Had Hugh Latimer contented himself with singling me out as an individual, and with exposing (as he is pleased to call it), my ignorance, errors, and blunders alone, all the answer his tract would have merited, and all it would probably have received from me, would have been a silent contempt of such a paltry performance; but, when, instead of meeting my arguments fairly, and refuting my sentimentsscripturally and rationally, he has declined do so, and has condescended to calumniate and wilfully misrepresent Unitarians in general, and condemn their sentiments in the gross, as disguised infidelity, &c. I felt myself compelled by a sense of duty to offer a short reply to his slanders. For it is a well-known fact, that bare assertions such as his, will pass with too many for argument, and the truth of his statements will be concluded, by such, from his positivity and confidence in making them; and if nothing was said, in answer to such writers, too many would conclude they cannot be answered. And as he has given another proof, that the orthodox are never tired of reiterating those arguments which have been answered and refuted an hundred times twice told, we heretics must not tire of refuting them over again. But we have the disadvantage, that so many are willing to take any thing and every thing upon trust, that comes from an orthodox pen, while few, very few, will so much as look at what is written by a reputed heretic; and the number is fewer still, who will impartially examine both sides, and candidly acknowledge, (even when convinced), that truth is on the side opposite to their own. Bishop Watson says, he knew a divine of great eminence, who declared, “that he never read dissenting divinity.”[32a]Another divine was once asked how he approved of Mr. Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity: he replied, “very well; but, said he, if I should be known to think well of it, I should have my lawn torn from my shoulders.”[32b]A divine who has read my Lectures, being asked his opinion of them, said, “If I were to give my candid opinion on them, I should be styled a Unitarian too.” Another, who approved of them, being asked why such doctrine was never taught in the place where he preached, said, “When a boy is bound apprentice, he must obey his master’s rules.” Thus some from interest, others from indolence, and the many from ignorance and bigotry, never take trouble to examine and compare the different opinions proposed to them, and so remain in darkness and confusion all their days. And as it was well said, long ago, “As people in general, for one reason or another, like short objections (and bare assertions) betterthan long answers (and sound reasons), the odds must ever be against us; and we must be content with those for our friends, who have honesty and erudition, candour and patience, to study both sides.”[33]It is to be lamented, that readers of the last description are very rare in these parts, yet there is here and there one; and I had much rather my books should be consulted, read, and examined by a dozen such men as these, than I would have the stare and gape of hundreds listening to an harangue, five sentences of which they did not understand. That this is the general run of hearers hereabouts, no one can deny; and this sufficiently accounts for the spread of mysticism and enthusiasm, and the tardy progress of pure scriptural and rational truth; to say nothing of the salvo which orthodoxy affords, to those who can fancy themselves entitled to an interest in its inexhaustible and unconditional stores;—pardon, righteousness, and heaven, and all procured by the merits and sufferings of another, on the very easy terms of “only believe and be saved.”
I shall here attempt to obviate the objection so generally laid against me, that I am inimical and hostile to the Bible Society. I speak the truth when I say—first, that I esteem the Bible as the choicest gift of God, save that of his own Son, the restorer, the light and saviour of the world—Secondly, that I esteem and cordially approve the universal spread of the Bible among all nations, and in every language; believing, as I firmly do, in the sufficiency of the Scriptures to make all men (who use them properly) wise unto salvation, since all scripture (which is) given by the inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works. Convinced as I am, that the Scriptures contain a full, clear, and plain revelation of every thing that is essential for mankind to know, believe, and practice; of all that God requires from them, or gives them ground to expect from him, in order to promote their virtue and peace on earth, and final happiness in heaven. Iapprove of the principle on which protestantism is founded, that the Bible alone contains the religion of protestants; I consequently fall in most heartily with the circulation of the Scriptures without note or comment; leaving every man at full liberty of conscience, and the use of his own reason and judgment in interpreting and understanding the word of God. I have attended Bible Societies from their first formation; I have contributed to them in several parts of the kingdom, and at Halesworth too, without sounding a trumpet; I have recommended them constantly on the principles stated above; and, if I have not been a public advocate on the platform, the reason has invariably been, because the advocates have universally treated me, even when on the platform among them, with silent contempt and cold disdain. It is not the Bible Society I object to; but, the way in which its professed advocates expose the cause and themselves, by bringing forward in their speeches subjects calculated only (in some instances) to insult a rational understanding, and impose on and deceive the vulgar; and the effect produced has been to lead numbers to imagine, that if they give a trifle, or obtain a Bible, it will go well nigh to secure their salvation. Hence it happens, that in every village I can find a Bible or two in almost every house; in many of which they are never read, because not one in the family can read them. Can it be otherwise in other countries? And yet what romantic tales we often hear of the wonderful conversions effected by the Bible! just as if the Bible could produce any good effect, but where it is read, understood, and its precepts reduced to practice. Let the professed advocates lay aside those arts and tricks which alone become mountebanks and quacks, and let them plead the cause of the Bible as becomes the dignity and grandeur of the subject, and I will wish them God speed in spreading the Bible to the remotest habitation of human beings; and, let those who cannot treat the subject as becomes truth and holiness, keep silent. Religion and the Bible require not the aid of enthusiasm, ribaldry, and buffoonery; nor of tales and anecdotes on a par with Mother Goose’s Fables.
