avowed purpose of distinguishing them as out the kingdom, when the painful tibeing those of Jesus also? And after-dings of her decease were received by wards in a recapitulation of the number tolling the bells of the Cathedral and of these very ancestors, does he not in- Churches. But there is one exception to clude Joseph himself, expressly as his this very creditable fact which demands immediate progenitor? What historian, especial notice. In this episcopal city, possessing his proper senses, would think containing six Churches, independently of relating the genealogy of a father-in- of the Cathedral, not a single bell anlaw, with a view of proving the pedigree nounced the departure of the magnauiof a son-in-law, (though there should mous spirit of the most injured of Queens happen to be a little consanguinity be tween them,) merely because the mother of the latter might be the wife of the former ?" * These questions we recommend to the careful consideration of every theological inquirer; and take leave of our author by assuring him, that, although we have detected a few inaccuracies of composition and punctuation, we have derived both pleasure and instruction from the perusal of his little work. O. P. Q. ART. II.-Trial of John Ambrose Williams, for a Libel on the Clergy, contained in the Durham Chronicle of August 18, 1821. Before Mr. Baron Wood and a Special Jury. Tried at the Summer Assizes, at Durham, on Tuesday, August 6th, 1822. To which is prefixed a Report of the Preliminary Proceedings in the Court of King's Bench, London. 8vo. pp. 58. Durham, printed by J. A. Williams, and pub lished by Ridgway, London. HERE was a reference to this. 694): we now take up the "Trial" on account of the bearing of the question upon the right of discussion, and particularly of the eloquent and admirable speech of Mr. BROUGHAM on the defence. The libel was in the following passage: "So far as we have been able to judge from the accounts in the public papers, a mark of respect to her late Majesty has been almost universally paid through Perhaps the recommendation will come with additional force if we subjoin the following curious proposal appended by the author to his concluding address. "N. B. As the author aims at truth only, he will give any person one hundred pounds who will refute his solution." the most persecuted of women. Thus the brutal enmity of those who embittered her mortal existence pursues her in her shroud. We know not whether any actual orders were issued to prevent this customary sign of mourning; but the omission plainly indicates the kind of spirit which predominates among our clergy. Yet these men profess to be followers of Jesus Christ, to walk in his footsteps, to teach his precepts, to inculcate his spirit, to promote harmony, charity and Christian love! Out upon such hypocrisy! It is such conduct which renders the very name of our Established Clergy odious till it stinks in the nostrils; that makes our Churches look like deserted sepulchres, rather than temples of the living God; that raises up conventi cles in every corner, and increases the that causes our beneficed dignitaries to brood of wild fanatics and enthusiasts; be regarded as usurpers of their possessions; that deprives them of all pastoral influence and respect; that, in short, bas left them no support or prop in the attachment or veneration of the people. Sensible of the decline of their spiritual and moral influence, they cling to tempo ral power, and lose in their officiousness in political matters, even the semblance of the character of ministers of religion. It is impossible that such a system can age, as well as with justice and reason, and the beetles who crawl about amidst its holes and crevices, act as if they were striving to provoke and accelerate the blow which, sooner or later, will inevi tably crush the whole fabric, and level it with the dust."—Pp. 5, 6. Passing by the preliminary proceedings, we come to the trial at Durham. Mr. SCARLETT was counsel for the of this expression in his exordium. the only unhappy man in this country, if "Unhappy he will be indeed, but not 'the doctrines laid down by my learned Review-Trial of J. A. Williams for a Libel on the Clergy. 697 friend are sanctioned by your verdict'; for those doctrines, I fearlessly tell you, nust, if established, inevitably destroy the whole liberties of us all. Not that he has ventured to deny the right of discussion generally upon all subjects, even upon the present, or to screen from free inquiry the foundations of the Established Church and the conduct of its ministers as a body (which I shall satisfy you are not even commented on in the publication before you). Far from my learned friend is it to impugn those rights in the abstract; nor, indeed, have I ever yet heard a prosecutor for libel-an AttorneyGeneral, (and I have seen a good many in my time,) whether of our Lord the King or our Lord of Durham, who, while in the act of crushing every thing like unfettered discussion, did not preface his address to the Jury, with God forbid that the fullest inquiry should not be allowed;' but then the admission had invariably a condition following close behind, which entirely retracted the concession-provided always the discussion be carried on harmlessly, temperately, calmly' that is to say, in such a manner as to leave the subject untouched, and the reader unmoved; to satisfy the public prosecutor, and to please the persons attacked. 