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Title: An Address to Lord Teignmouth
occasioned by his address to the clergy of the Church of England
Author: Thomas Sikes
Release Date: May 21, 2020 [eBook #62185]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ADDRESS TO LORD TEIGNMOUTH***
Transcribed from the 1805 F. C. and J. Rivington edition from Bodleian Library scans by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
BY A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON,
No 62, ST. PAUL’S
CHURCH-YARD;
By Bye and Law, St.
John’s-Square,
Clerkenwell.
1805.
My Lord,
The emotions of my mind, upon receipt of your Lordship’s address as President of the British and Foreign Bible Society, were such as I am not inclined, for several reasons, to describe. Your friends represent you as not hostile to the established church: nay, some assert that you are its firm supporter; and doubtless it never could have entered your Lordship’s mind to address a clergyman with proposals of lending his zeal and exertions for the promotion of religion, but in the character of the church’s friend. Judge then, my Lord, at my surprize, to see your Lordship’s name at the head of such a list of subscribers as that enclosed to me; to find your Lordship’s patronage and protection bestowed upon every description of its enemies, and your request that I would promote their design. Judge, my Lord, what must have been my grief, to find a man of your Lordship’s respectability deserting the cause of sound religion, and our poor country’s best p. 4defence, and confederating with persons openly labouring the destruction of all that is sober, or established!
My Lord, I presume to address you, invited by your Lordship’s known good sense and candour, and much emboldened by a strong conviction that some enemy hath craftily obtained your Lordship’s countenance to his project; which, I am sure, if your Lordship knew all, you would spurn with indignation and contempt. I am persuaded that you know not the men and their communication, to whom you have joined yourself. Let this then be my excuse for intruding myself upon your notice; and if I fail to convince your Lordship, at least let me promise myself that patience and respect which is always due to sincerity and good intention. At present, my Lord, you appear as the head of a party, (rather, should I say, a legion of parties) by whom every opponent is sure to be reviled, as illiberal and uncharitable, and as an enemy to the gospel. I confess I expect the honour of their reproaches. I am thankful that I have enjoyed them before. “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” From you, my Lord, I expect the treatment of a Gentleman and a Christian; and if I fail in the respect which is due to those honourable characters, I sincerely profess it shall be contrary to my resolved purpose; and I beg your Lordship to let Charity do its perfect work, and cover this failure among the multitude of my other sins.
p. 5It is very true, my Lord, that “to promote the circulation of the scriptures at home and abroad, is an object in which every one who professes the religion of Christ, must feel a deep interest.” But the object of a society, my Lord, is not to be known from its public declaration in print. Your experience of the world will suggest to you, that the most important objects, whether of a good or evil tendency, have been prosecuted, and are now continually pursued in a close and clandestine manner, under favour of public declarations of a different and often of a contrary character. It is impossible for any man to say what shall be the real object of any society, till he be in possession of the favourite object of each of its members; for although a body of men may at first associate for, and appear to bind themselves to the promotion of some specific common object, we well know, that in process of time, this common object is generally lost in neglect; and at last, each individual pursues that particular object which, as a private man, engages his affection and preference.
To say, therefore, what is or shall be the object of a society, is no easy matter, if we mean to guard against delusion. The real object will take its colour from the opinions and pursuits of those effective members who shall contrive, either by an actual majority, or an assiduity and activity equivalent in force to the power of a majority, to give direction to the energy of the association. Into how many Proteus forms has Jesuitism wrapt itself, upon different occasions? So the monster p. 6Jacobinism has insinuated its poison, at one time or other, into almost every species of society in Europe.
It is to little purpose we use our eyes, if we see this destructive principle only in clubs and lodges, and spouting societies. This serpent has a far wider range; wherein there is a place and room to coil in, there let the passenger beware, latet anguis in herbá. And if your Lordship will please to call to mind, the warnings of a learned prelate of our church, you will remember that he is now in a remarkable manner, and with much aggravation of malice and impudence, detected lurking behind the cross.
Your Lordship cannot be ignorant how many hundred public declarations it has set forth, to convince the world how simple are its designs, how pure its intentions! Need we be directed to consider, can we avoid considering, those several political societies of the present day, which, with the most enchanting titles, and with avowed objects of the fairest sort, have perpetrated atrocities of the foulest dye? Look into the public addresses of those societies, sometimes decorated by honourable and responsible signatures. See the printed declarations of their reasons, objects, and principles; then repair to the Old Bailey, or the Maidstone assizes; there compare the acts and deeds of those associations, with the plausible professions of their printed schemes and declarations, and say, my Lord, whether it be prudent, at least in this our day, to consider all as honest and true that meets p. 7our eye in print, shouldered by the well-known signatures of respectable presidents and vice-presidents?
