'''Mm

n

CHRIST, AS PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING;

BEING A VINDICATION OF

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND FROM
THEOLOGICAL NOVELTIES, '

IN
EIGHT LE CTURE S
PREACHED BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
AT CANON BAMPTON'S LECTURE,
IN THE YEAR MDCCCXLII.

BY
JAMES GARBETT, M.A.
RECTOR OF CLAYTON, SUSSEX, AND PROFESSOR OF POETRY
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

VOL. II.

OXFORD,
PRINTED BY W. BAXTER, FOB THE AUTHOR.
SOLD BY HATCHARD AND SON, LONDON.
MDCCCXLII.

CONTENTS.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO LECTURE V.
I. God as the source of light and knowledge — ^manifesting Himself
through the Word. Thf Aoyos the illuminating principle — and author of
reason as well as revelation. There must he therefore an accordance
between the two ; and a harmony between the moral and intellectual
principles of uatare and the truths developed in revelation.
II. But all natural knowledge at the highest is introductory to
revelation. This revelation communicated to the Church for the benefit
of mankind — Teacher of them under Clurist.

LECTURE V.
christ as teacher and illuminator.
Mark vii. 13.
Ye have made the word of God of none effect by your traditions.
I. 1. The whole counsel of God in Scripture, which is a perfect rule
of faith and practice. 2. The Church to he tried hy it — and the full
perusal of it the right and duty of all Christians.
II. Traditions. 1. Of ceremonies over which the Church has power.
2. The tradition of teaching, always accompanying the word — but not
authoritative. 3. The primitive tradition coextensive with Scripture,
and not supplemental or complementary to it — the Scripture acknow-

vi CONTENTS.
ledged from the first as a perfect rule, and as such adopted by the
Church of England, and its interpretation confirmed by primitive
antiquity. 4. Objections answered.
III. Evidence from the formularies of the Church of England, that
Scripture is the sole rule of faith.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO LECTURE VI.
I. The wonderful effect of the Gospel in overthrowing the false philo
sophy opposed to its reception — its power in educating the mind of man
in combination with the written word — and vast concentration of intel
lectual resources within the Church.
II. Its decisive influence over all philosophies — of mind, morals, and
matter — but these educational influences dependent on the preeminency
of the simple verities of the Gospel.

LECTURE VI.
scripture the instrument of national education.
Mark vii. 13.
Ye have made the word of God of none effect by your traditions.
I. The Church useless for education unless the salvation of souls
through Christ be her great aim. Inseparable from the free use of the
written word. Great sin and error of Rome in withholding it from the
people. II. Comparative power of the Churches of England and Rome for the
education of a nation.

CONTENTS. vii
PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO LECTURE VII.
I. 1. Christ in the character of King, as well as Priest and Prophet
— 2. two relations of the kingly power, internal and external.
II. How far the regal character is actually communicated to the
Church — the power of excommunication essential to the Church — ab
solution and confession considered — the Papist usurpations.

LECTURE VII.
the kingdom of christ.
John xviii. 36.
Jesus anmvered, My kingdom is not of this world.
I. The Reformation first distinctly distinguishes between the power
temporal and spiritual — ^the dangers in a union with the State of forget
ting, in any way, the spiritual characteristics of the Church — on Christ's
kingdom. II. No sufficient ground for the Millenarian hypothesis of a personal
reign of Christ upon earth.
III. The restoration of the Jews, and the future prospects of the
Church upon earth.

LECTURE VIII.
PART I.
kingdom of christ  and summary of the whole agilnst
papal rome.
Matt, xxviii. 18.
All power is given unto Me in heaven and in ea/rth. Therefore go ye.
I. The regal power of Christ — as exercised in protecting His Church
against its external enemies, spiritual and temporal. A spiritual power
opposed to Christianity — not merely with a deadly hatred and violent

viii CONTENTS.
opposition — but with a super-human intellectual power. That power
manifested, 1. In the old idolatry and philosophizing. 2. In Moham
medanism. 3. In the Papacy. — Against all and each of which power
is given to Christ to protect His Church.
II. Practical results in the Christian life, and mode of viewing God's
earthly providence.
III. Finally, the judging and avenging power of Christ.

LECTURE VIII.
PART II.
SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE AGAINST THE TRACTARIAN THEOLOGY.
Galat. IV. 9, 10.
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, wherev/nto ye
desire again to he in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and
times, and years.
I. Distinction to be observed between Romanism and the Papacy.
II. State of the Chuieh of England from the Reformation to the
nineteenth century.
III. Services of the Tractarian Divines. The essential Romanism of
their doctrines as a system.

ERBATA.
Page 46. line 16. for Reformation read Resurrection
256. ult. after lamented odd for
411. le.yiw proposed, read proposed ;
 — after is omit comma
420. 17. vmit II.
445. 2. from the bottom, /or Barronico read Borromeo

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

TO

LECTUEE V.

CHRIST AS TEACHER AND ILLUMINATOR.

VOL, II.

I. God as the source of light and knowledge — ^mani
festing Himself through the Word. The Aoyoj the illu
minating principle — and author of reason as well as
revelation. There must be therefore an accordance
between the two ; and a harmony between the moral and
intellectual principles of nature and the truths developed
in revelation.
II. But all natural knowledge at the highest is intro
ductory to revelation. This revelation communicated to the
Church for the benefit of mankind — Teacher of them under
Christ.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

LECTURE V.

" God is light, the highest of all, unapproachable and ineffable, neither 'O eiis (pSs
hy intellect to be apprehended, nor by word to be uttered, the '"" '='''«<f °=-
illuminator of every rational nature — this in intellectuals is what the sun x^^irirat,
is in objects of sense, discerned so far as we may be purified to contem- "" 1"'
plate it ; and m proportion as we contemplate it, beloved — and as far as jiVs Xoy^
we love it, again intellectually perceived — itself contemplative of itself, f'"'^'''^*"'*
and comprehensive of itself — and only slightly streaming forth to things X(iy,x.7isli-
without it." "lui. TOUTS
61) <ioyiriits,
ovrtp Iv
I. 1. nnHUS sublimely, and in the spirit of a divine T^""'!' '
-i- philosophy, writes Nazianzen on Almiffhty «""»"'"««'-
God, not only as the oriffinal of all goodness andp-^""" ""^
pm-ity, but as the mexhaustible fountain of intel- •^""^"z^".
lectual light ; in Himself underived, and by all but f' ''i' «»
Himself incomprehensible; and, even in the mosti^";""*?
exalted of created beings, only shining in such faint aiiri Xuunu
communications of Himself as are compatible with xaf xI'tI*-'^'
the faculties of a finite intelHgence. To us then He ^Xl^ri
is in Himself inaccessible and invisible ; but it is not G^^gT^'Z'.
so with Him, who, even in His union with the ^g'^'opp/"
humanity, does not lose that essential Godhead,
B 2

4 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
which is His by eternal generation; nor, in His
Godliead, that approximation to humanity which
renders Him cognizable by us. " He that hath
seen Me, hath seen the Father." " No one cometh
to the Father, but by Me." " No one knoweth the
Son but the Father, and He to whom the Son has
revealed Him." " I and the Father are one."
The terms in which the great Apostle "John speaks
John i. 4. of Him, in relation to man, are very remarkable, " In
Him was life, and the life was the light of men" —
with that depth of meaning about them on the mysteries
of the Divine Nature, which distinguish the writings
of the mighty Evangelist and Prophet. The old
Fathers did well to call him 'O ©eoAoyoy. He
who leant on Jesus' bosom might well have a larger
portion of his Master's spirit bestowed upon him;
and, with the gift of an intenser love, might well have
that which in Heaven follows upon love, — a sublimer
knowledge of the Being who is the object of it. He
would not appear to extend the illuminating energies
of the Aoyoy, merely to those who, being regenerated
by water and the Spirit, and having their eyes opened
to heavenly things, were emphatically (fxoTia-fievoi,
but to all mankind — of whom He is actually
the Creator, and potentially the Redeemer and
spu'itual Creator too, if they will receive Him in the
fulness of that relation. Being the very effulgence
of the uncreated glory, and the express image of His
hypostasis. He has been from the beginning, and
still continues to be, the instrument and medium
through which the fontal and paternal Deity is

LECTURE V. 5
revealed to His creatures, and by whom He works
both in the spiritual and material creation.
By nature, therefore, or grace, or both, the second The a«Vo.-
Person is the enlightener of all men — by virtue ofinteiiectuai,
their rationality and their capacity as moral and ai enHght-
responsible beings. And this leads us, in the next^"*""^"'
place, to the consideration of Christ in another
glorious office in that complement of ministerial
relations in which He stands to us — that important
one of Prophet, or Teacher of the Chm'ch which He
has redeemed by His blood. " The Lord your Deut. xviii.
15 18
God," says Moses, " shall raise up unto you a Prophet
like unto me;" like, yet by unapproachable steps
elevated above him, as the Son is above the servant,
and the Creator above the creatm-e. " They shall Jer- xxxi.
"' 34. Is. liv.
all know Me, fi-om the greatest to the least — for they is.
shall all be taught of God." And such a Teacher
the incarnate God is, in the most comprehensive
sense; not only to the Church in its corporate
capacity, and by a spirit of wisdom communicated
to the rulers of it, but directly to every individual
member, who is brought, by His instrumentality,
into communication with the essential and uncreated
light. And this is to be considered, as, really and speci
fically, the work of Christ in the economy of re
demption; and, from such gUmpses as Scripture
gives us of the Persons in the triune Jehovah, it is
appropriate to the second Person of the Trinity,
whose union with the humanity constitutes the
Mediator and God-Man. Hence it is, that, to

6 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
mark, at once, His relation of divine Teacher to
His creatures, and, in some feeble sort, that which
He bears to the Paternal Deity, t^u irpos tov irarepa
avyyeveiav, the second Person is called distinctively
and emphatically the Word — He through whom the
hidden wisdom of the Deity is manifested forth, as a
word is the expression and image of the thought.
Not that this is all however; for, merely as the
Aoyoy irpoipopLKOs, his separate personality and equal
Deity may be lost — and so to considei* Him, and
thus interpret the Scripture "Word" as applied to
Christ, was the error of the heresiarch of Samosata.
He is not only the outward declaration of God's will,
and the organ by which the Divine wisdom is mani
fested, nor even only the Aoyos ivSidderos iv KapSia
XaXovfMevos — but He is the personal intelligence,
6 Aoyos ivvTroaTUTOs — Aoyos avOvirotrraTOs — of the
• Damaso. Diviue Being — tov ovcricoScos t^ Trarpi avfiirapovra^.
eiZ.'^s-tl' In this sense, and with a distinct reference to the
rfl«1 @lcv, second Person in the Trinity, the Word was known
Phil', ie^' to the old Jewish interpreters of Scripture. Though
v.?.'p?308.he is by no means uniform and consistent ^ Philo
op;™"°Hg speaks of Him distinctly and subUmely in this
Himl^me- chai'acter, and with an evident ascription of per-
?we*enGod ^o^^^lity. And this he obtained from the tradi-
andHis tional teaching of the old Jewish Chmxh, which
ilkenTss^Jil^^^ not only confirmed by Scripture, but no doubt
i\ iigxTov originated from more than one clear declaration, and

Kat V09}T0V

0UO, xiyo, constant intimations of the same sublime truth in the
i'lKBta. Xiyii . • /. 1 T-j 1
®uz,m. writings of the Prophets. This conception of a
Bryant's - , . i . .
Philo Ju- i)ersonal word or wisdom, in inseparable connection
djEus on the

LECTURE V. 7
with a mysterious tri-unity, is distincfly traceable a»V«. and
in the Rabbins, before the express declaration of the the Jewish
_, - Church, u.
Gospel. „ ix. X.
It is an idle charge therefore, and wholly unsup- The per-
° •' ^ sonalityof
ported by fact, which attributes the introduction of the the Aiyx
f . . . , °° dis-
Aoyoy, and with it the doctrine of the Trinity, to the covery of
. '' , the Pla^
Platonic School. For, whatever was the case with the tonists.
Neo-Platonists, who made unscrupulous use of Chris
tian materials, and who importantly modified and
enlarged the outlines of their master, giving a pro
minence and systematic distinctness to what was, in
him, at the best, obscure and latent, there is but faint
resemblance between the rpixjs of Plato, his vovs and vid. Mo-
vXf] and ISea, and the Christian Trinity*. In truth, de Christ. '
rehg.vol.2..
° That some vague and indistinct notions of a Trinity existed
from very early times is undoubted, connected with the conception
of the great first cause. Traces of it may be found in the Indian
and Classical Mythologies. Plutarch speaks of a Trinity of God,
matter, and the evil spirit; and there were certain heretics in the early
Church, who to the divine Being and the Demiurgos joined a
third original principle, sometimes the evil spirit, and sometimes
matter. Nothing can be more indistinct than Plato himself, in
regard to the real meaning of his doctrine ; and we may find proof
of vagueness of thought in the variation of the terms drawn from his
writings to indicate the mysterious trias. I have stated one in the
text; another is to «y«tfo», Aoyos croip/oe or vouj, and ¦^upcii. Some
times he seems to consider the world itself as the second principle,
0 ymtos 6ih, rather than a formative intellect. Sometimes the
Maker of the world, i Avftiev^ys, is placed as the first, but by
Julian as the second, by Protinus the third, and by Proclus as the
fourth. Ptolemus, in Cud worth, speaks of these three hypostases,
TO tiyatot, vows, and ^vjc''> (the anima mundi,) as a doctrine very
anciently delivered. The triad of Parmenides is the to tt^Stov eV,

8 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
it is a mere nominal connection, which never would
have been noticed, but for a diseased and weak
craving in Christian Apologists aiiter some external
confirmation to a mysterious and incomprehensible
fact in the Gospel revelation of the Godhead. And
in that very remarkable passage in the second Letter
' But cie- of Plato to Dionysius >, which is the most distinct of all,
mentAlex- . , , ,. i i i
and. does neither the personahty, nor, much less, the co-etemity
in applying and equality of the Persons is expressed, or can with
Christian any plausibility be deduced; and in this alone, and in
s.i,.5.'i7. no mere superficial and numerical resemblance, can
sth^Mk it a real similarity be established. The Fathers, in
sophicai' °' these matters, often fancied more resemblances in
mus^tm-"'^' thing*^ than a rigid comparison and scrutiny can
Scripture justify. This is ti-ue even of the (Mental Church-
trutbs,some of them
with real Vv troXAa, 'it x») vtX\», which may be identified with the former in
iragments . i ¦ ¦ -r.
of the pri- meanmg and spmt. But no where is there any approximation to the
velati^ ^^' '"¦'"lity ^d transubstantialily. It is but fair to mention Cudworth's
opinion in his own words : " Whereas in his tenth book of laws, he
undertakes to prove the existence of a Deity, he does notwith
standing ascend no higher than to the -^o^," (the animating
principle of the vM,) "ox universal mundane soul, as a self-moving
principle, and the immediate or proper cause of all that motion
which is in the world. But in other places of his wiitings he
frequently asserts, above the self-moving Psyche, an immoveable
and standing Nous or intellect, which was properly the Demiurgos
or architectonic Framer of the whole world. And lastly, above
this multiform inteUigenee, he plamly asserts yet a higher hypo
stasis, one most simple and most absolutely perfect being, which
he calls to m, in opposition to that multiplicity which speaks
something of imperfection in it, and r'aycitef, goodness itself, as
being above mind and understanding." Cudworth, Intell. Syst.
vol. 2. p. 300.

LECTURE V. 9
teachers, who were familiar with Plato's writings in
the original Greek, but much more with the Fathers
of the West, who, with few exceptions, were un
familiar with that language, and, save indirectly, with
the Philosophy contained in its magnificent storehouse.
But, granting that this remarkable mind does con
tain some such intimation, and that the devrepos and
yevrjTOS 0eoy approximate in some distant degree
to the personality of the Aoyos, yet it is most
reasonable and probable that, on the old Patristical vid. ciem.
hypothesis, it came from Scripture sources. The passim!"
Platonists themselves, indeed, attributed this andandoft'er
other high doctrines not to invention, but to a ** ^^^'
toadition immemorial, a 0eo7rapd8oTOs 0tAo<ro0ta.
And, even, on the incredible supposition that it was
otherwise, it would, at all events, supply demonstra
tion, that, however transcendental and above the
discovery and comprehension of the human intellect
the triune mystery may be, it involves no such con
tradiction to reason, as Arians and Socinians have
asserted to be inseparable fi*om the doctrine of the
Son's eternal generation, and the co-deity of the
incarnate Wisdom.
The merely philosophical investigator would at all
events reject unhesitatingly the theory of its intro
duction into the Church later than the primitive
times; and conclude that Justin could not be the
inventor of that, which, were it not demonstrably con
tained in the Christian Scriptures, had been for
centuries the teaching of the Jewish Church, and
was not originated, but only more distinctly as well

10 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
as practically developed, in the more perfect dispens
ation. This is a mere historical fact, independent
of the question of its doctrinal truth.
Patristical 2. The use which the Fathers, in the first ages
supposed^ of the Church, make of the analogy which the
between ScriptuTal application of the term Aoyoy to the
and human sccoud Pcrsou of the Trinity, seems to intimate
between it and the human intellect, is to shew the
pure and coeternal generation of the Aoyos from
the operation of the divine Intellect upon itself, and,
if we may so say without irreverence, its physical
necessity from the conditions inseparable from kn
Damas. intellectual essence. " He is called the word or ra-
Orthodox. Fid. lib. 3. diauce of the Father, because that He has been
C. IX.
A.'y»f »«J begotten of the Father, within His own unity, without
iinxiyiTx,, passion, or time, or derivation, or separation of parts."
"Sia, TO anv ™ _^ . f. ,
cm'hvaaii.ou So says Damasccnus m after times, speaking of the
»« «TO w, ij)j]jjejjjQj.ia^i orthodox faith upon this great point ;

XfCJ K

dQ^t6ffTu»s ^i^d in the same terms speak, with one voice, all the

'"''"""'^'"' great orthodox Fathers before him, such as Chry-

u «f; n»- sostom, and Nazianzen, and Basil. " For this cause
Su'oer^n ¦ ^^ ^® ^^^^^^ ^^^ Word," says the latter, at the begin-
Iirtt?" ^"S ^^ ^^t John's Gospel, « in order that it might
AVf'/,« be shewn that He came forth, mind fi-om mind.

ex TQU vov

^ o^xh- ^^y *^® Word.!* Because He was begotten without
s;«r, A^ycj passion. Why the Word ? Because He is the image of
iyi,v„6i,^ Hun who begat Him, exhibiting whole, and entke, in
dta.ri,t\.oyes __. . ° '
s't, iui,t, Himseh, Him who begat Him, — without having made
™.r« . any separation of parts fi-om Him, — and subsisting per-
^ 5£r«vw lect m Wimseli, as our word images entire the thought
5j, withm us ; for what we conceive in our heart that we

tretVTBt.oVi

LECTURE V. 11
set forth in word, and that which is spoken is a Ye-i''>rh.d^..
presentation, by way of image, of the thought in the raT/'""'
heart." When therefore the Fathers speak thus, and pZZi.
confine themselves within Scripture Umits, it is notf^tr^J;
assuming human philosophy as the basis of Scripture tj^VJltu
interpretation, which was the great and dangerous "^f J"/'"'
fault of the later Alexandrian school, but it is Scrip- ^ v^s *f ™
^ xet^oiav Eve-
ture itself philosophising and commenting on itself, ""if","'^
It IS not attempting to render mysteries compre-fv«"
hensible ; but shewing, from the image of God^tav, >.«;
stamped upon the soul, such intimation and shadow- rfZ^'Sitf
ings forth of the operations of the Divine nature, as im,7iZ
remove, at least, any appearance of contradiction from'^ZJii,^^.
this stupendous mystery. Nor do the so called ?7nit?'^^"
Platonic Fathers of the second century mean other- ^J^^^'^jf?^
wise, though they sometimes express themselves with Hom'"^^ vi
too OTeat a looseness and latitude \ ^^¦P\1*'^"
o _ Greg. Naz.
There have been great Christian philosophers, who *^''**-.
assert that the eternal Aoyos and triime essence is de- p^,"-
' ' Especially
monstrable, as a necessary truth, upon the principles j° *at
of reason — ^not that unassisted reason could discover it, tion of the
but, that being revealed, it can shew its truth — as in- of the Son
deed, at the opposite exti-emity of the chain, the life and !rs»/3oA» of
experience of a Christian may be said to be a ^rac^icaZ energies for
demonstration of it. But, be this as it may, such a view creaHon, °
of the divine Intelligence acting upon itself, in thcfind'in^^
eternal generation of the Aoyos, is of great value and^Athe™
defensively, whatever may be the amount of positive °^^°'^^'''
truth that it contains. So consonant to the state
ment of holy writ is it considered by the Church of
Rome, who is an authority not to be despised when

12 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
she has no interest to pervert or conceal the truth,
that it is embodied in the Tridentine formularies ^.
¦¦ " Sed cum Jesum Filium Dei esse audimus, nihil terrenum
aut mortale de ejus ortu cogitandum est — verum ortum Ulum, quo
ab omni etemitate Pater filium genuit." (Cat. Trident, p. I.e. xiv.)
"Ex omnibus autem quae ad indicandum modum rationemque
setemse generationis similitudinibus afferuntur, ilia propius ad rem
videtur accedere, quae ab animi nostri cogitatione sumitur, quam-
obrem sanctus Johannes filium ejus verbmn appellat. Ut enim
mens nostra se ipsam quodammodo intelligens, sui effingit ima-
ginem quam verbum Theologi dixerunt, ita Deus, quantum tamen
divinis humana conferri possunt, seipsum intelligens verbum
aetemum generat; etsi praestat contemplari, quod fides proponit
et sincera mente Jesum Christum verum Deum, et verum hominem
credere et confiteri, genitum quidem, ut Deum, ante omnium
sseculorum aetates ex Patre." (c. xv.)
Filius dicitur unago et Aoyo; — est igitur imago cogitatione Pa-
tris genita — quod ut aliquo modo considerari possit, a nostra mente
exempla exponamus. Voluit enim Deus in homine conspici vestigia
sua, et, si hominis natura retinuisset primam lucem, speculum esset
divinae naturae minus obscurum ; nunc in hac caligine tamen aliqua
notari vestigia possunt. Mens humana cogitando mox fingit
imagmem rei cogitetae, sed nos non transfundunus nostram essen-
tiam m illas imagmes; suntque cogitationes illae subitse et eva-
nescentes actiones; at pater aetemus sibi mtuens gignit cogitationem
sm, quae est imago ipsius etnon evanescens, sed subsistens commu
nicate ipsi essentia. Haec igitur imago est secunda persona, et
conveniunt appellationes— dicitur Ao'y.s, quia cogitatione generatur ;
dicitur imago quia cogitatio est imago rei cogitatse— dicitur splen
dor gloriae, quod funere significantius scriptum est «^«iya<rf.«, id
est, ab ahi luce .splendor editus." Melanethon. loci Theolog de
Filio. ®
I said that it was their (the Fathers) common prmciple that the
existence of the Son flows necessarily from the divme Intellect ex
cited in Himself; and shewed how the Son's eternity will follow
from this principle. And I discovered what I might have con-

LECTURE V. 13
The most learned divines of the Reformation, with
Melanethon at their head, and eminent names in our
own Chm-ch, insist on the same view, not as human
and philosophical, but as essentially Scriptural.
And let not this preliminary consideration of
Christ, as the eternal Aoyos, appear unconnected
cealed, that I myself concur in this principle with the Platonists,
for it seems to me founded on Scripture. By which I meant not
to assert that it is so expressly declared in Scripture that 1 would
undertake to prove it by the Scripture to others, in the same
manner that I would undertake to prove that the world was created
by Jesus Christ, or that the one like the other ought to be made a
branch of the public confession of the Church : it was mentioned,
only as a principle which, true or false, was embraced by a certain
set of writers, and serves to explain certain things said by them,
which, without it, are unintelligible, or at least, liable to misinter
pretation — ^it seems to be founded on Scripture. Horsley's Theol.
Tracts. " Intellectus dmn intelligit, gignit, (ut philosophi vocant) alium
quasi intellectum sibi similem, quem, banc ob causam, nos con-
ceptum mentis, Platonici mentem genitam a mente, Patres verbum
et AoV"" mentis appellarunt. Et ilium gignit inter se — et nun-
quam intellectus est actu inteUigens, et ideo vere intellectus, sine
hoc genito altero intellectu — et quidem sine ulla sui mutatione
gignit." Zanchius de Natura Dei.
" Cum omnis processio sit secundum aliquam actionem ; sicut,
secundum actionem quae tendit in exteriorem materiem, est aliqua
processio ab extra — ita, secundum actionem quae manet in ipso
agente, attenditur processio quaedam, ab intra. Et hoc maxime
patet m intellectu, cujus actio scilicet intelligere manet in intelh-
gente. Quumque autem intelligit, et hoc ipso quod mtelligit
procedit aJiquid inter ipsum quod est conceptio rei intellectae ex vi
intellective, proveniens, et ex ejus notitia procedens. Quamquidem
conceptionem vox significat, et dicitur verbum cordis significatum,
verbo vocis. Aquinas, Theolog. Prim. Pars 9. 27. art. iii.

14 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
with his office of Teacher within the Church — for a
comprehensive view of it cannot be obtained without
this — and our regarding Him, in this sublime relation,
as the wisdom of the Father, and in His connection
with all God's creatures, which were made through
Him physically and intellectually, while it enlarges
our conception of His stupendous attributes, and
wonder at His condescension, gives a concinnity to
the whole manifestation of the Godhead in Him.
This con- 3. In three ways, therefore, may the Aoyos be con
sideration ...
oftheA»v«sidered as the light of the world. 1. As impressmg
necessary , ¦ .
to a full upon the material world those forms which make it
sionof what it is, — those types and ideas which limit its
of&oe as natural indefiniteness, and constitute, so to say, the
immateriality of matter. 2. In imprinting upon the
mind of man those original verities, both of moraUty,
and of intellectual truth, upon which the whole men
tal supersti'uctm-e which constitutes the perfect man
oJt« 0 r^ must be raised. 3. In fi-eeing us, both morally and
ysv^s Mam- intellectually, from the perversions and coiTuptions
liius Ta/_ engendered by the fall ; and perfecting both, by the
6. 1. 7. 36. revelation and apphcation of those wonderful truths
which make up the Gospel, and by which the soul
being changed into a better image, is reunited to
Eix^, vff God. " For the image of God is His Word," says
vou ©Soy 0 *-' 'J
A«^««ij.B, Clement of Alexandria, speaking of the works of the
oTios TOV vou ¦*¦ "
yv^««, » human mind and the marvellous operations of the
Qiios Aoyos, ¦*¦
?^7>,-«e-_ divine, "the genuine child of intelligence — even the
,ui,t sa Ta divine Word, archetypal hght of light ; and an image
Aoyov 0 av- ~ - __ i • i i
^e«y« ^x;i-ot the Word is the real man, the intelUgent principle
i, ivSi^wif, m man — who is said on this account to have been
0 KOLT IIXOVOC

LECTURE V. 15
produced after the image of God, and after His likeness raeccu.x^i
— assimilated to the divine Word by the understanding S/A t»Sto,
in his heart, and in this way gifted with reason." >.£y»>£,js,TS
Since, therefore. He is not only the author ott'Zl^nim,
supernatural truths contained in the Bible, but like- js«l?^r.«
wise of the natural conscience and natural reason of ^"^t^*"'^^.
man, there must, as a matter of course, be a ^"j^j^'^J^™'
coherence and correspondency between the two, as ''°'>"^ '«"¦
originating from the same source, and adapted to ^'^' '^•
each other by a predetermined haraiony. There
will be a perfect unity throughout, and the marks of
the same designing intelligence discoverable on aAcorre-
. . . . spondence
diligent comparison — the same intellectual principles therefore
, , . 11 between re-
as fundamental to aU reasonmg — the same moral veiation
. 1 .. and the
axioms as fimdamental to all action — and a like natural
developement of those rules of government, the
political aspect of God's kingdom, which are con
nected, by so many resemblances, in natural and
revealed rehgion. Not only therefore is there an
approach to truth or a verisimihtude, but a real light
of divine truth even in our natural faculties, which is as
much the inspiration of the Almighty as the verities of
revela,tion — and, as a legitimate consequence, it is not
only a thing to be tolerated, that we should submit
any professed revelation from God to the test of the
natural conscience and unbiassed reason, but it is
absolutely necessary, and a designed result of the divine
laws. For, though our faculties, even in their per
fection, are hmited in their range, and are practically
deteriorated by much that interferes with their work
ing, and disturbs thek truthfulness, even within their

reason.

16 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
legitimate sphere, yet they offer the only conceivable
way in which inteUigent beings can receive that, which,
however divine, is not intuitive, though foimded upon
our intuitions, and in harmony with them.
This is quite certain — that, if it were possible to
demonstrate a contradiction between the alleged
announcement of the Divine will, or any portion of it,
and those fimdamental principles which God has
written in our hearts and minds, whether moral or
intellectual, it could not proceed fi-om that Being,
who is the acknowledged Author of the one, and the
asserted Author of both. No external evidences,
however strong, could overcome the testimony of our
conscience or our reason.
Butthere is an important caution to be here observed.
This identification of truth, wherever existing, with the
same divine original, and the same authority, as far as it
The limita- gocs, must be rigidly limited to first principles and con-
prineipie. "clusious manifestly arising from them — ^it must not be
extended beyond these facts or the proximate and un
questionable results of them — ^not to probabilities, or
seeming truths, in which, or even in any long de
ductions firom undoubted principles, error may be
unconsciously introduced, and the conclusion vitiated.
This certainly has been done by some of the
Fathers, and especially by Clement of Alexandria
and his followers; for not only do they attach a
divme authority to the first principles of reason, which
is perfectiy just, but recognise in philosophy, built up
by the aid of that reason, a character equivalent
to divine ; and confer therefore the authority of the

LECTURE V. 17
original mind, not on what legitimately claims it, but
on long deductions and whole speculative systems.
^This, of course, tends directly to obliterate the^^^^^igx.
boundary Une between mspired truth as delivered in t^°''hfiogo-
Scripture, and tlie results of natural reason — aP^'y"^
'¦ Greece as a
distinction, which cannot, for the sake of the dearest "^'^i"? g^^' ;
and there
interests of man, be too rigidly maintained. — And i^, in the
" "^ language of
over and above that, the presentation of Scripture German
, . Neology,
truths, mainly on their intellectual side, has a the same
„ application
tendency to make us forget that not yvcoais hut o'l divme
"J. 1 !•• !• 1 •/»• terms to hu-
¦jrpa^is, — the application of truths to the purification man con-
of the moral nature, and not truths independently, and thus, by ex-
as subjects of science — is the object of the Gospel ; inspiration
the production indeed of perfect reason, but to us work- stroying its
ing in the heart, and essentially experimental — acted appropri-
rather than believed. ho'™writ.
But, the truth of the principle itself is unshaken,
and upon it are built, though not with a divine
authority yet with an uTesistible reason, those many
noble works on the Christian evidences, internal and
external, with which, to the vindication of His ways
with men, and the demonstration of the uniform
tenor of His laws, the Providence of God has
enriched the Church. The great work of Hooker, —
with its magnificent breadth of view, of the workings
of the same divine intelhgence in the laws physical and
moral ; and of the unity of reason, as his hght, whether
in the reception of its revealed truths, or its action
in that ample field which is independent of revelation — ¦
and Butler's profound analogy of His ways in nature
and in the Gospel, are, among ourselves, imperishable
VOL. II. c

18 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
monuments of the authority of the prmciple in
question. The only point is, as to its extent, and
the mode of its application. For, while there can
be no doubt in points properly scientific, where the
mind acts on laws not hable to perversion, and where
conclusions may be safely drawn to an indefinite
extent in a progressive series — because, no propo
sitions here stimulate the reason to contradiction,
through their mfluence on the passions — it is very
different in that apphcation not of the pure, but the
mixed intellect, which involves moral truths, and
principles influential upon human practice.
For here, more or less, the innate depravity of the
heart begins to act, to misunderstand the proper
sphere of reason, to prevent its operations, and
distort its conclusions. It will be, however, sufficient
to remark, that the immediate cause which has thus
quenched the light of God and turned it to darkness,
has arisen fi-om the extension of the empirical reason,
the faculty that operates in sense, beyond its legiti
mate limits ; and fi-om making it a judge and standard
of supematm-al verities themselves, rather than of those
outward evidences only, on which they are, originally,
presented to our acceptance. The higher reason is
ever coincident with inspiration ; and it would be a
noble undertaking to reconcile the systems of intel
lectual philosophy, so far as they are in harmony with
the undeniable principles of the human mind or natural
hght of God in the soul, with the supernatural truths
of revelation, not on an eclectic system, but the clear
sense of God's declared truth. It might be effected.

LECTURE V. 19
if it were possible to find a mind at once sufficiently
comprehensive and yet analytical, — with a perfect
scriptural simplicity and a Catholic faith, on one
hand, and a sufficient sympathy with the diversities
of the speculative intellect, on the other, — a rare
union of gifts, but without which it could never be
adequately executed, nor ought to be undertaken.
4. Unquestionably, however, so much of light was
accorded to Heathens who lived far beyond, not only
the direct illumination, but even the secondary in
fluences of revealed ti-uth, as to make it a matter of
infinite interest to confirm and illustrate from them illustration01 Scripture
the statements of holy Writ on the facts of our from hea-
*' _ then writ-
common humanity. I do not mean, that, strictly ings-
speaking, the mind of the believer lacks it in the
way of proof, or would abandon the smallest portion
of the Gospel truths without it : certainly not. But
this Cathohc feeling, and sympathy with other men's
minds, is instinctive to the human heart; and not less
so even when the mind is most spiritualized, if intel
lectual capacity be combined with holiness of spirit ; and
it dehghts, for its own sake, in the discovery of points
of resemblance, and in the enlargement of the brother
hood of common thought and common wants. And
there is a sensible satisfaction, if not an increase of
faith, in every new fact which it collects in harmony
with the statements of the inspu-ed volume. It is,
moreover, inherent in the nature of all moral
evidence, that, unlike truths mathematically de
monstrated, whatever point of conviction the mind
may have reached through it, it must admit an
c 2

20 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
increase of strength even in the most ardent believer—
and thus it must continue to be with faculties and a
probationary state like ours, till ti'ial is swallowed
up in victory, and faith changed into vision.
It is no wonder therefore, that, in some points,
and those of paramount importance to the spmtual
interests of man, the largest share of knowledge and
comprehension should have been bestowed upon
heathen minds — it is not without a design on the
part of Almighty God, and is profoxmdly connected
with this adaptation of the light of nature, as com
municated by the Aoyoy, to the reception of the
supernatural and perfecting verities which He has
revealed as incarnate God.
I do not mean to say that the greatest powers of
inventive genius have been exhibited by heathen intel
lects, except so far as a vast peneti-ation, and an all-
grasping observation of moral and intellectual truths,
may, in some sort, deserve the name, by systema
tically presenting to our view unfamihar but certain
facts, or familiar facts in new combination. But I
mean the greatest faculties, in their respective de
partments and for their respective vocations in the
investigation of our common nature, which the
world has ever seen — faculties preeminently fitted for
an intellectual supremacy — systematic and formative,
along with the subtiest and most sagacious analysis, —
and evidently designed by the bestower of these magni
ficent gifts, to exercise a paramount, and, on the whole,
beneficial influence upon all succeeding generations.
This is surely the case with Aristotie and Plato,

LECTURE V. 21
who being, on one hand, elevated by the strength of
their genius above their fellow men, and, on the other,
drawn by then- respective instincts to throw all their
force into the two departments of the human mind
which are identified with their laboms and their
names, may, in justice, be considered, not merely as Scriptural
expounders of then- own sentiments, but realty asAristotw
the representatives of all men; and as the cathohc
philosophers of the human mind, in its utmost
expansion without the enlightenment of revelation!
And, whether the object of om- investigation be the facts
and laws of natural morahty; or, on the other side,
the spiritual aspects of the carnal man, — his m-
tellectual tendencies at least heavenwards, his decidedly
marked though still obscure graspings after the posses
sion of a divine happiness, and desires for the de
fecation of the better soul from these fleshly im
pulses with which it seems so intimately mixed, —
beyond a question, these two great men are the best
exponents of the truth.
And it is either to the one or the other of these
portions of om- nature, that the threatenings or
invitations of revealed truth are constantly appeal
ing, — resting upon them, as their real foundation
and internal verification to us, even when this appeal
is not explicitly avowed ; and there is no important
point in either, which, by making Plato or Aristotle
the vehicle of proof, may not be established by the
authority of the natural and heathen man. And
surely this is a vast advantage to the Christian
advocate, and a sensible satisfaction to every en-

22 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
quu-ing mind, that the proof of these most important
truths should be placed beyond the reach of doubt,
or the possibiUty of misconception ; — that they should
not rest, as an infidel might think, on the equivocal
testimony of possible enthusiasts, who, by the very
excess of hardihood with which they testified to their
heavenly hopes in the midst of sufferings, might lead
to a reasonable doubt as to the universahty of the wants
which those hopes answered, and the pollutions which
they removed. That they should not depend, either,
on the vulgar in moral feehng, or the dull in intellect,
but on that which in both cases is the calm and cool
record of the most comprehensive minds of antiquity.
I say — cool and calm — for it is a great error in regard
to Plato to confound his imagination with a mere
discursive fancy, or looseness of observation. No
one has a more practical insight into hfe, no one is a
more searching analyser — and the imagination only
supplies that power of analog-y and illustration,
without which it would be impossible to convey from
mind to mind the inner conceptions and finer instincts
of the soul.
I say nothing here, except just to notice it, of the
invaluable service to sovmd learning, and the effectual
maintenance against all gainsayers of the Scripture
truth which Aristotle has rendered, by that logic for
the management of the discm-sive reason of which
he is the gTeatest master; and which, through the
Schoolmen, has descended, with a prodigious acces^
sion of strength by a limitation to its proper sphere,
to the masculine masters of the reformed theology.

LECTURE V. 23
Nor, shall I dwell on the vast resources which Plato
gives us in asserting the predominance of spirit — a
higher logic and a higher reason — and in carrying
out that opposition to all material philosophies, which
tasks not only an ample knowledge of the Scrip-
tm-es, but the utmost faculties of intellectual and
metaphysical science. It refutes beforehand, and
by the light of nature, aU those systems of the 18th
centm-y, of Locke, CondiUac, and Paley, wliich
tended to perpetuate that low standard of moral and
religious truth fi-om which they sprung, and created,
even where there was a real faith, a constant op
position between it and the principles of the received
philosophy — a materializing metaphysical creed.
They are, both of them, of gi-eat and permanent
importance, on another side of the same great
question. For while, by living and speculating before
the general spread of Christianity had impregnated
even the minds of heathens with ideas essentially
Christian, they give us the natm-al mind, as much as
possible, in its real condition ; so, from the fact
that their faculties so far exceed the average of
mankind, and unquestionably touch upon the limits
of possible human intellect in the present state,
they give us the best gauge by which to measure its
capacity for the ascertainment of revealed truth, for
the purification of the heart, and the rehef of the
necessities of man's moral and spiritual nature. In
Aristotle, indeed, there is nothing which could
possibly be confounded with revelation, or spiritual
truth, and we have seen already, in the higher specula-

34 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
tions of theology, the amount of Plato's claims
to a discovery of the Divine nature. But the
fact is unquestionable, that they go far beyond this
negative acknowledgment of weakness. There are no
writings whatsoever, which mark so unequivocally,
both the inadequacy of the reason to satisfy the wants
of human nature, or even so much as to imagine a
remedy for them — and the palpable impotence of the
greatest intellects, from the moment that they began,
with faculties made intentionally unequal to the
task, to speculate beyond those natural facts for the
observation and illustration of which they were so
wonderfully accomplished. No one can fail observing
an instantaneous and striking difference in their
clearness of perception in mental and moral facts, as
facts, and the unsatisfactoriness or absm-dity of the
accompanying hypotheses, or exposition of their
ultimate principle — the true spiritual relation of
them to God is never approximated even by Plato.
But still, not only in them, but always and every
where, there will be a perfect correspondency between
the Christian revelation given through the Aoyos,
and any profound philosophy of which man is the
subject, so far as observation and facts go to compare
them. However infidel may be the ultimate
tendencies of writers, or false their hypotheses,
pohtical or rehgious; yet the facts upon which they
reason, and specially those which are connected, in any
way, with the spiritual wants of man, are almost
always, at least partially, true, and rest upon a real
foundation. If so, they ought to have a meaning.

LECTURE V. 25
if properly interpreted, — a something to fit to them,
in the revelation of God's will as towards man, in
that comprehensiveness of it which makes it co
extensive with human nature — its actual condition —
and all its real wants ! It will be important, therefore,
to the cause of truth, to examine them, and give them
their due weight, — never to neglect or despise them.
In fact, no such philosophies are to be imdervalued AUtruephi-
by the wise advocate of revelation; — for all that iscTntVn'
real, or is the representative of reahty, has a power or indicate'
in it to influence manldnd, — and, by the forcible w™t,7he
truthfulness of some of theii- facts, they will and do wWeHs"^
exercise great power over men's minds, in spite of jevdation.
the false theoretic views combined with them. The
truths are felt — and, in the lack of higher wisdom,
the exposition and remedy of them will be taken for
granted. We must not therefore, as Christian
advocates, be afraid to grapple with them; because the
solution of the difficulty, if the actual condition of
things permits it to be solved, — and the gratification
of the want, if it be a want — ^will always be found in
the revelation which the Divine reason has bestowed
upon us, and which has foreseen it, or provided for
it, in one or other portion of the Catholic faith. But
here — in the application of the predetermined and
revealed provision — ^wUl always be found the dif
ficulty ; and unaccountable the fact would be, but
for sin, and the dislocation of mind, intellectually as
well as morally, which it has universally produced.
There is no disposition found to accept the solution ;
no disposition to accept a remedy, even on the part

26 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
of those, who, of all men, perhaps, most profoundly
probe the evil, or at least most con-ectly appre
ciate it m its immediate effects. And yet, they who
thus reject the cure which God offers, serve all the
while, as sure, though involuntary witnesses to the
reasonableness of those further discoveries which
God has made, and fitted on, so to say, to then- prior
experience — an awful warning to the humble Chris
tian, while they thus shut themselves out fi:om a
higher and truer knowledge.
Hence, as a consequence of the lack of grace upon
the heart, men's very tenderness and concern for hu
manity, — which maybe real, though imaginative rather
than moral; — ^being based upon wi-ong principles, is
empty and vain ; it is extenuated into nothing, in the
unattainable vastness of the object at which it pro
fesses to aim — a charity of speculation only. More
over, in unregenerated minds of this order, every thing
else is absorbed in the consciousness of intellectual
activity ; and in the self-satisfaction which comes of
peneti-ating, or of seeming to penetrate, the inward
springs of the soul, the moral principles and defects
of social systems, and the means of their regeneration,
while others are content to suffer ignorantly, or to
murmur brutishly. This is quite sufficient to lull
the sense of internal pain in themselves, as well
as sympathy for the true root of the multiform evil,
the spiritual corruption of mankind.
It is to be observed liltewise, that all the disco
veries which they have thus far made, are, without
exception, accompanied by that feeling of strength

LECTURE V. 27
and vigour which is the reward of intellectual ex
ertion. Whilst all the higher discoveries contained
in divine revelation, which are necessary to make the
former available and utilize them to men's good,
must be preceded in then- reception by an acknow
ledgment of former blindness and present weakness ;
and by a renunciation of that independency of mind,
and ultimate reference to self, which, in all its former
operations, conferred such exquisite gratification
upon the soul.
II. But, even in point of mere knowledge, apart
entirely from results and the practical remedy of
practical evils, which, to the wisdom of man, experience The highest
proves to be desperate, even the most truthful and philosophy,
profoimd human philosophy does no more than lead in reve-
to the threshold of revelation. There it leaves men
to tread back again upon their own footsteps ; and
there most human philosophers have been left, in the
absence of that childlike temper to which alone the
wisdom of Christianity can be unlocked.
How happy would it have been for speculative minds,
had they possessed no more of knowledge, or of the
capacity to acquire it, than the multitude whom they
despise, and upon whom they reason; a sense, that is,
of the evil and its bm-then; and a desu-e to escape fi-om
it, without the power to deaden it, or to convert it,
fi-om a crying necessity of the soul, into an aUment
for the intellect!
The Gospel, therefore, commences where Phi
losophy ends, and begins at a height incalculably

28 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
above the utmost reach of the latter ; exalting the
merest child, who can cry " Abba Father," beyond
the greatest reasoner after the flesh.
Then it is that the Aoyos, after teaching naturally,
begins to teach supernaturally, building, on those
moral foundations which are prepared to receive
revelation, that spiritual nature and true wisdom
which He alone can convey. And here He becomes
not only the Teacher, but He is Himself, as God-Man,
the very subject matter of this divine and spiritual
The teach- instruction. He is, in His own person, that wisdom
i ng of the
Aiycs. of God by which are healed the maladies under
which man and the whole creation groan and
travail in pain together until now ; by which we are
transformed, in reahty, into that which, by fits and starts,
even in the state of nature, we longed to be ; and by
which we are rendered competent to exercise, without
fleshly let or hindrance, those capacities for heavenly
happiness which had, till now, lain dormant within us.
By an identification with Himself, there is as real
an implantation of spiritual life, as of natural life by
fleshly generation, an immortal seed which, in its
effects, is a new nature, and has within it, a real power
and energy of transformation — till the once earthly
man, who was fitted only for con-uption, and tended
to death by a natural law, is purified for the society of
glorified spu-its, and the unveiled vision of God.
And, throughout this growth, the moral and spi
ritual means by which it is operated have depended
entirely upon a knowledge of Himself, the very

LECTURE V. 29
Word, in these relations and offices which He
has assumed for this gracious purpose. He is the
way, and the truth, and the hfe, and being the express
image of the invisible God, Himself transmits to us,
in the gradual subdual of sin and growth of all holy
affections, such an approach to it, as may prepare us
for the things of which the natural man never
dreams, but which God has prepared for them that
love Him.
And this discovery of Himself is not by such
a way of power and strength as is visible to the eye,
attractive to the imagination, or flattering to the
faculties of reason ; but in a manner far beyond all
human thoughts to discover, and such as the human Opposed to
mind and the unchanged human heart are alike son.
disinclined to receive. It is a way of blood, of low-
Uness, of more shames and infamies than there
are found names for among men — God manifest in
the flesh, and dying that we may hve. We preach
Christ crucified, in truth and reality the wisdom of
God — and so acknowledged by human reason when in
its right mind— but in the mean while, " to the Jew
a stumbhng-block, and to the Greek foolishness."
Here then is the point in God's wisdom, which is so
utterly alien to the pride of science, and diametrically
opposed to that carnal philosophy which turns truth
itself into an instrument of vain-glory, and into matter,
at the best, for selfish and unfi-uitful speculation. The
wants of man become no longer an exercise of the
mind, or an amusement of philosophy, but realities
to be practically remedied, — the subject of an actual

30 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
discipline, and a process really remedial. There is
reqmred, therefore, an entire renunciation of the
speculative temper — and, in its stead, must be found
an unaffected confession of want and misery — a real
wish and struggle to escape, by this new way, fi-om
that moral and mtellectual degi-adation, which the
greatest efforts and highest discoveries of reason were
only made an instrument, in the hands of God, to
prove and to illustrate. This was indeed a new way of
teaching, and an unknown disciphne; and, when the
Word first announced to mankind the tidings of
redemption, no wonder that men should have shrunk
fi-om the sacrifices of self which were indispensable
to its reception. The simplicity of children was
made to rebuke the wisdom of the wise, and all
that was strongest in thought was forced to give way
to a power ahen to sense, and, neither morally nor
intellectually, within the capacity of nature.
For, though the wants which it professed to supply,
and the miseries which it undertook to remedy, were
experimental and of every day knowledge ; yet the
faith and principles which underhe the means applied
were astonishing mysteries, and the means themselves,
without these suppositions, utterly inadequate to the
task. This too was a mystery in teaching ; that no mere
training of the affections, nor an intellectual reception
of thetruth of the Saviour's offices, nor any moral means
whatsoever, were enough; but that something beyond
it was necessary for man, and something else actually
secm-ed for him. This was that change of the will,
which lies beyond the reach of ethics ; and that re-

LECTURE V. .31
generation of the affections of the soul, without
which, the external teaching of any truth however
wonderful and affecting, as that of Christ crucified
eminently is, would be utterly unavailing, and, in the
absence of which, no seed of goodness or immortality
could grow.
Here again, as the inward Illuminator, and so
worldng on the springs of the soul as to make it
bend and submit itself to the reception of these mys
teries of the Gospel, the Aoyos is stiU the Teacher,
as well as the subject of the teaching. For the Spirit
ministers to Him and for Him ; and, whether in ex
traordinary endowments, as at the beginning, or in His
ordinary operations at aU times, is the most precious
treasure which Christ has purchased by His death, and
the special gift which He dispenses to His elect ;
turning thus external facts into inward experiences,
mere truths into vital principles, and so identifying
His influences with om- faculties, that they become
ours by ripening and enlarging their power, and not by
making them cease to be om- own.
And the instiumental means by which, in conformity
to our natm-e and moral being. He conveys this inner The super-
J , J" • i 1- • 1 -ii T • natural in-
and transformmg teaching, are an-anged with a divme struments
symmeti-y and in an authoritative system, — and, in teaching
order to discipline om- fallen nature into a heavenly con- thevTsihie"
dition, and the type of holiness which it has lost, we '^'^"'^''*'-
are committed to the charge of that visible Church, to
which Christ Himself, through His Apostles, has given
an organic form, and a commission to bring souls to
Him. And within it, by the preaching of the Word,

32 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
by Sacraments, by prayer, and other ordinances of
which faith is the soul. He usually communicates this
indispensable condition for effectual teaching.
And every where it is to be observed, that, though
accompanied and verified by these inward influences
which no master of earthly wisdom ever imagined,
yet the impulsive power, which awakens the inteUigent
mind into action, and stimulates the soul, is from
1 1 do not, without^ — the effect is produced, according to the or-
mean to de- diuary laws of the understanding and the affections,
ny that, to ii^i p ^ • ji y
souls who by the presentation, to both of them, of objects fitted
from their ii i . i i • i ¦ mi e
earliest to Call them mto the desired action. Ihe state of
joy God's the heart is referred, from beginning to end, to the
grace, the outward historical facts and dogmatic teaching in-
Tlty^oug'h- separable from them, which are wholly independent
withthena- ^f any thing merely subjective. Nor does the know-
stm'Tbe- l^dge of this heavenly wisdom come from an inward
thirordCT. illiimination or suggestion; but, so far, by ways
analogous to ordinary knowledge and moral insla-uc-
tion, in which the inward faculties are awakened from
without. No doubt, had it so seemed good to Him,
the great Teacher might have worked by way of
constant inspiration, and conveyed to every individual
soul whom He had redeemed, a direct knowledge
of divine truths, as, in creation. He does inspire their
natural faculties of reason and moral perception.
But He has not so done ; and, in accordance with
that mysterious and awful law, apparently universal,
by which rational inteUigences are not only thrown
into society, but in dependence on each other, for

LECTURE V. 33
what most intimately concerns their well-doing — the
communication of the mdispensable facts of the
Gospel, the glad tidings of salvation — is left con
tingent on the fidelity of the Church, in whose hands,
working mainly through her Ministers, they have
been deposited, along with the other outward sig-ns
and means of grace, in trust for all mankind.
Here, therefore, is a portion of the ofjfice of The omce
Teacher, which all men may discharge, and which, in how far '
its highest earthly form, is solemnly committed by nioated to
our Lord to His consecrated Ministers, to such an""^""
extent as to make the etei-nal interest of their
brethren dependent on their fidelity to their trust —
the outward preaching of the Word, the outward
training and discipline of Christ's flock, the outward
administration of the Sacraments — ^not the spiritual
graces which come fi-om Him alone, and rest condi
tionally on that inwai-d frame, which, though generally
joined with a proper discharge of our visible duties, no
outward ministration or teaching of men can command,
or human eye discern. It is Christ's to bestow these —
the glorious gifts of the Priest and King !
But in her totality the Church of Christ is, to the
world without, a constant teacher — a teacher, in the
truths she proclaims, the holy disciphne she practises,
the signs of a divine original which she exhibits, the im
press and signature of God upon her — she is intended
to be as a city placed upon a hill, that cannot be hid,
bodying forth the Saviour, and continually testifying
to those great truths which regard man's redemption,
and which, at no period even of the greatest internal
VOL. II. D

34 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
corruption, she has ever universally deserted, or for
mally denied. And not a passive witness is the
Church prepared to be, but is destined to carry out
the Gospel beyond itself, with a constant motion and
an aggressive teaching.
And so within, and towards each other, all Chris
tians are bound, to the extent of their capacity, and
the opportunities which God has given them to be
Teachers likewise ; and no one is without that appro
priate and personal sphere in which, without deroga
tion from other authority, the effectual knowledge
of the Gospel, and the salvation of souls committed
to his charge, is made dependent upon him. And
thus, as God's natural attributes are reflected not only
in the mighty whole of the creation but in each indi
vidual particle, so the image of Christ and His offices,
as far as they are communicable, is reflected in each
ultimate atom of which the organic whole is con
structed ; and the collective Church is multipHed in
each individual.
Still, eminently, and with special power, by virtue
of their office and the unction of the Spirit, are the
Ministers of the Church of Christ Teachers — and,
upon the due discharge of this portion of their trust,
mainly depends the salvation of the souls of which
the Holy Ghost has made them overseers. No step
or motion God-ward, no mutual or individual cele
bration of prayer and thanksgiving, no participation
of holy ordinances, is even possible without a
previous intelhgence, and that teaching of the ways
of God in the Gospel which cannot be separated

LECTURE V. 35
fi-om a rational and understanding faith ; no not, in
its degree, even in the child, in whose behalf, before
it has faith and repentance for itself, the faith and
repentance of others is required by the Church.
And then there are those solemn accessories of
effectual teaching, — the rebulie, the constant calling to
mind, the building up the structm-e of Christian
wisdom upon the first foundation; and the leading, by
sphitual comparison, into those profounder meanings,
and the application of those great truths, which are
contained in the depths of revelation ; to the compre
hension of which, intellect and holiness illuminated
by the Spirit, and indissolubly combined in their
operations into one mighty faculty without a name
in the world's language, are indispensable to the
soul. All this involves a vast responsibihty, — it
demands a clear discrimination and statement of
great principles, — and a constant and accurate com
prehension of the laws of man's spiritual and moral
nature relatively to the Gospel; laws which ought to
be placed beyond the reach of any personal pecu-
harities, to colour them, or the suspicion of hmited
views, to misrepresent them. It requires a com
manding truthfulness of statement, which every heart
should acknowledge, and a ready reference to an
unquestionable authority, to make possible the dis
charge of so solemn and onerous a duty.

D 2

LECTURE V.

I. 1. The whole counsel of God in Scripture, which is a perfect rule of
feith and practice. 2. The Church to he tried hy it — and the fiill perusal
of it the right and duty of all Christians.
II. Traditions. 1. Of ceremonies over which the Church has power.
2. The tradition of teaching, always accompanying the word — hut not
authoritative. 3. The primitive tradition coextensive with Scripture,
and not supplemental or complementary to it — the Scripture acknow
ledged from the first as a perfect rule, and as such adopted hy the
Church of England, and its interpretation confirmed hy primitive
antiquity. 4. Objections answered.
III. Evidence from the formularies of the Church of England, that
Scripture is the sole rule of faith.

Mark vii. 13.
Ye have made the word of God of none effect by your traditions.
I. 1. TylTHERE is this word of God to be found ?1}'^J'^
» * We have no longer the presence of in- ^"!'y ?™-
° 1 tamed in
spired men, nor of Him who with lips of flesh spake "'^ s™^.
as never man spake — no Uving oracle fi-om whom we
may resolve our doubts, or enhghten om- ignorance,
or strengthen our convictions, or penetrate the true
springs which regulate the heart and consciences of
men! The Ministers of the word are manifestly not
endowed, by virtue of their office, with any higher reach

38 LECTURE V.
of faculties, either for the discovery or the preservation
of truth; any illumination whatsoever, which differs
in its nature from that which is accorded to all
Christians, in proportion to their capacity, their
earnestness of love, and the surrender of time and
mind to divine pm-suits — d simple faith accompanying
them. They are men of like passions with then-
brethren ; not necessarily endowed with a superiority
to personal interest, an entire devotedness to th^ir
Lord and Master, or such an exemption from the
ordinary failings of men, as to make it certain, that,
even with the gift of higher faculties for the pre-:
servation and the discovery of sacred truth, they
would act up to so magnificent a privilege, or be
faithful stewards of the treasure.
Besides, they have, confessedly, no supernatural
power, no working of miracles to attest their com
mission to men's eyes, and the truthfulness of their
teaching to men's minds ; and the fervent inculcation,
in season and out of season, of truths not only
solemn, but calling for constant sacrifices and great
self-abandonment, even the surrender of mind and
body, heart and soul, imperatively requires some
disinterested and unsuspected authority upon which
to rest. What they want individually, cannpt be
effectually supplied by an appeal to ancient or general
ti-adition ; for, where all ai-e frail and peccable indi
vidually, no accumulation into masses can confer
impeccability or infallibility — no continuity of opinion,
by joining on century to century, can alter the nature
of truth or falsehood. A long succession of ages,

LECTURE V. 39
and the vast multitude of mankind, have, before
this, been perfectly unanimous in deadly error ; and,
whatever a priori weight such a witness to facts, or
system of opinions founded on them, may possess ;
nay, whatever moral demonstration, under certain
conditions and limitations, it may and does bring
with it ; it has nothing, merely in itself, and on points
on which mankind are prone to err, to silence doubt,
or preclude enquiry — it has nothing to supply the
want of a known and definite authority to regulate
and control the behef of other men, and give cer
tainty to its own.
To place such awful truths beyond the reach of
the fluctuations of opinion, the infirmities of memory,
the mistakes of ignorant, and the frauds of interested
men, our divine Lord, as Teacher or Prophet, has
committed them in their totality to written and
imperishable records — He has given us the Bible. The Bible
I do not mean, that He has thrust them abroad with the
upon the world in that form, as a dead and voiceless
book, to make their own way, to be taken up or laid
down, as chance or fancy lead men to consult them —
nor that He has left them to a casual advocacy, or
arbitrary interpretation, or the licentious speculation
of individual minds. Had He so done. He would
have been acting in direct contravention to the laws
which He Himself had established, and those moral
necessities, which, while they make themselves felt in
the every day teaching- of common knowledge, are
imperative in a scheme which roots its power in the
affections, and is to be lived rather than believed.

40 LECTURE V.
JHe has fitted on the authoritative record to his living
ministers, by an inseparable union. As He has not
left a succession of teachers, without an authoritative
institute from which they may teach, and by which
they might prove then* teaching to men's under
standings; so. He has not left the Book without
Teachers, who are an essential part of His plan, and
of as absolute an ordinance and as divine an origin
as itself. It matters not to ask what the written
Gospel might effect, of itself, on a mind casually
thrown upon its perusal, without any living guide or
extraneous instruction whatsoever. — It is an unprofit
able speculation. — Though, if it were so, with the
gift, which only God can give, of a humble and
teachable heart and a desire for divine truth, we
cannot doubt that its hviog words would bear their
witness in themselves, and make their unassisted
student wise unto salvation.
But we are not called to deal with an impossible or
hypothetical case, but with the hving truth of eighteen
hundred years ; ever since the Gospel was first
preached, such never has been, nor, till the end of
the world, wQl it ever be the case. The word of God
never can be separated, as a question of fact, fi-om the
visible witness of the Chm-ch, and the interpretation
of its teachers. How shall men beheve without
hearing ? or how shall they hear without a teacher ?
or how shall they teach effectually, unless they have a
fixed canon, and be sent to its interpretation with
authority to proclaim its truths?
With this provision then, and under this safeguard.

LECTURE V. 41
for the assertion of its authority, for the constant
inculcation of its truths, and to make it a part of
the visible and energetic agencies of humanity, God
the Word has transfused the wisdom of salvation
into this divine Book. It contains all things
necessary for salvation, both in faith and practice;
and, over and above these great fu-st truths which all
minds fitly prepared may gather fi-om it, it has
treasures of wisdom which we cannot in this life
exhaust — not only intellectually, for though that be
true, it may be of small service to the soul — but
spiritually, to be reached by the humble heart and
earnest faith alone, the only keys to these celestial
mysteries, with the glowing fllumination of the Holy
Ghost upon them. As there is no portion of visible
nature, therefore, which does not bear marks of the
Divine intelhgence upon it, from the blade of grass
up to the planet or the sun; so, the Divine reason has
not issued forth to address the understanding of men
in their own language, the laws of both of which, and
then- exquisite adaptation to each other. He has
Himself ordained, without spreading throughout it
that illumination, of which it was intended to be the
permanent vehicle.
And, as in the natural world — though to an un-
insti-ucted eye all seems a lack of system, a
careless throwing together of elements and powers,
without discernible order or accurate interdepend-
ency, yet — to the eye of science the most exquisite
symmetry and perfection of design is manifested ;
so is the word of God composed of all elements.

42 LECTURE V.
didactic, prophetic, historical, the gatheiing togeUier
of records fi-om all ages and all minds ; without
connection, or contuiuity of subject, or communica
tion of purpose ; much composed in the emergencies
of the moment ; much of immediate local appli
cation, and without a thought perhaps of future ages,
or a universal reception ! a chaos of confusion to a
careless eye, but the wisdom of God notwithstanding.
For, out of this irregularity comes its real order ; from
this variety, its vast comprehensiveness ; firom these
emergent necessities, its universal anticipation of all
wants and errors ; all overruled, into an absolute
completeness to its office of universal teaching, in
union with the Church and her systematic discipline.
No wonder therefore at its unity, the Teacher being
the same, whether in the patriarchal times, or the
types of the Mosaic law, or in the Prophets who
were moved to foretel the things which God had
ordained from the foundation of the world ; or in the
Apostles, when they were guided into all truth, in
the records of His life and the interpretation of His
doctrines. It is the same revelation of the one
Saviour.
It speaks And, as is the substance and object of the teaching,
spirXon!" so is the manner. No book speaks like this book—
non vox hominem sonat. By the universal confes
sion of mankind, it has about it a serene depth of
power, and an incomparable majesty, not unworthy
of the original which it claims. However it may
be, yet so it is, that the study of it has universally
conferred, not only a new fi-ecdom on human

LECTURE v. 43
thought, but a new dignity on all the subjects
which it touches, and a new purity and elevation on
human language itself. Yet is there in it no didactic
monotony, but an entire and versatile adaptation to the
conditions of the human mind and heart in those to
whom it is addressed ; nay, it is modelled even on the
pecuharities of those who were made the mouth
piece, though not the mere mechanical opyavov of
the divinity — instinct with an influence, which does
not destroy the least portion of their individual
character, but, by that nameless change which
emanates from the contact of the Spirit, elevates
them, on one hand, to the height of possible human
thought, and, on the other, gives them a pure
simplicity, to which there is nothing similar to be
found in literature, or in any other expression of the
human mind. Thus saith the Lord; and we really
feel it to be the Lord, though it is in His servant —
hear ye the word of the Lord; and it is the word,
manifestly, of the Framer of mankind. From no
one else could come that insight which it possesses
into all the complexities of the natm-e to which it is
addressed — a real insight, not ab extra, but ab
intra — ^just such as a great mechanist might possess
into the springs of a machine, to whose construction
and true relation of parts, an external observer can
only approximate. It is, in this respect, undeniably
the work of Him whom no vastness can outgrow, nor
minuteness elude ; for, not only do you find marked
therein those great tendencies, in which, through
out all men, there is a general unity of nature ; but

44 LECTURE V.
evei-y individuality of thought and temper, every
diversity of condition or fortune; all influences
which modify our wants, om- opinions, or our
feelings, are here provided for, are the subject >of
distinct calculations, and have an appropriate remedy
for them. The very greatest dramatists and anatomists
of human natm-e have never attained its compre
hensiveness, or rivalled its exquisite analysis of
men's souls. They all fall short of the depths of the
spirit, that power of touching interior and central
truth, which makes a man, in the diligent study of
Scripture, cry out, in spite of himself, Thmi God
seest me. It is the word that searcheth the secrets
of the soul; this word is, as the Apostle truly
describes it to be, a two-edged sword, quick and
powerfid, and reaching to the dividing of the hearts
and reins.
Whilst it thus leaves no condition of mind without
its appropriate wisdom ; and no state of life without
specific rules to guide it; so, on the other hand, in
one great relation, it throws aside all artificial dis
tinctions and all social differences ; evei-y thiag that
parts man from man, and hides om- common
humanity. It considers all mankind ahke, as
sinners to be saved; as immortal souls in imminent
danger, — a leveUing extremity of peril and guUt, in
which there is neither high nor low, and where every
thing is to be subordinated to the calls of an exacting
It is the and overwhelming eternity.
wSfasfte Taking therefore, as it does, the wants of our
rbooZ*''' common humanity as its subject, and the ordinary

est
in
versan-

LECTURE V. 45
apprehensions of mankind, as that to which its 'But ao say
, , ... .all the old
statements are to be addressed, it is, in the mam. Fathers.
not only the profoundest, but, beyond all comparison, vit," says
the simplest and most intelligible, of all writings. " Deus
Its object is to instruct mankind, — not the sage ora^infanti^-
philosopher, but the masses of men*. It is their temhinToa-
companion at all times and in all places, not only in Fi^Nihif,™'
the temple, but in the secresy of the closet and theof^jex."
community of the family hearth, as Chrysostom and Ji™*i^<c ;„'
Origen truly state it to be ; and the Word, who is^S™
essential light, is the illuminator of it and of them. 1^;^^"^
So it is, that the Psalmist speaks of a small part of ^^^^'„
that revelation which Christians possess, " It is a " ^^^^''^.s
1 sunt Scrip -
hght to the feet, and a lamp to the paths ;" attesting t^r? ad in-
therefore its existence by its own light. It is like a et pi-orsus
"' ° _ _ exposita,"
light, shining in a dark place, and making discovery says chry-
of itself to all that can see. " The law of the Lord "theyareso,
.he says, to
is perfect, convertmg the soul; making wise the the servant,
... ,, 1 ,.. . 1*0 "^e coun-
simple; rejoicing the heart, and enlightemng thetryman, to
eyes;" and, to a rightly-disposed heart and ordinary andtheboy,
understanding, it carries in itself the evidence of its who is very
., . .. unskilful."
power and wisdom ». (jer. Tay
lor, Suffici
ency of
Scripture to
' It is to be presumed that, in the study of the Holy Scriptures, Salvation.)
the heart is prepared for that illumination of the Spirit withou g"- 'j^"?
which it is but a dark and sealed book, by humility and prayer — Aix^iKtu rh
without that, truth, though discovered, cannot become saving. CL^TSf "5
" EJ «u» t»5 fiii utTei ueyctMi >5«e'"5 t?? ?r«g« ©sou Xd/ioi ttHircu T» ei- ®"Bxa)
^ ^ ^MfioXou St ¦
^H/ikiei Kcci yiyiinftma, hici rat ir^c^itrat, cv^lt etvrlt itint ri rai puVsi; iiurxxKixs
^ .. ^f A \ ' >\.» " \ 1 »".. ^^' i>oiK<Popa xeet
otxut ^Eyim, tj Tcc yf/tttifMtx, u ftti Aoytv i^u kui m^i xvTUt aTtteienM, J '•^,~
Just Orat. cum Tiyph. §. 92. ititipirTi^it
That being presumed, the best interpreter of Scripture is itself; j„„'„,f ^a-

46 LECTURE V.
^a.jM^i.ot 2. This word of God therefore, so rich and so
x,yia,t m complete in all knowledge, is the great instrument
xtiWos, Taj
TOO toiled .,.-,.
(P«TOf,U- those passages which are in themselves evident, illuminate those
""'TT'/^'^' ^^^^^ aTe obscure, till, by pursuing the analogy of faith, we penetrate
Theod. more and more deeply into the inspired records ; this is a better
Haer Pab i .'
1. 5. Prffif.' mode of understanding the word of God, than all which tradition or
t. 4. p.3?7.ieamed commentary can supply. " It shoilld be a rule," says
Bishop Horsley, who has admirably exemplified his own Canon,
" with every one who would read the Holy Scriptures with ad
vantage and improvement, to compare every text which may seem
either important for the doctrine it may contain, or remarkable for
the turn of its expression, with the parallel passages in other parts
of Holy Writ. It is incredible to any one, who has not in some
degree made the experiment, what a proficiency may be made in
that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation, by studying
Scripture in this manner, without any other commentary or expo
sition than what the different parts of the sacred Volume supply to
each other. / will not scruple to assert, that the most illiterate
Christian, if he cati but read his English Bible, and Mil take
the pains to read it in this manner, will not only attain all that
practical knowledge which is necessary to his salvation, hut, hy
God's blessing, he will become learned in every thing relating to
his religion in such a degree, that he will not he liable to be
beguiledby the reined arguments or by the false assertions of those
who endeavour to graft their own opinions upon the oYcCcl'es of
God." Bp. Horsley's Nine Sennons on the Reformation and
other subjects, Serm. 5. " What need is there," says Abp. Laud,
" of another rule, since this is most infallible, and the same which
the ancient Church of Christ admitted ? And if it were sufficient
> This is for the ancient Church to guide them, and ' direct their Councils,
tag,'forthe ^^y should it be now held insufficient for us, at least, till a free
guide of the General Council can be had ? And it hath both the conditions
first great ,.,,,„.,,..
Councils which Bellarmme doth require m a rule, that it be certain, and that
teMyScrip-^* ^® known. Now the Romanists dare not deny but this rule is
ture,andnot certain ; and that it is sufficiently known in the manifest parts of it,
and such as ai-e necessary to salvation, none of the ancients did

LECTURE V. 47
which the Church possesses, eitiier for the con
version of manldnd, or the edification of her own
children. And in each case she appeals, and can
only appeal, to the conscience and the reason, to
both of which it is, by God Himself, expressly ac-
ever deny — so there is an infallible rule. Nor need there be such
fear of a private spirit in these manifest things, which being but
read or heard teach themselves." Conference with Fisher, §. 33.
Origen, who, wiih all his dangerous licences of interpretation,
was one of the first who attempted to ground the interpretation of
the words of Scripture upon sound principles, lay^ down clearly
both the principle of comparison, of which Bishop Horsley speaks
so forcibly, and that assistance of the Spirit which is indispensable
to utilize the knowledge so acquired.
" ' AJiA«< Js /Sovfiifiitoi l%trdZ,itt tm yjneipijv, tout 'ij(fitri$ to ytafi» dirHf
ili^iit at ^iitMtTB' olirtii ?roX>itt^tiv a^uSS; atra^tvi fth, ev ftiit, a; <pim
miXinf, TO fitiSit. 'A^Pi eiSl ^vtdrcii m atitiros ii yti; l|s^«AiV<f; >j 'iirn
wari ^ovXiTai tc M')(fih r^iii^i(rccrSxr ftotig Se xcti Trecf o xar aXiiiMt
y K^kttS a-ocpii Tot i'l^/Mt Tratra ofjro^sr/i cot rat ftir lirin^v^iui iipifiitm
it T«(5 5rgo^))T8"'«5, ¦ntivfia.TiKci, 7rtivfi.itTix.oii irvyK^ivat, »«.] xenairKivdt/»t
aveo Ti)? a-vtfiiiiooi rat y^x^at ixctirrot •rat tv^io'x.oftitm. Orig.
contr. Cels. lib. vii.
" Ad haec explananda non humani ingenii viribus nitendum est,
sed orationibus et precibus ad Deum fusis. In quo etiam vestri
adjutorio indigemus, ut Deus, Pater verbi, det nobis verbum in
ad apertionem oris nostri, ut possimus considerare mirabilia de lege
ejus '." And such in truth is the general voice and spirit of the • Origen. in
Fathers, who universally insist on this principle of interpretation as g*^ 'g ^^^j
alone necessary to understand Scripture, to the saving of the soul. init.
Our own Homilies lay down most distinctly the power which
Holy Scripture, by God's grace, possesses, of illuminating the
minds of all, however poor and otherwise uninstructed, who consult
them as the oracles of God. And in so doing our Refonners are
only proceeding, as they ever do, on the real spirit and principles
of primitive antiquity.

48 LECTURE V.
commodated, — the book of life and light and all
wisdom, furnished with every instrument to move the
one, and convince the other.
With this hmitation indeed, that she knows, in
one sense, we must have faith before we can believe.
TheChurchIt is Certain, that is, that a moral and predisposed
prove the State of the Understanding is absolutely necessai-y
men's rea- for the pi'opcr Consideration of the Christian revela-
son. tion. Such is the bias of our nature in the other
direction, that we must desire it to be true, before
we can prove it to ourselves to be so. We must take
off our shoes from ofi" our feet, and feel that the
ground on which we stand is holy, before the Divine
presence within it wiU condescend to convince om-
understanding, or to move our heart. But she
requires no more, as the condition of convincing our
reason; no more than is indispensable for the con
sideration of any set of moral truths. When that is
done, the Church confidently and without reserve
appeals to the proof on which rests the revelation,
whose presence within her she testifies — and over
whelming are the evidences, which ai-e at her com
mand to establish the divinity of that book; for on
evidence she rests it, such as human reason can
appreciate, and not merely on the ipse dixit of her
own authority.
The argu- And this Strength of the argumentative proof, does
mentative ¦ /¦ n r '
proofs of not arise from one set of cu-cumstances taken sepa-
Christian- ,¦ i i , /• i , ,
ity. ratively, but fi-om the whole collectively; not one
fact by itself, but a thousand in connection ; it is the
piling of truth upon tiuth, the accumulation of

LECTURE V. 49
distinct evidences, heterogeneous, yet in perfect
consistency; flowing fi-om different quai-ters, yet
converging, at last, to the same point ; mingling, and
crossing, and combining with each other — it is all
this together which forms a compacted body of
proof, beneath the weight of which, in the eyes of
a dispassionate enquirer, objection and opposition is
overwhelmed. Different minds are influenced to
action by different motives, and different forms of
intellect are affected by a corresponding variety of
reasoning. Here, therefore, is a new proof of the action of the
Divine reason; there is something admirable and
truly miraculous in this variety of evidences which
attach to the Bible — miracles and prophecy — an
external witness to strike the senses — the persua
siveness of internal pm-ity — arguments of all lands
for the mere intellect — hopes and fears for the
heart — the fidfUment of aU that the imagination
could have conceived of Divine love, and all that the
affections could desire — all combines to work convic
tion, and does not leave the strangest idiosyncrasy of
mind, within the bounds of reason, without its appro
priate testunony.
But, whilst the Church thus deals with those
without her, and supports by m-efi-agable arguments
the veracity of the records in which eternal life is
contained, with still greater confidence and unreserve
does she send those to Scripture, whose minds and
hearts have been prepared for the study of it, by
that holy discipline with which, by the command
VOL. II. E

50 LECTURE V.
of her Founder, she trains up His little ones, the
lambs of the flock committed to her charge.
She sends them there, not as a favour and a
permission, reluctantly granted, and jealously limited ;
but, at once, as their bounden duty, and as the enjoy
ment of their greatest privilege. Without abandoning
them to their own guidance, where they want assist
ance, or withholding any support which she can give,
she bids them consult, themselves and for them
selves, those oracles which she holds in trust for
their edification and growth in peace. And, for
greater comfort and encouragement, she conveys to
them those gracious promises, which attach a special
Messing to the diligent study of the Scriptures, and
in which the Spirit of God has promised to illuminate
the eyes, and soften the heart, and to guide them, with
an unfailing superintendence, into the possession of
all saving truth.
The claims This has always been both the doctrine and
of the . "' .
Church are practice of the Catholic Church, in its purify, and
by Scrip, thus deals the Church of England and the Reforma-
, It is per- tion, without any reserve or Umitation on this right
Stonishing °^ private judgment, save those which God Himself
that any ^as fixcd \ She makcs no exception in favour of her
one urge Jr
half of fte" *^^^ authority to teach and to rule ; and therefore she
EvenK'ome^PP^^^ to the Same rccord for the ascertainment of
is constant- her owu commission and ministry, as for the estar
ly embar- '' '
raised by bfishmeut of the rule of faith and practice. And this
this wild i_ 1 1 1
claim, and, she may do, and does, without the surrender of her
nnififis Slip
pleads the right to tcach her children, till they are fit to iudffe
evidence of j • /• i J o
miracles, and examine for themselves into the grounds of
runs in a "

LECTURE V. 51
their faith — or of her claims to their conditional obe- perpetual
dience — or of any of"those moral and presumptive firstproving
evidences of her divine authority, which she possesses by her au-
anterior to an individual examination of the Scripture thenherau-
proof, and independent of it. But she knows very Scripture^
well, that all this, after all, is only evidence !>»'«- LiSowed
sumptive — that claims are only claims — and that, if they ^^^^ ^
are true, they must likewise be proveable to that reason fj^^^"^'
which God has given to us in order that we may"*"'""*^
. ... reasonable
judge, and discriminate between truth and falsehood, fulfilment
"jl _ _ of the Di-
She is well aware, that, though Christ has ascer- ^ine pro.
• 1 . 1 . . mise,
tained to His Church Universal a perpetual existence, though you
.... 1 1 . ^ay wish
agamst which the gates of hell shall not prevail ; to go far-
and though He has promised that, in one portion hearBeiiar-
of it or another, or in some members in every por- ciesia'm noii
tion of the visible body. His Spirit shall be present, ?rre^s1ve
and the truths^ necessary to salvation shall be still ^uffihLbe'u-
maintained, yet He has not gone farther. He has taris" ^"^
neither assured impeccability, nor an infalhble truth, extr™Scrip.
to His whole body at all times, nor to any one '^^-^tnu^'ore
ticular portion of it by name; and has, throughout, iy"'^,tg?l
suspended His presence, and the effectual exercise of di^^^adb
His offices, upon the purity of the Church's faith, *''^^'' ^ei
' r r J ' morum er-
and the sincerity of her obedience. Even to the*:?;™.*)
•' _ _ Chnstoet
Aposties themselves, in that plenitude of authority |pi"t"i
and inspiration in which they are imapproachable ™f f'bue-
... . . retur."
and inimitable by after generations, the promise of" Christus
/-«•» T'l ^ • ¦> • teneturre-
Chnsts presence was conditional on their tesucmngmovereom-
whatsoever He commanded ; and much more must it rem ab Ee-
be so, in the case of those whose highest claim is Beii. de
_ Eccies.
E 2

Eo-

52 LECTURE V.
Miiit. 1. 3. that they sit m the Aposties' chair ^. She does not,
in^'ofcer and shc dares not therefore if she would, refuse, in
words,
fallibk^or' *" I bave already given some patristical quotations in proof that
Christ is j^jj Churches are to be tried hy their doctrine and its accord-
TCtiSB f — --
what an ance with Scripture. I will here add one or two more ; —
alternative! „ Qy^p^^ipter eis qui in Ecclesii sunt, Presbyteris obaudire
oportet, his qui successionem habeat ab Apostolis, sicut ostelidimus;
qui cum successione charisma veritatis certum, secundum placi-
tum Patris, acceperunt. Qui vero crediti quidem sunt a multis
esse Presbyteri, serviunt autem suis voluptatibus, et non pree-
ponunt timorem Dei in cordibus suis, sed contumeliis agunt
reliquos, et principalis consessionis tumore elati sunt, et in abscon-
ditis agunt mala, et dicunt, ' Nemo nos videt,' redarguentur Verbo ;
ab omnibus igitur talibus absistere oportet ; adhserere vero his qui
et Apostolorum sicut praediximus doctrinam custodimit." Iren. ad
Hser. 1. 4. c. 43. 44. " Nee nos propterea dicimus nobis credi
oportere quod in Ecclesiil Christi sumus, quia ipsam quam tenemus
commendavit Milevitanus Optatus, vel Mediolensis Ambrosius, vel
alii innmnerabiles nostrse communionis Episcopi. Qusecunque talia
in Catholic^ fiunt, ideo sunt approbanda quia in Catholica Sunt, non
ideo ipsa manifestatur Catholica, quia hsec in ea fiunt  Then,
' Still more appealing to the Scriptures, he adds, " Haec sunt causae nostrse firma-
another menta." August, contr. Donatist. Epist.' So upon the Deity of our
part of the Loj.,j jjg groimds it not on the decision of the Nicene Council, hut
same able ' o
treatise, on Scripture. " Sed nunc nee ego Nicaenum, nee tu debes Arimi-
dorainici " nense, tanquam praejudicaturus, proferre concilium, nee ego hujus
quorum auctoritate, nee tu illius detineris; scripturarmn auctoribus, non
auotoritati ..
utrique quorumque propriis sed utrisque communibus testibus, res cum
consenti- ,.gg^ causa cum causi, ratio cum ratione concertet." August, contr.
mus, utri* o
que cedi- Max. Arian. t. 8. b. 2. c. 14.
qu"e'se"vi"" Again, " Sive de Christo, sive de ejus ecclesia, sive de quacun-
mus ; ibi, que alia re quae pertinet ad fidem vitamque nostram, non dicam, si
ecclesiam. "OS, sed si Angelus de coelo nobis annunciaverit, praeterquam quod
5 There is in Scripturis legalibus et evangelicis accepistis, anathema sit."
consistelTo'y 'Aug. cont. Liter. PetUian. t. 9. lib. 3. c. 6. Finally, " Sed et alia

LECTURE V. 53
this point, as in all others, to defer to the authority
of the Word ; because she is quite certain, that, on

<lVLseahsque auctoritate et testimoniis Scripturarumqaasi traditione between
Apostolic^ sponte repeiiunt atque confingunt, percutit gladiuSofj^g^j^.
Dei." Hieron. Comm. in Agee. Prop. t. 3. c. 1. The^o^ssay-
*° ^ ing of Au-
questjon may be confused by the quotation of isolated passages, gustine,
but, no doubt, such is the teaching of the greatest Fathers. See j.^^° ^y'^°
Goode's Rule of Faith, p. 127. vol. 2. for a very remarkable passage non orede-
from an exposition of Saint Matthew, attributed to Chrysostom, and me Catho-
for an exhaustion of authorities. To assert that the true Church, ^["^ Eccle
sia commo-
whether Romanist or otherwise, can be determined, or men actveret auc-
tonts q
upon the belief without reasoning, is absurd ; a man exercises choice f^^. j^^ jjg_
and reason just the same, whether he determines that his guide isputedpoints
.he rightly
infallible, or that his road is clearly marked out before him. No interprets
Protestant will dissent from the following Romanist definition of t^^^n^^-f
Church ; " Congregatio fidelium in vero Dei cultu adornatorum " quisquis
, ^, • ¦ ., T^ rm 1 n i i i TX i ¦ ^^'11 mCtult
sub Christo capite. Dens Theol. t. 2. p. 111. He then gives ijujug qj,.
four notes of the true Church. 1. Unitas, unitas capitis, i. e. the ^''''"'?''^.
¦¦ quEestionis,
Pope — unitas fidei et doctrinae, &c. 2. Sanctitas, quia omnes pro- Ecclesiam
fessione sancti sunt, et multis revera sancti : neque extra earn sancti ^^^j^j „''°°'
esse possunt. 3. Apostolicitas. 1 . ratione doctrines. 2. propagationis Contr.
....,.,„.. Crescon.
ab Apostolis. 3. non mteiTuptaa successioms. 4. mdivulsae adhaesionis "Disputare
Cathedrae Petri. To two of these Apostolicities we should hardly """'"'^ '? i
assent as decisive. 4. Catholicitas; quod sit toto orbe diffusa. Bel- versa Ec-
larmine (de Concil. et Eccies. lib. 4.) gives fifteen notes of the true gg^^^ ;„.
Church. I. Ipsum CatholiciE Ecclesiae Momera. 2. Antiquitas. solentissi-
^ mse est in-
3. Diuturnitas. 4. Amplitudo, sive multitudo et varietas creden- sania."
tium. 5. Successio episcoparum in Ecclesia ad Apostolis deducta. P'^'-
6. Conspiratio in doctrin^ cum Ecclesia antiquft. 7, Unio mem-
brorum inter se et earn capite. 8. Sanctitas doctrinae. 9. EfE-
cacia doctrinae. 10. Sanctitas vitae auctorum. 11. Gloria mira-
culorum. 12. Lumen propheticuin. 13. Confessio adversariorum.
14. Infelix exitus, seu finis eorum, qui ecclesiam oppugnant.
15. Felicitas temporalis. Touching the first. It is our own fault if
we permit Rome to usurp the name. 2. Our doctrine is the

54 LECTURE V.
so important a point, Scripture cannot be silent, and
that,— whatever be its statements upon the question,
oldest. 3. It has never wanted witnesses, nor ever will. 4. Num
bers are no proof of truth. 5. The Church of England has the
Episcopal succession, and other Protestant Churches the Presby
terian. 6. The Church of England has it. 7. No Church on
earth has ever perfectly exhibited this, nor can do so. 8. The
Church of England has it. 9. The Church of England has it.
10, The Church of England has a greater share than Rome, in the
great Doctors of the Church Catholic. 11. All true miracles, i. e.
of the Apostles and Apostolic men, belong to all the Church — Rome's
lying miracles we lay no claim to. 12. Nor do we claim the lying
prophecies of Rome's legendary saints. 13. Rome certainly has
not this. 14. The extermination of enemies by the temporal
sword is no mark of Christ, but of antichrist. 15. God has pro
mised His Church, not prosperity on earth, but the contrary. I
conclude this long note with the reasons by which Chillingworth
was deceived into the Romish Church, and his own replies to
them. 1. Visible perpetual profession — res. God has not foretold
that the truth should, de facto, be always visibly professed without
mixture of falsehood. 2. Because Luther in separating from
Rome, separated from all Churches then in the world — res. God has
not decreed that there shall always be a visible company of men
free from error in itself damnable, neither is it schism to separate
from a Church possessing all necessary doctrine, if it insists on the
profession of an error. 3. Because Rome has the testimony of
miracles, — res. 1 . the doctrine of Protestants, i. e. the Bible, has been
so confirmed — 2. there is no promise that in after ages there should
be a continuation of miraculous evidence — and, 3. Scripture does
assert that signs and wonders should in after ages be wrought, in con-
firmation of false doctrine. 4. Because many Protestant doctrines
are condemned heresies — ^res. all men are not heretics who by
Philastrius, Epiphanius, or Saint Austin were put into the lists of
heretics. 5. Because the ancient prophecies of the conversion of
kings have been fulfilled in the Romish Church — res. kings and
nations have been and may be converted by men of contrary

LECTURE V. 55
whatever be its signs or evidences of a true Chm-ch,
and whatever the authority devolved upon it, —
within those limits, be they more or be they less, she
is bound by solemn duty to confine herself, and by
those signs to measure the validity of her claims.
Let those fear the Ught, whose deeds or whose
pretensions will not bear its scrutiny — certainly it is
not so with the Church of England, And, if the
exercise of reason, by necessary laws, in under
standing what is proposed to it, in Scripture or out
of Scripture, be private judgment — then is private •
religions. 6. Because the doctrines of Rome are conformable to
the primitive Fathers, but not so the Protestant doctrine — res. the
Romanist doctrine is confessed by Romanists themselves to be
contrary to the Fathers on many points. 7. Because the first
Reformer had neither commission ordinary nor extraordinary — res.
all Pastors of a Church have authority from God to preach against
the abuses of it, nor can any Christian want such a commission,
when there is no one else to do it. 8. Luther was persuaded by
the devil in a dream to write against the Mass — res. this might be
and was a mere delusion. 9. Because the Protestant faith is new and
has been suspected of falsehood — res. Ps^ists have been far more
guilty of this liian Protestants. 10. Because by denying all in
fallible authority of Pope, or Council, or Church, Protestants have
destroyed all means of suppressing heresy or restoring unity — res.
let all men believe Scripture and that only, endeavouring to ascer
tain its true sense, and this will be found not only a better, but the
only way, to suppress heresy and restore unity. He who believes
Scripture sincerely cannot be a heretic. And if this were the only
term of Communion, though there would be minor diiferences, yet
there would be substantial union. The two marks of a true Church
proposed in our own Articles are worth all the rest. 1. The faith
ful preaching of the Word of God. 2. The due administration of
the Sacraments,

56 LECTURE V.
judgment, under any possible circumstances and any
claims, unavoidable ; for no claims can be received,
with or without evidence, in any other manner. It is
an indefeasible right of all Christians and of aU men,
dangerous, hke every thing else, if unregulated or
unprincipled, but safe and with a blessing upon it,
if exercised according to the laws which God has
prescribed for its regulation. To neglect fit helps, or
prejudge Scripture truths by principles of our own
choosing, is indeed rationalism — but it is quite as
much so, to presume that the Word of God cannot
' 1 Tim. iii. instruct Candid minds, though God says that it can;
old inter- and that it is not quite as competent to define and
pretation , . i . i • -i e
which ^ restrict, as it may be, the authority and privileges of
xo, to " the the Chm-ch, as any other verity whatsoever.
certainly Uuless slic is prepared for this, she is really not a
and surely, faithful witness or guardian of the deposit of truth
infte Ro°- whicli is Contained in the word, and of which, by its
sense^, it is proclamation, by its defence, and the maintenance of its
the'eartUy purify, she is a pillar and a ground. And (supposing
truth which such to be the Apostie's ^ meaning) whilst a pillar
ciaims'and sustaius an cdificc — infinitely more is it sustained
Hd^H*^ itself by the whole building ; and, while the Church is
1. 3. c. 1. an instrument for upholding the faith, the faith con-
" quod qui- _ i o ^ i
dam tunc stitutcs the vcTy csscncc and being of the Church.
prajconia- .
veruntpost-" The Gospel," says Irenaeus, " which the Aposties
ea per Dei , , ,
Toiuntatem preachcd, they afterwards delivered to us in the
inScripturis „. ii^i- ii c
nobis tradi- Scriptures to be the foundation and column of our
damentum' faith ^." Therefore we are not ultimately to judge the
nam S truth by the Church, but the Church by the truth.
tTrum.""" " We must seek the Church in the Scriptures," as

LECTURE V, 57
Augustine directs. Who would have believed that
any Church could speak as Rome does? Prierias
says, " The Church of Rome is the rule and model
of faith, and the Scriptures derive fi-om her aU their
faith and authority." " The doctrine of the Church (Vid. Jew-
of Rome is the infallible rule of faith, and from Prierias
it the Holy Scriptures derive aU then- strength." themm.
Pighius says, " that without the command of the quaedam
Church of Rome, we are not to believe the mos^ runt non ut
clear passage in Scripture." In fact, Rome speaks praLsent^
exactly as the modem Socinian, who says through sed'potius*
Belsham, " Impartial and serious enquirers must sent?" ^lib.
be particularly on their guard against what is called (Hierar.
the natural signification of words and phrases^." \b\'1 '
And certainly with these two postulates — that^^i™.
^ ^ Jinquiry.
Scripture owes all its authority to the Church, and t^^ ''°-
'¦ ¦' _ incidence
that plain passages are not to be understood in their ought
. . . . i^i 1 surely to
natural meaning — there is no proposition on Church startiethose
" , ^ ^. . who thus
authority, or any other article of faith, which may not treat sorip-
be demonstrated. their zeal
Nor is there any value in that distinction which, dition, for
Idee every other imaginable verbal subtlety, may benessoftheir
found in Romanist controversialists. That, although p"°°'p *•
Scriptm-e hath authority, quoad se, in itself, from
inspiration, yet, quoad nos, its authority is from the
Chm-ch alone. For authority is clearly relative to
those who owe obedience to it — and this is the
meaning of the authority of Scripture ; that is, it is
the command of God, who has a right to our sub
mission. It is therefore absm-d to say, that the law
of God has no authority, when declared to us, to

58 LECTURE V.
bind the conscience, save what it derives from man —
for, from the necessary relations of creature and Cre
ator, it binds the very moment it becomes known, from
that relation, and nothing else. To suppose other
wise would be to subordinate the commands of God
completely to the wiU and pleasure of men. The royal
officer, who conveys to us a king's proclamation, has
no authority, therefore, over us, nor does he convey
authority to the royal command. So the Scriptures,
the moment they are acknowledged, by whatsoever
testimony known, or by whomsoever introduced to
our acceptance, have an instant and inherent au
thority to bind all that hear them. However faithful
may be the testimony which she bears to the truth, as
faithful as that of Rome has been the contrary, no
Church, save one dizzy with the fumes of infal-
libOity, would venture to claim a lordship and
dominion over them that receive it — and it is a
duly both to God and man, that the bonds of such a
Church should be broken asunder, and her cords cast
ofi". But Rome is wise in her generation — she knows
that Scripture and herself cannot stand together.
And if the Church of England ever embraces her
main doctrines, with her scheme of Church authority,
she too will act in the same manner, and, with the
same unerring instinct, mould, with a plastic art, all
the articles of the faith, to her dominant interest.
She will fold the cloak of inerrancy about her, refuse
to submit her claims to reason, and assert that her
divinity precludes the discussion of her doctrines, 6r

LECTURE V. 59
an examination of her pretensions. She will no
longer exhort us to probe to the uttermost all her
doctrine, and rest this, and every other question that
relates to our faith, on the decision of the infalhble
word. As it is, she considers that to introduce any
other rule by which faith is to be measured, whether
tradition, or a present infalUbihty, would be the
deepest wi-ong she could offer to her Lord and
Master; the usurpation of a power which has not
been delegated either to individual or community;
a trampling on our sacred right to call none Lord
but Christ, and none Teacher, but His word. In thus
doing, she rests upon a rock — and she is uncon
querable by any assault which is not likewise aimed
at right reason, the records of unerring truth, and
the testimony of the Cathohc Fathers from the be
ginning. The truth is, that the desire to estabhsh a larger
Church authority, and a more splendid Church
system than can be proved from Scripture, and the
necessity of obtaining some other foundation on
which to rest it, makes a traditionary hypothesis
indispensable. It is not for the lack of proof in
Scripture of any article of the Catholic faith, that
men insist on its deficiencies and disparage its
power; for all those articles may be most fiilly
demonstrated from thence; but because it is lacking
upon this question which they have exaggerated,
on mere human principles, into the master point of
all. In short, there is a rationalistic and preconceived
opinion of the befitting authority and dignity of the

60 LECTURE V.
Church in its outward aspect, and recognised rulers;
and to this, as in all similar cases where we presup
pose the truth of things, the plainest declarations of
holy writ must bend, and its emphatic silence only
open the way to the sentence of a supplementary
tribimal. The Church must assume the place of
Christ, and tradition the place of Scripture. Luther
some where says in his striking manner, " That the
more he looked upon the Heaven, the more he
wondered at its standing without piUars ; yet stand
it did and firmly. And yet some men never felt
secure of its not falling, unless they held the pillars
of it in their own hands." So it is in regard to the
Church of Christ, its Scriptural canon, its justification
by faith, and the simple scheme of Apostohc govern
ment. All this looks in men's eyes too bare, too
slight a base for such a superstructure, as indeed it
is, if this were every thing it had to trust to — they
require pomp, power, the visible symbols of an earthly
majesty. They do not consider that the same hand
which upholds the heavenly arch, sustains the
Church — even He that fills the Heaven of heavens,
and inhabiteth eternity ! The strength of the
Church is the renouncement of all aid but the aid
of Christ; she does not love to pile up barriers
between herself and Him who upholds the worlds,
but, reaching forth directly to Him, she puts her faith
in the Invisible — invisible to the eye of man, but with
her intensely present.
II. 1. But, whilst Scripture has thus been made a
perfect rule both of faith and practice, by their conso-

LECTURE V. 61
nance to which the claims of the Church itself, which
is its witness and keeper, must be judged ; whilst it
is a rule not only perfect in quantity, containing all
things appertaining to salvation, but lUeewise in The tradi-
quality, so framed that with the help of reason and monies, and
that instruction fi-om without, by which, in God's of X""^^"^
dispensation, it has been invariably accompanied, it therein.
is intelhgible and instructive to all ; so it will like
wise follow, fi-om the pre-adjustment of reason to
revelation, and the harmonious action of one with
the other when each occupies its due position, that,
where an independent action might be left to the
former, such an arrangement would be adopted by
Him, who, amidst aU the treasures of His power and
goodness, uses an exact economy of means. Such a
field is left in the internal arrangements of the body
which Christ has constituted; in its necessary dis
ciphne, and the details of the divine hfe to which
the Church schools the mind of man — but especially
in those rites and ceremonies, upon which the visible
beauty of holiness depends, and which exercise so vast
and acknowledged an influence on the growth of the
soul, and the edification of the body of Christ.
But even here, whilst all the details are left to the
Church and to its discretion, the principles upon
which they must be framed, and to which they must
be subordinated, are distinctiy laid down. It is in
dispensable that the natural fitness of things, and the
rules of decency and order, should be observed
throughout — that the end proposed should be God's
honour, and specially the edification of those who

62 LECTURE V.
are committed to the Church's charge — and that
such an eye should be kept to the spirituality of the
new Covenant and its fundamental truths, as to
prevent forms from encumbering devotion, and ac
cessories from being confounded with that which is
essential. On the other hand, to balance these hmitations.
Scripture has not been less explicit in ordaining an
authority competent to this administration, and the
maintenance of internal order and uniformity in
divine things; lest the worship of -the sanctuary
should be profaned, the rites which Christ Himself
has commanded should be irreverentiy approached^
and that hving image of love and spiritual beauty
which it ought strikingly to embody, should be lost
or disfigured to the eyes of men. To oppose this
power, — so indispensable to the preservation of any
society whatsoever, that, where it does not preexist, it
must be created,— when it acts within its Scripture
Umits ; or, to oppose it at aU, indeed, except where the
safety of great principles imperiously requires it, is a
grievous offence against that humility and charity,
without the exercise of which the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace cannot be preserved unbroken.
Nothing can justify it, vmless some clear sin against
God's word be involved in it, and that not con
structively or by inference, but directly. To proceed
on any other ground, is to throw open a boundless
field to individual fancy ; to hazard that fundamental
unity of the Church, the rupture of which is never so
much a duty as a last dire necessity, on indifferent

LECTURE V. 63
matters; and to tear Christ's body continually
asunder, by ungodly passions, a diseased scru
pulosity, and an independence of judgment es-
sentiaUy schismatic.
But this ti-adition of ceremonies is not, from its Rites and
very nature, susceptible of the uniformity of faith, as, in their
in importance, it is infinitely inferior. It rests, in change-
many respects, on what is itself variable — ^the pecu- *
liarities of manners, the diversity of associations, and
even national character, to which, Uke the Lesbian
rule, it may, and must, if it be truly ApostoUcal, with
a practical wisdom, accommodate itself. Nay, in the
same country and local Church, it may change with
change of circumstances ; and it becomes imperative
upon every national Church, as a true mother of her
chUdren, carefrdly to prune, or even rigorously
discard, many forms, which, though originally edi
fying, have been perverted to superstition, and the
destruction of that spirit which they were framed to
promote. There can be no greater mistake, in
point of principle, nor one more dangerous in its
results, as history has abundantiy proved, than to
give them a consecration which can never be con
ferred upon them, without damage to those higher
ira.ths,on-wh.oseunapproachable importance, as it ought
to be considered, this tenacious maintenance of mere
arbitrary power and the exaltation of indifferent
ceremonies cannot but intrude.
In these respects no Church has any authority
over another — but every one has enjoyed from the
first a fiiU discretion, founded in Scripture, fortified

64 LECTURE V.
by reason, and acknowledged by CouncUs, of acting
on its own judgment, unlimited by the prescription of
past ages, or by present example and authority. Its
only rule is the Scriptures, and the only tribunal to
which it is amenable is that of Christ ! It was a
liberty, which, the fundamentals of the faith being
preserved, the Bishops of the primitive Churches
freely exercised, without let or censure, in the con
struction of Litm-gies and Creeds. From the very
first foundation of the Church, probably, there has
existed this diversity of ceremonial tradition — and,
though the clear and distinguishable elements of a
Uturgy, not only in spirit and in principle, but even
form, may be drawn from the Apostolical writings,
and are confirmed beyond a doubt fi-om the frag
ments of antiquity, venerable and worthy of all
respect, which time has spared — ^yet it is confessedly
impossible to trace up, amidst their varieties and cor
ruptions, more than the main and simple distri
bution of parts, to the generation bordering on the
Apostles =. To call them Apostolical in any other
" It is by no means, in thus saying, intended to assert, that no
portion of the remaining Liturgies are Apostolical. They may be
so, but to judge with any probabihty whether they are so, we must
go to Scripture and primitive doctrine, and what accords with that
is, at all events, to be reverenced as ancient, and received as true;
Thus speaks the reply of the Commissioners of 1662 to the Pres:
byterians, " That there were ancient Liturgies in the Church is
evident — St. Chrysostom 's, St. Basil's, and others, and the Greeks
tell us of Saint James's much older than they ; and though we find
not in all ages whole Liturgies, yet it is certain that there were such
in the oldest times, by those parts which are extant, as Sursum

LECTURE V. 65
sense, is wholly without foundation in fact — it is an
unauthorized name and an unjustifiable exaggeration
— in the craving it betrays for what God has not
given us, it is ungrateful to the fulness of the Scrip
ture — it is only to confuse om- notions of what is
human and what divine, and to call off to remains
of equivocal authority, and on some points, of manifest
and confessed corruption, that reverence which we
pay, fidly and unhesitatingly, to the Apostolic
treasures, incorporated in holy Writ, — the word of
men, but inspired by the Spirit, with a real life
in it, an unmixed truth, and an uncorrupted purity.
There is no reason why the Apostles themselves
should not have differed in the minor arrange
ments of their respective Churches'". There is no
corda, &c. ; Gloria Patri, &c. ; Benedicite ; Hymnus cherubinus>
&c. ; Vere dignum et justum, &c. ; Dominus vobiscum et cum
Spiritu tuo ; with divers others. Though those that are extant may
be interpolated, yet such things as are to be found in them all
consentient to catholic and primitive doctrine, may well be pre
sumed to have been from the first, especially as we find no original
of these Liturgies from General Councils." The whole question is
treated with perfect learning and discrimination in Mr. Palmer's
admirable work, " Origin. Liturg." one of the best contributions of
late years to the standard theology of the Church of England.
'' Take a passage from Bishop Taylor (Dissuas. Pop. p. 446.)
on the subject of ritual tradition : " This topic of pretended tradition
is the most fallible thing in the world, for it is discovered of some
things, that are called Apostolical traditions, that they had their
original of being so esteemed, upon the authority and reputation of
one man. The assumption of the Virgin Mary is esteemed a
tradition Apostolical, but it can derive from no higher authority
than St. Austin, whose doctrine alone brought into the Church the
•veneration of the Assumption. But the tradition of keeping Easter
on the 14th day of the moon, derived only from St. John and the
VOL. II. F

66 LECTURE V.
reason why many of their aiTangements shoiUd not
have been merely local and temporary — many, like
Asiatic Bishops — but the other from St. Peter and St. Paul pre
vailed, though it had no greater authority. But the communi
cating of infants prevailed for many ages in the West, and to this
day in the East, and went for an Apostolical tradition ; but the
fortune of it is changed, and it now passes for an error: and
St. Jerome said, ' It was an Apostolical tradition, that a priest
should not baptize without chrism,' but of this we have scarce any
testimony but his own. But besides this, there were in the begin
ning of Christianity some apocryphal books ; of these Origen gave
great caution ; and, because the falsity of these every good man
could not discover, therefore he charges them, that they should
offer to prove no opinion from any books, but from the canonical
Scriptures, as I have already quoted him; but these were very
busy in reporting traditions. The book of Hermes seduced St.
Clemens of Alexandria into a belief, that the Apostles preached
to them that died infidels, and then raised them to life ; and the
apocryphal books, under the title of Peter and Paul, make hun
believe that the Greeks were saved by their philosophy ; and the
Gospel of Nicodemus, so far as yet appears, was author of the pre
tended tradition of the signing with the sign of the Cross, at every
motion of the body ; and led Tertullian and St. Basil, and, in con
sequence, the Churches of succeeding ages, into the practice of it.
A little thing will draw on a willing mind ; and nothing is so cre
dulous as piety and timorous religion, and nothing was more fearful
to displease God, and anxious to please Him, than the primitive
Christians ; and every thing that would invite them to what they
thought pious, was sure to prevail ; and how many such pretences
might enter in at this wide door, every man may easily observe.''
The latter part of these remarks are admirably fitted for the present
times, when many tender and timorous minds are afraid to reject
what is boldly propounded to them as Apostolical. But any
statement of facts, such as the foregoing, is enough to put the pru
dent and thoughtful on their guard.
The Fathers are not consistent with themselves upon the point,
some disallowing even for practical observances of the Church any
authority but Scripture, and rejecting all arguments not founded

LECTURE V. 67
the agapse and other primitive usages, have been
abolished as experience proved their inexpediency —
and, even if we were masters of the most minute
detaUs of the Apostohc Uturgical arrangements,
unless there were something to stamp perpetuity
upon them by a clear declaration to that effect, it' a good
would not foUow that they were binding on the Church of this vari-
for ever. But probably there was no such perfect to which°"^
uniformity to record. Look at the disputes between areTurof
the Roman and Eastern Churches on the observance [^ proof^ot
of Easter \ a point, ceremonially considered, of no'^adition^n
mean importance; and between the same Church andf^'^^™"'
those of Africa and the East on the baptism ofP^[?^^\"^Jj
heretics, an important point Ukewise, in which both ^!^°°^ °^^^
parties claimed an ApostoUcal tradition in their ™™^—*^
i J. washing ot
favour, and both, as far as we can see, on vaUd °°^ ^J"-^
other s feet
grounds; they demonstiate at once, the uncertainty of by Chris-
any thing unestablished by Scripture, and the latitude gustineteiis
\ ° . us,thatsome
which the founders of the Church permitted on some observed it,
. and some
pomts, which, however important, were secondary to not. The
faith, liable to change, and amenable to private church ob-
served it,
and, curi
ously
directly upon it. Others recognising a large authority in tradition, ^?°"^\ ™
called Apostolical, in regulating the whole forms and discipline of thority of
the Church. But touching this point, it may be well to observe, f^- ?«'«''¦
that nobody, either Romanist or Tractator, recommends thequimur
resumption of all practices, which are provably primitive. Apustolum
Yet, if a discretion or choice is exercised, where and how is the ad hoc Ec-
divine authority for their institution obeyed ? If some be more olesia Ro-
. » , . . , mana quid
and others less certain, who is to determine r who is to weigh to a respondet?"
hair the evidence for or against their Apostolicity ? It becomes a ^mb. or
, , '^ / . , . ^ , . , Pseudo-
matter of taste, and each person s own turn ot mmd is lorthwith Amb. de
erected into the quasi-infallible tribunal of Catholicity. Sacram.
f2 I'b. 8.0.1.

