insufficient-that is, ignorant, and not able to teach and instruct the people-I say that is not sufficient reason for the people to forsake the Church of England, and betake themselves to the help of a separate ministry, and form themselves into Churches distinct from it. And if it be not sufficient reason for the people to do this, you ought not in conscience to encourage them in doing it; and therefore this cannot be a sufficient justification of your public ministrations.* The people have no necessity of departing from the most insufficient ministry you can easily find.† The Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, are constantly part of their entertainment on the Lord's-day." Calamy, neither convinced by the logic nor silenced by the rebuke of his proud antagonist, put a few questions to him. "Are not ignorance," he asked, "profaneness, and simony (things of which we find some of the reverend bishops have freely taken notice of in their several charges to their clergy), much more dangerous both to religion and the ministry than a separation of qualified persons to that office by inferior ministers ? "Is it not a visible benefit to any parish to have a Dissenting minister open a meeting in it, where, instead of one hasty sermon in a week or fortnight, the parishioners shall have from that time forward, besides the labours of such an assistant in public and private, also two well-studied sermons every Lord's-day in the public Church? Will God, in the Hoadley's "Reasonableness of Conformity," part ii., p. 36. + Ibid., p. 38. awful day of judgment, own as a minister of His sending one who minds his interest or pleasure more than the good of souls, and disown another minister whom He has made an instrument of the conversion of many, because the former had the hands of a bishop in his ordination, and the latter not ? " * All such questions Hoadley regarded as impertinent, and indicative of sheer perverseness. In his "Defence of Moderate Conformity," Calamy reviewed the history of the ejected ministers to justify their course-an utter waste of time, in the opinion of the lofty Churchman. "All this," he said, "is of no concern to me. One would think it time for all good men to forget what is past. These historical illustrations neither prove what you pretend, nor, granting that, they prove that it is not your duty to secede from these rights, for the sake of a greater good to the Christian Church, and consequently are of no concern to the ques tion." For the present we are not further concerned with the disputants; we turn our attention to the people. Without asking permission of the dignitaries of the Church, they formed themselves into Christian societies, and adopted the covenants of their fathers as best setting forth the grounds of their procedure. Here, for example, is an extract from the records of the church at Parkhead, near Kirkoswald, Cumberland, a place little known, perhaps, to ecclesiastical historians: * Calamy's "Defence of Moderate Conformity," part ii., 34—5. insufficient—that is, ignorant, and not able to teach and instruct the people-I say that is not sufficient reason for the people to forsake the Church of England, and betake themselves to the help of a separate ministry, and form themselves into Churches distinct from it. And if it be not sufficient reason for the people to do this, you ought not in conscience to encourage them in doing it; and therefore this cannot be a sufficient justification of your public ministrations.* The people have no necessity of departing from the most insufficient ministry you can easily find.† The Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, are constantly part of their entertainment on the Lord's-day." Calamy, neither convinced by the logic nor silenced by the rebuke of his proud antagonist, put a few questions to him. "Are not ignorance," he asked, profaneness, and simony (things of which we find some of the reverend bishops have freely taken notice of in their several charges to their clergy), much more dangerous both to religion and the ministry than a separation of qualified persons to that office by inferior ministers ? "Is it not a visible benefit to any parish to have a Dissenting minister open a meeting in it, where, instead of one hasty sermon in a week or fortnight, the parishioners shall have from that time forward, besides the labours of such an assistant in public and private, also two well-studied sermons every Lord's-day in the public Church? Will God, in the * Hoadley's "Reasonableness of Conformity," part ii., p. 36. awful day of judgment, own as a minister of His sending one who minds his interest or pleasure more than the good of souls, and disown another minister whom He has made an instrument of the conversion of many, because the former had the hands of a bishop in his ordination, and the latter not ? " * All such questions Hoadley regarded as impertinent, and indicative of sheer perverseness. In his "Defence of Moderate Conformity," Calamy reviewed the history of the ejected ministers to justify their course-an utter waste of time, in the opinion of the lofty Churchman. "All this," he said, "is of no concern to me. One would think it time for all good men to forget what is past. These historical illustrations neither prove what you pretend, nor, granting that, they prove that it is not your duty to secede from these rights, for the sake of a greater good to the Christian Church, and consequently are of no concern to the ques tion." For the present we are not further concerned with the disputants; we turn our attention to the people. Without asking permission of the dignitaries of the Church, they formed themselves into Christian societies, and adopted the covenants of their fathers as best setting forth the grounds of their procedure. Here, for example, is an extract from the records of the church at Parkhead, near Kirkoswald, Cumberland, a place little known, perhaps, to ecclesiastical historians: * Calamy's "Defence of Moderate Conformity," part ii., 34—5. Church "Being ashamed of our former pollutions in the worship of our God, and our abominations from His gospel-way, we do here this day (June 5th, 1708) desire to lament the same Renewal of before the Lord, looking to and depending only upon the free grace of God in Christ for pardon and healing power, and being sensible also of our want of sundry gospel ordinances, and this of church fellowship in particular, which our souls do long after, as one of his precious enjoyments, and most sweet privileges, given to and purchased for us by his own precious blood; and having this day supplicated the Lord for a blessing upon our poor endeavours, in order hereunto do now all of us set ourselves, as in the presence of God, and freely with our consent (yet not without fear and trembling), enter into a solemn agreement, and promise to walk together as one body in all the holy ways and pure ordinances of Christ, our dear Husband and Head, and to perform all service of brotherly love and holy watchfulness to each other, as the Lord requireth; and also to submit ourselves to one another, according to the order of the gospel. And all this we do, not presuming upon our own strength, which is nothing but weakness; no, nor by any power of grace received (which, without continual supply from the fountain, is able to act nothing), but merely and wholly relying upon the gracious and fresh influence from our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life, our hope, our all in all; who, we believe, will with a tender eye look upon our day of small things, perfect our beginnings, and carry us as lambs in his bosom through all our temptations, and difficulties, and infirmities (according as He hath undertaken by commission from his Father), and bring us into his eternal rest, after He hath wiped away all tears from our eyes.' This instinctive desire on the part of Christian believers to go to their "own company "-perfectly incomprehensible to those who looked for nothing more in Church association than the continual repetition of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments-was felt by religious people within the pale of the Establishment. Select societies, for the *Cong. Mag., vol. v., 1822, p. 387. |