YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.
AN ATTEMPT
TO ILLUSTRATE THE TRUE PRINCIPLES
OF CHRISTIAN UNION:
IN
EIGHT LECTURES
DELIVERED BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
IN THE YEAR MDCCCLI,
ON THE FOUNDATION OF
THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A.
CANON OF SALISBURY.

BY
HENRY BRISTOW WILSON, B.D.
LATE TELLOW AND TUTOR OF ST. JOHn's COLLEGE,
VICAR OF GREAT STAUGHTON, HUNTS.

OXFORD:
WILLIAM GRAHAM;
HATCHARD AND SON, LONDON.
1851.

sw

printed by JAMBS V^'RIGHT, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY.

EXTRACT FROM
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OF THE
REV. JOHN BAMPTON,
CANON OF SALISBURY.
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to
" the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University
" of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and sin-
" gular the said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the
"intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned; that is to
" say, I will and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the
" University of Oxford for the time being shall take and
" receive all the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and
" (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions
" made) that he pay all the remainder to the endowment
" of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be established for
" ever in the said University, and to be performed in the
" manner following :
" I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in
" Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads
" of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room ad-
" joining to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten
" in the morning and two in the afternoon, to preach
" eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at
" St. Mary's in Oxford, between the commencement of the
a 2

IV EXTRACT FROM CANON BAMPTON S WILL.
" last month in Lent Term, and the end of the third week
" in Act Term.
" Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity
" Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the
" following Subjects — to confirm and establish the Chris-
" tian Faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics
" — upon the divine authority of the holy Scriptures —
" upon the authority of the writings of the primitive Fa-
" thers, as to the faith and practice of the primitive Church
" — upon the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
" Christ — upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghost— upon the
" Articles of the Christian Faith, as compi-ehended in the
" Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.
" Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity
" Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within two
" months after they are preached, and one copy shall be
" given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy
" to the Head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor
" of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the
" Bodleian Library; and the expense of printing them shall
" be paid out of the revenue of the Land or Estates given
" for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the
" Preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue,
" before they are printed.
" Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be
" qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, un-
" less he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at least,
" in one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge;
" and that the same person shall never preach the Divinity
" Lecture Sermons twice."

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.
(Delivered March 23.)
Ephesians ii. 19.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreign
ers, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God. . . . Page 1
LECTURE II.
(Delivered March 30.)
John vii. 16, 17.
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent tne. If
any man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak
of myself . .... 36
LECTURE in.
(Delivered April 6.)
Romans v. 1.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 78

vi CONTENTS.
LECTURE IV.
(Delivered May 4.)
Ephes. ii. 8.
For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that
not of yourselves : it is the gift of God. 110
LECTURE V.
(Delivered May 1 1.)
Gal. i. 3,4.
Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for
our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God and our
Father. . . . .147
LECTURE VL
(Delivered May 1 8.)
Matt.xx. 23,23.
Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of,
and to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with f They say unto him. We are able.
And He saith unto them. Ye shall drink indeed of
my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with. . .180
LECTURE VII.
(Delivered June i.)
John xvii. 16.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. . . . -211

CONTENTS. vii
LECTURE vm.
(Delivered June 22.)
Heb. vi. 1.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again
the foundation of repentance from dead works, and
of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms,
and of laying on of hands. . . 249

LECTURE I.

Ephesians ii. 19.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreign
ers, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God.

IN judging of events, as they pass before
our ow^n eyes, we must make great allow
ance for the natural tendency of all men to
overestimate transactions, in which they are
themselves agents, and to exaggerate the
magnitude of any object, which occupies
their immediate field of sight.
But after all reasonable deduction of this
kind, there can remain but little doubt, of
the age in which we hve being as fruitful,
as any which have preceded it, in events,
which will become, for all time, important
elements of general and Christian history.
It has not indeed yet been marked, and may
not be marked, by any such characteristic
and typical facts, as were, in their respective
B

2 LECTURE L
periods, the sacking of the temple of Serapis
by the Christian populace of Alexandria, the
preaching of the Crusades by Peter the her
mit, or the burning of the Pope's Bull by
Luther. But when we regard, especially, the cha
racter of universality which now belongs,
for the first time in the world's history, to
many human relations ; the diiFusion of
knowledge, in large communities, both widely
and incompletely ; the development of the
powers of man, without, as some may appre
hend, a proportionate addition of moral safe
guards and restraints ; we are led to inquire
with some anxiety, how far that religion,
which we believe to be itself designed for-
universality, is found to be actually capable
of coupling itself with such an altered sys
tem, and of acting upon humanity, under
conditions, wherein it has never before found
itself. Few will deny, that, in the course of its
history, Christianity has already presented
an appearance of considerable variations, as
well in doctrine as in discipline, and in what
may be called its policy relatively to the
world external to itself : that is to say, that
those who have borne the Christian name,
have, in different times and places, varied in

LECTURE L 3
their professions of faith, in their worship
and practices, and in their relations, declared
or understood, towards the civil society.
Some will employ, in recording or ac
counting for these variations, the theory of
developments, others of corruptions, others
of adaptations, or the like. But all these
ideas imply and are comprehended under
the idea of Law, and as any of them become
strengthened and definite, the idea of mi
racle, interference, or new revelation fades
away and disappears. And, so long as we do
not expect a further miraculous interposition
to cut through all difficulties, whatever the
peculiar theory may be of each one of us,
concerning the law, according to which
Christianity has heretofore varied its aspect
under varying conditions, we cannot but an
ticipate some further variations, considering
the altogether novel conditions, which the
existing state of the world presents to it.
But to any who apprehend some varia
tions in the aspect of Christianity, and some
unsettling of its existing relations to the
civil society, questions must occur, as more
or less imminent, and of more or less serious
import, concerning the consisting of such
variation and unsettling w^ith received inter
pretations of Scripture, with admitted prac-
B 2

4 LECTURE I.
tical rules of civil and ecclesiastical polity,
with acknowledged moral principles.
For a time indeed, among ourselves, this
variant property of Christianity had been
lost sight of; and all great questions of
doctrine, of order, of practice, were con
sidered to have received, for us at least, a
sufficient and felicitous settlement : and
whether for the combating of errors already
twice dead, or for the enforcing and illus
trating principles generally acquiesced in by
the hearers, discourses of a formal kind, in
such places as this, were not required to em
body, and could scarcely with propriety em
body, much more, than a repetition under
new arrangements, of what had been before
said by primitive Fathers, by medieval Doc
tors, or by the Reformed and Anglican
divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. But the movement of the world, into
which Christianity is born, which furnishes
its pabulum, which it is its office to regene
rate and convert, forces us to look for cor
responding change in some of its functions,
in some parts of ecclesiastical organization,
in some instruments of moral government
and in methods of religious teaching. And
besides this, the maturer judgment, which

LECTURE L 5
later ages are enabled to form, upon all the
historical facts wherein Christianity in one
sense consists ; the wider knowledge and
the more acute and discriminating criticism,
which can now be brought to bear upon the
records, in which its divine origin is commu
nicated to us ; and perhaps above all, the
growing precision, with which psychology
and moral science analyse the nature, on
which the Gospel is to operate, necessitate
the illustrating of long acknowledged truths
in a new manner ; the resolving of ancient
forms of expression into their modern equi
valents ; and the application of the Gospel
to human nature, as it really is, and not
as it has been represented by Manichean
doctors. Such are some of the more obvious reflec
tions, which have occurred to me, in ap
proaching, under the circumstances of the
present time, the consideration and illustra
tion of a clause in the Apostles' Creed, not
perhaps the least remarkable in itself; the
origin of which historically is not ascer
tained ; the application and understanding
of which has heretofore been various and is,
I think, ordinarily among ourselves some
what vague ; but which seems to me to ad
mit of an application, and to contain the

6 LECTURE I.
germ of it, which may be expanded into a
practical principle of great importance, to
wards the action of Christianity upon the
world. I mean the clause in the Apostles'
Creed, which recites a belief of the Com
munion of Saints.
This clause is found only in the least de
veloped of the three creeds which we re
ceive ; in that which, although it cannot, by
evidence and unbroken tradition, be proved
to be the most ancient of the creeds, is fairly
considered as representing the most ancient
model of a creed". But although thus in
cluded in an ancient form of creed, it has
=* Baronius on the year 44 gives the story, on authority
of the Sermon 115 De Tempore, of each clause of the
Creed having been contributed by an apostle : Simon
Zelotes contributing, " Sanctorum Communionem, Remis-
sionem Peceatorum." But Rufiinus, who first mentions
the tradition of the Creed being thus a contribution from
the several apostles, does not recognise the phrase " Sanc
torum Communionem." The story itself, if it did not ori
ginate in a misunderstanding by the Latins of the Greek
word a-v[M^o\ov, at least falls to the ground, apart from
other considerations, when that word is understood. 2t)jii-
^o\fl means properly the act of contributing, and thence
that which is contributed. But crijixfioXov signifies, in ac
cordance with its derivation, not an act, or a result, but
an instrument, and is properly a military pass or sign.
So Maximus Tau7'inensis, de Tradit. Syrnb. : " Symbolum
tessera est et signaculum, quo inter fideles infidosque
discernitur." H. Witsius, Exercitationes Sacrce in Syrnb.
Apost. Amst. 1797. See also Appendix.

LECTURE L 7
somewhat of the air of a corollary from, or
gloss upon, the clause which precedes it.
Now the usual statement concerning
clauses of the creeds which go beyond the
simplest elements of Christian belief is, that
they are traceable to the intrusion of some
heterodoxy, which they were intended to
counteract ; and that they embody, for the
most part, the judgment of councils con
vened for the determination of those very
questions. But this is not the case with the
clause before us, which is not even traceable
to the authority of any local synod, nor to
any individual Father of eminence.
The clause forms part of the Roman
Creed ; although the Roman Church was in
earlier times very careful of innovations in
the Creed : it is not recognised by Ruffinus,
nor in any genuine work of Augustine. It
first appears in some of the Sermons attri
buted to him, and apparently was generally
received in the West soon after the begin
ning of the fifth century.
Now it has been thought, considering the
time about which the clause first appears,
that it owes its origin to the Donatist schism ;
and that it embodies as it were a protest,
against the exclusive assumption of Catholi
city, by the African churches, which were

8 LECTURE I.
attached to that party : that, with particular
reference to the practice of interchanging
commendatory letters between churches in
communion, it amounts in fact to a declara
tion, that any separatist church, which nei
ther receives nor addresses letters commen
datory to or from other churches, cuts itself
off, by its own act, from communion with
the body of Christ^. But however plausible,
and really probable in itself, such account of
the clause may be, there is not sufficient
historical evidence to enable us to admit it
as a true account. And although Augustine
himself presses against the Donatists their
non-interchange of communicatory letters,
he does not, as we have seen, recognise in
his exposition of the symbol, nor in his con
troversy with that party, this phrase of com
munion of saints'
* See Lord King's Critical History of the Apostles'
Creed, pp. 341 sqq. He considers the clause most pro
bably to have originated on occasion of the Donatist
schism, and that it signifies principally two things : First,
that a sign whereby one knows a true church is, that
other churches communicate with it. Secondly, hence
also a negative sign, whereby any church which sets up
an exclusive claim like the Donatists, thereby unchurches
itself. On the whole, he supposes the clause to have been
added, in order to declare, that there ought to be com
munion and intercourse between churches.
c Aug. Ep. xliii. ed. Ben. " Unde factum est, ut etiam

LECTURE L 9
But I cannot here refrain from the reflec
tion, that the intermission of friendly inter
course between the different churches of
Christendom is one of the worst evidences
presented in later generations of the dying
out of a true catholic spirit. Those churches
and congregations, which are the furthest
committed, by excommunications and con
demnations of others, to the course of iso
lation and separation, must be considered as
the most unhappy. And let us not hesitate
to recognise it as one of the blessings which
we inherit in the Church of England, that
ad nonnuUos Donatistarum primarios scriberemus, non
communicatorias litteras, quas jam olim, propter suam per-
versitatem, ab unitate cathoUca, quae toto orbe diffusa est,
non accipiunt ; sed tales privatas, qualibus nobis uti etiam
ad Paganos licet." Ep. xliv. " Hie primo asserere conatus
est, ubique terrarum esse communionem suam. Qusere-
bam utrum epistolas communicatorias, quas formatas di
cimus, posset quo vellem dare, et affirmabam, quod mani-
festum erat omnibus, hoc modo facilhme illam posse
terminari qusestionem." Upon which is observed in the
note, " Hinc Donatistas urgebat etiam Optatus, in Lib. ii.
' Nobis totus orbis commercio formatarum, in una com-
munionis societate concordat.^ In Codice Can. Eccl.
Afric.'exstat 23 canon, ut episcopus trans mare profectu-
rus, formatam sumat a primate." The word " formate" is
therefore used in two somewhat different senses, first, for
the communicatory or cathoKc letters properly so called,
addressed from church to church; secondly, for a com
mendatory or credential letter granted to an individual.
3 Cor. iii. \ . See further the Appendix.

10 LECTURE L
she has not added anathemas to the contro
versial statements and vindications of her own
position, which she was necessitated to make
at the time of her Reformation ; that she
has nowhere limited salvation to those who
are within her own pale ; that she has no
where so compromised herself, as to deny an
interest in covenant promises, even to those
with whom she has been most in contro
versy, and against whom her Articles were
mainly pointed ; and likewise, that she has
nowhere declared, what or whether any de
fect of material constitution and internal
discipline does absolutely nullify as a church
a congregation calling itself Christian.
And it is to be hoped, that no haughtiness
or over-nicety will henceforth stand in the
way of attempts on the part of those, who
may be considered to represent corporately the
Church of England, to renew some friendly in
tercourse with such portions of Christendom
as will admit it ; and that we shall not suffer
ourselves to despise some, because they are
less learned, or others, because we presume
them to be less perfectly constituted than
ourselves. Such intercourse as I have men
tioned, requiring no consent, commandment,
or will of princes, if confined in its objects to
the mutual encouragement of churches in

LECTURE I. 11
their action upon the moral condition of the
communities under their charge, would exer
cise a most beneficial influence, by exhibiting
to the world the functions of a purely moral
power ; and would tend to reduce dogmatic
differences, which cannot be obliterated, to a
just and much diminished value and import
ance. Upon another hypothesis, the reception of
the clause before us, in the creed of the
Roman church, might appear capable of being
accounted for by what we know from secular
history alone, if the meaning of the phrase
were simply that, of Christians being all mem
bers of one and the same society.
In the West, the ideas of municipality and
fellow- citizenship were far more vigorous
than in the East. For although republican
forms had long been at Rome mere forms
for public and constitutional purposes, the
phrases and ideas founded on those forms
had by no means become obsolete at the
commencement of the fifth century. The
multiplication of municipal bodies in Italy,
to say nothing of other colleges and corpo
rations, had rendered men perfectly familiar
with the idea of a society of persons, united
by common bonds for common objects, and
enjoying common privileges. And it might

12 LECTURE L
be supposed further, that as the West was in
the fifth century the most exposed to the
inroads of barbarians, men would be the more
ready, as they saw the dissolving of the old
Roman state, to listen to those who told them
of a more durable society ; that the Christian
preacher might wisely discourse to them of a
" city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God," the idea which is in fact
expanded in Augustine's great work.
The East and West, we must remember,
were christianized in different ways, and by
no means equally at the same period. The
East having been christianized through its
emperors was already converted in the middle
of the fourth century ; while Paganism, re
ceiving a support in the West from the old
Roman party, maintained what may be termed
a respectable struggle against Christianity,
chiefly by the appeal to the feelings imphed
in the formula, more majorum, down to the
middle of the fifth''. Hence perhaps the
d The appeal of the pagan Symmachus, prefect of Rome,
to induce Valentinian II. to suffer the restoration of the
Altar of Victory to the senate house (A.D.384), amounts
to little more than this. Symmachi Epist. lib. x. ep. 61.
For the protracted struggle of the Paganism of the West
against Christianity, see the citations in Gieseler, sec. Per.
Div. I. ch. I. §§. 76, 77. Beugmt, Histoire de la Decadence
du Paganisme en Occident. Etudes sur Symmache, par
E. Morin, Paris. 1847.

LECTURE L 13
origin of the reluctance of the Roman church
of that age to add to the symbol and the
secresy observed in communicating if^- And
it does not seem on the whole probable, that
this clause of the Communion of Saints should
have been added by way of an economy in
regard to those as yet without the Church.
It was not usual to propose the credenda, as
"= Anciently, the Apostles' or Roman Creed was not
sung, which is perhaps an evidence of the depressed state
of the Roman church, and of the difficulties with which it
was beset, in the early ages. " Quod quia Symbolum
Patrum (i. e. the Nicene Creed) est declarativum Symboli
Apostolorum, et etiam fuit conditum, fide jam manifestata
et ecclesia pacem habente, propter hoc publice in missa
cantatur. Symbolum autem Apostolorum, quod tempore
persecutionis editum fuit, fide nondum publicata, occulte
dicitur in prima et in completorio, quasi contra tenebras
errorum prseteritorum et futurorum." 7%. Aq. Sec. Sec.
qu. I. art. ix. Liturgically, the singing of the Creed is sig
nificant of the Church being in a state of triumph. But
the origin of the difference here referred to is probably not
to be found in the circumstances of the earlier period, as
Aquinas represents it, at which the Apostles' Creed was
composed, for there is no evidence of its having existed,
in solido, prior to the council of Nicsea, but rather in the
local circumstances of the Church in the West. When
secresy was no longer called for by a prudent caution, a
reserve, more apparent than real, might be continued for
the sake of a significancy. Thus Augustine says, that they
who received the Creed were not to write it, because
" quicquid in Symbolo audituri estis, in divinis Sacrarum
Scripturarum litteris continetur," which God has promised
to write in their hearts, therefore, the not writing it else
where is significant of this internal writing.

14 LECTURE I.
a whole, to the unconverted. The proceeding
was, of set purpose, what it has usually been
in conversions, whether of set purpose or not,
that the convert has been attracted by some
prominent article of faith, been carried on
ward by some dominant argument, led by the
hope of satisfying a want, won over by some
seductive practice, stimulated by some irre
sistible curiosity concerning the sequel of his
initiation ; and so that he has accepted a sys
tem by an act of the will, without exercising
his judgment in detail upon its parts^
And in fact, when the clause is first found,
although not in an authorized and public
way, it is expounded, not in reference to the
general community of interests which belong
to Christian people, but in regard to supposed
particular relations between the living saints
and the dead. It may be true, that, to use the
words of Bishop Pearson, " they which first
found this part of the article in the Creed,
and delivered their exposition unto us, have
f It is in fact hardly possible for converts to be as
well acquainted with the religion which they embrace, as
with that which they desert ; and that this circumstance,
considering the utter hollowness of Paganism, was highly
in favour of Christianity, is not to be taken as a dispa
ragement to it. But between systems more equally ba
lanced, as between rival forms of Christianity, allowance
must often be made on this ground, when estimating the
value of conversions in given periods.

LECTURE L 15
made no greater enlargement of this commu
nion as to the saints of heaven, than the so
ciety of hope, esteem and imitation, on the
one side, of desires and supplications on their
side." But as other opinions grew up, they
clustered round and appropriated a term,
which did not originally belong to those sub
jects, which belonged originally to the depart
ment of discipline rather than to that of
theology^.
s " Quant k la police ecclesiastique, elle a use de ce mot
plus souvent et plus ordinairement que la theologie." Al-
baspincBus, De VEucharistie, liv. ii. " AU the canons," he
says, " may be comprised in the three words. Communion,
Excommunication, Discommunion." The first is the re
compense of merit, the second the cutting off the authors of
sin, the third places offenders out of peril, " dans un delay
pour appaiser Dieu et pour meriter par les larmes de re-
tourner au giron et dans la communion de la mere." The
following are the chief meanings and employments of the
word Communion. Temporal and spiritual communion ;
ecclesiastical and lay; communion of fraternity, as be
tween bishops ; communion of his people, when a bishop
held no communication with other bishops, " contentus sit
comraunione plebis suae;" ordinary communion; foreign
communion, in two senses; i. of strangers or visitors;
a. a depression of ecclesiastics to lay-communion so called;
communion of sacraments ; communion of the altar ; com
munion with oblations or without oblations, referring to
different stages of reconciliation of penitents ; communion
by oblation of name ; communion by salutation or bene
diction ; communion by letters ; communion by comme
moration as in the " communicantes ;" communion of
saints, between the living and the dead; between the
Church militant and the Church triumphant.

16 LECTURE I.
A hope, that the living might be of avail
in some way to the dead, naturally followed
the special feeling of interest, which surviving
Christians took in the prospects of those, who
had departed with more or less of the same
faith which animated themselves. It was a
necessary consequence of men being often in
those times brought into the church by the
operation of terror and alarm, that they should
regard with doubt and apprehension the state
of their departed friends, who had been in
life but half- christians or inconsistent pro
fessors. The affectionate and hopeless regret
which breathes so touchingly in Pagan epi
taphs, was with Christians, in numberless,
nay in ordinary cases, sharpened into a more
precise, pointed and painful feeling of fear.
The theology of such men even as Ambrose
and Augustine had not reached so far, as to
be able to apply to the departed, under any
circumstances, passages of Scripture similar to
these ; " to his own master every one standeth
or falleth ;" " shall not the judge of all the
earth do right ?" and so to shut up their con
dition and future state under the divine attri
butes of justice and mercy''.
h They rather sought by exceptions and imaginary dis
tinctions to bring extraordinary cases under the peculiar
and narrow promises of Christianity, as they were to them,

LECTURE L 17
But this is not the only relation supposed
between the living and the dead. It was also
supposed, that the dead could benefit the
living. The one idea is not relinquished for
the other, but the two are comprehended to
gether. And so far the idea of communion
seems to be rendered more complete, by rea
son of the apparent mutual action and reac
tion of the portions of the Church on earth
and already departed ; although the departed
in the two cases are in such different con
ditions'. The full meaning of communion is
than to leave them with confidence to the general wisdom
and mercy of God. See the letter of Ambrose endeavour
ing to console the sisters of Valentinian under the cala
mity of his having died without baptism, Fleury, Eccl. H.
xix. 33. p. 208, Oxf. Tr. Augustine felt no misgiving con
cerning the damnation of unbaptized infants. " Quo (sc.
peccato) sive soluto per Dei gratiam, sive per Dei judicium
non soluto, cum moriuntur infantes, aut merito regene-
rationis transeunt ex malis ad bona, aut merito originis
ex malis ad mala." De Prwdest. Sanctor. 24. " Neque
enim fato cogitur Deus illis infantibus subvenire, illis au
tem non subvenire, — aut res humanas in parvulis non
divina providentia, sed fortuitis agi casibus opinabimur,
cum rationales vel damnandae vel liberandse sunt animse."
And because sometimes the children of unbelievers are
baptized and the children of behevers die unbaptized;
" Ubi certe ostenditur quod personarum apud Deum non
sit acceptio ; alioquin cultorum suorum potiusquam ini-
micorum filios liberaret." De Dono Perseverantice, 3 1 .
' In Ambrose the idea of purgatory is rudimental com
pared with what it afterwards became ; the invocation of
martyred saints and their intercession is distinctly taught.
C

18 LECTURE I.
not however brought out ; for there is needed,
to render it complete, the mutual recognition
of those who receive and confer the good
offices. The feeling of this defect is evi
denced in medieval histories of apparitions of
souls, delivered from purgatorial pains by
prayers and masses provided by surviving
friends, and of visions attesting the interven
tion of a patron or friendly saint, in some
He interprets the looo years during which the saints are
to reign with Christ, Rev. xx. 5, 6, as signifying the period
from Christ's ascension to his coming to judgment, the
saints being without their bodies in heaven with the Lord,
this being the first resurrection. And " as we know that
all the elect are members of Christ and many members
make up one body, and if one member rejoice all the
members rejoice with it, so the joy of the saints, who have
gone before will belong to those also who shall be born in
the end of the world, for they shall be made one body to
gether with them and shall possess in others what shall be
wanting to themselves." But he thinks, that " multos
fine mundi instante ignis purgatorius purgando cremabit
sed ante judicium absoluti in sanctorum coUegio recipi-
entur," and so will not be subject to the second death.
As to the invocation of saints ; " Obsecrandi sunt angeli
pro nobis, qui nobis ad praesidium dati sunt, martyres ob
secrandi, quorum videmur nobis quoddam, corporis pignore,
patrocinium vindicare. Possunt pro peccatis rogare no
stris, qui proprio sanguine etiam si qua habuerunt peccata
laverunt. Isti enim sunt Dei martyres, nostri praesules,
speculatores vitae, actuumque nostrorum. Non erubesca-,
mus eos intercessores nostras infirmitatis adhibere, quia
ipsi infirmitatem corporis, etiam cum vincerent, cogno-
verunt." Expos. Div. Ambros. sup. Apoc. B. Joan. cap. xx.
Opp. Paris. 1586, t. iii. p. 943.

LECTURE L I9
pressing spiritual or temporal need. Herein
is evident a natural tendency to fill up through
the imagination, the idea of communion, when
the persuasion had become deeply and popu
larly seated of that communion embracing
both the living and the dead"".
But far different from such views are those
which are presented to us in the Protestant
theology. The reformers indeed retain the
Apostles' Creed' and the clause of it which is
the subject of our notice. But they do not
understand the clause in the sense in which
it had been expounded during the medieval
^ Lightfoot, Serm. on Lufce xv. 7. "We may very well
conceive, that the saints in glory rejoice as this his mys
tical body comes on to be glorified, when a soul comes to
heaven. But that they know what men do here below, is
neither proved, nor is it material to be believed. Therefore
I shall not intangle myself in that question, but leave it to
them that do believe it to prove it when they are able."
Neither indeed is it proved that there are as yet any saints
in heaven. Calvin conceded, " in asserenda sanctorum in-
tercessione, si hoc tantum intendis, eos assiduis votis expe-
tere regni Christi complementum, in quo salus omnium
fidelium continetur, nemo est nostrum, qui aliquam de ea
re controversiam faciat." Ad Sadoletum Responsio. But on
the critical principle, this concession is too hypothetical to
be included in an article of faith.
' " Symbolum Apostolicum est confessio fidei omnium
Christianorum, regula universalis reliquarum confessionum:
Analogiam fidei continens, atque sacri evangelii summam :
in Veteri ac praecipue in Novo Testamento comprehensum:
ne quis dicat illud Symbolum non extare in Sacra Scrip-
tura." Corpus et Syntagma Confessionum, Genev. 1654.
c 2

20 LECTURE L
period. And the difference or contrast be
tween what we may call, for convenience sake,
the Romish and Protestant senses, is closely
connected with essential differences in the
theologies ; and if the Romish interpretation
is scripturally unauthorized, the Protestant
exposition is practically vague. It is essential
to the Romish system, that spiritual bless
ings and advantages be supposed to flow, by
divine appointment, mediately yet supema
turally, through expressly constituted or per^
mitted means, whether they be persons, things
or acts ; whereas it is characteristic of the
Protestant theology, generally, and with some
limitations, to represent all good and per
fect gifts as coming down immediately from
the Father of lights. While therefore, with
respect to our present subject, no practical
relation is supposed of the li ving to the dead,
or of the dead to the living, the relation of
the living to one another in the communion
of saints, is held to be that of common parti
cipants in the same spiritual blessings, which
however descend upon each, by a separate ray,
immediately, from the Author and Giver of
all good gifts. But as with the former sys
tem, there was a defect in the idea of com
munion, by reason of the supposed action
and reaction of the saints living and dead

LECTURE L 21
not being ascertained ; so here is a defect in
the want of a common test of a common su
pernatural influence™.
And now, not to pursue further either
historical hypotheses concerning the origin of
the clause, or to dwell at present upon dif
ferent acceptations and adaptations of it,
which would only be to anticipate what will
come before us in a somewhat different shape
at a future time ; it is of more immediate
consequence to ask, whether the Church of
England has attached a precise sense to it.
"^ Although of a later date than the Reformation itself,
the follovnng may be considered as representing generally
the view of Protestant theology concerning the communion
of saints, as contrasted with the Roman. The portions of
the several confessions which refer to the clause or the
subject of it wiU be found in the Appendix.
" Communio quae ex ista unione (cum Christo) oritur
est omnium dononim ac meritorum Christi participatio
per Spiritum, Joh. vi. ^6, Rom. viii. 9, i Cor. i. 9, Eph.
iii. J 7, Apoc. iii. 30, 3 Cor. xiii. 13. Ex hac nostra commu-
nione cum Christo oritur mutua membrorum ejus com
munio inter se : quae Sanctorum Communio in Symbolo
Apostolico dicitur, Rom. xii. 4, 5, i Cor. xii. 13, 13, 37. Ex
hac unione et communione cum Patre et Christo, mem-
brorumque Christi inter se, nascitur Ulud corpus mysticum
quae ecclesia invisibUis est cujus caput est Christus,
I Thess. i. 1, 2 Thess. i. i, Joh. xi. 52, 3 Cor. vi. 16, Gal. iv.
36, Eph.i. 32, 33; iv. 13, 15, 16; V. 33, Col.i. 18, 19, 34;
ii. 19, Heb. iii. 6; xii. 23, 23. Cum itaque corpus Christi
unum mystice sit, communionem quoque membrorum ejus
necesse est esse mysticam, et non necessario localem, &c."
Miltoni de Doctr. Chr.

22 LECTURE L
And if the Church of England has not, as
I apprehend, required it, we are under no
obhgation to accept any particular historical
theory of the origin of the article, nor to at
tach to it any one particular sense, because it
may be one out of many, which have hereto
fore been assigned to it". And the way will
thus lie open, to investigate freely the princi
ple or principles, which have all along bound
together the communion of saints, and which
shall continue to bind them together, at least
until the end of the Christian dispensation
upon earth.
" Immediately previous to the Reformation in England,
the Necessary doctrine and erudicion for any christen
man, says, " here is to be noted, that althoughe this worde
Saintes, in our Englishe tongue signifieth properly theim,
that be departed this life, and be establisshed in glorie
with Christe ; yet the same worde Saintes, whereby in this
article we expresse the latine worde Sanctorum, is here ex
tended, to signify not only these before mencioned, but
also all suche, as be called into this holy assemble and
churche, and be sanctified in our Saviour Jesu Christ. —
And forasmuche as the most blessed sacrament of the
aultar, wherein by the myghty operacion of goddis worde,
is really present in forme of bread, the naturall huying
body and blonde of our saviour and redeemer Jesu Christe,
encreaseth and worketh in them that worthylye receyue it,
the communion and conjunction in bodie and soule of
theym to Christe, and Christe to theim, with a mutuall
conjunction also in loue and chai-itie of eche good man in
Chryste to other. Therfore the said sacramente male
woorthilie bee called the Communion of saintes."

LECTURE L 23
With respect then to any sense, which our
own Church may be supposed to affix to this
clause of the Creed, when we take account
of the declaration of the eighth Article, that
" the three Creeds ought thoroughly to be
received and believed ; for they may be proved
by most certain warrants of holy Scripture ;"
together with what is laid down in the sixth
Article ; that " whatsoever is not read therein,
nor may be proved thereby, is not to be re
quired of any man, that it should be believed
as an article of the Faith, or be thought re
quisite or necessary to salvation ;" we may
presume, without hesitation, the Church to
assert, by implication, the proposition now
under consideration, to be deducible and
provable from Scripture ; not only not to
be inconsistent with it, independent of it, be
side it, beyond it, or receivable upon an au
thority extraneous to it. It is receivable
therefore in the Scripture sense ; " for," says
Bishop Pearson upon the clause of the de
scent into hell, " whatsoever is delivered in
the Creed we therefore believe because it is
contained in the Scriptures, and consequently
must so believe it, as it is contained there."
And if in some times and in some portions of
the Church certain opinions were taught and
attached to this clause, which opinions have

24 LECTURE L
since disappeared, on a review of scriptural
authorities, from our own and other con
fessions, we are enabled to draw out, from
this instance, the view, which seems to me to
open a prospect of escape from the intellec
tual and spiritual bondage, which the reten
tion through all ages of ancient forms of
creed has, of itself, a tendency to perpetuate.
For there are several distinct eras in the
history of a creed. First is the era of its
origination, when it expresses an existing fact
of the union or coincidence of a certain num
ber of individuals, or masses, or authorities,
in the conceptions conveyed at that time, to
their minds, by a certain form of words.
But there are processes inevitably going
on, whereby the peculiar circumstances and
education of each successive generation varies
the conceptions, which it is capable of form
ing ; and whereby words cease to convey the
same ideas, which they did in a previous age.
And these processes go on more or less ra
pidly, are accelerated or retarded, by varia
tions in race, language and many external
conditions. And I know of no divine pro
mise, that these processes should not affect
theological conceptions, or language when it
expresses theological conceptions. As a mat
ter of fact we are perfectly sure, that theo-

LECTURE L 25
logical forms of words of former ages do not
speak to us with the same voice, with which
they spoke to men of those days ; but require
a special interpretation, before they can be
comprehended by the modern, because they
have grown obsolete : and to comprehend
them, it is necessary, that one be instructed,
concerning the philosophical and other life
of the times and places, when such forms
were conceived. But, notwithstanding these
necessary variations in the senses of words
and the understandings of men, creeds and
other like formularies may be retained and
have been retained by churches, as symbols
of union and membership or as instruments
of instruction. Nevertheless the reception or
adoption of them in either of these ways is
not an expression of a fact of the same kind,
as was the enunciation of a creed or other
formula of faith, upon the original occasion
of its formation.
Each generation, as it is the successor and
inheritor of those which preceded it, so is it
of necessity their judge ; and whether its
data, or its abilities, be esteemed by some
contemporaries to be adequate thereto or not,
this is an office from which it cannot escape.
We must judge other ages, in their morals
and manners, their politics, their philosophy.

26 LECTURE L
their religion ; as we must judge other na
tions of the present age, other schools of phi
losophy than our own, other religions than
our own, as Christians, other communions
than our own, as members of the Church of
England. And hence it may happen, that a further
era in the use of a creed or other formula
supervenes ; namely, when it is retained or
adopted in a sense different, more or less,
from that which it bore at its framing, or in
some previous period of its history. And if,
for the sake of order or convenience, a church
retains a symbol, of which parts are held
in different senses by different churches, she
cannot affix all these senses thereto, or any
besides her own. And an age, or a church
in a given age, is not obliged to affix a sense
to a symbol or part of a symbol, because in
other times, even at the framing of it, it re
ceived a different sense from that which is
possible in the present age and condition.
And this liberty can be claimed especially for
a church, which refers to Scripture, as the
authority for its credenda, if the sense in
which a creed or article of faith was framed,
or has at some time been received, should now
turn out, to her present mind un scriptural".
" Bp. Pearson indeed says, "The late admission of it

LECTURE L 27
I am not engaged to apply the principle
now put forward to any other clause of the
Creed, than that which is selected for our
immediate consideration ; and I do not mean
to say, that it might not be applied unduly
or heedlessly, or might not in any instance be
carried too far. But there would not remain
sufficiently open to me room for a free in
quiry, as to what are the bonds of union of
into the Creed will be thus far advantageous, that thereby
we may be the better assured of the true intent of it, as it
is placed in the Creed. For it will be no way fit to give
any other explication of these words as the sense of the
Creed, than what was then understood by the Church of
God, when they were first inserted." But if the then un
derstanding of the Church, which was only the under
standing of a part of the Church in time and place, be
various from the present understanding of a part likewise
of the Church, the bishop's other principle must be the
guide for our own period and locality. So in regard to
that clause of the " Descent into Hell," the framers of it
applied it probably to a descent of the disembodied Saviour
to the place of torment, to display his victory, and the same
interpretation has been given by some Protestants; "Sicut
articulum ascensionis in allegoriam minime transforma-
mus : ita descensum ad inferos, simpliciter, juxta symboli
historiam, ut sonat litera, intelligimus — Est igitur simpli-
cissima sententia : Quod Christus ostenderit suam victo-
riam Diabolis, et eos terruerit, sed quomodo hoc factum
sit non scrutamur." Repetitio Anhaltina, ix. But the
Church in our time and place need not hesitate to teach,
that by " Hell" is not here meant the place of torment
but the place of departed souls, if it is now with us gene
rally esteemed, that the former sense is not provable from
Scripture and that the latter is.

28 LECTURE I.
the saints, and what their relative force and
power respectively, if I was tied down to the
meanings, which have been hitherto affixed,
or which perhaps were most anciently affixed,
to the words in the Creed, which are, as it
were, my text.
Here no doubt the question will occur ;
" but if Creeds and Articles are not to be
considered as interpretations of Scripture,
and we must go to Scripture for the inter
pretation of forms of that kind, where is to
be found the interpretation of Scripture ?"
And it is necessary to extricate ourselves,
before proceeding, from that vicious circle,
whereby certain authorities are to fix, for
ever, the sense of Scripture, while upon a
sense so fixed, the authority is defined to
which belongs the right of interpretation.
In appealing then to Scripture sense, I
mean not necessarily, as the Scripture has
been interpreted in some times and places,
even by the then authorized interpreters,
who may, nevertheless, have been, not only
the authorized, but also the best interpreters
of their day ; but the sense of Scripture, as
it shall be interpreted, under the best lights
of the present and future times. Wherein I
must be understood as expressing no con
viction, either way, as to whether, in given

LECTURE L 29
cases, or in the main, such present and future
interpretation will coincide with that here
tofore generally received. But the position
here contended for is, that the appeal lies to
the common consent of those, to whom the
Scripture shall come : and there seems to
me no more difficulty in thus appealing to a
common consent, not of the past exclusively,
in this subject of Scripture and religion, than
in any other, in which men are universally
interested ; and universally capable, in dif
ferent measures, of forming a judgment. As
in this matter the responsibilities of all men
are their own and present, their judgment
must be their own and not that of others ; a
present judgment, and not one that is past,
although past judgments supply a portion of
the materials for it.
And if, on any question, in any such sub
ject of universal concern, as in law and mo
rals, or in art and taste, the judgment of our
own present should differ from that of men
of other ages, which once were present to
them ; we do not presume to say, that they
were not right for their time and according
to their lights ; while we are conscious, where
we differ from them, of being right in our
time, according to ours. And we are disposed
to think, that notwithstanding great apparent

30 LECTURE L
diversities, there may be principles lying at
the root of those very diversities, which upon
a sufficiently comprehensive view, were we
capable of it, would shew them under a real
unity. These considerations ought by no means to
suggest a disregard of that which has been
holy and wise in former times, or lead to any
contempt for those, who have been eminent
in the Church, by great works in their own
day, and by function and charge. Where
the conclusions of great men in the Christian
Church cannot be by us, on further reflec
tion and examination, acquiesced in as final,
they ought to be regarded as advances to
wards the final, as stepping-stones in the
successful traversing of error, as degrees of
ascent to the temple itself of Truth.
By referring the interpretation of Scripture,
ultimately, to a common consent of those, to
whom the Scripture shall come, which com
mon consent it may seem unreasonable to
expect, and in throwing back the sense of
articles of faith upon the sense of Scripture,
a great opening may seem to be made for a
provisional comprehension of opinion within
the same formularies ; provisional, that is,
until such common consent shall have been
gathered ; and a comprehension of all but

LECTURE L 31
those forms of dogma, which are themselves
exclusive and cannot coexist side by side
with others. And it is only right to add,
that a wider application of this principle or
rule, beyond what occurs as probable at its
first enunciation, may ensue, upon the de
fining of what has not as yet been defined,
namely, what is meant by the Inspiration of
Scripture ; a definition which must itself be
referred to the common consent of those, to
whom the Scripture shall come.
Aware then of the opening of provisional
comprehension, which these principles may
allow, and of other comprehensions which
might be attributed to them, it may be ne
cessary for us to observe, that they are dis
tinguishable from two other principles of
comprehension which have in their time
been rejected as untenable. For the attempts
to extend the liberty of subscription to Arti
cles, to which I now allude, were attempts to
include under the same forms mutually ex
clusive and contradictory doctrines : for if
the Arian scheme were admitted the Trini
tarian must be expelled ; if the Romish doc
trine be received, it is in some part destruc
tive of the Protestant Theology p. And, in
P The claim combated by Waterland (case of Arian
subscription) and considered untenable by Mr. Whiston,
of whose honesty there can be no doubt, was, "That

32 LECTURE I.
neither of the cases now referred to, was any
endeavour made, to override the differences
brought side by side by any comprehensive
principle''. The position then, for which I am con
tending is, that the sense of formularies
these Articles may lawfully and conscientiously be sub
scribed in any sense, in which they themselves (the
English Arians), by their own interpretation, can recon
cile them to Scripture, without regard to the meaning and
intention either of the persons who first composed them
or who now impose them." The claim in the other case
was to hold all or any of the Romish doctrines with sub
scription to the Articles of the Church of England.
1 Such a principle might be i . Speculative ; as whereby
contradictory dogmatic statements are referred to one idea,
of which the expression varies relatively to different anta
gonisms ; but this would not enable the holding of con
tradictory theological propositions at once in their theo
logical sense. 3. Moral; whereby dogmatic statements
should be thrown into the background, and differences
disregarded in respect of a moral union; the legitimate
application of this principle is between communions whose
dogmatic statements differ, and between individuals differ
ing within the same communion, not as between an indi
vidual and the general communion of which he is mem
ber. 3. An historical or critical principle; whereby, as
has been said above, it should be shewn, that the sense of
the framers does not coincide with the now common con
sent : in the case of the English Arians it was not at
tempted to prove, that the sense of the imposers differed,
as to the points then in question, from the sense of the
framers; although variations of sense in other matters,
as concerning the " Descent into Hell," and concerning
the Calvinistic and Arminian interpretation of certain
of the 39 Articles were pleaded by them, as instances of
variety of opinion under the same forms.

LECTURE I. 33
founded on Scripture, must be sought in the
declarations and history of Scripture rightly
understood, and interpreted according to the
best lights of those, who in each age are re
sponsible for their judgment upon it. This
liberty is now contended for, in order that we
may be free, in pursuing the inquiry, con
cerning what are the bonds of the commu
nion of saints ; that we may not be limited
to views, according to which, relations and
powers have been considered effective of that
union, which either have no proved exist
ence, or are inoperative for that end, or are
operative, rather of disunion than of union.
But while endeavouring to establish this
canon, with reference to the particular pre
sent inquiry, I may render the greatest ser
vice of any, which I can possibly hope for in
the prosecution of this undertaking, if I shall
assist in confirming, even to a few reflecting
persons, the conviction, that the forms of the
Church of England are not such, as to tie
down the intellects and spirits of all men,
whom, during all ages, she shall number
within her pale, in one matter to the sta
ture of the fourth or fifth, in another to
that of the twelfth, or in others even to
that of the sixteenth century'.
' The famous "Form of Concord" (1576-1579) although
D

34 LECTURE L
And I should render a service, if I could
lead any of those, who are finishing their
education in this place, to the persuasion,
that in order to be loving sons of the Church,
designed in fact to enforce the high Lutheran and ubiqui-
tarian views, nevertheless enounced a principle, of which
the framers did not see the bearing, or of which they cer
tainly would not have acknowledged any application to be
legitimate, if not in accordance with their own doctrines.
I. They recognise the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments as the only rule of faith ; 3. AU other books
and symbols are only evidence and declarations of the
understanding of the Scripture in such or such an age.
See Bretschneider, Die Deutsche Reformation u. s. w.
pp. 133, 3. In the Remonstrant divinity, it is more dis-
tinctly asserted, that the Creeds are not to be taken as de
claring the truth, but that which those who agree in them
conceive or hold to be truth. And the following rules are
advanced : i . That we are not to be so bound by symbols,
as by an absolute certainty, nor as though they were de
claratory of obscure questions: 3. No more than as we
are confident they represent the sense of Scripture :
3. They are not to be appealed to as judges in controver
sies : 4. They are abused when made declarations of war
against all others. " Et sane si priscos Ecclesiae annales
consulamus, non aliud fuit consilium, non alius scopus
aut finis eorum, qui primi ejusmodi symbola, canones
ecclesiasticos, confessiones aic declarationes fidei suae edi-
derunt, quam ut per eas testatum facerent, non quid cre-
dendum esset, sed quid ipsi crederent." Episcopii Op. Th.
vol. i. Pars 2,^. p. 70. But it is hardly right to say. Such
was the design and aim of the framers of ancient creeds,
who seem, on the contrary, to have conceived themselves,
when assembled collectively, inspired to declare absolute
Truth, although the chief value of such forms will ulti
mately and permanently be, as historical monuments.

LECTURE L 35
in order not to separate themselves from the
congregation of the faithful, they are not
called upon to shackle the Reason, which
God has given them. Let them understand,
that as with all other divine gifts, the value,
the excellence, the proper use of Holy Scrip
ture cannot be brought out in any few gene
rations, nor without the cautious yet acute
application thereto of men's best intellectual
faculties. Let them not be staggered at the
fact, that the recognised sense of Scripture
should vary, considering the slow and late
advance of man in all improvements. And
let them be induced not to throw away, in
great measure, the result of labours here
pursued and training here submitted to.
While they know, that success in all other
studies depends upon clearness and precision
of thought, with due application and per
severance, let them not suppose, they may
be permitted, upon approaching theology, to
be unpainstaking in their inquiries, or that
it is their duty, in that subject-matter, to be
satisfied with the obscure and the vague.
We must not, in the case of the Scriptures,
because they are inspired, any more than
with other writings, confound the metapho
rical with the proper, or make deductions
from metaphors and figures, or take allusion,
D 2

36 LECTURE L
parallelism, arguments of appeal, or contro
versial statements, for precise and indicative
revelation. To neglect any aids to the un
derstanding of Scripture, when Almighty
God has permitted them to us, to use our
reason, which at length we must, without
furnishing it with all means for coming to
right conclusions, is as if the artisan were to
employ, for the production of his most elabo
rate and difficult work, his naked hands, un
armed with the implements, which the wants,
the experience, the dexterity of his prede
cessors had invented for his use.
In pursuing the inquiry which now lies
before us, we shall, in the next Lecture, ex
amine the force and claim to be recognised
as supplying the special bond of union of the
saints, of the objective principles, sometimes
considered as the principles of the primitive
and medieval church. In the following, will
come before us the claim of the subjective
principle, or, as it has been called, the prin
ciple of the Reformation : then will ensue
an examination, into the principles of grace,
whether immediate or sacramental, after
which will be treated of, the moral prin
ciples, personal and relative.

LECTURE II.

John vii. 16, 17.
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If
any man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak
of myself.

It has been considered a main and charac
teristic difference between primitive Catholic
Christianity and modern Protestantism, that
the former is objective in its nature and the
latter subjective ; that the former regards
and represents the historical and the real,
the latter dwells on the personal and the felt.
And this may be acquiesced in, if taken as a
rough statement, not expressing praise or
blame, but simply a phenomenal fact. It
represents, with sufficient distinctness for
some purposes, the varying effect of one and
the same revelation, when received by con
siderable masses and successions of men.

38 LECTURE IL
endowed with different internal dispositions,
and placed in different external circum
stances. For it is not more true in mathematics,
that if equals be added to unequals, the sums
are unequal ; or in mechanics, that equal
forces, meeting with unequal resistance, pro
duce unequal results ; or in biology, that
similar living powers, falling under different
conditions, develop, within the limits of their
specific forms, into very various individual
organisms, than that in moral, intellectual
and spiritual being, sameness of cause, ope
rating on different material and under differ
ent circumstances, issues in variety of pheno
menon and effect.
And from this admission it by no means
follows, that men have been blamable, under
their circumstances, or in their time, when
one of the characteristics now spoken of has
prevailed over the other ; or that the con
tinuity of the Church has been broken by
such variation. It is indeed easy to presume
causes for known effects ; but the event is at
least quite consistent with what we know,
from their poetry, their philosophy, their
literature generally and from other evidences,
of the mental constitution of the different
people, in whom the objective and subjective

LECTURE IL 39
tendencies have been respectively most de
veloped. The result undoubtedly was fore
seen and intended by Him, who not only
gave to men the Gospel of His Son, but also,
by the dispositions of His providence, over
which they could have no control, caused it
to come to them in very various ways.
Varieties of race, of locality, or other phy
sical circumstances, must be allowed to have
been the occasions of some of the diversities
which have prevailed in Christendom ; and
it is reasonable to think, that the consider
able differences, which have been observable
with respect to the prevalence of objective
and subjective religious tendencies, are fairly
traceable to some proximate causes of that
sort. We know the Greeks and Latins to
have been incapable of reflecting upon con
sciousness and its modes" ; while, before the
a Hence the acknowledged defects in the moral systems
of the most eminent Greek philosophers, and the conse
quent paucity of the practical rules which can be founded
on them. "And here I find strange, that Aristotle should
have written divers volumes of ethicks, and never handled
the affections, which is the principal subject thereof; and
yet in his rhetoricks, where they are considered but col
laterally, and in a second degree, (as they may be moved
by speech,) he findeth place for them, and handleth them
well for the quantity; but where their true place is he
pretermitteth them. For it is not his disputations about
pleasure and pain that can satisfy that inquiry." Bacon

40 LECTURE IL
rise of the modern philosophy of the conti
nent, there were not wanting evidences, of
the peculiar capacity of the race, to which
we ourselves chiefly belong, for the observa
tion and analysis of those phenomena.
But we are concerned, in relation to the
inquiry which lies before us, to ascertain, in
the present Lecture, the real value and ten
dency of that which, for convenience sake,
may be called the objective principle. Is it
the principle, or the main principle, on which
depends the unity and perpetuity of the
Church, the Communion of Saints ? is it ef
fective of the union of true Christians, past,
present, and to come ? For it has been said,
that our safety from modern infidel theories
lies, in having recourse " to the grand objec
tive truth once delivered to the saints."
Now let us observe, that the objective in
tellectual tendency shews itself under two
distinct forms, following a division of the
matter on which the intellect acts, and we
recognise examples of both of these forms,
in the works of authors of the Greco-Italian
Advancement of Learning, Book II. The absence from
their moral anatomy, of conscience, a particular form of
the personal consciousness ; of the attention, so necessary
to all intellectual and moral habit; their obscurity con
cerning the will, &c. render the ancients, taken alone,
nearly valueless for " moral Georgicks."

