{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_42280/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_42280","id":"gutenberg_42280","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42280","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Controversial literature -- Protestant authors"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1848 J. H. Jackson edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org  Many thanks to Ramsgate Library for allowing their copy\nto be used for this transcription.\n\n\n\n\n\n                                  POPERY\n                                   THE\n                      ACCOMMODATION OF CHRISTIANITY\n                                  TO THE\n                              NATURAL HEART.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                A LECTURE,\n           DELIVERED BEFORE THE ISLINGTON PROTESTANT INSTITUTE,\n                       ON MONDAY, 26TH JUNE, 1848.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  BY THE\n                         REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A.,\n                  INCUMBENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, RAMSGATE.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                            PUBLISHED FOR THE\n                     ISLINGTON PROTESTANT INSTITUTE,\n                                    BY\n                     J. H. JACKSON, ISLINGTON GREEN;\n              SEELEYS, FLEET STREET; HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  1848.\n\n                          _Price One Shilling_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                           ALEXANDER MACINTOSH,\n                                 PRINTER,\n                        GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.\n\n\n\n\nISLINGTON PROTESTANT INSTITUTE.\n\n\n                     President.\u2014REV. D. WILSON, M.A.\n                      Treasurer.\u2014GEORGE FRIEND, ESQ.\n\n\n\nCommittee.\n\nADAMS, J. FRANCIS.      HEISCH, REV. J. G.      SPURLING, J.\nATKINSON, R. M.         HILL, REV. T. B.        STOGDON, REV. A. H.\nBENTLEY, WILLIAM.       LORD, JAMES.            SUTER, E.\nBULLOCK, J.             LOVELOCK, E.            SUTHERLAND, REV. JAS.\nEDMONSTONE, REV. C.     MACKENZIE, REV. W. B.   THORNTON, HENRY.\nW.\nELMER, J.               MARSHALL, SAMUEL.       VENN, W. W.\nESCREET, THOMAS.        NALSON, REV. J.         WADDINGTON, JAMES.\nESCREET, THOMAS, JUN.   OVER, REV. EDWARD.      WESTERN, W.\nFELL, REV. H. F.        PAINE, WILLIAM D.       WITHERBY, F.\nGREEN, JOHN.            PECKETT, GEORGE.        WILKINSON, CHAS., M.\n                                                D.\nHADOW, J. E.            POWER, REV. P. B.       WILLYAMS, REV. T. E.\nHAMBLETON, REV. J.      SANDYS, REV. J.         WILSON, REV. F. C.\nHARDY, JOHN.            SAXTON, E.\nHASLEGRAVE, REV. J.     SMITH, REV. E.\n                        Honorary Secretaries.\nREV. C. F. CHILDE.      REV. R. P. HUTCHISON.\nMR. D. HAZARD.          MR. W. PITMAN.\nCollector.\u2014MR. LIDDLE, PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS, CHURCH-STREET.\n\n\n\n\nRULES.\n\n\nI.  That this Society be called \u201cTHE ISLINGTON PROTESTANT INSTITUTE.\u201d\n\nII.  That the objects of the Society be to awaken the attention of\nProtestant Christians to the progress of Popery; to call forth and unite\ntheir energies in opposing it; and to form a rallying-point, as well for\nthe defence and promotion of Protestant truth, as for the maintenance of\nthe Protestant principles of the Constitution.\n\nIII.  That the principal means for the attainment of this object be: the\nissue of suitable publications; the enrolment of the names or members;\npublic meetings, lectures, and sermons; addresses and deputations to\nParliamentary representatives; petitions to the Legislature, or the\nSovereign; and correspondence with kindred societies, with a view to\nobtain and communicate information.\n\nIV.  That the Society be conducted by a President, Treasurer, Committee,\nand two Clerical and two Lay Secretaries.\n\nV.  That Members be of two classes:\u2014\n\n1.  That every person contributing a Donation of Five Guineas or upwards,\nat one time, or an Annual Subscription of Five Shillings or upwards, be a\nSubscribing Member.\n\n2.  That every person from among the operative classes, who shall be\nrecommended by two Subscribing Members, be admissible as a Free Member,\nsubject to annual re-election.\n\n\u2014And that all members be entitled to attend the General Meetings of the\nSociety, and to receive the Annual Reports, and other publications, as\nfar as the funds will admit, preference being given to the Subscribing\nMembers, to whom also the privilege of voting will be confined.\n\nVI.  That a Committee be annually elected, consisting of thirty Lay\nSubscribing Members, together with all Clergy resident in the parish who\nare likewise Subscribing Members of the Society, with power to fill up\nvacancies.  That this Committee elect, either from among themselves or\nfrom other Subscribing Members, District Sub-committees, with a view to\ncarrying out the objects of the Society generally in the parish.\n\nVII.  That the General Committee receive the Reports of the District\nSub-committees; determine on the admission and annual re-election of Free\nMembers, in pursuance of Rule V.; regulate all matters of expenditure;\nsuggest plans for general adoption; and supply such publications as may\nbe required for distribution.\n\nVIII.  That all publications circulated by the Society be first approved\nby the General Committee, and bear the stamp of the \u201cISLINGTON PROTESTANT\nINSTITUTE.\u201d\n\nIX.  That the General Committee meet on the third Monday in every month,\nand oftener, if needful.  Five members to constitute a quorum.\n\nX.  That an Annual Meeting of the members of the Society be held in the\nmonth of November, on such day as may be fixed by the General Committee;\nwhen the proceedings of the foregoing year shall be reported, the\naccounts presented, and the Officers and Committee chosen.\n\nXI.  That the Secretaries shall call a Special General Meeting on the\nrequisition of not less than twenty Subscribing Members; that such\nrequisition be in writing, and specify the object for which the meeting\nis to be summoned; and that not less than seven days\u2019 notice be given, by\ncircular, to the Subscribing Members of the Society.\n\nXII.  That none of the Rules of the Society be repealed or altered, nor\nany new ones adopted, but at the Annual Meeting, or at a Special General\nMeeting called for that purpose.\n\nXIII.  That all Meetings of the Society be opened with prayer, and closed\nwith benediction.\n\nXIV.  That it be earnestly recommended to all the members of this Society\nto make its important object and plans a subject of special and frequent\nprayer, both in private and in the family.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nN.B.  1.  Contributions in aid of the Institute will be thankfully\nreceived by any of the officers.\n\n2.  As the pecuniary qualification for Membership has been fixed at the\nlow rate of 5_s._, and as every Subscribing Member receives, in the form\nof publications, considerably more than an equivalent for that sum, it is\nobvious that the Society can only be maintained by the liberality of such\nas can afford to contribute more largely to its Funds.\n\n3.  All the publications of the Institute may be purchased at Mr.\nJackson\u2019s, Bookseller and Publisher, Islington Green.\n\n4.  Parties contemplating the formation of similar Societies in any part\nof the country, are cordially invited to correspond with the officers of\nthe Institute, who will also be thankful for any authentic information\nand friendly communication from Societies already in existence.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ACCOMMODATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE NATURAL HEART.\n\n\nTHERE are two points of view in which every system may be regarded\u2014its\nexternal action, and its internal principle.  We may examine either the\ngreat effects of its machinery, its plans, its purposes, its advances,\nand its perils; or we may trace its inner principle, and endeavour to\ndetect the secret spring by which the whole is set in motion.  It must at\nonce be obvious that this latter inquiry is by far the more difficult;\nfor our attention is directed rather to the philosophy than the action of\nthe system; and we are called to examine the subtle tendencies of the\nhuman heart, which, of course, are more difficult both of detection and\nexhibition than the great, broad, startling facts which lie on the\nsurface of the world\u2019s history.  This difficulty I have seriously felt in\nthe preparation of the present lecture, the subject of which, is, \u201cPopery\nthe accommodation of Christianity to the natural heart.\u201d  The subject\nplainly requires that we should study the secret working of the natural\nheart, and should also examine into the corresponding principles of\nPopery, in order to discover their mutual accommodation, and to show how\nthe whole system of the one is dexterously fitted to allay the fears and\nsupply the cravings of the other.  Throughout, therefore, we have to deal\nmore with principles than with facts.  I must ask your forbearance,\ntherefore, if the lecture assumes a somewhat abstract form, and contains\nbut few of those startling statements which abound in the history of\nPopery, and which are of the utmost importance in arousing the dormant\nProtestantism of the land.  But yet, as facts are but the development of\nprinciples, I must ask the attention of thinking minds, and earnestly beg\nthe candid consideration of all those Christian friends, whose desire it\nis to be established in the truth.