My Lord, give me leave to say, you cannot answer for the real object of any association, but by being able to answer for the real principles and pursuits of its individual members; you may heartily wish, and sincerely endeavour to promote the avowed object of this society: (and I know no man more likely to do both, than your Lordship.) Secure those principles, be able to controul those pursuits, and no man who knows your Lordship’s high character, would hesitate a moment to believe that your society will be what it proposes. If Lord T. will pledge himself that the six hundred members of his society are, like himself, honourable and upright men, who speak what they mean, and practise what they profess; who abhor duplicity and deceit, and know no discordance between the object they profess, and the object they pursue;—if Lord T. can assure me this, I shall be proud to rank my name, and make exertion under his protection. If this he cannot do, at least let him tell me where is my security that my contribution to the institution, will not be turned to support some object, which I never intend to support; and to promote not the object proposed to me in the letter, but another, and perhaps a detested one? Your presidency, my Lord, is not exactly of the sort to which you have been accustomed, and which you have much adorned. But far be it from me to say, that you p. 8preside over an association of men, combined for designs altogether bad; that you patronize, and protect a society, whole objects and principles are wilfully nefarious: All that I here assert, is this; that your Lordship, for whose head and heart I have the highest respect, appears to have undertaken the patronage of you know not whom or what; and, confident in your own good intentions, you have recommended me to do the same.
But when I cast my eye over the list of your officers, and subscribers, (over which your Lordship’s eye has undoubtedly passed,) I am really in doubt, whether your Lordship be in jest or earnest, when you recommend the institution to the attention of a Clergyman of the Church of England; and, I wonder much, what arguments your Lordship can use, to press it home. In this list, I must acknowledge, I see many respectable names, with which I should be happy to place mine. But I likewise see a very large proportion of others, with which, as an honest man, I can have nothing to do; I see many names of persons, whose objects and pursuits have been diametrically the opposite of mine: what I build, they pull down: what I teach, they mock, and endeavour to render ineffectual. The sacred cause, which as a Clergyman of the Church of England, I have sworn to serve and support, (and which, with the best talents I have, I will support, as long as I have my life,) they hold up to scorn, and abuse with hard names and jeers. They vilify my character, as a servant of the Most Highest, and set p. 9me forth to the world, as a dishonest man. Now were I, my Lord, allured by your Lordship’s invitation, and tempted by the sound of what you call the “liberal basis of your establishment;” (the sense of which I have not yet apprehended:) should I be induced, I say, to venture myself into the company of men, of whom I have hitherto always been horribly afraid, being frightened at the idea of having the National Establishment blown up, as one of them said, clergy and all: can your Lordship afford me protection and safety? Can your Lordship shew me, that our days are so evangelical, that the lamb may now dwell with the wolf in safety? I see your Lordship is ready kindly to allay my fears; and to demand, if persons associating for the simple and pure purpose of disseminating the scriptures, ought to be suspected of such views and projects? My Lord, since I have been a shepherd, I have seen so many wolves, and have undergone such terrors for my poor sheep, that you must have the charity to pity my weakness, and excuse my unconquerable fears. Those who are old in the business, have a right at least to be attended to, in matters which concern their experience. Wolves, my Lord, our great Master has warned us, sometimes put on sheep’s clothing; and we find, I assure you, much harder work with these crafty beasts, than with those, which, without disguise, prowl about in their proper character. But have I not too good reason to be afraid of those who openly, and fairly avow, that their object is to eat us up, p. 10both sheep and shepherd too? In plain terms, if your Lordship can demonstrate to us, that those persons with whom you invite me to associate, under pretence of doing God service, have at any time really revoked their hostility to the church and ministry, which they have so frequently, and so fully avowed; shew us the time when, and the place where, they have deliberately recanted their well-known threats and projects, repented of their numerous slanders and calumnies, and have as solemnly sworn peace with the church and clergy, as before they have sworn and pursued their enmity. Nay, my Lord, I ask no unreasonable thing; if you can only shew, that upon this present occasion alone, they have explicitly and solemnly put off their old man of hostility and hatred, and have put on the new man of peace, and love, and concord—I am silent. I request your secretary will please to insert my name, and accept my donation. But, my good Lord, if the enmity of these men has never been revoked; if their hostility, and destructive resolutions have never been cancelled; if no proof to the contrary can be adduced, but we are still left in possession of the thousand well-known proofs; nay, in many places, of the open confession of their intentions of undermining and destroying both church establishment and clergy too: I then will leave it to any person of sane intellect to determine, whether it be prudent, whether it be upright, whether it be safe, to accept your Lordship’s proposal.
p. 11A notion prevails in the world, but a very mistaken one, that the association of such a body of persons as appears upon the list, is the unity so much recommended in scripture. We are perpetually called upon, in the name of Christian charity, to throw aside prejudices and dissentions, and to unite for some common religious purpose. Your Lordship must know, that there is more of sound than sense in this fashionable project. That union enjoined in scripture, is not of the hand and purse, but of the heart and mind. Christian charity no where recommends associations of discordant principles, combinations of men professedly at variance, and in hostility with each other: but Christian charity enjoins that which renders all these elaborate societies useless; it teaches and obliges Christians to be like-minded, to have one faith, one baptism, one speech, and one hope of their calling.