In addition to those tales which I have advanced on former occasions, and numbers that I could still advance, I will onlyselect the following. I once heard a preacher at a meeting in Wellingborough church recommend the Bible, as a quack recommends his pills and balsams—a cure for every malady, “Do you know (said he), a drunkard, a swearer, a liar, give him a Bible; do you know an adulterer, sabbath-breaker, or covetous miser, give him a Bible; do you know a bad husband, a bad father, a bad wife, or a bad mother, give them each a Bible; do you know a bad master, of mistress, or a bad servant or apprentice, give them a Bible; do you know a bad neighbour, a slanderer, backbiter, or busybody, give them a Bible.” Thus he ran on through the whole catalogue of vices, and recommended, as a cure for them all, the gift of a Bible. I need not remind my readers of what has been stated in the Ipswich Chronicle twice over, on the application of the funds of the Bible Society; but I remember a speaker said at the conclusion of a meeting at Halesworth, three years back, “that in answer to the question, what becomes of the money given at these meetings, he would assure them, on the word of a dying man, speaking as to dying men, in the presence of God, before whom all must appear in judgment, that not a single penny of their money was applied to any other purpose than that for which they gave it, (namely), for printing and circulation of the scriptures.” It belongs not to me to reconcile this with the statements in the Ipswich and London papers. Since those persons who have enjoyed the advantage of travel are allowed to enliven your meetings by anecdote, I will give a specimen or two of their manner and matter. At a meeting held at Leeds, some months past, Dr. Patterson stated, that in his travels he had found a set of men making an attempt to supplant the Bible by substituting in its place a Socinian Bible, full of errors, and void of every essential doctrine; that he had procured the suppression of it and of another as bad, and hoped the whole was rotten or rotting in a fort to which they were consigned; that a professor in a university, the author of the above, had been turned out of his professorship. All this and much more was stated and printed in the Leeds paper, but no name of the book, place, or professor was mentioned. The whole was a fabrication to suit a purpose, and has been well exposed by Dr. Hutton, Unitarian minister,at Leeds. At a meeting in the City-Road Chapel, London, last May, Lord Mountcassel proved, that the age of miracles was returned in Ireland; he could vouch, he said, as a missionary was preaching in a village, a Catholic priest interrupted him: the day following the priest pointing out the place to a friend, said, there is the spot where that cursed pharisee preached to the people;—he was struck with paralysis, his arm fell powerless, his mouth was distorted, he fell back, and was taken home senseless. Another priest, a great opponent of Bibles, was struck in a meeting with a paralytic shock and never spoke afterwards. These were the visitations of God, and are recorded as such in the Evangelical Magazine. While such men as doctors of divinity and titled noblemen can thus, with devotion’s visage and pious actions, sugar over the devil himself, we may expect that other pigmies, in a petty way, will ape and mimic their example; but if the Bible which they circulate teaches others no better morals than theirs, the gift will be of little use to those who obtain it. I wish such advocates as the above to recollect, that we are forbidden by the Bible “to do evil that good may come,” or to propagate “cunningly devised fables.”
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SIX LECTURES
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ByT. LATHAM.
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TIPPELL, PRINTER, HALESWORTH.
[3]Assumed name.
[4a]The spirit of the party.
[4b]Against good manners.
[4c]Disguised.
[4d]In person.
[4e]A man of various learning.
[4f]Masterpiece.
[4g]Churchmen.
[4h]Pupil.
[5a]A learned man.
[5b]Between ourselves.
[5c]Slip of the tongue.
[5d]Pretended.
[5e]As it should be.
[5f]A nice morsel
[6]Willing or not.
[7a]I have read of a bishop who, on coming to his bishopric, ordered a Greek inscription to be written over his palace gate. It was meant to say, “Gate be thou ever open to, and never shut against a good man.” But when finished, it said, “Gate be thou always shut against, and never open to a good man.” And as the bishop was so well versed in Greek, that he could not find out the blunder, he was for his learning deposed. I give this as a hint to Hugh Latimer.
[7b]I must remain in my present sentiments.
[8a]Tiresomeness.
[8b]The republic of letters.
[9a]A fit man.
[9b]Three united in one.
[9c]Winding up.
[10a]Common phrases
[10b]By what authority.
[10c]With what intention.
[10d]To ensnare the vulgar.
[10e]What harm will it do.
[10f]The law of retaliation.
[11]See a speech by a minister. (Lectures, page 177)
[12a]Like master like man.
[12b]Thou that teachest others, teachest thou not thyself.
[12c]Wonderful to tell.
[12d]Indispensable pre-requisite.
[14a]The truth without fear.
[14b]Without over bashfulness.
[16a]I do not wish to be made a bishop.
[16b]Sudden enterprise.
[16c]Burden of proving.
[16d]Bradbury.
[18]Jesus Christ has informed us, John iii. 16, 18, “that God has displayed his love to the world in sending his Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it.” Hugh Latimer tells us, page 6, “that the perpetuity of punishment in vindictive justice, (which by the way is a contradiction in terms), is the emanation of love to the universe.” There is no method of reconciling these plain contradictions, but by allowing him to be acquainted with those sublime mysteries with which Christ was wholly unacquainted.
[19]A foolish argument.
[21a]Deputy.
[21b]Said for nothing.
[26]With the whole heart.
[27]Truth conquers.
[28a]The guardian of morality.
[28b]As in a looking glass.
[28c]Improper fondness of writing.
[28d]Substitute.
[29a]For decency sake.
[29b]Over much bashfulness.
[30a]For the public good.
[30b]Face to face.
[30c]By word of mouth.
[32a]Theological tracts, preface, page 19.
[32b]Molineux’s Familiar Letters, page 163.
[33]Bishop Horne.