66 My learned friend has asked if the defendant knows that the Church is established by law? He knows it, and so do I. The Church is established by law, as the civil government-as all the institutions of the country are established by law-as all the offices under the Crown are established by law, and all who fill them are by the law protected. It is not more established, nor more protected, than those institutions, officers and officebearers, each of which is recognized and favoured by the law as much as the Church; but I never yet have heard, and I trust I never shall; least of all do I expect in the lesson which your verdict this day will read, to hear, that those officers and office-bearers, and all those institutions, sacred and secular, and the conduct of all, whether laymen or priests, who administer them, are not the fair subjects of open, untrammelled, manly, zealous, and even vehement discussion, as long as this country pretends to liberty, and prides herself on the possession of a free press. "[At this part of the learned counsel's address, which was delivered with extraordinary force and animation, there was an involuntary burst of applause from the persons in Court, which was crowded to excess. The Judge said it was abominable,' and Mr. Brougham, addressing the Jury, said, 'I am sure nothing can be more contrary to every feeling that I VOL. XVII. 4 U have than that any human being excepting yourselves should, directly or indirectly, take part in these proceedings." The interruption having ceased, the learned gentleman resumed.] "In the publication before you, the defendant has not attempted to dispute the high character of the Church; on that establishment or its members, generally, he has not endeavoured to fix any stigma. Those topics then are foreign to the present inquiry, and I have no interest in discussing them; yet after what has fallen from my learned friend, it is fitting that I should claim for this defendant, and for all others, the right to question, freely to question, not only the conduct of the ministers of the Established Church, but even the foundations of the Church itself. It is indeed unnecessary for my present purpose, because I shall demonstrate that the paper before you does not touch upon those points; but unnecessary though it be, as my learned friend has defied me, I will follow him to the field and say, that if there is any one of the institutions of the country which, more emphatically than all the rest, justifies us in arguing strongly, feeling powerfully, and expressing our sentiments with vehemence, it is that branch of the State which, because it is sacred, because it bears connexion with higher principles than any involved in the mere management of worldly concerns, for that very reason, entwines itself with deeper feelings, and must needs be discussed, if discussed at all, with more warmth and zeal than any other part of our system is fitted to rouse. But if any hierarchy in all the world is bound on every principle of consistency, if any church should be forward not only to suffer but provoke discussion, to stand upon that title and challenge the most unreserved inquiry, it is the Protestant Church of England; first, because she has nothing to dread from it; secondly, because she is the very creature of free inquiry-the offspring of repeated revolutions-add the most_reformed of the Reformed Churches of Europe. But surely if there is any one corner of Protestant Europe where men ought not to be rigorously judged in ecclesiastical controversy-where a large allowance should be made for the conflict of irreconcileable opinions-where the harshness of jarring tenets should be patiently borne, and strong, or even violent language, be not too narrowly watched-it is this very realm, in which we live under three different ecclesiastical orders, and owe allegiance to a Sovereign who, in one of his kingdoms, is the head of the Church, acknowledged as such by all men; while, in another, neither he, nor any earthly being, is allowed to assume that name a realm composed of three great divisions, in one of which Prelacy is favoured by law and approved in practice by an Episcopalian people; while, in another, it is protected, indeed, by law, but abjured in practice by a nation of sectaries, Catholic and Presbyterian; and, in a third, it is abhorred alike by law and in practice, repudiated by the whole institutions, scorned and detested by the whole inhabitants. His Majesty, almost at the time in which I am speaking, is about to make a progress through the Northern provinces of this island, accompanied by certain of his chosen counsellors, a portion of men who enjoy unenvied, and in an equal degree, the admiration of other countries and the wonder of their own and there the Prince will see much loyalty, great learning, some splendour, the remains of an ancient monarchy, and of the institutions which made it flourish. But one thing he will not see. Strange as it may seem, and to many who hear me incredible, from one end of the country to the other he will see no such thing as a bishop; (loud laughter;) not such a thing is to be found from the Tweed to John O'Groat's: not a mitre; no, nor so much as a minor canon, or even a rural dean-and in all the land not one single curate so entirely rude and barbarous are they in Scotland-in such outer dark ness do they sit, that they support no cathedrals, maintain no pluralists, suffer no non-residence; nay, the poor benighted creatures are ignorant even of tithes. Not a sheaf, or a lamb, or a pig, or the value of a plough-penny, do the hapless mortals render from year's end to year's end! Piteous as their lot is, what makes it infinitely more touching, is to witness the return of good for evil in the demeanour of this wretched race. Under all this cruel neglect of their spiritual concerns, they are actually the most loyal, contented, moral and religious people any where, perhaps, to be found in the world. Let us hope (many indeed there are, not afar