But I feel very strong objections, my Lord, to the whole plan: Not indeed to the simple, pure object of disseminating the scriptures: one of these days I hope to see the earth full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. The mischief lies in the manner, and the means, of carrying that object into effect. Your society is composed of not only many secret foes, and treacherous familiar friends, but of a very large proportion of sworn enemies of the church; to which enemies, a much larger share of influence is given by the rules and regulations of your society, than naturally they have any right to. p. 12The consequence of which measure is this: that your society, so far from being in amity with the constitutional church of this kingdom, upholds and promotes the cause of its adversaries; and consequently seeks and assists in its destruction. No one can for a moment imagine, that all this you intend: for myself, it is as far from my thoughts, as I trust it is from yours. Let me therefore crave your Lordship’s attention, only for a few minutes; and let me have it pure and perfectly disengaged of all partiality for your project. Be not then deceived, my Lord, with the notion that the bare act of distributing Bibles, is the act of disseminating the sacred truth. The word of God in itself is pure and perfect, and more to be desired than much fine gold: but as the finest gold may be turned to base purposes, so may the scriptures. For, alas! through the lusts of men, and the covetousness of the world, the precious book of life is made the instrument of error, as well as of truth; of much evil, as well as of infinite good. When it is remembered, that to the scriptures, not only the true church of Christ appeals for confirmation of its divine doctrine, but likewise that every sect and heresy, by which it ever was defaced, has regularly pretended likewise to deduce its error; when we observe the Papist, and Puritan, the Socinian, and Calvinist, the Baptist, and Quaker, all appealing to the Bible for the truth of their principles, and pretending to prove them thereby—it will not be maintained, I think, that the mere distribution of Bibles, under p. 13the present circumstances of the times, is likely to spread the truth. On the contrary, it is to be expected, that each member of your heterogeneous society, will draw his portion of books for the promotion of his particular opinion: for it is easily seen, that a Bible given away by a Papist, will be productive of popery. The Socinian will make his Bible speak, and spread Socinianism; while the Calvinist, the Baptist, and the Quaker, will teach the opinions peculiar to their sects. Supply these men with Bibles, (I speak as to a true churchman) and you supply them with arms against yourself.
For what reason have we to suppose, that your simple, pure, and important design, will be exactly prosecuted by all the various descriptions of your society?—What security have we, that each zealous religionist will not, according to the nature of his particular creed, accompany his pious donation of the scriptures, with his own peculiar interpretation and comment?—As a Church-of-England man, and sadly experiencing daily before my eyes, that the Holy Book is made a nose of wax, by the various discordant and opposite sects, I should deem it my indispensable duty, not only to diffuse the text of scripture, but to guard my people against what I consider as misinterpretations of it. Does not this, indeed, constitute by far the greater part of the Christian minister’s duty? Is not this the chief design of most sermons preached, and of most of the religious tracts, which issue from the press? And can we suppose that any p. 14conscientious and careful dissenter will not do the same? If he be indifferent to the prevalence, either of truth, or error; that is, if he be hypocritical and insincere, he may not perchance give himself the trouble: but if he be honest, and is warmed by the least spark of zeal, he cannot do otherwise. Were the Bible so miraculously contrived, that it were impossible to misinterpret or misunderstand it; that is, were it impossible to abuse it, all other religious societies might be saved a vast expence of trouble and revenue, by relinquishing all their former plans, and falling into yours. But if it be possible from the scriptures, not only to draw the word of truth to salvation, but to support so much error and delusion, as every religionist is ready to see any where, or every where but at home, something more is required, than a Bible society, to secure the faith once delivered to the saints. If your Lordship sees no impropriety in requesting a clergyman to aid and assist in the promotion of the various hostile sects, which war against the church, and sound religion; if you see no harm in his becoming the patron and fellow-worker, together with Papists, Socinians, Quakers, &c. your Lordship, I am sure, will not refuse to enlighten my mind upon the subject, and prove it to me from the word of God. At present, believe me, I am fully purposed, by God’s help, never wittingly to lend my hand to sow tares in the church of God. Quote not, that the wheat and tares must grow together till the harvest, if by that you would p. 15wind me to your present plan. Tell me not that heresies must needs come—I know it. But by my means they shall never come. You know, my Lord, it is the enemy’s part to sow tares; heresies descend not from heaven. How then can you invite me to do the enemy’s work? How can I do this, and be innocent?