LECTURE IL 41
race, with which we are familiar. The one
kind or form is exhibited in the highly re
presentative character of the classical history
and poetry'' ; the other in the disposition of
the most eminent of the ancient philosophers
lo constitute mental abstractions into real
entities". These two forms may be distin
guished by the names of the historical-ob
jective, and the philosophical-objective, which
latter may be called, in reference to the
matter, with which we are now concerned,
the dogmatic-objective''.
And it will, I think, appear, that a deve
lopment of neither of these forms or intel-
^ The TTpo 6fji,ij.6.T<av •noieXv and presenting in its per-se-ity
the object imitated, whether the real object of history, or
the imagined object of poetry.
" And even to materialize the spiritual; so it has been
said ; " Egli e cosa certa, niuna deUe gentilesche filosofie
aver riconosciuto una mente tutta spirito e d' ogni materia
disgombra : e percio stimarono, ogni opera della mente
essere senso, cioe che quanto essa fa o patisce, sia effetto
del toccamento de' corpi." Vico, Antichizzima Sapienza
degV Italiani. cap. 7°. § i.
d " The parts of human learning have reference to the
three parts of man's understanding, which is the seat of
learning ; History to his Memory, Poesy to his Imagina
tion, and Philosophy to his Reason. Divine learning re
ceiveth the same distribution." Advancement of Learning,
Book II. But as poesy is " feigned history" and all its
imagery drawn immediately or remotely from experience,
the division in the text is sufficient for the purpose of the
outline there given.

42 LECTURE IL
lectual tendencies could be expected to
supply the permanent and specific bond of
union to a Society, intended to be universal
in extension and perpetual in duration. For
the principle, of which we are in search,
must be one truly catholic, which the more
it acts, the more perfect, the more united,
the more diffusive will become the commu
nion of saints : it must be capable of appli
cation everywhere, always and to all Christian
societies, as well as to all Christian persons,
a principle, which will not defeat its own end
by unlimited application.
I. The mental constitution, which is pre
disposed to the historical objective, is such as
to receive readily narrative for reality ; and
provided the narrative fills the imagination
with a pageant cohering together with some
sort of verisimilitude, the mind of this cha
racter is not quick to remark, what antece
dents and consequents must be admitted,
and particularly what moral conditions, pas
sions and motives are implied, if the literal
verity of facts related be supposed. This
uninquiring and indolent mind, when the
vice is in excess, is not able to rise so far, as
from a scriptural narrative, for instance, to
infer the moral or doctrine, which it is in
tended to convey or illustrate, or to ask any

LECTURE IL 43
question concerning the spectacle therein
presented to it. And we find, that upon
what is considered the decline of the intel
lectual greatness of the West, Christianity
took the form among the people of an accu
mulation of histories, local, partial, ephemeral,
cohering more or less loosely with Scriptural
history, or with other generally acknowledged
parts of the religion. The intellectual power
of the Greco-Italian race did not in fact dis
appear, by any means, during the medieval
period : but as the ecclesiastical order ab
sorbed most of the higher and more abstract
intellects, a severance took place between the
clergy and laity : and while the objective
tendency, which, as belonging to the same
race, all classes inherited, shewed itself in the
educated and stronger minds in the develop
ment of the abstract objective into the scho
lastic theology, in the case of the less edu
cated, feeble and historical-objective minds
it issued in the multiplication of popular
legends and miraculous tales ^
« Dante is not only one of the fathers of modern lite
rature, but the most eminent example of the medieval
Italian mind. His characteristics are described as follows,
by one of his best commentators, Biagioli ; " Chi studia
Dante vedesi aperto dinanzi un nuovo teatro, anzi un
mondo tutto nuovo, pieno d' immagini, di concetti, d' in-
venzioni di nuova originality, ; perciocche^ ben diverso da

44 LECTURE IL
Now it is obvious, that the kind of super
natural pageantry thus supplied is incapable
of satisfying intellects, which shall have be
come reflecting and inquiring, and which
shall have been enlarged by intercourse with
others; and that stories of local saints and
local miracles not honoured, even if not dis
credited in other localities, must, upon com
parison, either cease to act as bonds of union,
or become bonds of union to subdivided com
munities only.
No more needs to be said, in order to shew,
that the tendency to the historical or sensa
tional objective may exist in a morbid degree,
that it does not furnish such a principle as
quello che s' era fatto sin allora, specolando ognora i feno-
meni deUa natura, e coll' acume del suo vedere nei suoi
piu segreti arcani trapassando, non solo bellezze nuove vi
scopri, ma pur, deUe gi^ note, relazioni e modificazioni
nuove, ad ogni altro sguardo invisibdi, discemendo," &c.
He is thus seen to be as objective as the ancients, but un
like the ancients, he realizes that which he imitates and
represents, from the department of nature, whereas they
imitated rather human action ; partly because of the con
stant political stimulus imder which they lived, partly also
traditionally, because nature was originally to polytheists,
too sacred to be sung or described, except in hymns and
religious odes. I have ventured to insert in the Appendix
a curious extract concerning the probable source from
which the form of the " Divina Commedia" was derived,
which illustrates also the state of popular opinion of that
day as to a supposed intercourse between this world and
the world of spirits.

LECTURE IL 45
we desire ; because it neither admits of being
followed out indefinitely, nor does it supply
from itself its own necessary limitations^ But
to vary our point of view and to consider not
the mind itself, but the external history, or
system of facts, which may be supposed to be
presented to it ; is that object-matter of his-
^ It may be doubted, whether the Church of England,
when she rejected legendary stories from the public read
ing to the congregation, guarded sufficiently, by merely
limiting the Lessons to the Bible, against an excessive
indulgence in many persons of the historical-objective
disposition. Or rather perhaps may be regretted the
omission of attempts, for the most part, and with the ge
nerality of the clergy, to distinguish in their expositions
between Scripture-narratives, which, although read with
equal solemnity to our people, are true in such different
senses. For some narratives are allegorical, some are re
citals, for specific purposes, of popular or generally re
ceived history, some are descriptions of events poetically
embellished : some histories are inserted for the illustra
tion of this or the other divine attribute, others for the
illustration or verification of prophecy ; some again in
order to represent a doctrine, others in order to furnish
a foundation for doctrine. And we have evidences before
our eyes of the tendency, which the undue development
of the objective historical inclination has to disunion
rather than to union ; when the reception of an incidental
biblical narrative according to its letter, is made of the
essence of revealed religion ; when expectations of certain
events as realisations of prophecy are considered as tests
of true Gospel faith ; and the imagination of men is filled
with scenes of a Judaized world under a temporal reign of
Messiah ; all which tends of necessity to sever men and
parties from their brethren.

46 LECTURE IL
torical Christianity of such a character, as to
command or suggest from itself a principle
of union ?
Historical Christianity, taken generally,
may be said to lie between two points ; the
point of the present time, of the Christianity
of which we are conscious, and the point of
the historical manifestation of our Lord upon
earth : and between these two points there is
a necessary relation of effect and cause; for in
starting from that of which we are conscious,
namely the Christianity of the present, there
must have been Christ as its origin, with as
much certainty, as in starting from the world
or creation, as a fact of experience, there must
have been a Creator, as matter of faith. But be
tween these two fixed points or resting-places,
we are in want of a description of the limits
of historical Christianity, the belief of which,
as a series of facts, should be considered vital
to the communion of saints. Even within
the range of canonical Scripture, it is difficult
to draw a line, which shall distinguish between
those facts, which are to furnish the material
for doctrine, and those which supply evidence
of the existence of doctrine. Then, passing be
yond the boundaries of Scripture, can we sup
pose the necessary Christian belief to embrace
the history, in all its details, of the continued

LECTURE IL 47
existence of professors of Christianity, from
the Gospel period to the present time ? Or if
to embrace the whole be beyond any human
powers, how are we to discriminate between
the essential and the non-essential, between
the true and the false ? Must we comprehend,
in the necessary objective history of Christi
anity, a history of it both within and without,
and of the additions, variations, developments
of its doctrines, of the moral effects which it
has produced, of its government and disci
pline, in different ages and parts of the earth ?
Or along what lines of history is this know
ledge to be gathered ? When Christendom is
severed into branches, before it has reached
its full growth, or overspread its destined
area ; or, when, subsequently, it is split into
diverse and hostile communions, in which of
these is the mere history of the Church to be
sought? An united and conformable judg
ment on such points, or any thing approach
ing to it, is an impossible result.
Not that I am discouraging study and the
acquirement of knowledge in this department
of Christian history; far from it: but, in
plain words, maintaining, that the more men
know in such things, the more they will
meet with points, on which they will differ.
They will differ concerning some of the tritest

48 LECTURE IL
and seemingly most simple facts ; as for in
stance, while multitudes speak, in a loose way,
of Constantine, as the first Christian emperor,
when they come to acquaint themselves with
his history, how few will agree precisely con
cerning his character, his motives, the events
connected with his name, the date of his
Christianity, or whether, in any proper sense,
he were ever a Christian at all. And I mean
to infer from this, that men may differ one
from another indefinitely in their judgments,
concerning such historical Christianity, with
out infringing on any really vital and binding
principle of the communion of saints ; that
they may differ concerning it, as much as
they do concerning secular history in general,
without ceasing to be members of the human
family ; or concerning national history, with
out losing their nationality or abjuring their
patriotism. II. But while I feel, that this part of the
subject deserves much more illustration than
has been given to it, our limits oblige me to
proceed to the consideration of the other
branch, of that which is proposed as the par
ticular subject of the present lecture: does
the objective dogmatic principle supply the
bond of union and communion of the saints ?
That the possession of a gnosis should have

LECTURE 11. 49
been thought in some former times a sufficient
bond of unity for a religious society, is quite
in accordance with that which history tells us,
not only of the spread of various sects com
monly called Gnostics, but of the ready dis
position of the ancients generally, originally
in the East, and in later times also in the
West, to form communities and colleges, of
greater or less extent, claiming to be initiated
into a truth, an arcanum, veiled from the
generality under mysteries. Such societies
came utterly to an end, because they had
neither a sufficient bond, by means of a moral
principle, nor a sufficient element of truth,
in their abstract doctrine, to ensure a perma
nency. They perished by means of the diver
sities, into which they were severed, because
such severance must always ensue, when dif
ferent minds are earnestly engaged, in endea
vouring to form precise conceptions of the
supernatural, by immediate contemplation ;
and there was in these societies no sufficient
element to counteract this tendency to
ruin. If descriptions of the natural and historical
convey by no means the same impressions to
different persons, (although sufficiently simi
lar in cases of practice for practical purposes,)
much less can the supernatural be conceived

50 LECTURE II.
of alike by any two minds ; nor can two dis
ciples of one teacher derive from him, either
his own conceptions precisely, or concep
tions exactly coincident with each other. It
is difficult to comprehend adequately the me
taphysical and scientific theories framed, even
by the highest intellects, in former ages and
under no longer existing conditions ; or any
of their speculations which relate to the un
seen, and have no connection, or only remotely,
with the experienced and the real. It is not
the sameness of the object which ensures a
sameness in the conception of it ; in order
thereto, there must exist also a similarity in
the condition of the subjects who contemplate
it. Before the eyes of the Chaldee astrologer,
were displayed the same starry heavens which
now attract nightly the observations of the
modern astronomer ; and the same expanse,
which invites his investigations, and leads
him to sublime, if not always sober theories,
displays its glories also to the boor, who gazes
on the firmament unthinkingly, rejoices with
a sensual delight in the spectacle presented
to him, or forms the most incongruous notions,
respecting those objects and their divine Cre
ator. Though the universe be one and the
same, since human eyes were first opened
upon it, it has been and is, in some degree,

LECTURE JL 5i
a different universe, with respect to the im
pressions made by it, to every individual
who perceives it, and very sensibly and obvi
ously so to different classes of men. Though
God be one. He is likewise conceived of, ne
cessarily, in the most diversified ways ; and
the instrumental aids, whereby we approach
to a knowledge of Him, are as diversified, as
the instruments, whereby, in different times,
men have been aided in their observation of
the mere material world.
But a safeguard, against variations in the
objective truth once delivered to the saints,
has been supposed to be provided and handed
down to us, in creeds and such like forms, in
certain instruments of language. Now it has
already been observed, that the accidents of
language are such, as in lapse of time, to ren
der more or less obscure that, which origi
nally was plain and clear. And that this
accident of language does not end in render
ing the ordinary histories of a distant age to
tally unintelligible to succeeding times, arises
from this, namely, that such writings, in the
main, concern subject-matters which easily
admit of verification ; admit of comparison of
objects, qualities, acts, sensations, relations,
supposed to be indicated in such writings and
narratives, with those which are common to
E 2

52 LECTURE IL
all men at the present day. But when lan
guage, instead of being employed to repre
sent, in proper words, phenomena universal
and obvious to all men, is tasked to indicate
analogically, metaphysical and theological
conceptions ; the precise character of the ana
logy, the point of it, may well escape the per
ception of meu) whose terms are formed to ex
press a different set of ideas, and whose ideas
are derived from, or called up by, a very dif
ferent experience.
And thus although objective truth, the
truth of all things, and of divine realities, in
the most eminent sense, as well as others,
must ever in itself continue the same, not
only may our perceptions and judgments of
it vary ; but the expressions of it in language
may be, at one time or another, inadequate ;
and that which is adequate in one age may
cease to convey such perfect representation
of its object to another^.
g " A full half of the evils which at present oppress the
Christian life come simply from the fact, that our churches
have not been mindful, at the right hour, of arming them
selves with a speculative theology. There was a time when
philosophy and the doctrines of the Church reckoned with
ideas of precisely the same magnitude (since both em
ployed the same alphabet of ideas) and on that account
understood each other mutually.— The apparatus of ideas
which it received from an earlier age is antiquated in rela
tion to science generally, and appears out of course ; so

LECTURE II. 53
But besides these general considerations,
which lie on the surface, we should come
somewhat more closely to the history of the
actual formation of the Christian dogma, in
order to judge the better, whether the perma
nent and universal union of the saints is to
be expected from the dogmatic principle ;
and I think it will be seen, that the necessary
tendency of it is, rather to severance than to
union ; that it has been so, as a matter of fact,
and that Christians would do well, at least to
leave dogmatic statements as they are.
It has often been observed, that the form
of the Christian dogma has been owing to
the controversies of early times, and that the
multiplication and amplification of creeds
is attributable to heretical movements, by
that the language sanctioned by the Church, to philoso
phically educated minds, is ofttimes unmeaning ; and when
the attempt is really made to come to an understanding
with them in their own language, the appropriate words
and symbols are entirely wanting." Rothe, Theologische
Ethik, Heidelberg, printed at the end of Morell, Philo
sophy of Religion, London, 1849. If these warnings are
necessary for the theologians of the country in which they
were written, much more so are they for those of our own;
for, while our theology has been isolated and stationary,
our science has been ecumenical and progressive. For a
more general statement of the defects incident to language
as an instrument of transmission, see Locke, Essay, b. iii.
ch. 9. " Of the imperfection of words," particularly §§.
33, 23.

54 LECTURE II.
which it was first sought to affix definite er
roneous senses to propositions originally left
vague and comprehensive. And this may be
allowed to be in great measure true, without
yet regarding the controversialists of former
ages under any disparaging view''. It was
the necessary result of throwing the Gospel
revelation among men, at the time when it
was so thrown ; when especially, beyond any
other period in the world's history, it would
be viewed under so many diverse aspects;
be seen through the colours of so many pre
judices, and be debated on, with such logical
^ For heresies are not to be thought of, as if they were
sudden manifestations of unmixed evil, an immediate off
spring of Satan, implying no historical antecedents, and
when crushed leaving no consequences, beyond the neces
sity of repudiating them in the Creed. In all history,
causes which act on one generation, are themselves effects
and residues of a foregone period : opinions of men, which
influence others, are a product of previous education and
of the action of other minds. Thus there was a succession
in the Alexandrian school, Pantaenus, Clemens, Origen;
and Nestorius has been called the son of Theodore of
Mopsuestia and grandson of Paul of Samosata. Opinions,
even when they are repelled, are the parents of a long train
of unforeseen consequences. Thus Mr. Newman consi
dered, that " the treatment of the Arian and Monophysite
errors became the natural introduction of the cultus sanc
torum ; for in proportion as words descriptive of created
mediation ceased to be applied to our Lord, so was a room
opened for created mediators." Essay on Development, «fc.
p. 400.

LECTURE IL 55
subtleties, upon such baseless metaphysical
principles. It has been regretted, that during the great
dogmatic conflicts of the fourth and fifth
centuries, the orthodox party did not confine
themselves to what has since been called the
Protestant or negative principle, and content
themselves with condemning those, who
sought, by definitions and logical limitations
of doctrine, to narrow the Church of Christ.
But considering the disposition of those ages,
and the wide -spread conviction of a gnosis
being attainable, it is not to be wondered at,
that it was attempted to erect such, even
when the materials for it did not exist.
Nevertheless the heterodox parties both
commenced the war of limitations, and al
though we should hesitate to call the ortho
dox settlements of the Creed compromises,
they were in fact expressions of dogma,
which did act as comprehensions in their
time. As for instance, even the final expres
sion of the doctrine of the consubstantiality
of the Son with the Father comprehended
as many, as could possibly be comprehended,
within the terms of one and the same pro
fession, considering the antagonistic theories,
between which that declaration placed itself
And we cannot rightly understand those an-

56 LECTURE II.
cient settlements of the Creed, without bear
ing in mind, that there were great speculative
struggles going on concurrently, within and
without the pale of the Church. The con
flict between monotheism and polytheism
coincided as it were, or ran along a parallel
line, with the conflict within the Church be
tween the Sabellian and Arian hypotheses ;
which conflict within the Church was solved
by the adoption of the orthodox Creed'.
' Polytheism had been finally modified by the heathen
philosophies. As the foundation of it lay in the observa
tion and experience of innumerable distinct powers in
natural objects, so it was driven, when the unity of the
universe was demonstrated, into the recognition of one
cause, one supreme God; and the deifications of the
natural powers fell into the rank of subordinate gods and
ministerial agents : the Arian system corresponded with
this modified polytheism, in supposing the Son to be an
originated ministerial agent. Aw tC ovi' oi 'Apeiavol — ov
(Tvvapidfwva^iv eavTovs ixera t&v 'EWtJi'mi' ; Kol yap KaKUVOi
&a-nep Kol ovTOL rfj KTia-ei \aTpevov<n ¦napa tov KTiaavra to
TTavra &e6v. Athan. c. Arian. III. \6. The orthodox
doctrine is placed between Arianism and SabelUanism,
polytheism and Judaism, ©eoXoyta r) &eov ixev Iva -napa-
biba>a-Lv, a^opi^ovcra Trjs 'EXKr)viKris Kot ¦nokvOiov irAavJjS,
TTarepa be avrov oibev rrjs 'lovba'CKrjs xa>p(Cov(Ta bibaa-KaXias-
Euseb. contra Marcellum, I. 8, in which book are con
stantly conjoined Sabellianizing and Judaizing. 'lovbdi-
crp.6^ ffTTiv 6 2a/3eA\icrjix^$ ev ¦npo<T)(f)(i.aTL \picrTLavi(Tiuiv.
Basil. Ep. 3IO. 3. See Allgemeine Encyclopddie, von
M. H. E. Meier, Leipzig, 1 843, under the word " Person ;"
Ritter, Christliche Philosophic, iter Theil, Hamburg, 1841.
Schleiermacher, Ueber den Gegensatz zwischen der sabellia-

LECTURE IL 57
Again the pantheistic and dualistic tenden
cies were represented among those who bore
the Christian name, by the Eutychian and
Nestorian parties respectively ; and looked
at merely as a solution of a speculative diffi
culty, there was no other besides the ortho
dox statement, in which the opposite parties
could have had any tendency or disposition
to coalesce''. So strong indeed were the
nischen und der athanasianischen Vorstellung von der Tri-
nitdt. But it must be remarked, that the contrast be
tween Judaism and heathenism consisted not only in the
one being a monotheism and the other a polytheism : but
in that it was essential to Judaism to acknowledge a
moral governor in Jehovah, while polytheism was a cos-
mical system. And this idea of the moral government
was taken up by all the Christian sects ; and possibly be
cause it was not doubted by any, nor questions raised by
any as to the manner of it, there is no declaration con
cerning it in the Creeds, beyond that which is implied in
the judgment of the last day.
^ The dualism of Asia lies at the root of Nestorianism
in this way, that the material and human, being in its
own nature evil, could not be essentially united to the
divine ; the two natures might lie side by side but could
not interpenetrate : the Nestorians allowed a " parathetic"
or "parastatic" union but not a "hypostatic." In pan
theism the universe is throughout penetrated with divi
nity. And as Nestorianism had its stronghold in the
countries neighbouring on Syria, which were most subject
to the Zoroastrian influence, so Eutychianism preserved
itself in Egypt, of which the native theology was panthe
istic. See, Die agyptische und die zoroastrische Glaubens-
lehre als die dltesten Quellen unserer speculativen Tdeen,

58 LECTURE IL
principles, which lay at the root of the vari
ous heresies of early ages, that some of them,
as the Nestorian, gave rise to very durable
and numerous communions, external to the
orthodox Church, yet professing the Christian
name, and of course holding themselves for
orthodox. And one, the extreme monothe
istic, if the expression may be permitted, has
so acted, in conjunction with peculiar ex
ternal circumstances, as to separate from the
Faith a large portion of the world once
Christian'.
forming the first part of Geschichte unserer abendland-
ischen Philosophic von Dr. Ed. Roth, Mannheim, 1846.
Some have treated the Nestorian controversy as a war of
words, others have maintained that a vital question was
at stake. Gieseler, zd Per. Div. 1. §. 86. Luther is there
said to have been of the former opinion. But it is obvious,
that questions, not very dissimilar to those on which this
controversy turned, must be reproduced in some differ
ences concerning the Sacraments. And the high Lutheran
and " ubiquitarian" party maintained the employment of
the stronger word " damnamus" in the " Form of Con
cord" instead of " improbamus" of the Augsburg Confes
sion, as applied to the Sacramentarians, because their
error is " ein Uhrsprung aller graulichen Ketzereyen, eine
Verleugnung der AUmacht und Wahrheit Christi, und
eine Vorbereitung und Eingang zur nestorianischen,
arianischen und tiirkischen Abgotterey" u. s. w. Calovius,
Historia Syncretistica, p. 26.
• It is remarkable, that polytheism, while it was a really
living system, was not troubled with heresies. Heresy
is a false conception concerning the nature and attributes
of the true God, or of the acknowledged object of wor-

LECTURE IL 59
But although the orthodox settlements of
the great Articles of the Creeds were compre
hensions, in a very important sense, for the
history of the times in which they took
place ; the raising of the questions at all, out
of which those settlements grew, could not
but issue, at the same time, in divisions and
separations : and the more definite, precise
ship ; and the philosophical movements, by which, in pro
cess of time, polytheism was agitated, were, to it, infideli
ties and deisms, rather than heterodoxies or heresies. And
this exemption from heresy was not, I think, by reason of
a readiness to associate new gods with those already wor
shipped, which was only a morbid condition of polytheism,
induced upon it by the extension of the Roman empire.
But it rather resulted from this, that polytheism was itself
a natural and sufficient expression of the conceptions of
the human mind, native to different localities and in a
certain educational condition. By it all phenomena and
agencies of nature and sense were immediately attached
to adequate causes and already accounted for. Its deities
were personifications, formed upon the several phenomena
and coextensive with them. But monotheism required a
power of abstraction which could be reached only by a
few. And when it was attempted to teach it, individual
minds necessarily raised questions, in order to account,
consistently with that doctrine, for things which they
knew and believed ; in order, in some way intelligible to
themselves, to connect the one God with the various
phenomena, which they perceived, or were conscious of.
Heresy has been common to Judaism, Christianity and
Mahommedanism ; most prevalent in Christianity, be
cause, among other reasons, from its catholic design, it
has been thrown amidst greater varieties of intellect, than
either of the other forms.

60 LECTURE IL
and logically guarded articles of faith be
come, the more certainly must some men be
excluded from communions of which they
are symbols. And of further questions which
might be raised, the more it should be at
tempted to define points yet undetermined,
the further would the separations be carried
which now divide the Christian name. And
similar, as I apprehend, would be the result,
if an attempt were made to recur, in respect
of our creeds, to the state of the Christian
world antecedent to that, which saw the for
mation of those which we now receive. For
to many minds, this would be to reopen the
original questions, which were terminated by
those settlements, secundum eadem, ad ea-
dem ; thus to resuscitate many an extinct
debate, and to place many lovers of union in
a most false position.
As long as, upon a rough and hasty view
of the reception of the Gospel in the world,
the existing subdivisions of Christians were
esteemed to be sufficiently accounted for, by
the presumed tendency of man to deteriora
tion and to a misuse of all blessings conferred
upon him; as long as, from ignorance and
prejudice, wilful darkness, perverse obstinacy
and immorality of practice were taken for
granted, as accompanying the profession of a

LECTURE IL 61
creed at variance with each one's own ; the
divisions of Christendom might be acquiesced
in, as an unavoidable evil, only to cease upon
some new and direct interference on the part
of Almighty God ; and differences from our
selves, when material, might be regarded as
the result of a judicial blindness in those
who were so visited. And no misgiving
would arise, that the dogmatic principle was
not adapted, or ultimately destined, to work
out the union of Christians and the universal
evangelization of the world ; that it could
only serve a temporary and provisional pur
pose ; that its power, great as it had been in
some ages of the world's history, was itself
derivative and instrumental, not essential,
original or final.
But upon a wider survey of the varied
conditions, under which different races and
masses of men are placed, upon a closer ob
servation of the infinite variety, both of
natural powers and educational progress in
individual men, upon a more precise analysis
of the internal constitution of man and of
the laws and tendencies of his moral and in
tellectual nature ; we must cease to expect,
from different persons, absolutely the same
judgment, even upon any matter of history ;
much less the same judgment, expressed ex-

62 LECTURE IL
plicitly in the same words, upon doctrines,
either founded in historical particulars, or
represented by them.
And quite consistent with the conviction,
that the dogmatic principle, if carried fur
ther into logical definitions of points yet un
determined in the Christian Creed, would
tend, of necessity, to further subdivisions of
Christian people, and to aggravate the disad
vantages, under which Christianity is seen,
by reason even of the divisions, which it has
inherited from former times ; consistent with
the conviction, that an interpretation of an
cient settlements of the Faith, otherwise than
by a recurrence to the fountain head of
Scripture itself, interpreted according to the
light thrown upon it in successive ages, not
excluding the present, and hereafter not ex
cluding the future, would be as if the grown
man were to affect the stammerings of his
childhood ; that a gratuitous endeavour, to
translate adequately into accurate modern
language, forms expressed in phraseology
taken from philosophies now obsolete, would
have the effect of renewing the contests of
former times, without the prospect of ad
vancing, as was done then, great and vital
principles, concurrently with the definition
of the Creed ; with these convictions are

LECTURE IL 63
consistent the highest honour and esteem
for the intellects, for the moral perseverance
and courage, for the unity of purpose and
self-devotion, whereby eminent men of old
succeeded in so laying down a creed, the
most comprehensive, which could be devised
in their times, and in carrying out simulta
neously principles, which were and have con
tinued the true principles, whereby the Com
munion of Saints is vivified and continued.
Of all the texts of Scripture, which, by iso
lation from their context, and from transition
of meaning in some of their terms, have been
pressed into the support of narrow views,
none perhaps has been more frequently al
leged than this ; " If any man will do his
will, he shall know of the doctrine." For the
word doctrine being taken improperly in the
late sense of " doctrina," it is made to appear,
as if a true dogmatic faith were the end of
moral practice. But in fact 8i8axT} by no
means, of necessity, implies what is now
understood by the word " doctrine :" it
simply means teaching, and the text amounts
to a declaration, that practical habituation is
the best preparation for a right judgment, as
to the character of Christ's teaching; whe
ther it be from the same Divine Author,
who has implanted in us conscience and

64 LECTURE IL
moral sense"". And the word 86ytia itself,
which came afterwards ecclesiastically to ac
quire the sense now attached to it, had ori
ginally a meaning very different, at least
much wider and more nearly approaching to
its etymological signification, much more
connected with precept in practical matters,
than with objects of intellectual belief".
¦" Hare, Mission of the Comforter, p. 339, note 4, " and
doctrine (in our version) for bibayx] seems to have crept in
here, (3 Tim. iv. 3) as in some other passages, through the
medium of doctrina in the Latin version ; though doctrine
in English does not appropriately express the act of teach
ing, but only that which is taught." See Suicer, Thes. Eccl.
on the words bibaa-KaXCa and 8t8ax^. On the former he
quotes from Justin Martyr, quctst. HI. ad Gracos, 'H 8i-
badKoXla evepyeia eort tov bibacTKOVTOi ev tu (x,av6AvovTl. In
classical usage, although " doctrina" is used for the matter
which is taught, " liberales doctrinse atque ingenuae," Cic.
de Or. III. 32, its stricter meaning is the function of
teaching or instruction, " nullo videtur modo doctrina ista
res posse tradi," de Or. II. 54. " Doctrina sed vim pro-
movet insitam," Hor. Od. IV. 4. Since many words have
been derived into our authorized version from the Vulgate,
we should consider them now as naturalized words for
Scripture purposes, and should not hesitate to expound
them as direct representatives of the original, without re
ference to their immediate source. But it would have been
happier for us if, as in Luther's version " doctrina" is ren
dered by " Lehre," it had with us been translated by some
native word equally free from a traditional sense, and rea
dily determinable in its signification to ordinary hearers
by the bearing of the context.
" Ao'yM" means, j. An edict or decree, Lukeii. i, in
which sense it occurs frequently in Daniel, ii. 13. vi.8,9, 13;

LECTURE IL 65
But along with the tendency among Christ
ians to substitute the doctrinal (in the pre
sent sense of the word) for the practical,
these terms themselves passed into the new
sense, and men sought to excuse themselves
and in Acts xvii. 7. 3. A rite or ceremony of divine institu
tion. Eph. ii. i^ roi> vojjLov T&v evTok&v ev boyixaai, but here
ev 8. may be joined to KaTapyrjaas, when the meaning will
be with Theophylact and Theodoret, having abolished the
law by the teaching of the Gospel. 3. A6yiJi.aTa, the de
terminations of a legitimate council, Acts xvi. 4. In the
Fathers, Suicer quotes Basil, 8o'yju,ara ttjs OeoXoylas, mean
ing the doctrine of the divinity of the Son ; Origen, who
speaks of the apostles as bibda-KaXoi tov Soyjuaros in a
general sense as preachers of the Gospel; Chrysostom,
concerning the errors of the Gentiles, Hom. xxxui. on
1 Cor. TC ovv, &v i\0pol Sicn kol "EXXrjves ov bel p.iae'iv ;
Mtcreti' fJ-ev, ovk eKeCvovs be, aXXa to b6yp,a ; Cyril of Jeru
salem, Cat. Ilium, iv. 'O rrjs 6eoa-ej3eias Tpo-nos eK bvo tq-vtoiv
(Tvve<TTr]Ke, boyiidaav evcrefi&v aKpifSeias, Kal irpa^eav aya9&v ;
Basil, de Spiritu Sancto, who distinguishes between Kripv-
yjxaTa, open doctrines, and b6y^l.aTa, significant mysteries
and rites. Suicer, Thes. Eccl. Distinction is also made
between b6yp.aTa and T&y^iaTa, or boyixaTC^eiv and Kavovi^eLv,
as in the synodical letter addressed by the Nicene Fathers
to the churches of Egypt, the former concerning the
faith and the latter concerning discipline. Aoy^a was
used in quite another sense by the Stoics, as equivalent
to <f)avTa<TLa, the superficial imagination which men form
of things, without reflecting upon and piercing into their
nature. Tapda-aei tovs avdpdirovs ov to. irpdyixaTa aXXa to.
TtepX T&v TTpayixSiTaiv boyixara' oTov 6 ddvaTos ovbev beivov,
eirel Kal Sco/cparet hv e<f>a(veTO' aXXa to boyixa to Trepl 6a-
varov oTi bewov, eKeivo to beivov ea-Tiv. Epicteti Encheirid.
c. x. And by Plato, for knowledge or understanding ; /^^
<ra<pes eyovcn boy^a irepl avT&v. Leg.xi. §, I2.
F

66 LECTURE IL
for a corrupt practice, provided their creed
were orthodox, and attributed a depraved in
tention and corrupt morals to those who dif
fered from themselves dogmatically.
But no assumption has had worse effects
on the individual characters of Christians,
none has more counteracted the growth of
the true principles of the Gospel, than this,
that erroneous belief implies a corrupt prac
tice, and the corollaries from it, at least
tacitly held ; that with orthodox belief,
though the practice be externally and ac
cidentally corrupt, it is not so essentially;
but that with heterodox belief, the practice,
though externally and ostensibly excellent,
is not so in fact, or in the sight of God,
There cannot be a more astounding proof of
the deceitfulness, with which systems will
grow up, blinding the eyes of those who
have been bred in them, than the acquies
cence of successive multitudes in the posi
tion, that dogmatic errors depend more upon
the will than upon the intellect and its con
ditions. Rather than not narrow, in a Juda-
ical spirit, the privileged Church of Christ,
rather than not make the idea of selection
prevail altogether over that of universality,
rather than not have some ground for a con
fidence of boasting, systems concerning the

LECTURE IL 67
necessity of an elaborate dogmatic agreement
are maintained, upon forced and unscholarlike
interpretations of such passages as the text,
which has no reference to such matter. And
though, in an indirect way, the will has to do
with the formation of intellectual judgments,
it is only so far as it commands the atten
tion : the voluntary sustaining of the atten
tion is essential to a right dogmatic judgment,
and so it is to an arithmetical calculation ;
but it would be as monstrous to suppose an
erroneous conclusion on a dogmatic point, to
indicate, as a matter of course, a corrupt will,
as to attribute an incapacity to solve a com
plicated algebraical question to like disease
of the moral nature".
° " Errores pendere magis a voluntate quam ab intel-
lectu, non admitto. Credere vera vel falsa, quorum illud
cognoscere, hoc errare est, nihil aliud quam conscientia aut
memoria est quaedam perceptionum aut rationum ; itaque
non pendet a voluntate nisi quatenus obliqua arte tandem
efficitur, etiam aliquando nobis ignaris, ut quae volumus
nobis videre videamur. Judicamus igitur non quia volu
mus sed quia apparet. Et quod dicitur voluntatem esse
latiorem intellectu argutum est magis quam verum.
Verbo dicam : ad populum phalerae. Nihil volumus quin
intellectui obversetur. Errorum omnium origo eadem
est suo quodam modo, quae errorum calculi ratio apud
arithmeticos observatur. Nam ssepe fit defectu attentionis
aut memoriae ut agamus indebitum aut omittamus debi-
tum, aut putemus nos egisse quod non egimus, aut quod
egimus non egisse; ita fit ut notae debitae in calculo (cui
ratiocinatio respondet in animo) non ponantur, indebitae
F 2

68 LECTURE II.
Undoubtedly there always have been men,
since the first preaching of the Gospel, either
actually or practically without the Christian
pale, men of whom Felix is the type, who
would wilfully put away from themselves the
examination of any system or subject, which
may render more plain to them their moral
obligations : but the point, with which we
are now concerned, is one of dogmatic differ
ence between persons, who acknowledge the
same moral obligations, and acknowledge
them, as issuing from and sanctioned by,
their religion itself. It is not therefore justi
fiable to impute an immorality to all who
differ from ourselves, when, in other respects,
an immorality is not more evident with them,
than with ourselves.
And although controversialists may con-
ponantur, transsiliatur aliquid inter colligendum, metho-
dus turbetur. Mens scilicet nostra lassata aut distracta
non satis rei attendit, aut errore memoriae assumit tan-
quam olim probatum, quod tantum inculcatum saepius aut
consideratum fixe, aut optatum studiose, altius in nobis
haesit. Remedium quoque errorum nostrorum idem est,
quod errorum calculi, ut materiae formaeque attendamus,
ut procedamus lente, ut repetamus operationem variemus-
que, ut examina instituamus sive comprobationes, ut longi-
ores ratioeinationes in partes secemus, quo respirare mens
possit, partemque quamlibet peculiaribus comprobationi-
bus confirmemus." Leibnitii Animadversiones ad Cartesii
Principia Philosophic etc. ed. Dr. Guhrauer. 8vo. Bonn.
1844, p. 35, quoted Journal des Savants, Oct. 1850, p. 600,
in an article by M. V. Cousin.

LECTURE IL 69
tinue to charge upon different doctrinal te
nets a tendency to produce a relaxation of
the moral principle, few would I think be
disposed to enter upon an investigation, as
to which of conflicting dogmatisms had been,
on the whole, accompanied by the greater
immoralities in those who adopted it. Such
investigation must be equally uncharitable
and without resultP. But the position in
tended to be maintained is, that error in
dogma is not, on the face of it, in itself an
immorality, and that we have no reason to
believe it must in individual cases be judged
as such. If we are conscious of a sincere
and moral condition in ourselves, we should
suppose, that others who now differ from
us, would, if they had the same advantages
with ourselves, coincide with us ; and we
should go further and suppose also, although
the error of others is inadmissible by us, and
P For the superior morality of the Goths, who were
Arians, over the Romans, who were orthodox, see Newman,
Development &c. p. 273, and the note there. But it would
not in fact be fair, to charge the immoralities of the Ro
mans on their Creed, or to attribute the morality of the
barbarians to theirs. The Romans were an utterly demo
ralized people, the dregs of an expiring civiHzation : the
Goths were as yet undepraved by civilization, not as yet
relaxed by climate and luxury, and of a stock too, which,
in course of centuries, has never hitherto exhibited a cor
ruption equal to that of the Greco- Italian race.

70 LECTURE IL
in its concrete and complex form contradic
tory to acknowledged conclusions of our
own, yet that to those who hold it, there
probably lies at the root of it some principle,
which we have not sufficiently remarked,
which accounts for their persistence in it,
and which we should hold, though without
its consequences, in common with them.
These maxims, which contain the germ of
a principle of moral comprehension, it will
be observed go much beyond the Protestant
principle, as it is called, of the right of pri
vate judgment ; much beyond the Protestant
principle, considered as negative, which of
course dies with that which it denies. Some
of the more special and positive views of
Protestants will naturally come under notice
in ensuing Lectures ; but with respect to
the general principle itself, considered as a
negative one, it may be remarked, that it
cannot be that of which we are in search, be
cause it cannot at once be permanent and
universal ; it can only be permanent, on the
supposition of that, against which it protests,
being permanent also. Now neither was the
temporary character of their general prin
ciple, nor the liberty to others of carrying it
out to particular applications, not contem
plated by themselves, recognised by the chief

LECTURE IL 71
Reformers: and in fact the responsibility of all
and each, and therefore the liberty of all and
each, in matter of dogmatic religion, was not
enounced by them, and only grew to be popu
larly acknowledged in process of time, as an
historical generalization, from the facts which
the examples of the Reformation supplied''.
Nevertheless, while private judgment, con
sidered as a hostile right, evidently implies
division, not only intellectual difference but
moral separation, and can only serve as a
ground of united action for temporary pur
poses ; when it is regarded as an obligation,
1 The case of Servetus is well known, and Valentine
Gentilis, found guilty at Geneva (1558) of "voluntary
heresy," only escaped a similar fate there by retracting, but
persisting afterwards in propagating his opinions, which
seem to have been Arian, he was burnt at Berne. M. Merle
d'Aubigne quotes, in his History of theReformation, to prove-
the liberality of Luther, that reformer's letter to Lenkius,
July 14, 1528, in which he says with reference to the
Zwinglians, " Ego ad judicium sanguinis tardus sum etiam
ubi meritum abundat," which expressions, however, indi
cate rather an illiberality of judgment, than a softness of
heart. Even Melanchthon, after the protest, April 19, 1529,
thought that the Lutherans had injured themselves by not
consenting to the edict against the Zwinglians. D'Aubigne,
t. iv. p. 102. In the matter of confessions, Melanchthon
certainly differs from Luther ; Luther would have ex
cluded error by precise definitions, whereas Melanchthon
would have ceased to define where differences began. After
Luther's death the moderate principles of Melanchthon,
made way, but issued in a division of the Lutherans, as>
much as in a comprehension of the Calvinists.

72 LECTURE IL
according to the precept, "Prove all things,
hold fast that which is good''," and still more,
when it is recognised as a necessity of our
nature, there is about it the character of uni
versality, which must belong to the principle,
of which we are in search. But in endea
vouring to apply the maxim, we must limit
our expectations of the results to follow from
it, by the consideration, that if the dogma
be the matter on which liberty of judging is
exercised, it is impossible it should issue in
absolute unity of view. Still, it would be
absurd to suppose, if the proper object on
which it should be exercised could be suffi
ciently described, that individual inquiries
would, as a matter of fact, result in indefinite
subdivision of judgments ; that every man
would, in the event, judge altogether differ
ently from every other ; as absurd as it would
be, to imagine, that in any number of sane
men, each would mistake a given material
object for somewhat else, although, with limi
tation, one and the same object will not make
precisely the same impression upon any two.
So that little has been done already to
wards any prospect of unity, even by esta
blishing private judgment as a power or
^ See Dr. Hawkins's Sermon on the Duty of private judg
ment, Oxford, 1838.

LECTURE IL 73
function necessary in order to it, unless also
the proper matter be defined, on which that
power or function shall be exercised. For
as men, in the use of their faculties and
senses, if they direct them to their proper
objects, do not come, each one, to a dif
ferent conclusion ; so neither can we sup
pose, that the human judgment, when exer
cised upon divine things, not in the way of
speculation, but in the way of observation,
would in each individual differ from all
others. But if any of the faculties of man,
or of his senses, as for instance his sight, were
to be exercised on objects, with which it is
not naturally in relation ; or if men were
bidden to form judgments by their sight, for
which it is not fitted, that they should tell
thereby the weight or density of bodies, or
their internal structure ; we may well con
ceive, that, instead of an uniformity of verdict,
there would ensue an infinite contrariety.
And similar no doubt must have been the
case, if in exercising their judgment on divine
things, men have endeavoured to conclude
positively upon insufficient data, to conclude
definitively, concerning propositions which
could not be precisely stated, to pass beyond
the phenomena of the divine agency, mani
fested in effects, which we are capable of ob-

74 LECTURE II.
serving, with which we have faculties suffi
ciently in relation, to essences and causes,
which altogether transcend them'.
And conversely, if such contrariety and di
versity has happened among Christians, from
the earliest ages to the present, there is fur
nished a great presumption, that attempts
have been made by them to form judgments,
concerning objects beyond the grasp of their
powers, and that a search for unity, union and
communion in that direction, either by free
dom of judgment, or by a trained and shackled
judgment, which does not deserve the name,
is utterly futile and vain. And herein, as I
humbly conceive, consists the wonderful feli
city of the Church to which we belong, that
her dogmatic declarations being suspended
upon Scripture, not being interpretations of
Scripture, are not final, according to the sense
of Scripture in any one year or century ; but
are provisional, until men shall agree in the
sense of Scripture. And this they will here
after, more than they have as yet, at least so
far as to understand the necessary limits of
their own powers and of its words ; when the
form of a creed will be felt to be unimportant,
s And " by pretext of true conceiving that which is re
vealed, to search and mine into that which is not re
vealed." Lord Bacon.

LECTURE IL 75
in comparison of a growing consent concern
ing the Scripture itself. That either positive
dogma or negation of dogma should be abso
lutely final, and for ever fixed, is inconsistent
with man's condition as a progressive being ;
that a statement of dogma should be provi
sional, suspended upon the attainment of fur
ther light, or upon the improvement of our
faculties of judging, is perfectly consistent
with it.
And there is no contradiction between what
is now said and what was said in a former part
of the lecture, that different men, of neces
sity, judge differently,and different ages, of ne
cessity, judge differently concerning the same
objects. For they do so to such extent indeed,
as to render an absolute identity of judgments
metaphysically impossible, and an adequate
transmission from one generation to another,
or a perfect acceptance by one generation, at
once in terms and in sense, of the judgment
of another, altogether inconceivable. Still
there is, and always has been, a continuity of
judgment upon the original materials, a cohe
rence of judgment, even when men have dif
fered ; and this continuity, coherence and
sequence, involving similarity together with
difference, is a sign of union, though it do
not constitute it, though it seem even to imply

76 LECTURE IL
the contrary. For we may be sure, that the
men, who in some times and under some
circumstances have thought and expressed
themselves one way, would, under other cir
cumstances, have expressed themselves and
thought otherwise. Just as in the judgments
of science concerning the universe, which, to
take up again an illustration already touched
on, has always presented the same material
to the contemplation of men, there has ever
been a continuity of judgments, a coherence,
a sequence of cause and effect, even when
the judgments of different ages appear, as in
-the case of astronomy, to be utterly at vari
ance and contradictory. And these very dis-
.crepancies, though certainly they cannot be
considered as constituting an unity, never
theless indicate the constant possession by
the human race, under all its varieties, of
substantially the same faculties and the same
tendencies, wherein such unity did and does
really consist.
The universality of Christ's religion, its
most divine characteristic, although obscured,
has never disappeared from the eyes of men.
They have sought its realization in the most
unpromising directions, by limitations, ex
clusions, definitions, excommunications ; but
they have ever believed, and still, across all

LECTURE IL 77
differences and enmities, they believe, as it
were against feeling and hearing and sight,
that Christ's kingdom is to endure for ever
and to embrace all men ; they know, that
" as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive."

LECTUEE III.

Romans v. 1.""

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesv^ Christ.

IF now, as has been said, sameness of con
ceptions in different individuals depends not
only on identity of object but on similarity
of internal condition, in those to whom it is
presented ; it may be thought, that the sub
jective state of believers may furnish the
principle of which we are in search; that
faith, in the Lutheran sense, may prove the
bond of union and communion of the saints.
The preaching of justification by faith was
certainly a mighty instrument, as handled by
Luther, for demolishing the doctrine of human
merit, attributed with more or less fairness
to the Roman church ; and there gathered
round his preaching and gave it power, a
force of public consent, on the part of num
bers, who had revolted at the Romish prac-

LECTURE IIL 79
tices, which were founded on that doctrine of
merit, or which seemed to ordinary observers
to imply it. And in so preaching Luther
appeared to draw immediately from the foun
tain head of Scripture ; to bring forth from
the Christian armoury precisely the same
weapon against self-justifying Romanizers,
which St. Paul had used to confound self-
justifying Judaizers.
Of the controversial value and effects of
the Apostle's arguments in the Epistles to the
Romans and Galatians, on the subject of faith
and works of law, we have no precise informa
tion ; nor as to how far the claim of legal jus
tification which he combats, would have been
stated in the same terms by those whom he
refutes ; nor how far, though it might not
have been recognised as their own by them,
other indifferent persons would have admitted
the statements to be fair.
But this much is at any rate clear, that
the doctrine of justification by faith is with
St. Paul a controversial doctrine ; and we are
not to look for the same precision and abso
luteness therein, as if it were a positive doc
trine delivered explicitly in its own proper
seat. From controversial statements relative
to an antagonism, we cannot derive a positive
doctrine, nor ought we to apply them, except

80 LECTURE III.
in reference to views of a like kind with
those, against which they were originally di
rected*. And it was this very hastiness of taking
St. Paul's controversial arguments for enun
ciation of positive doctrine, against which
St. James provides a caution. But so heated
was Luther in his application of the Pauhne
argument, adopting it as a foundation-prin
ciple of communion, that he regarded at
one time with some degree of contempt the
Epistle of St. James, wherein the statements
of St. Paul are modified, limited, or ex
plained''.
* So in the eleventh Article; "We are accounted
righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own
works or deservings : Wherefore, that we are justified by
Faith only" &c. is a statement relative to the antagonist
error of justification by human merit.
b "Achte ich sie fiir keines Apostels Schrifft, und ist
das meine Ursache : aufs erste, dass sie stracks wider
S. Paulum und alle andere Schrifft, den Wercken die
Gerechtigkeit gibt, u. s. w. : aufs 2. dass sie will Christen-
leute lehren, und gedenckt nicht einmal in solcher langen
Lehre des Leidens, der Auferstehung, des Geistes Christi.
Er nennet Christum etlichmal, aber er lehret nichts von
ihm, sondern sagt vom gemeinen Glauben an Gott 
Darum kan ich ihn nicht unter die rechten Hauptbiicher
setzen, will aber damit niemand wehren, dass er ihn setze
und hebe, wie es ihn geliistet, denn viel guter Spriiche
sonst darinnen sind." Vorrede auf die Epistel Jacobi.
But the Confession of Augsburg reconciles the two Apo-

LECTURE IIL 81
Now there is one marked difference to be
observed, between the original use by the
Apostle of the doctrine of justification by
faith, and the application made of it by the
Reformer ; a distinction to be noticed also,
before we erect some other apostolic argu
ments into positive Gospel doctrines. The
distinction I here mean is this ; that the
Apostle is, for the most part, arguing with
and concerning large classes of persons ; the
individual application follows in the way of
corollary, and is, during the argument, com
paratively out of sight. On the contrary,
with Luther and Calvin the individual and
personal is the most prominent, even in the
case of the doctrine. With St. Paul, the
breaking down of the wall of partition, the
full revelation of the mystery, that the Gen
tiles should be fellow-heirs with the seed of
Abraham according to the flesh, was the evan
gelical truth, which he sought, above all others,
to enforce upon his own countrymen : the
absence of class-superiority and privilege in
spiritual things, of the wise over the un
learned, of the Greek over the barbarian, of
the master over the slave, was the corre-
stles, by distinguishing between an historical faith and a
faith or confidence in the remission of sins for Christ's
sake, and the Saxon confession in the same way.
G

82 LECTURE IIL
sponding address of the same truth to the
Gentiles. Having thus generalized and brought all
within the terms of the covenant, having
shewn, that all have an interest in the gra
cious plan, the Apostle, in his moral exhor
tations, individualizes, and urges upon each
and all the personal obligations, which re
sult from their being so comprehended. With
the Reformers, on the other hand, the indi
vidual is first, in the experimental reception
of the redemption ; in the certainty of per
sonal remission and forgiveness of Luther ; in
the sealing of our election by the witness of
the Spirit in our hearts of Calvin.
It is not so easy as might be thought, to
represent fairly the difficulty of penetrating
the world, not only the Jewish but the Gen
tile, with that great truth, so perseveringly
inculcated by St. Paul, of the universality of
Christ's religion ^ We are so accustomed to
the phrase of the Catholic Church, that the
grandeur of the idea involved in those terms
escapes us. The obstacles to the reception
of a truth, in those ages so novel, were in
deed a mountain, only to be removed by
c That there should be one rehgion for all nations
seemed absurd to Pagans, Orig. c. Celsum VIII. p. 425,
still more so that it should be of foreign origin, ^Apfiapov
boypa, id. I. p. 5- Gieseler.