68 LECTURE V.
' And the j'^'^g'^^nt, as mere instruments of edification. It is
En"aud°^ not disputed therefore by any party, that, in rites
considers and ceremouies, and in the spiritual disciphne of those
that the ' ^ c. • i
usageofthe Committed to her charge, all founded on Scripture, but
Primitive, i /-^i i 7
Apostolical in their detaUs additional to it, the Church has an
Churches, . ,.,.,.. i ,
if it can De authority, to which, withm its proper sphere and
Wished, uudcr Scripturc hmitations, submission is due. Nor
bindrnglm is it further to be doubted, that, in forms and
science ab- discipline, there is such a general correspondency
yet" r^TOo/ throughout the Church Cathohc \ as to demonstrate
usage"is ^ Uniformity of principle, exhibiting- itself thus or-
ofTtrae^ ganicaUy, and tending to a uniform outward expres-
^kit''™ sion of the inward unity of faith.
Tradition 2. There is likewise another application of the term
of teaching . ,.,. -n • i •/¦
essential to Tradition, which IS equaUy innocent, but is often
but not au- misuudcrstood and misapplied ; and which, notwith-
' standing, is inseparable from a Christian Chm-ch.
Nay, without it, some of its most sacred functions
could not be exercised, and its most powerful gifts
would be unavailing towards the formation of a holy
people, growing in peace, and consecrated even from
infancy to the service of their Lord. She must
receive the youngest into the society of Christ's
flock; she must therefore administer the initiatory
Sacrament, and, into the minds of those whom Christ
has commanded to be brought to Him, she must,
so to say, distill drop by drop the truths of eternal life,
as they are able to bear them ; tiU from mUk they
are fed on meat, and are fit for a severer knowledge,
and the maturity of a manly disciphne.
This indispensable work can only be carried on by

LECTURE V. 69
Creeds % as summaries of the faith ; by Catechisms,
as convenient forms for instruction in it; and by
' It is necessary to observe here, that, though it is constantly
presumed and argued on, as an undisputed fact, that there was,
exclusive of Scripture, an Apostolical Creed containing the es
sentials of the Christian faith, yet there is no evidence at all of
such a form having come down to us. The present Creed so
called is, in its present form, no earlier than the fourth century ;
nor till that period, or near it, was the title of Apostolic applied
to it.
It is, in fact, the Creed of the Western Church, but of no more
authority than the Creed of Constantinople, or Csesarea, or Jeru
salem, or of any other orthodox Churches. No one doubts the
existence from the very earliest times of such simple formulas of
the main articles of the faith, without which no Neophyte could be
admitted into the communion of the Church — the very number of
those which remain testify to the fact, while their variations are
equally decisive proof of the discretion exercised by each inde
pendent Christian community. That they all rest on the same
foundation, and are, in the main, identical, is no proof that they
came from the standard oral form — it certifies, no doubt, one
original, and that original the written word of God — ^fiom which
they were most of them drawn, and by which they were universally
proved. I say most of them, because, before there was a written
word, there was of course an unwritten creed; though, as we find
from unquestionable evidences, of the very simplest form, being
nothing more at first than an expression of belief in the holy
Trinity. After all, the Apostles' Creed, so called, needs Scrip
ture to vitalize and explain it, and Scripture needs not it — nor does it
contain, except by implication, all necessary truths — not only must
it be proved by Scripture, but, its bearing on the condition of the
human soul, and on the whole counsel of God, »reMS^ he expounded out
of the ample records of revelation, and is unintelligible without it.
No one questions its venerableness, or is disposed to withhold
from it the respect due to a relic of the ancient Church ; but to
claim for it an authority equal to Scripture, which can not only
not be proved, but may be triumphantly disproved, is to offer an
injury and not a mark of respect to this ancient formula. There is
something unconfessed at stake in this pertinacious assumption —

70 LECTURE V.
the measured accuracy of Articles to fence it in and
protect it. And these must be received by her people,
upon the authority of her who conveys them; and, as a
necessary condition, supported by aU analogy and expe
rience, for that spiritual training and moulding of the
man into the Christian image, which it is her special
office to give. And so each generation in its turn
received it from that which went before. In her
preaching too, even to her advanced members, she
can only deliver from her own hands the verities
which she has received, in Uke manner as she now
transmits them — they are not her own invention or dis
covery; she is but the last Unk in their noble lineage.
She would behe the truth if she taught otherwise —
they have been delivered to her — and there is there
fore, of necessity, upon her part, and on the part of her
Ministers, a transmission, upon divine authority, of
the truths which are necessary to salvation.
A traditive rule cannot, therefore, be so much as
separated from the essence of a Christian Church,
unless she abandons those who are committed to her
charge, turns infidel to the positive nature and
objective certainty of divine truth, and denies to the
education by which souls are to be ti-ained to heaven,
that fulchrum of affirming unquestioned the truth of
and that is, an oral authoritative tradition, of which this would
be a standing proof, a portion regulative of Scripture itself, and an
tecedent to it. This is the real gist of the question. I will only
add, that though not all, yet the decided majority of the gi-eat
theologians of the Church of England, take this view of the ques
tion — nothing is less admitted, than the divine authority of the
Apostles' Creed.

LECTURE V. 71
her first principles, without which, no teacher of Not by
allusions or
human science or professor of moral training, even in possible re
ferences,
its lowest form, would undertake his task. Much but by pre-
more when, by the divine scheme, the affections arequatetothe
to be moulded, the wUl to receive an heavenward There is
direction, the whole nature to be imbued with a other great
spiritual frame and tendencies, and the truth to betouchmg""
practically felt and practicaUy proved, by this objective of^tbe wr™
and positive training, before the inteUect is capable t^e first
of the theoretic investigation. But it must ^QZrmUm.;as
conditional on Scripture; that must be its sole [^""iJ'J^''®
and ultimate Canon; and, whatever preparation the ^*^*''*®^
Church may requite, before she submits the truth of J^*^^^"-
her discipline and doctrine to the probing scrutiny of ™P'"^'ant
••¦ i. <o .J communi-
the Word and an independent judgment, it must be "a''™ *»
adiusted to the reason of the case, and be subordinate afterwards
¦' sent a writ-
to the commands of the ultimate authority. And <«« «<!«<«-
ment, not
hence comes the confusion of ideas which makes the re/erring
true rule of faith, " tradition confirmed by Scripture" — towhathad
tradition does teach first. Nor can there be any delivered,^
instruction without it — ^but then it must prove ^ itself ediyoX
by Scripture — ^but that which proves is the true statement
Canon — the provisional teaching may be true or'n^ent^fom-
false, as it may happen ; if false, it has distorted the ^er alnk
rule of faith ; if true, it is so because it accords with tl^^l^^I
it, and for no other reason. Its only certain priority tythTun"
is that of time. f-^-*
The doctrinal tradition of the Church, therefore, ^^g^^ p**jg'
at any one time, is not an ultimate authority as^'^°°'«^-
Rome makes it — nor was it ever so, except fi-om the "'""en
'¦ statements,
mouth of the Aposties and inspired men — but a '/*«*«-

72 LECTURE V.
made, are subordinate one, with an immediate and just m-
clear as flueuce indeed, and a prim& facie weight with it not
ones^and lightly to be rejected, but in dependency, nevertheless,
wo'iiidbe on the written word, and a reverend submission to
ment, and' its final Sentence. Now, supposing that the authority
vague re- of this traditivc teaching is not grounded upon a
thatl'^Ty"' present infallibility of the Church, it must depend
sense would entirely on its assumed uniformity and sameness from
ra Sct\p-^° the first ; and our own experience wUl convince us of
Aposto the httle dependence to be placed on oral doctrine,
"havespok- ^^ Carrying with it this condition. And here I assume
en on vital ^^isit fundamental truths are not denied, which indeed is
points more '
thanth' presupposed in a true Church, and I imply, by tradi-.
have writ- ^jon, the wholc tcnom' and colom- of this or that Church
ten; even
separately, at a particular period, in the mode of propounding:
their wnt> _ ^ . .
ings pro- Scripturc truths, in the whole bearing of the Gospel
fess to eon- _ _ _ ^
tain all upou the Condition of the soul, the ultimate remedy
truth ; men for sui, and the mode of its apphcation to individuals.
th SI'S fort?
would «¦«- Only consider the style of teaching, for instance,
the oral prevalent in the Church of England, during the
by the writ- greater part of last century; and then compare
and^Eccie-it with that difference, not only in external practice,
do^ctrinai but in the mode of regarding the fundamental truths
i/oniya" of the Gospel, and their relative position in the
Thltnter- wholc schcmc, which has since succeeded it — few
Seri^feTO,"''^ things within the Umits of the same Christianity, and
ffJteach-^^^ same reformed profession of it, can well be more
rafherb dissimilar. Look again at the teaching which uni-
*^["^JJ'^°^yver sally pervaded the public ministrations and the
f "'P*"f ^ theoretic Theology of all our great divines for a cen-
xitativesHc-iuxy after the Reformation — the broad and distinct

LECTURE V. 73
character which it has impressed upon om- Articles, cessm-, and
identical with the great continental Reformers, m. sutiue for
their views of the mode of applying salvation through clZn.
Chi-ist, and in the subordination of Church go
vernment, even in its purest form, to the great truths
which bring men to God, and regenerate the soul.
Compare it with the school of Laud, a great and
high-minded man, but whose influence was fatal to
the Chm-ch which he devotedly loved, and of the
semi-Romanizing divines, as they are usually, though
I wUl not say justly, considered, who subsequently
followed in his steps. What an entire transform
ation on many points do we discover in that which
every human precaution had been taken to render
uniform — even with all reasonable allowance for dif
ferences of temper, and the varieties of view in which
minds equally devout and Scriptm-al may regard the
Church's teaching, the change is vast.
Yet, the Articles and Homilies of the Church re
mained what they were, as well as the Scriptural rock
upon which they are founded — the change of doc-
ti-ines arose, not merely fi-om a modification of them
by the principles of the Liturgy, but from a deviation
fi-om them ; and a return to them and to their specific
teaching, could alone restore the ancient model. The
actual teaching of a Church, then, at this or that period,
may more or less deviate fi-om a professed standard,
and be mixed with human additions, as it has aban
doned the line of Scripture truth or not ; and what
has happened over and over again in modem times,
was, human nature being the same, and on the whole
with far less preventives of error, both intellectually

74 LECTURE V.
¦ vincen- and morally, just as likely to happen to the earlier
man whose generations of the Church.
suMvefin And such, in fact, seems to be the view even of Vin-
ttiif one centius Lfrmensis \ who, it must be remembered, never
^etquod contemplated the apphcation of this rule, of a universal
qu"d"' traditive doctrine in all places identical, to any thing but
"uTab *^® support of the authority of Scripture, and the eluci-
His own dation of the mind of the Spirit, as contained thereia.
orthodoxy -phc Scripturc he expressly considers as a perfect rule,
IS not cer- i i ./ •¦
tain; there })oth in quantity and quaUty; nor does he imagine
ground for that there could be any doubt to candid and reason-
suspecting •'
him at able men of the truth which it intended to convey,
least of /. 1 • T 1
Semi-Peia- and of which it was the sole foundation. It was only
And but for the pervcrsencss of heretics, and that indomitable
assvmp. spirit of sophistry which it engendered, eluding the
thTsemper simphcity of the truth by logical subtleties, and
abommbus wrenching the most stringent forms of language to a
Teaiiy * priori Suppositions, which required the authority of
eMiKhed, ^ ^jjj|fQj.jjj^ universal, and primitive tradition, to protect
have been? the scusc of holy Writ; and the present existence of
ra«^teo-^hich furnished at once a ready reply to the cavils
u^which°^°^ heretical objectors, and the theories of theo-
tenabie ^ogical innovators. He says expressly^, that the
have pre- mode which he proposes to adopt would not be ap-
served his r s. r r
™«™"y '' plicable in aU cases, nor at all times ; and, with great
name has clear-sighteduess, perceived the probabUity, or at
mortaiized, least the possibUity, oi a false tradition, hallowed by
pounding time and a universal acceptance, which, though it
an impossi- . . , .
biiity as a might sflcnce the enquirer for the moment by an
testof truth. , ,.
Some vain- argument ad verecundiam, would, if it rested there,
able re
marks he
certainly « Comm. c. 28.

LECTURE V. 76
not only not fortify Scriptural truth, but be destructive has,—
of it, and ruin that Gospel, which its legitimate ap- and large-
plication was calculated to support and verify. mind as
cert Qiitil V
It may be as weU, likewise, as we touch on Liri- not. Vid.
nensis, to state the conditions which he attaches to i May it'
his rule — that we may see the impossibility of an-asked^lf ^
swering them in their rigour, and the extreme diffi- evjr re-
culty therefore of then* apphcation in any but a con-j"gtg„*°tj,g
siderably modified' sense — that the conclusion there- ^^g^^r^g^ "^
fore, following the premises, is not demonstrative, and ^^ f°^f
its evidence merely secondary and confirmative — or^**°J^|^™^
creating a presttmpiioji only, not a certainty. 1. He^JPj^j^"^^^^
speaks of none but such, " as having piously, wisely, ^g^^^jv
and constantly Uved, preached, and persevered in the fathers /oj-
Catholic faith and communion, obtained the favour, tut, lest we
should be
at length, either to die faithfully in Christ, or else deceived,we must
had the happiness of being crowned with martyrdom know that
for Christ's sakeV 2. " That we are to receive, && qualified to
true, whatsoever aU the aforesaid authors, or, at least, and surely
the greater part of them, have clearly, frequently, land voives'the
constantly affirmed, with an unanimous consent, re- Necessity of
taining and deUvering it over to others, as it were^^'^^f
jointiy, and making up all of them but one common ^"^ i,y;^y
and unanimous council of Doctors." The rule sounds oa" tSrhe
simply; and, as men take for granted at once its ^^^^^^^^ constitate"
applicabUity, its grasping comprehension of aU time, ^number^
and place, and persons, in attestation of the truth, has *^^^'
a grandem- which imposes on the mind, as the sound '"^^~^^
does on the ear : but, taken with all these conditions, J^jty of the
' _ _ Saints of
it presents immense difficulties in the verification Christ have
1 leit no re
cord of
' Comm. c. 80.

76 LECTURE V.
their opi- even of great truths. It cannot, in fact, and ought
thoseftat not, in theory, to be carried beyond a certaui point,
ten^hTw'' which no judicious Christian disputes. As implying
SeMo^'str no more than the general consent of the great saints
survrve'howof the Church CathoUc in all fundamental verities,
fce7oOT-"* from the beginning tUl now, it is a great theological
^eltfy"' maxim, and practically full of consolation to the
ajtered.p heart of the humble Christian.
thededsion ^* ®° happened, or rather it was so ordered
on points of (jiyingiy that, at the date of the Nicene Council,
faith a mere .; ' ' '
casualty, though many corruptions were vigorously sprouting,
on a thou- the Apostlcs' teaching, in aU vital points, still uni-
sand acci- '- _ " _ •*¦
dents.— versally prevailed : and thus tradition was coincident
It is hunt- . , ci .
ing a chi- With Scripture, and the chain of teaching unbroken,
engage in on the grand point therein disputed ; and every link
snch an of it was ascertained, not by mere oral assertion and
Besides,' general presumption, but by those existing ecclesi-
ad'mi^rabiy astical documcuts, which certified, through each
believe the° successive stcp, the identity and inherited apostolicity
^author "" ^^ the doctruic. But this was considered after all as
^roTOshis mere presumptive or confirmatory evidence; for, as
reason or ^hc traditivc teaching on this high truth, in each suc-
soript^ure— ^essivc generation, was really grounded on Scripture,
sob ^e?°her ®° ^^^ ^^^ dccisiou of the Niceuc Fathers was made
Tthoutand ^"^ Scripturc, and not on mere tradition. In the esti-
opposite mate therefore of Vincentius, after all the other great
averments ? •" o
2. No one Fathers of that age,' neither present traditions, nor
doubts that _ _ " _ ^ '
the Church the decision of CouncUs, could be any thins: more to an
IS indefecti- _ .
bie, i. e. earnest enquirer, than a guide and intimation, which,
that there . ...
always are, in rcasou and in principle, he would be caUed upon
have beeUj . , . .
and will be, to usc in the examination of the wi-itten word, or as a
true be- i i <.
lievers— Weight to tum the scale of a vaciUating decision.

LECTURE V. 77
No one ought to hesitate to call ecclesiastical tra- bat who can
,.. ... 1 n T • ^• • consult all
dition, m this sense and lor this purpose, a divme true be-
instrument, as well for the discovery, as for the confirm- every^
ation of the tiuth ^ ; and it would not only be opposed if not,
to all teue reason, but be a mark of insensibUity to i say^not
God's goodness in providing it, if we did not greatly J^X cm-
value, and practicaUy apply it. But we know its*^";^^^.
limits ; and where, at any period of the Church, its vfff Daiii^
heads and teachers should either abjm-e all reference °J5'g*g'^Z^"
to the written word, or refuse a practical submission p*g^'°pop_
to its decisions ; and should claim, either to the f"'^, ^^'
' ' sons Pre-
tradition of past times, or the actual teaching of the f^^^
existing Church, that infallibiUty and absolute authority throughout,
*-* •' »' as witness
over men's faith, which belong-s to God alone; then, in toafact,
, , , not as inde-
the opinion of Lirinensis, and of aU the old Catholic pe^^dent

Fathers, he, who, with the Bible in his hand, with ^or, to
its main truths written as clear as human language more than
can make them, should withstand Bishops, and Coun-it ought t'o
cUs, and the whole world confederated against him, even same inspi-
if he stood alone with none but God to help the right, that to^
would be the true representative of the faith ouceZitLs^es-^
dehvered to the saints — he would be the embodiment, hasTt 'it
for the time being, of the hfe and spirit of th.Q^haJ^^^ine.
Church Catholic, though it were not only concentrated nes*? ir'''
in his single person, but restricted to it — one true ''uesa'o^ *
disciple in an apostate generation. Such was once {^gJij*" *'^'*
Gregory Nazianzen — such was the subUme constancy ^^*f
of Athanasius, truly the Great — such, too, in later J? 'i^^^^^t
'J ' ' Baptism,
times, borne up by the same divine Spirit, and by the*e*ree-
same consciousness of the identification of his cause ?f tie Min
istry, and
With God, was the elevated faith and unconquerable "le per-

78 LECTURE V.
petuai heart of Luther ! " Why do the heathens so furiously
obligation , , , , , i ¦ •
of the rage together, and why do the people imagine a vam
intte^ac- thing? The kmgs of the earth stand up, and the
church.1. rulers take counsel together against the Lord and
regard to against His anointed. Let us break their bonds
e^Jof ' asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He
^o^ttjef/' that dweUeth in heaven shaU laugh them to scorn;
Aid',' the Highest shaU have them in derision."
t^y^lfS ^- ^"t *° proceed farther with Tradition, not as
^^^^^gf preparatory or interpretative, but that and something
*o^^ more — supplementary and authoritative. Upon this
reason may yjtal poiut of the single authority of Scripture in
reject as a J^ o j r
final and matters of faith, there can, in reahty, be but two
authorita^ _ ^ \ •'
tive tribu- opinions. ^ There must be either one canon of faith,
doctrines, or two of co-orduiate authority. I use the term co
tton com-" ordinate, because that is the specious word in which
plementary . .^i . i j.xCi'x
and autho- IS Veiled a mcaumg more derogatory to Scripture
" Th^'^' • ^'^^ ^* ^^t sight it seems ; but, on analysing the
really no question, it is evident that even here there is in
via media -¦¦
—none— reaUty but one ; so that it comes to this — you can
primitive have but oHC Conou, either Scripture or Tradition.
tradition as .,,,,... .,, .
yon will, For, say what you wm, and disgmse it as you wiU m
fl n fi fl fl t n p V V
Church of words, the ultimate tribunal, the court of appeal, is
does, by the tru£ Canon. Wherever the discretionary interpTC'-
witness, tatiou is placed, and the power of assigning the great
nevero°on- regulating principles and hues of truth, there is the
Tthing" ° true law ; Tradition, not Scripture therefore at aU,
d^ermtf save in subordination, and speaking the sense of
^/w%f Tradition. Agam, it ought to be observed, that no
rfE^giand^one denies in any way, either m the Church of
Smbouze's England or any other orthodox Church, certainly not

LECTURE V. 79
the gi-eat leaders of the German reformation, the use with those
and value of primitive Tradition, and the positive and Scripture
dogmatic theology ^ of which it is the safeguard ; sole camm
but, on the contrary, highly value it and constantly use they may
it — ^they only hmit it — the true Canon being Scripture rfe«^!«e ^
interpreted by the laws of reason, and that alone; and, i Nothing
as the primitive Church understood it — the two being ungrounded
identical in their results. Nay, not only the true^^?"^^""^"
Canon, but one as express on vital points as words 5^™^^ °'
can make it, defdng Tradition to make it clearer ; Meianc-
_ •' " ' then with
the other being only confirmative and Ulustrative. ^ ^°°^^
, or negative
And if there are writers, as seems to be the case, who, theology —
In some
however strenuously they reason for Tradition as a rule respects it
of faith, only mean it in the Catholic sense of assisting, considered
, « , . . . . 1 too dogma-
by way ot moral certamty, m ascertammg andfe— too
fortifying the manifest sense of Scripture, they, indo'wnto ^
fact, whatever may seem to be impUed in the surface definitions.
of their argument, do only allow one authoritative g,ttri\>\^s
rule. For, if the one be reaUy only auxiliary to the of German
other, not to be called in, save as introductory, till we » to'thF
are competent to examine the other; or defensively, °o^Jj^*i;°g*
to protect its plain and palpable sense, when in-™^j"n°"g
vestigated; it is only a support to the Canon, and ^"^^''^^'j.^^j
not a Canon in the real sense of the term. But'®'*???*^ symboucal
then, there should be no loose or equivocal statement ^°°^^"
J- Probably
in so vital a point; if they mean so, they should say^°^i
that there is but one Canon, and that is Scripture. ™en would
Every Canon of course has a sense to be interpreted ; i£ something
they mean, that to a candid mind there is no such emcy from
obvious sense in holy writ, and that this cannot be dogmatical
satisfactorily ascertained without Tradition — why then crampi'ng, more than

80 LECTURE V.
Catholic Tradition is the Canon and not Scripture. If they
usage justi- , , , . .' , 7
fied, the in. allow that holy writ is clear and express m one sense;
iTthewirdthat the vast majority of the Church, in aU ages,
Butto'ac- agree in that one sense fi-om the beginning, and that
being a° such Universality of consent proves an individual to be
tiveVstlm wrong, if he interpret differently, why then Scriptm-e
caiiy™p5''«s the true Canon, though fortified by Tradition.
praedtothe g^^ ^j^g question is constantly argued, both by
Unfair that class of advocatcs, and by Romanists themselves,
mode of . .
reasoning who alouc are cousisteut in phraseology as well as
question, meaning, as if, in the Protestant assertion of the
sole authority of Scripture, the true point were this —
how far, in excluding Tradition, as a co-ordinate
Canon, we are to prescribe to God the way or ways
by which His truth is to be transmitted ; and whe
ther He might not, as none can hinder His wiU,
have instituted an infalhble ti-aditionary rule, quite
as weU as a written one. And this imphes a real
traditionary rule, not merely interpretative, but co
ordinate and complementary to the written.
Now this is an unfair and deceptive mode of
stating the question, very common among conti-o- •
versialists, more bent upon victory than on the
truth ; and one which imposes on the mind of the
unpractised reader, by the assumption upon which
it goes, that there really is a rule which has come
down to us, distinguishable from Scripture, and with
a hke uninterrupted transmission ; with equal claims
prima facie upon our acceptance with the word itself;
and which its opponents refuse to admit to its
legitimate authority over faith. And, mostly, it is

LECTURE V. 81
expressly stated, or taken for granted, that this
opposition is rationaUstic in principle, and founded
on some arbitrary theory on the mode of transmitting
supei-natural truths, which, according to our adver
saries, would lead, in its legitimate consequences, to
the subversion of the whole body of revealed truth,
holy Writ and all.
But the question reaUy raised by the assertion of
the sole authority of Scripture, is not a doubt about
the entire submission to be rendered by us to the
wUl of God, however conveyed to us, and however
authenticated, — ^nor, whether He might not, had He
so pleased, have added Tradition to Scripture as
a revelation complementary to the latter — nor whether
even Tradition by itself might not have been made
the instrument of transmission — but a mere question
of fact, whether God has done so, or has not, in the
Christian dispensation. If He has, and if it can be
shewn us, we submit to it ; if He has not, why, by in
sisting on a mere speculative case, should we practically
caU in question the sufficiency of the \vritten Word ?
We do not make Scripture of the essence of a The exist-
revelation, nor an independent acquaintance with the authorita.
written word, of the essence of a saving faith. For, as a trlditio'ii a
matter of fact, Irenaeus tells us of whole nations to feet'""' °^
whom it was savingly known, though among them
utterly unwritten — and to the end of the world, it
must be so, accidentally, to many. But we assert that
it is actually the vehicle — it is, as things are, the only
authenticated depository of divine truth, sufficiently
certified to exercise a command over our faith.
VOL. II. G

82 LECTURE V.
I say so in regard to the Christian dispensation^
for there have been times, those of the Patriarchal
Chm-ch for instance, when, from the necessity of the
case, and the condition of the then civUization, there
was no other insti'ument for handing down from age
to age, divine truth, — ^that 6eo7rapd8oTOS a-o(j)ia, to
use a phrase of Plato, which aU antiquity attests. It
was, beyond a doubt, handed down by oral deUvery.
But we know too, how fragmentary it soon became ;
how utterly inadequate it proved to keep aUve a
knowledge of the truths indispensable to enlighten
the conscience, and regulate the life ; and how early
the divine light, which perhaps had been commu
nicated in aU its fulness to our first parent, was
extinguished in the bosom of his descendants.
But when, in process of time, a distinct people
had been set apart for the pecuhar inhabitation of
the Almighty, and as the depository, on behalf of
mankind, of the truths of redemption inherited from
the fall, it no longer seemed fit to Almighty God to
entrust His wUl to such a conveyance, ebbing and
flowing with the uncertainties of opinion, and con
tracting, in its course onward, every corruption which
ignorance or sinfulness communicated to it, as it
passed — but it was His pleasm-e to commit it defini
tively to the custody of writing. And this precaution
is the more remarkable, because the rites of sacrifice,
and a ceremonial, almost di-amatically vivid, trans
ferred as it was from the uncertainties of speech to
definite symbols, was infinitely better adapted for a
pafe conveyance through tradition, than precepts, and

LECTURE V. 83
highly spiritual doctrines. Yet even there they were
committed, not loosely, but with elaborate care, to
writing; and the main points of the law moral, as
weU as of the law ceremonial, though secured by the
Ught of nature, and their inscription on the heart,
were accompanied in the same way by an outward
witness, and by an independent record.
This deserves our particular attention, because, as
I said before, the advocates of co-ordinate Tradition
argue, as though it were an unjustifiable assumption,
that God, in conveying supernatural truths essential
to salvation through aU ages, would choose wi-iting
rather than tradition as His exclusive instrument;
insinuating, that it arises from the same false principle
as that by which Deists presume on what should be
found in Scriptm-e, apart from any analogy in God's
natural dealings. This analogical argument is ab
stractedly tiue, and an excellent instrument for the
subversion of deistical objections ; and it is tri
umphantly appUed to the vindication of God's deal
ings with men, where He Himself, in pari materie,
has given us no precedent by which we might anticipate
His proceedings in another case. But it does not apply
to the present question; for, whatever might have
been the fact, anterior to the Mosaic covenant, it
was totaUy altered after its institution, and the com
mittal to writing of these truths, in which, even then,
the Jews had life eternal.
From henceforth, no analogy can possibly be The anaio-
... , . . 1 1 gy of the
stronger ; no anticipation more legitimate, than that eider cove-
the same plan would be adopted in the second posed to it.
g2

84 LECTURE V.
covenant — the doctrinal nature of which, and the
tendencies inseparable from the human heart to
corrupt its most vital doctrines, rendered such a pre
caution infinitely more necessary ; whilst a traditive
teaching, as a commentary and primary instructor,
would bear to the new revelation exactly the same
relation which it bore to the old. And this is wholly
independent of the arguments to be drawn from
daUy experience and the very nature of the case,
which must be considered as the voice of reason, and
therefore of God, on a subject of such vast import
ance to men's souls as this ; and which demonstrate,
ex abundanti, the inherent advantages of the written
over oral transmission. Supernatural and uninter
rupted interference, indeed, might secure, by force,
to the one, what is the inherent capacity of the
other ; but nothing short of that. But it is against
the whole course of natm-e and of Scripture to sup
pose, that, with a waste of power. Almighty God
employs the supernatural, where the natural is suffi
cient; and that he would compensate an inadequate
instrument, uimecessarUy chosen, by a perpetual
miracle, and a wanton infi-action of his ordinary
laws. On precedent and analogy of reason, there
fore, there is the greatest probabUity that writing
solely would be employed, for the authoritative
ti-ansmission to mankind of the inestimable truths of
the Gospel.
And so is Nor, again, as a matter of fact, is this the simple
histoTyrf question, whether the primitive Chm-ch, that is, the
the Church. Qjjyj.j.j^ Apostohcal, ever had a rule of faith distinct

LECTURE V. 85
from the written one. From various expressions in the
sacred writers, and especiaUy in the Pauline Episties,
it is evident that they had such a rule for a time.
And, iadeed, the nature of the case demonstrates,
that, anterior to the composition and diffusion of the
Scriptm-es, such tradition, that is, the dehvery of the
Gospel truths by word of mouth, was, and could not
but be, the only standard of doctiine. But then^ what \ Men see-
. ^ng the
was oraUy deUvered was just as Uable to perversion inadequacy
or misinterpretation, fi-om dullness of apprehension to convince
and moral perverseness, on the part of the hearers ; are apt to '
or even more so, than the same doctrine defined the'^'fauit to
in writing; and the history of the earUest period oftrrnsmis-°
the Church testifies as much difference of opinion ti°°Jrue'^ '°
about the oral word, as after times have exhibited on "^^^^^ „g^.
the written — there were, in both, differences of inter- ^^SThe
pretation fi-om the very beginning, nor, fi-om the un- °n*'o*/onr'
changing laws of human nature, could it be otherwise. ^°yA ^''°"
Of fundamental truths aU might be assured, if there 1'"'^ po'fer
¦^ ^ to remove,
was a fit moral disposition ; and no more was neces- ^^ 'i^at of
sary, or consistent with God's probationai-y dealing ^ties.
towards mankind. Though even then, at the very °ote a.
earUest period, we know not, whether, on the de
parture of the first founder of a primitive Church, be
he Apostle or Evangelist, the main truths were not
immediately committed to those records which the
early Church, fi-om first to last, preserved; or the
Fathers, in their contests with heretics, could not
have made so confident an appeal to the primitive
teaching. And certain it is, that, in more than one
instance, the benefit of the Apostolic presence, when

86 LECTURE V.
» " Nomen the uccessity of the Churches called it elsewhere,
tradltionis '' , j r il,
generaie was immediately supplied by a written record ol tlie
nifi'ctt^'^ doctrine which he taught, as in the case of Saint
"™am, sive Mark's and St.Luke's Gospel — each of them contammg
'Zfnm in itself aU that was necessary to salvation. And here
^u^ablno is one of the errors in thinking of a supplementary or
7^Z7l' co-ordinate Tradition ' at aU, as purely oral; for, if not
drVerb.*^^' committed to writing for centuries, its authority as a
This'ia'"'^' record of truth is worthless — if comnaitted at once, it
gotten^so ceases to be oral from that instant — as in the case of
tra'd°itions^ Scripturc, which is the written record of what was orally
iuLT^"' cl^hvered by the Apostles^the only tradition received
h^'^^rn s^™P^^ ^t ubique. And, preserving the term tradition,
*^^b*' b *^^ Fathers continuaUy apply the phrases, ApostoUcal
woirfoj-iy traditions, or EvangeUcal traditions, characterising
2 Thess. ii, the Gospels or the Epistles, not to an oral teaching
16. But ,1 ., 1^ i-H
whilst the independent of Scripture, but to the actual written
written j /• i /• n • • i •
record is vccord — a fact to bc carefully borne m mmd, as it
described will Strip the qucstiou of much difficulty, and of that
Feathers ambiguous phi'aseology, which is the great resource
term'^"tra- of the advocatcs of authoritative and supplementary
tJadSioT tradition, in citing the opinions of the primitive
ly used by*' Fathers. But, however, from the very moment that
mlZadis- the Evangelical truths assumed the permanency of
thTwrltten writuig, from that time all the authority invested m
word— "ri^j^g oral tradition, when there was no better, was
<px„, Ti Si transferred to them. And this is evident, because,
.^'{'^".""'"'from the earliest period to which we can trace frag-
Aytol Awfl-
<tri>.(i,," ments of them, the Fathers refer to them as con-
says Epiph.
But this elusive — they appeal to them — they argue from
disputed, them — they assume them as authority unques-

LECTURE V. 87
tionable — they make them, from the first, the sole sometimes
proof of their creeds and articles of faith — as om'tolmpiy'
Lord and His Apostles argue from the Scriptures ofj^gJi^g
the Old Testament. And, ui the case of the hohest ^?|*u't a
of them, of those whom we might suppose to stand %^^^g (g
the nearest to that divine afflatus which clothed fl^f If*
of convey-
the Apostles' Ups with infalUble truth, such as holy "^^^'^ .^^^^
Polycarp and Ignatius, they expressly and emphati- 7°^'^^^ *^
caUy disclaim the wish or intention to put themselves, tion of the
¦' ¦¦¦ Fathers on
for a moment, into competition with the inspfred tiiese ques-
*• _ '¦ tions in
Apostles, or to confound their uninspired wisdom great per
plexity.
with the words of the Holy Ghost ^ The Eo-
And, in times somewhat later, those of Irenseus, sometimes
for example, nothing can possibly be stronger than mean by
the attestation of the Church to the sufficiency of the something never com-
' Ov^ a; nirgos xatJ n»3A»5 ^i»Tcl(r(rofuii vfctf IxsTtoi a'jria-roXoi, lya ^^^tea to
5e xetrdx^iTog, x. r. X. Ign. Ep. ad Rom. c. 4. handed
H»^a.xti>.a Ss vitSi fovihlt x»t' l^ihixt v^da-mt, aX>ice xxra Xgio-ro- '^J'atly aoum
fMliett. Ejre; lixovo-d ritat JisyovTwi', on eat y,yi it Toi? a^^aioif t'v^a, neration ot
It tS iieiyyi>tm ov Tris-nva' xcti xiyotTOi uov covroii, oti yiygeovTat ™® pnest-
. * / / ' " ' ' V ^v . « / > » s hood. But
ceviK^ihrat fioi, oti Tr^oxmcti, Efto/ ii «gjc'"* ^'""'' ^vo-ov; Xgio-ms, oral tradi-
T« »6iXT» aPYfix 0 a-Tcevpof avTov xoci o idvcoTOi, x. T. A. Iffn. Epist. *"'" "^'"^^'y
J Til -1 J r o o 1 means that
adPhilad. §.8. which the
TavTit, ubiX(poi, oiix IfoavTU iirn/i'^ai, ypa(pa iiuTt iTr] tiJ; Sixosi- Apostles
I ..!,,„ /I' ;/ \ . V w >/ themselves
OTVtnr aX)i. iirii vftiis w^oirnxxXiG-ctirH fit. OuTi yci^ lya ovTt tf^^^oi , did not
oftoios iftoi evtarcti xevreixoMvSirM t? <ro<pi» tow uctxdpiov xcci h^i^ov, w't^j
TT N >^ ' . . ~ , ' , ~ , . , / .•»,^ , though it
UctvMV OS yitoftitoi £» vfiit xci-ra ir^oiruTrot Tat toti atSgaTrm, iSidcitft „^ gg^.
ix^i^ai Kcoi /iifieilai Tot Trt^i tSis «Ante'«5, AoyoV 05 x»i UTtat vaiv iypa-^it mitted to
• ^> ..\.>j / » ., .¦•», ~, ¦ ,«.~.~ writing by
tTTirroAocs, ei; oe? eat iyxwrtin, ovttnlviiritrSi oiKoSofteiirScti en Tm oohiu-ott ufiit others.
TrlrTit, t^Tii io-Ti fiirti^ iratTat ifcat. Polycarp. ad Philip. §. 3.
Hf oi iirofittifconvo-atTii TrUtTx tcc. tti^i toS SarSgos ^ftm 'lijo-ow
Xgis-Tou IS/S«|«». Just. Martyr. Apol. prim. §. 33.
OvSi T» &eS lis atoMt tjt to, Igarxv Tot 'Addfo, ttou eo-rh, ovSi to» Ka'lV,
trov A/8eA, «AA eii to exctirTot ihky^M oTrolii Io-ti, xai lU tijfoa; rm
ytartt irdtTut diic toS atxy^n^iitxi e>^6e7t. Dial, cum Tryph. §. 99.

88 LECTURE V.
written Scriptures, even of the Gospels only, as the
i'E«,sJi.. goig yyig of faith, And^ we even find arguments in
«x/^«T»r<,5 regard to the Gospels, not only to shew, that, in
irfcU,,i„), point of fact, they did contain all that the soul of the
xaioxixii believer required, but to prove a priori that more
tixiro,; rlr. than that perfect number there could not be. In
xirClfi' all matters of faith the written word, and the first
xo^Ki^^tZ"-' ^P<^^toii<^ teaching, were commensurate in the
I^Lf^L, opinion of the early Fathers, the one different
^»eXir foi™s of the same thing. And so, as the argument
"^Z"'"^"' ^^quh-ed, the Fathers reasoned against heretics; either
i^geniLus "P^'^ tradition, if they denied, as they often did, the
tifuurthe ^^''''^ 0^" ^ P^i"* o^ Scripture — or, if they admitted
'hi^df^''"" ^^^'V^u^'^j from the written word, or from both com-
froni the biued, accordiiig to the arguments or position of their
feces of the opponents ; but never treated them as authorities
Cherubim- . .
x!ciyic^r& differing in the extent of the truths which they
TSTfojcTfoo-a- ainrmecl ^.
Iren. ad ' Thus " Matthcw to the Hebrews in their tongue,"
c. ii'. ' 'we are told by Irenaeus, " published the Scripture of
ists of old' the Gospel, ^ Then Peter and Paul preached the
this.^^ A. Gospel, and founded a Church at Rome ; and after
riu"'at%e their departure, Mark, the scholar of Peter, deUvered
Trent"'' °^ to US in Writing these things which had been preached
averred it. hy them : and Luke, the follower of Paul, composed
c.^^^et'" ^' ™ ^ book the Gospel which was preached by him : and
P''^*^' afterwards, John, residing in Asia, in the city of
Ephesus, cUd himself also set forth a Gospel^."
« Though, by adducing packed passages, Ironeeus may be made
to give a seeming support to the Romanist doctrine of Tradition,
yet no one, on a compai'ison of him' with himself can be more

LECTURE V. 89
He implies in this, that what was thus committed to
writing was adequate to the first oral tradition. Thus and
decisive on the full suflSciency and authority of Scripture as the
Canon of faith. " Non enim per alios dispositionem salutis
nosti'ae cognovimus, quam per eos per quos Evangelium pervenit
ad nos ; quod quidem tunc prseconiaverunt, postea vero per Dei
voluntatem in Scripturis nobis ti-adiderunt, fundamentum et colum-
nam fidei nostrse futurum." Adv. Hser. lib. 3. c. 1. " Habentes
itaque regulam ipsam veritatem, et in aperto positum de Deo
testimonium, non debemus per qusestionum declinantes in alias
atque alias absolutiones ejicere firmam et veram de Deo scientiam."
Adv. Haer. lib. 2. c. 47.
Then speaking of the heretical opinion that the truth could not be
elicited from Scriptm'e without Tradition. " Cum enim ex Scripturis
arguuntur, in accusationem convertuntur ipsarum Scripturarum,
quasi non recte habeant, neque sint ex authoritate, et quia varie
sint dictae, et quia non possit ex his inveniri Veritas ab his, qui
nesciant traditionem. Non enim per literas traditam illam, sed per
vivam vocem.'' Lib. 3. c. 2. Here are precisely the arguments by
which Romanists, and Romanising Divines in our own Church,
oppose the sole and sufficient authority of Scripture. Like
Tertullian, too, whatever importance Irenaeus may seem sometimes
to attribute to Tradition, when he comes to argue and refute, it is
from Scripture alone that he does it. " Ex ipsis demonstrabimus
Scripturis  Ex Scripturis divinis probationes apponemus."
Lib. 2. c. 66. " Propter hoc enim et laboramus eas, quae sunt ex
Scripturis, adhibere ostensiones, ut ipsis sennonibus confutantes
eos, quantum in nobis est, cohibeamus eos a grandi blasphemia."
Lib. 4. c. 68. In fact, as in the case of Tertullian, nothing can
be more distinctly defined than the purpose for which he referred
to the traditional teaching of the Apostolical Churches. It was
simply because they refused to believe the Scriptures, or those
which the Church received as inspired, that Irenaeus, like any
other reasoner, has recourse to that oral teaching from the begin
ning, which was then still in the memory of men and exhibited by
precise records, to prove that their doctrines were not only undis-
coverable in Scripture, but that they were utterly unknown to the
teaching of the Church which was identical with Scripture : there-

90 LECTURE V.
much more Irenzeus writes against heretics who pre
tended that some necessary doctrines of the Gospel
were not written, and that aU necessary truths cannot be
extracted from Scripture by those who are unacquainted
with tradition. And in Irenaeus, and subsequently in
» In this Clement^ and others of the same period, are the first
Church L attempts in the Church to protect the meaning of the
debted' to Scripturo language against misinterpretation and mis-
vigfrous* understanding by the fixed rules of speech and the
defender of
meaning'of ^°^^ *^®y ^^'^ ^^^^ *''™ unhallowed invention. " Traditionem
Scripture itaque Apostolorum in toto mundo manifestatam, in omni ecclesiS.
hand *as ^'^^^t perspicere omnibus qui vera velint videre, et hahemus annu-
well as its merare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in ecclesiis, et
eantalleso-^'^*^''®®^'"^^^ eorum usque ad nos, qui nihil tale docuerunt, neque
rizer on the cognoverunt, quale ab his deliratur." Lib. 3. c. 3. But of course
h was a "'^'^"^^ ^^° ^®^® ^°^ persuaded by the word of God, were quite as
tenet of the little moved by the oral teaching of the Church.
Alexandri- ¦pjjg principle of this Father's reasoning is, that the oral
an divines, . . o '
that their teaching represented the Scripture, neither more nor less, in matters
«f/« vras of faith. When he asks, " quid si neque Apostoli quidem Scripturas
onlya«j«- ... . .....
terpretation reliquissent nobis, nonne oportebat ordmem sequi traditioms, quam
ofthefre- tradiderunt lis quibus committebunt ecclesias ?" the reply is; cer-
guent wnt- '¦ , , , ,
ten word, tamly, — for, in the absence of the written Canon, we should have
not extra- nothing else to which to apply for the truth. Then after saying,
neons to it, , " , , Y ^, ¦ ¦ , , -i.
and inde- that many barbarous nations were true Christians, though tney
pendent of jjj,^ jjqj jjjg written Scriptures; sine charta vel atramento
Scriptam habentes per Spiritum in cordibus suis salutem, et veterem
traditionem dUigenter custodientes ; he gives that vetus traditio,
which is nothing more than a brief enmneration, like those which
we find in Tertullian, of the first main articles of the Christian
faith. There are no traces, in the first three centuries, of an oral
tradition supplementary to Scripture, except in the heretics of that
period. There was the same general agreement then as now, in
the prime articles of the faith, but no more. Nor did Irenaeus, any
more than Tertullian, debar himself from understanding the Scrip
tures, by the exercise of his own reason, and fonning his own judg
ment thereon.

LECTURE V. 91
canons of verbal criticism. And to such an extent was
the supremacy of the written word admitted, and the
oral Tradition subordinated to it — as merely, at
the best, an exponent of the recorded truths, neither
more nor less in extent, in fundamentals — ^that, in the i we find
earUer ages, it was the appeal to Tradition that^^^^tll^e'
marked the heretic. An interior doctiine, dominant ^g^^^ii^^ig
to the Avritten one, and communicated, as weU as ^^^j^^'"^^^
subsequently transmitted, by oral teaching, was the ^j°jj '^^^'
ready resource of fruitful minds, bent on giving *^^^^^»
Gospel sanction to unchristian doctrines. Nearly ^f^™*"^
all the first great heresiarchs accordingly claimed it. neither
" ° •' Anus nor
Not only the Gnostic sects, but, in another form, Paul could
'' . ' '. . else have
PauP of Samosata and Arius : shewing how essentially appealed to
such a
uncertain it is, and was, and how plastic in any hands traditive
which took the ti-ouble to mould it, or invent it. tion of
In connection with this uniform declaration of the as favoured
early CathoUc Fathers, that in holy writ alone ai-e the lo^zing?'
truths of salvation authoritatively contained, and withguch^a^*^
the practice which they founded upon it, is to be con- at''cwch
sidered the absence, with the exception of one or two ^*uch''
palpable fables, of any sayings or doings of om- Lord, ^^^^
uncontained by the sacred record, and admitted by^^P^'^^j"^
the older Church. It can only be explained by the *° ^ »°<=h
¦' ^ >' a charge
experienced sufficiency of the written history; not2?tiieoid
only its experienced sufficiency for all savins: truth. Church of
. ,,11 . . Jerusalem
but its acknowledged co-extensiveness with the dog- and its
, 1 • e 1 k 1 X ¦ successors
ma^ic oral teaciung ot the Aposties. It is an ar- in Judaea
rangement of Providence, thus to remove all shadow trium-
of claim from Tradition, as a co-steward of the truth, fiited i^"^^
which might interfere, not only with the paramount, and^Faber.

92 LECTURE V.
but with the single and unapproachable authority of
Scripture. Yet we know, from the Apostie John,
II do not that there were many miracles, and sayings, and
mean that "^ , i • i
there were interpretations, of our Lord, unrecorded m the
no attempts ^ _, , . ^i i j.1.
to give wi-itings of the Evangelists — so many, that the very
to such world itself could not contain the books that might be
doing!-" wi-itten of them; and these, one would have thought,
asttTerettCTmust havc been cun-ent in the early ages, and with
Agbarus, them it would have been most interesting and in
stance, re- structive for the Church of future times to be ac-
Eosebius^ quainted. The smallest word from the Son of God is
fte'vigSas a jewel of gold \ And yet, only one short saying
Jwchur'i'h has been preserved, and that by Saint Paul. Not
m Us'ir-'^ only therefore must the Holy Scriptures have seemed
anT's^ffici- Sufficient for salvation to those times, and to those
written* elder Saints, but abundant to overflowing in divine
history, truths; and to the selection of them by the Holy
And when ' j J
we become Spirit, as food for the souls of believers, they never
acquainted ¦¦¦ _
with the dreamed of adding.
vast num- _
her of And, no doubt, with the same intention, there are
spurious Gospels, two remarkable instances of the perversion of mere
and other i i c • <m •
so-called Oral Statements recorded for us m Scripture ; neither
writings, of them peculiarly exposed to misunderstanding,
which were , c i ¦ , ¦ • • • i
put forth in and onc of them involving pomts so mterestmg, that
noToniyourwe should havc supposcd it likely to be carefuUy
the'church preserved by the Church ; and no sinister motive to
bu't'o'u'r^ai- influence the mind in either case. I mean, the saying
iteTciura°te of our Lord, touching the Apostle John, and his sup-
tion'and"^ poscd exemption fi-om death, and the statement of
fudgrtlnt Saint Paul to the Thessalonians, on the coming of
19 greatly ^^ ^^^^^ q£ gjj, ^^j ^j^g jg^g^ judgment ; " Remember
increased. ' j o ^

LECTURE v. 93
ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these One other
things? and now ye know what withholdeth, that hecTrsn^s
might be revealed in due time." What a correct jTerlme. ^
measure does this give us, experimentally, of thcgi^^bur'
value of oral tradition for the conveyance of sacred ^e^our"
truth, much of it requiring great distinctness and}!™*^''^,^^
guardedness of expression! what a broken reed to"*^/g"^
which to ti-ust! what an affront to the incorruptible '^s^^^says
and imperishable memorial of the written word ! Facts !! '"^'J^^^'
r ther they
therefore, and the reason of the case, alike prove, that^^""?
beside Scriptm-e there is no authoritative depository of ^"'¦^s or no,
¦¦¦ . we have but
saving truth ; though it is necessarUy accompanied, as a single
° J & J r ' testimony."
it has always been, by a tradition unauthoritative, to " There is
•' ' •' not one
witness and to teach the truth. saying, or
, 1.1 , • miracle, or
But it follows from this, that there is a sense, story of
arising from the existence of an uncorrupted oral any thing
teaching traceable to the Apostles, in which the preserved
earUer centuries of the Church might very reasonably indubitable
argue upon a 6?0M6Ze Canon, neither rule complementer?/, in scripture
but each commensurate with the other, and might be Di'ssua.
said to possess it, though, in the same sense or de-^ g^'^'
gree, it is wholly inapplicable to om-selves^. The

¦¦ " These two fountains of the knowledge of the doctrine of faith —
the collection of the Apostolic wiitings and oral Tradition — sent
forth streams, flowing by the side of each other, through all com
munities which agreed in the essentials of Christianity; and espe
cially through the communities which were of Apostolic foundation.
But as the stream of Tradition necessarily became more turbid, in
proportion as the distance from the Apostolic times increased, the
writings of the Apostles were designed by Providence to be an un
adulterated source of divine doctrines for every age. Though on
some occasions the Christians of those days might appeal solely to

94 LECTURE V.
absorption of the oral tradition, as a reference or
final authority, in the written, as we have seen before,

the authority of Tradition, they uniformly maintained, that the doc
trine of Christians in all its facts might be declared from holy
writ." Neander quoted by Bishop Kaye. Tertullian is full
of testimonies to the completeness of Scripture, which he even
pushes so far on one occasion as to deny the lawfulness of any
thing not directly permitted therein. He condemns with the
utmost severity the notion, that the Apostles had kept back any
thing from the great body of the Church. " Sed, ut diximus,
eadem dementia est, quum confilentur quidem nihil Apostolos igno-
rasse, nee diversa inter se praedicasse — non tamen omnia volunt
illos omnibus revelasse — quaedeim enim palam et universis : quae
dam secreto, et paucis demandasse." De Praescript. Hasret. c. 25.
The whole tract De Praescript. Hsereticorum, is, in truth, diametri
cally opposed to the Romish doctrine respecting Tradition, " that
' Not there are certain doctrines ' necessary to salvation, which rest, not
would say °^ *^® authority of Scripture, but the authority of Tradition." The
for Scrip- reason why Tertullian refused to argue with heretics, out of Scrip-
tains all" *"'^®> ^® simply because the heretics rejected a large prtoion of the
things ab- sacred volume ; and even on those which they received, put forced
necessary. ^"^ erroneous interpretations. Which then were the genuine
Tru^^-but Scriptures ? This was a question purely historical, and to be de-
^^^mtnded termined by the opinions and practice of the Apostolic Church;
by the and in the interpretation of them, though the sanction of the
rt,^'"^b - Church was to be greatly respected, yet the practice of Tertullian,
come, for like that of the other Fathers, proves beyond a doubt that he thought
that reason,^ himself at perfect liberty to exercise his own judgment upon them.
forward, And, what is mainly to the point insisted on in the text, he strenu-
equally ously insists upon the exact agreement between the traditions
necessary •' ' "
to salvation preserved in the Church and the doctrines of Scripture. Vid. de
with the Praescrip. Haeret. c. 38. The one was coextensive with the other.
And when he appeals to the doctrine of the Catholic Churches, he
argues that it could not have been corrupted since the time of the
Apostles, from its uniformity — quod ubique idem est, non est
inventum sed traditum. Truth alone admits of consistency, while
it is of the very essence of error to change and vary. This, in union
with the Scripture, would be just at any time — but it is clear that

LECTURE V. 95
stUl aUows the former the first place, in point of time,
though neither in clearness nor comprehensiveness.

the force of an argument, arising from such uniformity, was infinitely
stronger in the days of Irenaeus and Tertullian, when the Churches
were independent, and no artificial unity produced by the pressure
of the Church of Rome. It was, moreover, a matter of fact, of
which all cotemporaries were cognizant; into which they might
examine, and need not receive implicitly the vague assertions of a
controversialist. And when, c. 14. de Praescriptione Haeret. he
dissuades a believing brother from entering into Scriptural re
searches, allowance being made for his natural exaggeration of
feeling and expression, he is only giving that advice which any
sensible Protestant would give upon a difiicult point. It is that
ordinary Christians should not by the arts of heretics he led away
from the Creed in which they have been instructed. That, if in
the perusal of Scripture, he encountered difficulties, he should
consult some learned doctor of the Church. And when he him
self comes to confute heretical doctrines, he comes like the other
Fathers to the Apostolic writings, as the instrument and word of
faith, by which alone errors could really be rejected, and to which
all tradition was secondary and subordinate.
The tradition of ceremonies he considers in the same Protestant
light — paying to it that regard which is rendered by our
Church, which, while it acknowledges no tradition as a valid proof
of doctrine, receives it, in point of ecclesiastical practice, if it
be consistent with Scripture, and suitable to existing times and cir
cumstances. He mentions many, in the same way in which Basil
and other Fathers mention them — as not to be found in Scripture,
and therefore solely derivable from Tradition — but he never ex
cludes an examination of their reasonableness and congruity with
Scripture; " Rationem traditioni et consuetudini, et fidei patro-
cinaturam aut ipse perspicies, aut ab aliquo qui perspexerit disces.
Interim nonnuUum esse credos, cui debeatur obsequium." De
Corona,, c. 4. " Sed quia eorum quae ex traditione ohservantur
tanto magis dignam rationem afierre debemus, quanto carent Scrip-
turae auctoritate." De Jejim. c. 30.
But take an instance of the little unifonnity of sentiment m the
same Father. In one passage he would seem to inculcate the pro-

96 LECTURE V.
nor in any thing but time; and, though the real proof
thenceforward was transferred to Scripture, yet, so
long as the teaching of the Church maintamed its
first purity, hanging by its highest Imk upon the
Aposties, and unchanged, you might be said to have
priety, if not more, of the same ceremonies hemg maintamed in
all Churches ; " Non possumus respuere consuetudmem, quam
damnare non possumus, utpote non extraneam, quia non extrane-
orum; cum quibus scilicet communicamus jus pacis et nomen frater-
nitatis. Una nobis et illis fides, unus Deus, idem Christus,
eadem spes, eadem lavacri Sacramenta. Semel dixerim, una Ec
clesia sumus. Ita nostrum est, quodcunque nostrorum est." De
Virg. Vel. c. 2. Compare it with De Coron. c. 4. " An non putas
omni fideli licere concipere et constituere, duntaxat quod Deo
congruat, quod disciplinae conducat, quod saluti proficiat, dicente
Domino : cur autem non et a vobis ipsis quod justum est judicatis ?
ut non de judicio tantum sed de omni sententia rerum examinan-
darum." But this is only one instance of what is to be encountered
in all the Fathers on points not clearly set down in holy writ, either
an expression of opinion, " xtor oixotoftletv ;" or a variation of opinion
from the lapse of time and new convictions ; or looseness of ex
pression, which it is difficult to reduce to the exact meaning in
tended to be conveyed. The clear and well marked principles of
Scripture are the only clue. It only remains to mention, that,
while he states the faith of the Apostolic Churches to be what the
Apostles originally delivered, he gives no form as drawn up by
them, distinct from the Scriptures. He knew, in this sense, of
no Apostles' Creed. The several summaries which he gives, prove
that there was no one authoritative form, while they are not only
deducihle from Scripture, but contain nothing which is not most
broadly laid down therein. " Regula quidqm fidei una omnino
est, sola immobilis, et irreformabUis, credendi scilicet in unicmn
Deum omnipotentem, mundi conditorem, et filium ejus Jesum
Christum, natum ex virgine MariS,, crucifixum sub Pontio Pilato,
tertia die resuscitatum a mortuis, receptmn in coelis, sedentem nunc
ad dexteram Patris, ventm'um judicare vivos et mortuos, per camis
etiam resurrectionem." De Virg. Vel. ad init. Conf. de Prasscrip.
Haeret. c. 13- Advers. Praxeam, c. 2. Vid. Bp. Kaye's Tertull.

LECTURE V. 97
two paraUel Canons, both Apostohc. Certainly this, ' if oppo-
1 • 1 1 1111 "'*'*' '' '¦'' '"
so long as it was pure and accurately recorded, would be called.
i'/Y> 1 •,•, • p • ^ Even the
preclude any difference, or the possibuity of it, be- great advo-
tween the word written, and the word preached. But dition says,
stUl, even here, for a proper paraUeUsm, worth any faisse sem-
thing as independent evidence, it is necessary that the hodieque'^'^
one should be maintained in accurate separation fi-om eorum "con-
the other, which was impossible with the written word in nem" ut
every body's hand ; for, in propriety of speech, from the \l^'^^ ^^^^_
moment that the Scriptures assumed the place of the ^^a^l\
Apostles, the Canon becomes one; because the first p™)'™'-
i: ' ^ rnmum,
teaching did not, and could not sustain itself, and "^'"'."^ ^a-
o ^ ' noms auc-
did not pretend to sustain itself, without the wi-itten toritate ;
'¦ demde
word, which the whole Church allowed from the first ecclesia; Catholicse
to be a sufficient, and the only independent rule. traditione."
„ 1 J r , And then,
But, at any rate, whatever we may say of the pre-"JVoM quia
ceding ages, yet, after the frightful disruption of the soius non
Apostohc teaching which, with few exceptions, inter- universa
vened between the fifth and sixth centuries and the sed quia
Reformation, it is impossible that the Church of later dfvin*a pro
times can sinulai-ly ai-gue, except in those funda- a?bi?rat'u "^
mental ti'uths of which, save among a few heretics, JanlX^
there is no question in any section of the Church. Ipi^fones
The early Church came from the authority of oraP''™'".^^.'!"^
•^ ./ concipiant,
teaching to the written truth — we have proceeded in **i"^ ''^''?
'-' ^ necesse sit,
the opposite direction '^ — the doctrines of the Gospel "* ^'^ l^"^'"
'¦ *¦ ^ ecclesias-
were exhumed, not from the Fathers whose multi- *'" sensus
regulam
tudinous works took the Ulustrious Usher eighteen Scripturaeccelestis in-
years to peruse, and with which not more than AaZ/ a teiiigentia
T T , . -1 1, 1 dirigatur-
dozen theologians at any one period can really have in lis dum-
any thing like a thorough acquaintance — but direct cipne quae-
VOL. II. H

98

LECTURE V.

stionibus, quibustotius Catholiei
dogmatis
fundamen- ta nitun-
tur." Vincent.Lirin. Comm.u. 29.

from the living word of God. Or rather, to speak
more guardedly and accurately on so important a
point, the Gospel was cleared from the uicumbrances
which had marred its purity, and had stifled that hght
which, though never extinguished, had only shone
forth by fits and flashes before ; and God's Temple,
the' Church, was again purified, by a direct reference to
His word, for the reception and indweUing of its proper
glory, Christ apprehended by faith '. Its doctrines

' This is the principle which ballasted the English Reformation,
and, without trespassing upon the sole authority of Scripture, laid
that wholesome check upon the extravagances of individual opinion.
which rendered it not a revolution and utter change, delighting in di
vergence from all previously established opinions, but a restoration.
Our Reformers took Scripture as their sole basis— but admitted as an
article of faith nothing which the early Fathers had not drawn from
it — not admitting every thing which they drew — but excluding what
had not been recognised by them. And they did so because, from
their examination of holy writ, and their reference to the Fathers,
they found in them the acknowledgment of the same sole authority,
and a perfect coincidence on all prime verities. They thus inter
preted Scripture decisively and in one sense^^rsi, because on the laws
of human language it bore no other — and, as must happen when
truth is sincerely sought, as the ancient Church interpreted it — not
because, but as they did — they called them in, only as witnesses to this
right sense of the word of God. The leading continental Re
fonners, and particularly Melanethon, were vigorous advocates of
the same principles, and the Fathers, shuimed at first by the Re
formers from an ignorance, whether they coincided or not with the
Scriptural teaching, became a favourite armoury against Rome; but
specially the Fathers of the three first centmries.
Jewel extended his challenge to the six first centuries; and, with
a certain latitude to language, and an indulgent interpretation of
doubtful phraseology in a Scriptural sense, on which some of our
own greatest divines, such as Waterland and Usher, have not hesi
tated lo proceed, not only are they decisive against the proper

LECTURE V. 99
indeed, as it was right they should be, were confirmed
by the Fathers; the impulse to change was chastised by
tenets of Rome, but those more refined Romanist forms which are
now presented to us as Catholic truths. But not only from controver
sial necessities, but from a largeness of spirit, rejoicing in commuuion
with spirits of the elder Church, for the sake of illustration and
confirmation, the theology of the Church of England is, above all
others, marked by a veneration for the Fathers. Abp. Parker tells
us of Cranmer, " He unrolled the most ancient Fathers, both
Greek and Latin ; he investigated all the Councils and every part
of antiquity up to the very times of the Apostles."
" We have resorted," says Jewel, " as much as we possibly
could, to the Church of the Apostles and of the ancient Catholic
Bishops and Fathers — nor have we directed, to their rites and in
stitutes, our doctrine only, but likewise our administration of the
Sacraments, and the form of our public prayers. For we judged
that a restoration ought to be sought from that precise quarter,
whence the first beginnings of religion might be deduced." " This
principle," says the ancient Father Tertullian, " avails against all
heresies. Whatsoever is first, is true; whatsoever is later is adul
terate." Casaubon says, Epist. 744, " With Melanethon and the
Church of England, I could wish that our articles of faith should
be derived from the fountain of holy Scripture, through the
channel of antiquity — otherwise, what end will there ever be of
perpetual innovation ? If I am not greatly mistaken, the soundest
part of the whole Reformation is to be found in England; for
there, along with the study of essential troth, flourishes also the
study of antiquity." In this spirit was framed the Canon of 1571,
directing preachers to confine themselves, in what they inculcated
as necessary truths, to what was agreeable to the doctrine of the
New Testament, and collected from that very Scripture by ihe
Catholic Fathers^ — a rule eminently wise m fundamental truths at
any time, and one which, though no longer of authority to us, and
directed specially against Popish novelties, is a strong evidence of
the animus of the Evangelical founders of the English Church. But,
to prevent misunderstanding of its intention, I subjoin the remarks
of Waterland ; " The Canon does not order that they shall teach
whatever had been taught hy the Fathers — no, that would have
been setting up a ruw rule of faith — neither does it say that they
H 2

100 LECTURE V.
antiquity, due reverence was paid to that Church uni
versal which had once throughout the world borne
a general testimony to the glorious Gospel, and with
aU her sin, had never been wholly apostatical ; and
the inspired oracles were fortified in their legitimate
sense by primitive tradition and universal consent.
Thus the last seal of which moral certainty, in this
question, is susceptible, was stamped upon the truth;
and in this twofold shelter of Scripture and primitive
Tradition, it lies alike secure against the Romanist,
and the Socinian. This then is the great use of the
Fathers — either affirmatively, indicating the positive
doctrine of Scripture; or negatively, the falsity of doc
trine not delivered in them or by them. But, when
the inspiration and sufficiency of holy Scripture is once
established, the necessity of that use is accidental, and
the result of controversy, a use and necessity not

should teach whatsoever the Fathers had collected from Scripture
— no, that would have been making them infallible inteipreters, or
infallible reasoners — the doctrine must be found first in Scripture
— only to be more secure that we have found it there, the Fathers
are to be called in, to be, as it were, constant checks upon
the presumption or wantonness of private interpretation. But
then again as to private interpretation, there is liberty enough
allowed to it. Preachers are not forbidden to interpret this or that
text, or hundreds of texts, different from what the Fathers have
done — provided still they keep within the analogy of faith — and
presume not to raise up any new doctrine. For it was thought
that there could be no necessary article of faith or doctrine, but
what the ancients had drawn out before from the same Scripture —
to say otherwise, would imply that the ancients had failed univer
sally in necessaries, which is morally absurd." Waterland on Use
and Value of Eccies, Antiq. Works, vol. 5.

LECTURE V. 10)
arising from the obscurity of Scripture on vital truths, i a neces-
but from the perverseness of men. To those who have b'ecau'se we
no controversies to wage, and who seek the tiuth in u^X
simphcity, holy Scripture, in main points, is a light like oTappTai*
the sun; and in others, it is its own best interpreter, power''o^f
if we compare it with itself, and by the analogy of faith, fng"!!"""'
But it is indeed difficult to conceive how any mind J^^^'J^^'^^^
can be so constituted, as not to feel the force of the ^¦^^^g^!
Patiistical argument in fortifyinq truth ; and the ab- *""' ''eoause
o J J ^ i^ ' our adver-
solute indispensabiUty of this Une of reasoning, «;/je<Aej-^"ies ap-
we will or no, when we have to deal with the Socinian and we are
ready to
and the Romanist \ Neither of them, in point of fight them,
with their
fact, is insensible to its power — for both in tum have own wea-
pons- — and,
endeavoured to avaU themselves of its authority because,
against the plain meaning of Scripture — but, with Scripture
such an overwhelming array of fact and argument (feei«L/to
have they been met, that infallibUity is the only refuge minT, '
for the one, and unlimited private judgment for the consent in
other. It is a miserable pretence of reason, in this pretL'tion
view of the relation between Scripture and primitive mo'ves^the
Tradition, to hear men rave of the authority of Scrip- h^/^'at^
ture, as whoUy independent of human interpretation j^bt' could
dictatoriaUy imposed upon it. For, after all, by men^^^^': ^"''
it must be interpreted; and, if it be studied by the ''^°*' °° ™e
'¦ ¦' who resists
rules of right reason, and in the truthfulness of a?'="pt"'"e is ever con-
child-Uke temper, as God intended it to be, such inter- "'«<'«'' *3'
. ., antiquity ;
pretation wul be the truth of the Spirit. He who ^ere is no
• 1 • point of
protests the loudest against the mterpretation of men, doubtful or
, . . false doo-
when it condemns Ins own scheme, or a sectarian trine or
sense, is really exemplifying that of which he falsely which a'
accuses the Catholic Christian — and setting up notcious array

102 LECTURE V.
of evidence only a human opinion, which is inevitable; but a soli-
may not be "' '¦ , e tX^
gathered taru and a private opinion, agamst the sense ot the
from the i i • i •
Fathers, coUectivc Church — a tribunal, to which, in a question
yondthe of uiterpretatiou on a vital point, not only holy
an'^rdinaryfeelmg,and the sentiments of mankind, but the plain
leamTng to laws of reasou command us to submit.
This^s But though, in this polemic aspect, the tradition
mlMe"''as^ of the early ages is necessary ; and in this alone in-
knows^ who dispensable, when the authenticity of the Scriptures

has seen
any thiuL
of Roman

any thing is oucc established ; yet there is no mind of elevated

ist coniro- deling, or with that reverence for antiquity, which is as
versiai the- inseparable from a generous temperament as from a
striking Christian modesty, which does not experience an un-
proof of •' ' '¦
thisis.^AaiJgpeakable satisfaction in tracing up his faith fi-om
those very '¦ o j.
Patristical age to age, through martyrs, and saints, and con-
which the fessors, the noble srenealogy of the Church CathoUc,
Beformers > S) 5J
ranged, and tUl he loscs himself ui them, and becomes one of those
I believe . i i . i c
truly, innumerable multitudes from every country under
Rome, are hcavcu, and of cvcry age, who shaU join in singing
DOW T6'
hementiy ai-ound the throue the Song of Moses and of the Lamb.
oessfuUy But there is here a caution to be added, and
agTinst the two objcctious to be rcmovcd, from this view of Tra-
theReform- dition. 1. It must be borne in mind, that no tradition
in'suppMt however universal, no doctrine, however nominally
docWnai ApostoUcal, has any solid ground to claim our ac-
Tre^b°' ceptance of it as such, if the last link be wanting which
Anglican jg ^ unite it to the Apostles.
^°— The Canon of Vincentius becomes inappUcable,
adopt the though it bc ubiquc et ab omnibus, if it be not semper
antiquity Ukewisc, and proved so to be. There may be more
tor purposes . . . _
of contro- or Icss approximation, more or less probability ; but
versy, and

LECTURE V. 103
it never can possess that certainty which attaches to because our
the written declaration of the Apostles. And the insist upon
fact is, that not only the teaching of the Apostles, but demon-
that of the Apostolic times, must be drawn mainly from feat— no
the Scriptures themselves. They are acknowledged co- of their
temporary documents, a history of the then Church, thrroot^
as weU as an authoritative record of faith — they are ^o'ted'^ ex-
far more voluminous than those immediate successors sword o/the
who are styled the Apostohc Fathers, and whose wit- wntter*^
ness alone approximates the condition of an inspired """"'^•
. . -"^ 'Thlsought
authority — they are far more full and explicit on all never to be
•points of faith and practice, as well as more luminous scarcely
and more easUy understood — they stand therefore, in forms and
point of time and of fulness, as weU as of authority, un- now forced
approachably removed even from those records which church as
come nearest to them. You may talk of proofs and evi- cl°blvl
dences, but still no ingenuity can really fill up the chasm ^JcTio
: — there it stands — and you cannot remove it — ^it is^lieXo'^'
like a fosse, drawn round the Apostohc faith and the^^^^^f^,^^
real ApostoUc Church, as Scriptm-e gives it us^ And, ~*!^^^^;
when a doctiine or practice cannot thus be traced, even?"."* °^. ,
^ ' union with
on this ground, it is unreasonable to confer upon it a'J'^.^P"-
distinction which it cannot claim without a derogation P^'oh.
° Strange
from the pecuhar character of the Scriptures. And batmen
1 • 1 1 1 • 1 '''" desert
to admit the only postulate by which this can be t^e rock, for
eluded, the principle of the gradual expansion ofsand, and
supposed Scripture truths, by which we are caUed quit the ^
upon to accept, as ApostoUcal, that of which the mere point where
rudiments are discernible in the authoritative record ; side by^tide
that to which, by the pure assumption of the Church's and His"^'^
infallibUity, you can see, or fancy that you see, faint al-forafic!'

104 LECTURE V.

titious an- lusious, or shadowy intimations, or seeming references,

tiquity

which is is, whUst we aUow it, m words, m fact, to deprive our-

centnries

later than sclvcs of the ApostoUc rulc. It is to put ourselves
every" '" hopclcssly uito the hauds of the Church, not Apo-
who'pioMes stolical, not Patristical, but Scholastical, with aU its
™erfect corruptious of doctrine, if not its depravity in practice.
™Thtt iVis ^^^' ^^ y°" accept the so-called expansions of Scrip-
notthe ture doctruic in the fourth century, you can frame no
the Church, formula of proof for that position which wiU not be
as such, ^ *¦ _
is manifest eQuallv available for the stUl more developed and
from this, T^ •'
that many systematic Church scheme of Trent. We accept, then,
authorities ''^ ...<-,.
from Pagan with revercncc whatever is written m Scripture — or
historians i c • • i
are very Can be Certainly proved from it — ^we wish not to
adduced change any thing which, in form and practice, is con-
ofhigh sistent with it, and edifying to the Church, though
points, '' it be uninspked — but duty to God and man commands
as facts. , , 1
And the US tO Stop hCrC.
city oft'iie 2. Nor is there any contradiction in principle, that
bo''oks''^s''de-we receive the Scriptures upon the testimony of the
by the^v«7 ancieut Chm-ch, and yet reject, in other points, its
formulas a.« ^^^^hority ovcr our faith; which is the first objection
ti'c%"'of'the*^ remove. For that general consent by which we
Ci'cCTo°or ^^ assured of the authenticity of the Scriptures, is,
SeneT" In*** itsclf and of itsclf credible. AU that it binds upon
fact, in tte ^g ig this — to acccpt whatever else shall be similarly
absence of ^ •'
miracles, attested to US, as the acts and sayings of the Apostles —
otherwise to that it docs Unquestionably bind us, but no more.
have no
middle term But the powcr of Universal Tradition to attest the
on which to .ii ii- i-
reason with authenticity of certain books, and then* supposed m-
gainsayers. . .
Rome feels spiratiou, is a power inherent in it, of its very essence,
claims and not peculiar at all to tiie Church, as such ; but is

LECTURE V. 105
precisely of the same nature, and subject to the same miracles—
. 1 . how long
laws, as that which we apply, every day, to the written win it be
.. /¦ !• before we
monuments of antiqmty. It confers no authority do the
whatever, in the proper sense of the word, on those
times whose special benefit and relation to after ages .'^f^^^jj^®
lay in this very transmission of the holy writings, the °™^^™|j.®
authentication of which, as documents, was possible asceticism,
^ '¦ andjustify-
to them, and to them alone. Not only, by thus ;ng power of
' _ _ J' J ^ bodily mor-
doing, do they obtain in themselves no authority tifieation
o' J ... ¦; which so
over us, but, in thus handing down the mspired soon made
11 7- • T • fatal way in
writings of the Apostles, they really limit their own the Church
authority, and bind their own hands — for they give to infecting'
the Church in after times, by this very act, the power onteemi-^
of judging, and that, by an infallible standard, those with a
very men, and those very communities, by whose instru-j^TO^^fe.
mentaUty they were thus conveyed and perpetuated, not we that
They make it om- duty, should there be any thing toj]]^|^.^^^g.
require it in their practice and opinions, to reject what- c^tireh—
ever shaU oppose what they themselves, with one con- !* |' Hi"^*'
sentient voice, confess to be the sole Canon of truths AP™'les> it
' IS the lufal-
We know, indeed, and we thank God for it, that, "'"'^ ^°^\
' ' ' pel. And,
on the whole, they were marked by eminent love andP""'"^
"' •' other con-
fideUty to the faith, and not untouched by that virtue, siderations
. . J ^ aside, no
which we are willing to suppose must have been o°e JJi <=om-
paring the
communicated to the souls of those who conversed ApostoUcai
e -I' 1 • 1 1 writings
lamuiarly with them who had seen the Lord. But, with Bar-
11. . . nabas,
had it been decidedly otherwise, it would not haveHermas,
been of any real force in diminishing the weight ofbeing
the evidence which they bear, as a body, to the the vast
writings of the Apostles. It does not at all invah- of the°atter,
date the tradition by which the books of the Old Tes- point 'of
tament have come down to us, that they who have sense, and

106 LECTURE V.
practical transmitted them were a stiff"-necked and rebeUious
wisdom, all
that makes people, sinning from the very first against that great
lectual principle of the Unity of the Godhead, which they
power. ^ -.
They were wcrc spcciaUy caUcd to preserve. Ihose records have
weak men ,... , iii-^-i i
palpably— to US the samc divimty, though, both m faith and
dition to practicc, they who have transmitted them were always
weakne''ss deserting the Canon of truth; though they were
the^mi- ever making- it vain, Uke their successors in the
"h^gsand' Christian Church, by their traditions; though its
o/So^ types were darkness to them; though the spirituaUty
was ncTin- of its law was unacknowledgcd ; and though its pro-
on Gw^r phecies were not only imperfectiy understood, but in-
prevent tcrprctcd in a sense contrary to the divine intention.
conse-*""^*' Nay, both records may be said to derive additional
a^s^stem" strength and confirmation from that very condemn-
invoiving atiou of their errors, of which they who acknowledge
at once ' j o
much mis- thefr authority are thus the unconscious and involun-
apprehen- *'
sionof tary witnesses. We need, therefore, be under no
Apostohc •'
teaching, apprehension of shaking the foundation, upon which,
seeds of by way of external evidence, we rest the authority of
great ulti-. . .
mate cor- Scripturc, if, with the word in our hand, we foUow the
ruption. . i • i i • •
I The exampleandpreceptof Augustme,andjudgetheprimi-
fre'tor *^^^ Fathers by it, and not it by the primitive Fathers.
^Td'^din And when, therefore, you bring them from this
theirmystic jjjorjjgj. level, and look upon the prinutive Fathers,
interpreta- a ' jr ir '
tions of a^jjjj then- intellectually greater successors, as general
Origen'sai- commentators on the Scripture, in those expositions of
legorizmg _ ^ '¦
principles jtg meaning^ according to their individual judgment,
nnjusti- of which they have left us ample records; they must
hardly one be judged by the same laws as those which we apply
saw the to interpreters of later ages, qiute as great in intel-
true use of i .^ i • • i- /^i . ,
the histori- lectual guts, and enjoying, according to Christ s un-

LECTURE V. 107
failing promise, the hke spiritual illumination. Their "ai Sorfp-
position, in some points of preparatory discipline and stiii tus
mystic i»^y
materials for iudgment, is far inferior to their sue- often un-
•> '-' ' locks great
cessors. But, though in some respects imcomparably beauties.
, , „ Our own
less fitted hr teachers than the great divines of our own theology
T • /y* IIELS its
Church for instance ; though, from the mere differ- manner-
, . isms too.
ence in time, even were they in other respects qmte i ^nj even
equal, incapacitated altogether from forming a cor- tke%icene
rect opinion on the later prophetical portions oi^T^^^
Scriptm-e ; they need not shrink from the comparison. ^Ztth^uU
Though we cannot, save on fimdamental points, 's^-ff^'^scrip-
tract a uniform or consistent opinion ^ ; though there ^^mtTe'*''
is hardly any important text on which they do not g^^^^^^^g'^
differ from each other; yet weighed in any fair ^nd doubt
balance, great value must be attached to many of them notfunda-
even as individual expositors. It is only ignorance, t^ere 's not
or a fanatical conceit of the superiority of modem semblanceof agree -
times, which can come to any other conclusion. ment.
. . 2"EgoOri-
And it must not be forgotten, that Cyprian is notgenem',"
bound by the sentiments of his master TertuUian ; Au- " propter
gustine brings all to the test of holy writ; Jerome is pro- Acimterdum
digal in criticism on his predecessors^. " I think Ori- a^rlitror™
gen," he says, "on account of his learning, ought to be TCThim-'
read in the same way as TertuUian, Novatus, Amobius, Niwatian
ApoUinaris, and some other ecclesiastical writers, Greek A^iuia"'
as weU as Latin, that we may choose out of them what™^'/g°.°'
is good, and avoid the contrary." " For when the Lord t^^^^^
is sUent," says Austin, " who of us shaU say that^J^j™^^^
this or that is so ; or, if he dares to say so, from whence patinos, ut
' ^ .J ' bona eorum
eligamus,
' Epist. 76. ad Tranquill. t. 2. opp. So Epist. 65. ad Pauius. vitemosque porif"r3.t*i*i.
et Ocean, et lib. 2. Apol. contr. Rufin. He does not spare bis<(j^amoum
predecessors.

108 LECTURE V.
Dominus can he prove it?" "I demand the Shepherd's voice,"
lacnent, ¦"¦ t» i
quis nos- saysthc samc Father, "read thistome out of a Prophet;
trum -^ ' ./.IT
dicat, ilia read it to me out of a Psalm, quote it from the Law,
velillasunt, . ^ ^^ ¦, • r aid
aut,sidicere quotc it from the Gospcl, quotc it from an Apostle.
undo pro- So rational and scriptural is the tone in which these
vocem pal- great Fathers speak of themselves and of each other;
qu7ro''iege SO uuconscious are they of more than a common human
^eta,^ege" authority; dependent on the proofs or reasons by which
redta de""' they coiUd fortify their conclusions ; so completely
d^EvanM- ^^^^ the phautom of Patristical authority vanish as we
de'Ipo'-^ approach it, till Scripture alone remains, in entire suffi-
stoioj." ciency, and unincumbered majesty. Why impose a
intolerable character on them which they disclaim? why give
which them an authority, of which both they and Scripture
be^hnposed kuow uothiug^? why not take the Uberty which they

oonsci- frankly give us? why bind ourselves with chains

upon men s
oonsci-theldop- which other Chm-ches refuse ? why bind ourselves, in
principle y^^^j '^"^ 'o the Fathers, but to those fragments of the
Father*^ Fathers which alone Ue withui the reach of most of us ?
Ind'whSh ^^ great men we admne them; as witnesses of God's
Eistern**"* ^^^^ ^^ deeply value them; for their labours in behalf
Ctareh''h °^ *^^ Cliurch wc are eternally bound to them — and
ever pro- this is CUOUgh.
pounded in °
Us fulness. 3. There is another mode of arguing on the authority
jects it— of Chm-ch Traditions, Scripture beinq admitted, which
Constanti- .
nopie assumes that no verity, such as that of the Incarnation
rejects it.
"Whyshouidand the adorable Trinity, could stand, without its
Moreover, support; which, from the dishonour it does to God's
it is practi
cally a ' Aug. Liber, de Past. t. ix. Opp. So Ambrose, " Scrip-
toTh'^'Fa-' ^^^"^^ inten-ogemus — interrogemus Apostolos — interrogemus Pro-
thers,but phetas — interrogemus Christum." Amb. ad Gratian. de Fide, t. 3.
Mof t'heo^"^^^- ^- '^^P- "*¦ ' ^^^ *° ht'wg examples is to exhaust the Fathers—
logianswho they are full of them.

LECTURE V. 109
word, and the recklessness of consequences which it sit in the
exhibits, when a favourite position is at stake, merits ticai chair,
the severest animadversion from all who are jealous of representa-
the honour of God's book, and the integrity of divine tri°tL°ai ^
truth. And this is the second objection which wearea'nd^
have to answer. If there is no premeditated design ™guide of
in this slur upon Scripture, it is at all events to^^o^^nf'
reason without a due consideration of the conse- °^e voke*of
quences that must follow, and follow inevitably, if^^e^*"""*"-
such be the case. It is to argue desperately andP^'^g^g'^j^
destructively. For the ancient Fathers avowedly ^^^^^l^'j
drew their main proofs and arguments frqm those ^"'^.*"-.
divine writings, which are thus presumed to be*?™"'^-
incompetent to prove even the fundamental articles teaching is
c /• • 1 •CI- ¦ • ""''^ nomi-
of faith ; u this be our condition, where are we to naiiy Ca-
look? the Church has no miracles to establish her is, in fact,
power to reasonable men ; the avros e<pa of mere thontative
human authority can only go for what it is worth in half a dozen
a searching enquiry; the Bible in this case is declared pious indi-
worthless by the Church herself, who leans in helpless I'nd^no""
dependence on those who profess to be masters of S'the best";
the multitudinous records and contradictory teaching tllhSti-
of the Fathers! and the ruin of our faitii must Ure-^J^^"
ti-ievably foUow the destruction of its foundation. aSrfh"^
But, setting other reasons aside, it is not to be j^J^I,'^*^*"
conceived that the greatest and acutest inteUects p"""**®
have reaUy been deceived, when they suppose that,
by every form of argument and induction admitted
among men, they can diemonstrate from Scripture
these fundamental truths ; it cannot be the fact, that
the prodigious monuments of learning and labour,
and of the hardiest faculties of the mind of man, with

,te one.

110 LECTURE V.
I Tertull. which they have enriched the Church, have really
Trin. bceu proceeding, aU the whUe, on an ignoratio
sTheophyi. glenchi — that they have toUed in vain to shew, that
de Lazar. -' i i i- i •
3 "But," it the humble Christian who reads the Godhead of his
'"ought 'not Saviour in Scripture, is not only, in faith, blessed,
mSofc but, in spite of philosophy, and tortuous sophistiy, in
wHhfte reason invincible. "The Scriptures," says TertuUian',
toadi'tive" " convict the frauds and thefts of heretics ;" and
resp^No"^ another Father ^ " The word of God is the Ught by
to b'e "satis- ^hich thicves are to be discovered." Never, if we
fied with are wise, shaU we consent to throw away this sword
less than ' •'
God^ives of the Spirit, which is as powerful to slay the
sides, this enemies of the truth, as the shield of faith is to
Church
evidence defend US, for the unsubstantial and fictitious autho-
resolves
itself into rity of Tradition ; the sword which all may wield by
thefaith '' . .
and know- God's hclp^, for that instrument of defence, which,
each man's be it what it may, (and it is farthest from my wish to
individual . , . , . ,, i
^or, who underrate its polemic value,) is needless to the
practically humble bcUcver, and must be abandoned to the
But in "good faith, as it must be left to the knowledge, of
SCTiptare I a minutc section of the Church ? Certain it is, in the
read'cod's meanwhUc, that, though the proofs of the Gospel mys-
touiy'that teries drawn from Scripture have not convinced the
Church rationahzing infidel, nor sUenced the cavils of the
Fu'wh^e'' heretic, yet even the intellectual victory has been with
consentient tj^g Christian advocate ; by legitimate reasonina: these
voice every ' j n o
''ta^^^t proofs have never been refiited, nor their consequences
J™°S' repeUed. TertulUan is no disparager of Scripture, and
dition is jg here addressing those who rejected the written word;
enough, but if any one, touching those who do admit the Scrip-
when you ...
can have ture, should ask m his words, " What arood wUl you
nothing . , .
better. do, you that are most practised m the Scriptures ? when.

