The next paragraph, in Mr. P’s. “Observations,” is chiefly historical, and he has contrived to give us “a bird’s eye view” of the state of religion in this country, from the days of “our martyred [28] Charles” downwards. It thus begins. “It is said that our church ought to set an example of meekness and conciliation. I SAY she has done so to an extent unparalleled in modern times.” In proof of this oracular declaration, he shews in the first place, what the church has done. “And what has been her conduct while attacked by the army of the aliens?” To this question, I will first give my own answer, and then Mr. Perowne’s. My own answer is this. She “excommunicated, ipso facto,” whosoever affirmed “that the Church of England, by law established under the King’s Majesty, is not a true and an apostolical church.” She erected a spiritual court, in which her ministers sat in judgment on men’s consciences. She maintained a star chamber, where she slit men’s noses, and cut off their ears. She passed corporation and test acts; and an act of uniformity, by which two thousand godly ministers were driven from her pulpits, and in some cases persecuted unto death by her virulence. Mr. Perowne’s account of her conduct amidst all these transactions is this. “Confiding in her God, she has continued her labour of love, scarcely raising her hand to ward off the blows that have been aimed at her!” But her historian goes on to inform us that her acts of “meekness and conciliation,” in former days, are far surpassed by her present conduct; for this is what I suppose Mr. P. intended to mean when he said, “She has done so to an extent unparalleled in modern times.” Whatever his ambiguity may mean, he certainly endeavours to represent the church as greatly increasing in “meekness and conciliation;” for now, when she sees the wicked Dissenters attempting to assassinate her, she does not even “lift her hand” as she did formerly; but, like a true member of “the Peace Society,” she merely “withdraws from such” persons; and she thus withdraws, says her historian, “not in a spirit of revenge and bitterness, but in the spirit of Him who prayed for his enemies!” I shall refrain from commenting on this concluding declaration, any farther than to ask, whether the remotest comparison between the spirit breathed throughout Mr. Perowne’s pamphlet, and the dying prayer of the Redeemer, is not an insult to the “meek and lowly” Jesus.
We now proceed to what may be appropriately called “the patronage paragraph.” It was occasioned by the following sentences in my Letter, “addressed to the members of the Established Church.” “I know well that such an exclusive system is not the desire of you all. There are some among you who wish to see the Church of England ‘national’ in her feelings and in her philanthropy, as well as in her name, and who would be glad to co-operate with other Christians in educating and in evangelizing the people; but who at the same time deem it desirable, on the whole, to submit to other parties in the church, whose patronage and support are valued.” “This passage,” says Mr. Perowne, “I consider in itself a sufficient reason for my publishing to the world my own views and feelings on the subject in question. The parties alluded to must be clergymen.” Why must they be clergymen? Merely because I had used the words “patronage and support.” I used the words in their general acceptation, just as any person, in “pretended holy orders” would use them, little thinking of the ecclesiastical meaning which “a real reverend” might put upon them. I knew that if Dissenters were excluded from the committee of Infant Schools, such a proceeding would obtain for the schools the “patronage and support” of such persons in the church as would unite only with Episcopalians; and as some of those persons have influence and property wherewith to help the schools, I supposed that such “patronage and support” would be “valued.” But my words happened to be read by a man who understands by “patronage and support” the means of obtaining a better living than “Saint John’s Maddermarket.” And, with this idea in his mind, he begins to reason on the subject with a sagacity all his own. “The parties alluded to,” says he, “must be clergymen.” And his argument in proof is this—“Patronage” is no temptation to laymen. They therefore never act dishonestly to gain it. It never deters them “from following out the convictions of their own minds.” None but clergymen can be guilty of this. Now I, “the Rev. John Perowne,” am a clergyman—and, referring perhaps to the principle that “blessings brighten as they take their flight,” he adds, “my character is of some value to me”—and then, wishing to be thought as pure as Cæsar’s wife, he declares, “I cannot allow myself to be even suspected.” No, indeed. Were a patron to become suspicious, it might prevent the desired “patronage” from being bestowed. And should any “exclusive Churchman” ever offer this “senior wrangler” a better living than he now possesses, we shall all see the triumph of principle, and the “value” of “character,” displayed, by his declining it. He will say, “Nolo Episcopari” in the presence of a mitre—whenever it is offered to him.
But to proceed with this “patronage paragraph.” I had said, in my Letter, “I know well, that such an exclusive system is not the desire of you all.” Now this “exclusive system” is the desire of Mr. Perowne, and he has put himself forward as its great champion. He therefore concludes that, as I have described a class of persons whose views are directly opposed to his, I must have meant himself! His argument is—Mr. A. says that some persons do not approve of this “exclusive system.” I do approve of it. Therefore he refers to me! Q.E.D. Whether such syllogisms come from Oxford or from Cambridge, I am unable to determine, as I know not at which of the Universities Mr. Perowne was educated, and as Dissenters are “excluded” from them both.