\n\nIn its _outward dress_, then, and _external presentation_, we see at once\nthat Popery adapts itself to the natural man.  The Bible presents the\nGospel to us in the most unmixed simplicity; the fruits of the Spirit are\nits choicest ornament, and the humbling of the heart is its proudest\ntriumph.  It goes to the unlettered cottager, places the Bible in his\nhand, and gives him the saving promise, \u201cBelieve in the Saviour as there\nrevealed, and live.\u201d  In the external aspect of such a system there is\nnothing to catch the natural eye; to the man who is not taught by the\nSpirit, there is nothing peculiarly lovely in its fruits, and to the\nperson who is not influenced by his grace, as there is nothing to charm\nthe senses, so there is little to attract his favourable regard.  But\nPopery, in presenting a spurious Christianity, has dressed it up in all\nthe meretricious ornaments of sense.  It has summoned to its aid all that\nmay allure the natural tastes, so that if it fail to win the heart, it\nmay at all events enlist the eye and ear in its behalf.  Thus there is no\nnatural taste which is not pre-eminently gratified by Popery.  The lover\nof music and the fine arts will find his highest delight while he hears\nthe sounds of the well-sung anthem thrilling through the vaulted roofs of\na magnificent cathedral.  The admirer of architecture will draw a\ncontrast unfavourable to truth when he compares the noble ruins of\nTintern Abbey with the simple church on the hill side that overhangs it.\nThe antiquarian is provided with an ample supply for the spirit of\nresearch in the legends, the brasses, the ruins, and above all, in the\nclaim it sets forth of resting its pretensions on a far-gone antiquity:\nwhile the ignorant and superstitious find all their wishes satisfied in\nthe relics, the charms, the pilgrimages, the holy coats, the miracles,\nand the whole tissue of fanatical deception with which the system\nabounds.  The effect upon such minds is proved by the fact, that in those\ncountries where Popery prevails, there appears to be no room for all the\nnew schemes of quackery which abound in our own.  The Church has secured\na complete monopoly, and finding that poor death-stricken man is ever\ncraving after some unnatural mitigation of his woe, has undertaken to\nsupply his utmost necessities, and to furnish a thousand charms and\nremedies to hush his longings, if it cannot cure his ill.\n\nBut if this were the only manner in which Popery adapts itself to the\nnatural man, there would be comparatively little cause for complaint.\nThere is no sin in an attractive exhibition of the truth, nor is it wrong\nto enlist the tastes in favour of the Redeemer\u2019s kingdom, for the Apostle\nto the Gentiles was himself \u201cmade all things to all men.\u201d  So soon,\nhowever, as the truth itself is modified in order to suit the prejudices\nor inclinations of those to whom it is addressed, the accommodation from\nthat moment becomes sinful in its character.  Now it is impossible to\nstudy the records of Romanism without perceiving that it is perpetually\nguilty of this sinful modification.  Thus in different countries it\nassumes different external aspects.  In catechisms for the Irish, for\nexample, it omits the second commandment, while in those for England it\ngenerally inserts it, adapting itself in each case to what it considers\nthat the people\u2019s mind can bear.  In China the Jesuist missionaries\nactually went so far as to omit from their teaching the great fact of the\ncrucifixion, because they considered that a truth so humbling would be\nunwelcome to that proud and self-sufficient people.  The foundation of\nChristianity was removed in order to accommodate it to the pride of the\nnatural heart.\n\nThousands of other instances might be adduced to show the pliability of\nthe system.  It is like the camelion, and varies its colour according to\nthe soil on which it treads.  It will even preach justification by faith\nin those parishes where the people have learned the value of that blessed\ntruth; while, at the very same moment, in the decrees of the Council of\nTrent, it levels its anathemas against those who venture to maintain it.\nIn Protestant countries it will be foremost in its denunciations of\nidolatry, while in others, where the people are prepared to bear them, it\nwill fill its churches with its idols.  In all cases, it accommodates\nitself to the existing bias of the mind addressed.\n\nBut these things are rather the dress of Popery than its essence; they\nform the apparel with which she has arrayed herself in order to appear\nbefore the world, but they do not constitute the real deep secret of her\nstrength.  They are nothing more than the paint upon the cheek, the arts\nwhich the system has assumed, but are not the source from which the\nsystem itself has sprung.\n\nTo this _inner source_, then, we have now to turn our thoughts, and we\nhave to shew that Popery has founded itself upon the essential truths of\nChristianity, but has so altered and perverted them by addition, by\nsubtraction, and by alteration, as to accommodate them to the wants of\nunconverted men.\n\nAnd here we must just remark, that Popery did not at any time appear\nready made on the world\u2019s platform.  It was not like Mahometanism, which\nwas constructed by one man, and brought out complete after a certain\nretirement from the world; but it was like the growth of a little horn,\ncommencing with soft and unnoticed buddings, until, as time advanced, it\nacquired length and strength, and hardness.  In fact, the process has\nbeen very much that which we see in dissolving views; you look at one\ntime at a given picture, and at the very time that you moat admire it,\ncertain lines become fainter, and others stronger, so that after a while\nyou discover that the whole landscape is completely changed.  You have\nhad your attention fixed throughout, but the change has been so gradual,\nthe fading and brightening of the different parts so imperceptible, that\nthough you now see the lofty tower where a few moments back the cattle\nwere grazing in the meadow, you are at a loss to decide when the change\ncommenced, or what were the distinct steps of its accomplishment.  Just\nso it has been with Popery.  Men began by looking at Christianity; they\nbeheld its beauty and admired it; but as they looked, a faintness\ngradually crept over its outline; its finest touches began insensibly to\ndisappear; the lines of a new picture by degrees took their place, till\nat length the whole scene became changed, and instead of Christianity we\nfound Popery; instead of Christ we saw Antichrist exalted in his room.\n\nOur business to-night is to shew that this transformation is the work of\nthe natural heart when brought into contact with the Gospel: and in doing\nthis, there are a few general principles which it is important we should\nclearly understand in the outset.\n\nThe first of these is, that every living man has a certain conviction of\nGod\u2019s existence, combined with a sense of right and of wrong naturally\nimplanted in his heart.  This may be deadened and perverted, but it is\nimplanted there at birth, and has remained amidst the wreck of our ruined\nnature.  We do not require revelation to assure us of the sin of murder,\nnor could any doubt the duty of obedience to parents, even if there were\nno sanction for it in the written word.  Bishop Butler says, \u201cLet any\nplain, honest man, before he engages in any course of action, ask\nhimself,\u2014Is this I am going about right, or is it wrong?  Is it good, or\nis it evil?  I do not in the least doubt that the question would be\nanswered agreeably to truth and virtue.\u201d\n\nA second universal fact is, that every living man has sinned against this\nnatural law; that there never has been a single individual in the whole\nrace, who has not, in countless instances, done that which he by the\nlight of nature has known to be offensive to the mind of God.\n\nA third fact is, that there is within every heart a certain faculty which\nis termed conscience, which sits like a judge, and passes sentence on\nevery action we commit.  Like a sensitive nerve, it feels the approach of\nsin, and, unless it be completely seared as with an hot iron, it is ever\nsounding within the heart the still small voice of just reproach.  Thus\nevery man in a state of nature is uneasy; he may endeavour to palliate\nsin, and discover excuses for its commission; but he cannot altogether\nshake off the sense of it.  A consciousness of insecurity hangs around\nhim.  He is not ready to die; he has no joy in the prospect of the\nadvent; and, though he may have some undefined hope of mercy, he knows\nnothing of the calm peace of the child of God.\n\nA fourth remark is, that this uneasiness is increased just in proportion\nas such a character is brought into contact with the Gospel.\n\nThere are thousands who feel the power of the Gospel, but who never know\nits grace.  It throws its light beyond the range of its salvation, and\njust in proportion as that light breaks in upon a natural heart does it\nquicken conscience, and revive the uneasiness of sin.  When the revealed\nword is never presented, the law of nature becomes gradually obscured,\nand the voice of conscience gradually silenced, so that the uneasiness\nbegins to die away, and a fatal apathy by little and little creeps\ninsensibly over the soul.  But when the revealed word reaches the mind,\neven though the heart be never new-born by the Spirit, conscience regains\nmuch of its power, the waters of the heart are stirred up and troubled,\nand the sense of uneasiness rises afresh with renewed vigour in the soul.