct of the baptist societies. While there remains the smallest scantling of members averse to open communion, the doors, in com- pliance with their scruples, continue shut, and paedo- baptist candidates, however excellent, or however num^ rous, are excluded. Thus the intolerance of one class of christians is not only indulged, but pampered and caressed, while the religious profession of another is treated as a nullity. The incongruity of this mode of proceeding is also ex- :|ii ill II 174 PREFACE. tremely obyions in another view. The admission of members in our societies, it is well known, is deter- mined by a majority of suffrages, where the minority is expected, and that most reasonably, quietly to acquiesce in the decision of the majority. But in the case under j)resent consideration, where strict communion is prac- tised in a church, the majority of whose members are of a contrary persuasion, the eligibility, not of an indi- vidual, but of a whole class of individuals, to an in- definite extent, is virtually determined by the judgement of the smaller, in opposition to the larger party. The injustice of such an arrangement will, perhaps, be admitted ; but how, it mil be asked, can it be remedied ? Would it be proper to exclude such as feel it impossible, with a good conscience, to commune with paedobaptists, in order to make room for the latter ? Nothing is more remote from our intention. Without inflicting the slightest woimd on those amiable and exemplary per- sons who scruple the lawfulness of that measure, the remedy appears equally simple and obvious. Whenever there is a decided majority in a church, whose views are in unison with those which we are attempting to reconmiend, let them throw down the barriers, and admit pious paedobaptists mthout hesita- tion; and let those whose principles deter them from joining in such a communion, receive the Lord's supper apart, retaining, at the same time, all their rights and privileges unimpaired. By this simple expedient, the views of all the parties will be met ; the majority will exert their prerogative, and act consistently with their avowed principles; the paedobaptists vrill obtain their rights ; and the abettors of strict communion will enjoy that state of separation and seclusion which they covet By this means, a silent revolution may be effected in our churches, unstained by a particle of violence or of in- justice. But, while the present plan is pursued, while we are waiting for the last sands of intolerance to run out, the domination of error and injustice may be pro- longed to an interminable period, sipigotiy is the most tenacious of life. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGIIORN. 175 Sudden and violent reformations are not only seldom lasting, but the mischief which results, and the disgust they excite, often produce a reaction, which confirms and perpetuates the evil they attempt to eradicate. For this reason, great prudence and moderation are requisite in every effort to meliorate the state of public bodies. He who aspires to remove their prejudices, must treat them with tenderness and respect, urging them to no step for which they are not fully prepared, by a mature and widely extended conviction of its propriety ; for no in- novations, however desirable in themselves, will be per- manently beneficial, the stability and perpetuity of which are not guaranteed by the previous illumination of those by whom they are adopted. Having devoted more time and attention to the pre- sent controversy already, than many are disposed to think it entitled to, it is by no means my intention to renew it, conceiving it a contemptible ambition to deter- mine to have the last word, which is nothing less than to aspire at a preeminence in pertinacity. Resting with perfect confidence on the truth, and, consequently, on the ultimate triumphs of the principles which I have attempted to defend, the detection of incidental mistakes, and the exposure of minor errors, will not disturb my repose, however justly they may awaken a feeling of regret that the powers of the advocate were not more commensurate with the merits of the cause. If the author has been, on any occasion, betrayed, in the ardour of debate, into language which the reader may deem disrespectful to his opponent, it will give him real concern. He knows none whose character entitles him to higher esteem ; nor is he insensible to the value of those expressions of personal regard with which Mr. Kinghom has honoured him, nor of that general mild- ness and urbanity, which is at once the character of his mind and of his performance. Aware of the tendency of controversy to alienate the parties from each other, who engage in it, it is matter of regret, on that account, and on that only, that it was my lot to meet with an 176 PREFACE. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. ! |K 'I i I i % r |l i t ( mtagoiiist in Mr. Kinghoni * In every other respect it is a fortunate circumstance for the cause of truth ; for while his temper affords a secmity from that virulence, and those personalities, which are the opprohrium of theological debate, his talents ensure his doing justice to his cause, perhaps beyond any other person of the same persuasion. A very different performimce, in many re- spects, was anticipated, it is true ; nor could the extra- ordinary assertions, not to say adventurous paradoxes, he has hazarded, fail to excite surprise; although his character exempts him from the suspicion of that arro- gance and conceit, in which they usually originate. They are rather to be ascribed to a dissatisfaction (which he dares not pretend to conceal) with former apologists ,* and a determination, if possible, to compass the same object by a different route. The intelligent reader will probably be of opinion, that he has attempted to give an air of originality to what was not susceptible of it ; and that, aiming to enrich and support a most meagre and barren thesis, by new arguments, he is reduced to the same necessity as the Israelites, that of " making bricks without straw." Having already made the porch too large for the build- ing, one additional remark only is submitted to the atten- tion of the reader, previous to his entrance on the fol- lowing discussion. The little success which has attended our exhibition of the doctrine of baptism, continued now for many generations, deserves the serious consideration of every intelligent baptist. Witn all our efforts, with all the advantage of overwhelming evidence, (as appears to me,) in favour of our sentiments, the prospects of their re- ception, (to say nothing of established churches, where there are peculiar impediments to be encoimtered,) the prospect of their reception by dissenting communities is as distant as ever : and it may be doubted whether, since the recent revival of religion, our progress is in a fair proportion to that of other denominations. It may be » Mr. Kinghom stadied onder Mr. Hall, at the Briatol Academy —Ed. 177 possible to assign the second causes of this remarkable event; but as second causes are always subservient to the intentions of the first, it deserves our serious con- sideration, whether we are not labouring under the sen- sible frown of the great Head of the church ; and " is there not a cause ?" A visible inferiority to other chris- tians in zeal and piety will scarcely be imputed; nor have we been left destitute of that competent measme of learning and talent requisite to the support of our doctrines. The cause of our failure, then, is not to be looked for in that quarter. But though we have not "drank with the drunken," if we have unwittinHy " beaten our fellow-servants," by assuming a dominfon over their conscience ; if we have severed ourselves from the members of Christ, and under pretence of pre- serving the purity of Christian ordinances, violated the christian spirit ; if we have betrayed a lamentable want of that " love which is the fulfilling of the law," by de- nying a place in our churches to those who belong to the "church of the first- bom," and straitening their avenue, till it has become narrower than the way to heaven ; we may easily account for all that has followed, and have more occasion to be surprised at the compassionate Redeemer's bearing with our infirmities, than at his not bestowing a signal blessing on our laboura. ▼OL. m. REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 1?9 I • » I ' 1 : I PART 1. THE FUNDAMENTAL POSITION; OR THE SUPPOSED NECES- SARY CONNEXION BETWEEN THE TWO POSITIVE INSTI- TUTES OP CHRISTIANITY EXAMINED. CHAP. I. B^nujtrh on Mr. Kin^homs Staiemeni of the Controversy. Perfectly concurring in opinion with Mr. KingHorn, that it is of importance that the pomt in debate be fairly stated, a few remarks, designed to show in what respects his statement is inaccurate or defective will not he Lemed irrelevant. He justly observes that the ques- tion, and the only question, is, whether those who ^e acknowledged to he unhaptized ov^M to come to the Lor(fi tahU. At'ter stating the sentiments of the paedobantists, he proceeds to observe that the "baptists act on a differ- ent plan ; they think that baptism ought to be admmis- tered to those only who profess repentance toy^^s ^*>?J and foith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that it should he administered to them on such profession by immersion. And then, and not before, they consider such persons pro- perly qualified, according to the New Testament, for the reception of the Lord's supper." The last position, Mr. Kinghom is aware, is not maintained by the baptists as such, but by part of them only : it may be doubted whether it be the sentiment of the majority. Why then identity the advncates of strict communion with the body, as though the abettors of a contrary practice were too inconsiderable to be mentioned, or were not entiUed to be considered as baptists ? It IS hut just however to remark, that this disposition to enlarge the number of his partizans, is not peculiar to this >mter. Mr. Booth, when engaged in defending a thesis, about which the baptists had long been divided chose, m the same spirit, to denominate his performance An Apology for the Baptists^ Our authir proceeds to observe, " Here arises a con- troversy between the two parties, not only respecting baptism, but also respecting their conduct to each other on the subject of communion." Where, let me ask, are the traces to be found of this imaginary controversy betwixt baptists and paedobaptists on that subject ? That they have been often engaged in acrimonious disputes with each other on the point of baptism, is certain ; but of the history of this strange debate about terms of com- munion, the public are totally ignorant. What are the names of the parties engaged, and to what publications did It give birth ? This author had informed us at the distance of a few lines, that the paedobaptists in general believe that none oudit to come to the Lord's table who are not baptized. If this is correct, we may indeed easily conceive of their being offended with us for deem- ing them unbaptized ; but how our refusal to admit them to communion should become the subject of debate is utterly mysterious. Did they, in contradiction to the iundamental laws of reasoning, attempt to persuade us to act m contradiction to the principles agreed upon by both parties ? The supposition is impossible. The truth is---nor could the writer be ignorant of it— that the dis- pute respecting communion existed in our own denomi- nation, and in that only. An attempt is made to represent the advocates of mtted communion as divided among themselves, and as restmg the vindication of their conduct on opposite grounds. In stating their views, Mr. Kinghom observes, that as then: paedobaptist brethren think themselves rArS?,V**"'l-T*'' *"• ^°^.*^** * ^^' «^»*i«ed An Apology for dJ?« «S \- ^'*^?^ ^^'"''^'"^ °^ « ^^^^'■^ reprehension of the pdnci- ple8 and practices of a respectable part of that body ? n2 r - 180 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 181 i»it baptized, they are willing to admit them on that ground, since they do not object to baptism itself, but onlij^ differ from others in the circumstances of the ordinance* « Some," he adds, " lay down a still wider principle, that baptism has no connexion with church communion; and that in forming a christian church, the question ought not to be, are these christians who wish to unite in church-fellowship baptized, whatever that term is con- sidered as meaning— but are they, as far as we can judge, real christians?"* Of this diversity in the mode of defending our prac- tice, the writer of these pages confesses himself totally ignorant : and whatever prejudices our cause may sustain, it has not yet been injured by that which results from intestine dissension. Different modes of expression may have been adopted by different writers, but a perfect ac- cordance of principle, a coincidence in the reasons alleged for our practice, has pervaded our apologies. We have not, like our opponents, professed to take new ground :t we have not constructed defences so totally dissimilar as the publications of a Booth and a Kinghom, where the argument which is placed in the very front by the for- mer, is by the latter abandoned as untenable. It is easy to perceive that the alleged disagreement in our principles is a mere phantom. While we universally maintain the nullity of infant baptism, the persuasion which our paedobaptist brethren entertain of their being baptized, can never be mistaken for baptism, and they, consequently, cannot be received in the character of bap- tized persons. Our constant practice of administering immersion to such, on a change of sentiment, would on that supposition convict us at once of being anabaptists. It is not, then, under any idea that they have really par- taken of that ordinance, more than the people called quakers, that we admit them to our communion ; but in ♦ Baptism a Term of Commnnion, pp. 11, 12. # » • + " The reader who is acquainted with the Apology for the Banttnts, written by tli-.' late venerable Ai>raham Booth, will find that in the fol- lowing pages [ have taken ground somewhat different from his. 1 have adopted rather a different mode of defence."— fiop/w/n a Term of Communion, f . 8. the character of sincere though mistaken christians, who have evinced, even with respect to the particular in which we deem them erroneous, no disposition to treat a christian rite with levity or neglect ; and if there are those who would refuse to commune with such as reject the ordinance altogether, it is because they suspect them of such a disposition. As there can be no degrees in nothing, they are not so weak as to suppose that one class is in reality more baptized than the other ; but one is supposed to mistake the nature of an institute, which the other avowedly neglects. In this case, he who is prepared to beheve that the omission of christian bap- tism, from a notion of its not being designed for perpe- tuity, may consist with that deference to divine autho- rity which is essential to a christian, will receive both without hesitation : he who is incapable of extending his candour so far, w ill make a distinction : he will admit the paedobaptist, while he rejects the person who pur- posely omits the ceremony altogether. Whichever mea- sure we adopt, we act on the same principle, and merely apply it with more or less extent, according to the com- prehension of our charity. If we supposed there were a necessary unalterable connexion between the two positive christian institutes, so that none were qualified for com- munion who had not been previously baptized, we could not hesitate for a moment respecting the refusal of psedo- baptists, without renouncing the principles of our deno- mination. On the other hand, if among such as are supposed to be equally unbaptized, we admit some and reject others, this difference must be derived, not from the consideration of baptism, but of personal character; in other words, from our supposing ourselves to possess that evidence of the piety of the party accepted, which is deficient in the other. Hence it is manifest that no- thing can be more simple and intelligible than the prin- ciples on which we proceed, which are of such a nature as to preclude every other diversity of opinion, except what regards their application in particular instances. He who mistakes the nature of a positive institute, is in a different predicament of error from him who avow- 1G2 REPLY TO RPY. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 183 m \ fli edly rejects it altogether ; the imperfection which claims toleration in our psedobaptist brethren, is different in its nature from that which attaches to such as are disposed to set the ordinance aside. It is very possible therefore that some may be willing to extend their indulgence to what appears to them the least of two errors, while they refuse toleration to the greater, and, on this ground, ad- mit a paedobaptist, while they scruple to receive him who does not even profess to be baptized. But in making such a distinction, no intelligent baptist would be moved by the consideration of one of these parties being bap- tized, and the other not, (for this would be admitting the validity of infant baptism,) but solely by the differ- ent estimate he made of the magnitude of the respective errors. Some would probably consider each of them consistent with a credible profession of Christianity; others might form a less favourable judgement. In this case the parties would act differently, while they main- tained the same principle, and adjusted their practice by the same rule.* * The above remarks may enable the reader to judge of the jnstice with which Mr. Kinghom asserts, or insinaates, oar total disagreement respecting the fundamental principle on which we justify our practice. " Among the baptists," he says, " who plead for mixed communion, 1 apprehend few will be fmmd who would fairly take Mr. Hall's principle m all its consequences. In general they palliate, and plead that many good men think themselves baptized, and they are willing to accept them on that footing, leaving it to their own consciences to decide whe- ther they had received such baptism as the word of God required ; and they will hardly admit the possibility of any case occurring which thoold require their acting on a wider principle. And here also, as far as my knowledge and observation have extended, I believe the cases are very few in which the position would be fairly and boldly adopted, that christian communion ought to be held with those who deny alto- gether the obligation to attend to christian baptism." — p. 15. My op- portunities of knowing the sentiments of the liberal part of the baptists must be supposed to be at least equal to Mr. Kinghom's ; yet I have not heard a single objection from them against the general principle. Exceptions have been made (as might be ex{)ected} to particular parts, but none whatever to the fundamental position oi the treatise. The reason he assigns for supposing that many would not adopt the general principle in its foil extent, is inconclusive. To refuse the communion of tocn as denied the obligation of baptism altogether, providing that error was deemed of such magnitude as to induce a suspicion of the piety of the party, would not be to contradict the principle in the small- It is somewhat extraordinary, that after stating the principle on which my Treatise on Communion wa» founded, Mr. Kinghom makes his first appeal to the paedobaptists, and asks whether they are prepared to acknowledge that baptism and the Lord's supper have no connexion. To what purpose is a question referred to a class of persons, who, as far as concerns the interior regulation of their churches, have no interest in the inquiry ; on whose practice it can have no influence, and who are supposed by both the parties concerned, to be in an error respecting the institution itself, which has given occasion to the discussion ? The confidence with which he anticipates their favourable suffrage, appears however to be ill founded ; and if the Evangelical Magazine for )803 is supposed to have insinuated sentiments conge- nial with his ovm, the author of the review of the pre- sent controversy, in the same publication, distinctly and explicitly expressed his approbation of the treatise On Terms of Communion, I have no doubt the result of an accurate and extensive inquiry into the prevailing sentiments of such as adhere to infant baptism would be found opposed to his doctrine ; and that such of them as might object to the admission of a member avowedly unbaptized, would be actuated by the consideration of the magnitude of the error, and not by the conviction of a specific and essential connexion betwixt the two ordi- nances in question. In other words, they would decide on the case upon principles common to the advocates of mixed communion. His pretence for calling in such a host of disputants is that he may " clear the field," which, in my humble opinion, will be best accomplished by confining the debate within its proper limits ; regarding it agreeably to its true nature, as a controversy which concerns our own denomination alone, without attempting to extort a yerdict from persons who have not been placed in a est degree ; and I am persnaded that amongst the advocates of mlzeH communion the refusal would proceed on no other ground. It is one thing to reject a general principle, and another to differ aboat the applii cation of it to particolar cases. 184 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORIC. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH EINGHORN. 185 situation to invite their attention to the suhject For- tunately for them, they are under no temptation to treat their fellow-christians with indignity; whether thev would have maintained the stem inflexibility which is prepared to sacrifice the communion of saints to an unfounded hypothesis, must be left to conjecture. We mdulge a hope that they would have hesitated long ere they admitted a doctrine which draws after it such con- sequences ; that they would have judged of the tree by Its truits, and have discovered some better mode of siff- nalizing their allegiance to Christ, than by the excision of his members. The tenet to which we are opposed, produces an effect so contrary to what the genius of the gospel teaches us to anticipate, and so repugnant to the noblest feeling of the heart, as to form a presumption against it which nothing can surmount, but the utmost force and splendour of evidence. How far it is from possessing such support, or even that preponderance in tHe scale of argument which would produce conviction on the most trivial subject, it is the business of the fol- lowing sheets to inquire. In deciding the question, whether persons whom we deem unbaptized are entitled to approach the Lord's table, we must examine the connexion subsisting betwixt the two positive ordinances, baptism and thS liords supper. Our opponents contend that there is mch a cmnexum betwixt these as renders them inseparable ; so that he who is deemed unbaptized, is, ipso facto, apart from anv consideration whatever of the cause of that omission, disquahhed for approaching the sacred elements. We contend that the absence of baptism may disqualify, and that it does disqualify, wherever it appears to proceed from a cnmmal motive ; that is, wherever its neglect is accompanied with a conviction of its divine auSioritv In this case we consider the piety of such a person at least doubtfiil ; but when the omission proceeds fitm involuntary prejudice, or mistake, when the party evmces his conscientious adherence to known dutv by the general tenour of his conduct; we do not consider the mere absence of baptism as a sufficient bar to communion. On this ground we cheerfully receive pious paedobaptists, not from the supposition that the ceremony which they underwent in their infancy pos- sesses the smallest validity, but as sincere followers of Christ: and for my own part, I should feel as little hesitation in admitting such as deny the perpetuity of baptism, whenever the evidence of their piety is equally clear and decisive. It is apparent that the whole controversy turns on the confiexion betwixt the two positive institutes ; and that in order to justify the conduct of our opponents, it is not sufficient to evince the authority or perpetuity of each, and the consequent obligation of attending to both : it is necessary to show the dependence of one upon the other ; not merely that they are both clearly and unequivocally enjoined, but that the one is prescribed with a view to the other. There are two methods by which we may suppose this to be effected ; either by showing their inherent and intrinsic dependence, or by making it appear that they are connected by positive law. Betwixt ritual observances, it is seldom, if ever, possible to discover an inherent connexion ; in the present case it will probably not be attempted. If the advocates of exclusive com- munion succeed, it must be in the last of these methods ; it must be by proving, from express declarations of scripture, that baptism is an invariable and essential pre-requisite to communion. A Jew would have found no difficulty in establishing this fact respecting circum- cision and the passover: he would have immediately pointed to the book of Exodus, where we find an express prohibition of an uncircumcised person from partaking of the paschal lamb. Let some similar evidence be adduced on the present subject — let some declaration from scripture be exhibited which distinctly prohibits the celebration of the Lord's supper by any person who, from a misconception of its nature, has omitted the baptismal ceremony, and the controversy will be at rest. The reader can scarcely be too often reminded fi 'Y 186 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORir. II i ' li I; 11 Aat this is the veiy hinge of the present debate, which, (as appears from the title of his pamphlet,) Mr. Fuller clearly perceived, however unsuccessful he may have been in establishing that fundamental position. Much that Mr. Kinghom has advanced will be found to be totally irrelevant to the inquiry in hand ; and in more instances than one, the intelligent reader will perceive him to have made concessions which are destructive of bis cause. But let us proceed to a careful investigation of the arguments by which he attempts to establish the aforesaid connexion. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. CHAP. 11. Htf Attempt to estahligh the Connexim contended for, from the Apostolic Commission and Primitive Pre- cedent, My respectable opponent commences this branch of the argument by quoting the apostolic commission, justly remarking, that whatever may be thought of John's baptism, the ceremony enjoined in that commission must belong, in the strictest sense, to the christian dis- pensation. The commission is as follows:— "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. Or as it 18 recorded in Luke— "Go ye into all the. world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, ^d IS baptized, shall be saved." " This," Mr. Kinghom observes, " is the law ; the Acts of the Apostles are a wmmentary on that law ; not leaving us to collect from mere precedents what ought to be done, but show- ing us how the law was practically explained by those who perfectly understood it." He reminds us, "that in every instance where the history descends to particulars, we find they constantly adhered to this rule ; and that 187 when they taught^ and men believed, the apostles lap- fixed them, and then further instructed them in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." We are as ready to allow as Mr. Kinghom, that baptism was enjoined by the apostolic commission ; we are perfectly agreed with him respecting the Uro of baptism, and are accustomed to explain its nature, and enforce its authority, by the same arguments as he him- self would employ. We have no controversy with him, or with his party, on the subject of baptism, considered apart from the Lord's supper; and, were he disputing with such as deny its original appointment, or its per- petuity, the passages he quotes would be fully to his purpose. But, where the inquiry turns, not on the nature or obligation of baptism, but on the necessary dependemx of another institution upon it, we are at a loss to perceive in what manner the quotation applies to the question before us. To us it is inconceivable how any thing more is deducible from the law of baptism, than its present and perpetual obligation. The existence of a law establishes the obUgation of a correspondent duty, and nothing more. The utmost efforts of ingenuity can extort no other inference from it, than that a portion of blame attaches to such as have neglected to comply with it, variable in its degree by an infinity of circumstances, too subtle to be ascertained, and too numerous to be re- cited. We feel no hesitation in avowing our belief that papdobaptists of all denominations have failed in a cer- tain part of their duty ; for this is a legitimate inference from the perpetuity of the baptismal ordinance, joined with our persuasion that we have interpreted it correctly. But if we are immediately to conclude from thence, that they are disqualified for christian communion, we must seek a church which consists of members who have failed in no branch of obedience ; and must conse- quently despair of finding fit communicants apart from the spirits of just men made perfect. Examine the idea of law with the utmost rigour, turn it on all sides, and it will present nothing beyond the obligation to a certain species of conduct ; so that if paedobaptista are ri' f tf l!«» 188 REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINQHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINQHORN. 189 Iff really disqualified for the Lord's supper, it must be for some other reason than their non-compliance with a Imo, or otherwise we must insist upon the refusal of every individual who has not discharged all his obligations. To expatiate on the distinctness and solemnity with which the baptismal ceremony was enjoined, is little less than trifling, in a debate with persons who fully accede to every part of the statement, and who wish to be infonned, not whether our paedobaptist brethren are in error, but whether its moral amount, its specific nature, is such as to annul their claims to christian com- munion. On this point, the passages adduced maintain a profound silence. If the practice of stiict communion derives no support from the law of baptism, it is impossible it should derive it from apostolical precedent ; since the apostles, as this author observes, adhered constantly to the rule. They did neither more nor less than its letter enjoined : conse- quently, we must be mistaken, if we imagine we can infer any thing from their practice, beyond what a just and fair interpretation of its terms would suggest. It the Acts of the Apostles are, as Mr. Kinghom asserts, " a commentary on the law, showing us how it was practically explained," it is impossible it should contain a tittle more than is found in the tex^. Let us see how the apostles acted. "When they taught and men believed," says our author, " the apostles baptized them." Whom did they baptize ? Undoubtedly such, and such only, as were convinced, not merely of the truth of Christianity, but of the obligation of the particular rite to which they attended. This is precisely what we do. When we have reason to believe that any part of our hearers " have received the truth in the love of it," we proceed to explain the nature, and to enforce the duty, of baptism : and upon their expressing their conviction of its divine authority, we baptize them. Such a previous conviction is necessary to render it " a reasonable service." We administer that rite to every description of persons whom our opponents themselves deem qualified, and fvithhold it under no circumstances in which the apostles would have practised it. Wherein, then, as far as that institution is concerned, does our practice difler from that of the apostles ? Our opponents will reply, that though in the admmistration of that rite, our conduct corresponds with the primitive pattern, yet it differs in this, that we receive the unhaptized to our communion, which was not done in the apostolic age; To this we rejoin, that at that period no good men entertained a doubt respecting its nature— that it was impossible they should, while it was exemplified before their eyes in the practice of the apostles and the evangelists — that he who refused to abide by the decision of inspired men, would necessarily have forfeited his claim to be considered as a christian — that a new state of things has arisen, in which, from a variety of causes, the doctrine of baptism has been involved in obscurity— that some of the best of men put a different interpretation on the language of scripture on this subject from ourselves — and that it is great presumption to claim the same deference with the apostles, and to treat those who differ from us on the sense of scripture, as though they avowedly opposed themselves to apostolic authority. To misinterpret is surely not the same thing as wilfully to contradict: and however confident we may be of the correctness of our own interpretation, to place such as are incapable of receiving it, on the same level with those who with- stood the apostles, differs little, if at all, from the claim of infallibility. We reason, as we conceive conclusively, in favour of adult, in opposition to infant, baptism : our paedobaptist brethren avow their inability to discern the justice of our conclusion : and are they on that account to be viewed in the same light as though they intentionally rejected the decision of inspired men ? What is this but to set up a claim to inspiration, or, at least, to such an infalli- ble guidance in the explanation of scripture, as is equally exempt from the danger of error or mistake? If we examine it accurately, it amounts to more than a claim to infallibility : it implies in the paedobaptists a know- ledge of this extraordinary fact The apostles were not 190 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORW. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 191 11 1| mv only inspired, and consequently infallible teachers, but were known and acknowledged to be such hy the primi- tiye christians : and, before we presume to demand an implicit acquiescence in our conclusions, and to consider ourselves entitled to treat dissentients as we suppose the opponents of the apostles would have been treated, it behoves us to evince our possession of infallibihty by similar evidence. As I have not heard of our opponents making such an attempt, I cannot suflftciently express my surprise at the loftiness of their pretensions, and the MTogance of their language. In their dialect, all chris- tians besides themselves are " opposed to a divine com- mand,"* " refuse subjection to Christ, and violate the laws of his housc^t The justice of their proceeding, founded on the pre- tension of apostolical precedent, is perfectly congenial with its modesty. Upon the supposition that a professor of Christianity, in the times of the apostles, had scrupled the admission of adult baptism, could he, we would ask, in the circumstances then existing, have been considered as a good man, or a genuine convert ? The reply will unquestionably be. No. " He," said St. John, " who is of God, heareth us : he who heareth not us, is not of God : hereby ye know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." ^ In this case, then, it is admitted that the simple fact of rejecting adult baptism would have been sufficient to set aside a pretension to the christian character. Is it sufficient now? Are the paedobaptists to be universally considered as bad men, or, at least, as persons whose Christianity is doubtful ? Nothing is more distant from the avowed sentiments of our opponents. Where, then, is the justice of classing together men of the most oppo- site descriptions ? or of inferring, that because the apos- tles would have refused communion to an unbaptized person, at a time when it is acknowledged that none but raise professors could remain in that state, it is our duty to refuse it to some of the most excellent of the eartL « Booth. f Kioghom. merely on account of the absence of that ceremony ? As it is admitted, on all hands, that baptism was then so circumstanced, that the omission of it was inconsistent with a credible profession of piety, nothing more is ne- cessary to account for the precedent which includes it ; it was the necessary result of the then state of things, and the apostles, it is acknowledged, could not have ex- tended their communion beyond the limits of that rite, without incorporating insincere professors. But if this reason is sufficient to account for it, it is unphilosophical and unreasonable to seek for another. The supposed inherent and inseparable connexion betwixt the two positive institutes, is another, and a totally different one, which is sufficiently excluded by the preceding reason- ing We presume it will not be doubted that scripture pre- cedent is founded on wisdom, that it is not arbitrary and capricious. It would betray great irreverence to sup- pose that men, acting under divine inspiration, were not, in every branch of their official conduct, especially in whatever related to the regulation and government of the church, moved by the strongest reasons. Hence the inquiry why they acted as they did is essential to a rational investigation into the force and authority of scripture precedent. Their proceedings were regulated by their judgement, or, rather, by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, which enlightened their minds, and directed their movements. If the reason for rejecting unbaptized persons in the primitive age applies to the case of paedo- baptists, the argument for strict communion, derived from the practice of the apostles, is unanswerable. But if the cases are totally dissimilar — if our opponents can assign no stick reason for excluding their christian brethren, as might justly have been urged against the admission of the unbaptized in the times of the apostles, the argument is totally inconclusive. It is decided, by the express declaration of our Lord, that he who refuses obedience to any part of his will, is not a christian. " Then," saith he, " are ye my disciples, if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you." But 192 BBPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KING HORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORN. 193 while there was no diversity of opinion on the subject, the voluntary omission of the baptismal ceremony could arise from nothing but a contumacious contempt of a divine precept, of which no sincere christian could be guilty. Here, then, we discover a sufficient reason for the matter of fact urged by our opponents, without sup- posmg an intrinsic or invariable connexion betwixt the two ordinances. The principle of open communion would have compelled us to act precisely in the same manner as the apostles did, had we been placed in their circumstances. How vain, then, the attempt to over- throw that pnnciple, by appealing to a precedent which IS its legitimate and necessary consequence ; and how unreasonable the demand which urges us to treat two cases as exactly similar, of which our opponents, equallv with ourselves are compelled to form the most opposite judgement. Let the advocates of restricted communion express the same opinion of the state and character of those whom they now regard as unbaptized, which we are certain they would feel no scruple in avowincr with respect to such as had refused submission to that'' ordi- nance m pnmitive times, and we shall deplore their bhndness and bigotry, but shall acknowledge they reason consistently from their own premises. But we will never submit to identify two cases which agree in nothing but the omission of an external rite, while that omission anses from causes the most dissimilar, and is combined with characters the most contrary. We will not con- clude, that because the apostles could not bear with those that were evil, they would have refused to tolerate the good ; or that they would have comprehended, under the same censure, the contumacious opposer of their doc- trines, and the myriads of holy men, whose only crime coi^sts m mistaking their meaning in one particular. Ihe remarks we have already made will be deemed, we toust a sufficient answer to the triumphant question of Mr. Kmghorn. " How is it,** he asks, - that with the same rule for the guidance of the church, the ancient christians could not receive a person to communion without baptism, if the modem both can, and ought to receive him ?