LECTURE IIL 83
the faith of that great Apostle. The no
tion of the hereditary transmission, both
of privileges and of disadvantages, was in
terwoven with the whole of the heathen
life. Polytheism was a religion of separa
tions. Family and local traditions, assigning
divine causes as the origin of existing rights
and relations, tended to perpetuate inequa
lities. The disposition constantly evinced to
recur to a system of caste'', an institution so
widely spread through large branches of our
race, coupling itself with rights of war, rights
of citizenship, and rights of possession, al
though these were temporal things and re
lated to secular advantages, rendered the
preaching of any doctrine of equality, even of
a spiritual and moral one, exceedingly diffi
cult, open to misunderstanding and provo
cative of opposition.
It was not therefore without special cause
^ This tendency was counteracted in Christendom by
the enfranchisement of the " commons ;" for the citizen
ship and freemanship of Christendom has acted precisely
in an opposite direction to that of the ancients. With the
Greeks and Latins it was an institution founded on and
continuing in degree the ancient distinction of "caste."
Under the influence of Christianity it has operated to pre
vent the re-establishment of that system : with the ancients,
the privileges of citizenship tended to depress those who
were not citizens ; with the moderns its operation has been
to elevate those who were not noble.
G 2

84 LECTURE III.
and express argumentative design, that, both
for the sake of Gentile and Jew, St. Paul
taught men to look upon themselves as de
scended from one common progenitor. They
could not be persuaded to acknowledge a com
munity of redemption, unless they admitted
an original identity of stock. "As in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive." Now there had not been wanting
tendencies, during the medieval period, to
wards a recurrence to hereditary caste ; feu
dality itself is an instance of it. But the
principles of the Gos})el were enabled to
penetrate and soften those hard and harsh
relations, as they grew : and at the close of
that period, there was recognised, as belong
ing to all classes, a community of religious
interests, of spiritual privileges, and of moral
duties, in some sense superior to and over
riding the worldly obligations.
So that when other causes threw Luther
upon reproducing, for the controversy of his
day, the great Pauline principle of justifica
tion by faith, he reproduced it under very
different circumstances and, as has been said
already, for an obviously different end. It
was reproduced by persons, among persons
and for purposes, which have given the Lu
theran doctrine a very different colour from

LECTURE IIL 85
that of the apostle, although couched in the
same terms and, as far as words go, identical
with it : an instance, we may say in passing,
of what has been before alleged, of the ne
cessary variation of the senses of words in
course of time, and of the difficulty of resus
citating exactly in one age the precise meta
physical or theological conceptions of a for
mer one.
While the action of the apostolic preach
ing had been directed to comprehend, in one
church, classes, which had hitherto been
determinately distinct ; to form one commu
nion across the boundaries, which parted
dissimilar and repugnant societies ; it was
the object of the Reformers, when the rege
neration of the whole community of the then
visible church became evidently hopeless, to
make a severance, and to form new societies,
out of and within the circuit of the old. In
so doing, the individual element, rather than
the collective one, must be brought out. And
it coincided with this necessary immediate
purpose of the Reformers, that, by natural
constitution, those among whom they labour
ed and had most success, were predisposed
for the appeal to their subjective mental
condition. And besides that this mental pre
disposition cooperated with the other cir-

86 LECTURE IIL
curastances of the case, the Teutonic nations
had enjoyed from an early period, above
other nations of the West, a native theologi
cal terminology; whence the German Re
formers derived great facilities in their ad
dresses to the understandings of their hearers,
and were enabled to effect the temporary so
lution of doctrinal questions, as far as it could
then be carried, not only by an appeal to the
reason, but also to the religious sentiment of
their countrymen.
Regarding then the marked differences in
their mental characteristics, between the
Greco-Italian and the Teutonic races, we
can account, in great measure, upon such eth
nological considerations, for the easy transi
tion of the objective faith of the medieval
Church into the subjective faith of the Lu-
^ Thus the Christian ideas are expressed in German by
native words, Gnade, Glaube, Rechtfertigung, Erlbsung,
instead of the corresponding foreign words, which we have
retained from the Latin ; the word kirche or kylche, which
has sometimes been derived from KvpiaKos, is more pro
bably a native word connected with k-ukXos and circus ; for
ecclesiastical persons the foreign word is used, as, Bischof,
Monch. Concerning Messe, (Missa) see a note in the
Appendix. German translations of the Bible had been
frequently printed before the Reformation. One in the
high German dialect first at Mayence, 1462, reprinted 14
times before that period. A translation into the lower
Saxon printed three times in Cologne, 1470 ; also at
Lilbeck and Galberstadt. — Gieseler.

LECTURE IIL 87
theran theology. And that I have not over
rated the probable action of such secondary
cause is, I think, confirmed by the fact, that
the tendency to mysticism, which, in one of
its forms at least, shews an excess of the sub
jective sentiment, had revealed itself in the
west previously to the Reformation princi
pally in persons of Teutonic race. Thus
Gerhard Groot^, Tauler of Strasburghs, Ruys-
broech of Brabant'', in the fourteenth cen
tury, Hemerken, commonly called Thomas
a Kempis', in the fifteenth, were Germans ;
mysticism evidenced itself in the Lollards
and Beghards'' and in the older Moravians ;
^ Born at Deventer (1340), was the founder of the so
ciety of the Brethren of the Common Life.
s Tauler was born (1394) most probably in Alsace.
He was greatly praised by Luther and Melanchthon and
even approved by Bossuet. His Sermons have been fre
quently published in all German dialects, in the latest
form at Frankfort a. M. 1826.
h Prior of the regular canons in Gruenthal in Bra
bant (13 81). His works, e Brabantice idiomate reddita
Latine, with a Life prefixed, published at Cologne 1553.
folio. ' Takes his name from Kempen in the diocese of Cologne,
where he was born (1380).
k For the Lollards, who originated in Flanders and
spread into Germany, see Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. cent. xiv.
For the Beghards, who were most numerous in the cities
of Germany that lay on the Rhine, especially at Cologne,
consult Mosheim's treatise de Beghardis et Beguinabus,
Leips. 1790.

88 LECTURE IIL
and continued to shew its indigenous charac
ter, subsequently to the Reformation, in John
Arndt^ Jacob Boehm', Spener '", Francke",
Zinzendorf and the modern Moravians.
^ John Arndt was born at Ballenstadt in the duchy of
Anhalt (1555)- His TVue Christianity, a work said to have
been translated into more languages than any other ex
cept the Imitation of Christ, consists of four books : i. The
Book of Scripture, to shew the way of the spiritual life, and
that Adam ought to die and Christ to gain the ascendant in
the heart more and more daily. 3. The Book of Life, direct
ing the Christian to rejoice in sufferings, and to endure
persecution after Christ's example. 3. The Book of Con
science, wherein the Christian is taught to recognise the
kingdom of God within his own heart. 4. The Book of Na
ture, that all creation leads men to the knowledge of their
Creator. A Latin translation of this book was printed at
London, 1 708, and an English one 8". 171 2, dedicated to
queen Anne.
' Jacob Boehmen was born at Goerhtz, in Lusatia (1575).
•" Philip James Spener, born at Rappolsweiler in Upper
Alsace, 13 Jan. 1635. The appeal of Spener was to the
moral consciousness, and the movement communicated
from him may be considered as a reaction against the
formal and merely intellectual character, which had su
pervened upon Lutheranism. His chief work is, Pia
Desideria, in 1675. -^ ^^^^ ^^ Spener was published at
Berlin in 1838, from which is compiled, A Memoir &c.
12°. Philadelphia, 1832. The university of Halle was
founded at his recommendation. He imbibed his prin
ciples from the True Christianity of John Arndt.
" Aug. Herm. Francke was a pupil of Spener's : a
memoir of him was hkewise published at Philadelphia for
the Sunday School Union, 12°. 1831.
° It is not intended to mention Zinzendorf himself with
honour, but the Herrenhutters are not fairly chargeable
with his immoral ravings.

LECTURE IIL 89
And what has been said concerning the
subjective character of the Lutheran theo
logy being due, mediately, to ethnical pre
dispositions, is further confirmed by the
points both of resemblance and difference
between that theology and the Calvinistic.
For Calvin by origin and education was
more predisposed than Luther to the objec
tive modes of thought which characterise the
Roman theology.
Luther, in making a direct and vehement
attack upon a corrupt part of the then Romish
system, had applied subjectively and indi
vidualized St. Paul's argument or doctrine
of justification by faith. The French Refor
mer, when he undertook the defence of those
who had revolted from their ecclesiastical
bondage, seized, as well as the other, upon
what we may call a personal fulcrum or basis
for the construction of a system. They had
this in common, that in their respective
schemes the ultimate appeal and test of
membership lay to the individual conscious
ness. In Luther's scheme, to a consciousness
of a receptive and apprehending faith in the
efficacy and personal application of the Re
demption : in Calvin's, to an inward sense
and conviction of election and of grace.
Both of them, I venture to think, modified

90 LECTURE IIL
in a similar way the apostolic arguments, on
which they founded their own systems. For
whereas St. Paul's design, both in his doctrine
of justification by faith and in that of salva
tion by grace and free election, was to enforce
the extension of privilege, it was the object
of Luther and Calvin to prove a limitation.
But they differ herein ; Luther's subjective
faith certainly supposes the objective reality of
the Redemption : but with Calvin the object
ivity of the divine decree and of the divine
grace as a specific influence derived from it" is
much more remarkable ; the doctrine of as
surance is only its subjective complement.
With Luther the attention is encouraged
primarily to reflect on the internal condition,
and thence to infer the efficacy of the Re-
demptionP; with Calvin, to contemplate the
external decree and grace though in refer
ence to the person. With Luther faith is
first, in order of observation to the percipient.
With Calvin election is prior, in order of
" Founded upon Augustine's doctrine ; " Inter gratiam
et praedestinationem hoc tantum interest, quod praedesti-
natio est gratise praeparatio, gratia vero jam ipsa donatio,"
De prcedest. Sanctor. 19.
P " Ut statuant certo donari remissionem peceatorum."
Augustana Confess. De Fide. " Hac fide cum mens eri-
gitur, certum est donari remissionem peceatorum, recon-
ciliationem et imputationem justitiae propter ipsius Christi
meritum." Conf. Saxonica.

LECTURE IIL 91
causation 1. And the Roman, the Lutheran
and the Calvinistic schemes are thus distin
guished, by the method according to which
they deal with the sense of sin in the indi
vidual. The Lutheran makes the assurance
of remission come from within ; the Calvinist
looks up to the divine predestination, from
which grace proceeds and which faith is to
contemplate as the cause of election. In the
Roman Church the assurance of forgiveness,
I do not say the forgiveness, but the convic
tion of it, flows from an external and histori
cal authority and is dependent on human
testimony. With such differences the two Reformers
adopted, one the subjective, both the indivi
dualizing principles ; and this introduction of
the subjective element, and personal applica
tion of the Augustinian theology, not only
sharpened the controversy between the Roman
q Tunc enim demum nobis certa est nostra salus, quum
in Dei pectore causam reperimus. Sic enim vitam in
Christo manifestatam fide apprehendimus, ut eadem fide
duce procul intueri liceat, ex quo fonte vita prodierit. In
Christo fundata est salutis fiducia, et in evangelii promis-
siones recumbit. Sed haec non parum valida fultura est,
quum nunc, ut in Christum credamus, audimus nobis divi-
nitus esse datum : quia ante mundi originem tam ad fidem
ordinati, quam ad vitse ccelestis hsereditatem electi eramus.
Consensus Genevensis, Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum,
Leips. 1840, p. 223.

92 LECTURE IIL
theologians and the Protestant and Reformed
parties, but occasioned subsequently, within
the Roman Catholic Church, the great con
flict with Jansenism. The appeal to a pri
vate internal witness of a personal state of
salvation is even more opposed to the scheme
of the Church of Rome, than the appeal to
private judgment as a test of abstract ortho
doxy. The vital question with the Protest
ants was, whether men could be saved, and
be satisfied of their salvation, if materially se
vered from communion with the historical
church ; whether internal conviction of the
divine election, of the reception of the Re
demption by faith, of the witness of the
Spirit and of the operation of grace, were not
as sound a foundation of confidence, as visible
union with a corrupt church.
But whatever may be evident of the satis-
factoriness of such internal test, to those who
experience strongly the subjective movement,
or whatever may be thought, by those who en
deavour to judge dispassionately, as if aloof,
of the reasonableness of the one test as com
pared with the other, the point of the present
inquiry is not to be lost sight of; can the
subjective condition of believers be described
with sufficient definiteness, and do there meet
in it those characters of universality, perpe-

LECTURE IIL 93
tuity and mutual action, which must belong
to the catholic bond of union of the saints ?
Now besides the greater prevalence of the
objective tendency in the Roman race, and
the indisposition of the nations descended
from it to adopt fully even the Augustinian
theology ; let us remark, that in the Greek
Church the very questions, which gave rise
to that theology, have not been entertained ;
and that the Neo-Platonic mysticism in Ori
ental communions was of a different cha
racter altogether from the Protestant subject-
iveness. So little then can this personal
internal state be taken as supplying the bond
of Christian unity, that its forms are very va
rious, even according to the broadest and
rudest outlines ; while it is hardly recognised
in several large communions, the members of
which we should shrink, unless we were under
some isolating influence of the condition it
self, from excluding from the Christian pale
and from all possible membership in the
Communion of Saints.
And not only has this subjective tendency
prevailed historically, in conjunction with
other causes, in severing large communions
from each other ; its disuniting operation
has been seen in connection with many sub
divisions of Protestants, and with those more

94 LECTURE III.
detailed separations of Christians, which we
call in this country by the name of dissent.
So that even more hopeless is the prospect of
any reunion of Christendom, if it should be
thought to depend upon individual and con
gregational subjectivities being similarly af
fected by Christian verities, than if it should
be hoped for, from a definition of the objects
of the Christian creed being devised, which
should unite universal acquiescence, without
reference to its subjective action. For of
those who receive the same creed, and as
nearly as may be in the same sense, neces
sarily the impressions conveyed by it are
most various ; and subjective faith runs, in
the religious constitution of different indi
viduals, through as many degrees as mere
opinion does in the non-religious intellect.
If the classification of Christians according
to the subjective element, and a possible
comprehension by means of such classifica
tion were hoped for, it would seem open to
all the difficulties attending a classification
and comprehension by means of the objective
dogma, compounded with those belonging to
itself as another factor.
For just as in mere intellectuals, there
may be a feeble opinion concerning that which
is real; or a firm opinion concerning that

LECTURE IIL 95
which is unreal ; or a ready assent or an
hesitating assent concerning the same fact ;
similar varieties will be found in the reli
gious faith.
Besides other difficulties which would at
tend an attempt to assert, what should be
the specific characteristic of the subjective
faith of the true Christian, there is evidently
a want of any measure or test, either of the
intensity thereof, or of its being impressed
from the true and proper object. While
further, if there be a difficulty in compre
hending men by the profession of a common
symbol, much more can there be no com
prehension of communion, when there are no
means of giving a common expression, or of
ensuring the truth or sincerity of the ex
pression, of the internal state of different
believers. And inasmuch as it is presumed to be cha
racteristic of the Communion of Saints, that
therein are bound together, in one society,
those who have been true believers, and are,
and are to be, the subjective element would
seem more defective than the objective in
this particular.
It is true, as far as the question of con
tinuance goes, that strong subjective per
suasions have prevailed with considerable

96 LECTURE IIL
numbers, and apparently with whole religious
communities; nay, that there has been an
effort and a semblance of perpetuating them.
But the prevalence of a similar psychical
condition among great numbers, under simi
lar circumstances, is not to be wondered at;
nor that such psychical condition should be,
as it were, epidemic or contagious. Some
fanaticisms, which no one, not under their
immediate influence, could attribute to any
sane religious sentiment, have been at times
and places remarkably so. But although there
may thus seem to be a communication of the
religious fervor from individual to individual,
it does not by any means come up to the
character of a true Koivcovia ; which implies,
not only a common participation of the same
benefits, but also a mutual consciousness, a
mutual giving and receiving ; and in this case
is required also a power of continuing such
process for ever.
Now if one thing is obvious to the most
cursory observer of Christendom and of the
history of Christianity, it is this, that the
subjective forms of religion have a tendency to
become rapidly evanescent ; if they seem to
have more life, they have a less enduring sub
stance, than the objective forms : and if these,
in course of ages, have served their purpose

LECTURE in. 97
and end, it is evident, that the subjective
forms, which in some degree supplanted
them, shall likewise in their turn perish.
But when, by reason of a natural tendency.
Christians have associated themselves toge
ther, and according to a divine design, in
obedience to some vital principle of Christ
ianity itself, or from some other cause, have
formed national or other churches and congre
gations, more or less local and defined, in
connection with the subjective element, and
the belief of direct and immediate personal
influence ; the incompatibility of such claim
or theory with a visible communion, and
therefore, one might say at once, its inadmis
sibility as the binding principle of the union
of the saints becomes very apparent. For
that the same subjective impressions, the
same inward witness of the same eternal
election, should belong specifically to the
members of the same national church, or
other local congregation, would be, speaking
secularly, a most marvellous coincidence ;
speaking theologically, it would involve a re
trogression in the evident course of the divine
dealings with mankind ; it would exemplify
a return to the exclusiveness of Judaism,
from the catholicity of the Gospel.
If the objective dogma, as comprised in
H

98 LECTURE IIL
symbols and formularies, has a tendency iff
become dead and unintelligible, so long as
the forms are unchanged, while if they are
added to and developed, and logical deduc
tions made from them, it varies from what it
was originally ; no greater sameness or per
manency can be attributed to the subjective
faith. For unless its precise characteristics
be expressed and described in confessions,
there will be no test, that the same in
ternal conditions animate now the supposed
successors of some evangelical church or
congregation of the sixteenth century : and
if the test of confessions be superadded, we
fall back again into the difficulties which
beset the symbolic principle. And I sup
pose, in fact, that the Protestant and Re
formed confessions require, to the secular
reader, nearly as much historical annotation
and explanation as the Nicene Creed or that
of St. Athanasius.
But there is a further defect in the sub
jective principle ; we have seen, that it is not
calculated for perpetuating itself in succession,
neither can there be shewn a previous conti
nuous identifiable action of it in the Church ;
for if there be any breaking off in the tracing
upward of the objective dogma, or any chasm
in the transmission of it ; much more is there.

LECTURE IIL 99
as far as evidence goes, in the transmission of
the Lutheran subjective faith. Luther him
self did not hesitate to say, that the apostles
alone of antiquity were capable of judging
upon the article of justification by faith* ; and
the Magdeburg Centuriators observe to the
same effect upon the earliest centuries".
' The Roman controversialists do not fail to take advan
tage of these admissions. See, Lettres d'un Docteur
Catholique a un Protestant, par le P. Scheffinacher, fifth ed.
Avignon, 1840, t. ii. p. 500. Nevertheless, it should be ob
served, that neither Lutheranism nor Calvinism would
have been possible, unless the views of Augustine concern
ing original sin, election and perdition had already be
come current. Augustine should thus be considered as
the parent of Paulism, with which Luther is charged,
and not without reason; thus he says of the Epistle
to the Romans ; " Diese Epistel is das rechte Haupt-
stiicke des Neuen Testaments, und das aUerlauteste Evan-
gelium  die an ihr selbst ein helles Licht ist, fast
genugsam die ganze Schrifft zu erleuchten." Vorrede auf
die Epistel S. P. an die Romer. Bretschneider, speaking of
Melanchthon's Loci communes, considers, that he thereby
fixed upon the Lutheran church the character of a Pauline
t heology ; " gegen welche die Theologie, welche aus den
Auspriichen Jesu in den drei ersten Evangelien geschopft
werden kann, in Schatten treten musste." Die deutsche
Reformation u. s. w. §. 18.
u Centur. Magd. Cent. II. " Doctrina de justificatione
neghgentius et obscurius ab his doctoribus tradita est."
They then instance Justin's admiration of Socrates and
other heathens, whom he calls Christians, because they
lived according to reason, although they were thought not
to have known God. "Quae insolens satis et superba
Ethnicae caecitatis commendatio est — adeo hie articulus
omnium summus et praecipuus paulatim, artificio Diaboh,
obscurari ccepit." Cent. III. "De justificatione. Tenuiter
H 2

100 LECTURE III.
And if, were we to recognise the subjective
principle as supplying the bond of Christian
communion, we must doubt concerning the
perpetual succession and continuance of the
Church, so we must concerning its univer
sality. For of the infinitely varied pheno
mena of the religious consciousness, which can
be selected as the tests of truth ? which, were
they so selected, could be predicated as uni
versally belonging to the human race ? which
has the human race a tendency in a grow
ing degree to assume as characteristics? Of
conviction and certainty we never can be sure,
that our own and that of another person are
in the same degree ; nor, though we may trust
our own sincerity, have we in this respect any
test of the sincerity of another. And thus,
though the objective and subjective faith may
both enter among the individual Christian cha
racteristics, they can only enter subordinately
as characteristics of collective Christianity.
Because, there does not belong to them, in
themselves, an universal character ; nor a
tendency to universality ; nor previous his
torical perpetuity and succession ; nor a ten-
omnino et de hac parte scripserunt maximi et prsecipui
hujus aetatis doctores." The Augsburg Confession does not
produce any authority, except its interpretations of Scrip
ture, anterior to Augustine, beyond one passage from Am
brose, in support of the assertion, " Nee afferimus novum
dogma in ecclesiam."

LECTURE IIL 101
dency to perpetuate themselves identically ;
nor a mutual test, except very insufficient, of
their existence at one and the same time in
different individuals ; nor a test of their sub
stantial identity in different individuals : nor
do they give evidence, of that which appears
to be a similar effect issuing in fact from one
and the same cause ; and therefore there can
be no sufficient proof of many individuals
being really common participators of the
same gift ; nor is there any mutual action
and reaction implied by them, except in a
derivative and secondary way.
It must be distinctly borne in mind as we
proceed, that the question is not, in what de
grees the objective, subjective, or other prin
ciples, or in what force and proportion, they
enter into the means, the condition, or the
test of the individual salvation, acceptance, or
justification. It is not to be doubted, since
it has pleased God, that the revelation of the
redemption should be connected with the his
tory of our Saviour's manifestation upon earth,
and be traceable thenceforward in its historical
effects ; since it has pleased him, that those
to whom this knowledge should come, should
be capable of reflecting upon the internal con
ditions in themselves, which that knowledge
produces, and upon the characters which it

102 LECTURE III.
calls up and brings to their own perception —
it is not to be doubted, considering this de
termination of Providence and constitution
of man, that both these elements are, in de
grees which have never been as yet defined,
comprised in the true believer, modified in
each according to his individual peculiarities.
But it i^ contended, that these elements are
not the combining elements, whereby the
Christian society is held together, perpetuated
and enlarged, and distinguished from all other
societies. For that office we require a princi
ple, which does not tend to difference but to
union ; not to severance but to comprehen
sion, not to distinction but to generalization ;
not to individualization but to combination.
But a subordinate inquiry may not inap
propriately be introduced here, namely ; may
not an uniformity of worship form a sufficient
bond of union, in conjunction at least with
that which in fact it must presume, uniformity
of symbol and similarity of disposition? So
that common worshippers should be supposed,
in great degree, to experience the same sub
jective impressions, whence their differences
might be disregarded, as tending to no se
verance of communion.
Now in order to the consideration, as briefly
as possible, of the proper place and office of

LECTURE IIL 103
the Christian worship, let it be remarked, that
by reason of a double relation, in which the
worshipper stands, towards the Being whom
he worships, and towards his brother-wor
shippers, the office of the cultus is evidently
twofold. First, and most obviously, properly
and strictly, it serves as an outward expres
sion of inward feeling and sentiment ; as man
has naturally an inclination to give outward
expression, through the bodily organs, to the
working of the heart and mind ; " out of the
fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh."
Secondly, it is an instrument of instruction
or discipline to those, who are already, in some
degree, and more or less, predisposed, as it
may be presumed, to the same spiritual con
dition as the rest.
It can scarcely need to be observed, that
in speaking of worship as an instrument of
instruction, I do not allude to express in
struction or exhortation, which is frequently
attached to it, but mean worship strictly
so called. Now this, which in the indi
vidual serves two offices, serves two offices
also in community. For with the individual
worship serves two distinct offices. First, it
is an expression of his feelings and senti
ments, more or less spontaneous ; an expres
sion of his wants and desires, which in rela-

104 LECTURE IIL
tion to an All-powerful Being, assumes the
form of prayer, regard being had to the ex
istence of the petitioner in successive time,
although his supplications be addressed to One
who lives in present eternity ; an expresssion
of his satisfaction, which, in relation to an
Almighty Author and Provider, assumes the
form of thanksgiving. Secondly, with the
individual, worship serves, as a command
upon the attention ; and as an act of adora
tion, of thanksgiving, of penitence, of faith,
of submission, as the case may be, tends to
imprint deeply and permanently, convictions
and persuasions and feelings, which might
otherwise be feeble and transitory ; it thus
becomes a discipline and means of instruc
tion. And so in public worship, provided the
liturgical forms correspond sufficiently with
what would be the spontaneous expression of
the perfect members, they become, to the im
perfect, instruments of advancement, instruc
tion and perfection, by the process indicated
above ; namely, as acts of faith, penitence
and the like, tending to raise them to the
same level of religious condition with their
brother-worshippers. The influence of present
authority is thus combined with the natural
influence of the forms themselves".
" There is properly this important difference between the

LECTURE IIL 105
But in order to the efficacy of this action
of the one part of those engaged in the wor
ship upon the rest, it is necessary, that the
worship should fully coincide with, and evi
dently represent, the religious state of the
one portion ; and that the others should not
only be sufficiently predisposed to the end
intended to be produced, but at least feel no
repugnance to the mode and instruments, by
which that effect is to be accomplished.
For unless the reality and sincerity of a
portion of the common worshippers, in some
sense preponderating, be recognised by the
rest, these latter are withdrawn from the ac
tion of that most potent instrument of influ
ence, authority ; and unless they are predis
posed to be acted on and not prejudiced
against the means employed, these will utterly
fail of any effect''.
common and the individual worship ; that in the individual
the spontaneous and involuntary enters more largely than
the voluntary and artificial ; with the common cultus ne
cessarily the contrary. As an attempt to carry the spon
taneous, which is the characteristic of the individual cultus,
into common worship, may be instanced the quaker-wor-
ship (according to its theory) ; and all in fact where ad
dresses to God are extemporized. An example of car
rying the involuntary and artificial into the individual
worship, is found in the horary system of private devo
tion in the Romish church.
y For the proper instrumentality of the Christian wor
ship, and the relations therein between the individual and

106 LECTURE III.
An external worship falls, in the instruments
which it employs, (even with speech and much
more in regard to its other material instru
ments), within the domain of sense and taste.
And as we know the infinite variety of differ
ences in such matters, between different races
and people, it would be absurd to expect, that
one and the same external form of worship
should either be equally natural all over the
world, as the expression of the perfect wor
shipper's own sentiments, or be equally effec
tive in its operation on the imperfect, who is
to be wrought upon and elevated by it.
So far from uniformity of worship tending
to obliterate other differences, a variety of
worship naturally grows up, even where other
differences do not exist ; and should no more
be taken in itself as an indication of essential
diversity, than should a peculiarity of national
habit be thought to exclude men foreign to
ourselves from the collective humanity''.
the congregation, see Schleiermacher, Die christliche Sitte
u. s. w. Berlin, 1843, pp. 537 — 599.
^ No liturgical forms, when forms are adopted, upon the
wisdom of which I would throw no doubt, can be reason
ably expected to be altogether permanent. Nor can one
and the same liturgy be equally suitable for different na
tions; and it may admit of serious question, whether a
mere translation of the English liturgy into their different
languages can be most appropriate at once for the use of
the Hindoo convert, of the New Zealander and of the

LECTURE III. 107
And in addition to the necessary diversities
in the taste-perceptions of men of different
states of civilization and culture, we must
not on this subject leave out of sight the
operation and effects of the historical ante
cedents and circumstances of Christianity.
If no other religions and no other forms of
worship had existed in the world upon its
promulgation, it is barely supposable, that the
ideas, which it presented to mankind, would
have been uniformly represented by all men
in their formal acts of worship.
But there were preexistent in the world
other forms of worship, expressing other reli
gious ideas, more or less approaching to and
Iroquois. Our aim is indeed to lead the different people,
who come under our legitimate influence, to worship God
in an uniformity of sense. But we should ascertain first,
whether, considering their native and severally peculiar
mental constitutions, they are really capable of worshipping
in an absolute uniformity of sense. The Romish church
carries the appearance of unity still further, and causes
men of all nations to worship under an uniformity of
sound. But this, which would be an absurdity, upon any
such view of common worship as that given in the text, is
justified in the Romish system, by the assumption, that all
worship is a subordinate part of " the sacrifice," and sacra
mental. "With us sacrifice is the real worship; every
thing else is accessory ; and what matters it to the people,
whether those sacramental words, which are only pro
nounced in a low tonp of voice, be recited in French, in
German, or in Hebrew ?" De Maistre, The Pope, translated
by Dawson, Lond. Dolman, 1850, p. 113.

108 LECTURE IIL
receding from its own. And if the Christian
dogma cannot be adequately analysed, without
reference to the Jewish and Polytheistic reli
gions, so neither can the forms, which the
Christian worship has taken, be fairly judged,
without reference to the Jewish and heathen
worship. It would be altogether beside my
design, to enter into any inquiry, as to how
far the attempt to conciliate proselytes, by
means of the externals of Christian worship,
has been in any age and churches carried to
excess* ; or how far, at any times and in any
communions, the reaction against an uniform,
^ Besides other exceptionable methods of conversion em
ployed by the Jesuits in their Chinese missions ia the
seventeenth century, they were particularly charged with
corrupting the Christian worship out of an undue conde
scension to the customs of the idolaters. See Mosheim,
Eccl. Hist. Cent. xvii. §. i, and the notes in Maclaine's
translation, vol. v. pp. 24, sqq. A late assailant of the
order expresses himself pointedly as to the effect of such
economy, and his observations admit of a much wider ap
plication than he makes of them. "Voi negate di aver
reso a Confusio od agli idoli del Malabkr e della Cina gli
onori divini di Cristo o gli omaggi religiosi che la Chiesa
porge a' suoi santi. Sia pure, se cosi vi place; ma io vi
dico che voi faceste rendere a Cristo ed ai santi gli onori
degl' idoli ;  II gentilesimo porge alle creature gli onori
divini : il Gesuitismo da a Dio V onore delle creature, e si
vale del culto per trasferire in esso Dio il concetto finite
delle contingenze ; onde conservando 1' apparenza del culto
cristiano, lo rende in effetto paganico." Gioberti, Gesuita
Moderno, t. ii. c. 8. p. 509.

LECTURE III. 109
a complicated, a highly symbolic and sensuous
worship, has run into a morbid puritanism.
Yet in such ways various models of wor
ship have arisen, and upon those models many
men's religious feelings and sentiments have
been moulded ; but it is surely not difficult
to abstract ourselves so far from such exter
nals, as to conceive easily, that the disciples
of the second Adam may hold the head and
remain his members, though they differ in
these forms ; as God has divided the children
of the first Adam into so many kindreds and
people and nations and tongues.
But if we should teach, that Christ's saints,
in order to be in communion one with another,
must not only believe precisely alike, and feel
precisely alike, but also worship alike, we
should be narrowing, by successive limita
tions, the universal inheritance of mankind ;
entangling men again in a yoke of bondage,
forging link after link, first upon the under
standing, secondly on the heart, thirdly on
the sense and taste, to fetter the liberty,
wherewith Christ has made us free.

LECTURE IV.

Ephesians ii. 8.

For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that
not of yourselves : it is the gift of God.

[* J. HE king of Israel, of whom, it is said, that
God gave unto him " wisdom and understand
ing exceeding much, and largeness of heart,
even as the sand that is on the sea shore \"
is remarkable, not only for the range of his
knowledge, but also for the distinct distri
bution of it, and for the method by which he
was enabled to acquire it.
For the books of Solomon which remain
are on the subject-matter of morals; and
those which have perished, or a distinct
branch of them, were concerning natural
history. In his moral writings he describes
^ The portion thus [ J included was omitted in de
livery, b I Kings iv. 39.

LECTURE IV. Ill
the method of observation and induction, to
have been that which he pursued ; and if
such was his course in the more complex
subject, we can have little doubt, that his
works, wherein " he spake of trees, from the
cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto
the hyssop that springeth out of the wall;"
wherein " he spake also of beasts, and of
fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes'' ;"
were of the nature of recorded observation
also. When Socrates, dissatisfied with the phy-
sico-theological theories of the philosophers
who had preceded him, devoted himself to
the study of the matter of morals, he pur
sued also the same method of observation ;
endeavouring to analyse carefully before he
classified and concluded.
With all subsequent philosophers the dis
tinctness of morals and physics has been
held sufficiently ; but in treatment of these
distinct matters, they have mostly been un
aware, that the same method was applicable
to both. Although of those with whom we
are best acquainted, Aristotle laid a founda
tion, then unbuilt upon, in his observations
on natural history ; and elsewhere has de
scribed the dispositions, tendencies and ex-
<^ 1 Kings iv. 33.

112 LECTURE IV.
ternal characteristics of the elements of
human society, with the same precision, with
which he has pourtrayed, according to his
opportunities, the habits and peculiarities of
animal and vegetable being.
But these sketches of true systems and
methods were destined not to be filled up;
the paths thus opened were not to be pur
sued for many ages. And during the forma
tion of the Christian theology and of the
science of the period, from the commence
ment of the Christian era to the decline of
Scholasticism, causes were sought in metaphy
sical entities ; and a deductive logic, which
took its principles from such abstract entities,
was not only esteemed the proper instrument
of teaching, but the full exponent of science,
divine, moral and physical.
These observations are intended to intro
duce the remark, that since the growth of
modern philosophy,] the matter of morals,
although severed effectually, since the time of
Socrates and of Solomon, into a distinct sub-
ject,has been the last to receive any treatment,
according to the analytical and inductive
methods, applied with such success to all
other branches of human knowledge. One
reason of this has undoubtedly been, the
greater complexity of the phenomena in the

LECTURE IV. 113
moral subject-matter, another has been, the
especial connection in Christianity of morals
with theology. It has been supposed, that as
all results which practically concern human
conduct are collected together, and all the
means of human improvement are described
for us in the sacred writings, it must be
gratuitous, if not unbecoming, to attempt
to rear on uninspired observation a moral
system of our own ; which if not consonant
to that of the Scriptures must be false ; if in
accordance with it must be superfluous : and
that in this case, as our principles are of un
doubted truth, rigid deduction from, and ap
plication of them is all which can properly
remain to us.
And it may be urged, not only is sufficient
laid down in Scripture, in the way of precept,
to serve adequately for moral guidance in all
possible circumstances, but there also is de
clared to us, that Christians are made partakers
of a specific influence, an influence proceed
ing from the Holy Spirit Himself, which both
unites them to the rest of the faithful, and
enables them severally to accomplish their
proper works and functions.
But we must take heed, lest, in this very
subject of the moral influences of the Holy
Spirit, we run into an error exactly parallel
I

114 LECTURE IV.
with that, whereby expressions, taken in their
letter, or taken according to a preconceived
interpretation, have been assumed, before now,
as precluding scientific inquiry in the subject
of physics.
It is not to be denied, that passages of Scrip
ture relating to the material world, which were
held at one time to contain distinct revelations
of real facts, have since been acknowledged to
have been spoken out of condescension, or
poetically, or according to the understandings
of former times. But it is necessary to repeat
the statement, because of the indisposition
still remaining in some quarters explicitly to
admit it as true : because of the still greater in
disposition to admit, what I conceive to be
equally true, that in the subject of morals, ra-.
ther are the words of Scripture to receive their
true interpretation from what shall turn out,
on careful observation and analysis, to be the
real phenomena which human nature presents,
than is the account given of these phenomena
to be forced into accordance with a precon
ceived interpretation of the Scripture expres
sions. And herein is the great happiness of
the course, into which human speculations
have been providentially thrown. The mental
faculties have been trained, and their methods
perfected, by the discipline of mathematical

LECTURE IV. 115
and physical science; in order to prepare
them for a right treatment of the moral sub
ject matter. The observation and study of
the simpler phenomena has preceded that of
the more complex : and in such a schooling
the ideas have been brought out clear and
precise, of law, of action and passion, of action
and reaction, of state and function, of being
and circumstances.
The application of these observations will
be obvious, when the particular subject is
remembered, which lies before us in the
present Lecture ; namely, to inquire, whe
ther divine or spiritual influence is that which
is to be recognised as the binding principle
of the communion of saints. But without
anticipating further the conclusions, which
it is hoped will be made clear in the course
of the Lecture, it will be necessary to set be
fore ourselves, as plainly as possible, what the
popular theories are concerning spiritual in
fluence, or, as it is technically termed, grace.
And here we have in English an instance,
of the perpetuating of the foreign word hav
ing greatly tended to obscurity and vague
ness of conception ; for very many passages
of the Epistles, which are supposed to speak
of a peculiar mysterious influence, would
lend no support to such notion, if x«/ow were
I 2

116 LECTURE IV.
translated in them by some other word than
"grace;" as by "favour," "goodness," "gift,"
or "blessing"."
But I think that grace in its popular sense,
which is founded upon but modified from its
Augustinian and scholastic sense, is under
stood to be, a specific influence, as distinct
and specific, as are in physics, light or mag
netism, a specific influence passing, as it were
by a ray, from the Divine Spirit to the human,
and thereby raising the powers of the latter
beyond what they could naturally be**.
It has frequently been observed, that no
doctrine of grace became current in the
'^ Xdpis occurs in the Septuagint version sixty-six times,
of which number it stands sixty-one times for v^, and its
signification in the New Testament cannot be fairly esti
mated without reference to the idea expressed by that
Hebrew word. This is drawn altogether from oriental
life, and implies properly the good wUl and inchnation of a
superior towards an inferior, so much below him, as to
seek only for a spontaneous and gratuitous favour ; or to
invite the favour only by his needs, humihty and suppli
cations. The favourable inclination is manifested in a
kind and condescending aspect. Hence constantly the
phrase "find favour in the sight of," (^2"^j^^) : compare parti
cularly Numb. vi. 25, " The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee," (^tsn"''!)' ^^^ *^®
Appendix. ¦^ So that the understanding of the word in the sense of
a gift of power supematurally infused has obliterated the
sense of benefit of vocation and condition.

LECTURE IV. 117
Church before the time of Augustine, nor has
it strictly speaking assumed a dogmatic form.
It is not to be met with in any of the three
Creeds ; nor is it recognised in any ecume
nical council ; nor is there any definition of
grace or explicit statement concerning it in
the Articles of the Church of England : in
respect to which we should also remember a
canon already laid down, that scriptural terms
occurring in our own Articles are to receive
that interpretation, which it shall turn out
scripturally belongs to them.
The Western Church may indeed be con
sidered to have accepted, respecting the Pela
gian controversy, the decisions of the synods
of Mileve"*, Carthage^, and Arausio^ ; but in
asmuch as it was that very controversy, which
brought out the Augustinian statements con
cerning grace, we should be careful of admit
ting all those controversial views as enun
ciating positive doctrine ; bearing in mind a
caution already suggested and applied to the
^ The Pelagian heresy was formally condemned in the
second council of Mileve, (4 1 6.)
f Zosimus who succeeded Innocent I. (417,) declared
Pelagius and Coelestius orthodox, but after the synods at
Carthage in that and the following year, he too condemned
them. Certain opinions attributed to the Pelagians were
also condemned at the council of Ephesus, (431.)
g The synod of Arausio (Orange) was held against the
Semipelagians, (539.)

118 LECTURE IV.
argumentative statements even of an apo
stolic writer. And certainly the Church of
England is not to be thought, while she con
demns a Pelagian error, to adopt all theories
which have been built on the an ti- Pelagian
polemics of Augustine*".
^ As for instance his shockiag doctrine concerning in
fants dying unbaptized; even Calvin, whose system is other
wise formed upon that of Augustine, extricates the chil
dren of behevers from perdition : " Etsi fidelium liberi sint
ex Adami corrupta stirpe ac genere, eos ad se nihUominus
admittit, propter foedus videlicet cum eorum parentibus
initura, eosque pro liberis suis habet ac numerat." —
" Minime dubium est, quin liberi nostri haeredes siat ejus
vitse ac salutis, quam nobis est pollicitus : qua de causa
sanctificari eos Paulus affirmat, jam inde ab utero matris,
quo ab Ethnicorum et a vera religione abhorrentium ho-
minum liberis discernantur." Catech. Genev. Formula bap
tism, administ. Zwingli ventured to go further ; "Hinc con
stat, si in Christo secundo Adam vitse restituimur, quemad-
modum in primo Adam sumus morti traditi, quod temere
damnamus Christianis parentibus natos pueros, imo gen
tium quoque pueros. Adam enim si perdere universum
genus peccando potuit, et Christus moriendo non vivifi-
cavit et redemit universum genus a clade per istum data,
jam non est par salus reddita per Christum et perinde
(quod absit) nee verum, Sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur,
ita in Christo omnes vitse restituuntur. Verum quomo-
documque de gentilium infantibus statuendum sit," &c.
Zwinglii fidei ratio, Niemeyer, p. 23. The Pelagians were
represented as denying baptism to infants, but on the con
trary they said ; " Infantes debere baptizari in remissionem
peceatorum secundum regulam universahs ecclesiae et se
cundum evangelii sententiam, confitemur, quia Dominus
statuit, regnum ccelorum nonnisi baptizatis posse con-
ferri." Coelesfii Syrnb. fragm. ap. Gieseler. But they dis-

LECTURE IV. 119
Now from the writings of this great father,
and issuing in fact from one and the same
controversy, have arisen two very distinct
theories of grace ; the one the theory of im
mediate spiritual influence, and the other the
theory of sacramental influence. I do not
mean to say, that nothing like the one theory
or the other is to be found anterior to Augus-

tinguished between " life eternal" and " the kingdom of
heaven," and conceived that the unbaptized might receive
the former, that only the baptized could inherit the latter.
August, de peccat. merit, et remiss. I. 30. In the de
velopment of the limbus infantum, the Roman Church has
admitted a modification of the extreme Augustinian view,
and endeavours nevertheless to keep clear of Pelagianism
by an acute distinction, which yet is evidently only a dia
lectical one ; for although the state of those who are in the
" limbus" may be a state of penalty, that is on descendants
of Adam, and of loss as compared with heaven, yet in re
spect of some other condition and in itself it might be
worthy of being called a life eternal, if that term were not
preoccupied. Thus in the condemnation (by Pope Pius
VL, in 1794), of the errors of the synod of Pistoia, the
" limbus" is recognised, but the middle state of the Pela
gians is rejected. " Doctrinam, quae velut fabulam Pela-
gianam explodit locum iUum inferorum, (quem limbi
puerorum nomine fideles passim designant,) in quo animae
decedentium cum sola originali culpa poena damni citra
poenam ignis puniantur, perinde ac si hoc ipso, quod qui
pcenam ignis removent inducerent locum ilium et statum
medium expertem culpae et poenae inter regnum Dei et
damnationem aeternam, qualem fabulabantur Pelagiani:
Falsa, temeraria, in scholas catholicas injuriosa." Damn-
Syn. Pist. xxvi. — See Appendix.

120 LECTURE IV.
tine; but nothing systematic: and two very
different systems may be considered, in our
own day, to be characterised by the greater
development of one or other of these theories :
nevertheless they are frequently held together,
as they were by Augustine and by Calvin.
And although this division may be thought
not to be carried far enough, and that there
might well be embraced within our inquiry,
whether supernatural grace, understood under
some other form, may prove the uniting prin
ciple of the communion of saints ; it will be
seen perhaps as we proceed, that what we shall
say will anticipate the necessity of carrying the
examination further, or of distributing it into
more heads, than those which I have stated.
I. Of grace, considered as an immediate ope
ration of the Divine Spirit upon the human.
2. Of grace, considered as an influence me
diate through sacraments or sacramental
ordinances. 1 . It is plain from the whole history of hu
man religion and of human philosophy, that in
the uncultivated periods men have been prone
to imagine, in all that surrounds them and
happens to them, the action of some power
superior to themselves, operating specially
and immediately on each separate occasion.
As civilization advances the domain of the

LECTURE IV. 121
preternatural recedes, law is found to em
brace continually more and more, the excep
tional and the occasional is found to be less and
less frequent ; and at length the conviction
rises clear and well defined, that in the Di
vine creation all is subject to law, and that it
argues no exalted conception of the Maker of
all things, that He should be interposing,
correcting and adjusting defects in His own
works. If all this appears very evident to us now,
we should remember, that to former gene
rations, and to men in other conditions, it has
been by no means evident ; that with great
difficulty, and through long periods of edu
cation, unless under highly privileged cir
cumstances, have men risen to the conception
of One supreme Being : and when this con
ception was attained, the more wonderful,
imposing or unusual events, even in the ma
terial world, were attributed to His special
interposition. Even in the present age, or
dinary persons do not readily recognise a
Providence, at once general and particular,
ordering all things both in heaven and earth ;
and by the intervention of law, without spe
cial interposition, throwing up at their proper
seasons, as well the most rare phenomena
as the most common.

122 LECTURE IV.
As human observation only comprehended
very unequally the phenomena of the ma
terial universe, those events or appearances,
which were the most unusual or startling, or
farthest removed from examination, were attri
buted at one time to some subordinate agency
superior to man himself, and when mono
theism at length prevailed, to peculiar inter
ventions on the part of the great Being Him
self. And when the apprehension of law, even
with respect to the sensible world, was thus
slow in making its way, no wonder that un
usual phenomena in intellectual or moral
being should be referred to express and im
mediate spiritual or divine agency, according
to the tenor of the rest of the religion or creed ;
that the mind of the poet should have been
thought to be possessed with a divine afflatus;
that the hero should have been believed to
be born of some divine seed ; while the
ravings of the madman, or the atrocities of
the parricide were considered as evidences of
demoniacal possession, of the avenging mission
of furies, or of the inexorable movement of
fate\
' " And in order to clear the way for this inquiry, the re
mark may be made here, the truth of which every one will
be willing to confess, that the ancients were accustomed to
attribute the origin of diseases, particularly of those whose

LECTURE IV. 123
But when, passing out of this state of un
reasoning theism, men have observed, and
raised structures of science upon their obser
vations, the attainments which they have
reached from time to time have only been
provisional : and they have been too prone to
think, that they had found causes, when they
were only recording phenomena, assuming a
tentative hypothesis, or framing a formula.
Especially has this disposition been seen in
those false shadows of sciences which have
preceded the true, as in the occult influences
and powers of the astrologer or of the searcher
after the philosopher's stone. And nearly the
same observation will hold concerning all in
fancy of knowledge ; there is too great an
inclination to take for granted, that we have
arrived at an ultimate principle.
Now I see no more reason for recoiling

natural cause they did not understand, to the immediate
interference of the Deity. Hence they were denominated
by the ancient Greeks ixda-Tiyes, or the scourges of God, a
word which is employed in the New Testament by the
physician Luke himself, vii. 21, and also in Mark v. 29,
34." John's Biblical Archceology, translated by Upham, An-
dover, U. S. 1839, ch. xii. §. 184. The arguments on both
sides respecting' the demoniacs of the New Testament are
impartially given in the same work (§§. 192 — 197), but
without any reference to a priori or philosophical consi
derations.

124 LECTURE IV.
from the supposition, that in Scripture itself
the operations of the Holy Spirit are de
scribed, according to the opinions and under
standings of those to whom the Scripture was
first given, than there is for being fearful of
admitting, that scriptural descriptions of the
material creation are not consistent, in their
letter, with now acknowledged physical truths;
which have opened to us more and more,
and far beyond the perceptions of those to
whom the Scripture was immediately ad
dressed, evidences of the wisdom and good
ness, of the eternal power and Godhead of
the Great Creator.
The words of Scripture itself, when they
relate to such things as fall under human ob
servation, such things as are subjects of
human speculation, or are capable of being
verified by human experience, are evidences,
not of the absolute objective truth, but of the
modes of thinking and speaking and of the
limits of understanding of a certain age. And
this observation must apply as well to the
moral and intellectual world as to the mate
rial. Indisputably all origins and causes are
ultimatelv to be referred to God Himself
" Every good gift and every perfect gift
cometh down from the Father of lights."

