YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WORKS OF DR. PALEY, IN FIVE VOLUMES. VOL. II. MORAL) AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY HORiE PAULINA. CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION, THE WORKS OF WILLIAM PALEY, D.D. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, THE REV. D. S. WAYLAND, M.A. VICAU OF KIIITON IN LINDSEY, AND PERPETUAL CURATE OE THURLBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. VOL. II. LONDON: GEORGE CO WIE AND CO. M.DCCC.XXXVIT. MhoS Pi J 5 v. Z PR1NTKI1 BY J. TAYLOH, 119, 1'LEET STREET. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. BOOK VI. (Continued.) Chap. IX. Of Crimes and Punishments Page 1 X. Of Religious Establishments, and of Toleration ... 23 XI. Of Population and Provision ; and of Agriculture and Commerce, as subservient thereto 50 XII. Of War and Military Establishments 90 HORJE PAULINA Cjiap. I. Exposition of the Argument Ill II. The Epistle to the Romans 121 III. The First Epistle to tho Corinthians '146 IV. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians 164 V. The Epistle to the Galatians 195 VI. The Epistle to the Ephesians 226 VII. The Epistle to the Philippians 252 VIII. The Epistle to the Colossians 264 IX. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians 272 X. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians 382 XI. The First Epistle to Timothy 288 XII. The Second Epistle to Timothy 297 XIII. The Epistle to Titus ! 307 XIV. The Epistle to Philemon 313 XV. The Subscriptions of the Epistles 319 XVI. The Conclusion 323 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION IN VISITING THE SICK. THE MANNER OF VISITING THE SICK. Sect. I. Assistance that is to be given to sick and dying Persons by the Ministry of the Clergy 351 vi CONTENTS. Sect. II. Rules for the Manner of Visiting the Sick. ..Page 351 III. Of instructing the sick Man in the Nature of Re pentance and Confession of his Sins 354 Arguments and Exhortations to move the sick Man to Repentance and Confession of his Sins 355 Arguments and general Heads of Discourse, by way of Consideration, to awaken a stupid Conscience and the careless Sinner 361 IV. Of applying spiritual Remedies to the unreasonable Fears and Dejections ofthe Sick 367 Considerations to be offered to Persona under reli gious Melancholy 369 An Exercise against Despair 372 V. Considerations against Presumption 378 The Order for the Visitation ofthe Sick 381 The Communion ofthe Sick 389 Proper Collects that may be used with any of the Prayers for the Sick 399 PRAYERS FOR THE SICK : VIZ. A general Prayer for the Acceptance of our Devotions for the Sick 402 Particular Prayers for the Sick 403 A larger Form of Prayer for the Sick 406 Proper Psalms for the Sick ; 408 A Declaration of Forgiveness 411 OCCASIONAL PRAYERS FOR THE SICK : VIZ. A Prayer for a Person in the Beginning of his Sickness 412 For Thankfulness in Sickness 413 For a Blessing on the Means used for a sick Person's Recovery ib. For a sick Person, when there appears some Hope of Recovery 414 In Behalf of the sick Person, when he finds any Abatement of his Distemper ib. For one who is dangerously ill 415 For a sick Person, when Sickness continues long upon him ... 416 For the Grace of Patience, and a suitable Behaviour in a sick Person to Friends and Attendants 417 For spiritual Improvement by Sickness 4,18 For a sick Person, who is about to make his Will 419 For a sick Penitent 420 For a sick Person, who intends to receive the blessed Sacra ment : 422 CONTENTS. VU For a sick Person that wants Sleep Page 422 A Prayer to be said when the sick Person grows light-headed 423 For a Person when Danger is apprehended by excessive Sleep 425 For a Person lying insensible on a sick Bed ib. For one who hath been a notoriously wicked Liver 426 For one who is hardened and impenitent. 428 For a sick Woman that is with Child 429 For a Woman in the Time of her Travail J 430 For a Woman who cannot be delivered without Difficulty and Hazard 431 For Grace and Assistance for a Woman after Delivery, but still in Danger 433 Prayers for a sick Child 434 For a Person who, from a State of Health, is suddenly seized with the Symptoms of Death 435 For a sick Person, when there appeareth small Hope of Re covery ..: 437 A general Prayer for Preparation and Readiness to die ib. A commendatory Prayer for a sick Person at the Point of De parture 439 A Litany for a sick Person at the Time of Departure ib. Form of recommending the Soul to God in her Departure from the Body 442 A consolatory Form of Devotion, that may be used with the Friends or Relations of the Deceased 443 OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND DEVOTIONS FOR THE SICK AND UNFORTUNATE IN EXTRAORDINARY CASES: VIZ. A Prayer for a Person whose Illness is chiefly brought on him by some calamitous Disaster or Loss ; as of Estate, Relations, or Friends, &c -447 For a Person who by any calamitous Disaster hath broken any of his Bones, or is very much bruised and hurt in his Body 448 For a Person that is afflicted with grievous Pains of his Body 449 For one who is troubled with acute Pains of the Gout, Stone, Colic, or any other bodily Distemper 450 For a Person in the Small Pox, or any such-like raging infec tious Disease ib. For a Person in a Consumption, or any lingering Disease 452 For a Person who is Lame in his Sickness 453 For one that is Bedridden ib. For a Person troubled in Mind or in Conscience 454 For one under deep Melancholy and Dejection of Spirit 455 Vlll CONTENTS. Another Prayer for the same Page 456 A Prayer for one under Fears and Doubts concerning his spi ritual Condition; or under perplexing Thoughts and Scru ples about his Duty 457 For one who is disturbed with wicked and blasphemous Thoughts ib. For one who is afflicted with a profane Mistrust of Divine Truths, and blasphemous Thoughts 458 For one under the Dread of God's Wrath and everlasting Dam nation 459 For a Lunatio 460 For natural Fools or Madmen ib. Proper Psalms for a sick Person at Sea 461 A Prayer for a sick Seaman 463 For a sick Soldier or Seaman 465 A Prayer to be used by a Person afflicted with a Distemper of long Continuance 4,66 OTHER OCCASIONAL PRAYERS : VIZ. On the Death of a Friend 468 For a Person troubled in Mind , 469 For an old Person ' ;b. A Prayer for a Person condemned to die 470 A Prayer of Preparation for Death 471 The Ministration of Public Baptism of Infants to be used in Churches 472 The Ministration of Private Baptism of Children in Houses . . 481 MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. BOOK IV. — (continued.) CHAP. IX. OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS. JL he proper end of human punishment is not the satis faction of justice, but the prevention of crimes. By the satisfaction of justice, I mean the retribution of so much pain for so much guilt, which is the dispensation we expect at the hand of God, and which we are accus tomed to consider as the order of things that perfect justice dictates and requires. In what sense, or whether with truth in any sense, justice may be said to demand the punishment of offenders, I do not now inquire ; but I assert, that this demand is not the motive or occasion of human punishment. What would it be to the magistrate, that offences went altogether un punished, if the impunity of the offenders were followed by no danger or prejudice to the commonwealth ? The fear lest the escape of the criminal should encourage him or others, by his example, to repeat the same crime, or to commit different crimes, is the sole consideration which authorises the infliction of punishment by human laws. Now that, whatever it be, which is the cause VOL. II. B 2 MORAL AND and end of the punishment, ought undoubtedly to regulate the measure of its severity. But this cause appears to be founded, not in the guilt of the offender, but in the necessity of preventing the repetition of the offence : and hence results the reason, that crimes are not by any government punished in proportion to their guilt, nor in all cases ought to be so, but in proportion to the difficulty and the necessity of preventing them. Thus the stealing of goods privately out of a shop may not, in its moral quality, be more criminal than the stealing of them out of a house ; yet being equally necessary, and more difficult, to be prevented, the law, in certain circumstances, denounces against it a severer punishment. The crime must be prevented by some means or other ; and, consequently, whatever means appear necessary to this end, whether they be proportionable to the guilt of the criminal or not, are adopted rightly, because they are adopted upon the principle which alone justifies the infliction of punish ment at all. From the same consideration it also follows, that punishment ought not to be employed, much less rendered severe, when the crime can be pre vented by any other means. Punishment is an evil to which the magistrate resorts only from its being neces sary to the prevention of a greater. This necessity does not exist when the end may be attained, that is, when the public may be defended from the effects of the crime, by any other expedient. The sanguinary laws which have been made against counterfeiting or diminishing the gold coin of the kingdom might be just until the method of detecting the fraud, by weigh ing the money, was introduced into general usage. Since that precaution was practised, these laws have slept ; and an execution, under them, at this day, would be deemed a measure of unjustifiable severity. The same principle accounts for a circumstance which POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 3 has been often censured as an absurdity in the penal laws of this, and of most modern nations, namely, that breaches of trust are either not punished at all, or punished with less rigour than other frauds Where fore is it, some have asked, that a violation of confidence, which increases the guilt, should mitigate the penalty ? — This lenity, or rather forbearance, of the laws, is founded in the most reasonable distinction. A due circumspection in the choice of the persons whom they trust ; caution in limiting the extent of that trust ; or the requiring of sufficient security for the faithful dis charge of it ; will commonly guard men from injuries of this description ; and the law will not interpose its sanctions to protect negligence and credulity, or to supply the place of domestic care and prudence. To be convinced that the law proceeds entirely upon this con sideration, we have only to observe, that where the con fidence is unavoidable, — where no practicable vigilance could watch the offender, as in the case of theft com mitted by a servant in the shop or dwelling-house of his master, or upon property to which he must necessarily have access, — the sentence of the law is not less severe, and its execution commonly more certain and rigorous, than if no trust at all had intervened. It is in pursuance of the same principle, which per vades indeed the whole system of penal jurisprudence, that the facility with which any species of crimes is perpetrated, has been generally deemed a reason for aggravating the punishment. Thus, sheep-stealing, horse-stealing, stealing of cloth from tenters or bleach- ing-grounds, by our laws, subject the offenders to sen tence of death : not that these crimes are in their nature more heinous than many simple felonies which are pun ished by imprisonment or transportation, but because the property, being more exposed, requires the terror of capital punishment to protect it. This severity b 2 4 MORAL AND would be absurd and unjust, if the guilt of the offender were the immediate cause and measure of the punish ment ; but is a consistent and regular consequence of the supposition, that the right of punishment results from the necessity of preventing the crime : for, if this be the end proposed, the severity of the punishment must be increased in proportion to the expedience and the difficulty of attaining this end ; that is, in a pro portion compounded of the mischief of the crime, and of the ease with which it is executed. The difficulty of discovery is a circumstance to be included in the same consideration. It constitutes, indeed, with respect to the crime, the facility of which we speak. By how much therefore the detection of an offender is more rare and uncertain, by so much the more severe must be the punishment when he is detected. Thus the writing of incendiary letters, though in itself a pernicious and alarming injury, calls for a more condign and exem plary punishment, by the very obscurity with which the crime is committed. From the justice of God we are taught to look for a gradation of punishment exactly proportioned to the guilt of the offender : when, therefore, in assigning the degrees of human punishment, we introduce consider ations distinct from that guilt, and a proportion so varied by external circumstances, that equal crimes frequently undergo unequal punishments, or the less crime the greater ; it is natural to demand the reason why a different measure of punishment should be expected from God, and observed by man ; why that rule, which befits the absolute and perfect justice of the Deity, should not be the rule which ought to be pursued and imitated by human laws. The solution of this difficulty must be sought for in those peculiar at tributes of the Divine Nature, which distinguish the dispensations of Supreme Wisdom from the proceedings POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 5 of human judicature. A Being, whose knowledge penetrates every concealment, from the operation of whose will no art or flight can escape, and in whose hands punishment is sure ; such a Being may conduct the moral government of his creation in the best and wisest manner, by pronouncing a law, that every crime shall finally receive a punishment proportioned to the guilt which it contains, abstracted from any foreign consideration whatever ; and may testify his veracity to the spectators of his judgments, by carrying this law into strict execution. But when the care of the public safety is intrusted to men, whose authority over their fellow-creatures is limited by defects of power and knowledge ; from whose utmost vigilance and sagacity the greatest offenders often lie hid ; whose wisest pre cautions and speediest pursuit may be eluded by artifice; or concealment ; a different necessity, a new rule of proceeding, results from the very imperfection of their faculties. In their hands, the uncertainty of punish ment must be compensated by the severity. The ease with which crimes are committed or concealed, must be counteracted by additional penalties and increased terrors. The very end for which human government is established requires that its regulations be adapted to the suppression of crimes. This end, whatever it may do in the plans of Infinite Wisdom, does not, in the designation of temporal penalties, always coincide with the proportionate punishment of guilt. There are two methods of administering penal justice. The first method assigns capital punishment to few offences, and inflicts it invariably. The second method assigns capital punishment to many kinds of offences, but inflicts it only upon a few examples of each kind. The latter of which two methods has been long adopted in this country, where, of those who receive 6 MORAL AND sentence of death, scarcely one in ten is executed. And the preference of this to the former method seems to be founded in the consideration, that the selection of proper objects for capital punishment principally depends upon circumstances, which, however easy to perceive in each particular case after the crime is com mitted, it is impossible to enumerate or define before hand ; or to ascertain however with that exactness which is requisite in legal descriptions. Hence, although it be necessary to fix by precise rules of law the boundary on one side, that is, the limit to which the punishment may be extended ; and also that nothing less than the authority of the whole legislature be suffered to deter mine that boundary, and assign these rules ; yet the mitigation of punishment, the exercise of lenity, may without danger be entrusted to the executive magistrate, whose discretion will operate upon those numerous, unforeseen, mutable, and indefinite circumstances, both of the crime and the criminal, which constitute or qualify the malignity of each "offence. Without the power of relaxation lodged in a living authority, either some offenders would escape capital punishment, whom the public safety required to suffer ; or some would undergo this punishment, where it was neither deserved nor necessary. For if judgment of death were reserved for one or two species of crimes only (which would probably be the case if that judgment was intended to be executed without exception), crimes might occur of the most dangerous example, and accompanied with circumstances of heinous aggravation, which did not fall within any description of offences that the laws had made capital, and which consequently could not receive the punishment their own malignity and the public safety required. What is worse, it would be known beforehand, that such crimes might be committed with out danger to the offender's life. On the other hand, POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 7 if to reach these possible cases, the whole class of offences to which they belong be subjected to pains of death, and no power pf remitting this severity remain anywhere, the execution of the laws will become more sanguinary than the public compassion would endure, or than is necessary to the general security. The law of England is constructed upon a different and a better policy. By the number of statutes creating capital offences, it sweeps into the net every crime which, under any possible circumstances, may merit the punishment pf death : but when the execution of this sentence comes to be deliberated upon, a small proportion of each class are singled out, the general character, or the peculiar aggravations, of whose crimes, render them fit examples of public justice. By this expedient, few actually suffer death, whilst the dread and danger of it hang over the crimes of many. The tenderness of the law cannot be taken advantage of. The life of the subject is spared as far as the necessity of restraint and intimidation permits ; yet no one will adventure upon the commission of any enormous crime, from a knowledge that the laws have not provided for its punishment. The wisdom and humanity of this design furnish a just excuse for the multiplicity of capital offences, which the laws of England are accused of creating beyond those of other countries. The charge of cruelty is answered by observing, that these laws were never meant to be carried into indiscriminate execution ; that the legislature, when it establishes its last and highest sanctions, trusts to the benignity of the crown to relax their severity, as often as circum stances appear to palliate the offence, or even as often as those circumstances of aggravation are wanting which rendered this rigorous interposition necessary. Upon this plan, it is enough to vindicate the lenity of the laws, that some instances are to be found in each 8 MORAL AND class of capital crimes, which require the restraint of capital punishment, and that this restraint could not be applied without subjecting the whole class to the same condemnation. There is, however, one species of crimes, the making of which capital can hardly, I think, be defended even upon the comprehensive principle just now stated ; — I mean that of privately stealing from the person. As every degree of force is excluded by the description of the crime, it will be difficult to assign an example where either the amount or circumstances of the theft place it upon a level with those dangerous attempts to which the punishment of death should be confined. It will be still more difficult to show, that, without gross and culpable negligence on the part of the sufferer, such examples can ever become so frequent, as to make it necessary to constitute a class of capital offences of very wide and large extent. The prerogative of pardon is properly reserved to the chief magistrate. The power of suspending the laws is a privilege of too high a nature to be committed to many hands, or to those of any inferior officer in the state. The king also can best collect the advice by which his resolutions should be governed ; and is at the same time removed at the greatest distance from the influence of private motives. But, let this power be deposited where it will, the exercise of it ought to be regarded, not as a favour to be yielded to solici tation, granted to friendship, or, least of all, to be made subservient to the conciliating or gratifying of political attachments, but as a judicial act ; as a deli beration to be conducted with the same character of impartiality, with the same exact and diligent attention to the proper merits and circumstances of the case, as that which the judge upon the bench was expected to maintain and show in the trial of the prisoner's guilt. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. (J The questions, whether the prisoner be guilty, and whether, being guilty, he ought to be executed, are equally questions of public justice. The adjudication of the latter question is as much a function of magis tracy, as the trial of the former. The public welfare is interested in both. The conviction of an offender should depend upon nothing but the proof of his guilt ; nor the execution of the sentence upon anything beside the quality and circumstances of his crime. It is ne cessary to the good order of society, and to the repu tation and authority of government, that this be known • and believed to be the case in each part of the proceed ing. Which reflections show, that the admission of extrinsic or oblique considerations, in dispensing the power of pardon, is a crime, in the authors and advisers, of such unmerited partiality, of the same nature with that of corruption in a judge. Aggravations, which ought to guide the magistrate in the selection of objects of condign punishment, are principally these three, — repetition, cruelty, combina tion. The first two, it is manifest, add to every reason upon which the justice or the necessity of rigorous measures can be founded ; and with respect to the last circumstance, it may be observed, that when thieves and robbers are once collected into gangs, their violence becomes more formidable, the confederates more despe rate, and the difficulty of defending the public against their depredations much greater, than in the cases of solitary adventurers. Which several considerations compose a distinction that is properly adverted to, in deciding upon the fate of convicted malefactors. In crimes, however, which are perpetrated by a mul titude, or by a gang, it is proper to separate, in the punishment, the ringleader from his followers, the prin cipal from his accomplices, and even the person who struck the blow, broke the lock, or first entered the 10 MORAL AND house, from those who joined him in the felony ; not so much on account of any distinction in the guilt of the offenders, as for the sake of casting an obstacle in the way of such confederacies, by rendering it difficult for the confederates to settle who shall begin the attack, or to find a man amongst their number willing to expose himself to greater danger than his associates. This is another instance in which the punishment which expe dience directs does not pursue the exact proportion of the crime. Injuries effected by terror and violence are those which it is the first and chief concern of legal govern ment to repress ; because their extent is unlimited ; because no private precaution can protect the subject against them ; because they endanger life and safety, as well as property ; and, lastly, because they render the condition of society wretched, by a sense of per sonal insecurity. These reasons do not apply to frauds which circumspection may prevent ; which must wait for opportunity ; which can proceed only to certain limits ; and by the apprehension of which, although the business of life be incommoded, life itself is not made miserable. The appearance of this distinction has led some humane writers to express a wish that capital punishments might be confined to crimes of violence. In estimating the comparative malignancy of crimes of violence, regard is to be had, not only to the proper and intended mischief of the crime, but to the fright occasioned by the attack, to the general alarm excited by it in others, and to the consequences which may attend future attempts of the same kind. Thus, in affixing the punishment of burglary, or of breaking into dwell ing-houses by night, we are to consider not only the peril to which the most valuable property is exposed by this crime, and which may be called the direct mischief of it, but the danger also of murder in case of POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 1 1 resistance, or for the sake of preventing discovery ; and the universal dread with which the silent and defence less hours of rest and sleep must be disturbed, were attempts of this sort to become frequent ; and which dread alone, even without the mischief which is the object of it, is not only a public evil, but almost of all evils the most insupportable. These circumstances place a difference between the breaking into a dwelling- house by day, and by night ; which difference obtains in the punishment of the offence by the law of Moses, and is probably to be found in the judicial codes of most countries, from the earliest ages to the present. Of frauds, or of injuries which are effected without force, the most noxious kinds are, — forgeries, counter feiting or diminishing of the coin, and the stealing of letters in the course of their conveyance ; inasmuch as these practices tend to deprive the public of accommo dations which not, only improve the conveniences of social life, but are essential to the prosperity, and even the existence of commerce. Of these crimes it may be said, that although they seem to affect property alone, the mischief of their operation does not terminate there. For let it be supposed, that the remissness or lenity of the laws should, in any country, suffer offences of this sort to grow into such a frequency, as to render the use of money, the circulation of bills, or the public convey ance of letters, no longer safe or practicable ; what would follow, but that every species of trade and of activity must decline under these discouragements ; the sources of subsistence fail, by which the inhabitants of the country are supported ; the country itself, where the intercourse of civil life was so endangered and defec tive, be deserted; and that, beside the distress and poverty which the loss of employment would produce to the industrious and valuable part of the existing com munity, a rapid depopulation must take place, each 12 MORAL AND generation becoming less numerous than the last ; till solitude and barrenness overspread the land ; until a desolation similar to what obtains in many countries of Asia, which were once the most civilised and frequented parts of the world, succeed in the place of crowded cities, of cultivated fields, of happy and well-peopled regions ? When therefore we carry forward our views to the more distant, but not less certain consequences of these crimes, we perceive that, though no living creature be destroyed by them, yet human life is dimi nished : that an offence, the particular consequence of which deprives only an individual of a small portion of his property, and which even in its general tendency seems to do nothing more than obstruct the enjoyment of certain public conveniences, may, nevertheless, by its ultimate effects, conclude in the laying waste of human existence. This observation will enable those who re gard the divine rule of "life for life, and blood for blood" as the only authorised and justifiable measure of capital punishment, to perceive, with respect to the effects and quality of the actions, a greater resemblance than they suppose to exist between certain atrocious frauds, and those crimes which attack personal safety. In the case of forgeries, there appears a substantial difference between the forging of bills of exchange, or of securities which are circulated, and of which the circulation and currency are found to serve and facilitate valuable purposes of commerce ; and the forging of bonds, leases, mortgages, or of instruments which are not commonly transferred from one hand to another ; because, in the former case, credit is necessarily given to the signature, and without that credit the negotiation of such property could not be carried on, nor the public utility, sought from it, be attained : in the other case, all possibility of deceit might be precluded by a direct communication between the parties, or by due POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 13 care in the choice of their agents, with little interrup tion to business, and without destroying, or much en cumbering, the uses for which these instruments are calculated. This distinction I apprehend to be not only real, but precise enough to afford a line of division be tween forgeries, which, as the law now stands, are almost universally capital, and punished with undistin- guishing severity. Perjury is another crime of the same class and magnitude. And, when we consider what reliance is necessarily placed upon oaths ; that all judicial deci sions proceed upon testimony ; that consequently there is not a right that a man possesses of which false wit nesses may not deprive him'; that reputation, property, and life itself, lie open to the attempts of perjury ; that it may often be committed without a possibility of con tradiction or discovery ; that the success and preva lence of this vice tend to introduce the most grievous and fatal injustice into the administration of human affairs, or such a distrust of testimony as must create universal embarrassment and confusion : — when we re flect upon these mischiefs, we shall be brought, pro bably, to agree with the opinion of those who contend that perjury, in its punishment, especially that which is attempted in solemn evidence, and in the face of a court of justice, should be placed upon a level with the most flagitious frauds. The obtaining of money by secret threats, whether we regard the difficulty with which the crime is traced out, the odious imputations to which it may lead, or the profligate conspiracies that are sometimes formed to carry it into execution, deserves to be reckoned amongst the worst species of robbery. The frequency of capital executions in this country owes its necessity to three causes ; — much liberty, great cities, and the want of a punishment, short of death, 14 MORAL AND possessing a sufficient degree of terror. And if the taking away of the Hfe of malefactors be more rare in other countries than in ours, the reason will be found in some difference in these articles. The liberties of a free people, and still more the jealousy with which these liberties are watched, and by which they are pre served, permit not those precautions and restraints, that inspection, scrutiny, and control, which are exercised Math success in arbitrary governments. For example, neither the spirit of the laws, nor of the people, will suffer the detention or confinement of suspected per sons, without proofs of their guilt, which it is often impossible to obtain ; nor will they allow that masters of families be obliged to record and render up a descrip tion of the strangers or inmates whom they entertain ; nor that an account be demanded, at the pleasure of the magistrate, of each man's time, employment, and means of subsistence ; nor securities to be required when these accounts appear unsatisfactory or dubious ; nor men to be apprehended upon the mere suggestion of idleness or vagrancy ; nor to be confined to certain districts ; nor the inhabitants of each district to be made responsible for one another's behaviour ; nor passports to be exacted from all persons entering or leaving the kingdom : least of all will they tolerate the appearance of an armed force, or of military law ; or suffer the streets and public roads to be guarded and patrolled by soldiers ; or, lastly, intrust the police with such discretionary powers, as may make sure of the guilty, however they involve the innocent. These expedients, although arbitrary and rigorous, are many of them effectual: and in proportion as they render the commis sion or concealment of crimes more difficult, they sub tract from the necessity of severe punishment Great cities multiply crimes, by presenting easier opportuni ties, and more incentives to libertinism, which in low POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 1,5 life is commonly the introductory stage to other enor mities ; by collecting thieves and robbers into the same neighbourhood, which enables them to form communi cations and confederacies, that increase their art and courage as well as strength and wickedness ; but principally by the refuge they afford to villany, in the means of concealment, and of subsisting in secrecy, which crowded towns supply to men of every descrip tion. These temptations and facilities can" only be counteracted by adding to the number of capital punishments — But a third cause, which increases the frequency of capital executions in England, is, a defect of the laws, in not being provided with any other punishment than that of death sufficiently terrible to keep offenders in awe. Transportation, which is the sentence second in the order of severity, appears to me to answer the purpose of example very imperfectly : not only because exile is in reality a slight punishment to those who have neither property, nor friends, nor reputation, nor regular means of subsistence, at home ; and because their situation becomes little worse by their crime, than it was before they committed it ; but be cause the punishment, whatever it be, is unobserved and unknown. A transported convict may suffer under his sentence, but his sufferings are removed from the view of his countrymen : his misery is unseen ; his con dition strikes no terror into the minds of those for whose warning and admonition it was intended. This chasm in the scale of punishment produces also two farther imperfections in the administration of penal justice : — the first is, that the same punishment is extended to crimes of very different character and malignancy : the second, that punishments separated by a great interval, are assigned to crimes hardly distinguishable in their guilt and mischief. The end of punishment is twofold ; — amendment, 16 MORAL AND and example. In the first of these, the reformation of criminals, little has ever been effected, and little, I fear, is practicable. From every species of punishment that has hitherto been divised, from imprisonment and exile, from pain and infamy, malefactors return more hardened in their crimes, and more instructed. If there be any thing that shakes the soul of a confirmed villain, it is the expectation of approaching death. The horrors of this situation may cause such a wrench in the mental organs, as to give them a holding turn : and I think it probable, that many of those who are executed, would, if they were delivered at the point of death, retain such a remembrance of their sensations, as might preserve them, unless urged by extreme want, from relapsing into their former crimes. But this is an experiment that, from its nature, cannot be repeated often. Of the reforming punishments which have not yet been tried, none promises so much success as that of solitary imprisonment, or the confinement of criminals in separate apartments. This improvement augments the terror ofthe punishment ; secludes the criminal from the society of his fellow-prisoners, in which society the worse are sure to corrupt the better ; weans him from the knowledge of his companions, and from the love of that turbulent and precarious life in which his vices had engaged him ; is calculated to raise up in him reflections on the folly of his choice, and to dispose his mind to such bitter and continued penitence, as may produce a lasting alteration in the principles of his conduct. As aversion to labour is the cause from which half of the vices of low life deduce their origin and continu ance, punishments ought to be contrived with a view to the conquering of this disposition. Two opposite ex pedients have been recommended for this purpose ; the one, solitary confinement, with hard labour ; the other, solitary confinement, with nothing to do. Both expe- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 17 dients seek the same end ; — to reconcile the idle to a life of industry. The former hopes to effect this by making labour habitual ; the latter, by making idleness insupportable: and the preference of one method to the other depends upon the question, whether a man is more likely to betake himself, of his own accord, to work, who has been accustomed to employment, or who has been distressed by the want of it. When jails are once provided for the separate confinement of prisoners, which both proposals require, the choice between them may soon be determined by experience. If labour be exacted, I would leave the whole, or a portion, of the earnings to the prisoner's use, and I would debar him from any other provision or supply : that his subsistence, however coarse and penurious, may be proportioned to his diligence, and that he may taste the advantage of industry together with the toil. I would go farther ; I would measure the confinement, not by the duration of the time, but by quantity of work, in order .both to excite industry, and to render it more voluntary. But the principal difficulty remains still ; namely, how to dispose of criminals after their enlargement. By a rule of life, which is perhaps too invariably and indiscrimi nately adhered to, no one will receive a man or woman out of a jail into any service or employment whatever. This is the common misfortune of public punishments, that they preclude the offender from all honest means of future support.* It seems incumbent upon the state to secure a maintenance to those who are willing to work for it ; and yet it is absolutely necessary to divide criminals as far asunder from one another as possible. Whether male prisoners might not, after the term of * Until this inconvenience be remedied, small offences had per haps better go unpunished : I do not mean that the law should exempt them from punishment, but that private persons should be tender in prosecuting them. VOL. II. C 18 MORAL AND their confinement was expired, be distributed in the country, detained within certain limits, and employed upon the public roads ; and females be remitted to the overseers of country parishes, to be there furnished with dwellings, and with the materials and implements of occupation ; — whether by these, or by what other methods, it may be possible to effect the two purposes of employment and dispersion, well merits the attention of all who are anxious to perfect the internal regulation of their country. Torture is applied either to obtain confessions of guilt, or to exasperate or prolong the pains of death. No bodily punishment, however excruciating or long- continued, receives the name of torture, unless it be de signed to kill the criminal by a more\ lingering death, or to -extort from him the discovery of some secret which is supposed to lie concealed in his breast. The question by torture appears to be equivocal in its effects : for, since extremity of pain, and not any consciousness of remorse in the mind, produces those effects, an innocent man may sink under the torment, as well as he who is guilty. The latter has as much to fear from yielding, as the former. The instant and almost irresistible desire of relief may draw from one sufferer false accusations of himself or others, as it may sometimes extract the truth out of another. This ambiguity renders the use of tor ture, as a means of procuring information in criminal proceedings, liable to the risk of grievous and irre parable injustice. For which reason, though recom mended by ancient and general example, it has been properly exploded from the mild and cautious system of penal jurisprudence established in this country. Barbarous spectacles of human agony are justly found fault with, as tending to harden and deprave the public feelings, and to destroy that sympathy with which the sufferings of our fellow-creatures ought always to be POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 19 seen ; or, if no effect of this kind follow from them, they counteract in some measure their own design, by sinking men's abhorrence of the crime in their com miseration of the criminal. But if a mode of execution could be divised, which would augment the horror of the punishment, without offending or impairing the public sensibility by cruel or unseemly exhibitions of death, it might add something to the efficacy of the example : and, by being reserved for a few atrocious crimes, might also enlarge the scale of punishment ; an ad dition to which seems wanting ; for, as the matter remains at present, you hang a malefactor for a simple robbery, and can do no more to the villain, who has poisoned his father. Somewhat of the sort we have been describing was the proposal, not long since sug gested, of casting murderers into a den of wild beasts, where they would perish in a manner dreadful to the imagination, yet concealed from the view. Infamous punishments are mismanaged in this coun try, with respect both to the crimes and the criminals. In the first place, they ought to be confined to offences which are holden in undisputed and universal detestation. To condemn to the pillory the author or editor of a libel against the state, who has rendered himself the favourite of a party, if not of the people, by the very act for which he stands there, is to gratify the offender, and to expose the laws to mockery and insult. In the second place : the delinquents who receive this sentence, are for the most part such as have long ceased either to value reputation, or to fear shame ; of whose happiness, and of whose enjoyments, character makes no part. Thus the low ministers of libertinism, the keepers of bawdy or dis orderly houses, are threatened in vain with a punishment that affects a sense which they have not ; that applies solely to the imagination, to the virtue and the pride of human Nature. The pillory, or any other infamous c 2 20 MORAL AND distinction, might be employed rightly, and with effect, in the punishment of some offences of higher life ; as of frauds and peculation in office ; of collusions and connivances, by which the public treasury is defrauded; of breaches of trust ; of perjury, and subornation of perjury ; of the clandestine and forbidden sale of places ; of flagrant abuses of authority, or neglect of duty; and, lastly, of corruption in the exercise of confidential or judicial offices. In all which, the more elevated was the station of the criminal, the more signal and con spicuous would be the triumph of justice. The certainty of punishment is of more consequence than the severity. Criminals do not so much flatter themselves with the lenity of the sentence, as with the hope of escaping. They are not so apt to compare what they gain"by the crime with what they may suffer from the punishment, as to encourage themselves with the chance of concealment or flight. For which reason, a vigilant magistracy, an accurate police, a proper distribution of force and intelligence, together with due rewards for the discovery and apprehension of malefactors, and an undeviating impartiality in carrying the laws into exe cution, contribute more, to the restraint and suppression of crimes than any violent exacerbations of punishment. And, for the same reason, of all contrivances directed to this end, those perhaps are most effectual which facilitate the conviction of criminals. The offence of counterfeiting the coin could not be checked by all the terrors and the utmost severity of law, whilst the act of coining was necessary to be established by specific proof. The statute which made possession of the im plements of coining capital, that is, which constituted that possession complete evidence of the offender's guilt, was the first thing that gave force and efficacy to the denunciations of law upon this subject. The statute of James the First, relative to the murder of bastard POLITICAL PHILOSOPHV. 21 children, which ordains that the concealment of the birth should be deemed incontestable proof of the charge, though a harsh law, was, in like manner with the former, well calculated to put a stop to the crime. It is upon the principle of this observation, that I apprehended much harm to have been done to the com munity, by the overstrained scrupulousness, or weak timidity, of juries, which demands often such proof of a prisoner's guilt, as the nature and secrecy of his crime scarce possibly admit of; and which holds it the part of a safe conscience not to condemn any man, whilst there exists the minutest possibility of his innocence. Any story they may happen to have heard or read, whether real or feigned, in which courts of justice have been misled by presumptions of guilt, is enough, in their minds, to found an acquittal upon, where positive proof is wanting. I do not mean that juries should indulge conjectures, should magnify suspicions into proofs, or even that they should weigh probabilities in. gold scales .- but when the preponderation of evidence is so manifest as to persuade every private understanding of the pri soner's guilt ; when it furnishes the degree of credi bility upon which men decide and act in all other doubts, and which experience hath shown that they may de cide and act upon with sufficient safety ; to reject such proof, from ah insinuation of. uncertainty that belongs to all human affairs, and from a general dread lest the charge of innocent blood should lie at their doors, is a conduct, which, however natural to a mind studious of its own quiet, is authorised by no considerations of rec titude or utility. It counteracts the care and damps the activity of government ; it holds out public encourage ment to villany, by confessing the impossibility of. bring ing villains to justice ; and that species of encourage ment which, as hath been just now observed, the minds of such men are most apt to entertain and dwell upon. 22 MORAL AND There are two popular maxims which seem to have a considerable influence in producing the injudicious acquittals of which we complain. One is : — " That circumstantial evidence falls short of positive proof." This assertion, in the unqualified sense in which it is applied, is not true. A concurrence of well-authenti cated circumstances composes a stronger ground of as surance than positive testimony, unconfirmed by cir cumstances, usually affords. Circumstances cannot lie. The conclusion also which results from them, though deduced by only probable inference, is commonly more to be relied upon than the veracity of an unsupported solitary witness. The danger of being deceived is less, the actual instances of deception are fewer, in the one case than the other. What is called positive proof in criminal matters, as where a man swears to the person of the prisoner, and that he actually saw him commit the crime with which he is charged, may be founded in the mistake or perjury of a single witness. Such mis takes, and such perjuries, are not without many ex amples. Whereas, to impose upon a court of justice a chain of circumstantial evidence in support of a fabri cated accusation, requires such a number of false wit nesses as seldom meet together ; a union also of skill and wickedness which is still more rare; and, after all, this species of proof lies much more open to discussion, and is more likely, if false, to be contradicted, or to betray itself by some unforeseen inconsistency, than that direct proof, which, being confined within the knowledge of a single person, which, appealing to, or standing connected with, no external or collateral cir cumstances, is mcapable, by its very simphcity, of being confronted with opposite probabilities. The other maxim, which deserves a similar examina tion, is this : — " That it is better that ten guilty per sons escape, than that one innocent man should suffer." POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 23 If by saying it is better, be- meant that it is more for the public advantage, the proposition, I think, cannot be maintained. The security of civil life-, which is essen tial to the value and the enjoyment of every blessing it contains, and the interruption of which is followed by universal misery and confusion, is protected chiefly by the dread of punishment. The misfortune of an indi vidual (for such may the sufferings, or even death, of an innocent person be called, when they are occa sioned by no evil intention) cannot be placed in com petition with this object. I do not contend that the life or safety of the meanest subject ought, in any ease, to be knowingly sacrificed ; no principle of judicature, no end of punishment, can ever require that. But when certain rules of adjudication must be pur sued, when certain degrees of credibility must be ac cepted, in order to reach the crimes with which the public are infested, courts of justice should not be deterred from the application of these rules, by every suspicion of danger, or by the mere possibility of con founding the innocent with the guilty. They ought ra ther to reflect, that he who falls by a mistaken sentence may be considered as falling for his country ; whilst he suffers under the operation of those rules, by the general effect and tendency of which the welfare of the eom- munitY is maintained and upholden. CHAP. X. OF RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS AND OF TOLERATION. " A religious establishment is no part of Christian ity; it is only the means of inculcating it." Amongst the Jews, the rights and offices, the order, family, and 24 MORAL AND succession ofthe priesthood, were marked out by the au, thority which declared the law itself. These, therefore, were parts of the Jewish religion, as well as the means of transmitting it. Not so with the new institution. It cannot be proved that any form of church-government was laid down in the Christian, as it had been in the Jewish, Scriptures, with a view of fixing a constitution for succeeding ages ; and which constitution, conse quently, the disciples of Christianity would everywhere, and at all times, by the very law of their religion, be obliged to adopt. Certainly, no command for this pur pose was delivered by Christ himself ; and if it be shown that the apostles ordained bishops and presbyters amongst their first converts, it must be remembered that deacons also and deaconesses were appointed by them, with functions very dissimilar to any which obtain in the church at present. The truth seems to havebeen, that such offices were at first erected in the Christian church, as the good order, the instruction, and the exigencies, of the society at that time required, without any intention, at least without any declared design, of regulating the appointment, authority, or the distinction, of Christian ministers under future circumstances. This reserve, if we may so call it, in the Christian Legisla tor, is sufficiently accounted for by two considerations : — First, that no precise constitution could be framed which would suit with the condition of Christianity in its primitive state, and with that which it was to assume when it should be advanced into a national religion : Secondly, that a particular designation of office or au thority amongst the ministers ofthe new religion, might have so interfered with the arrangements of civil policy, as to have formed, in some countries, a considerable obstacle to the progress and reception of the rehgion itself. The authority therefore of a church-establishment is POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 25 founded in its utility : and whenever, upon this princi ple, we deliberate concerning the form, propriety, or comparative excellence, of different establishments, the single view under which we ought to consider any of them is, that of " a scheme of instruction ;" the single end we ought to propose by them is, " the preservation and communication of religious knowledge." Every other idea, and every other end, that have been mixed with this, as the making of the church an engine, or even an ally, of the state ; converting it into the means of strengthening or diffusing influence ; or regarding it as a support of regal in opposition to popular forms of government ; have served only to debase the institu tion, and to introduce into it numerous corruptions and abuses. The notion of a religious establishment comprehends three things : — a clergy, or an order of men secluded from other professions to attend upon the offices of reli gion ; a legal provisionfor the maintenance of the clergy ; and the confining of that provision to the teachers of a particular sect of Christianity. If any one of these three things be wanting; if there be no clergy, as amongst the Quakers ; or if the clergy have no other provision than what they derive from the voluntary contribution of the hearers ; or if the provision which the laws assign to the support of religion be extended to various sects and denominations of Christians ; there exists no national religion or established church, according to the sense which these terms are usually made to convey. He, therefore, who would defend ecclesiastical estab lishments, must show the separate utility of these three essential parts of their constitution : — 1. The question first in order upon the subject, as well as the most fundamental in its importance, is, whether the knowledge and profession of Christianity can be maintained in a country without a class of men 26 MOEAL AND set apart by public authority to the study and teaching of religion, and to the conducting of public worship ; and for these purposes secluded from other employ ments. I add this last circumstance, because in it con sists, as I take it, the substance of the controversy. Now, it) must be remembered, that Christianity is an historical religion, founded in facts which are related to have passed, upon discourses Vhich were holden, and letters which were written, in a remote age and distant country of the world, as well as under a state of life and manners, and during the prevalence of opi nions, customs, and institutions, very unlike any which are found amongst mankind at present. Moreover, this religion, having been first published in the country of Judea, and being built upon the more ancient religion of the Jews, is necessarily and intimately connected with the sacred writings, with the history and polity of that singular people : to which must be added, that the records of both revelations are preserved in lan guages which have long ceased to be spoken in any part of the world. Books which come down to us from times so remote, and under so many causes of unavoid able obscurity, cannot, it is evident, be understood without study and preparation. The languages must be learned. The various writings which these volumes contain must be carefully compared with one another and with themselves. What remains of contemporary authors, or of authors connected with the age, the country, or the subject, of our Scriptures, must be perused and consulted, in order to interpret doubtful forms of speech, and to explain allusions which refer to objects or usages that no longer exist. Above all, the modes of expression, the habits of reasoning and argumentation, which were then in use, and to which the discourses, even of inspired teachers were necessa rily adapted, must be sufficiently known, and can only POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 27 - be known at all by a due acquaintance with ancient literature. And, lastly, to establish the genuineness and integrity of the canonical Scriptures themselves, a series of testimony, recognising the notoriety and reception of these books, must be deduced from times near to those of their first publication, down the succession of ages through which they have been transmitted to us. The qualifications necessary for such researches demand, it is confessed, a degree of leisure, and a kind of education, inconsistent with the exercise of any other profession — But how few are there amongst the clergy, from whom anything of this sort can be expected ! how small a proportion of their number, who seem likely either to augment the fund of sacred literature, or even to collect what is already known ! — To this objection it may be replied, that we sow many seeds to raise one flower. In order to produce a few capable of improving and continuing the stock of Christian erudition, leisure and opportunity must be afforded to great numbers. Original knowledge of this kind can never be universal ; but it is of the utmost importance, and it is enough, that there be, at all times, found some qualified for such inquiries, and in whose concurring and independent conclusions upon each subject, the rest of the Christian community may safely confide : whereas, without an order of clergy educated for the purpose, and led to the prosecution of these studies by the habits, the leisure, and the object, of their vocation, it may well be questioned whether the learning itself would not have been lost, by whieh the records of our faith are interpreted and defended. We contend, therefore, that an order of clergy is necessary to perpetuate the evi dences of revelation, and to interpret the obscurity of those ancient writings, in which the religion is con tained. But besides this, which forms, no doubt, one design of their institution, the more ordinary offices of 28 MORAL AND public teaching, and of conducting public worship, call for qualifications not usually to be met with amidst the employments of civil life. It has been acknowledged by some, who cannot be suspected of making unneces sary concessions in favour of establishments, " to be barely possible, that a person who was never educated for the office should acquit himself with decency as a public teacher of religion." And that surely must be a very defective policy which trusts to possibilities for success, when provision is to be made for regular and general instruction. Little objection to this argument can be drawn from the example of the Quakers, who, it mav be said, furnish an experimental proof that the worship and profession of Christianity may be upholden without a separate clergy. These sectaries everywhere subsist in conjunction with a regular establishment. They have access to the writings, they profit by the labours, ofthe clergy, in common with other Christians. They participate in that general diffusion of religious knowledge, which the constant teaching of a more regular ministry keeps up in the country : with such aids, and under such circumstances, the defects of a plan may not be much felt, although the plan itself be altogether unfit for general imitation. 2. If then an order of clergy be necessary, if it be necessary also to seclude them from the employments and profits of other professions, it is evident they ought to be enabled to derive a maintenance from their own. Now, this maintenance must either depend upon the voluntary contributions of their hearers, or arise from revenues assigned by authority of law. To the scheme of voluntary contribution there exists this insurmount able objection, that few would ultimately contribute any thing at all. However the zeal of a sect, or the novelty of a change, might support such an experiment for awhile, no reliance could be placed upon it as a general POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 29 and permanent provision. It is at all times a bad con stitution which presents temptations of interest in op position to the duties of religion ; or which makes the offices of religion expensive to those who attend upon them ; or which allows pretences of conscience to be an excuse for not sharing in a public burden. If, by declining to frequent religious assemblies, men could save their money, at the same time that they indulged their indolence, and their disinclination to exercises of seriousness and reflection ; or if, by dissenting from the national rehgion, they could be excused from con tributing to the support of the ministers of religion ; it is to be feared that many would take advantage of the option which was thus imprudently left open to them, and that this Uberty might finally operate to the decay of virtue, and an irrecoverable forgetfulness of all religion in the country. Is there not too much reason to fear, that, if it were referred to the discretion of each neighbourhood, whether they would maintain amongst them a teacher of religion or not, many dis tricts would remain unprovided with any ? that, with the difficulties which encumber every measure requir ing the co-operation of numbers, and where each in dividual of the number has an interest secretly plead ing against the success of the measure itself, associa tions for the support of Christian worship and instruc tion would neither be numerous nor long-continued ? The devout and pious might lament in vain the want or the distance of a religious assembly ; they could not form or maintain one without the concurrence of neigh bours who felt neither their zeal nor their liberality. From the difficulty with which congregations would be established and upheld upon the voluntary plan, let us carry our thoughts to the condition of those who are to officiate in them. Preaching, in time, would become a mode of begging. With what sincerity, or 30 MORAL AND with what dignity, can a preacher dispense the truths of Christianity, whose thoughts are perpetually soli cited to the reflection how he may increase his sub scription? His eloquence, if he possess any, resembles rather the exhibition of a player who is computing the profits of his theatre, than the simplicity of a man who, feeling himself the awfuL expectations of religion, is seeking to bring others to such a sense and understand ing of their duty as may save their souls. Moreover, a little experience of the disposition of the common people will in every country inform us, that it is one thing to edify them in Christian knowledge, and another to gratify their taste for vehement, impassioned oratory ; that he not only whose success, but whose subsistence, depends upon collecting and pleasing a crowd, must resort to other arts than the acquirement and com munication of sober and profitable instruction. For a preacher to be thus at the mercy of his audience ; to be obliged to adapt his doctrines to the pleasure of a capricious multitude ; to be continually affecting a style and manner neither natural to him, nor agreeable to his judgment ; to Hve in constant bondage to tyrannical and insolent directors ; are circumstances so mortifying, not only to the pride of the human heart, but to the virtuous love of independence, that they are rarely submitted to without a sacrifice of principle, and a depravation of character ; at least it may be pro nounced that a ministry so degraded would soon fall into the lowest hands : for it would be found impossi ble to engage men of worth and ability in so pre carious and humiliating a profession. If, in deference then to these reasons, it be admitted, that a legal provision for the clergy, compulsory upon those who contribute to it, is expedient, the next question will be, whether this provision should be con fined to one sect of Christianity, or extended indif- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 31 ferently to all ? Now, it should be observed, that this question never can offer itself where the people are agreed in their religious opinions ; and that it never ought to arise, where a system may be framed of doc trines and worship wide enough to comprehend their disagreement ; and which might satisfy all, by uniting all in the articles of their common faith, and in a mode of divine worship that omits every subject of controversy or offence. Where such a comprehension is practicable, the comprehending religion ought to be made that of the state. But if this be despaired of ; if religious opinions exist, not only so various, but so contradictory, as to render it impossible to reconcile them to each other, or to any one confession of faith, rule of discipline, or form of worship ; if, consequently, separate congregations and different sects must una voidably continue in the country ; under such circum stances, whether the laws ought to establish one sect in preference to the rest, that is, whether they ought to confer the provision assigned to the maintenance of religion upon the teachers of one system of doctrines alone, becomes a question of necessary discussion and of great importance. And whatever we may deter mine concerning speculative rights and abstract pro prieties, when we set about the framing of an ecclesi astical constitution adapted to real Hfe, and to the actual state of religion in the country, we shall find this ques tion very nearly related to and principally indeed de pendant upon another ; namely, " In what way, or by whom, ought the ministers of religion to be appointed?" If the species of patronage be retained to which we are accustomed in this country, and which allows private individuals to nominate teachers of religion for districts and congregations to which they are absolute strangers ; without some test proposed to the persons nominated, the utmost discordance of rehgious opinions might 32 MORAL AND arise between the several teachers and their respective congregations. A Popish patron might appoint a priest to say mass to a congregation of Protestants ; an Epis copal clergyman be sent to officiate in a parish of Pres byterians ; or a Presbyterian divine to inveigh against the errors of Popery before an audience of Papists. The requisition then of subscription, or any other test by which the national religion is guarded, may be considered merely as a restriction upon the exercise of private patronage. The laws speak to the private patron thus : — " Of those whom we have previously pro nounced to be fitly qualified to teach religion, we aUow you to select one : but we do not allow you to decide what religion shall be established in a particular district of the country ; for which decision you are no wise fitted by any qualifications which, as a private patron, you may happen to possess. If it be necessary that the point be determined for the inhabitants by any other will than their own, it is surely better that it should be determined by a deliberate resolution of the legislature, than by the casual inclination of an indivi dual, by whom the right is purchased, or to whom it devolves as a mere secular inheritance." Wheresoever, therefore, this constitution of patronage is adopted, a national religion, or the legal preference of one par ticular religion to all others, must almost necessarily accompany it. — But, secondly, let it be supposed that the appointment of the minister of rehgion was in every parish left to the choice of the parishioners, might not this choice, we ask, be safely exercised without its being limited to the teachers of any particular sect ? The effect of such a liberty must be, that a Papist, or Presbyterian, a Methodist, a Moravian, or an Anabaptist, would successively gain possession of the pulpit, ac cording as a majority of the party happened at each election to prevail. Now, with what violence the con- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 33 flict would upon every vacancy be renewed; what bitter animosities would be revived, or rather be constantly fed and kept alive, in the neighbourhood ; with what unconquerable aversion the teacher and his religion would be received by the defeated party ; may be fore seen by those who reflect with how much passion every dispute is carried on, in which the name of religion can be made to mix itself; much more where the cause itself is concerned so immediately asit would be in this. Or, thirdly, if the state appoint the ministers of religion, this constitution will differ little from the establishment of a national religion ; for the state wiU, undoubtedly, appoint those, and those alone, whose religious opinions, or rather whose religious denominations, agree with its own ; unless it be thought that anything would be gained to religious liberty by transferring the choice of the national religion from the legislature of the country to the magistrate who administers the executive govern ment. The only plan which seems to render the legal maintenance of a clergy practicable, without the legal preference of one sect of Christians to others, is that of an experiment which is said to be attempted or de signed in some of the new states of North America. The nature of the plan is thus described : — A tax is levied upon the inhabitants for the general support of religion ; the collector of the tax goes round with a register in his hand, in which are inserted, at the head of so many distinct columns, the names of the several religious sects that are professed in the country. The person who is caUed upon for the assessment, as soon as he has paid his quota, subscribes his name and the sum in which of the columns he pleases ; and the amount of what is collected in each column is paid over to the minister of that denomination. In this scheme it is not left to the option of the subject whether he will con tribute, or how much he shall contribute, to the main- VOL. II. D 34 MORAL AND tenance of a Christian ministry ; it is only referred to his choice to determine by what sect his contribution shall be received. The above arrangement is undoubt edly the best that has been proposed upon this prin ciple ; it bears the appearance of liberality and justice ; it may contain some solid advantages ; nevertheless, it labours under inconveniences which will be found, I think, upon trial, tooverbalanceallitsrecommendations. It is scarcely compatible with that which is the first requisite in an ecclesiastical establishment, — the divi sion of the country into parishes of a commodious extent. If the parishes be small, and ministers of every denomination be stationed in each (which the plan seems to suppose), the expense of their maintenance will become too burdensome a charge for the country to sup port. If, to reduce the expense, the districts be enlarged, the place of assembling will oftentimes be too far re moved from the residence of the persons who ought to resort to it. Again : the making the pecuniary success of the different teachers of religion to depend on the number and wealth of their respective followers would naturally generate strifes and indecent jealousies amongst them ; as well as produce a polemical and proselyting spirit, founded in or mixed with views of private gain, which would both deprave the principles of the clergy, asnd distract the country with endless contentions. The argument, then, by which ecclesiastical esta- bHshments are defended, proceeds by these steps : The knowledge and profession of Christianity cannot be upholden without a clergy ; a clergy cannot be sup ported without a legal provision ; a legal provision for the clergy cannot be constituted without the preference of one sect of Christians to the rest : and the con clusion wiU be conveniently satisfactory in the degree in which the truth of these several propositions can be made out. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 35 If it be deemed expedient to establish a national religion, that is to say, one sect in preference to all others, some test, by which the teachers of that sect maybe distinguished from the teachers of different sects, appears to be an indispensable consequence. The exist ence of such an establishment supposes it : the very notion of a national religion includes that of a test. But this necessity, which is real, hath, according to the fashion of human affairs, furnished to almost every church a pretence for extending, multiplying, and con tinuing, such tests beyond what the occasion justified. For though some purposes of order and tranquillity may be answered by the establishment of creeds and con fessions, yet they are at aU times attended with serious inconveniences : they check inquiry ; they violate H- berty ; they ensnare the consciences of the clergy, by holding out temptations to prevarication ; however they may express the persuasion, or be accommodated to the controversies or to the fears of the age in which they are composed, in process of time, and by reason of the changes which are wont to take place in the judgment of mankind upon rehgious subjects, they come at length to contradict the actual opinions of the church, whose doctrines they profess to contain ; and they often per petuate the proscription of sects, and tenets, from which any danger has long ceased to be apprehended. It may not follow from these objections, that tests and subscriptions ought to be abolished : but it follows, that they ought to be made as simple and as easy as pos sible ; that they should be adapted, from time to time, to the varying sentiments and circumstances of the church in which they are received ; and that they should at no time advance one step farther than some subsisting necessity requires. If, for instance, promises of conformity to the rites, Hturgy, and offices, of the church, be sufficient to prevent confusion and disorder d 2 36 MORAL AND in the celebration of Divine worship, then such promises ought to be accepted in the place of stricter subscrip tions. If articles of peace, as they are caUed, that is, engagements not to preach certain doctrines, nor to revive certain controversies, would exclude indecent altercations amongst the national clergy, as weU as secure to the public teaching of religion as much of uniformity and quiet as is necessary to edification, then confessions of faith ought to be converted into articles of peace. In a word, it ought to be holden a sufficient reason for relaxing the terms of subscription, or for dropping any or all of the articles to be sub scribed, that no present necessity requires the strict ness which is complained of, or that it should be ex tended to so many points of doctrine. The division of the country into districts, and the stationing in each district a teacher of religion, forms the substantial part in every church establishment. The varieties that have been introduced into the government and discipline of different churches are of inferior im portance when compared with this, in which they all agree. Of these economical questions, none seems more material than that which has been long agitated in the reformed churches of Christendom, whether a parity amongst the clergy, or a distinction of orders in the ministry, be more conducive to the general ends of the institution. In favour of that system which the laws of this country have preferred, we may allege the following reasons : — that it secures tranquillity and subordination amongst the clergy themselves ; that it corresponds with the gradations of rank in civil life, and provides for the edification of each rank, by sta tioning in each an order of clergy of their own class and quality ; and, lastly, that the same fund produces more effect, both as an allurement to men of talents to enter into the church, and as a stimulus to the indus- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 37 try of those who are already in it, when distributed into equal prizes of different value, than when divided into shares. After the state has once established a particular system of faith as a national religion, a question will soon occur, concerning the treatment and toleration of those who dissent from it. This question is properly preceded by another, concerning the right which the civil magistrate possesses to interfere in matters of religion at all ; for, although this right be acknowledged whilst he is em ployed solely in providing means of public instruction, it will probably be disputed (indeed it ever has been), when he proceeds to inflict penalties, to impose restraints or incapacities, on the account of religious distinctions. They who admit no other just original of civil govern ment than what is founded in some stipulation with its subjects, are at liberty to contend that the concerns of religion were excepted out of the social compact ; that, in an affair which can only be transacted between God and a man's own conscience, no commission or authority was ever delegated to the civil magistrate, or could in deed be transferred from the person himself to any other. We, however, who have rejected this theory, because we cannot discover any actual contract between the state and the people, and because we cannot aUow any arbitrary fiction to be made the foundation of real rights and of real obligations, find ourselves precluded from this distinction. The reasoning which deduces the authority of civil government from the will of God, and which collects that will from public expedience alone, binds us to the unreserved conclusion, that the jurisdic tion of the magistrate is limited by no consideration but that of general utility : in plainer terms, that whatever be the subject to be regulated, it is lawful for him to interfere whenever his interference, in its general ten dency, appears to be conducive to the common interest. 38 MORAL AND There is nothing in the nature of religion, as such, which exempts it from the authority of the legislator, when the safety or welfare of the community requires his interposition. It has been said, indeed, that reli gion, pertaining to the interests of a life to come, Hes beyond the province of civil government, the office of which is confined to the affairs of this life. But in reply to this objection, it may be observed, that when the laws interfere even in religion, they interfere only with temporals ; their effects terminate, their power operates only upon those rights and interests which confessedly belong to their disposal. The acts of the legislature, the edicts of the prince, the sentence of the judge, cannot affect my salvation ; nor do they, without the most absurd arrogance, pretend to any such power ; but they may deprive me of liberty, of property, and even of life itself, on account of my religion ; and however I may complain of the injustice of the sentence by which I am condemned, I cannot allege that the ma gistrate has transgressed the boundaries of his jurisdic tion, because the property, the liberty, and the life, of the subject, may be taken away by the authority of the laws, for any reason which, in the judgment of the legislature, renders such a measure necessary to the common welfare. Moreover, as the precepts of religion may regulate aU the offices of life, or may be so con strued as to extend to all, the exemption of rehgion from the control of human laws might afford a plea, which would exclude civil government from every authority over the conduct of its subjects. Religious liberty is, like civil liberty, not an immunity from restraint, but the being restrained by no law but what in a greater degree conduces to the public welfare. StiU it is right " to obey God rather than man." Nothing that we have said encroaches upon the truth of this sacred and undisputed maxim : the right of the POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 39 magistrate to ordain, and the obligation of the subject to obey, in matters of religion, may be very different ; and will be so, as often as they flow from opposite apprehensions of the Divine wiU. In affairs that are properly of a civil nature, in "the things that are Caesar's," this difference seldom happens. The law authorises the act which it enjoins ; revelation being either silent upon the subject, or referring to the laws of the country, or requiring only that men act by some fixed rule, and that this rule be estabUshed by competent authority. But when human laws interpose their direc tion in matters of religion, by dictating, for example, the object or the mode of divine worship ; by prohibiting the profession of some articles of faith, and by exacting that of others, they are liable to clash with what private persons believe to be already settled by precepts of reve lation ; or to contradict what God himself, they think, hath declared to be true. In this case, on whichever side the mistake lies, or whatever plea the state may allege to justify its edict, the subject can have none to excuse his compliance. The same consideration also. points out the distinction, as to the authority of the state, between temporals and spirituals. The magistrate is not to be obeyed in temporals more than in spirituals, where a repugnancy is perceived between his com mands and any credited manifestations of the Divine will ; but such repugnancies are much less likely to arise in one case than the other. When we grant that it is lawful for the magistrate to interfere in religion as often as his interference ap pears to him to conduce, in its general tendency, to the public happiness, it may be argued, from this concession, that since salvation is the highest interest of mankind, and since, consequently, to advance that is to pro mote the public happiness in the best way, and in the greatest degree, in which it can be promoted, it follows, 40 MORAL AND that it is not only the right, but the duty of every magistrate invested with supreme power to enforce upon his subjects the reception of that rehgion which he deems most acceptable to God ; and to enforce it by such methods as may appear most effectual for the end proposed. A Popish king, for example, who should believe that salvation is not attainable out of the pre cincts of the Romish church, would derive a right from our principles (not to say that he would be bound by them) to employ the power with which the constitution intrusted him, and which power, in absolute monarchies, commands the lives and fortunes of every subject of the empire, in reducing his people within that communion. We confess that this consequence is inferred from the principles we have laid down concerning the founda tion of civil authority, not without the resemblance of a regular deduction : we confess also that it is a con clusion which it behoves us to dispose of ; because, if it really follow from our theory of government, the theory itself ought to be given up. Now, it will be remembered that the terms of our proposition are these : "That it is lawful for the magistrate to interfere in the affairs of rehgion, whenever his interference appears to him to conduce, by its general tendency, to the public happiness." The clause of " general tendency," when this rule comes to be applied, will be found a very sig nificant part of the direction. It obliges the magistrate to reflect, not only whether the rehgion which he wishes to propagate amongst his subjects be that which will best secure their eternal welfare ; not only whether the methods he employs be likely to effectuate the esta blishment of that religion ; but also upon this farther question : Whether the kind of interference which he is about to exercise, if it were adopted as a common maxim amongst states and princes, or received as a general rule for the conduct of government in matters of POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 41 religion, would, upon the whole, and in the mass of instances in which his example might be imitated, conduce to the furtherance of human salvation. If the magistrate, for example, should think that, although the application of his power might, in the instance con cerning which he deliberates, advance the true religion, and together with it the happiness of his people, yet that the same engine, in other hands who might assume the right to use it with the like pretensions of reason and authority that he himself alleges, would more fre quently shut out truth, and obstruct the means of salvation ; he would be bound by this opinion, still admitting public utility to be the supreme rule of his conduct, to refrain from expedients, which, whatever particular effects he may expect from them, are, in their general operation, dangerous or hurtful. If there be any difficulty in the subject, it arises from that which is the cause of every difficulty in morals ; — the compe tition of particular or general consequences ; or, what is the same thing, the submission of one general rule to another rule which is still more general. Bearing then in mind, that it is the general tendency of the measure, or, in other words, the effects which would arise from the measure being generally adopted, that fixes upon it the character of rectitude or injustice, we proceed to inquire what is the degree and the sort of interference of secular laws in matters of rehgion, which are likely to be beneficial to the public happi ness. There are two maxims which will in a great measure regulate our conclusions upon this head. The first is, that any form of Christianity is better than no religion at all : the second, that, of different systems of faith, that is the best which is the truest. The first of these positions will hardly be disputed, when we reflect that every sect and modification of Christianity holds out the happiness and misery of another life, as 42 MORAL AND depending chiefly upon the practice of virtue or of vice in this ; and that the distinctions of virtue and vice are nearly the same in aU. A person who acts under the impression of these hopes and fears, though combined with many errors and superstitions, is more likely to advance both the public happiness and his own, than one who is destitute of all expectation of a future account. The latter proposition is founded in the consideration, that the principal importance of religion consists in its influence upon the fate and condition of a future existence. This influence belongs only to that religion which comes from God. A political religion may be framed, which shall embrace the purposes and describe the duties of political society perfectly well ; but if it be not delivered by God, what assurance does it afford, that the decisions of the Divine judgment wiU have any regard to the rules which it contains ? By a man who acts with a view to a future judgment, the authority of a religion is the first thing inquired after ; a religion which wants authority, with him, wants every thing. Since then this authority appertains, not to the religion which is most commodious, — to the religion which is most sublime and efficacious, — to the religion which suits best with the form, or seems most calculated to uphold the power and stability, of civil government, — but only to that religion which comes from God ; we are justified in pronouncing the true religion by its very truth, and independently of all considerations of tendencies, aptnesses, or any other internal quahties whatever, to be universally the best. From the first proposition foUows this inference, that when the state enables its subjects to learn some form of Christianity, by distributing teachers of a religious system throughout the country, and by providing for the maintenance of these teachers at the public expense; that is, in fewer terms, when the laws establish a national POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 43 religion, they exercise a power and an interference, which are Hkely, in their general tendency, to promote the interest of mankind: for, even supposing the species of Christianity which the laws patronise to be erroneous and corrupt, yet when the option lies between this reli gion and no religion at all (which would be the conse quence of leaving the people without any public means of instruction, or any regular celebration of the offices of Christianity), our proposition teaches us that the former alternative is constantly to be preferred. But, after the right of the magistrate to estabHsh a particular religion has been, upon this principle, ad mitted, a doubt sometimes presents itself, whether the religion which he ought to establish, be that which he himself professes, or that which he observes to prevail amongst the majority of the people. Now, when we consider this question with a view to the formation of a general rule upon the subject (which view alone can furnish a just solution of the doubt), it must be assumed to be an equal chance whether of the two religions con tains more of truth, — that of the magistrate, or that of the people. The chance then that is left to truth being equal upon both suppositions, the remaining considera tion wiU be, from which arrangement more efficacy can be expected; — from an order of men appointed to teach the people their own religion, or to convert them to another? In my opinion, the advantage lies on the side ofthe former scheme: and this opinion, if it be assented to, makes it the duty of the magistrate, in the choice of the religion which he establishes, to consult the faith of the nation rather than his own. The case also of dissenters must be determined by the principles just now stated. Toleration is of two kinds ; — the allowing to dissenters the unmolested pro fession and exercise of their religion, but with an exclusion from offices of trust and emolument in the 44 MORAL AND state, which is a partial toleration ; and the admitting them, without distinction, to all the civil privileges and capacities of other citizens, which is a complete tolera tion. The expedience of toleration, and consequently the right of every citizen to demand it, as far as relates to liberty of conscience, and the claim of being protected in the free and safe profession of his religion, isdeducible from the second of those propositions which we have delivered as the grounds of our conclusions upon the subject. That proposition asserts truth, and truth in the abstract, to be the supreme perfection of every religion. The advancement, consequently, and discovery of truth, is that end to which all regulations concerning religion ought principally to be adapted. Now, every species of intolerance which enjoins suppression and silence, and every species of persecution which enforces such injunctions, is adverse to the progress of truth ; foras much as it causes that to be fixed by one set of men, at one time, which is much better, and with much more probability of success, left to the independent and pro gressive inquiry of separate individuals. Truth results from discussion and from controversy ; is investigated by the labours and researches of private persons. What ever, therefore, prohibits these, obstructs that industry and that Hberty which it is the common interest of mankind to promote. In rehgion, as in other subjects, truth, if left to itself, will almost always obtain the ascendancy. If different religions be professed in the same country, and the minds of men remain unfettered and unawed by intimidations of law, that religion which is founded in maxims of reason and credibility wiU gradually gain over the other to it. I do not mean that men will formaUy renounce their ancient religion, but that they wiU adopt into it the more rational doctrines, the improvements and discoveries of the neighbouring sect ; by which means, the worse religion, without the POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 4,5 ceremony of a reformation, will insensibly assimilate itself to the better. If Popery, for instance, and Pro testantism were permitted to dwell quietly together, Papists might not become Protestants (for the name is commonly the last thing that is changed*), but they would become more enlightened and informed ; they would by little and little incorporate into their creed many of the tenets of Protestantism, as well as imbibe a portion of its spirit and moderation. The justice and expedience of toleration we found primarily in its conduciveness to truth, and in the su perior value of truth to that of any other quality which a religion can possess : this is the principal argument ; but there are some auxiliary considerations too impor tant to be omitted. The confining ofthe subject to the religion of the state is a needless violation of natural liberty, and is an instance in which constraint is al ways grievous. Persecution produces no sincere con viction, nor any real change of opinion ; on the contrary, it vitiates the public morals, by driving men to prevari cation ; and commonly ends in a general though secret infidelity, by imposing, under the name of