*** The answer is obvious. If the ancient christians had received a person without baptism, they would have received a false professor ; but, when we at present receive one whom we judge to be in a similar predicament, we receive a sincere, though mistaken, brother; we receive him who is of that description of christians whom we are commanded to receive. If it still be contended that the two cases are so parallel, that the proceeding of the apostles in this particular, is binding as a law, we would once more ask such as adopt this plea, whether they themselves form the same judgement of the present psedobaptists as the apostles would have entertained of such as continued unbaptized in their day. If they reply in the affirmative, they must consider them as insincere hypocritical professors. If they answer in the negative, since, by their own con- fession, they look upon the persons whom they exclude in a different light from that in which the party excluded by the apostles was considered, what becomes of the identity of the two cases ? and what greater right have they to think differently of the state of the imbaptized from what the apostles thought, than we have for treat- ing them differently? They are clamorous in their charge against us of wilful deviation from apostolic pre- cedents. But there are precedents of thinking as well as of acting, and it is as much our duty to conform to the tentimerds of inspired men as to their actions. The chief use, indeed, which inspired precedents are of, is to assist us to ascertain the dictates of inspiration. The conduct of enlightened, much more of inspired men, is founded on sound speculati\e principles. If the advo- cates of strict communion urge us with the inquiry — By what authority do you presume to receive a class of per- sons whom you acknowledge the apostles would not have received ? we reply — By what authority do you presume to deviate from the opinion of the apostles respecting that same class ? Many, whom you exclude from your communion, as unbaptized, yon acknowledge as chris i\ ^ Baptism a Term of CcmmanioD, p. 29. VUL. III. O 194 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. tians, and, without hesitation, express your confidence of meeting them in glory. Did the apostles entertain the same judgement respecting such, in their day? Were they prepared to recognise them as brethren, and to con- gratulate them on their eternal prospects, while they re- pelled them from communion ? Would they not, with- out hesitation, have applied to them the language which our Saviour uses, respecting such as refused to be bap- tized by John, whom he a&rms to have '* rejected the counsel of God against themselves ?" These questions admit but one answer. Here, then, is a palpable disagreement between the sentiments of our opponents and those of the apostles, on the subject of the unbaptized ; the apostles would have both rejected and condemned them: they reject them as members, and embrace them as brethren. Were they called upon to defend themselves from the charge of contradicting the apostles, they would begin to distinguish betwixt the two cases, and urge the different circumstances which accompany the omission of the same ceremony now, from what must be supposed to have accompanied it in the times of the apostles ; in other words, they would attempt to show that a new case has arisen, which ne- cessitates them to form a correspondent judgement. They assume the same liberty with ourselves of thinking differently of the state of the many who continue unbap- tized in the present day, from what they are persuaded the apostles would have thought of such as had remained in that situation in theirs ; and yet, with strange incon- sistency, accuse us of a deviation from a divine prece- dent in not treiiting them both in the same manner; forgetting that if the cases are parallel, they themselves are guilty of an avowed and palpable contradiction to the sentiments of the apostles. When men differ in their views of one and the same object, it will not be denied that they contradict each other. We offer them the alternative, either to deny or to affirm, that to be unbaptized, at present, is in a moral view a very distinct thing^ and involves very different consequences, from being in that predicament in the REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KLNGHORN. 195 tunes of. the apostles. If they deny it, they stand self- convicted of contradicting the sentiments of inspiration by speaking of that class of persons as genuine chris- tians, whom they cannot but acknowledge the apostles would have condemned. If they adopt the affirmative, our practice, by their own confession, is not opposed to apostolic precedent, because that precedent respects a different thing. They not only depart from the precedent of the apos- ties, m the judgement they form of the unbaptized, but m every other branch of their conduct, with the excep- tion of the act of communion. On all other occasions they treat as brethren, and frequently, and that much to their honour, cultivate an intimate friendship with per- sons whom they deem to be destitute of that rite, the omission of which in the apostolic age would have in- ched the sentence of wilful impiety and disobedience. What, we ask, is more opposite to primitive precedent, than the practice of including the same persons within the obligations of christian love and friendship whom they prohibit from communion ; of inviting them into the pulpit, and repelling them from the table; unitinjj with them in the most retired and elevated exercises of devotion, and excluding them from the church ? It is scarcely in the power of imagination to feign a species of conduct more diametrically opposite to all the examples of scripture ; and when they have reconciled these, and many similar usages, with the practice of the primitive age, they will have supplied us with a sufficient apology for our pretended deviation from the same standard. It will probably be thought enough has been already said to demonstrate the futility of the argument founded on original precedent : but as this is considered by our opponents in general, as well as by Mr. Kinghom in par- ticular, as the main prop of their cause, we must be permitted to detain the reader a little longer, while we- enter on a closer examination of his reasoning. In order to show that baptism is a necessary term of communion, he labours hard to prove that it is'a term of o2 196 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPU KINOHORN. I I 4I| III pro/esiion. " It is obvious," he says, " that theiy baptism (that of believers) was the term of professing their faith by the special appointment of the Lord himself." To the same purpose he afterwards adds, " the fact still ex- ists, that it pleased the Lord to make a visible and ritual observance the appointed evidence of our believing on him. If obedience to a rite be not a term of salvation (which no one supposes), yet it was ordered by the high- est authority, as an evidence of our subjection to the Author of salvation ; and a christian profession is not made in Chrises own way without it." Recurring to the same topic,* he observes, '* Whatever may be the conditions of salvation, a plain question here occurs, which is — Ought the terms of christian communion to he differeni from those of christian profession ? The only answer which one would think could be given to this question would be, no : christian communion must re- quire whatever the Lord required as a mark of christian profession!* It is hoped the reader will excuse my accumulating quotations to the same purport, which would have been avoided, were it not evident that the writer considered this as his strong-hold, to which he repairs with a confi- dence which bespeaks his conviction of its being im- pregnable. We will venture, however, to come close to these frowning battlements ; we will make trial of their strength, that it may be seen whether their power of re- sistance is equal to their formidable aspect. We freely acknowledge, that if the principle can be established that baptism is invariably essential to a christian profes- sion, the cause we are pleading must be abandoned, being confident that a true profession of the christian religion is inseparable from church communion. Previous to entering on this discussion, it will be ne- cessary to premise that the words profession and cmfes- sion^ together with their correlates, are usually denoted by one and the same word in the original, and that they are evidently used by the authors of the received trans- • Page 20. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 197 lation as synonymous.* Hence, whatever is affirmed in the New Testament respecting the confession of Christ, or of his sayings, may without hesitation be considered as predicated of sl profession ; since, whatever difference may subsist in the popular meaning of the words when- ever they occur in scripture, they are merely different renderings of the same term.t Now, that the profession of Christ is an indispensable term of salvation, is so undeniably evident fit)m the New Testament, that to attempt to prove it, seems like an insult on the understanding of the reader. I must crave his indulgence, however, for recalling to his recollection a very few passages, which will set the matter beyond dispute. " Whoever," said our Lord, " shall confess (or profess) my name before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven : and whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."— Matt. x. 32. The same language occurs, ynth little variation, in the gospel of St. Luke, xii. 8. In these words we find an awful denunciation of the rejection of every one, without exception, who shall be found to have denied Christ ; and as this de- nial is inmiediately opposed to confessing him, it must necessarily attach to all such as have not made a con- fession. If a medium could be supposed betwixt the denial and the open assertion of the doctrine of Christ, it is precluded by the following sentence : — '* Whoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall * The word in the original is ofjio\oyia, derived from o^oXoyla*, a verb of the same import. t See Matt. x. 32. Luke xii. 8. Matt. vii. 23. John ix. 22 John xii. 42. Acts xxiii. 8. xxiv. 14. Rom. x. 9, 10. I John IV. 15. 2 John 7. Rev. iii. 5. 1 Tim. vi. 13. rhv KaXhv o>eXo- y*av, a good profession, English Translation.— Hcb. iii. 1. rns ofxoXo- ywf hfAouv, of our profession, E. T.— Hcb. iv. 14, T«f o^uoXoyw? hfxZv, our profession, E. T.— Heb. x. 23. rhi ofxoXoyiav tJjc iXmZoc axXifr. the profession of our faith without wavering.— Matt. vii. 23. rort OfxoXoyfiTot ainruf, then will I profess unto them. In each of the preceding passages the same word, under different inflections, is employed, and they contain all the passages which relate to the ab •olate necessity of a religious profession. • ■( n 198 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHOKX. the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father s, and of the holy angels." —Luke ix. 26. Thence we may with certainty con- clude, that from whatever motives a profession of Christ- ianity is omitted or declined, eternal perdition is the consequence. Nor is this the doctrine of the evangelists only : it is repeatedly asserted, and uniformly implied, m the writings of the apostles. " If thou shalt confess (or profesg) with thy mouth," saith St. Paul, "the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that Grod hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved ; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession (or profession) is made unto salvation." Rom. X. 9. We find the same writer on another occa- sion exhorting christians to hold fast the profmion of their faith without wavering, when the previous posses- sion of that is necessarily supposed, a firm adherence to which is inculcated as essential to salvation. " Let us hold fast the profmion of our faith without wavering.** Heb. X. 23. It is to the faithful, considered as such, without distinction of sects and parties, that St. Paul addresses the following exhortation: " Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession^ Christ Jesus." Heb. iii. I. In the Epistle to the Hebrews alone, the phrase our professi(M occurs three times, and in each instance in such a connexion as demonstrates it to be an attribute common to all christians.* It would be trifling with the reader s patience to mul- tiply proofs of a position so evident from scripture, as the inseparable connexion betwixt a genuine profession of Christ, and friture salvation. But if this be admitted, what becomes of the principal argument urged by Mr. Kinghom for strict communion, which turns on the prin- ciple that "baptism is the term of christian profession" ? Who can fail to perceive that if this proposition is true, the pffidobaptists are, on our principles, cut off from the hope of eternal life, and salvation is confined to our- *Hcb.iu.l- iv.14- T. 13. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORN. 199 selves ? The language of our Saviour and his apostles is decisive respecting the necessity of a profession in order to eternal life ; this writer affirms that baptism, as we practise it, is an essential term of profession. By com- paring these propositions together, a child will perceiv* that the necessary inference is the restriction of the hope of future happiness to members of our own denomina- tion. This, in truth, is the conclusion to which all his reasoning tends ; it meets the intelligent reader at every turn ; but when he expects the writer to advance for- ward and press the fearful consequence, he turns aside, and is afraid to push his argument to its proper issue. He travails in birth, but dares not bring forth ; he shrinks from the sight of his own progeny. Sometimes he seems at the very point of disclosing the frill tendency of his speculations, and more than once suggests hints in the form of questions, which possess no meaning, but on the supposition of that dismal conclusion to which his hypothesis conducts him. Let the reader pause, and meditate on the following extraordinary passage : — " If baptism," he says, " was once necessary to communion, either it was then essential to salvation, or that which was not essential to salvation, was necessary to commu- nion. If it was then essential to salvation, how can it be proved not to be essential now ? "* Again, he asks, " What is the meaning of the term condition ? In what- ever sense the term can apply to the commission of our Lord, or to the declarations of the apostles respecting repentance^ faith, and baptism ; is not baptism a condition either of '%omm\mion or of salvation, or of both ? Do the conditions, either of salvation or of communion, change by time ? Are they annulled by being misun- derstood ? "t Whatever of argument these passages may be supposed to contain, will be examined hereafter; the design of producing them at present is to show the tendency of the principle ; and the reader is requested to consider whether they are susceptible of any other sense, than that * Baptism a Term of Commanion, p. 19. •{■ Ibid. p. 20. aoo REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 201 the terms of salvation and communion are commensurate with each other; that whatever was once essential to salvation is so still ; and that baptism is as much a con- dition of salvation as faith and repentance. But if these are his real sentiments, why not speak plainly, instead of 'I uttering parables " ? and why mingle, in the same pub- lication, representations totally repugnant, in which he speaks of such as dissent from him on the subject of baptism, as persons of the most distinguished character — Sersons whom God will undoubtedly bring to his king- om and glory ? * The only solution this problem ad- mits, is to suppose (what my knowledge of his character confirms), that to the first part of these statements he was impelled by the current of his arguments ; to the latter, by the dictates of his heart. But however that heart may rebel, he must learn either to subdue its con- tumacy, or consent to relinquish the principal points of his defence. He has stated that the limits of communion must be the same with those of profession ; that the pse- dobaptists have none, or, at least, none that is valid ; and that, on this account, and for this reason, they are precluded from a title to christian fellowship. But the word of God, as we have seen, repeatedly insists on men's professing Christ, as an indispensable requisite to salvation. How is it possible, then, if Mr. Kinghom's position is just, to evade the consequence, that those whom he would exclude from communion, are excluded from salvation ? " If obedience to a rite,** he observes, " be not a term of salvation, (which no one supposes,) yet it was ordered, by the highest authority, as an evidence of our subjection to the Author of salvation ; and a christian profession is not made in Christ's anm way wkhotU t^.*f If the open acknowledgement of Christ by the psedo- baptists is not to be esteemed a real and t?a/w? profession, the inevitable consequence is, for reasons sufliciently explained, that they cannot be saved ; but if it is vciid^ (however imperfect in one particular,) it is so far • Baptism a Tenn of Communion, pp. 21, 36. f Ibid, p. 18 made in Christ's own way. The expression which he employs to depreciate it, has either no meaning, or none that is relative to the object of the writer. The scope of his argument obliged him to prove that adult baptism is essential to a christian profession; he now contents himself with saying, that, without that ordi- nance, it is not made in the right way, which may, with equal propriety, be affirmed of every deviation from the doctrine and precepts of the gospel. Just as far as we suppose a person to depart from these, we must judge his profession not to be made in Christ's own way; nor will any thing short of a per/ea profession, or, in other words, a perfect comprehension and exhibition of the' will of Christ, exempt him from such an imputation; so that in this sense, which is the only one applicable to the case before us, to make a profession of the christian religion in Chrises own way, is not the lot of a mortal. But though this is the only interpretation consistent with truth, we cannot for a moment suppose that such was the meaning of the writer. He must have intended to assert that the parties, to whom they are applied, fail to make what C^ri^ himself would deem a profession. This supposition is forced upon us by the scope of his reasoning, which went to prove that* baptism is neces- ^y to communion, because it is necessary to a profession. This supposed necessity must consequently relate, not to its completeness or perfection, but to its essence: he must be understood to affirm, that they have not exhi- bited what Christ will consider as a profession. But as he has solemnly affirmed his determination to reject such as are destitute of it, we ask again, how Mr. Kinghom will reconcile this with the salvability of psedobaptists ? Whatever it seems good to infinite wisdom to prescribe as an indispensable condition of future happiness, we must suppose that it exactly corresponds to its name : it is true and genuine in its kind, and wants nothing which constitutes the essence. If an open acknowledge- ment of Christ is the prerequisite demanded under the title of a profession, it would seem strange to assert that something less than what is correctly denoted by that 203 BEPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORK. w expression, is, after all, sufficient to satisfy the condition. This, howerer, is what Mr. Kinghom must assert, to be consistent with himself; for he will not deny that the advocates of infant sprinkling have exhibited something like a profession; but as they have not made it in Christs own way^ it is not, strictly speaking, entitled to that appellation, and, consequently, cannot claim the privi- leges it secures. But if the case is as he states it, he must either confine the hope of salvation to his own party, or admit that, in the solemn denunciations before recited, it is not really a profession of Christ which is required, but merely something which resembles it. Whether the use of language so replete with ambiguity, or collusion, is consistent with the character of the " true and faithful witness," we leave to the decision of the reader. According to Mr. Kinghom, while there are two modes of avowing our Christianity, one so essentially defective as not to deserve the name of 2k profession^ the other sound and valid; when the Supreme Legislator thought fit to enjoin the profession of his name, under the sanction of eternal death, he intended to insist on the first, in distinction from the last, of these methods. Let him who is able, digest these absurdities; from which, whoever would escape must either abandon the ground which Mr. Kinghom has taken, or consign the paedobaptists to destruction. But it is time to recur to the questions "with which he has urged his opponents, and which he supposes it impossible to solve on my principles. " If baptism,** he observes, "was once necessary to communion, either it was then essential to salvation, or that which was not essential to salvation was necessary to communion. If it was then essential to salvation, how can it be proved not to be essential now ? If it be argued that it was not essential to salvation then, it must either be proved that communion was held without it, or Mr. Hall's position muBt fall."* Of the preceding dilemma, I embrace without hesita- * Baptism a Tenn of CommuQioD, p. 19. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 203 tion the affirmative side, and assert that in the apostolic age, baptism wcis necessary to salvation. To the query which follows, how then can it be proved " that it is not essential now," I reply that it is imnecessary to attempt it, because it is admitted by Mr. Kinghom himself; and it is preposterous to attempt the proof of what is ac- knowledged by both parties. It is very astonishing after he had so clearly avowed his conviction of the exalted character, and imquestionable piety of many paedobap- tists, that he should ask the question : but he was proba- bly so dazzled with the seeming subtlety and acumen of these pointed interrogatories, as not to perceive their total irrelevance. If he feels any hesitation in affirming that baptism was essential to salvation in primitive times, he entertains a lower idea of its importance than his opponents ; but, on the contrary supposition, unless he totally retracts his liberal concessions, he must acknow- ledge that which was once necessary to salvation is not so now. The difficulty attending the supposition of a change in the terms of salvation, is urged with little propriety by one to whose hypothesis they apply in their full force ; nor are they, when fairly examined, at all formidable. Owing to the incurable ambiguity of lan- guage, many truths founded on the clearest evidence, assume an appearance of paradox ; and of this nature is the proposition which affirms that the terms of salvation are not unalterable : which may, with equal propriety, be affirmed or denied, in different senses. Since the fundamental laws of the kingdom of God are of equal and invariable obligation, a cordial compliance with which is essential to eternal felicity — since faith and re- pentance are at all times, and in all places, indispensable prerequisites to a justified state ; in popular language there would be no impropriety in asserting that the conditions of salvation, under the gospel, remain the same from age to age. But if this proposition is taken in its utmost rigour, and applied to every particular, connected with the faith and practice of christians, it is manifestly false. There are certain parts of Christianity, which, as they exhibit 'ir It I 301 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. the basis, and propound the conditions, of the new core- nant, belong to its essence ; certain doctrines which are revealed because they are necessary ; and others, which are necessary, only because they are revealed: the absence of which impairs its beauty, without destroying its being. Of this nature are its few and simple cere- monies. But while this distinction is admitted, it will not be^ denied that the wilful perversion of the least of Christ's precepts, or the deliberate and voluntary rejec- tion of his instructions in the smallest instance, would betray an insincerity utterly inconsistent with the chris- tian character. " He who shall break the least of these my commandments, and teach men so, he shall be of no esteem in the kingdom of heaven/'* The truth or precept in question may be of such an order, that a simple ignorance of it may not be fatal, yet to resist it, knowing it to be of divine authority, would be pregnant with the highest danger. The great Head of the Church will not permit us to set voluntary limits to our obedience : we must consent to receive all tis sayings, or none. But it must be manifest, on reflec- tion, that on its first publication, the visible appendages of Christianity were exhibited with a lustre of evidence which no honest mind could withstand ; and that no pretence for their neglect could subsist among such as professed religious integrity. Such was eminently the case with the two institutions which have occasioned the present controversy. The constant practice of the apos- tles appealmg to the senses of men, and illustrating the import of their oral instruction, made the point of duty so plain, that its omission, in such circumstances, could be ascribed only to voluntary corruption. Nor is this the only example which might be adduced. Bj orthodox christians the explicit belief of the doctrine of the atonement is now considered as indispensably necess^ to salvation ; but that the immediate foUowera of Christ were, during his personal ministry, so far fro embracing this truth, that they could not endure the m tion of his death, without expressing the utmost im • See Cainpbeirs TransIatioD, Matt. v. 19. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 205 tience, and that they knew not what was intended by his resurrection, are undeniable facts. The full develope- ment of the gospel scheme, made at a subsequent period has m this instance rendered that essential to salvation which could previously subsist without it. It may also be observed, that a diversity of senti- ment has arisen among christians, from different modes of mterpreting the word of God, which has given birth to vanous sects and parties, unknown in primitive times. On many of these points it is impossible to suppose but that the sentiments of the inspired writers were expressed with sufficient perspicuity to be perfectly understood by the parties to whom they were originally communicated; and who, having repeatedly attended their ministry, had heard those particulars more fully illustrated and confirmed, which are briefly touched upon in their writings. Who can doubt that the true idea of election, whether it intends, as the arminians assert, the distinction conferred on some, above others, in the collation of external benefits, or the preordina- tion of individuals to eternal life, was clearly ascer- tained by the primitive christians, so as to exclude the possibility of controversy and debate? The arminian will contend that the first christians entertained his notions of election and grace: the calvinist, with equal confidence, will maintain that the true and primitive interpretation of scripture is in favour of his hypothesis ; and neither of them can consistently admit that the members of the primitive church adopted a different system from that which they respectively embrace. One of the parties will contend that the apostolic church con- sisted entirely of arminians; the other that it included none but calvinists. Were it allowed that some variety of opinion on this mysterious topic, might subsist even amongst the earliest converts, it is impossible to suppose that there were none at that period who understood the doctrine of St. Paul : it would be most injurious to the reputation of that great writer to suppose he expressed himself mth an obscurity which uniformly baffled the power of comprehension. f\ 206 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORW. Let his meaning, for argument's sake, be supposed to agree with the arminian system ; the adoption of that hypothesis was, on this supposition, essential to the sal- vation of him who was acquainted with that circum- stance. For such a person to have embraced the cal- vinisdc sentiments, would have been to pour contempt on the apostolic doctrine, and to oppose his private judgement to the dictates of inspiration. If we invert the supposition, the result is a similar conclusion in favour of the calvinist. Were these parties to exclude each other from communion, under pretence that the primitive christians were all calvinists, or all arminians; were the calvinist to assert that he dares not sanction so serious a departure from truth, as the denial of election, and that to receive such as were erroneous in this point, would be to admit a class of persons who had no exist- ence in the primitive church, he would argue precisely in the same manner as Mr. Kinghom. How would our author repel this reasoning, or justify a more liberal conduct? He certainly would not allege the original obscurity of the apostolic injunctions, and the possibility of primitive converts mistaking their meaning : he would unquestionably insist on the different degrees of impor- tance attached to revealed truths, and the palpable diffe- rence betwixt mistaking the meaning, and avowedly opposing the inspired writers. But thS is precisely our mode of defence. When a dispute arose on the obligation of extending the rite of circumcision to the Gentiles, a council, con- sisting of the apostles and elders, waa assembled to determine the question. Their decision was, that the Gentiles should no longer be troubled on that head, but that they should be strictly enjoined, among other things, carefully to abstain from things strangled, and from blood. It is universally acknowledged that it was the design of this injunction to prohibit the use of blood in food. This precept was enjoined expressly on the Gentiles, without the slightest intimation of its being of temporary duration ; nor did it commence with the Jewish dispen- sation, but was in force from the period of the deluge. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 207 I have not the smallest doubt that it is of perpetual force, however little it may be regarded in modern prac- tice ; and were the observation of it proposed as a term of communion, I am not aware of a single argument adduced by our opponents for their narrow exclusive system, which might not with superior advantage be alleged in favour of such a regulation. If it be urged that there never was a period when it was not the duty of believers in Christ to be baptized, it may be asserted with equal confidence, that the precept of abstaining from blood was invariably observed by the faithfiil from the time of Noah. If it be urged that the primitive church consisted exclusively of such as were baptized, it is equally certain that it consisted only of such as abstained from blood. That it was " once a term of communion" none will deny : " how then comes it to cease to be such?" In this case there is no room to allege a misapprehen- sion of the meaning of the precept: it is susceptible but of one interpretation; and if the terms of com- munion are not "annulled by being misunderstood,"* much less when there is no such pretence. The only perceptible difference in the two cases is, that the pre- cept respecting blood was not promulgated by the Saviour himself; but it resulted from the solemn and unammous decision of his apostles, and is of more ancient origin than any other christian institute. If our opponents attempt to depreciate its importance by asserting that it is merely ritual and ceremonial, so is baptism ; and as they were both enjoined by the same authority, both universally maintained in the primitive church, if the absence of one of these observances constitutes a church of different materials^ so must the neglect of the other. Such as violate the abstinence in question will not pretend that they observe the prohibition : they satisfy themselves with asserting their conviction, (a conviction not sustained by a syllable of scripture,) that it is only of temporary obligation ; and as paedobaptists profess their conscientious adherence to the baptismal precept^ ^ Baptism a Term of ConimnnioD, p. 20. 2oe REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN, 209 II which they merely demand the right of interpreting foi themselves, upon what principle is it that a mistake in the meaning of a positive injunction is deemed more criminal than its avowed neglect? or why should an error of judgement, which equally aifects the practice in hoth cases, be tolerated in one, and made the ground of exclusion in the other ? This reasoning, it is acknow- ledged, hears with the greatest weight on such as con- ceive the prohibition of blood to be still in force ; who, if they adopt the principle of Mr. Kinghom, ought, to be consistent, immediately to separate themselves from such as are of a contrary judgement. The same argu- ment equally applies to lajdng on of hands after ordina- tion and baptism. It is acknowledged that this rite was universally practised in the primitive times, that it claims the sanction of apostolic example, and it is enumerated by St. Paul amongst the first principles of christian doc- trine. Wherever that practice is laid aside, it may with equal truth be afl&rmed, that the church consists of dif- ferent materials from those admitted by the apostles; and it may be asked with an air of triumph, in the words of this writer, by what authority we presume " to make a scriptural rite of less consequence in the church of Christ than it was once?"* Thus much may suffice for the vindication of our pretended departure from ancient usage and apostolic precedent. But as this topic is supposed to include the very pith and marrow of my opponent's cause, the reader must excuse my replying to some other parts of his reasoning. Confident of the soundness of our principles, it is my anxious wish that nothing may pass unnoticed that wears the shadow of argument; and that no suspicion be afforded of a desire to shrink from any part of the contest. " If an obedience to a rite,** says our author, *' be not a term of salvation, (which no one supposes,) yet it was ordered by the highest authority, as an evidence of subjection to the Author of salvation.*' t He re- Baptbm a Term of CoramanioD, p. 93. f Ibid. p. 18. peatedly asserts that it was prescribed as an evidence of faith in him. In another place he styles it, "the appointed evidence of our putting on Jesus Christ,* and affirms that " the church of Christ, acting upon the rule he has laid down, cannot recognise any person as his disciple who is not baptized in his name."* Let us first ascertain the precise meaning of these remarkable passages. He cannot be supposed to assert that baptism is ^ itself a sufficient evidence of saving faith : Simon Magus was baptized, who had " no part or lot in the matter." His meaning must be, that the ordinance in question forms a necessary part of the evidence of faith, insomuch that in the absence of it, our Lord intended no other should be deemed valid. That this was the case in the primitive age, we feel no hesitation in affirming ; we have also shown at lai^e the reason on which that conclusion is founded- But in no part of scripture is there the slightest intimation that it was more specificaUy intended as the test of faith, than comphance with any other part of the mind of Christ ; or that it was in any other sense an evidence of the existence of that attainment, than as it was necessary to evince the possession of christian sincerity. Thus much we are most willing to concede, but are at a loss to know what is gained by it, unless our opponent could demonstrate that it occupies the same place at present, and that it is still necessary to con- stitute a valid evidence of faith in the Redeemer. If this is what he means to assert, (and nothing beside has the least relation to his argument,) how will he recon- cile it with the confidence he so often expresses of the piety of the paedobaptists ? His objection to their com- munion, he elsewhere informs us, " does not arise from suspicions attaching to their christian character," t to which he trusts he is always willing to render ample justice. He has no suspicion of the piety of those who are destitute of that which Jesus Christ prescribed as the evidence of faith, and whom he affirms " it is impos- ''Baptism a Term of Commanion, p. 140. VOL. III. i> t Ibid. p. 67. 210 REPLY TO R£V. JOSEPH KINGHOIUf. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 211 •A 8ible for the church, acting on the rule which he has laid down, to recognise as his disciples." I am at a loss to conceive of a more palpable contradiction. If there be any meaning in terms, the word evidence means that by which the truth of a fact or a proposition is made manifest, and the absence of which induces either hesitation or denial. Its place in the intellectual world corresponds to light in the natural ; and it is just as con- ceivable how an object can be beheld without light, as how a feet can be ascertained without eyidence. Mr. Kinghom, it seems, however, has contrived to solye the problem ; for while he affirms that the patrons of infant baptism are destitute of that which Infinite Wisdom has prescribed as the evidence of faith, and by which we are to recognise his disciples, he expresses as firm a convictionof their piety as though they possessed it in the utmost perfection. Let me ask on what is his con- viction founded : — will he say upon evidence ? But he assigns as a reason for refusing their fellowship, that they are destitute of that which Christ prescribed for that purpose. Will he distinguish betwixt that private evi- dence which satisfies his own mind, and the sort of evi- dence which Christ has demanded and enjoined ? But what unheard-of presumption to oppose his private judge- ment to the dictates of Heaven ; and, while the Head of the church has appointed the performance of a certain ceremony to be the invariable criterion of discipleship, to pretend, in its absence, to ascertain it by another me- dium ! To attempt to prove that every thing really is what God has appointed it, and that Infinite Wisdom, where figurative language is excluded, calls things by then: proper names, would be to insult the understand- ing of the reader. If compliance with adult baptism is, in every age, the appointed evidence of faith in Christ, it undoubtedly is what it pretends to be : and to ascribe faith to such as are destitute of it, is a sort of impiety. " No church," he assures us, " acting agreeably to the mles of Christy can recognise them as his disciples." ♦ ♦ Baptism a Tenn of Commaaion, p. 140. What strange magic lies concealed in the word church ! This writer, in a multitude of places, makes no scruple of avowing his attachment to the members of other de- nominations ; he even anxiously guards against the sup- position of his indulging a thought to the prejudice of their piety ; and the sentiments which he entertains himself, he must be supposed to recommend to the adop- tion of his brethren. In his individual character, he feels no objection to recognise them to the fiill as christians ; nay, he expresses the sentiments of recognition in a studied variety of phrase : but the moment he conceives himself in a church, his tone is altered, and he feels him- self compelled to treat them as strangers and foreigners. Why this contradiction betwixt the language of the indi- vidual, and the language of the church ? If they are christians, why should the knowledge of the fact be suppressed there ? We are taught by St. Paul to consider the church as the pillar and ground of the truth ; where she is supposed to exhibit, as in a focus, the light and love which actuate her respective members ; and instead of dissonance betwixt her public principles and the pri- vate sentiments of her members, we naturally look for a perfect harmony, or rather, for a more illustrious exhi- bition of what every one thinks and feels apart — ^for a great and combined movement of charity, corresponding to her more silent and secret inspirations. But we are doomed to anticipate it in vain ; for while the advocates of strict communion are shocked at the idea of suspect- ing the piety of their paedobaptist brethren, they contend it would be criminal to recognise it in the church. Wh^ mysterious place is this, in which we are forbidden to acknowledge a truth proclaimed without scruple eviery where else ; which possesses the property of darkening every object inclosed within its limits, and of rendering christians invisible and impalpable to each other ! In the broad day-light of the world, notwithstanding their mi- nor difierences, they are recognised with fecihty; but the moment we enter the sombrous gloom of a baptist church, we are lost firom each others view; and, like those who visited the cave of Triphonius, return pale, p2 212 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN* 213 » dejected, and bewildered. Of such societies we might be ahnost tempted to exclaim — " My soul, come not thou into their secret, and to their assembly be not thou united!" Shocked as we are at such illiberality, we suppress the emotions which naturally arise on the occa- sion, remembering (strange as it may seem) how often it is associated with talents the most respectable, and piety the most fervent. CHAP. III. The supposed necessary Connexion hetmixt the two positive Institutes farther discussed, wherein other Arguments are examined. The reader can scarcely be too often reminded that the present controversy turns entirely on the supposed necessary connexion betwixt the two positive christian institutes ; the recollection of which will at once con- vince him of the total irrelevancy of much which it has been customary to urge on the subject. Our opponents frequently reason in such a manner as would lead the reader to suppose we were aiming to set aside adult bap- tism. Thus they insist on the clearness with which it is enjoined and exemplified in the sacred volume, contend for its perpetuity, and represent us as depreciating its value, and dispensing with its obligation ; topics which might be introduced with propriety in a dispute with the people called Quakers, or with the followers of Mr. Emlyn, but are perfectly irrelevant to the present in- quiry. It surely requires but little attention to perceive that it is one thing to tolerate, and another to sanction ; that to affirm that each of the positive rites of religion ought to be attended to, and that they are so relcUed, that a mistake respecting one instantly disquahfies for an- other, are not the same propositions. An attention to that distinction would have incredibly shortened the pre- sent debate, and shown the futility of much unmeaning declamation, and even of much unanswerable argument. We wish, if possible, to put an end to this vKioiiaxia, this fighting with shadows and beating the air, and to confine the discussion to the real qitestion, which is, whether the two positive ordinances of the New Testa- ment are so related to each other, either in the nature of things, or by express conmiand, that he whom we deem not baptized, is, ipso facto, or from that circumstance alone, disqualified for an attendance at the Lord's table. This, and this only, is the question in which we are con- cerned. That there is not a necessary connexion, in the nature of things, betwixt the two rites, appears from the slight- est attention to their nature. It will not be pretended that the Lord's supper is founded on baptism, or that it recognises a single circumstance belonging to it ; nor will it be asserted to be a less reasonable service, or less capa- ble of answering the design of its appointment, when attended to by a paedobaptist, than by persons of our own persuasion. The event which it " shows forth," is one in which all denominations are equally interested ; the sacrifice which it exhibits is an oblation of whose benefits they equally partake ; and so little affinity does it bear to baptism, considered as a ceremony, that the most profound consideration of it will not suggest the idea of that rite. As far as reason is capable of investi- gating the matter, they appear separate ceremonies, no otherwise related than as they emanate from the same source, and are prescribed to the same description of persons. In a word, judging from the reason of the case, we should not for a moment suspect that the obli- gation of commemorating the Saviour's death depended upon baptism : we should ascribe it at once to the in- junction— "Do this in remembrance of me." Since positive duties arise (to human apprehension at least) Irom the mere will of the legislator, and not from immu- table relations, their nature forbids the attempt to estab- lish their inherent and essential connexion. In the present case it is sufficient for us to know, that what- ever God has thought fit to enjoin, must be matter of M REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINGDORN. duty ; and it little becomes weak and finite mortals to limit its sphere, or explain away its obligation, by refined and subtle distinctions. It remains to be considered whether the necessaty oor^ nexion we are seeking, can be fidund in positive prescrip- tion. We, again and again, call upon our opponents to rfiow us the passage of scripture which asserts that de- pendence of the Lord's supper on baptism, which their theory supposes ; and here, when we ask for bread, they give us a stone. They quote Christ's commission to his apostles, where there is not a word upon the subject, and which is so remote from establishing the essential con- nexion of the two ceremonies, that the mention of one of them only is included. They urge the conduct of the apostles, though it is not only sufficiently accounted for on our principles, but is such as those very principlet would, in their circumstances, have absolutely compelled us to adopt; and surely that must be a very cogent proof that the apostles were of their sentiments, which is derived from a matter of fact, which would undenia- bly have been just what it is, on the contrary 8upp6sition. They baptized, because they were commanded to do so ; they administered the Lord's supper, because our Saviour enjoined it on his disciples ; and both these duties were prescribed to the societies they formed, because the nature and obligation of each were equally and perfectly understood. What is there in this, we ask, which our hypothesis forbids us to imitate, or which, had we been in their place, our views would not have obliged us to adopt? The late excellent Mr. Fuller, whose memory com- mands profoimd veneration, attempts in his posthumous tract on this subject, to establish the connexion betwixt the two rites, by the joint allusion made to them in the epistles of St. Paul. From their being connected together in his mind, on those occasions, he infers an inherent and essential connexion. With this view, he adduces the tenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, which asserts that the ancient Israelites had a figurative baptism " in the cloud, and in the sea, and did all eat REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINQHOKN. 215 the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink ; for they drank of that rock which fol- lowed them, and that rock was Christ." " If the apostle, he remarks, '' had not connected baptism and the Lords supper together in his mind, how came he so pointedly to allude to them both in this passage T He brings for- ward, also, another text to the same purpose, where bt Paul affirms we are all "baptized into one body, and are aU made to drink into the same spirit." It is freely ad- mitted that these, and perhaps other texts which might be adduced, affi)rd examples of an allusion to the two ordinances at the same time, whence we may be certam that they were present together in the mmd of the writer. But whoever considers the laws of association, must be aware how trivial a circumstance is sufficient to imite together in the mind, ideas of objects among which no essential relation subsists. The mere coincidence of time and place is abundantly sufficient for that piu:- pose. In addressing a class of persons distmgmshed by the possession of peculiar privileges, what more natural than to combine them in a joint allusion, without in- tending to assert their relation or dependence ; just as m addressing a British audience on a political occasion, the speaker may easily be supposed to remind them, at the same time, of their popular representation, of the liberty of the press, and the trial by jury, without me^mg to affirm that they are incapable of being possessed apart In fact, the warmest advocates of our practice would teel no sort of difficulty in adopting the same style, m an epistle to a church which consisted only of baptists ; con- sequently, nothing more can be inferred, than that the societies which St. Paul addressed were universaUy of that description : a fact we have already fully conceded. The only light in which it bears upon the subject is that which makes it perfectly coincide with the argument from primitive precedent, the fritility of which has been sufficiently demonstrated. The unUies which the apostle enumerates as belong- ing to christians, in his epistle to the Ephesians, are also set in opposition to us. " There is," saith he, one body 216 R£PLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINGHORN. and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you alL" That this text is irrelevant to the present argument, will appear from the following considerations: Since no mention is made of the Lord's supper, it cannot be in- tended to confirm, or illustrate, the relation which bap- tism bears to that ordinance, which is the only point in dispute. Next, it is very uncertain whether the apostle refers to water baptism, or to the baptism of the Spirit ; but, admitting that he intends the former, he asserts no more than we firmly believe, that there are not two or more valid baptisms imder the christian dispensation, but one only ; a deviation from which, either with re- spect to the subject, or the mode, reduces it to a nullity. Lastly, since his avowed object in insisting upon these unities^ was to persuade his reader to maintain inviolate that unity of the Spirit to which they were all subser- vient, it is extremely unreasonable to adduce this passage in defence of a practice which involves its subversion. " The same foimtain,** St. James tells us, " cannot send forth sweet water and bitter ;" but here we see an at- tempt to deduce discord from harmony : and to find an apology for dividing the mystical body of Christ, in the most pathetic persuasive to unity. The celebrated Whitby, a paedobaptist and an episcopalian, appears to have felt the full force of this admirable passage, when lie deduces from it the three following propositions : 1st. " That sincere christians only, are truly members of that church catholic, of which Christ is the Head. 2dly. That nothing can join any professor of Christianity to this one body, but the participation of the spirit of Christ. 3dly. That no error in jtid^ement, or mistake in practice^ which doth not tend to deprive a christian of the tpirit of Christy can separate him from the church of Christ^'* Thus it is, that this learned commentator conceives himself to have discovered a demonstration of the principles we are abetting, in the very words our opponents urge for their overthrow. ♦ Whitby in loco REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 217 Such is the substance of Mr. Fuller's argumentation on the subject ; and on a basis so slight, did he attempt to rear the edifice of strict communion. In how difie- Irent a light will he be viewed by posterity, as the vic- torious impugner of socinian and "deistical impiety ! and who, on looking back on his achievements in that field, and comparing them with his feeble efforts in the present, but must exclaim with regret, quantum mutatus ah illo ! "^hether he felt some distrust of the ground he was treading, which for several reasons I strongly suspect ; or whether it is to be ascribed to the infelicity of the sub- ject, it is not easy to say ; but his posthumous pamphlet on comraimion, will unquestionably be considered as the feeblest of all his productions. The worthy editor proba- bly calculated on great effects to arise from the dying sufii-age of a man so highly esteemed ; but before he ventured on a step so injurious to his fame, he should have remembered, that we live in an age not remarkably disposed to implicit faith, even in the greatest names. But it is time to return to Mr. Kinghom, with whose management of the subject we are at present more im- mediately concerned. As bold a polemic as Mr. Fuller was generally considered, he was pusillanimity itself compared to my present antagonist ; who, in the ardour of combat, has not scrupled to remove land-marks which he^ I am well persuaded, would have considered as sa- cred. It cannot be denied that he has inftised by these means some novelty into the discussion, and that many of his arguments bear an original stamp ; but whether that novelty is combined with truth, or that originality is such as will ultimately secure many imitators, or admirers, is another question. Having already shown that no inherent connexion subsists betwixt the two rites under discussion, it re- mains to be considered, as we have already remarked, f whether they are connected by positive law. Is there a single word in the New Testament, which, fairiy inter- preted, can be regarded as a prohihitian of the admission of unbaptized persons to the Lord's supper ? Let Mr. Kinghom answer this question for us : " The 218 REPLY TO BEY. JOSEPH KINGHORN. r I I New Testament^" he tells us, " does not prohibit the unhap- tized from receiving the Lords supper^ because no cir- cumstance arose which rendered such prohibition neces- sary.** Whether a prohibition was necessary or not, involves a distinct inquiry; we request the reader's attention to the important concession, that it does not exist. The reason he assigns, however, for its not being necessary is, that " it is acknowledged the law of baptism was clearly understood, and that the unbaptized could not be received into the church." " There was therefore^ he adds, " no reason why a prohibitory declaration should exist." We fully agree with him, that at the period of tvhich he is speaking, the law of baptism was fully understood ; and on thai account^ we say, such as refused to obey it, could not be received into the church. We also admit, that while there was this clear understanding, no such prohibition as we demand was requisite. But if it was rendered unnecessary because of this clear understanding, as this writer informs, must it not by his own allowance become necessary, when that understand- ing ceases ? If the presence of one thing makes another unnecessary^ must not the absence of the same thing restore the necessity ? In the present instance, the only reason he assigns for an express prohibition not being then necessary, is, that the ordinance of baptism was perfectly underwood; surely if this be the only reason, the necessity must return when that reason ceases ; in other words, there will be a necessity for an express prohibition of the unbaptized, whenever the precept respecting baptism ceases to be understood. Has it, or has it not, ceased (in our apprehension) to be understood by modem psedo- baptists? If it be admitted that it has, then, on his own principle, an express prohibition of the unbaptized to receive the Lord's supper has become necessary. But he acknowledges that none exists ; whence the only con- clusion to be deduced is, either that the word of God has omitted what is necessary in itself, or (which is rather * Baptlflm a Term of Commanion, f>. 32. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH E1N6H0RN. 219 more probable) what is necessary to support his hypo^ thesis. The word of God, it should be remembered, makes adequate provision for the direction of the faith- ful in every age, being written under the guidance of that Spirit to whom the remotest futurity was present ; and though it was by no means requisite to specify the errors which were foreseen to arise, it is not a sufficient rule, unless it enables us to discover which of these are and which are not, to be tolerated in the church. The doctrine which asserts that baptism is an indispensable requisite to communion, this writer expressly informs us, was not promulgated among the primitive christians, because they did not need it : their clear imderstanding of the nature of the ceremony was sufficient of itself to secure an attention to it, in the absence of that doctrine. This is equivalent to an acknowledgement, if there be any meaning in terms, that if they had not had the clear comprehension of the ordinance which he ascribes to them, they would have needed that truth to be pro- pounded, which in their situation was safely suppressed. But if the primitive christians would have found such information necessary, how is it that the modem paedo- baptists, who are, according to our principles, precisely in the situation here supposed, can dispense with it? What should prevent them from turning upon Mr. King- hom, and saying — We judge ourselves baptized; but supposing we are not, you assert that there is no scrip- tural prohibition of the unbaptized approaching the Lord's table, which you yet acknowledge would have been necessary to justify the repelling of primitive chris- tians from that privilege, had it not been for their perfect knowledge of the nature of baptism. But as you will not assert that rce possess that knowledge, how will you defend yourself in treating us in a manner which, by your own concession, the apostles would not have been justified in adopting towards their inmiediate converts ? ; It was generally supposed that the abettors of strict communion imagined some peculiar connexion betwixt baptism and the Lord's supper, beyond what subsists betwixt that ceremony and other parts of Christianity. 220 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 221 I Our present opponent disclaims that notion. " If the above evidence," he says, "be justly stated, there is a real instituted connexion between baptism, and the whole of the succeeding christian profession. So that there is no reason why the connexion between baptism and the I^ord's supper should be more distinctly marked, than between baptism and any other duty or privilef^e."* But if this be the case, why do they confine their re- striction to the mere act of communion at the Lord's table ? In every other respect they feel no scruple in acknowledging the members of other denominations as christians : they join with them in the most sacred duties ; they interchange devotional services ; they pro- fess to value, and not unfrequently condescend to entreat, an interest in their prayers. In a word, no one who had not witnessed their comfnemoration of the Lord's supper, would suspect they made any distinction. There are a thousand acts which they perform towards such as prac- tise infant sprinkling, which would be criminal and absurd on any other supposition than that of their being members of Christ, and co-heirs of eternal life. By the mouth of our author, whom they are proud of consider- ing as their organ, they inform us that every other duty and privilege is as much dependent on baptism, as the celebration of the eucharist ; yet it is this duty and this privilege alone, in which they refuse to participate with christians of other persuasions. How will they reconcile their practice and their theory : or rather, how escape the ridicule attached to such a glaring contradiction ? The Sandemanian baptists have taken care to shelter them- selves from such animadversions, by a stem and con- sistent process of intolerance ; but the English baptists appear to resemble Ephraim, who mixed himself with the nations, and was a "cake half turned." Is there no duty, is there no privilege, characteristic of a chris- tian, but what is included in receiving the sacrament ? How is it that they have presumed to break down the sacred fence, to throw all open, and make all things * Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 30. \ •common, with the exception of one narrow inclosure? What, in the mean time, becomes of apostolic practice, .and ancient precedent ? How admirably are these illus- trated by their judicious selection of the Lord's table, as the spot over which to suspend the ensigns of party ! When we read of Priscilla and Aquila taking Apollos home, and instructing him in the way of the Lord more perfectly, we give full credit to the narrative ; but had we been informed that these excellent persons, after hearing him with great delight, refused his admission to the supper of the Lord, on account of some adversity of opinion or of practice, the consent of all the manuscripts and versions in the world would have been insufficient to overcome the incredulity, arising from an instantaneous conviction of its total repugnance to the maxims and principles of primitive christianify. Yet this would have been nothing more than an anticipation of the practice of our opponents. They attempt to justify themselves in this particular on two grounds ; first, that they " do nothing more than their opponents ;" and " where their conduct is deemed the most exceptionable, they only copy the example which the p^dobaptists set before them, and support by preeminent talents."* They do 7wthing more than th^ir opponents. What then ? we hold no principle inconsist- ent with our practice ; we have not confined the profes- sion of Christianity to ourselves; much less are we accustomed to make a practical distinction betwixt the participation of the eucharist, and other duties and pri- vileges, after stating, in so many words, that the scrip- ture authorises no such distinction. The plea derived from the disposition of pasdobaptists to cultivate a reli- gious intercourse, we leave to be answered by himself who has told us that "we meet on unequal terms." " The latter (paedobaptists) surrender no principle, they do not \mite with those whom they deem unbaptized."t Their other pretence is, that " prayer and praise are not exduMve ordinances of the church ; that they were ♦ Baptism a Term of Commm)ion, p. 173. tP.64 222 RBPllr TO BET. JCWEPH KINGHOKN. liarity of the JXfZZJ^ 7^ "f ^^ ^Secu- acknowledgement of his rh,,-.^ •. , ' ** «'ear an authors o«; m^^a^Tu^^'"^/"'^'"??'''''^ ^^"»> <»« "pon the rule Ss Idd^t " •^''"■•'^'' »/ Christ, acting person as his discipfewho i, n^V^"".' ^^"^^ '^ Mr. KWhornTS>Zl K v ^^^!^ ^ ''" name f^ treatment of X/^pn • ^.- " *"^ declaration, in hL action which ^ i^T"^*""?^.*" "''^'ain from er^ their ^f^c^z%^c'^':'i^^r:'^'^<^^^^^f >t IS of no consequence wKrwW^ " ""n-^nied, praise belong to natural o7reT^lM 7^fl ^'^^f ^^^ they are or are not err-Inc;.^ „ j- ""8>on, or whether tie only question is. iwtt°'"''' °^ *''« '*'^«h^ sendees; with other de^omlL* T?™'^*''"' »<" snch rf their christia^^.^^r^TwT'''^ 7 a recognition l?%ement, as much owLd to ab^L ^» ^ T^'^"'' tice of mixed commun on »nH 5 '^^^ *« P«c- 'eason; since he Sfoms^s ^1 ?^'k^ '^^ *« «me practice are not foS L^' '^ objections to that betwixt commm^on Wi.^-.^^''*^^'- ««mexfon glanng, Js not more so than hi, T^^^- .^ howerer P^ent. That the &SThS±Tr f^™ ^<=''«'* rehgions services with t W^fh \"* 1°* interchange «»»^«nibafe,. thaUhevZw 'T *«y refused t ewise of thei; mW^ men wb"°""/u"^'=^' ^ '^e ex- knowledge as memb^'of fte tch*'^/**^ ^ ^ diculous to attempt to nrov^^ fl,r?^.~'.'..'^°"''^ *^ "'. -fitted. I.t Ae'aC;- etletl^at'^rhSa BEPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINQHORN. 223 tion 18 of far greater magnitude than that of which we are accused. Who, that rememhers that the kingdom of Uod IS not meats or drinks, that its nature is spiritual not ntual, can doubt that the moral duties of relirira^ ^e love of the brethren, with its diversified fruits and effects, taken m their whole extent, form a more im- portant object than the single observation of the eucha- nst i M>. Kinghom himself deprecates the very suspicion ot placing even baptism, in point of importance, on a level with the least of the moral precepts of Christ. But with respect to the whole of these, £e and they aJlow themselves to depart as far from scriptural precedent, in its hteral interpretation, as ourselves. In the afl^ir of commumon, they boast of adhering to « that plain rule of a)nduct, (to adopt my opponent's words,) so did the apos- 068, and, th^efore, so do ner* But here their coq- tormity stops ; in every other branch of social relioion, m whatever respects the interior of the kingdom, they daim the liberty of treating the unbaptized in precisely the same manner with members of their own denomina- faon; wherein they pronounce their own condemnation : tor what should prevent us from retorting, " so did not the apostles, hut so do ye ?" The distress and embarrassment which the consciou&- ness ot this glarmg inconsistency occasioned the venera- ble iJooth, are sufficiently depicted in his Jpoloay, The sturdy samt perfectly reels and staggers under its insup- Bortable weight; which, to use the language of Arch- bishop TiUotson, is a miUstone round the neck of strict communion, which will inevitably sink it into perdition; an incongruity which the most obtuse understanding per- ceives, and no degree of acumen can defend ; and which 80 totally annuk the plea of original precedent, which is their sheet-anchor, as to leave it doubtful whether its advocates are most at variance with the apostles or with themselves. The venerable apologist has recourse to the same distmctions with the present writer, but with so • Baptism a Term of Commanioo, p. 98. 224 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. EEPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINOHORK. 225 ul I little success, and, apparently, ^vith so little satisfaction to himself, that if the spirit of controversy did not blunt our sensibility, we should sincerely sympathise with his distress. It is humiliating to see his manly and majestic mind stooping to such logomachies. The advocates of the restrictive system must change their ground ; they must either go forwards or backwards. They have already conceded so much to the members of other denominations, that, if they would preserve the least show of consistency, they must either concede more, or withdraw what they have granted. They have most unreasonably and capriciously stopped, and fixed their encampment where no mortal before ever thought of staying for a moment. They have already made such near approaches to the great body of those whom we deem unbaptized, as places them at an unmeasurable distance from the leUer of the apostolic precedent, though in perfect harmony with its spirit ; while they preposterously cling to that letter, as the reason for re- fusing to go an inch farther. They remain immovable, (to change the figure,) not because they rest on any solid basis, but because they are suspended betwixt the love of the brethren, and the remains of intolerance; just as Mahomet's tomb is said to hang betwixt two magnets of equal powers, placed in opposite directions. The Scottish baptists (as I have been informed) act consistently. Conceiving, with Mr. Eanghom, that im- mersion, on a profession of faith, is a necessary introduc- tion to the cluristian profession, they uniformly abstain from a participation in sacred offices with the members of other societies, and, without pretending to judge of *their final state, treat them on every occasion as men, whose religious pretensions are doubtful. Whoever con- siders the import of the following passage, will be siu-- prised Mr. Kinghom should feel any hesitation in adopt- ing the same system. " It is granted," says our author, " that baptism is not expressly inculcated as a prepara- tive to the Lord's supper; neither is it inculcated as preparative to any thing else. But the Jirst act of chris- tian obedience is, of course, succeeded by the rest ; and the required acknowledgement of our faith in Christ, in the nature of things, ought to precede the enjoyment of the privileges which arise from faith."* By ihe first act of christian obedience, he unquestion- ably intends the reception of baptism ; and the meanin<^ of the sentence turns entirely on the word first. He de- signs to assert, that such is the prescribed order of reli- gious actions — that unless that ordinance is^^r^ attended to, every other performance is invalid ; that whatever it may be in itself, not occupying its proper place, it cannot lay claim to the character of a duty. We should be ex- tremely concerned at imposing a false construction on his words ; but if this is not his meaning, we despair of discovering it. But if our interpretation is just, unless we can conceive of a religion availing for eternal life, in the total absence of duties, it is equivalent to asserting, that none besides our own denomination possess true re- ligion. He expressly tells us every other duty must succeed, that is, must come after baptism, which, with respect to paedobaptists, is impossible on our principles ; whence it necessarily follows, that while they retain their sentiments, they are disqualified for the perform- ance of duty. The only conceivable method of evading this conclusion, is to make a distinction, and to affirm, that though baptism ought, agreeably to the institution of Christ, to precede the other branches of religion, yet that when it is omitted from a misconception or mistake, the omission is not of such magnitude as to prevent their being accepted. But should our author explain himself in this manner, he will not only coincide with us, but his argument for strict communion will be relinquished. Having acknowledged that "the connexion between baptism and the Lord's supper is not more directly marked in scripture, than between that ordinance and any other duty,"t were he now to make a distinction in favour of the sacrament, and confine the disqualification to that particular, he would be guilty of an express con- VOL. lU * B'lptism a Term of Comronnion, p. 30. t Ibid. p. 30. 226 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. x> tradiction. Nor are his words susceptible of such an in- terpretation. The assertion he makes is in the fonn of a general proposition ; which is, that all the duties of chmtianitj must succeed baptism, in contradiction to going before it ; and the disqualification for the Lord's supper, which he represents the psedobaptists as lying imder, is inferred solely from the consideration of its con- stitutmg a part of those duties. Thus much for the dtaies; let us next hear what he says oHheprivikges of Christianity. Baptism, which he styles the required acknowledgement of our faith in Christ, he tells us, "ought to precede the enjoyment of the priTi eges which arise from faith." They oughi to precede, but do they in fact ? Is it his opinion that all other sects^ as a punishment for their disobedience in one particular, are left destitute of the spiritual immuni- ties which flow from faith ? If it is not, it behoves him to reflect on the presumption of such a mode of speak- ing, which is little less than arraigning the wisdom of the great Head of the church, who dispenses his favours m a manner so different from that which he ventures to prescribe. Should he reply, that Jesus Christ, as a Sovereign, is at liberty to act as he pleases, but that we are under an obligation of adhering to the settled order ot his house. It is easy to perceive that this evasion is neither consistent with truth, nor sufficient to establish his consistency with himself. Are not his partizans in the daily habit of exhibiting towards the members of other societies, tokens of their fraternal regard, of in- viting them to every branch of christian fellowship, short ot admission to the sacrament ? Will they deny that the communion of saints, even in the absence of that in- stitution, IS an important privilege ? In the next place, to represent the bestowment of spmtual blessmgs on the great body of the faithful through the lapse of fifteen centuries, whose salvabihty. It IS confessed, is capable of demonstration from scrip- ture ; to speak of this, as an extraordinary and extra- judicial procedure, is to confound the most obvious dis- tinctions. REPLY 10 REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 227 The terms of salvation, which are, radically, feith and repentance, are clearly propounded in the word of God ; and surely it will not be doubted that multitudes out of the pale of our sect, have exhibited such proofs of their possessing these qualifications, that their enjoyment of the divine favour is not to be ascribed to a secret economy, similar to what has been conjectured by some to extend to virtuous pagans. Where revelation is silent, it becomes us to copy its reserve; but in the present in- stynce, so for is this from bein<; the case, that few propo- sitions are more susceptible of proof from that quarter, than that an error, with respect to a positive rite, is not fatal ; whence the necessary inference is, that the be- stowment of God's favours on such as labour under that imperfection, is a known part of his conduct : that it is not only Lis intention so to act, but that he has taken effectual care to inform us of it ; not, we presume, for the purpose of enabling us to contradict it, but as a pattern for our humble imitation. When the Holy Ghost fell upon the Gentiles, assem- bled in the house of Cornelius, though Peter had a short time before, doubted the lawfulness even of eating with them, he considered it as such a seal of the divine approbation, that he felt no hesitation in immediately admitting them all to the privileges of the church. He did not presume (with reverence be it spoken) to be stricter or more orderly than God. "Forasmuch," said he, " as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed, who was I that I should withstand God ?" a question which we presume to recommend to the se- rious consideration of Mr. Kinghom and his associates. The principle on which he justified his conduct is plainly this, that when it is once ascertained that an individual is the object of divine acceptance, it would be impious to withhold from him any religious privilege. Until it be shown that this was not the principle on which he rested his defence, or that the practice of strict commu- nion is consistent with it, we shall feel ourselves com- pelled to discard, with just detestation, a system of action which St. Peter contemplated with horror, as tcithstandr. . q2 'I ■«» REPLY TO BBV. JOSEPH KINGnOR.'*. hlfif f^ Z^^^ I consider it in this just and awful erfrrit^wWi.^'^ *'" corruption of a christian "S Iw r^' u", °PP:?'^- "^^ '""«' affects the This new doctrine, that the tenure by which relimnnc pnT^leges are held, is appropriated to thJmeX^ of one inconsiderable sect, must strike the serious reiser w^lh astonishment. Are we in reality the onrp^'^^ht pc^sess an interest in the common salratio^nHf we 2e not, by what t^tle do others possess it ? Certairiy notT^ ^ThT:^t:;'tht'h'i''^ ^'"'^' -exp^^t^" o? thp ]^i,?' u??*'"". '^'^t precede the enjoym?„t ot the pnyileges which arise from faith:* in^inh howeyer, he expressly contradicts himself, for h^ Z^Zi God 44>"r H^rLntC^Zf& "^ lose their justification unless they comply wTtht J in^ce or present us with the ^rtent^u^sXtrine of a jnstificat on which stands alone; a widowed and K»^„^ justification, productiye of no adrant^erits^l^;" Let It also be seriously considered, Whether the Zu SSe ^7b^'" '^^^ ^° "°* coincide w We £sr c^i Tutrtm- 5r;srm:5S .he highest spiritual benefits to^r^ilS^^aSn/ or ceremonies, independent of the cha^^ra^d^i'T' T:Vl£,irofZ:t- ^— P'^T^^e^elTetes'tC ine ceremony of baptism secures to the unconscious mfant, by its intnnsic efficacy, the infusion of r^^e^^ i-g grace, without regard to the intention or d^oXn * Baptism a Term of Commanion, p. 40. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 229 1 of the parties concerned ; and that the element of bread in the sacrament operates in the same manner in procur- ing the pardon, and augmenting the grace, of the com- municant. Hence the members of that church lay little stress on the exercise of faith, and the cultivation of holj dispositions, compared to the dependence they place on " bodily exercise," on masses, penances, auricular con- fessions, and a multitude of external observances, which form the substance of their religion. Consistent protes- tants, on the contrary, while they conscientiously attend to every positive institute, according to the measure of their light, look upon the few and simple ceremonies of the gospel, as incapable of affording the smallest benefit apart from the dispositions and intentions with which they are performed ; agreeably to the doctrine of our Saviour, who tells us, that " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." To expatiate on the incalculable mischiefs which have arisen from the Romish doctrine, is foreign to our pur- pose ; suffice it to remark that it is held in just detesta- tion by all enlightened christians. Our business is to show the coincidence of Mr. King- horn's principles with that most dangerous and exploded tenet. He contends that the mere absence of a cere- mony, or if you please, an incorrect manner of performing it, is, of itself, sufficient, exclusive of every other consi- deration, to incur the forfeiture of christian privileges ; of the privileges in general which arise from faith.* It is not, according to him, merely the forfeiture of a title to the eucharist which it involves ; th€it^ he informs us, is not more affected by it than any other privilege : it is the universal privation of christian immunities which is the immediate consequence of that omission ; and, as he acknowledges that many to whom it attaches are regene- rated, they must consequently be endowed mth right dispositions. For what is that renovation of mind which can exist without them ? But if such as are possessed of these in the most eminent degree, which he acknowledges * Baptism a Term of Commaoioo, p. 30. 230 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGIIORN. ^ nl 18 the case, with some psedohaptists, are yet deharred trom spiritual privileges, wherein does this differ from ascnbmg that efficacy to an external rite, which is sup- posed m the doctrine of the opus operatum : and if those who have faith are not entitled to the benefits wliich result from it, because a certain ceremony is wanting, Zr^u ^^ P*'^^*^^® *^ ascribe more to that ceremony ? Whatever degree of prejudice or inattention we may be disposed to impute to some of the advocates of infant baptism It would be the higliest injustice to comprehend them all under the same censure. There are those, no doubt, who, without adopting our views, have exercised as much thought, and exerted as much impartialitv, on ^e subject, as om- observation authorises us to eipect from the brightest specimens of human nature ; nay, this author admits tliat " it is possible they may be some of the most exalted characters in point of piety."* But it surely cannot be doubted that they who merit this enco- imum, are as conscientious in their performance of infant as we in the administration of adult, baptism ; and as they are, by the very supposition, actuated by dispo- sitions exactly the same, the pure intention of pleasing and glontying God, if we still conceive them deprived of the pnvileges which we possess, the difference must be asonbed merely to a ceremony, and the opus operatum returns m its full force. This however is too faint a statement. It returns in a form more aggravated ; for the papist only contends for a mysterious union betwixt the outward rite and the inward grace, to which the regenerating influence is immediately ascribed, and from which It IS considered as inseparable; whereas, on the present hypothesis, regeneration and faith are supposed to exist m the absence of the ceremony, but to be deprived of their prerogatives. The system of the papist exalts the ritual part of rehgion to an unwarrantable height, without depreciatmg the spiritual and internal ; the V tem ot my opponent does both. Thus I have endeavoured to examine, with the utmost * Baptism a Term of CammanioD, p. 30. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINQHORN. 