LECTURE IV. 125
And the origin of the human or Christian
sanctification equally with all things elseJ.
But in speaking of the manifestation of this
original power in the concrete phenomenon,
it must be spoken of as it could be conceived
of, according to the understanding of such
or such an age of men. Yet we, who know
through what infinite scales and concatena
tions of mediate and subordinate causes God
works, must not think, that we exalt Him or
magnify the good gifts of His Holy Spirit,
by continuing to speak and endeavouring to
think of them as immediate, when the ob
served nature and conditions of the being, on
whom they act, would lead us especially to
think they must be mediate.
And if this should hold with respect to
statements of Scripture itself, much more will
it hold with respect to theories of grace, which
owe their shape to controversies of the fifth,
or to subjective tendencies of the sixteenth
century. Now if Pelagianism constitutes man
into a cause, Augustinianism unnecessarily,
and therefore not piously, multiplies divine
causes.
j There is no question concerning the divine origin,
either of creation or of sanctification, but concerning the
interpretation of scriptural descriptions of the modus ope
randi.

126 LECTURE IV.
For as a question of interpretation of Holy
Writ, there is after all, no more reason for
conceiving, that the favour or grace of God
is a power or influence, than that the love of
God or the goodness of God is so ; these
terms, and a variety of others, to which no
attempt was ever made to affix the sense of
specific powers, are terms expressing, we can
hardly with piety say, modes of His Being;
rather perhaps manners of His dealing with
us ; or more nearly, relations, under which He
has revealed Himself to us, or permitted us
to view Him. And as the love of Christ is
said to constrain, because the love of another
towards us is a most constraining motive to
gratitude and devotedness, as the goodness of
God provokes our thankfulness, the long-suf
fering of God calls us to repentance, the jus
tice of God awes us with a holy fear, so the
grace of God, in comprehending us all under
the redemption, binds all men, to whom that
knowledge comes, to offer themselves living
sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is
their reasonable service.
And thus what is usually termed the grace
and specific influence of the Holy Spirit is an
elevation of the internal powers of man to
their highest possible functions: such ele
vation cannot take place before the grace of

LECTURE IV. 127
Christ, under the gospel, because, except un
der the gospel, the consciousness cannot em
brace a true knowledge of ourselves, of God,
of our relation to Him, to His creation and
to our brethren ''.
All living beings which we are capable of
observing, are what they are, partly by reason
of an internal principle proper to them, and
partly by reason of the conditions which sur
round them. Beyond certain limits a varia
tion in the conditions is fatal to the existence
of the being, adapted by its internal principle
to exist under them. Within these limits,
variations of the conditions are accompanied
with remarkable variations in the phenomena
^ Augustine acknowledges that the knowledge of the
gospel comes to men mediately; "paucissimis esse donatum
ut nullo sibi homine praedicante, per ipsum Deum vel per
Angelos ccelorum doctrinam salutis accipiant, multis vero
id esse donatum ut Deo per homines credant." De dono
perseverantice, 48. And in the most exceptional case of which
we know, that of St. Paul, although his convictions were
determined by the vision on the road to Damascus, and al
though he speaks of his having acted previously " ignorantly
in unbelief," yet it is not possible, but that he must already
have stated to himself, with more or less precision, the
question at issue, between the old Jewish party and the
new " way," which he was the instrument of persecuting ;
he must have possessed some knowledge of what the disci
ples believed, and he had seen the effects of that belief in
the martyr Stephen : this material knowledge had been
supplied to him through the ordinary channels and inlets
of human information.

128 LECTURE IV.
of the living being. And it would be alto
gether unreasonable to suppose, when we
observe a remarkable change in the pheno
mena presented by living beings, which might
be accounted for by a change in the condi
tions which surround them, or which might
be accounted for on supposition of the deve
lopment, when placed in new conditions,
of powers already belonging to them, that
there has been communicated to them a new
and specifically different principle'.
It would be altogether unreasonable, gra
tuitous, and dishonouring to the Creator,
to suppose, that a new principle is given to
the plant, as it passes from leaf to blossom,
and from blossom to fruit, to the chrysalis,
when it bursts its shell and soars a fly ; and
though there is apparently a turning point,
a transitional moment, when the new charac
teristics effectually predominate over the old,
such, even in its most marked forms, as it is
the result of long continued operation of sur-
1 And the " substantializing" of grace in the Augus
tinian system arose from the anxiety to vindicate to the
divine Being an initial point which it was held necessary
to assume as a distinct commencement of the process of
each man's recovery from the hopeless state of nature.
" Etiam initium fidei, sicut continentiam, patientiam, jus-
titiam, pietatem et cetera de quibus cum his nulla contentio
est, donum Dei esse." Aug. de Prced. Sanctor. 43.

LECTURE IV. 129
rounding conditions on the subject modifiable
by means of them, is truly a " gradus incre-
menti" and not a " gradus inceptionis*"."
And although we describe the metamor
phosed being by a new name, and attribute
to it the possession of a new principle, we are
not in fact justified philosophically in pre
suming a new and differential cause to be
operating on a subject of which the pheno
mena vary, if it varies also in its conditions ;
including under conditions, all which is ex
ternal to it, all agencies which can bear upon
it and affect it ; including the time also, dur
ing which it is under these relations ; in the
individual moral being or man, including all
material and human agencies and relations,
communications of knowledge and the like.
Now to confine ourselves as much as possi
ble to that which is our proper subject in the
present Lecture ; it is evident, that if there
be immediately derived from the Divine Spi
rit upon the individual such a power or influ-
" And the origin of whatever may be termed divine or
spiritual influence in any specific sense, like all other ori
gins, must escape our notice ; for neither can we tell (only
by results we infer that there must have been such), the
point or moment when the life of vegetation passes into
that of sense, or the life of sense into that of consciousness,
nor in fact the origin or supervening of any of the higher
faculties upon the lower. K

130 LECTURE IV.
ence, as is popularly understood by the word
grace, it cannot furnish the binding principle
of Christian communion ; inasmuch as, by that
very hypothesis, it does not pass from one to
another, nor, unless some other means are pre
supposed, can each have evidence of the pos
session by another of the essential christian
izing force. And as was maintained in the
last Lecture respecting a subjective state of
conviction, a subjective faith, a subjective cer
tainty of predestination, a subjective assur
ance of being called, whatever satisfaction it
is calculated to shed in the breast of him,
who experiences such impressions, no other
person can have assurance of his brother's
inward condition, or know whether it cor
responds with his own, or has any given rela
tion to his own. And if this be so, whether
communication of grace, according to its
popular sense, takes place or not, or whe
ther any analogous influence of any kind
takes place upon the individual or not, such
individually received grace cannot be the
principle of communion.
If there be such, though it be a saving in
fluence, or a consoling influence, or an influ
ence effective of any individual perfection, or
of all perfections in the individual, it can
not be the spirit and principle of communion,

LECTURE IV. 131
because not communicable, transmissible, act
ing along with the consciousness of persons
standing in a known relation.
2. We have now to inquire, whether the
principle of communion is to be found in
grace, considered as an influence mediate
through sacraments. Sacramental influence,
as understood by many, I suppose to mean,
that there is, in the administration of the sa
craments, communicated to the receiver, along
with the consecrated element, an action or
force of the Divine Spirit upon the spirit of
the receiver ; only not immediate, because it
passes through or along with the element:
or by another mode of expressing it, that a
psychical change is wrought in the soul of
the receiver supematurally, then and there,
by means of, or with the element.
And gratuitous as this theory might ap
pear, support is sometimes sought for it in
Scripture, and it is alleged to be conceivable,
that power should be preternaturally trans
mitted through material instruments, because
it is said of our Lord, that " there went virtue
out of him and healed them all";" and of Paul,
that " from his body were brought unto the
sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases
departed from them, and the evil spirits went
0 Luke vi. 19.
K 2

132 LECTURE IV.
out of them p." Whether these expressions
are to be understood as describing, strictly
speaking, a means by which miracles were
wrought, as describing the transmission of a
supernatural virtue through material instru
ments, or whether they are to be considered
as spoken in condescension to popular notions
among the Jews concerning the supernatural,
will be differently decided, according to each
one's a priori judgment of what is more pious
to suppose respecting the mode of operation
of Almighty God'^. But not only is any
logical conclusion out of the question from
such partial instances, even if we could as
certain with precision what is intended to be
described ; there is not even the remotest
presumption to be drawn from these ex
amples in favour of the supernatural theory
p Acts xix. 1 2.
1 With respect also to the narrative, John v. 2 — 7, if it
were taken according to the letter, that the water of the
pool, when troubled by an angel, produced a miraculous
effect ; inasmuch as that would be a supernatural agency,
through a material instrument, upon the material bodies
of the infirm, no inference or presumption could follow of
a material agent, water for instance, being the means of
operating a psychical change. But the statement in that
passage concerning the descent of an angel is rather
founded on popular opinions ; the pool being probably a
mineral bath, which became more than usually efiicacious,
when agitated by subterranean or atmospheric causes.
See Jahn's Biblical Archceology, ch. xii. §. 198.

LECTURE IV. 133
of the sacraments. For these particulars are
not in pari materia with the sacraments, not
in the moral subject matter ; in those in
stances the power transmitted through the
material instrument issued in a material or
corporeal result ; in the case of the sacra
ments the result is a moral one, which there
fore implies a moral antecedent'.
It is not to be wondered at, nor imputed
to the dishonour of the theologians of the
reformation, who strove so anxiously not only
to destroy but to reconstruct ; if, for the
most part, confused with traditional dogmas,
with a vague metaphysic, with a tendency to
worship the letter of the Scripture^ with a
¦^ And although from the observation of uniformity and
law ia the material creation we may infer, with great pro
bability, the subordination to law of moral being likewise ;
we cannot, from the observation of certain unreduced phe
nomena in one department of being, infer the existence
of a specific law in another ; much less, that the mode of
apparent deviation in the one case should become the con
stant characteristic in the other. And after all, the dif
ference between those who adopt the moral and those who
adopt the supernatural theory concerning " means of grace"
is not, whether they act according to a law, but in what
terms we can intelligibly express that law. " Si quis dixerit,
non dari gratiam per hujusmodi sacramenta semper et om
nibus, quantum est ex parte Dei, etiam si rite ea suscipi-
ant, sed aliquando et aliquibus : anathema sit." Concil.
Trident, sess. vii. can. 7.
s This was particularly the case with Luther ; witness

134 LECTURE IV.
necessity for hurrying from what they con
ceived to be grievous superstitions or impi
eties, and for substituting some other systems
in their place, they ran into inconsistencies
with each other and with themselves.
But we of the present day should be falling
again into the error of the dogmatic principle,
if we determined, that in such and such phrases
of such or such a confession of the sixteenth
century lies the enunciation, for all time, of
the true principle of the sacraments.
Yet is there one name mqst eminent among
the foreign reformers, the clear-headed and
intrepid Zwingli, who, in treating this subject
of the sacraments, anticipated the precision
and consistency of modern philosophy. And
while Luther, in regard to the holy Eucha
rist, was open to the reproach of teaching
a creophagia as gross as that taught in the
Romish church ; while Calvin would main
tain a heterogeneity of cause and effect in
the sacraments, a. spiritual consequence from
a material antecedent, and yet not always,
only to the elect, and not necessarily there
and then* ; while Bucer endeavoured by an
his pertina,city at Marburg : the colloquy is dramatically
given in D'Aubigne, t. iv. pp. ii6 sqq.
t Calvini de Ccena Domini, sub fin. " Uno igitur ore
fatemur omnes nos cum juxta Domini institutum fide sacra-

LECTURE IV. 135
amiable and temporizing policy to agglutinate
churches by fragmentary and inconsistent
forms ; Zwingli made clear to himself, and has
left a precise exposition of a sacramental
theory, not unintelligible and not inconsist
ent with itself. Zwingli saw, that the effect
to be produced by the sacraments on the
moral being must be produced according to
the laws of that being ; he saw, that the sacra
ments were most wisely adapted, by their form
and administration, to act through the senses
and other faculties upon the moral being :
he felt no necessity for seeking any more re
condite mode of their operation".
mentum recipimus, substantiae corporis et sanguinis Christi
vere fieri participes. Quomodo id fiat alii aliis melius de-
finire et clarius explicare possunt — animum oportere sur
sum in coelos erigere ne existimemus D. N. I. C. eo dejectum
esse ut in dementis corruptibilibns concludatur. Rursum
ne vis sacrosancti hujus mysterii imminuatur, cogitare de-
bemus id fieri occulta et mirabib Dei virtute : Spiritumque
ipsius, vinculum esse hujus participationis : quae etiam ob
earn causam spiritualis appellatur." Brevis formula confes-
sionis, " credo tamen eum (in coena) arcana et incompre-
hensibili sui Spiritus virtute fretum, vivificare animas
nostras substantia corporis et sanguinis sui."
" "Quae sacramentorum virtus. Virtus i™*. Res sanctae
et venerandse sunt, utpote a summo sacerdote Christo in-
stitutse et susceptae. Virtus a*^'. Testimonium rei gestae
praebent. 3*'* virtus. Vice rerum sunt quas significant,
unde et nomina earum sortiuntur. 4'*. Res arduas signifi
cant. Ascendit autem cujusque signi pretium cum aesti-
matione rei cujus est signum." As a ring given in token

136 LECTURE IV.
In this country indeed for many years, little
justice has been done, as it seems to me, either
to the abilities or the motives of this reformer.
For no man was more in advance of his age,
of the prejudices of his own Romish educa
tion, or of the prejudices of the movement in
which he was engaged. We cannot indeed
praise in him the democratic vehemence with
of espousal or investiture is not valued at its intrinsic
worth, but with respect to that which it signifies. " 5'*
virtus est, Analogia symbolorum et rei signifioatae.
6'^. Auxilium opemque adferunt fidei. Et hoc prae om
nibus facit eucharistia." And as Satan endeavours to
win us through the treachery of our own bodies, " Cum
ergo sensus alio vocantur quam ut aurem illi praebeant,
jam minus procedit ejus consilium. In eucharistia quat-
tuor potentissimi immo universi sensus a carnis cupidi-
tatibus velut vindicantur ac redimuntur. Auditus cum
jam — ccelestem vocem audit ; Sic Dominus Deus dilescit
mundum etc. — Qui jamjam moriturus etc. Cum ista in-
quam auditus accipit, an non totus consternatur et admirar
bundus in hoc unum quod praedicatur intentus est ? Visus
cum panem videt et calicem — an non et ille fidei obse-
quitur ? Tactus panem in manus sumit, qui jam non panis
sed Christus est significatione. Gustus olfactusque et ipsi
hue advocantur, ut odorent quam suavis sit Dominus. In
baptismo, visus, auditus, tactusque advocantur ad fidei
opus. Sunt ergo sacramenta velut frena quibus sensus, ad
cupita sua excursuri, revocantur ac retrahuntur ut menti
fideique obsecundent. 7™^ Sacramentorum vis est. Quod
vice jusjurandi sunt. Qui enim unis eisdemque sacra-
mentis utuntur, una eademque gens ac sancta qumdam
conjuratio fiunt, etc." Zwinglii expositio Chr. fid. Niemeyer,
PP- 5°—53^

LECTURE IV. 137
which he destroyed the ecclesiastical frame
work"; but for clearness of head and pre
cision of thought and language none of the
Reformers, not even Calvin, surpassed him ;
none equalled him in capacity for dealing
with theological questions, when they are in
volved in metaphysical abstractions. With
respect to the subject immediately before us,
he alone of the continental reformers per
ceived, that all spiritual influence, and sacra
mental influence too, must operate according
to laws^.
Although we cannot in any case wholly
trace the laws of any divine agency, although
" Yet it admits of the same plea of local political neces
sity which is allowed to palliate many proceedings of re
formers elsewhere.
y Zwingh's movement was not only independent of, but
if any thing anterior to, that of Luther. As early as
15 16, the year before Luther's theses, he preached publicly
against superstitious pilgrimages and superstitious honour
paid to images. He has been less celebrated than Luther
or Calvin, partly because his followers were not named
after him ; partly because the movement which he directed
was less connected with political relations, than those of
the other reformers ; and from his premature death other
men reaped the credit of that which he had done, or stayed
the accomplishment of that which he had left incomplete.
With the exception of the short account of Myconius,
De vita et obitu Zwinglii, no contemporary undertook
his history. The first life of him which appeared in Ger
man was in 1776 by Felix Nyscheler, professor of theology
at Zurich.

138 LECTURE IV.
in fact at some point our chain stretching back
and up towards the first cause must break off,
so that we must assume a connection which
we cannot verify, yet it would both be unphi-
losophical and shew want of piety, to ima
gine immediate and occult influences, where
known powers of human nature and known
laws, according to which it may be influenced,
would account for results.
Acting through the imagination upon the
emotions and affections, and so through the
affections upon the deliberate will, the sacra
ments are evidently most wisely adapted,
according to the laws of our nature, to operate
upon it for its purification and improvement.
And thus St. Paul, for a moral purpose, pre
sents to the imagination of the Romans the
recollection of their baptism, that it may pro
duce its hortative effect : " Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death : that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life^." And not
only is the effect, which the Apostle teaches
us to look for in the sacraments, a moral and
personal one, the forms of the sacraments are
themselves suggestive of, and therefore become
signs effectual of grace, and of the grace of
z Rom. vi. 4.

LECTURE IV. 139
charity above all others. " For by one Spirit
are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond
or free*;" and " For we, being many are one
bread, and one body ; for we are all partakers
of that one bread ''."
In this way indeed, the sacramental influ
ence can become a binding influence in the
communion of saints, so far as the relative
character of Christians one towards another
is thereby quickened and brought out. But
in such degree only as these ordinances are, by
the constitution of our nature, suggestive, can
common participators presume them to have
an effect common to each and all.
The two sacraments, as they are of our
Lord's own institution, are also evidently in
their own nature and form the most distin
guishing and peculiar ordinances of the
Christian worship; and, together with the
Lord's prayer, the only parts of it which are
of perpetual obligation, and expressly ap
pointed by Him for universal observance and
adoption. But nothing can more stand in the way of
their instrumental efficacy towards the true
Christian edification, than the coupling with
a I Cor. xii. 13. ^ I Cor. x. 17.

140 LECTURE IV-
them vague theories of occult and arbitrary
influence. Doubtless we cannot limit the power of
Almighty God to attach an immediate influ
ence to any material sign ; but in the ab
sence of His declaring that He has done so,
it is maintained to be most consistent with
what we know of His dealings, to suppose
that he has not. And nothing can be more
unfair polemically, not to say morally uncha
ritable, than to attribute to those, who making
Holy Writ their rule and not finding sacra
mental influence, as popularly undergtood, to
be provable thereby, do not think it pious
to presume it, a wilful blindness to the truth,
or a headstrong judging of the ways of the
Almighty. Upon observation of the course and pro
gress of humanity, it appears, that for con
victions and principles to become deep-seated
and habitual, there is need, during the period
of moral and religious childhood, of a per
suasion of direct and immediate divine sanc
tions and interpositions. In a more advanced
stage, when the principles have taken root,
the notions of immediate interference may be
eliminated without risk. Thus to a child, or
to men in a child-like condition, the convic
tion of a Divine Providence can scarcely grow

LECTURE IV. 141
up, except under the protecting persuasion
of a changing action on the part of God pro
re nata ; nor the feeling of a moral responsi
bility, without the encouraging sight, as it
then seems, of special judgments on the wicked
and special blessings on the just. Afterwards,
not only do these convictions, both of the pro
vidential and moral government of God, re
main unshaken, but their growth and vigour
is increased, when men rise to the recognition
of God acting through laws.
The popular notion of sacramental influ
ence is undoubtedly to be tolerated, as a
possible opinion, as an opinion suited to the
stage of advancement of those minds, which
cannot reach to the idea of law in moral being.
But as a dominant and necessary doctrine, it
would depress the religious intellect below
the level of the non-religious understanding,
and cause a further severance and subdivision
in any church, hitherto free on that subject,
in which it should be developed into an ar
ticle of faith.
But looking on the two sacraments as the
most characteristic parts of the Christian wor
ship, it will be seen, according to the lower
view as some will esteem it, but according to
the far higher one as I venture to think it,
that like other parts of the worship they

142 LECTURE IV.
combine in themselves two distinct offices;
which for convenience may be called the sug
gestive or effective and the representative.
By the suggestive or effective office of the
sacraments is meant, that they set before the
eyes of each member of the Christian commu
nion certain facts, truths, motives, and obliga
tions, and so effect a certain condition in him^
become efficacia signa gratitB. By the represen
tative is meant, that each member of the con
gregation declares to the congregation, his
recognition of the truths, his acknowledgment
of the motives and his submission to the obli
gations". I am not saying, that there is not,
even in public worship, a direct appeal of the
individual to the Supreme Being, but the pro
per intention of public worship in generalj
and of the sacraments in particular, is to sub
serve the edification of the communion.
In the sacrament of baptism the suggestive
or effective office appears almost exclusively ;
in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper the
two offices effective and representative are
more evidently combined. And thus the sacrar
ment of baptism may well be administered to
infants, not as though any psychical change
" " Sacramenta in testimonium publicum ejus gratise
quae cuique privato prius adest." Zwinglii fidei ratio, Nie
meyer, p. 25.

LECTURE IV. 143
were then and there wrought ; not as though
an effect were produced on the consciousness,
when consciousness has not as yet supervened
upon sensation ; an intellectual effect, when
there is no intellect ; an effect on the recog
nition of relations, when no cogni tional power
is developed ; an effect on the moral soul when
there is as yet no will, or perception of good
and evil : but as most consistent with the in
stitution of Christ ; as signing and sealing to
the receiver an interest in the redemption
and remission of sins ; and as preserving for
future influence the full moral force of the
words, " Suffer the little children to come
unto me and forbid them not, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven." The infant may
indeed be placed in a new condition, well
worthy of being called a new birth, but in
comparison of what it may become, it is in an
imperfect and negative condition, it is rather
a possibility than a reality, a material than a
work or product.
But as soon as, and at whatever time, and in
whatever degree of strength and perseverance,
the religious consciousness awakens, the re
membrance of the baptism is there, to pre
sent the peculiar Christian ideas of moral
obligation which are signified by it. And
this suggestive use of the appeal to the

144 LECTURE IV.
baptism is common in the apostolic writ
ings. But the progress and perfection of the
Christian consciousness follows a parallel or
similar course to that of the mere conscious
ness. For this seems to awake out of a state
of unconsciousness in the very act or energy
of recognising self as an agent or patient,
that is in a relation : and it becomes more
and more perfect as it embraces the recog
nition of more and more extended relations.
In like manner the Christian consciousness
becomes more and more perfect through some
such degrees as the following. 1. First
awakens the mere religious consciousness,
whereby we recognise ourselves in relation to
a great power external to ourselves, to a supe
rior and Supreme Being. 2. Complementary
hereto is the consciousness of our relation also
to the universe over which His supremacy ex
tends. S. Next arises the imperfect and as
yet one-sided because isolated consciousness,
whereby we recognise our own redemption
and restoration. 4. Complementary to which
there supervenes finally the consciousness of
the restoration also of the whole human race,
to which we stand in relation, not only as part
of the same creation, but as part also of the
same restoration.

LECTURE IV. 145
And in the celebration of the Lord's Sup
per, which appeals distinctly to this fully deve
loped Christian consciousness, while the sug
gestive office of the sacrament remains, the
representative one becomes prominent. For
therein each one declares to the rest, not
only his memory of that precious death, not
only his purposes and his confidence as
an individual believer, but also his obliga
tion, too much lost sight of among us, to
build up the temple of the Lord. So in
completely does the word recipient express
the representative act in the holy commu
nion ; so little does the word communicate
comprehend all the significancy of that most
sacred rite, unless it be taken to include, not
only partaking, but imparting.
While any other view of the sacraments,
and especially of that of the Lord's Supper,
tends to cherish the isolating, subjective, sign-
seeking, and, as it may be called, selfish reli
gious disposition, under this, they indicate
and subserve the true binding principle of
the communion of saints. Each one repre
sents himself thereby, as ready to follow in his
Master's steps, in His character of self-sacri-
ficer ; each one, when he hears the words
" This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me," declares him-

146 LECTURE IV.
self as answering, " Yea Lord, I am ready, in
remembrance of Thee, to give also my body
for the extension of Thy kingdom :" " This is
my blood which is shed for you and for many
for the remission of sins ;" " Yea Lord, I am
ready to shed my blood also, if thereby men's
sins can be blotted out."
And thus are connected by St. John the
antecedent in the death of Christ, and the
consequent self-devotion on the part of the
true follower, which are both so strikingly
pourtrayed together in that most sacred ordi
nance : " Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because he laid down his life for us : and
we ought to lay down our lives for the bre
thren."

LECTURE V.

Gal. i. 3, 4.
Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for
our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God and our
Father.

EET us constantly bear in mind, that the prin
ciple of communion of which we are in search
must be a catholic principle, capable of unit
ing, perfecting, and indefinitely extending
the Christian society ; capable in order thereto
of universal recognition : it must appeal to a
common sense. With peculiar certainty, the
test of universal applicability is here a test
of truth. In whatever degree certain quali
ties may contribute to the perfection of the
personal Christian character, as long as they
retain the personal character only, there is
not to be looked for among them the binding
principle of Christian communion.
L 2

148 LECTURE V.
And a variety of principles, wherein, ac
cording to different theological systems, the
essence of cathoMc union or the communion
of saints may be thought to consist, so far
from serving towards union, combination and
communion, tend rather, for want of a rela
tive character and power, to severance and
isolation. Nor yet, although the divine knowledge
comprehends in one all the separate Christian
elements, can this knowledge, uncomniuni-
cated to us, be considered as supplying, to
us, a bond of union between such scattered
units". If two men, unknown to each other, be
beloved by some third superior person, who
knows them worthy of his affection, though
they severally have union with him, they have
not thereby society with each other : what
ever their devotion to him, or his love to
them, if they are not consciously in relation
to one another, they cannot be said to be in
communion one with the other. " I know my
" " Semper in conspectu sit omnibus hoc Pauli dictum ;
Quos elegit, hos vocavit. Quotiescunque de ecclesia cogi-
tamus, intueamur coetum vocatorum, qui est ecclesia visi-
bilis, nee alibi electos uUos esse somniemus nisi in hoc
ipso coetu visibili .... nee aliam fingamus ecclesiam invi-
sibilem et mutam hominum in hac vita tamen manen-
tium." Melanchthon, Loci Communes, vol. i. p. 283.

LECTURE V. 149
sheep," says our Lord, "and am known of
mine** ;" which text does not as yet touch the
idea of communion between the members ;
nor yet does this ; " The foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal ; The Lord
knoweth them that are his ;" nor yet what
follows ; " Let every one that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity" ;" un
less so far as the character there intended is
one which acts and is acted upon by example
of life with mutual consciousness. " That
they may be one even as we are one**," indi
cates communion, for there is mutual know
ledge and concurring design. And so like
wise, " By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye have love one to another^"
But before opening further the relative
character of the saints, it will be necessary to
examine briefly into the claim to furnish the
principle of saintly communion :
I. Of the ascetic life and of kindred arti
ficial discipline :
2. And also of the virtuous life considered
as a personal state or condition.
I. With respect then to such asceticism as
terminates in the individual, (and of asceti
cism, or what may be termed so in a higher
^ John X. 14. "=2 Tim. ii. 19. "* John xvii. 22.
e John xiii. 35.

150 LECTURE V.
sense, we shall have to speak in a subsequent
Lecture,) it is evident, that it must have an
isolating tendency, and not a tendency to
communion. For although there have been
societies of ascetics, the asceticism has been
perpetuated by the society and not the society
bound together in a vital manner or propa
gated by the asceticism. There may even
be a contagious influence in asceticism, as
there is in dogmatism and in mysticism. But
the tendency to asceticism is derived essen
tially from an excess of attention reflected by
the individual upon his own moral condition,
coupled with a persuasion, that mortification
or pain is the specific instrument of moral
purification, and that God will be pleased,
under certain circumstances, with the pain of
his creatures in itself.
Certainly views of this kind have been
found in the world under other systems than
the Christian ; but this, of itself, neither
proves their falsity nor their truth. For they
might, in heathen systems, not be essential to
the errors, but independent of them, and ad
mixtures of truth. And on the other hand,
when they have been met with in the Chris
tian church, it is not to be presumed at once,
that they have been of the essence of Chris
tianity.

LECTURE V. 151
The persuasion of mortification and pain
being in themselves purifying as regards the
sufferer, and in themselves satisfying to God,
may be traced very far back in the oriental re
ligions. Indeed it is characteristic of one of the
earliest religious conditions, wherein man dei
fies every apparent power which acts upon him,
and recognises among those powers some which
inflict evil and are to be propitiated, as well
as others which bestow good and are to be
invoked. For when he attributes his own
passions to these powers or to the Supreme
Being, he attributes to them vengeance and
anger ^ ; because he is himself, as yet, in a state
^ The inclination to regard God as subject to anger and
as the author of vindictive punishments is deep-seated in
man, or rather is a sentiment, which invariably emerges,
when his religious conceptions are in a certain stage of
development. But some heathens have risen above it,
while many Christians have relapsed into it. "Nam, ut
Plato ait, nemo prudens punit, quia peccatum est, sed ne
peccetur. Revocari enim praeterita non possunt; futura
prohibentur." Seneca, de Ira, i. i6. Ov yap eiil Ka/cu bUrj
yiyverai ovbep-ta. Plat. Leg. ix. §.2. UpocnJKei be ttuvtI
Ta ev Tijxcoplq ovTi VTi dXXov opd&s Tiixa)pov[Ji,ev(a fj ^eXTiovi.
ylyvea-dai Kal ovlvacrdai r\ TiapabeCyfiaTi roTs dXXon ytyvecrdai.
Gorg. §. 170; also Protag. §.39. FIoppo) ovTes tov elbevai
Sti ovbels debs bvcrvovs dvOpcoTroLs. Thecetet. §. 22. The di
vine perfections also preclude the supposition of punish
ment, when not serving to correction or example, being
required in vindication of the divine honour ; " Quando
igitur aut spes magna est, ut is, qui peccavit, citra pcenam
ipse sese ultro corrigat : aut spes contra nulla est emen-

152 LECTURE III.
of barbarism ; and on the principle, t]ttov bfyyi-
^ovrai roLS iaurovs xoAa^utrt, he anticipates, as
he thinks, the divine anger by inflicting pu
nishment on himself.
It is not within the scope of the present un
dertaking to inquire, how priesthoods, partly
through ignorance, partly seduced unawares
by the attractions of power, partly from more
corrupt motives, have at times encouraged
views, 1. of mortification being a method of
expiation, purification, and atonement for sin;
2. of mortification, being a means of reaching
a high state of perfection.
But here it may be worth while to notice,
that there were two distinct historical sources
of the supposed purifying discipline, which
dari eum posse et corrigi: aut jacturam dignitatis, in
quam peccatum est metui non necessum est : aut non id
peccatum est, cujus exemplo necessario metu succurrendum
sit : tum, quicquid ita delictum est, non sane dignum esse
imponendae poenae studium visum est." Aul. Gell. N. A. vi.
c. 14. Lactantius argues, that anger is in man a neces
sary stimulxis to induce him to punish, and is a passion
proper to be roused on some occasions ; whence he infers
the existence of the passion in Almighty God, who made
man in his own image. " Hie non cohibenda ira sed etiam
si jacet excitanda est, Quod autem de homine dicimus,
id etiam de Deo, qui hominem similem sui fecit. Omitto
de figura Dei dicere, quia Stoici negent habere ullam for-
mam Deum ; et ingens materia nascetur, si eos coarguere
velimus ; de animo tantum loquor." De Ira Dei, c. xviii.
Opp. Paris. 1748. t. ii. p. 168.

LECTURE V. 153
has at times been carried to superstitious
degrees in different parts of the Church.
These sources were external to the Church
itself, and are to be found in the different
Gnosticisms of Syria and Egypt ^.
The Gnosticism of Egypt was founded
upon, or modified by a very different native
theology from that of Syria. The ancient
theology of Egypt had been a cosmical and
pantheistic system, although it had degene
rated into a Polytheism with inner mys
teries. The mythology of Zoroaster, on the
other hand, was taken from the human and
moral point of view. Gnosticism belongs, pro
perly speaking, to Egypt ; to Persia and the
adjoining countries Manicheism. The ob-
s The distinction between the Syrian and Egyptian
Gnosticisms, if they shall both be so called, is described
with sufiicient precision thus ; " La famUle des Gnos-
tiques de Syrie se rattache d'une maniere immediate au
dualisme de I'Asie centrale, considere la creation entiere
comme le domaine d'une puissance ennemie de Dieu, et
pretend se distinguer de la societe Chretienne, si severe
dans ses moeurs, par un ascetisme plus pur et des abne
gations plus eclatantes. Les Gnostiques d'Egypte, plus
fideles au Platonisme Philonien et a la sagesse de I'ancienne
figypte, aspirent au monde intellectuel comme au seul
veritable, d^daignent le monde materiel comme la source
de toute espece de mal, et se glorifient de spiritualiser
encore davantage des doctrines que les Chretiens consi-
derent comme le type du spiritualisme." Matter, Histoire
du Christianisme, t. i. p. 167.

154 LECTURE V.
ject of the former was the true, of the latter
the good; yi^aais as superior to Trwrris, the
credence of historically-occurring facts as
they appear, was with the Gnostic the pene
trating into the doctrine intended to be con
veyed by them ; but the object of the Zo
roastrian was a moral reAetWi?. Besides
their geographical points of contact, the two
systems had this in common, that the sub
jection of the material and corporeal was
necessary to both ; in the one case, to un
fettered contemplation, in the other, to a
perfect restoration to life, light, and good.
But still, as an instrument of the contem
plative, monachism is native, strictly speak
ing, to Egypt, and is born of Gnosticism.
While as a supposed instrument of moral
purification, asceticism is indigenous to Persia,
and belongs to the more corrupt forms of Zo
roastrian speculation, such as Manicheism''.

•^ Concerning the ancient pantheistic theology of Egypt,
see Roth, Geschichte abendldnd. Philosophic, Der agyp
tische Glaubenskreis ; and for the Zoroastrian, in the same
work. Die zoroastrische Speculation. The original Persian
theology had also undoubtedly been a cosmical one, {^Herod,
1. 131.) but the system of Zoroaster had reformed or super
seded it. He was apparently contemporary with Hystaspes
the father of Darius. Uepcrais bi rois vvv to. i^kv Trporepa
fOr] a^ebdv tl SmavTa Tiapevrai dfxiXei koX dvaTiTpavrai, &X-
XoLOis be Tia-i Kal otov vevoOevp.ivois yji&VTai voixip,ois, iK t&v

LECTURE V. 155
When asceticism and monachism in ^com
bination passed from Egypt and the East
into the West, they became much modified
from various causes ; partly from varying
circumstances, in which Christianity there
found itself, and partly from differences in
climate and in the races which occupied
those regions ; whence practices not uncom
mon in the East were rendered physically
impossible in the West. The asceticism of
the West was never so severe as that of the
East; and anchorites, presenting the extreme
of the monastic life who were so multiplied
in Egypt and the East, were never numerous
in the West".
But so deeply was Christianity tinctured
with principles, which were in fact alien to
its own spirit, that practices of self-denial and
self-infliction came to be considered, for many
ages, as having in themselves a superiority
of holiness. During the growth of Chris
tianity, that is, while it was spreading over
the Roman Empire, it carried with it maxims
and institutions, which were in reality extra-
ZcapodcrTpov tov 'Opixdcrbecas bibayixdTcav KaTaKr]Xr]94vTes k.t.X.
Agathias, Hist. II. fo. Par. 1660. p. 62.
' Hermits, properly speaking, are those who retire from
the world into the desert; anchorites, those who retire
from the comparative seclusion of the cloister into a more
perfect solitude and isolation.

156 LECTURE V.
neous to itself. By the very force of its own
truth it ensured the prevalence of the false
also which was mixed up with it. And
although public policy, social happiness, and
private morality were opposed to, or en
dangered by monastic seclusion and obliga
tions self-imposed for the sake of self; states,
by reason of their weakness, were fain to re
cognise the validity of rules, which withdrew
men from their relative duties, from useful
labour, from public functions and burdens ;
to acknowledge the legality of oaths, by
which they were deposed from their own
supremacy, and to sanction or allow the
formation of societies within their own bo
som, which must become more powerful than
themselves ''.
^ It is essential to the effectual supremacy of a state
over its individual members, that it should be cognizant
of all vows and oaths, with which they bind themselves ;
and it is necessary to the uniform administration of justice,
that all obligations not contracted with its sanction should
be absolutely null and void. But when opinion and con
viction in individuals becomes sufficiently convergent to be
stronger than previously recognised policy, it brings about
a change in existing laws, which was exemplified in the
influence of Christianity generally on the laws of the
Roman empire. In reference to the immediate subject,
the honour in which celibacy was held by the Christians
caused the abrogation of the penalties enacted by the
Julian and Papian laws as early as the time of Constantine.
This was an instance, in which the religious sentiment

LECTURE V. 157
As the doctrine of Christ bore along with
its streams many a corruption utterly foreign
to itself, interpolations from Manicheism and
from the reveries of an Ammonius ; so upon
the institution of the Church, the Commu
nion of all Saints, were engrafted barbarous
fraternities which took their origin from an
Anthony or a Pachomius.
It is not intended to deny, that eminent
services have, at many times, been rendered
to humanity, by associations of men willing to
employ themselves in good works for the sake
of others : it is not intended to detract for
instance from the honour due to the noble
Benedictine order, although the first with
drawal of the founder from the world were
somewhat too theatrical ; although he set
the ill example of fettering men's con
sciences by a perpetual vow' ; although we
effected an alteration in the public policy. The restraints
placed by our own laws of mortmain upon the disposition
of property is an instance^ on the other hand, of the public
policy, originating in or sustained by general opinion,
repressing the action of the individual religious sentiment.
De Rhcer, De effcctu rei. Christ, in jurisp. Rom. droning.
iTjS. Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, xxxiii. 21.
' Hitherto the Roman Church has shewn no dispo
sition to relax or modify the monastic vow in respect of
stability. In the synod of Pistoia an attempt was made
to regulate such vows on another principle than that of
the perpetual obligation; "Votum perpetuae stabilitatis
nunquam tolerandum. Non illud norant veteres monachi,

158 LECTURE V.
must condemn, as equally impolitic and im
moral, the provision of his Rule, whereby
children might be bound, by the act of their
guardians, with the shackles of a lifelong
obligation"".
qui tamen ecclesiae consolatio et Christianismi ornamentum
extiterunt. Vota castitatis, paupertatis et obedientiae non
admittenda instar communis et stabUis regulae. Si quis
ea vota, aut omnia, aut aliqua facere voluerit, consihum et
veniam ab episcopo postulabit, qui tamen nunquam per-
mittet, ut perpetua sint, nee anni fines excedent. Tan-
tummodo facultas dabitur ea renovandi sub iisdem con-
ditionibus." And concerning nuns; "Vota perpetua usque
ad annum 40, aut 45, non admittenda." But such reforms
were condemned at Rome ; " Systema vigentis atque jam
antiquitus probatae ac receptae disciplinae subversivum,
perniciosum, constitutionibus apostolicis et plurium con-
ciliorum etiam generalium, tum speciatim Tridentini sanc-
tionibus oppositum et injuriosum, favens haereticorum in
monastica vota et regularia instituta stabiliori consiliorum
evangelicorum professioni addicta conviciis et calumniis."
Damn Syn. Pist. lxxxiv. §. 10. Art. 6. §. 11.
™ The Rule consists of 73 chapters, (Galland. Bibl.
PP. t. XI. p. 298. ;) c. 59 ; " Si quis forte de nobihbus
offert fihum suum Deo in monasterio, si ipse puer minori
aetate est, parentes ejus faciant petitionem, quam supra
diximus. Et cum oblatione ipsam petitionem, et manum
pueri involvant in palla altaris et sic eum offerant." So
likewise the 4th council of Toledo; "Monachum aut paterna
devotio, aut propria professio facit, quicquid horum fecerit
alligatum tenebit. Proinde his ad mundum revertendi
intercludimus aditum et ad saeculum interdicimus regres-
sum." The question as to the obligation arising from
such devotion was debated with reference to a nephew of
Bernard's ; who was claimed by the monks of Cluny,
where his parents had offered him, and by those of Ci-

LECTURE V. 159
We should be far then from including in
an hasty and general condemnation all men
who have belonged to, or all men who have
founded, advocated, or extended religious
orders and associations, having regard to
the historical causes of such phenomena and
to their being an evidence, in many cases,
of the action of a true Christian principle.
That the religious orders arose for the most
part when they did was a necessary conse
quence, in conjunction with causes already re
marked, of the Christian party having become
the dominant one in the Empire and civil
ised world. When the general communion
embraced a more indiscriminate multitude,
it followed naturally, that smaller societies
should be formed, within the bosom of the
Church, aiming at a higher perfection than
the generality, of the mixture of whose
worldly principles with their spiritual pro-
teaux, where his uncle had admitted him. Bernard urged
the question as to which act should be valid, " Utrum illud
quod factum est de ipso per alium ipso nesciente, an illud
quod sciens et prudens de se ipso fecit." Ep. 324. But
the Pope (Calixtus II.) caused Robert to return to Cluny.
By the Council of Trent no regular profession can be made
before the age of 16 years. Sess. xxv. c. 15. The mo
nastic vow is considered as a matter of discipline ; conse
quently it has been held competent to the Church to vary its
rules. See, Mege, Commentaire sur la Regie de S. Bcnoit.
Paris, 1687. pp. 695 — 698.

160 LECTURE V.
fession they could not approve. And if
there were mingled with these stricter livers
some or many, whose motives were of an
earthly or ambitious character, and if with
others the personal end and aim were too
exclusively in view, it is because it is dif
ficult for many men to propose definitely to
themselves one and the same excellent aim,
and to address themselves consistently and
perseveringly to its attainment.
To some of the same principles which in
medieval times occasioned the rise of the
religious orders, we are to attribute partly
the severance of Protestants into numerous
sects and parties. This is not solely the
consequence, as is usually supposed, of the
unlimited exercise of private judgment, but
has been owing, in many instances, to a
sincere anxiety to reach a strictness of life
and exclusive devotion to spiritual things,
which can never appear as a characteristic of
a large society.
With contemplative ascetics, inflictions of
pain are prompted by an intention of de
pressing the corporeal part of our compound
nature, in order to elevate the intellectual or
spiritual ; which method would be consistent
with a Platonic theory, but hardly so with a
really Christian doctrine, according to which

LECTURE V. 161
the dignity of the body is so highly en
hanced : nor yet would it accord with a true
philosophical view ; for it appears, as far as
we have evidence, that the body, so far from
being a clog or hinderance to the soul, is, in
this world, the necessary instrument of all
its energies and acts.
In respect, however, to moral asceticism, and
to the question, whether inflictions of pain are
to be considered of the nature of expiation and
satisfaction ; there is no proof, either from the
reason of the thing, or from the declarations
of Scripture, when they are stripped of their
figurative anthropopathetic imagery, that hu
man pain and suffering can in themselves
make compensation, even in a secondary
sense, for wickedness done ; or that the divine
forgiveness is suspended upon the suffering
by the sinner of a due penalty for his deeds ^
" The idea of penal satisfaction not only sustains the
doctrine of Purgatory, but also forms part of the Romish
theory of Penance. The medicinal treatment of the of
fender by means of penance is recognised, but there are
superadded the notions of a compensating effect, and of a
vindictive chastisement. "Proculdubio enim magnopere
a peccato revocant, et quasi freno quodam coercent hae
satisfactoriae poenae, cautioresque et vigilantiores in futurum
poenitentes efficiunt; medentur quoque peceatorum re-
liquiis, et vitiosos habitus male vivendo comparatos con-
. trariis virtutum actionibus toUunt. Neque vero securior
uUa via in ecclesia Dei unquam existimata fuit ad amo-
M

162 LECTURE V.
And with respect to any purifying effect
of pain upon the soul, it may have been
supposed to have such effect, properly speak
ing and in itself, by those who were not
capable of tracing the laws, through which it
operates upon the moral nature. For under
certain circumstances, and applied in a cer
tain way, it tends to determine the will;
especially by directing or diverting the at
tention, conduces to a true judgment, which
is necessary to a right will.
Yet that pain is not the only and neces
sary or specific instrument in the medicinal
moral treatment is evident from this con
sideration ; that in some natures it has a
tendency even to confirm vices, and to sug
gest obstinacy and rebellion. Besides, in
many cases the employment rather of plea
sures than pains may be effectual to the cor
rection of the moral nature : and we learn
even from pagan philosophy, that a vicious
pleasure may be expelled, either by its cog
nate pain, or by an heterogeneous pleasure.
vendam imminentem a Domino poenam, quam ut hsec
pcenitentiae opera homines cum vero animi dolore fre-
quentent. — Habeant autem prae oculis (sacerdotes), ut
satisfactio quam imponunt, non sit tantum ad novas vitw
custodiam, et infirmitatis medicamcntum, sed etiam adprm-
teritorum peceatorum vindictam ct castigationem." Cone.
Trid. Sess. xiv. c. 8.

LECTURE V. 163
Pain can have no morally purifying effect,
unless it be by reason of its adaptation to
act ultimately on the will ; if the will were
non-existent, the pain or penalty could not
purify. Pain suffered by a being incapable
of will, a being merely sentient, could in no
intelligible sense be said to purify him. It
can only purify in a moral sense one who is
a moral being. And the purification of a
moral being can only be such when it ope
rates on the will, so as to determine it for
the future, because the very essence of the
moral being, including the idea of agency, con
sists in the will. The mere perception of con
sequences as unprofitable and to be regretted,
the clearing even of the judgment, unless
that which was before sought be now avoided,
and that which before was avoided be now
sought, implies no essential change in the
moral nature : to which amounts the usual
distinction between fxerafieXeia and fieravoia.
If by the course of Providence in this
world, and from providential chastisements,
it should result, that a deep conviction of
the evil of sin in itself should be produced
in some man's heart, so deep as to ensure
the determination of the will to good for the
future, and yet such future evidence and
fruit should be cut off by death or some
M 2

164 LECTURE V.
deathlike visitation, we cannot doubt, that
such conviction will be rightly judged by
an omniscient Being. But inasmuch as the
will would not be seen to issue in act, we
should not be enabled to say, that such
change had occurred in the moral nature,
or was complete.
Now, if in the way of religious disciphne
or penitential purification, artificial pain be
inflicted, that is, pain having no natural con
nection with the antecedent faults ; and if at
the same time the opportunity of determin
ing to act be cut off, by isolation in the
cloister, or the like ; and no course of action
be left open, but such as has no reference
whatever to the evil which is intended to
be corrected ; here we cannot say, we can
not have any reason even to presume, that
real purification or moral change of nature
has been accomplished. And, generally
stated, when pain is submitted to volun
tarily, without reference to a precise end, a
habit of insensibility may supervene, but not
a habit of any specific virtue : and when
with a specific end proposed, the painful acts
or restraints are valuable entirely with re
ference to that end, and are not to be consi
dered as of any worth in themselves.
It is not to be denied, that a judicious

LECTURE V. 165
moral discipline, administered without super
stition, and submitted to with sincere desire
for improvement, might be an eminently
useful Christian means of grace to indi
viduals. But as long as the personal ame
lioration, wrought out we will suppose by
such discipline, is its own end, it has not, by
its very hypothesis, the relative character,
which belongs to members of a communion
as such.
II. With regard to the second part of
the subject of the present Lecture, namely,
whether the virtuous condition, considered
as personal, can supply the principle of union
among Christians; it need not be explained
or insisted on in this place, that even by
heathen moralists man was not considered as
morally perfect, unless the relative charac
ter were developed in him as well as the
personal ; and that to the development of the
relative or social character is necessary, not
only participation in common interests, but
also mutual action and reaction. Over that
ground we will not therefore now go. But
inasmuch as the Christian society is, in some
sense, taken out of the world, there are
superadded to other moral obligations, or
running parallel with them, certain special
moral ideas, or moral senses, or graces, the

166 LECTURE V.
ideas of duty towards God and also of saving
the soul. And it may be thought, that these
special moral senses, the sense of duty to
God, or the sense of the value, risk, and de
liverance under the Gospel of one's own soul,
although personal senses, are the binding
principles of the Christian body. I pur
posely say superadded, because there cer
tainly is a sense of moral obligation, even
where these other senses do not as yet exist,
or exist only in a rudimental state. They are
not the origin of the sense of obligation, but
are completions of it, additional strands, as
it were, to the cord, by which as a moral
being man is already bound, before he is
brought under the Gospel of grace.
For among the heathens we have the ex
ample of a sense of moral obligation implied
and maintained by their moralists, and evi
dently acted upon in life, independently of
any reference to a great Moral Governor;
even antecedently to the development among
them of the idea of such a Being. But when
that idea developes itself, and penetrates man
kind, the sense of moral obligation is fortified
by it, attaches itself to it, and extends itself
in consequence ; as may be seen in Cicero's
famous condemnation of suicide. It does
not therefore appear, that the superadding

LECTURE V. 167
of this sense of personal duty to God, though
infinitely stronger and more definite in Chris
tians than it could be in heathens, can in
itself supply any principle of union among
Christians, until the consciousness of other re
lations has been added to it ; unless there is
also explicitly connected with it the convic
tion, that others also are His creatures, and that
He works through us and by us upon His
creatures. Nor indeed will the sense of the
value or excellence of our own souls become a
principle of union, until there has been super
added to that likewise a sense of the value
of the souls of others, of our specific relations
to them and power of acting upon them.
And it seems to me, that even when we
speak of our duty to our neighbour, we are
usually led too much to think of acts of ours
towards him, rather as they issue from us
than as they affect him ; rather too, as they
return in the way of benefit upon ourselves,
as a service which God will reward in us,
than as they terminate in him and benefit
him ; which falls very short of the true notion
of Christian charity. And therefore these
higher senses of duty to God, of the value
of our soul, of acknowledgment and thank
fulness for redemption and sanctification,
may very possibly coexist with an excessive

168 LECTURE V.
development in the individual of the per
sonal element, perhaps have some tendency,
unless watchfully counteracted, towards that
very excess, and are far from supplying the
bond of Christian communion, wherein the
relative character of Christians must be pro
minent. To suppose a man selfishly addicted to
gain, pleasure, honour, or any worldly pur
suit, in accordance with the dictates of a
mere worldly prudence, careless of and
therefore sacrificing the interests of others
to his own objects, we acknowledge, that he
does not represent the true type of man.
Let it be supposed now, that for the worldly
objects, there be substituted future and hea
venly prospects, but still with the same ex
clusive view to self, that the salvation of
himself takes the place of the gratification of
himself. This man would now be as in
complete in the Christian character, as he
had under the other supposition been in the
mere human character. And the remedy for
this one-sidedness would not be to deepen
his impressions concerning his own spiritual
state, to elevate his emotions, or to render
him more and more certain and assured of
his personal acceptance. This would in fact be
only to aggravate a disorder, equally so under

LECTURE V. 169
whatever doctrinal system it might take place.
But the remedy would be, to make known to
him, if possible to make him feel, that none
approaches to the perfection of the Christian
character, to the true imitation of Christ, un
less his own condition becomes in turn a cause,
and active upon the condition of others. This
agency, according to each man's power and op
portunities, is a juster measure of his character,
one upon which he is less likely to run into
error, than any other merely inward test or
any outward test which he can apply. As each
one has received, though freely, and without
any merit of his own, yet, mediately through
his fellowcreatures, who were his teachers,
so should he freely give ; it is by that
which every joint supplieth, that the Church
groweth to be a holy temple to the Lord.
And herein appears again the eminence of
that great Reformer, who has already been
mentioned with honour, in that he con
sidered what is technically called the cor
ruption of the human nature, to consist
especially in a want of just balance between
the personal and relative characters ; that
the disposition to self-love is in men dis
proportionate to their love of their kind,
considering their constitution, capacities, and
circumstances: thus shewing a penetration

170 LECTURE V.
and a just psychological view far in advance
of his age". And although this statement
may not be considered in itself dogmatically
complete, in that the corruption of man is
not therein explicitly tied to the natural en-
° Melanchthon recognises the corruption of the human
nature as being evidenced in the disorder or want of balance
between the several affections, and especially in the want
of adjustment between our love of ourselves and our love
of God : " Ignorationera Dei, dubitationes, esse sine
timore Dei, sine dilectione, manifestum est defectus esse ;
sed et defectus dra^ta in amore nostri, quod videhcet
turbato ordine Saul magis amat sese quam Deum : sic et
de aliis pravis incbnationibus judicetur. Hanc ara^Cav
omnium appetitionum scriptores vocarunt concupiscentiam.
Loci Communes, De peccato originis. Opp. Erlangen, 1828.
t. i. p. 92. But the undue preponderance of the ego
tistical over the social is thus presented by Zwingli:
" Eadem ergo conditione omnes ex eo nati sumus. Unde
etiam fit, ut quicquid cogitemus, nostra causa cogitemus,
rebus nostris consulamus : ac prorsus per omnia sic ince-
damus, ut omnia nostra esse, nobis servire, nos autem
super omnia esse cupiamus....Est ergo ista ad peccandum,
amore sui, propensio, peccatum originale : quae quidem
propensio non est proprie peccatum, sed fons quidam ac
ingenium. . . . Peccatum autem in nobis inhabitans, aliud
non est, quam vitium corruptae carnis, quae amore sui per-
petuo concupiscit adversus spiritum. Spiritus enim rei-
publicae studet, caro privatae : non enim consulit sibi deus,
sed a se conditis, cum ipse nuUius egeat, ejus omnia;...
amor sui ex quo tot mala velut ex equo Trojano pro-
deunt." De peccato originali ad Urb. Rhegium, Opp.
Tiguri, 158 1, t. 2. pp. 115 sq. Compare Moehler's Sym-
bolik, pp. 66, 67. Zwingli's letter to Urbanus Rhegius of
Augsburg is explanatory of his doctrine concerning original
sin ; see the following note.