revealed re ligion, systems of doctrine which men cannot believe, and dare not examine : finaUy, it disgraces the charac ter and wounds the reputation of Christianity itself, by making it the author of oppression, cruelty, and bloodshed. Under the idea of religious toleration, I include the toleration of all books of serious argumentation : but I deem it no infringement of religious liberty to restrain the circulation of ridicule, invective, and mockery, upon religious subjects ; because this species of writing ap plies solely to the passions, weakens the judgment, and * Would we let the name stand, we might often attract men, with out their perceiving it, much nearer to ourselves, than, if they did perceive it, they would be willing to come. 46 MORAL AND contaminates the imagination, of its readers ; has no tendency whatever to assist either the investigation or the impression of truth : on the contrary, whilst it stays not to distinguish between the authority of different religions, it destroys ahke the influence of aU. Concerning the admission of dissenters from the esta blished religion to offices and employments in the pub lic service (which is necessary to render toleration com plete), doubts have been entertained, with some appear ance of reason. It is possible that such religious opi nions may be holden, as are utterly incompatible with the necessary functions of civil government ; and which opinions consequently disqualify those who maintain them from exercising any share in its administration. There have been enthusiasts who held that Christianity has abolished aU distinction of property, and that she enjoins upon her followers a community of goods. With what tolerable propriety could one of this sect be ap pointed a judge or a magistrate, whose office it is to de cide upon questions of private right, and to protect men in the exclusive enjoyment of their property ? It would be equally absurd to intrust a military command to a Quaker, who believes it to be contrary to the gospel to take up arms. This is possible ; therefore it cannot be laid down as a universal truth, that religion is not, in its nature, a cause which wiU justify exclusion from public employments. When we examine, however, the sects of Christianity which actually prevail in the world, we must confess that, with the single exception of refusing to bear arms, we find no tenet in any of them which incapacitates men for the service of the state. It has indeed been asserted that discordancy of religions, even supposing each religion to be free from any errors that affect the safety or the conduct of government, is enough to render men unfit to act together, in public stations. But upon what argument, or upon what experience, POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 47 is this assertion founded ? I perceive no reason whv men of different religious persuasions may not sit upon the same bench, deliberate in the same council, or fight in the same ranks, as well as men of various or opposite opinions upon any controverted topic of na tural philosophy, history, or ethics. There are two cases in which test laws are wont to be applied, and in which, if in any, they may be defended. One is, where two or more religions are .contending for establishment ; and where there appears no way of putting an end to the contests, but by giving to one rehgion such a decided superiority in the legislature and government ofthe country, as to secure it against danger from any other. I own that I should assent to this precaution with many scruples. If the dissenters from the establishment become a majority of the people, the establishment itself ought to be altered or qualified. If there exist amongst the different sects of the country such a parity of numbers, interest, and power, as to render the preference of one sect to the rest, and the choice of that sect a matter of ^hazardous success, and of doubtful election, some plan similar to that which is meditated in North America, and which we have described in a preceding part of the present ehapter, though encum bered with great difficulties, may perhaps suit better with this divided state of public opinion, than any con stitution of a national church whatever. In all other situations, the establishment will be strong enough to maintain itself. However, if a test be applicable with justice upon this principle at all, it ought to be applied in regal governments to the chief magistrate himself, whose power might otherwise overthrow or change the established religion of the country, in opposition to the will and sentiments of the people. The second case of exclusion, and in which, I think, the measure is more easilv vindicated, is that of a countrv 48 MORAL AND in which some disaffection to the subsisting government happens to be connected with certain religious distinc tions. The state undoubtedly has a right to refuse its power and its confidence to those who seek its destruc tion. Wherefore, if the generality of any religious sect entertain dispositions hostile to the constitution, and if government have no other way of knowing its enemies than by the religion which they profess, the professors of that religion may justly be excluded from offices of trust and authority. But even here it should be observed, that it is not against the religion that government shuts its doors, but against those poHtical principles, which, however independent they may be of any article of religious faith, the members of that communion are found in fact to hold. Nor would the legislator make religious tenets the test of men's inclinations towards the state, if he could discover any other that was equally certain and notorious. Thus, if the members of the Romish church, for the most part, adhere to the interests, or maintain the right, of a foreign pretender to the crown of these kingdoms ; and if there be no way of distinguishing those who do, from those who do not, retain such dangerous prejudices ; government is well warranted in fencing out the whole sect from situations of trust and power. But even in this example, it is not to Popery that the laws object, but to Popery as the mark of Jacobitism ; an equivocal indeed and faUacious mark, but the best, and perhaps the only one, that can be de vised. But then it should be remembered, that as the connexion between Popery and Jacobitism, which is the sole cause of suspicion, and the sole justification of those severe and jealous laws which have been enacted against the professors of that religion, was accidental in its origin, so probably it will be temporary in its duration ; and that these restrictions ought not to con tinue one day longer than some visible danger renders POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 49 them necessary to the preservation of public tran quillity. After aU, it may be asked, Why should not the legis lator direct his test against the political principles them selves which he wishes to exclude, rather than encounter them through the medium of religious tenets, the only crime and the only danger of which consist in their presumed alliance with the former ? Why, for example, shouldaman be required to renounce transubstantiation, before he be admitted to an office in the state, when it might seem to be sufficient that he abjure the preten der ? There are but two answers that can be given to the objection which this question contains : first, that it is not opinions which the laws fear, so much as inch- nations ; and that political inclinations are not so easily detected by the affirmation or denial of any abstract proposition in politics, as by the discovery of their reli gious creed with which they are wont to be united : — secondly, that when men renounce their religion, they commonly quit all connexion with the members of the church which they have left, — that church no longer expecting assistance or friendship from them : whereas particular persons might insinuate themselves into offices of trust and authority, by subscribing political asser tions, and yet retain their predilection for the interests of the religious sect to which they continued to belong. By which means, government would sometimes find, though it could not accuse the individual, whom it had received into its service, of disaffection to the civil establishment, yet that, through him, it had communi cated the aid and influence of a powerful station to a party who were hostile to the constitution. These answers, however, we propose rather than defend. The measure certainly cannot be defended at all, except where the suspected union between certain obnoxious principles in politics, and certain tenets in religion, is vol. n. e 50 MORAL AND nearly universal; in which case it makes little difference to the subscriber, whether the test be religious or poli tical ; and the state is somewhat better secured by the one than the other. The result of our examination of those general ten dencies, by which every interference of civil government in matters of religion ought to be tried, is this : " That a comprehensive national religion, guarded by a few articles of peace and conformity, together with a legal provision for the clergy of that religion ; and with a complete toleration of aU dissenters from the established church, without any other limitation or exception than what arises from the conjunction of dangerous political dispositions with certain, religious tenets ; appears to be not only the most just and liberal, but the wisest and safest system, which a state can adopt ; inasmuch as it unites the several perfections which a religious consti tution ought to aim at: — liberty of conscience, with means of instruction ; the progress of truth, with the peace of society ; the right of private judgment, with the care of the public safety." CHAP. XL OF POPULATION AND CULTURE AND COMMERCE, AS SUBSERVIENT THERETO. The final view of all rational politics is, to produce the greatest quantity of happiness ina given tract of coun try. The riches, strength, and glory, of nations ; the topics which history celebrates, and which alone almost engage the praises and possess the admiration of man kind ; have no value farther than as they contribute to POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 51 this end. When they interfere with it, they are evils, and not the less real for the splendour that surrounds them. Secondly : although we speak of communities as of sentient beings ; although we ascribe to them happiness and misery, desires, interests, and passions ; nothing really exists or feels but individuals. The happiness of a people is made up of the happiness of single persons ; and the quantity of happiness can only be augmented by increasing the number of the percipients, or the pleasure of their perceptions. Thirdly : notwithstanding that diversity of condition, especially different degrees of plenty, freedom, and se curity, greatly vary the quantity of happiness enjoyed by the same number of individuals ; and notwithstand ing that extreme cases may be found, of human beings so galled by the rigours of slavery, that the increase of numbers is only the amplification of misery ; yet, within certain limits, and within those limits to which civil life is diversified under the temperate governments that obtain in Europe, it may be affirmed, I think, with cer tainty, that the quantity of happiness produced in any given district, so far depends upon the number of in habitants, that, in comparing adjoining periods in the same country, the collective happiness will be nearly in the exact proportion of the numbers, that is, twice the number of inhabitants will produce double the quantity of happiness ; in distant periods, and different countries, under great changes or great dissimilitude of civil condition, although the proportion of enjoy ment may fall much short of that of the numbers, yet stiU any considerable excess of numbers will usually carry with it a preponderation of happiness ; that, at least, it may and ought to be assumed, in all political deliberations, that a larger portion of happiness is enjoyed amongst ten persons, possessing the means of e 2 MORAL AND healthy subsistence, than can be produced by five per sons under every advantage of power, affluence, and luxury. From these principles it follows, that the quantity of happiness in a given district, although it is possible it may be increased, the number of inhabitants remaining the same, is chiefly and most naturaUy affected by altera tion of the numbers : that, consequently, the decay of population is the greatest evil that a state can suffer ; and the improvement of it the object which ought, in all countries, to be aimed at in preference to every other political purpose whatsoever. The importance of population, and the superiority' of it to every other national advantage, are points neces sary to be inculcated, and to be understood; inasmuch as false estimates, or fantastic notions, of national gran deur, are perpetually drawing the attention of statesmen and legislators from the care of this, which is, at all times, the true and absolute interest of a country : for which reason, we have stated these points with unusual formality. We will confess, however, that a competi tion can seldom arise between the advancement of popu lation and any measure of sober utihty ; because, in the ordinary progress of human affairs, whatever, in any way, contributes to make a people happier, tends to render them more numerous. In the fecundity of the human, as of every other species of animals, Nature has provided for an indefinite multiplication. Mankind have increased to their present number from a single pair ; the offspring of early mar riages, in the ordinary course of procreation, do more than replace the parents : in countries and under cir cumstances very favourable to subsistence, the popula tion has been doubled in the space of twenty years ; the havoc occasioned by wars, earthquakes, famine, or pestilence, is usually repaired in a short time. These POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 53 indications sufficiently demonstrate the tendency of Nature, in the human species, to a continual increase of its numbers. It becomes therefore a question that may reasonably be propounded, what are the causes which confine or check the natural progress of this multiplica tion ? And the answer which first presents itself to the thoughts of the inquirer is, that the population of a country must stop when the country can maintain no more, that is, when the inhabitants are already so nu merous as to exhaust all the provision which the soil can be made- to produce. This, however, though an insuperable bar, will seldom be found to be that which actually checks the progress of population in any country of the world; because the number of the people have seldom, in any country, arrived at this limit, or even approached to it. The fertility of the ground, in temperate regions, is capable of being im proved by cultivation to an extent which is unknown ; much, however, beyond the state of improvement in any country in Europe. In our own, which holds almost the first place in the knowledge and encouragement of agriculture, let it only be supposed that every field in England, of the same original quality with those in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and consequently capable of the same fertility, were by a like manage ment made to yield an equal produce ; and it may be asserted, I believe with truth, that the quantity of human provision raised in the island would be increased fivefold; The two principles, therefore, upon which population seems primarily to depend, the fecundity of the species, and the capacity of the soil, would in most, perhaps in aU countries, enable it to proceed much farther than it has yet advanced. The number of marriageable women, who, in each country, remain unmarried, afford a computation how much the agency of Nature in the diffusion of human life is cramped and 54 MORAL AND contracted ; and the quantity of waste, neglected, or mismanaged surface, — together with a comparison, like the preceding, of the crops raised from the soil in the neighbourhood of populous cities, and under a perfect state of cultivation, with those which lands of equal dr superior quality yield in different situations, — wiU show in what proportion the indigenous productions of the earth are capable of being farther augmented. The fundamental proposition upon the subject of population, which must guide every endeavour to im prove it, and from which every conclusion concerning it may be deduced, is this : " Wherever the commerce between the sexes is regulated by marriage, and a pro vision for that mode of subsistence, to which each class of the community is accustomed, can be procured with ease and certainty, there the number of the people will increase ; and the rapidity, as well as the extent, of the increase, will be proportioned to the degree in which these causes exist." This proposition we wiU draw out into the several principles which it contains. I. First, the proposition asserts the " necessity of confining the intercourse of the sexes to the marriage- union." It is only in the marriage-union that this inter course is sufficiently prolific. Besides which, family establishments alone are fitted to perpetuate a succes sion of generations. The offspring of a vague and pro miscuous concubinage are not only few, and liable to perish by neglect, but are seldom prepared for or intro duced into situations suited to the raising of families of their own. Hence the advantages of marriages. Now Nature, in the constitution of the sexes, has provided a stimulus which will infallibly secure the frequencv of marriages, with aU their beneficial effects upon the state of population, provided the male part of the species be prohibited from irregular gratifications. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 55 This impulse, which is sufficient to suxmount almost every impediment to marriage, will operate in propor tion to the difficulty, expense, danger, or infamy, the sense of guilt, or the fear of punishment, which attend licentious indulgences. Wherefore, in countries in which subsistence is become scarce, it behoves the state to watch over the public morals with increased solici tude : for nothing but the instinct of Nature, under the restraint of chastity, will induce men to undertake the labour or consent to the sacrifice of personal liberty and indulgence, which the support of a family, in such cir cumstances, requires. II. The second requisite which our proposition states as necessary to the success of population is, " the ease and certainty with which a provision can be procured for that mode of subsistence to which each class of the community is accustomed." It is not enough that men's natural wants be supplied ; that a provision adequate to the real exigencies of human life be attainable : habitual superfluities become actual wants ; opinion and fashion convert articles of ornament and luxury into necessaries of life. And it must not be expected from men in general, at least in the present relaxed state of morals and discipline, that they will enter into marriages which degrade their condition, reduce their mode of living, deprive them of the accommodations to which they have been accustomed, or even of those ornaments or appendages of rank and station which they have been taught to regard as belonging to their birth, or class, or profession, or place in society. The same consideration, namely, a view of their accustomed mode of life, which is so apparent in the superior orders of the people, has no less influence upon those ranks which compose the mass of the community. The kind and quality of food and liquor, the species of habitation, furniture, and clothing, to which the common people of 56 MORAL AND each country are habituated, must be attainable with ease and certainty, before marriages will be sufficiently early and general to carry the progress of population to its just extent. It is in vain to allege, that a more simple diet, ruder habitations, or coarser apparel, would be sufficient for the purposes of Hfe and health, or even of physical ease and pleasure. Men will not marry with this encouragement. For instance : when the common people of a country are accustomed to eat a large proportion of animal food, to drink wine, spirits, or beer, to wear shoes and stockings, to dweU in stone houses, they will not marry to live in clay cottages, upon roots and milk, with no other clothing than skins, or what is necessary to defend the trunk of the body from the effects of cold ; although these last may be all that the sustentation of life and health requires, or that even contribute much to animal comfort and enjoyment. The ease, then, and certainty, with which the means can be procured, not barely of subsistence, but of that mode of subsisting which custom hath in each country established, form the point upon which the state and progress of population chiefly depend. Now, there are three causes which evidently regulate this point : the mode itself of subsisting which prevails in the coun try ; the quantity of provision suited to that mode of subsistence, which is either raised in the country or imported into it ; and, lastly, the distribution of that provision. These three causes merit distinct consideration. I. The mode of living which actually obtains in a eountry. In China, where the inhabitants frequent the sea shore, or the banks of large rivers, and subsist in a great measure upon fish, the population is described to be excessive. This peculiarity arises, not probably from any civil advantages, any care or policy, any particular constitution or superior wisdom of government; but POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 57 simply from hence, that the species of food to which custom hath reconciled the desires and inclinations of the inhabitants, is that which, of all others, is procured in the greatest abundance, with the most ease, and stands in need of the least preparation. The natives of Indostan being confined, by the laws of their religion, to the use of vegetable food, and requiring little except rice, which the country produces in plentiful crops ; and food, in warm climates, composing the only want of life ; these countries are populous, under all the inju ries of a despotic, and the agitations of an unsettled government. If any revolution, or what would be caUed perhaps refinement of manners, should generate in these people a taste for the flesh of animals, similar to what prevails amongst the Arabian hordes ; should introduce flocks and herds into grounds which are now covered with corn ; should teach them to account a certain por tion of this species of food amongst the necessaries of hfe ; the population, from this single change, would suffer in a few years a great diminution : and this diminution would follow, in spite of every effort of the laws, or even of any improvement that might take place in their civil condition. In Ireland, the simplicity of living, alone, maintains a considerable degree of popu lation, under great defects of police, industry, and commerce. Under this head, and from a view of these considera tions, may be understood the true evil and proper danger of luxury. Luxury, as it supplies employment and promotes industry, assists population. But then there is another consequence attending it, which counteracts and often overbalances these advantages. When, by introducing more superfluities into general reception, luxury has rendered the usual accommodations of life more expen sive, artificial, and elaborate, the difficulty of maintain- 58 MORAL AND ing a family conformably with the established mode of living, becomes greater, and what each man has to spare from his personal consumption, proportionably less : the effect of which is, that marriages grow less frequent, agreeably to the maxim above laid down, and which must be remembered as the foundation of all our rea soning upon the subject, that men will not marry to sink their place or condition in society, or to forego those indulgences which their own habits, or what they observe amongst their equals, have rendered necessary to their satisfaction. This principle is applicable to every article of diet and dress, to houses, furniture, attendance ; and this effect will be felt in every class of the community. For instance : the custom of wearing broad cloth and fine linen repays the shepherd and flax- grower, feeds the manufacturer, enriches the merchant, gives not only support but existence to multitudes of families : hitherto, therefore, the effects are beneficial ; and were these the only effects, such elegancies, or, if you please to caU them so, such luxuries, could not be too universal. But here foUows the mischief: when once fashion hath annexed the use of these articles of dress to any certain class, the middling ranks, for ex ample, of the community, each individual of that rank finds them to be necessaries of life ; that is, finds himself obliged to comply with the example of his equals, and to maintain that appearance which the custom of society requires. This obligation creates such a demand upon his income, and which adds so much to the cost and burden of a family, as to. put it out of his power to marry, with the prospect of continuing his habits, or of maintaining his place and situation in the world. We see, in this description, the cause which induces men to waste their lives in a barren celibacy ; and this cause, which impairs the very source of population, is justly placed to the account of luxury. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 59 It appears, then, that luxury, considered with a view to population, acts by two opposite effects ; and it seems probable that there exists a point in the scale, to which luxury may ascend, or to which the wants of mankind may be multiplied with advantage to the community, and beyond which the prejudicial conse quences begin to preponderate. The determination of this point, though it assume the form of an arithmetical problem, depends upon circumstances too numerous, intricate, and undefined, to admit of a precise solution. However, from what has been observed concerning the tendency of luxury to diminish marriages, in which tendency the evil of it resides, the following general conclusions may be estabhshed : — 1st. That, of different kinds of luxury, those are the most innocent which afford employment to the greatest number of artists and manufacturers ; or those, in other words, in which the price of the work bears the greatest proportion to that of the raw material. Thus, luxury in dress or furniture is universally preferable to luxury in eating, because the articles which constitute the one, are more the production of human art and industry, than those which supply the other. 2dly. That it is the diffusion, rather than the degree of luxury, which is to be dreaded as a national evil. The mischief of luxury consists, as we have seen, in the obstruction which it forms to marriage. Now, it is only a small part of the people that the higher ranks in any country compose ; for which reason, the facility or the difficulty of supporting the expense of their station, and the consequent increase or diminution of marriages among them, will influence the state of population but little,. So long as the prevalence of luxury is confined to a few of elevated rank, much of the benefit is felt, and little of the inconvenience. But when the imita tion of the same manner descends, as it alwavs will do, 60 MORAL AND into the mass of the people ; when it advances the re quisites of living, beyond what it adds to men's abilities to purchase them ; then it is that luxury checks the formation of families, in a degree that ought to alarm the public fears. 3dly. That the condition most favourable to popula tion is that of a laborious, frugal people ministering to the demands of an opulent, luxurious nation ; because this situation, whilst it leaves them every advantage of luxury, exempts them from the evils which naturally accompany its admission into any country. II. Next to the mode of living, we are to consider "the quantity of provision suited to that mode, which is either raised in the country, or imported into it :" for this is the order in which we assigned the causes of population, and undertook to treat of them. Now, if we measure the quantity of provision by the number of human bodies, it will support, in due health and vigour this quantity, the extent and quality of the soil from which it is raised being given, will depend greatly upon the kind. For instance : a piece of ground capable of supplying animal food sufficient for the subsistence of ten persons, would sustain, at least, the double of that number with grain, roots, and milk. The first resource of savage life is in the flesh of wild animals : hence the numbers amongst savage nations, compared with the tract of country which they occupy, are universally small ; because this species of provision is, of aU others, supplied in the slenderest proportion. The next step was the invention of pasturage, or the rearing of flocks and herds of tame animals : this alteration added to the stock of provision much. But the last and principal improvement was to foUow : namely, tiUage, or the artificial production of corn, esculent plants, and roots. This discovery, whilst it changed the quality of human food, augmented the quantity in a vast proportion. So POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 61 far as the state of population is governed and limited by the quantity of provision, perhaps there is no single cause that affects it so powerfully, as the kind and qua- Hty of food which change or usage hath introduced into a country. In England, notwithstanding the produce of the soil has been, of late, considerably increased, by the enclosure of wastes, and the adoption, in manv places, of a more successful husbandry, yet we do not observe a corresponding addition to the number of in habitants ; the reason of which appears to me to be, the more general consumption of animal food amongst us. Many ranks of people whose ordinary diet was, in the last century, prepared almost entirely from milk, roots, and vegetables, now require every day a considerable portion of the flesh of animals. Hence a great part of the richest lands of the country are converted to pasturage. Much also of the bread-corn, which went directly to the nourishment of human bodies, now only contributes to it by fattening the flesh of sheep and oxen. The mass and volume of provisions are hereby diminished ; and what is gained in the melioration of the soil, is lost in the quality of the produce. This consideration teaches us, that tiUage, as an object of national care and encouragement, is universally prefer able to pasturage, because the kind of provision which it yields, goes much farther in the sustentation of human life. Tillage is also recommended by this additional advantage, that it affords employment to a much more numerous peasantry. Indeedj pasturage seems to be the art of a nation, either imperfectly civilised, as are many of the tribes which cultivate it in the internal parts of Asia, or of a nation like Spain, declining from its summit by luxury and inactivity. The kind and quality of provision, together with the extent and capacity of the soil from which it is raised, being the same, the quantity procured will principally 62 MORAL AND depend upon two circumstances, — the ability of the occupier, and the encouragement which he receives. The greatest misfortune of a country is an indigent tenantry. Whatever be the native advantages of the soil, or even the skill and industry of the occupier, the want of a sufficient capita] confines every plan, as well as cripples and weakens every operation, of husbandry. This evil is felt where agriculture is accounted a servile or mean employment ; where farms are extremely sub divided, and badly furnished with habitations ; where leases are unknown, or are of short or precarious dura tion. With respect to the encouragement of husbandry ; in this, as in every other employment, the true reward of industry is in the price and sale of the produce. The exclusive right to the produce is the only incitement which acts constantly and universaUy ; the only spring which keeps human labour in motion. All therefore that the laws can do, is to secure this right to the occupier of the ground, that is, to constitute such a system of tenure, that the full and entire advantage of every im provement go to the benefit of the improver ; that every man work for himself, and not for another ; and that no one share in the profit who does not assist in the pro duction. By the occupier I here mean, not so much the person who performs the work, as him who procures the labour and directs the management ; and I consider the whole profit as received by the occupier, when the occu pier is benefited by the whole value of what is produced, which is the case with the tenant who pays a fixed rent for the use of land, no less than with the proprietor who holds it as his own. The one has the same interest in the produce, and in the advantage of every improve ment, as the other. Likewise the proprietor, though he grant out his estate to farm, may be considered as the occupier, insomuch as he regulates the occupation by the choice, superintendence, and encouragement, of POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 63 his tenants, by the disposition of his lands, by erecting buildings, providing accommodations, by prescribing conditions, or supplying implements and materials of improvement ; and is entitled, by the rule of public ex pedience above-mentioned, to receive, in the advance of his rent, a share of the benefit which arises from the in creased produce of his estate. The violation of this fundamental maxim of agrarian policy constitutes the chief objection to the holding of lands by the state, by the king, by corporate bodies, by private persons in right of their offices or benefices. The inconvenience to the public arises not so much from the inalienable quality of lands thus holden in perpetuity, as from hence : that proprietors of this description seldom con tribute much either of attention or expense to the cul tivation of their estates, yet claim, by the rent, a share in the profit of every improvement that is made upon them. This complaint can only be obviated by " long leases at a fixed rent," which convey a large portion of the interests to those who actually conduct the culti vation. The same objection is applicable to the holding of lands by foreign proprietors, and in some degree to estates of too great extent being placed in the same hands. III. Besides the production of provision, there re mains to be considered the distribution — It is in vain that provisions abound in the country, unless I be able to obtain a share of them. This reflection belongs to every individual. The plenty of provision produced, the quantity of the public stock, affords subsistence to individuals, and encouragement to the formation of fa milies, only in proportion as it is distributed, that is, in proportion as these individuals are aUowed to draw from it a supply of their own wants. The distribution, therefore, becomes of equal consequence to population with the production. Now, there is but one principle of 64 MORAL AND distribution that can ever become universal, viz., the principle of " exchange ;" or, in other words, that every man have something to give in return for what he wants. Bounty, however it may come in aid of another prin ciple, however it may occasionally qualify the rigour, - or supply the imperfection, of an established rule of distribution, can never itself become that rule or prin ciple ; because men will not work to give the produce of their labour away. Moreover, the only equivalents that can be offered in exchange for provision are power and labour. All property is power. What we call pro perty in land, is the power to use it, and to exclude others from the use. Money is the representative of power, because it is convertible into power : the value of it consists in its faculty of procuring power over things and persons. But power which results from civil conventions (and of this kind is what we call a man's fortune or estate), is necessarily confined to a few, and is withal soon exhausted : whereas the capacity of labour is every man's natural possession, and composes a con stant and renewing fund. The hire, therefore, or pro duce of personal industry, is that which the bulk of every community must bring to market, in exchange for the means of subsistence ; in other words, employ ment must, in every country, be the medium of distri bution, and the source of supply to individuals. But when we consider the production and distribution of provision as distinct from, and independent of, each other ; when, supposing the same quantity to be produced, we inquire in what way, or according to what rule, it may be distributed ; we are led to a con ception of the subject not at all agreeable to truth and - reality : for, in truth and reality, though provision must be produced before it be distributed, yet the pro duction depends, in a great measure, upon the distri bution. The quantity of provision raised out of the POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 65 ground, so far as the raising of it requires human art or labour, will evidently be regulated by the demand : the demand, or, in other words, the price and sale, being that which alone rewards the care, or excites the diligence of the husbandman. But the sale of provi sion depends upon the number, not of those who want, but of those who have something to offer in return for what they want ; not of those who would consume, but those who can buy ; that is, upon the number of those who have the fruits of some other kinds of industry to tender in exchange for what they stand in need of from the production of the soil. We see therefore the connexion between population and employment. Employment affects population " di rectly," as it affords the only medium of distribution by which individuals can obtain from the common stock a supply for the wants of their families : it affects po pulation " indirectly," as it augments the stock itself of provision, in the only way by which the production of it can be effectually encouraged, — by furnishing pur chasers. No man can purchase without an equivalent ; and that equivalent, by the generaHty of the people, must in every country be derived from employment. And upon this basis is founded the public benefit of trade, that is to say, its subservience to population, in which its only real utility consists. Of that industry, of those arts and branches of trade, which are employed in the production, conveyance, and preparation, of any principal species of human food, as of the business of the husbandman, the butcher, baker, brewer, corn-mer chant, &c, we acknowledge the necessity : likewise of those manufactures which furnish us with warm cloth ing, convenient habitations, domestic utensils, as of the weaver, tailor, smith, carpenter, &c, we perceive (in climates, however, like ours, removed at a distance from the sun) the conduciveness to population, by their ren- VOL. II. F 66 , MORAL AND dering human life more healthy, vigorous, and comfort able. But not one half of the occupations which com pose the trade of Europe fall within either of these de scriptions. Perhaps two-thirds of the manufacturers in England are employed upon articles of confessed luxury, ornament, or splendour, in the superfluous em bellishment of some articles which are useful in their kind, or upon others which have no conceivable use or value but what is founded in caprice or fashion. What can be less necessary, or less connected with the sus- tentation of human life, than the whole produce of the silk, lace, and plate manufacture ? yet what multitudes labour in the different branches of these arts ! What can be imagined more capricious than the fondness for tobacco and snuff? yet how many various occupations, and how many thousands in each, are set at work in administering to this frivolous gratification ! Concern ing trades of this kind (and this kind comprehends more than half of the trades that are exercised), it may fairly be asked, "How, since they add nothing to the stock of provision, do they tend to increase the number of the people?" We are taught to say of trade, " that it main tains multitudes ;" but by what means does it maintain them, when it produces nothing upon which the sup port of human life depends ? — In like manner, with re spect to foreign commerce ; of that merchandise which brings the necessaries of life into a country; which im ports, for example, corn, or cattle, or cloth, or fuel, we allow the tendency to advance population, because it increases the stock of provision by which the people are subsisted. But this effect of foreign commerce is so little seen in our own country, that I believe it may be affirmed of Great Britain, what Bishop Berkley said of a neighbouring island, that, if it were encompassed with a wall of brass fifty cubits high, the country might maintain the same number of inhabitants that find sub- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 67 sistence in it at present ; and that every necessary, and even every real comfort and accommodation of human life, might be supphed in as great abundance as they now are. Here, therefore, as before, we may fairly ask, by what operation it is, that foreign commerce, which brings into the country no one article of human subsistence, promotes the multiplication of human life? The answer of this inquiry will be contained in the discussion of another, viz. Since the soil will maintain many more than it can employ, what must be done, supposing the country to be full with the remainder of the inhabitants ? They who, by the rules of partition (and some such must be established in every country), are entitled to the land ; and they who, by their labour upon the soil, acquire a right in its produce ; wiU not part with their property for nothing ;¦ or, rather, they will no longer raise from the soil what they can neither use themselves, nor ex change for what they want. Or, lastly, if these were willing to distribute what they could spare of the pro vision, which the ground yielded, to others who had no share or concern in the property or cultivation of it, yet still the most enormous mischiefs would ensue from great numbers remaining unemployed. The idle ness of one half of the community would overwhelm the whole with confusion and disorder. One only way pre sents itself of removing the difficulty which this ques tion states, and which is simply this ; that they, whose work is not wanted, nor can be employed, in the raising of provision out of the ground, convert their hands and ingenuity to the fabrication of articles which may gra tify and requite those who are so employed, or who, by the division of lands in the country, are entitled to the exclusive possession of certain parts of them. By this contrivance, aU things proceed well. The occupier of the ground raises from it the utmost that he can pro- f 2 68 MORAL AND cure, because he is repaid for what he can spare by something else which he wants, or with which he is pleased : the artist or manufacturer, though he have neither any property in the soil, nor any concern in its cultivation, is regularly supplied with the produce, because he gives, in exchange for what he stands in need of, something upon which the receiver places an equal value : and the community is kept quiet, while both sides are engaged in their respective occupations. It appears, then, that the business of one half of mankind is, to set the other half at work ; that is, to provide articles which, by tempting the desires, may stimulate the industry, and call forth the activity, of those, upon the exertion of whose industry, and the ap plication of whose faculties, the production of human provision depends. A certain portion only of human labour is, or can be, productive ; the rest is instrumen tal ; — both equally necessary, though the one have no other object than to excite the other. It appears also, that it signifies nothing, as to the main purpose of trade, how superfluous the articles which it furnishes are ; whether the want of them be real or imaginary ; whether it be founded in Nature or in opinion, in fashion, habit, or emulation : it is enough that they be actually desired and sought after. Flourishing cities are raised and supported by trading in tobacco ; populous towns sub sist by the manufacture of ribands. A watch may be a very unnecessary appendage to the dress of a peasant ; yet if the peasant will tiU the ground in order to obtain a watch, the true design of trade is answered: and the watchmaker, while he polishes the case, or files the wheels of his machine, is contributing to the production of corn as effectuaUy, though not so directly, as if he handled the spade, or held the plough. The use of tobaeco has been mentioned already, not only as an acknowledged superfluity, but as affording a remarkable POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 69 example of the caprice of human appetite : yet, if the fisherman will ply his nets, or the mariner fetch rice from foreign countries, in order to procure to himself this indulgence, the market is supplied with two im portant articles of provision, by the instrumentality of a merchandise which has no other apparent use than the gratification of a vitiated palate. But it may come to pass, that the husbandman, land owner, or whoever he be that is entitled to the produce of the soil, will no longer exchange it for what the ma nufacturer has to offer. He is already supplied to the extent of his desires. For instance, he wants no more cloth ; he will no longer therefore give the weaver corn in return for the produce of his looms : but he would readily give it for tea, or for wine. When the weaver finds this to be the case, he has nothing to do but to send his cloth abroad, in exchange for tea or for wine, which he may barter for that provision which the offer of his cloth will no longer procure. The circulation is thus revived : and the benefit of the discovery is, that whereas the number of weavers, who could find sub sistence from their employment, was before limited by the consumption of cloth in the country, that number is now augmented, in proportion to the demand for tea and wine. This is the principle of foreign commerce. In the magnitude and complexity of the machine, the principle of motion is sometimes lost or unobserved ; but it is always simple and the same, to whatever ex tent it may be diversified and enlarged in its operation. The effect of trade upon agriculture, the process of which we have been endeavouring to describe, is visible in the neighbourhood of trading towns, and in those districts which carry on a communication with the mar kets of trading towns. The husbandmen are busy and skilful ; the peasantry laborious ; the land is managed to the best advantage ; and double the quantity of corn 70 MORAL AND or herbage (articles which are ultimately converted into human provision) raised from it, of what the same soil yields in remoter and more neglected parts of the coun try. Wherever a thriving manufactory finds means to establish itself, a new vegetation springs up around it. I believe it is true that agriculture never arrives at any considerable, much less at its highest, degree of perfec tion, where it is not connected with trade, that is, where the demand for the produce is not increased by the consumption of trading cities. Let it be remembered, then, that agriculture is the immediate source of human provision ; that trade con duces to the production of provision only as it promotes agriculture ; that the whole system of commerce, vast and various as it is, hath no other public importance than its subservience to this end. We return to the proposition we laid down, " that employment universally promotes population." From this proposition it foUows, that the comparative utility of different branches of national commerce is measured by the number which each branch employs. Upon which principle a scale may be easily constructed, which shall assign to the several kinds and divisions of foreign trade their respective degrees of public impor tance. In this scale, the first place belongs to the exchange of wrought goods for raw materials, as of broad-cloth for raw silk ; cutlery for wool ; clocks or watches for iron, flax, or furs ; because this traffic pro vides a market for the labour that has already been ex pended, at the same time that it supplies materials for new industry. Population always flourishes where this species of commerce obtains to any considerable degree. It is the cause of employment, or the certain indication. As it takes off the manufactures of the country, it pro motes employment ; as it brings in raw materials, it supposes the existence of manufactories in the country, POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 71 and a demand for the article when manufactured. The second place is due to that commerce which barters one species of wrought goods for another, as stuffs for cali coes, fustians for cambrics, leather for paper, or wrought goods for articles which require no further preparation, as for wine, oil, tea, sugar, &c. This also assists em ployment ; because, when the country is stocked with one kind of manufacture, it renews the demand by con verting it into another ; but it is inferior to the former, as it promotes this end by one side only of the bargain, — by what it carries out.— The last, the lowest, and most disadvantageous species of commerce, is the ex portation of raw materials in return for wrought goods : as when wool is sent abroad to purchase velvets ; hides or peltry, to procure shoes, hats, or linen cloth. This trade is unfavourable to population, because it leaves no room or demand for employment, either in what it takes out of the country, or in what it brings into it. Its operation on both sides is noxious. By its exports, it diminishes the very subject upon which the industry of the inhabitants ought to be exercised ; by its im ports, it lessens the encouragement of that industry, in the same proportion that it. supplies the consumption of the country with the produce of foreign labour. Of different branches of manufacture, those are, in their nature, the most beneficial, in which the price of the wrought articles exceeds in the highest proportion that of the raw material : for this excess measures the quan tity of employment, or, in, other words, the number of manufacturers which each branch sustains. The pro duce of the ground is never the most advantageous article of foreign commerce. Under a perfect state of public economy, the soil of the country should be applied solely to the raising of provisions for the inha bitants, and its trade be supplied by their industry. A nation will never reach its proper extent of popu- 72 MORAL AND lation, so long as its principal commerce consists in the exportation of corn or cattle, or even of wine, oil, tobacco, madder, indigo, timber ; because these last articles take up that surface which ought to be covered with the materials of human subsistence. It must be here however noticed, that we have aU along considered the inhabitants of a country as main tained by the produce of the country ; and that what we have said is applicable with strictness to this suppo sition alone. The reasoning, nevertheless, may easily be adapted to a different case : for when provision is not produced, but imported, what has been affirmed concerning provision will be, in a great measure, true of that article, whether it be money, produce, or labour, which is exchanged for provision. Thus, when the Dutch raise madder, and exchange it for corn ; or when, the people of America plant tobacco, and send it to Europe for cloth; the cultivation of madder and tobacco becomes as necessary to the subsistence of the inha bitants, and by consequence will affect the state of popu lation in these countries as sensibly, as the actual pro duction of food, or the manufacture of raiment. In like manner, when the same inhabitants of HoUand earn money by the carriage of the produce of one country to another, and with that money purchase the provision from abroad which their own land is not extensive enough to supply, the increase or decline of this carry ing trade will influence the numbers of the people no less than similar changes would do in the cultivation of the soil. The few principles already established will enable us to describe the effects upon population which may be expected from the following important articles of national conduct and economy. I. Emigration. — Emigration may be either the overflowing of a country, or the desertion. As the in- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 73 crease of the species is indefinite; and the number of inhabitants which any given tract or surface can sup port, finite ; it is evident that great numbers may be constantly leaving a country, and yet the country remain constantly full. Or, whatever be the cause which in vincibly limits the population of a country, when the number of the people has arrived at that limit, the pro gress of generation, beside continuing the succession, will supply multitudes for foreign emigration. In these two cases, emigration neither indicates any political decay, nor in truth diminishes the number of the people ; nor ought to be prohibited or discouraged. But emi grants may relinquish their country, from a sense of insecurity, oppression, annoyance, and inconvenience. Neither, again, here is it emigration which wastes the people, but the evils that occasion it. It would be in vain, if it were practicable, to confine the inhabitants at home ; for the same causes which drive them out of the country, would prevent their multiplication if they re mained in it. Lastly ; men may be tempted to change their situation by the allurement of a better climate, of a more refined or luxurious manner of living; by the prospect of wealth ; or, sometimes, by the mere nominal advantage of higher wages and prices. This class of emigrants, with whom alone the laws can interfere with effect, will never, I think, be numerous. With the ge nerality of a people, the attachment of mankind to their homes and country, the irksomeness of seeking new ha bitations, and of living amongst strangers, will outweigh, so long as men possess the necessaries of life in safety, or at least so long as they can obtain a provision for that mode of subsistence which the class of citizens to which they belong are accustomed to enjoy, all the inducements that the advantages of a foreign land can offer. There appear, therefore, to be few cases in which emigration can be prohibited, with advantage to the 74 MORAL AND state ; it appears also that emigration is an equivocal symptom, which will probably accompany the decline of the political body, but which may likewise attend a condition of perfect health and vigour. II. Colonization. — The only view under which our subject wiU permit us to consider colonization, is in its tendency to augment the population of the parent state. — Suppose a fertile, but empty island, to lie within the reach of a country in which arts and manufactures are already established ; suppose a colony sent out from such a country, to take possession of the island, and to live there under the protection and authority of their native government : the new settlers will naturaUy con vert their labour to the cultivation of the vacant soil, and with the produce of that soil will draw a supply of manufactures from their countrymen at home. Whilst the inhabitants continue few, and lands cheap and fresh, the colonists will find it easier and more profitable to raise corn, or rear cattle, and with corn and cattle to purchase woollen cloth, for instance, or linen, than to spin or weave these articles for themselves. The mo ther-country, meanwhile, derives from this connexion an increase of both provision and employment. It pro motes at once the two great requisites upon which the facility of subsistence, and by consequence the state of population, depend, — production and distribution ; and this in a manner the most direct and beneficial. No situation can be imagined more favourable to popula tion than that of a country which works up goods for others, whilst these others are cultivating new tracts of land for them : for as, in a genial climate, and from a fresh soil, the labour of one man wiU raise provision enough for ten, it is manifest that, where all are employed in agriculture, much the greater part of the produce will be spared from the consumption ; and that three out of four, at least, of those who are maintained by it, will POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 75 reside in the country which receives the redundancy. When the new country does not remit provision to the old one, the advantage is less ; but still the exportation of wrought goods, by whatever return they are paid for, advances population in that secondary way, in which those trades promote it that are not employed in the production of provision. Whatever prejudice, there fore, some late events have excited against schemes of colonization, the system itself is founded in apparent national utility ; and, what is more, upon principles favourable to the common interest of human nature : for it does not appear by -what other method newly-dis covered and unfrequented countries can be peopled, or during the infancy of their establishment be protected or supplied. The error which we of this nation at present lament seems to have consisted, not so much in the original formation of colonies, as in the subsequent management ; in imposing restrictions too rigorous, or in continuing them too long ; in not perceiving the point of time when the irresistible order arid progress of human affairs demand a change of laws and policy. III. Money Where money abounds, the people are generally numerous : yet gold and silver neither feed nor clothe mankind ; nor are they in all countries converted into provision by purchasing the necessaries of life at foreign markets ; nor do they, in any country, compose those articles of personal or domestic ornament which certain orders of the community have learnt to regard as necessaries of life, and without the means of procuring which they wiU not enter into family-esta- bhshments : at least, this property of the precious metals obtains in a very small degree. The effect of money upon the number of the people, though visible to obser vation, is not explained without some difficulty. To understand this connexion properly, we must return to the proposition with which we concluded our reasoning 76 MORAL AND upon the subject; " that population isrchiefly promoted by employment." Now, of employment, money is partly the indication, and partly the cause. The only way in which money regularly and spontaneously flows into a country, is in return for the goods that are sent out of it, or the work that is performed by it ; and the only way in which money is retained in a country, is by the coun try's supplying, in a great measure, its own consump tion of manufactures. Consequently, the quantity of money found in a country denotes the amount, of labour and employment : but still, employment, not money, is the cause of population ; the accumulation of money being merely a coUateral effect of the same cause, or a circumstance which accompanies the existence, and measures the operation, of that cause. And this is true of money, only whilst it is acquired by the industry of the inhabitants. The treasures which belong to a coun try by the possession of mines, or by the exaction of tribute from foreign dependencies, afford no conclusion concerning the state of population. The influx from these sources may be immense, and yet the country remain poor and ill peopled ; of which we see an egregious example in the condition of Spain, since the acquisition of its South American dominions. But, secondly, money may become also a real and an operative cause of population, by acting as a stimulus to industry, and by facilitating the means of subsistence. The ease of subsistence, and the encouragement of industry, depend neither upon the price of labour nor upon the price of provision, but upon the proportion which one bears to the other. Now, the influx of money into a country naturally tends to advance this propor tion ; that is, every fresh accession of money raises the price of labour before it raises the price of provision. When money is brought from abroad, the persons, be they who they will, into whose hands it first arrives, do POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 77 not buy up provision with it, but apply it to the pur chase and payment of labour. If the state receives it, the state dispenses what it receives amongst soldiers, sailors* artificers, engineers, shipwrights, workmen ; — if private persons bring home treasures of gold and silver, they usually expend them in building of houses, the improvement of estates, the purchase of furniture, dress, equipage, in articles of luxury or splendour ; — if the merchant be enriched by returns of his foreign com merce, he applies his increased capital to the enlarge ment of his business at home. The money ere long comes to market for provision ; but it comes thither through the hands of the manufacturer, the artist, the husbandman, and labourer. Its effect, therefore, upon the price of art and labour, will precede its effect upon the price of provision ; and, during the interval between one effect and the other, the means of subsistence wiU be multipHed and facilitated, as well as industry be excited by new rewards. When the greater plenty of money in circulation has produced an advance in the price of provision, corresponding to the advanced price of labour, its effect ceases. The labourer no longer gains anything by the increase of his wages. It is not, therefore, the quantity of specie coUected into a coun try, but the continual increase of that quantity, from which the advantage arises to employment and popula tion. It is only the accession of money which produces the effect, and it is only by money constantly flowing into a country that the effect can be constant. Now, whatever consequence arises to the country from the influx of money, the contrary may be expected to follow from the diminution of its quantity : and accordingly we find, that whatever cause drains off the specie of a country, faster than the streams which feed it can supply, not only impoverishes the country, but depopulates it. The knowledge and experience of this effect have given 78 MORAL AND occasion to a phrase which occurs in almost every dis course upon commerce or politics. The balance of trade with any foreign nation is said to be against or in favour of a country, simply as it tends to carry money out, or bring it in ; that is, according as the price of the im ports exceeds or falls short of the price of the exports : so invariably is the increase or diminution of the specie of a country regarded as a test of the public advantage or detriment which arises from any branch of its commerce. IV. Taxation As taxes take nothing out of a country ; as they do not diminish the public stock, only vary the distribution of it ; they are not necessarily prejudicial to population. If the state exact money from certain members of the community, she dispenses it also amongst other members of the same community. They who contribute to the revenue, and they who are supported or benefited by the expenses of government, are to be placed one against the other; and whilst what the subsistence of one part is profited by receiving, com pensates for what that of the other suffers by paying, the common fund of the society is not lessened. This is true : but it must be observed, that although the sum distributed by the state be always equal to the sum collected from the people, yet the gain and loss to the means of subsistence may be very unequal ; and the balance will remain on the wrong or the right side of the account, according as the money passes by taxation from the industrious to the idle, from the many to the few, from those who want to those who abound, or in a con trary direction. For instance : a tax upon coaches, to be laid out in the repair of roads, would probably im prove the population of a neighbourhood ; a tax upon cottages to be ultimately expended in the purchase and support of coaches, would certainly diminish it. In like manner, a tax upon wine or tea, distributed in bounties to fishermen or husbandmen, would augment the pro- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 79 vision of a country ; a tax upon fisheries and hus bandry, however indirect or concealed, to be con verted, when raised, to the procuring of wine or tea for the idle and the opulent, would naturally impair the public stock. The effect, therefore, of taxes, upon the means of subsistence, depends not so much upon the amount of the sum levied, as upon the object of the tax and the application. Taxes likewise may be so adjusted as to conduce to the restraint of luxury, and the correc tion of vice : to the encouragement of industry, trade, agriculture, and marriage. Taxes thus contrived be come rewards and penalties ; not only sources of reve nue, but instruments of police. Vices indeed themselves cannot be taxed, without holding forth such a condi tional toleration of them as to destroy men's perception of their guilt ; a tax comes to be considered as a com mutation : the materials, however, and incentives of vice may. Although, for instance, drunkenness would be, on this account, an unfit object of taxation, yet public houses and spirituous liquors are very properly sub jected to heavy imposts. Nevertheless, although it may be true that taxes cannot be pronounced to be detrimental to population, by any absolute necessity in their nature ; and though, under some modifications, and when urged only to a certain extent, they may even operate in favour of it ; yet it will be found, in a great plurality of instances, that their tendency is noxious. Let it be supposed that nine families inhabit a neighbourhood, each pos sessing barely the means of subsistence, or of that mode of subsistence which custom hath established amongst them ; let a tenth family be quartered upon these, to be supported by a tax raised from the nine ; or, rather, let one of the nine have his income aug mented by a similar deduction from the incomes of the rest ; in either of these cases, it is evident that the 80 MORAL AND whole district would be broken up ; for, as the entire income of each is supposed to be barely sufficient for the establishment which it maintains, a deduction of any part destroys that establishment. Now, it is no answer to this objection, it is no apology for the griev ance, to say, that nothing is taken out of the neighbour hood ; that the stock is not diminished : the mischief is done by deranging the distribution. Nor, again, is the luxury of one family, or even the maintenance of an additional family, a recompense to the country for the ruin of nine others. Nor, lastly, will it alter the effect, though it may conceal the cause, that the contribution, instead of being levied directly upon each day's wages, is mixed up in the price of some article of constant use and consumption, as in a tax upon candles, malt, leather, or fuel. This example illustrates the tendency of taxes to obstruct subsistence ; and the minutest degree of this obstruction wiU be felt in the formation of families. The example, indeed, forms an extreme case ; the evil is magnified, in order to render its operation distinct and visible. In real life, families may not be broken up, or forced from their habitation, houses be quitted, or countries suddenly deserted, in consequence of any new imposition whatever ; but marriages wUl become gradually less frequent. It seems necessary, however, to distinguish between the operation of a new tax, and the effect of taxes which have been long established. In the course of circula tion, the money may flow back to the hands from which it was taken. The proportion between the supply and the expense of subsistence, which had been disturbed by the tax, may at length recover itself again. In the in stance just now stated, the addition of a tenth family to the neighbourhood, or the enlarged expenses of one of the nine, may, in some shape or other, so advance the profits, or increase the employment, of the rest, as to POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 81 make fuU restitution for the share of their property of which it deprives them ; or, what is more likely to hap pen, a reduction may take place in their mode of living, suited to the abridgment of their incomes. Yet still the ultimate and permanent effect of taxation, though distinguishable from the impression of a new tax, is generally adverse to population. The proportion above spoken of can only be restored by one side or other of the following alternative: by the people either con tracting their wants, which at the same time diminishes consumption and employment ; or by raising the price of labour, which, necessarily adding to the price of the productions and manufactures of the country, checks their sale at foreign markets. A nation which is bur dened with taxes, must always be undersold by a na tion which is free from them, unless the difference be made up by some singular advantage of climate, soil, skiU, or industry. This quality belongs to all taxes which affect the mass of the community, even when imposed upon the properest objects, and applied to the fairest purposes. But abuses are inseparable from the disposal of public money. As governments are usually administered, the produce of public taxes is expended upon a train of gentry, in the maintaining of pomp, or in the purchase of influence. The conversion of property which taxes effectuate, when they are employed in this manner, is attended with obvious evils. It takes from the industrious, to give to the idle ; it increases the number of the latter; it tends to accumulation ; it sacri fices the convenience of many to the luxury of a few ; it makes no return to the people, from whom the tax is drawn, that is satisfactory or inteUigible ; it encourages no activity which is useful or productive. The sum to be raised being settled, a wise statesman wiU contrive his taxes principally with a view to their effect upon population ; that is, he will so adjust them VOL. II. g 82 MORAL AND as to give the least possible obstruction to those means of subsistence by which the mass of the community is maintained. We are accustomed to an opinion that a tax, to be just, ought to be accurately proportioned to the circumstances of the persons who pay it. But upon what, it might be asked, is this opinion founded, un less it could be shown that such a proportion interferes the least with the general convenience of subsistence ? Whereas, I should rather believe, that a tax, constructed with a view to that convenience, ought to rise upon the different classes of the community in a much higher ratio than the simple proportion of their incomes. The point to be regarded is, not what men have, but what they can spare ; and it is evident that a man who pos sesses a thousand pounds a-year, can more easily give up a hundred, than a man with a hundred pounds a- year can part with ten; that is, those habits of Hfe which are reasonable and innocent, and upon the ability to continue which the formation of families depends, will be much less affected by the one deduction than the other : it is still more evident, that a man of a hundred pounds a-year would not be so much distressed in his subsistence, by a demand from him of ten pounds, as a man of ten pounds a-year would be by the loss of one : to which we must add, that the population of every country being replenished by the marriages of the lowest ranks of the society, their accommodation and relief become of more importance to the state, than the convenience of any higher but less numerous order of its citizens. But whatever be the proportion which public expedience directs, whether the simple, the du plicate, or any higher or intermediate, proportion of men's incomes, it can never be attained by any single tax ; as no single object of taxation can be found, which measures the ability of the subject with sufficient ge nerality and exactness. It is only by a system and POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 83 variety of taxes, mutually balancing and equalising one another, that a due proportion can be preserved. For instance, if a tax upon lands press with a greater hard ship upon those who live in the country, it may be pro perly counterpoised by a tax upon the rent of houses, which will affect principally the inhabitants of large towns. Distinctions may also be framed in some taxes, which shaU allow abatements or exemptions to married persons ; to the parents of a certain number of legi timate children ; to improvers of the soil ; to particu lar modes of cultivation, as to tillage in preference to pasturage ; and in general to that industry which is immediately productive, in preference to that which is only instrumental ; but, above all, which may leave the heaviest part of the burden upon the methods, what ever they be, of acquiring wealth without industry, or even of subsisting in idleness. V. Exportation of bread-corn. — Nothing seems to have a more positive tendency to reduce the number of the people, than the sending abroad part of the pro vision by which they are maintained ; yet this has been the policy of legislators very studious of the improve ment of their country. In order to reconcile ourselves to a practice which appears to militate with the chief interest, that is, with the population, ofthe country that adopts it, we must be reminded of a maxim which be longs to the productions both of nature and art, "that it is impossible to have enough without a superfluity." The point of sufficiency cannot, in any case, be so exactly hit upon, as to have nothing to spare, yet never to want. This is peculiarly true of bread-corn, of which the annual increase is extremely variable. As it is ne cessary that the crop be adequate to the consumption in a year of scarcity, it must, of consequence, greatly exceed it in a year of plenty. A redundancy, therefore, will occasionally arise from the very care that is taken g 2 84 MORAL AND to secure the people against the danger of want ; and it is manifest that the expectation of this redundancy subtracts nothing from the number that can regularly be maintained by the produce of the soil. Moreover, as the exportation of corn, under these circumstances, is attended with no direct injury to population, so the benefits which indirectly arise to population, from fo reign commerce, belong to this, in common with other species of trade ; together with the peculiar advantage of presenting a constant incitement to the skill and in dustry of the husbandman, by the promise of a certain sale and an adequate price, under every contingency of season and produce. There is another situation, in which corn may not only be exported, but in which the people can thrive by no other means ; that is, of a newly-settled country with a fertile soil. The exporta tion of a large proportion of the corn which a country produces, proves, it is true, that the inhabitants have not yet attained to the number which the country is capable of maintaining : but it does not prove but that they may be hastening to this limit with the utmost practicable celerity, which is the perfection to be sought for in a young estabhshment. In aU cases except these two, and in the former of them to any greater degree than what is necessary to take off occasional redundan cies, the exportation of corn is either itself noxious to population, or argues a defect of population arising from some other cause. VI. Abridgment of labour. — Is has long been made a question, whether those mechanical contrivances which abridge labour, by performing the same work by fewer hands, be detrimental or not to the population of a country. From what has been delivered in preceding parts of the present chapter, it wiU be evident that this question is equivalent to another, — whether such con trivances diminish or not the quantity of employment. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 85 The first and most obvious effect undoubtedly is this ; because, if one man be made to do what three men did before, two are immediately discharged : but if, by some more general and remoter consequence, they in crease the demand for work, or, what is the same thing, prevent the diminution of that demand, in a greater proportion than they contract the number of hands by which it is performed, the quantity of employment, upon the whole, will gain an addition. Upon which principle it may be observed, first, that whenever a mechanical invention succeeds in one place, it is neces sary that it be imitated in every other where the same manufacture is carried on : for, it is manifest that he who has the benefit of a conciser operation, will soon outvie and undersell a competitor who continues a more circuitous labour. It is also true, in the second place, that whoever first discover or adopt a mechanical im provement, will, for some time, draw to themselves an increase of employment ; and that this preference may continue even after the improvement has become gene ral ; for, in every kind of trade, it is not only a great but permanent advantage, to have once pre-occupied the public reputation. Thirdly, after every superiority which might be derived from the possession of a secret has ceased, it may be well questioned whether even then any loss can accrue to employment. The same money will be spared to the same article still. Wherefore, in proportion as the article can be afforded at a lower price, by reason of an easier or shorter process in the manu facture, it will either grow into more general use, or an improvement wiU take place in the quality and fabric, which wiU demand a proportionable addition of hands. The number of persons employed in the manufacture of stockings has not, I apprehend, decreased since the in vention of stocking-mills. The amount of what is ex pended upon the article, after subtracting from it the 86 MORAL AND price of the raw material, and consequently what is paid for work in this branch of our manufactures, is not less than it was before. Goods of a finer texture are worn in the place of coarser. This is the change which the in vention has produced, and which compensates to the ma nufactory for every other inconvenience. Add to which, that in the above, and in almost every instance, an im provement which conduces to the recommendation of a manufacture, either by the cheapness or the quality of the goods, draws up after it many dependant employ ments, in which no abbreviation has taken place. From the reasoning that has been pursued, and the various considerations suggested in this chapter, a judgment may, in some sort, be formed, how far regu lations of law are in their nature capable of contri buting to the support and advancement of population. I say how far ; for, as in many subjects, so especiaUy in those which relate to commerce, to plenty, to riches, and to the number of people, more is wont to be ex pected from laws, than laws can do. Laws can only im perfectly restrain that dissoluteness of manners, which, by diminishing the frequency of marriages, impairs the very source of population. Laws cannot regulate the wants of mankind, their mode of living, or their desire of those superfluities which fashion, more irresistible than laws, has once introduced into general usage ; or, in other words, has erected into necessaries of life. Laws cannot induce men to enter into marriages, when the expenses of a family must deprive them of that sys tem of accommodation to which they have habituated their expectations. Laws, by their protection, by as suring to the labourer the fruit and profit of his labour, may help to make a people industrious ; but, without industry, the laws cannot provide either subsistence or POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 87 employment : laws cannot make corn grow without toil and care, or trade flourish without art and diligence. In spite of laws, the expert, laborious, honest work man will be employed, in preference to the lazy, the unskilful, the fraudulent, and evasive : and this is not more true of two inhabitants of the same village, than it is of the people of two different countries, which communicate either with each other, or with the rest of the world. The natural basis of trade is rivalship of quality and price ; or, which is the same thing, of skill and industry. Every attempt to force trade by opera tion of law, that is, by compeUing persons to buy goods at one market, which they can obtain cheaper and better from another, is sure to be either eluded by the quicksightedness and incessant activity of private in terest, or to be frustrated by retaliation. One half of the commercial laws of many states are calculated merely to counteract the restrictions which have been imposed by other states. Perhaps the only way in which the interposition of law is salutary in trade, is in the prevention of frauds. Next to the indispensable requisites of internal peace and security, the chief advantage which can be derived to population from the interference of law, appears to me to consist in the encouragement of agriculture. This, at least, is the direct way of increasing the num ber of the people, — every other mode being effectual only by its influence upon this. Now, the principal expedient, by which such a purpose can be promoted, is to adjust the laws of property, as nearly as possible, to the two following rules : first, " to give to the occu* pier all the power over the soil which is necessary for its perfect cultivation ;" — secondly, "to assign the whole profit of every improvement to the persons by whose activity it is carried on." What we call property in land, as hath been observed above, is power over it. 88 MORAL AND Now, it is indifferent to the public in whose hands this power resides, if it be rightly used ; it matters not to whom the land belongs, if it be well cultivated. When we lament that great estates are often united in the same hand, or complain that one man possesses what would be sufficient for a thousand, we suffer ourselves to be misled by words. The owner of ten thousand pounds a-year consumes little more of the produce of the soil than the owner of ten pounds a-year. If the cultivation be equal, the estate in the hands of one great lord affords subsistence and employment to the same number of persons, as it would do if it were divided amongst a hundred proprietors. In like manner we ought to judge of the effect upon the public interest, which may arise from lands being holden by the king, or by the subject ; by private persons, or by corpora tions ; by laymen, or ecclesiastics ; in fee, or for life ; by virtue of office, or in right of inheritance. I do not mean that these varieties make no difference, but I mean that all the difference they do make respects the culti vation of the lands which are so holden. There exist in this country conditions of tenure which condemn the land itself to perpetual sterility. Of this kind is the right of common, which precludes each proprietor from the improvement, or even the con venient occupation, of his estate, without (what seldom can be obtained) the consent of many others. This tenure is also usuaUy embarrassed by the interference of manorial claims, under which it often happens that the surface belongs to one owner, and the soil to another ; so that neither owner can stir a clod without the con currence of his partner in the property. In many manors, the tenant is restrained from granting leases beyond a short term of years, which renders every plan of solid improvement impracticable. In these cases, the owner wants, what the first rule of rational policy POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 89 requires, "sufficient power over the soil for its perfect cultivation." This power ought to be extended to him by some easy and general law of enfranchisement, par tition, and enclosure ; which, though compulsory upon the lord, or the rest of the tenants, whilst it has in view the melioration of the soil, and tenders an equitable compensation for every right that it takes away, is neither more arbitrary, nor more dangerous to the sta- bihty of property, than that which is done in the con struction of roads, bridges, embankments, navigable canals, and, indeed, in almost every public work, in which private owners of land are obliged to accept that price for their property which an indifferent jury may award. It may here, however, be proper to observe, that although the enclosure of wastes and pastures be generally beneficial to population, yet the enclosure of lands in tillage, in order to convert them into pastures, is as generally hurtful. But, secondly, agriculture is discouraged by every constitution of landed property which lets in those, who have no concern in the improvement, to a participation of the profit. This objection is applicable to aU such customs of manors as subject the proprietor, upon the death of the lord or tenant, or the alienation of the estate, to a fine apportioned to the improved value of the land. But of all institutions which are in this way adverse to cultivation and improvement, none is so noxious as that of tithes. A claimant here enters into the produce, who contributed no assistance whatever to the production. When years, perhaps, of care and toil have mutured an improvement ; when the husbandman sees new crops ripening to his skill and industry ; the moment he is ready to put his sickle to the grain, he finds himself compelled to divide his harvest with a stranger. Tithes are a tax not only upon industry, but upon that industry which feeds mankind ; upon that 90 MORAL AND species of exertion which it is the aim of all wise laws to cherish and promote ; and to uphold and excite which, composes, as we have seen, the main benefit that the community receives from the whole system of trade, and the success of commerce. And, together with the more general inconvenience that attends the exaction of tithes, there is this additional evil, in the mode at least according to which they are collected at present, that they operate as a bounty upon pasturage. The burden of the tax falls with its chief, if not with its whole weight, upon tillage ; that is to say, upon that precise mode of cultivation which, as hath been shown above, it is the business of the state to reHeve and re munerate, in preference to every other. No measure of such extensive concern appears to me so practicable, nor any single alteration so beneficial, as the conversion of tithes into corn-rents. This commutation, I am con vinced, might be so adjusted, as to secure to the tithe- holder a complete and perpetual equivalent for his interest, and to leave to industry its full operation, and entire reward. CHAP. XI. OF WAR, AND OF MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS. Because the Christian Scriptures describe wars, as what they are, as crimes or judgments, some have been led to believe that it is unlawful for a Christian to bear arms. But it should be remembered that it may be necessary for individuals to unite their force, and for this end to resign themselves to the direction of a common wiU : and yet, it may be true that that wiU is often actuated by criminal motives, and often de termined to destructive purposes. Hence, although POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 91 the origin of wars be ascribed, in Scripture, to the operation of lawless and mahgnant passions ; * and though war itself be enumerated among the sorest calamities with which a land can be visited, the profession of a soldier is nowhere forbidden or con demned. When the soldiers demanded of John the Baptist what they should do, he said unto them, " Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages."t In which answer we do not find that, in order to prepare themselves for the reception of the kingdom of God, it was required of soldiers to reHnquish their profession, but only that they should beware of the vices of which that profession was accused. The precept which follows, "Be con tent with your wages," supposed them to continue in their situation. It was of a Roman centurion that Christ pronounced that memorable eulogy, " I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."! The first Gentile convert § who was received into the Christian church, and to whom the gospel was imparted by the immediate and especial direction of heaven, held the same station : and in the history of this transaction we discover not the smaUest intimation, that Cornelius, upon becoming a Christian, quitted the service of the Roman legion ; that his profession was objected to, or his continuance in it considered as in anywise inconsistent with his new character. In applying the principles of morality to the affairs of nations, the difficulty which meets us arises from hence, " that the particular consequence sometimes appears to exceed the value of the general rule." In this circumstance is founded the only distinction that exists between the case of independent states, and of independent individuals. In the transactions of private * James iv. 1. f Luke iii. 14. X Luke vii. 9. § Acts x. 1. 