Permit me, my Lord, now to say a word or two upon the “liberality of the basis of your establishment;” which is held out as “giving additional force to the claims arising from the simplicity, purity, and importance of the design.” Not satisfactorily apprehending at first, what might be signified by the expression of a liberal basis, I had recourse to a well-known lexicographer, who under the word liberal, gives us these meanings:—“not mean, not low in birth;—becoming a gentleman;—munificent, generous, bountiful:”—then successively applying these several meanings to the subject, I find the address to signify either one, or all of these positions: that the basis of your establishment, is not a mean basis, nor a basis of low birth; it is a basis becoming a gentleman, or it is a munificent, or a generous, or a bountiful basis. My author assists me no further, these being all the senses that he has included under the word. Here, I confess, I was a little posed, my mind remaining still unsatisfied, that any of these meanings were intended, although I felt that all the epithets, could they be applied to the subject, were such as must recommend the basis of any thing. It struck me suddenly at last, that your Lordship must intend, p. 16by these classic words, only what the vulgar would call “broad bottom.” The broad bottom of the establishment “gives additional force,” &c.
Now, if your Lordship designs to recommend your establishment by its broad bottom, permit me to say, it has no charms for me. I know the liberal basis, or broad bottom, is very much the vogue in all religious (and chiefly in religious) projects; the reason of which, if this were the proper place, I think I could unfold. But do you really mean to tempt a clergyman to join your society, by seriously holding out to him the opportunity of joining his “zeal and exertions,” as you speak, with the zeal and exertions of all sorts and descriptions of men, who pretend to be Christians? Do you imagine, my Lord, that your invitation can derive additional force, from the prospect of meeting (when I must have the honour of meeting your Lordship, as president of the motley group) and associating with all sorts of preachers and teachers, from the preaching blacksmith up to the fanatical ranter in holy orders? Those who are used to good company, know how to behave. I must confess, that being unfortunately not bred in such liberal-basis’d, or broad-bottomed principles, I should not. I should feel uneasy, my Lord; I should be illiberally, perhaps, looking towards the door; I might uncharitably call to mind that bigot Polycarp, and actually make my escape. And what would you have me do? You have condescended to persuade me to meet my inveterate foes, who have repeatedly declared their intentions of p. 17pulling the church about my ears, and starving all the clergy; and who are actually and openly perpetrating their fatal project; could you not bring about a reconciliation, my Lord, before we meet? Do you not think that this would vastly promote and strengthen your present scheme? At present we are all to meet, it appears, each retaining his wonted mind, and continuing his usual exertions; that is, we all meet under your Lordship’s auspices, still to continue pulling, with all our might, different ways!
Surely, to every thinking man it must be plain, that although your Lordship should call upon such a babel of lips and languages, with all the powers you have, for zeal and exertions united, there appears not the least probability that that unanimity will come when you do call, till you can prove that those very means which the Almighty adopted to confound and divide, have changed their nature, and now may be used to collect, and unite, and carry on a simple plan with effect.
Mistake me not, my Lord, as intending to deny the possibility of any sort or degree of union among certain descriptions of persons composing the society. This, I am sure, would be to deny that which authentic histories have abundantly proved to be true. I am perfectly aware, that all the various and discordant tribes of dissenters from the Church of England, may unite, from the Papist down to the Quaker; for they frequently have, and frequently do unite against the Church. “Many times have they consulted together with one p. 18consent, and have been confederate against the church,” saying, “let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.” But when was it ever known, that they have united with the church? Shew me the history, lay your finger upon the page, and say, my Lord, when, where, and upon what occasion, did they ever unite with the church, for any important and righteous design. I must be satisfied upon this point; I must request some fair example and precedent, to prove that the thing is neither impossible nor improbable, before it can be even prudent to listen to your Lordship’s proposal!
Alas! my Lord, you well know how many sad examples might be brought to demonstrate the reverse: why then put me to the needless task of reminding you of the many times and occasions when the “several denominations of Christians have united, upon a liberal basis, their zeal and exertion, to an unexampled degree,” for the utter destruction of church and state? Why should I be forced to enter upon the disgraceful history of men, who, with words smoother than butter, and softer than oil, with fair promises of taking sweet counsel together, and walking to the house of God as friends, have put forth their hands against such as be at peace with them, have broke their covenant, and drawn their swords against them? The church’s many scars and wounds as yet unhealed, and sores that are daily vexed, have taught her not to lean upon every arm that is held out to support her weak and tottering strength. p. 19Experience always begets caution; and knowledge of degenerate human nature, brings with it circumspection. She reads in the sacred volume written for our learning, of Joab’s slippery trick with Abner; and till she can be persuaded that he who speaks quietly and peaceably means no mischief, it would now be worse than imprudence to turn aside to speak at all. The church, my Lord, is not solicitous for such companions as these; and why should your Lordship be solicitous to bring her sons and servants into familiarity with those who despise her, and are plotting her destruction?