LECTURE V. 171
gendering from Adam ; it seems to supply
an important addition to the more usual
statements, of the corruption of our nature
consisting in the obscuring of the human
moral perceptions and in the infirmity of
the human will, which do not very de
finitely, or at least without further analysis,
suggest a particular point, wherein Christian
agencies can cooperate with the divine pur
pose of Restoration.
But if this view of Zwingli's be admitted
to be correct, which upon fair reflection it
will probably be, it will appear, that the me
dicinal treatment and correction of man, who
is thus too prone to the personal and ego
tistical, is to call up, as its counterpoise, the
other character, namely, the relative.
It has been said indeed, in disparagement
of Zwingli's views concerning original sin,
that he represents the consequences of the
fall to consist not so much in a deterio
ration of nature, as in a deterioration of
condition, or rather in a deterioration of
nature as depending upon a deterioration
of condition ; in some such way as the plant
which is a native of some sunny clime and
rich soil is deteriorated and stunted, when
transferred into an ungenial soil and climateP.
p " Exemplum tale est. Bello captus, perfidia et ini-
micitia commeruit ut servus teneatur. Qui ex illo proge-

172 LECTURE V.
But it would be as difficult in the case of
man, as of any other being, to determine in
what degree his powers, capabilities and func^
tions can be said to be owing to his internal
nature or constitution, in what degree they
are owing to the medium wherein he exists.
And whatever may prove the precise inter
pretation of the history of the fall in Genesis,
and of allusions to it in other parts of Scrip
ture, the expulsion of man from Eden is
at least as indicative of the unfavourable cir
cumstances in which he is now placed, as
nerantur oIk^tui, hoc est vernae, aut dominati fiunt servi :
non culpa, reatu, aut crimine, sed conditione, quae culpam
secuta est : nam parens, ex quo nati sunt, scelere hoc com-
meruerat. Nati scelus non habent, sed poenam ac mnlc-
tam sceleris, puta conditionem, servitutem et ergastulum.
Ista si scelus libet appellare, ideo quia pro scelere infli-
guntur, non veto. Istud originale peccatum, per condi
tionem et contagionem agnasci omnibus qui ex adfectu
maris et foeminse gignuntur agnosco." Zwinglii fidei ratio,
Niemeyer, p. 21. He also distinguishes upon the word
"peccatum" as applied to the sin of Adam and to the
" original sin" of his descendants, which latter, " morbus est
proprie et conditio . . . quanquam nihil morer hunc morbum et
conditionem juxta Pauli morem adpeUari peccatum." Id.
ib. p. 20. But the greatest offence which Zwingli gave
on this subject was by the passage, very similar to one of
Justin's, in which he speaks of Hercules, Theseus, So
crates, Aristides, &c. being admitted apparently into the
Christian heaven. " Et summatim non fuit vir bonus, non
erit mens sancta, non fidelis anima, quam non sis isthic cum
Deo visurus." Zw. Exp. Chr. fidei, Niemeyer, p. 61. J. J-
Hottinger, Helvetische Kir chcn- Geschichte, Zurich, 1708 —
1738. t. iii. pp. 240. 56S, 9.

LECTURE V. 173
other passages can be of the deterioration of
his internal nature. And indeed so long as
we are able to represent to ourselves with the
greater accuracy the facts of the human na
ture as we actually inherit it, it becomes
of comparatively little practical importance,
through what form of words we attach those
actual facts to an antecedent cause.
That with which we are practically con
cerned is this, how in our own cases, and how
in the cases of others, we can work together
with our Divine Redeemer, in that part of
His work which consists in the destroying
the power of sin in the human race. For
His work is declared to us in Scripture as
twofold; first, to take away the penalty of
sin ; and secondly, to destroy the power of
it. As to the first. His work has been done
once for all ; in that He can have no co-work
ers; His work therein being co-extensive with
the evil which He came to remedy; "As
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive." As to the second part of
His work, we are workers together with
Him, and it is a work which is to be con
tinued, as long as the human race continues
upon the earth. In order to work toge
ther with Him in this part of His office, it is
necessary that we should, as far as may be,

174 LECTURE V.
know what is in man. We should endea
vour to ascertain the precise nature, character,
and point of his defects; the effects of circum
stances and conditions upon him ; his average
powers ; and altogether the laws of his nature,
fallen though it be. For it is in the moral
world as in the material, that we have, within
limits, a certain sway over conditions, and
thereby, in a sense, can modify the action of
powers : in moral as well as in material being,
the laws do not vary although the pheno
mena do ; but we can vary the phenomena,
because, within limits, we can alter the con
ditions under which the laws act.
Now it is a most important consideration,
that the defect of the fall or corruption of
man's nature should consist specifically, if it
be true that it does, in a preponderance of the
individual and personal, as compared with the
social sentiment ; because we thus know pre
cisely a disproportion which is to be cor
rected, and are aware of a tendency.
In the actual condition indeed in which
man is now placed in the world, wherein his
senses are made the inlets of all his knowledge
and sentiments, and all which is derived from
without is brought into a living focus in the
point of consciousness ; we can see perhaps
that it could not be otherwise, than that each

LECTURE V- 175
one should have, in his state of nature, a ten
dency to be his universe to himself. All his
wants, his most imperative and most stirring
pleasures and pains, are constantly directing
his attention upon self; and at first, and
at the rudest view of his relations to others,
their claims seem to be more or less anta
gonistic to the claims of self, fortifying self
thereby into a state of defence and resistance.
Upon such views we shall be able to found
some methods of dealing with our fellow -
creatures, carrying on in our degree and mea
sures the work commenced by Christ Himself,
of counteracting the tendencies of the cor
ruption of our nature.
And it must not be supposed, that in setting
forth as a specifically Christian work, and a
work of the Christian communion, that of
acting upon the human society at large, I am
departing from the subject which was origi
nally proposed in these Lectures. For the
Christian charity most truly embraces all
men, because, besides that they are men, they
are all capable of becoming Christians ; and
we need not repeat, that it is the very dis
tinguishing characteristic of the Christian
communion as such, that it should be catholic,
and tend to bring all men into, or at least
under the influence of its own association.

176 LECTURE V.
Moral teachers, preachers and spiritual di
rectors, are quite agreed upon the utility of the
maxim, that it is good to avoid occasion of siii.
Parents and guardians are anxious, that those
committed to their charge should not be placed
in conditions of temptation above their powers.
And each one learns from his own experience,
that it is often wiser to avoid evil, than to be
confident of ability to resist it. From modern
statistics also, which have begun to embrace
the domain of morals, at least to observe some
phenomena of moral action i, it is clear, that
there is an average moral strength in man, as
certainly as an average physical strength, as
certainly as an average stature or an average
weight. This average moral strength is found
to be capable of resisting specific temptations of
a certain feebleness, but not of resisting others
of a greater vehemence. Now in the case of a
child, of a pupil, or of one's self, one would
anxiously take care, if the conditions were
within his power, not to subject the human
agent to circumstances probably beyond his
strength ; but in the case of other men more
distant from us, or in the case of men in the
mass, it does not seem that the same maxim
q The student who has not yet touched on this subject
is recommended to read the work of Professor Quetelet,
Sur I'homme et ses facultes, Brussels, 1837.

LECTURE V. 177
has been sufficiently applied. And herein,
besides the aimless and altogether personal
end of many of the monastic institutions, lies
one great fault in their constitution, that they
have set up for the rule and standard of the
many, the measure attainable only by the few.
In the case of acquiring mechanical or intel
lectual facilities, we proceed from the less
difficult to the more difficult. Such is the
more promising process for the formation of
the moral habit. The contrary method in
morals would be as absurd, as to set the un
trained and feeble boy to accomplish the work
of a vigorous and practised man.
And therefore it becomes an end definitely
to be aimed at by the Christian, as such, that
he should assist in so ameliorating the con
ditions of his fellow-creatures, as to cut off
from them those temptations and occasions,
wherein the average strength of men gives
way ; that he should distinctly propose to
himself, as a precise labour and work, the
smoothing away of some difficulties in their
moral course. And let none fancy, that in
proposing such works, as specifically Christian
works, we are detracting from the honour
due to Christian preaching. But let us bear
in mind that Christianity, that is doctrinal
Christianity, must find a moral nature before

178 LECTURE V.
it can be received by it ; let us be sure, that
no doctrine, properly so called, can be effec
tually recognised and embraced, except by a
nature sufficiently elevated. Anxiety and fear
under a sense of sin, longing for and appre
hension concerning a future life, without
which there can be no embracing of the doc
trines of redemption and of the resurrection,
do themselves imply a certain sensitiveness
and elevation of the moral nature; and we
must not expect them to be produced by the
enunciation of the very doctrines, which are
to furnish their satisfaction and supply their
complement. And let us be sure, that no act of ours,
however trivial it may seem, is without its
consequences on the Redeemer's kingdom;
is without consequences, either of confir
mation of those within, or of comprehen
sion of those without, on the one hand ;
or of causing weak brethren to fall and re
pelling aliens on the other. If we cannot
act intensively in the Christian communion
we can act extensively ; if we cannot elevate
the standard within, by reason of our own
shortcomings, we can impart of that which
we have to those who are yet without. All
power, all talents that we have, and all have
some, must either be used to edification, or

LECTURE V. 179
will tell to destruction. We can at least en
gage in some preliminary labour, to be taken
up and carried further by men of greater at
tainment and higher excellencies than our
own. And if there be any doubt as to our recog
nising, among the many paths which traverse
the world, the special way which lies before
us, in order to fulfil our part, province and
calling, none can be the true way, but that
which has been trodden by the steps of the
Redeemer Himself. If we should discourage
vague and aimless mortification, it is for the
very purpose of bringing forth more dis
tinctly, and clearing from all possibility of
gainsaying, that great truth, that self-sacrifice
for the sake of others is the highest charac
teristic of the true followers of Him, who
by the oblation of Himself perfected them
who are sanctified ; and is the most vital
principle capable of transmission from Him
through the Spirit, whereby the society of
His saints is perpetuated and enlarged ; and
they, past, present and to come, linked toge
ther in one communion and fellowship.

N 2

LECTURE VI.

Matt. xx. 22, 23.

Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of,
and to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with ? They say unto him. We are able.
And He saith unto them. Ye shall drink indeed of
my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with.

EET us proceed now to bring out further
the results of our inquiries as far as they
have gone. We have seen the dogmatic
principle, the subjective principle, the oc
cult principles, recede into the back ground,
so far as regards the combination of the
saints into a communion, because they are
partial, or severing, or isolating, or unas
certained. The principle we are in search
of can be no other than a moral one ; be-

LECTURE VL 181
cause upon none but a moral principle can it
be possible to meet with a common consent ;
and a moral principle likewise is insufficient,
unless it be relative also ; and we have
seen some slight exemplification of what is
meant by a relative moral principle towards
the close of the last Lecture''.
3 The description of the Christian Church must be
sought in relative Ethics. Its immediately parent idea is
to be found in the Jewish Communion, with differences
flowing from its moral purposes and from the universality
of its design. On reference to scriptural language we
find three Greek words used to signify the Jewish as
semblies, "^jwayutyri, 'EKKXr](T[a, Tlavriyvpii. Of these the
first corresponds, in the Septuagint, with the Hebrew
rnV which it represents 130 times, and ^^pfp 37 times,
mj^ is properly a convention by appointment, but it is
used generally for " congregation" throughout the Penta
teuch. I,vvaya>yri is not applied in the N. T. to the as
semblies of Christians, except James ii. 2, where it is
uncertain, whether the word means the assembly or place
of assembly, certainly not the society in general. For
the actual assembling, eTTiavvaycoyi^ Heb. x. 25. a,nd Ign. ad
Pol. c. 4. TTVKVOTepov crvvaymyal yivetrduxrav. E,KKkrj(Tia
translates the Hebrew ^pjp, for which it stands 69 times
and 5 times for its derivatives. The root means 'to
gather,' as the voice of a speaker collects hearers ; whence
nbnb (sc. anima) 'EKKXTjo-tao-Tijs. 'Ekk. as the translation
of .p is used for the " congregation of the Lord" in its
strict sense, as in Deut. xxiii. i, 2, 3, 8 ; and for the general
assembly or concourse of Jews, who came together to
Jerusalem at the great feasts ; see particularly 2 Chron.
xxx. 2, 4, 13, 17, 23, 24, 25. Although there can be little
doubt, that the term e/c/c. is adopted in the N. T. from

182 LECTURE VL
Let us now observe, that the difference
between the mere moral principle which is
insufficient to bind together a communion,
intended to have universal sway and per
petual succession, and that which is vital
and sufficient, may be exemplified in the
history of the immediate followers of our
Lord. They are at first learners, incom
plete, not only in knowledge and under
standing, but in self-command and self-
denial ; their motives are only personal, they
expect temporal benefits, kingdoms, seats on
the right hand and on the left hand of the
throne. Peter, though he seemed to have
something like a dogmatic faith ; " Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God ;" yet
was immediately offended at the humiliation
the Septuagint and not from classical authors, we must
remember, that in its Greek sense also it is to be distin
guished from. (TvyKXriTos or ^ovX-q, and signifies the assembly
of aU who are privileged as citizens. Uavriyvpis, which
occurs but 5 times in the 0. T. is only found in the N. T.
Heb. xii. 26. and there in conjunction with eKKX-qcrCa. If
it means more in that place than a ' very great number'
generally, and has any reference to Greek customs, it wiU
signify, that, as the «. was a practical and dehberative
body, and the tt. a body of spectators and auditors at festival
solemnities, comprising citizens from many different states,
so the communion of Saints in heaven will differ from that
on earth, by reason of its greater comprehensiveness and of
its triumphant character.

LECTURE VL 183
of his Master. The same men become, after
the descent of the Holy Spirit, teachers and
guides, counting all things as nothing, so
that they may win others to the knowledge
and practice of the truth : and no two words
express more precisely the difference between
these two characters, than those of disciple
and apostle.
In our Lord Himself, as He was the great
Messenger from heaven to earth, was found
the character of apostle, without any ad
mixture of that of the disciple ; in a young
child, newly brought into the Christian fold,
and under the Christian teaching, is found
the character of the disciple, without as yet
any admixture of that of the apostle ; be
tween these two extreme points or poles lie
all degrees of the Christian character. Some,
though they be grown in years, are still
babes in knowledge, who, when for the time
they ought to be teachers, have need that
one teach them again, which be the first
principles of the oracles of God ; to some
their salvation has become nearer and better
understood, than when they first believed;
saints are seen at different stages of the
heavenly ladder, "adding to virtue know
ledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to
temperance brotherly kindness, and to bro-

184 LECTURE VL
therly kindness charity ;" and some emulate
the self-devotion of the Apostle Paul, "not
seeking their own profit, but the profit of
many, that they may be saved."
No other religious system ever presented
the origin of a new moral creation from the
personal centre of its founder. And so far
from stripping Christianity of its peculi
arities, by throwing into the back-ground its
objective and subjective faith and supposed
occult influences, and bringing forward its
moral principles as a binding power, we shall
present that feature, which alone can be
perceived with a consensus, when put before
the moral nature of man, which is substan
tially one and the same always and every
where: we thereby display a power in action,
which alone is capable of being felt univer
sally in its effects upon the human race.
It is true, that priesthoods and colleges,
corporations for the purpose of speculation
as well as of worship, grew up among the
heathens ; and when moral enquiry had been
awakened, schools of philosophy were founded,
on somewhat of a moral principle, independ
ent of the priesthoods, and felt by the popu
lar superstitions to be more or less hostile
to them. The garb of the philosopher was
indeed often degraded into a cloak for mere

LECTURE VL 185
presumption and selfishness. But even these
moral teachers, such as they were. Acade
micians, Stoics and others, with no power for
acting permanently on the human nature,
nevertheless indicated a want on the part of
society ; they were in some degree the heralds
and preparatory messengers before teachers
of higher authority and of a more consistent
system. They were a sort of moral and spi
ritual class, a kind of clergy, but not associ
ated upon any enduring principle, nor deriv
ing a commission from any competent head''.
Still, as far as the heathen world is con
cerned, they were more truly the precursors
of the Christian ministry, than were the
priests of the Pagan temples ; and though
not in this case by evident design, nor in ex
press imitation of a model, the Christian
teachers replaced the philosophers and not
the priests among the heathen, as they repre-
*" M. Comte thus describes this historical feature of the
Greek civilization : " La seule existence permanente, libre-
ment toleree, au milieu des populations Grecques, d'une
classe de penseurs independans, qui, sans aucune mission
reguli^re, se proposaient spontanement, aux yeux etonnes
mais satisfaits du public et des magistrats, pour servir
habitueUement de guides intellectuels et moraux, soit dans
la vie individuelle, soit dans la vie collective, devenait
evidemment un germe effectif de pouvoir spirituel futur,
pleinement separe du pouvoir temporel." Philosophic
Positive, tom. v. p. 287.

186 LECTURE VL
sented the doctors of the Sanhedrim and not
the Levitical priesthood among the Jews.
But our divine Master, considered as the
Founder of the Christian society, is distin
guished from all other teachers, lawgivers
and prophets, in that He founded it, to have
perpetual succession, and to be an organiz
ation catholic for moral ends. And it is
only when we take this view of the Church,
that we can discover, either abstractedly in
Christianity, or historically in Christendom,
the action of a principle sufficiently universal
and sufficiently dynamic, to be the binding
principle of the Communion of Saints,
The modifications of our moral nature, when
we are placed in relations of moral action and
passion, are as uniform under their variety,
as are the impressions made on us through
the senses. Here arises no question of the
extent or nature of the corruption of man, or
of the remains of the divine image and simi
litude which still abide in him ; for whatever
the depression of his natural state, all alike
inherit it ; whatever his capabilities of eleva
tion, in all are the same rudiments of improve
ment. Nor are we speaking of what individuals
under certain circumstances become, but of
what men generally, by nature and birth, are.
From right or wrong in act there uniformly

LECTURE VL 187
follows to the agent, satisfaction or uneasi
ness. And we can have no doubt, that the
peculiar pleasure of an approving conscience
and the peculiar pain which we call remorse
are as distinctly felt by, and are as identical
to men of different ages, races and colours,
as is the sense of warmth of the fire, or the
pain of a wound from a sharp weapon". I
do not say that the senses are in all cases
excited by precisely the same objects or acts,
but that the senses are identical. In no
other conceptions can the same unison be
met with, unless it be in the few first axio
matic principles of all knowledge, which how
ever have only an indirect tendency to unite
men in social relations.
The moral senses and constituents of our
nature are thus capable of being uniformly
affected by the moral aspects of Christianity,
when presented to men in a sufficient state
of education and refinement. And in this
capacity for being affected morally in an uni
form way, the sources and means of a Chris
tian unison and union are to be found.
But we shall in vain look for unity, as the
result of the same dogmatic statement; for
unity of judgment as to an abstract truth
lying beyond all experience and verification ;
<= Rom. ii. 14, 15.

188 LECTURE VL
for unity of opinion concerning the features
of historical facts ; for precise agreement in
the meaning of revelation conveyed in lan
guage; for identical, or even mutually-un
derstood impressions, from supposed super
natural agency on the human subject, or the
like. Now notwithstanding the early tendency
of the dogmatic principle to overlay the
moral, morality, treated in a general way,
did occupy a large portion of the writings of
some of the most eminent Fathers down to
the fifth century ; as for instance among the
Latins, Lactantius, Ambrose, Jerome, and
Augustin. Subsequently indeed to that
date, as for example in the writings of Leo
the Great, morality is frittered down to
penitential rules or solutions of casuistical
questions ; it is then re-erected as it were
by the Schoolmen, derivatively from Aris
totle ^
And the superiority of the moral principle,
as a bond of union between Christians, is
evidenced, or at least strongly indicated in
this fact, that when svnods were held an-
ciently for the purpose of settling dogmatical
questions, party-spirit revealed itself, and
''See Geschichte der Sittcnlchre Jesu, von C. Fr. Stdudlin,
Gottingen, 1799 — 1823. t. 3. pp. 159 sqq.

LECTURE VL 189
such matters were debated with vehemence
and decided by clamour. But when the
same men engaged themselves in correcting
immoral and irregular practices, and in car
rying out, according to the conceptions of
their time, the precepts of the Gospel, they
were comparatively united and harmoni-
ous^ And again, the superiority of the relative
principle to the personal and individual is
very evident from this, that with all their ten
dency to elevate the monastic life above the
ordinary, the most eminent Fathers maintain
that the coen obi tical life is preferable to the
heremitical ; that the life of the hermit is
most dangerous to the morals ; that it is not
the highest life ; that the former is connected
with nobler and more powerful motives to
virtue and to the profit of the community.
^ And while the development of the dogma was not
effected without long-continued contests and permanent
separations between large communions, the differences
concerning morals and discipline were confined chiefly to
those which were connected with the Novatian, Meletian,
and Donatist schisms. These schisms themselves grew out
of circumstances external to the Church itself, namely, out
of the Decian and Diocletian persecutions ; and so far as
they became exasperated, it was by reason of theoretical
questions concerning " Lapse," " Baptism," and " Com
munion," which were raised under those circumstances.

190 LECTURE VL
They remark, that the coenobite is on this
account above the hermit, in that he ob
serves the precept of active charity ; that the
strictest observance of the monastic duties
without the natural human duties is un
profitable'. The monastic institutions indeed, orderly,
cooperative, self-devoted and corporate, when
considered in their perfect idea, were in fact
types of what the Christian society itself is ca
pable of being. The influence which, during its
season of energy and prime, each of the more
eminent religious orders exercised, is proof of
the force which would belong to the Chris
tian Church, if its operations could be carried
on according to its original mission ; if full
advantage could be taken, for moral purposes,
of the same powers among its members, of
order, of cooperation, of self-devotion, of per
petuity. The founding of a society catholic, to have
perpetual succession, implies the bestowing
upon it a dynamic and not a static character.
By static character I mean, such as belongs to
a constitution or concrete, of which the parts
or elements are endowed with properties of
permanence only, continuing the same in
^ See Stdudlin, tom. iv. p. 217.

LECTURE VL I9I
themselves, and conducing simply to the pre
servation of the aggregate which they consti
tute, as it is. The dynamic character belongs
to a constitution or body, of which the ele
ments are endowed with a power of modifying
each other, and of perfecting the form of the
whole which they make up ; and of bringing
into it and assimilating to it other essences ori
ginally more or less foreign to itself. An inor
ganic mass may furnish an approximative ex
ample of static condition ; an organised being,
exhibiting its function of growth, is a better
example of dynamic being. I mean then, that
the Christian Church is essentially of this
latter kind ; and of the two similitudes of a
temple and of a human body, to which the
Church is resembled in Scripture, the lat
ter is the closer ; not only because it more
vividly represents the varied action and mu
tual dependence of the parts ; but because it
admits also of being carried somewhat fur
ther, and indicates a power in the organism,
of assimilating that which is extraneous, and
of working it up into its own living fabric
and constitution.
If the Christian Church be a society catho
lic, founded upon the one person of our Lord,
taking its origin from Him, as it were in a
single point of space and in a single point of

192 LECTURE VL
time, there must then have issued from Him a
power capable of being received and propa
gated through all the world, and to the end of
the seculum; it must have been communicated
at first to others who were capable of transmit
ting it, and have been transmitted by them
to others capable of receiving it. He would
communicate only that which was capable of
being received. The fulness of Him, whereof
His followers are said to have been partakers,
was a fulness bounded by their capacity, not
boundless according to His nature. And so in
fact we read ; " As my Father sent me, even so
send I you :" " As Thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the
world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself,
that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on me through
their word^." Now nothing can be more im
portant, than to obtain clear notions concern
ing the power which is to be transmitted, con-
g John XX. 21, xvii. 18 — 20. The particles of compa
rison are not to be pressed ; for the parallel is between the
facts, and not between the manners of the facts ; between
the missions, merely as missions, and not between the
modes, particularities and circumstances of the missions.
The word " even" in our version is superfluous in these
and many other passages, and tends to mislead. Kadw —
Kqyo), " As thou hast sent me, so also I" &c.

LECTURE VL 193
cerning the channels through which it is to
be conveyed, and the persons to whom it is to
pass. Otherwise we might limit to a few, pro
mises made to all ; and among other mischiefs,
men might think, that on a few only lie the
full obligations of the gospel. And what has
in former places been said of the sacramental
influence, as popularly understood, is ap
plicable still more to that supposed kind of it,
which is sometimes surmised to be materially
transmitted through a succession of persons ;
a notion altogether obscuring to the real moral
character of the Gospel, to the proper effect
on the moral nature of the spectacle of a
continued ministry, evidencing the constant
providence of God and continually transmit
ted moral power of the Saviour.
To illustrate further the dynamic character
which resides in the Christian society, from
another point of view. What is the case of
each or any individual Christian ? how did
he become such? Clearly not by a divine
illumination operating on him immediately,
but by the intervention and means of one or
more who were Christians before him. There
was in those other persons a sense of duty
and obligation, to cause that which they had
themselves received, to pass over into another;
they were by that very sense of duty com mis-

194 LECTURE VL
sioned so to do ; and in so communicating
their own knowledge, teaching and principles,
as they had been to their teachers disciples
they had in a degree become apostles ; " Freely
ye have received, freely give ;" and all Chris
tians thus become instruments of transmis
sion, whatever their special office in the
Church, or whether they have therein any
office of government or not.
And thus although it is a true statement, to
say, that in the Christian congregation there
is no special sacrificial priesthood, and that all
men therein are made unto God kings and
priests ; priests, for the offering up spiritual
sacrifices of their own prayer and praise ; yet
is it an insufficient statement, because such spi
ritual sacrifices regard the personal state only.
All members of the Church are, in their de
gree, apostles likewise ; not necessarily apostles
of government, but apostles of transmission
of moral influence, and of such teaching subor
dinate to it as they may be competent to give.
And in thus extending the character of
apostle to the whole congregation, and so
making all the members of the congregation
channels of transmission, questions concerning
ministerial succession fall back of themselves
into a secondary importance, merely parenthe
tical in some controversies, matter of curious

LECTURE VL 195
research and inquiry, or a subject of what
may be called a venial pride. And it seems
as subordinate towards proving the mere per
petuity of the Church, or of any branch of it,
to establish the succession of its ministers as
materially coherent, as it would be, in an eth
nological inquiry concerning the identity of
a nation or race, to examine the pedigree and
hereditary succession of its rulers.
In order then to the perpetual transmis
sion of the vital principle in the communion
of saints, it is necessary, that what has been
called the character of the disciple, of the
Christian considered personally as a recipient
only, should pass over into the character of
the apostle or agent. As disciple he is con
nected with those who precede him, as apo
stle with those who succeed him. Now the
test of the reality, or of any considerable de
velopment of the apostolic relation or cha
racter, which thus supervenes upon the disci
pular, consists herein, that in order to act upon
others for their good he makes some sacrifice
of self, if it be only in a low degree, of his
time, of his ease, of his wealth.
It is not therefore intended to say, that in
all cases, by any means, the character of per
sonal follower or disciple must be fully com
plete, before that of apostle supervenes ; the
o 2

196 LECTURE VL
two characters do in fact overlap each other.
Paul himself with all his self-denial. Apostle
in the fullest sense as he was, feared lest as
a disciple he should be a castaway. Yet no
doubt, as the character of the apostle is the
higher by far, and the perfection of the imi
tation of Christ, it tends to confirm and per
fect the character of disciple ; because such
an one is always led to recur to those words
of our Lord ; " For their sakes therefore I
sanctify myself." Now further, in making
self-denial and self-sacrifice the peculiar at
tribute of the apostolic character, we must
distinguish clearly, as has been in some de
gree already anticipated, between self-denial
for the purpose of self-discipline ; sacrifice of
some immediate object of desire for the sake
of one's own best interests ; the plucking out
of a right eye for the saving of the body ; the
being temperate in all things, even for an
incorruptible crown ; and self-sacrifice for the
sake of others, terminating absolutely in the
good of others as its end.
Thus the rich youth who came to our Lord,
being virtuous and well disposed, and not far
from the kingdom of God, from being a real
disciple, was yet not able, even for his own
sake, inasmuch as he trusted in his riches, to
exercise self-denial on a certain point.

LECTURE VL 197
The twelve when they pleaded, " Behold we
have forsaken all and followed Thee, what
shall we have therefore?" had exemplified
the self-denial of disciples ; a self-denial as
yet for their own sakes ; not the self-sacri
fice of the apostle. But when St. Paul says,
" What is my hope or joy, or crown of re
joicing ? are not even ye in the presence of
our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ?" he ex
hibits the full height of the apostolic cha
racter. The character of the disciple lies, as to
degree, between two points, namely, between
the painfulness of self-denial and an unre-
luctant spontaneous obedience. Obedience,
subjection and perfect submission is the sum
mit of it. In the character of apostle, con
sidered as in degree, pain and joy are like
wise elements ; it becomes perfect, as the joy
of the end respecting others predominates
over the pain which has its root in self ; as in
the words with which St. Paul comforts him
self, just quoted, and also in the delineation
of Christ by the prophet ; " He shall see of
the travail of His soul, and shall be sa
tisfied." Therefore it falls far short of the whole
truth to say, that the same formal acts may
proceed from a worldly or a Christian mo-

198 LECTURE VL
tive, be part of a worldly or of a Christian
character ; they may, as Christian acts, be
acts, either of the disciple, or of the apostle.
It may be necessary however here to ex
emplify somewhat further, so that the distinct
differences of these characters may be brought
out. And we will take the act of a man's
sacrificing his own life, and distinguish upon
that act, according to its varying motives.
We are familiar with instances of self-devo
tion, in other than Christian annals, some of
them heroic acts, especially as seen through
the mist of military history, consummated
under the stimulus of the warlike passions.
There are not wanting nobler examples of
devotion, for friends' sakes, for honour and
trust's sake. There are also self-sacrifices,
which come under or nearer to the descrip
tion of suicide ; suicides from fear, of various
kinds ; suicides from personal pride, like
Cato's ; from haughtiness and vexation, like
Saul's. We have, lying without the Christian
pale, on the one hand, such an example as
that recorded by Lucian, of a base renegade
from philosophy and from Christianity, immo
lating himself in the most contemptible imi
tation either of martyrdom or of heroism'';
h De Morte Peregrini, But Aulus Gelhus speaks of
Peregrinus Proteus with respect. He visited him in the

LECTURE VL 199
we have, without the pale also, the spectacle
of Socrates dying for the truth's sake in the
abstract, or for his own consistency's sake.
Within the Christian pale also it would be
easy to produce examples of martyrdoms very
varying in their character ; but the less ho
nourable instances it would be invidious to
insist upon, for it would seem to be sitting in
judgment upon attainments, which we might
not ourselves be enabled to reach. Only let us
observe, that martyrdom in will and deed, in
some sense, for Christ's sake or His truth's
sake, without further distinction, does not
represent the highest kind of martyrdom.
The martyr for the crown's sake is a martyr,
more elevated indeed, by reason of the higher
nature of the reward for which he looks, but
otherwise of the same kind with the Mahom-
medan soldier, who rushes on the sword to
entitle himself to heaven. This much how
ever is historically clear, in the most general
way, that the expectation of being imme
diately admitted to the beatific vision led
many in the early ages to court thus, for their
own sakes, the crown of martyrdom : which
however was disapproved by the sounder part,
suburbs of Athens and heard from him this philosophical
sentiment ; " Virum sapientem non peccaturum esse
etiamsi peccase eum dii atque homines ignoraturi forent."
Nodes AtticcB, xii. 1 1 .

200 LECTURE VL
as withdrawing them from the service of the
Church. Even in the relations which we have
of the martyrdoms of Ignatius and of Polycarp,
there is absent apparently from the mind of
the narrators, a perception of what it is which
gives martyrdom its loftiest elevation, namely,
the predominance of the relative character
over the personal.
It is thus plain, that martyrdom is the
crowning act or highest exhibition of two dif
ferent lives or lines of character, and as it
belongs to the one or the other, is an act of
very varying eminence. It is either the
crowning act of the life of the disciple, of
subjection, submission, obedience, surrender
to the will of God, or it is the crowning act
of the apostolic life, which consists in the
imitation of Christ laying down His life for
the brethren.
Now upon each scale of character, of the
personal and the relative, of the discipular
and apostolic, the rudimentary form of mar
tyrdom appears in the act of fasting; it is
the lowest exhibition of each of the two cha
racters, whereas the other is the highest. On
the scale of the character of disciple, fasting
is the submitting to a pain or deprivation for
the sake of self-discipline, in order to tem
perance, patience or other virtues, in order to

LECTURE VL 201
the ready subjection of the individual to the
will of God.
On the scale of the apostolic character, it
is the submitting to a deprivation or a pain,
for the sake of others. There is no fast which
is effectual to any purification of our nature,
otherwise than through the laws of that com
pound nature ; and all Christian fasting may
be comprised under one of the two divisions
now stated. And it is evident which is the
more to be emulated and encouraged, that
namely, which is subordinate to the graces of
the higher character.
Of these two kinds of fasting, to that which
has for its end the perfecting the character
of disciple, belong such passages of Scripture as
the following. The directions in the Sermon
on the Mount ; such an expression likewise
as, " Watch and pray, lest ye enter into
temptation ;" St. Paul's words, " I keep under
my body ;" also the history, in its moral ac
ceptation, of the vain endeavour of the disci
ples to cast out the deaf and dumb devil at
the foot of the mount of transfiguration, when
it was said ; " This kind goeth not out but
by prayer and fasting." To the other kind of
fasting, which consists in surrendering some
good thing, or submitting to some evil thing,
for the sake of others, belongs the passage of
the prophet ; " Is not this the fast that I have

202 LECTURE VL
chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, to
undo the heavy burdens, and to let the op
pressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and
that thou bring the poor that are cast out to
thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that
thou cover him ; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own flesh'?" This kind is
also illustrated by the histories of Elijah and
of Christ fasting preparatory to the under
taking of great works ; fulfilling all righteous
ness, indicating a method which would be use
ful to others, though, at least in one of their
cases, not necessary to themselves. And the
principle is clearly enunciated by St. Paul, that
things in themselves lawful must be surren
dered if not expedient to others ; " I will eat
no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make
my brother to offend." And here too most
properly belongs, to the relative or apostolic
scale, that other text of St. Paul; " I fill up in
my body that \yhich is lacking of the suffer
ings of Christ," TO. vcTTeprjixara tov 'KpuxTov, that
is, that which Christ the great self-sacrificer
left behind for me to do, in the way of suffer
ing or self-denial, not for my own sake, not
even for my own eternal interests, but for the
advancement of His kingdom.
Sufficient illustration has perhaps now been
' Is. Iviii. 6, 7.

LECTURE VL 203
given of the distinction intended to be drawn
between the characters of disciple and of
apostle ; which nevertheless might be further
instanced, not only in the subject also of
alms-giving, but in all matters whereof the
general character comes forward as one of
self-restraint. And the vital power of the
apostolic agency to continue the succession,
to enlarge the numbers, to work towards
the purification of the Christian family is self-
evident. None can doubt of the efficacy of a
principle, which, in its highest manifestation,
crowns with charity the faith which can re
move mountains, and the personal command
which can give the body to be burned. Here
indeed is the Holy of Holies of the spiritual
worship of our sanctuary ; penetralia to be
visited in their inmost recesses by how few !
What some of the earlier believers expected
to consist in the revelation of a gnosis, what
some have sought in a mystic union between
the divine Spirit and the human, others in a
metaphysical dogmatism, others in occult sa
cramental effects, others in direct in-pouring
of sensible assurance, others in dry forms or
complicated significancies, was to be found
in the imitation of Christ. Here are living
waters, free to all who have courage to draw ;
here is a tree of knowledge, the fruit of

204 LECTURE VL
which is sought by few, because not for
bidden ; the roll of this book must be eaten
in faith, but unlike the scroll of the Prophet,
it shall be bitter in the mouth and sweet in
the belly.
And without anticipating on the subject of
the following Lectures, namely, on the value
and application, socially and ecclesiastically,
of the principle, which I thus venture to
place distinctly as the eminent principle of
Christianity, and the vital principle of the
Communion of Saints, we may pause here,
and derive at least some few practical re
flexions, which emerge to ourselves from what
has been brought out.
For in fact it cannot but cover many of us
with shame upon reflexion, that we have
suffered ourselves to be set as leaders of the
people ; that we have suffered others perhaps
unduly to magnify our office ; that we have
satisfied ourselves and prided ourselves, it
may be on our apostolical character, on our
being apostolical in framework and order
and unbroken succession, while in the higher
sense of the word we are lacking; that we
have suffered parents, teachers, friends to do
more than we have done, for the transmission
of truth and goodness, for the transmutation
of the corruption of the fallen human nature

LECTURE VL 205
into the image of the regenerate and divine ;
that we have degenerated individually into
automaton ministers, satisfied with being, as
we suppose, though we can attach no distinct
meaning to the words, channels of grace, as
though we were rich in dispensing that to
others which does not abide and abound in
ourselves. Doubtless the Christian ministry
is designed to furnish the supplying joints
and strong bands of the Body of Christ ; in
it should be found the sustaining shafts and
foundation-stones of the temple : but how
does it tend to obscure this truth, so practical
and concerning, if it be supposed, that the
minister transmits an influence, of the pre
sence, passage, and nature of which he is not
conscious himself!
And how does the altered form of the Chris
tian ministry, as compared with the Jewish
priesthood, remind us, that its functions are
far higher. For whereas for the grosser ser
vice of a ceremonial and sacrificial cultus,
the separation of a family and the certainty
of an hereditary succession might be neces
sary to the exercise of ritual offices, and to
the conciliation of due respect on the part
of the people ; in the Communion of Saints,
the ministers thereof should be elect from
among the elect. The visibility of the mi-

206 LECTURE VL
nistry itself, and the visible ordinances
which it dispenses, are means most wisely
adapted in themselves to act beneficially
upon the moral nature ; and numbers may
be quite incompetent to distinguish, between
that which is constituted divinely to act
on them according to laws of their nature,
with which they are unacquainted, and that
which would be, strictly speaking, super
natural or miraculous. Yet is it no better
than priestcraft in us, if we allow this con
fusion of thought to remain, where by educa
tion and pains it may be made to give way to
clearer views ; it is a self-delusion if we found
thereupon any persuasion, that extraordinary
graces of the Spirit reside in ourselves.
And for those who are not far from offer
ing themselves to the special service of God
and their fellowcreatures in the Christian
ministry, let them be sure, that for all which
they shall do lightly in that most weighty
matter, the day of conscience and retribution
will come. Every man shall be judged at the
standard at which he sets himself; "Now ye
say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."
Do not imagine, that in desiring the work of
the ministry you are not desiring a high
office, that you are not setting your own
selves high ; you are claiming to be able to

LECTURE VL 207
govern and guide morally numbers more or
less of your brethren ; you are not to sup
pose, that it will be sufficient, your demean
our and conduct should be becoming an
honourable profession ; that it will be enough
to avoid scandal and to hold an unexcep
tionable orthodoxy : and that as to higher
qualifications, a heaven-sent transmuting in
fluence will impress upon you some spiritual
character ; not moral, for that you do not in
fact desire ; not intellectual, for that would
be inspiration ; but yet some character to be
impressed upon you, you know not what or
how'. Unless you are persuaded, that you
can at least despise and make light of things,
which to other men are all in all ; unless
you have confidence, that it will cost you
little to abstain from things lawful in them-
' All the supernatural theories which have been built
upon the phrase indelible character, whether applied to
Baptism, Confirmation, or Orders, have been deduced
most illogically by way of inference from a metaphor.
For to say, that a character is impressed on the soul in
those moral acts is only a metaphorical way of saying, that
it is not proper they should be repeated. "Indeed the
name of indelible character never so much as occurs once
expressly in any act or canon of an ancient council. And
they who have been most inquisitive after its synodical
establishment, are at a loss to find it any where else but
in the Council of Florence or the Council of Trent."
Bingham, Origines, Lond. 1850. vol. vm. p. 277.

208 LECTURE VL
selves, and which are lawful to other men, a
true and sufficient call to that office, as far as
your own responsibility is concerned, has not
come yet.
And as the ministry is brought into a just
harmony with the rest of the Church of
Christ, not exalted unto an undue and super
stitious elevation, the relative character of
the lay people to one another and to the
Church stands forth more prominently ; the
duties and obligations of the congregation,
and of every man therein, are more evident
and defined. And it may be permitted me
to instance, before I conclude, in the case of
one solemn obligation of lay persons con
nected with my last remarks.
It was forbidden by the Mosaic Law, that
any man with a blemish should serve at the
altar of that worldly sanctuary ; and the mi
nistry of the Christian Church is not confined
to a single tribe, but is open to all, not that the
basest should be devoted to the immediate
divine service, but that there should be pre
sented thereunto the noblest and most excel-
lent. What shall we say then of that parent,
who for temporal views, for the sake of secur
ing an inheritance, of opening an honourable
and safe path to one of his children, offers to
God, not the noblest, the most unblemished.

LECTURE VL 209
of those which have been given to him, but
the feeblest, the meanest and the weakest ;
who devotes one, of Avhose capacities to do
active good in his generation he has no con
viction ; and whose character he knows, not to
be higher than that of his fellows, but lower ?
He thus does all in his power to paralyze
the vital energies of his Church, and more
over entangles his own son in vows, of which
it is doubtful, whether it will be for the wel
fare of his soul, that he should ever discover
the full force and meaning.
Let it not be thought, that in these ob
servations, I am a detractor of my Mother
Church, or am making injudicious admissions
in unhappy times. In order that men should
become tender of their responsibilities, it is
well they should know, that the moral sense
of their fellowcreatures is exercising a judg
ment upon them. If the sweeping castiga-
tions of the satirist do not prove the univer
sality of the vices which he lashes, nor the
penal enactments of the legislator imply the
criminality of the whole body of citizens,
much less can the rare condemnation of a
peculiar sin, on an occasion like the present,
be widened into an undue generality.
The lay people are themselves also of the
household of God and of the Communion of

210 LECTURE VL
Saints, the ministry of which is not taken
from any peculiar tribe. Therefore let them
lay to heart this reflection, that if there be
seen in our order, failings and vices and de
fects, they are only the reflected image, mag
nified it is true and more odious in us, but
still the very image and counterpart, of those
which exist in themselves : that if among
the clergy there be seen, worldly men, self-
indulgent men, and worshippers of mammon,
it is because these men are their own bre
thren and their own sons.

LECTURE VII.

John xvii. 16.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world.

IN an ordinary way of stating one portion
of what are called the Evidences of Chris
tianity, the voluntary submission on the part
of the Apostles and early Apostolic men to
pain and privation and death, is forcibly
urged as a proof of their sincerity ; and
because they could not be mistaken as to the
facts which they averred, the reality of the
facts themselves is thence with great cogency
deduced. But from the point of view which we have
now taken, the Apostles are seen to bear a
much more eminent office in the Gospel
economy, than that of witnesses, to be as it
were cross-examined, concerning their own
character for credibility and the consistency
p 2

212 LECTURE VIL
of the narrative which they delivered. They
are the first hnks in transmitting the special
moral force which issues from the Redeemer ;
the radii, diverging at the very point and
centre of life, to communicate it throughout
a constantly enlarging area. Even in the
mere character of historical witnesses, the
evident love and good-will of the Apostles
towards those to whom they preached, is an
element of as much importance to the credi
bility of their testimony, as was their intel
lectual capacity of judging concerning the
facts which they related.
But when this affection springs up in them
into an active and motive power, it becomes
the very characteristic of their highest func
tion. Its force and action, both as internal
in the Apostle himself, and as efficacious of
union and communion is expressed in such a
passage as this; " not seeking mine own profit,
but the profit of many, that they may be
saved." Upon which follows immediately,
though unhappily severed by a division of
chapters ; " Be ye followers of me, even as
I also am of Christ^." For Christ is thus
represented as commencing, and His imme
diate followers first, and all His followers
in their turn, by their very vocation engaged
" I Cor. X. ^^. xi. I.

LECTURE VIL 213
to continue a perpetual action upon the world
for the regeneration of humanity ''.
This is indeed a process which can never
be perfected or altogether accomplished. For
besides that portion of the world, which lies
geographically without the pale of Christen
dom, and which it is conceivable may be
continually narrowed and finally included
within it; there is always being born into
the world within Christendom, a new ma
terial. And this new race inherits a corrupt
or defective nature, according to an essential
hypothesis of Christianity itself, with which
concur in this respect, the admissions, in one
form of words or another, of almost all phi
losophical and religious systems. Whatever
the moral advancement or spiritual graces
to which the individual may attain, they are
untransmissible to his offspring. The work
of restoration to the perfect human type, as
far as it is carried in each, must grow in each,
by whatever agencies, from and out of the
originally imperfect stated And the admis
sion of this truth, when thus generally ex
pressed, does not involve any particular theory
concerning the supernatural or moral efficacy
of the Sacraments.
^ Rom. XV. I — 3.
¦ Fiunt Christiani, non nascuntur.