92 MORAL AND persons, no advantage that results from the breach of a general law of justice, can compensate to the public for the violation of the law ; in the concerns of empire, this may sometimes be doubted. Thus, that the faith of promises ought to be maintained, as far as is lawful, and as far as was intended by the parties, whatever inconvenience either of them may suffer by his fidehty, in the intercourse of private Hfe, is seldom disputed ; because it is evident to almost every man who reflects upon the subject, that the common happiness gains more by the preservation of the rule, than it could do by the removal of the inconvenience. But when the adherence to a public treaty would enslave a whole people ; would block up seas, rivers, or harbours ; de populate cities ; condemn fertile regions to eternal deso lation ; cut off a country from its sources of provision, or deprive it of those commercial advantages to which its climate, produce, or situation, naturaUy entitle it, the magnitude of the particular evil induces us to caU in question the obligation of the general rule. Moral Philosophy furnishes no precise solution to these doubts. She cannot pronounce that any rule of morality is so rigid as to bend to no exceptions ; nor, on the other hand, can she comprise these exceptions within any previous description. She confesses that the obligation of every law depends upon its ultimate utility ; that, this utility having a finite and determinate value, situa tions may be feigned, and consequently may possibly arise, in which the general tendency is outweighed by the enormity of the particular mischief : but she recalls, at the same time, to the consideration of the inquirer, the almest inestimable importance, as of other general rules of relative justice, so especially of national and personal fidelity ; the unseen, if not unbounded, extent of the mischief which must follow from the want of it ; the danger of leaving it to the sufferer to decide upon POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 93 the comparison of particular and general consequences; and the stiU greater danger of such decisions being drawn into future precedents. If treaties, for instance, be no longer binding than whilst they are convenient, or until the inconvenience ascend to a certain point (which point must be fixed by the judgment, or rather by the feelings, of the complaining party) ; or, if such an opinion, after being authorised by a few examples, come at length to prevail ; one and almost the only method of averting or closing the calamities of war, of either preventing or putting a stop to the destruction of mankind, is lost to the world for ever. We do not say that no evil can exceed this, nor any possible ad vantage compensate it ; but we say that a loss, which affects all, will scarcely be made up to the common stock of human happiness by any benefit that can be procured to a single nation, which, however respectable when compared with any other single nation, bears an inconsiderable proportion to the whole. These, how ever, are the principles upon which the calculation is to be formed. It is enough, in this place, to remark the cause which produces the hesitation that we some times feel, in applying rules of personal probity to the conduct of nations. As between individuals it is found impossible to as certain every duty by an immediate reference to public utihty, not only because such reference is oftentimes too remote for* the direction of private consciences, but because a multitude of cases arise in which it is indif ferent to the general interest by what rule men act, though it be absolutely necessary that they act by some constant and known rule or other ; and as, for these reasons, certain positive constitutions are wont to be estabhshed in every society, which, when established, become as obligatory as the original principles of natu ral justice themselves; so, likewise, it is between inde- 94 MORAL AND pendent communities. Together with those maxims of universal equity which are common to states and to individuals, and by which the rights and conduct of the one as well as the other ought to be adjusted, when they fall within the scope and application of such maxims ; there exists also among sovereigns a system of artificial jurisprudence, under the name of the law qf nations. In this code are found the rules which deter mine the right to vacant or newly-discovered countries ; those which relate to the protection of fugitives, the privileges of ambassadors, the condition and duties of neutrality, the immunities of neutral ships, ports, and coasts, the distance from shore to which these immuni ties extend, the distinction between free and contraband goods, and a variety of subjects of the same kind. Con cerning which examples, and indeed the principal part of what is called the jus -gentium, it may be observed, that the rules derive their moral force (by which I mean the regard that ought to be paid to them by the consciences of sovereigns), not from their internal rea sonableness or justice, for many of them are perfectly arbitrary, nor yet from the authority by which they were established, for the greater part have grown insensibly into usage, without any public compact, formal acknow ledgment, or even known original ; but simply from the fact of their being estabhshed, and the general duty of conforming to established rules upon questions, and between parties, where nothing but positive regulations can prevent disputes, and where disputes are followed by such destructive consequences. The first of the instances which we have just now enumerated, may be selected for the illustration of this remark. The nations of Europe consider the sovereignty of newly-discovered countries as belonging to the prince or state whose subject makes the discovery ; and, in pursuance of this rule, it is usual for a navigator, who falls upon an un- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 95 known shore, to take possession of it, in the name of his sovereign at home, by erecting his standard, or dis playing his flag, upon a desert coast. Now, nothing can be more fanciful, or less substantiated by any con siderations of reason or justice, than the right which such discovery, or the transient occupation and idle ceremony that accompany it, confer upon the country of the discoverer. Nor can any stipulation be produced, by which the rest of the world have bound themselves to submit to this pretension. Yet when we reflect that the claims to newly-discovered countries can hardly be settled, between the different nations which frequent them, without some positive rule or other, that such claims, if left unsettled, would prove sources of ruinous and fatal contentions ; that the rule already proposed, however arbitrary, possesses one principal quality of a rule, — determination and certainty ; above all, that it is acquiesced in, and that no one has power to substitute another, however he might contrive a better, in its place : when we reflect upon these properties of the rule, or rather upon these consequences of rejecting its autho rity, we are led to ascribe to it the virtue and obliga tion of a precept of natural justice, because we perceive in it that which is the foundation of justice itself, — public importance and utility. And a prince who should dispute this rule, for the want of regularity in its for mation, or of intelligible justice in its principle, and by such disputes should disturb the tranquillity of nations, and at the same time lay the foundation of future dis turbances, would be little less criminal than he who breaks the public peace by a violation of engagements to which lie had himself consented, or by an attack upon those national rights which are founded imme diately in the law of Nature, and in the first perceptions of equity. The same thing may be repeated of the rules which the law of nations prescribes in the other 96 MORAL AND instances that were mentioned, namely, that the obscu rity of their origin, or the arbitrariness of their princi ple, subtracts nothing from the respect that is due to them, when once established. War may be considered with a view to its causes and to its conduct. The justifying causes of war are, deliberate invasions of right, and the necessity of maintaining such abalance of power amongst neighbouring nations, as that no sin gle state, or confederacy of states, be strong enough to overwhelm the rest. The objects of just war are, pre caution, defence, or reparation. In a larger sense, every just war is a defensive war, inasmuch as every just war supposes an injury perpetrated, attempted, or feared. The insufficient causes or unjustifiable motives of war, are the family alliances, the personal friendships, or the personal quarrels, of princes ; the internal disputes which are carried on in other nations ; the justice of other wars ; the extension of territory, or of trade ; the misfortunes or accidental weakness of a neighbouring or rival nation. There are two lessons of rational and sober policy, which, if it were possible to inculcate them into the councils of princes, would exclude many of the motives of war, and allay that restless ambition which is con stantly stirring up one part of mankind against another. The first of these lessons admonishes princes to "place their glory and their emulation, not in extent of terri tory, but in raising the greatest quantity of happiness out of a given territory." The enlargement of territory by conquest is not only not a just object of war, but in the greater part of the instances in which it is attempted, not even desirable. It is certainly not desirable where it adds nothing to the numbers, the enjoyments, or the POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 97 security, of the conquerers. What commonly is gained to a nation, by the annexing of new dependencies, or the subjugation of other countries to its dominion, but a wider frontier to defend ; more interfering claims to vindicate ; more quarrels, more enemies, more rebel lions, to encounter ; a greater force to keep up by sea and land; more services to provide for, and more esta blishments to pay ? And, in order to draw from these acquisitions something that may make up for the charge of keeping them, a revenue is to be extorted, or a mo nopoly to be enforced and watched, at an expense which costs half their produce. Thus the provinces are op pressed, in order to pay for being ill-governed ; and the original state is exhausted in maintaining a feeble authority over discontented subjects. No assignable portion of country is benefited by the change ; and if the sovereign appear to himself to be enriched or strengthened, when every part of his dominion is made poorer and weaker than it was, it is probable that he is deceived by appearances. Or were it true that the grandeur of the prince is magnified by those exploits ; the glory which is purchased, and the ambition which is gratified, by the distress of one country without add ing to the happiness of another, which at the same time enslaves the new and impoverishes the ancient part of the empire, by whatever names it may be known or flattered, ought to be an object of universal execration ; and oftentimes not more so to the vanquished than to the very people whose armies or whose treasures have achieved the victory. There are, indeed, two cases in which the extension of territory may be of real advantage, and to both par ties. The first is, when an empire thereby reaches to the natural boundaries which divide it from the rest of the world. Thus we account the British Channel the natural boundary which separates the nations of Eng- VOL. II. H 98 MORAL AND land and France ; and if France possessed any coun tries on this, or England any cities or provinces on that side of the sea, recovery of such towns and districts to what may be called their natural sovereign, though it may not be a just reason for commencing war, would be a proper use to make of victory. The other case is, where neighbouring states, being severaUy too small and weak to defend themselves against the dangers that surround them, can only be safe by a strict and constant junction of their strength : here conquest will affect the purposes of confederation and alliance ; and the union which it produces i» often more close and permanent than that which results from voluntary association. Thus, if the heptarchy had continued in England, the different kingdoms of it might have separately fallen a prey to foreign invasion : and although the interest and danger of one part of the island were in truth common to every other party it might have been difficult to have circulated this persuasion amongst independent nations; or to have united them in any regular or steady oppo sition to their continental enemies, had not the valour and fortune of an enterprising prince incorporated the whole into a single monarchy. Here, the conquered gained as much by the revolution as the conquerors. In like manner, and for the same reason, when the two royal families of Spain were met together in one race of princes, and the several provinces of France had de volved into the possession of a single sovereign, it be came unsafe for the inhabitants of Great Britian amy longer to remain under separate governments. The union of England and Scotland, which transformed two quarrelsome neighbours into one powerful empire, and which was first brought about by the course of succes sion, and afterwards completed by amicable convention, would have been a fortunate conclusion of hostilities, Had it been effected by the operations of war. These POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 99 two cases being admitted, namely, the obtaining of na tural boundaries and barriers, and the including under the same government those who have a common danger and a common enemy to guard against; I know not whether a third can be thought of, in which the exten sion1 of empire by conquest is useful even to the con querors. The second rule of prudence which ought to be re commended to those who conduct the affairs of nations, isy " never to1 pursue national honour as distinct from national interest." This rule acknowledges that it is often necessary to assert the honour of a nation for the sake of its interest. The spirit and courage of a people are supported by flattering their pride. Concessions whieh betray too much of fear or weakness, though they relate to points of mere ceremony, invite demands and attacks of more serious importance. Our rule al locs all this ; and only directs that, when points of ho nour become subjects of contention between sovereigns or are likely to be made the occasions of war, they be estimated with reference to utility, and v,otby themselves. " The dignity of his crown, the honour of his flag, the glory of his arms," in the mouth of a prince, are stately and imposing terms; but the ideas they inspire are insatiable. It may be always glorious to conquer, whatever be the justice of the war, or the price of the victory. The dignity of a sovereign- may not permit him to recede from claims of homage and respect, at whatever expense of national peace and happiness they are to be maintained ; however unjust they may have been in their original, or in their continuance, however useless to the possessor, or mortifying and vexatious to other states. The pursuit of honour, when set loose from the admonitions of prudence, becomes in kings a wild and romantic passion : eager to engage^ and ga thering fury in it's progress, it is checked by no diffi- h 2 100 MORAL AND culties, repelled by no dangers : it forgets or despises those considerations of safety, ease, wealth, and plenty, which, in the eye of true public wisdom, compose the objects to which the renown of arms, the fame of vic tory, are only instrumental and subordinate. The pur suit of interest, on the other hand, is a sober principle ; computes costs and consequences ; is cautious of enter ing into war ; stops in time : when regulated by those universal maxims of relative justice, which belong to the affairs of communities as well as of private persons, it is the right principle for nations to proceed by : even when it trespasses upon these regulations, it is much less dangerous, because much more temperate, than the other. II. The conduct of war If the cause and end of war be justifiable, aU the means that appear necessary to the end are justifiable also. This is the principle which defends those extremities to which the violence of war usually proceeds : for since war is a contest by force between parties who acknowledge no common superior, and since it includes not in its idea the sup position of any convention which should place limits to the operations of force, it has naturally no boundary but that in which force terminates, — the destruction of the life against which the force is directed. Let it be observed, however, that the license of war authorises no acts of hostility but what are necessary or conducive to the end and object of the war. Gratuitous barbari ties borrow no excuse from this plea: of which kind is every cruelty and every insult that serves only to exas perate the sufferings, or to incense the hatred, of an enemy, without weakening his strength, or in any man ner tending to procure his submission ; such as the slaughter of captives, the subjecting of them to indig nities or torture, the violation of women, the profana tion of temples, the demolition of public buildings, POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 101 libraries, statues, and in general the destruction or de facing of works that conduce nothing to annoyance or defence. These enormities are prohibited not only by the practice of civilised nations, but by the law of Na ture itself, as having no proper tendency to accelerate the termination, or accomplish the object of the war ; and as containing that which in peace and war is equally unjustifiable, — ultimate and gratuitous mischief. There are other restrictions imposed upon the con duct of war, not by the law of Nature primarily, but by the laws of war first, and by the law of Nature as second ing and ratifying the laws of war. The laws of war are part of the law of nations, and founded, as to their authority, upon the same principle with the rest of that code, namely, upon the fact of their being established, no matter when or by whom ; upon the expectation of their being mutually observed, in consequence of that establishment ; and upon the general utility which re sults from such observance. The binding force of these rules is the greater, because the regard that is paid to them must be universal or none. The breach of the rule can only be punished by the subversion of the rule itself: on which account, the whole mischief that ensues from the loss of those salutary restrictions which such rules prescribe, is justly chargeable upon the first aggressor. To this consideration may be re ferred the duty of refraining in war from poison and from assassination. If the law of Nature simply be con sulted, it may be difficult to distinguish between these and other methods of destruction which are practised without scruple by nations at war. If it be lawful to kill an enemy at aU, it seems lawful to do so by one mode of death as well as by another ; by a dose of poison, as by the point of a sword ; by the hand of an assassin, as by the attack of an army : for, if it be said that one species of assault leaves to an enemy the power 102 MORAL AND of defending himself against it, and that the other does not, it may be answered, that we possess at least the same right to cut off an enemy's defence, that we have to seek his destruction. In this manner might the question .be debated, if there existed no rule pr law of war upon the subject. But when we observe that such practices are at present excluded by the usage and opi nions of civilised nations ; that the first recourse to them would be foUowed by instant retaliation ; that the mutual license which such attempts must introduce would fill both sides with the misery of continual dread and sus picion, without adding to the strength or success of either ; that, when the example came to be more gene rally imitated, which it soon would be, after the senti ment that comdemns it had been once broken in upon, it would greatly aggravate the horrors and calamities of war, yet procure no superiority to any of the nations engaged in it : when we view these effects, we join in the public reprobation of such fatal expedients, as of the admission amongst mankind of new and enormous evils without necessity or advantage. The law of Na ture, we see at length, forbids these innovations, as so many transgressions of a beneficial general rule actually subsisting. The license of war then acknowledges two limitations : it authorises no hostilities which have not an apparent tendency to effectuate the object of the war ; it respects those positive laws which the custom of nations hath sanctified, and which, whilst they are mutually con formed to, mitigate the calamities of war, without weak ening its operations, or diminishing the power or safety of belligerent states. Long and various experience seems to have con vinced the nations of Europe that nothing but a stand- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 103 ing army can oppose a standing army, where the numbers on each side bear any moderate proportion to one another. The first standing army that ap peared in Europe, after the fall of the Roman legion, was that which was erected in France by Charles VII. about the middle of the fifteenth century : and that the institution hath since become general, can only be attributed to the superiority and success which are everywhere observed to attend it. The truth is, the closeness, regularity, and quickness, of their move ments ; the unreserved, instantaneous, and almost me chanical, obedience to orders ; the sense of personal honour, and the familiarity with danger, which belong to a disciplined, veteran, and embodied soldiery, give such firmness and intrepidity to their approach, such weight and execution to their attack, as are not to be withstood by loose ranks of occasional and newly- levied troops, who are liable by their inexperience to disorder and confusion, and in whom fear is constantly augmented by novelty and surprise. It is possible that a militia, with a great excess of numbers, and a ready supply of recruits, may sustain a defensive or a flying war against regular troops : it is also true that any ser vice which keeps soldiers for a while together, and inures them by little and little to the habits of war and the dangers of action, transforms them in effect into a standing army. But upon this plan it may be neces sary for almost a whole nation to go out to war to repel an invader ; beside that a people so unprepared must always have the seat, and with it the miseries, of war at home, being utterly incapable of carrying their ope rations into a foreign country. From the acknowledged superiority of standing ar mies, it follows, not only that it is unsafe for a nation to disband its regular troops, whilst neighbouring king doms retain theirs, but also that regular troops provide J 04 MORAL AND for the public service at the least possible expense. I suppose a certain quantity of military strength to be necessary, and I say that a standing army costs the community less than any other establishment which presents to an enemy the same force. The constant drudgery of low employments is not only incompatible with any great degree of perfection or expertness in the profession of a soldier, but the profession of a soldier almost always unfits men for the business of regular occupations. Of three inhabitants of a village, it is better that one should addict himself entirely to arms, and the other two stay constantly at home to cul tivate the ground, than that all the three should mix the avocations of a camp with the business of husbandry. By the former arrangement, the country gains one com plete soldier, and two industrious husbandmen ; from the latter, it receives three raw militia-men, who are at the same time three idle and profligate peasants. It should be considered also, that the emergencies of war wait not for seasons. Where there is no standing army ready for immediate service, it may be necessary to call the reaper from the fields in harvest, or the ploughman in seed-time ; and the provision of a whole year may perish by the interruption of one month's labour. A standing army, therefore, is not only a more effectual, but a cheaper, method of providing for the public safety, than any other, because it adds more than any other to the common strength, and takes less from that which composes the wealth of a nation, — its stock of produc tive industry. There is yet another distinction between standing ar mies and militias, which deserves a more attentive con sideration than any that has been mentioned. When the state relies, for its defence, upon a militia, it is ne cessary that arms be put into the hands of the people at large. The militia itself must be numerous, in propor- POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 105 tion to the want or inferiority of its dicipline, and the imbeciHties or defects of its constitution. Moreover, as such a militia must be supplied by rotation, allotment, or some mode of succession whereby those who have served a certain time are replaced by fresh draughts from the country, a much greater number will be in structed in the use of arms, and will have been occa sionally embodied together, than are actually employed, or than are supposed to be wanted, at the same time. Now, what effects upon the civil condition of the coun try may be looked for from this general diffusion of the military character, becomes an inquiry of great importance and deHcacy. To me it appears doubtful whether any government can be long secure, where the people are acquainted with the use of arms, and accustomed to resort to them. Every faction will find itself at the head of an army ; every disgust will excite commotion, and every commotion become a civil war. Nothing, perhaps, can govern a nation of armed citi zens but that which governs an army, — despotism. I do not mean that a regular government would become despotic by training up its subjects to the knowledge and exercise of arms, but that it would ere long be forced to give way to despotism in some other shape ; and that the country would be liable to what is even worse than a settled and constitutional despotism, — to perpetual rebellions, and to perpetual revolutions ; to short and violent usurpations; to the successive tyranny of governors rendered cruel and jealous by the danger and instability of their situation. The same purposes of strength and efficacy which make a standing army necessary at all, make it neces sary, in mixed governments, that this army be submitted to the management and direction of the prince ; for, however well a popular council may be qualified for the offices of legislation, it is altogether unfit for the con- 106 MORAL AND duct of war : in which success usuaUy depends upon vigour and enterprise ; upon secrecy, despatch, and unanimity ; upon a quick perception of opportunities, and the power of seizing every opportunity imme diately. It is likewise necessary that the obedience of an army be as prompt and active as possible ; for which reason it ought to be made an obedience of wiU and emulation. Upon this consideration is founded the ex pedience of leaving to the prince not only the govern ment and destination of the army, but the appointment and promotion of its officers : because a design is then alone likely to be executed with zeal and fidelity, when the person who issues the order chooses the instru ments, and rewards the service. To which we may subjoin, that, in governments like ours, if the direction and officering of the army were placed in the hands of the democratic part of the constitution, this power, added to what they already possess, would so over balance all that would be left of regal prerogative, that little would remain of monarchy in the constitution, but the name and expense ; nor would these probably remain long. Whilst we describe, however, the advantages of standing armies, we must not conceal the danger. These properties of their constitution, — the soldiery being separated in a great degree from the rest of the community, their being closely linked amongst them selves by habits of society and subordination, and the dependance of the whole chain upon the will and fa vour of the prince, — however essential they may be to the purposes for which armies are kept up, give them an aspect in nowise favourable to public Hberty. The danger however is diminished by maintaining, on all occasions, as much alliance of interest, and as much intercourse of sentiment, between the miUtary part of the nation and the other orders of the people, as are POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 107 consistent with the union and discipline of an army. For which purpose, officers of the army, upon whose disposition towards the commonwealth a great deal may depend, should be taken from the principal families of the country, and at the same time also be encouraged to establish in it families of their own, as well as be admitted to seats in the senate, to hereditary distinc tions, and to all the civil honours and privileges that are compatible with their profession ; which circum stances of connexion and situation will give them such a share in the general rights of the people, and so engage their inclinations on the side of public liberty, as to afford a reasonable security that they cannot be brought, by any promises of personal aggrandisement, to assist in the execution of measures which might en slave their posterity, their kindred, and their country. HOR.E PAULINA OB, THE TRUTH SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF ST. PAUL EVINCED. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND JOHN LAW, D. D. LORD BISHOP OF KILLALA AND ACHONRY, AS A TESTIMONY OF ESTEEM FOR HIS VIRTUES AND LEARNING, AND OF GRATITUDE FOR THE LONG AND FAITHFUL FRIENDSHIP WITH WHICH THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN HONOURED BY HIM, THIS ATTEMPT TO CONFIRM THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY IS INSCRIBED, BY HIS AFFECTIONATE AND MOST OBLIGED SERVANT, W. PALEY. THE TRUTH OF THE SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF ST. PAUL EVINCED. CHAP. I. EXPOSITION OF THE ARGUMENT. The volume of Christian Scriptures contains thirteen letters purporting to be written by St. Paul ; it contains also a book, which, amongst other things, professes to deliver the history, or rather memoirs of the history, of this same person. By assuming the genuineness of the letters, we may prove the substantial truth of the history ; or, by assuming the truth of the history, we may argue strongly in support of the genuineness of the letters. But I assume neither one nor the other. The reader is at liberty to suppose these writings to have been lately discovered in the library of the Escurial, and to come to our hands destitute of any extrinsic or collateral evidence whatever ; and the argument I am about to offer is calculated to show, that a comparison of the dif ferent writings would, even under these circumstances, afford good reason to believe the persons and transac tions to have been real, the letters authentic, and the narration in the main to be true. Agreement or conformity between letters bearing the name of an ancient author, and a received history of that author's life, does not necessarilv establish the credit of either : • because, 112 HOR^E PAULINiE. 1. The history may, like Middletons's 'Life of Ci cero,' or Jortin's 'Life of Erasmus,' have been wholly, or in part, compiled from the letters : in which case it is manifest that the history adds nothing to the evi dence already afforded by the letters ; or, 2. The letters may have been fabricated out of the history : a species of imposture which is certainly practicable ; and which, without any accession of proof or authority, would necessarily produce the appearance of consistency or agreement ; or, 3. The history and letters may have been founded upon some authority common to both ; as upon reports and traditions which prevailed in the age in which they were composed, or upon some ancient record now lost, which both writers consulted ; in which case also the letters, without being genuine, may exhibit marks of conformity with the history ; and the history, with out being true, may agree with the letters. Agreement, therefore, or conformity, is only to be relied upon so far as we can exclude these several sup positions. Now, the point to be noticed is, that in the three cases above-enumerated, conformity must be the effect of design. Where the history is compiled from the letters, which is the first case, the design and com position of the work are in general so confessed, or made so evident by comparison, as to leave us in no danger of confounding the production with original history, or of mistaking it for an independent authority. The agreement, it is probable, will be close and uni form, and wiU easily be perceived to result from the intention of the author, and from the plan and conduct of his work. — Where the letters are fabricated from the history, which is the second case, it is always for the purpose of imposing a forgery upon the pubhc ; and, in order to give colour and probability to the fraud, names, places, and circumstances, found in the history, hor;e paulinje. 113 may be studiously introduced into the letters, as well as a general consistency be endeavoured to be main tained. — But here it is manifest that whatever congruity appears, is the consequence of meditation, artifice, and design The third case is that wherein the history and the letters, without any direct privity or communication with each other, derive their materials from the same source ; and, by reason of their common original, furnish instances of accordance and correspondence. This is a situation in which we must allow it to be possible for ancient writings to be placed ; and it is a situation in which it is more difficult to distinguish spurious from genuine writings, than in either of the cases de scribed in the preceding suppositions ; inasmuch as the congruities observable are so far accidental, as that they are not produced by the immediate transplanting of names and circumstances out of one writing into the other. But although, with respect to each other, the agreement in these writings be mediate and secondary, yet it is not properly or absolutely undesigned : be cause, with respect to the common original from which the information of the writers proceeds, it is studied and factitious. The case of which we treat must, as to the letters, be a case of forgery : and when the writer, who is personating another, sits down to his composi tion — whether he have the history with which we now compare the letters, or some other record before him ; or whether he have only loose tradition and reports to go by — he must adapt his imposture, as well as he can, to what he finds in these accounts ; and his adaptations will be the result of counsel, scheme, and industry; art must be employed; and vestiges wiU appear of manage ment and design. Add to this, that, in most of the fol lowing examples, the circumstances in which the coin cidence is remarked are of too particular and domestic vol. n. I 114 HORjE PAULINA. a nature to have floated down upon the stream of general tradition. Of the three cases which we have stated, the differ ence between the first and the two others is, that in the first the design may be fair and honest, in the others it must be accompanied with the consciousness of fraud ; but in aU there is design. In examining, therefore, the agreement between ancient writings, the character of truth and originality is undesignedness : and this test apphes to every supposition ; for, whether we suppose the history to be true, but the letters spurious ; or, the letters to be genuine, but the history false : or, lastly, falsehood to belong to both — the history to be a fable, and the letters fictitious : the same inference will result — that either there will be no agreement between them, or the agreement will be the effect of design. Nor will it elude the principle of this rule to suppose the same person to have been the author of all the letters, or even the author both of the letters and the history ; for no less design is necessary to produce coincidence between different parts of a man's own writings, especially when they are made to take the different forms of a history and of original letters, than to adjust them to the cir cumstances found in any other writing. With respect to those writings of the New Testament which are to be the subject of our present consideration, I think that, as to the authenticity of the epistles, this argument, where it is sufficiently sustained by instances, is nearly conclusive ; for I cannot assign a supposition of forgery, in which coincidences of the kind we in quire after are likely to appear. As to the history, it extends to these points : — It proves the general reality of the circumstances : it proves the historian's know ledge of these circumstances, In the present instance it confirms his pretensions of having been a contem- HORiE PAULINA. 115 porary, and in the latter part of his history a com panion, of St. Paul. In a word, it establishes the sub stantial truth of the narration ; and substantial truth is that which, in every historical inquiry, ought to be the first thing sought after and ascertained : it must be the ground-work of every other observation. The reader then will please to remember this word undesignedness, as denoting that upon which the con struction and validity of our argument chiefly depend. As to the proofs of undesignedness, I shall in this place say little ; for I had rather the reader's persuasion should arise from the instances themselves, and the separate remarks with which they may be accompanied, than from any previous formulary or description of argument. In a great plurality of examples, I trust he wiU be perfectly convinced that no design or contri vance whatever has been exercised : and if some of the coincidences alleged appear to be minute, circuitous, or oblique, let him reflect that this very indirectness and subtilty is that which gives force and propriety to the example. Broad, obvious, and explicit agreements, prove little ; because it may be suggested that the in sertion of such is the ordinary expedient of every for gery : and though they may occur, and probably will occur, in genuine writings, yet it cannot be proved that they are peculiar to these. Thus what St. Paul declares in chap. xi. of 1 Cor. concerning the institution of the eucharist — "For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in whicli he was betrayed, took bread ; and when he had given thanks he brake it, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body, which is broken for you ; this do in remembrance of me" — though it be in close and verbal conformity with the account of the same transaction preserved by St. Luke, is yet a conformity of which no use can be made in our argument ; for if it should be i 2 116 HORjE PAULINiE. objected that this was a mere recital from the Gospel, borrowed by the author of the Epistle, for the purpose of setting off his composition by an appearance of agree ment with the received account of the Lord's Supper, I should not know how to repel the insinuation. In like manner, the description which St. Paul gives of himself in his Epistle to the Philippians (iii. 5.) — "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a Pharisee ; concerning zeal, persecuting the church ; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" — is made up of particulars so plainly delivered concerning him, in the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Romans, and the Epistle to the Gala tians, that I cannot deny but that it would be easy for an impostor, who was fabricating -a letter in the name of St. Paul, to collect these articles into one view. This, therefore, is a conformity which we do not adduce. But when I read in the Acts of the Apostles, that when " Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold a certain dis ciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess ;" and when, in an epistle addressed to Timothy, I find him reminded of his " hav ing known the Holy Scriptures from a child," which implies that he must, on the one side or both, have been brought up by Jewish parents, — I conceive that I re mark a coincidence which shows, by its very obliquity, that scheme was not employed in its formation. In like manner, if a coincidence depend upon a comparison of dates, or rather of circumstances from which the dates are gathered — the more intricate that comparison shall be ; the more numerous the intermediate steps through which the conclusion is deduced ; in a word, the more circuitous the investigation is, the better, because the agreement which finally results is thereby farther re moved from the suspicion of contrivance, affectation, or HOR^E PAULINA. 117 design. And it should be remembered, concerning these coincidences, that it is one thing to be minute, and another to be precarious ; one thing to be unob served, and another to be obscure ; one thing to be cir cuitous or oblique, and another to be forced, dubious, or fanciful. And this distinction ought always to be retained in our thoughts. The very particularity of St. Paul's epistles ; the per petual recurrence of names of persons and places ; the frequent allusions to the incidents of his private life, and the circumstances of his condition and history ; and the connexion and parallelism of these with the same circumstances in the Acts of the Apostles, so as to en able us, for the most part, to confront them one with another; as well as the relation which subsists between the circumstances, as mentioned or referred to in the different epistles — afford no inconsiderable proof of the genuineness of the writings, and the reality of the trans actions. For, as no advertency is sufficient to guard against slips and contradictions, when circumstances are multiplied, and when they are liable to be detected by contemporary accounts equaUy circumstantial, an im postor, I should expect, would either have avoided par ticulars entirely, contenting himself with doctrinal dis cussions, moral procepts, and general reflections ;* or if, for the sake of imitating St. Paul's style, he should * This, however, must not be misunderstood. A person writing to his friends, and upon a subject in which the transactions of his own life were concerned, would probably be led in the course of his letter, especially if it was a long one, to refer to passages found in his history. A person addressing an epistle to the public at large, or under the form of an epistle delivering a discourse upon some speculative argument, would not, it is probable, meet with an occa sion of alluding to the circumstances of his life at all ; he might, or he might not : the chance on either side is nearly equal. This is the situation of the catholic epistle. Although, therefore, the pre sence of these allusions and agreements be a valuable accession to the arguments by which the authenticity of a letter is maintained, yet the want of them certainly forms no positive objection. 118 HOR^E PAULINA. have thought it necessary to intersperse his composition with names and circumstances, he would have placed them out of the reach of comparison with the history. And I am confirmed in this opinion by the inspection of two attempts to counterfeit St. Paul's epistles, which have come down to us ; and the only attempts of which we have any knowledge, that are at aU deserving of regard. One of these is an epistle to the Laodiceans, extant in Latin, and preserved by Fabricius in his col lection of apocryphal scriptures. The other purports to be an epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, in answer to an epistle from the Corinthians to him. This was translated by Scroderus from a copy in the Armenian language which had been sent to W. Whis- ton, and was afterward, from a more perfect copy, pro cured at Aleppo, published by his sons, as an appendix to their edition of Moses Chorenensis. No Greek copy exists of either : they are not only not supported by ancient testimony, but they are negatived and excluded ; as they have never found admission into any catalogue of apostolical writings, acknowledged by, or known to, the early ages of Christianity. In the first of these I found, as I expected, a total evitation of circumstances. It is simply a coUection of sentences from the canonical epistles, strung together with very little skill. The second, which is a more versute and specious forgery, is introduced with a list of names of persons who wrote to St. Paul from Corinth ; and is preceded by an account sufficiently particular ofthe manner in which the epistle was sent from Corinth to St. Paul, and the answer re turned. But they are names which no one ever heard of: and the account it is impossible to combine with any thing found in the Acts, or in the other epistles. It is not necessary for me to point out the internal marks of spuriousness and imposture which these compositions betray ; but it was necessary to observe, that they do not H0ILE PAULINjE. 119 afford those coincidences which we propose as proofs of authenticity in the epistles which we defend. Having explained the general scheme and formation of the argument, I may be permitted to subjoin a brief account of the manner of conducting it. I have disposed the several instances of agreement under separate numbers ; as well as to mark more sen sibly the divisions of the subject, as for another pur pose, viz. that the reader may thereby be reminded that the instances are independent of one another. I have advanced nothing which I did not think probable ; but the degree of probability by which different instances are supported, is undoubtedly very different. If the reader, therefore, meets with a number which contains an instance that appears to him unsatisfactory, or founded in mistake, he will dismiss that number from the argument, but without prejudice to any other. He will have occasion also to observe, that the coincidences discoverable in some epistles are much fewer and weaker than what are supplied by others. But he will add to his observation this important circumstance — that what ever ascertains the original of one epistle in some mea sure establishes the authority of the rest. For, whether those epistles be genuine or spurious, everything about them indicates that they come from the same hand. The diction, which it is extremely difficult to imitate, pre serves its resemblance and peculiarity throughout aU the epistles. Numerous expressions and singularities of style, found in no other part of the New Testament, are repeated in different epistles ; and occur in their respec tive places, without the smaUest appearance of force or art. An involved argumentation, frequent obscurities, especially in the order and transition of thought, piety, vehemence, affection, bursts of rapture, and of unparal leled sublimity, are properties, all, or most of them, dis cernible in every letter of the collection. But although 120 HOR^E PAULINA. these epistles bear strong marks of proceeding from the same hand, I think it is still more certain that they were originally separate publications. They form no con tinued story ; they compose no regular correspondence ; they comprise not the transactions of any particular period ; they carry on no connexion of argument ; they depend not upon one another ; except in one or two instances, they refer not to one another. I will farther undertake to say, that no study or care has been em ployed to produce or preserve an appearance of con sistency amongst them. All which observations show that they were not intended by the person, whoever he was, that wrote them, to come forth or be read together : that they appeared at first separately, and have been collected since. The proper purpose of the following work is to bring together, from the Acts of the Apostles, and from the different epistles, such passages as furnish examples of undesigned coincidence ; but I have so far enlarged upon this , plan, as to take into it some circumstances found in the epistles, which contributed strength to the conclusion, though not strictly objects of comparison. It appeared also a part of the same plan, to examine the difficulties which presented themselves in the course of our inquiry. I do not know that the subject has been proposed or considered in this view before. Ludovicus, Capellus, Bishop Pearson, Dr. Benson, and Dr. Lardner, have each given a continued history of St. Paul's life, made up from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles joined together. But this, it is manifest, is a different under taking from the present, and directed to a different purpose. If what is here offered shaU add one thread to that complication of probabilities by which the Christian history is attested, the reader's attention will be repaid HOR.E PAULINA. 121 by the supreme importance of the subject ; and my design will be fully answered. CHAP. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. No. I. The first passage I shall produce from this epistle, and upon which a good deal of observation will be founded, is the following : " But now I go unto Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints; for it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." Rom. xv. 25, 26. In this quotation three distinct circumstances are stated — a contribution in Macedonia for the relief of the Christians of Jerusalem, a contribution in Achaia for the same purpose, and an intended journey of St. Paul to Jerusalem. These circumstances are stated as taking place at the same time, and that to be the time when the epistle was written. Now, let us inquire whether we can find these circumstances elsewhere ; and whether, if we do find them, they meet together in respect of date. Turn to the Acts ofthe Apostles, chap. xx. ver. 2, 3, and you read the following account : "When he had gone over those parts (viz. Macedonia), and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months ; and when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he proposed to return through Macedonia." From this passage, compared with the account of St. Paul's tra vels, given before, and from the sequel of the chapter, it appears, that upon St. Paul's second visit to the penin sula of Greece, his intention was, when he should leave 122 HOR,E PAULINA. the country, to proceed from Achaia directly by sea to Syria ; but that to avoid the Jews, who were lying in wait to intercept him in his route, he so far changed his purpose as to go back through Macedonia, embark at Philippi, and pursue his voyage from thence toward Jerusalem. Here therefore is a journey to Jerusalem ; but not a syllable of any contribution. And as St. Paul had taken several journeys to Jerusalem before, and one also immediately after, his first visit into the peninsula of Greece (Acts xviii. 21.), it cannot from hence be collected in which of these visits the epistle was written, or, with certainty that it was written in either. The silence of the historian, who professes to have been with St. Paul at the time (c. xx. v. 6.), concerning any contribution, might lead us to look out for some dif ferent journey, or might induce us perhaps to question the consistency of the two records, did not a very acci dental reference, in another part of the same history, afford us sufficient ground to believe that this silence was omission. W'hen St. Paul made his reply before Felix, to the accusations of TertuUus, he aUeged, as was natural, that neither the errand which brought him to Jerusalem, nor his conduct while he remained there, merited the calumnies with which the Jews had as persed him. " Now, after many years (j. e. of absence), / came to bring alms to my nation and offerings ; whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult, who ought to have been here before, and object, if they had aught against me." Acts xxiv. 17 — 19. This mention of alms and offerings certainly brings the narrative in the Acts nearer to an accordance with the epistle ; yet no one, I am persuaded, wiU suspect that this clause was put into St. Paul's defence, either to supply the omission in the preceding narrative, or with any view to such accordance. IIORjE PAULINA. 123 After all, nothing is yet said or hinted concerning the place of the contribution ; nothing concerning Macedo nia and Achaia. Turn therefore to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xvi. ver. 1 — 4, and you have St. Paul delivering the following directions : "Concerning the collections for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye ; upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever you shaU approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem ; and if it be meet that I go also, they shaU go with me." In this passage we find a contribution carrying on at Corinth, the capital of Achaia, for the Christians of Jerusalem : we find also a hint given of the possibility of St. Paul going to Je rusalem himself, after he had paid his visit into Achaia : but this is spoken of rather as a possibility than as any settled intention; for his first thought was, "whomso ever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality to Jerusalem ;" and in the sixth verse he adds, "That ye may bring me on my journey whithersoeverl go." This epistle purports to be written after St. Paul had been at Corinth; for it refers through out to what he had done and said amongst them whilst he was there. The expression, therefore, "when I come," must relate to a second visit ; against which visit the con tribution spoken of was desired to be in readiness. But though the contribution in Achaia be expressly mentioned, nothing is here said concerning any contri bution in Macedonia. Turn, therefore, in the third place, to the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. viii. ver. 1 — 4, and you will discover the particular which re mains to be sought for : " Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia ; how that, in a great trial of affliction, 124 HORM PAULINA. the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their liberality : for to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves ; praying us, with much en treaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints." To which add, chap. ix. ver. 2 : "I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Ma cedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago." In this epistle we find St. Paul advanced as far as Macedonia, upon that second visit to Corinth which he promised in his former epistle : we find, also, in the passages now quoted from it, that a contribution was going on in Macedonia at the same time with, or soon, however, fol lowing, the contribution which was made in Achaia ; but for whom the contribution was made does not ap pear in this epistle at all: that information must be supplied from the first epistle. Here, therefore, at length, but fetched from three dif ferent writings, we have obtained the several circum stances we inquired after, and which the Epistle to the Romans brings together, viz. a contribution in Achaia for the Christians of Jerusalem; a contribution in Ma cedonia for the same ; and an approaching journey of St. Paul to Jerusalem. We have these circumstances — each by some hint in the passage in which it is men tioned, or by the date of the writing in which the pas sage occurs — fixed to a particular time ; and we have that time turning out, upon examination, to be in all the same .• namely, toward the close of St. Paul's second visit to the peninsula of Greece. This is an instance of conformity beyond the possibility, I wiU venture to say, of random writing to produce. I also assert, that it is in the highest degree improbable that it should have been the effect of contrivance and design. The impu tation of design amounts to this, — that the forger of the HOKM PAULINiE. 125 Epistle to the Romans inserted in it the passage upon which our observations are founded, for the purpose of giving colour to his forgery by the appearance of con formity with other writings which were then extant. I reply, in the first place, that, if he did this to counte nance his forgery, he did it for the purpose of an argu ment which would not strike one reader in ten thousand. Coincidences so circuitous as this answer not the ends of forgery ; are seldom, I believe, attempted by it. In the second place, I observe, that he must have had the Acts of the Apostles and the two epistles to the Corinthians before him at the time. In the Acts of the Apostles (I mean that part ofthe Acts which relates to this period) he would have found the journey to Jeru salem ; but nothing about the contribution. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians he would have found a con tribution going on in Achaia for the Christians of Jeru salem, and a distant hint of the possibility of the jour ney ; but nothing concerning a contribution in Mace donia. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians he would have found a contribution in Macedonia accom panying that in Achaia ; but no intimation for whom either was intended, and not a word about the journey. It was only by a close and attentive collation ofthe three writings, that he could have picked out the circum stances which he has united in his epistle ; and by a still more nice examination, that he could have deter mined them to belong to the same period. In the third place, I remark, what diminshes very much the suspi cion of fraud, how aptly and connectedly the mention of the circumstances in question, viz. the journey to Jerusalem, and of the occasion of that journey, arises from the context, " Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you ; for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. 126 HORM PAULINA. But now I gounto Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints; for it hath pleased them qf Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them, verily, and their debtors they are ; for, if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When, therefore, I have performed this, and have sealed them to this fruit, I wiU come by you into Spain." Is the passage in italics like a passage foisted in for an extraneous purpose ? Does it not arise from what goes before, by a junction as easy as any example of writing upon real business can furnish ? Could anything be more natural than that St. Paul, in writing to the Romaus, should speak of the time when he hoped to visit them ; should mention the business which then detained him ; and that he purposed to set forward upon his journey to them, when that business was completed ? No. II. By means of the quotation which formed the subject of the preceding number, we coUect, that the Epistle to the Romans was written at the conclusion of St. Paul's second visit to the peninsula of Greece ; but this we collect, not from the epistle itself, nor from any thing declared concerning the time and place in any part of the epistle, but from a comparison of circum stances referred to in the epistle, with the order of events recorded in the Acts, and with reference to the same circumstances, though for quite different purposes, in the two epistles to the Corinthians. Now, would the author of a forgery, who sought to gain credit to a spu rious letter by congruities, depending upon the time and place in which the letter was supposed to be written, have left that time and place to be made out in a manner so obscure and indirect as this is ? If, HORiE PAULINA. 127 therefore, coincidences of circumstances can be pointed out in this epistle, depending upon its date, or the place where it was written, whilst that date and place are only ascertained by other circumstances, such co incidences may fairly be stated as undesigned. Under this head I adduce Chap. xvi. 21 — 23. "Timotheus, my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsman, sa lute you. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius, mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you ; and Quartus, a brother." With this pas sage I compare Acts xx. 4. " And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Berea ; and, of the Thessalo nians, Aristarchus and Secundus ; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus ; and, of Asia, Tychicus and Trophi- mus." The Epistle to the Romans, we have seen, was written just before St. Paul's departure from Greece, after his second visit to that peninsula ; the persons mentioned in the quotation from the Acts are those who accompanied him in that departure. Of seven whose names are joined in the salutation of the church of Rome, three, viz. Sosipater, Gaius, and Timothy, are proved, by this passage in the Acts, to have been with St. Paul at the time. And this is perhaps as much coincidence as could be expected from reality, though less, I am apt to think, than would have been produced by design. Four are mentioned in the Acts who are not joined in the salutation ; and it is in the nature of the case probable that there should be many attending St. Paul in Greece who knew nothing of the converts at Rome, nor were known by them. In like manner, several are joined in the salutation which are not men tioned in the passage referred to in the Acts. This also was to be expected. The occasion of mentioning them in the Acts was their proceeding with St. Paul upon his journey. But we may be sure that there were many emi- 128 HOR^?. PAULINA. nent Christians with St. Paul in Greece, besides those who accompanied him into Asia.* But, if any one shall still contend that a forger of the epistle, with the Acts of the Apostles before him, and having settled this scheme of writing a letter as from St. Paul upon his second visit into Greece, would easily think of the expedient of putting in the names of those persons who appeared to be with St. Paul at the time as an obvious recommendation of the imposture : I then repeat my observations ; first, that he would have made the catalogue more complete ; and, secondly, that with this contrivance in his thoughts, it was certainly his business, in order to avail himself of the artifice, to have stated in the body ofthe epistle, that Paul was in Greece when he wrote it, and that he was there upon his second visit. Neither of which he has done, either directly, or even so as to be discoverable by any circumstance found in the narrative delivered in the Acts. Under the same head, viz. of coincidences depending upon date, I cite from the epistle the following saluta tion " Great Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Jesus * Of these Jason is one, whose presence upon this occasion is very naturally accounted for. Jason was an inhabitant of Thessalonica in Macedonia, and entertained St. Paul in his house upon his first visit to that country. Acts xvii. 7. — St. Paul, upon this his second visit, passed through Macedonia on his way to Greece, and, from the situation of Thessalonica, most likely through that city. It ap pears, from various instances in the Acts, to have been the practice of many converts to attend St. Paul from place to place. It is therefore highly probable, I mean that it is highly consistent with the account in the history, that Jason, according to that account a zealous disciple, the inhabitant of a city at no great distance from Greece, and through which, as it should seem, St. Paul had lately passed, should have accompanied St. Paul into Greece, and have been with him there at this time. Lucius is another name in the epistle. A very slight alteration would convert Aou'xio? into Aouxa«, Lucius into Luke, which would produce an additional coincidence : for, if Luke was the author of the history, he was with St. Paul at the time ; inasmuch as, describing the voyage which took place soon after the writing of this epistle, the historian uses the first person — " We sailed away from Philippi." Acts xx. 6. HORjE PAULINiE. 129 Christ, who have for my life laid down their own necks ; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." Chap. xvi. 3 It ap pears, from the 'Acts of the Apostles,' that Priscilla and Aquila had originally been inhabitants of Rome ; for we read, Acts xviii. 2, that " Paul found a certain Jew, named Aquila, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome." They were connected, therefore, with the place to which the salutations are sent. That is one coincidence ; another is the follow ing : St. Paul became acquainted with these persons at Corinth, during his first visit into Greece. They accom panied him upon his return into Asia; were settled for some time at Ephesus, Acts xviii. 19 — 26, and appear to have been with Saint Paul when he wrote from that place his 'First Epistle to the Corinthians,' 1 Cor. xvi. 19- Not long after the writing of which epistle, Saint Paul went from Ephesus into Macedonia, and, " after he had gone over those parts," proceeded from thence upon his second visit into Greece ; during which visit, or rather at the conclusion of it, the 'Epistle to the Ro mans,' as hath been shown, was written. We have therefore the time of Saint Paul's residence at Ephesus after he had written to the Corinthians, the time taken up by his progress through Macedonia (which is inde finite, and was probably considerable), and his three months' abode in Greece ; we have the sum of those three periods allowed for Aquila and Priscilla going back to Rome, so as to be there when the epistle before us was written. Now what this quotation leads us to observe is, the danger of scattering names and circum stances in writings like the present, how implicated they often are with dates and places, and that nothing but truth can preserve consistency. Had the notes of time in the 'Epistle to the Romans * fixed the writing of VOL. II. K 130 HORM PAULINiE. it to any date prior to Saint Paul's first residence at Co rinth, the salutation of Aquila and Priscilla would have contradicted the history, because it would have been prior to his acquaintance with these persons. If the notes of time had fixed it to any period during that residence at Corinth, during his journey to Jerusalem when he first returned out of Greece, during his stay at Antioch, whither he went down to Jerusalem, or during his second progress through the Lesser Asia upon which he proceeded from Antioch, an equal contradiction would have been incurred ; because, from Acts xviii. 2 — 18, 19 — 26, it appears, that during all this time Aquila and Priscilla were either along with Saint Paul, or were abiding at Ephesus. Lastly, had the notes of time in this epistle, which we have seen to be perfectly incidental, compared with the notes of time in the ' First Epistle to the Corinthians,' which are equally incidental, fixed this epistle to be either contemporary with that, or prior to it, a similar contradiction would have ensued; because, first, when the 'Epistle to the Corinthians' was written, Aquila and Priscilla were along with St. Paul, as they joined in the salutation of that church, 1 Cor. xvi. 19 ; and because, secondly, the history does not allow us to suppose that, between the time of their becoming acquainted with St. Paul and the time of St. Paul's writing to the Corinthians, Aquila and Priscilla could have gone to Rome, so as to have been saluted in an epistle to that city; and then come back to St. Paul at Ephesus, so as to be joined with him in saluting the church of Corinth. As it is, all things are consistent. The ' Epistle to the Romans ' is posterior even to the ' Second Epistle to the Corinthians ;' because it speaks of a contribution in Achaia being completed, which the ' Second Epistle to the Corinthians,' chap, viii., is only soliciting. It is sufficiently, therefore, posterior to the ' First Epistle to the Corinthians ' to allow time in the HOR^J PAULINA. 131 interval for Aquila and Priscilla's return from Ephesus to Rome. Before we dismiss these two persons, we may take notice of the terms of commendation in which St. Paul describes them, and of the agreement of that encomium , with the history. " My helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their necks ; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." In the eighteenth chapter of the ' Acts,' we are informed that Aquila and Priscilla were Jews ; that St. Paul first met with them at Corinth ; that for some time he abode in the same house with them ; that Saint Paul's contention at Corinth was with the unbelieving Jews, who at first "opposed and blasphemed, and after ward with one accord raised an insurrection against him ;" that Aquila and Priscilla adhered, we may con clude, to Saint Paul throughout this whole contest;- for, when he left the city, they went with him, Acts xviii. 18. Under these circumstances, it is highly probable that they should be involved in the dangers and per secutions which Saint Paul underwent from the Jews, being themselves Jews ; and, by adhering to Saint Paul in this dispute, deserters, as they would be accounted, of the Jewish cause. Farther, as they, though Jews, were assisting to Saint Paul in preaching to the Gentiles at Corinth, they had taken a decided part in the great controversy of that day, the admission of the Gentiles to a parity of religious situation with the Jews. For this conduct alone, if there was no other reason, they may seem to have been entitled to " thanks from the churches of the Gentiles." They were Jews taking part with Gentiles. Yet is all this so indirectly inti mated, or rather so much of it left to inference, in the account given in the ' Acts,' that I do not think it pro bable that a forger either would or could have drawn his representation from thence ; and still less probable k 2 132 HOR^ PAULINA. do I think, that, without having seen the ' Acts,' he could, by mere accident, and without truth for his guide, have delivered a representation so conformable to the circumstances there recorded. The two congruities last adduced depended upon the time, the two following regard the place, of the epistle : — 1. Chap. xvi. 23. " Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth you" — of what city ? We have seen, that is, we have inferred from circumstances found in the epistle, compared with circumstances found in the 'Acts of the Apostles,' and in the two ' Epistles to the Co rinthians,' that our epistle was written during St. Paul's second visit to the peninsula of Greece. Again, as Saint Paul, in his ' Epistle to the church of Corinth,' 1 Cor. xvi. 3, speaks of a coUection going on in that city, and of his desire that it might be ready against he came thither ; and as in this epistle he speaks of that collec tion being ready, it follows that the epistle was written either whilst he was at Corinth, or after he had been there. Thirdly, since St. Paul speaks in this epistle of his journey to Jerusalem, as about instantly to take place ; and as we learn, Acts xx. 3, that his design and attempt was to sail upon that journey immediately from Greece, properly so called, i. e. as distinguished from , Macedonia ; it is probable that he was in this country when he wrote the epistle, in which he speaks of him self as upon the eve of setting out. If in Greece, he was most likely at Corinth ; for the two Epistles to the Corinthians show that the principal end of his coming into Greece was to visit that city, where he had founded a church. Certainly we know no place in Greece in which his presence was so probable : at least, the placing of him at Corinth satisfies every circumstance. Now that Erastus was an inhabitant of Corinth, or had some connexion with Corinth, is rendered a fair subject HOR.E PAULINA. 133 of presumption, by that which is accidentally said of him in the * Second Epistle to Timothy,' chap. iii. 20, " Erastus abode at Corinth." Saint Paul complains of his solitude, and is telling Timothy what was become of his companions : " Erastus abode at Corinth ; but Trophimus have I left at Miletum, sick." Erastus was one of those who had attended Saint Paul in his travels, Acts xix. 22 ; and when those travels had, upon some occasion, brought our apostle and his train to Corinth, Erastus stayed there, for no reason so probable as that it was his home. I allow that this coincidence is not so precise as some others, yet I think it too clear to be produced by accident ; for, of the many places which this same epistle has assigned to different persons, and the innumerable others which it might have mentioned, how came it to fix upon Corinth for Erastus ? And, as far as it is a coincidence, it is certainly undesigned on the part of the author of the ' Epistle to the Romans :' because he has not told us of what city Erastus was the chamberlain ; or, which is the same thing, from what city the epistle was written, the setting forth of which was absolutely necessary to the display of the coincidence, if any such display had been thought of: nor could the author of the ' Epistle to Timothy' leave Erastus at Corinth, from anything he might have read in the ' Epistle to the Romans,' because Corinth is nowhere in that epistle mentioned, either by name or description. 2. Chap. xvi. 1 — 3. " I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea, that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you ; for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also." Cenchrea adjoined to Corinth ; Saint Paul, therefore, at the time of writing the letter, was in the neighbourhood of the woman whom 134 HORM PAULIN.E. he thus recommends. But, farther, that Saint Paul had before this been at Cenchrea itself, appears from the eighteenth chapter of the 'Acts ;' and appears by a cir cumstance as incidental, and as unlike design, as any that can be imagined. " Paul after this tarried there (viz. at Corinth) yet a good while, and then took his leave of his brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow," xviii. 18. The shaving of the head denoted the expiration of the Nazaritic vow. The historian, therefore, by the mention of this circum stance, virtually tells us that St. Paul's vow was expired before he set forward upon his voyage, having deferred probably his departure until he should be released from the restrictions under which his vow laid him. Shall we say that the author of the 'Acts of the Apostles' feigned this anecdote of Saint Paul at Cenchrea, because he had read in the ' Epistle to the Romans' that "Phoebe, a ser vant of the church of Cenchrea, had been a succourer of many, and of him also ?" or shall we say that the author of the ' Epistle to the Romans,' out of his own imagination, created Phoebe "a servant of the church at Cenchrea," because he read in the 'Acts of the Apos tles' that Paul bad " shorn his head" in that place ? No. III. Chap. i. 13. " Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes Ipurposedtocomeuntoyou, but was let hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles." Again, xv. 23, 24, " But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years Qz-oKka, oftentimes) to come unto you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain I will come to you : for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you : but now I go up unto Jerusalem, HORiE PAULINiE. 135 to minister to the saints. When therefore I have per formed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain." With these passages compare Acts xix. 21. "After these things were ended (viz. at Ephesus), Paul pur posed in the spirit, when he had passed through Ma cedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem ; saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome." Let it be observed that our epistle purports to have been written at the conclusion of Saint Paul's second journey into Greece : that the quotation from the 'Acts' contains words said to have been spoken by Saint Paul at Ephesus, some time before he set forwards upon that journey. Now I contend that it is impossible that two independent fictions should have attributed to Saint Paul the same purpose, especially a purpose so specific and particular as this, which was not merely a general de sign of visiting Rome after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, and after he had performed a voyage from these countries to Jerusalem. The con formity between the history and the epistle is perfect. In the first quotation from the epistle, we find that a design of visiting Rome had long dwelt in the apostle's mind : in the quotation from the 'Acts,' we find that design expressed a considerable time before the epistle was written. In the history, we find that the plan which Saint Paul had formed was, to pass through Macedonia and Achaia ; after that, to go to Jerusalem ; and, when he had finished his visit there, to sail for Rome. When the epistle was written he had executed so much of his plan as to have passed through Macedonia and Achaia ; and was preparing to pursue the remainder of it, by speedily setting out toward Jerusalem : and in this point of his travels he tells his friends at Rome, that, when he had completed the business which carried him to Jerusalem, he would come to them. Secondly, I 136 HORM PAULINA. say that the very inspection of the passages will satisfy us that they were not made up from one another. " Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you ; for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you ; but now I go up to Jerusalem, to minister to the saints. When, therefore, I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain." — This from the epistle. " Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia, and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem ; saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome." —This from the ' Acts.' If the passage in the epistle was taken from that in the 'Acts,' why was Spain put in ? If the passage in the 'Acts' was taken from that in the epistle, why was Spain left out ? If the two passages were unknown to each other, nothing can account for their conformity but truth. Whether we suppose the history and the epistle to be alike fictitious, or the history to be true but the letter spurious, or the letter to be genuine but the history a fable, the meeting with this circumstance in both, if neither borrowed it from the other, is, upon all these suppositions, equaUy inexplicable. No. IV. The foUowing quotation I offer for the purpose of pointing out a geographical coincidence, of so much importance, that Dr. Lardner considered it as a con firmation of the whole history of Saint Paul's travels : — Chap. xv. 19- " So that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." I do not think that these words necessarily import that Saint Paul had penetrated into Illyricum, or preached HORJE PAULINA. 137 the Gospel in that province ; but rather that he had come to the confines of Illyricum (j/fvygt rov iKkvgixov), and that these confines were the external boundary of his travels. Saint Paul considers Jerusalem as the cen tre, and is here viewing the circumference to which his travels extended. The form of expression in the origi nal conveys this idea — awo \ioovo~ukryjj xai xvxkoj> p'tygt rou lKkvgix.ov. IUyricum was the part of this circle which he mentions in an epistle to the Romans, because it lay in a direction from Jerusalem toward that city, and pointed out to the Roman readers the nearest place to them, to which his travels from Jerusalem had brought him. The name of IUyricum nowhere occurs in the 'Acts of the Apostles;' no suspicion, therefore, can be received that the mention of it was borrowed from thence. Yet I think it appears, from these same 'Acts,' that St. Paul, before the time when he wrote his 'Epistle to the Romans,' had reached the confines of Illyricum ; or, however, that he might have done so, in perfect consistency with the account there delivered. Illyri cum joins upon Macedonia; measuring from Jerusalem toward Rome, it lies close behind it. If, therefore, St. Paul traversed the whole country of Macedonia, the route would necessarily bring him to the confines of Illyricum, and these confines would be described as the extremity of his journey. Now the account of St. Paul's second visit to the peninsula of Greece is con tained in these words : " He departed for to go into Macedonia ; andwhen he had gone over these parts, and had given themmuch exhortation, he came into Greece," Acts xx. 2. This account aUows, or rather leads us to suppose, that St. Paul, in going over Macedonia (hts\- 6wv ro\ fjbsg7i Ixuva), had passed so far to the west, as to come into those parts of the country which were con tiguous to Illyricum, if he did not enter into IUyricum itself. The history, therefore, and the epistle so far 138 HORiE TAULINJE. agree, and the agreement is much strengthened by a coincidence of time. At the time the epistle was writ ten, St. Paul might say, in conformity with the history, that he had " come into Illyricum ;" much before that time, he could not have said so ; for, upon his former journey to Macedonia, his route is laid down from the time of his landing at Philippi to his saiUng from Co rinth. We trace him from Philippi to Amphipolis and Apollonia ; from hence to Thessalonica ; from Thessa lonica to Berea ; from Berea to Athens ; and from Athens to Corinth : which track confines him to the eastern side of the peninsula, and therefore keeps him all the while at a considerable distance from IUyri cum. Upon his second visit to Macedonia, the history, we have seen, leaves him at liberty. It must have been, therefore, upon that second visit, if at all, that he approached Illyricum ; and this visit, we know, almost immediately preceded the writing of the epistle. It was natural that the apostle should refer to a jour ney which was fresh in his thoughts. No. V. Chap. xv. 30. " Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love. of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe, in Judea." — With this compare Acts xx. 22, 23 :— " And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me."' Let it be remarked, that it is the same journey to Je rusalem which is spoken of in these two passages ; that the epistle was written immediately before St. Paul set forwards upon this journey from Achaia; that the words HORiE PAULINA. 139 in the ' Acts ' were uttered by him when he had pro ceeded in that journey as far as Miletus, in Lesser Asia. This being remembered, I observe that the two pas sages, without any resemblance between them that could induce us to suspect that they were borrowed from one another, represent the state of St. Paul's mind, with respect to the event of the journey, in terms of substantial agreement. .They both express his sense of danger in the approaching visit to Jerusalem : they both express the doubt which dwelt upon his thoughts con cerning what might there befall him. When, in his epistle, he entreats the Roman Christians, " for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, to strive together with him in their prayers to God for him, that he might be delivered from them which do not believe, in Judea," he sufficiently confesses his fears. In the * Acts of the Apostles' we see in him the same apprehensions, and the same uncertainty: "I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there." The only difference is, that in the history his thoughts are more inclined to de spondency than in the epistle. In the epistle he retains his hope " that he should come unto them with joy by the will of God :" in the history, his mind yields to the reflection, " that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city that bonds and afflictions awaited him." Now that his fears should be greater, and his hopes less, in this stage of his journey than when he wrote his epistle, that is, when he first set out upon it, is no other altera tion than might well be expected; since those prophetic intimations to which he refers, when he says, " the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city," had probably been received by him in the course of his journey, and were probably similar to what we know he received in the remaining part of it at Tyre, xxi. 4 ; and after ward from Agabus at Csesarea, xxi. 11. 140 HORiE PAULINA. No. VI. There is another strong remark arising from the same passage in the epistle ; to make which under stood, it will be necessary to state the passage over again, and somewhat more at length. "I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive to gether with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe, in Judea — that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed." I desire the reader will call to mind that part of St. Paul's history which took place after his arrival at Je rusalem, and which employs the seven last chapters of the 'Acts;' and I build upon it this observation — that supposing the 'Epistle to the Romans' to have been a forgery, and the author of the forgery to have had the 'Acts of the Apostles' before him, and to have there seen that St. Paul, in fact, " was not dehvered from the unbelieving Jews," but, on the contrary, that he was taken into custody at Jerusalem, and brought to Rome a prisoner ; it is next to impossible that he should have made St. Paul express expectations so contrary to what he saw had been the event ; and utter prayers, with apparent hopes of success, which he must have known were frustrated in the issue. This single consideration convinces me that no con cert or confederacy whatever subsisted between the epistle and the 'Acts of the Apostles;' and that whatever coincidences have been or can be pointed out between them, are unsophisticated, and are the result of truth and reality. It also convinces me that the epistle was written not only in St. Paul's lifetime, but beforehe arrived at Jerusa lem; for the important events relating to him which took HOR^: PAULINA. 141 place after his arrival at that city, must have been known to the Christian community soon after they happened : they form the most public part of his history. But had they been known to the author of the epistle — in other words, had they then taken place — the passage which we have quoted from the epistle would not have been found there. No. VII. I now proceed to state the conformity which exists between the argument of this epistle and the history of its reputed author. It is enough for this purpose to observe, that the object of the epistle, that is, of the argumentative part of it, was to place the Gentile con vert upon a parity of situation with the Jewish, in respect of his religious condition, and his rank in the Divine favour. The epistle supports this point by a variety of arguments ; such as, that no man of either description was justified by the works of the law — for this plain reason, that no man had performed them ; that it became therefore necessary to appoint another medium or condition of justification, in which new medium the Jewish peculiarity was merged and lost ; that Abra ham's own justification was anterior to the law, and independent of it ; that the Jewish converts were to consider the law as now dead, and themselves as mar ried to another ; that what the law in truth could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God had done by sending his Sbn ; that God had rejected the unbe lieving Jews, and had substituted in their place a society of believers in Christ, collected indifferently from Jews and Gentiles. Soon after the writing of this epistle, St. Paul, agreeably to the intention intimated in the epistle itself, took his journey to Jerusalem. The day after he arrived there, he was introduced to the church. What passed at this interview is thus related, Acts xxi. 19 '• " When he had saluted them, he declared particu- 142 HORiE PAULINA. larly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry : and, when they heard it, they glorified the Lord : and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe ; and they are all zealous of the law ; and they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs." St. Paul disclaimed the charge ; but there must have been something to have led to it. Now it is only to suppose that St. Paul openly professed the principles which the epistle contains ; that, in the course of his ministry, he had uttered the sentiments which he is here made to write ; and the matter is accounted for. Concerning the accusation which public rumour had brought against him to Jerusalem, I will not say that it was just ; but I will say, that, if he was the author of the epistle before us, and if his preaching was consistent with his writing, it was extremely natural : for though it be not a necessary, surely it is an easy, inference, that if the Gentile convert, who did not observe the law of Moses, held as advantageous a situation in his reli gious interests as the Jewish convert who did, there could be no strong reason for observing that law at all. The remonstrance therefore ofthe church of Jerusalem, and the report which occasioned it, were founded in no very violent misconstruction of the apostle's doctrine. His reception at Jerusalem was exactly what I should have expected the author of this epistle to have met with. I am entitled therefore to argue that a separate narrative of effects experienced by St. Paul, similar to what a person might be expected to experience who held the doctrines advanced in this epistle, forms a proof that he did hold these doctrines ; and that the epistle bearing his name, in which such doctrines are laid down, actually proceeded from him. HORjE PAULINA. 143 No. VIII. This number is supplemental to the former. I pro pose to point out in it two particulars in the conduct of the argument, perfectly adapted to the historical cir cumstances under which the epistle was written ; which yet are free from all appearance of contrivance, and which it would not, I think, have entered into the mind of a sophist to contrive. 1. The ' Epistle to the Galatians' relates to the same general question as the ' Epistle to the Romans.' St. Paul had founded the church of Galatia ; at Rome he had never been. Observe now a difference in his man ner of treating ofthe same subject, corresponding with this difference in his situation. In the ' Epistle to the Galatians' he puts the point in a great measure upon authority : " I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel," Gal. i. 6. " I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me, is not after man ; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ," i. 11, 12. " I am afraid, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain," iv. 11, 12. "I desire to be present with you now, for I stand in doubt of you," iv. 20. " Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, thatif ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing," v. 2. " This persuasion cometh not of him that called you," v. 8. This is the style in which he accosts the Galatians. In the epistle to the converts of Rome, where his authority was not established, nor his person known, he puts the same points entirely upon argument. The perusal of the epistle will prove this to the satisfaction of every reader ; and, as the observation relates to the whole contents of the epistle, I forbear adducing separate extracts. T repeat, there fore, that we have pointed out a distinction in the two 144 HORM PAULINA. epistles, suited to the relation in which the author stood to his different correspondents. Another adaptation, and somewhat ofthe same kind, is the foUowing : — 2. The Jews, we know, were very numerous at Rome, and probably formed a principal part amongst the new converts ; so much so that the Christians seem to have been known at Rome rather as a denomination of Jews than as anything else. In an epistle consequently to the Roman believers, the point to be endeavoured after by St. Paul was to reconcile the Jewish converts to the opinion that the Gentiles were admitted by God to a parity of religious situation with themselves, and that without their being bound by the law of Moses. The Gentile converts would probably accede to this opinion very readily. In this epistle, therefore, though directed to the Roman church in general, it is in truth a Jew writing to Jews. Accordingly you will take notice, that as often as his argument leads him to say anything derogatory from the Jewish institution, he constantly follows it by a softening clause. Having (ii. 28, 29.) pronounced, not much perhaps to the satisfaction of the native Jews, " that he is not a Jew which is one out wardly, neither that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ;" he adds immediately, " W'hat advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there in circumci sion ? Much every way." Having, in the third chapter, ver. 28, brought his argument to this formal conclusion, " that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," he presently subjoins, ver. 31, " Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid ! Yea, we establish the law." In the seventh chapter, when in the sixth verse he had advanced the bold assertion, " that now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held ;" in the very next verse he comes, in with this healing question, " What shall we H0R.E PAULINA. 145 say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid I Nay, I had nov known sin but by the law." Having in the following words insinuated, or rather more than insinuated, the inefficacy of the Jewish law, viii. 3, " for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh ;" after a digression indeed, but that sort of a digression which he could never resist, a rapturous contemplation of his Christian hope, and which occupies the latter part of this chapter ; we find him in the next, as if sensible that he had said something which would give offence, returning to his Jewish brethren in terms of the warmest affection and respect. " I say the truth in Christ Jesus ; I lie not ; my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart ; for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adop tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers ; and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came." When, in the thirty-first and thirty- second verses of this ninth chapter, he represented to the Jews the error of even the best of their nation, by telling them that " Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of righteous ness, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone," he fakes care to annex to this decla ration these conciliating expressions : " Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved : for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Lastly, having, ch. x. 20, 21, by the application of a passage in ' Isaiah,' insinuated the most ungrateful of all VOL. II. L 146 horjE paulin^. propositions to a Jewish ear, the rejection of the Jewish nation, as God's peculiar people ; he hastens, as it were, to qualify the intelligence of their fall by this interesting expostulation : " I say, then, hath God cast away his people (i. e. wholly and entirely) ? God for bid ! for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew " and follows this thought, throughout the whole of the eleventh chapter, in a series of reflections calculated to sooth the Jewish converts, as weU as to procure from their Gentile brethren respect to the Jewish institution. Now all this is perfectly natural. In a real Saint Paul, writing to real converts, it is what anxiety to bring them over to his persuasion would naturally produce ; but there is an earnestness and a personality, if I may so call it, in the manner, which a cold forgery, I apprehend, would neither have conceived nor supported. CHAP. III. THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. No. I. Before we proceed to compare this epistle with the history, or with any other epistle, we will employ one number in stating certain remarks applicable to our argument, which arise froin a perusal of the epistle itself. By an expression in the first verse of the" seventh chapter, " now concerning the things whereof he wrote unto me," it appears that this letter to the Corinthians was written by Saint Paul in answer to one which he had received from them ; and that the seventh, and some of the following chapters, are taken up in resolving certain doubts, and regulating certain points of order, concern ing which the Corinthians had in their letter consulted HOR.E PAULINA. 