LECTURE V. Ill
if you assert any thing, it is denied by the other side; " Quid
if you deny any position, it is asserted ? We reply, veWs, tu,
"At all events we have gamed this, that he cannot sime Scrip-
. . tararum,
deny our conclusion, without at the same time cum si quid
. . . „ . defenderis,
denying some evident axiom oi reasonmg; some negetur ex
principle, which in other things the necessity of si quid ne-
natm-e and of sense, wiU compel him to use. Wcfendatu'r?"
can do no more ; but in this we have done much, in prLoript?
giving a reason for the faith that is in us. God alone e. s.
can move the heart.
It is no wonder that Romish controversiaUsts, who
treat holy Scripture with such dishonour, should, in
blind zeal for the honour of their Church, endeavour,
like Petavius'', to overturn the orthodoxy of the
¦' The points on which Huet and Petavius have assailed the or
thodoxy of the Fathers are of such magnitude in determining the
value of their authority for the settlement of doctrine independent
¦ of Scripture, that attention ought to be drawn to them, how
ever brief the notice be. And first, as to the statement of the
learned Jesuit, there can be no doubt that he and the Cliurch of
Rome were deeply interested in disproving the weight of the
Fathers in doctrinal controversy, wherein they are, on the whole,
overwhelmingly opposed to the Romanist doctrines. Nor can I
think that there is any doubt of this — that, though Romanist
Divines are in the habit of grounding the traditions of their
Church on an unanimous consent of the ancient Doctors, and cite
them profusely where there is so much as a shadow of the merest
verbal support; and though where there is a fair show of such
unanimity, they do not appeal to any other authority — as indeed
why should they ? yet they do both in theory, and in practice, as
Bellarmine does, avail themselves of the further principle of the
present inherent infallibility of the true Church — by virtue of
which Patristical doctrine, when anti-Romanist, is most cavalierly
treated, and authoritatively pronounced heterodox. This may be
very decisively proved m Mr. Newman's exquisite analysis of the
Romanist system, in his books on the Prophetical office of the

112 LECTURE V.
Nicene Fathers, and, in revenge for the frrefragable
arguments which they lend the Protestant Churches
Church — Rome is ever ambidexter, and there is no contradiction in
her system, in holding out, as the policy of the moment requires,
the one principle or the other. Nor, I suppose, are there any Pro
testant writers of any authority who would venture to uphold the
full extent to which Petavius pushes his scheme of ante-Nicene
heterodoxy. There are some in the list of Fathers, such as Diony
sius of Alex., who are perfectly precise and orthodox in their ex-
preMioM of the Trinitarian doctrine; some, whose opinions arealmost
irreconcileable, by any process, with orthodox doctrine, such as
Lactantius — whose theory of the production of Son and Spirit is
utterly unscriptural and unjustifiable. Others abound in contra
dictory statements and uncouth expressions, which, though not
incapable of a Scriptural interpretation, demand many postulates
which all may not be inclined to grant, much refinement and
acquaintance with the economic principles, the arguing y«/i»o((rTix£5,
as Jerome calls it, on which the Fathers often proceed, and much
laborious comparison of passages, to render tolerable. Others
speak loosely and carelessly both in regard to the Son and the
Spirit, giving too much reason for the assertions of heretics, that
the orthodox doctrine was a novelty, when it was at last distinctly
gathered from Scripture, and clearly propounded. The Platonic
Fathers, using the phraseology of their peculiar schools rather
than the testimony of Scripture, threw msuiy difficulties in the
way of a Scriptural view from this very circumstance ; and
most unjustifiably adopt the terms " generation" and " Son-
ship" as used in Scripture, as synchronizing the filiation with
the issuing forth of the creative energies from the abyss of
the Deity — making thereby, as it would appear, the Sonship a
temporal act But it is not sufficiently remembered that, in
the Platonic theory, the Tr^o/ioXii of creative energy is coeternal
with the divine Being — like light from the sun — and keeping in
mind, the constant use of the terms, e. g. as the streams from the
fountain, the ray from the sun, &c. and the immense difficulties, and
inevitable contradic lions in expression arising from any aliempt to
expand such a mystery, I cannot think there can be any rea
sonable doubt of the substantive soundness of the ante-Nicene
Fathers on ihe vital doctrine of the Trinity. Mr. Faber, in his

LECTURE V. 113
against Rome, endeavom- to convict those holy men
of heresy and ignorance of the faith — but the servant
Preface to the Apostolicity of Trinitarianism, has shewn good
reason why the like indulgence and lenity of interpretation should
be extended to the much disputed passage in Origen, Comm. in
Johan. E^lTXTTiOt St UM^OVi «»T05 T«U, irdtTK S(' «UTo5 lyEVlTO, e'l xcti
TO n»st!ft« To"Ay(ov Si' ctirov lymro ».. t. A. And then oi (i. e. tlov)
XSfiV" i'^'.i TO "Ayio» ntivftit, ^iaxotovtros ccvtov ti) V'troirTdret. Vid.
Fab. Apostol. of Trinit. p. lix. Neither must it be forgotten, that,
according to the ancient Church and Scripture, God the Father,
being alone the fontal Deity, is the cause of existence to the Son,
and the Son conjointly with the Father, the cause of derivative exist
ence to the Spirit — yet the Father being eternal, there is no temporal
priority or posteriority in this relation. On the whole, the most
competent judges, such as Bull, Cave, Waterland, Horsley, Burton,
&c. are satisfied of the orthodoxy of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
But whilst it must, I think, be granted, that most valuable con
firmations of the doclrine of the holy Trinity, as the teaching of
the Church Catholic from the beginning as well as the demon
strable truth of Scripture, may be drawn from the testimony of the
Ante-Nicene Fathers, it must equally be granted by every candid
mind, that, apart from the illumination of Scripture, and the grand
landmarks with which it furnishes us, to guide us through the intri
cacies of Patristical interpretation, they are utterly incompetent to
lumishj as a body, a consistent or orthodox statement of this funda
mental doctrine — though the doctrine itself is contained in them all.
We have the decided opinion of Basil, that there is much in this ques
tion in the old Fathers which is incorrect in statement on the Holy
Spirit as well as on the Son, an opinion which on such a point hardly
admits of any appeal, and which is fully borne out by Jerome, who
informs us that from an ignorance of Scripture many confounded
the Spirit with the Father and the Son. On the unanimous con
fession of the great Fathers of the fourth century, the more precise
statements of aftertimes, at the Council of Nice and subsequent to
it, arise from a more careful study of Scripture, and not from tradi
tion — though tradition with all its confusion and discrepancies had
unquestionably preserved the doctrine substantially in tact.
These loose statements are so important, in thecomparison of Scrip
tm-e with Patristical expositions of doctrine, and the position in which
VOL. II. I

114 LECTURE V.
is not greater than his lord — interpreters of Scrip
ture cannot escape that contumely which Scripture
itself receives.
they stand to each other, that it will be but rightto add one or two autho
rities from the great theologians of the Church of England. " If any
thing," says Bp. Horsley, " be justly reprehensible in the notions
of the Platonic Christians, it is this conceit which seems to
be common to Athenagoras with them all, and is a key to the
meaning of many obscure passages in their writings, " that the
external display of the power of the Son, in the business of creation,
is the thing intended, in the Scripture language, under the figure
of His generation — as if a new relation had taken place between
the first and second person, when the creative powers were first
exerted. The indiscretion of presuming to affix a detei-minate
meaunig upon a figurative expression, of which no particular
exposition can be safely drawn from holy writ, is in some degree
atoned by the object which these writers had in view — they
thought to lead men away from the notion of a literal generation,
by assigning to the figure a particular meaning, which it might
naturally bear, and which, whether it were the true sense of it
or no, seemed not to clash with any explicit part of the revela
tions. The conversion of an attribute into a person, whatever Dr.
Priestley may imagine, is a notion to which they were entire
strangers — that the Son had been a mere attribute, before he became
a person ; or that the paternal attributes were older than the Son's
personal existence, is a doctrine which they would have heard with
horror and amazement." Horsley's Tracts, p. 64. " Suppose," says
Bp. Stillingfleet, a vigorous supporter of the legitimate uses of
tradition, " the question be not concerning the express articles of
this rule of faith, but concerning the sense and meaning of them,
how then are we to find out the consent of Antiquity ? for they
might all agree in the words, and yet have a different notion of the
things." He then adduces the conclusions of Petavius on these
points, and proceeds, " Here now arises the greatest difficulty to
me in this point of Tradition ; the usefulness of it, I am told, ia for
explaining the sense of Scripture : but there begins a great contro
versy in the Church about the explication of the doctrine of the
Trinity. I desire to know whether Vincentius's rules will help us

LECTURE V. 11,5
But Rome, if Scripture faUs, has her support left ;
there is her infallibility, which, if the claim be true.

here ? It is pleaded by St. Hierome and others, ' that the
writers of the Church might err in this matter, or speak unwarily
in it before the matter came to be thoroughly discussed.' If so,
how comes the testimony of erroneous or unwary writers to be
the certain means of giving the sense of Scripture ? And in most
of the controversies of the Church, this way hath been used to take
off the testimony of persons, who writ before the controversy began,
and spake differently of the matter in debate. I do not deny the
truth of the allegation in behalf of those persons ; but to my under
standing, it plainly shews the incompetency of Tradition for giving
a certain sense of Scripture, when that tradition is to be taken
from the writers of the foregoing ages : and if this had been the
only way of confuting Arius, it is a great question how he could
ever have been condemned, if Petavius or S. Hierome say true."
Answer to Several Treatises, &c. p. 245, 246. Edit. 1674.
I cannot but think Mr. Goode in error, in the extent to which
he pushes his conclusions on this subject, and that Waterland and Cave
give the true account of the matter, quite enough for the subver
sion of an authoritative interpretative tradition, without involving
principles, touching the early Fathers, which might eventually be
equally dangerous to Scriptural truth. And questionless, with all
deductions, the great divines of the Church of England do hold
the soundness substantially of the early Patristical teaching. They
may be excused, as the latter plead even for Lactantius, on ac
count of the inexperience of the age in which they lived, in the
scientific expression of these truths, and the abstruseness of doc
trines not yet defined by Theologians, nor determined by Councils.
And Waterland's judgment perfectly coincides with that of
Horsley and Bull on the eternal generation. " It must be con
fessed," he says, " that the Catholics themselves were for some
time pretty much divided about the question of eternal generation,
though there was no question about the eternal existence."
Whether the Aoyos might be rightly said to be begotten in respect
of the state which was antecedent to the TrgosAewis, was the point
in question ; Athanasius argued strenuously for it upon this prin-
I 2

116 LECTURE V.
is logically sufficient for the purpose; and, if we
abandon Scripture as the sole rule of faith, it is to
the same defence that we ourselves must be ultimately
driven, though we have no array of false miracles,
such as she dazzles and bewitches men's minds with,
to support the claim.
The ao- UJ, And this brings me, in the last place, to the plain
deciara- declarations of the Church of England on this import-
tions of the . .
the Church ant poiut, which, as yet, have been taken for granted.
She is emphatically a Scriptural Church — upon her
own declaration of her office, in regard to holy writ, she
is its witness and its keeper — with authority in all mat
ters of faith which she can prove out of the divine record.
But she cannot go farther— she cannot so much as
change one jot or tittle of what is written, or interpret it
by any other rules than the laws of reason, and the ana
logy of faith. She has not forgotten who it was that
ciple, that whatever is of another, and referred to that other as his
head, (as the Aoyos considered as such plainly was,) may and
ought to be styled Son and Begotten; besides, the Arians had
objected, that there would be two unbegotten persons, if the Aoyos
ever existed and was not in the capacity of Son, and the Church
had never been used to the language of two unbegottens. These
considerations, besides the testimonies of elder Fathers, who had
admitted eternal generation, weighed with the generality of Ca
tholics, and so eternal generation came to be the more prevailing
language, and thus prevailed ever since. There is nothing new in
the doctrine more than this — the calling that eternal generation
which others would have styled the eternal existence and relations
of the Aoyo; to the Father, which, at length, amounts only to a dif
ference in words and names." Waterland's Second Defence of
some Queries, vol. 3. p. 260. The importance df this subject,
and the true valiie of the early Fathers in high doctrine, must
excuse the length of this note.

LECTURE V. 117
hedged in the first written Covenant with the prohibi
tion, " Ye shaU not add unto the word that I command Deut. iv. 2.
you; neither shall ye diminish ought from it; that
ye may keep the commandments of the Lord God
which I command you." She remembers too, that
the revelation of the second Covenant is wound up
with the same solemnity of sanction, and the like ana
thema, " If any man shall add unto these things, Rev. xxii.
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book ; and if any man shall take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part from the book of life."
Hence it comes to pass that, when the Chm-ch of
England, had she been disposed, might at least have
appealed in confirmation of her doctrines to universal
tradition, and it was obvious so to do if she thought
Scripture inadequate, she emphaticaUy avoids it, and
appeals to Scripture only.
In the adoption, for example, of the three Catholic
Creeds, one at least of which may be traced, in the
main, close to the Apostles, and aU of which are
truly Cathohc, and provable by CathoUc Tradition,
the reason which she gives for holding them, is not
that the tradition of the Church has handed them
down, but " that they may be proved by most cer
tain warrants of Scripture." The Baptism of Infants,
though susceptible of such strength of outward evi
dence, and general tradition, she grounds upon its
consonance with the institution of Christ. To
General Councils, she attributes not only fallibUity,
but actual sins and eiTors; and pronounces that

118 LECTURE V.
li.e.cfcorfy things ordained by them have neither strength nor
2if Councils ^'^thority, unless they be ^ declared to be taken out of
beinfaiii- holy ScriptuTe." She weU knew, from history, the
Die* 0,0 SUCil*
the Arian sccular passions which mingled from the first in
stands on ^ _
as firm thosc mighty Synods ; what turbulent ambition, per-
the Catho. soual aiumosities, and poUtical chicanery scandalized
Council of even some of those whose decisions, being grounded
was far ou holy writ, wcrc true and catholic — she knew that
more nu-
merous there have been times, when the very same rule of the
of Nice. infallibUity of CouncUs would have destroyed the faith ^.
Council of She knew, that to acknowledge the infaUibUity even of
creed the thosc whosc dccisions shc adopted, wpuld involve the
image's^asa^^ceptance of aU other doctrine, however unscrip-
traditimi tural, which their Canons enjoin. She knew that
Austin'was there have been times when crowded consistories,
"^^*'g^^' which, in the numbers, talents, and venerable
^"'^°'J^~ dignity of their members, were not unw;orthy to re-
nense&c P^'^^^^t the majesty of the Church Universal, not
3 "It is only themselves apostatized from the faith, but
evident," "^ , i i • i • i
says Bp. sccmed for a tim,e to obtain that which is the seal
" that the of fl General Council, the approbation of the Church
Nice were without, and the general consent of the faithfuP.
could not Wisely and scripturaUy did Constantino ', in opening
be deter-
mmea y i ^j,,j, j^jj ,j^] ayxt deitot, Tat voMfii'at xaTotXvSivToit , xxi fiiiSetoi
2. Tradition «»TiTe/»eiv ToA^avTos, izA^^Xovs ^dxXeit xxi toZ; ^vFfieti(rjt, «Jo»i» xxt
Y^i^l^' yihurx 5rgo|sveni, xhXaq Ti xxi inf\ Sei'at ^txXeyofiitovi Tr^xyfictTut, xxi To3
both sides Ttxtxyiou TlviVfOxTOi Tm oiSxn-xxMxt xtccy^xTTov ejjovt*;. EvxyyeXixxi
' ' -j.^.^ y»g, ^wK ^i^y^oi XXI Attoo-toXixxi, xxi tSv ¦prxXxiat 5rgo<pDTS» tx
which the derirlo-ftxTX, traCfla! tifoeis ec x?" ""H' '"'^ ^^'"' ?'§<""» ix'xxi^evoviri. rut
oamosa- ^cMftoTTotot ovt xiriXiirxtTis e'giy, l» Tat teoTrtilxrraii )\oyut Xa.^ufi.efi tm
Arians Z^nTovfiitat Th f^ixrit. Theodor. Eccles. Hist. lib. 1. c. 6 ad fin.
boasted of jyj,j (^ fjjjg ^]^g declaration of Athanasius himself in the Epistle
had m it , v > , „ , , , ,
much pro- to the African Bishops. AAA« xxi etrxv$x oi Ewfo-KOTroi lea^iiTxvns

LECTURE V. 119
the first and holiest of them, teU the assembled *«*'%•¦•
i-». 1 1 • 1 • T ¦ "1. ^^^ divine
Bishops, that, m this disputation concerning divme Scripture
tvas thus the
• ,1 \ »/. / J ~ ~ V , . , , only firma-
ixeitat TO aoAion, o'vtuyxyot ex Tat y^x^lat, to a^rxvyxirftx , tub ts ''^^yi^ ment of
XXI To» 7roTXf*ot, XXI Ton ^x^xxrii^x TTgo? T^v V'rroo-Txirit , xxi to. It ti» the Church
-. I tt 1 «,« \ V > \ . c \ CI , , , ... Even
(pan crov o-^/oftxi (paq, xxi to, eya xxi o a-aTijg Et so-ften, xxt hlvxoTl^ot ^^^^ ^^^_
homot XXI (TvtTOfUiig iy^X'^xt, o/ioouTiot tS ttxt^i tov uloy. dition was
There can be no doubt that both the whole question, and the tr'TdTtton*"
specific term o/itooio-iov were determined by an appeal to holy writ.it v as not
Touching the oftoouo-wn, though to be found in one or two ancient
Doctors, yet the conciliar decisions of the ancient Church were
against its use'. ' The de-
But it might be inferred immediately from Scripture, and there- instance of
fore the Fathers used it. The same conclusion may be drawn from t^e Council
the objections which some Bishops, perfectly orthodox, entertained Such an-
to the introduction of the term as going beyond Scripture. And thority as
to this effect is the Letter of the historian Eusebius to his own discovered
Church at Csesarea. Ton itxi'eTia-ftot Ss tov f«sr« rhv vta-Tit a-go; f""- it was
> ~ > .' . V r ¦ / . » \ ^ . , ¦ ~ of course
xvTUt ixTeSetTX aXvTtot eitxi tjytio-xfteSx, oia to xTrti^yut «yg«(po(; pressed by
X^itrxrixi (futxii' S(o o-j^STov ri irairx y'lyote ^vy^vrio'Ti xxi xxxrx^TXrix Athanasius
Toitex.xM'rlat. Euseb. Epist. ad Caesar. Socr. Hist. Eccies. Butj,oj,g„m_
though this is the case, and the result of this diligent 6|st«o-(5, as mate nia-
Constantine calls it in his circular letter to the Churches, into the and dex"
evidence of the Scriptures, set the statement of the doctrine in aterltywhich
clearer light, and more distinct from heretical perversions than it played"
had ever been before, yet unquestionably there was much and just throughout.
reference made to the uninterrupted teaching of at least a large ^^^jg^j^jg
proportion of the Christian Churches from the times of the Scriptural
Apostles ; and a legitimate argument it was, when. Scripture being g [ ^J],^
granted, the dispute turned on the interpretation of the scriptural perspicuity
phraseology. Some, as we learn from the account of the meeting |° 11*"^™'
preliminary to the Council, would have rested it wholly on the fact truth, and
of the general teaching of the Church ; a proceeding happily, for ^.^j ^T
Scripture truth, overruled and untenable. Athanasius himself, though defending
he oftentimes lays stress upon the transmitted teaching of thejj^ .
Church", yet by no means does so as an invariable rule, and knew, and
shewed
" e. g. 0 51 ro7s tea^ccSoiuirit ifiiutm axitSutos, &c. de Incarn. adv. Paul. *"** "^
Same. There are constant expressions of this kind. Orat. cont. Arian. &c. j^ ^y^jj f°
but he manifestly includes the Scripture in wosjoiSons — the Church teaching General
from Scripture — or Scripture rightly understood, and as shc understood it. Council,

120 LECTURE V.
oral tra- thiugs ou which they were about to enter, they had
dition, but ,.ii ij-TVii
thewritingsthat sct beforc them which they ought implicitly to
torswhi'ch foUow — the doctrine of the Holy Ghost— for the
ftc'm.!?'^ books of the Evangehsts and Aposties, and the
nians""' oraclcs of the Prophets, did sufiiciently shew all
thaTt'radi- Christians what they ought to think of the Word of
ck^nTed'on God. And weU would it have been, if, in after times,
S"eLf "'' Christian Prelates had foUowed the example, and
acted on the principles of a Christian prince. And
truly, thouffh Christ is in the midst of two or three
Stating that who are gathered together m His Name, animated by
the faith of ° , , . . TT- 1 TT T
the synod His Spirit, and submissive to His word. He disowns
proved by the vastcst miUtitudcs and the most reverend senates
hrdeeilres of the Church, by whatever titles dignified, and by
faith s.) whomsoever convoked, who meet together without it".
settled was
sufficient includes in it, when he does, the Scripture proof and found-
reproof of aiion of it. Moreover, had there been any really universal
hU impiety, tradition separable from Scripture, it would have been quite impos-
Athan.de .,, ,.. ,,, , nii'i^i
Incarn. sible that the Arians should not only pervert the word, but, like I'aul
And that of Samosata, have been willing to try the matter by Tradition. And
Catholic , , . ^. i • .,
Christians we have seen, to demonstration, m a former note, that a large propor-
will neither tion of the Ante-Nicene Fathers have so expressed themselves, that
endur'e to they would then, as they have done in the hands of Priestley, have
hear any ministered instruments by a little management to the Arian party.
is a The holy Scripture therefore was both in point of fact the only secure
stranger to foundation for the controverted doctrine, and in reality the one
U being an great argument on which Athanasius ' himself ultimately rested.
evil heart o/j^nd though the ancient Fathers might have been legitimately
'to speak called hi to arbitrate on a disputed text, yet where the text, as in
those things this case, was far clearer than the commentary, there could, even on
^igf'yjritten that ground, be no doubt as to which of the two should be chosen
Athan. us the champ de bataille.
Monach * "^ ^o complete this reference to the authoritative formularies of
(Bp. Tay- the Church of England, which give a decisive form to her doctrines,
Pnn ) ''''"'* '^"'^ ^^ which her less precise and familiar expositions of doctrine

LECTURE V. 121
Finally, the Church of England rejects purgatory, themselves
pardons, the worshippmg of images and reUcs, and concession
invocation of saints, because they are founded upon versaries,
t. ci ' T» 1 ' ± that this is
no wai-ranty oi Scripture. It is only consistent, »o< <o fe
therefore, with these principles, that the minds of'scn^ture.
aU within her pale are sedulously brought into asecm-ed'by
direct acquaintance, for themselves, with the oracles of ene'miTs^
God; not as a favour, reluctantly given, and timidly need*not^
limited, but as a bounden duty, as a most certain ^" ^""^f,
blessing, and the inestimable privUege of every chUd of ^°^'^°^.
God. This advantage foUows from it. That, though ^«fj^

alone can-
and practice must be subordinated, I must not forget to mention tjiey are
Jewel's Apology for the Church of England, which was approved =* peace."
by the Queen and set forth with the consent of the Bishops, and condemna-
was always understood to speak the sense of the whole Church ; tion of later
and Nowell's Catechism, which had the express sanction of ^^^ "^^'
Convocation. Jewel tells us that the Scriptures are the very
infallible rule whereby may be tried — as Augustine had long ago
pronounced before — whether the Church do swei-ve or eiT, and
whereunto all Ecclesiastical doctrine ought to be called to account.
And Nowell says, " that the Christian religion is to be learnt from
no other source than from the heavenly word of God Himself,
which He hath delivered us in holy Scripture." Finally, the first
Homily says, " Let us diligently search for the well of life in the
books of the New and Old Testament, and not run to the stinking
puddles of men's traditions, devised by men's imaginations, for our
justification and salvation. For in holy Scripture is fully contahied
what we ought to do, and what to eschew, what to believe,- what to
love, and what to look for at God's hand, at length. These
books therefore ought to be much in our hands, in our eyes, in our
ears, in our mouths, but most of all, in our hearts. For the
Scripture of God is the heavenly meat of our. souls, the hearing
and keeping of it maketh us blessed, sanctifielh us, and maketh us
holy — it teemelh our souls — it is a light lantern unto our feet.
It is a sure, stedfast, and everlasting instrument of salvation, it
givelh wisdom to the humble and lowly hearts."

122 LECTURE V.
our eyes do not see the incarnate "Word," nor om- ears
hear Him, nor the Apostles who built up the Church
under Him, yet, from the presence of that Spirit who
accompanies every one in the devout study of the
Scripture, our souls imbibe the truth, as freshly and
directly from the fountains of hfe as ever the early
Church did. It then becomes no derivative faith ;
it is no secondary knowledge ; it is no vicarious trust;
but, in each succeeding generation, it is a repetition of
the first act of faith, and a continuaUy fresh evidence,
and individual attestation of the truth. Let it not be
forgotten either, that the outward evidence, of what
ever kind, is only recommendatory; only introductory
to that evidence of the heart and conscience, which ac
companies the devout study of Scripture, in all those,
who, by acting upon it, are wUling to know whether the
doctrine contained in it reaUy comes from God or not.
The most illustrious saints testify, that, in their internal
experience in the action of the word upon the soul, and
in the verification of the promises therein, they have
discerned such a radiancy of divine truth, as nothing
else can approach in the way of proof or assurance.
WeU does the Belgic Confession say ", " We re-
" Surely this article confesses the real truth of the evidence on
which ignorant men may know Scripture to be the word of God.
" The Holy Spirit," says Jackson, " who instructed the first
preachers of the Gospel with the true sense and knowledge of the
truths therein revealed, and furnished them with diversity of tongues,
to utter them to the capacity of divers nations, can and doth,
throughout all succeeding ages, contmue His gifts, whether of
tongues or others, whatsoever are necessary for conveying the true
sense and meaning of saving truth already taught, immediutely to

LECTURE V. 123
ceive these books, not so much because the Church " Nos
receives them as Canonical, and approves them, as pimus, non
because the holy Spirit testifies to our consciences Ecciesia
that they have come from God; and in that respect, Canomois
most of all, because, even of themselves, they witness eomp'robet,
and prove this their authority and hoUness." Spiritu""^
It is idle, therefore, in such a case, to say that it is nMtr^con.
from the Church, and not from the word of God, and'estato est
for ourselves, that we finally derive our proof and eman^as^e"
evidence of divine things. It may be refuted, by the ^°i^g
humblest and simplest cottager who studies his^""^'?^'
r o etiam per
Bible, in the same way that the phUosopher re-?^>s*"am
•' '- '^ hancce
fiited the arguments for the non-existence of matter, ™a™
° _ authonta-
not by counter-reasoning, but by stamping on the'emet
1 mi T y » T sanctitatem
ground, " Ihus 1 refute you. " 1 cannot answer testenter atque com-
probent."Belg. Con-
the hearts of aU such, in every nation, as are not, for their sin, fess.
judged unworthy of His society ; of all such as resist not His Qo,^?!
motives to follow the lusts of -the flesh. And as for men
altogether illiterate, that cannot read the Scriptures in any tongue,
we do not hold them bound (nor, indeed, are any) to believe
absolutely or expressly every clause and sentence in the sacred
Canon to be the infallible oracle of God's Spirit, otherwise than is
before expressed; but unto the several matters or substance of
truth contained in the principal parts thereof, their souls and
spirits are so surely tied and fastened, that they can say to their
own consciences, ' wheresoever these men that teach us these good
lessons learned the same themselves, most certain it is that
originally they came from God, and by the gracious providence
of that God, whose goodness they so often mention, are they now
come to us.' Such are the rules and testimonies of God's pro
vidence ; the doctrines or real truths of original sin, of our misery
by nature, and our freedom by grace ; such are the articles of
Christ's Passion, and the effects thereof of the resurrection and life
everlasting." Jackson's Works, b. ii. sec. 1. c. 2.

124 LECTURE V.
your argument," may the peasant or mechanic say, " nor
can I enter into your antiquities ; I am poor and igno
rant ; but this I know, that in this book I have eternal
life; from it my faith has grown, and I am sm-e that it
comes from God ; it is not from human evidence, not
even that of the Church which first brought me to Christ ;
but from myself, from my own eyes, and from the testi
mony of my own heart, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God, and the Saviour of sinners." It is
a crown of glory to a Church to be rich in such
proofs, from the palace to the cottage, of the faith
fulness of her teaching ; and in such proofs, beyond
aU others that have ever been, does the scriptural
Church of England abound. Well does she know,
that, in thus preeminently honouring the Redeemer
and the Redeemer's word, she is so far from dis
honouring the Saints and Fathers of old time, that,
by obeying- their precepts, and following their
example, she is tendering to their memories the
most solemn mai-k of veneration which they can
receive from us. She appeals to them as witnesses,
she treads in their steps as holy guides, she traces,
through the long line of ages up to the Founder of
the Church, the unbroken succession of the faith,
she acknowledges then- fellowship with her own
peculiar Saints and Martyrs, she enti-eats Almighty
God in their prayers, she resounds His praises in
their Anthems, and, in them, identifies herself with
the communion of the Universal Chm-ch; she
knows that, in setting her chUdi-en free from a
human bondage, she is not encouraging a licentious

LECTUKE V. 125
spirit in divine things, but providing against it ; and
that, for herself, she cannot lose a tittie of that
rational obedience, which, those who are trained in
the moderate spirit of ApostoUc Christianity, render
to then- mother in the faith, and which, in its true
loyalty, and volmitary obedience, is worth, a thou
sand times over, the miserable subjection of the
Romish Church, and the iron chains which she lays
on the very soul. History demonsteated to her,
that, where men resist the authority of Scripture, they
are just as hkely to throw off the yoke of the Church;
that, after all, a Council or a Church cannot speak
more inteUigibly than God can in human language;
and that, where the fault lies, not in the understand
ing but in the affections, a more potent, and soul-
searching influence is required, than any external
power can possibly exert. It was a shortsighted
policy, therefore, even for such a purpose as saving
souls — ^if such a desire can co-exist with fraud — ^it was
folly as weU as sin, to work on men's minds, by the
assumption of an authority, which, being founded
neither on reason nor Scripture, but on something
different from both, was certain to faU at last before
that rigid and stern scrutiny, to which, not only the
desire of tiuth, but the repugnance of mankind to
the usurpation of an authority no better than their
own, would inevitably lead.
But, at the same time, the Church of England has
preserved thatbest counterbalance to the Ucentiousness
of reason, and the abuse of the wUl — ^the authoritative
declaration from the first of the faith of Christ, as the

126 LECTURE V.
primitive Fathers held it; and the principle of an
early training in the ways of holiness, and a dedication
to our Redeemer even from our mother's womb.
This is the only legitimate restraint upon the right
of private judgment, and the exercise of free enquiry
into the word of God in Scripture — not a certain one,
or one which is always calculated to be successful, but
the best for the purpose which the moral condition of
man wiU permit ; and one which the Church of God,
from the beginning, whether Patriarchal, Jewish, or
Christian, has been distinctiy commanded to apply.
The authority, however, which she seems to surrender
on one hand, she more than regains on the other.
For in transferring the veneration of the heart, and
the obedience of the reason, to that which has really
a right to claim it, she impresses the same divine
sanction upon her own Scriptural rights and privi
leges—and, instead of doing as the Church of Rome
does, and defending a citadel of stone with waUs of
pasteboard, she throws round that which is, in itself,
comparatively weak, a rampart of adamant.
And, entirely apart from other powerful influences
on the affections, in putting the testimony of CathoUc
antiquity, not on the basis of authority, but of right
reason, she reaUy rests it on the strongest ground
which it can assume. So taken, as a piece of moral
evidence, it is irresistible — there is quite enough in
it, as fortifying the sense of Scripture, to beat down
with a wholesome awe even the most adventurous
mind. In her own chUdren, certainty of faith has
been, in great part, already produced, by the action

LECTURE V. 127
of grace upon the heart, and by that religious training,
which, in the Church of England, is inseparably con
nected with a free access to Scriptm-e, and a constant
examination of its proofs. And, even if that com
plete witness of the Spirit be not already produced,
it is no easy thing for an ingenuous mind to scrutinize,
with a harsh irreverence, the truths which it has
drawn in with its mother's mUk — the doctiines which
have been identified, in a thousand ways, with aU that
is most real and practical in humanity, and which are
felt to harmonize with every uncorrupted feeling, and
the innermost convictions of the soul. It can hardly
be with a doubtful or sceptical temper, that the Church's
chUd sits down to find in Scripture, the proofs which
he is to seek there of long-announced truths, and to
the discovery of which the Church has pointed out
the way — he wishes, if he can,- to find them there, and
he does find them.
The more commanding his inteUect, and the more
responsible the post which he is Ukely to hold in the
Lord's vineyard, the more searching wUl be the
rigour of his scrutiny, that he may be able to give to
gainsayers a reason of the faith that is in him ; the
more carefuUy wUl he balance the evidence, and the
more iadependently wUl he form his judgment. The
more there are of such enquirers, the more vigorous
in every way wUl be the hfe of the Church, and her
fitness to discharge her solemn oflices. But this
must be remembered — that the truth thus proved,
not to say reascertained by the independent investi
gation of Scripture, is not to be promulgated, on our

128 LECTURE V.
own authority, or on the mere ground of private judg
ment ; but, as what it is, a Catholic truth, and the voice
of the universal Church. And what ground is there
for solemn apprehension and misgiving of heart, for
earnest and repeated examination — what ground for
pausing and earnest prayer, if there be any prime
verities, in which we seem to differ for a moment fi-om
the voice of the Church ? It is impossible that we
should be right. Look at the multitude of capacious
minds which have bent to these truths hke the veriest
chUdren — the eighteen hundred years of change and
turmoU, and of every imaginable revolution which can
shake human opinions, and destroy all but the in
destructible — and yet these truths preserved, not in
the obscm-ity of books, but in the living heart of men's
behef — and, amidst incumbrances and vain additions,
and the assaults of aU the gates of hell, stUl vigor
ous and undenied. Look at the sanction of creeds,
and the attestation of synods — at the holy army of
martyrs, that have testified to them in the fires, and
the innumerable souls whom they have upheld in
the valley of the shadow of death — and all this, in
a Church, with which, in essential truths, the Re
deemer has promised to be present to the end of the
world. And then look at the solemn assm-ances
with which, by those whom God Himself made our
teachers and guardians, they were deUvered unto us,
as the best treasure and inheritance which they could
confer; and, finally, the tremendous ultimate conse
quences to the soul which must result from a wilful
disobedience and proud rejection of the truth. What

LECTURE V. 129
mind is there, in a state of moral rectitude, which
can remain unaffected by such considerations as
these? Such evidence, indeed, is not infalUble, if
separately considered — and yet, collectively, it cannot
be deceived — it has no divine authority to preclude
the investigation of reason — ^but it has a weight which
no reason can resist — it is immediately the voice of
man, though accompanied by a cloud of witnesses,
and under the awful incorporation of the universal
Church — mediately, it is the voice of God, in the
eternal laws of reason, compeZ/in^ assent, and necessi
tating conviction, as far as compulsion is compatible
with trial, and the independence of a moral respon-
sibUity. We cannot indeed set Umits to the obliquities of
the imderstanding, to the infirmities of the passions,
or to the unconquerable prejudices of the heart — we
dare not anticipate the sentence of the Judgment-seat,
nor assume the prerogatives of the Judge. But we
can say, and as faithfiU witnesses we must say, " HeMarkxvi.
that beUeveth, and is baptized, shaU be saved — heLukexvi.
that beUeveth not shaU be damned." " If they hear
not Moses and the Prophets, neither wUl they be
persuaded though one rose from the dead."

VOL. II.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

LECTUEE VI.

SCRIPTURE THE INSTRUMENT OF NATIONAL EDUCATION.

k2

I. The wonderful effect of the Gospel in overthrowing the
false philosophy opposed to its reception — its power in edu
cating the mind of man in combination with the written
word — and vast concentration of intellectual resources
within the Church.
II. Its decisive influence over all philosophies — of mind,
morals, and matter — but these educational influences de
pendent on the preeminency of the simple verities of the
Gospel.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

LECTURE VL

I. 1. ^T^HERE is nothing more remarkable in the
-*- dealings of God with mankind than the
seeming disproportion between the grandeur of the
ends proposed, and the instruments selected for their
accompUshment — so weak, usuaUy, in themselves, as
to requu-e a divine power, no less than an infinite
wisdom, to ensm-e success. It would be a thing
incredible, did not the fact exist, that twelve fisher
men, without learning, without power, without any
thing to dazzle the fancy, to feed the passions, or to
promote the material interests of manldnd, should
have subdued the world. Conquerors they may well
and literally be caUed — for aU earthly authority
faded confessedly, in the contest which they pro
voked with a power in the heart and spirit of man
as yet unknown and unexperienced — ^the most con
temptible instruments, as they appeared, bafiled aUke
the outrages of violence, and the calculated op
pressions of mere policy — and that eternal law which
secures ti-uth against the brute forces with which the

194 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
world then assaUed it, made the very tortures, in
which the Spirit triumphed over the flesh, the means
of its effectual propagation.
Tiietrue But, after aU, the true triumph of the Gospel was
the^Gospei "ot ovcr thosc mere material forces, which are, in
phiio^oX" their own nature, utterly disproportionate to a con
test with the intellectual, and still more with the
moral powers which are stored up in the heart of
man, and which are inaccessible to what destroys the
outward frame. It was a much greater thing to pre-
vaU over the school of the sophist, and the pre
tensions of an arrogant phUosophy. For, though
phUosophers were, in the main, mere professors of
disputation without an object, and the cultivators of
science without truth, yet vast was then the power,
even as it wiU be to the end of the world, which this
logical phUosophy, vrith all its coldness and mere
inteUectual glitter, exercised over the human mind,
aUke to the exclusion of soUd truth, and of that growth
which man, as man, might otherwise have attained.
But those simple truths which regard our com
mon humanity, invigorated by Him who framed the
springs upon which Christianity acts, were too strong,
as th6y always will be when duly preached, for those
mere formulas, and notional systems, which usm-ped
the title of a philosophy of man. Therefore it was that
the despised and rejected of men shamed the world's
eloquence by the mouths of mere chUdren, and —
with what seemed weakness, but is real strength, a
simple appeal to conscience, — rebuked alike the
strength of reason, and the arrogance of learning.

LECTURE VI. 135
tiU their false systems passed away from the Uving
faith of manldnd, into the obscurity of books.
But there was more in Christianity than this mere
negation of philosophy — this power to move the heart,
against mere abstract systems on one hand, and the
seductions of the senses on the other. In the
written word of God the Church was endowed with The Gospel
the only instrument for the real education of man, educator
and his growth to such perfection, as, in his present intellect.
condition, he is capable of attaining ; and this, not
merely in the moral training of the character, but,
at least, in an equal degree, in the full developement
and harmony of his inteUectual being.
Not that this would have been obvious, at the
time, to a speculator on the phsenomenon at its first
appeai-ance, before the pervasiveness of its power
over the whole constitution of man, and its re
generating effects, had become matters of experience.
On the contrary, its favourable influence on the
gi-owth of the inteUect would have seemed hardly com
patible with its anti-phUosophical tendency, and with
that sweeping demolition of existing systems, which
must necessarily ensue on its reception. Nor less
opposed, probably, would it seem to the progression
of the inteUect, as men then counted of it, fi-om its
assaiUng not merely the existing results of its opera
tions, but that faith in its powers, and that universal
dominion over the subjects of thought, which might
seem essential here, as in other departments of
exertion, to ensure success in the pursuit of tiuth.
But the fact is, that no where is Christianity more

136 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
phUosophically profound than m this very prostration
of all pride and self-confidence which it requires, as
the introduction and indispensable preliminary to its
saving reception ; thus removing at once that which,
from the commencement of the world, has been the
real obstacle, not only to goodness, but to wisdom ;
to that true knowledge which has always dwelt with
humility, and finds in pride its vei-y greatest enemy.
Isa.ivii.i6." Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity: / dwell in the high and holy place, with
Matt.xi.25. Him also that is of an humble spirit." " I thank
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou
hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes — even so. Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight."
But over and above this principle, equally undeniable
by true philosophy, as by true reUgion, it would be
apparent, that what tends directly to satisfy the moral
wants, and to work remediaUy upon the corruptions of
human nature, could not but act favourably, though
mediately, upon the intellectual condition of mankiad.
This was evident, even on tlie principles of their own
moralists. For, in whatever theories they might in
dulge, on the purely intellectual condition to which,
in its progression, the phUosophical mind might
aspire, — or whatever progress might be made, in the
case of individuals, in training the speculative in
tellect, not only into a prominent, but an absorbing
portion of the whole character, yet it was impossible
to strip natme of its true humanities. There stiU
remained, after aU, that supremacy of the ethical

LECTURE VI. 137
part, either for good or evil, which the divine Author of
our constitution has bound up so inseparably with it,
that even in thought, it can hardly be contemplated
apart from it, without destroying the manhood, and
in fact substituting some other being for the true
man. But, whatever might be the case in the schools
of pm-e phUosophy, no one ever ventured to deny
that, in the great mass of manldnd, at any rate, the
moral principle has an unresisted predominance ;
and, instead of being the teactable servant of reason,
absolutely overrules and modifies it, with all its
theoretical pretensions to independence, either to good
or evil. Mankind at large are not speculative, but
practical, and the practical mind was therefore neces
sarUy influenced fi-om the very first, by all that pro
foundly moved and influenced the heart, in its prin
ciples of action.
Now the perfection of any faculty can only arise from The per-
... . feetion of a
its direction to its proper object; and the perfection of rational
the whole being, only from the harmonious adjustment the harmo-
and direction of all its faculties to the end proposed pansion of
by the Framer of it. Assuming, therefore, as true, faculties.
that account of man, and the purposes of his creation,
which the inspired volume gives us, it is all in vain
to insist upon mere inteUectual distinction between
man and man ; and, from the expansion, after all, of
one part of our nature only, however briUiant and
flattering to human pride, to confer upon those who
possess it, to the exclusion of other and diviner
faculties, that superiority over the rest of their species,
which the arrogance of intellectual philosophy has

138 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
always claimed. The plain truth is, that, between
the highest human intelligence, and the least arti
ficially and scientifically cultivated of its feUow
men, the points of resemblance and even identity are
far more numerous than those in which they differ.
Do what you wUl, the common humanities wUl pre-
vaU over every thing else — and it is upon man's
moral wants, and feelings, and dependencies, and all
the hopes and fears which are inseparable from his
inward and spiritual nature, that not only his hap
piness or misery, but his real dignity must be con
fessed to depend.
This the In this seusc Cliristianity is essentially popular;
work of not limited in its views to castes of mind, any more
Ctristi- , , . 1 . ,
anity. than to castcs of rank, but havmg that universal aspect
and equal application to which no human eye or
reason is equal, but which we might expect from
Him who sitteth in heaven over all from the begin
ning, and overlooketh the children of men. The
Scriptm-e strips man of his cfrcumstantials, and, in
the capacities and relations of a soul made for im-
mortahty, and the subject of the same scheme as its
fellows for its regeneration and final salvation, all
minor differences, without being annUiilated, become
comparatively subordinate.
It balances the feebleness of humanity by the
power of God, and through that intimate union with
the source of all wisdom and goodness, which
accompanies the renunciation of carnal wisdom, it
effects that which philosophy never 'covdd have ac
complished — the combination of that confidence

LECTURE VI. 139
which is indispensable to vigour and decision of
action with humiUty of soul — that which heathen
phUosophy only found by maldng man his own centre,
and by exaggerating his faculties into a portentous
independence of any external power.
By reveaUng to man that dignity which is confen-ed The way in
upon every soul without exception, in being made the works tWs
object of such unimaginable love, a dignity insepa-pose.
rable from the lowest and the meanest, it confers that
seU-respect and nobleness of mind on mere humanity,
05 such, which not only exempts the lowest condition
from degradation, but gives it such an importance
from its connection with immortal aims, as is more ^
than a sufficient consolation for aU the humiUations
of poverty, and the grievousness of oppression. The
Gospel alone, too, has discovered the secret of recon-
cihng the energetic impulses which only the desire of
happiness and the hope of attaining it can give, with
a love of the glorious and beautiful out of ourselves,
and a self-abandoning benevolence. It alone has
attempered poverty with subordination, and cheerful
contentment; dignified the lowest state with a generous
loyally ; tamed the natural insolence of rank and
wealth into modesty and brotherly charity ; and con
nected the Uveliest individuality and real Uberty with
the profoundest social and universal feeling. It
alone, by maldng the spirit of man actually a citizen
and inmate of an unseen poUty, elevates him, by the
mere force of faith — that power of "/ believe in that
I see not" — above the power of the world, and the
tyranny of the outward senses.

140 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
By touching immediately upon the will, to which
no power of nature could approach before, it effects an
inner revolution of the heart, and makes a real morality
practicable for man; it enforces the sternest self-
denial, and self-control, without deadenmg one genial
impulse, or one amiable feeling ; without destroying
one natural virtue or faculty, or displacing one link in
the manifold relations of man, it exalts them all;
it enables men to discharge those offices to which they
were inadequate before, and, in their tm-ns, caUs into
Uvely action, the moral feelings, the imagination, and
the hardy faculties of the inteUect, without disturbing
their connection, or destroying the symmetiy, if we
may so caU it, of that whole humanity upon which it
acts. Its natural, and, under tolerably favourable cir
cumstances, its inevitable result, therefore, when fairly
carried out, is to accomplish that which no other
influence can effect, — to educate the masses of man
kind ; and, in spite of cu-cumstantial differences, and
partial irregularities in its action, to lead to an
uniform and general elevation of the whole character
of man ; in fact, not to instruct merely, or train in
this or that department of knowledge, but, in union
with the means and appliances of the Church
CathoUc, really to educate him. And this, even from
the first, among the least instructed and elevated of
its disciples *, was an observable point in Christianity.
" I subjoin a beautiful passage from Theodoret; where he
describes the effect of the Gospel in elevating the minds of the
lowest and least instructed of mankuid. " For all the heralds of the

LECTURE VI. 141
However inferior in the application of the mere
disputative faculties an ordinary man might chance

truth, the Prophets, I mean, and Apostles, had no portion indeed
of the Greek eloquence ; but, being full of the true wisdom, they
brought to all nations, both Greek and Barbarian, the divine
instruction; and they filled the whole earth and sea with their
writings concerning virtue and holiness. And now all men,
having abandoned the trifles of the philosophers, exult in the
instructions of fishermen and publicans, and diligently observe the
writings of the shoemaker  They are acquainted with Matthew
and Bartholomew and James, moreover with Moses and David and
Isaiah, and the rest of the Apostles and Prophets, as familiarly as
the names of their children. And straightway they (the heathen)
make jests on their names, as barbarous. But we lament over
their madness ; because, seeing that men of a barbarous language
have overcome the Grecian eloquence, and completely expelled
their exquisitively composed fables, and that the solecisms of
fishermen have subverted the Attic syllogisms, they do not blush,
nor cover their faces, but shamefully fight in behalf of their error.
.... But we clearly demonstrate the power of the Apostolical and
Prophetical doctrines, for all places under the sun are full of these
discourses  And we may see acquainted with these doctrines,
not only the teachers of the Church, but even shoemakers, and
smiths, and workers in wool, and other handicraftsmen, and, in the
same manner, women, not only those who are acquainted with
literature, hut those who work for their living, both needlewomen
and servants. And not only those who Kve in the town, but those
in the country, have obtained this knowledge. And you may find
even ditchers, and herdsmen, and gardeners, conversing respecting
the divine Trinity, and the creation of the universe, and knowing much
more of human nature than Aristotle and Plato ; and, moreover,
studious of virtue, and avoiding vice, and fearing the looked-for
punishments, and awaiting without doubt the divine judgment-seat,
and philosophizing about the life eternal and indestructible, and
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, gladly undergoing every
kind of toil and labour ; and all this without having learned from
any one else, but those whom you call barbarian-tongued."
K«( y«j UTrxtTiq Tm xM^lxg oi xi^vxa, tt^o^txi <pii[ii xxi OTloa-ToTui,

142 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
to be, it would always give a vast superiority in that
mode of reasoning, which, for the practical guidance
and common purposes of life, is, incomparably, the
most valuable; I mean, that ready and practical logic
which hes in the direct and straightforward appli
cation of fixed and definite principles to the parti-
T?$ fim '£AADvi|Uii; oi foirefixy^ot ivy>.aTTixi efiirXtoi Se t?; xM^iiiii aiTH
vt(plxi, Train Toii eSteiri,xxi iXXittixoif xxi ^x^lix^ixoii , Tvtt let'xt oiSairxx-
Mxt TT^oritiyxxf xxi Tratrxt yvtt xxi 6xhxrirxt Tat ^^ET«i; vegt xxi tin-
/86(«5 ^vyy^xftftXTat hi'jrX.iiirxt. xxi tvv oovatT^, Tat (pi>i.ou-o(pat tow;
A»'gou5 )c«T«A(»roVTE?, Tois Tat xXitat xxi Te>\ayat etT^v^ari fixUfoxiri,
xxi rx rot; i7xvreT«|Uov ^vyy^dftfOXTX Tre^ie^rovrt  Tov Sg lAxTixiot,
xxi TOV 'Bagiohofoalot , xxi tov Idxajioi, xxi ftitroi xxi tov Muvir'ix, xxi
TOV Ak/S^S, xxi Tot'Haxtxt . xxi tov$ oeAPioii; aTrotrTohovi te xxi ir^o^yiTxg,
ovTUf "(rxtrit a; rds Tat wxi^at Tr^oo^yo^ixt xvtikx Toitvt xxi xafiaiov-
fit, as fid^^x^x, Tx otofiXTx' vifieii ^i xirat t«v IftTrXn^ixt oXo^v^Oftitx-
on di o^atTii ^x^^x^o^dtovg xtS^dirovf Tiv lAAnvtxtiv eiyfiUTTixt tetixuxo-
Tx(, xxi tov; xexofiipivftet ovg fiviovi ^rxtTiXag i^eM^xfiitous, xxi tov;
kXiivxixovg VOy^OlKKTfAOVg TOV; XTTiXOVg xxTxXtXvxoTxg ^vXXoytFfAovi, oix
e^vS^iarit, ovS" \yxxf\v7rT0tTx1 , «AA atuiont vire^fix^ovn tS; ^/oevn;. . . .
'Hftiii Ss, Toiv XTTorTohtxat xxi irgotfnTixat ^oyftdTut x^dTOf IvxpySi
hrtSeixtvft.it neiirx yx^ « v^iXiof Tatie Tat Xoyut xtdTrXeug  tixi
M-T(V idiit TUVTX tidoTXf TX 'ioyfiMTX, oi ftitovs ye Tvt I«kAi)5-i«; tov;
oiocurxdXovg, xXXx xxi o-xvroTOfAovs , xxi ^xXxoTVTrovg, xxi TxXxiriovpyovg,
xxi TOV; oeAAov; airoj^ei^ofitaTOVi' xxi yvtxlxxs airxvTag, ov footot tx;
Xiyat fieTir^nxvlxs , xXXx xxi yf^tir^xi, xxi xxeo'T^iSx;. xxi ftiiToi xxi
te^xiraitxf , xxi oi ftotot ao-Tti, xXXa xxi ptjw^itT/xo/ td'vSe t«v ytaa-ti
ea'^tlxxTi' xxi eo-Tit ev^eit xxi ^xxTrxt'exg, xxi /SoriXxTXi, xxi ^vTovpyovg,
TTlfi T?; hi'xi SixMyofiitovi T^idSog, xxi Tri^i tS; tuv oXut iiiftiovpyixf,
xxi Tnv xsi^airilxt (pwiv vihorxi 'A^io-totiXov; voXXS fiUxXoy xxi UXdra-
vo;. xxi ftitToi xxi a^erm eviftiXovfiiyovg , xeti xxxi'xt IkxA/vovtoc;, xxi tx
xohxo'Tii^tx ie^ioTxg to, v^orhoxaftttx . xxi to (sroy ^ixxarTtipiot xttt^oidrTai
ir^otTfiktotTat, xxi Tiif; xiatiov iregi xxi ataXeigov (ptXorotpovtrxi ^am, xxi
rat oi^xtat etexx ^xriXuxi irdtrx vitot xir^xiriai xi^ovfoitovs' xxi txvtu,
oi frx( xXXov TOV ftiftxBv.i'rxi, xXXci ttx^ htiitut ov; Vjuei; /ixpjixpo^u-
vov; «7ox«AErTt. TheodoreC GrEec. Affect. Curatio. Disp. 5. torn. 4.
pp. 837—41

LECTURE VI. 143
culars of the moment. This is, after all, the best
reply to sophistical subtleties when they deal with
questions of human life and action; and it is that
which, a clear sense of right and wrong, and the
definite relations of morality, human and divine, can
effectually bestow even upon the simplest mind.
And over and above this faculty of sure reasoning The heiiev
upon questions of morahty, or questions in any shape fore, su-
resolvable into them, which is very observably within toosob, to
the range of the humblest students of the word of arrunm-
God, we must not forget that there is a vast andtyth"*
unapproachable superiority, even in point of reason, ™^^''
which the believer, as such, possesses over the re
jecters of revelation. In that dominant and most
exalted portion of the soul, which overrules the
merely empirical faculties — that, I mean, which is
receptive of principles not to be demonstrated, but
provable by their own light, and dependent on an
inner intuition, the very humblest Christian holds a
higher intellectual rank than the most highly en
dowed infidel. And this, even in principles merely
moral; without speaking of stUl higher and purely
spiritual faculties, which are called forth in the inner
soul of man, by that union which faith is instru
mental in forming with the eternal reason and most
pure spu-it. We cannot tell whether or not, in a
future state of existence, those active faculties of the
understanding, which, bemg hmited to space and
time, are merely intelligent of earthly and sensible
things, may not be done away with altogether ; but
certainly those bases of all reasoning, the first

144 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
euvoiai communicated to the mind anterior to all
demonsti-ation, wiU stUl form the foundation of the
highest form of spiritual intelligence.
Such is the power possessed by the Gospel, not
only for the moral improvement of mankind, but for
the accompanying elevation of his intellectual nature.
And this great and beneficent purpose is effected by
the free use of the written word, that word which
Vid. Ori- the mightiest Fathers of old urge on every individual
vit.Hom.9. Christian, however low or humble, to study for him-
Psaim. 33. Self, and instruct his children and family withal.
in Epist. ad Nor cau any instrument whatever avaU in the
The first 'absence of this. The subjugation of the first and
of these introductory training, is only preparatory to this
are^very Christian manhood in which we are able to think
ttiTiafand^''^^ act for oursclves ; and, unless it leads to this, it is
useofScrip-'"^^^ ^ducatiou, but merely a taming and enslavement
ture. ^j ^^g ^^^^ ^Q ^ human authority; and no better
than this, under whatever fan- title disguised. No
system of training which shall perpetuate the infancy
of the mind and lead men, not into a Christian
obedience, but an ecclesiastical dependency, can ever
supply the place of this divine instrument, or satisfy
the wants of the human intelligence as well as the
human soul. In exact proportion to the diffusion
and universal study of the Gospel, in combination with
those means of grace, and that divine scheme of in
struction with which they have been accompanied
from the first, has ever been the moral and intel
lectual elevation of mankind.
But over and above these popular and diffusive

LECTURE VI. 145
influences favourable to an increased inteUigenee
which Christianity disseminates with the use of the
Bible, there has been ample provision from the first
for eUciting in its extension and defence the very
highest order of intellectual exertion. Whilst the
Apostles lived and preached, the authority of then-
mighty works, and that stUl greater miracle, the
holiness and elevation of principle which lifted them
above humanity, as a Ught for aU men to see, were
answer enough to gainsayers. But what miracles
had estabUshed, and regenerated hves had witnessed
and adorned, reason was soon called upon to defend.
The moment that the doctrines and divine tiuths of
the Gospel had assumed a permanent and written
form, and were thus committed to the custody of the
Church, more vigorous efforts and more purely
inteUectual energies began to be called forth. All
the powers of reason without exception — aU the wide
field of moral evidence, and deduction of consequences
— over and above this, aU that specifically constitutes
the art of the orator — the whole range of the human
passions with their appropriate instiuments — every
thing that can affect the muid in the delineation of
truth before unknown in its purity — reclamations
against cruel injustice, and the pleadings of oppressed
innocence, which, except in such pathetic appeals,
had no protection against authority — aU that is drawn,
to awe or solemnize the thoughts, fi-om super
natural verities and the terrors of the world to come
— aU this, and more than this, with its vast range
of topic and thought, was speedily called forth in
VOL, II. L

146 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
that succession of advocates, who were raised up, as
the emergency required, for the vindication of the
faith. It soon grew, therefore, to embrace all the re
sources of literary composition ; and, as the purposes
of attack and defence required, and the multipli
cation of enemies of every order of inteUect and em
bracing every variety of assault caUed them forth,
there was no department of knowledge connected
with our general humanity, which did not come into
its possession, and contribute its appropriate instru
ments to its defence. The scale of mere inteUectual
vigom- and Uterary skiU soon began to tum in favour of
Christianity. It was all in vain that, in anticipation
of the course of modem scepticism, the reUgion of
natm-e was dressed out in the stolen doctrines of the
Gospel — it was in vain, that the principles really
discoverable by nature were subUmed into a mystical
theology, emulous of the mysteries of the faith,
without the heartiness and simpUcities of the Gos
pel, — it was in vain, that the resources of inventive
geiUus were exhausted by the Neo-Platonists, to cloak
the deformities of popular paganism by an esoteric
meaning, and a symboUc wisdom. The force of truth
and of those moral arguments, which, in able hands,
are an irresistible defence of the faith once delivered
to the saints, was more powerful than the arts of its
enemies, though it was weakened rather than strength
ened by the phUosophy of the Alexandrian school-—
and, before the reign of JuUan, the inteUigenee of the
world was irrecoverably ranged upon the side of the

LECTURE VI. 147
Gospel. He would have destroyed at one blow the
knowledge which vindicated it, and the truths which
made the vindication irresistible, by exterminating
those written Scriptures which alone sustained and
fed it — but the power of the Emperor was not suffi
cient to execute what the sagacity of the phUosopher
had conceived ; and it was in after ages reserved for
the papacy, really, to a great extent, and but, for divine
interposition, effectually, to accompUsh that suppres
sion of the divine records, which pagan wisdom and
imperial power had attempted in vain.
Moreover, the connection between true reUgion Ttecon-
' " uection be-
and usefiU leamins: and the general cultivation oityeeutme
" " ^ religion and
the intellect, is not temporary or accidental ; but the intellectual cultivation
preservation, the effectual defence, and the Ulustration essential
c • • 1 ,. . 1 . ^"^ perma-
of the Scriptures, m the progress of time, and m annent.
increasing separation from the primitive age, only
demand, if any thing, an increase of inteUectual
resources. Let us look, with this view, for a moment,
on what is indispensably necessary to any thing like
a complete inteUectual apparatus for the student and
advocate of the revealed word. There is the noble
study of history, from which the intelUgent study of
the Bible is inseparable. Not the history of any one
age, or one country, but embracing all times and all
nations from one end of heaven to the other, as they
have become, in succession, the subjects of the divine
dispensation, or connected, more or less remotely,
with that CathoUc truth which was alike designed for
the regeneration of them all. And much of this is
required, not merely as supplementary — not as
L 2

148 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
gratUying a natural or holy curiosity, to trace the
effects of the scheme of salvation on the broad scale
of nations and empires — ^but a great part of it is in
separable from the body and substance of the inspired
narrative — and the rest is indispensable for the inter
pretation of prophecy, and the disentangUng, piece
by piece, and Ime by line, of the errors which time has
matted together, and imposed upon manldnd as part
and portion of the primitive truth — ^for the illustra
tion of manners, or for the detection of heresy.
If this study be carried out mto its perfection, what
minuteness of knowledge and comprehensiveness of
view is necessai-y — what patience of investigation —
what liveliness of imagination and sympathy with hu
manity, to extract fi-om the dryness of ancient records
a truly human picture of past times, neither exagge
rated nor distorted by false and one-sided views ! How
admirable in their combination are such qualities —
how useful and influential any one of them; and some
of them at least, to a considerable degree, inseparable
fi-om the study ! How equally necessary is that prac
tical acquaintance with the human heart, of which Scrip
ture is the best interpreter, and of which an active famUi-
arity with the religious wants and feeUngs of manldnd
is incomparably the best school — and with it, not in
dry ethical theories, but in real action and develope
ment in all its complexities, not only the minister of
the Gospel, but the student of history, if he is to
read to any purpose, must be adequately acquainted !
A Imowledge, moreover, of those magnificent lan
guages in which the Scriptures are conveyed to us.

LECTURE VI. 149
is not merely an accomplishment of the theologian,
gracefiiUy to set off austerer studies; but indispensably
necessary to a critical perusal of the wi-itten word.
And, in the study of the writers of Greece and Rome —
even if a student does not draw from those incom
parable nuadels all that higher and more congenial
minds extract fi-om them — a portion of that truth of
nature, that chastened and yet vigorous imagination,
and that exquisite order and composition of thought
and langTiage which characterize them, — yet even ordi
nary capacities acquire much of enlargement and sound
knowledge otherwise unattainable. And, when you join
to this the incomparable disciphne of mind by which
it is^ acquired, and the patient activity and analytical
precision which it confers — the inestimable benefit of
the study of those ancient languages, for the lack of
whose austere training nothing can compensate —
and then again combine with it that acquaintance
with the science of reasoning, and the conditions of
thought ; and that metaphysical acuteness which, whUst
it is commandingly appUcable to all studies of the
inteUect, the necessities of contioversy have compelled
divines in aU ages to master above aU other men —
what mighty inteUectual strength you have accu
mulated! But still join to aU this another important accom
pUshment — that knowledge of manldnd in the prac
tical science of government, in which the leaders of
the Church have been constantly trained; brought to
deal as they are, not merely with the absti-act principles
of legislation, but with then- nice adjustment to existing

150 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
circumstances — and it is evident at once, that the
whole sphere of human thought is occupied, and
the very highest faculties of the inteUect are caUed
forth, by the training which the specific mode of
transmittmg the records of the Christian Church,
and its outward constitution, have rendered necessary
to its preservation.
Such then is the necessary connection of the Gos
pel, as it is combined with the Church, not only with
the formation of the human character, but with the
regulation of the intellect in all its forms and depart
ments — and it really is not a question how far the
Church ought to regulate the education of manldnd,
and how far this general teaining may or shaU be com
mitted to her charge. Had the Church of Christ been
always faithful to herself, and acted up to the duty im
posed upon her, as the common protector of mankind,
it never could have become a question — ^nor, if the
blessing of God should rest upon us, will it be a
question between the Church of England and the
country, of which, with aU her short-comings, she is
the greatest blessing, and glory, and bulwark.
At any rate, through whatever hands this education
be administered, whether through those, to whom the
commission of the Apostles has descended, with, we
humbly trust, no small portion of their holiness and
zeal, or through other and more irregular ministra
tions, it is impossible for any beUever in revelation
to deny, that divine knowledge is the master science,
and that, to the clear declarations of holy writ, on
whatever subject of thought, as the undoubted word

LECTURE VI. 151
of God, a full and unhesitating obedience is to be
rendered. Equally beyond contradiction is it, that
there is no department in which the human mind
can be employed, whether it belong to hfe and prac
tice, or to the speculative inteUect, over which, di-
recfly or indirectly, holy writ does not exercise
control. II. The very act of determining the great end of The im-
. . portant in
human action to a specific point, and giving thereby fluence of
an overwhelming importance to one object, places anity on
such a limit to the eccentricities of the human mind, pirtment of
and gives such a direction to human action, as must °"^
most importantly modify both the one and the other.
But it has exercised much more than this negative
power — and has done much more than merely esta
blish a subordination among the crowd of con
flicting pursuits — it has done much, positively, in
fixing that which before was loose and undetermined
in those questions, which, from the beginning, have
exercised the busy imagination and the restless faculties
of man. It has thus, if we may use the expression,
husbanded the powers of the human mind, and, as
far as might be, prevented their occupation in those
baiTcn speculations, in which, so large a portion of
their strength, intended for other and better purposes,
had been wasted with a spendthrift prodigality. It
has determined, for instance, authoritatively, those
two great points, towards which the human mind, by
an irresistible attiaction, is always gravitating — the
nature of God — and the nature of the soul.
How vast a stride in the progress of mind must

152 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
it be considered, to have laid down as pomts demon-
stiated, and on which the very Neophyte in rehgion
was to proceed as settled, the immortality of the
soul, and the certaUity of a futm-e state of rewards
The nature and puuishmcnts. The human mind, m its un-
ofthes'oul assisted state, was not only incapable of estabhshing
tliis great truth, the moment it began to reason upon
it, but either obscured it altogether, or connected the
proof of it with such conditions as made it unavailing
for any moral purposes. The mass of mankind,
indeed, who are always led by the passion and in
stinct of faith rather than the calculations of reason,
held it, such as it was, as a traditionary behef; and to
them, therefore, the speculations of phUosophy, on
a subject already decided upon different grounds,
and of which the very existence of the speculation
confessed the beUef, would be either uninteUigible,
or it would exercise no practical influence over them.
But subtler understandings were not to be so
satisfied, and phUosophy was weak, where nature was
strong — it became completely entangled in its own
sophistries, and, resting wisdom on the mere play of
words, it necessarily faUed in reaching the reaUty of
things. There was a cold vanity about that ancient
phUosophy even at its best, which damped all
earnestness about moral truth — -and, in the most
1 The Phffi- finished work^ which antiquity has left us on this im-
don of . ^ . y
Plato. portant question, the exqmsite composition and the
graces of thought and Ulustration with which it
abounds, only render more remarkable the puerUe
metaphysics which are its main instruments of proof.

LECTURE VI. 153
Whether natural reason, under other circumstances,
or a different direction of its powers, might not have
demonstiated the truth, is irrelevant to the question;
it is certain that it did not — and no less certain, that,
in the direction which it had chosen, and to which
the peculiar genius of ancient philosophy inextricably
confined it, it could not have arrived at a different
result. Such is the tendency of the natural man
to lean towards the intellect and its unlicensed
speculations, in preference to the sphere of morals
where it is restrained on all sides by stern dogmatic
teaching, that, among aU the schools of antiquity, we
find small or no trace of that moral contemplation
and insight into the heart which could boldly throw
itself upon faith, and build a better system on the
unbounded faculties and the moral necessities, which
stiU distinguish the spirit of man even in its faU — it
stUl leant to the physical and inteUectual side, even
when, as in the case of Plato, there were some ob
scure gUmpses of spiritual tiuths and wants.
By such a mode of reasoning, indeed, they
might not only have confirmed the natural instincts
of manldnd, but have fortified them by a moral
demonstiation. But they did not conceive in its
full importance the moral nature of man, on which
aU true inteUectual progression must be founded;
and either bUnded themselves in metaphysics, which
made the proof of immortality impossible, or con
nected it with impieties, which made scepticism
comparatively innocent.
It was the same with future rewards and punish-

154 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
ments ; they could not hold them at a,U m any real
sense. For they held without exception certain
opinions respecting the divine nature, and the soul's
fiiture condition on the supposition of its immor-
tahty, as made the latter only a more effectual instiu-
ment to destroy its responsibUity, by denying its
separate consciousness. For, though the ItaUc and
Ionic schools from the time of Socrates recognised
the existence of one supreme Bemg, yet they stripped
Him, or endeavoured to strip Him, of all moral
attributes — withdrew Him fi-om an active providence
into an epicurean soUtude, and held it to be a con
tradiction to suppose that the Deity, in His exemp
tion from passion, could Idndle into wrath; and a
positive impiety to suppose that, good as He is. He
could ever exert a stem justice to punish His guUty
creatures. Even His goodness, therefore, was di
vested of all choice, and the same natural necessity
which prevented Him from being feared as a moral
Judge, denied Him, on the other hand, that gratitude
which might be inspired by voluntary benefits;
clothed Him with goodness by the same law that
clothes the sun with light, and, whUe He was acknow
ledged as the first and highest of beings, deprived
Him of that free wiU which is the privUege of the
lowest.
Human I mcutiou thcsc crTors of human reason, because
sentiaiiy they are inherent in its nature, when it speculates
specula"' upon diviuc things without the guidance of Scrip
ture — and because, with aU their appearance of phi
losophy and intellect, they have an essential carnality

LECTURE VI. 155
about them, which is an effectual hindrance to moral
advancement, and to the real inteUectual greatness of
man. All who are conversant with modem infidelity,
and the inevitable moral degradation which accom
panies it, know that it is only a teansmutation of the
old spirit into new forms, or rather new expressions
with the same doctrine beneath them ; and, that the
perverseness which made the cross a stumbhng-
block to the Jew, and to the Greek foolishness, is,
with all the change of time and opinion, the same
resolute enemy to the truth as it is in Jesus.
But, to return; what a power have these simple
truths, which, hidden from ancient philosophy, are
the first principles instUled into the mind of a Chris
tian — the moral personality of God, and His cha
racter as Judge and Lawgiver — the responsibihty of
man — the immortality of the soul in a future state of
rewards and punishments ! From this vantage ground,
Christianity immediately controls, whUst, as far as
our condition permits, it perfects, the several phUo-
sophies of mind, morals, and matter; all of them sub
jects so connected with the interests of society, that
no theory on either, however speculative, which shall
become predominant for the day, can be considered
otherwise than of first-rate importance.
Not that the generaUty of manldnd are imme- The phiio-
diately affected by what proceeds from the brain of the mind,
philosopher, and is elaborated in the closet ; but that, matter'con
by degrees, the influence of mind is certain to extend the Gospel.
itseUj widening its circle, as it proceeds, tUl the
masses themselves are leavened with the same spirit.

156 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
Whatever affects the higher order of minds, awakens
other men's sympathies ; and there is a certain tone
of phUosophy which is thus easily learned and pro
pagated, and gains admittance into minds not disci
plined in the school of rehgious knowledge. It
flatters human vanity, in short, and gives that cover
of plausible reason, which, from the constiuction
of our nature, seems indispensable to uphold and
justify us, in any systematic dcAdation from duty, or from
the instincts of an imcorrupted nature. Or, whether
it be, that the theory of the day is not so much the
cause, as the effect of a specific tone of feeling and
consequent practice, which finds its exponent in this
form ; and then, the scientific expression of it re-acts
in the perpetuation of that to which it has given the
appearance of a philosophical basis ; and which it thus
protects, to superficial eyes, from the exposure of
that essential camahty which could not otherwise be
overlooked. However this may be, it is quite cer
tain, that, from its prevalent philosophy, the tend
encies and practical character of the age may be
correctly inferred.
J . But any material philosophy cannot stand with the
sincere reception of the truths of the Gospel. Revela
tion has completely extricated mind from physical ne-
The phi- cessity. It lays down a mighty principle in unfolding
mmi. ^ ° to US the urioriginated and self-subsistent Spirit that in
habiteth eternity, and Who, by virtue of His own free
will, has created the world, impressed indeed with such
forms of mind as matter is capable of receiving, but
in a complete separation of natm-e fi-om the spirit which

LECTURE VI. 157
sustains its fluxional elements; and it thus estabUshes
the like independence, in their proportion, in those
spirits to whom He has not only given intelhgence,
but on whom He has impressed an image of Himself.
In mind, therefore, according to revelation, there is a
tiue generating power; in the Supreme Being, it is aU
energy, actus purissimus, and essentially creative ; and,
in aU its forms, it has a principle of life and motion
about it, which is impassably separated from the
inertia of brute matter. Mind only can act upon
mind ; and not only the to, vorjra, but the to. alcrOrjTa ;
the forms and inteUigent conceptions of the material
world, with its unity in pluraUty, and pluraUty in
unity, and aU that gives a mould of beauty to material
things, are not the residt of matter influencing mind,
but the unfolding faculties of mind acting in our
perceptions of that matter which the primary intelli
gence has fashioned.
But, in holy Scripture, the great principle upon
which the perfection of moral and inteUigent beings
depends, is neither intellect nor matter, but a third
unknown to the natural man, — spirit, — intellectual
indeed, yet with something further haUowing it, and
giving a moral character to it, even as it exists m the
holy God, with whose inteUigenee purity is associated
and incorporated.
This is the principle which must be supematuraUy The spiri-
implanted in us, light from Ught, and Ufe fromp"e\^m°an.
essential Ufe, and which communion with both in
Christ Jesus can alone implant in the soul ; and this
places our immortality on a basis totaUy distinct

158 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
frmn physical reasonings, and sets the question free
from innumerable difficulties which, after all, en
cumber the latter. No analysis of its reasoning
powers, however accurate; no inductions fi-om its
outward operations, however large ; no cutting it up
into separate portions, as is the practice of the
metaphysical writers of modem times, conveys any
conception of the soul's true nature and dignity. The
life escapes in the operation, and in the miserable
residuum no Christian can recognise the sublime
image of his Maker, of which, with all his infirmities
and miseries, he is conscious in himself. In 'fact, we
have made, here, no progress since the time of Plato,
— the few grand truths which we know are reaUy
fundamental to our daily Christian life, and are the
first simple objects of Christian faith ; and the best
and only service which metaphysical sagacity can
now render is to keep the truth distinct and clear
from the sophistries of opponents, and a false
philosophy of mind; a metaphysic only defensive,
and not speculating beyond the Scripture facts.
The philo- 2. Not Icss dccisive is the simple wi-itten word,
ethics. such as children may read and understand it, upon
the theory of ethics. How idle do speculations
upon the ground of moral obligation become, when
we can rest it at once upon the law of God ; how idle
to exchange such a base as this for the guess-work
of general consequences, or even the eternal fitness
of things, or the abstract beauty of virtue ! They
are false speculations, all of them, under whatever
splendour of titie disguised, and with whatsoever

LECTURE VI. 159
authority of gi-eat names recommended to us. The
ultimate issues of events belong alone to Him who
can order or foresee them; the eternal fitness of
things we doubt not — but aU intimations we have of
it can proceed only from His law written upon our
hearts — and as for the abstract beauty of virtue, we, as
Christians, have exchanged, for something more soUd,
that impersonation of it, of which Plato dreamed.
Imagination has no longer any thing to do here ;
nor indeed any of those faculties, which, by dressing
out vu-tue to the fancy, go a long way to expel it, in its
distasteful reahty, from the heart and practice. It is
now a matter of fact ; and neither in our own mind,
nor in the archetypal idea in the mind of the Deity, is
it to be found ; but in the person of om- Lord Jesus
Christ, who was made like unto us in all things, sin
only excepted, and who has left us an example that we
should follow His steps. How complete a revolution
has Scripture hereby introduced, not only into the
practice, but into the theory of virtue — ^removing
entirely from the catalogue of goodness aU that is
not done as God would have it done, and bringing
aU the boasted powers of the natural man under the
condemnation of sin.
l"o what a simple and intelhgible scheme does it
reduce the confusion of passions, and strong im
pulses of nature, by absolutely subordinating them
to the authority of conscience, and that conscience
again guided and illuminated by the written word !
What new qualities, strange to human ears, and
revolting to human prejudices, and systems grounded

160 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
upon them, has the Gospel introduced in those
graces of humUity, long-suffering, and complete sub
mission to the Divine will; aU, in short, that sanctifies
affliction to the soul; graces, without which Chris
tian righteousness has no existence ! What an
awful element, again, in the corruption of the heart,
has it introduced as an every day truth, in the influ
ences of that evU and powerful spirit, which never
can be safely absent from the thoughts of the Chris
tian, and yet are unrecognised and imrecognisable by
nature !
Here again, the great duty of the Christian
moralist is the defence of the word, as it is written
for our instruction, neither more nor less, in which
the only protection, against false theories of morals,
either without or within the Church, is reaUy to be
found.
The phi- 3. Lasfly, look at the influence of Scripture on the
losophy of,., 1^ •¦ .1/.1
matter, phuosophy OI matter — the great triumph of human
reason, certainly, and, in its abuse and idolatious
exaltation, the great adversary of that revelation of
which it ought to be the iUustration and support.
It may, however, be truly said, that it is revelation
alone which has rendered possible a philosophy of
matter, properly so caUed; for it alone has estabUshed
that complete separation and distinction between
matter and spirit, which ancient philosophy, even in
its most purified state, seems never to have attained,
and which, with the same tendency to materialising,
the human muid, even of the highest worldly order,
is stiU pei-petually confounding.

LECTURE VI. 161
But, by this utter separation from spirit, into what
a subordinate rank, in the pursuits of an immortal
soul, does it instantiy reduce mere physical science !
It is, in tiuth, the negation of every thing which con
stitutes the Ufe and essence of a moral and inteUigent
being — dead, and consequentiy entirely passive — the
unresisting subject of impulses from without — the slave
of mechanical laws. And it is on this purely mechani
cal character that the claim of the physical sciences to
perfection depends — for, from the very moment that
they deal with other relations, with final ends, or with
the ideas of beauty and grandeur impressed on mate
rial things, they deviate instantiy into the province of
the immaterial, and, to a certain extent, are spiritualized,
in spite of themselves. But the invariable result, is
not the recognition of a spirit external to the material
world, and ruling it as a governor, but only of a
formative and plastic power bound up with it, and
exhibiting itself in the forms and phsenomena of
matter; in fact, it is not the latter that is sub
ordinated, but the former that is debased. The
consequence, therefore, of merely physical studies,
apart from revelation, has always been atheistical,
as, explain it how you will, the history of philosophy
undoubtedly proves.
The anima mundi is the nearest approach made by
physics to a conception of Almighty God. And let it
not be a matter of surprise, that, hand in hand with
the perfection of the mere scientific faculty, proceeds
the utmost degradation of the moral powers. When the
material world is contemplated, exclusive of Scripture,
VOL, II, M

16-2 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
and a dogmatic morality, this is ijot an accidental, but
a necessary result. For, in proportion to man's con
fidence in his own intellectual faculties, is his distaste
of any control over other powers and tendencies equaUy
natural; and, with the worship of material nature, even
when dressed out, as some of the greatest minds of
modern times have dressed it, in the form of the most
perfect artistical beauty, a relaxation of all the sterner
virtues, a degradation of conscience, and an imagin
ative epicm-ism wUl invariably estabUsh itself.
But suppose that, in the study of nature, an
outward God be recognised, upholding by the word
of His power the miracles of beauty and wisdom
which He evoked from the abyss, and fashioned out of
nothing; yet the conception of a mechanist, however
sublime, a 6eos yeco/jLerpcou, on however magni
ficent a scale, is stUl infinitely far removed from
a moral governor, much more fi-om such a God as the
Gospel exhibits. And, fi-om the hmitation of our
faculties, incapable, as they are, of exact comparison,
the mastery over matter which science exercises, the
discovery of its laws, however short of the first mover,
and the process of reasoning rather descendendo than
ascendendo, have, at least, an equal tendency to exalt
our conception of the sagacity that discovers, as of that
unoriguiated wisdom which created ; and to make the
vastness of the universe, with its prodigious me
chanism, a mere nurror, for man's inteUectual vanity
to gaze on the reflection of itself.
When regarded, indeed, in conjunction with the
natural conscience, it does testify to its Maker's

LECTURE VI. 168
almighty power and Godhead, nay, to His good
ness over aU His works ; and so the Apostie affirms. Rom. ii.
But, untU interpreted by revelation, it has no lan
guage to the human soul; it is a book of wonders, but
written in hieroglyphics, and requiring an interpreter.
And the same revelation which subordinates the study
of nature and its laws to subhmer objects, whUe,
by the discovery which it makes that the physical
attributes of the Creator are in indissoluble connection
with His moral ones, it seems to depress physical
science, yet gives, in reaUty, a rank and worth unknown
before, and a wonderful elevation, to it.
How sublime a study it is, to trace the goodness
and the wisdom of God in His works, and to prostrate
the soul the more before Him in intelUgent worship ;
to draw from every fresh discovery a stionger con
viction of His wisdom. His presence, and His love; to
impregnate the forms of matter with the meaning of
the Spirit; and, looking at it through the Gospel, and
not at the Gospel through it, to regard its beauty and
its power, as Almighty God Himself does, neither more
nor less; and as the sure record of revelation teaches
the Christian to consider it. "Behold the UUes of the Matt. vi. 28.
field ! how they grow ; they toU not, neither do they
spin ; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in
aU his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
" The heavens declare the glory of God, and the Ps.xix.1,2.
firmament sheweth His handywork ; one day teUeth
another, and one night certifieth another." " Thou, Ps. cii. 25.
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of
the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy
M 2

164 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
hands; they shaU perish, but Thou remainest; they
aU shaU wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture
shah Thou fold them up, and they shaU be changed ;
but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."
2 Pet. iii. " The heavens shaU pass away with a great noise,
' ' and the elements shaU melt with fervent heat.
Seeing then, .that all these thmgs shaU be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought we to be, in aU holy
conversation and godliness."
Nothing can exceed this phUosophy ; you may ex
pand it, but render it more clear and striking you cannot.
What vast and sublime truths it announces — and what
an effectual controller and director, and yet sanctifier
and exalter of aU ti-uth, is the written word of God !
Such then is the way in which holy writ, by know
ledge not darkly uttered, butmost intelUgibly conveyed,
overrules and directs every department of human in
vestigation — the true apxiTeKTOVLKri (ppovrjais of the
human mind. And this it does, with a comprehensive
wisdom; not by undervaluing, or annUulating, but by
guiding and directing — ^by way of order, and accurate
subordination. Nor does it proceed casuistically by
detaUs, which, in a field so vast, all the books in the
world could not have contained — but legislatively, by
way of general laws and principles — the apphcation of
them, and the worldng them out, in aU their diversity,
it has left to the human mind, completely unfettered.
Ample And within these appointed limits a boundless
for the free occupatioii has bccu assigned to that inteUect, which
the human God Himsclf has marveUously endowed for this very
pui-pose — ^not to baffle its faculties of their proper

LECTURE VI. 165
objects, nor to sting them on with a passionate desire
after truth, which could not be satisfied without im
piety. But, like a vigilant and thoughtful Father, He
would prevent His childi-en from squandering the
inheritance which He has bestowed upon them, upon
vanities or the pm-suit of impossibilities — guiding
them to the interpretation of the records, in which
He has inscribed His wonderful attributes ; and lead
ing them to buUd, not moral truth on physical, and
spiritual on moral, but, with a reversal of the order
necessary at least to us, to look at moral verities,
through the intervention of the Spirit, and at the dim
works of nature through the instrumentality of both.
Imperfectly, indeed, has this education of the general
inteUect of man been can-ied out — yet so far as it
has gone, this is its result — the necessary result, in
deed, of the plan of divine instruction, with which
God has combined the universal circulation and fi-ee
examination of the Scriptures. But, whUe this isTheeduca-
certain, it wUl lead us into serious error, and a mis- intellect
conception of the purpose of the Gospel, if we take resuit^huT
these great results upon the inteUect as its main awe? main object
avowed object. They are, indeed, necessary conse-^J^^g,
quences of it — but, notwithstanding the seeming-
paradox, they are attained incidently and by the
way — and, on a further examination of the question,
it wiU be evident, that, in any other way than this,
they would reaUy not have been promoted, but ren
dered unattainable. The great and only direct object
of the Gospel, and one never, for a moment, to be
forgotten, is to save men's soiUs — and that not by

166 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
learning, or science, or any thing which can be ac
quired among men, or is fitted to claim earthly power,
or admiration, but by repentance and faith in Christ
Jesus. It is a thmg not of speculation, but of practice
— a thing to be done, and done instantly — for the
case is urgent — the whole world lieth in wickedness
and in the darlaiess of the shadow of death — till the
Day-spring from on high shall rise upon our hearts.
" Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light." It admits of no
doubt, or hesitation, or compromise — there is but
one way to escape the wrath of God — the condemna
tion that shaU come, even death eternal — the accept
ance with heart and soul of the Son of God ! We
have no other message, and no other commission to
bear to the ears of men, than this : they that repent,
and are baptized, shaU be saved — they that beheve
not shall be damned. There is no difference of
persons, or respect of ranks — all receive the same
invitation, and are the subjects of the same warning.
There is neither Jew nor Greek any longer, neither
bond nor free, — but aU have come short of the glory
of God — and all must die, in that all have sinned.
It matters not what occupations we are engaged in,
what pleasures attract us, or what solemn duties seem
to claim our thoughts and energies — one thing is
needful, and only one. There must be no partici
pation of the heart — it must all be given to God.
The heart that is given must be changed — -the Spirit
fi-om above must descend upon it, and it must become
a new creature. It is no common message that is

LECTURE VI. 167
deUvered to us — even if our ears tire dull to it, yet
die prophets and kings of former days desired to hear
the things which we hear, and did not hear them, and
to see the things which we see, and did not see them.
The Son of God Himself has descended from heaven,
O sinner, that He may save thee — He has died that
thou mayest Uve — He is discrowned, that thou mayest
reign for ever — He is risen from the grave, and is
ascended into heaven, that He may prepare a habita
tion for thee there. And from thence, by us. His Minis
ters, He entieats you, by His agony and bloody sweat,
by His cross and passion, by His precious death and
burial, to permit Him to save the soul which He has
redeemed, not by perishable sUver and gold, but by
His own most precious blood. " Eye hath not seen, isa. ixiv. 4.
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of
man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him." It is the ti-iumph of God's
love which is proclaimed, " Hear, O heaven, and give isa.xiiv.23.
ear, O earth — for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and
magnified HimseU in Israel." " Unto us a ChUd is isa. ix. 6.
bom, unto us a Son is given ; and the government
shaU be upon His shoulder; and His name shaU be
caUed Wonderful, CounseUor, the mighty God !" If
love does not move, we have threats — " indignation Rom. ii. 9.
and wrath, ti-ibulation and anguish, upon every soul
of man that doeth evU." Any how, we have but this
one end — to save men's souls — and proclaim but one
way to accomplish it, faith in Christ Jesus.

LECTURE VL

I. The Church useless for education unless the salvation of souls
through Christ be her great aim. Inseparahle from the free use of the
written -word. Great sin and error of Rome in withholding it from the
people. II. Comparative power of the Churches of England and Rome for the
education of a nation.

Mark vii. 13.
Ye have made the word of God of none effect by your traditions.
L 1, nr^HOUGH, as ministers of Christ, we have to
-'- deal with worldly knowledge in many ways,
though we are in the world, and must be so, yet we
are not of the world, nor is the holy book which we put
into men's hands — we only deal with it, from first to
last, in its connection with another — our real business
is with men's spirits — and not by carnal means, not by
arms, nor by learning, nor by the force of earthly oratory,
do we profess to change them, but by a faith given
from above, an earnest repentance by grace working
with outward means, with the power of Sacraments, and
the mighty word of God. In comparison of this, aU
things are to be regarded as of no value — as bearing

170 LECTURE VI.
no appreciable proportion to the overwhelming im
portance of saving souls. All the knowledge that
human inteUigenee has ever acqufred, all that human
art has ever wrought to beautify life, all the social
wisdom which regulates commonwealths, and binds
empires together, if without the Gospel they could
have any permanent existence at all — ^yet aU these and
more than these we would throw away from us, and
teach men to throw them away as not worth a thought,
if they stood in opposition to this greatest of God's
purposes, for which kingdoms exist and kings reign
and prosper.
Theregu- It is from thcse and simUar considerations of the
lating ^ , ,
power of incalculable worth of the soul, that the restiaimng
the Gospel . /.i/-mi ni
overall and rcgulatmg power oi the Gospel over aU truth
arises from and knowledge is derived. And, in regard to the
primal Ministers of the Church, who are, of necessity, the
great instruments in training the mind of man, it
should be the one master-thought — ^for, unless there
is this overwhelming conviction at the heart, those
intellectual faculties which theological study sharpens,
and the knowledge which it accumulates, would destroy
that simplicity of Christian faith, without which
science may be advanced, and minds enUghtened,
and intellectual triumphs won ; but the Gospel can
not be preached, and souls cannot be saved. The
pride of knowledge is chastised by the thought, that
it is but an instrument, utterly valueless, except in its
application to God's service ; nay, full of imminent
danger, unless kept in close subordination to Gospel
purposes. Here we become, what we ought to be.

truths.

LECTURE VI. 171
mere children ; and, having played perhaps the part
of giants in other departments, and wrestled for
victory in the struggle with brother intellects, the
balance is restored, and can only be restored, by that
fflial simphcity of spirit, by which, rejoicing in one
faith, one hope, one baptism, we cry with the low
liest of those who sit at the Redeemer's feet, " Abba,
Father." And, as in individuals, so also is it in a Church ; Danger
unless it be chastened and subordinated by this pre- learning.
eminence of the first truths of the Gospel, as the
centre of Ufe and of all spiritual action, the apparatus
of secular learning wUl become not a Gospel weapon,
but, like Saul's armour to the champion of Israel,
a hindrance and an incumbrance. The energy by
which souls are penetrated, and the doctrines of
Christ become the power of God unto salvation, wUl
be graduaUy deadened under a cold and systematic
theology — the spirituality, which is the essence and
specialty of the Gospel, must cease in such a case to
animate a body of doctrines, purely intellectual in
their statement, and logical in their dependence; and
those broad and simple principles which animated
Aposties and Martyrs, and which bum in the heart hke
coals of fire, even the Gospel which triumphed over the
world, wUl be lost in refinements and timid defini
tions, in the self-righteousness of an ascetic, and the
torpor of a phUosophical morahty. And, however
sound and vigorous the system intellectuaUy considered
may be, the world wUl never render to a merely literary
or scientific caste that reverence which is only due

172 LECTURE VI.
to the teachers of the Gospel, and to the true com
mission of Christ.
But even that inteUectual character itself wiU hardly
be preserved — for, however strange it may seem, in pro
portion as the salvation of souls, and those leadmg
Gospel traths which have the Saviom- for thefr centie,
lose their commanding prominence, the value of the
learning originally cultivated for their defence and pro
pagation, and StiU bearing their name, wUl be certain
to' decline. Its true intellectual power wiU depart —
its practical and masculine tone, with that vigorous
and straightforward argumentation which comes na
turally from the earnest defence of the Gospel truths,
wUl degenerate into idle and unprofitable subtleties,
entangling, without instructing, the mind ; there will
be no nature — no home-coming truthfulness — no
piercing the soul — and, with a feebler reason, wUl
come a superstitious veneration of forms and rites, in
which the lost spirit of true rehgion becomes hope
lessly entombed.
With the loss of this devotedness of thought and
heart to the salvation of manldnd, and that simple
earnestness of character which this conviction alone
can give to the Ministers of a dispensation essentially
spiritual, will of necessity decUne the influence which
such visible exhibition of the reaUties of the Gospel,
with its elastic and unconquerable energy, must
exercise over the world at large. That commanding
station which the authoritative truths of the Gospel,
adequately asserted by a devoted Ministry, are calcu
lated to occupy, and the working of those principles

LECTURE VI. 173
which find such a response in the depth of man's
nature, is miserably supplied by mere decencies and
moraUties — it finds no representative in mere social
dignities — ^it dies away from a pointless teaching with
which manldnd at large cannot sympathize, and which
they wUl soon learn to despise. The power over those
religious instincts of mankind, which are of all feelings
the most deep and uneradicable, will pass into other
hands, however rude and inadequate to sustain it; it
wiU be swayed by those, whose experience or simple
knowledge of Scripture has led to an acquaintance
with their own souls, and revealed, along with it, the
secret of penetiating the sords of other men.
And, even to those who are imbued with a higher
and truer philosophy than mere dialectic or gram
matical studies can give them, great caution is ne
cessary — lest, in their desire to produce in others
such a spiritual elevation as may counteract the
mMterial tendencies of the age, they should go the
wrong way to work; and strive to recommend the
Gospel of Christ by their philosophy, rather than
teach their phUosophy through the Gospel. This
deserves remark, because an eminent writer of the
last century, in lamenting the decay of rehgious
feeling, and with it, a general debasement of intellect,
and lowness of moral tone, attributes it to the adop
tion of a spurious philosophy, alien to the character
of the Gospel revelation, and indisposing men's
minds to the reception of any truths which went
beyond the region of sense, and the capacity of the
practical understanding.
But sm-ely this deplorable degradation of the phi-

174 LECTURE VI.
losophical tone, and the decline of its prmciples,
through the system of Locke, to the undisguised
expediency of Helvetius and CondiUac, was not so
much the cause, as the result of the decay of true
religion, and of that deadness to the spiritual aspects
of the Gospel which foUowed the wasteful over-
exhaustion of aU faculties, moral, intellectual, and
spiritual, in the agony of the CivU War. The simple
truths of the Gospel at the era of the Reformation,
along with the general agitation of spirit which it pro
duced, threw into the masculine writings of that period,
and of the centmy and more which followed it, an
elevation of true phUosophy, equal to the vigorous in
teUect and Scriptural simpUcity which it had worked
out of the crooked wisdom of scholasticism, and the
benumbing domination of an infallible Church. In
fact, nothing low or material can dwell with the
earnest reception of Christ crucified. The Gospel is
the best phUosophy, and the most faithful preacher
is the best philosopher.
The truth But this Christian simpUcity of purpose and doc-
of Scripture . . . j-jii.
inseparably trine wUich is thus cssential to give the Church that
connected . i . n /. n . i
with a free authority over the general intellect of mankmd,
which, for the good of all, she ought to possess,
and which is equally necessary to control her
own inteUectual stores, cannot be separated from
the written word, as the sole authority of divine
truth, and to be submitted, as such, to the matm-ed
judgment of those whom she is to educate.
It cannot be done, by making men's minds de
pendent — the object of education is to make them,
as far as may be, in reason and Scripture, inde-

LECTURE VL 175
pendent; to raise them to the power of directing
themselves imder God ; and to the enjoyment of that
Uberty which accompanies the obedience of intell
ligent creatures to the divine law. But it is an
awfiU office; and the authority, of necessity, con
ferred by it, upon those who are thus caUed to
train the human mind, under such powerfiil sanc
tions, is so great and so inevitable, if those duties
are adequately discharged, that it may very reason
ably be demanded, within what limits and by what
precise commission it is exercised by the body which
claims it. There must be a natural jealousy of such
a power, as well as a desire to know the truth of such
a claim. This jealousy must be appeased and the truth
ascertained by some authority, Uke that of the Holy
Scriptm-es, admitted by both parties, and of which the
common understanding, truthfully exercised, is com
petent to judge.
No communion of men which shaU claim the right
to add from other sources within their own exclusive
control, to the written and unchanging canon; no
Church which, without so doing, practically excludes
those whom she governs from the written record, by
claiming the exclusive right of interpretation, not by
the ordinary rules of reason, but by a power of which
her own declaration is the only witness, is fit for the
discharge of such a vocation. In truth, there is no
thing more clearly demonstrated in ecclesiastical
history than the necessity of this appeal to a definite
and uncorruptible authority, not only for the instiuc-
tion of the world, and the rational submission of the

176 LECTURE VI.
mind to the divine teaching, but to the educational fit
ness and devotedness of the Ministers of the Church
themselves. We are but men — no more exempt fi-om
the necessity of an external control than those of our
brethren, among whom we are caUed upon to minister.
The authority which we exercise, and ought to exercise
over our flocks, by our divine commission, has a
tendency, like other authority, to disjoin responsibUity
from power. We are too much tempted, therefore, to
forget the nature and intention of our office, and the
unreserved devotedness to the good of others, whose
servants we are, which it imperatively demands at our
hands. We have a disposition, for our ease and in
fluence's sake, to entrench ourselves in outward form,
and to insist on an unconditional submission. We
cease to remember the wholesome restraints which
Umit the obedience of our flocks, and which make us,
and our doctrine, amenable to the word of God, not as
a closed book, or a dead letter, but as one open, alike
of right and of duty, to the judgment of aU.
The Minis- Jt has been most happy for our own ApostoUc
try of the _ _ J^^-' _ ^
Church of ChuTch, that her ministers have always lived and
England , •'
benefited by moved Under this control, — happy for themselves,
this ac- . ... . .
inowiedged whom it has retained within the limits of their com
mission, and for the nation, in whom, without awaken
ing its jealousy, they have kept alive the love and
fear of God. They may, sometimes, have slumbered
at their posts, that is not to be denied — they may
sometimes not have preached with sufficient distinct
ness the whole counsel of God — but they have never
rendered it odious to men by unauthorized and

LECTURE VI. 177
interested additions ; they have never falsely pledged
the truth of God, to bulwark an authority which they
had no right to claim — they have preserved the book
of life committed to their charge, and provided, in its
imcorrupted integrity and admitted sufficiency, the
means of restoration and of spiritual renewal. The
Church of England is. at this moment reaping the
blessing of it, in the progress which she is maldng, in
regaining the affections of the people who have been
entiusted to her guardianship ; and even, in the periods
of her greatest inactivity, she has proved, thanks to
the word of God, no other, both intellectuaUy and
moraUy, than the great bulwark of the faith ; and has
produced, even while she seemed spiritually asleep,
the noblest vindications of our common Christianity.
Such has been the Church of England, even at sin of the
her worst. But when we consider the Church of Rome in
Rome — how vast a difference there is, all dependent fte Scrip'"^
on the admission or exclusion of the word! And thrpeopie.
certainly, whether we look to this great pm-pose and
yet collateral effect of the Church, in training up the
whole moral and intellectual nature of man, or to its
immediate purpose in saving souls by bringing them
to Chi-ist; the Church of Rome has committed no
gi-eater sin against mankind than in the deliberate
dethronement of the word of God, from its pecuUar
educational and training office. In other Churches,
indeed, the decay of love and tiie gradual growth of
con-uption have tainted the purity of the Gospel, and
darkened the minds of the people and of the priesthood
— those superstitions which the growth of ages has
VOL. II. N

178 LECTURE VI.
accumulated, and in which the supineness of human
nature so easUy learns to acquiesce, are perpetuated
among them by habit, and hallowed by traditionary
veneration. But it has happened, in the ordinary
course of humanity, — it is a melanchofy proof of the
moral and intellectual fraUty of man, and that is all —
a warning of the necessity of constant grace to counter
act the forces which are always undermining the truth,
and dragging the Church downwards. Yet, with aU the
disastrous results which have followed fi-om this de
generacy, there is more to excite the pity and even
the sympathy, than to awaken the indignation, of
candid and thoughtful minds.
But, with the Church of Rome, it has not been
a misfortune, but a crime; not an accident, but a
policy — she has deliberately chosen darkness rather
than light; and, in the suppression of the Bible, has
played the part of Antichrist, and waged a profound
and calculated warfare against the moral and intel
lectual liberties of mankind; " Populus vult decipi, et
decipientur "," has been at once her rule of action, and
• This principle of Romanism should be deeply studied, as it is
developed in her teaching. And this, after all, was the politic
reason for the adoption of the doctrine of transuhstantiation, and
other fables by which it was Ekccommodated to its popular uses,
and which contrast so strongly with the supersensuous philosophy
by which it was recommended and explained to minds of a higher
order. Paschasius, for instance, the first promulgator of the doc
trine in its perfect form, and whom Bellarmine describes as the first
serious writer on the subject, proves the miracle which he pro
pounds, by affirming among other proofs of our Lord's bodily pre
sence in the elements, that " our Lord was often seen in the shape
of a lamb in the hands of the priest ; and that, on one occasion, an

LECTURE VI. 179
her apology for it, fi-om a very early period, and is so still.
Therefore God sent a spirit of delusion upon her, and
angel shewed Christ to a priest, in the form of a child upon the
altar, and having bound and kissed Him, swallowed Him up," — and
other blasphemous absurdities. That gross impositions were prac
tised to delude the senses of the people, even on this awful
mystery, is undoubted.
Take another instance of it. " Hoc ferme tempore quidam
clerici, maligno errore seducti, asseverare conabantur, panem et
vinum, quae in altari ponuntur, post consecrationem, in priori sub
stantia permanere, et figuram tantummodo esse corporis et san
guinis Christi, non verum Christi corpus et sanguinem. Quorum
enormem perfidiam, beatus Odo destruere cupiens, dum quadam
die, in conspectu totius populi, sacrosanctis missarum solemniis
devotus, intenderet; expressis lachrymis, Dei omnipotentis cle-
mentiam in suo ministerio affore poslulavit ; quae, ad depellendos
hominum errores, substantiam divinorum mysteriorum declararet
proprietatem. Cumque ad confractionem vivifici panis ventum
fuisset: (0 iueffabilem Dei miserationem, et prsesentiam aeternse
majestatis ostentationem !) confestim namque inter manus beati
pontificis fragmenta corporis Christi tenentis sanguis guttatim
defluere coepit. Stans, itaque, pontifex, et prae gaudio uberes
lachrymas fundens, innuit astantibus ministris, ut illi potissimum
proprius accedant qui nuper in fidem titubaverant. Vocati igitur
celeriter adsunt, atque in tantarum rerum consideratione perterre-
facti, poenitenti voce exclamant : O te inter homines foelicissiinum
hodie ; cui Filius Dei semetipsum in came dignatus est revelare !
Et rursum ; Exora, inquiunt, praesulum pater, exora Domini majes-
tatem ; ut in pristinam formam praesens sanguis commutetur; ne
nos, propter infidelitatis errorem, ultio divina sequatur. Oravit
ergo sacerdos. Post orationem, ad aram respexit ; et ubi dimi-
serat sanguinem, consuetam vini reperit speciem.'' (Osbern. de Vit.
S. Od. Archiep. Cantuar. Aug. Sacr. Lond. 1691. II. 82.) Soames'
Bampton Lectures, p. 418.
At the time of the Reformation there were numerous discoveries
and exposures of the machinery used for these purposes of deceit ;
vid. Burnet's History of the Refoi-mation, vol. 1. But any one
acquainted with the existing condition of the Roman Catholic
Church in Spain and Italy is perfectly aware that such delusions
N 2

180 LECTURE VI.
she beheved her own lie ; and, sitting in the temple of
God as ruler and guide, the representative of Him
who is not only the Light, but the very Truth, she
taught a system not Christian but Pagan — a system
embodying in its workings all the moral corruptions
and intellectual perversions which ages fertile in
are still systematically practised. The rationale of the powers ex
hibited by images is that by which philosophers of old explained and
justified such worship as was paid to them — the actual presence of a
/ixifcat. The following explanation is given by a Romanist writer of
the miraculous powers of images of the Virgin. " Dicendum sit con-
cessum Deiparae DominEB privilegium assistendi, physice et reali-
ter, in aliquibus simulachris seu imaginibus ; et quod in aliquibus
simulachris, seu imaginibus ipsius, credatur, assistere adesseque
personaliter, physice et realiter — ut in illis debitas adoraiiones
recipiat a fidelibus cultoribus" R. P. Petri, de Median. Res.
Theolog. (Faber's Calendar of Prophecy, vol. iii. p. 263.) Itis idle
to plead Tridentine refinement as the practice of the Church, and
as a counter-weight to the systematic encouragement of this wretched
superstition. Do not let it be said that this is passed away. This
lying spirit clings to Rome. The Breviary of the Romish Church
is full of these monstrous fables. It is no unauthorized work,
but carefully compiled and solemnly enjoined. For, in consequence
of a decree of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V. ordered a number
of learned and able men to compile the Breviary, and by his Bull,
"quod a nobis," July, 1566, sanctioned it, and commanded the use
thereof to the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church all over the
world. Clement VIII. finding that the Breviary of Pius V. had
been altered and depraved, restored it to its original condition.
Lastly, Urban VIII. in 1631, had the language of the whole work
and the metres of the hymns revised.
Whoever enjoys any ecclesiastical revenue — all persons of both
sexes who have professed in any of the regular orders — all sub-
deacons, deacons, and priests, are bound to repeat the service of the
day out of the Breviary. The omission of any one of the eight
portions of which the service consists is a mortal sin. Could any
of this stand its ground with clergy or laity with the free use of
Scripture P

LECTURE VI. 181
wickedness could supply to the comprehensive saga
city and the organizing hand of her rulers.
It avails not to say, that she was led on by The dark-
circumstances, and, that the universal ignorance, and middle ages
errors of the times, exercised a controlling- influence apology.
over her, which she had not the power to resist ; for,
though a rational expediency must sometimes bend
to circumstances, and a high intellectual cultivation
is incompatible with times of general confusion, and a
barbarous rudeness of manners; yet the very character
istic of the Gospel is its unchangeable spirit ; and its
simple yet commanding truths, combined with the
civUizing influences of a faithful Ministry, are the in
tended antidote to a degrading ignorance, and an in
human rudeness. Nor is it a plea to be admitted in
her favour, as an adequate defence, that there were
periods in her usurpation when, on the whole, it was
exercised beneficiaUy for mankind; and when its
very overshadowing vastness looked to friendly eyes
rather as an earthly providence, than a tyranny over
the nations *" ; that, in claiming and exercising a secular
^ A distinction should be observed between the earlier and later
periods of the Romish See. Its universal influence, of course,
could never have arisen, nor a voluntary respect, if not obedience,
have been paid it, without sensible benefits to produce it. As a
fulchrum to the Ecclesiastical power before nationalities were
developed, it was of great value ; and from it, as from a hearth
where unextinguished embers still linger in the ashes, what,
remained of ancient art and civilization was circulated throughout
western Christendom by the members of the distant Churches who
constantly kept up the communication of the Christian Societies
which she had founded with their distant mother.
" The Anglo-Saxon Church," says an eminent divine, " is repre-

182 LECTURE VI.
authority irreconcUeable with the word of God, she
was opposmg the mtolerable abuses of a power merely
sented as having yielded an authority to the papacy which our
national institutions have long peremptorily refused. Nor is it, in
deed, capable of denial, that the Roman See was constantly regarded
among our distant ancestry with a degree of affectionate esteem and
grateful veneration, which offer a striking contrast to that habitual
neglect and to those occasional displays of contemptuous indignation,
which it has received from England during the last three centuries.
But let it be remembered that Ante-Norman times knew nothing of
the political pretensions advanced by Gregory VII. and by some of
his successors ; they saw not solemnly established, as integral
members of the Catholic faith, those thirteen Articles which papal
authority has now appended to the Nicene Creed, and which are
obtruded upon the consciences of men under a bold denunciation
of eternal perdition. The Roman See has therefore altered most
materially both its worldly and its religious aspect since the Con
quest. What was the light, however, in which our early pro
genitors viewed the Pontiff? and what were the privileges con
ceded to him ? Did they esteem St. Peter the rock upon which the
Church was built, the janitor, who held the privilege of closing
heaven's gates against all who should decline obedience to his
admitted successors, and the leader under whose guidance they
would individually proceed to the Judgment-seat of Christ ? Had
they a papal legate constantly resident among them, claiming for
his master a paramount jurisdiction, at least, over their Eccle
siastical affairs, and interfering habitually in their domestic polity ?
Was any disposition ever shewn among them to obey the pontifical
authority, when it happened to be at variance with their own
judgment ? Did oaths of canonical obedience bind their prelates
to the Roman See ? Was a complete Ecclesiastical supremacy,
within the realm, denied to their princes ? An unqualified negative
must reply lo every one of these questions. Our Anglo-Saxon
fathers understood uniformly by the metaphorical rock, in om-
blessed Lord's promise to St. Peter, no other than Jesus Himself.
They considered Cephas to have been appointed janitor of heaven
merely by way of admonishing mankind, that all who could gain
admission within the celestial portals must firmly maintain the

LECTURE VI. 183
secular, and of forces, without mitigation, material. In
those tempestuous times, indeed, when every element
of disorder was let loose, and before a new system of
society had gradually emerged out of the confusion ;
nay, in what seemed the utter wreck of all that con
stitutes individual goodness, or national order ; it is
not to be denied, that even the Romish authority, from
the excess of the opposing evUs, exercised in its an
tagonism a correcting influence on the condition of
society. But, whatever grand or even holy views
may, from time to time, have glanced across the
pohtic schemes of her rulers, certain it is, on the
whole, that they were animated by the most intense and
systematic selfishness ; their end was power by aU in
struments, power at aU risks, power of aU kinds, and
power over all men ; and, whUe enough of what was
higher and more spiritual remained within her to
ensure the sympathy of the nations in those iron times,
yet elements more and more undisguisedly secular,
and claims embodying the world's worst corruptions,
became inextricably united at last with the domi
nation which she exercised as the successor of the
fisherman, and in the name of the despised and
rejected of men.
But ought we to judge stei-nly and harshly of an ano
malous power, in an unexampled crisis of the world ?
Certainly not. If she had then possessed the magnani
mity to educate, instead oi subjugating those OYex whom

faith which he so manfully professed," Soame's Bampton Lectures,
p. 454.