off, who will with unfeigned devotion pray), that his Majesty may return safe from the dangers of his excursion into such a country; an excursion most perilous to a certain portion of the Church, should his royal mind be infected with a taste for cheap establishments, a working Clergy, and a pious congregation! But compassion for our brethren in the North has drawn me aside from my purpose, which was merely to remind you how preposterous it is in a country of which the ecclesiastical polity is framed upon plans so discordant, and the religious tenets themselves are so various, to require any very measured expression of men's opinions upon quesions of church government. And if there is any part of England, in which an ample licence ought more especially to be admitted in handling such matters, I say without hesitation, it is this very bishopric, where in the 19th century, you live under a Palatine Prince, the Lord of Durham; where the endowment of the hierarchy, I may not call it enormous, but I trust I shall be permitted without offence to term it splendid; where the establishment, I dare not whisper proves grinding to the people, but I will rather say is an incalculable, an inscrutable blessing-only it is prodigiously large; showered down in a profusion somewhat overpowering; and laying the inhabi. tants under a load of obligation overwhelming by its weight. It is in Durham where the Church is endowed with a splendour and a power, unknown in Monkish times and Popish countries, and the clergy swarm in every corner, an' it were the Patrimony of St. Peter-it is here where all manner of conflicts are at each moment inevitable between the people and the priests, that I feel myself warranted on their behalf, and for their protection-for the sake of the Establishment, and as the discreet advocate of that Church and that Clergy-for the defence of their very existence-to demand the most unrestrained discussion of their title and their actings under it. For them in this age to screen their conduct from investigation, is to stand selfconvicted; to shrink from the discussion of their title, is to confess a flaw; he must be the most shallow, the most blind of mortals, who does not at once perceive that if that title is protected only by the strong arm of the law, it becomes not worth the parchment on which it is engrossed, or the wax that dangles to it for à seal. I have hitherto all along assumed, that there is nothing impure in the practice under the system; I am admitting that every person engaged in its administration does every one act which he ought, and which the law expects him to do; I am supposing that up to this hour not one unworthy member has entered within its pale; I am even presuming that up to this moment not one of those individuals has stepped beyond the strict line of his sacred functions, or given the slightest offence or annoyance to any human being; I am taking it for granted that they all act the part of good shepherds, making the welfare of the flock their first careand only occasionally bethinking them of shearing in order to prevent the too luxu riant growth of the fleece proving an encumbrance, or to eradicate disease. If, however, those operations be so constant that the flock actually live under the knife-if the shepherds are so numerous, and employ so large a troop of the watch Review.-Trial of J. A. Williams for a Libel on the Clergy. ful and eager animals that attend them (some of them too with a cross of the fox, or even the wolf, in their breed) can it be wondered at, if the poor creatures thus fleeced, and hunted, and barked at, and snapped at, and from time to time worried, should now and then bleat, dream of preferring the rot to the shears, and draw invidious, possibly disadvantageous comparisons between the wolf without and the shepherd within the fold? It cannot be helped; it is in the nature of things that suffering should beget complaint; but for those who have caused the pain to complain of the outcry and seek to punish it-for those who have goaded, to scourge and to gag, is the meanest of all injustice. It is, moreover, the most pitiful folly for the Clergy to think of retaining their power, privileges and enormous wealth, without allowing free vent for complaints against abuses in the Establishment and delinquency in its members; and in this prosecution they have displayed that folly in its suprenie degree."-Pp. 42-45. Mr. BROUGHAM quoted several striking passages from Milton, Hartley and Bishop Burnet to shew the licence that had always been taken in animadverting upon the character and conduct of the clergy; and exposed in such strong colours the behaviour of that reverend body towards the late persecuted Queen, that the auditors in the court were again thrown into convulsive acclamations. He concluded thus: "Gentlemen, you have to-day a great task committed to your hands. This is not the age, the spirit of the times is not such, as to make it safe either for the country, or for the government, or for the Church itself, to veil its mysteries in secrecy; to plant in the porch of the temple a prosecutor brandishing his flaming sword, the process of the law, to prevent the prying eyes of mankind from wandering over the structure. These are times when men will inquire, and the day most fatal to the Established Church, the blackest that ever dawned upon its ministers, will be that which consigns this defendant, for these remarks, to the horrors of a gaol, which its false friends, the chosen objects of such lavish favour, have far more richly deserved. I agree with my learned friend, that the Church of England has nothing to dread from external violence. Built upon a rock, and lifting its head towards another world, it