147 him. This alone is a circumstance considerably in fa vour of the authenticity of the epistle; for it must have . been a far-fetched contrivance in a forgery, first to have feigned the receipt of a letter from the church of Corinth, which letter does not appear ; aiid then to have drawn up a fictitious answer to it, relative to a great variety of doubts and inquiries, purely economical and domestic ; and which, though likely enough to have occurred to an infant society, in a situatien and under an institution so novel as that of a Christian church then was, it must have very much exercised the author's invention, and could have answered no imaginable purpose of forgery, to introduce the mention of at all. Particulars ofthe kind we refer to are such as the following : the rule of duty and prudence relative to entering into marriage, as applicable to virgins, to widows ; the case of hus bands married to unconverted wives, of wives having unconverted husbands ; that case where the uncon verted party chooses to separate, where he chooses to continue the union ; the effect which their conversion produced upon their prior state, of circumcision, of slavery ; the eating of things offered to idols, as it was in itself, as others were affected by it; the joining in idolatrous sacrifices ; the decorum to be observed in their religious assemblies, the order of speaking, the silence of women, the covering or uncovering of the head, as it became men, as it became women. These subjects, with their several subdivisions, are so particu lar, minute, and numerous, that, though they be exactly agreeable to the circumstances of the persons to whom the letter was written, nothing, I believe, but the exist ence and reality of those circumstances could have sug gested to the writer's thoughts. But this is not the only nor the principal observation upon the correspondence between the church of Corinth and their apostle, which I wish to point out. It ap- l 2 148 HORiE PAULINA. pears, I think, in this correspondence, that although the Corinthians had written to Saint Paul, requesting his an swer and his directions in the several points above enume rated, yet that they had not said one syllable about the enormities and disorders which had crept in amongst them, and in the blame of which they all shared ; but that St. Paul's information concerning the irregularities then prevailing at Corinth had come round to him from other quarters. The quarrels and disputes excited by their contentious adherence to their different teachers, and by their placing of them in competition with one another, were not mentioned in their letter, but commu nicated to Saint Paul by more private intelligence : "It hath been declared unto me, my brethren, by them which are ofthe house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." (i. 11, 12.) The incestuous marriage " of a man with his father's wife," which Saint Paul re prehends with so much severity in the fifth chapter of our epistle, and which was not the crime of an indivi dual only, but a crime in which the whole church, by tolerating and conniving at it, had rendered themselves partakers, did not come to Saint Paul's knowledge by the letter, but by a rumour which had reached his ears : "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have. his father's wife ; and ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he that has done this deed might be taken away from among you." (v.l, 2.) Their going to lawf;before the judicature of the country, rather than arbitrate and adjust their disputes among themselves, which St. Paul animadverts upon with his usual plainness, was not in timated to him in the letter, because he tells them his opinion of this conduct before he comes to the contents HORjE PAULINA. 149 of the letter. Their litigiousness is censured by Saint Paul in thetsixth chapter of his epistle, and it is only at the beginning of the seventh chapter that he proceeds upon the articles which he found in their letter ; and he proceeds upon them with this preface : " Now con cerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me" (vii. 1 ) ; which introduction he would not have used if he had been already discussing any of the subjects concerning which they had written. Their irregularities in cele brating the Lord's supper, and the utter perversion of the institution which ensued, were not in the letter, as is evident from the terms in which Saint Paul mentions the notice he had received of it : " Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come toge ther not for the better, but for the worse ; for first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it." Now that the Corinthians should, in their own letter, exhibit the fair side of their conduct to the apostle, and con ceal from him the faults of their behaviour, was extremely natural, and extremely probable : but it was a distinc- tio® which would not, I think, have easily occurred to the author of a forgery ; and much less likely is it that it should have entered into his thoughts to make the distinction appear in the way in which it does appear, viz. not by the original letter, not by any express obser vation upon it in the answer, but distinctly by marks perceivable in the manner, or in the order, in which Saint Paul takes notice of their faults. No. II. Our epistle purports to have been written after Saint Paul had already been at Corinth : " I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom" (ii. 1): and in many other places to the same effect. It purports also to have been written upon 150 HORJE PAULINA. the eve of another visit to that church ; " I will come to youshortly,if the Lord will" (iv. 19); and again, "IwiU come to you when I shaU pass through Macedonia." (xvi. 5.) Now the history relates that Saint Paul did in fact visit Corinth twice : once, as recorded at length in the eighteenth ; and a second time, as mentioned briefly in the twentieth chapter of the 'Acts.' The samehistory also informs us (Acts xx. 1) that it was from Ephesus Saint Paul proceeded upon his second journey into Greece. Therefore, as the epistle purports to have been written a short time preceding that journey ; and as Saint Paul, the historytells us, had resided more than two years at Ephesus, before he set out upon it, it fol lows that it must have been from Ephesus, to be con sistent with the history, that the epistle was written ; and every note of place in the epistle agrees with this supposition. " If, after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?" (xv. 32.) I allow that the apostle might say this, wherever he was ; but it was more natural and more to the purpose to say it, if he was at Ephesus at the time, and in the midst of those conflicts to which the expression relates. " The churches of Asia salute you." (xvi. 19.) Asia, throughout the 'Acts of the Apos tles' and the epistles of Saint Paul, does not mean the whole of Asia Minor, or Anatolia, nor even the whole of the proconsular Asia, but a district in the anterior part of that country, called Lydian Asia, divided from the rest, much as Portugal is from Spain, and of which district Ephesus was the capital. " Aquila and Pris cilla salute you." (xvi. 19.) Aquila and PrisciUa were at Ephesus during the period within which this epistle was written. (Acts xviii. 18. 26.) "I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost." (xvi. 8.) This, I apprehend, is in terms almost asserting that he was at Ephesus. at the time of writing the epistle — " A great and effectual H0RA PAULIN7E. 151 door is opened unto me." (xvi. 9.) How well this de claration corresponded with the state of things at Ephesus, and the progress of the Gospel in these parts, we learn from the reflection with which the historian concludes the account of certain transactions which passed there : " So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed" (Acts xix. 20) ; as well as from the complaint of Demetrius, " that not only at Ephesus, but also throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded, and turned away much people." (xix. 26) — " And there are many adversaries," says the epistle, (xvi. 9.) Look into the history of this period : " When divers were hard ened and believed not, but spake evil of that way be fore the multitude, he departed from them, and sepa rated the disciples." The conformity therefore upon this head of comparison is circumstantial and perfect. If any one think that this is a conformity so obvious that any forger of tolerable caution and sagacity would have taken care to preserve it, I must desire such a one to read the epistle' for himself ; and, when he has done so, to declare whether he has discovered one mark of art or design ; whether the notes of time and place ap pear to him to be inserted with any reference to each other, with any view of their being compared with each other, or for the purpose of establishing a visible agree ment with the history, in respect of them. No. III. Chap. iv. 17 — 19. "For this cause I have sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come unto you ; but I will come unto you shortly, if the Lord will." With this I compare Acts xix. 21, 22 : " After these 152 HORM PAULINA. things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem ; saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome ; so he sent unto Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus." Though it be not said, it appears I think with suffi cient certainty, I mean from the history, independently of the epistle, that Timothy was sent upon this occasion into Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital city, as well as into Macedonia : for the sending of Timothy and Erastus is, in the passage where it is mentioned, plainly connected with St. Paul's own journey : he sent them before him. As he therefore purposed to go into Achaia himself, it is highly probable that they were to go thither also. Nevertheless, they are said only to have been sent into Macedonia, because Macedonia was in truth the country to which they went immediately from Ephesus ; being directed, as we suppose, to pro ceed afterward from thence into Achaia. If this be so, the narrative agrees with the epistle ; and the agree ment is attended with very little appearance of design. One thing at least concerning it is certain : that if this passage of St. Paul's history had been taken from his letter, it would have sent Timothy to Corinth by name, or expressly however into Achaia. But there is another circumstance in these two pas sages much less obvious, in which an agreement holds without any room for suspicion that it was produced by- design. We have observed that the sending of Timothy into the peninsula of Greece was connected in the nar rative with St. Paul's own journey thither ; it is stated as the effect of the same resolution. Paul purposed to go into Macedonia ; " so he sent two of them that mini stered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus." Now in the epistle also you remark that, when the apostle mentions his having sent Timothy unto them, in the very next HORA PAULINA. 153 sentence he speaks of his own visit : " for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, &c. Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you ; but I will come to you shortly, if God will." Timothy's journey, we see, is mentioned in the history and in the epistle, in close connexion with St. Paul's own. Here is the same order of thought and intention ; yet conveyed under such diversity of cir cumstance and expression, and the mention of them in the epistle so aUied to the occasion which introduces it, viz. the insinuation of his adversaries that he would come to Corinth no more, that I am persuaded no at tentive reader will believe that these passages were written in concert with one another, or will doubt but that the agreement is unsought and uncontrived. But, in the * Acts,' Erastus accompanied Timothy in this journey, of whom no mention is made in the epistle. From what has been said in our observations upon the ' Epistle to the Romans,' it appears probable that Erastus was a Corinthian. If so, though he accompanied Ti mothy to Corinth, he was only returning home, and Timothy was the messenger charged with St. Paul's orders At any rate, this discrepancy shows that the passages were not taken from one another. No. IV. Chap. xvi. 10, 11. — " Now, if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear ; for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do : let no man there fore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come, unto me, for I look for him with the brethren." From the passage considered in the preceding num ber, it appears that Timothy was sent to Corinth, either with the epistle, or before it : " for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus." From the passage now 154 HORA PAULINA. quoted, we infer that Timothy was not sent with the epistle ; for had he been the bearer of the letter, or ac companied it, would St. Paul in that letter have said " If Timothy come ?" Nor is the sequel consistent with the supposition of his carrying the letter ; for if Timothy was with the apostle when he wrote the letter, could he say, as he does, " I look for him with the brethren?" I conclude, therefore, that Timothyhad left St. Paul to proceed upon his journey before the letter was written. Farther, the passage before us seems to imply that Timothy was not expected by St. Paul to arrive at Corinth, till after they had received the letter. He gives them directions in the letter how to treat him when he should arrive : " If he come," act toward him so and so. Lastly, the whole form of expression is most naturally applicable to the supposition of Timothy's coming to Corinth, not directly from St. Paul, but from some other quarter ; and that his instructions had been, when he should reach Corinth, to return. Now, how stands this matter in the history ? Turn to the nine teenth chapter and twenty-first verse of the 'Acts,' and you will find that Timothy did not, when sent from Ephesus, where he left St. Paul, and where the present epistle was written, proceed by a straight course to Corinth, but that he went round through Macedonia. This clears up everything ; for, although Timothy was sent forth upon his journey before the letter was writ ten, yet he might not reach Corinth till after the letter arrived there ; and he would come to Corinth, when he did come, not directly from St. Paul at Ephesus, but from some part of Macedonia. Here, therefore, is a circumstantial and critical agreement, and unquestion ably without design ; for neither of the two passages in the epistle mentions Timothy's journey into Macedonia at all, though nothing but a circuit of that kind can ex plain and reconcile the expressions which the writer uses. HORA PAULINA. 155 No. V. Chap, i.- 12. "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." Also, iii. 6. "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase/' This expression, "I have planted, Apollos watered," imports two things ; first, that Paul had been at Corinth before Apollos ; secondly, that Apollos had been at Co rinth after Paul, but before the writing of this epistle. This implied account of the several events, and of the order in which they took place, corresponds exactly with the history. Saint Paul, after his first visit into Greece, returned from Corinth into Syria, by the way of Ephesus ; and, dropping his companions Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, he proceeded forward to Jeru salem ; from Jerusalem he descended to Antioch ; and from thence made a progress through some of the upper or northern provinces of the Lesser Asia, Acts xviii. 19. 23 : during which progress, and consequently in the interval between Saint Paul's first and second visit to Corinth, and consequently, also, before the writing of this epistle, which was at Ephesus two years at least after the apostle's return from his progress, we hear of Apollos, and we hear of him at Corinth. Whilst Saint Paul was engaged, as hath been said, in Phrygia and Galatia, Apollos came down to Ephesus ; and being, in Saint Paul's absence, instructed by Aquila and Priscilla, and having, obtained letters of recommendation from the church at Ephesus, he passed over to Achaia ; and when he was there, we read that he " helped them much which had believed through grace, for he mightily con vinced the Jews, and that publicly." Acts xviii. 27, 28. To have brought Apollos into Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital city, as. well as the principal Christian 156 HORA PAULINA. church; and to have shown that he preached the Gospel in that country, would have been sufficient for our pur pose. But the history happens also to mention Corinth by name, as the place in which Apollos, after his arrival in Achaia, fixed his residence : for, proceeding with the account of St. Paul's travels, it tells us that, while ApoUos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came down to Ephesus, xix. 1. What is said therefore of Apollos, in the epistle, coincides exactly, and especially in the point of chronology, with what is delivered concerning him in the history. The only question now is, whether the allusions were made with a regard to this coincidence. Now, the occasions and purposes for which the name of Apollos is introduced in the 'Acts' andinthe 'Epistles,' are so independent and so remote that it is impossible to discover the smallest reference from one to the other. Apollos is mentioned in the 'Acts,' in immediate connexion with the history of Aquila and Priscilla, and for the very singular circum stance of his "knowing only the baptism of John." In the epistle, where none of these circumstances are taken notice of, his name first occurs, for the purpose of re proving the contentious spirit of the Corinthians ; and it occurs only in conjunction with that of some others : "Every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apol los, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." The second passage in which Apollos appears, " I have planted, Apollos watered," fixes, as we have observed, the order of time amongst three distinct events: but it fixes this, I will venture to pronounce, without the writer perceiv ing that he was doing any such thing. The sentence fixes this order in exact conformity with the history ; but it is itself introduced solely for the sake of the re flection which follows : — " Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase." HORA PAULINA. 157 No. VI. Chap. iv. 11, 12. " Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place ; and labour, work ing with our own hands." We are expressly told, in the history, that at Corinth Saint Paul laboured with his own hands ; " He found Aquila and Priscilla; and, because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought ; for by their occupation they were tent-makers." But, in the text before us, he is made to say that " he laboured- even unto the present hour," that is, to the time of writing the epistle at Ephesus. Now, in the narration of Saint Paul's transactions at Ephesus, delivered in the nine teenth chapter of the ' Acts,' nothing is said of his work ing with his own hands ; but, in the twentieth chapter, we read that, upon his return from Greece, he sent for the elders ofthe church of Ephesus to meet him at Mi letus ; and in the discourse which he there addressed to them, amidst some other reflections which he calls to their remembrance, we find the following : " I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel ; yea, you yourselves also know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." The reader will not forget to remark that, though St. Paul be now at Miletus, it is to the elders of the church of Ephesus he is speaking, when he says, " Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my neces sities;" and that the whole discourse relates to his con duct during his last preceding residence at Ephesus. That manual labour, therefore, which he had exercised at Corinth, he continued at Ephesus ; and not only so, but continued it during that particular residence at Ephesus, near the conclusion of which this epistle was written ; so that he might with the strictest truth say, at 158 HORA PAULINA., the time of writing the epistle, "Even unto this present hour we labour, working with our own hands." The correspondence is sufficient, then, as to the undesign edness of it. It is manifest, to my judgment, that if the history, in this article, had been taken from the epistle, this circumstance, if it appeared at all, would have ap peared in its place, that is, in the direct account of Saint Paul's transactions at Ephesus. The correspondence would not have been effected, as it is, by a kind of re flected stroke, that is, by a reference in a subsequent speech to what in the narrative was omitted. Nor is it likely, on the other hand, that a circumstance which is not extant in the history of St. Paul at Ephesus, should have been made the subject of a factitious allusion, in an epistle purporting to be written by him from that place ; not to mention that the allusion itself, especially as to time, is too oblique and general to answer any purpose of forgery whatever. No. VII. Chap. ix. 20. " And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews ; to them that are under the law, as under the law." We have the disposition here described, exemplified in two instances which the history records ; one, Acts xvi. 3 : " Him (Timothy) would Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him, because ofthe s Jews in those quarters; for they knew all that his father was a Greek." This was before the writing of the epis tle. The other, Acts xxi. 23. 26, and after the writing of the epistle: " Do this that we say to thee ; we have four men which have a vow on them : them take, and purify thyself with them, that they may shave their heads ; and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing ; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. HORA PAULINA. 159 — Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purify ing himself with them, entered into the temple." Nor does this concurrence between the character and the in stances look like the result of contrivance. St. Paul, in the epistle, describes, or is made to describe, his own accommodating conduct toward Jews and toward Gen tiles, toward the weak and overscrupulous, toward men indeed of every variety of character; "to them that are without law as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law ; to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak ; I am made all things to all men, that I might gain some." This is the sequel of the text which stands at the head of the present num ber. Taking therefore the whole passage together, the apostle's condescension to the Jews is mentioned only as a part of a general disposition toward all. It is not probable that this character should have been made up from the instances in the 'Acts,' which relate solely to his dealings with the Jews. Itis not probable that a sophist should take his hint from those instances, and then extend it so much beyond them : and it is still more incredible that the two instances, in the 'Acts,' circumstantially related and interwoven with the his tory, should have been fabricated in order to suit the character which St. Paul gives of himself in the epistle. No. VIII. Chap. i. 14 — 17. " I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I baptized in my own name ; and I baptized also the household of Stephanas : besides I know not whether I baptized any other ; for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." It may be expected that those whom the apostle baptized with his own hands were converts distin- 160 HORA PAULINA. guished from the rest by some circumstance, either of eminence, or of connexion with him. Accordingly, of the three names here mentioned, Crispus, we find from Acts xviii. 8, was a " chief ruler of the Jewish syna gogue at Corinth, who believed in the Lord, with all his house." Gaius, it appears from Romans xvi. 23, was St. Paul's host at Corinth, and the host, he tells us, " of the whole church." The household of Stephanas, we read in the sixteenth chapter of this epistle, " were the first-fruits of Achaia." Here therefore is the pro priety we expected : and it is a proof of reality not to be contemned : for their names appearing in the several places in which they occur, with a mark of distinction belonging to each, could hardly be the effect of chance, without any truth to direct it : and, on the other hand, to suppose that they were picked out from these pas sages, and brought together in the text before us, in order to display a conformity of names, is both impro bable in itself, and is rendered more so by the purpose for which they are introduced. They come in to assist St. Paul's exculpation of himself, against the possible charge of having assumed the character of the founder of a separate religion, and with no other visible, or, as I think, imaginable design.* * Chap. i. 1 . " Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth." The only account we have of auy person who bore the name of Sosthenes, is found in the eighteenth chapter of the ' Acts.' When the Jews at Corinth had brought Paul before Gallio, and Gallio had dismissed their com plaint as unworthy of his interference, and had driven them from the judgment-seat, "then all the Greeks," says the historian, "took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment-seat." The Sosthenes here spoken of was a Corinthian; and, if he was a Christian, and with St. Paul when he wrote this epistle, was likely enough to be joined with him in the salutation of the Corinthian church. But here occurs a difficulty. If Sosthenes was a Christian at the time of this uproar, why should the Greeks beat him? The assault upon the Christians was made by the Jews. It was the Jews who had brought Paul before the magistrate. If HORA PAULINA. l6l No. IX. Chap. xvi. 10, 11. "Now, if Timotheus come, let no man despise him." — Why despise him ? This charge is not given concerning any other messenger whom St. Paul sent ; and, in the different epistles, many such messengers are mentioned. Turn to 1 Timothy, chap. iv. 12, and you will find that Timothy was ayoung man, younger probably than those who were usually em ployed in the Christian mission ; and that St. Paul, ap prehending lest he should, on that account, be exposed to contempt, urges upon him the caution which is there inserted, " Let no man despise thy youth." No. X. Chap. xvi. 1. "Now, concerning the collection for it had been the Jews also who had beaten Sosthenes, I should not have doubted but that he had been a favourer of St. Paul, and the same person who is joined with him in the epistle. Let us see there fore whether there be not some error in our present text. The Alex andrian manuscript gives irdvreg alone, without ofUXXrjvig, and is followed in this reading by the Coptic version, by the Arabic ver sion, published by Erpenius, by the Vulgate, and by Bede's Latin version. Three Greek manuscripts again, as well as Chrysostom, give ol 'lovdaTo/, in the place of ofEXXrivig. A great plurality of manuscripts authorise the reading which is retained in our copies. In this variety it appears to me extremely probable that the historian originally wrote tcdvng alone, and that ol "EXXtjvtg and ol 'lovdaToi have been respectively added as explanatory of what the word trdvTig was supposed to mean. The sentence, without the addition of either name, would run very perspicuously thus, " xai dtrrjXaeiv ahroug dtrb rou $r\p,arog' eir/Xafiof/eivoi ds trdvreg 2« iron Iroi^eug lyp i\67iv of the twelfth chapter and the rgirov tovto 'i^o^ai of the thirteenth chapter, are equivalent expressions, were in tended to convey the same meaning, and to relate to the same journey. The comparison of these phrases gives us St. Paul's own explanation of his own words ; and it is that very explanation which we are contending for, viz. that rgirov rovro k^p^ui does not mean that he was coming a third time, but that this was the third time he was in readiness to come, rgirov 'iroi^ug 'i%uv. I do no* HORA PAULINA. 193 apprehend, that after this it can be necessary to call to our aid the reading of the Alexandrian manuscript, which gives Iroi^ug 'iyp iXhTu in the thirteenth chapter as well as in the twelfth ; or of the Syriac and Coptic versions, which foUow that reading ; because I allow that this reading, besides not being sufficiently sup ported by ancient copies, is probably paraphrastical, and has been inserted for the purpose of expressing more unequivocally the sense, which the shorter expres sion roirov rovro 'igxf>\hu,i was supposed to carry. Upon the whole, the matter is sufficiently certain : nor do I propose it as a new interpretation of the text which con tains the difficulty, for the same was given by Grotius long ago : but I thought it the clearest way of explain ing the subject, to describe the manner in which the difficulty, the solution, and the proofs of that solution, successively presented themselves to my inquiries. Now, in historical researches, a reconciled inconsistency be comes a positive argument. First, because an impostor generally guards against the appearance of inconsist ency ; and, secondly, because, when apparent inconsist encies are found, it is seldom that anything but truth renders them capable of reconciliation. The existence of the difficulty proves the want or absence of that caution, which usually accompanies the consciousness of fraud; and the solution proves, that it is not the collusion of fortuitous propositions which we have to deal with, but that a thread of truth winds through the whole, which preserves every circumstance in its place. No. XII. Chap. x. 14 — 16. "We are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ ; not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's la bours ; but having hope, when your faith is increased, VOL. II. o 194 HORA PAULINA. that we shall be enlarged by you, according to our rule, abundantly to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you." This quotation affords an indirect, and therefore un suspicious, but at the same time a distinct and indubi table, recognition ofthe truth and exactness ofthe his tory. I consider it to be implied by the words of the quotation, that Corinth was the extremity of St. Paul's travels hitherto. He expresses to the Corinthians his hope, that in some future visit he might " preach the gospel to the regions beyond them ;" which imports that he had not hitherto proceeded " beyond them," but that Corinth was as yet the farthest point or boundary of his travels — Now, how is St. Paul's first journey into Europe, which was the only one he had taken be fore the writing ofthe epistle, traced out in the history ? Sailing from Asia, he landed at Philippi : from Philippi, traversing the eastern coasts of the peninsula, he passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica ; from thence through Berea to Athens, and from Athens to Corinth, where he stopped; and from whence, after a residence of a year and a half, he sailed back into Syria. So that Corinth was the last place which he visited in the peninsula ; was the place from which he returned into Asia; and was, as such, the boundary and limit of his progress. He could not have said the same thing, viz. " I hope hereafter to visit the regions be yond you," in an epistle to the Philippians, or in an epistle to the Thessalonians, inasmuch as he must be deemed to have already visited the regions beyond them, having proceeded from those cities to other parts of Greece. But from Corinth he returned home : every part therefore beyond that city might properly be said, as it is said in the passage before us, to be unvisited. Yet is this propriety the spontaneous effect of truth, and produced without meditation or design. HORA PAULINA. 195 CHAP. V. THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. ' No. I. The argument in this epistle in some measure proves its antiquity. It will hardly be doubted, but that it was written whilst the dispute concerning the circumcision of Gentile converts was fresh in men's minds : for, even supposing it to have been a forgery, the only credible motive that can be assigned for the forgery, was to bring the name and authority of the apostle into this contro versy. No design could be so insipid, or so unlikely to enter into the thoughts of any man, as to produce an epistle written earnestly and pointedly upon one side of a controversy, when the controversy itself was dead, and the question no longer interesting to any descrip tion of readers whatever. Now the controversy con cerning the circumcision of the Gentile Christians was of such a nature, that, if it arose at all, it must have arisen in the beginning of Christianity. As Judea was the scene of the Christian history ; as the Author and preachers of Christianity were Jews ; as the religion itself acknowledged and was founded upon the Jewish religion, in contradistinction to every other religion then professed amongst mankind ; it was not to be wondered at, that some of its teachers should carry it out in the world rather as a sect and modification of Judaism, than as a separate original revelation ; or that they should invite their proselytes to those observances in which they Hved themselves. This was likely to happen: but, if it did not happen at first; if, whilst the religion was in the hands of Jewish teachers, no such claim was advanced, no such condition was attempted to be imposed; it is not probable that the doctrine would o 2 196 HORA PAULINA. be started, much less that it should prevail, in any future period. I likewise think that those pretensions of Ju daism were much more likely to be insisted upon whilst the Jews continued a nation, than after their fall and dispersion; whilst Jerusalem and the Temple stood, than after the destruction brought upon them by the Roman arms, the fatal cessation of the sacrifice and the priest hood, the humiliating loss of their country, and, with it, of the great rites and symbols of their institution. It should seem, therefore, from the nature of the subject, and the situation of the parties,, that this controversy was carried on in the interval between the preaching of Christianity to the Gentiles, and the invasion of Titus ; and that our present epistle, which was undoubtedly intended to bear a part in this controversy, must be referred to the same period. But, again, the epistle supposes that certain design* ing adherents of the Jewish law had crept into the churches of Galatia ; and had been endeavouring, and but too successfully, to persuade the Galatic converts that they had been taught the new religion imperfectly and at second hand ; that the founder of their church himself possessed only an inferior and deputed com mission, the seat of truth and authority being in the apostles and elders of Jerusalem ; moreover, that what ever he might profess amongst them, he had himself at other times, and in other places, given way to the doc trine of circumcision. The epistle is unintelligible with out supposing all this. Referring, therefore, to this, as to what had actually passed, we find St. Paul treating so unjust an attempt to undermine his credit, and to in troduce amongst his converts a doctrine which he had uniformly reprobated, in terms of great asperity and in dignation. And in order to refute the suspicions which had been raised concerning the fidelity of his teaching, as well as to assert the independence and divine ori- HORA PAULINA. 197 ginatof his mission, we find him appealing to the history of his conversion, to his conduct under it, to the manner in which he had conferred with the apostles when he met with them at Jerusalem : alleging, that so far was his doctrine from being derived from them, or they from exercising any superiority over him, that they had simply assented to what he had already preached amongst the Gentiles, and which preaching was communicated not by them to him, but by himself to them ; that he had maintained the liberty of the Gentile church, by op posing, upon one occasion, an apostle to the face, when the timidity of his behaviour seemed to endanger it ; that from the first, that all along, that to that hour, he had constantly resisted the claims of Judaism ; and that the persecutions which he daily underwent, at the hands or by the instigation of the Jews, and of which he bore in his person the marks and scars, might have been avoided by him, if he had consented to employ his labours in bringing, through the medium of Chris tianity, converts over to the Jewish institution, for then " would the offence of the cross have ceased." Now an impostor who had forged the epistle for the purpose of producing St. Paul's authority in the dispute, which, as hath been observed, is the only credible motive that can be assigned for the forgery, might have made the apostle deliver his opinion upon the subject in strong and decisive terms, or might have put his name to a train of reasoning and argumentation upon that side of the question which the imposture was intended to re commend. I can allow the possibility of such a scheme as that. But, for a writer, with this purpose in view, to feign a series of transactions supposed to have passed amongst the Christians of Galatia, and then to counter feit expressions of anger and resentment excited by these transactions ; to make the apostle travel back into his own history, and into a recital of various passages 198 HORA PAULINA. of his life, some indeed directly, but others obliquely, and others even obscurely bearing upon the point in question ; in a word, to substitute narrative for argu ment, expostulation and complaint for dogmatic posi tions and controversial reasoning, in a writing properly controversial, and of which the aim and design was to support one side of a much agitated question — is a method so intricate, and so unlike the methods pursued by all other impostors, as to require very flagrant proofs of imposition to induce us to believe it to be one. No. II. In this number I shall endeavour to prove, 1. That the 'Epistle totheGalations,' and the* Acts of the Apostles,' were written without any communication with each other. 2. That the epistle, though written without any communication with the history, by recital, implica tion, or reference, bears testimony to many of the facts contained in it. 1 . The epistle and the ' Acts of the Apostles,' were written without any communication with each other. To judge of this point, we must examine those pas sages in each which describe the same transaction ; for, if the author of either writing derived his information from the account which he had seen in the other, when he came to speak of the same transaction, he would follow that account. The history of St. Paul, at*Da- mascus, as read in the ' Acts,' and as referred to by the epistle, forms an instance of this sort. According to the ' Acts,' Paul (after his conversion) was certain days with the " disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he which destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither HORA PAULINA. 199 for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests ? But Saul increased the more in strength, confounding the Jews which were at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. But their laying wait was known of Saul ; and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples." Acts, chap. ix. 19—26. According to the epistle, "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and caUed me by his grace, to reveal his own Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me ; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus : then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem." Beside the difference observable in the terms and ge neral complexion of these two accounts, " the journey into Arabia," mentioned in the epistle, and omitted in the history, affords full proof that there existed no cor respondence between these writers. If the narrative in the 'Acts' had been made up from the epistle, itis im possible that this journey should have been passed over in silence ; if the epistle had been composed out of what the author had read of St. Paul's history in the ' Acts,' it is unaccountable that it should have/ been inserted.* The journey to Jerusalem, related in the second chap- * N.B. The ' Acts of the Apostles ' simply inform us that St. Paul left Damascus in order to go to Jerusalem, " after many days were fulfilled." If any one doubt whether the words "many days" could be intended to express a period which included a term of three years, he will find a complete instance of the same phrase used with the same latitude in the ' First Book of Kings,' chap. xi. 38, 39. " And Shimei dwelt at Jerusalem many days : and it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away." 200 HORA PAULINA. ter of the epistle (" then, fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem"), supplies another example of the same kind. Either this was the journey described in the fifteenth chapter ofthe 'Acts,' when Paul and Bar nabas were sent from Antioch to Jerusalem, to consult the apostles and elders upon the question of the Gen tile converts ; or it was some journey of which the his tory does not take notice. If the first opinion be fol lowed, the discrepancy in the two accounts is so con siderable, that it is not without difficulty they can. be adapted to the same transaction : so that, upon this sup position, there is no place for suspecting that the writers were guided or assisted by each other. If the latter opinion be preferred, we have then a journey to Jeru salem, and a conference with the principal members of the church there, circumstantially related in the epistle, and entirely omitted in the 'Acts ;' and we are at liberty to repeat the observation which we before made, that the omission of so material a fact in the history is inex plicable, if the historian had read the epistle ; and that the insertion of it in the epistle, if the writer derived his information from the history, is not less so. St. Peter's visit to Antioch, during which the dispute arose between him and St. Paul, is not mentioned in the ' Acts.' If we connect, with these instances, the general ob servation, that no scrutiny can discover the smallest trace of transcription or imitation either in things or words, we shall be fully satisfied in this part of our case ; namely, that the two records, be the facts con tained in them true or false, come to our hands from independent sources. Secondly, I say that the epistle, thus proved to have been written without any communication with the his tory, bears testimony to a great variety of particulars contained in the history. HORA PAULINA. 201 1. St. Paul, in the early part of his life, had addicted himself to the study of the Jewish religion, and was dis tinguished by his zeal for the institution, and for the tra ditions which had been incorporated with it. Upon this part of his character the history makes St. Paul speak thus : "I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the per fect manner of the law of the fathers ; and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day." Acts, chap. xxii. 3. The epistle is as follows : " I profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." Chap. i. 14. 2. St. Paul, before his conversion, had been a fierce persecutor of the new sect. " As for Saul, he made havoc of the church ; entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison." Acts, chap. viii. 3. This is the history of St. Paul, as delivered in the 'Acts ;' in the recital of his own history in the epistle, "Ye have heard," says he, "of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God." Chap. i. 13. 3. St. Paul was miraculously converted on his way to Damascus. " And as he journeyed he came near to Damascus : and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven ; and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest ; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Acts, chap. ix. 3 — 6. With these com pare the epistle, chap. i. 15 — 17 : " When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and 202 HORA PAULINA. called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them that were apostles before me ; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Da mascus." In this quotation from the epistle, I desire it to be remarked how incidentally it appears, that the affair passed at Damascus. In what may be called the direct part of the account, no mention is made of the place of his conversion at all : a casual expression at the end, and an expression brought in for a different purpose, alone fixes it to have been at Damascus ; " I returned again to Damascus." Nothing can be more like sim plicity and undesignedness than this is. It also draws the agreement between the two quotations somewhat closer, to observe that they both state St. Paul to have preached the gospel immediately upon his call : " And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God." Acts, chap. ix. 20. "When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Gal. chap. i. 15. 4. The course of the apostle's travels, after his con version, was this: He went from Damascus to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem into Syria and Cilicia. " At Da mascus the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the waU in a basket; and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the dis ciples." Acts, chap. ix. 25. Afterward, "when the brethren knew the conspiracy formed against him at Jerusalem, they brought him down to Csesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus, a city in Cilicia." Chap. ix. 30. In the epistle, St. Paul gives the following brief account of his proceedings within the same period : "After three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, HORA PAULINA. 203 and abode with him fifteen days ; afterward I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia." The history had told us that Paul passed from Caesarea to Tarsus ; if he took this journey by land, it would carry him through Syria into Cilicia ; and he would come, after his visit at Jerusalem, "into the regions of Syria and Cilicia," in the very order in which he mentions them in the epistle. This supposition of his going from Caesarea to Tarsus, by land, clears up also another point. It accounts for what St. Paul says in the same place concerning the churches of Judea : " Afterward I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ ; but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he de stroyed ; and they glorified God in me." Upon which passage I observe, first, that what is here said of the churches of Judea, is spoken in connexion with his jour ney into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Secondly, that the passage itself has little significancy, and that the connexion is inexplicable, unless St. Paul went through Judea * (though probably by a hasty journey) at the time that he came into the regions of Syria and CiHcia. Suppose him to have passed by land from Caesarea to Tarsus, all this, as hath been observed, would be precisely true. 5. Barnabas was with St. Paul at Antioch. "Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul ; and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church." Acts, chap. xi. 25, 26. * Dr. Doddridge thought that the Csesarea here mentioned was not the celebrated city of that name upon the Mediterranean Sea, but Caesarea Philippi, near the borders of Syria, which lies in a much more direct line from Jerusalem to Tarsus than the other. The objection to this, Dr. Benson remarks, is, that Caesarea, with out any addition, usually denotes Caesareaa Palestine. 204 HORA PAULINA. Again, and upon another occasion, " they (Paul and Barnabas) sailed to Antioch : and there they continued a long time with the disciples." Chap. xiv. 26. Now, what says the epistle? " When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed ; and the other Jews dissembled Hkewise with him ; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation." Chap. ii. 11. 13. 6. The stated residence of the apostles was at Jeru salem. " At that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem ; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Ju dea and Samaria, except the apostles." Acts, chap. viii. 1. "They (the Christians at Antioch) determined that Paul and Barnabas should go up to Jerusalem, unto the apostles and elders, about this question." Acts, chap. xv. 2 With these accounts agrees the declaration in the epistle : " Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me," chap. i. 17 : for this declaration implies, or rather assumes it to be known, that Jerusalem was the place where the apostles were to be met with. 7. There were at Jerusalem two apostles, or at the least two eminent members of the church, of the name of James. This is directly inferred from the 'Acts of the Apostles,' which, in the second verse of the twelfth chapter, relates the death of James, the brother of John ; and yet, in the fifteenth chapter, and in a subsequent part of the history, records a speech delivered by James in the assembly of the apostles and elders. It is also strongly implied by the form of expression used in the epistle : " Other apostles saw I none, save James, the Lord's brother" i. e. to distinguish him from James, the brother of John. To us who have been long conversant in the Chris tian history, as contained in the ' Acts of the Apostles,' HORA PAULTNA. 205 these points are obvious and familiar ; nor do we rea dily apprehend any greater difficulty in making them appear in a letter purporting to have been written by St. Paul, than there is in introducing them into a mo dern sermon. But,. to judge correctly of the argument before us, we must discharge this knowledge from our thoughts. We must propose to ourselves the situation of an author who sat down to the writing of the epistle without having seen the history ; and then the concur rences we have deduced will be deemed of importance. They will at least be taken for separate confirmations of the several facts, and not only of these particular facts, but of the general truth of the history. For, what is the rule with respect to corroborative testimony which prevails in courts of justice, and which prevails only because experience has proved that it is a useful guide to truth ? A principal witness in a cause delivers his account : his narrative, in certain parts of it, is confirmed by witnesses who are called afterward. The credit derived from their testimony belongs not only to the particular circumstances in which the auxi liary witnesses agree with the principal witness, but in some measure to the whole of his evidence ; because it is improbable that accident or fiction should draw a line which touched upon truths in so many points. In like, manner, if two records be produced, mani festly independent, that is, manifestly written without any participation of intelligence, an agreement between them, even in a few and slight circumstances (especially if from the different nature and design of the writings few points only of agreement, and those incidental, could be expected to occur), would add a sensible weight to the authority of both, in every part of their contents. The same rule is applicable to history, with at least as much reason as any other species of evidence. 206 HORA PAULINA. No. III. But although the references to various particulars in the epistle, compared with the direct account of the same particulars in the history, afford a considerable proof of the truth, not only of these particulars, but of the narrative which contains them ; yet they do not show, it will be said, that the epistle was written by St. Paul : for, admitting (what seems to have been proved) that the writer, whoever he was, had no recourse to the ' Acts pf the Apostles,' yet many of the facts referred to, such as St. Paul's miraculous conversion, his change from a virulent persecutor to an indefatigable preacher, his labours amongst the Gentiles, and his zeal for the liber ties of the Gentile church, were so notorious as to occur readily to the mind of any Christian, who should choose to personate his character and counterfeit his name ; it was only to write what every body knew. Now I think that this supposition — viz. that the epistle was com posed upon general information, and the general pub licity of the facts alluded to, and that the author did no more than weave into his work what the common fame of the Christian church had reported to his ears — is repelled by the particularity of the recitals and refer ences. This particularity is observable in the following instances ; in perusing which, I desire the reader to reflect, whether they exhibit the language of a man who had nothing but general reputation to proceed upon, or of a man actually speaking of himself and of his own history, and consequently of things concerning which he possessed a clear, intimate, and circumstantial know ledge. 1. The history, in giving an account of St. Paul after his conversion, relates, " that, after many days," effecting, by the assistance of the disciples, his escape from Damascus, " he proceeded to Jerusalem." Acts, HORA PAULINA. 207 chap. ix. 25. The epistle, speaking of the same period, makes St. Paul say, that "he went into Arabia," that "he returned again to Damascus," that "after three years he went up to Jerusalem." Chap. i. 17, 18. 2. The history relates, that, when Saul was come from Damascus, " he was with the disciples, coming in and going out." Acts, chap. ix. 28. The epistle, de scribing the same journey, tells us, " that he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days." Chap. i. 18. 3. The history relates, that when Paul was come to Jerusalem, " Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles." Acts, chap. ix. 27- The epistle, " that he saw Peter ; but other of the apostles saw he none, save James, the Lord's brother." Chap. i. 19. Now this is as ik should be. The historian delivers his account in general terms, as of facts to which he was not present. The person who is the subject of that ac count, when he comes to speak of these facts himself, particularizes time, names, and circumstances. 4. The like notation of places, persons, and dates, is met with in the account of St. Paul's journey to Jeru salem, given in the second chapter of the epistle. It was fourteen years after his conversion ; it was in com pany with Barnabas and Titus ; it was then that he met with James, Cephas, and John ; it was then also that it was agreed amongst them that they should go to the circumcision, and he unto the Gentiles. 5. The dispute with Peter, which occupies the sequel of the second chapter, is marked with the same parti cularity. It was at Antioch ; it was after certain came from James ; it was whilst Barnabas was there, who was carried away by their dissimulation. These examples negative the insinuation, that the epistle presents no thing but indefinite allusions to public facts. 208 HORA PAULINA. No. IV. Chap. iv. 11 — 16. " I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I be seech you be as I am, for I am as ye are. Ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first ; and my temptation which was in the flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected ; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness you speak of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them unto me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth ?" With this passage compare 2 Cor. chap. xii. 1 — 9 : " It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory ; I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell ; God knoweth) ; such a one was caught up to the third heaven ; and I knew such a man (whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth), how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory, yet of myself will I not glory, but in mine infirmities : for, though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool ; for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee ; for my strength is made HORA PAULINA. 209 perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." There can be no doubt but that " the temptation which was in the flesh," mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians, and " the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him," mentioned in the Epistle to the Corinthians, were intended to denote the same thing. Either therefore it was, what we pretend it to have been, the same person in both, alluding, as the occasion led him, to some bodily infirmity under which he laboured ; that is, we are reading the real letters of a real apostle ; or, it was that a sophist, who had seen the circumstance in one epistle, contrived, for the sake of correspondency, to bring it into another ; or, lastly, it was a circum stance in St. Paul's personal condition, supposed to be well known to those into whose hands the epistle was likely to fall ; and, for that reason, introduced into a writing designed to bear his name. I have extracted the quotations at length, in order to enable the reader to judge accurately of the manner in which the mention of this particular comes in, in each ; because that judg ment, I think, will acquit the author of the epistle of the charge of having studiously inserted it, either with a view of producing an apparent agreement between them, or for any other purpose whatever. The context, by which the circumstance before us is introduced, is in the two places totally different, and without any mark of imitation : yet in both places does the circumstance rise aptly and naturally out of the con text, and that context from the train of thought carried on in the epistle. The Epistle to the Galatians, from the beginning to the end, runs in a strain of angry complaint of their defection from the apostle, and from the principles which he had taught them. It was very natural to con- VOL. II. p 210 HORA PAULINA. trast with this conduct the zeal with which they had once received him ; and it was not less so to mention, as a proof of their former disposition toward him, the indulgence which, whilst he was amongst them, they had shown to his infirmity : " My temptation which was in the flesh ye despised not, nor rejected, but re ceived me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness you spake of? (?. e. the benedictions which you bestowed upon me,) for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me." In the two epistles to the Corinthians, especially in the second, we have the apostle contending with certain teachers in Corinth, who had formed a party in that church against him. To vindicate his personal autho rity as well as the dignity and- credit of his ministry amongst them, he takes occasion (but not without apo logizing repeatedly for the folly, that is, for the inde corum of pronouncing his own panegyric* ) to meet his adversaries in their boastings : " Whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also. Are they Hebrews ? so am I. Are they Israelites ? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham ? so am I. Are they the ministers of Christ ? (I speak as a fool) I am more ; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft." Being led to the subject, he goes on, as was natural, to recount his trials and dangers, his incessant cares and labours in the Christian mission. From the proofs which he had given of his zeal and activity in the service of Christ, * " Would to God you would bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me !" Chap. xi. 1. " That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting." Chap. xi. 17. " I am become a fool in glorying ; ye have compelled me." Chap. xii. 11. HORA PAULINA. 211 he passes (and that with the same view of establishing his claim to be considered as "not a whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles") to the visions and revela tions which from time to time had been vouchsafed to him. And then, by a close and easy connexion, comes in the mention of his infirmity: "Lest I should be ex alted," says he, " above measure, through the abun dance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me." Thus then, in both epistles, the notice of his infirmity is suited to the place in which it is found. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, the train of thought draws up to the circumstance by a regular approximation. In this epistle, it is suggested by the subject and occasion of the epistle itself; which observation we offer as an argument to prove that it is not, in either epistle, a cir cumstance industriously brought forward for the sake of procuring credit to an imposture. A reader wiU be taught to perceive the force of this argument, who shall attempt to introduce a given cir cumstance into the body of a writing. To do this with out abruptness, or without betraying marks of design in the transition, requires, he will find, more art than he expected to be necessary, certainly more than any one can believe to have been exercised' in the composition of these epistles. No. V. Chap. iv. 29. " But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now." Chap. v. 11. " And I, brethren, if I yet preach cir cumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased." Chap. vi. 17. " From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks ofthe Lord Jesus." p 2 212 HORA PAULINA. From these several texts, it is apparent that the per secutions which our apostle had undergone, were from the hands or by the instigation of the Jews ; that it was not for preaching Christianity in opposition to hea thenism, but it was for preaching it as distinct from Judaism, that he had brought upon himself the suffer ings which had attended his ministry. And this repre sentation perfectly coincides with that which results from the detail of St. Paul's history, as deHvered in the Acts. At Antioch, in Pisidia, the " word of the Lord was published throughout all the region ; but the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabus, and expelled them out of their coasts." (Acts, chap. xiii. 50.) Not long after, at Iconium, "a great multitude ofthe Jews and also of the Greeks believed ; but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren." (Chap. xvi. 1, 2.) "At Lystra there came certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people ; and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead." (Chap. xiv. 19.) The same enmity, and from the same quarter, our apostle experienced in Greece : " at Thes salonica, some of them (the Jews) believed, and con sorted with Paul and Silas ; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few : but the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people." (Acts, chap. xvii. 4, 5.) Their persecutors foUow them to Berea: "When the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people." (Chap. xvii. 13.) And lastly HORA PAULINA. 213 at Corinth, when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, " the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment-seat." I think it does not appear that our apostle was ever set upon by the Gentiles, unless they were first stirred up by the Jews, except in two instances ; in both which the persons who began the assault were immediately interested in his expulsion from the place. Once this happened at Phi lippi, after the cure of the Pythoness : " When the masters saw the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the market place unto the rulers." (Chap. xvi. 19.) And a second time at Ephesus, at the instance of Demetrius, a silver smith, which made silver shrines for Diana, "who called together workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth ; moreover ye see and hear that, not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands ; so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth." No. VI. I observe an agreement in a somewhat peculiar rule of Christian conduct, as laid down in this epistle, and as exemplified in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. It is not the repetition of the same general precept, which would have been a coincidence of little value ; but it is the general precept in one place, and the ap plication of that precept to an actual occurrence, in the other. In the sixth chapter and first verse of this epis tle, our apostle gives the following direction: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye, which are spiritual, 214 HORA PAULINA. restore such a one in the spirit of meekness." In 2 Cor. chap. ii. 6 — 8, he writes thus : " Sufficient to such a man (the incestuous person mentioned in the First Epistle) is this punishment, which was inflicted of many : so that, contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow : wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him." I have little doubt but that it was the same mind which dictated these two passages. No. VII. Our epistle goes farther than any of St. Paul's epis tles ; for it avows in direct terms the supersession of the Jewish law as an instrument of salvation, even to the Jews themselves. Not only were the Gentiles exempt from its authority, but even the Jews were no longer either to place any dependency upon it, or consider themselves as subject to it on a religious account. " Be fore faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed ; wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith ; but, after that faith is come, we are no longer under a school master." (Ch. iii. 23 — 25.) This was undoubtedly spoken of Jews and to Jews. In like manner, chap. iv. l — 5 : " Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all ; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father : even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world ; but when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." These passages are nothing short of a declaration, that the obligation II0RA PAULINA. 215 of the Jewish law, considered as a religious dispensa tion, the effects of which were to take place in another life, had ceased, with respect even to the Jews them selves. What then should be the conduct of a Jew (for such St. Paul was) who preached this doctrine ? To be consistent with himself, either he would no longer com ply, in his own person, with the directions of the law ; or, if he did comply, it would be for some other reason than any confidence which he placed in its efficacy, as a religious institution. Now, so it happens, that whenever St. Paul's compliance with the Jewish law is mentioned in the history, it is mentioned in connexion with cir cumstances which point out the motive from which it proceeded ; and this motive appears to have been al ways exoteric, namely, a love of order and tranquillity, or an unwillingness to give unnecessary offence. Thus, Acts, chap. xvi. 3 : " Him (Timothy) would Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him, because of the Jewswhichwerein those quarters." Again, Acts, chap. xxi. 26, when Paul consented to exhibit an example of public compliance with a Jewish rite, by purifying himself in the temple, it is plainly intimated that he did this to satisfy " many thousands of Jews who believed, and who were all zealous of the law." So far the instances related in one book correspond with the doctrine delivered in another. No. VIII. Chap. i. 18. " Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days." The shortness of St. Paul's stay at Jerusalem is what I desire the reader to remark. The direct account of the same journey in the Acts, chap. ix. 28, determines nothing concerning the time of his continuance there : " And he was with them (the apostles) coming in, and 216 HORA PAULINA. going out, at Jerusalem ; and he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Gre cians : but they went about to slay him ; which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesa rea." Or rather this account, taken by itself, would lead a reader to suppose that Paul's abode at Jerusalem had been longer than fifteen days. But turn to the twenty-second chapter of the Acts, and you will find a reference to this visit to Jerusalem, which plainly indi cates that St. Paul's continuance in that city had been of short duration : " And it came to pass, that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they wiU not receive thy testimony concerning me." Here we have the general terms of one text so explained by a distant text in the same book, as to bring an indeter minate expression into a close conformity with a speci fication delivered in another book : a species of con sistency not, I think, usually found in fabulous relations. No. IX. Chap. vi. 11. " Ye see how large a letter I have writ ten unto you with mine own hand." These words imply that he did not always write with his own hand ; which is consonant to what we find in timated in some other of the epistles. The Epistle to the Romans was written by Tertius : "I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord." (Chap. xvi. 22.) The First Epistle to the Corinthians, the Epistle to the Colossians, and the second to the Thessalonians, have all, near the conclusion, this clause, " The salu tation of me, Paul, with mine own hand ;" which must be understood, and is universally understood to import, that the rest of the epistle was written by another hand. I do not think it improbable that an impostor, who had HOR/E PAULIN.E. 217 remarked this subscription in some other epistle, should invent the same in a forgery ; but that is not done here. The author of this epistle does not imitate the manner of giving St. Paul's signature ; he only bids the Gala tians observe how large a letter he had written to them with his own hand. He does not say this was different from his ordinary usage, ; that is left to implication. Now, to suppose that this was an artifice to procure cre dit, to an imposture, is to suppose that the author ofthe forgery, because he knew that others of St. Paul's were not written by himself, therefore made the apostle say that this was : which seems an odd turn to give to the circumstance, and to be given for a purpose which would more naturally and more directly have been answered, by subjoining the salutation or signature in the form in which it is found in other epistles.* No. X. An exact conformity appears in the manner in which a certain apostle or eminent Christian, whose name was James, is spoken of in the epistle and in the history. Both writings refer to a situation of his at Jerusalem, somewhat different from that of the other apostles ; a kind of eminence or presidency in the church there, or at least a more fixed and stationary residence. (Chap. ii. 12.) " When Peter was at Antioch, before that cer tain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles." This text plainly attributes a kind of pre-eminency to James ; and, as we hear of him twice in the same epis tle dwelling at Jerusalem, chap. 19, i. and ii. 9> we * The words iryXixoig ygdftifiagiv may probably be meant' to de scribe the character in which he wrote, and not the length of the letter. But this will not alter the truth of our observation. I think, however, that, as St. Paul by the mention of his own hand designed to express to the Galatians the great concern which he felt for them,' the words, whatever they signify, belong to the whole of the epistle ; and not, as Grotius, after St. Jerome, interprets it, to the few verses which follow. 218 HORA PAULINA. mast apply it to the situation which he held in that church. In the Acts of the Apostles divers intimations occur, conveying the same idea of James's situation. When Peter was miraculously delivered from prispn, and had surprised his friends by his appearance among them after declaring unto them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Go show," says he, "these things unto James, and to the brethren." (Acts, chap. xii. 17-) Here James is manifestly spoken of in terms of distinction. He appears again with like distinction in the twenty-first chapter, and the seventeenth and eighteenth verses : " And when we (Paul and his com pany) were come to Jerusalem, the day following, Paul went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present." In the debate which took place upon the business of the Gentile converts, in the council at Je rusalem, this same person seems to have taken the lead. It was he who closed the debate, and proposed the re solution in which the council ultimately concurred : " Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God." Upon the whole, that there exists a conformity in the expressions used concerning James throughout the his tory, and in the epistle, is unquestionable. But, admit ting this conformity, and admitting also the undesigned ness of it, what does it prove ? It proves that the circum stance itself is founded in truth ; that is, that James was a real person who held a situation of eminence in a real society of Christians at Jerusalem. It confirms also those parts of the narrative which are connected with this circumstance. Suppose, for instance, the truth of the account of Peter's escape from prison was to be tried upon the testimony of a witness who, among other things, made Peter, after his deliverance, say, " Go show these things to James and to the brethren," would it not be material, in such a trial, to make out HORA PAULINA. 219 by other independent proofs, or by a comparison of proofs, drawn from independent sources, that there was actually at that time, living at Jerusalem, such a person as James ; that this person held such a situation in the society amongst whom these things were transacted, as to render the words which Peter is said to have used concerning him, proper and natural for him to have used ? If this would be pertinent in the discussion of oral testimony, it is still more so in appreciating the credit of remote history. It must not be dissembled that the comparison of our epistle with the history presents some difficulties, or, to say the least, some questions of considerable mag nitude. It may be doubted, in the first place, to what journey the words which open the second chapter ofthe epistle, " then, fourteen years afterward, I went unto Jerusalem," relate. That which best corresponds with the date, and that to which most interpreters apply the passage, is the journey of Paul and Barnabas to Jeru salem, when they went thither from Antioch, upon the business of the Gentile converts ; and which journey produced the famous council and decree recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. To me this opinion ap pears to be encumbered with strong objections. In the epistle Paul tells us, that " he went up by revelation." (Chap. ii. 2.) In the Acts, we read that he was sent by the Church of Antioch : " After no smaU dissension and disputation, they determined that Paul and Bar nabas, and certain other of them, should go up to the apostles and elders about this question." (Acts, chap. xv. 2.) This is not very reconcileable. In the epistle St. Paul writes that, when he came to Jerusalem, " he communicated that gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of repu tation. (Chap. ii. 2.) If by " that gospel " he meant the immunity of the Gentile Christians from the Jewish 220 HORA PAULINA. law (and I know not what else it can mean), it is not easy to conceive how he should communicate that, pri vately, which was the object of his public message. But a yet greater difficulty remains, viz. that in the ac count which the epistle gives of what passed upon this visit at Jerusalem, no notice is taken ofthe deliberation and decree which are recorded in the Acts, and which, according to that history, formed the business for the sake of which the journey was undertaken. The mention of the council and of its determination, whilst the apostle was relating his proceedings at Jerusalem, could hardly have been avoided, if in truth the narrative 'belong to the same journey. To me it appears more probable that Paul and Barnabas had taken some journey to Jerusalem, the mention of which is omitted in the Acts. Prior to the apostolic decree we read, that " Paul and Barnabas abode at Antioch a long time with the disci ples." (Acts, chap. xiv. 28.) Is it unlikely that, during this long abode, they might go up to Jerusalem and return to Antioch ? Or, would the omission of such a journey be unsuitable to the general brevity with which these memoirs are written, especially of those parts of St. Paul's history which took place before the historian joined his society ? But, again, the first account we find in the Acts of the Apostles of St. Paul's visiting Galatia, is in the six teenth chapter and the sixth verse : " Now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they assayed to go into Bithynia." The progress here recorded was subsequent to the apostolic decree ; there fore that decree must have been extant when our epistle was written. Now, as the professed design of the epistle was to establish the exemption of the Gentile converts from the law of Moses, and as the decree pro nounced and confirmed that exemption, it may seem extraordinary that no notice whatever is taken of that HORA PAULINA. 221 determination, nor any appeal made to its authority. Much however of the weight of this objection, which applies also to some other of St. Paul's epistles, is re moved by the following reflections : — 1. It was not St. Paul's manner, nor agreeable to it, to resort or defer much to the authority of the other apostles, especially whilst he was insisting, as he does strenuously throughout this epistle insist, upon his own original inspiration. He who could speak of the very chiefest of the apostles in such terms as the following — " of those who seemed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me, God accepteth no man's person), for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me" — he, I say, was not likely to support himself by their decision. 2. The epistle argues the point upon principle : and it is not perhaps more to be wondered at, that in such an argument St. Paul should not cite the apostolic de cree, than it would be that, in a discourse designed to prove the moral and religious duty of observing the sabbath, the writer should not quote the thirteenth canon. 3. The decree did not go the length of the position maintained in the epistle ; the decree only declares that the apostles and elders at Jerusalem did not impose the observance ofthe Mosaic law upon the Gentile converts, as a condition of their being admitted into the Christian Church. Our epistle argues that the Mosaic institution itself was at an end, as to all effects upon a future state, even with respect to the Jews themselves. 4. They whose error St. Paul combated were not persons who submitted to the Jewish law, because it was imposed by the authority, or because it was made part of the law of the Christian Church ; but they were persons who, having already become Christians, after ward voluntarily took upon themselves the observance 222 HORA PAULINA. of the Mosaic code, under a notion of attaining thereby to a greater perfection. This, I think, is precisely the opinion which St. Paul opposes in this epistle. Many of his expressions apply exactly to it : " Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh ?" (Chap. iii. 3.) " Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law ?" (Chap. iv. 21.) " How turn ye again- to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ?" (Chap. iv. 9.) It cannot be thought extra ordinary that St. Paul should resist this opinion with earnestness ; for it both changed the character of the Christian dispensation, and derogated expressly from the completeness of that redemption which Jesus Christ had wrought for them that believed in him. But it was to no purpose to allege to such persons the decision at Jerusalem ; for that only showed that they were not bound to these observances by any law of the Christian Church : they did not pretend to be so bound ; never theless they imagined that there was an efficacy in these observances, a merit, a recommendation to favour, and a ground of acceptance with God for those who complied with them. This was a situation of thought to which the tenor of the decree did not apply. Ac cordingly, St. Paul's address to the Galatians, which is throughout adapted to this situation, runs in a strain widely different from the language of the decree : " Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law ;" (Chap. v. 4.) i. e. whoso ever places his dependance upon any merit he may ap prehend there to be in legal observances. The decree had said nothing like this ; therefore it would have been useless to have produced the decree in an argument of which this was the burden. In like manner as in con tending with an anchorite who should insist upon the superior holiness of a recluse, ascetic life, and the value HORA PAULINA. 223 of such mortifications in the sight of God, it would be to no purpose to prove that the laws of the church did require these vows, or even to prove that the laws of the church expressly left every Christian to his liberty. This would avail little toward abating his estimation of their merit, or toward settling the point in controversy.* * Mr. Locke's solution of this difficulty is by no means satis factory. " St. Paul," he says, " did not remind the Galatians of the apostolic decree, because they already had it." In the first place, it does not appear with certainty that they had it ; in the second place, if they had it, this was rather a reason, than other wise, for referring them to it. The passage in the Acts, from which Mr. Locke concludes that the Galatic Churches were in possession of the decree, is the fourth verse of the sixteenth chap ter: "And as they (Paul and Timothy) went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem." In my opinion, this delivery of the decree was confined to the churches to which St. Paul came, in pursuance of the plan upon which he set out, " of visiting the brethren in every city where he had preached the word of the Lord;" the history of which progress, and of all that per tained to it, is closed in the fifth verse, when the history informs us that, " so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily." Then the history proceeds upon a new section of the narrative, by telling us, that " when they had gone through out Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they assayed to go into Bi- thynia." The decree itself is directed to " the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia;" that is, to churches already founded, and in which this question had been stirred. And I think the observation of the noble author of the 'Miscellanea Sacra,' is not only ingenious but highly probable, viz. that there is, in this place, a dislocation of the text, and that the fourth and fifth verses of the sixteenth chapter ought to follow the last verse of the fifteenth, so as to make the entire passage run thus : " And they went through Syria and Cilicia (to the Christians of which countries the decree was addressed) confirming the churches ; and as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem ; and so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily." And then the sixteenth chapter takes up a new and unbroken paragraph : " Then came he to Derbe and Lystra," &c. When St. Paul came, as he did into Galatia, to preach the gospel, for the first time, in a new place, it is not probable that he would make mention of the decree, or rather letter, of the church of Jerusalem, which presupposed Christianity to be known, and which related to certain doubts that had arisen in some established Christian communities. 224 HORA PAULINA. Another difficulty arises from the account of Peter's conduct toward the Gentile converts at Antioch, as given in the epistle in the latter part of the second chapter ; which conduct, it is said, is consistent neither with the revelation communicated to him, upon the conversion of Cornelius, nor with the part he took in the debate at Jerusalem. But, in order to understand either the dif ficulty or the solution, it will be necessary to state and explain the passage itself. " When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because'he was to be blamed ; for, before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles ; but when they were come he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision ; and the other Jews dissem bled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation : but when I saw they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter, before them all, If thou, being a Jew, liveth after the manner of Gen tiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews ?" Now, the question that produced the dispute to which these words relate, was not whether the Gentiles were capable of being ad mitted into the Christian covenant ; that had been fully settled ; nor was it whether it should be accounted es sential to the profession of Christianity that they should conform themselves to the law of Moses ; that was the question at Jerusalem ; but it was, whether, upon the Gentiles becoming Christians, the Jews might hence- The second reason which Mr. Locke assigns for the omission of the decree, viz. " that St. Paul's sole object in the epistle was to acquit himself of the imputation that had been charged upon him of actually preaching circumcision," does not appear to me to be strictly true. It was not the sole object. The epistle is written in general opposition to the judaising inclinations which he found to prevail among his converts. The avowal of his own doctrine, and of his steadfast adherence to that doctrine, formed a necessary part of the design of his letter, but was not the whole of it. HORA PAULINA. 225 forth eat and drink with them, as with their own bre thren. Upon this point St. Peter betrayed some in constancy ; and so he might, agreeably enough to his history. He might consider the vision at Joppa as a direction for the occasion, rather than as universally abolishing the distinction between Jew and Gentile ; I do not mean with respect to final acceptance with God, but as to the manner of their living together in society : at least he might not have comprehended this point with such clearness and certainty, as to stand out upon it against the fear of bringing upon himself the censure and complaint of his brethren in the church of Jerusa lem, who still adhered to their ancient prejudices. But Peter, it is said, compelled the Gentiles 'louhuiZeiv — " Why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" How did he do that? The only way in which Peter appears to have compelled the Gentiles to com ply with the Jewish institution, was by withdrawing himself from their society. By which he may be un derstood to have made this declaration : " We do not deny your right to be considered as Christians ; we do not deny your title in the promises of the gospel, even without compliance with our law : but if you would have us Jews live with you as we do with one another, that is, if you would in all respects be treated by us as Jews, you must live as such yourselves." This, I think, was the compulsion which St. Peter's conduct imposed upon the Gentiles, and for which St. Paul reproved him. As to the part which the historian ascribes to St. Peter in the debate at Jerusalem, beside that it was a different question which was there agitated from that which produced the dispute at Antioch, there is nothing to hinder us from supposing that the dispute at Antioch was prior to the consultation at Jerusalem ; or that Peter, in consequence of this rebuke, might have after ward maintained firmer sentiments. VOL. ii. Q 226 HORA PAULINA. CHAP. VI. THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS, No. I. This epistle, and the 'Epistle to the Colossians,' appear to have been transmitted to their respective churches by the same messenger: "But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things ; whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts." Ephes. chap. vi. 21, 22. This text, if it do not expressly declare, clearly I think intimates, that the letter was sent by Tychicus. The words made use of in the ' Epistle to the Colossians ' are very similar to these, and afford the same implica tion that Tychicus, in conjunction with Onesimus, was the bearer of the letter to that church : "All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved bro ther, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord ; whom I have sent unto you for the same pur pose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts ; with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here." Colos. chap. iv. 7 — 9- Both epistles represent the writer as under imprisonment for the gospel ; and both treat of the same general subject. The Epistle, therefore, to the Ephesians, and the ' Epistle to the Colossians,' impqrt to be two letters written by the same person, at, or nearly at, the same time, and upon the same subject, and to have been sent by the same messenger. Now, everything in the sentiments, order, and diction, of the two writ ings, correspond with what might be expected from MORA PAULINA. 227 this circumstance of identity or cognation in their ori ginal. The leading doctrine of both epistles is the union of Jews and Gentiles under the Christian dispen sation ; and that doctrine in both is established by the same arguments, or, more properly speaking, illus trated by the same similitudes :* " one head," " one body," " one new man," " one temple," are in both epistles the figures under which the society of believers in Christ, and their common relation to him as such, is represented.t The ancient, and, as had been thought, the indelible distinction between Jew and Gentile, in both epistles, is declared to be " now abolished by his cross." Beside this consent in the general tenor of the two epistles, and in the run also and warmth of thought with which they are composed, we may naturally ex pect, in letters produced under the circumstances in which these appear to have been written, a closer re semblance of style and diction than between other letters of the same person, but of distant dates, or be tween letters adapted to different occasions. In par ticular we may look for many of the same expressions, and sometimes for whole sentences being alike ; since such expressions and sentences would be repeated in * St. Paul, I am apt to believe, has been sometimes aceused of inconclusive reasoning, by our mistaking that for reasoning which was only intended for illustration. He is not to be read as a man, whose own persuasion of the truth of what he taught always or solely depended upon the views under which he represents it in his writings. Taking for granted the certainty of his doctrine as resting upon the revelation that had been imparted to him, he ex hibits it frequently to the conception of his readers under images and allegories, in which if an analogy may be perceived, or even sometimes a pootic resemblance be found, it is all, perhaps, that is required. ' Colos. i. 18. ii. 19. iii. 10, 11. urea. f Ephes. i. 22, J ( f Compare -< iv. 15, > with -] ( ii. 15, ) ( ( Ephes. ii. 14, 15, ) I Colos. ii. 14-. Also -{ ii. 16, V with \ i. 18—21. ( ii. 20, ) { ii- 7. Q 2 rZuZb HORA PAULINA. the second letter (whichever that was) as yet fresh in the author's mind from the writing of the first. This repetition occurs in the following examples :* — Ephes. ch. i. J. " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins."t Colos. ch. i. 14. " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins."t Besides the sameness of the words, it is farther re markable that the sentence is, in both places, preceded by the same introductory idea. In the 'Epistle to the Ephesians' itis the "beloved" (nyuirrtykvu); in that to the Colossians it is "his dear Son" ( viov rijs kya-xng uvrov), "in whom we have redemption." The sen tence appears to have been suggested to the mind of the writer by the idea which had accompanied it before. Ephes. ch. i. 10. "All things both which are in hea ven and which are in earth, even in him."