184 LECTURE VI.
she ruled, with the mstruments which God had
profusely put mto her hands ; or if, whUe she exer
cised an absolute but temporary guardianship over
generations incapable of moral or mental independ
ence, she had prepared herself and them, or allowed
herself and them to be prepared, for a state of higher
advancement, and for the necessary revolutions of time
and knowledge — ^it would have atoned for many sins,
and no one would scrutinize too severely the transient
irregularities of ambition, and the inevitable exorbi-
tancies of power ! But what is the fact ? why, that
she disdained the office of teacher, of which she only
discerned the lowliness, and not the dignity; she
refused, as beneath her, a ministry of the faith, which
must lead men to a participation in what she held to
be exclusively her own; instead of a limited sovereignty,
she chose to be the unquestioned mistress of slaves;
not the unfolder of the sacred oracles, but herself an
oracle ; an earthly god, rather than the first among
many brethren, and the honoured guide and instiuctor
of Christ's flock.
The spiritual good, therefore, that flowed fi-om Rome,
even in the period of the greatest darkness, came from
those remainders of the Gospel hg-ht, which she had
not the power to extinguish, nor any interest to
repudiate. Not only in the mountains of Piedmont,
indeed, but in the depth of her retirements, and in the
silence of her monasteries, the word of God stUl kept
alive a tiue faith in Clu'ist, in the bosom of many a
secret student ; nay, gleams and flashes occasionally
escaped from it to those without; but, as the light of the

LECTURE VL 185
world, as the guide of life, as the inheritance of mankind",
the Bible was extinguished, and the Gospel abolished.

" It was only by slow degrees that Scripture was thus expelled ;
it was only gradually that this deep sleep stole over the nations,
which, when the fulness of time was come for the exercise of her
usurpation, Rome did her best to seal. The earlier Gregory and
Leo speak in very different terms of holy writ from their successors
after the tenth and eleventh centuries ; amidst much error there was
no systematic anti-scripturality ; the door was not closed on reform
ation. There was still much that was genial and benignant in Rome.
She yet acknowledged the popular use of Scripture.
Thus speaks Gregory the Great : " Resident juxta fluenta ple-
nissima ; dumque se consiliis Scripturae ex toto addicunt, ut vide
licet nihil agant nisi quod ex responso Scripturarum audiunt, quasi
in aquam se projicientes, hosti illudunt. Quae fluenta plenissima
dicuntur : quia de quibuscumque scrupulis in Scripturis consilium
quaeritur, sine minora tione de omnibus ad plenum invenitm-." In
Cant. c. 5. V. 12. torn. iii. Elihu ait. " Adversus eum contendis, quod
non ad omnia verba responderit tibi. Semel loquetur Deus,etsecundo
idipsum non repetet. Ac si diceret : Deus singulorum cordibus
privatis vocibus non respondet, sed tale eloquium construit, per
quod cunctorum quaestionibus satisfaciat. In Scripturae quippe ejus
eloquio, causas nostras singuli si requirimus, invenimus." Exposit.
in Job. lib. 23. c. 19. " Quid est autem Scriptura sacra, nisi quae
dam epistola omnipotentis Dei ad creaturam suam ? . . . Stude ergo;
quaeso, et quotidie Creatoris tui verba meditare. Disce cor Dei in
verbis Dei." Lib. 4. Ep. 31. ad Theod. Med.
It was he who disclaimed the office of universal Bishop, and
thus speaks of the assumption of that title by the Bishop of
Constantinople : " Consacerdos mens Johannes vocari universalis
Episcopus conatur. Exclamare compellor et dicere : O tempora,
0 mores ! Sacerdotes vanitatis sibi nomina expetunt ; et nobis ac
profanis vocabulis gloriantur. Sed absit a cordibus Christianorum
nomen istud blasphemia, in quo omnium Sacerdotum honor adimi-
tur, dum ab uno sibi dementer arrogatur." Greg. Epist. lib. 4.
Epist. 32. Afterwards he puts it on lower ground, not as
blaspheming against Christ, but usurpation over the brethren.
" Absit hoc, absit a Christian! mente id sibi velle quempiara

186 LECTURE VI.
Surely, when we contemplate that wonderful
record of God's wisdom, and its universal appli-

arripere, unde fratrum suorum honorem imminuere ex quantula-
cunque parte videatur." Ibid. Epist. 36.
In the same Epistle he thus describes the same Ecclesiastical
usurper ; " Mandata dominica, apostolica praecepta, regulas Patrum
despiciens, cmn (scil. Anti-Christum) per elationem praecurrere
conatur in nomine ; ita ut universa sibi tentet ascribere, et omnia
quae soli uni capiti coheerent, videlicet Christo, ejusdem Christi
sibi studeat membra subjugare." Lib. 4. Epist. 36. Manifestly
such a title and such a claim could not co-exist for any length of
time, with even a tolerably free and general use of the Scriptures.
Advance a few centuries later, and with the claim then propounded
we see the utter incompatibility of a Scriptural Church, or Scrip
tural teaching. " Quod Romana Ecclesia a solo Domino sit
fundata; quod solus Romanus Pontifex jure dicatur universalis;
quod ille solus possit deponere Episcopos vel reconciliare ; quod
legatus ejus omnibus Episcopis prsesit in concilio, etiam inferioris
gradus, et adversus eos sententiam depositionis possit dare ; quod
absentes Papa possit deponere ; quod cum excommunicatis ab
nio, inter caetera, nee in e&dem domo debemus manere ; quod illi
liceat imperatores deponere ; quod nulla Synodus absque prsecepto
ejus, debet generalis vocari; quod sententia illius a nullo debeat
relractari, et ipse omnium solus retractare possit ; quod a nemine
ipse judicari debeat; quod Romana Ecc'.esia nunquam erravit,
nee in perpetuum, Scriptur^ testante, errabit; quod Romanus
Pontifex, si Canonice fuerit ordinatus, meritis Beati Petri indubi-
tanter efficetur Sanctus; quod illius praecepto et licenti^ subjectis
liceat accusare; quod, absque synodal! conventu possit Episcopos
deponere et reconciliare; quod Catholicus non habeatur quia non
concordat Romanae Ecclesiae ; quod a fidelitate iniquorum, sub-
jectos potest absolvere." Diet. Pop. Greg. Sep. in Epist. lib. 2.
Epist. 56. Labb. Concil. vol. 10. pp. UO, HI.
It is delightful to know how cherished was holy Scripture in the
ancient Anglo-Saxon Church,how deeply studied, and how many rays
of truth must, after all, have illuminated periods of her history,
which we too rashly condemn to an unmitigated darkness, and an un
broken ignorance. "Thereadingof Holy Scriptures," says Bede," is

LECTURE VI. 187
cabUity to the wants of mankind ; its incomparable
home-comingness and simpUcity as well as depth,
the knowledge of everlasting blessedness. In the holy Scriptures
man may contemplate himself, as in some miiTor, what sort of
person he is. Just so the reading of holy Scriptures; it
cleanseth the reader's soul, it bringeth into his mind the fear of
hell-punishment, and it raiseth his heart to the joy above. The
man who wishes ever to be with God; he should often pray to
Him, and he should often read the holy Scriptures. For when we
pray, we speak to God, and when we read the holy books, then
God speaks to us. It is a twofold joy which the reading of the
holy books biingeth to the readers ; first, that it so instructs their
understandings as to render them sharper, and also that it leads
them from this world's vanities to the love of God. The reading
of the holy books is a very pious work, and it greatly helpeth to
the cleansing of the soul. As the body is fed with fleshly meats,
so also the higher man, that is, the soul, is fed with divine con
ferences : as the Psalmist says, ' Sweeter to the cheek of my
mouth are thy speeches, than honey, or the honey-comb.' He is
very happy who readeth the holy Scriptures, if he tmneth the
words into works. All the holy Scriptures are written for our
health, that we may through them understand the truth. Oftener
the blind man stumbleth than he who sees ; so also he who knows
not God's commands, oftener he sinneth from his ignorance, than
does he who knows them. And like the blind man without a
guide, so also mau without a teacher, must have great difficulty in
going the right way according to God's commands." Whelock in
his Notes upon Bede's Ecclesiastical History. (Cant. 1643.
p. 173.)
" In his enim quae aperte in Scripturis posita sunt, inveni-
untur ilia omnia quae continent fidem, mores vivendi, spem scilicet
atque charitatem. Cum vero, facta quadam familiaritate cum
ipsa lingua divinarum Scripturarum, in ea quae obscura simt
aperienda et discutienda, pergendum est, ut ad obscuriores locu-
tiones illustrandas, de manifestioribus sumantur exempla, et quae
dam ceitarum sententiarum testimonia,dubitationem certis auferant:
in qua re memoria valet plurimum, quae, si defuerit, non potest
his praeceptis dari." (Rabanus Maurus, Mogunt. Archiep. de Cle-
ricorum Iiistitutione, lib. ii. c. 7. edit. Colon, 1533. p. 160.)

188 LECTURE VL
we are very wrong in yielding so readily, as we
are inclined to do, to the common supposition,
that the unadorned Gospel, not divested of that
, beauty of holiness in the Church which it not only
" Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie. Sicut enim
panis est esca corporis unde corpus in hoc seculo vivet, ita est
panis spiritalis unde anima sine fine vivere debet. Hoc est divina
Scriptura, quae docet et ammonet qualiter ad Dominum et ad
regnum aetemum pervenire valeamus, et qualiter possumus relin-
quere viam quae ducit ad infernum et regnum Diaboli, ubi erunt
peccatores sine fine torquendi. Ilium, ergo, panem, fratres
rarissimi, cotidie sine cessatione cmn magno desiderio roo-are
debemus, ut ilium Dominus omnipotens pro sua pietate largiri
dignetur ; ut valeamus intelligere quae sit voluntas Dei, et facere
quae illi placita sunt, ut maneamus in illo et ipse in nobis." Brit.
Mus. MSS. Cotton. Tiberius, c. 1. fol. 87,
" All teachers that take not their doctrine and examples out
of these holy books are like those of whom Christ Himself thus
said, Caecus si caeco ducatum praestet, ambo in foveam cadent :
If the blind man be leader of the blind, then shall they both fall
into some blind pit ; but such teachers as take their examples and
doctrine from hence, whether it be out of the Old Testament or
the New, are such as Christ Himself spake of in these words,
Omnis scriba doctus in regno caelorum similis est homini patri-
familias qui profert de thesauro suo nova et Vetera; Every learned
scribe in the Church of God is like the master of a family, who
brings forth ever out of his own treasure things new and old."
jElfric, of the New Testament, L'Isle's Transl. p. 38.
" Incipit ordo vel examinatio ui ordinatione episcopi. In-
terrogamus te dilectissime frater in caritate sincera : si omnem
prudentiam tuam quantum tua capax est natura divinae Scripturse
sensibus accommodare volueris. Responsio. Ita ex toto corde
volo in omnibus obedire et consentire. Interrogatio. Vis ea qui
ex divinis Scripturis intelligis plebera cui ordinandus es et verbis
docere et exemplis ? Responsio. Volo." (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cot
ton. Tiberius. A. III. f. 91.) Respecting any belief in tradition,
this examination is silent. Vid. Soame's Bampton Lectures,
p. 92—95.

LECTURE VL isg
admits, but requu-es, but stiU in the integrity of its
docti-ines, as propounded by Christ and His Apostles,
would have been inappUcable to the popular wants of
these rude ages. There is something, surely, ex-
tiemely disrespectful to the holy Volume in this be
lief; nay, brethren, I wUl caU it boldly what it is ; it
is a rationalistic disparagement of the divine wisdom,
in thinking that the word of God, in all its breadth
and power, the simple primitive Gospel, without ad
dition or diminution, could have exercised no re
generating influences over mediaeval society, without
the legends, the idolatries, the specious corruptions,
and the popular witchcraft of the Chm-ch of Rome.
Those times were indeed rude, in the luxurious ap-
pUances of life, and in the refinements of the arts —
but they were rich in noble capacities — they were full
of energy and inteUect ; they had all the principles of
social order within them, however unperfected and un-
methodized; they were no unapt ground, as events
subsequentiy proved, for the reception of those Gospel
truths, which, had the Church done her duty, might
once have been gently and peaceably distUled into men's
minds, instead ofbeing tempestuously flung abroad, as
was their ultimate fate, when the time for sowing them
arrived. It is not only a principle fuU of danger, if
wrought out into aU its practical consequences, but one
reaUy inapplicable to the individual case, to vindicate
Rome, and her corruptions of the Gospel truth, on
the ground of their adaptation to the then condition of
manldnd, which, but for this, she might not only have
benefited by fits and starts and in her own despite, but

190 LECTURE VI.
have perjnanently ameliorated, and thus identified the
Gospel, in men's minds, with the after growth of the
nation. To vindicate the main featm-es of mediaeval
Christianity, both doctrinal and practical, on the prin
ciple of its being the real Apostolic scheme, is an intelli
gible argument, however false, in fact, and destructive
of what it professes to uphold. But to assert that Apo
stolic truth is a distinct thing from that system, and yet,
to justify, on grounds of temporary expediency, not a
mere modification of its form, butan alteration of essen
tial principles in the way of propounding it, is ground,
both morally and logicaUy, untenable. Almighty God
best knows what were the great purposes which He de
signed to answer, in making the written word the fuU
and perfect Canon of the faith; and it was the bounden
duty of the Ministers of the Gospel to preach it as
they had received it ; and to communicate to man
kind at large, in its unimpaired fulness, the inherit
ance of which they were the depositories.
In the early ages of Christianity, we are sure that
many nations were converted to the faith by the
Apostles, and Apostolic missionaries, whose intel
lectual condition must necessarily have been low, —
many, barbarous tribes, to whom, carnally spealdng, a
corrupt form of Christianity, modelled to their con
dition and actual prejudices, after the modem and
ancient fashion of Romanist propagandism, would
have been better fitted than the faith once dehvered
to the saints'". Much more, in the Churches of the
*¦ It would be absurd to place any precise limits, though limits
of truth and reason there undoubtedly are, on the accommodation

LECTURE VI. 191
West, fashioned fi-om the first to Apostolic doctrine
and discipline, might that faith, which was afready
to invincible prejudice or gross ignorance which a Minister of the
Gospel may adopt towards a barbarous nation which he is evange
lizing. Nor would 1 disparage for a moment the indefatigable
zeal, heroic self-devotion, and unconquerable faith exhibited by
some illustrious Romanist missionaries, whose names and whose
praises are in all the world. But with all reasonable and charitable
allowance, there can, I think, be no doubt, that the love of
despotic power, an intense selfishness of purpose, and unscrupu
lous dealing with the word of light and life, which characterize
Rome as an educator, have marked most of her later missionary
efforts, whatever the earlier ones may have been. " The many
histories and relations which mention the labours, perils, and ex
ploits of that prodigious multitude of Jesuits, who were employed
in the conversion of the African, American, and Indian infidels,
abundantly shew, with what fidelity and zeal the members of this
society executed the orders of the Roman pontiffs. And their
labours would have undoubtedly crowned them with immortal glory,
had it not appeared evident from the most authentic records, that
the greatest part of these new apostles had more in view the pro
moting the ambitious views of Rome, and the advancing the
interests of their own society, than the propagation of the Christian
religion, or the honour of its divine Author. It may also be
affirmed, from records of the highestcredit and authority, that the
inquisition erected by the Jesuits at Goa, and the penal laws,
whose terrors they employed so freely in propagation of the Gos
pel, contributed much more than their arguments and exhortations,
which were but sparingly used to engage the Indians to embrace
Christianity." Vid. General History of the Church by Mosheim,
vol. iv. p. 156.
" The gi'and accusation that is brought against the Jesuits in
China is this ; ' That they make an impious mixture of light and
darkness, of Chinese superstition and Christian truth, in order to
triumph with the greater speed and facility over the prejudices of
that people against the doctrine of the Gospel ; and that they
allow their converts to retain the profane customs and the absurd
rites of their Pagan ancestors.' Ricci, who was the founder of the
Christian Church in that famous monarchy, declared it as his

192 LECTURE VL
estabhshed, have been maintained in some approach
to its primitive strength and purity, along with the
opinion, that the greatest part of those rites, which the Chinese
are obliged hy the laws of their country to perform, might be
innocently observed by the new converts. To render this opinion
less shocking, he supported and explained it upon the following
principle ; ' That these rites were of a civil and not of a sacred
nature ; that they were invented from views of policy, and not for
any purposes of religion ; and that none but the very dregs of the
populace in China, considered them in any other light.' This
opinion was not only rejected by the Dominicans and Franciscans,
who were associated with the Jesuits an this important mission, but
also by some even of the most learned Jesuits, both in China and
Japan, and particularly by Nicholas Lombard, who published a
memorial, containing the reasons upon which his dissent was
founded. This contest, which was long carried on in a private
manner, was brought by the Dominicans, before the tribunal of the
pontiff, in the year 1645, and from that period continued to pro
duce great divisions, commotions, and caballing, in the Church
of Rome. Innocent X. in the year now mentioned, pronounced in
favour of the Dominicans, and highly condemned the indulgence
which the Jesuits had shewn to the Chinese superstitions." Vid.
Mosheim 's General History of the Church, vol. v. p. 25, 26.
" The ministerial labours of the Romish missionaries, and, more
especially, of the Jesuits, were crowned in Japan with surprising
success, towards the commencement of this century, and made an
incredible number of converts to the Christian religion." Vol. v.
p. 33.
" While Father Labat was at Rome, Father Tamburini, who at
that time was general of the Jesuits, asked him several questions
relating to the progress of Christianity in America; to which,
with equal courage and candour, he gave immediately this general
answer : ' That the Gospel had made little or no real progress in
that country : that he had never met with one adult person among
the Americans who could be esteemed a true proselyte to Chris
tianity ; and that the Missionaries could scarcely pretend to any
other exploits (of a spiritual kind) than their having baptized some
children at the point of death.' He added at the same time,
' That, in order to make the Americans Christians, it was pre-

LECTURE VI. 193
civihzation of mankind, and that expansion of the
human mind, which, as far as lay in the power of
Rome, it was made an instrument to repress.
The corruption of the mediaeval period of the Mediavai
'¦ _ _ corruption
Church, and the parallel growth of laic and ecclesi- not com-
astical degeneracy, could not only never have attained with the
free use of
their full and systematized shape, but could never Scripture.
have prevaUed permanently, or universally, at all, had
the supreme authority of Scripture been maintained un-
injm-ed ; and had the consequent discrepancy between
its plain rules and the prevailing doctrines been con
stantly brought home to the observation of Christians.
But one deviation followed another, and the first de

viously necessary to make them men. ' This bold Dominican, who
had been himself a Missionary in the American i.slands, had a great
mind to give Tamburini some seasonable advice concerning the
immense wealth and authority that the Jesuits had acquired in
these parts of the world ; but the cunning old man eluded artfully
this part of the conversation, and turned it upon another subject.
Lebat gave, upon another occasion, a still greater proof of his un
daunted spirit and presence of mind ; for when, in the audience
granted him by Clement XI. that pontiff praised in pompous terms
the industry and zeal of the Portuguese and Spanish Missionaries
in promoting the salvation of the Americans, and reproached the
French with inactivity and indifference in a matter of such high
importance, our resolute Dominican told him plainly, ' that the
Spaniards and Portuguese boasted of the success of their labours
without any sort of foundation; since it was well known, that,
instead of converts, they had only made hypocrites, all their dis
ciples among the Indians having been forced, by the dread of
punishment and the terrors of death, to embrace Christianity ;'
adding, moreover, ' that such as had received baptism continued as
open and egregious idolaters as they had been before their pro
fession of Christianity.' " Vid. note o, vol. v. p. 44. Mosheim 'g
General History. (M'Laine's Transl.)
VOL. II. 0

194 LECTURE VI.
liberate departure from Scripture, as the rule of faith,
involved in principle, both positively and negatively,
all the consequences which ensued. Corruptions,
commenced in ignorance, were retained from policy —
vague superstitions were methodized for profit — they
became bound up, in popular opinion, with the
essence of the faith, and indispensable, in reality, to
the secular interests of the Church. But, as enquiry
can never whoUy be suppressed, and man cannot so
far stifle his intellectual natm-e, as not, from time to
time, to seek the reason of what is demanded from
him as a duty; and, as such reason could not be
found in Scripture, it was of necessity extia-Scrip-
turally sought — the unlimited authority of the Church,
gradually supplanting the earUer reverence for primi
tive tradition, and embracing in its compass every
variety of doctrine and principle, not by any other pro
cess to be established, was buUt up, as an article of
faith, upon the ruins of the word.
With the free and general use of Scripture, and the
witnesses to the truth, which, even as it was, the partial
perusal of it, stirred up, this never could have stood.
Neither indulgences, nor pilgrimages, nor the worship
of images, nor the supremacy of the Roman see, nor
the sacrifice of the mass, nor salvation by meritorious
works, could ever have grown into a widely-admitted
and established creed.
Again. Along with the supremacy of the word, there
must have existed a nobler and freer philosophy than
that which grew up under the influence of the subtle
intellects of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, pro-

LECTURE VI. 195
fessedly on the ruins of Biblicism, and which furnished
to Romanists what the Eclectics did to Paganism — a
pretence of reason, and a philosophical form which
might silence the doubts of the timid, and hopelessly
perplex, if it did not convince, the understanding of the Nor the
bold. Under this enormous and wide-branching sys- of the
tem, which embraced, from a theological centre, every
department of the human mind, the small remains of
Scriptural authority were finally suppressed \ Mean- ' p®? *°
A J J L L admirable
while, it gave as wide a play as was possible to the analysis of
f . *"'¦'* system,
metaphysical and logical tendencies of the human "i many
. . . . . important
mind, compatibly with a nominal holding of salvation points, in
' ... . Hampden's
through Christ, faith in whom it rendered dead; and, Bampton
1 1 T 1 1 • 1 Lectures.
under the dictum that what was theologically true The life of
might be phUosophically false, it opened a door to the same
powGrful
every form of that theoretic infidelity, in which the high writer, in
places of the Romish Church have always abounded, oiop. mI-
And this was not all — for, from the admixture of ori- There are
ental errors in the works on which the system was "i^f^nt^rg".
founded, and from the adoption not merely of the logic a^same
of Aristotle, but of his physics and metaphysics, not a'^viry'lm-"'
only was the growth of all true Imowledge impeded, but fn Bp" v°au
the greatest errors in every department of thought were bo'I^'^
identified with Christian truth, and the authority oi^^"^'^'
the Church. A natural result of this was — that,
when the time of emancipation came, even if the
authority of the sacred record was maintained in all
fimdamental points, yet that other truths, most im
portant, though not absolutely essential, which re
quired more attention to deduction and collateral
support from tradition and history, were exposed to
o 2

•|e s
ures.

196 LECTURE VI.
rejection. The Church, which, in so many respects,
had abused her trust, and tyrannized over the
human mind, which she ought to have cultured and
enlarged, might be naturally supposed to have the
wish to abuse it in all. Her assertion could no more
be taken upon trust — she had forfeited the generous
confidence and unhesitating belief of mankind.
The Romish Quite Certain it is, that, not only in many of those
SVStfflH 111"
compatihie who havc emancipated themselves from her Creed,
with intel- ., , . . i • i • i
lectual pro- has the previous strain upon the mmd, m the con
stant struggle between faith and reason, overturned
permanently the proper balance of the inteUect ; but,
thetri- in the case of those whom she has nominally re-
umphant • i i i
air of the tamed, she has never been able to reconcile faith to
infidels of iz-iit ti.
the Aea- the gTowth of knowledge and the improvement of the
reasoning hardier faculties. Every such advance has been ac-
christi- compauicd by a corresponding declension in her
of teir " power, and, with it, by the ruin of that Christianity
ItZrefui^ which it has always been her system to identity
supposition, absolutcly with herself, and that truth of God which
manism and her supcrstitious havc inextricably encumbered ^ She
are 'the^^ has abandoned no one claim, however monstious, so
an"awfa/ '^ loug as she could maintain it, and — where a greater
^j™°sj;0^ liberty has been permitted, and, in the partial use of
up Tradi- gcripture, faith has been conciliated with enlighten-
the Gospel, ment of mind — her improvement has been the result
to study the ^
mode in of compulsiou; not a change of system or an enlarge-
which '¦ . .
Voltaire mcut of vicw, but the necessity imposed upon her by
and Con-
dorcet treat the neighbourhood and in-esistible pressure of a more
such a .
writer as Scriptural commumou.
P ELS C &.1 
how con- But this is a mere palliative and a temporary

LECTURE VL 197
expedient — change she cannot, without an abandon- elusive had
. ... . . . ''een his
ment of her infalhbility, and the risk of being absorbed, argument
_ _ in defence
the moment she admits the full authority of Scripture of the gos-
... ^ pel as we
independently of her teaching, into a Church more find it in
truly Catholic than herself. Not only cannot the God! how
Gospel and Rome dwell together — but Rome, and the neutralized,
reasonable exercise of the faculties which God A«s of a corrupt
given us, are irreconcileable'. Hence the stiuggle^ system?™

¦= This is so serious a charge, that it ought not to be made
without unquestionable evidence, which I subjoin from a book
which deserves to be profoundly studied by all who wish to be ac
quainted with the practical results of Romanism in its purity —
undisturbed by Protestant light.
" Wherever the Religion of Rome reigns absolute, there is but
one step between it and complete infidelity."
"A divine of great eminence has observed lo me, that this im
portant position demands proof and elucidation. I am most willing
to defer to his judgment; though nothing is so difficult as reducing
to theory the daily experience of life. I have stated as a general
fact what I have seen invariably happen in my native country;
what all inhabitants of Roman Catholic countries, in every part of
the world, with whom I have become acquainted in the course of
my life, have confirmed to me, both as witnesses and as instances.
I hope I can give good reasons, and probable explanations of this
moral phenomenon ; but, to a mind deeply impressed by the ex
perience of the fact, the^' must all appear tame and lifeless. As I
cannot, however, communicate the impressions themselves, I re^
quest, that in case my theory should appear unsatisfactory, it may
not be allowed to weaken my testimony. The tendency of Roman
Catholic Christianity to produce complete and sudden infidelity
arises, in the first place, from its exclusiveness. A Romanist is,
from infancy, taught, as an article of faith, that Popery and Chris
tianity are identical. He must therefore be prepared to reject the
Gospel revelation, the moment he shall find cause to reject Popery,
A Roman Catholic is also taught to believe in the infallibility of
the Church as an essential part of Christianity. He must there-

198 LECTURE VI.
and, as authentic records teach us, the intolerable
agony, in her intelligent members, between the irre-
fore reject Christianity, upon being convinced of the existence of
a single error in his Church's creed. But, it will be asked, why
do not Roman Catholics, in countries where Romanism reigns
supreme, doubt and examine those two articles, before they reject
the whole system of Christianity ? I answer, because those two
articles are impressed upon their minds above all others. I believe
whatever the holy Roman Church believes, is made to be the com
pendious creed of the Romanist. This implicit acquiescence, this
faith by proxy, dispenses from all thought, all reading, all attention.
The very common aversion of the understanding to abstract
subjects, is cherished by this short creed ; a load of care and
trouble is thus thrown off the mind, and all apprehensions from
the want of faith vanish at the comfortable recollection, that the
Church is believing mightily for her children. The mass of Ro
manists are, on this point, like the good Tartar tribes, who employ
praying machines ; a kind of little windmills, which whirl their
written prayers in the face of heaven. The Church is a faith-
engine, for the Roman Catholic. Now, suppose a young Tartar,
in the practice of setting up daily his praying machine, grows iu-
timately acquainted with an European traveller, who indulges his
wit at the expense of the devout contrivance : — can you expect
that, when the force of ridicule or reason shall induce him to
destroy his whirl, he will sit down to enquire into the necessity of
prayer, and the right modo of performing it ? No more will the
young Spaniard, (I say Spaniard, because I know them best,)
when Voltaire has made him heartily laugh at popes, saints, monks,
and miracles, undertake a long and laborious study, to distinguish
Christianity from Popery. The more I reflect upon the popular
customs and feelings of Spain, the more clearly I perceive the
bitter roots of unbelief which Rome has twisted, as it were, round
the very heart of the country, in the bonds with which she has
secured it to herself. The inquisition has indissolubly connected,
in the popular mind, the ideas of absurdity, confusion, immorality,
and disgrace, with that of heresy." The Rev. B. White's Evidences
against Roman Catholicism.
" It was then (in the 17th century) first," says Voltaire, " that
endeavours began to be used to open the eyes of the people in relation

LECTURE VI. 199
sistible impulse by which energetic minds are pro-
peUed to the search after ti-uth, and that blank in
to the superstitions, which they are so apt to mingle with their religion.
It was no longer accounted criminal to know (whatever sentiments
the Parliamentof Aixorthe Carmelites might entertain) that Lazarus
and Mary Magdalene had never been in Provence. The Bene
dictines could gain no credit to their assertion, that Dionysius the
Areopagite had governed the Church of Paris. Supposed saints,
pretended miracles, false relics, began to lose repute. Sound
reason, which had produced such a reformation in philosophy,
penetrated every where, though slowly and with difficulty. The
Bishop of Chalons, Gaston Louis de Noailles, brother to the Car
dinal of that name, joined so much good sense to his piety, that,
in the year 1702, he destroyed a relic, preserved with great care
for many ages in the church of Notre-Dame, and adored under
the name of the hand of Jesus Christ. All Chalons murmured
against the Bishop. Presidents, counsellors, kings, officers, trea
surers of France, merchants, principal citizens, canons, curates,
protested unanimously and in foim against the attempt of the
Bishop ; demanding to have the holy hand restored ; and alleging
the robe of Jesus Christ preserved at Argenteuch, his handkerchief
at Tm'in and at Laon, and one of the nails of the cross at St.
Denis. But the prudent firmness of the Bishop prevailed in the
end over the credulity of the people. Some other superstitions,
attached to respected usages, still subsist. The truly philosophical
spirit did not prevail till about the middle of this age." Voltaire's
Age of Louis XIV. c. xxxi. vol. 11. p. 191, 192.
Even earlier look at the effect of this grinding tyranny and im
posture. " It is certain," says the ecclesiastical historian Mosheim,
" that, in the sixteenth century, there lay concealed, in different parts
of Europe, several persons, who entertained a virulent enmity against
religion in general, and in a more especial manner against the
religion of the Gospel; who, both in their writings and in their
private conversation, sowed the seeds of impiety and error, and
who instilled their odious principles into weak and credulous minds.
It is even reported, that, in certain provinces of France and Italy,
schools were erected, whence these impious doctors issued to de
ceive the simple and unwary.'' Eccies. Hist. cent. xvi. sect. 2. §. v.
Determined infidelity was likewise charged against the Templars,

200 LECTURE VL
fidelity which seems the only refuge fi-om her unnatural
pressure— hence, fi-om the earliest times, when minds
and hearts were less susceptible, the growth of a
phUosophical heathenism, and the existence even of
a wide-spread atheism in all ranks of the Christian
priesthood. Eminently, in this respect, is Rome Anti-
christian and Apostate — dweUing with infideUty, and
leading to infideUty, by making it almost impossible
to acquire knowledge, even the highest and the noblest,
without sapping the faith, and in the recoU mvolving
Atheism or Deism, as the inevitable consequence.
Hence, too, not in individuals only, but in nihole nations
abandoned to her false teaching, comes that almost
universal and avowed divorce, of what God, by the
intermediation of the Scripture, had made one, know
ledge and faith ; hence that most awful of all sights,
the very highest faculties of mind, and the most stu
pendous discoveries in science, placed in direct op
position to that God, whose glorious works in nature
they have unfolded to us, and whose constructive
and mechanical atti-ibutes they have so wonderfuUy
illustrated.
Her most And cvcu, iu thosc eminent saints whom she has
sSnts en- fi-om time to time produced within her bosom, there
he^r system. is an intellectual deficiency; a want of simultaneous
and harmonious growth of all the faculties ; a lack of
that fi-eedom and manliness of spirit, which, when the
word of God is our only guide, is capable of com
bining with the simplest faith, and the lowliest humUity.
when their order was suppressed, at the beginning of the fourteenth
eentury.'' See Bp, Van Mildert's Hist. View of Infidelity, Serai, ix.

LECTURE VI. 201
Then- instinct of holiness has enabled them to select
and grow upon those elements of divine truth, the
food of souls, which, however obscured by her, are
stUl within her, if the teaching- of the Spirit leads to
the discovery of them. But the chain, one hardly
knows how, still hangs about them ; it is upon their
soul ; they do not rise to Christ, but see Him only
through the interpretations of men and the dis
torted reflection of the Church. They have never
tasted freely of the Scriptures; the exposition of the
Fathers, or the declaration of the Church, is the near
est point to them which they can reach ; an uncon
querable timidity deadens the pursuit of truth, in
the fear of error; and the clearest deductions of
reason from the infallible word are awed down by the
phantom of the Church. Hence comes, of necessity,
a want of clear and decided faith ; a lack of that vital
vigour in then- religious scheme, which direct contact
with the word can alone bestow ; and hence has • what
happened a phenomenon otherwise inexplicable — thatiects and
1 . . , 1 .... „holy hearts
religious movements, and an apparent stirring up oi were mem-
an earnest spirit, such as might have reasonably led sode°ty of
to the greatest results, and a doctrinal reformation of noyti i
the Church, has never gone in her beyond the^^^uaTe
extension of the penitential discipline, or the re- [o^^g*^^"'"
formation of a cloister ^ Such is the heavy yoke oi^^^°^^™'
the Church's infallibUity even on the best minds. So ^'^ endpro-
•I posed, to
does it oppress and break down the heart and intellect^'''*' ^""'^
^ ^ instruments
far beyond the mark of reason and the Umits of genu- ™'sii' i^ave
•I _ "^ been equal
ine humility; and, worst of all, it incapacitates those^ndera
earnest and holy tempers, in whose hands alone, a system!

202 LECTURE VI.
great change could be safe, from the work of effectual
reformation.
The open But, whUc tUis fatal defect makes Rome mcapable,
Scurky of even at her best, of educating individual minds to the
of eSdI! height of then- faculties; whUsther practical scheme is
utterly inappUcable, as a system of training,to the masses
which it only degrades ; whUst she is wholly incom
petent to deal with the awakened strength of reason ';
' Le Seur and Jacquier, the learned commentators on the
Principia of Newton, prefix a declaration, in which, by a solemn
falsehood, they avoid contradicting the Church, and sharing the fate
of Galileo. " Newton," they say, " in his third book assumes the
hypothesis of the earth's motion. The propositions of that authoi'
could not be explained, except through the same hypothesis. We
have therefore been forced to act a character not our own. But
we declare our submission to the decrees of the Roman Pontiffs
against the motions of the earth." The same sacrifice, according
to B. White, is required at the Spanish Universities.
By a solemn decree of the Council of Trent, the press in every
part of Christendom, " ad coercenda petulantia ingenia," was
subjected to the previous censure of the Bishops or the Inquisitors.
And let it not be said, as ill-informed Protestants suppose, that Rome
is changed in this respect. She is what she was five centuries ago,
and in her actual and present proscription of all the great masters of
the human mind, shews her inherent incapacity of keeping pace with
the growth of the human faculties. The first book in the Index
Librorum Prohibitorus, published by authority, among those which
the faithful are bound, if they have them to suiTender to the
Inquisition, is Bacon de Augmentus Scientiarum. Locke on the
Human Understanding, and Cudworth's Intellectual Systems, are
under the same prohibition. The Paradise Lost of Milton is
forbidden. " I pass over large classes of books, the very possession
of which is forbidden ; but I must notice the impartial prohibition
of science. The Church of Rome proscribed Copernicus; but to
make all things even, it has proscribed Des Cartes also. Will the
house believe it possible, that the celebrated sentence, in 1634,
against Galileo, a sentence immortalized by the execrations of

LECTURE VI. 203
and, except in conjunction with atheistic and demo
cratic influences which she never scruples to invoke,
can never again rule the mind, or widely influence
the practice of the nation; these same Scriptures, so
fatal to her, constitute, in their authority over faith,
and their universal extension as the rule of life, the
real strength of the Church of England. By their
admirable adaptation to any advances in real science ;
by then- coalescence with every thing that really
expands or adorns the human mind; and by the
perfect harmony of her system with their declarations.

science in every country where the mind is free, should be renewed
and republished in 1819?  The work of Algaretti, on the
Newtonian system, shares the same fate; so that every modification
of science, in other words, every effort of free enquiry, every attempt
to disengage the mind from the trammels of authority," &c. &c. Sir
R. Inglis's Speech, May 30, 1825. Why this proscription of
physical science ? because, in addition to its other influences in train
ing and bracing the human mind, in the proscription of substantial
forms, it subverts the master doctrhie of transuhstantiation. This
could not be established without the aid of Aristotle. From him
was introduced the doctrine of substantial forms, or absolute
accidents. The Schoolmen suppose that the universe is made up
of matter, invested and individualized by certain qualities which
have a real and substantial being. This explained the bodily
presence of Christ in the Sacraments. The substance of the
bread and wine, they argued, is converted into His body and
blood, (omnium enim elementa possunt invicem in se transmutari ', j^jj, ^^^_
non generatione, sed alteratione,) but the absolute accidents, the trine of cor-
substantial forms of both, remain as before. Though she may (-rangmuta-
regulate its study and subordinate it to proper principles and a tion, in con-
higher science, yet it is to be hoped, that the Church in the°^jjj'°^g
country of Bacon, will never undervalue the discipline which Eucharist,
natural science fm-nishes to the mind, nor the noble discovery of Bampton"^
which it has been the instrument. Lectures.

204 LECTURE VI.
and by nothing else, can the present remaining
position of the Church of England be explained.
Hence it comes to pass, that, in a period of universal
fermentation, and, whether there be intellectual ad
vance or not, certainly a period of unexampled intel
lectual stir and agitation, her influence, as the national
Church, over the hearts and minds of men, is not
only not lessened, but daUy increased; and the
foundations of her temporal security, under God's
blessing, are broadened and deepened, and rest not
on the shifting expediencies of power, or the accumu
lation upon her of secular honom-s ; but on her spi
ritual vigour, and on the hearts of the people.
Indeed,fi-om the era of her emancipationfi-omRome
downwards, she has combined reverence for the Gos
pel, and for that Apostolical Ministry, which, by divine
commission, conveys and inculcates it, with inteUectual
Uberty. She has been gloriously distinguished above
all Churches which have ever existed, alike by the
continued purity of her doctrine, and the display of
the veiy highest mental vigour ; and this, not only
in truth purely theological, but, by a natural sym
pathy and relationship, in eveiy department of science,
which, conjoined with faith, can minister to the glory
of God. She has formed and educated the nation
committed to her charge without enslaving it ; and,
by imposing upon the mind and its exercise, no
other restraints, than those of God's own ordering,
she has reg-ulated it, not only without enfeebling it,
but with an enlargement of its compass, and with
a visible augmentation of its powers.

LECTURE VI. 205
If she were to be destroyed as a national establish- TheChurch
'' . of England
ment to-morrow, nothing could destroy her insepa- inseparahiy
. connected
rable and immemorial connection with the mmd of with the
. . . , intellect of
the nation, and with all that is noblest m its character the nation.
and its history. In the monuments of learning which
she has bequeathed to all generations, she has ex
tended her connection with great events and leading-
minds to the very noblest literature which has ever
enriched a language, or given free play to the ca
pacities of the human intellect — her Scriptural
training is embodied in the most finished models of
argument, of imagination, and of all that constitutes
not only practical wisdom, but literar-y genius in the
fulness of that power which ennobles, and those graces
that embellish it. Hence her great divines are not
merely manuals of theology and the study of solitary
scholastics — their works are not the meagre fruits
of a verbal or technical philosophy, but built upon
universal principles, overflowing with a racy vigour,
and savouring- of contact with inspiration. They
bring the illumination of the Spirit to the de
velopement of every great moral and religious tiuth,
and ensure the invigoration of every natural faculty,
in its turn, by dedicating it to its noblest use; so
they come from the closet into the senate and the
seat of judgment; and unite, not only in the sanctity
of a common faith, but in similarity of study and
inteUectual sympathy, the divine, the lawyer, and the
statesman — all that forms and moderates the faith or
practical intelligence of nations.
The Church of England has nothing to fear, there-

206 LECTURE VI.
fore, for the future, in the advance of knowledge in
any direction, nor the most rigorous investigation of
her claims — she is clear of all encumbrance of human
invention whatsoever, for she has identified herself in
all things, both in doctrine and discipline, with the in
spired book of which she is the witness and keeper,
and with which she is herself content to stand or faU.
And as her strength and purity, as an inde
pendent Church, are inseparable fi-om the hmitation
of her claims by Scripture, and the resting upon
that authority of aU things necessary to salvation —
so directly or indirectly connected with the same
fundamental principle of the full authority of Scrip
ture, and the duty of every man to study it, are aU
the advantages which she may plead as the esta
blished guide of the national mind, to politicians versed
in the aflairs of man and the insti-uments by which
they are governed, and feehng the necessity of a
state education to form Christian citizens. AU claims
in favour of herseU above dissent on one hand, and
the Church of Rome on the other, as the acknow
ledged and national instrument for conducting it, are
in one way or other inseparable fi-om this. To this
ofiice, as the acknowledged trainer of the nation, I
will now direct your attention.
Compara- H. But in entering on this comparison of the theoretic
tive theo
retic ad- educational value of the Church of England, I would
for national uot be uuderstood to asscrt that, amidst aU her cor-
possessed ruptious and practical incompetency for an instructor
Cnurohesofof the humau mind, Rome does not preserve noble
England, fragments of a system originally constructed for this

LECTURE VI. 207
purpose by a divine forethought, — ^reminiscences
of principles once inseparable fi-om the practice of
the Church Catholic, whether they were ever expressed
in the form of dogmatic propositions or not. Such are
the already existing- and prepared polity,- — a Church
as well as a mere religion, — into which every soul
whom God has placed within the Christian com
monwealth is intended to be born, upon the Gospel
scheme — the subordination of aU things, in the civU
as well as the religious Ufe, to its spiritual influence
— and those chUdlike relations on the part of the
flock, and that reverend fatherhood on the side of the
teacher which, in one form or other, deeply pervade
the theory of her educational system.
But we must not be the dupe of words in a practical
question. It is not enough that the imagination is
attracted by the mere presentation of ideas thus grand,
and of principles which God has so interwoven with the
natural relations of society, that, to incorporate them
into its civil relations, is the true purpose of all wise
government — we must not straightway conclude that
the system which, on its verbal adjustment, is most
regulated by them, is superior to another which, with
a greater practical latitude, and less pretension, may,
after all, possess infinitely more of the requisites of
an educational power for man as he is. Nor must we
err in another way, as meditative men are too apt to
do ; and, because we discern in the actual condition
of things many incongruities, and a vast interval
between an imag-inable, or even, under certain cir
cumstances, a practicable state, and the existing
condition of mankind, straightway rush to the con-

208 LECTURE VI.
elusion that a stringent opposite theory, is an effectual
instrument for a regeneration of the social condition.
If men indeed would obey a specific authority, no
doubt disorder would cease ; but we have no right to
think that a restoration of the disrupted relationship
between the teachers and the taught can be effected
by high claims to such obedience. There can only,
at the best, be an approximation to such a happy de
pendency — a valuable one certainly, and one worth
all pains to attain, but no more. Perfect obedience
impUes perfect rulers, and, unless an inherent supe
riority in goodness, wisdom, intellect, and energy,
could be secured to the presiding class, any such sub
ordination of man's whole mind and spirit to them as
that in which Church-theorists see the restoration of a
golden age, is an impossibUity, and the attempt is of
all things to be most deprecated. Here then is agreat
mistake in the data on which the theory of an absolute
Church is buUt ; and, as reaUties wUl, in the end, pre
vail, spite of all efforts to substitute unrealities tor them,
all attempts to act on such a theory and maintain such
inherent superiority over the mass of mankind, as in the
Romish Church, have issued at last in signal failure;
or, so far as they have succeeded, have wrought, as we
have seen, the degradation of the rulers and the
ruled. But still, in a healthy Church we may find enough for
God's purpose — such a comparative superiorityin zeal
and love, and in that spiritual knowledge of God which
is necessary to regulate all other knowledge, as may effect
good beyond calculation, in spite of obstructions and dif
ficulties; this is feasible, and may become a fact, a fact

LECTURE VI. 209
full of power, and mighty results. On this fact, in
which so little is assumed, and which has no false
hypothesis at the bottom of it, the Church of England
rests— and with her commission from above, she needs
no other fulchrum. It is practically certain, that every
thing, in the paternal relation, which is really valuable,
and compatible with human liberty and inteUectual ad
vancement, and all the reverence and obedience attend
ant upon it, wUl, in spite of all the power that can with
stand it, foUow, in the bulk of mankind, on offices of
indefatigable love — ^whUstthe most splendid claims and
conclusive theories of an inherent title to it cannot in
themselves command either respect or affection. The
labours of Christian love among men wUl give influ
ence to the most imperfect system, and ought to do
so, whilst the best without them is powerless.
But Rome, at her best, only tames and subjects — at
her worst, she utterly ruins; and to that worst, fi-om the
natural resistance of the human mind to her usurpation,
she is always tending. The Church of England in her
feeblest condition — fi-om the vigorous reason within her,
and from her practical accommodation to man's actual
condition in an advanced and advancing social state — -
has wrought, herself, and aUowed to be wrought by
others, a large amount of moral and inteUectual good,
and has regulated men's minds by an unquestionable
sense of rehgious obligation. If the time shall ever
arrive when aU her resources shall be caUed forth, and
her genuine Gospel theory be carried out to its fullest
extent — if the sense of her spiritual commission shall
VOL. II. P

210 LECTURE VI.
be tempered adequately with the mdefatigable energy
of Christian zeal, and the simplicity of Gospel truth ;
and if she thus strives, as with one heai-t and soul, for
the practical amelioration, religious, moral, and in
tellectual, of the people among whom she is caUed
upon to labour, she will be the most glorious mani^
festation of God's presence among men, which the
world has ever seen.
That she has such capabihties, in theory, nay, that
the best theory of national education is answered in
her, and that her correspondence with its conditions
depends throughout on the free use of the word of God,
will, I trust, be clear on an attentive comparison.
The tend- 1 • There should be a general practical tendency
instruction — Something to regulate the mind of the nation
practical! ^ their social duties, and to promote that toiie of
masculine morality, which is the great safeguard of
commonwealths, and the sole condition of political
liberty. To this fundamental condition, is opposed
any system which, by deserting Scripture, directs the
rehgious thoughts of mankind to vague fancies or
idle subtleties — which engages the mere imaginative
feculties — ^which dissipates the broad articles of faith
into casuistical complexities — or any thing- which
shall, on principle, tamper with the obUgations of
ihorality, or weaken the authority of conscience.
Now this is eminently the case with Romanism-^^
for to every feeling which mere religious instinct
inay suggest, ho-wever opposed to right reason, ol- to an
enlightened faith, it gives every possible scope; it

LECTURE Vi. 211
ministers a constant food to that peering, restless
curiosity about the spiritual world ^^ which is discon-
' There ia no question raised here on the existence of an inter
mediate state, whether the souls of the just are conveyed to a state
of perfect peace and security, till, on the resurrection of the body,
they shall be finally exalted to the enjoyment of the beatific vision
in heaven.
I do not mean to argue for or against it in this place; but thus
much must undoubtedly be confessed, that it is not inconsistent
with the declarations of holy writ. Such seems the immemorial
.tradition of the Jewish Church; and such was the opinion not
only of the greater number of the ancient Fathers, but of those
who were most eminent for abilities and for learning. Justin Mar
tyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Lactantiuis, Victorinus, Ambrose,
Chrysostom, Theodoret, (Ecumenius, Theophylact, and successive
saints in all ages, have held the doctrine as scriptural. In the case
of the Millenarian doctrines, however largely received, we early
find a vigorous opposition — but we do not find in the present case
that any opposition or refutation was ever attempted — though in
dividual writers, in some passages of their works, may very well be
understood to express it as their opinion, that the souls of the
saints should not only enjoy the sight of God after the resur
rection, but till the resurrection. And even now it is not only
held by individual Christians, but it is held as an article of faith by
the whole Greek Church. But it was rejected by the Latins at the
Council of Florence, in 14.30. " Definimus insuper .... illorum
animas qui post susceptum haptisma nullum omnino maculam
incurrerunt, illas etiam quee post contractam peccati maculam, vel
in suis corporibus, vel eisdem excitae corporibus, prout superius
dictum est, sunt purgatae, in calum eos recipi et intueri clare ipsum
Deum, trinum et unum." Concil. Flor. in defin. c. 4. Thus
adding one to the many proofs which Rome has given of her dis
regard of the most ancient and uniform tradition, in comparison of
her own pretended infallibility.
But to hold this as a theological and probable opinion is one
thing ; to dwell upon it as an important article of faith, with pracr
tical consequences flowing from it, is another. Still more dan
gerous are earnest speculations on the employments therein of the
spirits of the blest, on the greater or less degree of their inter-
p 2

212 LECTURE VI.
tented with what Scripture has revealed, and has
connected inseparably with morality and practical
mediate purity, or the means and instrutnents which Alnlighty
God may adopt for exalting them gradually to higher degrees of
spiritual perfection. All this obliterates the line which ought to be
most distinctly drawn between what Scripture clearly propounds,
and what it does not — and destroys the proper balance and analogy
of faith. So it is in regard to another subject connected with the
unseen world — the relation which the Church on earth bears to the
Church unseen and in heaven.
That it forms only one Church, closely and indissolubly con
nected, there can be no question — and that too, with a more intimate
union and intercommunion than most Christians suppose. Un
questionably we may hold, and contemplative spirits do hold, a real
intercourse, to a certain extent, with their disembodied brethren;
and, in the ancient Church, there was evidently an intense percep
tion of this permanent and affectionate relation, which has slipped
out of men's memories and practice at the present day to a greater
extent than is desirable. At all events, let us not blame those who
think so, if they go no farther — surely the feeling is a good and holy
one. It was from this feeling that the ancient Church commemo
rated at the holy" Eucharist her saints and martyrs, and entreated
Almighty God to hasten the coming of His kingdom, and so com
plete the blessedness of His saints. Such was the universal
primitive practice — naturally leading, however, to prayers to those
for whom petitions were originally offered ; and to prayersyor others
besides those confessedly blessed saints in whose behalf alone they
were first presented. But, beyond a doubt, to pray yor the departed
is incompatible with praying to them — and to pray only for great
saints and blessed martyrs is a very different thing from petitions in
behalf of those of whose eternal state we are doubtful. But I mention
it here, in order to protest against men's arguing on these subjects on
the ground of feeling, as has been done of late — is it commanded in
Scripture? this is the question; if not commanded, is it recommended?
if not so, is it consistent with Scripture ? and, if in itself a thing in
different, does it accidentally interfere with positive truths and com
manded duties? If we rest on feeling, certainly the majority of man
kind will worship saints, will worship the blessed Virgin, will pray to
God for those who have not departed hence in His faith and fear. Let

LECTURE VI. 213
duties — a tone of mind, which, if indulged, is at once
subversive of a sober Christian faith, and, in its con
sequences, of a practical morality.
Not only is reasonable provision made for the
infirmities of nature, and the requisitions of the
senses, to which an orderly but simple beauty, in
the accompaniments of divine worship, is indispens
able ; but, with a pagan unspu-ituality, she has thrown
into her ritual all that can bewitch the mere senses,
attiact the mere imagination, and draw the mind
down from heaven to earthly and visible elements.
Hence, of necessity, a corresponding degradation of
the more masculine faculties, a lack of tiiat reference
to unseen things, and the reaUzation of them by an
active faith, which, in its superiority to the senses,
and the elevation of tone which it communicates
to the whole mind, is a noble result of scriptural
belief and practice. But Romanism goes farther
than this indirect influence on the practical vigour
of the mind. It has a direct tendency to shake the
foundations of moraUty, and to weaken those salutary

us shun so fatal an error. Our sublime Funeral Service itself might
fall a sacrifice to this diseased sentimentality — with all its elevating
assurances of a finished conquest over death and the grave— of the
sure and certain hope of a blessed resun-ection to those that sleep
in Je.sus, and the existing enjoyment of a perfect joy and felicity.
" Yet," says a Roman Catholic Prelate, " how consoling are the
belief and practice of Catholics in this matter, compared with
those of Protestants. Their burial service is a cold disconsolate
ceremony; and as to any communication with the deceased, when
the grave closes on their remains, they do not so much as
imagine any," Milner's End of Controversy.

214 LECTURE VL
teiTors of the divine wrath, by which human guUt is
at once restrained and punished. I wiU not enlarge
here on the mysteries of the Confessional, with its
long catalogue of abuses and unavoidable evils ; the
certain loss of purity of mind, and degradation of
general feeling which it entails.
I will not dwell on those indulgences which barter
sin for fUthy lucre, and turned, at least, in former
times, God's wrath against sin and the worm that
never dies, into a mere instrument of traffic in the
market of the priest. I will not enlarge on her false
holiness, those ascetic principles which substitute the
cloister for the world, and fasts and vigils for Chris^!
tian temperance — I will not even dwell on that sys^.
tematic depreciation of holy matrimony, the foundation
of human society, and of all the sanctities of life,
which is as directly anti-social as it is anti-scriptural-
But I will merely notice, that the whole system of
outward penance, and satisfaction to God by the ma-^
ceration of the flesh, and the sacramental absolution,
obice absente, turns the repentance of the soul into a,
mere outward thing ; and changes the moral abhorrence
of God for sin into a penal vengeance by a coi-poreal
suffering, which may be exactly measured by grains and
scruples, and the claims of justice satisfied to the fuU-^
it removes, fromti-ansgressicn, its danger, andfrom con-i
science, its terror, by the certainty oi future absolution,,
at the moment of necessity ; and by the temporal agony
of purgatorial fires. If there were nothing more in
Rome than these anti-social tendencies, and these
hindrances to a practical morality, directiy arising

LECTURE VL 215
from her rejection of Scripture, they would inca
pacitate her for the office of national education.
2. There should be a capacity for change ; not a it should
. ., be capable
change of fundamental doctrines, but the power of of change.
accommodating herself, in things indifferent, to an
alteration in outward circumstances, and the evident
lessons of experience. But this, both in principle
and in practice, is irreconcUeable with that unchange-
ableness which cannot be separated fi-om the claim
to an infallible judgment on which the Church of Rome
rests her pretensions. Every season, indeed, does not
requu-e the exhibition and avowal of every principle ;
the present expediency is the law of the Church, and
regulates the instruments with which she meets it.
She bends to the times with that plastic and protean
wisdom which is uniform in nothing- but its ambition,
and is wisdom only for its own selfish purposes.
But in the com-se of centuries, and during the warfare,
which, under every variety of circumstances, she
has waged against the human mind, there is hardly
any corruption of doctrine qr practice, which she has
not only used for a temporary pm-pose, but which
the necessities of her position have not compelled
her to shelter under her infaUibUity, and to fortify
with anathemas.
However clear, therefore, may be the demonstration
furnished by experience, of the injm-ious results of
this or that particular practice, she has not the power
to abrogate it, without endangering every thing.
And yet, prayers for the dead, the worship of saints
and angels, the adoration of images and relics^ and

216 LECTURE VL
other innovations upon the practice of the Church
ApostoUcal, stand Ui this position. Even supposing,
for a single instant, that they were not fond thmgs,
vainly invented, and not only not grounded upon any
warranty of Scripture, but dfrectly opposed to it— ^
granting the large postulate, that they aU proposed
good purposes by legitimate means, the edification
of the soul by forms not unscriptural — yet they
have been found, by so large an experience, to
disappoint this intention, and to produce such
deadly injury to sound reUgion, that, on the common
principles of prudence, they ought for ever to be
abandoned, as, from a true love to Gospel truth, they
ought never to have been introduced. At the best,
they are great experiments on the possibUity of blend
ing with the Gospel simplicity some of the feelings of
the natural heart, which are most deeply rooted there,
and the indulgence of which, notwithstanding, holy
writ does not authorize. Their defence is the attempt
of sophisters to see, how far men can steer, by subtlety
on the right hand and on the left, between sins the
most awfully denounced in Scripture, without making
shipwreck of the faith ; and how far mere notional
distinctions and the force of words can hinder them
from falUng headlong into that superstition and
idolatry, from which even the most awful realities of
God's wrath are insufficient to deter them. We need
not seek for the result in the tortuous sophistries of
Bellarmine^, or in that incomparable dexterity in the
' Nos cum Ecclesia- asserimus, imagines Christi et Sanctorum
honorandas esse, modo tamen (ut in Concil. Trid. Sess. 25.

LECTURE VI. 217
management of words which deludes the simple and
unpractised in the decrees of Trent, Experience
declaratur) in imaginibus hac coUocetur fiducia, nee ab eis aliquid
petatur, nee in eis in esse credatm- ulla divinitas, sed solum honorentur
propter eat, qute nobis repraesentant." Bellar. de Imag. Sanct.
lib. ii. c. 12.
" Non licet a Sanctis petere, ut nobis tanquam auctores divi.
norum beneficiorum, gloriam vel gratiam, aliaque ad beatitudinem
media concedant.'' " Sancti non sunt immediati intercessores
nostri apud Deum, sed, quicquid a Deos nobis impetrant, per
Christum impetrant." lb. c. xvii. lib. 1. de cult. Sanct.
What idle distinctions are these when joined to such express
declarations as the following, denouncing them who abstain from
the practice as impious and heretical : " illos qui negunt sanctos ....
invocandos esse, vel qui asserunt, illos pro hominibus non orare, vel
eorum .... invocationem esse idololatriam, vel pugnare cmn verbo
Dei adversarique honori unius mediatoris Dei et hominum Jesu
Christi — impie sentire — aflSrmantes .... sanctorum reliquiis vene-
rationem .... non deberi, &c. omnino damnandos esse, prout jam
pudor eos damnavit, et nunc etiam damnat Ecclesia." Cone. Trid,
Sess. 2S. The result is not an accidental but an inevitable one ;
things are stronger words — the practice of the Church, than her
sophistical distinction, — and Rome worships the saints as Christ
ought to be worshipped. Does she pray to Christ for salvation
through His merits and intercession ? So she does to them. Does
she pray for the enjoyment of eternal happiness through the blood
of Christ ? So she does to the Martyrs, through their blood.
Does she implore Christ for life and aid and comfort ? So she
does to them. In regard to the holy Virgin, there is hardly one
attribute peculiar to God Himself, which is not conferred upon
her, no entreaty for a blessing or a grace which God can give, which
is not addressed to her. She is conjoined iu worship with Jehovah
Himself. Blessing is implored from Mary and her Son. Glory
is ascribed to Mary together with the holy Trinity. No one even
ordinarily well acquainted either with books of Romanist devotion,
or the practice of Roman Catholic countries, can have a shadow of
douht that, whether Rome be guilty or not of Hagiolatry, she is
guilty of Mariolatry. What a singular chapter in Church history

gl8 LECTURE VI.
has decided against them, and that is enough — and
therefore our own Apostolic Church has swept them
away, not only in their grossest forms, but in their
very rudiments; she does not tolerate any thing that
can lead to them.
And so she would stUl do, and has ever professed
to do, with any part of her ritual or her doctrine,
which shaU be shewn to be opposed to holy \yrit, or
to the practical edification of her people. With
Scripture as her Canon she pan afford to do so,
without endangering one Christian truth, or laying
one finger on the substance of the faith. But, had
she rested on any thing else, she could not thus
have discriminated between the true and the false,
For the essential and cu-cumstantial are so blended
together in old ecclesiastical practice, and so wrapt
up in the same claims of sanctity, that the fringe of
a garment, a cross, or a genuflexion, has a mystic
is the perpetual virginity, assumption, and immaculate con
ception, &c. of Mary ! What a prodigious difference touching the
first between Tertullian who disbelieves, and Origen who only leans
to the more pious opinion, and the unhesitating assertions, both
plaiming universal and immemorial tradition, and denouncing wrath
on disbelievers, in Jerome and Augustine ! It is an awful thing to
tamper with idolatry ; and, who that is conversant with the human
mhid, and the lessons of ecclesiastical history, would venture to prer
diet the consequences of these vieyvs of the naother of our Lord which
are now urged yehemently upon us, as though they were fundamental
truths of religion, instead of being not religious opinions at all, what
ever else they may be ? Surely there is some defect in the con
stitution of minds which are not satisfied with that commemorative
honour, and that rational and temperate reverence, which the Church
of England pays to the Virgin and the Saints. Any more is not of
Scripture, and therefore is of evil.

LECTURE VI. 219
power about it that competes with a sacrament, or the
real oblation of the soul; and we may reasonably
doubt how far we may touch the smallest point thus
delivered to us, when, in the absence of holy writ,
we may shake the foundation of the highest. Her
inability to change or to improve, therefore, is
another objection to Romanism, as a trainer of
men's minds.
3, We cannot doubt, politically speaking, the ad-itahouH sym p 3i li n iZc
vantage of tiie developement of the human mind, in with ad-
¦ _ _ vances in
every department of knowledge, and that, in an entire knowledge.
freedom from all restraint except that which the laws
of Almighty God impose. Not only is it so with the
speculations of the moralist, and the civU wisdom of the
politician, but with those mechanical arts, which, by
enlarging the power of man over matter, are indispens
able to that social advancement and material prosperity,
the instruments of which these later times have seen so
prodigiously accelerated. The faculties by which they
are wrought are God's gifts, nor can we, without im
piety, suppose that they were conferred for any other
purpose than to be exercised^-nor, without rashness,
undervalue the triumphs which they have undoubtedly
wrought — nor the extent of the beneficial social
changes which, under a moral and regulating power,
they are capable of producing. But, where the arts
and sciences are cultivated, there must be fi-eedom
of thought^-and this wUl inevitably tell upon the
rehgious opinions of the age; you cannot stimu
late and force the mind, on one side, and pa
ralyze it, at your .pleasure, on the other. Nor

220 LECTURE VL
can any system of faith which mixes up human in
ventions with divine truths, or confounds them with
accessions incapable of a similar proof, ever withstand,
not only the harsh scrutiny of the infidel, but the
proper and reasonable examination of an intelligent
age. But the Bible is capable of standing such a
scrutiny, and of resisting alike the assaults of outward
violence and of a false philosophy. Whether, in the
contest between good and evU, which these latter
times seem doomed to witness, it shall or shall not
succeed in subordinating what it has no warrant to
suppress, and in regulating what it would be distrust
in God to wish to see destroyed, we cannot teU — but
this we know, that it is the only weapon which God
has given us, and the only one with which the Church
of Christ can succeed in the attempt.
There 4. It is an inestimable advantage, and one which
should he • /• ei • i • i
an indis- the posscssion of Scripturc alone can give, to have an
thority for authority indisputably clear and distinct in the main
taught?^^ points of faith and practice; and, on the acknowledg
ment of such an authority by the mass of the people,
the very existence of sound order and moral civilization
seems at the present moment to be depending. We have
no longer audiences for mere intellectual exercise, nor
flocks which receive,with an unquestioning dependency,
the truths propounded to them. They do not com
prehend tradition, nor can they appreciate the au
thority of past ages, nor realize the absti-action of a
Church — but the clear words of Scripture they both
understand and acknowledge ; they have the power
to penetrate the heart, and to convince the conscience

LECTURE VL 221
which God has given them. It is written, and they
cannot question it — it is written, and they can con
sult it for themselves — it is written, and it is no fiction
of the preacher, or interested contrivance of the priest
— it beats down strongholds, which nothing else can
enter — it goes upon a common ground, which no
other appeal possesses or can possess. Even where
infidelity has been added to coldness and aversion to
religious teaching, and where, in the effervescence of
the political passions, every element of evil is in turn
thrown up, the word of God is stUl the best instru
ment of regeneration, and offers the only sure basis
of success.
It is impossible to eradicate the religious instinct
from the human heart — and, whatever form it assumes,
the Bible has something to meet it — its divine morality,
its undeniable benevolence, its incomparable and vai-ied
interest — all give it a command over the whole man,
which nothing else possesses. And, however desir
able or necessary may be the resubjugation of the
multitude to an acknowledged spiritual power, yet
it may well be doubted whether any mere assertion
of authority independent of Scripture proof — any
false CathoUcism, can ever make its way good, or
preserve influence, if it acquired it. It was the prac
tical growth of other circumstances, and its theory was
calculated on the conditions of other times — and not on
the universal principles of man, or of Christianity. It is
not the Church of Rome, but the Church of England,
which, if adequately supported, can, with the Bible
in her hand, effectually deal with the uninstructed

222 LECTURE VI.
and dangerous miUions which are at present beyond
her pale. She alone can labour m charity and in
power among those who owe as little aUegiance to
the State whom they regard as thfeir Oppressor, as to
the Chm-ch, whose Gospel influences they have never
experienced.
And a com- 5. It is esscutial for an effectual popular teaching,
th'e teacher, that the tcachcr should be placed above the contiol
of those whom he is called upon to instruct — not
indeed above their sympathies, or above a reasonable
dependence on their affection — I do not mean that —
but above such a dependency of position as may
affect the fidelity of his teaching, and colour it with
the passions of those whom it is his duty to direct.
Neither do I speak here of a dependency ^br support,
or otherwise, upon the contributions of his flock, nor
the slavery which necessarUy attends upon it, but rather
of such a spiritual position, as shall raise him above all
temptation to conceal or soften down the truth; whUe
it shall combine, if possible, the dignity of personal au
thority with the humihty of a minister, and the tender
ness of a brother. There is only one thing that can give
this — and that is, a commission fi-om Christ Himself,
assured to us, not merely by the inward voice of the
heart, moving us to the holy office by a love to man
and God, but by the seal of an outward vocation.
This dUect commission from the source of all spiritual
authority, and the grace which accompanies it, has,
under the acknowledged control of the written word,
such an awfulness and solemnity, as may weU keep
uncorrupted the truth committed to our charge — and

LECTURE VI. 223
brings with it such a necessity of Apostolic meekness,
and love unfeigned, and devoted labour to win souls
to Christ, as may well lead those who have received
the gift, to shew it forth, as alone it can be shewn, in
holy works, an unfeigned devotedness to Christ,
and the manifold fi-uits of the Spirit.
This is a condition of effectual teaching which
dissent can never fulfil, and which, being unchecked by
scriptural restraint, becomes fidl of danger in the hands
of the Church of Rome. For it cannot be denied,
that a vast influence must devolve upon those who work
out such a system of national teaching ; a system in
which they who mould the popular mind derive then-
commission from a source beyond the control of the
State, whUe, by acting upon men's minds and af
fections, they accumiUate in their hands a power,
the ruder and more material elements of which are
alone within the reach of mere secular authority.
Under no conceivable circumstances, can the work
ings of ambition, and motives alien fi-om that unsecular
devotedness to the Gospel which ought to characteriize
the Christian Ministry, be wholly eradicated, though
they may be overruled and neutraUzed, in so vast a body
of men as are indispensable for the education of apeople.
But, when this becomeSj not an unavowed tendency or a
Imking infirmity, but a great principle, which subjects
aU things to this one purpose — ^when the turbulent
aAid fiery blood of Becket is held forth to men's eyes,
as though it were the pure and holy blood of Christ's
martyrs — and when the gigantic ambition of Innocent
and Hildebrand, is eulogized as the blessed zeal of

2-24 LECTURE VL
Aposties— when every thing, in the worldng of the sys
tem, tends not to mfluence, but to domination ; an au
thority of person and of office, beyond the control of
moral laws and scriptural conditions ; then, not only the
proper pre-eminence, but the very existence of the
secular power is jeoparded, and the education of the
people is only another name for an ecclesiastical
despotism, and the degradation of the human mind.
This condition, therefore, is only answered by the
Chm-ch of England, who admits, not only as a ne
cessity to be submitted to, but as a scriptural restraint,
wholesome to herself and her spiritual ministiations,
the authority of her secidar head — and exercises her
high and holy office, as the true servant of her Lord
and Master, under the control of the Gospel and the
admitted limitations of the written word. So that,
multiply her means and her ministers as much as you
will — enable her, as far as the countenance of the
temporal power can give her sti-ength to do so, to
penetrate in every direction the uninsti-ucted or infidel
multitudes, till the whole commonwealth is leavened
with the Gospel spirit — extend her ministrations from
the cottage, and those, not habitations, but dens of
extreme wretchedness whiohare the shame of our social
system, to the senate and to the palace, and the State will
only be blessing itself. The strength acquired wUl not
merely be strength to the Church, as an ecclesiastical
and separate body, but sinews to the commonwealth,
and happiness to all. It is peace — it is virtue' — it is
the love and fear of God — it is order and obedience
for conscience sake — it is that without which laws

LECTURE VI. 225
are but words, and then- sanction a mockery — all
that makes the real spirit and power of kmgs and
kingdoms !
6. There must be something further to justify the Perma.
., nencyofthe
confidence of the State ; some pledge for the per- system of
manency of the principles taught ; something which
shaU raise its creed above the shifting of expediency,
and the mutabUities of fortune; something which
shall give a oneness of character to those submitted
to its teaching, and a coherency in the rules of
thought and action, to the successive generations of
the State. This again is a condition which no form
of Sectarianism can answer; because its very founda
tion is not cohesion but repulsion ; making that the
principle of its existence, which all poUties, civU
and ecclesiastical, abhor as a principle of ruin, and
which the Gospel reprobates as a deadly sin : a law
of self-destruction, the law of indefinite and uncon-
teoUed separation ; the assertion, not of a calm judg
ment subject to reason and Scripture, and studious
of unity ; but of a judgment, strictly individual ; and
a freedom utterly licentious, because contemptuous of
precedent and antiquity.
With the adoption of any principle Uke this, the
promise of a permanent and uniform teaching is
incompatible; i£ any teaching at all, strictly speaking,
be reconcUeable to it. For it seems to involve an
inherent uncertainty in the subject matter. Such
a latitude of interpretation is entirely opposed to that
objective certainty, independent of all individual
caprice, which is necessary to the inculcation of
VOL. II. Q

226 LECTURE VI.
religious truth, as the basis of moral and intellectual
training. The absence of settied prmciples overthrows aU
authority in the teacher, and aU claim upon the
obedience of those committed to his charge ; and is
opposed to those fundamental laws of the human
mind which require both the one and the other;
and, even if it stop short of a universal scepticism, of
an ignorance from necessity, and a doubting upon
principle, there is a lack of that sobriety and quiet
power which is exhibited in the inculcation of doc
trines, where authority is presupposed to be beyond
dispute ; there is a lack too of that generous faith in the
taught, which is the divinely appointed substitute for
that feverishness of mind, which is always moving
foundations, and prevents the rehgious growth and
true advancement of the soul !
This great point, on the other hand, is secured in
the Catholic Church of England. For, though she
admits as matter of faith nothing which is not evi-
dentiy proved by holy Scripture, yet she teaches that
absolutely and dogmaticaUy; giving in her Articles
a guide to the interpretation of the written word, as
the primitive times understood it; and fortifying it by
the Cathohc Creeds, and that tradition, which gives
the last moral evidence which the subject admits
of, and the final stamp to the fixed and unchanging
faith, once for all delivered to the saints.
Nor can this pledge of imchanging doctrine be
given by the Church of Rome any more than by
dissent ; she makes the written word subordinate to

LECTURE VI. 227
tiadition and the authority of the Church. She ' As, for
"^ . instance, in
claims the power even of proclaimmg new articles withhoid-
of faith; of dispensing, on reasons of ecclesiastical from the
convenience, with the express commands of Christ ^ ; ness, Uke-
and of being bound only by what the Spirit of infaUi- thirteen
biUty which is within her shall utter at the moment, des, with
for the existing emergency of the Church. themas,
7. In any scheme which proposes to harmonize, xrent^ to
as fai- as may be, anything so perverse and eccentric {^fcr^edt.
as the minds of men, there must be a comprehensive- ^ spirit of
^ comprehen-
ness of spirit, studious of unity — there must be asionaud
deUberate rejection of every thing, which, by bur-
thening men's consciences, and multiplying, beyond
warrant, the articles of faith, shaU narrow the basis
of agreement, and limit its cathoUcity.
Such a spirit is perfectly compatible with the most
unbending adherence to all that God declares to be
His ti-uth, and an utter rejection, nay even, an
abhorrence, of that false charity which would sacrifice
tiuth to peace. No; every thing, or any thing,
rather than abandon so much as one particle of
sacred truth; any heart-burning, any discord, any
sword, dividing, on earth, man against man, and
nation against nation, rather than compromise the
tiuth which Christ has entiusted to His Church.
But, for nothing whatsoever, short of God's clearly
revealed will, does the tiue Church of Christ dare to
endanger unity.
Here again we have to thank God, for the truly
Catholic Church of England, which, in taking Scrip
ture, as understood by the primitive Church, and
Q 2

228 LECTURE VI.
taught in her Creeds as her sole canon, has assumed
the largest basis of union possible, compatible with
the rightful position of the Chm-ch itself, and the
uncompromising claims of revealed truth. She does
not confound what is essential with what is merely
ancellary — she does not pronounce absolutely where
Scripture speaks obscurely — she does not speculate on
what is intentionally hidden, or tie down to the narrow-
nessof a systemwhatGodhas left grandly unrestiained;
she does not refuse communion with any who retain
the essence of a Christian Church — inherency in its
Head, and salvation through faith in His blood.
The Spirit fi-om above which guided her great
reformers, and was with them in their secret medi
tations as fiUly, as He visibly upheld them in the
fires, is quite as remarkably manifested in what they
abstained from doing, as in what they did — ^in what
they abstained fi-om saying, as in what they have spoken
— in then- articles of faith. And, when we look at the
Creeds of the Chm-ch of Rome, or at those of some of
the Churches of the Reformation — when we consider
the turbulence and the effervescence of men's minds,
and the powerful hold which some docti-ines, neither
scriptural nor catholic, had upon the hearts of many
of those holy men, it is little short of a mUacle, that
nothing sectarian, nothmg pecuUar, nothing other
than Scriptm-e, the very word as it came from God,
should have mingled itself up with her incomparable
formularies. They have the simphcity, the pure and
serene depth, the broad distinct statement of great
principles, the comprehensive charity of the Word of

LECTURE VI. 229
God, to the ascertainment of whose doctrines they
are the surest guide, and from the imbibement of
whose spirit, they have a vital warmth and efficacy,
which render them the noblest aid to a godly life
that uninspUed wisdom has ever given to mankind.
Accordingly, the truth which the Chm-ch of England
holds collectively, the sects hold in separation, each pre
senting a false because a partial view, and distorting into
an unnatural prominency, or perhaps exclusive occu
pation of the mind, those parts of the divine scheme,
which, in her, are regulated and harmonized. Perhaps
very few, even of the many great minds which she
has produced, have, even intellectually, embraced the
full magnitude of her scheme, or her best saints
come up to the perfection of that spUitual training
which she has provided for her chUdren. But by all
but the spiritually blind, the extent of the one, which
embraces all states and conditions of life, and the
subUme and simple purity of the other, is undeniable
and undenied. Certain it is, that, if ever the Spirit
of God shall incline men's hearts to the charity
against which they sin, and the unity of which they
have almost forgotten the name, in this scriptm-al
breadth and yet simplicity of belief is laid the best
foundation for so glorious a consummation. The
sects may be absorbed into her bosom, without
renouncing any real Scripture truth which they
separately hold ; and by only consenting to maintain
it, in combination with other truths of the Word of
God which they have lost or have distorted — and
what ought we not to do? what ought we not to

2.30 LECTURE VI.
surrender? what labours of love ought we not to
undergo, to bring about even an approach to such a
state, that the Lord's house may be built upon the
hUl of Zion, and aU nations may flow unto her?
A capadty Lastfy, uot onfy ought an educating Church to
tionaiity. breathe a comprehensive spirit, but, with its Catho
Ucity, it ought to be capable of assuming a Nation
ality — of taking a specific colom- and complexion
from the peculiarities which distmguish one country
fi-om another, as well as of communicating to it a
portion of its own Catholicity. Such an accom
modation is irreconcUeable with genuine Romanism ;
not because its principles are really Catholic, and
refuse, by reason of their comprehensiveness, to be
hmited by local or temporary peculiarities — for a true
CathoUc character does easUy coalesce with aU that
is sound and ta-ue both in individuals and in nations —
but because it is really intensely sectarian, and repels
every thing which is at variance with its essential
and selfish exclusiveness. There was a period indeed
in the history of the world, before commonwealths,
with a distinct vitality and character of their own, had
formed themselves out of the confusion of all things
which foUowed the breaking up of the Roman
empire, when this very non-nationality may have
given a cohesiveness and strength to the eccle
siastical power, essential to its existence, and in no
other way attainable — but, as civUization graduaUy
advanced, and civU polities were perfected, it became
a formidable obstacle to national union and progres
sion — and fi-om that time to this, unless contioUed

LECTURE VI. 231
by the compression of a superior power, it has ever
been disruptive and anti-social.
The contiary has always been the case with the
Chm-ch of England, from its earhest establishment''.

" The old Saxon Church, likewise, was certainly free from the
greatest of the Romanist corruptions, some of which her most dis
tinguished sons vigorously opposed. Such was the worship of
images, and the determination of the second Nicene Council thereon.
Bede, and Alcuin, and Rabanus Maurus, were noble lights in
their generation, and their writings stUl bear witness against the
inventions of Rome. The following, for example, are some of the
evidences which they furnish against the master tenet of transuh
stantiation. " Finitis Paschae veteris solemniis quae in commemoratione
antiquee de jEgypto liberationis populi Dei agebatur : transiit ad
novum quod in suse redemptionis memoriam Ecclesiam frequentare
volebat, ut videlicet pro came agni ac sanguine, sui corporis et
sanguinis sacramentum substitueret. BenedLxit panem et fregit,
quia hominem adsumptum ita morti subdere dignatus est, ut ei
divinse immortalitatis veraciter inesse potentiam demonstraret,
ideoque velocius eum a morte resuscitandum doceret. Et accipiens
calicem, gratias egit, et dedit illis, dicens, Bibite ex hoc omnes.
Gratias egit ut ostendat, quod unusquisque in flagello culpae
propriae facere debeat, si ipse sequanimiter flagella culpae portat
alienag, et quod in correptione facit subditus, portat alienae, et
quod in coiTeptione facit subditus gratias Patri agit sequalis. Hie
enim est sanguis mens Novi Testamento, qui pro multis effunditur
in remissionem peccatorum. Quia ergo panis carnem coufii-mat,
vinum vero sanguinem operatur in came ; hie ad corpus Christi
mystice illud refertur ad sanguinem verum, quia et nos in Christo,
et in nobis Christum manere oportet." (Ven. Bed. in Matt. 26.
Opp. Col. Agr. 1612. tom. v. p. 77.) The same language is also
used by the venerable expositor, in treating upon the parallel
passage in St. Mark. (p. 146.)
" Et qui manducat carnem meam, et bibit meum sanguinem, in
me manet, et ergo in eo. Hoc est, ergo, manducare illam escam,
et ilium bibere potum, in Christo manere, et ilium manenlem in se

232 LECTURE VI.
Even in the confessed periods of Romanist usurpation,
it had not forgotten its old Saxon independence ; it

habere. Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo, et in quo uon
manet -Christus, proculdubio nee manducat (spiritualiter) ejus
carnem, (licet camaliter et sanguinis Christi:) sed magis tantae rei
sacramentum ad judicium sibi manducat et bibit, quia immundus
praesumitur ad Christi accedere sacramenta, quae alius non digne
sumit, nisi qui mundus est : de quibus dicitur, Beati mundi corde,
quoniam Devun videbunt." (Ibid, in Job. vi. p. 609.)
" Aliud est sacramentum, aliud virtus sacramenti : sacra
mentum enim ore percipitur, virtute sacramenti interior homo
satiatur. Sacramentum enim in alimentum corporis redigitm-,
virtute autem sacramenti aeternae vitae diguitas adipiscitur. In
Sacramento fideles quique communicanter pactum societatis et pacis
ineunt. In virtute enim sacramenti omnia membra capiti suo
conjuncta et coadunata in aeterna clariiate gaudebunt. Sicut ergo
in nos id convertitur cum id manducamus et bibimus, sic et nos in
corpus Christi convertimur, dum obedienter et pie vivimus."
(Rahan. Maur. Mogunt. Archiep. de Instit. Cler. lib. i. c. 31.
Colon. 1632. p. 51.) " Sumunt ergo fideles bene et veraciter corpus
Christi, si corpus Christi non negligant esse. Fiant corpus Christi,
si volunt vivere de Spiritu Christi." (Ibid. 52.) " Ergo quia
panis corporis cor firmat, ideo ille corpus Christi congruenter
nuncupatur. Vinum autem quia sanguinem operatur in came ad
sanguinem Christi refertur. Haec autem dum sunt visibilia sancti-
ficata, tamen per Spiritum Sanctum in sacramentum divini corporis
transeunt." Ibid. 63.
Upon the Last Supper, Raban copies Bede.
" Quotiescunque enim manducabitis panem hunc et calicem
bibetis, mortem Domini annunciabitis donee veniat. Quia enim
morte Domini liberati sumus, hujus rei memores in edendo et
potando came et sanguine, quae pro nobis oblatae sunt, significamus;
novum testamentum in his consecuti, quod est novo lex, quae
obedientem sibi tradit coelestibus regnis. Nam et Moyses, accepto
sanguine vituli in patera aspersit filios Israel, dicens. Hoc testa
mentum est, quod disposuit Deus ad vos. Hoc figura fuit testa-
menti quod Dominus novum appellavit per Prophetam, ut illud
vetus sit quod Moyses tradidit. Testamentum ergo sanguine con-

LECTURE VI. 233
bore the yoke with impatience, and not without
Uregular efforts to shake it off, long before the spirit
of the nation had been ripened to a successful resist
ance to the intiusive Church. In feelmgs and prin
ciples, accordingly, it has always been national, sym
pathizing with the general fortunes and general pro
gression of the State; and, without losing any genume
feature of universal Christianity, it has embodied
into itself the grandest quaUties of the Anglo-Saxon
race ; moulding, and regulating, and giving a uniformity
of spirit, to the elements out of which the national
character has been formed, but, at the same time,
borrowing the very qualities which it was so powerful
an instrument in perfecting and in perpetuating.
Hence comes that orderly independence, which is
alike removed from sectarian Ucentiousness, and a
central power destructive of individual Uberty — that
clear moral vision, distinctness of view, and unbending
adherence to really great principles — an inveterate
distiust of all that is novel and merely speculative —
and that sohd logic, and practical sense, with an
absence on the whole, of a merely corporate and
ecclesiastical spirit, which distinguish its theological
Uterature from that of any other Church or nation.
stitutran est, quia beneficii divini sanguinis testis est. In cujus
typum, nos calicem mysticum ad tuitionem corporis, et sanguinis,
et animae nostrae percipimus ; quia sanguinis Domini sanguinem
nostrum redemit, id est, totum hominem salvum fecit ; caro enim
Salvatoris pro salute corporis, sanguis vero pro animae nostrae
effusus est." Raban. Maur. Comment, in Epist. Paul. lib. ii. cap.
11. Opp. Col. Agrip. 1627. tom. v.p. 324. Vide Soames' Bampton
Lectures, p. 406 and 412.

234 LECTURE VI.
The fires of martyrdom purified her faith, and
bound up, in an indissoluble association with her, the
abhorrence of persecution, and the popular admiration
of that heroic suffering, which laid the foundations of
the national freedom in the Bible for which her Martyrs
died — and, when the evidences of civU discord sub
sided, and the opposing elements gradually modified
each other into a healthful balance, her own consti
tution hkewise faithfuUy reflected the change; it was not
without a struggle, but it stUl reflected it. She took
from Puritanism all that it possessed of manly inde
pendence, and scriptural simpUcity, without its bare
austerity and fanatical hatred of forms — and from
what has always seemed to the nation the semi-
Romanism of Laud, she has taken the reverence for
antiquity, and the beauty of holiness, without its
superstitious formahty, and its arbitrary spirit.
Having thus, from the first, been associated, not
only with all the constitutional forms of the nation,
but with its real spirit — having proved, at the glorious
Revolution, its bulwark aUke against tyrannical power,
and papal corruption — even that last change, in our
own times, in her state relations, which appeared at
the moment to strip her of her ancient defences, has
had no other effect than to awaken her spiritual
energies, and to multiply tenfold her moral forces,
and only real strength — she has lost just so much
of outward protection, which in some respects was
weakness instead of stiength, as to exhibit her no
longer in the eyes of the multitude as a mere
Church by virtue of an estabhshment, and a creature

LECTURE VI. 235
of the civU power, but truly as the Church of Christ
in the midst of the nation.
Such is the great mheritance and power for the spi
ritual and inteUectual training of mankind, which has
descended to us — ^handed down by the Apostles, kept
alive through long ages of darkness, the ravages of
bai-barians, and the confiision of aU things — ^purified
m the very fires, and purged by blood — identified
with the national character, and buUt up with the
national greatness — not faultiess or blameless, but,
with aUowance to human infirmities, as pure as the
Word of God can make her — not omnipotent over
men's souls, but as powerful for her office as a simple
trust in her Saviour can render her — not eternal
in her present form, nor beyond change, but buUt
up, in the main, with materials that shaU endure,
when all but the Word of God shaU finaUy pass
away. In these last days, when not only the Church
itself as the instrument of national training is in
imminent danger, but reaUy aU that is most precious
to the interests of man is periUed with her, do not
let us be drawn away fi-om her defence, and from that
aggressive warfare on the corruption of the world
which is an essential part of it, by imagining models
of Churchmanship which have never existed ; or im
practicable schemes of discipline, the very subjects
of which must first be won by us from the infidel
wastes of the nation. The duties of the Gospel, and
of a Gospel Church, are simple and practical, and
depend on the vigorous carrying out of a few broad

236 LECTURE VI.
and intelUgible principles. In the authority which
they possess over men's hearts, when accompanied by
a devoted ministry, which makes Christ the begin
ning, middle, and end of its labours ; and in no mere
theories of Church authority, no haughty inculcation
of abstract rights, the fulness of which our own neg-
Ugence has forfeited ; in no distinctions which, how
ever true, are uninteUigible to the mass of mankind,
is to be found the true power of the Church of
England, or of any Church. We must make up our
minds to cling to her, and to defend her, and to use
her, as she is, U the nation is not to slip from her
teaching : we must make her the centre of our affections,
and the standard of our judgment, holding brotherly
fellowship with all her attached and true ministers and
chUdren, even though they do not regard her from
the same point of view as ourselves ; love to Christ,
and labour for Him, is the true bond of fellowship.
Combine every thing else with it, if you can ; but, if
that be present, do not distract the efforts of the
Church for the salvation of souls, by speculations in
doubtful points, and by the subtleties of a theology,
which, though demonstrative in the cloisters, is
powerless to deal with the conversion of the world.
Such a visible society, as the Church of England
presents, is to the human mind indispensable; we
cannot labour as individuals; we must have some
centre of spiritual feUowship, and some definite
shape to the faith. And any change, in the received
phraseology of the Church, any fretful and impatient
stm-ing after any other form of Catholicity than that

LECTURE VI. 237
which she exhibits, any attempt to shift off her faith
from the Scripture foundations on which she herself
has placed it; any sectarian disruption of her old and
cherished association with other Protestant Churches ;
any shrinking from popular contact ; any slackening
of the noble enterprise of missionary duties; any
adoption of new ecclesiastical predUections, utterly
alien to her true character, and the immemorial cha
racter of the nation, can only lead to evU. It may
palsy all her efforts, it may destroy her nationaUty,
it may make holy men, what they abhor, centres of
sectarianism, and heads of schism; amidst the tumvdt
of opinion and the storm of parties, it may make
a wreck of the Church ; and, if it be so, who shall
gather up the fragments of it from the waves ? a part
of it wUl be absorbed in dissent, a part in Rome;
but in its entirety it never can exist again. This is
enough to make any man pause. At any rate, let no
young man in this solemn matter cast himself loose
upon the Fathers, or surrender himseU to those who,
whatever claims to the distinction they may have, are
the professed interpreters and expounders of the Fa
thers' teaching, before he has maturely examined the
truth of the Gospel by the Articles of the Church of
England, under whose guidance God has placed him ;
before he has diligentiy studied the controversy with
Rome in our masculine theology, the earUer theology
of the Church in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen
turies, which, in its mighty masters of reasoning and
of learning, is as well its true defender, as its genuine
expositor. The great divines of the Church of

238 LECTURE VI.
England, and not the Fathers, are the best and the
most faithful expositors of the Gospel ti-uth. This is
a study ; and a hard study of many years ; but such
a knowledge, and competency of judgment, as shall
justify any man, so much as to tolerate the thought
either of leaving her, or of reforming her, is not to
be obtained at a less price than this. In the mean
whUe, men's minds cannot remain unsettled; they
cannot remain, earnestly, members of a mere ideal
communion, a faint image of which, if so much as that,
is all that they can discover in the Church to which
J . they belong. And quite certain it is, that, not in the
stance, the Church of England, but in the Church of Rome, is
merit of the °
ascetic life, to be fouud the model of that mediaeval Catho-
the rever
ence due tohcity^ which supplanted the pure doctrine, and simple
relics, the forms of the Church Apostolical. It is solely to the
of Saints advantage of that apostatizing Church, that, in the
Virgin, prcscut Struggle, every thing that sows dissention
the power' amoug US, cvciy doubt thrown upon the doctrinal
cramrate soundncss of OUT Articles, or the real Catholicity, that
Euchafi3t,*is, if such a phrase means any thing worth attending
apprehend ^> ^hc Scriptural truth of their teaching, must
^'™^j^^°*'' inevitably tum. In this educational office her
transub- Articles are quite as essential to her as the Prayer-
stantiation, J- •>
the power ^Qok; nothuig that shakes them, or any one of them,
Clergy, and or auy part of one of them, is a via media, but a via
1116 CJJJLCclCV
of penance. Romana, and so far a diminution of her fitness for
Acceptthese, and the officc ; any step that removes us from them as
you are
divided by the great landmarks of our teachmg, both positively
a word from and negatively, will alienate us from the nation, and
Tridentine r • /• i i • • i
Kome. the nation from us ; make us dangerous as spiritual

LECTURE VI. 230
guides, and utterly useless as intellectual ones. Re
suscitate her discipline if you please, enforce her
Apostolical order, bring home to men's hearts her
divine Liturgy, Ulustrate her by reason, by learning,
by the bright and undeniable evidence of a holy and
devoted ministry, careless of any thing but the
winning of souls; but permit not an atom of the
broad, and simple, and decisive teaching of the
Articles to be touched. We shaU then be safe,
under God's blessing — ^they protect us from the
Arian and the Socinian, and they wUl, now, protect us
fi-om the Romanist; our faith from corruption, our
practice from superstition, and the nation, of which
we are the teachers, ahke from a moral degeneracy,
and an intellectual degradation.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

LECTUEE VIL

THE KINGDOM Or CHRIST.