\nHence it follows that the sense of uneasiness is always strongest amongst\nthe unconverted members of the visible Church.  By their outward\nprofession they are brought into the closest contact with the Gospel, and\ntherefore, if not saved by it, they above all others are rendered most\nuneasy by its holiness.  Whatever effects therefore are likely to result\nfrom this uneasiness, those we should expect to find in greatest strength\nwithin the limits of the visible Church.  Accordingly, within those very\nlimits, we find that which I believe to be its great and chief result,\nviz., Popery.\n\nThat men under such circumstances must seek out a remedy is perfectly\nobvious, and that there is only one remedy provided by the Lord is\nequally plain to the student of the Scriptures.  That remedy is the free\ngrace of God in Christ Jesus.  Let a man be really brought to believe in\nHim, let him be taught by the Spirit to take home the blessed truth that\nthe whole burden of his blackest sin has been laid on Jesus, and that a\npardon, free, immediate, and complete, is granted to the guilty man who\nstands in Christ, so that \u201cnow there is no condemnation to them that are\nin Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,\u201d and\nthat man being justified by faith has peace with God.  But then he is\ntaken out of the rank of natural men, and, by the new birth, he is\nseparated unto the kingdom of his Lord; he ceases to be a natural man,\nand all his peace now flows into his soul through grace.\n\nBut suppose this change does not take place, what then?  The uneasiness\nstill remains, and the contact with the Gospel only quickens it.  The\nconscious heart therefore is forced back upon its own remedies, and these\nremedies are of two kinds.  The first is Infidelity.  The heart struggles\nto get free from the sense of condemnation by clearing itself if possible\nfrom the sense of a God.  When conscience convicts of sin, Infidelity\nsteps in and strives to hush its voice, saying, \u201cThou shall not surely\ndie;\u201d and when the heart persuades the man that he is guilty, he strives\nto find a refuge in the soothing voice of unbelief, which pretends to\nteach that there is no God to judge him.\n\nBut such a remedy cannot satisfy.  There is such a deep conviction of God\nin the heart, and such unbounded and irresistible proofs of his presence\nthroughout creation, that no man can really rest in such a system.  Even\nPaine himself, when the vessel in which he was crossing to America was on\nthe point of sinking, cried out in his alarm, \u201cLord Jesus, save me.\u201d  And\nVoltaire, with all his blasphemous daring, six weeks after he had said he\nshould die of glory, did die in all the agonies of despair.  The nurse\nwho attended him refused many years afterwards to nurse a devoted\nChristian Protestant, because she confounded a Protestant with an\nInfidel, and declared that she never again dare witness such horrors as\nshe had seen in the chamber of Voltaire.  So it is told of one who moved\nnot many years back in the centre of Infidel society, that on one\noccasion, being seized with severe illness at midnight, and dreading the\nnear approach of death, the terror-stricken sufferer sent for an intimate\nfriend, and on his arrival, addressed him in words to this effect.  \u201cI\nfear I am dying, and I am greatly alarmed; so I have sent for you to\nremind me of the arguments which prove that there is no God.\u201d  A fearful\nconfirmation of a remark once made by a Unitarian to a beloved relative\nof my own\u2014\u201cOur principles are very well while you live, but they won\u2019t do\nto die upon.\u201d\n\nThus there is no real peace secured by Infidelity, as it cannot still the\nconscience, and leaves the heart in as much uneasiness as ever.  There\nappears, therefore, no remedy left for the unconverted man.  The Gospel\nis presented to his view, and the effect is to fill his heart with fear.\nIf he were altogether to accept it, he would be at peace; or if he could\naltogether reject it, then perchance, he might be at ease; but now there\nis so much power in it, that he cannot altogether shake it off; while, at\nthe same time, there is so much opposed to all his will in it that he\nwill not by faith embrace it as his own.  The only hope that remains in\nsuch a case is to discover, if possible, some modification of the\nGospel\u2014some system which will profess the grand principles so as not to\nviolate his deep and irresistible convictions, but which at the same time\nwill so modify those principles in their practical application, that it\nmay still the conscience without a change of heart, and give him\nsomething that he may rest in as a substitute for peace, while, at the\nsame time, it leaves him still a natural man, with his heart unchanged,\nand his will unsubdued by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.\n\nNow Popery is neither more nor less than this modification of the Gospel.\nIt retains enough of its fundamental principles to satisfy the conviction\nthat it is the truth of God, while, at the same time, it so modifies and\nalters them in their application to the individual as to still his\nconscience, even in those cases where it fails to change the heart.\n\nLet us take a few particulars in illustration of this modifying process,\nand let us see how it suits the different phases of the character.\n\nI.  The mind inquiring after _Christian truth_.\n\nIt is impossible to give the slightest attention to the Word of God\nwithout perceiving the vast importance attached to the reception of\nChristian truth; and it is equally impossible to avoid the conviction\nthat it is declared in Scripture to be there revealed decisively.  It is\nthe plain doctrine of the Word of God that there is one way, one truth,\nand one life, and that we are responsible for its rejection or reception.\nNow, just in proportion as a man feels the pressure of a surrounding\nreligious atmosphere, does he feel the weight attaching to this\nresponsibility; and the more anxious does he naturally become to have his\nmind settled and his doubts satisfied.  It is true that the humble\nbeliever, being led by the Spirit, quickly finds an happy assurance in\nthe simple statements of the Bible; but there are many, like Noah\u2019s dove,\nwho can find amidst the troubled waters of the world no resting-place for\ntheir soul.  Many shrink from the labour of investigation, and many more\nfrom the responsibility of decision.  The truth is not arranged in a\nsystem of dogmatical statements, but lies embodied in every portion of\nthe book, from whence it arises that men must search for it as for hid\ntreasure; a duty in direct opposition to the natural indolence of our\nnature.  But, still more, faith requires conviction and\ndecision\u2014qualifications yet more opposed to the wavering and vacillating\ntendencies of man.  You see many men in life who appear to have no power\nto take a consistent course alone.  If they are led they will follow,\nand, perhaps, will follow well; but they do not appear to have the mental\nfaculty of decision.  Indeed, this power of decision is the\ncharacteristic of great men.  They are not always either wiser or better\nthan those they lead, but they have this faculty, that they are\nthoroughly persuaded in their own mind, and are capable of full and\nunwavering conviction of any truth which they are led to embrace.  Such\npersons are sure to have a cluster of dependent minds around them, and\nothers of superior ability are glad to lean on their superior decision.\nThe fact is, that man is a parasitic plant, and he must lean on\nsomething.  Now see the influence of such a fact on our connexion with\nDivine truth.  A thoughtful mind at once discovers that the reception of\ntruth is of the utmost importance to his soul, and at the same time his\nconscience assures him that he is but partially acquainted either with\nits evidence or its statements.  What, then, is the result?  He begins to\nlean on the judgment of those whom he considers better informed, and to\npin his faith on other men.  Thus there are thousands and tens of\nthousands who abhor the name of Rome, who are depending wholly on the\njudgment of others in religion.  This is always the danger in those\ncongregations where there is a beloved and gifted minister.  It is the\ncase also amongst those whom you would suppose to be at the antipodes of\nPopery, viz., those who boast that they are peculiarly men of reason in\ntheir faith.  A friend of mine was conversing the other day with an\nUnitarian, and proving to him the clear doctrine of the eternal divinity\nof the Saviour.  The man could make no reply to the clear proofs adduced\nfrom Scripture, till at length, when completely baffled, he said, \u201cI\ncannot explain those texts myself, but my minister can.\u201d  Could you have\na stronger proof that it is the tendency of human nature, even when it\nboasts its own reason, to lean on other men for truth?  Now, from this\ntendency has arisen the whole system of Romish infallibility.  Anxious\nminds felt the necessity of leaning upon something.  Had they leaned on\nScripture they would have been at peace; but, in default of that, they\nrequired some human judgment.  The first and most natural process was to\nlean on individuals, and, accordingly, most heresies bear the names of\ntheir first leaders.  But this fails in giving peace, for individuals\ndiffer, and the authority of the individual is too often weakened by his\nfaults and errors.  Hence it follows, that these leaning minds are often\ninvolved in perplexity of the most painful character.  Not having the one\nanchor, they are driven about by every wind that bloweth.  