214 . LECTURE VIL
And I do not suppose any maintainor of
the supernatural sacramental theory would
go so far as to hold, that when once Baptism
has made a child a member of the visible
communion, and has sealed to him his in
terest in the Redemption, the source of
spiritual life, presumed on that hypothesis to
have been communicated, developes itself
from within, without the intervention of
other human agencies : that a baptized child^
left, as unhappily many may be in our own
nation, with no knowledge or hearing of God
and Christ, unless in blasphemy and impre
cation, can receive from within, from the
baptismal influence, even a mere knowledge,
much less a conviction of truths, which have
never been presented to it from without.
All do acknowledge the necessity for prac
tically working, by means of education and
instruction, upon those who are visibly en
grafted into the body of Christ's Church, as
soon as their faculties admit of it. In the
discussion of many practical questions, we all
speak, without hesitation, of numbers, who,
although baptized and partially taught, are,
as living without God in the world, to be
considered as belonging to the world ; and
on the other hand, for many purposes, we
speak of the youngest or weakest, who are

LECTURE VII. 215
in any connection with Christian influences,
as being Christians.
So that it will be sufficient to divide the
action of the unselfish apostolic character,
into that which is extensive of the Christian
communion, and that which is intensive ;
and yet to leave the precise limits of these
respective actions in great degree confused
and ill defined. For as all mankind must
fall under the division of Christian or non-
Christian, the action of the higher influences
of the Gospel, following such division of the
matter on which it acts, are exhausted, when
correspondingly distinguished, into that which
perfects the already Christian, and that which
embraces and converts the non -Christian.
And the only difference among us, which can
arise out of theoretical attempts to define
precisely the moment when the term Chris
tian becomes properly applicable, will be this ;
that according to one view some of those
will be classed with the non-Christian, who ac
cording to another view are classed with the
Christian ; the entire mass will be differ
ently distributed but equally exhausted. And
certain Christian efforts, philanthropical and
educational for example, and rudimental
Christian teaching, will be classified accord
ingly by some, as extensive efforts, for the

216 LECTURE VIL
enlargement of the Society, by others, as in
tensive, for its perfection and improvement.
Subject to this necessary indistinctness in
what we shall say, arising out of the peculiar
conditions, wherein Christianity finds itself
in the present time, the chief part of the
present lecture will be occupied with a con
sideration of the action of the Communion
of Saints extensively upon the world, sup
posed to lie without it.
The process of enlarging or extending the
Christian communion, when examined in its
simplest form, must consist in a mutual action
of two individuals at least ; of whom the one,
by the hypothesis, is already within the com
munion, and the other as yet without. That
the intentions of these two so combine, as to
bring the one, by the instrumentality of the
other, within a Society and under a Law
where he was not, originates in both cases in
a feeling of uneasiness, dissatisfaction or pain.
The doing of anything implies a condition
of pain, at least a sense of imperfection and of
something wanting. And in this very prin
ciple is involved, what may be termed the
philosophical necessity of our conceiving, from
the human point of view, an union of the divine
and human, the perfect and imperfect, in the
historical Person of the Redeemer. For the

LECTURE VII. ^^;^
divine is necessary as an original centre or
cause ; but if we were to conceive of Christ
only as divine and perfect, there would be
absent from Him the impulse to do anything
to effect a change ; for the doing of anything
in order to effect a change, implies, to our
apprehensions, a sense of want. But if we
conceive Him to have comprehended in Him
self the collective human nature, and to
have felt by consciousness and inward re
flection the wants of the human nature, as
though they were wants of His own, then we
can conceive also, that He should have done
something to supply these wants. Hence He
is the Founder of the regenerating Society
of the Church. And this union of the divine
and human, of the perfect and imperfect, this
combination of satisfaction in its own per
fections, as far as it is perfect, with sense of
want, as far as it is imperfect in itself and
incomplete in extension, is essential to the
activity of the Church, which is Christ's Body,
as a living Society^. And it is necessary on
the other hand, that those who are to be
benefited must feel their own wants. They
that are whole, or think themselves so, need
not a physician, but they that are sick.
^ I have been much indebted in this Lecture to Schleier
macher, Die christliche Sitte.

218 LECTURE VIL
The dynamic attribute therefore of the
Christian communion, as we have before called
it, is seen, in its extensive action, in the taking
up and associating an element capable of being
assimilated, necessary to which is a feeling
of uneasiness and of pain : and where the
desire prompted by this pain is not present
in a communion or individual, we may be
sure that the relative Christian life is dead.
Now the pain which predisposes the extra
neous element to be receptive of the action
of the Christian element, is an uneasiness
suggested to him by conscience, that he does
not fulfil the end, idea and design of his na
ture. The pain which renders the imperfect
Christian receptive of intensive and improv
ing efforts on the part of teachers and minis
ters and parents and friends, is a sense, that
he does not fulfil the end of his calling, in
subjection and submission of himself as dis
ciple, or in activity and disinterestedness as
apostle. The pain which predisposes the Christian
element or Christian communion to activity,
is a sense analogous to that of compassion,
perhaps still more so to the crropyri or na
tural affection ; it is evidenced in our Lord's
apostrophe to Jerusalem ; " How often would
I have gathered thee ;" it is used figuratively

LECTURE VIL 219
concerning God Himself in His aspect of Re
deemer, inviting men to embrace His mercies,
under the strong expression of airXayxvi^o^iat.
Similar terms, descriptive of this anxious
yearning, are applied by St. Paul to himself,
and he exhorts his converts to put on " bowels
of mercies."
Or when love is considered as the cha
racteristic Christian grace, the love of the
brethren is distinguishable herein from the
love of all mankind, in that in the former
the element of satisfaction prevails, in the
latter the element of anxiety. The peace
and satisfaction of the former are continual
subjects of the Apostle's thanksgiving, rising
into the highest rejoicing, for the fruit which
he beholds in his converts ; "joying and be
holding your order and the stedfastness of
your faith in Christ." The painful element
is predominant in the same Apostle's love for
his unconverted brethren ; " My heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
may be saved."
Now the moral uneasiness, which leads one
who is as yet without the Christian pale, to in
quire, whether he may not find peace within
it, implies, as has been hinted elsewhere, a cer
tain elevation of the moral being ; although
due, to adopt the forms of technical theo-

220 LECTURE VIL
logy, not to evangelical grace, but to a non-
evangelical operation of the Holy Spirit, a
type of which operation may be seen in Cor
nelius. It therefore becomes a truly Chris
tian work, to advance by education, and by
any action on the material and social con
dition of others, that degree of moral refine
ment which will issue in this uneasiness and
dissatisfaction ; for such is the immediate pre
paratory step to their entering for all pur
poses within the Christian communion '^. This
uneasiness and dissatisfaction more specifi
cally stated consists ; First, in the conscious
ness of the higher part of our own nature
being overborne by the lower ; Secondly, in
a sense of an undue sacrifice and disregard of
others for the sake of self. These senses,
combined with a sense of our relation to the
Supreme Being, become, theologically, a con
viction of corruption, or of sin, of self dis
honouring God through His own creation.
Now one proper action upon the world,
both of Christian individuals and of the Chris
tian communion, may well be said to consist
in awakening this sense, in those who are
without, in order to bring them within it.
And this action is not confined to any one
^ That the will is determined by uneasiness, see Locke,
Essay, &c. bk. ii. ch. 21. §§. 31, sqq.

LECTURE VIL 221
order in the communion, but belongs in de
gree and opportunity to all. " Ye are the
salt of the earth ; " " Ye are the light of the
world ;" " a city set on an hill cannot be
hid ; " are words not to be narrowed to sig
nify exclusive ministerial privileges, for they
declare universal Christian obligations.
That this disposing action, by philanthro
pical labours, and by education and instruc
tion, not in some senses Christian, are never
theless proper Christian works is evident,
because it is analogous to the conduct of our
Lord ; who during His earthly ministry drew
men under spiritual influences, by the bene
fits which He rendered to them in the body.
As the deeper the corruption the less is the
sense of degradation, so the more refined and
elevated the moral nature, the more sensitive
does it become. And therefore in thus sug
gesting this preliminary and preparatory ac
tion on the moral condition of the world, it
is not in order that those so elevated should
thereby be supposed, on the one hand, to
have no need of the Gospel, or on the other,
to deserve the fuller grace of it ; but in order
that they should the more feel the want of
it, and be the more ready to seize it.
It is to such as feel the burden of their
worldly state and the slavery of the selfish

222 LECTURE VIL
principles, which are the essence of it, that
our Lord addresses His " comfortable words ;"
" Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls."
But in order that this uneasiness may
issue in a seeking to enter within the society
of the Church, that society must be presented
under characters sufficiently distinct from
the worldly ones ; " Ye are our epistle, known
and read of all men." Hence some of the
peculiar difficulties which surround all Chris
tian action in these days, and not least per
haps in our own country. With respect to
some attempt to define more precisely the
limits of the communion, which will fall un
der the head of intensive Christian effort,
some few suggestions or humble inquiries will
be put forth in the final lecture.
But to this place belongs the enforcing of
the value of example on the part of the cor
porate communion, in order to lead within
it those who are restless under the worldly
life. The peace, often far more apparent
than real, promised in the monastery, has
drawn numbers, from the working of this very
restlessness and dissatisfaction, to multiply

LECTURE VIL 223
laws upon themselves, and thereby to multi
ply their transgressions. But what the mon
astery was presumed or intended to be, on its
smaller scale, that, the Communion of Saints
is, by divine charter, a communion of peace
and mutual improvement within, and of la
bour for the sake of those without.
For this Christian corporate action, where
by both the communion and all individuals
within it, are capable of acting upon the mass
which lies without, not only shews itself in
that predisposing action on the world of
which we have already spoken, but also by
direct action or example.
That which authority is for credence, ex
ample, appealing to the imitative tendency,
is for practice. Now the force of authority
seems founded upon the conviction in those
who are influenced by it, that it is a fair sam
ple and representative of man in the best
condition for knowing and judging ; where
upon follows, that they themselves, if they had
similar advantages and were in similar condi
tions, would come to the same conclusions.
So in the case of example, if the antecedent
be in any degree and even tacitly conceded,
that such or such men are fair samples and
types of our nature, the consequent will be
inevitable, that we, who are of the same ge-

224 LECTURE VIL
nuine human nature, must act as they do.
In some uses indeed of the word authority,
we confound it with the word power, but
only when we lose sight of its classical origin ;
and it is frequently supposed also, that it im
plies, necessarily or properly, an action of the
few upon the many ; but this results solely
from a limited historical observation. For
whereas in some periods, concerning some sub
jects, the few alone could be fair types of their
kind, and therefore be rightly taken by the
rest as their proper representatives, the force
of a converging authority, whereby the many
act upon individuals, is alone capable of a
durable and universal effect. Authority, in di
verging from one upon many, is frittered into
weakness, by reason of particular differences ;
when generalized out of particular differences
into a collective result, it tells upon each, and
in turn upon all, with accumulated force.
It is so with example in morals. One and
the same example does not act with effect
upon many, because of their different circum
stances and conditions. Even the example
of Christ must be multiplied and reflected to
us, in the noble army of His followers ;
prismatically repeated in the cloud of wit^
nesses, each bright with some peculiar grace.
Hence the action by example of the Commu-

LECTURE VIL 225
nion of Saints as such, not only on the indi
viduals within it, but on individuals without
it, to whom it is a spectacle.
And as the saints have the human nature,
in common with all other men, medium prin
ciples are thereby supplied for the action of
the one class upon the other. With the
Christian is present, the experimental know
ledge of what that nature is, which is to be
worked upon and elevated ; even as Christ
knows what is in man, not only by divine om
niscience, but by experimental participation.
The bad man can only surmise the nature of
the good towards which he is led ; and yet
he must suppose the nature of the best men
to be like his own ; he must be conscious of
the rudiments of good within himself, or he
could believe no power in himself of being
resembled to them, nor feel any obligation
or responsibility, by reason of their example
being placed before him. With respect to
the future world, the Christian now walks by
faith and not by sight. With respect to the
present, the Christian walks by sight, and the
non-Christian, who is making an effort to
become Christian, exhibits an act of faith.
He has sufficient evidence of the superiority
of the Christian life over his own, he desires
to embrace it and to leave his own ; he can-
Q

226 LECTURE VII.
not doubt, that what other men are, he may
become ; and he throws himself finally by an
exertion of the will, either actually or virtually
within the Christian communion ''. He learns
therein the two great lessons; First, that to per
fect himself he must control himself; Secondly,
that to aid others he must sacrifice himself.
We can have no doubt of the power of the
Church in the world, if the members of the spi
ritual communion were really animated with
a strong desire for extending its moral effects.
We can infer it from the transient influence
acquired by sincere and self-denying indivi
duals, although their labours have been di
rected to the propagation of peculiar and
conflicting theological or ecclesiastical views ;
and still more from the dominant sway which
belonged to the medieval Church in the West ;
which was gained by the exhibition of a moral
power on the part of individual members, to
gether with a corporate action. For the su
premacy which Roman Catholicism obtained
over states was due, in great measure, to emi-
'' It will be understood, that by the expression of exer
tion of the will, it is not meant to vindicate, in controversial
phrase, a meritorious act to the natural man. Scholastically
speaking, should it be thought to be more intelligible or
correct, he is led, up to the moment of that act, by pceda-
• gogical, or prevenient, or operating grace, in the moment of
that act he is assisted by subsequent or cooperating grace.

LECTURE VIL 227
nent services rendered to humanity, but has
been exercised subsequently for the sake of
the dogma and of the clerical order.
But let us proceed to consider whether there
is any special prospect in time to come of an
effectual action by the spiritual society on the
world supposed as lying without it. And it will
be necessary here to carry with us some plain
distinction between the worldly or political
society and the spiritual or moral one. For
they seem, in some respects, to occupy the
same area, to concern the same individuals,
and to be directed to the same ends, when
their ends are properly understood.
But the worldly or political society, as such,
leaves out of sight, that this worldly scene is
not the final one with which its members will
be concerned; and with regard to the present,
its end is the self-sufficiency of a material life:
virtue and law are with it subordinate in
struments to the secular happiness ; with the
spiritual society, on the other hand, the ma
terial and secular goods are instrumental to
the moral excellencies.
And with respect to the inequalities which
exist among the members of the respective
societies: they both acknowledge, that in some
senses all their members are essentially equal ;
but when they become unequal, in the po
tt 2

228 LECTURE VII.
litical society, the lower seem to be for the
sake of the higher ; in the spiritual society,
the higher are evidently and distinctly for the
sake of the lower ; " whosoever of you will
be the chiefest, shall be servant of alP."
And granting it to be apparently hopeless,
that the whole civil society should be itself
penetrated with the Christian principles ; the
Christian society, were it true to its own
vocation, would in some degree, and for many
purposes, enforce their recognition ; would at
least hold the scale between the privileged
superiority of station and wealth and the
importunate demands of a needy numerical
majority. There is no other power or au
thority upon earth but that of the Church in
a pure state, which can adjudge in such con
tests, or be strong enough in moral supremacy
to give sway to its sentence ; which can at once
denounce the selfishness of caste, and the
equally demoralizing selfishness of socialism.
It is not to be supposed that the Church, in
any sense of the word which sufficiently recog
nises the moral bond of the Communion of
Saints, and the moral ends for which the so
ciety is constituted and towards which every
member of the same ought to labour, should
ally itself permanently with any one section,
« Mark x. 43, 44.

LECTURE VII. 229
order, or class of the commonwealth. For
it is not to be presumed, in contradiction
to all history, that in the conflicts which
have always torn the civil society, one and
the same class or order has always been in
the wrong ; or that to moderate the clashing
of interests between sections of the citizens,
the peacemaker should, any more than in
the case of private differences, shew himself
a partisan. But it is very conceivable, that branches
of the corporate Christian society, continuing
a material succession, rather by a dogmatic
symbolism, than by a true moral affiliation, and
hampered moreover by temporalities, which
there is not always the courage to use to
their best ends, should feel themselves so
bound up with certain sections of the body
politic, as to leave no adequate room for the
play of their moral influence, either upon
those sections to which they are attached, or
upon those sections which presume them to
be hostile.
And to some such dereliction of its obliga
tions on the part of the Christian Church,
arising both from causes now hinted at, and
from the ill-defined separation between the
worldly and spiritual societies, in countries
wherein Christianity has long been national

230 LECTURE VII.
and hereditary, is to be attributed, in great
degree, the strange phenomenon of modern
socialism. For this mockery of Christian principles
has arisen, because the place which they
should have occupied was left vacant. Be
cause the world heard but seldom from the
mouth of the Christian preacher, of the es
sential equality of those whom God made of
one flesh, of those who become all one in
Christ Jesus ; because seldom was the brother
of low degree bidden to rejoice in that he is
exalted, and the rich in that he is made low.
And so Christian people are shocked by
the parody on Christianity which socialism
would present, and by the desecration, in
connection with wild and vicious theories,
of their own divine Master's Name and of
the earliest societies formed by apostolic men.
Yet similar, or not very dissimilar, pheno
mena have been thrown up, before the pre
sent age, when the Gospel had ceased to act
up to its original design ; as for instance in
some sections of the Brethren of the Common
Life in the fifteenth century, and in the ex
cesses of the Anabaptists, which were an ex
treme reaction against the corruption of the
unreformed Church. But in clearing itself
from the false phantoms of socialism, it will

LECTURE VIL 231
be necessary for Christianity to exhibit in its
own society the substantial truth, of which
that does but present a distorted and hideous
semblance. Now as to our own Church, the declara
tion of the thirty-eighth Article, directed
against the communism of the Anabaptists, is
not to be considered as intended to convey a
full description of Christian obligations and
principles with respect to temporal goods. It
must rather be regarded as a vindication of
the Christian society in the eyes of the
worldly one, or as a guarding of itself, on the
part of the English Church, against any im
putation to it by controversial adversaries of
the an ti- social principles of those fanatics'.
"That every man ought of such things as
he possesseth liberally to give alms to the
poor according to his ability," would be
deficient as a standard of Christian cha
racter, in that the feature of self-denial is
not therein sufficiently brought out ; and
that the acts recommended are viewed too
much as reflected upon the agent. A nearer
approach to the apostolic model of Church
communion, with regard to outward faculties
f The Lutheran Church in like manner guarded itself
on several points against a possible imputation to it of
certain Anabaptist errors. Conf. August. Art. v. ix. xi.

232 LECTURE VIL
and possessions, is exhibited in the noble pro
fession of Frederic III. Count Palatine (1576)
with respect to this very article of the Com
munion of Saints : " ideoque fateor, me om
nia, quae Deus in me contulit dona, in com-
modum et salutem aliorum ejusdem mecum
corporis membrorum, prompte et alacriter
conferre debere ^."
Thus from one and the same principle, of
the essential equality of all men, while so
cialism deduces, that all have an equal right
to equal portions of all worldly goods, Chris
tianity deduces, that all should consider all
things with which they are endowed, as in
trust for the benefit of others ; first, of the
actual household of faith, and secondly, of all
men, who may by possibility become mem
bers of it. But we, to whom this Christian
knowledge has come, must take heed, that
we do not satisfy ourselves with repelling the
false communism, without embracing and re
commending the true. There is no safe rest
ing-place for society, when it denies the claim
s Corpus et Syntagma, p. 149. Taken from the Palatine
or Heidelberg Catechism. " Qu : 55. Qtuid sibi vult Com
munio Sanctorum ? Primum quod universi et singuli cre-
dentes, Christi et omnium ejus bonorum, tanquam ipsius
membra communionem habeant. Deinde, quod singuli,
quEe acceperunt dona in commune commodum et uni-
versorum salutem prompte et alacriter conferre debeant.

LECTURE VIL 233
of all and each to an equal partition of goods,
as of right, unless it make some approach to
a distribution of those goods according to
merit. But they who acknowledge Christian
obligations must go much further than this ;
and in consistency, as followers of Him who
emptied Himself of His glory, and for His
work took upon Him the form of a servant,
must recognise, and practically shew, by means
of all their faculties and gifts, that they are
ministers of God for good to His creatures.
The Christian influence is thus capable of
counteracting the tendencies to socialism in
more ways than one. First, it occupies its
theoretical ground by a counter theory, taken
from a different point of view ; from the point
of view of duty, and not from that of rights :
a theory more stable in itself, because the
idea of duty is not so artificial as that of
rights ; more capable of practical applica
tion, involving no contradictions and impos
sibilities, if imagined to be universally ap
plied. Secondly, it anticipates socialism by operat
ing directly to reduce those gross inequalities,
to relieve those stern physical necessities,
which serve as provocatives and occasions
for the socialist doctrines.
Thirdly, it addresses itself to, and enlists

234 LECTURE VIL
a moral consent of a much wider range, than
that to which socialism appeals. This latter
appeals to the sense of urgent need in some,
and to the indignation of others. And as
long as those urgent needs exist alongside
of most disproportionate wealth, luxuries,
and self-indulgencies, socialism will exert a
certain degree of moral power ; the active
demands of some will be seconded by the
tacit consent of others, who are not imme
diately and obviously in danger of attack.
But when Christian self-denial, exertion,
and labours, when Christian opinion shall
succeed in reducing those morbid inequali
ties in our social condition, there will not
only be diminished directly, many social
dangers and many moral difficulties ; but
there will also be conciliated to the Chris
tian society, gratitude on the part of some,
with imitation on the part of others, appro
bation and admiration and a disposition to
learn, on the part of all who are not utterly
depraved. During the struggle in Italy at the begin
ning of the fifth century, between the decay
ing Paganism and the rising Christianity, for
the possession of the ancient religious endow
ments, it was eloquently urged by Ambrose,
that whereas when they belonged to the hea-

LECTURE VIL 235
then priests they were useless to all men,
they became, when devoted to the Christian
service, the common property of the poor**.
Although this argument cannot be consi
dered to have touched the plea of possession
and of justice as advanced by the Pagans, it
was no doubt sufficiently based in fact to be
very effective as a practical appeal. In this
example we may thus suppose to have been
presented a realization of one trait of the apo
stolic Christian community, with one order,
namely, the clergy, and in reference to one
class of objects, namely the relief of the poor.
But this example does not supply an illus
tration of the universal application of the
animating principles of Christian communion ;
the self-control or self-sacrifice is not repre
sented therein as penetrating the whole com
munion, nor as being directed to objects suffi
ciently comprehensive.
And so with the monastic vow of poverty,
the application of faculties thereby surren
dered might, in the management of others
^ " Sola sublata sunt prsedia, quia non religiose utebantur
iis, quae religionis jure defenderent....Possessio Ecclesiae,
sumptus est egenorum. Numerent quos redemerint templa
captivos, quae contulerint alimenta pauperibus, quibus ex-
uhbus Vivendi subsidia ministraverint. Prsedia igitur inter-
cepta, non jura." D. Ambros. Ep. ii*. contr. Symmachi
relat.

236 LECTURE VIL
than the original possessor, take a wider range
to all philanthropical and religious objects ;
but the defect herein lies in the paralysing of
all vital action on the part of him who so
binds himself ; he ceases to be a living mem
ber of the communion. For by the inter
vention of a vow, the voluntary is changed
into the compulsory, counsel becomes law,
choice and spontaneous action is extinguished,
and the essence of all virtue and grace is
destroyed, within the limits which the vow
embraces'. Hence the inapplicability also of that ex
ample of the primitive Church recorded in
the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles,
except to rare emergencies in Christian his
tory ; because so likewise the continued exer
cise and improvement of faculties and talents
committed to us would be cut off, and the
means whereby we should approve ourselves
and serve others would be taken away by our
own act.
Yet the principle which under those cir-
' Of course this view would not be admitted by Roman
theologians. " Qu : Utrum melius, magisque meritorium
sit opus ex voto, quam sine voto. Summarium. i. Melius
magisque meritorium est opus ex voto, quam sine voto.
2. Necessitas implendi voti non minuit voluntatis liber-
tatem. 3. Pcenitentia voti editi, si efiicax non sit, nihil
culpse habet." Paul.Laymanni Theologia Moralis, Monachii,
1634. p. 635.

LECTURE VIL 237
cumstances led to those sacrifices, may under
other circumstances be made very evident, so
evident, as to distinguish clearly the one from
the other, the Christian and secular societies.
The taking of pains, the surrender of ease, in
missions, in teaching and similar labours, are
as true Christian works, as the casting of gold
and silver into the treasury. And if such
were seen to be constant forms of self-devo
tion in Christian communions, that would be
found true of worldly persons, who could not
make similar efforts, but who could not fail to
honour those who did, which is related of the
people who witnessed the devotion of Barnabas
and others, and the catastrophe of Ananias
and Sapphira. The apostolic society was re
garded with favour by the multitude ; yet of
the rest durst no man join himself to them ;
no man, not penetrated with those principles,
could think of being united to such a com
pany. The real power of the Christian Church to
act beneficially upon mankind has been in
our days seriously impeded by the growth of
an enormous mass, nominally, and by sacra
mental admission, formally Christian, but in
education and habit, practice and principle,
alien from the Spirit of Christ. And as this
mass penetrates the Church with worldly

238 LECTURE VIL
principles, and repels any counteracting in
fluence upon itself, a process takes place,
nearly the reverse of that, which has been
described as the proper mode of action by the
Church upon the world.
Instead of the worldling becoming uneasy
and dissatisfied, and being elevated into the
Christian ; the Christian, paralyzed into a
dead satisfaction in his own shortcomings,
falls down into the worldly society, and is
content to be judged according to its maxims
and standards of morality and of interest.
And the worldly society, which desires,
from some kind of superstition, to call itself
Christian, without being actually subject to
Christian obligations, is enabled to hold it
self safe from the moral supremacy which it
has always dreaded, as long as Christians,
by striving about questions unprofitable and
vain, and on which by their very mental con
stitution it is impossible they should abso
lutely agree, do, by their own acts, throw into
the background the moral power of their reli
gion ; concerning which union would be pos
sible among themselves, concerning which
there would be an answering testimony, irre-
pressibly springing up in every human breast,
that it is holy and just and good, and entitled
to dominion.

LECTURE VIL 239
As it is thought that some of the Christian
emperors, and especially the barbarous Gothic
princes, were reluctant to embrace more than
an Arian Christianity, because of the absolute
supremacy over their worldly power which
the orthodox claimed for a truly divine
Founder and for the society which He esta
blished ; so had the world rather deal with
the debateable Christianity of the creeds,
which, with it at least, admits of more or
less question and reserve, than with the per
emptory call " to glory and virtue ; whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and pre
cious promises : that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through
lusfk." It would be difficult to form any surmise,
sufficiently supported by the apostolic writ
ings, as to how the Apostles themselves would
have dealt with such a fluctuating and no
minally Christian mass as I have described,
could it have existed in their day. Yet it
seems to me, that they would have endea
voured to unravel the complication of the
spiritual and worldly societies, by some appli
cation of the moral, rather than of the doc
trinal test ; seeing, that throughout their Epi-
k 2 Pet. i. 4.

240 LECTURE VIL
sties the doctrinal and argumentative is for the
sake of the moral, although with us there is a
tendency, because the argumentative and il
lustrative is greater in bulk, and intellectually
more difficult to us, to suffer it in our read
ing to overlay the moraP.
But if it were possible in any degree, in
any part of Christendom, to bring out the
distinct moral characteristics of the gospel, as
the distinguishing properties of the spiritual
communion, in order to its more vigorous
action as a corporate body upon the secular
society which is foreign to it ; in what rela
tion would different churches stand one to
another, that is to say, churches, differing ma
terially in creed, discipline and worship ?
If it has been shewn with any success in
former Lectures, that the principles wherein
1 The argumentative portions of the Epistles are difficult
to us, chiefly by reason of their polemical character. For
in polemics the arguments must be taken from principles
acknowledged, or from facts and conclusions admitted by
the party to be convinced. It requires therefore a perfect
knowledge of Jewish and heathen life and modes of thought,
to enable us to follow the apostolic arguments. And we
render this part of Scripture more difficult than it really
is, because we often persist in searching for the revelation
of some profound mystery, where there is only a conde
scension and an argumentum ad hominem. Consult H. G.
Tzschirncr, Geschichte der Apologetik, Leipzig, 1805, pp.
82, 83.

LECTURE VIL 241
absolute unity has been heretofore looked for,
are not such as in theory to be capable of
supplying it, any more than they have sup
plied it as matter of fact ; and that from the
constitution of the human nature, differences
such as actually divide Christian communions
must necessarily exist, and, as far as we can
see, be perpetuated" ; there is no other bond,
but that which I have taken upon me to put
forward, which can in any sufficient sense
unite consciously the saints of those various
communions. To convince ourselves of the hopelessness
of any modification or generalization of creed
to which variant Churches might subscribe,
we have only to remember, confining ourselves
to modern times, the contempt with which
Calvin treated the moderating effort of Cas-
sander"; the utter shipwreck of De Dominis in
" "Even those who are most adverse to a dogmatic
theology despair for the most part of the extinction of
Creeds and similar formularies, which they foresee can
never happen until some vast alteration shall have taken
place in the phases of society, if not in the mental consti
tution of man itself." Michcll's Bampton Lectures, p. 7.
And until such alteration, not only must creeds exist but
there must also be diversities in them.
n 0 p q r j^s a general statement, all these attempts were
dependent for success upon different churches and parties
agreeing; 1. Upon the distinction in the abstract between
essential and non-essential doctrines ; 2. Upon the distri-
R

242 LECTURE VIL
his scheme of comprehension" ; the fate of the
syncretism of Calixtus, which made no im
pression on the Romish party, while it raised
furious controversies among the ProtestantsP ;
the impossibility of bringing the Greek church,
subsequently to the Reformation, into any
close union with those who had thrown off
the yoke of its ecclesiastical antagonists'" ; the
failure ofr endeavours to reunite the Eng
lish Church to the unreformed branches
of the West, by means of the Gallican
Church ^
But I think if once we are well convinced,
that existing differences, or many of them,
bution of particular doctrines under these two heads.
More recently an endeavour was made to produce a fusion
of creeds under the civil supremacy of the Emperor Na
poleon. The maxim of the author was "una vel nulla
religio." He argued, " L'Eglise universelle est d'accord
sur les vrais mysteres;...Toutes les Eglises se soumettront
a une profession de foi generale qui definira les articles
fondamentaux de la rehgion Chretienne." Projet de Re
union dc toutes les Communions Chretiennes propose a
S. M. I. R. par M. de Beaufort, Jurisconsulte. Paris, 1 806,
p. 44. As may be supposed, the project met with no favour
from the heads of the Roman Catholic Church, who treated
it as a Procrustean method of dealing with religions ;
" h I'une vous voulez ajouter ; ll I'autre vous voulez re-
trancher ; celle-ci vous voulez la raccourcir ; celle-l&, vous
voudriez I'alonger." Lettre a M. dc Beaufort, Paris, 1 808,
p. 29. (By Claude Lecoz, abp. of Besan9on.) See the
Appendix.

LECTURE VII. 243
are as definite and as likely to be transmitted,
as differences of colour, of habits, and of
speech, which separate different races, we
shall be thrown of necessity to seek for some
principle which shall traverse them ; we shall
recognise the possibility of a moral union,
across very wide separations of creed, of
order, of worship. We shall come to interpret
the injunction of the Apostle, that we " all
speak the same thing," as of the utterance of
a heartfelt unanimity of moral purpose, rather
than of an identical profession of creed.
It will not perhaps be thought to proceed
from an undue partiality for the Church and
nation to which we belong, if an opinion is
here expressed, that the course of action of
Christianity upon the world at large in time
to come, will much depend, under Provi
dence, upon the solution in this country of
questions, which the history of previous gene
rations has left to us : that is, on the solution
of such as can be solved, and, on the gathering
of a deliberate and charitable judgment con
cerning such as are insoluble, and therefore to
be laid aside as a residuum, not admitting for
the present of further treatment.
It is only under the remarkable circum
stances which this country presents, that
conflicting churches can be effectually placed
E 2

244 LECTURE VII.
side by side, that the mutually compatible
which their systems contain, can be fairly
valued, and the incompatible likewise ascer
tained ; that the capabilities of different
churches for ameliorating and christianizing
humanity at large, or given portions of it, can
be viewed in activity and compared ; above
all, that an unity of moral purpose for the
sanctification of the world can be evidenced,
alike by communions, and by individuals be
longing to communions, hostile in respect of
their creeds, discipline or constitution.
It may be thought indeed, that such com
parison and competition cannot take place,
in all cases upon equal terms. It may appear,
at first sight, that in the face of any such
conflict and emulation, a church, which, like
our own, makes no exclusive claims to the
possession of the keys of salvation, will stand
at a disadvantage, when placed in fair rivalry
with any which make such unyielding and
exclusive claim. But I think not so: and that
the more distinctly such assertions are put
forth, and even not suffered to lie hid, as fair
occasion for reasonable controversy offers, nor
the case allowed to be represented, as though
there were at stake only the civil liberty to
adopt a " cultus" ; that the more they are
clearly drawn into the light as an assumption

LECTURE VIL 245
of the exclusive power of saving from hell,
the more they will produce a recoil from any
church which advances them.
For utterly counter to a refined moral
sense, which will become judge in many con
troversies, alien altogether from the catholi
cizing conclusions of an enlarged observation
of the human race, (coinciding with the decla
rations of Scripture, that " God has made of
one blood all men to dwell upon the face of
the earth,") are systems, falsely called catho
lic, but in fact exclusive, Jewish, unnatural,
unreasonable and inhumane, whereby men
are taught to look upon myriads of their fel
low creatures, as in some literal and horrible
sense children of wrath, as doomed righteous
ly to eternal damnation and torment ; taught
to think it more pious to stifle the voice of
God testifying within them of the universal
ity of His love, than to reexamine an inter
pretation of Scripture, or to modify the mean
ing of a term in the dictum — " extra Eccle
siam nulla salus."
The Church to which we have the happi
ness to belong, allows us to acknowledge the
ambiguity of two of those terms, of the word
Church and of the word Salvation. It neither
obliges its members to restrain the application
of the word Church to a partial material sue-

246 LECTURE VIL
cession, nor to define it by imaginary invisible
properties, nor to believe the absolute perdi
tion of those who are not "saved" in a technical
and theological sense. She is not thus engaged
in making proselytes through fear ; is not
driven and goaded to it, as though she were
compelled to pull all out of the fire who do
not as yet embrace her forms ; but is con
strained, through a principle of love to all man
kind, to make known unto them the Gospel of
Christ ; under which alone all the families of
our common race can become vessels of honour.
" The love of Christ constraineth us, because
we thus judge, that if one died for all, then
were all dead." And life and death, light and
darkness, freedom and slavery, or any other
equally contrasted contraries, are fit represen
tations of the selfishness and degradation of
the non-Christian, compared with the eleva
tion of the true Christian character.
The principal difficulties which now im
pede the regenerating influence of the
Christian society upon the world at large
may be comprised under two heads ; the
one, that the Christian communion is divided
against itself, with reference to subjects on
which it can never come to accord ; the other,
that the Christian and the worldly societies
are not sufficiently distinct.

LECTURE VIL 247
But as in warfare, in night assaults and
other hazardous encounters, vagueness of
intention, indefiniteness of orders, watch
words not common to all the forces which
are to act together, ill understood by them,
or too much resembling those which are in
use in the adverse army, lead, of necessity, to
doubt and hesitation in individual soldiers, to
confusion in the ranks, and cause the rolling
back of a victory already won : so in the
Christian army, if the moral ends of the
great battle of Armageddon are not set forth,
or if, while they should be engaged with the
common foe, sections of that soldiery are op
posing one another in mutual conflict for the
honour of separate standards ; no wonder,
that the apostolic mission of the Church, its
moral mission to the world at large, should
be at a halt ; no wonder, that many Christian
martyrs should seem to have shed their blood
in vain, for any great result upon the sin and
selfishness of humanity ; because they have
shed it in witness of subordinate, dubious,
and, as compared together, often conflicting
articles of faith.
Above all, let not Christian ministers be the
means of perpetuating divisions in the Chris
tian name, when their people would gladly be
at one. Let them not think, that the remedy

248 LECTURE VIL
of schism and dissension is to be found, in per
petual narrowing of the Catholic Church.
If the thought of rending the seamless
coat of Christ was a desecration ; no less un
holy was the struggle which ensued for its
undivided possession.

LECTURE VIII.

Heb. vi. 1.

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again
the foundation of repentance from dead works, and
of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms,
and of laying on of hands.

EET us suppose Tubal the instructor of
every artificer in brass and iron, or Hiram
the cunning workman, or Solomon the wise
king and naturalist, to have founded societies,
for the benefit of mankind, through the cul
tivation and application of certain arts and
sciences : or let us imagine, in mythology,
Prometheus or Hermes to have originated
sacred orders, to teach men concerning the
powers of nature and the resources of their
own ingenuity : or let us conceive, in his
torical times, Archimedes to have set on foot
a school for the application of mechanical
science ; Hippocrates, for the acquisition, dif-

250 LECTURE VIIL
fusion and use of medical knowledge ; Hip-
parchus of Alexandria% for the continued
observation and intelligible record of the
celestial phenomena : or coming down to
later periods, let us remember the institution
of guilds and fraternities, for the prosecution
of trade, the perpetuating and improvement
of crafts and the advancement of various
means and appliances.
It is evident, that in lapse of time, descrip
tions of the objects to be embraced by such
societies, statements of results obtained, defi
nitions of truths supposed to be finally ascer
tained, rules of internal government, maxims
of conduct, methods of investigation and of
application, would become obsolete, unin
telligible, inadequate, superfluous, false, in
applicable, mischievous, contradictory to the
very ends for which they were originally de
signed. Nevertheless a continuity might be true
of such societies, even together with such
changes. And not merely a material cohe
rence and succession of admitted members:

^ Hipparchus is commonly said to have observed at
Alexandria, but is not known to have done so. He was
born in Bithynia, and observed at Rhodes, B. C. 128. The
precise dates of his birth and death are not known.
Biographic Universelle.

LECTURE VIIL 251
such succession follows when there is life,
but does not of necessity imply it, or imply
it in any high degree : the material cohe
rence, the dry preservation of a body from
which the spirit has parted, does not ensure
the return of that spirit, after a cycle, to re
animate its original habitation ; and parts of
a yet living body, when they become ossified,
impede, by their very permanence, the vital
functions of other organs.
But the more generally expressed were the
objects and ends of any society at its original
constitution, the less would the necessary
historical variations which await it, impair
the sense of its continuity. The more com
prehensive, the more masterly, the more moral
its designs ; the more durable would be such
society, under most wide variations of form,
and along with the greatest discrepancies, at
different times, in its rules and teaching.
The vital coherence of such bodies consists,
in the taking of pains by each generation to
convey to others the attainment which it
seems to have made good ; rather than in the
strict sameness of that which is transmitted,
or even in its absolute truth ; provided that
it is truth to those who deliver it*".
^ In such transmission consists the true " traditio 1am-
padis sive methodus ad filios." De Augmentis, lib. vi. cap. 2.

252 LECTURE VIII.
And very much the same would hold, con
cerning branches of such imaginary societies,
separated and diversified by difference of
local circumstances, which would be true of
sections of them distributed into periods of
time, each with its own characteristics. Dif
ferences in natural materials, in climatic in
fluences and human conditions render, for
instance, both the practice and the theory
of the medical art extremely various, in dif
ferent ages and in different countries. Yet
brotherhood is not broken, between those
who have so differently taught and applied
it, for in their differences they have been
possessed by the same intention, and have
been animated by the same disposition ; they
have been convinced of a truth overriding
all others, namely, of the utility, practicability
and success of their art in the abstract.
And much more than in any other ima
ginary or real association, are we justified in
considering the moral purpose which Chris
tians have manifested, as the essential bond
of their union ; that moral purpose being,
that men should be conformed to the image
of Christ ; that they should work together
with Him, in that portion of His work which
admits of it, namely, in counteracting the
power of sin over the human race. " For

LECTURE VIIL 253
this cause was the Son of God manifested, that
He might destroy the works of the devil."
In thelast lecture some contrasts were drawn,
in a general way, between the spiritual society
and the world supposed as lying without it; but
there ought now, if possible, to be suggested
some means of visibly defining the limits of
the Christian society, or if this be too difficult,
of some portion of it. For it was said, that
one great impediment in the way of Christian
action upon the secular society consisted in
this; that in old countries, where Christianity
has long been hereditary, the two societies
are not sufficiently distinct. The Christian
communion is thereby prevented from dis
playing itself as a distinct example, as a city
set on a hill ; for it is corrupted by principles
foreign to it ; and becomes incapable of an in
tensive action upon its own members, of raising
the general standard within, or of exhibiting
the higher reach in individual cases of self-
devotion and of the true apostolic character.
In pursuing further this portion of the
subject, as briefly as our limits now require,
the Lecturer feels, that he lies perhaps under
greater difficulty, than in any other part of
his undertaking. For it would scarcely be
possible for him to express himself so gene
rally, as to avoid touching altogether upon

254 LECTURE VIIL
the condition of our own Church ; while if
he refers at once and directly to it, he may
seem to be intruding, in a practical matter of
administration, upon a province which does
not belong to him. And therefore in taking
this latter course, he trusts that what he shall
say, will be received as put forth with the
greatest submission to other judgments.
Christendom generally for many ages, and
our own Church in particular, has so pro
nounced itself, by distinct declarations, re
specting the baptism of young children, that
we may consider any question concerning it as
actually settled amongst ourselves, and not at
this time to be re-opened. But besides an
entanglement of some theoretical statements
concerning the precise effect of the act of bap
tism, there can be no doubt, that there result
from this rule, under present circumstances,
some complications of a practical nature ;
which necessarily affect, as was said in the
last lecture, the distinctness of the worldly
and spiritual societies ; and thence, the re
generating action of the one upon the other.
When baptism becomes national, it must ap
proach to the character of indiscriminate ;
and the securities to be had for the Christian
bringing up, in any sense, of great numbers
of children, much less for their bringing up

LECTURE VIII. 255
in the particular communion wherein they
were baptized, are very insufficient, under the
difficulties of a complex population.
And thus while our Lord commanded His
followers to disciple all nations by baptizing
and by teaching them, many may become
partakers of the ceremonial act alone ; from
which alone, as I apprehend, no one amongst
us will explicitly maintain, that there flow
the moral effects of the moral instrument or
teaching. Under the most favourable cir
cumstances wherein infants are brought into
the Church, the teaching, which is a part of
the instrumentality whereby men are to be
made disciples, and so, by institution, coupled
and tied to the baptism, that lawfully it could
not be severed from it, in the case of a person
capable of receiving it ; must nevertheless be
suspended, and its effects along with it, until
the infant has become a fit subject for it.
Comparing the commission given in Matth.
xxviii. 19, 20, with the metaphorical language
of our Lord in John iii. we observe ; that
the former words are addressed to those who
were to make disciples of others, and are de
scriptive of the agency to be employed in so
doing; whereas the words of our Lord to
Nicodemus are spoken, through him, to those
who would become disciples, and are descrip-

256 LECTURE VIII.
tive of the effect to be produced in them.
In the one case our Saviour declares, that not
only the outward act of baptism, but also a
personal teaching, are to be put in use, by
those who are to bring others into the fold
and to enlarge the Christian communion. In
the other case He makes known, that not only
the initiatory act of baptism is to be submitted
to, as a sign of material transition into a visible
society, but that a condition of moral regene
ration must be the effect on the disciple of
the moral teaching which he receives.
The passage also in St. Mark leads to
the same conclusion ; " He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved." Here is
the same division as before ; for faith, which
is a determinate state of the moral na
ture, — "with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness," — is not produced without
teaching ; " Faith cometh by hearing." So
that in St. Matthew we have the material
and the moral instrument ; in St. Mark the
material and moral effect ; in St. John the
material and moral effect likewise, only figu
ratively expressed. Unless we are determined
beforehand to see in Christ's conversation
with Nicodemus, rather the revelation of a
mystery to that worldly-minded man, than a
convincing of the master in Israel of ignorance

LECTURE VIIL 257
and inconsequence ; when he supposed that a
material birth, a birth of water, such as would
readmit the Jew after ceremonial defilement
to his legal privileges, or entitle the proselyte
to enter within the outer court, would be
sufficient alone, and without moral qualifica
tion, for admission into Christ's moral king
dom. As the " believing" of St. Mark and
the " faith" of St. Paul, which come by preach
ing and hearing, come not without the Spirit ;
so in St. John, the birth of the Spirit comes
not without the instrumentality of teaching.
And we are evidently right in considering
the instrumental agency, whereby new mem
bers are added to the communion, to be di
visible into the more formal and ceremonial act
and the moral agency, and in connecting the
moral birth more especially with this latter.
Because not only does our Lord warn Nico
demus against supposing, that this moral
birth can follow from any mere material
antecedent, or can be traced to a given mo
ment or to any momentary act ; — " thou canst
not tell whence it cometh ;" — but St. Paul
also, taking up very nearly the same figure of
a moral or religious new birth, attaches it
expressly to the instrumentality of teaching ;
"In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through
the gospel ;" with many applications of the

258 LECTURE VIII.
same or similar metaphors ; " My little chil
dren, of whom I travail in birth again until
Christ be formed in you*"."
And the action of the Christian teacher in
thus vivifying the moral nature of those
whom he teaches, by the peculiar moral
truths implied in the Gospel, is not alto
gether unlike that process, according to
which a celebrated philosopher among the
ancients is said to have brought out dormant
intellectual and moral knowledge, in the
minds of those who became his hearers ;
which is represented to us under a figure
bearing some resemblance to the scriptural
ones we have been considering''.
Without pursuing these views any further
as they might illustrate points recently con
troverted, it is sufficient to observe, that of
the two instruments of disciple-making, bap
tizing and teaching, the latter in the case of
adult converts naturally preceded the other ;
in the case of those who are baptized in
infancy, the catechumenal state is necessarily
subsequent to the baptism. But if in the
case of adults, baptism, as a seal of dis-
b 1 Cor. iv. 15. Gal. iv. 19. See also 1 Tim. i. 2. 2 Tim.
i. 2. Tit. i. 4. Philem. 10. Compare Is. liii. 10, 11. i John
iii. 9. and for the instrumentality of the word to the spiritual
regeneration, James i. 18. i Pet. i. 23.
*= The p-aievTiKT] Texvri of Socrates. Plat. T/ieaetet.

LECTURE VIIL 259
cipleship, was not administered until the
catechumen had become competent to re
ceive it ; " if thou believest with all thy
heart, thou mayest ;" it should seem, that
where baptism has preceded, whatever may
be said, in the way of customary epithet or
description, and in figurative language, of it
or of its effects ; whatever advantage of con
dition or promise may be attached to it ; the
true and full character of disciple cannot
properly be held to belong to the baptized
person ; until his competency has been brought
up, by subsequent teaching, to the point, at
which an adult would be considered a fit re
cipient of that sacrament. I am not saying,
that baptism in infancy may not have a
powerful moral effect in many cases in pro
ducing, as the person grows up, this very com
petency ; such has indeed already been ac
knowledged*^ : it has thus not only an usus
significativus but an usus effectivus. Only to
whatever influences and instrumentality it
may be due, the communion should be sa
tisfied of the complete or sufficient forination
of the character of disciple, before persons
baptized in infancy are recognised as full
and perfect members.
Now the occasion of applying the test
d Lecture IV.
s 2

260 LECTURE VIIL
thus required seems to be precisely sup
plied by the ordinance of Confirmation ; and
by means of the judicious employment of
this instrument, it would be possible for a
Church in the position of our own, at once
to render its benefits most diffusive and
national, and to give itself a distinct and
free character. For on the one hand, she
would repel none from her ordinary instruc
tions ; would treat all who would conform in
any degree to her worship, or listen in any
degree to her ministers, as persons in the
state of catechumens, and entitled to the
ministration of her teaching. If they were
baptized by her own ministers, they are en
titled to it by reason of that very baptism ;
if irregularly baptized, they are received, in
hope that they may be incorporated into her
communion by Confirmation, and so all formal
defects in their Christian initiation supplied ;
if not at all baptized, she is ready to teach
them and to regard them as candidates for
that sacrament at her own hands. On the
other hand, she would acknowledge none as
competent disciples and full members, but
those who were with due caution admitted
to be confirmed.
And with respect to the use which our
Church or any other may make of this ordi-

LECTURE VIIL 261
nance, there can be no hesitation in allowing,
that variations in rules and practices respect
ing it may take place, if thought wise, without
inconsistency. There have been considerable
variations, as we know, in respect to both the
sacraments, particularly as to the age at which
they were to be, or might be administered.
And let us not consider ourselves precluded
from some variations, if necessary, in the ad
ministration of Confirmation, if thereby the
moral characteristics of our Christian com
munion can be the better displayed, and if
the free action of our Church can be secured,
with perhaps more facility than by any other
method. It is quite consistent with the Romish
view of Confirmation, aa a sacrament, and
with the medieval theory of supernatural
sacramental grace, that it should be adminis
tered at any early age after baptism. For,
according to those theories ; First, in case of
the death of the recipient a greater glory
would follow upon the greater grace; Secondly,
by means of an increase or reinforcement of
the baptismal grace the receiver would be the
more strengthened for his coming conflict in
the Christian confession. According to the
Romish doctrine, the grace of Confirmation
will follow to those recipients who place no

262 LECTURE VIIL
bar", provided the unction, the words, and the
intention of the administrator coincide at least
in some point.
It is not necessary to inquire how far a dis
position to present persons for Confirmation
at a very early age has been perpetuated in
our own Church, as a traditional residue from
such opinions ; although that ordinance is
with us expressly taken out of the number of
sacraments, and although it seems to be the
doctrine of the Church, that even the sacra
ments generally depend for their efficacy,
under Christ's appointment, upon the condi
tion of the receiver, and not upon the inten
tion of the administrator.
But there are some considerations which
appear to me to render the administration of
Confirmation at a later age than usual the
preferable course, and the more efficacious
towards constituting it ; 1 . into an effectual
moral instrument on individuals ; and 2. into
the means of rearing up a living Church order.
Passing by all investigation as to the most
" But if a person should not have been confirmed nor
have been desirous of being confirmed when in possession
of his full faculties, and by disease or infirmity should re
lapse into a childlike condition, it would not then be thought
proper he should be confirmed. The usual age of adminis
tration of Confirmation in the Romish Church is, I believe,
at T2 years.