§ Colos. ch. i. 20. " All things by him, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."|| This quotation is the more observable, because the connecting of things in earth with things in heaven is a very singular sentiment, and found nowhere else but in these two epistles. The words also are introduced and followed by a train of thought nearly alike. They are introduced by describing the union which Christ had effected, and they are followed by telling the Gen tile churches that they were incorporated into it. * When verbal comparisons are relied upon, it becomes necessary to state the original ; but that the English reader may be inter rupted as little as may be, I shall in general do this in the notes. f Ephes. ch. i. 7. 'En i)lyj>tJM ri)v atroXdrgtaaiv did rou a'i/jMrog avrov, r-i)v atpieiv ruv ¦TragaKru/j.urcijii. ^ Colos. ch. i. 14. 'Ev J)'iyjn/j.rc]i 7-151/ uKoXbrgoigiv bid toZ a'i/jMrog aurou, t-i)ii utpisui ruv djjeaoriZn. — However, it must be observed, that in this latter text many copies have not did rou alparog aurou. § Ephes. ch. i. 10. Ta rs lv roT; ovgavoTg xai -ru Irri Trig yqg, sv avrui. j| Colos. ch. i. 20. A/' a\iro\j, i'in Ta l~i rye yqc, s/Vs ru h roTg oigavo?;. HORA PAULINA. 229 Ephes. ch. iii. 2. " The dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you ward."* Colos. ch. i. 25. " The dispensation of God, which is given to me for you."t Of these sentences it may likewise be observed that the accompanying ideas are similar. In both places they are immediately preceded by the mention of his present sufferings ; in both places they are immediately followed by the mention of the mystery which was the great subject of his preaching. Ephes. ch. v. 19. "In psalms and hymns and spiri tual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."* Colos. ch. iii. 16. "In psalms and hymns and spiri tual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."§ Ephes. ch. vi. 22. " Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts."|| Colos. ch. iv. 8. " Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts."^" In these examples, we do not perceive a cento of phrases gathered from one composition, and strung together in the other ; but the occasional occurrence of the same expression to a mind a second time revolving the same ideas. * Ephes. ch. iii. 2. Tt)v oixovou-iav rng ydgirog rou Qtov rtjg hokkyg jjioi ilg bjjJdg. 7 Colos. ch. i. 25. "£i\v olxoiioy*iav rou ©sou rr\v. boktgdv poi i\g ii/jrdg. J Ephes. ch. v. 19. YaX/jeoTg xai u^voig, xai ulhaTg irnvyearixaTg fybovrig 'rlttl -^idXXovng iv rfj xag&lq hyjijiv rw Ku^/'w. § Colos. ch. iii. 16. YaX/JeoTg xai 'vpvoig xai wbaTg irvsv/jearixaTg, h yd^iri cfi&ovrig iv rr\ xug&la, v/aZv to! Kug/w. || Ephes. ch. vi. 22. "Ov t-~sfj,-^/a ffgog b/jedg ilg a'orb rovro, ha yvun tu itiyl Jj/JeOiv, xai tra^axaXigr\ rdg xagdiag bjj,on. ^f Colos. ch. iv. 8. "Ov iirs/jr^/a trobg b/j,ug tig air J rouro, iVa yvw ra Kiel by,&iv, xai ffagaxaXtffrj Tag xagdiag u/xwv. 230 HORA PAULINA. 2. Whoever writes two letters, or two discourses, nearly upon the same subject, and at no great distance of time, but without any express recollection of what he had written before, will find himself repeating some sentences, in the very order of the words in which he had already used them ; but he will more frequently find himself employing some principal terms, with the order inadvertently changed, or with the order disturbed by the intermixture of other words and phrases ex pressive of ideas rising up at the time ; or in many instances repeating not single words, nor yet whole sentences, but parts and fragments of sentences. Of all these varieties the examination of our two epistles will furnish plain examples ; and I should rely upon this class of instances more than upon the last ; because, although an impostor might transcribe into a forgery- entire sentences and phrases, yet the dislocation of words, the partial recollection of phrases and sentences, the intermixture of new terms and new ideas with terms and ideas before used, which will appear in the exam ples that follow, and which are the natural properties of writings produced under the circumstances in which these epistles are represented to have been composed — would not, I think, have occurred to the invention of a forger ; nor, if they had occurred, would they have been so easily executed. This studied variation was a refinement in forgery which I believe did not exist ; or, if we can suppose it to have been practised in the instances adduced below, why, it may be asked, was not the same art exercised upon those which we have collected in the preceding class ? Ephes. ch. i. 19 ; chap. ii. 5. "Toward us who be lieve according to the working of his mightv power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead (and set him at his own right-hand in the hea venly places, far above all principality, and power, and HORA PAULINA. 231 might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet : and gave him to be the head over all things, to the church, which is his body, the fulness of all things, that filleth all in all) ; and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins (wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ; among whom also we had all our conversation, in times past, in the lusts of our fiesh, fulfilHng the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewithal he loved us), even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ."* Colos. ch. ii. 12, 13. "Through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead : and you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumci- sion of the flesh, hath he quickened together with him."t Out of the long quotation from the Ephesians, take away the parentheses, and you have left a sentence almost in terms the same as the short quotation from the Colossians. The resemblance is more visible in the original than in our translation ; for what is rendered in one place, "the working," and in another the "ope ration," is the same Greek term bApyau: in one place it is, rovg irtvrivon v.g zocra, rrjv ivsgysiuv ; in the other, hoi, rijg * Ephes. ch. i. 19, 20; ii. 1 — 5. Touj msnvowug xard r-r)v ivsgyeiav rou xpdrovg rSjj igyfoog aurouV.^fv ivqgyrigiv iv rfi XgKfrw, iyslgag aiirbv ix roiv vixguv xai ixdOigsv iv 6z'z,i&" aurou iv roTg i~ovcavloig — xai ii/j,ag ovrag vtzgoug rotg iraea--TiJ,ao'i xai raTg djMoriaig — xai ovrag rj/Mag vixgoiig rotg rragowrruprasi, ffuvs^woffo/'/jtfE rc5 Xg/ffrw. -|- Colos. ch. ii. 12, 13. Aid rr\g tignuig r?jc ivioyhae rou ©sou rou iy'iiQOjVrog avrbv ix tZiv vixomv. Ka.1 u/jedg vixgoog ovrag iv roTg -Ti-aaairru- fjeagi xai T'/\ axwiSugTia rjjj eagxbg u/auv, guviZoso^oi'i\gi eiiv aur'Xi. 232 HORA PAULINA. iriersag rijg bipytlag. Here, therefore, we have the same sentiment, and nearly in the same words ; but, in the Ephesians, twice broken or interrupted by incidental thoughts, which St. Paul, as his manner was, enlarges upon by the way,* and then returns to the thread of his discourse. It is interrupted the first time by a view which breaks in upon his mind of the exaltation of Christ ; and the second time by a description of heathen depravity. I have only to remark that Griesbach, in his very accurate edition, gives the parentheses very nearly in the same manner in which they are here placed ; and that without any respect to the comparison which we are proposing. Ephes. ch. iv. 2 — 4. "With all lowliness and meek ness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love ; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling."? Colos. ch. iii. 12 — 15. " Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another ; if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye ; and, above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness ; and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body. "t * Vide Locke in loc. \ Ephes. ch. iv. 2 — 4-. Msra -rdttri; raxuvoipgog-ovrig -/.al vgqorrirog, jMrd /MixgotSv/Jeiag, aviyojjeivoi u.~> ."/ .r,Xav h aydtrrj' g-~ovdd'ovrig rrigi/v ri)V ivbriyra rou vrvsv/Jearog iv rffi guvbie/Auj r5jj s/'gijv?jg. "kv goyia xai h <7V£\i/j,a, x.alliig xai ixXrid'nri iv /Ma iX-rrlbi rr,g xXrjSicog vuw. \ Colos. ch. iii. 12 — 1.5. ' livb-JgagQs oiv oi£ ixr-.ixrol rou &sou ayioi xai riya-rrrj/j/evoi, eii'/Ayyya oixrig/Luv, ygr\gTorr,ra, Taraiivo)v xaSijg xai b Xgigrbg iya^igaro ufuv, o'ufoj xai vlu,sTg- imi Taei b"t roiiroig ri)v dydirvjv, ijng isrl g{>vfcg//eog ryjg riXali- rrirog- xai r) ti^ivt) rou ©sou /3ga/3susrw iv rat; xagbiaig 'ujjZiv, tig r]v xai ix.XijSriTi iv hi eii/uxri. HORA PAULINA. 233 In these two quotations the words raxuvoifigoa-vinj, TPMorrig, (jbazpoDvpia, avexp^ivot kKXiiK&iv, occur in exactly the same order : kydicn is also found in both, but in a different connexion ; avvhia^og rijg eigrji/qg answers to o-vvhsfff/eog rijg rihuoTrirog : Ixkfjdrirs b b) ffco[jjccri to sv troopcc, nuOeog xai IzXrjd^rs b (Mia ekirfb'i : yet is this simi litude found in the midst of sentences otherwise very different. Ephes. ch. iv. 16. " From whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual work ing in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body."* Colos. ch. ii. 19. "From which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."t In these quotations are read £!• ov nav to aupa trvp- ^i^u^ofjbsvov in both places ; l<7rixop?iyov(Mi/oi> answering to intyjiPriyiag : o"<« rm av to hid xdtrrig a(prjg : av%zi ryjv avfysiv to roitirai n]v ah\r\aiv : and yet the sentences are considerably diversified in other parts. Ephes. ch. iv. 32. " And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you."t Colos. ch. iii. 13. "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any ; even as Christ forgave you, so also do * Ephes. ch. iv. 16. 'Eg ou i(dv to goij^a guvag//eoXoyou/Jeivov xai g-j/j.j3ij3ac^6/Mivov did vdgrig dtpijg rrig i-inyoo-ny'iag xur ingyiietv iv (jArgiA hog ixdvrou fj/zgoug tt\v ai/fygiv rou goijharog troriTrai. ¦f Colos. ch. ii. 19. 'E|; o3 irdv rbgoyjM did tZiv d) rou ©sou sV/ roug uioug rrjg d-rrzlhiag. Mi} oSs1 ylveefa gu/Jr/j/eroyol aitruv. Hrs yd.g ¦Tors gxbrog, i/uv 6s s XaXrjgai. HORA PAULINA. 237 fest" ("va ifan^uo-a avro) ; " for which I am an ambas sador in bonds" (vtsp ov ffpetrfisvw b uXvo-uj, to " for which I am also in bonds" (o7 o xai lihpat). Ephes. ch. v. 22. " Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their, own husbands in every thing. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not hav ing spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself ; for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church ; for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she re verence her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and thy mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-plea sers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 238 HORA PAULINA. with good-will doing service, as to tiie Lord, and not to men; knowing that ivhatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive ofthe Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening : knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of per sons with him."* Colos. ch. iii. 18.t "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Hus bands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh : not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in single ness of heart, fearing God ; and whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the in- * Ephes. ch. v. 22. A/ yuvatxzg, rotg Ibioig dvogdeiv u-~ordegzgk, oig roi Kupioj. -|- Colos. ch. iii. 18. A; yuva7xig, utordggigfe ro7g ibioig dvdgdgiv, oig avyjxiv iv Kugioi. Ephes. Ol uvbgzg, dya-arz rag yuva7xag zauroiv, Colos. O/ avbgzg, dyatarz ra.g yuvatxag. Ephes. T« rzxva, u-~axouz~z rotg yovzugiv u;j.oiv lv Kugioi' touto ydo ian blxaiov. Colos. Ta rzxva, uxaxovsrsroTg yovzuei xard rta.vra- touto ydo sffrrj zudgzgrov riZ Kugioi. Ephes. Kal oi ¦rar'spzz, /j,>] nagooyi^zri rd rzxva. u/iroiv. Colos. O; trarigsg, /j,'/i spsfl/^srsj rd rzxva u;j,uv. Ephes. Qi douXoi, urray.ouirz ro7gxuoioig xard gdgxa/jozrd ;uitrat -and rou Kuelou, z'/rz bouXo:, e'lrz l/.zuDiooc. Colos. O/' nouXoi, wraxouzrz xard ndvra. rotg y.ard gdgxa y.uoioig, /j.rj iv b)hiav zxagrog /j.zrd rou -rX-riglou aurou- or; ig/MV dXX'/fkoiv /hzX-e). \ Colos. ch. iii. 9. M^ -\zudzgk zlg dXXijXoug, artzxbuga/Livoi rbv rtaXaibv &v6goiirov, guv ra7g irgd^zgiv aurou, xai ivbugdu.ivoi rbv, vzbv, rbv dva.xaivoujj.zvov zlg i'Xtyvoigiv. \ Ephes. ch. v. 20 — 22. Euyagigrouvrtg irdvrorz unzg trcivroiv, iv bvb- /Lari rou Kuglou yi/j.oiv 'I'/jffou Xg;ffrou, ra ©sw xai reargl, unroraggb/Lzvoi dXXrfkoig h s<™ in the first verse, upon which word singly depends the proof that the epistle was written to the Ephesians, is not read in all the manuscripts now extant. I admit, however, that the, external evidence preponderates with a manifest excess on the side of the received reading. The objec tion therefore principally arises from the contents of the epistle itself, which, in many respects, militate with the supposition that it was written to the church of Ephesus. According to the history, St. Paul had passed two whole years at Ephesus, Acts, chap. xix. 10. And in this point, viz. of St. Paul having preached for a consider able length of time at Ephesus, the history is confirmed by the two ; Epistles to the Corinthians,' and by the two ' Epistles to Timothy.' " I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost," 1 Cor. chap. xvi. ver. 8. "We would not have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia," 2 Cor. ch. i. 8. " As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia," 1 Tim. ch. i. 3. " And in how many things he ministered to me at Ephesus thou knowest well," 2 Tim. ch. i. 18. I adduce these testimonies, because, had it been a com petition of credit between the history and the epistle, I should have thought myself bound to have preferred the epistle. Now, every epistle which St. Paul wrote to churches which he himself had founded, or which he had visited, abounds with references, and appeals to what had passed during the time that he was present amongst them ; whereas there is not a text in the ' Epistle to the Ephesians,' from which we can collect that he had ever been at Ephesus at all. The two ' Epistles to the Corinthians,-' the ' Epistle to the Galatians,' the 'Epistle to the Philippians,'and the two 'Epistles to the Thessalonians,' are of this class ; and they are full of aUusions to the apostle's history, his reception, and his HORA PAULINA. 247 conduct whilst amongst them ; the total want of which, in the epistle before us, is very difficult to account for, if it was in truth written to the church of Ephesus, in which city he had resided for so long a time. This is thefirstand strongestobjection. Butfarther, the 'Epistle to the Colossians' was addressed to a church in which St. Paul had never been. This we infer from the first verse of the second chapter : " For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh." There could be no propriety in thus joining the Colossians and Laodiceans with those " who had not seen his face in the flesh," if they did not also belong, to the same description.* Now, his address to the Colossians, whom he had not visited, is precisely the same as his address to the Christians, to whom he wrote in the epistle which we are now considering : " We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of you?' faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints," Col. ch. i. 3. Thus, he speaks to the Colossians, in the epistle before us, as follows : "Where fore, I also, after I heard qf your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you in my prayers," chap, i. 15. The terms of this ad dress are observable. The words "having heard of your faith and love," are the very words, we see, which he uses toward strangers ; and it is not probable that he should employ the same in accosting a church in which he had long exercised his ministry, and whose " faith andlove"he must have personally known, t The 'Epistle * Dr. Lardner contends against the validity of this conclusion ; but, I think, without success. Lardner, vol. xiv. p. 473, edit. 1151. 7 Mr. Locke endeavours to avoid this difficulty, by explaining "their faith, of .which St. Paul had heard," to mean the steadfast ness of their persuasion that they were called into the kingdom of God, without subjection to the Mosaic institution. But this inter' 248 HORA PAULINA. to the Romans' was written before St. Paul had been at Rome ; and his address to them runs in the same strain with that just now quoted : " I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world," Rom. ch. i. 8. Let us now see what was the form in which our Apostle was accustomed to introduce his epistles, when he wrote to those with whom he was already acquainted. To the Corinthians it was this : " I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus," 1 Cor. ch. i. 4. To the Philippians : " I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," Phil. ch. i. 3. To the Thessalonians : " We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love," 1 Thess. ch. i. 3. To Timothy : " I thank God, whom I serve from my fore fathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day," 2 Tim. ch. i. 3. In these quotations, it is usually his remembrance, and never his hearing of them, which he makes the subject of his thankfulness to God. As great difficulties stand in the way supposing the epistle before us to have been written to the church of Ephesus, so I think it probable that it is actually the epistle to the Laodiceans, referred to in the fourth chapter of the ' Epistle to the Colossians.' The text which contains that reference is this : " When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea," ch. iv. 16. The " epistle pretation seems to me extremely hard; for, in the manner in which faith is here joined with love, in the expression, " your faith and love," it could not be meant to denote any particular tenet which distinguished one set of Christians from others ; forasmuch as the expression describes the general virtues of the Christian profession. Vide Locke in loc. HORA PAULINA. 249 from Laodicea" was an epistle sent by St. Paul to thajt church, and by them transmitted to Colosse* The two churches were mutually to communicate the epistles they had received. This is the way in which the di rection is explained by the greater part of commen tators, and is the most probable sense that can be given to it. It is also probable that the epistle alluded to was an epistle which had been received by the church of Laodicea lately. It appears, then, with a consider able degree of evidence, that there existed an epistle of St. Paul's nearly of the same date with the ' Epistle to the Colossians,' and an epistle directed to a church (for such the church of Laodicea was) in which St. Paul had never been. What has been observed concerning the epistle before us shows that it answers perfectly to that character. Nor does the mistake seem very difficult to account for. Whoever inspects the map of Asia Minor will sec, that a person proceeding from Rome to Laodicea would probably land at Ephesus, as the nearest frequented seaport in that direction. Might not Tychicus, then, in passing through Ephesus, communicate to the Chris tians of th at place the letter with which he was charged ? And might not copies of that letter be multiplied and preserved at Ephesus ? Might not some of the copies drop the words of designation b rr/ Aaohixsia,* which it * And it is remarkable that there seem to have been some ancient copies without the words of designation, either the words in Ephe sus, or the words in Laodicea. St. Basil, a writer of the fourth Century, speaking of the present epistle, has this very singular pas sage : " And writing to the Ephesians, as truly united to him who is through knowledge, he (Paul) calleth them in a peculiar sense such who are ; saying to the saints who are and (or even) the faithful in Christ Jesus ; for so those before us have transmitted it, and we have found it in ancient , copies." Dr. Mill interprets (and, not withstanding some objections that have been made to him, in my opinion rightly interprets) these words of Basil, as declaring that this father had seen certain copies of the epistle in which the words "in Ephesus" were wanting. And the passage, I think, must be 250 HORA PAULINA. was of no consequence to an Ephesian to retain ? Might not copies of the letter come out into the Christian church at large from Ephesus ; and might not this give occasion to a belief that the letter was written to that church ? And lastly, might not this belief produce the error which we supposed to have crept into the inscription? No. V. As our epistle purports to have been written during St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, which lies beyond the period to which the ' Acts of the Apostles' brings up his history ; and as we have seen and acknowledged that the epistle contains no reference to any transaction at Ephesus during the Apostle's residence in that city, we cannot expect that it should supply many marks of agreement with the narrative. One coincidence how ever occurs, and a coincidence of that minute and les3 obvious kind, which, as hath been repeatedly observed, is of all others the most to be relied upon. Chap. vi. 19, 20, we read "praying for me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mys tery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds." " In bonds," b aXvtrei, in a chain. In the twenty-eighth chapter of the 'Acts' we arc informed, that Paul, after his arrival at Rome, was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. Dr. Lardner has shown that this mode of custody was in use amongst the Romans, and that whenever it was adopted, the pri soner was bound to the soldier by a single chain : in reference to which St. Paul, in the twentieth verse of this chapter, tells the Jews, whom he had assembled, " For this cause therefore have I called for you to see you, and to speak with you, because that for the hope considered as Basil's fanciful way of explaining what was really a corrupt and defective reading ; for I do not believe it possible that the author of the epistle could have originally written dyioig " Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirma tion of the gospel, ye all are evyxoivwoi yoov rrjg xagtrog, joint contributors to the gift which I have received."* Nothing more is said in this place.- In the latter part of the second chapter, and at the distance of half the epistle from the last quotation, the subject appears again : " Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you EpaphrodituSj my brother and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that minis tered to my wants .-'for he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick : for indeed he was sick nigh unto death ; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness ; and hold such in reputation ; because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regard ing his life to supply your lack qf service towards me." Chap. ii. 25 — 30. The matter is here dropped, and no farther mention made of it till it is taken up near the conclusion of the epistle as follows : " But I rejoice in the-Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want ; for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; everywhere and in all * Pearce, I believe, was the first commentator who gave this sense to file expression ; and I believe also, that his exposition is now generally assented to. He interprets in the same sense the phrase in the fifth verse, which our translation renders " your fel lowship in the gospel ;" but which in the original is not xoivoiviq rou tuayyeXiou, or xoivoiviq iv r]k6ov uzso Maxsloviag when he was departed from Macedonia, that is, when he was come into Achaia. The passage under consideration affords another cir cumstance of agreement deserving of our notice. The giftalludedto in the 'Epistle to the Philippians' is stated to have been made " in the beginning of the gospel." This phrase is most naturally explained to signify the first preaching of the gospel in these parts ; viz. on that side of the ^Egean Sea. The succours referred to in the •Epistle to the Corinthians,' as received from Macedonia, are stated to have been received by him upon his first visit to the peninsula of Greece. The dates therefore assigned to the donation in the two epistles agree ; yet is the date in one ascertained very incidentally, namely, by the considerations which fix the date of the epistle itself ; and in the other, by an expression (" the begin ning of the gospel ") much too general to have been used if the text had been penned with any view to the correspondency we are remarking. Farther, the phrase, "in the beginning of the gospel," raises an idea in the reader's mind that the gospel had been preached there more than once. The writer would HORA PAULINA. 259 ( hardly have called the visit to which he refers the " beginning of the gospel," if he had not also visited them in some other stage of it. The fact corresponds with this idea. If we consult the sixteenth and twen tieth chapters ofthe ' Acts,' we shall find, that St. Paul, before his imprisonment at Rome, during which this epistle purports to have been written, had been twice in Macedonia, and each time at Philippi. No. IV. That Timothy had been long with St. Paul at Phi lippi is a fact which seems to be implied in this epistle twice. First, he joins in the salutation with which the epistle opens : " Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi." Secondly, and more directly, the point is inferred from what is said concerning him, chap. ii. 19: " Butltrustin the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state ; fori have no man like minded, who will naturally care for your state ; for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's ; hutyeknow the proof of him, that as a son with the father, he hath served with me in, the gospel." Had Timothy's presence with St. Paul at Philippi, when he preached the gospel there, been expressly remarked in the ' Acts of the Apostles,' this quotation might be thought to contain a contrived adaptation to the history; although, even in that case, the averment, or rather the allusion in the epistle, is too oblique to afford much room for such suspicion. But the truth is, that in the history of St. Paul's transactions at Philippi, which occupies the greatest part of the six teenth chapter of the ' Acts,' no mention is made of Ti mothy at all. What appears concerning Timothy in the history, so far as relates to the present subject, is this: " When Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold a cer- s2 260 HORA PAULINA. tain disciple was there, named Timotheus, whom Paul would have to go forth with him." The narrative then proceeds with the account of St. Paul's progress through various provinces of the Lesser Asia, till it brings him down to Troas. At Troas he was warned in a vision to pass over into Macedonia. In obedience to which he crossed the iEgean Sea to Samothracia, the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi. His preach ing, miracles, and persecutions at Philippi, follow next; after which Paul and his company, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to Thessalonica, and from Thessalonica to Berea. From Berea the brethren sent away Paul ; " but Silas and Timotheus abode there still." The itinerary, of which the above is an abstract, is undoubtedly sufficient to support an inference that Timothy was along with St. Paul at Philippi. We find them setting out together upon this progress from Derbe, in Lycaonia ; we find them together near the conclusion of it, at Berea, in Macedonia. It is highly probable, therefore, that they came together to Philippi, through which their route between these two places lay. If this be thought pro bable, it is sufficient. For what I wish to be observed is, that in comparing, upon this subject, the epistle with the history, we do not find a recital in one place of what is related in another ; but that we find, what is much more to be relied upon, an oblique allusion to an implied fact. No. V. Our epistle purports to have been written near the conclusion of St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, and after a residence in that city of considerable duration. These circumstances are made out by different intima tions, and the intimations upon the subject preserve among themselves a just consistency, and a consistency certainly unmeditated. First, the apostle had already HORA PAULINA. 261 been a prisoner at Rome so long, as that the reputation of his bonds, and of his constancy under them, had contributed to advance the success of the gospel : " But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel ; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places ; and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." Secondly, the account given of Epaphroditus imports, that St. Paul, when he wrote the epistle, had been in Rome a considerable time : " He longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, be cause that ye had heard that he had been sick." Epaph roditus was with St. Paul at Rome. He had been sick. The Philippians had heard of his sickness, and he again had received an account how much they had been affected by the intelligence. The passing and repassing of these advices must necessarily have occupied a large portion of time, and must have all taken place during St. Paul's residence at Rome. Thirdly, after a residence at Rome thus proved to have been of considerable du ration, he now regards the decision of his fate as nigh at hand. He contemplates either alternative, that of his deliverance, ch. ii. 23, " Him therefore (Timothy) I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me ; but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly." that of his condemnation, ver. 17, "Yea, and if I be offered* upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." This con sistency is material, if the consideration of it be confined to the epistle. It is farther material, as it agrees with respect to the duration of St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, with the account delivered in the 'Acts,' which, * ' AXX' e; xai g~zvbo/j.ai Ic; rfj Dugiq rr\g Kigrioig u/j,oiv, if my blood be poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice of your faith. 262 HORA PAULINA. having brought the apostle to Rome, closes the history by telling us " that he dwelt there two whole years in his own hired house." No. VI. Chap. i. 23. " For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." With this compare 2 Cor. chap. v. 8: " We are con- fident and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." The sameness of sentiment in these two quotations is obvious. I rely however not so much upon that, as upon the similitude in the train of thought which in each epistle leads up to this sentiment, and upon the suit ableness of that train of thought to the circumstances under which the epistles purport to have been written. This, I conceive, bespeaks the production of the same mind, and of a mind operating upon real circumstances. The sentiment is in both places preceded by the con templation of imminent personal danger. To the Phi lippians he writes, in the twentieth verse of this chapter, " According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be mag nified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." To the Corinthians, " Troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." This train of reflection is continued to the place from whence the words which we compare are taken. The two epistles, though written at different times, from dif ferent places, and to different churches, were both wrifc ten under circumstances which would naturally recall to the author's mind the precarious condition of his Hfe, and the perils which constantly awaited him. When the HORA PAULINA. 263 'Epistle to the Philippians' was written, the author was a prisoner at Rome, expecting his trial. When the 'Second Epistle to the Corinthians' was written, he had lately escaped a danger in which he had given himself over for lost. The epistle opens with a recollection of this subject, and the impression accompanied the writer's thoughts throughout. I know that nothing is easier than to transplant into a forged epistle a sentiment or expression which is found in a true one ; or supposing both epistles to be forged by the same hand, to insert the same sentiment or ex pression in both. But the difficulty is to introduce it in just and close connexion with a train of thought going before, and with a train of thought apparently generated by the circumstances under which the epistle is written. In two epistles, purporting to be written on different occasions, and in differentperiods of the author's history, this propriety would not easily be managed. No. VII. Chap. i. 29, 30 ; ii. 1, 2. " For unto you is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake ; having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies ; fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." With this compare Acts xvi. 22 : " And the multi tude (at Philippi) rose up against them (Paul and Silas): and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and com manded to beat them : and when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the gaoler to keep them safely ; who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks." 264 HORA PAULINA. The passage in the epistle is very remarkable. I know not an example in any writing of a juster pathos, or which more truly represents the workings of a warm and affectionate mind, than what is exhibited in the quota tion before us.* The apostle reminds his Philippians of their being joined with himself in the endurance of persecution for the sake of Christ. He conjures them, by the ties of their common profession and their com mon sufferings, to " fulfil his joy ;" to complete, by the unity of their faith, and by their mutual love, that joy with which the instances he had received of their zeal and attachment had inspired his breast. Now if this was the real effusion of St. Paul's mind, of which it bears the strongest internal character, then we have in the words " the same conflict which ye saw in me," an authentic confirmation of so much of the apostle's his tory in the 'Acts,' as relates to his transactions at Phi lippi ; and, through that, ofthe intelligence and general fidelity of the historian. CHAP. VIII. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. No. I. There is a circumstance of conformity between St. Paul's history and his letters, especially those which were written during his first imprisonment at Rome, and more especially the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians, which being too close to be accounted for from accident, yet too indirect and latent to be imputed to design, cannot easily be resolved into any other ori ginal than truth. Which circumstance is this, that St; * The original is very spirited: E; rig oh vagaxXygig lv Xgigrw, i" r; tfagapuSiov dyd'Srig, z'l rig xoivuvia Tvzu/iarog, s; r;va gxXdyyi-a xai tixngf/eo), wXrigoigari /j,ou rrjv yagdv. HORA PAULINA. 265 Paul in these epistles attributes his imprisonment not to his preaching of Christianity, but to his asserting the right of the Gentiles to be admitted into it without con forming themselves to the Jewish law. This was the doctrine to which he considered himself as a martyr. Thus, in the epistle before us,chap.i.24, (I Paul) "who now rejoice in my sufferings for you" — "for you," i. e. for those whom he had never seen ; for a few verses af terwards he adds, "I would that ye knew what great con flict I have for you and for them in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh." His suf fering therefore for them was, in their general capacity of Gentile Christians, agreeably to what he explicitly declares in his 'Epistle to the Ephesians,' iv. 1 : "For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gen tiles." Again in the epistle now under consideration, iv. 3 : " Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds." What that " mystery of Christ" was, the 'Epistle to the Ephesians' distinctly informs us : " Whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery qf Christ, which, in other ages, was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow- heirs, and ofthe same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." This, therefore, was the con fession for which he declares himself to be in bonds. Now let us inquire how the occasion of St. Paul's im prisonment is represented in the history. The apostle had not long returned to Jerusalem from his second visit into Greece, when an uproar was excited in that city by the clamour of certain Asiatic Jews, who, " having seen Paul in the Temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him." The charge advanced against him was, that " he taught all men everywhere against the 266 HORA PAULINA. people, and the law, and this place; and farther, brought Greeks also into the Temple, and polluted that holy place." The former part of the charge seems to point at the doctrine, which he maintained, of the admission of the Gentiles, under the new dispensation, to an in discriminate participation of God's favour with the Jews. But what follows makes the matter clear. When, by the interference of the chief captain, Paul had been rescued out of the hands of the populace, and was per mitted to address the multitude who had followed him to the stairs of the castle, he delivered a brief account of his birth, of the early course of his life, of his mira culous conversion ; and is proceeding in this narrative, until he comes to describe a vision which was presented to him as he was praying in the Temple ; and which bid him depart out of Jerusalem, " for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," Acts xxii. 21. " They gave him audience," says the historian, " unto this word; and then lift up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth !" Nothing can show more strongly than this account does, what was the offence which drew down upon St. Paul the vengeance of his countrymen. His mission to the Gentiles, and his open avowal of that mission, was the intolerable part of the apostle's crime. But although the real motive of the prosecution appears to have been the apostle's conduct towards the Gentiles ; yet, when his accusers came be fore a Roman magistrate, a charge was to be framed of a more legal form. The profanation of the Temple was the article they chose to rely upon. This, there* fore, became the immediate subject of Tertullus's oration before Felix, and of Paul's defence. But that he aU along considered his ministry amongst the Gentiles as the actual source of the enmity that had been exercised against him, and in particular as the cause of the in* surrection in which his person had been seized, is HORA PAULINA. 267 apparent from the conclusion of his discourse before Agrippa : " I have appeared unto thee," says he, de scribing what passed upon his journey to Damascus, " for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a wit ness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to Hght, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision; but showed first unto them of Damascus, and of Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the Temple, and went about to kill me." The seizing, therefore, of St. Paul's person, from which he was never discharged till his final liberation at Rome ; and of which, therefore, his imprisonment at Rome was the continuation and effect, was not in consequence of any general persecution set on foot against Christianity ; nor did it befall him simply as professing or teaching Christ's religion, which James and the elders at Jerusalem did as well as he (and yet, for anything that appears, remained at that time un molested) ; but it was distinctly and specifically brought upon him by his activity in preaching to the Gentiles, and by his boldly placing them upon a level with the once-favoured and still self-flattered posterity of Abra ham. How well St. Paul's letters, purporting to be written during this imprisonment, agree with this ac count of its cause arid origin, we have already seen. 268 HORA PAULINA. No. II. Chap. iv. 10. " Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas (touching whom you received commandments : If he come unto you, receive him) ; and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision." We find Aristarchus as a companion of our apostle in the nineteenth chapter of the 'Acts,' and the twenty- ninth verse : " And the whole city of Ephesus was filled with confusion ; and having caught Gaius and Aris- tarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre." And we find him upon his journey with St. Paul to Rome, in the twenty-seventh chapter, and the second verse : " And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus's band: and, entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coast of Asia ; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us." But might not the author of the epistle have consulted the history ; and, observing that the historian had brought Aristarchus along with Paul to Rome, might he not for that reason, and without any other foundation, have put down his name amongst the salutations of an epistle purporting to be written by the apostle from that place ? I allow so much of possibility to this objection, that I should not have proposed this in the number of coin cidences clearly undesigned, had Aristarchus stood alone. The observation that strikes me in reading the passage is, that together with Aristarchus, whose jour ney to Rome we trace in the history, are joined Marcus and Justus, of whose coming to Rome the history says nothing. Aristarchus alone appears in the history, and Aristarchus alone would have appeared in the epistle, HORA PAULINA. 269 if the author had regulated himself by that conformity. Or, if you take it the other way ; if you suppose the his tory to have been made out of the epistle, why the jour ney of Aristarchus to Rome should be recorded, and not that of Marcus and Justus, if the groundwork of the narrative was the appearance of Aristarchus's name in the epistle, seems to be unaccountable. " Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas." Does not this hint account for Barnabas's adherence to Mark in the contest that arose with our apostle concerning him ? " And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do ; and Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark; but Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from Pam- phylia, and went not with them to the work ; and the contention was so sharp between them, that they de parted asunder one from the other : and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus." The history which records the dispute has not preserved the circumstance of Mark's relationship to Barnabas. It is nowhere noticed but in the text before us. As far, therefore, as it applies, the application is certainly undesigned. " Sister's son to Barnabas." This woman, the mo ther of Mark, and the sister of Barnabas, was, as might be expected, a person of some eminence amongst the Christians of Jerusalem. It so happens that we hear of her in the history. " When Peter was delivered from prison, he came to the house of Mary the mother qf John, ivhose surname was Mark, where many were ga thered together praying," Acts xii. 12. There is some what of coincidence in this ; somewhat bespeaking real transactions amongst real persons. 270 HORA PAULINA. No. III. The following coincidence, though it bear the ap pearance of great nicety and refinement, ought not, per haps, to be deemed imaginary. In the salutations with which this, like most of St. Paul's epistles, concludes, " we have Aristarchus and Marcus, and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are ofthe circumcision," iv. 10, 1 1. Then follow also, " Epaphras, Luke the beloved phy sician, and Demas." Now as this description, " who are of the circumcision," is added after the first three names, it is inferred, not without great appearance of probability, that the rest, amongst whom is Luke, were not of the circumcision. Now, can we discover any ex pression in the 'Acts of the Apostles,' which ascertains whether the author of the book was a Jew or not ? If we can discover that he was not a Jew, we fix a cir cumstance in his character, which coincides with what is here, indirectly indeed, but not very uncertainly, in timated concerning Luke ; and we so far confirm both the testimony of the primitive church, that the 'Acts of the Apostles' was written by St. Luke, and the general reality of the persons and circumstances brought to gether in this epistle. The textin the 'Acts,' which has been construed to show that the writer was not a Jew, is the nineteenth verse of the first chapter, where, in describing the field which had been purchased with the reward of Judas's iniquity, it is said, "that it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem ; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood." These words are by most commentators taken to be the words and obser vation of the historian, and not a part of St. Peter's speech, in the midst of which they are found. If this be admitted, then it is argued that the expression, " in their proper tongue," would not have been used by a HORA PAULINA. 271 Jew, but is suitable to the pen of a Gentile writing concerning Jews.* The reader will judge of the pro bability of this conclusion, and we urge the coincidence no farther than that probability extends. The coin- cidence, if it be one, is so remote from all possibility of design, that nothing need be added to satisfy the reader upon that part of the argument. No. IV. Chap, iv. 9. " With Onesimus, a faithful and be loved brother, who is one of you." Observe how it may be made out that Onesimus was a Colossian. Turn to the ' Epistle to Philemon,' and you will find that Onesimus was the servant or slave of Philemon. The question therefore will be, to what city Philemon belonged. In the epistle addressed to him this is not declared. It appears only that he was of the same place, whatever that place was, with an eminent Christian named Archippus. " Paul, a pri soner of Jesus Christ and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved and fellow-labourer ; and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-sol dier, and to the church in thy house." Now turn back to the 'Epistle to the Colossians,' and you will find Ar chippus saluted by name amongst the Christians of that church. " Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it." (iv. 17.) The necessary result is, that Onesi mus also was of the same city, agreeably to what is said of him, " he is one of you." And this result is the effect either of truth which produces consistency without the writer's thought or care, or of a contexture of for geries confirming and falling in with one another by a species of fortuity of which I know no example. The * Vide ' Benson's Dissertation,* vol. i. p. 318, of his works, ed. 1756. 272 HORA PAULINA. supposition of design, I think, is excluded, not only because the purpose to which the design must have been directed, viz. the verification of the passage in our epistle, in which it is said concerning Onesimus, " he is one of you," is a purpose, which would be lost upon ninety-nine readers out of a hundred ; but because the means made use of are too circuitous to have been the subject of affectation and contrivance. Would a forger, who had this purpose in view, have left his readers to hunt it out, by going forward and backward from one epistle to another, in order to connect Onesimus with Philemon, Philemon with Archippus, and Archippus with Colosse ? all which he must do before he arrives at his discovery, that it was truly said of Onesimus, " he is one of you." CHAP. IX. THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. No. 1. It is known to every reader of Scripture, that the 'First Epistle to the Thessalonians 'speaks ofthe coming of Christ in terms which indicate an expectation of his speedy appearance : " For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch angel, and with the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we ivhich are alive and re main, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds — But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (Chap. iv. 15—17 ; ch. v. 4.) HORA PAULINA. 273 Whatever other construction these texts may bear, the idea they leave upon the mind of an ordinary reader, is that of the author of the epistle looking for the day of judgment to take place in his own time, or near to it. Now the use which I make of this circumstance, is to deduce from it a proof that the epistle itself was not the production of a subsequent age. Would an im postor have given this expectation of St. Paul, after ex perience had proved it to be erroneous ? or would he have put into the apostle's mouth, or, which is the same thing, into writings purporting to come from his hand, expressions, if not necessarily conveying, at least easily interpreted to convey, an opinion which was then known to be founded in mistake ? I state this as an argument to show that the epistle was contemporary with St. Paul, which is little less than to show that it actually proceed ed from his pen. For I question whether any ancient forgeries were executed in the lifetime of the person whose name they bear ; nor was the primitive situation of the church likely to give birth to such an attempt. No. II. Our epistle concludes with a direction that it should be publicly read in the church to which it was ad dressed : " I charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." The existence of this clause in the body of the epistle is an evidence of its authenticity ; because to produce a letter purporting to have been publicly read in the church of Thessalo nica, when no such letter in truth had been read or heard of in that church, would be to produce an im posture destructive of itself. At least, it seems unlikely that the author of an imposture would voluntarily, and even officiously, afford a handle to so plain an objection. — Either the epistle was publicly read in the church of Thessalonica during St. Paul's lifetime, or it was not. VOL. II. t 274 HORA PAULINA. If it was, no publication could be more authentic, no species of notoriety more unquestionable, no method of preserving the integrity of the copy more secure. If it was not, the clause we produce would remain a stand ing condemnation of the forgery, and, one would sup pose, an invincible impediment to its success. If we connect this article with the preceding, we shall perceive that they combine into one strong proof of the genuineness of the epistle. The preceding article carries up the date ofthe epistle to the time of St. Paul ; the present article fixes the publication of it to the church of Thessalonica. Either, therefore, the church of Thessalonica was imposed upon by a false epistle, which in St. Paul's lifetime they received and read publicly as his, carrying on a communication with him all the while, and the epistle referring to the conti nuance of that communication ; or other Christian churches, in the same lifetime of the apostle, received an epistle purporting to have been publicly read in the church of Thessalonica, which nevertheless had not been heard of in that church ; or, lastly, the conclusion remains, that the epistle now in our hands is genuine. No. III. Between our epistle and the history the accordancy in many points is circumstantial and complete. The history relates, that, after Paul and Silas had been beaten with many stripes at Philippi, shut up in the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks, as soon as they were discharged from their confinement they departed from thence, and, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to Thessalo nica, where Paul opened and alleged that Jesus was the Christ, Acts xvi. 23, &c. The epistle written in the name of Paul and Silvanus (Silas), and of Timo theus, who also appears to have been along with them HORA PAULINA. 275 at Philippi, (vide Phil. No. IV.) speaks to the church of Thessalonica thus : " Even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention." (ii. 2.) The history relates, that after they had been some time at Thessalonica, " the Jews who believed not, set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason where Paul and Silas were, and sought to bring them out to the people," Acts xvii. 5. The epistle declares, " when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation ; even as it came to pass, and ye know." (iii. 4.) The history brings Paul and Silas and Timothy to gether at Corinth, soon after the preaching ofthe gospel at Thessalonica : — " And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia (to Corinth), Paul was pressed in spirit." Acts xviii. 5. The epistle is written in the name of these three persons, who consequently must have been together at the time, and speaks throughout of their ministry at Thessalonica as a recent transaction : " We, brethren, being taken from you for a short time, in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face, with great desire." (ii. 170 The harmony is indubitable ; but the points of his tory in which it consists, are so expressly set forth in the narrative, and so directly referred to in the epistle, that it becomes necessary for us to show that the facts in one writing were not copied from the other. Now amidst some minuter discrepancies, which will be no ticed below, there is one circumstance which mixes it self with all the allusions in the epistle, but does not appear in the history anywhere ; and that is of a visit which St. Paul had intended to pay to the Thessalo nians during the time of his residing at Corinth: t 2 276 HORA PAULINA. " Wherefore we would have come unto you (even I Paul) once and again ; but Satan hindered us." (ii. 18.) " Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you." (iii. 10, 11.) Concerning a design which was not executed, although the person himself, who, was conscious of his own purpose, should make mention in his letters, no thing is more probable, than that his historian should be silent, if not ignorant. The author of the epistle could not, however, have learnt this circumstance from the history, for it is not there to, be met with ; nor, if the, historian had drawn his materials from the epistle, is it likely that he would have passed over a circumstance, which is amongst the most obvious and prominent of the facts to be collected from that source of informa tion. No. IV. Chap. iii. 1 — rJ. " Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith : — but now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith." The history relates, that when Paul came out of Ma cedonia to Athens, Silas and Timothy stayed behind at Berea : " The brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea ; but Silas and Timotheus abode there still ; and they that conducted Paul brought him to Athens." Acts, ch. xvii. 14, 15. The history farther relates, that after Paul had tarried some time at Athens, and had proceeded from thence to Corinth, whilst he was exer- HORA PAULINA. 277 cising his ministry in that city, Silas and Timotheus came to him from Macedonia. Acts, ch. xviii. 5. But to reconcile the history with the clause in the epistle, which makes St. Paul say, " I thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and to send Timothy unto you," it is necessary to suppose that Timothy had come up with St. Paul at Athens ; a circumstance which the history does not mention. I remark, therefore, that, although the history do not expressly notice this arrival, yet it contains intimations which render it extremely proba ble that the fact took place. First, as soon as Paul had reached Athens, he sent a message back to Silas and Timothy " for to come to him with all speed." Acts, ch. xvii. 15. Secondly, his stay at Athens was on purpose that they might join him there : " Now whilst Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him." Acts, ch. xvii. 16. Thirdly, his departure from Athens does not appear to have been in any sort has tened or abrupt. It is said, " after these things," viz. his disputation with the Jews, his conferences with the philosophers, his discourse at Areopagus, and the gain ing of some converts, " he departed from Athens and came to Corinth." It is not hinted that he quitted Athens before the time that he had intended to leave it ; it is not suggested that he was driven from thence, as he was from many cities, by tumults or persecutions, or because his life was no longer safe. Observe then the particulars which the history does notice — that Paul had ordered Timothy to follow him without delay, that he waited at Athens on purpose that Timothy might come up with him, that he stayed there as long as his own choice led him to continue. Laying these circum stances which the history does disclose together, it is highly probable that Timothy came to the apostle at Athens, a fact which the epistle, we have seen, virtually asserts when it makes Paul send Timothy back from 278 HORA PAULINA. Athens to Thessalonica. The sending back of Timothy into Macedonia accounts also for his not coming to Co rinth till after Paul had been fixed in that city for some considerable time. Paul had found out Aquila and Pris cilla, abode with them and wrought, being of the same craft ; and reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath day, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. Acts, ch. xviii. 1 — 5. All this passed at Corinth before Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia. Acts, ch. xviii. 5. If this was the first time of their coming up with him after their separation at Berea, there is nothing to account for a delay so contrary to what appears from the history itself to have been St. Paul's plan and expec tation. This is a conformity of a peculiar species. The epistle discloses a fact which is not preserved in the history, but which makes what is said in the history more significant, probable, and consistent. The his tory bears marks of an omission ; the epistle by refe rence furnishes a circumstance which supplies that omission. No. V. Chap. ii. 14. " For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus : for ye also have suffered like things of your own coun trymen, even as they have of the Jews." To a reader of the ' Acts of the Apostles,' it might seem, at first sight, that the persecutions which the preachers and converts of Christianity underwent, were suffered at the hands of their old adversaries the Jews. But if we attend carefully to the accounts there deli vered, we shall observe, that, though the opposition made to the gospel usually originated from the enmity of the Jews, yet in almost all places the Jews went about to accomplish their purpose, by stirring up the Gentile in habitants against their converted countrymen. Out of HORA PAULINA. 279 Judea they had not power to do much mischief in anv other way. This was the case at Thessalonica in par ticular : " The Jews which believed not, moved with envy, set all the city in an uproar." Acts, ch. xvii. 5. It was the same a short time afterward at Berea : " When the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people." Acts, ch. xvii. 13. And before this our apostle had met with a like species of persecution, in his progress through the Lesser Asia: in every city " the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil- affected against the brethren." Acts, ch. xiv. 2. The epistle therefore represents the case accurately as the history states it. It was the Jews always who set on foot the persecutions against the apostles and their fol lowers. He speaks truly therefore of them, when he says in this epistle, " they both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us — for bidding us to speak unto the Gentiles." (ii. 15, 16.) But out of Judea it was at the hands of the Gentiles, it was " of their own countrymen," that the injuries they underwent were immediately sustained : " Ye have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." No. VI. The apparent discrepancies between our epistle and the history, though of magnitude sufficient to repel the imputation of confederacy or transcription (in which view they form a part of our argument), are neither nu merous, nor very difficult to reconcile. One of these may be observed in the ninth and tenth verses of the second chapter : " For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travel ; for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any 280 HORA PAULINA. of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that be lieve." A person who reads this passage is naturally led by it to suppose, that the writer had dwelt at Thes salonica for some considerable time ; yet of St. Paul's ministry in that city, the history gives no other account than the following : that " he came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews : that, as his man ner was, he went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures : that some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas." The history then proceeds to tell us, that the Jews which believed not, set the city in an uproar, and as saulted the house of Jason, where Paul and his compa nions lodged ; that the consequence of this outrage was, that " the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea." Acts, ch. xvii. 1 — 10. From the mention of his preaching three sabbath days in the Jewish synagogue, and from the want of any far ther specification of his ministry, it has usually been taken for granted that Paul did not continue at Thes salonica more than three weeks. This, however, is inferred without necessity. It appears to have been St. Paul's practice, in almost every place that he came to, upon his first arrival to repair to the synagogue. He thought himself bound to propose the gospel to the Jews first, agreeably to what he declared at Antioch in Pisidia; "it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you." Acts, ch. xiii. 46. If the Jews rejected his ministry, he quitted the syna gogue, and betook himself to a Gentile audience. At Corinth, upon his first coming thither, he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath ; "but when the Jews op posed themselves, and blasphemed, he departed thence," expressly telling them, "From henceforth I will go unto HORA PAULINA. 281- the Gentiles : and he remained in that city a year and six months." Acts, chap, xviii. 6 — 11. At Ephesus, in like manner, for the space of three months he went into the synagogue ; but " when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus ; and this continued by the space of two years." Acts, ch. xix. 9» 10. Upon inspecting the history, I see nothing in it which nega tives the supposition, that St. Paul pursued the same plan at Thessalonica which he adopted in other places ; and that, though he resorted to the synagogue only three sabbath days, yet he remained in the city, and in the exercise of his ministry amongst the Gentile citi zens, much longer ; and until the success of his preach ing had provoked the Jews to excite the tumult and insurrection by which he was driven away. Another seeming discrepancy is found in the ninth verse of the first chapter of the epistle : " For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." This text contains an assertion, that, by means of St. Paul's ministry at Thes salonica, many idolatrous Gentiles had been brought over to Christianity. Yet the history, in describing the effects of that ministry, only says, that " some of the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks a great mul titude, and of the chief women not a few." (Ch. xvii. 4.) The devout Greeks were those who already wor* shipped the one true God, and therefore could not be said, by embracing Christianity, " to be turned to God from idols." This is the difficulty. The answer may be assisted by the following observations : — The Alexandrian and Cambridge manuscripts read (for ruv as^opsvuv ''EKkr/vav vroXv KArjdog) rwv GifioyJevM xai 'EhKi^vaV irokv rXijdog' id Missing Page Missing Page 284 HORA PAULINA. upon the road, and yet be perfectly clear to the person to whom it is directed, and with whom the previous communication had passed. And if, in a letter which thus accidentally fell into my hands, I found a passage expressly referring to a former conversation, and diffi cult to be explained without knowing that conversation, I should consider this very difficulty as a proof that the conversation had actually passed, and consequently that the letter contained the real correspondence of real persons. No. II. Chap. iii. 8. " Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but wrought with labour night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you : not because we have no power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow." In a letter, purporting to have been written to another of the Macedonian churches, we find the folldjving declaration. " Now ye Philippians, know also, that in the begin ning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving dnd receiving, but ye only." The conformity between these two passages is strong and plain. They confine the transaction to the same period. The epistle to the Philippians refers to what passed "in the beginning of the gospel," that is to say, during the first preaching of the gospel on that side of the JEgean Sea. The epistle to the Thessalonians speaks of the apostle's conduct in that city upon " his first en trance in unto them," which the history informs us was in the course of his first visit to the peninsula of Greece; As St. Paul teUs the Philippians, " that no church communicated with him, as concerning giving and re ceiving, but they only," he could not, consistently with HORA PAULINA, 285 the truth of this declaration, have received anything from the neighbouring church of Thessalonica, What thus appears by general impHcation in an epistle to another church, when he writes to the Thessalonians themselves, is noticed expressly and particularly; "nei ther did we eat anyman's bread for nought, but wrought night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you." The texts here cited farther also exhibit a mark of conformity with what St. Paul is made to say of himself in the 'Acts of the Apostles.' The apostle not only re minds the Thessalonians that he had not been charge able to any of them, but he states likewise the motive which dictated this reserve : " not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us." (Chap. iii. 90 This conduct, and, what is much more precise, the end which he had in view by it, was the very same as that which the history attributes to St. Paul in a discourse, which it represents him to have addressed to the elders oi the church of Ephesus : " Yea, ye yourselves also know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how, that so labouring ye ought to support the weak." Acts, ch, xx. 34. The sentiment in the epistle and in the speech is in both parts of it so much alike, and yet the words which convey it show so little of imitation, or even of resemblance, that the agreement cannot well be ex plained without supposing the speech and the letter to have really proceeded from the same person. No. III. Our reader remembers the passage in the ' First Epis-, tie to the Thessalonians,' in which St. Paul spoke of the coming of Christ : " This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto 286 HORA PAULINA. the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep : for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we be ever with the Lord. — But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. iv. 15 — 17, and ch. v. 4. It should seem that the Thes salonians, or some however amongst them, had from this passage conceived an opinion (and that not very unna- turaUy), that the coming of Christ was to take place in stantly, on blarnxzv ;* and that this persuasion had pro duced, as it well might, much agitation in the church. The apostle therefore now writes, amongst other pur poses, to quiet this alarm, and to rectify the miscon struction that had been put upon his words: " Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand." If the allusion which we contend for be admitted, namely, if it be admitted, that the passage in the second epistle relates to the passage in the first, it amounts to a considerable proof of the genuineness of both epistles. I have no conception, because I know no example, of such a device in a for gery, as first to frame an ambiguous passage in a letter, then to represent the persons to whom the letter is ad dressed as mistaking the meaning of the passage, and lastly, to write a second letter in order to correct this mistake. I have said that this argument arises out of the text, *ythe allusion be admitted; for I am not ignorant that * " Oti ivzgrrixzv, nempe hoc anno, says Grotius, higrrjxzv hie di- citur de re preesenti, ut Rom. viii. 38 ; 1 Cor. iii. 22 ; Gal. i. 4 ; Heb. ix. 9. HORA PAULINA. 287 many expositors understand, the passage in the second epistle, as referring to some forged letters, which had been produced in St. Paul's name, and in which the apostle had been made to say that the coming of Christ was then at hand. In defence, however, of the explana tion which we propose, the reader is desired to observe — 1. The strong fact, that there exists a passage in the first epistle, to which that in the second is capable of being referred, i. e. which accounts for the error the writer is solicitous to remove. Had no other epistle than the second been extant, and had it under these circumstances come to be considered, whether the text before us related to a forged epistle or to some mis construction of a t»rue one, many conjectures and many probabilities might have been admitted in the inquiry which can have little weight when an epistle is pro duced, containing the very sort of passage we were seeking, that is, a passage liable to the misinterpreta tion which the apostle protests against. 2. That the clause which introduces the passage in the second epistle bears a particular affinity to what is found in the passage cited from the first epistle. The clause is this : " We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." Now in the first epistle the descrip tion of the coming of Christ is accompanied with the mention of this very circumstance of his saints being collected round him. " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch angel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we which are alive and re main shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 1 Thess. chap. iv. 16, 17. This I suppose to be the " gathering toge ther unto him" intended in the second epistle ; and that the author, when he used these words, retained 288 HORA PAULINA. in his thoughts what he .had written on the subject before. 3. The second epistle is written in the joint name of Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, and it cautions the Thessalonians against being misled " by letter as from us" (dig oY r/yjwv). Do not these words, o7 fipuv, appro priate the reference to some writing which bore the name of these three teachers ? Now this circumstance, which is a very close one, belongs to the epistle at present in our hands ; for the epistle which we call the * First Epistle to the Thessalonians' contains these names in its superscription. 4. The words in the original, as far as they are ma terial to be stated, are these : sig ro f/J; raXficog GuksvOiivat v[/jag usro rov voog, prirs dpos7c6ai, {jor/re }iia Tovsv^arog, fjjy\rs o~ia koyov, pr/re oY Inriaro'kT/g, dig oY r/ixuv, dig on biarr/xsv % T/fhspa rov Xpiarov. Under the weight of the preceding observations may not the words pi/ri iia koyov, pr/re h' sri could have sug gested a thought of so domestic a nature. But if the peculiarity of the advice be observable, the place in which it stands is more so. The context is this:' "Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither 'be par taker of other men's sins : keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Some men's sins are open beforehand,- going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." The direction to Timothy about his diet stands between two sentences, as wide from the subject as possible. The train of thought seems to be broken to let it in. Now, when does this happen ? It happens when a man writes as he remem bers ; when he puts down an article that occurs the mo ment it occurs ; lest he should afterward forget it. Of this the passage before us bears strongly the appear ance. In actual letters, in the negligence of real cor respondence, examples of this kind frequently take place; seldom, I believe, in any other production. For the moment a man regards what he writes as a compa- 296 HORA PAULINA. sition, which the author of a forgery would, of all others, be the first to do, notions of order, in the arrangement and succession of his thoughts, present themselves to his judgment, and guide his pen. No. V. Chap. i. 15, 16. " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; of whom I am chief. How- beit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in him to life everlasting." What was the mercy which St. Paul here commemo rates, and what was the crime of which he accuses him self, is apparent from the verses immediately preceding: " I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the mi nistry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious ; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." (Ch. i. 12, 1 3.) Thewhole quo tation plainly refers to St. Paul's original enmity to the Christian name, the interposition of Providence in his conversion, and his subsequent designation to the mi nistry of the gospel ; and by this reference affirms in deed the substance of the apostle's history delivered irt the 'Acts.' But what in the passage strikes my mind most powerfully, is the observation that is raised out of the fact : " For this cause I obtained mercy, that iri me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suf* fering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter be lieve on him to Hfe everlasting." It is a just and solemn reflection, springing from the circumstances of the au thor's conversion, or rather from the impression which that great event had left upon his memory. It wiU be said, perhaps, that an impostor acquainted with St. HORA PAULINA. 297 Paul's history, may have put such a sentiment into his mouth ; or, what is the same thing, into a letter drawn up in his name. But where, we may ask, is such an impostor to be found ? The piety, the truth, the bene volence, of the thought, ought to protect it from this imputation. For, though we should allow that one of the great masters of the ancient tragedy could have given to his scene a sentiment as virtuous and as ele vated as this is, and at the same time as appropriate, and as well suited to the particular situation of the person who delivers it ; yet whoever is conversant in these inquiries will acknowledge, that to do this in a fictitious production, is beyond the reach of the under standings which have been employed upon arty fabri cations that have come down to us under Christian names. CHAP. XII. THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY* No. I. It was the uniform tradition of the primitive church* that St. Paul visited Rome twice, and twice there suf fered imprisonment ; and that he was put to death at Rome at the conclusion of his second imprisonment. This opinion concerning St. Paul's two journeys to Rome, is confirmed by a great variety of hints and allusions in the epistle before us, compared with what fell from the apostle's pen in other letters purporting to have been written from Rome. That our present epistle was written whilst St. Paul was a prisoner, is distinctly intimated by the eighth verse of the first chapter : " Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner." And whilst he was a 298 HORA PAULINA. prisoner at Rome, by the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of the same chapter : " The Lord give merey unto the house of Onesiphorus ; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain ; but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and fouml me." Since it appears from the former quota tion that St. Paul wrote this epistle in confinement, it wiU hardly admit of doubt that the word chain,- in the latter quotation, refers to that confinement ; the chain by which he was then bound, the custody in which he was then kept. And if the word " chain" designate the author's confinement at the time of writing the epistle, the next words determine it to have been writ ten from Rome : " He was not ashamed of my chain; but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very dili gently." Now that it was not written during the apos tle's first imprisonment at Rome, or during the same im prisonment in which the Epistles to the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Philippians, and Philemon, were writ ten, may be gathered, with considerable evidence,. from a comparison of these several epistles with the present. I. In the former epistles the author confidently look ed forward to his liberation from confinement, and his speedy departure from Rome. He tells the Philip pians,, (ch. ii. 24.) " I trust in the Lord that I also my self shall come shortly." Philemon he bids to prepare for him a lodging; "for I trust," says he, "that through your prayers I shall be given unto you." (ver. 22.) In the epistle before us he holds a language extremely different : "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; hence forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge; shall give me at that day." (Ch. iv. 6—8.) II. When the former epistles were written, from HORA PAULINA. 299 Rome, Timothy was with St. Paul ; and is joined with him in writing to the Colossians, the Philippians, and to Philemon. The present epistle implies- that he was absent. III. In the former epistles, Demas was with St. Paul at Rome : " Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you." In the epistle now before us : " Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world,, and is gone to Thessalonica." IV. In the former epistles, Mark was with St. Paul, and joins in saluting the Colossians. In the present epistle, Timothy is ordered to bring him with him, "for he is profitable to me for the ministry." (Ch. iv. 11.) The case of Timothy and of Mark might be very well accounted for, by supposing the present epistle to have been written before the others ; so that Timothy, who is here exhorted " to come shortly unto him," (ch. iv. 9.) might have arrived^ and that Mark, " whom he was to bring with him," (ch. iv. 11.) might have also reached Rome in sufficient time to have been with St. Paul when the four epistles were written ; but then such a supposition is inconsistent with what is said of Demas, by whieh the posteriority of this to the other epistles is strongly indicated: for in the other epistles, Demas was with St. Paul ; in the present, he hath " forsaken him and is gone to Thessalonica." The opposition also- of sentiment, with respect to the event of the persecution, is hardly reconcilable to the same imprisonment. The two following considerations, which were first suggested upon this question by Ludovicus Capellus^ are stiU more conclusive. 1. In the twentieth verse of the fourth chapter1, St* Paul informs Timothy,1" that Erastus abode at Corinth," "Eguctrog 'ipemv iv KopMu.. The form of expression ini' plies, that Erastus had stayed behind at Corinth when St. Paul left it. But this could not be meant of any 300 HORA PAULINA. journey from Corinth which St. Paul took prior to his first imprisonment at Rome; for when Paul departed from Corinth, as related in the twentieth chapter of the 'Acts,' Timothy was with him: and this was the last time the apostle left Corinth before his coming to Rome ; because he left it to proceed on his way to Jerusalem ;, soon after his arrival at which place he was taken into custody, and continued in that custody till he was car ried to Caesar's tribunal. There could be no need, therefore, to inform Timothy that " Erastus stayed be hind at Corinth" upon this occasion, because if the fact Was so, it must have been known to Timothy, who was present, as well as to St. Paul. 2. In the same verse our epistle also states the follow ing article: " Trophimus have I left a Miletum sick." When St. Paul passed through Miletum on his way to Jerusalem, as related Acts xx, Trophimus was not left behind, but accompanied him to that city. He was in deed the occasion of the uproar at Jerusalem, in conse quence of which St. Paul was apprehended ; for " they had seen," says the historian, " before with him in the city, Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into theTemple." This was evidently the last time of Paul's being at Miletus before his first imprisonment ; for, as hath been said, after his appre hension at Jerusalem, he remained in custody till he was sent to Rome. In these two articles we have a journey referred to. which must have taken place subsequent to the conclu sion of St. Luke's history, and of course after St. Paul's liberation fromhisfirstimprisonment. The epistle, there* fore, which contains this reference, since it appears from other parts of it to have been written while St. Paul was a prisoner at Rome, proves that he had returned to that city again, and undergone there a second imprisonment; I do not produce these particulars for the sake of the HORA ' PAULINA. SOI support which they lend to the testimony of the fathers concerning St. Pauls secowe?imprisonment,butto remark their consistency and agreement with one another. They are all resolvable into 'one supposition ; and although the supposition itself be in some sort only negative, viz. that the epistle was not written during St. Paul's first residence at Rome, but in some future imprison ment in that city ; yet is the consistency not less worthy of observation: for the epistle touches upon names and circumstances connected with the date and with the his tory of the first imprisonment, and mentioned in letters written during that imprisonment, and so touches upon them, as to leave what is said of one consistent with what is said of others, and consistent also with what is said of them in different epistles. Had one of these cir cumstances been so described as to have fixed the date of the epistle to the first imprisonment, it would have involved the rest in contradiction. And when the num ber and particularity of the articles which have been brought together under this head are considered ; and when it is considered also, that the comparisons we have formed amongst them were, in all probability, neither provided for, nor thought of, by the writer of the epistle, it will be deemed something very like the effect of truth, that no invincible repugnancy is per ceived between them. No. II. In the 'Acts ofthe Apostles,' in the sixteenth chapter and at the first verse, we are told that Paul "came to Derbe and Lystra ; and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed ; but his father was a Greek." In the epistle before us, in the first chapter and at the fourth verse, St. Paul writes to Timothy thus : (( Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy 302 HORA PAULINA. tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to re membrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Munice; and I am persuaded that in thee also." Here we have a fair unforced example of coincidence. In the history Timothy was the " son of a Jewess that be lieved ;" in the epistle, St. Paul applauds " the faith which dwelt in his mother Eunice :" in the history it is said of the mother, " that she was a Jewess, and believed;" of the father, " that he was a Greek." Now when it is said of the mother alone " that she believed," the father being nevertheless mentioned in the same sentence, we are led to suppose of the father that he did not believe, i, e. either that he was dead, or that he remained unconverted. Agreeably hereunto, whilst praise is bestowed in the epistle upon one parent, and upon her sincerity in the faith, no notice is taken of the other. The mention of the grandmother is the ad dition of a circumstance not found in the history; but it is a circumstance which, as well as the names of the parties, might naturally be expected to be known to the apostle, though overlooked by his historian. No, III. Chap. iii. 15. " And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation," This verse discloses a circumstance which agrees exactly with what is intimated in the quotation from the f Acts,' adduced in the last number. In that quotation it is recorded of Timothy's mother, " that she was a Jewess." This description is virtually, though, I am satisfied, undesignedly, recognised in the epistle, when Timothy is reminded in it, " that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures." " The Holy Scriptures" undoubtedly meant the Scriptures of the Old Testa- HORA PAULINA. 303 ment. The expression bears that sense in every place in which it occurs, Those of the New had not yet acquired the name ; not to mention, that in Timothy's childhood, probably, none of them existed. In what manner then could Timothy have known "from a child" the Jewish Scriptures, had he not been born, on one side or on both, of Jewish parentage ? Perhaps he was not less likely to be carefujly instructed in them, for that his mother alone professed that religion. No. IV. Chap. ii. 22. " Flee also youthful lusts ; but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out pf a pure heart." "Flee also youthful lusts.'' The suitableness of this precept to the age of the person to whom it is ad dressed, is gathered from 1 Tim. chap. iv. 12 : " Let no man despise thy youth." Nor do I deem the less of this coincidence, because the propriety resides in a sin gle epithet ; or because this one precept is joined with, and followed by, a train of others, not more applicable to Timothy than to any ordinary convert. It is in these transient and cursory allusions that the argument is best founded. When a writer dwells and rests upon a point in which some coincidence is discerned, it may be doubted whether he himself had not fabricated the con formity, and was endeavouring to display and set it off. But when the reference is contained in a single word, unobserved perhaps by most readers, the writer passing on to other subjects, as unconscious that he had hit npqn a correspondency, or unsolicitous whether it were remarked or not, we may be pretty well assured that no fraud was exercised* no imposition intended. No. V- Chap. Hi- 10, 1 1, " But thou hast fully known my 304 HORA PAULINA. doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto mo at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what per secutions I endured ; but out of them all the Lord delivered me." The Antioch here mentioned was not Antioch the capital of Syria, where Paul and Barnabas resided " a long time;" but Antioch in Pisidia, to which place Paul and Barnabas came in their first apostolic pro gress, and where Paul delivered a memorable discourse, which is preserved in the thirteenth chapter of the « Acts.' At this Antioch the history relates, that the " Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came into Iconium. . . . And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks be lieved : but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gen tiles, and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided ; and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and also of the Jews, with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were aware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth rouud about, and there they preached the gospel. . . . And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Ico nium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been HORA PAULINA, 305 dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city ; and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe : and when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Ico nium, and to Antioch." This account comprises the period to which the allusion in the epistle is to be re ferred. We have so far therefore a conformity between the history and the epistle, that St. Paul is asserted in the history to have suffered persecutions in the three cities, his persecutions at which are appealed to in the epistle ; and not only so, but to have suffered these per secutions both in immediate succession, and in the order in which the cities are mentioned in the epistle. The conformity also extends to another circumstance. In the apostolic history Lystra and Derbe are commonly mentioned together : in the quotation from the epistle Lystra is mentioned, and not Derbe. And the distinc tion will appear on this occasion to be accurate ; for St. Paul is here enumerating his persecutions ; and al though he underwent grievous persecutions in each of the three cities through which he passed to Derbe, at Derbe itself he met with none : " The next day he de parted," says the historian, " to Derbe ; and when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra." The epistle, therefore, in the names of the cities, in the order in which they are enumerated, and in the place at which the enumeration stops, corresponds exactly with the history. But a second question remains, namely, how these persecutions were " known" to Timothy, or why the apostle should recall these in particular to his remem brance, rather than many other persecutions with which his ministry had been attended. When some time, probably three years, afterward (vide Pearson's Annales- vol. n. x 306 HORA PAULINA, Paulinas), St.. Paul made a second journey through the same country, " in order to go again and visit the brethren in every city where he had preached the word of the Lord," we read, Acts, chap. xvi. 1, that " when he came to Derbe and Lystra, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus." One or other, therefore, of these cities was the place of Timothy's abode. We read moreover that he was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium ; so that he raust have been weU acquainted with these places, Also again, when Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, Ti mothy was already a disciple : " Behold, a certain dis* ciple was there, named Timotheus." He must therefore have heen converted before. But since it is expressly stated in the epistle, that Timothy was converted by St. Paul himself, that he was " his own son in the faith;" it follows that he must have been converted by him upon his former jqurney into those parts ; which was the very time when the apostle underwent the perse cutions referred to in the epistle. Upon the whole, then, persecutions at the several cities named in, the epistle are expressly recorded in the ' Acts ;' and Timo thy's knowledge of this part of St, Paul's history, whieh knowledge is appealed to in the epistle, is fairly de duced from the place of his abode, and the time of hia Conversion. It may farther be observed, that it is pro- bable, from this account, that St, Paul was in the midst of those persecutions when Timothy became known to hjin. . No wonder then that the apostle, though in a let ter written long afterward, should remind his favourite convert oi those scenes of affliction and distress under which they first met. Although this coincidence, as to the names of the qities, be more specific and direct than many which we have pointed out, yet I apprehend there is no just rea son for thinking it to be artificial : for had the writer of HORA PAULINA, 307 the epistle sought a coincidence with the history upon this head, and searched the 'Acts of the Apostles' for the purpose, I conceive he would have sent us at once to Philippi and Thessalonica, where Paul suffered per secution, and where, from what is stated, it may easily b© gathered that Timothy accompanied him, rather than have appealed to persecutions as known to Timothy, in the account of which persecutions Timo thy's presence is not mentioned ; it not being till after one entire chapter, and in the history of a journey three years future to this, that Timothy's name occurs in the 'Acts of the Apostles ' for the first time, CHAP, XIII. THE EPISTLE TO TITUS, No. I. A very characteristic circumstance in this epistle, is the quotation from Epimenides, chap. i. 12 : " One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies." Kgvrtf ks) ^iww, xaxk %<«, yofdr'tPiS apyai, I call this quotation characteristic, because no writer in the New Testament, except St. Paul, appealed to heathen testimony ; and because St. Paul repeatedly did so. In his celebrated speech at Athens, preserved in the seventeenth chapter of the «Aets,' he tells his audience, that " in God we live, and move, and have our being j as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." —-rov yag xai ysvog Isj/jSV. The reader wiU perceive much similarity of manner x 2 308 HORA PAULINA. in these two passages. The reference in the speech is to a heathen poet; it is the same in the epistle. In the speech the apostle urges his hearers with the authority of a poet qf their own; in the epistle he avails himself of the same advantage. Yet there is a variation, which shows that the hint of inserting a quotation in the epistle was not, as it may be suspected, borrowed from seeing the like practice attributed to St. Paul in the history $ and it is this, that in the epistle the author cited is called & prophet, "one of themselves, even a prophet of their own." Whatever might be the reason for call ing Epimenides a prophet : whether -the names of poet and prophet were occasionally convertible ; whether Epimenides in particular had obtained that title, asGro- tius seems to have proved ; or whether the appeUation was given to him in this instance, as having delivered a description of the Cretan character, which the future state of morals among them verified: whatever was the reason (and any of these reasons will account for the variation, supposing St. Paul to have been the author), one point is plain, namely, if the epistle had been forged, and the author had inserted a quotation in it merely from having seen an example of the same kind in a speech ascribed to St. Paul, he would so far have imitated his original, as to have introduced his quota tion in the same manner ; that is, he would have given to Epimenides the title which he saw there given to Aratus. The other side of the alternative is, that the history took the hint from the epistle. But that the author of the 'Acts of the Apostles ' had not the 'Epistle to Titus ' before him, at least that he did not use it as one of the documents or materials of his narrative, is rendered nearly-certain by the observation that the name of Titus does not once occur in his book. It is well known, and was remarked by St. Jerome, that the apophthegm in the fifteenth chapter of the Co- HORA PAULINA. 