VOL. n. R

I. 1. Christ in the character of King, as well as Priest
and Prophet — 2. two relations of the kingly power, internal
and external.
II. How far the regal character is actually commu
nicated to the Church — the power of excommunication
essential to the Church — the Papist usurpations.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

LECTUEE VII.

I. 1. ^T^HE more we contemplate the EvangeUcal
-*- offices of Christ, the more they are calcu
lated to fUl the heart with boundless gi-atitude for the
interposition of so great and glorious a Being ; and
with wonder at the mystery with which the whole
scheme is encompassed. Yet, as regards om-selves,
it is most direct and practical, though it sUdes away
on all sides into an unfathomable abyss; and the
perfect adaptation of its provisions to the wants of
human nature, in all their length and breadth, is not
only within our comprehension, but really within
the experience oi the very lowest, whose heart is
touched with a feeling of those wants, spiritual,
moral, and intellectual, which the incarnation of the
Son of God was intended to supply. What humility
is there in it, and yet what grandeur ! what majesty,
and yet what affabihty ! a double crown, so opposed,
and yet in Him so harmoniously combined; the
r2

244 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
.crown of thorns, and that crown of triumph which
outshines all the glory that can be named in heaven
and earth. Great indeed is the mystery of godliness!
We have seen, how, through His eternal Priest
hood, and that all-sufficient sacrifice on which its
right of interposition is founded, we are brought,
through faith, into communication with God, as
our reconcUed Father; and by what influences of the
Spirit He brings home to the heart of His redeemed
those divine truths, of which He is ahke the intellectual
fountain, and the inspUer of their moral and trans
forming power. We have likewise seen, that, as
Priest and Teacher, He is constantly operating upon
the souls which faith has united to Him; and that He
has not delegated to any class of men, however con
secrated by office, those mediatorial attributes; exactly
as Almighty God, in the works of nature, did not
retire into Himself, when the Genesis was com
pleted, but does Himself, by an unceasing energy,
work out those laws which He originally impressed
upon the elements.
Christ's re- We havc uow to regard Him in another aspect ;
ga power. ^^^^ ^hich, though issuiug fi-om His humUiation, is
not actually combined with it, as is the priesthood
with the sacrifice ; nor, like His office of spiritual teach
ing, does it imply, of necessity, a winding of His in
fluence into the heart — a leading and moulding of the
affections, rather than an overcoming of the will. His
remaining office, to be exercised like the rest tUl God
shall be all in all, is one of authority; and, however ac
knowledged by His true disciples to be an empire of

LECTURE VII. 245
love, and to rest on a voluntary obedience, yet is neces
sarily armed with power, for the estabhshment of its
rights, and the enforcement of a universal submission.
And here, as in other points of the Gospel dispensation,
if we are at liberty to speculate upon such a subject, we
might suppose the economy of it to have been far other
wise than it is. When the Mediator had finally re
moved the obstructions which mterposed between God
and man, the authority over those who were thus recon
cUed, might have been dfrectly exercised by Almighty
God, simply as God ; as it may be exercised towards
those angelic Intelligences wliich have never stood
in need of a Mediator, and have remained, uninter
ruptedly, in immediate relation to Jehovah.
There are, indeed, many difficulties in comprehend
ing the scheme of Christ's Kingship which the Gos
pel proposes to us ; and many metaphysical questions
which may be raised, and which cannot be answered,
as to where the Ime between God and the God-Man
begins or ends; and where the economy of the Gospel,
as the Fathers call it, is to receive its limit. Be this. Scripture
1 • ^, • • 11 full of the
however, as it may, we, as Christians, are bound to re^ Kingship
ceive the plain declarations of the written word ; antl Messiah.
nothing can be more express than the true regal cha
racter of the Messiah, from the very earliest declarations
of His coming, to the fullest and most minute descrip
tions of His person and offices which are to be met with
in subsequent prophecy. " There shaU come a Star Num. xxiv.
out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel."
The Messiah is a King of kings, and a Lord of lords
—He prescribes as a legislator — He judges the

246 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
guUty — He rewards the righteous — He governs us
as His subjects — ^we ai-e His soldiers and His servants,
and He does not only appeal to om- gratitude, but He
demands our allegiance and our loyalty. It is thus
Isa. i-x. 6. that Isaiah declares His office ; " Unto us a ChUd is
born, unto us a Son is given — and the government
shall be upon His shoulder — of His kingdom there
p>=. xiv. 1. shall be no end." And so the Psalmist, " I speak of
Ps.xiv.3,4. the things which I have made unto the King." " Gird
thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty, ac
cording to thy worslUp and renown — ride on because
of the word of truth, and meekness, and righteous
ness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible
Ps. xiv. 6. things." " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever
— the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre." So
Zech. ix. 9. Zechariah : " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion —
Dan.vii.i3, for thy King cometh unto thee." So Daniel : "And
behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds
of heaven, and they brought Him near before Him.
And there was given unto Him dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and
languages should serve Him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and
His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
But, directly or indirectly, in fact, the Scriptm-es
are full of the power and imperial triumphs of Him
that should come — and to such an extent did this
pervade the old Jewish Church, that, it became an
Hermeneutic rule, never departed from, that all
passages in holy writ which spoke indefinitely of the
king, were allusions to the Messiah. The error of

LECTURE VII. 247
the Jews therefore lay not so much in this, that they
beheved the promised Messiah should be the greatest
of sovereigns, such as no earthly conqueror could bear
a comparison with ; but in looking at Scripture and
its declarations without that key, in the absence of
which the letter is dead, and only a prison for the
meaning which the Spirit has inclosed therein, they
had lost the spiritual faculty, in the absence of all
perception of spu-itual wants, and of the real source of
those moral and physical evils, under which not only
they, but the whole creation groaneth together, ex
pecting the time of their deliverance. Their views,
therefore, were onesided; and, as is always the case
with minds violentiy prepossessed, they were blinded to
the clearest declarations of those Scriptures, on which
they grounded their expectation of a triumphant
Messiah. Had it not been so, they would have combined
the splendour of that triumph which wUl be the ul
timate condition of the Chm-ch, by and through its
union with its conquering Head, with what was an
nounced with equal clearness — a bitterness of agony,
and a depth of shame, corresponding to the final
elevation, of Him who bore, representatively, the
burthen of humanity. But it needed a positive Ulumi-
nation of tiie Spirit to bring this home — even to the
understandings of those who embraced the doctrine
of Jesus, and who, in His death, mom-ned over the
baffled hopes which they had buUt on Him who
should have redeemed Israel. "Then opened He
their understandings," we are told in His conversa-

248 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
tion with the two disciples at Emmaus, that they
should understand the Scriptures ; and then He un
folded to them, fi-om the Scriptures, and from all the
Prophets, how that Christ must suffer, and, after that,
enter into His glory. For the glory that was set
before Him — ^for that universal dominion, by vbtue of
which, at the mention of His name, every knee
should bow, in heaven and in earth — He endured the
cross, despising the shame. Hence the regal title
is not withheld from Him in the moments of His
profoundest humUiation, but sedulously conferred
upon Him. At the moment that the essential God
head was veiled in flesh, and lay, to a common eye,
concealed in as feeble a child as ever rested on the
bosom of a mortal mother, the eastern sages, the
first-fi-uits and i-epresenta,tives of the heathen who
were to be His future inheritance, presented to Him
such offerings, as Idngs alone have a right to receive.
And, when He was abandoned by all human succour,
and had Himself refused the aid which the legions
of angels would have been ready to give ; at the very
time that, at the command of Pilate, He was scourged
with rods, Uke the meanest criminal ; His bearing and
His words were still regal. " Art thou a King then ?
thou sayest that I am a King." And, finally, the in
tended mockery of the inscription set over the cross,
announced to all the world the real truth, in words
which, under supernatural control, the pUant governor
refused to change. This is Jesus, the King of the
Jews. How much more is He a King now, when
He has led captivity captive, and received gUts for

LECTURE VII. 249
men — and having spoUed principalities and powers,
is sat down at the right hand of God ?
2. Now, there are two points of view in which this
regal power of Christ may be advantageously con
sidered, each of which deserves and requires a
separate statement, though co-related and insepa
rable branches of the same authority. There is
that exercise of it which He carries on within His
Church, and for the peculiar ordering of His own in
heritance ; and there is another external to the Church,
yet proceeding from His sovereignty within it. It is
indispensable to protect it against its enemies with a
penal and avenging power ; especiaUy to counteract that
evU spirit who reigns in the chUdren of disobedience,
and who du-ects the forces of the world, whether mate
rial or intellectual, against the heavenly kingdom; and
this branch of the subject we shaU consider hereafter.
Within the Church then He has always been Christ's
really and emphatically a King. He lays down not «,;«!« the
only doctrines, but laws for us, authoritatively and
without appeal. Well might the people, when they
hstened to Him, Who, by the confession of all,
spake as never man spake, have been struck by
the air of natural command, and that indescribable
authority that diffused itself over all the words
that proceeded out of His mouth. He spake as
one having- authority, and not as the Scribes.
The mode in which the Prophets of old time
prefaced the message which they conveyed to men,
commanding that attention and obedience to which
the words of no created being had a claim, was.

250 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
" Thus saith the Lord — Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ;"
they bade heaven and earth keep silence before the
Supreme Majesty, and receive into the heart the
oracles of the Most High. They did not dare to m-
termix with what they spake any thing that savoured
of human authority; any thing that could approximate
what came from man, whose breath was in his nostrils,
to the words and thoughts of the Supreme. But
our Lord, in the flesh, spake on earth exactiy as
Jehovah spake from Heaven. " It was said by
them of old time, Thou shalt not kUl : but /
say unto you." " Who is this," exclaimed the
astonished disciples, " Who is this, who command-
eth the winds and the sea, and they obey Him?"
" Who is this," they might with more reason have
exclaimed, " who, being clothed with the aspect of
a man, and of flesh and blood hke ourselves, yet
deals authoritatively with the veiy words of Jehovah ;
words which came not fi-om the lips of man, however
holy, but fi-om the Lord of Hosts Himself, sitting
between the Cherubim, whUe the voice of the
trumpet waxed louder and louder in the ears of
om- fathers, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
This can be no other than He who uttered them;
and He now unfolds them, with the same legis
latorial and imperial authority, with which, as the
Angel of the Covenant, He fu-st propounded them."
All the words of Christ, in like manner, whether
they came from His lips of flesh on earth, or whether
spoken by Apostles and Prophets, are King's words —
they are commands to be obeyed, laws which may

LECTURE VII. 251
not be broken; the seal of supreme power authenti
cates them. The whole body of Scripture, therefore,
may be considered properly in this light, not as
preceptive, but authoritative — the code of our King.
And if so, not only are additions to it, and mutilations
of it, a sinful and presumptuous mixture of the earthly
with the heavenly, and a sacrUegious removal of
what God has fixed, — ^but they are, even if they go no
farther, so many acts of constructive rebellion against
the Supreme Legislator — a contempt of that authority,
which communicates immutabiUty to all that it enacts.
And precisely the same offence against the majesty of
the Lawgiver, as this addition to the written code or
diminution from it, is any attempt to tamper with the
declaration of the record so as to evade its direct and
first meaning, according to the common usages of
language, because it does not square with precon
ceived principles or private opinions.
Thus it is a rule even of human law, to admit of
no extraneous interpretation to that which in itself is
clear and consistent — for, what is thus clear, must be
presumed to be the intention of the enacter. Much
more is it so when He who formed aUke the laws of
thought, and the laws of language, has uttered His
oracles in them, avowedly not for the learned, but for
the simple, and speaks distinctly on aU vital questions;
under whatever forms it is thus diluted and evaded,
whether by the coai-se rationalism of the infidel, or by the
more decorous instrument of traditional or ecclesiastical
authority, it is an act, at best, of grievous presumption.

252 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
an offence against the truth, impugning the com
petence if not the authority of the legislator. But when
the original laws are not only laxly interpreted, but
actually subjugated to another and human code — ^when
systematic additions and perversions, overlaying the
simplicity, when they do not directly contradict the
intention, of the canon, are announced under the very
same sanctions, and forced upon men's belief with
a fulmination of anathemas, which one trembles to
read, and which are as awful as ever accompanied
the enactments of the Sinaitic Covenant — this is
not only a constructive offence against God as
King, but it is a real apostacy — a renunciation of
His authority as Lawgiver. The law is in the power
of Him, and is, in fact, the law of Him, whoever
he be, who assumes the absolute interpretation of
it on principles of His own making, under what
ever name and title the wi-iting may profess to go —
it is useless and foolish to dispute on such a trifle —
the empty name is nothing. The wearing the king's
cognizance, speaking in his name, and the most
boundless professions of acting for his interest, is
compatible, as history assures us, with the rankest hy
pocrisy, the most unprincipled ambition, and the most
undoubted rebellion. So may Rome, contemplated
in her system, though in words she acknowledges the
legislative authority of Christ, and veUs her greatest
usui-pations under that holy name, be well accounted
Antichrist, not by loose analogy only, or the ex
aggeration of an angry rhetoric, but truly and

LECTURE VII. 253
literally so ; as much so, in the consequences of
her unscriptural claims and assumption of power, as
avowed infidelity itself.
Again, the kingly authority of Christ being vested As spiritual
TT. T • TT- !/• o • • 1 KingChrist
m Him, who, being HimseU a Spirit, must be wor- demands an
, . 1 . . . , . , . obedience
shipped m spirit and m truth, must be corre- of the spirit.
spondingly obeyed — and, as whUe He rules supremely
over heaven and earth. He searcheth the very hearts
and reins. He must, by all His true subjects, be
worshipped with a loyalty, whose seat is not in the
lips, but in the heart itself. It is impossible to love
Him and to obey Him as our spiritual King, as long
as there is any participation of the affections which
are His due with any other object whatsoever. It
matters not what they are — from the grosser idols of
those who lose the man in the beasts that perish, up
to the magnificent ambition of the statesman, the at-
ti-actions of science to the inventive intellect, or those
more specious forms which the self-righteousness
of the human heart holds out for the reception of
our spiritual and diviner nature. Whatever may be
the shape which rationalism may take in opposing it,
whether superstition or infidelity, it is the plain com
mand oi Scriptm-e that we submit to the scheme of
salvation through faith in the blood of Christ, as the
Apostles propounded it, — and, that, in making om-
calUng and election sm-e, we bring every imagination
of our heart into an entire subjection and obedience
to Christ. In proportion as this surrender is perfect,
and every wandering affection is subdued, and an
entire devotedness to Him who liveth and reigneth

254 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
is produced in its stead, may we be said to obey
Him and to love Him as our King.
It is in this regal capacity that He bestows perfect
forgiveness, and an entUe amnesty for aU the sins
and offences which, in thought, word, or deed, we
have committed against Him — the prerogative of
mercy, boundless and wonderful, as His absolute
sovereignty. It is likewise, by vu-tue of this same regaUty, that
He bestows on those who come to Him those gifts of
the Spirit winch He received for men, when He
ascended into the heaven of heavens ; and which He
could not dispense, till He had conquered the pains
of death, and assumed His throne in heaven.
Hence, the moment the victory over the grave was
accomplished, came the pouring out of His Spirit
upon aU flesh, the pentecostal gUts, and the baptism
of fire ; and those manifold graces, which, fi-om the
day when the Church was inaugm-ated into her
solemn office, tUl she shall be presented pure and
without spot to her heavenly Bridegroom, have testi
fied to the residence of a mighty power within her.
By the same regal discretion He withdraws His gifts
fi-om those who will not receive Him nor acknowledge
Him; He disfranchises them of the privUeges of then-
heavenly citizenship, and leaves them in that outer
darkness of a worldly spirit, which is the certain
forerunner, not only of the ultimate withdrawal of the
light of God's countenance, but of an eternal par
ticipation in that kingdom of darkness, from which
they have refused to come out into the glorious

LECTURE VII. 255
Uberty of the chUdren of God. Finally, it is in this
character that, overlooking the unprofitable services
which are all that His best servants can render to
Him, He not only gives them their wages for
their labour in His vineyard, but proposes, out of the
fulness of His kingly munificence, and the stores
which omnipotent power places at His disposal, such
rewards for His faithful servants, as render them, in
sharing the throne of His glory, more than equals of
the angels who never fell.
The weapons, therefore, in the warfare that is to
win the heavenly crown, are not carnal, and the
armour with which we are to be clad, is the whole
armour of Christ — the shield of faith, and the sword
of the Spirit, and the breastplate of righteousness,
the sandals of the Gospel of peace, and the helmet
of salvation — this is the only armour with which we shaU
be able to stand in the evil day, and having done aU, to
stand. Hence it is that the constant warfare of the
Christian has to be carried on, not against a merely
defined and known body, external to himself, but
against enemies who reside in the very bosom of
Christ's Church, and who find their best protectors
and their stiongest bulwarks in the inherent cor
ruptions of our own hearts. All these are the melan
choly inheritance of the natural man ; and the world
within ourselves is the scene of our hardest struggles
and most difficult warfare — the first which we have to
encounter as neophytes, and the very last which,
when we reach the fulness of the Christian statm-e,
we have the power and grace to subdue.

256 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
In the world without there is more danger to be
apprehended in its invitations than in its defiance^
in the seeming good-wiU with which, from time to
time, it caresses the Gospel, or at least makes
a truce or composition with it, than in its open
and professed opposition — it is, in fact, only another
and more subtle form of that unconquerable hostility
with which it regards the claims of Christ as King.
1 John ii. " Love uot the world," says the Apostle, " nor the
things that are in the world; if any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is
not of the Father, but is of the world."
The king- Hcncc the Church of Christ is a kingdom, not
Christ, the antithetically to the temporal power or temporal
antithesis n i i i ¦ • i
not of government at aU, but only to the spmtual coiTup-
power,but tiou and natural depravity of man. It sti'ikes at
the innermost root of corruption, the soul's hatred of
a spiritual and holy God, as such; it thus makes
possible the subjugation of those passions, which
originate from causes far beyond the reach of civil
polities, and are incapable of extermination by the
rude material influence which they wield; whUe they are
the source of those anti-social out-breakings of fraud
and violence, which it is the duty of the magistrate
to restrain by the sword which he beareth not in
vain. It tends therefore to supply that want of a
sovereign power over the spirits of men, which, from
the beginning of the world, the framers of common
wealths have seen and lamented; which they have

LECTURE VII. 257
in vain sought a remedy in a politic superstition
and religious imposture, and which, from the lack of
something to move the inner nature of man, and
communicate with the invisible, has baffled their
calculations, and behed their strongest hopes.
But, however imperfectly developed, this idea has
always found an exponent in one shape or other;
and, to any attentive observer of mankind, it has
indicated, in a way not* to be misunderstood, a funda
mental law of humanity; and a necessity of civU
society, which is answered, and alone answered, by
mixing with the world the leaven of the Gospel, and
establishing in the heart of it the spmtual kingdom
of Christ. Hence it is — ^from its purely spu-itual
nature — ^from its dealing with the inner man — that it
derives the universahty and permanency of its appli
cation — that phability to outward things, or rather, U
"one may so say, thatimpassiveness to material influences,
which gives it its CathoUc character; combining with
all forms of constitution and government, and aiding
all the legitimate purposes of the secular power,
whether partitioned and balanced in a limited mon
archy, or concentrated in the hands of a despot, or
diffiised through the masses of a democracy.
Every where, when it exists in its purity, or even
in any tolerable degree of obedience to its heavenly
and unseen King, the Church acts as a healthful
principle — it operates on those individualities which
governments can never reach; winding and insinu
ating itself and its beneficial influences into aU the
recesses of human existence, impenetrable, as they
VOL. II. s

258 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
are, to any power less subtle ; and counteractuig those
disruptive tendencies, which, in spite of the pressure
of the temporal power, are always at work in dis
solving the existing organization of society. But
spiritual as are the objects, and inward the actual
workings of the kingdom of Christ, a conformity to
the outward condition of man was indispensable
from the first. The King indeed was invisible, but
the constitution of His kingdom was to be visible,
because its constituent parts were necessarily so —
visible, though so constructed as never for an instant
to lose its characteristic of dependency, essential and
inseparable, on what the eye could not reach, nor the
senses recognise. Form mystically united to graces
and spiritual operations; outward instruments, dis
pensing, through faith, heavenly effects, with a sub
ordination of such servants to minister as an in
visible King requires.
It has an Hcucc au outward fi-ame and type arose, so far as
framework, thcsc necessities, and the propagation of the faith,
rendered indispensable ; but, in the extreme simpU
city which marks the original, as it came fi-om in
spired hands, there is a manifest caution not to obscure
the spiritual nature of the kingdom and the invisible
King, under the form in which its earthly condition was
presented to mankind. From its first institution there
were references, such as could not be mistaken, to what
transcended the senses ; allusions, the more striking,
from not being encumbered and overpowered by
outward splendor, to the powers and grandeurs of that
other world of which all Christians were citizens; where.

LECTURE VII. 259
at the right hand of their King, then- affections were
fixed ; and in which the power of faith enabled them
to dweU, as those who were only pilgrims and strangers
upon earth. It did not so much symbolize the
things eternal and spiritual, as bring the soul into
a direct communication with them : and, to those
whose blessed office it was to preside over the nas
cent Church, so much only of the sovereign power was
assigned as fitted mortality, and the edification of
the flock; with a sedulous exclusion of all that should
prevent the eye of the believer from rising, constantly
and without an effort, to the great Pastor, and real
Bishop of their souls.
Little as it seems to have stiuck the most piercing simuita-
and phUosophical minds of antiquity, it must have growth of
been, one would have thought, a wonderful sight, to tian oom-
watch tins strange developement of new social prin- ™"°'''^^'
ciples, and of these powerful, and up to this time un
discovered, instincts of man. It must have been more
interesting at a period, when what was elevated and
moral in preceding institutions had decayed; when
forms, merely material in intention as well as out
ward expression, were predominant, and there pre
vailed a general stagnation of all life, truly human,
in the highest sense of the word, either in individuals
or in states. For such was the moral condition of the
world, when there arose, with an almost simultaneous
expansion, these new centres of action and power, north
and south and east and west, in obedience to one, who
avowedly, and by the confession of all who worshipped
Him, was a King; and, in that relation, exercised a real
s 2

260 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
and universal authority. It exhibited a world organized
withui a world ; and yet, — though its character was
opposed to mere quietism, nay, stimulated activities of
an extraordinary kind, — it so regulated its motions, and
the play of its outward energies, as to avoid clashing
with the relations of society, and the legitimate ope
rations of civil government.
No wonder, that considering merely their state
relations, however, and the due dependency of the
subject bodies, that the eye of a mere poUtician
should have looked with great jealousy on these
new societies, gathering power daily from their
gradual incorporation, and the independent action
from which they originated; and should have regarded
them as incompatible with the supreme authority,
and the integrity of the imperial power. Certainly,
no more decisive proof exists of the submission of
the Christian communities to their unseen Head, and
their real abjm-ation of any thing but a spiritual
kingdom, than that, for three centuries, there should
have been no instance of resistance to the civil power;
and this, in spite of numbers rapidly increasing, a
perfect mutual understanding, and a constant circu
lation, even through the most distant members of the
body, of intelligence and a Catholic unity. But the
kingdom of Christ was not of this world; and so
they felt and acted.
A great preponderance in the State, and a real po
litical weight, it was inevitable that they should finally
obtain, both by the moral laws which govern human
transactions, and the will of their heavenly King.

LECTURE VII. 261
And though, perhaps, the pagan historians are not
wrong, in attributing somewhat of the fall of the
empire to the prevalence of the new religion \ yet'Vid. August, de
it was the sole refuge of all that is sound and paternal civitate
Dei.
in the government of man by man; aU that the masses
of mankind instinctively claim, as the right of mere
humanity, a^ such; all forces and influences, in short,
not material, were preserved in these spiritual so
cieties. They accelerated the time, when Rome,
drunk with the blood of God's saints, as was her
spiritual successor in after ages, was to suffer the
punishment due to her sins, alike from civU discord,
and the mercUess fury of the barbarians; but they
preserved, when nothing else could have done it,
a better theory of polity, ecclesiastical and civU,
under a divine Head, and a nobler civihzation of
mankind. It is no wonder, therefore, not only that the
spiritual kingdom in men's hearts, but its visible
forms, and outward framework, survived the general
wreck, along with the truths which they embodied
and transmitted. But the vigour lay not in the
forms, which had been, from the first, impressed upon
the Church, however constructed for permanency;
the real strength was from above; it came directly
down from Him whose kingdom it was, and who had
thus taken unto Himself His great power, and begun
to reign on earth. And whUe, on the one hand, He
shook to the earth the whole fabric of Roman
domination, tUl not one stone remained upon an
other, so with the other He upheld His Church from

262 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
the overthrow, in which aU that the carnal eye
judged to be strength was hopelessly submerged.
None of the gut of this purcly Sovereign character, nothing, even

power of in appearance, was communicated to the congrega-
Christcora- ^^ ii-'ii r~n
municated tious of faithful men who composed the visible Chm-ch,
to the heads i i • i i i
of these and to the economy by which they were governed.
There was a power and pre-eminence, and that, by
divine authority and transmission, in their Pastor;
but neither in its nature, its extent, or in its mode of
exercise, of an absolute or regal character. Not only
the individual members of the Church, but those who
presided over it, were debarred, by the tenor of the
revelation of which they were the depositaries, of any
power at all over the written record, of which, as their
sole code, in union with the whole Chm-ch, they were
the guardians; though by eminence of office, the wit
nesses, and the appointed, but not infalUble, expound
ers of it. But, within these limits, the deference due to
them in matters of faith was confined ; and, by imme
morial primitive usage, the promulgation of false doc
trine, and any other teaching than that of the CathoUc
truth, not only rendered obedience unnecessary, but
made resistance, fi-om one and aU, a holy necessity and
bounden duty ; an act of indispensable loyalty to the
unseen King, and acknowledged Head of the Chm-ch.
And even within the sphere, which, under the limitation
of a few general rules, was left open, in regard to pubUc
worship and Church discipline, the visible heads of the
society claimed no arbitrai-y or undefined power ; and
they acted, on all great emergencies, with the advice
and assistance of the whole Chm-ch. Although, there-

LECTURE VII. 263
fore, the line of office above their fellows was dis
tinctiy drawn, and maintained inviolate, in the chief
pastors, fi-om the laying on of whose hands the min
isterial commission proceeded; and between those,
who were caUed by the Holy Ghost to preside over
individual flocks, and the flocks which they fed; there
was no exclusion of the laity from a due share in the
affairs and ordering of the Church. None of that
exclusion from the sanctuary and common consecra-
tidn of all Christians, which grew in the same pro
portion as hierarchical claims, and more regal pre
tensions, were successively advanced.
The form of government, in fact, so far as it was
devolved on the heads of the Church, was pastoral or
paternal'^ — not as an accessory of another relation,
'¦ Of course the Romish theory is essentially regal. In illustra
tion of it I subjoin a statement from Bellarmine, and the celebrated
oration of Laynez at the Tridentine Council.
" Cmn demonstratum sit, monarchiam esse optimum regimen :
secunda nascilur qusestio : An Ecclesise Christi, couveniat Mo-
narchica gubematio. Atque ut certa a dubiis separemus: In
tribus nobis cum adversariis convenit. Unum est, in Ecclesia
esse aliquod regimen. Nam Cantic. 6. dicitur : Castrorum acies
ordinata. Actor. 20. Attendite vobis et universe gregi, quos
Spiritus sanctus posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei. Hebr. 13.
Obedite prsepositus vestris. Secmidum est, regimen Ecclesiaslicum
spirituale esse et distinctum a politico, quando enim Pauius di-
cebat: Qui prajest in soUicitudine, Rom. 12. Et; Qui bene
prsesunt, duplici honore digni habe'antur, 1 Tim. 5. et similia:
non dum erant ulli, ante certe rarissimi in Ecclesia seculares prin-
cipes, quae duo docet etiam Calvinus Institutionum, lib. 4. c. 11.
§.1. Tertium est, Regem absolutum et liberum totius Ecclesise
solum Christum esse, de quo dicitur, Psal. 2. Ego autem con-
stitutus sum Rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum ejus. Et
Lucae 1. Et regni ejus non erit finis. Itaque non quaeritur in

264 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
which, in condescending fi-om the eminence of power,
might thus exhibit itself in a becommg but self-
Ecclesia, absoluta et libera Monarchia, vel Aristocratia, vel De-
mocratia, sed talis, qualis esse potest ministrorum et dispensatorum,
cum dicat Pauius, 1 Corinth. 4. Sic nos existimet homo ut mi-
nistrcs Christi ac dispensatores mysteriorum Dei." De Romano
Pont. lib. i. c. 5. Bellannini.
Thus far there is nothing but what is defensible — but not so
when he comes to the practical application of this principle.
" Etsi Christus unus sit et proprius Ecclesiae Catholicae Rex
et Monarcha, eumque spiritualiter ac invisibiliter regat et moderetur,
tamen eget Ecclesia, quae corporalis et visibilis est, uno aliquid
visibila summo Judice, a quo lites de religione exortae compo-
nantur, quique omnes inferiores praefectos in officio et unitate
contineat. Alioquis non solum Summus Pontifex, sed etiam
Episcopi, Pastores, Doctores, ac Ministri omnes supervacanei
essent." Id. c. 4.
" Quod unquam regnum fuit, quod non regeretur ab uno ? et
quanquam rex Ecclesise sit Christus ; tamen ex eo coUigemus
Ecclesiam habere debere prceter Christum aliquem unum a quo
regatur, quod regiia semper administrantur regio, id est, per unum
qui omnibus praesit, et siquidem rex praesens est per se id facit
— which we Protestants assert in all main points and spiritual
effects — si abest, per alium, qui dicitur pro Rex. Ssepe etiam,
Rege praesente, generalis aliquis Vicarius constituitur." Ibid. c. 9.
This is a specimen of the exquisite management of this consum
mate controversialist— how completely he throws his reader off his
guard, by granting apparently all that reason and Scripture de
mands, and then, by the finest approaches, insinuating the Romanist
error or heresy.
" The morning being come, Laynez spake more than two
houres, very fitly, with great vehemence, and master-like. The
argument of his discourse had two parts ; the first he spent in
proving, that the power of jurisdiction was given wholly to the
Bishop of Rome, and that none in the Church besides hath any
sparke ot it, but from him; and the second, in resolving all the
contrary arguments, used in the former congregations. The sub
stance was, that there is great difference, yea, contrariety betweene

LECTURE VII. 265
imposed humility — but it was the essence of the office.
Nay, the very exercise of that authority which is in-
the Church of Christ, and civill societies. For these have first
their being, and then they frame their government, and therefore
are free, and all jurisdiction is originally in them which they do
communicate to magistiates, without depriving themselves of it.
But the Church did not make itselfe, nor its governement, but
Christ, who is Prince and Monarch, did first constitute lawes, by
which it should be governed, and then did assemble it, and, as the
Scripture saith, did build it; so that it was borne a servant, without
any kinde of liberty, power, or jurisdiction, and absolutely subject.
For proofe hereof, he alleadged places of the Scripture, in which
the congregation of the Church is compared lo a sowing, to the
draught of a net, and to a building : and when it is said that Christ
came into the world to assemble His faithfull people, to gather
together His sheepe, to instruct them, by doctrine and example.
Then he added, that the first and principal ground, upon which
Christ built the Church, was Peter and his succession, according
to the words which He spake to him ; Thou art Peter, and upon
this rocke I will build my Church. Which rocke, howsoever some
of the Fathers have understood to be Christ Himselfe, and others
the faith of Peter, or the confession of his faith ; yet the more
Catholic exposition is, that Peter himselfe is understood, who, in
the Hebrew and Syriacke, is called a stone. And continuing his
discourse, he said, that while Christ lived in the morlall flesh. He
governed the Church with an absolute monarchiall government,
and, being to depart out of this world, left the same forme, ap
pointing, for His Vicar, Saint Peter and his successors, to ad
minister it as He had done, giving him full and tolall power and
jurisdiction, and subjecting the Chm-ch to him, as it was to Him
selfe. This he proved of Peter, because the keyes of the kingdome
of heaven were given to hhn only, and, by consequence, power to
bring in, and shut out, which is jurisdiction. And to him alone
it was said, Feede, that is, governe my sheepe, animals, which
have no part or judgment in governing themselves. These things,
that is, to be a key-keeper, and a pastor, being perpetual ofliices,
must be conferred upon a perpetuall person, that is, not upon the
first only, but upon all his succession. So the Bishop of Rome,
from St. Peter to the end of the world, is true and absolute mo-

266 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
separable from such relations, was an act of love and
tenderness — not of those that had a right to lord it
narch, with full and totall power and jurisdiction, and the Church
is subject unto him, as it was to Christ. And as when His Divine
Majesty did governe it, it could not be said, that any of the faithfull
had any the least power or jurisdiction, but meere, pure, and totall
subjection, so it must be said, in all perpetuity of time, and so
understood that the Church is a sheepefold, and a kingdome; and
that which St. Cyprian saith, that there is but one bishopricke,
and a part of it held by every bishop, is to bee expounded, that
the whole power is placed in one pastor, without division, who
doth impart and communicate it to his fellow-ministers, as cause
doth require. And in this sense Saint Cyprian maketh the
Apostolique sea like unto a root, an head, a fountain, and the
suune ; shewing, by these comparisons, that jurisdiction is es-
sentiall in that alone, and in others by derivation or participation.
And thus is the meaning of the words, so much used by antiquity,
that Peter and the Pope have fulnesse of power, and the others are
of their charge. And that he is the only Pastor, is plainely proved
by the words of Christ, when He said. He hath other sheepe which
he will gather together, and so one sheepfold should be made and
one shepherd. The shepherd, meant in that place, cannot be
Christ, because He would not speak in the future, that there shall
be one shepherd. Himself not being a shepherd, and therefore it
must be understood of another shepherd, which was to be constituted
after Him, which can be no other but Peter and his successors.
And here he noted that the precept, Feede the flocke, is found but
twice in the Scripture : once given by Christ to Peter only, Feede
my sheepe : againe by Peter to others, Feede the flocke allotted to
you. And if the Bishop had received any jurisdiction from Christ,
it would be equal in all, and no difference between Patriarchs,
Archbishops, and Bishops ; neither could the Pope meddle with
that authority, to diminish or take it all away, as he cannot in the
power of order, which is from God. Therefore he advised them to
beware, lest, by making the institution of Bishops de jure divino,
they doe not take away the Hierarchie, and bring in an Oligarchic,
or rather an Anarchic. He added also, that, to the end Peter might
govern the Church well, so that the gates of hell might not prevaile
against it, Christ being neere unto His death, prayed effectually

LECTURE VII. 267
over God's heritage, nor as towards subjects — but, as
towards chUdren and brethren — in pain and sorrow
— ^with a reluctant severity, for the good of those who
were chastised, or the preservation of the flock which
they threatened to taint. "Feed the flock of Christ,"
says St. Paul to the elders of Ephesus, " over which
the Holy Ghost has made you overseers ;" feed them
with the bread from heaven, which He hath put into
your hands, and lead them to the pleasant waters,
where they may drink hfe freely. It is an inexpres
sible privilege, even thus to be called as fellow-
workers with the great Shepherd. How great should
be our meekness and gentleness, when He has bowed
so low, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords !
that His faith might not faile, and gave him order to confirm the
brethren, that is, he gave him a privilege of infallibility in judg
ment of faith, manners, and religion, binding all the Church to hear
him, and to stand firmly in that which should be determined by
him. He concluded, that this was the ground of Christian doc
trine, and the rocke upon which the Church was built." Hist, of
the Councell of Trent, by Padre Paolo, lib. 7 p. 610.
It has always been a part of the policy of Rome lo keep back her
power from the definitions of Councils, as somethhig too sacred to
be discussed. But the following is the definition of the Coimcil of
Florence, where it was absolutely necessary to make a statement upon
this important point, and it is couched in terms laboriously moderate.
" Item, definimus sanctam Apostolicam sedem, et Romanum pon-
tificem iu universum orbem tenere primatum, et ipsum pontificem,
Romanum successorem esse beati Petri principis Apostolorum, et
verum Christi vicarium totiusque Ecclesiae caput, et omnium
Christianorum patrem ac doctorem existere ; ut ipsi in beato Petro
pascendi, regendi, ac gubemandi univeisalem Ecclesiam a Domino
nostro Jesu Christo plenam potestatem traditam esse ; quemad-
modum etiam ingentis oecumenicorum conciliorum, et in sacris ex-
ponibus continetur.'' LAbbe Concil. t. 13. p. 615. Read in Bel
larmine the practical developement of these principles.

268 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
Matt. xii. " He shall not break the bruised reed, nor quench
20. Matt.xi.28. the smoking flax." " Come unto me, all ye that labom-
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Yet
with Him, though not with us, is inseparably com
bined the kingly power, with the pastoral tenderness.
Isa. xi. 10, « Behold, the Lord God wiU come with strong hand,
and His arm shall rule for Him — behold, His rewai-d
is with Him, and His work before Him;" but "He
shall feed His flock like a shepherd — He shall gather
the lambs with His arm — and carry them in His
arms, and gently lead those that are with young."
It would have been a happy thing for the Chm-ch
and for the world at large, U" this subordinate but most
holy and tender character in the rulers of the Church,
had always been borne in mind. If it had been so,
it is hardly credible, or possible, that any thing so
beautiful in its Scripture theory, so adapted to the
wants and requirements of a human society, and so
consecrated by Apostohcal institution, should ever
have been caUed into doubt by a Christian com
munity. It never could have been so, but for the
most awful abuses and usm-pation of power ; and
certain it is, that there was, at an early period, a
wide departure from Christ's institution; and an
invasion of His kingly prerogatives and Headship,
as the offices of the Church were usually exercised
in the unreformed Churches of the West, not only
in the Romish hierarchy, but even in the separate
Usurpation EpisCOpatCS.
of the king- '¦ '¦
ly power by But it bccomcs, uot ouly au usurpation, but an
the Koman . . i /.
bishops, apostacy, when thrown mto that orgamzed form.

LECTURE VIT. 269
in which the Church of Rome has consolidated her
power ^ There is an Antichristian aspect fi-om
the first in the whole machinery, in which, with the
'¦ As a proof of the extent to which Rome carries the claim of
mere authority, it might be as well to mention, that she burns
heretics for their resistance to Church power, not for their false
doctrines. " Rome never doomed her opponents to the flames for
their errors, but their contumacy."
" This is a well-known fact, to all who have examined the spirit,
and even the letter, of the inquisitorial laws of Popedom. The
case of John Huss is, however, so striking a proof of my assertion,
that I must beg leave to refer the inquisitive reader to the account
which Mosheim gives of that victim of Romanist ambition. The
principal object of his invectives were the vices, not the errors, of
Rome ; and he rather opposed the tyranny of her ecclesiastical
polity, than the unscriptural use of her pretended infallibility. It
was because he did not submit to her authority that Huss was
committed to the flames; for, as I have observed in a previous
note, a full conformity with the Romanist creed does not exempt
from the imputation and punishment of heresy, unless it is the
effect of unbounded submission to the authority of the Church.
Mosheim has made a most happy application to the conduct of
Rome in such cases, of a passage in the well-known Letter of Pliny
to Trajan concerning the Christians ; " It became,'' says the
learned historian, " a dutiful son of the Church to renounce his
eye-sight, and to submit his own judgment and will, without any
exception or reservation, to the judgment and will of that holy
mother, under a firm belief and entire persuasion of the infallibility
of all her decisions. This ghostly mother had, for many ages
past, followed, whenever her unerring perfection and authority were
called in question, the rule which Pliny observed in his conduct
towards the Christians." ' When they persevered,' says he in his
Letter to Trajan,'! put my threats into execution, from a persuasion,
that, whatever their confession may be, their audacious and invin
cible obstinacy deserved an exemplary punishment.' " Perse-
verantes duri jussi. Neque enim dubitabam,qualecumque esset quod
faterentur, pervicaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere
puniri. Plin. Epist. lib. 2. Ep. 97." B. White's Evidence against
Catholicism, p. 239.

270 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
profoundest and most comprehensive combination,
every thing, even the most muiute, is connected with
one central and gigantic Head. It is not, even in its
theory, a spiritual government by Christ, in heaven,
at all ; but by an earthly Christ, with a plenary
transfusion into him, of all the Saviom-'s offices and
faculties — in fact, a vicarious God — as the Popes, in
2 Thess. ii. SO many words, have claimed to be. " Let no man
deceive you," says the Apostle, " for that day shaU
not come, except there come a falling away fii-st,
and that man of sin shaU be revealed, the son of per
dition ; .... so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple
of God, shewing himself that he is God." This,
at any rate, apart from aU other claims or acts of
apostacy whatsoever, is a complete dethronement
of Christ as the head of the Church, and in utter
contradiction to all the conditions and scriptural
descriptions of His spiritual kingdom upon earth.
And here I allude merely to the spiritual pretensions,
and not the secular usurpations, of the papacy.
We do, indeed, acknowledge a unity, and the neces
sity of a common governor, as well as teacher and priest,
but we deny his visibUity. This Head is Christ, ever
present, but invisible, and yet uniting together His
mystical body, both in heaven and in earth, by the
operation of His all-pei-vading Spirit. In union
with Him consists om- real spiritual union with all
the saints that have been and shall be — one faith,
one hope, one baptism, pne God and Father of us
all. It would be a happy day, and blessed for us
all, if, by God's grace, men's minds were so over-

LECTURE VII. ; 271
ruled throughout Christendom, that the unity of the
faith were perfected by the acceptance, in the Apo
stolic succession, of that badge of unity, which the
ancient Church enjoyed, and we ourselves possess.
But really earthly representative, or representatives
of Christ, there cannot be. Here then, in the
Scriptural scheme, though not in the Romanist, is
an unchangeable difference between the kingdom of
Chi-ist upon earth and aU temporal sovereignties what
soever — that it has no visible head, nor any one with TheChurch
regal powers, holding His place, and realizing His visible
sovereignty to the eyes of men. '
But, so long as there is subordination and govern
ment of whatever kind, so long there must be means of
punishment, proportioned to the ends of the society so
ruled — and even on the most truly paternal scheme, as
in a famUy, such a power for protecting the society from
offences, and punishing offenders, must necessarUy
exist. Here again, however, will be an essential difference nor tem-
between it and a secular kingdom, not only in the spirit puSsh-
of its procedure, but in the very nature of the punish- ™^°'*'
ment infUcted. The one has manymeans and modes, all
of which, in their extreme application, must necessarily
resolve themselves into loss of goods, or bodily pain or
restiaint, or utter physical excision from the body
politic. Those which can alone be exercised by the
Church, under its Head, must be proportionate to its
special nature — spiritual therefore — such as may act
on those immaterial som-ces of pleasm-e and pain,
connected with the unseen state, and the powers

272 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
of the world to come, upon which alone a spiritual
authority can properly and consistently act. The
very moment that it transgresses these bounds, and
borrows other instruments which are appropriated
to a different kingdom, with distinct objects, it
abandons, so far, its spiritual character.
And, as a necessary consequence of this, — though
it may appear at the time to gain a temporary ad
vantage and a more direct and avaUable power,
by acting on those outward and material interests
to which the nature of man makes him immediately
susceptible, — it does, by so doing, really lower its
proper claims, degrade its nature, abandon the
ground on which its true strength and authority
reposes, and make itself depend upon that secular
authority which, perhaps, it flatters itself all the time,
that it is using as a subject and inferior. Those
awful interests winch are connected with the eternal
world — and those hopes and feai-s, which being in
finite in then- extent, connect the soul of man with
those tremendous powers, at the sense of which it
is thrilled, in spite of itself, with a feeling immea
surably more profomid than any other — all these
are best preserved in their integiity, and in that in
fluence which they cannot lose without extieme perU
to humanity, by never condescending to the use of
any inferior instruments. The very act of doing so,
contradicts, in the opinion and sure judgment of man
kind, that trust in unseen realities, and that communi
cation with a power supernatural which is inseparable
from the Church, as a spiritual society — it baffles

LECTURE VII. 278
that effectual witness to the presence of Christ
among men, a beUef in which, if exemplified by a
steady and practical dependence upon it, staggers
even the boldest infidel — but is overpowering to
candid and unprejudiced minds.
Since, therefore, the sense of security and calm
hopefulness of spuit which the Church confers, pro
ceed from those graces of which she is the ordinary
channel, and by which the souls of the faithful com
municate with then- mvisible King; since her children
thus enjoy the signs and assurances of His love, and are
enabled to rest, in quiet faith, amidst aU the changes
and confusion of temporal things — so, the power of
effectual punishment must consist in a total or partial
exclusion from these inestimable privUeges. Indeed, Excommu-
./. 1 . ^ 1.1 . nidation
it there is any power more than another mherent m considered.
the Chm-ch, merely as a society, as weU as more
clearly conferred upon her for her protection by her
heavenly Master; any one more justified by uninter
rupted practice from the beginning ; it is that of
excluding members from her ordinances and her
spiritual pale. In one word, her substitute for temporal
power, and her insta-ument of punishment, is excommu
nication — and an awful one it is, to minds religiously
impressed — ^nay, where the soul is reaUy awake to things
spiritual, and to the sanctity of the ordained vehicles by
which gi-ace is conveyed in the Church, any earthly pu
nishment is but chUd's play in comparison of it. For,
in exact proportion to the blessings enjoyed within
the Chm-ch of Christ, wUl be the miseries entailed
by an exclusion from it. The fact of being di-iven,
VOL. II. T

274 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
though but for a time, and by an earthly sentence, out
of the kingdom of Ught, into that darkness which may
be felt, — to be thus thrust out from the protection of
a loving and omnipotent Saviour and the shelter of
the fold, and to be delivered, instead, into the will of
our spiritual enemy — to feel the baptismal privileges,
for the time, arrested and suspended — and, beyond
this deprivation of the privileges of the Church on
earth, to apprehend in the world to come that
banishment from the presence of God, of which it
is the symbol, and may be the awful prelude, — aU this,
unless the sufferer be sustained against it by a sense
of right and duty, and the knowledge that the sentence
is opposed to the truth of the Gospel, is quite enough
to shake the soul to its centre. And, over and above
this, if it is seen that Church privUeges are not matters
of course, but blessings which may be forfeited ; and
that acts cognizable by the Church at large may lead
to their forfeitm-e, with the certain dangers and pos
sible ruin which may follow an exclusion fi-om the
means of grace ; nothing can be imagined better fitted
to give a salutary warning to other men of the danger
of unrepented sin. It is a great thing to shew its in-
compatibUity, when it is discernible by the eyes of
our brethren, not only with eternal salvation, but
even with a colourable hope of it, and the outward
profession of the faith; much more with the reahty of
those graces, of which, even in her present condition,
the Church is God's appointed minister.
And, if an apostolic spirit tempered apostolic
authority, the effect produced would be, beyond

LECTURE VII. 275
all description, more awful, from the reluctance
and brotherly sorrow with which the sentence would
be accompanied — depriving the sinner of that
support from pride and the sense of injury or insult,
which the exhibition of secular wrath and mere
human vindictiveness are calculated to give. But
the exercise of an authority so essentially spu-itual,
should be committed, if possible, to those who bear
spiritual functions ^ ; it becomes a mockery, when trans- ' ^°*'j^°7
ferred from the assembled Church into the world ; *ereahouidbe no re-
when executed by the civU power, and conioined with straint on
•' . . 7 Its exer-
tempordl penalties. And so, in proportion to itscise, by
laical as-
awfulness in its extieme form, should be the manifest sessors or
guUt of the criminal, and the dangers of impunity ; rities, but
the solemnities with which it is accompanied ; and at aii events
the caution that should be exercised, to ensure the ceed from
righteousness of the sentence, and remove the invi- power"*"^
diousness inseparable from an individual exercise of
such a discretion, by the association, as far as may be,
of the Church at large, with the judgment pro
nounced. And certainly, with a view, not only to the
interests of the Church itself, but to the rights of
the State, where the one has fixed and constitutional
relations towai-ds the other, all pledges ought to be
given which the most definite rules and provisions of
justice can supply, to ensure that no dishonour to
Christ shall be offered by a judicature, acting
avowedly in His Name, and deriving all the authority
which it possesses from the observance of His com
mands. It should be guarded, indeed, so far as the pre
cautions of a provident reason can go, if for no other
T 2

276 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
cause, yet for this ; that the same human passions
and infirmities which are derogatory to the solemnity
of civU justice, are destructive altogether to the in
fluence of a spiritual judgment-seat, which, if it be any
thing, must be the image, as far as earthly imperfection
wUl allow, of Christ's own passionless and awful tribunal.
I do not say, however, that we ought to forget the
abuse of this spiritual power by the see of Rome, in-e-
sponsible, as it was, to Scripture, and setting all human
control at defiance — by which, emulous of the wrath
of God Himself, she afflicted whole kingdoms at
a stroke; and, by laying them under the shadow
of an interdict, quelled at once the heart of kings, and
the loyalty of nations, by that intolerable malediction.
And, though no conjuncture of human affairs may
ever again bring such an exercise of power within the
range of possibUity, we ought not to be unmindful of the
capricious tyranny to which the laity would be in
evitably subjected, by placing such a prerogative, or
any approach to it, at the uncontrolled discretion of the
Ministers of the Church! Nor, when all human
precautions have been taken, must we lose sight of
the principle, that to the Church does not belong that
scrutiny of hearts and infaUibUity of decision which
would always ratify her sentence at the tribunal of
Christ — that she can only exercise the right under
the limitations of Scripture, and, from first to last,
conditionally — that the only point, therefore, which
she can make absolutely certain, is exclusion from
an outward communion in the visible ordinances;
and that from the Church invisible and universal, no

LECTURE VII. 277
act of hers, by its own virtue or inherent force, can
possibly exclude.
But StiU no abuse however great, and no suspension
however long, can destioy her right to the exercise of a
power essential to her vigorous existence, and so de
cidedly conferred by Christ Himself as her inaUenable
privilege ; the precious, because the only instrument
of spiritual defence, consecrated by the invariable use
of the primitive Churches; and, though desecrated n/ow
by secular elements, and the intermixture of penalties
alien to its nature and destructive of its effects, yet
stiU preserving a nominal existence, sufficient to attest
the reaUty of the claim. It should be brought out
distinctiy; be fortified by well-considered precautions
for its proper exercise, and form an avowed portion
of the spu-itual pohty of the Church. It is necessary,
as a pubUc witness to her spiritual jurisdiction, and
independence of the secular power ; and would tend,
more than any thing else, to point out the due relation
of the Church to the State and her connection with it,
without any injurious tampering with those principles,
on which, for the advantage and prosperity of both,
their aUiance ought to be inviolably maintained.
But there is a portion of the Church system inti
mately connected with this penal power and flowing
fi-om Christ's regaUty, which must be here considered
at some length.
Though it is one of those scriptural truths which The doc-
^ 1 p !• 11 1 • trine of ab-
have been fearfully abused by the Romanist, yet the solution and
Y . /. . . , . . confession.
doctiine oi ministerial absolution is so important m
many ways to the healthy condition of the Church

278 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
of Christ; and Scripture, with primitive antiquity,
expresses itself upon it with so much distinctness;
that we can have but an imperfect view of the
powers really consigned by Christ to His Church,
without a brief consideration of its nature and ex
tent. On such a question the most satisfactory pro
ceeding is to adduce some eminent and unquestion
able authority, and, as the basis of what I am about to
state, I shall confine myself, for the sake of easy refer
ence, to Hooker and to Bingham — the first, perhaps,
the greatest name among the Doctors of the Church
of England; the latter, inferior to none in a con
summate knowledge of antiquity.
" It is true that our Saviour by these words," says
the former, " ' Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are
remitted,' did ordain judges over our sinful souls, gave
them authority to absolve from sin, and did promise to
ratify in heaven whatsoever they should do on earth
in execution of tins their office. To the end that
hereby as well His ministers might take encourage
ment to do their duty with all faithfulness, as also
His people, as submitting gladly with all reverence
to be ordered by them ; both parts knowing that the
functions of the one towards the other have His
perpetual assistance and approbation. Howbeit aU
this with two restraints which every jurisdiction in
the world hath; 1. that the practice thereof pro
ceed in due order ; 2. that it do not extend itself
beyond due bounds ; which bounds or Umits have so
confined penitential jurisdiction, that although there
be a power given it of remitting sins, yet, no such

LECTURE VII. 279
sovereignty of power that no sin shoidd be pardonable
in man vdthout it''." " If the mmisters of Christ," says
the latter, " observe exactly the rules, which He has
prescribed, in judging sinners and pardoning sin —
if they neither through haste or partiahty, or ig
norance and error, condemn the guUtiess or absolve
the guUty; then their sentence, whether it be of
remitting or retaining sins, will be confirmed and
ratified in Heaven; because they act according to
the tenor of their commission, and only as faithful
stewards conforming to the measm-es and rules
which then- sovereign Lord has appointed them. . . .
but this is that noted difference between the powea- of
God and man in forgiving sins — the one does it by
an absolute and independent authority ; the other
only by a subordinate and restrained commission,
which is rather a declaration of God's will, than any
sovereign power invested in him  Yet this does
not hinder but that man may have a ministerial part
in the forgiveness of sins, in such acts as are by
commission entrusted with him^." So much for the
power in general and its divine sanction. The
difference between the views of the Church of Rome
and the Church of England, supported by Scripture
and antiquity, is thus stated by Hooker. " It is not
to be marvelled at, that so great a difference ap-
peareth between the doctrine of Rome and ours
when we teach repentance. They imply in the
name of repentance much more than we do. We
° Hooker, lib. vi.
'' Bingham, vol. viii. p. 412.

280 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
'en'i""°sa s^taud chiefly upon the due inward conversion of the
Bellar- heart; they, more upon works of external show.
mine, ' j ^ i
" J?e"s fi- "We teach above aU things that repentance which is
Justus dici- one and the same from the beqinninq to the world's
tur, dum -^ /• 7 •
peccata end : they a sacramental penance, of their own
confitenti- , if • 1. •
bus remit- dcvisiug and shaping ; we labour to mstruct them m
statpromis- such sort, that cvciy soul which is wounded with sin
tidem faiiit. mai/ Icam the way how to cure itself; they, clean
sio de°re-^ Contrary, would make all sores seem incurable unless
pecoatislis the pricsts havc a hand in them. Toucliing the
tentur'neo forcc of whosc absolution they strangely hold, that,
non'^*detur' whatsoever the penitent doth, his contrition, con-
stare^^ di- fessiou, and Satisfaction, have no place of right to
ex°tat*au-^' staud as material parts in this Sacrament, nor conse-
tempro- queutiv auv such force as to make them avaUable
missio aper- ^ J J
tissinia iis fpj. ^q taking away of sin, — in that they proceed
^c?«'i™*> from the penitent himself, without the authority of the
turn est, Minister, but only as they are enjoined by the
Quorum Minister's authority and power. So that no con-
remiserltis , , ./¦(•! -n 1 tv/t- •
peccata, tfition or gTicf 01 heart, tUl the Mmister exacts it,
tur eis." UO acknowledgment of sins but that which he doth
tus," he demand, no praying, no fasting, no alms, no repent-
"^mstitau"' ance, nor restitution for whatsoever we have done
jud?ees°su- cau help, except by him it be first imposed. It is
cumla p™ the chain of their own doctrine ; no remedy for
s/n?8>-"'' mortal sin committed after baptism, but the sacra-
S^nemo^^'^t of pcnaucc ouly^ — no sacrament of penance, if
trsmum'' either matter or form be wanting, no ways to make
lapsus re- these dutics a material part of the Sacrament, unless
concihari r '
possit." yfQ consider them as required and exacted by the
Bellar. de x .1
poen. 1.3.0. priest."
2. Such r

LECTURE VI L 281
According, therefore", to the primitive Church is the Ro-
. „ . . •! 1 mani'Stdoo-
and to our own, the forgiveness oi sms is attributed trine— and
such, in
credible as
« The statements of Luther mi doctrinal subjects are always '^^'^J'^^jJ^''^
eminently striking ; and, though there are some points in the follow- of the
ing passages which require modification by limiting U'uths, yet jj,gg^*|j'™g
they are so vigorous, and strike so directly on the very head of the _at least it
question, that they are worth citing. It should be observed, as I J.^ „^g".'
have noticed before, that the Lutherans attach great importance to stand them
., ¦ • 1 ¦ 1 1. 1 i- otherwise.
the ministerial absolution. Nothing
" He first contrasted man's pardon with God's pardon. There canbe more
are," said be, "two kinds of remission: the remission of ^'^^'^^^^^^^
penalty, and the remission of the sin. The first reconciles out- —a doc-
wardly the offender with the Church. The second, which is the *™® ""'
heavenly grace, reconciles the oflTender with God. ' If a man does posed by
not find in himself that peace of conscience, that joy of heart which ^°'y ''"*>
springs from God's remission of sin, there is no indulgence that as much so,
can help him, though he should buy all that have ever been offered *° t^« ^'=^-
upon earth." He continues : " They wish to do good works before ^^o are the
their sins are forgiven them, — whilst it is indispensable that our professed
sins be pardoned before good works can be done. It is not works imitation.
which banish sin; but drive out sin, and you will have works.
For good works must be done with a joyful heart, and a good con- ' This is
science towards God, that is, with remission of sins." He then gongtantly
comes to the chief object of this Sermon, which was also the great finds in the
end of the whole Reformation. The Church had put itself in the _a°trad-^
place of God and His word ; he rejects her assumption, and shews ency abso-
every thing to depend on faith in God's word. " The remission .^^'UJ'j,
of the sin is out of the power of pope, bishop, priest, or any man pardon with
living; and rests solely on the word of Christ, and on thine own ^J"® ^®°^*
faith. For Christ did not design that our comfort, our hope, and
our salvation, should be built on a word, or work of man, but
solely on Himself, on His work, and on His word  Thy
repentance and thy works may deceive thee, hut Christ, thy God,
will not deceive thee, nor will He falter, and the devil shall not
overthrow His words." " A pope or a bishop has no more power
to remit sin than the humblest priest. And even, without any
priest, every Christian, even though a woman or a child, can do
the same. For if a simple believer say to thee, ' God pardon thy
sin in the name of Jesus Christ,' — and thou receive that word with

282 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
po?nt ftere ^"^^^^ *^ *^® ^^ ^^ Almighty God, as that which
is very comes aud can come only from Him against whom
observable ¦' o ..
'° ™^°y we have offended, and who has the sovereign power to
men a pardou; and it follows immediately on the appearance
feelings— a of true repentance, which itself, as weU as the pardon,
desire to . i i i /¦ ¦
grasp the IS attested by those frmts of the Spfrit which God alone
few power can enable us to work\ But the Romanists attribute
ttiem to^re- ^U this excrcisc of regal power directly to the Priest
idequ*atera*^'°"gh the Sacramcut of repentance. There is
daratory nothmg suborduiate or merely declaratory; aU is ab-
-and?et solutc; and the wiU of the pricst UI grautuig absolutiou
couTage to i^ *^*^ them the cause oi that effect, which, really and
Komanist t^^^^' ^*" '^^ ^^ wrought by the omnipotent power
But[t ought ^^ ^^^- '^^^^ ^ ^^ ®^^°^ "^°^* perUous to souls, and
obirv'Id" °"^ ^ which, I fear, the scheme of penitential dis-
that there cipluie, at present promulgated, has too great a
media here tendency to approximate. Yet so strong is the
— it must /. » , 1
be one or lorcc 01 ti-uth, and common sense, and the words of
ifnotde.! Scriptm-e, that, in direct contradiction of itself, the
claratory —
then it is
tive. If firm faith, and as though God Himself spake it to thee, — thou art
really au- absolved." " If thou dost not believe that thy sins are forciven
thontative, , , , , --, , ,. , , , , „ ,
you oughtto ™6e, thou makest thy God a liar, and shewest thyself to hold more
be omnisci- to thy vam thoughts than to God and His word."
pardon ' " Under the Old Testament, neither priest, nor king, nor prophet,
once pro- had authority to declare remission of sins. But under the New,
the guilty every believer has this power. The Church is full of remission of
is exempt sins ! If a devoted Christian should comfort thy conscience by the
nishinent ^^^^ "^ the cross, whether that Christian be man or woman, young
Theabsohi-or old, receive that comfort with such faith as to endm'e death a
faeto^''''^° hundred times, rather than douht that God has ratified it. Repent;
acquittal, do all works thou canst; but let faith in pardon through Christ
in the jj jj jj^g Uj.gj j.g^j,]j ajjj command the whole field of your warfare."
very wisest '
of men, can D'Aubigne's Refonnation, vol. i. p. 370.
we believe
the absolu-

LECTURE VII. 283
'Council of Trent in fact confesses, that contrition tion and the
true peni-
made perfect by charity, does, at all times, reconcile tent heart
r^ •' •/ _ tobe always
offenders to God, before they come to receive actually coincident?
. . if not, what
the Sacrament of penance. ^Bellarmme likewise becomes of
/^i-ii_"ii y"'^'' onini-
says, " that whosoever turns to God with his whole science? or,
heart, has his sins immediately taken away ; and if solution se-
a man be reaUy converted, his pardon can neither be pardon to
averted or delayed." It follows, therefore, from their tent ."'ves.
own confession, that, whatever effect absolution may^hatbe-"'
have, which need not here be defined, it cannot ats^^ghoii-
any rate be a cause to produce that effect which hadt^rGospei
already been wrought, before absolution was pro- ^ong^p^' jf
nounced, and which no withholdment of the sacer- ^j.""^^^™^^^
dotal absolution can in any way reverse. And this '¦occlusion,
J J and insert
is so clear, that, unable to deny the fact, the Romish ^°^'*i°°*')
casuists elude the conclusion by affirming:, 1- ^ That ""'"^s of
/ ®' the autho-
in penitents who feel sorrow without love, the act of "t^ti^e ab
solution?
absolution confers this tenderness of heart, which is veil it as
an indispensable condition of pardon. And, secondly, it is merely
That, even where inward repentance cleanses without— if the
absolution, yet the reason to which its efficacy must true peni-
be attributed is the desire felt by such penitents to pardon is
receive that absolution, which circumstances prevent not, il d^s
them from obtaining. The first, is a dangerous figment '^^f^"^
withouflany foundation at aU; and, as to the latter, if it ' Concii.
7 11 1 • 1-1 Trid. Sess.
be granted to be tiue, that m a real penitent there must i4. o. 4.
be a desire to obtain what we thus, for the sake of p^n"\i^%.
argument, suppose to be commanded, it is only a proof j"'^.' .
that it is the truth of the inward contrition which *at most
dangerous
works all m all ; and that the priest does not, even distinction
¦PI between
so much as by ministry and as the representative of his attritio and
Tiir !• . -I . 1 . oontritio.
Master, lorgive the sinner, or remove the stam of" Attritio

284 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
solum dicit guUt, or absolvc from the punishment that is due to
dolorem ° ^
propter pee. it. And this is the language of the elder' school
nas inferni ,. ., , ii-i i «¦
—dum quis divmes ' ; and, though they attribute other effects,
tritus, per Unsanctioned by holy writ, to the act of priestiy ab-
crame^ta-^ solutiou, yct they ascribe the real removal of sin, and
M««."Soto. the eternal punishment due to it, to the mere pardon of
Sess.i4.'c.4. Almighty God, without dependency upon the priest's
'J ^^""^ . absolution, as the cause by which it is effected*'.
observed in ' •'
a former
Lecture, t pgjgj Lombard says, " that we may affirm with truth, and
that, on the, ,. , ^ , , . ¦ ¦ , , tt
important believe, that God alone remits or retams sms, and yet that He
question of jj^s given the power of binding and loosing to the Church. But
by inherent He binds and looses after one manner, the Church after another.
righteous- por He remits sin by Himself alone, who cleanses the soul from
DGSS thprG
is much inward pollution, and looses from the debt of eternal death. But
more scrip- jje has not given this power to the priests, to whom yet He has
the elder given the power of binding and loosing, that is, of shewing who is
than the bound and loosed." Horn. Senten. b. 4. Hoc sane dicere ac sentire
laterSchool- ,,_,... , . ^ „
men. So it possumus, quod solus Deus dimittit peccata et retinet; et tamen iLc-
is here. So clesise contulit potestatem ligandi et solvendi ; " Ipse enim per se
on the Sa- .... . . . , ^ , . . .
craments tantum dimittit peccata: quoniam et animas mundat ab mteriori
on which mundft, et a debito seternae mortis solvit. Non autem hoc sacer-
were clear- *^'''''^''* concessit, quibus tamen tribuit potestatem solvendi et
ly identical ligandi, id est, ostendendi homines ligatos vel solutos." And so
Reformers. Jerome in Matt. 16. tom. 9. p. 49. " Istum locum;" i.e. To thee
"Quod ad will I give the keys, &c. " Episcopi et Presbyteri non intelligentes,
onem se- " ^liquid sibi de pharisseorum assumunt supercilio, ut vel damnent
quebatur innocentes, vel solvere se noxios arbitrentur; cum apud Deum
^"ba^'ra- '''"' Sententia sacerdotum ; sed reorum vita quaeratur. Legimus
tione rei in Levitico de leprosis, ubi jubentur ut ostendant se sacerdotibus,
et T ne ^^ ^' lepram habuerint, tunc a sacerdote immundi fiant ; non quo
pacti divini, sacerdotes leprosos faciant et immundos, sed quo habeant notitiam
V°^ ^^^ leprosi et non leprosi, et possint discernere qui mmidus quive
non solum immundus sit. ( Quomodo ergo ibi leprosum sacerdos mundum vel
^T^t*"' immundum facit, sic et hie alligat vel solvit Episcopus et Pres-
aliquot byter ; non eos qui insontes sunt vel noxii ; sed pro officio suo,
vetustiores ^^^^ peccatorum audierit vaiietates, scit qui ligandus sit, quive
voluerunt solvendus.)
nova sacra- g « ^ reatu mortis aeternae absolvitur homo a Deo per con Iritionem ;
menta con- •¦ '

LECTURE VII. 285
But Romanist divines, throughout, manifestly labour ferre gra-
, tiam." Allen
under a sense of these difficulties, and waver to anddeSacr. in
, . . . ~ Genere.
fi-o in their statements, as the necessities oi contro- So Beiiar-
1 • e n 1 niine states
versy constrain them — ^they stiuggle painluUy and the opinion
desperately to reconcUe what holy writ has made ir- venture,
reconcUeable — the Majesty of God as Judge, and ofnurandus,
Christ as the Mediator, open to every sinner thatde'sacr. in
approaches Him in the power of faith, with the in- The'neare'r
dependent power of the Church, and her prerogatives 5:rentf the
of vicarious royalty. Admirably weU has the Church ^ded the
of England done her duty in leavmg this attribute of f^^^P^'gJ^p,
her God and Saviour completely unencroached^^Nosa
upon — unobscured by the shehtest ecclesiastical '"'°""™'-
i JO one quen-
interposition — alone in its awfulness and divine i"\™
*¦ prohibere
grandeur. Nor has she presumed either to define ^°^v<^s^-
'-' . . . . ™"^i quam-
by abstract rules, or abandon to ministerial discretion, vish^cpro-
"^ , _ hibitio non-
save in cases where the outward eye can judged the dum sit
mortalis . .
extent of that sorrow which God requires. God quia enim
HimseK has not done so; nor does she fill uputrumque
what He has left to her uncertain, or circumscribe assumere.
His pardon. The heart is what He demands — and it i'psrsit'^et™
is the sincerity of the offering, of which each man is the et judex"?
sole judge, which renders it acceptable in His sight — tlmerT'™ et quodam-
modolibet,
manet autem reatus ad quandampoenam temporalem, (this is the doc- ^^°.P^''J""
trine adopted by the Tractarians,) et minister Ecclesiae quicunque,ab Ecclesise
virtute clavium tollit reatum cujusdam partis poenae illius." Abul. n"^"""
in Defens. p. I.e. 7. " Signum hujus Sacramenti est causa eflfectiva separandi
gratiae sive remissionis peccatorum; non simpliciter, sicut ipsa^""*"* '
prima poBuitentia, sed secundum quid quia est causa efficaciae; judicium
gratiae qu& fit remissio peccati, quantum ad aliquem effectum inp"g*[^j''^'
poenitente, ad minus quantum ad remissionem sequelae ipsius pec- lerentur
cati." Alex. Hales, p. 4. 9. 14. quoted by Hooker. pS'cum' tritico. Multi cor-

286 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
riguntur,utand it is His favour, through Christ, which supplies
multi tdie- all that is wanting in the sacrifice of the penitent
Judas'; and the contrite heart. " God's merciful inclination
neseiuntur, towards men," says Chrysostom, "is such', that re-
atDominus^pentance offered with a single and sincere mind He
bitabroon^ i6ver rcfuscth — no, not although we have come to
braramT' the vcry height of iniquity"." And such is the con-
dt'd^g.Ter- sentient voice of aU the Catholic Fathers, before Rome
tuii.(Hook.<jgfing(j otherwise.
• Yet there ^^* ^^^ poiut is ouly preliminary to a second;
XnceTto *^^^ ^^y ^^ ^^^' *^** ^°*^ withholds pardon fi-om
which, as itjio truc penitent, and yet confession of sins to the
seems, the '¦ ' j
ancient^ Ministers of Christ may nevertheless be a positive
fu.sed ab- couditiou of the divine scheme, thouffh forgiveness
solution. ' ° °
" Q«i« may proceed solely from Him. Has Scripture then
emm, says .< j. ./ l
TertuUian, bouud them together, so that the one shall be insepa-
— now a
Montanist, r«6/e from the Other? Certainly not^ The promises
prodigere, of diviuc forgivcuess have no such limitation. When
bit postea the Apostlc prcsscs upon his converts confession of
Quis cura- sius, it is to One another ; nor, in that passage ', is it
conservare" usuaUy supposcd, cvcu by Romish commentators,
p'erpetao that any other confession is intended but that which
mittere ? sccks the associatiou of our brethren in prayers, or in
deiicti*^^ reconciUation, or in the pardon of wrongs. Vainly
!!l^f?,?lH'^° does Bellarmine endeavour to wrest this text to his
cSli cJUS>
^^Pudic pui-pose, as well as the declai-ation of St. John, "If
"'n' ^°A we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to
sitcr w 3ircis
held Nova- forffive US our sins, and to cleanse us from all un-
tian. Bat »
this was righteousness." Surely, had such been the intention,
going be- "
yond the
tholic ''Chrys.deRep.Cas.lib.adTheo.c.4.p.563. t. 4.ed.Par. ' Jas.v.l6.
which per
mitted one readmittance to the sinner, after post-baptismal transgression. ' "Miror autem,"

LECTURE VII. 287
the Spirit would have said expressly, " On condition saysCaivin,
that they are confessed to the Priest ; and, m omit- ausint con-
ting this condition, it must have been the design of confessio-
» 1 • 1 /-^< 1 • 1 • • • °^™ "Is V'^
Almighty God to emancipate this gracious promise loquuntur
fi-om any such fetters, and to give it a Gospel fulness, divini ; cu-
And when it is added, that the Scriptures alike of vetastissi-
the Old and New Testament abound in these usum fate-
proffers of God's mercy, and that they are the bur- ™Ym7aciie
then of the Prophets as well as of the Apostles ^ is it possumus
possible that a behever in holy writ can submit to so °'™rum!'^.^
important a limitation, without the sanction of the J^^|T: J°^*|
divine record ? Yes, it is ; if he presupposes that ' The habit
1 . 1 ^ ... of dwelling
there is a second Canon, an unwritten tiaditive rule, on ecciesi-
. . . . astical anti-
by which the interpretation of the written word is toquityas^e
1 117 ... ./r-i'i • interpreter
be regulated — out it is impossible, ii the written of Scripture
Scripture be the sole authoritative rule of faith. Nor disposed"
can it be proved that the Fathers, with all their zeal pay "due
for the penitential discipline, judged other thantrior^'l^
scripturaUy in this question. Surely, otherwise ^'^^t'^^^*^"
Chrysostom would never have said, "I wish thee notf°t'^J^g*"™
to betray thyself pubUcly, nor to accuse thyself before of^'^a^n'™;
others. I wish thee to obey the Prophet, who saith, "^^ 'epent-
¦' r ' 'ance, to put
' Disclose thy way unto the Lord — confess thy sins™*°/*^,
•' •> J question the
before Him — teU thy sins, that He may blot them '^°5Pf}L*'"^
•' •' theOldTes-
out'.'" Or again: "Let the enquiry and punish-f^^^-^f
ment oi thy offences be made in thy own thoughts ; "'^"r?^-
_ •' o ^ worth done
let the tribunal whereat thou arraimest thyself be™,'''^i«"°-
. ^ •' ed, and, in
Without witness ; let God, and only God, see thee and^^^y
¦^ points,
beautiful
' " Non dico tibi, ut te prodas in publicum, neque ut le apud upon it.
alios accuses, sed obedire te volo prophetae dicenti, ' revela Snrely it is
Domino peccata tua." Chrys. Hom. xxxi. ad Hebr. et ad Psalm, mighty God
xxxii. Hom. v. de Incarn. Dei. itemque de Lazaro. t° limit His

288 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
pardon, and thy coufessiou''." But whUst it is thus certain, both
the Condi- '' /• i -n
tions of it^ from the Scripture and fi-om the greatest of the Fa-
not for us. „ . . i • i
Doubtless, thers, that there is forgiveness of sms in general, with-
our greater out coufessiou to man as a necessary condition — another
might /««?- question must be answered, 1. Whether, though not
forgave us, ucccssary, it may yet be fitting and desirable in many
scribed tons cascs ? and, 2. Whether there may not be some cases,
pai'ns'^to'^ whcu such coufessiou is not only fitting and desirable,
elder ' ^ ^^t indispensable P
were n'lit '^' There can hardly be any question, that holy
But He**' ^*' hoth directly, by example and by precept, and
don°so— indirectly by its whole spirit, does encourage be-
andwho twccu Christians a communication of their spiritual
else has the '¦
right? "let wants and necessities — they are bound together so
me fall mto •' °
^^ii^nds strictly in the bands of the closest spu-itual brother-
not into thehood, that all are interested in the ioys and sufferings
hands of . •' •' °
man." of cach member of Christ. When the soul, therefore, is
smitten with a sense of sin, and fearful of havmg for
feited the love of God and incurred the suspension of
the covenanted blessings secured to tiiose who are one
with Christ — or, when, in that fearfulness of profaning
holy things which a sense of unworthiness may in
spire, it dreads approaching to the holy mysteries in
icircum- which wc reccivc Christ; it is not only the natm-al
gentluscui dictate of the heart, but the clear suggestion of
fiterTpec°-° reason, that we should unbosom ourselves to our
tuuT Pro- brethren. "Only," says Origen ^ "be circumspect
ba prius
medieum, ' Uapx t«« Xoyio-itoii yiteria tSi wiTrPiH/iftiXuftetat i i^eTxirii' xfui^-
eui debeas ., > » / . „ > . / .¦>.,' m. j
causam twjov eo-ra to Sixxo-Tti^iof o 0!o{ o^xtu ftotof e%oftoMyovfiitoi. utirys. de
languoris confess, et poenit. quoted above. " Ante Deum confitere peccata
Rialnf 3?'. tua, &c." Ps. 32. likewise above quoted. Vid. Cassian. Collat. xx.
Hom. 2. c. 8. p. 771. Prosper. " de vita" Contemp. lib. 2. c. 7. Bibl. Patv.
tom. 8. p. 63. (Vid. Hooker, book vi.)

LECTURE VII. 281)
in making choice of the party to whom thou meanest 'Fromear'y
" _ '¦ •' _ _ times, how-
to confess thy sin ; Imow thy physician before thou ever, it was
./ r J 1,1. „with diffi-
use him." Moreover, in addition to the blessing of cuity that
, 1 . 1 /. "^i"" 'fere
ghostly counsel, there is assistance to be obtained from brought to
the prayers of godly men, who, through the merits of ation."Hoc
the mighty Intercessor, have power to plead for their Ambrose,
brethren at the throne of grace. And this is the very sia facere
ground on which St. James exhorts Christians tooeosup-"
mutual confession — ^because the prayerof the righteous patro^cini-
man avaUeth much. i)"um ob*
From this it wUl legitimately foUow, that it »wa2/ sancte^pi^-
befor the good of the soul, though not indispensable, ^^^.l^^i"''
that confession should be made, even for secret of- '^®"' '1^'®"
' at pro te
fences, as it often was in the primitive Church, before "i^^f" ^°'
the assembly of the faithful — and that the united ™'p™
•' tuam lacry-
prayers of the assembled Church should rise to^'^'^'^t;
t^ 1 . . videat te
God m behalf of their afflicted brother ^ " Let C!^"''*"^
1 mcerentem,
thy mother the Church," says Ambrose, "weep for^^tdicat,
thee— let her wash and bathe thy faults with her tes, quia
tears — our Lord loves that many should become Amat, ut '
suppUant for one." And, secondly, that it is jare-muitTro-
eminently to the Minister of Christ, watching under Imb.de
Posnit. lib.

the great Pastor, over the souls committed to his ii.'^c"'io.'
chai-ge, that such confession should be made; thet^i^fan^r
wounded spfrit should find in Him a physician, thcatewa?"'
bewildered a guide, and the penitent a comforter ; luero^El^*
one who may point out the remedies, and so m-Ecdesif
stiuct, that the smner may mourn without despafr, 1"° e^™"
and hope without presumption. I do not say thatf™„'^^'^
men must come — but it is a blessed thinar, in trouble ^^^'.^ p™-
°' tendis;
and distress, so to come. For, though such an one Cbristum
"^ contractas,
VOL. II. U

290 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
Christum might go immediately to God, and must from Him
CXOFS.S* jEque iiu obtain forgiveness at the last, yet there is not always
cum super o . ./
te lacry- CUOUgh of faith Or of com'age to draw near to the mercy-
christus ' scat. It is hardly posslblc, for example, that he who has
Christus oucc tastcd of the heavenly gift and the powers of the
precatur." world to comc, and yet fallen away from grace, cru-
o.^io?" ' cified the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open
' '^'"'^ "f , shame, should be able at once to approach his Lord, as
course must -"^ ¦¦¦
depend up- a mcrciful and faithful High Priest, who is both able
on the * '
knowledge and wUUug to savc to the uttermost all those that come
which a "
penitenthas to Him. Surcly it is but right that such mourners
of himself .
and the should havc rccourse to some one who has authority
Gospel.
Novatian, to give them succour and direction; who can rightly
by Cassian, apply the word of God to their souls, and give them
such a case, a truc apprcheusion both of Him and of them-
" Pceniten- -
tiam agere SClVCS.
accfperer The Minister of Christ * can usuallyjudge better of the
mlhTnonest couditiou of siuucrs than they themselves, and than an
nUio^vS'in- Ordinary Christian — and not only is it his office to caU
saoerdo- them to repentance, and to mtercede with Almighty God
sian's'"^- — ^^* ^^ ^*^ ^^ cxprcss powcr, whcu he finds them
sax!?rdotai° ^^'^ peuitcuts, to declare them absolved by God, and
and quite restored to His favom-; to assure them further comfort,
unscnptu- ' '
rai. " Non q^ jjjg authority of his commission, that there are no
Nam Deus sujg which God wiU uot forgive, if they bring with them
endis pec- to the mcrcy-scat the condition of pardon — repentance
catoribus ,.,„..
per prophe-fi)r their sius past, andavitalfrmt-bearmg faith in Christ
tam adju- i.c<- ai i • ¦•ii
toriaprocjt- their Saviour. And upon this account it is that the
«em«je>er Church of England, though she does not bind it upon
se sufficere , . , p • p ii • •
posse confir- an mcu to make a particular confession oi then- sms to
"uffident i^f their Minister in all cases, yet does, in one specified

LECTURE VII. 291
emergency, requu-e it at their hands; "If there be he have the
J. Ill- ¦ 1 • "'"'"^ °f
any oi you, who by this means cannot quiet his own God and
conscience, (i. e. by confession to God alone,) but Hom. de
requu-eth farther comfort and counsel, let him come to nivet. " ji-
some discreet and learned Minister of God's Word, seipsum^ho-
and open his grief; that, by the ministi-y of God's TOkntate'^
holy Word, he may receive the benefit of absolution, e"mores^*''
together with ghostly counsel and adA-ice, to the^^^g^iJ^f
quieting of his conscience, and to the avoiding of aU ga^'raS- ^
scruple and doubtfulness'." And, in making- private ^°''"" ^'^^^^^
confession and absolution not necessary to alP, but*^*""""'''
•' ¦" suse mo-
only to those whose special cases require it, and who*^""'" ?^y^
•' '¦ -¦¦ Augustine,
cannot else obtain peace, our own Church keeps ^°'^: ^e
closer, not only to Scripture, but to the practice of" Debet,"
... 11 says Amhr.
the primitive ages, than the Church of Rome "". ^ Poen.
The French reformed Churches, modelled upon " Deo et
„ , . , 1 1 . . „ sacerdoti
Calvin s scheme, do not practise private conies- ooafiteri,"
sion or absolution. But the German Churches, does the
whether reformed or Lutheran, agree that all Chris- doctrine
tians, at certain times and seasons, should in the necessary
presence of their Ministers confess then- sins toto^h?^'""
God — and seek, each, a particular pardon for them- ^"^''-"
selves, through the power of the keys which Christ sity of con/
has committed to the Ministers of His Church — is the
rejoicing in it, as a most gracious ordinance of God, stepmade
and accepting the assurance of pardon as fi-om the on th°™ri-
mouth of Christ Himself". So much for the comfort tice—r^"
point in
' Vid. Service for the holy Communion. which the
"" Vid. Bingham, Orig. Eccies. book 18. c. 3. s. 1. &c. for full Tractarian
proof of this — a most important point in the present controversy, follow not
° Vid. Confess. Bohem. See likewise the Saxon Confession, 5?! ^"'^'ent
, . , . „ ' Church, *«<
which IS equally strong. Rome. No
U2

292 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
moreef- of coufession and absolution in many cases to the
fectual . • • x.
blow could Sick conscience, and its moral necessity m others.
true pOTi-° But the ChuTch of England does, in fact, require a
l\ih^aa.der public coufcssion of siu aud unworthiness from all her
of a ^n's members, before the absolution is pronounced by the
aTpw/ Minister', which proclaims God's full forgiveness of all
tiiHt"£r transgressions to those who have hearty penitence and a
pfeteTyTn™ true faith; to all who have confessed in this spirit, and
^""¦^^^^y""" pleaded at the tin-one of grace for those divine gifts
abie'carhe ^hich are necessary to maintain the soul in union with
imagined, jjg Lord. It is iu cvcry man's power to throw into the
no separa- J J^
tionsocom-ggngj-al confcssion his own personal sins, and, with all
tween the ^hc puugeucy of sorrow which special transgressions
God. may produce, to implore the Divine forgiveness — nor
public de- is the pardon and the sense of it less efficaciously ap-
absolution piled, or comfortably felt, if there be a vivid faith, than
the absence ./. .. . i r .i .01 • •
of which 11 it were accompanied, as lor the support oi despairmg
gretted^n soiUs it is in private confession and absolution, by the
mnr°g^? imposition of hands, or other forms which the Church
2 But no- jjas the power to prescribe to her Ministers.
thing on ¦'¦¦'•
which you Jn regard to a public confession of sins for open
have any o j. x
rightto and scandalous offences, such as plainly broke the
build as evi- _ _ 1. j
dence. It is baptismal VOW, and dishonoured the Church, such
not unrea
sonable to an exomologesis was probably, from the first, re-
SUDI30S6 that, in the qufred in the primitive Church, and all the eccle-
case of the . . , . /¦ i /> 1 1 •
incestuous siastical writcrs an;er the first age abound m unques-
mentioned ' tionable allusious to it — and even in the earliest
a^biic^" ' there are expressions which, without any unreasonable
of hit^of™ straining of their meaning^, may be referred to the
ceded hu practice of it. It is, in principle, grounded on
ThereTsno- Scripturc ; and it may be maintained on the soundest

LECTURE VII. 293
principles of reason and public expediency. It thing to be
is this part of the primitive discipline which the ever, by the
Church of England has recorded her solemn wish ot atoning
to restore, and which, though not to be enforced, oorpOT?ar
nor possible to be so, may well be an object of earnest such" n^ad^
desire — for surely they who have publicly trans- TheTpo-
gressed, ought as manifestly to return, as they have t^g^" give
gone asteayP. No better proof can be given of their ""jj™""^^
unfeigned conversion — and it is making to the Chm-ch than^the '
of Christ, whose members the sinner has offended, ;*;P°^"es
' ' themselves,
such reparation as he may, by the benefit of a public ,"°'^ '° *^
t J ' J I long years
example, and a solemn warning to transgressors, "^'."^i '»
Such a proof of penitency might well be followed, in penitent
the presence of the assembled Church, by a solemnJeeted. The
. . . . reality of
declaration of absolution. But even this is a matter the repent-
. 1 « 1. 11 *°ee is all
not of necessity, but of expediency — dependent on that is look-
the state of the times and the condition of the Tertuiiian's
Church — on the decay or fervour of that brotherly omoiogesis
love in the members of the Church' which can alone sumed an
render a public humiliation tolerable to the sufferer, "ExomX!
or wholesome to others — and therefore the Church ftemendlet
of England, leaving in the hands of her Ministers the eandi'ho-
power to repel from the Holy Communion notorious ^|°5^%''Jt^'"'
offenders, has only recorded her solemn conviction t^onlmTn-
of the wholesomeness of such godly discipline, without -{^"J™'
prescribing it to her chUdren as a necessity. Still, ^'J!''"'^™
if the times should suffer it, she has the power i"^ '"''?'*" !
J- atque vio(u,
p Confession, both public and private, was nearly abolished iiinereincu-"
the Eastern Church. Nectarius judged it more for the Church's''*'"^' corpus
1 ' • 1- . 1 1 -1 1 ,. .sordibnsob-
honour to leave to men s own consciences what had been, before, scurare
revealed to the Priest. animummsercribus
dejicere." de Poenit. c. 9. How must the sorrow of the soul have been lost in these forms ?
' Dooetur et hoc apud eos ; quorum peccatum est publicum, atque ideo scandalum publicum,
quando Deus iis largitur poenitentise spiritum, externam poenitentise testificationem non

294 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
debere fi'om her diviuc Master to exert such an authority.
hac quidem But, whatever discipline she might exercise for the
qud'pro-' good of mcu's souls, aud however free she might be to
pfanum fiat absolvc them absolutely from such penalties as she
peccTtores imposed,yet from sin she could only do it then, as she
tentFMn ' ^ocs uow, couditionaUy and declaratively — ^neither con-
se^conveT-^ dcmuation nor forgiveness could go farther. And such
uTsit note™ ^^® t^® ^^^^® ^^ th® hest ages of the ancient Church.
tiou°s1um I" regard to the form " absolve te ^" which, for
Ecoiesis^ et stronger assurance and comfort's sake, she directs
proximo ; " '
atque ex- jjgj. Ministers to use to earnest and fearfiU penitents,
emplo aliis, '-
quod refer- it is agreed amona: all profoundly acquainted with
mident et ° tor J 1 ^
vereantur." ecclesiastical history, that it was not known in the
Harm.Con- •'
fess. §. viii. practice of the Church, tiU a little before the time of
0. V. cap. _ _ _
Confess. Thomas Aquinas, who wrote in its defence. It was
Bohem. ....
, truly asserted by his adversary that the primitive
of the ab- form was not by way of positive absolution, but by
according way of prayer, or benediction i.
to Rome,
lies in these It ouly rcmaius to cousidcr, lastly, the question
"Docet of satisfaction, on which such a fearful super-
Synodus structurc has been raised by Rome ; whom learned
pcenitentise members of the Church of England, to the great
quaprseci- sorrow of all her true children', seem following
pue ipsius
vis sita, est . . ^^
in illis mi- '' " Absolutionem et remissionem tribuat tibi omnipotens Deus.
ntstri jsJqi; q^\j Protestant writers, as Abp. Usher, but papists, (vid.
positam Bingham, t. 8. p. 454.) have proved by the largest induction from
esse ' Ego the ancient Rituals and Fathers, that the old form of Absolution
solve' " "'ere all by way of prayer. And it is one of these points in which
Concil. the voice of genuine antiquity is almost as decisively opposed to the
xiv. c. 3. Romanist scheme, as holy Writ itself. Nor do the strongest as-
serters of Church authority, such as Ambrose and Chrysostom, who
both, occasionally, almost deify the Ministry, " deificus ordo," say a
word of absolute remission, though much of sacerdotal intercession.
' I say seem, for on these questions considerable allowance must

LECTURE VII. 295
without modification or concealment. W^here there
is a satisfaction, a previous injury is implied, and
a due proportion between the offence committed
and the reparation presented. Such is the injury
which the sin of man has done to the sovereign will
and the infinite love of his Father and King, entaUing,
by the imalterable laws of the divine government,
an eternal punishment on the tiansgressor, unless
the price of satisfaction be paid. This, which, in his
feebleness man was unable to render, the Son of God,
in hypostatic union with the nature that had sinned,
has paid to the uttermost farthing. By His death
upon the cross, and the sacrifice once offered. He
has made a full, perfect, and sufficient satisfaction
for the sins of the whole world. But, before His
atoning blood can be appUed to the soul, and we
can become masters of this inestimable gift. Almighty
God requires at the hands of all, such an earnest and
heart-searching repentance as shall fit us for the due
reception of it. Not that in itself it has any value,
save that of propriety and fitness in a perishing sinner
towaids an offended God; but, by the wUl of God, we
are thus made vessels fit to receive the finiits of
Christ's passion. Repentance, with its works, therefore
may be caUed a satisfaction to Almighty God, not in
the sense of an adequate payment to His justice, but
as that which He requires before He looks upon us with
complacency, and is pleased, for Christ's only merit's
sake, to forgive us our sins. And, though the propitia
tory sacrifice of Christ is of such infinite worth, it is
be made ; it is difficult to see where antiquity ends, and
Romanism begins.

296 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
' viTgas et fataUy to err both against Scripture and the Catholic
sentimus, faith, to supposc that Almighty God will be satisfied
nee bonis as towards US individually, without the broken and the
eemus, neo coutiitc heart, which, for Christ's sake, He wUl not de-
sat^sfact- " spise ; or, as it is, on the other hand, to assert that we
"Qui per Satisfy and not Christ; or that it is any thing but God's
pffiniten-'" infinite mercy through Him that accepts us on these
tae^at"!)"- conditions. It is m this sense tiiat the Fathers,
faceref'' Candidly interpreted, use the term satisfaction from
aiumpffini^t^^ siuucr to God, comprehending in it the whole
nltentiam" ^^rk of repentance, and all that proves its reality.
satjsfa- « ^g fggi " says holy Cyprian ^ " the bitter smart of
Tertull. de jjis rod and seom-ffe, because there is in us neither
Poenit. c. 6. '^
The Greek care to plcasc Him with our good deeds, nor to satisfy
same thing Him for our evilP." Augustine says^ " These things
«irtei, there are in perfect penitence; compunction, confession,
atoning or
free. aud Satisfaction ; that as in these ways we offend God,
2 In per- jj^ heart, word, and deed, so by these duties we may
fectione j j 3 .7 j
pcenitentia satisfy Himi." But, whcu Almighty God has, on our
tna obser- ¦' o ./ '
vanda sunt; repentance and faith in Christ, forgiven a sinner, no
compunctio ¦¦¦ a '
cordis, con-^vrath remains behind, no vindictive exaction, nothing
fessio oris, .... .
satisfaotio in addition to Christ's death and sufferings, now, ef-
operis,"etc. . .
August, de fectually, through faith, appropriated. " For God's
Ser. Dom. . . . „ .
in Mont, wrath, says Augustme "*, " is not as ours, the trouble
3 "Cum °f * mind disturbed and disquieted with things
dicihir^on^'^^^' but a Calm, unpassionate, and just assignment
catur'^"r^ of dreadfid punishment to be their portion who have
turbatio disobeycd ; His true or free determination of aU
quails estm _ "'
animo iras- felicity aud happiucss unto men, unless their sins
centis ho- "' ^ ^
minis, etc." f Cyprian, Epist. 8. Epist. 26.
' Hooker, vol. iii. p. 64.

LECTURE VII. 297
remain as a bar betwixt it and them'." And such
are God's declarations of pardon even towards the
greatest offenders. " When I say unto the wicked, Ez. xxxiii.
Thou shalt surely die ; if he turn from his sin, and
do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely
Uve, he shall not die." " Though yom- sins be as is. i. is.
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though ' ''^hat a
' •' ^ o sense of
they be red Uke crimson, they shall be as wool." ^"ndictive-
•' 'J ness seems
The Gospel, as we have seen, pronounces forgiveness Jo ew^o
in the same terms; and neither in the examples which the old
penitential
the Spirit gives us in the Old Testament, such as David discipline."
^ ° . „ . " Hsec om-
and Manasses, though for the grossest sins forgiven ; nia," says
. 1 Tie Tertullian,
nor m the many instances where our Lord grants lor- after de-
11 1- 1 x-i • 1 1 • scribing the
giveness ; nor m the Apostohcal Lpistles and practice fastings,
of the first primitive Fathers, is there so much as a ation, and
hint, or a word, that a spark of God's wrath re- atThrfeet
mained burning^; or that, in the fulness of Christ's presbyters,
riches, and Christ's love, and Christ's atonement, geafg"^" "'
any satisfaction remained to be made, either in this^amcom-
world or the next, to the vindictive justice of God."™g^fg^jf
Such a doctrine dishonours' God, undervalues j^^^^^^^^honoret, ut
' Aug. Enchirid. de Fide, Spe, et Caritate. c. 33. torem ipsa
' The duty of satisfaction as a mark of repentance, in the sense pronun-
of reparation, and even of making up for particular deficiencies j^gi ^^i„_
before, by a larger measure of good deeds therein, cannot be doubted, natione
But it would be utterly impossible to separate the authoritative t"^poy J- *
practice of satisfactions measured out by the priest from the most afflictatione
miserable abuses, however fairly the abstract statement may sound. pUcU non^'
Read the following passage from an eminent Romanist Divine. dicam frus-
Quse opera injungi possunt pro satisfactione sacramental! ? expun'gat
R. Quaecumque opera bona virtutis Christianse ; quia in statu &c-" See
naturae lapsae quodcuraque opus bonum est poenale et ardumn jg p,Enj.'
naturae corruptae. tentia et

298 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
Chrys. the great sacrifice, runs directly counter to holy writ,
Homii. on and, as mighty theologians ^, teach us, against the
subject, real meaning and spu-it of the greatest Fathers. I
allowances, think a Calm and dispassionate study of them* will
mucrihat coufirm tUis impression. Certainly it does not oppose
and^scrip"^ this vicw that they term prayer, and fasts, and alms-
tural, there
is some- Quot sunt genera opermn satisfactoriorum ?
*^"S.™''y R. Tria — oratio, jejunium, et eleemosyna. Ad haec tanquam ad
the perver- genera reduci possunt omnia caetera opera satisfactoria. S. Thom.
sion "f tl^e q_ jg_ g^_ 3 j^j g^ ^_ g affligtio, morbi ad jejunium, sacra communio
such men. et quicumque actus latrise ad orationem 
1 Proceed- Iter in genere orationum injungi possunt, semel aut pluries aut
Jug) 0' per plures dies aut septimanas sequentia:
course, ou a -^ -r r n
favourable 1. Dicere quinque Pater Noster et Ave Maria, in memoriam
interpreta- qujnqye Christi vulnerum, vel iiexis genibus, vel brachiis extensis,
out their vel ante crucifixum.
charitable 2. Recitare Rosarium, vel Litanias B. M. V. vel Sanctorum, &c.
lenity, or, '
rather, let 3. Legere Psalmum Miserere, vel septem Psalmos pcenitentiales.
us say, 4_ T^^uJije missas, vel laudes, vel concionem.
this most A >
reasonable o- Legere capitulum in Thoma a Kempis.
a,llowance, g_ Visitare Ecclesias, orare ante tabernaculum.
the Fathers „ „ . ., .,,.,.
after the '. Statutis temponbus, mane, vespen vel per diem, vel quoties-
first age cumque audierint sonitum horologii, renovent ore vel corde orationes
look to- . * . ...,,.. ^
wards jaculatorias, actus contritionis, vel charitatis : v. g. amo te Deus
Rome. Buts^pe]. omnia; detestor omnia peccata mea. Nolo peccare amplius.
one decided . ...
passage is Jesu crucifixe pro me, miserere mei, &c.
enough to g. Prefixo die iterum confiteatur, vel saltem redeat ad confessarium.
hundred Ad genus jejunii refertur quidquid ad mortificationem corporis
indefinite pertine,t; ita injimgi potest, vel jejunium perfectum, vel pars
jejunii : v. g.
1. Jejunet FereA sext&, aut saepius.
2. Jejunet solum usque ad horam duodecimam.
3. Non bibat ante meridiem, vel post meridiem, nisi ui prandio
et in coen^, quamvis sitiat. Abstineat a vino vel a cerevisia forti.
4. Minus manducet, vesperi non nisi medietatem sumat, etc.
And this is the miserable formalism which the Church of
Eingland is urged to impose, instead of an evangelical repentance.
Dens' Theolog. vol. vi. p. 246.

ones.