Permit me to address you as a Church of England man; as a man who fears God, honours the king, and hears the church. Allow us, my Lord, to reason together a little, upon this project of yours, to which you call my attention, and endeavour to engage my feelings. You propose an alliance between the churchman and every description of religionists, who either use or abuse the name of Christ; that is, in the new phrase, between Christians of the “several denominations.” Has your Lordship weighed well the advantages and disadvantages that are likely to accrue to the church? Supposing the design of this proposed association to be as pure as it appears to your Lordship, and that the exclusive object be, to disseminate Bibles throughout the world; will this new connexion empower the church to extend its bounds, and to confer its salutary blessings upon those who sit in darkness? Is this likely to be effected by the aid and assistance of those whole p. 20delight has always been to clip the silver wings of the heavenly dove, and to pluck her golden feathers from her breast? When did she ever soar, but to encounter a cloud of enemies, to tempt the rapine of every bird of prey under heaven—to offer a luscious and inviting morsel to all the several hungry “denominations of christians, to whom the happy constitution of this country,” your Lordship says, “affords equal protection with herself?” If the church to which you profess to belong, be really a part of the Holy Catholic Church, that kingdom of Christ in which we are promised pardon and salvation—is it likely to be enlarged and promoted on earth, by a coalition with those who profanely hold it in derision, and disdainfully, dispitefully, and cruelly load her with all the ill names that the most vindictive malice can suggest? Look to all the public acts of your new friends; observe the spirit of all their various and varying publications; and what do we find, but one steady and unremitting plan of hostility; sometimes marked with smiles and proffered fraternity; sometimes ferocious and formidable, with open mischief and attack? And if by this connection, it be impossible to enlarge the pale of the church, there appears no probability that its interests of any sort can be safe and secure; for that opposition which would prevent its extension, must infallibly operate, and does indeed operate, to produce its destruction.
In this projected association, indeed, the danger of final destruction to the established church is p. 21scarcely concealed; it is open and evident even to him who runs and reads its proposals. It scarcely needs a suspicious eye; it only needs the attentive one. How this has escaped your Lordship, and several other illustrious friends of this association, I cannot explain; unless we bear in mind, that those who mean well themselves, are the last to suspect evil in others.
But let us see, my Lord, how the case stands, and examine what claim I have to credit, when I assert, that your society is in direct opposition to the interests of the established church. In this association, with no previous reconciliation between the church and her acknowledged adversaries, the church is invited, by your Lordship, to meet the several denominations of Christians in all their avowed and secret enmity. Thank heaven, the gates of nonconformity have never, since the grand rebellion, prevailed against the church; and if her members were true to themselves, and to the cause they profess to espouse, in this happy country they never would. But if such projects as this, which your Lordship recommends, become popular and numerous, and are supported by such patronage as appears at the head of this—with tears, and many an heart-rending pang, I must soon bid a last farewell to that venerable mother, that chaste spouse of Christ, who hath borne many an illustrious child of God, and many an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven!
What your Lordship, who has seen a little of the world, can expect from such a meeting, but the p. 22usual manners and actions of those several denominations you convene, what you can possibly calculate upon, but the scratchings and sightings, which you know are usual with the parties when on the outside of the tavern walls, it is difficult to guess. Not one friend do you attempt to gain for the church, nor to conciliate a single foe. They are to meet; and by the sweet call of charity, chanted most musically from your Lordship’s lips, peace is to be preserved, and war is no more to be known. But it was to have been expected, that your Lordship, who professes to be of the established denominations of Christians, if you had been disinclined to assist the church, would certainly not have betrayed her, in any degree or mode; much less have addressed a clergyman, inviting him to do the same. My Lord, this I never will believe was your own act and deed. You have lent an incautious ear to some insidious friend, who abuses your respectable name to purposes of his own. How else is it possible to conceive that your Lordship could have invited me into an association, under such a regulation as that which is numbered eleven? in which the committee, (which is “to conduct the business of the society, appoint all officers, except the treasurer, have power to call special meetings, and are charged with procuring for the society suitable patronage) shall consist of thirty-six laymen; of whom, twenty-four who shall have most frequently attended, shall be eligible for re-election for the ensuing year; six shall be foreigners, resident in London or its p. 23vicinity; half the remainder shall be members of the Church of England, and the other half members of other denominations of Christians!!!”
We have here a standing majority against the church! Oh, my Lord, how could you join in such a plot? What could induce your Lordship to lend your name to such a business as this; and why should you think so basely of the clergy, as to tempt them, by you own example and fair reputation, to sign the death warrant of the established church, and the instrument of their own ruin?