In the course of this immortal paragraph, two things yet remain to be briefly noticed. First, he charges me with uttering a direct falsehood, and says that he will not believe my statements unless they are “authenticated by at least two witnesses.” I have already intimated that I shall not trouble myself to gain his assent to any statements I have made. He had before him the speeches made at the public meeting; he had before him Mr. Geary’s pamphlet; in both of which the statements I have made are reiterated; and yet, though he had before him the testimony of these three or four witnesses, he says he will not believe, till he has “at least two witnesses.” Let him disbelieve it then. And, secondly, in his note to the paragraph, he charges some of the clergy with consenting to “unite with Dissenters in the Bible Society,” “on condition” that a Dissenter should pay their subscriptions. I hope it is distinctly understood that, in these pages, I make no attack upon the clergy, and that I have to do with Mr. Perowne only; yet, though the clergy do not need me as their defender, I am bound to declare that, having associated with several of them in the Bible Society for nearly twenty years, I believe that they joined it from true conviction, and not from such a base and paltry “condition” as that which Mr. Perowne alleges. He has, however, carefully abstained from mentioning names, and from advancing proofs, both of which ought to have accompanied such a disreputable accusation of his brethren.
The bishops, of whom he speaks in the next paragraph, were “immured in a prison” on a charge of high treason; and a bill, to exclude them from the House of Lords, passed both houses of parliament, and received the signature of “our martyred Charles.” And, if it was ever “made unlawful for an Episcopalian to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience,” Mr. Perowne ought to know that this was done by parliamentary authority, and that the church might even now visit every Dissenter with pains and penalties, for not worshipping within her walls, were she not mercifully prevented by the Act of Toleration.
One more paragraph yet remains. I had said in my Letter, that “the essential doctrines and hallowed influences” of religion “ought to be far dearer to us all than any forms of ecclesiastical government. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” This, he intimates, is equivalent to saying that “forms of ecclesiastical government” are “matters of little moment.” I did not say so. I said that doctrines and influences ought to be “far dearer” to us than such forms. Having, however, made me say that they are “matters of little moment,” he asks, why then do we separate from the church? I ask in reply, why does the church impose them? and why does he write a pamphlet against those who conscientiously refuse to comply with them? Let Mr. Perowne regenerate a child by baptism, and cross its forehead, if he pleases. Let him kneel at the table, around which Christ and his disciples sat, if he pleases. Let him call a Socinian his “dear brother,” and bury him “in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,” if he pleases. But let him not attempt to compel me to adopt such practices; let him not anathematize me for not conforming to a church which declares that it “hath power to decree rites and ceremonies,” when I believe that such “power” is possessed by Christ alone. I am not the separatist. I “stand fast in the liberty with which Christ hath made me free.” He is the schismatic who insists upon the practice of unscriptural and popish ceremonies, as the terms of communion with the church of Christ. “The schism,” says Archbishop Laud, in addressing Papists, and in justifying the church of England in her dissent from the church of Rome, “The schism is theirs whose the cause of it is; and he makes the separation who gives the first cause of it, not he that makes an actual separation upon a just cause preceding.” Let Mr. Perowne talk no more about separation, but remember that “those who live in a house of glass should never throw stones.”
Mr. Perowne denounces the application which I have made of the passage of Scripture, which I quoted for the purpose of illustration. “I did not before know,” says he, “that ‘forms of ecclesiastical government,’ and ‘meat and drink’ were synonimous terms.” And what of that? There are many things which Mr. Perowne does not know. He does not know, for instance, how to spell synonymous, and until he has learned that, I shall not undertake to instruct him in higher matters.
Several of the extracts which I have made, from the observations in this wretched pamphlet, place the writer of them in a most unfortunate predicament. He either believes that his interpretations of my language are the true meaning, or he does not so believe. In the former case, his “Observations” manifest a want of sense; in the latter case, a want of honesty. It is impossible to go through his pamphlet without lamenting over the condition of a church which is compelled to submit to such incompetent or unprincipled instructors. What must be the follies or fanaticism of disciples who are taught to explain passages of Scripture on the principles on which “this true son of the church” has explained my Letter. This, however, is a subject on which we are not left to mere conjecture. In the volume which contains some of the “Sermons” with which Mr. Perowne has edified his flock, he teaches that Jesus Christ is shortly coming in person to reign in Jerusalem—that the saints will be raised from the dead, at least a thousand years before the general resurrection, for the purpose of reigning together with Christ—that Jerusalem will be to them “what Windsor castle is to our king and his family”—and that they will have “various enjoyments through the medium of the senses,” “meat and drink” included. He also declares, “I have said nothing of the new division of the Holy land, of the rebuilding of the Temple, or of the re-institution of the Temple service; THOUGH ALL THIS WILL CERTAINLY TAKE PLACE!!” There now. Let any Irvingite or Swedenborgian beat that if he can. And let all Dissenters take joyfully the abuse which Mr. Perowne has heaped upon them, so long as the law tolerates them in leaving St. John’s Maddermarket, in order to be instructed by those who “understand what they say, and whereof they affirm.”
I have now done with “The Reverend John Perowne, Rector of St. John’s Maddermarket, Norwich.” I have examined his reasonings. I have corrected his mistakes. I have exposed his misrepresentations. In so doing I have endeavoured to comply with the motto which he has inserted in his title page, and to “MARK them which cause divisions and offences;” and I now retire from the study of his “Observations,” deeply impressed with the conviction, that fallen indeed must that cause be, which either needs, or accepts such a defender.
THE END.