LECTURE VII. 299
giving, works of satisfaction ; as proofs and evidences
of real repentance, they are so in a legitimate sense.
As Cyprian says, that those who have offended,
" should follow works of righteousness that wash
away sin, (fit us, that is, for forgiveness through
Christ, as signs of vital faith,) and be plentiftd in
alms-deeds, whereby souls are deUvered from death;
not as if God did, according to the manner of
corrupt judges, take money to abate the punishment
of malefactors." " Neither are they," says Salvian, Non pretio
sed affectu
" with God accepted because of their value, but forpiacent.
our affection's sake, which thereby shews itself*."
Nor do they oppose the scriptural doctrine when
they account ecclesiastical penance as satisfaction for
sin, in the sense that open and notorious sinners,
if repentance be real, ought to exhibit such visible
marks of it, as may satisfy their brethren of the
reaUty of their conversion. But my object is not so much
to vindicate antiquity, or to recommend the adoption of
its rules of penance or its dangerous phraseology, which
widely deviates from the simpUcity of Scripture ; but
only to state the doctrine of the Church of England,
in opposition to that of Rome ; and to shew that we
may be defenders of the blessed docti-ine of justifica
tion by faith only, and yet hold a real penitential dis
cipline reasonably limited. And it is an important
point to know that the Fathers after the first age,
though, both in private and pubUc penance, they over
laid it, yet still held firmly to the sole power of Christ
to forgive sin ; and the entireness of that forgiveness,
' Cypr. de Lap. p. 136. Salvian. ad Eccies. Cathol. lib. 1.

300 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
when there was the reality of a broken heart and con
trite spirit.
As the sum of what has been said, in the
ministerial absolution, Christ's sovereignty is un
touched — and the secondary power which His
Church thus possesses in the keys, and under
these scriptural restrictions, is, 1. The forgiveness
of sins or their retaining, which is contained in
the due administration of the holy Sacraments.
2. The declaratory absolution of the word and doc
trine. 3. The absolution by the prayer of the
Church, or the intercession either of the Minister
of Christ, or of the people conjointly with the Min
ister ; and, 4. In the absolution " from such
" The following is the admirable statement by Bingham, on the
necessity of the ministerial absolution — which is well worth
studying, when, in direct opposition to Scripture, antiquity, and
the Church of England, men insist upon it as essential to the for
giveness of sins.
" Now the absolute and indispensable necessity of these several
sorts of absolution in all cases whatsoever, is what, I conceive,
neither our Church, nor the primitive Church ever asserted, though
some of them are of much greater necessity than others.
" For, 1 . as to the absolution that is given upon private or auricular
confession ; that cannot be more necessary than the confession
itself, which, except in some particular cases, is only matter of
advice, rather than strict duty imposed upon all men under pain of
damnation ; as our Church with the primitive Church defends
against the Romish imposition and yoke laid upon men's con
sciences in this particular.
" 2. As to a general absolution upon a general confession, which
is retained in our Lilujgy, and is a defect in Calvin's ; though it
must be owned to be a very useful and edifying part and form of
divine service, which Calvin wished to have inserted into his
Liturgy, but could not obtain it, yet we cannot say it is so neces
sary a part of divine service, as that no Church can have absolution
or remission of sins, without such a foim of absolution in her

LECTURE VII. 301
penalties, as, for the good of the offender's soul, and
the spiritual safety of the flock, the Church, in the
exercise of her unquestionable authority, may have
thought it good to impose.
Liturgy. For this would be an unwarrantable condemnation of all
Churches that want that particular form, though they otherwise
supply it by preaching, which is the declaratory application of
God's promises of pardon to His Church.
" 3. The necessity of the absolution which is dispensed in the
administration of the sacraments, is indeed the same as the necessity
of the sacraments themselves. So far, therefore, as the one is
necessary, so far the other is necessary likewise. But the necessity
of the sacraments is not so absolute and indispensable, as that God
cannot in many cases, where there is no contempt of His ordinances,
save men without the external application of them by the hand of
His ministers.
" 4. For the absolution which is dispensed by the relaxation of the
Church censures, though it be necessary to be sought after by true
penitents in all ordinary cases, yet there are several exceptions in
cases extraordinary, in which pardon may be had without a
formal absolution. For what if a Bishop for unjust ends, or un
worthy designs, refuse to absolve a true penitent, when he both
gives true signs of repentance, and humbly desires absolution ;
will there be no pardon in heaven for him, who is so unjustly and
imperiously denied it on earth by men, who exceed their power,
which is only given to edification, and not to destruction ? Bel
larmine uideed says so, ' negatur remissio illis, quibus noluerint
sacerdotes remittere.' Bellarm. de Poenit. lib. 3. cap. 2.
" ' Forgiveness is denied to those whom the priests will not forgive.'
But this is carrying the priest's authority to an absolute sovereignty
and arbitrary power, which has no foundation in Scripture or the
ancient Canons of the Church. For even Pope Gregory the Great
could tell these men, that the bishop in binding and loosing those
under his charge, doth often follow the motions of his own will, and
not the merits of the cause ; in which case he deprives himself of
this power of binding and loosing, who exercises the same according
to his own will, and not according to the deserts of those who are
subject to him ; that is, his unrighteous judgment is of no value ;
it is reversed and cancelled in the court of heaven." Bingham's
Antiquities, vol. viii. p. 444.

302 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
Relation But to return to the relation between the spiritual
Church and authority and the civU power. That a connection
between the Church and the Commonwealth is
necessary for mere civU purposes, and the pre
servation of a public moraUty, may be considered
as granted. Certainly it is so, so far as the
ancient legislators are concerned in the question.
For aU of them, from the statesman whose in
stitutions impressed a permanent character on the
commonwealth, and who dealt practicaUy with the
original legislation which determined its pohtical
type, down to the mere phUosophical speculator on
civil government, agreed in this — ^they introduced
their codes under a divine sanction, and placed the
paUadium of all social prosperity, not in the chamber
of the senate, or the tribunal of the judge, but in
the temple of the gods. A commonwealth without
a state religion never entered into their conceptions
— not merely for the interests of the governor, but
for the permanent existence at aU of the social
state. And in modern times, whatever may have
been the opinion of an inconsiderable class of specu
lative men, yet, till the bursting forth of that national
atheism, embodied as a practical principle to men's
eyes, which signaUzed the termination of the last
century — a commixture of flame and blood, and all
the ingredients of wrath and wickedness which could
be fermented together — stich was universally the
matter of fact. With all the Gothic kingdoms,
Christianity was not only united but incorporated,
and hardly to be distinguished from the essence of
their political constitution.

LECTURE VII. 303
That the principle itself is a sound one, nay, funda
mental to a Christian society, or any society whatsoever
which acknowledges a God, and a superintending Pro
vidence over the affau-s of men, it is scarcely possible
for any rehgious mind to question — unless it be
blinded by fanaticism, a false phUosophy perverting
the plainest dictates of practical reason, or the imme
diate interests of an unprincipled sectarianism. At
the same time, it cannot in fairness be denied, that
human infirmities and human corruptions, some of
them most flagitious and inexcusable, have obscured
that connection between things spiritual and temporal,
which, at once, for the protection of the faith and the
perfection of human society, the kingdom of Christ was
intended to perpetuate and consolidate. Ecclesiastical
ambition, as well as secular corruption, has debilitated
those principles which lead to the association of aU
the duties and offices of life, public as well as private,
with a divine sanction; which thus embraces all
humanity, from the individual to the commonwealth
in the union of an acknowledged relationship to the
same God — a imion in which the civU and rehgious
elements are so combined without confusion, as to
afford to each other in tum an indispensable sup
port. The Western Church, in this respect, has
perUled permanentiy the dearest interests of men, and
stands convicted by the overwhelming testimony
of history, of the most premeditated wrong-doing
to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. For, arising
naturaUy from her spiritual claims, and yet to
be recognised as distinct from it, grew the papal

304 PRELIMINARY REMARKS TO
claims'' of temporal dominion — the greatest por
tent of wickedness, after aU, which the world has
ever witness 3d; one which true Ministers of the
Church of England should be the first to con
demn; neither sheltering the sin, as unprincipled
men excuse secular ambition, by the grandeur
• In stating the opinions held by theologians on the temporal
power of the Pope, Bellarmine divides them into three. " 1. Sum-
mum pontificem jure divino habere plenissimam potestatem in
universum orbem terrarum tum in rebus ecclesiasticis, tum in
politicis  per Christi adventum omne dominium Principum
infidelium translatum esse ad Ecclesiam, et residere in summo
Pontifice et vicario summi et veri regio Christi — et ideo posse
Pontificem regna infidelium jure suo donare quibus voluerit
fidelium. 2. Pontificem ut Pontificem, et ex jure divino, nullum
habere temporalem potestatem, nee posse ullo modo imperare
principibus secularibus, &c. 3. Tertia sententia media et Catho-
licorum theologorum communis. Pontificem, ut Pontificem, non
habere directe et immediate ullam temporalem potestatem sed
solum spiritualem — tamen ratione spiritualis habere saltem in-
directe, potestatem quandum, eamque summam in temper alibus."
It is accordingly supported with wonderful argumentative re
sources. After reading the five first chapters of Lib. 5. de Sum.
Pontif. on the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, and therefore
of Christ's representative — we come to the conclusions which he
seemed to begin by abjuring, " Asserimus Pontificem ut Pontificem
etsi non habeat ullum mere temporalem potestatem, tamen habere
in ordine ad bonum spirituale summum potestatem disponendi de
temporalibus rebus omnium Christianorum. c. vi. Quantum ad
leges, non potest Papa, ut Papa ordinarie condere legem civilem —
vel confirmare aut infirmare leges Principum — quia non est ipse
Princeps Ecclesiae politicus tamen potest omnia ea facere, s\ aliqua
lex civilis sit necessaria ad salutem animarum." c. vi. ad fin. Then
at the beginning of the next chapter he propounds as a necessary
consequence, " Potestas civilis, subjecta est potesiati spirituali
quando utraque pars est ejusdem reipublicae Christianae, ergo
potest Principio spiritualis imperare Principibus temporalibus."

LECTURE VII. 305
of the scheme, and the systematic resolution mani
fested in its execution; nor mitigating, by the
euphemism of a " divme dispensation," the whole
some hatred of the mind for the projectors of such
an usurpation. This power was by HUdebrand and
Innocent exercised without concealment; but, while
it is claimed at aU, it matters not whether it be thus
directly grasped, or whether the regulation of the
affiairs of state fall indirectly, according to Bellarmine's
theory, into the hands of the spiritual head, from its
necessity to the adequate carrying out of purely
spiritual purposes. For, by thus doing, on whatever
theory, not only was the papal chair placed in Christ's
room, as a ruler over men's souls ; but it likewise
assumed the prerogative of His Eangship, in the con
trol of earthly revolutions, and in that providence over
commonwealths, by which He overrules the hearts
of kings, and the fortunes of kingdoms, to the ulti
mate purposes of His wUl.

VOL. II. X

LECTURE VII.

I. The Reformation first distinctly distinguishes between the power
temporal and spiritual — the dangers in a union with the State of forget
ting, in any way, the spiritual characteristics of the Church — on Christ's
kingdom. II. No sufficient ground for the Millenarian hypothesis of a personal
reign of Christ upon earth.
III. The restoration of the Jews, and the future prospects of the
Church upon earth.

John xviii. 36.
" Jesus answered. My kingdom is not of this world."
I. 'T'O the Reformation was ultimately due the esta- The tem-
B poral power
-¦- blishment of the ti-ue theory on which states are emanci-
emancipated, in temporal matters, from control by the theHeform-
spiritual power.. FoUowing Scripture, it laid down the
principle of the magistrate's supreme authority, and its
independency in aU civU affairs by divine institution; and
the consequent subjection in which, by the precepts of
the Gospel, and the practice of the primitive Church, aU
Christians, in things pertaining to this life, are placed to
the State. But it checked, on the other hand, the tend
ency of the State to fall off from its spiritual relation,
by laying down a responsibUity for the propagation of
God's truth proportioned to the independence of action
which it allowed, and the greatness of the office which
it consecrated. But, even when the true natm-e of
x2

308 LECTURE VII.
1 Not so Christ's kingdom, and its relation to the secular autho-
when we rity, was thus brought out more clearly, side by side,
the fourth by Separating from its jm-isdiction the civil duties of
Supe"mi. the State, and the accompanying renunciation of a
fanaticism* foreign Supremacy in favour of a natural Head, all
The step^is ^^^ ^^^ J^t doue to dcvelopc its spirituality ! For,
ggg^y"^^^''" though the submission of ecclesiastics to the au-
p°gg°^g^^*jj'^ thority of the magistrate had rendered the influence
orWton^ of the Cliurch compatible with national independence,
^mllnt' intellectual, civilization, and, eventually, with po-
upon such htical liberty ; and though this gave the Church real
Such hegan strength by confining it more and more to its proper
the posi- sphere ; yet there still remained behind, infixed in the
tions of the . , . „ , . . .
Christian miuds of men, a remnant of the ancient principle
rulers * '*the
deificus which demanded temporal punishments, as the cor-
ordo," as . ^ . . , ~.
Amhrose rcction of spmtual oflences,
calls them. oi i • • i i i i
Even Au- Sucli a principle never so much as entered the
expressions thouglits of the primitive Christians ^ ; and it is a strik-
the Ap™-" ing proof, not only of the extent to which Rome had
and lean-"' succeeded in ingraining the duty of persecution
sMudon" into the minds of men, but of its congeniality to that
graerai'^'* distrust of God's own ways of preserving and vindi-
otherwile! mating His truth, which is natural to us aU, that, not
Mrit"rf '^'^ ^'^^y ^^^'^ minds like Calvin's, but tender and melting
brTath* natures like Cranmer's, should thus have supported the
it much cause of the Gospel. Strange that they should thus
more un- ^ o ./
equivo- have misuudcrstood the kuigdom which Christ Him-
cally. Ee- ,
formation self lias Solemnly declared is not of this world ; and
wascrushedwith a high where, whatever He may confer upon us in His
hand,worthy of bouuty, Hc has promised us no other crown than the
papistical „ , , . ^t- ¦ .
times. The crowu of thoms, and given His mmisters no other

LECTURE VII. 309
authority save that which touches the spirits and treatment
consciences of believers. lantius and
That this vast error has passed away from theameian-
minds of men ; that it has been removed from the of the de
code of the Protestant, and the practice of the the times-
Romanist, is to be attributed, I fear, not so much to tunity for"
the concession of the ecclesiastical » power as such, asth^patifto primitive purity was
¦ It is a point so frequently urged in extenuation of Romish °°'' *S*™
persecution, and, from its undeniable truth up to a certain point, the Church
so calculated to convey an erroneous impression on a most im- ^°' ^^^'
portant point, that it is necessary to draw attention to it. I subjoin centuries.
for this purpose the following remarks from the pen of one to •'^"^ y^'
whom the Church is under more obligations than perhaps any man twelve
living. centuries
" We must confess the lamentable truth, that, in some instances, g^ed upon
Protestantism has been thus polluted : yet, when we consider how against
slow the mind of man is to receive propositions, which at length andhistory
become familiar and appear altogether incontestable, we shall not per- as the true
haps wonder at the circumstance, however we may deplore it. The gj^i°ai ^°"
sanguine spots of Rome long, more or less, adhered to those, who Church
had reformed themselves from her superstitions: and the lessons, ^""'"P
which had been learned in a corrupt school, were often but too
faithfully carried into practice. This was only to be expected :
for, except in cases of actual inspiration, the breaking in of light
will always be gradual. Hence, in common equity, the masters
ought to be blamed, rather than the scholars. Be this, however,
as it may, there is a vital and essential difiference, in the matter of
persecution, between Popery and Protestantism, which ought never
to be overlooked ; though, for obvious reasons, the modem advo
cates of the Roman Church prudently pretermit it. Persecution
is part and parcel of Popery ; but, in Protestantism, it is merely
incidental. In making this assertion, I speak advisedly, not inad
vertently : and I substantia,te it on the very principles of Popery
and Protestantism in themselves. A special doctrine of Popery is
the infallibility and immutability of the Catholic Church so called,
in all points which have been authoritatively determined by oecu
menical Councils. Now the duty of persecuting and exterminating
heretics with fire and sword is unreservedly propounded by at

310 LECTURE VII.
to the increasing intelligence of mankind, and the
growth of civil liberty — to the manifest contradiction
in the eyes of reasonable men, between a spiritual
' vid. Intro- kingdom* and secular punishments — but mainly to the
remarks, reiterated experience, that the heart of man, even in its
sins, has a force in it beyond the power of the stake or of

least two oecumenical Councils, the third and fourth Councils of
Lateran. See Concil. Later. III. can. 27. Labb. Concil. vol. x.
p. 1622, 1523; and Concil. Later. IV. can. 3. Labb. Concil. vol. xi.
p. 147 — 151. Such being the case, in a Church which avowedly
can neither err nor change, the duty of persecution becomes an
immutable and perpetual article of faith, always existing and bind
ing, though not always capable of being carried into practice : nor
can this conclusion be avoided by any modern Romanist, unless
he be content to pronounce, that two oecumenical Councils have
erred, and consequently that what he denominates the Catholic
Church is both fallible and mutable. Persecution, therefore, is
inherent in Popery: it is a part, an integral part, of the very
system : nor can the Roman Church ever shake off" its imposed
obligation, without at the same time renouncing its own infallibility.
But, with Protestantism, the matter is the very reverse. Unfettered
by the chains of an imagined infallibility, Protestants censure and
disown, without scruple, whatever deeds of their predecessors they
observe to be unwarrantable and unscriptural. In their system,
persecution is incidental, not inherent. Their fathers, so far as
they practised it, learned the evil lesson in the school of Rome :
but the deeds of their fathers they neither justify nor recognise as
forming any part of their code of belief and duty. In short, popery
stands precluded, by her own claim of infallibility and immutability,
from reprobating and disowning the sanguinary abominations,
which have systematically characterized the Roman Church. She
may retort the charge of persecution upon Protestantism, to secure
the purposes of controversy, and to mislead the sciolists of a
babyish liberalism : but she well knows, that she dares not to join
her rival, in pronouncing all persecution for conscience sake, by
whomsoever and whensoever conducted, to be damnable, and ac
cursed, and abominable, and unscriptural." Vide Faber's Calendar
of Prophecy, p. 95 — 97.

LECTURE VII. 311
the rack, — that suffering, therefore, foi- conscience sake,
even for heresies in themselves deadly, is neither an in
strument of personal conversion, nor of pubhc example ;
but a martyrdom in the cause of human rights, and
the certain means of extending, or giving a false
consecration to an error, the conscientious conviction
of which is attested by the magnanimous endurance
of its punishment !
But, even short of this, to attach any material Vid. Locke
•' on Tolera-
penalties whatsoever, by the intervention of the tioi, and
,. . Taylor's
magistrate, to reUgious errors, as such, however low Liherty of
,1 1 • 1 1 (• ... Prophesy-
they may be m the scale of correction, is quite as ing; the
la>tter the
much opposed to true Church principles — or, if it is first real
to be palhated at all, can only be so in a state of society of the
so uninteUigent, as to invest the magistrate with thecrasolenoe
same power, and give that power the same direct in- dressed to
fluence over moraUty, as that which a father, by cor- "a^T and
poreal chastisement, exercises over a chUd; but even,*°g*^^°'"'
this is nota justification ofthe general principle, but only
a palUation of a specific and temporary appUcation of it.
EquaUy opposed to the spmtual nature of Christ's The direct
kingdom, and unfriendly to its true interests and best temporal
influence, is the attempt to place it beyond the power oompatuiie
of its enemies, by administering the main offices of^intuai
the State directly by spiritual hands. This, in fact, th^'hurch.
is the principle of HUdebrand in a mitigated form,
and holds the State, though nominally free, in a
virtual subjection ; whUst, by putting it into a false
position, it is the inevitable destiuction of the Chm-ch.
And this it was which, when earned out by Laud,
with his characteristic impetuosity and despotic

312 LECTURE VII.
temper, involved both Church and State in one
common ruin, which, with false weapons, and means
'Vid. Laud essentially unspiritual, he was labouring to averts
pacy-itts But m all the stiuggles which men have thus made
spirit of to subjugate more or less the secular power to the
chu^rch- spu-itual — a great principle, however imperfectiy ex-
gaTed7'^" tricated, was nevertheless at stake. For Chm-chmen
b'y'^morf' wcrc wroug — not because religion is a thing indif-
tim'^r'^'^^ferent, or heresy and schism other than awful evUs —
nor because men are to be abandoned to themselves,
and to the imaginations of their own heart, in the con
cerns of the soul — nor because any scheme which
should not lay down the fear and love of God as the
first duty and interest of nations, was reconcUeable
with true statesmanship, or the unchangeable relations
of man to his Maker. But they erred, either because
they mistook the means, and operated unconsciously
with instruments directly at variance with the objects
which they had in view — or, which I fear was most fre
quently the case, because, being themselves secular, they
secularized spiritual things ; being themselves ambi
tious, they worked with the instruments that came near
est to hand; and knew not what their tiue vocation was,
or the true spiritual majesty of Christ's kingdom upon
But all earth. But the idea, on which they acted, is the pre-
sbouid be dominant principle on which Scripture bases the ad-
1^!?J= ministration of human affairs, and the only one under
which societies can flourish — that commonwealths, caU
them by what name you please, or whatever be the dis
tribution of the secular powers, must not only be com
bined, in some way, with reUgion, as even the heathens

LECTURE VII. 313
saw, and the form ofthe Gothic kingdoms exhibited as a
fact; but must be really Theocracies ; and this is the base
of all true theories on the union of Church and State.
For, firstly, that obedience to God and to His laws
which is due from every rational creature, admits of no
restriction in kind or Umitation in degree — the political
actions of any individual whatever, are the actions,
and perhaps the most important actions, of a moral
being — and having- moral relations, and being subject
to moral principles, they ai-e just as much a part of his
religious duty, as those of private life. None therefore
are so high exalted as to plead exemption from that
universal law which is uTespective of persons — but,
in proportion to the extension of their spheres, and
the greatness of then- abilities, men have at once a
richer offering- to lay upon the altar; and a more
awful responsibility to encounter, at the day of
reckoning, to Him who made great minds for great
purposes, and never separates privilege from duty.
And wise men know well, that the growth of man
kind into families, and the accumulation of famihes
into the magnificent unities of commonwealths, are
only an enlargement of the individual man with
a proportionate multiplication of his duties and his
moral and inteUectual energies; that they are not
an after-thought or an accident, but a condition
essential to human advancement, and the result of a
divine system. They see that this grandest form
in which humanity can be represented, would dwindle
into a mean and contemptible thing, only the more
mean from its mere material magnitude, if those

314 LECTURE VII.
elements of spuitual greatness which confer dignity
and sublimity upon the man were excluded from the
State. But in order to rule the State, to regulate its
principles, and train it into a godly citizenship, the
commonwealth, as such, must acknowledge an im
perial power above her ; a law which is the found
ation of all other laws, and which, as the condition
of her existence, she is bound to obey. And this law
must be not a mere inward sense of right, nor an
intellectual abstraction ; but the law of an actual and
living Sovereign — of Him, whose vicegerents, within
their proper sphere, earthly magistrates are — neither
more nor less. But this being granted, we have
to deal with God, not as nature guesses, but as
revelation proclaims Him to be. His final and
authoritative revelation is that of God as He is in
Christ Jesus. Christ is He, whose universal laws
are, from henceforth, the sole rule of kings and
kingdoms, and, as the principles and Umitation of
aU action, they must be admitted without hesitation or
reserve. " Hallelujah !" is the song in heaven in the
apocalyptic vision, on the spread of the Gospel into
all lands, and the proclamation of Christ, as King,
to the very ends of the world. " Hallelujah ! for the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth; the kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of God, and of
His Christ."
No men, however, or combination of men, can be
expected to submit to a sovereign, whose controlUng
power, upon the acknowledgment of him, is to be

LECTURE VII. 315
co-extensive with their moral action, on any ground
less than an absolute claim on their obedience.
This obedience, therefore, the Gospel does claim
absolutely as a right ; it makes no compromise, and
submits to no mutUation ; but claims admission into
men's hearts, and power over men's lives, as the
very and undoubted truth of God, with the most
solemn warnings that the soul is perilled in itsTheprimi-
„ • . • , tive form
rejection. ofthe
Moreover, the visible Church of Christ, in «^s united with
primitive form and doctrine, is the specific instrument ^^^"^^j^'jjjg
by which that truth is propagated and preserved, ^j™^™'
and a perpetual witness maintained to the unseen p°^*^^^
Sovereign; and it is not to be received into a^™"^^*''^
commonwealth as a machine of state pohcy, or ' The
merely as an admirable device for spreading through this primi-
the length of the land a secular morality; but as was, in
a divine institution, for divine ends. And^, wherever_^^", the
that pure apostohcity can be shewn in any branch of *eon"ert-
of it, it is not to be regarded, as one of many co-equaVou^°^
bodies — but as the living representative, by virtue of natio^™,
her doctrine, organization, and succession, of the very^j";^^^
kingdom which Christ Himself founded; and through ^^^^^^J"^
which, and none other, its inffuences are to be ^^^-^'"^'
manently maintained, wherever it has seemed good to ^'^"^j
Almighty God to plant it. f°™ "^n
<-> •> A bind neither
It is on this ground that the Church of England, |"m nor
combining apostolicity of doctrine with apostolicity of o^ey longer
form, claims the moral obedience of the nation, and shadow of
, , a Church
the protection of its rulers. No mere political al- which
. . T» 1 • Christ has
liance, on the prmciples of War burton or Faley, is deserted.

316 LECTURE VII.
reconcUeable with the truth of the Gospel, or the
claim of Chi-ist as universal King. Whether, indeed,
united to the State or not, it is her duty and her
glory to labour for the general good, uTespectively
of secular support, or the decent honour of an
establishment ; and certain it is, that, being founded
upon the eternal rock, she shall never perish, nor
shall the gates of hell prevaU against her. But,
though she will survive, under any circumstances, the
State will become an atheistic body and a corrupted
mass without her — not a society or an unity, but a
mere discord and a self-contradiction. And, for the
adequate discharge of her national office, and the en
forcement of that acknowledgment of Christ as King
which the nation makes by its recognition of her, she
has a right to demand, or rather, what beseems her
better as the servant of Christ and of men's souls, it
is her duty to entreat, for the good of aU, a generous
confidence and an uncompromising support.
She has no right, indeed, and makes no claim, to
secular authority of any sort, and stUl less to a
tyrannical control over men's faith; or any thing
that shall exempt her from the necessity of depend
ing, not on the interested patronage of the great, or
the fatal protection of mere power, but the affections
of her people; she grudges not to any that liberty of
conscience, on the free exercise of which she herself
is founded. But every form of succour, which is
compatible with her spu-itual nature, the develope
ment of her own spu-itual energies, and the use of aU
the instruments of moral influence, she does ask in the

LECTURE VIL 317
name of her Lord and Master, at the hands of those ' vid. Coie-
• 1 1 1 • ridge onthe
to whom He has committed the means to supply it. idea of
Every friend of human advancement must depre- state; fuU
cate, even on this ground only, the hour which shall thought,
divorce the Church of England fi-om the Common- great phi-
wealth. For, with its disconnection from the sove- rioh''in[ "
reign authority, and the consequent dissolution ofSSwi*,
the point of union ^ between the powers secular and ^iiVhoie"
spiritual, would perish, perhaps finally, fi-om off the^f^"^
earth, the realization of that theocratic idea, which was the™ast^*^'
propounded, for the imitation of mankind, not in the h°qj.°^
form, but in the principle, of the Jewish republic — mT'gh °d *'
that idea which wise and arood men have ever soueht ^'°°« ^^
° ° made a
to perfect, and which, in spite of some painful anomalies, °°t'e con-
and many short-cominffs both of Church and State, has towards a
„ , . . ¦ . . . "ght un-
found its nearest accomplishment in the constitution derstanding
of this great kingdom, which not the calculation of church's
statesmen, but the hand of Providence, has so mar- the state.
n 1 ,1 But there
veUously compacted. arestiu
Nor would the Church herself, even spiritually, bejusted
other than a sufferer by the change. For, though Mr!'Mau-
she abandons, on some points, a freedom of action, church of
which, if independent of the State, she would neces- "^*-
sai-ily exercise, yet the loss is more than compensated ^s'^^eii"^''
by the advantages of this control in other respects, bene^fi'ted
It prevents a waste of stiength in the highest degree ^.'
unfavourable to a concentiation of her energies on
objects purely spiritual; and to those influences which
are propelling her, with a power that accumulates
in proportion to her wants, to an active aggression
upon the world, and a devoted struggle with the god-

an
anion.

318 LECTURE VII.
less principles of the times. The sanction of the
State frees her from that temptation to stiain
her spiritual influences, which in-esistibly besets a
Church isolated from secular support; and which
renders the union of both, when it is grounded on
true principles and the acknowledgment of Christ's
supremacy over men and states, not an instrument of
ecclesiastical tyranny, but the most effectual barrier
against its establishment — the best pledge of a
Christian moderation, and of an earnestness, for the
good of all, in the propagation of divine truth, rather
than the selfishness of personal authority, and a priestly
domination. It fi-ees her Ministers fi-om that suspicion
of camahty which attends the violent struggles, am
bitious of reputation and popular influence, which are
the lot of those who have no definite position or
acknowledged rank in the eyes of men — and from that
debasement into mere politics, and sympathy with
the temporary agitations of the day, which, not so
much from choice as an overbearing necessity, go
far, in sectarian hands, to turn faith into faction, and
to secularize, on principle, the Gospel of Christ.
Again, its control regulates the violences of party
feeling; it imposes a wholesome impediment on those
sudden outbreaks, which the earnestness of religious
opinions and the unthinking impetuosity of popular zeal
have a tendency to engender. These more than once,
in our own times, have threatened the Church with
disruption, and might stUl, in a fit of momentary fiiry,
render those convocations, which, in health and union,
might be effectual means at once for the manifestation

LECTURE VII. 319
and fuller growth of her spiritual life, only the
monuments to the world of a hopeless discord,
or the actual instrument of her subversion.
Undoubted therefore it is, when due regard is
made, on one hand, to the rights of the civil
authority, and to the inaUenably spiritual independence
of the Church, on the other ; that, in this union, the
best provision is made for the extension of Christ's
kingdom, and the thorough impenetration of the
State with His spiritual power. And, if we can
suppose the animation of the rehgious spirit, and
the obedience of men's hearts to their divine King, to
be carried throughout the land, tUl high and low, and
rich and poor, fashionedthought, and word, and action,
upon the Word of God — why then, with aU the remain
ing infirmities of human nature, and the drawbacks
of disease, and sin, and death, it would be the nearest
approach to a heavenly condition, which the trans
gression of* Adam has left to this world the possi
biUty of attaining — " they shall teach no more every jei.
man his neighbour, saying. Know the Lord, for
they shaU aU know me, from the least of them unto
the greatest of them, saith the Lord — ^for I will
forgive their iniquity, and I wiU remember their sin
no more."
II. That Christ's kingdom upon earth vdU ever
assume a constitution nearer to the secular type, or
cease, in aU that makes it real, to be hypersensuous,
with spiritual rather than temporal blessings as the
covenanted accompaniment of it, and governed by an
invisible though present Head, there is no solid ground

320 LECTURE VII.
either in reason or Scripture for supposing. But it
has been a received opinion, nevertheless, that, before
the actual dissolution of aU things, and the creation of
the new heavens and the new earth, Christ shall live on
earth for a thousand years; and shall reign in triumph
with His saints, visible to men's eyes, dispensing secular
prosperities as well as spiritual graces, and invested
with all the accompaniments of a temporal sovereign.
Nor has it remained in the mere form of a specu
lation — it cannot, indeed, well do so, for it has
elements about it, calculated to agitate deeply the
believing mind, if the advent of the Saviour can be so
approximated to the present moment as to lay hold
directly on men's hopes and fears. No doubt it has
always had, and now has, sober and leai-ned advocates
— pious ones it never has wanted — but stUl in those
intervals of its long existence, when it has been
vehemently pressed upon the belief of men, few opi
nions have, in feeble minds, created more extravagance,
or even, in our own time, taken more unhappy pos
session of powerful though unregulated inteUects.
Antiquity it may certainly plead. The truth is,
that if there be any ecclesiastical tradition, vene
rable more than another from its unquestionable
antiquity, and, in the common mode of arguing now-
a-days on such questions, traceable to the Apostles,
it is the doctrine of the Millennium, and the Saviour's
personal reign on earth.
But if we scrutinize it closely, it seems to have
originated from Papias *", a friend and disciple of
'' Irenaeus, lib. v. adv. Heeres. c. 33. says of Papias simply.

LECTURE VII. 321
Saint John, and well fitted, from the loose character
of his mind, to misunderstand the meaning of the

" Tat/Toe 3s xxi Uxmxi 'ladvtou fclt axouc-rh;, TJoTivxd^^ov ?s hxT^of
yeyotUi, a^^x7o? xviip, tyypd^aq eTrtfixprvpti et t^ tstos^tji Tay xvrov
fii/ixlat." There is in this remark nothing that asserts Papias to
have' been the originator of the tradition, as Mosheim observes
with truth, but merely cites him as a testimony, albeit, of course,
the most ancient to which he had the power of referring. Eusebius
says, "' AAX« Se o xirog o-vyy^xtpetig ag ex Trx^x^oa-sui xy^d^ov e'lf xiTot
vixotTX Trx^aTiSeiTxi , ^etxs Tg Titxs TrxpxjSoXag tov S^'riJ^as xxi oidxa-xx-
Atxg xvTov, xxiTitx xXXx fivQtKUTipx' it oiq xxi ^thtd^x Ttvo. (pytcit Irat
eireir^xt ^eTX t«v ix tex^St xtxs-TXa-tt trauxrixag t«? Toy X^to-Tov ^xtriXux^
iTTI TXVTYl<ri TViq ytjj o-Tjjco^ev)]?" X xxi tiyovf.ixi T«5 AttoctoX^ko*? TTX^ixde-
^XfAStot oiifiytitriti VTroXx^itv, to. it vrro^ely^xTt ttpo^ xirat ^.ivTTtxas
ei^VifAetx f/.K <rvtto}^axoTx' a-^o^px yetp rot o-fiixpo^ at toii yovv, aq xv Ix
Tat XVTOV hiiyut Tixfiti^dfiivot siiriit, (pxherxi." Euseb. Ecclesiast.
Hist. lib. 3. c. 39. The few notices given at the beginning of the
chapter confirm, as far as they go, the estimate which Eusebius
had formed of the capacity of Papias, in which subsequent critics
coincide : (vid. Neander, Church Hist, on the Chiliasmus of the
second century. ) But the original conception of a temporal reign and
resurrection of the saints came originally from Jewish sources.
And as the world was created in six days, God resting from His
work on the seventh, so the Millennial reign was to form the
sabbath of the world's existence, as the close of God's temporal
dispensation. " Veri simiUimum est," says Mosheim, " plures ex
Judseis Christianos, quo concordiam quodammodo Judaici dog
matis de terreno Messiae regno cum Christianorum de Servatoris
nostri ccelesti regno sententia, speique Judaicae cum spe Chris-
tianormn constituerent, duplex Christi regnum, duplicemque disci-
pulorum ejus spem mente concepisse atque tradidisse, doctoresque
Christianorum multos inventum hoc sive probasse, sive, ut alia
quaedam, tolerasse, ut faciliorem Judaeis ad civitatem Christi trans-
itum redderent." De Reb. Chris, ante Constant, lib. 3. Tertullian,
like Justin, speaks of the opinion as the general opinion of the
Church, nor is there any thing which leads us to suppose that his
sentiments on this question, as a Montanist, had any sectarian
character. He wrote a whole book, which has now perished, upou
VOL. II. Y

322 LECTURE VII.
Apostie on a subject so easily admittmg of mistate-
ment ; and then, with that eagerness for an inspUed
the subject, entitled, De spe fidelium. The constant opposition
between the external heathen world and the Church would
naturally predispose the minds, especially of Judaized Christians,
to embrace at once the theory of a visible and earthly triumph
over their enemies ; and the sensuous turn of those early ages would
naturally give it the specific fonn which it actually assumed.
Hence it was that Irenaeus accuses those who oppose it of Gnos
ticism — a charge to which the peculiar anti-realistic tenets of that
sect would give a specious colour, even in the case of anti-Mille-
narians, who were not and could not be identified with the heretical
party; " Transferuntur," says Irenaeus, " quorundam sententiae ab
hsereticis sermonibus." lib. v. c. 32. The opinions of Nepos seem
to have been of the same complexion as Irenaeus ; and, in assailing
the anti-Millenarians, he seems to have proceeded on the same
topic, charging them with an over-refining spirit, destructive
of all reality in the Scripture descriptions and promises — the very
position of the modern Millenarians. The title of his celebrated
book, which led to the anti-Millenarian efforts of Dionysius, was
1 De Rebus 'eXiy^ot ' AKMyo^iTTat Xoyat. The following passage of ' Mosheim
p''''" ^°'® discriminates, with so much truth and justice, the different shades
Cent. 3. in the MilleuMian sensuousness, that it deserves a careful study.
" ' In divinis promissionibus,' inquit Gennadius, ' nihil terrenum vel
transitorium exspectemus, sicut Melitani sperant. Non nuptiarum
copulam, sicut Cerinthus et Marcion delirant. Non quod ad cibum
vel ad potum pertinet, sicut Papid auctore, Irenaeus et Tertulli-
anus et Lactantius acquiescimt. Neque post miUe annos, post resur
rectionem regnum Christi in terra futurum, et sanctos cum illo in
deliciis regnaturos speremus, sicut Nepos docuit, qui primam jus-
torum resurrectionem et secundam impiorum confinxit. ' Aptissimus
hie locus est ad diversas Milliarioriim, uti vocari possunt, primaB
aetatis sectas distinguendas. Quatuor enim Gennadius eorum
sententias enumerat : quarum piinceps est Melitanorum obscure
hie exposita, nee a veterum aliquo, quod ego quidem sciam, de-
clarata. Altera est Cerinthi et Marcionis, qui omnis omnino
generis voluptates, nominatim illas, quae ex utriusque sexus con-
junctione proveniunt, pollicebantur, ex conjugiis idcirco in nova
ill& Hierosolym^ locum fore, statuebant. PauUo honestior tertia

LECTURE VII. 323
sanction which naturally marked the opinions, how
ever vague and speculative, of the early Church,
est Papiae, quam Irenaeus et alii sequebantur : quee quidem nuptias
in illud regnum recipere verebatur, at cibi tamen potusque vo
luptatibus cives ejus recreatum iri, non dubitabat. Cibaria vero
quibus haec placebat opinio non talia promittebant, qualia nostra
sunt, gravia, opima, concoctu difEcilia, verum excellentiora, nO'
bUiora, subtiliora : ex quo efficitur, corpora etiam meliora, leviora,
sicciora justis in vitam revocatis ab illis tributa esse. Quarta
denique sententia Nepotis nostri est, qui generatim sanctos in
deliciis regnaturos esse, sciscebat — clarum est, hunc neque nuptiis,
neque convivia et epulas inter civium Christi oblectationes retulisse.
Concedehat sine dubio domicilia splendida, commodissima, amoena,
ccelum serenissimum et temperatum, voluptates aurium, oculorum,
odoratus, forte etiam novum quoddam et aethereum alimentoruin
genus, quale corporibus conveniat a nostris toto genere differentibus
' — maximam tamen feUcitatis partem in animorum oblectationibus,
in perpetua cum sanctissimis mentibus consociatione, in consiliorum
et operum divinorum contemplatione, in quotidianS. scientias divi
narum, humanarumque rerum amplificatione, in purissimi amoris
sensu, in gaudio ex intelligentiaeetperspicientiae incrementisnascente
ponebat." Two principal causes contributed to suppress in a great
degree the Millenarian doctrines ; the first was the stress which
the Montanists laid upon them, propagating, in accordance with
their fanatical dreams, the most extravagant representations of
what was to take place during the Millennium. This gave a great
advantage to its opponents, who pushed it to the uttermost; re
torting the heresy which Justin and Irenaeus would have laid to
the charge of the anti-Chiliasts. This was done directly by Caius,
a Roman Presbyter, who branded it as altogether the invention of
the impure and abominable heretic Cerinthus.
The other cause was the spiritual character and influences of
the Alexandrian school, which contributed so powerfully in many
ways to mitigate the extreme realism of other schools. Origen
himself was an extremely zealous opponent of the sensuous repre
sentations of the Millenarian kingdom, and endeavoured to give a
totally different sense to the passages in the Old and New Testa
ment, on which the Chiliasts relied. " Sun.pliciores quidam
nescientes distinguere ac secernere quae sint quae in Scripturis
y2

324 LECTURE VII.
to give it circulation as an unquestionable Apo
stohcal tradition. Its wide propagation, therefore,
is not to be wondered at, both from the nature of
the doctrine itself, fitted, as it is, to arrest men's
minds, and from its easUy combining with what we
know to have been a general impression in the early
Church — the speedy reappearance of the departed
Saviour to judge the world in righteousness, and to
avenge upon the heathen the cause of His saints.
It was held in its grossest form by the heretic Cerin
thus, who turned the kingdom of the spirits of just
men made perfect into a Mahometan paradise". From
this the Chm-ch itself and the orthodox Chiliasts

divinis interiori homini, quae vero exteriori deputanda sint, vo-
cabulorum similitudinibus false ad ineptas quasdam fabulas et fig-
menta inania se contulerint : ut etiam post resurrectionem cibis
corporalibus utendum crederent." Origen. in Proem. Comm. in
Cantic. tom. iii.
" How completely Jewish and Rabbinical were the notions of
Irenasus, the following well-known passage will testify. " Praedicta
benedictio (Matt. xix. 29.) ad tempora regni sine contra-
dictione pertinet, quando regnabunt justi surgentes a mortuis —
quemadmodum Presbyteri meminerunt, qui Johannem discipulum
Domini viderunt, audisse se ab eo, quemadmodum de temporibus
illis docebat Dominus, et dicebat, ' Venient, dies in quibus vineae
nascentur, singulae decem millia pahnitum habentes, et in una
palmite dena millia brachiorum, et in uno vero palmite dena millia
ilagellorum, et in unoquoque flagello dena millia botruum, et
in unoquoque botro dena millia acinorum, et unumquodque acinum
expressum dabit vigintiquinque metretas vini. Et cum eorum
apprehenderit aliquis sanctorum botrum, alius clamabit.' Botrus
ego melior sum, me sume; per me Dominum benedic.'' Middle-
ton and Whitby ridicule this passage as equalling in extravagancy
the wildest Rabbuiical fables. Certainly it does throw an air of

LECTURE VII. 325
were free, and I only mention this abuse of the theory
as a fact, — not to throw an undeserved reproach on a
doctrine held by so many holy men. But there was
another form of it, which, albeit conceived in a
nobler spirit, and free from palpable corruption,
fell far beneath the sublime idea of Christ's king
dom, which we find in the Apostolic writings; and
which, low and worldly as it is in comparison, was de
voutly held by those whose sanctity none can doubt,
and who do not usually misunderstand the scope of
the Christian revelation. We find it asserted by
Irenseus and Justin that it was held, as an article 'TMsshews
how little
of faith, by the Church^ at large in their day; the large
... assertions
and so it continued in the West, tUl, with other of the Fa-
so called Apostolical traditions, the administration favourite
for instance of the Eucharist to infants, it was re- to be ad
jected by the Tridentine CouncU. one wmTid
suppose
from Jus-
ridicule on the whole tradition, and it is manifestly for this and*'"' *, '
¦' ¦' -^ none hut
not the mere general fact of a Millennium, that he appeals to the the hetero-
authority of Papias. Iren. adv. Haer. lib. v. c. 33. For all that J»^ "1".^^-
. ., tionedit.
the most marvellous ingenuity and consummate learning can supply it is easy to
to vindicate this passage, and indeed the Millenarian hypothesis in ^^^ °^ ^, *^
, T 1 •»«• r-, M. Touritedoc-
general, see the Introduction to Mr. Greswell s work on the trine, it is
Parables. Irenaeus, however, was a good and holy man, and the th« "pinion
. ofthe
temporal happiness of the saints in his hands, as in that of Tertul- Church.
lian aud others, is humanity and the human dwelling-place on P° ^°^ '^^
earth, purified and exalted. After quoting some texts of Isaiah, in gotten, that
the like positive manner, sine controversid, he says, c. 36. " Hsec Augustine
¦^ . . . ,. accounted
enim aha universa in resurrectioue justorum sine controversia dicta infant-com-
sunt, quae fit post adventum Anti-Christi, et perditionem omnium mnmon as
^ * much an

Gentimn sub eo existentium, in qu4 regnabunt justi in terrS., crescentes Apostolical
ex visione Domini; et per ipsum assi
Patris, et cum Sanctis Angelis conversa
uuitatem spiritalium in regno capient.''

ex visione Domini; et per ipsum assuescent capere glonam Dei *'^a^'*'0'i as
„ . , ,. . ' . mfant-bap-
Patris, et cum Sanctis Angelis conversationem et communionem, ettism.

326 LECTURE VII.
The Miiie- The first ponit, which strikes us, in looking at
pothesis'^ this expectation, is its identity with those carnal
wHhtiTe mteipretations of the Kmgdom of the Messiah,
ception'oT' which formcd, in the Jewish mind, the great obstacle
slab. ^^ to the reception of our Lord; and which nothing,
but the searching fires of persecution, and the
gradual opening of their eyes to the spirituaUty of
Christ's Kingdom, seem to have eradicated from the
heart even of the Apostles themselves. Nor is it sur
prising that the new converts should readUy embrace
it ; for it was recommended after aU not so much by
Jewish prepossession, as by those carnalizing pro
pensities which then, as now, lay at the bottom of all
men's hearts ; and, without denying the faith as it is
in Jesus, it presented, by its proximity in time, and
consequent adaptation to our impatience under Ufe-
long hopes and habitual mortification, a readier and
more avaUable solace to the afflicted than the final
inheritance of the saints in light.
Yet nothing can possibly be more opposed to
the whole tenor of our Lord's discourses or His
solemn wai-ning of the baptism of blood and the
bitter cup, which, instead of regal honours, should
await His true disciples. And, though the suffer
ings of the Apostles and early Martyrs were, in
their intensity, special, and not extended to all
Christians; and though we cannot deny the un-
covenanted peace which Christ has sometimes ac
corded to His Church; it is manifest, that, in
these descriptions of His Kingdom, He is not
speaking of temporary circumstances, or local cha-

LECTURE VII. 327
racteristics. It is of that fixed hati-ed, with which,
even when it does not persecute, the world requites
that contempt for its grandeurs and pleasures which
marks those who have taken up their cross*.
At any rate, the crown which the Aposties and
the first martyi-s were to receive was above; " Re- iviatt v. 12.
joice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward
in heaven," And if this should be the case even
with those, the first and the greatest, they that
should sit hereafter on thrones, judging the twelve
^ Never was an hypothesis encumbered by such innumerable diffi
culties in principle and detail, as the Millenarian, nor marked by such
loose interpretations of Scripture. It is said by Millenarian writers,
that even to the Apostles themselves a Millenarian condition is pro
mised iu the text, " And every one that hath forsaken house, or bre
thren, or sister, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for
my Name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold now in this present
time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children,
and lands, and in the world to come, eternal life." But our Lord
has in another passage expressly declared, that those who shall be
thought worthy to be the children of the resurrection neither marry
nor are given in marriage — ^but that they should be like the Angels
in heaven. And in the second place these blessings are promised
specifically. It ra xal^a tovtu, in this time or in this life or season,
which cannot well be referred to a period broken off from the ex
isting order of things by such a discontinuity as the conflagration
of the present world would occasion. And it must not be forgotten
either, that woven in with this enumeration of blessings is " jutx
diayfoat" with persecution — pain, and sufferings, which are wholly
incompatible with the rest, and perfect prosperity ofthe Millenarian
condition. The promise evidently implies that the riches of God's
grace and the Saviour's love shall make their very persecutions a
source of positive delight; a possession of Christ more than
equivalent to all worldly possessions multiplied an hundred-fold.
The whole together is an argument against the Millennium, because
these words plainly declare that the only unmixed blessings in re
serve for them were in the world to come, et tZ xiati tS e^iyifiha.

328 LECTURE VIL
tribes of Israel — if even they should not enter into
rest save through much tribulation, much less ought
the disciples at large to have expected as a covenanted
condition, joy and prosperity here as well as the crown
of the saints in heaven. And yet, no small portion of
the early Church seems, notwithstanding, to have in
dulged such a hope.
The text in g^^ let US comc to the text in the Apocalypse ",
ealypse. • J y/i\\ mention here a point which does not seem to have been
minute dis- sufficiently attended to in this highly metaphorical passage.
section of jt jg t^jg souls of the martyrs who are particularly designated;
Whitbv I'll* why they rather than the other saints of God.? This is
well worth hardly reconcilable wilh the condition of a state where universal
iyyjg jQ°}j, . love shall prevail, and not only persecutions shall have ceased,
this is a but a heavenly peace, befitting the actual presence and reign of the
expression Saviour, shall have driven from the world all signs and recollections
' reigned of an anti-Christiau spirit. Not but that the eminent martj'rs
Ch't' of Christ have been endowed with every other grace; but that the
But where.!' specific spirit of martyrdom is precisely that for which, in a Mille-
reiens narifin state, there would be the least call . But it agrees perfectly with
but His men, in their spirit, a figurative resun'ection of themselves, in u
heaven '-^ of ^¦°''''^ Still hostile. When John the Baptist is said to come in
the earth the spirit and power of Elias, there was in many striking points
there is not ^^ exact resemblance. Not only did he resemble him in the
a hint. . ¦'
There are spirit of boldness and zeal, but he was called upon to exercise a
obscurities similar commission under similar dangers, and to endure similar
over every °
part of it. trials of spirit from the opposition and persecution which he
But thi.s is undei-went in his zeal for the Lord, similar to those which the great
treated in a , . , , , , , ¦ , ¦ , o. •
subsequent Prophet 01 the law had to endure m his day. So it may be here —
note. Vid. ^jj^ (]-,g analogy of Scripture be preserved — yet in a state of
Pol. Synop. , . , 1 , T , r-
Rev. c. XX. universal love this could not be. It may mean, therefore, a succession
of faithful servants of Christ, who shall heroically vindicate the
honour of the Gospel, and propagate a knowledge of it among
mankind, in spile of dangers, and perillmg their lives in the cause.
There is an entire propriety and truihfuluess in the expression.
Such were the noble band who from an early period have witnessed
against the papal corruptions — our owu Reformers, and they who
now bear llie tidings of salvation to the ends of the world. Per-

LECTURE VII. 329
which is the sole scriptural authority on which this Rev. xx. 4.
hypothesis has been directly reared. If there be
fectly in harmony with this is the declaration that " on such the
second death hath no power." v. 6. This is hardly applicable to
glorified saints, but eminently adapted to the case of those who are
¦ exposed to persecution for Christ's sake. They may be slain for the
testimony of Jesus, but then when men have killed the body, they
have no more that they can do. The martyrs for the faith shall be
exposed to no more death — the second death has no power over
them — while those who persecuted and slew them will be cast into
the lake of fire. A similar declaration is made in the Epistle to
the Church at Smyrna — where some of the saints in danger of im
prisonment and death are called upon to be faithful, with the en
couraging promise, " He that overcomelh shall not be hurt by the
second death." And in chapter xxi. 8. the first description given
to those who will have their part in the lake that burneth with fire
is the fearful, those who have lacked the noble martyr-spirit.
Lastly, the declaration that they shall be priests of God and
of Christ, and shall reign with Him, is perfectly compatible
with a state of grace, not yet exalted into a state of glory. For the
believer is said to have been raised with Christ, and made to sit
with Him in heavenly places. Eph. ii. 6. He is now sitting with
Christ in heavenly places, as having been raisedytrCa Him. So in
1 Peter ii. 9. believers, in their present state, are called a kingly
priesthood. In Rev. i. 6. they are described as being made kings
and priests. The sitting and reigning therefore with Christ may
well take place in this life, wherein the Redeemer exercises a
sovereign authority over the world. The kingship moreover is
joined with the priesthood, and they usually go together. But the
first is of a spiritual nature, " ye also, as living stones, are built up
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood ;" 1 Pet. ii. 5. ; so the second
must be spiritual too, and its authority and power of the same
order; the period of the priesthood of the believer is likewise
described in Scripture as of this life, and therefore the time during
which he reigns will he likewise in this life. Both the priesthood
aud the sovereignty indeed may and will be continued into elernitj",
and be infinitely exalted and enlarged — but here is a true and real
spiritual kingdom, and a true and real spiritual priesthood not
withstanding.

330 LECTURE VII.
any principle of interpretation more reasonable than
another, it is this, that the clear declarations of holy
writ shall regulate every thing on the same subject which
is doubtful or obscure — that the literal should yield
to the metaphorical, or the certain to the equivocal,
woiUd be to reverse the laws of reason, and to involve
the science of Hermeneutics in inextricable confusion.
No statement therefore, in itself obscm-e, and in a
book confessedly so highly figm-ed, can control the
unequivocal declarations of our Lord Himself.
Scripture Now our Lord describes but one more coming of
mentions °
only two HimseK to the earth — He came once to save it — He
comings of
Christ to shall come again to judge it. Upon His descent
from heaven, with all His holy angels with Him, all
nations are immediately assembled before Him '; and,
' Scripture, contrary to the Millenarian hypothesis, represents,
in very numerous passages, the reward of the righteous and the
punishment of the ungodly, as taking place simultaneously, and
in passages, which, beyond dispute, refer to His second coming.
For instance. Matt. xiii. 37. The separation of the tares from
the wheat; the burning of the tares, and the shining forth of the
righteous. Matt. xiii. 47. The net cast into the sea; the casting the evil into
the fire, and gathering the good into vessels.
Dan. xii. 21. The awakening a part of mankind to everlasting
life ; of a part to everlasting contempt.
Matt. xvi. 27. Christ's coming, and rewarding every man,
according to his works.
Matt. xxii. 11. The casting out of the man without the wedding
garment, and the banquet of the accepted guests.
Matt. XXV. 14. The parable of the talents.
Matt. XXV. 31. The coming of the Son of man in His glory;
with the reception of the faithful into the kingdom prepared for
them, and the banishment of the wicked into everlasting fire.
John vi. 39. joined with John xii. 48. The raising up at the

LECTURE VII. 331
upon passing sentence upon the just and on the unjust,
both the multitudes of the wicked and the glorified
saints are conveyed to their everlasting habitations ;
the one to eternal chains under darkness, the other
to the company of heaven, and the inheritance pre
pared for the saints from the beginning of the world.
" This same Jesus," say the angels at His ascension, Acts i. ii.
" which is taken up from you into heaven, shaU so
come in Uke manner as ye have seen Him go into
heaven;" with clouds, that is, and great glory, and His
holy angels with Him ; not to dweU on earth with you,
last day of what God has given to His Son ; and the judgment, at
the same last day, of him who has rejected the Gospel.
John V. The rising of the good to life, and the evU to damna
tion. Acts xvii. 31. The judging of the world in righteousness by the
man whom He hath ordained, i. e. the whole world, good and bad.
1 Cor, XV. The destroying of all enemies to Christ, and the
swallowing up of death in victory to the just.
2 Cor. V. 9. The judgment-seat of Christ, at which all shall
receive the reward of the deeds done in the body.
2 Thess. i. 8. Christ revealed in flaming fire to the wicked, and
glorified, at the same time, in His saints.
Vid. 2 Tim. iv. 1. 2 Pet. iii. Jude 14. Rev. i. 7. There is but
one escape from this enormous weight of opposing evidence ; and
that is, by holding that the whole thousand years is one day of
judgment, the end of which,inthe sight of God, may synchronize with
the beginning. But, apart from all other considerations, the awful
events which separate the Millennium from the end of the world,
and are days of turmoil and unparalleled trouble, are utterly ir
reconcileable, on such a theory, with Scripture or right reason.
On this hypothesis, moreover. Scripture ought to speak, not of
the resurrection, but the two resurrections ; for a gulph of a
thousand years, in the chronology of a world only 6000 years old
altogether, caimot be thus built over ; nor the events at the two
extremities he compelled to meet together, as though the interval
were imperceptible.

21.

332 LECTURE VII.
but to assume you with Himself into that Paradise
wherem He is gone to prepare a habitation for you.
Acts iii. 20," And He shaU send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive,
untU the times of restitution ^ of all things (or rather
the accomphshment of all things) which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all His holy Prophets since
the world began" — evidently therefore at the end of
the present system, for they wUl not be accomplished
till then.
So Saint Paul, in his description of Christ's
coming, connects the issue of it, throughout, not
^ The rendering of xTroxxTxa-Txc-ii by restitution does not express
the meaning of the passage, nor is it intelligible; there is no sense
in speaking of the restoration of all things which God has spoken ;
though a fulfilment of them is natural, and reasonable. And no
where has God spoken of the earth being restored to its former, or
paradisaical condition ; even if the whole outward conditions of it
were ever more akin to a heavenly perfection in all material beauty
than we have any reason to suppose..
What the Prophets have spoken of, has been the coming of the
Son of God on earth in the flesh to redeem mankind ; His life,
and death, and resurrection, and ascension, the preafihing of the
Gospel to the Gentiles, the reign of Antichrist, and the restora
tion of the Jews. These things, though all declared by the fore
knowledge of God as designed to be, still wait their accomplish
ment; and till then, the heavens retain the person of Christ. Mr.
Faber has insisted on this reading of xiroxxTdtrTX(rii in his Calendar
of Prophecy ; and I subjoin the following from Whitby ; " x^i
.ypotat airoxxTXTTdo-eui; irdtrat, is, by the Syriac, rendered, until
the fulness of the time of all things ; by the Arabic, till the time
in which all things shall be perfected or finished; by Tertullian,
adusque tempora exhibitionis omnimn; by Irenaeus, atque ad
tempus dispositionis omnium ; by OEcumenius, till the time that
all things do, eis srsgas l^flsiV. And for the confirmation of this
import of the word, we have the suffrage of Hesychius and Pha-
vorinuSj that xti exxTda-rxo-if is nMlao-i;, the consummation of a thing.

LECTURE VIL 333
merely with, a judicial distribution of rewards and i cor. xv.
punishments to the righteous and the wicked, but with 2Th°e^ssl.8.'
the final and irrevocable condition of both. So the
Apostle Peter connects the second advent, with such
a dissolution of the frame of the earth, and confla-2Pet. iii.
gration of the planetary heavens, as is incompatible '
with any thing, which, like the Uteral Millennium,
stUl requires, when its temporary blessedness is past,
the same local geography. For the same material
earth, with its very mountains, and rivers, is the scene
of the events which are to follow the re-liberation of
the deceiving spirit from the abyss — the warfare of
the apostatizing powers upon the saints, and theu-
final overthrow by fire from heaven. The same is
evidently the meaning of the Catholic Creeds ^ from
^ The testimony of the Catholic Creeds, the substance of which
was handed down by immemorial tradition, is decisive against theidea
that Millenarianism was the primitive doctrine of the Church — it
never was the doctrine of the Church at large — though Dr. Burnet
affirms that it was the general doctrine of the primitive Church from
the times ofthe Apostles to the Nicene Council. But, putting the
above decisive argu ment out of the question, it could never in that case,
(as Whitby well observes,) have made any schism in the Church, as
Dionysius of Alexandria says it did, declaring, at the same time, how
fully he confuted it, and reconciled the brethren that were con
tending about it.
Whitby likewise observes, that the old doctrine of the Millen
nium differed in many material points from that which is asserted
by the modern patrons of it. But at the present day it seems ad
vocated, at least by a large body of pious men, in its precise pa
tristical form, with all its Jewish character, and Rabbinical or
naments ; 1. including the rebuilding of the temple, as Lactantius,
Justin, aiid Barnabas assert. 2. The resurrection, not only of all
the martyrs, but of all the saints — according to Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Lactantius. 3. The personal presence of

334 LECTURE VIL
Vid. the the beginning, and is not only necessarUy impUed,
Collects for o o n i • e
the first but distinctly expressed in the formularies ol our
and third •' ^
Sundays in OWU Church.
Advent. Christ — as Papias, Justin, Lactantius, and Irenaeus. 4. A pro-
fusion of earthly goods and temporal splendour, and all terrene and
sensuous pleasures consistent with holy living. And this, on certain
postulates of interpretation, is legitimately drawn from Scripture — the
litefal interpretation of the Jewish phrases in the Prophets being as
sumed proves the first incontestably^the second is proved, by as'
suming that the texts descriptive of the blessedness and glory of the
saints, belong to this first resurrection— the third is established
likewise by assuming that this reign is the time of restitution of
all things, till which time the heaven must contain Christ — and
the last by assuming the literal interpretation of the language in
which the Prophets foretel the future blessedness of the Church.
It is an old charge against the opponents of their hypothesis, among
whom in every age the Church has numbered some of its best and
wisest sons, that they allegorize Scripture, and do away with its
realities— ds if the future blessedness and glory of the Church
were not realities ; and such as faith now feels and knows to be so,
though its conceptions of them are poor and faint — as if the actual
triumph of the Church already, in its earthly growth, were not a
sublime reality. — as if a spiritual Israel, inheriting the name and
essence of the seed of Abraham, and from which no promise of
God's love and favour is separable, were not a glorious reality — as
though the earthly senses, and what they see, and touch, and taste,
were other than ministrant to the higher faculties; or the material
beauties and riches of this lower world unfit images for the intel
lectual and spiritual wealth of the heavenly kingdom. But the
Millennium gives to the mind a definite aud measurable object
— definite in time, in place, in enjoyment-^it furnishes infinite food
to the imagination, and wanders, by the aid of loose connections and
analogies, up and down the prophetic Scriptures, moulding every
particle of them into a stone to support this splendid superstructure.
It makes an earthly heaven — pure and noble, as far as it may be
— but still an earthly heaven— -and here lies its great fascination.
The great proof of the influence which a warm fancy exercises
in its adoption, is an undue vehemence of assertion certainly

LECTURE VII. 335
It will follow therefore, — in regard to such decla
rations of holy Writ as appear to announce the
coming of our Lord to visit His people or punish
His enemies, at an earlier period than the consum
mation of all things, — that, whatever meaning they
are intended to convey, at any rate one interpretation
is expressly excluded — and that is, His literal and
personal appearance, which, on such unquestionable
evidence, is to be coincident with the end of the world,
and, on all the rules by which language is interpreted,
cannot happen tUl that event arrives. This strikes at
the foundation of the whole scheme—it is a pre-
Uminary objection, and an insuperable one — Scrip
ture does not fm-nish the fact — the one unequivocal
text, — necessai-y to give a MiUenarian clue to the in
tricacies of prophecy; and a specific direction to those
indefinite texts, which, the leading principle being as
sumed, may be made to minister scriptural evidences
in its favour. But, on any thing short of such a basis o/"
fact, or the assumption of it, they minister to this hypo
thesis no evidence which may not be easUy refiited.
In the lack, likewise, of any such express and
uneqmvocal announcement, whatever descriptions
of power and grandeur we find in Scriptm-e, and
specially in the old Prophets, couched in material
types, and evidentiy referring to the future prosperity
of the Church, must be understood, not of an earthly
greatly disproportioned to the arguments adduced in its support ;
and too frequently an intolerance towards opponents whose reason
ing certainly deserves respect. I speak of course of the theory in
its rigid form — portions of it, with more or less modification, most
theologians adopt.

336 LECTURE VII.
condition of things incompatible with the natm-e of
the Church in her probationary condition, but of her
spiritual extension and success. Or else, of that kuigdom
of glory which awaits her when her trials are over,
and of which holy writ, with one voice, declares that
" eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it
entered into the heart of man to conceive the things
which God hath prepared for them that love HimV
' One consequence of the Millenarian hypothesis, and a most
unportant one it is, is this ; that it absorbs into itself all the texts of
Scripture which are descriptive of the blessedness of the saints ;
any one conversant mth Millenarian writings is aware that such is
the case. The eternal condition of the Church, therefore, is left
in total darkness, and revelation only opens to our view the delights
which await the servants of God during this thousand years which
must manifestly come to an end, and which are separated from the
consummation of things by events of great importance which
Scripture has placed in the interval. A writer, who advocates the
Millennium with great ability, avows this to be the case, and says,
"Beyond this we cannot advance — for, should it be asked what dis
pensation shall succeed to these wondrous transactions ? we can
only reply, in the language of inspiration, that when Jesus shall
thus have reigned in His mediatorial glory, until all things shall be
subdued unto Him, then cometh the end, when He shall deliver
up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; and then shall the Son
also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him,
that God may be all in all." " Now when I consider," observes
an able writer on the other side, " that a period of a thousand years
bears a less proportion to eternity than the smallest grain of sand
does to the whole earth, I never can conceive that the Holy
Ghost has given such numerous and glorious descriptions con
cerning the state of the saints dming the period of a thousand
years, and has left the infinitely more important eternity which
follows wrapt in darkness ; or with nothing more revealed concern
ing it than what would appear to me to indicate a diminution
rather than an increase of their blessedness and glory ; namely,
that their King will cease to reign in His mediatorial glory at the
end of the period." Gipps on the Millennium.

LECTURE VIL 337
2. But, even in the absence of such arguments as
these which demonstrate that a MUlenarian reign of a MiUena-
... . '¦'^D king-
Christ is conti-adictory to the statements of holy wi-it dom op-
. . 1, f 1 1 1 posed to the
upon the identity of om* Lord s final and second appear- analogies of
.. 1.1 . 1.1.1 n 1 God's go-
ance; it is oppo'sed, m the view which it takes oi the vernment.
nature of the Church, in principle as weU as in fact,
to all the analogies of God's dealings with His people,
and the unquestionable laws upon which they have been
hitherto regulated. They have been, fi-om first to
last, progressive — progressive, not from earthly ad
versity to earthly prosperity, but in leading the mind
from forms to spirit, from temporal promises to
heavenly ones, from a miserable present condition to
a glorious hope and faith in things unseen. In the
Mosaic law, for instance, victory over theu* enemies,
a land flowing with mUk and honey, and all other
outward prosperities, were the inducements held out
to obedience, and the covenanted evidences of the
presence and favom* of Jehovah. But, in the Pro
phets, a progression is clearly discernible, things
spiritual come more and more prominently forward,
and the true nature of the Church and of her
blessings is more clearly pronounced, and educed
from the ceremonial husk.
And, whatever might have been the case with the
popular mind, the saints, of old, we know looked not
to transitory promises. "These all died in faith," Heb.xi.i3.
says the Apostle, " not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off; and were persuaded
of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they
were .strangers and pilgrims upon earth." Much
VOL. II. z

338 LECTURE Vit.
more then, when Christ has brought life and im
mortality to light, is the Christian taught to set
his affections upon things above, and not on things
on the earth, and to look for a kmgdom in heaven,
and a promise beyond the grave". The hypothesis
¦^ It is frequently asked, as if it admitted but of one reply — " To
what then have Christians to look forward, if not to this palpable'
and intelligible reward ? How are our hopes to be sustained, and
for what are we to struggle ?" The reply is, " for those things which
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man to conceive, those things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him." Surely it is more than an earthly ex
istence, albeit exalted, and with outward nature more gloriously
adorned, to which the exhortations of Scripture point. For, beautify
it as you will, the Millenarian bliss is still a fleshly residence on earth —
with lands, and houses, and temporal plenty. " Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon the earth, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt." " Provide yourselves bags that wax not old, a
treasure in the heavens that faileth not." All those who are risen
with Christ have not set their hearts and affections on the earth,
but on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God»
" Our life is hid with Christ in God ; and when Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, then shall they that are Christ's appear with
Him in glory." But, if the teaching of the Millenarians be true,
and the possession of temporal power, and the secular offices of a
material kingdom, be the special blessings promised to the eminent
servants of Christ — if, on the principle of Irenaeus and Tertullian,
they be the specific remuneration for patience and long-suffering,
what reason is there that the Christian should not earnestly seek,
and profoundly value them ? You may say with the latter, that it
is the copia spiritalium you value most — but still they are incorpo
rated with the profuseness of this earthly Canaan and inseparable
from it. How comes it to pass, that, when our Lord wishes to com
fort His Apostles in the prospect of their martyrdom. He does not
tell them that the time shall come when joy and gladness should be
their portion on earth, but only that great should be their reward in
Heaven ; that when their trial is over, they shall receive a crown of
glory above ? Certainly, if our Lord and His Apostles knew of this

LECTURE VII. 339
in question, therefore, involves an actual retrograda-
tion to the beggarly elements of another covenant,
and in the absence of direct Scripture testimony
to support it, it must even on this ground be re
jected. 3. But the same conteadiction to established
analogies, and God's declared intention, as it appears
to me, is involved in another part of the scheme,
which connects it, as it is usually proposed, with the
estabhshment not of a spiritual priority, but of a
temporal headship in the Jews.
temporal reign, at all events they did not consider that it was capable
of ministering that consolation which the heart of faith required. Nor
can it be explained on any rules of reason, how this temporal paradise
in the promised land, of which the ancient Patriarchs must be sharers
along with the later saints, is reconcUeable with the express de
claration of the Apostle to the Hebrews. He distinctly tells us,
that those holy men expected no reward on earth, nor did they
regard that Canaan wherein they were temporary dwellers as
their country ; but had set their affections upon their true
home, the celestial Canaan. They confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims upon earth ; that they were not mindful of
that country from whence they came out, but sought a better
country, that is, a heavenly. They were our forerunners in the
heavenly race, and in their footsteps, after our Saviour Christ, we
humbly follow — how can our hopes differ from theirs ? our country
from their country ? our home from their home ? " In a word," says
Dr. Whitby, " to foretel times of peace and plenty to succeeding ages,
to raise the expectation of a people whose backs are bowed down, and
have been long enslaved and afflicted, is very suitable to the divine
economy of the first covenant; but to promise plenty and the goods
of fortune, as the reward of Christian piety and patience, and let
them know that if they suffer for the sake of Christ, He will be
sure to raise them up to plentiful enjoyments of the goods of
fortune — this is too mean, too much beneath the sublime spirit of
Christianity, to be one of her great and precious promises."
z 2

340 LECTURE VIL
For surely, m the separation of the Jews from the
rest of the nations, it does not appear that Almighty
No secular God cver intended a secular supremacy at all ; or such a
promised to restriction of Spiritual blcssiugs as should ensure anun-
the Jews. f,f^fJ^.f^gg(^l,lg spiritual superiority. Before their election,
the Church and Ithe Church's promises were not so
confined — they were made to all mankind before the
special covenant with Abraham. Through him, too,
the blessing was to become universal, and God's
mercy to diffuse itself once more, from its temporary
limitation, into a boundless apphcation — and the
frame-work of the law, for the preservation of which
the children of Abraham were chosen, lost all its value,
as a badge of exclusive favour, the moment that the
reality arrived, and the light to hghten the GentUes
was finally revealed. All that was eternal and uni
versal about it, its moral constituents and spiritual
meaning, remained after it, because they existed be
fore it; and, with the object of the distinction, the
distinction itself, as a superiority, disappeared for
ever, on the breaking down of the separating pale.
In Christianity there was no longer Jew or GentUe
any more than bond or free; and Paul and Peter
neither retained nor ever claimed any superiority
over then- heathen brethren in virtue of their national
distinction. They were only members of the general
congregation of the faithful — the real spiritual Israel,
the descendants of the Father of all that live by
faith, our Father as well as theirs, holy Abraham.
This was the privilege ofthe chosen nation, that they
were the elected depositaries of the word of life ;

LECTURE VII. 341
that, from them, according to the flesh, the King
of kings should spring; that, out of their nation
should come the first heralds and aposties of the
truth, they on whom the Church is built, Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone — and
that to them, as the elder brethren, the first
announcement of salvation through the Son of
David should universally be made. Round that
Church, and from it, have sprung up the daughter
Churches of the world; and he is ignorant of his
spiritual genealogy and glorious descent, who does
not trace it up to the Jewish Church, itself the
descendant of the Patriarchal — he has no heart for re
collections of spiritual tenderness, who does not regard
with true and filial reverence that venerable mother of
us aU. Truly in this propagation of the faith from
Mount Zion tUl the world is filled with it, the prophecy
of Isaiah has been magnificently fulfilled. " Arise, is.ix.i— 4.
shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the
Lord is risen upon thee ; the Lord shall arise upon
thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And
the Gentiles shaU come to thy light, and kings to
the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes
round about, and see; all they gather themselves
together; they come to thee; thy sons shall come from
far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side."
4. But, even if Almighty God had designed
this temporal and spiritual headship for them
originally, yet they had themselves forfeited their
privUege, and voluntarily renounced their glorious
inheritance ! So our Lord declares in the parable

342 LECTURE VII.
of the wicked husbandmen. So, in the parable of
the two sons, where one said and did not, and the
other first refused, but then repented and went.
So, in the marriage feast, where they who were first
invited were rejected on their refusal of the gracious
invitation; and they who were despised and poor,
and the very outcasts of mankind, were gathered
together into the palace of the king, and partook of
the regal feast.
But to fix them again in their ancient seats, not
merely as restored to God's forfeited favour, but
as an imperial nation ; and to bring the kings of the
Gentiles to their feet, in a literal homage, would be
a direct accomplishment of that restoration of the
kingdom to Israel, which our blessed Lord refused
as contrary to His spiritual dispensation, and the
principle of which He repudiated as a carnal con
ception. It was this very advent which they expected,
bound up, as it was, with every national hope and tra
ditional pride, andfrom their inveterate attachment
to it they rejected Him who was sent unto them —
the spiritual King who had no beauty that they shoiUd
desire Him — and were, themselves, finaUy rejected.
Christ's 5. (1) And this brings me to another point in-
fresence. Separably connected with the former — the abode
of the descended King of Israel during the sup
posed Millennium is restricted to Jerusalem^ — and
' This likewise is inseparable from the Millenarian scheme,
which must stand or fall with it. " In regni temporibus," says
Irenaeus, lib. v. c. 36. " revocat^ terr^ a Christo, et reaedificat^
Hierusalem, de qu& ait Propheta Isaias, Ecce in manibus meis de-

LECTURE VII. 343
his presence is thus contiacted not onlyinto a national,
but the strictness of a local residence — the waUs of a
pinxi muros tuos, et in conspectu meo es semper. Et quotquot
ex credentibus ad hoc praeparavit Deus, ad derelictos multiplicandos
in terr^, et sub regno sanctorum fieri, et ministrare huic Hieru
salem, et regnum in e&., significavit Hieremias Propheta." (It is the
Book of Baruch however which he quotes with a not unusual
patristical laxity.) But the celestial Jerusalem described in the
Apocalypse he considers as subsequent to the Millennimn ; " His
itaque praetereuntibus super terrain, novam superiorem Hierusalem
ait Domini discipulus Johannes descendere, quemadmodum
sponsam omatam viro suo ; et hoc esse tabernaculum Dei, in quo
inhabitabit Deus cum hominibus. Hujus Hierusalem imago ilia, quae
in priori terr^ Hierusalem, in qua justi praemeditantur incorrup-
telam, et parantur in salutem." Tertullian, however, seems to
identify them ; " Nam et confitemur in terr4 nobis regnum re-
promissurn, sed ante ccelum, sed alio statu, utpote post resurrec
tionem in mille annos in civitate divini operis Hierusalem coelo
delata, quam et Apostolus matrem nostram sursum designat, et
TToXiTivfix nostrum, id est, municipatum in ccelis esse pronuntians,
alicui utique coelesti civitati eum deputat. Hanc et Ezechiel
novit, et Apostolus Joannes vidit, et qui apud fidem nostram est
novae Prophetiae sermo testatur, ut etiam eflSgiem civitatis ante
representationem ejus conspectui futuram in signum praedicarit,
Denique proximo expunctum est orientali expeditione. Constat
enim, Ethnicis quoque testibus, in Judaea per dies quadraginta
matutinis niomentis civitatem de coelo pependisse, omni moeniorum
habitu evanescente de profectu diei, et alias de proximo nullam."
Tertull. Advers. Marcionem, lib. iii. c. 24.
In regard to any future temple at Jerusalem — temple in the
elder sense there can be none. Scripture knows but of three tem
ples. The first, the glorious temple erected by Solomon, and
destroyed by the Babylonians. The second, erected after the
Captivity, and far inferior to the first in material splendor —
but far more glorious, as the Prophet has foretold, by the coming
of the Messiah, whose presence, from time to time, consecrated it.
Thirdly, the collective mystical body of Christ, in which, as in one
mighty building, compacted together of living stones, the Spirit of
Christ dwelleth.

344 LECTURE VII.
city, or the miserable compass of an earthly palace.
This is utterly opposed to the universahty of the
Christian kingdom; and to those principles of its unity
which depend on inherency in its Head, with His
influences spirituaUy diffused, and a power which is the
same every where. Among the Patriarchs, indeed, this
presence of God was indicated not by spiritual com
munication merely, but by a local glory. In the
Mosaic tabernacle, the Shekinah rested, in visible
flame, upon the overshadowing Cherubim — in the
temple of Solomon, Jehovah stUl maintained His
local habitation in the Holy of hohes — and this
circumscription to His people of His actual presence,
as it seemed, and of His favourable presence, as
was the fact, was inseparable fi-om a scheme which
prescribed one place for worship, and the pouring-
out of that blood of sprinkling which was the
shadow of the true. But in the Gospel revelation,
temple of Christ there is none, in the sense in which
the temple of Jerusalem was so ; the true shrine of
the living God, is the hearts of His people every
where, without exception of place, or limitation of
time; the priest is every where, the effectual sacrifice
always applied to the heart by faith, and the ear of
John iv. the Eternal ever open to our prayer. " Jesus saith
unto her. The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father." " But the hour cometh, and now is, when
the true worshippers shaU worship the Father in
spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such
to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that

21—24.

LECTURE VII. 345
worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in
tiuth." And that this universal presence was some
how connected with om- Lord's departure from earth,
is clear; for He tells His disciples, that, unless He
thus leaves them and assumes His mediatorial throne
ui heaven, this diffusion of the Spirit could not take
place. (2) There is, besides, something revolting to our
feelings, as well as at variance with all the conclusions
of our reason, in this — that when our blessed Lord™

" Nothing is more obvious thau that Christ is often said to
come, whether to punish or to reward, without a personal presence.
Our Lord declared the speedy destruction of the Jewish nation, for
their rejection of the Gospel, by His own coining in clouds and
great glory. All the events He then declared. Matt. xxiv. 33, 34.
were to take place before the existing generations passed away.
" When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the king
dom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you. This gene
ration shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." " But when they
persecute you in this city, flee ye unto another; for verily I say
unto you. Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the
Son of man be come." And comings of Christ are foretold in
other passages, which cannot be understood of His personal coming,
because they have taken place ; whereas He has not yet come per
sonally. He speaks of His coming, and manifesting Himself, in
a special manner, to them that love Him. John xiv. 21 — 24.
He announces His coming to the Church at Ephesus to remove
her candlestick. Rev. ii. 5. — of His coming quickly to the Church
at Pergamus, to fight against those who hold the doctrine of the
Nicolaitans. Rev. ii. 16, 16. All in perfect harmony with the
language of God in the Old Testament. Holding this in mind,
and what I should venture to insist upon, as a fundamental
principle of interpretation, — the clear sense of our Lord's own de-
clai-ation as the ride to which every thing else must conform, — there
is no difficulty in shewing that Zech. xiv. really gives no support
at all to the Millenarian interpretation. It is said, ver. 3, 4. "Then

346 LECTURE VII.
has received in His mediatorial kingdom over heaven
and earth the reward for His agony and bloody
sweat, for His cross and passion — nay, when*He
has been again received into the bosom of the pa
ternal glory, and its ineffable bliss, — He should be
abased, with a new humUiation and a gratuitous dis
honour, to an earthly habitation, and the unutterable
meanness of a secular kingdom. That he should
for this desert the heaven of heavens, that majestic
height from which He administers the worlds, and
controls the peoples; that He should for this renounce,
in His nature as Man-God — not for tlurty, but a thou
sand years — the communion with the Godhead; Light
with Light — very God with very God — it is, I think,
on the gi-ounds of Scripture and reason, inconceivable.
(3) Neither do we know whether our eyes could
shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when
He fought in the day of battle — and His feet shall stand in that
day on the mount of Olives,'' &c. ; and again, in ver. 6. " And the
Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee.'' Now, in
the first place, this going forth of the Lord is to take place upon
the present earth; (ver. 4, 6, 10, 11.) whereas we know for certain,
that, upon the coming of our Lord the second time, the earth wjU
be burnt up, with all the works that are therein. 2. Ungotlly
persons remain, after this going forth of the Lord, m rebellion
against Him, and warfare against His people, and. subsequently
fight against Jerusalem. Whereas we are informed beyond a
question, that the ungodly will be punished with everlasting de
struction from His presence, and will, at the second coming, go
into everlasting punishment. As the events, therefore, cannot
happen after the real second coming of Christ, and as they do
take place after the going forth of the word, the latter cannot be
identified with the former, but must be understood in some figu
rative sense.

LECTURE VII. 347
behold Him, as He is ; or whether the aspect of His
transfigured body would not be, to those that dwell
in the flesh, a consuming fire. Look at the descrip
tion of Him in the Revelations ; " His head and His Rev.i.u- 17.
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His
eyes were as a flame of fire ; and His feet Uke unto
fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and His
voice as the sound of many waters; and He had
in His right hand seven stars, and out of His mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword; and His counte
nance was as the sun shineth in his strength".
° It must not be forgotten by those who are disposed to accept
the Millenarian scheme as actually propounded, that whether they
do it upon the strength of a literal interpretation of Apocalypse,
c. XX. or patristical tradition, or both, it is impossible to disconnect
it from the personal reign of our Lord on earth along with His
risen saints; for it is with Christ that they shall live and reign.
To divorce those blessed and pre-eminently favoured souls from
Him, to be with whom is their most earnest wish in the flesh, and
is their greatest bliss when freed from it ; or the resurrection from
the dead, from Him whose voice alone can open the graves, would
be scarcely possible on other grounds for the boldest interpreter
of the Scriptures ; but, limiting our views to the present palmary
text, it cannot he a matter of doubt at all. And from this sup^
position the most able and learned advocates of a Millenarian
reign of the risen saints shrink back ; nor can they bring them^
selves so much as to contemplate its possibility. " That Christ,"
says Dr. Burnft, " should leave the right hand of His Father, to
come and pass a thousand years here below, living upon earth in a
heavenly body; this, I confess, is a thing which I never could digest."
And a far greater man, Mr. Mede, says, " 1 dare not imagine, of this
presenceof Christ in His kingdom, thatit should be a visible converse
upon earth ; for the-kingdom of Christ ever hath and shallbe — regnum
coelorum — a kingdom whose throne and kingly residence is in
heaven.'' But the two are inseparable, on all the laws of reasoning
and legitimate interpretation. " Veniet Dei Filius," says Lac-

348 LECTURE VIL
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as
dead."
Finally, it would be a complete reversal of that law
of probation, to which, as far as we can see, God has
subjected our faith, fi-om the begmning ; and any such
manifestation of the Divine presence as must ac-
tantius, " et mille annis inter homines versabitur, eosque justis-
simo imperio reget." Lact.Inst. vii.24. "Hie dicitur," says Jerome,
speaking of Papias, (de Vir. 111. cxviii.) " mille annorum Judaicam
edidisse 'hevTtgant, quem secuti sunt Irenaeus, et ApoUinarius, et caeteri
qui post resurrectionem aiunt in came cum Sanctis Dominum regna-
turum." "Sanctos cumChristo in terra regnaturosdocuitNepos." The
Egyptian decorator of the doctrine. Gen. c. 66. When we consider
the prodigious change in the aspect of God's government of His Church
before the final assemblage of saints and angels in heaven, which
this coming of our Lord on earth for this MUlennian reign will
effect, and when we look at the minuteness with which our Lord and
His Apostles speak of the second coming, I confess it seems to
me quite incredible, that neither the one nor the other should
enlarge or insist on this peculiar view of it. To say the least, it
ought to induce great caution and hesitation in insisting upon it.
And much as I reverence the piety and good works of the many
eminent servants of God, who have gone so far as to insist upon
the coming of our Lord to His Judaical kingdom, not only as
possibly within the scope of the prophecies, but indispensable to
their fulfilment, and a portion of Christ's reward, without which
His crown of glory is incomplete ; I cannot hut fear the ultimate
result, not only of such an interpretation in itself, but of .such
a mode of propounding it. When we consider the number, the
eminence, and the holiness, of those who inteipret, and have in all
ages interpreted, spiritually, the kingdom of the Son of David, it is
surely over bold and confident. When we consider that God's truth
is imperilled on this private interpretation; and that, in an infidel age,
its advocates would really seem to propound it, as the most certain
fact in the prophetical Scriptures ; it is an inconsiderate confusion
of truths with opinions, and an identification of the mind ofthe Holy
Ghost w-ith the latter, which no prudent Christian ought to hazard.

LECTURE VII. 349
company the Saviom- upon earth, however short
of the intolerable Majesty which He wears in
heaven, would be a more emphatic sign than the
Jews ever demanded in the height of their unbeUef.
" Give us a sign from heaven," they said, but such
an one as this they never dreamed of. Neither a
sign of fire and cloud in the midst of the sky, nor
His cominsf down from the cross as the King of vid. Abp.
T 1 ?i ....,,, . Whatelv's
Israel, could compare, m irresistible demonstration,V3.T\skSei-
with such evidence to the senses, as His MUlenarian whitby on
presence would afford. Men would not be living by poi. Syn.
faith, but by sight; and, whatever might be the hard
ness of the heart, increduUty would be impossible
when the senses were overpowered by a visible
Majesty ; and submission would be, not of wUl, but
of irresistible necessity, when there was a manifest
revelation of a power to save or to destroy.
6. There is another objection, purely hermeneutic, Hermeneu-
to the whole scheme as regards the ancient prophets, tions to*the
From the manner in which the Gospel of Jesus
Christ runs through the promises, and the consequent
subordination to that one grand idea oi all that is
preparatory and ministrant to it, it is so arranged,
that, not only the ceremonial of the Jewish law, but
the people itself, the temple, and all that separated
it from the nations, must be supposed to contain, in
spirit and in inward meaning, the universal Church of
Christ. It results from this, that aU that appUes to God's
true Israel, should be referable to the Christian, not
secondarUy, but by eminence; and that, where not neces
sarily limited by the context, the future glories of Mount

350 LECTURE VIl.
Zion and Jerusalem should be so many descriptions
of the predestined triumphs of that Church of which
Mount Zion is not only the significant symbol, but
the actual representative and real mother.
This connection is not an arbitrary one, but pro-
' Vid. an fouudly grouudcd in the analogy of Scripture and
excellent •' ° . . f-' ^
cDmmen- the rcasou of the thing ; and it is the key, as well to
tary of . . . . r^ .
Jerome on the practical application of the prophetic Scriptures
tures— he to individual believers, as to the historical fortunes
the 'other of the Church of Christ; and has been adopted, as
l^hersof the principle of interpretation, by the universal
decided' * Church from the beginning. Let us examine for
ast! ' " ^ moment such texts as these ^ ; " Sing, O heavens.
Is. xiix. 13. and rejoice, O earth, and break forth into singing, ye
mountains; for the Lord hath comforted His people.
Is. xiix. 23. and will have mercy on His afflicted." " Kings shall
be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing
mothers ; they shall bow down to thee with their faces
to the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet."
l3.xiiii.2,3. " When thou passest through the waters, I wUl be
with thee ; and through the rivers, they shaU not
overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire
thou shalt not be bm*ned, neither shaU the flame
kindle upon thee; for I am the Lord thy God,
Is.ix. 18— the holy one of Israel, thy Saviour." "Thou shalt
call Thy walls salvation, and Thy gates praise.
The sun shaU be no more thy light by day,
neither for brightness shall the moon give hght
unto thee ; but the Lord shall be to thee an ever
lasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be
ended."

LECTURE VIL 351
One might quote a large portion of the Prophets,
in passages equally magnificent.
Now, I do not call into question for a moment the
appUcation of these and similar passages, in a primary
but lower sense, to the literal Zion ; yet I cannot but
think, that to look, as do many zealous supporters of
the MUlenarian kingdom, to the imperial restoration
of the Jews, as their final consummation and literal
accompUshment, is a degradation of the meaning
which the Spu-it intended to convey, and which to
the full height of earthly language it has expressed.
But how low does it seem, when aU these glorious
figures, all this air of universality and unUmited
greatness, such as nothing on earth can pre
tend to approximate, are confined, as a full accom
plishment of them, to the rebuUding of a temple,
no longer the only dweUifcg place of the Most High,
and the restoration to its own land of the feeblest
among the nations.
On the other hand, if, without excluding the
lower sense, they are extended, as their meaning
dUates, to the whole spread of the Gospel, issuing as
it did from Mount Zion, and to that universal
submission to the cross of Christ, winch, with
all di-awbacks, is a magnificent thing to think
of, and really a triumph over unparalleled obstacles
not less than divine; still more, if the eye is car
ried yet farther, and the final enthronement of the
Church in heaven is comprehended in it — then and
then alone, the subject is worthy of the expression,
and justice is done to the magnificent language

352 LECTURE VII.
of the Prophet — the truth, after all, when thus con
sidered, is grander even than the glory of inspired
words in which it is conveyed. " And he carried
Rev. xxi. me away in the Spirit," says the Apocalyptic Pro
phet, " to a great and high momitain, and shewed
me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of the heaven from God, having the glory
lb. 22. of God. And I saw no temple therein, but the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
of it."
There are some other objections, which, after
these which I confess I cannot but think overwhelm
ing, it would be hardly worth whUe to mention,
but for the inherent interest of the subject, and its
importance in every statement, however brief and
imperfect, of the nature of Christ's kingdom upon
earth. For instance, wh^n the earth has been
enjoying- a universal sabbath of a thousand years,
and the whole world has been desti-oyed at the com
mencement of the period; how is it possible, that,
at the termination of it, the innumerable hosts which
assemble against the people of God should be pro
duced? From whence are they to come ? 2. How wdl
be fulfiUed the promise of Christ to His saints, that
they wUl be where He now is ? According to this
scheme, when Christ thus comes again, they who
have been His most eminent saints and mightiest
ministers shall not be raised immediately to life
etei-nal, but to that which is temporal — so that they
will be welcomed not into heavenly but earthly
mansions — they wUl not appear with Him in glory

LECTURE VII. 363
till they have lived again on eai-th; and if it be
true, that death shall not be swaUowed up in victory
tUl the second resurrection, they must die again,
before they shall enter into their reward.
Again, the Apostle assures us, that, when we are
literally raised, our bodies will instantly undergo
a transformation — om- corruption wUl put on incor-
ruption, om- mortal wiU put on immortality. But
what can bodies so framed have to do with earthly
affluence, temporal prosperity, and the appUances
of that mortal state for which they are then unfitted?
Why feed angelical natures upon earthly bread ? Is
it not inconsistent with reason that, while they who
are raised at the general resurrection shall imme
diately enter into the heavenly glory, the eminent saints
and mai'tyrs of God shall be raised to an earthly life ?
And not only so, but that, like their Lord, they must
be drawn from peace and rest, and those joys which,
even if they be not advanced to the beatific vision,
yet occupy aU the faculties of the departed saint, in
order to assume a corruptible body, which clogs even
the souls of ordinary men !
We cannot think it necessary to argue, as Tertullian
does, that reparation for former wrongs is reqmred by
the body as weU as the soul. " By way of compensation " i" "om-

for those things which, in this world, we have either ?o™m <!"«
... . '° sasculo
despised, or have lost, since it is both just, and '^ei despex-
imus vel
worthy of God, to exalt His servants there where they amisimus
have been afflicted in His name." " For in that very justum et
condition," says Irenaeus, "in which they were afflicted, num, iiiio
and in all ways proved by suffering, it is but justexutore
VOL, II. A a

354 LECTURE VII.
famuios that in the same, they should receive the fruits of
ejus, ubi . •'
suntetaf- their Suffering." In other words, according to these
flicti in ° '^ . .
nomine Fathers, bodily mortification must, by God's justice,
ipsius." Tert. ad bc repaid by bodUy delights, earthly humiliation by
>;. 24. " In earthly exaltation, the figurative crown of thoms by
conditione the real crown of gold. This cannot be held without
sunt, om- a degradation to the sublime hopes of saints and
disprdbati martyrs, who, for the sake of their Lord, and the
rent^am^' hopc of that better resurrection, welcomed the stake
¦Jn^/pg™j^g^gi.and embraced the flames — not for temporal deUghts,
fractuf °^ * carnal paradise, but that they might be with
tiffi^'™reB Christ, which is far better. As if a changing of our
1. V. L-. 32. vUe body into the Ukeness of His glorious body, did
not transcend all imaginable remuneration for tempo
rary sorrow — as if one hour of such glorious and
spmtual communion with Christ were not worth a
thousand earthly MiUenniums.
III. So much on this point have men made the
word of God of no avail through their tradition.
But whUst there are such grave and apparentiy in
superable objections to the supposition, that the
Idngdom of Christ in this world wUl ever be so far
changed from its present condition as to be ruled by
our Lord in a visible and local headship, and over
flow with temporal delights ; there are two subjects
commonly associated with it, and inseparable from
the spread of Christ's kingdom, and both of them
singularly interesting to a Christian, which rest upon
a very different foundation of reason and Scripture.
1. The first is, the restoration of the Jews to
their own land, as a part of the Christian kingdom —

LECTURE VII. 355
to that land which is no longer peculiarly theirs, but
is infinitely dear to the heart of all believers — ravaged
indeed by the spoUer, inhabited by the robber, and
oppressed by the infidel — but stUl the land of God's
chosen people. We loot on it as a land not only with
the unobliterated footsteps of the Godhead, on almost
every hUl and vaUey — not only with every spot, from
Lebanon to lowly Bethany, consecrated by the presence
of saints and prophets, from holy Abraham to the Apo
stles ; but infinitely hallowed by those recollections of
the Saviour of men, which, with a noble superstition,
have led the faithful in every age from the ends of
the world, to look upon OUvet, and Bethlehem, and
Calvary — with feelings so sublime and reverential,
that it would be profanation to compai-e with them any
emotions, however thrilling, which scenes of national
conquest, heroic exploits, or imperial splendour, have
the power to awaken.
I mention this, because these associations, if there
were nothing else, would lead us to regard favourably
any views which rendered probable the restoration of
converted Israel to their ancient seats, the inheritance
of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
their seed for ever. The more we look upon them,
at once as the chosen of Almighty God, and yet
visited by His most tremendous plagues and emphatic
rejection ; as exalted above all other people, and yet
the object, as a nation, of an amount of wrongs quite
unparalleled in history; an excess of national suf
fering, we may well call it, such as has befallen no
other race, till they have wrung out the very dregs of
A a 2

356 LECTURE VII.
the cup of trembling; the less disposition do we
feel to question the national reparation of such suf
ferings — or to doubt their restoration, however beyond
example, to an inheritance lost for eighteen hundred
years, and the reappearance of their scattered remnant
as a nation among the nations. The wonder of it is
in its favour — for, in fact, in a history marked through
out by miracles, in proportion to the unpai-alleled
nature of such a resuscitation of the dry and scattered
bones of the nation, would be its verisimilitude and
its harmony with then- past and present fortunes.
Not but that, even as it is, we can discern one
great, if not sufficient, reason for that providential
arrangement, which has preserved them fi-om ab
sorption among the nations, even if their national
condition should remain unaltered, and the curse
still rest upon mount Zion. There is reason enough
in the attestation which it affords, as a matter of fact,
beyond the doubt of the sceptic and the scorn of the
infidel, to the truth of the Scripture history; and in
the fruits of that unalterable hatred to the Gentiles
which has preserved, beyond the suspicion either
of Christian forgery on one hand, or the unfaithful
tampering of the Jewish guardians on the other, the
integi'ity of the sacred records.
But the tenor of the prophetic wi-itings, as under
stood more generally by the interpreters of later
ages, manifestly point to something beyond this, and
a national restoration more decisive, and accompanied
by more signal marks of Divine favour, than the
first restoration from the Babylonish captivity is able

LECTURE VIL 357
to answer. Our Lord Himself, indeed, predicted
that total destruction of the temple at Jerusalem,
which lefl; not one stone upon another; and that per
manency of desolation, which, as a monument of di
vine wrath, no national effort, nor infidel wisdom bent
on frustrating the sure word of prophecy, shoidd be
able to remove ; but He nevertheless limits the period
during which the desolation of the city should con
tinue. " Jerusalem shaU be trodden down of the Luke xxi.
24.
Gentiles, until the times oi the Gentiles be fiUfiUed."
He evidently indicates, that, whenever the time of the
fulness of the GentUes should arrive, the holy city
should be rebuilt. And so St. Paul, in regard to that
spiritual conversion which we inseparably connect with
their temporal restoration, says stUl more expressly:
" I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant Rom. xi.
' . . 25  27.
of this mystery — that blindness in part is happened
unto Israel, untii the fulness ofthe Gentiles be come in."
" And so all Israel shall be saved," as it is written,
"Tliere shaU come out of Zion the Deliverer, and
shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is
my covenant unto them, when I shaU take away
their sins." And then, marveUing at that wisdom of
God by which He confounds human calculation, and
overrules all the revolutions of the world to His
purposes, he exclaims, " O the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God ! How
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past
finding out !"
It would appear, therefore, fi-om the sure word
of prophecy, that the universality of the kingdom

358 LECTURE VII.
of Christ upon earth, wiU be completed by gathering
into the fold God's ancient people, as a people, and
in a national form; and, as their disruption as a
nation was the result of their rejection of the cross
of Christ, so their acceptance of that same Jesus,
and looking upon Him whom they pierced, wiU be
accompanied by the removal of the Saviour's blood
from the heads of themselves and of their chUdren; and
set them free for ever from that voluntary malediction,
which has been so fearfully ratified by the judgments
of Almighty God! And as the first preaching of
the Gospel was entrusted to the Jews, so, on their
conversion, they wUl most probably act, once more,
the part of Missionaries to the GentUes, and take
the lead in that extension of the truth which wUl
precede the coming of Christ to judgment, and the
consummation of aU things.
2. In the second place, it is perfectly consonant to
holy writ, as weU as to that hopeful and magnanimous
spirit which in Christianity, as in other things, is
indispensable to the performance of great actions,
and is inseparable from faith, to suppose that the
Gospel wUl hereafter act on a wider range than it
has ever yet possessed; or certainly, that, where it
does prevail, it wUl exercise a profounder influence
on the heart of its professors, shine forth in more
unquestionable evidences of its spiritual power, and
impress a more decided character alike on indi
viduals and on commonwealths. It needs not, for
this result, that we suspend the moral laws by which
the world is regulated, or introduce any change

LECTURE VII. 359
inconsistent with the principles of God's providential
government, and incompatible with a probationary
state. We need not ascend to the height, nor descend
into the depth, for the power to work it — it is at^om-
doors — it is in our hearts — dormant perhaps, but stUl
there in all its stiength. The mere extension, by God's
blessing, of vital Christianity, as the real regulator of
human actions; and the acknowledgment of Christ as
the Kjng and Legislator of the world, as the guide
of all intelligence, as weU as the fashioner of all
hearts; would produce, in the state of things on earth,
not indeed such an angelical condition as the dreams
of the MUlenarian anticipate, but a mighty practical
revolution beyond the schemes or grasp of infidel
phUosophy, and a nearer approach to the Paradise
which we have forfeited, than mankind has yet seen.
The only question to be asked is this ; Granting
such to be the purport of Scripture, as I think it is,
is this likely to be a sudden and an imminent change ?
It would seem not, if the present order of things
continue ; for certainly it would be far from the trutii
to assert, that there is any thing now in the aspect
of affairs, even among ourselves, which would be
token to an ordinary eye such a regeneration of
society ; or that in the principles professed by other
states nominally Christian, there is already such a
recognition of the divine law as to lead to a speedy
acknowledgment of Christ as universal King, and of
His Gospel as the unquestionable code of the
nations. It would likewise be blindness to passing

360 LECTURE VII.
events to beheve that there is any preparatory ame
lioration, under God's chastisements, even among
those people, which have, of late years, been tried the
«an|Q|t, in the extremities alike of national greatness,
alicwiational degradation. It is evident that there
are not many among them who have drawn the true
lesson from the demonstrated insufficiency of po
litical phUosophies to renovate the social condition,
or the cultivation of the scientific intellect to
advance the moral perfection of the race, or satisfy
one enduring and noble desUe in the heart of man —
that few are disposed, even in the impatience of
disappointment, and the conviction which sorrow
brings, to have recourse to the Gospel; or to try
what the effects may be of grounding human great
ness not on pride, but on humUity, and submission
to an absolute rule and sovereignty placed beyond
and out of ourselves. It is an awful view to take,
but it would appear, as though, in the revolutionary
and infidel spirit, when liberated from the last
decencies and conventional restraints of Christianity,
there were something insuperable by moral force,
and impregnable to experience— a buoyancy of
faith in what is evil, unabashed by faUure, and
germinating fresh hopes from the successive anni
hilation of the old — a true enthusiasm of evil
in which the whole order of moral obligation is
reversed, and the conscience seared with a hot Uon.
We are forced to believe that the cure for moral and
national evils, and the regeneration of om- race.