Was there ever\na system more beautifully adapted to such a case than that which steps in\nto the chamber of doubt, and says, \u201cBe still, it is not your business to\ndecide at all: it is for you, as a humble believer, to believe what the\nChurch believes?\u201d  All responsibility is thus taken off the conscience,\nand thrown on an ideal object, the Church; the indolence of human nature\nis at once satisfied, for investigation is represented as a sin; and even\nthe piety of the heart is called into exercise, for blind reliance is\nhonoured by the hallowed name of faith.  The whole weight of perplexity\nis thrown off beyond the reach of investigation, and by that one stroke a\nfalse relief is given.  There are a thousand questions which ought to be\nanswered before the leap is taken.  What is the Catholic Church?  Where\nis the proof of its infallibility?  What does it teach? and is the\nteaching scriptural?  But these it is said to be a sin to ask.  At one\nstroke the responsibility is transferred, and the anxious mind finds what\nit terms \u201crest in the Church.\u201d  Hence men often begin with anxious\ninterest, advance as a second step to perplexity, and then, at length,\nabandon inquiry in a blind reliance on what they are told is the teaching\nof the Church.  One of the late perverts to Rome said, when a gentleman\nquoted to her the Word of God, \u201cI thank God I am not called to perplex\nmyself any more with the perplexities of Scripture.  I have placed the\ninterests of my soul in safe keeping, and shall not suffer myself again\nto be disturbed.\u201d  She had plainly felt perplexity, and she had found a\nfalse peace in throwing off her personal responsibility.  So there is\nmention made in \u201cMilner\u2019s End of Controversy,\u201d of one Anthony Ulric, Duke\nof Brunswick, who, having commenced a search for true religion, ended in\nwriting a book entitled his \u201cFifty Reasons for preferring the Roman\nCatholic Religion,\u201d in which he says, \u201cThe Catholics to whom I spoke\nconcerning my conversion, assured me, that if I were to be damned for\nembracing the Catholic faith, they were ready to answer for me at the day\nof judgment, and to take my damnation upon themselves.\u201d  As he could find\nno Protestants who were willing to undertake a similar responsibility, he\ndecided on joining the Church of Rome:\u2014showing again how a state of\nperplexity leads on to a blind transfer of personal responsibility to\nothers.\n\nIt is not our business to-night to shew the utter fallacy of all such\nblind reliance, or to point out how widely it differs from the faith with\nwhich it is confounded; how infinitely more difficult it is to discover\nwhat the Church teaches than what the Bible does; or how such persons\nreceive without investigation a monstrous dogma opposed to every\nevidence, viz., the pretended infallibility of the Church on which they\nlean.  My one desire has been to show that such a system is a natural\naccommodation of the doctrine of revelation to the wants and waverings of\nthe natural man.\n\nII.  _Worship_.\n\nIt is plain to any man that without worship there can be no true\nreligion, and the Gospel is a grand scheme whereby God enables men to\npray.  Christ came that we might have boldness and access with confidence\nby the faith of him.  His blood removes every barrier, and his Spirit\ngives the needful power.  But unless that Gospel be embraced with an\nappropriating faith, true prayer remains an impossibility; men may repeat\ntheir prayers, but, like St. Paul, they will never really pray.  Hence,\nif a man remain in an unconverted state, he must do one of two things; he\nmust either give up prayer altogether, which cannot satisfy an anxious\nmind; or he must have some modification of true worship.  If he cannot\nrise in heart to heaven, he must have a shadow of the throne provided for\nhim on earth.  Now mark the effect of this necessity.\n\nThe first great difficulty in the way of earnest prayer is realization.\nThe natural man cannot realize unseen spirits.  There is a height and\nglory in them beyond his reach.  But yet there is no peace unless he does\nrealize.  So what must he do?  Me must invent some representation,\nwhereby to lead on his mind; some image, figure, or effigy, which may\nstand before him, in order to bring the object of his worship to his\nview, and which may stand as a hallowed emblem, through which he pays God\nhis honour; he invents for himself just such a system as is described in\nthe decree of the Council of Trent, when it says, Sess. xxv., \u201cThe honour\nwhich is given to the images is given to the prototypes which they\nrepresent, so that through the images which we kiss, and before which we\nuncover the head and make prostration, we adore Christ, and venerate\nthose saints of whom they are the likeness.\u201d  Through the image they\nadore the Saviour, and the image is employed as an accommodated help to\nassist the process of realization in the worship of an unseen God.\n\nIf there were any doubt that this is the true history of image-worship,\nit would be removed by the fact that the sin has appeared under the same\nform, under all circumstances, and in all ages.  Aaron made the calf as a\nrepresentation of God, and said, \u201cThese be thy Gods, O Israel, which\nbrought thee out of the land of Egypt;\u201d and the Hindoo of the present day\nregards his idol as a representative of his deity.  A Jesuit priest was\nin conversation the other day with a learned Hindoo in the neighbourhood\nof Madras, and urged him to embrace what he termed the Catholic faith.\n\u201cWhat is the good,\u201d said the heathen, \u201cof my exchanging one system of\nidolatry for another?\u201d  \u201cIdolatry!\u201d said the priest, \u201cyou do not mean to\nsay that ours is idolatry.  We do not worship our images; we merely set\nthem before us, and adore our Saviour and the saints in them.\u201d  \u201cAnd do\nyou suppose,\u201d replied the heathen, \u201cthat we actually worship the images?\nNo; we merely set them before us as a representation of our gods.  No,\nSir; a Christian I may become, but I shall never be a Roman Catholic.\u201d\nThere was not a shade of difference between the two systems, both having\nsprung from the natural tendencies of the human heart.\n\nThis identity was on one occasion curiously illustrated by the Church of\nRome itself, for when they obtained possession of a magnificent statue of\nJupiter Tonans, they removed the thunderbolt out of his hand, and gave\nhim two large keys in its place.  By this slight alteration, they changed\nJupiter into Peter, and transferred him from a Pagan temple to a\nChristian Church.  Could anything shew more clearly that Paganism and\nRomanism were nothing more than different accommodations to the\nidolatrous tendencies of the human heart?  There was no opposition in\nprinciple, and the only difference was between the thunderbolt and the\nkeys.\n\nWhat a refreshing contrast do we find in the records of the Tinnevelly\nMission, where the heathen idols have been used for pavement at the\nChurch doors, so that none can enter God\u2019s house for worship without\nfirst trampling the former idol under foot!\n\nFrom the same nature has sprung the system of saint worship.  There is\nalways a tendency to deify the great, and just in proportion as time\nadvances does this tendency increase.  The man\u2019s human frailty is daily\nwitnessed by his own contemporaries, and the humanity of his nature kept\nin view by visible facts; but when the corrective evidence of real life\nloses its power through the lapse of time, the human failures are\nforgotten, while the great acts are exaggerated, till something\nsupernatural is attached to the memory, and the earthly benefactor is\nadored as a god.  This is the history of all the tutelary deities of\nPagan lands.  Romulus, _e.g._, was no sooner dead than deified; the most\npopular deity of China, Laoutze, was one of the early emperors, and there\nis scarcely a nation in the world that has not elevated its benefactors\ninto gods.\n\nHere, then, is the natural tendency of the natural heart\u2014a tendency in\ndirect opposition to Christianity.  But, though thus opposed to the\nGospel, it is not necessarily eradicated from the heart of every\nprofessing Christian; and, hence, it has produced within the Church a new\nmode of Christianized hero-worship, in which the martyrs have taken the\nhero\u2019s honours, and the Virgin is crowned with the crown of Cybele.\nThere was nothing wonderful in this.  They witnessed the martyrs\u2019 faith,\nand met for sacramental communion around the martyrs\u2019 tombs; they knew\ntheir souls yet lived, and they knew not but what they might be even\npresent.  What, then, could be more natural than that the waiting heart\nshould begin to adore them?  It was not addressing a Pagan god, but a\nChristian saint, and the very prayer was an acknowledgment of all the\ngreat principles of Christianity.  But when once that prayer was uttered,\nthe Rubicon was crossed, and the principle of saint-worship established\nin the Church.  Hence you find the guardian saints and angels of the\nChurch of Rome filling exactly the same office as the tutelary deities of\nthe Heathen.  And, as we have just remarked the identity of Pagan and\nRoman image-worship as illustrated by the alteration of the image, so\nthere is another curious fact which exhibits the similar correspondence\nbetween the hero-worship of the ancients and the saint-worship of modern\nRome.  When the Emperor Phocas issued his celebrated edict in recognition\nof the supremacy of the See of Rome, he made a present to the Pope of the\nancient temple named Pantheon.  Now this temple was originally dedicated\nto Cybele, and all the Pagan gods, and when it fell into the possession\nof the Pope, he made as slight a change as possible, for he just turned\nit over to the Virgin Mary and all the saints.  