231 care and impartiality, whatever our author has advanced, in order to prove the necessary connexion hetwixt the two positive ordinances under consideration. My apology for extending the discussion to a length, tedious, it is feared, to the reader, is, that this is the point on which the whole controversy hinges. As far as its real merits are concerned, I might therefore be excused from pmrsu- ing the subject farther. If the arguments of Mr. King- horn, on this head, are satisfactorily refuted, and the contradictions and absurdities into which he has fallen, laid open to the reader, he is akeady sufficiently an- swered. That he has taken different ground from his venerable predecessor, will not be disputed. He has argued from premises, and adopted principles, to which that excellent person made no approach. Mr. Booth, whatever was his success, remained on t&rrafirma : our author has attempted a flight beyond " the diurnal orb, but approaching too near the sun, his pinions are melted, and his fall will be conspicuous, in exact proportion to the elevation to which he has aspired. He was deter- mined to give the controversy a new and imposing aspect ; and, conscious that the practice which he undertook to defend had been hitherto rested on no very distmct basis, he determined to dig deep for a foundation, and in so doing, has disturbed the most received opinions, and endangered the most momentous truths. Were I permitted to prognosticate his fate, I should say that his paradoxical mode of defence, whatever applai^e it may meet with at present, will, in the end, be of in- finite injury to the cause ; and his treatise, like the little book in the Apocalypse, be " sweet in the mouth, and bitter in the belly." But though what has already been advanced, may be considered as comprehending all that is essential in the controversy ; as he has thought fit to introduce other topics, the reader is requested to exercise his patience, while we reply to his most important obser- vations on each of these ; after which we shall endea- vour to show the futiUty of the answer he has attempted to the principal arguments adduced in favour of our practice. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KIMGHORN. 233 y*fl PART II. «1E OOLLATHUL T0HC8 nmtODrCKD BS M«. KINOHORN CONSIDERED. CHAP. IV. TAe Charge <^ dupfming rmth a Christian Ordinance Amono the Tarious objections to the svstpm „« _• v to see universaUy adopted in our churcheT thl^! ^* aTht^r ''^ '"^^ "p^"" than S*v?rzr^ rh?i^°tS^trT:rr^oi?"^'" ^^°^ clear answer tothisL^Sn, yefSTtTs'al^f''"^'' forward by onr author, with S.I^te" o^c" a'f^'e^ reply may be deemed requisite. °° n ' "••' ' 244 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 245 But the advocates of mixed communion suffer to re- main in the church, persons who practise a certain cere- mony of human invention ; Therefore their conduct is sinfuL Who does not perceive that the second proposition has no necessary connexion with the first, and that the argu- ment is consequently invalid ? In order to establish his conclusion, it behoved the author to prove that we prac- tise and approve infant baptism, which he knows to be impossible. If pasdobaptists required our concurrence in what we esteem an erroneous practice, nay, if they re- fused us the liberty of protesting against it, there would be an analogy betwixt the two cases ; and as it is, there is none. We are bound by an express law to tolerate in the church those whom Christ has received ; and he has, by the acknowledgement even of our opponents, received the psedobaptists. The first of these positions we feel ourselves justified in affirming till it be disproved ; which this writer is so far from having done, that no attempt, we shall plainly make appear, was ever more unsuccess- ftd. But whether it be true, or not, that we are com- manded to act thus, such is our opinion ; and with this persuasion, we are not at liberty to act in a different manner. But will such as prescribe himian rites and ceremonies, pretend to act under a similar conviction, a conviction that they are bound by the law of Christ, to use the cross in baptism, to bow to the east, to kneel at the sacrament, and to exact as a term of communion, a compliance with these and other ceremonies, judged by themselves indifferent, and by us sinful? The most zealous champions of the hierarchy make no such pre- tension, and we may therefore very consistently censure them for enforcing, under such a penalty, the observa- tion of rites for which no divine precept is urged, while we tolerate paedobaptists in obedience to a divine injunc- tion ; unless it be the same thing to practise in the wor- ship of God, what it is allowed he has not commanded, and to comply with an express prescription. If the members of the establishment inquire. On what ground do you receive a pasdobaptist ? we reply. Because we are expressly commanded to receive him. But if we inquire in our turn, Why do you kneel at the sacrament, and exact that posture of all your communicants, is it affirmed that they will reply in the same manner ? It is not true, then, that mixed communion stands upon the same ground with the rites and ceremonies of the church of England; consequently, whatever be its merits or demerits in other respects, it may be maintained, in per' feet consistence with the principle of dissent- To the objection that it was as much unknown m the apostolic age as the ceremonies in question, we have ah-eady replied, that at that period it was impossible there should be any controversy on the subject of bap- tism, which was so recently instituted and so fully ex- emplified in the conduct of the apostles; but that now, when a question has arisen, what is baptism, a new case occurs, in the determination of which we must be guided by the precepts respecting mutual forbearance. To this the author replies in behalf of the churchman, '• Very well ; and when the emperors and kings of former days were converted to the christian faith, and were desirous of sanctioning the gospel by their character, thfeu: pro- perty, and their influence, another new case occurred, of which apostolic times knew nothing. When nations became generally christian, other new cases arose out of the new events of the time."* To this I answer. It is very possible, undoubtedly, for a churchman to utter the same words, and say a new case has arisen ; but unless he can say it with the same truth, it will be nothing to the purpose. There is no reason why we should not assert what is true, merely because a false assertion re- specting another subject may be couched in the same words. Is it true, or is it not, that a refusal to comply with a precept, knowing it to be a command of Chnst, is a very different thing from a mere misconception of the nature and import of that command : if it be, wiU it • Baptism aTenn of Comimiiuon, p. 124 246 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 247 11 ^* ft il {| i be asserted that such as had refiised to make a profession of his religion, in the way which they were conscious he had appointed, would have been just as excusable as the most candid and impartial of modern psedobaptists ? Unless he will assert this, the author must acknowledge that here is a new case, and that the question how we should treat the wilful contemner of legitimate authority, and the erroneous interpreter of scripture, involves sepa- rate inquiries. From a multitude of passages it is mani- fest, that he himself forms a very different opinion of the present psedobaptists, from what he would entertain of such as knowingly and deliberately resisted a positive command. He professes to give them entire credit for their sincerity, and to entertain a firm persuasion of their ready admission into the kingdom of heaven ; which would be absurd on the latter supposition. In maintam- ing a different conduct towards two descriptions of per- sons, between which there is acknowledged to be a total diversity of character, we are perfectly consistent; iinless it be asserted that judgement ought to have no influ- ence on conduct, nor action be controlled by principle. Let the impartial reader judge for himself whether it is possible, by any fair mode of argument, to infer from these premises the lawfulness of making the conversion of kings to Christianity a pretext for placing them at the head of the church, or of acknowledging their nght to model the worship of God at their pleasure. Yet tlus is asserted, and these portentous consequences are said necessarily to flow from our principles. It is a matter of some curiosity, what kind of syllogism wiU fairly con- nect the two following propositions. It is lawful to admit a pious psedobaptist to communion, because we are commanded to receive such as Christ has received. Therefore it is lawful to acknowledge a pious prince as head of the church, and to allow him to model its wor- ship as he pleases. We quoted a scriptural precept for the former ; will Mr. Kinghom favour us with something equivalent for the latter ; or will he remind us of the passages which assert Christ to be the " Head over aU things to the church," or those which command us to " call no man master upon earth ?" His reasoning in this, as in the former instance, is clogged with a twofold absurdity: first, he confounds toleration with concur- rence ; for they who contend for the right of a king to be head, I presume acknowledge him as such : secondly, because we may innocently do what is commanded, or rather are not permitted to do the contrary, he, with great simplicity, infers, we may lawfully venture on what IS forbidden. The same reasoning applies to the introduction of ceremonies, and completely invalidates his conclusion, that because we tolerate infant baptism, which we con- sider as a human invention, we cannot consistently de- part from the established church on account of the introduction of rites which we deem superstitious. He represents a churchman as addressing us in the following manner. " Is not forbearance to be granted to us also in what we deem right and expedient ? Suppose that we are weak brethren, as weak as you choose to repre- sent us; why should you not, even in pity to our weak- ness, tolerate us in adding a few things to the original institutions of the Lord, rather than leave us, and by schism rend the seamless garment of Christ?"* In reply to this, let me ask, Is the toleration of objectionable ceremonies sufficient to constitute a churchman ? or are we invited to be mere spectators of these observances, without joining in them? But do the psedobaptists, when they propose to commune with us, expect us to join with them in their practice of infant baptism ? How futile then is it to conclude, that because we are not to do evil that good may come, we must on no occasion bear with the imperfections we cannot remedy. Mr. Kinghom largely insists on the superiority of his Bptem to ours, on account of its being at a greater remove from the principles of the established church. " The strict baptist," he observes, " can set the church- man at defiance, while he tells him respectfully, but plainly, that his church is wrong in its very constitution, -* Baptism a Tennof CommaDion, p. 125. i 248 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. If i \ i i that It IS formed of materials different from those used by the baviour, and that these materials are united to- gether in a waj totally diverse from that of his institu- tion. * Had he succeeded in showing that his practice is alone consistent i^ith the principles of dissent, his argu- ment would have been to the purpose. But to found a claim to preference, merely on a wider deviation from the estal^ished church, is to take for granted, what is palpably false, that the established church, like the king- dom of darkness, is a mere mass of corruption and error, from which the farther we recede, we necessarily approach nearer to rectitude. That it comprehends many abuses, we sufficiently attest our conviction by our dissent ; but as it contains a mixture of good and evil, If we suffer ourselves to look with a more favoura- ble eye upon a doctrine, merely because its admission wdl remove us fiirther from the establishment, we may tali, ere we are aware, into the gulf of perdition. Upon tHis pnnciple we may embrace socinianism ; for socinians are, unquestionably, farther removed from the church than orthodox dissenters. We may embrace popery smce all sound catholics consider the church of Enffland as being in a damnable state. We always supposed it was the agreement of a doctrine with the "scriptures, not Its disagieement with any human system, which fomed Its taiie recommendation ; and that to consult our anti- &rj^fe!'"" ^' ^ "^^^^^' "- '^"^'y -^^"^- Hn^^^^ *^! ti*'f*^^^ T^^^^' ^^ °^^«» *o t^e constitu- tion of the estabhshed church, is as consistent with our principles as with his. Where a society embraces^ ' whole nation, and recognizes as her members all who ^ nn!^!"^ • °i ^f"^"" geographical Hmits, many who frL t Jll t ""^'f '' '! ^rP"^^^ ^^^^^*i^"y different fZiln f 1^'^ ^'"^"^ *^" P"^i^i^^ church, which consisted of such as were ;' called, and chosen, and faith- * Baptism a Term of Commanion, p. 127. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 249' fill." Of such an assemblage it is not too much to say, in the words of this writer, " that the whole body, taken in the aggregate, are of a different charcicter from that which is in the New Testament called a church of Christ : "* and as this reason for dissent, deduced from the indiscriminate mixture of good and bad, is not weak- ened or impaired by the practice of open communion, we are as much entitled as he is to all the advantage it affords. But when we are accused of using different materials in the erection from those which were originally admitted into the fabric, because we admit some who in our judgement are not baptized, we deny the charge, and acknowledge ourselves at a loss to conceive how " living jtones, built on the only true foundation," can essentially differ from each other on account of a transient cere- mony, unless it is affirmed, that sanctifying grace is a less powerful principle of attraction and assimilation than an external circumstance, and that Simon Magus bore more resemblance to the primitive christians than Rich- ard Baxter. We are at an equal loss to discover how a ceremony can impress a character. That immersion leaves no permanent corporeal mark, our senses assure us : is this character, then, impressed on the imderstand- ing, on the heart, or the imagination ? For the idea of a character which modifies and changes nothing, is as unintelligible to me as the doctrine of transubstantiation. What the writer means by appropriating to himself and his brethren the exclusive right of setting a church- man at defiance, is equally mysterious, especially as clogged with this condition, " as long as he can establish his propositions by sufficient proof." A wonderful pre- rogative indeed ! By setting him at defiance, he intends that he is secure of confuting Itis arguments, which it seems he is able to effect so long as he can establish the opposite propositions by sufficient proof. What is this more than affirming, that he is certain of being able to prove what he can prove ? — and as the churchman c«in Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 127. 250 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 251 t in' 'I I ;i M -.m 1 certainly do the same, they may each enjoy, upon thiB principle, the pleasure of mutual defiance and mutual triumph. He either insults the understanding of his readers hy the enunciation of a truism, or he means to assert that the practice he has undertaken to defend is so identified with the principles of dissent, that it is incapable of heing maintained without it. The falsehood of this as- sumption has been sufficiently evinced already ; in addi- tion to which, the reader is requested to reflect on the extreme imprudence of attempting to rest a controversy of such magnitude on so precarious a basis ; and to di- vide and distract a common cause, by encumbering it with the debate on baptism and the verbal subtleties of strict communion. To such a mode of defence the churchman might justly reply — Physician, heal thyself; convince your own denomination of the correctness of your rea- soning, before you presume to trouble us with the myste- ries of your cabala. Mr. Kinghom, in his zeal for baptism, intimates his conviction that the admission of infants to that ordinance will at once legitimate the constitution of the established church, and render a secession from it indispensable. He quotes, with apparent approbation, a long passage from Bishop Hall, intended to show that if the baptism of the church is valid, its constitution must be so also, which he prefaces by applauding that prelate's discern- ment, in seeing clearly their intimate connexion. " All your Rabbins," says the bishop, "cannot answer the charge of your rebaptized brother. If we be a true church you must return ; if we be not (as a false church is no church of God), you must rebaptize ; if our bap- tism be good, then is our constitution good."* Nothing can be more futile than this mode of arguing, which merely proves that the good bishop, with all his brilliance of genius, was but an indifferent reasoner. He thought himself justified in dissenting from the church of Rome, notwithstanding her baptism was ever esteemed validt * Baptism a Term of Commanimi, p. 129. By the ancient church, through all successive ages from the council of Nice, the rebaptization even of heretics was condemned ; though heretics were certainly not es- teemed a part of the church. The very society of which the bishop was a member, has always professed to con- sider baptism, administered by every class of dissenters in tiie name of the Trinity, as valid ; * so that if the reasoning extolled by Mr. Kinghom is just, he was guilty of schism in refiising to unite, at one and the same time, with heretics, Roman Catholics, and dissenters. Not satisfied with asserting that our principles miUtate against the lawfulness of dissent, he maintains that they are inconsistent with protestantism, and that, by neces- sary consequence, they convict Luther and his associates of schism and rebellion. In the treatise on Terms of Communion^ it had been urged, that if we believe our psedobaptist brethren to be in a state of salvation, we must acknowledge them as a part of the true church, and that to refuse them commimion is to create a schism in the body. Applying this reasoning to the case of the Roman Catholics, he attempts to repel it, by remarking that if " we have no right to refuse their communion with us till they conform to what we are convinced is the will of Christ, we had no right to leave them because they deviated from his will. The ground is in both cases the same. Once take away the obligation of conforming to the will of Christ, and the reformation is declared a mischievous insurrection, in which all protestants are involved as aiding and abetting a needless and schismat- ical project."t To this I reply, that to suppose us to take away the obligation of conforming in our omn, persons to the will of Christ, is to suppose us no longer christians. For, to deny the obligation of obedience, is at once to deny his authority ; which is equivalent to a formal renunciation of Christianity. But if he means that we are obliged to » See Sir John Niclioll's Judgement, delivered 11 Dec. 1809, in the case Kemp against Wickes, for refusing to bury an infant cbUd who had been baptized by a dissenting minister. — Ed. t Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 55. I 252 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 253 I*' demand in others a perfect compliance with his will, as a term of communion, he takes away the possibility of toleration ; for we can he said to tolerate nothing but what we disapprove, and we can assign no other reason for our disapprobation, besides its apparent repugnance to the mind of Christ His argument, therefore, is en- tirely nugatory. It is acknowledged that the lawfulness of admitting a Roman Catholic to our communion, sup- posing him to be a real christian, is a necessary inference from our principles ; hut to conclude from thence that we are obliged to adhere to Aw, is demonstrably false and sophistical ; nor is there the least pretence for asserting that the " ground in both cases is the same." Of two actions which involve consequences infinitely different, it is impossible the ground should be the same. To re- ceive a pious Roman catholic to our communion, implies nothing more than an acknowledgement of his being a member of Christ, which is true by the supposition : to commune with him in the rites peculiar to the Romish church, is to be guilty of gross idolatry and superstition, which, however pardonable it may be in him whose con- science is uninformed, in me who have no such plea would be damnable. Luther was necessitated to depart from the external communion of the church of Rome, if he would not partake in her corruptions, because her communion formed a principal part of those corruptions. Besides, since that church maintains the infallibility of all her decisions, and whoever ventures to promulgate a doubt respecting a tittle of her doctrine, is ipso facU) ex- communicated till he recants, when the light of truth revealed to Luther her enormities, it was not left to his option to continue in her society, or not, unless he would involve himself in the guilt of most horrid prevarication. He never pretended to depart from the Romish church absolutely, and in every thing, hut in those particulars only in which she had corrupted the doctrine of the gos- pel and adulterated the worship of God ; and, however highly he might estimate the advantages of unity, he could not purchase them at the expense of a good con- science, nor dare, by assenting to error or concurring in superstition and idolatry, "to do evil that good might come." But if a catholic, of whose piety he entertained no doubt, had offered himself for communion with him, without recanting popery on the one hand, or proposing to innovate in the worship of God on the other, on such a supposition, if Luther had refused to receive him, his conduct might bave been justly censured. Now, I would put it to the conscience of any impartial person, to deter- mine whether Luther would have had precisely the same reasons for declining this act of toleration, as for refusing his approbation of indulgencies, or his adoration of the mass. In exercising the forbearance in question, he would have merely attested the piety of the communi- cant ; in the other case he would have directly counte- nanced and supported what he esteemed impiety and idolatry. "With him who is prepared to assert, that each of these methods of proceeding are equally criminal, it is vain to dispute ; but if they are not, the assertion that the ground in both cases is the same, is undeniably false. Having detected the palpabk sophistry, by which my opponent would evince the inconsistency of our principles with the cause of protestantism and of dissent, it remains only for me to remind him of the facility vrith which the argument may be retorted, and of the striking resemblance between the system of strict communion, and that which is maintained by the churches of Eng- land, and of Rome. I. The Romish church, it is well known, pretends to an absolute infallibility ; not, however, in such a sense as implies an authority to introduce new doctrine, but merely in the proposal of apostolic traditions, and in the interpretation of scripture. While she admits the scrip- ture to be the original rule of faith, she requires, under pain of excommunication, that the sense she puts on its words should be received with the same submission with the inspired volume. In what respects, let me ask, is the conduct of the strict baptists different ? A contro- versy arises on the extent* of a positive rite, whether it should be confined to adults, or be communicated to 254 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 255 It ■ '1 i ,i i •i ! I ^ infants. Both parties appeal to the scripture, which the baptist interprets (in my humble opinion) correctly, in such a manner as to restrict it to believers ; the poedo- baptist, with equal sincerity, supposes it to include in- puts. While the former in his own practice confines it to the description of persons to whom he judges it to belong, he acts with unexceptionable propriety; but when, not satisfied with this, he insists upon forcing his interpretation on the conscience of his brother, and treats him precisely in the same manner as though he avowedly contradicted Christ and his apostles, what is this but an assumption of infallibility ? All that infallibility which the church of Rome pretends to, is the right of placing her interpretation of scripture on a level with the word of God : she professes to promulgate no new revelation, but solely to render her sense of it imperative and bind- ing : and if we presume to treat our fellow christians, merely because they differ from us in their construction of a positive precept, as unworthy of being recognised aa Christ's disciples, (the very words of this writer,) and disqualified for the communion of saints ; if we allow them "faith," while we deny them "obedience," and affirm them not to " revere Christ's authority, submit to his ordinances, or obey the laws of his house," we defy all the powers of discrimination to ascertain the difference of the two cases, or to assign a reason why we must ascribe the claim of infallibility to one, and not to the other. On another occasion Mr. Kinghom observes,* that the strict baptists show they understand the distinction between judging for others^ and acting on their own re- sponsibility. But in imposing their own sense of scrip- ture on their brethren, and affirming that on account of their differing from them, they do not " revere the au- thority of Christ," is either judging for others^ in every possible sense of the words, or the wTiter has made an impossible supposition. He adds, they allow that the pjedobaptists, on their own principles^ do right informing * Baptism a Term of Commanioo, p. 67. themselves into churches, and in commemorating the death of their Lord. And must they not do equally right, on their (ynm principles^ in baptizing infants, unless he will assert that the propriety of baptizing infants is not their principle ? If judging for others is supposed to involve a claim of infallibility, and on that account, and that alone, to be shunned, to attempt to vindicate the practice of our opponents fix)m that imputation will baffle the acutest intellect. 2. We have already observed the coincidence of our opponent's system with the doctrine of the opus operor- tum, or the intrinsic and mechanical efficacy of religious rites independent of the intention and disposition of the worshipper. The Roman catholic attaches such impor- tance to the rite of baptism, as to believe that when duly administered, it is necessarily accompanied with the par- don of sin and regenerating grace. The str ^t baptist maintains that its absence, where all other religi us quali- fications are possessed in the highest perfection i, which human nature admits, deprives the party of " the privi- leges of faith,"* and renders him an alien from the chris- tian church. Both the church of Rome, and the church of England, have devised terms of communion of their own^ and ren- dered it necessary for their members to comply with in- numerable things, besides those which Christ has enjoined as requisite to salvation. The lawfulness and propriety of doing so, is the palmxirium argumentum^ the main pillar and support of strict communion. Let this principle once be abandoned, and the present controversy is at an end, imless our opponents choose to assume new ground, by affirming the necessary connexion between baptism, as they administer it, and the attainment of etemad life ; and that they should not perceive the absolute necessity of proceeding so far, in order to be consistent, seems to approach to a judicial infatuation. 3. The adherents to the papal power claim to them- selves the exclusive appellation of the church : the airo- ♦ Baptism a Term of Commanion, p. 30. 256 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 257 gance of which pretension is faithfully copied hy the adyocates of strict communion. The former, however by confining salvation within her own pale, avoid the absurdity into which the latter fall ; who, while they affirm that the great body of the faithful are not entitled to that appellation, are obliged to distinguish between the mystical body of Christ and his church, which the scriptures expressly affirm to be one and the same. CHAP. VL The Propriety of Appealing in this Controversy to the peculiar Principles of the PcedobaptistSy hriejly examined and disctissed. It is due, in my apprehension, to the majesty of truth, that she should be defended only by truth, and that we should on all occasions abstain from attempting to increase her partizans by corrupt suffrages. Such are the suffrages she may accidentally gain by the influence of error. As she scorns to employ the aid of violence which is foreign to her nature, so, much less will she condescend to owe any portion of her ascendency to falsehood, which it is her eternal prerogative to confound and to destroy. He who wishes to enlighten the human mind, will disdain to appeal to its prejudices, and will rather hazard the rejection of his opinions, than press them as a necessary corollary from misconceptions and mistakes. If the decision of controverted questions is to be subjected to vote, and a superiority of numbers is to pronounce a verdict, the means by which they are procured is a matter of indifference : he who is most successful in enlisting popular humours and prejudices on his side, will infallibly secure the victory. To all legiti- mate argument, however, it is essential for the parties concerned to reason on principles admitted by both ; to take their stand upon common ground, and to adopt no medium of proof, of the truth of which, he who sug- gests it is not satisfied. How far Mr. Kinghom's management of the contro- versy, corresponds with these just requisitions, the im- partial reader will be at no loss to determine. In his zeal to increase the number of his partizans, he makes frequent and urgent appeals to the paedobaptists, with whom the point at issue can rarely, if ever, become a practical question, and who are, therefore, little interested in its decision. As they admit, without hesitation, the validity of our baptism, the question whether the right administration of that ordinance be an essential requisite to conmiunion, has no immediate relation to the economy of their churches : it interests them only in the case of those individuals who may be desirous of communing with baptist societies. As far as it concerns the neces- sity of that particular rite by which we are characterized, it is a controversy in which we are the only parties; and, however much we venerate the judgment of the religious pubUc, we cannot forget that their motives to a rigorous examination of the question, bear no pro- portion to ours. To them it is a theoretical inquinr, to us a practical one of the most serious moment. If, in appealing to them, however, Mr. Kinghom had con- structed his reasoning on principles common to baptists and paedobaptists, there had been no room for complaint. But, instead of this, he enumerates and marshals, with such anxiety, all the appendages of infant baptism, all it assumes, and all it infers, as so many irrefragable arguments for his hypothesis, that were we to juc^e of his sentiments from these passages alone, we should suppose him as tremblingly alive to the consistency of paedobaptists, as Eli to the preservation of the ark. He adjures them by every thing whi * Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 40. ever, would be to suppose him guilty of impeaching the validity of St. Paul's argument, who rests the obhgation of forbearance with the party whose cause he advocates, precisely on that ground. "For God hath received him." It is also inconsistent with his own statement, as given in the follovring passage, where he paraphrases the words just quoted in the following manner: — " There is nothing in the gospels, but what the Jews can believe and obey, though they retain their national partialities to the law ; and, therefore, since God does not reject them, but receives them into the christian dispensation, you should receive them also. But then, he adds, he receives them on their believing and obeying the gospel; and it is neither stated nor supposed that he receives them, not- withstanding they disobey it. And unless this be proved, the cause of mixed communion is not promoted."* We have here an explicit avowal that he considers none be- sides the baptists as received of Christ, in the sense the apostle intends, accompanied with a concession, that to prove they were, would furnish an irrefragable argument for our practice. It was certainly not without reason that he apologized for taking ditierent ground from Mr. Booth ; for here he is directly at issue with the venerable apologist. He frankly acknowledges the fact which Mr. Kinghom chal- lenges us to prove ; but attempts to evade the conclusion by remarking, " that it is not every one that is received of- Jesus Christ, who is entitled to communion at his table, but such, and such only, as revere his authority,"t &c. Amidst the contradictory statements of such formi- dable champions, who can only agree in their censures of us, while they are at variance among themselves respect- ing the most fundamental points — where one tells us we are not to commune with other denominations, though they are received by Christ, and the other because they are not received, — what course must he, who looks up with profound veneration to these great authorities, take? Where both propose to conduct him to the same place, * Baptism a Term of Gommuaion, p. 45. t Ibid. p. 62. 268 REPLY TO REV. J06EPH KINGHORN. but one directs him to the east, the other to the west, my humble advice is, to believe neither, but to exercise that liberty of thinking for himself, to which he is strongly invited by the perplexity and confusion of his guides. Our present concern, however, is with Mr. Kinghorn, who denies that psedobaptists are received by Christ, in the sense which St. Panl intended in the passage under consideration ; while he agrees with us, that it is upon that principle that primitive toleration rested. Let it be remembered that, while Mr. Booth inter- prets the word received, as signifying received into the divine fevour, Mr. Kinghorn contends for its meaning admitted into the church. But since many things must of necessity precede the act of external communion, and eveiy believer must be supposed, in some important sense, to be previously received of Christ, he qualifies, or explains his former language, by adding, " he receives them into the christian dispensation."* Let me crave the indulgence of the reader, while we endeavour to sift this matter to the bottom. 1. Whatever disparity may be contended for between the ancient dissensions and the modem dispute with the psedobaptists, it can by no means amount to a proof that » For the satisfaction of the reader, who may not possess Mr. King- horn's book, it may be proper to give the whole passage to which my reply is directed. •* Besides, the ezoression, God hath received him, ver. 8, desenes consideration. It clearly applies, as it is stated by the apostle, to the reception of the Gentiles ; and is an arfument with tlie Jewish chris- tians, not to reject those brethren who eat all tilings. And suppose it to be eranied that the expression applies to both parlies, (which appears intended in chap xv. 7) the sense, then, is evidently this, God receives not Gentiles onii/t but a/so Jews into the christian church, though they are encumbered with their Jewish prejudices. There is nothing; in the gospel but what Jews can believe and obey, though thev retain their national partialities to the law ; and, therefore, since God does not re- ject them, but receives them into the christian dispensation, you should receive them also. But then he receives them on their believing and obeytng the gospel, and it is neither stated or suoposed that he receives them notwit/is tanking they disobey it. And unless this be proved, the canse of mixed commonion is not promoted." — Baptism a Term qf Communion, p. 45. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KDfGHORN. 269 the latter are not comprehended under the clause in question (God hath received him). To reason thus— there were certain errors among the primitive professors which did not bar their admission into the church, but the error of the paedobaptist is of a very different kind, and therefore it must have that effect— would be to rea- son most inconclusively ; since all that can be justly m- ferred is, that it possibly may have that effect, though the former had not, the utmost point to which the argu- ment, from the dissimilarity of the two cases, is capable of being carried is, that the latter may possibly not be comprehended under the same rule: but whether our author has not disqualified himself fi:om urging it, will be the subject of future inquiry. ,,.,,. 2. The medium by which he attempts to establish his conclusion, is manifestly untenable, unless he chooses to retract a large portion of his treatise. His argument is this, that God receives "such, and only such, as believe and obey the gospel;" but other denominatwns disobey it, and are therefore not entitled to that privilege. Here, however, he is at issue with a greater than Booth — with the apostles themselves, one of whom declares that Christ " will appear in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel;" and another, classes such as obey it not, among the "ungodly and sinners," whom he solemnly warns of their fearful end. Either, then, the apostles were wrong, in denouncing destruction on such aa do not obey the gospel ; or Mr. Kinghorn, in loading the psedobaptists with that charge, while he ex- presses a confidence of their salvation. Nor will it avail him, in the least, to say they do not obey it perfectly; for we should feel no hesitation in retorting the charge, and affirming that, had he done so, he would not have penned this passage 3. As he must, on his system, distinguish betwixt being in a state of salvation, and " bein^ received into the christian dispensation" there are a few questions, to which we should be glad to receive an explicit answer. He will acknowledge, we presume, that every believer is first united to Christ, and received by him, before he is f 270 KEPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 271 entitled to tlie external communion of his church ; that his right to the latter is founded on the credible evidence he gives of his interest in the first of these privileges. If this be admitted, it must hold equally true respecting the Jewish and Gentile converts, whose mutual toleration is enjoined in the passage under dispute. Now, I ask, ac- cording to nhat dispensation were these primitive be- lievers united to Christ, and accepted of him, previous to their external communion ? Was it according to the christian dispensation, or some other ? If the reply is, the christian ; I ask again, are our paedobaptist brethren in possession of the same privileges as were enjoyed by the primitive converts, before their external communion with the chiu-ch ? If they are not, they are not entitled io the appellation of christians in any sense, and conse- quently could not be admitted to communion, even though they were baptized. If, on the other hand, it is acknowledged that they are possessed of the same privi- leges, the question returns, bt/ what dispensation are they held ? If he denies it to be by the christian, I ask once more, how he acquired this persuasion of their possess- ing the privileges in question ? He surely will not pre- tend to have obtained it in any other way than by an attentive perusal of the New Testament, by comparing the character of pious paedobaptists with that of the pri- mitive christians, as well as with the marks and criterions by which it has directed us to judge of a state of salva- tion ; so that the favourable opinion he professes to entertain, must rest on the evidence which the principles of the christian dispensation supply. But to say that the maxims of that dispensation oblige him to beUeve that a class of persons are interested in its promises, whom that very dispensation does not comprehend, although they live under it, is a contradiction in terms. It is equivalent to asserting, that the gospel economy passes opposite sentences on the same persons, and affords evidence for their seclusion and admission, at one and the same moment. It seems evident to a de- monstration, then, that agreeable to his own conces- fiions, other denominations^ as well as our own, are received into the christian dispensation ; that by virtue of its essential principles, they are entitled to its immu- nities and privileges, and have consequently a right to the external communion of saints, on a double account ; first, because such communion is one of its distinguish- ing benefits, and next, because they are included amongst the persons whom the Head of the church has received, which our author interprets, by being admitted into the christian dispensation. For the same reason, all that he has said elsewhere, of our not being authorized, by the New Testament, to re- cognise them as the disciples of Christ, necessarily falls to the ground ; for, since he can have no pretence for believing them in a state of salvation, except on the in- formation derived fi-ora the New Testament, which cer- tainly promises salvation to none but Christ's disciples ; we are not only allowed but impelled by that highest authority, to recognise them under that character. Hia attempt to nullify their profession is also rendered com- pletely abortive; for, not to repeat what was before urged, since they profess neither more nor less than to adhere to the christian dispensation, it will not be denied, that, if they are actually received into it, that profession is valid. Let it be remembered, that, in deducing these conse- quences, we have allowed him to interpret the disputed phrase in his o^vn way, without contending for the sense which is most agreeable to the context, as well as most favourable to our hypothesis; and without attempting to impugn the accuracy of his representation, of the dis- sensions and disputes which occasioned the injunction, and gave scope to the exercise of primitive forbearance. 