LECTURE VII. .361
are really, and in good faith, sought through instru
ments, which are self-destructive, opposed to God's
nature, and contradictory to eternal reason.
When such principles and active energies aMHK>^
have really thoroughly penetrated the mas^^of
mankind, and rooted themselves there with that
conviction which accompanies every thing, good or
evil, which men have been accustomed to consider
as undisputed truths ; when they are received as
traditions, are fortified by example, have their
heroism and self-devotion, and the applauses of the
multitude, — and when, as a necessai-y accompaniment
of all this, the moral machinery by which such evils
are to be counteracted bears no assignable pro
portion to their magnitude and inveteracy; the
condition of a people thus circumstanced appears
such an approach to a moral reprobation, as never
yet, in the history of the world, has been capable of
regeneration. The iron restraint of arbitrary power,
and the politic view of the necessities of order and a
certain amount of morality to uphold temporal rank
and secure secular prosperity, have no tendency to
purfy the antisocial and explosive elements which
they repress. The very violence employed tends,
for a time at least, to unite and consolidate them ;
and, should it be successful, and subdue the anti
christian forces to a tone compatible with a relax
ation of constraint, such an apparent amelioration,
from the lack of religious instruments to effect such
a change, cannot result from the diffusion of a
higher and a better morality, which grows not either

362 LECTURE VIL
under tyrannical power or civil convulsions ; but
solely fi-om the taming down of men's minds to that
extremity of debasement, in which the boldness and
**maniteod, such as it was, of the anarchical temper is
fosf'^nd aU is dissolved mto one level degradation,
where literature and the arts only subserve the
senses, mteUect only hardens the heart, and the last
capacity for civU Uberty is destroyed with the ab
juration of aU moraUty, and the final rejection of the
Gospel. Here and there a spark of the Christian spirit
may appear, but a national recognition of Christianity
seems impossible. The Papacy never can re
generate the nations which she has been the great
instiument of apostatising — and, supposing that, in
the decay of the Mohammedan power, the cross of
Christ should gain what that debasing superstition
has lost — supposing that, with the acknowledgment
of a Christian and spiritual kingdom a real civUiza
tion should arise, — not a mere outside form of it,
a mimicry of real inteUectual and moral vigour,
but such a change as shall invigorate the higher
humanity, and raise the capacities of the people —
supposing that therefi'om policies should grow, able
to regain that national unity which is now decayed ;
yet how many ages must elapse before such a change
could be completed, or any approach to a general
MiUenarian condition accomplished.
The fertUity of the fields of the East, indeed,
might again be easily evoked, and the Euphrates
and the Tigris, instead of rolling through pestilential

LECTURE VII. 363
mai-shes, might quicken, once more, the boundless
harvests of the Assyrian plains — but the moral growth
of man is slow, national faith is not wrought out in
a moment, and Christianity cannot, in a generatiian,"
recover the retrogradation of a thousand years.
But stiU, where the natural wickedness of the heart
has not been subhmed into a philosophical creed;
where natural instincts, however corrupted, stUl re
main; where faith in things unseen is not eradicated
by a general infidelity, and truth proscribed fi-om the
national mind by atheistic institutions ; there stUl
remains a field, where, according to God's ordinary
dealings, the truth of the Gospel, recommended by
superior knowledge, and the dignity of a great and
civUized nation, might widely spread, and perhaps
permanently prevaU.
Not that, even in those regions of the East, where
Christianity has begun to operate and may again pre
vaU, there are no obstacles to the Gospel to be appre
hended from speculative infidelity as well as theordinai-y
resistance of the heart — ^there is much of the same
arid soU there, as in the West, uncongenial to faith,
and impenetrable to that humiUty which is the
necessary precursor to the acceptance of the tiuth as
it is in Jesus.
Surely all this should enter into our calculations,
when we contemplate the future evangelization of
the Mohammedan and Hindoo nations, with a holy
zeal indeed, but irrespectively of times and seasons,
and of the slow ditfusion through bodies politic of the
Gospel leaven. It does not render it impossible —

364 LECTURE VII.
God forbid— but the process must be slow— the
growth of many years, and the fi-uit of indefatigable
labour. One thing it ought certainly to impress
upon our minds, as a conviction without which no
efforts of our own can prosper — that a work so great
and difficult must be wrought out by God's especial
blessing, and such an effusion of His holy Spirit
as shall strengthen the weakness of His servants —
shall enlighten the ignorant, and soften the infidel.
But supposing, as holy Scripture seems to me to
intimate, that such a glorious change wUl be accom
plished, and that there shall be a wide spread of
Gospel truth and Gospel power till it cover the
world as the waters cover the sea — there are
considerations even then, which must modify our
hopes, and temper our anticipations of a Millenarian
purity °.
° There is nothing in Scripture to justify the conclusion, that
the binding of Satan means a complete suspension of his influence,
or a removal of sin from the world at large. Man's heart has sin
enough zvithout the temptation of Satan. Nor will there ever be
a time, till the final judgment removes both sin and death, when
the people of God will be free from warfare in their own souls, or
Satan cease from influencing with a fatal delusion multitudes
of souls within the visible Church. The text, moreover, seems to
confine the suspension of his power to deceive, to some grand de
lusion, probably, like Mohammedanism, upon the nations— the
people without the pale of the Christian Church.
At all events, if we explain it to mean merely a partial sus
pension of his influence in mundane affairs, the analogy of Scrip
ture is in favour of such an interpretation. Thus even at present,
Satan and his angels are described as being " cast into hell" —
" delivered into chains of darkness, and reserved in everlasting
chains unto the judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. ii. 4. and Jude

LECTURE VII. 365
Surely, under no circumstances can we reasonably
expect a greater effusion of spiritual power than
that which accompanied the ApostoUc age—and if
we could equal them, all things taken together,
StiU what innumerable obstacles to a perfect purity
ai-e there in the inherent corruptions and infirmities
of human nature, which in the flesh we can never
6. So the occasion of the disciples of Jesus casting out devils,
drew from our Lord the declaration, " I beheld Satan as lightning
fall from heaven." And in this very book of Revelations, which is
more to the purpose, chap. xii. 7. " And there was war in heaven ;
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place
found any more in heaven .... He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him." Now here is a strength
of expression at least equal to that which we are now considering ;
and yet the best commentators consider it to have been fulfilled when
idolatry, as the religion of the Roman empire, was overthrown by
Constantine and his immediate successors. If a person un
acquainted with the genius of the prophetical Scriptures were to
interpret this passage with reference solely to the force of the
expression, as it stands by itself, he would certainly infer, that less
could not be intended than the total suppression of idolatry, and
subjugation of the satanic influence. Yet, in reality, the fulfilment
only extended to the Roman empire, and left the greater part
of mankind, as now, sunk in gross idolatry. And even in the
Roman empire itself, idolatry, though no longer the religion of the
state, can hardly be considered to have been eflfectually suppressed;
and soon sprang up, after its temporary defeat, with fresh vigour
under the papal rule.
No doubt every thing in these and other prophecies is not
partially but completely fulfilled according to the divine intention,
and there are many spiritual relations and connections in them all
which we cannot discern or estimate — but there is enough in what
I have here mentioned to suggest great caution in the specific ful
filment on which ardent minds insist — admitting no degrees or
any thing short of what they judge the very mind of the Spirit.

366 LECTURE VII.
shake off — corruptions which must not only affect
individuals, but even the collective body, the Church.
Our Lord's words, over and over again, are express
in proof of that intermixture of the evU with the
good, which no spirit of separation can escape, and
no Millenarian sanctity, whUe human nature is
unchanged, can ever remove ; the consummation of
all things alone shall purge off the dross, and refine
the Church into a uniform and permanent purity.
Unless we bear this in mind, a heated imagin
ation wUl lead us into errors which may be
practically dangerous — ^we cannot enter into the
true meaning and scope of the prophetic declara
tions of the intended results of the Gospel, and
shall be led to look for a future accomplish
ment of them, alike opposed to the conclusions
of experience, and the intention of the Divine
counsels. Consider for an instant the glorious prophecy of
is.xi.6— g.Isaiah, in which he paints the effects of the evan-
geUcal kingdom, and describes a paradisaical condition
Is. XXXV. 1. in which the desert itself shall blossom, the very
beasts which God has armed for war and rapine
Is. ii. 4. shaU forget their nature, and the sword be turned into
the ploughshare and the spear into the pruning hook.
Consider too the angeUc announcement of glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
wUl towards men. Both declarations, if they are
good for any one period of the Gospel on earth, are
good for all — they are unrestricted in time, and
universal in their application to the results of the

LECTURE VII. 367
Gospel. Then combine with this, not only the
appalling truths of past history, and the experience
of the present, but our Lord's own emphatic de
claration, " Think not that I am come to send peace Matt. x. 34.
on earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword."
Then say what conclusion is to be drawn from this
apparent contradiction? Certainly not, that such
is not the tendency oi the Gospel, or that such would
not be its necessary results, if it were received, as
it ought to be, by those for whose salvation it was
projected, and wrought alike into the hearts and the
practice of mankind. No. But the tiue conclusion
seems to be this, that the prophetic descriptions
and the angelical annunciations are the type — the
perfect idea and conception of the Gospel kingdom
in the mind of Almighty God — a plan miserably
marred by the elements on which it was to act, and
scarcely recognisable in its actual exhibition among
mankind. Exactly as, to compare divine things
with earthly, the noblest conceptions of the painter
or the sculptor are marred, in then* actual setting
forth, by the inferiority of the materials upon which
the master mind may be compeUed to work. And
so it was in the typical and preparatory dispensation;
for, not only was the idea oi the Theocracy never
perfectly reaUzed, but it scarcely ever approached to
a realization — it never existed adequately, nor was
developed consistentiy, but in parts and fragments
only — just sufficient to answer the divine purposes,
and no more — its only ti-ue representative was in
the idea and counsel of God, as recorded im-

368 LECTURE VI I.
perishably, and adumbrated to us in the Mosaic and
prophetic writings.
It will follow, from all this, that, though we are
most probably correct in anticipating- a larger exten
sion of Christ's kingdom, yet that there is no ground
for supposing that its progress will be other than slow
and gradual^or that, even at its height, there may not
be some portions of the world excluded, by a self-
rejection, from it; and that the Chm-ch itself wUl not
only still encounter enemies from without, but cor
ruptions and dissensions from within.
But, meanwhUe, it is ours to labour though the
event is in God's hand — the very initiation into Christ's
kingdom is a vow to a life militant, and to the endurance
of all things for the sake of Him whose crown we
hope to share. If we cannot conquer, we can fight
— and, if it be not God's good pleasure that we should
evangelize the world, we can at least be witnesses of
God's truth in it, and to it.
And this brings me to the last point touching the
MUlenarian kingdom, on which Christ's decisive
words may throw a distinct light. If there be tiiat
coirespondence between the end of the world and
the destruction of Jerusalem, which His entfre amal
gamation of the one with the other expressly an
nounces to us, it will give us a reason, and an awful one,
independent, of all uncertain speculation, and of holy
anticipations which it may not be the purpose of God
to reaUze, for sounding the trumpet of the Gospel
Matt. xxiv. from one end of the earth to another. " This Gospel
14. of the kingdom," says our Lord, " shall be preached

LECTURE VII. 369
in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and
then shall the end come." So speaks the prophet
Daniel, that at the end of the world, many shaU run
to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
And this may be, after all, the teue meaning of the
Apocalyptic resurrection — of the souls of the saints
to reign with Christ. The change produced upon
the soul by the transforming power of the Gospel is
uniformly called life, and there is nothing at variance
with the boldness and yet precision of the prophetic
style, in caUing the reanimation of the saints and
martyrs of ancient times in a band of like-minded
successors, by the name^ of a resurrection of the men

•¦ Nothing is more frequent in Scripture than the application of
the word resurrection to the restoration of a Church — such perhaps
as is intended by the rest of the dead living at the end of the
thousand years — when the regeneration of the Jewish Church shall
aid in the general establishment of the faith of Christ, and crown
the work of the spirits of the martyrs and confessors.
So saith the Prophet Isaiah, 'AtxerTiiroiTxi ol vix^ot, c. xxvi. 19.
So God speaks to the Jewish nation by Ezekiel, saying, I will
open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves,
and bring you into the land of Israel. Ezek. xxxvii. 13, 14. The
Prophet Hosea speaks thus ; In those days, i^xtxo-rtiirifiiSx, we
shall rise up again and live before Him. Hos. vi. 2. And the
Apostle speaking of the very matter, viz. the conversion of the
Jews, saith. It shall be even to the Gentiles, ^«« 'ex nx^at 
Moreover the Scripture doth more frequently mention the restora
tion of the Church, and her return from a low, captive, and
afflicted state, under the metaphor of a new life, a life from the
dead, a reviviscence of God's Church and people. Thus when
God moved the Persian kings to let the Jews return into their own
land. He is by Ezra said to give them, Z^aovolwii. Ezra ix. The
Psalmist, speaking of himself or God's people also, useth these words.
Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken
VOL. II. Bb

370 LECTURE VIL
themselves. So indeed, on another occasion, holy
Scripture speaks dfrectly of the appearance of a man
us. Psalm Ixxi. 20. And the Church speaketh thus to God,
Zaairui iftxi. Psalm Ixxxv. 6. . . . But the chief seat of this meta
phor is in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, where God is introduced
enquiring of the Jews in Babylon, Ei ^>)V£t«(, Can these bones live ?
and promising to put the breath of life into them, and saying, ' I
will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live' .... in all which
places the very word which Saint John useth to express the first
resurrection is here used to express the return of the Church from
her obscurity and thraldom, to a glorious state. Why, therefore,
may not the word in Saint John bear that sense which it so often
bears in the prophetic writings, and twice in the New Testament,
when spoken of the Gentiles ?" Vid. Whitby.
Even if we take the words of the text. Rev. xx., literally, it
seems to me that it is so far. from confirming the Millenarian
hypothesis, and identifying this period, whatever it be, with the
reigning of the saints with Christ, that it proves something irre
concileable with it. This doctrine is urged, as of vital interest to
all ; but if so, there can be no doubt that the Holy Ghost would
have so couched its announcement, as to mark beyond contra
diction its universal application. And in other passages, such as
Rom. viii. 11.1 Cor. xv. 61. 2 Cor. v. 15. Phil. iii. 20, 21. which
foretel the blessedness of the saints after the coming of Christ,
a phraseology is used which evidently includes them all. And as
all the saints are to reign with Christ after His second coming,
such a description would be given as would harmonize with that
event. These seem unquestionable principles — let us now apply
them. 1. Verse 6. limits the reigning to those who partake of
the first resurrection. This therefore will exclude all those saints
who remain alive at the time of the second coming of Christ, be
cause they will not partake of any resurrection, as they have not
died. As therefore this verse limits the whole to those who have
experienced a resurrection, such an essential difference between
this statement and that which is given 1 Cor. xv. and 1 Thess. xiv.
is hardly compatible with the supposition, that the inspired writers
are narrating the same events. And really not only does this de
scription exclude all the living saints, but it would exclude by far

LECTURE VII. 371
in his own person, when our Lord interpreted it of
the spirit and the power of the man. The mighty
Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wUdemess,
was EUas— because he came in his spu-it. So our
ovm glorious martyrs, who sealed with theu- blood
the Gospel which their tongues had proclaimed,
came antong us in the spirit and the power of those
blessed saints and apostles who first taught the truth

the greater part of the saints who have died. It would do so in
two ways; 1. they are those who have borne testimony to Jesus,
and for the word of God, and who worshipped not the beast and
his image. This limitation would at once exclude all the saints
who lived during the four thousand years which preceded Christ's
first coming — all those vast multitudes of them who lived during
the first ages of Christianity, previous to the establishment of the
papacy: and, 2. It is specifically those who have suffered martyr
dom ; Tat viveMxla-ftetat. These and these only are the objects of
this resurrection, and therefore, though the fact may be interesting
to us, as every fact recorded by the holy Spirit must be, I do not
see of what practical importance it can be to the generality of
Christians. And again : stUl arguing on the supposition of a literal
resurrection of the martyrs — it does not follow that it will be on
earth. They will reign with Christ, and His throne is in heavem
from which He administers His earthly kingdom ; and to this effect
is the opinion of a Millenarian divine, quoted by Whitby. 1. That
the first resurrection here mentioned will be a literal resurrection
of those that have lost their lives for the testimony of Christ, to
enjoy eternal life in heaven a thousand years before the general
resmTection, as the martyrs of the Old Testament were with the
body of Christ. Matt, xxvii. 62. They shall reign with Christ,
not on earth, but in heaven, where Christ is, and shall be, till He
come to judgment. 2. Not only the martyrs shall then rise to
heavenly bliss, but their murderers shall then also arise, to eternal
punishment, according to Daniel xii. 2. And many of them that
sleep in the dust shall arise, some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt.
Bb2

372 LECTURE VII.
as it is in Christ Jesus, who spoke again to the
Church, in these then- successors, as they had spoken
at the first ; and who, through those whom God had
thus raised up, bequeathed anew to us and to our
children, an uncorrupted faith, and the inheritance
of the word of life.
So, again, in the spiritual change which has so
marvellously spread through the length and breadth
of the land — in the universal hfe which has animated,
what, hy the confession of aU, were but dry bones tUl
the Spirit of God came thus from the four winds and
breathed upon them — the martyrs of old are Uving
again — ^in the devoted zeal with which men leave
the pleasures of home, and the manifold delights
of civilization, to encounter the sea, and the desert,
and the barbarism of savage men, content to do all
things, and to suffer all things, so that they may save
souls — the martyrs of old are living again — in the
universal spread of the word of God, and the hunger
and thu-st which fill men's souls for the possession of
the truths which it contains-^in those labours which
emulate the Pentecostal gift, and have rendered the
book of life into every tongue and language under
heaven^ — in that rising and spreading union of a holy
discipline with the spu-it and the truth, and the
sending out of the Church in its totality, unabridged
of its perfection of form, and yet undamped in its
missionary fervour, to feed and train the flocks to
which the pure word of God is brought — in all this,
the saints and apostles of old are risen again,
" They shall live," says the prophet, " and reign

LECTURE VIL 373
with Christ." And they are living and reigning
now, carrying to lands and continents unknown
to the first propagators of the Gospel the tidings
of salvation, and that last solemn witness to the truth,
before the announcement of which the end shall
not come. No, brethren: it is not without an object,
far beyond the aggrandisement of a mere temporal
power, the ostentation of wealth, and, I may say,
the chUdish pride of conquest, that the influences
and power of Britain penetrate every corner of
the earth — she alone carries with her the hopes of
man — this is the secret of it — she is the bearer
of the everlasting Gospel; and armies and fleets
only prepare the way for the Missionary, for Him
who with beautiful feet beareth the glad tidings of
salvation on the mountains of heathenism, and pub-
lisheth peace. To open the way to schools, and
the humble vUlage church, and the goings in and
out of the Christian Pastor, may seem to the worldly
statesman but a poor result of so much politic
care and warlike enterprise — the utUitarian specu
lator on the extension of commerce wUl treat it with
indifference as the dream of enthusiasts — -and the
phUosophic infidel wiU regard it with unmerited
contempt. We know this, but what of it? The
lowest believer with the Bible in his hand knows
better; " I am vriser than my teachers, because I
know thy word."
Hence, doubtless, from the same divine design,
comes the synchronizing of this unparaUeled zeal
for the propagation of the Gospel, with the expansion

374 LECTURE VII.
of the mechanical powers of man; the dominion
over the elements which science has given, and
those instruments of intercommunication which are
annihUating space, and bringing the most dis
tant portions of the earth together; hence the
universal subjugation of those barbaric nations
which once lay beyond the reach of civUization, to
the larger intellect and material resources of the
West ; hence the universal and uncontroUable spread
of the laiowledge of good and evU, and every
thing that can stimulate the human mind; all in
dicate an awful period in man's history — a vast
providential crisis, the issue of which no eye but
the All-seeing can discern, and no hand but the
All-powerful can overrule. The Gospel must be
preached in all lands before the end come; and
this apparatus of means, and the imparaUeled con
centration of them in the hands of the only state
on earth which acknowledges Christ as her King,
and His law as of right supreme within her, is
necessary for the final consummation.
May the grace of God keep us who are Christ's
ministers alive to the spirit of our holy vocation, aud
brace up our loins for this great day of battle. We
are not only saved by the cross, but we have likewise
to bear the cross — ^and, even if outward peril or
affliction did not chastise us, we must, in order
to discharge om- duty as faithful soldiers, do it for
ourselves. Not indeed by maceration of the flesh
and corporeal mortification, which is, after all, the
lowest sphere of self-subjugation; but by such

LECTURE VII. 375
vigorous and manly self-discipline, such Christian
devotion and self-denial, as may not only bring the
body into subjection, but so raise the soul, that it
may despise the temptations of earthly pleasure,
whether of the senses or of the intellect ; be crucified
to the world as the world is to it, and be ready to
sacrifice aU that we possess, nay, ourselves, om-
souls and bodies, for the extension of the Gospel,
and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ
upon earth. HaUelujah ! For the Lord God omni
potent reigneth. The kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ ;
and He shall reign for ever and ever. Amen

LECTURE VIII.
PART I.
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.

SDMMAKY OF THE WHOLE QUESTION, AGAINST PAPAL ROME,

I. The regal power of Christ — as exercised in protecting
His Church against its external enemies, spiiitual and
temporal. A spiritual power opposed to Christianity —
not merely with a deadly hatred and violent opposition —
but with a super-human intellectual power. That povfer
manifested, I. In the old idolatry and philosophizing.
2. In Mohainmedanism. 3. In the Papacy. — Against all
and each of which power is given to Christ to protect His
Chui-ch. II. Practical results in the Christian life, and mode of
viewing God's earthly providence.
III. Finally, the judging and avenging power of Christ.

LECTURE VIII.

PART I.

" All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Therefore go
ye." Matt, xxviii. 18.
I. XN the preceding discourse, we have considered
-^ the general nature of Christ's spiritual Idng
dom, as exercising a constant and interior influence
over the hearts of His true people ; as, in its essential
truth, therefore, independent, up to a certain point,
of outwai-d circumstances, and any visible form
whatsoever; and inscrutable to any eyes but those
which search the hearts and reins. We have con
sidered its general connection — general, but not invari
able — with the outward type and definite ordinances
which Christ Himself has instituted, and the position
in which that outward and organized body stands
to the invisible King, who is its guide and effectual
ruler. We have traced the relations which the visible
society of the Church ought to maintain to that
essentially outward and temporal sovereignty which

380 LECTURE VIII.
is likewise of God's ordinance, and by which earthly
kmgdoms are admmistered — and finally the reasons
which Scripture gives us for looking forward to a
larger extension of the Gospel, and the universal
acknowledgment of the Messiah's kingly authority,
fi*om one extremity of the earth to the other.
The king- But there are stUl some important points in the
chris°ex- kuigly character of the Messiah which require a
ChurcK ^ distinct notice however brief. The amount, I mean,
and nature of those imperial prerogatives, which are
economically vested in His hands, with an external
exercise for the protection of the Church ; the spe
cific nature and source of the opposition which it has
to overcome, and the principal forms which that
opposition has assumed; and that most solemn
judgment office, by the execution of which, in the
final reckoning for the deeds done in the flesh,
the circle of the Messiah's regal attiibutes wUl be
completed, and the awfulness of unapproachable
majesty and power exalt the mercy and the tender
love in which He is first revealed to men.
Now it wUl appear by a consideration of the
words of my text, that, as a preUminary indispensable
to the exercise at aU of His sovereignty over the
Church and for the Church, and therefore for its
spiritual prosperity and permanent existence, not
only a portion of power, vast perhaps, but stUl
limited, was vested in His hands — but that all
power, alike uncircumscribed in extent and in its
mode of exercise, has devolved upon Him. We
can, in fagt, conceive nothing, at once more prcr

PART I. 381
cise and comprehensive than these few words— it
is manifest, that the claim of authority which they
announce spans the universe — in heaven and in
earth. Nor, again, is it possible for us to find any
thing more express and clear than the connection
instituted between the two ideas which are brought
into juxta-position, " All power is given Me in
heaven and in earth; therefore go ye." He is now
omnipotent — there is no portion of the world over
which His controlling presence does not extend;
there is therefore no domination, whether spiritual or
secular, which is capable of resisting Him, or harming
those who shall go forth in the power of faith
and in the strength of His name ! The fulness of
time is come ! " therefore go ye."
This is wonderful, even to us who look at the Lord in
His glory, with the adoration of ages and the worship of
all nations bowing at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth ;
who regard the cross, not as the symbol of shame,
but as the consecrated token of a Divine Majesty.
But it must have sounded strangely indeed in the
ears of His disciples who saw Him in the weakness
of His unhonoured flesh; athirst as they were for
earthly dignities and the names which signalize
them, but unfamUiar, as yet, with their Lord's divine
titles ; nor, in their carnal heart, comprehending the
extent of the change which had been wrought by the
endurance of the cross and of the grave. And yet
they were indeed the sober and truthful words of
the Lamb that was slain, of Him that died, but who
liveth evermore ; of Him, who, but a few weeks

882 LECTURE VIII.
before, was the despised and rejected of men, who
had not where to lay His head, and who, during the
hour of the powers of darkness, hung like the basest
of malefactors upon the accursed tree. What a
contrast ! From Calvary and the tomb in the
garden, to that more than regal and angelic power
which encompasses all things, both visible and in
visible — it is a step for the God-man to make, but
certainly for no being less glorious than Himself. Yet
such had been the plan conceived, in the Almighty
mind, before the foundations of the world were laid ;
and such, however dimly seen, or imperfectly under
stood, had been the precise order announced, of old,
by the Prophets and inspired Teachers of the Jewish
Chm-ch. It was necessary that Christ should suffer,
and so enter into His glory ; not accidental, either of
them, but both indispensable to the divine counsels
The protec- US-ward. So that, in the scheme of Almiarhtv
tion there- _ .
fore ofthe God, all the work of redemption, and the rescuinar,
Church to 1 . 1 n 1 , P .
the end of out of a corrupt and perishable world, of a peculiar
the world 1^1, n ji,. -.•
is Christ's, pcoplc, the SOUS 01 gracc and heirs ol immor
tality, was to be wrought out, as a work of power,
by the hands of the Mediator ; not merely as a work
of grace, in reference to Himself, but emphaticaUy
of power, both in regard to inward changes to be
accomplished, and outward opposition to be over
come. The unutterable sacrifice, and the blood-
shedding that was to wash away the sins of the world,
was but the commencement; to buUd up, stone upon
stone, the kingdom that was to rise on this found
ation ; to complete what was begun by the very same

PART I. 383
hand which began it; to uphold it to the end of the
world, by a continual guardianship against external
assaults; and to exercise, with an indefatigable energy,
the powers which resulted from His atonement, till
death shall be swallowed up in victory — all this like
wise belongs to the Messiah in His glory. Hence,
the peculiarity of the Gospel economy; the Almighty,
in the exercise of stiength and authority, as of all
other attributes, is impenetrable and unapproachable,
save through His adorable Son. Not only His mercy,
but His power towards us is exercised through His
intermediation ; though it may not be so to other
beings, yet to us He has retfred nito Himself; we see
Him not, and feel Him not, save through the ghmpses
of glory and majesty, and the putting forth of strength
and wisdom which issue from the God-man. And this
shall be the case, tUl, at the consummation of all things,
the Son shaU lay down His mediatorial kingdom,
and God shall be all in all.
There is something more, therefore, than that
which a vague ascription of power to Christ, ne
cessarily conveys to a mind, which merely glances
at the general meaning without analysing what it
contains. For to make this at all available for
the grand purposes of the Gospel — the provi
dential ordering of events, which men truly yet
loosely attribute to the Most High, must form a
part of it; that unceasing- watch which the eyes
that never slumber nor sleep exercise over every
created thing; the sovereignty of inspection, the
sovereignty of regulation and over-ruling, the sove-

384 LECTURE VIII.
reignty of reward and ptmishment, all this has,
for a time, been transferred by a solemn charter,
into the hands of the mediatorial King. And
the point to be insisted on here, and distinctly
to be apprehended, is this ; that He holds it, not
in that He is God equal with the Father, the very
and eternal Deity, nor in that He is man; but in
that He is the Christ, Immanuel, Jehovah witii us,
the unspeakable mystery of God manifest in the
flesh. And on the principle universally incul
cated in Scripture — that God deals with man, in
and through Christ alone, and that the Church
is identified with its Head — the existence of the
Gospel in this hostUe world, and most unstable
scene, cannot be separated from this arrange
ment. And thus, therefore, He addresses His Apostles,
and in them His Church ; His ministers first, and
then all who by faith have come to Him, to the end of
time. " Behold ! aU power is given to Me — take
therefore my commission; go ye who are not your own,
but bought with a price. Mine and in Me, and make
all the world my disciples, in deed and in truth. Go !
as the ambassadors of Him who is no more the sport
of the wicked, and gives no longer His cheek to the
smiter, though you may be caUed, as He has been,
to submit to that bitter contumely ; but who, from the
throne which is fixed in heaven, will be the strength
of your wealmess, and the glory of your shame, and
will shelter you under the everlasting wings. Go ye,
upon your mission of love and mercy, though the

PART I. 385
heathen rage, and the high places of wickedness take
their counsel together — though you may sow and not
reap, and aU the passions of the world that sitteth ui
darkness wUl strive to quench the light, and trample
under foot the blood of the covenant, let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. They
who are against you are formidable indeed, both in
themselves, and those unseen powers of evil which
prompt them with a wicked wisdom, and support them
with a wicked strength — but My stiength is greater
than theirs, and I wUl, before the end come, bring
them low before you, simple and weak as you seem,
and helpless as indeed you are without your King.
And as you fear not for the Gospel, so feai- not for
yourselves — though they persecute you from city to
city, and condemn you to the cross or to the sword
or to the fire, for My name's sake — yet your very
sufferings shaU be a triumph to Me and to you ; for
the hearts of men are in My hand to dispose and
mould them as I wUl ; and you shall at once by your
very death spread far and wide the faith in Me, for
which you offer yourselves up, and shaU find that for
yourselves the death of the body, which is all that men
can infUct, is the gate to heaven — ^for them that con
quer is laid up, at My right hand, a crown of glory,
that fadeth not away, eternal in the heavens. Go
forth then and conquer, the servants of Hinl, who,
along with His marvellous love for you, even a
tenderness unspeakable and beyond the affection of
man, is now, for your sakes, and the Church in you,
VOL. II. c c

386 LECTURE VIII.
Lord of heaven and earth. Behold, I am with you
alway, even to the end of the world."
Such then is the clear scriptural fact, the power
given, and the spread of the Gospel grounded upon it;
and if we turn our thoughts seriously to the subject,
even for a moment, it wUl be evident that no power
less than the greatest, and no station lower than the
highest, could have sufficed for the purpose which
the Mediator has undertaken to fulfil. So that it is
no ostentation of majesty in Him, nor a super
erogatory power, but essential, and for a practical
purpose, to which it exactly answers. The as
sumption by our Lord, upon His ascension, of
the regal authority, and His sitting down, on this
inauguration into His glory, at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, was thus the natural preliminary
to that outpouring of the Spirit, which accompanied
the early propagation of the Gospel, and which in
a full and flowing measure was never to desert it;
and it shows the consistency of the whole divine
plan, and its dependency on the combined offices
of Christ, when the priesthood is thus effectuated
and protected by His Kingship, and each accom-
pUshed in its order.
, For it cannot be too constantiy or precisely
fixed in our minds, as a most certain principle
of the utmost practical importance, that, in aU
that makes it saving to the soul and the power of
God unto salvation, the Gospel of Christ stands in
ureconcUeable opposition to the world, and all that.

PART I. 387
by natural order and connection, is in and of
the Worlds That such are the difficidties which
aGCottipaay its reception into the hearts of men,
as a principle of action, that, from, first to last, it
is stiietly and UteraUy, both within and without, a
supernatural teork, demandihg, every instant, the
active forces of tiie divine power, as well as the ten
dernesses of the divine compassion. It cannot main
tain itself, no, not for an initMl—^the soul of the
beUever, in whom individuaUy it is developed, has
no independent life within it, no principle of self-
conservation conveyed with the gift of grace ; or in
deed conveyed at aU, apart from the constant com-
tOunication &f Him who is the way and the truth and
the life, and able to resist the external and internal
enemies which are always acting upon it. The King
inust be present as weU as the Priest. Devise what
formulas you please of Church prerogatives, the
Gospel has quite as necessary a tendency to decay
and perish, if the direct operations of this power are
suspended by men's sins, as the material world has to
dissolve, if that which gives cotisistency and even exist-
ence to its fluxional elements, were withdrawn from
under it. There might be the framework and the
name of the Church, but no more.
Hence, no security can be provided for the general iiafomiUe
perpetiiation of vital religion from one generation to the^preva-
another. No gathering of men into the fold of the vltaf reii-
visible Church, no inherited system however ac-^e°gg°^
curately jointed and compacted into a uniform another!
action, no immemorial prescription, no sanctity
0 c 2

388 LECTURE VIII.
of rites and apostolical ordinances, no names and
awful titles, can bequeath to its members the certain
possession of the Spirit of life. The basis of human
nature, upon which the Gospel acts, is unchanged
and unchangeable — no scheme of perfection can
work permanently upon such elements. And,
though the body of the visible Church presents
to the eye the same broad aspect from day to day,
yet, as it is in a stream, so it is here ; fresh indi
viduals are ever' mixing with the body, and in
sinuating into its former comparative purity, the
con-uption which they bring with them into the
world, the strength of which no voUtion of man can
mitigate, nor any progression of the race abridge
of its universahty. We carry the inherited Adam
within us — this is the truth — and the heart of the
latest bom of yesterday is, by nature, exactly what
it was in the first chUd of our faUen forefather. It
demands, therefore, in each succeeding generation,
a renewal of the same struggles, and the processes
of the same grace, to regenerate it into the Divine
image; and early famUiarity with the ti-uth some
times only thwarts it. I would not be misunder
stood in saying this. I do not mean to undervalue,
God forbid, either the duty, or the blessed effects,
under the Divine assistance, of religious training,
when rightly understood and spirituaUy conducted. I
do not place other than the highest value upon it, next
to the Spirit of God Himself; for, ui the educational-
office of the Church, it is the appointed instiument in
moulding men's affections; and in regulating the judg-i

PART I. 389
ment of those who from their mother's womb, in the
persons of their parents who are her representatives
and agents, are committed to her charge. Nor would
I do dishonour to the holy rite in which we anticipate
the yet unexpanded seeds of evU, as far as is possible,
by that grace which Christ does not withhold from
the youngest of His flock that are brought to Him
to bless.
But it is useless to theorize, for the fact remains —
you do not, and you cannot, as a matter of course, con
vey by inheritance the grace necessary to change the
heart. I think, indeed, thus much is beyond a question
' — ^that if the Spirit of Christ thoroughly pervaded the
Church, and if His lambs were fed as He has given
us abundant food and encouragement to do it withal,
one holy generation might be succeeded by another
as holy. But, as it is, and with the over-confidence
which men from the beginning have placed, and
do place, in forms disconnected from their conditions,
experience has left no doubt of that fresh-gene
rated corruption which the Church, in a hoUer con
dition, might neutralize, and which, even as it is,
she does mitigate ; though to eradicate it, is clearly
beyond its charter, in less than a MiUenarian con
dition. And m the apocalyptic description of that
state, it is mseparably connected with a bmding
in temporary chains of that subtle and treacherous
spirit who works with a fatal skill on the principles
of sin within us; and who, in disappointing the
fau-est hopes and corrupting the holiest things,

390 LECTURE VIII.
counteracts the wi^oap which educes good from evU,
by e^tf acting evU put of all things good.
A^d this brings nie to the second point; that
emtward influence, which, with this ineradicable cor^
ruption of the human heart, for its fiUchrum,
requires, imperatively, the controlling check of a
The Gos- kingly and antagonist power. For the Gospel is
pel a Strug. . ., i> i • i i
gie against emmcntly a struggle, the termination of which has yet
principal!- tocottie; and the world Spiritual is the sceucofau active
powers, trial of strengtii, of which the souls of men are the prize;
albeit, this gigantic struggle, in the eddies of which
we are tost, sweeps around us unnoticed, except in
the fiwts and the visible effects of it. It is, thus, far
more than a metaphorical warfare between the prin
ciples, of good and evil within us ; for these are only
the reflections, after aU, of that prime personal good
an4 evil of which they are, respectively, derivatives ;
ajft4 the true coi^itest lies between the Saviour, and
those spn-itual principaUties and powers whose king-
do^ upon earth He dgsjcended from the bosom of
His Father's glory to Siubvert.
It was not therefpr€> the devices of a human intellect^
nor thjC :fesourcies of a i^ind movir^ within the- Umits
oi any- faciUti?^ known to us, ho^vever multipUed or
profound;, which were gaUed into action, from the first,
to impede the, establishment of the Gospel, and cor
rupt ^m purity of the faith; iox- that might have been
compatible, perhaps, with gjijother economy.
Of cQWse to institute anycamptariscaa between divine
and created intelhgence would be ahsurdrmbut stUl

PART I. 391
these beings, however faUen, are, not only of a nature,
but of a capacity, super-human and angeUcal ; and
however certainly doomed to that tremendous world of
torment, which by an awful exercise of Omnipotence
was created for them, evU for the evil, they yet possess,
at present, notwithstanding their fiiture woe, a power
which may well be dreaded the more from their despair.
Nor are these multitudes of evU spirits engaged in a
merely virtual and constructive resistance or a hypo
critical compromise between good and evU; under
one or both of which forms the sins of men are
usuaUy couched. On the part of man it is an
unpremeditated opposition to the wUl of God, as
such, rather than one of forethought ; but with them
it is an undisguised hostiUty, and an avowed rebeUion,
and nothing less than this,. With how much success
this warfare is carried on, against the designs of
the Most High, and the ultimate fate of the race
which is exposed to their temptations, and is the
pecuUar subject of their power, both the word of
God and the experience of mankind are full. And
can we wonder at it? They command a ma
chinery, so vast and powerfid for evU, in that organ
ization of mischief which ages have completed, and
stiatagems so inexhaustible, that the scanty faculties,
perverse will, and the Ul-regulated passions of such
a being as man, must, if abandoned to themselves,
inevitably fall a prey. All these instruments of
nischief,, moreover, which had been in action from
the fall of our first parents, were stimulated into
a sharper hatred, and a more energetic exertion, by

392 LECTURE VIII.
the actual advent of Him who, as the seed of the
woman, came to bruise the serpent's head. His
destiuction, and with him, that of the regenerating
and saving truth which He came to announce to
mankind, was necessary to complete the triumphs
of this infernal warfare. The kingdom of Satan
could not consist with the kingdom of Christ. " The
Son of man," said our blessed Lord, " is come to
destroy the works of the devU." " I saw Satan,"
says our Lord on another occasion, kindUng as it
would appear, at the moment, with a holy triumph
at the destruction of our great enemy, and his faU
into the penal abyss, " I saw Satan, like Ughtning,
fall from heaven." " Hom art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou
cut down from the earth, thou that didst weaken the
nations !"
If, therefore, it has not pleased God to destroy this
power, He has at least tempered it down to a de
gree compatible with the existence of a kingdom of
Ught — and, though it be a mystery to us why it is
not stUl more effectuaUy exercised, yet do we rejoice
that the Head of the Church received in His
mediatorial kingdom the strength and the wisdom,
without which even this success could never have
been achieved. Over and over again, but for
this, would the Ught of the Gospel have been
finally extinguished ; over and over again would the
Uttle flock have been swept away in those great
revolutions, which periodically convulse mankind
and subvert kingdoms, involving in ruin the laboured

PART I. 393
results of human stieng-th and wisdom, and laying
bare to the very foundations that which alone they
seem to leave belnnd them, — those grand and in
destructible principles of good and evU which defy
eradication, and constitute the essence of man. Over
and over again, when persecution, instead of de
stroying, had only purified and animated ; and the
Church had only gained vigour and elasticity from
the violence of the trial — when, in fine, the world
and its power had proved an unequal match for
the divinity which was seated in men's souls ;
when a recognised authority, the seductions of
security, and the reverence of mankind, were found
to work more effectually for its subversion ; art would
have accomplished the bafiled purposes of violence,
and the perverseness of heretics, or the craft of
cunningly devised fables, woiUd have made the blood
of the cross vain, and the gracious purpose of God
for the salvation of mankind of none effect.
The point then which, at the risk of repetition, I
wish to bring out, is this — that as in good, so in evU,
whether of force, or of moral and inteUectual in
fluences, there is nothing, that bears directly or in
directly on the Gospel, which comes of chance — there
is in these revolutions of the world, whether poUtical
or of opinion, so far as they tend to evU of
themselves, or can be perverted to it — not only a
hostile violence, but a bad providence — a true pre^-
science of malignity — a something, whatever it be,
which is subtle to corrupt, and wise to destroy
¦^-as vast in comprehension, as it is in action inde-

394 LECTURE VIII.
fatigable, which must infalUbly triumph, unless it
be overmastered by a greater and holier strength,
both physical and inteUectual, than itself. And
this too, not by figure, but really— being that
truth in the constitution of the world, of which
men have always been conscious, and which found
an exponent in the schemes of Manes and Zoro
aster.
An evil in- We may scoff at an evU spiritual influence, but
discernible facts disprove such a shaUow phUosophy. Look at
tory of the history of human errors, and you wUl see at once,
not only the depth of human ingratitude and that
irremovable taint of perverseness and apostacy which
marks all the relations of mankind to Almighty
God— for that is obvious enough to any one — but
a specific adaptation of the corruptions of diviae;
truth to the characteristics of the human mind.
There is a wise adjustment of the system to the
weakness and prejudices of human nature ; and an in-.
troduction, in a way to give no alarm, and a fine
shading off from bad to worse, of fatal innovations on
the wUl of God, and on those truths qf revelation which
have been, from the first, the inheritance oi mankind.
Now, it is not enough to call this; natural-^though
it is natur&iy no doubt- — ^it is so, if I may thus ex
press myself, passively; that is, the heart accepts
and adopts what is presented to it, in accordance
with its tastes and prepossessions., But it may
well be questioned whether there b© in the human
mind, with all its corruptions, that accurate dis-
crinunation of judgment in things evU, and that

PART I. 39$
active adroitness in seizing and working on the weak
parts of tiuth which is so characteristic of great
errors. It is obviously the result of intelligence
acting upon system, and with a consummate know
ledge alike of the nature upon which it is to practise,
and the differences between the essential and cir-»
cumstantial points of those truths, the corruption
and destruction of which is the great object pro
posed; and an accurate analysis of which is a part
of the conditions on which success is dependent.
The veiy variety of the means employed, the
shifting complexion of the error, tiU from error
merely it darkens into unequivocal sjn; and a super
ficial contrariety, where the base is unaltered and the
principles invariable, is an additional evidence of
design, and the systematic operation of the same
fruitful and sagacious mind.
Nor, when we come to details, wUl any thing, in the
wickedness ofthe human heart, be sufficient to explain
in many respects the ph?enomenon in question. Fofi
though it is a fertUe soU for eyeyy. iniquity both of
principle and practice to ^ow in and grow from, yet
there is in general such an absence of mistake in
regard to the relation of the error to the period in
which it is generated; there is such an adaptation
of its, perversion of truth to the oircumstaoaces of
specific epochs and national emergencies.; such a
combination of collateral influences and agencies aU
circulating round one point is discoverable in the
leading delusions and apostacies which have made the

396 LECTURE VIII.
truth of none effect, that it requires some other
theory than mere human corruption, as an adequate
explanation of the facts — they are clearly too large
for so narrow a basis. And so emphaticaUy true is
this intellectual and moral adjustment of errors to
times and circumstances, that, from the first, it would
be quite out of the question to shift; the chronology
of spiritual delusions and declensions, without making
their production a contradiction and their success
an impossibility !
I shall not dwell on the chronological phases of the
corruptions of primitive truth — but it is necessary to
call yom- attention, as an example of this artifice,
The earlier to the gradual Substitution of emblematic worship,
the immediate object of which was palpable to the
senses, for the worship of the heart to the unseen
Jehovah ; how it was contrived, and by what ap
peals to natural feelings, that the great bodies of the
universe, which do indeed manifest His glory and
proclaim His power, and seem, if not to demand a
primary, yet to justify a secondary veneration, were
permanentiy substituted for the Creator. How men
sunk lower and lower, more and more indulging
the tendencies of the heart to worship something,
yet something approximated to humanity ; tUl
the gross worship of idols, wood and stone, with
the cotemporary deification of every earthly pas
sion, obUterated at last, not only the memory of
the all-fiUing Spirit and Almighty Father, but even
that first idolatry which has so many charms for

PART L 397
the imagination ; and may be varnished over by such
plausibiUty of symboUsm, and the necessities of the
outward senses. You could not improve the process.
Neither is there here time to do more than direct The sooffee.
. ism of the
attention, ia passing, to the delusions immemoriaUy East, and
11 dialectic
adiusted even to the peculiarities of climate and the rationalism of Greece.
face of nature with the moral conditions which
usuaUy accompany them; that old contemplative
mania, or sooffeeism of the East; that Manichsean
attachment of aU evil to matter; and the ascetic
discipline, by which the soul impatient of the de
gradation of the flesh, would fain approximate, in a
mystical communion, to the eternal Spirit out of
which it flowed, by a conquest, not over sin as sin,
but over the physical infirmities of human nature.
And then, that other form of superstition, with a
greater admixture of the sinful and penal element,
the atoning efficacy of self-inflicted torture, which,
with a deep consciousness of moral wants, and fear
of a punitive attribute in the Godhead, whoUy dis
tinct from any mere physical inferiority, peopled
the ceUs and deserts of the East, of old as they do
now, with heathen saints and hermits, long before it
was adopted iato the system of patristic Christianity.
Nor can we dwell on what is equally geographical
and characteristic — the unconcealed self-dependency,
and dialectic rationahsm, which combined with the
pantheistic system in the Greek phUosophy — no gift
of Almighty God, as the theologians of the Alex
andrian school would make it, but, in its actual and
practical form, a device of Satan. But especially in

398 LECTURE VIII.
these systems we discern, in aU theif variations, the in
fluence of a deluding spirit on the same unchanging
principles as their basis. In all three He avaUs
Himself of man's incapacity for reaUties, discernible
by faith indeed, but beyond the grasp of the
practical mind, or the cognizance of the senses; of
tiie same aversion to contemplate steadUy the moral
atti-ibutes of a personal God ; of the same pride and
seltadmiration; of an adoration, in fact, of self, under
other names and forms ; and a reUance on his own
strength for the acquisition of virtue or the removal
of the Divine displeasure. Are there not the
palpable marks of an evU inteUigenee throughout,
in the modification of the aUment presented to the
mind, and the congeniaUty of the sin to the individual
character, which is most striking and instructive ?
I cannot but thiok there is.
At a later period, \rith what skUl and perception of
the decisive points were the first heresies oi the Church
directed against the main articles of the Christian
faith, the personahty and divinity of our Lord, and
The Gnos- the adorable Trinity ! How dexterously managed
tic errors. were the Gnostic frenzies, with the boundless play
which they afforded to the imagination; the false
elevation of their doctiines; and that subjugation of
the physical to the spiritual and inteUectual, com
bined with portions of the Christian exegesis,
which it held out to minds reaUy superior to
the senses ! With what ingenuity and fertUity of
invention were they joined on to the Christian faith ;
and with what fine insinuations of its poison after its

PART I. 399
avowed forms were finaUy suppressed, did it still
continue to corrupt, in some important points, the
very faith which had triumphed over it !
Again: What attiactions were held out to minds of
the highest order, by the phUosophy of Plato, and
the theurgy grounded upon it— with what plausible
reasoning and shew of holy motives were the principles
of this better rationahsm amalgamated with Christi
anity, and the Gospel in its very fountain-head cor
rupted by it !
I iiow come to a point, on which / do wish toTheapo-
. 1 ¦ 1 staoies of
dwell — these are mere introductions to the two Mohammed
, . , . 1 • 1 /> *°d Rome.
master-pieces oi this science oi evU, which tor
twelve hundred years have run a cOtemporary
course, and wUl both in the fiUness of time be con- 'Sotheyare
counted,
sumed by the coming of the Lamb, and His final and so they
visitation on the infidel and antichristian powers. The by the best,
more accurately they are analysed and their relations dispassion-
discemed, the more must any mind be struck by the English
sagacity exhibited in selecting the leading idea, the ans!° Even
profound combination in the detaUs, and perfection of Madert. ^"
poUcy ui accommodating them to outvrard conditions, has'presen^
which are exhibited in the apostacies of Mohammed me^i'sm^
and of Rome, if I may apply the name to both '. jLhttous^
I mention them together, because Scripture and the ^^^^^^''
greatest modem interpreters have so combined them ; ^P'^'f p™;
a r ' mise to Ish-
but with the clear understanding that a broad dis- ™5?'r-*'?^
" a divine in-
tinction is to be drawn between them. Both operated strument of
'¦ truth, so far
to the destiuction of true religion, both have had as it vindi-
, . cated the
a most disastrous influence in the propagation of worship of
T . , 1 T^ X 1 11 God from
superstition and idolatry. Fabulous legends, un- idolatry.

400 LECTURE VIII.
certain traditions, and corrupt interpretations of
Scripture are characteristic of both. But the Papacy
maintauied, not efficaciously indeed, but yet un
denied, the essential doctrines of the Gospel. The
one is an apostacy real but constructive ; the other, is
a direct renunciation of true reUgion. The one, con
sequently, stUl admitted, and admits of correction;
the Christian Ministry, the Christian Sacraments,
the word of God, may all be restored in their proper
place, and their scriptural purity; and accordingly,
by the blessing of God upon the Reformation,
Christianity, in many Churches, was restored to
its primitive purity, whUst the latter admits of no
remedy, but the avenging arm of God and a complete
excision. And yet with what a shew even of reason,
and a vindication of the honour of Almighty God, was
the former accompanied in its earUer propagation,
and its first announcement to those vast and cor
rupted regions which its martial fanaticism over-
1 Every whclmcd and chastised^ It could not indeed boast
where in
the Eastern of rcasou, agaiust the pure Gospel as preached by
the Arabs' the Apostlcs, as the eyes of men had seen it in the
3PCUS6Q tfl^
Christians early Churcli, and as the holy records imperishably
"You WOT- testify it to be; but, on some points, an overwhelming
de'ss," ttiey forcc of rcasou it certainly did possess, as against the
andnoT 'broad euormities of the existing Church, its fierce
dess bS°a f^^^lsj its infinite subdivisions of heresy, its moral
ie7ser°^ depravity, and degrading idolatries. But it was
deities, ^^j^. -^^ ^ profouud adjustment to the times far
beyond the reach of a rude Arab or renegade Jew,
that a system intellectually contemptible in itself, and

PART I. 401
morally degrading to humanity, could yet, by the
force of one subhme and fundamental truth, pro-
minentiy asserted and vindicated beyond the reach
of rivalry, make a direful apostacy look hke a re-
assertion of the truth; and so corrupt a system bear a
favourable comparison even with that popular faith in
Christ crucified, which had practically renounced its
Saviour, and, as far as men's eyes could judge, for
gotten its God ! I say nothing of the political com-
buiations, involved in its appearing in the world at
that moment, and never reaUzed together, before or
after, and its specific adaptation to the other secular
conditions ofthe time; but solely, here, of its religious
aspect, its Judaical and Christian relations.
And then, where is the mind, and where is the
pen, which can fathom the depths of the Romish
mystery, and unravel the maze of that tortuous
iniquity! considered, I mean, not morally, but
merely intellectually, as a given system for a given
object; that object being the practical annihUation
of the Gospel of Christ, and of God's way of saving
souls through faith in Him, without renouncing
the name, or avowedly, in any way, throwing off
allegiance to Him on whom it professed to be
founded. In its relation to this grand problem,
and in this double face of the scheme, who can
estimate it adequately? who possesses at once the
analytic and synthetic capacity, the knowledge of
man in himself and his historical phases, to adjust
to the given end the several parts of that complicated
whole? to trace the true bearing of its diverse yet
VOL. II. D d

402 LECTURE VIII.
harmonizmg errors; and the perfect inter-depend
ency of them aU in its spirituo-secular whole ; then
to shew how the central spirit circulates through the
very extremities of the system, tiU we trace it, as an
anatomist does a vein or an artery; and thus to make
intelligible to ordinary minds, not the wickedness of
it — for that a child, with a Bible in his hand, may
discover and demonstrate to others — ^but its grasp of
thought, and appreciation of all imaginable combina
tions in the weakness of nations and the corruption of
the heart; in fine, the gigantic comprehension displayed
in this unparaUeled invention of evil, and revelation
of Antichrist. That this character, not of accidental
corruption to which any scheme may be Uable, but of
an essentially Antichristian scheme, is, at aU events,
eminently appUcable to Papal Rome, if not exclu
sively so, which is another question, is the decided
opinion, I may say, of all, or nearly all, the great
Protestant Divines of former times. Thus judged, not
merely those who, in the heat of controversy, or the
exaggerated horror of aU that was Romish, whether
specifically opposed to the Gospel or not, might be
led to colour too deeply their interpretation of Scrip
ture with the passions of the moment; but the
coolest and most sagacious heads of later times,
who have looked at Scripture, not out of the whirl
wind of religious perU and revolution, but in quiet
thought, the dispassionate retirement of the closet,
and the unclouded lights of history.
And this I say, not because I wish to throw any
doubt on the competency of the first Reformers

PART I. 403
themselves to judge on this great question ; for, i in the
with the Bible in their hands, and not only hearts Gospel
to feel but comprehensive inteUects to grasp it, they imaglneT
had before their eyes, as familiar things, those cor- atry'im'pos-
ruptions and practical workings of the Papal system chrls^tlansf
which men now-a-days look back upon, through the faiseiy,
softenUig of time, with the incredulous wonder of se- tnows^who
curity; in the comparative harmlessness of a dialectic ^^^^ j|f;°^''^'J
definition, or a Synodical article. Only put an admirer ^.^^^^^^
of Romanism to Uve awhile amidst the idolatries and Oonsuit the
opinion of
degrading superstitions of Italy and Spain ^ ; let them '^'^- ^i^d-
O o r J r > stone, no
be under his eyes, let them meet his ears, let them not""™ Pro-
'' . testant, on
be filtered through refined intellects, but let them be the worship
embodied in the practice and the gross faith of the virgin.
1 • 1 1 1 1 1 . ,ConsnltMr.
multitude; let them act themselves out, unrestrained Froade,
by adventitious impediments, in their real workings on seif,'is com-
the heart and conscience — in one word, let dialec- confess that
tical notions be contrasted with facts, and Trent the people"
translated into experience. And surely this — and no counWes^
theoretic opinion, no abstract propositions, or the teTs^'^'And
dependency of logical statements — is the only rational Ifas%"*"
mode to judge of Rome, and of the vast intelligence ihaThe^
which has rendered such a scheme, as this proves in ^j.™ '''"'f °^"
practice to be, inteUectually plausible, and morally p^"",?^"^'
tolerable. Nay, brethren, some of us mav not be*''^*"'^*"*
•> ' J and doulia
able to untwist the Romish knot, but we mav cut it, ^""^ •'yp^''-
1 • 1 • 1 n dulia. No
which IS better. " Can men gather grapes of thorns, ™an can do
or figs of thistles ? by their fruits ye shall know ^h'aii once
1 7> Tr T_ • • /• m have said,
them. It the propositions oi Trent were as scrip- " Orate pro
tural, in mere abstract statement, as they are de- And how
monstrably anti-scriptural; were there no visible eventohigh
D d2

404 LECTURE VIII.
intellects conuectiou of causc and effect between these subtle
taincir- definitions of Canonists and Schoolmen, and the
eumstances , . ,. i j_ i i i\^ •
such wor- popular practice, as, clearly and ti-aceably, tnere is
be^th^rJis ouc; stUl, that is nothing worth, in the eye of true
instance m wisdom ; it is a practical matter, and not a specu-
Nfebuhr, lation. See and hear, and then judge; the tree
agony °f ^ shall be known by its fi-uits.
lo'ss'^ao" I believe, therefore, that, in the broad question at
toked the ^^sue, the Reformers and their cotemporaries were not
d^epar°id^'^ ouly good, but the best judges; but I mention the great,
^meiie to i]^q learned, and the pious of subsequent generations
him. Weigh to reniovc obiectious, not unfair ones, I confess; and
the gi-eat J ' 'J
intellect of to shew the Unanimity on the subiect tUl there came the
the man, ^ •' _
and who forcc of prcscut passious and feeUngs to disturb it; tiU
shall sav, ^ . P 1 1 1
that de-' a natural revulsion of independent intellects from old
—the invo'- tiaditious ; or a gladiatorial display of cUalectical skiU ;
cation and . . i • i i i • i i i
worship of or opmious which though sincere have not been tested
spmts,!_is and searched by fire and persecution as were those of
He vrith re- the Reformers, and tried like as sUver is tried ; tiU
mb".p° It one or all of these has striven to turn the stieam
dowi°i^ the backwards, and reverse the judgment of preceding
heart, this
principle of "¦o
audi7e' I ^^^^ ^ot ^tate therefore, that I cannot think, that
of It w^'ire*" *^^ the learning and ingenuity, and, I must say, the
benefectors Christian moderation, which have of late been called
°^™?^°''™'^'into exercise for the subversion of the generaUy re-
^°/^°^ ceived opinion, have altered the great features of the
admiring ,¦• °
nations, case — some of the detaUs they may have affected, but
no more. For the identification of Rome, if not
exclusively, yet preeminently, with the man of sin,
and the great apostacy from the faith foretold by the

PART 1. 405
Apostle, remains where it was, and where Newton
and Mede and Hurd,in their incomparable works, have
put it^ She stiU remains, ineffaceably, on any fair ' i^of suet
pruiciple of interpretation, the persecuting power of 'hat the
the Apocalypse, whose throne is on the seven hills, ed ability
and who has made the earth drunk with the cup of shift off
her abominations. If this awful character can be theapostate
fairly deduced from holy writ, as a noble band of it was T
commentators has judged, and not merely the head- ufe and"
long fury of controversialists snatching up any weapon pro^ the
that comes to hand, it is inevitable that it should be used chlraetCT
polemicaUy — nay, truth and justice demand it. For"^^"^^^
equally certain it is, that, if it be so, or if there be so ^f'^cMsT
much as a reasonable suspicion that so tremendous ™'''°.'' ^t'"
-< survive m
a guUt as this of systematic apostacy attaches to^^p^'"^
Rome, not only is it not unjust to raise the voice of '^""t-
warning against her as a system, upon this specific
ground ; but it is a bounden act of common duty to
Almighty God, and common charity to mankind, so
to do. At the same time it should, beyond a question,
be done with all Christian caution ; there should be a
reasonable discrimination, and a charitable regard
to individual prejudice, and traditional feeling — a
principle, which, whatever may be their practice, I
know not that any dispute. Nothing, in fact, is more
obvious, or more just, than the distinction to be
made between the system, such as history proves it, in
its totality, to be, and those who live under it by no
fault of their own. Nor is Christian tenderness to
the one, and the utmost forbearance in thinking and
judging of them, other than perfectly compatible with

406 LECTURE VIII.
1 This the most uncompromising reprobation ofthe other*.
should be it i i J u
most care- No doubt thosc who are actually T^aetakers ot her
memhered, sius. Or shaU be SO, wUl bc Uable to the extremity of
great i7- "the pkgucs dcnounccd by Scripture against her;
AntT-ii'^- but not simply as spiritually subjects of Rome — not
miters, merely because, in the arrangements of Providence,
Mn ran-''^ they have been placed in the midst of a system over
demnati'on whicli they havc no control, in the crimes of which
sv,'teirwfth they do not share, and out of which it may be that
chaHty°to ^^^J "'^^^^ ^^^J extracted the portion of good which
viduai^Bo- remains uninjured within her. Many a saint of God
manist j^^s dwelt withiu the Umits of Rome after the Re-
brethren.
Nothing fi)rmation as before it. But this cannot and ought
can be more ^
distinct, not to protect the whole papacy, as such, as weU
as its individual doctrines, from that Christian in
dignation, and that unsparing dissection by the scrip
tural knife, which, up to the present moment from the
beginning, it has been the practice of our greatest
theologians to exercise — nor, though it leaves souls
salvable within her, can it diminish the evident perUs
to which it exposes their salvation.
Nor does the retention of the great doctrines of
the faith, and a nominal confession of Christ as
Head of the Church, avaU in the least degree to
protect her from the charge that she is acting upon
Antichristian principles; nay, that she is Antichrist
in deed and in truth, and destroys, by the most ef
fectual means, that very Gospel, of which she pro
fesses to be the sole depositary and guardian. For
I wish strongly to impress the fact, that this open
form of Antichristianism would be self-destructive.

PART I. 407
and subversive oi the professed foundation ^ upon ' i believe
winch she has raised her spiritual supremacy. It an essential
would not only be a sin, but, with a view to the not?oed°and
intellectual conditions of the system, it would be ffirepi^toae
fatal blunder — incompatible with the profound policy frequency °
which has framed it. And not only does the Apostle umthantly
represent the man of sin as sitting in the temple of ^^^^^ *^f '
God, presiding therefore over the Christian Church ; aen^fug''
but, from the nature of the case, the power of Rome n^'^e^„°;'
and the enormity of her claims are inseparable from P'^"^'- ^*^
•I f IS not a
such a connection with the Church and temple of God. loestion of
"^ words, but
No avowedly Antichristian scheme could ever have of things;
. . ..... ^""^ °°
obtained spiritual power, have claimed infalhbiUty, or distinct in-
1 1 1 1 n 1 IT • fidelpawer
grasped the thunders of the Vatican. could ever
rm • • 1 • 1 /> 1 ultimately
Ihe question is, what is the fact, as we have seen and effec-
it, partiaUy, in the preceding discourses ? Certainly caused
that she has, at one time or other, combined into spreadof in-
her system aU that the. Gospel proscribes and God hasresuited
abhors — all that can, if carried out, not only rmna™™tate
souls, but enslave and degrade mankind. She has an^^ of the
incorporated, with a guilty pliancy, into her practice, |he world
the worst superstitions ofthe worst ages; and, under ^°^'^j.^*™
the shelter of the most spiritual of dispensations ["j^"^^™""
and the perfection of God's wisdom, she fosters p"'^??,
'¦ _ would have
that very idolatry which brought down the wrath neutralized
of God upon the nations of old, and the people 2 This can-
which He had chosen to put His name there. Bmne doubted by
is demonolatrous — she is the worshipper of deified siJaatl^ex-
men \ Is not this Uke apostacy ? rRoml
She has been a blasphemous Church. She has been Nay ™he
so directly. Her Pontiffs have claimed and assumed Y^^^^ .*"'*
•^ Komanist

408 LECTURE VIII.
idolatry are divine attributes and the titles of the Divine Majesty;
as nearly n j /^ i
identical as they have permitted themselves to be called Gods
may be. a i t-v
Read Mid- on earth — Dominus Deus Noster — Alter Deus —
dleton's T-, -r» • -111
LetterfromRex Rcgum et Dominus Dommorum — and one wha
thesaiie did uot quitc affirm so, yet described himself as
Eeen sub^- " forsau citra Deum, sed multo supra hominem."
ar|ued and They havc proclaimed themselves as the repre-
byXr.* ^ sentatives of the lawless one, by claiming, in solemn
, "° ¦ decrees and deliberate canons, an exemption from the
1 For these ^
claims, see control of all laws, human and divine ; " Papa facit
Bp. New- ....... . . ^
ion's 23d quicquid libct, etiam Ulicita, et est plus quam Deus,"
Jewel's But, even if they had not done so, directly, yet
A-polosTv and De- constructively , and by necessary inference, they have
Bp. Down- claimed the attributes of God. For instance, they
"iPapaAn-have exercised, as their proper and undeniable pre-
tiehristus." j.- ^i r j- • • n • i i
Heave rogativc, the power oi lorgivmg all sm — ^yet who
auaor?to is it that forgiveth sins but God only ? Of opening
themselves ^^^ closiug at their uulinuted wUl and pleasure
cfargeso/ the gates of heaven and of hell, " extendit se Papse
and m^re- potcstas ad coelestia, terrestria, infernaUa;" — yet, " I
tioT"^ But ^^ t^^ ^^'^^ ^^^ ^^^ last," says Christ, " and / have
even if all ^}jg ]j^gyg of hcaveu and hell," They have partitioned
such direct >' j r
impieties the world, they have disti'ibuted king-doms and de-.
were dis- ' j o
proved, it throucd kings, as plenary administrators of the earth
would not . .
matter, and aU that it contains, " credere Deum nostrum
But these
charges are Papam uou potuissc statucrc prout statuit haereticuin
not to be '^ ^ .
got rid of; censcretur ;" yet "the Most High ruleth in the
the claims ,., . /~.i i-i.
sleep, but kingdom 01 men, says God, " and giveth it to
tlicv rc-
mainun- whomsocvcr He wiU." What is this but taking
0 ange . Q^^^^g attributes, and denying Him P
Again, Rome is a Church of blood — she breathes

PART I. 409
slaughter, like Saul, and her name is persecution ^. It No scheme
r. . 1 o • 1111°^ amended
IS not of accident, or of ignorance — no one would deal Popery has
hardly with either — but upon rule and principle; she ceived the
has slain more than fell beneath the unskilful fury of authority.
the pagan enemies of the Church, and has worn down ciaimf are
by incessant persecutions the saints ofthe Most High, to renounce!
We cannot separate that terrible invention, at theAbp'.wake
very mention of which men tremble — the inquisition phan™om-
— from her name, and from centuries of her practice. 5>*opery °L
What is this but an apostacy ? God is love, and the t?Bos™et
Gospel, if any thing, is the manifestation of love. and the
r ' J o^ ancient and
Rome is a revolted Church. She has destroyed its authorized
•' system.The
spiritual nature as established by its King and Founder, ^"i' "">'-
¦^ ./ o ^ J genitus,
and has placed a secular power and pomp in the seat "'hiist it
_ ^ overthrew
of Christ Himself. Yet, saith Christ, "My foVtorfom the liberties
IS not OJ this world. lican
Rome is a sectarian Church. She has practically has fixe'd,
nulUfied the CathoUc Creeds, and substituted, under the ab"e° ri^df.'
form of addition and e^^osition,a faith and creed of her ^A^T^
own devising, neither to be found in Scripture nor tradi- doctors of
tion, yet, " Ye shaU not add to my word," saith God, boring"
" nor diminish aught from it." Is not this Uke apostacy ? ToftenedTo^
She has departed from Catholic and Apostolical ^^,""^^^1
government, in canying out her unchristian scheme *°°®-
of visible unity, and broken off from its true fountain
the Apostohcal succession of the Church. She has
closed the book of God, and shut out the people
from the word of lU'e, which is aU men's uiheritance ;
" It may be accounted illiberal, perhaps, so to say. Yet, what rea
sonable man can doubt it, who remembers, within the last few years,
the persecutions of the Zillerthal, and the cruel severities, urged
unrelentingly, at the present moment against the Piemoiitese
Churches.

410 LECTURE VIII.
>No greater and wcU she may; for the Word says, we are saved
injury has , „
been done by faith — Romc, by works. The Word, ot grace—
to the truth , . ip • i
of history Romc, of merit. The Word affirms that itselt is the
principles light of life to them that read it — Rome, that it is of
ligion, than itself poisou and death. The Word says that there
made of is but ouc Pricst — Romc that there are many.
sent HiMe- The word, that Christ is aU in aU — Rome, that the
innoc'ent^ Chm-ch is SO. She has changed the Church
tothe^eyes'hito the pricsthood, and the priesthood into a
young as tyranny. She has put down the Mediator from His
eainteYnd throuc of powcr and His throne of intercession, and
of GoT*^^ denied the fiUl efficacy of the atoning blood ; thus
^^^^^°^^^ practically denyinq Christ as Saviour, as she had
reverence Jr i/ a j ^
due to the before practically denied God as God. ^AU this,
great Bene- ./ Jr ./
factors of J ^jgh to imprcss upon those of my younger brethren
mankind, ^ '¦ y ./ o
the greatest that hear me, is no matter of opinion, no speculation
security to ./ x- ' r
virtue and in any way, but, as touchuig the Papal Church when
ligion is taken as a whole, mere facts of history, which no
that tra- .
ditionai ouc cau gaiusay. That Papal Rome therefore, con-
tyrants, sidered in that unity of ages which her own claims
and civil, to a coustaut and vmchanguig infallibUity fasten
historj'has upou her beyond contradiction, is intensely Anti-
to us!*Suoh christian, cannot surely be denied — more subfly and
fa™to^make profouudly SO than any thing which the wit of man
the diarac- jjg^g imagined. Subversive of the Gospel which
nations. Christ ushered into the world, and, as such, rumous
in its tendencies, to the souls which He came to
save. Nay, this is certain — that, had any one in the earlier
age of Christianity, in anticipation of the future
falUng away from the Church, taxed his imagination
to conceive a power within the temple of God which

PART I. 411
should combine all the possible elements of active
sin and virtual apostacy with the title of Christian,
he never could have devised any thuig, either in
claim or in practice, which should approach this
portent, for a portent it is, the like of which the world
has never witnessed save in the impiety and soul-
destroying craft of Papal Rome. Whether she be the
Antichrist, and answer the definition which the Apo
stie Saint John has given of the temper and spirit
which is designated by that title, is thus practicaUy an
swered. By open avowal certainly she is not, and for
this simple reason, because, as was observed before, it
would be seU-destiuctive — but rather the contrary, be
cause to keep the name, and destroy the thing, was the
object proposed, effectively and consequentially she is,
even that. And the most awful manifestation of the
unmixed infidel spirit \ denying the Father and the > See this
Son, which the world has witnessed, or the ima- infidel
gination can conceive, or even the direful types the"oon-
of prophecy foreshadow, was the genuine result oft^'^French
her system — infidel nations, as we have seen in a the work of
former discourse, are her proper growth, and certain ruei the*'^'
ultimate developement. ofthTcT
Whether there may yet be laid up, before the final ^gj^"*™"^
consummation of all things, any more intense andofthf/tiie
unmitigated form of infideUty, the shadow of which is Kg^^i^jjo^
even already projected among us ; whether there be ^^ °°^y
yet in reserve any personal and individual antichrist, manifesta-
who shall concentrate in himself, in a higher degree of
guUt, with a mightier power of evil and a more avowed
blasphemy, the antichristian and infidel attiibutes ; is
therefore a question of Uttle real importance. It may

412 LECTURE VIII.
'It is in- be so, or may not; the Fathers may be right, or
conceivable "^ > • r
how any those able commentators m later times may be so,
theologians . p -r\ • i j i
could have who have studied the prophecies oi Daniel and the
rash, as Apocalypse with stronger lights of history, a keener
this period sagacity, and a better apparatus for interpretation.
the de- ° But, cvcu if it be so, it wiU not make the papal system a
Apostolic whit less antichristian ; it will not answer one ofthe ac-
ks^puri ty . cusatious of history, nor wipe out one from the catalogue
Tractarian* of her sius. It could uot rccaU or unmake one re-
havrdone. ^^^^ of that great practical scheme, from the effects
dmcTofits ^^ which, at a period when such impressions are per-
degeneracy manent either for good or evU, and their effects be-
is over- ~ '
whelming, yond remedy, the platform of the Western empire wUl
as any one •' J ' i. r
may see for never rccovcr. Imagine what you will, no mdividual
who will antichrist, in a reign of three years, could, by any
COUSuilJ Xll6
22d Dis- enormity of sin, or vastness of power, emulate the
Newton, crimcs of twclvc ceuturics !
and turn to . i i
the pas- But, With the cuormous claims of the hierarchy ex-
which he ccptcd, and the single supremacy of Rome, the rudi-
us allow, as mcuts of this apostacy, according to the certain testi-
must be al- uiouy of history, were expanding long before ^ Here
he great again it is a matter of fact, of mere e.vperiment; and how
ortbat*" stands the truth ? Why, that the Church of the fourth
themseWer century was half apostate, though itis nowrecommended
ally smni, to US, as the perfected model which was only sketched,
m"uc*which hi its outlines, by the rude or negligent hand of the
changed Apostles; the precious treasure-house of traditions
'"'° '^itlf ^' which the generations next the Apostles knew nothing
them only of. With all its great masters of eloquence and
words and '-' T-
rhetoric;yet theological teaching, it was, on the evidence of co
in the mul- ° _ _ °
titudeitwastemporaiy historians, and the copious records it has
Any how. itself bequeathed to us, dishonoured with many pol-

PART I. 413
lutions of practice, and some broad corruptions ofinvecations
doctrine — the veneration of relics, and the invocation and mar-
of saints, all the elements of the avowed demonolatry of produced, "
future times, the great apostacy foretold by <S'L P«tt^, ration of re-
were being very rapidly developed . They were not man- rq^^ ^^^_
fully opposed by scriptural truth, as one should fondly evenir*'^ '
have hoped, nor checked by the great popular leaders ch^ysos-
who tiien Ulustrated the Church; but were stimulated *^™'|°4^'g*'«
to the uttermost by their glittering rhetoric, while they °„^J^''*."
adorned with a meretricious fancy, or mitigated with ??='«"•
¦' ' " Besides,no-
wretched paUiatives, what they ought to have taxed J^^'^s o^?
'¦ ¦/ o bemoredis-
their powerful eloquence to overthrow from its very tinct than
foundation. The ascetic discipline, and the unohris- Maimers on
the part of
tian doctrine of the angelical merit oi celibacy, had the Triden-
even before taken a fatal hold upon the Church ; and, oil, or Ko-
in phraseology, the priesthood and the sacraments had troversiai-
assumed their Romish aspect, and were fast ripening thing, in au
into the reaUty of it. Whatever palliation therefore ing 'on*the
Rome may plead, and it is considerable, from thcof eSd'l^^if
non-origination of these corruptions, let her receive oiaiiCTs^'be
it; whatever guUt other individuals or Churches f°.^g°''J*''
may have incurred, or do incur still, by any portion ^d fifth''
of the apostacy, let it be fully laid to their charge. t^e*""^^~
Restina: on the word of God alone, neither more nor *"<"^ance
° ^ _ must be
less, we are not tied to the practices of the Church S®'*^ *«
^ Rome. You
of the fourth, or of any other century ; and, though ''^^e more-
we lament to attach to Ulustrious names and holy™racies and pre-
men the guUt of contributing in any degree to an tended at-
. . 1 . . 1 .1 . testations
Antichristian system, and corrupting the purity offrom
the faith ; yet, as a matter of fact, and thinking as to the sanc-
the Church of England thinks, it cannot be denied — iics,°andascetic

414 LECTURE VIII.
saintship so it was. But what they did fi-om inadvertency,
such as ./ .<
Rome has Rome did on principle ; what they commenced, she
never ex- 1 i ' .> ^ ^
ceeded. If methodized and perfected ; and then put it mto
you take i n t
the fourth effectual action by that centralizing and all-pervading
you must powcr of the Papacy, which cfrculated into eveiy
getter-false comcr of Christendom, and acted on it, as on one man.
and all— Such was the mighty visible system, Hierarchical
writers in* in its form, and organized by the EvU IntelUgence,
have dear- against the kiugdom of Christ in the West. The
There°is no ''"'^^t visiblc embodied system — but accompanied
— L™ok M ^y other more avowed Antichristian principles, as its
tni^yf effects became more marked upon the nations. And
Scnptoein*'^^ Same mind which moulded Romanism in aU its
adi^ust wh^at changes to the exigencies of the times, and threw it
is doubtfiii in^to such forms as suited the social and intellectual
to it, as our
Reformers circumstauccs of the moment, is marked in the
did; and
though it schemes of professed infidelity which followed each
verges on _ ^ ''
apostacy, other tUl the close of last century ; passinar through
in its great . ... . . .
and good the earlier Socinianism into Deism, and at last, uito
men, it wit- t • i » i . . ,
nesses, with undisguised Athcism — the awful negation which men
back, to enthroned in the place of God. Throughout, under
truth. Or, whatever name, all is marked by the most exact
hand, as- adaptation to times and nations — there is nothing
as the pe- precipitated, nothing out of place, or out of propor-
riod which j.' „
is to regu- UOU.
age^sftat Specifically then, it is against these two op-
— the^de-* posmg systcms of evU, in the East and in the
ofae7ure*^6st, that the great Head of the Church has
the^Apo"^ been called to exercise His regal power in its
S an^" fl^fence, lest the gates of hell should prevail against
you are jj; And, though it has been no part of His design
practically ' o 1 o

PART I. 415
to vindicate the whole body of the visible Church defenceless
_ . _ againstTri-
from the effects of human sin and spiritual subtlety; dentine
'^ . Rome.
yet a true remnant, the real Church Catholic in the christi-
bosom of the visible society, He has preserved from never float
first to last. And in the Reformation He did more — a burthen
He wrought out the deliverance of whole visible tions fast-
Churches for the future preservation and effectual L it'is'a
vindication ofthe Gospel; as He has stUl preserved agtlnsuhe
the time-honoured Churches of the East, the Churches puTthe'a*"-
of the Cyrils, and the Chrysostoms, and the BasUs, ?t^P*XV^
to be regenerated, as we humbly trust, by the *^^j,^"g"^f
Gospel teaching and evangeUcal Episcopate of the'^^^^'^^^'J^^
English Church. sam'efoot-
" mg, so that
But, not only in the form oi positive evil and an organ- ''°'\™"f „
ized system, is this mahgnant influence observable — together.
but negatively in counteracting what is gOod. Hence ti>e Trao-
come the hitherto imperfections even of such vast andTinesteach;
, , Kome can-
manifest deliverances of the Churches from the Romish not well go
usurpation — hence mighty designs ultimately marred
— great plans, magnificentiy traced out for God's
glory, left maimed and in fragments — holy purposes
interrupted or perverted — great principles rendered
ruinous and seU-destiuctive by excess — every thing
marked, even in its best and most hopefiU form,
by a malignant counteraction, enough to deteriorate
what it had not stiength enough to prevent or to
destioy. But stUl, even in this aspect, the guidance and
interference of the unseen King is ever at work,
and distinctiy traceable to the eye which shaU read the
records of history by the Ught of the Gospel. By

416 LECTURE VIII.
what management of persons or instruments it is
brought about, or what limits are put to the
machmations and power of our spiritual enemy, we
cannot ascertain — we see the mere second causes
combining to produce these great resiUts, but how
we know not — whether by pre-designed adaptation,
or the immediate overruling of Divine wisdom or
power, or by both at once, it matters not. It is
the work of the Head of the Church, who sitteth
between the Cherubim, be the earth never so un
quiet; and that is enough for us to know; an
effectual support and consolation amidst the changes
and chances of the world. It is the Lord Christ;
it is enough for us that He doeth what seemeth
Him best; He sitteth King over all, God blessed
for ever.
II. But I wish to come to a more practical con
sideration of this kingly and preserving power, and
one more within the comprehension and even expe
rience of most of us, and necessarUy impUed in that
which we have considered, though apt to escape us
in considering the Chm-ch as a body; I mean, the
kind and degTce of influence necessary to protect us
from the same watchful and destroying power, and
which every individual in the Church of Christ
requires, to enable him to endure unto the end,
and secure his ultimate entrance into the kingdom of
the saints of God ! Surely nothing less than a power
truly divine can break in pieces the heart of stone
within us, and make it, as a heart of flesh, pUant to
those impressions of heavenly love, which is the

PART I. 417
earnest of God's favour, and the real commencement
of heaven. But the point to which I wish to draw
your attention is not so much this fact, and first
principle of faith, as the manner in which it is
brought ahout practically ; and with reference to the
outward circumstances in which we are placed, and
from which, as they are overruled for good or evil,
beyond our own disposal, such powerfid moral influ
ences proceed — as a work that is not so much of
qrace as of power and manaqement. How multipUed Christ's
^ ^ . / . .^ providen-
are the means by which this result is accomplished, tiai govern
ment.
and by which we are effectually moved, and protected
from counteracting influences ; how various are
these instiuments of grace, which are adjusted with
a specific care, and, so to say, an exquisite science, to
all the suigularities of individual character! And,
I imagme, that most thoughtful minds, when they
analyse their Christian course, discern somewhat of
that compUcation of Uttle incidents, the combination
and arrangement of all of which we feel to have been
necessary to bring out, to its final issue, the spiritual
condition of every one amongst us ! Thus it is that
all things work together for good to those that love
God, by that union of wisdom and power which
grasps the magnitude of the star, because it is fully
present Avith every atom of it, and dwells with each
Christian as intensely as though there were none
else in the world besides — and this, great truth as
it is, faith alone can realize. And then consider
this incessant superintendence and unwearied Pro
vidence, wonderful, as we see, in the case of a single
VOL. II. E e

418 LECTURE VIII.
subject of it, as watching and acting simultaneously
over thousands and millions of beings Uke ourselves,
in every people and nation under heaven ; and minis
tering, effectually, from one generation to another,
in the salvation of souls — and our minds, lost aUke
in its vastness and minuteness, can form no clear
and accurate conception of the greatness of the
attributes which are necessary to a work Uke this. Yet
without this exertion of power, thus minutely appUed,
and accurately measured to the occasion, there can
be no real providence ; nor, as built up of individual
souls reaUy changed into a spiritual nature, and
preserved in actual communion with God, could
the imiversal Church of Christ have continued to
Necessary exist. As a theory of morals, or as a system of
tothemain- _ ...
tenance of speculative thcoIogy, it might indeed have stiuggled
religion. OU to the world's end; or, if mankind endm-ed it
in such a form, the imposing externaUty of a so-
called spiritual kingdom might have sm-vived. But
the Gospel is not an abstraction, or a form; and,
as a spirit and a power in the hearts and souls
of men, preserving them from a moral decay by its
individual influences; as a restoration of the lost and
earthly to a heavenly vigour, and a final triumph
over the powers of darkness and the gates of heU, it
could never have existed at all, or must have perished
with the passing away of its earUer propagators.
And surely, there is something wonderfuUy adapted
to the actual economy of the dispensation under which
we Uve, and the peculiarities which distinguish it from
all other schemes whatsoever which have been even

PART I. 419
so much as imagined, that the exercise of this power,
so inxUspensable to the Church, collectively and indi
vidually, should be brought so completely within the
reach oi our sympathies, < and recommended to our
hearts, far more than, in our present condition, could
have been the case, had they been exercised by
Almighty God, solely as God. It is a matter
of rejoicing and infinite gratitude that it is to
Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us, that
these high and regal powers of protection and
guidance have been consigned — King of kings, and
Lord of lojrds — till aU things shall be subdued
under His feet, in a literal and actual conquest, and
death and hell are cast for evermore into the lake
of fire !
Now aU this, as the statement of a fact, with
out any of the aids of eloquence, or an appeal
to personal feehng, has a somethhig wonderfully
striking- and magnificent about it, and, even as a
specvdation merely, would be indescribably interest
ing. But I do not dwell upon it here, to kindle up
the imagination, or to feast the eye, by a description
of the greatness and the triumph of Him who from
our Priest and Teacher is become our King, Nor do
I fear that it wUl have this effect; for though there is
so much in Scripture, its higher truths and mani
festations of man's hopes and God's glory, to lay
hold on the whole soul, and elevate the imagination
to the utmost pitch, with every thing about us that
aspires indefinitely after what is great and glorious;
yet this, I believe, in all cases, is only instrumental to
E e 2

420 LECTURE VIII.
more important purposes. If we receive them into
our hearts with a true simplicity of faith, and muse
upon them till they become incorporated with us,
they have a direct and intended influence upon the
conduct; they co-operate in that sanctification of
heart and life which is the finished work of faith.
This is the effect of the contemplation of the
sublimest of them; and, if they require a higher
elevation of feeling; if they bring with them, while
we regard them, an accompanying expansion of the
intellect as weU as of the heart, we must be on om-
guard that it may not terminate here — a mere feast
of the mind and of the feelings — it is God's purpose,
that by laying hold more completely of every faculty
of our nature, they may stimulate us the more to
move and to act.
Thepracti- II. Aud, in this VICW I think, that the actual
ency of the rcigu of Clirist at this instant, over all things and
Christ's over all beings, as the administrator of the world,
rega i y- j^^^g ^ most important influence on our perception
of other truths, and a most practical purpose to an
swer. Salvation, we all know and confess, there is
absolutely none out of Christ Jesus; He is the
beginning, the middle, and the end of our faith, and
there is no other name under heaven whereby we
may be saved but His. But to accompUsh this— He
must not be an object of occasional meditation, or a
notion floating hither and thither in the mind,
without a settled place and definite connections.
He must not be considered, as men are too apt to
regard Him, as the mere title of our worship of

PART I. 421
Almighty God, with a general designation of office,
to fiU up the end of a prayer — nor even as a
Saviour from sin, whose great act of love towards
us has been accompUshed, once for all, but who
thenceforward has lost the powers and attributes of
an active being, and exists, to us-ward, only in the
results of His one magnificent work of love and
mercy. As the expiator on the cross, and as the Judge
upon the throne, before which all nations shall be
gathered, and thus occupying the two extremities
of our view, men do regard Him^ — but leave the
long interval between th^se vast exertions empty
of any specific exercise of His office of power — ^fuU
of the agency and providential operations of the
Godhead, but unoccupied by the fulness of the God-
Man, as such; as we found in the Priesthood, that
men loved to exclude Christ's actual intercession,
though they call Him Mediator. It is this impression
of Christ's royalty, against which I wish to contend.
I wish that we should look upon Him as a God and
Kingly Redeemer, every moment, present in power
as well as grace, in whom for protection from inde
fatigable enemies, we have a direct and personal in
terest, not to be transferred to Church or Priesthood ;
as one, who, in human affection, but, at the same time,
in the omnipresence and omnipotence of His essential
Godhead, is acting in us and for us, and amongst
us, every instant of our lives, a far sublimer thing
than a visible Church however potent. And by rea
son of the definiteness of the idea ofthe God-Man and
so to say, not only our knowledge of His love, but our

422 LECTURE VIII.
famUiarity with His person, we may accomplish this.-^
For thus far, God in the flesh has condescended to
the infirmity of our human affections and limited the
infinite. We are thus enabled to attain that personal
acquaintance and reaUzation of His glory, and of the
Father through Him, which, without this, might be
dissipated into vague imaginations; thoughts, whose
vastness eludes the mind, and which become unprac
tical from the lack of something to unite us to then-
object, ui a more intimate relation than any inteUectual
effort can supply.
And yet I am afraid, that from this, whether it be
from hostUity to things unseen, or a fear of realizing
that which must bring with it the constant sense of
an outward and controlUng power, the mind even of
professed Christians is found, instinctively, to shrink;
and to bring home Christ to our hearts, and to dweU
upon Him there, with this sense of His presence and
conviction of His personality, is a task, perhaps, of
all the most difficult which the soul has to ac
complish. But the more intensely and habitually
we dwell on the mighty offices which He discharges ;
the more we foUow them into their detaUs and definite
relations to ourselves ; the more likely is the whole
mind to be fiUed with the one great idea, which is to
us the centre of all things, and this vivid and
almost i sensible perception to be formed within us.
This vivid perception it is which outward and cere
monial systems attempt to supply — but by human
means, and a rationalism which will always signally
fail. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the heai't

PART I. 423
is to be changed by the senses — no ; lead the soul
to dweU in faith on the offices of Christ, and this
great end will be attained. And we must consider
them, not as notional, but as facts, and His authority
as bearing on our daUy Uves. It is a transfer of
authority such as is sometimes seen in a temporal
kingdom ; albeit, with lumtations from the natm-e of
that Triune God, from whom and in whom are all
things, which are contiadictions to a finite capa
city. It is the most important of all facts, and
the state of the universe turns, at present, upon it.
If men, therefore, could see and know Christ as The worid
TT • • TT- • 1 T sustained
He IS m His greatness, m regal power overruling by Him
and controlUng aU things and all men — if they could
but discard, in this matter, the Ulusions of the senses,
and the prejudices of the natural understanding — if
they could throw away from them that voluntary dark
ness which bUnds them to the power which governs
and sustains the universe of matter and spirit — ^if
they could but rise, as Christians, into that sphere of
faith where the spirit moves freely, as an emancipated
being, with the strength of a giant, and the unclouded
eye of an angel — what an inconceivable change would
immediately present itself, as the interior of things
was graduaUy opened, and the invisible and infinite
came out from behind the material world which had
concealed it ; as the realities of that spiritual do
minion which alone, of all things, is substantial and
enduring, were presented to our consciousness]
Wherever we look, it is Christ, who presents Him
self to. us, above us, and below us, and around us,

424 LECTURE VIII.
and withm us — Creator, Saviour, Sustainer, Infinite
King — we cannot escape Him, for He fills the uni
verse — God over aU, blessed for ever! WeU may
the Church smg, " Thou art the King of Glory, 0
Christ .'" WeU may the prophet proclaim, " Unto us
a ChUd is bom, unto us a Son is given — and the
government shaU be upon His shoulder — and His
name shall be called. Wonderful, Counsellor, the
mighty God !"
Is there any one insensible to the encouragement
under the difficulties of the Christian course, which
thoughts Uke these are calculated to give ; with what
an elasticity of heart, under the conviction of such a
presence as this, must the extension of the Gospel
among men be undertaken by His servants, who see
the Unseen, and Jesus, in His glory, standing at the
right hand of God !
Moreover, how great a power there is, in such
considerations as these, to remove that feeUng of
shame, which is seen in unsteady and unconfirmed
Christians, of a bold profession of their faith in the
midst of the world; that low-mindedness which
is impatient of the reproach of that cross which is
our true boast and glory! Nay, a shame to be de
tected, even in the reverential use, in expressions of
dutiful love, of that name of whom all the famUy in
heaven and earth are called.
This could hardly be the case if men carried within
them not only the recollection of inestimable benefits
to awaken gratitude, but that which is calculated to
kindle courage and a noble pride, the vivid conviction

PART I. 425
that He to whom it belongs is the very Being who
deals out our daUy bread, whether of nature or of
grace, who is the actual Sustainer of our life, and
who, with a discretion which is uncontrolled, and a
power which is boundless, confers eternal life upon
whom He wUl. The glory of the ascension and the
throne in heaven at the right hand of God, may well
do away with the shame of Calvary. Our loyalty to
an earthly sovereign, if we are susceptible of manly
and generous sentiments, only grows the more in
tense and resolute from the presence and power of
His enemies and ours, and it wiU be woe to us, if
our loyalty to the invisible King does not exceed
that of the world.
It is scarcely possible, moreover, that we should be
content to go on, with a mere loose and careless
profession, dwelUng in the generaUties of Chris
tianity, and the outwai-d shadows of the Gospel, if
we were really persuaded from the bottom of our
hearts, that He from the searching peculiarities and
singularities of whose law the heart unfaithfiiUy or
disdainftdly shrinks, is the one King under whose
dominion we are momentarily living; and whose
eye reads the secrets of our souls, not only with the
displeasure of a neglected teacher, or the reproach-
fiUness of a rejected Saviour, but the withering
wrath of a King. I cannot think, that with these
thoughts, or thoughts like these, it would be pos
sible — and of the more importance does it be
come that the presentation of Christ as a living
Power and Potentate, whose presence, as He

426 LECTURE VIII.
goes in and out among us, is reaUy discernible, by
the attentive eye, in the affairs of men, should
be a portion of our teaching tUl it becomes to
our flock an habitual thought, and an abiding con
viction. For surely it does not seem fixed in men's
minds with sufficient precision, and the distinctness
of the Gospel declaration. We speak fiimUiarly of
committing ourselves to God's providence, and we
are right in so doing — for God's providence it is — •
but stUl that providence is exercised, in the present
This truth dispensation, by and through Christ. We speak
seen by of God's gifts and graces to us — ^here too we are
right, for His they are ; but it is immediately from
Christ that they come, and they are the regal gifts
which, since He has led captivity captive, and as
sumed His throne in heaven. He bounteously and
freely bestows upon aU His dutiful chUdren. We
pray for God's supporting hand in the hour of
death — we are right, for it is His hand; but it is
Christ through whom the succour which we ask must
be administered, and it is He who with His rod
and His staff must uphold us in that dark vaUeyi
He it is, into whose hands the departing spirit is
committed, and whom, when the righteous seeth
Him, as did Stephen, at the right hand of God,
his face, with the anticipation of glory, and the
joy, of beholding Him who died that he may Uve,
becometh like the face of an angel. Again, we
speak of Christ's coming to judge the world in
righteousness; but we do not see that He is here
already, and that the Redeemer, so mighty in saving,

PART I. 427
has already the strength to ptmish; nay, that the
seat of judgment is set up among the nations long
and long ago, and that the Saviour sitteth upon it.
When we speak, therefore, of the wrath of God
upon reprobate Jerusalem, and that Mount Zion
which He once loved, and where the angel of His
presence dwelt among men, we are right in doing
so, for it is the truth; no other wrath could have
been like that, a consuming fire ; but as before, it is
only the tiuth half told — ^for it was the Son of Man,
the rejected and crucified Messiah, who, as He had
Himself foretold, then descended with power and
great glory; and, though the heathen armies were
His instruments, and the blind fury of men was
alone the visible worker of its own signal miseries,
yet He was Himself, though unseen, taking venge
ance upon those whom His justice had condemned.
So we speak, sometimes, in moments of deeper con
viction than usual, of the woes and sufferings of
nations beUig the visitation of God upon their sins ;
and, when we look at the desolations of war or of
pestilence, we recognise in them God's ministers;
and acknowledge the inflictions of His hand. It is
the truth, but not all the truths— ior it is the Lord!s
Christ, acting in His kingly and judicial capacity,
and already calling the nations of the earth to a
reckoning, for the rejection or the- abuse of the
Gospel; and terribly pre-showing that great day,
when His contioversy with the nations wUl be
finished, and He shall tread out, in His last wrath,
the winepress of Almighty God.