The principle was left\nuntouched, though the objects of the idolatry were changed.\n\nBut there is a yet further principle involved in this saint and virgin\nworship; for the human heart requires tenderness and sympathy, so that we\ncan never breathe out our secret burden to one who has no fellow-feeling\nwith our trouble.  We want the sympathy of a common nature, if not the\ntenderness of a woman\u2019s heart.  Hence in Heathen systems you constantly\nfind a Heathen goddess to whom pertains especially the office of\npatronage and mercy.  Even Simon Magus had his Helena in his system of\nGnosticism; and the poor Buddhist, while he looks with awe to his three\nBuddhas, has his Kwan-yin, or Goddess of Mercy, to whom he may appeal in\ntrouble.  Yes! the human heart needs tenderness, and if there is any one\naspect in the Gospel more glorious than another, it is the rich provision\nmade for this very want.  There never was a scheme so wonderful, or a\nSaviour so perfect as that presented in the Gospel.  Glorious in his\ndivinity, he sways heaven\u2019s mighty sceptre, while, perfect in his\nhumanity, he can be tenderly touched with the faintest cry of human\ngrief.  He governs angels, and weeps with men.  But the natural man is a\nstranger to this sympathy; yet he longs for it and feels the need of it.\nHe is exposed to the shocks and buffetings of this rough world, and his\nbleeding heart needs a friend who himself has bled.  If he has not\nChrist, therefore, he naturally craves a substitute; something which may\ngive him the sense of sympathy amongst the unseen powers.  And this\ndesire has gradually run into saint and virgin worship.  It has taken\nhold of the hero-worship of the Heathen, and given it a Christian\ncharacter by transferring it to the Virgin and the saints.  It does not\ndo away with Christ, but provides a system of intermediate mediation\nwhich commends itself to the aching heart by the assurance of a woman\u2019s\nlove and a fellow-sufferer\u2019s compassion.  Hence, if any particular saint\nwas subject during life to any especial trial, he is supposed to take a\npeculiar interest in those who labour under similar affliction.  Nor can\nyou read much of the adoration paid by Rome to the Virgin without\nperceiving that she is the Kwan-yin, the Goddess of Mercy, in the Romish\nsystem.  There is a halo of awe thrown around the brow of the Redeemer,\nwhile the Virgin is described in the attitude of tenderness, \u201cthe\ncomforter of the afflicted,\u201d \u201cthe refuge of the sinner,\u201d and the ready\nlistener to the sufferer\u2019s cry.  We will adduce one instance in\nillustration, as given by Mr. Tyler in his valuable little work \u201cWhat is\nRomanism?\u201d  The worship of the Virgin is especially celebrated in Romish\ncountries during the month of May, and there is a collection of religious\npoems used in the churches of Paris on these occasions.  One of these is\nas follows:\u2014\n\n    \u201cVouchsafe, Mary, on this day to hear our sighs and second our\n    desires.  Vouchsafe, Mary, on this day to receive our incense, our\n    love: Of thy heavenly husband calm the rage.  Let him shew himself\n    kind to all those that are thine!  Of thy heavenly husband calm the\n    rage: Let his heart be softened towards us.\u201d\n\nHere God is presented in the attitude of terror, while the female\nadvocate is the sole depository of grace; and the whole springs from the\nnatural heart, which, under the sense of sin, feels a dread of God; and\nlonging for sympathy, appeals to a woman\u2019s love.\n\nIII.  _Holiness_.\n\nWe may lay it down as a fundamental axiom, that there can be no religion\nwithout holiness.  Whatever be our doctrinal opinions, if we be not holy\nwe cannot see the Lord.  And, accordingly, holiness is the great gift of\na risen Saviour to his Church.  He has shed forth the Holy Ghost to\npurify our hearts by faith.  Now, in this Christian holiness there are\ntwo or three leading features to be carefully observed.  (1.) It is not a\nplant which grows naturally in the human heart, but is the especial work\nof the Holy Ghost himself.  (2.) It consists in a sacred principle which\ncontrols the whole man, and not in any one class either of actions or\nomissions.  (3.) This ruling principle is the constraining power of the\nlove of Christ.  \u201cThe love of Christ constraineth us.\u201d  From which\nremarks it appears at once that true holiness is from its very nature\nimpossible to the unconverted man.  He is not under the influence of the\nSpirit; he does not know the love of Christ, and he is, therefore,\nincapable of that hallowed principle which shall bend his whole mind in\none direction, and wean him from sin by the consecration of his whole man\nto God.  Hence, the unconverted man, if thoughtful and conscientious, is\nsure to feel distressed.  A holy standard is presented to his view, while\nhis conscience convicts him of lamentable defect.  He sees there must be\nnecessity, but has not felt its power.  He sees there must be holiness,\nbut he knows he is not holy.  He is aware that without righteousness\nthere can be no true religion, but he sees so much sin within his heart\nthat he cannot believe himself righteous.\n\nWhat, then, is to be done?  What is the refuge of the human heart under\nsuch circumstances?  Either he must stifle conscience, which is\nimpossible, or he must embrace the Gospel, in which case he would find\njoy in the Holy Ghost, or he must so accommodate that Gospel as to soothe\nhis heart without changing it, which accommodation is Popery.  And how is\nthis effected?\n\nOne mode is by _ritualism_.\n\nThere are two great classes of Christian duties combined in the formation\nof Christian holiness\u2014moral and positive; moral being the general effect\nof Christian principle, positive consisting in certain Christian acts.\nNow it is plainly in respect to these moral duties or duties of Christian\nprinciple that the natural heart finds the chief difficulty, and the\noutward acts of a ceremonial religion are incomparably easier than the\nholy dedication of a devoted heart.  Hence it follows that the human\nheart is naturally prone to slide insensibly from the principle to the\nritual, and to endeavour to compensate the defects of the one by a rigid\nattention to the requirements of the other.  By such an accommodation no\npart of Divine truth is professedly set aside, but yet, by altering the\nproportions of the several parts, by throwing a strong light on one side\nof the picture, and a deep shade on the other, its whole character is\ncompletely changed, and religion is given to the natural man though his\nheart is left unsanctified by the Spirit.\n\nThis tendency to substitute ritual for principle may be daily seen in\nevery society.  One thinks himself holy because he has kept his church;\nanother, because he is a regular communicant; a third, because he attends\ndaily service; a fourth, because he never neglects to say his prayers;\nwhile a fifth is quite sure that he is born again, because in his infancy\nhe was baptized; although, possibly, neither one nor the other has\nlearned anything of true holiness of heart.  Out of this tendency has\nsprung up the whole system of Romish righteousness.  The weed that grew\nout of the human heart it has adroitly cultivated, till it has become the\nstrongest flower in its garden.  What under the Gospel sprang up by\nnature against the Gospel it has embodied and arranged so as to become a\nsubstitute for the Gospel.  Hence, under Popery, ritual has in many cases\noverpowered principle, and attention to ritual religion is made the\nsubstitute for spiritual holiness before God.\n\nIt is extremely difficult to produce documentary evidence of any such\nsubstitution, for, of course, it is in no case acknowledged.  The truth\nof our charge, however, may be easily seen in the practice of\nindulgences.  It is sometimes thought that this monstrous practice has\nbeen abandoned by modern Popery.  But such is not the case; for I find in\nthe \u201cCatholic Directory\u201d for 1848, that there are eight plenary\nindulgences granted to the faithful in the eight districts of England,\nand four more for the peculiar benefit of the London district.  Now the\nessence of these indulgences is the substitution of ritual for principle,\nfor the remission of moral sin is promised as a reward to the observance\nof an ecclesiastical rite.  Take, _e.g._, one of the indulgences granted\nby Pope Sixtus IV.:\u2014\u201cOur holy Father, Sixtus IV., Pope, hath granted to\nall them that devoutly say this prayer before the image of our Lady the\nsum of 11,000 years of pardon.  Ave Sanctissima Maria, &c.\u201d  So the late\nPope issued an apostolic brief to Ambrose Lisle Phillips, Esq., in which,\namongst other things, he promises \u201cindulgences of 100 days as often as\nthe members shall recite their appointed decade of the rosary on working\ndays.\u201d  He promises at the same time indulgences of seven years and seven\nlents as often as they shall recite the aforesaid decades on Sundays and\nholidays, &c.  It is impossible to imagine a more glaring preference of\nritual above principle.  The guilt of moral sin is remitted as a reward\nfor the performance of an ecclesiastical rite.\n\nAnother clear illustration of the same principle is seen in the\nsubstitution for repentance of what they term the sacrament of penance.\nWhere you find repentance in the Scriptures you find penance taught by\nRome, as, _e.g._, in Ezek. xviii. 30:\u2014\u201cRepent and turn yourselves from\nall your transgressions.\u201d  Luke xiii. 3.  \u201cExcept ye repent ye shall all\nlikewise perish.\u201d  And Acts ii. 38:\u2014\u201cRepent and be baptized every one of\nyou, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy\nGhost.