4. Though that inquiry might be well spared, without injury to our argument, yet his account of these ancient controversies is so egregiously partial, so palpably de- signed to serve an hypothesis, that truth forbids me to suffer it to pass without animadversion. In a long and perplexed dissertation, he endeavour." to establish a dis- tinction between indulging a needless scrupulosity in doing what is not commanded, and disobeying an ex- Vi ! li i 272 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHOBN. ^ precept ; -ten^ *^t tC^.-'Z - ^^^ tolerated were of die t<>™«ff^ ^ ^^^ neither merely respected certain °^™^f ^te'^onsidered as forbidden nor ^"J"™^ Aut wWch^e christian re- ,^,«p.^<^ tUm^ -"^f ^:^' Les t^em to disputes about ligion IS silent. He co™P~|; . - r g^ery person «^% "t^'elSftel^SrbSrXIi ^.*>e ^ *"?"fl fl^^ the different modes of proceeding cereUies, at ^-f ^^P^^^J SveTS Jevrish they were l^^^-^^Prf^^^ois parts of scripture; extraction is manifest from !^°^ P!^ j^ expressly a^d,.,ith reject ^Jechu^hatJe^^^^^ ^ ^ed l^y^ /Tw many thousaJ.d Jews there aje addr^smg Paul, ^^^'^ze^Xo^ for Ae law." The who beheve, and they are au * assertion aposde of the GenUles, with all ''"J**' JV"* . ^j iiheir Uberties, conformed to them himseU, ^anij ' :i.*»k» aavs "to the following:— At no • "The ca«e "J^^^k !h'e pLX'op^on was, that the earth great distance of time back, the poplar ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ was a fixed body, and that ^f .f^J" ^^X The contrary appeared so bat an actual revolubon roondlthe earth.^^1^^^^ ^^^ unlikely, so contrary to daily ^^J'7°V^^^^^^ way, and laughed to admit it. Some '««^°1;„^;}^" Xr '^^^^ to the Bible at what they thought was »^«."/j ^.X^^^ ris^and did set, and as settline the PO'^t^^y/'^^^f^.tTilnded to «^ «^'- ^"^ "**" on one Jistin^mshed day was commanded to swn ^^^ ^^^ were to be found on ^^ «f Jnltt'^hStenacTas believers some senons characters »° J^^f "^'^J^ti^ ^„ that moved, had occa- that the earth stood still, «°^ .^^jJ^T^i^s^e of their bretl.ren thst «oned a l.tt e ""P^^f^^^^^Z K oTivoH at their remarks, were were better »«?<>^r^;.^"**ft JfA .V/e^^^^^^^^^ for want of religion, for eicommanicatmgtheiu for want ol 8eMe,"^oi Z. fitly would the arf e.s 7^^^^^ ^ ^are'^orfbLrgeable with actly on these prmcioles, »«?« J^ ™. ■ j^at they are bad as- b«aking «;^,t?rn£^ but «^^^^^ -ceived thlm ,- do you {SiXe'^eTelve Lm^S^^^^^^^ of meekness and love.-B«>..«» a Term qf Commmum, pp. 49, oU. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHoAN. 273 from respect to the Jewish people, whom he was most anxious, by every lawfiil compliance, to conciliate, and partly from a tender consideration of the infirmities of his weaker brethren, not yet sufficiently confirmed in the freedom of the gospel. " To the Jews he became a Jew, that he might win the Jews." But while he displayed this amiable and condescending spirit, he never disguised Lis conviction, that the obligation attached to the Mosaic rites was dissolved, and that the gospel was alone a per- fect rule of faith and practice. Thus far an attention to the law was justifiable, and founded on the most enlightened principles. Many, how- ever, probably the great majority, proceeded a step far- ther, and observed the legal ceremonies, not as the dictate of prudence, or for the purpose of conciliation, but as matter of conscience, conceiving them to be still in force. These composed that class of believers who are denomi- nated weak, whose infirmities the strong, christians of a more enlightened order, were commanded to bear with. The error which these persons maintained was of serious magnitude ; for, in the very face of an inspired apostle, who affirmed the law of Moses to be abrogated and an- nulled by the advent of Christ, they still pertinaciously adhered to it, as a matter of personal and indispensable obligation ; and, though they attempted to revive and perpetuate an antiquated system, an 'economy which the gospel had completely superseded, and which went, by no circuitous route, to impeach the sufficiency and per- fection of the latter, their complete toleration was so- lemnly and repeatedly enjoined on their more enlight- ened brethren. This error is compared by Mr. Kinghom to an erro- neous system of astronomy, and is consequently considered as totally indifferent. But how he could possibly believe this himself, or hope to obtrude it on the creduhty of his readers, is astonishing. To attach the sanction of reli- gion to a system which the Supreme Legislator had repealed— to scruple various kinds of meat, at the very moment that St. Paul was testifying the Lord Jesus had shown him that nothing was unclean of itself; and after VOL. in. X II 274 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. Peter had proclaimed the yision by which he was m- f^^ed that the distinction of clean and uncleanw^ Tlfshed betrayed a de.^.e of -P-t^t^-/;^^^i^ and pertinacity, most foreign from a mistake on a merely Sific subject. Were a converted Jew at present Jo determine to adhere to the Mosaic ntual, [^^^^^^^^ Mr Kinghom whether he would consider his conduct ^ enS to the same indulgence as though he scrupled to adopt the Newtonian system of the ^^^^^.^J . , StUl he ^vill reply, that his error is of .^ different^^^ from that of the Wobaptists ; he is guilty of no omis- sion of a revealiduty, while they set a.ide a positive i^itute of Christianity. It is by this v«e the primitire christians itom entering into the views of their divine Master, that, when a " number of them were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, they went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the gospel to the Jews only." That highly favoured people, elated with the idea of its religious preeminence, looked down with con- tempt on other nations ; while it appropriated the king- dom of God to itself, as its exclusive patrimony, without suspecting for a moment that it was the design of the Almighty to admit a different race of men to an equal participation of the same privileges. Under the influ- ence of these prejudices, the first heralds of the gospel slowly and reluctantly imbibed its liberal and compre- hensive spirit. Nor is this the only instance in which Mr. Kinghom himself will be found to approve of the toleration of such as have habitually neglected a positive command. The great majority of our own denomination, influenced principally by the writings of Gill and Brine, admirers of Crisp, held, to a very recent period, that it was im- proper to urge sinners to repentance, or to enjoin upon them the duty of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.* • It is bot justice to the memory of the great and excellent Fuller, to observe, that it is to his writings chiefly our deDomination is indebted, for its emancipation from these miserable shackles and restraints. The aathor might have added here, the name of hia ezcelleot and venerable fiither. — ^Ed. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 279 Their practice, it is needless to add, corresponded -with their theoiy, and they anxiously guarded against the inculcation of any spiritual duties whatever, on the un- converted. My respectable opponent is, I am aware, at a great remove from these sentiments ; and the main reason he would assign for rejecting them, is, that our Saviour commenced his ministry by calling men to re- pent, and that " he commanded his apostles to testify every where repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." But if such be his reasons, he must acknowledge that the eminent persons before men- tioned, in declining to perform what our Lord com- manded his apostles, neglected or broke a divine pre- cept. But is he prepared to affirm that they were not members of the church ? Will this sturdy champion of the strict baptists be ungracious enough to pass a sen- tence of excommunication on the majority of his pre- cursors in this controversy? Unless he is prepared for this, he must acknowledge that the right of toleration extends to such as neglect, or violate, a revealed pre- cept. It is imnecessary to remind the reader of the magnitude of the error in question, which would at once have annihilated the apostolic commission, by ren- dering it impossible to preach the gospel to any creature^ since there were in the Gentile world none to whom it could, on this principle, be addressed. The whole ceremony of baptism sinks into insignificance in the comparison. In answer to his challenge we have produced two cases, in which toleration has been extended to such as neglect or violate a divine precept; the first taken from the holy apostles, the second from our fathers and predecessors in our own denomination. The reader is requested to advert to the interminable discord and dissension with which this principle is replete. The principle is, that whenever one christian deems an- other to hve in the neglect and violation of a positive command, however conscientious he may be, he must renounce the communion of the party which he supposes erroneous. Who does not perceive, that the application Hi I 1 1 ''1 280 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORIf* lit of such a principle ^vill furnish a pretext for endless dis- pute and contention ; that not only a different interpre- tation of the law of baptism will be a sufficient occasion of division, but that whoever supposes that any branch of the primitive discipline has Mien into disuse, will feel himself justified, nay, compelled, to kindle the torch of discord, and to separate chief friends ? If no latitude is to be allowed in interpreting the will of Christ, no indulgence shovim to such of the faithful, as from a deficiency of light, neglect and overtook some part of his precepts, how is it possible the practice of reciprocal exclusion should stop within the limits which this author has assigned it? Are there two thinking men to be found, who are fuUy agreed respecting all the minuter details of chnstian discipline and worship ? Are they fully agreed on tlie question of what was the primitive discipline, much less, how far a conformity to it is either proper or practicable ? Who, that is competent to speak on such subjects, is not aware, that there are no ques- tions mvolved in greater obscurity tban these, none on which the evidence is less satisfactory, and which more elude the researches of the learned, or administer more aliment of dispute to the contentious ? One class of christians believes that a plurality of elders is essential to the organization of a church, because the scripture always speaks of them in the plural number; and confi- dent that such is the will of Christ, he dares not recog- nize as a church, one in which that circumstance is wanting. Another attaches importance to weekly com- munion, which he justly contends was the uniform prac- tice of the apostles, and of the primitive age : a con- fomity to which, in this particular, is with him an indispensable condition to communion. A third turns his eyes towards lay exhortations, the disuse of which he considers as practically superseding some of the plainest passages of scripture, quenching the Spirit, and abndging the means of religious improvement ; he con- sequently scruples the communion of those by whom this ordinance is neglected. A fourth adverts to the solemnity with which our Lord exemplified and enjoined >. * RKPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINQHORN. 281 the washing of feet, and the frequency with which the apostles inculcated the kiss of charity ; and having no doubt that these injunctions are of perpetual obligation, feels himself necessitated to withdraw from such as by neglecting them, " walk disorderly." A fifth contends for the total independence of churches, conceiving that the cognizance of ecclesiastical causes is, by divine right, vested in the people, who are to determine every thing by a majority of votes ; in opposition to those who con- tend for a church representative ; and, believing such an arr^igement to be an important branch of the will of Chnst, he conscientiously refuses the communion of those societies which decline to adopt it. These different systems are, no doubt, distinguished by different degrees of approximation to truth ; but what is of importance to remark, however they may differ in other respects, they agree in this, that upon the principle we are attempting to expose, they furnish, to such as adopt them, just as reasonable a pretext for separate communion as the disagreement respecting baptism ; nor is it possible, if that principle be admitted, to reconcile the independent exercise of intellect with christian unity. The instances already adduced are a mere scantling of the innumerable questions which would give occasion to a diversity of judgement respecting the mind of Christ, and consequently necessitate the withdrawment of chris- tians from each other. The few societies that have attempted to carry this theory into practice, have aheady exhibited such a series of feuds and quarrels, as are amply sufficient to ensure its reprobation ; and merely because they have acted more consistently, they have acted much worse than the greater part of the churches who practise strict communion. Let this principle Be once established, and fairly acted upon, and there is no question but that divisions will succeed to divisions, and separations to separations, until two persons possessed of freedom of thought will scarcely be found capable of walking together in fellowship; and an image of the infinite divisibility of matter will be exhibited, in the breaking dovm of churches into smaller and smaller Hi l«l i:-----" 282 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. portions. An admirable expedient, truly, for keej^g "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace !" That there is no hjrperbole in this representation will be obvi- ous, if we do but consider the difficulty of procuring an entire unanimity in the interpretation of those parts of scripture which are supposed to relate to the will of Christ, in the organization and constitution of his church. 6. There is one important consideration to which the reader is requested to attend, before we dismiss this branch of the subject. My opponent asserts, that none besides our own denomination are comprehended within the clause in which the apostle affirms the reception of erring christians. He acknowledges, that if it can be proved that they are included under tiiat description, the precept of toleration extends to their case, and that the only question at issue is, whether they are so or not, which he, in opposition to Mr. Booth, denies.* The reader is entreated seriously to consider the necessary re- sult of this position, whether it does not amount to a repeal of the Scriptures, considered as the rule of faith and manners. It will not be denied that the promises and precepts of the New Testament are uniformly ad- dressed to the same description of persons, with those particular injunctions under present discussion, and that under the terms strong and w«i^, by which are designated the two respective classes, who are commanded mutually to bear with each other. Nor can we hesitate whether the disputed phrase, God hath received him^ ought to be interpreted in the same extent. As the inscriptions pre- fixed to the inspired epistles determine to whom they were addressed, so that which was written to the Ro- mans is inscribed to " all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints ;" and not a syllable is found in ♦The author of Terms qf Communion observes, "that the question at issue is not what were the individual errors we are commanded to tolerate, but what is the ground on which that measure is enforced, and whether it be sufficiently comprehensive to include the paedobaptists." In reply to which Mr. Kinghorn sets out with remarking, "1 admit that u the question, and the decision of this question will determine, whether the precepts of the gospel will sanction us in departing from apostolical precedent,** &c. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 283 the precepts respecting mutual forbearance, comprised in the 14th and 15th chapters, which limits them to any particular part of that church, in distinction from the whole. They were intended for the universal regulation of the conduct of the members of that community to- wards each other. The epistles of the rest of the apostles also, though directed to the inhabitants of different places from that to the Romans, are uniformly ascribed to the same de- scription of persons, as will be manifest on their inspec- tion ; or, in other words, the supposed genuine followers of Christ in that age, are the persons to whom the epis- tolary parts of the New Testament are directed ; and consequently, universal precepts enjoined on any one society, must have been considered as equally binding on all the faithful. On any other supposition, each church would have possessed a distinct code, instead of the inspired writings at large being regarded as the uni- versal rule of faith and practice. Hence it follows that the seven churches of Asia, as well as those who were scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia, supposing them acquainted with the Epistle to the Ro- mans, would have been under the same obligation of observing its injunctions with the christians at Rome. But among the various precepts intended to regulate the conduct of christians, comprised in the code of inspira- tion, such as enjoin mutual forbearance with each other's imperfections and infirmities, hold a conspicuous place, and the rule propounded on that occasion we perceive to have been universally obligatory on believers of that generation. When we propose to extend the same method of pro- ceeding to our paedobaptist brethren, in the present day, we are repelled ; and my opponent reminds us, that we are not authorized to assign, in the present case, the rea- son for forbearance which was urged by St. Paul, because they are not received^ in the sense which he intended. The reason itself, he acknowledges, would be a sufficient justification, could the fact on which it proceeds be esta- blished, but he denies the feet. ji 284 BEPLT TO REY. JOSEPH KINOHORN. It] -I h ' 1 Their eiror, it is asserted, is of such a nature, that it places them totally out of the question, and whatever is said on the subject of mutual forbearance in the New Testament, is, in the present state of things, to be consi- dered as applicable merely to the conduct of baptists to- ward each other ; from which it necessarily follows, that no part of the precepts or promises of scripture can be proved to apply to the great body of believers, at present, not even to such as appear pre-eminent in piety ; for all these precepts and promises were originally addressed precisely to the same description of persons, with the injunctions in question ; and as it is contended that these belong at present only to baptists, by parity of reason, the former must be restricted to the same limits. On this principle, there is not a syllable in the New Testa- ment from which a pasdobaptist can derive either conso- lation or direction, as a christian ; not a single promise which he can claim, nor a single duty resulting from the christian c^ling with which he is concerned ; for the class of persons to whom these were originally addressed, was one and the same with those on whom the duty of mutual forbearance was inculcated. The inscription of the Epistle to the Romans is of the same extent with the injunctions contained in the 14th and 15th chapters, and no greater ; the same description of persons are evidently addressed throughout. It was the taints^ the beloved of God, mentioned in the begin- ning of the letter, who, on account of their common re- lation to the Lord, were commanded to bear with each other 8 infirmities. Now, if it be asserted that infant baptism is an error so different from those which were contemplated by the Author, in that injunction, that its abettors stand excluded from its benefit, how will it be possible to prove that they are taints^ that they are beloved of God, or that any of the attributes ascribed to christians in that epistle, belong to them ? Mr. Kinghom may of- finn, if he pleases, that the characteristic descriptions are i^plicable, whQe the injunctions under discussion are not He may afiirm, but how will he prove it ? since both are addressed to the same persons, and the injunc- tion of forbearance enjoined alike on them all. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 285 From a letter, consisting partly of affectionate con- CTatulations, and partly of serious advice, both intended for the comfort and direction of the same persons, to infer that the congratulations apply to Christians of all denominations, and the advice to one only, is capricious and unreasonable. The same conclusion holds good respect- ing the whole of the New Testament. Whatever is afl&rm- ed in any part of it respecting the privilege of primitive believers, was asserted primarily of such only as were bap- tized, because there were no others originally in the church; all the reciprocal duties of christians were, in the first in- stance, enjoined on these ; among which we find precepts enforcing, without a shadow of limitation, the duty of cultivating christian fellowship. But the last, our oppo- nents contend, are to be restricted to baptists ; whence it necessarily follows, unless we had some independent evidence on the subject, that the former must be restricted in the same manner ; and that, consequently, all other denominations, however excellent in other respects, are left without any scriptural proof of their interest in the divine favour, or any directions for that part of their conduct which concerns their christian obligations. Were there, indeed, any other medium of proof besides the writings of the apostles, of equal authority, by which it were possible to supply their deficiency, the case would be different. From this independent source we might possibly learn the fact, that other denominations, also, were included within the promise of eternal life : but while our knowledge on the subject is derived from one book, whose precepts for the regulation of the conduct of believers towards each other universally, are affirmed not to extend to our intercovu^e with paedobaptists, it is impossible to establish that conclusion ; for, to attempt to limit the application of scripture in one part, and to make it universal in another, where both were originally intended to be taken in the same extent, is plainly un- reasonable. Ill 286 CHAP. VIII. Oil ihs Argument for Mixed Communion, founded on th$ PwdohaptisU being a Part of the true Church, The author of Terms of Communicm founded an argument for the admission of sincere christians, of CTery denomination, to the Lord's tahle, on their being a part of the true church. He remarked, that whenever that term occurs in scripture, in relation to spiritual matters, it constantly denotes, either members of a particular community, accustomed to meet in one place, or the whole body of real believers, dispersed throughout the world, but considered as united to one head ; that this body is expressly afl&rmed to be the body of Christ, of which every genuine believer is a member ; that we are seriously warned against whatever tends to promote a schism in it ; and that these admonitions are directly repugnant to the practice, under any pretext whatever, of repelling a sincere christian from commu- nion. If we allow the identity of the church of Christ with his body, which St. Paul expressly affirms, and which he assumes as the basis of his whole train of reasoning, the conclusion we have drawn results from it so immediately, that the attempt to place it in a clearer light seems a waste of words. If the alienation of affec- tion which prevailed in the church at Corinth was suffi- cient to constitute a schism, much more is a rupture of communion. But a schism or division in the body, the apostle deprecates as one of the greatest evils, as tending immediately to its destruction, as well as most repugnant to the scope and genius of Christianity. " Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ?*** " As the body is one, and hath many mem- bers, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." Here the unity of the » 1 Cor. i. 13, 13. REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINOHORN. 287 church is most clearly affirmed ; and whatever tends to divide it is stigmatized xmder the notion of an attempt to divide Christ himself. The reader will probably feel some curiosity to know how Mr. Kinghom will reconcile his hypothesis with these statements ; whether he is prepared in contradic- tion to the apostle, to deny the identity of the church of Christ with his body, or whether, acknowledging this, he will yet contend for the necessity of dividmg it, in opposition to his solemn injunctions. He will be a little surprised at finding that he makes no reply whatever ; that he is speechless, and, without attempting to rebut the argument, turns aside to other subjects, on which he contents himself with repeating what he has already asserted times without number. For what purpose he announced his intention to discuss this topic, it is not easy to conjecture ; unless he flattered himself with the hope of finding some good-natured readers, who would give him credit for having done what he avowed his intention of performing. Be this as it may, not a word escapes him throughout the chapter, from which it is pos- sible to learn whether he considers paedobaptists as a part of the church or not, the affirmation or denial of which is essentially involved in the discussion. The only answer he attempts to the preceding reason- ing is included in an assertion, the fallacy of which has already been amply exposed. " Once take away the ob- ligation," saith he, " of conforming to the will of Christ, and the reformation is declared a mischievous insurrec- tion, in which all parties are involved in aiding and abettiQg a needless and schismatical project. But if it be right to leave good men, because they have left Jesus Christ, it is right not to admit them till they come to his terms.** To which it is sufficient to reply, that to leave good men, that is, to refuse to join with them in those particulars in which we suppose them to have deviated from the will of Christ, is the necessary dictate of alle- giance ; but to refrise to walk with them, as far as we * Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 53. ^^mm 288 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 289 !■ are agreed, to repel them from our communion, on ac* count of errors and corruptions, in which we are under no necessity of participating, is a very dififerent afiair ; it is an assumption of infallibility, and a deliberate in- vasion of the rights of conscience. The logical force of Mr. Kinghom's conclusion, is exactly on a footing with that of the following argument If it be right to leave my friend when he repairs to the gaming-table, it is right not to admit him into my house, till he has relinquished the practice of gaming. If I must not go with him to the theatre, I must renounce all sort of intercourse with him, until he has abandoned theatrical amusements : a conclusion to which a stem moralist may easily be supposed to arrive, but which no correct reasoner will attempt to deduce from these pre- mises. That the mystical body of Christ is one and one only, and that all sincere believers are members of that body, is so clearly and unequivocally asserted in the sacred Scriptures, that it would be trifling with the reader to enter into a formal proof of a proposition, so obvious and so undeniable. The wildest heretical extravagance has never proceeded so far, as to ascribe two or more mys- tical bodies to the same Head, or to deny that Christ is, in that character, really and virtually united to all the ^thfiil. It is equally certain that the term church, whenever it is applied to denote the whole number of believers diffused over the face of the earth, is identified in scripture with the body of Christ. The church is in more passages than one affirmed to be his body. " He is the head Of the body, the church. Who now rejoice," saith St. Paul, " in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body 9 sake, which is the church."* In the language of scripture, two classes of men only are recognised, believers and unbelievers, the church and the world ; nor is it possible to conceive, in consistency with the dictates of in^spiration, of a third. All who are * Col. i. 18-24. Eph. V. 33, 30, 32. in Chnst are m a state of salvation; all who belong to the worid, in a state of spiritual death and condemna- tion. « The former are in him that is true, even in his fcjon Jesus Christ ; the latter, the whole world, Keth in the wicked one." If we aUow ourselves to imagine a description of persons, who, though truly sanctified in Uinst Mid united to him as their Head, are yet no parts ot his church, we adopt a Utopian theory, as unfounded and extravagant as the boldest fictions of romance. It IS the church, and that only, if we believe the inspu-ed writers, which " Christ so loved as to give himself for it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it /' it is that alone, which " he will present to himself, a glorious church, not navmjg spot or wrinkle."* It is strange that Mr. Kinghom should not explicitly inform us, whether paedobaptists are, or are not, to be considered as a part of this universal church. This he ought certainly to have done, or have declined entering on a branch of the controversy which, he must be aware hinges entirely on that point. If they are admitted to be a part of his church, and he still contends for their exclusion, this is fonnally to plead for a schism in the body ; it is to justify the forcible separation of one mem- ber from another, and to destroy the very idea of its unity. On this principle, the pathetic exhortations to perfect co-operation and concord, drawn from the beau- tiful analogy betwixt the mvstical and natural body, in- sisted upon in the first Epistle to the Corinthians' are completely superseded ; and one member, instead of being prohibited from saying to another, " I have no need of thee," is taught to shrink from the contact, as a con- tamination. Whenever we are invited to concur in practices which we esteem erroneous or corrupt, our refusal to comply is justified by a principle the most obvious and the most urgent, the previous obligation of obeymg God, rather than man ; but if we object to a transient act of communion with a member of the body of Christ, on account of those errors or corruptions in VOL. UL * Ephes. V. 2r. i If' ti i } ' !; 1 ;l" I. 1 i ' 1 i ijji: 1 1 ' iii 290 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. which we are not called to participate, we are guilty of dividing that hody. The reason of my adverting to a tramient act, is, that I am supposing the cause of sepa- Tation to rest with us, and that a member of a different community proposes merely to unite in an occasional com- memoration of the ineffable love of the Redeemer, without either a formal renunciation of the pecuhanhes ot his sect, or an attempt to introduce them. In such cur- cumstances, occasional fellowship is all that can be looked for; the adoption of different modes of worship, a predilection for different rites and ceremonies, will naturally dispose him to prefer a permanent union with professors of his own persuasion. Wbile, in the mutual mtercourse of such societies, a disposition to recognwe each other as christians is cultivated, the unity of the body is preserved, notwithstanding their disagreement m particular points of doctrine, or of discipline. Owmg to a diversity of judgement, respecting the proper orgamza- tion of churches, obstacles, at present invincible, may prevent their incorporation ; and it is left to the con- science of each individual to determine to which he wi 1 permanently unite himself. An enlightened christian wiU not hesitate for a moment, in declining to join with that society, whatever be the piety of its individual members, in which the terms of communion involve his concur- rence in religious observances, of whose lawfulness he entertains any doubt. Hence arises, in the present state of religion, an impassable barrier to the perfect mter- community of christian societies. But it is not upon thu ground that my opponent objects to the practice for which we are contending. He rests his refusal to com- mune with members ot other denominations, on the principle of their not being entitled to be recognized a* christians. He protests against a union with them, not on account of any erroneous or superstitious obser- Tances, with which the act of feUowship is necessarily combined, but because he considers them as personaUy disqualified. His hypothesis is indeed so wild and inco- herent, that it is difl&cult to state it with accuracy, or to preserve a steady conception of it in the mind. Accord- BKPLY TO RET. JOSEPH EINGHORN. 291 ing to his theory, the paedobaptists occupy a station the most anomalous and extraordinary that ever entered the human imagination. Many of them are genuine be- hevers, of whose exalted piety he avows the fullest con- viction, yet they are not to be recognized as christians; they are members of the mystical body of Christ, or they could derive from him no saving influence or benefit, yet are excluded from all the advantages resulting from the union and cooperation of the several parts of which it consists ; and though, as a portion of the mystical body, it is impossible to deny them a place in the ral ground ; whence it necessarily follows, that even supposing they were ac- quitted from all blame in practising infant baptism, their exclusion would still be justifiable. They are not re- pelled from the sacrament, it seems, on account of any breach of duty of which they are guilty ; for to assert this, would be to contradict himself, by resting their ex- clusion on their moral delinquency. They incur the for- feiture of all the privileges of the church, for no fault whatever; and whether they be perfectly free from blame or not, in the adoption of an unauthorized rite, is a consideration totally foreign to the question, and it is not to be taken into the account, in assigning the reasons for their non-admission. Let the candid reader seriously ponder this extraordinary concession ; let him ask him- self, whether he is prepared to believe that, in consist- ence with the genius of the gospel, the most extensive forfeiture of religious immunities can be incurred with- out guilt, and the heaviest ecclesiastical censure inflicted on the innocent. He will doubtless reject such a sup- position with unmingled disgust ; he will feel no hesita- tion in deciding, that the error which prohibits a church fix)m recognising the person to whom it is ascribed, as a christian^ which Mr. Kinghom expressly applies to in- fant baptism, must incur a high degree of culpability in the eyes of him " who judgeth righteous judgement" The glaring inconsistency of this whole statement with the preceding assertions of the same writer, is pal- pable and obvious. He entirely concurs with Mr. Booth, in characterizing paedobaptists as persons, '* who do not revere Christ's authority, submit to his ordinances, nor obey the laws of his house." But will he attempt to distinguish this charge from that of moral delinquency ? Again, quoting the declaration of St. Paul, that " the kingdom of God consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," he adds, " now as far as the kingdom of God consists in righteousness^ it must include obedience to practical precepts, both moral and positive.* We have an eminent instance of submission to John's baptism being called righteousness by our Lord." But if the paedobaptists are justly chargeable with want of righteousness^ and on that account are not entitled to christian fellowship, they must certainly be excluded on the ground of moral delinquency. If, on the other hand, the deficiency of righteousness involved in the practice of infant baptism, is not sufficient to justify such a treatment, the reasoning in the above passage is utterly futile. By denying that they are excluded on the ground of moral delinquency, at the same time that he imputes to them conduct highly criminal, he has in- volved himself in inextricable difficulties; since, sup- posing it could be proved to a demonstration, that they did " not revere the authority of Christ," &c., he has de- prived himself of the power of urging it in vindication of his system, by protesting against th« supposition of * BspUsm a Term of CommoDioD, p. 46. 298 REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KIKGHORV. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 299 his resting its operation on moral considerations. But if no guilt is implied in these charges, why are they ad- duced ? and if there be, how is that to be distinguished from moral delinquency ? He tells us they are not un- fwrtht/y but only disgvalified; whence it follows that, in his opinion, he may be worthy of communion, who " does not revere the authority of Christ ;" nor would it be possible to dispute his title, were he but qtudified. In adopting this system, he professes to obey the di- rections and to imitate the conduct of the Supreme Legislator, whom he aflSnns not to have received the imbaptized into the gospel dispensation. If this profes- sion is sincere, he surely will not deny that it is his intention to proceed on the same grounds, and act from the same motive, with the great Head of the church. But when, by refusing to admit them into the christ- ian dispensation, he virtually declares them disqualified^ which is the doctrine of this writer, is it under the cha- racter of innocent persons^ or of delinquents ? Will he aflSrm that the benefits of that economy are withheld from any who have, by no act, deserved that privation ? Is the sentence by which their disqualification is incurred capricious and arbitrary, or is it merited ? To say it is not, would be impious ; and to affirm that it w, is to contradict himself by founding it, after all, on moral considerations, or, which is perfectly equivalent, on " moral delinquency." The distinction, then, which he has attempted to es- tablish betwixt being unworthy^ and being disqualijied^ is perfectly nugatory ; and the persons to whom it is ap- plied, though they may not be unworthy in other res- pects, must be acknowledged to be such, on £tccount of that particular instance of disobedience for which they are disqualified. Their disobedience places them on a footing with other classes of delinquents, by shutting them out from the communion of saints. They incur the same forfeiture, and for the same general reason, want of practical compliance with the will of Christ They are defective, to use this author s own language, in the righteousness of the kingdom; and, though they possess faith, they fail in exhibiting obedience. The objections formerly urged against this system, consequently return in their full force. Since the exclu- sion of paedobaptists must, after every possible evasion, be founded on their supposed demerits, if these are ne- cessarily and intrinsically equal to the moral imperfec- tions which are tolerated in baptist societies, it is just. If, among the millions who have practised infant bap- tism, the most eminent saint whom past ages have pro- duced is to be considered as more criminal on that account than the crowd of imperfect christians whom we admit without scruple into our churches, the charge of injustice must be relinquished. Unless this can be sustained, it remains undiminished and unimpaired. The method by which Mr. Kinghom attempts to parry this reasoning Ls a recurrence to his old sophism, which consists of confounding together things totally distinct, namely, a refusal to partake in objectionable rites, with the exclusion of such as embrace them from our com- munion. Here he takes occasion to affirm, that the same objection may be made to our secession from the Romish, as from the established church.* Did we repel men of imquestionable piety on account of their avowed attachment to the peculiarities of a sect or party, there would be a propriety in identifying our practice with that of our opponents ; for in that case we * " The imposition of rites » says Mr. Kinghorn, " which Christ has not commanded, and the combination of those sentiments with the structure of the church, which we think injurious to its nature, and contrary to the will of the Lord, have rendered it necessary for us to establish a separate communion. Here the fact is, that we feel our- selves called upon to say, that we can have no fellowship with them in communion at the Lord's table. On this ground it would be a very easy thing to represent the conduct of protestants and of protestant di^Jenters, in the same dark colouring as Mr. Hall has applied to the Jtnct baptists. Let a man of talent exclaim against them for departing Irom thet)-ue church ; and represent their conduct in establishing a communion of their own, as declaring in the strongest form, that they deem others unworthy of their society, and that in so doing they pro- nounce the sentence of expulsion, &c. ; and he will do no more than Mr. Hall has done m the whole of this part of his reasoning." —^flo- ««wi a Term of Communion, p. tQ. 3oa REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINQHORN. should both* act on the same principle. But in refusing to join in a communion accompanied by appendages which we conscientiously disapprove, we proceed on a totally differeni ground. We recede just as far as a moral necessity dictates, and no farther. Nor is it true, as this writer asserts, that this mode of proceed- ing implies as severe a censure on the societies from which we dissent, as the practice which we are opposing inflicts on paedobaptists. He who conceives that the posture of kneeling is an unauthorized innovation on the primitive mode of celebrating the eucharist, must necessarily dissent ftt)m the church which prescribes it : but will it be affirmed that his doing so implies a conviction that the adherents to that rite are univer- sally disqualified for fellowship, that they are not enti- tled to be acknowledged christians, or that they are so deficient in the righteotunets in which the kingdom of God consists, as to invalidate their profession, and exclude them from the christian dispensation? But these are the charges urged against the psedobaptists. Let the smallest error imaginable be so incorporated with the terms of communion that an explicit assent to it is implied in that act, and he who discerns it to be an error must, if he is conscientious, dissent, and establish a separate communion : but are there any prepared to assert, that this is precisely the same thing as to repel the person who embraces it from the Lord's table ? I am weary and ashamed of being under the necessity of occupying the reader's attention with the exposure of such obvious fallacies. Suffice it to remark, once for all, that our dissent from the establishment is founded on the necessity of departing from a communion to wUch certain c^miptio^, in our apprehension, insena- lably adhere ; while we welcome the pious part of that community to that celebration of the eucharist which we deem unexceptionable. We recede from their commu- nion from necessity, but we feel no scruple in admitting them to ours ; while our strict brethren reject them, as weU as everjr other description of psdobaptists, altoge- tlier. On him who has not discernment to perceive, or REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINQHORN. 301 candour to acknowledge, the difference betwixt these methods of proceeding, all further reasoning would be wasted. One more evasion must be noticed before we conclude this part of the subject. " The paBdobaptists are repre- sented as chargeable with nothing more than a miscon- ception of the nature of a positive institute. But this, it is observed, is not the question before us ; the present controversy relates to the instkvie itself. It is not whe- ther the members of a church have fully and properly conceived the nature of the institute to which they have submitted. If this were the case, we might be repre- sented as expelling the ignorant and the weak, instead of instructing and encouraging them. But it is, whether an institute delivered by Christ is to be maintained, or to be given up."* To this I reply : The advocates of infant baptism are either sincerely of opinion that the rite in question ought to be extended to infants, or they are guilty of prevarication. If there be any of the last description to be found, they are entirely out of the question ; for, supposing their character ascertained, they have never been contemplated as proper objects of toleration. With respect to the former, who sincerely believe it was the intention of our Lord to extend the rite of baptism to the infant seed of believers, is it possible for them to act otherwise than they do ? With what then arc they chargeable, except with a misconception of a positive institute ? And if we are not to repel the ignorant and the weak, we must either affirm that they are not igno- rant in this particular, and thus accuse them, contrary to the supposition, of wilful prevarication, or we must tole- rate them. Though we are far from insinuating that our paedobaptist brethren are, in general, either ignorant or weak, yet as ignorance and weakness are undoubtedly adequate to the production of any misconception^ on the subject of religion not fundamental, they will conse- quently account for the error which has given birth to * Baptism a Term of Communioii, p. 65. I || ( 302 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. infant baptism : and just as far as it is capable of being ascribed to this source, its abettors are, by our author's concession, objects of forbearance. And since there is no medium, but all paedobaptists, however discerning in other respects, must either be supposed ignorant in this particular, or to prevaricate ; forbearance must be ex- tended to as many of them as are deemed sincere; beyond which we are as unwilling to extend it as he is. While they entertain their present views on the subject of baptism, they must either administer it to infants, or violate the dictates of conscience ; and therefore, if they are chargeable with any thing more than a misconceptim^ the matter of that charge must be deduced from their acting like upright men ; an accusation which we hope, for the honour of human nature, will proceed from none but strict baptists. The sum of what has been advanced on this head is, that the privation of communion is an evil exactly pro- portioned to the value of that benefit ; that as far as the tendency of the exclusive system is concerned, and to the utmost power of its abettors, the evil is extended to every denomination except one ; that it is either inflicted on account of moral delinquency^ or is utterly unmerited; since, if that ground be relinquished, their exclusion must be asserted to be just, even supposing them per- fectly innocent ; that whatever blame may be imputed, bears no proportion to that which incurs the forfeiture of the same privilege in other instances, nor to the faults and imperfections which are daily tolerated without scruple ; and, finally, since the practice which is treated with so much severity is the necessary result of a miscon- ception of the nature of a positive institute, which is only another name for ignorance or weakness in that particu- lar, to make it the pretext of expulsion or excommuni- cation, is repugnant to the maxims even of omr oppo- nents. . CHAP. X. On the Contrariety of the Maxims and Sentiments of the Advocates of Strict Communion^ to those which prevailed in the early Ayes ; in which the Innovation imputed to them by the Author is vindicated from the Charge of Misrepresentation, In order to comprehend the true state of the question, as it respects the practice of christian antiquity, it may be convenient to distribute it into three periods; the first including the time during which correct sentiments on the subject of baptism imiversally prevailed ; the second, that in which a gradual transition was made from the practice of adult to that of infant baptism; the third, the period in which the latter obtained a general and almost imdisputed ascendency. On the first of these periods little need be said. Where there are no dissimilar elements, there can be no mixture ; and therefore to affirm that the practice we are contending for was unknown in the earliest ages of the christian church, is little more than an identicfd proposi- tion. While no demur or dispute subsisted respecting either the form or the application of the baptismal rite, a pxmctual compliance with it was expected and enforced by the presidents of christian societies, for precisely the same reason which suggested a similar mode of proceed- ing to the apostles. It was a part of the will of Christ, in the interpretation of which no division of opinions subsisted among the faithlul. The next period is that, during which an innovation was gradually introduced, by extending the ceremony in question to infants — a pe- riod which, from the commencement of the third imto the close of the fourth, probably comprehended the space of two centuries. Supposing the modem practice to have been first introduced towards the end of the second, or the beginning of the third century, which corresponds to the time at which it is distinctly noticed by Tertullian, the first writer who explicitly mentions it. 304 REPLY TO BEY. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH BINOHORN. 305 i I we cannot suppose a shorter space was requisite to pro- cure it that complete estabUshment and ascendency which it possessed in the time of St. Austin. During that long interral there must have been some who still adhered to the primitive practice, and others who fa- voured and adopted the more recent innovations ; there must, in other words, have been baptists and psedobap- tists cotemporary with each other. What became of that portion of the ancient church which refused to adopt the baptism of infants ? Did they separate from their brethren in order to form distinct and exclusive societies ? Of this, not the faintest trace or vestige is to be found in ecclesiastical history ; and the supposition is completely confuted by the concurrent testimony of an- cient writers to the universal incorporation of orthodox christians into one grand community. We challenge our opponents to produce the shadow of evidence in fa- vour of the existence, during that long tract of time, of a single society of which adult baptism was the distin- guishing characteristic. Tertullian, it is acknowledged, is the first who distinctly and unequivocally adverts to the contrary practice : and as he expresses disapproba- tion of it at the same time, without the remotest intima- tion of the propriety of making it the ground of separa- tion, he must be allowed to form one instance of the prac- tice of mixed conmiunion ; and unless we are disposed to assert that the modem innovation in the rite of baptism supplanted the original ordinance at once, multitudes must have been in precisely the same situation. We well know that in the latter period of his life, he did secede from the orthodox catholic church ; but we are equally certain that he was moved to this measure, not by his disapprobation of infant baptism, but solely by his attachment to the Montanists. We, therefore, offer our opponents the alternative, either of affirming that the transition from the primitive to the modern usage, was sudden and instantaneous, in opposition to all that observation suggests respecting the operations of mind, or of acknowledging that, for two centuries, the predecessors of the present baptists unani- mously approved and practised a mixed communion — a conmiunion in which baptists and psedobaptists united in the same societies. Thus it appears that the system we are advocating, in- stead of being, as Booth and Kinghom assert, a "mo- dern invention," was introduced as early as it was possible — as early as the dissimilar materials existed of which the combination under discussion is formed. It is evi- dent, that no sooner did a difference of opinion on the subject of baptism arise, than the system of forbearance recommended itself at once to all who adhered to the sentiments of the modem baptists, throughout every part of the world ; and that it is the opposite principle which has to contend with all the odium and suspicion attached to recent innovations. When we descend to the third period, we are presented with a new scene. After the commencement of the fourth century, down to the aera of the Reformation, the baptism of infimts was firmly established, and prevailed to such an extent, that few traces of the ordinance, in its primi- tive state, are to be discerned. Many of the Waldenses, however, are judged, with great appearance of evidence, to have held opinions on that subject coincident with those by which we, as a denomination, are distinguished. By their persecutors of the Romish community they are usually stigmatized and reproached for holding the ana- baptist heresy ; while it appears, on the contrary, that there were not wanting some amongst them who prac- tised the baptism of infants.* These opposite statements, exhibited with equal confidence, on this obscure branch of ecclesiastical history, are best reconciled and accounted for, by supposing them divided in their sentiments on that particular. No indication, however, is discoverable of a rupture in external communion having occurred on * See The History of the Baptists, by Mr. Ivimey, in which this •ubject is discussed vviUi much care and impartiality. To those who wish for information respecting many curious and important circum- stances conntcted with the progress of the baptist opinions, I woald earnestly recouunend the peiusal of that valuable work, for which the public at large, and our own denomination in particular, are much in- debted to the pious and laborious author. VOL. III. X i||i ii ■^ "- i ! :i| 306 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 307 that account ; and, from the acknowledged difficulty of ascertaining the separate existence of baptist societies during the middle ages, and until the period of the Re- formation, the necessary inference is, either that there were none, during that interval, who adhered to the primitive institute, or, as is far more probable, that they were mingled and incorporated with persons of another persuasion. . . Hence it is manifest that the concurrent testimonies ot the fathers of the three or four first centuries, in proof of the necessity of baptism to church fellowship, are urged to no purpose whatever, unless it could be shown that there was no mixed communion, no association of the advocates of adult, with the patrons of paedobaptism, known in those ages ; a supposition which is at direct variance with facts. Nor is it at all difficult to assign a satisfactory reason for that combination of testimonies which the writings of the fathers supply in favour of the essential connexion of the two ordinances. The scanty writings which remain of the authors of the second cen- tury, affi)rd no decisive indication of the existence of infant baptism in the period in which they flourished ; and, during the third, the few author^ whose works have descended to us, appear, with the exception of Tertul- lian, to have imbibed the paedobaptist persuasion. It was natural for the first class of these fathers, who lived at a time when no doubt or dispute had arisen on the subject, to insist on a compliance with that ordinance ; nor was it possible for the second, who extended baptism to infants, and considered it as the indispensable means of regeneration, to pursue another course. That there was a mixture of persons, of different per- suasions, in christian societies, during the period to which we have adverted, appears to be an unquestion- able fact ; but in what manner those who adhered to the primitive institution reasoned on the subject, as they have left no writings behind them, or none which touch on this subject, must be left to conjecture. Whether they defended their conduct on precisely the same prin- ciples with ourselves, or whether they considered paedo baptism as not so properly nullifying, as corrupting or enfeebling, a christian ordinance, it is to little purpose to inquire. It is sufficient for us to know, that the practice which is stigmatized as modern^ existed as early as a difference of opinion on the subject arose. In my former treatise I had remarked, " that the de- cision of christian writers, that baptism, in some form or other, must necessarily precede the celebration of the cucharist, supposing it ever so unanimous, affords but a feeble proof, since it assumes for its basis the impossi- bility of the universal prevalence of error.** The truth of this assertion is almost self-evident ; for if it be pos- sible for error to prevail universally, what should prevent the possibility of its doing so in this particular instance ? "No,** says our author, "it assumes a very different principle ; that the human mind in all its wanderings never took this direction before."* But what is the dif- ference betwixt affirming, that the opinion which sepa- rates the title to communion, from baptism, was unknown until it was adopted by the advocates of mixed commu- nion, and asserting " that the human mind never took this direction befjgre ?" Are they any thing more than two different modes of expressing the same proposition ? To say, then, that the argument in question assumes for its basis " that the human mind never took this direction before,** is to say, that it assumes to itself a method of reasoning most repugnant to the rules of logic, however familiar with this ^vriter. He feels very indignant at my affirming that the right of excluding persons of unquestionable worth and piety was never claimed by antiquity. In opposition to this, he adduces the example of Cyprian, who insisted on the rebaptization of heretics and schismatics, previous to their reception into the body of the faithful If it be considered, however, in what light heretics and schis- matics were contemplated by that celebrated father, the objection vanishes ; since no doubt can be entertained, that their preceding profession of Christianity was consi ^ Baptism a Term of CommanioD, p. 145. X 2 i i 308 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. dered by him as a mere nullity, their faith fundamen- tally erroneous, the privileges they supposed themselves to possess, a vain illusion, and the entire system of their religion, an abomination in the sight of God. We find him every where exerting his utmost powers of language, which were by no means inconsiderable, in stigmatizing their character and degrading their pretensions. Having little taste for quotation, the following passages may suffice to convince the reader imder what opprobrious colours he was accustomed to represent that description of professors. It is proper just to premise, that, on their manifesting a disposition to return to the catholic church, while Cyprian contended for the necessity of their being rebaptized before they were admitted, his opponent Ste- phen insisted on the sufficiency of recantation, accompa- nied with the imposition of hands,* without reiterating a rite, which he concluded could not be repeated with- out profanation. The latter opinion, in spite of the high authority of the African father, being confirmed by the council of Nice, became the received doctrine of the church, and the opposite tenet was finally denounced as heresy. But to return to Cyprian^:—" We," said he, " affirm," referring to the Novatians,Vho were esteemed schismatics, ^' that those who come to us are not rebap- tized, but baptized. For neither do they receive any thing, where there is nothing ; but they come to us, that they may receive here, where all grace and truth is.''t After stigmatizing the baptism of schismatics, as "a filthy and profime dipping," he complains, that certain of his colleagues '• did not consider that it was ^vritten, he who is baptized by the dead, what profit does he derive from his washing i But it is manifest, that they who are not in the church are numbered amongst the dead, and cannot possibly be quickened by him who is not alive ; since there is one only church, which having obtained the grace of eternal life, both lives for ever, and quickens the people of God.":{ • Cypriaoi Episiolae, p. 210. Ozonii. anno 1682. t Ibid p. 194. J Id bid. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 309 Speaking of heretics, he makes a distinction betwixt such as, having been members of the cutholic church, fell into heresy for a time, but were afterwards reco- vered, and such as sprang originally from them. With respect to the latter, he says, " If he who comes from the heretics has not been before baptized in the church, but comes entirely alien and proftme, he is to be bap- tized, that he may become a sheep, because the only holy water which can make sheep is in the church." In another epistle, we find him reasoning in the fol- lowing manner: — "The very interrogation," he says, " which takes place in baptism, bears witness to the truth. Dost thou believe in eternal life, and the re- mission of sins by the holy church ? We mean by it, that the remission of sins is given only in the church ; but, amongst heretics, where the church is not, sins cannot be remitted. Let them therefore who plead for heretics, (that is, for theur admission into the church without rebaptizing,) either alter the interrogation, or vindicate the truth; unless they are disposed to give the appellation of the church to those whom they as- sert to possess true baptism."* His epistles are full of similar sentiments. What re- semblance, let me ask, are they perceived to bear to the principles on which strict communion is founded ; or who will be so absurd as to affirm that the example of Cyprian, in rejecting the communion of persons whom he esteemed spiritually dead, and incapacitated for re- ceiving the remission of sins, affi)rds the least counte- nance for treating in a similar manner, such as are acknowledged to possess the most eminent and exalted piety ? " True," Mr. Kinghorn replies, " but when they requested admission into the catholic orthodox church, they had ceased to be heretics or schismatics, since they left the societies where heresy was professed, acknow- ledged their former error, and requested to be numbered with the orthodox. Notwithstanding this, however, Cyprian insisted on their being re-baptized.''t But why * Cypriani Epistoln, p. 194. f Baptiam a Term of Coaimanion, p. 152. Ill s ii: 310 REPLY TO UEV. JOSEPH KIHGUORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 311 did he insist upon it ? He tells us himself, it was be- cause " they had received nothing, they were baptized by the dead ;" they wanted '* that holy water peculiar to the church, which alone can vivify ;" and their pretended baptism, or, to use his own words, " their profane dipping was necessarily unaccompanied with the remission of sins. In short, however well they might be disposed, and prepared, on the application of due means, for the reception of the highest benefits, they were, as yet, in his estimation, in a state of unregeneracy. Hence the reader may judge of the pertinence and correctness of the subsequent remark : — " Their interest in the blessings of the christian covenant," says Mr. Kinghom, '' was not doubted, yet their right to the Lords supper was doubted, because the validity of their baptism was questioned."* " Their interest in the blessings of the covenant was not doubted** although Cyprian declares his conviction, that they had received nothing, that their baptism was a nullity, that they wanted the only water which could quicken, and that, instead of it, they had received only a " sordid and profane dipping, which could not possibly be accompanied with the remission of sins." The reader will be at no loss to determine which of us is justly chargeable with " taking the present state of opinion, and of applying it to former ages ;*' when he perceives that my opponent is so possessed with these ideas, as to be utterly incapable of contemplating the sentiments of Cyprian through the right medium. He entirely forgets the importance he attached to baptism as a regenerating ordinance ; and his denial, that the persons of whom he was treating had received it; which, coni- bined together, must necessarily have placed them, in his estimation, at the utmost remove from the situation in which pious paedobaptists are at present considered. His opponent, Stephen, contended for the propriety of receiving them without a repetition of that rite, because he already conceived it had been truly and solidly per- formed ; this Cyprian denied, and the only question in * Baptism a Term of Comaiuninn, p. 154. debate respected the validity of a ceremony which both equally esteemed to be the necessary means of regenera- tion. Upon the principles common to both, the African father reasoned with most consistency : for how could heretics and schismatics, who were acknowledged to be spiritually dead, communicate life by the performance of a ceremony? and how totally incongruous to suppose every part of their religious service devoid of vitality and force, except their baptism, by which, as Cyprian continually urges, they were supposed to confer that renovating spirit which, in every other instance, they were denied to possess. But, whatever judgment may be formed of the merits of this controversy, nothing can be more impertinent to the question at issue betwixt my opponent and myself, which is simply, whether the refusal to admit persons of unquestioned piety into the church, was the doctrine of the ancient fathers. In proof of this, he alleges the example of Cyprian, who contended for the necessity of rebaptizing such as had been already reclaimed from heresy and schism. Now, if Cyprians ideas on the suhject of baptism had been the same, or in any degree similar to those which are at present entertained the objection would have been forcible ; but when we learn from his own mouth, that his demand was founded on their not having been " quickened" on their wanting " the water of lite," on their not having approached the fountain of renovation and pardon, in a word, on their still remaining unregenerate ; what can be conceived more futile, than to adduce his authority for refusing a class of persons to whom it is acknowledged none of these ob- jections apply ? Let us first insist on the admission of those whom we believe to be destitute of regeneration and pardon, and we must dispose of the authority of Cyprian as we can; but, till that is the case however we differ from him in its application, we act on one and the same principle. Mr. Kinghom is very anxious to prevent his readers from being led to suppose, from certain passages I had quoted, that Cyprian was a friend to mixed communion. iii imii 312 REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINGHORN. If he means by this that he was not disposed to admit into the church such as were, on all hands, acknowledged to be unbaptized, his opinion is, undoubtedly, correct ; nothing was more remote from my intention than to in- sinuate the contrary. But if it is his intention to affirm that Cyprian was averse to the mixture of baptists and psedobaptists at the Lord's table, he must be supposed to assert that there were none in his communion who adhered to what we conceive the primitive institute ; and, considering the extensive influence which he de- rived from his station as metropolitan of Africa, and the celebrity of his character, this is equivalent to an admis- sion that it had totally disappeared from that province as early as the middle of the third century ; a dangerous concession, as well as a most improbable supposition. It is to suppose that a corruption (as we must necess**rily deem it) of a christian ordinance, the explicit mention of which first occurs but fifty years before, had already spread with such rapidity through Afnca, as to efface every trace and relic of the primitive practice. It is unnecessary to observe the important advantage which such a concession would yield in the controversy with paedobaptists. The truth is, that unless we are disposed to admit that the baptism of infants had alreat^y totally supplanted the original ordinance throughout the Catho- lic church, Cyprian must be allowed to have patronised mixed communion in precisely the same sense in which it is countenanced at present by our paedobaptist bre- This may suffice to rescue me fit)m the charge of misrepresenting the sentiments of C^-prian ; an accusa- tion which excited so much surprise, that I determined to reperuse the epistles of that celebrated wnter ; but after carefully reading every line, I must solemnly declare that I feel at a loss to discover a shadow of ground for this imputation. ^ . i xt, i. It is not, however, the sentiments of Cypnan only that I am charged with misrepresenting; the donatists it w affirmed, proceeded on the same views, when they insisted on the necessity of rebaptizing the members of the REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORV. 313 catholic church. "They acted," he says, "exactly on the same principle which Mr. Hall reprobates." That principle, it is unnecessary to repeat, is the propriety, not of baptizing such as have been induced, throogh misconception, to neglect the vaHd performance of that rite, which is our uniform practice, but the exclusion of those, against whom nothing is alleged, besides the inva- lidity of their baptism. But nothing can be more re- mote from the ground on which the donatists proceeded. They conceived the whole christian world contaminated by their communion with the African traditors ;* that they had fallen into a state of deep and deadly corruption, and, so far were they from founding the separation on the insufficiency of their baptism, that they inferred its invalidity solely from the moral contagion they were deemed to have contracted, and from the abominations they were supposed to tolerate. t They considered the church of Christ, as far as the catholic societies were concerned, as extinct ; and, on that account, were vehe- mently urged by St. Austin to reconcile their hypothesis with the promise made to Abraham, " that in his seed all nations of the earth should be blessed." But will any paedobaptist be found so absurd as to press the ad- vocates of strict communion with a similar argument ? And will it, after this, be contended, that the conduct of the donatists, in refusing to admit the baptism of men whom they viewed as plunged in a state of hopeless degeneracy, bears any resemblance to the conduct of those who repel such as they affect to regafd as the most excellent of the earth ? This writer is highly offended with my presuming to express a conviction that the advocates of strict commu- nion have violated more maxims of antiquity than any other sect upon record. The extent to which they have * Those who delivered ap the sacred writings. + '* Dicit enim Parmenianns, hinc probari cousceleratum fnisse orbem terrai um criminibus traditionis, et aliorum sacrilegiorum : quia cum molta alia fuerint tempore persecutionis admissa, nulla propterea facta est in ipsis provinciis separatio populorum."— Con/ra Epistolam Parmenianif Aujuitini, lib. i. ii , 314 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KLN'GHORN. 315 11 carried their deviation in one particular is already suffi- ciently obvious. Mr. Kinghom was challenged to pro- duce an instance of an ancient father, who contended for the right of repelling a genuine christian from the eu- charist. He adduced the example of Cyprian, and of the donatists ; and by this time we presume the intelli- gent reader is at no loss to perceive how completely these instances have failed. A writer of his undisputed learning would, doubtless, select the strongest case ; we may, therefore, until he fortifies his positions better^ venture, without hesitation, to enumerate, among other deviations, the pretended right of excluding such as are acknowledged to be genr nine christians. In ancient times, the limits of commu- nion were supposed to be coextensive vrith those of visi- ble Christianity, and none were excluded from the catholic church but those whom that church deemed heretics or schismatics. Our opponents proceed on an opposite principle ; they exclude myriads whom they would not dare to stigmatize with either appellation. In ancient times, the necessity of baptism, as a qualification for communion, was avowedly and uniformly founded on its supposed essential connexion with salvation ; our oppo- nents have totally relinquished that ground, yet still assert with equal vehemence, the same necessity, and absurdly urge the shadow, or rather the skeleton, of ancient precedent, after they had disembowelled it, and divested it of its very soul and spirit. In ancient times, the whole mass of human population was distributed into two classes, the church and the world; all who were deemed incapable of admission to the first, were considered as belonging to the last of these. The advocates of strict communion have invented a new classification, a division of mankind into the world, the church, by which they mean themselves, and an im- mense body of pious paedobaptists, who are comprised in neither of the preceding classes, their charity forbid- ding them to place them with the fofmer, and their pe- culiar principles with the latter. Were they to assign them to the world, they would at once declare them out of the pale of salvation ; were they to acknowledge them a part of the church, they would convict thamselves ot the crime of schism, in repelling them from commu- nion. In attempting to designate this class of christians, compared to which tfieir numbers dwindle into impalpa- ble insignificance, they are reduced to the utmost per- plexity. On the one hand, they contend, that they are not entitled to be considered as disciples ; on the other, they loudly proclaim the confidence they entertain of their ready admission into heaven. They are acknow- ledged to possess faith in an eminent degree, yet it is denied that they have afforded any legitimate evidence of it ; and though out of the churchy it is confessed, it would be the height of bigotry to pretend to invalidate their religious pretensions, yet to recognise their validity in it, would be an equal impropriety. It is unnecessaiy to say how far these maxims deviate from christian anti- quity ; nor is it easy to conceive the astonishment their avowal would have excited in the breast of the Cyprians and the Austins; I might add, of the apostles and evangelists of a former age. Guided by the simple dic- tates of inspiration, accustomed to contemplate the world under two divisions only, that of believers and of unbelievers, they would, doubtless, have felt them- selves at an utter loss to comprehend the possibility of the existence of an equivocal race, who are to be treated as heathens in the church, and as christians out of it ; and, while they possess whatever is necessary for an in- stant translation to glory, are disqualified for the posses- sion of the most ordinary privileges of the christian church. As it is the province of poetry to give to "any no- things a local habitation and a name," if we cannot eulogize the reasoning of our opponents, we willingly allow them all the praise of a creative fancy, due to the invention of so bold a fiction. The unity of the church is not merely a tenet of antiquity, but a doctrine of scripture, to which great importance is attached by the inspired writers. Wher- ever the word occurs, without being applied to a par- ii 316 REPLY lO REV. JOSEPU KINGHORN. ticular society, the idea of unUy is strictly preserved bv the invariable use of the singular number ; the great community denoted by it is styled the bodi/ of Christ, of which 'every believer is declared to be a particular member ;* and the perfect oneness of the whole is so- lemnly and repeatedly attested. " The bread which we break,* says St. Paul, " is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? for we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread, t " Now ye," says he, in the same epistle, " are the body of Christ, and members in particular." This grand and elevating conception of the unity which characterises the christian church, was ever present to the minds of the fathers ; and never do they rise to a higher strain of manly and impressive eloquence, than when they are expatiating on this theme. Thus we find Irenseus celebrating that " church which was dissemi- nated throughout the whole world, to the very ends of the earth, which carefiiUy preserved the preaching and the faith she had once received, as though she resided in one house ; and proclaim(?d. Mid taught, and delivered the same doctrine, as though she possessed but one ^ul, one heart, and one mouth." J " Every kind," says Ter- tulUan, " must be referred to its origin. So many and 80 great churches as now subsist, are that one church, founded by the apostles, from which they all derive. Thus all are first, and apostolical, while they retain the rela- tion of peace, the appellation of fraternity, and the symbol of hospitality; which rights are regulated by no other principle than the tradition of the same creed. || Cyprian, comparing the church to the sun, affirms, that wliile she extends her rays through the whole worid, it is yet one light, which is every where difliised; nor is the unity of the body separated ; her exuberant fertility stretches her branches to the whole earth ; she expands her streams most widely, yet the head and origin is • Bpb. V. 23. Col. i. 24. f 1 Cor x. 16, 17. t Irenseus. lib. i. c. 2, 3. ^, « , ^ .• t»_ • • II Tertullian De Prescriptione Hereticoram, p 2t;9.— Lutetiae Panai- oram, 1676. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 317 one, and it is one mother that is so prolific. " Who," says he, " is so wicked and perfidious, who so maddened by the fury of discord, as to suppose it possible to di- vide, or attempt to divide, the unity of God, the vest- ment of Christ, the church of God ? " He elsewhere expresses his conviction that he who does not hold the unity of the church, does not hold the faith.* During the first centuries, the unity of the church was not a splendid visionary theory ; it was practically exemplified in the habits of reciprocal communion, cul- tivated and maintained among orthodox societies through every part of the globe.t So repugnant, however, is the narrow exclusive sys- tem which we are opposing, to that considered as cha- racteristic of the church, that its advocates profess them- selves at a loss to comprehend its meaning, except in the arrogant and offensive sense in which it is sometimes employed to vindicate the pretensions of Roman catho- lics and high churchmen. " Is the unity of the church," Mr. Kinghom asks, "destroyed by nothing but strict communion?"