aspires to an imperishable existence, and defies any force that may rage from without. But let it beware of the corruption engendered within and be 699 neath its massive walls; and let all its well-wishers, all who, whether for reli-, gious or political interests, desire its lasting stability, beware how they give encouragement, by giving shelter, to the vermin bred in that corruption, who Not stink and sting' against the hand that would brush the rottenness away. My learned friend has sympathised with the priesthood, and innocently enough lamented that they possess not the power of defending themselves through the public press. Let him be consoled; they are not so very defenceless; they are not so entirely destitute of the aid of the press as through him they have represented themselves to be. They have largely used that press (I wish I could say as not abusing it'), and against some persons very near me; I mean especially against the defendant, whom they have scurrilously and foully libelled through that great vehicle of public instruction, over which, for the first time, among the other novelties of the day, I now hear they have no controul. but that is no fault of theirs; without that they wound deeply or injure much; hurting, they give trouble and discomfort. The insect brought into life by corruption, and nestled in filth-I mean the dirt-fly-though its flight be lowly and its sting puny, can swarm and buz, and irritate the skin, and offend the nostril, and altogether give nearly as much annoyance as the wasp, whose nobler na ture it aspires to emulate. These reverend slanderers-these pious back-biters -devoid of force to wield the sword, snatch the dagger; and, destitute of wit to point or to barb it, and make it rankle in the wound, steep it in venom to make it fester in the scratch. The much venerated personages whose harmless and unprotected state is now deplored, have been the wholesale dealers in calumny, as well as largest consumers of the base article,-the especial promoters of that vile traffic of late the disgrace of the country-both furnishing a constant demand for the slanders by which the press is polluted, and prostituting themselves to pander for the appetites of others: and now they come to demand protection from retaliation, and shelter from just exposure; and, to screen themselves, would have you prohibit all scrutiny of the abuses by which they exist, and the wal-practices by which they disgrace their calling. After abusing and well-nigh dismantling for their own despicable purposes the great engine of instruction, they would have you annihilate all that they have left of it, to secure their escape. They have the incredible assurance to expect that an English Jury will conspire with them in this wicked design. They éxpect in vain! If all existing institutions and all public functionaries must henceforth be sacred from question among the people; if, at length, the free press of this country, and, with it, the freedom itself, is to be destroyed, at least let not the beavy blow fall from your hands. principled soldier, unknown, thank God! the suburbs thereof." The King's Bench has been moved in arrest of judgment, and we await with impatience the result. ART. III.-The Necessity and Advan tages of Lay-Preaching among Unitarians demonstrated, and the Objections generally urged against it, invalidated. Two Sermons, &c. By John Mc. Millan. 12mo. pp. 60. Hunter and Eaton. 1821. T HESE Sermons were preached to a congregation at Stratford, Essex, and also to one in Charles Street, Commercial Road, by the author, one of several persons connected with business who most commendably devote their time and talents to the cause of religion. The terms clergy and laity originated in a gross corruption of Christianity, and served to strengthen the corruption which gave them birth. It is pleaded for them, however, that, like many other words of bad parentage, they have become innocent in the course of time. We confess, we look at them with some suspicion, and as often as we see them, think of the period when Christian teachers were masters and the great body of the peoWe grant, at the same ple slaves. time, that there may be a convenience in them, for the mere purposes of language, if it be explained that by clergy is meant only those persons that devote themselves wholly to Christian teaching, and by laity those that are hearers of their teaching. Still a word is wanted to designate those useful men that like our author unite the characters, and without accounting themselves of a profession, are prepared to instruct their fellow-christians whenever an opportunity of being useful in this way is presented. Of the value of learning to the Christian ministry there can be no doubt, but a minister who has learning is not on that account a learned minister. He only is learned as a minister who fully understands Christianity, and is prepared to teach it; and it may certainly happen that a layman without a learned education shall surpass in these respects one brought up in the schools of the prophets. All The right to teach is created by the opportunity. Any "two or three" that agree to hear a teacher, give him by that agreement ordination. authority in Christian ministers beyond this appears to us to be founded on tyranny or fraud. For these reasons, we coincide in Mr. Mc. Millan's views, and object ss strongly as he to the terms in which our correspondent, M. S. (Vol. XVI. p. 446) speaks of lay-preachers; though we think that a less contemptuous style of remark upon the paper of M. S. (Mr. Me, Millan has devoted an Appendix of several pages to it) would have been more worthy of a cause which rests upon reason and the New Testament for its support. |