309 rinthians, " Evil communications corrupt good man ners," is an iambic of Menander's : Qfaigovctiv i]6ri ygflG® ofiikiat xaxui. Here we have another unaffected instance of the same turn and habit of composition. Probably there are some hitherto unnoticed; and more, which the loss of the original authors renders impossible to be now ascertained. No. II. There exists a visible affinity between the * Epistle to Titus' and the ' First Epistle to Timothy.' Both letters were addressed to persons left by the writer to preside in their respective churches during his absence. Both letters are principally occupied in describing the quali fications to be sought for, in those whom they should appoint to offices in the church ; and the ingredients of this description are in both letters nearly the same. Timothy and Titus are likewise cautioned against the same prevailing corruptions, and, in particular, against the same misdirection of their cares and studies. This affinity obtains, not only in the subject of the letters, which, from the similarity of situation in the persons to .whom they were addressed, might be expected to be somewhat alike, but extends, in a great variety of in stances, to the phrases and expressions. The writer accosts his two friends with the same salutation, and passes on to the business of his letter by the same transition. " Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus -Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia," &c. (1 Tim. chap. i. 2, 3.) " To Titus, mine own son after the common faith : 310 HORA PAULINA. Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause left I thee in Crete." (Titus, chap. i. 4, 5.) If Timothy was not to " give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions" (1 Tim. chap. i. 4) ; Titus also was to " avoid foolish questions^ and genealogies, and contentions" (chap. iii. 9) j and was to "rebuke them sharply, not giving heed to Jewish fables" (Chap. i. 14.) If Timothy was to.be a pattern (rvirog), 1 Tim. chap. iv. 12 ; so was Titus. (Chap. ii. 7.) If Timothy was to " let no man despise his youth" (1 Tim. chap. iv. 12); Titus also was to " let no man depise him." (Chap. ii. 15.) This verbal consent is also observable in some very peculiar expressions, which have no relation to the particular character of Timothy or Titus, The phrase, " it is a faithful saying'' (mtrrh 6 Koyog), made use of to preface some sentence upon which the writer lays a more than ordinary stress, occurs three times in the * First Epistle to Timothy,' once in the * Second,' and once in the epistle before us, and in no other part of St. Paul's writings; and it is remarkable that these three epistles were probably all written to ward the conclusion of his life ; and that they are the only epistle3 which were written after his first imprison ment at Rome. The same observation belongs to another singularity of expression, and that is in the epithet "sound" (bytai- iw), as applied to words or doctrine. It is thus used, twice in the 'First Epistle toTimothy,' twice iti the 'Se cond,' and three times in the * Epistle to Titus,* beside two cognate expressions, iyialvovrag rjj txtctit and kb"y6i> vyii); and it 'is found, in the same sense, in no other part of the New Testament. The phrase " God our Saviour," stands in nearly the same predicament. It is repeated three times in' the HORA PAULINA. 311 * First Epistle to Timothy,' as many in the ' Epistle to Titus,' and in no other book of the New Testament occurs at all, except once in the ' Epistle of Jude.' Similar terms, intermixed indeed with others, are employed in the two epistles, in enumerating the qua lifications required in those who should be advanced to stations of authority in the church. " A bishop must be blameless, the husband qf one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospi tality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre ; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous ; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity."* (1 Tim. chap. iii. 2-^4.) " If any be blameless, tlte husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God ; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover qf hospita lity, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate."t (Titus, chap. i. 6—8.) The most natural account which can be given of these resemblances, is to suppose that the two epistles were written nearly at the same time, and whilst the same ideas and phrases dwelt in the writer's mind. Let us inquire, therefore, whether the notes of time, extant in the two epistles, in any manner favour this supposition. We have seen that it was necessary to refer the 'First * " Ait ouv rhv lff/(fito«v dveiriXriarrc-ii that, /a/Sj yuvaixhg dvdga, vrifdXmv, tfoipgova, x6«/£tov, \ aig^eoxigdri' &XX» fiXofyvov, fnXdyaSov, go'ipgova, bixaim, bsiov, iyttgarlj. 312 HORA PAULINA. Epistle to Timothy' to a date subsequent to St. Paul's iirst imprisonment at Rome, because there was no jour ney into Macedonia prior to that event, which accorded with the circumstance of leaving " Timothy behind at Ephesus." The journey of St. Paul from Crete, alluded to in the epistle before us, and in which Titus •" was left in Crete to set in order the things that were want ing," must, in like manner, be carried to the period which intervened between his first and second impri sonment. For the history, which reaches, we know, to the time of St. Paul's first Imprisonment, contains no account of his going to Crete, except upon his voyage as a prisoner to Rome; and that this could not be the occasion referred to in our epistle is evident from hence,; that when St. Paul wrote this epistle, he appears to have been at liberty ; whereas after that voyage, he continued for two years at least in confinement. Again, it is agreed that St. Paul wrote his ' First Epistle to Ti mothy ' from Macedonia : " As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went (or came) into Macedo nia." And that he was in these parts, i. e, in this pe ninsula, when he wrote the 'Epistle to Titus,' is rendered probable by his directing Titus to come to him to Nico- poHs : " When I shaU send Artemas unto thee, or Ty chicus, be diligent (make haste) to come unto me to Nicopolis ; for I have determined there to winter." The most noted city of that name was in Epirus, near to Actium. And I think the form of speaking, as well as the nature of the casej renders it probable that the writer was at Nicopolis, or in the neighbourhood thereof, when he dictated this direction to Titus. Upon the whole, if we may be allowed to suppose that St. Paul, after his liberation at Rome, sailed into Asia, taking Crete in his way; that from Asia and from Ephesus, the capital of that country, he proceeded into Macedonia, and crossing the peninsula in his progress, HORA PAULINA. 313 came into the neighbourhood of Nicopolis ; we have a route which falls in with everything. It executes the intention expressed by the apostle of visiting Colosse and Philippi as soon as he should be set at liberty at Rome. It allows him to leave " Titus at Crete," and " Timothy at Ephesus, as he went into Macedonia ;" and to write to both not long after from the peninsula of Greece, and probably the neighbourhood of Nico polis: thus bringing together the dates of these two letters, and thereby accounting for that affinity between them, both in subject and language, which our remarks have pointed out. I confess that the journey which we have thus traced out for St. Paul, is, in a great mea sure, hypothetic : but it should be observed that it is a species of consistency, which seldom belongs to false hood, to admit of an hypothesis, which includes a great number of independent circumstances without contra diction. CHAP. XIV. THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. No. I. The singular correspondency between this epistle and that to the Colossians has been remarked already. An assertion in the ' Epistle to7 the Colossians,' viz. that " Onesimus was one of them," is verified, not by any mention of Colosse, axif the most distant intimation concerning the place of Philemon's abode, but singly by stating Onesimus to be Philemon's servant, and by joining in the salutation Philemon with Archippus ; for this Archippus, when we go back to the ' Epistle to the Colossians/ appears to have been an inhabitant of that 314 HORA PAULINA. city, and, as it should seem, to have held an office of authority in that church. The case stands thus. Take the 'Epistle to the Colossians' alone, and no circumstance is discoverable which makes out the assertion, that One simus was '« one of them." Take the ' Epistle to Phile mon' alone, and nothing at all appears concerning the place to which Philemon or his servant Onesimus be longed. For anything that is said in the epistle, Phi lemon might have been a Thessalonian, a Philippian, or an Ephesian, as well as a Colossian. Put the two epistles together, and the matter is clear. The reader perceives a junction of circumstances, which ascertains the conclusion at once. Now, all that is necessary to be added in this place is, that this correspondency evinces the genuineness of one epistle as well as of the other. It is like comparing the two parts of a cloven tally. Coincidence proves the authenticity of both. No. II. And this coincidence is perfect ; not only in the main article of showing, by implication, Onesimus to be a Colossian, but in many dependant circumstances. 1. " I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom / have sent again." (ver. 10—12.) It appears from the 'Epistle to the Colossians,' that, in truth, Onesimus was sent at that time to Colosse : " All my state shall Ty> chicus declare, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother." (Colos. chap* iv. 7 — 9.) 2. " I beseech thee for my son Oriesimus, whom I have begotten in my bond*.'" (ver. 10.) It appears from the preceding quotation, that Onesimus was with St. Paui when he wrote the 'Epistle to the-Colossians ;' and that he wrote that epistle in imprisonment, is evident from his declaration in the fourth chapter and third HORA PAULINA. 315 verse : " Praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ) for which I am also in bonds." 3. St. Paul bids Philemon prepare for him a lodging j " For I trust," says he, " that through your prayers I shall be given unto you." This agrees with the expec tation of speedy deliverance, which he expressed in another epistle written during the same imprisonment : " Him" (Timothy) " I hope to send presently, so Soon as I shall see how it will go with me *, but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly." (Phil, chap. ii. 23, 24.) 4. As the letter to Philemon, and that to the Colos* sians, were written at the same time, and sent by the same messenger, the one to a particular inhabitant, the other to the church of Colosse, it may be expected that the same or nearly the same persons would be about St. Paul, and join with him, as was the practice, in the salu tations of the epistle. Accordingly we find the names of Aristarchus, Marcus, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, in both epistles. Timothy, who is joined with St. Paul in the superscription of the 'Epistle to the Colossians,' is joined with him in this. Tychicus did not salute Phi lemon, because he accompanied the epistle to Colosse, and would undoubtedly there see him. Yet the reader ofthe 'Epistle to Philemon' willremark one considerable diversity in the catalogue of saluting friends, and which shows that the catalogue was not copied from that to the Colossians. In the ' Epistle to the Colossians,' Aris* tarchus is caUed by St. Paul his fellow-prisoner (Col. chapriv. 10.) ; in the 'Epistle to Philemon,' Aristarchus Is mentioned without any addition, and the title of fel* low-prisoner is given to Epaphras.* * Dr. Benson observes, and perhaps truly, that the appellation of fellow-prisoner, as applied by St. Paul to Epaphras, did not imply that they were imprisoned together xtt the time; any more than you* 316 HORA PAULINA. And let it also be observed, that notwithstanding the close and circumstantial agreement between the two epistles, this is not the case of an opening left in a ge nuine writing, which an impostor is induced to fill up ; nor of a reference to some writing not extant, which sets a sophist at work to supply the loss, in like manner as, because St. Paul was supposed (Col. chap. iv. 16) to allude to an epistle written by him to the Laodiceans, some person has from thence taken the hint of uttering a forgery under that title. The present, I say, is not that case ; for Philemon's name is not mentioned in the 'Epistle to the Colossians ;' Onesimus' servile condition is nowhere hinted at, any more than his crime, his flight, or the place or time of his conversion. The story therefore of the epistle, if it be a fiction, is a fiction to which the author could not have been guided, by any thing he had read in St. Paul's genuine writings. No. III. Ver. 4, 5. "I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints." "Hearing qf thy love and faith." This is the form of speech Which Sti Paul was wont to use toward those churches which he had not seen, or then visited i see Rom. chap. i. 8 ; Ephes. chap. i. 15 ; Col. chap. i. 3, 4. Toward those1 churches and persons with whom he waB previously acquainted, he employed a different phrase ; as "I thank my God always on your behalf" (1 Cor. chap. i. 4 ; 2 Thess. chap. i. 3) ; or, " upon every re membrance of you" (Phil. chap. i. 3 ; 1 Thess. chap. i. calling a person your fellow-traveller imports that you are then upon your travels, If he had, upon auy former occasion, travelled with you, you might afterward speak of him under that title. It i» just so with the term fellow-prisoner. HORA PAULINA. 317 2, 3; 2 Tim. chap. i. 3); and never speaks of hearing of them. Yet, I think it must be concluded from the nine teenth verse of this epistle, that Philemon had been con verted by St. Paul himself: "Albeit, I do not say to theehowthouowest untome even thineown self besides." Here then is a peculiarity. Let us inquire whether the epistle supplies any circumstance which will account for it. We have seen that it may be made out, not from the epistle itself, but from a comparison of the epistle with that to the Colossians, that Philemon was an inhabitant of Colosse : and it farther appears, from the ' Epistle to the Colossians,' that St. Paul had never been in that city ; "I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh." (Col, ch. ii. 1.) Although, therefore, St. Paul had formerly met with Philemon at some other place, and had been the immediate instrument of his conversion, yet Phile mon's faith and conduct afterward, inasmuch as he lived in a city which St. Paul had never visited, could only be known to him by fame and reputation. No. IV. The tenderness and delicacy of this epistle have long been admired : " Though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ; I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have be gotten in my bonds." There is something certainly very melting and persuasive in this, and every part of the epistle. Yet, in my opinion, the character of St. Paul prevails in it throughout. The warm, affectionate, au thoritative teacher is interceding with an absent friend for a beloved convert. He urges his suit with an ear nestness, befitting perhaps not so much the occasion, Sl§ HORA PAULINA. as the ardour and sensibility of his own mind, Here also, as everywhere, he shows himself conscious of the weight and dignity of his mission ; nor does he suffer Philemon for a moment to forget it : "I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient," He is careful also to recall, though obliquely, to Phi lemon's memory, the sacred obligation under which he had laid him, by bringing to him the knowledge of Jesus Christ : " I do not say to thee how thou owest to me even thine own self besides," Without laying aside, therefore, the apostolic character, our author softens the imperative style of his address, by mixing with it every sentiment and consideration that could move the heart of his correspondent. Aged and in prison, he is con tent to supplicate and entreat, Onesimus was rendered dear to him by his conversion and his services ; the child of his affliction, and " ministering unto him in the bonds of the gospel," This ought to recommend him, whatever had been his fault, to Philemon's forgiveneis! « Receive him as myself, as my own bowels." Every thing, however, should be voluntary. St, Paul was de-* termined that Philemon's compliance should flow from his own bounty : " Without thy mind would I do no thing, that thy benefit should not be as it were of ne cessity, but. wiUingly ;" trusting nevertheless to his gra titude and attachment for the performance of all that he requested, and for more ; " Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say." St. Paul's discourse at Miletus ; his speech before Agrippa; his 'Epistle to the Romans,' as hath been re marked (No. VIIJ.) ; that to the Galatians, chap, iv, 11 ,—20; to the Philippians, chap. i. 29; chap. ii. 2; the Second to the Corinthians, chap, vi. 1—13; and indeed some part or other of almost every epistle, exhibit ex amples of a similar application to the feelings and af- HORA PAULINA. 319 fections of the persons whom he addresses. A,nd it is observable that these pathetic effusions, drawn for the most part from his own sufferings and situation, usually precede a command, soften a rebuke, or mitigate the harshness of some disagreeable truth. CHAP. XV, THE SUBSCRIPTIONS OP THE EPlSTLES. ' Six of these subscriptions are false or improbable} that is, they are either absolutely contradicted by the contents of the epistle, or are difficult to be reconciled with them. I. The subscription of the < First Epistle to the Cq- rjnthians' states that it was written from Philippi, not withstanding that, in the sixteenth chapter and the eighth verse of the epistle, St. Paul informs the Co rinthians that he will " tarry at Ephesus until Pente cost ; and notwithstanding that he begins the saluta tions in the epistle by telling them " the churches of Asia salute you ;" a pretty evident indication that he himself was in Asia at this time, , II, The 'Epistle to the Galatians ' is by the subscrip tion dated from Rome; yet, in the epistle itself, St, Paul expresses his surprise "that they were sq soon removing from him that called them ;" whereas his journey to Rome was ten years posterior to the conversion of the Galatians, And what, I think, is more conclusive, the author, though speaking of himself in this more than any other epistle, does not once mention his bonds, or call himself a prisoner ; which he had not failed to do in every one of the four epistles written from that city, and during that imprisonment. Ill, The ' First Epistle to the Thessalonians ' was 320 HORA PAULINA. written, the subscription tells us, from Athens ; yet the epistle refers expressly to the coming of Timotheus from Thessalonica (ch. iii. 6) ; and the history informs us, Acts xviii. 5, that Timothy came out of Macedonia to St. Paul at Corinth. IV. The|' Second Epistle to the Thessalonians' is dated, and without any discoverable reason, from Athens also. If it be truly the second; if it refer, as it appears to do (ch. ii. 2), to the first, and the first was written from Corinth, the place must be erroneously assigned, for the history does not aUow us to suppose that St. Paul, after he had reached Corinth, went back to Athens. V. The Tirst Epistle to Timothy' the subscription asserts to have been sent from Laodicea; yet, when St. Paul writes, "I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, igogeuofiwog tig Maxehoviav (when I set out for Macedo nia)," the reader is naturally led to conclude, that he wrote the letter upon his arrival in that country. VI. The 'Epistle to Titus' is dated from Nicopolis in Macedonia, whilst no city of that name is known to have existed in that province. The use, and the only use, which I make of these ob servations, is to show how easily errors and contradic tions steal in where the writer is not guided by original knowledge. There are only eleven distinct assignments of date to St. Paul's epistles (for the four written from Rome may be considered as plainly contemporary) ; and of these, six seem to be erroneous. I do not at tribute any authority to these subscriptions. I believe them to have been conjectures founded sometimes upon loose traditions, but more generaUy upon a considera tion of some particular text, without sufficiently com paring it with other parts of the epistle, with different epistles, or with the history. Suppose, then, that the subscriptions had come down to us as authentic parts ofthe epistles, there would have been more contrarieties HORA PAULINA. 321 and difficulties arising out of these final verses, than from all the rest of the volume. Yet, if the epistles had been forged, the whole must have been made up of the same elements as those of which the subscriptions are composed, viz. tradition, conjecture, and inference; and it would have remained to be accounted for, how, whilst so many errors were crowded into the concluding clauses of the letters, so much consistency should be preserved in other parts. The same reflection arises from observing the over sights and mistakes which learned men have committed, when arguing upon allusions which relate to time and place, or when endeavouring to digest scattered circum stances into a continued story. It is indeed the same case ; for these subscriptions must be regarded as an cient scholia, and as nothing more. Of this liability to error I can present the reader with a notable instance ; and which I bring forward for no other purpose than that to which I apply the erroneous subscriptions. Ludovicus Capellus, in that part of his ' Historia Apos- tolica Illustrata,' which is entitled De Or dine Epist. Paul, writing upon the ' Second Epistle to the Corinth ians,' triumphs unmercifully over the want of saga city in Baronius, who, it seems, makes St. Paul write his ' Epistle to Titus' from Macedonia upon his second visit into that province ; whereas it appears from the history, that Titus, instead of being at Crete, where the epistle places him, was at that time sent by the apostle from Macedonia to Corinth. " Animadvertere est," says Capellus, " magnam hominis illius kfikstyuv, qui vult Titum a Paulo in Cretam abductum, illicque relictum, cum inde Nicopolim navigaret, quern tamen agnoscit a Paulo ex Macedonia missum esse Corin- thum." This probably will be thought a detection of inconsistency in Baronius. But what is the most re markable, is, that in the same chapter in which he thus VOL. II. y 322 HORA PAULINA. indulges his contempt of Baronius's judgment, Capellus himself falls into an error of the same kind, and more gross and palpable than that which he reproves. For he begins the chapter by stating the ' Second Epistle, to the Corinthians' and the 'First Epistle to Timothy' to be nearly contemporary; to have been both written during the apostle's second visit into Macedonia ; and that a doubt subsisted concerning the immediate priority of their dates : " Posterior ad eosdem Corinthios Epistola, et Prior adTimotheum certant de prioritate, et subju- dice lis est ; utraque autem scripta est paulo postquam Paulus Epheso discessisset, adeoque dum Macedonian! peragraret, sed utra tempore prsecedat, non liquet." Now, in the first place, it is highly improbable, that the two epistles should have been written either nearly together, or during the same journey through Macedo* nia ; for, in the ' Epistle to the Corinthians,' Timothy appears to have been with St. Paul ; in the epistle ad dressed to him, to have been left behind at Ephesus, and not only left behind, but directed to continue there, till St. Paul should return to that city. In the second place, it is inconceivable, that a question should be proposed concerning the priority of date of the two epistles ; for, when St. Paul, in his 'Epistle to Timothy,' opens his ad dress to him by saying, " as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia," no reader can doubt but that he here refers to the last inter view which had passed between them ; that he had not seen him since ; whereas if the epistle be posterior to that to the Corinthians, yet written upon the same Visit into Macedonia, this could not be true ; for as Timothy was along with St. Paul when he wrote to the Corinth ians, he must, upon this supposition, have passed over to St. Paul in Macedonia after he had been left by him at Ephesus, and must have returned to Ephesus again before the epistle was written. What misled Ludovi- HORA PAULINA. 323 cus Capellus was simply this, — that he had entirely overlooked Timothy's name in the superscription of the ' Second Epistle to the Corinthians.' Which oversight. appears not only in the quotation which we have given, but from his telling us, as he does, that Timothy came from Ephesus to St. Paul at Corinth, whereas the super scription proves that Timothy was already with St. Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians from Macedonia. CHAP. XVI. THE CONCLUSION. In the outset of this inquiry, the reader was directed to consider the 'Acts of the Apostles' and the thirteen Epistles of St. Paul as certain ancient manuscripts lately discovered in the closet of some celebrated library. We have adhered to this view of the subject. External evidence of every kind has been removed out of sight j and our endeavours have been employed to collect the indications of truth and authenticity, which appeared to exist in the writings themselves, and to result from a comparison of their different parts. It is not however necessary to continue this supposition longer. The testimony which other remains of contemporary, or the monuments of adjoining ages, afford to the reception, notoriety, and public estimation, of a book, form, no doubt, the first proof of its genuineness. And in no books whatever is this proof more complete, than in those at present under our consideration. The inquiries of learned men, and, above all; of the excellent Lardner, who never overstates a point of evidence, and whose fidelity in citing his authorities has in no one instance been impeached, have established, concerning these writings, the following propositions : — I. That in the age immediately posterior to that in Y 2 324 HORA PAULINA. which St. Paul lived, his letters wore publicly read and acknowledged. Some of them are quoted or alluded to by almost every Christian writer that followed, by Clement of Rome, by Hennas, by Ignatius, by Polycarp, disciples or contemporaries of the apostles ; by Justin Martyr, by the churches of Gaul, by Irenaeus, by Athenagoras, by Theophilus, by Clement of Alexandria, by Hermias, by Tertullian, who occupied the succeeding age. Now when we find a book quoted or referred to by an ancient author, we are entitled to conclude, that it was read and received in the age and country in which that author lived. And this conclusion does not, in any de gree, rest upon the judgment or character of the author making such reference. Proceeding by this rule, we have, concerning the 'First Epistle to the Corinthians' in particular, within forty years after the epistle was writ ten, evidence, not only of its being extant at Corinth, but of its being known and read at Rome. Clement, bishop of that city, writing to the church of Corinth, uses these words : " Take into your hand the Epistle of the blessed Paul the apostle. What did he at first write unto you in the beginning of the gospel ? Verily he did by the Spirit admonish you concerning himself, and Ce phas, and Apollos, because that even then you did form parties."* This was written at a time when probably some must have been living at Corinth who remem bered St. Paul's ministry there, and the receipt of the epistle. The testimony is still more valuable, as it shows that the epistles were preserved in the churches to which they were sent, and that they were spread and propagated from them to the rest of the Christian com munity. Agreeably to which natural mode and order of their publication, Tertullian, a century afterward, for proof of the integrity and genuineness of the apostolic * See Lardner, vol. xii. p* 22. HORA PAULINA. 325 writings, bids "any one, who is willing to exercise his curiosity profitably in the business of their salvation, to visit the apostolical churches, in which their very au thentic letters are recited, ipsse authenticse literse eorum recitantur." Then he goes on : "Is Achaia near you? You have Corinth. If you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi, you have Thessalonica. If you can go to Asia, you have Ephesus ; but if you are near to Italy, you have Rome."* I adduce this passage to show, that the distinct churches or Christian societies, to which St. Paul's epistles were sent, subsisted for some ages afterward ; that his several epistles were all along re spectively read in those churches ; that Christians at large received them from those churches, and appealed to those churches for their originality and authenticity. Arguing in like manner from citations and allusions, we have, within the space of a hundred and fifty years from the time that the first of St. Paul's epistles was written, proofs of almost all of them being read, in Pa lestine, Syria, the countries of Asia Minor, in Egypt, in that part of Africa which used the Latin tongue, in Greece, Italy, and Gaul.t I do not mean simply to assert, that within the space of a hundred and fifty years, St. Paul's epistles were read in those countries, for I believe that they were read and circulated from the beginning ; but that proofs of their being so read occur within that period. And when it is considered how few of the primitive Christians wrote, and of what was written how much is lost, we are to account it ex traordinary, or rather as a sure proof of the extensive- ness of the reputation of these writings, and of the gene ral respect in which they were held, that so many testi monies, and of such antiquity, are still extant. " In the remaining works of IrenaBUS, Clement of Alexan- * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 598. f See Lardhers ' Recapitulation,' vol. xii. p. 53. Missing Page Missing Page 328 HORA PAULINA. writers than Jerome, that Tatian owned and used many of these epistles.* II. They, who in those ages disputed about so many other points, agreed in acknowledging the Scriptures now before us. Contending sects appealed to them in their controversies with equal and unreserved submis sion. When they were urged by one side, however they might be interpreted or misinterpreted by the other, their authority was not questioned. " Reliqui omnes," says Irenseus, speaking of Marcion, " falso scientise nomine inflati, scripturas quidem confitentur, interpretationes vero convertunt."t III. When the genuineness of some other writings which were in circulation, and even of a few which are now received into the canon, was contested, these were never called into dispute. Whatever was the objection, or whether in truth there ever was any real objection, to the authenticity of the ' Second Epistle of Peter,' the * Second and Third of John,' the ' Epistle of James,' or that of ' Jude,' or to the ' Book of the Revelation of St. John ;' the doubts that appeared to have been entertained concerning them, exceedingly strengthen the force of the testimony as to those writings about which there was no doubt: because it shows, that the matter was a sub ject, amongst the early Christians, of examination and discussion ; and that where there was any room to doubt, they did doubt. What Eusebius hath left upon the subject is directly to the purpose of this observation. Eusebius, it is weU known, divided the ecclesiastical writings which were extant in his time into three classes : the "avaiirigp^ra, uncontradicted," as he calls them in one chapter ; or, " scriptures universally acknowledged," as he calls them in another : the " controverted, yet well knowti * Lardner, vol. i. p. 313. •j- ' Iren. advers. Hser.,' quoted by Lardner, vol. xv. p. 425. HORA PAULINA. 329 and approved by many ;" and " the spurious." What were the shades of difference in the books of the se cond, or of those of the third class ; or what it was precisely that he meant by the term spurious, it is not necessary in this place to inquire. It is sufficient for us to find that the thirteen epistles of St. Paul are placed by him in the first class without any sort of hesitation or doubt. It is farther also to be collected from the chapter in which this distinction is laid down, that the method made use of by Eusebius, and by the Christians of his time, viz. the close of the third century, in judging con cerning the sacred authority of any books, was to in quire after and consider the testimony of those who lived near the age of the apostles.* IV. That no ancient writing, which is attested as these epistles are, hath had its authenticity disproved, or is in fact questioned. The controversies which have been moved concerning suspected writings, as the epis tles, for instance, of Phalaris, or the eighteen epistles of Cicero, begin by showing that this attestation is wanting. That being proved, the question is thrown back upon internal marks of spuriousness or authenti city ; and in these the dispute is occupied. In which disputes it is to be observed, that the contested writings are commonly attacked by arguments drawn from some opposition which they betray to " authentic history," to n true epistles," to the " real sentiments or circum stances of the author whom they personate ;"t which authentic history, which true epistles, which real senti ments themselves, are no other than ancient documents, whose early existence and reception can be proved, in the manner in which the writings before us are traced * Lardner, vol. viii. p. 106. -j- See the tracts written in the controversy between Tunstal and Middleton upon certain suspected epistles ascribed to Cicero. Missing Page Missing Page 332 HORA PAULINA. counterfeit these writings ; and then it appears only of a single and obscure instance. Jerome, who flourished in the year 392,- has this expression : " Legunt quidam et ad Laodicenses, sed ab omnibus exploditur," — There is also an Epistle to the Laodiceans, but it is rejected by every body.* Theodoret, who wrote in the year 423, speaks of this epistle in the same terms.t Beside these, I know not whether any ancient writer mentions it. It was certainly unnoticed during the first three centuries of the church ; and' when it came afterward to be mentioned, it was mentioned only to show, that, though such a writing did exist, it obtained no credit. It is probable that the forgery to which Jerome alludes, is the epistle which we now have under that title. If so, as hath been already observed, it is nothing more than a collection of sentences from the genuine epistles ; and was perhaps, at first, rather the exercise of some idle pen, than any serious attempt to impose a forgery upon the public. Of an epistle to the Corinthians under St. Paul's name, which was brought into Europe in the present century, antiquity is entirely silent. It was unheard of for sixteen centuries ; and at this day, though it be extant, and was first found in the Arme nian language, it is not, by the Christians of that coun try, received into their Scriptures. I hope, after this, that there is no reader who will think there is any com petition of credit, or of external proof, between these and the received epistles ; or rather, who will not ac knowledge the evidence of authenticity to be confirmed by the want of success which attended imposture. When we take into our hands the letters which the suffrage and consent of antiquity hath thus transmitted to us, the first thing that strikes our attention is the air of reality and business, as weU as of seriousness and conviction, which pervades the whole. Let the sceptic * Lardner, vol. x. p. 103. f Ibid. vol. xi. p. S8. HORA PAULINA. 333 read them. If he be not sensible of these qualities in them, the argument can have no weight with him. If he be ; if he perceive in almost every page the language of a mind actuated by real occasions, and operating upon real circumstances, I would wish it to be ob served, that the proof which arises from this perception is not to be deemed occult or imaginary, because it is incapable of being drawn out in words, or of being con veyed to the apprehension of the reader in any other way, than by sending him to the books themselves. And here, in its proper place, comes in the argument which it has been the office of these pages to unfold. St. Paul's Epistles are connected with the history by their particularity, and by the numerous circumstances which are found in them. When we descend to an examination and comparison of these circumstances, we not only observe the history and the epistles to be independent documents, unknown to, or at least uncon- sulted by, each other, but we find the substance, and oftentimes very minute articles, of the history, recog nised in the epistles, by aUusions and references, which can neither be imputed to design, nor, without a foun dation in truth, be accounted for by accident ; by hints and expressions, and single words dropping as it were fortuitously from the pen of the writer, or drawn forth, each by some occasion proper to the place in which it occurs, but widely removed from any view to consistency or agreement. These, we know, are effects which reality naturally produces, but which, without reality at the bottom, can hardly be conceived to exist. When, therefore, with a body of external evidence, which is relied upon, and which experience proves may safely be relied upon, in appreciating the credit of ancient writings, we combine characters of genuineness and originality which are not found, and which, in the nature and order of things, cannot be expected to be 334 HORA PAULINA. found in spurious compositions ; whatever difficulties we may meet with in other topics of the Christian evidence, we can have little in yielding our assent to the following conclusions : — -That there was suchaperson as -St. Paul ; that he lived in the age which we ascribe to him; that he went about preaching the religion of which Jesus Christ was the founder ; and that the letters which we now read were actually written by him upon the subject, and in the course of that his ministry. And if it be true that we are in possession of the very letters which St. Paul wrote, let us consider what con firmation they afford to the Christian history. In my opinion they substantiate the whole transaction. The great object of modern research is to come at the epis tolary correspondence of the times. Amidst the obscu rities, the silence, or the contradictions, of history, if a letter can be found, we regard it as the discovery of a landmark; as that by which we can correct, adjust, or supply, the imperfections and uncertainties of other accounts. One cause of the superior credit which is attributed to letters is this, that the facts which they disclose generally come out incidentally, and therefore without design to mislead the public by false or exag gerated accounts. This reason may be applied to St. Paul's epistles with as much justice as to any letters whatever. Nothing could be farther from the intention of the writer than to record any part of his history. That his history was in fact made public by these letters, and has by the same means been transmitted to future ages, is a secondary and unthought-of effect. The sin cerity therefore of the apostle's declarations cannot rea sonably be disputed ; at least we are sure that it was not vitiated by any desire of setting himself off to the public at large. But these letters form a part of the muniments of Christianity, as much to be valued for their contents, as for their originality, A more inesti- HORA PAULINA. 335 mable treasure the care of antiquity could not have sent down to us. Beside the proof they afford of the gene ral reality of St. Paul's history, of the knowledge which the author of the 'Acts of the Apostles' had obtained of that history, and the consequent probability that he was what he professes himself to have been, a companion of the apostle's ; beside the support they lend to these im portant inferences, they meet specifically some of the principal objections upon which the adversaries of Christianity have thought proper to rely. In particular ¦ they show, — I. That Christianity was not a story set oh foot amidst the confusions which attended and immediately preceded the destruction of Jerusalem ; when many ex travagant reports were circulated, when men's minds were broken by terror and distress, when, amidst the tumults that surrounded them, inquiry was impracti cable. These letters show incontestably that the reli gion had fixed and established itself before this state of things took place. II. Whereas it hath been insinuated, that our Gos pels may have been made up of reports and stories which were current at the time, we may observe that With respect to the Epistles, this is impossible. A man cannot write the history of his own life from reports ; nor, what is the same thing, be led by reports to refer to passages and transactions in which he states himself to have been immediately present and active. I do not allow that this insinuation is applied to the historical part of the New Testament with any colour of justice or probability ; but I say, that to the Epistles it is not applicable at aU. III. These letters prove that the converts to Chris tianity were not drawn from the barbarous, the mean, or the ignorant set of men which the representations of infideUty would sometimes make them. We learn from 336 HORA PAULINA. letters the character not only of the writer, but, in some measure, of the persons to whom they are written. To suppose that these letters were addressed to a rude tribe, incapable of thought or reflection, is just as rea sonable as to suppose Locke's 'Essay on the Human Un derstanding' to have been written for the instruction of savages. Whatever may be thought of these letters in other respects, either of diction or argument, they are certainly removed as far as possible from the habits and comprehension of a barbarous people. IV. St. Paul's history, I mean so much of it as may be collected from his letters, is so implicated with that of the other apostles, and with the substance indeed of the Christian history itself, that I apprehend it wiU be found impossible to admit St. Paul's story (I do not speak of the miraculous part of it) to be true, and yet to reject the rest as fabulous. For instance, can any one believe that there was such a man as St. Paul, a preacher of Christianity in the age which we assign to him, and not believe that there was also at the same time such a man as Peter and James, and other apos tles, who had been companions of Christ during his life, and who after his death published and avowed the same things concerning him which Paul taught ? Judea, and especially Jerusalem, was the scene of Christ's ministry. The witnesses of his miracles lived there. St. Paul, by his own account, as well as that of his historian, appears to have frequently visited that city ; to have carried on a communication with the church there ; to have associated with the rulers and elders of that church, who were some of them apostles ; to have acted, as occasions offered, in correspondence, and sometimes in conjunction with them. Can it, after this, be doubted, but that the religion and the general facts relating to it, which St. Paul appears by his letters to have delivered to the several churches which he esta-> HORA PAULINA. 337 biished at a distance, were at the same time taught and published at Jerusalem itself, the place where the business was transacted ; and taught and published by those who had attended the founder of the institution in his miraculous, or pretendedly miraculous, ministry? It is observable, for so it appears both in the Epistles and from the 'Acts ofthe Apostles,' that Jerusalem, and the society of believers in that city, long continued the centre from which the missionaries of the religion issued, with which all other churches maintained a correspondence and connexion, to which they referred their doubts, and to whose relief, in times of public dis tress, they remitted their charitable assistance. This observation I think material, because it proves that this was not the case of giving our accounts in one country of what is transacted in another, without affording the hearers an opportunity of knowing whether the things related were credited by any, or even published, in the place where they are reported to have passed. V. St. Paul's letters furnish evidence (and what bet ter evidence than a man's own letters can be desired?) of the soundness and sobriety of his judgment. His caution in distinguishing between the occasional sug gestions of inspiration, and the ordinary exercise of his natural understanding, is without example in the his tory of human enthusiasm. His morality is every where calm, pure, and rational ; adapted to the condi tion, the activity, and the business, of social life, and of its various relations ; free from the over-scrupulousness and austerities of superstition, and from what was more perhaps to be apprehended, the abstractions of quietism, and the soarings and extravagances of fanaticism. His judgment concerning a hesitating conscience ; his opi nion of the moral indifferency of many actions, yet of the prudence and even the duty of compliance, where noncompliance would produce evil effects upon the VOL. II. z 338 HORA PAULINA. minds of the persons who observed it, is as correct and just as the most liberal and enlightened moralist could form at this day. The accuracy of modern ethics has found nothing to amend in these determinations. What Lord Lyttelton has remarked of the preference- ascribed by St. Paul to inward rectitude of principle above every other religious accomplishment is very; material to our present purpose. " In his ' First Epistle to the Corinthians,' chap. xiii. 1 — 3, St. Paul has these words : Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have not charity, lam become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, lam nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not cha rity, it profiteth me nothing. Is this the language of enthusiasm? Did ever enthusiast prefer that universal benevolence which comprehendeth all moral virtues, and which, as appeareth by the following verses, is meant by charity here ; did ever enthusiast, I say, pre fer that benevolence" (which we may add is attainable bv everv man) " to faith and to miracles, to those reli- gious opinions which he had embraced, and to those supernatural graces and gifts which he imagined he had acquired ; nay, even to the merit of martyrdom ? Is it not the genius of enthusiasm to set moral virtues infinitely below the merit of faith ; and of all moral virtues to value that least which is most particularly enforced by St. Paul, a spirit of candour, moderation, and peace ? Certainly neither the temper nor the opi nions of a man subject to fanatic delusions are to be found in this passage." — Lord Lyttelton 's ' Considera tions on the Conversion,' &c. I see no reason therefore to question the integrity of HORA PAULINA. 339 his understanding. To call him a visionary, because he appealed to visions ; or an enthusiast, because he pretended to inspiration, is to take the whole question for granted. It is to. take for granted that no such vi sions or inspirations existed ; at least it is to assume, contrary to his own assertions, that he had no other proofs than these to offer of his mission, or of the truth of his relations. One thing I allow, that his letters everywhere dis cover great zeal and earnestness in the cause in which he was engaged ; that is to say, he was convinced of the truth of what he taught ; he was deeply impressed, but not more so than the occasion merited, with a sense of its importance. This produces a corresponding ani mation and solicitude in the exercise of his ministry. But would not these considerations, supposing them to be well founded, have holden the same place, and pro duced the same effect, in a mind the strongest and the most sedate ? VI. These letters are decisive as to the sufferings of the author; also as to the distressed state of the Chris tian church, and the dangers which attended the preach ing of the gospel. " Whereof I Paul am made a minister ; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fiU up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." CoL ch. i. 24. " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." 1 Cor. ch. xv. 19- " Why stand we in jeopardy every hour ? I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If, after the manner of men, I have ' fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not ?" 1 Cor. ch. xv. 30, &c. " If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that z2 340 HORA PAULINA. we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. ch. viii. 17, IS. " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Rom. ch. viii, 35, 36. " Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continu ing instant in prayer." Rom. ch. xii. 12. " Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord ; yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress ; I say, that it is good for a man so to be." 1 Cor. ch. vii. 25, 26. " For unto you it is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me, and now hear to be in me." Phil. ch. i. 29, 30. " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is cruci fied unto me, and I unto the world." " From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Gal. ch. vi. 14. 17. " Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." 1 Thess. ch. i. 6. " We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure." 2 Thess. ch. i. 4. We may seem to have accumulated texts unnecessarily ; but beside that the pointwhich they are brought to prove HORA PAULINA. 341 is of great importance, there is this also to be remarked in every one of the passages cited, that the allusion is drawn from the writer by the argument or the occasion; that the notice which is taken of his sufferings, and of the suffering condition of Christianity, is perfectly in cidental, and is dictated by no design of stating the facts themselves. Indeed they are not stated at all ; they may rather be said to be assumed. This is a dis tinction upon which we have relied a good deal in for mer parts of this treatise ; and, where the writer's in formation cannot be doubted, it always, in my opinion, adds greatly to the value and credit of the testimony. If any reader require from the apostle more direct and explicit assertions of the same thing, he will re ceive full satisfaction in the following quotations. " Are they ministers of Christ ? (I speak as a fool) I am more ; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned j thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep ; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own coun trymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." 2 Cor. ch. xi. 23 — 28. Can it be necessary to add more ? "I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were ap pointed to death : for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place ; and labour, working with our own hands : being re viled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer it j being 342 HORA PAULINA. defamed, we entreat : we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." 1 Cor. ch; iv. 9—13. I subjoin this passage to the former, because it extends to the other apostles of Christianity much of that which St. Paul declared con cerning himself, In the following quotations, the reference to the au thor's sufferings is accompanied with a specification of time and place, and with an appeal for the truth of what he declares to the knowledge of the persons whom he addresses: "Even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention." 1 Thess. ch, ii. 2. " But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, persecutions, afflic tions, whieh came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium* at Lystra ; what persecutions I endured : but out of them all the Lord delivered me." 2 Tim. chap. iii. 10j 11. I apprehend that to this point, as far as the testimony of St. Paul is credited, the evidence from his letters is complete and full. It appears under every form in which it could appear, by occasional allusions and by direct assertions, by general declarations, and by spe cific examples. VII. St. Paul in these letters asserts, in positive and unequivocal terms, his performance of miracles strictly and properly so called. " He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles (IvspyHv Ivva^sig) among you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Gal. ch. iii. 5. " For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me,* to make the * Le. "I will speak of nothing but what Christ hath wrought by me ;" or as Grotpjs interpret^ it, " Christ hath wrought so HORA PAULINA, 343 Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders (b 1vvd[Ui Grips'im xai rspdruv), by the power of the Spirit of God : so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." Rom. ch. xv. 18, 19. " Truly the signs of an "apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." (b trrt^eioig xa) r'epaat xai 'hvvd^si.*) 2 Cor. ch. xii. 12. These words, signs, wonders, and mighty deeds, (tritjAsia, xai r'epara, xai lvvd(jbsig), are the specific appro priate terms throughout the New Testament, employed when public sensible miracles are intended to be ex pressed. This will appear by consulting, amongst other places, the texts referred to in the note ;t and it cannot be known thaf they are ever employed to express anything else. great things by me, that I will not dare to say what he hath not wrought." * To these may be added the following indirect allusions, which, though if they had stood alone, i. e. without plainer texts in the same writings, they might have been accounted dubious ; yet when considered in conjunction with the passages already cited, can hardly receive any other interpretation than that which we give them. " My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power : that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the prfwer of God." 1 Cor. ch. ii. 4-— 6. " The gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power." Ephes. ch. iii. 7. " For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the Gircumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles." Gal. ch. ii. 8. " For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." 1 Thes& ch. i. 5. r f- Mark. xvi.. 20. Luke xxiii. 8.- John ii. 11. 23; iii. 2; iv; 48. 54 ; xi. 4§. Acts ii. 22 ; iv. 30 ; v 12 j vt. 8 ; vii. 16 ; xiv. 3 ; xv. 12. Heb. ii. 4a 344 HORA PAULINA. Secondly, these words not only denote miracles as opposed to natural effects, but they denote visible, and what may be called external, miracles, as distinguished, First, from inspiration. If St. Paul had meant to refer only to secret illuminations of his understanding, or secret influences upon his will or affections, he could not, with truth, have represented them as "signs and wonders wrought by him," of "signs and wonders and mighty deeds wrought amongst them." Secondly, from visions. These would not, by any means, satisfy the force of the terms, "signs, wonders, and mighty deeds ;" still less could they be said to be "wrought by him," or "wrought amongst them;" nor are these terms and expressions anywhere applied to visions. When our author alludes to the supernatural communications which he had received, either by vision or otherwise, he uses expressions suited to the nature of the subject, but very different from the words which we have quoted. He calls them revelations, but never signs, wonders, or mighty deeds. "I will come," says he, "to visions and revelations of the Lord ;" and then proceeds to describe a particular instance, and afterward adds, "lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh." Upon the whole, the matter admits of no softening qualification, or ambiguity whatever. If St. Paul did not work actual, sensible, public miracles, he has know ingly, in these letters, borne his testimony to a false hood. I need not add, that, in two also of the quota tions, he has advanced his assertion in the face of those persons amongst whom he declares the miracles to have been wrought. Let it be remembered that the ' Acts of the Apostles ' described various particular miracles wrought by St. HORA PAULINA. 345 Paul, which in their nature answer to the terms and expressions which we have seen to be used by St. Paul himself. Here then we have a man of liberal attainments, and in other points of sound judgment, who had addicted his life to the service of the gospel. We see him, in the prosecution of his purpose, travelling from country to country, enduring every species of hardship, en countering every extremity of danger, assaulted by the populace, punished by the magistrates, scourged, beat, stoned, left for dead ; expecting, wherever he came, a renewal of the same treatment, and the same dangers, yet, when driven from one city, preaching in the next ; spending his whole time in the employment, sacrificing to it his pleasures, his ease, his safety ; persisting in this course to old age, unaltered by the experience of perverseness, ingratitude, prejudice, desertion ; unsub dued by anxiety, want, labour, persecutions ; unwearied by long confinement, undismayed by the prospect of death. Such was St. Paul. We have his letters in our hands ; we have also a history purporting to be written by one of his fellow-travellers, and appearing, by a com parison with these letters, certainly to have been writ ten by some person well acquainted with the transac tions of his life. From the letters, as well as from the history, we gather not only the account which we have stated of him, but that he was one out of many who acted and suffered in the same manner 5 and that of those who did so, several had been the companions of Christ's ministry, the ocular witnesses, or pretending to be such, of his miracles, and of his resurrection. We moreover find this same person referring in his letters to his supernatural conversion, the particulars and ac companying circumstances of which are related in the 346 HORA PAULINA. history, and which accompanying circumstances, if all or any of them be true, render it impossible to have been a delusion. We also find him positively, and in appropriated terms, asserting that he himself worked miracles, strictly and properly so called, in support of the mission which he executed; the history meanwhile recording various passages of his ministry, which come up to the extent of this assertion. The question is, whe ther falsehood was ever attested by evidence like this. Falsehoods, we know, have found their way into re ports, into tradition, into books ; but is an example to be met with, of a man voluntarily undertaking a Hfe of want and pain, of incessant fatigue, of continual peril j submitting to the loss of his home and country, to stripes and stoning, to tedious imprisonment, and the constant expectation of a violent death, for the sake of carrying about a story of what was false, and of what, if false, he must have known to be so ? THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION IK VISITING THE SICK : CONTAINING, I. RULES FOR VISITING THE SICK. II. THE OFFICE FOR THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. III. THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. IV. A GREAT VARIETY OF OCCASIONAL PRAYERS FOR THE SICK j COLLECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT DIVINES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 10 WHlCU ABE ADDED, THE OFFICES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BAPTISM* WltH ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS. PREFACE. This collection has been so much esteemed, that it has passed through nine editions. Having now become exceedingly scarce, it was thought proper to reprint it. The Rules for Visiting the Sick, in five sections, are extracted chiefly from the works of Bishop Taylor. The Occasional Prayers are taken from the devotional tracts of Bishop Patrick, Mr. Kettlewell, and other pious and judicious divines. But in this Edition, the antiquated style of those writers is corrected and im proved ; at the same time, a spirit of rational piety, and unaffected simplicity, are carefuUy preserved. A prayer by Dr. Stonehouse, and four by Mr. Mer rick, the celebrated Translator of the Psalms, are added to the old collection. The Offices of Public and Private Baptism, though no ways relating to the Visitation of the Sick, are re tained ; as, in the present form, they will be convenient for the Clergy in the course of their parochial duty. CANON LXVII. MINISTERS TO VISIT THE SICK. .. When any person is dangerously sick in any parish,. the minister or curate, having knowledge thereof, shall resort unto him, or her (if the disease be not known, or probably suspected, to be infectious), to instruct and comfort them in their distress, according to the order of communion, if he be no preacher ; or, if he be a preacher, then as he shall think most needful and con venient. It is recommended to the Clergy to write out the prayers, which are to be used by. the Sick themselves, or by the persons whose devotions they wish to assist* and to leave the copies with them. THE MANNER OP VISITING THE SICK; OR, THE ASSISTANCE THAT IS TO BE GIVEN TO SICK AND DYING PERSONS BY THE MINISTRY OF THE CLERGY. SECT. I. In all the days of our spiritual warfare, from our baptism to our burial, God has appointed his servants, the ministers of the church, to supply the necessities of the people, by ecclesiastical duties ; and prudently to guide, and carefully to judge concerning, souls com mitted to their charge. And, therefore, they who all their lifetime derive blessings from the Fountain of grace, by the channels. of ecclesiastical ministers, ought then more especially to do it in the time of their sickness, when their needs are more prevalent, according to that known apostoH- cal injunction; " Is any man sick among you, let him send for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him," &c. The sum of the duties and offices, respectively im- pHed in these words, may be collected from the foUow ing rules, SECT. II. Rules for the Manner of Visiting the Sick. 1. Let the minister be sent to, not when the sick is in the agonies of death, as it is usual to do, but before Missing Page Missing Page 354 THE clergyman's companion. 3. According to the condition of the man, and the nature of his sickness, every act of the visitation is to be proportioned. If his condition be full of pain and infirmity, the exhortation ought to be shortened, and the minister more "instant in prayer :" and the Httle ser vice the sick man can do for himself should be supplied by the charitable care of his guide, who is in such a case to speak more to God for him than to talk to him : "prayer of the righteous," when it is " fervent," hath a promise to " prevail much in behalf of the sick " person : but exhortations must prevail by their own proper weight, and not by the passion of the speaker ; and, therefore, should be offered when the sick is able to receive them. And, even in this assistance of prayer, if the sick man joins with the minister, the prayers should be short, fervent, and ejaculatory, apt rather to comply with his weak condition, than wearisome to his spirits, in tedious and long offices. But in case it ap pears he hath sufficient strength to go along with the minister, he is then more at liberty to offer up long petitions for him. After the minister hath made this preparatory en trance to this work of much time and deliberation, he may descend to the particulars of his duty, in the foUowing method. SECT. III. Of instructing the sick Man in the Nature of Repentance, and Confession of his Sins. The first duty to be rightly stated to the sick man is that of repentance ; in which the minister cannot be more serviceable to him than by laying before him a regular scheme of it, and exhorting him at the same time to a free and ingenuous declaration of the state of THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. 355 his soul. For unless they know the manner of his life, and the several kinds and degrees of those sins which require his penetential sorrow or restitution, either they can do nothing at all, or nothing of advantage and cer tainty. Wherefore the minister may move him to this in the following manner : Arguments and Exhortations to move the sick Man to Repentance, and Confession of his Sins. 1. That repentance is a duty indispensably necessary to salvation. That to this end, all the preachings and endeavours of the prophets and apostles are directed. That our Saviour " came down from heaven," on pur pose " to call sinners to repentance."* That as it is a necessary duty at all times, so more especially in the time of sickness, when we are commanded, in a parti cular manner " to set our house in order." That it is a work of great difficulty, consisting in general of a " change of mind," and a " change of life." Upon which account it is called, in Scripture, " a state of re generation, or new birth ;" a " conversion from sin to God ;" a " being renewed in the spirit of our minds ;" a " putting off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts of the flesh," and a " putting on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness." That so great a change as this is not to be ' effected at once, but requires the utmost self- denial and resolution to put it in execution, consisting in general of the following particulars : 1. A sorrowful sense of our sins : % An humble confession of them : 3. An unfeigned abhorrence and forsaking of them, and turning to the Lord our God with all our hearts : 4. A patient continuance in well-doing to the end of our lives. Matt. ix. 13. A A 2 356 the clergyman's companion. These are the constituent and essential parts of a true repentance ; which may severaUy be displayed from the following motives of reason and Scripture, as opportunity shall serve, and the sick man's condition permit. The first part of a true repentance is a sorrowful sense of our sins, which naturally produces this good effect, as we may learn from St. Paul (2. Cor. vii. 10.), where he tells us, that "godly sorrow worketh repent ance." Without it, to be sure, there can be no such thing ; for how can a man repent of that which he is not sorry for ? or, how can any one sincerely ask par don and forgiveness for what he is not concerned or troubled about ? A sorrowful sense, then, of our sins, is the first part of a true repentance, the necessity whereof may be seen from the grievous and abominable nature of sin ; as, 1. That it made so wide a separation betwixt God and man, that nothing but the blood of his only-begotten Son could suffice to atone for its intolerable guilt : 2. That it carries along with it the basest ingratitude, as being done agamst our heavenly Father, " in whom we live, and move, and have our being :" 3. That the consequence of it is nothing less than eternal ruin, in that " the wrath of God is revealed against all im penitent sinners ;" and "the wages of sin is death," — not only temporal, but eternal. From these, and the like considerations, the penitent may farther learn, that to be sorry for our sins is a great and important duty. That it does not consist in a little trivial concern, a superficial sigh, a tear, or calling ourselves sinners, &c. ; but in a real ingenuous, pun gent, and afflicting sorrow: for, can that which cast our parents out of Paradise at first, that brought down the Son of God afterward from heaven, and put him at last to such a cruel and shameful death, be now thought THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 357 to be done away by a single tear or a groan ? Can so base a piece of ingratitude, as rebelling against the Lord of Glory, who gives us all we have, be supposed to be pardoned by a slender submission ? Or can that which deserves the torment of hell be sufficiently atoned for by a little indignation and superficial re morse ? True repentance therefore is ever accompanied with a deep and afflicting sorrow ; a sorrow that will make us so irreconcilable to sin, as that we shall choose rather to die than to live in it. For so the bitterest accents of grief are all ascribed to a true repentance in Scripture ; such as a " weeping sorely," or " bitterly .;" a " weeping day and night ;" a " repenting in dust and ashes;" a "putting on sackcloth;" "fasting and prayer;" &c. Thus holy David ; " I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, and that by reason of mine iniquities, which are gone over my head, and, as a heavy burden, are too heavy for me to bear ;" Ps. xxxviii. 4 — 6. Thus Ephraim could say : " After that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh : I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, be cause I did bear the reproach of my youth ;" Jer. xxxi. 19. And this is the proper satisfaction for sin which God expects, and hath promised to accept ; as, Ps. H. 17, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." 2. The next thing requisite in a true repentance, is, confession of sins, which naturally follows the other ; for if a man be so deeply afflicted with sorrow for his sins, he will be glad to be rid of them as soon as he can ; and the way for this, is humbly to confess them to God, who hath promised to forgive us if we do. " I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord," saith the Psalmist ; " and so thou forgavest the wickedness of my 358 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. sin ;" Psalm xxxii. 6. So, Prov. xxiii. 13 ; and 1 John i. 9, " If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un righteousness." So the returning prodigal went to his father with an humble confession of his baseness, and was received into favour again. Luke xv. 18, 19- And, because the number of our sins are like the hairs of our head, or the sand of the sea, and almost as various too in their kinds as their numbers, Confession must needs be a very extensive duty, and require the strictest care and examination of ourselves : for, " who can tell how oft he offendeth?" saith David; "O, cleanse thou me from my secret faults !" The penitent, therefore, should be reminded that his confession be as minute and particular as it can ; since the more particular the confession is, to be sure, the more sincere the repentance. 3. A third thing requisite in a true repentance, is, an unfeigned abhorrence and forsaking of sin, and turning to the Lord our God with aU our hearts. For so we find them expressly joined together by St. Paul, when he charges those whom by vision he was sent to convert, to change* their mind, and " turn to God, and do works meet for repentance ;" Acts xxvi. 20. And a little before he says, he was sent " to open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may re ceive forgiveness of sins ;" ver. 18. And we shall always find, when we are commanded to cease from evil, it is in order to do good. The penitent, therefore, must be reminded, not only to confess and be sorry for his sins, but likewise to for sake them. For it is he only " who confesseth and for- saketh his sins, that shall have mercy ;" Prov. xxviii. 13. And this forsaking must not be only for the pre- * THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 359 sent, during his sickness, or for a week, a month, or a year ; but for his whole life, be it never so protracted ; which is the 4. Last thing requisite in a true repentance, viz. " a patient continuance in well-doing to the end of our lives." For as the holy Jesus assures us, that " he that endureth unto the end shall be saved ;" so does the Spirit of God profess, that " if any man draw back, his soul shall have no pleasure in him ;" Heb. x. 38. Hence we are said to " be partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end," Heb. iii. 14, but not else ; for it is to " him only that overcometh, and keepeth his works to the end," that our Saviour hath promised a reward ; Rev. ii. 26. Hence our religion is said to be a continual warfare, and we must be constantly " pressing forward toward the mark of our high calling," with the apostle, lest we fail of the prize. And this it is which makes a death-bed repentance so justly reckoned to be very full of hazard ; such as none, who defer it till then, can depend upon with any real security. For let a man be never so seemingly penitent in the day of his visitation, yet none but God can tell whether it be sincere or not ; since nothing is more common than for those who expressed the greatest signs of a lasting repentance upon a sick bed, to forget all their vows and promises of amendment, as soon as God had removed the judgment, and restored them to their former health. " It happened to them according to the true proverb," as St. Peter says, " The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire ;" 2 Pet. ii. 22. The sick penitent, therefore, should be often re minded of this : — that nothing will be looked upon as true repentance but what would terminate in a holy life : that, therefore, he ought to take great heed, that 360 THE clergyman's companion. his repentance be not only the effect of his present danger, but that it be lasting and sincere, "bringing forth works meet for repentance," should it please God mercifully to prove him by a longer Hfe. But here it is much to be feared, that after all his endeavours to bring men to a sight of themselves, and to repent them truly of their sins, the spiritual man will meet with but very little encouragement : for if we look round the world, we shall find the generality of men to be of a rude indifference, and a seared conscience, and mightily ignorant of their condition with respect to another world, being abused by evil customs and prin ciples, apt to excuse themselves, and to be content with a certain general and indefinite confession ; so that if you provoke them never so much to acknowledge their faults, you shall hardly ever extort anything farther from them than this, viz. " That they are sinners, as every man hath his infirmity, and they as well as any ; but, God be thanked, they have done no injury to any man, but are in charity with all the world." And, per haps they will tell you, " they are no swearers, no adulterers, no rebels, &c. but that, God forgive them, they must needs acknowledge themselves to be sinners in the main," &c. And if you can open their breast so far, it would be looked upon as sufficient : to go any farther, will be to do the office of an accuser, not of a friend. But, which is yet worse, there are a great many per sons who have been so used to an habitual course of sin, that the crime is made natural and necessary to them, and they have no remorse of conscience for it, but think themselves in a state of security very often when they stand upon the brink of damnation. This happens in the cases of drunkenness and lewd prac tices, and luxury, and idleness, and mispending of the sabbath, and in lying and vain jesting, and slandering the clergyman's companion. 361 of others ; and particularly in such evils as the laws do not punish, nor public custom shame, but which are countenanced by potent sinners, or wicked fashions, or good-nature and mistaken civilities. In these and the like cases, the spiritual man must endeavour to awaken their consciences by such means as follow : Arguments and general Heads of Discourse, by way of Consideration, to awaken a stupid Conscience and the careless Sinner. 1. And here let the minister endeavour to affect his conscience, by representing to him, — That Christianity is a holy and strict religion : that the promises of heaven are so great, that it is not rea sonable to think a smaU matter and a little duty will procure it for us : that religious persons are always the most scrupulous : and that to feel nothing is not a sign of life but of death : that we live in an age in which that which is called and esteemed a holy life, in the days of the apostles and primitive Christianity would have been esteemed indifferent, sometimes scandalous, and always cold ; that when we have " done our best, all our righteousness is but as filthy rags ;" and we can never do too much to make our " calling and election sure :" that every good man ought to be suspicious of himself, fearing the worst, that he may provide for the best : that even St. Paul, and several other remarkable saints, had at some times great apprehensions of failing of the " mighty prize of their high calling :" that we are com manded to " work out our salvation with fear and trem bling ;" inasmuch as we shall be caUed to an account, not only for our sinful words and deeds, but even for our very thoughts : that if we keep all the commandments of God, and " yet offend in one point (i. e., wilfully and habitually), we are guilty of all," James ii. 10 : that 362 the clergyman's companion. no man can tell how oft he offendeth, the best of lives being full of innumerable blemishes in the sight of God, however they may appear before men : that no man ought to judge of the state of his soul by the character he has in the world ; for a great many persons go to hell, who have Uved in a fair reputation here ; and a great many, on the other hand, go to heaven, who have been loaded with infamy and reproach : that the work of religion is a work of great difficulty, trial, and temptation ; that "many are called, but few are chosen ;" that " straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it ;" and lastly, that, " if the righteous themselves shall scarcely be saved," there will be no place for the unrighteous and sinner to appear in, but of horror and amazement. By these and such-Hke motives to consideration, the spiritual man is to awaken the careless sinner, and to bring him to repentance and confession of his sins ; and if, either of himself, or by this means, the sick man is brought to a right sense of his condition, then, 2. Let the minister proceed to assist him in under standing the number of his sins, i. e., the several kinds of them, and the various ways of prevaricating with the divine commandments. Let him make him sensible how every sin is aggravated, more or less, according to the different circumstances of it ; as by the greatness or smaUness of the temptation, the scandal it gives to others, the dishonour it does to religion, the injury it brings along with it to those whom it more immediately concerns ; the degrees of boldness and impudence, the choice in acting it, the continuance in it, the expense, desires, and habit, of it, &c. 3. Let the sick man, in the scrutiny of his conscience and confession of his sins, be carefully reminded to consider those sins which are nowhere condemned but in the court of conscience .- for there are certain secret the clergyman's companion. 363 plaees of darkness, artificial blinds of the devil, which he uses to hide our sins from us, and to incorporate them into our affections, by the general practice of others, and the mistaken notions of the world : as, 1. Many sins before men are accounted honourable ; such as fighting a duel, returning evil for evil, blow for blow, &c. 2. Some things are not forbidden by the law of man, as lying in ordinary discourse, jeering, scoffing, intemperate eating, ingratitude, circumventing another in contracts, outwitting and overreaching in bargains, extorting and taking advantage of the necessities or ignorance of other people, importunate entreaties and temptations of persons to many instances of sin, as in temperance, pride, and ambition, &c. ; all which, there fore, do strangely blind the understanding and captivate the affections of sinful men, and lead them into a thou sand snares of the devil which they are not aware of. 3. Some others do not reckon that they sin against God, if the laws have seized upon the person : and many who are imprisoned for debt think themselves disen gaged from payment ; and, when they pay the penalty, think they owe nothing for the scandal and disobedi ence. 4. Some sins are thought not considerable, but go under the titles of sins of infirmity, or inseparable accidents of mortality ; such as idle thoughts, foolish talking, loose revellings, impatience, anger, and all the events of evil company. 5. Lastly ; many things are thought to be no sins ; such as mispending of their time, whole days or months of useless or impertinent employment, long gaming, winning men's money in great portions, censuring men's actions, curiosity, equi vocating in the prices of buying and seUing, rudeness in speech or behaviour, speaking uncharitable truths, and the like. These are some of those artificial veils and coverings, under the dark shadow of which the enemy of mankind 364 THE CLERGYMAN'S -COMPANION. makes very many to lie hid from themselves, blinding them with false notions of honour, and the mistaken opinions and practices of the world, with public per mission and impunity, or (it may be) a temporal penalty ; or else with prejudice, or ignorance and infirmity, and direct error in judgment. Now, in all these cases, the ministers are to be inqui sitive and strictly careful, that such kind of fallacies prevail not over the sick : but that those things, which passed without observation before, may now be brought forth, and pass under the severity of a strict and impar tial censure, religious sorrow, and condemnation. 4. To this may be added a general display of the neglect and omission of our duty ; for in them lies the bigger half of our failings : and yet, in many instances, they are undiscerned ; because our consciences have not been made tender and perceptible of them. But whoever will cast up his accounts, even with a superfi cial eye, will quickly find that he hath left undone, for the generality, as many things which he ought to have done, as he hath committed those he ought not to have done : such as the neglect of public or private prayer, of reading the Scriptures, and instructing his family, or those that are under him, in the principles of religion : the not discountenancing sin to the utmost of his power, especiaUy in the personages of great men: the not " re deeming the time," and " growing in grace," and doing all the good he can in his generation : the frequent omissions of the great duty of charity, in visiting the sick, relieving the needy, and comforting the afflicted : the want of obedience, duty, and respect to parents : the doing the work of God negligently, or not dis charging himself with that fidelity, care, and exact ness, which is incumbent upon him, in the station wherein the providence of God hath placed him, &c. 5. With respect to those sins which are committed THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 365 against man, let the minister represent to the sick man that he can have no assurance of his pardon, unless he is willing to make all suitable amends and satisfaction to his offended and injured brethren ; as for instance, if he hath lived in enmity with any, that he should labour to be reconciled to them ; if he is in debt, that he should do his utmost to discharge it; or if he hath injured any one in his substance or credit, that he should endeavour to make restitution in kind for the one, and all possible satisfaction for the other, by humbling himself to the offended person, and beseeching him to forgive him. 6. If the sick person be of evil report, the minister should take care, some way or other, to make him sen sible of it, so as to show an effectual sorrow and re pentance. This will be best done by prudent hints, and insinuations, of recalling those things to his mind whereof he is accused by the voice of fame, or to which the temptations, perhaps, of his calling more imme diately subject him. Or if he will not understand when he is secretly prompted, he must be asked in plain terms concerning these matters. He must be told of the evil things which are spoken of him in public, and of the usual temptations of his calling. And it concerns the minister to follow this advice, without partiality, or fear, or interest, or respect of per sons, in much simplicity and prudence, having no other consideration before him, but the conscientious dis charge of his duty, and the salvation of the person under his care. 7. The sick person is likewise to be instructed con cerning his faith, whether he has a reasonable notion of the articles of the Christian religion, as they are excellently summed up in the Apostles' creed. 8. With respect to his temporal concerns, the sick is to be advised to set everything in order, and (if he hath not already) to make his will as soon as he can. 366 THE clergyman's COMPANION. For if he recovers, this cannot be detrimental ; but, if he dies, it will be of great comfort and satisfaction to him. And here it must be remembered that he distri bute everything according to the exact rules of justice, and with such a due care, as to prevent all law-suits and contentions for the future ; and, if he be able, he is to be admonished to do something likewise out of charity, and for the sake of his poor brethren. 9. In all the course of his visitation, the minister should frequently be exhorting the sick man to patience and a blessed resignation to the will of God ; and not to look upon his sickness as barely the effect of second causes, but as inflicted on him by Divine Providence for several wise and good ends : as, for the trial of his faith ; the exercise of his patience ; the punishment of his sins ; the amendment of his life ; or for the example of others, who, seeing his good behaviour in such a day of calamity, may glorify their Father which is in heaven : or else, that it is for the increase of his future welfare, in order to raise him the higher in glory here after, by how much the lower he hath been depressed here. 10. When the spiritual man hath thus discharged his duty, and the sick hath made himself capable of it, by a religious and holy conformity to all the foremen- tioned particulars respecting his condition and circum stances, he may then give him the sacrament of the Lord's supper. And it is the minister's office to invite sick and dying persons to this holy sacrament, provided they discover a right sense of their duty. And, Note, That the Holy Sacrament is not to be admi nistered to dying persons, when they have no use of their reason to join with the minister in his celebration of it. For the sacraments operate not of themselves, but as they are made efficacious by the joint consent and will, and religious acts and devotion, of the partv THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 367 that receives them. And, therefore, all fools, and dis tracted persons, and children, and lethargical and apo- plectical people, or that are in anywise senseless and in capable of human and reasonable acts, are to be assisted only by prayers. Note, also, That in cases of necessity, where the sa crament cannot be so conveniently administerd, the sick may be admonished to receive it spirituaUy, i. e., by representing the symbols of the body and blood of our Lord to his mind, and applying them to himself by faith, with the same preparations of faith and repent ance, as if they were really present. For no doubt but God, in such a case, who considers all things with exact justice, and chiefly respects the sincerity of our hearts and intentions, will excuse the absence of the outward and visible sign, when necessity, and not contempt or neglect, was the occasion of it. SECT. IV. Of applying spiritual Remedies io the unreasonable Fears and Dejections qf the Sick. It sometimes happens, that good men, especially such as have tender consciences, impatient of the least sin, to which they are arrived by a long habit of grace, and a continual observation of their ways, overact their part, and turn their tenderness into scruples, and are too mnch dejected and doubtful concerning their future salvation. In such a case, the minister is to represent to them, that the man who is jealous of himself, is always in the safest condition : that, if he fears on his death-bed, it is but what happens to most considering men : and that therefore to fear nothing then is either a singular felicity, or a dangerous presumption. But, to restrain the extravagance of fear, let him be 368 THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. reminded ofthe terms ofthe Gospel : — that it is a cove nant of grace and mercy to all : that " Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners :" that he con tinues " our Advocate in heaven," and daily " inter cedes" with his Father for us: that the whole heavenly host rejoices at the conversion of a sinner : that the angels are deputed by God, to be our guardians against violent surprises and temptations : that there are diffe rent degrees of glory in heaven ; so that, if we arrive not at the greatest, we may yet hope, by divine mercy, that we should not be excluded the less : that God promised to hear the "prayers of the righteous" for his servants : that he labours with us by his Spirit, and, as it were, " beseeches us, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to him," 2 Cor. v. 20: that, of all his attri butes, he glories in none so much as in the titles of mercy and forgiveness : that therefore we do injustice to the Father of Mercies, if we retain such hard thoughts and suspicions of him : that God calls upon us to forgive our brother " seventy times seven ;" and yet all that is but like the forgiving "a hundred pence," for his sake, who forgives us " ten thousand talents :" and, therefore, if we are ordered to show such an unrestrained temper of forgiveness, it is only to animate us to trust in God's much more unbounded mercy. By these, and the like arguments, the spiritual man may raise the drooping spirits of good men, in their causeless dejections. But because there are many other cases of the Hke nature, which the physician of souls will meet with in visiting his neighbours, espe cially such as are of melancholy dispositions, it may not be improper to mark the principal of them here, and to prescribe the remedies. the clergyman's comPanton. 