It cannot escape you, my Lord, that at present (and thank God for it) the church enjoys a very large majority against the combined members of all the several tolerated denominations of Christians. According to the most authentic calculation, she can produce more than four of her members to one dissenter. So that if the constitution of your committee had been formed upon a fair and righteous basis, there plainly should have been at least four churchmen to one of the other denominations. But here, my lord, strange to tell, you propose to deprive the church of her natural numbers and strength, you take from her, her best means of defence, and invite her into the midst of her sworn enemies! Where is the liberality of this, my Lord? Where is the justice? The first temptation held out to the public, is the liberal basis of your establishment. Is it liberal, my Lord, to deprive one party of more than three fourths of its strength, and to throw it among the others, who p. 24have no other right to it, nor expectation of it, but what they derive from your Lordship? No doubt, my Lord, if you can gain your point, and can tempt the clergy into your scheme, there will not be a single Nonconformist, Papist, Socinian, or Quaker, silent in your praise. No doubt your unbounded liberality will be sounded forth, by every gospel-preacher in the church, and every twanging teacher in the conventicle. Ungrateful wretches would they be, were they to pass by unnoticed, and un-eulogised so great a friend to their cause. A friend indeed; whole unexampled zeal and exertions in their favour, must raise their memory to their halcyon days of 1648, and fill their beating bosoms, with well-grounded hopes of once more realizing those scenes, which, but for your Lordship, and a few other liberal men, they little expected to see. But what will the church say? What will four-fifths of the nation think of your Lordship’s “liberal basis,” which is treacherously withdrawn from the established church, to build up the walls of conventicles and meeting-houses? Do you expect that any honest clergyman, in his sound senses, can relish your Lordship’s liberality, for such conduct as this? It is too gross, my Lord, to pass. I am lost in astonishment and grief, when I see a man who professes so much good-will to the pure Christianity of the country; whole well-known integrity and respectable talents, might have tempted the woe-worn church to look up to his piety and pity for relief; whose rank and credit in the world, afford him much ability to p. 25bestow it; when I see such a man engaged in a fearful scheme, by which our Zion may be pulled down, and her enemies exalted upon her ruins—alas! for these things I weep: “mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul, is far from me.”
My Lord, I repeat it again, I am convinced you have been deceived. Were you a known enemy to the church, or even a suspected one, doubtless it would be highly gratifying to your Lordship and companions, to accomplish the object to which you solicit my concurrence. At present, the church is far too strong for her combined adversaries; the contest is unequal. Confident, I am, there is none but an enemy could have advised this:—an enemy, with whom it is far more dangerous to treat than to fight; therefore let her take a friend’s advice, for once, and stand upon her guard. Let her be true to herself, and the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.
In point of strength, therefore, to establish herself, and to resist her numerous foes, it is impossible that the church can be any gainer by your Lordship’s heterogeneous society; on the contrary, it is perfectly evident that she would be extremely injured; in as much as she is deprived of more than three-fourths of her natural strength, which is given by your Lordship to the general mass of her avowed enemies. A standing majority of dissenters is constituted against her. Nor can I devise one argument p. 26sufficient to tempt her, unshielded as she is, by want of discipline and good government, to throw away that natural defence which God Almighty has given her, and trust to the liberality and protection of those who threaten, and are daily compassing her destruction.
Nor is the church more likely to gain any thing to her dignity by her new associates, than to her interest. It is prophesied in scripture, as a comfort to the church, that one day she should have “kings for her nursing fathers, and queens for her nursing mothers.” Your Lordship holds out nothing of this sort in your society. It cannot be denied that a few nobility are found in your list, and some other folk of high rank, but of such a description as we should not have expected to find there. But, my Lord, as it is not the mere presence of a nobleman that can make the company which he honours with his presence, either creditable or polite, so I presume at once, that I am not required to consider your association as a creditable one, merely because I find at its head your Lordship, and a few other respectable names. For when I cast my eye downwards to the motley list of subscribers, I find such names as can certainly reflect no credit upon the church. There I recognize the dissenting teacher, the Methodist preacher, the preaching blacksmith, &c. who can make but awkward nurses of the church. But one thing is plain, that although our credit will be no gainer by the company you propose, it is not so with p. 27them. If we may take their account of themselves, their doctrines and communications have hitherto been confined chiefly to the inferior ranks. If your society succeeds, it will be a society for “bettering their condition;” a thing to them, it may be presumed, by no means unpleasant or ineligible. The scriptures promise to none called Christians but in the church; and history proves that none but the church have enjoyed the splendor and favour of princes. If, therefore, these several denominations have not, and cannot procure, the nursing of kings and queens, is it to be wondered at that they should be glad to share the partiality of a nobleman or two? the benign influence of some wandering star?
Moreover, as it is notorious that several liberal friends of rank have strenuously defended the dissenting denominations of Christians against the one established, but scarcely any have been persuaded to quit their connection with the church, and honour the meeting-house with their presence; it would not be an easy thing for those several denominations to prove their connection with their friends in the church, were it not for the opportunities afforded them by societies established upon “liberal basis.” Here, indeed, it is with all the members, as the proverb goes, “hail-fellow well met.” All is unity and charity, and Christian benevolence; and every thing that is good! Here is realized the pretty hand-in-hand frontispiece to the Christian Ladies Pocket Book, 1803. In sweetest harmony we view the preaching shopman and p. 28the British peer; the Methodist, and Baptist, and Independent, the Antinomian, &c. &c. &c. and a venerable Bishop of the Church of England. But, my Lord, if it be fact that few men of opulence, and fewer still of rank, frequent the conventicle or meeting-house, although several are well-known supporters of the cause; if men of influence and consideration, who continue to revile the church, still think proper to remain nominal members of her communion; till I am favoured by your Lordship with a better reason for this strange inconsistent behaviour, I am satisfied with this; that her society is that, which in spite of calumny is to be preferred, that still, in their sober moments, even men of the world do think it more creditable to be accounted members of our venerable church, than a subscriber to the meeting-house; they proceed as if they adopted the idea of the gay king, and thought that the church was fitter for gentlemen than the conventicle.