\u201d  In all these passages the Council of Trent, Sess. xiv. 2, has\nchanged \u201crepent,\u201d into \u201cdo penance,\u201d and has so made the rite a\nsubstitute for the principle.  Of course the pious Romanist would say,\n\u201cWe have the principle too, for we truly repent in penance.\u201d  But that\ndoes not affect the question.  The Bible has promised remission of sin,\nand connected it with the principle; the Church of Rome has adopted the\npromise, but transferred it to the rite.\n\nThe effects of this on different minds are, of course, very various.  In\nsome of a devout and conscientious character, it produces the most\nearnest attention to the positive duties of religion, and gives them a\ndim gleam of doubtful hope in the unceasing observance of all prescribed\nservices.  But when there is not this spirit of devotion, it enables a\nwicked man to make a compromise with God, and to follow the natural bent\nof his natural heart, by attending to the Church\u2019s services, while he\nutterly neglects the weightier matters of the law.\n\nIn the late trials for murder in Ireland, it was remarked that many of\nthe guilty culprits were persons remarkable for their attention to the\nritual of their Church; and there was a case at the close of the last\nIrish rebellion in which the hour of a murder was thus proved.  One of\nthe witnesses swore that it took place after the hour of twelve o\u2019clock\non Saturday night, and he was sure of the fact because the murderers were\ndetermined to have a supper before they went on their guilty errand, and\nthat Saturday being a fast-day, they could not touch meat until after the\nclock had struck.  The ritual of fasting was rigidly observed, while the\nregard for life was altogether gone.  In one of the jails at Rome there\nis a celebrated bandit, by name Gasparoni.  This man, by his deeds of\nbloodshed, had desolated an extensive district in the neighbourhood of\nRome, though all the while he avowed himself a very religious man.  Sir\nFowell Buxton inquired of him whether he had fasted when he was a bandit.\nHe said, \u201cYes.\u201d  \u201cWhy did you fast?\u201d was the next question.  \u201cBecause I\nam of the religion of the Virgin.\u201d  \u201cWhich did you think was worse,\neating meat on a Friday, or killing a man?\u201d  He answered without\nhesitation, \u201cIn my case it was a crime not to fast; it was no crime to\nkill those who came to betray me.\u201d  The man had no true holiness, but had\ntaken the ritual of fasting as its substitute, so that in the midst of\nhis murders he believed himself a very religious man.\n\nThe same principle appears in the Romish treatment of the Lord\u2019s-day.\nThe moral commandment of the Most High God is abandoned, and for it you\nfind in many Romish catechisms the substitute of human ritual, \u201cThou\nshalt keep the festivals.\u201d  And this appears in the universal practice of\nRomish countries.  They appear to regard it as a duty to attend mass, but\nthat once done, the whole day is devoted to amusement.  The rite is\nobserved, and the conscience satisfied, so that the unregenerate heart is\nleft at full liberty to pursue its own course, and take its pleasure on\nthe Lord\u2019s holy day.  Thus the same persons who are engaged in the utmost\napparent devotion at mass in the morning are found in throngs in the\ndissolute French theatre at night.  \u201cAttend to the Church\u2019s rites and\nlive as you please,\u201d appears to be the maxim of their morality.\n\nYou perceive the same thing in Romish literature.  It has been one of the\ncharacteristics of the late movement toward Rome that amongst its most\ndevoted followers it has let loose the spirit of the world.  You will\nobserve, for example, in Burns\u2019s Catalogue the strangest possible mixture\nof ritualism and worldliness, and will see the book of Romish devotion\nplaced side by ride with the wild German love story.\n\nThus has Popery taken hold of the great grand gift of Christianity, and\npresented it to its votaries in a form accommodated to human nature.  It\ndoes not deny the necessity of holiness, but it so transforms its\ncharacter that the unholy man may think he has attained it, and the\nItalian murderer conscientiously believe himself religious.\n\nA second substitution for true holiness is _asceticism_: according to\nwhich system the unholy heart finds its refuge in a separation from\nordinary men.  Christianity carries holiness into life, asceticism takes\nthe hermit out of it.  But yet it is perfectly natural that men should\nseek such a refuge.  When they feel the burden of sin, and experience the\ntemptations of a surrounding world, it is no wonder that they should seek\na remedy in a complete retirement from its influence.  To give themselves\nup to fasting, penance, and solitary communion with God, must lead, they\nvery naturally argue, to the enjoyment of more holy peace than they can\nhope to find in the midst of the duties and varied engagements of\nsociety.  Hence every false faith has produced its devotees.  Under\ndifferent systems they have assumed a different character, but in all the\nprinciple is the same.  The Hindoo separates himself from the world, and\nstands with his arm erect till it becomes stiffened into a fixed\nposition; while the Buddhist and the Romanist retire to the convent that\nthey may there withdraw from the world, and devote themselves wholly to\nspiritual exercises and to God.  But though this is natural, it is a mere\naccommodation.  The real evil of the human heart is not corrected by the\nchange, nor have the hair shirt and the leathern girdle the slightest\ninfluence in controlling the corrupt passions of the nature.  There may\nbe as much pride, self-righteousness, and ill-governed temper in the\nlonely hermit\u2019s cheerless cell, as in the deep current of the world\u2019s\nsociety.  At the same time it is an accommodation, for it employs the\nname of Christ, and gives the semblance of a very elevated piety.  It\nadopts the language of devotion, and prescribes a course of action and\nself-denial.  It gives the inquirer something to do, and something to\nbear; it separates him also from other men, and so, though his heart be\nnot purified, it gives him the hope that he is holy.  This was remarkably\nseen in the case of Ignatius Loyola.  Like Luther, he was awakened to a\ndeep sense of sin, and it is a remarkable fact that the two greatest\nphenomena of the sixteenth century, the Reformation, and Jesuitism,\nshould have sprung out of the same uneasiness for sin.  Luther found\npeace through the blood of the Lamb, and holiness in the work of the\nSpirit; Loyola was as much distressed as he, and failing in his discovery\nof Christ, he took refuge in the substitute of an ascetic life.  He tore\nhimself away from his kindred and father\u2019s house, determining to undergo\npenances of the severest character, and to serve God in Jerusalem.  He\nhung up his shield before an image of the Virgin, and, having clothed\nhimself in coarse raiment, he stood before it for whole nights with his\npilgrim\u2019s staff in his hand.  At Manresa he passed seven hours daily on\nhis knees, and scourged himself regularly thrice a-day.  He devoted three\nwhole days to making a general confession for sin, but the more he\nexplored the depths of his heart, the more painful were the doubts which\nassailed him.  Having read in some of the fathers that God had been moved\nto compassion by a total abstinence from food, he remained from Sunday to\nSunday without tasting anything, and at last only broke his fast in\nobedience to the positive injunctions of his confessor.\n\nSuch were the efforts of a master mind, to create for itself an\nartificial holiness, and such are the principles more or less involved in\nthe whole system of the monasticism of Rome.  It substitutes devotion of\nact, which withdraws men from their appointed sphere, for devotion of\nheart which glorifies God in its varied duties: and thus presents a\nspurious holiness within reach of unconverted minds.\n\nIV.  But the great root of the matter yet remains in the craving of the\nsoul for _Reconciliation_.\n\nThat there is this craving none can deny.  It is seen in all classes, in\nall nations.  Buddhists, Hindoos, Mussulmen, Jews, Protestants,\nRomanists, and even Infidels, all bear testimony to a certain undefined\nlonging after peace.  Now this peace is given by the Gospel, in the free,\nfull justification of the believer through the perfect atonement and\nimputed righteousness of the Lord.  But in the practical application of\nit to the heart there arises this difficulty.  Our safety depends on an\ninvisible union with an invisible Redeemer.  Faith is not a thing which\ncan be seen and felt.  It looks away from self to Christ, and disappears\nas soon as you look back on self to find it.  Now if a man be enabled by\nthe Holy Ghost to look simply to Christ, this difficulty vanishes through\nthe all-sufficiency of the one object there presented to his view.  But\nif, on the other hand, this faith be wanting, and the freedom of Divine\ngrace remain unknown, the human heart at once makes an effort for some\nvisible, tangible mode of laying hold of acceptance in Christ Jesus.  The\nsystem, therefore, best accommodated to the natural man would be one\nwhich embraced all the rich promises of the Gospel, but connected them\nwith something which could be said or done, so leaving men in no doubt as\nto their position.\n\nNow this desire is exactly met by the Church of Rome.  It presents its\npardon in a tangible, visible form, and it leads the soul to rest for its\nassurance upon something safely done.  The sin is confessed, the penance\nperformed, the absolution pronounced, and there the matter ends.  