LECTURE VIIL 263
probable origin of Confirmation, we need not
for our present purpose decide, whether it
can properly speaking be considered an apo
stolic institution, or is due, as some doctors
have held, to ecclesiastical appointment ; only
the twenty-fifth Article denies that which was
apparently held by Aquinas and ratified at
Trent, namely, that it was instituted by our
Lord Himself, and communicated to the
Church by tradition, which appears to be in
fact a mere historical inference from what is
assumed in its definition as a sacrament^
Nor, if Confirmation be no sacrament, can
it be of importance to discuss the preferable-
ness of our own form of imposition of hands
to the Romish form of unction and consig-
f " Ergo dicendum, quod circa institutiouem hujus sa-
cramenti est triplex opinio. Quidam enim dixerunt, quod
hoc sacramentum non fuit institutum nee a Christo, nee
ab apostolis, sed postea processu temporis in quodam con-
cilio. Alii vero dixerunt quod fuit institutum ab apostolis,
sed hoc non potest esse, quia instituere novum sacra
mentum, pertinet ad potestatem excellentiae, quse com-
petit soli Christo, et ideo dicendum est, quod Christus
instituit hoc sacramentum non exhibendo sed promit-
tendo." Th.Aq.iii^. pars. Qu. lxxii. ad i. Or otherwise,
"Ahquo modo praefiguratum fuit hoc sacramentum in
manus impositione Christi super pueros.... Nee hoc differt
sive dominus ipsemet instituit sive apostoli ejus speciali
prfficepto." iv'o. Scntent. Dis.vii. Art. ii. ad i. Compare
Beveridqe on Art. xxv. Dallceus, De duobus Latinorum ex
Unctionc Sacramentis. Dc Confirmatione. Genev. 1659,
and Bingham, Origines, bk. xii. chap. i. §§. 4, 5.

264 LECTURE VIIL
nation ; nor can it require argument to shew,
that a church, which expressly retains, as ours
does, the baptism of young children, almost
requires some such complementary ordinance,
and would most wisely invent such, if it did
not exist. And although no church might
vary, in an essential part of its institution, the
form of a sacrament appointed by Christ him
self, the order of Confirmation falls precisely
into that matter of tradition and ceremony,
wherein there has always been variety, and
wherein changes may be made according to
the diversity of circumstances, so as such
changes be within the limits of God's word^
The particular circumstance of Confirma
tion which I have in view then in these ob
servations is the age at which it is adminis
tered. And in the degree in which we
cease to regard it as a sacrament, and cease
to expect from it an occult influence of spi
ritual strength upon recipients placing no bar,
will the disposition increase to administer it
at a later age and at varying ages.
For the efficacy of it as a moral instrument
will generally be greatly enhanced, in those
who receive it duly, if they submit themselves
to it at an age, when they already know fully,
wherein the moral conflict consists, which
f Art. XXXIV.

LECTURE VIIL 265
they undertake to wage under Christ's ban
ner. It will be far more influential with
those who are strictly speaking able to make
a choice and declare a will ; than with those
who receive it in the way of obedience to
the bidding of parents and teachers, when
the feeble impression which it makes on the
mind and heart of childhood, will pass away
in the first heats of youthful vanities and sins.
Experience gives no encouragement to the
supposition, either that a strengthening grace
is conveyed by it, or that a moral efficacy
attends the administration of this rite to per
sons in the negative state of early youth, who
can simply say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer
and the Ten Commandments in their mother
tongue, and answer the questions in the short
Catechism of the Church.
Even according to existing rules and ru
brics, there is sufficient latitude given to the
minister to defer presenting his catechumens
to be confirmed by the bishop, until they
shall have reached, what shall appear to him,
an age of discretion ; which might, if it were
thought wise, be generally, that age at which
persons become legally responsible for their
own acts. Nor can he feel himself bound to
recommend petitioners at any age for solemn
admission into full membership, merely be-

266 LECTURE VIIL
cause they can understand the rudiments of
what Christians believe ; unless they are also,
in his judgment, capable of understanding
the moral obligations of the Christian pro
fession ; unless they give promise, as far as
he can see, of continuing in that moral con
test Christ's faithful soldiers and servants
unto their lives' end. Thus the test of com
petency for Confirmation is brought up to the
point of promise, which would be required in
an adult convert from heathenism. And this
full test of the moral qualification should be
required, because the anxiety which would
prevail with some to retrieve a heathen by
baptism from the " mass of perdition," or to
bring him within the promise and covenant ;
cannot operate in this case to cause a sudden
laying on of hands upon persons already
baptized. An increased influence would follow upon
individuals, if they were taught to look for
ward to Confirmation as at the end of years,
and as consummating a probation, before it ad
mits to privileges. And by the more cautious
administration of this rite, churches would be
spared the discredit which now falls upon them
and upon the Christian religion itself, when
few out of the numbers, thus certified as ap
proved members, present themselves, when be-

LECTURE VIIL 267
come really masters of their own acts, to the so
lemnities of the eucharist, whereto they have
become formally entitled ; when they throw
contempt, out of mere ignorance and heed
lessness, upon the communion which has been
too prodigal of its privileges ; passing out of
it, as if they owed nothing to it ; above all,
shewing that their Church was premature in
declaring them confirmed Christian soldiers,
by the headstrong, worldly and selfish lives
which they lead.
The winnowing and sifting of the general
congregation, through the means of this or
dinance, would impart distinctness to the
Church, without detracting from its diffusive
ness ; and would infuse life, by rendering it a
voluntary society, within the limits of an in
ner circle : at the same time it would con
tinue national in its general education and
instructions. The necessity of discipline
would be anticipated, or the only kind of it
which is effectual would be restored, by re
storing that moral internal influence of the
members one upon another; without which
penances and penalties are inefficient, with
which they are for the most part unnecessary.
And for one special action of the members
upon one another, of the more advanced and
true lay members, upon those who are brought

268 LECTURE VIIL
to confirm their baptismal undertaking and
profession, there is provision made by exist
ing rules, without the necessity for any new
order or enactment; if only competent spi
ritual authority would give greater life to the
function of sponsors at Confirmation. For they
might possibly be constituted into a class, to
exercise special personal influence upon the
young and upon those who are to be made
full members of the communion ; not drawing
those who are unstable within the inner fold,
but aiding the ministers of the Church in
their work of discrimination, and multiplying
the joints and bands which are necessary to
the growth of the body of the Lord. With
out an agency of individual upon individual,
beyond that which can be exercised upon
their congregations by a clergy, so limited in
number as ours, the lively coherence and
continuity of the members of the Church
can scarcely be maintained.
And we might thus obtain a striking exem
plification of that which was described theo
retically in a former Lecture as the elemen
tary action, whereby the communion of the
Church is extended ; the action or relation,
stimulated by a pain on both sides, between
one individual within, who is here the con
firmation-sponsor, and one individual without.

LECTURE VIIL 269
who is here the catechumen. The former is
anxious to comprehend the other within the
pure society, the latter seeks admission and
takes upon him without reserve the yoke of
Christ's precepts.
The defect in the parallel or application
consists only in this, that the person so to be
comprehended is already by infant-baptism.
Christian ; but his moral regeneration is not
complete, until by an act of knowledge, and
of will, and of faith, he places himself under
Christ's law, considered as distinct from the
worldly principles, under a law of self-govern
ment and control, instead of under principles
of covetousness and self-indulgence, and yet
still expressly as a disciple. And the confu
sion has been already adverted to, and is not
I think to be escaped, whereby many will be
in one sense Christian, who are in another
sense not Christian ; because though they
have received baptism, they have not received
teaching, or this has not as yet issued in
effect. Some indeed have thought, that the ele
mentary form of the Church is to be sought
in the Christian family ; that the elementary
action whereby it is extended, is to be de
rived from the relation of the head of the
family to his household : and that a church is

270 LECTURE VIIL
to be considered properly, as an aggregate of
Christian families. The time would not al
low me to examine these opinions at length :
but it may be observed ; First, that our Lord
did not constitute heads of families, as such,
to be ministers, or in any way special servants
of the gospel ; that he predicts division and
separation between members of families in
consequence of the preaching of it ; that at
some times the Christian cause has been
eminently promoted by those, who were, like
St. Paul, for the special advancement of the
gospel, not in that relation ; that as a matter
of historical observation, it does not seem to
have been planted chiefly by that instru
mentality. Next, there are already proper ends for
that natural relation, and the effect of re
cognising heads of families, as such, for con
gregational representatives and authorized
teachers, would fuse together two instrumen
talities, which have been divinely appointed
to separate functions for the good of man
kind. And under such a scheme, there would
be more likelihood of Christianity degene
rating into an instrument for accomplishing
ordinary social and domestic ends, than of its
raising an universal population into a condi
tion truly Christian.

LECTURE VIIL 271
Further, the application of such a theory
to a national Church would involve ulti
mately the bringing the whole state by birth
within the Church ; in other words repro
duce the absolute coextensiveness of the spi
ritual and temporal societies, an experiment
which has hitherto always failed at length ;
and to the great detriment of the spiritual
society. Lastly, with respect to our own Church
and nation, it would altogether contradict
maxims of government and order, which, al
though we do not agree precisely in regard
to their origin, nor do all recognise their ab
stract universal obligation, are for the most
part cheerfully acquiesced in and acknow
ledged in practice.
And most of these considerations tend to
recommend, with ourselves, the reinforcing of
the aids at the disposal of the ministry, the
multiplying the personal points of contact
and of influence, between those in some sense
without and those within ; or if we prefer it, for
raising those within to a higher standard, not
by recognising an official character in heads
of families, but rather by giving a more per
manent and public character to sponsors, who
are already known to the law and custom of
the Church.

272 LECTURE VIIL
And in venturing upon this suggestion, and
in describing the action of such a class of
persons as elementary, we do not intrude
upon the proper offices of the ministry. Which
leads us to recur to what was said theoreti
cally concerning that higher Christian life,
distinguished from the life of the disciple,
and called the life of the apostle ; which lat
ter should in fact be exemplified in the Chris
tian minister. Upon this I cannot now enter
at any length, or in any special way ; but here
also as the supposition of occult influences
subsides, the higher sense of moral obliga
tions revives.
In ancient stories we are told of kings,
rulers by merit of their nature, elevated in
their moral stature, as Saul " from his shoul
ders and upward was higher than any of the
people," leading their subjects, defending
them, immolating themselves for their sakes.
Philosophers have imagined a city wherein
some men should be born inheritors of a re
fined essence, fitted by a divine superiority,
to guard, govern, and be obeyed. Or they
have projected a presbytery of wise and ex
perienced men, competent to become in all
things, guides and advisers of their fellow-
citizens''. And in this country, the issue of
h Plato, Dc Leg. xii.

LECTURE VIIL 273
the Reformation under our first protestant
prince seemed so fair to the eyes of some,
that they thought it possible, in fact, to com
prehend the whole nation under one Chris
tian education and discipline ; and that there
might be taken up the noblest and best from
all ranks to serve in the highest functions of
Church and State ; while from high ranks
and stations the unworthy and useless should
be depressed to mean arts and to them more
suitable labours : all which seems to our ex
perience nearly as Utopian as those other
imaginations'. Yet this much do we learn, as we, the clergy,
neither regard ourselves, nor are regarded by
those among whom we serve, to be gifted
with supernatural powers, that we can only
be highly esteemed for our works' sake. Re
wards of divination may well be given in
silver and gold and temporal ease and social
distinctions ; but honour is the meed of vir
tue : ov yap icTTiv ap.a j(jyr]p.aT[^eadat mro twv
KOLvav Koi TiprnjOaiK We are the servants of
all, and thence our honour : the greater ho
nour being given to that part of the body
which lacked, to the hands rough with la-
' Martini Buceri Scripta Anglicana fere omnia, BasHese,
1577. De Regno Christi, Lib. ii. c.48.
j Arist. Eth. Nic. VIII.

274 LECTURE VIIL
hour, to the bruised and travel-soiled feet ;
" How beautiful (upon the mountains) are the
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things!"
There can be no emulation where some do
not take the lead, and high example always
finds some imitators. It was not with Au
gustine, his intellectual difficulties, nor his
intellectual convictions, nor the discussions
of friends, nor the eloquence of Ambrose,
nor even the tears of a praying mother,
which wrought that disturbance and unrest
in him, from which he passed into the Chris
tian communion ; but it was the recital of
the deeds and constancy of Christian mar
tyrs ; " What ! shall we not be able even to
follow ?" Good and great men, though they
be dead, yet speak ; " their sound goeth out
into all lands, and their words into the ends
of the world." Let us not think to people
heaven with saints only of our own canoni
zation ; but " whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report ; if there
be any virtue, if there be any praise, let us
think on these things'^." Examples of self-
devoted men are links to bind together the
Christian name through all time, to transmit
a brotherhood through varying churches ;
^ Phil. iv. 8.

LECTURE VIIL 275
their glories shine far beyond the limits of
their daily walk in life : their odours are
wafted across the boundaries of unfriendly
societies : their spiritual seed is borne away
and takes root and bears many-fold, in fields
far distant from the gardens of the Lord
where they were planted.
Let us not despair of the flowing over of
benefits from high examples among ourselves,
upon those who in some sense are not of us ;
as neither should we disdain to imitate graces
from those who are without our special pale.
Let us not imagine it to be impossible to ad
vantage those who are not our nearest bre
thren. And when we look at the condition
of our own country especially, let us not be
discouraged at any features, but those which
present to us selfishness, wickedness and vice.
Let us learn to consider contemporary re
ligious differences kindly and calmly as from
a summit ; "Despicere unde queas alios pas-
simque videre Errare, atque viam palantes
quaerere vitse." Unless we behold calmly we
cannot act judiciously. We must regard the
diversities which meet our eye in the present
prospect, as we do the succession of varied
scenes, as the stream of time and providence
flows on. Churches as well as empires rise
and fall : and we examine historically, with
T 2

276 LECTURE VIIL
more interest it may be, but with as little
passion, the variation of creeds and worship
and maxims of ecclesiastical polity, as we do
the changes of dynasties, the growth and
decay of constitutions, the migration of
tribes, the formation and variation of habits
and laws.
Let us endeavour to view in like manner
dispassionately, religious differences of our
own time and country. With respect to
those who are thus seen by us, following
their diverging tracks after their several
teachers, let us be ready to acknowledge con
cerning all of them, who evidence consist
ency of moral purpose and self-control, that
they with us are seeking a country.
Like travellers across a mountain region
to a distant city, some have taken as their
guides those who seemed authorized to the
office, or who set their own claims the high
est ; some have surrendered themselves to
those whom accident first threw before them ;
some to the most clamorous and boastful ;
some to those who promised the smoothest
and easiest way : others have yielded to the
temptation of being conducted by passes
known only to the few. But when once the
toils of the journey are engaged in, it is for
the most part too late, to re-examine the ere-

LECTURE VIII. 277
dentials and qualifications of their guides, or
to endeavour to correct an erroneous selection
and choice : in the main, the reaching of their
final resting-place will depend on each one's
constancy and perseverance ; few will be led
so far astray, that their own energy and
sense will not enable them to recover a true
path ; none will be so well-guided, that they
can delay without risk, or indulge themselves
in seductive halting-places. At last, as they
approach the city of their rest, the tracks
which seemed so devious and wide asunder
are seen to converge, and the wayfarers,
emerging from their toils, meet one another,
not without surprise, which is soon swallowed
up in cordial greeting, at the table of their
common Lord.
When men lived much apart, kept asunder,
not only by natural boundaries but by wars
and jealousies, like inhabitants of some se
cluded valley, thinking that on the one side
was the whole world lying in wickedness,
and over the hills where the sun sets, the
home of their everlasting rest ; they might
suppose, that the universe was made and the
blood shed on Calvary for the sake only of
the dwellers within their favoured limits.
Too slow have men been to understand in its
full meaning and application, that servants of

278 LECTURE VIIL
God are sealed, not only out of chosen Ben
jamin or privileged Judah, but from the en
vious Ephraim and the benighted Naphthali ;
and from all people and kindreds and na
tions and tongues. But by God's good pro
vidence the times of this ignorance are pass
ing away, and woe will be to the clergy of
whatever church or sect who endeavour to
perpetuate it and the uncharitableness which
is its offspring. Why should we, in these
days, be thought to be the last to bring the
King of Peace back to His house ?
In conclusion, the unity of moral dispo
sition and of moral purpose, which has in
fact made all sincere followers of Christ one,
in all times and in all churches, has and does
and will traverse their differences, not as a ge
neralization from them ; without superseding,
or tending directly to supersede, their several
creeds and special constitutions, unless it be
where they are essentially exclusive and dam
natory. But this unity must itself be founded
on some faith ; some faith common to all
Christians, some faith capable of being re
ceived, without difference, by all men.
For in making the identity of their dispo
sition and purpose, rather than their dogmatic
faith, than their historical faith, than their feel
ings, than the supernatural influences in which

LECTURE VIIL 279
they believe, than their worship, or than their
formal virtue, the true Catholic character
istic, — this moral purpose, wherever perma
nent, must imply an habitual will ; wherever
there is habitual will, there is fixed faith and
conviction ; fixed faith and conviction of some
good within reach. It is a fixed faith in the
supremacy and victory of good over evil. This
faith has never been wanting to the true
Christian ; nor, in degree, to the true believer
from the earliest time. This victory was
represented in primeval imagery, in the Seed
of the Woman who should bruise the ser
pent's head ; sung by the Psalmist ; " The
young lion and the dragon thou shalt tread
under thy feet ;" consummated on the cross,
by Him who was manifested that He might
destroy the works of the devil ; shewn in
apocalyptic visions to be the issue of the Re
deemer's kingdom, — Michael Ruler of Angels
casting the dragon into the bottomless pit.
By this faith, disciples in all ages have
wrestled confidently with the evil within ;
have stood, when enabled to stand, believing
that He which had begun the good work in
them would confirm it unto the day of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
By this, Apostles and apostolic men have
removed mountains, have struggled with and

280 LECTURE VIIL
overcome adversaries, have resisted unto
death : because with them this faith is not
only in the victory of good over evil, but
that they are appointed instruments to the
winning of it.
" Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, look
ing unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith ; who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God V
Finally, if in the course of these Lectures
questions new to some may seem to have
been opened ; if in the minds of some, in
young and vigorous soils, there shall have
been sown seeds of thoughts, concerning God
and man, and divine law and human history,
thoughts worthy to be matured anxiously,
and when matured, it may be, submitted here
after to the judgment of their own genera
tion ; let me request such to carry also with
them this caution, which I trust has been
sufficiently present to myself : that no mem
ber of a communion or society is bound, either
1 Heb. xii. i, %.

LECTURE vm. 281
by public or private duty, to unsettle received
opinions, where they may seem to be erro
neous, unless he have a reasonable hope, as it
appears to him, that he shall be able to sub
stitute something better in their place : we
should not rob weak wayfarers in this
worldly scene of the reeds on which they
lean, unless we can strengthen their feeble
knees, or supply into their right hands
stronger staves to lean on.

Das Christenthum ist keine Philosophie. Es ist eine Er-
neuung des Lebens, welche nicht von einem Gedanken aus-
geht, sondern von einer Regung des Triebes zum Guten
und von einer daran sich anschHessenden Hoffnung und
Zuversicht des Zukiinftigen, so die Kraft in sich tragend
das Zukiinftige zum Guten zu gestalten. Dieser Uber-
zeugung vom Christenthum werden freilich Viele nicht
beistimmen woUen oder konnen; denn auch zu unserer
Zeit, wie sonst, findet sich die Meinung verbreitet, dass
der Gedanke das Erste sei, aus welchem aUes Gute her-
vorgehe in unserm Leben, welches alle Entwickelung der
Vernunft einleite, und die, welche sie hegen, werden nicht
zogern unsere entgegengesetste Uberzeugung, dass viel-
mehr der Wille das erste sei — ^natiirlich nicht ein bewust-
loser Wille — und dass darauf erst das "Wissen des Guten
folge, &c. Ritter, Christliche Philosophie, iter Theil, p. 16.

APPENDIX.

NOTE A. p. 6.
Bingham, Origines, b. x. c. iii. §§. 5, 7. Pearson, Expo
sition ; Vossius, de tribus Symbolis ; Ussher, Dc Romance
ccclesice symbolo apostolico vetere; Lord King's Critical
history of the Apostles' Creed. Other authorities may be
seen in /. Georg. Walchii Bibliotheca Theologica selecta,
Jena, 1757, tom. i. p. 305. It is sometimes said even now
by Roman Oathohcs, that " the Creed which is attributed to
the apostles and bears their name was in reality drawn up
by them." Hierurgia, by D. Rock, D.D. 1 85 1 . But a distin-
guishedlaymember of that communioninEnglaud expressed
himself more cautiously on the subject, some years since :
" The first of the Christian creeds in antiquity, confessedly
is, the symbol of the apostles. On the origination of it,
there are different opinions : some writers have supposed,
that the apostles, before their dispersion, agreed on its
several articles. An ancient tradition, recorded by Rufinus,
mentions, that each of the apostles contributed to it a
sentence ; and a writer, under the name of St. Austin, pro
ceeds so far as to assign to each apostle, the article which
he contributed. This tradition, and still more the im
provement on it, have greatly the air of a fable : and even
the opinion, which generally attributes the symbol to the
apostles, is open to serious objection. If it were their com
position, it seems unaccountable, that it should not be
mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles ; that no reference
to it should be found in any of the apostolic epistles ; that
it was not included among the canonical writings; and
that, when the council of Ephesus, and afterwards the
council of Chalcedon, proscribed all creeds except the

APPENDIX. 283
Nicene, neither of them excepted the symbol of the apo
stles from the general proscription." C. Butler, on Con
fessions of Faith, Works, Lond. 1817, vol. iv. pp. i, 2. There
is in fact, 1. Nothing in Scripture upon which to hang the
tradition. 2. In antiquity, except Clem.Rom.Ep.adJac.
which is given up as not genuine, there is no authority for
supposing the apostolical origin of the Creed, even in a
wide sense, before Irenaeus adv. Hcer. cap. 2; and the
feature in the tradition, of the Creed being the joint work
of the twelve apostles cannot be traced further back than
to a sermon attributed to Ambrose. As to the substance
of the Creed, no one denies that it is apostolical. But in
proving that the substance is apostolical we disprove, that
the precise form of words is so. Thus if the Regula fidei
of Tertullian, De Virgin, veland. sub. init. were alleged to
prove the material tradition of a precise form of words, it
would prove rather that the Creed as we have it is not the
apostolic Creed : for in the form which Tertullian there
gives he does not recite " only" — " our Lord" — " who was
conceived by the Holy Ghost"— " suffered"— " dead"—
" buried" — " He descended into hell" — " I believe in the
Holy Ghost"— "the Holy Catholic Church"— "the Com
munion of Saints" — " the forgiveness of sins" — " the life
everlasting." Yet the rule of faith he declares to be " sola
immobihs et irreformabilis." Briefly, when we allow the
Creed to be apostolical, as consistent with the apostolic
writings, and as beyond reasonable historical doubt sub
stantially identical with what was taught in early ages, we
do not concede a tradition from the apostles personally of
a precise form of words ; when we deny the tradition of
the Creed from the apostles in a precise form of words, we
do not deny the general identity of its substance with that
which they preached. A more plausible statement con
cerning the Creeds generally, including the Apostles' Creed,
is that of Aquinas ; " Articuli fidei temporum successione
creverunt, non quidem quantum ad fidem, sed quantum
ad explicitam et expressam professionem ; nam quse expli-
cite et sub majore numero a posteris credita sunt, eadem
omnia a superioribus Patribus implicite et sub minore
numero credita sunt." ii'^^ii*''. Qusest. i. Art.vii. But this

384 APPENDIX.
is fallacious. A child and a man use the same term to
signify the same object ; the man, with a full knowledge
of the object and with a capacity for describing it at
length, uses the term as an abbreviated expression, as im
plicitly conveying his full meaning. But it cannot be said
of him, that while yet a child the abbreviated form con
veyed to his then understanding implicitly all which he
afterwards expressed either at length or briefly according
to his wish.
NOTE B. p. 9.
Communicatory letters were means of keeping up an
intercourse between all the faithful. Thus the Letter
addressed by the Church of Smyrna to the Church at
Philomelium and to the Churches in Pontus, containing
an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, Euseb. Hist. Eccl.
iv. 15. is a communicatory letter, and was evidently to be
read from Church to Church. Such letters commence
properly with some form of apostolical salutation, " Mercy,
peace, and love of God our Father and of our Lord Jesus
Christ be multiphed;" or, "Peace, grace, and glory;"
Euseb. H E. v. c. i. They were also called Catholic
Epistles, and were read in the congregation on the Lord's
day at the celebration of the Eucharist, H.E. iv. c. 23. where
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, speaks also of letters of his
"written at the request of the brethren" having been inter
polated. The custom is thus referred to S. Basil. Ep. lxxv.
O? Tives Ttifmovdi re irpos f^mi ypdfxp,aTa koi waAiy biyovTai
¦nap fip,&v...StiJTe o ttjv irpos fnxds KOivaviav dTTobLbpdcTKcav firj,
XavdaveToi vp.&v ttjv dnpl^eiav ¦ndo-'qs eavTov tjjs eKKXrjatas
dTsopprjyv-us- and frequently in other letters of the same
Father. Augustine considers the apostolical Epistles to be catholic
bonds of union, being read in the Christian Churches, " quid
autem perversius et insanius, quam lectoribus easdem
Epistolas legentibus dicere. Pax tecum : et ab earum
ecclesiarum pace separari, quibus ipsse Epistolse scripts
sunt." Ep. 53. Ed. Ben. On the whole, the practice of
antiquity with respect to these communicatory letters
tends to shew, that the several Churches were considered

APPENDIX. 285
as forming, visibly and politically, a federation rather than
a monarchy ; mystically indeed, a monarchy under the
One Head Jesus Christ.
NOTE C. p. 21.
Augustana. (1530.) — Articuli fidei prcecipui.
VII. Item decent, quod una sancta Ecclesia perpetuo
mansura sit. Est autem Ecclesia Christi proprie, Congre-
gatio membrorum Christi, hoc est, sanctorum, qui vere
credunt et obediunt Christo : etsi in hac vita huic congre-
gationi multi mali et hypocritse admixti sunt usque ad
novissimum judicium. Habet autem Ecclesia proprie
dicta, signa sua, scilicet puram et sanam Evangelii doctri
nam, et rectum usum Sacramentorum. Et ad veram uni-
tatem Ecclesiae satis est consentire de doctrina Evangelii,
et administratione Sacramentorum. Nee necesse est ubi
que similes esse traditiones humanas, seu ritus ab ho-
minibus institutos, sicut et Paulus docet, cum ait, " Unus
Dominus, una fides, unum Baptisma, unus Deus et Pater
omnium." Saxonica Confessio. (1551.) — De Ecclesia.
Ut igitur contra has dubitationes magis confirmarentur
omnes sancti, articulus in Symbolo propositus est, " Credo
esse Ecclesiam sanctam Catholicam." Hac professione
adfirmamus, non abjectum esse totum genus humanum a
Deo, sed esse, et mansuram esse aliquam veram Ecclesiam,
ratas esse Dei promissiones, adhuc regnare Filium Dei^
recipere et salvare invocantes. Et hac erecti consolatione,
Deo gratias agimus, et eum invocamus : et petimus, acci-
pimus, et expectamus seterna bona. Propter hanc com-
monefactionem et consolationem, articulus in Symbolo
recitatur, cum quidem hsec ipsa doctrina de conservatione
Ecclesise ssepissime repetita sit in concionibus divinis : ut
Esa. Ivi. " Hoc fcsdus meum cum eis, dicit Dominus :
Spiritus mens qui est in te, et verba mea quse posui in ore
tuo, nee recedent ab ore tuo, nee ab ore seminis tui, dicit
Dominus, deinceps et in sempiternum." Et Dominus
inquit, "Ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad

286 APPENDIX.
consummationem seculi." Est et hsec dulcis consolatio,
quod non alibi sint hseredes vitae aeternse, nisi in coetu
vocatorum : juxta illud, " Quos elegit, hos et vocavit."
Non vagentur animi, intuentes hoc lacerum corpus Ec
clesise, et somniantes fortassis alibi ahquos qui ignorant
Evangelium, tamen esse sanctos et domicilium Dei, Fa-
bium, Scipionem, Aristidem, et similes. Sed hue refer
oculos. In hoc coetu vocatorum certo scias ahquos electos
esse, et ad hunc coetum te adjungito, confessione et invo-
catione. Sicut dicit Psal. xxvi. " Unum petii a Domino,
hoc requiro, ut habitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus
vitae meae : ut videam voluntatem Domini, et visitem
templum ejus." Non igitur de Ecclesia, tanquam de Idea
Platonica loquimur : sed Ecclesiam monstramus, quae
conspici et exaudiri potest : juxta illud, " In omnem terram
exivit sonus eorum." Vult exaudiri Filium aeternus Pater,
in toto genere humano, sicut inquit, " Hunc audite :" et
Psal. ii. "Ego constituo Regem meum in monte Sion,
prsedicabo praeceptum : Dominus dixit ad me, Filius mens
es tu, ego bodie genui te. Et nunc reges intelligite, &c."
Dicimus igitur, Ecclesiam visibilem in hac vita coetum
esse, amplectentium Evangelium Christi, et recte utentium
Sacramentis, in quo Deus per ministerium Evangelii est
efficax, et multos ad vitam aeternam regenerat. In quo
tamen coetu multi sunt non sancti, sed de vera doctrina
consentientes 
Diximus autem in descriptione Ecclesise, multos in hac
visibili Ecclesia esse non sanctos, qui tamen externa pro
fessione veram doctrinam amplectuntur : quia Donatistas
improbamus, qui fiuxerunt, ministerium eorum qui non
sunt sancti, non esse efiicax. Improbamus et coUuviem
Anabaptisticam, quae finxit Ecclesiam visibilem, in qua
omnes sint sancti. Ac fatemur, de Ecclesia visibih in hac
vita sentiendum esse, sicut inquit Dominus, Matth. xxiii.
" Simile est regnum ccelorum sagense missae in mare, qua
boni et maU pisces colliguntur." Sed tamen hi qui fiunt
hostes verse doctrinae, desinunt esse membra hujus visibilis
congregationis, juxta hoc dictum, " Si quis aliud Evan
gelium docet, anathema sit."

APPENDIX, 287
WiKTEMBERGicA CoNFESsio. (1552.) — Dc Ecclcsia.
I. Credimus et confitemur, quod una sit sancta Catho-
lica et Apostolica Ecclesia, juxta Symbolum Apostolorum
et Nicsenum.
II. Quod hsec Ecclesia a Spiritu Sancto ita gubernetur,
ut etsi sinit eam esse in his terris imbeciUem, conservet
tamen eam perpetuo, ne vel erroribus, vel peccatis pereat.
III. Quod huic Ecclesiae in hac terra multi mali et
hypocritae admixti sunt.
IV. Quod hi mali et hypocritae, si ministerium Ecclesise
legitima vocatione susceperiut, veritati Sacramentorum
per se nihil incommodi afferant, nisi institutiouem Christi
pervertant, et impia doceant.
V. Quod in hac Ecclesia sit vera peceatorum remissio.
VI. Quod hsec Ecclesia habeat jus judicandi de omnibus
doctrinis, juxta illud, " Probate spiritus, num ex Deo sint."
Et, " Caeteri dijudicent."
VII. Quod haec Ecclesia habeat jus interpretandse
Scripturse. Sed, ubi haec Ecclesia sit quserenda, et an jura ejus sint
certis terminis circumscripta, alii ahter sentiunt. Arbi-
tramur autem auctoritate sacrse Scripturae et veterum
Patrum sentiendum esse, vere Catholicam et Apostolicam
Ecclesiam, non ad unum certum locum aut gentem, nee
ad unum certum hominum genus alligatam esse : sed in eo
esse loco aut gente, ubi Evangelium Christi sinceriter prae
dicatur, et Sacramenta ejus recte, juxta institutiouem
Christi, administrantur.
Confessio Bohemica. (1535.) — De Ecclesia sancta
catholica. Art. viii.
. . . . Ubicunque enim Christus praedicatur et sus-
cipitur, ubicunque verbum et sacramenta ejus sunt, et ex
illius praescripto ac voluntate dispensantur suscipiunturque,
ibi Ecclesia sancta et societas Christiana est, ac Dei popu-
lus, quantus quantus fuerit eorum numerus : ubi vero
Christus abest, verbumque ejus rejicitur, ibi nee vera
Ecclesia, nee populus Deo gratus esse potest.

288 APPENDIX.
Decent insuper, ut quisquis in hac Ecclesia unitatem
Spiritus Christi teneat, omniaque ejus membra charitate
complectatur, totumque se in rem illius et usum devoveat
ac consecrat, sectas non invehat, seditiones non excitet,
sed in vinculo pacis, et eodem cum omnibus consensu ac
animo, in ea versetur, quod is sit verum membrum Ec
clesise. De hoc sic Paulus ad Ephesios. Hortor itaque vos,
ut ambuletis ita, ut dignum est, vocatione qua vocati estis,
in omni submissione ac mansuetudine, cum animi lenitate,
tolerantes vos invicem per charitatem, studentes servare
unitatem Spiritus, per vinculum pacis, etc. Iterum : imus-
quisque nostrum proximo placeat in bonum ad sedifica-
tionem, et ne quid fiat per contentionem aut inanem glo-
riam. Confessio Bohemica. (1575.) — Art. xi. De Ecclesia Dei.
Quapropter notae certse et infallibiles sanctse Ecclesise
praecipuae sunt. Primo pura prsedicatio et doctrina verbi
Dei et sancti evangelii, maxime quoad fundamentum et
praecipuos articulos catholicae et Christianse fidei. Secundo,
pura conservatio, administratio et usus sacramentorum
Domini, juxta ipsius institutiouem. Tertio, debita et
legitima obedientia in servandis omnibus iis rebus, quas
sanctum evangelium et lex Christi praecipit.
Ideoque et heec signa Ecclesiae Dei sunt, nempe, mutua
et fraterna charitas, tanquam membrorum Christi, crux
et afflictiones magnse propter veritatem et regnum Dei, et
tandem repressio manifestorum scelerum, multorumque in
Deum peceatorum, cum per amicam et fraternam admo-
nitionem et correptionem, tum etiam per ordinariam a Deo
institutam excommunicationem a sancta Ecclesia, eorum,
qui per antegressas admonitiones sese non patiuntur cor
rigi. Et hoc sancti patres nominarunt disciplinam eccle-
siasticam. Confessio Tetrapolitana. (1530.) — De Ecclesia, cap. xv.
Jam quid de Ecclesia et sacramentis sentiamus, expo-
nendum. Ecclesia itaque Christi, quse subinde regnum
ccelorum appellatur, est eorum societas, qui Christo nomen

APPENDIX. 289
dederunt, fideique ejus se totos commiserunt, quibus tamen
ad finem usque mundi admixti erunt, qui fidem Christi
simulant, non vere habent. Id Dominus abunde docuit
parabola zizaniorum. Item rhetis quod in mare jactum,
putres cum bonis pisces attrahit. Tum parabola regis, qui
ad nuptias filii sui quoslibet vocari, et postea carentem
veste nuptiali ejici rursus nihilominus jubet. Porro cum
Ecclesia sponsa Christi praedicatur, pro qua iUe semetipsum
exposuit, ut sanctificaret eam. Item cum domus Dei,
columna et stabilimentum veritatis, mons Sion, civitas Dei
riventis, Hierusalem ccelestis, Ecclesia primogenitorum,
qui conscripti sunt in coelis, Hae laudes, iis tantum com-
petunt, qui quod solide in Christum credunt, vere locum
inter fihos Dei nacti sunt. In his cum vere regnet ser-
vator, proprie ejus Ecclesia et sanctorum Koivcavla i. e. so
cietas, ut in symbolo apostolorum vocabulum Ecclesise
expositum est, nominantur.
Basileensis prior Confessio Fidei. (1530.)
Art. V. De Ecclesia, Disp. xi.
De EcclcsicB natura, memlbris ac notis.
Credimus sanctam Christianam ecclesiam, id est, com
munionem sanctorum, congregationem fidelium in Spiritu ;
quae sancta et Sponsa Christi est : in qua omnes illi cives
sunt, qui confitentur, Jesum esse Christum, Agnum Deij
toUentem peccatum mundi ; ' atque eandem per opera cha-
ritatis demonstrant.
Idem. Art. vii. — De usu Excommunicationis ....
Non autem excommunicat ecclesia Christiana, nisi emen-
dationis gratia. Quapropter etiam excommunicatos, poste-
aquam a scandalosa vita sua destiterint, seseque emendarint,
cum gaudio in gratiam recipit.
Helvet. prior sive Basil, posterior Conf. Fid. (1536.)
1^. Ecclesia.
Et ex talibus lapidibus super vivam hanc petram, hoc
pacto, inedificatis, ecclesiam construi, sanctamque sane-

290 APPENDIX.
torum omnium collectionem et immaculatam Christi spon-
sam esse tenemus. Quam Christus sanguine suo lavet et
purificet, et tandem Patri suo eam sine macula et ruga
statuat et tradat. Quae quidem quum solius sit Dei oculis
nota, externis tamen quibusdam ritibus, ab ipso Christo
institutis, et verbi Dei velut publica legittimaque disci
plina, non solum cernitur cognosciturque, sed ita consti-
tuitur, ut in hanc sine his nemo (nisi singulari Dei privi-
legio) censeatur.
Catechismus Genevensis. (1545.) — Prcsfatio.
Primum in hoc tam confuso dissipatoque Christiani
nominis statu, utile esse judico, extare publica testimonia,
quibus ecclesiae, quse, longis alioqui locorum spatiis dis-
sitae, consentientem habent in Christo doctrinam, se mutuo
agnoscant . Prteterquam enim quod ad mutuam confirma-
tionem non parum istud valet : quid magis expetendum,
quam ut, sibi ultro citroque gratulantes, piis votis alise
abas Domino commendent ? Solebant olim in hunc finem
episcopi, quum adhuc staret inter omnes vigeretque fidei
consensus, synodales epistolas trans mare mittere : quibus
tanquam tesseris, sacram inter ecclesias communionem
sancirent. Quanto nunc, in hac tam horrenda Christiani
orbis vastitate, magis necesse est, paucas ecclesias, quse
Deum rite invocant, et eas quidem dispersas, et undique
circumseptas profanis antichrist! synagogis, hoc sanctae
conjunctionis symbolum dare vicissim et accipere, unde ad
ilium, quem dixi, complexum incitentur ? 
De Fide.
M. Porro Ecclesiam quo sensu nominas sanctam ?
P. Quia scibcet, quoscunque elegit Deus, eos justificat
reformatque in sanctitatem ac vitse innocentiam, quo in
ilUs reluceat sua gloria. (Rom. viii. 30.) Atque id est quod
vult Paulus, quum admonet, Christum Ecclesiam, quam
redemit, sanctificasse, ut sit gloriosa puraque ab omni ma
cula, (Eph. V. 25.)
M. Quid sibi vult Epitheton Catholicce vel Universalis ?
P. Eo docemur, sicut unum est fideKum omnium caput,

APPENDIX. 391
ita omnes in unum corpus coalescere oportere, ut una sit
Ecclesia per totum orbem diffusa, non plures. (Eph. iv. 15,
I Cor. xii. 1 2.)
M. Quid autem valet illud, quod continuo de sanctorum
communione additur ?
P. Ad exprimendam clarius, quse inter Ecclesise mem
bra est, unitatem, hoc positum est. Simul indicatur, quic
quid beneficiorum largitur Deus Ecclesise, in commune
omnium bonum spectare, quum inter se omnes commu
nionem habeant.
M. Verum, estne hsec, quam Ecclesise tribuis, sanctitas
jam perfecta ?
P. Nondum : quamdiu scilicet in hoc mundo militat.
Laborat enim semper infirmitatibus : nee unquam vitiorum
reliquiis penitus purgabitur, donee Christo, suo capiti, a
quo sanctificatur, ad plenum adhaereat.
Confessio Fidei Gallicana. (1559, 1561, 1566.)
Art. xxvii.
Credimus summo studio et prudentia discernendam
esse veram Ecclesiam, cujus nomine nimium multi abu-
tuntur. Itaque affirmamus ex Dei verbo, Ecclesiam esse
fidelium coetum, qui in verbo Dei sequendo, et pura reli
gione colenda consentiunt, in qua etiam quotidie profi-
ciunt, crescentes et confirmantes se mutuo in Dei timore,
ut qui quotidiano progressu et profectu indigeant, quos
etiam, quantumcunque promoveant, oporteat tamen assidue
ad remissionem peceatorum confugere. Minime tamen
inficiamur, quin fidelibus hypocritse et reprobi multi sunt
permisti, sed quorum malitia ecclesiae nomen delere non
possit. Confessio Belgica. (1561.) — Art. xxvii. De Ecclesia
Catholica.
Credimus et confitemur unicam Ecclesiam catholicam
seu universalem, quae est sancta congregatio seu coetus om
nium fidehum Christianorum, qui totam suam salutem ab
uno Jesu Christo expectant abluti ipsius sanguine et per
Spiritum ejus sanctificati atque obsignati 
u 2

292 APPENDIX.
Art. xxviii. — De communione sanctorum cum vera Ecclesia.
Credimus quod quum sanctus hie coetus et congregatio
sit eorum qui servari debent : et salus nuUa sit extra eam ;
neminem (cujuscunque dignitatis aut nominis is fuerit)
sese ab ea subducere aut segregare debere, ut sua tantum
consuetudine contentus, solus ac separatim vivat. Sed
omnes ac singulos teneri huic cestui se adjungere atque
uniri, Ecclesise unitatem sollicite conservare, seseque illius
tum doctrinse tum disciplinae subjicere, collum denique
Christi jugo sponte subjicere, ac tanquam communia ejus
dem corporis membra sedificationi fratrum inservire, prout
Deus unicuique sua dona fuerit largitus. Porro ut hsec
melius observentur, omnium fidelium partes sunt, sese
juxta Dei verbum ab iis omnibus disjungere, qui sunt ex
tra Ecclesiam constituti: huicque fidelium coetui ac con-
gregationi se adjungere, ubicunque Ulam Deus consti-
tuerit : etsi id contraria principum vel magistratum edicta
prohibeant, indicta etiam in eos capitis et mortis corporese
poena, qui id fecerint. Quicunque igitur a vera ilia Ec
clesia recedunt, aut se illi aggregare recusant, aperte Dei
mandato repugnant.
Confessio Helvetica posterior. (1566.)
De catholica et sancta Dei Ecclesia, et unico capite ccclesice.
Quando autem Deus ab initio salvos voluit fieri homi
nes, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire, oportet omnino
semper fuisse, nunc esse, et ad finem usque seculi futuram
esse Ecclesiam, id est, e mundo evocatum vel collectum
coetum fidelium, sanctorum inquam omnium commu
nionem, eorum videlicet, qui Deum verum, in Christo ser-
vatore, per verbum et Spiritum sanctum, vere cognoscunt,
et rite colunt, denique omnibus bonis per Christum gra-
tuito oblatis fide participant. Sunt isti omnes unius civi-
tatis cives, viventes sub eodem Domino, sub iisdem legibus,
in eadem omnium bonorum participatione. Sic enim hos
" concives sanctorum et domesticos Dei" appellavit Apo
stolus : Sanctos appellans fideles in terris, sanguine Filii
Dei sanctificatos. De quibus omnino intelbgendus est

APPENDIX. 293
symboli articulus. Credo sanctam ecclesiam catholicam,
sanctorum communionem.
Canones Synodi DoRDRECuTANiE. (1618 — 9.) — Cap. v.
Art. ix. De perseverantia sanctorum.
De hac electorum ad salutem custodia, vereque fidelium
in fide perseverantia, ipsi fideles certi esse possunt, et sunt
pro mensura fidei, qua certo credunt se esse et perpetuo
mansuros vera et viva Ecclesise membra, habere remis
sionem peceatorum, et vitam seternam.
Confessio Remonstkantium. — Cap. xxii. Dc Ecclesia
Christi cjusque notis.
I. Porro coetus illi, qui aut publica horum ministro-
rum opera, aut alioqui per verbum Evangelii, quocunque
modo praedicatum, lectum auditumve, in unum quasi
corpus congregantur (cujus omnia et singula membra, et
mutuam quandam inter se, et cum unico ac vero capite
suo Dn. N. J. Christo, spiritualem communionem obtinent)
sicut revera sunt ; ita etiam jure vocantur Ecclesia Jesu
Christi. De qua utraque Ecclesia, nimirum, et ejus com
munione, in Symbolo Apostolico dicimus : Credo Sanctam
Ecclesiam Catholicam, communionem Sanctorum.
Declaratio Thoruniensis Eccl. Reform. Polon.
(1645.)— De Ecclesia.
I. Ex iis, quse de verbo Dei, de Christo capite Ecclesiae,
deque Christi gratia, nee non de sacramentis, et cultu
divino dicta sunt, facile inteUigitur, quid de vera, falsave
Ecclesia, tam universali, quam particulari sentiamus. Vera
enim Ecclesia nihil aliud est, quam coetus fidelium, sub
uno capite Christo, per eundem spiritum gratiae, et potes-
tate tenebrarum ad regnum Dei verbo evangelii evoca-
torum, et tum interna ejusdem fidei, caritatis et spei, tum
externa eorundem sacramentorum, et totius cultus divini,
sanctseque disciplinae communione sociatorum.
2. Unde, quam vis ilU soli vera et viva Ecclesiae membra
sint, qui tam interna, quam externa communione Christo
ceu capiti, et ecclesise ceu corpori ejus mystico conjuncti

294 APPENDIX.
sunt, tamen, cum interna Ecclesise communio et unio sit
res invisibilis, judicio caritatis omnes illi pro membris ec
clesiae habendi sunt, qui in externa visibili ejusdem salvi-
ficse fidei professione, et veri cultus ac disciplinae commu
nione perseverant, quamvis aliqui coram Deo forte hypo
critae sint.
3. Universalis igitur Ecclesia est coetus fidelium omnium,
toto terrarum orbe dispersorum, qui omnes sunt et maneut
una cathohca Ecclesia, quamdiu sub uno in coelis capite
Christo, per unum salvificse fidei et caritatis Spiritum,
unamque ejusdem professionem uniti manent : quamvis
nullo communi externo in terris regimine socientur, aut
etiam sociari possint, sed in regionibus et regnis, aut re-
buspublicis disjunctissimis, vel etiam hostilibus dispersi, et
quoad externam societatem, aut ecclesiasticum regimen
plane disjunct! sint. NOTE D. p.44.
Alberico the monk of Montecasino was born in the first
year or thereabouts of the twelfth century, and entered
that monastery at an early age. Pietro Diacono a chronicler
of the same house relates of him, that he was born of noble
parents " nel Contado di Alvito diocesi di Sora," and that
at the age of nine years he was seized with a mortal sick
ness and remained for nine days in a trance without sense
or feeling ; that during that time he had a vision, wherein
it appeared to him, that he was carried aloft by a dove
and then conducted by St. Peter and two angels through
purgatory and hell; St. Peter being the interpreter of all
which he, saw, who conducted him also through the seven
heavens and paradise. Awakened from his trance and
recovered from his sickness, he professed the monastic
life under the abbot Girardo, who was superior until 1 1 23,
at which time Pietro Diacono the narrator, being of the age
of five years, was offered to God in the same monastery by
his own parents who were also noble. Alberico was always
musing on the things which he had seen in his vision. In
the words of Pietro, " Tanta usque in hodiernum absti-
nentia tanta morum gravitate poUet, ut poenas peceatorum

APPENDIX. 295
perspexisse, et pertimuisse et gloriam sanctorum ilium vi-
disse nemo quis dubitet— ut multa ilium qu^ ahos laterent,
vel metuenda vel desideranda vidisse, etiamsi lingua taceret,
vita loqueretur." As the fame of the vision spread, it was
necessary to have an authentic relation of it, which was en
trusted to one Guide a monk of Montecasino, whose nar
rative was afterwards corrected and completed by Pietro
Diacono, assisted by Alberico himself But besides the
written accounts of Alberico's vision it appears to have
furnished the subject of paintings on walls, as scenes from
the poem of Dante did at a somewhat later period. At
least the author from whom some of these particulars are
taken, considers that he saw a fresco of such a description,
much anterior to the date of Dante, and of the twelfth cen
tury in the church of the Madonna delle Grotte at the
foot of mount Ocre at Fossa in the province and diocese of
Aquila, where was the ancient Aveja. Letter a di Eustazio
Diccarchco ad Angclio Sidicino. Roma, 1801.
Besides general similarities there are some remark
able ones of a minute kind between the vision and the
poem, of which only two shall be mentioned here, they
occur in one and the same passage. Alberico, c. 9. "Post
hsec omnia ad loca tartarea et os infernalis baratri de-
ductus sum, qui simibs videbatur puteo, loca vero eadem
horridis tenebris stridoribus quoque et nimis plena erant
ejulatibus, juxta quem infernum vermis erat infinitse mag-
nitudinis ligatus maxima catena ;" which recalls the " pozzo
scuro" of the Poem, " Cerbero il gran Vermo," " il Verme
reo," "il Verme infernal" of Ariosto and the "Worm" of
Milton*. In the fifth volume of the Florence edition of
Dante, 1830 — 40, the source of the Poem is discussed,
and the heads of the fifty chapters of the Vision of Alberico
are given. But Signor De-Romanis there considers, that
this Vision was itself suggested by the "Vision of Tantalus,"
.which is to be found in a book entitled, "Vite de' Santi
a But " Waurm" is " Serpent" inM. G. and the northern languages,
and so occurs in Csedmon, " wearp hine on wyrmes lie," " threw him
self into a serpent's body." See also Villemairi, Cours de Ldtt^rature
Franfaise, Moyen Age, V^ Le^on, for a similar imagination to that of
the " pozzo scuro."