It cannot, therefore, be upon the notion of adding respectability to the church, that your Lordship fosters this institution: although it is evident that much respectability may be reflected upon our dissenting brethren by a connexion with the church. This they know and feel, and by their conduct avow; and certainly no man could object to see their condition improved by connection with good company, were it not that the society by which they are benefitted, must feel exactly the reverse by an association with them. The question in short must be put, who are the p. 29gainers by this new connection? The answer will direct us to the party to which your Lordship, either by chance or design, has condescended to favour, at the expence of the other.
May I crave your Lordship’s attention to consider another material point. I speak as to a true Churchman; judge you what I say. How is it likely to fare with true religion, as to purity, when your association shall be arranged and perfected according to the proposed plan? A man of your Lordship’s known integrity and serious turn of mind, cannot be supposed to be a member of the church but from conviction; upon conviction, that of all the several denominations of Christians, that established is the purest and best; of course, that all others are not so pure, and, upon the whole, are worse.
Now we read in the sacred volume, that evil communication corrupts good manners. “He that toucheth pitch,” saith the son of Sirach, “shall be defiled therewith.” Shall we not then extremely endanger the rectitude of our opinions and manners, by constant and intimate communication with all sorts of impure and erroneous religionists? Familiarity would soon lesson the deformity of the most abhorred doctrines, and daily intercourse would in time smooth the way, first with ease to tolerate, and then to favour acknowledged and pernicious errors. And this I speak, not with relation to that denomination alone, to which your Lordship belongs; it holds with all the others in common. The Socinian, for instance, charges p. 30idolatry upon the Calvinist; the Calvinist returns the charge, and accuses the other of denying his Saviour. And is it possible, that two such opposite sects can cordially unite for religious purposes, and enter into familiar friendship, without considerable danger to the purity of that creed, which each of them deems the true one? Will the Socinian deem it safe to give the right hand of fellowship to an idolator; and will the Calvinist do the same to the despiser of his redeemer? Surely not; if they meet upon such terms as shall secure to each party the purity of his faith, they must meet upon the ground of religious indifference: for if each party be hearty in his cause, and zealous for his religion, he will not only stiffly maintain it against his friend; but, if he be touched with one feeling of benevolence, he will endeavour to gain his friend to that side, which he considers as the religion of God; and then, I presume, it is evident, that all security is gone, with respect to the other’s faith; for the zeal of his friend will be perpetually assailing what he deems the truth; and, doubtless, each party will be always ready to quote against his friend, the strong words of the Apostle Paul. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” “What part” will the Calvinist say, “hath he that believeth, with an infidel?” Whilst the Socinian with equal spirit may retort, “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” To speak in no hardier terms of your Lordship’s invitation into your association, than I feel by conscience bound to speak; do you not my Lord, at p. 31least, lead the clergy into temptation, a thing against which they daily pray? And is it not presumption, to trust themselves in the company of so many agreeable gentleman, who, if they be honest, must infallibly endeavour to seduce them from their first faith? The divine grace is no where promised to those who sin wilfully: and surely, it is to tempt God’s providence, to expect to come off harmless, where we know he has in general made no way to escape. My Lord, “you know your strength, and I know mine: neither our own, but given.” Nothing with me has such fascinating charms as good company; and nothing sooner would seduce me from my principles. Feeling myself, therefore, too weak to say, that it is positively out of the power of any of your friends to persuade me out of the means of salvation, or to defraud me of the all-sufficient merits and atonement of my adored Redeemer, I must in prudence, and in conscience, decline your Lordship’s invitation. I am perfectly aware that there are some chosen, favoured persons, who seem to possess much greater fortitude and spiritual strength, than I can boast, or than I judge, the bulk of mankind can pretend to; doubtless, (for charity compels us so to determine) they have by some revealed means, secured a more than ordinary measure of grace, and so can safely make a bolder flight in the thickest of this world’s temptations and trials; else, might we ignorantly ask, what concord hath a mitre with a meeting-house? Why should a clergyman of the Church, p. 32be unequally yoked with a lovely sister of the conventicle? But upon these heads, my Lord, I refer you to a certain officer of the society. Perhaps, he can resolve us how a clergyman of the church, can attend the meeting-house, without danger to his principles, or gross indecorum towards the church, and its spiritual superior. He perhaps, can shew us too, how a clergyman of the church, can securely, and without breach of trust, take his pupils to hear the harangues of those who daily revile her. This to common understandings, does not appear to be the likely way “to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary to God’s word,” which every clergyman at his ordination solemnly promises to do. It wants some clearing up. I am sure I have no such extraordinary grace, as to justify me in any such dangerous experiments; and therefore, I dare not expose myself to such temptations, as I see persons more spoken of for piety, practice every day. In short, my Lord, I confess my great fear, that frequent communication with those whom we both consider as corrupt concerning the faith, would in the end defile the purity of my own; and therefore, without presumption, I cannot join myself to your Bible Society.