The\nguilty man has no further occasion to distress his mind upon the subject.\nThe language of the catechism of the Council of Trent is very curious as\nillustrating the endeavour to connect pardon with a visible act.  It\nfirst draws the distinction between the inward disposition of repentance\nand the outward act of penance, and adds, \u00a7 13, \u201cThat it is the outward\npenance in which the sacrament consists, and which contains certain\nexternal actions, which _are subjects of sense_ through which the inner\nfeelings of the mind are manifest.\u201d  The next section explains the reason\nwhy the sacrament of penance is said to have been instituted, viz., to\nassure us of our pardon, for without it, \u201cthere must have been most\nanxious suspense of mind respecting _inward repentance_, since every man\nwould have had good reason to doubt his own judgment in those things\nwhich he was doing.\u201d  To avoid this anxiety, therefore, the pardon is\nconnected with a visible act.  It is found, accordingly, in practical\nlife, that the priest\u2019s absolution is regarded by the Romanist in the\nsame light as God\u2019s forgiveness, and that, whatever be the state of\nheart, that visible act is deemed sufficient.  Pat Burns, now a devoted\nScripture Reader under the Irish Society, was for ten years the leader of\na desperate gang of Ribbandmen, and he told a friend of mine that during\nthat time he frequently went to the priest, paid him all dues regularly,\nand obtained absolution from time to time, as his conscience felt uneasy\nafter the commission of crime; that the priest generally put a penance\nupon him, and that when it was performed, he considered himself as good a\nman as any other, and as fit for heaven.  This same person added that the\npriest had never once directed him to the Word of God, or to the Lord\nJesus for salvation.\n\nThe same connexion between confession and reconciliation was curiously\nillustrated by the following fact.  The priest in my friend\u2019s parish gave\nnothing during the late contribution towards Irish distress, but the poor\ncreatures excused his penuriousness on the plea that it was unlucky to\ntake a priest\u2019s money\u2014that a priest\u2019s money being paid at confession and\nabsolution, is the price of sin, and often comes from murderers and other\nbad characters, as the price of absolution and pardon; and if, therefore,\nyou buy a horse with it, he will get lame; and if you buy seed corn it\nwill be blighted.\n\nI am perfectly aware that it may be justly argued that these facts among\nthe people do not prove that the principle has been adopted by the\nChurch; but I think it must also be admitted that they do show how\nexactly suited to the natural man is the connexion which Rome does assert\nbetween the pardon of sin and certain visible actions amongst men.  God\nconnects his pardon with a deep seated spiritual faith.  The human heart\nsays, \u201cLet me do something.  Let me work it out.  Let me have some\nassurance that I am forgiven.\u201d  Popery steps in, and adapts its\nprinciples to both, asserting on the one hand the necessity of faith, but\nprescribing on the other a certain penance, and then sealing the whole\nwith the priest\u2019s absolution, so as to leave no doubt on the sinner\u2019s\nmind.  According to the language of a late pervert, the priest \u201cshewed\nher how she must unite her sacrifice with the holy atoning blood of\nChrist, and then in his name pardoned and blessed her.  Thus sin had not\nbeen suffered to remain upon her soul.\u201d  See how the Gospel was retained,\nand at the same time accommodated to the natural cravings of the anxious\nheart.  The atoning blood was preached, but the act of penance received\nwith it, so as to give it a tangible application.\n\nBut this accommodation fails in giving lasting peace.  Nothing, in short,\ncan really satisfy but the atoning blood of Christ _alone_, and to this\nfailure may be traced the whole tissue of Romish rites.  Penances,\nabsolutions, masses, holy waters, holy pilgrimages, holy retreats, and,\nlast of all, extreme unction, are nothing more than fresh efforts to\nsatisfy the heart; and, though all be combined, they are all found\ninsufficient.  There are, we know, true believers, who, though trammelled\nby the system, yet rise above it to Christ; and there are others, again,\nwhose conscience is so deadened that they live at ease in Zion; but for\nconscientious anxious souls the means are insufficient, and anxious fears\nkeep rising up within the heart.  From these remaining doubts has arisen\nthe last crowning accommodation in the system, namely, purgatory.\n\nIn former days I used to wonder what could be the attraction of the\ndoctrine of purgatory, more especially when I found that there was\nscarcely any portion of the system which persons embraced with equal\nreadiness.  It is said of it in the catechism of the Council of Trent,\n\u201cBesides hell there is a fire of purgatory, in which the souls of the\npious being tormented for a definite time, expiate their sin; that so an\nentrance may be opened to them into the eternal country, into which\nnothing defiled can enter.\u201d  Now it may be fairly asked from what\nprinciple in the human heart can such a decree have sprung?  We can\nunderstand men cheerfully performing penance, and craving the absolution\nof the priest.  But what can make a pious soul desire to be burnt up in\npurgatory?  It is not merely a heavenly purification of the ransomed\nspirit to prepare it sweetly for the rich enjoyments of the kingdom, but\nit is a burning in the fire, and that, strange to say, is the peculiar\nprivilege of pious souls.  Can anything be more extraordinary?  And yet,\nwhen you consider it, can anything be more simple?  Just take the case of\none of these anxious minds, of which we have been speaking.  He has been\ngoing about to establish his own righteousness, but his heart is not\nholy.  He has endeavoured to unite his sacrifice of penance with the\natoning blood of Christ, and he has received the priest\u2019s pardon, but yet\nsin remains.  There it is, eating into his heart\u2019s peace, and cleaving\nlike a leprosy to his soul.  And now death approaches, the delusions of\nthe lower world begin to vanish, and then comes the question, Is sin\nforgiven?  He has received his last viaticum.  Still, is he safe?  He has\nman\u2019s absolution.  Has he God\u2019s pardon?  He has performed his penance.\nIs sin fully expiated?  Oh, that we could point him at once to the simple\nsufficiency of the Lamb\u2019s most precious blood!  But in default of that,\nwhat must be done?  There must be a further accommodation of\nChristianity.  The heart tells him that his own penance has been\ninsufficient, so the work of expiation must be carried out beyond the\ngrave.  His conscience whispers that he is not yet prepared to die, so he\nclings readily to the hope that something may still be done, that\ncomplete preparation here on earth is not needful, for that an\nintermediate state is to follow, in which, though unprepared at his dying\nhour, he may yet be made meet for the kingdom of the saints.\n\nOr take the case of another character, the man who has spent his life in\nneglect of God.  In the day of health he has been occupied with the\nworld\u2019s interests, and been enabled to stave off the great question of\nhis soul\u2019s salvation.  But now the great enemy is upon him, the day of\naccount is near, and the Judge must be met in judgment.  Under such\ncircumstances, a man will give anything for time.  If possible, time\nhere; but if that is impossible, time hereafter: at all events, time.  He\nwill do anything to stave off the great decision,\u2014he will grasp anything\nthat postpones the necessity of preparation.  From this mind arises the\nhope amongst all classes, of doing something for the dead.  I was once\ncharged myself with carelessness as to men\u2019s salvation, because a certain\ndead body was not carried into the church at burial.  \u201cIf,\u201d said the\nwoman, \u201cyou really believed that you saved souls by carrying the bodies\ninto church, you would have taken him in as well as others.\u201d  Now the\nsystem of Popery has grown out of this anxious fear.  It has met the\nfears of dying men, by giving a system to their ill-founded hopes.  It\nhas given the man who knows he is unprepared to die a resting-point\nbeyond the grave.  It has shifted the work of preparation to a world\nunseen and unknown, and so hushed the voice of conscience by assuring it\nthat there still remains the hope of expiation for its sin.  Purgatory,\ntherefore, is the last stay for an unsatisfied heart.  It gives the hope\nof pardon after death, and serves as a sedative for death-bed fears.\n\nThus, then, we have traced some few particulars of the Romish system to\ntheir hidden sources in the human heart, and have observed some of the\nmany perversions and modifications which it has provided for the sinner,\nto assist him in the pursuit of peace.\n\n    \u201cOh, how unlike the complex works of man,\n    Heaven\u2019s easy, artless, unencumbered plan!\n    No meretricious graces to beguile,\n    No clustering ornaments to clog the pile,\n    From ostentation, as from weakness, free,\n    It stands like the cerulean arch we see,\n    Majestic in its own simplicity.\n    Inscribed above the portal, from afar\n    Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,\n    Legible only by the light they give,\n    Stand the soul-quickening words, \u2018BELIEVE AND LIVE!\u2019\u201d\n\nHere, therefore, we may safely leave our argument; and we would make, in\nconclusion, one or two very simple practical remarks.