428 LECTURE VIII.
The venge- III, And the principle contained in these remarks
Christ, as has brought us, finaUy, to consider the last and
execute most awfiil aspcct of the regal authority of Christ.
enemies? Up to this poiut, though iuvestcd with an unUmited
power and a divine majesty, the whole character of the
Saviour us-mard has been that of unmixed mercy,
apparentiy unUmited in extent and unchastised by
sterner elements ; only in unspeakable condescension
and love towards mankind. Even that stiength and
active power by which His regal majesty is ac
companied for the protection of His Church, as far
as we have yet seen, have been only defensive in
their opera;tion, with nothing of aggression about
them, and stiU less of a vindictive severity. But
when we regard Him as Judge, invested with re
tributive authority; in His sentence irreversible,
and in His righteous wrath, inexorable; collecting
before His dreadful tribunal the multitudes of
fallen spirits, and all the sons of Adam, the quick
and the dead ; with no one lingering infirmity oi
His earthly manhood to temper the austerity of the
divine and the immutable ; — this is an aspect wholly
awful, and, but for the assurance of His unparalleled
love, even the heart of the holiest of His saints
would sink within them.
And there is something very marked and emphatic
in the delegation into the hands of the God-Man
of this supreme and inaUenable character of the
Creator — it forms, if I may so express myself, a
counterbalance to that revelation of pure mercy in
the Saviour, which would have been an imperfect

PART I. 429
and onesided view of the moral attiibutes of the
Godhead. Originally the balance was redressed in
the reverse order. When the sin of man had drawn
an impassable line between the creature and the
Creator, and had changed the famiUar love of a
Father into the sternness of a righteous Judge, it was
followed by a display of boundless love, and such a
mercy as no created thought could have anticipated
was revealed in the power of the atoning Saviour.
But this issuing forth of love in the midst of wrath
was no change in the Divine nature ; no removal of
that tremendous portion of it which fences in its
ineffable purity and abhorrence of sin, with the
inevitable fires which consume the guUty. Justice
was reconcUed with mercy in those who accepted the
terms of forgiveness propounded, but its severity
remained unmitigated towards those who had not
sought the appointed refiige, nor been sealed
through a Uving faith with the offered blood of
redemption. But then, as judgment was softened
by mercy, so now into the very hands of mercy
itself the execution of the final wrath is committed.
" The Father judgeth no man," says our blessed
Lord, " but has committed aU judgment unto the
Son." What a combination of all awful and adoring
feelings is awakened in the bosom of the Christian,
by this union, in the person of his Lord, of what, if
they were not harmonized in His marvellous at
tributes, would seem irreconcUeable extremes, perfect
love and perfect justice !
How inconceivably awful must the guilt of sin be.

430 , LECTURE VIII.
when it shaU receive its sentence and its punishment
from Him who came down from the bosom of His
Father's glory to die for sinners ! What a pledge ha?
Almighty God given of the necessity, whatever its
precise nature may be, of avenging His violated lawj
by making Him, who is love and essential mercy, the
judge of the award ! How impossible, on the other
hand, to escape the scrutiny of Him, who being
Himself the Author and Inspirer of the glorious
Gospel, the Sacrifice, the Teacher, and the Priest,
shaU now search the hearts and reins of them who
have borne His name and professed His tenth!
How great a joy to those, who, being bought by His
blood, have been purified and sealed by His Spirit^
and wUl recognise upon the seat of judgment Him,
the assurance of whose pardon they have long since
carried in their hearts, whUe they testified the glory of
His Gospel, in their Uves !
This it is which, during His life in the flesh,
carries such an undercurrent of majesty and awftd-
ness throughout every accent, either of praise or
condemnation, which feU from the Ups of Him who
spake as never man spake. He who pronounced,
" Blessed are the meek," " Blessed are the merciful,"
fshall Himself in His great glory ratify this blessed
ness, by His final sentence, in the presence of angels
and men and the assembled universe. He who said,
" Woe to you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," shaU
Himself execute the woe as Judge, which He de
nounced as Prophet. He, who stood as the vUest of
malefactors before the High Priest, who was scourged

PART I. 431
by Pilate, set at nought by Herod and his men of
war, and crucified between two thieves, shall be
visible and recognised, in the midst of His angels
and the consuming fires, by those that spat upon
that sacred face ; and smote, and tried, and judged,
and slew Him. Behold! He cometh with clouds,
and every eye. shall see Him, and they also that
pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall
wail because of Him.
So, in the prophetic descriptions of the Messiah^
these two offices of love and judgment are often
combined in a wonderful manner ; the one passing
off and naturally modulated into the other, with an
inseparable association of ideas, which marks the
original conception of the Messiah as embodied in the
person of the God-Man. The super-human majesty
and power, and the super-human tenderness, and
unutterable condescension, are alike His pecuUar
attributes. "Behold," says Isaiah, "the Lord Godisa.xi. lo,
shaU come with a strong hand, and His arm shaU
rule for Him ;" and instantiy after, " He shall feed
His flock like a shepherd. He shaU gather the lambs
with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and
shall gently lead those that are with young." And
still, more awfully, in another passage, is combined
His love for His redeemed, with the terrors of a
consuming and inexorable wrath upon the enemies
of His Church ; " Who is this that cometh from isa. ixiii.
Edom ; with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this, that
is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness
of His strength? I that speak in righteousness.

432 LECTURE VIII.
mighty to save." " Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in
the wine-fat ? I have trodden the wine-press alone,
and of the people there was none with me : for I
will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in
my fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my
garments, and Twill stain all my raiment." In similar
awful language, embodying the most terrific concep
tions that ever made the imagination flame forth
into an outward expression, is the description in the
Kev. xix. Apocalypse ; " He was clothed with a vesture dipped
"" " in blood; and out of His mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it He should smite the nations ; and
He shaU rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth
the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God." " And He hath on His vesture and on His
thigh a name written : King of kings, and Lord of
lords." And, as was before intimated, this awfid and
avenging character He sustains at present; and as
a necessary preUminary to the consummation of
judgment, when all the elements of wrath shall be
thrown together, without any intermixture of love
and forbearance to mitigate their excess. He is
at this moment, and has been from the first as
sumption of His regal throne, thus judging and
chastising the peoples. And in one important
respect. He judges and condemns and chastises
exclusively, at the present — and that is, in the case
of nations; for excepting in this world these gigantic
unities and representatives of man collectively can

PART I. 433
have no real existence at all — they become mere
notions. It is here only, before they dissolve into
the individuaUties which alone can appear before
the literal judgment seat, that they can be brought
before the tribunal of Almighty God, and receive
at His hand, the measure of their iniquities. " Inps.ixxv.s.
the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine
is red ; it is full mixed, and He poureth out of tiie
same; and as for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly
of the earth shall drink them, and wring them out."
It is in this temporal form, therefore, that, through
out the holy volume, the wrath of God is threatened
upon guilty nations and impious sovereigns, and, as
history testifies, has been, from first to last, awfully
accompUshed. Hence, from the beginning, the successive rise
and faU of empires, as they grew ripe for punish
ment, and the measm-e of their iniquities waxed full.
Hence Tyre and Sidon are places for the fisherman's
net to dry on — Babylon, a habitation for wild beasts —
Rome itself a ruin, in the midst of that new-grown
spmtual grandem-, which has not yet been consumed
by the same avenging fires, which most surely await
it at last. Hence, after the coming of our Lord
upon eai-th, and the general proclamation of the
Gospel, the threats upon those who reject it, nation
ally as weU as individuaUy. The whole book of the
Apocalypse is only a long series of the successive
judgments of the Lamb of God upon the infidel and
apostate nations of the earth, accompanied, in the
midst of its figures, by such accurate marks of time
VOL. II. F f

434 LECTURE VIII.
and characteristic circumstances, as leave scarce the
possibUity of en-or in marking by prophecy, as we
have already done by fact, those enemies of the
heavenly King, and of the Gospel, upon whom those
consuming vials have yet to be poured, or are now
pouring — Mohammedanism and the Papacy; and
finaUy, the avowed and national infidelity, the un
mixed form of Antichrist, which the latter has been
the dn-ect instrument of producing.
Thus, already, it was the rejection of the Gospel,
and the persecution of God's saints, which brought
upon heathen Rome that succession of calamities,
which turned the heaven into darkness, and the earth
into blood, and out of whose troublous convulsions
the Papacy gradually arose into her room — hence,
to punish the Church, came the Mohammedan flood,
1 Even the cocval with thc^ Papacy, and the ebbing of which keeps
Papacy it- . ... .
self might faithful pacc with the coming dissolution ofthe Western
considered, apostacy — ^hcncc already, within our own recoUection
an anti- aud that of our fathers, the twenty-five years scomgimg
power to be of the papal kingdoms, including the whole plat-
but"as itself form of the Western empire, with an amount of
ment'for the bloodshed and national suffering, such as history
corruption ^'^^^ '^^^ rccoi'd siucc the destruction of the Roman
Gomel, empire ; and in which the scale of ruin was exag
gerated into a magnitude, and accompanied by a
colossal exertion of moral and material forces, which
is unparalleled from the beginning of the world!
Protestant England — and let this well be marked—-
Protestant England, the ark of the faith, and witness
of the truth as it is in Jesus, alone remained unvio-

PART I. 435
lated, fof Christ was with her. All this was the venge
ance of the Lamb, a foreshadowing of that fuller
revelation of it, if fuller there can be, in which the
man of sin and the infidel power, which are indis
solubly leagued with it, shaU be finaUy consumed
by the brightness of His coming, and the blasting
of the breath of His displeasure. All this, in the
style of the sacred Prophets, is Christ coming to
judgment — and truly and literally it is so — the same
Judge — the same sins to punish — the same majesty
to vindicate — the same inexorable justice to visit the
guilty — as at the final day of reckoning, of which,
these temporary inflictions, and outward calamities,
however widely-sweeping in their extent, and bitter
in their accompanying woes, are faint types only,
and feeble adumbrations. Only in this they differ,
that the judgment upon nations does involve, to a
certain and unavoidable extent, the suffering of the
itmocent as well as of the guilty, whUe the latter judg
ment shaU be stiietly individual and discriminating.
When this last judicial act shall come, is not re
vealed — we are only sure that, being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our
Lord, and that, when it comes, we may Uft up our
heads, for the time of om- redemption draweth nigh.
Whenever it comes, therefore, it shall be no terror to
us, and we are sure, that all who are Christ's shall
feel, as they are caUed to the tribunal, such a blissful
assurance of acceptance, that, in aU the terrors of
that day, they shall stand without fear by the side of
their Lord. When the resurrection, therefore, which
rf 2

436 LECTURE VIII.
will accompany the judgment, and will usher in this
last regal act of the God-Man, will take place, we know
not; it may be sooner or later — to-morrow, or a thou
sand years hence; but this we know, that it shall come,
when men least expect it, like a thief in the night;
— men shall be eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, when, of a sudden, the sound of
the tiumpet shall rend heaven and earth asunder;
the sig-n of the Son of man shall be seen, by aU eyes,
flaming between the heavens and the earth, and every
soul of all flesh shall hear the summons, " Come to
the judgment ." And they shall come; young and old,
king and slave, rich and poor, fi-om Adam to the
latest-born, shall be hurried to the throne. Then
shall men, in their anguish, say to the rocks, "fall on
us;" and to the hUls, " cover us, and hide us from the
wrath of the Lamb ; for the day of His vengeance is
come, and who shall be able to stand ?" — We shaU
be raised to judgment in a moment; in the twinkling
of an eye, we shall all find ourselves clothed with our
new bodies, and standing, ripe for glory or for destruc
tion, before Him whom aU eyes shaU see. Literally
all shall be raised — the kingdom of Hades shall be
utterly spoUed — ^not one that ever died shaU be left
behind — the earth shaU give up her dead — the sea
shall give up her dead— the very air itself shall sur
render all that it holds of the dust that was once
alive; all the sons of Adam, for the first and the
last time, shaU see each other face to face. It shaU
be accompanied by tokens of wrath, and fearful con
vulsions of nature. Nay, nature herself shall die, and

PART I. 487
be no more — there shall be an utter and final disso
lution of the earth that now is — the planetary heavens
shall be rolled together Uke a scroU in the fire, and
shall pass away with a great noise — the elements
shall melt with fervent heat ; both heaven and earth
shall flee away from the face of Him that sitteth on
the throne, and there shaU be instead of them a
new heaven and a new earth. The Saviour of the
world, the Prophet, Priest, and King, surrounded by
innumerable angels, to dignify this winding- up of the
economy, before God becomes again aU in all, shall
prepare for His last act — the books shall be opened,
and the final sentence shall issue fi-om His Ups. " Be
fore Him," He says Himself, " shall be gathered all
nations; and then shall He separate the one from
the other, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the
goats. And He shall put the sheep on His right
hand, and the goats on His left. Then shall the
King say to those on His right hand. Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. For I was
an hungi-ed, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye
took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick,
and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him,
saying, When saw we thee an hungred, and fed
thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? when saw we
thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and
clothed thee ? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison,
and came unto thee ? And the King shall answer.

438 LECTURE VIII.
and say unto them. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shaU
He say also unto them on the left hand. Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungred,
and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave
me no drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me not
in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they
also answer Him, saying. Lord, when saw we thee
an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or
sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shaU He answer them, saying, VerUy, I say
unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the
least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shaU
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righ
teous into Ufe eternal." Do thou, O Lord, who art
our Prophet, Priest, and King, pour out upon us,
the Spirit which thou hast promised to them that
love thee. Be unto us that which thou art to all
that believe, hfe and light and the resurrection from
the dead, that, being changed from strength to
strength, and fashioned into thine image, we may
be ready to meet thee at thy last and glorious
appearing, and reign with thee world without end.
Amen.

LECTURE VIII.

PART IL
CONCLUSION.

SUMMARY or THE 'WHOLE AGAINST THE TRACTARIAN THEOLOGY.

I. Distinction to be observed between Romanism and
the Papacy.
II. State ofthe Church of England from the Reformation
to the nineteenth century.
III. Services of the Tractarian Divines. The essential
Romanism of their doctrines as a system.

LECTURE VIII.

PART II.
CONCLUSION.

Gal. IV. 9, 10.
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and heggarly elements, whereunto ye
desire again to be in bondage ? Ye observe days, and months, and
times, and years.
ly/TY great purpose in the preceding discourse
-'-"-^ was to sum up, from our previous inves
tigation, those grand features in the Chm-ch of Papal
Rome, in which it offers the most emphatic oppo
sition to the Gospel of Christ, and assumes, not
only an unchristian, but an antichristian character.
The principal materials for this statement are broad
historical facts, and recorded claims of which no
candid or reasonable man can doubt, and which
fall quite as much under the cognizance of the
secular, as the ecclesiastical historian.
And, in thus considering Romanism and its re
lation to the revealed offices of the Saviour, it is not
only undesirable, but impossible, to dissever it from

442 LECTURE VIII.
those Papal pretensions which men would now wish
to be forgotten. But this must not be, for they have
been the direct instrument in consolidating that pro
digious Church system which is now dazzling men's
eyes with a false image of the kingdoin of Christ;
and have given it that commanding position among
the recognised powers of the world, which, for so
many centuries, renders the civU institutes and tem-
poraUties of society of no account in the comparison.
This visible unity has been its principle of stiength
from first to last — this has given cohesion to the whole
— and from the authority of this central power have
emanated those CouncUs and those Canons which
have given a substantive shape to its creed, and so
subjected it, beyond evasion, to argumentative dis
cussion. It is this, which, by its claims to ex
emption from error, and the ordinary mutabUity of
human affairs, has incorporated into itself the pre
tensions and the acts, and the otherwise fugitive
errors of twelve centuries, as completely as if they
were the transactions of to-day.
This likewise gives that pecuUarity of character
and definite outline, both geographicaUy and chrono
logically, in which spiritual Rome becomes the
subject of prophecy, and is separated off from
similar elements of corruption which are loosely dis
persed through other systems, and are inherent in
the nature of man ; but which, except in the case
of Rome, have never obtained a perfect deve
lopment, and an outward organization. When
therefore the gi-eat divines of the Church of England

PART II. 443
so reason as to fix upon the Romish system, in its
totality and in its self-assumed unity of ages, certain
denunciations of divine wrath clearly expressed in
Scripture, it is no refutation to reply, that the errors
and the sins in question, and the miserable resiUts
of them, may be detected elsewhere. The answer
is obvious — all this may be true, and is true — and
from the conditions of human nature it must, to
a certain extent, be the case in all religious com
munities, however scripturaUy constituted. No
code of abstract articles, however free fi-om error;
no training of the mind, however carefuUy calculated,
to give to the masses of mankind, submitted to its
guidance, a consistent scriptural character, can do
more than approximate such a result; it can do no
more than partially repress those unchangeable pas
sions which are always marring the purity of the
Gospel, and tinging the manifestation of it to the
world with secular corruptions. But, save in the
case of Papal Rome, they are not authorized ; they
are the incidental corruptions of the system, and not
its essence ; or they arise from the system having no
sufficient play, and not from the heating down of aU
opposition to it.
But this is not the only mode of viewing the
Romanist, or, more specificaUy, the Papal system;
there is another, and, in many respects, a mitigated
form, in which, in modem times and among our
selves, fi-om the decadence of the secular Papal
authority, it is apt to be regarded. Men dis
sever it entirely from its gross corruptions, and

444 LECTURE VIII.
.strip off from it, as so many temporary accidents,
the practical enormities, revolting to the common
sense and feeling of mankind, which have dis-
honom-ed its docti-ine. And then, having abjured
the lessons of experience, and selected from her
multitudinous formularies those principles, either of
faith or practice, which are most reconcUable to
Scripture, and most susceptible of a specious defence
by reason, they adjust their judgment of Rome to
this partial view, and arbitrary purification of her
system. But I am not disposed to deny, that, practicaUy
speaking, such a selection and re-combination of
doctrines has a real existence, and is constructed on a
uniform and intelligible principle. It is in itself a sub
stantive system, though it becomes merely arbitrary
and one-sided in any comprehensive examination of
the theory of the Church of Rome, and utterly in
defensible in any historical view of her claims. It may
be separated from her enormities, though not fi-om her
errors ; and hence it is, that, as, by this process, many
minds, regarding the docteinal system of Rome ab
extra, have brought themselves, by the aid of an
original bias perhaps towards her, to regard her prin
ciples with favour; so minds tiained up within her pale
have, in every age, simUarly tempered her docti-ines to
a point compatible with personal piety, and the beauty
of the Gospel character. And there are other reasons
for this — the application of greater or less stimulants
to personal ambition, the pressing necessities of con
troversy, the variations in the political position of the

PART II. 445
Church, the opportunities, greater or less, for the
systematic cultivation of the meeker graces of the
Christian character — the predominance of the gentle
and meditative over the energetic faculties — aU this
must greatly modify the practical results of such a
scheme, and falsify any universal or indiscriminate
condemnation. There is, in fact, something, which has no name,
at work in the depths and mysteries of this nature
of ours, which is always setting at nought general
and dogmatic formulas; and, as no mechanism for
the moulding of the character to a prescribed
model, or the reduction of man's intellectual
eccentricities to the same uniform rule, however ad-
nurable, has ever reached the accompUshment of its
object; so, there is at work in human nature a
remedial power, a vis medicatrix, which tempers evil
with good, and, even in systems apparently the most
corrupt, produces, by fits and starts, results which
beUe all calculation. So it is, unquestionably, in
the system of Rome; and it would be a mark of
great decline in Christian charity, and of that
cathoUcity which ought to be the result of the
Gospel received into the heart, if we shut our
eyes against this truth. It can never be right or
wholesome to unlearn the sympathy which our
fathers have felt with all that is sound and scrip
tural within her — the piety and contemplative
devotion of Fenelon, the magnanimous self-devoted-
ness of Charles Barromeo, or the missionary
earnestness of a Xavier or a Vincent Saint Paul,

446 LECTURE VIII. «
can never cease to awaken within us that admira
tion which is due to holmess of life, and a self-
abandoning exertion for the amelioration of man
kind. Let no man, therefore, presume on the absence,
among our Romanist adversaries, either of exalted
virtue in the higher stations of their Church, or of
Christian love and holiness among its lower ranks ;
or of much food for a genuine devotional temper in
its services and offices of prayer; or of a careful
verbal protestation against abuses in its authorized
formularies and canons; if he does, he is not in a
condition, either of inteUectual preparation or prac
tical acquaintance with the facts of the case, to
prosecute the Romish controversy with reason or
success. In the present position of Rome and the
Protestant Church of England, such caution is in
dispensably necessary; and there is danger, else,
lest sacred principles, the assertion of which is indis
pensable to the purity of the Church of Christ and
the discharge of her great office among mankind,
should be jeoparded in an unparaUeled crisis j by
the assertion of extreme positions which are con-
tiroverted by facts. The power of the Gospel is
too strong to require any aid from exaggeration, or
crude and partial views of the case ; and the forbear
ance of Christian charity is too deeply founded in the
truth of things to fear lest we should hazard it, by
joyfully recognising the image of Christ, wherever
it is to be found, even in those whom, collectively,
we judge to be in error that endangers the soul.

PART II. 447
So that both the pecuUarity of our position and the
magnanimity of a good cause prescribe the same
course — to defend the truth with neither addition
nor diminution — and with an eye to it rather than
to Rome ; certain that no immediate advantages can
ultimately justify a party policy. May God guide
the minds of us all into the boldness and yet the
caution which we require !
Before I proceed to apply these remarks, or to
draw any general conclusions from the preceding Lec
tures on this secondary Romanism within our own
Church, which has, in so many ways, been forced
upon om- view, one or two principles may ad
vantageously be kept in mind ; 1. One great
difficulty, and a real one, in a system, which,
like Christianity, is bound up in a visible com
munity, though its ends and aims and the opera
tions of its principles are inward and spiritual, con
sists in the exact relation of the inward to the out
ward — the importance to be attached to those cere
monies with which it is utterly impossible to dis
pense, and those outward appUances to the training
up of the mind in holiness, without which any
attempt at pure spirituaUzation must inevitably
faU. When we consider the different points of
view from which men equaUy devout may regard,
and have in aU ages regarded, those two elements
of Christ's kingdom ; the difference of mental con
stitution, and the influence which the circumstances
of the moment may fairly exercise in determining
to which of the two sides our weight should be

448 LECTURE VIII.
thrown ; it is clear, I think, that much moderation
should be shewn in judging of the sentiments of
good men upon this relation of the spirit of true
religion to its forms.
2. Another point, involving much of real diffi
culty, is the extent to which an overruling power
should be admitted to act in the internal regulation
of the Church; how far it may prescribe, with
authority, to its individual members ; and the degree
of practical obedience which ought, in conscience,
to be paid to it. Admitting- fuUy the unquestion
able fact, that there is some such an authority on
one side, and the duty of obedience on the other,
this question stUl remains ; and, with regard to the
precise abstract principle, as weU as in its applica
tion, according to times and the circumstances of
the Church, there must be a considerable latitude of
opinion, on which no hasty restriction should be
placed, nor an extreme attachment to individual
views be exhibited by any of us.
3. From the very conditions of human nature,
and the ever- varying corruptions to which the Church
of Christ on earth is exposed, there will always be a
more striking prominence given, at any particular
period, to some one side of Christian doctrine. A
perfect balance in the exhibition of the faith, in
which aU parts of it shall hold their exact theo
retical relation, is hardly possible, with man as he
is — we must oppose specific errors, which can only
be done by thrusting forward, in opposition, the
antagonist truth — and this leads, of necessity.

PART II. 449
to the exclusive importance attached to it, though that
exclusiveness is only apparent, and the result of an
overbearing necessity. This, with the fullest assent
to the principle, that truth is one, and that the
essence of the Gospel system remains unaltered all
the time, is, I think, an unquestionable fact which
no party feeling ought to hide fi-om our viev/.
4. It is a universal historical fact, that periods of
intense exertion, whether political or religious, are
foUowed by con-esponding periods of relaxation —
periods, in which, not unfrequently, the very prin
ciples which had eUcited in their defence the most
persevering efforts, are abandoned with a facility
equal to the earnestness with which they had been
previously prosecuted. Or, if they retain their
power over the popular mind, yet other principles,
which had been obscured while the struggle lasted,
begin to force themselves on the attention of rea
sonable men.
If the latter be the case, there comes the question
— where to draw the proper line? where to fix the
barrier, beyond which the influence even of great
principles may be injurious and self-subversive; de
stroying the very cause whose vitality depends on their
success and general reception? This requires the
most consummate management and prudence; and
a clear sagacity is required to discern where a great
principle is really at stake, and where it is a matter of
indifference, or the subject of a reasonable compromise^
For, both in reUgious and political contests, it js
impossible, unless under very rare circumstances,
VOL. II. G g

450 LECTURE VIII.
for any leaders to be masters of a crisis, without
using or awakening that enthusiasm, which yet be
comes unfit for the temperate march of affairs, and
is a formidable obstacle in the way of a permanent
settlement. This makes the task even of the wisest and most
far-sighted rulers extremely difficult; but it becomes
infinitely more so where there is that tenacity of
power which refuses to surrender what can no longer
be retained; and that lack of comprehensiveness
which fails to discern the true genius of the times,
and to class the relative importance of principles.
Hence came the long struggle of the popular spirit
awakened by the Reformation, against the restraint of
Church authority and the power of Church forms
under the rule of Laud — the proved impossibility
of tempering the former by principles adapted to
other periods, and the overthrow of Church and
State in the contest of extremes.
Meantime the religious bearings of the question
were gradually merged in the political — the influence
of Rome over the faith and consciences of men was
comparatively unnoticed in her connection with secular
despotism — and so it went on, with a sad forgetful-
ness, on both sides, of the true spirit of the Gospel,
and the vocation and attiibutes of a Church, till, on
the final airangements at the Revolution of 1688,
this view of the question seemed alone to remain
fixed in men's minds. The spirit of true religion
had vanished. Henceforth it was no longer the
salient and expansive power of Protestantism, on its

PART II. 451
.positive side — its connection with the salvation of
men's souls, by the simple prmciples of the Gospel —
its spiritual aspects, in short — which recommended
it to the Commonwealth and the support of the great ;
but it was its negative side — its erastianism — its de
pendencies on the political power. Nor was there
.any thing calculated to withstand effectuaUy these
false views, in the nonjuiing school. With much
of piety, and sanctity of hfe, there was a naiTowness
of view about it, and a superstitious subserviency to
forms, which, being still fai-ther aggravated by its
separation from the Church, and disunion from the
inteUigenee of the nation, deprived it of any whole
some influence. It had no power of acting on men's
minds; it was a form; it was an ecclesiastical sect, and
nothing more ; as a religious influence, it was emas
culated by renouncing those grand principles of the
Reformation, in which alone are combined the ener^
gies which, from henceforward, wUl have the power
of reUgiously moving nations, though others may
widely influence individual classes.
All this time the Church, as a body, slumbered and
slept — and, during a period, on the whole, of unex
ampled prosperity and national progression, there was
no movement within it, which indicated an organic
'life — nothing to mark an existence, independent of
all secularities, and sustained by immediate contact
with an unseen spuitual Head. It was an establish
ment — it had ceased to be a Church. There was
^bout it much of inteUectual vigour stiU, much learn
ing, much quiet usefulness, and an example, here
Gg2

452 LECTURE VIII.
and there, of eminent piety in high places. But
palsy had stricken it, as a whole— its members had
no sense of unity or of brotherhood — and, every now
and then, in the efforts made to modify subscription
to the Articles, there was manifest proof of the gradual
insinuation into a part of her Ministry of a Soci
nian and rationalizing spirit. It was that same spirit
which had taken fatal possession of those non-con
formist congregations, which had been animated, for
a whUe, by those distinguished men, who dignify
their earlier history, the Baxters, and Howes, and
Henrys ; men who redeemed an involuntary separa
tion from the national Chm-ch by great abUities, and
eminent holiness ; and who sustained for a while a
system radicaUy unsound, by that sense of individual
religion which was fast decaying in the Church and
in the nation.
But this period of tranquU prosperity, bUndness to
high truths, and indifference to the religious principle,
was fast approaching a termination. A totally dif
ferent character signalized the end of the eighteenth
century — the era of peace and national submission
was over — men's minds, beginning with France,
were stirred up from the very bottom. The infidel
forces had graduaUy collected whUe men slumbered,
and were destined, by an unexampled explosion, to
work, through the passions of ungodly men, a
terrible punishment on the great for the power which
they had abused; and utter ruin on one branch of the
Church Catholic, which had connived at the cor
ruptions by which she profited ; and, clad in purple

PART IL 463
and fine Unen, had forgotten the poor for whom she
should have pleaded, and the ignorant whom she
should have enUghtened.
Our own country, by the protection of Almighty
God, escaped the general vsreck, and came out of
the contest with a constitution undestroyed, and
a Church, with its privileges untouched, and its
wealth unconfiscated. But stUl, there was no
spiritual awakening about her, as a body, — it was
her poUtical aspect and relation — it was her pre
scriptive rights and the prerogatives of an estabhsh
ment — her claim to the respect of the State and
the obedience of the people, rather than her own
responsibUities, which occupied the minds of Church
men — ^her undoubted and immemorial union with
the constitution of the Commonwealth — ^her moral
and civUizing influences, and profound though quiet
connection with all that was really sound and healthy
in the nation — what she did, and had done, rather
than what she might have done, and could do, if all
her energies were awakened — and what, in fact, she
must do. Yes, here was the main point — though all
the rest was perfectly true, as far as it went — what
she must do, if she would save the nation and herself
from the most imminent dangers, and the assaults of
a popular spirit, the growth and force of which could
no longer be concealed from the eyes of observant
and thoughtful men.
The period was full of danger — but, mean whUe,
the providence of the Head of the Church had been
preparing from afar off the forces which were to resist

454 LECTURE VIII.
the tempest. So long ago as the middle of last
century, in the midst of the general slumber, two
remarkable men had sprung up in the bosom of
the Church, and had commenced that spiritual
movement, which, both within and without her, has
never since been checked — but has gone swelling on
and on, tUl it has pervaded the length and breadth
of the land. Both of them were singularly endowed
with popular eloquence, and the power of moving, as
one man, the hearts of the greatest multitudes. But
otie of them, John Wesley, was as remarkable a man
as any age or country has produced — resolute, calm,
indefatigable — combining with a stern personal
asceticism, a rare sympathy with the minds of other
men — with the most piercing and far reaching sa
gacity, that profound enthusiasm, which gives to great
truths the power by which they overbear opposition,
and conquer mankind — a mind legislatorial, syste
matic, creative, fixing what would have been, in
Other hands, the heats of the moment, in a perma
nent form ; and embodying, in profoundly calculated
institutions, the spirit which, in the case of Whitfield,
evaporated after a few convulsive efforts, without any
lasting result.
Amidst the vehement opposition of authority-^the
scoffs and contempt of the learned, and the violences
of popular outrage, these men succeeded in conveying
spiritual consciousness, and the purifying influences
of the Gospel, to wUdernesses into which the Church
had never attempted to penetrate— and to thousands
of souls within her pale, whom the indifference of

PART II. 465
her Ministers had permitted to walk on in darkness.
But the power of these remarkable men lay in the
great tiuths which they preached — truths which, fi-om
the beginning until now, have carried then- own wit
ness with them, and commanded the hearts of man
kind. As at the Reformation, it was the announce
ment of the Gospel, as contained in the written
word, which moved men's souls so deeply — and, with
aU the drawbacks of enthusiasm, and the other evU
influences which are always found to accompany the
resuscitation, partial or general, of the religious spirit,
it has permanently impressed an ameliorating in
fluence on countless masses, which would otherwise
have been abandoned to practical heathenism. In
the mean time, there was not wanting a succession of
Ministers within the Church, who, through evU re
port and good report, announced the same long-
neglected doctrines ; and they had grown so strange
to men's ears, that, though they are fundamental
ti-uths, and the very message of Christ, they were
denounced at first as but little better than heresy.
But gradually the spirit of reformation spread ; the
dead slumber of the Church was effectually broken ;
the once despised doctrines were widely recognised, not
only as the unquestionable truths of Scripture, but as
the authorized teaching of the Church of England.
Henceforth her Ministers ceased to be the " apes of
Epictetus;" they spoke to men's souls; they began
from Christ as the source of life, instead of working up
to Him; in one word, they preached Christ crucified,
the beginning, middle, and end of om- faith. Along with

456 LECTURE VIIL
this bold and simple scriptural teaching, there went
necessarily hand in hand, a less secular life in the
established Clergy — an indefatigable zeal in all good .
works, an earnestness hitherto unknown, and a
primitive abandonment of soul, and body, and sub
stance, and every thing, so that Christ might be glo
rified, and His Gospel win its way in the hearts of
men. With this change within her, the Church was re
garded in a different spirit from without; the bands that
connect her with the poor and ignorant were no longer
disrupted ; men acknowledged in these examples of
apostolic zeal, the sign and seal of a truly apostolic
Ministiy ; gainsayers were rebuked, fi-iends were en
couraged, the multitudes of the people were recalled
to her half-deserted fold ; and, when the storm came,
she was sufficiently rooted in the affections, as weU
as the immemorial traditions of the nation, to with
stand its violence. Whatever faults theological
hostility may detect, whatever occasional extrava
gances or imprudences a calm judgment may lament,
whatever deficiencies there remained for an enlarged
wisdom to supply; yet herein lies the enduring praise,
which the judgment of history wUl pass upon the
evangelical clergy; they restored the Gospel, when
its vital truths were buried under a cumbrous pe^
dantry, and its supernatural influences degenerated
into a formal morality ; they reconciled the Church
to the nation, and the nation to the Church, and so
they saved both.
But still, though the dry bones were covered with

fART II. 457
flesh, and stood again upon their feet, aU was not
done ; the mission to rouse and to awaken had been
gloriously accomplished — there remained to order and
to tiain. Even the main Gospel truths, in the absence
of which religion is dead, and in which alone lay the
power to regenerate the Church and nation, in some
instances wore to thoughtful men not a catholic
but a sectarian aspect, from the lack of other truths,
or at least from the lack of a systematic statement
of other truths, wiih which, in a harmonious subordi
nation, but an indissoluble connection, the word
of God has bound them. The truths were there —
there, essentially and by necessary inference ; but they
had no avowed place. The Fathers were utterly un
studied; the true relation, or the relation at all of
the Church of England to primitive antiquity, was
forgotten ; the records of ecclesiastical history, as a
whole, unconsulted, and Church order overmuch and
unwisely despised. I do not mean, in saying this, to
sit in judg-ment or to pass censure ; much of this was
inevitable — almost all of it could plead reasonable
excuse — I merely state it as a fact.
I do not think it can fairly be denied, in short,
that there were many wants felt; great instincts of the
Chmch, in search of something which they had not
yet found, though they were rapidly approximating
to it. This grew more and more into a settled
conviction — and now, that men's spirits were ripe,
and could bear to have it propounded without
immerging the Gospel in mere outward forms,
it came. But there are yet two other points.

458 LECTURE VIII.
which, as entering- powerfully into men's feelings, and
insensibly moulding their opinions at this eventful
period, must not be omitted in this enumeration.
1. The convulsions which, from the troubled depths
of a diseased social system, threatened the overthrow
of every existing institution, had taken a tone of de
cided hostiUty to the Church ; and not only anarchist
and infidel — which was natural — conspired her ruin ;
but, with the exception of the followers of Wesley,
to whom the lasting gratitude of the Church is due,
the great dissenting bodies likewise ; they were utterly
reckless of ultimate consequences, and unmindful of
the perU which threatened the very existence of the
Gospel in the overthrow of the Church, under whose
mighty shadow they themselves had been sheltered.
2. The supreme power of the State, with which,
in all former occasions of danger, the Church had
been intimately combined, and to which, as an
integral' part of the constitution, she had been
accustomed to look for support, seemed inclined to
abandon its natural position and duty, and to lend its
hand, with a suicidal violence, to the work of
demolition. Such was the awful aspect of affau-s, at
that troublous period, that men's hearts were failing
them for fear ; and it seemed impossible to say, how
soon the hour might arrive, when the time-
honoured alliance of Church and State would be
finally dissolved — the one stripped of its consecration,
and the other of its temporal protection. If so, there
was no help in worn-out formulas, and the Church
must be abandoned entirely to her own resom-ces.

PART IL 459
It was natmal, tiierefore, that Churchmen should
look anxiously round for some other protection, and
that their thoughts should be intensely directed to her
union with that Divine Head who has promised, that
the power of hell shall not prevail against her. Nay,
even that large body within her, who, bUnded by the
immemorial union of the Church with the State, had
lost any conception of her true nature, as a spiritual
polity, felt their thoughts drawn into the same
channel ; or, if they did not reach the grandeur of her
spiritual relation, they discerned that the Church
must faU, or sustain herself, apart fi-om secular patron
age, in the hearts and convictions of the people.
And lastly, from the habit of considering Rome,
for so long a period, as spiritually dead ; rather as
an invader of those political rights whose exclusive
possession was jealously guarded, than as exercising
any real power over the hearts and consciences of
men; there prevailed, almost universally, an utter
ignorance of her real character, as a Church. On
some points indeed men's minds had been kept alive,
and at no period of our history had they been more
sensitively awake; but they were precisely those
points which were most intimately connected with
political questions, and available for popular pur
poses; her insatiable ambition, her dreadful and
systematic persecutions, the idolatry of her popular
practices, and the proveable falsehood of any
pretence to an altered temper, or an ameliorated
creed. All these were within the power of every
one to estimate ; no one has ever doubted of them ;

460 LECTURE VIII.
and, when there has been nothing to restrain her,
they have shocked aU reasonable men, because they
heathenized those whom God has committed to her
charge. But all this concealed from men's eyes the purely
religious part of the question. They knew not, and
they cared not to know, where the root of her
con-uption lay; and that every thing else was
insignificant in her anti-scripturality, compared with
her doctrine of justification by works. They did not
know that Rome would repudiate all other charges
as the calumnies of enemies, ignorant of her guarded
formularies ; as abuses of the ti-ue doctrine, perpe
trated against her will, the corruptions and abomina
tions of the darker ages; and that, not mere
assertions, but specious reasons might be adduced
to exempt her, in the eyes of all but the acute
student of her history, from the more odious part
of the charges against her. Nor did they know
what fragments of ancient truth were contained
within her, and what monuments of real piety she
was able to present. Now that the last sound of
the contest which had shaken the world at the
Reformation had died away, men falsely beheved that
these questions could never be resuscitated; dwell
ing on the traditions of successive generations, and
on those triumphs of the Reformers which seemed
to them more complete than they were in reahty,
they were wholly unprepared to resist an attack:
they had forgotten the use of their weapons, and
tempted a surprise which could not but succeed.

PART II. 461
It was only necessary to assault them by arg-uments
which they had never considered, and specious
statements of which they had not the least previous
conception. Still more, if all this were concealed
under the guise of Church of England principles,
they were liable, unsuspicious of deceit, to be drawn
into a semi-Romanism before they were aware, and
were ready, with their teachers, as point after point
was disclosed, to exclaim, " where was the use of the
Reformation? it was a sin, and the sooner the
chUdren repair the crime of their forefathers, the
better." It was at this moment and in this combination
of circumstances, when men's minds and hearts were
in suspense, and prepared to receive obediently
any impulse in harmony with their pre-existing
feelings, that the impulse really came. There ap
peared that series of remarkable essays which have
been the centre and exciting cause of the most
signal religious movement since the first struggle
of the Reformation, and the contest which sprung
from it; till the adjustment, such as it was, of
the claims of Church-order with the ultra-Pro
testant elements, gave an interval of religious
repose. This is not the place to trace the progress of
those writings and other works of the same authors —
nor to shew how, partly by their mtrmsic interest,
and not a littie by an able management of those
faculties for the diffusion of opinions which the
present times afford, they gradually spread oVor

462 LECTURE VIII.
tiie land, and began to exercise, whetiier for good or
evU, an undeniable influence to which no observer
of the times could be blmd. That theu first results
were beneficial in many ways, few, I imagine, ai-e
disposed to deny. At any rate, they soon became
a power, a real element in the Church, compeUing
attention to itself-^a centre and rallying point of
spiritual influences — a something which had a clear
vocation, which it was rapidly fulfilling, in the modi
fication of the existing Church-system.
Now, with all reasonable allowance for that con
currence of cu-cumstances, without which no religious
or political movement was ever yet successful, and
in the absence of which, no intellect, however power
ful, can effectually work, it is impossible for a
candid mind to deny to such results adequate causes
in the vvritings themselves — ^rare qualities and powers
in the minds winch wrought them out. In a word,
if we regard the whole phsenomenon with a philoso"
phical eye, it must be confessed, whatever judg
ment may be formed of their ultimate tendency, that
so wide an influence could never have been exerted,
or the approbation, however qualified, of wise and
good men have been obtained, unless they had
successfully struck some deep chord — had hit on
some real wants of the period-^and brought out
distinctly into Ught certain substantive principles
which, before their appearance, had required an
adequate exponent, and had foimd none.
There was unquestionably about them, that,
without which, in religious and moral questions,

PART II. 463
mind can never act upon mind — a most deep con
viction of the reality of the truths propounded —
an unaffectedly reverential spirit, pervading, with a
superstitious minuteness perhaps, but stUl pervaduig,
the smallest forms and expressions of the divine
life. And there breathed throughout them a certain
elevation of feeling, a contempt for expediency, and
a prominent exliibition of the immutabilities of the
faith, and the divine authority of the Church of
Christ, which served as a support to wavering minds
—they stood in broad conti-ast to that hostihty to
all estabhshments, and that shaking- of all received
opinions, which gave so marked a character to those
anarchical times. If we review all the writings of the
school, they possessed a clear and often pungent style;
occasionally a moving and almost tragic eloquence;
¦and a rich scattering over them of really profound
thoughts, which probed unsparingly the religious
and political deficiencies of the times. There was,
moreover, a dialectic subtlety, without any paraUel,
as far as I know, in our theological literature —
a knowledge of Christian antiquity as contained in
the works of the Fathers, which was then, com
paratively speaking, a rare acquirement in the
¦Church of England. There was also in some of
the most remarkable of their writings, an analysis
of the heart in many of its most striking reUgious
phases, and a perfect comprehension of human
nature in its spiritual relations, which, with all
the drawbacks of a peculiar system, I think is un-
equaUed m any writings of the day.

464 LECTURE VIII.
But it is impossible to consider these works
merely as so much literature, to be judged by critical
laws. For, as they proceeded they assumed a more
serious aspect; from touching on acknowledged
defects in the existing system, they embraced, in
tm-n, every topic of theological investigation, and
every point of faith and practice. Many views, at
first obscure, were clearly developed; sympathies
strange, till now, to all but a small section of
EngUsh theologians, were openly avowed ; and a full-
grown system of ecclesiastical polity at length an
nounced, the establishment of which would be in
compatible with the existence of the Church of
England, as at present constituted; or the existence
of a Church in any form which should prominently
avow anti-Romanist elements.
The whole question is now altered. It becomes im
possible, for instance, practically, and unfair, argu-
mentatively, to consider these writings as other than a
consistent whole; not as dissertations to be separately
examined, but a compact and indissoluble system ;
for, as such, its eminent authors propound it to our
acceptance. Many practices, consequently, in them
selves indifferent or laudable, naturally excite sus
picion from their connection with other principles, or
avowed subordination to them ; principles which are
subversive not only of the specific theology of the
Church of England, as defined in her Articles, but,
on the deliberate judgment of all Churches save
one, of the plainest declarations of Scripture itself.
Men are not to be blamed for thus considering

PART II. 465
them; it is no solid ground of accusation against
practical minds that they should be tenacious of
great principles, and jealous of any thing which,
even by the remotest impUcation, shall subvert or
nullify them ; nay, that they should refuse even to
give these writers credit for the valuable tiuths which
they do contain, but which may be di-awn from other
sources vrithout such admixture of error. No wonder
they should refuse to consider them, as other than
a whole, and not only so, but in that connection in
which the crowning work of the series has put them\ ' ^''*''' ^o;
*' ^ a. tract
But is not this unfair? No. There are great ^^op^d by
° all the
truths in Popery — there are great ti-uths in natural Tractarian
^ •' ° . divines.
rehgion^there are great truths in many ethical And either
. mi *° separate
systems, which are, collectively, dangerous. Thethepre-
principle of regarding a system, in its character- works of
istics, rather than in its generalities, is so rea- from this
sonable whether in ethics or religion, that, though tract, or to
a general condemnation may seem to involve truths from^A^
on which, in themselves, we set a high value, yet, if^lsed'^Ro-
we would not sacrifice the Gospel, such condemna- J^g^B^^.;"^
tion is here inevitable. But, to avoid the charge of ^[f^'^'j^
sweeping and indiscriminate censure, however un- ^^^^^"^^^^^^1.
reasonable, I cannot but avow my conviction, that, l°sio from
' "I ' ' the prin-
with aU their distortion and exaggeration of generaUy ''ip'®^''.^'.''^
admitted truths, and their unquestionable opposition f^^. ^^y
' ' '¦ ^ ^ irrational,
to the specific doctiines of the reformed Church of and most
••• unjust to
England, these remarkable works have greatiy con- tbe teamed
® ' . conductor
tiibuted to the re-establishment among us of prm- ofthe latter
1 • 1 • work.
ciples, both religious and political, which the times
VOL. II. H h

466 LECTURE VIII.
demanded, and the best interests of the Church and
the commonwealth required to be practically embodied.
In the first place, as we have seen from the
peculiar circumstances under which the revival of
true religion had been brought about in the Church,
and the position of its principal instruments, there
had ensued, even in the minds of men whose services
to the Gospel were inestimable, an entire forgetftd-
ness of the Church as a whole combined for a specific
purpose, and with divine instruments corresponding
to its vocation. It is useless now to enquire how far
the same movement, in all that was healthy and valu
able about it, might have been accompUshed without
such deviation from rule and order. But, be that as
it may, all feeling of a spiritual subordination in the
order of the Ministry was passing away from men's
minds — and with that the grand principle of cohesion
and unity in the visible body catholic.
Connected with this independency was the view
taken of that commission, and authority resulting
from it, which the Church of England has inherited
from the Apostles; every portion of which must of
necessity fall into contempt and disuse, if the key
stone of the arch is displaced. When the presiding
power of the chief Pastors shall be schismatically
rejected, or, from forgetfulness of duty on their part,
or on ours, shall be neglected and practicaUy nulU
fied, the spiritual power derived from them must
Ukewise fall, and should it do so, should such a
conviction ever gain ground widely in men's minds>

PART It. 467
and a rightful Ministry be rejected, no mdividual
zeal could preserve the Church of Christ from
instant decay and ultimate .destruction. The duty
of saving, at any risk, our brothers' souls alive, —
the duty of propagating the Gospel, wherever there
is a son of Adam to accept it — the responsibUity of
individual Christians, as such, to God, for the souls
committed to their charge, within their respective
spheres — God forbid, that, in zeal for the honour
of the Ministiy, any of these certain Gospel tiuths
should be denied. But all this without servants of
God specially called and chosen to their office, as
pastors and leaders of the flock, would be utterly
unavaiUng to keep alive among men the faith of
Christ. And, springing from the same cause, is another
important point. Being intent only on the spiritu-
ahties of the Gospel, and their power over men's
souls — dwelling, intensely and exclusively, on the
inward processes of the spiritual life, and on the ex
perience of the truth of the Gospel which is vouch
safed to every devout disciple who will do God's will —
men had learned to throw completely into the back
ground the outward forms of the Church, and even
the visible ordinances of Christ Himself. I count the
latter of great importance ; and I cannot but think,
that, absorbed in justification by faith only, its
vitalizing power, and its sole appropriation of the
merits of the Redeemer, we were in great danger of
forgettmg the importance of those holy rites, by
which faith is confirmed and grace is increased —
Hh 2

468 LECTURE VIII.
and, generaUy, of those other outward means,, by
which the divine life, in its equable and unobtrusive
vigour, is strengthened and supported within us.
We had become forgetful of another important
truth, and one which, more than any thing else, if it
were once carried out, with a primitive spirit, by the
Church as Christ's body, would tend eminently to
combine stUl closer all true Christian hearts; and
would present her to the eyes of mankind, in a Ught
which could not be mistaken, as the great organ of all
benefits, spiritual and temporal, to them whom Christ
has redeemed. I mean, the duty of coUective alms
giving as weU as individual charity — the presentation
of our substance, for Christian uses and the pro
motion of God's glory, not at hazard, but in some
stated proportion, and with the consecration of
prayer and thanksgiving — and above all, her duty,
in her collective capacity, to labour for the evange
lization of the world. I would here, by no means,
be misunderstood. We are all infinitely indebted
to those labours, so long of necessity individual, and
unincorporated with the system of the Church, which
have been made by good and able men, for carrying
out the Gospel of Christ into all lands, and rendering
the blessed book which contains it into all tongues in
which God can be praised. Nobly too have the great
dissenting bodies laboured in the same sacred duty —
and I would rather my hand withered, and my tongue
clave to the roof of my mouth, than write or speak
other than praise of so good a deed. The blessing of
God has been manifestly upon their labours ; and it is

PART IL 46 &
a ground of hope and confidence that such spectacles
as these, both within her and without her, have quick
ened the whole Church unto a holy emulation. Be
fore this, it was one of those points, on which she
had forgotten the terms of her charter, " Go ye, and
teach aU nations," and would fain have claimed the
fulness of the blessing, and the power of Christ's
exclusive presence within her, whUe she neglected
overmuch the indispensable conditions of it.
We ought to wish God speed to aU such exertions,
come they from whom they may, come they from
love or from contention ; still Christ is preached, and
souls are saved. Nor can any man say when the period
wUl arrive, if ever, when the aid of popular assembUes,
and popular eloquence, with their inhcBent dangers
to Christian simpUcity, and godly motive, can be
finally abandoned, with justice to these great Chris
tian objects.
But the sooner the better — ^for unquestionably the
other principle is the true one — so recommended by
every feeUng of Christian brotherhood, by apostohcal
precedent, and the propriety of entreating, as a
Church, the blessing of Almighty God upon our
oblations, that it cannot fail to win its way among us,
if discreetly urged ; it may be slow, but its progress
wiU be sure, and its ultimate adoption certain. Who
could then set any bounds to the exertions of the
Chmch of England ? No irregular efforts, however
zealous; no feverish excitements, however vehement;
no state-endowment, could produce such resources,
a wealth so blessed both to givers and receivers, as

470 LECTURE VIII.
these eucharistical gifts incorporated into the services
of the Church : they may embrace, too, and should
embrace, in their mode of appUcation, the laity as
well as the Ministry, in a perfect union; and the whole
body would act with that effective yet quiet power,
which makes a healthy condition both in individuals
and communities.
It is surely a great thing, and one full of hope for
the ultimate destiny of the Church, to have set such
principles afloat, and to see with what deep and sure
power they are daUy and hourly working in the minds
of men, It is a great thing to see an approximation
to that condition of things, of which, as yet, the
Church of England has exhibited no example ; and
yet without which her power can never be adequately
exerted, her resources drawn forth, nor her divine
commission testified before men ; I mean, the com
bination of energy and order in her outward ex
ertions—one grand harmonious movement with
the regular march, and the irresistible power of the
swell of the ocean; and within her, the action in
their due proportion of all the means of grace in
combination— prayer, and the word preached, and the
holy sacraments ; apostohc simplicity, and plain Gos
pel truth with the apostolic commission ; the teaching
ofthe Church with the undivided authority ofthe word,
In all these points, the able authors of the system
which we are examining, have powerfully contributed,
du-ectly and indirectly, in producing a result at which,
considered in itself, all sons of the Church of England
must rejoice. Nor do I think that any object of real

PART II. 471
evangeUcal truth can be promoted, by witiiholding an
acknowledgment which justice demands. But, two
repUes may be made to the importance attached to
these principles, from whatever source they may have
been introduced among us ; and specifically as con
nected with the system in question. " Is not," it may
be said, " every one of these principles either over
stated, or conjoined with opinions at once dangerous
to the tiuth, and adverse to our received AngUcan
theology?" I think it is; with the episcopal com
mission there have been conjoined unscriptural views
of its absolute essentiality to a true Church ; these
divines have raised the mere outward, and, so to say,
material succession, a thing m itself only to be probably
proved, above Christ and the Gospel, above truth and
the apostolic teaching ; they have moreover conjoined
with it, extra-scripturally, and against practical ex
perience, a peculiar grace for the preservation oi the
tiuth, which, except upon the theory that Rome is
the only true Church, has not so much as the shadow
of a foundation, thus stated; and which thus risks
the existence of the Church of Christ in that of
the Church of Rome. They have clothed the
Ministry, episcopaUy ordained, with an authority sub
versive of all Christian liberty; a possession, by
virtue of their office, of an irresponsible teaching and
a doctiinal inerrancy, which is irreconcileable with
reason or with the Gospel; and a power of conveying
saving grace by the sacraments which is diametricaUy
opposed to the word of God. In the sacramental
forms, therefore, they have arbitiarily concentiated

472 LECTURE VIII.
all the power of the Gospel, shut out the soul from
du-ect communication with the Father of spirits,
through the ever-present Saviour, substituted physical
influences for spiritual, and seem sometimes to change
the Gospel into a mere externality ; a ritual rather
than a faith.
" But," it maybe further urged, "apart fi-om all that
you acknowledge as perversions or exaggerations in
these doctrines, is there not in them something that
tends, essentially, to abuse ? In impressing on the
Church this patriarchal, not to caU it monarchical form,
are you not trenching on that brotherly equality which,
in the Apostolic institution, manifestiy characterised
the Ministry? Are you not asserting a principle
which must end in the establishment of a despotism,
subversive of the truth, and incompatible with the
Gospel ? And in insisting on an apostohcal and
exclusive commission at all, with or without the addi
tion of the episcopal office, are you not laying open
the door to the assertion of a thousand special
privUeges, injurious to that proper independence
of any teacher but Christ, which is the privUege of
the Church at large ; and ruinous to those offices of
love, those practical ministrations, and those mutual
dependencies, which ought to unite the teacher to
the taught, and the taught to the teacher? Again,
by insisting thus upon the importance of the sacra
ments, are you not burying spirit in form? tians^
feiTing the seat of faith from the heart to some
thing else ? and making salvation depend upon that,
which a moral or physical necessity may prevent you

PART IL 473
from i-eceivmg, and the efficacy of which may depend,
not on your own faith, but on the wiU of Him
from whose office the consecrating power flows ?"
It might be replied to aU this, " Thus it may cer
tainly be, and the dangers of which you speak are
not imaginary — but we have the authority of Scrip
ture; and, therefore, come what wUl, and foresee
what consequences we please, as possible or pro
bable, it is our duty to obey and practise that which,
even by probable inference, can be shewn to have
a divine sanction." But there is another reply,
which goes further than merely sUencing objections
by God's absolute authority, and which supplies
a satisfactory solution of the difficulty. It must be
allowed that the results in question are very Ukely to
happen, and are subjects of reasonable apprehension.
But we have a provision of Almighty God Himself,
by the proper application of which, and the retention
of that commanding position in which Scripture
places it, the subordination of the outward to the
inward may be preserved; the spiritual relations
of the Church of Christ on earth, and the privUeges
of its individual members may be maintained, without
marring the beauty of holiness, and rendering order,
and the dependencies of a visible Church, an im
possible thing; nay, making each of them a
support to the other; the outward ministermg to
the inward, and the inward animatmg and sustaining
the outward. Those commandmg principles which
constitute our fuU security against these abuses,
are justification by faith only; and the sole authority
<f Scripture, combined with Us use, as a duty and as

474 LECTURE VIII.
a right, by all Christian men — the faith of the
Apostolic Churches, and the mighty basis of our
own. And in these vital points it is, that the system
Vid. Leot. now proposed for our adoption is so pre-eminently
dangerous; here lies its manifest unscripturality,
and its complete divergency from the Church of
England ; this it is, which, with whatever superficial
variation from the phraseology of Rome, by its assertion
and illustration in every variety of form, justifies an
extieme alarm and aversion in those who recognise,
in those two principles, the sum of vital Christianity,
the sole conditions of its effectual reception now, and
pledge of its transmission to them who come after
us. Here it is, that, to demonstration, it symbohzes
with Rome, and is Romanism; Romanism, indeed,
in its best form, and capable, as we have seen, by
inherent self-contradiction, of working out here and
there a scriptural result, but still Romanism. Nor,
after the occurrences which have of late startled the
Church of England, and made her enemies rejoice,
can it be asserted, that this is to make a charge
unjustified by facts, or which ought to be offensive
to those theologians themselves who have so frankly
'Thisou ht^*^*^ undisguisedly proclaimed their Romish predi-
tobeob- lections, and something next to abhorrence of the
served, for "
itseenisto Protcstautism of the English Church \ These vital
me quite a °
mistake to rescmblauces are not repudiated by them — this
suppose ... .
that the identity in all things, but those enormous cor-
Tractarian . "' . , i
divines de- ruptious, and Unsustainable pretensions, which are
practical reprobated by Romanists themselves, and the re-
with Rome moval of which from the Church which they dis-

PART II. 476
honour, has been ever a matter of pressing anxiety, in these
. '¦ ^ •' points. Just
and sometimes of laborious effort. But whether the the reverse,
charge be offensive or not, the evidence to thatprincipie
effect is to candid minds, adequately acquainted with and justify '
Romanist theology, irresistible. They repudiate, ness they
even scornfidly, and with every variety of contumely, to shew*'°^
justification by faith only ; so does Rome ; for such fecragree-
rejection, and the substitution of its opposite, is, as Hence, by
every one knows, the coi-ner-stone of her theology ; "nferencJ
justification by inherent righteousness is their doc- formation
trine, and so it is that of Rome. That this justifi- ^° ^^^g
cation is conveyed solely by the Sacraments, ex^^'^^^^'^
opere operate, is their teaching; so it is the teaching ^[^*^i'"j"^g
of Rome*. It is fi-om the Romish formularies, and^'^J'jj.^
the Romish polemical writers, that are derived their '=^°,^®
¦'¦ weaker
distinctions, their arguments, and their definitions on '^an to de-
IcilQ til6S6
this question ; nor can any theoretic difference what- divines on
. ... .the prin-
soever be discovered upon this vital point, and if cipie, that
they mean
there could, the practical identity remains. righthut
. . speak
" And yet," it may justly be argued, " is it not rashly.
•II- 11 Such de-
strange that men, of unquestionable piety as well as fenders esti-
1 I. . 11 1 . mate ill the
abilities — men, at whose feet, m all that constitutes luminous
renunciation of the world, many of those who discern, the men—
in their teaching, the most imminent perU to the some^ob-""^

Gospel, would be well content to sit, should thus son, there
propound what the simple Scripture absolutely nega- sionaWa-"
tives? that they should cling, along with the Romish phr^,e°they
doctors, with such extreme tenacity to this false ^gy^.^y'^^'
position — aUke opposed to the first obvious meaning i^^ig^^^jf^
of holy writ, by most men's confession, and to the^^^J^j^^^
- Vide Lecture IV. l^Jf ^'^

error.

476 LECTURE VIII.
letter, at any rate, and elaborate definitions of the
Anglican formularies. Surely there must be some
great principle, which, however perverted, lies at the
bottom of this — something which gives to the heart
and conscience as weU as to the reason, an assurance
of its truth." I think that there is — and it is the
broad 'scriptural fact, that the vocation of the Chris
tian is to holiness — that the new creation of the soul
by the Spirit, is a creation unto good works — that
the regenerated soul, therefore, is not a barren tree,
but rich in the fruits of the Spirit, and outwardly
distinguished, by a renunciation of the world, from
those who have not savingly received the Gospel.
Now, unquestionably, if there were any incompati
bility between this fundamental fact of the Christian
life, and the doctiine of justification by faith only,
the latter could not stand ; for, that God is a God of
holiness, and cannot look upon iniquity, much less
love it, is fundamental to aU reUgion whatsoever,
and a condition anterior to any reception of the truth
as it is in Jesus.
I shall not here repeat the arguments already
adduced, on this subject, in the Lecture upon justi
fication by faith only, or the full reply which they
furnish to the objections of its adversaries. But one
or two observations must be made, indispensable to
an understanding of the real state of the question.
There is, no doubt, a distinction to be drawn, between
the hfe of a Christian, fairly engaged in the prose
cution of his Christian course and evidencing his
change of soul ; and the first free act of mercy

PART II. 477
towards him conveyed through the instrumentality
of faith. For from henceforth he has new capa
cities, as weU as new engagements — not only duties
to accomplish, but a strength adequate to dis
charge them conveyed to him by a solemn covenant.
The abstract principle of faith becomes, as Luther
somewhere says, incarnated — a spiritual hfe exhibitmg
itself outwardly by vital actions, and that diversity of
operations the play of which attests its existence to
other men's eyes. There is no opposition there- )
fore, but, on the contrary, there is a perfect
harmony between justification by faith only, and an
enforcement of those outward signs of its presence,
and those duties which we have now the strength to
discharge. Again : good works, though no meri
torious cause, and altogether the effect of something
else, are indispensable to final salvation ; and by our '
works, be they good or be they evU, we shall be '
acquitted or condemned before the judgment-seat of
Christ. Nor is the internal holiness, which, though
imperfect, is stUl, as far as it goes, a real transference
into ourselves of the primary righteousness of
Christ, the work of a moment. It is a gradual work,
branching far and wide, demanding many moral
helps and exertions of our own wUl, and opens a
boundless field for practical instruction and Christian
edification. Nor again do we do otherwise than
preach Christ — when we insist on the sacredness of
His ordinances — when we dweU on the loveliness of
His example— when we carry out the divine SpUit
which was in Him, without limit, into aU the detaUs

478 LECTURE VIIL
ofthe Christian life; never forgetting, in every thing
that we inculcate, om* dependency on Him who is
alone our life. This ought to be borne in mind, or
we shall fall, in this subject, into narrow views ir
reconcilable with the practice of holy writ, and into
a minute and technical theology, injurious to our"
selves, and dangerous to those great truths, the
inculcation of which is nearest our heart. Sound in
reason, and demonstrable fi-om Scripture, as I be
lieve to be the definitions of saving faith which we
owe to the divines of the Reformation, yet a practical
renunciation of all trust but the merits of Christ
may, certainly, exist without them ; and finally, any
view which shaU speak but one set phrase, imposes
on itself a one-sidedness, from which no management,
however judicious, can set it free.
AU these allowances must be made ; but they will
not alter the present case; the system under dis
cussion has not in view the mere inculcation of
Christian holiness, but to shift the whole question to
a new base, and to reverse the relative position of
faith and works, as cause and effect ; to put faith on
the same footing as any other grace or duty, and
no more ; and to transfer the justifying power, solefyj
to works or inward holiness.
And it is partly from the necessities produced
by this assumed relation of faith and works, and
partly from other causes, that springs the incom-
patibUity between this system and the Church of
England, on the relation of Scripture and tradition.
But again, I am not disposed to deny, that as

PART II. 479
in faith and works, so here likewise there is a sub
stantive tiuth, and a most important principle, in
close connection with the error. The Catholic
consent of aU ages, and of all Chm-ches, with every
reasonable deduction fi-om it, and a rejection of that
Uteral universality which is claimed for it, is still
a real thing — the primary truths of the Gospel
do enjoy this mighty witness to them from the
beginning — there is a powerful moral influence '
about it, ratified aUke by reason and the general
consent of mankind. And so there is a reality in the vid. Lect.
tiaditional teaching of the Ministi-y, essential to the i u matters
due reception of Scripture ti-uth, and combuied ui a j? g'jj°^g^ j"
thousand ways with the written Canon. But the doc- ^ double ^
trine in question is more than this ; authoritative tra- £ff°°°„'j.°''
dition is the rule of faith — Scripture nothing except as 1,°'^^?^-* ^"^
interpreted by it^ What avaUs, with this, a profound f°^. ?f
reverence for Scripture ? Rome pays it likewise; — proved by
or to hold that nothing is to be received for the tte issue i»
• 1 r. *^® same ;
tinth of tradition which contradicts the written word ? scripture,by itself, is
Rome does the same ; — or to beUeve that all things not the
. ¦ 1 • C( • Canon, but
simply necessary to salvation are contained m Scrip- something
ture? so does Rome; — or to refuse to accept oral it, which
traditions, unless confirmed by at least some m-themean-
plication in Scripture? Rome does the same; — orreford.
to profess to prove tradition by the unanimous con- mand^s no'
sent of the Fathers ? Rome does the same. Si's alTtho-
But if this be so, who is to propound this tra-"ometWng
ditive Gospel, to clear up the doubts which attend ^^"f^™'
the mvestigation of it, and present it to the accept- ^^^^j^^ ''
ance of the faithful ? Here is a point which requires F<B"t|;rip.

480 LECTURE VIII.
tare must determination ; and it is determined. The Episcopal
preted, Church, in her Ministers, is this authority; it is upon
may be re- their judgment that the whole superstructure rests.
ta-aditionls The salvatiou of the soul therefore depends absolutely
terpreta- ° on them; every tiling, all truth, all instiuments for
^w Iff"' attaining it, all guidance in practising it, all wisdom
^"J^^^^^for the resolution of doubts and removal of difficulties,
^'^^^ ^^^ finaUy, the dispensation of all the gifts and graces
Himsd?^ which constitute the supernatural character of the
inhuman Gospcl rcsts with them. The Church is thus in-
language '¦
as well as dcfectible ; she is the very substitute for Christ Him-
men, and ''
the Bible is self ; WC dare not, therefore, as we value our souls,
simpler, in
vital points, look bcyoud her; she is to us as God Himself;
comment. OU her witncss all CathoUc truth rests ; if we ask for
other evidence, we are emperUling its very existence,
and exposing our own souls to positive infidelity.
The inevitable result of such a principle is precisely
that which the system itself loudly proclaims for our
adoption : we must not speak of the ordinances of
God, but the ordinances of the Church ; we are not
to look up to Christ, but to the Chm-ch ; the Church,
by the Divinity resident in her, is the beginning,
middle, and end of man's salvation upon earth.
And each man's minister is to him the representative,
and the sole depositary, of this infaUible truth;
for such a claim is useless, unless the commission
confers it upon all whom it consecrates. You may
call it the Church, but it is in truth the Priest.
Here, likewise, I do not deny the existence, at
bottom, of a great substantive truth ; but one scarcely
to be recognised by the scriptural eye, in the portentous

PART II. 481
authority thus substituted for it. And now let this
theory of Church authority be joined on to the
dogmas of tradition, and justification by inherent
holiness; and not only have we Romanism, in its
doctiinal spirit, but the very form of it developed,
and outwardly expressed; nothing is wanting to the
perfection of the hierarchy, but that cential and
visible supremacy — that recognised one — which crowns
and consolidates the Romish scheme. And even this
wUl foUow by clear deduction from the principles
already admitted ; and, if it did not follow logicaUy,
yet its establishment would be secured by the force
of theological and historical prepossession. In aU
these points, tradition, justification, and the ministry,
it mas always a delusion to speak of a via media ;
thoughtful men were right, when, even in the cautious
forms in which they were originaUy propounded, they
discerned, from afar, that ultimate Romanism, the
intioduction of which into the bosom of the Church
of England seemed to most men an idle dream — an
impossibiUty. But the truth is, that aU- systems have a tendency
to range themselves, harmoniously, round some one
commanding principle. In their first formation in
deed, there is often an apparent self-contradiction, a
lack of solidity and cohesion, before the whole is ad
justed to its true ultimate tendency, and the affinities
of thought have combined, like to like. But this, of
course, does not contmue long ; for, either the falsity
of the original principle wiU be discovered and
abandoned, or aU heterogeneous elements wiU be
VOL. II. I i

482 LECTURE VIII.
cleared away, and the true unity of the scheme be
perfected. One thing is quite evident, that, from whatever cause
it may have originated, not only is the ultimate de
velopement of the system practically Romanist, but,
at an early period, the standing point of the writers —
the view which they took of every thing — was essentially
Romanist Ukevrise. From hence arose that feeling,
without an example in the Church of England, even
in her most Romanizing theologians — of intense
hatred to the very name ofthe Reformation, and a sys
tematic depreciation of the Reformers by every weapon
which controversy can supply; from sarcastic insinu
ation to the most injurious assertion; every thing that
could debase their motives in the eyes of men, and
strip them of that prescriptive veneration which made
their memories a sacred thing to the Church and to
the nation. Hence comes that, which is a very remark
able characteristic of works so distinguished for in
teUect and extensive learning — an absence of any thing
like an extended knowledge, in their totaUty, of the
principles of the great men whom they have attempted
to degrade ; or, of those works into which they have
poured their hearts and mighty minds, for the perma
nent instruction of the Church. There is not unfre-
quentiy a perversion of their doctrines, and misrepre
sentation of their views ; and, as they, whose moral
greatness and exertions for God's tiuth, had made them
the deliverers of mankind from an insupportable ty
ranny, are thus held up, as schismatical disturbers of
the Church ; so their writings are, of course, heretical .

PART II. 483
perversions of the Gospel. All is partial, all is one
sided in this; no comprehensiveness of view, no
candour, no real discussion of great questions ; but a
gathering up, from the right hand and from the left,
of every thing that could muuster support to foregone
conclusions. The same is the case with those patristical
authorities which their works present so profusely.
No one can deny that there is real learning; and
that the result of it, in the artificial combination
into which it is throvm, is to lend a strong support to
the opinions which the Fathers are thus called upon
to confirm. But, as before, they present only one
view of the question. Before the judgment of these
authors can really be ascertained, there is a vast
mass of materials of a very different tendency to be
dUigentiy studied and compared. The one-sidedness
of their patristical views is a demonstrated fact to
any one, who, however unacquainted himself with
that voluminous Uterature, has studied the admirable
works which this controversy has caUed forth ^ ' vid. Mr.
¦' . Goode's
But one thing should be carefully borne in excellent
1 . , . book upon
mind, by all who are inclined, in this matter, the mie of
. , . faith, for
to bow to authority, and to general assertions, abundant
the truth of which they have no means of testing. And there '
A thorough examination- of the remains of primi- "^dence
tive antiquity, is not a desideratum unaccomplished. "^Icelmg^
The whole of this enormous mass of evidence i^^^and^v.'
has been thoroughly sifted and weighed by those
giants of the reformed Church of England whom
God raised up, with capacity, and resolution, as
ii2

484 LECTURE VIII.
well as learning, equal to thi& indispensable task;
every canon, even, of the old Councils was vigor
ously analyzed, and not a document overlooked
which could throw a light upon the mind of Catholic
antiquity dm-ing the compilation of the Anglican
articles. The result of this laborious scrutiny oUght
to satisfy every reasonable mind ; it is, that, not only
the practical teaching, but the specific doctrines of
the Church of England, and specially, her views of
Vid Lee- justification by faith only, have the consentient
ture iv. on . » „ . . . . . -(Trn
justidca- testimony oj all primitive antiquity. When we see
tion by /¦ i i • i • i
faith only, amoug US a racc of theological giants who can rise
to the mighty stature of our Cranmers, our Ridleys,
our Jewels, our Beveridges, our Ushers, and a host
of other great and holy men, then it will be time to
reconsider the verdict of the Reformers; but, till
then, no wise or sober man wUl admit the thought
of it, or allow the consent of real primitive antiquity
to the Articles of the Church of England to be a
debateable question.
Again : the same one-sidedness, which is observ
able in then- views of the Reformers and of the
Fathers, is quite as strongly marked in the adduction
of authorities fi-om the Church of England, of dates
subsequent to the Reformation ; they are true, as far
as they go, and may reasonably be allowed to modify
any extreme expressions in an opposite direction;
but, as any one may easUy satisfy himself, they pre
sent, with few exceptions, only half the question ; on
tradition, on justification by faith only, on the holy Sa
craments, these great men are nearly unanimous in

PART II. 486
condemnation of the doctrines which they are called
upon to support, in that specific form, at least, in which,
on this system, they are presented. Is there any insin
cerity or lack of good faith in this ? I think, certainly
not; but there is no investigation, no disposition to
a calm collation of authority ; and this deprives the
writers of all weight as dispassionate judges, or as
authoritative guides to other men. Natural such a
mode of collating evidence certainly is — perhaps, with
strong prepossessions, it is unavoidable — we all spon
taneously appropriate whatever in other men's opi
nions seems favourable to our own, and overlook
whatever opposes them.
And in this case, it could not be otherwise with
the assumed premises — ^that such and such doctrines ' This as-
are the infaUible CathoUc truth, on which the is vJry "
salvation of souls depends — that any thing opposed mLrkfd^^in
to them is necessarUy false ; and that any sentiment, in que"stion.
in the works of holy men, which seems inconsistent
with it, must, in reason as weU as charity, receive a
lenient interpretation, and be modified to the re
quirements of the Church doctrine.
And this brings me to another characteristic of
the whole system — it has no foundation — the con
clusions are perfectiy sound if you admit the premises
— but if you caU for proof of them, they faU to the
ground. From first to last, the conclusions, to take
the best view of the case, stretch far beyond the
base on which they are rested. The statements are
often probable, more or less, but, on any fan estimate
oiadduceable evidence, no more than this— no more

486 LECTURE VIII.
even on their own showing. And yet on this are
buUt conclusions which are to have the force of
certainty, and carry authority with them — principles
which are unhesitatingly announced as the very
truth of God, and essential portions of the Gospel
of Christ, the rejection of which endangers every
other verity of revelation. But where is the evidence
for primitive teaching as a divine informant equal
to the Scriptures ? where is the evidence for the
divine institution and obUgation of the penitential
disciphne ? where is the authority for the doctrine of
reserve in religious teaching ? where is the evidence
for restricting the covenanted mercies of God to one
form of Church govempient, however essential we
believe it to be to the perfection of a Church? where
is the evidence for the Episcopal grace, untransmis-
sible save in an absolutely uninterrupted continiuty ?
where is the evidence for the physical influences of
the Sacraments, and their power, ex opere operatq?
where is the evidence for the transuhstantiation or
semi-transubstantiation of the elements in the
Eucharist? All these, and other doctrines, which
form an essential part of the system, are utterly
^ incapable of proof fi-om Scripture, such as reason
able men have a right to demand for any thing that
claims their acceptance on a divine authority; do
what you wUl, you cannot join them on to the Apo
stles — they are utterly extra-scriptural, not to say
anti-scriptural — ^human speculations, and no more,
From these positions comes another argumentative
necessity — if the evidence for these doctrines, thus

PART II. 487
accounted not secondary but essential, cannot be
raised to an equality with those prime Scripture-
truths which are acknowledged by all Christians —
yet something may be done, to bring down the latter
to the evidential level of the former — the whole faith
of the Christian must be lowered, as in this system
it is, to a mere probability, a high one perhaps, but
stiU admitting much uncertainty — destitute to the
last of assurance- In consequence, the whole teach
ing of the holy Scriptures is elaborately obscured,
and involved in artificial difficulties which no simple-
minded Christian, from the beginning tUl now, ever
experienced in its study ^; these doubts and difficulties ' This t
1 ..,..¦ ... . . . ,.,..,.. think isone
are multiphed, tUl certainties and probabihties, re-ofthedan-
vealed verities essential to salvation, and ways andtionTof""^
means more or less instrumental but not essential, woAs ; and
ai-e all brought into one indistinguishable level; andqu'ite°as
the mind, thus effectually bewUdered and entangled, ^Jlked'm
if it is not disposed to abandon altogether its Chris- Rolna^st"
tian hopes, is glad, in its despair, to accept the J^'"^'*^^^^^^ ^^.^
only alternative — tradition, and the authority of the }.^f'jJ"J.'J^'^'i
Church. "^*5 *« ^
word ot God
And then, from the like necessity is drawn another ap"t from
' ¦' traditional
leading principle, in the absence of which, all thatipterpreta-
has been assumed of the divine authority of tradition
wUl be of no practical avaU at aU. For, confessedly,
the three flrst centuries, to which, up to the present
moment, most of our great theologians have limited
the evidential appeal in support of Scripture mter
pretation, fiunishes out of its records very insufficient
materials for the structure of this vast system.

488 LECTURE VIII.
Well then — where shall we find tradition at that
period of its growth which wUl answer the require
ments of the case ? In the fourth and fifth centuries
we find all that is wanted for the purpose, ready to
our hands — that is, in a period of the Church, which,
though Ulustrated by great names — theologians, who
still held, substantially, the great Gospel truths — is,
notwithstanding, marked not only by unscripturaUties
of expression, but by unquestionable signs of fast
coming apOstacy, of which, a very moderate acquaint
ance with the records of the period is quite suffi
cient to satisfy any candid mind, which holds the
doctrines of the Church of England. Here, how
ever, the record is ample enough, and Romanising
enough, if we look at it with Ti-identine eyes, and
examine it with the main Romanist hypotheses al
ready granted. And if this be so, and if indeed we
find here the genuine Church-system of the Apostles
opened to us in its doctrinal and ceremonial per
fection, another formidable conclusion inevitably fol
lows. The invocation of saints and angels — the power
of reUcs, and of consecrated places, where the bodies
of the saints repose — the angeUcal virtue of ceU-
bacy — the adoration, or something very Uke it, of the
vu-gin — the sacrifice for the dead and Uving — a state
of purgatory — and all the superstitions of a symbolical
worship, are forced upon us by unquestionable evi
dence. They must therefore be accepted as portions
of divine tiuth — ^yes, it is proposed to us in this
third century of the Reformed Church of England, to
account them as much of divine authority, if not as

PART II. 489
clearly pronounced, as the Incai-nation and Divinity of
our Lord\ and the doctrine of the blessed Trinity. ' i should
But, if so, there presses on the mind this solemn escape from
enquiry. Is it possible that any Church, which elusion, but
with a false scheme of justification, has deviated how iHs^to
so far from the ApostoUc model, thus fully and au- iong°^^'tra-
thoritatively transmitted, as to reject, ahke in theory ^^'btained
and practice, such essential portions of the Catholic ,w-^a»X
faith, can be a pure Church, or even a true Church ^"^ ^eter"of
at aU? And, on the other hand, can any Church ^«^'P^f«'
which retains them along with the true doctrine of ^°='^^°«|.°f
justification, though with some adhering corruption, century as
aarauist which her own most eminent members pro- deveiope-
° _ ment.
test, be rightly stigmatized as idolatrous? Which, Hence the
necessity 01
in fact, is the true representative of the Church Tract 90.
Catholic and ApostoUcal — ^the Chm-ch of England,
or the Church of Rome ? if the system in question
be, what it professes to be, the undoubted tiuth,
no man capable of drawing a conclusion, can possibly
hesitate. If this be so, the sooner we ask forgive
ness of the papal chair, and repair the schism of the
Reformation, the better.
Moreover, I cannot help feeUng that there is
interwoven with the whole system, as in the scheme
of Romanism, even in its best form, a real, though
subtle rationalism, a mixture of mere human pre
suppositions with divme truth, and a modification
of the latter by the former. And that even minds
of a highly devotional temperament, and which
would abandon life itself, U it came to the point,
rather than surrender the main truths of revelation.

490 LECTURE VIII.
may practically admit large intermixtures of this
dangerous element, no dispassionate observer of
mankind can question as a general proposition,
whether he may demur or not to its application
in the present case. Of this description I consider
the assumption, that the outline of Church order
given us by the Aposties, does not contain all
essential truths touching that order — and that their
sUence on particular points of faith and practice
is not a sufficient rule to us whereby to discriminate
between essentials and non-essentials — what is to
be received as ApostoUcal — and what, as merely
ecclesiastical. That we liaye no right to say, " this
is not provable from Scripture, and therefore is
not of divine authority ; it may be expedient or not,
it may be lawfully enjoined or not, but in itself it
does not bind the conscience;" but that aU, even
the minutest portion of this gigantic system is equally
divine and indispensable to the attainment of the
end — ^the growth of the soul in grace. I cannot
doubt that this unauthorized yearning for what God
has thought proper to withhold, that is, a Mosaic
ritual for the Christian Church, and the consequent
attempt to supply it, at aU risks, and at whatever
straining of evidence, is in principle rationaUstic.
The assumption that a written record, confessedly
divine, and, on its own abundant showing, containing
all things necessary to salvation, shall yet be full
of dangerous ambiguities, even on vital points ; and
that, on some important doctrines it should express
itself in language the obvious meaning of which

PART IL 491
is opposed to the truth of God, is likewise ratio
naUstic. The assumption that there is a permanent want
in humanity of a visible mediator between the soul
and its God — that a proper human priesthood there
fore is an essential provision of the divine dealings
with mankind to the end of the world; and, that
whether the tone of the divine record seem opposed
to it or not, such a statement should and must
be acted upon as a fimdamental principle of the
Church, without offending against the reverence
due to God's word, is likewise rationalistic.
That there are many yearnings in the human
heart for mysteries; for communication with the
unseen world, for the system of emblematic wor
ship, and material aids to devotion ; that such
undoubted natural tendencies, and asserted natural
necessities ought to receive their gratification,
whether Scripture ratifies it or not; and that such
consonancy with the human heart is, pro tanto,
a proof of the divine original of the system, is
rationaUstic. The assumption that the most prominent doc
trines in the Gospel, the exhibition of God's won
derful love to man in the death of His Son, and
the offer of free forgiveness to sinners through faith
in His blood, are to be kept from Christian men,
and form no essential portion of Christian in
struction, m spite of Scripture precept and practice
to the contrary, is rationalistic.
The denial of forgiveness of suis and fuU readmis-

492 LECTURE VIIL
sion into God's favour, to post-baptismal offences ;
and the accompanying theory of the atoning nature
of corporeal mortification, with the intolerable yoke
of sacerdotal penances, as essential to God's for
giveness, though no mark of such a limitation of
the divine favour is to be found in Scripture, but the
contrary, is rationaUstic.
Finally, the whole opposition to the doctrine
of justification by faith only — that faith necessarUy
bringing forth good works — is essentially rationalistic,
and supported on carnal principles. Justification
by works is a prominent part of all religions of
which we have any record, with the single exception
of the mode of reconciUation with God, which is
revealed to us in the Gospel. I wUl only observe
here, that, upon this Romanist theory of justification
by works, there is an amount of such works, usually
ascertainable if we have not faUen from our bap
tismal state, which, as works, are sufficient for the
purposes of eternal salvation — they are the accurate
fulfilment of a precise condition. But if so, where
is the line to be drawn; if you remove the grand
principle that works have no justifying power, and
that they cannot afford any ground for God's pardon,
where are you to stop ? If you can produce works
enough for salvation, why not more than enough?
If both the eminent saint, and the ordinary though
sincere Chiistian, are both, by reason of then- works,
in a state of salvation, and so far both alike, is it
reasonable to suppose that the superior holiness
ofthe first is to be thrown away? " Surely," you

PART II. 493
may reply, " he will receive a higher reward." No
doubt : but why should not a portion of his reward
consist in this, " that the worth of his good deeds
shall overflow to the general good of the Church,
and be put to the account of other men's souls?
It is in consistency with the Gospel scheme that
it should be so, for it is only enabUng the saints
of God to follow Christ's example, and assigning
to their merits, as to His, a proportionate value.
In a word, why should not works of supererogation
be accounted a portion of God's truth — not found
in Scripture, indeed, but a tiuth of tradition, and
harmonizing with it ? and what a glorious object of
Christian charity is thus held forth to us — not only
a crown of glory to ourselves, but the power to
become saviours to other men ?"
These are not idle questions at the present
moment, but very practical points which Rome can
answer for us, if we wUl take warning in time. And
the same principles lead to a completely rationaUstic
view of Christian hoUness altogether. How ex
quisitely human, though divine, is the example of
holy Uving proposed for our imitation in our blessed
Saviour, and, in their degree, in His Apostles ! So
pure and stainless, yet so unaffectedly natural and
unrestrained ; so rich in all those social sympathies
which bind man to man, and so free fi-om all that is
stern, ascetic, and penitential; there is no resemblance
between the true Christian and Gospel model, and
that mediaeval saintship, with its hardening self-
tortures and intense struggle with the best affections

494 LECTURE VIII.
of man's nature, which is now propounded as the
perfection of the Christian character. There is a
fundamental error in the whole conception of Gos
pel holiness, its nature and its manifestations, which,
with its obtrusive rationahsm, distorts the whole
scheme of the Christian life. MealnwhUe, no one
doubts the necessity of self-denial to the perfection
or even existence of the Christian character; but
this surrender of meats and drinks is the very lowest
of the mighty sacrifices which the Christian makes
to His Lord and Master-^^Ave dare not thi-ust them
forward ; with a true faith, they are matters of course
— without it, they lead infallibly to superstitious
formaUsm. And certainly there never was a greater
mistake made, than in supposing that there is any
real opposition between the carnal i/nind and such a
view of the Gospel life ; on the contrary, it is the
very scheme which men, apart from revelation, have
ever proposed to themselves; the Stoic and the
fanatic Hindoo can exhibit more triumphs over our
natural wants and feelings than Christ and His Apo
sties. But, besides these pecuharities, which the system
under examination derives from the Romanist stand
ing point which it has chosen, there are others
which must force themselves on every one's notice.
There is a powerful monastic and scholastic element,
independent of Romanist prepossession. To the
flrst of these I would attribute, not so much the
ascetic character which is marked upon it, as that
comparative exclusion fi-om the Christian life, and

PART II. 495
the whole conception of the Chiistian Ministry, of
its social activities, of its moral influences, of its
practical dealing with the souls of other men, as real
life presents them to us; a lack of that diversified play
of the spiritual affections, and management of men's
varying spiritual wants, which enter so largely into
the experience of the ministerial office. The main
point of view, in which the whole system would seem
to represent the relation of Minister and flock, nay,
the sole communication between the individual soul
and God, is the pubUc service of the Church ; this is vid. Leo-
not only the centre of holy living, where aU its duties
culminate, but it would seem rigidly circumscribed
within the Umits of the material house of God ; con
templation and the altar to reaUze it, constitute the-
Christian Ufe. Hence comes that painfiU attention,
not only to the grander portions of the divine service,
but to the most minute subdivisions into which it
is possible to transfuse a portion of the devotional
spirit ; an exquisite insight, strange to the times in
which we Uve, into the dependencies of the whole ;.
and the attachment, by a devout fancy, of an intel
lectual meaning to the very hooks and fringes of the
Christian sanctuary. From this tone of mind, there
arises, not only a fitting reprobation of all that is not
in harmony with such a service, where God in Christ
is the master idea, or of all ostentation and unchris
tian display; but, in the ruder activities of the Chris
tian life, a sensitiveness of organ which requires,
without the sanctuary, that even regularity and mea
sured harmony which reigns rvithin it; no dissonant

496 LECTURE VIIL
sound, no disturbing glare, nothing to break a pre
scribed and authoritative uniformity. I do not mention
this in blame, but otherwise : there is not only a
beauty, but, properly applied, a profound truth about
it, which it would be weU for us if it were largely
carried out. But when we look at the whole sphere
of the Church, and its manifold relations ; when we
come to deal with things as they are, it may lead to
much theoretic misapprehension, and much in prac
tice injurious to the pressing wants and real interests
ofthe Church.
The scholastic element has been productive of
much greater injury; it has given a real perversion to
the system. From hence has come, quite as much
as fi-om any necessity of position, a tendency to tor
tuous representations of simple questions ; a subtlety
which is never satisfied, so long as a distinction can
be found, or fancied; an incapacity for breadth of
view, and a horror of receiving as an adequate state
ment of a doctiine that scriptural decision, which
presents no doubt or difficulty to an average intelli
gence and candid mind, but is irreconcUable with a
dialectical treatment. Hence the painfiU feeling- of
doubt produced by the perusal of these works; that
singular power of dissolution, without construction,
imless the necessity of taking refuge in the Church,
which follows the demolition of other supports to
faith, be so considered. Hence comes a contempt
for writings conceived in the simplicity of Scripture
phraseology, and a pronounced tendency to a Chris
tian yvwa-is'i an abandonment of the principle that;

PART II. 4t)7
the true knowledge which availeth unto life eternal,
is the growth of faith in the simple heart, and, in
its greatest earthly perfection, attainable by the hum
blest disciples of the Gospel. Hence the predilection
for the great scholastic divines of Rome, and that
mode of theologizing which the Reformation for
a while destioyed ; and that gladiatorial temper
which, without any adequate motive, has led to the
shaking in men's thoughts of those conclusions of
history on men and systems, which had become por
tions of the national mind.
From the combined influence of these scholastic
and monastic elements, other dangerous results have
arisen. Meditative men are often admirable judges
of abstract principles, but not so of their application to
those conditions of men and manners, which did not
enter into then- theoretic statements. A mind, which
finds its very existence in thinking, almost necessarily
systematizes beyond the ti-uth; it gives a definite
shape to that which a practical temper and expe
rience of mankind would leave indefinite — and con
founds the strength of its own conviction, with the
capacity of the truths thus evidenced to prove
themselves to the minds of other men, differently
constituted, and with a different standing point.
For instance, we hold the Apostohc succession, and
the Episcopal scheme, to be most important truths.
But, in a separation from other principles and habits
of thought, are they capable of being so demon
strated to other men ? is it certain that men cannot
doubt about them without heresy, or reject them
VOL. II. K k

498 LECTURE VIII.
without hazarding their salvation ? is it not the very
height of rashness, to put them on a footing with the
Incarnation, and the blessed Trinity ? Is it not per
manently indisposing men's minds, to a calm con
sideration of important principles, thus to run counter
to a fact of which every intelligent Christian is a
competent witness ? Again, is it not full of danger,
not to recognise other facts, which the world at
large recognises as undeniable? Has not the Church,
for instance, sometimes obscured her own commis
sion? have not multitudes risen up among us, who
owe their hopes of heaven, and their Christian civil
ization, to other ministrations ? is it not a fact that
such ministrations have been largely blest ? — There
are likewise broad facts, matters of experience, touch
ing- Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, which are so
evident to men's senses, that it is a perilous expe
riment to contradict them by extra-scriptural theo
ries of either — may not ignorance of such facts, or
inadvertence to them, lead to the worst practical
consequences to the interests of the Church ?
From this theorizing temper comes such a scheme
as a reunion between the great disrupted Churches
of the West — a scheme full of grandeur to a mind
imbued with antiquity, and fixed on the material
unities of the Church, but utterly impracticable,
without the abandonment, on the part of the Church
of England, of all her evangelical peculiarities. But
there is a positive evil in all this. It may not be
God's will that this nation should ever be reunited
under the shadow of the Church ; but at all events.

PART II. 499
an approximation to such a consummation is a prac
tical object and a practical duty. Charity, a gentie
and forbearing demeanour, the use of temperate
reason, a frank acknowledgment of our own former
deficiencies, might do much — there are many holy
and moderate men, in the ranks of dissent, weU worth
winnmg. Is it then pohtic, is U cathohc, is it Chris
tian, to thrust forward, m boastful separation, every
point of difference ? is it Christian to close our eyes
to the one faith, one Lord, one baptism, which, where-
ever there is no formal schism, though there may be a
material one, still unites us in one brotherhood ? Is
it reasonable to refuse to recognise, as in their pos
session, those facts of the spiritual life, and those
precious portions of truth, which they know that they
enjoy, and the presence of which among them has
been acknowledged by our own greatest Divines ? is
it wise to cover, with unmerited obloquy, the names
of Howe, and Baxter, and Doddridge, and Robert
Hall ? I do not say this to palliate schism, or the
enormous evils inseparable fi-om dissent, but to give
the Church of England that scriptural advantage, in
the eyes of our non-conformist fellow-countrymen, of
which these Romanist perversions fataUy deprive
her. But here is exhibited the full action of that
ecclesiastical feehng which pervades every portion of
the scheme ; the priesthood and not the people, or the
people merely through the priesthood, engage every
sympathy of it. This it is which, discontented with
those moral laws by which holy Writ has secured.

500 LECTURE VIIL
conditionally, a boundless influence, and unquestion
able sanctity to the Ministry, has hedged it in, at the
suggestion of a false wisdom, with power and privileges
which must ruin what they profess to support. And
this it is, which, combined with other pecuharities,
has perverted the history of past ages, and rendered
these writers insensible to the changes produced by
time and the extension of knowledge. A primitive
Bishop in perilous times, and close on the Apostles,
might, for many reasons, have wholesomely exercised
an influence, which, at a different period, might be
destructive to the Church. A system of penitential
discipline, practicable in small societies, where every
member was closely united in brotherly love with
every other, might be very unsuitable for a Church
whose position, in those respects, is diametrically
opposite. And where, from the lack of books, and
the power of consulting them, the Priest alone was
acquainted familiarly with the word of God, a
dependency of his flock upon him might be neces
sary and wholesome, which might be as impossible
as it is undesirable, when the means of consulting
the word are universally diffused.
Finally : in addition to these peculiarities of posi
tion and training, there is one personal characteristic
of these writers, which, whUe in some respects it
raises their inteUectual position, makes them the
most dangerous guides possible in striking the
balance between conflicting systems, and in extri
cating the truth from theoretic admixture. They are
eminently distinguished by imaginative power, fervid.

PART II. 501
rapidly darting to conclusions, and instantly, in all
subjects presented to them, assimUating every thing
that is congenial to their temperament. Hence then-
love of the material and the sensuous ; all their con
ceptions of the Church of Christ, without exception,
lean to this side. The forms of outwai-d beauty, by
which the infinite may be shadowed forth to men's
perception — an orderly magnificence — the inward,
not inwardly embraced, but struggling for an ex
ternal manifestation. There is nothing of that,
which, mteUectually speaking, is of a much higher
and nobler order; an adequate conception of the
unsensuous spirituality of the Church ; that invisible
Church universal, unlimited by time, or space, or
nation, which is the true mystical body of Christ.
Hence that incredulity observable throughout, of
the power and commanding position of faith ; faith
the reahzer of the Unseen, not outwardly, but to
itself and within ; an ignorance of the elevated
tone which it communicates to the mind, by com
municating with the Invisible, through the Invisible ;
of the moral independence which it confers, and its
utter incompatibUity with that profusion of outward
rites, and Judaical symbohzing, which appeals to
a totally different faculty. Hence the whole cha
racter of their scheme of worship ; that preference of
Romish forms, and an expression of a Romish
theory, even in the productions of that noble art of
architecture, whose sublime and devotional results,
under the influence of the chastened genius of
Christianity, are only marred by what scriptural

502 LECTURE VIII.
minds regard as allied to dangerous errors, and
a stern reason, as fanciful puerilities ! Hence the
feeling which places Christ and Christ's presence
every where but in the heart ; the unwillingness to
imagine forgiveness of sin without a tangible priestly
absolution ; the necessity of visible centres not to lead
to Christ, but to present Him to the senses; the
inability to realize that presence, at the holy Eucha
rist, without a material theory ; and a physical im
mixture of the Spirit with the elements before
they can conceive its accompanying influences. Hence
too the greatest perversions of ecclesiastical history ;
a measuring of Gospel purity by outward grandeur ; the
yearning for the Romish unity, and, fi-om mediaeval
architectural splendour, the infen-ing a high tone of
principle, and a purer spiritual condition. Hence much
of the interest of their works ; their touching eloquence,
then* tone of undoubting enthusiasm when they shake
off their dialectical trammels, their profound earnest
ness — in such powerful and favourable contrast to
a large proportion of the later theology of the
Church. Hence their fascination for the young,.
whose susceptibility for generous and uncalculating
emotions, and sense of the beautiful and the sub
lime, they have* so powerfully excited.
But it is time that I conclude. The system is
Romanism; not partially, but essentially; not yet
Romanism, indeed, as historical recollections have ex
pressed it, or as the conclusions of reason have demon
strated it to be ; not Romanism in all its palpable
and revolting incongruities to the heart and under-

PART II. 503
standing. But— Romanism, as U has, in aU ages,
represented itself to the young and to the devout —
Romanism, as it is, when purified by elevated feel
mgs, and minds origipaUy trained in Scripture truth —
Romanism, as it combines with itself all that is
grand and beautiful in art, specious in reason, and
seductive in sentiment — Romanism, which may be
safe, in those scripturaUy trained minds, who have
presented it to themselves and to the world in
this beautified shape — but Romanism, stUl per
verting the truth of the Gospel whUe it decorates it —
Romanism, which though it looks paternally and
benignly in the amiable spirits of its present
advocates, involves principles ever fatal to human
hberty and progression — Romanism, with the esta
blishment of whose theory the Articles of the
Church of England cannot coexist, and whose
unseen and unavowed operations in practice will
paralyze her spiritual power, and destroy the Church
of Christ, by substituting human forms for her
Prophet, Priest, and King.

JVofe. — In the foregoing analysis I have taken what appear to me
the unquestionable characteristics of the system, both in and beyond
the Tracts. It is often observed, that ihey who have condemned
the system, have not read the works ; I believe that quite as many
defend it, in entire ignorance of the written documents. If any
one desires to make a dispassionate investigation, there is an Index
to the Tracts, published by Hatchard, which contains a most full
and impartial reference to every passage of importance under
its proper head. One great difficulty in giving an estimate of the
doctrines in question arises from this, that it is easy to point out
on almost all points a variation of expression, sometimes a con
tradictory statement; hut the Key is to be sought in Tract 90, and
that is unfolded in the British Critic.
BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.

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