But, permit me, my Lord, to state a still more important objection to your proposed society, than any already mentioned. How is the purity even of the Holy Scriptures themselves to be secured, if the translation and edition of the sacred book, are to be entrusted to all the different denominations p. 33of Christians? The translation of any book, is in effect, and in a certain measure, neither more nor less, than an interpretation, or exposition of the original; for what does the translator set forth, but that which he thinks fit to consider as the sense of his original? About the original of the scriptures, there can be no dispute, except as to the genuine text; which we know is now so accurately ascertained, that variations of any importance, are very few, and have very little effect upon the essentials of religion. But of the several possible senses which may be given of text acknowledged to be genuine, there are a prodigious number; and such variety, as are capable of affording a specious proof, for the most pernicious errors. Hence it has happened, that christian princes have usually considered the translation, and printing the Holy Scriptures, as fit objects for their interference and controul. Your Lordship will recollect the history of the Rhemish Testament, and of other popish translations, and will not be ready, I should imagine, to entrust either the translating or the editing the Holy Scriptures, to the care of that denomination of Christians called Papists. You will call to mind the crafty trick practised by another party, of substituting one little monosyllable for another, for the purpose of quashing one of the strongest proofs of episcopacy, and forcing the text to speak in favour of presbyterian ordination: and, it is to be hoped, your Lordship would not wish to see a repetition of such transactions, nor be willing to confide in p. 34such translations of God’s sacred word, as might issue from the hands of that denomination of Christians, which has been guilty in our opinion of such unjustifiable liberties. But what has been, my Lord, may be again; nay, if these people sent forth their several translations, as those which, in their sincere judgment gave the truest sense of scripture; they acted at least like honest men: and who will say, that the denominations of Christians, who, in these times, have adopted all their doctrines, books, and practices, are less honest than their predecessors? And therefore, we must expect, if the power be put into their hands, that they will give us the same translations and editions of the Holy Book, as were given before! Hitherto, my Lord, all sober Christians have considered the church, and not the conventicle, as the only pillar and ground of the truth; the best witness, and keeper of Holy Writ. But when the oracles of God are forced from the hands of those who are appointed to keep them, and are thrown to a mixed multitude of contending religionists, to give them out in what shape they please, as the genuine and pure word.—My Lord, you see the consequences, as clearly as I can. And when it is remembered, that in your society, there is a standing majority against the church, what can we expert, if the plan become general, but that in time our present pure English Bible will be thrust aside, to make way for others, translated and annotated to the different tastes of Papists and Presbyterians, and all the other denominations, to which this happy p. 35happy country is laid to afford equal protection? Every different party, has now its doctrine, has its interpretation;—but then each will have its Bible too.
I shall here, my Lord, put a period to my address, not because I have enumerated all the evils, which I see must follow such projects as that you recommend; I have mentioned not a tenth part; but, because I am persuaded, that if your Lordship be decidedly averse from listening to any representation, in prejudice of your society, I have said enough to exhaust your patience. If you be inclined, (notwithstanding your present engagement to patronize the scheme,) candidly to listen to the suggestions of those who are unfriendly to it; I have said more than enough, to awaken your Lordship’s apprehensions, and to procure your patient, and very serious investigation of my objections.
I am, my Lord,
Your Lordship’s obedient Servant.
Since these sheets were sent to the press, the author has been credibly informed, that the British and Foreign Bible Society are at this time preparing an edition of the Holy Scriptures in the Welch p. 36language, in which, such liberties are taken in the translation as are by no means warrantable. He here gives it merely as a report, himself being unacquainted with the Welch language, and therefore unable to examine it, and determine how far it be true. If however, it be in the least degree founded in fact, Lord T., he presumes, will feel himself irresistibly called upon to bestow his very serious attention upon those pages of the address, which allude to this important subject; especially, when he is informed, that the same representation has been made to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, who have thought proper to make further enquiries upon the subject.
The author has been likewise told, that the distribution of tracts, as well as bibles, was in the original plan of some of the first projectors of this scheme, one of whom is known to be a zealous adversary of the establishment. Lord T. doubtless, has full information upon all points, respecting the characters of the projectors, and will be able to determine what degree of attention is due to those fears and forebodings, so strongly suggested upon this head.
FINIS.
Bye and Law,
Printers,
St. John’s-Square, Clerkenwell.
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