\n\nIn the first place, then, we must never feel surprised at seeing amiable,\nexcellent, and apparently religious men brought under the influence of\nPopery; for it has surely appeared to-night, that the characters most\nsubject to its attraction are those who have felt the power of religious\nimpression, but who have not been led by the Spirit to know the hallowed\npeace of saving grace.  Those who are justified in Christ are at peace,\nand do not need it; those who are insensible to Divine things are at\nease, and do not care for it; while the intermediate class, consisting of\nthose who feel the necessity of the Gospel, but do not enjoy its\ngrace,\u2014they are the persons most open to an accommodated system, and most\nprepared for the reception of a spurious Christianity.  Until a man has\nfelt some perplexity, he has no desire to surrender his responsibility to\nanother; nor until he has felt sin\u2019s burden, does he care for the\ntemporary relief which may be found from penance and absolution.  And\nthis explains the at first sight remarkable phenomenon of the rapid\nprogress of Romish principles in latter years, notwithstanding the spread\nof evangelical truth, and the increased circulation of the Word of God.\nThe preaching of the Cross disturbs more minds than it saves, and so\ndrives the unconverted to have recourse to some substitute for the\nGospel.\n\nA second remark is, that we must never be astonished at the alliance\noften witnessed between Popery and Infidelity, for they spring from the\nsame elements in the human heart.  Unbelief and superstition appear, at\nfirst sight, to be directly opposed; but in their secret springs they are\nclosely allied.  They are two human remedies for the uneasiness of the\nhuman heart,\u2014the one rejecting, the other accommodating the Gospel.  And\nwhenever the time shall arise, that the witnesses for Christ shall be\ncalled on once more to bear their cross for the name of Jesus, they must\nbe prepared to encounter both in a confederate effort against the faith.\nIn two particulars they agree, in one only they diverge.  In their\nuneasiness under the influence of the Gospel, and in their rejection of\nits simple plan of life, they are one: the difference is only at the\nthird stage, when the one rejects revelation, the other accommodates it\nto its will.\n\nLastly, we are surely taught that the one and only remedy for Popery and\nPopish tendencies is the free, sovereign, and unfettered grace of our\nLord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  We may discuss the many questions arising\nout of the system, and overthrow the Romish advocate even on the\necclesiastical argument; but in so doing we only protect the outposts.\nIf we would strike at the root of the evil, we must do it by setting\nforth at once the fulness and freedom of the salvation that is in Jesus.\nLet the doctrine of justification by faith be written on the heart by the\nHoly Ghost, and there will then be little fear from Popery.  Let that one\ngreat fundamental truth be neglected and obscured, and the more earnest\nthat we are in an awakening ministry, the more effectually do we prepare\nthe way for Rome.  In every point, then, let us meet Antichrist by\nexalting Christ.  If men are harassed by perplexity, let us assure their\nfaith by proclaiming Christ as revealed in Scripture.  If men are craving\nafter communion with God, let us set Christ before them as the sinner\u2019s\nadvocate.  If they long for holiness, let us tell them of Christ as our\nwisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.  If they seek\njustification, let Christ be honoured as the Lord their righteousness;\nand if they look for some further expiation of their in purgatory, let us\nstill tell them of Christ, who \u201cby one offering hath perfected for ever\nthem that are sanctified.\u201d  This is the weapon which Peter wielded on the\nday of Pentecost, and which burst the hold of the Popery of Judaism.\nThis was the message with which St. Paul set at nought the rising Popery\nof Galatia.  This was the mighty power which, in the days of the\nReformation, shook Rome to her foundations; and this is the only name\nwhereby the witnesses for Christ can ever look for victory, for they\novercome, according to the scriptural record, \u201cby the blood of the Lamb,\nand by the word of their testimony.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPRAYER TO BE USED AT THE MEETINGS OF THE ISLINGTON PROTESTANT INSTITUTE.\n\n\nALMIGHTY GOD, who hast built Thy Church upon the foundation of the\nApostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone,\nand hast promised that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it; we\napproach Thee in the name of Him who is the one Mediator, the Way, the\nTruth, and the Life.\n\nWe praise and magnify Thy holy name for Thy distinguishing goodness\ntowards us as inhabitants of this Christian land, and members of a\nReformed and scriptural Church.  [We adore Thy grace in that wonderful\ninterposition of Thy Providence, by which our fathers were rescued from\nthe yoke of superstitious bondage, and taught to serve Thee in spirit and\nin truth.]\n\nBut we confess that we have not rendered again according to the benefit\nwe have received.  We have neither prized nor improved our privileges as\nwe ought.  [We have sinned, and our fathers have sinned, and we have\nreason to fear lest there should be wrath upon us and upon our people,\nand lest Thou shouldest pour out the spirit of slumber and delusion upon\nus.]  Yet Thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy.\nRemember not our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers.  Turn us\nagain, O Lord God of hosts; cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be\nsaved.\n\nDirect our hearts and minds by Thy Holy Spirit.  Give us understanding of\nthe times to know what we ought to do.  Let Thy merciful help especially\nprevent and follow us as members of this Society.  May we begin,\ncontinue, and end everything in Thee.  [Let us not contend for names and\nwords, but for Thy glory, and the truth of Thy Gospel.]  Grant us a\nsimple love of the truth, and an experimental acquaintance with it.  [Let\nus not be \u201ccarried about with divers and strange doctrines,\u201d but let our\nhearts be \u201cestablished with grace.\u201d]\n\nAnd let us not only believe with the heart, but with the mouth make\nconfession.  With meekness of wisdom may we ever be ready to defend our\nprinciples and to protest against error.  Let us unite holy zeal,\nboldness, and stedfastness, with a spirit of genuine charity.  Grant us a\nright judgment in all things, Christian unanimity in our counsels, and\nperseverance in well-doing.  [Keep us humble, depending entirely upon the\npromised grace and help of Thy Holy Spirit, and watchful, as those who\nare not ignorant of the devices of Satan.]\n\nRaise up, we earnestly entreat Thee, champions for the truth; revive in\nour days the spirit of the martyrs and reformers of old.  Spare to Thy\nChurch those who are zealous for Thee.  May the faithful never fail from\namong us, but let the rising youth be trained to walk in the good old\npaths.\n\nAnd as Thou hast commanded prayers and intercessions to be made for all\nmen, we beseech Thee for our sovereign lady, Queen Victoria, [that she\nmay ever be mindful of the responsibilities of her office and the\nobligation of her oath.  Bless abundantly] the Ministers of State.\n[Guide] and [govern] the senate of our land.  [Strengthen and encourage\nthose Protestant Representatives who are faithful to Thy cause; increase\ntheir influence, and add to their numbers.  Pour out Thy Spirit upon all\nestates of the realm, the clergy and the laity, the rich and the poor.\nMay they strive together, as members of one body, for the common faith.\nLet it please Thee to comfort and succour all oppressed Protestants, and\nconfessors of the truth, enabling them to forgive their enemies, and to\nmaintain their own stedfastness.]  And very earnestly do we beseech Thee\nto bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived.\nStrengthen such as do stand, and raise up them that fall.\n\n[Finally, we commend ourselves and the work of our hands unto Thee,\nentreating Thee to accept our persons and our services, not weighing our\nmerits, but pardoning our offences; and so to overrule all events,\u2014nay,\neven the errors and infirmities of Thy servants,\u2014to the advancement of\nThy glory, and the good of Thy Church, that truth and liberty, piety and\npeace, may be established among us to all generations.]\n\nThese and all other mercies we humbly beg in the name and mediation of\nJESUS CHRIST, our most blessed Lord and Saviour.\n\n                                                                     AMEN.\n\n     N.B.  The passages within brackets may be omitted at discretion.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n              Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.\n\n\n\n\nBY THE SAME AUTHOR.\n\n\n                                    I.\n\nThe SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES of our PROTESTANT CHURCH.  Second Edition.\nPrice 3_s._\n\n                                   II.\n\nThe TIME of the END; or, The World, the Visible Church, and the People of\nGod at the Advent of the Lord.  Third Edition.  Price 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n                                   III.\n\nThe COMMUNION and COMMUNICANT.  A Practical Tract for Enquirers\nrespecting the Lord\u2019s Supper.  Price 3_d._, or 2_s._ per dozen.\n\n                                   IV.\n\nBAPTISM as TAUGHT in the BIBLE and the PRAYER-BOOK.  Fifth Thousand.\nPrice 2\u00bd_d._","title":"Popery: The Accommodation of Christianity to the Natural Heart","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":12948}