* And, suppose it be, what then? Will it follow that strict communion does not destroy it ? Whe- ther it has this effect or not, is the only inquiry ; not whether something else may produce the same effect in an equal degree. He adds, " is there any sense in which the church of God is, or can be considered as one, in this imperfect state, except in that which will include all those good men, who, from conscientious diff'erences, can- not unite together on earth ?" For the conduct of those good men who refuse to unite with us, unless we consent to the performance of rites which, in our estimation, are unscriptural and superstitious, they alone are respon- •DeUnit. Ecc. pp. 110, 111. :. . u, u rn t See open this brancli of the subject, the admirable work ot Ur. Mason who, by a copious induction of ancient authorities, has indis- putably established the fact, that every portion of the orthodox church formed one communion; and most ably illustrated the mode ot proceed ine by which their union was maintained. The depUi and accuracy with which he has discussed the subject must be my apology lor not en terinff into it more fully. t Baptism a 1 erin of Communion, p. 101. f 318 KEPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. sible ; but, where notlunjr of this nature is proposed, as is the case in the present instance, to deem them person- aUy disqualified for communion, and on that ground to refuse it, is totally repugnant to erery conception of unity. In the above passage, the author breaks his mysterious silence, and, for the first time, acknowledges that all good men are component parts of the church of God, and are, consequently, members of Christ's mystical body. But he who concedes this, imless he suppose the Scriptures repealed, must confess his obligation to regu- late his treatment of those members by the rules and maxims the New Testament enjoins, which prohibit the least degree of alienation, and assert the equal claim to regard which each individual, as a part of the body, pos- sesses ; insomuch that no language, except that which the Holy Ghost has employed, is sufficient adequately to represent that oneness of spirit, that perfect co-operation, that conjunction, or identity rather, of interests and af- fections, which ought to penetrate and pervade the whole. All other unions of a moral natiure are, in reality, lax, feeble, and evanescent, compared vfiih. that which joins the members of Christ to each other, and to their Head. But will it be asserted that the practice of strict commu- nion corresponds with these ideas ? or that the treatment of the persons whom it excludes is a practical exemplifi- cation of the conduct which the christians at Corintli were commanded reciprocally to maintain ? It will not be pretended ; and since these passages, which impera- tively enjoin such a behaviour on the members of Christ, and expressly and repeatedly assure us that his body is the church, are still in force, the above concession must either be retracted, or a practice so directly subversive of it be relinquished. If a society, of whatever descrip- tion it may be, has by mutual consent selected a cere- mony as the symbol of its union, those individuals, who, for the express purpose of marking their separation, re- fuse to perform the ceremony, have most unequivocally renounced that society ; and, by parity of reason, since tb^> joint celebration of the Lord's supper is established REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KmOHORN. 319 in the church as the discriminating token by which its members are to recognise each other, to refuse to join in it, is equivalent to an express declaration, that the per- sons from whom we withdraw as personally disqualified, are not considered as parts of the church. It is acknow- ledged, however, in the foregoing passage, that all good men belong to it. But if so, they are also members of the body of Christ, and consequently entitled to exactly the same treatment as was enjoined on the Corinthians towards each other. But supposing, in consequence of minor differences of opinion, the latter had proceeded to an open rupture of communion, and refused to unite in the celebration of the eucharist ; will it be asserted, that the pathetic and solemn injunctions of their inspired teacher would not have been violated by such a measure ? The answer to this question is obvious, and its applica- tion to the point under discussion irresistible. The ad- vocates of th^ exclusive system, on whatever side they turn, are surrounded and pressed with difficulties, from which it is utterly impossible for them to escape. To affirm that paedobaptism is of so malignant a tendency* as to sever its patrons from the mystical body of Christ, is at once to impugn the hopes of salvation ; since the supposition of a vital efficacy, imparted firom Christ as the Head, which fails to constitute the subject of it a member, is equally unintelligible and unscriptural. The language adopted on this subject is confessedly figurative, but not on that acco.:nt obscure. Its foundation is evi- dently laid in that derivation of spiritual life to the souls of the faithful, for which they are indebted to their union with the Saviour ; for which reason, it would be the height of absurdity to refuse the application of the figure on an occasion which comprehends its whole im- port and meaning. We may therefore with confidence affirm, that all genuine believers are alike members of Christ's body. But if this be admitted, they are as much entitled to the benefit, not merely of admission into the church, but of all those benevolent sympathies and attentions prescribed in the preceding passages, as though they had been mentioned by name; since the ■ I 320 REPLY TO BEV. JOSEPH KINOHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 321 only ground on which they are enforced, is the relation the oDJects of them are supposed to sustain to that hody. Thus we perceive, in the principles and practice of our opponents, another glaring instance of gross viola- tion, as well of the dictates of inspiration, as of the maxims of christian antiquity ; hoth which concur in inculcating the doctrine of the absolute unity of the church, of its constituting Christ's mystical body, and of the horrible incongruity, I might almost say impiety, of attempting to establish a system, which represents a great majority of its members as personally disqualified for conmiunion. Once more ; what foundation will they find, in ancient precedents, for the peculiar distinction allotted to one particular ceremony above every other, in consequence of which they allow the cultivation of the most intimate religious intercourse, of the most perfect intercommunity, in every branch of worship, with members'of other deno- minations, providing they do not so far forget themselves as to lose sight of their disputes at the Lord's table ? ^ The Holy Ghost informs us, that the end of Christ's death was " to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad." It seems strange, that one of the principal purposes of its celebration should be to scatter abroad those children of God, who are gathered together every where else. Be this as it may, we chal- lenge these zealous champions of precedent to produce the faintest vestige of such a practice in the ages of an- tiquity ; or to direct us to a single nation, or sect, or in- dividual, for an example of that capricious and arbitrary distinction attached to the eucharist, by which it is re- fused to an immense multitude, who are considered as entitled to every other mark of christian fraternity. These observations, Ave trust, Mill be amply sufficient to justify the assertion, that our opponents have violated, with respect to ecclesiastical economy, more maxims of antiquity than any other sect upon record ; nor will the intelligent reader be at a loss to perceive, that the weight of this censure is little, if at all, diminished, by their conformity in one particular, by their insisting upon bap- tism as a term of communion; when it is recollected that the pnnciples on which they found it, have no rela- tion whatever to those on which it was maintained bv the ancient fathers. ^ For the length to which this part of the discussion is extended, a natural and laudable anxiety to repel the charge of misrepresentation, will probably be deemed a sufficient apology. CHAP. XL Condtmon, Before I put a final period to my part in this contro- versy, the attention of the reader is requested to a few miscellaneous Jfemarks, which naturally arise out of the contemplation of the whole subject. It is just matter of surprise, that the topic in debate should be regarded by any serious and intelHgent chris- tian, as of small importance. Such a conclusion can only be ascribed to extreme inattention, or to the force of an inveterate, though perhaps latent, prejudice, pro- ducmg an unmerited predilection in favour of certain systems of ecclesiastical polity, which are incapable of sustaining the ordeal of inquiry. That those should shrink from the investigation of such topics, who, by re- ceivmg their religion from the hands of their superiors, in a mass, have already relinquished the liberty of thinkin*^ ror themselves, is no more than might well be expected*! But to minds free and unfettered, accustpmed to spurn at the shackles of authority ; and, above aU, to protest- ant dissenters, whose peculiar boast is the privilege of fol- lowing, in the organization of their churches, no other guide but the Scriptures, that such subjects should ap- pear of little moment, is trulv astonishing. The inquiry hret m importance undoubtedly is. What is Christianity ? What, supposing the truth of scripture, is to be believed, and to be done, with a view to eternal life ? Happily VOL. m. Y II ,1 322 REPLY TO RET. JOSEPH KINQHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 323 for tlie christian world, tbere probably never was a time, when, in the solution of this question so much unam- Dietv as at present. Systems of religion, fundamentally Seous, aL falling fit mto decay V^^^l;^ ^^^^^^^^ nate points of difference, ^vhlch do not affect f^V^^ verities of Christianity, nor the ground of hope, are eHher consigned to oblivion, or are the ^^^Je^t^f^^^"^" perate and amicable controversy ; and m consequem^^^^^ their subsiding to their proper level, the former appear in their lust and natural magnitude. , , ^ i, Hence in the present state of the church, externally consS the e^l most to be deplored is, the -n- -^^ distance at which christians stand from each other , the Srof sects, the disposition to found their union on JEr^wood, hay, and stubble" of human inventions, or of dis^utble tJ^ets, instead of buildin. o^,the eterna rock the - faith once deUvered to the saints. They all profess to look forward to a period when these divisions ^iU cease, and there will be " one fold under one Sh^)- herd" But, while every denomination flatters itseit tSh the peiWasion of that fold bemg ^ts ^wn *^^^^^^^ cipal use to which the ^«^«^*^«^^/^ ^"7^^"^,:^ d^ected is to supply a motive for redoubled exertions Fntt deface a^d extension of their respective pecu- liarities ; and instead of haiUng the dawn of a brighter day, as ;n event in which all are ^^^lly,^*^'^^^*?,^.^^ toi often considered, there is reason to fear, as destmed to complete the triumph of a party. If we consult the scriptures, we shaU be at no loss to perceive, that the unity of the church is not merely a doctrine most ^learly revealed, but that its P^^tical ex- emplification is one of the prmcipal designs ot the chns- tian dispensation. We are expressly told, that our Sa- viour purposed by his death to "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad ; and for the accomplishment of this 'design he .interceded during his last moments, in language which instructs us to consider it as the grand means of the conversion of the world. His i^rophetic anticipations were not disap- pointed ; for while a visible imanimity prevailed amongst his followers, his cause every where triumphed : the con- centrated zeal, the ardent cooperation of a comparative few, impelled by one spirit, and directed to one object, were more than a match for hostile myriads. No sooner was the bond of unity broken, by the prevalence of in- testine quarrels and dissensions, than the interests of truth languished ; until mahometanism in the east, and popery in the west, completed the work of deterioration, which the loss of primitive simplicity and love, combined with the spirit of intolerance, first commenced. If the religion of Christ ever resumes her ancient histre, and we are assured by the highest authority she will, it must be by retracing our steps, by reverting to the original principles on which, considered as a social institution, the church was founded. We must go back to the simplicity of the first ages — we must learn to quit a subtle and disputatious theology, for a religion of love, emanating from a few divinely ener- getic principles, which pervade almost every page of in- spiration, and demand nothing for their cordial recep- tion and belief, besides a humble and contrite heart. Reserving to ourselves the utmost freedom of thought, in the interpretation of the sacred oracles, and pushing our inquiries, as far as our opportunities admit, into every department of revealed truth, we shall not dream of ob- truding precarious conclusions on others, as articles of faith ; but shall receive with open arms all who appear to " love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,*' and find a sufficient bond of union — a sufficient scope for all our sympathies, in the doctrine of the cross. If the Saviour appears to be loved, obeyed, and adoredr— if his blood is sprinkled on the conscience, and his spirit resides in the heart, why should we be dissatisfied ? we, who profess to be actuated by no other motive, to live to no other purpose, than the promotion of his interest. If the kingdom of Christ, like the kingdoms of this world, admitted of local and discordant interests, and the possession of exclusive privileges — if it were a system ot compromise between the selfish passions of individuals, y2 ll 324 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KUfGHORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 325 II and the promotion of the general good, the policy of conferring on one class of its subjects certain advantages and immunities withheld from another, might he easily comprehended. But in this, as well as many other fea- tures, it essentially differs. Founded on the basis of a divine equality, its privileges are as free as air; and there is not a single blessing which it proposes to bestow, but is held by the same tenure, and is capable of being possessed to the same extent, by every believer. The freedom which it confers is of so high a character, and the dignity to which it elevates its subjects, as the sons of God, so transcendent, that whether diey are " Barba- rians or Scythians, bond or free, male or female, they are from henceforth one in Christ Jesus." In asserting the equal right which the Gentiles possessed, in common with the Jews, to all the privileges attached to the chris- tian profession, Peter founds his argument on this very principle. "And God, which knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as imto us, and put no difference between ut and them, purifying their hearts by faith." In his apprehension, it was Gk)d, the Searcher of hearts, who, by the collation of his Spirit, in his marvellous and sanctifying gifts, having made no distinction betwixt the Gentiles and themselves, decided the controversy. K that great apostle reasoned correctly on the subject, we have only to change the term Gentiles for paedobaptists, or for any other denomi- nation of sincere christians, and the inference remains in its full force. Among the other attempts to deter us from pursuing a system established by such high authority, it is extra- ordinary that we should be reminded of the fearful re- sponsibility we incur. To this topic Mr. Kinghom has devoted a whole chapter. When it is recollected that we plead for the reception of none whom Christ has not received, of none whose hearts are not purified by faith, and who are not possessed of the lame spirit, the com- munication of which was considered by St. Peter as a decisive proof that no difference was put between them and otliers by God himself, it is easy to determine where the danger lies. Were we to suffer ourselves to lose sight of these principles, and by discountenancing and repelling those whom he accepts, to dispute the validity of his seal, and subject to our miserable scrutiny, pretensions which have passed the ordeal, and received the sanction, of him, " who understandeth the heart,* we should have just reason to tremble for the consequences ; and, with all our esteem for the piety of many of our opponents, we conceive it no injury or insult, to put up the prayer of our Lord for them — " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He who alters the terms of communion, changes the fundamental laws of Christ's kingdom. He assumes a legislative power, and ought, in order to justify that con- duct, to exhibit his credentials, with a force and splen- dour of evidence, equal at least to those which attested the divine legation of Moses and the prophets. It has been frequently observed on this occasioji, that every voluntary society possesses the power of determin- ing on the qualifications of its members ; and that, for the same reason, every church is authorized to enact such terms of admission as it shall see fit. This conclu- sion, however, is illogical and imfounded. There is little or no analogy betwixt the two cases. Human societies originate solely in the private views and inclinations of those who compose them ; and as they are not founded on divine institution, so neither are they restricted with respect to the objects they are destined to pursue. The church is a society instituted by Hea\en ; it is the visi- ble seat of that " kingdom which God has set up ;" the laws by which it is governed are of his prescribing, and the purposes which it is designed to accomplish, are limited and ascertained by infinite wisdom. When, therefore, from its analogy to other societies, it is inferred that it has an equal right to organise itself at its plea- sure, nothing can b^ more fallacious ; unless it be meant merely to assert its exemption from the operation of phy- sical force, which is a view of the subject with which we are not at present concerned. In every step of its pro- ceedings, it is amenable to a higher than human tribunal; !l • REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KIXGHORN. 327 II 326 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORIT. and on account of its freedom from external control, its obligation, infiyro conscientiWy exactly to conform to the mandates of revelation, is the more sacred and the more indispensable ; being loosened from every earthly tie, on purpose that it may be at liberty to " follow the Lord whithersoever he goeth." That these maxims, plain and obvious as they must appear, have been too often totally lost sight of, he who has the slightest acquaintance with ecclesiastical history must be aware ; and to their complete abandonment we are indebted for the introduction of strict communion- " The baptists," Mr. Kinghorn informs us, " consider themselves as holding to notice ane neglected truth.*'* Whether they have adopted the mode of proceeding most likely to accomplish their object, may be justly doubted. Independently, however, of any such consider- ation, it is the principle, thus distinctly avowed, to which^we object — ^the principle of organizing a church with a specific view to the propagation of some particu- lar truth ; which is a perversion of the original end and design of christian societies. Nothing, it is certain, was more remote from the views of their first founders, who aimed at nothing less than to render them the general depositaries of the " faith once delivered to the saints ;" and for this purpose carefully inculcated the whole " truth as it is in Jesus," along with the duty of pre- serving it incorrupt and entire ; without the most distant intimation that it was their province to watch over one department with more vigilance than another : least of all was it their design to recommend, as the object of preference, an external ceremony, the nature of which was destined to become a subject of debate among chris- tians. Let each denomination pursue this plan — let each fix upon the promotion of some one truth as the specific ob- ject of its exertions, and the effect will soon appear, not only in extending the spirit of disunion, but in the in- jury whicli the interests of truth itself will sustain. * Baptism a Terra of CommamoQ, p. 69. -* Every denomination will exhibit some portion of it, in a distorted and mutilated form ; none will be in possession of the whole, and the result will be something like the confusion of Babel, where every man spoke in a separate dialect. As the beauty of truth consists chiefly in the harmony and proportion of its several parts, it is as im- possible to display it to advantage in fragments, as to give a just idea of a noble and majestic structure by exhibiting a single brick. What is the consequence which must be expected from teaching an illiterate assembly that the principal design of their imion is to extend the practice of a par- ticular ceremony, but to invest it with an undue import- ance in their eyes, and by tempting them to look upon themselves as christians of a higher order, to foster an overweening self-conceit, to generate selfish passions, and encourage ambitious projects ? Accustomed to give themselves a decided preference above others, to treat with practical contempt the religious pretensions, of the best and vdsest of men, and to live in an element of separation and exclusion, it would be astonishing indeed if their humility were not impaired, and the more deli- cate sjnnpathies of christian affection almost extinguished. In the situation in which they have placed themselves, they are reduced to a necessity of performing continually those operations which other denominations reserve for the last extremity ; they are familiarized to the infliction of the most formidable sentence that the church is em- powered to pass, and to that excision of the members of Christ from the body, to which others proceed with fear and trembling. It is freely admitted, that there are seasons when it is the duty of a christian society to bend its particular at- tention to the exhibition and defence of a neglected branch of truth, in order to supply an antidote to the errors by which it may be attempted to be corrupted. There is no fundamental doctrine which we may not be called upon, in an especial manner, to maintain and for- tify in its turn. But to make this the specific object of the constitution of a church is totally different; it is to I 328 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. contract its views and limit its efforts in a manner ut- terly inconsistent with the design of its institution, which is to exhibit both the theory and practice of Christianity, in all its plenitude and extent. An exception, howeyer, must be made, where the truth which is said to be neglected is fundamental. The assertion and vindication of such a truth is equiva- lent to the maintenance of Christianity itself, which, in common with every other system, is incapable of survi- ving the destruction of its vital parts. Hence the reformers were justified in laying the doctrine of justi- fication by faith as the basis of the reformed religion, because the formal denial of that truth is incompatible with the existence of a church. But, where religious communities have been founded on refined speculations, or on some particular mode of explaining and interpreting disputable tenets, the most mischievous consequences have resulted. The people usually denominated Qua- kers set out with the professed design of exhibiting the doctrine of the Spirit, which they chose to consider as a neglected truth, and the consequence has been such a distortion of that momentous doctrine as has probably contributed not a little to subject it to contempt. The Sandemanians profess to constitute their societies with an express view to the revival of certain neglected truths, and the effect, as far as their efforts have succeeded, has been the extinction of vital piety. The high calvin- ists, or to speak more properly, the antinoraians, are loud and clamorous in professing their solicitude to revive a certain class of neglected truths, and the result of their labour has been to corrupt the few truths they possess, and to consign others of equal importance to contempt and oblivion. In each of these instances, by detaching ■particular portions from the system to which it belongs, the continuity of truth has been broken, and the vital communication between its respective parts, on which its life and vigour depend, interrupted. It was reserved for our opponents to pursue the same system under a new form, by selecting the ceremony of baptism as their distinguishing symbol, and to de- REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 329 grade the christian profession, in our apprehension, by placing it in the due administration of the element of water. "Where, it is natural to ask (though it is an inferior consideration), where is the policy of such a proceeding ? What tendency has it to recommend and to propagate the rite, about which such zeal is exerted and such solicitude expressed ? Will the insisting on it as a term of com- itnmion give it any additional evidence, or invest it with supernumerary charms ? Will it be better relished and received for its approaching in the form of an exaction, than if it was entrusted to the force of argument and persuasion ? Were it permitted to have recourse to in- timidation in the concerns of religion, where are our means and resources ? where shall we look for that splen- dour of reputation, that command of emolument and power, which shall render a state of separation from Baptist societies an intolerable grievance ? Let us learn to think soberly of ourselves, and not endeavour to en- force the justest principles by means foreign to their nature, nor, by substituting an impotent menace instead of argument, subject them to reprobation and ridicule. Mr. Kinghom gives it as his decided opinion, that for a paedobaptist statedly to attend the ministry of a bap- tist, is a dereliction of principle. A great gulf ought, in his apprehension, to be fixed between the two denomi- nations. But how is it possible on this system to indulge the hope of effecting a revolution in the public mind, when all the usual channels of communication are cut off, and the means of rational conviction laid under an interdict? If the hearers of both denominations are bound to confine their attendance to teachers who will esteem it their duty to confirm them in their respective persuasions, the transition to an opposite system may be deemed almost a miracle. It were more natural to sup- pose that, in this instance, as well as others of greater moment, " faith cometh by hearing," than that a crop should spring up where no seed, or none but what is of an opposite kind, has been sown. It is not a little curious to find it objected to the prin- !' I ^ S30 RBTLY TO RBT. JOSEPH KIKOHOKK. \>\ ciples we are attempting to defend, that they "^ »daP^<\ to an imperfect, rather than a perfect state of thm^; ^hen the utility of the entire system of chnst.anity re- suits entirely from such an adaptation, and is nothmg more than 1 sublime and my^tenous condescenaon to human weakness and imperfection. What is the gospel br^proposed aUiancef in which infinite punty comes toto contact with pollution, infinite justice with human demerits, and inefihble riches with hopeless penury? « Mixed communion," Mr. Kinghom observes, " diylays another genuine feature of error. It is only to be found f even on the concession of its warmest supporters) m that mingled state of things, which takes P ?«« '>«7««" *^« first purity of the church and the ultimate di^W of eospel light. In the times of the apostles it had no E nor do we expect it wiU be found when 'the farth shall be filled with the knowledge of God • Specious as this proposition may appear, it is J" re^ty nothing but a truism. We both suppose infant bapt^m to be an innovation unknown m primitive tunes. But mixed communion means nothing else than the umon of baptists and padobaptists in the same religious society. To say, therefore, that no such practice Wi« known in the times of the apostles, is to say that the two denom^ nations were not united while there was on y Sne-a profound discovery, the merit of which we will not dis- pute with this author. But when he proceeds to remar^ that it will be equally unknown m the penod usuaUy styled the latter-day glory, we must be permitted to re- nund him of a state incomparably superior, and to ask him whether he supposes his exclusive system mU extend there ; whether the paedobaptist, d^ng m the possession of his supposed enror, is disquahfied o jo m « the spirits of just men made perfect ; to mingle with the general assembly of the church of the first-bom ? If tUs is not affirmed, let him reflect on the enormous impropriety of demanding a greater uniformity amwigst the CMidi The writer is far from anticipating a speedy or sudden revolution in the sentiments of his brethren, as the con- sequence of his efforts in this controversy. He is con- tented to await the slow operation of time, in extinguish- ing the prejudices which time alone has produced; conscious that bodies of men are peculiarly tenacious of their habits of thinking, and that it is wisely ordained, that the conquest achieved by just and en- lijrhtened principles should be firm and durable, m pro- portion to the tardiness of their progress. Another generation most probably rise up, before the rust ot pre- fudiceis sufficiently worn off to leave room for the opera- tion of reason, and the exercise of free inquiry on this subject. Our opponents, aware that a current has already set in, which threatens, at no very distant penod, to * RoDLxiv. 1. XV. 7. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 335 sweep away their narrow and contracted system, are exerting every effort to stop it, but in vain : Labitar, et labelnr, in orone volabilis aevmn. Mr. Kinghom, while he acknowledges, with extreme regret, that the younger part of our ministers are gene- rally disposed unfavourably to the cause he has attempted to advocate, expresses his conviction, that further reflec- tion and inquiry will correct the aberrations of their youth, and recall them to the ancient path. But when was it ever known that an extension of knowledge pro- duced a contraction of feeling, or that the effect of a more extended survey of the vast sphere of philosophical and rehgious speculation, was to magnify the importance of sectarian peculiarities? He anticipates this effect chiefly from the perusal of ecclesiastical history ; a pro- found acquaintance with which is to put them in pos^ session of the marvellous secret, that mixed communion was unknown in the ages which succeeded the universal prevalence of infant baptism. The general agreement to consider that rite as an indispensable prerequisite to communion, during those ages, is to be received, it seems, as an oracle ; while the baptism which they practised is discarded as a nullity, the sole ground on which it was supposed to be . necessary deemed a most dangerous error, and innumerable other opinions and usages, of equal notoriety and extent, consigned to the moles and to the bats. He must have a wonderful faculty of sanguine anticipation, who supposes that an unfettered mind will reject the authority of antiquity in every par- ticular, except that which suits his own humour ; and after considering whatever distinguishes the ecclesiastical economy of these ages, from that of dissenting societies, as a striking instance of human weakness, stop short in the career of reprobation just at the point he is pleased to prescribe. Such a procedure would be (as Cicero observes on another occasion) not to argue, but to divine ; and it would be just as reasonable, after making a coUec- tioii of all the peculiar opinions and practices of christian 1 ,ii m :ti 336 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORX. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINOHORN. 337 antiquity, to determine by lot which of them should he received. Far from indulging the apprehension of a retrograde motion from enlarged and liberal, to narrow and con- tracted principles, we have every reason to conclude, that the polar ice once broken, diey will circulate to a much wider extent; and the revolution which has already commenced amongst those who are destined to guide the public mind, shortly produce a powerfiil effect on the people, who never fail, sooner or later, to follow the impulse of their public teachers. As it is this which gave rise to the present practice, so it is still by a sort of incantation, by mustering the shades of the mighty dead, of Booth and Fuller especially, who are supposed to cast a dark and frowning aspect on the petu- lance of modem innovation, that it is chiefly supported ; and, with all due respect to the talents of Mr. Kinghom, it may be confidently affirmed, that, but for the authority of these worthies, his weapons would produce as little execution as the dart of Priam. Deference to great names is a sentiment which it would be base to attempt to eradicate, and impossible, were it attempted. But, like other offsprings of the mind, it is at first rude and ill-shapen. It makes no selection, no discrimination — it retains the impress of its original, entire, just as it was made : it is a vague undis- tinguishing admiration, which consecrates in a mass all the errors and deformities, along with the real excellencies of its object. Time only, the justest of all critics, gives it correctness and proportion, and converts what is at first merely the action of a great upon an inferior mind, into an enlightened and impartial estimate of distinguished worth. The effect produced by coming into an intimate contact with a commanding intellect, is of a mixed na- ture ; it subdues and enslaves the very persons whom it enlightens, and almost invariably leaves a portion of its sediment, where it deposits its wealth. It must be placed at a certain distance before we derive fi-om it all the pure defecated good it is capable of imparting ; and with all my admiration of the inestimable men already mentioned, and my conviction of the value of their ser- vices, I am persuaded many years must elapse before we entu-ely surmount the effects of a long-continued dic- tatorship. When the views of baptism, by uhich we are distin- guished as a denomination, are once exonerated fi-om the odium ansmg from the practice we have been opposinff, and the prejudices which it has necessarily occ^ionSl have subsided, we may justly presume that the former wiU be examined with more impartiality; nor is it pos- sible to assign a reason for their having made so limited a progress, besides the extreme disgust inspired by this most unchristian and unnatural alliance. It is too much to expect an enlightened public ^viU be eager to enroU themselves amongst the members of a sect, which dis- plays much of the intolerance of popery, without any portion of Its splendour; and prescribes, as the pledge of conversion, the renunciation of the whole christian worid. While the vestibule is planted with the most repulsive forms, while sedent in limine Dirw, few will be mtrepid enough to enter. ' On Mr. Kinghorn s system, which reprobates the at- tendance of the members of baptists and p»dobaptists upon the ministry of each other, as a dereliction of principle, to calculate the ages which must, in all proba- bility elapse, ere our principles obtain a general preva- lence, would form an amusing problem. The Hindoo chronology, which assigns to its fabulous dynasties mU- hons and millions of years, might furnish a specimen of the scale on which such a calculation should proceed ; and unless some such passion is expected to seize the membei-s of other communities, as impelled the queen of Sheba to come fi-om the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, the projected revolution must be pronounced, in the absence of miracles, impossible. 'VVhat can be the motive of the advocates of strict communion, for studiously presenting every possible obstacle lo the exclusive diffusion of our principles? We might be ahnost tempted to conjecture, that they were afraid of TOL. III. z I 338 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGIIORN. REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN. 339 I losing their title to the appeUation of a "httle flock, or that they consider the baptist denomination as an order of nobility or of knighthood, whose dignity is impaired in proportion as it is difiused. Be this as it may, the spirit of the age, distinguished by the superior expansion oT its views, and the extensive cooperation of all sects and parties in the promotion of objects of public utility, —the little success which has accompanied the narrow and restrictive system,— the dictates of scripture, and the movements of that divine charity which those dictates have impressed,-all invite us to " consider our ways, to retrace our steps, and endeavour to draw our fellow- christians " by the cords of love, and the bands ot a man." When we have learned to " make no difference, where the Searcher of hearts makes none ; when we show an alacrity in embracing all who love Jesus Chnst, as members of the same mystical body, when, in con- formity to the genius of Christianity, there is with us neither Jew nor Greek, neither baptist nor padobaptist, but Christ is all in all,— the reasons on v^hich our pecu- liar practice is founded, will in all probability, meet with a very different reception from what has hitherto attended them, accompanied as they have been, with a system of impotent oppression, and unmented contumely. 