369 Considerations to be offered to Persons under Religious Melancholy. 1. Some truly religious persons are under sad appre hensions of not being in the favour of God, because they find their devotions to be very often cold, their prayers distracted, and their delight in spiritual mat ters not to be so great and permanent, as their plea sure and satisfaction are in the things of the world. Now, to such as have made religion the great busi ness of their lives, who have endeavoured to cure those distracted thoughts they complain of, and to inflame their souls with divine love, it may be offered, that the different degrees of affection, with which men serve God, do very often depend upon the difference of their tempers and constitutions ; since some are naturally so dull and heavy, as to be little affected with anything ; whilst others are of such a tender make, as to be af fected almost with everything, so as to be soon exalted with joy, or depressed with sorrow : that sickness, losses, and all afflictions, and even religion itself, in its long and continual exercise of self-denial and thought- fulness, do naturally produce such a tenderness of spirit, that the best of men have never been able at all times to keep their affections at an equal height : that the zeal and warmth, with which some are affected, is not always an argument of their goodness : that a sen sible pleasure in religious exercises, wherein the pas sions are affected, is not so acceptable to God as a reasonable service : that distraction of thought in the service of God is owing, for the most part, to bodily weakness ; and, therefore, if we do not give way to it, but do all we can to suppress those wandering thoughts, we may be assured we shall never be blamed for being VOL. II. B B 370 the clergyman's companion. subject to that, which, by reason of the weakness of our nature, we cannot help : that the first motions of our mind, as it is impossible to hinder them, are reckoned by aU divines not to be sinful, provided we do not encourage them. 2. Some are extremely dejected, because, upon strict examination of themselves, they find, as they think, all their religion to be owing to their fears ; and fear being a slavish and sordid passion, they are apt to conclude, that all those services, which are not the result of a more noble principle, will be rejected by God, since, as he is all love, and goodness, and perfection, he will not be pleased, they think, with any sacrifice, but what is offered by love. And, to this sad purpose, some have interpreted Rev. xxi. 8, to belong to them, where the fearful are joined together with the most abominable, who shaU have their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone. To cure the depraved and unhappy notions of such as these, it may be argued, that it is plain from Scrip ture, that the first beginnings of, or movements to ward, a holy life, are usually owing to the passion of fear : that to this, both our Saviour and his apostles do all along address themselves in their earnest entrea ties of mankind to turn from the ways of sin to God. " Fear him," saith our Saviour, "who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matt. x. 28 ; so chap. vi. 15 ; Mark xvi. 16. And to this purpose the apostle says, " Work out your salvation with fear and trem bling," Phil. ii. 12 ; and 2 Cor. v. 11, " Knowing the terrors of the Lord," saith he, " we persuade men." And in most of the Scripture proofs, we shall find the chief argument of reUgion to be urged from a fear of punishment for the neglect thereof : so that to be de jected, and render our lives comfortless on this account, THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 371 were the most unreasonable extravagance ; since this were to suppose, that God hath implanted the passion of fear in us in vain ; or, what is worse, only to vex and torment us ; and that our Saviour and his apostles, persuading us to be religious from the terrors of the Lord, had deceived and misled us. And, as for that text, Rev. xxi. 8,—" The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," &c. ; it is plain, that by the fearful in this place is meant, either such as refuse to embrace the Christian religion, or who, having em braced it, are afraid to continue steadfast to the end, on account of the cross ; and, therefore, cannot be supposed to have any reference to those who are "working out their salvation with fear and trembling/' according to the direction of the Gospel. Not but that we are to intermix with this fear an entire love and affection to God, to the utmost of our powers. 3. Some very pious, but unhappy persons, are grievously tormented with wicked and blasphemous thoughts, so as to fall under the greatest agonies of mind ; and often to be so near distraction, as to choose death rather than life. For the relief and comfort of these, the minister should suggest to them, that such horrid and frightful thoughts are either occasioned through melancholy prevailing over the spirits, and disordering the frame of their minds ; or else from the malice of the devil, and the spirits of darkness, who do all they can to shake our faith and embitter the Christian life. If, to the former, we ascribe such horrid thoughts, they may be comforted upon assurance, that they will not be imputed to them as their sin, any more than a B B 9 372 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. fever, or any bodily distemper will, which they did not willingly procure, and which they have tried all means to remove. If, to the latter, they may be encouraged rather to rejoice ; as nothing is a greater sign of their being high in the favour of God, than when they are under the most violent temptations of the devil. " My brethren, count it all joy," saith St. James, "when ye fall into divers temptations ;" chap. i. 2. To that effect, they may be taught to consider, that the way to heaven is justly said to be by the gates of hell : that the " same afflictions are accomplished in their brethren which are in the world," who in various kinds are tempted of the tempter, 1 Peter v. 9 : that Satan " desired to have Saint Peter to sift him as wheat," Luke xxii. 31 : that our Saviour himself was tempted by him, and the best of men have always been most obnoxious to his malice ; and that to live in carnal security, without any molestations from him, is the most dangerous state : that the being so much concerned and afflicted at such evil thoughts, is a certain argument of a good disposi tion, since the wicked and profane are rather pleased than tormented with them. Arguments of this kind are the most proper to be offered to such unhappy persons : but in case their faith and hope be totally overcome by the devil, and they fall into direct despair, it will be necessary then to endeavour the cure of so great an evil and tempta tion, by the addition of the following exercise : — An Exercise against Despair. Let the minister suggest to them, that God is not willing that any should perish, but desirous that all should come to his glory ; that for this end we were created : that he is so far from being "extreme to mark THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 373 what is done amiss," that he will not refuse the return ing prodigal, nor reject the worst of criminals, upon their sincere repentance: that the thief upon the cross is a demonstrable proof of this, and a standing exam ple to prevent the great sinner from despair : that if God is so merciful and condescending to the vilest transgressors, much rather may we hope to be par doned for our weakness and infirmities : for he. "know eth whereof we are made, he remembereth that we are but dust ," nay, he hath assured us, that he " will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax :" that all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, except one, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost, — " the sin unto death," as St. John calls it. But that no man commits a sin against the Holy Ghost, if he be afraid he hath, or desires that he may not ; for such penetential passions are against the very nature and definition of that sin : that although for giveness of sins is consigned to us in baptism, and baptism is but once, yet, forgiveness of sins being the special grace of the Gospel, it is secured to us for our life, and ebbs and flows according as we discompose or renew the performance of our baptismal vow ; there fore it is certain, that no man ought to despair of par don, but he who hath voluntarily renounced his bap tism, or willingly estranged himself from that covenant : that, if it were not so, then all preaching and prayers were in vain, and all the conditions of the Gospel in valid, and there could be no such thing as repentance, nor indeed scarce a possibility of any one's being saved, if all were to be concluded in a state of damnation who had committed sin after baptism. To have any fears, therefore, on this account, were the most extravagant madness : for Christ " died for sinnqrs," and " God hath comprehended all under sin, that," through him, "he might have mercy upon all;" 374 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. Rom. xi. 32. And it was concerning baptised Chris tians that St. John said, " if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, and He is the propitiation for our sins :" and, concerning lapsed Christians, St. Paul gave instruction, that "if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a man in the spirit of meekness, considering lest ye also be tempt ed." The Corinthian Christian committed incest, and was pardoned : and Simon Magus, after he was bap tised, offered to commit the sin we call simony, and yet Peter bade him pray for pardon : and St. James tells us, that "if the sick man send for the elders of the church, and they pray over him, and he confess his ,sins, they shall be forgiven him," chap. v. 14. That, even in the case of very great sins, and great judgments inflicted upon sinners, wise and good men have declared their sense to be, that God vindicated his justice in that temporal punishment: and so it was supposed to have been done in the case of Ananias, &'c. : that nothing can be more absurd than to think that so great and good a God, who is desirous of saving aU, as appears by his word, by sending his Son, by his oaths and promises, by his very nature and daily overtures of mercy, should condemn any, with out the greatest provocations of his majesty, and per severance in them. Upon the strength of these arguments, the despair ing person may be farther taught to argue thus with himself. I consider that the ground of my trouble is my sin : and, were it not for that, I should have no reason to be troubled; but since the "whole world lieth in wicked ness," and since there cannot be a greater demOnstra^ tion of a man's abhorrence of sin, than to be so deeply affected with sorrow for it, I therefore will erect my head with a holy hope, and think that God will also THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 375 be merciful to me a sinner, as he is to the rest of man kind. I know that the mercies of God are infinite ; that he sent his Son into the world on purpose to re deem such as myself; and that he hath repeatedly pro mised " to give to them that ask, and to be found of them that seek him ;" and therefore I will not distrust his goodness, nor look upon the great God of heaven and earth to be worse than his word. Indeed, if from myself I were to derive my title to heaven, then my sins were a just argument of despair ; but now that they bring me to Christ, that they drive me to an appeal to God's mercy, they cannot infer a just cause of despair. I am sure it is a stranger thing, that the Son of God should come down from heaven, and take upon him our nature, and live and die in the most ignominious state of it, than that a sinful man, washed by the blood of Christ, and his own tears and humiliation, should be admitted to pardon, and made " partaker of the king dom of heaven :" and it were stranger yet, that he should do so much for man, and that a man that de sires, that labours after it to the utmost of his power, that sends up strong cries and prayers, and is still within the covenant of grace, should inevitably miss that end for which our Saviour did and suffered so much. It is certain, that, of all the attributes that belong to God, there is none more essential to his nature, and which he takes more delight in, than his mercy ; and it is as certain also, there must be proper objects for this boundless and immense attribute of God ; and the most proper, if not only, objects of mercy in the creation, are the children of men ; and of men, surely those who are most grieved and wearied with the burden of their sins. I, therefore, who am as pitiful an object of mercy as any, will cheerfully hope, that God will both forgive me here, and give me the blessing of eternal Hfe here after : for I know that eternal life is purely the gift of 376 the clergyman's companion. God, and therefore have less reason still to despair. For, if my sins were fewer, and my unworthiness of such a glory were less, yet still I could not receive it but as a free gift and donation of God, and so I may now ; and it is not expectation beyond the hopes of possibi lity, to look and wait for such a gift at the hands of the God of Mercy. The best of men deserve it not ; and I, who am the worst, may have it given me. I know that I have sinned grievously and frequently against my heavenly Father : but I have repented, I have beg ged pardon, I have confessed and forsaken my sins, and have done all that is possible for me, to make atonement. I cannot undo what is done ; and I perish, if there be no such thing as a remedy, or remission of sins. But then I know my religion must perish toge ther with my hope, and the word of God itself must fail as well as I. But I cannot, I dare not, entertain such a thought. I firmly believe that most encouraging arti cle of faith, the remission of sins; and since I do that which all good men call repentance, I will also humbly hope for a remission of mine, and a joyful resurrection. I know that the devil is continually lying in wait to seduce and destroy the souls of men ; wherefore I will fortify my spirits, and redouble my guard, and call upon God to enable me to resist aU the fiery darts of this malicious adversary. Or perhaps this exceeding dejection, or malady of mind, may arise from the distemper and weakness of my body ; or, at most, I hope, it only a disease of judgment, not an intolerable condition, I am fallen into ; and since I have heard of a great many others, who have been in the same condition with myself, and yet recovered, I will also take courage to hope that God will relieve me in his good time, and not leave my soul for ever in this hell of depraved fancy and wicked imagination. In fine, I will raise up my de- the clergyman's companion. 377 jected spirits, and cast all my care upon God, and de pend upon him for the event, which I am sure wfll be just; and I cannot but think, from the same reason, full of mercy. However, now I will use all the spiritual arts of reason and religion, to make me more and more desirous of loving God : that if I miscarry, charity also shall fail, and something that loves God shaU pe rish, and be damned ; which if it be impossible (as I am sure it is), then I may have just reason to hope I shall do well. These considerations may be of service to " bind up the broken-hearted," and to strengthen the " bruised reed " of a good man's spirit, in so great and terrible a dejection. But as cases of this nature are very rare, so the arguments here made use of are rarely to be in sisted upon ; and never, but to well-disposed persons, or reformed penitents, or to such as, in the general course of their life, have lived pretty strictly and con formably to the rules of religion. For if the man be a vicious person, and hath gone on in a continual course of sin, to the time of his sickness, these considerations are not proper. Let him inquire, in the words of the first disciples after Pentecost, "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved ?" and if we can but entertain so much hope as to enable him to do as much of his duty as he can for the present, it is all that can be pro vided for him. And the minister must be infinitely careful, that he does not attempt to comfort vicious persons with the comfort of God's elect, lest he prosti tute holy things, and encourage vice, and render his discourses deceitful; and the man unhappily find them to be so when he descends into the regions of darkness. But because very few are tempted with too great fears of miscarrying, but the generality, even of the most profligate sort, are rather inclined to unwarrant- 378 the clergyman's companion. able assurances of their future salvation, it will highly concern the ministers to prevent in time so great and reigning an imposition of the devil. Wherefore, to the former considerations to awaken the careless sinner and a stupid conscience, the follow ing may be added, upon occasion, to check the over- weaning thoughts of the presumptuous. SECT. V. Considerations against Presumption. And here, let the bold and arrogant sinner farther know, that a man cannot think too meanly of himself, but may very easily run into the contrary extreme : that the growths in grace are long, difficult, uncertain, often interrupted, consisting of great variety, and almost innumerable parts and distinctions, which a careless person can never discover : that the more a man pre sumes, the greater reason he hath to fear ; because the confidence of such men is generally like that of chil dren and young people, who have no other reason, but that they understand not the dangers and follies of their self-conceits: that "the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" deceiving itself, and deceiving others, in innumerable instances ; and being often "in the gall of bitterness," when the man appears with the fairest outside to the world : that it is certain all "have sinned and come short of the glory of God:" but not so certain that any one's repentence is real, and effective to salvation : that virtue and vice are often times so near neighbours, that we pass into each other's borders without observation, and think we do justice, when we are cruel ; or call ourselves liberal, when we are loose and foolish in our expenses, &c. That the self-accusing publican was justified, rather than the self-confident Pharisee : that if Adam in Pa- THE CLeRGYMAN S COMPANION. ,j79 radise, David in his house, Solomon in the temple, Peter in the family of Christ, Judas among the twelve apostles, and Nicholas among the deacons, and if the angels in heaven itself, did fall so atrociously, then we have all the reason in the world "not to be high- minded, but to fear ;" and when we are most confident of ourselves, " to take heed lest we fall ;" there being nothing so likely to occasion it as pride and a great opinion of ourselves, which ruined the angels, which God resists, which all men despise, and which betray us into carelessness, and a wretched, undiscerning, and . unwary spirit. These are the main parts of ecclesiastical duties and offices in the visitation of the sick ; which being seve raUy performed, as occasion requires, it remains only that the minister pray over the sick, and remind him to do all the good actions he is capable of; to call upon God for pardon ; to put his whole trust in him ; to be patient and resigned ; and even to renounce every ill thought or word, or indecent action, which the violence of his sickness may have caused in him ; to beg of God to give him his Holy Spirit to guide him in his agony, and to send his holy angels to guard him in his passage. Whatsoever is besides this, concerns the standers-by, that they do all in their respective offices diligently and temperately; that they join in prayer with the minister, with much charity and devotion ; that they make no outcries and exclamations on the departure of the soul, nor any positive judgment concerning the dying man, by his dying quietly or violently, with great fears or a cheerful confidence, with sense or without, like a lamb or Hke a lion, with convulsions and terrible agonies, or like the silent and well-spent flame of an expiring taper. For these may happen severally, according to the constitution of the persons, and the nature of the 380 the clergyman's companion. distemper that befalls them; or else according as God pleases to dispense the grace, or the punishment, for reasons only known to himself. Let us lay our hand upon our mouth, and adore the mysteries of the divine wisdom and providence, and pray to God to give the dying man rest and pardon ; and to ourselves grace to live weU, and the blessings of a holy and happy death. THE ORDER FOR THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. When any person is sick, notice shall be given thereof to the mi nister of the parish, who, coming into the sick person's house, shall say, — Peace be to this house, and to all that dwell in it. When he cometh into the sick man's presence, he shall say, kneeling down, Remember not, Lord, our iniquities, nor the iniquities of our forefathers. Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most pre cious blood, and be not angry with us for ever. Answer. Spare us, good Lord. Then the minister shall say, Let us pray. Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil. Amen. Minist. O Lord, save thy servant, Answ. Which putteth his trust in thee. Min. Send him help from thy holy place ; Answ. And evermore mightily defend him. 382 the clergyman's companion. Min. Let the enemy have no advantage of him : Answ. Nor the wicked approach to hurt him. Min. Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower, Answ. From the face of his enemy. Min. O Lord, hear our prayers : Answ. And let our cry come unto thee. Minister. O Lord, look down from heaven ; behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant. Look upon him with the eyes of thy mercy : give him comfort and sure confidence in thee ; defend him from the danger of the enemy, and keep him in perpetual peace and safety, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Hear us, Almighty and Most Merciful God and Sa viour ; extend thy accustomed goodness to this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Sanctify, we beseech thee, this thy fatherly correction to him ,- that the sense of his weakness may add strength to his faith, and seriousness to his repentance: that, if it shall be thy good pleasure to restore him to his former health, he may lead the residue of his life in thy fear and to thy glory : or else give him grace so to take thy visita tion, that, after this painful life is ended, he may dwell with thee in life everlasting ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall the minister exhort the sick person after this form, or other like. Dearly beloved, know this, that Almighty God is the Lord of life and death, and of all things to them per taining ; as youth, strength, health, age, weakness, and sickness. Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly, that it is God's visitation. And for what cause soever this sickness is sent unto you ; whether it be to try your patience, for the example of others, and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord, laudable, glorious, and honourable, to the in- THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 383 crease of glory and endless felicity ; or else it be sent unto you, to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth , offend the eyes of your heavenly Father : know you, certainly, that if you truly repent of your sins, and bear your sickness patiently, trusting in God's mercy for his dear Son Jesus Christ's sake, and render unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visitation, submitting yourself whoUy unto his will, it shall turn to your pro fit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life. N. B. If the person visited be very sick, then the curate may end his exhortation in this place, or else proceed. Take, therefore, in good part the chastisement of the Lord ; for (as St. Paul saith, in the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews), " whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth ; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye en dure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons ; for, what son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof aU are par takers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Further more, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live ? For they, verily, for a few days, chastened us after their own pleasure : but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." These words (good brother) are written in holy Scriptures for our comfort and instruction, that we should patiently and with thanksgiving bear our heavenly Father's correc tion, whensoever, by any manner of adversity, it shall please his gracious goodness to visit us. And there should be no greater comfort to Christian persons than to be made like unto Christ, by suffering patiently adversities, troubles, and sicknesses. For He himself went not up to joy, but first he suffered pain : He en tered not into his glory before he was crucified. So 384 the clergyman's companion. truly, our way to eternal joy, is to suffer here with Christ ; and our door to enter into eternal Hfe, is gladly to die with Christ, that we may rise again from death, and dwell with him in everlasting life. Now, there fore, taking your sickness, which is thus profitable for you, patiently, I exhort you, in the name of God, to remember the profession which you made unto God in your baptism. And forasmuch as, after this life, there is an account to be given unto the righteous Judge, by whom all must be judged without respect of persons ; I require you to examine yourself and your estate, both toward God and man ; so that, accusing and con demning yourself, and your own faults, you may find mercy at your heavenly Father's hand for Christ's sake, and not be accused and condemned in that fearful judg ment. Therefore I shall rehearse to you the Articles of our Faith, that you may know whether you believe as a Christian man should, or not. Here the minister shall rehearse the articles of the faith, saying thus : Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ? And in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son, our Lord : and that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost ; born of the Virgin Mary ; that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried ; that he went down into hell, and also did rise again the third day ; that he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and from thence shall come again, at the end of the world, to judge the quick and the dead ? And dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy Catholic church ; the communion of saints ; the remis sion of sins ; the resurrection of the flesh ; and ever lasting Hfe after death ? the clergyman's companion. 385 The sick person shall answer : All this I steadfastly believe. Then shall the minister examine whether he repent him truly of his sins, and be in charity with all the world ; exhorting him to for give, from the bottom of his heart, all persons that have offended him, and, if he have offended any other, to ask them forgiveness ; and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man, that he make amends to the utmost of his power. And if he hath not before dis posed of his goods, let him then be admonished to make his will, and to declare his debts, what he oweth, and what is owing unto him ; for the better discharge of his conscience, and the quietness of his executors. But men should often be put in remembrance to take order for settling of their temporal estates, whilst they are in health. These words, before rehearsed, may be said before the minister begins his prayer, as he shall see cause. The minister should not omit earnestly to move such sick persons as are of ability, to be liberal to the poor. Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty mat ter. After which confession, the priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort : Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and be lieve in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences ! And by his authority committed to me, I ab solve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And then the priest shall say the collect following : Let us pray. O most merciful God, who, according to the multi tude of thy mercies, dost so put away the sins of those who truly repent, that thou rememberest them no more ; open thine eye of mercy upon this thy servant, who 'most earnestly desireth pardon and forgiveness. Re new in him, most loving Father, whatsover hath been decayed by the fraud and malice of the devil, or by his own carnal will and frailness ; preserve and continue vol. n. c c 386 the clergyman's companion. this sick member in the unity of the church ; consider his contrition, accept his tears, assuage his pain, as shall seem to thee most expedient for him. And, forasmuch as he putteth his fuU trust only in thy mercy, impute not unto him his former sins, but strengthen him with thy blessed Spirit ; and when thou art pleased to take him hence, take him unto thy favour, through the merits of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall the minister say this Psalm. In te, Domine, speravi. — Psalm Ixxi. In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust, let me never be put to confusion : but rid me, and deliver me in thy righteousness ; incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou a strong-hold, whereunto I may alway re sort : thou hast promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the un godly ; out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou, O Lord, art the thing that I long for : thou art my hope, even from my youth. Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born : thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb ; my praise shall always be of thee. I am become as it were a monster to many : but my sure trust is in thee. O let my mouth be filled with thy praise ; that I may sing of thy glory and honour all the day long. Cast me not away in the time of age : forsake me not when my strength faileth me. For mine enemies speak against me ; and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together ; say ing, God hath forsaken him ; persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 387 Go not far from me, O God ; my God, haste thee to help me. Let them be confounded and perish that are against my soul : let them be covered with shame and disho nour that seek to do me evil. As for me, I will patiently abide alway ; and will praise thee more and more. My month shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation ; for I know no end thereof. I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God ; and will make mention of thy righteousness only. Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until now : therefore will I tell of thy wondrous works. Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am grey-headed, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for to come. Thy righteousness, O God, is very high, and great things are they that thou hast done ; O God, who is like unto thee ? Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Adding this : O Saviour of the world, who by thy cross and pre cious blood hast redeemed us, save us, and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord. Then shall the minister say : The Almighty Lord, who is a most strong tower to all them that put their trust in him ; to whom aU things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, do bow and obey ; be now and ever more thy defence, and make thee know c c 2 388 the clergyman's companion. and feel, that there is no other name under heaven given to man, in whom, and through whom, thou mayest re ceive health and salvation, but only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And after that shall say : Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit thee. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, both now and evermore. Amen. THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. Forasmuch as all mortal men be subject to many sudden perils, diseases, and sicknesses, and ever uncertain what time they shall depart out of this life ; therefore, to the intent they may be always in readiness to die, whensoever it shall please Almighty God to call them, the curates shall diligently, from time to time (but especially in time of pestilence, or other infectious sickness), exhort their parishioners to the often receiving the Holy Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Chirst, when it shall be publicly adminis tered in the church ; that so doing, they may, in case of sudden visi tation, have the less cause to be disquieted for lack of the same. But if the sick person be not able to come to the church, and yet is de sirous to receive the Communion in his house, then he must give timely notice to the curate, signifying also how many there are to communicate with him (which shall be three, or two at the least), and having a convenient place in the sick man's house with all things necessary, so prepared, that the curate may reverently mi nister, he shall there celebrate the Holy Communion, beginning with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, here following. The Collect. Almighty and everlasting God, maker of mankind, who dost correct those whom thou dost love, and chas- tisest every one whom thou dost receive ; we beseech thee to have mercy upon this thy servant visited with thine hand, and to grant that he may take his sickness patiently, and recover his bodily health (if it be thy gracious will) ; and whenever his soul shall depart from the body, it may be without spot presented unto thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Epistle, Heb. xii. 5. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him : for whom the & 390 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. Lord loveth, he chasteneth ; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. i The Gospel, St. John v. 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlast ing life, and shaU not come into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto life. After which, the priest shall proceed according to the form pre scribed for the Holy Communion, beginning at these words : [Ye that do truly.] ' At the time of the distribution of the Holy Sacrament, the priest shall first receive the Communion himself, and afterward minister unto them that are appointed to communicate with the sick, and last of all to the sick person. But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the curate, or for lack of company to receive with him, or by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's body and blood, the curate shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and steadfastly be lieve Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the cross for him, and shed his blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the bene fits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the body and blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth. When the sick person is visited, and receiveth the Holy Commu nion all at one time, then the priest, for more expedition, shall cut off the form of the visitation, at the Psalm [In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust], and go straight to the Communion. In the time of the plague, sweat, or other such-like contagious times of sickness or diseases, when none of the parish or neigh bours can be gotten to communicate with the sick in their houses, ior fear of the infection ; upon special request of the diseased, the minister only may communicate with him. At the time ofthe celebration ofthe Communion, the communicants being conveniently placed for receiving of the Holy Sacrament, the priest shall say this exhortation :— Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye that mind to come to the Holy Communion of the body and blood of our THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 391 Saviour Christ, must consider how St. Paul exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves, before thy presume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that Holy Sa crament (for then we spirituaUy eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood ; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us ; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us) ; so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily : for then we are guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour ; we eat and drink our own damnation, not considering the Lord's body ; we kindle God's wrath against us ; we provoke him to plague us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent ye truly for your sins past; have a lively and steadfast faith in Christ our Saviour ; amend your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men ; so shall ye be meet partakers of these holy mysteries. And, above all things, ye must give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both God and man, who did humble himself even to the death upon the cross, for us miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death, that he might make us the chil dren of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. And to the end that we should always remember the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ, thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by his precious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us, he hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of his love, and for a continual remembrance of his death, to our great and endless comfort. To Him, therefore, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, let us give (as we are most bounden) continual thanks ; sub- 392 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. mitting ourselves wholly to his holy will and pleasure, and studying to serve him in true holiness and righte ousness all the days of our life. Amen. Then shall the priest say to them that come to receive the Holy Communion, Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways, draw near with faith, and take this Holy Sacrament to your comfort, and make your humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeHng upon your knees. Then shall this general confession be made, in the name of all those that are minded to receive the Holy Communion, by one of the ministers, both he and all the people kneeling humbly upon their knees, and saying ; Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men, we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy Divine Ma jesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings : the remembrance of them is grievous to us, the burden of them is intolera ble. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father : for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past : and grant we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall the priest (or the bishop, being present) stand up, and, turning himself to the people, pronounce this absolution : Almighty God our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 393 from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall the priest say : Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto aU that truly turn to him : Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Matt. xi. 28. God so loved the world, that he gave his only-be gotten Son, to the end that all that beUeve in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John iii. 16. Hear also what St. Paul saith : This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. 1 Tim. i. 15. Hear also what St. John saith : If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and he is the propitiation for our sins. 1 John ii. 1, 2. After which, the priest shall proceed, saying, Lift up your hearts. Answ. We lift them up unto the Lord. Priest. Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. Answ. It is meet and right so to do. Then shall the priest say : It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father,* Almighty, Everlasting God. Here shall follow the proper preface, according to the time if there be any specially appointed ; or else immediately shall follow, Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all * These words [Holy Father] must be omitted on Trinity Sunday. 394 the clergyman's COMPANION. the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glo rious name, evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ! heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen. PROPER PREFACES. On Christmas-day, and seven days after. Because thou didst give Jesus Christ, thine only Son, to be born as at this time 'for us, who by the operation of the Holy Ghost was made very man of the substance of the Virgin Mary his mother, and that without spot of sin, to make us clean from all sin : therefore with angels, &c. On Easter-day, and seven days after. But chiefly are we bound to praise thee for the glorious resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord : for He is the very paschal lamb which was offered for us, and hath taken away the sins of the world ; who by his death hath destroyed death, and, by his rising to life again, hath restored us to everlasting life : therefore, &c. On Ascension-day, and seven days after. Through thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who, after his most glorious resurrection, manifestly appeared to all his apostles, and in their sight ascended up into heaven to prepare a place foi us ; that where he is, thither we might also ascend, and reign with him in glory : therefore, &c; On Whitsunday, and six days after. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, according to whose most true promise the Holy Ghost came down as at this time from heaven, with a sudden great sound, as it had been a mighty wind, in the likeness of fiery the clergyman's COMPANION. 395 tongues lighting upon the apostles, to teach them, and to lead them to all truth, giving them both the gift of divers languages, and also boldness with fervent zeal constantly to preach the gospel unto all nations, whereby we have been brought out of darkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of thee, and of thy Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, &c. On the Feast of Trinity only. Who art one God, one Lord ; not only one Person, but three Persons in one substance. For that which we be lieve of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or inequality. Therefore, &c. After each of which prefaces, shall be immediately sung or said : Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glo rious name, evermore praising thee, and saying ; Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ! heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen. Then shall the priest, kneeling down at the Lord's table, say, in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion, this prayer following : We do not presume to come to this thy table, O mer ciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy ta ble. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the fle*sh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. 396 the clergyman's companion. When the priest, standing before the table, hath so ordered the bread and wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands, he shall say the prayer of consecration, as followeth : Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption, who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfac tion, for the sins of the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command us, to continue a per petual memory of that his precious death, until his coming again ; hear us, O merciful Father, we most humbly beseech thee, and grant that we, receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine, according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ's holy institution, in remem brance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood ; who, in the same night that he was betrayed,* took bread, and when he had given thanks, t he brake it, and gave it to his dis ciples, saying, Take, eat ;t this is my body, which is given for you : do this in remembrance of me. Like wise after supper,§ he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this ; for this|| is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins : do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remem brance of me. Amen. Then shall the minister first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same to the bishops, priests, and deacons, in like manner (if any be present), and after * Here the priest is to take the patent into his hands. •f- And here to break the bread. J And here to lay his hands upon all the bread. § Here he is to take the cup into his hand. || And here to lay his hand upon every vessel (be it chalice or flagon) in which there is any wine to be consecrated. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 397 that to the people also in order, into their hands, all meekly kneel ing. And when he delivereth the bread to any one, he shall say, The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting Hfe ! Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee ; and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving. i And the minister that delivereth the cup to any one, shall say : The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life ! Drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and be thankful. If the consecrated bread or wine be all spent before all have com municated, the priest is to consecrate more, according to the form before prescribed, beginning at [Our Saviour Christ in the same night, &c] for the blessing of the bread and, [likewise after supper, &c] for the blessing of the cup. When all have communicated, the minister shall return to the Lord's table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth. Then shall the priest say the Lord's prayer, the people repeating after him every petition. Our Father which art in heaven ; Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. After this shall be said as followeth : O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy humble servants entirely desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to ac cept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ; most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his 398 THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. blood, we and all thy whole church may obtain remis sion of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion. And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee ; humbly beseeching thee, that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion, may be filled with thy grace and heavenly benedic tion. And although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice ; yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and ser vice ; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our of fences, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; by whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen. Or this : Almighty and everlasting God, we most heartilythank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness toward us ; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people ; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son. And we most humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works, as thou hast prepared for us to walk in, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen. Then shall be said or sung : Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 399 will toward men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee, for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord, the only begotten Son Jesus Christ ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us : thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us : thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer : thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us : For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord ; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen. Then the priest (or bisbop, if he be present) shall let them depart with this blessing. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord ; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you al ways. Amen. PROPER COLLECTS THAT MAY BE USED WITH ANY OF THE PRAYERS FOR THE SICK. Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants ; and, that we may obtain our petitions, make us to ask such things as shall please thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the midst of life we are in death : of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased ? Yet, O Lord God most holy, 400 the clergyman's companion. O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deHver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our heart ; shut not thy merciful ears to our prayers, but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge Eternal, suffer us not at the last hour, for any pains of death, to faU from thee. Amen. O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, we beseech thee to raise us from the death of sin to the life of right eousness, that, at the general resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight, and may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal glory ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be pun ished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. O most mighty God, and merciful Father, who hast compassion upon all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, who wouldest not the death of a sinner, but that he should rather turn from his sin, and be saved ; mercifully forgive us our trespasses ; relieve and com fort us, who are grieved and wearied with the burden of our sins. Thy property is always to have mercy ; to thee only it appertaineth to forgive sins : Spare us, therefore, Good Lord, spare us whom thou hast re deemed. Enter not into judgment with thy servants, who are vile earth, and miserable sinners ; but so turn thine anger from us, who meekly acknowledge our vile- ness, and truly repent us of our faults, and so make haste to help us in this world, that we may ever live with thee in the world to come ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. O God, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 401 humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men, that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health among all nations, More especially we pray for the good estate of the ca tholic church, that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all, who profess and caU them selves Christians, may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are anywise afflicted in mind, body, or estate (especially him for whom our prayers are desired) ; that it may please thee to com fort and relieve them according to their several neces sities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions, and this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give mere than either we desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giv ing us those good things which we are not worthy, to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. O God, merciful Father, that despisest not the sigh ing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sor rowful, mercifuUy assist our prayers that we make be fore thee in all our troubles and adversities, whensoever they oppress us ; and graciously hear us, that those evils which the craft and subtlety of the devil or man worketh against us be brought to nought, and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed ; that we thy servants, being hurt by no persecutions (or afflictions), may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy church ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. We beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon VOL. II. D D 402 the clergyman's companion. our infirmities, and for the glory of thy name turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have de served ; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and ever more serve thee in hoHness and pureness of living, to thy honour and glory ; though our only mediator and advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy tender love to mankind has sent thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility, mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, who knowest our necessities before we ask, and our igno rance in asking, we beseech thee to have compassion upon our infirmities ; and those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us for the worthiness of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. PRAYERS FOR THE SICK. A general Prayer for the Acceptance of our Devotions for the Sick. (From Bishop Andrews.) O Lord, it is a great presumption that one sinner should dare to commend another to thy Divine Ma jesty. And who would not fear to undertake it ? But thy commandment it is, " That we should pray for the sick members of thy church, and mourn with them that mourn:" and thou hast promised that prayers thus made, thou wilt receive. And now behold, O Lord, THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 403 we that are no way meet, but unworthy, utterly unwor thy, to ask for aught for ourselves, charity and compas sion so binding us are enforced to become suitors to thee for others, even for this thy servant, now afflicted by thee. Of thee we hope ; of thee we desire; to thee we pray, in the most meek and humble manner, and even from the bottom of our hearts. O Lord, that which thou mightest justly deny to our unworthiness, deny not, we beseech thee, to thine own gracious good ness. O Lord, forgive us our sins ; O Lord, forgive us our sins, our great and grievous sins, oft and many times committed, long and many years continued ; so that we may be meet to pray for others, and our prayers be made unto thee in an acceptable time. Graciously look upon our afflictions. Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts. Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people. Favourably with mercy hear our prayers. Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ. Graciously hear us, O Christ ; graciously hear us, O Lord Christ. Amen. Particular Prayers for the Sick. (From Bishop Patrick.) O most gracious God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast united us all in one body, that we should love one another, and if one member suffers, all the members should suffer with it ; we humbly implore thy tender mercies toward this thy servant, of whose afflicted condition we desire to have a compassionate sense and feeling. Look graciously upon him, O Lord, and visit him with thy salvation. Vouchsafe him such consolations from above, as we should desire for ourselves, were we in his extremity. Give him a true penitent heart for d d 2 404 the clergyman's companion. all the offences that he hath at any time committed ; together with a lively faith in thy Son Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners. Give him the comfort of a holy hope, that thou acceptest his repentance, and faithful devotion to thee. Support him by this hope under all his pain, and enable him patiently to submit to thy fatherly correction. Send him help now in time of need both for his soul and for his body. Bless the means for his recovery ; and, if it be thy good pleasure, restore him speedily to his formerhealth, and inspire him with a serious resolution to serve thee more zealously all his days. Or if thou hast otherwise resolved in thy wise coun sels, deliver him from the fear of death, assist him in his last agony, give him an easy and cheerful passage out of this life, and send thy holy angels to conduct him into rest and peace with our Lord Jesus, for the same Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. (From Bishop Taylor.) I. Almighty God, Father of mercies, the God of peace and comfort, of rest and pardon, we thy servants, in duty to thee, and charity to our brother, humbly beg mercy of thee for him, to descend upon his body and his soul. We come to thee in the name of Jesus, pray ing thee to pardon the sins of this thy servant, and to bury them in the grave of Him that died for us, that they may never rise up in judgment against him, nor bring him, in the day of trial, to shame and confusion of face. Amen. II. Give thy servant, O Lord, patience in his sorrows, comfort in his sickness, and restore him to health, if it seem good to thee. And, however thou shalt deter- the clergyman's companion. 405 mine concerning him, yet make his repentance perfect, and his faith strong, and his hope steadfast, and his passage safe ; that when thou shalt call his soul from the body, it may enter into the rest of the sons of God, and the bosom of blessedness, and be with the holy Jesus. Amen. III. O Lord, thou knowest all the necessities, and all the infirmities of thy servant : fortify his soul with spiritual joys, and perfect resignation ; and take from him all inordinate affections to this world ; and enlarge his heart with desires of being with thee, in thy heavenly kingdom. IV. Lord, let not any pain or passion discompose the order of his thoughts, or his duty ; and lay no more upon thy servant than thou wilt make him.able to bear ; and together with the temptation, do thou provide a way to escape ; even by the mercies of a longer and more holy life, or by the mercies of a blessed death ; even as it pleaseth thee, O Lord, so let it be. Amen. V. Lord, let the tenderness of his conscience, and the Spirit of God, call to mind his sins, that they may be confessed and repented of ; and let thy powerful grace remove from his soul every root of bitterness ; and in the union of the holy Jesus, and in" the love of God, and in the communion of all the saints, let his soul be presented to thee blameless, and entirely pardoned, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 406 the clergyman's companion. A larger Form of Prayer for the Sick. (From Bishop Patrick.) O Lord, the Father of our spirits, who givest us life, and breath, and all things, and hast not thought a crown of everlasting life too much to promise us, we believe that thou wilt not deny us what is needful and fit for us, both for our souls and our bodies, in our pas sage through this world, to that of honour, glory, and immortaHty. In this confidence, we more particularly recommend this thy sick servant to thy infinite and most compassionate mercy. Settle in his soul a stead fast faith, that thou dost not willingly grieve the chil dren of men, but intendest good to him, by this thy fatherly correction. And now since aU other pleasures and enjoyments fail him, represent thyself more effec tually upon him, as the only support and stay of his hope, and rock of salvation. Whereinsoever he hath neglected thee, or committed any offence against thee, make him deeply sensible of it, and heartily sorrowful for aU his transgressions. And as he earnestly desires pardon and forgiveness of thee, so work in him a serious resolution to live more circumspectly and right eously for the time to come. Assist him graciously, O Lord, that he may give a proof of his sincere intentions hereafter to submit .himself "in all things to thy will, by his patient submission to thy fatherly correction. O, that he may so quietly, so meekly, so humblv, and cheerfuUy, resign his will unto thee, to suffer what thou inflictest, that he may be the more disposed to do readily whatsoever thou commandest. For which end, make him thoroughly apprehensive of thy sovereign power and authority over all creatures. Possess him with a great reverence of thy wisdom and justice, with an entire confidence in thy goodness and love, with a THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 407 thankful remembrance of all thy past mercies to him, that so he may the better endure what thou layest upon him at present, and may ever follow thy directions, and submit to thy orders, and deHght to do thy will, O God. Bless the remedies which are used for restoring him to his former health, that he may live to perform his duty with greater care ; or, if thou hast otherwise ap pointed, accept graciously of his purposes of amend ment, and dispose him to return back his spirit willingly unto thee who gavest it ; and with great humility and deep sense of his own undeservings, to expect thy mercy declared in Christ Jesus. Fix his mind stead fastly upon him, who hath led the way through the grave unto heaven, that he may not be affrighted with the approaches of death, but, looking beyond it to that high and holy place, where the Lord Jesus is, may re- " joice in hope of eternal glory. And grant that every one of us, in our best state of health, may consider perpetually how frail and weak we are : that so we may not abuse ourselves by an intem perate use of any sensual pleasures, nor load our minds with the cares of this life, nor spend our days in a vain pursuit of the honour and glory of this world : but may pass all the time of our sojourning here, in fear ; and may live so righteously and soberly in this present world, as becomes those who expect shortly to give an account to thee, who will judge aU men according to their works. Hear us, O Lord, we most humbly be seech thee, through Christ Jesus our merciful and compassionate Redeemer. Amen. Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in these our suppli cations and prayers, and dispose the way of thy ser vants toward the attainment of everlasting salvation ; that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious 108 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. and ready help ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From Dr. Hammond.) O Lord, bless, keep, and defend, this thy servant with thy heavenly grace and benediction, that he may con tinue thine for ever, and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he comes to thy everlast ing kingdom. Let thy mighty hand and outstretched arm, O Lord, be ever his defence ; thy mercy and loving-kindness in Jesus Christ thy dear Son, his salvation ; thy true and holy word, his instruction ; thy grace and Holy Spirit, his comfort and consolation, both now and at the hour of death. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. * Amen. PROPER PSALMS FOR THE SICK. I. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation : neither chasten me in my displeasure. Psalm vi. 1 . 2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak : O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. Psalm vi. 2. 3. My soul also is sore troubled : but, Lord, how long wilt thou punish me ? Psalm vi. 3. 4 Thine arrows stick fast in me : and thy hand presseth me sore. Psalm xxxvii. 2. 5 There is no health in my flesh, because of thy * Heb. xiii. 20, 21 . THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. 409 displeasure : neither is there any rest in my bones, by reason of my sin. Psalm xxxviii. 3. 6 For my wickednesses are gone over my head, and are like a sore burden too heavy for me to bear. Psalm xxxviii. 4. 7 I am feeble and sore smitten : I have roared for the very disquietness of my heart. Psalm xxxviii. 8. 8. My heart panteth, my strength hath failed me, and the sight of mine eyes is gone from me. Psalm xxxviii. 10. 9 Therefore is my spirit vexed within me : my heart within me is desolate. Psalm, cxliii. 4. 10 Turn thee, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O save me for thy mercies' sake. Psalm vi. 4. 11. Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble : incline thine ear unto me when I call ; O, hear me, and that right soon. Psalm cii. 2. 12 For my days are consumed away like smoke : my heart is smitten down and withered like grass. Psalm cii. 3, 4. 13 And that because of thine indignation and wrath : for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. Psalm cii. 10. 14 But I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my age : forsake me not when my strength faileth me. Psalm cii. 24. 15 Wherefore in thee, O Lord, have I put my trust : let me never be put to confusion. Psalm lxxi. 1. II. PSALM LI. Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great good ness : according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences. 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity ; and cleanse me from my sin. 410 the clergyman's companion. 3 For I acknowledge my faults : and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged. 5 Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. 6 But, lo, thou requires t truth in the inward parts ; and thou shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly. 7 Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shaU be clean ; thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness ; that the bones thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Turn thy face from my sins ; and put out all my misdeeds. 10 Make me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me. 1 1 Cast me not away from thy presence : and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. 12. O, give me the comfort of thy help again ; and stablish me with thy free Spirit. 13 Then I shall teach thy ways unto the wicked ; and sinners shaU be converted unto thee. III. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and consider my desire : hearken unto me for thy truth and righteousness sake. Psalm cxlii. I. 2 And enter not into jndgment with thy servant : for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Psalm cxliii. 2. 3 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit : a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalmli. 17. 4 Lord, thou knowest all my desire : and my groan ing is not hid from thee. Psalm xxxviii. 9- THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 411 5 I stretch forth my hands unto thee : my soul gasp- eth unto thee, as a thirsty land. Psalm cxliii. 6. 6 Hear me, O Lord, and that soon, for my spirit waxeth faint : hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Psalm cxlin. 7. 7 Haste thee to help me, O Lord God of my salva tion. Psalm xxxviii. 22. 8 For thou art a place to hide me in : thou shalt preserve me from trouble : thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Psalm xxxii. 8. 9 Into thy hands I commend my spirit : for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Psalm xxxi. 5. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. A Declaration of Forgiveness. (From Bishop Cosins.) I do most humbly desire all, and every one, whom I have offended, that they would vouchsafe to forgive me : and I do freely and heartily forgive all the world whereinsoever any hath offended me, or done me any manner of injury whatsoever, even as I desire to be forgiven of God, and to be absolved from my sins, for the merits of my blessed Redeemer. 412 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. OCCASIONAL PRAYERS FOR THE SICK. A Prayer for a Person in the beginning qfhis Sickness. (From Bishop Taylor.) O Almighty God, merciful and gracious, who in thy justice didst send sorrow and tears, sickness and death, into the world, as a punishment for man's sins, and hast comprehended aU under sin, and this sad covenant of sufferings, — not to destroy us, but that thou mightest have mercy upon all, making thy justice to minister to mercy, short afflictions to an eternal weight of glory ; as thou hast been pleased to turn the sins of this thy servant into sickness, so turn, we beseech thee, his sickness to the advantage of hoHness and rehgion, of mercy and pardon, of faith and hope, of grace and glory. Thou hast now called him to suffer. Lord, re lieve his sorrow and support his spirit, direct his thoughts and sanctify his sickness, that the punishment of his sin may be to him a school of virtue. Make him behave as a son under discipHne, humbly and obediently, evenly and patiently, that he may be brought by this means nearer to thee ; that if he shall recover his for mer health, he may return to the world with greater strength of spirit, to run a new race of stricter holiness and more severe religion ; or if he shall pass hence through the gates of death, he may rejoice in the hope of being admitted into that heavenly society, in which all thy saints and servants shall be comprehended to eternal ages. Grant this, for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen. the clergyman's companion. 413 A Prayer for Thankfulness in Sickness. O God, wonderful both in thy mercies and judgments, grant that the sense of thy servant's present afflictions may not cause him to forget thy former mercies, which thou hast bestowed upon him .- O, therefore, let the re membrance of those many and great blessings that he hath so long enjoyed at thy hand, be now the proper motives and incentives to the virtues of patience and humility, causing him cheerfully to resign himself to thy blessed will under all the dispensations of thy "pro vidence, though ever so hard ; and patiently to wait for the return of thy loving-kindness in Jesus, which is better than life. Amen. A Prayer for a- Blessing on the Means used for a sick Person's Recovery. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) O gracious Lord, by whose word man lives, and not by any human means alone, direct, we pray thee, the counsels of those who prescribe to this thy servant, and prosper the medicines which are used to procure him ease and strength ; but let not his confidence in them lessen anything of his dependance on thee, but make him sensible that every good gift is from thee, and that it is thou that givest us help in time of need. To whom therefore, but to thee, should we flee in the day of our visitation ? since it is thy blessing only that maketh the means we use effectual ; and, however vain the use of them is without thee, if thou biddest them, the things or accidents which we do not think of, or regard, shall recover us. O, therefore, as their part, who administer to him, is the care, so let thine, O God, be the blessing, and his the comfort : and as he regards them as thy instruments, so let him own thee for the Author of his mercies, and to thee give thanks, and pay his vows and 414 the clergyman's companion. services : through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer for a sick Person when there appears some Hope qf Recovery. (From Bishop Patrick.) We thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast heard our prayers for thine afflicted ser vant, and given him some respite and hopes of recovery from this great illness. Blessed be thy goodness, that he hath not made his bed in the dust, but is likely to continue still amongst us, in the land of the Hving. Blessed be thy goodness for so great (and lately unex pected) mercy to him. And, O thou Preserver of man ! who hast begun to revive and quicken him again ; go on to perfect his cure, and forsake not the work of thy own hands. Re pair all the decays in his outward man, that his mind may also recover its former strength, to praise and bless thy goodness to him. And visit him, in the meantime, with thy heavenly consolation from, above. FiU him with comfortable thoughts of thy love, and of the tender compassionate care which our Lord Jesus takes of all his afflicted servants. Endue him still with more patient sub mission to thy wiU, and enable him both quietly to wait upon thee, till thou hast finished his recovery, and also to continue steadfastly resolved to serve thee more 'faithfully with his restored strength, through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. Another, in Behalf qf the sick Person, when he finds any Abatement of his Distemper. Accept, O Lord, of the unfeigned thanks of thy ser vant for abating the fury of his present distemper, and giving him some hopes of raising him up again to praise thee in the great congregation. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 415 It is a great mercy, O Lord, and owing to thy good ness only, that his senses are preserved entire, and that he hath some respite, after so much uneasiness and pain, through the violence of his iUness. O perfect, if it be thy blessed will, what thou hast begun in him, and say to the distemper, " It is enough." Teach him hence to look up to thee continuaUy, as the rock of his salvation, whence only he is to expect comfort and support : and give him grace always to make such a right use of thy favours, that he may dafly find himself surrounded by the light of thy countenance, and enjoy the blessings of thy heavenly benediction in aU his ways, whether in adversity or prosperity, in sick ness or in health. Even so, blessed Lord, continue to assist, strengthen, comfort, and bless him, both now and for evermore, through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer for one who is dangerously ill. O Almighty God, " gracious, and merciful, and long- suffering, whose compassions fail not ;" look down, we beseech thee, upon the low and distressed state of thy servant, now lying in the extremity of sickness. The harder his iUness presses upon him, the louder does it call upon thee for help. O be merciful therefore unto him, according to the necessity of his case, and ac cording to the multitude of thy tender mercies in Jesus Christ. Rebuke the distemper, that it prevail not over him to death ; but turn its malevolent aspect into a joyous expectation of life. In as great a danger as he is, yet if thou wilt, O Lord, we know thou canst make him whole ; if thou speakest the word, it shall be done. In submission, therefore, to thy most wise and good dis posal of all things, we beg this mercy at thy hands, that thou wouldest let " this" bitter cup "pass away" from thy servant, and cause " a way for" him " to escape" out of 416 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. this dangerous condition. " O spare him a little, and his soul shall live." Amen. A Prayer for a sick Person when Sickness continues long upon him,. (From Bishop Patrick.) Look down, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee, with an eye of compassion on thy poor distressed servant who, hath lain so long under this severe affliction ; and by how much the outward man is decayed and brought low by the tediousness of the distemper's continuing on him, by so much the more do thou be pleased to sup port him in the inner man by the gracious assistance of thy Holy Spirit. Give him unfeigned repentance for all the errors of his past life, and steadfast faith in thy Son Jesus Christ ; a comfortable assurance of the truth of all his precious promises, a lively hope of that im mortal bliss in which he reigns for evermore, and a strong sense of thy fatherly love to him, and care over him, which may make him heartily love thee, and en tirely confide in thee, and absolutely resign both soul and body to thy wise disposal. We know there is nothing too hard for thee ; but that if thou wflt thou canst bring him up even from the gates of death, and grant him a longer continuance among us. May it be thy good pleasure, O most gra cious God, still to continue him here ; spare him, O Lord, and deliver him also speedily from this misery, under which he hath so long groaned. Bless all the means that are used for his recovery and for the support of his spirits, and give him refreshment during this te dious sickness. Release him from his pain, or grant him some ease, or else increase and strengthen his pa tience. Help him, in remembrance of thy past loving- kindness, to trust in thy goodness and submit to thy THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 417 wisdom, and bear with an equal mind what thou think- est fit to lay upon him ; so that approving himself to thee in these and all other virtues, while thou triest him by so sore an affliction, he may say at the last, with the holy Psalmist, " It was good for me that I was in trouble." Unto thy infinite mercies we recommend him, and to the compassionate kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who we hope will hear aU the prayers of his friends for him, everywhere, and send his Holy Spirit to be his comforter, and his good angels to be his guardians, and direct those who are to advise and prescribe the means of his restoration, and bring him to praise thee again in the assemblies of thy saints upon earth ; or (if thou hast otherwise disposed in thy wise counsel) to praise thee in the great assembly of saints and angels in hea ven ; through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour, to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit, be aU praise, love, and obedience, world without end. Amen. Prayer for the Grace of Patience, and a suitable Be haviour in a sick Person to Friends and Attendants. Help thy servant, O thou merciful Redeemer and lover of souls, to undergo this load of affliction, which thou hast laid upon him, with patience. " Lead him" gently by the hand to " the waters of comfort," and let " thy rod" and " thy staff support" him, now that he is obliged to " walk in the valley and shadow of death." Let him consider thee, O blessed Jesus, in all thy weary pilgrimage and sufferings here upon earth, before thou enteredst into glory, " that he he not weary and faint in his mind." If relief does not come from thee so soon as he ex pects or desires, enable him still to hold out with long- suffering, and to wait with patience for it. And what soever thou doest with him, O Lord, let him be "dumb, VOL. II. E E 418 the clergyman's companion. and not open his mouth" to murmur or repine, because it is " thy doing." Make him acquiesce and rest satis fied, even in the bitterest dispensations of thy provi dence ; and let no pains or sufferings ever drive him from thee, considering that no " temptation hath be fallen him" but " what is common to men." And, together with this patience toward thee, give him patience, O merciful Lord, toward all those who kindly and charitably minister to him, and attend about him. Keep him from being humorsome, and showing crossness to their good counsels, or from being cause lessly angry and exceptious against their kind endea vours. If any evil accidents or indiscretions happen, let him not presently be outrageous to aggravate them, or break out into any reproachful or unseemly behaviour against them ; but let him be pleased with the least expression of their kindness, and interpret everything favourably ; and on aU occasions let him make it his study to oblige those who are obHging to him in this time of necessity, receiving with thankfulness their good offices, and praying God to reward them, for his Son Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. A Prayer for spiritual Improvement by Sickness. (From Dr. Inet.) 0 merciful Father, who scourgest those whom thou lovest, and chastisest those whom thou wilt receive, let thy loving correction purify thy servant, and make him great in thy favour by his present humiliation. O let him learn " thy statutes" in this school of " af fliction :" let him " seek thee early" in it ; and when his " heart is overwhelmed, lead him to the rock of salvation." Let thy " rod" awaken him from his former security THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 419 in sin, and let him sensibly find that thou " chastisest him for his profit, that he may be partaker of thy holi ness." Teach him, by this proof of thy fatherly correction, to be more dutiful for the time to come ; to repent of his former offences, and to " redeem the time past," by a double diligence for the future, if thou shalt in mercy raise him up again. Let the remainder of his life be thine, and let nothing separate him from thy love and service, but let it be his whole care and study to pro vide oil for his lamp, and prepare for eternity; that so " all the days of his appointed time he may wait till his change come," and be ready whensoever his Lord shall call him. Amen. For a sick Person who is about to make his Will. 0 Lord, who puttest into our hearts good desires, and hast inclined thy servant to " set his house in order," as well in relation to his temporal, as his spiritual, con cerns, grant that he may do it with exact justice, accord ing to the rules of our own religion, and the dictates of right reason. He unfeignedly thanks thee for thy great mercies, in having so liberally provided for him, that he may be rather helpful than chargeable to any, and die a benefactor, and not in debt. We charitably hope, that what he is now about to dispose of, was all procured by fair and righteous deal ings, that he may comfortably feel, that " it is more blessed to give than to receive." Let him be ready, with good Zaccheus, to make res titution in the best manner he is able, and to say with Samuel : " Behold, here I am : witness against me before the Lord; whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken, or whom have I defrauded ? whom have I oppressed, E e 2 420 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith ? and I wiU restore it." Lord, give him strength to order all things in as due and regular a manner as if he were well. Let his me mory be perfect, and his judgment sound, and his heart so rightly disposed, that he may do nothing amiss, or through partiality, but that justice and integrity may be seen through the whole conduct of his will. (If rich, add this.) Let the light of his charity likewise shine gloriously before men, that out of the abundance thou hast been pleased to bless him with, he may plentifuUy give to the poor and distressed, though no otherwise related to him but as they are members of Jesus Christ, and brethren and sisters of the same communion. Let him, O let him, now, O Lord, and at all times, if thou shouldst graciously continue him here any longer, make to " himself such friends ofthe unrighteous mam mon, that when these fail, they may receive him into everlasting habitations." Amen. A Prayer for a sick Penitent. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) Righteous art thou, O God, in all the pains and sor rows which punish our sins and try our patience, and we have none to accuse and complain of for the same but ourselves. This is the acknowledgment which thy servant makes, whom thou hast now afflicted. He receives it as the chastisement of a sinner, and is wilHng to bear chastisement for his sins, that he may thereby be reclaimed from them. Correct him, O Lord, that thou mayest not condemn him ; and let him he judged by thee for his sins, and judge himself for them here, THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 421 that he may have nothing but mercy without judgment to receive at thine hands hereafter. But judge him, O God, with mercy, and not in thine anger. Judge him not according as his sins have de served, but according as his weakness can bear, and according as thy compassions are wont to mitigate thy judgments : and let his afflictions work in him a true repentance, " not to be repented of, ".and prove a happy means, in the hand of thy mercy, to reclaim him per fectly from all the errors into which he hath fallen ; and to confer that rest and peace upon his souk which is denied to his body ; for our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake. Thou smitest him, O gracious God, that thou mayest cure him; and punisheth his sin, that thou mayest there by amend and reclaim the sinner ; and he is weary of his sins, which have brought upon him all these sor rows, and which, as he seems now deeply sensible, will bring infinitely worse, unless he prevent the same by his timely and sincere repentance. Help him, therefore, to search them out ; and when he sees them, let him not stop at any one, but steadfastly resolve to renounce and amend all : Let thy love make him hate every evil way, and render his purposes against them strong and resolute, and his care in ful filHng the same, vigilant and patient ; and grant that the remainder of his days may be one continual amend ment of his former errors, and dedication of himself to thy service. He desires life only that he may serve thee ; Lord, continue and confirm him in his purpose. Lord, cure his folly by his misery ; and teach him, by the loss of his ease, to purchase the blessing of true repentance, and the comfortable hopes of thy merciful acceptance thereof ; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. 422 the clergyman's companion. A Prayer for a sick Person who intends to receive the blessed Sacrament. O thou infinite and eternal Spirit, from whom every good motion of our hearts proceedeth ! who both quickenest the dead, and after thou hast given Hfe, givest the increase : increase, we beseech thee, the good seeds, of thy grace, which thou hast sown in the heart of thy servant, by inclining him to receive the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord, in which thou art more immediately present, to illuminate the faithful, and to comfort and refresh all that are "weary and heavy-laden with their sins." O, cause thy face thus comfortably to shine upon thy distressed servant, who now intends to draw near to thee in this sacrament, as thou hast commanded him. Help him, in the meantime, O Lord, to fit and pre pare himself for this holy communion : fiU his soul with reverence and godly fear ; with earnest desires and longings after divine life ; with serious repentance for aU his past offences, and hearty resolutions of Hving for ever after unto Jesus, who died for him. O let him meditate upon his bleeding Saviour with a "broken and a contrite heart," which thou hast promised "not to despise :" forgive him all that is past, and give him grace for the future, to "live more soberly, right eously, and piously, in this present world," if it shaU be thy good pleasure to continue him in it. A Prayer for a sick Person that wants Sleep. (From Bishop Patrick.) Adored be thy love, thy wonderful love, O most gra cious God, who hast so many ways expressed thy bounty toward us. Thy mercies in Christ Jesus surpass aU our thoughts ; we are not able to number all the other blessings thou hast bestowed upon us. the clergyman's companion. 423 How much do we owe thee for the quiet sleep of but one night ! We see, in this thy poor afflicted servant, how much we ought to thank thee for this single bless ing, that our eyes, when we would close them, are not held waking. Pardon, good Lord, our' ingratitude for this and all the rest of thy undeserved mercies : and be pleased graciously also to visit him, who still languishes on his sick-bed, looking up to thee from whom cometh our help. Renew his wasted spirits with comfortable sleep ; compose him to a sweet and undisturbed rest ; refresh him thereby so sensibly, that he may be restored to such a degree of strength, as may make him able, in some measure, affectionately to acknowledge thy goodness, when thou hast dealt so bountifuUy with him : or, if thou delayest to bestow that blessing on him, in the multi tude of his thoughts within him let thy comforts de light his soul. If he still continues without any rest, grant that his mind may rest, and repose itself in the bosom of thy dearest love, and may feel the most sen sible consolations from heaven, not only quieting but greatly rejoicing his heart. Preserve the use of his un derstanding, and let the enemy have no advantage of him; but make him able to say, "I will wait patiently for the Lord, till he incline his ear unto me, and hear my cry. — O, hear his prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto his cry : — O, spare him, that he may recover strength before he go hence ;"* for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. A Prayer to be said when the sick Person grows light headed. (From Bishop Patrick.) O Lord, look down from heaven in pity and compas sion, upon this thine afflicted servant, who is not able now to look up to thee : the more sorrowful his condi- * Psalm xl. 1. and xxxix. 12, 13. 424 the clergyman's companion. tion grows, the fitter object he is of thine infinite mer cies ; who acceptest, we humbly hope, of the submission he made of himself, in the beginning of his sickness, to thine almighty wisdom and goodness. And therefore, since it is thy pleasure to suffer his distemper to pro ceed to this dangerous extremity, do thou no less gra ciously love him, and delight in him, than if he could still give up himself to thy blessed will. And hear, O most merciful Father, our prayers, in his behalf, when he can no longer commend himself to thy mercies. Pardon, good Lord, pardon all his sins ; impute not to him any of his former follies ; lay not to his charge his not improving, or misusing, his reason and understanding, which we earnestly, but humbly, entreat thee to restore to him, together with such a measure of thy divine grace, as may quicken and assist Mm to employ his thoughts to the best purposes, espe cially in meditating on thy mercies, in studying thy praise, and in exhorting all others to love thee, to trust in thee, and sincerely obey thee. And while he remains thus deprived of his reason, be pleased to quiet and compose his spirits, or to pre vent all furious motions there, or quickly to abate such violent passions, if any arise : for which end, be pleased to remove all frightful imaginations far from him, and suffer not the evil one to approach him ; preserve him from doing any harm, either to himself 'or to any others. " Forsake him not, O Lord our God, be not far from him. Make haste to help him, O Lord our salvation."* " So will we give thanks unto thee for ever." " We will still be praising thee, and showing forth thy loving-kindness to those who succeed us :" " That they may set their hope in thee our God, and not forget thy works, but keep thy commandments." Amen. * Psalm xxxviii. 21, 22. THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. 425 A Prayer for a Person when Danger is apprehended by excessive sleep. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) O merciful God, let not this deep sleep, which is fallen on thy servant, prove the sleep of death ; make it the sleep of a recovering person, to relieve and revive him ; and awake him out of it in thy due time, to offer thee praise, and to labour still among us in doing thee honour and service. But if thou art pleased to take him to thyself, Lord, remember and accept of aU his former prayers and re pentance, faith and patience. Look not upon his sins, but to pardon them ; nor on his weaknesses, but to pity them ; and when he awakes in the next world, let him find himself surrounded with light and bliss, instead of gloominess and sorrow, and awake to eternal life. Lord, hear us for this thy weak servant in distress. Hear our prayers for Mm, who seems not able now to offer up any prayers to thee for himself. And accept both him and us to the blessed enjoyment of thy love ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person lying insensible on a Sick-bed. O thou Preserver of man, who knowest the frailty of our constitutions ; how soon our senses may fail us, and our understanding depart from us ; to what acci dents, distempers, and decays, our weak nature is sub ject ; even such as may make the most acute and judi cious quickly become as fools ; and the ablest and strongest, weak and insensible ; O look down, we be seech thee, upon thy servant, who now lies in such a weak and insensible condition. The less able he is to assist himself, the more need 426 the clergyman's companion. hath he of our prayers, and of thy tender mercy to him. O thou great Creator of the world, who broughtest light out of darkness, and madest aU things out of nothing, and canst restore our dead bodies again after they are mouldered into dust, be pleased to repel the clouds of darkness which now have taken away the light of our brother's understanding, and rendered him a companion for the dead. Quicken him again, O Lord, and restore him to his former senses, that his soul may bless and praise thy holy name. Hear our petitions, O Lord, and receive our prayers for our brother, that this image of death may not be converted into death itself, but that he may live to proclaim thy power, and to celebrate thy praises longer upon earth. But if it be thy will to remove him hence in this in sensible condition, O pardon, we beseech thee, all his offences, and accept of the preparation and repentance that he was able to make before the distemper pre vailed upon him in so deadly a manner. Receive him, O Lord, into the arms of thy mercy, and accept him, for thy well-beloved Son's sake ; that so this short night may quickly be turned into everlasting day ; and, after these dark shadows are removed, he may find himself 'in a heaven of happiness, where, "in thy light, he may see light for ever." Amen. A Prayer for one who hath been a notoriously wicked Liver. O Lord God, of infinite goodness and compassion, whose mercies are over all thy works ; who makest the sun to shine, and the rain to descend, upon the " unjust" as well as the "just," and are kind even to the most unthankful ; we humbly beseech thee to look down in mercy upon this thy unworthy servant, who THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 427 hath so long " trampled upon the riches of thy good ness, not knowing that it should lead to repentance." Let thy rod, therefore, awaken him now to a sense of his condition, whom thy goodness hath not re claimed, and let him stiU find mercy at thy hands, notwithstanding his continual abuse of it. Thou hast promised, O Lord, that " when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive." O make good this thy promise to thy servant here, who stands in so much need of it. " Hide thy face from his sins, and blot out all his iniquities :" though they be " red as scarlet," yet do thou make them "white as snow," by repentance, which we beg of thee to give him, and to accept, though late, through thine infinite mercies. Simon Magus, though in the "gaU of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," was exhorted to repent, and to pray for pardon : and therefore we hope the gate of life is still open for our brother, though he hath so long shut himself out of it, by going on in a course that leadeth to the " chambers of death." Blessed Lord, let thy terrors at length awaken him out of his lethargical condition, before he is overtaken by thy judgments. Afflict him here, that thou mayest spare him hereafter. Soften his heart, that he may bewail his ill-spent life, like Mary Magdalen, with tears of contrition. O quicken him to a sense of his duty, and of his danger, before it be too late : and when thou hast brought him to his right mind, receive him we be seech thee, as the compassionate father did his pro digal son, or the shepherd his lost sheep. Thou, O Lord, who didst pardon the thief upon the 428 the clergyman's companion. cross, hear our prayers for our brother, in these his great, and, for anything we know, his last agonies. And, as the forementioned instances are lively signi fications of thine unbounded goodness, and were writ ten for our comfort and instruction, that none should despair of pardon, so, with the greatest confidence, we now recommend this our distressed brother to thy divine protection, beseeching thee to forgive all that is past, and to receive him at last into thine "everlasting habitation." Amen. A Prayer for one who is hardened and impenitent. Lord God Almighty, who art the "Father of our spirits," and who " turnest the hearts of men as thou pleasest ; who hast mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy, and whom thou wilt thou hardenest ;" let thy merciful ears be open, we pray thee, to the supplica tions which we now offer to thy Divine Majesty, in behalf of this thy servant, who appears insensible of his sin and folly, and on whom all means to lead him to repentance have hitherto seemed vain and ineffec tual. Take from him, we humbly intreat thee, all ignorance and hardness of heart : remove from him all prejudice against, and contempt of, thy sacred word and ministry : let him no longer " make a mock of sin," but be sensible that the wisdom he has hitherto gloried in, is the greatest and most dangerous folly. Open thou his eyes, that he may " see the wonderful things of thy law." Show thy mercy upon him, and grant him thy salvation. Convince him of the vanity and madness, as well as danger, of his past ways. His understanding, we fear, is now darkened, and his heart hardened through the deceitfulness of sin : O, do thou enlighten his dark mind, and let him at last see the beauties of holiness, which have so long been THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. 429 hidden from his eyes. Take from him "this " stony heart, and give him a heart of flesh." Awaken his slumbering and inattentive soul, that it may delight in things agreeable to its nature, and be employed in things that make for its everlasting peace. O give him understanding, and he shall yet live. Thou that canst revive souls which are dead in sin and tres passes, and make even such as lie in the grave of cor ruption to become glorious saints and even martyrs for religion, hear our prayers for our brother, who seems to be on the brink of destruction ; and pity poor sinners that have not pity on themselves. It is the unhappiness of being long accustomed to sin, that we are not soon made sensible of our errors, nor easily made to know them. It is the pride or our nature to be unwilling to acknowledge our faults, and to confess our sins: but let thy grace, O God, teach us to deny this ungodly lust. Do thou humble in us all high and vain imaginations ; suppress all proud thoughts and haughty opinions of ourselves. Give us all (and praticularly thy servant, for whom we are now interceding,).- a sense of our own vileness ; give us unfeigned repentance for all the errors of our life past ; that, being cast down, thou mayest raise us up, and become merciful to us, miserable sinners. Let us aU find, by blessed experience, that "we grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;" and that "his commandments" are not " grievous " to us, but rather the delight and de sire of our souls ; that so at last we may be presented to him " holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight." Amen. A Prayer for a sick Woman that is with Child. O God, the help of all that put their trust in thee, the support of the weak, and the relief of the needy, look 430 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. with pity upon this woman, thy servant, who, at best, acknowledgeth herself but a weak and helpless crea ture, but much more so now, in her present condition, when thou hast added weakness to weakness, and made her to travail with much sickness, together with the burden of child-bearing. O Lord, be thou graciously pleased to proportion thy strength to her weakness, and, as pains and sor row take hold upon her, inspire her with fresh vigour and courage to rely upon thee, her only support in time of need, and the rock of her salvation. Let her not be disquieted with fear of any evil, since none can happen unto her without thy permis sion ; but give her grace patiently to resign herself to thy blessed will in all things, who knowest what is best for her, and will lay no more upon her, we trust, than thou wilt enable her to bear. Bring strength, O Lord, out of weakness, and health out of sickness ; and make her, in thy good time, a joyful mother of a hopeful child, which may do good in its generation, and be an instrument of thy glory here, and a blessed inhabitant of thy heavenly kingdom hereafter. A Prayer for a Woman in the Time of her Travail. (From Bishop Patrick.) O most Mighty Lord, who hast given us innumerable pledges of thy love, and encouraged us to trust in thee for ever, and to expect with quiet and patient minds the issue of thy wise and good providence ; we most hum bly commend thy servant, in this her extremity, to thy care and blessing ; beseeching thee to give her a gra cious deliverance, and to ease her of the burden where with she labours. We ourselves are monuments of that mercy which we beg of thee. Thou didst pre- THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 431 serve our weak and imperfect frame, before we were born. Thou hast succoured and supported us ever since, many times beyond our hopes, and always be yond our deservings. We commit ourselves and every thing belonging unto us, most heartily into thy hands ; remembering that thou hast the same power and good ness still, by which we came into the light of the living. We cannot desire to be better provided for, than as thy infinite wisdom judgeth most convenient for us ; unto that we refer ourselves, beseeching thee, if it be thy good pleasure, that her deliverance may be as speedy as her cries unto thee ; or her patience as great and long as her pains. Thou who ripenest the fruits of the earth, and then givest us the gathering of them to our comfort, blast not, we beseech thee, the fruit of the womb; but bring it to maturity, and deliver it safe into -thy servant's hands as a new pledge of thy goodness to her, to be an instrument of thy glory, and a future com fort and blessing to thy servant, who travails in so much pain with it now. Or, if thou hast otherwise deter mined, Lord, give her grace to submit to thy holy will, and to rest satisfied in thy wise appointments, and never to distrust thy goodness and care over her. Hear us, O Father of mercies, and pardon hers and all our of fences, and pity our infirmities : make us more thankful for what we have received, and more fit for the blessing which we now request ; and prepare us for all thy fu ture mercies, either in this life, or in the next, through thy infinite love and compassion declared to us, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. APrayerfor a Woman who cannot be delivered without Difficulty and Hazard. O Lord God of all comfort and consolation, who art the refuge of the distressed, and the help of all that depend upon thee ; we thy unworthy servants do now 432 the clergyman's companion. offer up our supplications at the throne of thy majesty, in the behalf of this thy servant, who is in great pain and misery. Thou hast been pleased to bring the child to the birth, but there is not strength to bring forth. On this account, thy servant is in violent agonies, crying out in her pangs, and pouring out her soul to thee in prayer. O grant that "it may be in an acceptable time." " Thou art our salvation ; thou shalt preserve us from trouble ; thou shalt compass us about with songs of de- Hverance." O let thy servant feel these blessed effects of thy goodness ; and as thou hast brought to the birth, enable her, we beseech thee, to bring forth, that she may rejoice in the workmanship of thy hands, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Consider the low estate of thine handmaid, and deli ver her "soul from death, her eyes from tears, and her feet from falHng. Gracious art thou, O Lord, and right- teous ; thou preservest the simple, and helpest those that are in misery." Help thy servant therefore now, we humbly entreat thee, who stands in so much need of it. Accept her tears, and assuage her pain, as shall seem most expedient for her. And forasmuch as she putteth her whole trust in thee, give her strength and patience proportionable to all her pains and agonies. Support her spirits under them, and, if thou pleasest, carry her safely through the same, and "make her to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice." " Restore unto her, O Lord, the joy of thy salvation, and uphold her with thy free Spirit ; then shaU she teach transgressors thy way, and sinners shall be con verted unto thee. Deliver her " from this great affliction, " O God, thou God of our salvation, and her tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." * Thy mercies and powers are still the same, and will * This is to be omitted, if it be the first child. the clergyman's companion. 433 be the same for ever. O let them now be shown in this thy servant's delivery, as they have been formerly on the like occasion ; that so, by having fresh instances of thy loving-kindness, she may still praise thee more and more. O perfect her repentance, and pardon her sins. Give her patience while she lives, and peace when she dies, and after her death, the happiness of a blessed eternity, which thou hast promised and prepared for all that love and fear thee ; through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen. A Prayer for Grace and Assistance for a Woman, after Delivery, but still in Danger. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) O Father of mercies, what thanks can we worthily give unto thee for thine unspeakable goodness to this thy servant, and her helpless infant, and for the won drous things which thou hast done for her ? The pangs of death compassed her, and she found trouble and sor row. The mouth of the pit was opened, and ready to shut itself upon her : but thou hast graciously assuaged her pains, and turned' her sorrows into joy. Lord, we wiU ever adore and magnify thy mercy, which has dealt so lovingly with her, and praise thy truth and faithfulness, which have not suffered her hopes to fail. We will never forget how mindful thou hast been of the low estate of thine handmaid ; for she has been supported by thy power, O blessed God, in her greatest weakness. She has tasted thy goodness in the midst of all her pangs and sorrows. Perfect, O Lord, that deliverance to her which thou hast most graciously begun, and let her not be lost, after the wonders which thou hast already done for her. Continue her patience, and her humble dependance on thee, under the pains and accidents to which she is vol. ii. F F 434 THE clergyman's COMPANION. still exposed. Support her spirits, and raise her up again in thy due time. Thy mercy and power are stiU the Same^ and wiU be the same for ever. O let them still be shown for her recovery, as they have been already for her delivery ; let them be shown upon her, that she may praise thee more and more* But if, in thy paternal providence, whereunto we pi'ay she may willingly Commit herself, thou hast de termined otherwise concerning her > thy blessed wiU be done. Dispose her either to life or death, as thou pleasest, only in both to thy mercy : and whether living or dyings let her still please thee, and be thou her portion. O perfect her repentance, and give her pa tience whilst she lives, and peace when she dies, and, after that, the happiness of a blessed eternity, which thou hast prepared for all that truly fear thee ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (If the child be living, this may be added :) Preserve likewise her tender infant, O Father of mer cies, and let its own weakness, and our cries, com mend it to thy care. Keep it also afterward in health and safety, and as it increases in years and stature, let it increase in wis dom, and in thy fear. We beg not for it wealth or greatness, but wisdom to know and to serve thee. For, O Lord, we do not desire life, either for ourselves or it, but tnat we may live to thee, and grow daily in love and thankfulness for all thy mercies* and in faith and patience, and all holy obedience, which may fit us for the happiness which thou hast promised ; through Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. Prayers for a sick Child. [Visitation Office.] 0 Almighty God and merciful Father, to whom alone THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 435 belong the issues of life and death ; look down from heaven, we humbly beseech thee, with the eyes of mercy upon this child, now lying upon the bed of sickness : visit him, O Lord, with thy salvation ; deliver him in thy good appointed time from his bodily pain, and save his soul for thy mercies sake ; that if it shall be thy good pleasure to prolong his days here on earth, he may live to thee, and be an instrument of thy glory, by serv ing thee faithfully, and doing good in his generation ; or else receive him into those heavenly habitations, where the souls of them that sleep in the Lord Jesus, enjoy perpetual rest and felicity. Grant this, for thy mercies sake ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) Lord, pity the troubles and weakness of this infant, and pity our sorrows who are afflicted with it, and for it. Ease it of its pains, and strengthen it when it lies struggling for Hfe. Raise it up again, if it shaU please thee, to grow in years and stature, in wisdom and vir tue ; and thereby to comfort us and glorify thee. We believe, O Almighty Father, that thou knowest best what is fit both for it and us, and wilt do what is fit for both, and therefore we leave it to thee to dis pose of it as thou pleasest. But whether it be to life or death, let it be thine in both, and either preserve it to be thy true and faithful servant here on earth, or take it to the blessedness of thy children in the king dom of heaven ; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer for a Person, who, from a State of Health, is suddenly seized with the Symptoms qf Death. O most gracious Father, Lord of heaven and earth, Judge of the living and of the dead, behold thy servants turning to thee for pity and mercy, in behalf of our- F F 2 436 the clergyman's companion. selves and this thy servant. It was but lately that we beheld him in as promising a state of health and life, as any one of us seems to be in at present, and there fore our concern is so much the greater to behold so sudden a change, and so unlooked-for an instance of our mortality. We know, O Lord, thou canst bring back from the brink of the grave, and as suddenly raise thy servant again as thou hast cast him down, and therefore we think it not too late to implore thy mercy upon him for his recovery ; at least we beg of thee to spare him a little, that he may recover his strength, and have time to make his peace with thee, "before he go hence, and be no more seen." But if it be thy wiU to remove him at this time into another world, O let the miracles of thy compassion, and thy wonderful mercy, supply to him the want of the usual measures of time, that he may fit himself for eternity. And let the greatness of his calamity be a means to procure his pardon for those defects and degrees of unreadiness which this sudden stroke hath caused. And teach us all, we beseech thee, from this unexpected fate of our brother, to be continually upon our guard, and to watch and pray, since we know not the hour when the "Master of the house cometh," whe ther "in the evening, or at midnight, or in the morning." Lord, thou hast now called thy servant before he was aware of it ; O give him such a great and effectual re pentance in this exigence, that in a short time it may be sufficient to do the work of many days. Thou re- gardest, O Lord, the sincerity of our hearts more than the measures of time, in our conversion ; accept, there fore, we beseech thee, the few minutes of thy servant's unfeigned tears and humiliation for his sins, as if they were hours and days of a longer preparation ; and let it be thy pleasure to rescue him from all the evils he de serves, and all the evils he fears, that in the songs of THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 437 eternity which angels and saints shall sing to the glory of thy name, this also may be reckoned amongst thine invaluable mercies, that thou hast redeemed his soul from death, and made him partaker of eternal life ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a sick Person, when there appeareth small Hope of Recovery. [Visitation Office.] O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need ; we fly unto thee for succour in behalf of this thy servant, here lying under thy hand in great weakness of body. Look graciously upon him, O Lord, and the more the outward man decayeth, strengthen him, we beseech thee, so much the more continually with thy grace and Holy Spirit in the inner man. Give him unfeigned repentance for all the errors of his life past, and steadfast faith in thy Son Jesus, that his sins may be forgiven and his pardon sealed in heaven, be fore he go hence, and be no more seen. We know, O Lord, that there is no work impossible with thee, and that, if thou wilt, thou canst even yet raise him up, and grant him a longer continuance among us. Yet foras much as in all appearance the time of his dissolution draweth near, so fit and prepare him, we beseech thee, against the hour of death, that after his departure hence in peace, and in thy favour, his soul may be received into thine everlasting kingdom ; through the mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son, our Saviour. Amen. A general Prayer for Preparation and Readiness to die. Lord, " what is our life, but a vapour, which appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away ?" Even at the longest, how short and transitory ! and when we think ourselves most secure, vet we know not what a 438 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. day may bring forth ; nor how soon thou mayest come, before we are aware, to caU us to our last account. Quickly shall we be as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Quickly shall we be snatched away hence, and our place here shall know us no more. Our bodies shall soon He down in the grave, and our souls be summoned to appear before the tribunal of Christ, to receive our everlasting doom ; and yet, O Lord, how do the generality of mankind live in this world, as if they were never to leave it ! How unmind ful are we all of our departure ! how improvident of our time ! how careless of our souls, and negligent in our preparations for eternity ! so that thou mightest justly cut us off in the midst of our sins, and our unpre- paredness to appear before thee. But, O God of all comfort and mercy, remember not our sins against thee, but remember thy own love to us in Jesus Christ, and thy tender.mercies which have been ever of old. O re member how short our time is, and " so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." In the days of our health and prosperity, let us, from the example of our brother's weakness, remember our own approaching fate ; and let him, from the sudden change of health to sickness, consider how few and evil all his days have been, and that there is no satisfaction in anything, but in knowing thee, O God. Lord, what have we to do in this world, but to devote ourselves wholly to thy service, and to make ready for the world to come ? O, that we may all of us be mindful of this " one thing necessary," that we may finish our " work," before we finish our " course." Quicken thy servant, O Lord, into a powerful and serious consideration of these things, now thou hast brought him iiitomore intimate acquaintance with them. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 439 Instruct and assist him in this great work of preparation to die. Show him how to do it, and help him with good success to perform it ; that when the time of his disso lution draweth near, he may have nothing else to do, but to resign himself willingly and cheerfully into thy hands, as into the hands of a merciful Creator, there to remain with thee for ever in that blessed place where sin and sickness and death shall be np more. AwWfti A commendatory Prqyerfbr a sick Person at the point of Departure. [Visitation Office.] O Almighty God, with whom do Hve the spirits of just men made perfect, we humbly commend the soul of this thy servant our dear brother into thy hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour ; humbly beseeching thee, that it may be ac ceptable in thy sight. And teach us, who survive, by this and other daily instances of mortality, to see how frail and uncertain our own condition is, and so to num ber our days that we may seriously apply our hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom, which may bring us to life everlasting ; through Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord. Amen. A Litany for a sick Person at the time of Departure. (From Bishop Andrews.) O God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy upon him •• Keep and defend him. O God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy upon him .• Save and deliver him. ' Q God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, 440 the clergyman's companion. Have mercy upon him : Strengthen and comfort him. O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, Have mercy upon him. Remember not, Lord, his offences ; call not to mind the offences of his forefathers ; but spare him, good Lord, spare thy servant, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood, and be not angry with him for ever. From thy wrath and indignation ; from the fear of death ; from the guilt and burden of his sins, and from the dreadful sentence of the last judgment ; Good Lord, deliver him. From the sting of conscience ; from impatience, dis trust, or despair ; and from the extremity of sickness or agony, which may any ways withdraw his mind from thee; Good Lord, deHver him. From the powers of darkness ; from the illusions and assaults of our ghostly enemy ; and from the bitter pangs of eternal death ; Good Lord, deHver him. From all danger and distress ; from all terrors and torments ; from all pains and punishments, both of the body and of the soul ; Good Lord, deliver him. By thy manifold and great mercies ; by the manifold and great mercies of Jesus Christ thy Son ; by his agony and bloody sweat ; by his strong crying and tear* ; by his bitter cross and passion ; by his resurrec tion and ascension ; by his intercession and mediation ; and by the graces and comforts of the Holy Ghost ; Good Lord, deliver him. In this time of extremity ; in his last and greatest need ; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment ; Good Lord, deliver him. the clergyman's companion. 441 We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God ; that it may please thee to be his defender and keeper ; to remember him with the favour thou bearest unto thy people, and to visit him with thy salvation : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to save and deliver his soul from the power of the enemy, to receive it to thy mercy, and to give him a quiet and joyful departure ; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to be merciful, and to forgive all the sins and offences which at any time of his life he hath committed against thee : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee not to lay to his charge, what, in the lust of the flesh, or in the lust of the eye, or in the pride of life, he hath committed against thee : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee not to lay to his charge, what, in the fierceness of his wrath, or in vain and idle words, he hath committed against thee : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to make him partaker of all thy mercies, and promises, in Christ Jesus : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to grant his body rest and peace, and a part in the blessed resurrection of life and glory : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to vouchsafe his soul the enjoyment of everlasting happiness, with all the blessed saints, in thy heavenly kingdom : We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world ; Grant him thy peace. 442 the clergyman's companion. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world ; Have mercy upon him. O Saviour of the world, &c. 1 • AAO rr i ¦ o ras in p. 443. Unto thy gracious, &c. J Form of recommending the Soul to God, in her Departure from the Body. ( From Bishop Cosins. ) Into thy merciful hands, O Lord, we commend the soul of this thy servant, now departing from the body. Receive him, we humbly beseech thee, into the arms of thy mercy, into the glorious society of thy saints in heaven. Amen. God the Father, who hath created thee ; God the Son, who hath redeemed thee ; God the Holy Ghost, who hath infused his grace into thee ; be now and ever- more thy defence, assist thee in this thy last trial, and bring thee to everlasting Hfe. Amen. (From Bishop Taylor. ) I. O holy and most gracious Jesus, we humbly recom mend the soul of thy servant into thy hands, thy most merciful hands : let thy blessed angels stand in minis try about thy servant, and protect him in his departure. Amen. II. Lord, receive the soul of this thy servant : enter not into judgment with him ; spare him whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and deliver him from all evil and mischief, from the crafts and assaults of the devil, from the fear of death, and from everlasting condemnation. Amen. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 443 III. Lord, impute not unto him the foUies of his youth, nor any of the errors of his life ; but strengthen him in his agony, and carry him safely through the last distress. Let not his faith waver, nor his hope fail, nor his cha rity be diminished ; let him die in peace, .and rest in hope, and rise in glory. Amen. O Saviour of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood hast redeemed us, save and help this thy departing servant, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord. Amen. Unto thy gracious mercy and protection we commit him. O Lord, bless him, and keep him. Make thy face to shine upon him, and be gracious unto him. Lift up thy countenance upon him, and give him peace both now and evermore. Amen. A consolatory Form of Devotion that may be used with the Friends or Relations of the Deceased. Sorrow not, brethren, for them which are asleep, even as others, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again ; even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good unto him. 1 Sam. iii. 18. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Isaiah lvii. 1. Though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. The honourable age is not that which standeth in length of days, nor that which is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an un spotted Hfe is old age. Wisd. iv. 7—9. 444 the clergyman's companion. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalm cxvi. 15. Yea, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord ; even so saith the Spirit ; for they rest from their la bours. Rev. xiv. 13. Let us pray. Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. Our Father which art in heaven : hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction ; again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yester day, seeing that is past as a watch in the night. As soon as thou scatterest them, they are even as a sleep, and fade away suddenly like the grass. In the morning it is green, and groweth up ; but in the evening it is cut down, dried up and withered. For we consume away in thy displeasure, and are afraid of thy wrathful indignation. Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee, and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For when thou art angry, all our days are gone ; we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. 445 Turn thee again at last, and be gracious to thy ser vants. Comfort them again, now after the time that thou hast afflicted them, and for thepresent occasion, wherein they suffer adversity. O satisfy them with thy mercy, and that soon ; so shall they rejoice, and be glad all the days of their Hfe. Most just art thou, O God, in all thy dealings with us, " our punishment is less than our iniquities deserve ;" and therefore we desire to submit with all humility and patience to this dispensation of thy divine providence. Be pleased so to sanctify it to this family, that thy grace and mercy may more abundantly flow upon thy servants. Thy property it is to bring good out of evil ; O turn that evil, which is now befallen this house, to the benefit of every one of us, that so we may be able to say, from happy experience, that "the house of mourning is better than the house of feastings," while the death of our brother, through thy blessing, shall conduce and minister to our spiritual advantage. Let the sight of his change make us the more mind ful of our own, and the sense of our loss make us cleave more steadfastly to thee, O God. Let the remembrance of his virtues make us follow his example, and the hope we have of his being blessed, cause us to " press," with the more earnestness, " toward the mark, for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus." Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness and frailty of our nature, and therefore we beseech thee to give thy servants, who are more nearly concerned in this visita tion, a constant supply of thy good Spirit, to enable them to bear it with humility, patience, resignation, and submission to thy divine will, as becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ. O that no repining thoughts may rise in their hearts to discompose their duty to ward thee, or toward their neighbour : but help them 446 the clergyman's companion. rather to think wherein they have offended thee, and carefully to amend it : to place their affections more steadfastly on those immoveable things which are above, and freely resign aU their thoughts and desires unto thee ; saying, with holy Job, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." And let the death of thy servant strike us all with such a lively sense of our mortality, as may cause us so thoroughly to die to sin, and live to grace, that when we die, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our brother doth. We evidently see, " that death is the end of all men ;" grant us therefore grace to lay it to heart, to despise the world, " to abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good ;" to delight in thy word, to study thy will, to observe thy law, and to take all possible care to promote thy honour, and our own sal vation ; that " when we go the way of all earth, we may be comforted by thy presence," and admitted into thy heavenly kingdom. Amen. Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in these our supplica tions and prayers, and dispose the way of thy servants toward the attainment of everlasting salvation ; that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Lord bless us and keep us, the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us, and give us peace, now and for evermore. Amen. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 447 OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND DEVOTIONS FOR THE SICK AND UNFORTUNATE, IN EXTRAORDINARY CASES. A Prayer for a Person whose Illness is chiefly brought on him by some calamitous Disaster or Loss, as of Estate, Relations, or Friends, tyc. (From Bishop Patrick.) O most gracious and glorious God, supreme judge and Governor of the world, " in whom we live, and move, and have our being," and from whom all the blessings we enjoy, and " every good and perfect gift, cometh," grant us, we humbly beseech thee, Such a measure of thy grace, that whenever thou art pleased to remove any of thy blessings from us, we may bear it with a perfect resignation to thy divine will ; and with all patience, humility, and contentedness of spirit, consider how unworthy we are of the least of thy mercies. More particularly, O Lord, we beseech thee to give this peaceableness and contentedness of mind to this thy servant, whom thou hast so sensibly afflicted, by taking So near and dear a blessing from him. O give him such a portion of thy blessed Spirit, and such a lively sense of his duty, that he may have power to sur mount all the difficulties he labours under, and freely to resign all his thoughts and desires unto thee, sub mitting himself entirely to thy good providence, and re solving, by thy gracious assistance, to rest contented with whatsoever thou in thy wisdom appointest for him. Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness and frailty of our nature, and therefore be pleased to comfort him in this bed of sickness ; establish him with the light of thy countenance ; and grant that no repining thoughts may increase his illness, or discompose his duty toward thee, or his neighbour : but enable him to think where in he hath offended thee, and carefully to amend his 448 the clergyman's companion. errors ; to set his affections on things above, and not on things below, and to lay up for himself treasures in heaven, even the treasures of a good life, which no dis asters or calamities shall ever be able to take from him. Grant this, O heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person who by any calamitous Disaster hath broken any qfhis Bones, or is very much bruised and hurt in his Body. (From Mr. Jenks.) O Lord, the only disposer of all events, thou hast taught us that "affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground ;" but that the disasters which befall us are by thy appoint ment. Thou art just in all thou bringest upon us : and though thy "judgments are far above out of our sight," yet we know, " that they are right, and that it is in very faithfulness thou causest us to be afflicted." "Why then should a living man complain, a man for the pu nishment of his sins ?" Let these considerations pre vail with thy servant to submit to thy dispensations. Make him resolve to bear the effects of thy displeasure, and to consider it as the just desert of his sins. O Lord, give him patience and strength, and grace, pro portionable to this great trial ; and enable him so to conduct himself under it, that after the affliction is re moved he may find cause to say, " it was good for him to be afflicted." Thou that hast torn and smitten, thou art able to heal and to comfort. Be pleased to remem ber him in this his low estate. Cause him to " search and try his ways, and turn to thee, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance." We know, O Lord, thou canst raise him up from the deepest affliction : O, let it be thy gracious will, to glorify thy power and mercy in his recovery ; or, how- The clergyman's companion. 449 ever thou shalt think fit to dispose of this "vile body," grant him, O God, a mind entirely resigned to thy will, and satisfied with thy dispensations. O, make this calamity the messenger of thy love to his soul, and the happy means of his conversion ; through Jesus Christ. Amen. A Pra,yer for a Person that is afflicted with grievous Pains of his Body. (From Mr. Jenks.) O Lord, thou art a merciful God, and dost not wil lingly afflict the children of men ; but, when necessity requires, thou chastisest us for our profit, that we may be partakers of thy holiness. Remove, we beseech thee, this affliction from thy servant, or enable him to bear what thou art pleased to lay upon him. Lord, all his desire is before thee, and his groaning is not hid from thee. Regard his affliction, when thou bearest his cry. Enter not into judgment with him, nor deal with him according to his sins, but according to thy mercy in Jesus Christ. O gracious Father, sanctify to him what thou hast laid upon him, that his present affliction may work out for him an eternal weight of glory. Support him under his pains, till it shall please thee to grant him ease and comfort. And, however thou shalt deal with him, let him not repine at thy cor rection, nor sin in charging thee foolishly. Make him sensible that thou doest nothing but what is wise and just ; nothing but what thy servant shaU one day have cause to bless and praise thee for doing. And let this consideration teach him to glorify thee in the time of his visitation, by an humble submission to thy will, and a sincere reformation under thy providential dispensa tions ; that thou mayest visit him in mercy and love, show him the joy of thy salvation ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. VOL. ii. G G 450 the clergyman's companion. A Prayer for one who is troubled with acute Pains qf the Gout, Stone, Colic, or any other bodily Distemper. (From Mr. Spinkes.) O blessed God, just and holy, who dost not wilHngly afflict the children of men, withhold not, we beseech thee, thy assistance from this thy servant in the extre mity of his pain. His sorrows are increased, and his soul is fuU of trouble. He has none to flee unto, for the ease and mitigation of his agonies, but to thee, O Lord. He freely owns that his sufferings are infinitely less than he has deserved ; yet, since they pierce deep, and are become almost too heavy for him to bear, we presume to call upon thee for aid ; and to entreat thee not to punish him according to his deserts. " For if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it ?" spare him therefore' for thy mercy's sake ; and correct him "not in thine anger, lest thou bring him to nothing." Endue him with that patience which may enable him cheerfully to submit to thy chastisement ; and grant him an unfeigned repent ance for all his sins. Comfort his soul, which melteth away for very heaviness, and let thy loving mercy come unto him. Sanctify this' thy fatherly correction to him, that it may be for thy glory and his advantage. And when thy gracious ends in afflicting him shall be ac complished, which we know are not for "thy pleasure but for his. profit, give him, we beseech thee, a fresh occasion to rejoice in thy saving health; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person in the Small-Pox, or any such like raging infectious Disease. O gracious and merciful Father, the only giver of health, look down, we beseech thee, with an eye of compassion, upon thy miserable and disconsolate ser- the clergyman's companion. 451 vant, from whom thou hast taken this great and valu able blessing; and, instead of it hast fiUed every part of his body with a sore disease. Teach him, O Lord, and teach us all from hence, to consider how soon the beauty of life is blasted Hke a flower, and our " strength dried up like a potsherd," that we may not put our trust in any of these transitory things, but in thee only, the living God, who art able to save and to destroy, to kill and to make aHve. Our brother, whom we now behold a spectacle of misery, was lately like one of us, in perfect health. But now " thou makest his beauty to consume away, as it were a moth fretting a garment. Thine arrows stick fast in him, and thy hand presseth him sore ; so that there is no soundness in his flesh, because of thine anger ; neither is there any rest in his bones by reason of his sin." " O, reject him not utterly, but take thy plague away from him. Return, O Lord, and that speedily; for his spirit is failing. O leave him not in his distress : for though the world may forsake him, his sure trust is in thee. To thee, O Lord, does he cry ; to thee doth he stretch forth his hands ; his soul thirsteth after thee as a barren and dry land. Lord, aU his desire is before thee, and his groaning is not hid from thee. Comfort him therefore again now after the time that thou hast afflicted him, and for the days wherein lie hath suffered adversity." Put a stop, O Lord, we beseech thee, to this raging- infection, and say to the destroying angel, " It is enough." Protect us under the shadow of thy wings, that we may not " be afraid of any terror by night ; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day;" but that, with ease in our minds, and health in our bodies, we may serve thee G G 2 452 the clergyman's companion. cheerfully all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person in a Consumption, or any lingering Disease. (From Mr. Jenks.) O merciful God, thou hast long kept thy servant under thy chastening hand ; thou hast made him ac quainted with grief; and his sickness is even become his familiar companion : yet, O blessed Lord, grant that he may not be impatient under thy chastisement, who art pleased to wait so long for the return of a sin ner : but let him remember that thou hast kind inten tions, even in thy bitterest dispensations ; that thou " chastenest him whom thou lovest, and scourgestevery son whom thou receivest." Teach him, O gracious Father, to see love in thy rod, and justice in all thy dealings ; that he may humble himself under thy mighty hand ; that he may think it good for him to have been afflicted, and patiently wait for thy loving-kindness. Yet, that his faith may not fail, nor his patience be overcome, give him ease and relaxation from his pain, and a happy conclusion of this long visitation. In the meantime, grant that he may neither despise thy chas tening, nor faint under thy rebukes ; but employ the time which thou lendest, and improve the affliction which thou continuest, as a gracious opportunity for his spiritual advantage ; that under the decays of the body, the inner man may be renewed day by day ; and that whatever appertains to his everlasting salvation may be promoted and perfected through the riches of thy grace, and the multitude of thy mercies in Jesus Christ. Amen. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 453 A Prayer for a Person who is lame in his Sickness. (From Mr. Lewis.) O Almighty God, who " art eyes to the blind and feet to the lame," have pity, we entreat thee, on thy servant : help him in his distress, and bless, we pray thee, the means made use of for Ms cure. Make Mm sensible of thy design in visiting him with this afflic tion ; cause him to remember, how in his strength and health he followed Ms own devices, and the desire of his own heart ; and let him see, that thou hast lifted up thy hand against him, for this very purpose, that he may learn to walk more humbly with' thee, and turn his feet to thy testimonies. Deliver him from the pain ful confinement under which he labours, and grant him again the happiness of enjoying the comforts of life, and of worshipping thee in thy sanctuary, with the " voice of joy and praise." But, O Lord, not our will, but thine be done. Thou knowest better what is good for us, than we ourselves ; and it is in wisdom that thou afflictest us. Give thy servant patience, that he may bear his pains without murmuring, and wait the time of his deliverance from them without uneasiness ; satisfy him of thy care over Mm, and thy tender regard to him : and in thy good time restore him to his former strength and vigour, that he may give thanks to thee in the great congregation ; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. A Prayer for one that is bedridden^ (From Mr. Lewis.) O Lord our God, the Father of mercies, and the God of aU comfort, have compassion, we entreat thee, on the helpless condition of thy servant: support Ms spirits, which are ready to droop under affliction : 454 the clergyman's companion. refresh his mind, which is apt to be uneasy and melan choly at the thought of perpetual confinement. Give sleep to his eyes, and rest to his weary thoughts. Cause him to meditate on thee in the night watches ; to " com mune with his own heart ;" and, in Ms solitude, " to search and try his ways," that he may see wherein he hath erred, and may turn unto thee with all his soul, and with all his strength. Let this affliction be the means of preparing him for the enjoyment of thy pre sence, in which is fulness of joy ; and let him he the more patient under it for that reason. Make him thank ful that thou hast by this expedient preserved him from the company of those whose evil communication might have corrupted his heart, and hast taken him out of a world, by the snares and temptations of which he might have been prevailed upon to forsake thee, and turn from the way of thy commandments. Grant, O Lord, that he may not render himself unworthy of thy favour, by murmuring and repining ; but that he may use the leisure and opportunity now given Mm, to make his peace with thee, and be fitted for the enjoyment of an inheritance among the saints in light ; through thy mercy in Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. A Prayer for a Person troubled in Mind, or in Conscience. [Visitation Office.] O blessed Lord, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts, we beseech thee, look down in pity and compassion upon this thine afflicted servant. Thou writest bitter things against him, and makest him to possess his former iniquities : thy wrath lieth hard upon him, and his soul is fuU of trouble. But, O merciful God, who hast given us thy holy word for our learning, THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 455 that we, through patience arid comfort of the Scrip tures, might have hope : give him a right understand ing of himself, and of thy threatenings and promises ; that lie may neither cast away his confidence in thee, nor place it anywhere but in thee. Give him strength against all temptations, and heal all his infirmities. Break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. Shut not up thy tender mercies in displeasure, but make him hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Deliver him from the fear of the enemy ; lift up the light of thy coun tenance upon him, and give him peace, through the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Another for the same, or for one under deep Melancholy and Dejection of Spirit. (From Mr. Jenks.) O most gracious Lord, thou knowest our frame, and art full of compassion to thy servants under their trou ble and oppression ; look down upon us, we humbly beseech thee, with thy wonted pity, and remember the work of thy hands, our disconsolate brother. Thy wrath lies hard upon him, and all thy waves are gone over him ; thy terrors oppress his mind, and disturb his reason. O thou that speakest the winds and waves into obedience and calmness, settle and quiet his discom posed thoughts ; speak peace and satisfaction to his troubled mind, and give him comfort and sure confi dence in the sense of thy pardon and love. Lord, help ' his unbelief, and increase his faith. Though he walk in the valley and shadow of death, let " thy rod and thy staff support and protect him." In the multitude of the thoughts and sorrows that he hath in his heart, let thy comfort refresh his soul. Let in a beam of thy heavenly light, to dispel the clouds and darkness in which Ms 456 THE CLERGYMAN S COMPANION. mind is involved. O direct to the means most proper for his help, and so bless and prosper them, that they may effectually promote his recovery out of this deplor able state. Incline his ears to wholesome counsels, and dispose his heart to receive due impressions. O gracious Father, pity his frailty, forgive his sin, and rebuke his distemper, that Ms disquieted soul may re turn to its rest. O raise him up, and show thy mercy upon him, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. For the same. (From Bishop Patrick.) Preserve this thy servant, O gracious Father, from dishonouring thee and his religion, by distrusting thy power or thy goodness. Remove all troublesome imaginations from him, and give him a clear understanding of thee, and of himself, that no causeless fears and jealousies may overwhelm him, nor his heart sink within Mm from any sadness and dejection of spirit. Compose, we beseech thee, his disturbed thoughts ; quiet his disordered mind, and appease all the tumults of Ms soul, by a sweet sense of thy tender mercies, and of the love of thy Son Jesus Christ to mankind. Keep him from forming any rash conclusions concerning thy providence ; and give him so much light and judgment amid all the darkness and confusion of his thoughts, that he may not think himself forsaken by thee ; but may firmly believe, that if he does the best he can, thou requirest no more. And enable him, O Lord, to look forwards to that region of light and glory, whither our Saviour is gone before, to prepare a place for all thy faithful servants. Strengthen his weak and feeble endeavours. Sup port Ms fainting spirit, and cause it humbly to hope in thee. Confirm and establish every good thought, de- the clergyman's companion. 457 sire, and purpose, which thou hast wrought in him. Make Mm to grow in wisdom, faith, love, and willing obedience. Conduct him hereafter so easily and steadily, peaceably and quietly, so cheerfully and securely, in thy ways, that he may glorify thee whilst he lives, and when he leaves this troublesome world, may resign his soul into thy merciful hands, with a pious confidence and a hope of a joyful resurrection; through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for one under Fears and Doubts concern ing his spiritual Condition, or under perplexing Thoughts and, Scruples about his Duty. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) O Lord our God, we offer up our humble supplication to thee in behalf of this thy servant whose soul is dis quieted within him by his fears and anxiety respecting the safety of his condition. Remove from him, we en treat thee, all frightful apprehensions, all perplexing doubts and scruples about his duty. Make him satis fied and settled in a right understanding of all thy pre cepts, and careful in the observance of them ; and dis pel, by the light of thy countenance, aU that darkness which obscures his soul, that he may not be unnecessa rily dejected, and distrustful of himself, or dishonour ably jealous of thee. Deliver Mm from all those offences which make him so much a stranger to peace and com fort ; and cause Mm to place his chief satisfaction and delight in obeying thy commandments, and in medi tating on thy mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for one who is disturbed with wicked and blasphemous Thoughts. (From Mr. Lewis.) O Lord God, the Father of our spirits, to whom all 458 the clergyman's compainon. hearts are open, and all desires known ; we humbly entreat thee to succour and relieve this thy servant, who labours under the burden of wicked thoughts. Let thy power and goodness be shown in healing his disordered mind. Cleanse the thoughts of his heart by the inspi ration of thy Holy Spirit. Suffer them not to be defiled by any profane or blasphemous suggestions, but heal the soul of thy servant, by enabling Mm to stifle and suppress all such thoughts as tend to rob him of Ms peace, or deprive him of the comforts of religion. En able him to be of an equal and steady temper, to be mild and gentle in his behaviour, and to keep Ms hopes and fears within due bounds. Make him sensible of the wise and kind reasons of these afflictions ; that, if they are duly improved, they may be powerful preser vatives of Ms soul against the prevailing sins of a licen tious age; may lessen his inclinations to the enjoyments of this life, and deaden Ms appetite to sensual pleasure, and the perishing goods of this world ; that these afflic tions may dispose him to compassionate the sufferings of others, and make him more thoroughly feel Ms own infirmities, and the want of divine assistance. Open his eyes, that he may see and know the wise and gracious dispensations of thy providence ; and, by humbling himself 'under them, may at length be lifted up and made a partaker of that peace and joy which thou bestowest on all thy faithful servants. Grant this for the sake of Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. A Prayer for one who is afflicted with a profane Mis trust qf divine Truths, and blasphemous Thoughts. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) i O most gracious God, in whose hand is the soul of every living creature, protect this thy servant, we hum- THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 459 bly and earnestly entreat thee, against all doubts and mistrusts of thy truth, against all irreligious thoughts and suggestions. Never suffer them, O Lord, to weaken Ms faith, or to hinder him from performing his duty. Preserve Mm not only from the sin, but, if it seem good to thine infinite wisdom, from the temptation and the sorrow, which may attend them. But, if it be thy blessed will to continue these terri fying thoughts for Ms trial and humiliation, Lord, make him sensible that they will not be imputed to Mm as sin, if, as soon as he perceives them, he rejects them with horror and indignation. During this trial, let him learn to depend upon thee, that, as often as these profane thoughts arise in his mind, he may find grace to overcome them, and without the least indulgence or delay to cast them out ; and that he may learn to show patience under them, as under every other affliction and trial of thy appoint ment, trusting to thy grace to assist him, and to thy goodness to deliver him; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. A Prayer for one under the dread qf God's wrath and everlasting Damnation. (From Mr. Lewis.) O Almighty God, the aid of all that need, and the helper of all that flee to thee for succour, accept, we beseech thee, our humble supplications for this thy ser vant, labouring under the dismal apprehensions of thy wrath. O Lord, enter not into judgment with him ; make him sensible that, though the wages of sin are death, .the gift of God is eternal life; that thou hatest the death of a sinner, and art not willing that any should perish ; that thou always punishest less than we de- 460 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. serve, and in the midst of judgment rememberest mercy. Revive his soul with a sense of thy love, and the hopes of obtaining thy pardon, and the joy of salvation ; that he may be raised from this dejection, and show with gladness what thou hast done for his soul. All this we humbly beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. A Prayer for a Lunatic. (From Mr. Jenks.) O Lord, the only wise God, from whom we have re ceived all the faculties of our souls ; thou art holy and righteous in all thy dispensations, though the reason of them is frequently unknown to us. Dispel, we humbly beseech thee, if it be agreeable to thine infinite wisdom, the clouds in which the soul of thy servant is now in volved ; that he may regain his understanding, and the right use of his faculties. Heal his disordered mind ; settle and quiet Ms passions ; pacify and compose his imagination. O prosper the means which are used for his recovery. Make him tractable in the use of remedies, and wilHng to comply with the advice of his friends. But, if no means can effect Ms cure, let him possess his soul in peace and composure, and in every interval of reason address his prayer to thee ; that, when his earthly taber nacle shaU be dissolved, he may rejoice in his former inability to pursue the pleasures of the world, and be presented unto thee pure and undefiled, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for natural Fools, or Madmen. (From Mr. Kettlewell.) O almighty and most merciful Father, pity, we en treat thee, this thy unhappy creature, who knows not THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 46l his own wants, nor how to ask for thy mercies. Com passionate, O Lord, his infirmities, and supply his ne cessities. Let thy wisdom prevent those evils which he cannot foresee, or wants understanding to remove ; but especially keep him from doing anything that may be hurtful either to himself or others. Let his mind, on all occasions, be quiet and peace able ; and, as far as his faculties extend, exercised in piety and devout meditations. O hear our cry when we call upon thee : hear us for him who is not able to pray for himself; grant him thy fatherly care at present, and thy peace at the last ; through the medi ation of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. PROPER PSALMS FOR A SICK PERSON AT SEA. I. 1 Save me, O God, for the waters are come in, even unto my soul. 2 I am come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me. Psalm lxix. 1, 2. 3 The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice ; the floods lift up their waves. 4 The waves of the sea are mighty, and rage hor ribly : but yet the Lord who dwelleth in heaven is mightier. Psalm xciii. 4, 5. 5 He maketh the storm to cease, so that the waves thereof are still. 6 Wherefore unto thee, O Lord, do I cry in my trouble : deHver me out of my distress. Psalm, cvii. 29, 28. 7 Thou shalt show us wonderful things in thy right- teousness, O God of our salvation : thou that art the hope of aU the ends of the earth, and of them that re main in the broad sea. Psalm lxv. 5. 8 Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born ; thou art he that took me out of my mother's 462 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. womb ; my praise shaU always be of thee. Psalm. Ixxi. 5,6. 9 I will cry unto thee, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Psalm lxxxix. 26. 10 Withdraw not thou thy mercy from me, O Lord; let thy loving-kindness and truth always preserve me. 1 1 For innumerable troubles are come about me : my sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up ; yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me. 12 O Lord, let it be thy pleasure to deliver me: make haste, O Lord, to help me. Psalm xl. 11 — 13. II. 1 Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord ; Lord, hear my voice. 2. O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. Psalm cxxx. 1, 2. 3. For I am helpless and poor, and my heart is wounded within me. Psalm cix. 21. 4 My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon me. 5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me. Psalm lv. 4, 5. 6 I go hence like the shadow that departeth, and am driven away like a grasshopper. Psalm cix. 22. 7 O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from thee. Psalm lxix. 5. 8 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit ; in a place of darkness, and in the deep. 9 Thine indignation lieth hard upon me, and thou hast vexed me with aU thy storms. Psalm lxxxviii. 5,6. 10 Thou breakest me with a tempest, and my roar ings are poured out like waters. Job ix. 17 ; iii. 24. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 463 110 reject me not utterly, and be not exceeding wroth against thy servant. Lament, v. 22. 12 For my soul is full of trouble, and my life draw eth nigh unto hell. Psalm lxxxviii. 2. 13 I am brought into so great trouble and misery, that I go mourning all the day long. 14 For my loins are filled with a sore disease, and there is no whole part in my body. Psalm xxxviii. 6, 7- 15 My wounds stink and are corrupt, through my foolishness. Psalm xxxviii. 5. 16 Behold, O Lord, I am in distress ; my bowels are troubled, my heart is turned within me, for I have grievously transgressed. Lament, i. 20. 17 O remember not the sins and offenses of my youth ; but according to' thy mercy think thou upon me, O Lord, for thy goodness. Psalm xxv. 6. 18 Cast me not away in the time of age ; forsake me not when my strength fafleth me. Psalm Ixxi. 9- 19. Take thy plague away from me : I am even con sumed by the means of thy heavy hand. 20 When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, Hke as it were a moth fretting a garment : every man therefore is but vanity. 21 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears consider my calling ; hold not thy peace at my tears. 22 For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 23 O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more seen. Psal. xxxix. 11 — 13. A prayer for a sick Seaman. O most great and glorious Lord, the " salvation of all that dwell on the earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea ;" under whose powerful protection we are 464 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. alike secure in every place, and without whose provi dence over us we can nowhere be in safety ; look down, we beseech thee, upon us, thy unworthy ser vants, who are called to "behold thy wonders in the deep," and to perform our several duties in the great waters. " Thou art our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble ;" and therefore we fly unto thee for succour in all our necessities. Extend thy accustomed goodness to our distressed brother, whom thou hast been pleased to visit with the rod of affliction. " The waves of death encompass him about, and the sorrows of hell take hold upon him." O leave him not to himself, nor let him be given over " to a spirit of slumber" and darkness ; but " open his eyes, that he may see the wondrous things of thy law," and the necessity of a speedy and sincere repentance ; so that, from the sickness of his body, he may derive health and salvation to his soul, which is the great end of all thy righteous judgments, and of all our afflictions. Let him seriously consider and reflect within him self, from this visitation, " what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God ;" and let him hence learn, if it shall please thee to raise him up again, to preserve a more awful sense of thy divine majesty upon his spirit, " and to live more soberly, righteously, and piously, in this present world." We know, O Lord, that " many are the enemies of peace," and that "the whole world lieth in wickedness :" but let him not " follow a multitude to do evil," nor " give his consent to the enticement of sinners ;" but being perfectly " redeemed from all vain conversation, and renewed in the spirit of his mind," let him " walk before thee with a perfect heart," and spend the residue of his days in thy faith and fear. Or if thou hast determined otherwise concerning him, THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 465 [ be pleased to give him sufficient grace, and strength, and time, to " make his calling and election sure, be fore he go hence and be no more seen :" revive his drooping spirits, fortify his heart, and, as he decays in the outer, strengthen him in the inner man, by setting before him the hopes of a blessed immortality "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." Amen. A Prayer for a sick Soldier or Seaman. O most mighty Lord, the fountain of health and life, strength and courage, the aid and support of all that fly unto thee for succour, with whom is no respect of persons, but every one that feareth thee (whether he be rich or poor, learned or unlearned) is accepted by thee ; we beseech thee mercifully to look down upon our brother, who is now fallen under the rod of thy displeasure. We know, O Lord, that all thy judgments are prin cipally intended for our good in the end, by the refor mation of our lives and manners ; and therefore we most humbly beseech thee to let thy present judgment have that good effect upon our brother, that he may lead the rest of his life as a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ, and not continue to harden his heart against all the powerful and repeated instances of thy mercies and judgments toward him. If thou hast designed this sickness shall terminate in his death, O be pleased to fit and prepare him for it ; or if otherwise in mercy thou hast determined to spare him, O let him not return to any of his former sinful courses, but let him always keep in mind the promise which he made to thee in baptism, of renouncing the world, the flesh, and the devil ; and which, we hope, he now again heartily renews in this his day of Visit ation. We know, O Lord, that many temptations will un- vol. n. H H 466 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. avoidably assault him in the state of life wherein he is engaged, and therefore we most humbly beseech thee to give him such a portion of thy blessed Spirit, as may enable him to fight with as much resolution and courage against his spiritual enemies, as the nature of his post obliges him to do, upon just occasions, against his tem poral; ever remembering, that the greatest of conquests is that which is made upon ourselves ; and that no vic tory is so truly honourable as that which is obtained over our vicious inclinations. Wherefore give him grace, we beseech thee, O Lord, " to abhor that which is evil, and to cleave to that which is good." Let him religiously avoid all blasphemy and profaneness, all drunkenness, riot, and lascivious- ness ; and let him carefully foUow the rule our Sa viour hath set him, " of doing violence to no man, accusing no man falsely, and being content with his own wages ;" so that, having " put on the whole armour of God," he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil ; and whenever thou shalt be pleased to put an end to his warfare (either now or hereafter), he may cheerfully resign his soul into thy hands, in these com fortable words of the apostle : " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shaU give unto all those that love and fear him, and put their trust in his mercy." Amen. A Prayer to be used by a Person afflicted with a Dis temper of long Continuance. (By Dr. Storehouse.) O Lord God Almighty, I am wonderfuUy made, and all my powers of body and mind were produced and are supported by thee. " Thou killest, and makest alive : thou woundest, and makest whole." THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 467 I own and reverence thy hand in my present afflic tion. I acknowledge that thou art righteous in aU that befalls me : for I have sinned ; and thou chastenest me less than my iniquities deserve. In punishment thou showest mercy, continuest to me many comforts, pro- longest my opportunities of reflection and amendment, and givest hope of that pardon which I so much want, and at this time earnestly entreat. I desire, in this poor condition of my health, to search and try my ways, and turn unto thee, O Lord, by deep humility, sincere repentance, and faith in the great Re deemer : and may the fruit of this and every affliction be to take away sin, and make my heart better. O God, if it be thy merciful will, direct me to, and prosper, some means for the removal of my disorder, that I may yet be capable of glorifying thee in my station, and, by farther endeavours for thy service upon earth, be fitter for immortaHty. Support me, gracious Lord, that my soul ^may not be quite cast down, and too much disquieted within me. Assist me to cherish penitent, believing, serious thoughts and affections. Grant me such resignation to thy will, such patience and meekness toward men, as my Divine Master requireth, and as he himself ma nifested while he was a sufferer on earth. Forgive all the harshness and sinfulness of my temper, and keep it from increasing upon me. May I learn, from what I now feel, to pity all who are sick, in pain, or otherwise afflicted, and do all in my power to assist and relieve them. If by this affliction thou intendest to bring me down to the grave, prepare me, by thy grace, for my removal hence, and entrance on the unseen eternal state : and may all the sufferings of the present Hfe work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. I am thankful for any degree of ease and comfort h h 2 468 the clergyman's COMPANION. which I have this day enjoyed. Grant me, this night, such refreshing rest, that I may be better able to dis charge the duties and bear the burden of another day, if thou art pleased to indulge me with it. If my eyes are kept waking, may my meditations be comfortable and useful to me. Pity my weakness, merciful and heavenly Father, and hear my imperfect petitions, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who was once a man of sorrow, and is still touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; to whom, as our merciful High Priest and powerful In tercessor, be glory for evermore. Amen. A Prayer to be used on the Death of a Friend. (By Mr. Merrick.) O Almighty God, who dost not willingly grieve the children of men, but in thy visitations rememberest mercy, teach me by thy grace to bear the loss of that dear person whom thou hast taken from me, with pa tience and resignation, and make a right use of the affliction which thy fatherly hand hath laid upon me. Thou hast given, and thou hast taken away : blessed be thy holy name. Make me thankful, O Lord, for the comforts and blessings which I still enjoy ; and sanc tify to my soul all the sufferings, which in the course of this mortal life thou shalt appoint for me. Let the death of friends and relations help to keep me always mindful of my own mortaHty. And grant, that by thy grace I may here apply my heart to wisdom, and may hereafter by thy mercy be received into that everlasting kingdom, where all tears shall be wiped from all faces, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Hear me, O merciful Father, for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ; Amen. the clergyman's COMPANION. 469 A Prayer to be used by a Person troubled in Mind. Almighty God, who beholdest with compassion and mercy the weaknesses and frailties of us thy sinful creatures, look down on me, I beseech thee, and de liver me, if it be thy blessed will, from the distress of mind under which I labour. Strengthen my judg ment, and inform my understanding, that I may rightly know my duty ; and grant that I may act on all occa sions, and in every circumstance of life, in the manner most acceptable to thee. Pardon my secret sins and infirmities, and preserve me from aU wilful neglects and offences. If thou seest it consistent with thy glory, and with the everlasting welfare of my soul, fill me with that fervency of affection toward thee, and with that measure of spiritual comfort and assurance, which may preserve my mind in a frame of cheerfulness and com posure. But if trouble and bitterness of mind be more expedient for me, continue to me both this and all other afflictions which thou seest most conducive to my future happiness, and grant that I may bear them with patience and resignation. Let thy Holy Spirit direct and support me under every trial, and enable me so to walk in thy faith and fear, that I may at last be re ceived into thy heavenly kingdom, through the merits and mediation of thy Son Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen. A Prayer to be used by an old Person. 0 gracious Lord, my maker and my preserver, I give thee thanks for the long continuance which thou hast granted me in this world, in order that I may be the better prepared for another. Enable me by thy grace to make a right use of the time afforded me, and give me a true and deep repentance of the sins which I have committed. Support me by thy help under the infir- 470 THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. mities of age, keep me from covetousness, and fretful- ness, and from all unreasonable fears and cares. Give me that degree of ease and health which thou seest most convenient for me ; wean my affections and de sires from the things of this life, and keep me con tinually prepared for death ; through Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer for a Person condemned to Die. [From Dr. Inet] O most just and holy Lord God, who bringest to light the hidden things of darkness, and by thy just and wise providence dost bring sin to shame and pu nishment ; disappointing the hopes of wicked men ; visiting their sins upon them in this present life, that thou mayest deter others from the evil of their ways, and save their souls in the day of judgment ; O Lord, in mercy look down upon this thy servant, who now is before thee to confess thy justice in making him a sad example to others. He with sorrow and shame con- fesseth it would be just with thee, should death eternal be the wages of Ms sins, and everlasting sorrow the recompense of his iniquity. He has, we confess, O Lord, despised thy mercy, and abused thy goodness, and has therefore no reason to expect any other than to be made an everlasting sacrifice to thy justice. When thou hast, by the ministry of thy word, and the interposition of thy providence, called him to repent ance, he has slighted thine admonitions. O, how just therefore would it be now in thee to disregard his cry, in this day of trouble, when distress and anguish are come upon him! He confesses that he hath hardened his heart, notwithstanding all thy importunities to him to repent and live ; that he has still gone on from one wickedness to another, eagerly repeating the works of darkness, and even hating to be reformed ; that he has THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 471 notoriously broken Ms baptismal vows, and given en couragement to others to blaspheme our holy faith ; and that on these accounts he has nothing to expect but that thou shouldest deal with him according to his sins, and reward him according to the multitude of his offences. But thou, O God, hast been pleased to de clare, that with thee is mercy and plenteous redemp tion ; that thou desirest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent and Hve. Thou hast so loved the world, that thou gavest thy only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. O, let not him whom we are now commending to thy mercy, for ever perish and be lost. Have compassion upon a miserable sinner, who owns he deserves eternally to die ; and let him find mercy in his distress. Pardon, we earnestly entreat thee, Ms wilful and his heedless follies, his errors, and his crying and notorious sins ; particularly that for which he is now to die. O Lord, thou God of mercy, who art abundant in goodness, have pity on the work of thine own hands. Bury his sins in his grave, and, however they may rise up in this world to disgrace him, let them never rise up in the next to condemn him : and whatever he suffers here, let Mm hereafter be in the number of those whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. However men, in the exe cution of justice, and to deter others from being guilty of the like wickedness, may kill his body, let neither his body nor his soul be destroyed in hell, but be de livered from eternal condemnation, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who died to save sinners. Amen. A Prayer of Preparation for Death. O AlmightV God, Maker and Judge of aU men, have mercy upon me, thy weak and sinful creature ; and if, by thy most wise and righteous appointment, the hour 472 the clergyman's companion. of death be approaching toward me, enable me to meet it with a mind fully prepared for it, and to pass through this great and awful trial in the manner most profitable for me. O let me not leave anything undone which may help to make my departure safe and happy, or to qualify me for the highest degree of thy favour that I am capable of attaining. Pardon the sins which I have committed against thee by thought, word, and deed, and all my neglects of duty. Pardon the sins which I have committed against my neighbour ; and if others have wronged or offended me, incline my heart freely and fully to forgive them. Cleanse my soul from all its corruptions, and transform it into the likeness of thy Son Jesus Christ ; that I may behold thy face in glory, and be made partaker of thy heavenly kingdom. And, O merciful Father, give me that supply of spiri tual comfort which thou seest needful for me in my present condition : and grant that, when my change comes, I may die with a quiet conscience, with a well- grounded assurance of thy favour, and a joyful hope of a blessed resurrection ; through our Lord and Sa viour Jesus Christ. Amen. THE MINISTRATION PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. to be used in churches. The people are to be admonished, that it is most convenient that baptism should not be administered but upon Sundays and other holy days, when the most number of persons come, together ; as well for that the congregation there present may testify the receiving of them that be newly baptised into the number of Christ's church ; as also because, in the baptism of infants, every man present be put THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 473 in remembrance of his own profession made to God in his baptism. For which cause also it is expedient that baptism be ministered in the vulgar tongue. Nevertheless (if necessity so require) children may be baptised on any other day. And note, that there shall be for every male child to be baptised, two godfathers and one godmother ; and for every female one god father and two godmothers. When there are children to be baptised, the parent shall give knowledge thereof over night, or in the morning before the begin ning of morning prayer, to the curate. And then the godfathers and godmothers, and the people with the children, must be ready at the font, either immediately after the last lesson at morning prayer, or else immediately after the last lesson at evening prayer, as the curate by his direction shall appoint. And the priest coming to the font (which is then to be filled with pure water), and stand ing there, shall say, Q. Hath this child been already baptised, or no ? If they answer No, then shall the priest proceed as follows : Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin, and that our Saviour Christ saith, none can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be rege nerate and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost, I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous mercy he will grant this child that thing which by nature he can not have, that he may be baptised with water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy church, and be made a lively member of the same. Then shall the priest say, Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water, and also didst safely lead the chil dren of Israel thy people through the Red Sea, figur ing thereby thy holy baptism ; and by the baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, 474 the clergyman's COMPANION. didst sanctify water to the mystical washing away of sin ; we beseech thee for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon this child ; wash him and sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, that he, being deHvered from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ's church; and being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally he may come to the land of everlasting life, there to reign with thee world without end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Almighty and immortal God, the aid of all that need, the helper of all that flee to thee for succour, the Hfe of them that believe, and the resurrection of the dead, we call upon thee for this infant, that he, coming to thy holy baptism, may receive remission of Ms sins by spiritual regeneration. Receive him, O Lord, as thou hast promised by thy well-beloved Son, saying, Ask, and ye shall have ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. So give now unto us that ask ; let us that seek, find ; open the gate unto us that knock ; that this infant may enjoy the ever lasting benediction of thy heavenly washing, and may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall the priest stand up, and shall say, Hear the words of the Gospel written by St. Mark, in the tenth chapter, at the thirteenth verse : " They brought young children to Christ, that he should touch them ; and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 475 little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." After the Gospel is read, the minister shall make this brief exhor tation upon the words of the Gospel : Beloved, ye hear in this Gospel the words of our Saviour Christ, that he commanded the children to be brought unto him ; how he blamed those that would have kept them from him ; how he exhorted all men to follow their innocence. Ye perceive how by his out ward gesture and deed he declared his good-will to ward them ; for he embraced them in his arms, he laid his hands upon them, and blessed them. Doubt ye not, therefore, but earnestly beHeve, that he will likewise favourably receive this present infant; that he wfll embrace him with the arms of his mercy ; that he will give unto him the blessing of eternal Hfe, and make him partaker of his everlasting kingdom. Wherefore we being thus persuaded of the good- will of our hea venly Father toward this infant, declared by his Son Jesus Christ, and nothing doubting but that he favour ably alloweth this charitable work of ours, in bringing this infant to his holy baptism, let us faithfuUy and devoutly give thanks unto him, and say, Almighty and everlasting God, heavenly Father, we give thee humble thanks that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the knowledge of thy grace and faith in thee : increase this knowledge, and confirm this faith in us evermore. Give thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he may be born again, and be made an heir of everlasting salvation ; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and' reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen. 476 the clergyman's COMPANION. Then shall the priest speak unto the godfathers and godmothers in this wise : Dearly beloved, ye have brought this child here to be baptised; ye have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to receive Mm, to release him of his sins, to sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, to give him the kingdom of heaven, and everlasting Hfe. You have heard also, that our Lord Jesus Christ hath promised also in his Gospel, to grant all these things that ye have prayed for ; which promise he for his part will most surely keep and perform. Wherefore after this promise made by Christ, this infant must also faithfully, for his part, promise by you that are his sureties (until he come of age to take it upon himself), that he will re nounce the devil and all his works, and constantly be lieve God's holy word, and obediently keep his com mandments. I demand therefore, Dost thou, in the name of this child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not fol low nor be led by them ? Answ. I renounce them all. Minister. Dost thou believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ? And in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son, our Lord ? And that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost ; born of the Virgin Mary ; that he suffered under Pon tius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried ; that he went down into hell, and also did rise again the third day ; that he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty ; and from the clergyman's companion. 477 thence shall come again, at the end of the world, to judge the quick and the dead? And dost thou beUeve in the Holy Ghost ; the holy catholic church ; the communion of saints ; the remis sion of sins ; the resurrection of the flesh ; and ever lasting life after death ? Answ. AU this I steadfastly believe. Minister. Wilt thou then be baptised in this faith ? Answ. This is my desire. Minister. Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life ? Answ. I will. Then the priest shall say, O merciful God, grant that the old Adam in this child may be so buried, that the new man may be raised up in him. Amen. Grant that all carnal affections may die in him, and that aU things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow in him. Amen. Grant that he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh. Amen. Grant that whosoever is here dedicated to thee by our office and ministry, may also be endued with hea venly virtues, and everlastingly rewarded, through thy mercy, O blessed Lord God, who dost live and govern all things, world without end. Amen. Almighty and everlasting God, whose most dearly- beloved Son Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins, did shed out of his most precious side both water and blood, and gave commandment to his disciples, 478 the clergyman's companion. that they should go and teach all nations, and baptise them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; regard, we beseech thee the suppli cations of thy congregation ; sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin ; and grant that this child, now to be baptised, may therein receive the fulness of thy grace, and ever remain in the number of thy faith ful and elect children ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. -Amen. Then the priest shall take the child into his hands, and shall say to the godfathers and godmothers, Name this child. And then naming it after them (if they shall certify him that the child may well endure it), he shall dip it in the water, discreetly and warily, saying, N., I baptise thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. But if they certify that the child is weak, it shall suffice to pour water upon it, saying the aforesaid words, N., I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Then shall the priest say, We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock,* and do sign him with the sign of the cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Amen. Then shall the priest say, Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerated and grafted into the body of Christ's church, * Here the priest shall make a cross upon the child's forehead. the clergyman's companion. 479 let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these bene fits, and with one accord make our prayers unto him, that this child may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning. Then shall be said, all kneeling, Our Father, which art in heaven ; Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily- bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Then shall the priest say, We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Fathei*, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by- adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy church. And we humbly beseech thee to grant, that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin : and that as he is made partaker of the death of thy Son, he may also he partaker of his resurrection; so that finally, with the residue of thy holy church, he may be an in heritor of thine everlasting kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Then, all standing up, the priest shall say to the godfathers and godmothers this exhortation following : Forasmuch as this child hath promised by you his sureties to renounce the devil and all his works, to beheve in God, and to serve him ; ye must remember that it is your parts and duties to see that this infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession he hath here made by you. And that he may know these things the 480 the clergyman's companion. better, ye shall call upon him to hear sermons ; and chiefly ye shall provide that he may learn the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and beUeve to his soul's health ; and that this child may be virtuously brought up to lead a godly and Christian life ; remembering always, that baptism doth represent unto us our profession ; which is to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto him : that as he died, and rose again, for us ; so should we, who are baptised, die from sin, and rise again unto righteousness, conti nually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living. Then shall he add and say, Ye are to take care that this child be brought to the bishop, to be confirmed by him, so soon as he can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Com mandments, in the vulgar tongue, and be farther in structed in the Church Catechism set forth for that purpose. It is certain, by God's word, that children which are baptised, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved. To take away all scruple concerning the use of the sign of the cross in baptism; the true explication thereof, and the just reasons for the retaining of it, may be seen in the XXXth Canon, first pub lished in the year MDCI V. THE CLERGYMAN'S COMPANION. 481 THE MINISTRATION 01' PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN IN HOUSES. The curate of the parish shall often admonish the people, that they defer not the baptism of their children longer than the first or second Sunday next after their birth, or other holy-day falling between, unless upon a great and reasonable cause, to be approved by the curate. And also they shall warn them that, without like great cause and necessity, they procure not their children to be baptised at home in their own houses. But when need shall compel them so to do, then baptism shall be administered on this fashion : — First; let the minister of the parish (or, in his absence, any other lawful minister that can be procured), with them that are pre sent, call upon God, and say the Lord's Prayer, and so many of the collects appointed to be said before in the form of Public Bap tism, as the time and present exigence will suffer. And then, the child being named by some one that is present, the minister shall pour water upon it, saying these words : — N., I baptise thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Then, all kneeling down, the minister shall give thanks unto God, saying ; We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy church. And we humbly beseech thee to grant, that as he is now made partaker of the death of thy Son, so he may be also of his resurrection ; and that finaUy, with the residue of thy saints, he may inherit thine everlasting kingdom, through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. VOL. II. i i YALE UNIVERSITY a39002 002278381b