296 APPENDIX.
Padri." Sig. De-Romanis does not enter into any detail
on this point, and it would be presumptuous to maintain
here a positive opinion on the subject. But I have
subjoined an abridgment of the Vision of Tantalus, from
which those who are familiar with the Commedia wiU be
able to judge for themselves, whether there is more than
the most general resemblance between the two. Sig. De-
Romanis thinks, that the Vite de' Santi Padri is a book of
which the origin goes as far back as the fifth or sixth
century; but he does not give any external evidence to
that point. And if this be true with respect to some of
the narratives in it, no such antiquity can on that account
be claimed for the Vision of Tantalus. This however is
to be observed in the Vision of Tantalus, that, with the
exception of the title, there is little or nothing which
corresponds with Purgatory as a distinct place from
Hell. Compared with Dante, Purgatory is not as yet de
veloped. But the lengthened period is remarkable during
which the fertility of the Italian mind should have dis
played itself in such stories concerning the world of souls ;
during which some of the highest intellects have taken up
popular tales as matter of imagination and have in turn
riveted them upon the popular belief.
CC In comincia la uisione di Tatalo lo quale fit a linferno,
in Purgatorio, ^ in Paradiso, §• nota qllo che uide, aldi ^
senti. In quclla provincia de Hybcrnia sie una citta che ha nomc
Corretta che in ultima parte. Elfu uno nobile caualliero e
ricco de hauere e de possessioni ^ amid, 8c era forte giovine
e motto bello e gratioso ^ aitante dela persona, e qsto nobile
cauallierc haueua nome Tantalo. His profligate life is
described. He invites his friends to a banquet, he sud
denly cries out and falls as if dead, and would have been
buried but for uno poco di caldo sotto la tetta mancha.
His soul on departure from his body finds itself in a
meadow and is attacked by demons, ffi Come lo omnipo-
tente dio uolse dare soccorso alia mia aia plo suo angelo.
The angel comes to him as a most beautiful youth, tells
him he has been his angel from his birth, that his counsels

APPENDIX. 297
had always been rejected, and those of one of the evil
spirits now tormenting him followed. The demons leave
him, and the angel then becomes his guide. ® Come loro
introrono in una longa via obscura in la qual non se vedeva
se non lo splendore de V angelo. The dark valley in which
they now enter era piena di carboni affogati e di sopra era
una coperta di fcrro fatto a modo di una gradela, el caldo
de qucsto coperto, era magiore ch quella de carboni. Ma la
puza che ui usciva era pegio che niuna altra pena. On the
grating the demons sit tormenting the souls below, le quale
frigeano come fa el lardo ne la padella : these were parri
cides. Further on the demons armed with forks transfix
the souls which are driven on by gusty winds, plunging
the^m alternately in burning sulphur and in ice. © Come
giosero ad unaltra vale pfondissima puzolente 8^ obscura.
This valley, the bottom of which is filled with burning
sulphur, is traversed by a bridge, from which the souls are
precipitated as they endeavour to pass over ; these are the
souls of the proud. They then behold a monster whose
open mouth would hold nine thousand armed men. This
mouth is propped open by two men, who stand therein
like two columns, I'uno haueua il capo ali denti dc sopra,
I'altro il capo ali denti de sotto. Terrible flames issue
from this mouth, and shrieks of souls tormented within
the bowels of the monster. Laia hauedo uedute qste pene
uenne quasi tutta a meno p la paura. He is abandoned by
the angel and tormented for an hour within the monster,
whose name is Acheron. @ Come langelo se levo con
lanima per fare il suo camino. Another valley is traversed
by a narrow bridge of two miles length like a plank filled
with spikes, to be crossed by the sacrilegious and frau
dulent bearing with them the matter of their crimes.
Tantalus has to cross it leading una uacha indomita.
© Come andado langelo ^ io p una uia longa Sf stretta onde
mi trouamo uno albergo che se chiama Pestrino. Tantalus
has to pass through the tortures of the flaming house,
wherein he is tutto minuciato I pezi. The angel discourses
to him of the justice and mercy of God ; i^ non e alcuno
almondo ch sia libcro da peccato, etiamdio ifantolini ch

298 APPENDIX.
hanno solamente uno di, ch latta del lattc dela madre porta
pena del peccato originale che non toccano lobra della morte.
He tells him that the damned behold the glories of heaven
before they are consigned to their punishment, in order to
increase their sense of it ; and that the just in like manner
are shewn the torments of hell. ® Coe lagelo 8f io trouas-
simo una bestiaferocissima su uno lago de giaza. This mon
ster is a biped with a long iron beak and devours the guilty
souls, e poi che Ihaueua nel uentre suo per li tormenti crano
dcsfatte e tornate in niente e portauale ne lo lago giazzato ; in
the lake they await thetime of a terrible parturition, for from
all parts of them there springs a brood of serpents who feed
upon their miserable parents. Tantalus passes through
lo uentre dc la bestia, but is delivered from the subsequent
pains. ® Come langelo ^ io andassemo per una via longa
che ne meno a Vulcano ^ altri diucrsi tormenti. Tantalus
is thrown into the furnace where the souls are melted and
welded together, faceuano de uinti una massa e dc trenta
una massa e dc cento unaltra massa  e poi su lincugine le
marturizauano, though beaten into sparks of fire they do
not lose their sense of life. ® Come ragionado lagelo e io
mi condusse a uederc linferno e li suoi graui tormenti, S^
lascio me in grade paura. He beholds the torment of the
fiery pit. 0 Come langelo mostro lucifero a lanima. Black
as a coal he is bound on a grating, beneath which the de
mons blow up the fire ; hundred-handed, each hand a tail,
armed with an iron hoof or claw, his beak was large and
long, and his tail motto asprissima ^ longa apparcchiata a
nocere a lanime con molti pozoni acutissimi. CD Come
langelo comincio a mostrare a lanima la gloria di Dio ^
trarla di pene. He returns to the light. @ Dela gloria
del primo albergo che monstro langelo a lanima ^ del suo
Re, ^ del Purgatorio Sf del Paradiso. The king of this
mansion is honoured by a surrounding multitude of those
whom he had charitably succoured in life, but for three
hours in each day sta nel fuoco insino a lumbclico perche
maculo il sacrameto del matrimonio,  and wears a hair
cloth, perche lojfese e uccisc qllo contc ; all his other sins
were forgiven him.

APPENDIX.

399

© Del secondo loco dela gloria ch mostro langelo a lanima
in Paradiso. Tantalus beholds a bright company of men
and women, che non maculono la fedc del sancto matri
monio, and of those who had bestowed of their goods upon
the poor and upon the Churches. He petitions to be allowed
to remain there, non me nc euro de montare piu in alto .- ma
qui uorebbe sempre stare .- io non mi euro di meglio.
CD Dc la gloria che uide lanima nel terzo loco doue lan
gelo la meno.
@ Come lanima uide molte castelle trabachc e paui-
glioni- di grande dilctto c consolazione. In these higher
seats are those who crucified the fiesh and kept all vows of
submission and obedience coloro usano cotinualmete uederc
la sancta Trinita. CD Come lagelo mostro a laia larbore
che representa la sancta madre chiesia. Beneath this won
derful tree producing variegated branches and all manner of
fruits, and frequented by birds singing concordevolmete a
modo dorganite, there stand in golden chambers, bearing
in their hands branches of gold and on their heads crowns
of precious stones, doctors, martyrs for the doctrine, and
rulers of the Church. ® Come langelo disse a lanima
quado ti hebbe monstrata la gloria di Dio come la doueua
tornare al corpo. He beholds a building of precious stones,
the mortar as of gold. He returns to his body, as the
priests were about to bury it. He leaves the town of
Corretta and lives for thirty-five years in the Indian
desert on wild herbs without seeing the face of man. At
the end of that time the angel announces to him his de
parture from the world. Assai allegrezza io hebbe puoi
vennero gli Angeli benedetti, et portomi a quelli infiniti beni
doue se sta per infinita secula scculorum.
Vite de sancti padri hystoriate : nouamente con molte ad-
ditioni stampate : «(• con somma diligencia corrette 1532.
Stampate in Venetia a sancto Moyse al segno dc Lanzolo
Raphael Per Francesco di Alexadro Bindoni et Mapheo
PasyniCopagni. Nel anno MDXXXII. Delmescdi Aprile.

300 APPENDIX.

NOTE E. p. 86.

AlbaspincBUS, (Gabriel de I'Aubespine, Bp. of Orleans,
died 1630,) De VEucharistie, Livre ii. chap. 3.
" Quoy que les anciens Conciles parlent de la Messe en
ces termes, Facere Missas, &c. ; plusieurs toutefois usent
de ces autres termes, tenere Missas, tenir les Messes, comme
le Concde d'Agde, Canon 21, veut avoir un oratoire
pour y tenir les Messes. Item, voudraient faire ou tenir
les Messes. Item, au Canon 47 . Item, celuy de Bracare,
1 . tenir les Messes. Lesquelles facons de parler monstrent
assez que Messe signifioit anciennement une Assemblee.
" On demande comment est-ce que les peuples du Nord
pourraient avoir bailie ce nom aux Italiens, aux Africains,
et aux EspagnolSj veu qu'ils ont receu la rehgion par eux
et par leur mission. On repond que ces peuples, au moins
leur langue touche aux bords d'ltalie : qu'il a ete facile
par la proximite, de leur communiquer ce mot, qui s'est
insinue peu 'k peu : et &, cause qu'il est plus propre que
Synaxe ou Collecte, et plus particulier qu'Oblation, qu'il a
eu cours, et s'est fait recevoir ; et estant receu en Italic,
les autres Provinces I'ont facilement admis."
For the meaning of "messe" as assembly, makes
the Confession de Foy, faite d'un commun accord par les
Franqoys, 156 1. Art. 28. "Nous tenons doncques tons
ceux qui se messent en tels actes et y communiquent ;"
which is in the Latin, " Qui sese ejusmodi actionibus ad-
jungunt et iis communicant." And Roquefort, Dictionnaire
de la langue Romane : Messe ; Confrerie, Association.
According to de I'Aubespine the German word " Messe,"
meaning a fair or concourse, would give the original sense
of " Missa," instead of the reverse ; and the derivation of
the word might then be sought in some root connected
with " miscere ;" but the German philologers do not appear
to recognise this. Adclung, Graff. And on the contrary
" Senta" is an old German word used for " Missa," which
looks like an exact translation of it according to its usual
derivation. Spelman, Gloss. But the received origin of
" Missa" is not without difiiculty. For the native Chris-

APPENDIX. 301
tian terminology of the Germans, refer to Rudolf von Rau-
mer, Einwirkung des Christenthums auf die althochdeutsche
Sprache. Stuttgart, 1845.
NOTE F. p. 116.
Upon an examination of the use of »n and pn in the
0. T., it will appear, that a quality is sometimes implied in
the object which has invited the favour of the superior ;
sometimes the favour is altogether gratuitous ; a few in
stances are subjoined, i . A quality or antecedent merit is
supposed. Gen. xxxii. 5, xxxix. 4, 21, xlvii. 29, 1. 4. i Sam.
xvi. 22, I Sam. xxv. 8. 2 Sam. xvi. 4, Esth. ii. 15, 17, v. 2.
Prov. i. 9, iii. 22, iv. 9, (in these three places ^dptras, spiritual
graces,) Prov. v. 19 hinnula gratise, xiii. 15 bona mens dat
gratiam, xi. 1 6 mulier gratise, eixfirja-Tos, in Nah.iii.4 pulchri
tude meretricis. 2. On the other hand, the idea of merit
or pleasing quality is excluded in Gen. xxxiv. 1 1 . Exod. iii. 2 1 ,
xi. 3, xii. ^6. Num. xxxii. 5. Ruth ii. 2. 1 Sam. i. 1 8, xxvii. 5.
Jer. xxxi. 2, but particularly in Exod. xxxiii. 19, where
\hitt "IttJfc^-n^J "iriSm is translated by eXerjaoj bv &v eXe& ;
and Ps. h. 3. where and in other places pn has nearly the
meaning of ?n'1 to pity and commiserate.
vn stands for a gift of free love Ps. Ixxxiv. 1 2. Prov. iii. 34.
A merit or pleasing quality in the object is neither ex
cluded nor necessarily implied, Ps, Ixvii. 2. and else
where. But some exciting cause of the favour is sup
posed, Deut. xxviii. 50. 2 Kings xiii. 23. Job xix. 21,
(Have pity on me.) Ps. cxxiii. 6. Prov. xiv. 35, xix. 17, (He
that hath pity on the poor,) xxi. 10. Isai. xxx. 18, 19,
xxxiii. 2. Lam. iv. 16. Amos v. 15. Mal. i. 9.
But the best illustration of the Hebrew idea of " Grace"
will be derived from observing, that pniin, the form of
which implies to make oneself an object of grace, means not
to deserve but to pray, and 0''3^3r)^ ^^^ ^°* merits but
supplications ; the humility and abject condition of the
suppliant is thus the exciting cause of the favour, i Kings

302 APPENDIX.
viii. 33, 47, 59, ix. 3. 2 Chron. vi. 24, 37. Job ix. 15, xix. 16.
Esth. iv. 8. n^nn is sometimes prayer and sometimes the
favour gained by it. Robertson ; Gescnius ; Jacobi Gussettii
Lex. Hebr. Taylor's Hebrew Concordance ; Calassio, Con-
cordanticB S. B.
The word Grace occurs 128 times in the N. T. (Cruden).
And so very important is the influence which the usage of
it exercises in various theologies, that it may be worth
while to submit them to the reader in a tabular form.
It will I think be seen with surprise by some, how very
few texts of Scripture in which the word occurs can fairly
be thought to have any bearing on what may be called
doctrines concerning grace as a specific influence, how very
few comparatively even admit of an interpretation giving
any support to such doctrines.
It wUl be perceived also, that there is not one text in
which that word occurs in any connection with either of
the Sacraments ; and that the opinion of their being means
of grace, or signs effectual of grace, in the sense of a divine
influence passing then and there from the Holy Spirit to the
individual human spirit and supematurally raising its powers,
cannot be read in Scripture nor can be proved thereby.

Lukeii. 40. And the grace of God the favour of God, as in ver. 52.
was upon him, (i. e. upon the
child Jesus.)
ver. 52 . And Jesus increased in See Suicer, who confines his illus-
wisdom and stature, and in tration of the word y. to tliis
favour, x^pi-Ti. napa Oea koi passage and Joh. i. lo.
avOpatirois.
Johni. 14. full of grace and truth. Hendiadys.
ver. 16. X- Q"" X- probably a greater grace or favour
in place of the less ; Gospel in
place of Law.
ver. 17. grace and truth came by Hendiadys.
Jesus Christ.
Acts ii. 47. having favour with all so eipes \. hast found favour.
the people, c)(ovTfs x°-P"' ^po' Luke i. 30.
6\op TOV Xaov.
iv. 33. great grace was upon them most likely in the same sense as
all, xapi.sTe fieyaki) ffv em nav- ii. 47. see V. 13. the people mag-
Tos avTovs. nified them.
xi. 23. when he had seen the the gracious deahngs of God by
grace of God was glad. these converts.

APPENDIX.

303

xiii. 43. persuaded them to con
tinue in the grace of God.
xiv. 3. the Lord which gave tes
timony to the word of his
grace.
ver. 26. recommended

to the
grace of God. (xv. 40.)
XV. 1 1 . through the grace of our favour.
Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved.
xviii. 27. helped them much
which had believed through
grace, 8to rrjs \dpiTos.
XX. 24. to testify the Gospel of
the grace of God.
ver. 32. commend you to God
and to the word of his grace.
Bom. i. 5. grace and apostleship.

in the favour of God.
i. e. to his gracious word, as Luke
iv. 22. Xoyots Trjs x- gracious
words.
favour or protection.

the good tidings of God's gracious
dispensation.
i. e. His gracious word.

ver. 7. grace and peace.

iii. 24. justified freely by his
grace.
iv. 4. now to him that worketh
reward is not reckoned of
grace but of debt.
ver. 16. therefore it is of faith,
that it might be by grace.
V. 2. access by faith into this
grace wherein we stand.
ver. 1(5, 17. much more the grace
of God and the gift by grace
. . hath abounded unto many.
ver. 17. much more they which
receive abundance of grace. .
shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ.

ver. 20, 21. where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound.
That as sin reigned unto

the grace of apostleship, or a gra
cious mission.
form of greeting and benediction j
analogous to the x^^P^i^" of the
Greeks and salutem of the Ro
mans. The other similar places,
28 in number, are omitted in
this table.
substitute goodness or favour.
i. 8. reward is not a matter of fa
vour but a matter of payment,
when an equivalent work has
been done.
the same, — as a matter of favour.
gracious dispensation or state of
favour.
the free gift of God in the redemp
tion.
St. Paul's design being to convince
the Jew of the Catholicity of the
Gospel, he represents Adam and
Christ as fountains of evil and
good respectively to the human
race ; as types of states of dis
favour and favour : but if the
evil and the disfavour has been
universal, much more must the
good and the favour; because
the divine attribute of Univer
sality coalesces more readily, so
to speak, with the attribute of
favour than with the attribute
of displeasure.
state of forgiveness, acceptance, or
favour, or life.

304

APPENDIX.

death, even so grace might
reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord.
vi. r. continue in sin, that grace
may abound.
ver. 14,15. not under law, but
under grace.

vii. 25. According to one read
ing, instead of 'Evxapia-To) t<S
QcS K. T. X. I thank God, &c.
'H x°P'f TOV Oeov, the grace
of God, &c.
xi. 5, 6. there is a remnant ac
cording to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then
it is no more of works : other
wise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace.

xii. 3. I say, through the grace
given unto me,
ver. 6. Having then gifts differ
ing according to the grace
given unto us.
XV. 15, 16. I have written the
more boldly because of the
grace that is given to me of
God, that I should be the
minister of Jesus Christ to
the Gentiles.
1 Cor. i. 4. I thank my God always
on your behalf, for the grace
of God which is given you by
Jesus Christ.
iii. 10. According to the grace of
God which is given unto me,
as a wise master-builder.
A. 30. But if I by grace be a
partaker, xap'" perexat, why
am I evil spoken of for that
for which I give thanks.
XV. 10. But by the grace of God
I am what I am : and his
grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain ; but
I laboured more abundantly
than they all : yet not I, but
the grace of God which was
with me.

i. e. favour and forgiveness.
not under a strictly legal dispen
sation, wherein every transgres
sion meets with its annexed pu
nishment, but under a gracious
and favourable dispensation,
wherein repentance for Christ's
sake will be accepted.

that is, by favourable and arbitrary
selection. If Israel was selected
without any antecedent merit on
his part, which could determine
the Almighty to shew that pre
ference, it might well be ad
mitted, that a similar spontane
ous favour should now have been
shewn to the Gentile.
as in XV, ig, 16.

id.

office, charge, or talent graciously
as by a sovereign committed to
me J compare i. 5.

the favour.
the oSice, charge, or talent.
Rather, if I thankfully partake.

by his favour.
ri fls eixf, that which he committed
to me.

the power which I received from
him.

APPENDIX.

305

2 Cor. i, 12, not with fleshly wis
dom, but by the grace of God
— on ev anXorrin Kal elKiKpi.-
vcla Qeov, ovk ev tT0<pLa vap-
KiKrj, dXX' ev x^pi'Ti' Oeov dvc-
tTToa.<^p,ev iv tm K6cTpa, k.t.X.
ver. ig. that ye might have a
second benefit, iva Sevrepav
Xapiv exVTe.
iv. ig. For all things are for your
sakes, that the abundant
grace (iVa ij x^P'* nXeovd-
a-aa-a) might through the
thanksgiving of many re
dound to the glory of God.

vi. I. beseech you also that ye
receive not the grace of God
in vain.
viii. I. the grace of God bestow
ed on the churches of Mace
donia.
ver. 4. that we would receive the
gift, rrjv xapiv.
ver. 6, 7. we desired Titus, that
as he had begun, so he would
also finish in you the same
grace also  See that ye
abound in this grace also.
viii. 9, Ye know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
ver. 16. Thanks be to God, xaff
he Ta Oea.
ver. 19. with this grace which is
administered by us.
ix. 8. God is able to make all
grace abound towards you.
ver. 14. which long after you for
the exceeding grace of God in
you.
ver. 15. Thanks be to God for
his unspeakable gift, x^P"
6e TO Qea.
xii. 9. My grace is sufficient for
thee; for my strength is made
perfect in weakness.
Gal. i. 6. That called you into the
grace of Christ.
ver. 15. and called me by his
grace, 8ia ttjs x'tp'^'^f aiiTov.
ii. 9, And when James, Cephas
and John  perceived the
grace that was given unto
me.

It would be more consistent with
usual rules to render the second
0eov in this passage by an ad
jective like the first; 'not with
worldly wisdom, but with godly
virtuousness.'

i. e. that the grace or excellence of
faith whereby we believe and
therefore speak and preach the
Gospel, ver. 13. having abound
ed in us the Apostles, might re
dound to the glory of God,
through the thanksgiving of our
many converts.
benefit, advantage, or favour. Com
pare the following verse, and
the passage in Is. xlix. 8.
the godly disposition granted to
them.
i. e. of their liberality and con
tributions.
i. e. of a similar liberality to that
manifested by the churches of
Macedonia.

His love, kindness and conde
scension.

this liberal gift of the churches to
the poorer congregations.
all advantages even of external
goods and wealth.
which long after and love you for
this exceeding godly kindness of
yours.

assistance or help.

favourable dispensation,
called me to the work of an Apo
stle by his undeserved prefer
ence of me.
taken up from ver. 7. the commis
sion or charge which I had to
preach to the Gentiles.

306

APPENDIX.

ver. 21. I do not frustrate the
grace of God. Ovk adeTa rrfv
Xapti' TOV Qeov.
V. 4. ye are fallen from grace.
Eph. i. 6, 7. to the praise of the
glory of his grace. . accord
ing to the riches of his grace.
ii. g, 7, 8. by grace ye are saved ;
. . the exceeding riches of his
grace.
iii. 2. If ye have heard of the
dispensation of the grace of
God which is given me to
you-ward ; olKovofj.lav t^s x^-
piTOS TOV Qeov TTjS boQeitTrjs
fioi els vpas.
ver. 7. made a minister accord
ing to the gift of the grace of
God given unto me ; Sapeav
Trjv bodeltrav. al. Trjs dodeloTjs.
ver. 8. Unto me, who am less
than the least of all saints, is
this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles,
&c.
iv. 7. But unto every one of us,
edodrj rj X^P^^ Kara To peTpov
TTjs bapeds tov XptoroO.
ver. 29. that it may minister
grace unto the hearers.
PhU. i. 7. inasmuch as both in my
bonds, and in the defence and
confirmation of the Gospel, ye
aU are partakers of my grace.
Col.i. 6. since the day ye. .knew
the grace of God in truth.
iii. 16. singing with grace in
your hearts, ev x^-P'-ti-
iv. 6. let your speech be alway
with grace, iv xdpiTi.
2 Thess. i. 12. according to the
grace of our God and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
ii. 16. and hath given us ever
lasting consolation and good
hope through grace, iv xdpiTi.
I Tim. i. 12. And I thank Christ
Jesus our Lord, x^P'" ^X"-
ver. 14. And the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abund
ant, with faith and love which
is in Christ Jesus.

Rather I do not set at nought or
make light of the gracious dis
pensation of God revealed in
his son.
have turned your backs upon the
Gospel dispensation.
His favour, undeserved preference.
So ixapi.Tai(rev rjpds, spontane
ously preferred or accepted us.
by favour and undeserved selec
tion.
the ministration committed to me
of God's gracious dispensation
of the Gospel, or the gracious
office and charge committed to
me; as in ver. 7 and 8.

Compare verses 11, 12, 13. the
different grace thus given is the
difference of office or function
in the Christian society.
improvement.

TOV e. 17. K. K. according to the
dispensation in Christ.
by favour.

as in 2 Tim. i. 3. and in other places
omitting exeiv.
His favour, not only in having
mercy on me and saving me
under the Gospel, but that he
also put me into the ministry;
ver. 12.

APPENDIX.

307

2 Tim. i. 9. according to his own
purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus be
fore the world began.
ii. I. Thou therefore, my son,
be strong in the grace that
is in Christ Jesus.
Tit. ii. II. For the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath
appeared to all men ; 17 x^P's
TOV Qeov ff o-(OTT]pios.
iii. 7. that being justified by his
grace.
Heb. ii. 9. that he by the grace of
God should taste death for
every man.
iv. 16. Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help
in time of need.
X.29. done despite unto the Spirit
of grace.
xii. ig. lest any man fail of the
grace of God.
ver. 28. let us have grace where
by we may serve God accept
ably.
xiii. 9. It is a good thing that
the heart be established with
grace, not with meats.
James i. II. the grace of the
fashion of it.
iv, 6. He giveth more grace. .
giveth grace to the humble.
I Pet. i. 10. of the grace that shoidd
come unto you.
ver. 13. forthe grace that is to be
brought unto you at the reve
lation of Jesus Christ.
iii. 7. heirs together of the grace
of life.
iv. 10, as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God.
V. g. giveth grace to the hum
ble.
ver. 10. The God of all grace.
ver. 12. true grace of God where
in ye stand.
2 Pet. iii. 18. grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Jude 4. turning the grace of God
into lasciviousness.

favourable dispensation, gracious
election purposed before the
world began.

His gracious dispensation of the
Gospel of the tidings of redemp
tion.
that being justified by his free
forgiveness and acceptance of
us.
by God's favour to men.

come with freedom of speech to
the gracious throne — and find
favour and forgiveness for a
timely help : els evKaipov /3oij-
6eiav.
to the gracious Spirit.

good disposition and behaviour.

with an internal good disposition.
and not \vith external legal or
dinances.
einpeTreia.
favour not to the worldly.
benefit or favourable dispensation.
the blessing and glory to be re
vealed.
of the gift of eternal life hereafter.
gift.favours and exalts them, as James
iv. 6.
of all good gifts and blessings.
a truly favourable dispensation of
God : (no article.)
in good dispositions andbehaviour;
or in favour, as Jesus increased
in wisdom and stature and in
favour, &c.
His gracious dispensation.

308 APPENDIX.
NOTE G. p. 119.
"Non nescimus Augustinum in disputationibus contra
Pelagianos vehementer contendere, infantibus necessarium
esse baptismum, et citra baptismum non salvari, verum ea
disputatio adversus Pelagianos faciebat, qui infantibus re-
missione peceatorum, quod ab Adam propagari negabant,
opus non esse confirmabant, baptizari tamen eos non in re
missionem peceatorum, sed ad regnum Dei. Contra vero
Augustinus necessarium ideo infantibus baptismum asse-
rebat, ut in iis reatus mortis seternse, quem ex pec
cato primi hominis carnali generatione contraxerant, re-
generatione spirituali in Baptismo solveretur." Cassan-
der is anxious to be allowed to think, that infants pre
cluded from Baptism by death may yet be saved; al
though he will not condemn those, " qui gravissima aucto
ritate veterum, et totius pene Ecclesiae adducti, iis sobs
infantibus salutem addicunt, quos Deus arcano suo, sed
tamen justo judicio Baptismo et regenerationis Sacra
mento dignatur." Geo. Cassandri, De Baptismo Infantium,
Opp. pp. 777, 8.
A list of sources to be consulted for the Life of Zwingli
is prefixed to the Leben des Reformators Ulrich Zwingli,
von H. W. Rotermund, Bremen, i8i8.
NOTE H. pp. 241,2. ".".p.q.'
Besides the projects alluded to in the text may be men
tioned that of George Wicelius of Fulda, who was recon
verted from Lutheranism to Roman Cathohcism; and
was employed by the emperors Ferdinand and Maximiban
to devise a method for the pacification of rehgious differ
ences. In 1533 he pubbshed at Leipzig, Methodus con-
cordicB ecclesiasticce. He recommends a council, and argues,
that true rehgion has been preservedin the (Roman) Cathohc
Church, notwithstanding the growth of some errors in doc
trine attributable to the scholastic method and termino
logy. He proposes several reforms, a new translation to
be made of the Bible, the divine service in the vernacular
tongues, the restraint of private masses, &c. In his Via

APPENDIX. 309
Regia, pubbshed in 1564, he attempts to conciliate the
Confession of Augsburg with the faith of the Roman
Church. n George Cassander published his treatise de Officio pii
viri in hoc Dissidio Religionis in 1562. He represented,
that great variations and even corruptions might take place
in the Church founded upon Jesus Christ, without those
who so fall into error being considered to separate them
selves from their divine Head ; that they who had departed
from the Roman communion ought to have remained within
it, in order to bring about therein such reforms as were ne
cessary ; that they were not guilty in desiring reforms, but
in endeavouring to arrive at them by means of schism.
Calvin attacked this treatise vehemently, thinking it had
been written by Francis Balduin of Arras, at one time inti
mate with Calvin himself, but who had subsequently mani
fested latitudinarian views ; insomuch that he was said to
be Catholic in France, Calvinist at Geneva, and Lutheran
at Strasburg. Upon his bringing this treatise into France
Calvin assailed him with great virulence, and in the midst
of the dispute Cassander revealed himself as the real au
thor, and justified his principles, in the Defensio Libelli.
He was then further engaged by the emperor Ferdinand
in the same attempt, and presented to Maximilian in 1564
his Consultatio. Conceding, that there existed corruptions
in the Roman Church and innovations in the manner of
expressing doctrine attributable to the schoolmen, he
would take as the standard of faith and practice, the Scrip
ture interpreted by the tradition of the six first centuries.
Here would seem to be open a probable way for reconcili
ation ; the one party must lop off their additions to the
primitive doctrine and discipline, the other must submit to
the voice of the Church so ascertained. Both parties must
set themselves honestly and without prejudice to clear up
the standard agreed upon. He then examines the Con
fession of Augsburg, and endeavours to conciUate it with
the Roman doctrine. On the other hand, in order to
abolish all reasonable occasion of schism, he proposed the
reduction in practice of the excessive power of the Pope,

310 APPENDIX.
the correction of all abuse in the matter of indulgences,
and due explanation and moderation in the worship of
saints, honour of reliques, and use of images. He pre
fers Communion under the two kinds, and proposes to
modify the rules concerning the celibacy of the clergy.
Although Cassander was thought to concede too much by
some of the Roman party, he was not interfered with by
authority. And indeed, as became more evident in some
other instances, the Roman Church gains more than it can
lose by unauthorized concessions made by members of its
communion ; for that which is thus begun in conciliation
has not unfrequently ended, as with Rome it always must,
in reconciUation. Besides, both Wicebus and Cassander
were under Imperial protection, and it was not yet certain
on which side the weight of the empire would incline.
o Marc Antony De-Dominis, of an old family, was born
in 1566 at Arba, an island on the coast of Dalmatia. He
received his education at Loretto among the Jesuits and
pursued his studies afterwards at Padua. The distinction
which he there gained as professor of rhetoric, philosophy
and mathematics, caused him to be received into the order
with the greatest expectations of the honour which he
would shed upon it. But De-Dominis was the last man
in the world for a Jesuit. For his restlessness there might
have been found occupation, for his ambition some lofty
aim, for his abilities sufiicient play, but he was too ego
tistical ever to become a staff in another man's hand. He
obtained his secularization, became bishop of Segui, and
shortly afterwards archbishop of Spalato. Here he under
took to reform his clergy according to the primitive model,
and engaged himself also in the interest of the Venetian
party in their contest with Paul V. But finding himself
thwarted, entangled, or overpowered, he resigned his arch-
bishoprick and retired to Venice in 1615; from thence to
Heidelberg and finally to England, where he conformed to
the Engbsh church and was made dean of Windsor, He
now published his great work, ' De Republica Christiana,'
1617 — 1620, But becoming dissatisfied with his position
and with the rehgious prospects of the English Church,

APPENDIX. 311
he negotiated his reconcibation with Rome, withdrew him
self from England, and made his submission ; according
to other accounts he was entrapped by means of the
Spanish ambassador, or expelled by the king. After his
submission at Rome, he was arrested on suspicion of still
playing a double part and confined in the castle of St. An
gelo, where he died in 1624. He was however convicted
of heresy after his death, his body disinterred and burnt.
No one will undertake to vindicate a man in whom was
mixed up so much of vanity and personal ambition. But
it is not to be supposed, that a person of his abilities
had not a system, which appeared to himself to give con
sistency to his conduct. The actual reforms projected by
him within the Romish church, probably did not go be
yond those which Cassander and other moderate men
desired. But his theory concerning episcopal aristocracy,
as distinguished from the papal monarchy, was more de
fined than that of Cassander; with respect to which it
must be remembered, that it had naturally defined itself,
precisely as Rome had asserted its extreme prerogative in
the contest with Venice, and precisely as Bellarmin had
given a perfect shape to the divine right of the Roman
Monarchia. The most important part of the book de Re
publica is directed against these monarchical views of Bel
larmin, libb. iii. iv. In other respects De-Dominis does not
seem to have had any sympathy with Lutheran or Calvinist
doctrines, least of all with these latter, as is evident from
the difficulty he experienced in concibating them, de Republ.
1. vii. c. xi. And in his sermon preached at the Mercers'
chapel he inveighs against the monarchical claim of the
Roman pontiff and against many Romish corruptions, but
shews no inclination for the distinctive views of any Pro
testant or reformed party ^. Therefore it is not unlikely,
that finding himself to have been disappointed, he fancied he
* A Sermon preached in Italian by the most reverend father, Marc
Antony De-Dominis, archb. of Spalato, the first Sunday in Advent,
Anno 1617. In the Mercers' chappel in London, to the ItaUans in that
city, and many other honorable auditors then assembled, upon the 12
verse of the 13 chapter to the Romans, being part of the Epistle for

312 APPENDIX.
had been deceived ; " Deceptum me ab Anglis Protestan-
tibus fateor" — " sentio in Anglia non Anglicanam quam
mihi ut modestam prsedicabant confessionem sed Calvini et
multa Lutheri plane deliramenta regulam esse fidei com-
munemb." Peter Heylyn expresses himself to a similar
effect concerning him in the preface to his Summa theo-
logim veterum. To De-Dominis is owing the publication
of the history of Paul Sarpi, the manuscript of which he
brought into England, and he is also said to have origi
nated the name of ^Puritans.' The tract of F. Lipsius,
Discursus historicus prcesentans M. A. dc-Dominis AEP.
Spalat. in religionis negotio arundineam mutationem, 1 67 1 .
has no point in it except in the title.
PGeorge Calixt was born Dec. 14, 1,586, in the village of
Medelby near Flensburg, in Schleswick, where his father
John Calixt was minister, being a scholar and admirer of
Melanchthon. Hence George received in his earliest years
an inclination to the views of that Reformer, as distin
guished from the ultra-Lutheran. In 1603 he went to
Helmstadt university ; " quod autem hanc ipsam acade-
miam cseteris antetuli in causa fuit, quod antiqua phdo-
sophia et theologia in pretio essent et exularent novae
opiniones<^, sine quibus probatis vix alibi locus fuisset."
that day. First published in Italian by the author, and thereout trans
lated into English, London. Printed by John Bill, 1617. The vm
and X books of the treatise de Republica were never completed. The
edition of this work to which I have referred consists of three parts
with separate titles, Libb. i — iv. Heidelb. 1618. Libb.v, vi. Franc. a-M.
1620. Libb. vii, ix. Hanov. 1622.
b M. A. De-Dominis A. S. sui reditus ex Anglia consilium exponit.
E Romano exemplari hoc anno edito. Dilingce, 1623.
" By the old philosophy is meant the Aristotelian as distinguished
from the Ramistic. Concerning the hostility of Luther to the Aristo
telian philosophy refer to Brucker, Per. iii. Pars 1, lib.ii. u. i. §§.ix.A.
The necessity for an acute dialectic in order to compete with the
Roman controversialists threw Melanchthon, as much as his more re
fined taste, upon restoring among the Protestants the Aristotelian philo
sophy. Idem, lib. ii. c. ni. c. xlvii. When the logic and philosophy of
Ramus spread into Germany it came into contact with this restored
scholasticism of Melanchthon. Ramus is sometimes considered as a
forerunner of Des Cartes. See C. Waddington-kastus, De Petri Rami

APPENDIX. 313
For four years he devoted himself to the humaniora, and
made also some progress in medicine. After remaining
six years in Helmstadt he travelled with a rich Belgian
into the Netherlands, England and France, lu England
he became acquainted with Casaubon, who gave him an
introduction to Thuanus in Paris. In 1613 he returned to
Helmstadt and read lectures there. At this time he be
came engaged in a disputation with the Jesuit Augustin
Turrianus, in the hope, which turned out vain, of rescuing
a young gentleman of the name of Klencken from the
Romish errors. But Calixt so distinguished himself in
this controversy, that he was made professor of theology at
Helmstadt in 1614 by Frederic-Ulric, duke of Brunswick,
not without opposition on the part of the ecclesiastical
authorities, who even at that period accused Calixt of
Calvinism. In 1636 he was made abbot of Konigslutter
by August the succeeding duke. The whole life of Calixt
was one of controversy ; but although he was assailed by
all parties, he is acknowledged, even by those who are ad
verse to his views, to have been a man of comprehensive
intellect, of vigorous and acute reasoning powers, well
versed in patristic learning, and a sincere lover of peace and
concord. Many of the controversies in which he was en
gaged had only a remote bearing upon the Syncretist
questions'*. Vita, Scriptis, Philosophia, Paris, 1848. The university of Helmstadt
had been founded in ig76 by Julius, duke of Brunswick, at 'that time
a supporter of the high Lutheran party, and a maintainer of the " Form
of Concord." But about ig79 he gave great offence to his theologians
and to other Protestant princes by permitting his son Heinrich Julius,
a boy, to be elected and invested with popish ceremonies bishop of
Helberstadt, and from equally interested motives causing his two other
sons to receive the tonsure. About this time he abandoned the Form
of Concord, but insisted on the reception by his theologians of the Cor
pus Julium, which consisted, besides the three creeds, of the Augsburg
Confession, the Articles of Smalcald, the two Catechisms of Luther,
the Declaratio of Chemnitz, and the Formulae of Urban Rhegius. The
opposition to Calvinism on the part of the court was as strong as ever,
but the ubiquitarian doctrine was surrendered, and the full develop
ment of the Lutheran theory thereby locally discouraged.
d They were principally the following : " i. Concerning tradition or

314 APPENDIX.
In 1645 he attended the Colloquy at Thorn at the re
quest of the Elector of Brandenburg. Here he was
scornfully repelled by the high Lutherans Calov and
Hiilsemann, and forced to associate himself with the Re
formed party. It is not possible but that the result of
this conference must have modified considerably the ex
pectation in Calixt of any visible practical result from
his principles. And on the whole he must be considered,
as the prospect of visible union declined, to have leant
more to the Reformed party as he advanced in life. With
respect to the Roman Church, he is distinguished as the
most eminent Protestant of that day who at all engaged
in projects of union in that direction, and particularly in
the historical branch of the Roman controversy, who was
not won over to the Roman communion^. In the year
1644,5 ^6 Tpuhlishei Responsum vindiciis Theologorum Mo-
guntinorum pro Romani Pontificis infallibilitate. It is not
to be maintained, that Calixt was always consistent, and in
ancient consent (of the five first centuries) as a secondary rule of
faith." He was accused of attributing too much to tradition, in his
preface to the Commonitorium of Vincentius which he edited in 1629.
2. Whether the Trinity of Persons in the Divine Essence can be de
monstrated from the Old Testament alone. He maintained, that
the doctrine was not therein so explicitly revealed as to be a neces
sary article of faith under the old dispensation. 3. Num Deus dici
possit peccati causa per accidens ? 4. Whether the Second Person
in the Trinity manifested Himself under the old dispensation as
the Angel of the Lord.' 5. Whether the human nature of Christ is
omnipresent ? Upon which he distinguished between ubiquity by omni
potence and ubiquity by communication of attribute from the divine to
the human nature. As the high Lutherans accused the Sacramen
tarians of Nestorianism (see note k, p. g8,) so Calixt on the other hand
charges the ubiquitarian Lutherans with Eutychianism ; " Manifestum
est ex hisce, ab Eutychianismo alienos non esse quicunque divina attri-
buta, quse reapse idem sunt cum essentia divina, humanitati attribuunt,
ita ut eam in abstracto ab illis denominent, et quatenus talem intrinsece
cum ilhs idem faciant, nominatim, qui immensitatem sive omniprae-
sentiam carni attribuunt." Dispp. de prcecipuis Rei. Chr. Capit. iii.
^.43. For more information on these and some other minor contro
versies of Calixt's see Schuberti Inst. Th. Pol. Pars iv. u. xi.
^ See the interesting accounts of Casaubon and of Grotius, particularly
of the latter, in Hallam, Lit. of Europe, vol. iii. c. 11. §§. 12 — 17.

APPENDIX. 315
particular it is difficult to reconcile his recognition of the
voice of the five first centuries as supplying, at least in a
secondary sense, a Rule of Faith, with his other position,
that the Apostles' Creed contains a sufficient and adequate
description of Christian fundamentals.
After his death, which happened in 1656, his labours
bore fruit in the Colloquy at Cassel held by command of
WiUiam Landgrave of Hesse in 1661. The result of this
conference was, that the Reformed and Protestant inter
locutors maintained their several doctrines concerning the
Eucharist, predestination, the Person of Christ, and bap
tism, but considered that the contrary opinions, though
erroneous, did not exclude from salvation nor from Chris
tian brotherhood. This conclusion was of course furiously
assailed'. But the greatest interest attaches to Calixt
because he may fairly be considered as the parent, theo
retically, of the present Evangelical Church of Prussia ;
and in the degree in which that experiment may be con
sidered successful the statement in the text will be received
with allowance.
Some of the following maxims of Calixtus, from the
Judicium dc controversiis, are worthy of attentions.
" §. 3. p. 9. Nam si error, de quo intellectui constat, de-
fendatur, et quod falsum quis esse noverit, nihilominus ut
veram asseruerit, crimen fuerit voluntatis et peccatum in
conscientiam. " §. 4. Caeterum id quoque observandum fuerit, nonnulla
creditu ad salutem necessaria, ut eorum ignorantia salute
prorsus excludat et damnationem in ducat.
"§,5. Quod autem sine jactura salutis nescire potest,
circa id etiam error innoxius fuerit.
" §. 6. Distinguendi sunt errores qui fundamentum di-
recte evertunt ab iis qui non directe evertunt sed per
consequentiam. f Calovii Hist. Syncretistica, pp. 635 sqq.
e Geo. Calixti Judicium de controversiis Theologicis quse inter Lu-
theranos et Reformatos agitantur. Et de mutua partium fraternitate
atque tolerantia propter consensum in Fundamentis. Accedit ejusdem
Desiderium et studium Concordise Ecclesiasticse. Sedani, 1661.

316 APPENDIX,
" §. 9. If men concur in a popular statement of doctrine,
they may differ in their understanding and application of
technical and scholastic expressions of it, without the dif
ference being supposed to touch fundamentals. Facile au
tem est hodie terminos, quos diximus, diversimode intelligi,
rebusque ipsis aptari, quum aliquamdiu philosophia et
disciplinae diversimode fuerint traditse et nova iUa atque
prava Romse institutio veteres terminos partim aboleverit,
partim aliter ac olim accepti fuerint intelligere docuerit."
The body of the treatise is chiefiy occupied with a discus
sion of the questions concerning predestination and concern
ing the sacramental presence. But he is evidently conscious,
that there is bttle prospect of his principles tending to an
actual union.
"§.87. Nolo tamen inficias ire, donee perfectior con
sensus constituatur, ad ministerium Ecclesiasticum admitti
apud nos non posse, qui in adserenda et defendenda sen
tentia Zwinglianae partis perseveraverint, neque multum
spei apparere de Puritanis ut in Anglia vocantur, hominum
genere turbulento et seditioso ad moderationem et mutuam
tolerantiam flectendis."
In his Desiderium et Studium Concordice Ecclesiasticce
he thus states his principles.
" §. 10. Quae praecise ad salutem sunt necessaria, distin-
guantur ab abis quae pari modo necessaria non sunt.
" §. 12. Qusestiones quarum decisio ad pietatem aut prax-
im Christianam nihil confert, — omittantur vel tanquam
indifferentes in medio rehnquantur.
" §. 14. Sufficiat consensus circa to Quod est myste-
riorum, etiamsi ro Quomodo non possimus penetrare.
" §. 15. Sufficiat si sit consensus circa dogmata commu-
nibus et cuique notis vocabulis proposita.
" §. 16. Ut etiam quando hi (termini philosophici) adhi-
bentur, convenire possit, usurpentur sensu, quem jamdu-
dum et ab aliquot seculis obtinuerint, nee iis novus aut
inusitatus tribuatur ; nee abrogata veteri adsciscatur nova
aliqua philosophia, Mutata enim philosophia invehit quo
que mutationem in theologiam, ubi scholastice tractanda
venit.

APPENDIX. 317
"§. i8. To take authors' words in the best sense of
which they are capable.
" §. 19. The judgments of churches to be taken from
their public confessions rather than from individual au
thors. " §. 20. Onus probandi bes on that church which excom
municates others.
" §. 21. Proof to be, i. from Scripture ; 2. from unani
mous primitive antiquity."
The following passage, which may be considered as
expressing Calixt's mature sentiments, deserves especial
attention, as shewing his conviction of the hopelessness of
an union on a theoretical, intellectual or dogmatical basis.
" Rectius autem fuerit, utramque partem simpliciter et
ingenue, quod sentit, profiteri, quam alteram alteri am-
biguis loquendi formulis imponere. Qualem conciliandi
rationem inierunt olim Philippus et Bucerus, nempe ut
praescriberentur formulae, quarum verba utraque pars am-
plecteretur, sed singulae suo sensu acciperent et interpre-
tarentur. Quem conatum, quamvis ex pio eoque ingente
concordise desiderio et studio profectum, nulla successus
fehcitas excepit. Malumus, uti diximus, utramque partem
sensa animi sincere et citra fucum exponere: et etiamsi
discrepent nihilominus odia et inimicitias et conviciandi ac
damnandi bbidinem ponereh, etc."
Cahxt has also in a loose way of speaking been con
sidered the originator of German rationalism, a word
which is sometimes appbed to any intellectual movement
in any direction. Besides Calovius, refer to Walchii Bib
liotheca Theol. Select, cap. v. sect. xvii. §§. 17 — 22. Schu
berti Inst. Theol. Polem. Part iv. ch. xi. §§.6 sqq. ch. xii.
Geschichte der synkretistischen Streitigkeiten in der Zcit
des Georg Calixt, von Heinrich Schmid, Erlangen, 1846,
which is not too favourable to Calixt ; more so is Georg
Calixt und der Synkrctismus, eine dogmenhistorische Ab-
handlung, von Dr. W. Gass, Breslau, 1846. G. Calixts Brief-
^ De tolerantia reformatorum, Th. 87. This treatise was not published
till after the death of CaUxt, first by his son F. U. CaUxt, in 1658, at
Helmstadt, reprinted in 1697.

318 APPENDIX.
wechsel in einer Auswahl aus Wolfenbuttclschen Hand-
schriften, herausgegeben von E. L. Th. Henke, Halle, 1833.
The letters are mostly in Latin, and do not^ contain much
of interest.
q In 1574 a translation of the Augsburg Confession into
modern Greek was sent by some Lutherans of Tubingen
to Jeremias II, Patriarch of Constantinople, and there
ensued a correspondence without any result, turning chiefly
on the manner of the real presence in the Eucharist. Acta
ct Scripta Theologorum Virtembcrgensium ct Patriarcha
Constantinopolitani D. HicremicB, quce utrique ab anno 1576
usque ad annum 1581 de Augustana Confessione inter sc
miserunt, Greece et Latine ab iisdem thcologis edita. Vitemb.
1584. In 1 630 Cyril Lucaris, P. of Constantinople commu
nicated to the reformed churches through Cornelius Hagen,
the Netherlands' minister at the Porte, his confession of
faith agreeing with the Calvinistic. — Corpus ct Syntagma,
Part iii. p. 54. But this was repudiated by all the branches
of the Greek Church. Walchii Bibl. Theol. cap. iii. sect. ii.
§.13. and cap. iii. sect. iii. §.7.
¦"The correspondence of Archbishop Wake with Dr.Dupin
and others (1717 — 9), comprises all which can sensibly be
said on this subject. It is characterised on the part of the
Archbishop by the most perfect judgment and temper,
together with the clearest understanding of the true
position of the Church of England. What Abp. Wake
thought might under some circumstances be possible, was
not in fact a reunion with Rome through the Gallican
Church, but an union with the Gallican Church, in the
case of its asserting its independence of the Roman supre
macy. Any negotiation, although that correspondence
does not properly deserve the title, was in fact premature,
until the Gallican Church was at liberty. Especially so
was the attempt on the part of Dr. Dupin to concibate the
Roman doctrines in a modified shape with the Articles of
the Church of England. Indeed I venture to be of
opinion, that such attempt at conciliation and at carrying
the intellectual and dogmatical union too far, might have
been fatal to the project, even if Rome had been out of

APPENDIX. 319
the way. And let us imagine hypothetically, that the
episcopal seat at Rome should cease to be occupied by a
Bishop, The ecclesiastical pacification of Christendom
might thereby be much facilitated. But it would be en
dangered by nothing so much, as by an endeavour to fuse
the national and other creeds and rituals of Europe, Such
an attempt would lead to interminable heart-burnings and
jealousies, and to the emulous setting up of Imperial, Gal
lican, Prussian, and Angbcan standards. Or if a momen
tary success should attend it, a new centralization would
follow, a quasi-supremacy would be revealed, to end in a re
newed Protestantism and dissent. The light in which Abp.
Wake regarded the non-episcopalian reformed Churches
of the Continent may be understood from his letter to M.
Le Clerc, Ap, 17 19.
The project of M. de Beaufort mentioned at p. 242 was the
occasion, besides the letter of the Abp. of Besan9on, of the
work, De la Reunion des Communions Chretiennes, ou His
toire des Negociations, Conferences, Correspondences, qui
ont eu lieu, des Projets ct des Plans qui ont ete formes a ce
sujet depuis la naissancc du protestantisme jusqu'a present,
par M. Tabaraud, Paris, 1 808. The object of this work is to
shew, by a history of the failure of these projects, the im-
practicabiHty of such union. The circulation of the book
was obstructed at its first pubbcation by the Imperial
pohce. It was reprinted with some additions under the
title, Histoire critique des Projets, S^c. Paris, 1 824. On the
other side was published in 1808, Rabaud, Details his-
toriques sur les divers Projets de reunion, which I have not
met with.

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