13ut whether these expectations, to their full extent, are rea- lized or not, we shall at least improve ourselves, wipe oil the reproach of bigotry and intolerance, and rise m the esteem of an enlightened and religious pubhc, by con- vincing them that our zeal for a ceremonial institution has not betrayed us into a forgetfuhiess that "love is the fulfilling of the law." . Thus have I endeavoured to reply to the reasoning ot my opponent on this subject : whether my answer will be deemed by a discerning public conclusive or otherwise, I trust they will be convinced that no attempt has been made to evade the force of his arguments, nor any- thing passed over in silence, to which he can be sup- posed to attach the least degree of importance. My anxiety to leave nothing untouched, which bears any re- lation to the ments of the controversy, has extended this reply beyond my wishes and my expectation ; conceivincr It better to mcur the charge of tediousness, than that of discussing a pdemical point of high importance, in a slmht and superficial manner. The mode of establishing a doctnne in opposition to prevailing opmions and pre- judices, is necessarily much more circuitous than the stnct laws of reasoning require, in exhibiting its evidence to the understanding at a subsequent period. In the mihtant state of a doctrine, it is geuc^rally found neces- sary to mcur frequent repetitions, to represent the same Idea in a variety of lights, and to encounter a multitude of petty cavils and verbal sophisms, which, in its farther progress smk mto oblivion. When, in consequence of a senes of discussions, a doctrine is firmly rooted in the public mmd, the proof by which it is sustained may be presented, without impairing its force, in a more compact and elegant fonn ; and the time, I am persuaded is not very remote, when it will be matter of surprise that it should have been thought necessary to employ so many words in evmcmg a truth, so nearly self-evident, as that '""^'ur u "l^^^.P^J^^* ^^ *^^ ^it^r o£ these pages to establish The flimsy sophistry by which it is attlnpted to be obscured, and the tedious process of reasoning opposed to these attempts, will be aUke forgotten, and tHe very existence of the controversy remembered only ^ong other melancholy monuments of human imper- Some acceleration of that period the author certainly ^ticipates from his present and his former productions, though he IS fully aware that the chief obstacles which impede its approach are such as it is not in the power of a^ment alone to subdue. Reasoning supplies an effectual antidote to mere speculative error, but opposes a feeble bamer to mveterate prejudice, and to that con- traction of feehng, which is the fruitful parent of innu- merable mistakes and misconceptions in religion. There is no room, however, for despondency ; for, as the dic- tates ot christian charity will always be found to coincide z 2 III 340 REPLY TO REV. JOSEPH MNGHOEN. with the iustest principles of reason, the first effect of Z^i^lk be to enligtten tl.e mmd, the «^ond to ex- B^d and enlarge the heart ; and when the Spint is Ped^«^ torn on high, he wiU effectually teach ns ZTood is Love, and that we neyer please him mo«> than when we embrace with open anns, without d.stmc- tion of sect or party, all who bear his image. SHORT STATEMENT OF TBB REASONS roR CHRISTIAN IN OPPOSITION TO PARTY COMMUNION. |FVei.i8HIO IN \H'it.] Ii PREFACE. I i After having discussed so largely, in some former publications, the question ot strict communion, that is, the prevailing practice in the Baptist denomination, of confining their fellowship to members of their own com- munity, it was not my intention to trouble the public with the subject any furtlier, not having the least am- bition for the last word in controversy. But it has been suggested to me, that it would not be difficult to condense the substance of the argument within a smaller compass, so as to render it accessible to such as have neither the leisure nor the inclination to peruse a large performance. It has been my endeavour to cut off every thing super- fluous, and, without doing injury to the merits of the cause, to present the reasoning which sustams it in a concise and popular form : how far I have succeeded, must be left to the judgement of the reader. I would only remark here, that all I have seen and heard concurs to convince me, that the practice of strict communion rests almost entirely on authority, and that were the influence of a few great names withdrawn, it would sink under its own weight. Among those of re- cent date, none bas been more regarded than that of the late venerable Fuller ; and as he left a manuscript on this subject to be published after his death, he is consi- dered as having deposed his dying testimony in its fa- vour. That he felt some predilection to a practice to which he had been so long accustomed, and whose pro- priety was very rarely questioned in his early days, is 344 PREFACE. 1 freely admitted ; but that he all along felt some hesita- tion on the subject, and that his mind was not com- pletely made up, I am induced to believe from several circumstances. First, from the fact of his proposing himself to commune at Cambridge, with the full know- ledge of there being paedobaptists present. Secondly, from a conversation which passed, many years ago, be- tween him and the writer of these lines. In reply to his observation, that we act precisely on the same prin- ciple with our pjedobaptist brethren, since they also insist on baptism as an essential pre-requisite to communion, it was remarked, that this was a mere argummtum ad haminem; it might serve to silence the clamours of those paedobaptists who, while they adhered to that principle, charged us with bigotry ; but that still it did not touch the merits of the question, since a previous inquiry oc- curs, whether any thing more is requisite to communion, on scriptural grounds, than a vital union with Christ ; his answer was, When mixed communion w placed on that footing, I never yet ventured to attcbdc it. Hence I am compelled to consider his posthumous tract rather as a trial of what might be adduced on that side of the controversy, with a view to provoke further inquiry, than the result of deliberate and settled conviction. Be this as it may, great as his merits were, he was but a man, and as such liable to err, even on subjects of much greater importance. All I wish is, that without regard to hu- man names or authorities, the matter in debate may be entirely determined by an unprejudiced appeal to reason and scripture. The prevalence of this disposition to bow to authority, and to receive opinions upon trust, is strikingly illustrated by the following anecdote. A highly respected friend of mine, on asking one of his deacons, a man of primitive piety and integrity, what objections he had to mixed commimion, he replied, with great simplicity, that he had two ; in the first place, Mr. Fuller did not approve of it ; and in the next, the scripture declares, that " he who pulls down a hedge, a serpent shall bite him." The REASONS FOR CHRISTIAN COMMUNION. 345 good man very properly placed that reason first which carried the greatest weight with it. In short, there is a certain false refinement and sub- tlety in the argument for strict communion, which would ne- er occur to a plain man, who was left solely to the guidance of scripture. In common with almost every other error, it derived its origin from the public teachers of religion, and with a change of sentiment in them, it will gradually disappear; nor will it be long ere our churches will be surprised that they suffered themselves to be betrayed, by specious, but hollow sophistry, into a practice so repulsive and so impolitic. Amicus Plato, amwus Socrates, sea magis arnica Ve- ritas. October 7, 182C. I A SHORT STATEMENT. It is admitted, by all denominations of christians, with the exception of one, that the sacrament of the Lord's supper is of perpetual obligation, and that it was designed by its Founder for one of the principal indica- tions and expressions of that fraternal affection which ought to distinguish his followers. Though the commu- nion of saints is of larger extent, comprehending all those sentiments and actions by which christians are especially united, the joint participation of this rite is universally acknowledged to constitute an important branch of that communion. So important a part has it been considered, that it has usurped the name of the whole ; and when any dispute arises respecting the terms of communion, it is generally understood to relate to the terms of admission to the Lord's table. Whether all real christiims are entitled to share in this privilege, whether it forms a part of that spiritual provision which belongs to the whole family of the faithful, or whether it is the exclusive patrimony of a sect, who (on the ground of their supposed imperfec- tion) are authorized to repel the rest, is the question which it is my purpose, in the following pages, briefly and calmly to discuss. The first conclusion to which we should naturally arrive, would probably favour the more liberal system; we should be ready to suppose that he who is accepted of Christ ought also to be accepted of his brethren, and that he whose right to the thing signified was not ques- tioned, possessed an undoubted right to the outward sign. There are some truths which are so self-evident, that a formal attempt to prove them has the appearance i i : m 348 CHKISnAN IN OPPOSITION TO of trifling, where the premises and the conclusion so nearly coincide, that it is not easy to point out the inter- mediate links that at once separate and connect them. Whether the assertion, that all sincere christians are entitled to a place at the Lord's table is of that de- scription, will more clearly appear as we advance ; hut I must he pennitted to say, that a feeling of the kind just mentioned has occasioned the greatest difficulty I have experienced in this discussion. It is well known that a diversity of sentiment has long subsisted in this country, in relation to the proper subjects of baptism, together with the mode of adminis- tering that rite. While the great body of the christian worid administer baptism to infants, and adopt the prac- tice of sprinkling or pouring the sacramental water, there are some who contend that baptism should be confined to those who are capable of imderstanding the articles of the christian religion, or, in other words, to adults, and that the proper mode is the immersion of the whole body. They who maintain the last of these opinions, were for- merly designated by the appellation of anabaptists ; but as that term implied that they assumed a right of re- peating baptism, when in reality their only reason for baptizing such as had been sprinkled in their infancy, was, that they looked upon the baptism of infants as a mere human invention, the candour of modem times lias changed the invidious appellation of anabaptist to the more simple one of baptist. It is not my intention to attempt the defence of that class of christians, though their views are entirely in accordance with my own; one consequence, however, necessarily results. We are compelled, by virtue of them, to look upon the great mass of our fellow-chris- tians as unhaptized. On no other ground can we main- tain our principles, or justify our conduct. Hence it has heen inferred, too hastily in my opinion, that we are bound to abstain from their communion, whatever judgement we may form of their sincerity and piety. Baptism, it is alleged, is, under all possible circum- stances, an indispensable term of communion ; and how- PAKTY COMMUNION. 349 ever highly we may esteem many of our paedobaptist brethren, yet, as we cannot but deem them unhaptized, we must of necessity consider them as disqualified for an approach to the Lord's table. It is evident that this reasoning rests entirely on the assumption that baptism is invariably a necessary condition of communion — an opinion which it is not surprising the baptists should have embraced, since it has long passed current in the christian world, and been received by nearly all deno- minations of christians. The truth is, it has never, till of late, become a practical question, nor could it while all parties acknowledged each other s baptism. It was only when a religious denomination arose, whose princi- ples compelled them to deny the validity of any other haptism besides that which they themselves practised, that the question respecting the relation which that ordi- nance bears to the Lord s supper, could have any influ- ence on practice. But a doctrine which can have no possible influence on practice is received with little or no examination ; and to this must be imputed the facility with which it has been so generally admitted, that bap- tism must necessarily and invariably precede an admis- sion to the Lord's table. The wide circulation, however, of this doctrine, ought undoubtedly to have the effect of softening the severity of censure on that conduct (how- ever singular it may appear) which is its necessary re- sult : such is that of the great majority of the baptists, in confining their commimion to those whom they deem baptized ; wherein they act precisely on the same prin- ciple with all other christians, who assume it for granted that baptism is an essential preliminary to the reception of the sacrament. The point on which they difi*er is the nature of that institution, which we place in immersion, and of which we suppose rational and accoxmtable agents the only fit subjects ; this opinion, combined with the other generally received one, that none are entitled to receive the eucharist but such as have been baptized, leads inevitably to the practice which seems so singular, and gives so much off*ence — the restricting of communion to our own denomination. Let it be admitted that bap- Nil I 350 CHRISTIAN IN OPPOSITION 10 PARTY COMMUNION. 351 tism is, under all circumstances, a necessary condition of church fellowship, and it is impossible for the baptists to act otherwise. That their practice in this particular is harsh and illiberal, is freely admitted, but it is the infal- lible consequence of the opinion generally entertained respecting communion, conjoined with their peculiar •views of the baptismal rite. The recollection of this may suffice to rebut the ridicule, and silence the clamour, of those who loudly condemn the baptists for a proceed- ing, which, were they but to change their opinion on the subject of baptism, their own principles would compel them to adopt. They both concur in a common princi - pie, from which the practice deemed so offensive is the necessary result. Considered as an argumentum ad hominem, or an ap- peal to the avowed principles of our opponents, this rea- soning may be sufficient to shield us from that severity of reproach to which we are often . exposed, nor ought we to be censured for acting upon a system which is sanctioned by our accusers. Still it leaves the real merits of the question untouched; for the inquiry remains open, whether baptism is an indispensable pre-requisite to communion ; in other words, whether they stand in such a relation to each other, that the involuntary ne- glect of the first, incurs a forfeiture of the title to the last. The chief, I might say the only, argument for the re- stricted plan of communion, is derived from the example of the apostles, and the practice of the primitive church. It is alleged, with some appearance of plausibility, that the first duty enjoined on the primitive converts to Christianity was to be baptized, that no repeal of the law has taken place since, that the apostles uniformly bap- tized their converts before they admitted them to the sacrament, and that, during the first and purest ages, the church knew of no members who had not submitted to that rite ; and that, consequently, in declining a union with those, whom, however estimable in other respects, we are obliged to consider as unbaptized, we are follow- ing the highest precedents, and treading in the hallowed words^ IS the sum and substance of their reasoning who are the advocates of strict communion ; and as it an- preaches with a lofty and imposing ai;, and ha^ pre- vailed with thousands, to embrace what appears SIl\ most senous error, I must bespeak the re^er s patience ;oS ?atr- '^ '^' '' '^ ^^^ ^--' - -^- toT^: Precedent derived from the practice of inspired men IS entitled to be regarded as law, in exact proportioiTa^ the spint of ,t IS copied, and the /^Wwce»^ on which it proceeds IS acted upon. If, neglectful of these, we at- tend to the letter only, we shall be betrayed into the most serious mistakes, since there are numerous actions recorded of the apostles in the government of the church, which it would be the height of folly and presumption to imitate Above all things, it is necess^y, before we proceed to found a rule of action on precedent, carefuUy to investigate the circumstances under which it occurred and the reasons on which it was founder]. The apostles' It IS acknowledged, admitted none to the Lord's supper' but such as were previously baptized ; but under what circumstances did they maintain this course ? It was at a tune when a mistake respecting the will of the Su- preme Legislator on the subject of baptism was impossi- ble; it was while a diversity of opinion relatin/to it could not possibly subsist, because inspired men were at Hand, ready to remove every doubt, and satisfy the mmd of every honest inquirer. It was under circum- stances that must have convicted him who declined com- pliance with that ordinance, of wilful prevarication, and stubborn resistance to the delegates and representatives ot Ohnst who commissioned them to promulgate his Jaws, with an express assurance that " whoever rejected them, rejected him, and whoever received them, received hun, and that to refuse to obey their word, exposed the ottender to a severer doom than was allotted to Sodom and UromorraL* Their instructions were too plain to be *,MatL X. 14, 15. i i«^naki 352 cHBisTUK i» oppoemoji TO mistaken, their authority too sacred to he contemned by a professor of Christianity, without bemg gu.lty of danng iZietv. In such a state of thmgs^ .t may be askei how cWd they have acted differently from what they did ? To have received into the church men who dis- puted their inspiration and despised then injunctions, Cld hare been to betray their «^.»d ^^;«"?Xf their pretensions as the liv.ng depositaries of the nimd of Christ : to have admitted those who, bel'^^g/''*^ '°- spiration, yet refused a compliance with Aeir ordere^ would h;ye let into the church the most unheard-of Ucentiousness, and polluted it, by mcorporating with ite members the worst of men. Neither of .'1'^=°'^;^ .^ thought of, and no other alternative remained but to m- sistl^ a test of sincerity on a punctual compliwice with what was known and acknowledged as Uie apostolic doc- trine. "We are of God," says St. John: "he that knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God heareth not us: hereby we know the spint of truth, and the spirit of error.- In short, the apostles refi^d to im- pWt the external privileges of the church to such as Lpugned their authority, or contemned their injunc- tions, which, whoever persisted m the neglect of bap- tism at that time, and in those circumstances, must necessarily have done. j„i,„„ But in declining the communion of modem psBdobap- tists, however eminent their piety, there is really nothing andogous to that method of proceedmg. The resem- blancl foils in its most essential features. In repeUing an unbaptized person from their communion, supposmg such a one to have presented himself, they would have rejected the violator of a known precept ; he whom we reLe is, at most, chargeable only with m^takmg rt. The former must either have neglected an acknowledged precept, and thus evinced a mind destitute of pnnciple^ or he must have set the authority of the apost es at de- fiance, and thus have classed with parties of the woret description. Our paedobaptist brethren are exposed to * 1 John IT. 6. PARTY COMMUNION. 353 neither of these charges : convince them that it is their 2t^l «tfd ready, many of them at least, we^Lno doubt, stand ready to perform it; convince them that it IS a necessary inference from the correct interpretation of JfnlT I'T"'™'^^^'*' ^^ ^^3^ ^ ^^ovLt hesita- tion, bow to that authority. The most n^d baptist will probably admit that, how- ever clear and irresistible the evidence of his sentimente may appear to himself, there are those whom it fXto XT^- ?"* "'^"'^ ""{ *^*^°^ <^^^^lh iUustrious exam- Sir K ?'f ^' .'^^''. "^^^ ^^^^ ^'■^^^le at the thought of Sr*'^^T?^*^^ the least of the commaX of ^^^^'^'''' ^"^ apostles; men .whose character and principles, consequently, form a striking contrast with those of the persons whom it is allowed the apoX would have repelled. But to separate ourselves from the best ot men, because the apostles would have withdrawn from the worst, to confound the broadest moral distinc- ^ons, by awardmgthe same treatment to involuntary and conscientious error which they were prepared to in- flict on stubborn and wilful disobedience, is certainly a ""^.T^^'^'^Tlh^ ^^ ^^""^"g ^P°«^^^i« precedent. .1,^- wl Vu^'*V ^^y' ®^- ^*^' "*t« spirit maketh ahre. Whether the contrariety of these w^ ever more strongly marked, than by such a method of imitating the apostles, let the reader judge. ^ For the clearer iUustration of this point, let us suppose a case. A person proposes himself as a candidate for admission to a baptist church. The minister inquires into his views of the ordinance of baptism, and respect- fuUy asks whether he is convinced of the divine autho- nty of the nte which was administered to him in hig intancy. He confesses he is not, that on mature delibe- ration and mquiry he considers it as a human invention, yn Ills thus avowing his conviction, he is nj^ed to con- less Chnst before men, by a prmopt compliance with what he is satisfied is a paT* Of his revealed will: he hesitates, he refuses, aUeging that it is not essential to salvation, that it is a mere external rite, and that son.e of VOL. m. j,j^ i '|| 354 CHRISTIAN m OPPOSITION TO « the holiest of men have died in the neglect of it. Here ig a parallel case to that of a person who should have de- cUned the ordmance of haptism in primitive times ; and in entire consistence with the principles which we are maintaining, we have no hesitation in af&rming, that the individual in question is disqualified for chnstian com- munion. To receive him under such curcumstances, would he sanctioning the want of principle, and nouxmg contempt on the chnstian precepts. Yet the conduct we have now supposed would be less criminal than to have shrunk from baptism in the apostolic age because the evidence by which our views are supported, though suf- ficient for every practical purpose, is decidedly inferior to that which accompanied their first promulgation : the utmost that we can pretend, is a very high probability ; the primitive converts possessed an absolute certainty. Now since we are prepared to visit a degree ot delin- quency inferior to that which would have ensured the reiection of a candidate by the apostles, with the same severity, how preposterous is it to charge us with de- parting from apostoHcal precedent ! In the same curcum- Stances, or in circumstances nearly the same, we are ready instantly to act the same part : let the circum- stances be essentially varied, and our proceeding is pro- portionably different. The apostles reftised the com- munion of such, and such only, as were msmcere, who held the truth in unrighteousness," avowing their convic- tion of one system, and acting upon another : and wherever similar indications display themselves, we do precisely the same. They admitted the weak and erroneous, providing their errors were not of a nature subversive of Christianity ; and so do we. Ihey tole- rated men whose sentiments differed from their own, providing they did not rear the standard of revolt, by a deliberate resistance to the only infallible authonty ; and such precisely is the coi^se we pursue. We bear witli those who mistake the dictates of inspiration, m points which are not essential ; but with none who wilfoUy contradict or neglect them. In the government ot the churdi, as far as our means of information reacii, tne PARfY COMMUNION. 355 immediate ambassadors of Christ appear to have set us an example of much gentleness and mildness, to have exercised a tender consideration of human imperfection, and to have reserved all their severity for a contumacious i-ejection of their gmdance, and disdain of their instruc- tions. And wherever these features appear, we humbly tread m their steps ; being as little disf>osed as they to wuntenance or receive those who impugn their inspira- tion, or censure their decisions. They were certainly strangers to that scheme of eccle- siastical polity, which proposes to divide the mystical body ot Christ into two parts, one consisting of such as enjoy communion with him, the other of such as are en- titled to commune with each other. In no part of their wntings, is the faintest vestige to be discerned of that state of things of which our opponents are enamoured, where a vast majority of sincere christians are deemed disqualified for christian fellowship, and while then- pre- tensions to acceptance with God, and a title to eternal lite, are undisputed, are yet to be kept in a state of se- clusion from the visible church. Had they in any part of their Epistles appeared to broach such a doctrine • had they lavished high encomiums on the faith and piety of those with whom they refused to associate at the Lords supper, our astonishment at sentiments so singular and so eccentric, would have been such, that scarcely any conceivable uniformity of manuscripts or of versions could have accredited the passages that contained them. That the primitive church was composed of professed believers, and none debarred from its privileges, but such whose faith was essentially erroneous, or their cha- racter doubtftil, is a matter of fact which appears on the very surface of the inspired records, and was probably never called in question, in any age or country, untd an opposite principle was avowed and acted upon by the modem baptists, who appropriate its title and its immu- mties to themselves, while, with strange inconsistency, they proclaim their conviction, that the persons whom they exclude are indisputably in possession of its interior and spiritual privileges. For this portentous separation III ill 356 CHRISTIAN IN OPPOSITION TO PARTY COMMUNION. 367 of ilie internal from tlie ontward and visible priyileges of Christianity ; for confining the latter to a mere hand- ful of such as have " obtained like precious faith with themselves," in vain will they seek for support in the ex- ample of the apostles. They repeatedly and earnestly warn us against resting in external advantages, and of the danger of substituting the outward sign for the in- ward and spiritual grace; but never give the slightest intimation of the possibility of possessing the first, with- out being entitled to the last. The assertion of such an oi>inion, and the practice founded upon it, the reader will at once perceive, is a departure from the precedent and example of the earliest age, which it would be dif- ficult to parallel. In opposition, however, to all that has been uiged to show the obvious dispari^ between the two cases, our opponents still reiterate the cry. The apostles did not tolerate the omission of baptism, and therefore we are not justified in tolerating it ! But is the omission of a duty to be judged of in relation to its moral quality, without any regard to circumstances, without any con- sideration, whether it be voluntary or involuntary, whe- ther it proceed from perversity of will, or error of judge- ment, from an erroneous interpretation of our Lord's precepts, or a contempt of his injunctions; and sup- posing our paedobaptist brethren to be sincere and con- scientious, is there any resemblance between them and those whom the apostles, it is allowed, would have re- pelled, except in ihe mere circumstance of their being both unbaptized, the one because they despised the apostolic injunctions, the other because they mistake them ? The former (supposing them to have existed at all) must have been men over whose conscience the word of God had no power ; the latter tremble at hig word, and are restrained firom following our example by deference to his will. If such opposite characters are the natural objects of a contrary state of feeling, they must be equally so of a contrary treatment ; nor can any thing be more preposterous than to confound them together, under the pretence of a regwl to apostolic precedent. Our treatment of mankind should undoubt- edly be the expression of our feelings, and regulated by our estimate of their character. Strict communion pre- scribes the contrary ; it sets the conduct and the feelings at variance, and erects into a duty the mortification of our best and holiest propensities. The discipline of the church, as prescribed by Christ and his apostles, is founded on principles applicable to every age and to every combination of events to which it is liable, in a world replete with change, where new forms of error, new modes of aberration from the paths of rectitude and truth, are destined to follow in rapid and unceasing succession. Among these we are com- pelled to enumerate the prevailing notions of the christian world on the subject of baptism — an error which it is obvious could have no subsistence during the age of the apostles. Here, then, arises a new case ; and it becomes a matter of serious inquiry, how it is to be treated. It plainly cannot be decided by a reference to apostolic pre- cedent, because nothing of this kind then existed, or could exist The precept which enjoined the baptism of new converts might be resisted, but it could not be mis- taken; and therefore no inference can be drawn firom the treatment which it is admitted the apostles would have assigned to wilftil disobedience, that is applicable to the case of involuntary error. The only method of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion, is to consider how they conducted themselves towards sincere, though erring christians, together with the temper they recommend us to cultivate towards such as labour under mistakes and misconceptions not inconsistent with piety. Without expecting a specific direction for the regulation of our conduct in this identical particular, which would be to suppose the error in question not new, it is quite sufl&- cient if the general principle of toleration which the New Testament enjoins, is found to comprehend the present instance. If action be founded on conviction, as it undoubtedly 18 in all well-regulated minds, we are as much obliged to mould our sentiments into an agreement with those of ¥. 358 C?HRISTIAN IN OPPOSITION TO PARTY COMMUNION. 359 the apostles, as our conduct : inspired precedents of thought are as authoritative as those of action. The advocates of strict communion are clamorous in their demand that, in relation to church fellowship, we should treat all paedobaptists exactly in the same manner as the apostles would have treated unbaptized persons in their day. But must we not for the same reason think the same of them ? This, however, they disclaim as much as we do : they are perfectly sensible, nor have they the hardihood to deny, that the difference is immense be- tween a conscientious mistake of the mind of Christ on a particular subject, and a deliberate contempt or neglect of it. Who can doubt that the apostles would be the first to feel this distinction ; and, as they would undoubtedly, in common with all conscientious persons, regulate their conduct by their sentiments, that, could they be person- ally consulted, they would recommend a correspondent difference of treatment ? To sum up the argum^it in a few words. Nothing can be more hollow and fallacious than the pretension of our opponents that they are guided by inspired precedent, for we have no precedent in the case ; in other words, we have no example of the manner in which they conducted themselves towards such as fell into an error on the subject of baptism ; the Scriptures make no allusion to such an error which attaches at present to many most tenacious of its au- thority, humbly submissive to its dictates, and deeply imbued with its spirit ; to men, in a word, of the most opposite character to those who may be supposed, in consequence of setting light by the authority of in- spired teachers, to have neglected baptism in the first ages. Thus much may suffice for apostolic precedent. There is still one more view of the subject to which the atten- tion of the reader is requested for a moment. It remains to be considered whether there is any peculiar c&nnexian between the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, either in the nature of things or by divine ap- pointment, so as to render it improper to administer the one without the other. That there is no natural con- ^ nexion is obvious. They were instituted at different times and for different purposes ; baptism is a mode of professing our faith in the blessed Trinity, the Lord's supper as a commemoration of the dying love of the Redeemer: the former is the act of an individual, tiie latter of a society. The words which contain our war- rant for the celebration of the eucharist, convey no allu- sion to baptism whatever : those which prescribe baptism carry no anticipative reference to the eucharist And as it is demonstrable that John's baptism was a separate in- stitution from that which was enacted after our Lord's resurrection, the Lord's supper is evidently anterior to baptism, and the original communicants consisted entirely of such as had not received that ordinance. To all ap- pearance, the rites in question rest on independent grounds. But perhaps there is a special connexion be- tween the two, arising from dimne appointment. If this be the case, it will be easy to point it out Rarely, if ever, are they mentioned together, and on no occasion is it asserted, or insinuated, that the validity of the sacra^ ment depends on the previous observation of the baptis- mal ceremony. That there was such a connexion betwe«a circumcision and the passover, we learn from the explicit declaration of Moses, who asserts that " no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." Let a similar prohibition be produced in the present instance, and the controversy is at an end. The late excellent Mr. Fuller, in a posthumous pam- phlet on this subject, laboured hard to prove an instittOed connexion between the two ordinances ; but his conclu- sion from the premises is so feeble and precarious, that we strongly suspect his own mind was not fiilly made up on the subject. His reasoning is certainly yeiy little adapted to satisfy an impartial inquirer. The whole per- formance appears more like an experiment of what might be advanced in fevour of a prevailing hypothesis, than the result of deep and deliberate conviction. On this point our opponents are at variance with each other ; Mr. Kinghom roundly asserts that baptism has no more connexion with the Lord's supper than with |. 11 II II 360 CHRISTIAN IN OPPOSITION TO ewfy other part of Christianity. Thus what Mr. Fuller attempts to demonstrate as the main pillar of his cause, Mr. Kmghom abandons without scruple. What a for- tunate position is that to which men may arrive who proceed m the most opposite directions— a sort of mental antipodes, which you wiU reach with equal certainty, whether you advance by the east or by the west. From the title of Mr. Kinghom's book, 4hich M, Baptism a term of Communion," we should be led to e^ect that it was his principal object to trace some wect/Jc relation which these rites bear to each other r^o such thing : he denies there is any such relation: bapfasm, he declares, is no otherwise connected with the Lords supper than it is with every other part of Christi- anity. But on this hypothesis, it is essential to the euchanst, and consequently it is essential to every part of Christianity ; so that the omission of it, from what- ever cause, IS such an error in the first concoction, that It iitiates every branch of religion, disqualifies for aU 1^ duties, and incurs the forfeiture of aU its privileges. llus is the statement of a man who makes loud profes- sions of attachment to our paedobaptist brethren ; nor can he escape from this strange dilemma but by retra- cing his steps, and taking his stand with Mr. FuUer on a supposed xmtUvted relation between the two ordinances. Meanwhile, it is instructive to observe in what inextrica- ble labyrinths the acutest minds are entangled, which d^ert the high road of common sense, in pursuit of ian- dnil theories. Having cleared the way, by showing that scripture precedent, properly interpreted, affords no countenance or support to stnct communion, the remaining task is very easy. For nothing can be more evident, than that the whole genius of Christianity is favourable to the most cordial and affectionate treatment of our fellow-chris- taans. To love them fervenUy, to bear with their imper- fe^ons, and cast the mantle of forgiveness over their mfinmties, is to fulfil the law of Christ A schism in Ins mystical body is deprecated as the greatest evil, and whatever tends to promote it is subjected to the severest PARTY COMMUNION. 361 reprobation. *' Now I beseech you, by the name of the Lord Jesus," is the language of St. Paul, " that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement. For it has been declared unto me, by them who are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of ApoUos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?** Li ap- plying these, and innumerable other passages of similar import, to the point under discussion, two questions occur. First, Are our paedobaptist brethren a part of the mystical body of Christ? or, in other words. Do they form a portion of that church which he has pur- chased by his precious blood ? If they are not, they are not in a state of salvation, since none can be in that state who are not vitally united to Christ. The Bible acknowledges but two classes into which the whole hu- man race is distributed, the church and the world ; there is no intermediate condition ; whoever is not of the first necessarily belongs to the last. But the advocates for strict communion are loud in their professions of esteem for pious paedobaptists ; nor is there any thing they would more resent, than a doubt of their sincerity in that particular. The persons whom they exclude from their communion are then, by their own confession, a part of the flock of Christ, a portion of his mystical body, and of that church which he has bought with his blood. The next question is, whether a formal separation from them, on account of their imputed error, amounts to what the scripture styles schism ? Supposing one part of the church at Corinth had formally severed themselves from the other, and established a separate communion, allowing those whom they had forsaken, at the same time, the title of sincere christians, would this have been considered as a schism ? That it would, is demonstrable from the language of St. Paul, who accuses the Corin- li L., CHItlBnAN IN OPPOSITION TO thians of haymg schisms* among them, though they never dreamed of forming a distinct and separate com- munion. If they are ch^ged with schism, on account of that spirit of contention, and that alienation of theii affections from each other, which merely tended to an open rupture, how much more would they have incurred that censure had they actually proceeded to that eittrem- ity ? Schism, in its primitive and literal sense, signifies the hreaking of a substance into two or more parts, and when figuratively applied to a body of men, it denotes the division of it into parties ; and though it may be applied to such a state of contention as consists with the preservation of external union, it is most eminently ap- plicable to a society whose bond of union is dissolved, and where one part rejects the other from its fellowship. If there is any meaning in terms, this is schism in ita highest sense. The great apostle of the Gentiles illus- trates the union of the fiutnful, by that which subsists between the members of the natural body. " Now ye are die body of Christ, and members in particular." He shows, in a beautiful and impressive manner, that the several members have each his distinct function, and are pervaded by a conmion sympathy, with the express de- •ign ^^ that there be no schism in the body." But when one part of the christian church avowedly excludes ano- ther from their commimion, when they refuse to unite in the most distinguishing branch of social worship, and hold themselves in a state of seclusion, they virtually say to the party thus repelled, " We have no need of thee ; " they cut themselves off firom the body, and are guilty of a schism so open and conspicuous, that none can fail to perceive it. How is it possible for them to evade the conclusion to which this reasoning conducts ns, unless they are prepared to deny the claim of the paedobaptists to be regarded as the members of Christ, or place them in some intermediate station betwixt the world and the church ? But the language of the New Testament, which uniformly identifies the objects of the * Ths «rigiB«I word rendered divitiona» is «^m7mit«, ich»$wu» PARTY COMMUNION. 363 ' divme fevour with the members of Christ's church, is directly opposed to such a fiction. «He loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, by the washing of water through the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, ot smy such thing." It deserves the serious consideration of our opponents, that they are contending for that schism in the body of Christ, against which he so fervently prayed, so anxiously guarded, and which his apostles represent as its greatest c^amity and reproach. "The glory," said our Lord, *' which thou hast given me, I have given them, ihstit they may be one, even as we ^e one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." Here it cannot be doubted that our pasdobaptist brethren are comprehended in this prayer, because our Lord declares it was preferred, not merely for the disciples then existing, but for those also who should hereafter beheve through their word, adding, " that they all may be one, as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." In these words, we find him praying for a visible union among his disciples — such a union as the world might easily perceive ; and this he entreats in behalf of them all, that they all may be one. The advocates